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‘We are losing.’
Tony surveyed the battlefield from his position. The Avengers were successful in taking down Thanos' army, with almost no casualties. Barton went down after protecting Maximoff from the surprise attack and had to be extracted from the fight.
‘Stupid man. Why did you step in the line of fire? The witch has protected herself just fine.’ He thought bitterly. ‘He was useless anyway. Who brings a knife to a gunfight, or a bow?’
Fortunately, Vision let himself be convinced to hide from the fight rather than join in after a long negotiation. Tony made sure it was a challenge even for him to get inside the secret location after launching defense protocols. Thanos wouldn't touch his family even with his damned pinky .
When Nebula killed the last one of the Black Order, The Mad Titan himself finally showed himself from nothing.
Literally, the fucker appeared out of nowhere using the Reality Stone.
“To think that a backward planet like Terra is causing such trouble for me.” He spoke enraged to the heroes and villains that stood allied before him.
That shouldn't be a surprise considering the situation, but everyone thought that villains would just suck up to Thanos or hide themselves until it was ‘safe’ again. So it was a shock to see their chosen liders coming to the Defence Meeting AKA screaming at each other “Fuck what do we do?!? ”, sit and state that they would help.
Tony has signed with relief and the others slowly warm up to them. There was some tension between X-men and Brotherhood and surprising comradery between Spiderman and his enemies, though they were inching away from the green goblin. The only ones not happy about it were the rogues, but fuck them. They thought they were the best when they weren’t even that important.
“No matter, I will just take the Stones from you and it won't be a problem anymore!” He roared and rushed towards the group in front of him.
“It will never happen Thanos!” Tony spoke up as the rest of the Earth defense charged at the enemy. “We won't let you murder half of the universe!” He then joined the onslaught towards him.
“I won't let ants like you prevent me from saving us!” the alien roared. “The universe will fall towards extinction until satisfactory sacrifices have been made and She finally will accept me!”
The clash between the superhumans and the Titan was gruesome. Thanos wasn't pulling the punches and frequently used The Stones and the heroes weren’t afraid to respond in return. The villains took advantage of the momentary distraction the heroes created and used every dirty trick they know. Regrettably with time people get tired and this situation isn’t that unique from others. People started getting serious injuries and falling unconscious.
A blessing in disguise, nobody died yet. In revenge they dealt as much damage as they could and more to bring harm to Thanos with their attacks. Tony was forced to deploy a full Iron Legion to the battleground. He was almost done preparing the unibeam, when Thanos teleported to his side. He had time to turn toward the enemy before the oversized grape punched him in the chest.
‘Fuck-’
Thanos fist meeting his arc reactor resulted in an explosion that caused them to be violently pushed away from each other. Tony flew through the air and hit the ground with his head first and Thanos gained severe burns on his arm.
It happened so fast that Tony didn't feel the pain before he blacked out. His body rolled away from the place of the blast and stopped next to really sharp boulders and stones.
Thanos didn't have time to be furious at the mortal who dared to interfere with his plans regarding Midgard as he was distracted by Star Lord's blow and his daughters combined attack.
A small child was standing before a giant door. He has short, brown hair and big eyes. He wore blue two piece pajamas with a red car picture on the front. The child looked nervous when he knocked against the door. Voice of an older woman invited him in.
“Mommy?" He opened the door. "You wanted to see me?” The boy asked his mother shyly. She was wearing a gorgeous red dress with black and gold accents. Her blond hair was pulled in updo.
“Antonio." She smiled. However her smile faded a little when she caught a big, dark bruise in the form of a hand on his upper arm.
Antonio shifted his feet. Last week his parents were traveling to different places. His father wanted to make the company bigger as well as better and his mommy wanted to help people. Yesterday they were finally coming home. Antonio wanted to welcome them back like a good boy. Jarvis, his family butler, even helped him get ready, but he had this weird smile on his face. Antonio opened his mouth to ask him about his smile when his wife Ana told him that his parents' car was visible on the horizon. The child thanked the butler and ran towards the entryway, forgetting about the question.
Later he would learn that Jarvis predicted the outcome, but didn't want to cut his happiness too short. He thought Howard would be in a good mood after a week of managing Stark Industries. While the man wasn't the best parent, his wife loved Antony for two of them. Tony wanted to say that he wished Jarvis convinced him to wait until the next day, but that would be a lie.
Better the devil you know then the one you don't.
He just stepped down the stairs when the front door burst open. First he saw his father. His gray suit made his red tie more vibrant. It also made his face more red than it was from the alcohol he could smell on his clothes. Somebody must have walked into him. It was bad, but before he could back away, his father saw him.
His mommy was just getting out of the car. She had a pretty violet dress and her blond hair was very curly. He smiled at her, forgetting his father's bad state. His mommy returned it, before her face changed into shock.
“Anthony!” Antonio quickly looked back at his father. He came closer to him during the time he was looking at his mommy. “What are you doing here! What did I tell you about breaking the rules!” He looked like he was going to fall to the ground at any moment.
“I’m sorry father but I wanted to welcome you and mother back. I missed you.” Antonio knew he made a mistake when his father's face shifted to rage.
Smack
He looked at him from the ground. He didn’t anticipate that his father would hit him.
“Who do you think you are!” He yelled at him. From the corner of his eye he saw his mommy run towards him. “You are not a staff member I am paying for getting a job done right. Even though you are a disappointment, you are my son as well as a Stark! And Starks don't waste time on worthless things like these.” He grabbed his son and grabbed him using his upper arm.
“We have to remedy this situation.” Howard told him as he dragged him towards his room. Antonio knew what happened next so he didn't resist. It only makes things worse.
“Howard!” He heard his mommy from behind him.
“Not now Maria.” Howard looked back. “He is such a baby because you coddle him all the time.”
“It’s perfectly normal for him to be affectio-”
“Antony is in a perfect age where he can be taught out of such nonsense.” He scowled at her. “Now don’t bother me. I have to teach this brat a life lesson he won't ever forget if he knows what is good for him.”
Antonio made himself look back for the last time. His mommy looked sad but didn't come after them. Before he lost her he saw something else he couldn’t name in her eyes.
"Come closer, bambino.” Maria smiled and Antonio startled himself from the memory at the sound of her voice.
Anthonio ran up to the bed his mommy was sitting on. He struggled for a moment to sit on it before Maria took him up and let him sit on her legs.
“I have something to tell you and I need you to listen to me, ok?” Maria looked seriously at her son.
Antonio nodded. “Okay.” He had a feeling that this conversation was going to be really important.
Maria petted his head. “I want it to be only our secret so you can’t speak about it to anyone. Even your father.” She waited until he turned toward her. “You think you can do that for me, mio bambino?”
Antonio smiled. “Anything for you mommy.”
Maria smiled one of her rare smiles that are full of happiness.
"As you know, my side of the family, the Campbells, have lived for a long time. However there is one thing that people from outside the lineage have no idea about. Nobody knows when the myth started appearing. It just appeared time and time again in different ages. One thing was certain - there was always one person who was desperate and no one was doing anything to help them.
Before the elders decided to tell us when we were young about this, there was on all occasions that one person who knew the myth, no one knew how they knew it.
It went somewhat like this: if you are ever in danger so terrific and nothing else has worked, then you should draw this-"
Maria took a paper and a pencil from the bedside table and drew specific symbols. In the center is a big eye that is inside two circles, one bigger than the other. Six lines are coming from the outer circle towards the rectangle that surrounds it all. On it small circles on top and bottom line are settled.
"-with your blood and on the flat surface. Folks with this knowledge used to say a voice would speak in your head. They would ask different questions in different languages, but essentially it was something like this. What is your wish? They warned us to be careful because the answer could have unimaginable consequences.
Tony groaned as he came up to awareness. ‘W-Wha…?’ He coughed wetly and got up on his knees. Or he tried as the pain in his leg stopped him. “Fuck… that hurts.” He blinked away the tears in his eyes while he tried to orient himself. The battle has moved away from him. Nebula had teamed up with Captain Marvel, Storm and Dr. Doom and they were doing solid damage to Thanos. His gauntlet was cracked in several places and he had multiple cuts on his body.
Tony's armor is partly destroyed and has felt apart around him. Good thing he can summon the nanites to him because he didn't think he could move yet. Thor bless the nanotech. Wait, no. Thor can’t even work with anything more advanced than a damned toster.
“F.R.I.D.A.Y?” Tony called his co-pilot while he stopped the bleeding with tech. The consistent buzzing that started to annoy him began to somewhat stabilize itself inside the helmet.
“...B….s…ear...Boss-ss! Cann yo.. hear me-me-me!” F.R.I.D.A.Y's broken voice finally became more or less comprehensible.
“You're a little fuzzy.” Tonny informed her. “What is the situation on the field?”
“T-T-The communica-ca-cation line --s unstable-e-e from da-da-damag-ge taken by the-the-the armor-r. A-A-Attempting to-to cle-e-e-ean the lin-.” A few seconds have passed and battle sounds filled the silence. “Stabi-bilization co-co-completed at 80 percent-cent. Ri-Right now-now we have l-l-l-less than fifty percent-nt of active people. Dr. Strange-ge is made unofficial taxi-xi service and is bu-busy teleporting all seriously i-i-injured away from the-he battle. On another note-e-e nobody has been detected in-in-in one hundred miles from Vision position.” The AI cheerfully informed her creator. Her voice was almost clear from the errors.
“Fuck.” Tony cursed again while he slowly sat up against the boulder. He saw the moment Roger joined the fight. He didn't even hit him! Come on Captain America! Do something before you get slapped like a fly. O--o here he comes again, this time with Barnes. Nop-e, they were both hit away.
“Boss.” F.R.I.D.A.Y broke him out of his head. “Stranger-er Danger is attempting to con-n-nect.”
“Let him F.R.I.” He waited for connection and spoke before the sorcerer could. “Hello Dumbledore, aren’t you too busy to talk to little old me?” He snarked.
“Good to know-w-w that you are okay enough to speak, do-douchebag.” Tony could hear the relief
as the other man spoke. “I saw the explosion. I-I-I was a bit worried when you hadn't rejoined the battle-le-le-le so far. Shit-.” Stephen stopped talking for a moment since he had to quickly heal Elektro and teleport unconscious Venom. “F.R.I.D.A.Y surely told-old you already, but we take too much damage far too soon. I have my-my hands full teleporting people and being a support, however I suspect that-t-t will change in a short time. Do you need me to come to you-you?”
“Something is wrong with my leg and my chest hurts, but I can fight. Little pain won’t stop me.” He signed. “This situation is concerning. We knew it was going to be hard even with the extra assistance. This… Stephen we won’t win if it goes like this.” Tony knew the other could hear desperation in his voice. He didn't care anymore. This is the worst scenario of the end of the world. Thanos has three Stones and if he succeeds in destroying us, he will gain another two. From Carol info, there were two or three galaxies that could resist Thanos with five stones. The catch is however that they had to cooperate with each other. And they won't because of the ten thousand year old squabble. That is a disaster waiting to happen.
“Don’t I know it-it. But don’t worry-ry.” Stephen unknowingly broke his line of thinking. “If worst come to worst I-I will-AAGH-”
“Stephen? Stephen!! Answer me Street Magician! F.R.I. what is the situation?!?” Tony yelled, startled. Stephen answered before the AI could.
“-Can’t talk.” He spit out. “Thanos-s is aiming for me. I need to-to concentrate. Stay safe-fe”
“Stranger Danger disconnected Boss.” F.R.I.D.A.Y informed.
“F.R.I.D.A.Y, the Iron Legion?”
“All destroyed as of the last five minutes.”
“Fuck. Fuck! What can we do?” Tony looked at the sky and closed his eyes.
A faint memory entered his mind.
I want it to be our secret.
A flash of blonde hair and red and black…
Can you do that for me, mio bambino?
Serious hazel eyes looking into his…
Anything for you mommy.
A honest smile full of happiness on her face…
Tony sat up in shock. “What? Wait… that story…I almost forgot about it.” He murmured to himself.
“Bos-s-s?” He ignored his creation. His eyes glazed over while he thought.
“It could be true… That look in her eyes. She centrally believed in it.“ He looked at the battle. He can’t see Gamora anywhere and Carol looks battered. On the battlefield were only experienced superhumans and Rogers. “Everything is getting out of hand.”
He smiled an exhausted smile. “This is the Endgame.”
One of my ancestors was a curious person.” Maria looked at her son and smiled. “Just like you Antonio. Her name was Samantha. She was a young girl that looked at the world with wide eyes. She wanted to know everything about the world, so she was, in a sense, a scientist. She was known for her breakthrough in the entire country. But she had a secret. She was an incredible storyteller. Every child in her village insisted she was better than their parents. This wasn't a light praise. She had a way with her words that was honed when she traveled for knowledge.
Then she heard about the myth. So being the curious person she was, the girl tried everything to summon the mystery being. Not for the wish or being more famous. No, she wanted to know if the myth was true. Samantha experimented with the symbols, done them in different ways, or even spoke in other languages. She spent so much time on this.
But nothing happened. So she ended her experiment and exclaimed that the myth is in fact that, a myth. Our family went on with life and days became less exciting. Samantha stunts were mentioned the same with pranks and mischief. Like the good memories they were. She became interested in something else.
Until one dark day, someone set a family home on fire. We speculated that it was done between families like Stone or Strinsa but we didn't have enough proof. All of it burned when our home went into flames. The fire spread to the forest that was close to us. The Campbells tried everything to stop it, however it was for nothing. Everyone was in despair.
Everyone but Samantha. Her old mind recalled the myth, thought to be forgotten. She recalled the warning, but knowing that the family had nothing to lose, she found a place and started to draw following the original story.
“F.R.I.D.A.Y connect me with others fighting the grape.” Tony spoke.
“Connecte-ed Boss.” The AI chirped
“Who is fighting right now?”
Captain Marvel spoke first. “At the moment we have about twenty five-ish left on the battlefield. Dr. Strange, Loki, Dr Doom and some of the X-Men and Brotherhood.” She grunted as she dodged a bit too slow and took the blow to the shoulder. “The bad news is our meat folders are almost out. Rogers is the only one who is able to fight off from the Rogues.
“What about War Machine, Rescue and Spiderman, Carol?” Tony couldn't stop himself from asking. He was worried something more serious had happened to his friends and trainee.
Stephen chimed in. “Thanos did the same thing with Potts he did with you and she was out of count. Unfortunately Thanos was smarter about it and erected a shield. Rhodes tried to protect her but he was too late and took a blow to the head. Don’t worry I teleported them away as fast as I could. Stop moving, idiot.” He grunted to the person he was treating. “Spiderman attacked him from a distance while he tried to tie him with webs, but someone didn’t think and charged at Thanos forcing Spiderman to abandon his position. As a result we have one unconscious spider and injured supersoldier.”
“His side was open! I took a chance.” Rogers' face twisted in anger as he shouted.
“It wasn’t!” Tony could hear frustration in Stephen's voice. “Remember imbecile that he has the Power Stone! He literally punched you so far I had to teleport you back to the battleground and now you can't ever move at the moment!”
“It’s a matter of time before I can join the battle again. Leave me and concentrate on Thanos!” Rogers ordered as though he was the leader and not Carol. Evidently Stephen thought the same and didn’t like it. She had earned his respect with her logical thinking and quick strategizing.
“You know what? I can’t deal with you anymore!” Stephen snapped and Rogers screamed as he fell into the sorcerer portal.
“Finally, the mutt stopped bitching. What was I thinking in the past that I thought he was a good team leader? Oh right… I was tortured to insanity.” Loki spoke up sarcastically.
“Dr. Doom agrees with you. The Rogues defeated Dr Doom because of Dr Stark's incredible planning.”
“What normal folks see in him I will never know. All muscle and no brain.” Strange chimed in.
“Cough-Propaganda-Cough.” Carol smiled. “Focus on the battle, people. We can talk shit about Rogers after we win.”
People agreed with her and turned their attention to the enemy. Thanos was battling with Storm and Wolverine while using Reality Stone to change the perception around them.
“Nice morale boost, but does anybody have an actual plan?” Tony asked as he slowly got up on his knees.
“Dr. Doom is focused on moving while hitting the alien. Dr. Doom speculates that others are doing the same.” Dr. Doom answered him.
“All of our plans failed. Do you have an idea on how to defeat him?” Stephen spoke.
Tony hesitated for a moment. But he had chosen to do it and it is not worth it to back out. “I have an idea, but I don't know if it will work.”
“Do it.” Carol's answer surprised him. “As we said earlier, our plans failed. Maybe yours will work.”
“I need him distracted for about five to eight minutes max. Can you do that?”
“We will see what we can do, Stark. But don’t make us wait too long.” He could hear the smirk on his face.
‘ Jerk. ’ He thought fondly. Tony wont admit it to anyone but himself, but he is thankful for having such good teammates and even better friends. “I’m counting on you. Time starts now.”
Tony looked around and saw a boulder with a flat surface. He had to crawl on his knees. It was embarrassing, but he didn't think he could walk on two feet when he was in so much pain from crawling. He signed in relief as he finally got to his goal. He sat on the ground and removed the armor on his injured leg. Please don't be infected later. He winced while he dug his fingers in the wound. He took a deep breath and let his memories guide his hand. Before long he found himself in a trance.
Rectangle with a circle on top and a circle on bottom line,
Six lines crossing inside the rectangle,
Two circles in the center, smaller one inside the bigger one,
And in the center of the smaller circle, a big symmetrical eye.
After that day nobody was sure what happened. A ball of light has risen from the forest and covered the arena surrounded by the fire. From there the stories vary from the person. A teenage girl saw a bright star and the fire was no more. Young boy saw a gigantic dragon made from ice that froze the fire with its breath. An Elder saw a hurricane that took air from flames and made the fire vanish. Another person saw as the clouds gathered and rain poured on the lands.
All the stories have one thing in common. They took out the fire and didn’t harm them. The family wanted to celebrate the fortune they thought was sent from Heaven.
“Wait!” A dark haired boy shouted. “Where is Samantha? I can’t find her anywhere.”
This created chaos. People grouped and started to search for her. They didn't have to worry about the flames so they concentrated on looking. They yelled her name and carefully searched the mansion but Samantha wasn't there. Two hours had passed before they found her in the woods.
She was sitting beside the rectangle drawn with blood. She didn't answer or look at them. When they finally stood before her they gasped in shock. From the top of the hairline through the eye and ending on her chin was a jagged scar, as if someone took a dagger and cut her face. But it didn’t make sense because it was a scar that looked old and her family saw her earlier. She didn’t have one.
“Samantha.” The elder shook her a little and she looked at him. “What did you do?”
“I summoned… someone who could… save us.” She spoke slowly like she couldn't find her words.
The elder eyes widened. “So the legend is true…” He shook his head. “No matter. Come stand up my friend.” He helped her stand and her brother supported her during the walk. “Let's come home.”
Samantha wasn't the same afterwards… She wasn't quite here . But that was the result of her trying to save close to the heart so Samatha didn’t regret it.
There was a thing that worried her family. Sometimes she stopped what she was doing and laughed. When asked she said a friend visited her.
She never told anyone just who that friend was.
As Tony painted with his blood, black streaks of energy started forming on the floor around him.
The black streaks started jumping more from the ground until they looked like black lighting, as Tony was closer to finishing the symbol. That unfortunately became attention worthy in the battleground.
Thanos saw him alone in the distance and perceived him as the next target. He swatted away Captain Marvel and teleported near Iron Man using the Space Stone. He immediately recognized the power behind the spell.
“What? This energy…” He spoke shocked, but then shock changed into rage. “How dare you devastate Her powers!” He roared whilst rushing toward his enemy.
Tony jolted himself toward awareness at the howl. He instantly saw The Mad Titan and his fist coming toward his face. His finger connected the last line as he closed his eyes and prepared for pain. He faintly heard his friend scream his name.
He waited for it. When the punch didn't touch his face he reluctantly opened his eyes. Thanos fist was a few centimeters away from his face. The moment he looked towards his friend he saw that they were too frozen in their positions.
“...What?” Tony questioned. ”F.R.I.D.A.Y?” Tony's worries were cut short.
“ It hasn't been a long time since I was summoned…” A few voices spoke at the same time behind him. Tony turned and saw only one black shape several steps away. “You unlucky soul…” It spoke and slowly walked closer to him. “You caught me in a bad… mood.” The shape abruptly stopped. “Ah… It's you.” It smiled. “My my. This changes things.“
Tony backed away, instantly wary of its intentions. “Who are you? And what are you doing here.”
It stopped when Tony moved backwards. “You called for me with the ritual, Antonio.“
Tony's eyes flashed in recognition. “So you must be the Voice? Or Voices considering you have more than one? Wait, how do you know my name?”
“I have many names. Your mother summoned me when she was pregnant with you. Such a shame she died that way. She was a lovely mortal.“ Tony didn't know how but he could tell It? They? Let's call them they. They smiled in nostalgia.
“That's why she believed the story… Because she knew you.” His face turned stormy. “Was it your fault she was never there?” He clenched his fist. His expression told her what he was thinking but wouldn't speak. Did you give her depression and love for pills?
“No, little mortal.” They looked melancholic. “She invited me to this realm to revive the child she hasn't met yet.“
It threw him off course. What? But Then it clicked in his head. It makes sense… My parents were old enough to be my grandparents when they had me. There was a more than fifty percent chance for my mother to miscarriage. When Tony looked again at the shade they were focussing on him with mischievous air around them.
“There is also a fact that people from Carbonell are my favourite people. No matter what time line or era I met them, they always have interesting stories and wishes. No matter your current surname, you are a true Carbonell heir. So I couldn't not grant her wish. But enough chit-chat.“ Their entire being stiffened and became serious. “Tell me your wish, my merchant.“
Tony looked at them confused before he identified them. He snorted. “Of course you are The Death. Unbelievable.” He looked and shamelessly asked. “So are you the lady, gentleman or in between? Considering Thanos thinks you are a lady, but your voice? voices? make me think of other things.”
They huffed amused. “If you really want to know, I'm The Lady.“ They, or she as it turned out, snapped her fingers. “Your wish, Antonio. We don't have time.“
Tony smirked. “Don’t you know? We have the same goal. To stop Thanos.”
She smiled. Her voices changed until the female one stayed while she spoke. “Well then, dear. I need to borrow your body.“
Tony snickered as she came closer. “You have my consent darling. However, make him hurt for what he did.”
They took his face in their hand and kissed his forehead. Tony's eyes widened as they flashed gold and closed.
Time started simultaneously with energy exploding around them.
Only Stephen's years as sorcerer barely made him make up the barrier for the blast that came from Stark place. He vaguely heard Thanos flying over his head and crash-landing nearby.
Wind and dust waves passed through him, forcing him to close his eyes. When he opened them again, he couldn't believe what he saw.
Stark is standing inside the glowing rectangle with black lighting striking the air. For a moment he thought he saw a shape stand before Stark but it disappeared with the next blink. He straightened and stretched out. However when he opened his mouth, Stark's voice intervened with a female one. He could feel the strength rolling out from him even from his position.
”Ah… It has been a few centuries since I was in a mortal body. I forgot how tight they are.” He, or they?, purred out. He moved more in feminive way, but more unsettling were his eyes. His left enchanted his natural amber color into liquid gold while his right eye was shaped like a cat and colored bright red.
I never saw him move this gracefully. Stephen tsked annoyed. Shit. Possessions were more in Wong's repertoire. And this straining atmosphere… It's definitely more powerful than Archdemon. He looked at Stark's body with trepidation. What entity did you invoke Stark?
Then They? Definitely capital T from the pressure alone, looked down at Themselves. ”This won't do.” And snapped Their fingers. The lighting grew in thickness and enveloped Stark's figure entirely. Then the black burst in… Red and gold Sparks.
Really? Was it necessary? Stephen chuckled. This was pure Stark. If he can add touches when possessed, then it isn't THAT bad yet.
Stark's appearance was different. His bodysuit was replaced by white flowy shirt with fluffy sleeves and gold embroidery tucked in high waisted, body-tight black jeans. He wore a knee reaching light-brown coat on his shoulders. Unsurprisingly, on his feet showed up a pair of black high heels with gold soles. When Stephen peered closer, he saw gold hoop earrings on his ears. His face was made in ‘natural look’ make-up, but with red lipstick.
Damn, But Stark looked Hot with capital H. The look emphasizes his body structure and mostly the trim waist. His face was nice to look at too.
“Now this is better.” The entity in Stark's body caught him watching and winked in his direction. Stephen fought the urge to blush that wanted to show up from embarrassment, while They sharply looked to his right.
Stephen saw the injured participants of the battle standing around him, while They walked toward The Mad Titan lying on the ground. Right, He almost forgot, they were fighting Thanos.
The purple alien groaned as he woke up from his involuntary nap. He stiffened as he felt his Lady nearby.
He immediately stood up as the love of his life walked towards him. “Lady Death.” He smiled. “I see you finally accepted my invita-'' He couldn't finish the sentence as he had barely dodged the scythe his Lady manifested while he talked. “Wha-”
“It's time to end this.” Death interrupted him and her glare stopped him from counterattacking. “I finally have the vessel I needed to stop you.”
“I'm creating balance in the galaxy to show my love to you!” He tried to come closer but she lashed at him again.
“The only thing you are showing me is how you disregard my work. You should be dead but The Fate has a funny way of showing pity.”
Quicker than he could see, Death came closer and sliced the head of his shoulders. Thanos teleported away from his Love in one piece, but not unscathened. Blood dropped on his chest from the shallow wound on his throat.
Thanos understood at that moment that his Lady sided with the mortals. This is a tragedy, but with his past, he knew deep down in his heart that his love ends up like this. To mourn this moment he decided that if he can't have her then nobody would. Starting with the person she chose instead of him.
Thanos geared up and attacked. Death blocked him with scythe and kicked his torso. Thanos grabbed her leg and squeezed. Undeterred, Death tapped the handle of her weapon on the ground and turned around, trying to hit his head with her heel. Thanos had to let her leg or he would lose his eye. In doing so, he didn't see the blade coming to his face until the last second. He didn’t dodge it completely, as pain bloomed on his face. Death has managed to cut him across the face and hit the eye.
Thanos held his face and backed away. Death didn’t let him and went for the kill. Thanos, knowing that his defeat is near, used the Reality Stone to change perception in the mortal Death was using. It should give him enough time for escape. Unfortunately for him, constantly using the stones weakened him more than he would have liked and Death's body was strong enough to repel the spell.
Thanos's last sight was Death's face, full of rage, before his head was cut off.
“This was anticlimactic. I was hoping he would last longer..”
Captain Marvel flew closer looking concerned. “Stark?”
Death looked at her from the ground. “Don’t worry, I will let him go.”
Loki teleported beside her, his stance clearly defensive and surprisingly, worried. “Can we get Stark in the same condition that you got him, Lady Death?”
“Of course princeling.” Loki stiffened at the casual nickname drop from Stark arsenal.
Stephen went through his portal at this moment. “Your actions helped us to win this fight, Lady Death. We thank you from the bottom of our heart.”
She smiled at them. “I wouldn't help you if my Merchant didn’t ask for help.” S he signed. “Every time I go to the crystal ball to see what he is doing, each time it surprises me what the little shit is doing.” She shook her head. “It's time for me to say goodbye. Before that… Can you tell Rogues that I have reserved a very special place with their name on it?”
Before they could answer her, Death's body glowed. The powerful aura has disappeared with Death and Tony dropped. He was grabbed before he could fall to the ground. Stephen was the lucky person to catch him.
The group looked at him and then at each other. Carol laughed. “Only Tony.”
“Who would have known that Stark had such connections?” Loki said sarcastically. “But I have to say, Lady Death has a sense of fashion.” He looked Tony over, from top to bottom. “I like this look very much.”
Stephen opened a portal. “Let's get him home.” He smiled and they all went through the portal. “You can then drag him shopping, you drama queen.”
END
