Thor Odinson, God of Thunder, King of Asgard (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pirateangelbaby) wrote2019-09-15 08:02 pm
pirateangelbaby) wrote2019-09-15 08:02 pm
Entry tags:
One Last Shot
[Trigger warnings: mentions of attempted and successful suicide, major character death.]
The elation of returning to the present with Mjolnir in hand and six Infinity Stones in the hands of his teammates is short-lived.
Natasha does not reappear with everyone else, and without saying a word, the devastation on Barton's face as he crashes to his knees is enough to tell them all why.
Gone.
Dead.
Her life traded for the soul stone, which glows a sickly sweet orange as it's placed into the knuckle of the nanotech gauntlet Stark has forged. The other stones shine in their sockets, all the colors of the rainbow, an impossible dream given physical form. And yet, even this power is not enough to bring her back, or so Barton claims. An everlasting exchange, one that speaks of ancient and terrible magic. Thor is no sorcerer. But even he knows that such things are not easily undone, no matter how much power one commands.
It was supposed to be me, Barton had told them as he'd wept, and it twists in Thor's belly like a sickness. None of the others deserved to die to make this right. If anyone had to die, it should have been himself, the one who had had the best chance of ending the Titan's life before he'd snapped his fingers, and hadn't done it. But while he had been on Asgard, utterly useless and being soothed by his mother like a child after a nightmare, Natasha had thrown herself to her death. Sacrificed to save the universe, fighting every step of the way.
It is a good death. A warrior's death, one that may lead her to the gates of Valhalla, eternally feasting in victory. But Thor has lost so many friends, so much family, that he cannot help but mourn her.
He thinks about that as he watches the gauntlet being assembled, the deceptively innocent glow of six Infinity Stones cradled in its metal embrace. The ultimate power in the universe, assembled one last time, gathered to bring back trillions of lives. Half the universe. Everyone that Thor had failed that day.
"All right, the glove's ready," Rocket reports, his voice unusually subdued as he looks up at the gathered group of Avengers. "The question is, who's going to snap their freaking fingers?"
The stones may yet be a death sentence to the one who uses them, but Thor is in a room full of mortals. There is only one god here, and it's on his shoulders that the fate of the universe must rest. Perhaps this is why he did not die that day on the Statesman, or in Wakanda. If by his death he can set things right... Natasha did it. How could Thor do anything less? He may not even die from it, but his human friends definitely will.
He does not think of promises made and promises broken as he steps forward, drawn toward the gauntlet as if by magnetic force. "I'll do it."
He makes it a good deal of the way there before the others realize what he's said, and there's a sudden flurry of objections, Stark stepping into his path so he can go no further, raising his hands as if he might be able to hold Thor back by sheer muscle alone. Thor stops anyway, because it makes little difference if he gains the gauntlet now or in five minutes, the end result will surely be the same. "Whoa whoa whoa, slow down."
Stark isn't the only one. Steve looks away, and grits his teeth. There's a look about him that Thor recognizes all too well, grief and fear and that horrible realization that Natasha may not be the only sacrifice today. And, perhaps, recognition that maybe there is no one else who can do this. "Thor, just... wait. If there's a way we can do this without someone else dying, then that's what we're going to do."
This delay is pointless. There is no other conclusion to draw, no other way to use the stones, no one else who bears the blame that Thor does. His gaze is fixed on the gauntlet over Stark's shoulder, a terrible yearning in his eye. Not for death, but for salvation. To set all this right, and correct the unforgivable mistake he made that day in Wakanda. And if that path ends with Thor stepping through the golden gates of his father's hall, then he could ask for no better end. "I'm the strongest Avenger," he reminds them, summoning every last shred and dignity and honor he has left to his name to stand up straight and tall, as if he was still the same hero he'd thought he'd been. "This responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty."
And yet Stark does not move from his path, his gaze riveted to Thor as if he might dissuade him by sheer willpower alone. "Normally, you'd be right, but you're in no condition. Come on, sit down, let's talk this through," he says, tugging at Thor's arm.
But what is the point? What will talking it over prove? He refuses to budge, until a large green hand lands on his shoulder and pulls him backward.
Hulk looms over Thor, a serious look on his face. "Hulk and Banner do it," he says, shoving Thor back away from the gauntlet, and looks around the room at them.
"Hulk," Steve says carefully, pensively, worry creasing his brow. "Are you sure you can handle this?"
"Put brain and brawn together," Hulk answers, smacking his fist into his palm, and Rocket's ears perk up at the familiar phrase. "Pretty stones use gamma radiation. So does Hulk. Hulk strong enough to use them. Banner tell Hulk what to do. Hulk and Banner do this together."
Thor stares up at Hulk, his desperation twisting up into disappointment and relief and fear. Fear that even Hulk may not be enough to survive the terrible ravages of using all six Infinity Stones, and knowing all too well that if Hulk cannot withstand the radiation that created him, that Thor stands no better chance. He reaches out and puts his hand on Hulk's arm, warm and alive, and prays that this will not be their last act. "Hulk... Banner... be careful."
Hulk smiles grimly at him, and picks up the gauntlet, turning it over in his enormous hands. Too small to fit, but the technology of the glove begins to reconfigure it as he holds it, shifting and expanding and growing in size, until even those massive green hands will fit. All around them, windows and doorways slide closed, covered with armored blast shielding, as Stark summons his armor and an energy barrier. Rhodes and Lang activate their helmets, Barton readies his bow and Steven prepares his shield, and Thor guides Rocket to stand behind him. He does not see Nebula in the room, but perhaps she simply did not wish to watch, after what happened to her father. They can find her later, Thor decides, and thinks nothing more of it. He has more important things to focus on, watching those stones glow with deceptive innocence, the greatest power the universe has ever known brought back from the abyss.
"Okay, remember, everyone that Thanos snapped away six months ago, you're bringing them back to now," Stark says, watching Hulk closely, nervousness in the lines of his face. "Don't change anything else from the last six months, got it?"
Hulk grunts in affirmation, looking down at the gauntlet, and pauses a moment as if listening to a voice no one else can hear. "Everyone come home," he mutters, and slips the gauntlet onto his right hand.
The stones flare bright with rainbow light, sparks shooting up Hulk's arm like wild lightning, and Thor can taste the ozone from meters away. Hulk bellows in surprise and pain, falling to his knees and clutching at his wrist as the energies ravage his flesh, burning away at skin and muscle as the energy travels further and further up his arm and into his torso, veins of light traveling up his neck. There's a jolt that rocks the floor beneath their feet, a shockwave that ripples through the glass fixtures in the room, and out of the corner of his eye Thor can see Iron Man's head jerk up slightly as if listening to something. Perhaps it's simply a trick of the light, but the rest of the room seems to darken as if a massive shadow has fallen across the facility, the stones flaring ever brighter as Hulk struggles to bring his gloved fingers together, his face screwing up with concentration against the agony. "Everyone... come... home!" he roars, and his finger starts to slide against his thumb.
And then there is a bright flash as the entire Avengers complex blows apart around them.
Thor wakes buried in broken concrete and shattered glass, disoriented, with no idea what just happened. He heaves at the rubble, stone clattering aside as he forces his way to the surface, and emerges into a nightmare.
He is in the midst of a massive crater in the ground, great clouds of dust and smoke blocking out nearly all light from the sun, great piles of debris as far as the eye can see. There is nothing recognizable, nothing to mark this as the site of the Avengers compound, the entire facility reduced to rubble. And overhead, casting its deep shadow across the destruction, hangs the ship that has haunted Thor's dreams for six months.
The Sanctuary II. The ship of Thanos, the Mad Titan.
Thor can only gape up at it in disbelief, that terrible floating numbness starting to creep in as he struggles to make sense of all this. Did Banner somehow undo Thanos' death? Has all this been for nothing, or worse than nothing? Has the Titan returned from death itself as a revenant, unable to rest until everything is truly destroyed? Or has Thor finally, truly, gone mad?
He's shaken from his paralysis by a metal-clad hand on his shoulder, and turns his head to see Stark's face peering out of his open faceplate, blood matting the side of his face and his eyes wide. "Hey, come on, you all right? You hurt?" Thor can only numbly shake his head, and Stark's face tightens. "Right, come on, we've gotta find the others. He's here."
"I know," Thor mumbles, his eye returning to the ship above, but Stark shakes his head and drags him to a sheltered spot, part of the building's facade that still stands, looking down on the deepest part of the crater. And in the middle, sitting on a shattered column with that double-bladed sword planted in the earth at his side, a familiar violet figure sits and waits.
Thanos himself.
"FRIDAY clocked him coming through right as Hulk was putting the gauntlet on," Stark reports, almost babbling as he guides Thor into the shattered doorway that overlooks the ruin of the complex. "I don't know how, but he followed us through the time machine. I need you to keep an eye on him while I find the others. Can you do that for me?"
Distantly, Thor recognizes that he's in shock, but the adrenaline is pushing it down and away. This is not Thanos come back from the dead, or some mistake made by Hulk that Thor would have avoided. He still fears Thanos, more than anything or anyone else in existence. And while part of Thor's mind is screaming to run, that this can't be happening again, a thousand years of training and battle instinct is settling into his limbs as if they'd never left, taking over from conscious thought.
Thanos is the greatest threat the universe has ever known. But he is also just a man.
And Thor has killed him once already.
"Yes," he says, his voice surprisingly steady as if it does not belong to him, his one eye fixed on the distant form of the Titan, sitting almost lazily in the midst of the destruction he has wrought. "I can."
The elation of returning to the present with Mjolnir in hand and six Infinity Stones in the hands of his teammates is short-lived.
Natasha does not reappear with everyone else, and without saying a word, the devastation on Barton's face as he crashes to his knees is enough to tell them all why.
Gone.
Dead.
Her life traded for the soul stone, which glows a sickly sweet orange as it's placed into the knuckle of the nanotech gauntlet Stark has forged. The other stones shine in their sockets, all the colors of the rainbow, an impossible dream given physical form. And yet, even this power is not enough to bring her back, or so Barton claims. An everlasting exchange, one that speaks of ancient and terrible magic. Thor is no sorcerer. But even he knows that such things are not easily undone, no matter how much power one commands.
It was supposed to be me, Barton had told them as he'd wept, and it twists in Thor's belly like a sickness. None of the others deserved to die to make this right. If anyone had to die, it should have been himself, the one who had had the best chance of ending the Titan's life before he'd snapped his fingers, and hadn't done it. But while he had been on Asgard, utterly useless and being soothed by his mother like a child after a nightmare, Natasha had thrown herself to her death. Sacrificed to save the universe, fighting every step of the way.
It is a good death. A warrior's death, one that may lead her to the gates of Valhalla, eternally feasting in victory. But Thor has lost so many friends, so much family, that he cannot help but mourn her.
He thinks about that as he watches the gauntlet being assembled, the deceptively innocent glow of six Infinity Stones cradled in its metal embrace. The ultimate power in the universe, assembled one last time, gathered to bring back trillions of lives. Half the universe. Everyone that Thor had failed that day.
"All right, the glove's ready," Rocket reports, his voice unusually subdued as he looks up at the gathered group of Avengers. "The question is, who's going to snap their freaking fingers?"
The stones may yet be a death sentence to the one who uses them, but Thor is in a room full of mortals. There is only one god here, and it's on his shoulders that the fate of the universe must rest. Perhaps this is why he did not die that day on the Statesman, or in Wakanda. If by his death he can set things right... Natasha did it. How could Thor do anything less? He may not even die from it, but his human friends definitely will.
He does not think of promises made and promises broken as he steps forward, drawn toward the gauntlet as if by magnetic force. "I'll do it."
He makes it a good deal of the way there before the others realize what he's said, and there's a sudden flurry of objections, Stark stepping into his path so he can go no further, raising his hands as if he might be able to hold Thor back by sheer muscle alone. Thor stops anyway, because it makes little difference if he gains the gauntlet now or in five minutes, the end result will surely be the same. "Whoa whoa whoa, slow down."
Stark isn't the only one. Steve looks away, and grits his teeth. There's a look about him that Thor recognizes all too well, grief and fear and that horrible realization that Natasha may not be the only sacrifice today. And, perhaps, recognition that maybe there is no one else who can do this. "Thor, just... wait. If there's a way we can do this without someone else dying, then that's what we're going to do."
This delay is pointless. There is no other conclusion to draw, no other way to use the stones, no one else who bears the blame that Thor does. His gaze is fixed on the gauntlet over Stark's shoulder, a terrible yearning in his eye. Not for death, but for salvation. To set all this right, and correct the unforgivable mistake he made that day in Wakanda. And if that path ends with Thor stepping through the golden gates of his father's hall, then he could ask for no better end. "I'm the strongest Avenger," he reminds them, summoning every last shred and dignity and honor he has left to his name to stand up straight and tall, as if he was still the same hero he'd thought he'd been. "This responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty."
And yet Stark does not move from his path, his gaze riveted to Thor as if he might dissuade him by sheer willpower alone. "Normally, you'd be right, but you're in no condition. Come on, sit down, let's talk this through," he says, tugging at Thor's arm.
But what is the point? What will talking it over prove? He refuses to budge, until a large green hand lands on his shoulder and pulls him backward.
Hulk looms over Thor, a serious look on his face. "Hulk and Banner do it," he says, shoving Thor back away from the gauntlet, and looks around the room at them.
"Hulk," Steve says carefully, pensively, worry creasing his brow. "Are you sure you can handle this?"
"Put brain and brawn together," Hulk answers, smacking his fist into his palm, and Rocket's ears perk up at the familiar phrase. "Pretty stones use gamma radiation. So does Hulk. Hulk strong enough to use them. Banner tell Hulk what to do. Hulk and Banner do this together."
Thor stares up at Hulk, his desperation twisting up into disappointment and relief and fear. Fear that even Hulk may not be enough to survive the terrible ravages of using all six Infinity Stones, and knowing all too well that if Hulk cannot withstand the radiation that created him, that Thor stands no better chance. He reaches out and puts his hand on Hulk's arm, warm and alive, and prays that this will not be their last act. "Hulk... Banner... be careful."
Hulk smiles grimly at him, and picks up the gauntlet, turning it over in his enormous hands. Too small to fit, but the technology of the glove begins to reconfigure it as he holds it, shifting and expanding and growing in size, until even those massive green hands will fit. All around them, windows and doorways slide closed, covered with armored blast shielding, as Stark summons his armor and an energy barrier. Rhodes and Lang activate their helmets, Barton readies his bow and Steven prepares his shield, and Thor guides Rocket to stand behind him. He does not see Nebula in the room, but perhaps she simply did not wish to watch, after what happened to her father. They can find her later, Thor decides, and thinks nothing more of it. He has more important things to focus on, watching those stones glow with deceptive innocence, the greatest power the universe has ever known brought back from the abyss.
"Okay, remember, everyone that Thanos snapped away six months ago, you're bringing them back to now," Stark says, watching Hulk closely, nervousness in the lines of his face. "Don't change anything else from the last six months, got it?"
Hulk grunts in affirmation, looking down at the gauntlet, and pauses a moment as if listening to a voice no one else can hear. "Everyone come home," he mutters, and slips the gauntlet onto his right hand.
The stones flare bright with rainbow light, sparks shooting up Hulk's arm like wild lightning, and Thor can taste the ozone from meters away. Hulk bellows in surprise and pain, falling to his knees and clutching at his wrist as the energies ravage his flesh, burning away at skin and muscle as the energy travels further and further up his arm and into his torso, veins of light traveling up his neck. There's a jolt that rocks the floor beneath their feet, a shockwave that ripples through the glass fixtures in the room, and out of the corner of his eye Thor can see Iron Man's head jerk up slightly as if listening to something. Perhaps it's simply a trick of the light, but the rest of the room seems to darken as if a massive shadow has fallen across the facility, the stones flaring ever brighter as Hulk struggles to bring his gloved fingers together, his face screwing up with concentration against the agony. "Everyone... come... home!" he roars, and his finger starts to slide against his thumb.
And then there is a bright flash as the entire Avengers complex blows apart around them.
Thor wakes buried in broken concrete and shattered glass, disoriented, with no idea what just happened. He heaves at the rubble, stone clattering aside as he forces his way to the surface, and emerges into a nightmare.
He is in the midst of a massive crater in the ground, great clouds of dust and smoke blocking out nearly all light from the sun, great piles of debris as far as the eye can see. There is nothing recognizable, nothing to mark this as the site of the Avengers compound, the entire facility reduced to rubble. And overhead, casting its deep shadow across the destruction, hangs the ship that has haunted Thor's dreams for six months.
The Sanctuary II. The ship of Thanos, the Mad Titan.
Thor can only gape up at it in disbelief, that terrible floating numbness starting to creep in as he struggles to make sense of all this. Did Banner somehow undo Thanos' death? Has all this been for nothing, or worse than nothing? Has the Titan returned from death itself as a revenant, unable to rest until everything is truly destroyed? Or has Thor finally, truly, gone mad?
He's shaken from his paralysis by a metal-clad hand on his shoulder, and turns his head to see Stark's face peering out of his open faceplate, blood matting the side of his face and his eyes wide. "Hey, come on, you all right? You hurt?" Thor can only numbly shake his head, and Stark's face tightens. "Right, come on, we've gotta find the others. He's here."
"I know," Thor mumbles, his eye returning to the ship above, but Stark shakes his head and drags him to a sheltered spot, part of the building's facade that still stands, looking down on the deepest part of the crater. And in the middle, sitting on a shattered column with that double-bladed sword planted in the earth at his side, a familiar violet figure sits and waits.
Thanos himself.
"FRIDAY clocked him coming through right as Hulk was putting the gauntlet on," Stark reports, almost babbling as he guides Thor into the shattered doorway that overlooks the ruin of the complex. "I don't know how, but he followed us through the time machine. I need you to keep an eye on him while I find the others. Can you do that for me?"
Distantly, Thor recognizes that he's in shock, but the adrenaline is pushing it down and away. This is not Thanos come back from the dead, or some mistake made by Hulk that Thor would have avoided. He still fears Thanos, more than anything or anyone else in existence. And while part of Thor's mind is screaming to run, that this can't be happening again, a thousand years of training and battle instinct is settling into his limbs as if they'd never left, taking over from conscious thought.
Thanos is the greatest threat the universe has ever known. But he is also just a man.
And Thor has killed him once already.
"Yes," he says, his voice surprisingly steady as if it does not belong to him, his one eye fixed on the distant form of the Titan, sitting almost lazily in the midst of the destruction he has wrought. "I can."
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Thanos makes no attempt to leave his chosen seat. He's removed his golden helm and scarcely moves a muscle as the complex continues to burn and crumble around him. Thor will have the time he desperately needs to pull himself together while Tony scrambles to find the others.
Something clatters against Steve's shoulder, once. Twice. The world is still out of focus, ears ringing from the blast as Tony's voice slowly filters in.
"--otta wake up!" Steve's covered in rubble. He twists and winces as he shoves a broken pillar off of himself before rolling to the side gasping for air. Tony sets Steve's shield down next to him. "You lose this again and I'm keeping it."
Steve can't make himself make words coherently but Tony holds his hands up to quiet Steve's babbling while he explains the situation as quickly as he can. Helps the soldier to his feet and leads him back to Thor. Only three of them left for the moment. It wasn't nearly enough before but it'll have to be, now. Everything they've fought and sacrificed for, only instead of their world restored, they got Thanos back.
"Where are the stones?" It's not right, something must have gone wrong. Steve can't believe this is how it ends.
"Somewhere underneath all of this." Tony gestures out amid the rubble of the complex. "Point is, he doesn't have them yet."
Steve sucks in a breath. Tests the weight of his shield in hand. This is the hand they've been dealt. The only choice is to go forward.
"Then let's keep it that way."
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Thanos has to know that Thor is here, standing in plain sight amidst the ruins of the Avengers complex, but the Mad Titan doesn't move. Doesn't speak. Doesn't do anything but sit there as if he expects the stones to come to him of their own accord. At this distance, Thor can't see the smirk on his face that must surely be there, but he's seen it in his nightmares often enough that he doesn't have to.
And yet by the time Thor hears the scraping of rock and metal behind him, his hands seem steady, his focus as gathered as it's been in months, even as his heart thuds heavily in his chest. There's a spark of genuine anger in his belly, such as he has not felt since the day he buried his axe in Thanos' chest, outraged defiance that they would come this far, get this close, only to fall at the finish line. He tamps down that anger with the reminder of what happened last time, waiting for the others to join him, so that they may face this threat together. Together.
Whether it is for the last time, or not.
He doesn't turn when Stark and Steve arrive at his side, keeping his gaze fixed on the source of the greatest waking nightmare Thor has ever known, cold numbness keeping his voice steady as he speaks in turn. "You know this is a trap, right?"
"Yeah," Stark answers, sounding just as quietly furious. "I don't much care."
Thor doesn't need to hear Steve's answer to know what he would do. Get up and keep fighting. So he simply nods. "Just so we're all in agreement." He reaches deep down for the well of power at his core, the wild storm that he has commanded for over a thousand years, and stretches out his hands to call to his weapons. The clouds overhead darken further, a thunderclap ringing out over the ruin, and rubble shifts and clatters away as Mjolnir and Stormbreaker burst forth from the wreckage and leap to his hands. Lightning strikes as he summons the armor he has not worn since the Garden, still a flawless fit, his hair gathered back beneath his black-winged helmet, his beard braided and fastened neatly at his chin.
He is as prepared as he will ever be.
The three of them descend into the crater, the last defense of Earth. They may not be enough. But there is no path but forward, into the abyss, side by side once more.
Thanos does not stand as they approach, only lifting his head to watch them in calm certainty, a satisfied smile on that monstrous face. "You could not live with your own failure," he sneers. "And where did that bring you? Back to me."
Never in his life has Thor hated someone more than he hates the Titan in front of him now. One last burst of rage, pent up underneath months of despair and grief and guilt, held in check by the agonizing teacher that is experience. Here is the true source of Thor's destruction, no matter how deeply his self-blame runs; if not for Thanos, none of it would have happened at all. As Stark moves left, Thor goes right, leaving the center for Steve as the three of them maneuver around mountains of debris to encircle their most dangerous adversary.
"I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive," the Titan continues, "but you've shown me that's impossible. And as long as there are those that remembered what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be."
"Yep, we're all kinds of stubborn," Stark says from across what is bound to become their last battlefield, the engineer's eyes fixed on Thanos.
"I'm thankful. Because now, I know what I must do. I will shred this universe down to its last atom," Thanos answers, casually pulling himself to his feet, and reaching for the helmet sitting atop his blade like a skull on a pike. "And then, with the stones you have collected for me, create a new one of my own making. There is nothing you can do to stop me, for if you kill me now, you will unravel the universe yourselves. Either I will fulfill my mission, or you will." He smiles wickedly, drawing his sword forth from the earth. "But I have no reason to stay my hand against you."
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A quick glance to either side confirms that Tony and Thor are in position. The air positively hums with electric energy Thor is controlling. The soft whine of Tony's weapons coming online is all Steve needs for a signal. They charge in as one. Steve's had enough practice fighting with the others to know to keep his shield raised as he charges forward. Ready to deflect anything Thor or Tony casts toward Thanos while he closes the distance. His boots crunch into the scattered debris as Steve leaps to knock the mad titan off his balance, only to be thrown back bodily enough to cover a good twenty feet.
The soldier's rolling back onto his feet immediately, averting his eyes lest the light show that is Tony and Thor unleashing havoc onto the battlefield blind him where he stands. Every blow Tony or Thor takes only adds to the anger surging through Steve's limbs. The injustice of Thanos coming back here and now to take their victory away from out of their hands again is too much to bear.
Natasha didn't give up her life for this.
Steve spits dirt and blood out of his mouth then he pushes himself up again. His hurled shield knocks Thanos off his aim to spare Tony a grisly blow. They can't afford to lose anyone here. This is all they have left.
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But surrender is not in Thor's nature, and he could no more turn from this battle now than he ever could.
He screams out in rage and defiance, charging into battle, wielding both axe and hammer with a desperate determination, their mutual battle experience bringing them together as though they'd never left. Lightning and blue fire wreathes Thor and his weapons both as he seeks out the openings Stark makes him, moving without hesitation into the gap Steve leaves when he is ejected from the brawl, an ebb and flow as natural as breathing as they fill the gaps the others make. Habit and training guide his limbs without pause, and if ever Thor was truly a god, he channels that part of him now to strike against the monster that slaughtered a universe.
But they aren't an army. And the three of them are not enough.
One by one, they fall, until Thor finds himself weaponless, being stomped into the rubble hard enough that his ribs would break if not for his armor, Thanos all but kneeling on him as he beats the Asgardian into the dirt. Thor reaches out a hand and calls to Stormbreaker, but a large purple hand intercepts the axe, swinging the blade down toward Thor's chest. His hands come up to grab at the Titan's arm, metal and flesh both straining to keep that immaculately sharp blade at bay, but inch by inch it creeps closer and closer.
It's in this moment, staring death in the face as it looms over him and grins, that Thor suddenly realizes that he is not ready to die after all.
He's wanted nothing more for months, to meet his end in battle and erase his greatest shame, to earn his place in Valhalla and see his mother and father and brother again. He's wanted nothing more than an end to his suffering, to finally move on and rest, and let his people heal themselves without him weighing them down. But if he dies here, then so does everyone who still lives, everyone else who was spared the genocide that halved the universe. He can't die here, not now, not when they are so close to righting what went wrong. To saving the universe.
And it's now that Thor thinks of Loki, and a promise made to return, and in this moment he wants nothing more than to make good on that promise and never look back. To live, in all ways, and find the courage and the strength to make a future for himself and his people. To set aside his guilt and grief, and grow.
Now he may not have the chance, and Thor would give anything to take it all back.
His arms shake from the effort of holding Stormbreaker at bay, that razor-sharp blade creeping down and down until it begins to part the metal of his cuirass, pushed inexorably toward his heart.
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Steve Rogers fights to get to his feet. Tony's down for the moment and Thor--No not again not now. Steve's already lost Natasha. Has already lost so many people he cannot, will not lost the Asgardian here today. His shield isn't enough to dislodge the titan though. His fists barely able to do more than cause annoyance. There must be something he can do. A difference he can make.
His breath catches in his chest when Steve spies Mjolnir laying on the ground next to him. If he can just get it to Thor. Give the god a weapon to fight with--Steve reaches down and grabs hold of the grip half out of desperation. It pulls away from the earth cleanly, the hammer's weight perfect in his hand. He splutters, but there's no time for shock and definitely no time for questions. Steve throws it with all of his superior strength and can't help the way his lips pull back into a fierce grin when the weight of it knocks Thanos off of his friend.
He raises a hand to signal to Thor and is startled when the hammer comes back. Steve has to shift his weight to miss getting hit by its return, twisting to grab it once more. Shield in one hand, hammer in the other.
Every fight he's ever had the honor to serve next to Thor Odinson and Blaze-37 are coming back to him in this moment. Whether it's Mjolnir's magic or just plain blind stubborn determination Steve grits his teeth, raises his shield, and runs Thanos down with Mjolnir in hand.
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The shock of it cuts through the fear and dread, and Thor knows he should be looking to see what their enemy is doing but he can't look away from the sight of his friend, his shieldbrother, wielding the ancient hammer of the gods as easily as he hefts his shield, and looking just as stunned by it as Thor is.
Something bright and hopeful bursts in his chest instead of a blade, and Thor laughs out loud. "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy..."
Of all the companions Thor has had in his long life, Thor can think of no one worthier.
And then Steve charges, and Thor moves to get to his feet, and catches a backhand from the Titan that sends him hurtling across the battlefield and into a twisted pile of wreckage. He wheezes at the impact, the wind knocked out of him and his head spinning, and tries to blink away the dust clouding his one good eye as he listens to the sounds of battle raging nearby, Mjolnir singing in Steve's hand.
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It feels so natural to swing the hammer, to hear it reverberate as it bashes against Thanos' gleaming armor and sends the titan flying back. Before Steve was barely abel to hold his own of the three of them against Thanos. Now? He might just have a chance. Steve's heart is a jackhammer in his chest as his next swing misses. The titan's blow clatters against his shield, sending the soldier skidding back in the dirt. Still no movement on either side of him.
Steve raises the hammer and has to steel himself against dropping Mjolnir out of instinct when the air hums before a strike of lightning slams down into the hammer. Energy surges up his arm. Steve doesn't know how he glows with crackling light, doesn't know what he's doing more than just remembering his time spent fighting at Thor's side for years. He aims the hammer toward Thanos and sends all of that stored charge bolting across the battlefield to slam into his foe.
Steve hasn't felt this kind of powerful since the very first time he got into a fight with his new body.
He loses track of how many blows he lands on Thanos. Gives himself in to the flow of the battle. Focuses entirely on the titan in front of him and the weapons in his hands. Lightning strikes, Mjolnir and his shield positively sing out across the destruction. Thanos is gaining back ground slowly but surely. As he gets used to Steve's new attack style he's more easily able to counter it. Catch the human by the collar and slam him into the dirt. Thanos may not be able to wield Thor's hammer but he sure as hell can wield Steve. He's picking the human up and throwing him across the field of rubble.
"You know....in all my years of conquest trying to track down these stones, none of the bloodshed was ever personal." Thanos' words barely make it to Steve's ears while he staggers to get up again. Get his feet underneath him. "But right here? Right now? What I am about to do to this planet you call home....I'm going to enjoy it."
Thanos signals to his ship. Faintly in the distance Steve can hear the sound of the titans troops touching down onto Earth's soil. His groans of pain get drowned out by the roars of Chi'tauri beasts being let loose from their cages. Steve gets back up on shaking feet and watches countless enemies descend. Until everywhere he can see is covered in Thanos' troops. Beating the Titan was never enough. His entire army was still waiting in the wings. He, Tony, and Thor couldn't beat Thanos alone.
Thanos with the might of his forces, his generals, his siege machines...The sky full of monsters...
If I don't make it back, Thor had said. It looks like none of them will now. Shaking fingers grab hold of the leather brace holding his shield and pull it taut. Captain America squares his shoulders. Stands alone before the full might of Thanos's army. It's suicide. He doesn't care.
"--ap, --n you read me?" Static in his ear. Steve shakes his head. Reaches up with one hand to touch at his earpiece. He must have hit his head harder than he thought. Steve's looking around the battlefield. There's nothing--no one else--
Steve knows that voice but it's one that only exists in his heart anymore. Along with all the dead blown away by Thanos' will alone. He doesn't have time for distractions. Steve's almost ready to stumble forward again when the static comes back, louder this time.
"On your left, Cap." Sam. Sam Wilson.
Steve's not quite prepared for what he sees when he turns. Too much to hope for, too unreal to process. A swirling vortex of golden light. Steve's never seen anything like it before. It's too bright to stare directly at though he would know the figures that emerge from it in his sleep. The lost king T'Challa of Wakanda, his first General Okoye, and his baby sister. All dressed for battle. All whole and alive.
It's impossible.
Unless.
Unless their gambit actually worked. The golden portal widens to reveal T'Challa's whole army at his back. The whine of Sam's jet pack cuts through the air before he's flying out across the battlefield in an arc. In his wake dozens more portals are opening up. There are so many people--friends and strangers alike--stepping through to join Steve across the field from Thanos and his army.
"Okay I just got topside, and holy fuck that's a lot of troops. What do you want me to do with the gauntlet, Steve?" Clint's voice is just as awed as his is though it brings the soldier back to the present. For a second, he'd been pretty sure he was dreaming.
He's not.
They're not alone anymore. But the battle is still yet to be won.
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"Mister Stark!" Tony's alive and well. Beat up, of course he is what with a fight for the world and all that but he's here. Peter's not prepared for Tony to wrap him up in a hug. It steals the words right out of his mouth. For just a second, Peter could forget that there's a fight to be had. This is nice.
Unexpected. Needed.
"I...I'm gonna help make it right, Mister Stark." Whatever it takes to help Iron Man save the world. Tony's off to the front lines and Peter sucks in a breath before he looks around. Later, Peter can hurt about what had to be done here today but there won't be a later if he doesn't give it his all. "Karen I'm...I'm gonna need you to activate everything. We're going full aggression."
It's too risky in an open field like this to jump into the middle of everything. He's going to look for a familiar face and join the fray by their side. A few bolts of lightning across the battlefield will send him Thor's way.
"Thor! Behind you, incoming!" It's easier to work at defending an ally than it is for Spider-Man to head out looking to kill someone else. Anyone else, really. He'll do his best to keep watch over the God of Thunder's back. He's like, the strongest Avenger, right? It's got to be a good plan.
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And then...
Sparking orange portals open by the dozens, and out march entire armies. Okoye at the side of her king and princess, leading the army of Wakandan soldiers that had turned to dust. A fleet of Ravagers, ships and all, armed to the teeth and ready for war. A legion of Vanir soldiers, led by Valkyrie astride her pegasus, flanked by Korg and Miek. And on and on they come, 'til they number in the thousands, and leading their ranks are faces that he has not seen since they reviewed the lists of the missing. Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy... Peter Parker. And out of the rubble to Thor's left, Scott Lang erupts, towering over the battlefield, and opens his fist to set down Hulk and Rhodes and Rocket.
It worked.
Thor can barely breathe for the joy of it, a bright grin spreading across his face as he calls to Stormbreaker, and for the first time in half a year he feels the burn of hope in his heart. He sucks in a fresh lungful of air and bellows out a war cry, and leaps back into the fray. Not for glory, but to finally put an end to this nightmare, and heal alongside the world. To return home, safe and sound, and live.
There is no time to spare for thanks or rejoicing. Thor ducks the warned attack, blasting his enemy halfway across the ruined earth, finding a rhythm with Spider-Man at his back to turn and slash and strike with electric fury. Writhing, webbed-up outriders begin to pile up around them in a rough circle, drawing the attention of the main pack which descends on them like a swarm. "Hold fast to this," Thor tells his companion, and hurls Stormbreaker the moment Peter's webs are attached. The youngster lets out a startled yelp as the weapon launches him across the battlefield, toward where another cluster of heroes are fighting. Thor shouts, and slams his lightning-charged metal fist into the ground as violently as a hammer, cracking the scoured earth and sending a shockwave in all directions to wipe out the oncoming wave of enemies.
All around them, the battle rages. The Valkyrie and Lang battle the leviathans in close quarters while the Guardians team up on a behemoth and the ground forces tangle with Thanos' troops until they're a chaotic mess. And somewhere in the middle of all this is Clint Barton, carrying the Infinity Stones in their gauntlet.
"We have to snap all this away," Stark shouts over the comms in between repulsor blasts, his mind lightning-quick even in the midst of battle. "Erase their memories, send them back. It's the only way."
But there are few on the battlefield capable without destroying themselves. Thor, perhaps, or Valkyrie. Or Wanda, whose power glows brilliant blood red as she takes on Thanos herself, prompting the looming Sanctuary II to aim its cannons earthward, blasting even bigger holes in the rubble and forcing their forces under the wizards' shields.
And just as suddenly, they stop, and aim skyward. They do not get a chance to fire.
A brilliantly glowing figure blasts through the ship as effortless as a hot knife through butter, peeling apart the guns from the inside, and Carol Danvers hovers above the ruined ship, fists clenched as she glares down at the Titan.
Chaos reigns. Thor loses track of both Thanos and gauntlet, mired in a brawl beneath the ship's shadow, protecting Strange as he works magic to keep the river from flooding the deep crater in the earth, and drowning everyone inside of it. He cannot see that the gauntlet is now within Thanos' reach, led right to him in an attempt to get it to Danvers, with only Stark and Steve close enough to act.
The universe hangs on a knife's edge.
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Both men freeze when a blast of purple energy from the Power stone sends their juggernaut flying past both of them into the rubble. Tony and Steve's eyes meet for a split second before they both turn around to jump into the fray. Mjolnir sings when it slams into Thanos, knocking him off balance while Tony fights to get the gauntlet. Steve slams his shield into the titan's face once, twice--before Thanos grabs him and drives the soldier forcefully into the dirt with a sickening noise as Mjolnir and Steve's shield fall from his hands. Satisfied that the puny human isn't going to just stand right back up Thanos leaves him there rather than throwing him away from his weapons. There's no time with Tony right there.
Thanos knocks Stark away, gauntlet firmly in place. His grin has been the last thing that countless worlds have seen before their demise.
"I am inevitable." Thanos crows with a resonating snap of his fingers. But nothing stops. No one pauses. The world still turns beneath their feet. By the time Thanos sees the gauntlet is empty Tony Stark is already groaning from the pain of the infinity stones settled into his armor.
"And I. Am Iron Man." Stark hisses out with all the determination and vitriol Earth can muster against their greatest threat. He snaps his fingers.
The galaxy's last line of defense finds themselves without an enemy to fight. One by one as if they were nothing more than a horrible mass hallucination the armies of Thanos find themselves whisked away back to their own times none the wiser for what might have led them to Earth through a time gate to begin with. The battlefield falls into a hush, with nothing but murmured confusion among the troops.
Thanos and his forces are gone.
But not without a price to be paid.
Natasha gave her life to gather the stones together. Now Tony Stark breathes his last while Peter cries into his shoulder holding him close. Telling him they'll make it alright and not to worry anymore in between loud wracking sobs. Hulk carries Clint over as one by one the Avengers make their way to see Tony.
"Here, he's here. Let me help you get him up, man." Sam moves to get his hands underneath one of Steve's arms to heft him up but is stopped by Bucky's metal arm closing around his wrist.
"Don't." Voice tight with emotion. Steve found a way to make it right again, of course he did. But he's not breathing and a lifetime of assassinations whether willing or not tells Bucky all he needs to know. Fractured skull. Broken neck. No heartbeat. Steve's already dead. He always suspected to find Steve Rogers like this one day. Bucky gets to his feet and stops Sam from running off to go make a fuss about it. The Avengers are paying their respects to Tony right now.
Selfish as it is, Bucky wants one quiet moment to say goodbye to his childhood friend before anyone else gathers round. Tony Stark saved their universe from destruction. Steve was the one who made the sacrifice play to buy him the time to do it. He won't be able to stop Sam for long though. The others need to know.
Captain America is gone.
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They've won.
He closes his eye and tilts his face upwards, narrow beams of sunlight breaking through the clouds of smoke, free of the shadow of the ship. Of Thanos. Across the entire universe, trillions of lives have been restored, no doubt countless reunions between loved ones who thought they would never see each other again. There are no resurrected dead for Thor, his family and dearest friends gone before the stones had taken everyone else. Just a few hundred Asgardians to add to Asvera's ranks, precious few who now have a future. But that is more than enough, and though it does not erase what he had done, everything that countless trillions have suffered since that day in Wakanda, there is a chance to heal. To hope. To live, again.
It's enough.
He opens his eye again, adrenaline still coursing through veins like lightning, and a cluster of heroes draws his eye. Friends gathered around red and gold armor that lies still, and the sounds of mournful tears reach his ears as he steps forward to join them. The loss of Tony Stark is a cruel final blow, but Thor bears it with a strength he has not felt for ages, the weight of it much lighter for its outcome. Whatever it takes, Stark had said.
But before he can reach them, his attention is drawn by a pair of figures who are not with the others, one kneeling over the other. He would know that blue armor in a heartbeat, the shape of the hammer and shield at his side, and the bowed head of Bucky Barnes tells Thor without asking what has happened.
Three friends lost today, then. A heavy toll, and yet... their deaths were not in vain, not this time. By their actions, they have saved the entire universe, and brought an end to the greatest threat ever known.
Thor waits until Barnes seems ready to tolerate company before he approaches, and kneels at the side of his friend's body, sorrow and gratitude in his eye. And while Steve had asked Thor to tell him to get up, to keep fighting... he knows that no words will heal these wounds. He takes in a breath and reaches out, placing Mjolnir in Steve's hand atop his chest, and his shield resting at his feet. And at the side of the worthiest warrior that Thor has ever had the privilege to know, he bows his head and begins to say the words that have not passed his tongue since the Statesman was destroyed. "Steven Rogers, I bid you take your place in Valhalla, where the brave shall live forever. Nor shall we mourn, but rejoice..."
Under slowly clearing skies, Thor prays for Steve and Tony and Natasha as he would any fallen hero of the gods, those whose stories will be told forever. He mourns their loss, yet for the first time in ages, he believes that one day they may yet meet again beyond the gates of the golden hall. That this is not truly the end.
And his heart has never felt lighter.