In the depths of space, in the real world, Thanos sat on his ship on course for earth. A few of his Outriders had vanished in the strange events that had been occurring but it was of no worry, Thanos had an evil, albeit in his own mind, necessary plan that the vanishings only assisted him in.
He had seen his world wither and die from overpopulation, and it lit a fire in him. A fire that desired to burn half of the universe away; not out of evil, rage or even joy. But an arguably even sinister emotion. Reason. Their vehicle was on course for Terra, better known to their inhabitants as Earth. He had decimated the Nova Corps for access to the Power stone, which sat in his golden gauntlet adorned on his right hand, the whelp they had sent after him had fled upon being thoroughly trounced in combat with the mad titan; unknowingly giving them a perfect dot to follow right to the other stones.
On earth, the whelp in question, Nova, was stammering an explanation to a stunned Maria Hill. Hill was preparing any forces they had left, a huge chunk of their agents had vanished with the battle in the warehouse, they were down to the X-men and a handful of other heroes; even their reserves had taken hits. Ahalfnt-man in specific was still battling his corruption and Wasp was unwilling to leave her husband for long. After a quick call to She-Hulk; whatever they had to work with was at their call for the coming threat.
Captain Marvel looked over the list of heroes they had put together, She-Hulk, Professor X, The un-vanished guardian: Mantis, Shuri, Rescue, Psylocke, Jessica Jones, Shang-Chi, Black Cat; in an uneasy alliance, Spider-Woman, Storm, Rogue, Cable, Beast, Ice-man, Nico Minoru, Nova, X-23, Wong, Bishop, Multiple man and Bullseye. Maria walked next to her. Unless there were any more surprises; this was all they had.
As if she was making this happen on purpose. A man landed out of the sky; and asked if Thanos had arrived yet.
In the playground, Strange was reeling from his experiences over what had happened. He had seen a police force for every second of time, everywhere; and at the same time, accidentally left them in the dust. Loki had vanished somehow and their new friend; Wilson had turned out to be an imposter the whole time. He opened his Eye of Agamotto, revealing the time stone. He pondered for a moment; wondering if he could turn back time; try sending people back. All these months, and no fix in sight. If some mighty time fixing association couldn’t stop it, who could?
The playground world had almost become its own community; people went to work, came home to their gradually reinstated families, some had even forgotten there was even an amalgam event. This world had become reality for a majority of the people. Spider-man was not one of them; Rio Morales had recently arrived in the event and Ganke had pulled himself away from whatever game he was playing to finally let Miles know he had been here for several months. Gwen had her father and Scarlet Spider was… Himself. He missed his wife, Mary Jane Watson. He had Aunt May, but she was hiding to keep her safe from any possible corruption. For now, all he could do was keep everything safe from the low level crooks that had slipped in.
He had finished webbing up a bank robber when The Human Torch had approached him. They had been keeping The Punisher inside a containment cell; just in case there was any Lingering corruption. Being sent here had seemingly reset him, but they were suspicious of him, especially the people who had learned what his weapons blowing their faces off felt like. Reed was busy with the endless quest of getting home, Sue and Ben were patrolling, he needed someone to watch Frank with, just in case. He agreed, he could use the company.
In the real world; the man, who revealed himself as Adam Warlock. He was created by the Enclave to be the perfect lifeform; something he said confidently enough for Maria to stifle her laughter. But more importantly, he was trying to stop a sinister plot by the mad Titan, Thanos that he had caught wind of. Maria asked if he was willing to share, and her blood ran cold as he revealed his plan.
He was going to halve the universe’s population.
Maria stood wordlessly in her office, absorbing what she had heard. Was the vanishings not enough!? She asked him if she knew how long they had until Thanos hit earth, they needed to keep the stone they had from him. Adam nodded, and Maria handed him something for safekeeping: The Soul stone. Adam Asked how she had this, she explained that it was being held in Ma Gnucci’s restaurant. The crazy mafia matriarch didn’t even realise it was special, she thought it was a fancy jewel. Adam laughed.
On the ship, the gauntlet adorned on Thanos’s hand contained two stones: the stone of Reality and the stone of Power, already two stones that would grant him a great advantage in the coming battle. If he was going to do what he needed to; he’d need the soul stone, currently in Adam’s hand. However, the other stones were a bit of an issue; Nobody had seen or heard of Strange since the last wave and only he knew where the time stone was. The space stone was still missing too and perhaps the most egregious of an issue was that Vision, who had gone to the alternate world months ago, clearly still had the mind stone.
Captain Marvel was hovering around the orbit of the earth to scout for Thanos’s approach. Monica Rambeau, her friend and confidant, was with her. They shared powers due to one of the captain’s many adventures leading to Rambeau being hit with an energy weapon that gave her powers that matched Carol Danver’s own very well. The pair were talking about whatever came to mind. Thanos, Carol’s recent separation from Rhodes, how Maria was handling things, Carol clarifying that they were separated by the event, not divorced, Thanos again. Monica was about to ask what they were going to do if Thanos didn’t show up when, as if summoned with her words, A blast from a ship neither had noticed hit Monica in the chest, sending her flying back to the planet. Carol shot around to face the approaching ships.
Thanos was approaching.
Spidey and Johnny were playing cards, with special Fantastic Four branded cards that were coated in a fireproof substance to stop Johnny from torching them. Frank was watching them play. Frank asked Johnny how long he was intending on holding him here. Johnny told him to ask Reed, before cursing as Spidey laid down a winning hand. Frank let the two play as he went back to his bed. Reed radioed to the two of them, telling them about some morbid news Vision had brought them from the real world. The two stood up and left Frank alone.
He heard footsteps approach, slowly and ploddingly. Frank looked up to see who it belonged to, and saw the evil Wilson thing he’d been able to hear about via eavesdropping on the Fantastic Four approaching him.
He placed a hand on Frank’s cell. Sneering about Frank’s corruption being cured. Frank asked him what he was planning, Wilson chuckled and replied that he was just looking around, waiting for Thanos to get here. Frank asked what the hell he was talking about. Wilson fixed him with a look, and explained who Thanos was. His plan. How he was going to tear this universe down and let Wilson wreak havoc on the real universes. Frank just stared in bafflement. He asked how he could be sure Thanos would be sent here and why Thanos would even let him live.
Wilson held up the Space Stone.
“Because he’ll need me, and he’ll definitely need this.”
Frank stared in shock. Wilson unlocked his cage with a few taps on a nearby keyboard, said a quick “you’re welcome, family man.” and used the space stone to vanish out of the baxter building.
Carol radioed back to Maria, telling her to get ready. She shot forward, blasting herself through one of the ships, sending Thanos’s outriders into the depths of space. The ships in Thanos’s mighty fleet aimed their weapons at her, she zigzagged to dodge and attacked the largest ship in hopes of finding Thanos in it. Her luck was on her side; Thanos approached her, unbothered by the ship’s gigantic hole.
Carol shot at him at near light speeds; Thanos, unbothered, waved his gauntlet at her, turning her to stone. He punched the statue of Carol back towards the planet like a homemade meteorite and warped the ship’s hole shut.
On earth, Monica recovered from her surprise attack and saw the silhouette of Captain Marvel flying down to Earth. She flew towards her to get a field report, but stopped as she realised her skin was made of stone, her face frozen in a determined grimace. Whatever Thanos was, it wasn’t something they’d fought before.
Thanos shouted for his remaining ships to hurry when a vision appeared before him. A man with a white face and a sneer appeared before him; offering him a boon, He’d give him the space stone, he got him out of the other world. Thanos stared at the little man in front of him and asked why he shouldn’t just break his neck and take the stone himself. Wilson replied that he could, but then he’d not be able to find the other stones on his own. Thanos stared through him for a moment as the ships prepared to beam the outriders down. He agreed to the deal, and told Wilson to wait as he procured the Soul stone.
Adam and Maria stood behind the army they were able to scrape together. A beam shot down from the ship as Thanos arrived. Adam clutched the Soul stone.
The battle began.
She-hulk tore an outrider in half as it threw itself at her. Monica, enraged at her friend’s petrification, blasted a hole clean through Thanos’s army. Adam had found the statue of Carol, and tried to use the soul stone to revive her. To his disappointment, it hadn’t worked. Shang-Chi had effortlessly moved from monster to monster, laying them out like an artist. Thanos blasted his way past the heroes, smashing Rescue into the pavement.
In the Avengers Tower, Antman looked out the window near his glass container. The cracks in his flesh had receded somewhat, but he was still not acting himself. He had invented Pym Particles when he was 25; and it made him what he was today; the Scientist supreme, the ant-man. What he hadn’t told anyone but his currently distracted wife was that his DNA was infused with it, and he didn’t need his suit like the other thought he did. He shrank between the door and floor and wandered out, grabbing his suit and, most importantly; an ISO-8 shard.
Thanos and Adam clashed in a bright flash. He used the reality stone to remove Shang-Chi’s arms when he tried to assist and warped Beast and Professor X together when they approached. Adam shouted heroically that Thanos would not succeed. Thanos didn’t even blink. He punched Warlock in the head as Ant-man made his shocking debut, to the wasp’s horror, clutching a shard, and trying to throw it at Thanos. Adam was distracted by Hank’s gambit, and Thanos tore his arm clean from his body as the Shard flew through the air at him, he grabbed the soul stone and slammed it into his gauntlet.
The power surging through him hit the shard, and a wave event occurred.
The battle had lasted an hour, She-Hulk stomped the last Outrider into the pavement as whoever was left recovered. Thanos had vanished, but so had the soul stone with him. Maria, pulling an Outrider claw out of her side, weeped openly. No matter what, this just kept happening, now they had lost the Soul stone. Ant-man, The Wasp, Shuri, Pepper Potts, Mantis; Even the statue of Captain Marvel had disappeared.
Adam clutched the stump where his arm was. Now what?
The spaceship Thanos had taken popped into existence in the playground world. Thanos stood, clutching his gauntlet, adorned with only one of the stones. He could only hazard a guess as to why the Soul stone had vanished. As if he’d sensed Thanos’s arrival, Wilson appeared before him; chuckling. Holding the space stone in his hand. Thanos grinned, willing to uphold his end of the bargain. Wilson’s eyes deviously switched from Thanos’s purple, grinning face to the gauntlet, which had a shard sticking out of it. Whatever Thanos was about to do, it was going to be interesting. Thanos said only one thing.
“Where are the other stones?”
In a building in hell’s kitchen; Dr strange stood explaining the situation to the recently arrived Jessica Jones; that he had the time stone still, so if this “Thanos” had come here, he’d be looking for them eventually. Daredevil and Iron fist were sparring, Elektra watching on in bemusement. She wouldn’t admit it, but she liked having Matt around again.
In a spaceship, near the planet Mercury; Mantis and Nebula popped into existence. The guardians barely looked up from their breakfast, but Gamora and Drax made sure that two seats were available for the new guests. Nebula didn’t even bother, she had rode with the guardians before; but right now all she cared about was her father, she was pretending to work with him to try and sabotage wherever she could, she had failed to stop him getting the soul stone, and goodness knows what he was already up too.
She explained what was going on to the guardians, and they replied by ending breakfast early and making the Milano speed towards Earth. As they were approaching Earth, they happened upon Thanos’s ship. Before they could make a plan, an Outrider crashed through their window. Quill swore blindly as the Milano began careening towards earth in a spiralling crash.
Loki stood in the middle of New York, tears in his eyes. He was not the same Loki that had gone with Mobius, he was from a whole new Earth. He had seen his version of Thanos smash his Thor into paste and in his heroic hysteria: used Mjolnir to try and attack before being brought here.
Strange stood quietly for a moment, he could hear something.
CRASH!
Outriders smashed through the ceiling, Luke and Jessica stood up, shocked. The defenders got to work, Jessica used her strength to punch one into paste before one tackled Strange through the floor. Strange realised to his horror that they had already had him pinned as the holder of the time stone, but how?
Daredevil cracked the skull of an Outrider as Luke and Iron fist worked together to take out 2 at once. 5 charged Daredevil at once and he danced around them with his martial arts mastery, either killing or knocking them out with ease as Elektra threw a Sai between what she thought was the eyes of one.
Spider-man crashed through the window, he had been trying to capture the escaping Frank Castle when he had seen the commotion. He bounced off the unmoving Luke Cage and knocked a broken wall over onto a gaggle of Outriders. An explosion brought the floor out beneath everyone and buried Daredevil, Spider-man and Luke Cage in rubble.
Strange went to assist them, but felt liquid clumsily spill onto his back, he turned to see an outrider fall, a bullet hole in its head. Frank, cleared of corruption, climbed through the window. He blasted his rifle at the floor, taking out the Outriders that surrounded Elektra, his bullet hit a gas pipe, making the upper floor erupt in an explosion of flame. Elektra fell through the hole, narrowly avoiding it. Daredevil pulled himself from the rubble, checking the crushed Spider-man and Luke Cage’s pulses. Luckily they were alive. Iron fist and Jessica Jones both punched an Outrider back through the window it was climbing through. Anyone conscious regrouped on the floor below to see Thanos, 2 stones out of 6, staring daggers at Strange, The impostor Wilson next to him. Of course, that was how he knew!
Thanos brought his mighty fist down on the floor, power stone glowing, and everyone flew back. Strange apologised to everyone, and disappeared in a sling ring portal. Thanos glared, and disappeared in a cloud from the space stone. The time stone would have to wait.
At the Milano crash site, the Quill, Nebula and Gamora steadied themselves as Outriders dropped on them. They took care of them with ease, Quill blasting the head off one when Thanos appeared from nowhere. He stared at Gamora, Wilson had informed him that the soul stone had been returned to its natural place in Vormir, and required a sacrifice made of love to retrieve it again. As the three conscious guardians readied for the battle, Thor’s hammer flew towards Thanos, knocking him on his back. Loki recalled it and stood with them, swearing vengeance for what had happened. Thanos vaguely remembered him, but pushed it aside in his mind. These new memories could wait.
Loki stood above him, ready to swing the hammer down when Thanos unleashed a beam of royal purple onto him, sending him flying. Quill stood between Thanos and Gamora, sensing his murderous intent. Nebula stood forward, begging her father to see reason. Thanos didn’t blink, a glowing crack appearing on his hand as he blasted Nebula to pieces. Quill used his rocket boots to fly towards Thanos, only to be grabbed by the throat and slammed back into the floor. Gamora screamed for him to stop, and with her and Quill sharing one last look as she offered her life for his. Quill reached forward, wordlessly begging her to not do it. Gamora shut her eyes tearfully as Thanos grabbed ahold of her and the pair vanished.
In Queens, the recovered JJJ shouted at Jane Foster, who appeared to suddenly be falling ill, about the wretched Spider-people. Nearby, Miles, Gwen and Kaine were hanging out, literally in Miles’s case. Kaine was keeping watch for whatever had called Peter away when suddenly, an outrider tackled him. Kaine wasted no time, kicked it towards the pavement and webbed a piece of wall onto it; crushing it flat. More appeared and the other two spiders joined the fray, Miles webbed one around the neck and pulled it into a violent venom punch. Gwen met one in midair, kicked it back and spun it around with her webs to slam its head off of the building. Miles delivered a venom kick that shattered one’s spine as Gwen tried to repeat her trick on a new Outrider, only to be taken for a ride with it, crashing into a nearby belltower and sending Gwen into a bouncing fall down an alleyway.
Kaine stood on top of the wall he squashed the alien with, only to see Venom about to eat the brains of a HYDRA agent they had captured recently. The symbiote almost comically stopped, their mouth wide open; Kaine webbed Venom away from it and the pair leapt up out of the space between their secret hideout and the Bugle as an explosion sounded out, squashing the hydra agent against the expanding bugle wall.
On Vormir, thanos explained to Gamora that the wave had cost him all but the power stone, and if he had a choice, he wouldn’t do what he was about to do. Gamora couldn’t beg, she was being held by her throat above the cliff of sacrifice. Thanos apologised. Wilson appeared behind him, he had followed him to direct him in what to do. And at Wilson’s encouragement, he dropped Gamora down the cliff.
The two of them went through the cloudy portal to New York; Thanos’s golden hand had two Stones again.
In the rubble of the bugle, Iron Man had saved Jane Foster from her demise, patching her wounds as they tried to ignore the squashed flat J. Jonah Jameson. Thanos and the fake Wilson appeared nearby, the cracks in Thanos’s arm getting worse. He surveyed the situation and decided he wouldn’t waste any time. He pointed at the recovering Venom and something that caught even Wilson by surprise happened. Shards broke through the screaming symbiote’s skin as he corrupted. Iron Man and Foster watched in horror as Venom suddenly ran for Iron man. The pair fought; Venom webbed Iron-man closer and he responded by punching the Klyntar and its host into the rubble. Venom hit Iron Man with the hardest punch his new strength could muster and sent him flying into the flaming ruins of the bugle, knocking him out.
Thanos walked towards the shaking, terrified Jane. once again apologising for what he was to do. He raised a foot, Jane shut her eyes.
Thanos grabbed the Reality stone; He had Four out of Six of the stones, and the cracks in him were getting larger.
The spiders, including the corrupted Venom, attacked. Thanos wasted no time and used the soul stone to remove their souls from their bodies. Eddie Brock in particular was horrified at the state of his flesh and blood body. Miles retreated at Gwen’s demand to get back-up.
Strange stood among the recovering heroes. He had returned via portal to save everyone who had survived from the collapsing building. Iron Fist was furious at his cowardice. Pointing towards the legless Castle and telling Strange if he had stayed that they could have tried defeating Thanos. Strange explained that if Thanos were to get all of the stones, they would be powerless to stop him.
The floor beneath them gave away again, Strange moved to protect everyone with a protection charm as the floor they were on crashed to the city streets. Strange got his bearings as he watched Thanos toss aside Luke Cage as if he were nothing. The cracks on his face made his glaring expression even more horrifying.
The avengers assemble behind him, ready to stop Thanos from obtaining the last two stones he needed. Pietro and Wanda teamed up, holding him in place as Pietro ran circles around him, laying a beatdown on his whole body. Thanos used the reality stone to undo Wanda’s scarlet grip on him and threw Quicksilver at her. Stomping on her head for extra effect as he went by. Hulk began attacking, only for him to use the power stone to blast Banner away with ease. Black Panther leapt towards him, discharging his kinetic energy. Thanos grinned deviously as he used the power stone to make the blast larger, throwing alive and dead bodies aside as if they were nothing and, most damningly to the heroes; cracked open the eye of Agamotto. He used the power stone to blast Strange away from his attempt to grab it and teleported it to him with the space stone.
One more stone.
Vision bravely faced him alongside Captain America. They charged, undermining Thanos in a fatal error. Time stood still. Thanos, unbothered, walked forward and crushed Visions head, taking the Mind stone.
Time resumed. Everyone stared in horror as he held the stone in his hands. Captain America, not one to give up, attacked the Mad Titan, only to be punched to the floor. Thanos placed the last stone in the gauntlet as the cracks covered his whole body.
He grinned, wider than he should have been able to.
He raised his hand in a snapping motion, his body appearing to come apart with the Shard’s energy.
“I am Inevitable.”
His snap rang out. His body came apart in the Amalgam energy, as the stones shattered.
The heroes had lost.
The mad Titan was able to resist the vacuum of space; it was in his nature as an eternal. He had seen any kind of planet you could think of, and yet when he finally floated within visual distance of something he thought was a moon, he saw the metal sheen and the weapon on the front. That was no moon. He got caught in a tractor beam and felt himself get pulled towards it.
When he finally landed within the fake moon, he looked at the white clad soldiers pointing their puny pistols at him and laughed. He advanced on them, shouting that he was the captain and they were going to go back to earth.
As if to say “no” in the most dramatic sense, A red beam cut through his neck and his head fell from his shoulders. A Dark figure stood over the crumpled titan. His breathing rang out. He looked up when he heard his soldiers making a commotion to see some of them turning to dust. He didn’t flinch.
Whatever happened seemed to be affecting more than wherever he was.