Steel Hearts

- 28 -

Bruce was the first to charge at Thanos. Using the gauntlet on his left hand, he phased directly through him. Thanos directed Bruce through the air and into the rock wall behind him, trapping him.

Steve was next and was hit with a wave of purple energy, similar to my own, that flipped him through the air and out of Thanos' way. Using it as a distraction, T'Challa pounced at Thanos. He was caught by his throat and roughly punched to the ground.

Sam flew at Thanos, unloading every clip of ammo that he had on him. Using the gauntlet once more, Thanos sent a purple energy surge at my friend and disabled his wings; grounding him.

Whether we liked it or not, Thanos was going to overpower all of us quickly. Closing my eyes briefly, my heart broke for Wanda as I stepped forward to join the fight.

Vision understood our urgency and pleaded with her, "Wanda, it's time."

"No," her voice shook.

He turned her back to him, "They can't stop him, Wanda, but we can. Look at me. You have the power to destroy the stone-"

"Don't."

"You must do it, Wanda, please. We are out of time."

Her voice dropped to a whisper as he held her hand against his face, "I can't."

"Yes, you can. You can. If he gets the stone, half the universe dies. It's not fair," he moved her hand back to his forehead, to the stone, "It shouldn't be you, but it is. It's all right. You could never hurt me. I just feel you."

He coaxed her into it and her eyes filled anguish and sorrowful tears. Her lip trembled as her scarlet energy flowed through her hand and into the stone, making it glow as she did so.

From above me, Rhodey was firing everything he had at Thanos. The clenching of the gauntlet resulted in his armor being crushed around him before being tossed aside.

Bucky fired his gun before being blasted backward by purple energy. Okoye threw her spear, but it was deflected and she was sent flying backward as well.

Nat was thrown to the ground and encased by rocks and vines, unable to move.

Groot had shot his hands into the ground, sending his branches forward and encompassing Thanos for a moment before he outstretched his arms and broke free.

Wanda sent me a pleading glance, watching our friends be defeated before turning to add another energy blast from her other hand to double the power.

Thanos was going easy on us. He wanted to see just how hard we'd fight to protect the stone and our friend before he could rip the rug from underneath us.

My hands glowed purple as I conjured energy balls and flung them at him. All were deflected, exploding in a burst of light when they hit the shield he had created to protect himself. I stepped forward once more and prepared to jump on force fields through the air before he sent a purple energy blast toward me.

The power stone.

He was using my own stone against me and didn't realize it. I was at the advantage. Catching the blast in a force field, I redirect it back at him aggressively.

Steve used my fighting as a distraction, sliding on his knees underneath him to land several blows to Thanos' legs and face. He had caught Thanos' large gauntlet-clad hand in his own much smaller ones, using all his strength to push him backward. The large alien seemed confused by his strength.

"Steve, no!" I cried when Thanos brought his fist up, slamming it down onto him before discarding his limp body off to the side.

Angry, I closed in on him. Sparing a glance to Steve, his chest was rising and falling. He was unconscious but still alive, thankfully.