Electric / Steve Rogers x OC x Bucky Barnes ✓

Chapter 163: Of The End

STEVE

"Thor, what are they searching for? What is that?" I ask as I sit across from him in the meeting room. 

T'Challa is sitting at the head of the table, and the rest of us are sitting opposite of each other. 

We're all looking at a hologram Shuri has conjured up, the screen showing 2 different gems, one blue and one yellow. 

"They're infinity stones. Remember, I told Tony about them?" 

"Yeah," I say, "But we have both of them. Right?" 

Thor sighs, "There aren't just two. There are actually six," Thor says and Shuri taps on her tablet, the hologram changing. In front of us there are now 6 different gems, all glowing in different colors. 

"Vision has one, that's correct," Thor continues as he points to the yellow stone, "Another one is the Tesseract, the one that helped Madeline gain her powers. We retrieved that one, after we lost it during the fight in Midtown, but with how New York is looking right now, who knows if it's still safe. There are four others." 

I shake my head as I try to understand, "Okay, then where are the others?" 

"It's complicated. They have been spread out all throughout the universe. It's impossible to pinpoint every single one of them. I only know of the ones on earth, and then the one called the Ether, also known as the Reality stone. I left that one in safe hands." 

"Where did you leave it?" I ask, frowning. 

"I left it with a man called 'The Collector'. He is from a different planet than ours, but he will keep it safe, I'm sure of it." 

I nod at his words and as I'm about to speak, Madeline interrupts, "Who's looking for them?" 

Thor sighs deeply, "His name is Thanos. He's a titan, feared in the entire universe. He used to demolish planets one by one. His goal is to restore humanity by balancing it out." 

"Balancing it out?" I ask, "What does that even mean?" 

Thor looks at me hesitantly, "It means.. His goal is to wipe out half the universe. He thinks that will help balance out the eco system, restore the universe back to its order." 

I look at him in shock, Maddie speaking before I can, "Thor, how do you know all of this?" 

"I have known of him, heard of him killing many people, on many different planets. Usually what he does is divide them into two groups randomly, and then killing one, leaving the population cut in half. He does his work by hand, but with the stones..." 

"With the stones, what?" I ask sternly. 

Thor turns to me with a mournful expression, "With all of the stones.. He would be able to reduce the population of the universe to half its size, with just a snap of his fingers." 

"That can't be right," Nat says, shaking her head, "There's no such thing."

"There is," Thor says sternly as he looks at her, "These stones are the most powerful creations in the universe. They hold immense power." 

"What kind of power, Thor? Why haven't we heard of these before?" 

"Because," he says with a sigh, "Because it has never been relevant for Midgaard. There are so many planets out there, planets you've never heard about or known of. I never thought.." 

I look at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish his sentence. 

"I never thought it would get to this," he says, his gaze locked on the hologram, "I never thought it would be an issue. I never thought Thanos would come here." 

"But you knew Vision had the stone, you should have warned us," I say sternly, crossing my arms in frustration. 

"Yes, I understand you might feel that way, Captain, but there are many things I have kept from you. And I never thought Thanos would go after them, it's unheard of. No one has ever wielded more than one stone before, it takes immense power." 

I sigh, rubbing my forehead, "So what do we do now?" 

"We need to get in contact with Stark," Bucky quietly says as he sits next to me, looking at the table before turning to me, "Stark or Bruce." 

"Yes," Thor says, "We can't help them from here, but we don't know what's going on. We need to speak with them." 

... 

I stand a little away from the television screen as the news reporter babbles on about what happened in New York. 

"Tony Stark is missing, having been taken aboard a Space Craft attacking New York this morning..." 

I turn away as I hear the report for the third time since we went back to the lounge room, shaking my head as I take my phone out again. 

I've tried to call Tony several times, with no answer, ever since we ended the meeting. 

I've tried Bruce as well, with no luck. 

But the news report says nothing about Bruce, it only mentions Tony. 

At this point none of us has any idea where Peter or Bruce is. 

I look over my shoulder to see Maddie with tears in her eyes, chewing on her bottom lip as she watches the screen. She knows exactly what it's going to say, the news cast is going on a loop, but it seems she's unable to turn herself away from it. 

I sigh deeply as I press the button again, trying to call Bruce. 

I don't even bother bringing the phone to my ear this time, knowing he won't answer already. 

"Hey pal," Bucky says as he walks up to me, "Are you okay?" 

"Yeah," I say with a sigh, my eyes moving from my phone to him, "I just don't know what's happening right now. I don't know what to do, or to expect. They were fighting these things alone, Buck, and now we don't where they are." 

"I know," he says quietly, "We should have been there." 

"Yeah," I say, clenching my jaw, "We should have." 

"Steve?! Are you there?!" 

The voice snaps me back to my phone and I quickly lift it to my ear, "Bruce? Bruce is that you?" 

"Yes! Steve, oh my god, you have no idea what's happened, oh my god, Tony, Tony he-" 

"Bruce, breathe for a moment, calm down. Take your time," I say, interrupting him. 

There's silence on the other side for a moment as he takes a deep breath before he speaks again. 

"Tony, he went on that ship, and I think Peter did too. I'm here, in New York right now, and it's total chaos. But I know what this is, I know what's happening, Steve. They're coming for Vision." 

"You need to come here as soon as possible, I'm telling T'Challa to send a jet for you right away. Go to the compound and stay there until we can get you, okay?" 

"Okay," Bruce says, "Steve this is worse than anything I've ever seen."

"I know. We'll figure it out, just get here to we can connect the dots."