I Am Iron-Man

Chapter 74: THE BEGINNING OF THE END( PART ONE)

(A COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER)

Thanos' POV

Finally, it is time for our descent onto Earth. It is time to receive the four remaining Infinity Stones and destroy the mortal who took them from me.

Tony Stark, the man who destroyed my army those many years ago and the current possessor of the four Infinity Stones. How he managed to do that? I will never know, but it won't matter anyways. I will destroy him and tear those Infinity Stones off of him, then my plan to save the universe from its own destruction will continue and succeed.

Nothing can stop me now. I will make sure that nothing will stop me at this point.

We arrived in the apparent location of the Infinity Stones: New York. We started to descend the ship into the main location, then I sent out my lieutenants to seek out the man who stole the Infinity Stones from me. I showed them a photo of the mortal, so they would keep a better look out for him.

"This is the mortal that stole the Infinity Stones from me. If you find him, then retrieve those Infinity Stones off of him at all costs, even if you have to kill him"

"Yes, Thanos"

"Good, now find him and tear those Infinity Stones away from him". My lieutenants went on the search for Tony Stark. You can't hide those Infinity Stones away from me forever, Tony Stark. You can either surrender them and keep your life or you can die trying to keep them for yourself. I still win either way.

Tony Stark's POV

"Tony, it is time. Thanos just arrived in New York", Sharon warned me. The New SHIELD and SWORD members came into the compound as soon as the radar showed that Thanos entered Earth's atmosphere. Some of the former SHIELD members that were hired into STARK Tower's security team came from the tower to assist in the battle. Thanks to Wakanda's generous donation of vibranium, all of the non-enhanced members of the New SHIELD, SWORD, and New Avengers teams were provided upgraded armor and weapons that were laced with vibranium and starkium. I would be damned if I let anyone on this team be killed when something could have been done to prevent it.

"We are ready for them". And we have been ready for them for a while. The last couple of months that we had have been hectic, but we have never been more prepared. It is time to show this oversized grape what happens when you mess with the New Avengers.

All of the teams were dispatched into Manhattan where most of the destruction came from. The Young Avengers, SWORD and New SHIELD would protect the citizens and defeat any minor threats while the rest of the teams would handle the major threats. All that I know is that the lieutenants were looking for me. Well, if they want me, then they will have me. I needed to lure Thanos out of the city as soon as possible and the only way to do that is to lure the lieutenants toward me.

Dr. Strange and I, along with some person named Wong, located two of the lieutenants. The rest of my team were either on standby or battling the rest of the army, but either way, this army was going to be brought down one way or another.

"Tony Stark. Hear me and rejoin". What? "For you are about to die at the hands of the children of Thanos. Be thankful that your meaningless life is now contributing to the- -"

Ok, I think that I heard enough out of this Squid-ward imposter. "I'm sorry, Earth is closed today! You better pack it up and get out of here!". He turned to look at Dr. Strange. He noticed that he had the Time Stone.

"I see that this mortal has trusted you to keep the Time Stone in your possession. Tell me, Time Stonekeeper, does this chattering animal speak for you?"

"Certainly not, I speak for myself. You are trespassing in this city and on this planet"

"That means 'Get lost, Squidward'!"

"Very well. Bring me the Time Stone and Tony Stark". He told the mutated boulder with an axe next to him. Yeah, we will see about that. I changed into the new, improved, and upgraded Iron-suit, then called on the rest of the team and another of the teams for backup on the silent signal comms. Dr. Strange and Wong had their shields up and ready to battle.

I proceeded to blast the charging boulder with the nanotech weapons toward Squidward, but he used his powers to push him away like he was paperweight. So, it is going to be like that? No matter. We have prepared for a moment like this.

Jessica Drew's POV

"Come on, everyone! We have lives to save and minor threats to battle! Pick up the slack! I am talking about you, Harley!", I shouted through the comms. In my Spider-Woman suit, I swung throughout the city, moving the citizens out of danger and battling the minor army that Thanos sent out.

"Come on, Jess! Lighten up! It is not easy to defend Earth from an evil grape's army!"

"I will 'lighten up' when the entire universe isn't in danger! And the only lightening up that you need to be doing is lightening up the army that is trying wipe out our very existence! Besides, no-one would ever say that this was easy, Harley. This is what we trained and signed up for! Anyways, how is everyone else holding up?", I asked as I saved a couple of people from being crushed by a collapsing building.

"Everything is going as well as it can be, Jess. Pietro and I are just battling as many as the army as possible. The buildings are starting to collapse, but we are saving all of the citizens from being crushed", Peter answered.

"Loki? What about you?"

"Everything is fine. This army is nothing against me and my power". Well, there is the same energy that he had in the first Battle of New York, except that this time, he is fighting on our side and not mind controlled by Thanos.

"Ethan? What is the update on you? Are you okay?"

"Not really, Jess. I think that the majority of the army is coming after me. Probably because they sensed the Soul Stone inside me. I think that one of the lieutenants is after me as well, but it is nothing that I can't handle, but I would like some backup". I heard some explosions and some struggling on his side of the comms. "Correction! I need some backup right now! Code Red! Code Red!". His comms cut the communication line after that.

"Help is on the way, Ethan! Who is the closest to him?"

"I am!", Pietro said. "I am on my way right now!"

"Ok, Ethan. I am on the way too! Hang on!". He didn't respond, which he has never done before, so I knew that he was in serious trouble.

The section of the city that I was assigned to defend was cleared as the army moved on from that section and the citizens were no longer in danger or were moved to safety at that point, so I was able to leave and help Ethan. Don't worry, Ethan. We are coming for you. Your team has your back.