Life Dies In The End

Chapter 46

The plan came together quickly. We get the jump on Thanos and we get the gauntlet off of him. Everyone had dispersed to hiding spots around Titan. Stark had headed towards a piece of wreckage that he'd use to crush Thanos. Mantis was far away, we'd use her powers once we got Thanos in a weakened state. Quill, Peter and Drax were scattered in different hiding spots. I stayed semi close to Strange, in case the stone became compromised, but Strange stayed seated in the open. We were using him as bait. Thanos would believe he was the only one here and then we'd get the jump on him.

Speak of the devil. A blue portal appeared a few meters in front of Strange. A moment passed before Thanos stepped through, he glanced around before his eyes landed on Strange. My eyes locked on a new stone in his gauntlet. It wasn't the one from the Avengers, it was the one stone that no one knew where it was until now. The Soul Stone. My hope wavered for a moment, but he only had four of the six, we could still do this.

"Oh, yeah." Strange broke the silence as he stared at Thanos. "You're much more of a Thanos."

"I take it the Maw is dead." Thanos took a step towards Strange as Strange nodded a yes. "This day extracts a heavy toll." Thanos then gestured to the necklace, Strage wore, that contained the time stone. "Still, he accomplished his mission."

"You may regret that." Strange answered, smirking softly at Thanos. "He brought you face-to-face with the Master of the Mystic Arts."

"And where do you think he brought you?" Thanos walked towards Strange as he spoke.

"Let me guess." Strange glanced around, before looking back towards Thanos. "Your home?"

"It was and it was beautiful." Thanos smiled softly, before using the reality stone to return Titan to what it used to look like. "Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, and not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution."

"Genocide." Strange cut in, raising his eyebrows at Thanos.

"But at random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike." Thanos sighed as he remembered the events. "They called me a madman." Using the reality stone once more Thanos returned Titan to its original state. "And what I predicted came to pass."

"Congratulations, you're a prophet." Strange's voice was laced in sarcasm.

"I'm a survivor." Thanos sighed at Strange's words.

"Who wants to murder trillions." Strange looked towards Thanos as he took a step towards him.

"With all six stones, I could simply snap my fingers." Thanos snapped his gauntlet free hand as a demonstration. "And they would all cease to exist. I call that mercy."

"And then what?" Strange questioned as he rose to his feet and stepped towards Thanos.

"I finally rest." Thanos glanced away from Strange for a moment. "And watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills."

"I think you'll find our will," Strange made hand gestures, gaining two circular magical shields on his hands. "Equal to yours."

"Our?" Thanos glanced towards Strange confused, before his gaze was directed towards Stark as he pushed the giant debris to land on Thanos.

As the wreckage collapsed on Thanos a cloud of smoke filled the air. Stark flew past Quill and back towards Thanos, Quill following behind him. There was no way that killed him, it only slowed him down. The purple hue of the power stone filled the space of where the wreckage used to be. Thanos used the stone to blast the wreckage into pieces, then he switched to the reality stone, using it to turn the wreckage into bats and swarming Stark.