Tragic Hope

15

The remaining Guardians and Avengers were dealing with the grativic aftermath of dumping a large chunk of moon onto an unstable planet's surface. The unconscious Guardians were flying upwards uncontrollably, moon-chunks were still making fiery ballistic in-bounds, and random debris and massive rocks were floating in any possible direction. Spider-Man was well-equipped to handle it all physically, even though he was freaking out emotionally.

Peter webbed Mantis and said, "I got you! I got you!" He snagged Drax, securing both of them to something not moving. "I'm sorry I can't remember anybody's names!" He reeled in Star-Lord.

The Cloak of Levitation set Doctor Strange down on a relatively stable outcrop as Thanos extricated himself from rubble. The Sorcerer Supreme made a few passes with his hands, producing the familiar magic filigree circles, and slammed his hands down on the rock before him, invoking the Seven Suns of Cinnibus as a lightning-like effect of immense heat jumping from rock to rock until it reached Thanos, sending him flying -- but he made use of the erratic gravity to keep control and fired back a blast from the Power Stone.

Doctor Strange blocked the purple plume with a wall of Mirror Dimension, which he pushed back at Thanos. He shattered the wall with the Power Stone, and suctioned the magic into a miniature black hole with the Space Stone, volleying it back at Doctor Strange. Just in time, Doctor Strange raised a shield and changed the dark energy into a swarm of aqua butterflies which returned to their master.

Before Thanos could counterattack again, Doctor Strange levitated and invoked the Images of Ikonn, giving him arms like a Hindu deity before dozens of strange replicators rushed away, forming a circular wall around a snarling Thanos. They called casted magical cords, wrapping around Thanos' torso, arms and hands; he struggled to close his Gauntleted fist and used the Soul and Power Stones to discover the real Doctor Strange among the many copies, blowing the duplicates away and sent the singular Doctor Strange reeling. Reality and Space pulled Doctor Strange forward, Thanos grasped him by the throat once in range. Doctor Strange grabbed futilely at Thanos' hand.

"You're full of tricks, wizard," Thanos said.

As Thanos reached for the Eye of Agamotto, Doctor Strange cried, "No!"

Thanos snapped the Eye off its chain. "Yet you never once used your greatest weapon." He crushed it in his bare hand. "A fake." He threw Doctor Strange hard enough that Doctor Strange's head hit stone and he passed out.

Almost simultaneously, a red and gold device slapped into the palm of the Infinity Gauntlet, bracing the fingers open; and a red and gold Avenger made a fast and hard entrace.

Tony, sounding about as done as the Titan, retorted, "You throw another moon at me, and I'm gonna lose it."

Thanos, with a slight echo, said, "Stark."

"You know me?"

"I do. You're not the only one cursed with knowledge."

"My only curse is you." Small rockets popped out of Iron Man's back and launched at Thanos.

"Come on!"

The rockets all exploded on target, momentarily shrouding Thanos in smoke. Before it cleared, Iron Man pile drove into Thanos horizontally, using his single super-jet boot configuration. As he bounced off, he flipped and stuck his landing, immediately re-configuring his boots into the ground clamps for security and his gloves into rocket-driven battering rams, punching Thanos into a ruined wall behind him.

Thanos shook it off quickly, reaching forward and tore Iron Man's helmet off, revealing Tony's surprised expression before the suit recovered automatically and re-formed his head protection. The Titan made use of the fractional delay and punched back hard, sending Iron Man sliding meters away, giving Thanos time to rip the brace device off the Gauntlet. He immediately used the Power Stone to stem furiously lambent energy at his opponent, who formed a shield to kneel behind just as instantly, getting pushed back even further by the incredible force.

Iron Man slid out from behind the shield, letting the angled energy push him away for a faster start, and whipped back to Thanos full thrusters; he kicked at the Titan with his left foot, turning the boot into a ground clamp at the same time to pin the Gauntlet, and kept twisting while his left glove became a ram again, slamming into Thanos' face, cutting his cheek.

Thanos, panting, said, "All that for a drop of blood."

He smiled briefly before punching Iron Man, sending him pinwheeling, then started beating him with his fists. Iron Man attempted to block the blows with his forearms, but Thanos was relentless, picking him up by the helmet and blasted his midsection with the Power Stone. The gaps in nianite coverage were gaping, as the armor lost the ability to recover from the intensity and extent of the damage. Iron Man landed hard from the Power blast, struggled to one knee and fired his right hand repulser at the inexplorable Thanos; the beam was easily deflected by the Gauntlet. He got to both feet as the suit tried to complete repairs, adding the beam from his left hand as well. Thanos walked right up to him, and backhanded the incomplete helmet completely off Tony's head. He crossed his arms to block a blow from Thanos' Gauntlet, and had his left hand caught over his head. In desperation, he formed what was left of his right glove into a short-sword, which was also easily caught by Thanos, snapping it off clean and drove it through Tony's left side, ending the fight.

Thanos walked Tony back until he sat, and placed the Gauntlet almost comfortingly on Tony's head.

"You have my respect, Stark," Thanos said. "When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive." He let go, straightened and stepped back. "I hope they remember you."

Tony was distracted with the pain, the blood drooling from his mouth, and compromised breathing.

Thanos raised the Gauntlet, closing his fist, all four Stones glowing.

"Stop!" Doctor Strange cried, sitting up and sounding damaged. "Spare his life... and I will give you the Stone."

"No tricks," Thanos told him, while Doctor Strange shook his head his head and Thanos pointed all four Stones at him instead.

"Don't...!" Tony began.

Doctor Strange reached up and plucked the Time Stone out of its hiding place in the stars. He opened his hand, the scars on his fingers and their inherent trembling particularly obvious, and the Stone floated to Thanos' bare hand. Doctor Strange watched him intently, as he took the Stone and dropped it into the thumb setting, the energy pulse making the Titan wince.

"One to go," Thanos told them as an energy blast hit the Gauntlet right in the empty Mind Stone setting, and Thanos grimaced in surprise.

Quill screamed in incoherent rage, helmet up, firing with both hands and flew straight for Thanos.

Thanos didn't bother responding to the assault and left. Star-Lord flew through where Thanos had been and crashed, rolling several times.

Quill, standing, de-helmeted and demanded, "Where is he?!"

Tony stitched up his stab wound as well as he could with his suit functions; he had no breath for answers.

Quill, fearful, asked, "Did we just lose?"

Tony said to Doctor Strange, who had just given the Time Stone to Thanos, "Why would you do that?"

"We're in the Endgame now," Doctor Strange answered.