After Infinity War

Part 43

CLINT

The new arrivals make the fight even, not even giving us the upper hand. I shoot down the surrounding enemies and look over to Dr.Strange and the others.
'Steve and Tony are dead. We got the gauntlet. We need to end this.' I shout over at him. He nods and instantly starts wading into battle. I see him fault as he spots Tony at the base of the tree in the distance but not for long.
'Where are my friends?' The girl with antennas asks, looking round.
'You mean Peter and Rocket?' I ask, shooting an enemy who broke through our lines.
'Yes! And Drax!' She says, excited.
'Opposite side, over there.' I say, pointing North, 'Bring them over here, we need more people on this side. But don't leave it undefended.' She takes Nebula by the hand and tries to run off in that direction.
'I'm staying with the fight.' Nebula says pulling back.
'But we need to find them.' The girl says.
'You go. I'm staying here.' She says.
'Stay safe.' The girl says after a moment before running off.
'You wanted backup?' Nebula says, ripping a spear out of one of the fallen enemies and twisting it in her hands, 'let's fight.'
Together we walk into the main fight, finding that Shuri and Wanda have also joined in. Although Shuri has the power of the Black Panther she chooses to fight with her own inventions, firing shots from a gun that attaches itself to her hands. She fights beside Peter, he hanging enemies from branches of trees with webs or trapping them to the floor, and Shuri following shooting them before they can stand back up. Bucky fights close by to them, making sure no stray enemies manage to catch them unaware; while both Shuri and Peter are highly capable they are still both kids and I am glad to see Bucky watching out for them.
Thor fights up front with Carol, both of them holding off Thanos together. Her dark green light and his light blue mixing together to make an electric barrier between Thanos and the rest of the fight. Wanda fights with Natasha and Okoye just behind; Okoye is the only Wakandan fighter around, the rest surrounding the building in case of an alternate attack. The three of them together are a strong force, bringing down a large amount of the enemy before they even have time to attack.
And then I see the gauntlet on the ground. I rush towards it, wondering how we could be so stupid not to instantly hide it, destroy it even. I shoot enemies surrounding it and pick it up as I run by it.
It starts to burn my hand, the power running up my arm and through my body but I don't let go.
Nebula is beside me, fighting off enemies in my path that I can't.
'We need to destroy it.' She says as she stabs three enemies in one go. 'That's the only way we can end this.'
'We need to get it to Wanda.' I say, both of us running through the clearing to where Okoye, Natasha and Wanda fight.
Nebula clears the path, taking various hits in the process. A bullet of some kind is shot and hits me in the bottom left stomach but I keep running.
'Wanda!' I shout, 'Wanda!' She holds several enemies in the air with her power but turns to me as she hears her name.
More enemies flood out in front of me as they see what I hold, more than Nebula can hold off.
'Destroy it!' I shout and throw the gauntlet over the enemies. Wanda catches it, dropping the people she was holding and focuses all her energy into destroying the gauntlet.
She lets out a scream as the gauntlet fights back. Okoye, Natasha, Nebula and I all stand around her, fighting off anyone who tries to stop her from destroying it.
Thor turns as he sees the red light from behind and sees what is happening. He makes a momentary decision and gives half of his power to destroying the infinity stones and half to holding back Thanos. Carol does the same, allowing Thanos a slight chance to get closer.
The Hulk comes into play and rams into Thanos, only holding him off for a second before he gets thrown away. Peter Q and his group come over and start helping us hold off the attacking forces.
The antenna girl runs over to Thanos and spins round onto his back where she holds onto his head and gets him to slow down.
Quill hesitates a moment before holding his hands out and letting out a cry; a golden light comes out of his hands and he joins Thor, Carol and Wanda in trying to destroy the gauntlet.
Thor, Carol, Wanda and Quill stand in a square, all surrounding the gauntlet a couple metres above their heads. Natasha, Okoye, Nebula, Rocket, Groot, Drax, Dr.Strange and I all surround them, holding off enemies in all directions.
I bring my hand to my quiver to find I have one arrow left. I use it to stab a couple of the closest enemies.
'All in.' I shout, 'Everyone on the gauntlet!' I pull my arrow to my bow and aim just as everyone else does the same in their own way; Rocket turns his gun, Dr.Strange turns his hands round and emits an orange glow, Nebula directs her spear and all at once we shoot.
The gauntlet was cracking before but it breaks as everyone shoots at it, each stone breaking to let out its own intense colour.
It's a weird sensation. For a moment, everything seems still. There's no fighting, nothing. And then gauntlet drops to the floor, split into six pieces. A shout comes from my left and I see Thanos drop to the floor. He pulls the antenna girl from his back and throws her against a tree. Rocket and Drax rush over to her, making sure she's okay.
'You people!' He shouts, 'your chance, this was all you had. The last year your world was thriving, now you will fall victim to yourself. My world died,' he's on his knees, and Carol and Thor walk up to him, 'and now yours will too.'
'You killed my friends,' Thor says as he places one hand on Thanos' shoulder, the other hand holding his axe, 'You killed my brother. And I will not miss twice.'
All at once, Carol firs a dark green ray of light at Thanos just as Thor throws his axe into Thanos' face. His hands go limp and he stays still for a moment, before falling backwards and disintegrating into ash.
Everyone is silent. Carol falls to the ground, out of breathe as Thor picks up his axe.
'It's over?' A small voice comes from behind me. I turn and see Peter. I nod and he lets out a small sob. He walks over, past everyone, to where Tony lies against a tree. He kneels beside him and rests his back against the same tree. 'Okay.' He says in a quiet voice, as Shuri stands beside him, 'okay. It's okay.'