In Your Eyes // Steve Rogers

The Snap

Bruce charged for Thanos, first. A simple twist of the Gauntlet caused Bruce to phase straight through Thanos. He rolled until he crashed into a rock, where the phasing commenced, and he was stuck inside of it.

Steve was shot with a wave of purple energy that flipped him throughout the air and out of the way.

In the distraction, T'Challa jumped at Thanos. He was caught easily by his throat and punched to the ground.

Sam fired heavily at Thanos as he flew at him. Another clench of the Gauntlet sent a purple wave at San that disabled his wings and grounded him beside where Steve had fallen.

Soon, he would disable all of my friends from fighting, I knew that. As I stepped forward to fight him, my feet walking against my better judgement, I stared at Wanda, my eyes pleading: please.

Vision noticed. He took Wanda's hand, and he started to coax her into it. He whispered, "Wanda, it's time: they can't stop him but we can. Look at me. You have the power to destroy the stone. You must do it, Wanda, please. We are out of time."

"I can't. "

"Yes, you can. You can," he said softly. He stared at her, while placing her trembling hand above his forehead. "If he gets the Stone, half the universe dies. It's not fair. It shouldn't be you, but it is. It's all right. You could never hurt me. I just feel you."

Wanda's eyes filled with sorrowful tears. She started to let energy cascade from her hand. Scarlet wisps reached forward and caressed the Stone in Vision's head. As soon as it touched, the Stone turned bright yellow, resisting, and Wanda exerted a heavier beam to crush it.

I let out a breath. I turned away from the two, as I had gotten to a position where it was time to start preparing myself to jump into battle.

Above my head, Rhodey was crushed by the metal in his suit and discarded.

Bucky fired his gun at Thanos while he ran, but was blown back by another purple wave, Okoye going down with him.

Natasha was tripped by an uprooted vine and encased by roots.

Groot slammed his hands to the ground and sent roots shooting up from underneath Thanos' feet. They managed to encase him for a mere moment before Thanos spread his arms from his chest and broke through.

I could handle him, or, at the least, protect him from harming anyone else. He was going easy on them. I didn't want to give him the chance to up his game.

I lowered my head at him when he met my eyes. He nodded in return. I swirled my hands together and whipped a ball of energy in his direction that fanned out against a shield he projected. I was conjuring wisps to try to contain him, and I had thrown a few strings, but I was quick to let go of them when I saw Steve running in.

Using my fighting as the distraction, Steve slid low and punched Thanos. I screamed, yelling at him to stop, as I sprinted forward to help. Steve got caught underneath Thanos' hand, pushing it up above his head with both of his hands. Thanos looked confused by his might.

As I closed in, Thanos glanced at me, then punched Steve in the face and dropped his body limp to the ground. I skidded to a stop. Watching Steve, I noticed his chest still rising. He was unconscious, but he was alive.

"You have a soft spot for him," noticed Thanos.

"I have a soft spot for all life," I snarled. My hands were raging with green energy at this point, just waiting for me to open the guard around my heart and bring ruin to Thanos. But I didn't. All I needed to do at the moment was stall enough for Wanda. "What you call balance is senseless murder. You have the power to bring resources to life, to further life, and instead, you intend to destroy it. You are no savior. You're a murderer. Marauder."