Unsurpassed Beauty

Chapter Two: He Followed Us

Note: I know that Death is another character completely, but for the sake of this story, I'm changing that. I am using a lot of stuff from the comics and my own imagination that doesn't really line up with MCU stuff. Bear with me please. Also, the entire team will be together, rather than scattered across the universe like in Infinity War. The canon divergence started from the beginning, so don't expect everything to go exactly the same as anything.

Over the next few days, Hela kept to herself. No one bothered her (with the exception of a certain billionaire), and she bothered no one. It was a calm afternoon, nothing more than a few house-fires and bank robberies happening. Suddenly, the news was taking over every single station available. Steve's attention turned toward the TV. He stiffened and called for an emergency meeting.

Thor and Loki were the first to arrive in the room. Loki's eyes flicked over to the television. His heart dropped. "No," He stepped closer, making sure he was seeing things right. "No, no, no, no. He followed us!" He wished now, more than ever, that he'd left the damned tesseract to be destroyed on Asgard. 

"Who followed you?" Steve demanded, the rest of the team hurrying in. Hela stepped forward, her cloak flowing behind her. She said softly,

"Thanos." An unclear emotion was evident on her face. 

"We have to get out of here!" Loki grabbed Thor's arm. "We need to leave, or we'll all  be slaughtered!"

Steve suddenly understood the severity of the situation. "We can't just leave! We are here to protect earth."

"You can't." Loki spat. "None of us would last a minute going to battle with his minions and him." He was trying to hide his emotions, but he was shaking violently. "If we don't get off this damn planet we're all going to perish in the most agonising way!"

"Loki, why would he follow us, if he knew he had no chance against us?"

"I-" Loki stopped. "The infinity stones-"

Steve spoke up. "He's here for Vision." He looked at the red figure.

"We can't let him get to him then." Wanda held Vision's hand tightly.

They began arguing amongst themselves, but Hela stepped away and looked out the window. "Forget any plan that you ever thought of. It's too late. He's here." The building shook with an explosion. Steve jumped into action. 

"Wanda, take Vision far from here, some place where Thanos can't easily access." Wanda took off with Vision. "Barton, Romanoff, take care of the foot soldiers, as many as you can. The rest of us need to get to Thanos." Everyone sprinted out the door except Hela and Loki. 

"Brother, they need you." Her deathly aura dropped for a moment. 

"I can't go, you don't understand."

"You see, you're going to die someday anyhow, why not get it over with?" She hissed, taking two swift steps toward him. "And don't you ever tell me I don't understand'." Her words were venomous. "Stop being a coward." She grabbed her cloak and turned on her heel, jumping out the window. Loki thought for a moment.  Maybe, now that we have her, we have a shot. He swallowed his fear and hesitantly followed his sister. 

The Black Order had already begun wreaking havoc on everyone and everything in their way. When Hela landed on the hard ground, Thanos' head snapped to her. Their eyes locked. He pushed his way to her. The team tried desperately to stop his 'children', and paid no attention to Hela's situation. 

She stood firm, pulling two swords out. Instead of attacking her though, he stopped a yard or so away, a look of awe on his face. "I've admired you from afar, but now I can see you for myself." He took another step toward her.

Hela gave him a confused look.

"Death." He said the name with a loving tone. Hela glared at him and shook her head. 

"That's not my  name."

"But it is." He suddenly reached out and caressed her cheek, the reality stone flickering. The left side of her face melted away into a black, misshapen skull. The armour she wore faded into a skeleton with pieces of decayed flesh attached, but the right side of her maintained its radiant beauty. Her eyes were wide with shame.

She ripped herself away from his touch, and turned to look  behind her. Loki was standing there, eyes wide with fear. Thanos' looked at him. "It's you again." He advanced toward him, but Hela stepped in front of him. "Oh, Death, don't cross me, my love."

"That's. Not. My. Name." She lunged toward him, jabbing at his right shoulder. He dodged only to meet another blade.

Loki watched as his sister moved effortlessly and gracefully. He realised that on Asgard, she had merely been doing the least required to defeat them. He backed away, trying to get away from the mad titan. He should have just stayed inside. He carefully moved away from the fight. Thanos moved away from Hela, creating space between them. "Stop this madness, my love."

"Don't call me that, and I'm hardly the one that's mad." She threw her sword at his neck, but he caught it. He dropped it and turned away from her.

"I'll be back for you later." He ran forward and grabbed Loki just before he got away. "You have something I want."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

He sighed exasperatedly. "Just give me the tesseract, and I'll leave you be."

"And destroy half the universe!" He spat.

Thanos sighed again and the world around them changed. It was all just an illusion. There was no battle. Steve, Bucky, Natasha, all of them, they were scattered about. They were either dead or unconscious, Loki couldn't tell. 

Hela stiffened when she saw Thor. One of Thanos' children gripped his head tightly, pressing a dagger to his throat. Her head snapped toward Loki. She shook her head. 

Don't give it to him. She used her telepathy. Don't.

Loki's look of defiance faltered for a moment. Thanos threw him to the ground and tapped his foot impatiently. "The tesseract, or your brother's head. I assume you have a preference."

Loki swallowed hard. "I do."

Hela shot him a look. Don't do it. 

When the blade of the dagger pressed harder into Thor's throat, Thor let out a gurgled groan, blood spilling out of his neck. 

"Alright, stop it!" Loki already had the tesseract in his hand. "Take it!"

Hela looked at him, shaking her head. Thanos grabbed the tesseract from him and cracked open the cube, presenting the space stone. He smiled as he held it near the gauntlet. It was pulled into place.

It was then, that Hela noticed he already had the mind stone. He had them all. "No." Hela ran to grab him, but he snapped. "No!" Thanos disappeared into a portal.

She looked around her and some of the team members turned to ash slowly. She turned to her brother. "Loki, he's won."