Real-Life Myth

Fifteen.

The Guardians, Avengers, and Lana are dealing with the gravitic aftermath of dumping a large chunk of moon onto an unstable planet's surface. The unconscious Guardians are flying upwards uncontrollably, moon-chunks are still making fiery ballistic inbounds, and random debris and massive rocks are floating in any possible direction. Spider-Man is well-equipped to handle this physically, even if he's freaking out emotionally.

Peter webs Mantis. "I got you! I got you!" He snags Drax, securing both of them to something not moving. "I'm sorry I can't remember anybody's names!" He starts to reels in Star-Lord but finds Lana talking to him. He decides to give them more alone time. Peter instead reels in Clint.

The Cloak of Levitation sets Doctor Strange down on a relatively stable outcrop as Thanos extricates himself from rubble. The Sorcerer Supreme makes a few passes with his hands, producing the familiar golden magic filigree circles, and slams 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 reaches Thanos, sending him flying. But he makes use of the erratic gravity to keep control and fire back a blast from the Power Stone. Strange blocks the purple plume with a wall of Mirror Dimension, which he then pushes back at Thanos. It shatters around the Titan, who suctions the magic into a miniature black hole with the Space Stone, volleying it back at Strange. Lana notices this and frowns. Just in time, Strange raises a shield and changes the dark energy into a swarm of aqua butterflies which return to their master.

Before Thanos can counterattack again, Strange levitates and invokes the Images of Ikonn, giving him arms like a Hindu diety before dozens of Strange replications rush away, forming a circular wall around a snarling Thanos. They call cast magical cords, wrapping around Thanos's torso, arms and hands. He struggles to close his gauntleted fist, and uses the Soul and Power Stones to discover the real Strange among the many copies, blowing the duplicates away and sending the singular Strange reeling. Reality and Space pull Strange forward, Thanos grasping him by the throat once in range. Strange grabs futilely at Thanos's hand.

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

"No!" Strange yells as Thanos reaches for the Eye of Agamotto.

Thanos snaps the Eye off its chain. "Yet you never once used your greatest weapon." He crushes it in his bare hand. "A fake." He throws Strange hard enough that Strange's head hits stone and he passes out.

Almost simultaneously, a red and gold device slaps into the palm of the Infinity Gauntlet, bracing the fingers open; and a red and gold Avenger makes a fast and hard entrance. "You throw another moon at me, and I'm gonna to lose it," Tony states, done with the Titan.

"Stark."

"You know me?"

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

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

"Come on!" The rockets all explode on target, momentarily shrouding Thanos in smoke. Before it clears, Iron Man piledrives into Thanos horizontally, using his single super-jet boot configuration. As he bounces off, he flips and sticks his landing, immediately reconfiguring his boots into ground clamps for stability and his gloves into rocket-driven battering rams, punching Thanos into a ruined wall behind him.

Thanos shakes it off quickly, reaches forward and tears Iron Man's helmet off, revealing Tony's surprised expression before the suit recovers automatically and re-forms his head protection. The Titan makes use of the fractional delay and punches back hard, sending Iron Man sliding meters away, giving Thanos time to rip the brace device off the gauntlet. He immediately uses the Power Stone to stream furiously lambent energy at his opponent, who forms a shield to kneel behind just as instantly, getting pushed back even further by the incredible force.