09 - TOO LATE

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THE MOMENT CAME SOONER THAN EXPECTED

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THE MOMENT CAME SOONER THAN EXPECTED. Soon enough, they were hiding while Dr. Strange stood to be the only one exposed. In their spot, Peter held onto Kaelyn tightly as if he was scared she would fade away the moment he let go. Her heart was racing; she prayed Thanos couldn't smell her fear. If he could, she would be revealed in a heartbeat. Kaelyn wondered what her life would be like if she never met Peter or never got involved. Would she have ever discovered her power? If she had never met Peter, she would be just another helpless teenager in the streets of New York in the middle of an alien invasion. Either way, she was sure to meet a grim ending. At least she would meet her end with Peter by her side. No, she couldn't think like that. They were going to fight until they took their very last breath and if they could win, then she would do everything it took to get them there. She had a whole team by her side, they could do this.

"Oh, yeah. You're much more of a Thanos," she heard Dr. Strange say.

The voice that responded was gruff and booming, "I take it the Maw is dead. This day extracts a heavy toll. Still, he accomplished his mission."

"You may regret that," the other man taunted and Kaelyn could only assume Thanos was zoning in on the time stone Strange protected. "He brought you face-to-face with a Master of the Mystic Arts."

"And where do you think he brought you?" Kaelyn peered over the edge of the spaceship remnants they were settled on, looking over as Thanos stepped towards Dr. Strange. They were in position, they could take him down.

"Let me guess," Dr. Strange played along, sounding bored, "Your home?"

"It was," Thanos began, "And it was beautiful." Using what Kaelyn could only assume was the reality stone to project an image of what Titan used to be, "Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution."

Dr. Strange did not seem impressed, "Genocide?"

"But random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass." The illusion faded back to the desolate landscape of Titan.

"Congratulations, you're a prophet."

"I'm a survivor," the Titan countered, his expression wistful. Kaelyn had no sympathy for the creature. Why should she?

The man facing him seemed to feel the same way she did. "Who wants to murder trillions."

"With all six stones, I could simply snap my fingers. They would all cease to exist. I call that... mercy." Kaelyn was growing tired of the Titan attempting to justify his genocidal rhetoric. She heard enough of that back on Earth when the white boys in her class talked about World War II. The girl was itching to act on something, to pounce on the Titan. This man, if you could even call him that, had already taken so much from her and he sure as hell planned to take more.

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