The King: T'Challa.

Chapter 28: The Last Chance.

The Benatar hummed as it slipped through the emptiness, its engines steady but the people inside anything but. Emily sat shoulder to shoulder with Steve, their silence as heavy as the dark around them. His hand was resting loosely on his knee until she covered it with her own.

"This is going to work, Steve," she said quietly, almost more for herself than for him.

His thumb brushed the edge of her knuckles, but his eyes were elsewhere—fixed on the compass he always carried. The photograph of Peggy, worn soft from years of handling, glowed faintly in the dim cabin light. He held her gaze at last, his expression pulled tight between hope and exhaustion.

"It has to," he murmured. "Because I don't know what I'll do if it doesn't."

Before Emily could answer, Carol's voice crackled over the comms. She floated effortlessly alongside the ship, a streak of gold against the void.

"No satellites. No fleet. No ground defences," she reported, eyes narrowed on the planet growing larger below them. "It's just him."

That was all they needed. No one spoke again until landing gear bit into foreign soil.

It happened in a rush—Carol streaking forward, tearing through the roof of the ramshackle dwelling and dragging Thanos to the dirt by his throat. The ground split as the Hulkbuster erupted from beneath, pinning his arm and prising at the gauntlet. Thor descended next, lightning splitting the sky as Stormbreaker carved the Infinity Gauntlet clean from Thanos' hand. Rhodey dropped from above with Rocket in tow, weapons trained steadily on their target.

Steve entered the clearing with Natasha at his side, Emily just behind him. The air was thick with purpose, each of them moving as though choreography had already been set in stone. Emily's eyes fell on the severed gauntlet lying in the dust. She nudged it over with her boot, heart thudding.

The sockets were empty.

"Oh, no," she whispered, stepping back.

The others saw it too. Horror cracked the veneer of their resolve.

"Where are they?" Steve's voice cut like steel, low but vibrating with anger.

Carol's grip tightened around the Titan's throat. "Answer him."

Thanos coughed once, more from amusement than pain. His voice was roughened but steady. "The universe required correction. After that, the Stones had no purpose—save temptation."

Emily felt her chest tighten, rage climbing like fire up her throat. "You slaughtered trillions," she spat.

"And you should be grateful," he said, as though offering a benediction.

She leaned in until their faces were only inches apart, the air hot with her breath. Her words came jagged, each one dragged from clenched teeth. "Where are the Stones?"

"Gone," he said simply. "Reduced to atoms."

Carol shoved him harder. "You used them. Two days ago—we saw the surge."

His ruined arm twitched as he adjusted his posture, sitting straighter despite the weight of bodies pressing him down. "I used the Stones... to destroy the Stones. Nearly killed me." He drew in a rattling breath and let the words linger, heavy as stone. "But the work is done. It always will be. I am... inevitable."

Panic scraped into Rhodey's voice. "We rip this place apart if we have to—he's lying. He has to be."

Nebula stepped forward, her face taut with an old grief. "My father is many things," she said flatly. "But he is not a liar."

Thanos' eyes softened as they flicked to her. "Ah. Thank you, daughter." His voice was almost tender. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly."

The words made her flinch, and that was when Thor's patience finally cracked. His face twisted with grief and fury as Stormbreaker spun into his hand. Before anyone could intervene, he brought the axe down in a brutal arc. The blade carved through flesh and bone; the sound was obscene in the silence.

Thanos' body slumped, head rolling aside in the dirt. Blood spattered across Nebula's cheek. She wiped it away with the back of her hand, eyes unreadable.

Emily stared at the severed head, her stomach turning, a sick ache rooting deep inside her. "Well," she muttered, her voice rough, "that's the end of that purple bastard."

Rocket's voice broke, higher than usual. "What... what did you just do?!"

Thor's shoulders sagged as if the weight of the world had settled there all over again. His gaze was vacant, his tone almost childlike. "I went for the head."

He stumbled out of the hut, his steps slow, purposeless.

The others remained where they were, staring at the corpse of the Titan who had ended half the universe. None of them spoke the question they all carried.

What happens now?