- Aviva, Princesses Don’t Cry

~Blythe’s POV~

We’re still on Titan, waiting for Thanos to arrive. Strange sits on what might once have been plaza steps, the remaining six of us hiding behind debris from the ship.

We hear him arrive, and I carefully peep over to look at him. He’s really tall, probably almost a metre taller than me. And he’s purple. I knew he wasn’t human but I kinda wasn’t expecting that. He has groves in his chin, which is really strange.

“Oh yeah, you’re much more of a ‘Thanos’,” Strange says to the purple giant. We collectively decided that he was the best choice.

“I take it the Maw is dead. This day extracts a heavy toll. Still, he accomplished his mission.

“You may regret that. He brought you face-to-face with the Master of the Mystic Arts.”

“And where do you think he brought you?”

Peter pops up beside me, carefully watching. We study the conversation.

“Let me guess. Your home?”

“It was. And it was beautiful.” Thanos smiles, almost as if reminiscing in the past. He curls his fist and the red stone in his gauntlet glows, showing Titan before it was destroyed. He’s right - it was beautiful. “Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, and not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution.”

“Genocide”

“But at random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass.” He relaxes his fist, the illusion dying away.

“Congratulations. You’re a prophet.”

“I’m a survivor.”

“Who wants to murder trillions.”

“With all six stones, I could simply snap my fingers, and they would all cease to exist. I call that...mercy.”

Strange stands. “And then what?”

“I finally rest...and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills.”

Strange enters a fighting pose, rings of magic hovering in front of his palms. Behind me, Papa picks up a chunk of wreckage. “I think...you’ll find...our will...equal to yours.”

“Ours?”

Papa leaps up and flies at Thanos with the wreckage rapidly. He’s unable to stop and gets crushed by it.

“Piece of cake, Quill,” Papa smirks.

“Yeah,” Quill replies sarcastically. “If your goal was to piss him off!”

The wreckage brought down on Thanos erupts in purple, the fragments glowing with red as they turn into bats and flock towards Papa.

I shoot repulsor beams at Thanos, trying to push the Mad Titan back. Peter webs his eyes, swinging in and kicking the giant’s face. Drax slides in and slices at his knees. Strange begins to duel with Thanos, using his golden magic against the brute force of the Titan.

Quill fires at Thanos, disappearing by jumping into one of Strange’s many portals. I watch as he leaps through them, getting closer to Thanos. In a split second, he jumps through one and slaps a mine on Thanos’ back before disappearing into another portal. The mine explodes and dazes the giant, causing him to fall to his knees.

More portals begin to pop up, courtesy of Strange. I fire a few beams through the ones closest to me, all of them hitting Thanos in various spots. Peter begins to leap through portals, yelling “Magic!” whenever he goes through them and gets Thanos. He’s cut off mid-sentence trying to get the Titan when Thanos grabs him and throws him to the ground.

“Insect!” He throws Peter at Strange, knocking both of them down. Papa and I team up and bombard him with blasts. He simply collects them with the purple stone and fires them back at us, sending us flying off into the ground.

I wait until I finish landing before trying to stand up and flying back. I’ve been hit way worse than that, but it still hurts. Before I can stand up, I have to avoid being hit by a small spaceship that whizzes over my head towards Thanos.

I watch as a blue woman gets out and begins attacking him. Strange takes the opportunity to try and get the gauntlet off, Drax trying to distract him more. Peter webs Thanos in an attempt to withhold him, Quill using an electric trap to keep Thanos’ right arm contained.

I jet towards them, arriving moments after Papa. We both begin trying to pull the gauntlet off. Mantis has been around Thanos’ neck with her hands on his head, and I now realise that she’s trying to put him to sleep.

“Is he under?” Papa asks. “Don’t let up.”

Mantis starts to cry. “Be quick. He is very strong.”

“Parker, help! Get over here.” Peter drops his position and comes to help with the gauntlet. “She can’t hold him much longer. Let’s go. The three of us.”

Quill stands in front of Thanos tauntingly. “I thought you’d be harder to catch. For the record, this was my plan. Not so strong now, huh? Where is Gamora?”

“Quill, what the fuck are you doing?!” I yell.

“My...Gamora…?” Thanos gasps, still mostly subdued.

“No, bullshit,” Quill responds. “Where is she?”

“He’s in anguish,” Mantis starts. 

“Good.”

“He...he...mourns.”

“What does this monster have to mourn?!” Drax shouts, and I’m reminded of his presence.

“Gamora,” The blue lady says quickly.

Quill turns to her in shock. “What?”

Blue lady seems to have a moment of realisation, and her face saddens. “He took her to Vormir. He came back with the Soul Stone...but she didn’t.”

I see the anger in Quill’s face and sense the danger in his eyes. “Okay, Quill. You gotta cool it right now.”

Quill ignores me and turns to Thanos slowly.

“Don’t!” Papa yells. “Don’t! Don’t engage! We’ve almost got this off!”

“Tell me she’s lying.” Quill barely gives Thanos a moment to respond before getting enraged. “ASSHOLE! Tell me you didn’t do it!”

“I...had...to.”

“No, you didn’t!. No, you didn’t!” He lashes out and begins to hit Thanos in the face, causing Mantis to let go in pain. “NO, YOU DIDN’T!”

“QUILL!” Papa and Drax shout in unison. I’m the first to respond, letting go of the gauntlet and grabbing Quill to push him back. He begins struggling against me.

“Hey, stop!” I tell him. “Hey, stop! Stop! Hey, stop! Stop!”

“It’s coming!” Peter yells. “It’s coming! It’s coming! I got it! I got it!” 

In a split second, Thanos comes to. In the same second, Quill pushes and shoots me away. I go flying again. Shit, not again! I get knocked down and my vision goes a little blurry. I decide to take a breather for just a moment.

After a few moments, I look up to see Papa fighting Thanos. I enhance my speakers.

“All that for a drop of blood,” Thanos says, wiping his cheek. 

I fumble around as I stand up, vision finally clearing up properly. I look back up to see that Thanos now has Papa pinned, one of his nanite swords lodged in his left side being pushed in further by Thanos.

In shock, my helmet disappears. “NO!” I yell, the only thought running through my head being that he could die. Thanos glances up at me and seems to recognise me as Papa’s daughter.

--

~No POV~

Thanos stares into Tony’s eyes, having recognised Blythe as the man’s daughter. He sees the similarities between the two of them. She seems young. From what he’s seen of the girl, she reminds him of his own Gamora.

“You have my respect, Stark. When I’m done, half of humanity will still be alive. You’re a valiant fighter.” He stands up and steps back. “I hope you suffer. I hope she remembers you.”

Tony’s distracted by the pain, blood drooling from his mouth. You can hear his compromised breathing. His fist begins to close. 

“Stop!”

--

~Blythe’s POV~

Strange’s voice rings through the battlefield. I begin to walk towards Papa, speakers still picking up what is being said despite being a kilometre away. “Spare his life...and I will give you the stone.”

“No tricks.” Thanos points at the stones, and Strange shakes his head.

“Don’t!” Papa breathes, predicting what the sorcerer is going to do.

Strange reaches into the stars and plucks the Time Stone, fingers trembling. The stone floats from his hand to Thanos’, who puts it into an empty spot on the gauntlet.

“One to go,” He says triumphantly. A blast hits the gauntlet, and he grimaces in surprise.

The blast came from Quill, who I see flying straight towards Thanos. He’s firing both of his guns and screaming in rage. Thanos simply leaves. Quill flies through where Thanos had been and crashes, rolling a few times.

“Where is he?!”

I’ve finally reached Papa, who is stitching up his wound the best he can with his suit. I help him stabilise. He’s in pain, and it hurts me as well.

“Did we just lose?” Quill asks, his voice suddenly fearful.

I look at Strange, holding Papa as he lays weakly. “Why would you do that?”

“We’re in the Endgame now."