- MAX, Where Am I At

Tony lays in a bed alone, wires connected to him. The others wait outside, looking in.

“Bruce gave him a sedative,” Rhodey says. “He’s gonna probably be out for the rest of the day.”

“You guys take care of him. And I’ll bring him a Xorrian Elixir when I come back,” Carol explains as she walks away.

“Where are you going?” Nat asks.

“To kill Thanos.”

Steve and Nat share a look before walking after the woman. “Hey, you know, we usually work as a team here, and between you and I, morale’s a little fragile.”

“We realise up there is more your territory, but this is our fight too,” Steve says. “We’ve all lost someone.”

“You even know where he is?” Rhodey asks Carol.

“I know people who might.”

Nebula interrupts, standing behind Carol. “Don’t bother. I can tell you where Thano is. Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. And when he worked, he talked about his great plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I’d ask ‘Where would we go once his plan was complete?’. His answer was always the same: ‘To the Garden.’.”

Rhodey smirked. “That’s cute, Thanos has a retirement plan.”

“So where is he?” Steve questions.

“When Thanos snapped his fingers,” Rocket starts to explain. “Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one’s ever seen anything like it...until two years ago.” A hologram of a planet pops up, a shockwave making its way around the surface. “On this planet.”

“Thanos is there,” Nebula finishes.

“He used the stones again,” Nat connects the dots.

“Hey, hey, hey. We’d be going in short-handed, you know,” Bruce points out, always the logical one.

“Look, he’s still got the stones, so…” Rhodey says.

“So let’s get him…” Carol rationalises. “Use them to bring everyone back.”

“Just like that?”

“Yeah, just like that,” Steve answers. He and Carol share a look.

“Even if there’s a small chance that we can undo this…” Nat starts. “I mean, we owe it to everyone who’s not in this room to try.”

“If we do this, how do we know it’s gonna end any differently than it did before?” Bruce asks.

“Because before, you didn’t have me,” Carol replies.

That annoys Rhodey. “Hey, new girl, everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don’t mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?”

“There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn’t have you guys.”

Thor, having been eating a snack through the whole conversation, stands up and walks over to Carol. She turns around and stares at him. Thor holds his hand up, Stormbreaker flies over to fit into his palm. It misses Carol by inches, but she doesn’t even flinch. She simply smiles at the God. Thor smiles back.

“I like this one.”

“Let’s go get this son of a bitch,” Steve says.”

--

Riding in the Benatar is everyone except Tony, the latter still in the compound, now with Pepper by his side.

“Okay, who here hasn’t been to space?” Rocket asks. Nat, Cap and Rhodey all raise their hands.

“Why?” The latter questions.

“You better not throw up on my ship.”

“Approaching jump in 3...2...1!” Nebula announces.

The ship moves through the warp, then hovers in the orbit of the planet seen in the hologram when they arrive. Carol floats outside the ship.

“I’ll head down for recon.”

Steve and Nat watch her go from inside the Benatar. “This is gonna work, Steve,” Nat reassures.

“I know it will.” He stares at the compass he’s holding in his hand. The compass holds a photo of Blythe, pushing him on. He reminds himself that he’s doing it for her, that her efforts weren’t in vain. “Cause I don’t know what I’m going to do if it doesn’t.”

Carol reports back to the Benatar, having surveyed the planet. “No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It’s just him.”

“And that’s enough,” Nebula replies.

--

Thanos sits on a chair in a hut, staring out at the tropical fauna of his farm. The gauntlet is visibly fried to his arm, and his whole left side is burnt black with blisters. He looks pathetic.

Carol suddenly flies through the roof, knocking Thanos to the floor and grabbing his neck. Bruce bursts up from the ground and grabs the arm with the Infinity Gauntlet, which Thor flies in and slices off.

Rhodey flies in holding Rocket and aims guns at Thanos’ head as he lands. Steve walks in wearing one of his old suits, Nat behind him. Rocket walks over to the sliced off Gauntlet, kicking it over. Everyone sees that there are no stones in it.

“Oh no,” Rocket says softly.

“Where are they?” Steve asks.

“Answer the question!” Carol yells, squeezing Thanos’ neck slightly.

“The universe required correction,” Thanos explains. “After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation.

“You murdered trillions!” Bruce shouts, pushing him further to the ground.

“You should be grateful.” The statement earns a punch from Bruce in the Hulkbuster.

“Where are the stones?” Nat questions.

“Gone. Reduced to atoms.”

“You used them two days ago!” Bruce yells, still annoyed.

“I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. I am...inevitable.”

“We have to tear this place apart,” Rhodey tries to reason. “He...he...he has to be lying.”

Nebula speaks up. “My father is many things. A liar is not one of them.”

“Ah, thank you, daughter.” Nebula looks uncomfortable at Thanos’ words, looking down at her feet. “Perhaps I treated you too harshly.”

Thor’s face crosses with rage and he summons Stormbreaker. Before anyone can even react he slices through Thanos’ neck, the Mad Titan’s head rolling off as his body falls limp. Nebula wipes off some of the blood that landed on her face.

“What...what did you do?” Rocket asks, horrified by Thor’s action.

The God looks broken, as if realising what he’s done. “I went for the head.” He walks out of the shed.