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.

With those words, Dr. Strange stood, challenging him, "And then what?"

"I'd finally rest... and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills."

"I think you'll find our will equal to yours," Dr. Strange said, raising his arms out as he stood. He created a force with his hands and braced for a battle. Now was her time to shine.

"Our?" Thanos questioned.

Tony came down first with a remnant of the ship they crashed in, slamming it on top of Thanos before he even realized what was happening.

"Piece of cake, Quill," Tony spoke into the comms and Kaelyn held back a laugh.

"Not bad, old man," she responded.

Quill laughed at this, retorting with, "Yeah, if your goal was to piss him off."

The spaceship exploded as Thanos reared his ugly head, using the power of one of the stones. The debris formed into a swarm of birds that attacked Tony. Peter swung down, with Kaelyn by his side before he dropped her and landed into a roll. Watching as he placed a web over Thanos's eyes, her goal was to go for the gauntlet or at least keep him distracted until Mantis could get him asleep. Her spear slid out of her suit, attached to her arm via a leather band provided by the suit. She tightened it out of nerves before going for the legs. Before Thanos could actually hit her or she could make contact, Strange formed a portal beneath her and she fell through to safety a few yards away from Thanos.

She had no idea what weapons Tony had equipped to the suit, but she figured out she had a plethora of small knives to be thrown which wouldn't do much to the Titan except for annoying him. However, that was all she needed to do. As the man landed a kick to Dr. Strange's forcefield, she released the knives and before the first one even made contact, Thanos was distracted by them which allowed Strange a moment to recover. In a flash, the reality stone was in use and the knives had turned to a flock of birds escaping into the air space. The distraction managed to be enough for Star-Lord to get a shot to Thanos's back with his blaster and gain his attention. Kaelyn stood her ground from a distance, knowing the heat of the plan would be falling into action soon.

Using plates formed by Strange, Quill jumped and planted an electric grenade on Thanos's back before flipping him off and falling through a portal. An electric shock went through Thanos as he crumbled to the ground just long enough for Strange to send his cape to wrap around his fist. Together, Peter and Kaelyn fell through portals, splitting up to tug and twist different limbs.

"Magic!" Peter exclaimed and even in the most dangerous moment in her life, Kaelyn fell in love a little more. The little comment reminded her exactly what she was doing this for. Kaelyn fell through another portal, but she couldn't get to Thanos before he grabbed Peter by the neck and slammed him into the ground. A flare of fear and anger shot through her veins as she took her spear and slashed at Thanos as hard as she could from any possible angle. He flicked her off like a fly before sending Peter flying into Dr. Strange and ripping off the cape.

The wind was knocked out of her, but that wouldn't stop her from trying to get back up until Thanos was dead. She wasn't giving up, they couldn't. An explosion rang through as Tony returned, keeping his attention long enough for the rest of them to recover. Her ribs would definitely be bruised tomorrow, but that was a problem for tomorrow. She watched in horror as Thanos redirected the blast and fired it at Tony, sending him sprawling. Peter shot back up and tried to get a web on the gauntlet, but was met with a detrimental punch to the face as the web was ripped off.

Thankfully, Peter landed right by and she was able to grab him by the hand and pull him to her as she forced herself to stand. "Peter, baby, hey, are you okay?"

She could hear the struggle in his voice as he said, "Just peachy. We got this, I pinky promised."

"You sure did, soldier," she teased as she pulled him to his feet. She wanted to kiss him or hold him or do anything to know they were going to be okay, but that just wasn't possible right now. There was destruction and chaos all around them, but they had each other. That was enough.

Thanks to Nebula, there was a distraction long enough for Strange to get a grip on the gauntlet. Drax slid, kicking Thanos's feet out from under him as he knelt to the ground. Peter was able to get up and wrap webs around Thanos and Tony began to rip off the gauntlet. They had him. Peter was sliding even as the spider-legs protruded from his back so Kaelyn ran over and helped him reinforce the web as she clung onto him and dug her feet into the ground as best she could. Strange created a portal and Mantis fell onto Thanos's shoulders and began to put him to sleep. As a team, they conquered him if just for a moment.

"Is he under?" Tony asked as Thanos's screaming subsided. "Don't let up."

"Be quick, he is very strong," Mantis instructed frantically, her face contorted in stress and frustration.

Tony called over to the teens, "Kae, hold onto the web. Parker, get over here. She can't hold him much longer. Let's go."

"We gotta open his fingers to get it off," Peter instructed as they all struggled.

Star-Lord landed in front of them, turning to face Thanos, "I thought you'd be harder to catch. For the record, this was my plan. You're not so strong now, huh? Where is Gamora?"

"He won't answer, stop risking this," Kaelyn seethed, not trusting the look in Quill's eyes.

Thanos groaned out an answer through the sleep, "My Gamora."

"No, bullshit! Where is she?"

Kaelyn really, sincerely wished men could keep their emotions in check sometimes. More specifically, their anger.

"He is in anguish," Mantis announced, "He... he mourns."

"What does this monster have to mourn?" Drax asked with his voice strained. Kaelyn honestly didn't care much for this conversation as she had no idea who these people were she was really just trying to avoid dying at this point. Not to mention her feet were getting tired and this web was getting harder to hold.

"Gamora," Nebula spoke, her voice cold.

"What?"

Nebula's expression was unchanged, "He took her to Vormir. He came back with the Soul Stone. But she didn't."

Tony seemed to realize the same thing Kaelyn did. Quill was about to lose it. "Okay, Quill, you gotta cool it right now. You understand? Don't, don't. Don't engage. We've almost got this off."

"Tell me she's lying," Peter screamed. "Asshole! Tell me you didn't do it!"

"I had to," was Thanos's response. Things went to shit.

"No, you didn't. No, you didn't," Quill said with tears in his eyes as he took the handle of his gun and slammed it into Thanos's head, causing him to shout. Quill kept hitting him and Tony was able to pull him off. However, just as Peter had gotten the gauntlet off, it was too late. It was all too late.

They all went flying, Mantis launching into the air as Peter went to go catch her. Kaelyn got an elbow to the face as she slammed against the ground for what was neither the first nor probably the last time today. They tried to fight, but it was no use. Just as meteor shower began to rain down on the planet, Dr. Strange was able to form a portal beneath Kaelyn to get her out of the range of destruction in the knick of time. However, even with that, they were all launched into the atmosphere with the force of the explosions. She felt Peter's web wrap around her before she could get too far, thankfully. He pulled as many of them to safety as he could, but none of them were strong enough to fight back against the reign of terror Thanos wrought.

She watched helplessly as Dr. Strange tried to fight off Thanos on his own. Clones of Strange filled the air and it became impossible to tell which one actually possessed the Time Stone. However, using the Power Stone, he revealed the true Strange and knocked him off his axis.

Tony rejoined the fight, she observed, saying, "You throw another moon at me and I'm gonna lose it."

Kaelyn would have laughed if her ribs weren't in so much pain. She felt like shit being a bystander, but she could barely breathe. Apparently invincibility didn't save her from having the wind knocked out of or soreness. Kind of a shit deal, if you ask her. However, she was still invincible as she cut herself free from the web and tumbled to the ground, landing in a way that should have broken her ankles. She stood, concentrated, ready to go. Soreness be damned, Thanos could never make her bleed.

"Stark."

"You know me?" she listened to the conversation with nerves on edge throughout her entire body. Fear ate away at her skin as she watched Tony, a man who had been more of a father to her in a year than her actual dad ever had, face a god.

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

"My only curse is you."

They launched into a battle of fire and fury that Kaelyn was honestly too terrified to try and squeeze in her two cents. Tony fought valiantly, but once Thanos had him on the ground it was punch after punch. He couldn't take it, no one could take that much.

Kaelyn screamed as Thanos impaled Tony with his own spear. Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched the man bleed.

"You have my respect, Stark," Thanos spoke and Kaelyn wanted to spit in his face and slit his throat. "When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive. I hope they remember you."

There was nothing that could be done. Tony was going to die and trapped under rubble and bone there was nothing they could do to stop it.

As Thanos was about to release his final blow, Dr. Strange's voice rang out, "Stop. Spare his life... and I will give you the stone."

"No tricks."

Strange shook his head as he manifested the stone from its hiding place. Mentally, Kaelyn urged him not to do it, but she knew it was too late. Her shouts of protest were stuck in her throat, too coated in sickly sweet fear to make their way past her lips. Thanos accepted the stone and Star-Lord began shooting at him, but it was too late.

It was too late.

I didn't realize this chapter was gonna be so long oop anyway here's a fun lil battle scene and yes i may have forgotten kaelyn was invincible we're not gonna talk about it