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o9. Benefit of the Doubt..

Believe, even where there is no proof to your faith. Believer, remain, if that ideology brings you peace in the moment, because your doubt will either perish or ready you for the war.

Shockwaves transmitted under Thanos' burned skin from the impact of a punch that came fast into his chin. Struggle to keep his sight caught him into rapid blinks on a stumble backwards, when he realize the gauntlet was easily slipping past his wrist. He grabbed onto it and Danny, understanding it won't come off so easily, even damaged, pushed the flat of his foot into Thanos' chest. The armour cracked and the Mad Titan was sent flying through Sierra's spells, just deactivater as she considered it has been enough of a distraction and headstart to join down on the ground beside Danny.

They planned while Wong extracted the coordinates from the female Thanos left behind, only their plan was considerably different from what Sierra witnessed Daisy settle on. K'un-Lun agreed Thanos had to be stopped and figured it did not require the entire fight force of the city to accomplish that; the Immortal Iron Fist and the Guiding Light would suffice.

After one face off with Thanos, Danny and Sierra agreed with Wong that the best case scenario was to simply remove the stones from the Titan's possession. Without them, he was less than a fair match for either of them, especially both, together. If that was not possible, and Danny frowned upon it now, sharing a knowing look with Sierra, they'd agreed to attempt a process of Mind Melding with Thanos.

They have even considered landing on a planet without oxygen, hence the little runes dancing faintly in light around their necks, a handy spell Sierra somehow knew. What they did not think of though, only barely hopeful, was that they'd end in the middle of an on-going war. Now, there were many chances Daisy and her crew were still alive, in which case, fairly, they should be announced of the change of plans and should also be given the right to leave or help.

"Go," Danny's right hand released the heat of his flaming Chi and lowered gently on Sierra's shoulder. It was not their first shared smile of comfort in the middle of a war and somehow, it was it's familiarity which warmed them most with reassurance of success. Alas, he watched Sierra stare at a horizon, far past their entrance, which was littered in mindless monsters, tearing even each other to get to what she thought were their kind, holding on, fighting back.

Far more certain was her return to facing him, holding his shoulder too and only gently touching her forehead to his. Sierra stepped away, "I'll be right back." Another step back from Danny shone two lights, one in each of her hands, quickly expanding until it swallowed her whole body, and left nothing behind. A quick transportation across the field.

Mind Melding was one of the many abilities Danny has learnt in order to make him worthy of the title of an Immortal Living Weapon. Temporarily melding his thoughts into those of another person, stirred in with just the right amount of psionic approach achieved through higher balance, their plan considered it enough to maybe convince Thanos to stop the madness and admit to his defeat.

However, until he could have the room to concentrate on that technique, something he very much needed Sierra, to watch his back in that vulnerable state, Danny slid his right foor back through the dirt, preparing his fighting stance. His arms circled above his head and the wind fluttered his flower-patterned, halfway opened shirt, though moments ago Tuun's air had been as still as a lake beneath the earth.

Danny indulge to feel the fire, underneath the white T-Shirt he wore beneath his colored blouse. That tattoo of Shou-Lao was ashes molten and still alive, bringing a satisfied grin on his lips, almost mockingly staring Thanos while he lowered comfortable into the stance.

The army of aliens were catching up and started running into the wide circle Sierra has previously emptied for them. Thanos got up enraged and though his pride made him control those puppets into running around him and his human opponent, one of the few humans who'd risen from their state of bugs in his eyes, he was not stupid to stand against him alone.

"What is your name?" Thanos demanded. Something in his mind has changed since he was met with the same resistance on Earth; perhaps the justifying behind his reasons to murder half a universe mercifully were morphing back to the carnal wishes which have separated him from an Eternal mind. Death lurked into his hateful eyes and that energy was easy to spot, for those who knew where to look and for what.

"Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine," Danny stood his ground, even as Thanos took the weapon Proxima Midnight has brought him, remaining though by his side. Two turned to three against one as Corvus Glaive also answered his Father's call.

"I am Thanos of Titan," Thanos dragged the spear of his child hatefully throwing in titles he thought even he has forgotten. "I am the conquerer of worlds, he who reality bows to." Accentuated by his words almost, the stones on his gauntlet shone a bit brighter. "Men cower at the mere mention of my name. And yet you foolish humans, mutants, pest of the universe, dare deny the mercy which I have humbly decided to bestow upon the whole of existence? You want to take advantage of my kindness, stand against me and dare dream of ending something greater than your own bare understanding? I will not tolerate any longer such disrespect," his voice growled. "For I am still Thanos! Conquerer, warrior, God. And you will either bow or be broken, death will be inevitable to you all..."

The Mad Titan's purple grew a little closer to a horrifying bruise in shade, especially as he now bowed his head and stared down the still and calm boy. "You have proved yourself to be a worthy opponent. I'll have your name remembered..."

"My name is Danny Rand and I am the Immortal Iron Fist, Living Weapon, protector of K'un-Lun and Champion of Heaven." The titles of a legacy tightened his right fist in glory. "I am the one who holds back the storm when no one else can, unbowed, unbroken."

In a flash of light, faded sideways, Sierra materialized amongst the ranks of Daisy's team, towards the front where she was immediately faced by their stand-off against far too many monsters. Her hands clasped together, paying no mind to how shocked by her appearance a blue boy seemed. At the drawing apart, between her hands three circles of light expanded, clearing out the complexities of concentric shapes in the highest geometry.

They grew beyond her hands, taller than herself, so that when Sierra's palms pushed them away, they went through all, mutants and humans alike, through their back harmless, hitting instead the aliens right in the face and blinding them. Pitched screams drove them screaming away, eyes lightly fuming.

Out of nowhere, but desperate still, Stephen Strange grabbed Sierra's arm and turned her around to him. "It really is you," his eyes first widened, before narrowing down suspicious. "We never taught you these. How did you...?"

"With all due respect, we don't have time for that," Sierra carefully interrupted him. Her heart beat faster at the question she knew she could not have avoided were they not in such a tightly tensionate situation already. With her escape taken advantage off, Sierra slipped away from the Sorcerer Supreme she didn't even have the force of looking in the eyes of anymore without seeing an alternate face, from a nightmare.

Already has she drawn the attention on far more receptive people than him. Seeing her and Danny's little display of strength before has made Bucky, Sam, Kurt, Scott and even Tony pay attention to her words and nudge the others to do so too. She drew back the lines of monsters, they had at least one good minute of advantage before gettinf overwhelmed again.

Yet even so, Erik was astonished. He lived with the idea that mutants were far superior to the humans, an evolution from the primitive. Sierra Harss, Danny Rand, Stephen Strange... were they not all still humans? Have they taken falsehood in their veins like Bucky and Steve too? Before his eyes, he saw across the field how Danny was blasted with the full purple rage of the Power Stone yet stood out from that smoke untouched.

"How is that possible...?" He wondered, deeply troubled, though landing back on the ground. "I thought you said they were humans."

Daisy was the one the question was directed towards. She passed her father in a rush and joined in time so see Sierra face her. She had no clue during the meeting that the human girl she met at a party went anywhere beyond that frightened, weak state Daisy knew her for at first. An apology stuck in her throat but she did not voice it before Sierra's cold gaze on her moved away and caught life, staring at the others.

"We are here to help, but we have a different plan-"

"You want to show him mercy?!" Daisy grabbed Sierra's shoulder and turned her around. "He just killed Sol."

The nice lady from the meeting? Sierra vaguely remembered the only smiling figure at that table, standing amongst the weird group on the other side of the table from her. The Soul Stone, she made the connection and remembered then the little sparkling dot she saw in the dirt. Yet another reason to hurry.

"Danny can get into Thanos' head. Thanos controls this army now and if Danny can get him to surrender, this fight will stop."

"How is that possible?" Charles rolled his wheelchair closer, looking up at Sierra.

"Limitations are meaningless when you train the mind and the emotions as much as the body," Sierra answered with the most basic of explanations she could of mustered for him in that moment. "He can do it, I saw him do it before. I need to go back him up and you can either join me and make sure Danny gets his chance or I can open a portal and any who wish can return safely to Earth."

"We can't just back away now," Peter Maximoff agreed to fight, way before anyone could decide for him to back off.

Danny Rand was giving Thanos and the Black Order a run for their money. Rested as he was, he knew he could keep it up for a good long time now, all the dodging out of the way, all the impact control and energy absorbtion, all the Chi he redirected from offense to a defense which allowed him to even take in some of the blows he couldn't dodge. The dance of the battle was what he excelled at, but even he exhaled relief in feeling his Guiding Light's return by his side.

"Close your eyes." Sierra announced in the eve of her appearance behind him, when Ebony Maw was barely just growing aware of her presence there. Her Chi, feeling Danny's warmth beside her, lit the flames of their energy. He had no use for that power on his hands, Danny placed his entire trust in her along with the more physical strength, even as all those attacks came in on them.

Closing in, he also closed his eyes, joinging his hands together before his chest, palm grasping the other fist. He has been fighting Thanos head on, he knew what mind to enter and the second he concentrated properly, it was a short way and the Mad Titan already gasped and stumbled out of the attack.

The Black Order remained and faced Sierra being the conduct of magic tampered in with Chi. Life force struck the weapons tips and blunted them, melting in the pure spot of brightness which formed around them. The attacks had to be paused, blinded entirely. All of a sudden, the planet with hardly any day at all was as bright as the snow fields with the sun upon them in Earth winters.

It bought them five good seconds.

Danny's mind melded in with Thanos' and overtook him in a battle of wills. He was confident he could convince him because the fist of the gauntlet already released just in thise five seconds. "Get out... of... my head," Thanos tried to utter through gritted teeth.

But the brightness ran out, snuffed by darkness again after the five seconds and Ebony Maw's mind waves directed his colleagues into a surprise attack. Sierra was face to face with Ebony Maw, and his eyes widened at the positioning of her hands and the reaction of reality to it. In the crunch of her fingers, particles of darkness from all the shadows his stance held, were drawn out, ashes in the wind, swallowed quickly in the space between her arms.

He may have falled to his knees fast, but Corvus was already joining a blade attack on her with Proxima. Sierra had only time to turn that darkness into light, a fade as ink into water, and watch helplessly in a long, long second that she could only touch it to the blade at her right -turning it to dust- while that on the left was coming close to her temple. Dangerously close.

The shield in the colors of America slid over her head and into Corvus' face. After hitting him so hard he fell over with a slash across his features, Daisy called it away from the boomerang slide Steve threw it into. She pulled back in the loop and hit Proxima away from Sierra and Danny in the middle.

Daisy knew one thing: she couldn't leave. If Danny's hopeful plan didn't work she couldn't count on neither him or Sierra, no matter how strong, to do what needs to be done. That's why both her and Thor, joined in to cover for them and stand close enough to cut in and finish this if need be.

No one left for that matter. How could they leave a fight they got so wraped up into already?

Orange flares of spells helped fight back the rest of the Black Order. Monsters were getting slaughtered before entering this inner circle, even by Captain Marvel's flares. Tony was above, lasers from his hands working down as well as Scott's worked from the ground.

"I almost have him," Danny breathed out, just a bead of sweat falling on his forehead. Thanos was beginning to kneel, but even more importantly than that, as his eyes were starting to shut down through all those blinks in denial, he was reaching to take off his gauntlet on his own.

Hope. A gleeful fire, contagious spark of victory, devoid of any doubt was seeded into the hearts of humane heroes.

Doubt grew gloom only in the crying eyes of Peter Quill. He has been kneeling in the ashes of his loved one after fighting his way through hoards of monsters. And his hands shook, touching the remains of the woman he loved. She wasn't a stone, she wasn't the object Thanos was after and dying to his schemes was unfair, for she has fought so hard to escape that destiny.

She was human to him, because Sol loved the colors, she enjoyed to dance, to sing, to touch and feel, she was kind and innocent and she could make even the saddest person smile. She loved the taste of jello, even from the shadiest corners of the galaxy.

And now... she was ash.

For him? Peter couldn't dare think of it, of the last time he stared into her eyes, so far away, too late to hold her, to protect her from this fate. His thumbs dug into the dust and caressed the orange stone. He felt its pulse and in a darkening of his gaze, Peter Quill grabbed the stone.

The air changed.

"Why?" Though no one could hear him, he spoke his judgment when he stood up from Sol's ashes. His eyes were constantly on her, even if his fist closed on the stone and felt the vibration of impossible burn sting his veins. "Why should Thanos live and her die?"

Sierra felt a chill on the back of her neck. A cold sweat came as a slap over her face and though she couldn't explain the instinct, she grabbed Danny's hand and pulled him out of the concentration and as far away from connecting to Thanos' mind as he could.

The gauntlet slid off Thanos' hand.

His eyes blinked in focus, realizing what that scrawny human has made him do.

The gauntlet was electrified and taken into Thor's hand.

Sierra has pulled Danny out of the way just as Daisy too realized beside her, Peter Quill extended his right hand forward, towarda Thanos. Hatred was in Peter's eyes, staring the confused Titan down.

"No," and in his palm, opening, the Soul Stone, sending a tunnel of alit atmosphere from him, to Thanos's head, and into his chest.

"You die."

author's note:    i adapted TWO iconic marvel comic quotes into this chapter and damn did that FEEL EPICC !!! did you spot them? 👀👀👀

& PLSS.... 😭 they cooperated in the end, apart from quill, but honestly i don't blame him, not even as his writer rn.. because sincerely, all the guardians are not mourning 🥺

Sol's Last Stand 🥲

& Supreme Strange gets mentioned 👀
AND PLS SIERRA JUST USED DARK MAGIC RIGHT THERE AND THEN 😭 let's rant about this chapter asap..

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