Oh, Tony, Thanos really did a number on you, didn't he?

We got Tony situated on a bed. Pepper wasn't leaving his side anytime soon. She could talk sense into him if he started on his rant again.

"Bruce gave him a sedative," said Rhodey. "He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day."

"You guys take care of him," said Carol. "And I'll bring him a Xorrian Elixir when I come back."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"To kill Thanos." Carol started walking off. Natasha, Steve, and I went after her.

"Hey, you know, we usually work as a team here, and between you and I, morale's a little fragile," Nat told her honestly.

"We realize up there is more your territory," Steve admitted, "but this is our fight too."

"You even know where he is?" asked Rhodey.

"I know people who might," said Carol.

"Don't bother." Behind Carol was Nebula, the blue woman who had helped Tony from the ship earlier. "I can tell you where Thanos 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.'"

"That's cute," Rhodey deadpanned, "Thanos has a retirement plan."

"So where is he?" Todd asked Nebula.

"When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions," said Rocket. "No one's ever seen anything like it...until two days ago." A hologram of a planet appeared, with shock waves trembling throughout the surface. "On this planet."

"Thanos is there," Nebula confirmed.

"He used the stones again," Nat murmured.

"Hey, hey, hey," Bruce interrupted. "We'd be going in short-handed, you know."

"Look," said Rhodey, "he's still got the stones, so..."

"So let's get him," Carol insisted. "Use them to bring everyone back."

"Just like that?" I said incredulously.

"Yeah, just like that," said Steve. He exchanged a look with Carol.

"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this...I mean, we owe it to everyone not in this room to try," said Nat.

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" inquired Bruce.

"Because before you didn't have me," said Carol.

"Hey, new girl," Rhodey cut in, "everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind me 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, who was previously sitting at a nearby table with a bottle of beer and a bowl of bread, suddenly got up from his seat. Carol turned to the god, and the two regarded each other suspiciously. Thor outstretched a hand, and his ax just brushed past Carol, landing where it intended to. The woman didn't even flinch.

"I like this one," the god said. It was the first time I had seen him smile in some time.

"Let's go get this son of a bitch," said Steve.

Everyone except Tony—who was incapacitated anyway—was to set out to this planet. Todd seemed a little too excited about getting aboard a space ship. For someone who was only Earth-bound, I could understand the excitement. But I was far from happy about where we were going and why.

Rocket took command of the ship in the pilot seat, with Carol as copilot. I felt more at ease with her upfront.

"Okay, who here hasn't been to space?" asked the raccoon.

Todd, Nat, Steve, and Rhodey all raised a hand.

"Why?" asked Rhodey.

"You better not throw up on my ship."

"Approaching jump," said Nebula, "in three...two...one!"

The ship jumped forward, and I took note of the first-timers. Nat looked surprisingly okay, Rhodey and Steve looked a little pale. Todd was on the verge of passing out. Too much excitement.

It wasn't long before we exited our quick jump. We hung in orbit of our destination. Carol left her seat to venture outside of the ship.

"I'll head down for recon," she said, zooming away in a burst of color.

In the meantime, I made sure the overexcitement of space hadn't knocked Todd out for the count. He still looked fairly pale.

"You gonna make it?" I teased. "We still have a job to do."

"Just need to get over the shock of it is all," he said quietly. "Let's just hope this works and that we fix this."

I didn't want to imagine how the world would look if we couldn't reverse this.

I kept quiet watch over Todd and the others. Nat and Steve talked quietly up front, just out of my earshot. The others remained quiet.

My eyes fell towards the windows of the ship as Carol's glowing form came back to meet us.

"No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind," Carol reported as she halted just before the ship. "It's just him."

"And that's enough," said Nebula.

Carol never re-boarded the ship, we followed her lead down onto the planet. We weren't going to spend enough time on this planet for me to want to understand its makeup, let alone get its name.

Bruce decked out in his Hulkbuster armor, Rhodey in his War Machine gear. Everyone else was suited up as though we were going to battle. In a way, we were. Only we weren't facing an alien army this time around. It was just one madman against us.

Those of us who could fly did. Rocket opted to hitch a ride with Rhodey, but nobody seemed to want to fly with me. No matter, those who were walking could make conversation up until we found Thanos.

Carol had been the first to shoot off ahead, her glowing form growing smaller the faster and further she went. Ahead looked to be a small shed. She wasted no time in crashing through its roof. Rhodey, Rocket, and Thor had just gotten inside by the time I found the shed's mouth and landed.

My nose wrinkled at freshly burnt flesh. Nearby was a thick, sliced arm that still possessed the gauntlet. One of the main causes of our pain, of our loss. Just looking at the dismembered arm made me want to kick it into the atmosphere. Behind, I knew Steve, Nat, Todd, and Nebula had finally caught up with us.

I never thought I'd see the day where someone as small as Carol could get someone like Thanos in a chokehold. But she did. I could admit, she gained some respect from me. Too bad she wasn't around when she could've been such a big help.

Rocket turned over the gauntlet, exposing its burned metal. I vaguely remembered its peak form: a nice gold color, enhanced by the Infinity Stones. While it had been beautiful, it had caused so much destruction and pain.

"Oh no," he murmured.

The Stones were missing.

"Where are they?" Steve demanded of Thanos.

"Answer the question!" Carol snarled, tightening her grip around Thanos' neck when the giant didn't give a reply.

"The universe required correction," grumbled Thanos. "After that, the Stones served no purpose, beyond temptation."

"You murdered trillions!" Bruce shouted, giving Thanos a hard shove in the Hulkbuster armor. The giant was sent to the floor of his home.

"You should be grateful." He received a punch for that remark.

"Where are the Stones?" I said thickly.

"Gone. Reduced to atoms."

"You used them two days ago!" exclaimed Todd.

"I used the Stones to destroy the Stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be." Thanos sat himself a little straighter. "I am...inevitable."

"We have to tear this place apart," Rhodey insisted, "he, he, he has to be lying."

"My father is many things," said Nebula. "A liar is not one of them."

"Ah, thank you, daughter," said Thanos. The woman looked down in discomfort. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly."

Those were the last words that Thanos ever spoke.

The head of Thor's ax came swooping down, delivering a clean decapitation of the purple tyrant. The body made the ground briefly tremble under our feet as it fell. Nebula wiped some blood spatter off her face.

"What...what did you do?" Rocket asked Thor.

It took a moment for Thor, as though he was somewhere else right now. "I went for the head."

A heavier sense of defeat enveloped our group in the shed. Broodingly, Thor made his slow exit, back out into the world, leaving the rest of us with a purple giant's corpse.