Though we hadn't practiced battle plans, the way we moved in sync with each other was proof enough just how long we had worked together.

For those we've lost. Loki. Aria. Sam. Wanda. Vision. Father. Todd—

I recited these names as my new mantra as Thor, Steve, Tony, and myself tried to put an end to this madness. Each rotation of names caused the blue flames on my blades to grow.

Even with four against one, Thanos could hold his own.

Each of us took a beating in rotation. When one would get tossed away, the others diverged. Some attacks ended up colliding with friendly fire.

Currently, Steve and I were dancing around Thanos's attacks, while trying to not lose our heads to his blade. Thanos grabbed Steve, throwing him into me, sending us both out of his path. As we untangled, Thor called lightning with both of his weapons, sending the blast through Tony's suit to throttle Thanos. The double-bladed sword the enemy held twirled, deflecting the strong blast as he advanced.

Shit. Tony! As Thor used Stormbreaker to hit Mjolnir towards Thanos, Thanos grabbed Tony, who subsequently took the hit from the hammer. Tony went flying over Thanos's head, his suit prickling with electricity, landing somewhere in the rubble. I flew over the battle, heading for Tony, tucking my blades away for now. I hissed, retracting my hand as it got shocked from attempting to touch his suit. Come on, Tony, now isn't the time to sleep!

At hearing metal collide, I saw Thanos knock Steve away. As his double-bladed sword went flying, Thor slid under, ducking, swinging Stormbreaker for Thanos's head.

I abandoned Tony, rushing at Thanos, dipping my shoulder down to knock him off-kilter as he held Thor against some rubble, pummeling him in the face. I felt him stumble, but I also felt a meaty hand grab for me. I hit the dirt, rolling away as Thanos attempted to stomp on me as he flung Thor around like a doll. I was quickly forgotten about as Thanos sauntered over to the God of Thunder, sending a big foot into the god's chest.

Near me, Stormbreaker left the ground to come to its master's hand. Instead, Thanos intercepted the mighty weapon, engaging in a battle of strength to push the ax's blade through Thor's armor.

Oh no you don't. I scurried to my feet, getting as close as I felt I could without risk of being clotheslined, and lashed out lines of fire to wrap around Thanos' arms. This felt eerily similar to the battle back in Wakanda. I hoped this time I wasn't knocked out.

My heels dug into dirt as Thanos slowly gained ground, moving Stormbreaker's blade towards Thor's chest. I'm trying, Thor. I'm trying.

With the hardest yanks I could muster, Thanos did not budge. It looked as though I was aiding him in killing my fellow Asgardian.

A force struck Thanos across the arms, knocking him sideways, disrupting his attempt at murder. His stumble in turn made me falter, my lines of fire vanishing from around his arms. There were scorch marks on his armor, but that was all the damage I did.

I searched for the sudden hero—until my eyes locked on Thor's beloved old hammer. It boomeranged back, past Thanos, Thor, and myself—

And right into Steve's hand.

I wasn't sure what the appropriate reaction was. I mean, we were in the middle of a bloody battle. But this was no ordinary achievement one could claim.

"I knew it!" came Thor's cry.

I winced as Thanos kicked Thor towards the ground. I pulled my blades out once again, alight with fire, watching as Steve—with Moljnir and his shield in a hand each—barreling towards Thanos like a man on a mission.

It was a marvel to watch my husband swing Moljnir around as though he'd been wielding the weapon for eons. As Thanos went to strike with his sword, Steve tossed the hammer in an uppercut, sending the armored giant flying backwards to crash on the ground. A toss of the shield, hitting Thanos, following by throwing Moljnir. The hammer and shield collided, throwing Moljnir into Thanos's back. I moved in as Steve went in for closer combat, alternating between shield and hammer to smack Thanos around with.

Moljnir exploded with lightning, and Steve sent a blast through the ground. The giant writhed as lightning was brought down on him from the sky, and some part of me relished in the sight. Steve launched, bringing the lightning hammer towards Thanos's head, who rolled out of the way. On his way up, he grabbed Steve, slamming him backwards onto the ground.

In warning, I threw a fireball at Thanos and quickly turned my next flame into a whip to strike at him. As he reached for his sword, my whip coiled around it, and I managed to move it just out of his reach...for about five seconds. But it was five seconds that Steve needed to get back on his feet.

Thanos dismantled his helmet, now exposing his bald head with a permanent angry expression on his face. My whip disappeared, and I refocused my flames onto the blades. Thanos took a few wild swings at Steve before one part of his blade went through one of Steve's thighs.

Growling, I charged, forcing my weight into the giant's abdomen. While I didn't launch him, I got him to move away some—and I could've possibly fractured a bone or two in the process. With a hard hit from his arm, I was sent away.

When Thanos got entangled with Steve, Moljnir was forced from his hand. As I pulled myself back into the fight, the screech of metal almost made me cover my ears. Thanos chipped away at Steve's shield.

As Thanos went for yet another strike on Steve's damaged shield, I made a desperate attempt: I whipped a line of fire his way, just enough to distract him. Leaping, I got in front of Steve, blasting a wall of fire between us and Thanos. I cringed at every strike his blade made against my wall.

A sprouting headache took hold in that moment, and the fraction of a second was all the purple madman needed.

The second my wall dropped, I grabbed Steve, ducking the both of us under Thanos' sword. Steve and I split, but Thanos got a hold of Steve, chucking him away. I charged for the enemy, but he batted me away with the blunt side of his sword. I soared, landing not-so-nicely on the destroyed grounds.

The best thing right now was to keep myself on the ground. Everything hurts. I'm giving too much into this. But too much might just save us.

"In all my years of conquest...violence...slaughter...it was never personal," said Thanos softly. "But I'll tell you now—what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet...I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much."

By the gods...As if on command, Thanos' grounds forces appeared to support their leader. There were waves and waves of aliens behind him. That wasn't even counting his forces in the sky—ugly beasts I remembered from the Chituari attack all that time ago.

And what did we have going for us? Most of our team MIA. Thor, Tony, Steve and myself in pretty bad shape. We'd gone against worse odds, but this...

I knew if I had been ordinary under any normal circumstances, I would not be breathing. Thanos' attacks would've easily killed a mortal human. Thank goodness for being an Asgardian. Some part of me was relieved that Todd wasn't around for this.

Everything throbbed in unison, making it difficult for me to pick myself up off the ground. At the scuffling of feet, I picked my head up. Steve limped to me, lowering a hand my way. I hesitantly took it, in fear of injuring him more. He'd been stabbed in the thigh and the arm by Thanos; the cuts still wept blood.

"You know," I rasped, leaning into my husband, carefully avoiding the broken shield on his left arm, "I'm all for retiring after this is done."

"Does sound like a good plan."

But will fate allow us retirement? Looking at our current odds, my bet was a solid no.

Everything shook from fatigue. Though I really didn't want to linger on the mass of Thanos' forces, I did. All the ships. The ground minions. The sky beasts. Even the big purple asshole himself.

The dark skies foretold a bloody fate. As if our battlegrounds didn't already do a fine job of that.

You with me, Kiara?

I know we agreed till death do us part...I just hoped it wasn't so soon. I gently pushed myself off of Steve to stand on my own devices. Every small inhale sent waves of pain through my system. My hands throbbed as they held my weapons, two blades that no longer had fire coating them. As long as there's one who can stand up to him and fight, we've got a chance. For everyone we lost. For Gracie.

Just as I was psyching myself up for my inevitable demise, something broke through the tense silence. The voice of an old friend.

"Hey, Cap, you read me?"