Thanos didn't arrive for another half an hour. You had a plan; it was a very loose plan, but a plan all the same.

The second Strange spotted the portal forming he signalled abruptly, and the rest of you fled to the positions you'd agreed on. Loki's hold on your arm was almost painful as Thanos appeared through the portal conjured by the Space stone. You didn't say anything, shifting backwards slightly where you were crouched amongst the wreckage of the ship you'd arrived in, pressing yourself against Loki's side.

Strange was sitting casually on the plaza steps, observing Thanos as the portal he'd arrived through closed behind him.

"Oh, yeah. You're much more of a 'Thanos'." Strange remarked casually. You couldn't believe how calm he was, sitting before the mad Titan in possession of the one thing he was prepared to do anything to get his hands on.

"I take it that Maw is dead. This day extracts a heavy toll. Still, he accomplished his mission." Thanos spoke. His voice was eerily calm. You shifted further towards Loki, whose fingers were now digging into your arm.

"You may regret that. He brought you face to face with the Master of the Mystic Arts." Strange told him. You made eye contact with Peter, who was hidden behind Strange on the other side of the plaza. His face was filled with badly disguised fear. You winked at him and he gave you an unconvincing smile and a shaky thumbs up.

"And where do you think he brought you?" Thanos asked, looking around. Finally, Loki's grip on your arm became too much and you moved your hand to brush against his.

Lokes.

He released your arm and took your hand instead.

Sorry.

"Let me guess. Your home?" Strange asked.

Thanos smiled. It was a bizarre and unnerving sight to behold.

"It was. And it was beautiful." he said reminiscently, raising the hand which was encased in the gauntlet and curling it into a fist, activating what you assumed was the Reality stone to show Strange his home planet before it had been destroyed. The buildings were suddenly intact, the lawns green, the ponds filled with water; citizens strolling carefree around the plaza. The starfish-like structures hovered in the air, connected to ground-based buildings by glowing beams of energy.

"Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, and not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution." Thanos explained.

"Genocide." Strange said pleasantly.

"But at random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass." Thanos replied, lowering his fist. The Reality stone stopped glowing and the illusion faded to re-reveal the true, abysmal state of Titan.

"Congratulations, you're a prophet." Strange said sarcastically.

"Oh, don't piss him off." you whispered, knowing that he couldn't hear you.

"I'm a survivor." Thanos stated.

"Who wants to murder trillions." Strange retorted.

"With all six stones, I could simply snap my fingers, and they would all cease to exist. I call that mercy." Thanos told him.

Strange stood up, "And then what?"

Loki squeezed your hand; you turned to look at him and then followed his gaze up to where Tony was hurtling through the sky towards Thanos bearing a huge chunk of wreckage.

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

Strange summoned his magic, donning a fighting stance.

"I think you'll find ours equal to yours." he said in determination.

"Ours?" Thanos muttered, looking up to see the large chunk of metal he was about to be crushed by hurtling towards him. He disappeared underneath the wreckage, but not before his fist had glowed purple.

"Let's go." you said, straightening up. Before you could take a step forward Loki pulled you back towards him, turning you around so that you were looking at him.

"Be careful." he whispered, his voice cracking on the last syllable. Your heart contracted, but before you could reply Thanos exploded from the wreckage in a burst of purple energy which looked horribly like your own magic, bellowing in rage. Spinning back around, you felt Loki disappear from behind you. You followed him down to the plaza, magic at the ready.

Thanos had turned the fragments of the wreckage into a swarm of bats, which he sent shooting after Tony, forcing him back through the ruins of the ship you'd just been hiding in. Peter shot web at his eyes and swung in to kick him in the face right as Drax leapt from his cover, blades in both hands, to knee-slide behind Thanos and slice across the backs of his knees. Then Strange appeared through a portal and summoned a sword of golden energy, duelling with Thanos as Drax attacked similarly on the other side.

Suddenly Thanos swung at Drax, punching him so hard that he was sent flying through a ruined wall. Then he turned and shattered Strange's golden blade seemingly effortlessly, the force of which blasted Strange backwards, tearing Peter's web from his eyes. Then he looked up to see Loki stood in front of him, seething with rage.

The look of shock on Thanos' face was almost worth Loki being stood alone and apparently defenceless in front of him. Almost.

"You." Thanos growled, his voice low with anger. You teleported to stand next to Loki, letting his anger wash over you and fuel your magic. Thanos' gaze flickered to your face; you felt his rage rise to the surface and boil over. He raised his fist, but Loki was quicker, using his magic to force his fist back down to his side. You joined in, feeling him begin to struggle almost instantly, knocking Thanos off balance with a sharp gesture from your other hand. Then Quill was there, shooting at Thanos from behind and aggravating him further. With an enraged roar he tore his hand free of your magic, and then sent the three of you flying backwards, turning to meet Strange who was back on his feet again.

You struggled to your feet; Loki was already halfway back towards him. An explosion rocked the ground, and then Thanos was on his knees, dazed. You felt a spark of hope; you might actually be able to do this.

As you teleported back towards the fight you saw Strange's cloak wrap itself around the gauntlet, and then portals started appearing left right and centre. Peter flew in and out of them, dealing several blows to Thanos' head and torso, until finally Thanos judged where he would fly next and grabbed him by the neck, slamming him to the ground.

"Insect!" he shouted in frustration, launching him at Strange and rendering them both useless for a few seconds, before tearing the cloak from the gauntlet.

Now.

Yours and Loki's magic surrounded him, incapacitating him momentarily, which was enough time for Tony to fly towards him and bombard him with fiery explosions. The fire was sucked from the air before your eyes, and you barely had time to throw a shield up before Thanos was blasting it back at you and Loki, then Tony, who had no defence and was propelled backwards with immense force.

Distracted by your worry for Tony, you let down your guard for a precious second in which Thanos aimed the gauntlet at Loki and blasted him, sending him flying backwards after Tony.

Loki!

"I can't seem to kill him. You'll do instead." Thanos snarled murderously, raising his arm and aiming the gauntlet at you.

You threw up yet another shield, which was almost blasted to pieces by the staggering power which was suddenly being forced upon you. Your heels dug into the ground as you pushed back against him with all of the strength you possessed, looking up at him with glaring purple eyes. You'd never used your magic like this before; it was almost overwhelming. Thanos' eyes narrowed as you met his gaze, every nerve in your body alight with burning magic, your arms shaking from the physical exertion of holding him back.

You didn't see Peter as he swung in from behind Thanos, but you felt it as he webbed the gauntlet and yanked it down away from you. You staggered forward, dropping to the ground, and then there was an almighty crash as a small spaceship attempted to land on Thanos' head, wiping him out and sending him flying away from you.

Out of imminent danger, you gasped for breath and looked up as Loki teleported a few feet away from you, looking slightly worse for wear.

"You okay?" he asked, pulling you to your feet. You nodded, looking over your shoulder at the spaceship which had just taken Thanos out; you weren't lying. You felt strong.

"Are you?" you asked him, reaching towards a large cut on his forehead.

Just a scratch.

"Hey! Half the universe is at stake over here." Strange shouted angrily at the two of you.

He has a point.

You looked back over towards Thanos to see him engaged in a fight with a blue robot, who was presumably the pilot of the ship which had just crash landed into his head.

"Come on." you said, teleporting over with Loki. Thanos sent the blue robot flying away from him, and then Strange had the gauntlet wrapped in his magic and was pulling to get it off. Drax slid beneath Thanos, kicking one leg out from underneath him, and then Quill shot an electric trap into the ground next to him, disabling Thanos' unarmoured hand. Peter swung in to web Thanos' chest and wrapping it around his back, deploying his spider legs from the back of his suit to anchor himself.

Help Strange, I've got Peter.

You teleported to Peter and used your magic to help pull the web back, securing Thanos even further.

"You alright?" you asked him.

"Yeah!" he replied, completely out of breath.

"You're doing great. Your debut as an Avenger will go down in history for sure." you told him, wondering as you did so if any of you would make it back to Midgard to tell the story of what was happening on Titan.

"Really!?" Peter said excitedly, turning to look at you with wide-eyed amazement. You lurched forward as he stopped pulling on the web momentarily.

"Concentrate!" you said loudly, yanking back on the web as Mantis dropped in from a portal above Thanos' head to sit on his shoulders and send him under with her powers. Tony had reappeared and was helping Loki try to yank the gauntlet from Thanos' hand. He was incapacitated, but not fully asleep. You could feel his rage swelling as he tried to escape.

"Is he under? Don't let up." Tony said loudly.

"Be quick, he is very strong!" Mantis cried, in obvious pain. You wished you could help her.

"Parker, help! Get over here!" Tony called to Peter.

"Can you hold him?" Peter asked you.

"I've got it." you said determinedly, doubling your effort as Peter let go and ran over to Tony. For such a small kid he was pretty strong; you let your magic flow through you and tried to concentrate on your breathing. Quill flew over and landed in front of Thanos; his rage was even more than the Titan's. He was scared, too.

Lokes, you might want to get Quill.

What do you mean?

I think... Thanos has killed his girlfriend.

We need the gauntlet.

He was trying to use his magic to get it off of Thanos' hand.

"I thought you'd be harder to catch. For the record, this was my plan. Not so strong now, huh? Where is Gamora?" you heard Quill say angrily.

"My, Gamora...?" Thanos muttered.

"No, bullshit. Where is she?!"

"He is in anguish." Mantis told him shakily. You frowned, realising for the first time that she was right. Where you had first just felt anger, you now felt remorse, and deep, deep grief. You couldn't help but feel slightly pleased that he was suffering.

Quill reflected your thoughts, "Good." he spat vehemently.

"He... he mourns." Mantis moaned, crying now.

"What does this monster have to mourn?" Drax scorned.

"Gamora." the blue robot (who, now you looked at her, looked half human too) said quietly from behind Quill.

"What?" Quill said sharply, turning to look at her.

Loki, get him.

"I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment." Loki half shouted at you, straining from the effort of getting the gauntlet from Thanos' hand. He hadn't meant to say it aloud.

She's dead, he's going to lose it, Thanos will wake up!

"He took her to Vormir. He came back with the Soul stone... but she didn't." the blue robot said. Loki looked up at you in understanding; you looked back at him urgently, encased in a shroud of purple mist. Tony seemed to have latched on to the situation as well, letting his helmet down.

"Okay, Quill, you gotta cool it right now, you understand?" he said firmly. Quill turned slowly to Thanos.

"Don't, don't, don't engage, we've almost got this thing off!" Tony yelled. Loki stopped tugging at the gauntlet and made towards Quill instead.

"Tell me she's lying." Quill said, his voice dangerously low. When Thanos didn't reply, he became enraged.

"Asshole! Tell me you didn't do it!" he shouted.

"I... had... to..." Thanos replied, clearly in pain.

"Quill-" Loki started, with absolutely no idea what he was about to say.

"What if it was her!? Huh? You wouldn't be so chilled out if it was your girl, would you!?" Quill shouted at Loki, tears running down his face.

Loki turned to look at you struggling to hold Thanos down.

Get him out of here!

Too late, Quill had turned back to Thanos and decked him right in the face, not once, but twice. Loki and Tony both lunged for him.

"Hey, stop! Stop! Stop, hey, stop!" Tony yelled desperately. You looked towards Peter, who was so close to getting the gauntlet off. Thanos was waking up.

"It's coming, it's coming!" Peter yelled.

"Hold on Strange!" you shouted to the wizard, before relinquishing your hold on Thanos and teleporting to Peter, grabbing the edge of the gauntlet with both hands and pulling with all of your strength. It slid towards you and you gave a triumphant cry, but then a large purple hand descended upon the other side of the gauntlet, grasping it firmly, and then you and Peter were flung from it.

"No!" you shouted in desperation, before hitting the ground, hard. You staggered back to your feet to see Mantis being flung from Thanos' shoulders; Peter went after her in an instant. Tony, Loki and Quill had been thrown backwards away from Thanos again, and now the gauntlet was firmly back on his hand.

You were done for.