"bruce gave him a sedative." rhodey told kodie and carol in regards to tony. "he's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day." dakota zoned out, only focused on her father and on the way he'd been acting.

carol walked away, apparently on her way to kill thanos. "hey, you know, we usually work as a team here," natasha told carol, "and between you and i, morale's a little fragile."

"we realize up there is more your territory," steve told her, "but this is our fight too."

dakota joined the conversation, standing by rhodey with her arms crossed. "do you even know where he is?" dakota asked, having been told that no one knew where he was.

"i know people who might." carol countered.

"don't bother." nebula said from behind carol. "i can tell you where thanos is." dakota raised a brow. "thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. and when he worked, he talked about his great plan. even disassembled, he wanted me 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 piped, "thanos has a retirement plan." this time, dakota chuckled at the joke, watching as rhodey smiled at the normalcy of it.

dakota looked over to nebula. "so where's the garden?"

the group gathered around a table to examine the hologram before them. "when thanos snapped his fingers," rocket said, "earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. no one's ever seen anything like it.. until two days ago." a planet's hologram appeared. "on this planet."

"thanos is there." nebula confirmed.

natasha turned to look at nebula. "he used the stones again."

bruce looked dumbfounded. "we'd be going in short-handed, you know."

"he's still got the stones," rhodey agreed, "so..."

"so let's get him." carol said. "use them to bring everyone back."

"just like that?" rhodey asked.

dakota chuckled, watching as the rest of the group looked over at her in confusion. "yeah, last time we tried to take the stones from him didn't go so well. we had the one weird girl," kodie moved her hands for emphasis, not remembering mantis' name, "she brainwashed him or something, and even then we had obstacles."

natasha gave kodie an earnest look. "even if there's a small chance that we can undo this.. we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try." dakota nodded, looking down at her rings on her fingers, fidgeting with the peter had gotten her for her birthday.

"if we do this," bruce said, "how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?"

carol turned. "because before, you didn't have me."

dakota looked up. "and this is relevant because.. why?"

"hey, new girl," rhodey said, standing by dakota, "everyone here is all about that superhero life. and if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?"

kodie crossed her arms over her chest. "where were you, like, when we actually needed your help? you're a little late to the party now."

"there are a lot of other planets in the universe." carol said. "and unfortunately, they didn't have you guys."

dakota furrowed her brow. "what about the guardians of the galaxy?" she gestured to rocket. "isn't their job literally to guard the galaxy?"

carol raised a brow. "fair enough."

⎊‎⎊‎⎊

the group geared up, preparing to board the benatar. dakota had helped bruce fix hulkbuster, seeing as the arm had been ripped off by one of thanos' minions. after she'd finished fixing up one of her old nanotech prototypes, which she thankfully had lying around the compound, she went into the room where her father lay, in a coma of sorts. "i'll be back soon, dad." she said, lightly squeezing his hand. "i won't let you down."

pepper didn't want dakota to go, but she refused to listen, and simply said goodbye to her mother figure before heading out with the rest of the group.

the group all loaded onto the benatar, which was cleaner than it had been when dakota and her father resided in it with nebula.

"okay," rocket said when everyone was on, "who here hasn't been to space?" natasha, steve, hazel,  and rhodey hesitantly raised their hands. "you better not throw up on my ship." rocket threatened, turning to see kodie laughing at the shocked looks on the group's faces.

the ship jumped forwards into a wormhole, and dakota noticed steve's death grip on the armrests. "it's just like the tower of terror, right?" kodie asked hazel, who was next to her, laughing a little. steve sent her a confused look, clearly having no idea what the tower of terror was.

"this is nothing like the tower of terror." hazel disagreed, trying to cover her anxiety with a straight face.

the ship slowed down after a bit, hovering in orbit over the planet they believed thanos was residing on.

carol hovered in front of the benatar. "i'll head down for recon." she said, zooming down towards the planet. dakota pressed her watch, her nanotech suit reforming around her.

"this is gonna work, steve." natasha assured him.

"i know it will." steve nodded, holding a compass with a photo of peggy carter on one side and hazel on the other. "cause i don't know what i'm going to do if it doesn't."

carol re-approached the ship, hovering in front of it. "no satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind." dakota's eyes widened slightly underneath her helmet. "it's just him."

"and that's enough." nebula said.

⎊‎⎊‎⎊

thanos sat in a small hut, looking small and defeated compared to how he had looked the last time dakota had seen him. carol flew through the roof, knocking thanos down and grabbing his neck. bruce bursted from the ground in the hulkbuster armor, grabbing the infinity gauntlet ordained arm. dakota flew in after them, aiming her blasters at thanos. thor entered, slicing off the arm that bruce held out. rhodey and rocket joined dakota in aiming guns at thanos' head, all staring at him menacingly.

in walked steve, hazel, and natasha, seeing as they couldn't fly. rocket moved over to the sliced off arm, which donned the infinity gauntlet, kicking it over to reveal no stones on it.

"where are they?" dakota asked, moving her blaster closer to his face. "where the hell are they?"

carol tightened her grip on thanos' neck. "answer the question!"

thanos looked over at steve. "the universe required correction. after that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation."

dakota scoffed. "what, like the ring from the hobbit?"

"you murdered trillions!" bruce shouted, pushing thanos to the ground.

"you should be grateful." thanos replied, only to be punched by hulk buster.

kodie's jaw locked. "where are the stones?"

"gone." thanos said. "reduced to atoms."

"you used them two days ago!" bruce shouted.

thanos looked up at him. "i used the stones to destroy the stones." he looked down, and his voice sounded defeated as he continued. "it nearly killed me."

"well wouldn't that have been a shame?" kodie asked, looking as if she wanted nothing more than to blow his face off.

thanos continued. "the work is done. it always will be." he sat up a little straighter, looking more sure of himself for his next words. "i am.. inevitable."

rhodey looked around, refusing to believe him. "we have to tear this place apart, he has to be lying."

nebula frowned, shaking her head. "my father is many things." she stepped forward, standing in front of him now. "a liar is not one of them."

thanos reached out to touch nebula's face. "ah, thank you, daughter." she looked down, clearly uncomfortable. "perhaps i treated you too harshly..."

before anyone could stop him, thor summoned stormbreaker and sliced thanos' head off. nebula, with no emotion visible on her face, wiped a blood splatter off of her face. dakota stepped back in shock, watching as his head rolled across the floor.

"what.." rocket looked up at thor. "what did you do?"

thor looked down, appearing broken. "i went for the head."