THE GAUNTLET ON Thanos's hand sizzled and smoked. Thor stared at the mangled hand for a moment before looking at the madman.

"What did you do?" Thor asked. He got angrier. "What'd you do?"

Thanos looked around in a daze, then quickly conjured a portal using the stones and transported himself out of Wakanda. Stormbreaker came out of his chest and dropped to the floor.

The Asgardian peered around in confusion, still not understanding what had happened. Rogers walked up to the Thor as he held his bruised side.

"Where did he go?" Steve asked. He darted his eyes around the area. "Thor? Where'd he go?"

Thor was still voiceless as he looked down. They then heard Bucky's voice call out nearby.

"Steve?"

The captain looked over at Bucky and noticed his arm was fading away in a barrage of dust. His friend gave one last look at Steve before dropping to the floor. Bucky's body completely turned into ashes that scattered on the dirt.

Steve knelt over Bucky's rifle and ran his hands against the soil, his face expressing a look of shock. Natasha got up from the floor and also witnessed it happen.

Y/N got to his feet and retracted his mask. He let out breaths of exhaustion as he stumbled through the greenery. He heard groaning nearby and upon walking more forward, he saw Sam on the floor.

"Sam." Y/N called out and jogged over to him.

As he was running, he heard Okoye yell in her native tongue. It sounded tearful and the soldier wondered what was making her so emotional.

"Y/N." Sam grunted as he looked at the super-soldier. He grabbed his arm and was prepared to lift him, but his friend wasn't able to stand.

"Sam?"

Out of nowhere, dust started to form around Wilson. He let out another grunt as his body started to fully disintegrate in front of Y/N.

He was in utter shock. "Wha—?"

The arm Y/N held ultimately dissipated as well and Sam had vanished. A breeze came by and blew the ashes away.

Shouts were heard as Y/N stood there. Amongst his confusion, he could tell they were from Pietro.

"Wanda! Ó Bože (Oh, God). Wanda!"

Rhodey also started to call out. "Sam! Sam, where you at?" He ran into Y/N, who had been looking down. "Hey, you all right?"

Y/N stayed silent for a moment as his brain tried to process what he had just witnessed but ultimately spoke.

"He's gone..." Y/N said. "He just...he just vanished."

Rhodey looked at him with a bewildered expression.

It wasn't long until the rest of the team regrouped in an area within the forest. They saw Pietro leaning over the body of Vision. Steve walked closer to him as Natasha stood by with a look of awe.

"Pietro?" Rogers asked.

He shook his head and kept looking down. "Wanda's gone." He punched down at the dirt as tears welled up in his eyes. "She's gone!"

Thor, Steve, and Natasha understood what he meant. Y/N also knew since he had just witnessed the same thing happen to Sam. But the rest of the team still didn't fully comprehend what was going on.

"What is this?" Rhodey asked. "What the hell is happening?"

All that was left in the forest was Y/N, Natasha, Steve, Thor, Okoye, Rhodey, Pietro, Banner, and Rocket. Everybody else that was there...T'Challa, Sam, Wanda, Groot, Bucky...they were gone.

Everybody stood silent as Steve sat beside Vision's body. The thought of what had transpired shook him to his core. He didn't want to believe that they had lost.

But they did.

"Oh, God." Steve muttered.

Y/N glanced at Natasha nearby, who leaned against a tree and kept looking down. Upon looking at the faces of the rest of his colleagues, he felt the same feeling that they had. The feeling of defeat.

"No..." Y/N panted. Like his father, he didn't want to believe it.

Thanos had won.

• • •

ALMOST A MONTH went by as the remaining Avengers did all they could in tracking down Thanos. They stumbled upon a device left by Nick Fury, who had unfortunately perished as well, that contacted a superhuman named Captain Marvel. She tried her best to help in tracking down the Mad Titan, but there weren't any leads after that.

Y/N had been in the gym within the Avengers compound. He punched away at a bag as he thought of what happened the last few weeks. It fueled him with anger as he continued pummeling the punching bag.

Sam was gone.

Wanda was gone.

T'Challa was gone.

Shuri was gone.

Bucky was gone.

He thought of other people he hadn't heard from since Thanos's snap. People like Tony...like Clint...like Peter. What if they had perished as well?

Y/N gritted his teeth and punched the bag one final time, which ripped it from the chain and sent it flying forward.

He exhaled as he looked at the damaged punching bag, not noticing that Natasha was by the door witnessing it all.

"Hey." She called out. The blonde had just come from the shooting range.

"Nat." Y/N said as he turned around. He started to undo his hand wraps.

"It's almost 1 AM. You're going to punish those bags all night?" She asked.

"And what are you doing up?" He asked. "I heard popping earlier, so I assume you were getting some target practice in."

"You know me so well." She replied with a smile. Natasha walked up to him and helped unwrap his hands.

"Any leads?" He abruptly asked.

She continued looking down at his hands. "Like I said, it's almost 1 AM."

"Right." Y/N sighed, it was a pretty dumb question. "I'm sorry."

"We'll get back to it in the morning though."

His hands were fully unwrapped and Natasha put them back in his bag. Y/N walked over to the ripped punching bag and carried it to the side of the room.

He put the bag down and his pendant suddenly unclipped from his neck. He caught it before it could hit the floor, and the man gazed at the Wakandan jewelry. Thoughts of the bonds he made in Wakanda and the friendships he had with T'Challa and Shuri filled his head. They were gone...because he failed.

He gripped the pendant and punched through the wall. He pulled out his fist, feeling a stinging pain as he looked down at his two broken fingers.

Natasha walked over after hearing the sudden commotion and noticed the cracked wall along with his injury. "What the hell did you?"

Y/N didn't answer as Natasha held his hand and looked at it further. She shook her head and let out a sigh, understanding that his outburst caused it.

"I...I don't know." He finally spoke. "I don't know why this happened...how it happened. How could we have let this happen?"

Natasha realized he was talking about their loss to Thanos in Wakanda. It hurt not only Y/N but the surviving members of the team also. The super-soldier kept blaming himself though...feeling as if he let everybody he cared about down.

"Baby." Natasha said softly and held his hands, carefully doing so to his injured one. "What did I say about blaming yourself? Don't. Please."

Y/N dropped his head in despair. Natasha kissed him on the forehead and lifted his face to meet hers.

"Please." She said again, in which he nodded.

Suddenly, the room they were in began to shake. The couple ran over to the window and looked out of it, seeing Captain Marvel carrying the Benatar ship. Carol had returned like she said she would.

Y/N and Natasha walked out of the facility and onto the lawn. They were joined by Steve, Banner, Rhodey, and Pepper. Carol placed the spaceship down and the airstair opened.

Out of it came Tony Stark, who was being helped by Nebula. The billionaire looked skinnier than before and was pale. He had been in space for a while.

Steve and Y/N walked up to Tony and helped him down the steps as well. He began to ramble.

"I couldn't stop him."

"Neither could we." Steve said.

Tony stopped, looking at both Y/N and Steve. "I lost the kid."

Y/N exhaled as he realized he was referring to Peter Parker, who had gone with him to space to fight Thanos. Again, it was another loss that Y/N had to endure.

"Tony, we lost." Steve replied.

Pepper ran up to Tony. She was in awe and grateful that her partner was alive.

"Oh my God." She sobbed and hugged him.

Tony hugged her back. "It's okay."

The team stood around the table as a hologram displayed records and photos of the people who were lost in the decimation.

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey said.

"World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census and it looks like he did..." Natasha paused. "He did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent of all living creatures."

The room stood silent for a moment. Thor sat by himself in the corner of the room. After seeing the photo of Peter on the hologram, Tony looked down and rubbed his chin.

"Where is he now? Where?" Tony shot his head up and asked Steve.

"We don't know." He answered. "He just opened a portal and walked through."

Tony scoffed and looked at Thor. He pointed at him. "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh, he's pissed. He thinks he failed." Rocket said as he sat on the floor. "Which, of course, he did but you know there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"

Tony looked at the creature in confusion. "Honestly, until this exact second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am." He simply replied.

Steve spoke again. "We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans and satellites..."

"And we got nothing. Nada." Y/N added.

"Tony, you fought him." Steve mentioned.

"Who told you that?" Tony shot back. "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street magician gave away the store." He continued ranting. "There was no fight, 'cause he's not beatable."

"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?"

"Uhh...pfft." Tony sputtered, which garnered a sigh from Y/N. Pietro stood on the other side of the room with an annoyed look. He already didn't like Tony, so his current demeanor got on his nerves.

He continued. "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

"Tony, I'm going to need you to focus." Steve said.

"And I needed you." Tony retorted. "As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy."

Stark got up from his wheelchair, accidentally knocking down the mug on the table. "You know what I need? I need a shave." He started to rip out his I.V. "And I believe I remember telling youse..."

"Tony, Tony!" Rhodey exclaimed, but the billionaire continued.

"...alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world. Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not. That's what we needed."

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve replied.

"I said we'd lose. You said we'll do that together, too." Tony told him, recalling their conversation three years ago. "And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there."

Rhodey tried to calm Tony down but he continued to rant.

"But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers, not the Pre-vengers. Right?"

"Okay. You made your point. Just sit down, okay?" Rhodey said.

"Okay. No, no, here's my point." He looked at Carol. "You know what? She's great by the way."

"Tony, you're sick. Sit down." Rhodey demanded.

He continued. "We need you. You're new blood." He then broke free from Rhodey's hold and got up in Steve's face.

"Bunch of tired old mules. I got nothing for you, Cap. I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar."

Tony removed his arc-reactor containing his nanobot-suit and handed it to Steve. He let out a shaky breath as he did so.

"Here, take this. You find him, you put that on, you hide." Tony said. His legs started to get weak and he fell to the floor.

"Tony!" Y/N exclaimed and ran over to help him up.

"I'm fine, Forrest..." Tony muttered. "Let me..." He ultimately passed out and slumped over.

Tony was put in the medical ward and was watched over by Pepper. Rhodey came out of the room and informed the team.

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

"You guys take care of him and I'll bring him a Xorrian elixir when I come back." Carol said and started to walk away.

Y/N raised a brow. "Where are you going?"

"To kill Thanos."

Y/N looked to both Steve and Natasha before they followed her out.

"Hey. You know, we usually work as a team here and, uh, between you and I, morale's a little fragile." Natasha said.

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

"Do you even know where he is?" Rhodey asked.

"I know some people who might." Carol answered.

"Don't bother." Nebula called out from the other side of the room. "I can tell you where Thanos is."

The team stood in the conference room that they were in earlier as Nebula explained what she knew about her father's whereabouts.

"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? And his answer was always the same." She walked up to the table. "To the Garden."

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

"So, where is this garden?" Y/N asked.

Rocket activated a hologram that displayed Earth and began to answer.

"When Thanos snapped his fingers Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it." He explained before zooming out and closing in on another planet. "Until two days ago on this planet."

"Thanos is there." Nebula said.

Natasha leaned closer to the projection. "He used the stones again."

"And what the hell for?" Pietro asked. "Was what he did not enough?"

"Hey, hey, hey." Banner chuckled and spoke to the team. "We'd be going in shorthanded, you know?"

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

"So, let's get 'em." Carol interjected. "Use them to bring everyone back."

"Just like that?" Y/N asked.

"Yeah." Steve replied. "Just like that."

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

Pietro nodded in agreement, wanting to do whatever it took to get his sister back.

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

"Because before you didn't have me." Carol stated.

Rhodey rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Hey, new girl? Everybody in this room 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."

Y/N glanced at Rhodey and shrugged. The girl had a point.

Thor suddenly got up from the table he was sitting at and walked up to Danvers. They looked directly at each other as Thor started to summon Stormbreaker. It flew into his palm with a loud whoosh, but it didn't phase the woman. She simply smirked.

The Asgardian nodded and looked at his colleagues. "I like this one." He smiled as well, which was the first time he's done so in a while.

Steve looked at the projection of Thanos's planet before glancing back up at the rest of the team.

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

• • •

THE TEAM SAT in the Benatar as the spaceship floated above Earth. Rocket manned the ship with Carol, Bruce, and Nebula sitting with him near the front while the rest sat in the back.

"Okay. Who here hasn't been to space?" Rocket turned around and asked them.

Natasha, Steve, Y/N, and Rhodey raised their hands. Thor looked at them and chuckled.

"You better not throw up on my ship." Rocket added.

Nebula began to call out. "Approaching jump in three...two...one."

The ship flew in hyper speed and entered a honeycomb-shaped portal that transported them into another area of the galaxy. The Benatar slowed down and floated above a planet.

Captain Marvel ended up leaving the ship to check it out, leaving the rest of them inside waiting.

Steve stood by the front of the ship and looked at his compass containing a picture of Peggy. He closed it and sighed. Natasha stood beside him and noticed his mood.

"This is going to work, Steve." She said.

"I know it will." He replied and turned to her. "'Cause I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't."

Carol flew back moments later and levitated outside the ship. She spoke to them through the comms.

"No satellites. No ships. No armies. No ground defenses of any kind. It's just him."

Nebula nodded. "And that's enough."

Thanos made himself dinner with the vegetables he gathered from his garden outside. Using his healthy arm, he held the pot and placed it over the fire. He sat down and exhaled, waiting for the stew to heat up.

He heard a distant noise and looked out the strands of twine that made up the roof of his hut. Suddenly, a beam shot down into his home, and Thanos tried to deflect it with his hand. Captain Marvel crashed through the ceiling and got behind the Titan, putting in a chokehold.

Bruce, in the Hulkbuster armor, came out of the ground and grabbed one of his arms. War Machine stormed in and got a hold of his other arm. Thor crashed through the wall and swung his axe down at Thanos's gauntleted arm, severing it as the Titan let out a pained yell.

Captain America, Black Widow, and Taskmaster walked into the hut with Pietro, Nebula, and Rocket following close behind. The raccoon went up to the gauntlet as Thanos was being held down. He flipped it over and was shocked upon seeing that the stones weren't there.

"Oh, no..."

Y/N looked down at it as well, then shot a glare at Thanos. "Where are they?"

"Answer the question." Carol told Thanos as she tightened her grip.

"The universe required correction." He replied amidst his groans. "After that, the stones served no purpose beyond temptation."

"You murdered trillions!" Banner exclaimed and pushed Thanos.

"You should be grateful." He shot back, which lead to Banner punching him across the face.

"Where are the stones?" Natasha asked again.

"Gone. Reduced to atoms."

"Bullshit!" Pietro shouted. "You used them two days ago!"

"I used the stones to destroy the stones." Thanos told the silver-haired man. "It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be..." He looked at all the heroes within his abode and continued.

"I am inevitable."

Rhodey didn't want to believe the madman. "We have to tear this place apart. He has to be lying!"

"My father is many things." Nebula said as she looked down. "A liar is not one of them."

Thanos looked up at Nebula. "Ah. Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly."

Thor bellowed and suddenly swung Stormbreaker down, chopping Thanos's head clean off. His body fell to the floor and the team looked on in shock.

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

Thor took a breath in. "I went for the head."

As the Asgardian walked out of the hut, Y/N exhaled and rubbed his face. Everyone else in the room felt the same feeling...

Despair.

Defeat.

Loss.

Thanos had destroyed the stones. Even if he was lying, it didn't matter anyway, because he was dead. The people they lost were gone...and there was nothing they could do about it.