[Third person POV]
The screen shifted to Titan, now a battlefield of shattered stone. Thanos, armed with several Infinity Stones, began to overpower the scattered Avengers with terrifying efficiency—swatting them aside like flies, dismantling their strategies one by one.
Melissa let out a frustrated groan and plopped back on the couch, her arms crossed tightly as she glared daggers at the television. "My god, I hope they lose," she muttered darkly. "Maybe then they'll realize how ridiculously stupid Quill's and Nebula's actions were."
Tony, seated nearby with a bowl of popcorn he hadn't touched, grinned faintly. 'This is going to be epic,' he thought, eyes fixed on the screen as his cinematic counterpart stared down the Mad Titan.
"All that… for a drop of blood," Thanos said calmly, wiping the faint red smear from his cheek after Tony's last desperate attack.
"Okay, Stark is seriously amazing," Melissa said, eyebrows raised in admiration. "He did what no god, no wizard, and not even Hulk could do. Huzzah for human ingenuity." She lazily lifted a fist into the air. "Honestly, I'm starting to struggle here… Stark or Cap? Who's the better one?"
Tony chuckled, while Melissa visibly tensed, her body jerking as she saw the moment Thanos broke off part of the Iron Man suit and drove it directly into Tony's gut.
She let out a gasp.
Onscreen, Tony collapsed in pain, barely alive. Thanos raised his arm to strike the final blow when Doctor Strange stepped in, calm and grave, and offered the Time Stone in exchange for Stark's life. After a tense pause, Thanos agreed, took the Stone, and left without another word.
Melissa's expression twisted into confusion. "What the hell happened to his whole 'I won't hesitate to sacrifice either of you' speech?" she scoffed. But then, a moment later, her eyes widened, and she whipped her head toward Tony.
"Wait. Is Stark the key to defeating Thanos?!" she gasped. "Is he the one chance in fourteen million?!"
Tony raised an eyebrow, a teasing smirk curling on his lips. "Is that your theory on the matter?"
Melissa frowned, narrowing her eyes. "It was… but now I'm not so sure, with that cryptic tone of yours."
She turned back to the movie, huffing as she crossed her legs and leaned forward, eyes glued to the screen.
The scene transitioned to Wakanda. The battlefield erupted into chaos as the Black Order launched their Threshers—hulking siege weapons that tore through everything in their path.
Scarlet Witch, previously held back to guard Vision, joined the fray to save Romanoff and Okoye from being crushed.
"Okay, seriously—what are Wanda's powers?" Melissa asked, her brows furrowed in awe. "She's so insanely strong. Is it just telekinesis and mind stuff, or what?"
"Chaos Magic," Tony replied simply, not looking away from the screen.
Melissa blinked and turned to him sharply. "Wait, what?"
"She doesn't realize it yet," Tony explained. "But her powers are rooted in actual magic. Reality manipulation. She's not just tossing things around with her mind—she's warping the world. She's one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe."
Melissa's jaw dropped a little as she looked back at the screen. "So... the name Scarlet Witch wasn't just branding because she did weird stuff? That was literal?"
"Very," Tony said, nodding.
As chaos unfolded onscreen, Corvus Glaive infiltrated the Wakandan lab. He knocked out Shuri and her guards, cutting the extraction short. Vision, now in full retreat, attempted to fight back, but was swiftly overpowered by Glaive and Cull Obsidian.
Banner arrived in the Hulkbuster suit and managed to destroy Obsidian, while Rogers fought Glaive in a desperate clash of skill and endurance. Meanwhile, Proxima Midnight faced off against Wanda, Natasha, and Okoye. Though she held her own, Wanda ended it by throwing her into the path of a Thresher.
Vision ultimately killed Glaive, stabbing him with his own blade. The Black Order was defeated. The Avengers were bloodied, but victorious—or so it seemed.
Tony was grinning now. He shifted in his seat, his fingers tapping excitedly on his thigh.
'Hehehe… it's coming soon.'
The screen went quiet. And then, boom—a swirling burst of golden light. Thanos had arrived.
Okoye, T'Challa, and Groot stood ready to defend Vision, while Thanos, unstoppable and cold, walked through them all. He brushed aside the heroes like nothing. Even Rogers, giving everything he had, only managed to halt Thanos for a few seconds—though the look of surprise on the Titan's face was genuine.
Tony glanced toward Melissa and nearly burst out laughing.
She was sitting upright now, her face lit by the screen, her pupils wide, lips slightly parted in a giddy smile. Her entire posture screamed hyper-focused awe, like an iPad kid watching Cocomelon at max volume.
As the chaos in Wakanda reached its peak, Vision made the ultimate request—pleading with Wanda to destroy the Mind Stone herself, fully aware that it would mean his death. Her eyes shimmered with grief as she hesitated, trembling, but finally, with a heart-shattering cry, she unleashed her power.
The Stone shattered in a blaze of crimson and gold energy, obliterating Vision in the process. The blast consumed him entirely, leaving only silence… and ash.
But then Thanos, undeterred and cold, activated the Time Stone.
Reality warped around them. The moment was undone—rewound like a cruel trick. Vision returned, frozen in place, and before Wanda could react, Thanos tore the Mind Stone straight from his skull.
The light in Vision's eyes flickered, then faded completely as his lifeless body crumpled.
"All Quill's and Nebula's fault, by the way," Melissa muttered bitterly, not even trying to hide her disdain. "We could've been done with this movie already if it wasn't for them."
And then—just as Thanos inserted the final Stone into the Gauntlet, reality held its breath.
A flash of lightning exploded across the battlefield. Thor descended like a wrathful god, Stormbreaker in hand, electricity surging through his body.
The Titan turned—too late.
Thor hurled Stormbreaker with every ounce of divine fury he had. It cut through the blast of the completed Gauntlet, piercing Thanos' chest and burying itself deep into his torso.
"YES! YES!" Melissa screamed, launching off the couch, fists pumping. "NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! FIX THEIR STUPIDITY, THOR—!!"
Then she froze.
The room went eerily quiet as Thanos grinned, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"You should have gone for the head…" he whispered.
With one final, devastating motion, Thanos raised his arm and snapped his fingers.
The screen flashed white.
In an instant, everything changed.
Thanos drifted into the eerie, orange-hued world of the Soul Stone. He stood before a young Gamora, who gazed at him solemnly.
"What did it cost?" she asked.
Thanos looked down, the weight of the universe pressing against his soul.
"Everything," he replied softly.
When he returned to the real world, the Gauntlet was burnt and twisted from the strain—but the Stones remained intact.
Thor, stunned and enraged, shouted, "What did you do?!"
But Thanos said nothing. He only gave him a final look—serene, victorious—and vanished in a burst of golden light.
The next sound was silence.
Then—
"Bucky?" Steve whispered, watching helplessly as Barnes turned to ash before his eyes, his body crumbling into nothing.
A distant rumble echoed. All around them, people were disintegrating: soldiers, heroes, allies… friends.
T'Challa reached out to Okoye, only to vanish in front of her. Groot looked toward Rocket and faded away. Wanda collapsed to her knees as she dissolved into dust. Sam Wilson's voice called out, then fell silent.
The battlefield went quiet except for the whimpering winds and the disbelief on every remaining face.
Melissa slowly lowered herself back onto the couch, her hands rising instinctively to cover her mouth. Tears shimmered in her eyes, but they didn't fall—yet.
On Titan, Mantis vanished first, then Drax and Quill, their bodies fading like sand in the breeze. Strange looked at Tony—tired, accepting.
"There was no other way," he said before he too disappeared.
Then came the moment that shattered Melissa's heart.
"Mr. Stark… I don't feel so good…"
Peter's voice cracked as he stumbled backward, clutching his chest, trembling.
"No…" Melissa whispered, her voice barely audible, the tears beginning to fall freely now.
Peter clung to Tony, fear etched in his features.
"I don't wanna go… I don't wanna go, Mr. Stark…"
Tony could only hold him, powerless, speechless, as Peter fell to the ground. The boy looked up one last time.
"I'm sorry…"
And then he was gone—nothing left but empty arms and ashes.
Melissa broke down completely, sobbing into her hands, her cries muffled and raw. The pain on her face, the disbelief, the grief—it was the face of someone who had witness a close friend die.
"...Melissa…"
Her name broke through the static of her thoughts. She looked up, cheeks soaked, breath shallow.
And then she saw it.
Tony was staring down at his hands. He turned them over, watching as grey dust clung to his fingers, the edges of his form beginning to unravel, completely turning into ashes before her very eyes.
********************************************
+31 advance Chapters on: patreon.com/Shadow_D_Monarch3