-Broadcast-
"Almost got it! I can feel it! I can feel it!" Spider-Man's voice was triumphant as his fingers worked between Thanos's massive knuckles and the edge of the Infinity Gauntlet. The artifact was shifting, starting to slide free. Just a few more seconds—
Thanos's eyes snapped wide open, consciousness returning with explosive force. The glaze of Mantis's control shattered like glass.
Mantis was still leaning forward on his shoulders, her hands pressed to his temples, trying desperately to reestablish control. Thanos reared his head back and then slammed it forward in a vicious headbutt. The impact caught Mantis square in the face, her head snapping back. She went limp instantly.
At the same moment, Thanos clenched his fist tight, locking the gauntlet in place. Spider-Man had been pulling with all his enhanced strength, and when the resistance suddenly increased, he lost his grip. Peter tumbled backward, hitting the ground and rolling.
Thanos surged to his feet like a awakening titan. He reached up, grabbed the unconscious Mantis by her collar, and hurled her away with contemptuous ease. Her body sailed through the air in a graceful arc, completely limp.
"Oh no!" Spider-Man's spider-sense screamed. He leaped after Mantis, his mechanical spider-legs deploying mid-jump. He caught her just before she would have hit the rubble, the spider-legs absorbing the impact as he landed. They rolled several times, Peter protecting her body with his own, before finally sliding to a stop.
Drax still had both arms wrapped around Thanos's right leg, trying to hold the Titan down through sheer determination. Thanos looked down at him almost pityingly, then delivered a devastating kick with his free leg. The blow caught Drax in the chest, breaking his hold and sending him flying backward. His body crashed into Star-Lord and Nebula, bowling all three of them over in a tangle of limbs.
Doctor Strange still had the Crimson Bands wrapped around Thanos's left arm, the magical restraints glowing with power. Thanos grabbed the bands with his right hand, planted his feet, and pulled. Strange was yanked off his feet and flung through the air like a rag doll, the magical construct dissipating as his concentration broke. He hit a pile of rubble with bone-jarring force.
Two repulsor blasts struck Thanos in the back, the energy scorching across his armor but doing no real damage. Thanos turned his head slowly, his eyes finding Tony Stark.
Iron Man rocketed forward, his armor's nanomaterials flowing to form a large double-edged blade—a massive cleaver that gleamed in Titan's dim light. Tony swung with all the force his armor could generate, aiming to decapitate.
Thanos raised the Infinity Gauntlet casually, blocking the blade with the artifact's reinforced metal. The impact sent sparks flying. Before Tony could pull back for another strike, Thanos drove his head forward in a brutal headbutt.
The blow caught Tony's helmet with a resounding clang. The force was tremendous—Tony's neck snapped back, his HUD flickered, and he was sent tumbling through the air. He hit the ground hard, skidding across broken stone. The nanomaterial blade dissolved, flowing back into his armor to repair damage.
Drax, Star-Lord, and Nebula were back on their feet, charging at Thanos from three different angles. Their coordination was good, their tactics sound.
Thanos was done playing.
He raised the Infinity Gauntlet, and the Power Stone blazed with brilliant purple light. With a contemptuous gesture, he released a spherical shockwave of pure cosmic energy.
The purple wave expanded outward in all directions, a dome of destructive force. It caught all three attackers and slammed them into the ground with bone-breaking impact. They hit hard, their bodies pressed flat by overwhelming power, unable to rise.
Tony struggled to his feet, his armor's systems running diagnostics and reporting damage to multiple systems. But he wasn't done. Not even close. He engaged his thrusters and rocketed toward Thanos again—
Thanos looked up. Not at Tony. Past him. At the sky.
His gaze fixed on one of the smaller asteroids in Titan's debris field—a chunk of planetary core material easily a kilometer across, held in unstable orbit by the dead world's weakening gravity.
The Power Stone flared again, but this time the light continued, building in intensity. A beam of purple energy lanced upward from the gauntlet, crossing the distance between planet and asteroid in an instant. The beam struck the asteroid's surface, and where it touched, purple light spread like infection, covering the entire celestial body in seconds.
Tony saw this and felt his blood run cold. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
Thanos's face showed grim satisfaction. He raised his hand higher, then brought it down in a sharp, commanding gesture.
The asteroid began to break apart.
At first it was small fragments, pieces no larger than cars, breaking free from the main mass. Then larger chunks, building-sized pieces spinning as they fell toward Titan. The purple energy coating them made them glow like dying stars, streaking through the atmosphere and igniting with friction heat.
Thanos brought his hand down fully, and the entire asteroid shattered. Thousands of fragments, many hundreds of meters across, began their terminal descent.
"Oh, come on!" Tony's thrusters roared to full power as he tried to evade. The sky above him was filled with falling meteorites, each one a blazing comet of death.
He banked hard right, dodging a smaller piece. Accelerated upward, barely avoiding another. His sensors were screaming warnings, too many targets to track—
A shadow fell over him. Tony looked up and saw something that filled his entire field of vision. A meteorite the size of a city block, wreathed in flame, falling directly toward him.
There was no time to dodge.
The impact was cataclysmic. The massive meteorite caught Iron Man mid-flight and drove him into the ground like a nail struck by a cosmic hammer. The force of the impact created a crater dozens of meters deep. The meteorite continued through, burying Tony beneath uncounted tons of burning stone.
The explosion when it struck was like a small nuclear detonation. A sphere of fire erupted outward, the shockwave flattening everything within hundreds of meters. Star-Lord, Nebula, and Drax—all of them already down, already unconscious—were caught by the blast wave and thrown high into the air like leaves in a hurricane.
Debris rained down across the battlefield. Fires burned. Smoke rose into Titan's thin atmosphere.
And Thanos stood at the center of the devastation, completely unharmed, the Infinity Gauntlet glowing softly on his hand.
-Real World-
Star-Lord let out a low whistle, his eyes wide. "Wow. That's... that's a really big rock."
"Tony, please tell me you survived that," War Machine said, his voice tight with worry despite knowing his friend must have lived through it.
Tony Stark was quiet for a long moment, his mind calculating impact force, armor durability, probability of survival. Finally, he spoke. "Based on the velocity and trajectory... probably not fatal. But there's definitely going to be soft tissue damage, possible fractures, major system failures..." He paused. "It's going to hurt. A lot."
Natasha looked relieved despite the grim assessment. "At least he held back. Thanos could have dropped the entire asteroid if he wanted to. With the Power Stone, he could have shattered Titan's core and killed everyone instantly."
Captain America nodded gravely. "He has the Space Stone. He can leave whenever he wants. The planet's destruction wouldn't trap him."
Doctor Strange's expression was thoughtful. "He's protecting the Time Stone. If the planet explodes, finding the Eye of Agamotto in the debris field would be nearly impossible. It could be blown into deep space, lost forever among the asteroids. He won't risk that, not when he's this close to collecting all six stones."
-Broadcast-
Meanwhile, in Wakanda, the battle raged with desperate intensity. Princess Shuri worked frantically in her laboratory, holographic displays surrounding her as she painstakingly separated the Mind Stone's neural pathways from Vision's synthetic body. Every second counted.
Wanda Maximoff stood nearby, her hands clasped together, eyes closed in silent prayer. She knew what was coming—knew she might have to destroy the man she loved to save the universe.
Outside, on the battlefield, the situation was deteriorating rapidly. Black Dwarf—Cull Obsidian—and Proxima Midnight had joined the melee, and their presence turned an already desperate fight into a potential massacre. Even with Thor cutting through Outriders by the dozen, the sheer numbers were overwhelming.
Cull Obsidian swung his chain-hammer in wide arcs, the weapon crushing Wakandan warriors with each strike. He caught one warrior in the chest, the impact lifting the man off his feet and sending him flying backward. The hammer retracted on its chain, and he immediately swung again, catching two more warriors before they could raise their shields.
Two Dora Milaje warriors fired energy blasts from their spears, the vibranium-powered shots striking Cull Obsidian's armor. He barely flinched. With two powerful steps forward, he swung his hammer in horizontal arcs, catching both warriors and sending them tumbling across the grass.
T'Challa saw the massive alien warrior carving through his people. The Black Panther's suit had been absorbing kinetic energy from countless impacts, storing it, building it up. Purple energy pulsed beneath the vibranium weave.
T'Challa sprinted forward and leaped, his fist cocked back. He struck Cull Obsidian square in the face, and the stored energy released in an explosive blast. The shockwave was tremendous, visible as a purple sphere expanding from the point of impact. Cull Obsidian was lifted off his feet and slammed into the ground, the earth cracking beneath him.
Across the battlefield, Rocket Raccoon perched on a pile of rubble, his modified rifle blazing away on full automatic. "Come on! Come on! You can do better than that!" His voice was manic, excited. "How much for the gun?!"
Bucky Barnes saw the swarm of Outriders charging toward Rocket's position. Without breaking stride, he grabbed the small raccoon by his vest harness and lifted him up, spinning in a circle while Rocket continued firing, using the Guardian as a living turret.
"Hahaha! Come and get some!" Rocket's gun spat energy bolts in a complete circle, cutting down Outriders in all directions.
After clearing the immediate area, Bucky set Rocket down. The raccoon immediately looked up at him with calculating eyes. "How much for the gun?"
"Not for sale," Bucky said flatly, checking his rifle's ammunition.
Rocket's gaze shifted downward, settling on Bucky's vibranium arm. The metal gleamed in the sunlight, clearly high-quality craftsmanship. His mind was already calculating potential resale value. "Okay. How much for the arm?"
Bucky glanced at him, his expression unreadable, and simply walked away without answering.
Rocket muttered under his breath, more to himself than anyone else. "Oh, I'm gonna get that arm."
Further ahead, Thor was in his element. Stormbreaker sang through the air, lightning crackling along its blade with every swing. Each strike from the divine weapon killed multiple Outriders, the electricity jumping from target to target. With a casual overhead swing, he sent one creature flying so far it disappeared into the sky, still tumbling.
Nearby, Captain America caught his breath during a momentary lull in the fighting. He glanced over at Thor—whose appearance had changed dramatically since their last meeting—and called out, "New haircut?"
Thor spun his axe with casual flair, grinning. He pointed at Steve's face with his free hand, his voice excited. "Notice you've copied my beard!"
Steve touched his facial hair, almost embarrassed, and shrugged noncommittally.
A few meters away, Groot unleashed his own version of combat. The teenage Flora Colossus roared—his voice higher than his adult version but no less fierce—and thrust both arms forward. Branches erupted from his limbs, growing at impossible speed. They pierced through multiple Outriders, impaling them, lifting them off the ground like insects on pins.
Thor gestured proudly toward his young friend. "This is my friend, Tree!"
Groot, pleased with his display of combat prowess, raised his arm high. Five Outriders dangled from the branches, still twitching. He looked directly at Captain America and announced with pride, "I am Groot!"
Steve, who had never encountered Groot before and had no context for the phrase, thought the young tree creature was introducing himself. He tapped his own chest in the universal gesture of greeting. "I am Steve Rogers."
-Real World-
Rocket covered his face with both paws, groaning. "Cap, that's not what he said."
Captain America looked confused. "What did he say?"
Star-Lord tried to suppress a grin. "He said, 'You should see me when I'm angry.' To be honest, I'm not even sure he knows what anger is yet."
Wanda Maximoff, cradling baby Groot in her arms in the present timeline, looked down at the tiny sprout and smiled. "Don't listen to them. You're perfect just the way you are."
Baby Groot looked up at her with wide, innocent eyes, having no idea what any of the adults were talking about.