168
Upstate New York
The Ruins
6:04 p.m.
Thor only had a total of three seconds to acknowledge his close friend Steve Rogers achieve what he almost believed to be impossible at a time. His smile was ripped from him when Thanos’ big boot was driven into his chest, sending the god crashing through the rubble and disappearing on the other side.
Leaving just them. Just the two of them left standing. The Mad Titan and the First Avenger.
Thanos faced his target, slowly narrowing his gaze to the man wielding the hammer and making his approach slow and steady. Captain America, however, wasted no time and took off at a dead sprint. With every step he took, he twirled the mighty Mjølnir until the hammer spun like a whirlwind, nearly invisible from the ferocity of which he did enforce upon it. Thanos reared back with his blade as the distance between them was severed, fully intending to see the Captain’s head fly free from his body.
Instead, Thanos was the one sent free from the earth, Steve Rogers leaping forth from the mound of rubble and ramming Mjølnir to the bottom of the Titan’s chin.
The resounding impact of bone against Uru rang off throughout the battlefield, the crumbling of the Titan to the ground following shortly. Steve landed perfectly on both feet, gritting his teeth when he saw Thanos quickly rise to his feet. Spinning forward, Steve grunted as he launched his shield at breakneck speed directly for Thanos. He swatted Steve’s vibranium frisbee aside, Rogers instantly responding with the hammer. He tossed Mjølnir ahead, not for the Titan, but above. The hammer struck Steve’s shield as both the vibranium and the Uru connected and sent a reverberating shock wave onto Thanos’ back. After having nearly risen fully, the Mad Titan quickly crumbled once again, dropping his sword.
Steve wasted not even a second. With every push, every grunt, every movement, he spent it all onto Thanos alone. His nerves, muscles, heart, and soul were thrust into his actions, every conceivable strategy and fighting tactic Captain America had used at that exact moment, solely on one. Pulling the hammer back to him, Steve also managed to catch his shield as he sprinted forward and drove his knee directly into Thanos’ chest. The Titan stumbled backwards, grunting in a surprising display of pain at the speed and ferocity of which the Captain did display. With that distance severed, Steve Rogers went to work on him.
And Thanos could do nothing. Absolutely nothing.
He tried to, but the flurry of hammer strikes followed by the impact of Steve ramming his shield onto every available piece of the Titan displayed before him made it difficult for Thanos to even think, let alone act. The onslaught was nonstop, Captain America relentless in his pursuit to see the Mad Titan fall by his might.
Wounded and resting on the sidelines, Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity witnessed the battle unfold with incredulous expressions shared amongst all three of them. They watched Steve move with such speed and ferocity the likes of which they had never seen from Captain America before. It was as if he and Mjølnir were one being, destined to fight together and reign the might of Asgard and the fury of the First Avenger onto anyone foolish enough to face them. The mares were breathless, simply laying at a safe distance and watching the impossible with jaws agape and eyes unblinking.
Driving Mjølnir into the Titan’s kneecap, Steve knocked out Thanos’ knee and nearly brought him down to it. With Thanos lower, Steve reared up and slammed the head of the hammer directly across Thanos’ face. Mixtures of spittle, helmet fragments, and violet blood shot out from the impact, Thanos crying out against the force of the strike. He stumbled several feet backwards, finally managing to gain some breathing room between him and the Avenger. Steve allowed none, pulling his left arm back and tossing his shield directly into the Titan’s face. Thanos flinched at that, but his head was thrown backwards once the shield returned to the Captain. Steve sent his shield right back with a swing of the hammer. It, too, impacted Thanos with devastating force.
Once his shield flew back onto his left arm, Steve skipped forward and pulled back Mjølnir in one swift movement. With one swing downwards, Captain America sent a bolt of lightning from the head of the hammer to his desired foe. Though slightly inexperienced with it, Steve called upon the lightning too quickly, the bolt striking the earth and ripping it to shreds, but nonetheless reaching its intended target in the end.
Thanos didn’t even have time to raise his arms to defend himself. The lightning struck his chest and sent the Titan flying on his back. Jamming Mjølnir to the heavens, Captain America summoned forth a second burst of lightning and sent it skywards, where it disappeared within the dark clouds above. The bolt was only amplified tenfold, Steve bringing the hammer down and pulling a conjoined web of lightning once dancing in the clouds and then striking the Titan. Thanos thrashed and roared as the lightning struck his armored chest and drove him further into the earth.
Once the lightning finally ceased, Thanos realized he had no time left to catch his breath or find any semblance of reason within the madness. He quickly shot his widened gaze to the Captain, seeing him use the power of the gods to leap into the air and bring the hammer down with him. A strike that was intended for the Titan’s head merely decimated the rock and earth below, Thanos rolling out of the way and spinning appropriately. He gripped Steve by his throat, raising him from the ground and slamming him back-first into the dirt.
As Steve rolled back onto his chest, he gasped and raised his eyes onto Thanos, watching as he rose from the earth with renewed speed and vigor. He kicked his sword up from the dirt and caught it in his right hand. Ripping the broken remains of his helmet free from his head, Thanos sent a ferocious sneer to Captain America before stabbing forward with his blade. Steve was up on his feet in less than a second, pulling his shield forward and blocking the stab with a flurry of sparks dancing off the vibranium.
Thanos growled ferociously, slamming his sword into the Captain and sending him crashing onto a downed and burning tree. Steve grunted in pain, eyes widened beneath his helmet as he quickly ducked to the side and avoided the sharpened edge of Thanos’ blade intended for his head. He quickly rolled to the ground as Thanos slid his blade clear across the side of the tree, slicing the remaining branches free and missing the Captain by inches.
As Steve rolled behind him and rose to one knee, he spun around and swung the hammer with his movements, intending to strike Thanos with his back turned. Instead, Thanos anticipated such a feeble attempt, spinning as well and once more driving his blade across Captain America’s shield. Having brought his shield forth as a last-ditch effort to protect himself, Steve was sent flying once again, even further from where the Titan stood.
He rolled several yards before finally skidding on his forearms and knees, quickly coming to a halt. Gritting his teeth with his head low, Steve pressed his right boot into the ground and pushed himself up. Only, he tried to. He managed to get a few inches from the dirt before his left knee quivered and fell back down. Steve gasped, the adrenaline having been extinguished and the full weight of his injuries finally settling in on the Captain. He had easily torn several muscles, maybe even cracked a rib or two. Cuts, bruises, and dirt painted his exposed skin on his face, several other wounds unseen with his uniform covering them. The numbness in his limbs slowly started to amplify, but Steve tried to ignore it. He tried to push the pain deep down and rise again. The super soldier managed a few more inches, but the man, the human, fell back to his knee and stayed there. Mjølnir lay beside him. His breath quickened, Steve lifting his eyes to the approaching stomps of the Titan.
Thanos was right on top of him, rearing his blade back and roaring as he brought it down on Steve Rogers’ head. Steve never looked away, rather to face his foe head-on then turn aside. He simply couldn’t look away. Not when Thanos drove his sword down onto him. Not when the shower of golden light appeared over his head. And especially not when that light shot down and struck Thanos square in the chest.
Captain Marvel screamed as she drove her boot directly into Thanos’ chest, the Mad Titan flying backwards and crashing into the mountain of rubble behind him. Embedded in the wall of concrete and ruin, Thanos slowly fell and struck the dirt on his hands and knees. His blade bounded against the rubble by his side, Thanos jamming his feral eyes straight ahead and spotting his oppressor. He only needed to see her eyes in order to recognize her, the familiar face and golden star glowing upon the body of none other than the Kree/Human Hybrid.
Carol Danvers met Thanos’ glare with an equally-fiery one of her own. Their staredown ended shorter than expected when the groans by Carol’s side earned her attention. Turning to them, Danvers saw none other than Steve Rogers on his knee, somehow struggling to stand. Captain America himself struggling to get back to his feet. Carol’s glare cooled and broke into an expression of distress, the Captain bending down and scooping Steve’s arm onto her own.
Steve looked up, turned from the grasp on his arm and to the woman it came from. He saw her flowing, golden hair, the dried blood beneath her nose, and the worrisome eyes of Captain Marvel meeting him with her full self. Rogers managed his heavy breaths, gripping onto her forearm back and holding together there. She pulled him to his feet.
Steve gasped out a fatigued pant. “Are you good, Captain?” she asked him sincerely.
Though she never looked away, Steve felt his eyes washing across the tattered battlegrounds for several seconds on end. His ears felt numb, the painful ring thumping in each eardrum alongside his quickened heartbeats being the only sound he could really hear. Her voice came to him and was mumbled, almost undecipherable. He was clearly exhausted by the drained look on his face, the brokenness in his eyes. He didn’t let go of her forearm, though. He held strong, slowly turning back to Carol Danvers and meeting her worrisome eyes. He looked to their conjoined forearms.
Like a metaphorical torch being passed, he lifted his eyes to her and muttered, “You need to finish this, Captain.”
The pain in his voice was great, both from the agony flushing through his systems and finally accepting his own terms of failure. He simply couldn’t go on any longer, and yet there stood the new blood of the Avengers, the adrenaline they desperately needed to keep the fight going and win the war that he couldn’t hold against any longer. He had been fighting a war all his life, and only then did it finally take its toll on him. Only then did he give in to it. She would have accepted. Maybe an old piece of Carol Danvers would have taken his offer and left him behind to rest, to gain that much-needed rest that he deserved. To his surprise, though, she shook her head, staring intensely into his eyes. Desperation and pain filled her own, a pain she seemed to experience after seeing him in so much tormenting agony. A pain they could both express together.
Carol breathed out, declaring steadfastly, “Not without you.”
He stared into her eyes, seeing no break and no chance of her ever backing down from her declaration. There it was. That was what he was missing from Danvers all along; the comradery, the leadership, the bond, the teamwork, the fellowship. The Avenger. Maybe she was finally ready to carry that torch, but not yet. Maybe his old bones had one last kick in them. Steve nodded to that, slowly facing forward alongside Carol. Captain America and Captain Marvel stood as one force, both glaring to the Mad Titan rising forth from the earth and bringing his blade with him. Steve lowered his palm and called forth the hammer.
Captain America bent forward. Carol tightened her fists as she went Binary and her body burned into a blistering, golden inferno. “Fine then,” Steve growled, spinning Mjølnir with the remaining strength left in his spirit. “On me.”