//------------------------------// // Chapter 178 – Grudge Match // Story: Infinity Era // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// 178 The Battle of Earth 6:37 p.m. Thanos narrowed his eyes and raised his sword. Pointed it forward to the lone woman before him. The Chitauri Driller roared, leaping high and over the Mad Titan and boring itself into the dirt and gravel. The earth trembled as it tore beneath the ground, the Nano Gauntlet bouncing wildly before eventually getting knocked clear out of the standoff and off further in the distance. Thanos watched the gauntlet fly, already taking off at a dead sprint to acquire it. What he did not account for was how quickly Captain Marvel reacted and retaliated. She tore herself from the ground, blasting through the Chitauri Driller the second it burst from the earth and knocking it aside like it was just another flimsy obstacle in her path. The Driller twisted from the impact, falling and crashing with a thunderous collision of its back with the dirt and rubble. Carol didn’t even slow down. The impact of her own body with the Driller left her undeterred and unshaken. Bringing her into a resounding collision with the Mad Titan. The hit knocked the wind out of him, Thanos grunting as his body was latched with hers and they tumbled across the dirt and rock. Once they separated, Thanos was on his hands and knees, right palm barely gripping his sword and left palm pressed firmly on the ground, trying desperately to push himself back to his feet. His eyes scanned the battlefield ahead, hoping to at least find a clue as to where the gauntlet had landed. He stared in the general direction it was thrown, rising back up. Carol screamed and drove her cosmic-fueled fist across his face. He did not want to focus on such trivial matters, or other waning distractions. They were all insignificant to the grander resolution he sought for. Yet that punch spurred something in him, awakened the Mad Titan to the pent-up fury growing in his spirit and finally being released. Just for a moment, he forgot about the gauntlet. Just for a moment, he turned his attention onto her alone. And he raged. He screamed and bellowed like a feral beast and swung madly for Captain Marvel, his blade and fist working in tandem to strike her down, bring her to her knees, and utterly overwhelm her with speed and power. Shockingly, she was faster. Her head and body dodged and weaved between each slash, ducking mere inches from his blade and responding with short, vicious punches into his exposed areas. She struck him in the stomach, cracking his armor and nearly knocking him to his knees once more. Grappling one another with their hands, the other tried for the advantage, Carol only continuing to break through his advances and deliver stronger and stronger punches onto every available piece of him she could find. Sooner rather than later, Thanos broke her. Finding a pinprick of an opening, Thanos took it anyway and drove the side of his blade across her face. Danvers grunted as she collapsed rapidly to her knee, the force and speed of the hit bringing stars to her eyes and a ring to her right ear. She tried to shake it all away, to get back up and continue the fight that desperately needed her. She nearly did. She only managed to rise to one knee when Thanos grabbed a handful of her long, golden hair. Crying out, Carol only had a moment to rear back and clutch Thanos’ palm, the Titan raising her by her hair alone and launching her behind him with a ferocious roar. Before she could hope to maintain her flight, the Chitauri Driller broke from the ground, and in a leaping bite, caught her between its jaws and closed its mouth around its prize. It dove back into the seat of dirt and rock with Captain Marvel in tow. Thanos snorted, turning away and twirling his sword, already returning to his hunt for the Infinity Stones. He took just one step and the earth tore open behind him. The quake was so powerful that it knocked Thanos flat on his chest, the Titan scrambling for his blade and his feet again in order to face the eruption. In an explosion of golden energy, the ground tore in various sections, with the body of the Driller flinging out and its jaws ripped apart. Teeth and blood rained out to join the rocks and rubble. It crashed back-first onto the ground, Thanos turning his astounded gaze first to the Chitauri and then back to the sky, where that golden light showered high. And the woman within it glared down to him. That fiery glare shifted suddenly to the pained roars of the Chitauri Driller, Danvers watching as the beast writhed in pain and rolled across the ground. It rose like a serpent, twisting its bloody jaws onto Carol and screeching out in one last act of resilience. She narrowed each glowing golden orb. It shot forth with the speed of a striking python and bit down on nothing but air. Captain Marvel easily dodged its advances, zipping across the skies with her golden trail following her. Circling above, she waited until the beast was facing her before she struck, tearing through its drills and limbs first on the left side of its body. The Chitauri swung its drills for her, only to shriek in agony as her golden inferno burned directly across its side. Drills and limbs flung helplessly through the air before crashing to the ground, the Chitauri howling and swinging madly for the Kree/Human Hybrid. Danvers was relentless in her second strike, flying high and dive-bombing straight for its right, eviscerating every last limb and drill left attached. As the armor and limbs rained free, Carol still did not stop. She swooped low, bringing herself back to the beast and flying directly up to its broken jaws. She met its face with a devastating uppercut, bringing its head skyward to face its doom head-on. She launched herself back into its shattered maw, the golden rays shimmering within the beast’s body before it grew too bright, too strong, and too much for the Chitauri to hold. She blew it from the inside-out with a prominent and blistering explosion of cosmic energy, a light strong enough to rival the sun as the Chitauri Driller erupted. Thanos shielded himself from the overwhelming rays and shock wave that followed, blade raised, arms acting as his only protective embrace from the harmful blast and the resulting shrapnel that flew outwards. Pieces of armor, drills, and chunks of flesh struck the earth and smacked against the Mad Titan, and through it all, Captain Marvel emerged more ferocious than ever, goring herself into Thanos’ sternum and bringing them both back to the mud and fire. Thanos rammed his sword into the ground, slowing himself just enough for him to regain his footing. Carol was already on him, slamming her photon-fueled fists across Thanos’ face again and again. She saw only red and gold, her teeth clenched and that fiery passion flowing free with each strike, with each cry, with each devastating impact of her fury against her hatred. She hovered as she punched him, Thanos helplessly outmatched against her rising tide. Swinging down, Carol dove and landed a punch onto nothing but air, the Titan dodging and returning to the fight. To his advantage. He grabbed her arm and spun around, flinging her several yards in the distance. Her body spun and crashed through a tower of rubble and rebar, bringing its entirety down on top of her. Thanos glared to her before his wild and feral eyes latched to the Nano Gauntlet resting just mere yards ahead of him. He didn’t hesitate another second longer, sprinting forward and reaching at air just to get that much closer to his end goal. He was just feet away from the gauntlet, from the Infinity Stones, when Sunset Shimmer rammed herself directly onto his right side. A burst of magic joined her, the unicorn managing to push Thanos back far enough to keep him safely away from gauntlet. With her horn bright and red, Sunset teleported to his right shoulder knowing that Thanos was staggered and shaken. She reared back, fully intending to launch a devastating spell for the back of the Titan’s head. Thanos retaliated quickly and drove his elbow into her jaw. Sunset yelped as her body was flung from his shoulder, the unicorn crashing and rolling on the dirt. She lay unmoving. Thanos sent her a glare before facing once more to the Stones. He instantly stepped back to avoid the swing of Mjølnir. Though he wasn’t surprised by the hammer, the Alicorn who wielded it made Thanos have a double take. Princess Celestia gripped Mjølnir in her aura of gold, swinging it madly for Thanos again and again. Her pursuits were joined shortly by her younger sister, both Celestia and Luna engaging the Mad Titan in tandem and with unrelenting aggression. Luna screamed and sliced at his violet skin with her longswords. Thanos tried his damnedest to dodge her swings, but added with Celestia’s ferocity with the hammer, he could only avoid so much. Luna drew blood and Celestia rammed Mjølnir across Thanos’ forehead. Spittle and blood shot forth from the impact, but Thanos returned faster than they expected. Luna swung at his sternum with both swords, Thanos catching them in his palm and snapping them with a flick of his wrist. He slammed his forearm across Luna’s muzzle and knocked the dark blue Alicorn out of sight. With his own sword, Thanos connected with Mjølnir’s fury and sliced the hammer out of Celestia’s grasp. It tumbled across the gravel, Celestia gazing to her weapon before inevitably gazing forward. Thanos reared back and launched his boot into her chest, sending Celestia straight through a mound of rubble. And leaping over that mound, Starlight Glimmer slid into action and fired a bolt of magic directly for the Titan. She was joined with not only one, but two allies. Two very close friends. Spike flew across Thanos as the Titan blocked Starlight’s spell with his sword. He could barely block the bright green flames escaping the dragon’s mouth, Spike breathing a torrent of fire onto Thanos as he swooped by. Joining him was a slithery draconequus, Discord striking low with a sweep of his tail and launching Thanos like a rocket clear across the battlefield. Thanos crashed into the side of a pillar of rubble, grunting painfully as the rocks rained on top of him. He pushed himself away from the tower, only having a split second to regain his focus and wave the blur out of his vision. Even that wasn’t enough time. Discord appeared in a flash and wrapped himself like a serpent around the Mad Titan, his body constricting Thanos’ limbs, chest, and neck and only further tightening his hold. Thanos gasped at that, tightening his jaw as his eyes slowly rose to his left, slowly connected with the feral glare of the draconequus’ head hanging just over his shoulder. Thanos dropped his gaze to his right, to his palm still managing to grip his Double-Edged Sword. He gripped it tighter. With as much willpower as he could manage, Thanos roared and ripped his right arm free, jamming the edge of his sword directly between Discord’s eyes. With the blade literally embedded between his eyes and impaled through his skull, all Discord did as a response was cross his eyes towards the blade, purse his lips, and state, “Well, didn’t see that coming.” Thanos broke free. He grabbed Discord by his tail and slammed him against the earth repeatedly, throwing Discord’s body at Starlight and Spike. Spike was the only one struck by Discord’s lengthy form, Starlight teleporting away and appearing above Thanos in a second flash of white. Before she could let off a spell onto him, he caught her by her throat. Starlight gasped, hooves raised to clutch the hand that strangled her. Before she could teleport away, Thanos drove her into the ground two earth-shattering times. Lifting her limp form, Thanos glared to the unicorn in his grasp. Starlight managed a weak and bloody inhale. He chucked her clear across the vicinity until her back crashed against a pile of rubble with ravaged speed and impact. Starlight gasped, her eyelids heavy and head drooping to the side. The trail of blood flowing down her nostril struck the rubble the same time her head did, Starlight’s mind fading and the unicorn falling into unconsciousness. With Starlight dealt with and out of the fight, Thanos cast his eyes across his surroundings once more to see if there was anyone else left to oppose him, anyone else left to stand in his way. There was no one, not a single soul that stood between him and the Infinity Stones any longer. Once more, Thanos took his chance and ran for it, reaching for the red and silver glove and ignoring all else around him, no longer needing to focus on the universe outside his crosshairs. All that mattered were the Stones. It all would change once he got the Stones. And he just about reached that end—mere inches in fact—when Sunset galloped underneath his legs and launched a spell directly onto the gauntlet. It flew from the blast, Thanos grasping at dirt before he realized the gauntlet was gone. Distraught, Thanos arose and watched the gauntlet fly further in the distance, only to get captured by the talons of one Captain Celaeno and her parrot pirate crew. They cheered and waved from the airship they all flew in, that bellowing bird flying low to the earth before picking up speed and rising back up to the clouds. Thanos snarled. Sunset smiled and expressed that relief through a short exhale. The sound she made brought Thanos’ glare back down to her, but Sunset didn’t care. Even when his shadow fell over her, Sunset kept on smiling to see the gauntlet get further and further away. It was only when his fist struck the back of her head did Sunset stop smiling. When she blacked out.