//------------------------------// // Grasping Reality // Story: Tomorrow War // by Battwell //------------------------------// As soon as the beam of light struck the ground, Knuckles instantly marched down the stone steps leading up to the Master Emerald so he could be front and center for the incoming attack. Professor X looked up to the sky where one of Thanos' warships hovered over Angel Island. Captain America saw Knuckles and decided to march alongside the Echidna to confront whoever had come to take the Reality Stone. Natasha Romanoff, who was standing next to Pinkie Pie, quickly scratched the back of Pinkie's ear, to which the Pony purrrrred like a kitten... For some reason. The spy then stopped scratching Pinkie's ear and walked alongside Cap and Knuckles. Cozy simply rolled her eyes, to which Electro took notice and turned to the evil Filly, "Wait, hold up a second here. How old are you? Are you even old enough to drive?" He asked, genuinely confused. She ignored the villain as the beam suddenly shot back up to the ship, and in its place stood the leader of The Black Order. Corvus Glaive. Captain America, Black Widow, and Knuckles the Echidna stood in front of the villain, determined to make sur that he doesn't pass. The four individuals simply stared at one another, not a single word was spoken between them. Corvus' eyes weren't focused on them, however, they were focused on the capsule next to the Master Emerald. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of silence, Corvus finally spoke, "My master has tracked you across the great void to reclaim what is his." He pointed his Glaive towards the heroes and made his threat, "Return the Infinity Stone to me at once... Or suffer for all eternity." Knuckles growled defiantly, hating how this guy thought that he could come onto HIS island and make demands of him. This was his home, and was going to defend it, that's for damn sure, "Listen, chump! You come onto MY island, threaten me and my friends, and you actually expect me to just give you the Stone?" The Echidna scoffed as he folded his arms over his chest, "Well to be frank, you can go to hell." Corvus quirked an eyebrow, "And THAT is your final answer?" He of course knew that they weren't going to change their minds, but he thought that he'd give them one last chance before he slaughtered them. "Tell Thanos he might as well retreat," Cap declared, pointing directly at Corvus Glaive with his index finger, "Because he is NEVER getting his hands on those Stones." The Star Spangled Man adjusted the strap on the underside of his shield, tightening it around his forearm. Natasha unholstered her Pistols and aimed them right at Corvus' head. Behind the group, Silver, Human Torch, Electro, Cozy Glow, and Vulture shot upwards into the air while Colossus, Juggernaut, Blob, Rhino, and The Thing stood side by side, ready to smash some heads. Pinkie took out her Party Cannon from her mane and planted it on the ground while Toad, who was standing right beside her, licked his lips with what used to be a full tongue thanks to Wolverine cutting it in half with his claws. Lady Deathstrike grinned as Sabretooth unsheathed his claws, licking his teeth with his tongue. Mystique stood beside Charles Xavier, glaring daggers at the unwanted presence on Angel Island. They all stood against Corvus Glaive. If they stood against Corvus, then they stood against Thanos. And those who stood against Thanos were fated to perish. The villain chuckled at their resistance. It was honestly adorable how they thought that they could prevent the inevitable. "No matter how hard you try, you cannot hope to protect the world, let alone the universe from what is said to be destiny." Natasha kept her stern gaze on Glaive, her fingers pressing gently on the triggers. If he showed even the slightest sign of attacking, she was going to light him up. "You're right." She admitted, actually catching Corvus off guard. He was about to ask what she meant but she cut him off, "We may not be able to protect the world." "But you can be DAMN sure that we'll avenge it!" Cap finished for her, to which all of the heroes shouted in agreement. Corvus Glaive merely laughed in their faces, this was amusing to him. "How can you hope to avenge the world when you'll be dead in a few moments?" The sound of Electro's laughter caught Corvus' attention. The leader of The Black Order set his sights on the electric villain, glaring daggers at the laughing criminal. Eventually Electro's laughter died down, although not completely as he kept chuckling to himself. Electro then spoke between laughs, "H-How do you expect to do that?" He asked, curious as to how Corvus could kill all of them alone. "In case you're too dumb to notice, but you're outnumbered!" "YEAH!" Pinkie piped up loudly, "We brought a few friends to help us out!" A coy smirk found its way onto Corvus' face, it was true that he had come to Angel Island alone. But that's because he WANTED to come alone. It was then that Corvus made a declaration that sent showed how serious he was, "You should've brought more." Without any indication, Corvus Glaive zoomed forward and brought his Glaive down on Captain America's shield, which Cap raised to protect him from Glaive's strike. Steve managed to push Glaive back as Knuckled darted forward to deliver a knuckle sandwich to the invader. But Corvus moved his Glaive to protect himself from the attack and then proceeded to lean back slightly so he could get Knuckles in a position so he could kick him in the guts. As Knuckles soared across the grassy landscape, the other defenders of Earth rushed forward, united as one. Glaive grinned before he rushed head on into the crowd of super beings. Once they clashed, Corvus met Rhino head on, stabbing the villain in the shoulder with his namesake. Glaive then bent over backwards to avoid a Haymaker from Colossus, which hit Rhino instead of Corvus. Glaive removed his Glaive from Rhino's shoulder and then quickly sidestepped to the left to avoid an electrical blast from Electro, which ended up hitting Toad, who tried sneaking up behind the alien. Toad screamed as his body convulsed due to the electricity. Corvus laughed joyously as he Roundhouse Kicked Toad in the face, knocking the Mutant to the ground. Already knowing that he was exposed, Corvus Glaive snapped his body around and deflected the incoming fireballs and Metallic feathers with his Glaive. Thanos' right hand grinned as Human Torch and Vulture prepared to attack again, but Corvus stopped them before they could even act by throwing his Glaive right into Vulture's right wing. The villain screamed as he spun towards the ground, Corvus' Glaive zooming back to it's master. Johnny Storm's eyes shrunk to pinpricks when he finally realized that Corvus was leaping right towards him. He quickly released a burst of fire that sent Corvus back down to the ground. The alien invader slid across the ground before he was stabbed from behind by Deathstrike, her Adamantium fingers piercing right through Corvus' torso. Before Corvus could free himself, he was suddenly flying over Deathstrike's head, due to being kicked in the head by Black Widow. Corvus flipped through the air a few times before he was suddenly held in place by Silver's Psychokinesis. He struggled to break free, but Silver was making sure that he couldn't escape. "Nngh!!!" Silver grit his teeth as he started to lose his grip on Corvus. "I... CAN'T HOLD HIM FOR MUCH LONGER!!!" Silver didn't have to wait long, since Pinkie suddenly popped up in front of the now immobile Corvus Glaive. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie, here's your daily dose of cupcakes for the day!" Pinkie shouted as she pulled out a cupcake from her mane and slammed it into Corvus' face. As icing slid down the villain's face, he failed to notice Juggernaut behind him. He was then rammed in the back by Juggernaut, which broke him out of Silver's hold and sent him flying across the air. Corvus repositioned himself so he could land with his feet on the ground. The stab wounds in Corvus' chest closed, much to Cozy Glow's confusion, "HEY! THAT'S NOT FAIR!! HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!" "Insolent child! As long as my Glaive remains intact, I remain immortal!" Glaive revealed before he shot upwards and shoulder charged Cozy back down to the ground. Corvus landed back down on the ground and quickly turned around to block an incoming kick by Mystique. Glaive grinned before he zoomed away, causing the Mutant to stumble a little bit. Before she knew it, she was shoulder charged in the back by Corvus, which knocked her to the ground, kicking up dirt where she landed. "Sooo, what you're sayin is that we gotta break that stick of yours to actually get the job done?" The Thing said from behind the villain, smashing his fists together as he slowly approached his enemy. "Heh, sounds easy enough." Corvus rolled his eyes, clearly not amused, "You won't even get the chance." Ben Grimm charged forward and reared back a punch. Thing threw the punch, but Corvus smacked Ben's fist away with his Glaive before crouching down and delivering a nasty punch to Ben's stomach. The Thing keeled over, holding his midsection as Corvus readied his Glaive. "HEY UGLY!!!" Corvus turned around to see Blob and Knuckles charging towards him. Glaive chuckled, this was too easy. Glaive waited until they were close enough before he jumped right over their heads, the both of them crashing right into The Thing and knocking him to the ground. Glaive felt a smirk grow on his face as he marched towards the alter where both the Master Emerald and the Reality Stone were located. Cap, who was checking up on Pinkie, looked up to see Corvus marching right towards the Infinity Stone. Captain America tightened his fists before he hurled his shield right at the villain. Corvus was walking up the stone steps, he was so close, victory would be his. But that train of thought was broken when he heard the sound of something rushing through the air behind him. He turned his head and was then smacked in the face by Captain America's mighty shield. Glaive staggered as Steve Rogers sprinted over towards the alter, catching his shield as it returned to his arm. Before Corvus could recover, Cap threw his shield again, this time hitting Glaive in the chest. Cap ran up two steps at a time as he caught his shield once more. Once he was close enough, Captain America placed his shield in front of him and charged Corvus head on. Corvus was struck in the chest by The First Avenger's shield, which sent him crashing into one of the stone columns surrounding the Master Emerald. Glaive groaned in pain as he fell to the ground unconscious, his Glaive resting beside his fallen form. (End song) Captain Rogers stared down at the stone floor as he panted heavily, falling to one knee to catch his breath. He turned his sights forward and saw Corvus Glaive on the ground, knocked unconscious from the battle that just took place. A small smile found its way onto his face. They did it! They protected the Reality Stone and stopped Corvus Glaive. But for some reason he didn't feel relieved, matter of fact, he felt like something was off. He had questions for what had just transpired. Why would Corvus come to Angel Island alone? Why didn't he put up that much of a fight? Why was this too easy? Cap's eyes widened as realization hit him like a freight train. This was too easy because he WANTED it to be easy. He was defeated easily because he willed it! It was so simple! After all, reality is nothing but a plaything with the Reality Stone! Suddenly, everything around him morphed and changed as a red wave engulfed all of Angel Island, revealing the mask that the Reality Stone had made. Instead of the green, lushes, island he arrived on, it was replaced by a charred, blazing inferno. Cap looked around to see his comrades on the burnt grass, beaten to an inch of their lives. The skies around the Island were blood red, flames dancing everywhere he looked. Cap then turned his attention to the Master Emerald alter with horror plastered on his face. Knuckles laid there, groaning in pain... But Corvus Glaive was gone. And much to Captain America's despair, so was the Reality Stone.