The battle that ensued was quick. Bruce was the first to attack. His suit bolted towards Thanos, the joints in his legs creaking as his oversized feet rose and fell. But the man didn't get very far, as Thanos used the power of the Stones in his gauntlet to send him back. The Hulkbuster flew and collided with a wall, the Stone causing the rock of the wall to grow over the suit and trap Bruce in its hold.
Steve and T'Challa teamed together but were no match. Steve ended up in some bushes after a blast from one of the Stones sent him flying. T'Challa's head jerked to the side as Thanos' fist collided with his skull. The king of Wakanda fell to the floor, dazed and victim to a splitting headache.
Sam and Rhodey were next with Johnny in the back. The Storm wanted to ambush the purple titan, but it only became a line up to be clobbered. Sam had a wing ripped off from his suit and was thrown away like a ragdoll. Rhodey tried to use his weapons to take down the villain, but Thanos sent the War Machine away with a crushed suit. Johnny had no choice but to follow suit, attempting to trap Thanos in a ball of flames. Johnny circled the titan and formed his flames into a cage but was blasted away after a circuit brought him face to face with the fist of the gauntlet. The blast hit Johnny square in the chest and the torch was sent through the trees, leaving scorched bark from where he hit their trunks.
At the sight of her brother's defeat, Sue took it upon herself to take action. She stood with Wanda, who desperately tried to destroy the Mind Stone in Vision's head. Her fingers danced with the scarlet mist and her eyes filled with tears, frantically charming the Stone to somehow come free from Vision's hold. Seeing all her teammates fall one by one, the Maximoff had no choice but to attempt the task on her own. It pained her to think of what Vision would be become after its removal, but she couldn't let everyone die because of it.
Sue slipped into invisibility as Bucky ran in front. She ran around the clearing to take advantage of Bucky's distraction and Thanos flicked the Barnes away like a fly. Once the titan was done with him, Sue created a sphere around him and began to shrink it to crush him inside. He let out a cry as the edges squeezed his shoulders, his eyes looking around for the caster of the blue magic. Sue thought she had successfully trapped Thanos and smiled to herself. But she was proven wrong when Thanos activated one of the Stones in his gauntlet and sent his arm around in a circle. The stab in the dark proved effective, as the blast of bright red somehow hit Sue. She flickered out of her invisibility and hit the tree behind her. The barrier around Thanos faded and the titan was free, looking to where Sue landed with yet another victorious smirk.
Groot had tried to contain Thanos with tree roots. They locked around his bulky body, and he let out another cry. But his strength was too much, and he ripped through them, before throwing Groot away like the rest of the Avengers.
Natasha and Okoye barely made within two metres of Thanos. Okoye was thrown while Natasha was trapped at the movement of the ground below her feet. Thanos' manipulation of nature proved useful, and the Romanoff was trapped before she could even attack.
Sue tried to push herself back to her feet and watched Steve throw himself back into the fight once more. The Rogers was able to startle him with his aggressive punches before he tried to pull the gauntlet off the massive wrist it enclosed. But Steve found the same fate as he did before, the fist of Thanos colliding with his head and the super soldier crumbled to the floor in pain.
Thanos' eyes landed on Wanda, who caught the madman's gaze. He stalked towards her and Vision, and she tried to hold him back. She spluttered from her tears and Vision knew what he had to do. While his world was focused on the Mind Stone and Thanos, he willed his form to explode, the Stone going with him.
The forest quivered at the explosion and Wanda looked to where Vision once laid. Her chest caved in, and she let her crimson mists disperse. Thanos let out a sigh and placed his large hand on her small head, appearing to console her.
'I understand, my child,' he soothed and looked down at Wanda with some sincerity. 'Better than anyone.'
'You could never.'
Wanda spat and Thanos lost his sensitive side. He raised his gauntlet and fired up the newest addition to the Infinity Stones. The Time Stone, which he had forced Doctor Stephen Strange to give to him, powered its green glory and went to destroy Wanda. But before he could, the explosion that broke apart Vision's form came together once more. He formed to protect Wanda, unable to stand and watch her be killed by the killer of worlds.
'No!'
Wanda's cry was futile. Thanos threw her aside and grabbed Vision, holding him below him to get a good grip. Nothing could be done as Thanos grasped the Mind Stone with his fingers and began pulling it out of the being's head. Vision let out cries and groans of pain, his life source forcefully being taken. The Mind Stone left the hold and Vision crumbled to the floor, dead and void of any sign of once being alive.
Thanos raised his gauntlet and the Mind Stone fell into place. The six colours aligned together and sent a surge of power through the titan's body. He shuddered, the energy making him feel unstoppable. But as he went to activate his darkest desires, a bolt of lightning collided with his chest.
The axe that belonged to Thor flew into the clearing of the forest. White blinded everyone's eyes before the axe was seen in Thanos' chest, his armour proving useless to Stormbreaker. As the titan fell to his knees, Thor leapt from the battlefield and into the forest. The demigod avenged everyone who had suffered under Thanos' wrath, and he drove the axe further into its victim. He thought of Loki, who he watched die for the final time. He thought of all the Wakandians who gave their lives to protect the last Stone. He thought of his friends, the Avengers, who were beaten and bloody. Thanos couldn't win. Thor had lost his world, he couldn't lose others.
'I told you. You'd die for that!' Thor clenched his teeth and Thanos let out a cry of pain from the axe's assault. Thor watched as the alien blinked, the pain evident on his face and the gauntlet humming on his arm with power and energy.
'You should have...' Thanos appeared to struggle for words, before he dropped his act and smirked up at the Odinson. 'You should have gone for the head!'
The gauntlet's forefinger and thumb clicked. The Stones hummed together, and a bright light washed over the forest. It expanded out across the world and the universe, before there was nothing. Not a single sound, as if everything had stopped to watch the flash of white.
Thanos lowered the gauntlet that wafted with smoke, the gems destroyed and dried up of all their power. He had done what he had lived so long to do. Thor let the titan go, looking around the forest for any sign of change.
'What did you do?!' Thor cried. 'What did you do?!'
A portal opened and Thanos disappeared. Stormbreaker fell to the ground, the remnants of its victim splattered along its sharp edge. Thor didn't move to grab the handle, the fear of what he didn't know deep inside of him. He knew something was wrong. The Infinity Stones held the power beyond what anyone could imagine. Thanos had done something, but he was yet to see what.
'Thor, where'd he go?' Steve walked up to the demigod who looked fearful.
'Steve?'
Sue, who had stepped to be with the group that regathered, looked to Bucky who called for his friend's name. The team watched as the man went to step towards Steve but stumbled. As if ancient and fragile, Bucky's body crumbled into a pile of dust on the forest floor. Sue stepped back in bewilderment, watching the dust blow away in the wind.
Okoye screamed. Everyone turned to see that T'Challa was gone as well. Groot went next, the tree dissolving and being whisked away with the wind. Rhodey frantically swivelled on his heels, looking for Sam who disappeared from his place next to him. He called his name, but no one answered.
'Wanda...' Sue gasped; eyes wide as she tried to grab the witch's arm. The woman who sat over Vision's deceased body, looked up as her hair broke a part. Her face then followed, before her presence was gone completely. Sue put a hand over her mouth and at the realisation.
Thanos had gotten his wish, and it was a cruel one. It would be immediate if everyone was gone, but to leave half was merciless. Everyone had to watch others fade away and live with knowing that they were one of the lucky ones in the most horrible way possible. Children, parents, friends, family, anyone could be taken at random. And it was all because of Thanos' lust for glory and power.
'Susie...'
The Storm turned her head and felt her chest cave in like a sinkhole. She fell into steps across the clearing and her eyes stung. Her arms swung limply but she was able to reach one limp limb out. Sue's hand enclosed around his forearm, but that was all she could do before his fingers dissolved. His wrist fell away and it wasn't long before her hand gripped nothing. It came up his shoulder and up his legs, the dust sprinkling innocently and delicately to the floor.
'Johnny?! Johnny!'
'Ah, shit...' he cussed before he was gone, giving one last blink of acceptance to his fate.
'Johnny! Johnny!' Sue couldn't stop crying for her brother. Her knees gave way and she sat on her feet, tears staining her cheeks and her stomach in a constant shock of pain. Her hands trembled as she couldn't believe what she had seen.
It was the second time that Johnny had been taken so suddenly from her. The first was bittersweet, as SHIELD reunited the two after a year or so. But to see him crumble away was confronting and gut-wrenching. Sue loved Johnny. They grew up together and had stayed closer than any other siblings did. Usually in adulthood, siblings drifted away to begin their individual lives of family and careers. But not the Storms. They went to the same university, went into space together and formed the Avengers together. And no matter how irritating Johnny could be, Sue couldn't live without him. But that didn't matter now. He was nothing but the dust that drifted through the air, joining the billions of lifeforms that suffered Thanos' greed.
'Miss Storm, you have an incoming call from Miss Potts,' FRIDAY sounded from her collar. She didn't reply, but the call was accepted anyway.
'Susan! Susan, I-I... I don't know what happened!' Pepper's panicked voice sounded. 'She just vanished! She was in her cot, and she just disappeared right in front of me! I don't know what to do! Morgan's gone!'
And just like that, Susan Storm's world fell around her.