Wanda attempted to avenge Vision, Pietro, and everyone she had ever lost to Thanos' doings. She threw debris at the titan and willed all her power to crush him beneath her grasp. He hadn't expected such power to come from the human and he was caught off guard. The colossal amounts of debris fell around him, but Thanos was able to protect himself. But she was a worthy opponent, and he was regretful to destroy her. But for the gauntlet that was now in Peter Parker's hands, he would do anything.
Peter caught the gauntlet that was taken from T'Challa by Ebony May, the smaller alien that the Avengers met in New York five years ago. But Peter didn't last long in his glory and was soon surrounded by Chitauri.
'Activate Instant Kill!' Peter called out and eight legs spurted out from his back. The robotic limbs pierced through the surrounding Chitauri all at once, the length of them lifting Peter off his feet and suspending him in the air.
'Rain fire!' Thanos was heard calling, his battle with Wanda not in his favour.
'But sire-' Corvus Glaive, husband to Proxima Midnight and brother of Black Dwarf, cried. '-our troops!'
'Just do it!'
Glaive reluctantly ordered for his ships to fire their weapons into the crater. The aim was at random and showed that their own army was worthless in the comparison to Thanos' desire for a new universe. Cannon fire blasted the scene, knocking away Wanda in the process, and Wong produced a shield of amber around the crater. But it was weak against the heavy downpour. The sorcerer's arms weakened, and he let out a cry at the constant attack. He wouldn't be able to hold it off for long, but Thanos would die before he would call for a ceasefire.
To make matters worse, the cannon fire hit a nearby dam. The barrier crumbled at the disturbance in its structure and water flooded through the forest. Trees were swamped and the forest floor became a reef, leaves swept away, and wildlife drowned. The flood rushed to the battlefield and threatened to crash into the crater.
'Uh, is anyone else seeing this?' Pepper voiced in fear, and everyone turned to the impending flood.
Sue straightened her hunched posture and took a deep breath. She hadn't attempted to take on such a large mass, but her new abilities had opened an unlimited supply of power. With her hands out and her fingers spread wide, she conjured a fifteen-metre-high wall of transparency. The water crashed into the resistance and sloshed up its height, nearly curving over the edge. But its angry waves pounded into each other and turned back on the trees in its grasp. It would never be able to penetrate the thick wall that shivered with blue.
'Nice job, lady in red,' Quill gawked at the wall and eyeballed the woman he didn't know. Sue looked over her shoulder and flashed a smile, remembering Tony's tellings of their battle on Titan. He had mentioned a man who called himself Star Lord and judging by the description she was given of a human from Missouri who always wore a dumb expression on his face, she guessed it was him.
While Sue edged the water back into the forest, some of the Avengers gathered around her to protect her. They knew that she would need to keep her concentration and she didn't need to be battling at the same time. Thor thundered into the battle in front of the wall and used Stormbreaker to electrify aliens, his eyes glossed with electric blue and his blonde hair flowing behind him. His extra weight didn't hinder his attacks and lightning lit up the crater, grunts of effort leaving his mighty lips.
'Susan Storm, you are one impressive woman!' Thor called over his shoulder.
'Thor, you flatter me.'
Thor grinned. Sue was able to send the floods back to the dam and secure it within the stream that led into the lake. Doctor Strange helped her seal it away before the cannon fire turned from Wong's shield. The man was relieved to rest his arms, but everyone was confused at the change of target. Gunfire disappeared into the clouds of smoke that blanketed the sky and Tony's screen displayed the Earth's atmospheric activity.
'What the hell is that?' Sam asked through the intercom.
'FRIDAY, what are they firing at?' Tony asked and FRIDAY's robotic voice replied,
'Something just entered the upper atmosphere.'
An array of colours broke through the grey and blasted through the spaceship. The ball emerged the other side and the ship steered down into the lake. Its form was engulfed by the water and Thanos' army cried out at the loss of their artillery. They fired up at the culprit but were destroyed in seconds.
'Oh, yeah!' Rocket cheered and Johnny let out a laugh in awe.
'Who the hell is that?!'
'Danvers, we need assistance here,' Steve ordered with a grin. They had been saved by the arrival of the ball of light and they finally had someone who matched Thanos' power. Maybe now, they had a chance to defeat him once and for all.
Carol Danvers landed next to Peter, who clutched the gauntlet against his chest. The boy from Queens was stunned by the woman in the magnificent suit of red and blue. Gold lined the detailing, and her blonde hair was in a pixie cut, the style untouched by the wind and air polluted by smoke. She stood tall over Peter, her aura radiating confidence and unmatched energy.
'Hi,' Peter stammered. 'I'm-I'm Peter Parker.'
'Hey, Peter Parker,' Carol's voice was smooth like caramel. 'You got something for me?'
'I don't know how you're gonna get it through all that,' Peter handed over the gauntlet while motioning to the army that headed in their direction. But behind Carol, landed Wanda, Valkyrie, Okoye, Pepper, Mantis, Shuri, Hope, Gamora, Nebula, and Susan. Peter gawked at the women that gathered and now wasn't so worried about the gauntlet.
'Don't worry,' Wanda started.
'She's got help,' Okoye finished.
Sue teamed with Wanda and Pepper, the three women blasting Thanos backwards as he attempted to attack Carol. She headed for the van with the gauntlet in her clutches and was untouched by the army that tried to stop her. With Sue's blue, Wanda's red, and Pepper's yellow, their power combined into a vibrant purple, and it penetrated Thanos' chest. The others took on the oncoming army and Thanos was thrown back, Carol merely metres away from the van that powered with the Quantum Realm tunnel. Thanos panicked as she held out the gauntlet and launched his sword at the van in desperation. Its edges sliced through its exterior and into the time machine, destroying their chance to return the Stones to their allocated timelines.
Carol was blown back by the explosion that followed and the gauntlet left her grasp. It landed with a clatter, the Stones still intact and yearning for a use. Thanos smirked and sprinted towards it, his sword back in hand. While everyone was occupied with the aftereffects of the explosion and their own opponents, Sue could see that Thanos was free of obstacles. Nothing stood in between him and the gauntlet, and without action, a repeat of history was destined to happen.
Tony saw Sue's eyes flicker back and forth between the gauntlet and Thanos. He knew what was running through her head but didn't have the time to act. FRIDAY's square box appeared on his screen and sat around Sue's face, her lips parted and eyes wide. It followed her body that broke out into a run, her arms pumping and legs skimming over the dirt to make it across the crater.
'Sue! Don't!' Tony's voice carried but she ignored it. Her right hand encircled around the wrist of the gauntlet while she held her left hand by her face, producing a forcefield around her hunched figure. But Thanos' blade pierced through the barrier before it could form, the edge ripping through the stomach of her suit and into her flesh.
'No!'
Tony's hurt-filled cry caused the fighting of the closest Avengers to cease. Pepper and Wanda, who were the closest, looked over their shoulders and both choked at the sight. Thanos' blade emerged through Sue's back, crimson blood covering the jagged silver and dripping into the dirt. A disgusting smirk spread across the titan's face, enjoying the flash of fear in Sue's brown eyes. Her gaping mouth filled him with adrenaline and joy, his grip on his sword itching to push further into the weak human.
'Oh, god... oh, my god,' Johnny spluttered, lowering to the ground and feeling a hole in his chest burn bigger and bigger.
The pain was dull, and Sue forgot what it felt like to feel whole. She couldn't look away from Thanos' face as he pulled his sword out of her torso. Her hold on the gauntlet loosened and her fingers twitched off its titanium-alloy, the joints going cold and out of her control. Sue stumbled backwards and felt the wind blow through the hole that went through her. Blood sunk into the edges of her suit before spreading down her waist. It made the material cling to her figure in an uncomfortable wetness, and if she could feel anything, she would despise the sensation.
'Such a waste,' she thought she heard Thanos mutter before she fell back.
Johnny was the first behind her, catching her head before it collided with the ground. Steve was next, the Rogers crouching beside the two with his eyes trained on the wound in Sue's stomach. Then Pepper, Wanda, Clint, Bruce and Thor gathered around their friend who gasped for air, her cries and splutters painful to hear.
The Avengers were dumbfounded, the wound so grotesque that they thought it wasn't real. Bruce clutched at his hair in panic and Clint searched his training for how to handle such an injury. But he was at a loss. Her stomach was pierced and the blood that pooled underneath her was unsalvagable. Her body would attempt to continue functioning, but it would fail without the required blood and organs.
Sue looked down at the skin that was mutilated and panicked at the sight of her intestine that peaked out. Her hands shook by her sides and she lost the feeling in her elbows that kept her upright. She had never been faced with being so close to death as this. All that she had fought for crumbled and her confidence dribbled away with every drop of blood. There was too much to be left behind to die. She had just gotten Morgan back, and she hadn't even seen her yet. Booker was so young and Tony... Tony would be lost without her.
'Jesus,' Steve hissed, his forehead lined with creases. 'My god...'
'You're okay, Sue! You're good, just... I-I can't... someone help!' Johnny shouted into his sister's ear as tears formed in his eyes. Wanda crouched down and her fingers danced with red, attempting to heal the large wound. She stayed quiet as her own tears swelled, remembering doing the same to Vision at one point. She couldn't lose someone else, especially not someone like Sue.
The Guardians of the Galaxy watched in horror and the surfer stopped in the air, staring down at the scene. Its browbone lowered over its eyes and Sue's suffering awakened something in its chest.
The Wakandians bowed their heads in sorrow, T'Challa facing death too often in his lifetime as king. It was in their culture to believe that life didn't end at death, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt to see people fade away.
Peter was sat in the dirt, his hands limp in his lap and his eyes sad behind his mask. Susan was a beautiful woman and he knew that Aunt May loved her. She was genuine with her kindness and where Tony's sympathy was absent, Sue's was there tenfold. He didn't want to watch her die, but there was nothing he could do. He was just a boy from Queens.
Carol lifted her head from the ground and hated to see someone who she respected in such a way. She had been the one at the compound when she brought Tony back from space. Carol had liked Sue for her urgency to help Tony as soon as he was back on Earth. It made her realise that there was love out there and that the two were deep in their infatuation with each other. But Sue was dying, and Carol didn't like it one bit.
Tony was overcome with anger and fury. FRIDAY flashed warnings over the diagram of Sue's suit on his screen, the blood loss and corruption of vital organs reaching a fatal stage. A headache pounded in his head from the sight, and he saw the way Sue's gasped, the pain and fear evident in her face. She was afraid of what her injury meant and who she would be leaving behind. He feared for her and seeing Thanos reach for the gauntlet once more brought a new side out of Tony.
His thrusters powered up and he shot across the crater, teeth clenched and chest heaving. He let out a battle cry, alerting Thanos who turned and blocked the attack from Tony's repulsors. He reared his massive arm back and knocked Tony away, the suit sent flying. Thor also couldn't control his anger and lunged forward, Stormbreaker and Mjolnir in both hands. The demigod tried to contain Thanos and Steve joined him, the two avenging the woman they loved as a teammate and as a friend. But Thanos was too strong, throwing the two away and knocking them out simultaneously.
He picked up the gauntlet, but was again intercepted, this time by Carol Danvers. She flew with her eyes glazed over and engaged in a fist fight with the murderous alien. Angry and saddened, Carol used all her power in her punches.
Tony had been able to pull himself over to Sue. Pepper helped him next to her, stepping away so that the two could see each other. Sue's eyes dragged away from her stomach met Tony's dark ones that she saw in her mind every day in Morgan's face. They were sad and swimming with tears, the lines in his frown deep and his cheeks twitching with the urge to sob uncontrollably.
'Honey... Sue...' he whispered, the strain evident in his voice. Pepper, Clint, Wanda, Bruce and Johnny swallowed, never having seen Tony cry. The man looked down at Sue with eyes that were only vulnerable for her. The woman who had been there when he needed someone to ground him, comfort him, yell at him or love him, was slipping away. In battle, he was always the one faced with the probability of death. But he would always surprise her and return glorious and full of live. But the one time Sue faced death, it didn't seem like she would surrpise him. There was nothing but the inevitable.
'You can see right through me,' she choked out in a joke, her laugh sounding like a cough.
'I always could...' Tony sobbed and smiled, the crinkles forming by his eyes. He knew she loved them, but all she did was cry. Tears fell over her temples and into her hair, dropping onto Johnny's gloved hands that sat under her head. Her brother sobbed above her, and Sue's gaze switched between him and Tony, two of the most important men in her life.
'I always knew you could do more... and you did...' Tony said, his armoured hand gripping her gloved one.