[Titan. The Ruins.]
The air rippled. A portal of dark blue smoke opened, and out stepped Thanos.
He wasn't wearing armor. Just a tunic and the Infinity Gauntlet. He looked less like a warlord and more like a weary pilgrim.
"You speak of mercy," Stephen Strange said, sitting on a floating debris pile. "But you bring only death."
"I am a survivor," Thanos said, walking closer. "Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, not enough to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution."
"Genocide," Strange corrected.
"Random," Thanos insisted. "Dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass."
"Congratulations," a voice spoke from the shadows. "You're a prophet."
Thanos turned.
"I'm a survivor," Thanos repeated.
"Who wants to murder trillions," Tony Stark landed hard, nanotech cannons deploying.
"And you have a butler," Thanos looked at Sebastian, who was standing beside Tony, cracking his knuckles. "An odd companion for a hero."
"I am not a hero," Sebastian smiled, his eyes flashing fuchsia. "I am merely the one who takes out the trash."
[The Ambush]
Thanos raised the Gauntlet.
SMASH.
Tony dropped a massive chunk of a spaceship on him.
"Piece of cake," Quill said.
The debris exploded in purple light. The Power Stone. Thanos roared, turning the debris into a swarm of bats with the Reality Stone.
The fight was on.
Spider-Man swung through portals, kicking Thanos in the face. Drax slashed his legs. Strange bound his arms with crimson bands of Cyttorak.
Thanos broke free. He grabbed Spider-Man by the neck and slammed him into the ground.
Sebastian moved.
He didn't use magic. He used speed. He appeared in front of Thanos and delivered a roundhouse kick to the Titan's jaw.
THWACK.
Thanos stumbled back. He looked surprised. He touched his jaw. A drop of purple blood.
"You are strong," Thanos grunted. "For a human."
"I am simply one hell of a butler," Sebastian replied.
Thanos punched. Sebastian caught the fist. The ground cracked beneath them. The sheer force of the Titan pushed Sebastian down, his boots grinding into the rock.
"But you are not infinite," Thanos said.
He used the Power Stone.
BOOM.
A shockwave blasted Sebastian backward, sending him crashing through three stone pillars.
[The Restraint]
"Now!" Tony yelled.
Strange opened a portal. Mantis dropped onto Thanos's head. "Sleep!"
Thanos groggy. Tony and Spidey grabbed the Gauntlet. Drax and Strange held his other arm. Quill stood in front of him.
"It's coming off!" Peter yelled. "I got it! I got it!"
"He is in anguish," Mantis cried. "He... he mourns."
"What does this monster have to mourn?" Quill asked.
"Gamora," Mantis whispered.
Quill froze. "What did you do to her?"
"I had to," Thanos mumbled, half-asleep.
"Quill!" Tony yelled. "Don't engage! We almost got it!"
"You killed her?" Quill's face crumpled. He lost it. He started hitting Thanos with his gun. "You killed her!"
THUD. THUD.
Mantis's grip slipped. Thanos woke up.
"NO!" Tony screamed.
Thanos roared. He headbutted Mantis. He threw Drax. He grabbed the Gauntlet—which was halfway off—and shoved it back onto his hand.
He blasted everyone back.
[The Throw]
Thanos raised the Gauntlet toward the moon above them. The Power Stone glowed. The Space Stone glowed.
He shattered the moon's surface. He pulled the fragments down from orbit.
"You threw a moon at me?!" Tony yelled.
Meteors rained down. The battlefield became an inferno.
[The Duel]
Tony was the last one standing. His nanotech suit shifted, forming shields, battering rams, missiles. He fought like a man possessed. He made Thanos bleed.
But Thanos was inevitable.
He caught Tony's blade. He snapped it off. He grabbed Tony by the neck.
"You have my respect, Stark," Thanos said. "When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive. I hope they remember you."
Thanos raised the Gauntlet. The four stones glowed. He prepared to blast Tony into oblivion.
[The Choice]
Sebastian, battered and bleeding black ichor from his forehead, saw it. He was fifty feet away. He could close the gap. He could jump in front of the blast. He could save the Master.
He tensed his muscles. He prepared to die for the contract.
"NO!"
The voice wasn't Tony's. It was Strange's.
Sebastian looked at the Wizard. Strange was lying on the ground, wounded. He was looking directly at Sebastian with intense, desperate eyes.
"Stand down!" Strange commanded telepathically. "Do not interfere!"
Sebastian paused. "He will kill him!"
"If you save him now, we lose," Strange projected the memory of the 14 million futures into Sebastian's mind in a millisecond. "This is the only way. He has to fall."
Sebastian froze. Every fiber of his demonic being screamed to protect his food, his master, his purpose. But the logic of the Wizard—the promise of the ultimate victory—held him back.
He hesitated.
In that second of hesitation, Thanos didn't blast. He stabbed.
He drove the broken blade of Tony's own suit through Tony's abdomen.
SHHK.
Tony gasped. His eyes went wide.
"NO!" Peter screamed from the sidelines.
Sebastian watched in horror. He felt the bond waver. The Master's life force flickered.
Thanos stepped back, leaving Tony clutching the wound, collapsing onto a rock.
Thanos raised the Gauntlet again to finish him.
"Stop!" Strange sat up.
"Spare his life," Strange said, summoning the Time Stone from the stars (where he had hidden it). "And I will give you the stone."
"No tricks?" Thanos asked.
Strange shook his head.
"Don't," Tony wheezed, blood bubbling from his mouth. "Strange... don't."
Strange floated the green stone to Thanos. Thanos took it. He placed it in the Gauntlet. The surge of power was immense.
"One to go," Thanos smiled.
He opened a portal and vanished.
[The Snap]
Star-Lord flew down. "Did we lose?"
Tony was trying to seal his wound with nanotech spray, but the suit was out of particles.
"Why would you do that?" Tony looked at Strange with betrayal. "You gave it away."
"We're in the endgame now," Strange said softly.
Sebastian rushed to Tony's side. He ripped off his coat and pressed it against the stab wound.
"Sir," Sebastian's hands were shaking. "Stay with me. The bleeding is severe, but manageable."
"I'm fine," Tony gasped, pale as a sheet. "Go after him. Seb, go after him!"
"I am not leaving you!" Sebastian snarled.
Then, the air felt... wrong.
Static filled the atmosphere. A cosmic silence washed over the universe.
"Something's happening," Mantis said.
She disintegrated into dust.
"Quill?" Drax looked at his hands as they turned to ash. "Quill?"
Drax vanished.
"Steady, Quill," Tony said.
"Oh man," Quill looked at Tony. And then he was gone.
Strange looked at Tony. He looked at Sebastian.
"There was no other way," Strange said.
He dusted away.
"Mr. Stark?"
Tony turned. Peter Parker was stumbling toward him.
"I don't feel so good," Peter whispered.
"You're alright," Tony said, panic rising.
"I don't know what's happening... I don't wanna go," Peter fell into Tony's arms. "Please, I don't wanna go."
Tony hugged the boy. He held him tight. But he couldn't hold onto dust.
Peter faded away in his arms.
Tony fell forward, his hands clutching the orange dirt where Peter used to be.
He looked up. Only Nebula remained. And Sebastian.
Tony looked at Sebastian. His eyes were dead.
"He took the kid," Tony whispered. "He took the kid."
Sebastian knelt in the dust. He looked at the empty space where the universe used to be. He felt the sudden, massive loss of souls across the galaxy. A feast gone to waste.
"I failed," Sebastian whispered. "I let him stab you. The Wizard... he told me to stop."
Tony didn't hear him. He just stared at the dust.
The silence on Titan was absolute.
[End of Chapter 43]
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