Now.

Nebula and James Rhodes appeared simultaneously inside the deserted compound. James Rhodes quietly surveyed the surroundings — knowing the entire plan — and a single glance told James Rhodes that the Nebula standing there was no longer the one they knew.

This was the daughter who had once been utterly loyal to Thanos. Nebula.

"I'll take the stone to Tony and the others." James Rhodes was deeply grateful right now to be Black; whatever emotion crossed that face was nearly impossible for anyone else to read.

Nebula held the same aloof bearing as always and nodded without a word.

The next second James Rhodes turned and walked out steadily, fighting down the urge to run, though that retreating figure had a distinctly can't-get-out-of-here-fast-enough quality to it no matter how you looked.

Nebula gave a faint glance in that direction and didn't think much of it. The memories absorbed from Nebula made clear enough that Nebula and these self-appointed heroes of justice were nothing more than temporary allies on the same side of a line, there was no real bond between them.

Once the area was confirmed empty, Nebula reached toward the time-travel machine. The right hand shifted rapidly, several fingers stretching and thinning as fine wires extended and plugged into the machine one by one.

Every bit of it was being watched.

"Time's almost up."

Outside, J.A.R.V.I.S. projected the interior scene for everyone. Nebula's every move was under full surveillance.

The footage showed Nebula reaching the final step. Tony spoke. Clint nodded and bent low, creeping toward the compound with careful, practiced quiet.

At the same time, James Rhodes came rushing over with the Power Stone, and the last empty slot on the gauntlet was nearly filled.

A soft click. The purple stone slotted perfectly into its housing. Six Infinity Stones, together in one place, the pressure that radiated off them hit everyone like a physical weight, and hearts lurched in response.

Was this... the greatest power in the universe?

No wonder Thanos would stop at nothing to have it.

"Then... I'll begin."

Carol Danvers's expression was grave. The gauntlet went onto the right hand, slowly, and the next second, everyone clearly saw the pain break across that face.

Even someone with Carol Danvers's extraordinary physique was reduced to this under the stones' influence. The sight made everyone instinctively want to put as much distance between themselves and the Infinity Stones as physically possible.

Peter Parker glanced sideways at Tony, brow knotted tight, and couldn't help thinking about the original timeline. That mouth pressed into a thin line. The urge to just sit down and cry was almost overwhelming.

How much pain must Tony have been in, flesh and blood, nothing more, when those fingers snapped together back then...

No one knew what was running through that young superhero's head. All they knew was that a moment later, one clean, crisp snap cut through the silence.

"Sir."

J.A.R.V.I.S. said nothing else, just that single word, then projected a bank of feeds before everyone, each one showing a different corner of the world where the vanished half of humanity was suddenly returning.

Tony pressed both lips together, those big honey-dark eyes locked unblinking on the screens. The trembling was impossible to suppress now. Something enormous was rising from deep inside.

They'd done it. They'd actually done it.

They'd brought them back.

The eruption of cheering that followed was immediate and total. Every face blazed with joy and relief. More than a few people were crying outright, pressing hands over mouths and wiping at eyes like they weren't.

Yang Luoluo crossed to Carol's side in a few quick steps. The right arm was covered in burn marks, and even with that extraordinary physique, Carol Danvers was sweating cold through the pain.

Yang Luoluo pressed the wand to the wound without hesitation. A soft white glow bloomed, and the color visibly returned to Carol's face, well enough that Carol leaned back against the rock behind and let out a slow breath.

Carol smiled. "Do you like Flerkens? Maybe next time I come to Earth, I can bring you one."

!

Yang Luoluo nearly dropped the wand. Carol kept smiling and continued.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt you."

Something seemed to come to mind. Carol cleared her throat with a slightly awkward air and added, "Nick's eye... ahem. That was an accident."

Yang Luoluo lost the fight against a laugh. "Sure," she said. "Flerkens are actually pretty cute — as long as I get to keep both my eyes."

Not far away, Nick Fury sneezed.

...

Clint was crouched in the ventilation shaft, the place Tony liked to call the bird's nest, always good for a dig, and found a position with the ease of someone who'd done this a hundred times. Bow in hand, eyes fixed on Nebula below, waiting for the word.

"It's time, Clint."

Here we go.

Steve's steady voice came over the comms, and Clint's focus snapped razor-sharp.

The bowstring drew back. Arm muscles pulled taut. Then the fingers opened, and the arrow blazed through the air like a bolt of silver lightning. The arrowhead found Nebula, and arcs of electricity crackled outward on impact. Nebula dropped, body completely failing, nothing left but ragged, agonized breathing.

Clint dropped down to the floor and slowly stowed the bow, then flashed a grin down at Nebula.

"Neurotoxin and electrical current, courtesy of Thor. You're welcome."

Then with efficient, unhurried hands, Clint bound Nebula up tight, hauled the body down to the basement, and locked the door. Paused before leaving to deliver one final note.

"Relax. We're not killing you. When this is all over, you and your sister can go back wherever you came from."

Nebula was their friend now, after all, which meant killing this version wasn't something anyone could quite bring themselves to do. Better to wait until the battle was finished, drop Nebula and the other-universe Gamora back into their own world, let the two of them do whatever they liked, and call it done.

Clint turned and left without a backward glance. Nebula, mouth gagged, made furious muffled sounds. Clint acted as though none of it was audible at all and walked out of the basement with a light step.

Outside.

A massive black hole tore open in the sky overhead. Behind the cover of the Wakandan shield, everyone watched alien warship after alien warship pour through. In the space of a single blink, a dense barrage of artillery was already screaming toward the deserted compound.

BOOM,

Thick smoke boiled upward and fire tore across the compound. Out of the darkness stepped the tall purple Titan. Behind came the cruel and formidable Black Order, and Gamora with them, an invisible pressure rolling off the group like a wave.

The smoke peeled away. A field of broken walls and rubble stretched out before every set of eyes present.

"..."

Tony stared at the compound that had failed to escape destruction after all, and said nothing for a long moment. Then the teeth came together, and a voice came out of the armor with real venom in it.

"I changed my mind. After the battle, I'm keeping the Gamora and Nebula from that universe right here to work off the debt. Call it the daughters paying for the father's sins."

Gamora quietly shed a tear in her heart on behalf of the sisters in that other universe.

A thin, cold smirk sat at the corner of Thanos's mouth. To Thanos, whatever these so-called Avengers were doing was the mantis throwing itself against the chariot wheel, nothing but a minor inconvenience on the road to something greater.

If anything, they deserved thanks for assembling all six Infinity Stones so conveniently. Just one final step now.

The heart was hammering. That immense excitement was rising from somewhere deep. Eyes moved urgently across the ruins, directing subordinates to search while scanning, scanning, looking for the gauntlet studded with stones.

One last step.

And then, in the very next second, an equally dense curtain of artillery fire seemed to materialize from nowhere and hammered into the army with surgical precision, exactly as Thanos had done to the compound moments before. The forces scattered in total disarray, thrown into absolute confusion.

The cloaked barrier dropped. At the front of the crowd stood the Big Three, Tony, Steve, and Thor, and every one of those faces wore a look of pure, satisfied mockery.

"Like what you see, Purple Sweet Potato?"

Tony spread both hands wide, presenting the solid mass of assembled heroes stretching out behind, ranks deep enough that the end wasn't visible.

At this point, even Thanos could not miss what had happened. The pieces fell into place with cold clarity.

Played. Completely played.

"Damn it!" Ebony Maw's voice cut through the moment. "They tampered with Nebula's memories!"

In those memories, half the heroes had crumbled to ash in the war. The survivors were either dead or barely standing, the whole team fit for nothing but a retirement home. That was the intelligence. That was the basis of the plan.

Overconfident on the strength of it, the forces that came through the gateway Nebula opened weren't even the full army, only about two-thirds of total strength. And on the other side of that field: a line that went on as far as the eye could see.

Outplayed by the very ants they hadn't bothered to take seriously.

Thanos was grinding teeth hard enough to feel it.

➤ Next: Endgame (1) — Clash

Chapter 114 - Endgame (1) — Clash

That glint of gold caught in the corner of one eye. Looking closer, there they were, the gauntlet and the stones, tossed beside Carol like trash.

Thanos's gaze snapped sharp. A right hand rose and pointed, a vague gesture in that direction, and the alien fleet answered instantly, bizarre, writhing shapes launching forward with fangs bared and weapons raised. Thunderous roars split the air and shook the entire island to its roots.

The Avengers moved to meet them.

Tony's helmet sealed shut over the face. Steve raised the shield in one hand, the hammer in the other. Thor hoisted Stormbreaker high and leapt skyward. The three of them hit the enemy line first, and the rest of the army followed at their backs.

The explosions hit like the earth was cracking open. Warriors' battle cries and the crashing din of combat tangled together in the air, rolling on and on like thunder, and the ground shuddered beneath every impact.

Carol clutched the Infinity Gauntlet tight against the chest and kept moving, beating back the enemies hammering from every side while scanning the field for someone who could do the Snap.

Thor was surrounded. Enemies piling in from every direction, one wave after another, until from a distance the whole mass of them swallowed Thor whole into one dark churning knot.

Silver-blue lightning crackled and hissed in dense, rapid arcs. Wherever those arcs landed, enemies screamed and crumpled, convulsing on the ground until they stopped moving entirely.

Thor was in his element. Stormbreaker swung in broad savage strokes, the air shrieking each time the blade tore through it, every strike landing with the full force of a storm. Thunder rolled and cracked overhead without pause.

Thor took down the nearest cluster and immediately wheeled toward Carol, axe swinging up to fly, and in the span of a single blink, fresh enemies poured in from every direction and closed the gap. Boxed in again.

Carol finally picked Thor's silhouette out of the chaos and started forward. One second, that was all it would take. Then the Black Order materialized right there, and a wall of attacks came down fast, cutting off every route before Carol could close the distance.

The injuries Carol had taken doing the Snap had healed some under Yang Luoluo's care. But "some" was not "fully," and nowhere near peak condition. And right now, four of Thanos's strongest were standing in the way.

Sweat beaded slowly across Carol's forehead.

There was barely time to register it before the attacks came. A relentless storm, no gaps, no breathing room. Carol was driven back step by step, wounds stacking up fast, but the gauntlet stayed locked against the chest.

Corvus Glaive watched Carol losing ground and let a slow, cruel smile settle at the corner of the mouth. Beside, Proxima Midnight's expression stayed flat and cold as a blade, grip tightening on the spear, and then all that gathered force released at once, driving the weapon straight at Carol.

Carol's pupils slammed shut to pinpoints.

A faint shimmer flared to life in front of Carol. Barely visible, seemingly fragile, but it held. The barrier caught the blow clean.

"Protego!"

"Accio Gauntlet!"

Two voices, nearly identical, called out at the same moment. The weight vanished from Carol's arms. Looking up: the Weasley twins were already on their broomsticks, streaking away at full speed, and George had the gauntlet tucked firmly against the chest.

The Black Order could hear them laughing.

That did it. The fury of being made fools of came roaring up all at once, and they dropped Carol entirely and gave chase.

Carol let out a breath, then the stomach dropped straight back down.

Carol hit the comms. "Protect the twins. The gauntlet is with them now."

The message went to everyone.

"Copy." Tony's voice came through, steady and even. "So, anyone actually know where the twins are?"

"I see them! They're on broomsticks! They're heading toward Stephen Strange now, those four ugly ones from Thanos are right behind them — I'm going to help—"

"...Wait, what? The Black Order is heading toward me too!"

"Hold on, Peter, don't do anything rash—"

Peter was already moving. Looking up, spotting Giant-Man's enlarged arm, a web shot out, and then swinging hard toward the twins without a second thought. Whatever came after that on the comms, Peter didn't catch.

Carol hadn't caught much of it either. After confirming the message had gone out to everyone, Carol grimaced, wiped off the blood as best as possible, and threw into the next fight.

Up in the air, George looked down at the battlefield below with wide eyes, taking it all in from a height.

"Compared to this," George said, "everything Voldemort ever did looks like the work of a toddler not yet three years old."

Fred agreed completely.

Voldemort couldn't even hold Hogwarts. Thanos had tried to erase half of every living thing in the universe. The comparison wasn't close.

The twins flew hard, weaving through attacks coming from every angle, shields firing off one Protego after another until the wand arms burned with the effort.

Their twin connection kept saving them. Every time one was about to be swarmed, the gauntlet would clear their hands and land in the other's just in time. Back and forth it went, this immensely powerful, universe-altering object sailing between them like a toy in the hands of children.

Then Fred's skin crawled.

It came on fast: a needling deep in the skull, the brain screaming a warning. No thought. Fred shoved George hard to the side and flattened along the broomstick handle.

A spear tore through the exact space where both of them had been half a second before. Cold light trailed off the blade. It missed, reversed course, and flew clean back into its owner's hand.

If Fred hadn't moved, the spear would have gone straight through both of them.

They looked at each other. Both faces white. Cold sweat had soaked right through to the skin. Slowly, they turned around.

Proxima Midnight stood there, wiping down the spear. The look on that face promised nothing good. Cull Obsidian was right alongside, cracking knuckles, already itching to charge.

"Give me the gauntlet," Proxima Midnight said, voice flat and cold, drawing out the last word just long enough to make the threat plain, "and I'll let you live. Otherwise, "

The spear swept up horizontal, its edge catching the light, and nearly blinded the twins.

"I think, " George swallowed. ", we could talk this out, yeah? No need to rush straight into hitting each other. Very impolite. Friendly conversation, that's the way, "

The gauntlet was still with them. The Avengers would notice. They just needed to buy enough time for someone to show up.

"Look, we're all from the same universe, oh, right, you're not, are you. But still, running into each other here, that's got to count for something, doesn't it, "

George didn't finish the sentence.

", Right?"

And from somewhere on their persons, George and Fred produced several small brownish balls. Dungbombs. The good ones, their own make.

They hurled every last one directly at Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian, kicked their broomsticks hard, wheeled around, and ran.

Thank you so much to the Malfoy family for generously supplying those Nimbus 2002s. The newest model really did ride like nothing else.

Proxima Midnight had been content to let them ramble. They couldn't win, whatever they were doing was just desperate stalling, and listening to them babble cost nothing.

Then things came flying through the air that looked like bombs.

An arm snapped up to block. A long moment passed. Nothing exploded. Nothing happened at all.

Then the smell hit.

One accidental breath was nearly enough to make Proxima Midnight gag. Both hands came up to the nose, Cull Obsidian's too, but it made no difference. The stench crawled in anyway, thick and relentless, until it sat behind both eyes and made the whole head swim.

"Oh, they dare."

The laugh that came out was not a pleasant one. A hand waved through the air, trying to scatter the smell, but it clung. It wasn't going anywhere. It had apparently decided to move in permanently.

A glance sideways at Cull Obsidian, who was still doubled over retching.

Something snapped. Proxima Midnight kicked Cull Obsidian, grabbed the arm, and hauled upright.

They were moving.

Those two little rats were going to regret this.

➤ Next: Endgame (2)