40Yeah, this has been done a million times before, let's see if my version is any better, shall we? For fans of any of my other fanfics, never fear, I plan to either continue or rewrite most of them, starting in the next few days. I'm setting this version in 2016, just before Civil War begins.
"Where am I?" Nick Fury asked as he opened his eyes and looked around the room. All around him he could see people slowing getting to their feet and groaning, as he looked around at a spacious room with several chairs for everyone.
"I think the better question, is where are we, Nick?" Tony asked as he looked around himself. He could see Rhodey and Nat over by the door, Bruce and Thor were sprawled over by the window, Rogers and somebody with a metal arm were by a large tv, and there was a few other people that Tony didn't know dotted around the room.
"Bruce? Thor? Where have you guys been?" Clint asked the two of them.
"I have been searching, several Infinity Stones, like the one in Vision, have appeared over the past few years. I've been looking for the rest, to keep them safe. I sense something is moving in the darkness, trying to manipulate them for who knows what aim." Thor told him.
"I...don't know. The last thing I remember was we were fighting Ultron." Bruce said.
"Bruce...that was nearly a year ago." Steve told him.
"It was?" Bruce asked, shocked. "What happened to me?"
"I don't know, but who is everyone else here?" Natasha asked as she got to her feet.
"Oh, I'm Peter, Peter Parker." a young guy said as he stood up.
"What the hell, how old are you, kid?" Tony asked him.
"Erm, I'm 15." Peter said, a bit awed to be in the presence of the Avengers of all people.
"I'm Scott Lang." Another guy said who Sam smiled at.
"Hey, Tic Tac." Sam said to him.
"Oh wow, Falcon! Sorry about before." Scott said sheepishly as the rest of the Avengers looked between them, what had happened?
"Something you wanna share with the class?" Tony asked Sam.
"Err, he sorta robbed the compound and escaped from me a few months ago." Sam told Tony who turned to Scott in a rage.
"You robbed us? Why? How?"
"Well, technically it was my boss' thing that your dad had stored away in the 80's, we just didn't realise the storage facility was now Avengers HQ. We needed it to stop Darren Cross from doing some bad things, so call it even?" Scott asked with a wry grin.
"So who are the rest of you?" Clint asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.
"I am Prince T'Challa, of Wakanda." an imposing man towards the back replied, gesturing to a young woman by his side. "This is my sister, Shuri."
"Wakanda?" Bruce asked. "Where Vibranium came from?"
"Yes, we have Vibranium." Shuri told him.
"Had." Fury says, Shuri raising an eyebrow and T'Challa smirking at the remark.
"This is Bucky." Steve says, as Bucky looked down upon seeing Tony, Nat and Fury. "My friend who was the Winter Soldier."
"The Winter Soldier?" Natasha asked with a glare at Bucky.
"I'm sorry for anything I did before." Bucky muttered. "I wasn't exactly in control with Hydra. I'm still not all that sure about anything, its why I saved Steve and left."
"You remember me?" Steve asked him.
"Flashes of it." Bucky admitted. "I know we were friends once."
"We are still friends, Buck." Steve said. "I'm with you till the end of the line, after all."
"So, now we know who everyone is, why are we all here?" Bruce asked.
"Maybe it has something to do with the video?" Thor asked.
"What video?" Wanda asked, who had stood to the side with Vision before now.
"It just showed up on the screen. I believe it is a movie of some kind." Vision said.
"Why would anyone take us all to view a movie though?" Peter asked.
"There's a note over here." Shuri said, picking up the note by one of the chairs, reading it aloud she said "Dear Avengers, you're here to watch a film about events that will be important to your future."
"Shall we?" Steve asked, looking confused as he gestured towards the chairs as the screen lit up with the words "INFINITY WAR" and the movie began.
/
"This is the Asgardian refugee vessel Statesman."
'Refugee?' many of the assembled heroes thought. Asgard was supposed to be all powerful, why would it need a vessel for refugees from there?
"What's happened, Thor?" Sam asks.
"I'm as confused as you, friend Wilson." Thor told him with a frown.
"I don't know, but it won't be good." Bruce tells him.
"We are under assault, I repeat, we are under assault - The engines are dead, life support failing. Requesting aid from any vessel within range. We are 22 jump points out of Asgard. Our crew is made up of Asgardian families, we have very few soldiers here. This is not a warcraft. I repeat, this is not a warcraft!"
"Oh God." Wanda said, her hand over her mouth as the rest looked stricken by what they heard. Something bad had happened to Asgard and now innocents were been attacked.
"Hear me, and rejoice. You have had the privilege of being saved by the Great Titan... You may think this is suffering... No. it is salvation. Universal scales tip toward balance because of your sacrifice. Smile... For even in death, you have become Children of Thanos."
"Salvation? Him and the others have murdered them all." Steve growled as the rest looked at the screen with fear, sadness and hatred.
"I'd like to introduce Squidward here to my suits." Tony said as Thor waved Mjolnir towards the screen.
"I'd make him feel the full might of Mjolnir!"
"Hopefully he'll get to, big guy." Rhodey said with a smile. They'd have no chance against Thor and his hammer.
Loki stands with the Black Order. He watches Thanos, shrouded in darkness and light, a vague silhouette.
Several cries of shock and anger reverberated around the room at the sight of the trickster.
"How is he here? You told us he'd died, Thor." Fury said.
"I don't know. He DID die." Thor said, shaking his head. "I'm as confused as you are my friends."
"Hopefully it'll say in this. Let's just hope he's not working with this Thanos guy." T'Challa said.
"That could be problematic." Scott said.
"I know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right... yet to fail, nonetheless. It's frightening. Turns the legs to jelly. I ask you, to what end? Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now, it's here. Or should I say... I AM."
"This guy is really full of himself, huh?" Peter and Shuri asked at the same time, looking at each other.
"He's dangerous." Bucky said with a grimace as Tony nodded.
"What Capsickle's friend said. He's a danger and we need to stop him."
"How can we fight something like this?" Wanda asked.
"Together." Vision smiled.
Thanos holds up his hand to reveal the Infinity Gauntlet, which already has the Power Stone.
"He's already got one of the six Infinity Stones." Thor said with a gasp.
"We can't let him get any more." Steve said. They'd find this Thanos and teach him a lesson. They were the Avengers, Earth's Mightest Heroes and they'd stop his evil plan.
"You talk too much." The onscreen Thor mumbles as Thanos lifts him like a ragdoll.
"Man, what happened to you, Thor?" Rhodey asks aloud.
"Whatever it is, I must stop it." Thor swears.
"I can't believe how snarky you've gotten." Tony nods his head. "I approve."
"Of course you would, Stark." Steve shook his head.
"The Tesseract, or your brother's head. I assume you have a preference."
"Oh I do. Kill away."
"There's the Loki we know and hate." Clint snarked as the rest of them looked at the screen with hate. Trust Loki to betray his own brother to save his skin.
"Brother..." Thor said at the screen with sorrow on his face.
Thanos looks briefly surprised before pressing the Gauntlet against Thor's head, with Thor screaming in pain as the Power stones begins to dissolve him.
"ALL RIGHT, STOP!"
"Wait...Loki stopped him?" Vision asked, surprised.
"It seems you do get to have your happy reunion after all." Steve said to his friend, who looked at the screen in amazed wonder.
"Loki..." Thor breathed, eyes shining.
"We don't have the Tesseract. It was destroyed on Asgard."
Those words sent a feeling of dread through most of the audience, Asgard was supposed to help them against otherworldly threats, with it gone...
Loki raises his ha d into the air and the Tesseract appears in the palm of his hand
"You really are the worst brother."
"No! Don't give it to him!" Most of the audience shouted at the screen.
"You do remember this is just a recording of future events, right?" Shuri joked.
"I assure you, brother... the sun will shine on us again."
'Brother.' Thor thought to himself. 'He called me his brother.'
"I guess Loki really does come around on it all." Scott said as Clint glared.
"Personally, I don't think I could ever forgive him for the whole mind control thing."
"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian."
"Well, for one thing, I'm not Asgardian. And for another... We have a Hulk."
Thanos looks shocked for a moment before the Hulk punches him aside and charges into him, roaring. Hulk then proceeds to start hitting Thanos and driving the Titan back with every blow towards the side of the ship.
"YES!" Most of the room yelled as they saw the Hulk attack Thanos.
"I've not said enough that I love you, have I Banner?" Thor asked as Bruce blushed.
"C'mon guys, he hasn't won yet."
"We know he will though, Bruce." Tony smiled.
"I don't think anyone can stand up to Hulk, except maybe Iron Man." Peter supplied.
"I don't like this, it seems...off somehow." Fury said as Natasha nodded.
"Why would this be so early in the film if the big guy takes Thanos down?"
"Let him have his fun." Ebony Maw stated to Cull Obsidian, stopping him from interfering in the fight between the two heavyweights.
"Oh crap." Clint said, summing up the entire rooms reaction.
Thanos grabs Hulk's arms and seperates them, before punching Hulk and throwing him around. Hulk looks on in shock and fear as he's blocked by Thanos and Thanos knocks him out. Thor attacks Thanos to no effect and Thanos kicks him across the deck. Ebony Maw then trapped Thor in metal sheets to stop him disturbing Thanos.
"Allfathers… let the dark magic flow through me one last... time." Heimdall grunts as he summons the Bifrost which carries the Hulk away, with Heimdall looking towards Thor.
"Hopefully he's sending you back to Earth." Steve murmurs.
"Yeah, but what about Thor?" Wanda asks.
"That was a mistake." Thanos said, before taking Corvus' blade and stabbing Heimdall through the heart, twisting the blade as he did.
"NO! You're going to die for that!" Thor screamed at Thanos.
A sentiment that was clearty being shared by everyone watching the movie, whilst most of them had never met Heimdall, they knew he was a good man from what Thor had said, and he didn't deserve what had happened to him.
"Shhh." Ebony Maw said as he gagged Thor with another sheet of metal.
"My humble personage… bows before your grandeur. No other being has ever had the might, nay the nobility, to wield not one, but two Infinity Stones. The universe lies within your grasp." Ebony Maw says as he bows before Thanos.
"The Tesseract was an Infinity Stone?" Tony asks in shock as the rest of the Avengers look struck by it.
"That...I didn't know." Fury admits.
"What's an Infinity Stone, exactly?" T'Challa asks, wondering how Wakanda was unaware of these things.
"A stone with immense power from the dawn of time." Thor told him. "Even I do not know much about their powers or locations."
Thanos destroys the Tesseract and adds the Space Stone to the Gauntlet, wincing as power surges through him as he does.
"There are two more Stones on Earth. Find them, my children, and bring them to me on Titan."
"Another stone other than in Vision?" Clint asks.
"I'm not sure, I can't sense another." Vision tells them as they look towards him, hoping he'd have an idea.
"Hopefully this movie will tell us who has it and we can get there first." Bucky spoke up.
"Father, we will not fail you." Proxima Midnight said as the Black Order knelt before Thanos.
"Definitely the ugly family." Tony quipped with Soctt, Shuri and Peter snorting.
"If I might interject… If you're going to Earth, you might want a guide. I do have a bit of experience in that arena." Loki remarked as he reappeared behind the Black Order.
"If you consider failure experience." Thanos smirked at him.
"I consider experience, experience. Almighty Thanos, I... Loki... Prince of Asgard...Odinson... The rightful King of Jotunheim... God of Mischief... do hereby pledge to you, my undying fidelity." Loki says as a dagger appears in his hand.
"KILL HIM!" Shuri and Peter yell at the screen.
"I don't think this will end too well." Steve says with a frown.
As Loki thrusts the dagger upwards, inches from Thanos' throat his hand is caught, the Space Stone glowing in the Gauntlet.
"Undying. You should choose your words more carefully." Thanos smirks before taking the dagger out of Loki's hand and grabbing him by the throat, raising him into the air, as Loki struggles against his grip.
"NO!" Thor roars at the screen as he sees Loki struggling to breathe, the rest of the Avengers and the others in the room looking stricken. Sure, most of them disliked Loki, but the man had tried to redeem himself, nobody deserved what Thanos was doing to him now.
"I hope he'll get out." Wanda said, not having experienced Loki's attack first hand.
"I don't think it'll be that kind of ending for Reindeer Games." Tony said sadly.
"You will... never be... a god." Loki panted out.
The sound of a snap loudly reverbarated throughout the room as the watchers too kin the scene with horrified shock.
"LOKI!" Thor screamed at the television as his brothers body hit the floor before his on-screen self.
"Thor..." Nat said, putting out a hand on his shoulder in comfort. "I know its not much, but I'm sorry."
"Yeah, so am I." Clint said after a moment. "Nobody deserves that kind of fate."
"Do you want to take a minute?" Steve asked his friend, seeing the pain this was causing Thor.
"No, I'll be fine, thank you Friend Rogers." Thor smiled at him.
"It's just Steve, Thor. Like you said, we're friends."
"No resurrections this time." Thanos said before raising the Gauntlet, opening a portal for the Black Order and himself to escape as he used the Power Stone to set the Statesmen alight. Freed of his bonds, Thor crawls to where Loki lays on the floor and covers his brothers body, sobbing as the ship explodes around him. Then the scene shows the Bifrost and New York City appearing below it. The scene changes to show the inside of the New York Sanctum and Dr Strange and Wong walking down the stairs.
"Who are these guys?" Peter asked.
"We'll find out if we watch the film, kid." Sam said.
"Seriously? You don't have any money?"
"Attachment to the material is detachment from the spiritual."
"I'll tell the guys at the deli. Maybe they'll make you a metaphysical ham on rye."
"Looks like we found someone who might match you for quips, Stark." Clint said with a tease as Tony glared at him.
"I'll have you know I'm the undisputed king of quips and one-liners." Tony told him.
"I'm sure I could take you on." Scott challenged.
"Oh, wait, wait, wait, I think I have 200."
"Dollars?"
"Rupees."
"Which is?"
"Uh, buck and a half."
"Hey, I'd be willing to lend the strange Asian monk some money." Tony said. "I'm gonna assume these are fellow good guys against Thanos?"
"Looks that way." Steve said.
"Hopefully they'll bring something good to the fight." Natasha said.
"We may just need it." Vision agreed.
"What do you want?"
"I wouldn't say no to a tuna melt."
Bruce crashes through the roof and through the stairs of the Sanctum, the two sorcerers rushing towards him, sling rings at the ready for a fight, the Cloak of Levitation swirling onto Stephen's back.
"Ok, that looked cool." Peter remarks and Wanda nods her head.
"I'd love an item like that for myself."
"I'm not sure how a cape could be helpful for you." Bucky said.
"Thanos is coming. He's coming... "
Strange and Wong look at each other in confusion before Strange turns to Bruce.
"Who?"
The screen lights up with the words AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
"Ok, the name makes sense. Infinity Stones, Thanos wants a war, got it." Tony said.
"Let's just get this over with." Fury growled.
"I don't think we're anywhere near done yet, Agent." Shuri tells him.
"Well the longer we talk about it, the longer it is before we can finish and stop Thanos." Sam said.
"He's right. Let's continue." Vision said.
