[AN: Found it interesting editing the other book. I thought I'd be starting from a few chapters like 10 or so, but I had to rewrite from the very beginning. That's why this chapter is also late same as the last one. Also Chat gpt has a limit to being useful deapite being signed up. And going pro ain't an really an option for me. Anyways, enjoy the chappie!)
Earlier — At the Start of the War
The battlefield had only just erupted when Ebony Maw drifted down beside his master.
"My lord," Maw said smoothly, telekinetically crushing a Wakandan warrior mid-sentence, "Lady Gamora is not among our ranks."
A bolt of lightning tore through the air nearby as Thor struck a wave of Outriders.
Maw continued, unbothered.
"And Nebula has failed to report since our arrival."
In front of them, Thanos casually seized an Asgardian soldier by the throat and threw him aside like broken scrap.
His expression did not change.
He cut down another attacker before speaking.
"Proxima. Corvus."
From the chaos emerged Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive, kneeling briefly.
"Find Nebula," Thanos ordered.
"Secure the stones."
"Deliver them to me immediately."
Without hesitation, the two generals disengaged from the frontline and vanished toward the Avengers Compound.
A separate mission.
A quieter war.
.
.
.
Inside the Compound
Before reinforcements arrived from both sides.
In the room where the Snap had reshaped existence, Hulk lay against the wall, cradling his charred arm.
Even in Professor Hulk's body, the damage was immense.
His jaw clenched in frustration.
"Let's help them fight Thanos." Bruce muttered anger.
"We can't let that crazy alien undo what we just painstakingly fixed with Natasha's life."
Across the room, Rocket Raccoon stood on a table, peering through a cracked window.
"I also really think we should help," Rocket said.
"They're getting beaten with just Thanos alone."
Hawkeye glanced at Bruce's ruined arm.
"You sure you can fight in your condition?"
Bruce snorted.
"Don't mind the hand. I still got another one."
Rocket suddenly squinted through the smoke outside.
"Woah! Look! Cap just used Thor's hammer!"
Clint's eyes widened.
"No way."
All three hurried to the window.
In the distance, they saw Steve wielding Mjolnir, lightning crashing down upon Thanos.
"Get him, Cap!" Clint shouted instinctively.
But their celebration died quickly.
From another corridor, they saw movement.
Another Nebula.
And a green-skinned woman beside her.
Heading directly toward the containment wing.
The trio exchanged a look.
No words.
Understanding.
Bruce remained by the surveillance monitors. Beside him lay the gauntlet and the infinity stones.
"Eyes in the sky in place, targets moving directly towards the confinement of Nebula from different time. Also, the stones are safe beside me." he muttered.
Clint and Rocket moved ahead, slipping into shadows to prepare an ambush.
An ambush that never came.
They heard voices.
"…I still can't believe we reconcile in the future, sister," Gamora said quietly.
"If you didn't save me that day," Nebula replied, "if we didn't talk… I hardly think we could have."
A pause.
"All I ever wanted was a sister."
Gamora smiled faintly.
"Well. You got one."
Nebula's voice lowered.
"I know."
"She died."
Her tone was almost emotionless.
Almost.
Tears streamed down her cybernetic cheeks.
Thanos had replaced her body piece by piece.
But he had never managed to remove her emotions.
"The Nebula from your time… she also needs a sister," the present Nebula added.
Gamora stiffened slightly.
She already knew what this timeline's Thanos had done to her future self.
She nodded slowly.
Then she would reconcile with her own sister.
The way this one had.
Clint and Rocket lowered their weapons.
No ambush.
They slipped back to Bruce.
The outcome still followed its brutal course.
The Nebula of this timeline was forced to shoot her 2014 counterpart in self-defense.
One more fracture in an already splintering reality.
When Clint and Rocket returned to Bruce, they found him fighting.
Corvus Glaive stood over him, spear flashing in vicious arcs.
Bruce roared and tackled him through a console.
"You must get the other one!" Bruce shouted as he pinned Corvus down with one massive hand.
"She took the stones, she went that way! Hurry!"
That was Clint and Rocket needed as they rushed out leaving Bruce alone. They have absolute trust he'll come out on top of this fight even with the injured arm.
If Bruce hadn't been injured, Corvus wouldn't have lasted this long.
Clint and Rocket didn't hesitate.
They sprinted after Proxima.
Behind them, the fight intensified.
Corvus' spear slashed deep into Hulk's side.
Bruce roared in pain but grabbed the weapon with his uninjured hand.
With a growl, he crushed the spear shaft into splinters of alien metal.
Corvus lunged, Bruce headbutted him.
The crack echoed through the room.
Dazed but still alive, Corvus tried to rise.
Bruce stomped.
Hard.
He intended to knock him out.
Instead, there was a sickening sound.
Silence followed.
Corvus Glaive's head was reduced to ruined paste beneath Hulk's foot.
Bruce froze.
His chest heaved.
Then his expression twisted.
"…Sorry."
.
.
.
Rocket and Clint caught up to Proxima Midnight in a narrow corridor lined with shattered glass and flickering lights.
She turned just in time.
An arrow screamed past her cheek.
Rocket opened fire a split second later.
The hallway became a storm of muzzle flashes and ricocheting rounds.
Proxima spun her spear in tight arcs, deflecting two arrows and several bullets, but Clint had already repositioned.
Another arrow struck her shoulder joint. Rocket's rounds followed, hammering into her torso.
She staggered.
Alien physiology kept her upright—but even she felt that.
Clint didn't give her space.
Three arrows in rapid succession.
Thigh.
Rib.
Back.
Rocket slid low behind debris, firing upward to herd her movement.
"Run, tough girl. I dare you."
She did.
Under heavy suppressive fire, Proxima burst through a window.
Glass exploded outward as she leapt.
Bullets and arrows protruded from her armor and flesh, but she endured it, landing hard outside and sprinting toward the battlefield.
Clint vaulted after her, firing a grappling line into the roof's edge.
"She's got the stones!" he shouted through comms as he swung down.
Bruce's words echoed in his head.
Natasha's sacrifice must not be in vain.
Outside, Proxima ran through smoke and falling debris.
Having an alien body helped. Pain was secondary.
Duty came first.
Her master stood ahead.
Between her and him,
Thor,
Iron Man,
Captain America,
Black Panther.
All rushing to intercept.
Outriders swarmed to block them.
Thor and Tony didn't slow.
Lightning and repulsor fire tore into the converging beasts.
They knew they need to hold this wave.
Steve and T'Challa broke through gaps with pure speed, closing in on Proxima.
A necrocraft swooped low behind her, cannons blazing.
Plasma fire forced Cap and T'Challa to dive aside.
Proxima leapt onto the craft mid-flight.
It began to ascend but an arrow struck its rear engine.
The propulsion system sputtered violently.
Smoke erupted.
Proxima turned, furious.
There he was.
The human who put the three arrows still embedded on her back, thigh and ribs.
Clint stood on a collapsed structure, bow drawn again.
The necrocraft spiraled.
Before it exploded, Proxima jumped free and landed in a roll.
She unsheathed a knife.
Her spear had been lost earlier in the confrontation.
Now this was all she had.
Cap and T'Challa were closing fast.
Her hand tightened around the gauntlet casing.
Cornered.
Bleeding.
Out of options.
Her gaze flicked to the stones.
If she could not deliver them, she would deny them.
Her expression changed.
Steve saw it.
So did T'Challa.
"No!" they both shouted.
Proxima hurled the knife aside, reaching to put the gauntlet on.
Clint released another shot already knew what's happening despite him being farther than Cap and T'challa.
The arrow cut clean through the air.
It struck the gauntlet and knocked it from her hands.
In the same heartbeat, Steve hurled Mjolnir.
The hammer struck Proxima square in the abdomen.
The impact lifted her off the ground and slammed her down hard.
She didn't rise again.
Not after the bullets fron Rocket.
Not after the arrows from Hawkeye.
T'Challa reached the fallen gauntlet first.
He lifted it carefully.
"We have the stones," Steve announced.
"We need to return them before more consequences appear."
Scott's voice crackled in.
"Uh—minor problem. We're low on Pym particles. Like… very low."
Before panic could set in, Wasp landed beside them.
"I've got plenty of reserves Cap." she said calmly.
Scott blinked.
"Right! Of course you do."
That plan would have to wait.
Because ahead, Thanos approached.
With some of his troops by his side. The others still in confrontation with the heroes army from Wakanda, New Agard and Kamar Taj.
The Avengers regrouped instinctively,
Thor.
Iron Man.
Captain America.
Black Panther holding the gauntlet.
Hawkeye.
They braced, but paused.
A streak of blazing light descended between them and Thanos.
Captain Marvel landed.
Thanos recognized her.
Ronan had spoken of her.
A Kree soldier who turned against the empire.
Power incarnate.
His gaze flicked to the stones in T'Challa's hands.
Resolve hardened.
With a simple motion of his double-bladed sword, he sent his remaining troops forward.
The Avengers met them head-on.
Only two figures remained still.
Thanos and Captain Marvel.
There was no signal.
They moved simultaneously.
Her glowing fist collided with his blade.
The sword scraped against her aura, barely cutting.
She drove him backward with raw force.
A photon blast erupted from her hands and struck him square in the chest.
Thanos was hurled across the battlefield.
"Sire!" Ebony Maw cried.
He moved, only to be halted by a red blade and a wave of scarlet energy.
"Ants," Maw sneered, raising his hand.
Invisible force surged, and met resistance.
Elias' telekinesis clashed with his.
Maw's eyes widened.
"Impossible!"
But he had not accounted for Wanda.
Scarlet energy blasted into Maw's chest, shattering his concentration.
Elias seized the opening.
He yanked Maw forward midair, and in three swift horizontal slash.
Squidward fell in three clean sections.
Behind them, an axe whistled toward Elias' head.
It froze midair.
Scarlet energy flared.
Wanda redirected it back.
"Thanks," Elias said.
She gave a short nod.
"Now watch this."
Elias hurled his lightsaber.
It spun like a crimson cyclone.
With telekinetic acceleration, it carved through enemy ranks.
Armor meant nothing.
Bone meant nothing.
It reached its target,
Cull Obsidian.
The blade passed clean through his neck.
His massive head hit the ground a second later.
Another figure dropped between Wanda Maximoff and Elias.
A swirl of orange sparks faded as the newcomer landed lightly on the battlefield.
It wasn't an enemy.
It was Dr Strange.
Wanda and Elias both turned toward him, confusion evident on their faces.
Strange looked around rapidly, taking in the battlefield, the fallen bodies of Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian, and then his eyes locked onto Elias.
His expression hardened immediately.
"Who are you," Strange demanded sharply, "and what have you done?"
The urgency in his voice carried something else.
Accusation.
As if Elias had committed some grave mistake.
Elias blinked, genuinely confused.
"What did I do exactly?" he aske.
Beside him, Wanda slowly crossed her arms over her chest, clearly unimpressed with the wizard's tone.
Strange stepped forward, eyes narrowing.
"You're not supposed to be here."
He gestured at Elias like he was a glitch in reality.
"You didn't exist in the exact timeline I selected where we won. Nor do you exist in the other millions of scenarios."
For a moment there was silence.
Then realization dawned on Elias.
"Ah."
He spread his hands wider with a casual shrug.
"Welcome to the new and only timeline," he said with a small grin.
"The one where I exist."
Strange stared at him, clearly recalculating everything in his head.
"Where exactly did you come from?"
Strange asked quickly.
"Also… can you guarantee our win?"
"From the year 2012," he said.
"I let these guys borrow the Space Stone and Mind Stone from me."
Strange's eyes widened slightly.
Elias simply shrugged.
"Our goal is the same—defeat Thanos."
Then he gestured toward the battlefield.
Where golden energy streaked across the sky as Captain Marvel slammed into the Mad Titan like a comet.
A massive shockwave rippled outward.
"So yeah," Elias finished casually.
"I think we've got the win."
He tilted his head.
"Besides…"
Another explosion lit the horizon as Carol drove Thanos through a chunk of ruined ground.
"I think Captain Marvel has this in the bag."
Strange followed Elias' gaze.
For once,
The blipped Sorcerer Supreme said nothing.
End of Chapter 48.