####
"Where is the Reality Stone?"
Cough! Cough!
"I-I don't know what you're talking about?"
"I will repeat myself just once—Only once." Thanos hardened his grip on Taneleer Tivan's neck. "Where is the Reality Stone?"
Taneleer struggled to breath, his eyes almost bulged out by the firm grip of the Mad Titan. He gurgled words, his own spit drowning him. But his eyes unwittingly shifted sideways, as if scared of having his most prized possession stolen.
"The box?" Thanos followed that short moment of side-glance. "You could have made this so much simpler."
Crunch!
Thanos squeezed with full power and crushed Taneleer's neck completely, killing him. Then, he strode towards the glass cage with the metallic box inside, a tiny window on it revealing something red and liquid inside. This was it, the Reality Stone, the one that couldn't truly be called a stone.
"The third, at last," Thanos muttered and strode towards it. He was alone, having sent his Black Order to find the remaining stones for him. He had nothing to fear with the gauntlet and now three stones in his possession.
With a simple punch at the glass cage, he shattered it and gripped the small metal box. It was hard to see but he was excited inside. His conquest was reaching its end, at last.
"Nothing stands in my way."
Clak! Clak!
Footsteps echoed from behind. "Thanos."
Thanos turned around quickly and a smile crept on his face. "Hela? So you survived. Ah… I shall rebuild your Asgard once I possess all seven stones."
"I doubt you'll make it that far." Hela conjured her armor and helmet, Odin's spear in hand. "You've lost your mind at last."
Thanos didn't flinch, or appear shocked. Instead, he opened the container holding the Reality Stone. "You believe you can defeat me?"
"No, I cannot. But…" Hela shook her head, her eyes focused on the red liquid.
Woosh!
"...we can!"
Clank!
Tony came out of stealth just as he dived and snatched the Reality Stone out of Thanos' hand, along with the box. The Mad Titan was left standing, in disbelief that Hela was working with someone, and that she considered another being worthy of being her partner in a battle.
Hela had warned Tony to fly away as soon as his job was over. But Tony noticed the strange red liquid from the metal box seep out and latch onto his red armor.
Shhh~
Out of nowhere, he heard countless electrical failures inside his suit. His jet boosters started malfunctioning and he lost all thrust soon enough.
Bam!
Not too far from Thanos and Hela, he fell on a pile of some unknown roots that were collected in a giant glass.
"Sir, something is interfering with the electrical systems. Running diagnostics," Jarvis informed.
"Ugh… Tony forced himself to stand up and get out of the pile of space tree roots. In the distance he saw Hela engaging Thanos directly. And already, Hela was on the backfoot, getting pushed back by the purple energy being released from Thanos' fist.
BOOM!
Each punch from Thanos shook the entire facility, carved inside the skull of some ancient creature.
"Jarvis, how much longer?" Tony questioned, not even able to retract his nanotech suit as the electrical systems had completely malfunctioned.
"Sir, that liquid was absorbed by the Arc Reactor in your chest," Jarvis notified. "An uncontrollable spike in energy level is noticed, still rising. The composition of the liquid is similar to the research you did on Tesseract—Death imminent! Bypassing energy flow—"
Tony's mouth dried as he listened to that. He felt nothing physically, but Jarvis' words were ominous. "Talk me through it, Jarvis."
"The energy feels conscious, Sir. It's trying to change the composition of the Arc Reactor." Jarvis explained.
What? How is that possible?
"You mean, it's trying to change the element inside the Arc Reactor?"
"No, Sir. It's trying to change the entire Arc Reactor's composition. From its physical assembly to the elements inside."
BOOM!
Fuck!
He watched Hela and Thanos exchange a full powered blow. Both of them were thrown away, but Hela's arm looked bruised, and her horned helmet had some spikes broken. She was panting, yet standing.
"Jarvis—no holding back. I blow up here, or I save the day with flair. We only got a few seconds before the thing goes off." Tony ordered Jarvis. "Stop restricting the energy supply. Let me move."
"I'm afraid that won't be possible, Sir. The substance has already entered your bloodstream. Any movement may trigger a reaction. I recommend transferring control of the suit to me."
Tony just sighed and gave away the control. He trusted Jarvis. "Go ahead—Help Hela distract the purple ballsack."
Woosh!
Under Jarvis' precise control, Tony's body moved. He didn't know what was happening to his body, nor did he feel anything. He just had one job in mind, to distract Thanos.
"Ten seconds left for detonation, Sir."
Tony chuckled, seeing the small, fist sized round device he'd stuck to Thanos' back, right in the middle where the Mad Titan couldn't reach no matter how hard he may try. He'd done it the first time he came out of stealth and stole the Reality Stone. That was the trick, but the time needed for the device to fully charge was long.
"Team up!" Tony's voice rang out as he blasted at Thanos from the other side, giving Hela some room to breath. But the Goddess of Death didn't need it as she lunged forward and smashed the spear's butt on Thanos' face.
"Five seconds left, Sir."
"Then start playing that song," Tony ordered, and made Jarvis fly faster. "Grab Hela and fly to the side for safety. The explosion's two-dimensional range will be extreme."
Bam!
Bam!
Hela kept striking Thanos, pushing him back into a defensive stance. She used Odin's very spear to do that.
"Hela!" Tony's shout came from behind.
And right then, a strange, loud music started ringing from the Iron Man suit. It wasn't the best of Tony's choice, but he'd downloaded it from a tiny portal, painstakingly. Perfect for Thanos' final moments.
♫Hey, hey… Bye, bye, bye…♫
Woosh!
Jarvis changed direction at the last moment to keep away from Thanos, and without halting the momentum, slammed a metallic arm around Hela's waist and dragged her away from Thanos, flying to the side, as far as possible.
♫Bye, bye…♫
The music continued to get louder.
Thanos stood in his spot, clueless, a little confused why Hela was retreating. He looked at their flying figures, and surprisingly, Hela waved back at him, followed by the man in the iron suit.
Beep! Beeeeeee—!
The instant he heard those ominous beeps from his back, he lost.
The entire "planet" was shrouded in bright, white light. He felt nothing, no pain, no sensations. Thanos just remained standing there, his ears deafened by the unimaginable energy hidden behind that explosion. He could feel it. His body wasn't shattered, but rather pierced. And it was far too much for him to handle.
BOOOM!
At last, the ear-shattering explosion covered all of Knowhere. Every single glass cage in the Collector's Museum broke apart.
Tony, flying away as fast as he could, suddenly lost all lift and fell down into a tight hallway. Thankfully, they'd gotten away from the actual range of the blast as the bomb he'd made acted like a beam, concentrating energy only in two directions. As the bomb was on Thanos' back, Thanos' torso and anything behind him, as far as the nearby planets got obliterated—the beam was an actual Star Killer, concentrated in a palm-sized disk.
BAM!
Hela fell first, rolling further away. But she was back on her feet instantly, shutting her eyes and shielding her ears. She wasn't lying when she said Tony's invention could kill her too.
Grrrrr….~
Even after the blinding light vanished, she felt vibrations and heat. But it was manageable, so she looked for Tony. He was still on the floor, his armor sprawled, unmoving.
"Stark, we won!" She called for him.
No response came from Tony. He couldn't, as only Jarvis was frantically vocal inside the armor's helmet.
"Emergency protocol engaged: cardiac failure detected. Compressing. No consciousness. Defibrillator deployed. Pulse is absent—Blood inscrutable—Blood impurity confirmed—Arc Reactor overloaded—Explosion imminent in five—"
______________________
This story is finished on Patreon.
Check out Emma Frost NSFW art, Tony X Rogue Creampie NSFW ART and
Advance chapters on [PATREON] are in long-form format.