'Hey, you! Human in the red suit!'
'Who, me?' Sue turned at the harsh voice that sounded from behind her. With her feet spread apart, the Storm held a wall steady to give some of the Wakandian army time to pull their dead out of the way. Soldiers salvaged their friends' weapons, tearfully telling their corpses that they will finish their battles for them. T'Challa thanked Susan for her service to his people, to which she nodded back at the king.
Her fingers were spread wide to ensure stability in her forcefield. Outriders attempted to break through the invisible barrier, their skulls cracking from the constant attack with their heads. Their brains smeared across the wall of light blue and Sue crinkled her nose at the sight of the green mush. But her attention was drawn away by the reference to her attire, to which she turned around to find the voice's origin.
'Yes, you!' Sue looked down and saw the racoon talking to her. 'Who else would I be talking to?'
'Uh... do you need something?'
'I was just wondering if you could give me a boost. You know, with your blue stuff?' the racoon swung his large gun around to sit it on his shoulder. Sue was bewildered by the talking animal and struggled to gather her words. The way he stood on his back legs and talked as if he was a sixty-year-old man who had smoked since the age of fifteen was too much to comprehend.
'S-Sure?' she said. The Wakandian army had gathered themselves around her and she left the forcefield to break. The Outriders were loose once more but were attacked with spears and shots of purple that fired from Wakandian weapons.
'I'm Rocket, by the way,' the racoon walked forward and stopped in front of Sue, looking up at her with its beady, black eyes.
'Susan,' she replied. 'Why do you want a boost, Rocket?'
The name was weird in her mouth, but she successfully kept a straight face. She knew that if Johnny was on the ground, he would lose his mind at idea of the talking racoon. But she tried not to think about the comical scene and mustered a flat shape of blue. Lowering it to the ground, Rocket jumped with his little feet and landed on the blue that acted as a platform for him.
'I wanna take out some of these things from up high,' Rocket said as Sue lifted him. 'You can only be covered in so much green shit.'
'That's understandable.'
Sue hovered Rocket up over the battlefield. The creature aimed down at the Outriders that didn't have the intelligence to look above them. Letting shots loose, Rocket's accuracy was at ninety-six percent. Outriders dropped as their heads exploded and the racoon let out cusses in celebration.
'Oh, fuck yeah.'
'Look at me go.'
'Take that, you Xenomorph shit!'
While Sue concentrated on keeping Rocket afloat, she sent a chill of power to her right arm and sent out masses of spikes and discs to slice through Outriders. At lightning speed, the transparent shapes ripped through alien organs and cut through limbs. She was able to keep a three-metre distance between Outriders and herself, all while concentrating on the platform that held Rocket above the action.
Everything seemed to be going to plan, until a thunderous rumble rattled from below. The Avengers halted in their attacks and looked towards the treeline. Where the countless Outriders emerged, a line of monstrous wheels broke through the plump, green grass. Tearing through the fertile soil, the wheels rotated with spikes on their sides sharp enough to cut through anything with flesh.
'Fall back!' T'Challa was heard yelling, the wheels terrifying the king and threatening the lives of his soldiers.
The spiked wheels didn't care who they squashed. Outriders were flattened and the Avengers ran with the Wakandians, the three men in the sky trying to destroy the weapons from above. Sue ran backwards as she eyed the incoming wheel, realising how wide it truly was once it was close enough. Her eyes widened and the spikes were drawing closer by the second.
'You trying to kill me, huh?! What are you doing, Susan?!' Rocket wobbled at the loss of balance on the platform as it followed its caster. He looked over his shoulder and saw one of the wheels a metre away. His eyes widened and he let out a cry, jumping down from the platform and out of its way. Rocket landed in a roll as the shimmering blue was tumbled through, the force diminishing into the air. If he hadn't acted, his fate would have been flat.
Sue turned to face forward and run properly. The wheel rolled closer and closer, forcing Sue's legs to pump faster. She panted with her lungs aching and her thighs throbbing from the exertion. But no matter how much she pushed herself, the creak of the wheel rolled closer and Sue saw its shadow loom over her. Her heart pounded and she knew she wasn't going to make it. If she ran to the side, the wheel would take advantage of her diversion and catch her legs. But there was no way she could out run it.
'Sue!' she looked to her right and saw the familiar ball of orange and yellow heading her way. She reached up, leaving one arm to give her run momentum and pressed the button on her collar. The helmet pieced together from the back of her suit and fell over her head. With oxygen flowing and FRIDAY appearing on the screens, Sue's head was enclosed, and the wheel was now at her heels.
Johnny flew at ground level and swept his sister off her feet. The two skimmed past the spike that attempted to pierce them on their way past the wheel, but Johnny flew upwards and away from the death-trap. He let out a sigh of relief and looked down at Sue. The glass over her face allowed him to see FRIDAY's data displayed on her screen. Her eyes jumped back and forth across the text of compiled stats and information, seeing how many injuries she endured and how many much longer the suit thought she would be able to continue fighting.
'How's it been down there?' Johnny asked, his reflection of fire staring back at him in Sue's helmet.
'Great. I met a racoon,' Sue grinned, and Johnny didn't bother to question the absurd statement.
'Guys!' Sam's voice filled Sue's helmet. 'We got a Vision situation, here!'
'Somebody get to Vision!' Steve's voice followed.
'On my way!-'
Wanda's reply was cut short. Sue looked down and she spotted the scarlet mist and it's maker in a deep trench. The witch was meant to be guarding Vision back in the city. But Wanda was thrown off her feet by Proxima Midnight and was stood over by the woman whose armour matched the blackness of her heart. The young woman rolled over and looked up at the alien, who smirked victoriously.
'He'll die alone. As will you,' Proxima raised her trident, aiming down at Wanda who laid glaring up at her in the cold trench. Sue called for Johnny to drop her and did so without asking why. He swooped down and she leapt out of his arms, pressing her collar while falling to Wanda's side.
'She's not alone,' Sue said, standing tall as Natasha jumped in beside her. Proxima travelled her eyes to the women that straightened up, Wanda getting to her feet to join the duo. The alien sneered and turned at the sound of footsteps behind her, seeing Okoye at the ready with her own staff.
Natasha held her electric-charged batons, her skin scraped and covered in dirt from the battle. Sue's hands swam with blue and Wanda's with red. It took Proxima one step forward to set the women into action. Natasha attacked first with her batons and the Midnight attempted to bring her trident down on the Romanoff's head. Okoye launched forward and tried to catch the alien off guard, but she whipped around after blocking one of Natasha's attacks and crossed her trident with Okoye's staff.
Proxima was able to send the two into opposite directions, resulting in Natasha's back hitting the wall of the trench, and Okoye clenching her stomach in a crouch. Sue took the opportunity to throw a sphere and watched it collide with Proxima's staff. The alien aimed the end at Sue and shot a flash of white towards her, which she held her arm up in flex to block with a forcefield. Proxima hadn't anticipated the Storm's ability to block and tried to double the power into her trident, but Sue only began to stalk across the trench towards her.
With her forcefield strong on her arm, Sue reared her free hand back and planted it into the woman's painted face. There was a message through her earpiece about Vision needing backup, but Sue was so satisfied with the way Proxima's head reared back at her punch, that she didn't hear it. The woman stumbled, her trident falling to the floor and Wanda's mist encircled her. She lifted Proxima out of the trench and held her in place to be crushed by a wheel that tumbled past. Blue blood splattered everywhere, blanketing the women below in the glory of their kill.
'Everyone okay?' Natasha called out, retrieving one of her batons from the ground. A collective groan acted as a reply from Okoye, Sue and Wanda, and Natasha understood.
---
'Vision?! Vision, what is it?!'
'He's here...'
Vision's eyes opened in fear. Wanda had found the being in the forest doubled over in what appeared to be pain.
'Everyone on my position,' Steve ordered into his earpiece. 'We have incoming.'
The team gathered in the trees and the men who took to the sky flew down to take their places on the ground for the first time since the battle begun. Bruce, T'Challa, Okoye, Steve, Bucky, Rhodey, Sam, Johnny, Natasha, Wanda, Groot and Susan gathered in a small clearing around Vision. No one could deny the fear that grew in their stomachs. The familiar churn caused their gazes to flick from tree to tree, before the atmosphere of the forest changed.
Wind swooped past them, and everything shook. Sue could feel her ears begin to ache at the rush of air that chilled them, and she swallowed dryly. The fight against Outriders was nothing compared to what was coming. She was still confident to muster the cold sensation that powered her abilities, but she was fatigued. Nonstop twisting and turning all while powering full invisibility and all shapes and sizes of transparency was difficult. And for someone who hadn't done so in over a year, Sue was well and truly exhausted.
A portal formed for the titan that they all dreaded to meet. He emerged from clouds that were unlike the ones on Earth, as they were dark colours of blue and black. Thanos stepped onto the Earth for the first time and looked at the planet's mightiest heroes. They were small compared to him, besides Bruce who was still enclosed in the Hulkbuster suit. He wore little armour, but the pieces he did wear were bronze and gold. His skin was purple and rough, scarred from battles and his arm was enclosed in a gauntlet. On the gauntlet were five stones, each of them gleaming in their individual colours and powers. An empty hole was left on the end, where the Mind Stone would sit to complete the requirements to hold the power of the universe.
'Cap...' Bruce's voice quivered. 'That's him...'
Thanos smirked down at the humans. He looked at them one by one, knowing that they didn't stand a chance against him. Sue filled her hands with her last burst of energy and formed disks of blue. She could feel Johnny behind her, the man's arms covered in roaring flames and his stare murderous. The Avengers stood together and readied themselves for the fight of a lifetime. Their spirits were high, and they had each other, but the Infinity Stones were a power beyond their imaginations.
'Eyes up,' Steve stared at the titan and had his shield at the ready. 'Stay sharp!'