RAEVANNA'S EYES OPENED SLOWLY AS THE DUST CLEARED, AND DIANA SLOWLY LIFTED HER SHIELD, SHOVING AWAY THE PILE OF DEBRIS THAT HAD THREATENED TO CRUSH THEM. Diana had moved to Raevanna at the last second to protect her from the blasts, so now Raevanna was hunched over next to Diana, hiding under her shield. 

"Are you alright?" Diana asked, looking down at Raevanna.

Raevanna let go of her, straightening up and nodding. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks."

"No problem." Diana looked around. "Where is everyone?" 

Her words instilled panic in Raevanna. She had no idea where anyone was. The blast had knocked them all in different directions, and that meant she had no idea where Steve was, or if he was even alive. She was scared, knowing that she had come too far to lose him now. 

So Raevanna looked at Diana, biting her lip. "I don't know," Raevanna admitted. "We all got separated in the blast."

Diana glanced at Raevanna, seeming to notice her fear. Turning her body so she was facing her, Diana put her hands on Raevanna's shoulders and smiled at her. "Don't worry. He's fine, I'm sure of it." Raevanna nodded but kept her head lowered, so Diana bent down a bit so she could meet her eyes. "Raevanna, look at me." Raevanna did, so Diana went on, "If you're so worried, then let's go find him, alright?"

Raevanna was silent for a moment before she nodded in agreement.

Diana smiled. "Alright, then. Let's go." The two then began to climb over the rubble, searching for Steve and the others.

"What happened?" Raevanna asked as they trekked through the ruins.

Diana huffed. "I have a feeling I know what it was. I just hope I'm wrong."

"What are you thinking?" Raevanna questioned her, wondering what the Amazon's theory was. 

"I think..." Diana paused. "I think it was Thanos."

Raevanna's eyes went as round as the moon at her words. "Thanos?!" she repeated. "You gotta be shitting me! It can't be him, he's dead!"

"I know," Diana said. "But did you notice that someone was missing when Bruce put on the gauntlet?"

Raevanna paused to think, then gasped when it dawned on her. "Nebula."

Diana nodded. "Exactly. Nebula went back in time to get the Power Stone with Rhodey. But what if... what if a different Nebula came back?"

"You mean you think she betrayed us?" Raevanna asked, frowning in confusion.

"No." Diana shook her head. "Nebula is part machine. So I think 2014 Nebula somehow managed to access present Nebula's memories. Then, 2014 Thanos captured present Nebula, and the Nebula who still served him took her place and went back with Rhodey. So 2014 Nebula must have opened up the quantum tunnel and let Thanos come through." 

Raevanna nodded slowly; as crazy as it sounded, it did make sense. "So what, you're saying that the Nebula we know is gone forever?" she asked.

"No," Diana said. "If my assumptions are correct, she's being held prisoner in Thanos' ship."

"So how are we gonna get her back?" Raevanna wondered.

"Sadly, I don't think we can at this point," Diana said.

Raevanna inhaled sharply in shock; she couldn't be serious. "What do you–"

"Thanos is back, whether we like it or not," Diana told her, cutting her off. "He is back, and he is after the stones. So our top priority must be stopping him from getting them. Okay?"

As much as Raevanna hated to admit it, Diana was right. Stopping Thanos had to be their number one priority. So Raevanna sighed to herself and nodded in agreement before saying, "Okay." 

After a moment, Diana stopped raised her hand in the air. Raevanna watched, confused, until Diana turned to one slab of concrete, grabbed it in her hands, hefted it up, and threw it aside, revealing a passageway to the outside. Then, Diana motioned for Raevanna to follow, and the two climbed out of the ruins, stepping out into the open air.

They looked around, and after a moment they saw Steve, Tony in his Iron Man armor, and Thor, observing a figure that was sitting in the distance. Raevanna immediately knew that it was Thanos, and she narrowed her eyes before she and Diana joined the three men.

"What's he been doing?" Raevanna asked them.

"Absolutely nothing," Thor replied.

"Where are the stones?" Diana asked. 

"Somewhere under all this," Tony said, gesturing to the rubble with his armored hand. "All I know is he doesn't have them."

"So we keep it that way," Steve said.

"You know it's a trap, right?" Thor asked, never taking his eyes off Thanos.

"Yeah," Tony said. "And I don't much care."

Thor nodded. "Good. Just as long we are all in agreement." Then, thunder and lightning cracked around him as Thor stretched out both hands to summon both Stormbreaker and his hammer, Mjölnir. His casual clothes transformed into his armor and cape, with his beard getting some braid treatment. Then, he spoke. "Let's kill him properly this time."

And at those words, the five of them walked over to Thanos to confront him face to face.

"You could not live with your own failure," Thanos told them. "And where did that bring you? Back to me. I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive. But you've shown me that's impossible. And as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."

"Yep," Tony said. "We're all kinds of stubborn."

Thanos just nodded. "I'm thankful. Because now, I know what I must do." He stood up. "I will shred this universe down to its last atom." Then, he put on his helmet. "And then, with the stones you've collected for me, create a new one. Teeming with life, but knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given." Thor surrounded himself with lightning, and Thanos went on, "A grateful universe."

Diana narrowed her eyes. "Born out of blood."

Thanos looked down at her. "They'll never know it. Because you won't be alive to tell them."

And at that, the battle began. Thor and Tony went straight for Thanos, charging at him and relentlessly attacking him. Diana followed, wielding her sword and shield as she lunged at Thanos. As Tony flew overhead, Diana slid under Thanos' arm and sliced her weapon across his side, tearing the metal of his armor but not wounding him. Raevanna followed up with her own attack, throwing her own sword like a boomerang, but Thanos easily deflected it.

Raevanna turned and saw Thor bang his two weapons together combined with his lightning, the energy shooting straight into Tony. Tony's suit sucked up the energy, and he shot it out using his hands and his body, but Thanos rapidly twirled his blade to divert the energy. Then, Thor grabbed Stormbreaker and used it to bat Mjölnir at Thanos. However, Thanos grabbed Tony and used him as a shield, resulting in damage to his system.

Diana and Steve both lunged, wielding their shields as they attempted to attack Thanos, but they were easily shielded away by the Mad Titan. Enraged, Raevanna fired her magic at Thanos from above, but Thanos deflected it, and it hit her instead, knocking her from the sky. She went flying before landing hard on the ground, and she gasped as her back slammed into the stone. But she still managed to push herself upright, then watched as Thor's attack on Thanos was blocked by his sword. Then, Thor was beaten and choked by Thanos. Thor tried to summon Mjölnir, but it was flicked away as Thanos relentlessly beat up Thor before he threw him into a tree, punched him, threw him over rubble and punched him again.

Raevanna then watched as Diana returned and charged at Thanos, but he backhanded her attack, sending her flying. She crashed into a mound of rubble, and as Thor tried to grab Stormbreaker, Thanos grabbed it first, using it against Thor as he tried to defend himself.

Wincing to herself, Raevanna started to get up, desperate to help her friend, but stopped when she saw Mjölnir start to float off the ground while Thanos was digging it into Thor. Then, it suddenly flew into Thanos, zoomed past him, stopped, and flew back — right into Steve's hand.

Raevanna's jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. "Holy shit," she breathed. 

"I knew it!" Thor cried as he, Raevanna, Diana, and Thanos looked on in amazement.

Enraged, Thanos kicked Thor to the ground and proceed to battle Steve, who was dual wielding both his shield and Mjölnir. Gritting her teeth, Raevanna got to her feet and rushed forward at the same time Diana did. Then, seeing Diana's fallen shield on the ground, she quickly remembered a trick she'd heard Diana could do, and so Raevanna tucked and rolled to the ground, scooping up Diana's fallen shield. Then, Raevanna knelt on the ground, put the shield on her back, and shouted, "Diana! Steve! Shield!"

Diana nodded at her, spinning around and running towards Raevanna. She kept going until she reached her, then used one foot to push off the shield and was thrust into the air. Spinning around in the air, Diana crossed her arms in front of her as Steve charged up Mjölnir with lightning and then hurled it at her. The lighting wreathed around Diana's body before she uncrossed her arms, firing the lighting at Thanos and digging him back several hundred feet.

Thanos barely had time to respond before Steve proceeded to charge at him, swinging Mjölnir and hitting him in the face, successfully knocking him down. Steve threw his shield, which Thanos deflected, but then Steve threw Mjölnir to his shield, the impact creating a shockwave and knocking Thanos off his feet. Steve went on the offensive on Thanos, throwing his shield first at Thanos and quickly hitting it back at him again with Mjölnir. Then, he lined his arm back up and underarmed a channel of lightning on Thanos.

However, Thanos quickly gained the upper hand. Diana, Raevanna, and Steve all lunged for him, but Thanos removed his helmet, then stabbed Steve in the leg and knocked Mjölnir out of his hand. Then, he grabbed Raevanna's wing and threw her aside before punching Diana in the face, knocking her flat on her back. Dazed and disoriented, Raevanna groggily lifted her head and watched as Thanos proceeded to destroy Steve's shield with his double-bladed sword and threw him across the battlefield. 

"S-Steve...," Raevanna muttered, trying to get up but failing. So she could only watch as Steve staggeredly tried to get up despite his defeat, glaring defiantly at Thanos.

"In all my years of conquest, violence, slaughter," Thanos said, "it was never personal. But I'll tell you now — what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet... I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much."

That was when Thanos' entire army was summoned to the ground, made up of the Children of Thanos, the Chitauri, the Sakaarans, Outriders and Chitauri Gorillas. Upon seeing the army descending on Earth, Steve -as well as Diana - slowly got back to their feet. Then, with a fierce determination, Steve tightened his broken shield to his arm and stood against Thanos' giant army with only Diana by his side.

But then, a crackling noise suddenly came in on both Raevanna and Steve's communicators.

"Hey, Cap, you read me?" a familiar voice said.

Raevanna's heart began to pound in happiness, and Steve stopped and looked around. Was it really who she thought it was?

"Cap, it's Sam," the voice went on, and Raevanna's face lit up as her beliefs were confirmed. "Can you hear me?" Moments later, a yellow portal began to form behind them, and Sam went on, "On your left."

Both Raevanna and Steve looked behind them to see the portal on their left side. Then, three figures stepped through. It was Okoye, Shuri, and T'Challa — fully restored and ready to fight.

Steve, Raevanna, and the revived Wakandans shared a look before Sam zoomed in from above in his Falcon armor. As he flew, dozens more portals began opening up all around the battlefield. Through one of them, a man in a billowing red cape - Steven Strange - descended in, joined by a muscular pale-skinned man with red markings and long knives, a woman in green that bore a similar resemblance to an insect, the man Raevanna recognized as Peter Quill, and another, much younger hero in spider-like armor - the kid from Germany, Spider-Man. Then, more shock flooded through Raevanna as Erissa, Alaneo, and Cirrus stepped through another portal, wearing armor and carrying weapons. 

Everyone watched in confusion and awe as more and more heroes arrived from all corners of the universe, all backed up with forces of their own, including T'Challa and his Wakandan army, Valkyrie and the Asgardians, Doctor Strange and the Masters of the Mystic Arts, other faeries of all sizes and kinds, and several Ravager ships. Amongst the throngs of heroes were also Bucky, Blake, Groot, and Wanda, along with a woman in a winged suit similar to Scott's, and Pepper in her Rescue suit. Nearly every hero had magically been transported to the battlefield to face Thanos' hordes.

Then, Scott, now ginormous in size, emerged from the rubble of the Avengers facility with Bruce, Rhodey, and Rocket. The Avengers, Guardians, Wakandans, Asgardians, faeries and Ravagers then took up battle positions, standing across from Thanos' forces. Thor and Tony joined them as well, and Raevanna got to her feet, then flew through the air before she dropped down from the sky and landed beside Diana.

Steve glanced at the heroes behind him with a smile. Then, he turned to face Thanos. "AVENGERS!" he shouted, then summoned Mjölnir and glared at the enemy.

"Assemble." 

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A/N: 

tony's not the only one who's not gonna make it to the end of the book. you've been warned.