(MCU) Arcs Collide: Chapter 42 - One and The Many

Chapter 42 - One and The Many

Summary: Tony realizes what it means to wield Mjolnir, while the rest of the Avengers take on Thanos's army. What is Strange planning?

Thanos looked at him and eyed the hammer now in his hand with an annoyed look on his face.

Rogers looked like somebody just killed his Bucky in front of him, and he looked like he was having a hard time choosing who he should fight—Thanos or Tony himself.

Tony heard Hulk grunting before saying something like, "Tin man has god hammer."

That was when the implications of holding said hammer hit him. The first thought coming to Tony was that the magic of it was gone because of the vibranium fix, but then he remembered that Rogers tried to lift the hammer several times only to fail.

So... Tony was worthy. But how the hell?! In what world, even an alien one, could someone like him be considered worthy of power like that?

Then a booming laugh filled the air before Thor's voice announced proudly, "I KNEW IT!"

Knew it? Tony shook his head, he didn't have time for it right now so instead he began speaking straight to Friday, "Fri, go through all the footage of Thor, analyze his fighting style and find a way to combine it with mine."

The response was instant, "On it, Boss."

In front of Tony many screens appeared with footage of Thor. From the first time he came to earth and fought that so-called destroyer, through their own fight before the invasion, even footage from his fight in London. All of them showed his skills with the hammer.

Friday was quick to analyze them, meanwhile Tony raised the hammer to the sky, he could feel something in the sky, like a presence he could call upon.

Tony tried it by pulling on this presence toward the ground and before he could stop it a lightning bolt came down into the air between Thanos and Tony forcing both of them to take a step backwards.

In that moment Friday's voice spoke again, "All ready Boss, let's kick his grape ass."

Tony smirked under his helmet and spoke softly, "We sure will baby girl."

Tony followed the instructions on the screen and landed on top of Thanos while bringing down the hammer, causing Thanos to just barely dodge the damage it would have caused.

Without even a moment of hesitation Tony swung the hammer again toward the titan, making his enemy close his fist and block the blow with the power stone.

What followed was an exchange of hits between Thanos and Tony. By the end of it most of Thanos's armor was broken away, leaving him with a tight tank top that revealed his large purple muscles under all the golden armor.

Tony in return knew he didn't have many nanites left. In fact, Friday was already showing him a warning screen saying he was low on them.

This battle wouldn't be much longer, with both of them low on defenses the next few hits would decide the outcome, and with Thor and Hulk already recovering from their beat down Tony liked their chances.

---

Even with the army including so many from all across the universe Carol knew they were still outnumbered by Thanos's forces, and those outriders were really just ferocious animals meant for nothing but killing, which means they were giving problems to the younger and less experienced warriors.

Carol just flew through the head of a leviathan causing it to crash on top of a Chitauri legion. Then she decided to take a moment in the sky to see how the fight was proceeding.

She saw SHIELD agents and Wakanda's warriors teaming up to fight group after another group of Chitauri.

Then there was the cooperation of aliens with ordinary human soldiers to fight hordes of outriders.

The sorcerers seemed to be more on the supporting side, providing shields and medical care to all the warriors in their sight.

The spaceships that arrived were fighting in the sky, trying to take on leviathans by ganging up on them. While the few that preferred to stay away from those monsters went after the Chitauri that were in the air using their flying bikes.

On the ground Dr. Strange with the help of Luke Cage were facing Maw, and their tactic was an interesting one. While Maw used his usual tactics of throwing stones, trees and whatever else using his telekinetic abilities, Luke used his body as a shield for Strange, and in return at every opening given to him Strange launched an attack on the floating alien.

The problem was that Maw seemed to have memorized some of Strange's tactics and was easily blocking his attacks.

Iron Fist and some guy the same size as the Hulk but made out of stone were fighting Cull now. Iron Fist's attacks were actually doing damage to the alien monster despite his previously assumed impenetrable skin. And the rock guy kept catching his weapon and diverting it from hitting Danny.

Carol was just confused why the rock guy kept yelling something about revolutions and calling out to some Mike. But even with his help this was another battle that seemed to be stuck in an impasse that would come down to whoever had the better endurance.

Proxima was fighting Gamora now, and the two seemed to trade blows while blocking each other as if they could easily predict the other's moves.

The last of the Black Order, Corvus was having fun taunting his opponent, Nebula, "Gamora I understand, but you choosing to betray our father is obvious. A failure such as you were always just a matter of time before you were disposed."

Nebula didn't respond, she just aimed her blade and struck again, barely missing Corvus, making the Black Order member snarl at her.

Two master assassins against another two of the same, once again the opponents found themselves on equal grounds waiting for something to tip the scales.

Carol kept flying around blasting each Chitauri coming her way and bulldozing her way through a couple of leviathans, but as fresh wave after another kept joining the fight she began to feel the same heavy feeling she could tell many of the others were feeling.

Did they even have a chance against an army of that size? After all this was a military force that someone built and trained over the last few decades to reach the level it is now. On the other hand, on their side there were fighters who never saw battle before, and most of the beings in it had never met each other.

All of this while even in the slim chance they actually managed to defeat his entire force there would still be Thanos to deal with. A titan that even before seemed to be invincible, but now with two infinity stones he seemed to be more than capable of using to his imagination, he might as well really be a god.

Could they defeat a god if it came to it? Thor and Loki would probably have the best chance at it, but Thor was there right now and considering she still heard fighting from the smaller island it meant it didn't go too well either, and Loki had already faced Thanos before and lost.

It seemed the very thought of Thanos waiting behind this army even if they somehow won here was undercutting the motivation of most fighters on their side and Thanos's soldiers didn't hesitate to capitalize on that hesitation. They needed a miracle now or...

Carol's line of thought was cut when a shockwave coming from the smaller island shook their ENTIRE island as well. The entire fight was put on hold as every being turned to watch the smaller island, both their side and Thanos's.

What they saw shocked everyone, Carol included. She never dared to underestimate her fiancé, but she was honest enough to admit she never thought that Tony had a chance one-on-one against Thanos with two stones.

Now though she realized she should always expect the impossible to happen when Tony Stark was at work.

Thor and the Hulk were laying dazed on the ground, and seemed to have been there for a while, which meant the current predicament of the remaining two fighters on the smaller island was one created by the efforts of those two alone.

Everyone watched Thanos crouching in front of Tony whose helmet was gone and was glaring at Thanos. Thanos's hand which held the two infinity stones was trapped under Tony's planted boot, but the real shocker was the drop of blood sliding down his cheek from the cut there.

Everyone was stunned as Thanos used a finger to wipe the blood away and looked at his bloodied finger, surprised himself. But then he smirked and spoke, in the silence created thanks to the surprise of the fighters everyone heard the titan say smugly, "All of that for a drop of blood."

Thanos's troops began to regain their smug attitudes as well while Carol could feel another drop in the morale on their side. Tony, however, was never one to go down quietly, especially not in a verbal fight. Tony smirked back at the titan and said in a loud and confident voice, "You are not a god."

Another wave of stunned silence filled the atmosphere around their island. This time, however, it was Thanos's forces that looked uncertain of that new information, while she could practically hear the renewed determination and hope of their side.

The silence was broken when the same guy that was helping Iron Fist screamed at the top of his voice and from the bottom of his heart, "Long live the revolution!" before he sent a punch toward Cull that caused the monster to stumble and grunt in pain.

What followed was their entire army moving forward, destroying any of Thanos's soldiers they met.

Corvus was the first of the Black Order to fall. Nebula decided to taunt him back by saying in her usual even voice, "Your so-called father is no god. He was brought to his knees by a simple human. The truth was always he was nothing but a monster."

Corvus after hearing it hesitated for a mere moment, but that was enough for Nebula to find an opening and stab him through his chest. Her tormentor fell to the ground, limp.

Not too far away Proxima struck at a smirking Gamora while saying, "It matters not, our father always wins in the end your champion will fall eventually to his might."

Gamora pointed behind Proxima at Corvus's body and asked with a smirk, "Even if he does what will the cost be?"

Proxima once seeing the body was furious and began screaming while turning back, "You will pay for this, you... AGHGH."

Gamora struck without mercy and cut the head off the enraged assassin.

Cull was still fighting the stone dude while Danny seemed to be frozen in place, eyes closed and fist in front of his face. Yellow glow kept gathering inside of his fist, as the fist itself began to glow brighter every moment.

After another moment Danny opened his eyes and screamed, "Korg! Watch out!"

The stone dude, Korg apparently, moved just a moment before the glowing yellow fist made contact with the alien monster causing Cull to explode.

Maw snarled as he kept wiggling his fingers at Strange's direction. Strange seemed to cast one spell after another without them actually doing anything, but thanks to his floating cloak he was spared from getting hit by Maw's projectiles.

Finally, Stephen smirked and taunted, "Still thinking Iron Man is no threat to your master?"

Maw snarled and said in his usual annoying voice, "Do not believe it will change a thing; Thanos will still prevail as he always did."

Strange snorted and made a complicated motion with his arms while shooting back, "Your beliefs matter little now, it's almost time."

Maw looked confused, at the same time a red portal opened under him. Maw looked down just in time to see a large jaw coming out of the portal to close up around him.

Before Maw could do anything, he was dragged back into the portal inside the mouth of a giant dog. The moment no fur was in sight the portal closed.

Carol flew over to Stephen and asked, "What the hell was that?!"

Stephen let out a heavy sigh and replied, "A portal to the nightmare realm. It takes a little time to cast, and its dangers are numerous, but today it has done its job." His stare then went over her shoulder toward the smaller island and he added, "Just in time it seems."

Carol turned around to see Thanos aiming his fist at Tony, about to kill him. The titan was saying something to Tony she couldn't hear over all the fighting around them. Her heart sank when she noticed Thor and Hulk were still out and the only backup was Rogers who seemed more interested in lifting the hammer than helping Tony.

When Thanos was finished talking and his stones began to glow, she was about to shout 'NO!' to just maybe distract the titan long enough for Tony to move away.

She was stunned all over again when the hammer lifted from the ground just to escape Rogers's grasp and fly over to Tony's hand, knocking back Thanos in the process.

They watched as Tony and Thanos fought with each other until Thanos's armor was completely broken off, and Tony himself began to take a more distant approach, Carol suspected he was almost out of nanites.

Her concentration broke when Strange spoke into his comm, "Loki, Vision, now!"