The negotiations with the king of the dwarves was going… slowly. Maw's father and his army had overrun Nidavellir, but they had taken the three hundred dwarves captive. These unworthy wretches were proving difficult to deal with. Thanos and Maw's siblings, the loyal ones, were here. Ready to kill and die and prove victorious for their father.

Eitri, their king, was resistant, "To forge this gauntlet for you… A true one, no pale imitation… it could bring devastation to the whole universe."

He struck a noble figure, floating in the air, bound by Maw's will and magic, surrounded by his people in chains. Eitri was clearly a leader of some strength. It was tragic that so many lacked the vision which empowered Thanos, the last Titan, to save the universe. His will, his insight alone were pure.

"Your people will suffer for your insolence, Eitri, king of dwarves," Maw said, glancing to where his father sat, back hunched forward, watching. He must prove himself to his father. After Maw's sisters had betrayed him, Thanos had never quite recovered from his melancholy. It was an aching wound. He had rescued them and made them and Nebula had tried to murder him. Weakness. Fear. A lack of vision.

Maw reached out with his hand to one of the dwarves and lifted the dwarf into the air, slamming him into the ground. He slammed him down again, again, again, and again. The dwarf was bleeding and screaming, his body a mangle. Even in the dark lighting of Nidavellir, it was an ugly sight.

"No!" Eitri cried, his voice hoarse. A cliché, an overwrought response. A king should have more dignity. "Stop… I… I will…"

Something appeared in the corner of Maw's eyes and then it seemed to multiply across his vision. Maw's head flicked over, seeing tiny pinpricks of light and, a moment after that, hearing the screams of the Chitauri as their heads and torsos were pulverized. Soon there were more pinpricks, falling from the ceiling, dive bombing towards Maw. They left his father alone, for the moment, a curious decision.

Maw batted the pinpricks in the light back up onto the ceiling of Niddavellir, slamming them into machinery and pipes and melting pots. He reached out with another hand, grasping the loose pinpricks and hurling to the ground. There had to be one or two hundred such lights. He focused with his mind to crunch them to dust and found it… harder than he expected. He tried again and this time something strange happened.

The pinpricks burst into bipedal tetrapods of similar height to Maw's own, helmets on and masked, with crumbled metal wings.

"Strange," Thanos said, rising from his to observe them. "What are these things which you have made Eitri?"

"These men are not of my making," Eitri said, his voice bewildered. "I do not know where they come from."

Thanos approached one where Maw held him and tore off his helmet. It looked like an Asgardian, dark haired and sharp jawed with a dark, black stubble. He was perhaps late middle age. What would that be for an Asgardian? Three thousand years or four? Maw struggled to remember. There were so many species in the universe. It was so hard to remember. As the Asgardian stared up, his skin began to burn red hot, the origin of the pinpricks of light from earlier.

Thanos laid a hand around his face anyway, "Foolish," he said, as the being continued to heat up and he laid his hand around the Asgardian's mouth. For a moment, there were cries of dismay from the Asgardian's compatriots and then Thanos wrenched his wrist. The head of the Asgardian bent as it was not meant to and a snap could be heard. Thanos tossed him onto the ground and moved on to the next one that Maw was holding.

"Now," Thanos said, tearing off the next one's helmet, "Tell me who you are, or you will meet the fate of your compatriot."

"I'm Andrew Smith, GDT Firefly, we're going to pay you fucks back for Deecee."

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"Do you know what they're referring to, son?" Thanos asked.

"It is lost on me, father." Maw replied

"I'm going to have to ask-" Thanos began

Suddenly a wave of lightning split through the crowd of chitauri guards, shredding them in a screaming waste. Chitauri were screaming, flailing, dying upon the ground. Many of their shock troops had perished in the first wave. Now it seemed that Asgard had come.

"I thought Asgard had perished," Maw said, his voice confused.

"It seems our perceptions were not entirely accurate," Thanos said, his voice steady. The loss of troops did not disturb him. There were so many Chitauri. There were always more. In the distance, Maw could finally make him out in the dark – Thor Odinson. They had come for revenge.

"We came from Earth, you big rotten prune," Andrew Smith said.

Thanos cracked Andrew's neck as well like a dismissal and gestured to the Black Order, "Kill the Odinson."

Cull Obsidian headed out to face down Thor, hammer in hand, and the rest of the Black Order followed after him. They treaded over the bodies of the slain, their fury evident in their will, rushing down the son of Odin.

"We must study these devices they use," Thanos said, looking at the body of Andrew, lying upon the ground. "It might give us insight into the nuclear weapons that destroyed our capital ship over their homeworld."

"Of course, Father," Maw said in agreement, keeping his mind focused enough on holding the many, many full grown men in place. It was not too much, his powers were fit for it, but they were a dangerous bunch and shockingly hard to kill.

Then, Maw saw something stirring upon the ground – Blazing with heat, the first dead man was struggling to stand.

"I admire your will," Thanos said, bending down to him, double-bladed sword in hand. "The desire for victory. It is impressive. Know that I owe you no malice, child of Earth" and then thrust the blade into his head. At last, the man seemed to be rendered inert.

"They are very durable, Father," Maw said, as his father finished off the other one.

"So we are learning."

Then, almost without warning, from behind one of the overside work benches of Nidavellir, Gamora appeared, charging at them with the microfine blade that had been their father's gift to her. Such a disgrace. That she had ever held their father's favor was the single black mark in his father's record, the one mistake. She had always been, in her heart, a traitor.

Maw lifted her into the air, though he was shocked to discover how strong she had become. He started to crumple her organs inward and then she let out a laugh. "You're making a grievous mistake," Gamora said, looking between the transfixed gaze of Thanos and Ebony Maw.

"What's that, little one?" Thanos asked, his voice gentle.

"I…" Maw squeezed her again, how he hated her. He did not need to be lectured.

"Let her speak, Maw," Thanos commanded and Maw obeyed, relaxing his grip on her.

"I am…"

"I said to let her speak!" Thanos shouted.

"I am not restraining her, Father," Maw said. Always taking her side, even to the last.

"I am not Gamora." Gamora said.

A sharp pain split through Maw's spine for a moment and then was gone. A blade was protruding through Maw's chest. He couldn't feel the cut. He looked down at it to see his black blood oozing out of him. It was surreal. He tried to stagger and the blade yanked out of him, sending him spilling onto the ground.

"I am," Gamora, another Gamora, said as she stepped onto Maw's chest. He tried to lift her, but he could feel his constructs and magic failing him. "Goodbye, brother." She said, raising her sword over her head and slicing downward in the final coup d'grace.