Thanos' son was bleeding and dying upon the ground. His daughter, Gamora, stood over Maw and beheaded him. Thanos chastised himself internally for having spoken harshly to Maw in his last moments. That was unfortunate. There was a crash as the victims of Maw's telekinesis fell to the ground all around, heavy, weight thuds. Thanos looked at Gamora and then back to the one upon the ground. The impostor. The impostor grinned and laughed, "Your pride blinds you, son of Titan," the false-Gamora said.

Yes. That diction was recognizable. Loki, perhaps? Or had the Asgardians sent another illusionist? The conclusion was the same either way. The illusionist should be killed. Thanos closed the distance with the illusion Gamora and hefted her off the ground, closing his free hand around her neck. The illusionist was surprisingly difficult to choke.

"Some aid would be of use," the illusionist said. Gamora, the true Gamora, was charging toward Thanos, her blade ready. She was not wasting time with talk. Good.

Thanos hurled the illusionist at her. Gamora shifted her stance and let the illusionist slam into a workbench instead of trying to slow him. It probably was Loki then – Thanos had worked with him and would not have helped him either. Then Thanos charged them both with his double-bladed sword. Gamora moved like a river current, dodging the blow and bringing a slash down across his face. The monomolecular blade he had given her still cut true, leaving a gash.

But Thanos did not permit himself distraction and continued to barrel toward the illusionist, who rolled behind the workbench and suddenly emerged in four different places. Illusionists were so frustrating. The dwarves had scurried off and the hordes of Chitauri were thinning and now he had to pick one of these four illusions to behead. Thanos leapt over the workbench, and landed behind it to see the illusionist.

"To wear my daughter's face while you murdered my son," Thanos said, standing carefully to launch into another attack. "A coward in truth."

Thanos raised his sword overhead to bring it down. The blow should've killed the illusionist, but he was truly quick and the blade fell and sliced only tips of the illusionist's right fingers. The illusion splintered and rolled off the illusionist, leaving Loki Laufison exposed to Thanos' anger. But Gamora had come around the corner now and with her the… Fireflies of Earth. Dozens of them, bearing down on him now.

The Chitauri were dying too quickly now to be replaced it seemed. Or perhaps Thanos' enemies were holding up a rearguard action as well. That seemed more likely. The blade he carried was strong enough to split the bodies of the Fireflies from them, he had tested it against the first two. He began to spin it in one hand. "Daughter, abandon this foolishness. You know that no such primitives could defeat me."

Gamora smirked and nodded forward to the Fireflies. They launched forward and Thanos carved one, two, three, five, eight in half or headless – But there were so many. They grabbed him and dragged him down. Bent his arm against him, so that he was wrestling for each arm against three or four of them. He tried to spin his blade, struggling it forward and another of them gripped it.

Gamora approached as they pried his fingers loose. No. This could not be. He had to overcome them. He could not be defeated like this. He kicked wildly, freeing one leg by sending the four children of Earth on it elsewhere. But then there were more. How were there so many? How many had there been? Hundreds had cleared the space around him of Chitauri. No. Without reinforcements, he would not be able to escape.

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"No ingress spells are troublesome, aren't they?" Gamora said, his voice pleased at his helplessness.

"Daughter, do you think you can keep me captive?" Thanos asked.

Gamora leveled her blade against his neck as calmly as he had taught her, "Where is Nebula?"

This was a ridiculous request. Even if his daughter believed she had something to offer him, there was no way the children of Earth would allow him to live. "Your sister is receiving her just punishment."

"For paying you back for what you did to her? What you did to us? Death is too good for you."

"Here you stand, the leader of an army, the conqueror of the conqueror, the mightiest warrior and sharpest sword in the galaxy. Vanquisher of Ronan the Destroyer." Thanos allowed himself to smile, to show his pride at his daughter. Perhaps it would kindle some spark of mercy, but best of all, it was the truth. "What have I done to you? I have made you strong. And you repay me with hatred."

Gamora spit in his face. "That's what I think of the strength you gave me." The wet of her spit dripped down his face. Not as dignified as he would've like.

"Such anger," Thanos said, his voice chiding.

"Where is Nebula?" Gamora said, flanked now by five soldiers. Good. She was remembering her training. Focusing on the interrogation.

"I see no reason to tell you," Thanos said.

"I will make you suffer before you die," Gamora said, "I will teach you pain worse than you felt when your world died. I will teach you what it is like to be weak and helpless."

One of the other Fireflies snorted, "That's not going to work for us."

"Shut up Ward," Gamora said. "This is my mission. I make the calls."

The one called Ward shook his head sadly, "This is taking too long. We have no way of knowing if he can break the ingress spell. I am sorry Gamora."

Suddenly, four of the Fireflies grabbed her arms.

Gamora struggled, but she was out numbered and not as strong as these Fireflies were. She should have seen their betrayal coming. "Let go of me, Trent said I was in charge."

"Here's the thing about Trent," Ward said, his hands lighting up with fire, "He lies. Fireflies, fry him."

The hands of the Fireflies grew so hot that even Thanos' augmented skin was beginning to curdle. "Ward, please, he's the only one who knows where my sister is," Gamora begged. The burning hands began to hurt, he would not scream, he would not scream. Ward approached, his hands on fire and took hold of Thanos' head. The flames were burning his ears but he would grant these barbarians no satisfaction. The last thing he heard before the sound went out around his ears was his daughter crying, "Noooo!"

It would have been more satisfying if it had been for him and not for Nebula. Nebula would appreciate, however, that at long last she was not second best.

Ward's hands slipped up to his face and eyes and Thanos tried to close a bite upon his hands, to struggle free, but it was no use. He could barely feel beneath his forearm, the nerves all scorched off. The world went dark as Ward sunk his hands into Thanos' eyes.

He would not scream. He would not give them the satisfaction they so clearly longed for. Burning hands pressed inward and inward and inward and then Thanos felt despair that the whole universe would be damned without him.