Then the guards who were defending the stronghold vanished from their places leaving behind the weapons. Thanos and Maw were able to see the people moving at high speeds behind with some difficulty. This way the shinobis who were on guard retreated. When Thanos turned his head he saw a man levitating wearing a cape and a golden helmet. This person had the Tesseract in his hand
At that point Thanos knew this was an ambush. Since he had already arrived on Mars even after he guessed that it might be an ambush, he couldn't go back now. He had brought an army with him so he had enough confidence to face a small group of people.
Even though this new guy who was levitating was a person he had never seen, he didn't care much. The person in the helmet levitated down opposite to him.
"You have been waiting for us?" Thanos asked.
"Oh yes. I have been waiting for you. It's been a long time for me. Almost 20 years. Waiting, making myself powerful enough to face you. But I got to say now that you are here I don't even fear you. But thank you for all the motivation you have given me all these years."
"You know all of this?" Thanos asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I know a lot. You have to be more specific." John asked.
"Then you know why I want that stone in your hand. I just want a new dawn in the universe. A universe which is grateful. A universe which will have a brighter future." Thanos said.
"Is that all your motivation Thanos? Answer me that at first." John said.
"Yes. This is all I ever wanted. I will kill half the population of the universe so that the other half could survive." Thanos said.
"Really now? Will you say the same if I bring your brother here?" John said. Thanos who had been calm all this time shuddered when John mentioned his brother. He looked at John for a few seconds and finally said.
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"If you know my brother, then you must know why I am doing this. This is all the more reason for me to kill half the population. I don't want us all to just be a sacrifice for some God. I want us to control our own destiny. Not to be a food to them." Thanos said.
"So this was the plan? Kill half the population so that the Celestials can't be born. Do you even know maths? Will that stop the emergence? You will be stopping only the inevitable. At some point he population will reach it's max and emergence will occur anyway." John said.
"It might be. But I can only try. I have seen Titan being destroyed by my own eyes. My own planet. I can never allow others to face the same situation again. When others will know the truth in the future, they will follow my path and continue doing what I started." Thanos said.
"You are just a coward. Instead of confronting the Celestials you are here killing the innocents." John said.
"How dare you speak with my liege in that tone?" Maw said as he got annoyed by this new person's tone with his liege. Maw waved his hands. The soil surrounding John started rotating and creeping up on John to choke him.
John who saw this waved his hands. This small attack from Maw stopped in its tracks and instead behind Maw there was a huge hand structure made out of soil. The huge hit Maw with a huge force that threw him a few metres away.
"Your powers are quite weak. You must be popular with children." John said, using the same lines which Maw used when he faced Dr. Strange.
"Is this what you really want? You can join me and we can save this universe." Thanos said as he didn't even care that Maw was hit so badly. He didn't even look back at him. He wanted to convince this new person to join him. He could already see this golden guy was powerful and adding him will be very helpful in taking over time stone and mind stone.
"As I said before, you are just a coward. Instead of being a man and facing the Celestials you choose the other way. Do you think your cowardice can lead to any good?" John said.
"So you have decided to oppose me?" Thanos asked in a grave tone.
"No, my dear. I have decided to end you." John replied.
"So be it." Thanos said. And the next moment a dozens of small spaceships came flying down and landing. And from them, out poured the Outriders ( the aliens who attacked during Infinity war) and Chitauris. And then came the Leviathans.
They all landed over the stronghold behind destroying the newly made building. Maw too now got up, removed the dust from his clothes, came and stood by the side of Thanos.
"You think you are the only one with an army?" John said.
"Avengers. Assemble."