Chapter 16

Bruce's POV

 A few hours later...

  We land in Wakanda and greet T'Challa and his people. All of them are so warm and friendly, unlike the people we often deal with back home, you know, the rude and self absorbed ones. It's ironic how amazing of a city New York City is, but the people living there are so unfriendly for the most part. Some of them don't even thank us for saving their lives time and time again, oh well. 

   So the first thing we all do after we get settled in Wakanda is make sure Vision is secure and any trace of him is off the grid. I feel bad for the guy, he's being held prisoner basically just like I was a few years ago, except that he's far more innocent than I am. He's also a lot braver than I am. Vision's never back away from a fight before, meanwhile I've run away on more than one occasion.

    Nat and I are spending some alone time together eating supper and talking about anything that's on our minds. We're staying away from liquor right now because we need to be ready to go into battle at any given moment. I've learned a lot more about Thanos from some research I did after Nat and I had our lovely make out session, which I always cherish each and every one, just like I cherish her. Anyways, here's what I was able to pull up: 

Thanos was born on Saturn's moon Titan, and is the child of Eternals Mentor and Sui-San. Thanos carries the Deviants gene, and as such shares the physical appearance of the Eternals' cousin race. At birth, his mother was shocked by his appearance and attempted to kill him. During his school years, Thanos was a pacifist and would only play with his brother Eros (Starfox) and pets. By adolescence, Thanos had become fascinated with nihilism and death, worshipping and eventually falling in love with the physical embodiment of death, Mistress Death. As an adult, Thanos augmented his physical strength and powers through his superior scientific knowledge. He also attempted to create a new life for himself by siring many children as well as becoming a pirate. He finds no fulfillment in either, until he is visited again by Mistress Death, for whom he murders his offspring and his pirate captain.

   This certainly explains what Thanos holds the title of "The Mad Titan." His backstory is far worse than Loki's. Speaking of Loki, I'm very curious to see which side he'll choose in the battle. Will he finally fight beside his brother like he did during Ragnarok but in an even more important battle or will he choose to save himself and join the Black Order? Who knows, I just feel bad for Thor is all. He has his ways too but he has a good heart and just can't seem to give up on his brother.

   Here's some background on the Infinity Gauntlet I found as well:

The Infinity Gauntlet was designed to hold six of the 'soul gems', better known as the Infinity Gems. When used in combination their already impressive powers make the wearer able to do anything he/she wants. It was gathered by the mad Titan Thanos as he took the gems from the Elders of the Universe that had originally carried them. Adam Warlock later held the gauntlet, but the Living Tribunal declared that the gems were too dangerous to use together, and the Gauntlet was disassembled and the gems scattered among others. When faced with the threat of the Magus, Warlock was forced to apparently reassemble the gauntlet, but, aware that the Magus sought the gauntlet for himself, they tricked the Magus by replacing the Reality Gem on this gauntlet with a powerless replica, creating a gap in the Magus's power that his enemies would exploit. Although the Tribunal restored his old rule that the Gems couldn't be used in unison once the crisis was over, Thanos' later machinations eventually led to Living Tribunal rescinding this restriction.

Some time later, Mr. Fantastic revealed to his fellow teammates of the secret group called the Illuminati that he had been collecting the Infinity Gems, and hoped to collect them all with the help of them. Despite a general apprehension, the group managed to acquire all six gems. Upon doing so, Mr. Fantastic attempted to will the Gems out of existence, but he was unable to do so. Faced with this failure, and a reprimand from Uatu, the Watcher, he made the controversial decision to give each Illuminati member one gem to hide so that they would never be combined and used again.

After the Siege of Asgard, The Hood tried to get all the Gems, starting by taking the Reality Gem from the Himalayas (which was kept there by Illuminati Black Bolt), the Power Gem from the Baxter Building (kept by Mr. Fantastic) and battled the Red Hulk with it. Red Hulk warned the Avengers about it, and Iron Man talked with the Illuminati about this. Hood managed to get the Space and Time Gems, while he lost the Power Gem at the hand of Red Hulk, Namor and Thor. After taking the Mind Gem from the ruins of the X-Mansion, Hood traveled to the Astral Plane, where he tried to get the Soul Gem, but was finally defeated by the Avengers. Iron Man gathered all the six gems and became the first human to possess and use the Infinity Gauntlet, as he transported the Hood back to Ryker's Island and faked that he made the Gauntlet disappear from existence, he really transported it to the Illuminati gathering place, where he divided the Gems between his teammates again.

When the Illuminati later faced the threat of the Incursions, alternate reality Earths colliding with their own with the result of the extinction of both realities, the Illuminati once again assembled the Infinity Guantlet. Galactus, The Watcher and Thanos sensed the assembly of the gauntlet, and Captain America used the Gauntlet to push away the other Earth and prevent the collision. The cost of this however, was the destruction of the Gauntlet and the shattering of all gems but the Time Gem.

 I've never even heard of some of these heroes. Like who on Earth are the X-Men? I asked around and no one seemed to know who they were. Who knows, maybe they'll end up joining our rag team of wonderful misfits too. "Nat, are you ready for this?" She grimaces. "I don't think any of us are ready for the biggest threat Earth has yet to face, but I know we'll do our best to avenge the Earth, our home and the home of billions of other people as well. Are you ready for this?" I laugh sadly. "My answer is the same as yours Nat. I just need you to promise that although you'll be fighting, you'll stay safe." Nat looks at me seriously. "I promise to do my best to stay safe. You know that's all I can promise at this point Bruce."

  I nod and the two of us finishing eating dinner before freshening up and calling it a night, the events of today having worn us out.

Hoped that you guys liked this chapter! :) -Mary