Thor is outside the force field, destroying the crafts. Grace can see them exploding as she follows Wanda, both heading for Vision, who's now in the middle of the forest, unable to follow directions, even for his own good. Sam is next to Grace, carrying Nat, as she can't fly.

The air is eerily quiet when they land, and Steve says into comms. "Everyone, on my position. We have incoming."

Okoye and T'Challa stand near Grace, looking around with everyone else, waiting anxiously for something to happen.

And then something does.

A cloud of grey, laced with blue, materializes in the middle of the forest, growing bigger and bigger until someone steps out.

He's bigger than the Hulk, purple and commanding, armored in gold and dark, dark purple. Grace inhales sharply, slowly readying her blasters.

"Cap. That's him," Bruce says.

Thanos.

Steve speaks into comms again. "Eyes up. Stay sharp."

Thanos steps forward slowly, while everyone else runs at him, Bruce in the lead. He moves to punch him, but Thanos holds up a hand — he's wearing a gauntlet — and Bruce is surrounded in blue light. He passes through Thanos, who lets him go halfway into a cliff before making him solid again.

He turns to Steve, lifting him in purple, tossing him to the ground. T'Challa lunges, and he catches him by his neck and punches him into the ground. Sam flies forward, shooting, but it doesn't nothing. Thanos fells him.

Grace, shaking in every limb, steps forward, launching a rocket at him. He catches it in purple before it can hit him, then throws it away. It explodes when it hits the ground.

Thanos looks at her. "Oh, what's this?" He changes direction slightly, walking toward her. "Could it possibly be-? No, no. My mistake. Stark doesn't wear purple." He crouches in front of her. "You must be his daughter."

Grace looks up at him, her voice shaking as she tries to speak with confidence. "How do you know my dad?"

"I just left him," he replies. "With a wound in his side."

And just like that, a storm of rage replaces Grace's fear and she blasts Thanos with everything she has — every rocket, every blaster, every missile. And he deflects it. With the gauntlet, he blocks the blasts, sends them away, and then wraps Grace in purple light, holding her down, preventing her from moving. Sai tries to fly her away but can't.

Nat starts to run forward, Rhodey, Steve, Sam, Vision, Wanda, Okoye, and even T'Challa following suit. Thanos squeezes his fist, and the purple light squeezes Grace at the same time. She cries out as Thanos says, "One more step, and she dies!" Everyone stops immediately, not willing to risk it. He observes them and chuckles, releasing some of the pressure on Grace. "Huh. Look at that." He looks at Grace. "You're very important to a lot of people."

Grace ignores this. "What did you do to my dad?!"

"Child, child," Thanos chides. "There's no need for that. He isn't dead. Only wounded and stranded. But he's proved himself quite resourceful before, hasn't he?"

"Where is he?!" Grace shouts.

"And what will you do?" Thanos asks. "Go and save him? How?"

"Where is he?!" she insists.

Thanos shakes his head, still refusing to answer her. "What you have... I don't know if I would call it bravery, but it certainly has potential."

"Potential to what?" Grace spits. "Destroy you?"

He laughs. "Something so small cannot destroy me."

"Then what can?" she replies stubbornly, her voice laced with her intention to use whatever the answer is. But Thanos provides none.

"You sound just like him. Let's see if you look like him too." He reaches down as Sai begins to protest, then rips the helmet off Grace's head, cutting Sai's voice off as the connection is destroyed. "Huh," he says, leaning down, studying her. "I see the resemblance."

Grace spits in his face. "Get away from me."

He frowns. "So hostile."

"You hurt my father and left him for dead!" she explodes. "What did you expect?!"

Thanos almost looks... pained. "It's only for the greater good."

"There's nothing good about this! You're a murderer!"

He sighs. "I see these people have been filling your head with lies."

"You lie," Grace argues. "I wouldn't be surprised if my dad was really dead." The words, pushed out by her anger, leave a stone sitting in her stomach, an anvil on her chest.

"He isn't."

"And I'm just supposed to take you at your word?"

"Yes," Thanos replies sincerely. "You can trust me, child."

Can she? Probably not. But she wants to believe him on this point in particular. And she has to know...

There's just one thing that she needs to know, even if it will only hurt her, even if he might be lying. By asking, she'll be stalling anyway, though for what she doesn't know, but maybe she'll give someone time to think of something.

She breathes heavily while Thanos looks at her expectantly. Finally, she says, "Then tell me this: Is Peter okay?"

"Who?" Thanos asks, causing her hope to crumble.

"Peter," she says desperately.

Thanos actually looks surprised. "You know Peter Quill?

"No," Grace says, disregarding the unknown name. "Peter Parker. Was he there? Was he with my father?"

Thanos thinks for a moment, listing the heroes who tried so hard to stop him. "I fought your father. Three of the so-called guardians my daughter ran around with. My own daughter. The 'Master of the Mystic Arts...'" He pauses for so long that Grace feels like her heart will stop, though she knows it's just to toy with her. He seems to remember something. "And an annoying little insect-" He stops. "No, no. He corrected me."

Grace almost smiles, her hope coming back, knowing immediately that it's him. She breathes out. "He's an arachnid."

Thanos smiles, though there's no mirth in it. "That's exactly what he said."

He suddenly flings her away with the wave of his hand, sending her into a tree, her back hitting it, knocking the breath out of her. She lands on the ground face-down, then hears footsteps and Nat is there, trying to help her.

Grace weakly pushes her away, tries to speak,  but can't, though Nat gets the message anyway. When she, after a moment of hesitation, nods and runs away, Grace sees that those who were on foot have now arrived, and she realizes what she was stalling for.

The fight begins again.

Steve charges, Nat behind him, both of them getting knocked away. Bucky fires at Thanos, and it does nothing. T'Challa runs for him, Okoye shoots. Thanos flings all of them away too. Off to the side, Vision is talking to Wanda. Grace can tell what it's about.

Wanda steps back, her hand out, Vision's own hand outstretched, touching hers. Vision's voice, no longer a whisper, reaches Grace.

"It's alright. You could never hurt me."

Tears fall down Grace's cheeks, and she wants to cry out but can't. Wanda stands there, doing nothing. Grace tries to crawl forward, to stop it, to find another way. She manages to get closer, but neither Wanda nor Vision see her. But she hears Vision's quiet words.

"I just feel you."

Red seeps out of Wanda's hand, slowly, then it bursts, hitting the stone. Vision's in pain, but he doesn't cry out. He won't. Grace hears gunfire, but she doesn't turn. She finally gets enough breath to cry out, her voice strangled.

The ground erupts, spikes shooting out, surrounding somebody she can't see. Everyone is falling. Failing. Wanda sees it, turns, then raising her other hand, power leaving it, hitting the stone too. Grace is sobbing, her breath ragged.

She sees Steve fighting Thanos, his hits doing nothing, and then he holds back Thanos' gauntleted hand, straining. It's almost satisfying to see the look of shock on Thanos' face, just before he punches Steve with his other hand. Steve crumples. Grace struggles to sit up, tears blurring her vision, her back aching.

She can't see anyone but Steve, Wanda, and Vision. The stone isn't yet destroyed. And with no one else to stop him, Thanos approaches Wanda. She turns instantly, one hand using her power to push back Thanos, the one still on the stone. Thanos struggles to fight back, and Grace weakly lifts her hand and fires, hitting him in the back. He ignores it. He pushes forward.

Yellow light begins to leave Vision, and the ground shakes as he cracks, yellow traveling down and down. He breaks into pieces, and the explosion pushes Wanda and Thanos back, rocks through the trees in the surrounding area. Grace tries to shield herself, then looks up when the dust settles.

Wanda is on the ground, but Thanos is standing. He walks to her, saying, "I understand, my child. Better than anyone."

"You could never," Wanda growls, and Grace keeps her eyes on her, refusing to look at where Vision was destroyed. Killed — though not by Wanda.

Thanos touches her head, his hand on her hair. Grace wants to scream at him, tell him to get away. Calmly, he says, "Today, I lost more than you can know." He lifts his head. "But now is no time to mourn." He walks past Wanda, toward where Vision was. "Now... is no time at all." He closes his fist, the gauntlet being surrounded by green light. A green circle lights up his palm, and and then he turns his hand. Grace falls back to the ground as the explosion replays, but in reverse. It keeps rewinding until it finally collapses back into Vision, waiting for Wanda to kill him.

"No!" Wanda shrieks, beginning to stand. Thanos back-hands her, flinging her to the ground, near Grace, who struggles to her knees, blasts Thanos with what she has left. She shouts, but it sends her coughing. Thanos turns, then closes his fist, picking her up and then slamming her back into the ground. Her breath is gone again, but she's still awake. She's still alive.

Vision tries to attack Thanos, but he too is too weak. Thanos grabs him by the neck in one hand, then reaches up with the other and rips the stone out of Vision's head, leaving a hole, turning the rest of his body colorless. Killing him again.

Thanos tosses him to the ground, then brings to the Stone to the gauntlet, lets it land in the remaining space as if pulled by a magnet. Pure power lights up the gauntlet, runs through Thanos. He roars, absorbing it. Grace's heart sinks to her stomach.

But it isn't over.

Thor comes crashing in, hitting Thanos with lightning. Thanos tries to blast him midair, but Thor throws his axe at him, and it pushes the blast back until it finally hits Thanos' chest, lodging deep under his armor. He falls to one knee.

Thor lands, places his hand on the back of Thanos' head. "I told you," he says, grabbing the axe, "you'd die for that!" He shoves the axe forward, and Thanos cries out in pain. His head hangs.

His voice is quiet, breathy, but Grace can still hear him. "You should have... You..." And then he speaks clearly, his voice now a growl, a triumphant look on his face. "You should have gone for the head."

He lifts his hand, snaps his fingers with a metal clang, and the world goes white.

"No!" Thor screams, and Grace tries, but her voice comes out hoarse. When the whiteness fades, nothing changes, save the gauntlet being destroyed. Burning. Thanos sits there, his expression absent, looking at nothing, for a fleeting second. But Grace sees it. She struggles to stand.

"What did you do?" Thor roars, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Thanos doesn't respond; he disappears in the cloud he came in with, leaving the axe behind.

Steve rises from the ground, and Grace limps over to him. Steve looks at Thor. "Where'd he go?" He looks around, and Thor makes no answer.

"Thor..." Grace says, her voice weak. "Where did he go?"

Bucky gets up, walking over to them. He sounds worried. "Steve?"

Grace looks and watches as Bucky turns into ash, his arm going first and then his legs, and the rest of him is nothing before he hits the ground. All that's left is his gun. It falls with a thud.

Grace stumbles back, gasping in shock. She begins to panic. "Wh-What- What just...?" She watches Steve walk over, kneeling where Bucky was just standing. Grace turns, looking through the trees, sees others disappearing in the same way. Wakandan warriors. She hears Okoye shouting through the trees.

She turns, sees Wanda kneeling over Vision, mourning one moment, beginning to crumble the next. She looks at Grace, and she looks at peace. "Iertare..." she breathes before fading into nothing.

"Sam?!" Rhodey shouts. "Sam?! Where you at?!"

And then it hits Grace, her heart stopping. She turns, searching. "Nat?" She moves through the trees. "Nat! Nat!"

"Grace!" Nat shouts back, providing a small relief that gives way to tears and redirects her pure, genuine fear. Nat is on the ground, next to the spikes of earth, looking as if she's just crawled out from under them. Grace crouches next to her.

"What's going on?" Nat asks, seeing the tears in Grace's eyes. "What happened?"

"Thanos got the Stone and he-he killed Vision and he snapped his fingers and people keep turning to dust and I don't want to, Nat, I don't want to," Grace sobs in one breath.

Nat immediately hugs her, holds her close, knowing in her heart that they've lost.

Grace clings to her, hugging her so tight it hurts. "Please don't go, Nat," she pleads through tears. "Please don't go. Don't go, don't go, don't go."

"I'm right here," Nat assures her, stroking her hair. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

She can feel Grace crumbling in her arms.