Axel stood on the warm grass, looking out over the chaotic battlefield where Wakandan warriors fought side by side with synthetic beasts.
"This scene takes me back."
"Back to when?" Tony asked, scanning the perimeter.
Thunder erupted overhead as Thor cleared a path through the vanguard ranks.
"Were you fighting aliens?"
"No," Axel replied.
"It is the feeling of being surrounded by Wakandans.
Have you forgotten what happened on your side?
That was a day that made farmers everywhere sigh with regret."
"Now is not the time for dark humor," Tony muttered, his eyes tracking Thor.
The Asgardian looked entirely different from their last encounter, short-haired and wielding an axe instead of a hammer.
Tony redirected his focus toward a nearby clearing where several members of the Avengers were engaged in a losing struggle against a purple giant.
"Is that Steve?
Why is he bearded, where is his shield, and why is he fighting with those small arm blades?"
Bruce activated his nanotech armor, stepping up beside them.
"We took a wrong turn.
Axel, what coordinate did you lock onto when you opened the doorway?"
"I locked onto Captain America in the middle of a fight," Axel said.
"That explains why we dropped right into the middle of his battle," Selina said with a dry laugh.
She vaulted forward, her high heel driving through the head of an approaching creature and pinning it to the dirt.
More beasts lunged at her.
Tony signaled his suit's onboard system.
"Jarvis, deploy the automated units to cover Selina.
Bruce, have you designated your tactical AI yet?"
"I have," Bruce said, stepping into the horde.
His strikes were precise and lethal, snapping the necks of two vanguard beasts before driving a repulsor-assisted knee into a third.
"I will not bring another child into this line of work.
The future generation should not have to carry this burden.
The system is named Robin."
Bruce raised his right arm toward the advancing alien army.
"Robin, saturation strike."
"Understood, Mr. Wayne," a voice responded over the comms.
Dozens of sleek black-and-teal automated suits ascended into the sky.
Pods opened along their shoulders, unleashing streams of micro-missiles that rained down across the fields of Wakanda.
Explosions carpeted the ridge, wiping out entire waves of Outriders and drawing the attention of the defenders below.
"Is that... Tony?" Steve Rogers asked, blocking a blow before looking up at the sky.
"Steve, those are not Tony's armors," Bucky Barnes shouted, firing his rifle at Thanos.
"The geometry is completely different.
The chest emblems are Batman and LexCorp symbols.
Either Tony started reading comic books, or someone stole his designs."
Before Bucky could adjust his aim, a blast of purple kinetic force tore the rifle from his grip and sent him skidding across the dirt.
"Bucky, you have gotten chattier since you moved here," Steve called out.
"Not the time, Rogers!" Bucky yelled, trying to regain his footing.
Natasha Romanoff sprinted past him, leaping toward Thanos with her batons raised.
Thanos casually flicked his wrist.
Kinetic energy slammed into her mid-air, driving her into the earth while stone pillars erupted from the ground to pin her down.
Tony, Bruce, Lex, and Clark landed heavily between Thanos and the remaining Avengers.
Tony retracted his helmet, his eyes locking onto the golden gauntlet on Thanos's hand.
Five glowing stones were already seated in its slots.
"Where are we?" Tony demanded, turning to Axel.
"You have the Tesseract and the Mind Scepter.
Why does this guy have the Space and Mind Stones?"
"We are in a parallel universe," Axel said.
He reached into the air, his clothing shifting into his golden chainmail armor.
In his right hand, he casually tossed the bright blue Tesseract up and down.
"My collection is right here.
His stones belong to this reality."
Axel looked over at the group.
"So, do we leave, or do we handle him first?"
Before Tony could answer, a distortion in space folded around him.
Thanos stepped through the tear, his hand closing around Tony's throat and lifting him off the ground.
"I am Thanos," the titan said.
Thanos clenched his gauntleted fist, using the Reality Stone to dissolve Tony's faceplate.
He stared closely at Tony's face.
Clark, Bruce, and Lex charged forward, but Thanos raised his left hand, locking all three of them in a field of localized gravity.
"You are not the same man," Thanos said, studying Tony.
"You are not the one I faced on Titan."
A Wakandan officer hurled a vibranium spear at his back.
Thanos swept his hand behind him, deflecting the spear into the dirt and freezing the officer in place with a wave of energy.
"I brought balance to this reality," Thanos continued, turning his attention back to Vision and Wanda Maximoff in the distance.
"My goal was never senseless slaughter.
Half of all life will be spared, selected without bias.
I kept my word."
Thanos released Tony, dropping him to the ground, then turned his attention to Wanda, who was attempting to destroy the Mind Stone in Vision's forehead.
A wave of energy blasted Wanda aside.
Thanos reached down, plunging his fingers into Vision's forehead to tear the final stone free.
Before his fingers could close around it, twin beams of crimson heat vision struck Thanos square in the chest, driving him back fifty yards across the dirt.
Thanos pushed himself up, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Clark, who was straining against the gravitational hold.
"Boss Axel, a little help here," Clark called out.
Thanos turned his gaze toward Axel, stopping short when he saw the blue cube spinning casually between Axel's fingers.
"Another Space Stone?" Thanos murmured.
"You come from a reality beyond this one.
A reality where I failed, or where I have yet to arrive."
Thanos stared at the object, a new intensity taking hold in his eyes.
"If this universe is saved, then perhaps my work is meant to extend to yours as well."
Tony pushed himself up from the dirt, recognizing the look in Thanos's eyes.
It was the same fanatical conviction he had seen in the cultists back in his own world.
Selina kicked her flat shoes off, pulling two concealed daggers from the heels.
In a fluid motion, she struck down four Outriders that closed in on her position.
"Are all parallel worlds this chaotic, Axel?
We barely landed and everyone is trying to kill each other."
"There will be better places after this," Axel said.
He walked barefoot over the grass, stopping beside Natasha, who was still pinned under the rock pillars.
He knelt next to her.
"I do not know who you are," Natasha rasped, "but do not let him get the last stone."
Axel reached down, placing two fingers under her chin and inspecting her face.
"You look different with blonde hair, Natasha.
Red suited you better."
He casually shattered the stone pillars with a kick, pulling her to her feet.
Before she could react, he gave her a sharp slap on the back, sending her stumbling forward toward Steve.
"I prefer you when you are confused," Axel said with a grin, stepping past her toward Thanos.