"Hey, Purple Nutsack!" Satoru called out, waving a hand. "Nice glove. Does it come in men's sizes?"
Thanos slowly turned around, his new gauntlet clanking as he moved. He looked past Satoru's waving hand, his eyes settling on the one beside him then the distinctive hammer on his hand.
'Thor…' He knew Thor. The brother of Loki — the failed pawn who had cost Thanos the Mind Stone and a Chitauri army three years ago in New York.
"The Prince of Asgard," Thanos rumbled. He ignored Satoru entirely, treating the young man like a buzzing insect. "I was not expecting it was you that would show up. It's a shame, whatever purpose you have here, you arrived just in time to watch the dwarves die."
"Sorry, but there will be no killing of dwarves today," Satoru interjected, stepping slightly ahead of Thor.
Thanos finally shifted his gaze and landed on the white-haired teenager. The buzzing insect had finally demanded enough attention to be acknowledged.
"And who might you be?" Thanos asked curiously. "I don't believe I know of you, Mr...?"
Satoru's smirk widened into a full-blown, cocky grin. He reached up and adjusted his blindfold with one hand, while keeping the other casually in his pocket.
"I'm Satoru Gojo," he chirped with a breezy tone. "But since we're apparently doing titles today, you can call me 'The Guy Who's Going to Make You Regret Wearing That Ugly Glove'. Or 'Master Gojo' if you want to be polite. I'm big on respect, you know?"
He tilted his head, his Six Eyes scanning the massive Titan, the Gauntlet, and the subordinates around him. He raised a brow when his eyes settled on an emaciated balding figure with grey and wrinkled skin, he sensed a large amount of psionic energy from the… person? Alien?
'That alien's likely a sorcerer too,' Satoru thought as his eyes wandered and scanned the rest as well.
Thanos stared at Satoru for a long beat, his expression unreadable. Beside the Titan, the emaciated figure Satoru had noted — Ebony Maw — stepped forward, his spindly fingers twitching.
"My lord," Maw hissed, his voice like dry leaves skittering on stone. "This creature speaks with a tongue that lacks respect for your presence. Shall I silence him for his insolence?"
"Make it quick," Thanos rumbled.
The Titan stepped back, crossing his massive arms over his chest. He showed no sign of anger or urgency. Instead, he looked on with the detached interest of a king watching a minor skirmish, fully expecting his children to handle the nuisance.
Ebony Maw bowed his head slightly. "As you wish, my lord."
The emaciated alien turned his gaze back toward Satoru. He didn't reach for a weapon or chant an incantation. He simply raised a single hand, his long, spindly fingers dancing through the air as if playing an invisible piano.
Instantly, the metal floor beneath Satoru and Thor's feet groaned. The thick metal plating of the forge liquified and rose up in needle-sharp spikes meant to impale both of them from below.
Simultaneously, massive pieces of the machinery from the ceiling was torn loose by Maw's telekinetic grip, hurtling toward them like projectiles.
"Hear me and rejoice," Maw murmured, his voice calm and eerie amidst the chaos of twisting metal. "You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful that your meaningless life is finally serving a—"
"Blah, blah, blah. Can you shut up with that?" Satoru rudely cut him off.
"Watch out!" Thor swung his hammer and dodged swiftly to the side.
But, Satoru didn't move. He didn't even take his hand out of his pocket. The metal spikes from below stopped exactly one inch from his shoe and just froze there.
The massive falling girders from above didn't crush him; they slammed into an invincible barrier and just suspended there.
Satoru tilted his head, his smirk never fading. "Is that it? Moving some scrap metal around? I was expecting something a bit more 'divine' from a guy who looks like a walking raisin."
Thor didn't wait for a second invitation. Seeing the fight had begun, he raised Mjolnir high. "Gojo, handle your fellow mouthy one! I shall free the Dwarf King!"
With a roar of thunder, Thor leaped into the air, a trail of lightning following him as he aimed a heavy strike at Corvus Glaive with his hammer.
Satoru leaned back against the hovering piece of machinery as if it were a comfortable wall with a bored expression. He watched Thor fly off to clash with Corvus, then turned his focus back to the alien in front of him.
"Well, looks like it's just you and me now, Squidward," Satoru said.
Ebony Maw's eyes narrowed, his fingers twitching in a complex pattern as he prepared a more concentrated assault.
However, before he could strike, a blue-skinned woman with horns and a lethal, three-pronged spear landed silently beside him. Proxima Midnight raised her spear and aimed the tip at Satoru with a cold look.
"Is that so?" Maw asked. "You mortals are so fond of counting your odds before the slaughter begins."
Satoru let out a dramatic sigh, finally pulling his other hand out of his pocket to stretch. He didn't look worried at all; if anything, he looked relieved that this trip outside of earth was finally picking up and turning interesting.
"Well, two is always better than one," Satoru smirked. Pushing himself off his back, he stood in a loose and relaxed stance. "So… Let's start the dance?"
With a sudden motion, Maw flicked his wrist, and the suspended machinery around Satoru compressed violently inwards at him from all angles, while Proxima blurred forward like a streak of dark light, her spear aimed directly at Satoru's throat.
Satoru didn't dodge. He simply uttered.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue."
The effect was instantaneous.
A small, vibrant orb of azure light flickered into existence at the center of the debris field. The massive machinery that Maw had been meticulously guiding was suddenly yanked toward that single point.
Proxima Midnight, who was mid-lunge with her spear extended, felt her momentum vanish. Her eyes widened as a crushing gravitational force seized her entire body, dragging her backward and upward.
"What is this?!" she hissed, her boots scraping sparks against the metal floor as she tried to fight the pull.
CRUNCH!
The collision was deafening. The falling girders, the metal spikes, and Proxima herself were slammed together into a single, mangled ball of scrap metal and flesh. The sound of shearing metal and the alien woman's grunts of pain echoed through the area. Proxima was pinned deep within the wreckage, the sheer density of the gravity holding her fast.
Satoru didn't even look back at the mess. He turned his attention to Ebony Maw, who had actually taken a step back with an alert expression.
"You like moving things, right?" Satoru asked, his smirk settling into a smile. "But, can you move space itself?"
Thanos finally uncrossed his arms. His gaze was no longer detached; his eyes were locked onto Satoru. He had seen sorcerers, and he had seen telepaths, but he had never seen someone manipulate the very fabric of distance with such casual ease.
"Maw," Thanos rumbled, his voice low and heavy. "He is not an opponent you should fight against. Stand back."
"My lord?" Maw whispered, his fingers trembling as he tried to find a way to free Proxima as she kept on screaming as the more metal was being attracted and added onto the mangled ball standing between them.
"I said, stand back," Thanos repeated. He stepped forward, the heavy plates of his armor clanking. He looked at Satoru, a grim, respectful curiosity in his eyes. "You are a powerful sorcerer, I commend you for your strength. My son and daughter aren't exactly pushovers, and yet, you still overpowered them with such ease."
"I get that a lot," Satoru chirped, popping his knuckles. "So, you're finally ready to get your hands dirty, Purple Nutsack? By the way, these two are your children..? The woman, I can kinda get. But… Squidward?"
"They're adopted." Thanos responded as he continued his steady march towards Satoru. Ebony Maw bowed his head and retreated, drifting silently to stand behind the Titan's massive frame.
Thanos stopped just a few feet away from the glowing blue orb. He threw a calm, sideways glance at the mangled ball of scrap metal where Proxima Midnight was still buried, her muffled screams echoing from the depths of the wreckage. He turned his gaze back to Satoru.
"You can release her now," Thanos stated, his voice a flat command.
Satoru raised a brow, his grin turning playful. "What? You think I'd just do that because you asked nicely?"
Thanos let out a low, weary sigh. "Very well."
He raised his right hand, palm open and aimed straight at the intense center of the 'Blue' orb. In an instant, the crushing gravitational pull… stopped and unravelled.
The cursed energy forming Blue fractured into thin and wispy strands of energy. Like a vacuum, the energy was sucked toward Thanos's palm, flowing 'inside' his hand until the last strand vanished.
Without the force of Satoru's technique holding it together, the massive ball of metal gave way to gravity.
CLANG!
The wreckage collapsed into a disorganized heap on the floor.
Proxima Midnight spilled out of the debris, hitting the floor with a sickening thud. She was in bad shape; one of Ebony Maw's stray metal spikes had completely punctured through her abdomen, and her left arm was bent at an angle that looked entirely wrong. She coughed blue blood, staining the metal beneath her as she struggled to lift herself up.
Satoru stood rooted to the spot, his Six Eyes flaring with a sudden intensity beneath his blindfold. For the first time since he had arrived in this place, he showed a genuine flicker of surprise.
'He absorbed it?' Satoru thought, his mind racing. 'That wasn't a counter-spell. He just... took the energy. My Six Eyes didn't see a single drop of magic from him… Energy manipulation, maybe?'
He looked at Thanos's hand — the one without the gauntlet. There were no marks, no heat, or any indication of a spell.
'It's got to be energy manipulation,' Satoru's eyes narrowed with that conclusion.
"Not bad, Purple Nutsack," Satoru said, his voice losing its mocking lilt, but still held his calm. "I didn't think I would meet someone here that could just 'eat' my technique."
Thanos flexed his fingers, his eyes locked onto Satoru's. "I have traversed the stars for longer than you have drawn breath, Sorcerer."
Satoru shrugged his shoulders. 'This is turning out to be more and more fun than I thought. Looks like I have to bring out the big guns.'
He glanced at Thor, who was still busy fighting his opponent, then back at Thanos.
"Well, are we going to stand here all day, or are we going to fight?"
...
[Author's Notes]: Yes, you're thinking it right. This is the real roadman Thanos from Marvel's comic version, not the MCU embarrassment duplicate version that can't even do basic energy manipulation without relying on the damn gauntlet.
This'll be interesting.
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