45. Avengers: Infinity War (5)

        "What the hell?" Aunt Nat whispered. Suddenly, a blue-black cloud appeared before a giant, purple alien stepped forward. I created force field balls in my hands and after a moment, Uncle Bruce confirmed our thoughts and guesses,

"Cap. That's him."

"Eyes up. Stay sharp," Dad instructed, and I prepared myself for the intense fight that was about to go down. We all started charging at Thanos, but Uncle Bruce reached him first. However, before he could attack, Thanos used one of the Infinity Stones to partially bury my uncle in the rock of the cliff behind him. Dad reached him next but was thrown before he could make a move. T'Challa was next. His Black Panther suit glowing purple, but Thanos simply caught him by his throat and pounded him into the ground. I made an attempt to strike him, but he threw me toward Wanda and Vision, and I groaned in pain. Slowly, I tried to stand up but ended up only kneeling on one knee. Vision grabbed Wanda's arm and spoke,

"Wanda. It's time."

"No," Wanda stated with determination and a shaky voice, turning to watch Thanos' every move and preparing to face him. It wasn't fair for Vision to ask so much of her, but I knew it was what needed to be done. Thanos was too strong now.

"They can't stop him, Wanda, but we can. Look at me. You have the power to destroy the stone."

"Don't."

"You must do it. Wanda, please. We. Are. Out of time."

I stood and glanced at the rest of my family, losing against Thanos. I turned back to Vision and Wanda as Vision placed her hand on his cheek.

"I can't," Wanda whispered on the verge of tears, and my heart broke for her.

"Yes, you can," Vision whispered to reassure her while moving her hand into position to destroy the stone, "You can. If he gets the stone, half the universe dies."

Wanda shook her head, and I wanted to cry for my sister. Thanos was getting closer, and I prepared to block his path as Vision continued, "It's not fair. It shouldn't be you, but it is. It's all right. You could never hurt me. I just... feel you."

Wanda extended her trembling hand and started beaming her energy at the Mind Stone. I turned to face Thanos and watched as he took down Uncle Rhodey, Uncle Bucky, Aunt Nat, Okoye, Groot, and Dad again. Wanda started using two hands, and I saw tears fall down her face. I felt tears in my eyes but focused on Thanos. Dad was able to hold the gauntlet open, preventing Thanos from using the stones, and I reached my hands out to surround Dad's arms and hands with force fields to make his grasp stronger. But it wasn't enough as Thanos punched Dad, knocking him out. He made his way over to the three of us, and I put up a shield. Wanda used her second hand to strengthen it, but Thanos used the stone to reach into my shield and grab me. I was thrown over to where the rest of the team lay and struggled to see Wanda hold Thanos off with one hand through my blurred vision. My head was pounding, and I could barely feel the tears streaming down my face. Suddenly, there was a huge blast, and through watery eyes, I saw that Vision was gone. I let myself breathe for a moment as exhaustion took over me. When I opened my eyes, Thanos had gotten Vision to appear again, and I pushed myself to get up as I heard Wanda scream,

"No!"

By the time I had slightly sat up, it was too late, but Uncle Thor had managed to reach us and used his axe to stab Thanos in the chest. Thanos was on one knee, and Uncle Thor pushed his axe further into his chest as he spoke,

"I told you. You'd die for that."

Thanos cried out in pain, but once he got the chance to breathe, Thanos weakly spoke,

"You should have... you..."

Uncle Thor paused for a moment as Thanos' voice got stronger, "You should have gone for the head." Thanos quickly raised his gauntlet and snapped his fingers. Uncle Thor and I screamed as I scrambled to my feet,

"NO!" I saw a bright flash, but nothing happened right away, and Uncle Thor questioned him angrily,

"What'd you do? WHAT'D YOU DO?!"

I quickly helped Dad up as Thanos used one of the stones to teleport away, leaving Uncle Thor's axe to fall to the ground. I ran over to Uncle Thor first while Dad stumbled behind me. He looked around for the purple alien with a hand on his chest and asked,

"Where'd he go? Thor... where'd he go?" Dad and I looked around more, breathing heavily when we heard Uncle Bucky speak behind us,

"Steve?" Uncle Bucky's hands began to turn dusty, and he suddenly tumbled over, dropping his gun and collapsing into ashes. I took a few steps backwards, shaking with horror and confusion as Dad walked over to where his friend once stood only a moment ago. Dad crouched down to touch the ground where the ashes had been before they blew away. I saw Wanda turn to ash, too and turned to Uncle Thor for answers, but only disbelief was written on his face. We could hear people yelling in fear from the battlefield, and after a moment, I felt a strange feeling in my core and placed my hands on my stomach. My hands felt tingly, and I lifted them from my stomach to see them turning to ash like Uncle Bucky. I looked up at my dad across the clearing with tears in my eyes and whispered,

"Daddy?"

Dad returned my fear-filled gaze and stood to walk over to me. I turned toward my uncle Thor and pleaded, "Please... I don't want to go. I'm scared." I felt more tears fall from my eyes as my arms turned to ash, and I grew weak. My feet became slightly numb, and I fell into Uncle Thor's chest, feeling him wrap his strong arms around me. I cried more as Uncle Thor lightly rubbed his hand against the side of my head. Dad was only a few paces away when he started jogging toward us.

"Katie?" Dad questioned, "Baby? No-!"

It was the last thing I heard before it all went black.

STEVE'S POV

I watched as my little girl turned to ashes in Thor's arms before I could reach her. I caught some of her ashes before they hit the ground and pulled them to my chest while falling to my knees. Tears fell from my eyes because of exhaustion, uncertainty, and grief. The ashes disappeared from my hands, and I walked over to Vision's dead form. Rhodey, Natasha, Bruce, and the racoon joined us in the clearing. We were all confused, frightened, and sad.

"What is this? What the hell is happening? Rhodey asked. No one said anything for a moment as we all realized that we had failed. I took a moment before finally saying,

"Oh, God."