A Soul for a Soul

Tony was drifting off in the infinite Space with his eyes closed. Stars, Cosmic storms, supernovas were passing through his illusory body but weren't affecting him.

He suddenly opened his eyes and his illusory and intangible body became real again and with a gravitational pull, he landed on a semi-solid core of a gaseous planet. He kept sinking in the core with an increasing gravitational pull when he suddenly became intangible again and passed through the core.

"Creating a different space at whim….It's intoxicating."

Tony's eyes were glowing blue with the influence of the space stone when suddenly a heart wrenching cry came from a planet inside a space created by the space stone..

He teleported there to look at a weird spider with stony legs the size of a two storey house being constructed on a ground as his burned body parts, which were littered around everywhere were being healed and getting attached to it again.

"The time stone is still very tricky...Even in a confined and detached space, I am unable to successfully use it on a living being." Said Tony while looking at the spider who suddenly turned into half its original size and then became an embryo which fell on the ground and died.

Tony then started staring at the three stones which emerged from his body and started revolving around him with the liquid smart metal alloy of vibranium, adamantium, symboit & Uru and thought

'Strip these away from me and I could be swatted down like a fly... '

He didn't liked the idea that the power he was wielding could theoretically and literally be taken away from him and he could have a very bad end.

A portal suddenly opened behind Tony in which he was sucked in and reappeared on Nidevillar. He sat on a table in front of the great forge, facing towards the empty space where the star which use to power the great forge was used to be.

'Jarvis, Shut Down'

[Shutting down all running tasks]

[System is now shutting down]

As the voice of Jarvis faded in his mind, the Mind stone flew out of his body and started to hover over his head.

Suddenly, Tony's psionic powers exceeded the parameters at which anyone can use the mind prowess and he started to power a word telekinetically throughout the galaxy with the help of the Space stone

'Oracle….Oracle….Oracle...Oracle…...'

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Hulk punched Corvus Glaive so hard that he flew towards the force field of Wakanda and disintegrated.

The force field had to be opened a little as to avoid the Outriders from infiltrating Asgard from behind and affecting the normal citizens due to which the Outriders were pouring in like flowing water and the entire Black Order was now inside of Wakanda.

As Glaive died at the hands of the green giant, Midnight, who was fighting with Okoye and Shuri shouted in anger and threw her spear at Okoye, impaling her shoulder and effectively knocking her out.

Scarlet Witch and Dr. Strange were trying to subdue Ebony Maw but he suddenly redirected a giant thrasher towards them.

Scarlet witch quickly tried to control the thrasher with her powers and redirected it towards Dr. Strange, who then opened a giant portal which led behind Maw and let the thing pass through it.

Maw detected it and tried to control it when suddenly a spider web struck his hands with incredible speed and precision.

Spiderman and T'Challa were fighting against the hordes and hordes of Outriders while Hulk engaged with Cull Obsidian and Outriders who trying to climb on him continuously.

Everything was incredibly chaotic as the ground was littered with the dead bodies of the alien species and many Wakandans when suddenly an Outrider grabbed the fake mind stone in Hulk's suit.

Hulk immediately smashed the ground with incredible ferocity and created a minor earthquake, flinging away every Outrider around him and catching the encased stone and keeping it in a inner pocket of his suit.

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Thanos arrived at the stranded and desolate Vormir with Gamora and asked her about the location of the Soul Stone.

Gamora pointed a finger at the mountain in front of them and Thanos started to walk towards it with her reluctantly walking behind him.

As they were climbing the mountain, Red Skull suddenly appeared in front of them and said

"Welcome Thanos, Son of A'Lars….Gamora, Daughter of Thanos."

"You know us?" Asked Thanos with a little confusion

"It is my curse to know all who journey here. You must know that the stone demands a price."

"I am prepared"

"We all think that at first, we are all wrong"

Red Skull then turned around and led the way as Thanos and Gamora followed

"How is it that you know this place so well?"

"A lifetime ago, I too sought the stones... I even held one in my hand. But it cast me out, banished me here, guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess…. What you seek lies in front of you."

Red Skull then came to halt at the summit of the mountain and a confused Gamora questioned with a little fear

"What is this?"

"Soul holds a special place among the Infinity Stones. You might say, it is a certain wisdom."

"Tell me what it needs." Asked Thanos

"To ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power, the stone demands a sacrifice."

"Of what?"

"In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. A soul for a soul."

Suddenly, with Red Skull's reply, Gamora started laughing heartily! She was truly happy as now, Thanos got what he deserved. He loved nothing and due to this, he won't be able to acquire the soul stone and ultimately won't be able to complete his mission.

She mocked Thanos and kept mocking him until Thanos turned around to look at her with tears in his eyes.

"Really? Tears?" mocked Gamora again when suddenly Red Skull interrupted

"They are not for him."

Gamora's eyes went wide at the realization and she started shouting with disbelief saying it can't be true.

She tried to take her own life too but Thanos changed the reality of her blade and transmuted it into bubbles. He then caught her hand and forcefully threw her into the sacrificing pit as he too lost consciousness after seeing an orange light in the sky above.

After an unknown period of time, Thanos woke up in a river not far from the mountain and realized that he had the soul stone in his hand. He then proceeded to imbed the stone in his gauntlet after which he got up and started walking towards his giant circular spaceship.

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Tony was using the mind stone and space stone in unison to track down someone or something when suddenly everything that had happened on Vormir played in his mind and he finally opened his eyes and collapsed beside the great forge.

His body was under a heavy toll of using the two infinity stones for such a long time at such a large scale and that too without the gauntlet.

While huffing and wiping out the sweat from his forehead, Tony shut his eyes and went inside his own soul to find a blue spot of light which he tapped with his mind and suddenly a voice played in his mind.

[Rebooting…..]

[Restarting the terminated tasks]

[Greetings, Sir]