Banner sat on the ground, cradling his charred arm with his good hand. The healing spell was still working its magic. Warm energy flowed through his body, concentrating on the damaged tissue. Black scabs cracked and fell away, revealing bright green skin underneath.
Mario clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention. "Alright, the snap's done. Everyone who got dusted five years ago is back. Now we can start thinking about where to bury Thanos. Somewhere with a nice view, maybe."
He glanced at Banner, then raised his staff and cast another healing buff. The giant looked up at him gratefully.
"Thanks..."
Mario waved it off. "Don't mention it. I'm gonna need a favor from you in a minute anyway."
He walked over to the Infinity Gauntlet lying on the floor and picked it up, sliding it onto his hand. The moment it touched his skin, he expected... something. But nothing happened.
It felt like wearing a particularly expensive garden glove.
The assembled heroes tensed immediately. They'd all witnessed what this thing could do, erase half of all life with a single snap. And now this guy from another universe was putting it on like it was a fashion accessory.
Rogers clenched his fists. "What are you planning to do?"
Mario glanced around at the nervous faces and grinned. "Relax. I just want to test how this thing works."
He raised his hand, preparing to snap his fingers.
"Don't—"
"Stop—"
"I... am inevitable!"
SNAP.
A rainbow-colored beam shot from the gauntlet and struck the wall of the Avengers compound. The moment it made contact, it punched through silently, leaving a hole about the size of a basketball.
Everyone: "..."
Mario: "..."
Refusing to accept this, he snapped repeatedly in quick succession. Snap-snap-snap-snap-snap. The room filled with the sound of finger-snapping and rainbow death rays. Within seconds, the wall in front of him looked like Swiss cheese.
Scott Lang, who'd been on high alert, couldn't help himself. "That's it?"
Those two words stabbed into Mario's pride like a knife between the ribs. This was supposed to be one of Marvel's most legendary artifacts, and in his hands it was basically a flashlight that required finger snapping to activate. Sure, the damage looked decent, but...
Is this the price I pay for having Minecraft powers? I can't use other game-breaking items properly?
If he had to choose, he would pick Minecraft every time. Infinity Stones? Never heard of them.
He pulled off the Infinity Gauntlet and tossed it to Banner. "Once you teleport Thanos here, use the Stones to wipe out his army. But leave Thanos and the Black Order alive. I need to get familiar with his power level. Our universe has one too, you know. Consider this a practice run."
He headed outside without waiting for a response. He still needed to brief his own people on the battle plan.
Outside the compound, he dropped onto a bench.
"Damn it. I can't count on the Infinity Gauntlet after all."
He sighed. "Guess I'm back to relying on my own abilities."
Kaecilius approached and sat beside him. "Thanos... is he strong?"
Mario nodded. "Not just strong. Extremely strong."
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos was the ultimate villain boss, and his power reflected that status appropriately.
"This time, we'll treat it as practice. Get a feel for what he can really do."
Kaecilius nodded. He wanted to test his own limits too, and a powerful opponent was exactly what he needed for that.
Just then, multiple massive portals began opening across the compound grounds. Armies of soldiers marched through, all the heroes who'd been dusted five years ago, now reassembled under Doctor Strange's leadership for one final battle against Thanos.
Strange himself stepped through a portal and stopped dead when he saw the Avengers compound still standing, completely intact.
Wait... this isn't how it went in any of the futures I saw.
Kaecilius watched the distant portal. The people emerging meant nothing to him emotionally. But he did notice several hostile gazes directed his way.
With a wave of his hand, a portal opened beside him. His personal magical armor flew through and encased his body.
"I'm getting some serious hostility from the sorcerers in this dimension. Do they have something against people from parallel universes?"
Mario had been momentarily confused by Kaecilius suddenly armoring up, but after hearing the explanation, he couldn't help but laugh.
"They're just being cautious of you specifically. It's got nothing to do with me. Don't take it personally."
Is this discrimination? Kaecilius thought.
Then his gaze fell on the Eye of Agamotto hanging from Doctor Strange's neck.
"So this man is the Sorcerer Supreme of this universe."
The Eye was traditionally carried and protected by each generation's Sorcerer Supreme. If it was around this man's neck, there were only two possibilities: either he'd stolen it, or he truly was this dimension's Sorcerer Supreme.
Mario found himself curious about something. Could his dimension's Kaecilius defeat Doctor Strange in a straight fight?
In the movie, Kaecilius had been powerful, though that was largely due to dark dimension energy. Still, he figured this version would probably win. Doctor Strange had more tricks, but in raw power, he was definitely inferior.
Strange led Wong and several other sorcerers toward them. He spoke first. "Hello."
"Hello, Doctor Strange," Mario replied with a smile.
Kaecilius was more formal. He stood and performed a specific sorcerer's salute, the gesture of respect traditionally shown to a Sorcerer Supreme.
Strange and the sorcerers behind him wore complicated expressions as they stared at Kaecilius, who should have been dead. "I think events have deviated significantly from what I anticipated. Who are you?"
"We're from a parallel universe."
He frowned at Mario's words. He'd used the Time Stone to peer into millions of possible futures, and in none of them had Mario or this version of Kaecilius appeared.
Meanwhile, the Avengers who'd been inside rushed out excitedly to welcome back the heroes who'd been gone for five years.
----
After several hours of preparation and reunion, Mario followed the assembled heroes to a barren wasteland. A hot wind swept across the yellow earth, carrying tumbleweeds across the desolate landscape. The only spots of green were occasional lonely cacti.
From his inventory, he pulled out the quantum realm device. With his help, they could easily shift the teleportation coordinates to lure Thanos here.
"Alright, let's get this calibrated."
He could barely contain his anticipation. The forces gathered to face Thanos weren't numerous, but they were heavy hitters. Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, both capable of going toe-to-toe with the Mad Titan alone. He honestly couldn't see how they could lose. Unless someone was stupid enough to hand Thanos the fully-loaded Infinity Gauntlet currently in Hulk's possession.
The sheer number of heroes present made his head spin trying to keep track of them all.
Rocket worked quickly, his hands flying over the equipment's controls. Within minutes, he turned to face the assembled heroes.
"Equipment's ready. All we need now is to input the coordinates."
Nebula, who'd been brought along as their unwilling guide, didn't need any threats to comply. Her cold gaze swept across everyone present.
"You're all walking to your deaths..."
Under everyone's watchful eyes, her metal hand transformed and drove directly into the device, interfacing with it.
The quantum tunnel activated, releasing brilliant colors. A dark shape emerged from the machine and shot straight up into the sky.
Mario had been discussing parallel universe theory with Doctor Strange when the light suddenly dimmed overhead. He looked up instinctively and saw Thanos' warship materialize in the sky.
"Oh shit, we're starting already? He could've given a guy some warning!"
The warship's weapons systems began charging. Massive energy cannons lifted into position like a nest of awakened predators, then unleashed blinding white beams.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A chain of explosions shook the battlefield, filling the air with smoke and fire. Multiple glowing magical circles rose up, blocking the bombardment and shielding the heroes from harm.
He waved away the smoke. As it cleared, he finally laid eyes on the figure he'd been waiting to see.
Thanos.
Clad in sleek golden armor, wielding a massive double-bladed sword, he walked forward at an unhurried pace across the scorched earth. The ground beneath his feet was still warm from the orbital bombardment.
"You could not accept your own failure," he said in a calm, emotionless tone. "Where did that bring you? Back to me."
There was no anger in his voice. Just the cold statement of fact, something that had happened before and would happen again.
Holy shit, that's badass.
Mario believed no one could match Thanos when it came to effortless intimidation. Not even Doctor Strange with all his mystical theatrics.
Speaking of Strange, a thought suddenly occurred to him. He turned toward the sorcerer. "Can I ask you something? Why did Tony have to be the one to snap his fingers? Couldn't Captain Marvel do it? Or Thor? Hell, even Hulk's still got one good arm."
Hulk growled. "You'd better have a point."
Strange looked surprised that Mario knew about that future. "I've seen fourteen million possible futures... and only one where we win."
Mario gave Strange a strange look, then turned to Hulk, who stood nearby in full combat armor.
"Hulk, go! Let's see why everyone says this guy's such a big deal!"
This was his own dimension's Hulk, not the broken version that had failed five years ago. Hearing the command, Hulk roared with excitement and pounded his armored chest.
"HULK FIGHT!"
With a mighty leap, he charged toward Thanos, gripping a massive adamantium battle axe. Several glowing halos appeared around his body.
"Time to see what the Mad Titan's really made of!"