Chapter 93: The Mad Titan

A/N: Oh snap.

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Vexed. The Last Son of Titan was not used to being so… vexed. Sat in his throne room aboard the Sanctuary II, located above the latest planet to fall to his grand crusade, Thanos broods. Resting his cheek on one hand, tapping the arm of his throne with the fingers of the other, the Titan’s frown grows heavier by the moment.

They called him a madman. They called him a genocidal warlord even though he brought peace everywhere he went. He cared little for the worried prattling of such creatures, however. He knew his purpose. He knew his role in the universe. He’d learned it a long time ago on Titan itself, all the way back at the beginning.

Even his own people hadn’t listened. They’d exiled him and suffered the consequences for their actions. That was when Thanos had learned that talking wasn’t the way. Trying to convince the unwashed masses of the universe that a sacrifice had to be made wasn’t the answer. Time and time again, they refused to listen.

And so he’d made them listen. First one planet, and then another. Hundreds if not thousands by this point. He didn’t keep track. Why would he? His work was never done. Whether it was five hundred or five thousand, there were millions upon millions seeded with intelligent life left to go. Whether it was a galactic empire, or a world just starting to spread through their star system, it mattered little. All were guilty of the same unintentional crime… taking too much and not giving enough back.

Thanos wasn’t a fool. He understand the concept of renewable resources. Unfortunately, everywhere he went he found the same thing. Intelligent life refused to be stifled. It refused to hold back. And most of all, it refused to restrict itself enough for the renewable resources of most planets to actually renew themselves.

Left unchecked, life throughout the universe would grow and grow until everything was barren. Until everything was dead. Thanos didn’t want that. And so it fell to him to save them all from themselves. It fell to the Last Son of Titan to do what needed to be done.

Unfortunately, even as he’d grown his forces, building out armies and fleets to serve him and his cause… it hadn’t been enough. He’d even taken to collecting certain unique individuals as his lieutenants, to be raised in his image and to represent his ideals so that he could have more than just one battlefront at a time. His Children of Thanos, they’d come to be called.

Even now, on the planet below, his Children were hard at work as Thanos sat brooding. They were carrying out his will to the letter and he had no doubt they were succeeding in their mission. They were loyal… unlike their sisters.

His frown graduates into a full-blown scowl. Had he not given Gamora and Nebula everything? And yet still they’d turned against him. First Gamora, siding with pirate and bounty hunter scum of all things, and then Nebula, siding with that petulant child Ronan. His daughters, betraying him and his cause… and losing him yet another Infinity Stone.

See, they thought him mad. They thought him insane. But Thanos was far from either of those things. He recognized the futility of his actions. He understood that he would not manage to cull even a fraction of the galaxy before the planets he’d culled in the beginning once again grew out of control. Even if he eventually could call upon a thousand Children of Thanos to act as his eyes, ears, and voices on a thousand different battlefields, it still wouldn’t be enough to save the universe from itself.

He did not continue in his chosen course because he was insane. Rather, he continued anyways because someone had to do it, even if it was an impossible, never-ending, unrewarding task. Thanos did not work to save the galaxy for reward or because he thought it would ever be finished. He did it because if he didn’t, no one else would. They would simply consume and consume and consume until there was nothing left.

That had been Thanos’ thinking until he’d finally learned of the Infinity Stones. The building blocks of the universe, some called them. Supposedly, the Infinity Stones were there before anything else. It was said that it was through them that everything had come to be. Whether that was true or not, it didn’t matter, because what WAS true was their well-documented power. Each Infinity Stone was an object of immense, unbridled might. Each one held dominance over a different aspect of the universe.

By themselves, each one could enact great change to be sure. When Thanos had first gotten his hands on the Mind Stone, he had hoped to use it and it alone to enact his plans. He’d wielded the Mind Stone on one of the planets his fleet came to, and used it to force the planet’s population to destroy itself as a test. In a shorter time than any of his armies had ever taken, half of the planet’s population had been culled.

Unfortunately, this came with downsides. For one, wielding an Infinity Stone for even a short time was incredibly taxing, even for one such as him. Without the proper equipment, prolonged contact to the Mind Stone left him exhausted and fatigued, barely able to lift his head, let alone his sword arm. This was an untenable and undesirable state of affairs for Thanos. He refused to be left so weakened.

On top of that, the Mind Stone’s reach was limited. By itself, he could wield its power over the population of an entire planet, but that was little better than his forces going down to the planet themselves and culling the population. While the Mind Stone was the faster option, sending his Children and armies to do the deed instead did not leave Thanos feeling so weak and drained.

No… he’d quickly realized that as great as the Mind Stone’s power was, it was worthless for his purposes if he did not have the other Infinity Stones to go with it. The Mind Stone was part of a set of six after all, and only with the other five to join it could Thanos truly right the wrongs of the galaxy and finish what he started.

It was a strange sensation, the idea that he might get to do so. He’d resigned himself to continuing to shed blood for the sake of the universe for as long as he lived, but suddenly there was a possibility that he might be finished in a handful of decades instead. Needless to say, Thanos had turned much of his resources towards locating the Infinity Stones. And one other thing he knew he would need. A way to wield them all safely, even if only for a moment.

Years and years of work had led him to this moment, where he’d lost much and was no closer to his goal than before. In fact, he was further from his goal than he’d ever been before. Setback after setback after setback. As mentioned before… he was well and truly vexed.

“Lord Father.”

Pushing himself out of his thoughts, Thanos watches as one of his Children swoops into the throne room, floating over to him. Ebony Maw was the first of his lieutenants and the eldest. He’d done everything right with the powerful telekinetic, and Maw’s loyalty remained unquestionable. So where had he gone wrong with the others? Tch.

“Maw. Report.”

Bowing his head low, Ebony Maw does so without hesitation.

“The planet below has been subjugated and culled, my Lord. Half have been slain, half remain. They know to be grateful to you for your mercy and salvation.”

Ah yes. One of Maw’s only character flaws was his need to proselytize in Thanos’ name. Even Thanos himself did not wax on and on about his work like his eldest son preferred to. But as far as quirks went, it was not a particularly problematic one, at least in Thanos’ opinion. Not as problematic as some of his other children had proven to be.

“Good, Maw. Very good. Stay with me a while. I will speak and you will listen.”

“Of course, my Lord.”

For a long moment, Thanos hesitates, not even really knowing where to start. Finally, he huffs and decides to begin at what feels like the beginning of his current woes.

“The Asgardian Princess Loki turned out to be such a disappointment. She made such grandiose promises, and even though it was obvious she had no intention of keeping them, I believed the Mind Stone’s hold on her would keep her on the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, she failed to obtain the Space Stone. Indeed, she failed to so much as set up a proper foothold on the mudball we sent her to, allowing one of its primitive denizens to destroy an entire Chitauri Fleet with one of their primitive weapons before the portal was closed shut.”

Maw says not a word. Thanos had already decreed that only he shall speak now and his eldest child is obedient if nothing else.

“Even the last act of The Other, the trap laid upon the Mind Stone… has recently been broken.”

Maw’s eyes widen at that, as expected given that it’s new information for him. Thanos frowns.

“The Mind Stone remains on Earth, but whoever has ahold of it has found a way undo what The Other assured me could not be undone. A mental trap that would turn any who triggered it towards our cause, making them into a weapon for my will. If the Accuser had not killed the Other, I might have done so myself for how he has failed me.”

Tapping the arm of his throne, Thanos scowls as his own mention of Ronan brings himself to his next part.

“Speaking of the Accuser. That foolish child lost me not just the Power Stone, but two of my daughters as well. Gamora and Nebula were loyal before I sent them to him. He infected them with his defiance. If only he still lived so I could kill him with my own two hands as well.”

Curling his fingers into a fist, he slams it down on the arm of his throne.

“And now, not only does Asgard have the Space Stone tucked away in their Vault, but for the first time in centuries, there as Asgardian Warriors on Nidavellir, a full-blown Asgardian Garrison on the planet to protect the Dwarves and their Forges. Just when I think I’ve found the ones who can craft what I need to wield all six stones properly, they are yanked from my grasp.”

Oh certainly, he probably could have laid waste to the garrison and taken Nidavellir with the forces he had on hand. Unfortunately, that would rouse Odin’s ire and bring the full might of Asgard down on his head. Even then, Thanos would take that fight if it meant he got what he wanted, but he couldn’t even be sure of that.

With relations between the Asgardians and the Dwarven Smiths reforged, the Dwarves would no doubt hold out instead of acquiescing to his demands. All they would have to do was refuse to give him what he wanted until Odin arrived and then Thanos would be fighting a battle on two fronts, never a winning proposition.

It was infuriating, especially since Thanos had been watching the All-Father AND his so-called Golden Realm deteriorate for quite some time now. One of the benefits of catching Loki after the Asgardian Princess fell off the Bifrost and throwing her at Earth had been to further stretch Odin thin. Sending Thor down to Earth to try and stop Loki’s attack on the planet had weakened the King of Asgard significantly and sped up the end of his natural lifespan. It had been one of the few good things to come out of the completely botched invasion of Earth.

Or so Thanos had thought. Somehow, some way, Odin had found his second wind. He’d regrouped and come back stronger than ever. And the Golden Realm of Asgard, which Thanos had believed to have long passed from its true Golden Age, had suddenly seemed to be experiencing a second wind as well.

Ebony Maw is practically vibrating at this point, and it’s obvious that his child has something he wants to say. Having ruminated long enough on his current difficulties, Thanos waves a hand in the Maw’s direction.

“Speak.”

“… If it pleases you my Lord, we know that the Power Stone resides on Xandar. Their defenses are not in any way capable of withstanding the might of you or your armies, Great Titan. We could wash over them and destroy them in a handful of days, and you would be able to claim the Power Stone for yourself, as you once did the Mind Stone.”

For a long moment, Thanos considers the proposal. It would certainly make him feel better… but that’s the problem. Pah! Make him feel better? As though he’s as petulant a child as the Accuser was, that he needs to be placated in such a way. If he gave in to such an impulse, he would only be exposing himself to his enemies further. No… no, he could not move lightly. With Asgard in ascendance once more, he needed to tread carefully. He needed more information.

“No. For now, let the Power Stone remain on Xandar. Instead, prioritize finding information about the other Stones, the ones we do not know about yet. Xandar has Power. Earth has Mind. And Asgard has Space. But what of Reality, Time, and Soul? We must find them. Find who has them, find who wields them, and find out their weaknesses so that we might crush them so swiftly that no opposition can be mounted in time to stop us.”

He could no longer hope to take Nidavellir either. But perhaps an attack on Nidavellir to kidnap some of its Dwarves for his own long term purposes would eventually not be amiss. They would have to remake the Nidavellir Forges somewhere else, and then once Thanos had the information he sought, the Dwarves would be the first place he struck.

“As you command, my Lord. As ever, your vision is unquestionable and beyond my own.”

Thanos snorts derisively, knowing full well that that was Maw’s way of essentially saying he didn’t understand but would fully obey all the same. Looking at his eldest son, the Last Son of Titan grins.

“Do not fret, Maw. This need not be rushed. Even as our enemies move against us, even as they disrupt our lesser plans… they cannot stop us. We have all the time in the world.”

Maw bows low at his words, correctly taking them as the dismissal they are and floating out of the room. Resting back on his throne, hands clasping at the arms, Thanos lets his smile grow wider still as he speaks to an empty throne room.

“After all. I am inevitable.”

-x-X-x-

A/N: Thanos out here starting to react. Hope I did a good job with his perspective. Obviously we all know how this story ends, but Thanos is still Thanos at the end of the day. He won't be delayed from his goals forever...