Epilogue – The Age of Heroes
For several seconds, no one moved.
Thanos's head remained among the rubble, his eyes still open and that expression of fury frozen forever on his face.
His body lay several meters away.
Without that crushing presence that had made even the planet tremble.
Without the Infinity Stones.
Simply defeated.
Thousands of heroes remained around the battlefield, watching the Titan's corpse as if they still expected him to rise again.
After everything that had happened, no one seemed willing to completely trust that it was truly over.
Tony slowly descended until his feet touched the ground.
His armor was destroyed in several places. One of his thrusters barely worked, and several metal plates hung loose from his body.
He looked at Thanos's head.
Then the body.
And finally at Strange.
Tony let out a sigh.
"He's not coming back, right?" he asked, just to make sure one more time.
Strange remained silent for an instant.
Then he formed a seal with both hands.
A small golden flame appeared over the Titan's chest before slowly fading away.
"Not while I'm still alive."
Tony nodded.
"That sounds a lot more reassuring."
Several meters away, Hercules wore a huge smile as he gave Thor and Hulk heavy slaps on the back.
Knowing him, he was probably already challenging them to a fight to find out which of the three was strongest.
Even after a war that had nearly destroyed the planet.
Hulk looked rather interested.
Thor, meanwhile, merely watched the demigod with a tired expression, as if he still hadn't decided whether to accept the challenge or hit him right there so he would stop shouting.
Pietro appeared beside Wanda.
She barely paid him any attention.
Her gaze remained fixed on Owen, who was lying back among some rubble while she carefully held him.
The crimson flames that had covered his body were slowly fading.
His breathing was heavy.
And, judging by his peaceful expression, he had fallen asleep the moment he confirmed that Thanos wouldn't rise again.
Pietro looked first at Owen.
Then at his sister.
A small smile appeared on his face.
"So... did you finally tell him the news?"
Wanda gave him an annoyed look.
"I was about to before an alien invasion started."
"He always has a good excuse."
"Pietro."
"I'm just saying that after all this, you should tell him before another universe-destroying threat shows up. It's not like you'll be able to hide it for much longer anyway," he added mockingly.
Wanda looked back at Owen.
Her expression softened.
"I'll tell him when he wakes up."
Owen let out a small laugh in his sleep, as though he had somehow heard part of the conversation.
Wanda lowered her gaze toward him.
"Idiot," she murmured, though a small smile appeared on her face.
Pietro watched the two of them for several seconds.
"Can I know now?"
"No."
"But I'm your brother."
"Exactly."
Before Pietro could keep protesting, a shout echoed in the distance.
Hercules had just thrown Hulk through the remains of a building.
A second later, Hulk burst out from the rubble with a huge grin and launched himself at him.
Thor simply walked away from both of them.
"Looks like they already started," Pietro said.
Wanda let out a sigh.
"Go stop them."
"Me?"
"You're fast."
"I'm also very easy to break."
Wanda stared at him.
Pietro disappeared in a silver flash.
Though not exactly in the direction of Hercules and Hulk.
...
The battle was over.
But New York continued to burn.
Great columns of smoke rose from different parts of the city.
The remains of Thanos's ships covered several streets.
Some Leviathans had fallen across entire buildings.
And the battle between the S-Class heroes and the Titan had erased a massive section of the city.
The ground was still hot.
In some areas, the concrete had turned to glass.
In others, the alterations caused by the Reality Stone had left behind impossible objects that Strange and the other sorcerers needed to remove before they caused new problems.
There were walls that breathed.
Vehicles transformed into strange creatures.
Streets that ended in places that shouldn't exist.
And even a building that seemed to have become trapped between two different dimensions.
But after everything that had happened, those almost seemed like minor problems.
Dawn arrived slowly.
Sunlight passed through the columns of smoke and covered the ruined city in an orange glow.
For one brief moment, everything seemed peaceful.
But as always happens after a battle, the chaos remained, and someone had to clean it up.
Fortunately, the Hero Association already had far too much experience with that kind of situation.
Those with super strength helped lift the enormous collapsed structures, making the cleanup much easier.
It was a rather strange sight.
Ordinary workers standing beside heroes who had saved the world only a few hours earlier, all of them carrying rocks and removing the remains of destroyed buildings.
Though in that era, those kinds of things seemed to be becoming less and less strange.
Hulk lifted the remains of a building while several rescuers entered beneath it.
Hercules carried an entire section of an avenue on his shoulders while insisting that it barely counted as a warm-up.
Thor used his lightning to restore power to several hospitals.
Jean Grey removed tons of rubble with telekinesis.
Pietro transported medicine from one end of the city to the other.
Peter swung between the buildings, using his webs to secure structures that threatened to collapse.
Tony used hundreds of drones to search for signs of life.
Fortunately, the Association had acted quickly enough during the evacuations. Civilian casualties had been surprisingly low, though the injured still numbered in the hundreds.
Meanwhile, Strange, together with the other sorcerers, tried to repair the spatial fractures Thanos had left behind.
...
Of course, saving the world was never the end of the problem.
Sometimes, it was the beginning of an entirely new one.
When a galactic power capable of destroying planets arrived on Earth, only to be defeated by an organization operating within your own borders, governments naturally began asking themselves a few questions.
And none of them had simple answers.
The Hero Association had saved the planet.
But it had also proven something that many countries had preferred to ignore until then.
There wasn't a single army on Earth capable of facing that kind of threat.
No nation.
No military alliance.
No conventional weapon.
The Association could.
For years, governments had known that the most powerful heroes existed beyond their true control.
They had simply preferred not to think about it too much.
But now they had seen it with their own eyes.
A relatively small group of people had fought an intergalactic army.
They had destroyed ships capable of conquering worlds.
They had stopped fragments of the Moon before they struck the planet.
And, in the end, they had defeated a being capable of altering reality with a single movement of his hand.
To many nations, the heroes had become their saviors.
But also the most dangerous force that existed on Earth.
The fortunate part for them was that those people called themselves heroes.
And heroes save people.
Those words were repeated constantly over the following days.
On television.
In newspapers.
Across social media.
In the speeches of presidents, kings, and ministers.
Some said it with genuine gratitude.
Others were only trying to convince themselves.
But, for the time being, that was enough.
Because the Association hadn't demanded territory.
It hadn't demanded obedience.
It hadn't tried to control a single nation.
After proving it possessed more power than every army on Earth combined, the only thing it had done was begin clearing away rubble.
The strongest heroes on the planet weren't sitting on thrones.
They were covered in dust, helping rebuild homes.
And that was what allowed people to know who they could trust.
They were heroes.
And heroes save people.
That would never change.
...
The Infinity Stones were separated.
No one knew the location of all of them.
Not even Owen.
Strange personally made sure each Stone was sent to a different place, protected by spells and guardians who knew nothing about the locations of the others.
The Power Stone vanished somewhere in a distant corner of the universe.
The Space Stone was sealed outside known reality.
The Soul Stone remained under the protection of the sorcerers.
And the Reality Stone was sent somewhere Strange completely refused to mention.
Thor had suggested destroying them.
Tony had suggested studying them first.
Hercules had asked whether he could use them to test his strength.
The answer to all three suggestions had been the same.
No.
As for Thanos's body...
It was sent into the heart of a star.
His head was thrown in after it.
Just to make sure.
...
Several weeks passed.
New York slowly began to rise again.
Buildings were rebuilt.
The streets were cleared.
Monuments dedicated to the heroes began appearing all across the city.
...
Owen stood watching the city from the top of the Hero Association's main building.
He still had a few bandages wrapped around his body, though most of his wounds had already disappeared.
The streets were still filled with construction machinery.
Several cranes moved between the buildings.
And every now and then, a hero could be seen helping lift materials that normally would've required dozens of workers.
Wanda appeared behind him.
"I knew I'd find you here."
Owen didn't turn around.
"It's a good view."
"It's also where you come whenever you're trying to avoid resting."
"I've rested enough already."
"You were unconscious for two days."
"Exactly."
Wanda stepped up beside him.
For several seconds, they simply watched the city.
"Looks like it'll survive," Owen said. "I wonder how long it'll be before the next disaster arrives," he added seriously.
"Does it really matter?" Wanda replied with a gentle smile. "We'll be ready by then."
Owen let out a quiet laugh as well.
"Yeah."
Then he noticed Wanda seemed more uneasy than usual.
"Is something wrong?"
She looked at him.
For a moment, she didn't seem to know how to begin.
That made Owen frown slightly.
Wanda Maximoff could face an alien army without blinking.
But right now...
She looked nervous.
"Do you remember Pietro asking if I'd already told you the news?"
"Yes."
"And how he ran off before explaining it?"
"That too."
Wanda took a slow breath.
"Well... I wanted to tell you before the battle."
Owen turned to face her completely.
Wanda took one of his hands.
Then slowly guided it to her stomach.
For a second, Owen didn't understand.
Then his eyes widened.
Wanda watched his expression.
A small smile appeared on her face.
"I'm pregnant."
Owen froze completely.
He didn't say anything.
He didn't even seem to breathe.
Wanda began to grow slightly worried.
"Owen."
He lowered his eyes to the hand resting on her stomach.
Then looked back at her.
"How long have you known?"
"For a few days."
"And you went to fight Thanos?" he asked in shock before sitting down.
Wanda's smile disappeared.
"I knew that would be your first question."
"Wait... I had you fighting Proxima Midnight while you were like that?" he asked, genuine concern filling his voice.
"And that was going to be your second question," she added immediately.
"You stopped the Gauntlet."
"Only for a few seconds."
"A blast from the Power Stone threw you several meters."
"And I'm perfectly fine."
"That doesn't mean it was safe."
Wanda crossed her arms.
"Do you want to talk about the one who took a direct punch to the face from Thanos without even trying to dodge it?"
"That was necessary."
"So was what I did."
Owen opened his mouth.
But couldn't find an answer.
Wanda smiled again.
"Owen, I'm fine... and so are they," Wanda said softly.
"Wait... they?" Owen asked, his eyes widening even further as he stared at Wanda's stomach.
"You're going to have to get used to losing arguments. Pregnant women are always right," she told him with an amused smile.
Owen let out a nervous laugh as he ran a hand over his face. He kept looking at her for several seconds, and his smile slowly turned into one of quiet resignation.
Then he placed his hand back on Wanda's stomach.
His expression gradually softened.
"Does Pietro know?"
"He found out because he was eavesdropping behind a door."
"Of course he did."
"Tony doesn't know yet."
"That won't last long."
"I know."
Owen looked back over the city.
For the first time since arriving in that world, he wasn't thinking about the next threat.
Or the next enemy.
Or everything he still had to protect.
He simply stood there beside Wanda, thinking about what would come next.
...
The universe was far too vast.
And it was still full of dangers.
There could be threats even worse than Thanos.
Other invading forces might already be watching Earth from distant corners of space.
Gods.
Demons.
Galactic empires.
Maybe there was even something beneath the planet's own surface, waiting for the right moment to emerge and destroy everything.
But if anyone wanted to conquer that world...
If they wanted to destroy it...
They would first have to face its defenses.
A bunch of weirdos.
Madmen.
Mutants.
People who had gained powers because of some experiment.
Soldiers created by a serum.
Gods.
Sorcerers.
Witches.
Guys wearing armor that cost far too much.
Green monsters with anger issues.
Speedsters who never knew when to keep their mouths shut.
And many, many more.
The list kept going.
And it would probably never stop growing.
But that wasn't strange anymore.
Not in that world.
Not in that era.
After all...
In the Age of Heroes...
That was simply normal.
The End.
...
We really made it to the end of this story.
To be honest, it was one of the hardest novels I've ever had to write. It's funny, because I always had so many ideas. At one point I even thought about creating a multiverse and expanding this world much further. But whenever I actually sat down to write, a lot of those ideas just didn't feel right, so the story gradually changed direction until it became what you ended up reading.
Even so, I truly hope you enjoyed this novel as much as I enjoyed writing it for all of you.
I know the ending is a little open-ended, but then again... this is Marvel. There's always the possibility that a new adventure could begin at any moment. So I'd rather leave it to your imagination to decide what happened afterward.
I want to thank all of you for staying with me throughout this entire journey. Thank you for every comment, every Power Stone, every gift, and for following the story chapter after chapter. Your support is what made it possible for this novel to reach its ending.
And if you enjoyed my writing style, I'd love for you to give one of my other works a chance. Just stop by my profile.
We'll meet again in another story.
With love,
YoDarki