MCU: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
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"Thanos' fleet has just entered Earth orbit," Shuri reported to her king and Captain Rogers, looking up from the console in her lab. She glanced over at Vision, who was laying back on the couch as the scan of the Mind Stone embedded in his forehead continued, his friend Wanda watching over him. "I'm not going to be able to remove that from his head before Thanos' forces land."
Rogers nodded reluctantly. "Then we'll have to go to Plan B then."
T'challa turned away from lab's windows, where he'd been staring out over the grassy plain that circled Wakanda's capitol. "I do not care for this plan, Captain Rogers. To send a single, ordinary man, to confront this mad Titan, is to send him to his death."
"He volunteered, and if it doesn't work, we can still put up a fight," Rogers said. "You put faith in your society's elders, don't you?"
T'challa nodded reluctantly. "In some things, yes."
"Then trust this one. If anyone can pull it off, he can."
* * *
One more stone, Thanos thought to himself, as the Sanctuary IIbegan to slow, plowing through Terra's atmosphere. One more stone, and I will be able to bring balance to the universe. One more Stone, and all the compromises, all the sacrifices, all the blood will justified. There will finally be peace, I will finally be at peace.
"We are approaching the location of the Mind Stone," Proxima Midnight reported. "It appears to be held in the center of a large city in the middle of the continent."
"Defenses?" Thanos asked. Her failure to retrieve the Mind Stone a few days previously had been a disappointment, but if the Terrans offered as rewarding a battle as those who had tried to keep the Time Stone from him, it would be a fitting end to his quest.
"The city does have a shield, and plasma cannons, but they are unpowered," she said.
Thanos frowned. "Do they not detect our approach?"
She nodded. "Primitive sensors have been bouncing off our hull since we crossed the orbit of this world's moon. They know we're coming."
"Hmm. Perhaps they wish to offer honorable surrender, after we have defeated so many of their champions." He clenched his gauntlet, feeling the power of the Stones he had already taken sing in his veins. "I would have preferred one last battle, but if this how they wish to end things, so be it. Land two kilometers outside the city perimeter, and let us see what they will do, in the face of my inevitability."
A few minutes later the Sanctuary II touched down on a large grassy plain, facing the city. Not a shot had been fired in their direction, though there were troops stationed just behind the city's walls. The only movement was the waving grass on the plains.
"My lord, someone approaches, from the gates of the city," Proxima Midnight reported.
"Show them to me," he ordered. A display appeared. A grey haired Terran, face lined with age, walked through the waist high grass, stepping carefully on the uneven ground, until he stood a hundred meters for the bulk of the Sanctuary II. "They send an elder to plead for them," Thanos concluded.
"He does not carry the Mind Stone," Proxima noted. "He looks like he can barely stand."
It would be easy to be impatient, to demand he be given what he had fought so long and hard for, Thanos thought to himself. This must be a strategy, but for what purpose? To delay the inevitable? To stave off Death for just a few more precious moments? Let these Terrans have their one last gambit. I will be amused to see what it is.
The landing ramp lowered and Thanos strode forward. The elderly Terran stood his ground, dressed in shoes of cheap canvas, wearing a bright red woven sweater and tan pants. His eyes were blue, and when he looked up into Thanos' countenance, his mouth opened into a wide smile. "It's so nice to meet you, Mr. Thanos," he said brightly.
"What is your name, Elder?" Thanos asked. He stuck one end of his double bladed sword in the dirt, and set his helmet upon it.
"My name is Fred Rogers." The elder held out his hand, and Thanos shook it gravely, squatting to speak to him at eye level.
"Why do you approach me alone. Do you speak for your world?"
"No," Fred admitted. "I only speak for myself, though Captain Rogers asked me to come out here." He looked around the landscape, appearing very pleased, not seeming to notice the grandeur of Thanos' flagship. "I never thought I'd ever get the chance to visit Wakanda. It was very nice of Captain Rogers and King T'challa to invite me."
Have they sent me a simpleton to delay me? One last attempt at insult before their richly deserved destruction? He took in a calming breath. "Why did they send you to me, Fred Rogers? To negotiate surrender?"
"No."
"To plead for their lives?"
"No."
"To achieve one last moment of calm before they attempt to defend themselves?"
"No, I don't believe so," Fred said simply.
Thanos took in another breath. "Then why are you here?"
"Well, that's kind of funny," Fred said. "That's the question I wanted to ask you."
"Why am I here?" Thanos asked, frowning at the Terran's seeming obliviousness. "I come to take the Mind Stone, to complete my Infinity Gauntlet, to bring my grand vision to fruition."
"Oh, is that what you call that glove you're wearing? May I see it?" With almost childlike enthusiasm, Fred reached out to touch Thanos' gauntlet. "It's very well made," he noted.
"It was made for me by Eitri, a Dwarf artificer, forged in the heart of a dying star," Thanos replied, permitting the brief touch. "His greatest and final creation."
"You must be very proud to wear it."
"I am."
"And you worked very hard to get all those stones, I'll bet."
A brief moment of pain passed through Thanos, remembering the sight of his daughter Gamora's body, lying at the bottom of the cliff. It was the only sacrifice he had made that had caused him regret. If there had been another way, I would have taken it, my daughter. But your death was for a greater good. "The price I paid for them was high," he admitted.
Fred looked into the face of Thanos, and for a moment the great conqueror thought the stooped old man was looking into his soul. "They told me that once you have all the stones, you'll have power over the whole universe. You'll be able to wish for anything you want to happen, like Alladin's magic lamp."
"Yes," Thanos replied. "All of Creation will be mine to command."
"But what will you do with all of that power?" Fred asked.
"The universe is finite," he explained. "The more Life in the universe expands, the more resources it consumes. To survive, there must be a great culling. When I have the final stone, half the life in the universe will be reduced to dust. A great and terrible sacrifice to be certain, but those who survive will live in a world filled with abundance."
"Aren't you worried that folks will be unhappy about that? I know I'd be very sad if half my friends died," Fred said plainly.
"I do not doubt it, but it is an unfortunate necessity. I have seen worlds die, my own included, buried under bodies they could not feed." Thanos gestured towards the city in the distance. "Does not your own world teeter on the edge of self-destruction, choking on its own waste?"
"We have problems, that's very true," Fred admitted. "But people still try to help each other. Didn't you try to help your own people?"
"Of course," Thanos replied, even as he wondered how he had let himself be drawn into this conversation. "But they refused the solution I offered."
"To kill half the people on your planet," the old man stated. "I think I see why they didn't want to go along with that."
"If it my plan had been implemented equitably, completely randomized, it would have been fair. Harsh, but fair," he explained. "As it was, everyone was lost. Everyone but me."
"It must be very lonely to be the only one of your kind left," Fred said. He cocked his head. "Is that why you're so scared?"
Thanos frowned deeply, clenching his gauntleted fist. "I fear nothing," he replied firmly.
"Now I don't think that's true," Fred said, seeming not to notice the frown. "You wouldn't be going to all this trouble if you weren't afraid of something. You think if you don't do this, the universe will really end. Then you really would be alone."
"Do not attempt to tell me what I believe," Thanos warned, rising to his feet.
Fred continued to ignore his growing anger. "You might also be a little scared that people won't understand you."
"It doesn't matter if they understand me or not, the necessity of my actions is driven by unyielding logic. I wish only to save the universe."
Fred nodded, as if finally understanding. "You want to be a helper," he said.
Thanos blinked. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"You want to help people, like a doctor, or a firefighter," Fred concluded.
Perhaps he was finally getting through to the strange little man. "You understand then? I sacrifice the half, so the remaining whole will survive."
"Well yes, I can see that," Fred said. "But wouldn't it be better to help everybody?"
"That is not possible," Thanos said flatly.
"But you said yourself that once you have the last stone, you'll control the entire universe," Fred said, his tone never anything but amiable. "Couldn't you just make more of the universe, so people would have enough room, and food, and everything they need?"
He snorted in derision. "Your logic is flawed. They would just fill it up again."
The old man nodded. "Yes, but the same thing would happen if you made half of everyone disappear. They'd also fill it up again, that's what people do, except that they would also be mad and sad about losing all their friends and family. Isn't one better than the other?"
Thanos blinked once more. "Who are you?" he demanded.
The elder smiled. "My name is Fred, and I want you to be my neighbor."
"Thanos' fleet has just entered Earth orbit," Shuri reported to her king and Captain Rogers, looking up from the console in her lab. She glanced over at Vision, who was laying back on the couch as the scan of the Mind Stone embedded in his forehead continued, his friend Wanda watching over him. "I'm not going to be able to remove that from his head before Thanos' forces land."
Rogers nodded reluctantly. "Then we'll have to go to Plan B then."
T'challa turned away from lab's windows, where he'd been staring out over the grassy plain that circled Wakanda's capitol. "I do not care for this plan, Captain Rogers. To send a single, ordinary man, to confront this mad Titan, is to send him to his death."
"He volunteered, and if it doesn't work, we can still put up a fight," Rogers said. "You put faith in your society's elders, don't you?"
T'challa nodded reluctantly. "In some things, yes."
"Then trust this one. If anyone can pull it off, he can."
* * *
One more stone, Thanos thought to himself, as the Sanctuary IIbegan to slow, plowing through Terra's atmosphere. One more stone, and I will be able to bring balance to the universe. One more Stone, and all the compromises, all the sacrifices, all the blood will justified. There will finally be peace, I will finally be at peace.
"We are approaching the location of the Mind Stone," Proxima Midnight reported. "It appears to be held in the center of a large city in the middle of the continent."
"Defenses?" Thanos asked. Her failure to retrieve the Mind Stone a few days previously had been a disappointment, but if the Terrans offered as rewarding a battle as those who had tried to keep the Time Stone from him, it would be a fitting end to his quest.
"The city does have a shield, and plasma cannons, but they are unpowered," she said.
Thanos frowned. "Do they not detect our approach?"
She nodded. "Primitive sensors have been bouncing off our hull since we crossed the orbit of this world's moon. They know we're coming."
"Hmm. Perhaps they wish to offer honorable surrender, after we have defeated so many of their champions." He clenched his gauntlet, feeling the power of the Stones he had already taken sing in his veins. "I would have preferred one last battle, but if this how they wish to end things, so be it. Land two kilometers outside the city perimeter, and let us see what they will do, in the face of my inevitability."
A few minutes later the Sanctuary II touched down on a large grassy plain, facing the city. Not a shot had been fired in their direction, though there were troops stationed just behind the city's walls. The only movement was the waving grass on the plains.
"My lord, someone approaches, from the gates of the city," Proxima Midnight reported.
"Show them to me," he ordered. A display appeared. A grey haired Terran, face lined with age, walked through the waist high grass, stepping carefully on the uneven ground, until he stood a hundred meters for the bulk of the Sanctuary II. "They send an elder to plead for them," Thanos concluded.
"He does not carry the Mind Stone," Proxima noted. "He looks like he can barely stand."
It would be easy to be impatient, to demand he be given what he had fought so long and hard for, Thanos thought to himself. This must be a strategy, but for what purpose? To delay the inevitable? To stave off Death for just a few more precious moments? Let these Terrans have their one last gambit. I will be amused to see what it is.
The landing ramp lowered and Thanos strode forward. The elderly Terran stood his ground, dressed in shoes of cheap canvas, wearing a bright red woven sweater and tan pants. His eyes were blue, and when he looked up into Thanos' countenance, his mouth opened into a wide smile. "It's so nice to meet you, Mr. Thanos," he said brightly.
"What is your name, Elder?" Thanos asked. He stuck one end of his double bladed sword in the dirt, and set his helmet upon it.
"My name is Fred Rogers." The elder held out his hand, and Thanos shook it gravely, squatting to speak to him at eye level.
"Why do you approach me alone. Do you speak for your world?"
"No," Fred admitted. "I only speak for myself, though Captain Rogers asked me to come out here." He looked around the landscape, appearing very pleased, not seeming to notice the grandeur of Thanos' flagship. "I never thought I'd ever get the chance to visit Wakanda. It was very nice of Captain Rogers and King T'challa to invite me."
Have they sent me a simpleton to delay me? One last attempt at insult before their richly deserved destruction? He took in a calming breath. "Why did they send you to me, Fred Rogers? To negotiate surrender?"
"No."
"To plead for their lives?"
"No."
"To achieve one last moment of calm before they attempt to defend themselves?"
"No, I don't believe so," Fred said simply.
Thanos took in another breath. "Then why are you here?"
"Well, that's kind of funny," Fred said. "That's the question I wanted to ask you."
"Why am I here?" Thanos asked, frowning at the Terran's seeming obliviousness. "I come to take the Mind Stone, to complete my Infinity Gauntlet, to bring my grand vision to fruition."
"Oh, is that what you call that glove you're wearing? May I see it?" With almost childlike enthusiasm, Fred reached out to touch Thanos' gauntlet. "It's very well made," he noted.
"It was made for me by Eitri, a Dwarf artificer, forged in the heart of a dying star," Thanos replied, permitting the brief touch. "His greatest and final creation."
"You must be very proud to wear it."
"I am."
"And you worked very hard to get all those stones, I'll bet."
A brief moment of pain passed through Thanos, remembering the sight of his daughter Gamora's body, lying at the bottom of the cliff. It was the only sacrifice he had made that had caused him regret. If there had been another way, I would have taken it, my daughter. But your death was for a greater good. "The price I paid for them was high," he admitted.
Fred looked into the face of Thanos, and for a moment the great conqueror thought the stooped old man was looking into his soul. "They told me that once you have all the stones, you'll have power over the whole universe. You'll be able to wish for anything you want to happen, like Alladin's magic lamp."
"Yes," Thanos replied. "All of Creation will be mine to command."
"But what will you do with all of that power?" Fred asked.
"The universe is finite," he explained. "The more Life in the universe expands, the more resources it consumes. To survive, there must be a great culling. When I have the final stone, half the life in the universe will be reduced to dust. A great and terrible sacrifice to be certain, but those who survive will live in a world filled with abundance."
"Aren't you worried that folks will be unhappy about that? I know I'd be very sad if half my friends died," Fred said plainly.
"I do not doubt it, but it is an unfortunate necessity. I have seen worlds die, my own included, buried under bodies they could not feed." Thanos gestured towards the city in the distance. "Does not your own world teeter on the edge of self-destruction, choking on its own waste?"
"We have problems, that's very true," Fred admitted. "But people still try to help each other. Didn't you try to help your own people?"
"Of course," Thanos replied, even as he wondered how he had let himself be drawn into this conversation. "But they refused the solution I offered."
"To kill half the people on your planet," the old man stated. "I think I see why they didn't want to go along with that."
"If it my plan had been implemented equitably, completely randomized, it would have been fair. Harsh, but fair," he explained. "As it was, everyone was lost. Everyone but me."
"It must be very lonely to be the only one of your kind left," Fred said. He cocked his head. "Is that why you're so scared?"
Thanos frowned deeply, clenching his gauntleted fist. "I fear nothing," he replied firmly.
"Now I don't think that's true," Fred said, seeming not to notice the frown. "You wouldn't be going to all this trouble if you weren't afraid of something. You think if you don't do this, the universe will really end. Then you really would be alone."
"Do not attempt to tell me what I believe," Thanos warned, rising to his feet.
Fred continued to ignore his growing anger. "You might also be a little scared that people won't understand you."
"It doesn't matter if they understand me or not, the necessity of my actions is driven by unyielding logic. I wish only to save the universe."
Fred nodded, as if finally understanding. "You want to be a helper," he said.
Thanos blinked. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"You want to help people, like a doctor, or a firefighter," Fred concluded.
Perhaps he was finally getting through to the strange little man. "You understand then? I sacrifice the half, so the remaining whole will survive."
"Well yes, I can see that," Fred said. "But wouldn't it be better to help everybody?"
"That is not possible," Thanos said flatly.
"But you said yourself that once you have the last stone, you'll control the entire universe," Fred said, his tone never anything but amiable. "Couldn't you just make more of the universe, so people would have enough room, and food, and everything they need?"
He snorted in derision. "Your logic is flawed. They would just fill it up again."
The old man nodded. "Yes, but the same thing would happen if you made half of everyone disappear. They'd also fill it up again, that's what people do, except that they would also be mad and sad about losing all their friends and family. Isn't one better than the other?"
Thanos blinked once more. "Who are you?" he demanded.
The elder smiled. "My name is Fred, and I want you to be my neighbor."