As it turned out, if you wanted to snap your fingers while wearing the gauntlet, you basically had to lean on the Stones to cheat for you.
The gauntlet helped Thanos make his "from the heart" choice. The Titan who had spent the first half of his life soaked in slaughter and destruction was quietly teleported to Mars, all alone.
The Infinity Gauntlet suppressed his power and locked him onto that barren planet. His only companions were a hoe and a few rows of genetically improved purple sweet potato sprouts.
After that, Pendragon released the restraints Thanos had placed on the heroes.
Steve suddenly felt his body go light. The move he had just been straining for with all his might, barely able to lift himself, now came out effortlessly.
It was like everyone on the field was a protagonist. Never mind how tragically they had been beaten by Thanos a moment ago. As soon as they got back on their feet, they were all bouncing around like nothing had happened.
Pendragon gave them a small nod. Before Captain America could even get a word out, he tapped into the Space Stone and teleported away.
Destination: outer space.
Thanos's flagship was parked just outside Earth's atmosphere, with only a skeleton crew of maintenance and logistics staff left aboard.
These aliens all looked bizarre, as if the concept of "good-looking" had never been invented in their gene pool. Pendragon simply snapped his fingers and completed his infiltration.
As the core of the fleet, the mothership had to carry a large number of smaller ships and handle logistics and transport. Naturally, its size was enormous, easily matching a mid-sized city on Earth.
Pendragon could not find his own ship, so hijacking a flagship was not a bad consolation prize. Flying around in this thing was miles cooler than those S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers.
Near the center of the ship, an empty hall had been carved out. Aside from the huge throne in the middle, there was nothing but deep, oppressive darkness. It was the kind of decor that screamed "cold and lonely ruler."
Pendragon shrank the throne and sat on it for a bit, trying the vibe on for size. Anyone who genuinely enjoyed this aesthetic clearly had something wrong in their head.
The ship's onboard AI was still more advanced than anything on Earth. Pendragon could not hack it directly with his own quantum computer and had to connect it into the core systems first.
He tore open the main control room door with one hand, left the quantum computer there to crack the system, and then used the Space Stone to teleport himself back down to Earth, to the hotel room where he had taken that bath earlier.
It would take six hours to fully crack the flagship's AI. Pendragon just happened to need some time to deal with the Infinity Gauntlet situation.
Leaving the movies aside, in the comics Nebula stole the Infinity Gauntlet and used it to re-beat the Living Tribunal and the other cosmic beings, only to get stabbed in the back by Adam Warlock. He used a failsafe he had planted inside the Soul Gem to seize control of the gauntlet.
Which meant that until Pendragon dealt with that particular hazard, he could not feel at ease using the Infinity Gauntlet's full power.
He pulled out a block of Black Bean Paste and popped it into his mouth. With both power sources online, Pendragon could directly compare the Black Bean Paste and Infinite Power.
For the short period right after he ate a piece, the strength inside him could stand toe to toe with the combined power of all six Infinity Stones. And as a consumable, he had an unlimited supply of Black Bean Paste.
So the conclusion was that they were roughly fifty-fifty.
Of course, that also meant he might end up addicted to sweets and get hard countered as soon as someone exploited that weakness.
Click.
With a single finger, Pendragon pried the Soul Stone out of the Infinity Gauntlet. Deprived of the gauntlet's unifying structure, the six Stones immediately reverted to six independent forces, each isolated from the others.
His own power could overpower any single Stone with ease.
The Mind Stone set into the gauntlet lit up. With his native strength plus one Infinity Stone, Pendragon's side was absolutely solid.
According to the comics, the inside of the Soul Stone was also a universe. Its exact nature was never fully explained, but most fan theories leaned toward it being a universe composed entirely of soul matter.
In the films, the souls of those erased by Thanos's snap were stored in the Stone and used as the key to their possible resurrection.
Pendragon's consciousness, carrying the power of the Mind Stone, plunged into it.
A magnificent, dazzling starfield unfolded in his awareness, projected in real time. Boundless and endless, it looked no different from the main Marvel universe at first glance.
Trying to hunt down an unknown "failsafe" in such a vast cosmos was, on the face of it, an incredibly stupid thing to do.
Pendragon's understanding of the Soul Stone was limited, but he could at least copy Adam Warlock's strategy and leave his own mark inside.
With the Mind Stone's power fused to his own will, he left a projection of himself on a planet somewhere in the Soul Stone's universe.
He did not need to dump too much power into it. In the comics, Adam kept expanding until his presence completely filled the Soul Gem universe.
Only when he had reached that state did he get the chance to properly control the Soul Gem and trigger a full Infinity Gauntlet backlash on Nebula.
Pendragon was not stupid enough to repeat that mistake. Leaving a projection as an early warning system was more than enough.
He was no Nebula. Even if he failed to stop Adam from infiltrating the Soul Stone, as long as he was ready for it, he could suppress any flare up from the gauntlet's power.
He slotted the Soul Stone back into the Infinity Gauntlet. This time the wave of physical discomfort faded even faster. Maybe his body was already starting to acclimate to Infinite Power.
Inside the Soul Stone's universe, the projection he had left merged completely with a star. With the unified strength of all six Stones, he burned his existence into it as a permanent brand.
He ran a quick mental calculation. There were still a few hours to go before he could fully take control of the flagship. Pendragon decided it was the perfect time to slack off.
He used the gauntlet to seal an impenetrable barrier around the room, transformed his suit into loose pajamas, and flopped onto the bed like a salted fish.
It was exactly in moments like this that the Infinity Gauntlet became truly invaluable.
High end desserts, fragrant tea, whatever books he felt like reading, the Reality Stone ignored physics and common sense to satisfy his every whim.
One snap, and a book would float in midair at the perfect distance, turning its own pages as he read. One snap, and a delicate pastry would zip straight into his mouth.
If only he did not have to snap for all of that, life would be perfect.
Snacking on candied mandarins while reading, Pendragon let out a reflexive yawn and slowly closed his eyes.
The ahoge that had been so full of life wilted at the top of his head. As Pendragon drifted off into a peaceful sleep, it drooped completely, as if it had fallen asleep along with him.