We open to a deserted planet. Ruins and dirt stand solitary against a red sky. Suddenly the dirt is pushed aside from a blast of air as an alien spacecraft slowly lands in view.
The door to the spacecraft slowly opens and out steps an unidentified alien, tall and lanky with red skin, thin lips, white eyes without pupils, no hair, and bony subdermal triangular protrusions lining his jaw. He's got a metal prosthetic arm.
He reaches his arms up above his head in a stretch and yawns.
"Ahhh... I love traveling the galaxy Biv, but, damn, is it nice to be home! Glad we found this place."
A second alien steps out. Equally tall, with the same jaw protusions, thin lips, and white eyes, but green skin and a feathery pink mohawk. "You've got it Tiv. Nothing like an abandoned planet, where there is no around to bother you. Just us, the earth, and our little friends." Biv steps forward a bit and bends down, reaches, and gently caresses a bud on a very tiny, fragile plant, growing in the otherwise barren earth.
"Everyone gave up on you, but we've got your back." Biv says, now to the plant. He stands up and takes off his utility belt and places it on some nearby rubble. Similarly, Tiv takes off his satchel and starts sorting through it.
We get to see the surroundings a little better as they essentially unpack their stuff, and unwind, walking around what seems to be their little compound of rubble and ruin, not saying much more to each other, just enjoying the peace. A keen eye will start to notice the planet and rubble to be that of Titan.
Biv bends down and begins to open a hidden hatch in the ground, but just as he does an unintelligible shout comes from off in the near distance.
"What was that!?" Tiv rasps to Biv, but Biv doesn't reply, instead choosing to stay perfectly still, listening for more noise. He slowly raises on finger to his lips, and the other hand holding the hatch ajar.
Just then, a quick blur of a person flies above them and out of sight. They both stoop low and Biv carefully closes the hatch.
"Was that... was that a flying Terran?" Tiv whisper-yells to Biv.
"I think so. They must have crashed here and gotten stranded. I think they're over the ridge over there. Let's see if we can't surprise them and scavenge some things." Biv grabs a long metal pipe, and Tiv a couple of hefty bones tied together, and they sneakily scale the ridge to peek over the top.
"Those are some ugly looking Terrans." Tiv says to Biv, as we see from their perspective Mantis and Drax scrambling away from Doctor Stange. The two quickly disappear leaving Strange alone and waiting for something, someone. He sits.
"He looks fancy. Bet we could get a nice haul from him!" Tiv whispers excitedly.
Suddenly a dark blue portal opens up and out walks Thanos.
"Now... that guy I don't think I want to mess with..." Tiv whispers.
"I don't think he does either." Biv replies, about Strange. "I'm kinda curious where this is going", he says, entertained, though they cannot hear any of the conversation.
Suddenly the hulking titan's hand starts to glow red, and an equally red ripple stretches across the planet, returning the planet to its former glory. The sky turns blue, the buildings become restored and the ground turns green. Biv peeks behind himself to see his plant, flourishing.
"Biv..."
"Tiv."
"What's-"
"I... don't know." He looks all around him, astonished, taking it all in, slowly, but just as he's about to stand to take look further, the ripple reverses and it's all gone. Biv lurches back to his spot on the ridge, at a complete loss, and Biv and Tiv share a quick look.
Doctor Strange slowly stands up and sets his Taos Mandalas alight.
“Biv!” There’s a panic in Tiv’s voice that makes Biv turn immediately to check on his friend, and he see Tiv staring upwards. Biv follows Tiv’s head upwards to see a massive piece of spaceship hurtling downwards. The debris crashes down onto the titan, crushing him, just as Iron Man and Star-Lord appear.
Biv and Tiv watch the two strangers fly up to where Thanos once stood, just in time for the debris to burst in a purple explosion, revealing Thanos unscratched underneath it, and who then in turn turns the rubble into a swarm of bats and chases Iron Man away. Biv and Tiv watch Iron Man evade the bats, but next thing they know the bats are flying right towards them, into their compound.
They both dive out of the way just in time for the swarm of bats to swirl past them knocking things over.
Biv rushes into the fray, reaching for his utility belt. He gets to it and fumbles with his clasps, before finally freeing a device, and throwing it at his plant. A small dome-like forcefield goes up around his plant, protecting it from the bats.
By now though, a few of the bats are attacking Biv; Tiv rushes to help, and they fight them off with their makeshift weapons, knocking the bats out of the air, and stomping on them. Every now and then an explosion goes off, missiles fly, or something crashes near them, and they’re showered with dirt. Soon the majority of the swarm has either flown off, over the spaceship, or is on the ground, dead.
Biv takes a final swing at a bat on the ground in front of him, before standing up and turning to Tiv. “Who are these people??”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like how quiet it just got…”
The two crawl back to the edge of their ridge, to see Iron Man, Mantis, Drax, Strange, and Spider-Man, holding back Thanos, and Star-Lord and Nebula standing in front. Star-Lord begins to attack Thanos, and next thing they know, the titan is tossing people all over the place.
“Ya know, at least they’re doing most of the work for us. We can just pick up the scraps after they’re all done with each other.”
“Tiv..” Tiv turns to Biv, and now sees Biv staring upwards. Tiv looks up to see the moon imploding, about to fall out of the sky.
“Inside!” Biv yells, and the two scramble to their feet. Biv dives for the hatch he was about to enter earlier, and the two fly inside of it. The door slams, leaving the plant and its forcefield alone as moon rumble rains down on their compound.
Inside Tiv and Biv huddle together in their shelter, and the power goes out, leaving the screen black.
We fade back in to a crack of light streaming in on a sleeping Tiv and Biv. Biv wakes up.
“Tiv… Tiv! Get up! I think it’s over.” Tiv stirs to.
Outside, the hatch door pops open and Biv and Tiv’s heads pop out. Biv eyes his plant. It’s safe, the forcefield still whirring. The place is littered with rock and rubble.
Tiv and Biv go back to their spot from before to see if they can see anything. From there they can see Nebula and Iron-Man.
“Where is everyone else?” Tiv asks.
“I don’t think we want to know.”
“And I'm starting to think we shouldn't stick around and scavenge these guys…” Tiv replies.
“It was nice being home while it lasted..."
Beat
"Brennan-7?” Biv asks Tiv in a way that suggests he already knows the answer.
“Brennan-7!”
The two grab their things and head to the ship. Before stepping fully inside, Biv turns back to look at his plant, “See ya later, little guy. We’ll be back soon!” The spaceship silently and stealthily takes off, with Biv and Tiv headed to Brennan-7, not knowing the fallout of the Snap that lies ahead.
Trivia
- In the comics, Tiv and Biv were two alien scavengers living in the ruins on Titan. They jumped a weakened Thanos and stole his supplies when he wandered into their territory, and they didn't believe who he claimed to be. When Thanos' son, Thane, later went to Titan to find Thanos, Tiv and Biv told him that he left, and Thane beheaded the two.
- In the comics, Brennan-7 was a planet that Thane relocated to, where he gathered numerous outcasts and protected them as his own.