DYER | STEVE ROGERS

𝐕𝐈.𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐕

〚 RED 〛

Darla stood beside Rocket and Tony as they watched Tony carefully place the stones in the gauntlet. Everything was silent and it had to be done with exact precision. 

Tony used his machines to carefully place all the six stones in the gauntlet and Darla was holding her breath as they watched them all be placed in.

"Boom!" Rocket shouted, causing the three to jump. Annoyed, Darla sent a shock towards him, causing him to let out a yelp.

Tony transported the gauntlet to another room, where everyone sat patiently waiting. Darla instantly made her way over to Steve, his arms wrapping around her shoulders and holding her tightly.

"All right. The glove's ready. Question is, who's gonna snap their freaking fingers?" Rocket questioned as he inspected the gauntlet.

"I'll do it." Thor offered.

"Excuse me?" Tony questioned almost in shock.

"It's okay." Thor nodded as he pushed his way through. Both Steve and Tony went to stop the man from getting any closer to the gauntlet.

"Wait, wait, Thor, just wait. We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet." Steve said as he placed his hand on Thor's chest, preventing him from going any further.

"I'm sorry. What, we're just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?" Thor questioned as Scott made his way over to them.

"We should at least discuss it." Scott said quickly.

"No, no, sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back." Thor paused. "I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? So this responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty."

"It's not about that–" Tony stepped in front of Thor at the same time that Darla took a step forward.

"It's not that– Stop it. Just let me!" Thor began to get teared up, which broke Darla's heart to see. "Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something right." Thor gripped onto Tony's shirt as he spoke.

Darla placed a comforting hand over Thor's and slowly removed his hand from Tony's shirt. She offered him a small but reassuring smile as Tony said,

"Look–It's not just the fact that that glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent, I'm telling you, you're in no condition." Tony spoke slow and calmly so that Thor understood what he was saying.

"What do you–What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?" Thor questioned frustratedly.

"Cheez Whiz?" Rhodey questioned sarcastically.

"That's not funny. Shut up." Darla snapped towards the man sending him a disapproving look for mocking someone who was supposed to be his friend.

"Lightning." Thor corrected, placing a thankful hand on Darla's shoulder.

"Yeah." Tony nodded.

Darla furrowed her brows for a minute. Sure, she knew that Thor was in no mental state to use the Infinity Gauntlet, but he was strong enough.

"I'll do it." Darla spoke up before she even realised what she said.

"Definitely not." Both Steve and Tony snapped at the same time. Neither of them would let the girl out herself at that kind of risk, she meant too much to them.

"I can do it." Darla span on her heel to look between two of the most important men in her life.

Steve looked absolutely distraught about the suggestion. His eyes filled with unshed tears and she didn't miss the way his hand reached out for hers. Slowly, he linked their fingers and shook his head. He couldn't lose her.

"Lightning and electricity won't help you. It's gotta be me." Bruce said causing everyone in the room to turn and give him their full attention. "You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive."

Bruce slowly walked over to the Infinity Gauntlet. His eyes never once left it to flicker and look at everyone's reactions.

"How do we know you will?" Steve questioned, wrapping his arms around Darla's waist and pulling her as close to him as possible.

He allowed himself to anxiously fiddle with the engagement ring on her finger. He loved her so much, no words could ever describe the way that he felt about her. She was his everything.

"We don't. But the radiation's mostly gamma." Bruce paused. "It's like...I was made for this."

Everyone fell into a deep silence, none of them wanted anyone to get hurt during Bruce undoing what Thanos did. Tony nodded in agreement, Bruce was right, he was the right man for the job.

"Good to go, yeah?" Tony questioned as Bruce picked up the Infinity Gauntlet and inspected it carefully.

"Let's do it." Bruce nodded.

"Okay remember everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago and just bringing them back to now, today. Don't change anything from the last five years." Tony ordered. His mind was racing about what could happen if he lost Morgan. He didn't know how he could cope if that happened.

Darla looked towards Tony, nodding at him reassuringly. She loved Morgan, she didn't want any harm to come to her either.

"Got it." Bruce nodded understandingly.

Steve slowly pulled Darla behind him wanting to keep her safe incase anything happened to them.

"I love you." Darla whispered as she linked her hand with Steve's and wrapped her other hand around his bicep. She looked up to him with a small smile.

"I love you too, baby." Steve pressed his head against her's and closed his eyes for a moment, just enjoying her closeness.

Everything went dark as the compound went into lockdown. If anything happened, hopefully it would contain any damage.

"Everybody comes home." Bruce nodded as she place the Infinity gauntlet on. The second that it expanded to fit his hand, the surge of the power overwhelmed him and he fell to the floor grunting in pain.

"Take it off. Take it off!" Thor shouted pointing towards Bruce.

"No, wait. Bruce, are you okay?" Steve questioned, causing Darla to try and take a step closer to the man.

Maybe if she got closer to Bruce she could take some of the energy so it wasn't too overbearing for him. But Steve and Scott quickly pulled her back again.

"Talk to me, Banner." Tony shouted, still waiting for a response other than screams from Bruce.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Bruce managed to whisper, despite been in pain. Bruce screamed as he snapped his fingers and fell to the floor, the gauntlet falling off his hand.

"Bruce!" Steve shouted as everyone instantly ran over to him.

"Don't move him." Tony instructed as Clint kicked away the gauntlet.

"Did it work?" Bruce questioned, his hand wrapped around Darla's bicep.

"We don't know." Darla offered him a small smile, knowing that he tried his best even if it didn't work.

"Worth a shot. It's over. It's okay." Thor attempted to reassure him, as Scott walked away.

Darla furrowed her brows as she felt her phone began to ring, she pulled it out of her pocket and quickly answered it.

"Red?" Darla's bottom lip quivered as she waited for a response. "Are you there?"

"He's gone, Darla, where's Vision?" Wanda questioned as she broke down sobbing.