MAGIC TRICKS [PETER PARKER]

THIRTY-SIX

"So then it's easy," Natasha said, as it were obvious, "We go back there."

"It's not that simple though." Nadia sighed, running her hands through her hair, "The Ancient One is the most powerful sorcerer I've ever met. For centuries, Masters of the Mystic Arts have sworn to protect the stone. She's not going to want to just... give it up."

"Strange did."

Nadia stopped in her tracks, glancing at Tony. She narrowed her eyes. He was right— Stephen had just given it up. But why? Nadia just shook her head sternly. "He had a reason, I know it..."

"Well if this, Ancient One person won't give us the stone..." Bruce said, sitting up to look at her. Tony understood, nodding firmly.

"Then we'll just have to take it."

｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ

"Alright, so here's how it's gonna go."

Steve leaned on the table, once they had all gathered again, and began to explain the plan. "Rhodey and Nebula will go to Morag, 2014, with Nat and Clint," he clarified, "Once there, Clint and Nat will take Rocket's ship and head to Vormir." Nadia glanced at Natasha, who's eyes were trained on Steve as he spoke. "Thor and Rocket will go to Asgard, 2013, to extract the Aether. The rest of us—" He gestured to Bruce, Scott, Nadia, Tony, and himself "— will go to New York City, 2012. Scott, you'll go with Tony for the tesseract. I'll get the scepter, Bruce and Nadia go for the time stone—"

"Yeah, no," Tony spoke up, arms crossed, "The kid's going with me."

Nadia scowled, sifting up further in her chair. "But— I know more about the time stone than anyone here," she bargained, "I know the Ancient One—"

"I don't care. You're still a kid, and, sorry Banner, but I'm not letting you outta my sight," Tony said tenaciously. Nadia scoffed, raising her eyebrows, and fired back, just as quickly saying, "Technically I'm twenty-one—"

"Physically and mentally— I-in every way, you are still sixteen," Tony sputtered, the overprotective dad in him taking over. He spoke to her like he was scolding his young daughter. "Sorry bout it, but..." He shrugged, crossing his arms again.

"But Mr. Stark!" Her voice rose, and she realized she sounded exactly how he treated her: like a child. Straightening her back, she set her jaw. "I'm capable, Mr. Stark, I can do this."

The man was silent, obstinate. Nadia huffed, looking up to Steve for help. The blonde man sighed, biting his lip. "Tony, she's right. She knows more about this stone than any of us."

They awaited Tony's response, and he finally capitulated after a moment's silence. "Fine. But the second things start going south, I'm there, all right?"

Nadia bobbed her head. "All right, we have a plan." Steve pushed his shoulders back confidently. "Six stones, three teams. One shot."

They dispersed then, going off to suit up in their special suits, but Nadia stayed behind, watching as Tony made no move to leave either. "Sorry for getting upset," she spoke quietly. His head turned. "I know you're just looking out for me, so... Thank you."

He nodded, as if to say "yup" and a corner of his mouth lifted. "I know what it's like to have no one watching out for you..." He eyed the girl, who stood now, her fingers curled around the watch-face that hung from a thin chain around her neck. The final moments of the boy's life flashed across the backs of his eye lids and he spoke before he could think better of it.

"He loved you. Really, really loved you. And I can't just..." Tony pressed lips together, his eyes wetter than he'd like to admit. "I can't leave you out on your own. Not when he loved you so, so much."

Nadia was silent; her fingers ceased their fiddling along the watch chain. "I-I shouldn't be bringing this up before such an important mission... He'd hate that..." He waved a hand and stood, shaking his head. Emotion had overwhelmed his judgement as he remembered his boy, his son, and the love he harbored for the girl in front of him. Tony swallowed roughly.

"But that's what we're doing this for, right?" Nadia said suddenly, her eyes alight. "For him? It's why you spent all night figuring out how to time travel, why we built a quantum tunnel in hours. That's why we're fighting." She shrugged, a sad smile tugging at her lips. "I think he'd like that." Silently, Tony agreed.

"Let's do this."

-/-

"Five years ago, we lost."

Nadia looked up from the glass platform her shoes were pressed against to where Steve stood in the circle. His face was solemn, but his eyes were hopeful. The remaining Avengers stood on the platform of the so called "Time Machine," dressed in their red and white quantum suits.

"We lost friends, family... We lost part of ourselves," he continued on, "Today we have a chance to take it all back." Nadia shot a glance to Tony, who sent a confident grin in response. This was gonna work, she thought, taking a deep breath, It has to.

On one hand, the time GPS was strapped to her wrist— on the other, the debilitating device. She lifted a hand to her neck, where hung Peter's watch on the long, thin chain. It has to work.

"You know your teams. You know your missions. Get the stones, get them back." Steve nodded his head. "One round trip each. No mistakes, no do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know, but that doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other." He looked at Tony; the man gave him a smug, hopeful smile. Steve's eyes glimmered. "This is the fight of our lives. And we're gonna win.

"Whatever it takes."

The group stood in inspired silence after the final words of Cap's speech. Rocket, the raccoon, was the first to speak, "He's pretty good at that."

Scott, who's eyes shone with adoration for the superhero, beamed, "Right?"

Tony cleared his throat, shifting on his feet. "Okay, you heard the man." He jabbed a finger at Bruce, who stood by the controls. "Stroke those keys, jolly green!"

"Tractors engaged," said the big green man, returning to his spot in the circle. Rocket eyed his shrunken ship held in Clint's fist. "You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?"

Clint dismissed him easily. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do my best." Natasha hit his chest playfully, before throwing an excited smile over her shoulder at Steve and Tony.

"See you in a minute," she teased. Nadia caught her eyes, and they smiled brightly at each other. Together, they pressed the buttons on their wrists.

When Nadia opened her eyes again, the air was dusty and smelled of smoke. Chitauri aliens soared over their heads and the world was ablaze around them.

It worked.

A/N:

I just finished reading the first Chaos Walking book (The Knife of Never Letting Go) and it's soooo good. I can't wait to see Tom and Daisy Ridley as Todd and Viola they're gonna be so goooddddd. I'm about to start the second one and I'm so excited

Also, does anyone know exactly when the "extended cut" Endgame is starting to show? I've heard Friday but idk how to tell.

Thoughts on this chapter?