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chapter six

THAT SUPERHERO LIFE

   AFTER THE FIGHT between Tony and Steve, the former had passed out due to exertion. Banner took the opportunity to properly sedate the man so he could finally get some much-needed rest. While Pepper sat beside him and kept the unconscious man company, the rest of the group was tired of sitting around and was ready to take action—well, most of them were.

Carol stood with her arms crossed and a hardened expression coating her face. "You guys take care of him. I'll bring him a Xorrian Elixir when I come back."

Raven's head perked up once she heard the words leave the blonde's mouth. Natasha's brows furrowed and she glanced between the Nix woman and Carol. "Where are you going?"

"To kill Thanos."

Raven couldn't help the smile slipping onto her lips. She uncrossed her arms from her chest and met Carol's stride as she began walking. "Count me in."

[STILL ALIVE]

   "That's cute. Thanos has a retirement plan," Rhodey commented.

   After Carol and Raven were convinced to not leave, the group had gathered together as Rocket and Nebula began explaining where they believed Thanos to be hiding. The anxiousness within the room was palpable, yet everyone tried their best to ignore it.

   "So, where is he?" Rogers asked.

   "When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it...until two days ago." Rocket used the hologram above the table to display what he'd been talking about. A visible shockwave fell over the planet the hologram had focused on, emphasizing the raccoon's point.

   Raven forced herself to focus and adjusted her stance, setting her hands on her hips and began analyzing the images in front of her quickly and effectively. The moment reminded her of when she was working for SHIELD with Steve and Natasha, getting briefed for assignments and figuring out the best points of infiltration. The woman inwardly smiled—she missed when all they had to worry about was if Nick Fury was lying to them (and of course, he usually was), it was so much easier then.

   "Look, he's still got the stones, so..." Rhodey trailed off.

   "Let's get him," Carol and Raven spoke at the same time, causing a few glances to be shot at them. "Use them to bring everyone back," Carol clarified.

   "Just like that?"

   "Yeah," Steve spoke softly, "just like that."

"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this...I mean we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try," Nat said softly, her gaze flickering to Raven momentarily.

Raven's jaw clenched and she straightened her stance, giving a small nod to the blonde. The Nix woman was one of the few in the room who had moved past their first stage of grief and straight to being pissed off. As of now, all she wanted was for Thanos to suffer for what he did and to kill him. Her fingers twitched at the thought and she could feel her powers wanting to surface.

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Bruce spoke up, a worried tone lacing his voice.

   "Because now I won't hold back," Raven inputted, looking to Carol afterwards.

   Danvers smirked softly. "And because before, you didn't have me."

   "Okay, guys, listen. Everyone here is about that superhero life," Rhodey spoke up as he stepped forward. "And if you don't mind my asking," he questioned Carol, "where the hell have you been all this time?"

   Her jaw tightened and she nonchalantly shrugged. "There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys."

   The sudden squeak of a chair being pushed across the floor made everyone's attention turn to Thor. The Asgardian had been quiet for hours, keeping his opinions and comments to himself. He would only hum in agreement every so often when someone mentioned finding Thanos and getting the stones back. Now, he pushed the bowl of bread he'd been snacking on away and stood, walking over to where Carol was standing.

The blonde turned to face him with her hands set on her hips, eyes narrowed with a playful smirk setting in the corner of her mouth.

Thor's eyes sized the woman up as he stopped in front of her, his chest subtly pushed out as he tried to evaluate what she was capable of. His face was blank and he kept a solemn demeanor as he looked at her. After a moment, he reached out his arm beside her and waited with his hand outstretched.

   Stormbreaker flew past Carol, missing her by mere inches, and landed in Thor's hand. He rested his hands on top of the axe after noticing the woman didn't flinch. Instead, the smirk that tugged at her lips turned into a slightly smug smile, knowing she'd pasted his small test.

   Thor smiled gently. "I like this one."

And that was all it took for Steve's mind to finally settle on making their first move in avenging what they'd lost. "Let's go get this son of a bitch."