"Did we get 'em all?" Was the first thing Bruce asked when they all reappeared on the platform in the Avengers Facility.
"You mean to tell me this actually worked?" Clint asked in disbelief with a huge smile on his face.
Tony could not hold it in anymore and collapsed to his knees, staring straight ahead of him. The hand that held the stone felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
"Tony?" Bruce's voice broke through the drumming in his ears. "Where's Rhodes?"
Eventually he raised his tear filled eyes to Steve and Banner's, though no words came out of his mouth. Bruce dropped to his knee and punched the ground in frustration. Why couldn't they, for once, all come home?
Tony flinched at the weight on his shoulder, he looked over to see his wife's tear filled eyes. Natasha didn't say anything as she knelt down next to him and pulled him into her embrace. Tony's arms instantly wrapped around her waist and he cried into her chest, and Natasha simply handed the brief case over to Clint and used her, now free, hand to run her fingers through his hair.
She had been through the feeling of loss very few times. The closest she ever came to feeling like Tony was feeling now was when she did not know Tony's fate five years ago, as well as when Fury lay 'dead' on the operating table...and if she was completely honest with herself, when she thought Tony wasn't coming back through the worm hole in New York in 2012.
So she didn't say anything and just let her husband cry his pain out.
—
Two hours later, when Tony finally calmed down enough to have a complete thought. The original six Avengers sat on pier outside of the Avengers Facility. Tony sat on the couch that was there, his eyes glazed over as he stared out at the lake.
Natasha sat next to him, curled into his side, silent tears streaming down her face. She held her husband's hand, rubbing a soothing pattern with her thumb. The red head could not wrap her head around the fact that Rhodey was gone. The man who had been with her when Hammer held them captive, giving her hope that they would get out of it. The man who, much to her stress level, took her son on air plane rides. The man who was not shy to have a tea party with her daughter and Miss. Cuddles.
"Do we know if he had any family?" Clint asked, softly.
"Yeah, us." Steve said after Tony shook his head, since both of Rhodey's parents had already passed.
"What?" Thor asked, angrily.
"Huh?" Clint asked.
"Wh-What are you doing?" Thor asked.
"I just asked him a question." Clint defended, keeping his voice soft for Tony's sake.
"Yeah, no, you're acting like he's dead." Thor explained. "Why are we acting like he's dead? We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring him back. Isn't that right? So, stop this shit. We're the Avengers. Get it together."
"Can't get him back." Tony croaked out in a broken tone.
"What...What's he...?" Thor stuttered. "W-Wh-What?"
"It can't be undone." Tony repeated. "It can't." He turned his tear-filled gaze on the God of Thunder.
Thor laughed in denial.
"I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very earthly being, okay? We're talking about space magic. And 'can't' seems very definitive don't you think?" Thor tried.
"Yeah, look, I know I'm way outside my pay grade here...despite being to space THREE times." Tony hissed. "But he still isn't here is he?"
"No, that's my point..." Thor began.
"It. Can't. Be. Undone." Tony choked out. "Or that's at least what the red, floating, guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer, and you fly, and you talk to him!" Tony yelled, standing up and since Natasha was still curled into him, she got pulled up with him.
"Tony." She whispered softly in his ear, managing to get his breathing to slow down a little.
"It was supposed to be me." Tony said after a moment.
"What?" Natasha asked in horror.
"He sacrificed his life for that goddamn stone." Tony told them. "He bet his life on it. Made sure that I came home to you." He said the last part to his wife.
"Argh!" Bruce yelled and threw the bench, and he slowly turned around. "He's not coming back. We have to make it worth it. We have to."
"We will." Natasha said in a tone that was confident, yet heartbroken, squeezing her husband's hand with all the love she could muster.
—
Loki watched his brother and his friends argue down at the lake. The raven haired God leant back against the tree and let out a long breath, willing the unshed tears to go away. These last five years, he had gotten close to the hero they called War Machine. He would even consider him one of his closest friends, and now he was gone.
Without thinking, he pulled the cell phone out of his pocket and hit the familiar button. Placing it to his ear, he hoped that they would answer.
"Hello?" Her sweet voice asked.
"Jane." He stammered out, his resolve slowly weakening.
"Loki?" Jane asked. "What's wrong?"
"It's Rhodes." He said, letting his walls down, like he normally did around him.
"What about him?" Jane said softly, dread filling her stomach.
"He's...He's gone." Loki whispered.
"Oh my...How?" She asked.
"Him and Stark went to a planet by the name of Vormir to get the soul stone." Loki explained. "What we didn't know was there was a price for the stone...A soul for a soul."
"How's Stark?" Jane asked, her brain trying to process the information she was just given.
"About as well as he can be." Loki tilted his head at the billionaire, who had now stood up to yell at his brother. "It's a damn good thing he's got Romanoff, though."
"Loki?" Jane asked.
"Yes, luv?" Loki said.
"Come home." Jane pleaded. "Come home, now. Just come home and we can crawl in bed and never leave."
Loki shut his eyes tightly at her plea, he knew she wasn't serious about it, just scared. Hell, he was too. Rhodes' death had added a sense of reality to the situation, and any one of them could be the next to bite the bullet. The raven haired prince was silently waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"I can't." He spoke brokenly. "You know I can't."
His girlfriend let out a tearful chuckle, and it caused him to smile softly.
"You know the one time I want you to be that selfish bastard I first met, but I love you for the man you've become." Jane told him.
"I love you, and I promise to go against Valhalla and Hel to get home to you." Loki said.
"You better." Jane chuckled. "I love you."
"And I, you." Loki said and hung up the phone just as the original six Avengers were walking towards him.
"Ready?" Tony asked quietly.
"Let's finish this." Loki confirmed. "For Rhodes."
"For Rhodey." Tony repeated.
—
Loki stood with Natasha and Clint as they watched Tony put all the stones above their intended destination with a robotic hand. They all held their breath as the stones were inserted into the glove.
"BOOM!" Rocket yelled, causing every one to jump and the raccoon to chuckle.
Loki closed his eyes, smiling softly at the yelp of discomfort coming from the raccoon. He opened his eyes to see the bald raccoon, and looked at Stark, the two of them smiled. Loki waited half a minute before he let the illusion fade.
"I hate you." Rocket grumbled as they walked off.
Tony checked over the glove, with Rocket, one more time.
"All right, the glove's ready." Rocket announced. "Question is, who's gonna snap their freakin' fingers?"
"I'll do it." Thor said and began to walk towards them.
"Excuse me?" Tony asked.
"It's okay. Uhh..." Thor began to walk towards the glove.
Tony, Clint, Loki, and Steve all reached out to stop him.
"Hey, hey. Woah. Stop. Stop." Tony tried to stop the God.
"Thor." Steve said, in a calm tone that Tony did not have at the moment. "Just wait. We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet."
"I'm sorry." Thor huffed in irritation. "What, we're all just sitting around for the right opportunity?"
"We should at least discuss it." Scott told them.
"Look, sitting here staring at the thing is not going to bring everyone back." Thor told them. "I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? So, this responsibility falls upon me."
"Normally you're right." Tony began, but Thor continued.
"It's my duty." Thor said.
"It's not about that." Tony told him.
"It's not that..." Thor continued.
"Hey, buddy..." Tony tried to get him the back off, but Thor shushed him.
"Stop it!" Thor snapped. "Just let me. Just let me do it." He begged, grabbing Tony's hand. "Just let me do something good. Something right."
"Look, it's not just the fact that that glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent." Tony reasoned with the God of Thunder. "I'm telling you. You're in no condition."
"W-What do y-What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?" Thor asked.
"Cheez Whiz?" Loki answered sarcastically, and his brother's face warped in frustration and he pointed a finger at him, but then continued.
"Lightning." Thor said the answer he was thinking of.
"Yeah." Tony replied, trying to think of a new way to get through to his friend.
"Lightning." Thor repeated.
"I'll do it." Loki said and everyone looked at the raven haired God, who was staring at the glove.
"What?" Thor asked, thrown off his game.
"I've 'died' and come back more than anyone can remember." Loki explained. "I can do this."
"Not questioning you cat lives, lover boy." Rocket called. "But I really don't want to have to find pretty pants and tell her you're dead...again."
"He's right, Loki." Thor said, forgetting that 'pretty pants' was Rocket's nickname for Jane, but it was a surprise that he knew his own name sometimes. "I have lightning, you just have your tricks."
"Lightning won't help you, pal." Bruce said. "It's gotta be me. You saw what those stones did to Thanos. They almost killed them. None of you could survive."
"How do we know you will?" Steve asked.
"We don't." Bruce answered. "But the radiation's mostly gamma. It's like...I was made for this."
"Bruce..." Natasha started to protest, she didn't know what she would say, but there had to be another way. One that did not result in one of them possibly dying.
"It's fine, Nat." Bruce smiled warmly at her and picked up the gauntlet. "I'll be fine."
"Good to go, yeah?" Tony asked, softly pulling his wife to his side, knowing how hard she liked to fight for her friends.
"Let's do it." Bruce responded, confidently.
"Okay, remember, everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago, you're just bringing them back to now, today." Tony reminded him. "Don't change anything from the last five years."
"Got it." Bruce said.
Steve in the mean time had gotten his helmet and shield, ready to use the latter if this did not go according to plan. Scott pressed his chest and his helmet came around his head, and he rested his hand on the button by his finger, ready to shrink if necessary. Thor got in front of Rocket and Loki allowed his armor to incase his body. Tony tapped his arc reactor and his suit formed around him, Natasha pressed the button on her belt as her suit did exactly what Tony's did. They both stood beside Clint, who had his bow ready, and the couple extended shields to protect all three of them.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., do me a favor and activate Barn Door Protocol. Will ya?" Tony asked nervously.
"Yes, boss." F.R.I.D.A.Y. obeyed as always.
Everyone was quiet as they all watched metal encase the entire building and lock them inside the one room.
"Everybody comes home." Bruce summered to himself as he placed the gauntlet on his hand as it grew to fit it.
Bruce dropped to the ground on one knee, yelling in pain. Natasha moved to do something to help her friend, but Tony grabbed her arm.
"Take it off!" Natasha yelled, since she couldn't physically do it herself. "Take it off, Bruce!"
"No, wait." Steve told her. "Bruce, are you okay?"
"Talk to me, Banner." Tony commanded.
Bruce continued to yell in pain, but then took a deep breath and nodded.
"I'm okay." He told them and Thor exchanged a look with his brother as held his shaking hands up and gave Bruce a thumbs up. "I'm okay."
Bruce closed his eyes in concentration as he raised his hand, yelling as he snapped his fingers. No sooner did he do it, his eyes glazed over before his eyes rolled into the back of his head as his eye lids closed and he fell to the ground, the gauntlet cluttering to the ground beside them.
"Bruce!" Steve yelled as him and Natasha made a move for their friend as Clint kicked the gauntlet away.
"Don't move him." Tony ordered as he moved down by his wife and one of his best friends.
Tony's helmet fell away, as did Natasha's, and he let an ice like substance coat Banner's arm. Bruce winced in pain as he grabbed Steve's wrist.
"Did it work?" Bruce asked.
"We're not sure." Thor spoke honestly, as many of the people in the room tried to keep the hope from swelling in their chests. "It's okay."
"Hun...Honey?" Natasha's gaze snapped away from Bruce as she heard her best friend greet his wife. "Honey." He repeated, and Natasha knew Laura was back.
"Guys, I think it worked." Scott called happily from the other room.
Bruce opened his eyes as the pain started to slowly die away. His eyes widened slightly in disbelief as he saw the ship. Tony had no time to react as he felt the force of an explosion and watched as his wife fell away to the depths of the building as he himself was blown back by the explosion.
—
Natasha felt water dripping on her, now closed, helmet. She looked over to see that Bruce was holding up a part of the building, trying to keep it from falling on them.
"I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" Rocket gasped out in panic. "I can't breathe!"
"Widow. Widow. Widow." Natasha gasped out in pain from the fall she had just taken part in.
She felt the suit go back into the belt. That was the code word Tony had installed in case she could not concentrate enough to will the suit away.
"Nat, Rocket, get out of here." Bruce groaned as he tried to keep the piece of concrete up with one hand.
"Let me up!" Rocket cried as Natasha crawled on her hands and knees over by him, still trying to catch her breath. "Let me up!" She saw a pipe and grabbed it and got it in position. "Come on!" Rocket cried.
Using all of her strength, Natasha pushed on the pipe as Rocket crawled out. He collapsed on his back, trying to get air into his previously restricted lungs, and Natasha collapsed next to him.
"Nat!" Bruce called in alarm.
By moving the piece of building that was on Rocket, water now came rushing through. Natasha felt herself get ripped away by the rushing water.
"Huh?" Rocket shouted in confusion as he was ripped away too.
"Mayday! Mayday!" Natasha yelled, trying to keep her head above the rushing water. "Does anybody copy? We're on the lower level. It's flooding!"
The good news was, they were in a room, so they had just gotten pushed up against a wall. The bad news was, water was now rapidly filling it.
"What?" Scott asked but Natasha didn't hear him.
"We're drowning!" She shouted again. "Does anybody copy? Mayday!"
"Wait!" Scott shouted. "I'm here! I'm here. Can you hear me?"
"Scott." Natasha replied. "Hurry, please! We're..."
Her voice was cut off as the coms went dead and she had no way of knowing just how much Scott knew of their situation, or where they were.
—
Loki rose slowly to his feet and winced, clutching his head. He looked up to see a small glimmer of light and groaned.
"Stark?" He called out. "Romanoff? Thor?"
It was moments like this where he really wished he had a com link that Rogers was always insisting he get. He groaned as he pulled out his daggers, jamming them into the wall to begin climbing when he saw something. Loki paused and looked over and his eyes widened.
—
Clint groaned and pulled himself out of the rubble.
"Ow!" He groaned and leaned against the wall.
Turning his flash light on, he looked around before looking up at the distance he had to go to get to the surface.
"Cap?" He called.
When he got no answer he turned to begin walking down the hallway when something caught his eye. He removed small pieces of rocks away from the object. Before him was the gauntlet, all six stones still in tact.
Suddenly he heard a quiet growl and he looked up at the darkness in front of him. He reached behind his head and grabbed an arrow. Notching it, he turned around and let the arrow fly. It let off a light and Clint eyes widened as he saw the monsters approaching him.
"Okay." He said.
Clint tried to calm his small amount of fear at facing a creature he never had faced before, and jerked his hand, turning his bow into a staff. Reaching down he picked up the gauntlet and began to run.
—
"Come on, buddy, wake up!" Tony said, trying to remain calm after his coms set went down.
F.R.I.D.A.Y. was working on wirelessly fixing them as they spoke. Till then he had no way of knowing if his wife was alive or not.
"That's my man." Tony said in relief when Steve's eyes snapped open and he took in a sharp breath. "You lose this again, and I'm keeping it." He warned as he held up Steve's dirt covered shield.
"What happened?" Steve asked as he looked around.
"You mess with time, it tends to mess back." Tony said seriously. "You'll see."
Tony extended his hand to Steve, who used it to pull himself up off the ground. Steve followed his friend through the rubble until he saw Thor standing at the edge of the rubble. The Captain's heart stopped and then started again in anger as the Titan smiled smugly at them.
"What's he been doing?" Tony asked.
"Absolutely nothing." Thor answered honestly.
"Where are the stones?" Steve asked.
"Somewhere under all of this." Tony said. "All we know is he doesn't have 'em."
"So we keep it that way." Steve told his friends.
"You know it's a trap, right?" Thor asked rhetorically.
"Yeah." Tony agreed. "I don't much care. This bastard just tried to kill the woman I love, more than once, whether he knows it or not."
"Good." Thor nodded. "Just as long as we're all in agreement."
The three Avengers did not even flinch as the sky darkened and crackled with thunder and Thor's eyes lit up with lightning. Strands of lightning ran across Thor's body before he got struck by a bolt of it. Stormbreaker and Miölnir flew into his hands and his armor encased his body as his hair was tied away from his face and his beard was braided.
"Let's kill him properly this time." Thor told the others.
The three of them began their trek down the remains of the building. Eventually they reached the ground level and began to advance on the mad titan. Thanos looked up at them as they continued to advance on him.
"You could not live with your own failure." Thanos mocked them. "And where did that bring you? Back to me. I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive."
Steve nudged Tony with his elbow and the billionaire looked over. Steve jerked his head and Tony nodded, breaking away from Thor and Steve, and the God of Thunder went the other way.
"But you've shown me that's impossible." Thanos continued. "And as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."
"Yep, we're all kinds of stubborn." Tony told the mad titan, trying to banish the memories from Thanos' home world from his mind.
"I'm thankful." Thanos said, looking at Tony for a second before looking back down. "Because now, I know what I must do." Thanos rose as he continued to speak. "I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then," He picked up his helmet and put it on. "with the stones you've collected for me, create a new one, teeming with life, that knows not what it has lost, but only what it had been given.
Tony's heart quickened its pace in panic at the thought of Thanos' plan. His life, his wife, his children, his friends, his family...all of them could be gone if they did not fight until their last breath.
Thor's eyes hardened in anger and they brightened with lightning and it traveled to his ax and hammer. Loki surely would not survive Thanos' judgement and Thor could not bear to loose his brother again.
Steve may have just gotten everything that he ever cared about back and he would be damned if he let this being with a God-like complex take that away from him.
"A grateful universe." Thanos told them, pleased with his idea.
"Born out of blood." Steve reminded him.
"They'll never know it." Thanos told them. "Because you won't be alive to tell them."
Thor yelled as the lightning surged and the God lunged forward. Tony's helmet went up and he followed suit, leaping into the air and swung his staff of sorts at Thanos. He ducked as Steve threw his shield over Tony's head to hit Thanos.
The original three Avengers took turns trying to defeat Thanos.
—
Natasha held her head above the water as silent tears rolled down her face. The water was filling the room up quickly and she had a feeling Scott wasn't going to make it in time. Rocket was panicking next to her as Bruce struggled to keep the wall up. Even though she knew that the coms were not up yet, she still raised her hand to her ear.
"If anyone can hear me, tell my family I love them." Natasha spoke, fear clear in her tone.
Rocket whimpered as the water continued to rise, and Natasha closed her eyes as she waited for the inevitable.
—
Clint ran as fast as he could as he felt the space dogs running behind him. As he ran, he yanked arrows out of his quiver and rammed them into the walls and ceiling. He felt the explosion as he was catapulted forward. Clint fell on his back before he got up quickly at the sight of a few creatures crawling from the fire.
Without thinking he raised his hand and shot a cable up to the ceiling. When it attached, he clipped it to his belt and held onto the wire and he shot up. Clint pulled out his sword and slashed at the outriders that got too close. He bounced off the wall and climbed onto the next level, slicing another creature.
"Ahhh!!" Clint yelled, raising his sword and looking over the edge for another creature, but he found none.
Clint rolled on his back, exhausted. His sword fell from his grip and clattered the ground, the gauntlet loosely grasped in his other arm. He heard footsteps and he raised his head slightly to see that woman Tony had been marooned with.
"Oh, hey." Clint said and handed her the gauntlet. "I know you."
"Father," She began and Clint lifted his head in confusion. "I have the stones."
"What?" Clint asked and she slammed her boot on his chest and pointed a gun at him.
"Stop." A voice called and Nebula's head whipped around.
Clint saw a woman with green skin and black and pink hair walk into the room a gun pointed at Nebula. Nebula, herself, moved her foot off Clint's chest and moved to face the woman, still pointing the gun at Clint.
"You're betraying us?" Nebula asked.
Clint thought he had hit his head on something because another Nebula walked into the room, her hands raised up, showing she meant no harm. The Nebula with the gauntlet whipped the gun off Clint and pointed it at the other version of herself. Clint leapt out of the way to watch the scene from a safe distance. Suddenly it hit Clint that there were two Nebulas, just from different times, and if another Nebula from the past was here, then that meant that there was a very good chance that there was another Thanos.
"You don't have to do this." Nebula, from their time, said.
"I am this." Nebula spoke brokenly after looking between the two women.
"No, you're not." Gamora assured her sister.
"You've seen what we've become." Nebula told her past self, pointing to her head.
The past Nebula looked at her future self for a moment and then looked at her sister, tears in her black eyes.
"Nebula, listen to her." Gamora pleaded.
"You can change." Nebula assured her past self when she looked at her.
Gamora lowered her gun, showing her sister that she trusted her. Nebula shook her head quickly.
"He won't let me." She choked out and whipped her gun at her sister.
"No!" Gamora shouted, raising her hand as if that would stop the blast.
Future Nebula yanked out her gun and shot the past version of herself before she could loose her sister again. The past Nebula slumped to the ground and Clint grabbed the gauntlet from the place where it had landed next to her. He tucked the gauntlet under his hand, unwilling to let it go again.
—
Tony landed on the ground, his suit opening up to let out another weapon.
"Okay, Thor." Tony commanded. "Hit me."
Tony leaned forward from the force of the lightning and let all the beams shoot forwards and hit Thanos' double sword. The mad titan began to spin his blade, advancing on Tony. Thor threw his hammer in the air and the hit it with his ax, much like one would hit a baseball with a bat. Thanos reached Tony first however and picked him up, letting the hammer hit the billionaire instead.
Tony tried to stay awake as he was catapulted across the ground, but the final chunk of rubble sent him tumbling into darkness.
"Boss, wake up!" He heard F.R.I.D.A.Y. urge him distantly.
—
Steve's first thought was to race to his friend and check if he was okay, but instead he rushed towards Thanos. He tried kicking the titan, but Thanos just sent him flying back, through a chunk of rubble.
"Captain, coms systems are back up." F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice filtered in.
"Good." He replied, getting to his feet, with a groan. "Tony?" He asked.
"Boss is fine, just unconscious." F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced. "I will work on waking him up now."
"You do that." Steve talked to the AI as if it were an actual person. "I going to help Thor."
Steve thought back to all those years ago, back in that compound. When Thor challenged all of them to try and lift Miölnir. The Captain closed his eyes, finally doing the thing he had not done years ago. He felt a surge of power and directed it right into Thanos, knocking the Titan away from Thor.
"I knew it!" Thor exclaimed happily as Miölnir flew back into Steve's hand.
Fighting with the hammer was easier than Steve thought it would be, for it seemed the weapon was perfectly well balanced. Unfortunately, the mad titan got the upper hand, slicing Steve's leg with his sword as well as sending the hammer back to the ground and chipping away parts of the shield Howard Stark had made him years ago.
When he threw Steve back to the ground, the captain almost wanted to give up but he knew he couldn't. It was one of the things that always had Bucky rolling his eyes when they were kids. It was his inability to run the other way when he saw a situation going south or one that needed his help.
It was that idea that propelled him to turn on his stomach and begin the slow trek that was standing up.
"In all my years of conquest...violence...slaughter...it was never personal." Thanos told him. "But I'll tell you now, what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet...I'm going to enjoy it...very, very much."
Steve watched in horror as many of the enemies they had faced over the years...ones that they had defeated, suddenly materialized in front of him. There were even some creatures that he had never seen before, but he needed to do this for everyone who deserved their lives back.
So with that he dragged himself to his feet, tightened the strap on his shield and faced an army he had no chance of beating, but he had to try. He limped towards his appending doom when he heard something that made his heart stop for a brief moment.
"Hey, Cap, can you read me?" Sam asked. "Cap, it's Sam." His friend repeated after getting no reply. "Can you hear me?"
Steve raised his hand to touch the com in his ear, and his friend must have heard the click of Steve activating his coms because he said something that made his hope explode into pure joy.
"On your left."