"Okay, hold on, don't shoot." Clint showed his daughter how to aim a bow. She held it perfectly, aiming towards the target that was across from her.
"You see where you're going?" He asked, eliciting a hum of acknowledgment. "Okay. Now, let's worry about how you get there." He patted her on the back, moving to stand on her left as he showed her how her footing should be.
"Gotta move your foot here." Clint tapped the back of her heel with his foot, making her slide her foot further to the left. "Your hips here." He turned her to stand in a better stance.
"Okay. Can you see?" He asked.
"Yeah." She responded simply.
"Are you sure?" He got another yes. "How about now?" He moved her hair in front of her eye, earning a giggle from her.
"No." She laughed at him. He then placed his hand over her eye.
"How about now?" The two laughed again before he retracted his hand and stepped behind her. "Cmon. Three fingers."
Cooper and Nathaniel threw the ball between themselves while their mom made hot dogs. Cooper congratulated his brother whenever he would catch well, making the sight all the more adorable.
"Hey, you guys want Mayo? Or mustard? Or both??" Laura called out to her husband and daughter. Lila looked at her father in confusion and disgust.
"Who puts Mayo on a hot dog?" She asked, finding the concoction to sound horrible.
"Probably your brothers." Clint shook his head, turning around to look over at Laura. "Two mustard, please! Thanks, mama."
"Got it." Laura said in response, turning to Nathaniel next. "Nate, Mayo or mustard?"
"How about ketchup?" Nate asked in his quiet voice.
"Or ketchup. Ketchup works, too." Laura shrugged. Lila went back to aiming at the target, finally firing the arrow and hitting a bullseye. Clint laughed, high fiving her.
"Good job, hawk-eye." He praised her. "Get your arrow." He tapped her back as she began walking to the target.
"Hey, guys! Enough practice. Come grab food!" Laura called to them.
"All right. We're coming. We're hungry." Clint smiled, turning to look back at the target where he expected to find his daughter. "Lila, let's go." He looked around the area, not seeing her. "Lila?"
Clint slowly turned to look over at Laura. "Hey, babe!" He called, before seeing that she wasn't there, nor were the boys. A feeling of fear began to quickly rise in the pit of his stomach. He dropped the arrows in his hand, his head spinning around as thunder began to boom in the distance.
"Babe?" He began running down the hill to look for his family. He gave a shrill whistle with his fingers, trying to somehow catch their attention wherever they were. "Boys!"
Where were they?
"This is a nightmare." Steve mumbled, staring at the global count for missing persons. It just rose and rose and rose.
"I've had better nightmares." Natasha admitted. She spared a small glance at the nearby chair, looking over (Y/N) as he leant forward in his seat, a dark aura seeping from him.
"Hey," Rhodey walked into the room. "That thing just stopped doing whatever it was doing." Steve and Nat looked at each other, then followed Rhodey into the lab where Bruce and Link were already stood.
"Whatever signal it was sending, it finally burnt out." Bruce told them, looking at the pager behind glass.
"I thought we bypassed the battery? Why isn't it working?" Steve asked.
"It's still plugged in, but it just stopped." Link crossed his arms. Steve looked at him with a small nod of acknowledgment.
"Reboot it. Send the signal again." He told them.
"Steve, we don't even know what this is." Bruce pointed out.
"Fury did." Nat sighed. "Just do it, please. And tell me the second you get a signal. I wanna know who's on the other end of that thing." She turned to walk away, stopping dead in her tracks as a woman was in front of her.
"Where's Fury?" Carol asked, causing everyone to spin around at unseen speeds. They stared at Carol and she stared back.
"Who are you?" Natasha asked, looking behind her as she saw another figure.
"Carol Danvers." (Y/N) said in a monotone. Carol slowly turned around, curious how someone knew her full name like that. Did Fury tell them?
"How do you know my name?" Carol looked at him with a stern expression. There was a sharp exhale from (Y/N) as he leant against the wall.
"I've been told your name before. And I can sense a similarity between us. I'm putting the pieces together." He answered. It wasn't very difficult to tell she had a connection to the Space Stone like he did. Carol looked almost impressed with the fact she had been read so easily
"You're the one Fury was contacting?" Steve stepped forward, making Carol turn to face him.
"Where is he?"
"This thing on?" Tony tapped his helmet, sitting back against the front seat of the Benatar. Him and Nebula were the only survivors from Titan. And now they were floating through space.
"Hey, Miss Potts. Pep." Tony let out a deep exhale. "If you find this recording don't post it on social media. It's gonna be a real tearjerker. I don't know if you're ever gonna see these. I don't even know if you're still..." He paused, not wanting to think that Pepper had been dusted.
"Oh, God, I hope so." He breathed out. "Today's day 21. No, uh, 22. You know, if it wasn't for the existential terror... of staring into the literal void of space, I'd say I'm feeling a little better today. Infection's run its course, thanks to the Blue Meanie back there." He remembered the scene of being stabbed by his own blade by Thanos, and thinking about Nebula who was at the back of the ship.
"Oh, you'd love her. Very practical. Only a tad bit sadistic." He thought of the best way to describe the woman. "So, the fuel cells were cracked during battle... and we figured out a way to reverse the ion charge... and bought ourselves about 48 hours of flight time. Uh, but it's now dead in the water. Thousand light years from the nearest 7-Eleven."
"Oxygen will run out tomorrow morning... and that'll be it." Tony said plainly as he had started to accept his fate. "Pep, I know I said no more surprises... but I gotta say I was really hoping to pull off one last one. But it looks like... well, you know what it looks like."
"I hope the kid is still alive. The wizard said he sent him to Cap. I expect that at least one of his band members got dusted. I just hope that it wasn't him..." Tony bit his bottom lip, thinking about (Y/N) and hoping to god that he was alive. "I already lost one of the kids... I don't know if I can lose the other." He held his head in his hands, stopping his speech for a little while.
"I should probably lie down for a minute. Go rest my eyes." He sighed. "Please know... when I drift off, it'll be like every night lately. I'm fine. Totally fine. I dream about you. Because it's always you." His hands slowly traveled back to the helmet, powering it down silently.
He pulled on his coat, lying down on the metal floor with a deep breath as he shut his eyes. After a few minutes he was deep in slumber. Nebula entered the cockpit, seeing Tony on the ground. She quietly picked him up, placing him in a seat so he wasn't just on the ground.
The fragile and weakened Tony was still silent as he didn't wake from his sleep. Nebula lightly moved her hand away from him, turning and walking back down the ship.
All was quiet. All was dark. All was dark... all was dark... all was... bright?
Tony's head twitched as light began to shine onto his face. They weren't near any stars? What was it? His eyes fluttered open and his hand automatically moved to shield them. For a moment. He slowly began to examine the bright light in front of him, not sure what it was until it got just a little closer.
It was... a woman.
The entire compound rattled, alerting Steve while he was shaving. Pietro while he was mourning. Rhodey and Natasha while they were watching the missing count. Bruce and Link while they were talking. And (Y/N) as he gently strummed the guitar that belonged to Wanda in her room.
The team flooded outside and onto the grass, along with Pepper who was the most desperate to see Carol upon her return.
Carol glided down to the ground, carrying the Benatar upon her shoulders. She gently placed the ship down, looking over at the others as the ship's door opened. Tony and Nebula began to slowly step down, being met by Steve and (Y/N) sprinting over.
Tony's eyes traveled between the two, lingering on (Y/N) as he reached out to hug the younger man. He was alive... he was alive and that was all that mattered right now. That was the train of thought for both men.
Tony reeled back, going back to trying to steady himself as his body had become fragile. He looked back to Steve who seemed worried for his health.
"Couldn't stop him." Tony said quickly as both Steve and (Y/N) helped him walk further across the grass.
"Neither could we." Steve responded, earning a nod from (Y/N). Tony stopped the two for a second, looking down at the ground.
"I lost the kid." He said, making (Y/N)'s heart start to sink again. Peter got caught, too?
"Tony, we lost." Steve told him, trying to stop him from beating himself over the loss of the Spider-Man. Pepper came rushing over, looking at Tony in pure happiness at knowing he was alive.
"Oh, my God." Pepper hugged him as both Steve and (Y/N) moved back. Pepper sounded like she was on the verge of tears as the four continued walking.
Rocket and Nebula sat together on the steps of the Benatar. Clearly they were shattered about the loss of the other guardians.
Y/N's POV
"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey said as different holograms showed up of people who'd been snapped. Sam, Selvig, Strange, Fury, Bucky, Hope Van Dyne, Wanda.
I tore my eyes away from the holograms, refusing to look back at them again. Carol looked at me with a curious expression, but I didn't care for explanations. She had all the time in the world to help us when Thanos attacked, yet she didn't do fuck all.
"World governments are in pieces." Natasha stated. No surprises there.
"So are the people." Link said quietly from his seat on the sofa. Everyone had taken a hard hit. This wasn't how it was supposed to end. The bad guy isn't supposed to win...
"Thanos did exactly what he said he was gonna do. He wiped out 50% of all living creatures." Natasha continued, and I could see Carol staring at a different hologram of Fury. All I knew about their connection was that they worked together in the 90s.
I lightly slid my hand across Thor's back. I didn't want to make myself seem like some poor innocent soul that came out the worst. We'd all lost something. But in my eyes, me and Thor were having the worst time after everything.
"Where is he now? Where?" Tony asked. He didn't look in good shape what so ever.
"No clue. He just opened a portal and walked through." Steve answered. Tony moved his wheelchair to look over at me and Thor. My eyes locked with his for a split second before he looked back to the others.
"What's wrong with them?" He asked. I'm assuming it's due to the fact that me and Thor are the only ones who seem more livid than sad.
"Oh, they're pissed. Thor thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did... but there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?" Rocket told him. I didn't understand his genetics, but then again, I'm not extraterrestrial.
"Honestly, until this exact second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear." Tony joked. That was plausible, too.
"Maybe I am." Rocket replied. So, apparently he didn't even know what he was.
"And what about..." Tony motioned to me as if I wouldn't notice. The rest of the group seemed to bite their tongues and not say anything. There was only one other person who dared to answer the question. Excluding me.
"How would you feel if you lost your woman? Я уверен, что ты чувствовал бы себя просто идеально." Pietro crossed his arms. While he'd lost his sister, he had apparently managed to take it easier than me.
Tony seemed to stare off into a different direction, acting like he didn't bother asking the question.
"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans... and satellites, and we got nothing." Steve recited what we'd been doing. I'd give so much for us to find him. I'd give so much to slowly stab him through the heart with my sword. "Tony, you fought him."
"Who told you that?" Tony's head spun to Steve. "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet... while the Bleecker Street magician gave away the store. That's what happened." Tony continued, causing Steve to try quiet him, to no avail. "There was no fight, 'cause he's not beatable."
"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?" Steve asked. What a stupid question. I was honestly getting sick of such stupid fucking questions. Tony sputtered at his words.
"I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming. I mean, at least the kid still has two arms, so maybe it was just a dream." Tony began ranting on about random things.
"Tony, I need you to focus." Steve tried.
"And I needed you. As in, past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry." I narrowed my eyes at Tony's words. "You know what I need? I need a shave." Tony proceeded to knock over a good amount of things on the table. "And I believe I remember telling all youse..."
"Tony." I said his name as I watched him take out the needles that were in his arm. Was he trying to die?
"That what we needed was a suit of armour around the world. Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not. That's what we needed." Tony said, finally making me stand to my feet. I walked over to the table near the group, catching their eyes as I did so.
"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" I sat down in one of the chairs, not voicing my true thoughts just yet.
"I said we'd lose. He said, "we'll do that together, too." Tony told me, meaning Steve obviously. "And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there. But that's what we do, right?" God, what was his issue? Why was he freaking out over this in such a way. "But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the 'Avengers'. We're the 'Avengers', not the 'Pre-vengers'.
Rhodey quickly moved to stand in front of him as he began to try walk around. He tried to calm the Iron Man, but I knew that he wasn't going to go down without a verbal fight.
"Here's my point. You know what? She's great by the way." He pointed to Carol as Rhodey began to move him back to his seat. Carol was looking at him like the rest of us were: able to tell he was sick and acting like a dumbass.
"We need you. You're new blood. Bunch of tired old mules. I got nothing for you, Cap." He got past Rhodey and stood in front of Steve. "I got no coordinates... no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar."
Tony grabbed the nano particle arc reactor from his chest, pulling it off and slamming it into Steve's hand. "Here, take this. You find him, you put that on... you hide." I could instantly see what was about to happen. Tony collapsed from his lack of nutrition and water, but I managed to blink below him just in time to catch him.
"Tony!" Steve called his name.
"I'm fine. You can let go of me. Let me..." Aaaaand boom. Tony was out like a light, falling limp in my arms and very nearly bashing his head against Carol's leg. I lifted him up, passing him to Rhodey.
"Get him in a bed and keep him there." I told him, earning a nod as he moved to go do so. As the team watched Rhodey walk away with Tony in his arms, I spun around to Carol, lightly pushing her backwards. The crowd reacted with a lot of questioning sounds and exclamations, while Carol just stared at me.
"Where were you when Thanos attacked? Huh? Maybe if you were actually here then we could've won." I said, finally letting my emotions start to slowly leak.
"If I'd known, I'd have been here to help." She responded, making me legitimately laugh. I must've looked half insane to the rest of the team, but it genuinely amused me.
"Oh, so you never got any warning from the Space Stone? The stone that gave you your abilities. What, did you just take the powers and go? Never wanting anything to do with it anymore?" I held my face as I continued to laugh to myself.
"What the hell are you talking about?" She asked, causing me to throw her straight back into the wall with a gust of energy. I quickly felt Steve and Natasha grab me, pulling me back.
"(Y/N)!" Steve called out my name in a mix of confusion and anger.
"It's fine." Carol told them, wiping a hand across her bottom lip before stepping forward.
"When Thanos attacked the asgardians for the Tesseract, it let out its own distress signal to those with an affinity. I was already there when it happened, and it's why I assumed Loki had it on him. If you're telling me that you never sensed anything similar to that, or never even spoke with Cosmo. You're either ignorant or a poor excuse for a hero." I snapped before turning around as Steve walked me away.