2023 ― Upstate New York
HOLLAND STARK WAS KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS BY THE BLAST, but she was still near Steve and Tony. Tony was closest to Steve, and he had the shield too because Steve got separated from it in the blast. "Come on, buddy, wake up!" Tony said. Steve woke with a loud gasp as his eyes widened. "That's my man. You lose this again. I'm keeping it." Tony said.
"What happened? Where's Holland?" Steve asked.
"You mess with time; it tends to mess back. And as for my Aunt, I've been searching the rubble for her, but I can't find her." Tony said as he helped Steve off of the ground and handed him his shield.
"Holly!" Steve called out for her. From where she was. Holland's eyes opened, and the first thing she did was cough which Steve heard, and he immediately started walking in her direction. "Holly!" He called out again.
"Steve!" She yelled as she picked herself up off of the ground. Steve found her and wrapped his arms around her, and let out a deep breath. "I'm okay. I'm good." She said. When they pulled away, she dusted herself off and smiled at Tony before they walked through the rubble until they found Thor, who was standing there and looking out ahead. Then Holland looked up ahead to see what he was looking at.
Thanos.
"What's he been doing?" Tony asked.
"Absolutely nothing," Thor said.
"Where are the stones?" Steve asked.
"Somewhere under all of this," Holland said as she gestured to what was the rubble of their Avengers Facility.
"All I know is, he doesn't have them," Tony said.
"So, we keep it that way," Steve said.
"You know it's a trap, right?" Thor asked.
"Yeah, but I don't care," Holland said as she felt her power surging within her. Now that she could control when her eyes glow blue and control how to make her fire hotter, she was ready for war. "He's the reason I lost Bucky, and I want his head."
"Good. Just as long as we're all in agreement." Thor said. The clouds got even darker as lightning coursed through them while Thor summoned his weapons. Holland let herself concentrate, and soon her eyes were glowing blue, and blue fire was wrapped around the gloved hands of her suit. "Let's kill him properly this time."
The four of them slowly approached Thanos, who was sitting there and waiting for them. "You could not live with your own failure, and where did that bring you? Back to me." Thanos said as they approached in flanks. Thor broke off on one side, Tony to the other side, Steve and Holland stayed straight in the middle. "I thought by eliminating half of life... the other half would thrive. But you've shown me... that's impossible. 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." He said.
"Yup, we're all kinds of stubborn," Tony said.
"I'm thankful. Because now... I know what I must do. I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then... 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 has been given. A grateful universe." Thanos had since then stood up and put his helmet on while grabbing his weapon. Thor's eyes were glowing, Holland's eyes were glowing, and they were ready to strike.
"Born out of blood," Steve said.
"They'll never know it. Because you won't be alive to tell them." Thanos said.
The four of them attacked at the same time. Thor went in with his ax, Tony flew down, and Steve threw his shield while Holland threw balls of fire at him. "Okay, Thor. Hit me." Tony said. He was going to direct a blast at Thanos but channel more power through Thor hitting him with a lightning blast, and it worked. Then Holland saw as Steve went up against him, and Thanos knocked him down into a rock after he had just done the same with Tony.
"Steve!" Holland yelled. Now she was the one facing Thanos. Holland wrapped her hands with blue fire as she shot out a powerful blast toward him, but he held his weapon up in front of him to block the blow. Then he saw Thor coming up and threw his weapon out, but Thor slid under it before coming back up, and the two came at Thanos together. For every hit Thor gave him, Holland shot out another blast of fire toward him. Thor was able to knock away Thanos's weapon, but Thanos knocked Thor away. Kicked him down into more rubble, and then he turned to Holland.
He easily deflected her blasts of fire since they disintegrated in the air easily and didn't stick. He kicked her down onto a rock before grabbing her and throwing her in the opposite direction of another rock, and she hit her head, but she was still awake. Then Thanos put a heavy foot to her chest, which she knew she wouldn't have survived without the super-soldier serum and the energy from the Tesseract flowing through her. Thor was behind her and tried to summon his ax so he could help her, but Thanos caught it mid-air, and he brought it closer to her chest.
She thought this was it, and this was how she was going to die, and she only had one last thought in her head before waiting for the final blow. "I love you, James Buchanan Barnes." But then Thor's hammer slowly started to lift from the ground, and then it knocked Thanos off of her. Holland followed the direction of the hammer, expecting to see it go back to Thor's hands, but her jaw nearly dropped.
Steve was wielding it.
She remembered back before Ultron attacked them, they all took turns trying to lift Thor's hammer, and Steve almost did it, but now, seeing him actually holding it. Holland was awestruck. And she was so proud of him. But Steve was pissed since he just saw Thanos almost kill his best friend.
He ran at him and hit him upright with the hammer, and then he used his shield and his hammer; he threw the hammer into the shield, which sent out a sonic blast that caught Thanos off guard and as both things came back to Steve, he hit Thanos again. Then Holland stood from the ground as he summoned the lightning throughout the hammer. It ran its course on the ground to Thanos, completely covering him in lightning before Steve jumped in the air and came down and hit him in his chest.
And then, when he was about to hit him again, Thanos recovered, and he sent Steve flying. Thanos grabbed him by his neck and slammed him down onto the ground. "Steve!" Holland yelled as she shot out a surge of fire from her hands. Thanos turned and used his weapon to block her fire before he turned back to Steve. Steve was able to dodge one of his hits, but then Thanos swung his weapon and got Steve right through the leg. "Steve!" Holland yelled again as her best friend cried out in pain.
She was quickly on Thanos' heels as Thanos knocked Miljnor away from Steve and threw him down on the ground. And Holland shot out a circle of fire around Thanos to buy them some time, but he easily walked through it and started to bring down his weapon. Steve moved Holland out of the way as he held up his shield to block the blow, and then something happened that Holland never expected to see.
The shield cracked.
She didn't know vibranium could do that.
Thanos kept beating down on Steve's shield before he finally knocked him away, and Holland threw a couple of balls of fire up to his face before he swung his weapon down at her legs and cut her, which made her stumble and lose her balance, and then he threw her back and threw her down next to Steve. "Steve..." She whispered as she looked over at him. He rolled on his side to face her. They were both down, horrible.
"In all my years of conquest... violence... slaughter... it was never personal. But I'll tell you now... what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying, little planet... I'm gonna enjoy it... very, very much." Thanos said as many more of his alien creatures started coming out of their ship. Holland looked over at Steve as they both pulled themselves up from the ground, and Holland took a deep breath. She didn't know where Tony and Thor were, so she and Steve were against Thanos and his entire army. She knew they would fight as hard as they could but in the end.
She knew they wouldn't survive.
"Thank you, Steve... for being my best friend and my partner in this crazy avengers life. It's been an honor to be by your side." Holland said as she looked at him, and Steve looked at her, saying the three words for what he was thinking would be the last time.
"What are we?" He said, and Holland wore a sad smile on her face.
"Family... always." She said, and Steve nodded his head. "I love you, Steve." She said to him.
"I love you too, Holly," Steve said, and she nodded her head before wiping her eyes, and then she turned back to Thanos.
"Let's go out swinging..." She said as her eyes started to glow blue, and blue fire wrapped around her hands. They watched as Thanos' army began to surround him. She had no idea where the rest of her team members were, and she knew this was how it ended. Steve strapped his broken shield back onto him, and Holland grabbed Bucky's dog tags and gently kissed them before tucking them into her suit.
More of their ships filled the air, and Holland took a deep breath. "Hey, Cap, Holly. You read me?" The voice of Sam Wilson coming through her comms shocked her to stillness. "Cap, Holly, it's Sam. Can you hear me?" Sam asked.
"Oh my god..." Holland whispered.
"On your left."
Steve and Holland both turned around to see a portal opening behind them. Bruce's snapped worked; everyone was back. First out of the portal were T'Challa, Okoye, and Shuri. Holland and Steve both let out a breath of relief, and T'Challa nodded to them. Then Sam came flying out, and Holland watched as multiple portals opened and all the rest of the Avengers started coming out. If they weren't in the middle of battle, she would start crying. Everyone was back, and that also meant.
Bucky was back too.
Then a big version of Scott broke through the wall with Rhodey, Bruce, and Rocket. Holland couldn't help but smile with tears in her eyes as she looked at Steve. They were no longer outnumbered, everyone was back, and she could say with confidence. They were going to win. Everyone started to line up behind her and Steve.
"Avengers... Assemble."
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Holland was now as equally hyped up as she was pissed off as she fought. She burned her way through every alien that she saw. She found Bucky, and the two of them were fighting side by side. Bucky, shooting any creature that came toward her, and she burned through any creature that tried to touch him, and when their area had been cleared, she turned to him.
"Bucky..." She whispered. Bucky turned around and had a smile on his face when he saw her.
"Hey, Holly..." He said back. Holland practically threw herself into his arms. She didn't care that they were in the middle of a huge battle. Bucky was back, and she just needed a moment to savor it. When they pulled away, Bucky laid his hand down on her cheek. "I missed you." He said.
"I love you." Holland immediately responded as she leaned up and stole a kiss. She knew they had to get back to fighting, but just for one moment, she wanted it to be her and Bucky. He eased into kissing her back as his arm slid around her waist, and then he pulled away with a smile on his face.
"I love you too, and we will have plenty of time for this... after we win." He said. Holland laughed, and she reached up and stole away one more kiss from him.
"That was just for good luck," Holland said, and Bucky laughed as they jumped back into battle. For the first time in a long time, Holland felt hopeful.
"Cap. What do you want me to do with this damn thing?" Clint Barton asked as he was running through the battlefield, and he was holding the gauntlet in his hand, which contained all of the stones.
"Get those stones as far away as possible," Steve responded.
"No! We need to get 'em back where they came from." Banner said.
"Well, Bruce, I don't think current circumstances will allow for that right now," Holland said.
"And there's no way to get 'em back. Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel." Tony said.
"Hold on. That wasn't our only time machine." Scott said, and then Holland looked up when she heard a car horn. At first, she wondered what a car was doing in the middle of this battleground, but then she remembered how the battleground came about.
"Anyone see an ugly brown van out there?" Steve asked.
"Yes, but you're not going to like where it's parked." The unfamiliar voice of Valkyrie came through Holland's comms.
"Scott. How long do you need to get that thing working?" Tony asked.
"Maybe ten minutes," Scott said.
"Get it started. We'll get the stones to you." Steve said.
"We're on it, Cap." Another unfamiliar female voice came through Holland's ears, and it was the voice of Hope. Scott said she was the one who was supposed to pull him from the quantum realm, but then Thanos snapped, she disappeared, and he got stuck.
Holland worked her way over back to where Steve was fighting to assist him, but as she was making her way over to him, missiles and bombs started flying down from nowhere, and now she was weaving and dodging, trying to avoid the blows.
"Help, somebody help!" Holland heard Peter yell as she made her way over to Steve.
"Hey, Queens, heads up!" Steve said as he threw Mjolnir, and then another blast came, so Steve quickly covered Holland. Then everyone noticed, the missiles started to fire at the atmosphere, and Holland knew exactly why.
Carol.
"What the hell is this?" Sam asked.
Holland watched as Carol flew right through the ship and caused it to explode and the missiles to stop firing, and the ship crashed right into the water. "Danvers, we need an assist here," Steve said.
As Carol was making her way across the battlefield, Thanos threw his weapon into the quantum tunnel, sending out a sonic blast that sent everyone flying. When Holland looked up and saw her surroundings, first she saw the gauntlet, and then she saw Thanos.
And then she saw her nephew.
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Last two chapters coming up.
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xoxo.