"But this is your home. We need you here. T'Challa is gone- Shuri is gone-"
"You don't need me here, Okoye. Wakanda needs leaders. I am not that. Wakanda needs you, and M'Baku."
"Please don't go. Don't leave, too."
"I can't stay. I can't go back into my home- it hurts too much without him there. I- I have to start somewhere new. Captain Rogers and Miss Romanoff say they are going to search for Thanos and find a way to bring everyone back. I have to help. I have to go with them and try. I can't just sit here and mope and cry. Please... I need to do this."
**********
The God-like man sat on the bench outside of the compound, hunched over with his elbows forward on his knees. He ran his fingers back and forth across his golden beard, his two different colored eyes- brown and blue- staring at the ground without really focusing on anything. Ava noticed him moping when she stepped outside for a breath of fresh air.
"Hey," She said, drawing his attention. He looked up from the ground, sitting more upright in a poor attempt to hide the turmoil in his expression. "You're Thor, right?"
"Yes."
She pressed a small smile to her face and nodded her head. "You look like you could do with some company," She murmured while she walked over toward the bench and motioned to the seating space beside him. "Do you mind?"
"No- no," He shook his head a little. "Go ahead."
Ava sat down on the bench, keeping some space between them as Thor looked straight ahead, his eyes wandering over the lawn and the trees along the horizon. No birds chirped despite the cloudless, blue sky and a warm breeze in the air. Ava looked down at her hands in her lap, rolling her thumbs together as she tried to find the words to fill the silence. "What happened with Thanos... It wasn't your fault."
Thor smiled solemnly and took in a deep breath. "It was."
"It wasn't." She turned her head toward him. "We all blame ourselves, but the truth is that none of us are to blame. We did everything we could to stop him."
"I could have. I could have stopped him if I'd just gone for the head." Thor muttered and looked down at his hands again. "But, no. I was too angry. I wanted him to suffer for what he'd done. You see, my home had just been destroyed by my evil sister and a giant monster named Surtur- then Thanos attacked my ship of surviving Asgardians and killed half the people on board. He stabbed my best friend through the heart in front of me and murdered my brother. I wanted him to see my face as he died."
Ava clung to every word and nodded her head as she listened to him. She bit the inside of her cheek and took a deep breath, looking out at the horizon again. It still wasn't his fault. There was no way he could have anticipated that Thanos would still snap his fingers. "You know... If it were me, I would have done the same thing."
Thor turned his head toward her as she turned her head toward him, the two of them silently staring at each other. Thor held her gaze for a short amount of time before he opened up his mouth again to speak. "Who was that man that stood beside you? He called out your name before he... vanished."
Bucky Barnes. She looked away from Thor again, back down to her hands while she bit down on the inside of her cheek- habit of anxiety and a way for her to hide her feelings by distracting herself with the physical pain of it."My fiance." She answered softly. "He's the love of my life."
Guilt swarmed up from Thor's gut, to his chest and through his neck. He had taken away her love. At least, he believed he did. He looked down at the ground again, taking a shaky breath after he swallowed down the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry-"
"No," Ava looked up at him. "Thor, it isn't your fault." She said. "I don't blame you. Nobody blames you except yourself. We'll get them back as soon as we find Thanos. We can fix this."
When Thor looked up at her again, tears shimmered behind his lashes. "How can you be so sure?"
She shrugged a little, shaking her head back and forth. Honestly, she wasn't sure. How could she be? There wasn't a clear answer on how they'd get everyone back yet. "I don't know. I just have to believe it to stay sane."
A tear slipped down his cheek and he turned away, holding his breath to hide a sob as he closed his eyes. Ava frowned and scooted closer, wrapping her arms tightly around him in an attempt to make him feel better.
**********
Steve was leaned forward, his hands resting against the back of the chair he stood in front of. Ava was stood beside him, her arms crossed over her chest, and Natasha stood by the desk as they all three watched the numbers skyrocket every second. Numbers under each country name as census data was polled in, counting the number of vanished persons. The numbers went ever higher- never slowing down as they ran up and up and up.
It made them all sick to their stomachs to watch, but they had to try to monitor it all to get an idea of what exactly happened when Thanos snapped his fingers. Any data they could collect might help them find him and prepare to fight again.
Ava ran her hand over her face, letting out a shaking breath. Steve frowned and stood up taller, eyes still on the holographic screens. "This is a nightmare."
"I've had better nightmares." Natasha whispered as she held back her tears.
"Hey." Rhodey entered the room from the door behind them. Ava turned around to look at him, as did the other two, waiting to hear what he had to say. "So, that thing just stopped doing whatever the hell it was doing." He said, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb. The pager- the modified pager that Rhodey had found when searching for Nicky Fury to get his help. The screen had been blinking red and blue, a golden star logo centered in the two colored halves.
Ava and Nat glanced at each other, both wondering what it could have meant. Nat nodded toward the door, and they followed Rhodey into the next room with Steve. Bruce stood in front of the pager that was connected to wires and monitors within a glass case, fumbling with his glasses. Nat let out a sigh, looking to him when he turned around as they neared. "What do we got?"
He shrugged and turned back to the small device that no longer blinked. He raked a hand through his salt-and-pepper curls and then pushed his glasses back up his nose. "Whatever signal it was sending finally crapped out."
"I thought we bypassed the battery." Steve frowned.
"We did." Rhodey said and crossed his arms over his chest. "It's still plugged in. It just stopped."
"Reboot it. Send the signal again."
Bruce turned toward him, shaking his head as he motioned his hand toward the device. "W-we don't even know what this is-" He stammered.
"Fury did." Nat retorted. "Just do it. Please."
Ava nodded her head as she stared at the device a moment longer before she shifted her gaze toward Bruce. "Tell us the second you get a signal. It's important to figure out who's on the other end of this thing." She said and turned around, gasping at the stranger stood behind them.
She had long, straight, blonde hair and thin lips and a narrow nose. She wore a red and blue outfit, looking like something one of he Avengers would wear for a fight. A gold star was on it on her chest, and the costume she wore covered all of her skin up to her neck. Her red-gloved hands where balled up at her sides, her jaw clenched and her brows furrowed seriously.
The others turned to look at her, shocked to see a stranger had broken into the compound and snuck up on them. "Where's Fury?" She asked, looking less angry and more concerned.
**********
"They're missing, and all we know is that they went into space to try to stop Thanos."
"I'll go search for them, then. See if anyone is out there and I'll bring them back."
"That's a big ask, Danvers."
"I've dealt with bigger, Rogers."
"So, that's settled then. We keep searching for Thanos and getting a census. You go to space and see what you can find."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Ava, keep monitoring the sattelite feed and I'll get try to get in touch with Pepper. She'll want to be involved if she's still around."
"On it."
**********
Ava's fingers ran along a seam in her blanket, laying on top of her bed in silence. There was nothing she could do except wait. Wait for anything. Any clues that might pop up. Deep space scans ran nonstop from the Avengers compound. A sigh. There had to be a way to fix this- a way to get them all back and she was determined to find it. But she was stuck waiting for a lead.
The empty walls of her room began to shake, the compound rumbling from a shift in the air outside. Ava sat up, looking toward the ceiling before she got out of bed and made her way into the hallway. Natasha emerged from her room just down the way, her eyes on the rumbling ceiling. Ava frowned, looking up again. "What is it?" She asked, dropping her eyes to the Avenger.
"Danvers." Natasha replied. If it were Dnvers, it meant she either found someone that had gone into space to fight Thanos, or nobody at all. She paused for a breath, then moved along the hall, following Natasha's lead to the outside where Bruce, Rhodey, Pepper, and Steve were already headed. The brisk air nipped at her cheeks and she pulled her sweater tighter around herself as they looked to the midnight sky, watching as a golden light shimmered like a star beneath a large, red, triangular spacecraft, coming in slowly for landing in the lush, green grass outside of the compound.
She found him. Danvers had found him and brought him home. The light below the ship faded out, and Carol turned her head to look at everyone in wait, giving a nod of her head. She turned her head back as the doors of the ship hissed and creaked open, a narrow set of metal steps lowering itself to the ground below. From within the darkened ship, outstepped Tony Stark.
The man that tried to kill Bucky- the one that left Bucky beaten and covered in his own blood before getting to Wakanda. The great Iron Man. But Ava wasn't angry. If anything, she pitied him. He looked weak. Exhausted. Thin and pale, he barely made it down the steps of the ship even with the help of the bald, blue woman that was with him and supported him on the way out. Steve went racing forward, meeting Tony at the bottom of the steps. The woman from the ship let go as Steve wrapped an arm around Tony, guiding him into the grass toward the compound.
"Couldn't stop him-" Tony said, panting from the amount of energy it took to simply walk.
"Neither could I." Steve replied, his lips turned into a frown.
They only got a few steps before Tony stopped, looking up at Steve. Guilt sat in his eyes like a heavy, dark cloud, and his shoulders dropped. "I lost the kid."
Steve let out a soft breath, his blue eyes falling into a similar shadow. "Tony... we lost." He said, emphasizing the 'we'. We meant the Avengers. The Wakandans. Tony and whoever else was with him on another planet. The world. The universe. They all lost in some way, shape, or form. Lost loved ones, lost their lives, or lost the fight to stop Thanos. It was a hard pill to swallow.
Pepper, who had stood and watched with tears in her eyes, finally broke free of her initial shock and ran to the man she loved so dearly. Tears of joy that she could see him again, tears of sorrow for all that they had lost, and tears of worry at the state that Tony was coming home in, all flowed down her ivory cheeks. Ava could feel the familiar burn that signified the onset of tears at the corners of her own eyes, her throat tightening like a frog had managed to crawl inside and fill the space. She watched as the couple embraced, closing their eyes as they sighed, relieved that they still had each other. And Ava's mind wandered to Bucky.
Bucky and his strong, steel blue eyes. Bucky, with long, sweat-stringed hair and dirt on his brow. Bucky, whose smile was usually so small and soft, only one corner of his lips curled upward. Bucky, whose calloused hand fit so well and so warm against her cheek. She missed that warmth, and she wished it was her embracing him instead of Pepper embracing Tony. She broke free of her thoughts when Steve and Pepper helped Tony begin to walk to the compound again, and she sucked in a sharp breath, realizing she'd been holding it.
"Bring him to the med bay," Bruce waved them over, jogging ahead to get the glass door open for them. "I'll look over him and get him taken care of."
Steve and Pepper got Tony inside, headed toward the med bay like Bruce had said to do. Ava filed in through the door with Natasha and Rhodey, leaving the strange, blue woman outside with Rocket who had finally come out to see what was going on. "The rest of you get some rest- it's getting late. Questions can wait until the morning." Steve instructed.
Ava pressed her lips firmly together as she watched the four of them go, disappearing from view when they turned the corner. She knew sleep was unlikely to occur. She'd hardly slept at all since that day when Bucky vanished, along with half of the universe. When she did sleep, she had dreadful, terrible nightmares of losing Bucky over and over, so much so that she would often wake up screaming, her face wet with tears. She knew the others could hear her at night, but none of them mentioned it.
"You okay?"
She turned toward the sultry, velvet voice behind her. Natasha was the only other person remaining in the hall, her eyes holding steady on Ava- studying her. "Hm?"
"I asked if you were okay." Natasha said again.
She wasn't. "I'm fine."
A sad smile ghosted Natasha's lips and she looked down at the wooden floor before looking up at Ava again. "You can talk to me. Anything you say in confidence is between you and me. Promise."
"I don't have anything to say." Ava shook her head and turned away to walk toward her room.
Natasha sighed, looking down at her hands as she picked at her nails. Offering emotional support wasn't something she was used to. But they all were hurting. They all felt the loss of the people they were closest with. Maybe vulnerability wasn't a bad thing? After all, half of the universe was gone and all they had left was each other and a small glimmer of hope of fixing this mess if they could find Thanos. "Why don't you come stay with me? I... I don't sleep much either. Neither of us have to be alone."
**********
The Avengers had gathered for breakfast in the dining room, eating in an awkward silence as no one wanted to be the one to begin a conversation that would only bring on further emotional pain for everyone. Bruce had tended to Tony, giving him an I.V. of antibiotics that hung on a hook next to where Tony sat and stared into his bowl of cereal. Everyone else was dressed and put together except him. He was still disheveled, but clean from a shower. He had on tinted glasses, and a robe to cover himself over his plaid pajama pants. After they'd eaten, Pepper and Bruce took away their dishes, leaving Tony's cereal in front of him, and let the rest of them start the talk nobody wanted to have.
Tony told them what happened. He'd gone to space with Doctor Stephen Strange, a sorcerer, and Spider-Man, to face off with Thanos. They'd met another team out there- they called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy, but really, they were a bunch of A-holes in his opinion. Quill, Drax, Mantis, and the blue meanie that he was on the ship with the night before- who now was avoiding them all by hiding away somewhere else in the compound. That obnoxious raccoon, Rocket, was part of that team, too. But he and his adopted son, Groot, had come to Wakanda with Thor. Thanos beat them all- and took the Time Stone when Strange gave it away to spare Tony's life. They all got dusted- all except for Tony and the blue woman, Nebula.
Steve told Tony what happened on their end. They put up a fight once he arrived, but he walked through them like a hot knife through butter- killing Vision to get the last stone. Thor had thrown his ax into Thanos's chest, but Thanos still snapped and completed his mission. Steve turned on the hologram screens at the circular holo-table in the next room over as everyone followed him in and spread out to look and listen as the conversation went on. Tony sat at a table at the back of the room, setting his cereal down in front of himself again.
Enlarged faces and names filled up the holographic screens, flashing to different people that disappeared when Thanos snapped his fingers. Ava's heart sank, seeing T'Challa appear on the screen. Her king, her friend. She took in a breath, doing her best to bury the guilt deep in her gut. Why did she have to make it through the snap and not T'Challa? Not Shuri- the person that filled the screen next. She tried to swallow down the lump forming in her throat as she stood by Natasha, watching the screens with all of the others gathered around the projections.
Then Bucky. His face, brooding and stoic, filled the screen in front of her and her breath hitched. Her heart skipped a beat as her eyes began to burn again. She was so tired of crying. Bucky wouldn't be gone forever- she was going to get him back somehow- she just didn't know how yet. Ava blinked away the sensation, taking another breath. "It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth." She said, crossing her arms over her chest as the screen transitioned to another face- another lost person. "World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census and it looks like he did... he did exactly what he said he was going to do. Thanos wiped out... fifty percent of all living creatures." She explained, her voice only shaking at the end.
Morale between all of them was low. Tony ran a hand over his face, letting out a quiet sigh. Steve stood leaned against the nearby desk, arms over his chest and eyes on the floor in front of his feet. Natasha leaned forward with her hands resting on the holo-table, her brows knit close together. Bruce and Rhodey stood side by side, staring at the screens with the same sort of guilt that plagued them all. Rocket sat against the cabinets across the room, staring dead-eyed into the room though not looking at any particular thing, while Thor sat alone on a bench in the conjoining room, elbows on his knees, hands clasped together, and head hung low. Carol stood rigid, her hands in fists at her sides. She wasn't sad- no. She was angry. Her eyes brimmed with tears, her jaw locked shut, nostrils flared. Not just mad. Furious. Furious she wasn't there to stop any of this from happening.
Tony lifted his head, inhaling. "Where is he now? Where?"
Steve opened his mouth to talk, but took a moment to find the courage to admit the truth. "We don't know. He just... opened a portal and walked through."
Tony sighed, turning his head as he puffed out his air. His eyes landed on Thor, and they quickly narrowed. "What's wrong with him?" He pointed a finger at the God of Thunder.
"Oh, he's pissed." Rocket spoke up, looking over at Thor briefly before looking at Tony. "He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did, but, you know, there's a lot of that goin' around, ain't there?"
Stark's brows pulled closer together as he sat forward to get a better look at the raccoon, mouth agape. "Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-a-Bear."
"Maybe I am."
"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now," Steve interjected, looking up at Tony. "Deep space scans and satellites, and we got nothing," He shook his head and sighed, "Tony, you fought him-"
"Who told you that?" Tony asked, narrowing his eyes over at Steve this time. Ava frowned, staring at him as he went on. "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the store." His tone was growing more agitated as he talked, his face growing into shades of red, directing his attitude toward Steve. "That's what happened. There was no fight, 'cause he's not beatable."
Ava's eyes fell to the floor at his words. It was true, Thanos far out-matched them in Wakanda. She shivered, the phantom feeling of the gauntlet fingers wrapping around her neck coming back for a moment. Steve held up a hand, trying to stop Tony from rambling so he could ask more questions. "Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?"
Tony scoffed and threw up a sarcastic salute, blowing a raspberry at Steve to mock him. Ava rolled her eyes, dropping her hands to her sides as she shifted her weight over her feet. "I saw this coming a few years back." Stark remarked, "I had a vision- I didn't want to believe it. Thought I was dreaming."
Steve stood up from the desk he leaned on. "Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus."
"And I needed you." Tony spat, cocking his head to the side. "As in past-tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry." He leaned forward to the table where his bowl of cereal sat untouched and sniffed. "You know what I need?" He said, slapping the bowl across the table, the dish clattering as the contents spilled, making Ava flinch. Tony stood from the wheelchair, leaning his hand on the table as he got up. "I need a shave. And I remember telling all youse," He held up his arm with the I.V. in it and grabbed hold of the taped-down needle, yanking it out as Rhodey went to him and put his hands on Tony's shoulders to try to get him to relax. But Stark ignored him and went on, growing more and more upset, "alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not- that's what we needed." He hissed, hands shaking with anger.
"Tony-" Rhodey muttered, standing in front of him as Tony huffed, chest heaving in and out with each breath.
"That didn't work out, did it?" Steve muttered, placing his hands on his hips. Ava stepped back, closer to Nat. She knew the tension between Steve and Tony was high after they fought in Siberia and the Sokovia Accords were established, but seeing it first-hand sent waves of anxiety through her. The tension in the room only grew more, enough you could cut it with a knife. Emotions were high on all fronts.
"I said we'd lose." Tony said, taking a step toward Cap. "You said, 'We'll do that together, too'. And guess what, Cap? We lost. You weren't there." His voice began to shake, and he held back the veil of tears that threatened his dark eyes behind his glasses. "But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers." He kept on, Rhodey still trying to get him to sit down. "We're the A-vengers, not the pre-vengers, right?" He looked at Rhodey.
"You made your point. Just sit down." Rhodey huffed at him.
Tony pulled away from Rhodey's grip, trying to get around him. "No, no, here's my point-" He said.
"You're sick, sit down!"
"They are great, by the way," Tony pointed his finger at Carol, then Ava. Ava frowned deeper, watching him quietly. "We need you, you're new blood." He said as he finally pushed past Rhodey, stomping toward Cap. "Bunch of tired, old mules. I got nothing for you, Cap." He jutted his finger out in Steve's face. "I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero, zip, nada-" He stood inches from Steve, seething and trembling as he got into his former friend's face. Ava could practically see the smoke coming out of his ears as Steve did his best not to react. And then the last line- a punch to the gut that Tony whispered out between his teeth, a line that dulled Steve's eyes and broke his heart. "No trust, liar."
He took a half step back from Steve, slapping his hand to his chest. His fingers curled around the housing unit secured to his skin and ripped it away before slapping it into Steve's hand. "Here, take this. You find him, you put that on, and you hide-" He choked out, his voice breaking. Ava had never seen that look on someone's face before. Real trauma. Real terror. Tony Stark looked like a scared little boy, his entire frail body trembling and his breath going shallow.
Ava jumped closer as Tony's legs gave out and he fell to his knees, holding out her hands in case he flopped over. She frowned, worrying that his heart would give out in his chest and he would fall dead. She wasn't the only one to react that way. "Tony-" Steve muttered, stooping down.
"I'm fine." He snapped. "Let me..."
He suddenly collapsed, unconscious within a split second. Ava jerked to try to catch him, but he hit the hard floorboards with a loud thud, arms and legs splayed out. She reached down, helping Carol lift him, one of his arms slung over each of their shoulders so he hung between them. Ava had no hatred for Tony, nor anger. He did what he thought was right in the past, and now he was suffering. Being the kind of woman she was, one always willing to fix broken people, she didn't have any hesitation to help him. She had no qualms with him, even if his words broke her heart further. His head hung as she and Carol started to take him back to the med bay. Rhodey took off toward the kitchen, retreiving Bruce and Pepper from their chores.
They laid him on the hospital bed, and Bruce let out a puff of air. "Thanks, guys. I'll take it from here." He mumbled, looking down at Tony. Ava glanced at him, giving him a nod. She cast her eyes on Tony one last time, swallowing down the lump in her throat before she followed Carol back out of the room.
Steve and Natasha waited outside of the medical room in the waiting area where two, lime-colored couches sat face-to-face. They stood between the couches with their arms crossed. Rhodey went through the glass door with Pepper to sit with Tony while Bruce worked on him. It was about ten mintutes of waiting in silence, Ava and Nat and Steve and Carol all pacing around the waiting room to hear about Tony's condition. And finally, Rhodey came out and left Bruce and Pepper inside.
Rhodey shut the glass door behind himself as he walked out to the lobby, letting out a heavy sigh. "Bruce gave him a sedative. He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day."
Ava bit her lower lip, looking down at the floor with a frown.
"You guys take care of him," Carol looked over at them all, "and I'll bring him a Xorrian elixir when I come back." She said simply. And with that, she strut for the doorway into the common lobby.
"Where are you going?" Steve asked, leaning to watch her as she made her way into the room next door.
"To kill Thanos."
The four remaining were taken aback, exchanging glances with each other before following her into the lobby. Ava liked Carol so far, but she didn't appreciate the ego. They all deserved a chance at this- they all lost people. "Hey-" Natasha said, getting Carol to stop and turn around to face them all. "You know, we usually work as a team here, and, uh, between you and I, morale's a little fragile." She tilted her head, smirking slightly. Ava couldn't help the smirk that formed on her own face, too, glad Natasha put her in her place.
Steve nodded, raising his thick eyebrows as he spoke. "We realize up there's more your territory, but this is our fight, too."
"Do you even know where he is?" Ava crossed her arms, leaning her weight onto one leg.
Danvers looked at her and shrugged, blinking a few times. "I know people who might."
"Don't bother-" A sudden female voice came from the door to the kitchen across the room, the voice sounding like it was coming out of a PA system. Ava's eyes traveled to the woman it came from, landing on the blue alien from the night before that Tony had arrived with. Her skin was mostly blue, patches of gold and purple chunked in in blocks and geometric shapes. An alien metal ring sat around one of her pure black eyes on the left side of her face, and pieces of metal took the place of many of her body parts. Actually getting a good look at this bald alien woman, Ava was reminded of Bucky- the man with a metal arm. Cybernetic pieces replaced parts of him and this stranger from another world. Ava bit the inside of her cheek and pushed the thought to the back of her mind for the time being. "I can tell you where Thanos is."
Steve and Natasha looked at each other, almost as if they needed validation from each other that it was true. But none of them knew if it was true or not, only the alien woman they'd just met. But, she had no reason to lie. They just weren't sure how she knew. Steve turned toward her again with a small frown. "How?"
"I am the daughter of Thanos." She spoke with a resentment like a knife-edge. Her pitch black eyes shifted across each of them as they took in that news, but internalized it. She was here with them, and fought against Thanos. So, she wasn't his ally. She could tell they were still hesitant to trust her, though. "I hate him more than any of you could. Thanos ripped me apart, piece by piece- replaced me with metal and wires to make me a better weapon... My life is pain because of him. You can trust me."
Ava listened closely, frowning deeper. Chills ran up and down her spine when she heard Nebula tell her story. A story that sounded familiar. Being torn apart and replaced with machines to become a weapon. The Winter Soldier. She took a deep breath and nodded her head, glancing at the others. "I believe her."
Steve gazed at Ava, giving pause. It was almost as if he could read her mind, and he began to nod as well. He looked at Nebula again while he drew in a breath. "Show us where."
Nebula glanced at each of them again before she slipped back into the room with the holo-table where her and Rocket had been working together to solve the mystery of where Thanos had disappeared to. Ava lead the others in after Nebula and Rhodey once again retreived Bruce, bringing him in as they gathered around, anxious for the news.
Nebula stood near the wall at the back of the room, staring at the ground as she spoke with venom. "Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. And when he worked, he talked about his great plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask, where would we go once his plan was complete?" She looked up at everyone gathered in front of the holo-table. "His answer was always the same." She pursed her lips, taking three cat-like steps to the holo-table where Rocket stood with the remote. "To the Garden."
"That's cute," Rhodey snorted, "Thanos has a retirement plan."
"So where is he?" Steve paced around to the other side of the table.
Rocket pressed a button on the remote and a hologram of Earth appeared above the table. "When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions." He explained as the projection lit up, giving a visual of energy expelling from the planet. "No one's ever seen anything like it," The hologram zoomed out from Earth and skipped through three different galaxies, zooming in on another planet. "Until two days ago on this planet."
"Thanos is there." Nebula said, nodding slowly.
Hope swelled up from Ava's gut and into her chest. She sucked in a breath, standing up tall as she eyed the hologram, laser-focused. This was her chance to bring back Bucky and her friends. It was their chance to bring back trillions of lives lost. Nat leaned forward, placing her hands on the edge of the table as she examined the hologram. "He used the stones again."
"Hey, hey, hey, hey-" Bruce stammered from behind her, chuckling nervously. "We'd be going in short-handed, you know?"
"Look, he's still got the stones, so-" Rhodey started to say.
"So let's go get them," Ava said, her heart racing within the cage of her ribs. Bucky was on her mind, the sight of him vanishing replaying over and over again was in her eyes. She nodded, her breath shaking as she looked to her newfound companions. "Use them to bring everyone back."
Bruce frowned at her, seeming doubtful. "Just like that?"
Steve nodded, shrugging his shoulders. There was no hesitation in his reply. "Yeah- just like that." He said and looked toward Ava, making eye contact. They both were gaining more hope every second.
Nat stood upright again, hooking her thumbs in her back pockets as she looked back at Bruce. "Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this, we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try."
Bruce looked at her, his head shaking. "If we do this, how do we know it's going to end any differently than the last time?"
"Because before you didn't have me." Danvers said, her eyes moving up from the projection to Bruce, her chin held high.
"Hey," Rhodey looked at her with his arms crossed. "New girl? Everybody in this room is about that superhero life." He uncrossed his arms to motion to the entire room. "And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?" Rhodey was starting to scowl, growing tired of her attitude and ego- much like Nat and Ava had.
Carol calculated a response first and placed her hands on her hips. "There are a lot of other planets in the universe, and unfortunately, they didn't have you guys."
Good point. Ava looked at her, respecting that her ego stemmed from her workload. She couldn't fault her after that when her attitude was for a valid reason.
Thor knocked his knuckles on the table he lounged at, chewing the last bite of a dinner roll he had mowed down as he watched their bickering unfold. Ava hadn't realized he had even moved over to the table from the bench in the conjoining room. He stood up, eyes dark and heavy, his large coat only made him seem larger than he already was as he lumbered toward her. He came to a stop less than a foot away, and she turned to face him, crossing her arms. They held stern eye contact despite him towering over her. He held out his hand, and in moments his oversized ax came humming through the room, landing perfectly within his grasp and ruffling her hair from the force.
Yet, she didn't flinch. Instead, she smirked, knowing Thor was attempting to intimidate her- test her will and her guts. And she passed. He swallowed his bite of dinner roll and set the bottom of the ax handle on the floor in front of his feet, resting his hands atop the metal head. "I like this one." He said, glancing across the room at everyone else watching.
Steve's gaze went to the projection of the planet on the holo-table again and he nodded his head slowly. "Let's go get this son of a bitch."
All at once, everyone went in all different directions to their rooms to suit up. Natasha, knowing all Ava had was a pair of ring blades and a Dora Milaje uniform, decided to give Ava a suit that she hadn't worn before. It was an all black jump suit with gold accent lines. It was padded and thick for protection, and made of flexible, durable material so that it was comfortable and able to withstand a fight. It came with a belt, and flat, black boots, and a high V-neck that zipped up to her collarbone. Ava was grateful to have it, and it seemed almost too good to be true. Black and gold, like Bucky's arm. She was glad to wear it, and actually feel like part of the team as they all went out in their different suits and costumes to board the spacecraft Rocket so graciously called the Milano.
The spacecraft vibrated lightly against the air and gravity outside as it made its ascent into the atmosphere. Ava swallowed, staring out of the massive front window, watching as the sky dimmed the farther they went. They were headed for the stars. Leaving Earth was more than a little terrifying. It was more so thrilling, though. Ava held tightly onto her armrests, biting down on her lip. Bucky would have loved this. He was such an absolute nerd, but he stayed quiet about it. He would often make small comments about how cool technology was, or how amazing the stars were, and how mind-blowing Star Wars was after they had sat down to watch it together. She could only imagine the childish smile on his face if had the chance to be there with them.
Rocket looked back over his shoulder from the pilot's chair, "Who here hasn't been to space?" He asked, awaiting answers.
Ava raised her hand, glancing around the cockpit to her companions. Steve, Natasha, and Rhodey also held up their hands. "Why?" She asked him after surveying her friends. Carol chuckled from her seat behind Nebula as Rocket groaned and sat facing forward again, taking the steering controls into his paws.
"You'd better not throw up on my ship."
Nebula held her finger steady over a switch on the circuit board in front of the co-pilot seat where she was strapped in. "Approaching jump in three... two... one!" She flipped the switch and the ship lurched forward.
Ava gasped, being thrown into the back of her seat forcefully. It felt like a blanket of weight pinned her back as the stars out front began to streak in shimmering lights of yellows and blues and purples, her eyes filling with the swirling, glimmering hues of the galaxy. Now, this is what Bucky would have loved.
It wasn't long before Nebula pressed another button and the ship lurched into a low speed, the stars returning into little balls of gasses again within their view. Just ahead, outside the window, was a massive, tan and green streaked ball. The planet Thanos was hiding on. It was daunting and exciting to see another planet in person. At least for Ava, it didn't seem real. It seemed more like a fever dream. The curved horizon of the planet glowed a white-blue, highlighting the round rock that looked like it could have been a painting.
Carol unstrapped herself and walked down into the hull of the ship, headed for the exit door. Everyone else unbuckled and stood up, getting their things together as she left the ship, glowing brightly as she used her powers to fly outside of the ship to look at them through the windshield. "I'm gonna head down for recon." She said before she turned, and like a golden streaking bullet, shot out toward the planet.
Steve watched her fly away and then turned to the rest of the team. "We'll wait to hear what she finds and then we'll make a plan." He gave a nod. "Until then, just wait and prepare."
Everyone nodded at his orders and did as he said. They dispersed throughout the ship, doing whatever it was that they needed to do to mentally or physically get ready. That included Bruce putting on the Hulk-Buster suit again.
Ava ran her thumb over the razor edge of her luminous ring blade, careful not to cut herself. She bit the inside of her cheek, running her thumb back across the leather-bound handle, and closed her eyes. James Buchanan Barnes. If this worked, she would get to see him again. Feel his embrace and the curve of his chapped lips. She missed the smell of his cologne in the morning and the warmth of his hand on her skin. The sleep trapped in his blue eyes even as he dragged himself from bed to make a cup of coffee before the day of work began. Even his snoring, quiet enough that it didn't wake her, but enough to feel a rumbling in his pillow with every sleeping breath.
"This is gonna work, Ava."
She looked up to see Natasha strolling over to her side, a soft smile on her face. Ava licked her lips, placing the ring blades on the belt that sat around her hips- part of the suit Natasha had given her. "I know it will." She nodded, looking back out of the main window of the cockpit at the planet below. "Because I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't."
Carol flew up toward the ship, shining like starlight as she looked at them through the windshield. "No satellites. No ships. No armies. No ground defenses of any kind." She said, her lips pulled into a confused frown. "It's just him."
Nebula stood up from her seat, pursing her lips. "And that's enough."
**********
The sun beat down on them as they stood outside among the rows of green vegetation, planted in neat rows like crops. A soft breeze shifted through the leaves and the stalks of the tall plants around them while Ava waited with Steve, Natasha, and Rocket, waiting for the sounds of the ambush yet to come on Thanos inside the small, one room, wooden cabin.
She soon could hear the commotion inside the small home, soon followed by screams of anguish from the Titan himself. The front steps were large, but she made it up them swift and quick, leading the front as she walked in, Natasha and Steve at her heels. Thanos knelt on the floor, his teeth grit as dark purple blood dripped from his severed arm. Carol had him held back in a chokehold, Rhodey clinging to his right arm as Bruce held onto the stump that remained of his left, making it that much harder for him to do anything but bite back the pain.
The purple psychopath heaved his breath, eyes landing on Ava as she was the first through the door before the others came in. Thor took a step back from in front of him, ax streaked with the blood of the murderous creature before them. Rocket stepped in from outside, going directly toward the bloody, gloved hand that lay palm-up on the floor. She could feel a fire seething inside of her, rising up from her chest into her neck as she stared down the man that took away her everything. He held no remorse in his eyes. No guilt. Even as the left side of his body was burned and shriveled, the damage spidering up the side of his face like he'd been dragged across a road at high speed.
Rocket flipped over the gauntlet, gasping. "Oh, no."
Ava's head shot toward him, and the heat was instantly replaced by ice, her veins running cold like a winter breeze. The gauntlet was empty. Holes were left where the stones were once secured, and the golden metal of the glove was singed, deformed, and cracking. Damaged, like Thanos was. Her breath shuddered as she tried to breathe in, having a hard time getting her chest to expand enough for a full intake of oxygen. She turned her head to Steve, sharing a look with him.
His blue eyes were dark, brows drawn in above them, and jaw clenched. A furious Captain America was a little intimidating. He didn't lash out, no. He was calm. In a way, it was much worse than if he had lashed out. Steve turned his head toward Thanos, taking two steps closer. Ava turned her head, too, looking to the purple man as the ice she felt inside reflected as venom in her gaze. "Where are they?" Steve questioned, shoulders tense.
Carol wrapped her arm tighter around Thanos's neck, her nose twitching. "Answer the question."
Thanos sucked in a breath through grit teeth, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them again. "The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose," He winced again before glaring at Steve. "beyond temptation."
"You murdered trillions!" Bruce snapped at him, sending a Hulk-buster punch square to Thanos's chest. Carol jumped back as Rhodey lost his hold on Thanos's arm, and Thanos hit the ground on his back. He groaned again in pain, straining to sit up and lean on his undamaged arm, laying on his side as he looked at the Avengers before him.
"You should be grateful!" He growled.
Ava reacted on instinct, throwing a ring blade at Thanos as she let out a growl of her own, every muscle in her body screaming at her to make a move- to hurt Thanos so bad he wished he was dead. The blade spun forward like a frisbee, cutting into Thanos's deformed cheek before returning to her hand. He let out a yelp, his head jerking right as the wound began to bleed.
Natasha was on the verge of hyperventilating as she approached Thanos, steps as small and soft as a mouse. Tears filled her eyes as she stood over him. "Where are the stones?"
"Gone." Thanos hissed, turning his head again to look up at her. "Reduced to atoms."
"You used them two days ago!" Bruce yelled.
Thanos looked toward the Hulk-buster, a shadow casting across his eyes. "I used the stones to destroy the stones." He sat up a little higher. "It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. I am... inevitable."
A lump was starting to form in Ava's throat. Her grip on her ring blades went slack, and her hands began to tremble. She'd never see T'Challa again. She'd never see Shuri again. She'd never see Bucky again. She was alone. She would remain alone for the rest of her life. A cursed life, it seemed. She'd already lost her parents. Lost her King. Lost her Baba... and the few people she had left, the few people she loved- the people that made her feel safe and comfortable, especially after what Bomani did to her... they were dead. Her lips fell open as she made an effort to breathe despite the stinging, fat tears swarming into her eyes.
"We have to tear this place apart. He has to be lying." Rhodey spoke, voice shaking.
"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them." Nebula admit, almost reluctant and ashamed of the truth.
Thanos gazed up at her, tilting his head. "Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly."
Nebula cast her eyes to the floor, swallowing down the need to cry to stop her lip from quivering.
Thor let out a furious yell, swinging his ax in the blink of an eye. It was a flash of lightning-blue and a splatter of blood, and Thanos's head rolled across the floor as his body slumped backward. Ava flinched, staring at Thor with eyes wide and tears streaking down her cheeks. The God heaved, looking down at the victim of his anger with a brokenness in his eyes similar to Ava's. Nebula closed her eyes and slowly raised a hand to her cheek where deep purple blood had splattered, warming her skin.
"What did you do?" Rocket muttered, raising his chin to look at Thor.
Thor's voice cracked as he replied, "I went for the head." He let his shoulders drop as he took a step back, shoulders rising and falling with his heavy breath. Transferring his ax to his other hand, Thor turned his back and walked out without another word.
Ava, on the other hand, felt like she was drowning. Falling into a deep dark pit- an abyss she could never crawl out of. She'd hit rock bottom and kept going- deeper and deeper into the black, drowning under the waters of reality. Every hope, every belief, every once of excitement that she could bring them back vanished as soon as Thanos's head hit the floor away from his body. They really did lose, and there was no way to fix it.
*Don't worry, y'all, the winners of my favorite comments will be added soon! Anyway, here's a picture of Ava's suit Nat gave her for better reference. Xx*