The flight home from Wakanda is silent. Finally, we arrive at the compound, and I quickly get off the jet and teleport to my room. I make sure the door is closed. Then I get cleaned up and put on some PJs, and put on my special Family is Forever necklace from Nat. I sit on my bed and cry for hours as memories of Wanda and I play on repeat in my head. I cry harder as I think about the fact that Wanda's gone with no certainty of coming back.
Over the next few days, I don't leave my room. I wake up whenever, I shower, get dressed in sweats or PJs, and sit on my bed. Before Wanda, Pietro, and I reunited when Ultron was around, I had a hunch that they were alive. Then we reunited, and it was the best feeling in the world. Pietro died after that, and Wanda and I were the last two Maximoffs. Wanda was so broken after Pietro's death it killed me to see how much pain she was going through. I felt like I had to take care of her, otherwise she wouldn't have made it through that rough time. Now that she's gone, I know what she felt like. Except we aren't twins like she and Pietro are. One of my ways of coping is Harry Potter. It's been my escape from the chaos around me since I was about 7. Sirius Black says, "The ones that love us never really leave us." I hope that's true.
It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth. I've been keeping track. So far, I've only left my room once a day. Nat and Steve keep trying to talk to me, but I'm just not ready yet. They always bring me food, though. I am sitting in my room as usual when the compound starts to rumble. I look out of my window and see a spaceship being carried by someone glowing with their powers. They look like Captain Marvel. I teleport outside, and everyone else is out there. The door opens, and a Luphomoid walks out supporting Tony. Steve runs up to him and helps him walk. "Couldn't stop him," says Tony. "Neither could I," says Steve. "Hang on, I lost the kid," says Tony. "Tony, we lost," says Steve. "Is, uh...? Oh, good," says Tony when Pepper walks up to Tony and says, "Oh, my God!" and she hugs him sobbing on his shoulder. Tony kisses her cheek and says, "It's okay."
Then Nat puts her arm around me, and we all walk inside. We put Tony in a wheelchair and put an IV into his arm. "It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth," says Rhodey. We are standing in the living room that we talked about Vision's stone in. A table is projecting pictures of all of the missing people related to the Avengers. "World governments are in pieces," says Nat as she talks a picture of Wanda shows up. Then tears start pouring down my cheeks, and Nat hugs me. Then she continues saying, "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 gonna do. Thanos wiped out 50% of all living creatures." "Where is he now? Where?" asks Tony. "We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through," says Steve. Tony points to Thor and asks, "What's wrong with him?" "Oh, he's pissed. He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did, but there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?" says Rocket. "Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear," says Tony. "Maybe I am," says Rocket. "We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans and satellites and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him," says Steve. "Who told you that? I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleeker Street magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight, 'cause he's not beatable," says Tony. "Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?" asks Steve. "Uh...I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming," says Tony. I know exactly what vision he's referring to. He's referring to the one Wanda showed him while Ultron was around. "Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus," says Steve. "And I needed you. As in, past tense. That Trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry. You know what I need? I need a shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse," says Tony, and he stands up, and he starts to take out the IV. "Tony, Tony!" says Rhodey. "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," continues Tony. "Well, that didn't work out, did it?" says Steve. "I said we'd lose. You said, "We'll do that together, too." And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there. 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." says Tony. "Okay," says Rhodey. "Right?" says Tony. "You made your point. Just sit down, okay?" says Rhodey. "Okay. No, no, here's my point. She's great, by the way." says Tony pointing to Captain Marvel, whose real name I learned is Carol Danvers. "Tony, you're sick. Sit down," says Rhodey. "We need you. You're new blood. We're a bunch of tired old mules. I got nothing for you, Cap. I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar." says Tony getting in Steve's face. Tony takes off his arc reactor and puts it in Steve's hand, and Tony says, "Here, take this. You find him, you put that on, you hide." then Tony falls to the ground. "Tony!" says Steve. We all try to help him. "I'm fine. Let me..." says Tony, and he lays flat on the ground.
We take him to the hospital wing, and Pepper sits at his bedside. "Bruce gave him a sedative. He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day," says Rhodey. "You guys take care of him, and I'll bring him a Xorrian elixir when I come back," says Carol leaving the room. "Where are you going?" asks Steve. "To kill Thanos," says Carol, and she keeps walking. Nat and I look at Steve, and we speed walk to catch up to her. "Hey," I say, and Carol turns around. "You know, we usually work as a team here., and, uh, between the three of us, morale's a little fragile," says Nat. "We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight, too," says Steve. "You even know where he is?" asks Rhodey. "I know people who might," says Carol. "Don't bother. I can tell you where Thanos is," says Nebula.
We walk back into the other room, and Nebula says, "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? And his answer was always the same. "To the Garden." "That's cute. Thanos has a retirement plan." says Rhodey. "So, where is he?" asks Steve. The projection table projects an Earth globe. "When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it." says Rocket, who switches the screens and shows a different planet. "Until two days ago on this planet." concludes Rocket. "Thanos is there," says Nebula. Nat takes a closer look and says, "He used the stones again." "Hey, hey, hey. We'd be going in shorthanded, you know?" says Bruce. "Look, he's still got the stones, so..." says Rhodey. "So, let's get 'em. Use them to bring everyone back," says Carol. "I like the way you think," I say to Carol, and she smiles. "Just like that?" asks Bruce. "Yeah. Just like that," says Steve. "Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this, I mean, we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try." says Nat. "I wholeheartedly agree," I say. "If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end differently than it did before?" asks Bruce. "Because before you didn't have me," says Carol. "Hey, new girl? Everybody in this room is about that superhero life, and if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?" says Rhodey. "There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys." says Carol. "Touchè," I say. Thor stands up from the table and walks over to Carol, and stands in front of her. Then he summons Stormbreaker, which barely misses Carol, who doesn't even flinch. "I like this one." says Thor, and Carol smirks. "Let's go get this son of a bitch," says Steve. Then we all suit up and get what we need.
We fly on the Milano, the Guardians of the Galaxy's spaceship. We get outside of Earth, and Rocket, flying the ship, asks, "Okay. Who here hasn't been to space?" Nat, Steve, Rhodey, and I raise our hands, and Carol chuckles. Before the events of Wakanda, I had been begging Nat and Steve to let me teleport to space and come right back, but they wouldn't let me. They said, and I quote, "It's too dangerous." I doubt that it's dangerous if I teleport there and come right back, but now I'm in space! "You better not throw up on my ship," says Rocket. "Approaching jump in three, two, one," says Nebula. Nat, Steve, and Rhodey brace themselves, and I put my hands up like I'm on a roller coaster, and Carol laughs and says, "I like your style Hadley," I smile, and we jump. We're going so fast, and it's so fun! I keep my arms up the whole time! I love space! The view out of the window is incredible!
We arrive outside of the planet, and Carol says, "I'll head down for recon." then she flys down into the planet. Nat is looking at something on a special device, and she looks up and notices Steve looking at his compass, which has a picture of Peggy Carter in it. She was the love of his life back before he went in the ice. He closes the compass. and I look at a picture of Wanda and me. That picture is one of five mini pictures I keep in my suit pocket at all times. I have regular-sized versions of them on my nightstand at home. Nat puts a hand on my shoulder, and she says, "This is gonna work, Steve and Hads." "I know it will. 'Cause I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't," says Steve. "Same here," I say.
Carol flys back up to the ship, and she says, "No satellites. No ships. No armies. No ground defenses of any kind. It's just him." "And that's enough," says Nebula. We fly down and land the ship sort of far away from where Thanos is. We all go to different places. Bruce in the Hulk Buster suit goes under his house and the rest of us wait for the signal which is Carol crashing into his house. Carol uses her powers to make a hole in his house and she flys into it. We wait for a minute or two before walking in. Then Bruce comes up from the floor of the house and grabs Thanos's hand which still is wearing the gauntlet. Rhodey grabs his other hand and Carol is standing behind him and strangling him. Thor bursts through another wall and chops off Thanos's gauntlet hand, making Thanos scream and I don't feel bad in the slightest. He killed half of the universe in including my sister. Then Steve and Nat walk in. Rocket rolls over the gauntlet hand and says "Oh, no." It's empty. The stones are gone. We all look at each other and Steve turns to Thanos and asks "Where are they?" "Answer the question," says Carol tightening her arms around Thanos's throat. "The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose beyond temptation," says Thanos. "You murdered trillions!" yells Bruce shoving Thanos. "You should be grateful," says Thanos, and Bruce punches him. "Where are the stones?" asks Nat taking some shaky deep breaths. "Gone. Reduced to atoms," says Thanos. Nat and I get tears in our eyes. "You used them two days ago!" yells Bruce. "I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. I am inevitable." says Thanos. "We have to tear this place apart. He has to be lying!" says Rhodey. "My father is many things. A liar is not one of them," says Nebula. "Ah. Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly," says Thanos. Then Thor swings Stormbreaker and chops off Thanos's head killing him. Then Nebula gets splattered with Thanos's purple blood. "What?" says Bruce. "What did you do?" says Rocket. "I went for the head," says Thor referring to Thanos telling him that he should've gone for the head. It actually comforted me a little comfort knowing that the man who killed my sister is dead. Thor walks out of the hut and uses his hammer and flies off to who knows where.