Pain rippled up Charlie's jaw and she spat a few curses at the alien before sending a surge into his chest cavity. Peter, still by her side, gave her a concerned look as he tied down a towering alien.
But in that brief second, another one lunged its sharp sword at him with all its might.
Charlie kicked out one of Peter's feet and used all her weight to tackle him to the ground. Adjusting her balance to her knees that were pressed on either side of Peter, she threw a dagger at the alien's eye socket, which turned to be less brilliant than she thought. The tall alien clutched its eye then fell forward, sword coming straight towards the two teens.
Peter quickly rolled and covered Charlie with his forearms. The metal blade sliced slightly into a lock of Charlie's hair but missed her cheek.
Both panting, Peter and Charlie gave a sigh of relief. Then, Charlie notices that they were in missionary style, her knees still on either side of his hips.
"Very YA novel."
"What?" Peter asked, brows slightly furrowed, then Charlie looked down, and he followed it. It finally hit him, he jumped off of her like she was a dead fish.
As she sat up, she saw Sam, who had seen Charlie fall down, then decided to check in on her.
Letting Redwing do some backup, Sam took his time to glare at Peter, the loudmouth from Berlin, then looked at Charlie. "I liked Shuri better."
"Eat a dick." Charlie groaned, holding where she had been thrown earlier.
"Mr. Falcon, sir." Peter squeaked and saluted.
The teen retrieved the dagger from the alien's eye and wiped the goo on her pants. "See Nat anywhere?"
Sam had canvased all the field and hadn't seen his friend anywhere. Something about it was eery, and she hadn't even replied to any of the coms.
Still, Charlie didn't need to be alarmed, her mood seemed to smooth out with the spider kid.
"No, but I'll keep looking." Sam eyed Peter one more time, before blasting off.
Continuing to fight side by side, Peter and Charlie saw T'Challa running past them with the gauntlet of infinity stones. Steve had already put in the request for them to bring it to an ugly brown van at all cost. The King was doing a rather nice job, blasting and running through aliens until one mind-power having one started trapping him in a curl of rocks.
Peter looked at Charlie with the face, and Charlie started shaking her head. "Don't do it— And he's fucking doing it."
He was already swinging over to the capture King, who was inching towards the alien. Charlie still had to deal with the aliens around her, and only hear Peter's cheery voice say, "I got it."
Stomach lurching, she hoped someone else would take it up, but knew he probably would get far with it. Her head turned just in time to see Wanda raise Thanos into the air, as he squirmed and struggled.
They were going to win—
A blast shot down into the earth. Then another.
She had only heard the first one before she felt a wave of heat send her flying. Pain erupted across her entire body.
The world was silent in her ears. Everything turned slow as she lifted her head from the ground. Blue shots of light were raining down on them. Pushing herself up, she felt her bones waver, and she blinked, trying to get at least one of her senses to work.
People's mouths were moving, screaming, but her ears couldn't process it. It was like her head was filled with smoke. She saw blood dripping on her hand, and touched her face. Red coated her fingers, and she couldn't feel it.
Once she shoved herself onto her feet, she swore she saw a familiar bleached blonde head and tried taking a step forward, but tripped on something. She looked back at what she fell over and saw dark-skinned Wakandan with red dripping down their lips and their dark eyes faded to grey.
For a second, she saw an old friend with blood pouring out of her stomach.
Her stomach turned, and she couldn't breathe. All her senses slammed back into her, she heard the cries of war and the impact of bombs.
She pushed herself backward, clawing at the ground to get far away from the body, but then noticed the bodies were littered everywhere. Alien and human. Her heart was hammering in her chest and her entire body was shaking.
"Charlie." A voice said, then it repeated. "Charlie."
Snapping her gaze to Steve Rogers in front of her, she was met with a concerned gaze. His hands were placed on her shoulder, and she blinked a few times before noticing them.
Voice cracking with emotion, he brushed a hair out of her face. "Charlie, can you hear me?"
For five years, he and Natasha had hoped there'd be a way to bring them all back. To hold them for another moment. There had been many ways he had hoped it happened, many words he thought they'd say. Tearful hellos or angry curses, but not once did he predict the next words out of Charlie's mouth.
"Your breath smells like tacos."
Steve let out a burst of laughter mixed with a sob. "Tony bought them."
"Hope he didn't get them from the place on 8th." Charlie began to sober up slightly, but her body still felt off. "I don't think there's a toilet out here for miles."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm not the one who had the tacos." She forced a smile onto her face, and so did Steve. He was really there. "Come on, Old Man, we've got a Titan to kill."
"Okay, Queens." Corner of his lip quirked, he looked to Wanda, who was holding up a force field around them, then nodded. Wanda dropped the mist and Steve and Charlie braced themselves for the wave.
Being the super-solider, Steve ran fast across the field, and Charlie was forced to trail far behind him, which led Sam to chuckle in the sky. Of course, Steve had done that on purpose. Charlie wasn't going near Thanos if he could help it.
A blue explosion in the distance made Charlie pump her legs faster and farther. They were gonna win this, they had to.
Her emotions lead to a burst of light as she runs. She doesn't know if she's going faster or if it's because the pulse sends anyone trying to deter her flying. In her mind, she's running to Peter and possibly the gauntlet.
By the time she reaches the main crater, her weapons are slick with blood and her veins feel almost dry. The first thing she saw was Thanos standing attempting to close his fist over someone, it takes a second to realize it's Tony.
Moving before she can even process it, she ran headfirst into the lion's den. But then her stomach was yanked back, her ribs feeling the brunt of her force. Dr. Strange's grabbed her by the waist, her elbow finds his rib, and he loses his grip. She attempts to sprint forward, but he holds her by the shoulders, tears already forming in his eyes.
Her body struggles as she watches Thanos snap his fingers, her heart stops for a moment. But nothing happens; the gauntlet is empty. A few yards away, Tony's on his knees, infinity stones in his hand, she couldn't see him properly, but she could picture his smugness.
A part of her laughs; he did it. Still struggling against Dr. Strange's hold, she smiled. They really did it. In the exact second, she finally notices the infinity stones burning through his faux gauntlet, her smile wavers. "Tony? Tony."
He snaps his fingers.
A bright light crashes over vision, and she shields herself in Dr. Strange's cloak. Some soft quiet comes again. From her head turned position, she sees one of the giant's floating alien serpents dissolve into dust. They had won.
Her head turned back to Tony, and her knees buckle at his half-burnt body. "Tony..." Every cell in her body felt the numb horror, and she didn't feel the way the shrapnel pressed into her skin as she collapses. Dr. Strange helped her slightly, but she was already forcing her way up. James landed in front of Tony and helped him sit down by the bulk of cement.
No, no, no, they had won.
They won.
They won.
Charlie's head spun at the words, and she ignored any snag or crumpled concrete she hit while she went to Tony. She needed to see him.
Then Peter arrived, she saw him kneel in front of Tony, then saw his body become wracked with sobs. Pepper came in after him, nudging him away from Tony. The young boy walked away, his body shaking, Charlie caught him before he collapsed onto the ground.
From her spot, she could see Tony was completely still.
Her arms curled around Peter's neck, and his head buried into her shoulder. His arms held onto her so tightly, she knew she'd have a bruise or two after this, but she didn't move.
Tony Stark was dead.
And so was she.