My heart dropped to my stomach and I could see Clint and Nat's crestfallen faces. One of us wasn't going to make it, but which one? No matter how dreadful it may sound, I wouldn't allow that person to be Nat, she wasn't even an option.
Nat silently sits down on a rock and puts her head in her hands, Clint just aimlessly walking back and forward. I stare at the surroundings and I couldn't see the stone anywhere so at least this red faced man wasn't playing a game.
"Maybe he's making this up" Clint spoke after minutes of silence and I kick a pebble along the dusty floor.
"He isn't. The stone is nowhere in sight..." then it hits me, " Merda..."
Nat looks up, "What is it?"
"I should of known, should of pieced it together. Nebula said that Thanos took her sister here and only he returned without her and the stone. She knew... yet she lets us come here without warning. Perhaps because we would of hesitated..."
Clint scoffs and tilts his head back in exasperation. "This is so messed up."
Nat stands up and looks outwards, towards the massive drop. "We have to do this, whatever it takes."
"Whatever it takes" me and Clint say at the same time.
"If we don't get that stone, billions of people stay dead."
Nat comes towards the pair of us and holds our hands. "Then I guess we both know who it's gotta be" I whisper.
"I guess we do" she replies and I chuckle. She frowns, "What are you laughing at?"
"Because, you think that I am actually going to let you jump off that cliff. It's not happening Natasha, thats final."
"For the last five years I've been trying to do one thing: Get to right here. That's all it's been about. Bringing everybody back" Nat argues back and I just shake my head.
"I agree with Ombra ," Clint speaks , "I don't want either of you to, because I– , you guys know what I've done. You know what I've become."
"If you're saying this because you have blood on your hands, you're probably last in the line here. It has to be me, it's obvious" I state and Nat yanks her hands away from mine and looks at me in despair.
"Why?"
"I came into all your lives for a reason, this must be it. I should never have stayed all them years ago but I was always pulled back in. For this."
Nat scoffs and turns away from me. "You came back because I needed you."
Neither of us had noticed that Clint had started to walk towards the end of the cliff. I looked up and my eyes widened in despair but I didn't move. No, because I'm selfish. Sure, I would miss Clint and feel god awful for his family but he had saved the world. he had saved my world.
Nat started screaming and running towards Clint, preparing to throw any of her equipment to stop him from jumping off but I shifted, invisibly and stopped her. I turned back around just in time to see Clint's face, acknowledgment and distraught all over it.
"Tell my family I love them, look after them, please."
I gulped and nodded. "I will, we will."
He turns backs round and stares down at the drop. My chest is tightened and Nat is wriggling to get out of my grip, tears streaming down her face.
And then he's gone.
Natasha's silent tears and gormless stare was the loudest scream I had ever heard. As soon as he had gone there was a bright explosion that sent me and Nat flying and unconscious.
My body ached and my eyes fluttered as I started to wake back up, me and Nat both sat in shallow water at the bottom of the cliff. It appeared she had woken before me as she was sat up staring at her hands where the Soul stone now rested.
"Nat, I-"
My apology got cut off as our Quantum suits activated and we were flying back to reality. We landed on the platform and I was relieved to see that we hadn't lost anyone else.
"Did we get them all?" Bruce asks, looking round.
"You telling me this'll actually work?" Rhodey said in disbelief but I wasn't listening. I crouched next to Nat who had crumbled to the floor. However when I went to touch her she pulled away from me and my heart ached. She was going to hate me for letting Clint go, but I will learn to live with it, as long as she is alive.
""Where's Clint, Ombra? Nat?" questions Bruce with slight worry. Neither of us could get the words out but from the way we acted we had said plenty. Bruce falls to the floor and pounds it with his giant fist and I storm away. Nat doesn't want me and I'm sure me being next to her is just a reminder of what happened.
My legs took me to the living room where I fell backwards onto the sofa and finally let the tears come out. The sofa sunk next to me and from the cologne I could tell it was Tony.
"Did you click it together?" I dare ask after a few minutes of silence.
He sighs and rests his elbows onto his knees. "I didn't until we had acquired the Space stone. I-... I was distraught and I ended up puking on the floor right next to my fathers feet" he chuckled a little and any other day I would of burst out laughing but I was silent.
"Nat needs you, Ombra. We all need to keep it together, get the job finished so that Clint's... Clint's sacrifice doesn't go to waste. Come on, were going to put the stones onto the gauntlet" Tony taps my lap and I begrudgingly get up and follow him to the lab.
While him and the others work on putting the stones together, I sit to the side, observing as does Nat. She hasn't even looked at me never mind spoken. The doubts come flooding. Maybe I should of done it, she would be more than okay with Clint by her side, like it had always been before I arrived. I let Clint go while he had a family, kids, wife. As soon as we got everyone back, I'd leave like I had planned to do all those years ago.
"All right. The glove's ready. Question is, who's gonna snap their freaking fingers?" Rocket asks and just as I'm about to volunteer myself, Thor speaks up.
"I'll do it."
"No, no, no, whoa. Stop. Stop. Wait a sec. Hey, hey–" Steve and Tony shouts as Thor bombards for the gauntlet.
"Wait, wait, Thor, just wait. We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet" Steve states, making Thor pull a confused face.
"I'm sorry. What, we're just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?"
"We should at lest discuss it" said Scott.
" No, no, sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? So this responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty."
Tony groans and runs a hand down his face. "It's not about that–"
Thor shushes him. "It's not that– Stop it! Just let me!" he shouts and I can tears forming in his eyes. "Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something right."
Guilt. At least someone else was feeling that right now.
"Look– It's not just the fact that that glove is channelling enough energy to light up a continent, I'm telling you, you're in no condition" instructs Tony.
"What do you– What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?"
"Cheez Whiz?" Rhodey says, earning a glare off Thor.
"Lightning."
"Lightning won't help you, pal. It's gotta be me" speaks up Bruce. The majority of us agree that it should be Bruce, he is the strongest and the hardest to kill so he places the gauntlet on his arm after all of us get in cover, the whole building locked down.
He screams and yells in agony but miraculously manages to click his fingers. The power overwhelms him and he falls to the side, the gauntlet sliding off his arm and I kick it to the other side of the room.
In the background a phone starts ringing and I can see Nat's face pale completely. It's Clint's phone and on the other side of the line is his wife.
"Guys, I think it works" Scott breaths out in disbelief staring out the window.
I follow his gaze and my eyes widen at the sight of a massive ship hovering above, a missile already on its way.
"Everybody get in cover! Now!" I shout as I run over to Nat and jump on top of her, covering her body with mine as a huge explosion hits everything around us and once again, I go unconscious.
HIIIIII
SO
THATS VORMIR
I CANT BELIEVE WE ARE NEAR THE END
ORIGINALLY, IT WAS GOING TO BE OMBRA WHO JUMPED BUT I JUST COUDLNT DO IT