╭-°—✞—˚✧ ψ ✧˚—✞—°-╮
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE!
𝖆𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 𝖈𝖆𝖛𝖊𝖘 𝖎𝖓
╰-°—✞—˚✧ ψ ✧˚—✞—°-╯
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SALENE SAT ON a bench, staring out at the peaceful lake. This was where she and Natasha would go to meditate sometimes. It was where Natasha opened up to Salene and the other way around. It was hard being there but she didn't want to be alone in her grief.
"Do we know if she had a family?" Tony finally asked.
"Yeah," Steve nodded, he was crying with Salene, "us."
Salene furrowed her eyebrows.
"She had two families," she finally spoke up. She hasn't uttered a word since they got back. The team looked to her, "although the Red Room was where she was tortured, she still had formed her own family within it, she had a mother and a father of sorts-" Salene let out a humorless laugh at her words, remembering how Natasha described them - "she had a sister, I'll call her, tell her what happened, I just..."
Salenes heart ached, she couldn't even say Natasha's name without the image of her lifeless body flashing at the front of her brain. She felt Steve's hand rub her back and she leaned into the older man's side.
"What?" Thor asked, confused, Salene furrowed her eyebrows and looked at him.
"I just asked him a question–"
"Yeah, you're acting like she's dead." Thor had interrupted Tony, "Why are we acting like she's dead? We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back, isn't that right? So stop this shit. We're the Avengers, get it together."
"We can't get her back," Clint spoke up, Salene could look him in the eye, she couldn't help the resentment for him, it wasn't his fault, Natasha was quicker than him, she jumped out of his grip.
But it's still Clint standing there instead of her sister and it kills Salene because of that.
"Wha– what?" Thor just wasn't getting it, he didn't want to accept it.
"It can't be undone." Salene turned her head back to the lake, sniffing as her stuffy nose blocked her from a fresh breath, "It can't."
"I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very earthly being. Okay?" Thor disregarded, "We're talking about space magic. And 'can't' seems very definitive don't you think?"
"Yeah, look, I know that I'm way outside my paygrade here, but she still isn't here, is she?"
"No, that's my point–"
"It can't– be undone. Or that's at least what the red floating guy had to say," Clint's voice warbled as it got continuously louder, "Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? GO GRAB YOUR HAMMER, AND YOU GO FLY AND TALK TO HIM!"
"It was supposed to be me." Salene turned back around and finally faced him, grief was written all over him as his lip quivered, "She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bet her life on it."
Bruce grabbed a bench and hurled it clear across the lake. He turned to the others with a resigned look on his face.
"She's not coming back." He sighed, "We have to make it worth it. We have to."
"We will."
• • •
SALENE LAID IN Natasha's bed curled into a ball. In a few hours, she would have to leave the safety of the smell of Natasha's shampoo and put on her most armored suit. Tony, Rocket, and Bruce are engineering the gauntlet as she stared into the wall adjacent to the bed. A small knock pulled Salene's attention to the door. Steve stood there, leaning against the frame.
He stepped forward and sat on the bed by her feet. Salene sat up and scooted closer to him. He pulled her into a tight hug as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"After I lost my family and Peter, you, Nat, and Happy were the first to reach out to me, happy had gone off to help Pepper and you did what you had to do to move on, but Nat," Salene took a shaky breath, "Nat stuck by me the whole time, she checked in every day, she made sure I ate, hell, she made sure I bathed."
Steve nodded, he didn't want to say a word.
"She took me to my prom, she drove me to my home after my graduation and gave me support every time I visited their graves," Salene wiped her eyes, "I don't know how I'm supposed to go one without her by my side, she was my mother and my sister when I needed them."
"You do it because she would want you to, she did what she did for you," Steve pulled away a bit, "you need to be brave, not just for you, but for her too."
Salene nodded, giving him a weak smile.
"I know, I'm just tired of losing people." She whispered. Steve pulled her back into the hug and they stayed there for as long as they could. Soon, they would have to get into their suits, and hopefully not die trying to bring everyone back.
• • •
THE ROOM FELT empty despite the number of people they had all surrounded the glove, the stones embedded in the knuckles, all glowing, she can feel its energy radiating. She can feel the stones calling her. Her eyes drew to the orange stone, her heart sinking at the price she paid for it.
"All right. The glove's ready." Rocket spoke up, breaking the silence, "Question is, who's gonna snap their freaking fingers?"
"I'll do it," Thor responded. Salene raised an eyebrow before turning to him, shaking her head.
"Excuse me?" Scott asked.
"It's okay." Thor smiled weakly, he went to step towards the glove but Salene stepped in his way. The smell of beer and body odor made her eyes water but she stood her ground.
More avengers clamored together to hold him back, Salene wiped her eyes and scrunched her nose at the smell. She looked up at Thor's desperate face and wished she didn't, the smell of beer worsened and now bad breath was added into that mixture, Salenes empty stomach turned.
"Wait, wait, Thor, just wait," Steve put a hand on Thor's shoulder, he had enough strength to push thor back a bit, "We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet."
"I'm sorry." Thor tilted his head at everyone's alarm, "What, we're just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?"
"We should at least discuss it."
"No, no, sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger, okay?" He tried getting closer to the gauntlet, it was enough to make Salene turn her head away for fresh air, although it was just less pungent air, "So this responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty."
"Thor, you are an absolute mess right now, there isn't enough physical strength to make up for that, it's more than being able to shoot lightning," Salene spoke up, she began to gently nudge him back, doing her best to put more distance between them.
"It's not about that–"
"It's not that– Stop it!" Thor interrupted Tony, pushing Salene back into Steve, Salene stepped out of Steve's way and let him take over with getting Thor away from killing himself, "Just let me! Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something right." Thor had shed a couple of tears, Salene understood where he was coming from, but there was something inside her that told her that this isn't what he was meant to do.
"Look– It's not just the fact that that glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent, I'm telling you," Tony patted his chest, "you're in no condition."
"What do you–" Thor squinted his eyes, tilting his head as he poked his arm, "What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?"
"Cheez Whiz?" Rhodey blurted, Salene cracked half a smile at his quip, Thor pointed a finger at Rhodey with a glare as if he was warning Rhodey.
"Lightning." Thor sounded desperate, he was holding Tony's hands as Tony tried getting him away from the glove.
"Yeah." Tony's sarcasm pushed through as he looked back to Salene who stood guard in front of the gauntlet l, the energy from the stones pulsed against her back now and she hated it.
"Lightning won't help you, pal." Bruce spoke up, "It's gotta be me." Salene stepped out of his way, she wasn't going to try to stop him either.
"You saw what those stones did to Thanos." Bruce went on as he got closer to the gauntlet, Salene had stepped back far enough, she was now next to Scott, "It almost killed him. None of you could survive."
"How do we know you will?" Steve asked, concern was plastered on his expression.
"We don't. But the radiation's mostly gamma," Bruce stopped an inch from the glove, "It's like- I was made for this." The look on his face was as if he was reminiscing about an old conversation.
Bruce picked up the gauntlet, it looked so tiny in his hands, but it would be huge if it was in Salenes. That still was hard for her mind to wrap around.
"Good to go, yeah?" Tony asked, his signature eyebrow raise was on display with his question.
"Let's do it." Bruce nodded, he locked eyes with Salene and smiled, she returned it as her eyes dropped back down to the gauntlet.
"You remember– everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago and just bringing them back to now, today." Tony reminded, he seemed nervous, Salene understood, one wrong move with your intentions and even more people could die before the rest come back, "Don't change anything from the last five years."
"Got it." Banner affirmed.
Salene activated the helmet of her newest suit, in her spare time she had designed a new suit, he had a dozen more in the basement of the compound and the rest of all the designs she made are on a drive in her room back at the apartment.
She looked around the room to see other people suiting up and getting their defenses ready.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., do me a favor and activate Barn Door Protocol." Tony commanded, "Will you?"
Not even a second later, the facility began to go on lockdown, bombproof shutters were closing over all the windows and doors and anything that could leave them compromised, it worked both ways, if something went wrong, Salene wouldn't be able to rest easy if people cliff hurt from their desperate attempt
"Everybody comes home." Bruce thought out loud, confirming his intentions. He continued to slide on the glove. Salene watched in amazement as the glove expanded in size to conform to Bruce's large hand.
Once it was the perfect fit, her heart rate began to pick up as she watched Bruce cry out in pain and took on the power of the stones. Salene couldn't imagine the pain he was in as it made him crumple to his knees. She wanted to take the glove away, snap her fingers herself and save him from his pain but she felt the muscles in her arms and legs freeze up once more, stopping her from moving and sacrificing herself.
"Take it off!" Thor yelled out, he rushed towards Bruce like Salene wanted to but Steve stopped him, "Take it off!"
"No, wait." Steve glanced between Bruce and Thor, "Bruce, are you okay?"
"Talk to me, Banner," Tony warned.
"I'm okay. I'm okay." Bruce finally spoke, still grunting through his pain.
Salene watched Thor give a double thumbs up out of the corner of her eye and she rolled them, shaking her head as she watched helplessly.
Bruce screamed, using his ungloved hand to hold up his gloved one, and managed to snap his fingers. He faints and the gauntlet slides off his arm, Clint kicked it away. Salenes muscles unfroze, giving her access to them again.
"Bruce!"
"Don't move him," Tony spoke up, stepping over to using a cooling spray that Salene saw five years back. He covered Bruce's entire arm, stopping any further damage from happening.
His shirt was burnt up to his shoulder to show his disfigured arm for full display, Salene could see severe muscle atrophy in his right arm, she frowned, he did this for the universe.
"Did it work?" Bruce asked as his good hand clutched onto Steve's.
"Worth a shot." Thor piped in, "It's over. It's okay."
Salene watched as Scott stepped towards the windows that were no longer covered by the bulletproof shutters. The sunlight was shining through his hair making the once dark strands seem golden in the rays. Beyond him, more birds than she's ever seen in a long time were fluttering around a tree planted outside the window. Salenes smiled a genuine smile at the sight, honing her ears in on the birds so she could hear them chattering, singing their song as if rejoicing over life returning to normal again.
"Guys–" Scott's voice drew her attention back into the room, "I think it worked!"
It's like there was a force out there that loved to play cruel tricks on Salene. Because as soon as she began to hope again, a dark shadow covered the compound and a bright light consumed her vision paired with the thundering BOOM! Of the compound getting bombed by whatever was outside. The force do the explosion not only sent Salene flying back, but it also managed to knock her unconscious as well.
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SALENE WAS AWOKEN by someone shaking her shoulders, rattling her head back to alertness. She gasped, shaking herself out of the person's grip as her eyes adjusted to the smoke and darkness of her surroundings, she looked up to see Tony's face staring back at her.
"At least you didn't smack my head this time," he joked, "come on, we had a job to finish."
He held a hand out for her to take which she gladly accepted, getting back onto her feet. After wandering through the rubble of the place Salene had called home for four and a half years, a glint of familiar metal caught Salenes eye. She picked up the vibranium shield, putting her arm through the handles to keep her grip on it.
We probably look cool right now, Lucifer chimed in, making her roll her eyes. They took a minute to find Steve who was in a state like hers just a few minutes ago, he seemed peaceful, but the dust and dirt on his body pulled that notion away. Tony got on one knee and began to wake up Steve as he did to her.
"Come on, buddy. Wake up. That's my man." Salene got a visual of Steve again when he got to his feet, she slipped her hand out and held out the shield for him, "You lose this again, Sal's keeping it."
"What happened?" Steve asked as he looked around, taking the shield back from Salene.
"You messed with time, It tends to mess back." Tony sighed, the look on Steve's face showed that he had no idea what Tony meant, "You'll see."
The three of them walk up to join Thor, who has been observing something. Salene looked out to see Thanos, alive, but different. He wasn't wearing the same tunic she saw him in five years ago. He was in armor, he had a double-bladed sword stuck in the ground with his helmet resting on it. He sat on a rock next to his stuff and stared Salene down looking absolutely bored, it boiled her blood.
"What's he been doing?" Tony asked Thor, who hasn't moved since she got there.
"Absolutely nothing."
"Where are the stones?" Steve asked, Salene surveyed the area, it's not in their immediate vicinity but she knows that if it was, they would be dead before she had even woke up.
"Somewhere under all this." Tony spoke, it was like he was reading her mind, "All I know is he doesn't have them."
"So we keep it that way." Steve decided.
"You know it's a trap, right?"
"Yeah. And I don't much care." Tony had begun charging up his repulsers.
"Just as long we are all in agreement." Thor's sardonic comment was followed by rolling thunder as he stretched out both hands to summon Stormbreaker and Mjolnir. His casual clothes had transformed into his armor and cape, with his beard getting a small bread, "Let's kill him properly this time."
Salenes hair burst into flames as her hands simultaneously sparked two balls of blue flame. As they got closer, Thanos seemed to look like he was relishing in an audience.
"You could not live with your own failure. And where did that bring you?" He rhetorically asked, "Back to me. 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."
"Yep. We're all kinds of stubborn."
"I'm thankful. Because now, I know what I must do-" he stood up "-I will shred this universe down to its last atom.-" he put on his helmet "- And then, with the stones you've collected for me, create a new one. Teeming with life, but knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given.-" Thor lit himself up from beside Salene "-A grateful universe."
"Born out of blood." Steve's horror was evident on his face and Tony's expression matched it.
"They'll never know it." Thanos turned to look Steve in the eye as he spoke, "Because you won't be alive to tell them."
Salene yelled in anger, throwing her balls of flame at the giant's head. She charged him, dodging the swing of his blade and punching him as hard as she could at his inner thigh. She wanted to get him on her level, and that meant fighting dirty as Natasha taught her. The girl, now a woman, let him push her back, the distance between them was enough for a running start.
She charged at him again, launching herself in the air as Tony and Steve kept him distracted. Her knee went to his exposed jaw that peeked out from under his helmet. Salene managed to stay on his shoulders long enough to get his helmet off and start throwing down as many punches as she could, doing her best to land as many as she could. She knew it wouldn't kill him, but it was keep him distracted long enough for the others to try and quickly come up with something.
Thanos tried to reach out for her leg but she evaded his grip and used that leg to hold his arm back in an awkward position. She caught his other hand by the wrist as he tried grabbing at her face, she only had one hand left to do any damage.
A Thor-charged blast from Tony sent Salene flying. The force of it shocked her, but she caught herself midair before she hit a wall of rubble.
Thor grabbed Stormbreaker and used it to bat Mjölnir to hit Thanos. Salene wasn't fast enough to stop Thanos from using Tony as a shield and tossing him aside like it was nothing. Salene changed her path to Tony who didn't appear to be responsive. She made a knee slide to the spot next to Tony.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y. Open him up! Quick!" She commanded, soon his helmet was reduced and she could see that he was unconscious, "what's going on, read him for me."
"The hit from the hammer damaged a lot of systems, he still has plenty to fight with-"
"I mean him, is he alright what are his vitals!"
"His heartbeat is steady, he's just unconscious," F.R.I.D.A.Y finally answered.
"Does he have any protocols for you to wake him up?" Salene asked, panic rising in her throat as she turned back to see the fight. What she saw shocked her. Mjolnir slowly lifted off the ground, but instead of flying to Thor's hand, it smacked Thanos back, spinning him around to Steve, who caught the hammer and crouched into a defensive position, raising his shoes to protect as much of himself as he could.
"I knew it!" Salene could hear Thor choke out before Thanos kicked Thor to the ground and proceeded to battle Steve as he wielded both his shield and Mjolnir.
He was winning, using the lightning that came with the hammer and the shield as if he had done it forever. Salene was lost in awe at it but just as quickly as it happened so did Thanos begin to fight back. Salene got up, forcing her shaky hands to heat up. Her arms went up in flames to her shoulders. She sent two jets of flames after Thanos, flying towards him faster than she ever flew before. He spun around, using his sword to divert her flames by spinning it. When that became no use she stopped sending out her flames and diverted it all the fist she had rested up.
She sent her fist to his face but he grabbed her by her torso and spun, throwing her into Steve who was already on the ground. She did her best to roll over his back, scraping the metal on her hands and knees from sliding on the ground. Salene looked up, meeting eyes with Steve, she could see his silent question as her helmet retracted. She nodded, she was okay.
The two staggered as they got up, Steve was putting some of his weight on her as they faced Thanos.
"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–" he smiled a sadistic smile as he drew a bit closer, stopping at a distance that he knew their enhanced ears could hear, "I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much."
With those words, Salenes attention was brought to a bright blue light behind Thanos. At first, her hope told her it was Thor, but the way the energy flowed, and the fact that "Maw" as Thanos called him, and four more butt-ugly aliens with him appeared, she knew that her mind loved to tell her wrong.
An army, bigger than she could ever imagine, formed before her. Aliens of all different races and kinds marched in formation. And then she saw them. Fear trickled down her spine as she saw the giant leviathan with troops upon troops of Chitauri jumping off its side to join the formation. Her mind took her back to Manhattan in 2012. She thought back to when Natasha saved her from being pulverized on the street. And now they're back.
She looked at Steve, he could see the fear on her face. And Salene could see the determination building on his as he stopped leaning on her and reached for his broken shield, tightening it to his arm. She only nodded before building her flames up again, she could feel her horns crowning and rapidly growing. She had only ever seen them once after she developed her blue flame, if she had thought her old ones were scary, her ones now would've made fifteen-year-old Salene shit her pants. They were large and tall and cracked with blue flames licking at the air above her head.
Salene and Steve limp/walk together, closing some of the distance between them and Thanos. Salene couldn't see anyone on their side, from what it looks, Salene and Steve would have to stand alone.
A crackling of the comm in the ear of Salenes suit stopped Salene and Steve in their tracks.
"Hey, Cap, you read me?" A faint, but the familiar voice was in her ear, it was one of Steve's friends, Salene decided either Sam Wilson or Bucky Barnes.
"Cap, it's Sam." Salenes suspicions were confirmed, "Can you hear me?"
Salene could hear the twinkling of a portal from behind her. She remembered the sound. She spun around with Steve to see the golden ring of a portal, her face lighting up in a smile, her heart rate picking up making her flames brighter than ever.
"On your left."
In the portal was the bright sun that Salene had almost forgotten was out there, through the portal she could make out three figures stepping through; Okoye, Shuri, and King T'Challa. Salene lowered her helmet once more, she wanted to see with her own eyes and not the eyes of the mask.
Sam flew in from above in his Falcon armor. As he does, dozens of more portals open up all around the battlefield. More and more people were entering the battlefield from their respective portals, some faces, Salene had only a glance of before, others were very familiar. The armies had to be doubled in size from people filling in the gaps and the people from five years back, ready to jump in as if it never left off. The glint of a metal arm drew Salene's attention as a revived Bucky Barnes emerged from the same portal that Sam and the royal Wakandans emerged from. She made eye contact with all of them save for Sam who was still in the sky. She nodded to each and every person she saw. Relief washed over her. Bruce's snap worked, and it paid off because here they were. Standing together once again.
A giant Scott emerged from the rubble of the facility with Bruce, Rhodey, and Rocket. Salene noticed that everyone was taking their battle stances and she turned to see Steve was doing the same. She crouched slightly, spreading the flames across her body as her mask covered up her face.
"AVENGERS!" Steve called out, raising his free hand, he summoned Mjolnir "–assemble."
Upon hearing Thor's battle cry, Thanos raised his sword towards them, commanding his army to attack. The mass of aliens charged at them. But so did the mass of pissed-off people before Thanos. Salene let out a battle cry of her own as she leaped off the ground sending huge balls of flame down into the enemy.
"Activate: Instant Kill!" Salene commanded her suit as she landed deep behind enemy lines.
Different repulsors formed all over her suit, and in one split second and an ounce of concentration, jets of blue fire shot out all over. She turned, mowing down as many aliens as she could see.
It was chaos, everything around her was on fire, there were so many voices coming through the comm about the glove and getting it to Scott's van but there was so much screaming she felt a strong urge to turn it off. She knew better than to do that.
Salene was surrounded but she was okay. She could handle them. Her blasts that were once a hot white are now a bright blue. She remembered reading on a poster in her shop class that the hottest fire burned blue. She was shocked that the metal of her suit didn't melt. The suit was only a prototype, she never actually used it before today. Salene couldn't keep on with multiple jets of fire so she reduced it down to her fists once more. This only put her on edge. She was slowly realizing that she bit off more than she could chew.
Three o'clock, Lucifer hissed in her mind. He seemed to be just as on edge as she was as she managed to keep the enemy away from her by at least five feet.
But she turned her head, shot the alien down, and the boy that stood behind it left her shocked. It was like time had stopped, her mask came off and she hoped that he would recognize her.
Peter Parker looked exactly like he did when she watched him turn to dust on that godforsaken planet. He was bloody and bruised and still, he managed to take her breath away. She opened her mouth to say something, he seemed like he was going to say something, his face was forming into one of shock, from here, she could see the goosebumps on his neck.
A searing pain ripped through Salene, she felt her glow disappear and she looked down. A Chitauri spear was in one side of her and out the other. She looked to the Alien next to her as it screeched and she blasted it back. She went to gasp in pain and found that it was hard to do so. She could feel the liquid filling in her lungs. She coughed at the tickle in the back of her throat and saw blood spat out. She wiped her mouth and pulled her hand away to see her blood. She looked back up.
She watched Peter as he ran off after the glove fell into his hands. Salene watched him disappear in the fight and smoke and rubble. The pain made her crumple to her knees like Bruce did when he wore the glove. She fell back as the fight went on. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to do anything.
No, stay with me, you can heal, pull the spear out, you can do this, Lucifer's frantic voice was the only thing she could hear. Salene closed her eyes, Peters innocent face was all she imagined before darkness consumed her vision.
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4.9k words
AHHHHHHHHHH
GUYS
HOW ARE YALL FEELING?? WHATS THE VIBE RN???
BC MY HEART IS RACING!!!!!
sorry I was giggling when I made this.
EPILOGUE IS NEXT!! PREPARE!! THAT IS A THREAT!
-greta