-
"And I like weed, can we just get on with it?"
-
Nova left her and Natasha's bedroom, bags under her eyes, hair a mess and clothes baggy from pulling on them. Her baggy t-shirts that she already had had gone up at least a size just from her pulling on them so much.
Once they'd got back from Wakanda, Nova had discovered that her parents had been snapped as well. Over the years, she'd met up with them a few times when neither of them were busy but had never gotten the chance to introduce them to Natasha as her fiancé, or at all.
Wade left his room, wrapping an arm around Nova's shoulders as they made their way downstairs. Wade had been staying at the compound since the events of Thanos, making sure Nova was okay. He'd called up Vanessa and she was okay at home but advised that Wade stay there with Nova for a while.
The two walked into the kitchen and the mercenary started to make them some dinner as Nova sat at the island, chin propped up on her fist as she watched him cook. Wade decided to make something that cheered Nova up all the time when thy lived together.
"One crisp sandwich, my good sir." Wade bowed, handing her the plate before sitting down with his own.
"Cheers, Sugar Tits." Nova smiled slightly at his gimmicks and Wade grinned next to her, tucking into his sandwich.
"Y'know, this is one thing I will forever thank you for. It's so fucking good!" Wade groaned as he chewed.
"Right." Nova nodded through a mouthful of her own.
"Hey, Squish." Natasha smiled softly, coming into the kitchen and grabbing a glass of water before sitting next to Nova and leaning her head on the taller woman's shoulder.
"Hey, Cherry." Nova muttered, kissing her forehead gently as a black tendril left her back, curling around the blondes waist.
"I do not understand those nicknames at all." Wade muttered.
"Coming from you, Sugar Tits." Natasha chuckled slightly.
"I'll give you that." Wade agreed. "But seriously, why Squish and Cherry?"
"Well, we got high once and Natasha started to call me Squish while squeezing my cheeks." Nova explained before a small smirk crossed her lips. "And I call her Cherry because-"
"Nope. We're not answering that." Natasha denied, taking a bite out of Nova's sandwich.
"Pornstars." Wade smirked and Nova snorted while Natasha reached across Nova to slap him on the back of the head.
"We're not pornstars." Natasha grumbled, sipping her drink.
"Oh, c'mon! Knowing you two, you've at least filmed it." Wade shot back and neither of them replied. "Oh, my God! You totally did! Where did you do it?"
"We're not telling you that." Natasha shook her head.
"Twas in the-"
Nova was interrupted by a distant rumbling and the water in Natasha's cup started to shake. With furrowed eyebrows, Nova and Natasha got up while Wade followed, sandwich in hand. Everyone made their way outside to see a large spaceship flying down towards the ground.
A blonde woman was carrying the ship, her body glowing as she did so. She landed it on the floor and turned to the Avengers. The ship door opened and Nebula was helping Tony hobble out.
Nova and Steve ran towards him, helping the weak man down the steps of the ship as Nebula let go of him. Steve and Nova started to help walk him away from the ship, Nova giving a sad smile to Nebula as Tony held onto the two of them.
"Couldn't stop him." Tony mumbled.
"Neither could we." Steve responded.
"Hang on." Tony panted and they stopped in their tracks. "I lost the kid."
"Tony, we lost." Steve replied.
"Is, uh..." Tony trialed off as Pepper ran towards the three of them, worriedly. "Oh, good."
"Oh, my God!" Pepper cried, engulfing Tony in a hug as she sob into his shoulder. They pulled back and Tony kissed her cheek.
"It's okay." Tony muttered as everyone made their way back inside.
The Avengers sat around a hologram as people they lost popped up in the hologram, showing them who they'd lost. Nova looked down when she saw Sam's face pop up and tightened her arms around Natasha's waist, kissing the back of her head as though there was a chance she'd still turn to dust. Next to her, Wade leant his head on her shoulder, hoping to comfort her slightly.
"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey stated.
"World governments are in pieces." Natasha started, her hands laying on top of Nova's. "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?" Tony demanded after a few moments of silence.
"We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through." Steve answered as Tony sighed heavily.
"What's wrong with him?" Tony asked, gesturing to Thor.
"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?" Rocket spoke up.
"Honestly, until this exact second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear." Tony stated.
"Maybe I am." Rocket replied.
"And who is the human testicle?" Tony gestured to Wade.
"I'm Pennywise, the dancing clown." Wade responded, his voice sounding bored rather than his usual tone.
"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing." Steve chimed in, getting the conversation back on track. "Tony, you fought him."
"Who told you that? I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet, while the Bleecker Street magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight, 'cause he's not beatable." Tony rambled.
"Did he give you any clues, and coordinates, anything?" Steve questioned.
"Maybe we'll find a treasure map that leads us to the big prize!" Nova spoke up with a mock excited gasp. "Get your head out of your arse, Steve."
"Nova." Natasha whispered softly.
"Sorry." The woman apologised, leaning her chin on the shorter woman's head.
"I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming." Tony continued.
"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus." Steve responded.
"And I needed you." Tony shot back. "As in, past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry." Tony sniffed and went to stand, knocking over a bowl harshly. "You know what I need? I need a shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse-"
"Tony, Tony!" Rhodey exclaimed as the man started to pull out his IV drip.
"- alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armour around the world. Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not. That's what we needed." Tony seethed.
"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve argued.
"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'." Tony continued.
"Okay." Rhodey nodded, holding him back.
"Right?" Tony asked him.
"You made your point. Just sit down, okay?" Rhodey questioned.
"Okay. No, no, here's my point. You know what? She's great by the way." He pointed at Carol.
"Tony, you're sick. Sit down." Rhodey ordered.
"We need you. You're need blood. Bunch of tired old mules. I got nothing for you, Cap." Tony walked over to Steve. "I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar." Tony then ripped off the suit from his chest, placing it in Steve's hand as his breathing became shallow. "Here, take this. You didn't him, you put that on, you hide."
Tony fell to his knees and a few people shot forwards to catch him as Steve called his name.
"I'm fine." Tony denied. "Let me..."
Tony trailed off as he passed out on the floor, Nova rushing forwards the catch him. She took him to a hospital bed and Pepper stayed by his bedside, waiting for him to wake up.
"Bruce gave him a sedative." Rhodey announced as he came back into the room. "He's probably gonna be out for the rest of the day."
"You guys take care of him, and I'll bring him an Xorrian elixir when I come back." Carol stated before leaving the room.
"Where are you going?" Steve demanded.
"To kill Thanos." Carol answered simply.
"Hold on a fucking second! You're saying she could have killed him days ago and saved everyone all of this pain?" Nova hissed.
"I didn't say that." Steve shook his head because she was looking at him.
"Oh, fuck this." Nova grumbled she and Natasha walked after Carol.
"Hey. You know, we usually work as a team here, and uh, between you and I , morale's a little fragile." Natasha spoke up.
"We realise up there is more your territory, but this is our fight, too." Steve added.
"You even know where he is?" Rhodey questioned.
"I know people who might." Carol replied casually.
"Don't bother." Nebula chimed in. "I can tell you where Thanos is." They moved into a different room as Nebula started to speak. "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." Rhodey nodded.
"Wonder what flowers he grows. I imagine they can't be pretty." Wade mused.
"So, where is he?" Steve quizzed and Rocket made a hologram appear.
"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. Until two days ago, on this planet." Rocket explained, making a planet appear.
"Thanos is there." Nebula stated.
"He used the stones again." Natasha informed them.
"Hey, hey, hey. We'd be going in short handed, you know?" Bruce asked.
"Look, he's still got the stones, so-"
"So, let's get 'em." Carol shrugged casually. "Use them to bring everyone back."
"Just like that?" Bruce asked in bewilderment.
"Yeah. Just like that." Steve agreed.
"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." Natasha spoke up.
"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Bruce questioned.
"Because before you didn't have me." Carol said confidently.
"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?" Rhodey shot at her.
"I agree. You pop up, out of thin air like an STD saying you could've been the reason we won this fight to save half of the universe from turning into ash and you've only just turned up to do so, 23 days after you were needed." Nova chimed in.
"There are a lot of other planets in the universe." Carol shot back. "And unfortunately they didn't have you guys."
"Sweet talking won't work, Miss. Glowstick." Wade exclaimed sassily.
Thor suddenly stood up, storming towards Carol who turned around. He held out his hand and a rumbling was heard before the storm breaking came swooping into his hand. Carol didn't flinch as it brushed past her head.
"I like this one." Thor nodded.
"And I like weed, can we just get on with it?" Nova asked, running a hand through her messy hair.
"Let's go get this son of a bitch." Steve stated, looking towards everyone.
"Language!" Wade gasped loudly.
"You weren't even there when that happened." Natasha said with furrowed eyebrows.
"I watched the films, Blondie." Wade responded before strutting out for the room. "This shit's gonna have nuts in it!" Wade smirked, looking into an imaginary camera.
"I would love to know where you found him." Steve sighed.
"A laundrette. I think he was snorting the washing powder." Nova answered, leaving the room. "C'mon bitches, we're goin' t' space! Three year old me would be spasming with happiness, right now!"
{2076}