THE GROUP LANDED on Morag. Rhodey, Pietro, and Nebula were assigned to get the Power Stone on the planet. Natasha, Y/N, and Clint tagged along with them to 2014 but were ultimately going to split up so the trio could travel to Vormir.
"All right, bring it down, Blue." Rhodey called out to Nebula. "Right on that line. That's it. Down, down."
One of their smaller ships lowered from the Benetar and was brought down to the surface of the planet. A reptilian creature nibbled on Natasha's shoe and she kicked it away. It let out a growl before crawling away.
"It thinks you're tasty." Y/N joked.
"Nothing nibbles on me and gets away with it." She replied.
"But I get away with it all the time."
"Well, because you're my husband....wait...do you think I'm tasty?"
"You're delicious." He said with a chuckle. He then recalled the first time they slept together back on Barton's farm. "There was once a story about the land of milk and honey..."
"Oh, God." Clint breathed out. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and called out to Rhodey. "Hey, can we hurry it up?"
"Yeah, guys, chop-chop. Come on. We're on the clock." Natasha added.
Rhodey turned around. "All that is very helpful."
"Please. I don't want to hear any more of this." Clint mentioned his friends' remarks from earlier.
Natasha chuckled as Clint shook his head and rested his hands on his waist.
"You'll get used to it...again." Rhodey muttered as he continued looking at the ship.
Once the ship was ready and Nebula joined the rest, it was time to bid farewell for now.
Natasha hugged Rhodey. "Take care, okay?"
"Yeah. Get that stone and come back. No messing around." He replied.
Clint walked up to Rhodey and pat his shoulder. "We got this."
"Let's get it done."
"Yes, sir."
Y/N shook the colonel's hand next but ended up hugging him afterward.
"Come back in one piece, all right?" Rhodey said.
"Traveled back 10 years in the past to an unknown planet in outer space." Y/N chuckled. "What could go wrong?"
Y/N, Clint, and Natasha started walking to their ship. But despite already bidding them farewell earlier, Pietro started to follow them.
"Uh, Pietro?" Rhodey called out.
"Rhodes...it just doesn't feel right leaving them." He said.
Y/N looked back and saw Pietro speaking with Rhodey. He walked back down the airstair and went up to them.
"What's going on?" He asked.
Pietro turned to him. "I know it's not part of the plan. But if I'm going anywhere...it should be with you and Natasha."
"Are you sure?"
"I've been with you both every step of the way. From the two years on the run...to the months of grieving...to the five years of being a part of your family." He gave a nod. "I'm with you to end, brother. And I'm going to be with you now."
Y/N smiled and pat the side of his arm. He looked at Rhodey, who had overheard Pietro. The colonel was okay with letting him go with the trio.
"That's fine. Nebula and I got the Power Stone covered." He said. "But if we get stomped on by a Xenomorph we're telling Tony it's your fault."
They chuckled. Y/N and Pietro walked back up the airstair and joined Black Widow and Hawkeye. Rhodey looked up at them.
"You guys watch each other's six." He called out.
The four entered the ship and shut the airstair. The ship quickly ascended and flew into the sky out of Morag.
• • •
CHITAURI SOLDIERS SCREECHED at the sight of their leviathan being destroyed.
The heroes circled up in the middle of the street, prepping their weapons and looking on towards the threat. Freedom Fighter took out his batons and gripped them as he stood in between Black Widow and Captain America.
The heroes looked ahead at the incoming aliens. Unbeknownst to them, a bright flash emitted in an alley a couple of blocks away...
Tony, Scott, Maggie, Bruce, and Steve appeared and deactivated their suits. Rogers wore his attire from 2012 to not draw any confusion if he were to be spotted. Maggie's attire consisted of a dark accented uniform leftover by S.H.I.E.L.D that they had at the compound.
"All right, we all have our assignments. Two stones uptown, one stone down. Stay low. Keep an eye on the clock." Steve told them.
Suddenly, Hulk from the past landed on the street and pummeled some Chitauri soldiers. He roared as he stomped on a car and stormed away. Banner witnessed this and covered his face in embarrassment.
Steve looked at him. "Maybe smash a few things along the way."
"I think it's gratuitous, but whatever." He replied as he ripped off his shirt.
He walked onto the street, feigning roars and flexing his green muscles like how he would in 2012. He hit the top of a car and dented it before walking off.
"All right, Stuart Little." Tony called out to Scott as he formed his nanotech Iron Man suit. Lang immediately shrunk down and got on his shoulder.
"We'll meet you at the tower." He added as he looked at Steve.
Rogers nodded and looked at his granddaughter, who gave a nod back. He didn't have to ask if she was going to be okay...he knew. Steve strapped the shield to his arm and ran off.
"All right. I'm starting to regret not taking you flying before." Tony remarked.
Maggie raised a brow. "What do you—"
Tony wrapped his arm around her waist. "Hold on."
He activated his thrusters and in an instant, the trio flew into the sky toward the tower. The teenage redhead didn't even have the chance to react to the ascent.
The thwarted Loki groaned as he sat against the steps and held his side. He panted and looked up to see a set of familiar faces, but wasn't startled at the sudden arrival of the Avengers.
Tony, Steve, Thor, Y/N, Natasha, and Hulk towered over the god, with the female agent holding the scepter. Clint was knelt in front of them, aiming his bow at Loki.
The Avengers defeated him. They won the battle and saved New York City...and possibly the world.
"If it's all the same to you..." Loki groaned as he propped himself up with his elbows. He looked at Tony.
"...I'll have that drink now."
Tony ignored the demigod's request. "All right. Get him on his feet. We can all stand around posing up a storm later."
"I gotta say, it was cool. I felt like Zorro." Y/N remarked, recalling the TV series from the late 50s.
Tony chuckled as he shook his head. "God, you really are old."
In the same room, Tony had flown inside through a broken window with Maggie while Scott was still on his shoulder. They hid behind a wall and looked on at the scene.
"Rogers, I almost forgot...that suit...did nothing for your ass." Tony remarked.
"No one asked you to look, Tony." Steve replied through the comms.
"It's ridiculous."
"It looks way goofier in person than the commercials." Maggie added.
"I thought you said it was cute?"
"Well..."
Scott decided to chime in. "I think you look great, Cap. As far as I'm concerned, that's America's ass."
Natasha held the scepter. "Who gets the, uh, magic wand?"
"S.T.R.I.K.E team's coming to secure it." Steve answered.
The elevator near Tony and Maggie chimed. They quickly moved back and hid behind another wall before it opened. Agent Sitwell from 2012 walked in with 2012 Brock Rumlow and several other agents.
"We can take that off your hands." Sitwell said as he walked up to the female agent. She handed it to him.
"By all means."
Sitwell handed it to Rumlow who placed the staff in a special briefcase. Y/N stood by Clint who was serving himself a drink by the bar while all this was transpiring.
"Careful with that thing." Natasha warned Rumlow.
"Yeah, unless you want your mind erased. And not in a fun way." Clint remarked, handing both Y/N and Natasha a glass.
"We promise to be careful." Rumlow replied.
"Who are these guys?" Scott asked.
"They are S.H.I.E.L.D." Tony whispered. "Well, actually HYDRA, but we didn't know that yet."
"Seriously? You didn't? I mean...they look like bad guys." Scott replied.
"Right?" Maggie cut in. "One's bald with a suit. One has a mean face with black t-shirt three sizes too small."
"You're both small, but you're talking loud." Tony remarked.
Maggie scoffed. "I am not small."
She looked ahead at the heroes and eyed Thor. She arched a brow upon noticing how fit he was. "My God. Since when did Thor look like that?"
Steve spoke into his comms as he walked away. "On my way down to coordinate search and rescue."
Loki, who was handcuffed, chose to have fun amidst his arrest. He transformed into Rogers and imitated him.
"On my way down to coordinate search and rescue."
He reverted back to himself and laughed. "I mean, honestly, how do you keep your food down?"
Thor was already annoyed with his brother, for almost killing him and taking over Midgard...among other things. He placed a muzzle over his mouth.
"Shut up."
2012 Tony, who was now out of his armor, started to pack up the Tesseract.
"All right, you're up little buddy." Tony said as he spotted it. "There's our stone."
"All right. Flick me." Scott said.
He flicked Scott off his shoulder where he landed on 2012 Tony's hand. He climbed up his arm and held onto his shirt. 2012 Tony joined Thor and the agents in the elevator as Y/N, Natasha, and Clint from 2012 stayed in the room. Hulk was forced to take the stairs.
"Okay." Tony whispered as he prepared to jump out the window. "Grab on, Mags."
"Uh...I can find my own way down." She said.
"What?" He rose his voice but lowered it upon realizing three of his friends from the past were still in the room. "You're being difficult. Just come on."
"If my dad and grandpa Steve could trust me...then you can, Tony." She said. "Besides, do you really want to bother carrying me again?"
Tony sighed as he looked at the teenager. For a girl her age, she was pretty determined...and stubborn, which were things he knew.
"If anything happens to you, I'm telling your dad it was Scott's fault." He tapped the reactor on his chest and formed his suit. "I better see you down there in five minutes."
Tony jumped out of the window and flew away. Maggie hid behind the wall and looked on at her parents and Clint from 2012. She just wanted time to look at them some more. They looked so young...and happy despite the situation they had just endured.
"Wow..." Y/N breathed out as he held his glass. His friends looked at him.
"Never seen a view like this before?" Clint asked.
"Well, no. But it's that and...the fact that we actually did it." Y/N began. "Last year I woke up to a world I didn't know, and was given a chance to help in keeping it safe."
The two agents continued listening to his words.
"Yeah, we had ops taking down arms dealers, traffickers, terrorists...but what we did today...that is truly keeping it safe."
Maggie smiled, seeing them talk as they looked out into the skyline. She stood there for a moment before realizing that they were about to leave.
Y/N smiled and playfully offered an escort arm. "Care to dine with me, ma'am?"
Natasha shook her head and chuckled, but took his arm anyway. "You're hilarious."
They walked off, leaving Clint by the window as he looked on. He soon followed and called out.
"I'm still trying to get the image of you as my father out of my head."
Maggie stumbled back toward the door to the corridor but ended up knocking over a counter. She couldn't catch the set of books on them and they toppled on the floor, getting the Avengers' attention.
Natasha put a hand at her holster and looked to her left as Clint took out his bow. The archer called out.
"Show yourself!"
Maggie cursed to herself and stepped out from behind the column. The three operatives were bewildered at the sight of a kid.
"Uh...hello there." Y/N greeted in confusion. "Are you lost?"
"Um...yeah." Maggie replied after a pause.
"Could this be one of Loki's illusions?" Natasha whispered to Y/N, not trusting the fact that a random teenager stumbled upon Tony's domain.
"I don't think he casts projections of little girls...or at least I hope he doesn't."
"My...dad works at the tower. I got lost." Maggie lied. "Bring-your-kid-to-work-day turned out to be a bust, am I right?"
"Right..." Clint replied with a nod, then turned to Natasha and whispered. "Should I shoot or...?"
"We'll help you find your parent..." Y/N said but found a way to see if she wasn't a part of Loki's illusions. "If you let them know where you're at right now. You think you could call them?"
"Sure." Maggie immediately pulled out her phone that she somehow kept and dialed in a number. She put it on speaker and walked up to them as it connected to Scott's radio.
"Little America?" Scott answered the call to Steve's granddaughter. "Everything all right?"
"That's my nickname." She told the three agents with a chuckle. She kept talking to Scott. "Hey, dad! Where are you? I got lost during the whole fiasco outside."
On the other end, Scott was confused. But the ex-convict watched enough movies and television shows to know that weird statements like that meant something was up. So he went along with it.
"Uh, hey, daughter of mine! It was pretty crazy, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Great. I'm just hanging around at the moment downstairs, on the fourth floor. They're starting to evacuate us."
"Okay! I'll meet you down there." She immediately hung up, and the three heroes looked at her for a moment.
"That's good enough for me." Y/N said with a shrug. "Let's take you down there."
Natasha and Clint went along with it as they trusted Y/N's judgment. Maggie walked into the corridor beside them toward the other elevator nearby.
"So...aliens attacked. You fought them. What are you supposed to be again?" Maggie sparked conversation.
Clint chose to reply. "That's classi—"
"We're the Avengers." Y/N abruptly answered, which garnered a look from his fellow agents. He looked back at them. "What? Were we not supposed to...?"
"It's okay. I don't even know what the means." Maggie replied. "And I'll probably forget."
They made it to the elevator and entered it. Maggie pressed the button to the fourth floor and Natasha pushed for the ground floor. There was silence for a moment before Natasha looked at the teenager.
"Um...I like your hair." She said.
"Thank you." Maggie replied and looked back at the female agent. "You have very beautiful eyes."
Natasha was caught off guard by the compliment but nodded in thanks. The teenager continued to speak.
"My mom has the same eye color. Every time my dad would look at her, he'd remark on how beautiful they are." She looked at Y/N and smiled. "Don't you think they're beautiful?"
"She is beautiful." Y/N said as he turned to Natasha, but quickly caught what he said. "Uh, your eyes! Your eyes are beautiful. Yeah...that."
Natasha looked at Y/N. "Just my eyes?"
"Well...of course not just that." He began to stammer. "You...your...your personality! You have a beautiful personality."
The young agent looked toward Clint for some support, but the archer wasn't going to get pulled into the awkwardness.
"Don't look at me, man."
Natasha chuckled. "You said I'm beautiful. I'll take it."
"I guess I did." Y/N replied with a soft laugh.
"Are you finally going to take me out to dinner too?"
"Well...we could always start with pizza. After we deal with all this, of course."
Maggie smiled at their exchange. The elevator finally reached her floor and the doors opened.
"Okay, my dad should be around here." She said as she walked out.
"Are you sure you don't want company?" Y/N asked.
"No, I'll be fine. You guys keep on with your duties." She saluted. "Avengers."
Clint leaned over and whispered to his colleagues. "I'll probably forget my ass."
Y/N brushed off his remark and looked at the teenager. "Okay, then. Take care of yourself."
She nodded at him before the doors shut. Maggie let out a sigh and continued down the hallway.
"Thanks for the assist, Scott." She spoke into her earpiece. "Where are you actually?"
"Inside the shirt of past Iron Man. Ugh...this guy wears a lot of Axe body spray." He reported back. "Anyways, why did I have to act like your dad five minutes ago?"
"I'll explain later. I'm going to meet you down—"
Suddenly, an elevator opened and two S.T.R.I.K.E team members came out of it. They had their guns by their sides and started walking down.
"Rogers intercepted the package. Find him now." A man spoke through one of their radios.
Maggie didn't have time to react as the men saw her in the middle of the hallway. The agent in front aimed his rifle at her.
"Hands up! What is your business here?"
She slowly raised her arms and stood by a counter. "Uh...I—"
"Don't move!"
Maggie quickly grabbed a pen that was left on the counter and threw it at the agent. It accurately stuck in-between the gap of his trigger so he couldn't pull it.
"What the—"
She ran and jumped off the wall where she kicked the man's face. He stumbled back before she grabbed his waist and pulled him down. The man took out a taser and tried to hit Maggie with it, but she grabbed his wrist and made him tase himself. The man went limp and was knocked out.
The man behind witnessed his colleague get taken down and raised his firearm, but Maggie grabbed the radio from the first agent and threw it at him. The second agent held his face in pain as Maggie got back to her feet and leaped on him.
She wrapped her legs around the agent's neck and started punching him. He tried to get her off but the redhead stuck on.
Maggie ultimately pulled him down and brought the agent to the floor. She still had her legs wrapped around his neck and started to choke him, and it wasn't long until the man was rendered unconscious too. She panted as he pushed his body off of her before getting up.
"Willing to shoot a kid?" Maggie muttered to herself. "Definitely HYDRA."
Maggie left the two agents as she took the stairs to the lower floors. Upon reaching the second level, she ran down the hallway and turned right onto a walkway. There, she was surprised to see Steve holding the scepter and standing over an unconscious man wearing the exact same suit as him.
"Steve?" Maggie called out.
"Maggie!" He jogged back toward her. "What are you doing here? Are you okay? Why did Tony leave you alone?"
"I'm fine, don't worry." She still eyed his doppelgänger in the distance. "Was that...?"
"Yeah, I pretty much had to kick my own ass." He said with a sigh. "Now come on. Let's get out of here."
Maggie nodded and started following her grandfather through the hallway.
Steve and Maggie made it to the alleyway they originally were transported to. They then heard someone call out.
"Cap."
He turned around, seeing Tony and Scott sitting in a wrecked car covered in dirt and concrete.
"Sorry, buddy. We got a problem." Tony added.
Scott scoffed. "Yeah, we do."
"What happened?" Steve asked.
Tony looked at Scott. "You want to tell the story or...?"
Scott stormed out of the car and slammed the door in frustration as he rose his voice.
"We lost the cube. The big green meanie knocked Stark off his ass and it slid by the feet of the evil dude."
"Loki." Tony clarified, in which Steve let out a sigh.
Scott continued. "Then he used the cube to teleport himself God-knows-where. It's gone. We're toast."
"Well, what are we gonna do now?" Steve asked.
"You know what? Give me a break, I just got hit in the head with the Hulk." Tony replied.
"You said that we had one shot. This was our shot. We shot it. It's shot. Six stones or nothing. It was six stones or nothing." Scott retorted.
Tony looked at Lang. "You're repeating yourself you know that? You're repeating yourself."
Scott started mocking him. "You're repeating yourself. You're repeating yourself."
"Dude, come on."
"No. You never wanted a time heist. You weren't on board with the time heist."
"I dropped the ball."
"You ruined the time heist."
"Is that what I did?"
"Yeah."
Steve shook his head. "Okay...are there any other options with this cube?"
"No, no, no, there's no other options. There's no do-overs. We're not going anywhere else. We have one particle left. Each. That's it. All right? We use that...bye-bye. You're not going home." Scott explained.
"Yeah, well, if we don't try..." Steve paused. "Then no one else is going home, either."
As Steve and Scott talked, Tony was in his thoughts. Maggie noticed him as his gears were turning and the billionaire suddenly got an idea.
"I got it." Tony said and exited the car. "There's another way to retake the Tesseract and acquire new particles. A little stroll down memory lane."
He walked up to Rogers and continued. "Military installation, Garden State."
Steve remembered the place.
"When were they both there?" He asked.
"They were there at a time...I have a vaguely exact idea."
"How vague?"
Scott was overhearing them. "Uh...what are you talking about? Where are we going?"
They ignored his question and Tony kept speaking. "I know for a fact they were there."
"Who's they? What are we doing?" Scott kept asking.
"And I know how I know." Tony added.
Scott continued to ask. "Guys, what is it?"
Steve sighed and looked around. "Looks like we're improvising."
"Great." Tony replied.
"What are we improvising?" Scott asked again.
Steve walked up to Scott and handed him the scepter. "Get this back to the compound. Take Maggie with you."
"Suit up." Tony said as he started typing into his time GPS. "0-4, 0-7, uh...1-9-7-0."
"Uh, what's in New Jersey?" Scott asked then looked at Maggie. "Help me out here."
"Are you sure?" Steve asked Tony, in which he nodded.
"Cap? Captain? Steve? Sorry. America. Rogers." He finally got their attention. "Look, if you do this...and it doesn't work, you're not coming back."
Tony looked at Lang. "Thanks for the pep talk, pissant." He then turned to Steve. "You trust me?"
Steve nodded. "I do."
"Your call."
Maggie walked up to the two men. "I can come with you. Don't do this by yourselves."
"No, honey." Steve turned to her. "This...this has a real risk. I can't let you do this. I won't."
Tony just looked at the teenager, which gave her all she needed to know about where he stood on this. Maggie decided to trust her grandfather's judgment.
Steve looked at Scott again. "Take her back to the compound."
"When we press this button..." Maggie pointed at her time GPS. "I better see you both back there."
They both nodded and Steve looked back at Tony. "Here we go."
Tony and Steve tapped on their watches and activated their time travel suits. Moments later, they both were transported into the quantum realm.
Maggie let out a sigh, and so did Scott. He looked at the teenager beside him.
"Let's hope this all works out."
• • •
THEY MADE IT to Vormir and the four were traveling up the mountain. Pietro looked over at the barren landscape and sighed.
"Under different circumstances, this would be very cool." He remarked.
Y/N kept walking and looked over at Clint. He noticed his mood and wondered what was on his mind.
"You haven't spoken since we landed." He said. "Everything all right?"
After a slight pause, he shook his head. "Nothing. It's just...I—"
Natasha looked over at him too and their eyes met. He knew she'd try to pry whatever was on his mind out of him so he decided to speak up.
"The last time we spoke...I pushed you two away. I said that you didn't know what I was feeling because you never had children." Clint said. "I shouldn't have said that. You guys offered me a place in your circle...but I turned it down."
"That's all behind us now, Clint." Y/N replied.
"Maggie and Nikolai came into this world and I wasn't there for it. I was sad...angry...scared." He added. "I was never around when I should've been, and I'm sorry."
Natasha stopped walking which caused the rest to halt as well. She turned to Clint and placed her hands on his shoulders.
"There is no need." She said. "Don't apologize. You're here now and the kids love you. We all do."
Clint nodded then looked at Y/N and Pietro. The super soldier pointed at his wife.
"What she said."
"Yeah, I love you too, old man." Pietro added with a chuckle.
Clint let out a soft laugh, then the four continued up the mountain. They were nearing the top and it felt like quite the workout to do so.
"Ugh. I bet the raccoon didn't have to climb a mountain." Natasha remarked.
Y/N panted as he looked over the edge. He turned toward Natasha. "Technically he's not a raccoon, you know? He keeps telling us that."
"Oh, whatever. He eats garbage." She replied.
Suddenly, a voice echoed nearby that got their attention.
"Welcome."
Clint took out his bow and turned around, aiming it. Y/N unsheathed the sword from his pack and got in a stance. Natasha unholstered her pistol and Pietro turned around preparing to fight.
The cloaked figure levitated toward the group, his robes flowing in the wind.
"Natasha. Daughter of Ivan." He began. "Clint. Son of Edith." The figure faced the other two. "Pietro. Son of Iryna. Y/N. Son of Margaret."
They stepped closer toward the figure, weapons still drawn.
"Who are you?" Natasha asked.
"Consider me a guide...to you...and to all who seek the Soul Stone."
"Oh, good." She replied sarcastically. "You tell us where it is, then we'll be on our way."
He muttered something in German and finally stepped out of the shadows. The cloaked figure revealed himself. "If only it were that easy."
"The Red Skull?" Y/N eyed the figure. "I thought my father killed you."
"I go by that name no longer...nor Johann Schmidt. I am merely the Stonekeeper."
"Whatever you say." He replied, still gripping his sword.
They ended up following the wraith up the steps and onto the top of the mountain, which had two large columns standing.
"What you seek lies in front of you."
The four walked up to the edge of the mountain. Natasha looked down toward the cracked floor below.
"As does what you fear."
"The stone's down there." Natasha told them.
"For the rest of you." The stonekeeper said. "For the other...in order to take the stone...you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange."
Y/N looked down at the ground as well and let out a sigh. Natasha quickly glanced at him as the wraith continued.
"A soul for a soul."
There was no plan. No strategy. No other way. The four either sat or paced around as they stalled the inevitable.
"How's it going?" Clint chuckled as he glanced at the Stonekeeper nearby. He started walking toward the seated Natasha. "Jesus. Maybe he's just making this shit up."
"No. I don't think so." She replied as her eyes stared ahead.
"Why? Because he knows your daddy's name?"
Y/N had his hands on his waist as he stood by. He looked at Clint. "She...uh..."
"I didn't." Natasha said.
Clint sighed and looked down. Natasha continued.
"Thanos left here with that stone...without his daughter. That's not a coincidence."
Y/N crossed his arms. "Yeah."
Pietro paced around as he watched the three converse. Like them, he couldn't think of another way.
Natasha folded her hands under her chin and nodded. "Whatever it takes."
"Whatever it takes." Clint repeated.
Y/N looked at the two. "If we don't get that stone...billions of people stay dead." He walked up to them. "I think we know what has to happen."
"Yeah, we do." Clint replied, then gave a nod and started to walk away. Y/N grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"Not you." He said.
"Well, it sure as hell ain't going to be any of you."
"I'm not letting you."
Natasha looked at both of them. "I'm not letting any of you do this."
Y/N faced her. "Oh, I don't think so."
"It's all lead to this." She replied. "We're this close to bringing back the people we lost. People that I dreamed would finally meet our kids."
Pietro was overhearing their exchange and started walking toward them. Y/N shook his head at his wife's words.
"It won't matter if you're not there to see it." Y/N shot back. "I got everything I have ever wanted. Now there's a chance to correct my mistake."
"Your mistake?" Natasha asked. She hated how he blamed himself for Thanos's victory years ago. "You've done nothing wrong, Y/N. I keep telling you that."
Clint decided to speak up. "There is no way I'm letting Maggie and Nik live on without one of you. Don't make this difficult. It's got to be me."
Pietro was about to say something...but a laser blast suddenly rained down onto the mountain.
Debris flew everywhere and Y/N looked up to see ships flying down. They were recognizable...it was Thanos's army.
"What the hell?" Clint also looked up, then ran to cover with the trio.
The smaller ships let out Chitauri foot soldiers and they dropped down onto the mountain. They continued shooting at them with their guns. Natasha peeked out of cover, firing her handgun as Y/N deployed his collapsible bow and shot from it.
"Not good." Clint said as he stood beside Pietro. "They're boxing us in."
"Then we break out. Hit them from the back." Natasha said.
"All right." Y/N exhaled. "Clint, Pietro, take left flank. Nat and I will clear right."
Pietro peeked out of cover and saw soldiers by the edge of the cliff. Natasha did so as well. "Copy that."
"On my mark." Y/N began and unsheathed his sword. "Three...two..."
Natasha suddenly ran out before the count ended and ran toward the cliff, shooting the soldiers in front of her. Y/N noticed this and his eyes widened.
"Nat!" He cried out.
He ran out of cover and slashed at an incoming Chitauri. Behind him, Clint kept the flanking soldiers at bay with his bow.
Natasha kept running and a nearby soldier aimed their blaster at her. Before the shot could hit her, Pietro dashed in and grabbed her. They fell behind cover and the speedster groaned in pain as he took the hit in his thigh.
"Pietro..." Natasha grunted beneath him.
He looked at her. "I'm not letting any of you do this."
Pietro quickly got back up and ran out of cover. Because of his injury, it kept him from going at his usual speed but he kept running. Y/N saw Natasha on the floor and was relieved to see her behind cover, but then his eyes caught Pietro and what he was doing.
"Pietro!"
He kept running, but a shot from one of the Chitauri behind them hit him in the side. The man didn't stop though and kept on going.
Y/N kept yelling. "Pietro!"
The silver-haired Avenger was close to the edge and when finally made it, he leaped off...but his arm was grabbed by Y/N at the last second. The super soldier jabbed his baton into the concrete to keep himself from falling as he held his friend.
"Pietro! Pietro..." Y/N panted. "What are you—"
He looked up at him. "I'd rather die...than let those two kids live without one of you."
Pietro thought back at his childhood and how he lost his parents. He didn't want Maggie and Nikolai to feel the same grief he felt when he lost not only one...but both. And he didn't do this...they would all be killed by Thanos's army anyway.
"No..." Y/N said. "Pietro, please..."
His grip was starting to slip, but he kept holding him. Back on top, Clint and Natasha were still battling the incoming Chitauri. It was going to become tougher though, as another ship descended and let out one last combatant...Thanos himself.
"This is what has to happen, brother." Pietro said.
Y/N grunted as he kept holding his arm, but his grip kept slipping and he was holding only his wrist now. His other hand gripped the baton that kept them both from falling.
"Tell Maggie, Nik, Yelena...I love them." He spoke as he looked directly at Y/N. "And when you bring everybody back...tell Wanda."
"No, no...come on..." Y/N breathed out.
Pietro smiled at his friend, thinking about the last five years he spent with him, Natasha, and the rest of the family he made. When he felt like he had nothing left...they took him in like a brother. Even going further back, the Avengers took in both him and Wanda when they didn't have to. He appreciated that.
"Thank you, Y/N. For everything."
Pietro planted his foot on the wall and quickly stepped off, freeing his hand from Y/N's grip as he lunged backward. As he started to plummet, Y/N reached down and cried out.
"No!"
He was gone. Y/N only had to blink once before he ultimately saw Pietro's body at the bottom of the mountain. Tears streamed down his face as he gripped the baton he was hanging from.
Y/N let out a cry of anguish. Lights shot up between the two columns and they entered the forming clouds above. Suddenly, lightning cracked and everything went white.
Y/N emerged from the shallow water. He sat up and looked around, seeing that both Clint and Natasha had emerged at the same time. The redhead turned to her husband and crawled toward him. The archer stood up and darted his eyes around the area they were in.
There was silence between the trio. Natasha knelt beside Y/N and looked around for Pietro, but the revelation quickly hit her. Clint had figured it out himself, and he dropped his head in despair.
The super soldier looked down at his hand as he felt something. He opened it and saw the small orange rock in his palm.
The Soul Stone.
Y/N started to cry again as he looked at the stone. He closed his eyes and sobbed, burying his face by Natasha's chest as she held him close. Tears ran down her face as well as she felt the same emotions her husband was.
They had completed their mission. They did their job. They had the stone....but it came at a cost.