2023
Manhattan, New York
Kennedy groaned and winced as she reached up and touched her forehead. When she pulled her hand away she saw that there was blood. She groaned as she sat up, pieces of rubble falling off of her as she rose to her feet.
"Natasha? Anya?" Kennedy called out.
"Here," Anya groans out.
"Same," Natasha says as she rises to her feet.
Kennedy holds her side as she limps over to Anya, holding a hand out and helping the younger girl to her feet.
"Weapons?" Natasha asks.
Kennedy reaches down and holds up her gun, "One mag."
"No weapons," Anya states, "I thought this was going to be observation day. You know like when you go on a field trip, and you just look at stuff? So, um no weapons."
"I've got one mag too," Natasha sighs as she holds up her gun.
"What was that?" Kennedy asks, "It looked like a spaceship right?"
"It was," Anya says nodding her head, "Did something follow you from the past?"
"Not us," Natasha says as she looks over at Kennedy, her gaze softening, "You're bleeding."
"I'm fine," Kennedy tells her, "We need to get up there. The stones are somewhere and we need to keep them out of whoever's hands."
"I can track anything," Anya says, "Leave the gauntlet to me."
Natasha places her hands on both of Anya's shoulders, inspecting her, "Be careful. I refuse to be the one to tell Kate that you died trying to save the world."
"If I die, please tell Kate it was a car accident or a really bad allergic reaction. She doesn't know anything."
"Anything?" Kennedy asks, "Like not about the Red Room or your training or the fact that you're like a bloodhound without the senses?"
"No."
Kennedy facepalms, "You might want to tell her! That's something you tell someone after like a year together! You guys have been together for like three!"
"I know," Anya says, "I'm just scared you know? What if my past is too much for her? What if she hates me?"
"Does she not question how we're related?" Natasha asks.
"I just told her I'm adopted and when you bring up adoption people get uncomfortable and don't ask questions, especially since you know, I look a lot different from you," Anya shares with them.
"Anyone copy?" Natasha hears in her comms.
"Steve?" Natasha asks, "You alright?"
"I'm good," Steve says, "You?"
"We're fine," Natasha replies, "Any idea where the stones are?"
"Not with us," Steve answers.
Natasha nods her head, "Okay we're going to get Anya on the case."
Natasha looks at Anya, "Can you do this and not get yourself killed?"
Anya's eyes narrow slightly, "I'm offended that you're doubting me right now."
"I'd never doubt you," Natasha says as she hands Anya her gun, "You're my little sister, which means you've got this."
"Yeah I do," Anya says as she takes Natasha's gun. She nods her head up toward a lose pipe, "There's a breeze coming from up there. That's how you'll get out of here." Anya begins walking in the opposite direction and pauses, "Um if I do die, tell Yelena that I was single the last five years."
Natasha smiles, "Go."
Anya returns the gesture before taking off.
Kennedy holds her gun out to Natasha who takes it and puts it in the holster on the thigh. Kennedy goes over to the pipe and pushes it out of the way and just as Anya said, it leads to something of a surface. She and Kennedy walk over to the edge of what had been the Avenger's Facility to see Thanos sitting there in the middle.
"We've got eyes on Thanos," Natasha says into her comms.
"We see him," Steve responds, "He's just been sitting there."
"It's a trap," Kennedy states, "He wants to lure us down there, kill us and then snap again so that all of our efforts and near-death experiences will have been for nothing."
"We know," Tony says, "We don't care."
"Oh great," Kennedy says, "I love the way men think."
There's a crackle of thunder and Kennedy and Natasha both look up at the sky to see the bolt of lightning land not too far from them as Thor summons Stormbreaker and Mjolnir. Kennedy felt that one near-death experience was enough for today. She wasn't ready for two.
"Do we fight?" Kennedy asks Natasha, "Because between you and me, I think we're pretty weak."
"Oh baby," Natasha says sarcastically, "You were all 'we're in this together. We're not going to die.' What happened to that?"
"I almost died," Kennedy says nodding her head, "Really sorry about that by the way. The adrenaline has worn off and I realize how traumatizing that was."
Natasha looks at her, "It's okay. I was trying to do the same. You just won the fight."
"I wanted it more," Kennedy says.
"Don't." Natasha warns.
Kennedy stops talking after that.
"We can't leave them to fight on their own," Natasha says, "We fight or at least stall until Anya can get that gauntlet."
"Okay," Kennedy says as she takes a deep breath nodding her head, "Let's hope we're at least home for bedtime."
"I think the kids will understand if we're not," Natasha tells her. They make their way to the center of the field joining in the fight.
"Okay," Anya says as she runs through the pipe, "If I were a gauntlet of stones where would I be?"
She hears a snarling noise and nods her head, "That sounds promising."
She follows the sound where she finds Clint laying on his side, seemingly out of breath. She bends over him, "Are you okay?"
"You," Clint says breathlessly, "You're Natasha's new sister."
"Anya," she says with a smile, "Probably not the time but my girlfriend is your biggest fan. Also found a letter your wife wrote you at the Budapest safe house. Very cute, very romantic."
"Oh," Clint says brows furrowed, "Thanks?"
Nebula walks over and Anya watches her curiously as she comes over and takes the gauntlet out of Clint's hand, he tenses but then relaxes when he sees that it's her, "Oh you, I also know you."
"Father, I have the stones," she says.
Anya's quick on the draw as she pulls her gun out aiming it at Nebula, who aims it at Clint.
"Let them go."
Anya keeps her focus on Nebula as a green woman joins them, her gun aimed at Nebula. Clint rolls to the side, nocking his bow, but he seems unsure who to aim at. Anya's confusion also increases as another Nebula appears, this one holding her hands up in surrender.
"You don't have to do this," the nice Nebula, Anya has settled on calling her, says.
"I am this," bad Nebula responds.
"No," the green lady says shaking her head, "You're not. You've seen what we become. Nebula listen to her."
"You can change," Good Nebula insists.
The green lady lowers her gun and Anya wants to lower hers, she really does, but she doesn't know these people. She doesn't trust them. And she sure as hell isn't losing her family again.
"He won't let me," Bad Nebula says and she goes to shoot Clint, but Good Nebula reacts faster, shooting her in the chest. Bad Nebula falls to the ground and Clint is quick to react as he goes over and picks it up.
Anya lowers her gun, tucking it in the back of her jeans.
"Just for clarification," Anya says, "You are the Nebula of the present, correct?"
"I am," Nebula responds.
Anya points to the dead Nebula, "But you just killed your past self, so shouldn't you be dead?"
"That isn't how time travel works," Nebula tells her.
"Oh," Anya says before looking over at the green lady, "And you are Gamora?"
"I am," she answers, "You know me?"
"Yeah," Anya answers, "The Guardians of the Galaxy, they told us about you. I'm assuming you're the Gamora of the past?"
Gamora nods, "And who are you?"
"Anya," she introduces herself, "I was a child assassin."
"You are – very young," Gamora states, "I didn't know that assassins your age existed on earth."
"Typically they don't," Anya says, "I uh I had really bad parents as a kid so I kind of get what you went through growing up."
"I'm sorry," Gamora tells her.
"Yeah," Anya says, "I'm sorry too."
On the battlefield, Steve, Tony, Thor, Natasha, and Kennedy gave everything that they've got, but even without the stones, they were finding that he was too powerful. Steve threw his shield at Thanos, which he easily deflected before Thor launched a fury attack with his hammer and ax, but Thanos dodged those as well.
Kennedy caught the deflection of Steve's shield and used it to deflect a lighting attack Thanos had directed her way before throwing it back to Steve who used it to block Thanos's dual-ended blade.
Tony used his repulsors, which Thanos once again deflected, which ended up hitting Natasha, taking her out.
"Nat!" Kennedy exclaimed.
Tony went to attack Thanos, but he picked him up, appearing as though he was going to tear him in half but instead used Tony's body to deflect an attack from Thor's lightning, sending Tony flying and lying on the ground.
It was just the three of them now. Thor launched Mjolnir at Thanos who dodged. Thor wasn't used to fighting with the two hammers and didn't summon Mjolnir back leaving it on the ground.
Thor charged at him with Stormbreaker and Thanos breaks the attack, pinning Thor to a rock, punching him in the face repeatedly. Steve throws his shield and Thanos catches it with his hand before throwing it at Kennedy who ducks under the shield as it lodges in the rock behind her.
Thanos continues punching Thor in the face and when he tries to summon Stormbreaker, Thanos catches it and tries to drive the ax into his chest. Kennedy goes to pull the shield out of the rock and when she's about to throw it, Mjolnir hits Thanos in the face before flying back to-
"Holy shit," Kennedy says as Steve summons Mjolnir back to him.
Thanos kicks Thor in the face before charging at Steve. Kennedy throws the shield at Thanos, distracting him as Steve hits him with Mjolnir. The shield comes back to her and she does it again, her and Steve alternating attacks.
She throws the shield, hitting Thanos in the face and Steve hits it with Mjolnir, sending it back to Kennedy's hands. Steve summons a bolt of lightning that he uses to strike Thanos, before going over and trying to hit him with it.
Thanos catches him, throwing Steve to the ground. He grabs his dual end blade and begins swinging angrily, attacks that Steve dodges with ease and when he finds an opening, he attempts to strike, but Thanos knocks Mjolnir out of his hands, sending it flying.
"Steve!" Kennedy yells as she throws the shield. Steve catches it and uses it to defend himself from Thanos's attack, but with each attack, he's able to chip away at the shield, until he delivers a hit, that sends Steve flying.
Thanos turns and looks at her and Kennedy looks over to see Mjolnir resting right beside her. As Thanos marches toward her Kennedy mutters a silent prayer as she places her hand on the handle of the hammer and attempts to lift it.
The hammer comes up with ease and Kennedy stares at Mjolnir in her hands with wide eyes and then at Thanos who was charging at her. He uses his blade to swing at her but Kennedy ducks under it as she hits Thanos with Mjolnir, stunning him.
She runs over to Steve, resting Mjolnir by his head, "Hey, I need you to get up okay? We can't let him win. Think about Marin. Think about your son."
Steve groans as he rolls on his side, trying to stand up. Kennedy holds out a hand to Steve and he takes it, allowing her to help him to his feet.
"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. I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much."
Kennedy's eyes went wide as she looked over Thanos's shoulder to see his army arriving. She could remember seeing them on the field back in Wakanda and the size of the army then seemed minuscule compared to what she was looking at.
Kennedy took a deep breath as she picked up Mjolnir and looked over at Steve with only half of his shield left. Steve looked down at the damaged shield and tightened the strap to his arm. Kennedy's lips curled up in a small smile. If she was going out, then at least she was going out not at the bottom of a cliff.
"This seems like a cool way to die," Kennedy mutters to herself, "With my favorite Avenger at my side."
"Give it up Ken," Steve says with a small smile, "We all know Nat's your favorite."
"Don't tell her that," Kennedy tells him, "She'll be insufferable."
"I think she knows," Steve says, "Since you married her."
They both look over at the armies and a sigh escapes them.
"Hey Cap, can you read me? Cap it's Sam. Can you hear me?" Steve looks over at Kennedy with wide eyes as he reaches his hand up to touch the earpiece in his ear, "On your left."
Steve turns and Kennedy mimics the action as she looks behind her to see a portal open, through it walks T'Challa, Shuri, and Okoye. Sam flew through and Kennedy's eyes went wide as several more portals opened.
She saw a web sling through one of the portals and Kennedy's shoulders sagged at the sight of Peter. She looked at the portals and saw Wanda land in front of one, beside her was Reagan and Yelena and she almost cried right there.
Kennedy looked over to the side to see as Scott broke through the rubble with Rhodey, Bruce, and Rocket. She looked over at Steve, holding out Mjolnir, but Steve shook his head. As he held up the busted shield.
"Seriously?" Kennedy asks him.
Steve smiles at her, "I like a challenge."
"Suit yourself," Kennedy responds with a smile. Tony and Natasha, who had previously been down for the count, make their way over to them. Tony looks at Mjolnir and nods his head impressed.
Kennedy looks at Natasha with a small smile as she waves Mjolnir, "I'm double worthy."
"I'm double going to kick your ass," Natasha tells her, making Kennedy's smile wider.
They look over at Thanos who looked at them, not with fear, but with an emotion that Kennedy couldn't quite place. Whatever the expression was, Kennedy liked it because gone was the confidence Thanos had earlier.
"Avengers!" Steve yelled as Thor summoned Stormbreaker, joining them at the front of the line, "Assemble."
They charge into battle, clashing with Thanos's army in the middle of the field. Kennedy uses Mjolnir and summons a burst of lighting, hitting several of Thanos's aliens. Her jaw drops as she looks at the hammer and then at Steve.
"Crazy, right?"
"Oh, I am never shutting up about this," Kennedy says as she swings it again.
Natasha uses her pistol to shoot at Thanos's men before running out of ammo and taking a spear from one of them and using that to defend herself. She goes to stab one of the aliens, when a vibranium spear comes out of nowhere, stabbing it in the chest.
"Motherhood has made you slower."
Natasha looks over to see Yelena there and she can't help the smile that crosses her lips as she hugs her little sister close. Natasha squeezes her eyes shut enjoying the embrace because for the last five years, she couldn't imagine this moment. And yet here it was.
"I am so sorry," Natasha apologizes, "I'm sorry I couldn't bring you back sooner."
"I'm just glad you weren't dead," Yelena teases as she pulls away from Natasha, "Thought your triplets would have killed you by now. Holy shit, they have to be like five now, right?"
"They're big," Natasha says nodding her head, "And you're going to love them."
Yelena grins, "I can't want to meet them." Her grin slips a little, "Where's Anya, I haven't seen her."
"She's looking for the stones," Natasha tells her, "But she's good. Almost done with college and she has a –" Natasha almost lets the beans spill about Kate before catching herself.
Yelena stares at her, "She has a what?"
"A sorority!" Natasha covers up, "Yeah, Anya's the president of her sorority."
"What?" Yelena exclaims, "Okay there is so much we need to catch up on."
"Natasha!" Alexei exclaims, "Did you miss me? And where are my grandchildren! I want to teach them proper culture."
"Hello dad," Natasha greets with a smile, "And obviously they're not here because they are five and they have school and bedtime and normal things."
"Ah," Alexei says, "Where is your mother?"
"Watching said normal children," Natasha answers.
"Great," Alexei says, "Let's wrap this up so that I can see Melina's beautiful face again."
Natasha looks over at Yelena who shrugs with a smile on her lips.
Kennedy uses Mjolnir to hit an alien in the face when another charges at her and she ducks under it, sending lightning at it. In front of her, Wanda lands, sending a pulse of energy where the aliens in the vicinity end up falling back. She looks over her shoulder at Kennedy with a smile and Kennedy drops the hammer as she runs over, hugging her.
"I missed you so much," Kennedy says, "I used to go into your room and cry. I mean sometimes I still do but the kids found out and they like to go in your room – oh my god the kids. You're gonna love them! Elena, Franklin, TJ, and Diana. They're amazing and they really want to meet you guys. Oh! And I found your letter, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to read it but I love you so much Wanda and there isn't a thing in the world I wouldn't do for you."
Wanda pulls back from the embrace looking at Kennedy with a wide smile, "You are my hero."
"That means a lot to me," Kennedy tells her with tears in her eyes.
"I know," Wanda says with a proud smile.
"Hi Kennedy!" Peter says as he webs by, "Would hug you, but bad guys!"
Kennedy looks at him and waves at Peter, "Hug me later!"
"That's the plan!" Peter says as he holds his thumb up at her.
Anya runs alongside Clint, "What's the plan?"
"There is no plan!" Clint tells her as they dodge an alien attack.
"That's stupid!" Anya exclaims, "How are you an Avenger?"
Clint looks over at her, "You really are Nat's sister aren't you?" Anya smiles proudly as Clint reaches up and taps his comms, "Cap what do you want me to do with this thing?"
"Get them as far away as possible!" Steve responds.
"No!" Bruce yells, "We need to get them back where they came from."
"Pretty sure the time machine is broken!" Anya exclaims.
"Whoa, there's a time machine?" Anya looks over to see Reagan running alongside them. Anya's eyes go wide as she wraps her arms around Reagan.
"Holy shit! You're here!" Anya exclaims.
"And holy shit you grew up?" Reagan says as she looks at Anya, "Wait how old are you?"
"Twenty-one," Anya answers and Reagan stares at her.
"There's no way we're the same age!" Reagan exclaims.
"Ha!" Anya yells, "And guess what? I'm graduating!"
"What? You bitch!"
"Suck it loser," Anya tells her, "And the cherry on top, I have a smoking hot girlfriend."
"Same girl, you were crushing on before?" Reagan asks and Anya nods. Reagan laughs and hits Anya on the shoulder, "I am so proud of you."
"Oh!" Anya says, "The triplets! Franklin, Elena, and Diana. You'll probably like Franklin the most, he is an absolute sweetheart. Elena is Yelena and Diana is eighty trapped in a five-year-old body."
"So she's Kennedy?" Reagan asks and Anya chuckles.
"Pretty much."
Kennedy looks around, "Okay so we're sending the stones back in time?"
"That seems to be the plan," Wanda says as she blasts enemies and Kennedy smiles as she watches her, really missing Wanda and everything she did.
"Who has them?"
"Me," T'Challa says as he runs by. Kennedy looks over at him, but she quickly looks back in front of her to see Thanos making his way toward them. Wanda steps in front of Kennedy protectively.
Thanos scoffs at her and Wanda smirks as she sends two boulders Thanos's way, She punches through both of them before sending blasts at Thanos. He uses the dual-ended blade, trying to bring it down on Wanda, but she stops it with her magic. She overpowers him, breaking the blade in half.
She lifts Thanos, breaking his armor with her magic and Kennedy looks on in awe. Wanda was truly powerful, and Kennedy was extremely proud. Out of nowhere, the ships began to shoot down on them, forcing Wanda to break focus and drop Thanos and instead use her magic as a shield over her and Kennedy.
The ship's fire comes to a stop as it aims at something else in the sky. Wanda removes her shield as she and Kennedy both look up to see what it was. A yellow ball of light comes falling from the sky, flying through the heart of the ship, destroying it.
"Carol!" Kennedy exclaims.
Peter tosses Carol the gauntlet and she tries to fly it over to Scott's van, but Thanos grabs his broken blade and throws it at the van, destroying it, sending everyone flying back. Carol loses the gauntlet and Thanos is quick to go and pick it up.
As he's about to snap, Carol flies in and prevents him from snapping. Thanos tries to headbutt her, but Carol doesn't budge. Thanos frowns at that as he grabs the Power stone and uses it to punch Carol away. He puts the stone back on the gauntlet, just as Stormbreaker flies in and hits Thanos in the chest.
Thor charges after him digging the ax into his chest, "I told you I'd kill you for what you did to my brother, and I will."
Wanda walks over, holding Thanos down and as he struggles against her magic, Carol flies back, holding Thanos down. Thor pulls the gauntlet off of Thanos's hand and tosses it on the ground away from Thanos.
Nebula and Gamora walk over and Thanos looks at them, "Daughters. Help me."
"No," Nebula responds, "This is what you deserve."
"You betray me?" Thanos asks, "Your family."
"You were never our family," Nebula says shaking her head, "Watching these humans, the ones that you call weak. They are a family. They care about each other. They would die for each other. You used us to accomplish your goals and for that, you must die."
Nebula takes Stormbreaker and shoves it further into Thanos's chest, causing him to let out a scream.
Thor bends down and picks up the gauntlet, pulling it onto his hand, and just like with Hulk, the power causes him to kneel over in pain, but Thor laughs as he looks at Thanos, a smile on his face.
"You will disappear, and your name will be nothing but a whisper," Thor tells him with a smile, "A story parents tell their children to make them behave. You say our failure brought us back to you? Your ambition brought you back to us and just like before, you die."
Thor snaps his fingers and all of Thanos's men and his armies and ships begin to turn to dust. Wanda and Carol release him and Thanos looks around, Stormbreaker still in his chest. Nebula and Gamora stare as the dust of Thanos is carried away by the wind.
"Thor?" Kennedy asks as she comes over to him, "Are you okay? Do you need Mjolnir?"
Thor removes the gauntlet to see that his arm was charred, just like Bruce's had been, but as he takes the hammer from Kennedy, a spark of lightning comes as Mjolnir flies into his hand, healing him.
"Is that it?" Tony asks looking around, "Did we win?"
Steve lets out a laugh as he looks at the empty field, "Yeah. We won."
"Woohoo," Tony says weakly fist pumping, "Drinks are on Kennedy."
Kennedy's brows furrow, "Um maybe not all of the drinks. There are quite a lot of us here and I am trying to put at least three and a half kids through college."
"Three and a half?" Wanda asks.
Natasha spots Wanda and walks over to her, hugging her tightly. Wanda laughs as she hugs Natasha back, the two of them rocking back and forth.
"Yelena!" Anya exclaims as she runs over and jumps into the blonde assassin's arms, "Don't you ever leave me again!"
Yelena laughs, "I won't."
Arms wrap around Kennedy's waist, and she looks to see that it's Peter. She smiles as she hugs him close, but the hug only lasts a minute as Peter's arms are pried off of her. She looks over to see Reagan standing there.
"Hey there big sister," Reagan says, and Kennedy laughs as she looks at Reagan. Reagan's lips spread in a smile as well and Kennedy pulls Reagan into a hug, holding her tightly, never wanting to let her go.
"Uh Ken," Reagan says, "You're crushing me a little."
"Sorry!" Kennedy says as she lets go, "I'm just – really happy to see you. I'm also realizing that I went from being eleven years older than you to sixteen."
"Oh," Reagan says, "You're thirty-seven?"
"Yeah," Kennedy says, "And a mom! You're an aunt! Oh, mom's at the house! She's going to freak out when she sees you. She's going to freak out when she sees me! Oh, and I'm worthy! I picked up Mjolnir, look!"
Kennedy walks over and snatches the hammer from Thor, holding it up, "See? Worthy me!"
Reagan smiles as she looks at Kennedy, "I am so glad that you are still the same Kennedy that I know and love."
"Well," Tony says, "I have to go tuck Morgan in, but this was great. A real hoot. See you guys tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Natasha asks, "What's tomorrow?"
"I'm throwing a party tomorrow," Tony states, "You're all invited, and I better see you all there. Including you Strange." Tony holds up two fingers, "Iron Man out!"