2018-Five years ago
"Okay, hold on, don't shoot. You see where you're going?" Clint Barton asks his daughter Lila as he teaches her how to shoot a bow and arrow.
Lila nods her head. "Mm-hmm."
"Okay. Now, let's worry about how you get there. Gotta move your foot here. Point your toe this way." Clint corrects his daughter's foot to the proper position and adjusts her shooting stance. "Your hips here. Okay? Can you see?"
"Yeah," Lila replies. Clint pushes Lila's dark hair in front of her face while covering her left eye.
"How about now? Can you see now?"
Both Lila and Clint giggle. "All right. Ready? Three fingers."
"Nice!" Cooper, Clint's older son, says as he plays catch with his younger brother Nathaniel.
"Nice throw, kiddo." Laura, Clint's wife, says. The Barton family were outside on their farm having a picnic. Laura was at the table preparing the food.
"Here you go," Cooper says, throwing the ball back to his little brother.
"Mommy, why couldn't Auntie Kait come over today?" Nathaniel asks.
"She's very busy, Nate. But she says she's sorry and hopes to come over very soon." Laura smiles at her son. She looks over to Clint and Lila. "Hey, you guys want mayo? Or mustard? Or both?"
Lila looks at her dad. "Who puts mayo on a hotdog?"
"Probably your brothers." Clint looks at his wife. "Uh, two mustard, please! Thanks, mama."
"Got it!" Laura shouts. She looks at Nathaniel. "Nate, mayo or mustard?"
"How about ketchup?" Nate asks.
"Or ketchup. I got ketchup, too." Laura says.
Lila aims the arrow at the target. "Mind your elbow." Lila releases the arrow, and it hits the target directly in the bullseye. Clint laughs. "Good job, Hawkeye. Go get your arrow."
"Hey, guys! Enough practice. Soup's on!" Laura says.
"All right. We're coming. We're hungry. Lila, let's go." Clint looks behind him, but there's no one there. Dust swirls around the spot Lila would have been standing in. "Lila?" Clint starts to look around for his daughter and picks up the bow she had. "Hey, babe?" Clint searches the farm only to find that Laura and the boys are also gone. Thunder rumbles in the distance as Clint looks for his family.
He starts to panic and jogs over to where they were. "Babe? Babe?" He whistles. "Boys! Boys! Laura!"
That same day. Clint gets a call. It's from Steve.
"Yeah?" Clint asks, answering the phone.
"Barton...it's Kaitlyn. She's...she's gone." Steve says. Clint freezes in place and doesn't say anything after hearing what Steve just said. "Thanos got to her. I'm so sorry. It happened so fast. I couldn't save her."
Clint drops his phone as his eyes begin to brim with tears. He couldn't believe it. The one person he deeply cared for and treated like a second daughter is gone. She wasn't taken away by the Snap like his family was. She dies from her physical wounds caused by a spear Steve Rogers plunged through her abdomen. Steve tells him the reason why he did it, and he understands. Clint doesn't blame Steve for what happened. He blames Thanos. He's pissed. And who wouldn't be?
After Kaitlyn's funeral, he disappears. No one has heard from him since her death almost three weeks ago. It's like he dropped all communications. Before they laid her to rest, Steve hands Clint the arrowhead necklace he gave her for her fourteenth birthday. He keeps it close to him. He never stops thinking about her. It's what keeps him going. As long as he continues thinking about Kaitlyn and his family, he still has a reason to keep fighting, to avenge their deaths.
•
•
•
Twenty three days later, Steve Rogers is inside the bathroom of the Avengers Compound. He turns off the faucet after shaving off his beard. He looks into a mirror when a distant rumbling is heard outside.
Steve walks out with Pepper Potts and the remaining Avengers, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, James Rhodes, and their newest member, Will Jones.
They look up in the night sky to see Carol Danvers bringing Peter Quill's ship, the Benatar, to the Compound. Once it lands safely, Tony and Nebula walk out. Steve runs up to Tony to help him stand.
"Couldn't stop him," Tony says.
"Neither could I," Steve says.
Tony looks at Steve. "I lost the kid."
"Tony, we lost." Steve says.
Tony wonders about his wife, Pepper. "Is, uh...?" Pepper runs up to Tony, and the two embrace each other. She begins to sob, and Tony kisses her on the cheek. "It's okay." Rocket sits with Nebula on the steps of the Benatar and takes her hand, both silently mourning their losses.
Inside the Compound, the surviving heroes are sitting in a living room area. Will is sitting at a table with Tony, who looks much skinnier and is in a wheelchair getting blood from an IV. They both look at a holographic casualty report that lists the names and faces of those lost to the Decimation.
Bucky. Nick Fury. Doctor Strange.
"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth," Rhodey begins.
Erik Selvig. Sam Wilson. Sharon Carter.
"World governments are in pieces." Natasha goes on.
Hope van Dyne. Wanda Maximoff. Maria Hill.
Henry Pym. Scott Lang.
"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." Natasha continues as the image displays more of those who have fallen. Tony lowers his head when he sees Peter and Maddi Parker's photos.
Shuri. T'Challa.
A curious expression falls on Tony's face when he doesn't see Kaitlyn's photo. "Where's Kaitlyn?" Everyone in the room falls silent when Tony mentions the young hero. "I haven't seen her since New York. Is she all right?"
Steve gives Tony a sad look. "Steve?"
"She's gone, Tony." Steve answers.
"How?" Tony asks.
"Thanos killed her," Steve says. Tony becomes distraught when he hears the news. Steve didn't want to tell Tony about what really happened because he wanted to keep his promise to Kaitlyn about not letting Will find out. Tony quickly wipes his eyes as they begin to water.
"Where is he now? Where?" He asks.
Steve, with his arms crossed, shakes his head. "We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through."
Tony sighs while moving forward in his wheelchair. He looks over at a very sullen-looking Thor. "What's wrong with him?"
"Oh, he's pissed. Kaitlyn is gone. He thinks he failed. Which of course, he did but there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?" Rocket answers.
"Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear," Tony says.
"Maybe I am." Rocket says.
Will was a little weirded out by the talking raccoon in the room, but he shrugs his shoulders.
"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans and satellites and we got nothing." Steve says. "Tony, you fought him."
"Who told you that?" Tony asks, surprised. Everyone looks at Tony. "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."
"Okay," Steve says, his eyes downcast.
Tony continues. "He's unbeatable."
"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?" Steve asks.
Tony is not listening and makes a salute sign with his hand. "Pfft!" Steve purses his lips at Tony's antics while Natasha gives him a look. "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming."
"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus," Steve says, stepping forward.
"And I needed you." Tony seethes. "As in, past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry." Tony stands, pushing things off the table with a clatter. Will jumps slightly at the noise, and so does everyone else. "You know what I need? I need a shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse..."
"Tony, Tony!" Rhodey says as he rips out his IV.
"Alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world. Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not. That's what we needed." Tony says.
"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve responds.
"I said we'd lose. You said, we'll do that together, too." Tony says. "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 goes for Steve, but Rhodey tries to restrain him. "Okay."
"Right?"
"You made your point. Just sit down, okay." Rhodey says.
"Okay. No, no, here's my point? You know what?"
"Tony, you're sick. Sit down." Rhodey begs.
Tony ignores him and looks at Carol. "She's great by the way. We need you. You're new blood." Tony breaks from the hold. "Bunch of tired old mules. I got nothing for you, Cap. I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar."
Steve looks affected by Tony's words, the old friends gazing at each other for a few moments. After that, Tony rips his Arc Reactor from his chest and shoves it into Steve's hand.
"Here, take this. You find him, you put that on, you hide." Tony says before falling to the ground.
"Tony!" Steve exclaims. He is by his side, and everyone is starting to gather.
"I'm fine. Let me..." Tony's legs give out beneath him and he falls unconscious.
•
•
•
"Bruce gave him a sedative. He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day." Rhodey informs the group as he walks out of the room Tony and Pepper were in.
"You guys take care of him. And I'll bring him a Xorrian elixir when I come back," Carol says, walking away.
"Where are you going?" Steve asks.
"To kill Thanos," Carol says.
Natasha and Steve share a look before walking after her. "Hey. You know, we usually work as a team here and, uh, between you and I, morale's a little fragile." Natasha says.
Carol turns around and looks at Steve. "We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight, too," Steve says.
"You even know where he is?" Rhodey asks.
"I know people who might," Carol says.
"Don't bother. I can tell you where Thanos is." Nebula says from behind Carol. She informs the group. "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."
She leans over a table. "To the Garden."
"That's cute. Thanos has a retirement plan." Rhodey says.
"So, where is he?" Steve asks.
"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." Rocket says. "Until two days ago, on this planet." A hologram of a planet pops up, with a shockwave visibly traversing the surface.
"Thanos is there." Nebula says.
Natasha leans forward and looks at the hologram with bewilderment. "He used the stones again."
"Hey, hey, hey. We'd be going in shorthanded, you know?" Bruce says.
"Look, he's still got the stones, so..."
Carol cuts off Rhodey. "So, let's get 'em. Use them to bring everyone back."
"Just like that?" Bruce asks.
Steve nods his head. "Yeah. Just like that."
"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 says.
"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end differently than it did before?" Bruce asks.
"Because before you didn't have me," Carol says.
Rhodey eyes Carol. "Hey, new girl? Everyone in this room is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where have you been all this time?"
"There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys." Carol says.
Thor, who has been eating a snack this whole time, stands up and walks over to Carol. She looks at him and holds his hand out, catching Stormbreaker as it flies over to him, missing Carol by inches. She doesn't flinch and smiles at the God of Thunder.
"I like this one," Thor says.
"Let's go get this bastard," Steve says.
•
•
•
"Okay. I can do this." Will mutters to himself as the team prepares to board the Benatar. He starts to take a step forward but stops. Natasha walks up to him, seeing how nervous he is.
"You okay?" She asks.
"Yeah. Just a little nervous." Will says.
"Don't worry. Everything's going to be all right. Just stay close by and remember your training." Natasha assures him.
Will nods his head. "Okay."
Natasha smiles and pats his shoulder before walking inside the Benatar. Once everyone was aboard the ship, Rocket turned in his chair to face the group sitting behind him. "Okay. Who here hasn't been to space?"
Steve, Natasha, Will, and Rhodey raise their hands. "Why?" Will whispers, looking at Thor. Carol chuckles.
"You better not throw up on my ship." Rocket says.
"Approaching jump in 3...2...1." Nebula says.
As the ship jumps into a wormhole, Steve and Will hold onto their seats for dear life. The Super Soldier's eyes widen slightly at the exhilaration of this new experience. The ship slows down, and it hovers in orbit of the planet seen in the hologram previously. Carol gets out of her seat and hovers in front of the Benatar.
"I'll head down for recon." She informs the group on the radio before flying away.
As everyone is waiting, Steve finds a photo of Kaitlyn and her brother, Peter Quill, and looks at it. After everything that happened, he still wonders if what he did was the right thing. Though everyone tells him it wasn't his fault, Steve can't help but feel guilty about how things turned out. Did he save Kaitlyn from Thanos, or did he somehow make things worse by killing her? Was there another way? Could he have done more to protect her?
Natasha turns her head and sees the photo in Steve's hands. "This is gonna work, Steve."
"I know it will," Steve says. "'Cause I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't."
"No satellites. No ships. No armies. No ground defenses of any kind. It's just him." Carol says, approaching the Benatar.
"And that's enough." Nebula says.
•
•
•
Carol flies through the roof of the shed Thanos was staying in and wraps her arms around his neck, restraining him. Bruce, in his Hulkbuster armor, and Rhodey, in his War Machine suit, grab his arms. After them, Thor flies in and slices the gauntlet with his ax, causing him to yell out in pain. Steve, Natasha, Will, and Rocket walk into the shed. Rocket goes over to the sliced-off Infinity Gauntlet. He flips it over, and his eyes widen in surprise when he sees there are no stones in the gauntlet.
"Oh, no." Rocket says.
"Where are they?" Steve asked Thanos. He walks up to the Mad Titan after looking down at the gauntlet and seeing the stones were gone. Thanos doesn't say anything, but Carol squeezes his neck.
"Answer the question," She says.
"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation." Thanos says.
"You killed Kaitlyn and murdered trillions!" Will exclaimed, stepping up to Thanos.
"You should be grateful," Thanos says. "And I didn't kill your friend."
Will looks at Thanos, confused. "What are you talking about?" Thanos doesn't say anything and looks at Steve. Will turns his head and walks up to the Super Soldier. "What is he saying? If he didn't kill Kaitlyn, then who did?"
Steve stays silent and looks at him with sad eyes. "Tell me who did it!"
"I did," Steve says, his voice soft. Will's eyes widen with shock and he steps back. He catches everyone by surprise when he punches Steve.
"Why?!" Will asks.
"Because she asked me to," Steve says.
"So, this entire time, you've been lying to me about what happened to Kaitlyn? She's my best friend! Don't you think I had a right to know?" Will asks.
"We were trying to protect you," Steve says.
"Bull!" Will exclaimed. He tries to go after Steve again, but Natasha holds him back.
"Will, maybe now isn't the right time to discuss this." She says.
"Kaitlyn trusted you. You were her family." Will says.
"She asked me not to tell you. Those were her last words." Steve says.
"I don't believe you," Will says.
"It's true, Will," Thor says. Will looks at Thor as his eyes begin to water. He breaks out of Natasha's hold and walks towards the front door of the shed. He looks back at Steve, anger in his eyes, and leaves the shack.
After sharing a look with Steve, Natasha walks up to Thanos. "Where are the stones?"
"Gone. Reduced to atoms." Thanos says.
"You used the stones two days ago!" Bruce exclaimed.
"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me." Thanos says. "But the work is done. It always will be. I am inevitable."
"We have to tear this place apart. He has to be lying!" Rhodey says.
"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them." Nebula says.
"Ah. Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly." Thanos says. Nebula lowers her head, looking uncomfortable. Not wanting to hear anymore of this, Thor raises Stormbreaker and slices the Mad Titan's head off, causing some of his blood to splatter on Nebula's face. She wipes it off.
"What?" Bruce says.
"What did you do?" Rocket asks Thor.
"I went for the head," Thor says, his voice breaking. The death of Kaitlyn Summers shook the God of Thunder to his core. With Loki, Heimdall, and his entire family gone, he feels as if there's no real purpose for him anymore. Nothing to keep him going. The others watch him as he leaves the cabin.
They wouldn't see him again for a while.
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A/N: All right, folks! Welcome to Endgame! Book 10, you guys. I can't believe we're at the final movie for the Avengers! I'm so pumped for this. There's going to be lots of surprises in this book and a lot of emotional stuff. I do want to take my time with this and do right by it, so it may take me a while to post since this movie is really long. But I'm excited for you guys to see what I have in store! Also, once this book is finished be sure to stick around because I have some special announcements about the future of the Kaitlyn Saga.
I hope you guys will like this book and be sure to have some tissues next to you.
If you've liked this chapter, please consider giving it vote. Let me know what you think. Feedback is much appreciated. Thanks for reading!