𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒 [𝖙•𝖘] [𝖎𝖒 - 𝖊𝖓𝖌]

⁵³. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑛𝑑

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰ ───

"Slow down, slow down. I'll spell it out for you."

"You're totally rambling."

"No, I'm not."

"You lost me."

The warm Spring wind blew through the bushes and trees in the enormous Central Park, the sun beams shining down at the city that never sleeps more than usual today. There were people strolling hand in hand, some walking their pets, even families sitting on the grass for a day picnics. Tony did his best to catch up to (Y/N)'s quick pace, who had her eyes set forward to focus on her path while trying to pay attention to what he was saying.

For the last couple months, the couple took advantage of lazy days like this one to go on walks through the largest park in New York, mostly starting up with small chats and ended up with them bickering over silly things. Tony said it was exercise for when they finally got married.

"Look, you know how you're having a dream, and in the dream you gotta pee," Tony elaborated, readjusting the loose jacket placed on his shoulders. His tone was loud enough for her to hear, but quiet so people wouldn't eavesdrop.

(Y/N) nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay," Tony, satisfied with her answer, continued with his chatter. "And then you're like, 'Oh, my God. There's no bathrooms. What am I gonna do?' 'Oh someone's watching'. 'Oh, I'm gonna go in my pants."

She was actually invested now in what he had to say. "And then you wake up and you actually have to pee in real life."

"Yes."

"Yeah," (Y/N) followed Tony with her eyes as he moved in front of her, bouncing off with giddiness over something that she had no knowledge of. "Everybody has that."

"Right, that's the point I'm trying to make. Apropos of that, last night I dreamt we had a kid," he paused for a reaction, which he didn't get right away. "It was so real. You let me name him. What was his name. . ."

(Y/N) pressed her lips together in a thin line at this reveal.

"Morgan!" Tony snapped his fingers when he remembered the name. "Morgan."

"So you woke up and — "

"Naturally."

" — thought that we were — "

"Expecting."

"That."

Tony raised his eyebrows in anticipation. "Yes?"

"Nope," she responded with an apologetic look, popping the last letters when she said them.

"I had a dream about it. It was so real."

(Y/N) shook her head in disbelief, seeing the true excitement behind Tony's eyes at the mere thought of having a child with her. Those recurring, terrifying thoughts she's had from the moment he suggested it came back in flashes, afraid of what they meant. The idea of having a family with Tony wasn't so bad; but what haunted her at night was the overwhelming fear of becoming an anger-filled person like her father, or even becoming a submissive one similar to her mother.

"If you wanted to have a kid," (Y/N) decided to speak up, noticing she must've trailed off from the conversation.

She tugged on the knot that tied the loose jacket on Tony's shoulders and revealed the newly improved arc reactor in his chest, a small light coming from it.

"You wouldn't have done that," she carefully tapped it with her finger.

He hovered a hand over it. "I'm glad you brought this up, 'cause it's nothing. It's just a housing unit for nanoparticles."

(Y/N) wanted to laugh at his poor excuse. "You're not helping your case, at all."

"No, this is detachable," he continued to defend himself. "I can make one for you. It's not a — "

"I'm perfectly fine like this, thank you very much," she flashed him a sarcastic grin. "And you don't need that."

"I know, I had the surgery," by now, he took a further step closer. "I'm just trying to protect us and future us's and that's it. Just in case there's a monster in the closet. Instead of, you know — "

(Y/N) cut him off. "Shirts."

"You know me so well. You finish all my sentences."

She sighed in both frustration at his words and also in some sort of relaxation when his hand sneaked its way onto her back. She felt herself getting tugged toward his body, though she was still shaking her head to add emphasis on her words. Another factor to the fear of having a family was the high risk they both had due to this job of theirs. What safe and healthy family had parents that weren't always home due to fighting crime? (Y/N) couldn't think of a single answer.

"You and I should have shirts in the closet. Not Kree armors or metal suits. Just shirts."

"Yeah. You know what there should be? No more surprises. We're gonna have a nice dinner tonight. Show off this Harry Winston."

Tony reached out to grab her left hand and held up the engagement ring on her finger. (Y/N) laughed at his antics, finding easy to smile with him and just forget of all her troubles.

"Right? And we should have no more surprises. Ever," he muttered. "I should promise you."

"Yes," by now, (Y/N)'s attention was on his moving lips, watching closely how they opened and closed as he pronounced the words.

"I will."

Tony leaned in and closed the space between them, and (Y/N) responded to the kiss with a smile threatening to pop on her face. She moved her arms to wrap around his neck and pull his flesh close to her own body, his body heat radiating even through the layers of clothing. The rational part of her brain scolded her for the public display of affection, though right now she couldn't care any less.

Tony muttered a quick 'thank you' under his breath into her lips, and just when he was about to deepen the kiss, there was a faint shuffle few feet away, followed by a light.

"Tony Stark. (Y/N) Vaughn."

The sound of their names made them pull away from one another. Embarrassment being the first reaction in their faces for being caught in an intimate moment, though it quickly changed to confusion when they saw the person calling for them. A man with a blue robe and a red cloak walked towards them with a serious look in his eyes, but what was even weirder was where the came from. An orange ring of light was behind him, some sort of portal that showed a rustic staircase.

"I'm Doctor Stephen Strange," he presented himself. When he got closer, (Y/N) was able to see the bizarre cut of his beard. "I need you to come with me."

Tony and (Y/N) stayed silent, still processing the abrupt turn of events. Tony reacted quickly and took a step in front of (Y/N), placing one arm in front of her in a protective manner.

He decided to break the ice. "Oh, uh, congratulations on the wedding, by the way."

"I'm sorry, you giving out tickets to something?"

"We need your help," Stephen Strange stated with a serious tone, one that indicated he used it a lot. "It's not overselling it to say that the fate of the universe is at stake."

(Y/N) reached out for Tony's arm, eyes squinted in suspicion. "And by who do you mean 'we'?"

Footsteps sounded from behind Stephen, and out into their line of vision walked their old teammate and friend Bruce Banner. His hair was shorter than the last time (Y/N) saw him, which was almost 3 years ago. She had no clue where he had disappeared to that day, but what she did remember was how upset a certain member had been when this happened.

He still had that awkward demeanor on him, and he looked pretty shaken to the core. "Hey, guys."

"Bruce," Tony was the one to voice his shock.

Bruce took a hesitant step closer to the couple, shaking his head as if he was relieved to see a familiar face, and embraced Tony in a abrupt hug. (Y/N) patted him in the back to comfort him, sharing with Tony a look of pure confusion between them. What had been so horrible for Bruce to be in this state?

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰ ───

Tony and (Y/N) were guided through that strange portal in the middle of Central Park, which led to an old building in the same city. The new guy, Stephen, called it the Sanctum Sanctorum, but that was all the information he could give at the moment. On the other hand, he introduced them to his partner, Wong, who had more visible scars of experience in his eyes.

"At the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then. . ." Wong paused. "Boom."

(Y/N) was standing up, resting her back against the staircase's railing, meanwhile Tony were sat on the only couch they could find in the first floor of the enormous building. Wong clasped his hands together as he spoke, opening his palms to create an illusion as a visual aid to the 'lesson'. An illusion of outer space was visible, the familiar blues and purples shining through the stars.

"The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals. . . hurtling across the virgin universe," Wong transformed the illusion to indicate what he was narrating, all stones hovering in midair, all in different colors. (Y/N) counted only five in the illusion, yet she didn't say anything out loud.

"These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

The blue stone shimmered for just a short second, and (Y/N)'s eyes immediately flashed in recognition. She stared down at her hands, her mind going back to that fateful day.

Meanwhile, Stephen called out the stone's name for everyone in the room to hear. "Space."

"Reality," the red one shimmered just like the other had done when mentioned. After that, the purple one moved to the middle. "Power."

"Soul."

"Mind."

(Y/N) also recognized the yellow stone, and the name was fresh in her mind. Her thoughts went back when she saw Vision for the first time, recalling what Thor's words were when he pointed toward the synthezoid's forehead.

"And Time."

Stephen set his eyes on the unusual necklace dangling from his neck, moving his hands in some weird motion as if to unlock the necklace. At this, the necklace revealed the sixth Infinity Stone, glimmering in a green light. (Y/N) couldn't ease down the creases on her forehead due to the intense worry she felt.

Tony's eyes set on Bruce. "Tell me his name again."

"Thanos. He's a plague, Tony. He invades planets. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population. He sent Loki."

At the new information, Tony turned his head so fast in Bruce's direction that he almost broke his neck. (Y/N) recognized the look on his face, being able to decipher the fear behind his eyes. It was as if his worst nightmare was finally coming through, and (Y/N) knew it was time to stay through to all the promises she'd made him when consoling him.

"The attack on New York, that's him."

"This is it."

(Y/N) decided to leave her spot against the railing and move toward her fiancé, who looked like he was starting to have an internal conflict.

"How much time do we have?" she asked to the men in the room, mostly toward Bruce.

"No telling. He has the Power and Space Stone," he followed Tony around just as he kept explaining. "That already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he gets his hands on all six stones, guys — "

"He could destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of," Stephen finished, firm eyes set on Tony.

Tony, just like in any situation where he was under a lot of stress, resulted into humor. He leaned forward on an artifact that was the same height as him and started stretching his right leg.

"Did you seriously just say 'hitherto undreamt of'?"

"Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?" Stephen retorted in the same tone.

"Is that what it is?"

The red cloak unexpectedly lifted itself from its normal position to smack Tony in the back. The sound of Tony losing his balance and almost crashing forward against the cauldron echoed throughout the entire building. He turned back to face Stephen with indignation behind his eyes.

"I'm going to allow that," he took a pause before speaking again. "If Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?"

Stephen shook his head. "No can do."

"We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives," Wong added with a serious tone.

"And I swore off dairy, but then Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me."

"Stark Raving Hazelnuts," Stephen named the flavor automatically.

"Not bad."

"A but chalky."

"Our favorite is a tie between A Hunk of Hulk of Burning Fudge and Marvelous Blast of Chocolate," Wong revealed with a sense of pride.

(Y/N) clapped her hands, meanwhile Bruce looked utterly confused. "See? I told you."

"That's a thing?"

"Whatever," Tony decided to shut the conversation down. "Point is, things change."

"Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change," Stephen responded with determination. His eyes set on Tony. "And this stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."

"Yeah, so conversely, it may also be his best chance against us."

"Well, if we don't do our jobs."

"What is your job exactly? Besides making balloon animals."

"Protecting your reality, douchebag."

(Y/N) was getting some sense of deja vu from the very first interactions Tony and Steve had on the team. Even so, the fiery way Tony stared off against someone that disagreed with him and his beliefs hadn't changed a bit in all these years. Bruce and (Y/N) exchanged a look with each other, both sharing the same thought.

"Okay, guys. Could we table this discussion right now?" Bruce cut the tension. "The fact is we have this stone. We know where it is. Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone and we have to find him now."

"Yeah, that's the thing."

"What do you mean?"

"Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder," Tony confessed. "He's offline."

"What?"

"Yeah."

"Tony, you lost another super-bot?"

"I didn't lose him," he corrected him. "He's more than that. He's evolving."

"Who could find Vision then?" Stephen was the one to ask now.

Tony's eyes set on (Y/N) almost immediately, to which she raised her hands in defense. "Don't look at me. He and Wanda stopped sending their monthly check-ins approximately at the same time."

This made Tony almost stomp his foot against the ground in frustration. He stopped pacing through the Sanctorum, not wanting to say what he had to out loud. "Shit."

"Probably, Steve Rogers."

Stephen scoffed. "Oh, great."

Bruce frowned at his friend's odd demeanor and couldn't understand why this was so hard to do. He stepped forward for Tony to hear him clearly, offering the best words of advice he could muster up at the time. "Call him."

"It's not that easy," Tony whirled on his heel to look back at him. "God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we?"

"No."

"The Avengers broke up. We're toast."

"Broke up?" His eyes flickering back and forth between (Y/N) and Tony, like a child trying to understand something new. "Like a band? Like — Like the Beatles?"

"Cap and I fell out hard," Tony continued, his tone solemn. "We're not on speaking terms."

"Tony, listen to me," Bruce took another step toward him. "Thor's gone. Thanos is coming. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not."

(Y/N) nodded along when Tony's eyes set on her, as if he was waiting for her opinion. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "We all know the team works better when the two of you are together."

Tony sighed in frustration yet nodded in a dreadful way. He took a few steps backward to give himself space for the call, pulling out the flip phone that Steve had sent him through a FedEx package two years ago. He silently stared off at the contact number in the phone, the only one registered on that particular phone, thinking this wasn't going to end well at all.

But just as he was about to hit the call button, he heard a faint rattling in the distance. A gust of wind blew through (Y/N), bringing a chill down her spine. Tony felt this too, since he removed his gaze from the phone to stare at the group.

"Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would ya?" he pointed toward Stephen.

Stephen tried to lift his gaze up to the strand of hair moving because of the wind. "Not at the moment, no."

(Y/N) and the group stayed in complete silence to hear something else. She lifted her head toward the large hole on the roof and saw dirty newspapers blowing back, all in the same direction as if something external was pushing them out. An eerie rumbling echoed through her ears, a familiar extraterrestrial mechanical growl that she could recognize from miles away. Everyone's eyes were on the glass doors, where the figures of people running out of the way were visible along with their muffled screaming. It's just like last time, she thought, terrified.

Tony was the first one brave enough to reach for the door and open it, the sounds of terror being confirmed real and not part of their imagination. (Y/N) didn't think twice and followed after him, hearing the other three men behind her. Sirens and car honks were heard all around the block, and everyone seemed to be running away from the left side of the street in absolute terror.

Tony helped a woman up from the floor, who was just too scared to say anything in return to his worried, "You okay?"

A car crashed against a lamppost, and Tony pointed toward Wong and Bruce. "Help him! Banner!"

"Go, go! We got him!"

Even with adrenaline rushing through his veins, Tony reached out for (Y/N)'s hand in the midst of all the chaos, trying not to lose her amongst the crowd of scared people. He reached for his intelligence sunglasses, placing them in his face and activating them in just a short second.

"FRIDAY, what am I looking at?" He waited for a response but then turned back to face Stephen. "Hey! You might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!"

Stephen clasped his hands together and orange rings formed on his arms. "Might wanna use it!"

(Y/N) and Tony walked through the scared crowds, rounding up the corner where the screams were the loudest. Cars and taxi cabs were left abandoned in the middle of the street, and the gust of wind was stronger in this part of the block. When the trio dared to take a look, it took their breath away.

An enormous spaceship with a circular form was hovering right over the street, its boosters releasing too much pressure and air that it blew out into the street with harsh winds. Newspapers and forgotten food wrappers were picked up from the floor because of the intense wind, even gathering up in some sort of cloud all around it. It was nothing (Y/N) had ever seen before.

"FRIDAY, evac anyone south of 43rd Street," Tony decided to keep his distance with the spaceship and hold onto an open car door. "Notify first responders."

(Y/N) had to place a hand above her eyes to stop all the dirt from getting into her eyes. On the other hand, Stephen clasped his hands together in a weird motion and opened them to push the dirty gust of wind away with his own, a faint of orange trailing on it. With this, all particles of dirt and newspapers flying in the air died out, the only sound being the sirens in the distance.

(Y/N) caught a glimpse of the way Stephen winked at Tony in a satisfactory way, and also the smirk that popped from Tony's eyes. Oh, boy, she thought to herself. If things weren't so serious, she would've said something about it.

A light blue beam emitted down from the ship and out of it came two figures. As the group walked up toward them but also far enough to keep their distance, (Y/N) could see that one was much taller than the other and were of very distinctive species.

"Hear me and rejoice," Ebony Maw announced. "You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos."

Cull Obsidian held the axe between its hands and muttered words under his breath in a language that (Y/N) wasn't able to understand.

"Be thankful that your meaningless lives are now contributing — "

"I'm sorry, Earth is closed today," Tony cut him off in his usual sarcastic tone. "You better pack it up and get outta here."

Ebony Maw didn't seem to pay him that much attention and mostly directed it toward Stephen. "Stonekeeper," he calmly spoke. "Does this chattering animal speak for you?"

"Certainly not. I speak for myself," Stephen responded and balled his fists to form two identical orange disks. "You're trespassing in this city and on this planet."

Wong copied his movements and formed the same orange disks, eyes glaring at the creatures.

Meanwhile, Tony wasn't having it. "He means get lost, Squidward."

"Can you not rile up the bad guy?" (Y/N) gave him a side eye from where she was standing, seeing the way the aliens exchanged words.

Tony raised his eyebrows as his silent way of telling her 'You should be used by now' and she couldn't help but shake her head at that. Their attention was pulled back to the front when Cull Obsidian smacked his axe against the concrete and started taking steps forward.

"Banner, you want a piece?" Tony spoke without removing his eyes from the creature.

"Mmm, no, not really," Bruce tried to deflect. "But when do I ever get what I want?"

"That's right."

"Okay. Push!"

Bruce gritted his teeth together and the lightest shade of green appeared on his neck, but slowly died just as quick as it came. It had been a while since (Y/N) had seen the Hulk, but to say that she was thrilled to have him back was overselling it.

"It's been a while," Tony spoke again. "It's gonna be good to have you, buddy."

"Okay. Shh," Bruce tried to shush him down and tried again. "Let me just — I need to concentrate here for a second. Come on. Come on, man."

Cull Obsidian growled loudly and smacked his axe against a car, his anger bundling up. At the same time, Bruce continued struggling with transforming, the green appearing on his neck again before it died.

"Where's your guy?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Aren't you 'always angry'?" (Y/N) spoke up, quoting back what he had said in the last battle here in the city. It had been so easy for him back then, and now he couldn't even try.

Bruce sighed in defeat. "I don't know. We've sorta been having a thing."

"It's no time for a thing."

"I know."

"That's the thing right there," Tony grabbed him by the shoulders and gestured toward the upcoming alien. "Let's go."

Bruce grunted and did another failed attempt at getting the Hulk to come out. Stephen, who was on (Y/N)'s left side, peaked his head forward to give Tony a judgmental stare with the disks still formed in his hands.

Tony stared at Bruce. "Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards."

"Guys, I'm sorry," Bruce stammered, ashamed. "Either I can't or he won't."

"It's okay. Hey, stand down," Tony rubbed his shoulder reassuringly. He moved him backwards just enough to stand beside Wong. "Keep an eye on him. Thank you."

"I have him."

"Damn it."

Cull Obsidian let out a roar as his slow walk turned into a sprint toward the group. (Y/N) was preparing her balled fist behind her back, but before she could take any action, she turned to the side to check with Tony.

"You wanna take this one?" she asked casually, using her other hand to point at the alien.

"And you'll take the other one."

"Fine by me."

Tony took this as a sign to step forward. He adjusted his jacket before pressing on his new arc reactor. Just as it was intended so, the nanotechnology escaped and covered every inch of his body, starting from the chest. It was the same red and gold she was used to see, but it was much less bulkier than the other suits she'd seen. He removed the glasses from his head just as the helmet covered him entirely, preparing himself for the upcoming impact.

He was able to form a shield to protect himself from Cull Obsidian's blow with the axe. He then threw a punch of his own and then got up to fire several blasts at him, that threw the creature back toward his accomplice.

Once the boosters returned to their spot on the back of the suit, Bruce was the first to speak. "Where'd that come from?"

"It's nanotech. You like it? A little something I — "

His words were cut off short when the ground beneath him lifted itself up in the air and threw him a few feet away. Ebony Maw remained unharmed and he used his hands to grab two trees with his telekinesis and throw them in their direction. Wong stepped forward and used his disks to protect a shield against the attacks.

"Doctor Banner, if the rest of your green friend won't be joining us — " Stephen turned around to face him behind the shield.

He created a portal near his feet, which made Bruce stumble back and fall toward the grass from Central Park. Wong removed the shield once Bruce was safely out of danger and Stephen was preparing himself to throw a blast of his own when (Y/N) fired a photon blast.

She didn't get to see what damage she had done because Tony came flying back in at the same time and threw a car at him, which Ebony Maw easily sliced in half.

"Gotta get that stone outta here, now."

"It stays with me."

"Exactly," Tony retorted to Stephen. "Bye."

Tony flew back in the air toward Ebony Maw, who lifted parts of the street, cars and other trees as different obstacles for him to go through. In a quick action, Cull Obsidian threw some sort of claw toward him and sent Tony back and crash through the bottom floor of a building. (Y/N) tried to mask the worry on her face from the other alien in front of her, since the much bigger one rushed over to finish his battle with Tony.

"Keep your distance," Stephen warned (Y/N) once he saw her take a step forward.

(Y/N) tried to argue, but she knew it was the right choice. From her spot, she fired photon blasts in Ebony Maw's direction, and he lifted a finger to use a car as a shield. Meanwhile, he pulled bricks from the floor and sharpened them into thousands of drills. Stephen formed a portal to swallow them and Wong did another one to redirect them his way.

Ebony Maw grew angry at this, and he squeezed a hydrant and the water pressure pushed Wong back. Stephen summoned an orange rope and used it to pull Ebony toward him, which backfired almost instantly. (Y/N) flew after them as she saw Ebony pin Stephen against a wall upside down and secure him by moving the bricks to his own pleasure.

" — Then I'll take it off your corpse," she heard Ebony Maw growl at Stephen.

"Not today!" she blasted Ebony Maw off and watched his body crash against a window. Stephen was still trapped between the bricks, and (Y/N) did her best to try and rig them off.

But before she was able to help Stephen out all the way through, she felt a tight grip on her ankle. When she looked down to see what it was, she saw a cable moving by itself before harshly pulling down toward the ground. Ebony Maw came from the crashed window, hand balled in a fist with anger in his eyes. He was satisfied by the way (Y/N) groaned when she hit the ground, her head almost making a crack against the concrete.

Ebony Maw forgot about Stephen and the stone for a second, instead placing his attention on the woman. He was about to say something else, but he paused when he saw (Y/N) reach out to cradle the back of her head and her hand was stained with a faint blue color.

"You're Kree," he stated, astonished.

(Y/N) had been staring at the obvious blue blood staining her hand with terror. She shook her head, but Ebony Maw didn't have time for that and his eyes showed some sort of realization.

"You're one of the Kree Ronan told Thanos about," Ebony Maw approached (Y/N), who was still on the ground because she was being pinned down by the same cable.

"I must admit, I was expecting a much bigger challenge."

(Y/N) gritted her teeth together and balled her fists, trying to gather as much energy as she could. Ebony Maw made a noise similar to a mocking chuckle, as if he was entertained watching her struggle. (Y/N)'s eyes changed from their original color to a golden hue, and her body temperature increased as the golden aura enveloped her hands.

(Y/N) used this strength to punch Ebony Maw with a powerful blast, almost blinding him in the act. At the same time, he flicked his wrist to throw her sideways, making her crash against one of the abandoned cars. She did her best to get her balance, but Ebony Maw had already returned his full attention on Stephen and wrapped the same kind of cables around his wrists, ankles and even his neck.

"You'll find removing a dead man's spell quite troublesome," Stephen said with a strain.

Ebony Maw scowled in anger, tightening his fist. "You'll only wish you were dead."

Stephen passed out due to the lack of oxygen, and he fell limp on the floor. Ebony Maw raised in the air the part of the ground where Stephen had fallen unconscious and used his abilities to drag him along, but the red cloak moved again by itself and managed to free Stephen from the cables's grip.

"No!"

(Y/N) didn't waste any time in flying after him, having Ebony hot on her heels. She could see from the corner of her eye how Tony was still battling against Cull Obsidian on the park, destroying trees and statues along the way.

She had been too busy in dodging Ebony Maw's attempts in slowing her down by moving lampposts, cars and even traffic lights toward her, which made it a hard task to keep a good look on Stephen's flying form. She didn't even see the second figure joining her in the air until they spoke up.

"Hey, Miss Vaughn!" Peter's cheerful voice rang through her ears, even through the mask. He was dangling his body from web to web.

(Y/N) almost got distracted at the sight of him. "Kid, what are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to help!"

"Well — look out!"

Peter let out a shout when a billboard flew in their direction and knocked him down into the ground. (Y/N), who had been lucky enough to dodge it, winced internally at this but didn't say anything about it when Peter didn't say something himself. Both of them kept their eyes set on Stephen a few feet away, a perfect view to see how Ebony Maw moved with his powers all the traffic lights for the cloak to get caught up in them.

It worked, and the cloak got stuck in the last traffic light and dropped Stephen from its grip. Peter stuck a web onto his back before he hit the ground, and he faced (Y/N) with those white masked eyes.

"Go help Mr. Stark, I got this!"

(Y/N) frowned with hesitancy. "Are you sure?"

"Positive!" Peter used his free hand to give her a thumbs-up, which didn't make her nerves disappear.

(Y/N) got to the park in perfect timing. Cull Obsidian delivered a strong blow on Tony, which made him roll on the grass. The alien had his back on her so she used this opportunity to fly toward him with increasing speed. She fired a photon blast at the knees to weaken him, which made him groan in pain.

Once he was bent over in pain, he roared again and (Y/N) used her momentum to push him directly to the floor with her feet against his back. Cull Obsidian growled in displeasure as he stumbled on his way to the floor, which wasn't the same floor as everywhere around him. A portal opened right below his feet and he accidentally fell into a snowy scenery in the middle of nowhere.

Wong appeared on her line of sight out of nowhere, holding the portal open until Cull Obsidian tried to jump his way out. He closed it and this sliced Cull Obsidian's hand with a clean cut, and Bruce screamed in disgust at the sight of the limp hand.

Tony freed himself from the metallic claw and stood up. "Wong, you're invited to our wedding!"

Tony didn't say anything else before he took off in the air and disappeared out of her line of sight. Meanwhile, she felt Wong's eyes on her, as if to confirm what Tony had just blurted out.

"Don't worry, I agree."

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰ ───

(Y/N) walked through the halfway destroyed streets, her eyes scanning through the rubble. She was helping Bruce in finding a specific item through the mess, but she knew it might be a helpless cause.

But then, her eyes set on a pair of glasses on the floor. Her eyes squinted at the sight, remembering how Tony discarded of them before his suit enveloped his whole body. She knew this was the only way she could get to communicate with him, since she didn't have a comms set or her suit in hand.

She placed the glasses on. "Hey, FRIDAY."

"Ma'am. What can I do to help?"

"Can you patch me through Tony's suit?"

"Of course."

Static noise followed after that, and it took a few seconds for the line to clear and silence filled both sides of the call. He made a noise at the back of his throat to inform that he was listening, though it sounded very far away.

"Hey, Tony?" she called with worry. "Oh, my God. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just think we might have to push our 8:30 res."

Her heart stopped in her chest. "Please tell me you're not in that ship."

"Yeah."

"God, don't worry," she tried to reassure, preparing herself to jump toward the sky as fast as she could. I'll fly out there right now."

"No. No." His voice sounded firm through the static. "Don't come for me."

She frowned at the weird request. "Why not? Do you have any idea where you're going? It's uncharted territory for you — "

"Honey, you'll lose time," By now, the signal was so bad that his voice was mostly converted with static. "Call — St — Steve. Tell him what's going on."

"But what about you?"

"Don't worry about me."

"I am going to worry about you!"

"It's okay," he said. "Call the others. I'll be — ."

FRIDAY's voice returned. "Signal failure."

The line was covered in full static now, and his voice wasn't echoing through. She sighed and closed her eyes to process this, debating whether to listen to his advice or disobey his wishes. One part of her told her that he was putting himself at risk, and that she had more experience on that area, but the other told her that she needed to call Steve. She was one of the few people he could trust at the moment.

"(Y/N)," Bruce called her attention.

"Yeah?"

"Want to make the call?"

this is the longest chapter i've written omg
hehe, you're in for an emotional roller coaster

-see you soon, bex