This isn't the end
Two things Bailey learnt those next few seconds.
One, The Teenager who refers to himself as 'Spider-Man' was strong enough to catch Rhodey when he was spinning through the air.
Second, Vision can break a whole bus in half when kicked in his direction by a man who can grow to the size of an average building.
But one thing Bailey wish she would have discovered, is that she can cease this whole fight with one super awesome move that would leave them all winded for hours. Unfortunately, she was not that powerful, nor did she have damaging abilities. She was more of a 'saver' and less of a 'destroyer' thanks to the specific skill set she has.
That's why she stayed in the air, dodging flying objects, and phasing more valuable objects such as Sam when Rhodey tried to unleash his entire firearm on the man.
Tony flew up to her and grabbed a hold of her body from the front whilst she was concentrated on Rhodey and Sam, and due to the surprise, she completely forgot she was not a normal human being for a couple of seconds.
She kicked and pushed her arms around, trying to punch his face or wiggle herself free from his grasp when she remembered she had superpowers. Bailey phased out of his hands, fell for a bit and then shot back into the air. With one swift movement, she unclicked her old laser-gun from her holster, and shot a few fires at him that the billionaire had managed to dodge.
With his attention focused elsewhere, she fell backwards, twisted her body and started flying after Rhodey. Tony eventually noticed such, held out his hand and blasted at Bailey before chasing her across the sky.
Out of nowhere, Scott suddenly had the wing of an aeroplane in his hands and he tried to play baseball with the Iron Man suit. A cloud of fire and smoke followed after at the wing smashed over Tony.
"Water. We need someone with water superpowers," Bailey muttered, and flew faster than expected, away from the scene.
Scott stepped between the Black Panther and where Sam and Bax just flew past in the air, "You wanna get to them, you gotta go through me," he demanded.
Bailey's head turned as Rhodey came past with a Spider attached by a web, and starting firing at her giant friend.
"That's irritating," she mumbled and made a U-turn back to their direction.
The Spider-Man twisted his web, swinging over Scott and then fell down, ready to kick him in the face. Bailey outstretched her arms, pulled back from flying, and phased the teenager through Scott's head.
A scream could be heard as the boy suddenly passed, and he quickly shot up a web to save him from hitting the ground. His toes barely touched the cargo, and he ran across the top before jumping off and shooting a separate web to get back into the sky with the rest of them once more.
Scott punched War Machine, and he went flying back again.
"The bus!" Bailey shouted, and pointed to another bus next to him.
Scott looked over his shoulder and easily picked up the vehicle like it was a Lego car, and tried pulling it past his body to throw as War Machine. Rhodes panicked and started firing every bit of ammo he had on him, surely about to run out soon. Bailey smirked at this and immediately shot down to the ground.
She watched Lang about to step on Rhodey, but miss as the fake Iron Man shot back into the sky, his aim now once again refocused on the running figures of Captain America and James Barnes, who were trying to reach the quinjet.
"Wanda, on your 3!" Bailey shot back into the sky, following after Rhodey as Wanda began to levitate objects (cars) and throw them at the opposing team members' direction.
"Something just flew in me!" a distressed Scott shouted. A warning that someone had managed to get past him and was now going in the direction of the jet.
Bailey then focused on Vision's floating figure, and shot up into the sky to meet with him.
"When Statue of Liberty over there said you had to go through him to reach Cap, he did not mean it literally," she teased, coming up face-to-face with the robot.
"Step aside," he demanded.
Bailey jokingly took a step to the side in the air, and opened her left arm for him to pass, "Please, after you," she insisted.
With a warily look, Vision began to float forward.
"Made you look!" Bailey shouted, as she swung he body around and kicked him twice. Once in the side of his torso and the other across his face.
With a quick hand movement, Vision flicked Bailey out of the air and down to the ground beneath him.
She groaned as she used her arms to lift herself over, and flopped onto her back. That was not cool at all, and Vision just managed to get himself crossed off her Christmas list.
Using the Mind Stone in his forehead, Vision sent out a laser that cut through the bottom of a communications tower right next to the bunker entrance where the quinjet was parked.
Again, it was as if a freeze frame hit Bailey as her mind ticked for ideas. She saw Wanda in the corner of her eye, she watched Steve right in front of her, barely meters away, and Bax saw a flash of Red-Hair standing under the roof where the tower was about to hit.
That's when she shot up from the ground, and sliced through the air to get to Natasha as soon as possible.
Wanda caught the falling tower with the use of her psionic powers, and held it up with all the strength she had been able to muster. A proud grin plastered on Bailey's face that only managed to pick up her adrenaline and send her flying faster and faster. She lapped Steve and Bucky, and came up right behind Natasha, tackling her out of the way as she stood a stance.
Grabbing the waist of Nat, she pulled back into the air. Bailey only travelled a bit before she lined up vertically once more, dropping Nat to the floor causing her to tuck and roll a bit away. Once the Widow was a safe distance from the falling rubble, Bailey landing her own feet to the ground.
She watched Wanda fall to the ground in pain, a quick glimpse of Rhodey behind her, and then the picture began to get clouded as rubble fell in front of her, yet Steve and Bucky kept pushing forward.
Her hands flung out in front of her face, and she closed her eyes with a scream as she caught a hold of the falling pieces of the building, phasing the tons of concrete in order for her team members to run right through it and make it to the other side.
A shout escaped her lips, louder than before, and her muscle strings felt like they were tearing apart from the large amount of mass molecules she was ripping from each other.
She tore and tore and tore at the atoms, breaking the physical state and leaving it intangible, and continued to put all her strength into her one chore she had, the one mission she was given, as she made sure her Captain would made it through.
The second he resurfaced, Bucky mere feet behind him, she dropped all control she had and watched the building collapse to the ground in front of her. A dust cloud blew past and thanks to her muscles already weakened, she fell backwards like the blow had taken her out just like a birthday candle.
Nat fell down to her fiancé's side, and looked up to Steve with a tear falling down her cheek after she was forced to listen to the screams.
"You're not gonna stop," Nat realised, staring into his Icey Blue eyes and then into the comforting Blue under her. Bailey blinked away some dust, squinting to make out Nat's figure with a lot of groans escaping her mouth.
"You know I can't," Steve replied with a deep inhale.
Natasha sighed, and looked back up, "I'm gonna regret this," she shook her head, dropping Bailey's head into her lap and lifting up her shaky arm.
She pointed her Widow Gauntlet at the two, and shot one single fire of her electric bite.
All eyes widened as they watched it pass Steve, and hit a body behind him.
T'Challa groaned as he shook in a frozen position, and placed another foot in front of the other. So Nat shot at him again.
"Go," she ordered the two, before she really did have to shoot at them as well.
Another Widow Bite flew past the air, and Buck and Steve sprinted to the jet.
The quinjet started up as Baileys vision refocused, and she managed to catch the satisfying glimpse of the blue thrusters helping the jet take off. She let the smirk fill her lips when the body of the Black Panther pouncing at the jet, barely grabbing a hold of a retracting wheel as he fell down to the ground once more.
Bailey allowed her head lift up from its position, eyes only blurred from the small tears, and she watched the jet climb into the sky the exact same time Scott Lang was punched by both Iron Armor's and he was sent falling to the ground.
"Shoot, I should've prevented that, shouldn't I have?" she joked, and let her head fall back.
As much as she could've helped the Ant-Man, Steve was already on his way to Siberia, and no one else was needed.
"I think that's enough superpowers for one day," Nat smiled down at her, tucking a strand of blonde hair away from her eyes and kissing Bailey's forehead.
When Bailey sat up with a smile, arm resting on the knee of her leg, she noticed the fuming King of Wakanda.
Her eyes widened and she rose to her feet despite the searing pain in all her muscles.
"Don't touch her," she defended Nat, hands raised with her signature gun in hand, pointing straight at him although Bailey looked like a zombie herself. Hunched back, bruised body, and cuts littering her cheekbones. She was still prepared for a fight.
"Move, or I will move you. And I will move you in a less kind way than she did," he looked to Nat, threatening eyes glaring holes into her body.
"Put the claws away, Kitty. I'm not afraid."
"I said I'd help you find him, not catch him. There's... a difference," Nat tried to reason for her motives.
All three heads shot to the sky as they watched Iron Man fly After Rhodey in the air. They were going after the quinjet and Bailey could not allow that.
"Take this," she chucked her gun to Nat, who easily caught it, "Just in case," she winked, arms straightened at her sides.
Nat recognised that take-off stance, "Are you crazy?" she shouted, and wanted to step forward to grab at the woman, but her hand went straight through.
"Crazy in love, yes," she smirked, teasing a line from earlier in their lives.
It was official, Nat sad she loved Bailey, and Bailey just admitted to a feeling she thought she would never experience in her lifetime.
"Go plan our wedding. I don't want any white, that can stain, and Clint cannot be a bridesmaid," she teased, and shot into the sky.
"You better get back here!" Nat shouted, and ran to where Baileys last footstep rested, stopping when she realised that her fiancé was already in the air, and only climbing higher.
"She's got heart," T'Challa complimented, "We honour that in my country. She would have been a brave warrior," the King continued to praise with the small nod of his head. "It is only a pity that her head lies wrong, and your heart doubtfully. She convinced you to the wrong side, and you let a killer loose into the world."
"Barnes didn't kill your father. Steve wouldn't justify him for a death of a good man."
"My father was a great man, but sometimes judgement if often clouded," maybe it was a jab at how Natasha's judgement was clouded thanks to her love for a woman on the opposing side, but she didn't care.
"Oh boy..." she muttered, watching the white hair become a spec in the distance.
Bailey zoomed right past Tony Stark, more concentrated on the figure in front of him as Sam called that he would get the billionaire, because she was much faster than he was. And so she shot after James Rhodes, eyes fixed past the outline on the goggles, and hair clearly knotting up behind her head thanks to the wind.
"Vision, I've got a bandit on my six," Rhodey asked for a little help.
From the shoulder of Sam's falcon suit, missiles got shot and exploded right in front of Rhodes's face, slowing him down a bit as he prevented himself from frying to a singe.
Baileys smile grew as she came up closer to him, ready to grab a hold of his armour and pull him from the sky. Her arm stung as she outstretched it, and her fingers ached at the pulled outwards. A cramp spiked in her stomach, and her head felt dizzy, but she pushed more. It felt like a treadmill was on full speed and there was no way she could jump off unless it meant falling to the ground, quite literally in this case as well.
And then it happened.
"Vision!" he shouted, trying to get the AI's attention away from the woman in his arms, "You copy? Target his thruster; turn him into a glider. Bailey won't be hard to shake."
This time the picture did not slow down. There was no time freeze, or slow motion, or logical thinking.
Just Bailey grabbing Rhodes foot, and watching a beam of yellow light start making its way towards the four of them.
It missed Tony.
It missed Sam.
It went straight for Rhodey.
"Rhodes!" she shouted, and pulled back at the foot she had just grabbed a hold of. This man was about to get a fatal hit right through the chest and into the head, she could never allow that.
Pulling him to the side caused her body to fall in line with the laser beam that could quite easily hit the jet, but that was a risk she was willing to take. Instead she forgot about all laws of physics, any research she had done since a 16 year old just dropped from her mind, and the girl prayed that energy was molecules itself.
And so she phased.
Eyes shut tight and her arms pulled back to her chest. She drew in her legs, ducked and rolled. And then the burning sensation began.
She could feel it go through the top of her chest at an angle, coming out between her shoulder blade and neck. She wasn't able to notice James' arc reactor get hit, and his suit shutting down. All she could concentrate on was that her vision was blackening, her lungs couldn't hold any air and that her throat had tightened.
It felt like her head was under the water of a hot bath, she couldn't see nor breathe. Except, no water entered her lungs and she immediately felt dry to the bone.
When she started falling, she heard the feint shouts of Sam going after her, and Tony falling after Rhodey. They let differences drop as they dived to save the hero who saved another hero.
Bailey's beautiful blue eyes flickered backwards, and her arm stung as the wind harshly whipped at it. The world around her was like a buffering video, and there was nothing she could do to get it to play back again, not even pausing or rewinding.
"Tony, I'm flying dead stick," Rhodey warned, before his breath hitched from the fall and his sight blackened.
It wasn't painful, kind of like waking up in reverse. The sudden feeling of not remembering anything, not even realising that your eyes are closed or that you aren't awake. But the last few seconds felt like the feeling of waking up to open curtains with the smell of the shower turned on in the other room. It was like she felt everything all at once, and then there was nothing
"Rhodes!" Tony screamed, throat burning at the shout and a tear brimming in his eye.
Sam dived after Tony, who was centimetres from Rhodey. The veteran was falling faster than the girl who was light on her feet, his heavy suit bringing him down as fast as metal should be falling. That, unfortunately meant that he landed right into the ground, creating a ditch that covered many meters and grass that was now dead.
Tony landed right after running to his best friend's side and falling next to him. His helmet retracted as FRIDAY began her internal reads.
Tony removed James', mask, revealing his face with blood dripping from his nose.
Sam landed to the ground, eyes focused up as he held out his hands, "How do I stop her!" he screamed, throat clogging and brain immediately fuzzing.
Tony wasn't listening, he was focused on the death stare face with eyes shut tight, "Heartbeat detected. Emergency medical is on its way," the funny accent informed him, "she saved him from a vital hit. This is much better than would've been dished out."
"Tony..." Sam called, voice cracking as his eyes rested on Rhodey.
Tony's hand lifted into the air, aiming for the younger man out of pure anger. The beam was meant for him, and then the thruster lit up.
"No! She's still fallin-" he got cut off. Blasted into the chest and sent barrelling backwards.
And then the body fell to the floor.
A second crater, this much smaller, and way more damaging anyways.
Tony's eyes grew into giant circles, and his mind clouded back to correct judgement. No...
He stood back up, running for her figure as he stumbled over the broken ground.
No, no, no, no, no...
He dropped down, hand shooting for her non-existent pulse as FRIDAY started informing him of her condition that could never be brought back.
He just shot down the man that could've caught her.
"Friday, I want electric build up, now!" he demanded, pulling his hands forward.
He could practically feel a heart shattering a small distance away as his suit charged up, and he brought it down on her chest. "Read!" he shouted, charging the suit once more and touching her chest.
Her body bounced upwards, and fell back to the ground.
"Bailey Baxter's death recorded time as Two PM, 21st June, 2016." FRIDAY called the time, and it felt like slaps of sand in the wind tearing into his own heart.
The words hit a piece of his heart he never knew existed. It took the air out of his lungs and Tony Stark fell backwards with the shake of his head.
"You murderer!" Sam spat, tears falling down his cheeks as he tried to lunge at the old man, but fell down to the grass.
His body was weak, all muscles went numb as he tried to bundle up grass in his hands to at least throw at Tony, but never succeeded.
"I'm sorry," Tony's voice cracked in the whisper.
His fingers shook just as his lips did, and he couldn't bear to look down at the red of his suit, all he saw was the raised blush of her cheeks.
Sam's lips trembled from the sound, and when Vision's feet touched the ground and a soft emergency alarm sung in the background, all hearts broke.
Natasha watched the ambulance's pull up, as a couple dozen medics jumped out, each running across the grass.
She had felt the skip of a heartbeat that minute ago, and she did not want to look back. Bailey had just flown off in that direction, she had just gone to save Steve, and if she looked back and all she saw was Bailey's damaged face...
However this girl had injured herself this time, Natasha did not want to hear about any of it. She was tired of playing nurse to the clumsy woman with the biggest smile.
Yet her foot still followed after one another to the crouching figures, and eyes still peered across each face.
Rhodes was out cold, and lifted into a stretcher immediately to be returned to instant hospital assistance, Tony standing with shaking legs even with a suit supporting him.
Goosebumps covered each hair of her body, and a chill travelled her spine and neck. Nothing felt right, the atmosphere felt dangerous. She knew she should leave, there was about to be something she did not want to see.
But then she saw them bring out the metallic-looking shock blanket, and her heart fell.
"Tony," she called, the tingle in her nose forming as a tear rose.
"Nat," his head shot up, and panic covered his entire being at the sight.
"I saw... They fell. Who fell?" she couldn't preform correct sentence structure, very uncoherent, but he knew.
"Nat," he called once again, only this time she heard the pain in his voice.
Then the perfect blonde hair and beautifully rounded face got covered.
She screamed, she fell to her knees. Natasha Romanoff could still smell the cheap perfume lingering on her own chest after hold Bailey in her lap mere minutes ago.
The pain rushed through, first from finger and toe tips, past each bone and muscle, until it collected to the crack in her heart and clogged up the hole in her throat.
A laugh didn't break into the air, and the tears would not cloud her vision to prevent her from staring down at eyes that barely looked back. No smile, no scowl, no emotion etched on the face.
But the emptiness poured through Natasha's blood like hot water, and burned through over and over.
The feeling in her chest was indescribable, it was like she lost all control of how to live. Time seemed to skip past as if she weren't even living herself, and the only thought running through her mind was about everything she would see without Bailey being there as usual.
The loss of Bailey Baxter did not sink in at once, or hit like a bomb-shell, but appeared many moments each day, for everyone. But right now, in this moment they lived in, where a hero just performed the greatest 'spur of the moment', they couldn't help but feel like not only a piece was missing from the puzzle, but as if they had lost the puzzle and were the piece wedged between the couch cushions.