SOMETHING WEIRD HAPPENED AFTER BRUCE SNAPPED HIS FINGERS. It was safe to say that everything was back to normal, especially after Clint got a phone call from his wife. There were figures on the ground where they last once were five years ago, sleeping for the past five years. A young teenage girl was sleeping beside a teenage boy while everyone else was sleeping a bit further from them.
Lying on the ground, Eszter Maximoff was sleeping soundlessly on the rubble ground of Titan, where she was last seen before she turned into dust and 'died' for the past five years. From her perspective, Eszter has been sleeping for five years as if she was sleeping until the sun would rise the next day. Her skin wasn't wounded like it once was. It was like Eszter's body healed over the time-lapse of being asleep in another world. Eszter's eyes began to move about underneath her eyelids, brows crinkling when she can see a bright light glaring down on her face; the enhanced's body jerks when memories began to flood her mind, like a nightmare she wishes she could stop, the girl was almost stuck.
Explosions and pain scared her in her sleep, someone shook her awake, but Eszter stayed asleep. The enhanced jumps at another memory, and all of a sudden, Eszter's eyes open widely with a gasp of air, the teenager sits up abruptly. Her heart was racing against her chest, confused as to what had just happened; Eszter looks around to find Peter and Doctor Strange kneeled beside her with worried looks. Behind them, Quill and his friends were hugging it out.
"Peter," Eszter breathes out. She jumps into her friend's arms and instantly wraps her arms around his neck, while he immediately wraps around the enhanced's waist. They sat like that for only a few seconds before she pulls back. Her hands cup his face as she scrutinizes him. "What happened?"
The enhanced's lets her hands fall from Peter's face, who grabbed one of her hands to hold onto because he feared that whatever the hell just happened, his friend would disappear. Eszter grasps his hand, and she was helped onto her feet. The enhanced's looks around to see she was still on Titan.
"I--I don't know! Mr. Strange said something about us sleeping for five years," Peter tried to explain, but Eszter was still taken aback.
Eszter looks back to Strange. "We've been sleeping for five years," the wizard confirms.
The enhanced crinkles her brows, the way her chin juts onwards, and the look she was giving them, Eszter itches the top of her head and looks around. "Sle--what? That's . . . no, that's not possible," she quickly denies. "The last thing I remember is turning to dust."
"Yeah, but that was five years ago," Peter explains.
Quill and his friends walked over, seeming to be just as confused. "So, you wanna explain this to the whole class? 'Cause some, not me obviously, but some of us need a better explanation, so . . ." Quill waves his hands, trying to indicate that Drax and Mantis needed a better explanation.
Strange rolls his eyes. "We've been asleep for the past five years, basically in another world where everyone who snapped away," he tries to simplify an explanation for everyone to understand, but it just baffled everyone.
"Wait, wait," Eszter stops the wizard. "You're telling me that . . . we're back? Like, as in, back alive?"
"Yes, just five years in the future."
"Then how come we didn't age?" Quill retorts. He crosses his arms across his chest.
Eszter really looks at everyone, examining their features, and that's when she actually notices it--they were young and still the same way she had last seen them. Before they dusted, no one actually had changed since she last remembered.
Quill was the same boring person, Mantis is still weird and creepy, and Drax . . . well, he's still the same. Eszter examined Strange. Then, when the enhanced glances over at her best friend, the boy was still the same cute boy she grew feelings for; she blushed at the last memory she had before watching Peter disappear into dust, the fact that she confessed to loving him right before he dusted away.
"It's hard to explain, and certainly, none of you would even understand how this sort of magic works," Eszter perks a brow up, but then she nods. "We've been asleep for five years, and right now, they need us."
"But how are we supposed to get back to Earth if we're light-years away?" Peter deflates, motioning his arms around the Titan.
Strange walks past the group and pauses for a second. The others stop with frowns on their faces, but the wizard was forming a portal to their surprise.
💜
A golden portal spiraling open behind Steve Rogers, catching the hero off-guard.
The man stood in shock and relief when three figures walked out of the portal, and Steve breathed a little heavier when he tried to compose himself. He felt overly emotional upon seeing his friend well and alive, here on Earth with his sister and best warrior by his side. The relief flushes over him, tears swelling in his blue eyes.
T'Challa Udaku nods in reassurance. Sam flies out of the same portal, soaring through the air as Steve watches him with so much relief in his chest. Steve turns back around to see even more portals opening from all over the place, and a small smile broke out on his lips. He breathes out.
Strange opened his portal as he levitates out and back onto Earth; Drax and Mantis follow along, jumping out as she stood in a stance. Quill used his flying boots to exit the portal, and he clicks his mask to remove it.
Next, a boy was swinging his way across the planet. He leaps forward, and through the portal, Spider-Man lands like a superhero; his mask retracts just as he stands up. Peter looks off towards the army with a look of surprise. He couldn't believe how many there were.
Lastly, black smoke formed just behind Peter. When the person walked out and stood beside the boy, her eyes gaze across the large mass of army before her, but then her eyes spotted Thanos further away from his army; Eszter glares at him, anger boils in her blood, and the darkness was seeping from her person.
T'Challa began to chant in Xhosa. More and more portals grew bigger with ships glided through the portal, more armies marching inside.
Wanda levitates out from her portal, hands bright red, the enhanced lands somewhere further from Eszter.
A tiny portal opened up between two large ones, but then two women grow to their normal sizes; Danielle Lang grew to her normal size, she was dressed in a suit similar to Hope's, but it resembled a bee. Danielle retracts her wings as she inspected the scene, a little taken back by the destruction. Hope glances over to the young teen as the two meet eyes, and Danielle purses her lips, nodding.
Lastly, another person in armor lands with the army. The suited armor is blue and gold and has a more feminine touch to it; the mask opens up. Inside, Pepper Potts looks up, and she was wearing the Rescue armor that Tony had made specifically for her.
Strange walks up beside Wong. "Is that everyone?"
Wong looks at him in disbelief, a little annoyed because it wasn't fun trying to get a sorcerer in all locations. "What? You wanted more?"
Just then, the ground shook beneath their feet like an earthquake erupting, but when the rubble explodes open, Giant-Man bursts from below. Scott lowers his closed fist to the ground before opening his fingers--Bruce, Rhodes, and Rocket jumped out.
Eszter noticed Steve turning around to face their enemy, and everyone was standing in position. The enhanced conjures two orbs in her palms, the darkness pools at her feet.
Danielle's wings release from their place in the back of her suit, her mask closes around her face, she clicks her wrists stingers to activate.
"Avengers," Steve calls out to every single hero who has shown up. He held his hand up as he calls for Mjolnir to his grasp; he quickly catches it. "Assemble."
The heroes yell for battle as they stride forward and charge towards the alien army. Thanos points forward, signaling for his army to charge. When Peter swings away, Eszter runs forward before she thrusts her hands downward, sending a beam that has her soaring through the air. Eszter lands in a heap of Outriders, the enhanced blasts another powerful beam that sent a powerful wave that causes the aliens to shoot backward.
Eszter grunts as she uses her telekinesis to push multiple away as she blasts at the aliens running to her--some fell to their death. The enhanced grunts as she pushes another alien into another. She holds onto one to spin around and punch another Outrider away from her; she jumps and kicks another ugly alien from her. Eszter reaches into her jacket and pulls out a dark weapon, the enhanced shouts as she pierces the blade into the one in her telekinetic hold.
"Whoa!" Eszter chuckles in amazement, swinging the sword in between her fingertips, caught in surprise. "Now that's cool."
Danielle flew fast through the air, she wasn't sure where Hope had gone off to, but she was flying over the army, shooting at any monsters. The teenager grunt when a cull tried to slam their weapon onto her, but Danielle flies out of the way. She shoots him with her stingers, which only did so much, so the girl runs after the cull, shrinking into a bee-size; flying around the alien, Danielle grows back to her normal size, punching the alien.
The cull turns around to claw at her, but Danielle instantly shrinks before reappearing in front of the cull. She kicks the alien between the legs, pressing her electric stinger against its neck. The girl bares her teeth, grabbing its arm before yanking it over her body with a shout, making the alien slam against the floor.
Danielle flicked her head to the side when more aliens were heading her way, she runs forward before jumping and kicking it in the chest, but before she could fall, the girl shrinks.
💜
Tony continues to attack the culls around him when a bigger one knocks his arm against his tiny body, sending him right into the rocks. The man grunts in pain but musters enough energy to lift his arms and blasts the cull, trying to keep it away from him when it was pulled back.
When the cull fell back, a rather large foot stepped down on it, making sure to squish it until its dead.
Quickly as he can, Peter rushes forward until he's right in front of Tony. "Hey! Holy cow. You will not believe what's been going on," Tony stares at Peter, emotional upon seeing the boy standing in front of him, tangible and alive. "Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? And I must've passed out because I woke up and you were gone. But Doctor Strange was there, right? And he was like, 'it's been five years. Come on. They need us.'" Peter continues his rambles. "And then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time."
Tony stumbles forward, his heart bursting happily as he was bringing the boy into his arms. "He did? Oh, no," the man in iron pulled Peter into his arms, surprising him.
"What are you doing? Oh," Tony hugs Peter tighter, afraid that if he were to let go, the boy would disappear again. But all Peter can think is: he finally got the hug. "This is nice."
The two embraced one another as they neglected the fight happening around them. Tony couldn't let this moment go without seeing Peter. Five years has been too long since he had last seen the teen boy, back again and luckily at his teenage years; Peter didn't miss anything in his life because after they end Thanos once and for all, the boy can grow up and live his life.
Tony pulls back from the hug, and he holds his hands on Peter's shoulders. "I, uh, wow. It's . . . I missed you," Peter smiles sadly at the man. The older man shakes his head when Peter catches the glint in his eyes, and it's more than the tears swelling in his eyes. "Where's, um, do you know where Eszter is?"
And cull leaps over the rock upon hearing two people off onto the side, it snarled loudly and caught the two off guard; Peter raises his hands to shield his body, while Tony quickly raises his blasters to shoot the cull. Quickly, two violet energy orbs blast across the sky, knocking into the cull's body twice, once to create a hole inside its chest and another to knock the limp body far away.
Tony's eyes widen in surprise. He looks in the direction of where the cull flew off to, his mind was racing, and he was freaking out (in a good way).
"Are you two gonna just stand there and chit-chat all day, or are you two gonna get back to the whole saving the world?"
Eszter scoffs from on top of the pile of rubble, eyeing at the two of her favorite people, trying to conceal her emotions. The enhanced managed to smirk with tears in her eyes, her eyes only trained on Tony; the billionaire chuckles emotionally, sputtering a bit as he closes his lips. Eszter steps over the ledge, but the powerfully enhanced teenager warps her body in the violet tendrils as she uses her telekinesis to levitate her body to the ground.
Lightly touching the ground on her toes to the flat of her feet, Eszter stood in her place for a second, building the courage to move her muscles. Then, the enhanced walks forward, almost shyly. Once she is standing before Tony, Peter smiles softly before taking a step back, keeping a lookout for the two to reconnect again. An Outrider snarls before jumping. Peter was about to warn them when Eszter flicks her wrist; the alien creature falls to the ground with a loud snap. It was lifeless.
"Hi, Tony," Eszter smiles, blinking the tears from her eyes.
The man smiles at the enhanced. "Heya, small-pint."
They quickly embraced while Peter uses his webs to throw two aliens away from them. Like father, like daughter, the two got to celebrate being together after being gone for five years. Eszter suddenly cries into Tony's shoulder, and her shoulder shakes as she tries to hold in her sobs. The enhanced curls her fingers as she holds onto the plates of Tony's suit.
Growing more emotional at the thought of Eszter crying, Tony places a hand on the back of her head just like he does with Morgan--Tony couldn't wait to introduce them. The enhanced pulls away first, rubbing her cheeks dry, she snickers.
"Wow, you've gotten old," Eszter starts, laughing softly. The enhanced caresses the man's cheek, to which Tony lays a hand over her own.
"Yeah, well, that's what five years does to you," Tony agrees.
"Uh, guys," Peter quickly cuts in, smiling apologetically when the two look over to him. He raises his hands in defense before gesturing to the rather large explosion in the background. "I hate to cut this really short. I really do, but shouldn't we focus on beating Thanos?"
Tony nods, still giddy and in disbelief. "Right. You two stay together and watch out for each other," Tony points at the two, dreading the thought of walking away, but they really needed to put Thanos to an end. "Let's get this over with."
💜
Darcy and Clint ran out of the boulder of rocks and finally above ground, but then a Chituari ape roars from above, leaping after them. The woman ducks down slightly as she couldn't stop running, but the tugging on her wrist pushes her to sprint as fast they can. The monster lands behind them with a small rumble, tossing anything out of its path.
"What the hell is chasing us?" Darcy shouts.
"Don't wanna know," Clint responds, a little more strained.
Darcy shoves an alien out of the way before stumbling back into her sprint. She sighs in relief when Sam soars over them, kicking the alien ape down to the ground.
Clint turns around while running, and he presses his comms. "Cap! What do you want us to do with this damn thing?"
Darcy flinched when a blaster exploded beside her, but she continues to run with Clint, protecting him, considering he is holding the one weapon that can destroy them.
"Get those Stones as far away as possible!"
Darcy was about to agree when Bruce turns down the command.
"No! We need to get 'em back where they came from."
"No way to get 'em back," Tony's voice echoes in Darcy's ear. "Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel."
"Hold on!" Scott shrinks down to his normal size, the van keys in his hand. "That wasn't our only time machine."
Clicking the button, the horns plays along to La Cucaracha from a distance. Danielle freezes at the sound.
"Anyone see an ugly brown van out there?"
Valkyrie was flying on her trusty steed from high above. She was staring right at the van parked on Thanos' side. "Yes! But you're not gonna like where it's parked!"
"Scott, how long you need to get that thing working?"
Danielle shrinks into a size of a hug before she speedily flew across the battlefield, dodging everyone as she can see her dad in the distance. The teenager whimpers as she tries to keep herself composed. Danielle could see Hope with him.
She grew back into her normal size and stumbles to a stop. Danielle sniffles softly, her mouth agape as she was like a fish out of water. Although it didn't feel long for Danielle, it still scared her when she didn't even get to see her dad before she had vanished.
"Daddy?" Danielle whimpers softly, her puppy-like eyes shimmered with tears, but there was a smile on her face.
It was weird. After all, he hadn't aged a bit since she last saw Scott, which confused her because everyone else seemed to have aged much older than those who dusted. Scott turned in her direction upon hearing the sound of his daughter's voice, and his hand hovers over his chest. Hope smiles at the two finally reuniting; she pats Scott's back, encouraging him to step forward.
Scott walks over to Danielle, feeling hesitant because it was . . . so surreal, Scott didn't want to let his hopes get down. The man stops just before the teenager, sniffles with a smile. It was like the moment he saw Cassie after five years, how the girl is officially a teenager. Scott cups Danielle's face, his eyes flickering over her features--she looks exactly like how she looked five years ago.
"Hi, Peaches," Scott greets, using the nickname he had given her when she was a little girl, and the name just stuck. He had a thing with calling his daughters after food names.
Danielle sniffles before clearing her throat. She looks between the couple. "We should really get to that ugly van."
Scott nods, looking at Hope with a glowing smile, they all instantly shrunk to their insect sizes, and Hope grabs Scott's hand in mid-air. Danielle's bee-wings fluttered to keep her in the air, the girl in black and yellow glances at her family; Hope nods at the teen before they sped off, searching for the van that's somewhere in Thanos' side.