VORMIR - 2014
Nebula was right when she called it a dominion of death. Vormir sent chills down Natasha and Clint's spines as they stood, looking down over the edge of the cliff before them.
Nathan Porter hung in the back, chewing on his nail as he looked between Nat, Clint, and the man who guarded the stone.
"What you seek lies in front of you... as does what you fear,"
Natasha looked back at Nathan, nodding her head at him.
"The stone is down there,"
"For one of you. For the other... In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul, for a soul,"
They were plunged back into silence as Clint began to pace. They knew what it took to get the stone, Nebula warned them of the sacrifice. They had all hoped it was a lie.
Nathan sat on a rock, furthest from the cliff, his eyes never leaving the ledge that led to the stone they so desperately needed. Natasha's eyes drifted back and forth between him and Clint, her mind wandering to the same thoughts: they needed that stone.
"Maybe he's making this shit up," Clint tried to reason with the pair.
"Thanos left here with the stone and without his daughter," Nathan spoke up, sniffling lightly as he looked down to his hands, wringing them together. "It's not a coincidence, Clint. We hoped it would be, but it's not. This is what it takes."
Natasha rose to her feet, turning to face Clint.
"Whatever it takes," he laughed lightly, shaking his head as she stood in front of him, Nathan left off to the side with his head in his hands as he realized what was coming. "If we don't get that stone, billions of people stay dead."
"Then I guess we both know who it's gotta be,"
"I guess so,"
Clint paused, cocking an eyebrow at his friend.
"I'm starting to think– we mean different people here, Natasha,"
"For the last five years I've been trying to do one thing: Get to right here. That's all it's been about. Bringing everybody back," she reasoned with him. "You think I wanna do it? I'm trying to save your life, you idiot."
"Yeah, well, I don't want you to, because I– Natasha, you know what I've done. You know what I've become,"
"I don't judge people on their worst mistakes,"
Natasha and Clint stood in silence together, leaning their foreheads together as they knew what was to come.
"You're a pain in my ass,"
Both Clint and Natasha didn't have a chance to draw their weapons. electrified ropes wound themselves around their arms, connecting to the magnet that was dropped onto the ground beside them, anchoring them down into place on the ground. Both struggled, desperate to undo themselves, but it was no use. They had see this gadget before in Rocket's collection, something he had claimed to pick up from the Ravagers years ago.
"It's not going to be either of you. It's gonna be me,"
Nathan Porter rose to his feet, his tears gone and replaced with a look of determination. Natasha's eyes widened as she struggled against the restraints, seeing the remote that controlled the devices holding them down in Nathan's hand.
"Nate, Nate no you-"
"I have pondered Tony's words to me for years now," Nathan spoke, his voice shaky as he looked up to the sky. "Years ago, a drunk Tony Stark looked at me at his birthday party and told me that I was never going to be a hero. The more I thought on his words, the more I knew how true they were."
"Nathan," Clint interjected, struggling against the restraints. "Nathan, you can't do this-"
"I was never an Avenger and, hell, I'm still not. And yet you and Steve," Nathan looked to Natasha with a smile. "You two opened your arms and treated me as if I was one. But I'm not an Avenger, I'm not the one fighting the battles on the ground and saving the world, and I knew I was never going to be that person. I could never be the world's hero, but during that invasion in New York I realized that I could be a different kind of hero."
Nathan knelt down in front of Natasha and Clint, taking out he photo he carried around in his pocket at all times. He and Pepper stood together, right beside Audelia and Tony, with Aurora and Morgan standing in front of them. Natasha let a tear slip as he slid the photo on the ground toward them.
"I realized in New York that I could be their hero. I loved Deli enough to let her go, to let her be with Tony and be truly happy and that was just the beginning. Since that moment, everything I did I did for them. Every time I joined you on the battle field, whether it was strictly medical or not, I did it to make sure that my daughter lived in a safer world. I did it to make sure that Pepper never lived in fear, that my wife would always be happy. But my family is more than them, now. This team is my family, and I have to do what I've been doing for years now, and that's protect my family,"
Natasha let out a cry as Nathan rose back to his feet, walking between the pair to the edge of the cliff. He took a deep breath, standing on the edge as he looked down at the ground thousands of feet below him.
"Nathan, you can't do this," Natasha fought back, still fighting against her restraints. "Be selfish, please, think about Pepper and Aurora. They need you, Nathan. You're going to break their hearts, you're going to break Deli's heart, please you can't do this. Let us do this, let it be one of us-"
"They can't do this without you two," Nathan shot back, turning his back to the cliff as he looked at his friend. A sad smile crossed his lips. "You're Avengers, you are the world's heroes, and I have to do this to make sure that you can do what you need to do. I am being selfish, Nat, because I'm doing this for my family. It has to be me."
"Nate..." Clint was out of words to say. There was nothing they could do as a feeling of dread set in.
Nathan closed his eyes, letting a single tear slip as he looked up to the sky above them.
"When you get back...tell Deli I'm sorry," he whispered, though his voice echoed off the rock walls surrounding them. "Tell Pepper that I love her, so much. And...and make sure Aurora knows that it's okay."
Time seemed to stop for a moment as Nathan opened his eyes, meeting Natasha's as she clicked the remote, undoing their restraints just as he stepped backwards off the cliff.
Natasha let out a scream as she rushed forward, Clint desperately reaching out for her, as he feet carried her toward the cliff. She dove over the edge, her eyes immediately meeting with Nathan's as she reached out her hand, trying to grab onto him.
Clint's hand caught her arm as he shot a grapple onto the edge of the cliff, anchoring them in place as they fell against the side of the cliff. Natasha's fingers were so close to Nathan's before she was jerked, hanging in place as Nathan fell further and further away.
Tears streamed down her face, the face of the infamous Black Widow, as her eyes never strayed from Nathan's.
Despite it all, Nathan smiled, the image of Clint and Natasha getting further and further away as he accepted his choice. Nathan accepted his death as he closed his eyes, letting his body go limp as it plummeted through the air.
Natasha's eyes never left him, even as his body made contact with the ground below. They stayed open, stayed trained on him, as she felt more empty inside then she ever had before.
Clint opened his eyes, letting a tear fall as he looked down below, the faint image of Nathan lying below, a pool of blood surrounding him. The image wasn't there for long as there was a sudden rush of air and a flash of light, before everything went dark.
When Clint and Natasha opened their eyes once more, they were lying together in the pools surrounding the base of the mountain. They shot up, their eyes trained on one another as they hoped it had all been a dream.
But when Natasha opened her hand to see the Soul stone lying in her palm, they knew the nightmare they had endured had been reality after all.
Nothing more than a minute had passed in their true reality as the team was transported through time, landing on the platform once again together. Their white suits disappeared as they looked around, trying to decipher if they had really done it.
"Did we get them all?" Bruce questioned, frantically looking around
"You telling me this'll actually work?" Rhodey laughed, holding the orb that contained the power stone in his hand.
Audelia smiled, looking around at her team. She turned to Natasha and Clint, her smile widening for a moment as she saw the soul stone, before she realized there was an empty space next to them.
"Where's Nathan?" Deli's questioned hung heavy in the air as the team was plunged into silence. Natasha could barely look her friend in the eye, her lip quivering. Deli looking around at the team, before realization dawned on her features. "No...no, Nat tell me...no..."
Sobs immediately racked through Audelia as she fell to the ground, Tony and Steve at her side in an instant. Her cries turned into screams as she laid down on the platform beneath her, Tony and Steve lost on what to do to help her.
Natasha fell to the ground, tears streaming down her own face as Clint held her shoulder tightly in his hands.
The team didn't speak, for there was nothing they could say to fix what had been done.
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To everyone that wanted Nathan dead at the beginning of this book...Nathan Porter was a hero, and he died as one.