"You do not seem like the kind of woman that's normally here alone,"
Audelia Motter sighed, rolling her eyes lightly at the cheesy line as she twirled her straw around her glass absentmindedly. She casted a glance toward the man speaking to her at the bar, not generally impressed with his pick up line but deciding that he was cute enough for some attention.
"I'm not," she shouted back over the music. "Usually I'm with my best friend watching him drink away and I'm automatically the designated driver."
The man hummed, taking a seat beside her as he ordered them both another round. He turned himself completely to face her in the seat, a small grin on his face.
"Something tells me that tonight, he's part of the problem?"
Deli let out a short laugh, finishing off the last of her drink.
"Do yo really not know who I am?" the man on shrugged.
"Should I?"
"Probably, my best friend and I are almost always on the news. But...I like that you don't," she thanked the bartender for her new drink before looking at the man beside her. "I, uh...might have a thing for my best friend. Always have, kind of makes it hard to be around him when he's picking up other women."
The man nodded, listening to every word she said. She liked that already, a change of pace from the way Tony half listened to her all the time.
"Maybe it's time to give someone else a try," he spoke, a tiny smirk on his lips. "I'm free every night and would happily volunteer myself."
Audelia laughed, a genuine one that she hadn't in awhile, as she reached out her hand for the man before her.
"I'm Audelia Motter,"
He smiled, taking her hand in his.
"I'm Nathan Porter,"
The photo was part of their engagement photoshoot years ago. Sometimes, it was awkward to look at the photos, except for this one. It wasn't meant to make the album, but something about it was so real. They were just simply goofing off, having fun between shots, but they always looked happier in these moments then they did in any of the other photos. It took a few years for Audelia to realize that she did truly love Nathan, just platonically.
The woman locked her phone as the tears rolled down her cheeks silently. She looked out to the lake before her, her feet dangling over the edge of the dock right over the water. She had been out there for awhile now, just staring out at the water in silence.
Tony stood just a few feet away, a frown on his lips. He contemplated leaving her there for a little while longer, but he knew that wasn't an option. Instead, he silently sat himself down beside his wife on the dock, looking out to the water before them.
"I called Pepper," he spoke after a few minutes, his own voice shaky as he looked down at his hands, rubbing them together to try and calm himself down. "I, uh...I told her. She's, um...she's going to talk to Rora about it."
"Good," Deli spoke after a moment, collecting her thoughts as her eyes never left the water. "Because I don't think I'd be able to."
Tony nodded his head, understanding her words. He reached out, taking her hand into his own.
"Dell, you can't blame your-"
"I do blame myself, Tony," Deli cut in, finally looking over at him. "How can I not? Nathan...he was part of this world, this life, because I made myself a part of it. Without me, then he never goes to Vormir."
"Nathan did what he felt was right, just like any of us would've done, just like I'm sure Nat and Clint were trying to do," Tony tried to reason with her as he sighed. "He might not have been a formal Avenger, Dell, but he was a hero. He died a hero."
"And if we lose, if we fail, then he dies for nothing," the words came out as a whisper. Tony couldn't even defend them, for he knew they were true.
The sat alone on the dock for a while before the team eventually joined them. They did their best to give Audelia space for as long as she needed, but they knew that soon they would have to move forward with the plan.
Natasha sat on a table next to Steve, a frown on her lips as she looked down at her best friend, feeling responsible for all of this. Steve frowned at the look on her face, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"Did he have any other family?" Clint was the first to speak up, looking around at the team. Deli sighed, shaking her head.
"He hadn't talked to his family in years," she spoke softly, toying with her ring. "It...it was just us."
"Why are we acting like he's dead? We have the stones, right?" Thor interjected, angrily looking around at the team. "As long as we have the stones, we can bring him back, isn't that right? So stop this shit. We're the Avengers, get it together."
"We can't bring him back,"
Audelia let a tear fall as she looked down at her lap at Clint's words. Tony stood up from his place beside her, helping Dell up to her feet as he kept her close to his side.
"Wha– what-"
"It can't be undone," Clint shot back at Thor, shaking his head. "It can't."
Thor only laughed, looking around at the team.
"I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very earthly being. Okay? We're talking about space magic. And "can't" seems very definitive don't you think?"
"It can't– be undone. Or that's at least what the red floating guy had to say," Clint raised his voice, growing angrier by the second as he looked at Thor. "Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? GO GRAB YOUR HAMMER, AND YOU GO FLY AND TALK TO HIM!"
The team fell silent for a moment as Audelia looked down to her feet, trying to keep herself calm admist the chaos.
"It was going to be me," Both Deli and Tony looked to Natasha as she spoke, her eyes trained on Deli the entire time. "I...Clint wasn't going to have a choice, it was going to be me. He wanted to be a hero, for you, for Pepper, for Aurora...he sacrificed his life for that stone. He bet his life on us."
"Then we have to make it worth it," Audelia spoke, giving her friend what she hoped was a comforting smile, as she looked at her team. "We have to win, we have to make him proud. We can't let it be for nothing."
Steve rose from his spot, Natasha standing with him as the team looked around at one another. His eyes settled on Deli and Tony, a hand still placed on Natasha's back in comfort.
"We will,"
The stones had been placed into the makeshift gauntlet, fastened out of one of the hands of Tony's suits. Now, it sat before them on the table in the lab as the team circled it, quiet as they pondered their next move.
"The glove's ready," Rocket spoke, looking around the room. "Question is, who's gonna snap their freaking fingers?"
"I'll do it," Thor immediately spoke, walking toward the center of the room and ignoring the protests.
"Wait, wait, Thor, just wait," Steve spoke as he and Tony stood in his way, Natasha and Audelia standing side by side off to the side. "We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet."
"I'm sorry. What, we're just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?"
"We should at least discuss it, Thor," Deli tried to reason as the god shook his head.
"No, no, sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? So this responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty. Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something right,"
Tony sighed, stepping between Thor and the glove.
"Look– It's not just the fact that that glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent, I'm telling you, you're in no condition,"
"What do you– What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?"
"Cheez Wiz?" Rhodey spoke up from across the room. Thor rolled his eyes, looking down at Tony.
"Lightning,"
"Lightning won't help you, buddy," Bruce finally spoke, attention turning to him as he neared the gauntlet. "It's gotta be me. You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive."
"How do we know you will?" Steve questioned as Bruce sighed, his eyes never leaving the gauntlet.
"We don't. But the radiation's mostly gamma. It's like...I was made for this,"
No one could argue, as they knew this was the only way.
Brue stood in the middle of the lab, holding the gauntlet in his hands as the team watched him.
"You remember– everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago and just bringing them back to now, today. Don't change anything from the last five years," Tony reminded him, as he only nodded.
"Got it,"
The team stood around the room at the ready, in case they needed to intervene. Both Audelia and Tony let their suits appeared across their bodies, enveloping them as they generated their nano shields. Tony held his in front of him and Clint as Deli positioned her's in front of her and Natasha.
"FRIDAY, activate Barn Door Protocol," Deli spoke to the AI as she followed her instructions.
The skylights, the windows, the doors, everything in the room shut behind large, steel doors, locking them in and locking the outside world out. All natural light in the lab was gone in an instant, all attention on Bruce.
"Everybody comes home..."
The screams that rang out from Bruce as the gauntlet fastened itself on his arm were painful to hear, and it was painful to watch. Deli instinctively backed her and Natasha up by a step as Bruce fell to the ground, the colored beams of energy of the stones running up and down his arm, the fabric of his suit dissipating from the power as he screamed out in pain.
"Take it off! Take it off!" Thor frantically called out as Steve held up his hand.
"No, wait. Bruce, are you okay?"
"Bruce, talk to us!" Natasha called out for their friend.
Bruce wheezed in pain for a moment before gathering his strength, nodding his head at his team.
"I'm okay. I'm okay,"
Bruce's screams intensified a moment later as he lifted the gauntlet into the air, the streams of energy glowing brighter and brighter before he snapped his fingers. A bright light encased the room for a moment before the glove fell from his hand, his body falling to the ground.
"Bruce!" Audelia called out, sliding to the ground beside him. She held him down by the shoulders as Bruce gripped onto Natasha and Steve's arms for comfort while Tony's sprayed down his charred arm, trying to bring him some sort of comfort in the moment.
Deli stood at Natasha's side as they looked around the room, the protocol lifting as sunlight streamed in one again.
Scott was standing at the window to the courtyard, looking out on the greenery and the birds that sang happily, flying around in circles before them. Clint stood on the other side of the room, his phone in his hand as he fielded a call, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Guys, I think it worked!"
The skylight above them went dark as everyone in the room turned to look up into the sky. Their eyes went wide at the ship looming above them, blocking the sun from shining into the room, as it fired missiles straight down on the lab.
The entire compound shook, blowing to pieces. Audelia called out for Tony, the pair reaching for one another before debris separated them, throwing Tony and Steve back with a yell.
The floor beneath her slipped, a piece of debris hitting her helmet as it knocked her flight controls out. Audelia only had just enough time to grab onto Natasha, pulling her into her to protect her when the floor gave out, plummeting them into darkness.
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OH SHIT HERE WE GO!!!!!!