Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
"Darcy, the portals," she heard Steve say as they both scrambled up, jamming legs into their suits and yanking up zippers.
"Yep, on it," she muttered, snapping out her hand and she concentrated, creating portals throughout the compound that would lead each team to its designated rendezvous points, and thus allowing everyone to quickly assume their stations. A flash of red and blue and silver nearly distracted her until she remembered. His shield. He was securing it to his back. Suddenly, it all felt more real.
She shoved her foot in her remaining boot, hopping on one leg for balance when he steadied her at the elbow.
"Thanks," she said, quickly throwing her hair up in a pony tail as she looked at him. His eyes were a flinty blue and his expression grim, every inch of him Captain America instead of the Steve who had taken her to bed last night.
"You ready?" he asked.
It was time for this to end.
She popped in her communicator and created a portal, nodding. "Let's go."
They stepped into the bright morning Utah sun and moved to the front of the Wakandan ground forces, just behind King T'Challa. She could hear the rumble of their fighter jets leaving the hanger, the ground vibrating gently beneath her feet.
"Captain," greeted the King.
"Are our defenses in place?"
"Yes, Shuri and Foster were able to adapt them to Shield's existing technology."
"How do we know he's coming?"
"The Vision has sensed his approach. It is unlikely to be long now."
As if summoned, a vertical tear appeared in the Eastern sky, snapping as it expanded. Without any preamble, a swarm of creatures started to pour through it along with several small air craft.
Jane. She wished she had been able to speak to Jane just once more before this.
The King vaulted up onto a large rock, his helmet dissolving as he looked over his army.
"We are far from home but this is where we belong today, where our people are needed. Africa was the birthplace of humanity and her people will defend it! Her people will save it! There is no greater cause, no greater purpose than what we are here for today. For Wakanda! For the future of all mankind!"
A great cheer rolled through the crowd, weapons lifting in the air before they all snapped their heels together, their arms crossing over their chests as the King returned the gesture.
She jumped when she felt a hand clamp on her shoulder and she whirled around, letting out a relieved breath to see it was Clint with Sam just behind him.
"Bucky and Nat are already with Wanda," he said to Steve. "Banner, Starlord, and Rocket are with Strange."
"Good, lets go. We need to get in position," said Steve and they moved to the far back, nodding at Loki, Groot, Drax, Nebula, and Gamora who were scattered within the final line. She could see Wanda in the far distance to her right, and Strange on her left, each flanked with their protectors. She looked up just in time to see the Order crash against a shimmering blue barrier, the shield created from Princess Shuri's vibranium technology and their first line of defense.
From her point on the high ground a few hundred yards away, she could almost make out the creatures, mindless and feral as they crawled over one another. She couldn't believe the barrier was holding... maybe this would go much better than she had thought.
And then they parted, a sleek black figure with an elaborate head dress marching down the center. Darcy's comm crackled in her ear, Thor's familiar brogue coming through.
"Hela," he said, his voice dripping with disdain.
The woman reached out, her palm pressing against the blue and it pulsed violently before turning red and melting away. The black army surged forward.
Okay, maybe not.
"Darcy you're up," snapped Steve, his hand reaching over his back to pull off his battered shield. King T'Challa's helmet reformed and his Dora Milajae readied their stances to meet combat.
Darcy threw her arms wide, creating a portal at the Order's approach and the exit over their heads. The air crafts vanished as they passed through, only to reappear over their own army and flying full speed into the ground,the explosions of their impacts leaving large craters and carving swaths out of her enemies.
She sucked in a deep breath, stunned at the destruction caused by her own hands. They were still pouring out of the tear, now changing their paths to swing wide to avoid her portal. She tried to contain them, creating new ones, but they eventually broke through, those flying colliding in a dog fight. Chaos was everywhere Darcy looked.
A beam of red followed by unearthly screams.
Wanda.
Sizzling yellow that raised the hair on her arms.
Strange.
A streak of green with footsteps that shook the earth.
Banner.
Blue flashes and the smell of burning ozone.
Thor.
She heard a whoop of excitement from Peter Parker as he flew past, pinning aliens to the ground in his webs.
Everyone was now engaged as the bulk of the battle descended on them, Steve striking out and Clint knocking an arrow to let it fly.
Closing her existing ones, she focused new portals on the ground force, randomly dropping large groupings into the air but her view was limited and she looked around, climbing up an overturned speeder that had crashed nearby.
Better.
Her ears rang with the clang of metal on metal and she coughed against the smoke that billowed by with the change of the wind. With great difficulty, she tried to ignore the desire to check on Steve as he fought. They seemed to be driving them back, or at the very least to hold the line when the tear crackled again, this time splitting higher and wider into the sky, a large spacecraft churning through. Immediately, she dropped to her knees as the mind splitting sound reached her ears.
God, she had forgotten the pain of this particular weaponry, but it lasted only a second and she found herself propelled forward, a shock wave nearly throwing her from her perch.
Stark's dampener, she thought as she pushed back to her feet. The Hulk had somehow made his way near her in the battle and was roaring angrily at the ship, his limbs trembling with violence.
I guess he didn't like that either.
"Jolly Green!" she shouted, a thought suddenly formulating. "You know how to do a cannon ball?"
The giant snapped his gaze to her, his lips a half grin-half snarl. She opened a portal under him and above, letting him fall until he was no more than a blur before launching him in the sky to slam into the craft where he proceeded to tear anything withing his reach off. A second ship was emerging and she extended her hand again, letting the ship pass through a portal before she slammed it shut, the vessel groaning as it was severed in two, the separate pieces falling to the ground before it had even fully exited.
More of the Black Order spilled out from around the ship that now rested at the entrance of the tear, reminding Darcy of ants escaping a crushed hill.
So many... too many.
She glanced at Steve who just slammed his fist into one of the creatures and had a sudden flash of inspiration. Steve and her, the lake, the ocean...
She closed her eyes, picturing it, blue and endless and... powerful.
With a grunt she tore a hole in the sky, a sound like a thousand freight trains filling the air and the entire field turned to look as millions and millions of gallons of water swept like a biblical tidal wave over their enemies at the tear, the wrecked ship disappearing in the depths.
"Darcy?" asked Clint frantically as the wave started to barrel towards them.
"I know!" she growled, snapping shut the portal to create a new one stretched along the desert floor, the ocean pouring into it like a waterfall and taking those in its grip with it.
She sighed as she closed the portal, her eyes meeting Steve's as the small residual wave slid through his feet. He smiled back, something very close to what she assumed was hope hiding behind it.
But then there was a blinding screech of something fiery and hot across the sky, its target unseen by Darcy who had to cover her eyes, and she fell from her precarious position as the ground shook beneath her. Steve caught her, setting her on her feet as her comm crackled something awful in her ears.
"No, no, no, no, no-" she heard a voice cut in an out in her ear piece. It took her a moment to realize it was Tony, the voice of Friday chirping warnings in the background. His breathing became more erratic and Darcy found him zooming in from the air to land at the smoking destruction left by the attack.
"No!" he screamed, the desperation she heard making her ill. They had lost someone, she just knew it.
Please, don't let it be-
"Peter! Talk to me, kid!"
Oh god, Tony...
Darcy portaled there, barely catching Steve's shout for her to stop as she stepped through. Tony was on the ground, Parker's hand held in his own, the teen's exposed fingers already pale and grey. She choked back her tears, moving just in time to defend them from a few approaching Order soldiers by brutally cutting them in half, their parts sliding to the sand with sickening thuds.
The Iron Man was shaking, his body rocking back and forth as he muttered to himself.
"Tony," she whispered, her fingers reaching for his shoulder. "We have to-"
Just as she was about to make contact, a booming laugh rattled across the land, a new tear appearing as the Mad Titan stepped through, the sunlight reflecting off his golden armor.
"Fun really isn't something one considers when balancing the universe," she could hear him say as he lifted the gauntlet, letting the four embedded gems catch the light. "But this does put a smile on my face."
She felt paralyzed, the fear she had been thus far successfully pushing away now clenching around her heart. He was every bit as terrifying as she remembered. The metal clink of Tony's face-mask closing had her turning but he was already rocketing at Thanos.
"Tony, no!" she heard Steve shout in her ear and she reached out to portal him back but Thanos waved his hand in the air and Tony hit the ground, bouncing like a fly being batted away. Rustling at her feet drew her attention back to the creatures she had just killed, their pieces moving toward one another like magnets as they knit themselves together... and rose.
"What the fuck..." she whispered.
"It's the Soul gem," she heard Strange say in between grunts. "He's raising his dead."
Just then she was tackled from behind, black reptilian arms wrapping around her torso and lifting her as she struggled against it. She kicked but it held on, crushing her chest, and another charged from the front.
"Okay, fucker," she grunted and created a portal under them both and they fell through the clouds, barely missing a collision with some airborne craft. Its grip slackened slightly, giving her room to drive her elbow into its gut and the force of the wind started to split them apart. It reached out frantically, latching onto her ankle. One quick portal later and the dismembered hand lost its grip before falling away. She created a portal beneath herself and she was abruptly rocketing up in the air, twisting to reorient herself before landing behind a boulder.
"Your reprieve was only temporary," said Thanos in the tone of bored annoyance. "Why do you fight the inevitable? Death is my destiny and I will have her."
The gauntlet lifted before he sliced it down through the air, the sky filling with burning meteors. Darcy tried to divert as many as she could, every miss that killed their own twisting like a shard in her heart.
"And you that have been touched by them..." said the Titan, looking thoughtfully at the gems before his eye-line narrowed in on her, seeming to see her even through her protection, "I have seen your pitiful gifts. What you have stolen, will be returned."
"Darcy, run!" she heard Strange shout in her ear and she portaled away just as her cover exploded around her, some rocky shrapnel following her through. She stumbled to the ground, writhing in pain though her suit prevented any penetration. She saw Thanos narrowing in on her again and she tried to lift herself up, her foot sliding on the loose dirt beneath her.
Thanos' grinned, his glove aimed and glowing. But then there was Thor and Mjolnir, hammer raised high as lightning coursed down his arms and through his body. Thanos and Thor released their strikes at the same time, both flying backward.
And like a horrible replay of that moment in New York, several yards behind her, all she could see was the unmoving red cape as she crawled to it on her hands and knees.
"Thor!" she screamed as she rolled him over, his blood already staining the sand. He coughed weakly and then stilled.
The God of Thunder was dead, this time his hammer shattered at his side.
No... She lifted the braided handle, the wrap unraveling in her grip. What was the point of any of this... is this just hell? Are we stuck in hell?
"And you," said Thanos, "they call to their brother."
She looked up from where she knelt by Thor to see Vision being pulled toward the monster, Wanda's magic trying to restrain him every inch of the way. Hers was joined by Strange's who both struggled to keep him in their grasp. It was quick, his body falling limply to the ground as the stone was ripped from his brow.
Red wispy vines wrapped around Thanos, winding up his neck and down his arms. He shook one after the other off as they reappeared just as quickly. Some of the tendrils worked at the gauntlet, trying to pry it off. Thanos grunted as they squeezed tighter around his chest, burrowing under his armor as Wanda strained against him, her face grimaced and tendons standing out on her neck.
Darcy glanced back down at Thor before standing and creating a portal within his extremity slammed it shut, the gauntlet covered arm falling to the ground.
"Wanda, now!" shouted Steve and she yanked on the appendage. It flew through the air but then dropped, rolling before coming to a stop.
"What-" Darcy started to say as her gaze found Wanda but it was choked off in horror. Wanda was gasping, her hands wrapped around the black obsidian spear that had passed through her chest to embed into the ground. Hela was grinning behind her, several black daggers manifesting within her hands. Darcy just had enough time to duck to avoid the one aimed for her head and pushed back as the Goddess of Death approached. One by one with her portals she deflected the attacks, but they were so fast and furious the last lashed open her cheek, her hand involuntarily flying to cover it. Hela's lips curled, another dagger extending from her palm.
"My brother was fond of you. I'm going to enjoy this," she crowed as she let the dagger fly. Something wrapped tight around Darcy's middle, yanking her abruptly to the side, the dagger missing her by millimeters. It was Dr. Strange's cape.
"I told you he liked you."
Hela whirled around but Strange was there, the eye of Agammoto open and glowing green. It engulfed the Goddess and Darcy watched horrified and mesmerized as the woman convulsed, her age reversing to youth, adolescence, and then infancy. The cape covered the rest from her sight and Darcy was grateful as the woman was sent back to non-existence. A second later it unfurled and floated to seat itself back onto Strange's shoulders. He gave her nod and she stepped up to his side, turning to face Thanos, who had already reattached his arm.
The Hulk was mid charge, taking a great leap in the air with his fists raised, poised to slam down on the arm. Stark flew in from behind him, a barrage of missiles erupting from his suit.
But the Mad Titan raised his palm and Banner was gone, just a green mist carried away by the wind.
"Enough."
His fist closed and nearly half of the Wakandan army still standing collapsed, their bodies twitching before going still. There was a horrible crunching noise and Darcy screamed as the compressed cube of red armor that was once Tony Stark rolled to a stop near her. She shuffled back from it, nearly losing her balance as the bile began rising in her throat and Strange dodge a strike aimed in his direction before zoning in on Thanos once more.
An unearthly howl had her turning just as an alien soldier reached for her, its hand wrapping around her throat as it lifted her from the ground, shiny teeth glistening with spittle. It moved to tear at her face when it stopped suddenly, freezing before it darkened and turned to ash.
Darcy fell, landing hard on her ass to see Jane standing there, her hand flushing back to pink as she reached for Darcy's.
"Come on!" shouted Jane as she helped Darcy up and she portaled them to behind a burned out wreck before turning sharply to her friend.
"Jane! You aren't supposed to be here!"
"I had to, Darcy," she replied, shaking her head. "I could feel it... I could feel them when they died. I felt Thor." She swiped angrily at her watering eyes. "I had to try to help, especially knowing you were still alive."
Darcy lunged forward, hugging her tightly.
"Okay, okay. Together then?"
Jane smiled, sad and watery. "It's how we started, right?"
"We've lost Peter and Rocket," said Gamora, her voice rough with tears even through the channel. "Nebula too."
Darcy's shoulder brushed against Jane's where they huddled behind the fallen aircraft and she just stared ahead, the ringing in her ears making the situation feel even more surreal. There were so few of them left... She hurt almost everywhere, and her vision was a little spotty as she lifted her hands in front of her face as they phased in and out. She whetted her lips, a plan formulating in her mind. She had to try.
"Jane?"
"Yeah?" asked her friend as she tried to peer around their cover, her hair flying around her face.
"You're my best friend and getting on your research team was the best thing that could have happened to me."
She could feel Jane freeze next to her, her head whipping around. "Darcy, why are you telling me this?"
Darcy reached out, trying to grip her friend's hand but it took two tries.
"I love you, ok?"
Jane had once hypothesized her cells would win the sub-atomic tug-o-war if she herself phased while within a solid object, the quantum forces multiplying to repel one another, leading to an explosion. The astrophysicist blinked at her, her jaw falling open in a slowly dawning horror. Darcy smiled through the tears in her eyes, giving her one last squeeze before she pushed to her feet, bolting away from their cover.
"Darcy! You said together!" she heard Jane yell but the wind stole everything after that.
Well, she thought, running in a bee line toward Thanos, here's hoping my atoms are as stupid lucky as the rest of me.
Steve used the alien's own weapon to pierce its chest, jerking it out and spinning it to strike another in the head. He looked around for Darcy but like last time, she vanished and reappeared before he could get close. His only reassurance was the occasional muttered curse that filtered through the comm, her voice he'd recognize anywhere.
"Scott! Status?"
"Nearly there!" came the panted reply. He barely heard it, a blast from the staff of another creature knocking him to his back. The creature made a move to bring it down on his face but he caught it just in time, deflecting it to the side and the alien fell forward, Steve using the momentum to throw him off. He rolled with it, his fist connecting repeatedly with its face until its azure blood stained his glove.
Bucky, Sam, Tony, Bruce, Thor, Natasha, Wanda, Vision, Clint, Peter, T'Challa...
They were losing. But it wasn't over. Not quite yet.
"Darcy! You said together!"
Steve's blood ran cold as he heard Jane scream Darcy's name, his body jerking to find her from his kneeling position on the ground. The panicked desperation in her voice pierced him and he knew... he just knew she was about to do something incredibly brave and foolish and wholeheartedly Darcy.
"It's done! I've fractured the latch!" he heard Scott say as Steve finally found her sprinting across the field toward Thanos, her figure becoming translucent as she ran until she appeared to be no more than a rippling wave. Instinct long honed in battle drove him to his feet, his torso twisting to launch his shield with every ounce of his strength.
"Now!" He shouted, "Everything you've got!"
He heard Gamora's growl just as she opened fire, blaster bold striking Thanos in his torso and Drax charged, his daggers held tight in his fists. They did no harm but were sufficient to distract Thanos, allowing Cap's shield to strike true, the edge of it knocking the latch of the gauntlet open and allowing it to come loose.
The alien smirked and reached to secure it back again when his eyes narrowed, a look of uncertainty crossing his features just before his torso exploded, parts of him flying away in sickening clumps that had Steve covering his face.
Whatever Darcy had done, maybe it had worked, maybe this was it... But then despair washed over him, the parts of the gigantic alien sliding toward one another, starting to reform his body.
The gauntlet, he thought, looking around frantically when he saw it, shining as it flew through the air to join the half assembled creature.
And then it just as suddenly stopped, collapsing to the ground just shy of the rest as the body started to desiccate, turning brown, then grey, then black, crumbling into a pile of ash.
Steve nearly choked on his disbelief and turned, jaw dropping to see Jane standing with her arm raised high and fury etched on her face...
And the Mad Titan's beating heart in her hands.
Strange levitated the glove away from the remains and the organ in Jane's hand shriveled, sifting through her fingers. The rest of his army likewise disintegrated.
Jane was staring at the pile of ash at her feet, her hand still black and smoking when Steve stepped up to her.
'Where is she?" he asked her, somehow able to form the words around the rock in his throat.
Jane's face crumpled as she shook her head. "I don't know. She phased all of her atoms and put herself in Thanos and then unphased to cause the explosion. I thought she would be right there but..."
"Is she... is she alive?"
Jane shrugged helplessly.
"The Soul Stone," said Strange, interrupting their exchange, "it can revive the dead."
"Do you know how to use it?"
The Doctor made a rare expression of uncertainty. "No, but perhaps it is not so different from the Time Stone."
He levitated the soul gem into the empty eye about his neck, his lips moving in silent mutterings and his brow pinched in concentration. Slowly, like the rolling of thunder in the distance, Steve could feel something touching and pulling on him and he imagined his very soul was vibrating from it. The air started to lift around them, glittering golden pieces whirling about and shooting off throughout the destruction in great looping patterns.
"Strange, is it work-"
Steve's voice cut off as he heard Jane's strangled gasp and he turned. Everywhere, the field was glowing, beacons of light in the dusk coalescing and rising on the wind until they dove, merging with the fallen.
And one by one, they rose.
Jane's hand pressed over her heart as Thor woke and stumbled towards them, his steps becoming more sure with every movement.
Oh my god, its working.
Gamora jumped into Peter's arms. Clint and Natasha stared at each other bewildered. A newly revived Tony extended his hand to help Bucky up.
"Did we win?" asked a dazed Peter Parker as he staggered to his feet.
"Can I?" asked Wanda to Strange with a nod toward the glove, though Jane doubted very much it was a question.
Her hand raised, red wisps circling the golden stone and they lifted it from the glove. Her other hand stretched out and Vision's body was pulled toward her, a current passing through him as the stone connected with his brow. His eyes opened and Wanda rushed into his arms murmuring things in a language Jane did not understand.
All around her, cries and shouts of Wakandans and Avengers alike filled the air, tears streaming and people embracing.
Victory.
Her eyes skimmed the crowd over and over again, the lightness in her chest becoming dimmer and dimmer with each pass.
Where is she?
She watched Steve as he moved toward a pile of rubble, swinging himself up and scaling the side until he was far above them all.
"Darcy!" he shouted, voice echoing against the plateaus and the crowd slowly quieted, realization dawning on them at the pained desperation on his face. "Darcy!"
No, thought Jane, No, she can't be...
Darcy Lewis was gone.