AN: INFINITY WAR!
So a month has passed since the last chapter! This Ava is one that has finally started seeing the upside of her life and is making do with what she has. She was in such a dark place for a long time, so I think it'd be great to have 5 seconds where she's happy before she's not again lol. She needs a moment to breathe.
Also know that like Civil War, I won't be keeping the dialogue exactly the same. I've never liked doing that personally, cause I don't want it to be an exact copy of the movies, but it's honestly not that different.
A month had passed since she had signed the revised Accords and taken down Raven. A month of dealing. With the loss of her father. With putting Raven behind bars. With the Accords.
Ava had promised Peter that she would try. She did Tony's stupid press reveal (with her new mask on), she goes to the stupid weekly meetings at the Compound, she doesn't try to murder Ross.
Admittedly, it wasn't that bad. The amendments did go through in a week's time with no problem, and Ava was already seeing a change. And she was in the forefront of that change. She had already gone on three missions that included infiltrating and taking down secret undergrounds and freeing powered people in parts of the United States and Canada. She still felt wary of the Council and of the Accords, but it had yet to prove her paranoia right.
The one upside to all of it was that Peter and Ava moved back to Queens, into an apartment of their own. Away from the Avenger lifestyle. It was a nice little space, and it was the first time she truly felt free. Not even while on the run she felt this free. There was always the knowledge that she would have to eventually move on, so it was hard to settle in, to truly relax. And she was with her boyfriend.
They still frequented the Compound and had their own rooms there, but Ava needed her space. Tony understood and helped set them up with the apartment. He had been extremely kind to her this whole time, probably because she was the first to agree and sign on with the revised Accords.
She saw him in his lab one night, holding a flip phone in his hand. She found the sight extremely strange, considering it was Tony Stark holding a flip phone, and usually she would have walked in with some snarky comment about the fact, but he was lost in thought with a solemn look on his face so Ava left him alone.
Clint had left to some unknown location in the other side of the world to go undercover and take down a child trafficking ring. He would be going dark, because contact might be too dangerous. Ava also knew he would probably be seeing Steve or Natasha somehow, so she had written a letter addressed to them and gave it to Clint.
"He doesn't hate you." Clint reassured her, knowing what she was thinking. She only sighed and gave him a sad smile.
"Tell him I miss him. That I miss all of them."
"Will do." He hugged her goodbye. He had left two weeks ago, and Tony said he probably won't be back until next month.
But Ava was settling in great in New York with Peter. Being back in New York, not having to look over their shoulders, it gave their relationship a chance breathe and strengthen. They actually acted like a couple. They held hands, they went on dates, they cuddled. Even then, though, it didn't feel all that different from when they used to hang out. It felt like she had her best friend back…plus the benefit of kissing him.
They go to Aunt May's almost every other night for family dinner. They would all make dinner together, though it was hardly anything gourmet (or at times, even good). There was definitely quite a few nights where they would end up ordering take out. Aunt May had started working at the hospital less and started dedicating more of her time into the homeless shelter, FEAST. Peter thought of doing a fundraiser hosted by none other Spider-Man and Mercury.
"You're so hot when you do good for the community." She said, half-jokingly, although she truly was turned on by that. She made him blush at that, but he quickly recovered and said something witty back that she couldn't remember now.
Today, Ava and Peter had decided to stay in. They watched Game of Thrones, catching up on the episodes they had lost during their time on the run, especially for Ava since she had missed out on episodes since her time at SHIELD.
She snuggled into Peter's side as a blanket hung loosely over the pair. His fingers brushed through her hair, which had grown out some more so Ava decided to start straightening it and it hung an inch or so above her shoulder. Peter had let his hair grow out some more too. Ava loved it, she had always loved his curls when he let it grow long.
As the end credits played, Ava looked up at Peter, smiling like an idiot.
"What, weirdo?" Peter mused, noticing Ava's staring.
"I think I can make this work." She said before reaching him and kissing him passionately on the lips. He reciprocated, which made Ava's stomach fill with butterflies.
He knew that she meant this lifestyle. He knew that she even meant the Accords. He never thought he would ever hear her say that, and it was less about her starting to be okay with these new Accords, but more about her being okay with them and being able to compromise in order to be together because she never admitted that out loud before. Ava had always been the cautious type when it came to relationships, closing off her feelings. He watched her do it with practically all of her exes, so he wasn't surprised when he received the same treatment. And he understood. That's what she loves about him. That he understands. They took it slow so that she could have time to process and realize her feelings. And now that she does, she feels like she's on Cloud 9.
They leaned down against the couch, Peter over Ava, as their kissing grew more intense as his hands wandered all over her body. He couldn't get enough her, and she couldn't get enough of him. Right when he was about to take his shirt off, he stopped and sat up. His body was tensed up, and he looked out towards the window.
"Pete?" Ava questioned, her face still flush from their makeout session.
He got up and walked towards the window, opening the blinds. "Something's wrong. Really wrong." His spider-sense was going off. The way he was acting, she had never seen Peter act like this before. She had never seen him this unnerved.
She followed behind and looked through the blinds, but couldn't see anything. She looked to Peter, confused.
"I don't see anything." Ava shook her head. She looked to Peter and saw him clench his jaw and blinked furiously.
"Avery, I've never had my senses react this way before." He said, stepping away from the window. He had told her once that his senses are stronger than a regular person, but when his internal warning system went off, it was like an itch or the physical manifestation of static come warn him the direction of danger. When that happened, his senses would also grow stronger, dialing to "like 100 instead of when I'm usually at a 10."
"Amélie, what's going on?" Ava asked aloud. Tony had installed Ava's AI system into their apartment, which was like Alexa but ten times better.
"An unidentified flying object is hovering over lower Manhattan." She responded.
"Hold on. Did you just say UFO? Did she just say UFO?" Ava asked, meeting her eyes with Peter's. He ran out to their bedroom, to get his suit. Peter still used his old suit despite Tony practically throwing his new one at him. Peter said it was too much for him to accept, and that he wanted to keep the red and blue spandex look for a little while longer. Tony accepted only if he would add some features like a real comm system and more secret pouches for his web fluid refills.
"Oui. It is now remaining stationary. Police have already been notified and civilians are blocked off. Contacting council member Colonel Helena Smithe."
"Hello?" Ava heard Colonel Smithe's voice. Colonel Smithe was the British women she took an instant liking to at the first meeting. She usually spoke with Smithe with any business that needed handling. She hoped that Smithe knew what was happening.
"You see what's happening over New York?" Ava asked, switching the channel to the news. There it was. "Holy shit."
A giant, donut-shaped alien spaceship hovered over Manhattan. The news feed cut to a phone recording of shaky quality, showing Tony at the scene with three other men, two of them dressed like they were on their way to Comic Con. But the third man was Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk, who has been missing for nearly three years. Then the phone panned over to the other end of the street where she saw…aliens. One was tall and thin and pale, and reminded her of Severus Snape with the way it carried itself. It? He? They? How does one refer to an alien? The companion was even taller, but a brute of a creature. Ava's breathing quickened.
"Yeah, Stark is already on it. He might need help though. We don't know where they came from or what their intentions are. But it doesn't seem good. You and Spider-Man prepare to be backup."
"Okay." And with that, the call ended. Ava paused the news at seeing the aliens. It was happening all over again.
Peter came out, dressed in his suit but still didn't put his mask on. He saw what was on the TV and had the same initial reaction as Ava: "Holy shit!" He looked over at Ava and saw her face. He had in his hands her bracelets. He gently clasped them on her and then held her head in hands. "You okay? Can you do this?"
Aliens were invading New York again. Distant memories of being in lockdown at school, whimpering under a desk, came to mind. Flashes of her mother's smile came to mind, but those memories were starting to fade. When did she start forgetting her mom?
Ava slowed down time for herself, like she had back at Scotland before parting with Peter. To Peter, he would only feel a slight vibration for a moment. She breathed, tried to gain her senses back. Trying to steel herself. She always found that expression funny. To steel oneself. To turn to metal. To be strong like metal, so that anything that came one's way, they could take it.
She activated her suit, the helmet coming up. She nodded at Peter, pushing down her anxiety. "Yeah."
"Okay. Let's go." Peter nodded back, putting his mask on.
"Amélie, where's Stark?" Ava asked.
"Showing location now." She responded, and showed a map that he was at Washington Square Park.
Ava sped the pair to the edge of the park.
"I think I'm getting used to it!" Peter exclaimed proudly, jumping up and swinging away.
It wasn't hard to see where Tony was because they could see the giant alien coming from another direction and racing towards the center of the park. Iron Man was knocked down, and didn't have enough time to get back up.
The alien advanced and right before it could strike Tony with his large and terrifying battle axe that also had a hook on the end, Spider-Man swung in and caught the weapon with ease.
"Hey, man!" He greeted the alien.
"Took you guys long enough." Iron Man's dick way of saying, "Thanks for saving my ass."
"You're welcome!" Spider-Man exclaimed, his voice going up an octave at the end because it was then that the alien tossed him aside like a rag doll.
"Hey!" Mercury shouted, sending a streetlight at him. He started to make a play at her, but she summoned forth her repulsors and started firing at him.
"Tony?" Spider-Man questioned, getting back up and swinging in to land a kick before quickly getting out of the line of fire from Mercury.
"He came in a donut from space and he's here to steal a very important necklace from a wizard." He responded. What?!
The three all fought against the alien, working as a team. It felt seamless, and it brought her back to when she fought with Cap. Maybe the two were more alike than they realize. When Iron Man shot a large burst of energy, the alien brought up his metal shield to block it. Mercury instantly used her abilities to try to push the shield down so that Iron Man could get an in. It had the weight of a car, but that was no problem for her now. The problem was the alien's strength. He wasn't expecting a tiny woman with the ability to control metal take his shield, so it came down easily and she tore it from his grasp. It floated in the air as Iron Man sent a blast at the alien. It staggered back and Spider-Man landed in another kick, swinging off of the shield hanging in the air. Once he backed off, Mercury sent the shield flying at the alien's head, but he deflected with his axe. Ava tried to grab hold of the axe, but the alien had an iron grip on it. She still managed to keep him still as they both struggled for control over the axe.
Something suddenly whizzed by over their heads and continued to fly off, but Mercury didn't look for fear of losing an ounce of control.
"Kid, that's the wizard!" Iron Man shouted.
"On it!" Spider-Man replied, and swung after the man that had…a necklace. That thing better be worth a trillion dollars, Ava thought to herself.
Moments later, something else came by over Iron Man's and Mercury's head. This time, she let go to see that it was the other alien and he was floating in the air, gliding after Spider-Man and the wizard.
"Ava!" Iron Man shouted.
The alien was going to grapple onto her with his battle axe that had a hook to it. Iron Man shoved her out of the way when the hook ejected and came for her, but now the the hook latched onto him instead. He was trapped in it and the hook started making his suit go haywire.
Ava was thrown against a tree, knocking the wind out of her. She got back up quickly, the adrenaline masking the pain. Everything was happening too fast. Just five minutes ago, she was watching Game of Thrones with Peter. Just the other day, her and Peter went to a Chinese restaurant to belatedly celebrate being together for one month. Just a week ago, Ava and Peter went to Coney Island. Ava had accepted a future for herself. She had accepted a future with Peter. Something she didn't expect of herself. She didn't think she would be able to move on from everything that has happened to her, but she did.
And now, Peter had ran off to protect a necklace from a levitating alien while Tony lay on the ground defenseless as an alien unsheathed an extremely large blade from the armor on his wrist. Tony Stark, the man who tries so hard to protect the world from threats like this. To protect the world from threats exactly like this.
"Tony!" She screamed out, guttural and mangled in anguish. Her arms stretched in front of her with her fingers reaching for control of the blade to try to push it back against him. The alien was charging at Tony, going full force. She couldn't stop him that way.
The alien leapt up into the air, and Mercury didn't think. She sped forward, shielding Tony as she kept her hands out. She shattered the blade using her abilities and sent them back towards the alien, managing to pierce skin. But he was still coming down with a closed fist, adapting and ready to slaughter them. She closed her eyes and summoned forth a force field, even though she knew that the alien's brute force would be able to break through since she was still learning how to conjure and strengthen them, but the attack didn't come.
Mercury opened her eyes and saw the strangest thing. She saw the arctic cold. A portal that was sparking at the ends showed another part of the world. Mercury broke off the hook from Iron Man's suit and the pair got up to look down at the portal. The alien was in there, and looked up at Mercury and Iron. He growled and then jumped up. Mercury quickly grabbed her battle staves and turned the ends into fine points as he was about the enter through. But then the portal closed and the alien didn't make it through. But his hand did, flying past her.
"Ugh." Mercury heard a voice behind her and looked to see that it was from Bruce Banner, who kicked the hand, and next to him was one of the strange men she saw on the news. He was the one that had made the portal. Another wizard?
"Uh, guys, I'm being beamed up!" Spider-Man said through the comms.
Ava's helmet immediately dropped down and she looked over to Iron Man.
"Unlock 17A." He said to FRIDAY. He looked to Ava and nodded. "I'll go get him."
"Don't let him get in that spaceship, Tony." Ava said, her heart racing.
"Oh, and Wong, you're invited to my wedding!" Iron Man said as he shot off towards the direction that Spider-Man had gone.
Ava could see the ship, and a blue beam of light. Then she faintly saw a small spider go up. Iron Man looked like a rocket because that's how fast he was going after Spider-Man. Going after Peter. A smaller object rocketed up towards Spider-Man as well, and Ava heard Tony speak through the comms.
"Alright kid, you get ready to let go."
The ship was starting to move now.
"No." Ava breathed. The ship was far. And huge. But she could sense it. The metal was different from this Earth, like how she could sense vibranium, but it wasn't vibranium.
"I can't breathe."
"Let go now, I got you."
"Spider-Man's communication system has been disrupted." Amélie reported. The ship was really high up, what if he had passed out?
"Peter!" She screamed. Ava latched onto the ship, and flew up into the air. She needed to get closer. Flying was really hard, bending forces wasn't easy, but she was managing it. She flew so high up that she was past some of the taller buildings in the city. She kept control of the ship. But she couldn't stop it. It weighed like a million cars. If anything, it felt like the ship was dragging her along since she wouldn't let go. Her nose was starting to bleed from the force.
"He's on his way." Tony assured. She didn't know what that meant. The ship was so far away and she couldn't make out Peter anymore.
"The ship is about to leave the atmosphere." Amélie announced.
"Ava, go back." Tony said. "You can't bring down the ship. I'm going in. Peter's okay, I sent him down." The feed started crackling. "I gotta go. Go back, Ava!"
"Communication disconnected from Monsieur Stark."
"Where's Peter?" Ava asked frantically. Tony was right. She couldn't keep hold of the ship. She let go, searching the skies for Peter as the ship left the Earth.
"…Signal's show that Monsieur Parker is exiting the Earth's atmosphere along with Monsieur Stark."
Ava stopped breathing. "Connect me to Peter."
"Connecting now."
The line went through. "Hey so maybe I was premature about Tony's new suit. This thing rocks."
"Peter, don't tell me you're in that fucking ship." Ava swore, flying up to nowhere. The ship was beyond the clouds, it was leaving the Earth. He was leaving.
"I had to…took the wizard. Listen…be right back." The connection was starting to get bad, like it was starting to with Tony.
"Peter, get out of there right now. Come back to me." Ava was crying now, and she was allowing herself to start floating down towards the ground without realizing. She was focused on Peter's voice. "Whatever is going on is not worth it if you can't come back!"
"…One's life…worth it, Avery." He said, the connection breaking apart his words more and sounding more static. "I l–"
"Connection lost." Amélie said, actually sounding sad.
Ava cried out in pain, and let herself fall. She didn't have the strength in that moment to keep control of her flight. She flipped herself around and saw that she was getting closer to the ground. "Come on." She gritted her teeth, trying to fight back the panic. She gained control of the waves surrounding herself again and caught herself mere feet from the ground.
She landed at the edge of the park, where Dr. Banner and the other wizard approached her quietly. She laid on the grass, sobbing. She should have never let Peter go alone. She should have gone with him. They could have taken care of the other alien together. She should have tried harder to take the ship down. She should have found a way to get inside the ship. She could flown up more, figured out a way to use the repulsors to boost her up. She shouldn't have let go. She should be with Peter.
Dr. Banner kneeled down next to Ava, and he rested his hand on her back. She let him, but not because she sought the comfort. She was too numb to do anything, even fight back or say fuck off.
"Come on." He whispered, patting her back. She shook her head, wiping away the snot and tears but they just kept on coming anyways. "Vision's in danger. We gotta get a hold of Steve." Steve. Were those aliens after Vision? Did that mean Peter could come back?
"There's more than just that coming our way." The other man said, sounding tough. He wasn't trying to soothe Ava. "You can stay on the ground and keep crying, or you can help try to save this world."
She took deep breaths, and leaned into Dr. Banner. She pushed her upper body up and Dr. Banner helped her get up on her two feet. She stopped sobbing, but the tears continued to silently roll down.
"Can you take us back to where we were earlier?" Dr. Banner asked. The wizard nodded, and created another portal for them to go through. They walked through and Ava noticed that this must have been where it all started, the video footage she saw on the news.
Dr. Banner started looking around all the rubble, muttering about how he "Saw it fall." Ava wasn't sure what he was looking for, but she just stood there by herself. Her mind still wasn't caught up. It kept going back to twenty minutes ago. They were just kissing. They were about to make love. They were going to watch more Game of Thrones, most likely. They were going to have a future.
"Found it!" Dr. Banner exclaimed, picking something up from off the ground.
Behind Dr. Banner and Ava, they heard a noise behind them and saw that the wizard was leaving through another portal. It looked like he had stepped into the foyer of a house.
"Where are you going?" Dr. Banner questioned, almost accusingly.
"Someone has to protect the sanctum. What will you do?" He asked.
"Make a call." He said. The wizard seemed to have known what that meant, and closed the portal. Ava couldn't process anything.
Dr. Banner walked over to Ava and she saw what was in his hand. A flip phone. He opened it and saw that there was only one name in the call list. Steve Rogers. It clicked in her head. This was the same phone that Tony had in his hand a couple weeks ago. It was a burner phone. Untraceable. Steve gave it to Tony, probably for emergencies. He wanted Tony to have a way to reach him, even after everything that happened.
Ava reached her hand out, and Dr. Banner handed her the phone. She pressed dial, and lifted the dusty and cracked phone to her ear. Nokia phones really are indestructible. It rang for a long time, to the point that Ava worried whether Steve would pick up. Would he even have the burner phone himself?
"Tony?"
"It's me."
AN: Well shit. My heart hurts. Actually, my heart has been hurting because I've planned for them to be separated ever since I saw Infinity War. I thought about them going together, but decided against it. And we all know how Infinity War ends for Peter, so…we'll see how that pans out for Ava.
Incorrect quote coming fast:
Ava: If I die, I want Peter to lower me into my coffin so he can let me down one last time.
Peter: If?
(I saw this on Instagram, I didn't have the user saved)