AN: UzuRunner thank you! That means a lot and I'm sorry for this late acknowledgment, I forgot to add the thank you in my last chapter. There is a big gap between Civil War and Infinity War and I like to think that Tony was working on trying to bridge the rift between him and Steve and the Accords. I hope you've enjoyed the story so far :)
This chapter will be VERY long. So I'm both sorry for those that hate long chapters and you're welcome to those who love long chapters! I didn't want to break up any part of this chapter, and also, it'll probably be a month or so before I do another update so I hope that balances it out for taking a mini hiatus? It's just so that I can work out the Endgame arc some more.
They made it to the Compound. Ross and the Council were expecting a report soon, but Ava didn't have it in her. She sat on the couch in the recreational room and did nothing. All she could really do is hope that the aliens would come back. Which sounded bad, but it would mean seeing Peter again. Or to see a news report that the alien ship blew up and Spider-Man and Iron Man were on their way to Earth. But no news–of any kind–had come yet.
Bruce sat in the love seat, occasionally looking over at Ava. He was the outlier in this situation. The Hulk had been missing for years and somehow had wound up in outer space only to come back as a Herald. Harbinger. A Fate. He didn't bring the destruction, he tried to warn them. But his warning came too late. Everyone was side blinded. Hasty decisions were made.
He told her and Steve about Thanos while they called him. The alien that decimated Thor's people, and possibly Thor himself. Bruce made it out before he could see if Thor survived (but he didn't seem too hopeful). He said how Thanos was in search of stones that could help him bring the end to half of the universe in seconds. The Time Stone is what Peter and Tony went after. Steve and the others now went to Vision to protect him, since he had the Mind Stone.
Hours passed by and it was afternoon now. Ross kept demanding the meeting, and Ava could only imagine him growing more agitated. Rhodey came in, sat down on the couch next to Ava.
"I can't Rhodey. I just can't." Ava finally spoke. He nodded in understanding and got up. He shared a look with Bruce before leaving. Bruce understood.
"I'm gonna go and see how the meeting goes." Bruce said.
"Make sure they don't see you." Ava warned, still with a faraway look in her eyes. She wasn't completely here, a part of her was still distracted. "There's already a lot of complicated pieces going on, we don't need the Accords getting in the way."
"Right." He nodded, not sure what else to say and awkwardly walking off.
Ava kept replaying the morning in her head. She tried to commit to memory everything he did and said. How his touch felt against hers. How he had laughed at her jokes. His eyes. They had been through so much together and she wished that she hadn't wasted so much time being blind. She wished there was more time with him. Don't think like that, she thought to herself, we will have more time. Finally having true alone time, and reminiscing the now bitter memories she shared with Peter, she broke down and cried. She had been holding herself up, hiding the anguish. But now she felt it head on.
"FRIDAY, play the news." She demanded, even though she knew she shouldn't.
The TV turned on and it showed the wreckage in Washington Square and the streets surrounding it. Then it showed footage of the fight, although it was from a great distance and extremely pixelated quality. Another footage, this one more clear, showed the alien ship high up in the sky. It showed how a parachute deployed just as the ship was going through the clouds. And the parachute got tangled and floated down towards the Earth, whisked away by the winds. There was no person attached to the parachute.
"Peter's okay, I sent him down." Tony did try. He really did. Peter was stubborn. He broke off the parachute from his suit and snuck inside of the ship. The camera footage focused on the flimsy parachute, the ship was long gone. Then the camera panned back to a figure slowly floating down. Mercury. Herself.
"Damn it." She said shakily. She muted the TV, but let it play to see the photos they brought up of Spider-Man and Iron Man. What was she going to do? What were they all going to do?
"Ava." She knew that voice. She brought her head up to see Steve, Nat, Wanda, along with Sam holding up an injured Vision. She got up and raced to him, hugging him deeply. He held her, sharing a look with Nat. She also went to the others, hugging them all. It felt like a family reunion, even though it hadn't been that long since she last seen them. But then again, so much had happened since she last seen them.
"I'm sorry, Ava." Nat said, which confirmed that Peter and Tony didn't make an appearance.
Ava wiped away the tears. Now it was time to suck it up. There were bigger things at play happening. She knew that Peter wouldn't want her sulking around when the world needed saving. Well, the universe. It was a daunting task.
"Rhodey's talking to Ross." Ava informed them.
"Well, it'd be rude not to say hi." Steve responded. Nat smirked, knowing that this would be good. They walked over to the conference room, which was across the way, in silence. The air was thick, and Ava knew it was because of her. They were treating her like glass, they were acting like she lost a loved one. She didn't have time to think about that. She only had time for what she knew, not what to ponder.
They walked in at a tense moment, Rhodey standing defiantly opposite to Ross's hologram.
"Mr. Secretary." Cap greeted, undoubtedly reveling in the look on Ross's stupid face.
"You got some nerve being here." He looked to all of the rogue Avengers, or how he had once called them, the Secret Avengers. "And you," He turned to Ava, "I knew we shouldn't have pardoned you."
Ava only smiled at him in return, eyes still puffy and red from her breakdown. She suddenly found Ross to not be worth her time, and she questioned why she ever did before.
"You think that all's forgiven?" Ross asked, keeping his voice level.
"I'm not asking for forgiveness, and I'm way past asking for permission." Steve responded back calmly. "Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight. And if you wanna stand in our way…we'll fight you, too."
Ross turned to Rhodey, looking tired. "Arrest them." It's probably exhausting having to deal with superheroes and not get your way, Ava mused in her head.
"I'm all over it." Rhodey nodded, before ending the holographic communications. A beeping noise could be heard as the fax machine printed something through. Just like it had when Ava signed off on the amended Accords. "That'll be the court-martial." He broke into a smile and embraced his old friends. After all these years, after being paralyzed, they were still family.
Bruce emerged from a hidden corner, picking at the ends of his sleeves.
"Where you hiding there the whole time?" Ava asked snarkily. Okay, so maybe she was misdirecting her anger here, but could anyone blame her? Probably, and she knew that she should let up on him.
"Bruce." Nat said, her face changing.
"Hey, Nat." He greeted back awkwardly.
Ava looked between the two, overhearing Sam next to her mutter under his breath, "Well, this is awkward." It clicked in her head. The way they looked at each other, Sam's comment. They had a thing?! Really?! Ava had spent some quality time with Bruce this past day, and she wouldn't have pegged him as Nat's type, but opposites attract, she supposes.
"I need a drink." Ava sighed, walking across the conference room and into the loft area which had a kitchenette. Her patience just kept wearing thinner and thinner because she couldn't stand the awkward sexual tension between Nat and Bruce anymore than she could deal with Ross's bullshit.
She grabbed a beer out of the fridge as everyone followed her into the room and Nat set on the counter a small device from her chest that played a holographic video of two lanky creatures with staff-like weapons that pounced on Vision and tried to pry the stone off of him before Steve intervened. Rhodey stopped the video and put it back to where they hovered over Vision. If Steve hadn't jumped in, they stood a real chance of killing Vision. That did chill Ava to the bone, and she fought it back by taking a big gulp from her bottle.
"We have to assume they're coming back." Rhodey said, looking at his teammates.
"And they know how to find Vis." Wanda added in, biting at her nails.
"Thanos has an army, guys. And those aliens we saw in New York and in Edinburgh, he calls them the Black Order. They're like his disciples. We need everyone. Where's Clint?" There went Bruce again, Heralding. Ava rolled her eyes. She shouldn't be acting like a petulant child, and Steve gave her a stern look that told her she needed to behave.
"On the other side of the world deep in mission. We have no way of reaching him." Ava supplied. "But I can notify the X-Men."
"X-Men?" Bruce tilted his head. Everyone knew mutants existed, although the X-Men operated primarily under wraps and despite being around for decades. They only recently became noticed in the public when the Accords happened.
"Mutant group." Ava couldn't help but be annoyed again, even though Bruce was off-planet for years and was sorely far behind on current events. Bruce didn't even know about the Accords until a few hours ago!
"We need to destroy the stone." Vision finally spoke up, turning the conversation back on topic. "Perhaps, with an energy signature similar to my own, it could be possible." He spoke as he walked over to Wanda, and she seemed to understand what he meant by this.
"No. I'm not going to kill you." Wanda shook her head. Vision held her head in his hands.
"It's the only way to ensure that Thanos cannot get the Mind Stone." He reasoned. Ava couldn't argue with him, it was the only sure-fire way, but this plan didn't sit well in her stomach.
"It's too high a price." She looked into his eyes, pleading almost.
Vision sighed, and said something that hurt Wanda more than he could realize, "It's a price that you will have to pay." She walked away from him and stood next to Ava.
Ava looked at the woman who tried to fight back her tears. Wanda didn't want to face the reality of possibly having to kill her lover. Ava was never too great at comforting, so she just offered Wanda her beer, which the Witch gladly took.
"This is one life versus millions, if not trillions. One life cannot stand in the way of that." Vision spoke to everyone now, seeming resolute that this was the answer. Ava took a bigger drink.
"But it should." Steve said. "We'll find another way."
"What about you, Bruce? You had a part in building him. Isn't there a way to take out the stone? Ava can control the electromagnetic field, she can help."
"Except I can't control Vision, here." Ava shook her head. Even Vision seemed surprised by this. "I've tried." Vision and Steve both shared a look of shock that amused Ava.
"And I can't take out the stone either. We don't have the equipment and even if we did, it could take me weeks and I would most likely kill him." Bruce added.
"Let's not forget that Ross isn't let you guys just move back in to your old rooms, we need to leave." Rhodey put in as well.
At this, Ava laughed. This situation kept getting worse and worse. Everyone gave her a mix between a sad and bewildered look, but she ignored them and just finished the rest of her beer. Just one drink wouldn't do anything, and everyone knew that. She wanted the bitter taste for some reason. She needed something bitter to fill her mouth and dance over her tongue. She wished Thor had survived and come down to Earth with some Asgardian ale. A beer fit for gods would surely knock her ass back like she needed right now.
"I know where we could go." Steve announced. "Let me make a phone call." He walked out of the room and headed somewhere deep into the Compound.
Sam, Rhodey, and Natasha fell into a conversation of their own that Ava couldn't make out nor did she care to. She grabbed another beer from the fridge while Wanda watched on.
"Go ahead, say whatever you're thinking." Ava said, removing the cap with her mind and taking a drink.
"He's still alive." She said quietly, as if speaking to a wild animal that startles easily. Ava froze, locking eyes.
"How do you know?" Ava asked sceptically.
"I just do." Wanda replied. Ava had to trust that Wanda was sure, that she wasn't just spouting out nonsense. Her powers were very complex, Ava knew that, but maybe she's more powerful than she realizes.
"Okay, let's get going." Steve came back into the room, before walking back out. Everyone followed after him, but Ava was the last one out of the room. She was going to drink from the beer again, although she stopped herself and set it down on the counter. Peter's still alive. That's what she would hold onto. Hope.
"Where are we going?" Ava asked, trailing behind.
"Wakanda." Steve replied.
The ride there was fast. Everyone spoke quietly and caught up with each other, except for Ava. She remained silent and lost in her head. Peter is alive. He'll make it back home. They'll fight together and win. And after they win, they can go back home.
Once they landed, Ava broke out of her thoughts and straightened out her black outfit. She was subconsciously trying to make herself look presentable, she is meeting royalty, after all. The door came down and everyone filed out, taking in the marvel that is Wakanda. When people spoke of the lost city of Atlantis, this is what she imagined. A technological trove with beautiful architecture and wildlife. The castle was grand and modern, it didn't look outdated like one would imagine a castle to be like.
King T'Challa stood alongside his mother, Queen Ramonda, and his sister, Princess Shuri. Queen Ramonda looked graceful and regal as ever, same with King T'Challa. But Princess Shuri on the other hand, dressed like a regular teenager. Granted, it wasn't the fashion style of the United States or in Europe that Ava was familiar with, but it wasn't any fancy clothing like her other family members. She seemed laidback and fun, and not enough old to be caught up in the middle of this. Surrounding the royal family was the now-famous, Dora Milaje, the elite, all-female special forces group of Wakanda. They acted in some parts similar to the Secret Service, only way more badass.
Bruce stupidly bowed in front of King T'Challa, who immediately felt uncomfortable.
"We don't do that here." He informed Bruce, gesturing for him to get back up. The latter blushed, and looked back to a smug Rhodey.
Ava walked up to him and nudged his shoulder, "Did you make him do that?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." He said with false innocence. It made Ava crack a smile. For only a moment.
Some other man, white and with a sleek, black, metal arm, approached the group. Bucky Barnes. So this is where he had been all of this time. Ava never knew and if she asked Steve, he probably would have told her. They had only known each other for a few hours, but they got along in those few hours. It was nice to see another familiar face.
Steve's face lit up as well as Bucky's as the old friends greeted each other and embraced. They had been through a lot of fights together. They were a part of the Howling Commandos, taking down Nazis. They fought against each other during the fall of SHIELD, and then together to try to clear his name. Now, they were up against aliens. Did they ever imagine in 1945 their lives would bring them here to this moment? That the world truly was a part of some bigger cosmic picture with aliens being real? Ava didn't imagine this at all, not at this scale at least.
"With Bucky on our side, I think we stand a real chance." Ava said as Steve stepped aside so that Bucky could match the face to the voice.
"Hey Speed Mcqueen." Bucky joked, giving her a warm smile. Being in Wakanda certainly chilled himself out. He was always so frigid and standoffish–and Ava didn't mind that about him then.
"I see you've been spending your time watching Pixar movies." Ava said dryly, not amused by his lame joke.
"How are we looking?" Nat asked King T'Challa as they walked to what looked to be a flying patio.
"Alongside our White Wolf here," which made everyone look at Bucky at his new nickname, "We have the Border Tribes, the Jabari Tribe, and the Dora Milaje. Come, we'll take you to Shuri's lab."
They boarded, all seeming skeptical save for the Wakandan natives. It was like they had the deck of a ship and forgot to add everything else. Or something that would be seen in the movie Lost City of Atlantis. Maybe that movie stole from Wakanda.
The surrounding forest was lush and big. It's a thriving land, and the beauty didn't escape Ava's eyes. They traveled past the palace and across some parts of the city until they reached a slightly remote area where a slim, tall building emerged from the tall mountain: Shuri's lab. Stark would definitely be jealous if were here–make some quip about how it was only "okay" and then brag about himself. Ava would have loved to see the banter between Shuri and Stark.
Once they entered inside, it looked like a crazy sci-fi. They stepped into the year 3000! "Wow." Ava said, turning around in circles as they situated themselves in her lab.
"Up you go." Shuri said, speaking to Vision but smirking at everyone's impressed faces. Vision obliged wordlessly, trying not to move too much. Wanda patched up the outside like one would stitch skin, but the inside was most likely still badly damaged. One of the beads on Princess Shuri's bracelet scanned Vision's whole body. Ava then noticed that all of the Wakandan's had these bracelets. Apple had toys compared to the tech here.
A hologram of the Mind Stone and all of the neuron's (or wiring, Ava wasn't sure what she was looking at) stemming from the stone.
"This is polymorphic." Shuri said, which made sense the more Ava looked at the hologram. They weren't all connected, making the task of taking out the Mind Stone all the more difficult.
"Yeah, we had to attach non-sequentially." Bruce responded.
"So why not reprogram to make them work collectively?" Shuri said back, condescending. Ava liked her, she held her own and didn't shrink just because she was speaking to Bruce Banner AKA the Hulk.
"Uh." He said, looking stumped. "Because we didn't think of it." A 15 year old girl had stumped Bruce Banner (and Tony Stark).
"I'm sure you tried your best." Shuri said consolingly, but in a teasing manner.
"Can you do it? Can you take out the stone?" Wanda questioned, clearly not in the mood for jokes. Ava understood, she would be acting the same if it were Peter on the table.
"…Yes. But it will take time, there are trillions of neurons in here. I will need all the time I can get." Shuri said gravely, understanding the severity of the situation.
Just then, beeping noises went off and the Wakandan's looked at their beads. The general of the Dora Milaje brought a hologram of Earth and a red point showed up where Wakanda is situated. "Something has entered the atmosphere."
It's happening. And something in Ava's bones told her that the army that Bruce had been ranting about for more than 24 hours was coming.
"Guys, something's happening." Sam spoke in through the communicators. Suddenly, the lab started shaking as they heard an explosion outside. Everyone crowded the window and saw smoke and fire up above, but it wasn't raining down on the city. A blue rippled cascaded around the whole city, in a dome shape. A force field.
"More incoming." Rhodey spoke, and sure enough, they saw as long rectangular shapes crash down outside of the dome. If only a few more landed on the dome so that it would be one less problem on their hands.
"We need to destroy the stone now." Vision tried yet again for his option, but no one was having it.
"Vision, get your ass back on that table." Nat ordered, heading for the exit along with some of Dora.
"We will hold them off." T'Challa assured. He started giving his special forces orders as Steve spoke to Wanda.
"Make sure you blow that thing to hell as soon as it's out of his head." She nodded in response, aware of her part in all of this. Ava could see the uneasiness roll off of her in waves. Wanda was hoping for that alternative. They all were. They didn't want to have to resort to the other one.
"We'll give you time." Ava assured. With her speed, she would try her damn best to give Princess Shuri all the time she needed. Shuri acknowledged her words and nodded, as if saying that she would do everything she could in that given time. Shuri wouldn't waste it. No one in this room could afford to waste time.
Shuri, Wanda, and three Dora's stayed in the lab while the former immediately went to task. Everyone else quickly made it out of the room, heading up to the ships to get back down to ground level. Through the windows, Ava could see thousands of people in the streets, filing out of the city through a back way, away from the ominous ships. What kind of army did Thanos have? Was Thanos with said army? Her blood was pumping and she was trying her best to stay grounded. In moments before a mission, it was always important to make sure she stayed grounded. Embrace your emotions, but keep them in check. That's what Daisy taught her.
Ava activated her suit, the nanosuit coming up instantly, but kept her head exposed. T'Challa slightly turned his head at seeing the suit, seeming visibly impressed. "Stark did mention that you can control metal." Ava quirked an eyebrow, turning to him and nodding. "This whole city rests on top of vibranium. With that in mind, try not to destroy the city, yes?" He wasn't just warning her, but also advising her to use her surroundings.
"Got it," Ava smirked, and she drew her helmet up.
A Dora raced up, matching pace with everyone else but brought Steve something special. She handed it to Steve, who wordlessly accepted. It was two shields, but sleek and smaller than his spangly one.
They made it outside and quickly got on the ship.
"We have to make a quick stop to the Quinjet." Natasha informed, and the General nodded her head and quickly set course.
They did get there in just a matter of seconds, which made everyone feel a little woozy save for Ava and the Wakandans.
"FRIDAY, bring out the big gun." Natasha requested. Bruce hopped off of the ship and ran out, away from everyone. What was he doing? The underbelly of the Quinjet revealed doors open that Ava didn't know was there. And she had been in this jet for too long to not notice. But a large rectangle of gold and red emerged and it started coming apart and flying straight for Bruce as it started attaching to him. A skeletal framework attached before it started adding more until it got so big it was definitely about 8 feet or more. Even if the Hulk wouldn't fight, that didn't apply to Bruce Banner.
"Let's go." Bruce said, speaking through the comms but she could also hear his voice amplified through the large suit.
"I'm gonna warm up." Ava said, hopping off of the ship. "I'll give you guys a head start."
The General didn't seem impressed by either Bruce or Ava, and didn't bother with giving a response as she fired up the ship and soared off, fast enough to make enough jolt and hold onto something. Ava smirked, getting into her stance, but not running off yet.
"Anytime now, Quicksilver." Bruce said sarcastically, teasing at her powers and suit. Ava couldn't lie, Quicksilver had a nice ring to it. She pounced, running at enough speed that it would have knocked back Bruce, even in his suit. Turning back, she saw the waves and it hit him. She passed by in a blur and Bruce's ass was knocked to the ground.
"Jesus." He exclaimed, all alone now. He started running after the ship, and overhead dozens more followed after the one the Avengers were in.
Ava raced past the first ship that had her friends and the General. To them, they saw a mere streak of silver that darted past the armies and made it to the front lines before anyone else. The General did let out a small smile, liking that the young woman showed off. Although that smile quickly wiped off her face when she saw the oaf in the suit trip and fall. Maybe the odds weren't of success weren't that high, after all.
Ava saw the large ships that loomed overhead, less than a quarter mile from the boundary line of the force field. She cracked her neck, shaked her limbs. It was game time. The army consisting of the Border Tribe and the Jabari advanced behind Ava. They were chanting, and it their vibrato shook the ground, and it definitely pumped Ava up as well. One man, who seemed to the leader, walked up next to Ava and evaluated her small frame. He continued to chant all the while and then looked ahead, fierce.
"I see two heat signatures coming up." Rhodey informed, as he and Sam soared above Ava and the army and advanced towards the force field.
Behind them all, the ships came up tilted to the side so that all of the Dora and the Avengers could slide out. Steve, Nat, Bucky, Bruce, and King T'Challa (now in his Black Panther attire, although it looked to be an upgrade from the last time she saw the suit) made their up and everyone else filed behind them.
The chanting stopped from the Jabari as King T'Challa and this leader took arms.
"Thank you for standing with us." King T'Challa said. The other man responded in a language that she didn't understand.
"Those two heat signatures Rhodes mentioned? They're coming closer." Ava announced, seeing them advance. Her sight was better than all of these people, and could spot them easily. She recognized the big one that had his hand cut off by the wizard, but another one with a slender frame and blue hair was with him as well. Ava recognized her to be one of the two from the hologram she saw at the Compound.
"Looks like they want a face to face." Nat looked to Steve, who nodded his head. Steve, Nat, and T'Challa walked forward to meet with the aliens at the boundary line.
Bucky stood next to Ava, with his fancy new arm and automatic gun. He noticed that she was being antsy, unable to stay still. Ava now grabbed the staves from her back and started twirling them.
"I see we both got some upgrades." Bucky noted, impressed with Ava's suit and weapons.
"Oh, you haven't even seen half of it." Ava replied, proud.
The pair looked back to their friends and heard them through their communicators.
"Thanos will have dust and blood." Ava heard the Black Panther say. At that moment, the ships all started moving, ports slowly opening up.
"That doesn't look good." Ava commented. Both the Jabari leader and the General gave Ava a look, sharing her same concern. "I'm Ava, by the way."
"M'Baku." The man replied. His whole demeanor gave off a look of, "Don't fuck with me," but his voice was soft. Yes, it commanded and it was powerful, like when he had led the chanting, but it was soft now as he spoke to Ava.
"Okoye." The General spoke up. Ava had earned her in respect, but not just from a pissing contest of racing to the battle ground first. Okoye saw herself in Ava, because Ava didn't have to be here. Because there's a very real chance they're all about to die.
Steve, T'Challa, and Natasha ran back to them, as the large ships behind them finally stopped opening.
"Did they surrender?" Bucky asked Steve.
"Nope." Steve replied. Everyone got in formation as T'Challa gave out an order in his native language. The army behind Ava all shifted into a battle stance.
"Yibambe!" T'Challa started shouting, and all his people responded in the same battle cry. They continued the chanting, energizing everyone.
Ava saw the leaves move, some trees shift, the dust rise. And then, the most terrifying sight. Gnarled creatures with six limbs in extremely large hordes racing towards them. They were like animals, and Ava could hear their screeches as they quickly made it to the force field, although they weren't deterred by it. They were being hurt, being burned, and it didn't faze them in the least. Ava brought forth the bow and arrows from her suit, using the battle staves to form the bow. Clint had taught her a lot these past few weeks, long sessions. And she wasn't the best, but she had a good enough aim. Besides, she could direct them to hit multiple targets. The alien army started pushing themselves against the force field, limbs being cut off as they tried to force their way through.
"What the hell." Bucky stated, and everyone shared that sentiment.
A few actually made it through, with their skins and armour burned off. That's when Ava drew an arrow and fired. She got one in the head, without even having to assist using her abilities. As she fired, the Border Tribe drew their blue capes and formed shields that resembled the same power as the force field. With everyone protected behind the shields, the rest drew their spears and started firing at the monsters with them. Ava had to admit that was pretty badass. Bucky and Bruce started firing at them as well. She drew another arrow, and this one she directed through three aliens, killing two of them. Sam flew ahead and fired explosions at them.
"Back up, Sam." War Machine ordered, and when Falcon obliged, the former let out the big bombs along the border, effectively killing a couple dozen of the aliens that continued to make their way through.
But they still kept coming. Worse, they also starting to run along the perimeter, wanting to come in from a different angle. They couldn't risk that, nor could they risk them coming upon the citizens that were currently trekking their way out from behind the city.
"Cap, we can't let them get around the perimeter, they'll have a way to Vision." Bruce warned.
"Then we better keep them in front of us." Cap responded. He shared a look with King T'Challa, who understood what he meant.
"On my signal, open North-West section 17." T'Challa said, speaking into a separate comm link.
"This will be the end of Wakanda." M'Baku said, slightly fearful.
"Then it will be the noblest ending in history." Okoye responded, head held high and eyes determined. Ava looked to her, grinning.
Ava didn't want to die, she wanted to live. She wanted to make it through this war so that when Peter came back, they could return to their normal lives. But she knew that was wishful thinking. She knew that Peter was still alive. And she knew that they needed to protect that Mind Stone. That's all that mattered. If she died in the process, then that's what she was willing to do.
T'Challa ordered for the shields to be drawn back and he stepped forward. Ava remembered what T'Challa had told her about the vibranium. The bow and arrows shifted back into her suit and the battle staves stayed strapped to her back. With her fingers, she sought out the connection and felt the raw metal. It truly was everywhere, but she could sense that all of it was centered at the mountains surrounding Princess Shuri's lab. That's where they did most of their mining.
"Wakanda forever!" T'Challa shouted out as he drew up his helmet and everyone cheered and ran forward. The Avengers led the charge, Ava holding back her speed to keep pace. "NOW!" Black Panther ordered, and sure enough, a part of the force field opened up to let in the savage beasts that threatened them.
Everything started happening in moments. In blurs. Ava could process it all, she could see every detail that was happening. Black Panther and Captain America running ahead and both jumping in the air, the first ones in the battle. The army colliding with the beasts. Ava collecting and turning the the small bits of vibranium into small daggers ass she brought them forth from the ground, piercing the aliens and managing to kill a few.
And time seemed to go back to normal and her attention completely refocused when an alien jumped on top of her, knocking her down. She fired a repulsor beam at it, which made it jump back, but another quickly took its place. The battle staves disassembled and shifted forward to turn into her large daggers and she stabbed the alien in the head. She quickly got up and fought off another. They just kept coming! As she sliced them, she continued to control the surrounding vibranium and let them soar through their bodies. Some she turned into liquid and had them cover their head, so that she could crush their skulls. The aliens to army ratio was certainly uneven, but everyone continued to battle. Some of the Wakandan's had fallen, and Ava raced over using her speed to take down the aliens, managing to save a good number, but some remained down. Across the way, she saw a purple surge of energy and aliens fly back. It came from T'Challa's suit. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have Shuri take a look at the Stark suit. He wasn't here to be mad about it. War Machine fired his heavy artillery at the boundary, but then he was suddenly knocked out of the sky. The image took her back to the airport, but this time, she managed to catch him before he crashed. She was fast enough, strong enough, this time.
But in that moment of saving Rhodey, the aliens pounced on her. She accidentally gave them enough time to take her down. Their claws cut into her skin, scratching her face. They clawed at her suit, but thankfully they couldn't break through the strong metal. She wildly fired her repulsors, trying to get as many off as she could, but it was starting to get hard to see daylight. She threw her vibranium daggers from the ground, but now they completely crowded her. Her suit shifted with just a thought to cover the exposed part of her face and also her fingers so that they couldn't hurt her further.
"There's too many of them!" Bruce exclaimed. He was probably being overpowered as well. Ava screamed now, and was forming a force shield that cut off some limbs, and was about to try to push it back with all of her might like an energy pulse, but suddenly they all came off of her as a flash of lightning danced in her vision.
She got up and saw that one survived the lightning attack and turned the tip of her heel into a sharpened point and roundhouse kicked the alien. When the sharp point made contact, she pulled it down towards the ground with her foot, crushing it's skull. She looked up and saw the great beam of light and a large ax fly towards it. The beam disappeared and in its place were three beings. One of them she recognized to be Thor, but with a new hairdo. His ax sparked with electricity, and he started to charge towards the beasts and at Thanos's henchmen. His whole body was now charged with electricity, and as he leapt up into the air, the skies turned dark the largest blast of lightning struck down on Thanos's army when Thor brought down his ax. It took down any of the creatures within a twenty feet radius. The rest of the Avengers and Wakandan army ran forward, rejoining the fight.
Ava used her speed and ran through the armies, using her daggers to slice through as many as possible. At the moments she would pause, she would use mini force fields to push them back into each other and send a lone arrow that the suit made through multiple targets. War Machine made it up in air again and continued his air assault. Black used her batons and remained in her place as the aliens came to her. She took them down as best she could, but Ava could tell she was struggling. She ran up beside her and stabbed an alien in its chest, driving it to the ground. She pulled her dagger back up and slayed another. One alien got too close to Widow and she used her bite on it, electrocuting it to the highest charge.
Not far from her, she noticed Bucky and…a raccoon, one of the three that came with Thor, yelling and firing his weapon. She quickly turned and saw Captain fighting with Thor, and what looked like a wood-person. And it's arm stretched out to stab three aliens.
Then, the ground started shaking, the trees started moving upwards. Ava could sense it. There were large objects rolling underneath the ground and it was trying to get past the rest of the barrier.
"INCOMING!" Ava shouted, using her repulsors to take down the aliens that surrounded her and Widow before soaring up into the air to get a better view. It neared the boundary and the ground started lifting up. It got underneath the force field, making it waver, but it still held. Then it came up for air. Large circular contraptions that were covered in sharpened wheels.
"FALL BACK!" Black Panther ordered. There were ten in total, and Ava tried to hold back all of them. It was like with the ship, the force pushed her back as the five wheels of death pushed forward.
"Damn it." She grunted. She let go some control, and managed to control one of them. She kept it back, and it started digging into the ground, trying to push itself forward.
Suddenly, the clouds drew together and darkened, much like how Thor had done. Except when Ava looked over at Thor, it was obvious it wasn't from him. It started to rain as well, but the inside of the dome was unaffected. Outside, a large blast of lightning struck down, blowing up one of the large ships. And then the wheel that Ava was control started lifting into the air and coming apart. She looked over and up in the air at the entrance of the barrier, was a familiar green-haired woman.
"Took them long enough." Ava smiled, and helped Polaris take about the wheel. Together they sent the parts down to the army and also to another one of the wheels. The parts lodged somewhere it shouldn't have and it exploded. "Guys, fire at the sides!" Ava ordered. She saw War Machine and Falcon take one down themselves, taking her advice. Off in the distance, Storm was taking down all of their ships using her lightning.
On the other side of the field, Ava saw five of the wheels lift up in the air with red energy before it came down on the alien army. Scarlet Witch joined the fight. Polaris flew next to Ava, whistling at the sight of that.
"Thanks for coming." Ava said, breathless.
"I like the suit." She complimented. Ava had to say, she liked Polari's get up as well. It was the same standard X-Men suit that they all wore, but in dark green and she could sense that the boots, chest, and arms were lined with metal. And she wore a dark green headdress that was vaguely shaped like an "M."
"Yours is not too bad." Polaris grinned at the compliment and then they went back to their fighting.
"Guys, we got a Vision situation, here." Sam announced.
"Somebody get to Vision!" Cap ordered.
"I got him!" Bruce said, and Ava could see his suit fly over towards the forests.
"On my way!" Wanda said.
Ava continued to fight alongside Polaris, both of them using the vibranium around them to continue to take down the army. As one alien was going to jump on Ava, claws came through its chest and it fell to the ground. Standing in front of her was Wolverine, his adamantium claws glistening. He growled and continued to fight the aliens, with ease and Ava was almost in awe of how animalistic he became. Then, some of the aliens started retreating. In the distance, the remaining ships started to fly up, trying to make an escape. She saw Thor join Storm in taking down the remaining ships. Were they actually winning?
"Everyone on my position. We have incoming." Cap ordered.
Wolverine seemed to have heard, because he gruffly said, "Go! We got it handled." Polaris reassured her with a nod. Ava nodded back and her viewfinder in the helmet directed her where to go.
She sped over to Cap where he stood over an injured Vision and concerned Wanda. The Mind Stone was still in his head. War Machine flew in with Okoye and Black Panther in tow, letting them gently fall down. Falcon brought down Black Widow and Winter Soldier. Bruce thundered in, shaking the ground and joined the group that circled around. The was charged, Ava could feel it. Hell, she could see the heavy amounts of energy. And then, a dark blue cloud appeared out of nowhere in front of them. A large, purple, man with a golden gauntlet emerged. There were five stones on them, each on the knuckle. She noticed the green one on his thumb. The Time Stone. An empty space was on the center, where the Mind Stone was meant to be it. Peter and Tony failed. This was it. This was the moment.
"Stay sharp." Cap instructed, and he brought up his knew shield and ran towards the titan. Towards Thanos.
Wanda drew up her red energy, and stood in front of Vision. Everyone knew what she had to do, but no one told her. They still wanted to avoid that outcome. Bruce got to Thanos first, but Thanos drew power from the Tesseract stone and Bruce through him and sent Bruce into the rocks where he remained stuck. He knocked Cap off with this swirling purple energy that looked similar to Wanda's. Black Panther tried to get at him, but failed. Falcon failed. War Machine failed. Winter Soldier failed. Black Widow failed. Ava drew down her helmet for a moment to look at Vision. She nodded his head at him. It was time. He understood and faced Wanda. Ava drew her helmet back up, become Mercury. Right now, she was going to die. She couldn't help the tears that came because she was mourning Peter. He didn't come back with the Time Stone. Thanos did instead.
Ava sent out a force field, the strongest enough ever, and Thanos blocked it with that same purple stone. He seemed to have absorbed the power because he sent it right back at Ava. She was too fast though, and sped around it and got close enough to fly up and land a punch. The gauntlet was made of metal, but again, she couldn't control it like she couldn't control Vision. She had to think of another way. Just keep running, she thought. She was getting tired now, but she knew she had to keep running. Ava tried to just grab at the gauntlet, and used the repulsors in her feet to push her backwards. The tree creature covered him tightly, helping Ava. But he was stronger than the two of them. He broke out of the restraints, and Ava flew around, but she held onto the gauntlet tightly. He tightened his fist and the purple stone glowed. It sent out an energy so powerful that it damaged a part of her suit, although it quickly repaired itself. Ava was sent flying against the rock that Bruce was stuck to and the impact hit her so hard that she couldn't get back up. She blacked out for a moment, and that moment, she saw Steve get punched and knocked down to the ground. Captain America failed. Mercury failed. It was hard staying awake. Suddenly, a bright burst of energy emanated from where Vision and Wanda stood, and it knocked Ava back against the rock again. All that Ava understood right before she lost consciousness was that they won.
Suddenly, Bruce wasn't stuck in the rock anymore. He got out and was shaking Ava awake. A hard slap to the face did it. Her head was pounding, but she stayed awake. Then she remembered everything that was happening. They won. But Bruce's face didn't seem happy.
"He used them." Bruce said sadly. What? But how? Vision died. Wanda destroyed the stone. Ava got up and hastily sped over to where Vision was. Wanda was crying over his lifeless body. It was a harrowing sight, because all the color had run out of him, he was only gray. And where the Mind Stone once rested, was a gaping hole.
"No." Ava's helmet came down as she fell to her knees, on other side of Vision. She held Wanda's hand as way of comfort. They made eye contact, and Ava saw the anguish. She shared that anguish. No, she didn't have to kill Peter like Wanda had to kill Vision. But she knew he was gone. Then, the strangest thing happened. It felt like Ava's hand went through Wanda's. When she looked down, she saw that Ava's hand was covered in ashes.
Horrified, she looked back up and watched her friend turn to ash.
Behind Ava, Steve crouched down next to her. Her brain couldn't process what she just saw. Wanda disappeared. No. She was here, she was right there across from Vision's body, but a pile of ash instead.
"What is this? What's happening?" Rhodey said from behind. Ava sobbed now, falling on top of Vision's body. It was the only physical thing. She had Wanda. But Wanda was gone.
"Oh, God." Steve breathed. They lost.
AN: 15 PAGES! I'm sorry again. But this part of the story could NOT be broken up. So Ava survived the Snap! I'm sure that's no surprise there. Next we're doing Endgame AND SPOILER ALERT we're gonna see what the 5 years are like. I won't jump to 2023 right away, we're gonna have some chapters on the aftereffects of the…Snappening, lol. Okay, so I will include here an epilogue of sorts and I wanted to include this after the AN so that if someone STILL hasn't seen Endgame, they can enjoy the Infinity War arc without getting anything from the Endgame arc (even though it's just including the Captain Marvel end credit scene, to set up the next chapter).
Also sorry for any grammar mistakes there might be.
They were back at the Compound now. Wanda. Bucky. Sam. Polaris. Storm. T'Challa. Shuri. That tree thing. And countless others. Half the universe, actually. Just gone. Ava's face was banged up from fighting the aliens, a deep cut from when she was ambushed went across her cheek. It would most definitely scar. A reminder that they lost. They lost.
Queen Ramonda, Okoye, and M'Baku survived. The Queen had been sobbing, a mess on the floor. M'Baku and Okoye kept their faces scrunched tight as they walked around, giving orders. Trying to keep everything in order. Trying to get a number on those lost. Wolverine survived and stayed for a short while before leaving. He had to get back to the school. No one was answering. They remaining Avengers knew there was nothing to be done here, so they got on the Quinjet and headed back home. They needed to do an assessment of their own. Natasha left at some point, Ava didn't pay attention as to why. Steve embraced Ava, who was still sobbing. She was only in her black suit now, the Stark suit back in her bracelets. The fighting was over. Peter was gone. The only question was whether Thanos killed him during battle or if he dusted as well. She hoped it was the former. If he was struck down with a single blow, it would be lights out. But if he was a part of the other half…she didn't want to think about it.
Natasha came back, and presented to Steve a pager that had a strange blue, red, and gold symbol on it. "Fury's gone. But I found this near his car." Ava moved aside so that Steve could get up. There it was. Steve had hope. But Ava lost all of that. That pager couldn't reverse what just happened. Rocket had managed to boost the signal, all the while grumbling about Terra's antiquated technology. (Ava learned that the raccoon's name was Rocket. He came with them because he had nowhere else to go. His friend died, and most likely his other ones that he said had been trying to defend the Reality Stone.)
It was the next day and everyone besides Ava and Thor crowded around the pager. Thor remained in the living room area off to the side, a beer in his hand. Thor hadn't spoken a word this whole time, but Ava could care less. She was mad at him. He missed. No, he didn't miss. He intentionally stroke Thanos in the chest. He wanted to draw out pain. He wasted time, and Thanos used that time. Ava sat in the conference room, watching her team over the stupid pager.
Suddenly, a woman walked into the lab, silently, but Ava saw her.
"Nat!" Ava barked, and the woman turned around to the see the invader.
"Where's Fury?" She demanded. At that, everyone relaxed because this had to be the person on the other side of Fury's pager.
Before Natasha could speak up, Ava did. "Dead." The woman's face scrunched up in anger and despair, before quickly composing herself. "And who are you?"
"Carol Danvers." She replied, which drew up a blank for everyone. "An old friend of Fury's. What happened?"
"Thanos happened." Ava replied, walking into the lab now to stand across from Carol Danvers. "He got the stones, and he snapped his fingers, and now everyone is gone."
Ava walked off, before she could get too angry. She wasn't angry at Carol, she wasn't even truly angry at Thor. She just directed her anger at anyone that was in her path now. They all let her walk off, knowing that she needed to take a breath.
The rest all spoke with Carol, in a more civilized manner than Ava did, and informed her of their missing friends. Carol said that she could go look for them, bring them back (if they survived). Rocket said to look for his crew's ship, the Benatar. If his crew survived, they would be flying around in that. Carol left by the end of the night, off into deep space. Ava watched her, and despite her anger, she couldn't help but be in awe by seeing what looked like a shooting star leave Earth. Steve told her she was going to get the others. And in that moment, she felt a twinge of hope. Maybe Peter was alive, she couldn't know for sure. And maybe this Carol Danvers would bring him back.