Steve continued to wheeze as Tony struggled to figure out what to do. He saw a glimpse of Natasha and Clint run with Scott back to the ship to get Rocket's big gun ready, but they were once again, in over their head.

"THAAAAANOOOOOOS!" Thor charged at him, Thanos using all six Infinity Stones to fight the power of Stormbreaker off. His feet dug into the soil as the Asgardian warrior would not give in. I will avenge them!

"Tony..." Steve managed. Tony put up a protective shield from his suit between them and Thanos. "I...love you..."

"Don't." Tony shook his head. "It's not over yet...we...we can do this..."

"Yes...you can..." He pulled Tony down for a weak kiss. "Give him hell."

Tony sent his helmet to Steve to keep oxygen flowing for him. "Keep him alive, FRIDAY."

"Yes, Boss."

Iron Man powered up another blast from the arc reactor, ignoring the burning sensation around his chest. Carol took advantage of Thanos' distraction and went for the gauntlet. With a quick punch, she bought herself a quick second to wrap herself around his throat, her foot pressing into his palm.

Don't let him close his fist.

"THOR!" Carol was not sure how long she could hold the Titan down, but he knew what to do. Rolling away from the power of the blast, he swung Stormbreaker and...

The Gauntlet landed with a thump to the ground.

Thanos cried out in pain, then like a raged animal, clawed his way to the golden prize.

"This universe cannot survive like before! I am the one who saved us all! You will-" He was shot back by the big gun, Rocket pumping his fist into the air, as Clint and Natasha and Scott went to get Steve onto the ship.

Carol seized the gauntlet and flew up out of the line of fire. Disgusted, she pulled the dismembered arm out of the case and threw it away.

Tony walked slowly up to the Mad Titan, trying his best to keep calm as he wanted to make this as slow and painful as possible. But there was no messing around with this guy. He could not take any chances.

Thanos laughed. "I am...inevitable..."

Tony formed a scythe-like blade out of plasma from his suit. He never lost eye contact. "And I am Iron Man." With a swipe, the Mad Titan was terminated.

Tony thought he would be at least a little satisfied...but he felt so sick to his stomach upset, for the only thing he still worried about was healing Steve and bringing everyone back.

"Carol, wait! What are you doing?!" Thor shouted. "We've won! Let's go home, and figure this out together!"

The rest of the Avengers turned to see Carol staring at the Stones...

"I can do it! I can bring them back!"

"What!? No!" Thor jumped up to the shack Thanos was supposedly living in to see her eye to eye. "Please, just...let's all take a minute..."

"The Tessaract made me what I am..." She looked unknowingly at the Stones again. "I'm strong enough."

Thor was not sure if she was. But he did not want to say whether she was or not, as the only reason being, it could kill her.

"This isn't one stone, it's all of them. All of the power of the universe...please..."

Carol stared at him, fighting herself. It was stupid and rash, but at the same time, who else could do it? And she cannot put Thor through anymore, so he definitely would not be allowed to go near this thing.

"I'm sorry..." Thor jumped to grab her, but was too late as she slid her hand inside. Carol dropped to the ground, a wave of power throwing everyone back.

"Carol?"

She squeezed her eyes shut, the power immensely overwhelming. But it was so painful, moreso than when she had supposedly felt when the Tessaract made her all those years ago. She thought hard about Thor's family, Tony's son, Fury, every life that was cut off too short...

Carol looked up, her eyes ablaze, and Thor was crying, but praying for her safety. Everyone around her froze, not sure what to expect.

And then she snapped.

The flight home was anything but pleasant, despite their supposed victory. Rocket pushed the ship past her limits to get them all back home. Carol was not responding...Steve had trouble breathing...

They needed a miracle.

Bruce, still a little shaken, pulled himself together and got to work, barking orders to everyone to help him get these two stable.

Steve's condition worsened as time went on. Not many realized that not only did he have asthma, but the man before the serum had suffered from scarlet fever, ulcers, rheumatic fever, scoliosis...and he was anemic.

Everyone was shocked...how did he survive back then?

Tony drove himself into the ground, trying to figure out what to do. All he could do was hope and-

A familiar buzz of static took everyone's attention. They turned to see a ring of light form in the doorway of the medic wing of the Tower.

And in walks Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and-

"DAD!"

Tony could have sworn he was dreaming...it worked?! He never put two and two together after Carol snapped, but...IT WORKED?!

"Peter?" His knees gave out on him as he could barely open up his arms to embrace his son..."I thought I lost you..."

"Dad! You did it? You won!"

"I...think so...Peter...you're...is this real?"

"Yes, Dad! Doctor Strange explained everything, but I thought I just passed out after some trippy bad dream, but then as soon as we woke up, he was like, 'Come on, it's been about six months, and they really need us right now!' And I was like, 'Who?' And he's like..." Peter suddenly looked around, noticing where they were. "Where's Pops? Are y'all? Um..."

"We're fine, son." Tony could barely keep it together. "That is ancient history. I swear I will never put you through anything like that again."

"We're still a family?"

Tony hesitated, then squeaked a reply. "Yeah..."

"Well, what happened...where is he?"

Tony led Peter to a window, where Steve was on life support. "Do you remember how he wasn't always like this?"

"Yeah, it's my favorite story..."Peter took a good look at him, and realized. "No...nonononono..."

"Hey hey hey...look at me. It's ok. We're going to figure this out.

"Yes, we will." Tony turned to see Strange had put on some scrubs, carefully looking at the gauntlet.

"What are you doing?"

"Righting a wrong." Stephen sighed. "Tony, I'm sorry about all of this. I wanted to tell you what I saw in the future, but if I did, none of it would have happened."

Tony nodded quickly. "That woman next door down gave her life to bring everyone back. And she is the most powerful one out of all of us, no offense, Doc."

"I don't need them all...I just need the Time Stone."

They all prayed it would be enough...