Note at the end.
As always, please review :)
Izzy! Izzy!
Someone was shaking her, calling her name. Why did the voice seem so far away? Why did she hurt so bad?
Come on baby wake up!
Wait a minute…the Snap…the ship firing on them!
Izzy gasped as she came to, sitting up quickly. Feeling hands on her shoulders, she looked up in shock to see Tony kneeling next to her. "Dad?" She gasped out, forcing air into her lungs and coughing on the smoke.
"Come on, we gotta move." Tony said.
He held out a hand and pulled her. She took note of the shield in her hands, quickly looking around to scan for the owner.
"There." She said indicating Steve laying a short distance away. She followed Tony over to the unconscious soldier carefully assessing her own injuries. She most likely had a bruised rib and a concussion as well as smoke inhalation problems, but overall not too bad.
"Come on, buddy. Wake up." Tony said nudging Steve with his foot, startling him awake. "That's my man." Tony knelt down next to him, holding up the shield. "You lose this again, I'm keeping it."
"What happened?" Steve asked looking at Tony, and then Izzy who was standing guard.
"We messed with time." Tony said grimly. "It tends to mess back. You'll see."
The three walked out of the wreckage, finding Thor standing on an edge looking down to the center of the crater created by the attack. Sitting right in the middle was Thanos in his full armor.
"What's he been doing?" Tony asked
"Absolutely nothing." Thor replied.
Steve looked at Tony. "Where are the stones?" He asked.
"Lost somewhere under all this." Tony replied. "All I know is he doesn't have them."
"So, we keep it that way." Steve said.
Thor continued to stare at the Titan down below them. "You know it's a trap, right?" He said.
"Yeah…" Steve said. "I don't much care."
"Good." Thor replied, lightning crackling around him lighting up his eyes. "Just as long as we're all in agreement." The lightning that he called down from the sky snapped in the air and Thor's armor appeared along with Stormbreaker and Mjolnir, which he had brought back from the past. "Let's kill him properly this time."
As the four moved down, approaching carefully, Thanos finally looked up.
The Mad Titan smirked as they approached. "You could not live with your own failure." He said and Izzy felt the chill go down her spine again at the voice that she had not heard in five years. "Where did that bring you? Back to me." He straightened up a little, still seated. "I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive. But you've shown me, that's impossible. And as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."
"Yep." Tony said clearly on edge. "We're all kinds of stubborn."
As he spoke, they spread out, slowly surrounding him.
"I'm thankful." Thanos replied. "Because now, I know what I must do." He stood to his full height, putting on his helmet. "I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then…With the stones you've collected for me, create a new one. Teeming with life but knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given. A grateful universe." He pulled his twin bladed weapon from the ground.
"Born out of blood." Steve spat, disgusted.
"They'll never know it." Thanos said simply. "Because you won't be alive to tell them."
Thor gave a mighty battle cry and charged forward, Tony, Izzy, and Steve joining him. As one stepped back another took their place, trading out and closing in as they engaged in the fight.
Izzy and Steve took turns trading blows with him, keeping him busy for a second.
"Okay, Thor." Tony called. "Hit me."
The nanites opened up into a receptor, charging as Thor channeled a lightning blast and the energy was redirected into Thanos, who blocked it with his weapon. Thanos moved closer, finally breaking through the energy blast, grabbing Tony as Thor batted Mjolnir at Thanos but hitting Tony instead, knocking him several feet away.
"Boss, wake up." FRIDAY said.
Izzy blasted Thanos in the chest, flying up to land a kick to the head, making him stumble but not enough. He grabbed her as she sent a blast from her chest plate, but the energy combusted back sending her into a pile of rubble.
Thor engaged him, swinging Stormbreaker impressively, but Thanos got the upper hand, trying to drive the blade of the axe into Thor's chest.
Suddenly, Mjolnir connected with Thanos' head, knocking him to the side before flying back. Tracking the path it cut through the air Izzy's eyes widened to see the hammer land in Steve's hand.
"I knew it!" Thor said before Thanos kicked him, knocking him out briefly.
Steve ran forward using his shield and the hammer together. It seemed to be working until Thanos was able to knock the hammer away, bringing his weapon down on the shield. Izzy pushed herself up, flying forward as the shield cracked in half. She blasted Thanos as he knocked Steve back.
"In all my years of conquest…" Thanos said blocking a repulsor blast and connecting a fist against her, knocking her down. "Violence…" He brought his foot down on her. "Slaughter…It was never personal." He picked her up, her suit fighting hard to avoid having him crush her. "But I'll tell you now…what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet…" He brought his weapon against her, hard, sending her flying to land close to Steve. "I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much."
Steve stood up as they watched an army of aliens appear beyond Thanos, thousands of creatures ready to rip them to shreds the minute Thanos gave the order.
"Cap, you hear me?" Izzy froze as the voice entered her comms. She looked up at Steve who put a hand to his ear, listening. "Cap, it's Sam. Can you hear me? On your left."
Steve turned to his left as an orange rimmed portal appeared, similar to what Strange was able to do. Izzy stood up slowly, her helmet retracting back as she saw T'Challa, Shuri, and Okoye walked out taking in the scene before them.
Suddenly Sam flew out of the portal as more started appearing. Izzy stared in shock with the others as Dr. Strange, the remaining Guardians, and Peter appeared. Tracking past them she saw the Twins, Bucky, Wakandan soldiers, sorcerers, Sue, Reed, Ben, and so many others. Her eyes landed on Pepper in her Rescue armor as she landed.
Breaking out of the collapsed building, Ant-Man, in his giant form hand Rhodey, Rocket, and Bruce. Johnny flew through the sky landing at her side, fire burning brightly.
"Is that everyone?" Strange asked looking at Wong.
"What, you wanted more?" Wong asked in disbelief.
Izzy looked at Tony as he stood at her side as they all face the hoard. "Call it Cap." She said looking at Steve.
"Avengers…" Steve called as Mjolnir flew back into his hand. "Assemble."
Thor gave a battle cry which others took up as they all went forward to meet the coming army. Izzy blasted aliens, covering who she could while trying to stay alive. She saw Tony and Pepper fighting side by side, Thor and Steve were trading weapons as they fought back to back.
"No, no. Give me that." Thor said after a moment, referring to Stormbreaker. "You have the little one."
"Zee, heads up!" Izzy dodged an alien as Johnny came in blasting it away with a fireball.
Izzy felt a bit of relief coarse through her at seeing him okay before they went back to work. "Time to heat things up." She called.
One of the things that she had discovered over the years since Johnny got his power was that he could go super nova and he could cause a hell of a lot of damage burning hotter than the sun.
Johnny took off, blasting through large amounts of aliens, leaving a burning hot flame in his wake, nearly creating glass in the earth as he burned through enemies.
Izzy landed next to Tony the two blasting enemies side by side until the big bruiser they fought in New York came in and smacked Tony with his hammer/scythe weapon knocking him into Izzy. Before either could fire, the alien was yanked backwards by something before being stepped on by Scott.
"Hey!" They both looked up in shock at the voice. Peter ran over to them. "Holy cow. You will not believe what's been going on. Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? I must've passed out, 'cause I woke up, and you were gone. But Doctor Strange was there, right?" Izzy felt tears spring to her eyes and could see them in Tony's eyes as well as Peter prattled on. "He was like, "It's been five years. Come on, they need us!" And then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time…What are you doing?" Tony stepped forward and wrapped the kid in a hug. After his initial shock, Peter returned the hug. "This is nice."
Izzy desperately wanted to hug Peter too, just to make sure he was really there, but they had another pressing problem. Clint had reappeared and he had the stones.
"Cap, what do you want me to do with this damn thing?" Clint asked as Izzy flew in to cover him.
Knocking an alien away with the broken shield, Steve turned. "Get those stones as far away as possible!" He called.
"No!" Bruce called. "We need to get them back where they came from."
"No way to get them back." Tony said. "Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel."
"Hold on!" Scott said suddenly as he shrunk back to a normal size. "That wasn't our only time machine."
Despite the roar of noise from the battlefield, Izzy could clearly pick out the obnoxious horn from Scott's van.
Steve got to a higher vantage point. "Anyone see an ugly brown van up there?" He called to the fliers.
"Yes!" Valkyrie called back. "But you're not gonna like where it's parked."
Izzy blasted up into the air to see where she was looking and spotted the van amongst a swarm. Oh man.
"Scott, how long you need to get that thing working?" Tony asked.
"Maybe ten minutes." Scott replied.
"Get it started." Steve said. "We'll get the stones to you."
"We're on it, Cap." Scott and Hope replied together.
Izzy dropped back for a second, ready to fly over Clint when it was time to move. Dr. Strange had made his way closer to them.
"Hey." Tony called. "You said one out of 14 million, we win, yeah? Tell me this is it."
The look on Strange's face wasn't one that she had seen before.
"If I tell you what happens, it won't happen." Strange said.
"You better be right." Tony said.
Izzy winced slightly as a flash of white lit behind her eyes. She shook it off quickly but saw Strange was looking at her, he had noticed. She didn't have time to contemplate it, they had to move.
It didn't take long for Thanos and his army to notice that Clint had the football. Izzy was brought down and the aliens started to converge on Clint before T'Challa jumped in.
"Clint!" T'Challa called. "Give it to me."
The baton was passed but Thanos tried to intercept him. However, Wanda appeared between the two, her Magic crackling around her angrily.
"You took everything from me." She said.
"I don't even know who you are." Thanos said.
In an eerily calm voice, she replied. "You will."
While Wanda engaged the Titan showing the full range of her power, T'Challa tried to continue with the gauntlet but the skinny, grey alien from New York turned its magic on him.
"I got it!" Peter called swinging in. He landed and looked at the aliens heading towards him. "Activate Instant Kill!"
Izzy looked at Wanda, she had Thanos up in the air, trying to tear him apart.
"Rain fire!" Thanos called.
"But Sire, our troops!" One of his commanders protested.
"Just do it!" Thanos snarled back.
Izzy looked up to see the cannons on the ship aiming down. "Incoming!" She cried out.
The sorcerers and Sue all turned their abilities upwards to create a shield over their allies. Izzy had a moment of pride seeing how Sue's abilities had strengthened, seeing the power of her shield.
"Help! Somebody, help!"
Izzy quickly looked for Peter and saw him getting swarmed.
"Hey, Queens." Steve called. "Heads up." He threw Mjolnir and Peter shot out a web to catch it, the force yanking him out of the pile.
As an incoming blast cut the web, Peter started to fall before Pepper caught him. "Hang on. I got you, kid." She said.
Pepper tossed him up and he landed on the back of the Pegasus that Valkyrie was riding.
"Hey! Nice to meet—Oh! My God!" Peter said as they dropped and got knocked aside by another shot from the ship.
Seeing Peter hit the ground, Izzy dove down bringing up the shield from her suit to provide some cover. Just when the shots were getting too close, everything stopped, and the cannons redirected towards the sky.
"What the hell is this?" Quill asked.
"Friday, what are they firing at?" Tony asked.
The AI seemed just as surprised. "Something just entered the upper atmosphere."
Izzy focused in on the incoming ball of energy and let out a whoop of excitement. Captain Marvel had joined the party.
"Danvers, we need an assist here." Steve called.
Carol landed in front of Izzy and Peter. Izzy slowly climbed to her feet starting to feel every hit.
"Hi." Peter said, clutching the gauntlet tightly. "I'm Peter Parker."
"Hey, Peter Parker." Carol said smiling, amused. "Got something for me?"
Peter handed over the gauntlet, looking forward. "I don't know how you're gonna get through all that." He said.
"Don't worry." Wanda said as she landed next to them.
"She's got help." Okoye said.
Izzy looked around and grinned as she saw Pepper, Hope, Valkyrie, Mantis, Shuri, Gamora, Nebula, and Sue were all there as well.
They moved forward to clear a path for Carol as she raced towards the van. Wanda and Valkyrie cleared out two Leviathans in their way. As Thanos tried to intercept, Izzy, Pepper, Shuri, and Wanda all fired as one and knocked Thanos back. They were so close, but Izzy watched in horror as time seemed to slow down as Thanos hurled his weapon towards the van, colliding with it right before Carol could get there. The explosion blew Carol backwards, knocking the gauntlet from her arms.
Tony and Izzy both went for it. Tony tackled Thanos away from the gauntlet as Izzy grabbed a hole of it. Thanos threw Tony aside and grabbed the gauntlet. Izzy blasted him in the face, but he punched her hard, knocking her away. Thor engages him next, Steve joining but they were thrown aside as well.
Thanos almost got the gauntlet on before Carol came down on his leg and tried to wrestle it away from him. He got her off and managed to get the gauntlet on, but Carol grabbed his hand before he could snap his fingers. Seeing that he couldn't overpower her, Thanos pulled the Power Stone from the gauntlet, balling his fist and connecting with Carol, knocking her away.
Before Thanos could snap his fingers, Tony grabbed a hold of the gauntlet before Thanos knocked him back again.
"I am…inevitable." Thanos raised his hand and snapped his fingers but nothing happened.
As he turned the gauntlet over, the stones were missing.
Izzy looked to Tony and her gut wrenched at the sight of the nanites moving the stones into place on Tony's hand. "Dad…" She said softly.
Tony was struggling to speak with the energy coursing through his body. "And I…am…"
"Dad no…" Izzy gasped.
Tony looked up. "…Iron Man."
"NO!" Izzy screamed as he snapped his fingers.
It took half a second before the attacking army began to fade to dust as everyone else had done five years ago. Thanos sat down as he faded to dust.
Izzy saw none of this as she reached Tony's side, Rhodey helping her to sit him up against a pile of debris. "Dad, dad." She said panic gripping her chest. "Dad, look at me."
He did. "Izzy." He said softly.
The fading light in his eyes made her want to scream. "FRIDAY?"
"Life functions critical." The AI replied.
"Dad…" She whispered, tears blurring her vision. "Please…don't leave me…"
Peter ran up, eyes wide. "Mr. Stark?" He knelt down next to her. "Hey…Mr. Stark? Can you hear me? It's Peter. We won." With each sentence his voice became more panicked, broken. "Mr. Stark…We won, Mr. Stark. We won and you did it, sir. You did it." Izzy felt tears streaming down her face, unable to comfort the kid as she continued to stare at her father. "I'm sorry…Tony…"
Gentle hand pulled Peter away, Pepper kneeling down as Rhodey put an arm around the kid.
"Hey." Pepper said softly, getting Tony to look at her.
"Hey, Pep…" Tony said quietly.
Pepper looked at Izzy who could only shake her head in response. Pepper turned back to Tony and smiled softly. "Tony. Look at me." She said kissing his temple. "We're gonna be okay. You can rest now."
Izzy pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I love you 3.000." She whispered before bowing her head, her tears dripping down onto his armor as the light from the reactor in his chest faded completely.
…
Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn't always roll that way. Maybe this time. I'm hoping if you play this back, it's in celebration. I hope families are reunited, I hope we get it back, and something like a normal version of the planet has been restored. If there ever was such a thing. God, what a world. Universe, now. If you told me ten years ago that we weren't alone, let alone, you know, to this extent, I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised. But come on, you know? That epic forces of darkness and light that have come into play. And, for better or worse, that's the reality Morgan's gonna have to find a way to grow up in. So, I found the time and I recorded a little greeting…In the case of an untimely death. On my part. Not that, death in any time isn't untimely. This time travel thing that we're gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it's, it's got me scratching my head about this. But then again, that's the hero gig. Part of the journey is the end. Everything's gonna work out exactly the way it's supposed to. I love you 3,000.
I straight up balled writing this you guys. This sucked, I am so sad.
Okay, really quick, there is going to be one more chapter. I am ending this on an even 100 chapters (holy cow!) so it might be a long chapter because I am going to touch on a lot of things. I will also address where, if anywhere, this story is going to go post Endgame. I will tell you that the likelihood that the chapter will be up before Monday is small (I know I'm sorry but I gotta work the next two days) but I hope you guys like this.
I'm going to go cry in my corner now.