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Chapter 82: Snap Back.
Enid appeared in an ally standing between Scott and Stark in time to see the large Chitauri ship fall from the sky, along with all others around them; the three had to duck as one fell into one of the buildings they were standing by; they had appeared in time for the end of the battle, barely anyone was on the streets so it should be easy for them to get to where they needed without being stopped.
"Does everyone remember what they have to do?" Stark asked, "Lang and I will go to my tower, get the scepter and tesseract, and get out; Enid, you go to Strange's place and get the time stone from that ancient person, then meet us; back here."
"Good luck," Enid told them before heading down the road; she had to either climb over or step around debris from the battle; buildings were destroyed, and cars smashed up; she could hear sirens and alarms, the noise coming from other directions, she didn't remember there being so much distraction before, somewhere in the distance a baby was crying. A couple of screams and yells, people panicking, scared and confused from the aftermath, Enid couldn't blame them; it had to be scary; it was still sometimes hard for Enid to believe her sister and Loki had caused all this chaos. Saphira is why Enid decided she wanted to go for the time stone; she had no wish to see her sister's past self, and Enid doubted she could resist not grabbing her and bringing her into Enid's timeline. Still, it wouldn't be the same; this wasn't the sister she lost, the one she's grown closer to, the one who gave birth to Fenrir, Enid wouldn't know anything past this time, and the worse is Saphira wouldn't be happy because she wouldn't have wanted to leave Loki from her year behind. God knows what Loki would do when he showed up at the prison for her, only to find Saphira gone; they wouldn't be a Midgard left when he couldn't find her. Then there is the fact this Saphira has the aether in her, and Thor and Fenrir would be bringing the one from a little further in this future, and Enid had no idea what two aethers in the same timeline would do, so best not chance it.
As Enid got closer to Bleecker St, she started thinking about the letter Saphira had left her; she had left them all one, though they didn't get them to over a year later when Loki had returned; the letter had made Enid cry, Saphira had begged her not to miss her too much, that it'll all be okay in the end, then Saphira apologized for every bad thing she had done, and making Enid have to clean up her messes, and thanked her for always being there and for never giving up on her, and how much it meant to her and how much Enid meant to her, told Enid to take care of everyone, and ended the letter with I'll see you again someday. Thor allowed Enid to read his letter. It was a bit shorter and had asked Thor to look out for Loki, Enid, and Fenrir and not let them grieve too much, and thanked him for never hating her even though she had always been a bitch to him, and told him she would see him again someday; Enid didn't know what was in Loki's letter or if Saphira had written Fenrir one; she had told everyone else the same thing, how much they meant to her, thanked them for caring about her, and ended with I'll see you again someday; Enid assumed she meant in Valhalla when they died, but now she wasn't so sure; the only thing she was certain was that Saphira knew she was going to die long before she did, she thought that before she was given Saphira's letter, Enid had tested some of Saphira's plants, and they were venomous, Saphira had somehow created a venom in them, that worked as a power dampener, so when the plants stuck their thrones in Loki and Thor that day when Thaons had attacked their ship, the poison went in them, and it worked the same as if they had one of those power dampening collars on; Enid didn't understand why Saphira let it happen but Enid had an idea on who let Saphira know of her future doomed.
Enid shook the depressing thoughts out of her mind; she had something important to do, so she picked up her pace, and about ten minutes later, Enid made it to Bleecker St; she walked up to the door and knocked; both doors opened up, and Enid stepped into the house.
"May I help you?" A voice asked; Enid turned around to see a bald woman in yellow robes.
"Are you The Ancient One?" Enid asked.
"I am." The Ancient One asked, "If you are here to ask why I did not help with the invasion, I was here, on the roof, protecting the Sanctum Santorum, which is my job."
"That's not why I am here," Enid replied, her eyes dropping to the Eye of Agamotto around the Ancient one's neck, and she followed Enid's line of sight.
"Ahh! I'm afraid not." The Ancient One replied.
"Sorry, but I wasn't asking," Enid replied, walking towards her.
"You don't want to do this. " The Ancient One warned.
"I don't." Enid replied, "But I have no choice." The Ancient One threw out her hand, hitting Enid in the chest; she suddenly froze, then felt as if she was leaving her body, which was what happened; Enid's eyes widened as she floated in the air, and her body crumbled to the ground.
"Let's start over, shall we?" The Ancient One asked.
"You knocked out my astral form," Enid said as her feet touched the ground; she was looking at her hands, and for some reason, Enid's astral form was glowing with a fiery orange-red light.
"I did." The Ancient One replied, turning and walking down the hall. "Though I don't think I've ever seen one look like yours. So, what do you need with the time stone?"
Enid floated after The Ancient One looking almost like a ghost, and started explaining what would happen in the future. Everything from Thanos using the stones to them traveling back in time to get the infinity stones and taking back to their time to snap everyone back.
"I feel for you, " The Ancient One said, turning back to her. "but I'm sorry; I can't help you; if I give up the time stone to help your reality, I'm dooming my own.
"How?" Enid demanded.
"The Infinity stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one stone, and that flow splits." The Ancient One replied. "Now, this may benefit your reality, but my new one, not so much. In this new branched reality, without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness, our world will be overrun. Millions will suffer. So, tell me, goddess, can you prevent that if I give you the stone?"
"No, but we can erase it. Because once we are finished with the stones, we can return each one to its timeline from where they got taken. So, chronologically, in that reality, they never left. " Enid offered.
"You are leaving out the most crucial part. To return the stones, you have to survive. " The Ancient One replied.
"That bastard cost everyone someone, they loved." Enid said, "To survive and undo what to him was his greatest achievement is the perfect form of revenge."
"I can't risk this reality on your need for revenge.".The Ancient One said, "The Sorcerer Supreme must protect the time stone."
"Look, I know how crucial the infinity stones are." Enid replied, "They controlled my sister's life for the last few years."
"Could you explain what you mean by that?" The Ancient One asked.
"Not long from this time, a little over a year, The Pheonix Force visits my sister, Saphira, and makes her to the Proctor of the Infinity Stones, and they almost took up her whole life," Enid replied.
"Follow me." The Ancient One demanded, walking further down the hall; Enid followed, and she stopped īn front of a room, opened the door, and walked in; Enid followed behind her; the room was a library full of old books.
"Have you ever heard of the Multiverse? " The Ancient One asked.
"A little, not sure if I believe it exists," Enid replied.
"It does." The Ancient One replied, "these universes are a lot like ours, with some differences; most people have variants, which is another version of themselves from one of the other universes." She found the book she was looking for and pulled it out, "The reason I bring this up is that you are the Nexus Being of this universe."
"What's a Nexus Being?" Enid asked.
"Nexus Beings are rare individual entities with the ability to affect the probability and thus the future, thereby altering the flow of the universal time stream." The Ancient One answered. "You and your sister are unique; you both are very powerful in your own right, and The Phoenix Force seems to have set her eyes on both of you."
"What does that have to do with me needing the time stone?" Enid asked.
"You said The Pheonix Force made Saphira the Protector Of The Infinity Stones." The Ancient One said.
"That's right." Enid demanded, "You tell her around two years from now she is something called a creator too."
"Your sister being a creator isn't so surprising; the Pheonix loves to choose them to protect the stones." The Ancient One said, "You're also a powerful being, which means, I believe, the fact you two are sisters is even better; the Pheonix Force has plans for the both of you."
"Some plans, stupid Pheonix, allowed Thanos to murder her," Enid replied.
"It did what?" The Ancient One demanded.
"That's how he got three out of the six stones," Enid replied.
"Saphira is dead in your time?" The Ancient One demanded.
"Yes," Enid replied.
"Was she one that was dusted away?" The Ancient One demanded.
"No, it was before that," Enid replied, "Thanos killed her himself, and I am pretty sure Saphira knew it was going to happen a long time before it did; she left us all letters and arranged it where I wasn't there and stopped Thor and Loki from helping her."
"Really?" The Ancient One frowned in thought; after a long moment, a concerned look came over her. "I think I made a mistake." she made a movement with her other hand, and Enid's came floating into the room moments later and rejoined with Enid's astral form.
"What?" Enid demanded.
"The Pheonix Force is one of the oldest, most powerful beings in the universe." The Ancient Ond replied, "It always has a reason for doing things, whether we like them or understand them; if your sister knew ahead of time of her death, then The Pheonix most have told her, and she agreed to let it happen, both probably with their reasons."
"But what would those reasons be?" Enid demanded, "Saphira could be stubborn and a bit selfish; it's not like her not to fight, to allow herself to be killed, especially by Thanos; she has wanted to get revenge on him for years."
"Maybe that was her reason or a part of it." The Ancient One replied; she moved her hands over her necklace, the eye opened, and she took the time stone out; without touching it, then held her hand out with it floating above it. "I believe The Pheonix's reason was to save this universe. Now take it and go before it's too late."
"Thank you," Enid replied, taking the time stone; she gripped it in her hand before sticking it in her pocket, then turned around and ran out of the room, and down the hall, then out of the building; she was halfway back to the ally she was supposed to meet Scott and Tony in when she was suddenly stopped in her tracks when Thor of 2012 landed in front of her.
"I thought you went with Saphira?" Thor asked, "No matter, you can help look for Loki, but first." He smiled wider and stepped towards Enid; not knowing what to say or do, Enid just stood there while Thor put his arm around her back, pulled her to him, and leaned in, shaking herself out of her shock; Enid leaned back, confused about whether or not to let this Thor kiss her would count as cheating on her Thor.
"Wait!" Enid shouted, leaning further back; Thor pulled away with a frown.
"Is something wrong?" Thor asked, "What happened to your hair? it wasn't that short before."
Before Enid could think of something to say, an angry look came over Thor's face, and faster than Enid knew he could move rushed forward and grabbed Enid by the front of her time travel suit and slammed her against a building knocking the wind out of her.
"Thor." Enid tried, but Thor gripped her outfit tighter.
"Loki, I swear you better change your form now!" Thor demanded. "You will not disrespect Enid this way."
"I'm not Loki." Enid tried, but Thor wouldn't listen, Enid appreciated him being mad on her behalf, but she also knew she couldn't win a fight with Thor, "Thor, honey, I'm not Loki, I swear."
"Liar!" Thor cried, then tossed Enid to the other side, where she landed in a small puddle, "Change your form now."
Thor raised Mjolnir and came toward Enid; Thor was so angry and so focused on his belief Enid was Loki that he didn't even notice she had a Mjolnir hanging from her belt, and Enid gripped it to get ready to defend herself, even though she didn't want to have to hurt this Thor when Tony Stark's voice came over Thor's earpiece.
"Hey, Point Break, where are you?" Past Stark demanded.
"I'm trying to catch Loki," Thor answered. "Why?"
"Forget it; he's long gone, " Stark replied, "I just received a call from Enid; Loki appeared where Saphira was being held, killed Rumlow and the others, and broke Saphira out; both are most likely off word by now, head back to the tower she was can figure out what to do."
Enid smiled; none of that happened last time, but Stark and Scott most have used Loki somehow as a distraction, and he got away, and, of course, he'd go straight to Saphira; at least they'll be some version of Saphira and Loki out there somewhere that might get theirs happily ever after.
"Be there soon," Thor told him, then looked at Enid and narrowed his eyes. "You are not Enid, and you are not my brother; I demand to know who you are."
"I am Enid, but a different one; from another timeline, I came back to get something to undo something terrible that happened in the future." Enid tried to explain." Thor shook his head.
"That story is proof," Thor replied, "That you are not Enid, she thinks too logically to believe in such nonsense."
"Thor, please, I'm telling you the truth." Enid pleaded.
"No, you are not," Thor said; he stepped back and raised Mjolnir. "Enid would not smile at the news of Loki and Saphira's escape; he tossed the hammer, and Enid was able to jump out of the way; she grabbed the one from her side and threw it at Thor before he had a chance to call his back, it hit Thor on the head, and he crumbled to the ground, out cold. Enid ran over to make sure he wasn't hurt too bad, then grabbed Mjolnir and ran to where she was supposed to meet the other two. When she got there, Stark was sitting in a damaged car with its door open, his feet hanging out, the case with the scepter was at his feet, and Scott was pacing; they looked to be arguing.
"We had one shot. This was our shot. We shot it; it's shot! Six stones or nothing! Six stones or nothing." Scott said.
" You're repeating yourself; you know that? You're repeating yourself. " Stark said.
"You're repeating yourself! You're repeating yourself." Scott mocked childishly.
"What happened?" Enid demanded.
"The Hulk." Stak replied, "I was walking away, had the case in my hand, Hulk comes running out of the stairwell, hits me with the door, knocks me down, the case goes flying, pops open, tesseract slides across the floor right by Loki's foot, he picks it up, and disappears with it."
"So that's how he got away; I thought maybe you two did it on purpose as a distraction," Enid replied.
"How did you know Loki got away, and what happened to your suit?" Stark asked.
"2012 Thor thought I was Loki pretending to be me," Enid explained, "What are you going to do now? We need all the stones to bring everyone back?"
"I know; I haven't figured that out yet," Stark replied.
"Is there no other time you can think of to get it?" Enid asked.
"If there were, it would do no good," Scott said, "We only have one Pym particle left each; we wouldn't have a way back to our timeline."
"Yes, there is," Stark said, walking up to Scott. "What if I told you I knew a time we could go back, get Pym particles and the tesseract."
"I don't know," Scott replied, running his hand in his hair.
"Come on, I know I'm right; we can do this." Stark encouraged.
"Okay, we take this one last shot." Scott agreed, "We better not get stuck in the past."
"I'll take the scepter and time stone back to our time," Enid said, "Tell everyone what happened." Stark and Scott disappeared.
Enid picked up the case with Loki's scepter and made sure the time stone was still in her pocket, then headed back to her timeline; she appeared in Avengers Towers to see the only ones back so far were Thor and Fenrir; the former was sitting in a chair near the time machine, and Fenrir was in his lap, face in Thor's shoulder looking upset.
"Did he get hurt?" Enid demanded; she dropped the case with the scepter and rushed over to them; she knelt next to Fenrir and laid her hand on his back.
"He went so he could bring Saphira to this timeline," Thor explained, "She refused to come."
"Oh, Fen, sweetie, I'm so sorry," Enid replied; she ran her hand up and down Fenrir's back.
"I tried to call Loki to come to get him, but he's still had his cell phone off; I tried to call the home phone number Fenrir gave me, but he won't answer, so he's not home, and Gambit isn't answering his phone," Thor explained.
"They're probably out looking for Fenrir," Enid replied. "Though you would think he would realize he is here."
"Kurt answered his phone, said he'll try to get hold of Loki, and is now on his way to Midgard," Thor said.
"I do not mean to interrupt, but where are Tony and Scott?" Hank asked; Enid hadn't noticed he was standing there.
"They had a bit of trouble getting the tesseract." Enid replied, "To make a long story short, Stark had it; Hulk hit him with a door, dropped it, and 2012 Loki picked it up and got away. He and Scott had to go to another timeline; Stark said they could get more particles where he wanted to go."
"Loki got away?" Thor asked as Fenrir moved over to sit in the chair next to him.
"Yes, and apparently, he broke Saphira out too," Enid replied; Thor grinned, most likely thinking the same as Enid did; she stood then sat on the other side of Thor and put her head on his shoulder.
"I'm glad they got away," Thor replied; Enid nodded and slipped her hand in his; just as Sam appeared, he held a round silver orb in his hand, looking as if he'd just been in a battle, and Bucky was not with him.
"Where the hell is Bucky?" Enid demanded,
"We weren't the only ones on Morag," Sam said, "So was past Thanos and his so-called children; they somehow found out about us being there and that we had the orb with the power stone, they attacked, Bucky sacrificed himself so I can get this stone here."
"He's not."
"No, he was alive when I left," Sam said, "We need to snap everyone back and do it quick so I can get him; I'm not leaving Bucky stuck in the past for Thanos to do whatever the hell he wants to him.
"I'll come with you," Thor said, just as Stark and Scott arrived with the tesseract. Before anyone could say anything, Barton appeared, but Romanoff wasn't with him.
"Where's Romanoff?" Stark demanded.
"Barnes isn't here either," Scott said, looking around.
"Thanos most likely has Bucky now," Sam said, "We need to hurry with this snap thing so I can go get him."
"Good thing we brought extra Pym particles with us," Scott replied, "I'm going with you to get Bucky."
"Where's Romanoff?" Stark asked; they all looked toward Barton, who looked upset.
"She's gone," Barton replied, "Didn't make it."
"What do you mean didn't make it?" Stark demanded.
"She's dead." Barton snapped, "One of us had to die to get the stone."
"We'll use some particles to return before she dies and get her," Scott said.
"You can't," Barton replied.
"What do you mean we can't?" Thor demanded.
"We can't bring her back.." Barton snapped, and Thor stood and walked towards him.
"I'm sorry, no offense, but you're a very earthly being, okay, talking about space magic. It can seem very difficult." Thor said.
"Yeah, look, I know I'm way outside my pay rate here." Barton cut him off, "but she's still dead, isn't she? It can't be undone. Or, at least that's what the red floating guy had to say! Maybe you ought to talk to him! Okay, go grab Enid's hammer, and you fly and talk to him!"
"Don't yell at my uncle," Fenrir demanded. Barton glanced at him, then turned away.
"It was supposed to be me." He mumbled, "She sacrificed her life for that goddamned stone; she put her life on it. She's not coming back. We have to make it worth it. We have to."
"We will," Hank promised.
"I'm going to Morag and help get Bucky back," Barton continued, "No one else need die for these damn stones."
"Come on, let's get them in the gauntlet I made and get the ones who can come back, back." Stark replied, walking off, and everyone followed. "Then we all will go get Barnes from Thanos, or Cap will kick our ass when he returns for leaving his best friend there."
They headed into another room where Stark used robotic arms coming out of his computer to put each stand in the iron gauntlet he had made afterward; he picked it up and looked at it.
"All that leaves now is who will do the snapping?" Stark asked; everyone glanced at each other for a moment.
"I'll do it," Thor spoke up.
"No, Thor," Enid said; he turned to her and put his hand on her the back of her neck and rubbed her cheek with his thumb.
"I'm the only one here that can," Thor replied, "I will be fine."
"Uncle Thor." Fenrir said, "Don't do it."
"You saw what those stones did to Thanos; they almost killed him," Enid replied, "I don't want you hurt or worse."
"I will be fine, my beloved," Thor told her.
"You can't promise that," Enid argued.
"Yeah, Uncle Thor, please don't do it." Fenrir pleaded.
"The radiation in these things is mostly gamma." Stark said, "The Hulk would be the best person to do it, but he's not here; I can do it if you want."
"No, " Thor replied, then turned back to Enid, "Lighting can produce gamma-rays; I have lightning all through me; you know, I am the only one here that has a chance of surviving it."
"He has a point," Hank said.
"You better not die on me; I'll kick your ass," Enid replied. They kissed, then Thor pulled back.
"I love you," Thor said.
"I love you too," Enid replied; they kissed again, then Thor turned to Stark, and he handed him the gauntlet, and Thor put it on.
"Now remember, only snap back those dusted to a safe place," Stark said.
"And make sure they have clothes on," Sam added; they all turned to look at him, "What? Do you guys remember the piles of clothes left behind? I have no desire to see a bunch of naked people."
Thor looked at Enid and winked; everyone got behind something for cover, Barton and Stark behind a shield that came out of Tony's suit, Scott, who had the Antman suit on under his other one, and shrunk; Enid hugged Fenrir to her and covered him best she could, as Sam got behind her and spared his metal wings out and around them, Stark shut the building closed with metal doors and shades. Hank got behind a table he turned over.
"Alright, Thor, whenever you're ready," Stark said; Enid closed her eyes tightly as Thor held his hand up, thinking of bringing everyone back safely with clothes on, then snapped; there was that same weird feeling coming over them, as Thor fall to the ground, the snap taking a lot out of him.
Enid pulled away from Fenrir and looked around Sam's wing to see Thor raising a little, and she and Fenrir ran over and got down next to him; she took the gauntlet off his arm; it was burnt, and Enid immediately started healing it; Thor gave her a reassuring smile as he reached up with his other hand and wiped the tears she was very aware were falling down her face.
"Did we do it?" Sam demanded, "Did it work?"
"I believe so; something feels different," Hank said.
At that moment, Barton's phone began to ring, "Laura?" He answered.
"Oh wow, " Fenrir said, standing up and going over to the window to look out it, standing between Scott and Barton, "All those birds weren't there before; where they? Or those trees."
"No, kiddo, I don't believe they were," Barton replied.
"What is that?" Scott asked, looking up in the sky, "Is that a spaceship? It's pointing something at us."
Barton looked to where Scott was pointing, then his eyes widened, and he dropped his phone. "Everyone, get down!"
Scott turned into the size of an ant as everyone else ducked; Enid covered Thor, who raised a little, and put his arm around her waist, trying to shield her, making it where they were hugging each other. Barton tossed Fenrir to the ground and covered him; just as the ship fired at the building, blowing it apart, Fenrir cried out as he felt himself, and Barton fell through the floor, everyone else getting buried under the rumble.
AN: I made a mistake not having Nebula go to Morag with them, so I had to think of another way for Thanos to get there; the reason Bucky was left behind should be explained next chapter or one after.