PREVIOUSLY

***Compound, Hangar***

"-three...two...one!"

Bruce pressed the button and the machine sucked all of the team into the Quantum Realm.

"Okay, preparing for reentry." Foster spoke up. "Scott, start the stopwatch and Betty, alert us when it reaches ten, please."

Following the instructions, Scott pushed 'START' on his stopwatch and he and Betty watched and waited until it reached ten.

Meanwhile, Bruce and Bill finished preparing for the return of the young ones.

"Ready?"

"Good to go." Bruce replied, "Scott, Betty, waiting on your signal."

Betty nodded before she and Scott counted it out. "Seven...eight...nine...ten!"

Once "ten" was said, Bruce and Bill went for it and pushed their controls, opening the way for the team to return. And within seconds, they all came through.

The helmets came down and everyone took breaths as they got their footing.

"You guys good?" Harley asked.

"All good!" Torunn replied breathlessly, giving a thumbs up.

Scott had run up onto the platform to his kids and hugged them tight out of relief that they were alright. And they were. In fact, they all were.

"Did we actually do it?" Riri asked excitedly, "Did we actually pull this off?"

"I think so!" PJ said, laughing with glee.

By the looks of it, the team had acquired the stones and made it back safe and sound...

Or so they thought.

The relief began to slip away when Bruce noticed that, one: the team that was supposed to go to Vormir seemed greatly troubled. And two: they were one person short. To be more specific...Nikki was missing!

Soon, the others noticed too.

"Guys, where's Nikki?" Maddie asked the Vormir team. No reply came. "Frankie?"

But still nothing. Nothing but silence and looks of sorrow and regret.

Now Jamie seemed to worry. "Frankie...where's Nikki? Where's my sister?!"

But Frankie was completely speechless and pain was written all over his face. Kate knelt down as he fell to the floor in anguish and hugged him with tears of her own coming down.

"Sam?" Peter called to the space hero.

But Sam stayed silent as he took off his helmet and revealed a face of pain and regret as he let his helmet drop to the floor.

This brought up worry and curiosity in everyone in the room, multiple questions as well. Like what happened to everyone when they left? Why was Frankie so distraught? And what happened to Nikki?

But it soon came to them as they remembered the worry of Vormir. A sacrifice was needed... Nikki. Nikki must've been the one.

"No... No! NO, NOOO!" Jamie cried out, shaking his head as tears swiftly began to form. "No! Tell me it isn't true! TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE, DAMMIT!"

He began to rush at Frankie but he was stopped by Peter who, using his super strength, held Jamie back and locked him into a tight hug. As he did, Peter silently cried hard as he too felt the weight of the loss of his little sister. He and Jamie were the closest ones to her, aside from Bruce and Betty, and they had just lost her.

Jamie still tried to get to Frankie and break free of Peter's grip, but his brother wouldn't let go. Only held him more firmly. Even when Jamie began to hit Peter out of anguish, screaming at him to release him, Peter tightened the hug and cried harder.

Hard as it was to be them, it was hard for the others to have to share the same pain with them. All of their heads lowered in shame, failure, and hurt as they mourned their loss. Torunn had cupped her hands over her mouth and dropped to her knees and cried while Riri fumed and dropped down with her. This was exactly what she was afraid of before joining...and here it was.

Cassie held her little brother and they both were held by their dad. Scott, having met Nikki with them before the others, was hurt as well as he felt the loss of a good friend. Maddie too went to his knees and punched the platform, sending an echo throughout the hangar that hit all of their hearts. Even Viv. Even though she wasn't human, she wasn't unfamiliar with the loss of people and the emotional weight that came with it. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. So instead, she mimicked them and showed a sad face while placing a hand on Maddie's back.

Down below at the controls, Bill had taken off his glasses and leaned against the control panel as he too recognized the loss.

However, Bruce was so distraught and...angry. He couldn't believe this. Of all people to lose, Nikki. One of, if not the most precious young one in his life. And not just his, but Betty's as well. She wept into his large chest and he held her close. It took all of his strength and more to not burst into a rage fit and break something like the control panel.

The loss of their friend, their fellow Avenger...their family, was just too big a weight to bear.


A little later, some of the group went to vent alone or with someone while others went outside on a jetty over the water. All there were Peter, Jamie, who was just coming down from his crying, Torunn who was comforting him, Frankie, Kate, Sam, Harley, and Ava who was next to Peter.

It was quiet, they weren't talking. Just getting some air. The emotions from earlier had by no means diminished, they were just quiet about it currently.

Harley, wanting to try and offer some comfort to Jamie, broke the silence.

"Did uh...did you guys have any other family?" He asked, carefully as he could.

A few seconds passed before finally, Jamie nodded. "Yeah...you guys." His voice was hoarse and deep from the crying, but still clear.

As if the hurt wasn't enough, that added to the power of it. During their time together, the team had all gotten very close with one another, becoming very much like a family. The girls became like sisters, and the boys were almost like brothers. Some older, some younger, but a family nonetheless.

As they took that in, Torunn, who was holding Jamie, comforting him, had an epiphany.

"Hey, we can bring her back." She spoke up with hope. This gained the looks of the group. "Yeah, we can. We've got the Stones, so we can bring her back. So it's not like she's really gone."

But not everyone shared the same hope. Some of them knew differently.

"We can't," Kate said in an undertone, shaking her head lightly, "...we can't get her back."

Hearing the contradiction of her words, Torunn furrowed her brow at that. "What? What're you talking about? Of course we can!"

To which Kate shook her head and repeated herself. "We can't, though, Tori. It's a one-way street with this one...we can't be undo it."

"OK, no offense, Kate, but technically, this whole Snap thing couldn't be undone, and yet, here we are. Closer than ever at possibly reversing it. And if there's even a chance at getting her back, you're going to just give up now?"

"Tori, you're not getting it." Frankie interjected with a loud tone, "It can't be undone!"

Once again, the blonde princess tried to defend her case. But... "You don't kn-"

"IT CAN'T BE UNDONE!" The young Barton shouted, shocking everyone with his loudness, "ALRIGHT?! It can't. Or at least that's what the frickin, floating guy said. If you don't think so, then why do you go talk to him. Huh? Yeah, go ahead. GO GRAB YOUR SWORD, AND GO FLY AND TALK TO HIM!..."

Torunn seemed to surrender after that, staying quiet and letting it go. Kate grabbed Frankie's arm and held it with care. She knew this event weighed on him the most next to Jamie, Peter and Bruce.

With his next words, Frankie began to pipe down a little and his tone seemed to replace his anger with grief. "It was supposed to be me...not her. I was going to do it, but then she jumped in and sacrificed herself for that goddamm Stone."

At that, Maddie grabbed a nearby bench by one end and threw it as if it were a twig, sending it flying over lake and behind the trees.

As hard as it was to accept, there was no alternative. "She's not coming back." He said with sorrow. "She's gone...but she did it for us. For those lost...for everyone. "

Kate nodded in agreement to that. She knew firsthand how much Nikki cared. Having watched her fight her way to jump to help, despite knowing fully well what the alternative was, she did it. Nikki was a hero...and a great friend.

"We can't let her death be for nothing." She said, looking to the others. "We can't! We have to make it count."

It seemed like those words became a silent agreement among them. They didn't verbalize it, but it was sealed in their grief.

That is, until Peter stepped up and spoke.

"...we will." He said, a hand on Jamie's shoulder. To which the young Captain, though still filled with sadness, nodded in agreement.

A creak and some footsteps came from behind them and they turned to see it was Bruce and Betty.

It was obvious that they had been crying, grieving. As they all had been. But the way they carried themselves now, especially Bruce, one look and they knew, they had the same thought.

This was going to work...whatever it took. And in doing so, they were going to avenge their fallen.


And now, the mission is clear. WOW this has been heavy, omg guys! It's not easy writing all of these characters' emotions without getting misty myself, it's crazy.😭😭😭 But it's done and I hope it hit you guys as much as it did me.

The next chapter is gonna take a bit but it's definitely coming down the line as are the other chapters and what follows this fic. Should you guys want me to continue this series that is...👀 it's really for you guys I write all of this lol😅so yeah.

Also, two things. With the new AWESOME MS. MARVEL trailer and seeing Iman Vellani as Kamala, I'm SERIOUSLY considering re-casting her as the character in this story/series. And in conjunction with that, I'm also debating whether or not to recast Elle Fanning as Torunn in this series as well. She's a pretty good actress actress I was considering her at first but I want some feedback from you guys first. Lmk what you guys think plsss! 🙏 🙏 🙏 👍

Don't forget to comment what you thought and I'll see you guys when the next chapter comes. Laters! ✌ 👍