So, after a fairly long hiatus, this story is finally back on track, and you can thank Moon Knight and the pairing that came with it for that. Khonshu/Marc pulled me out of my depression back into the MARVEL fandom, rescued me from the scrappy heap, restored my good humor, and got the words flowing again. Shipping Marc and Khonshu spurred me to continue writing about Earth-199999, and that's why I came back to this story after so long.
Also, Rogers:The Musical from Hawkeye was just plain hilarious, I couldn't NOT bring Save The City into this universe, and Kate's gonna come with it.
On a final note, I'm aware that Yelena and Nat were enemies in the comics and most MARVEL media, and I love how the Black Widow staff made the groundbreaking decision to make them family instead.
Act III-If You Need Me
As she watched Tony and Peter share one final goodbye, Leyenar couldn't help but tear up. Her shirt had been pristine mere moments before this battle began, now it was stained in blood. Star-Lord, the man who had been her favorite, was the next to go. It hit her harder than anything else. Rocket was sobbing over the loss of his best friend Groot.
"Director, you need to get out of here." said Strange.
"I'm not leaving him behind." Leyenar insisted, gesturing at Tony.
"The Shining Lord will find a way, you need not worry for him. Don't lose hope, the battle is not over, this was the only way... please tell Christine I love her."
Those were the last words of Stephen Strange before he vanished into dust. He managed to open one last gateway leading to her and Carol's flat before disappearing. As she fell into the gateway, she let out one last cry, at her favorite Avenger, stranded.
"Irah!"
23 Days Later
Leyenar sat in the main hall of the Avengers Mansion, a place she'd never thought she'd find herself in once again. Sitting on her right side was Clint, while Natasha was on her left side while Thor sat right across her, next to a woman whose name she recalled as Sigyn.
A lot of people, including Wanda, had been lost in the Snap. The Winter Soldier...no, James Barnes was also one of them. If they ever were to meet again, she really wanted to call him Jimmy instead of Winnie, but now she had lost that chance forever. Wakanda had lost its King, and the Pym family had been dusted as well. It was especially harder for Clint, who lost his wife and kids, and Nat, who lost her little sister. Her name was Yelena, Leyenar remembered Nat saying. Rhodey said that he watched Sam Wilson vanish right in front of his eyes. And just yesterday, she got phone call after phone call from people she got to know—one Anne Weying had said that her friend Eddie Brock and his...partner? Venom got snapped. Another one was from one Karolina Dean, who cried about her girlfriend Nico being gone. Leyenar had reassured both of them that, sure as hell, she would get them back.
Carol called, saying that her Skrull friend Talos, his wife Soren, and their daughter Anelle were gone when she landed for a visit. Leyenar, in turn, told her about what befell Nick Fury and Monica Rambeau, and they had both cried for a long time on opposite ends of the communicator after.
And, of course, the director kept her promise to Strange, she relayed his last words to Christine.
But the loss that hit her the hardest, as hard as when she lost Star-Lord, was that of Darren Cross. The news of his "death" devastated her. Sometime during March, they had fallen out of communication and all she wanted was to visit him on some lazy day and make up for lost time, that was how much she actually loved him.
"Cheer up, Len," Shuri had told her, "He'd never want you to be hung up on this."
"Neither would your brother." Leyenar said. "I heard that you're King now. Can you really handle things on your own?"
"Don't worry, Director. If I ever fall out of line, I've got Mother and Okoye to get me back on track." the young king had said before turning off the communication line, and Leyenar brushed off the remainders of her tears and steeled herself before walking into the place she once loved so.
And that was how Leyenar Oh(she was definitely discarding that last name soon) found herself in the main hall of the Avengers Mansion, surrounded by dearest friends and unfamiliar faces. "Okay, anyone who wants to avenge their lost loved one?" she asked with all the seriousness in the universe.
"Me." said both Thor and Sigyn as they raised their hands.
"Despite all that happened between us, Loki's still my brother. I'd never forgive Thanos for what he did to him." said the God Of Thunder.
"And I still love him." said Sigyn. "Loki and I...we were childhood sweethearts. Aside from Thor, I was his only friend in the shining halls of Asgard. We fell in love and stayed in love as we grew up, and we soon got engaged to be married. Director Leyenar, if it means avenging him, I would gladly follow you."
"Count me in." said Natasha. "Yelena and I were brought together by some crazy government plot, but she was my sister nevertheless."
"Laura, Lyla, Cooper and poor little Nate...they're all gone. I would do anything to get back at that big purple bastard." said Clint.
"He got the Hulk scared sh*tless." Bruce joined in. "And he's an important part of me. Another reason for me to hate that damn grape."
"I just want everything to go back to the way they were." Rhodey said.
"My girlfriend lost her family." said Daisy. "And I hate myself for letting it happen. After everything we've been through together, I wish to make up for it and do her and everyone else a favor."
Just then, Leyenar noticed something. "Hey, where's Cap?"
"Sorry I'm late." said Steve as he joined the others. "I just shaved off my beard."
"Wait, you grew a beard?!" Leyenar huffed out. "Wow. Anyways, come sit, we were just having a very important conversation."
"Sir, yes, sir." Steve deadpanned as he sat on the spot Nat had saved for him.
"So, I was thinking, maybe we could..." Leyenar continued on, when suddenly the Mansion started quaking. Was it an earthquake? A bird? A plane? Everyone rushed outside to see what the heck was going on, and saw the Benatar being carried by Carol Danvers into the courtyard.
"Mimi!" Leyenar said, rushing over to meet her assistant. "So, did you find that army?"
"You betcha I did, sir." said Carol. "And a very capable one at that. And, to top it off, look who I brought all the way from Titan."
The door opened, and Tony stumbled out, supported by Nebula. "Is everyone alright?" he asked.
"We are, Irah." Leyenar said, once again tearing up. "Rest assured."
"'Couldn't stop him." Tony said, gaze directed at Steve.
"Neither could I." Steve returned.
"The kid...I couldn't save him. I couldn't save anyone." Tony said as he and Steve embraced, causing Leyenar to wipe off stray tears.
"I know, Shellhead, I know." Steve replied, then added "I'm just so glad that you're alive."
"I think I missed something." Bruce said, a bit unsettled at the "I couldn't save anyone" line.
"Oh, yeah." Nat added.
Steve and Tony pulled apart, and Leyenar let out a relieved sigh. "You two have a lot to talk about." she said.
LATER...
Everyone once again gathered around to continue where they had left off, while Tony was getting blood for healing. "It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." said Rhodey as he listed all the casualties.
"World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census. And it looks like he did...he did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent, of all living creatures. It's not just us, the other fictional worlds took the blow too. The entirety of the Four-Dimensional World fell victim to the snap." said Natasha.
"Where is he now? Where?" asked Tony.
"We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through." Steve said.
"By the way, I literally thought you were a Build-A-Bear." Tony told Rocket, turning to him.
"Ah, it's fine. Easy mistake to make." said Rocket.
"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep Space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him." Steve said.
"Who told you that?" asked a surprised Tony. "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight. He's unbeatable."
"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?" asked Steve.
"Pfft! I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming." Tony shot back.
"Okay, Irah, go ahead, spit it out." Leyenar muttered.
"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus." Steve said.
"And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. Well, news flash, Winghead, it's too late now. You know what I need?" said Tony as he abruptly stood up, starting to get furious. "I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling everyone—Ah, forget it. Alive and otherwise what we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not—that's what we needed! I said, "we'd lose". You said, "We'll do that together too." And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there. But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers, we're the Avengers. Not the Prevengers."
"Alright, Tones, that's enough." Rhodey said.
"Why? Let him speak!" Leyenar protested.
"I get it, sir, but he's made his point. He needs to sit down." Rhodey told her.
"Nah, nah, she's right. Here's my point. You know what?" Tony began once again. "Oh, and Leyenar, you got a great partner right there." he said, indicating Carol.
"Thank you, but you're sick. You've got to—" Carol tried to speak.
"We need you. You're new blood. Bunch of tired old mules!" Tony cut back in, walked straight to his ex's face, then said in a venomous whisper:"I got nothing for you, Cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar."
The two exes just gazed at each other. After a moment, Tony ripped his arc reactor from his chest and shoved it into Steve's hand as he said "Here, take this. You find him, and you put that on. You hide." He then fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, everyone rushing to his side.
"Tony!" Steve exclaimed.
"Irah!" Leyenar cried.
"I'm fine, I...Leyenar...a..." the genius wheezed out, before passing out.
A few moments later, Rhodey had led everyone to the lab. "Bruce gave him a sedative. He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day." he said. "Oh, and Director, what he wanted to say was, he remembered how you always wanted to aid in fighting. So he spent quite some time wandering around Fandom Central, salvaging all the best tech he could find. Borg tech from the Star Trek universe, Consu tech from the now-defunct Old Man's War universe, Galra tech from the Voltron universe, and even a bit of Spiral Power from your favorite TV show. And he worked tirelessly to mold them all into the perfect gift. Shuri helped." With that, he placed a red, diamond-shaped, arc reactor-esque device on her chest.
"Wha—" she began.
Rhodey smiled. "Say cheese!"
"Cheese?" Leyenar tried, and in seconds, she was enveloped in the perfect suit of armor—Iron Man-like with the all-American aesthetics, the flashy red, white, and blue, complete with the white star on her chest with the red diamond in the center, the Avengers insignia emblazoned on the helmet, on her forehead, fusing the two heroes in a symbolic way, considering how hell-bent Leyenar was on setting Steve and Tony up with each other.
"He named it the Civil Warrior." said Rhodey.
"Civil Warrior...I like the sound of that." Leyenar said.
"Oh, that's not the only surprise." said a familiar voice from inside.
"Ultron?" Leyenar said, realizing who it was. "Is it really you?"
"This way, you get a capable sidekick, and I get someone to really keep me in check." said the AI.
"You willingly became a suit AI...for me?" Leyenar asked, puzzled.
"I overheard you saying "STAY CALM! DO NOT PANIC! WE WILL STILL WIN! LOVE YOURSELF! LOVE OTHER PEOPLE! PICK AND CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES IN LIFE! DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU WHAT TO DO. IGNORE THE HATERS. LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH—" and this is what I chose, since I pretty much outlived my purpose." said Ultron.
"Thanks, Ultron." Leyenar said with the lightest tone she could manage, but she could not keep the tears from coming.
"Oh, and this is from Shuri." said Rhodey as he handed Leyenar a shield—nearly identical to that of Captain America's, only that the iconic white star had been replaced with a large working arc reactor.
Leyenar sighed as she took the shield. "When this is all over, I'm definitely taking Irah and Shuri out for a fancy dinner party." she said.
