A/N: I think I was running away from ending this story, but I finally did it. Here it is. The final two chapter of my running series.
Tony doesn't think he's ever seen tumbleweed in real life, and yet as he standing on the dirt path, a huge ball of the stuff just blows right past him. He lifts his eyes to Clint whose eyes are scanning the area. It looked like they were on some type of farm, but there were no crops, all the grass around them was brown, and the house in front of them was completely charred as if it had gone up in flames.
"Where's Loki?" Clint asks, turning to Tony. "You said he was here." Tony looked at the man for a moment before walking over. "Well was he here?"
"Why are you here?" Tony asked. "I had the feeling from our last conversation, you'd be hightailing it back to your own little farm life." Clint shook his head before turning away. "You're curious about all of this, aren't you? You want to see her." Clint didn't say anything before he just turned and walked off. Tony shook his head before stalking after him. "Do you remember her?"
"No," Clint replied and Tony furrowed his brow before rushing to catch up.
"Then why are you here?" Tony asked again, and the archer still didn't answer the question and because Tony couldn't take the silence anymore, be quickened his step to block the man. "Just say it." Clint looked at the man, suddenly remembering just how annoying he could be.
"You said she called me Bart, and I called her Kat." Clint said with a shake of his head. "It's just I-" he turned back to Tony. "I've been having these weird dreams, about this woman who I've never seen before, and she calls me Bart, and when she does I don't hate it."
"What happens in these dreams?" Tony asks hoping they could help them figure out what they should do.
"Sometimes she's there in times and places she just wasn't. Like the whole fight in New York, she was standing there with us, fighting with us." Clint turned away as the dreams he's never talked about out loud finally comes out of his mouth. "Or sometimes we're..."
"You're what?" Tony asks and Clint turns to him with a looks that Tony understands. "Oh. I assume you've never told anyone about this?"
"How could I? I thought they were just dreams. Laura knew they were getting to me, but I couldn't actually tell her about them." Clint once again begins looking around. "How do you tell your wife you're having dreams about another woman. I don't know, it was just something about them that felt so..."
"Real?" Tony said, and Clint turned to him and gave a nod. "Well I think that's because they were. She was here. She was my best friend and she was your wife and I think all of this is happening because we're supposed to bring her back."
"And what happens then, Tony?" Clint asks turning back to the man. "What if the lives we have now were only possible if she wasn't here? What will bringing her back do? My wife, my kids-" he shook his head unknowingly making Tony ask himself the questions he hadn't thought about. What if bringing Katie back somehow would undo his life with Pepper, and with Morgan? Was he really willing to risk that?
Natasha found herself standing at a total loss of what to do next. Presumed dead Loki appeared and now Tony and Clint had disappeared and she had no idea where they were.
"Just so I got this straight, Tony rallied the team because he believes that we need to bring back some woman who none of us remember, except for him and before we left, he and Clint disappeared into some sort of portal to follow Loki, the alien we all thought was dead?" Sam looked between Bruce and Natasha who simply gave a nod. "That's just perfect. Should we be worried that the bastard who once tried to take over the world just kidnapped two avengers?"
"He didn't kidnap them." Natasha said with a shake of her head. "They followed him willingly. He told them they'd find the answers they were looking for."
"About the woman who doesn't exist?" Sam asked,
"About the woman who could possibly exist that we might not remember." Bruce said, and Natasha turned to him with a quirked brow. "I'm just saying with everything I've seen and heard, we can't just throw out the possibility that Tony might be right."
"We can't, but we have no way of proving anything." Natasha replied before turning and stalking onto the elevator. "I need a moment."
Natasha once again found herself outside, the sky now a shade of orange as the sun sets. She didn't think she'd have to be in this position again. The person who has to make the next move of attack. Her eyes once again lifted to the sky.
"Sparrow." she muttered closing her eyes and really letting the name mull about in her brain.
"Natasha, long time no see. Still a bitch?"
Natasha's eyes snapped open and she dropped her eyes as she tilted her head.
"Still a brat?" Natasha spoke, her hand coming to her mouth in shock.
"Nat, you ok?" a voice spoke from behind her and and the woman turned to see Bruce who'd somehow snuck up on her.
"Bruce, I-" the woman turned away, her eyes once again glancing up to the sky. "I think-" she dropped her eyes back to the hulk. "Something is wrong."
Tony and Clint finally stopped searching. There was no one here, and now it felt as if this was all just some trick or trap. Clint stood searching for a road or land marker that will help him find away out of here. Tony stood looking up to the dilapidated house.
"Why do I know this house?" Tony spoke out loud and Clint glanced over to the man and just rolled his eyes. Clint was starting to regret walking into the unknown portal to nowhere and now he was stuck with the most annoying person on the planet. Tony frowned as he stepped closer to the house, walking up the steps of the porch.
"Stark, don't!" Clint called and Tony looked over to him in confusion. "That place isn't safe."
"You sound like you care, Big Bird?"
"For Pepper, and your kid, not you." Clint says before pointing to the house. "That house looks like it's one strong wind away from becoming firewood." Clint turned away once again letting his eyes search the area. "Look I'm going to go see if there's like people anywhere around, did you want-" Clint turned back around just as Tony walked into the house and he sighed. "Stark!" Clint quickly ran up the steps, walking through the door immediately stopping. Clint's eyes looked over the inside of the house that didn't look like it had been touched by fire at all.
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that something isn't right." Tony says looking over the inside of the house as well before his eyes noticed a picture hanging on the wall. He walked over to get a better look, and the moment he did, he let out a huff before turning to Clint. "I think I remember why this house seems so familiar." Clint looked over to the man in confusion and Tony just nudged his head to the lone picture of the wall. Clint walked over and his eyes went wide at the picture which was a newspaper clipping of a young girl at a science fair. She was smiling widely as she held up a first place trophy.
"I had to practically plead with my dad not to make us move because of that stupid science fair." Clint and Tony both felt a twinge of nervousness creep up their spine. It was that voice. That voice that neither expected and yet it grabbed a hold of something inside of them. It was Clint who turned to face her first, and his breath seemed to hitch when his eyes saw her. The woman who only lived in his dreams was standing here in front of him. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was wearing a white and yellow polka dot dress, her hair in soft curls that fell lazily over her shoulders. She met his eyes and smiled widely. "Hi Bart." she glanced over to Tony and sighed. He still hadn't worked up the courage to finally turn to face her. He'd been so sure that she was real, that he was right and yet the twinge of doubt had settled in his gut and he ignored it or at least he tried. "You know you went through an awful lot of trouble to find me Iron Ass, might as well look at me." Tony let out a deep breath before finally turning, finally looking at the woman he knew was real. He couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. "Hi Mr. Stark."
Natasha was confused. Her brain felt strange if that made sense. Her and the rest of the team stood in one of the common areas in the facility in a very brutal silence. Natasha kept her eyes out the window because it wasn't stopping. Images of this woman with dark hair who she didn't recognize and yet she felt was important.
"Nat-" Bruce was bold enough to finally cut the tension in the room. They all waited for Natasha to explain her sentiment that "something was wrong" and yet when they all gathered, she was silent. "What's happening?"
"Sparrow." Natasha said, suddenly memories of a the woman dressed as a SHEILD cadet struck her. "She worked for SHIELD. She was a lab tech, but she was also something else." Natasha glanced over to Bruce, that perplexed look still on her face because even though the words were coming out of her mouth, she just couldn't fully believe them.
"Are you saying you remember this woman Tony was talking about?" Bruce asked and Natasha stared at him for a moment before giving a subtle nod. "Bruce glanced over to Sam who simply shrugged before turning to Wanda who continued to stare over to Natasha before walking over to the woman. "Wanda, could you-" Bruce started as Wanda stepped in front of Natasha.
"Do you mind?" Wanda asked, and Natasha looked unsure for a moment, but if any of this could make sense, then she would do anything.
"Do it." Natasha said, and Wanda lifted her hands on either side of the woman's head, and red swirls of light shot from her fingers into Natasha's head and both woman gasped as they're both forced from the moment.
Natasha stalked into SHIELD's training room, the cadets standing in line watching her. Her eyes trail down the line to a few familiar faces, and land on a couple of people she wished weren't there. The brains, they'd took to calling them. They were the people who were only required to be there for a class or two.
"I am here to make sure you all are combat ready." Natasha announced as she walked passed each cadet, making sure to look them each in the eyes. "And when you leave this gym you will be ready."
"This is pointless." she heard from further down the line. She didn't need to ask who said it, because she already knew. Natasha turned and walked down the line, stepping in front of the leader of the brainiacs.
"Did you say something cadet?" Natasha asked stepping dangerously close to the woman. It was an intimidation tactic she'd used often.
"I said this is pointless." Katie replied before looking to the man and woman to her right. "We're not going to be field agents, so this extreme judo crap is totally unnecessary."
"What you find unnecessary, the director finds imperative." Natasha replied. "And I agree with him. You see the fight doesn't stop with the field agents, and none of our enemies will think twice about hurting a computer geek, so this is SHIELD giving you a fighting chance, so shut up and take it."
Natasha pulled back from Wanda's grasp with wide eyes. Wanda looked back in confusion as the guys looked on waiting for someone to say something.
"Was that her?" Wanda asked, and Natasha didn't say anything. She took in a deep breath before taking a step toward Wanda.
"Lets go again."
"Nat-" Bruce took a step forward and Natasha looked over to him. "Are you sure?"
"Not really, but something is definitely not right because I just saw something that doesn't make sense." she turned back to Wanda and gave the woman a nod. Wanda one again lifted her hands, and just as before they were pulled from the moment.
Natasha and Wanda found themselves standing in a small house. Wanda walked over, peeking out of the window to see a beach just outside.
"Do you know this place?" Wanda asked turning back to Natasha who seemed stuck. She walked over to the Natasha to see what she was staring at and the moment she saw the picture above the fireplace she realized what had her so shocked. It was a picture of Clint, and a dark haired woman both smiling. He was dressed in a suit and she was wearing a white dress. There was voice that started off low, muffled and both women shared a look before turning and finally noticing there standing was, Natasha, Clint and Rick.
"Who does?" Clint asked. "Coulson?"
"Coulson's the director of an "in construction" agency at the moment. He's doesn't have nearly enough resources to pull something like this off. He's making moves, but he's not the only one."
"So who's running the show now?"
"Honestly, I don't know." Natasha replied. "Fury hasn't been seen or heard of since the Garrett take down." she looked over Mason. "I've been forced with partnering with this poor excuse for a human being."
"Aw, Widow," Mason sighed placing his hands above his heart. "I love you too." Natasha shakes her head and turns back to Clint.
"We get orders of possible HYDRA members still out there. Yesterday we got a message about a rescue and retrieval. When I got the location I knew your little love bubble was about to be popped." she glanced toward the stairs. "There's a plane that will be here in thirty, you should go deal with that." Clint followed her eyes to the stairs and scoffed. "What?"
"That-" he stressed gesturing to the stairs. "-is my wife Nat." Clint said before turning and heading up the stairs.
"She's his wife?" Wanda asked, turning back to Natasha who stared at the scene, There she was, standing there talking to Clint, talking to Rick and yet she had no memory of this moment ever happening. "You don't remember any of this?" Natasha didn't say anything for a moment, because something was happening.
"We were sent here to protect them." Natasha said still watching. "She—Sparrow was a target because of her mother. At the time we didn't know why." Natasha turned looking back to the picture hanging above the fireplace. "They disappeared, got married, and-" Natasha dropped her eyes. "She was pregnant." she turned back to Wanda. "We didn't know it at the time, but she was pregnant with Natalia and-" the scene around them began shifting and both women lifted their heads only to find themselves in the old Avengers tower. They turned at the voices, now to see Tony, Steve, Sam, Rhodey, Natasha, and Katie.
"If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty." Tony says.
"You're saying they'll come for me?" Wanda asks, and they glance over to her. The explosion in Lagos at her hands was still weighing on her.
"If they come for you, then they come for us, and I don't think that's a fight they want." Katie replied turning back to Tony. "And you don't fall on your knees to big brother government telling you they'll stick your head in the toilet if you don't let them copy your homework."
"Sometimes you have to grow up. This is me growing up and realizing the whole honey with bees theory may actually make sense."
"Except we don't need to catch bees." Katie replied with a shake of her head. "We need to protect the world without the puppet strings."
Wanda dropped her hands, and they found themselves back in the lab. Both women still staring at each other.
"So, what happened?" Sam asked.
"Nat?" Bruce looked at the woman who glanced over to him and simply gave a nod. "Are you sure?"
"I'm not sure about anything right now, but I saw her face, heard her voice, and she-" Natasha chuckled before looking back over Bruce. "She's a smart ass. But she's a smart, smart ass which annoyed the hell out of me. But apparently made Barton fall in love with her."
"So she is-"
"His wife, yeah." Natasha turned away because the new memories were clashing with old ones, and she lifted her hand to her head, stumbling slightly,
"Hey," Sam caught her arm before rolling over a chair to sit. "You ok?" they all gathered around the woman who lifted her eyes at the sound of the elevator. They all turned, no one quite expecting the person standing there.
"Vis?" Wanda took a step forward as Vision stepped off the elevator. "How-" he walked over smiling down to her and she just shook her head no longer caring how this was happening before she closed the distance between them and tossed her arms around him in a hug.
"Vision, how are you alive right now?" Bruce asked, and Vision looked up to the team and tilted his head.
"I don't think I was ever dead, just—" he smiled at the thought. "Suppressed." He turned back to the eyes on him and knew they'd prefer a more detailed explanation, but he's also sure they'd never understand the truth.
"We saw Thanos, he took the stone and then he-" Wanda placed a hand on the being's chest and shook her head at the memory.
"No-" It was Natasha who spoke, and their eyes turned to her seeing just how confused she was at her own words. "Sparrow, she-" she turned looking across the room to Vision who watched as she finally realized the truth. "She took the stones from Thanos before he could do any damage, there was no snap there-" she looked over to Bruce who turned way, that look of confusion washing over his face as well as memories flooded him. "Tony was right."
"What do we do now?" Sam asked, and they all turned to Vision who they assumed knew more than what he was letting on.
"Oh, we wait," he replied before glancing down to Wanda. "It's all being fixed as we speak."
Tony just needed to look at her for a moment. Needed to make this moment real, and when he finally came back to the moment, he smiled.
"Kitten, good to see you. I mean we could've gone without all the cloak and dagger, and that whole Loki fiasco, but we can get into that later." he began walking toward her, but she took a step back and held out a hand in front of her to stop him.
"Tony, don't." she said before glancing over to Clint who hadn't said a word. She turned back to Tony and smiled. "Let's just have this moment."
"What are you talking about? I'm here to bring you home, to make everyone remember you, like you knew I would." Tony said, and Katie once again looked over to Clint wanting him so badly to just say something already. "Hey Kitten, this was a rescue mission." she turned back to Tony. "I'm not leaving this house without you."
"Except we don't know what that would mean." Katie says looking over to the man. "For your life with Pepper, and Morgan-" she turned to Clint. "And your life with Laura." Clint dropped his eyes and Katie shook her head. "Don't-" he looked back over to her. "You have absolutely nothing to feel guilty for." she smiled at him. "I wanted you to smile and to be happy." she looked back to Tony. "I wanted you to experience all of the moments you never thought you would have." she sighed. "Tony I don't know why you remember me. I can honestly say that you remembering me has caused some unexpected phenomenon that was definitely not supposed to happen."
"Loki said he was given a time and a place that I would be able to find you." Tony said looking over to the woman. "If you didn't send him, then who did?" Katie looked over to her friend in confusion before turning away. She shook her head before turning back to the men.
"I don't know. But what I do know is that we have right now. This moment and when you walk out that door, you'll be able to live your lives again."
"You mean we'll forget you again?"Tony asked and Katie nodded. "That's not happening."
"It has to, because if it doesn't then everything I've done was for nothing."
"And what did you do?" Clint spoke and Katie turned to him. "What did you do Kat?" Katie dropped her eyes from his and he took a step forward, and she once again quickly backed away. "What the hell did you do Kat?!" she lifted her eyes back to his, and he could see the tears forming and he shook his head.
"I accepted who I was and what I was created for." she looked from Clint before turning to Tony. "You see our lives intertwining was never random." she looked back to Clint and smiled. "It was fate. I was meant to meet you and fall in love." she turned to Tony. "I was meant to meet you and find a best friend. I was meant to be an Avenger." she turned and walked over to sit on the steps that lead to the second level of the house. She looked over to the two men and just shrugged. "I was meant to be the heart that beats for the worlds both near and far. Someone like Thanos was destined to pop up at some point, and I was the contingency plan. Well Nemesis was, I was just the-" she dropped her eyes and shook her head. "I was the seventh stone. The only vessel that Nemesis could inhabit to beat anyone who tried taking control of the stones." she looked back up to the men before looking over to Clint. "I chose to sacrifice myself for you, for our daughter, for your future-" she looked over to Tony and smiled. "And I would do it again in a heart beat."
"And you would be an idiot!" Tony snapped before turning his back to the woman. He slid his hand over his eyes before turning back to the woman. "We would've beat him!"
"I know." Katie replied. "But he would've beat you first. There would've been years of pain and heartache before you all came back together to finally beat him. In the end, Thanos would be gone, but so would someone else." she shook her head. "Someone who just couldn't be gone, and so I made the choice."
"It wasn't a choice Kat, it was a cop out." Clint says walking over to the woman. She stood, about to flee, but he was quicker, sliding a hand around her waist, and pulling her to him.
"Bart, wait, don't-" she tried to pull out of his grasp, but he wasn't letting her go. Her eyes turned to his and he looked back to her. "Bart, just think about what you're doing." she continued trying to tug out of his arms. "If you don't let me go-" she turned back to his eyes. "Bart, if you keep me here, you're risking the lives you have here. The lives I was not a part of. Laura, your kids-" she placed her hands on the sides of his face. "Let me go, Bart." she saw the reluctance in his eyes, the fear, but she also felt his grasp loosen. "It's ok, Bart you can let me go."
"Don't do it Barton!" Tony says and Katie turns to him with wide eyes. "How I see it, I remember for a reason, and that reason is because we were meant to bring you back."
"Tony, no-"
"Yes, because someone out there knows that you were one of the people in my life that I would go to war for, that I'd sacrifice the world for." Tony walked over and looked at the woman before placing a hand to her arm and that's when everything stopped.
Just a few feet away, sparks suddenly appeared that expanded into a doorway. Stephen Strange stepped through that door, suddenly coming to a halt as his eyes looked over to where Tony and Clint stood, with a woman in their grasp. He also noticed how they all seemed to be frozen in place.
"Great, you're here." a voice spoke from behind the man. He turned, with a furrowed brow to see the same woman. He turned back to Tony and Clint, and the woman between them. "It's an illusion. I didn't know I could do that." she shook her head and turned back to Stephen. "You have to get them out of here. The moment they leave, they will forget again, and so will you." Stephen turned back to the woman, before walking over. "Stephen you know this can't happen."
"I know that if an all powerful being such as Nemesis who possesses, the Ego stone makes a person disappear from all of existence, then they should stay that way, and yet-" he stopped right in front of her, his eyes looking to her as memories of a life that wasn't there before suddenly came flooding back to him. Katie shook her head before stalking away.
"I made a choice." she said whipping back around to face him. "I gave this up. There's no way-"
"Why do you think you were chosen?" Stephen asked. "Why do you think that out of the billions of people on this planet, and probably a couple of more trillion beings on the neighboring planets, that you were chosen to save everyone?"
"It doesn't matter why."
"It does, you just refuse to acknowledge the fact that it was your selflessness, your strength, your fearlessness, it was you. You were only given the choice to see what you would choose, but there was never any actual deal. Nemesis was going to stop Thanos whether you agreed or not." Katie stared at the man with a furrowed brow before looking up to the ceiling.
"If what you're saying is true, why now?" she looked back to the man. "Five years I had to watch the world spin without me, I had to watch my husband and my daughter live without knowing who I was. So why now?"
"I was waiting for you to finally stop being so damn selfless." a voice spoke and both Katie and Stephen turned with wide eyes as they saw the woman who looked exactly like Katie except her skin was a shade of purple and her eyes glowed yellow. "I was waiting for you to demand to be returned back to your life. I thought seeing your friends and family move on in lives without you would be so torturous-" the being tilted her head as she looked at Katie. "Which it was. I could feel your heartache for all five years, and yet you just watched silently." the being took a step toward Katie. "I am infinite and yet there are things that still surprise me and I love to be surprised. They somehow found me a host whose heart beats for the world." the being leaned into Katie. "And the worlds still need that heart." Katie frowned slightly as she realized what the being was saying. "So little human girl, you ready to return back to your life?" Katie turned away, looking over to Clint and Tony who were still frozen in place.
"They have lives, they all have lives and I can't-" she turned back to Nemesis. "I won't take that away from them."
"You know I can see right through the selfless act, right?" the being said taking a step toward the woman. "You think it masks your fear, but it doesn't. So this is it little human girl. No more fear, no more running, it's time for you to finally get what you deserve."
Katie stood silently, her eyes still looking over to Clint and Tony and she felt tears pool in her eyes as she realized what this moment was. She turned back to Nemesis a smile slow curling at her lips.
"OK, what do I have to-" with a snap of the being's finger, everything changed.
Author's note: There's an Epilogue. Go check it out.