Start of all the notes, obviously alot of this is AU to an extent, in regards to Doctor Strange, I knew of the leaks a few weeks back, the trailer we got confirmed they're right. Wanda from this is Wanda that did Wandavision but actually cleared her head after, not the Wanda we will get in MoM. The Eternals story plays the same except Arishem never kidnaps them at the end and Ikaris doesn't suicide, he instead just flies off somewhere else on Earth by himself. Other than that, all current released works will follow their canon 99% of the time, as will Moon Knight.
Figured Natasha deserved her death to be shown as well so that's in here, as well as the few added scenes to make a more cohesive story, like with Steve and Thanos' last appearances in the end of Infinity War. Adding some new folk in here, might be able to guess who, these are the last additions before I finish NWH, don't want too many in at once and these ones make sense thematically, the rest of my list to add (at the bottom) don't really.
I am doing the Phase 4 reactions, so following NWH, will do Wandavision, Loki, FATWS, Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Eternals, Hawkeye, Moon Knight. Undecided on What If? as it has no impact on this story other than one thing you'll find out later on this chapter.
NWH word count is 15,000 without any script. Should I make it two mega chapters (As following the other Peters reveal, I'm doing Raimi trilogy and Webb duology before finishing the NWH story) or split it down like Homecoming and FFH?
"So, what's your deal, Mr Murdock, is it?" Steve asked. The name sounded familiar, he just couldn't figure out why.
"Well, I'm not sure why I'm...wherever this is, I'm just a lawyer." Matt said. Whilst he wouldn't say he could see them exactly, he could sense those around him, and the people he could make out, well, he wasn't sure why he was with them unless it was related to the Devil of Hells' Kitchen. Definitely something he wanted to keep under the radar of the Avengers. He recognised Steve Rogers' voice, who didn't?
"Do you know a person named Peter Parker?" Tony asked him as Matt shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but no, am I meant to know him?"
"We don't know, but it seems most of us here have a connection to him." Natasha explained. "We just assumed you did too. Do you have a connection to anyone in this room, perhaps?"
"I mean, I'm not sure who is in the room, con of being blind I'm afraid." Matt chuckled. "But I'm not hearing anyone I'm familiar with beyond like the news, with the case of you, Miss Romanoff. I'm sort of wondering how I can hear your voice, or the voices of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, when it's kinda hard where I'm from to hear any of you speaking live."
"Well that's kinda hard to explain. We appear to be in some theatre, taken from various points in time, by someone unknown, to learn about Peter Parker, a man most of us knew, but have all forgotten due to a spell I'm assuming I've cast." Strange told the newcomer. "Perhaps we should resume watching, maybe it will help us to understand more?"
A set of lights flashed in the room as a ragtag group arrived in a heap, landing on the floor.
"Get off of me!" A man's voice yelled.
"Jeez Quill, how much weight have you put on recently?" A small creature snarled.
"Why is the rabbit angry?" A woman with what looked like antenna asked.
"Because he is extraordinary ugly." A large grey figure laughed.
"I'm surrounded by idiots on all sides." A blue woman groaned, before the group disentangled itself and saw where they were and who was with them.
"Rabbit?" Thor asked, as some of the others in the room looked thoroughly confused as to who these new guys were.
"Thor?" Rocket asked.
"The Angel Pirate!" Drax roared happily, rushing forward to embrace Thor, who eagerly greeted the Guardians, Quill looking annoyed as he did so.
"So, who are these guys?" Spider-Man-2 asked.
"You don't know these guys?" Bruce asked, stunned.
"We're the Guardians of the Galaxy, protecting space from intergalactic threats." Quill told him.
"We kick names and take ass." Mantis agreed.
"Can we please get on with all of this?" Wong begged. He had only met these Guardians once before himself, but even he knew that giving them an opportunity to go into a tangent was asking for trouble.
As he finished speaking, a new note appeared in the room, being snatched up by Tony before anyone else could move.
"It says that the next scene is the last scene in the past for myself, Nat and Steve. After that, the rest of this recording and all the others are our future."
"Well, let's see what we need to do differently." Steve said.
"You know you can't change any of this, Captain Rogers." Strange explained.
"We can try." Steve firmly rebutted. "We're the Avengers, we don't give up, no matter the odds."
Tony was shown cleaning his house, putting away the plates from a family dinner, and looking at the pictures in his lake house. He picked one up, of him at Stark Industries, posing with Peter, Peter holding a plaque legitimising his internship upside down, Tony and Peter both doing "bunny ears" behind each other.
"You two really do seem close to each other." Spider-Man 2 smiled at Tony.
"Yeah, he's like a second child to me." Tony told them. "The scene with the Snap, it triggered my memories, I remember him, Oh God, the kid needs us. He's my son in all but blood, and I need to be there for him. I need to let him know it's alright, he never let me down, and I'm proud of him. When he's back, I'll need to let him now." Tony said.
"I'm sure Peter would love to hear that from you." Spider-Man 3 said, as the others in the room wondered why his eyes seemed so full of sadness saying that. Before they could continue, a bright flash once again lit up the room.
"Where am I?" A new figure said, looking around all of the gathered ones in confusion.
"Are we just going to have new people thrown in here from who knows where?" Strange asked, eye twitching slightly. "You're in a movie theatre, no, we don't know how you got here, as we don't know how we did, yes, we're the Avengers, as well as some others, before you undoubtedly ask. Now, who are you?"
"My name's Sersi." The woman said. "Wait, the Avengers? You're the ones that stopped Thanos?"
"Yes we did." Thor boasted. "So, why have you been brought here?"
"Sersi?!" A few new voices joined the fray as several more flashes of light illuminated the room.
"How are you all here?" Sersi asked them.
"Who are all of these new people?" Bruce asked.
"My name is Kingo, and I have to say, it's an honour to meet you, Avengers, isn't it? Truly, an honour."
"Wait, I know you, you're in like a million Bollywood films, you and your ancestors, going back like four generations, right?" Betty Brant asked.
"Yeah, bless them for their accomplishments." Kingo smiled.
"I'm Phastos, and I guess you could consider me a scientist, of sorts." A jolly looking larger man stated.
"I'm Thena." An older, blonde woman simply stated.
"My name's Druig, and this is Makkari." A younger man said, gesturing to a woman next to him. She signed a greeting to the room.
"My name's Sprite." The youngest new arrival said, she seemed to look longingly at the last member, a man stood a little away, a pained and brooding look on his face, especially when he looked towards Sersi.
"What's your name, guy who looks suspiciously like Barnes here?" Sam asked.
"My name is Ikaris." The guy said, flinching away at the glares most of the other new arrivals gave him. Sprite beamed at him, and Sersi looked introspective, but the other glares were downright hostile.
"Like the Greek myth, the man who flew too close to the sun!" Ned marvelled.
"Something like that." Ikaris said, a slight smile breaking on his lips at the thought.
"So, who are you people?" Bruce questioned.
"Well..." Kingo began to speak as the screen continued suddenly, cutting him off. Everyone decided to just let it go for now, they'd probably get answers before too long.
The scene changed to show Tony in a SHIELD uniform, watching as his past self walked past him with Thor, Loki in cuffs besides them, as they headed into the lobby of Stark Tower.
"Is that after New York?" Sersi asked, amazed.
"This must be our heist in action." Steve said.
"It's weird to see two versions of me like that." Tony stated.
"Thumbelina, do you copy, I've got eyes on the prize. It is go time." Tony spoke into his comms.
"Who are you talking about?" Scott asked, missing the reference entirely.
"Bombs away." Scott said as he dropped from Tony's hair down to his arc reactor powering his chest. "Is that axe body spray?"
"Yay, I'm in this!" Scott cheered.
"Well we couldn't have done any of this without you Scott." Steve told him with a smile.
"You're every bit an Avenger as any of us." Natasha nodded.
"A hero." Bruce agreed.
"Yeah I had a can in the desk for emergencies, relax." Tony assured him. Scott told Tony he was entering him as a group of men blocked Thor and Tony from leaving, asking where they were going. Thor asked who they were as Tony explained it was Alexander Pierce, the man above Nick Fury as Thor nodded.
"What a prick." Steve growled.
"WHO IS THAT GUY? HE LOOKS DELICIOUS." Venom spoke up.
"He is...was, the leader of Hydra, a Nazi cult that had survived into the 21st century disguised as SHIELD." Steve explained. "This was before we knew Hydra still existed though."
Pierce demanded that they hand over the Tesseract and Loki to SHIELD, as Tony tried to prevent them, current Tony told Scott to hurry up and give him a mild cardiac arrhythmia and to do it quickly before they could get the Tesseract away.
"Won't that...kill you?" Spider-Man 3 asked.
"Nah, I'll be alright. Wouldn't have suggested it if I thought I'd die." Tony confirmed.
Scott then pulled the pin as past Tony dropped, everyone rushed to help him as current Tony called for a medic, Scott knocked the case holding the Tesseract across the floor as Loki watched in keen interest, current Tony picked it up and walked away, until he was sent flying when Hulk barged through the door, screaming about having to take the stairs.
"Why do I get a bad feeling about the focus on Loki noticing all of this happening?" Thor wondered.
"It can't go wrong now, we need it to go right, we won't get a second shot at all of this." Steve warned.
The Tesseract itself flew to Loki's feet, who bent down in the confusion and escaped with it before the screen faded to another scene.
"What are we supposed to do now?!" Steve cried out.
"We only had one shot and Loki managed to screw it up for us?" Tony seethed.
"Why are we seeing Loki anyway? What does he have to do with all of this?" Clint asked.
"Maybe it's showing us all of the heist?" Scott wondered.
The scene then lit up again with Clint and Natasha climbing a rock cliff on Vormir, to be approached by a floating figure, greeting them as "Natasha, daughter of Ivan and Clint, son of Edith." They asked who he was, he said he was a guide to those who sought the Soul Stone.
"Wait, why the skip from the Loki stuff?" Nat asked, ignoring the fact that there was someone else with her and Clint for now.
"I'm assuming it's only showing scenes either directly impacting Peter, or what is considered important scenes in our own lives." Wong said. "Maybe it skipped what it didn't think we needed to see at the moment."
"Then why did it show us Loki in the first place?" Clint questioned.
"Who's Peter?" Sprite asked.
"Spider-Man." Nebula stated.
"So, what's happened since the Snap, I think you called it, other than the scene of Tony at his house and this one of you failing to get the glowing cube?" Eddie asked.
"I got home with Nebula after weeks of floating in space, being nearly dead." Tony explained. "We reunited, I fell out hard with Steve again. The remaining ones of us went after Thanos once we found out where he was, I stayed home." Tony said.
"He told me I should have gone for the head, just before he snapped. We found out he had snapped again to destroy the stones, so we could never undo what he did. I went for the head this time, killing him." Thor explained.
"We then spent the next five years trying to move on, our loved ones dead, the population of the universe halved." Steve said, eyes haunted by the memories, as those from other universes looked aghast.
"Five years?!" Spider-Man 3 asked, aghast.
"Yeah, we had to move on without those we lost. We grieved, we struggled, and we tried to make the world a better place, a place they would be proud of. Too bad we fucked it all up." Clint said humourlessly.
"You just lost everyone, how did you bring them back?" Spider-Man 2 asked, confused. How did Peter come back? He had looked at all of them, the heroes from his time, they all had a haunted look in their face that the three he knew were from 2023 lacked. Sure, they had the looks of people who had lost everything, once, but they all had a glimmer of hope. The one's from 2024, they lacked that. What had happened to get everyone back and what had happened when they did?
"Eventually I got out of the Quantum Realm, which is this kind of miniature universe my suit draws power from, where I had spent what felt like five hours to me, to be told they all assumed I had Blipped too, and it was five years." Scott told them. "We thought of a plan to use the Quantum Realm to time travel to the past, get the stones before the snap, and use them now to bring everyone back. I guess Steve, Tony and Nat are from just before we actually did the plan, and I guess I should shut up now and not reveal anything else?"
"Probably a wise move, Mr Lang. I suspect whatever or whoever brought us here wants that revealed in its own time." Strange stated.
"Tell us where it is and we'll be on our way." Natasha told him.
"If only..." Bruce whispered. Now they knew where and when it was, the Avengers who had come from 2024 were all crushed. Did they really have to see this, see what happened? Hadn't they already suffered enough with this?
"Ah, Liebchen. (Sweetheart) If only it were that easy." He said, approaching from the shadows to reveal Red Skull.
"HOW IS HE ALIVE?!" Steve yelled, seeing the screen.
"He died. Years ago." Bucky growled, also recognising the man.
"Wanna fill us in on why the two fossils know the man?" Rhodey asked, confused.
"That's Johann Schmidt. The Red Skull." Steve informed them.
"Who?" Eddie enquired.
"Me and Steve are from the 1940's, kinda hard to explain, but we're both here now due to super soldier serums and being frozen for decades. In the 40's, Steve was used by the SSR to fight a group named Hydra. Their leader was the Red Skull." Bucky stated.
"Didn't you kill him in '44?" Sam questioned.
"The Tesseract, it sucked him in on the plane." Steve said, eyes widening as he realised what must have happened if it was an Infinity stone. "It must have taken him there. I'm not sure how he's still alive after all of this time. But if anyone deserves to be remotely marooned for eternity, it's definitely him."
"So why am I sweetheart? Pig." Natasha snorted.
Red Skull led them to the edge of the cliff and said "What you seek lies in front of you. As does what you fear."
"What I fear?" Natasha asked, as Clint's face turned paler by the second. Seeing it, Yelena's gaze hardened. This was it, wasn't it? Where the bastard had killed her sister. Once she heard it, she wouldn't need to kill Barton, Nat would do it herself, she was sure of it. If not, she'd finish him herself, get vengeance for her sister.
"Just watch." Clint said, his voice strained and pained. He couldn't do this, please, don't make him have to do this, relive this again. This was the worst moment of his life. Why did they have to see this?
"The stone is down there." Natasha told Clint.
"Yes, but not in the way we hoped." Clint murmured.
"For one of you, for the other...in order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul...for a soul." Red Skull finished ominously.
"Death." Natasha said grimly. "That's the price of the Soul stone."
"We won't pay it." Steve said abruptly.
"Steve..." Natasha began.
"No. I told Vision in the Compound, we don't trade lives. We aren't doing it here."
"Do we even have a choice? Thanos must be stopped. Whatever it takes." Natasha reminded him.
"It doesn't have to be you." Yelena whispered furiously to her. "Barton deserves it."
"Nobody deserves it, Yelena." Natasha said, raising an eyebrow as she frowned. Was she about to find why Yelena seemed so angry with Clint? It was kinda obvious she died here, with Clint being from the future and she wasn't. She found she was somehow OK with dying, if it saved everyone. It must have done, Yelena was one of those who disappeared. But the level of fury and rage her sister had to the archer, what had happened?
"Jesus. Maybe he's making this shit up." Clint said as he and Natasha pondered their options with Red Skull watching them.
"He isn't." Bruce spoke up, head bowed low. He didn't want to see this either, he had lost so much for this fight. He didn't want to relive those losses.
"No, I don't think so." Natasha said.
"Too smart for your own good." Clint murmured.
"Why? 'Cause he knows your daddy's name?"
"That's low." Nat said to him, no malice in her tone.
"Well I was confused and angry." Clint reasoned.
"I didn't." Natasha explained. "Thanos left here with the stone, without his daughter. That's not a coincidence."
"Couldn't it be, please?" Steve asked. He couldn't watch this, he couldn't see Nat die.
"Whatever it takes, Rogers." Nat told him, seeing the look on his face. "I made my choice a lifetime ago. If this is what's needed to save the entire universe, it's a small price to pay."
"It's not a price you should pay, Natasha." Yelena stated.
"It's a price someone must, and if someone must, it'll be me." Nat spoke in a tone that brooked no arguments.
"Yeah." Clint agreed.
"Whatever it takes." They both told each other.
They both then realised that they both meant themselves to die and the other to live.
"You didn't think I'd just let you off yourself, did you?" Clint asked her, his eyes swimming with tears as they got closer to the event itself.
"Yes, you idiot." She hissed at him. "Why would you even think of yourself dying, you have a family to go back home too!"
"And you don't?" Yelena spat, before Clint could even speak up. "Natasha, I am your sister, Alexei and Melina, they may be idiots most of the time, but they love you as their daughter too. Do you really think any one of us would be happy with you dead? I've hunted Barton here for months, after I was told he was responsible for your death, they know about it, they fully supported me. We all want vengeance for you, why do you think you have no family to come back for?" Yelena asked, looking like someone had ripped her heart out, before turning away from Natasha.
"'Lena..." Natasha began as this time Clint cut her off.
"Natasha, you know what I did, what happened to me, to get us to that point." Clint told her. "I couldn't just let you do it, it was my burden, my price to pay for my family coming back."
"What about Kate?" Natasha asked, looking towards the young woman who looked horror-stricken at what Clint was saying. "Look at her, Clint, really look at her." She begged as Clint tore his eyes from Nat and looked at Kate. "She needs you, and you need her. This, this is the price to pay for what you did, is to help her, teach her, protect her." Nat smiled as Clint's eyes widened. "You don't owe anyone anything, not for what you did or what you'll do, but if you feel you need penance for the time as Ronin, you know, you could do alot worse than helping someone who looks like they're already on their way to becoming a hero to become one."
"Thank you." Clint choked. He had heard from Kate before about how it wasn't his fault, Laura had told him he didn't know how many times. The government had even pardoned him of any and all crimes committed under the mantle of the Ronin, and had worked to bury any notion that Clint Barton, former agent of SHIELD and the famed Avenger Hawkeye, could have been a notorious serial killer like Ronin, but still, he blamed himself, he hated himself. But hearing it from Natasha, a miracle he never could have imagined he could get, maybe he could finally believe it, maybe he could finally look to the future.
"Natasha, you know what I've done. You know what I've become."
"It doesn't matter, not to me, not to anyone who knows you. You've got red in your ledger, we all do. We've all had to take lives before. You did what you did to try make the world a better place, in some sick way, you were doing the right thing, Clint. I can't judge you for that."
"Well I don't judge people on their worst mistakes."
"Maybe you should."
"You didn't." She reminded him.
"Yeah." Natasha laughed, her eyes watering as she realised they must be getting close to it now. "You didn't judge me on my worst, you saw what I could become, what I could achieve with support and for fighting for the right cause, the right reasons."
"Okay. You win." Clint told her as they embraced, before he threw her to the floor. "Tell my family I love them."
"NO!" Kate yelled as she saw that. She hadn't met his family yet, but she knew they were amazing people, they had to be, to be family with someone as amazing and selfless as Clint Barton.
"I'm right here, Kate." Clint winced, digging at his hearing aid.
"Sorry." She muttered as Yelena gave a small laugh at her antics.
"You are so funny, Kate Bishop." Yelena told her. "Like a little puppy dog."
"Hey!" Kate growled at her.
"You can tell them yourself." Natasha told Clint with a sad smile.
"You tell them yourself." She said, shocking him, as the two of them fought, both determined to be the one who died.
"This is the worst thing I've ever seen." Bruce said, horrified. "And I saw the Blip."
"Why does this need to be the price? Isn't there anything else we can do?" Steve begged, aiming his question to anyone and anything that was listening. How had they all gotten there? Surely there had to be some force that could do something, it had brought them there, couldn't it stop this?
Eventually, they both hung from the cliff, Clint keeping Natasha held up, struggling to pull her up.
"Please." Yelena begged, seeing Nat dangling in the air, not wanting to witness this. "Please, don't, Natasha. Please. Think of me, think of all of us. Please. Don't do this."
"Hey." Natasha said, taking Yelena's hands in her own. "Look at me, Lena. I have to do this. Don't you see? I'm doing this FOR you, for Alexei, for Melina, for all of our sisters, throughout the world, for everyone in the world, and in the universe. If my death means you're all safe and happy, I'd pay that price, every time. You know that, don't you?"
"I do, сестра. But please, Nat..."
"It's ok. You'll be fine." Natasha assured her. "You'll be there, for everyone. You'll be there to help them all, I know it." She finished with a smile, pulling Yelena towards her in a hug, both of them crying as they buried their heads in each others hair.
"Natasha, please, we can't, we can't lose you." Steve said to her, as she turned to look at him over the shoulder of her sister. "Please, you can't, you lead this team, you're the one who kept us together, after all of this, you're the reason we all fight on, even now, why we didn't just give up hope on changing all of this, even when it seemed like we should. We...We can't be the Avengers without you."
"You're always going to be the Avengers, with or without me, Rogers." She replied, wiping her eyes as she did. "We will do this, like we do everything, like we've always done everything, we will do it together. Even if...even if I'm gone, you'll do it together, you'll make the world a good place again, I know you all will."
"Let me go."
"No. No, please, no."
"It's okay."
"It's anything but ok!" Betty cried out. She had gained a new respect for the Black Widow having seen her interacting with everyone, how could she possibly think dying was alright?
"We all have our time." Natasha told them.
"But your time doesn't need to be now!" Steve protested. "We can find another way. Anything."
"We can't." Strange simply insisted.
"Please." Clint begged, as Natasha kicked off the wall, Clint losing his grip as she plummeted to the hard stone below.
"NATASHA!" Several voices yelled as they saw her kick away and plummet from the cliff, as she merely grimaced. This was it, this was where her story ended. Steve scowled at the screen as Bruce's eyes turned green in his fury at seeing what had happened to her.
Yelena couldn't tear her eyes away from the scene as they welled with tears again, her mouth turned into a sharp snarl and she turned towards Clint.
"Barton." She said, fire in her eyes as she spoke. "I wanted you dead. So badly. You could not imagine how deeply I craved the end of your existence, I would have taken the chance to kill you for free. But after seeing this, seeing what you did, what Natasha did...I forgive you."
"Thank you." Kate smiled at her sorta friend. She didn't want her partner and her acquaintance to fight. She liked them both, Clint as he was Clint, Yelena as she was odd and headstrong and determined and everything Kate wanted to be, minus the murder assassin part.
"You are a braver one that most, Ms Romanoff." The newcomer called Sersi said, breaking everyone from their reverie for a moment.
"Thanks." Natasha gave her a small smile, her smile not quite reaching her eyes as she took in her own broken form, blood already pooling around her head on the cold, dark rocks of Vormir.
"We will make Thanos pay." Tony said, eyes rimmed red. "He will regret all of this."
"I know he will." Natasha told him. "Whatever it takes, Tony. We can't let this distract us. We have to do it."
Clint then was enveloped in light and awoke in a shallow watery pool, the cliff in the distance and the stone in his hand.
"I'm sorry, Clint." Natasha said, seeing the look of raw pain on his face on the screen, mirrored on him now in the room.
"It was my fault. I couldn't save you, I couldn't stop you." Clint moaned, putting his head in his hands, as Natasha rubbed his back soothingly.
"It was my choice, do you hear me? Mine. I make my own choices."
Spider-Man 3 winced at those words, reminding him of something that someone else had once said to him.
"Next, we will cut to after you have achieved your task and have used the Stones to restore the universe to balance, returning the half that had vanished." A new voice spoke up, but looking around, nobody could quite tell who had said it.
The scene cut to Thor, Tony and Steve all approaching Thanos, preparing to attack him, as he thanked them for getting the stones for him and giving him a new purpose, to entirely destroy the universe and rebuild a new one, grateful to him. Thanos told them that the new universe wouldn't know what it had lost, as the Avengers wouldn't be alive to tell them.
"He's completely unhinged." Phastos said, gasping.
"I knew he was bad, but this..." Druig muttered.
"We should have helped. We should have tried to stop him." Makkari signed.
"How would any of us have helped?" Ikaris spoke up softly, as the rest of the Eternals looked at him, glaring, Ikaris winced, as Sprite pursed her lips.
"I'm with Ikaris on this, what would we have done? We did what we were told too."
"Of course you're on his side." Kingo grinned teasingly as Sprite flushed and Ikaris looked confused.
"How would you have helped anyway?" Steve asked them.
"I'm sure it'll be explained later on." Sersi spoke up. "There's no need to go into it yet."
"She's right, we do need to get through this." Nebula stated.
"I'm still confused as to how all of us are here and why we are here exactly?" Quill asked.
"We're here because we all know Spider-Man, the new guys, not so much sure as to if they know him personally or not like we do, but we all knew him." Tony explained.
"His name's Peter Parker, we all knew him, now, thanks we think to the wizards, we don't. Hoping this will explain why and how we can fix it." MJ summed it up before the scientists in the room could start pontificating on how and why it was all happening.
"God, I'm sorry I missed that part." Scott said, gesturing to the three of them confronting Thanos.
"Where were you or any of the others anyway?" Steve asked. "It can't have just been us three against him."
"We were in another area, I'm sure we'll show up in a few moments." Rhodey explained.
The three of them began to battle Thanos as elsewhere, Nebula killed her past self to save Gamora and Clint and Scott struggled to save Rhodey, Bruce and Rocket.
"Well, that was something." Rocket said as he watched Nebula kill herself.
"She was a fool and an idiot." Nebula simply said. "She refused to see what could be, clinging to her foolish notions that what she had could somehow become better."
Tony was knocked out by Thanos and Steve thrown to the side as Thor continued to engage, before Thanos tried to drive Stormbreaker into Thor's chest himself.
"Tony!" Steve shouted, seeing his friend knocked to the side.
"I'm alright, Cap. You know I'll shake it off, I always do." Tony gave a wry grin as Steve settled down. Tony would be fine, he was impossible to kill after all. Surely they were lying about him being dead in the future, right?
As Thor struggled to keep it away, Mjolnir rose from the ground.
"Yes, call it to you Thor!" Kate yelled, being one of those in the room that didn't know fully what had occurred.
"You're about to send him flying, Thor." Steve smiled.
"Well, someone is." Thor replied mysteriously.
It flew through the air and struck Thanos, before flying back into the hand of Steve.
"STEVE?!" Tony and Natasha shouted, stunned.
"I guess I decided to actually use it this time." Steve shrugged.
"What do you mean, this time?" Tony asked him.
"Back before Ultron, when we all tried to lift it? I always could, I just decided not to do so, figured I didn't have the right to do so, plus I didn't want to show Thor up."
Thor then cheered before Thanos kicked him in the head, turning to face Steve, who began to beat Thanos, until Thanos managed to catch him out and send him flying, smashing the shield into pieces. Steve rose, to see Thanos' army had arrived to back him up, all the Avengers were down and Steve strapped his shields remains to his arm, lifted Mjolnir and prepared to fight the entire horde alone.
"Steve, you idiot, what are you doing?" Tony hissed at him.
"I can do this all day, Tony. If I had to fight them alone, I will." Steve said.
"You know, with this, and lifting the hammer, there's something I've known for years really, but not had the chance to say to you. When we first met, I said everything special about you came out of a bottle, but I was wrong. Captain America may be what you can do, but Steve Rogers is who you are. You were already special, possibly one of the most special people to ever live, before any serum went into you." Tony admitted.
"Steve has never backed down from a fight he knows he can't win." Bucky told them. "This just further proves it, he won't ever stop."
"I always knew Captain America was a hero, but this, this is next level." Abe whispered to the rest of the Midtown graduates.
"He's badass." Flash and Betty both said.
"I MUST ADMIT, THIS ONE IS A REAL HERO. IT WOULD BE AN HONOUR TO FIGHT ALONGSIDE HIM." Venom spoke up.
"Yeah, he really looks the part." Eddie nodded.
"Hey Cap do you read me? Cap, it's Sam, can you hear me? On your left." A voice spoke in his comms.
"Now that is a badass entrance." Spider-Man 2 said as they watched the heroes of Earth begin to arrive to aid Steve and the other Avengers at the Compound.
Portals opened up as T'Challa, Shuri and Okoye walked out, followed by Sam flying through another. Doctor Strange opened on on Titan as Mantis and Drax rushed through, followed by Quill flying in and then Peter webbing in, unmasking as he landed.
"Yay, we're in this now!" Quill cheered.
"I look terrifyingly strong." Drax stated.
"Peter!" The Midtown lot cheered. Tony stared longingly at the screen, seeing his protege happy and healthy again. What he wouldn't give for Peter to be with them now, in the room, with his friends, happy and healthy.
The forces of Wakanda filed through with Bucky and Groot, followed by Ravager ships and Asgardian warriors, Valkyrie riding a Pegasus, Korg and Miek ready to fight with Wanda landing next to them. Sorcerers came in, with Hope and Howard the Duck, Pepper even arrived in the Rescue armour as Strange asked Wong if that was everyone.
"Is...Is that a duck?" Everyone asked.
"I don't recall seeing him in the battle. He must have skipped around and vanished pretty quickly during the fighting." Strange stated.
"I think I've seen him before, he was with the Ravagers when he came in, I assume he must have been associated with them." Rocket said.
"I am Groot." Groot stated, wisely.
"Pepper." Tony said, eyes shimmering, as he saw his wife wearing the suit he made for her, the suit he assumed she'd never wear. "Who is looking after Morgan?"
"I was." Happy reassured him. "I'd never leave Morgan alone."
"What, you wanted more?" Wong spat back.
"Could we have even gotten more?" Wanda asked.
"I doubt it, we stretched it pretty thin." Strange remarked.
Scott emerged in giant form with Bruce, Rhodey and Rocket. The forces of Earth began yelling as Thanos looked worried.
"Yeah, you better be worried, because we're coming for you." Steve growled.
"You won't win this time." Tony vowed.
"You'll fall, like all tyrants do." Natasha promised.
"AVENGERS!...Assemble." Steve said as the forces of Earth charged, Thanos' forces also charging at a sign from him, as the Battle of Earth began.
"Here it goes, the coolest event to ever happen in history, ever." Kingo grinned.
Kate nodded her head, this was definitely the height of coolness. How could anybody think otherwise?
"What about the Deviants and killing all of them?" Druig whispered to Phastos.
"I mean, I don't consider murder to be cool, even it if its against Deviants." Phastos gave him a glare. "I just want to know why I'm here and how I can get back to my son."
M'Baku screamed "DIE!" as he attacked an outrider, Hulk throwing a Chitauri warrior as Scott punched a Leviathan clean out of the air himself. T'Challa, Shuri and Okoye took out some outriders, as Drax and Korg teamed up on one, Pepper and Tony worked together, going back to back to blow up one of Thanos' smaller ships as well.
"Damn, Pepper is a badass." MJ marvelled.
"There's a reason she runs Stark Industries, she's far more capable than I could ever be." Tony said proudly. Pepper was the best person he knew, she could never lose his faith in her.
"So glad to see my friends work together!" Thor boomed happily, seeing the Drax and Korg tewam up.
Steve and Thor fought side by side, swapping back Stormbreaker and Mjolnir when they each held the other, before Tony, about to be hit by a big outrider, had him pulled away by Peter before Scott stepped on them.
"Peter's back!" Ned cheered.
"It's a shame we won't ever get to have an arachnid teamup." Natasha sighed.
"You will, somehow." Steve said. "Whatever it takes to make it happen, you will."
"Peter saved me." Tony said, eyes widening. "That's my boy."
"Not his father my ass." Sam chuckled as Bucky nodded.
"Hey! Holy cow! You would not believe what has happened, you remember when we were in space and I got all dusty and I must've passed out, because I woke up and you were gone. But Doctor Strange was there, right? and he was like it's been five years. Come on, they need us and started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time." Peter was cut off by Tony hugging him, sinking into the hug, remarking that it was nice.
"Peter!" Tony yelled suddenly as his mind was bombarded by the last few memories he was still missing.
"Tony?" Steve asked, confused.
"I remember everything, Steve, God, I really did a number on the kid, didn't I? I pressured him to come fight you, I ignored him for months, I took away his suits instead of trying to train him, god, why did he even bother coming to work with me in the lab all those times? What sort of man am I, taking someone as special as Peter for granted? For neglecting him at every turn, I said I'd be a better father than my dad was to me, and I like to think I have been with Morgan, and although he isn't mine, the kid is as good as mine, and I fucked up so much with him." Tony moaned, putting his head in his hands.
"You didn't fail him Tony, not at all." Strange said. "I could tell just from Titan that you cared for the kid. He knew the stakes, and he loved you, make no mistake about it."
"Aww Irondad and Spiderson!" Betty cheered, trying to diffuse the tension.
"The what and what?" Tony asked, face turning red as everyone else laughed at the reaction and the phrase the journalist intern had coined.
"You're his Irondad. He's your Spiderson. It's simple." Matt couldn't keep a grin off of his face as he explained it to the bewildered Tony.
"Were we ever like this?" Spider-Man 2 whispered to Spider-Man 3.
"I'd love to say no, but we're still this nerdy." He replied as Spider-Man 2 scowled.
Clint rushed with the gauntlet as they tried to get it to Scott and Hope who were trying to fix the quantum tunnel in the van, Thanos moved to stop T'Challa, as Clint passed it on to him, as Wanda intercepted them, telling Thanos he had taken everything from her. When he remarked he didn't know her, she told him he would, before using her powers to lift him into the air, stripping away his armour and crushing him.
"Kick his ass little witch!" Thor cheered as Wanda blushed. It had felt good and right to do that to Thanos, he had taken everything she had held dear at the time, and he deserved far worse than what she had managed to do to him.
As this happened, Peter caught the gauntlet from T'Challa, activating instant kill with his suit as outriders converged on him, slaughtering them all.
"Peter is killing them?" MJ asked, her mouth wide as she saw it, looking around, the others who weren't at the final battle had similar expressions.
"Kid..." Tony said, looking stunned. Sure, being in this battle, against these foes, he could understand him using that feature of his suits, but he never expected to see Peter actually use it.
"I never expected him to take a life like this, he isn't even angry, just desperate." Spider-Man 3 said.
"Well we've seen what desperation can do to someone." Spider-Man 2 said, pursing his lips.
"He did what he had to do." Yelena simply said, looking at the screen. "They wouldn't have stopped, he needed to do it to get through them."
"It's murder!" Kate argued.
"No, it's not. They clearly don't have sentience enough to think, and even if they did, they clearly plan to kill the Spiderling. It is self defence, Kate Bishop."
Thanos ordered his ship to rain fire to get Wanda off of him, slaughtering countless on both sides, as the sorcerers directed shields upwards to protect themselves, Stephen used his own magic to hold back the nearby lake, the banks of it breaching and threatening to flood the battlefield.
"He's a maniac, with no regard for any life than his own." Eddie said, horrified. He had heard how bad this Thanos was, but seeing it in person, it was truly horrific.
"That's Thanos." Nebula said. "My Father was a monster in all ways."
Peter began to be overran and begged for help, as Steve threw Mjolnir, Peter webbed to it and was dragged away, as Pepper and then Valkyrie saved Peter and carried him away, eventually the Pegasus was shot and Peter crashed to Earth, protecting himself as he curled up, clutching the gauntlet to him. Suddenly, the firing stopped as the ships guns aimed skywards.
"Why have they stopped firing at you all? Clearly they were doing a good job at disorienting you?" Ikaris asked quietly.
"Glad they were there to help Peter get that thing away." Ned said.
"Maybe there's something else coming?" Phastos answered Ikaris, refusing to look at his fellow Eternal as he did.
Friday alerted Tony that something just entered the atmosphere as Captain Marvel flew in, smashing through Thanos' ship and causing it to explode, the heroes cheered as Thanos looked concerned, before Marvel landed next to Peter, asking if he had something for her. He handed her the gauntlet, asking how she would get through the forces of Thanos moving on her, as the other female heroes arrived to provide her with backup.
"Is...Is she flirting with Peter?" Flash asked, confused.
MJ scowled at the screen, her eyes burning. She barely remembered Peter still, but still, she knew she liked what she had seen so far, and if she could have the chance...she shook her head, surely she didn't like him like that, did she?
"Seems to be. Bit weird." Bruce remarked. "He's, what, 16? She's in her 40's, easily."
"Well as long as she doesn't try to make any moves on him after all of this." Betty spoke up. "Though all these heroes together, that's a badass scene of girl power."
"Seems a tad forced to me, like why are they all together?" Natasha wondered.
Thanos was blasted aside as he tried to stop Marvel taking the gauntlet to the now working quantum tunnel, throwing his blade, it smashed into it, destroying the tunnel before she could get there, blasting everyone nearby, including herself, backwards as she dropped the gauntlet.
"WE WERE SO CLOSE!" Tony raged, seeing the exploding tunnel. "How do we do it, how do we manage to get the Stones away and save all of these different realities with that?" He turned to Strange. "Tell me, Strange."
"You'll see, Tony." Strange told him. "Just watch."
"She doesn't have the Gauntlet anymore, we have to get it before Thanos does!" Natasha worried.
Tony and then Thor and Steve scrambled for the gauntlet as Thanos went for it, knocking them all aside eventually, Thanos grabbed it as Marvel attacked, he knocked her aside too and went to snap as she pinned his hand, he tried to headbutt her to no avail, eventually he pulled the Power stone from the gauntlet and punched her away with it, putting the stones back, Tony looked to Stephen, still struggling to contain the lake, who raised a single finger in the air.
"He's got the Stones, even she isn't enough to stop him and she looks pretty powerful, how do we do it?" Steve asked.
"Is this it, is this the one we win?" Tony asked.
"It is." Strange confirmed.
"How are any of you going to get it from him? He's too strong!" Eddie remarked.
"I'm sure we're about to find out." Matt told him.
Tony surged forward, grabbing the gauntlet as Thanos easily swept him aside before smirking and declaring "I am...inevitable." and snapping his fingers...to no effect.
"HOW DID IT NOT WORK? ARE THE STONES BROKEN?" Venom asked Eddie.
"I have no idea, pal, just watch." Eddie told him.
Looking around in shock, he saw Tony, on his knees, raise his own hand, the stones now in his own gauntlet, power surging through him.
"Tony..." Natasha said sadly. They knew how powerful those Stones were, how hard it would be to wield them, just doing this, she didn't want to think on it.
"You know, Tony." Steve spoke up, as a shocked Tony turned to look at him. "When you said everything special about me came from a bottle, I told you that you weren't a hero, you wouldn't make the play. I was wrong. You truly are a hero, Tony, the best of us even, when you want to be. This is you, being Earth's best defender." Steve said with a sad smile as Tony gave him a grateful nod.
"And I...Am...Iron Man." Tony said, snapping his own fingers.
"Tones..." Rhodey said, his eyes filling with tears as he thought back to what was about to happen, what had happened to him.
"I'm still here, Rhodes. I promise, I won't go anywhere." Tony said to his best friend, wrapping an arm around him.
"I should have been there." Happy grumbled.
"No, you were with Morgan, believe me, that's more important to me than anything else, Happy." Tony assured him. "My daughter needed protection, there's nobody I would trust more than my Forehead of Security on that."
"Thank you, Tony." Happy choked.
"You're a brave man, Mr Stark." Spider-Man 2 told him.
"Thanks Spidey. I'm sure your Tony thinks you are too."
"Never met a Tony Stark, but I'd like to think if I have one, he's as brave as you are." Spider-Man 2 stated.
Thanos' forces began to turn to dust and vanish themselves around the heroes, as Thanos sat down on a rock, the sun rising over a grateful universe, as he faded to dust too.
"That's what you get, it's what you deserve." Sprite spat at the image of him fading away.
"Your daughter? She's very angry." Yelena told Sersi who looked stunned.
"Sprite's my sister if anything." Sersi told her.
"She's not wrong, it's all he deserves, to be nothing, to be gone from our lived and to no longer threaten the world." Steve growled.
"I hated him for the longest time, but seeing him go, all I can feel is sadness as well as relief." Nebula told the other Guardians, who nodded, understanding how conflicting this must be for her.
Tony stumbled to a nearby spot and collapsed, as Rhodes approached, he looked Tony over and cried, before Peter arrived.
"This is going to crush the little Spiderling." Yelena remarked.
"Shouldn't we be like, quiet?" Kate hissed at her as everyone else bowed their heads in sadness at what they knew would happen.
"Mr Stark? Hey! Mr Stark, can you hear me? It's Peter. Hey. We won, Mr Stark. We won, Mr Stark. We won! You did it, Sir! You did it! I'm sorry, Tony." He cried as Pepper pulled him away, Rhodey taking Peter aside.
"WHY ARE YOU APOLOGISING, IT ISN'T YOUR FAULT!" Tony screamed at the screen. "Look, I get he can't hear us, but whatever brought us here, surely you, whatever you are, can get a message to him? Let him know, it isn't his fault. I did this, I do this, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat to save everyone and everything. I'm just sorry for one thing, and that's that I won't get to see my kids reach the potential I know they have."
Tony, I may not remember Peter, but I know Morgan. She knows you're watching over her. She's proud of you, so proud." Happy told him, tears stinging his eyes. "We all know you wouldn't have done what you were gonna do if-" Happy cut off.
"If? If what?" Scott asked as Happy's eyes widened and he shook his head.
"If Peter wasn't going to be there." Happy finished with a bright smile. "I remember."
"You remember him?"
"It's hard to say, definitely bits. There's some that feel like blanks still, I-I don't think I remember it all, but I do remember the kid. How brave he is. How much like you he can be. How wide his heart is. He's a hero, Tony, and that, at least partially, that's on you."
"Thanks Happy, but it's all on the kid, he's the best of us." Tony insisted.
"I just hope we were all there for him after this. He's just reunited with his mentor only for him to die before him." Hope said. "The kid is gonna need alot of support through all of this."
"He'll get it." Steve vowed, as everyone else made mental vows to be there for Peter too when they got back.
"FRIDAY?" Pepper asked.
"I don't know how Pepper does it." Tony said. "Even now, strong enough for both of us, that's my wife." He smiled. "That's who Morgan will take after, I hope. Not a playboy idiot, but a strong, intelligent and brave woman."
"Life functions critical."
There wasn't a dry eye now in the room as they watched the final moments of the great Tony Stark, Tony himself just watched the screen with a growing sense of numbness. If this was how he had to go out, he could think of worse ways to go.
"Tony? Look at me. We're gonna be okay. You can rest now." Pepper assured him, as Tony's eyes became vacant and the light on his reactor went dark.
"I'm sorry." Tony whispered, staring at Pepper. "I'm so sorry."
All around them, the heroes of Earth looked at their fallen comrade and took a knee as Pepper kissed Tony's cheek one final time, before crying into his chest.
"Why are you all doing that?" Tony asked, perplexed.
"If anyone deserved this mark of respect, you did, Tones." Rhodey explained. "You and Natasha both."
Clint reunited with his family as Ned and Peter greeted each other at school, Scott, Cassie and Hope sat together on a porch, watching fireworks going off, a scene no doubt repeated throughout the universe. It showed other reuniting with their loved ones, the royals of Wakanda watching the country below celebrate.
"The universe, at peace once more." Sersi whispered, her eyes shining, but not from sadness, from joy this time. Seeing this, the celebration of life and love that she knew would be being repeated throughout the universe, she couldn't contain it. This, this is what the Eternals fought for, what Ajax was willing to risk the wrath of Arishem for, and what she would continue to fight for. Her and the others. Even Ikaris would come around on it, she was sure.
"I'm back!" Ned said, his cheer lacking some of the usual happiness within it. Now he had seen this, now he knew what Peter had lost, what his friend had gone through...it hurt him. Only Tony seemed to fully remember Peter, at least from the ones from his universe, and wasn't that crazy enough that there were other universes? But Ned hoped this would be the start of him fully remembering, and not just the few flashes he had already gotten.
"We're all back loser, wonder where the rest of us are though?" MJ tried to tease, her tone was missing that dry wit though, it just sounded sad now.
"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 you get it back, and some version of the planet has been restored, if there ever was such a thing. God, the universe now. If you'd told me ten years that we weren't alone, let alone even to this extent, I wouldn't have been surprised, but come on. Who knew, that epic forces of darkness and light that have come into play. For better or worse, that's the reality that Morgan's gonna have to grow up in. So I figured I had better record a little greeting, in case of an untimely death, on my part, not that death at any time isn't untimely. This time travel thing that we're gonna try pull off tomorrow, it's got me scratching my head about this survival thing. Then again, that's the hero gig, part of the journey is the end. What am I tripping over, it's all going to work out exactly the way it's supposed too. I love you three thousand." Tony spoke, addressing Morgan directly, as she, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, Thor and Steve watched his final farewell.
"That was beautiful, Mr Stark." Betty said.
"Well for final words, I have to say, not too shabby." Tony teased. "Also, Mr Stark? I think everyone in here has probably earned the right to call me Tony, even Flash Gordon over there."
"Hey!" Flash and Peter both piped up.
"What do you mean, you? He called me that!"
"My name is Flash!"
"Sure it is, Eugene." Cindy laughed.
Tony's original arc reactor floated away on a bed of reeds and flowers, as Morgan and Pepper let it go, whilst it showed the rest of the funeral, Happy and Rhodey together, Steve just behind them, then showing Peter with May and Thor with Bruce. Bruce's arm in a sling. Stephen with Wong. Hope, Scott, Hank and Janet together. The Guardians, Quill, Drax, Mantis, Groot, Rocket and Nebula. Okoye, T'Challa and Shuri. The Bartons, Clint, Laura, Lila, Cooper and Nathaniel, Bucky, Sam and Wanda together. Harley Keener by himself with Secretary Ross behind him with Hill. Captain Marvel stood alone and behind her, stood Nick Fury.
"So I recognise most of you, but who are the others?" Spider-Man 3 asked.
"Well the old man is General Ross, a real dick, Maria Hill, someone who has worked with us before is by him, at the very back is Nick Fury, he brought the Avengers together." Clint explained. "The people with me are my family, those...those who Natasha helped bring back, not too sure on who the kid is though."
"Harley Keener. He helped me with the whole Mandarin business." Tony told them.
"The two old folk with us are Hope's parents." Scott cheerfully supplied as Hope elbowed him.
"Remember, you have to return the stones to the exact moment you got them or you're gonna open up a bunch of nasty alternative realities." Bruce explained to Steve, Sam stood with them, as they looked at the Six stones.
"So, this is us returning them, wonder why I'm off alone?" Steve asked as Sam and Bucky looked awkwardly between themselves.
"You were the only one up to the job, plus you had to return the hammer." Sam told him, shaking his head at Bucky as Bucky went to open his mouth.
"Don't worry, Bruce. Clip all the branches."
"I did clip them all, didn't I? Will I finally see why I'm apparently gone?" Steve asked.
"Yeah, pal." Bucky said, putting his hand on his shoulder. He understood why Steve did what he did, really, but the consequences of it, how it fucked up for everyone, he just couldn't get how Steve of all people couldn't see what him disappearing would cause.
"You know I tried. When I had the gauntlet, the stones, I really tried to bring her back." Bruce told Steve sadly. "I miss her, man."
"We all do, Bruce." Clint told him, patting Bruce's arm.
"I'll miss all of you too, Bruce. You guys, as well as Yelena, Alexei and Melina, you're my family." Natasha stated.
"We know, we're all family." Bruce smiled ruefully back at her.
"Me too." Steve assured him.
"Exactly." Steve nodded in agreement with his future self.
"You know if you want, I can come with you." Sam told Steve as they walked towards where Bucky was watching and waiting. Steve holding the Infinity stones in a case as Bruce got to work on the Quantum tunnel.
"I guess you couldn't, I guess I need to do this myself?" Steve asked, before a thought occurred to him. No, he didn't, did he?
"You're a good man, Sam." Steve told him. "This one's on me, though."
"Yeah, I think it is." Steve said, holding back a half laugh and half sob as he realised what his future self was about to do. Is it something he could do though? Is it something he should do? He wasn't too sure on either of those questions.
Approaching Bucky, Steve told him to not do anything stupid until he returned. Bucky asked how he could, Steve was taking all the stupid with him.
"I think I might be about too." Steve whispered as Natasha and Tony both got an inkling of what Steve was about to do as well. They looked towards him in shock.
"Gonna miss you, buddy." Bucky said as they hugged.
"I still do." Bucky whispered to Sam.
"I think he's figured it out Buck." Sam said, as Bucky turned to see Steve staring at them both wide eyed.
"Yeah, I think he has." Bucky agreed.
"It's gonna be okay, Buck." Steve reassured him.
Steve got up and walked over to Bucky and Sam, grabbing both of them into a hug, despite their objections.
"It's going to be okay, no matter what." He assured them.
"How long is this gonna take?" Sam asked as Steve stepped onto the platform, Mjolnir awaiting him.
"Well that's the thing." Steve laughed to them.
"For him, as long as he needs. For us, five seconds." Bruce informed Sam.
"A very long five seconds." Bruce muttered.
Bruce then sent Steve off, as Steve cast a last glance at Bucky, Bruce dialled it in to return Steve, as nothing happened. Sam panicked and asked what had happened, Bruce said Steve had blew past his time stamp, Sam demanded Bruce bring him back as Bruce tried, Bucky walked away and looked at a nearby hill, before calling for Sam. Sam headed over to see a figure sat on a bench in the distance.
"Wait...is that Captain Rogers?" Abe asked.
"Maybe." Sam gave a small smile. "I thought Captain Rogers was on the Moon though?"
"The Moon?" Steve asked mirthfully.
"The rumour that seems to be the accepted version of what happened to you. Either dead or on the Moon." Bucky murmured to him as Steve laughed.
The two of them left Bruce and headed over, stopping a short way off. Bucky smiled as he told Sam to go ahead. Sam approached the elderly man sat with a large case, as the man turned, to reveal he was Steve.
"What the actual fuck." Flash said, stunned.
"How did this happen?" Betty asked, the secret of what happened to Steve been largely hidden to the public.
"Damn, you got old, Rogers." Natasha teased him.
"I've always been old." Steve blithely shot back with a grin.
"You know when I said you needed to get a life, not sure this is exactly what I had in mind." Tony told him. "But I'm happy for you, Steve, if you were happy, so am I."
"Am I happy?" Steve asked his two friends who seemed to know him best.
"Yeah, you are." Sam nodded.
"You may want to brace yourself for something though." Bucky teased him.
"Hi Sam." He greeted his old friend warmly.
"It looks so weird to see myself looking like that." Steve mused.
"So, did something go wrong or something go right?"
"I'm not sure how I'd class this, whether it's wrong or right." Steve told them.
"Well, after I put the stones back, I thought maybe I'll try getting some of that life that Tony was telling me to get."
"If anyone else deserves it, Capsicle, it's you." Tony assured him.
"How did that work out for ya?"
"Well, from what I can see, it seemed like it worked out pretty well, all things considered." Sam chuckled.
"It was beautiful." Steve explained.
"Aww." Betty, Hope and Sersi all said.
"Blergh." Thena stated.
Sam explained he was happy for Steve, just sad he would have to live in a world without Captain America anymore.
"I think he may have a plan for that." Tony laughed.
"That reminds me." Steve said, moving the large case to Sam, pulling out the shield. "Try it on."
"If anyone deserved it, Sam, it's you." Bucky reassured him, seeing Sam glance at the floor at that. "I think you've proven it by now."
"Thanks Buck." Sam smiled at him.
Sam looked over to Bucky, who nodded to him, before taking it.
"It's his." Bucky spoke up before anyone could ask why he didn't take the shield. "I'm tired of fighting, tired of war. Sam, he's a good, no, a great man, he IS Captain America."
"How does it feel?"
"It took me a while to find out a proper answer to that." Sam told him.
"Like it's someone else's."
"It isn't." Steve told him.
"It really isn't." Steve smiled at Sam. "It's yours, Sam, when I do give it up, which I will do one day I feel, it's yours."
"Thanks, Steve." Sam flashed him a return grin.
Sam thanked him for the chance and promised to do his best as Steve shook his hand and said it was why it belonged to Sam. Noticing a ring, Sam asked Steve if he wanted to tell him about her. Steve said he didn't.
"Coy to the end, eh, Rogers?" Natasha told him, as Steve beamed at her.
"I learnt it from one of the best."
The scene then cut to a suburban 1940's home, as Steve and Peggy slow danced before kissing. The screen then cut to black.
"Aww, at least you got your happily ever after." Betty said.
"Sucks you left your friends behind though for it." MJ stated.
"So, heroes, do you want to see who has chosen you? I have heard a few of you ask why you're here and how, after all." A voice said, seemingly from the ceiling.
"I'm going to assume you're whoever has taken us from where we were and brought us here?" Strange called.
"Yes, Stephen Strange. I am the one who summoned you all, for the greatest challenge you have all ever faced. Saving your reality."
"Who are you? What about us from other universes?" Eddie asked.
Another light flashed in the room, blinding everyone momentarily, as they looked, they saw a man floating above them, wrapped in purple robes, with an oversized head.
"This is about making every life here better, as a reward for the heroics of everyone in here." The new figure said. "I need heroes, and so, you were all chosen."
"Who are you?" Thor demanded to know of the newest arrival.
"I am the Watcher."
Far From Home time! Will be bringing in more people to the fic at the end of NWH for Phase 4, those people will be: Loki, Sylvie, Shang-Chi, Katy, Xialing, Marc Spector, Carol Danvers, Vision, Sharon Carter.
THAT DOCTOR STRANGE TRAILER!