Somewhere behind Katya there was a sonic boom, letting out a wave of energy that all but leveled the battlefield. It had come from vaguely the same direction Peter'd gone, so she sprinted directly into it, searching desperately for his red and blue form. What she found, of course, was pure chaos, half of the fighters- both alien and not- still recovering from the shockwave. Katya found Peter's form, barely able to stand but no visible wounds, and beelined towards him.
"Pauchok!"
He turned immediately, "Myshka!"
They hugged each other, brief but hard, before Peter pointed towards what he'd been watching before she'd called his name.
It was an onslaught of Avengers- Thor, a woman with cropped hair, Captain America's shield was seen at one point- all trying to fight Thanos, to keep him away from the gauntlet.
"Don't just stand there!" She cried, urging him forward with her hand between his shoulder blades- Tony was fighting him now, both hands around Thanos's failed to pull it off, and went skittering across the floor. "Let's go!"
The two of them ran closer- once again, with no plan-, as seemed to now be Thanos surging with power.
"I…am….inevitable." They were behind him, but Katya could hear the smirk in Thanos's voice. He snapped his fingers-
And nothing happened.
Katya felt Peter squeeze her hand and he pointed off to the side, where Tony was now kneeling, the Iron Suit's hand lit up by the infinity energy from the stones was slowly decimating it. The smell of melted metal and singed flesh began to fill the air. Haggard, exhausted, and wounded, Tony somehow found the strength to say-
"And I-" Katya could tell he was trying his best to stay steady, but was already wavering.
"Am" A wince slipped through, the flesh smell growing stronger.
"Ironman."
He snapped his fingers.
Immediately, all of the enemies began to dissolve, including the war dogs and the Chitauri whales. Ashes filled the air as the battle ended, all of the adversaries turned to dust.
A sudden silence engulfed the battlefield.
Tony collapsed. Katya sprinted towards him, pulling Peter along, with some difficulty at first, before he matched her pace. Katya vaguely registered Thanos dissolving as they sprinted past.
"Tony!" She cried, skidding to a stop. Peter nearly ran into her.
"Mr. Stark?"
Rhodey was already there, his metal hand caressing Tony's exhausted face. Katya crouched down next to him. "Hey," her voice was shakier than she'd like to admit. "Can you hear me? It's Katya-"
"And Peter, it's Peter, we're here-"
That stupid hot, wet feeling was scrabbling at her eyes again, and she tried to wipe them away but just succeeded in smearing her face with ash. Tony was leaning against some rubble, staring blankly ahead- conscious, but barely. It was as if his soul had already been sucked out of him.
"Hey-" Katya tried again, shoving down the painful twist in her chest that managed to make it through he adrenaline and grabbing his hand. "We won, Tony. We won."
"Mr. Stark?" Peter's voice was shaky as well. "Mr. Stark?! We won, you did it, sir-" He choked up.
"You did it." Katya was surprised she managed to echo, her voice sounding suddenly so foreign and far away from the panicked pulsing in her ears. This couldn't be happening- Tony was the strongest man she knew- what was she going to do without-
She threw herself at him in a hug, unthinking. She knew he was going. No one could've survived that snap. "I'm sorry," She whispered into his ear, but she felt hands prying her off of him. She let them- they were Peter's- the both of them now openly crying. "I'm sorry…" She didn't know what she was sorry for- for what, not being there? Helping more? Taking the gauntlet for him? There had to have been something more she could've done. Should've done.
Peter helped her to stand and she immediately buried her face in his chest, willing the crying to stay tame and not turn into the sobs she felt were on the verge of coming. His own shaking chest wasn't helping much- of course his hug reassured her, but to know that he was in pain, too, and Tony was- there were no two ways about it- dying-
Pepper leaned down to him next, holding the hand that Mr. Stark held over his own arch reactor. "Tony, we're going to be okay." Her voice was so hurt, but sounded so strong. "You can rest now."
And Tony's arch reactor went dark.