Hey guys, sorry for the long wait.

A thought for William Hurt (Thaddeus Ross's performer and who has starred in many movies) who passed away on March 13, 2022. RIP William Hurt.

I apologize for not updating this story for a while. I had lost the inspiration and motivation to write. Between my job which takes all my time, with very little free time to write, tiredness prevented me from having the motivation to write.

I am happy to have been able to write this new chapter in this story that I intend to go to the end.

Good reading!

Chapter 5: Back to the Earth

After Thanos died, all our heroes had left the unknown planet aboard their respective ships.

On the way back to Earth, none of them uttered a word. All were devastated by grief, dismay, horror and uncertainty.

Star-Lord and Wanda were always angry. Both stared at the space with sinister looks. Team Flash and Arrow were at their worst. The mines defeated, none uttered a single word.

The rest of the Avengers were also silent. Yelena felt a wave of sadness. She had just found her "sister" and had lost her again. And for ever. With empty eyes, the Black Widow lowered her head on her lap without saying a word.

Alex was in a catatonic state. She stared at her hands with a numb air, seeing her sister dissolve into dust before her eyes. She still saw the face of Thanos proclaiming to them in the face: "…the work is done. it always will be." Thanos had exterminated half the universe, and he had arranged for it to remain so. All those heroes were gone forever. The Avengers, Green Arrow, Supergirl. Kara! Her sister, Kara! She couldn't believe what was happening. She couldn't believe Kara was missing. She didn't know how to move on without Kara. She thought about what she was. The DEO, her current life. She got all this from Supergirl. By her sister Kara.

She remembered what she once said to Maggie Sawyer, her ex-fiancee:

"I have always felt so responsible. Like, weight of the world responsible. And my parents always relied on me to watch over my sister, so the few times that I've ever did anything for myself, it ended badly. And then Supergirl went missing and I just, I blew a gasket and…"

"Because Supergirl's your sister," Maggie said, understanding what Alex was talking about.

Every time Supergirl disappeared, she always ended up coming back. But this time, she would not come back. Just when she finally found her place between her human life and that of super-heroine. Why did things have to turn out this way? What was Alex going to do next?

During the spacewalk, Peter Parker remained silent. He wanted to bring comfort to his allies, but could not find a word. He looked at Alex, lost in her grief and thoughts. For a moment he thought of trying to cheer her up, but J'onn had gently approached him and with a simple look, waved to him not to say anything.

Once landed on Earth, the heroes had divided. The Avengers went back to see if they could help in the chaos the planet was in. Iris West-Allen did everything to comfort Felicity who was mourning Oliver's disappearance. Defeatist looks, Teams Arrow and Flash were back on Earth – 1. Yelena stayed in Wakanda, not knowing what else to do. Very few Black Widows had survived the decimation and she didn't know where to look for them. She didn't know how to honor her sister Natasha's last words.

Peter said goodbye to the heroes with a defeatist look. After greeting the Avengers and the heroes of the Earth – 1, he went to see Alex. The young woman then held him in her arms.

"Go home, Peter," she said kindly, but with much sorrow. "Go find your aunt and friends. Give them a kiss! Cherish them as long as you can!"

"I am so sorry," said Peter, saddened.

"Nothing that happened was your fault," Alex assured him. "Thanos did all of this. Not you."

J'onn wanted to return to Earth – 38, but Alex refused to return.

"Alex, we have nothing more to do here," the Martian had kindly said to her, but with a sad look. "We need to go home, see what we can do to help our Earth."

"There's nothing to do, J'onn," replied Alex, weepy and full of grief. "Neither you nor I are Supergirl. She's gone. Thanos won. And there's nothing we can't do. Who am I without Kara? Who am I without Supergirl? She was a part of my life, and now, she's gone. No, J'onn, I'm not going home. I don't want to...I don't want to see it. I don't want to know if my mom is still there…if James is still there… I feel like I'm going crazy if I start trying to find them before I realize that Thanos made them disappear too. I want to stay in Wakanda."

"Why do that?" asked J'onn, confused and worried for her.

"I want to stay where Kara disappeared. I want to feel close to her."

Reluctantly, J'onn had returned to Earth – 38 promising to return quickly, while Alex spent her days in Wakanda. Specifically, where her sister vanished. She looked at the immense plain that had been the battlefield against the armies of the Mad Titan. The Hulbuster left by Bruce Banner's disappearance was still there. Wanda had buried Vision's body somewhere in the area. Trees uprooted around her, when Thanos landed. And she remained the place where she had held her sister against her, before she disappeared into dust.

She stayed there for hours, even days. She had lost track of time. One day, T'Challa came to see her in the hope of convincing her to leave this sad place.

"You shouldn't be here," he said kindly.

"I want to feel close to my sister," replied Alex, sitting on the ground, with her eyes lost in her thoughts.

"I know how you feel," replied the king of Wakanda. "Not so long ago, I lost my father. He was killed in a bomb attack. And… I thought I was going crazy. I was so angry I was ready to murder a man in cold blood. And I know that's not what my father would have wanted. Just like your sister wouldn't want you to spend days here doing nothing. You should at least eat something."

"I'm not hungry," replied Alex in a grumpy voice.

"Your sister is no more. But she continues to exist. Not here, but in you. In my culture in Wakanda, death is not the end. She's still with you, as long as you don't forget her."

After a while, Alex started watching T'Challa. She was always demoralized but took into account the words of the king of Wakanda.

"It's just that I don't know how to move on without her," she said. "She was a part of my life. And now…"

"Your life must not end here, Alex," replied T'Challa. "Whether your sister is with you or not, don't let Thanos destroy you and make you what you are not. That's not what Supergirl would have wanted. Living is the best tribute you can give her."

Queens

The beautiful district of Queens was gone. From the moment Thanos snapped his fingers, the world had changed dramatically. And this was visible especially in New York.

Since his return, Spider-Man felt like he was the only one who still existed. He was flying from webs to webs all over New York. But in a city, once full of life and noisy, now silent.

He stopped his aerobatic jumps by standing above a street lamp. He had never seen such calm in all of Manhattan. He still couldn't believe it.

"Why should we be grateful Thanos for that?" said Spider-Man, watching the ghost city.

A noise caught his attention. He jumped up and activated one of his webs to see what was going on.

A grocery store was being robbed. Some traders who had not disappeared could still work. But it was without counting the robbers, taking advantage of the absence of police, to extort the money from their crate.

As they left, Spider-Man swooped in front of them.

"Seriously, guys! The Apocalypse has arrived and you take this opportunity to steal from the brave honest traders?"

"You don't know, dude?" He spit out one of the masked robbers. "There are no police, no prisons, nothing… We are free!"

"I don't think so," replied Spider-Man, waving his web, depriving the robber of his weapon.

In a few moments, all the robbers were tied up and the money returned to their owner.

Before leaving, he waved to the merchants:

"If there are no more prisons, throw them in a landfill!"

And he fluttered away from webs to webs.

…He had Widows implanted all over the world… You should be the one to tell 'em it's over…

These were Natasha Romanoff's last words to her sister.

Ever since she received the counteragent to chemical subjugation from the Red Room, Yelena didn't know what to do with her life. And now she still didn't know.

Before the Snap, she had travelled all over the country in search of submissive Widows. To then free them from bondage. It was hard to find them and tell them that it was over… But today, the task was getting harder and harder. She didn't know how many other Widows had escaped the Snap, and didn't know how to find them. And then what? She was planning to move in with her sister. With Natasha. And she was gone. What was she going to do now?

Yelena returned to a house belonging to a widow who had escaped from the Red Room. But when she got inside, she couldn't find anyone. Looks like the owner of the place disappeared like she did for half the universe. Because of Thanos. She could not believe that such an apocalyptic event had happened. How could half the universe disappear with the snap of a finger? It was amazing!

While thinking about her sister, Yelena sat on a chair and whistled a song that she and Nat shared.

"I miss you, Natasha."

A bell sounded. Since her return to Earth, she had maintained contact with the remaining Avengers she had met. She received a message explaining that she had to go to the superhero compound outside New York. They would have made a discovery.

At the Wakanda Palace, Alex had finally resigned herself to eat something and rest. She thanked T'Challa and his family for hosting her, and hoped that J'onn could return quickly, even if she did not know how to move forward in life without Kara at her side.

"I'm lost without you, Kara. I am… so lost…"

"Alex?"

The young woman turned her head to see J'onn J'onzz in front of her, looking saddened.

"I came back, and I brought someone to our Earth who really wanted to hear from you."

Behind the Martian stood Eliza Danvers, the mother of the Danvers sisters. At the sight of her mother, Alex breathed a sigh of relief and ran to her arms.

"Mom!"

"Oh thank God, Alex, you're all right!" exclaimed Eliza also relieved.

The two women stood together, then Eliza began to observe her daughter, as if she feared that she would have been hurt or wounded.

"Are you all right?"

Alex nodded sadly.

"I am fine. Kara didn't make it. There was nothing I could do…"

"I know, I know." said her mother gently. "J'onn told me what happened. This is amazing!"

"What happened on our Earth?" asked Alex, a little anxious.

"The same as here," replied J'onn, in a sad tone. "On returning to Earth – 38, half the planet had disappeared. Everyone's in chaos. They all hope for the return of Supergirl, even if some are convinced that she disappeared as for the others. I couldn't get through to Superman. I think he's still on Argo City."

"Without Supergirl, I don't know what we can do," replied Alex.

"I was worried to death when I saw people disappear into dust," said Eliza, shocked. "I was worried about you and Kara. For days, I tried to reach you. And since I didn't have any news, I thought you disappeared with half the Earth. I thought the worst for days until J'onn came to me. Alex, I've had the fright of my life."

"I'm sorry, Mom," said Alex, with regret. "I didn't want to go back to our Earth and go crazy looking for you. I was not prepared to face chaos at home."

"Chaos is an understatement for describing the state of our Earth," said J'onn.

"But as I said, what can we do?" replied Alex in despair. "The Stones are gone. Thanos's dead, but he won. There is nothing we cannot do."

"In fact, maybe not," said a voice behind them.

T'Challa had just joined them with an encouraging look on his face.

"I was just contacted by Sam and Bucky. They asked me to join them in the United States."

"Why?" interrogated J'onn confused.

"They would have made a discovery," explained the King of Wakanda. "Scientists working in quantum physics would have discovered something that could change all that. Reverse what Thanos did."

Alex, Eliza and J'onn seemed stunned.

"We have to contact Barry and Queen's allies," said J'onn.

"Where are these scientists?" asked Alex with hope.

"I have already prepared a jet," replied T'Challa. "We can leave now."

Later, there was a whole gathering of heroes at the Avengers. Black Panther had taken the three people from Earth – 38, aboard a Wakanda jet. J'onn called Flash with his allies and those of the Green Arrow. Then the Guardians of the Galaxy came back to their towers. Spider-Man was the last to join them.

At the moment, they had no idea why they were coming to the Avengers.

"It's crazy on our Earth," said Rene.

"It's war," added Dinah, with anguish.

"Is there a way to get Oliver and all the others back?" asked Felicity anxiously.

"Yes, there's a way," said Dr. Strange, who had just arrived.

Yelena then added to the newcomers from two lands:

"There are scientists who have discovered a microscopic world called the Quantum Realm. A subatomic dimension where time and space are frozen."

"I don't understand what you're saying!" exclaimed Rene, confused and annoyed.

"How does that help?" asked Barry.

It was then that Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, and their daughter Hope joined them.

"The Quantum Realm is our only chance to undo this," Hank replied joyfully.

"We can bring everyone back with this dimension," added Hope.

"We've been working for days on this universe where I've been stuck for over 30 years," added Janet. "I know all the time vortex that can lead to different eras."

"Wait a minute," said Cisco. "Are you talking about time travel?"

"I can travel through time, and Nora is from the future," added Barry. "But we can't go back and stop Thanos from snapping his fingers."

"We are not talking about changing the past," Hope corrected him with a warm smile. "We're talking about using the past to improve the future."

Alex then understood what Hope was meant.

"The Infinity Stones are in the past," she realized with wonder. "We could find them, assemble them in the future and bring everyone back."

"Okay. That's a crazy plan, but it's a genius idea," Curtis replied ecstatically.

"It's too schway!" replied Nora in ecstasy.

"We can bring everyone back?" said Spider-Man, with joy. "Mr. Stark? All of the Avengers? This is awesome!"

"I didn't understand anything," said Star-Lord. "When do we start?"

It's done for now.

And we get to the time heist earlier than in Endgame. And the story will take a different turn compared to Endgame. Our heroes will go back in time to find the Stones, but they will face unexpected obstacles.