I don't own anything except any original/own characters and any original plot.

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Chapter 28 - The Head

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"A swen. A swen... A karü. Elora ke Steve... yisel. A vust juh."

Ending the call with my parents I let out a tired groan, rubbing my eyes. Elora cooed from next to me, letting out a baby yawn. I smiled slightly, reaching out to let her play with my fingers. She was more active and curious than I assumed she would be, her human and Orveonian side blending together to create her excitable personality.

In the last 23 days, she was the only thing that brought me and Steve joy. There was nothing else to be happy about. We lost. The gravity of that was crushing, but true.

"What did they say?" Steve rubbed his freshly shaved chin. I reached out and ran my hand over the smooth skin. Steve grabbed my wrist gently, pulling my attention back to him, "Hey. What did they say?"

Shaking my head, I let out a quiet sob, falling into Steve's outstretched arms. Shoving my head into his shoulder, I muffled my cries in his shirt. If Elora figured out that I was upset, then she would cry too.

"Varian and Greer are gone, so are half of my people. The kings are gone and my parents feel as though they need one of their children to lead, not them."

"That means-"

"My parents want me to go home so I can rule in my brother's place. They want you and Elora to come along to show strength but..."

Steve pulled me closer, "I know. We'll figure this out. All of this."

Honesty was always the best policy, but deep down I knew Steve wasn't telling the truth. He wasn't sure what the future held, and without that reassurance, we couldn't figure things out.

Da da da da da.

Elora whined as the room shook. Steve and I shared confused looks, glancing out the window. Something was entering the atmosphere. Taking Elora out of her crib, I held her close as we rushed out of the room.

"You guys feel that too?" Nat questioned, meeting us in the hall.

"Yeah, something's coming. It's not Thanos. Go get the others," Steve ordered, pushing forward.

Following Steve, we stepped out of the facility and into the yard in the back. Nat, Bruce, and Rhodey were just behind us, staring at the ship landing- scratch that, being carried- in front of us.

The hatch opened, and Tony walked out with a blue woman supporting him. The closer she got, the more clear her identity became.

"You," I handed Elora off to Steve, summoning my discs, "You aren't welcome here."

"It's okay Princess, she's on our side," Tony muttered weakly, waving me off. Hesitantly, I dropped my hands, not hiding my dislike of Nebula, "I couldn't stop him."

"Neither could we," Steve traded off Elora again so he could help Tony.

Tony lowered his head in shame, "I lost the kid."

My breath hitched. Peter. He was so young, too young. I had been so worried about him and excited for him to meet Elora. Looking down at the baby, her eyes were trained on Tony. Tony finally looked over and noticed Elora.

"Oh, you had the kid."

"Elora," I introduced her, "But you can meet her properly later. We have other things to worry about."

"Is um..." Tony hesitated.

"Oh my god!" Pepper sprinted to Tony, tackling him into a hug.

"It's okay," Tony whispered, squeezing her head just as tightly.

For the first time in twenty-three days, I thought it could be.

~*~

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth. World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census. And it looks like he did exactly what he said he was going to do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent, of all living creatures," Nat gave the depressing report to Tony after he changed and was hooked up to an IV.

"Where is he now? Where?"

"We don't know," Steve stated truthfully.
"He just opened a portal and walked through."

Tony looked to Thor, who had barely spoken since the snap. Immediately after the snap, he said congratulations when he met Elora, and he cried; stating that Loki would have loved her. Thor the God of Thunder broke down when his honorary niece was put into his arms.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's pissed. He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but there's a lot of that's goin' around, ain't there?"

"All of us failed," I added, "I went into labor. I couldn't even fight."

"Honestly, at this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am," Rocket shrugged casually.
"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep Space scans and satellites and we got nothing."

"Tony, you fought him."

"Who told you that? I didn't fight him," Tony snapped venomously, "No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the stone. That's what happened. There was no fight."

"Any clues? Coordinates, a mention of a planet, anything?" I questioned, shifting Elora to my other arm.

Tony scoffed at the question, "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus," Steve attempted to soothe him in vain.

"And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry. You know what I need," Tony stood, pushing his food off the table, "I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling you two-"

"Tony, Tony, Tony, stop!" Rhodey rushed in front of his friend.

"What we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedom or not- that's what we needed!"

Elora whined at the noise. I winced, rocking her, "You tried that Tony, and we got Ultron instead."

Tony ignored me, "I said, 'We'll lose'. You said, 'We'll do that together too.' And guess what, Cap? We lost. You weren't there. But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers, we're the A-vengers. Not the Prevengers, right?"

"Okay, you made your point. Just sit down, ok?" Rhodey pushed against Tony's shoulders.

"Nah. Here's my point-"

"Sit down!"

"She's great by the way," Tony pointed at Carol, "We need you. You're new blood. Bunch of tired old mills! One of us on maternity leave with an adorable baby. I got nothing for you! I got no coordinates, no clues, no plan, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar."

Steve flinched at the malicious intent of Tony's words. Tony ripped his arc reactor from his chest and shoved it into Steve's hand.

"Here, take this. You find him, and you put that on. You hide."

Tony fell to the ground unconscious. Elora chose that perfect time to begin sobbing. Nearly everyone rushed to Tony's side, attempting to pick him up and move him to one of the beds in the medbay. Steve approached me, gently running his hand over Elora's head while I shushed her.

Just like the old days.

~*~

"Bruce gave him a sedative. He's gonna be out for the rest of the day."

"You guys take care of him. And I'll bring Bezurian Elixir when I come back."

I winced at the thought. They were like whiskey, minus the alcohol content. And I hated whiskey. They burned your throat while going down and filled your body with warmth while giving you an extra kick.

While Tony was being dealt with, Steve and I put Elora down for her nap. She would be out of the equation for at least an hour or two.

"Where are you going?"

"To kill Thanos," Carol shrugged.

"You know, we usually work as a team around here, and between you and I, we're also a little fragile. We realize this is more your territory, but this is our fight too," Nat rushed to catch up to her.

"Do you even know where he is?"

"I know people who might."

"Don't bother. I can tell you where Thanos is," Nebula leaned against the wall, jerking her head to the side to motion for us to go to the meeting room, "Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. Then when he worked, he talked about his great plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask 'Where would we go once his plan was complete?' His answer was always the same: To the Garden."

"The Garden? That monster is on one of the most beautiful planets in the universe?" I scoffed, pulling up the coordinates on one of our holo screens, "It's an unspoken rule that societies don't settle down there. Because of that all the wildlife and nature has been left alone to flourish."

"When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it, but there was a similar blast of energy two days ago from that planet," Rocket added, pointing at the hologram.

Nat stated the obvious, "He used the stones again."

Bruce, being the voice of reason we needed, spoke up, "Hey, hey, we'd be going in short-handed, you know."

"Look, he's still got the stones, so..."

"So let's get him. We'll use them to bring everyone back."

"Just like that?"

"Yeah, just like that," Steve gave Carol a nod of respect.

"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this... I mean we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try."

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?"

Carol shrugged, "Because before you didn't have me."

"Hey, new girl, everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?" Rhodey crossed his arms.

"There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys."

"She's got us there. The Avengers handled Earth, Asgard handled the other realms. That left space unguarded."

At my statement, Thor stood and lumbered over to Carol. Lifting his hand, Stormbreaker flew into it, missing Carol by inches and rustling her hair. Carol didn't flinch and instead lifted a curious brow.

"I like this one."

"Let's go get this son of a bitch."

On instinct, the team dispersed to put on their uniforms. I rushed to Elora's makeshift room, peeking inside to make sure she was still peacefully sleeping. Upon confirmation that she was, I went to find Pepper, still by Tony's side.

"Hey Pepper, we have a chance to undo all of this," I pulled her aside, speaking in a hushed tone in case Tony woke up, "But we need to leave for a few hours. I have milk for Elora in the fridge. She's a really easy baby, and she's down for her nap. Can you watch her while we're out?"

"Of course! Is there anything I should know before I do?"

"Her milk is in the fridge, besides that, I don't have anything. If she does get hungry, she'll go down for a nap after."

"Got it. Good luck. Get them back."

Giving one last glance to Tony, I hurried off. Stopping in the locker room, I met Nat as she zipped up her uniform. Shifting into the base of mine, I hooked on my small pieces of armor.

"Are you going?" Nat looked up from her holster, raising a brow, "What about Elora?"

Clicking my last wrist brace into place, my heart clenched at the name. She was still so little, and if something happened to us on the mission and we missed her growing up- Nothing would. Even with half the team, we were still strong together. Whatever happened, we'd make it out. I wouldn't sit around and be useless.

"Pepper will watch over her," I shrugged, hiding my nerves beneath a reassuring smile. But Nat saw right through it. Not only was she trained to see beneath masks, but she was my closest friend.

Sighing, Nat finished her uniform prep and spun on her heel to face me, "That's not what I meant and you know it isn't. If something happens to you, Elora's going to grow up without her parents. Who will watch over her? Someone on Earth, or something on Orveon? She's a bridge, and you and Steve are the land on either side. She needs that."

"We're going to come back alive."

"And after this mission? Are there going to be more? Another, and another, and another. When are you going to retire and focus on your family? Clint tried so hard to make things work with his, you know that, and even then he had to retire after Ultron because it was too much-"

"I don't know Nat, okay?" I finally yelled, throwing my hands up in frustration, "I don't know what I'm doing, or how things are going to be after this. Books don't compare to actually being a mom. I gave birth three weeks ago. We may heal faster because of our advanced systems, but that doesn't mean I'm not in pain all the time! But that doesn't matter, because all I know is that this mission is a chance to get everyone back."

"Is it worth losing what you have left?"

Without an answer to give, I did one last mental check of my gear and left. Nat was just behind me, but she didn't make conversation on the way to Rocket's ship. I was thankful for that. If she continued pushing, I would have broken down even more. All of my focus had to go into the mission at hand.

Even while trying to bring my focus back, my mind was stuck on what Nat was saying. Steve and I weren't just thinking for ourselves, the Avengers, and the world anymore. We had a daughter. I grew up distant from my parents and left home the first chance I got. The hole that left was terrible. I couldn't imagine putting Elora in that position.

Steve and I hadn't talked about our futures either. The month had been constant damage control, communication, and trying to learn the ropes of parenthood. The now was all we cared about. Not retirement, not buying a house in the countryside, but surviving the chaos.

"You good?" Steve met me on the ramp and walked with me.

"When we get back we need to talk about our futures."

Head tilting, Steve nodded in understanding upon meeting my eyes. Stepping onto the ship together, we sat down in tow open seat near the back. Soon after, Nat stepped on and sat in front of us. Another few minutes and the ship filled up with our team.

"Okay, who here hasn't been to space?" The only person to raise his hand was Rhodey.

Frowning, Rhodey shook his head, "That's not fair."

"You better not throw up on my ship," I sent Nat a pointed look. She scowled back, "Approaching jump in 3... 2... 1!"

I hadn't been through a jump in years, having traveled to and from space solely by the Bifrost. The stomach dropping pressure placed on my entire body was foreign, and unwelcome because I was already uncomfortable from postpartum healing. Though, I wasn't as pale and nauseous seeming as Nat was.

"I hate space," she groaned when we stopped.

"Eh, everything says that at first," Rocket waved off her complaint, "That looks like the right planet."

Carol unbuckled her seat, traveling to the back of the ship. Seconds later, she was outside, helmet on.

"I'll head down for ground recon," she informed us, flying into the planet's orbit.

It became a waiting game. All of us unbuckled and moved to the different main areas of the ship. Steve sat down at the round table. Nat and I sat on either side of him.

"This is going to work Steve," Nat assured quietly.

"I know it will. Cause I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't."

Reaching out, I took his hand in mine. Squeezing it, I let out a slow breath. Pre-mission anxiety. Hadn't felt that in a while.

"No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him." Carol flew back to the ship.

"Then that's enough."

~*~

"Go!"

The team burst through the barriers of Thanos' makeshift home. Carol through the roof, Bruce through the ground, and Steve through the door. After holding him down and slicing off the gauntleted arm, Rhodey and Rocket dropped down, guns aimed at his head.

Through all the focus on the mission, I missed the fact that Steve was wearing his outfit from 2014 when we found Bucky. Whether it was to mourn or avoid the memories that came with his other suit I would ask later.

Walking up the rickety steps, Nat Steve and I formed a triangle of glares that could kill. Rocket kicked the sliced off gauntlet. No stones were inside. It was empty.

"Oh, no."

"Where are they?" Nat hissed, hand going to her thigh holster.

Carol tightened her grip on his neck, "Answer the question!"

"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation," Thanos grit out.

"You murdered trillions!" Bruce yelled, almost furious enough to turn into the Hulk- if the Hulk would be willing.

"You should be thankful," Thanos shot back.

"Where are the stones?" Steve questioned, holding out hope. I shook my head. I knew. Deep down I knew.

"They're gone Steve," I whispered, biting back my tears.

Thanos nodded, adding, "Reduced to atoms."

"You used them two days ago!"

"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But the work is done. it always will be. I am inevitable."

"We have to tear this place apart, he has to be lying." Rhodey held onto irrational hope.

Nebula shook her head, eyes flitting away from and back to her tormentor, "My father is many things. A liar is not one of them."

"Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly," Thanos met my eyes, "Treat your daughter well. She was lucky to survive-"

Before anyone could react, Thor summoned Stormbreaker and sliced off Thanos' head. Hand whipping to my mouth, I gasped. Turning to me, Thor nodded slightly. Protecting Elora's honor was the only excuse he needed to jump into action.

"What... what did you do?" Rocket was speechless, staring at the limp body in front of him.

Turning, Thor meandered out of the shed- no real purpose in his steps, "I went for the head."

Avoiding looking at the gruesome scene, I focused on Nat and Steve. Devastated, both of them. But Nat gave me a look, and as if I could read her mind, I understood.

Elora would never meet Varian, or Greer, or Wanda, Bucky, Sam, Peter.
But she'd have her parents. And I wasn't going to do anything to take that chance away from her.