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

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Chapter 26 - Thanos

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"Everything seems to be in order by both planet's standards. A healthy weight and size, and a regular heartbeat. They should be coming within the next two weeks."

"I want them out. I've been dealing with this for a year and I can't handle it anymore," I grit out, hand pressed against my sore back. I felt the baby move in agreement. Pregnancies were never this difficult on my planet. I blamed Steve.

"I'm glad to hear the baby didn't pick up any of the problems I had before the-" Steve was cut off by his phone ringing. Pulling it out, the happy expression he wore faded, "It's Tony."

"What?" I sat up too quickly for the baby's liking, "Chielo could you give us a moment?"

"Of course, I'll move on to my next appointment."

Steve pressed the phone against his ear. "Bruce? Hang on, what attacked you? Wizards? Okay... Okay. Get to the Avengers compound- Oh that's right you don't know where that is. I'll text the address to the phone. We'll get there asap."

Steve put his phone back in his pocket. Expression grim, he turned back to me, explaining what just happened in New York. Another alien invasion, much faster and focused this time.

"We have to go to Vision and Wanda," I slowly stepped off of the examination table, "He has the Mind Stone, he's in danger. I trust Strange and Stark to handle themselves."

"Right. Call Shuri and have her track them, I'll get the others."

"And I'll get the quinjet."

"What?" Steve stopped, "No, you can't come with us. This is going to be dangerous."

"Yeah, and?" I crossed my arms, raising an annoyed brow, "It being dangerous has never stopped me from doing anything before."

"This is different. You're so close to going into labour, and I don't want anything to happen to the baby if there's a fight."

"I'll stay in the quinjet and keep it in the air until you tell me it's safe then land," I raised my hand, stopping Steve from arguing further, "Even heavily pregnant I can still take you down Steve. Now get going before I rip off your leg and beat you with it. I love you."

I waddled out of the room without another word. Who was Steve to argue with his pregnant wife who just threatened to rip his leg off?

Passing by Nat in the hallway I ordered her to suit up. She didn't ask questions and ran off to follow my orders. When I made it to the extensive landing and launch pad outside I stepped onto the quinjet, our team had been using for the past couple of months since the one we stole had been damaged on a mission.

Settling down in the pilot's seat I waited until Shuri sent me a set of coordinates to put them into the computer. Slowly but surely the rest of the team trickled on, with Steve stepping in last since he was the one who was making sure people were on time.

"Alright, taking off and setting fastest course," I announced, flipping the necessary switches, "Autopilot is set. We'll be there in three hours."

Everyone murmured in understanding. I spun my chair around to talk to them, but immediately had to swing it back when the com-beads on my wrist beeped with an incoming transmission. Peter's face appeared on the screen, donned in his Spider-Man mask.

"Peter, what's going on, are you dealing with the New York aftermath?"

"No, I was on a field trip when the spaceship showed up and we were fighting with a wizard and now I'm on a spaceship and I don't know what to do! You told me to call you if something like this happened."

"I wasn't that specific but alright. Tony's on the spaceship isn't he? I can't believe I'm saying this but you need to find him and stay by him. Him and Strange are the people you can trust right now, alright?"

"Okay, right. Thank you, Mrs. Rogers."

"Oh wait, one more thing Peter. What does the ship look like? From the outside?"

"Um, it kind of looked like a donut. It was a big circle with nothing in the middle."

"Nersh. Alright, thank you Peter. Be more careful than you've ever been up there okay, you have no idea how dangerous it's going to be. Stay by Tony and Strange."

"I understand. Thanks again Mrs. Rogers. I'll call you again later."

I sighed loudly, running a hand over my face. Circle, 'like a donut' Peter said. There was only one person brave enough to attack Earth, and his ships looked just like that. Thanos, the Mad Titan.

He had been the one looking for the Infinity Stones, the one behind Loki. All of that, the past six years of my life had been leading up to this big fight. He was planning something, something none of us would have been able to predict. Whatever it was, it was bigger than anything any of us had ever faced. Thanos was the king, and we were chess pieces trying desperately to take him down.

"Everyone, this is going to be the fight of ours lives. Whether it happens now or a day from now, it's going to happen," I turned my chair again to face the others. Their faces went from confusion to grimness.

"What's going on (Y/n)? What have you figured out?" Steve ran a soothing hand over my back.

"Everything we've been through the past six years, the Infinity Stones coming into the light, I know who's behind it. A man named Thanos. The last of his kind. He's a genius and could beat any one of us without the new power."

A somber silence fell over the jet. I sighed, turning around again so I wouldn't have to see how hopeless everyone seemed. The Avengers had faced unimaginable things in the past, and with our new alliances with Wakanda, we had a chance. We could do it. Even heavily pregnant and stuck in a realist mindset, I had hope for us all.

The ride to Wanda and Vision's location was tense and quiet. Only the occasional murmur from the team about tactics. Finally, I had enough and turned on the screens to the news. When nearly every channel was showing what happened in New York, I turned them off, favoring the silence.

Full of anxiety, I kept my breathing deep and slow in an attempt to calm down. Stress wasn't good for the baby. Every time I got too worked up over possible scenarios the little demon squirmed as if saying "Hey, stop it." It made me smile.

"Woah, this isn't what I thought we would find," I took manual control of the quinjet when we arrived. Fires were everywhere, destruction evident. I squinted, following the train, "Looks like they're in the train station. I'll be just outside, go kick some ass and protect the stone."

"We'll be back soon," Steve kissed my cheek, jumping out of the open quinjet back.

All was silent around me for a few short minutes, the computers steady beeping and my breathing being the only things to break the silence. When the quinjet suddenly jerked to the side I swore loudly, tightening my grip on the controls. The proximity alarms were going crazy.

"Pull up upper cameras," I ordered the computer.

Above us was the same kind of ship Peter reported, large and round, empty in the middle. I pulled back on the controls, flying away from the ship's path. The quinjet stabilized, and I let out a sigh of relief.

A blue light shot down from the ship. The cameras zoomed in on it automatically. Two figures were being pulled in, aliens, not human. Aiming the guns, I shot out as many shots as I could in the short amount of time they were rising. However, the only damage given was to nearby buildings as the light carrying the aliens deflected the shots. I swore quietly, landing in front of the subway and opening up the back.

"Aliens are crazy," Nat mumbled, getting on first, "No offense (Y/n)."

"None taken, they work for Thanos so it's likely they take after his ideals."

"Vision needs some medical attention," Steve reported, carrying said person onto the jet, "Those guys did some real damage to him. I didn't think that was possible."

"Our weapons are a lot more advanced that Earth's," I closed the back, retracting the landing gear.

"I thought we had a deal. Stay close, check in. Don't take any chances," Nat was obviously addressing Wanda and Vision.

"I'm sorry. We just wanted time."

Understanding that, I nodded silently from my seat, not that they could see it. I wanted time with Steve too. Being pregnant gave me that. Wanda and Vision didn't hold that same chance. They were trying to hide in plain sight while we had Wakanda.

"Where to Cap?" Sam questioned, setting down his heaviest gear.

"Home."

"Don't really have one of those anymore," I chuckled, picking up what Steve meant. The Avengers Compound. It made sense. Our old gear was most likely still there, and we told Bruce to report there as well. We would regroup there and make a plan. Tony and Strange were gone, leaving us to watch over Earth, whether or not the governments wanted us to, "We'll be there in thirty minutes on top speed."

The same tense silence from earlier overfell us, the only difference being that we had two additional Avengers with us. I kept on glancing back in the mirror, making sure that Wanda was handling everything well. We were stuck on the misunderstood spectrum together after all, we had to look out for each other.

"How are you doing (Y/n)?" Wanda asked quietly, leaning against the back of the pilot's chair.

"Very pregnant, due soon," I huffed out, "I should be taking it easy, waiting for my water to break. Dealing with this is the last thing I needed."

"I'm sorry. Vision should have left earlier, but he wanted to stay with me. We should have been on guard. Nothing can ever be normal with us." Wanda wrapped an arm around my upper body in an awkward hug, "I never got you anything for the baby. I could have knit something."

"That's sweet Wanda, but you don't have to feel obligated. You won't have the chance now. Thanos is a threat that can't be ignored. If he's moving now, then he's confident."

"So are we. We can do this. With you in the backseat it might be a bit harder, but that's okay. You're there for guidance," Wanda encouraged, though the quiver in her voice told me she was doubtful too.

~*~

Landing the quinjet in an open spot at the Avengers Compound, we gathered our things and walked inside. Our security clearances still worked. The baby kicked, and with a wince I nodded. Tony kept them there in hopes we would return one day.

"You have second thoughts?"

"Not anymore."

I didn't hold back my scowl at the office of Secretary Ross. Him and Rhodey seemed to be arguing about something. With Ross on hologram call, it made things a lot less complicated for us.

"Mr. Secretary," Steve greeted with a nod of his head.

"You got some nerve, I'll give you that."

"You could use some of that right now," Nat sassed. I held out my hand so she could give it a hidden high-five.

"The world's on fire. And you think, all is forgiven?"

"We aren't asking for forgiveness," I didn't miss the way Ross' face morphed to shock at the sight of my pregnant stomach, "And we aren't here to ask for permission."

"We won't go easy on you because of your current... state."

"I don't expect you to. But you're too desperate to do much, aren't you? Go ahead and try, we'll fight if we must."

"Arrest them," Ross turned to Rhodey.

"All over it," Rhodey swiped off the hologram, turning to us, "That's a court-martial. It's great to see you guys. Congrats, Tony told me after New York."

"What happened in New York?" Steve sent me a questioning look. I smiled in return, "It's good you too Rhodey."

"Well, you guys look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years."

"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five star."

"Uh, I think you look great," Bruce walked in from the opposite side of the room, "Yeah, I'm back."

"Hi Bruce."

"Nat."

"This is awkward," Sam whispered, causing me to chuckle.

"(Y/n), you might be hearing this a lot but congrats. Did you two get married too?"

"On my planet yes," I nodded in confirmation, "Moving on, they're going to come back, with bigger guns this time."

"We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?"

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest."

"Who's Scott?"

"Ant-Man."

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" Bruce shook his head to get back on track, "Okay, look, Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he is not gonna stop until he gets Vision's Stone."

"Well then, we have to protect it."

"No, we have to destroy it," Vision spoke up for the first time, wincing as he struggled to stand on his own, "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps its molecular integrity could fail."

"And you with it. We're not having this conversation."

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it. (Y/n), you have a higher knowledge of all of this, would that work?"

I hummed in thought, running a hand over my face, "It would make sense by magical bounds. Magic from the same magic can cancel it out."

"That's too high a price," Wanda shook her head fervently.

Vision took Wanda's face in his hands, "Only you have the power to pay it. Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

"But it should. We don't trade lives, Vision."

"Steve-" I started.

"(Y/n), I understand what lies at stake, but Vision is a conscious being as well, he deserves to live."

"Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?"

"Because you might have a choice," Bruce rushed forward excitedly, "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. JARVIS, Ultron, Tony, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another."

"That's correct. The stone is not the only thing that makes you up. Magic is complex, but physical, tangible things and science can't be ignored," I nodded, thinking over all the different possibilities, "We can try it, but all of you need to understand that Vision may be a living being, but one life over billions is an easy equation."

"Right. It is possible, but not me, not here."

"You better find someone, and somewhere fast. Ross isn't exactly just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."

"I know somewhere," Steve smirked, regaining his confidence in our situation, "Back to the quinjet and we can get there in what, an hour?"

"At most if I push our speed, we'll have to refuel as soon as we get there though," I nodded, looking around us, "It was nice being back here, even if it was just for a few minutes. Nostalgic."

Everyone nodded at my statement, taking the few short, spare seconds we had to take in what had shortly been our home a few years ago. How times had changed, our home was unspecific now, stuck in between Orveon, Wakanda, and anywhere we had been for longer-term missions.

Back on the ship, Vision was resting on one of the seats with Wanda, Bruce was looking over the new tech inside, Rhodey and Sam were cleaning their suits, Nat was hovering around Bruce, and Steve was up front next to me.

"Have you ever fought against this Thanos guy before?" Steve asked me nervously.

"No, but I fought a few of his warriors once. It's how I got the scar on my back."

Steve winced at the mention of the large scar on my back. It stretched from my-mid back to my hip. It was a light shade of violet, three inches wide and angry looking, reflecting how painful it was to receive. The first time Steve saw it I nearly cried when he looked at me. Gentle, curious, and loving. There was no disgust or hint of unattraction. He kissed a line along it and whispered it was proof of how strong I was.

"How many warriors is a few?" Steve finally grit out, staring straight out the window.

"Four. The Black Order. You fought two of them while you were rescuing Vision and Wanda. They were raised under Thanos, masters of deception and of war. They worry even planets like my own."

"You aren't fighting against them by yourself anymore-"

"Actually, I was with Thor, Loki, the Warriors Three and Sif."

Steve paused, chuckling quietly, "I was trying to be reassuring. My point is that we're different from Asgard's warriors. And you aren't going to be on the battlefield this time. You'll be with Shuri while she works on Vision."

I didn't try to argue. I was aware of how dangerous the inevitable battle would be. I had to think about more than just myself at this point. Reaching out for my hand, Steve gave it a squeeze. I smiled at him, slouching down in my chair as much as my body would allow me. Leaning my head back I closed my eyes and allowed myself to sleep.