The Quinjet was quiet, the only sound being the low hum of the engines as the group of weary and beaten heroes made their way back home.

Natasha was still in a state of shock. She had watched, helpless, as some of her family and friends turned into dust right before her eyes in the fight to prevent what they were not able to.

There was no time to cry as Steve gathered up what was left of their team to figure out what to do next, but now that they were facing a few hours of silence, all she could think about was Nyla-Rose. When the tears finally began to fall, a gentle hand clutched her shoulder in a gesture of comfort and she caved to the painful sorrows she'd suffered of her own faults, turning to embrace Steve while hiding her wet eyes from the others. Steve, usually so good at lifting people's spirits, had no idea what to say. He had tried to get her to see Nyla-Rose on more than one occasion after the incident, but she refused. That was the first time he'd ever seen Natasha look so afraid.

Until, now. When she was oblivious to the fate of her daughter. He didn't know if she could handle Nyla-Rose being gone. Not after being separated from her for two years and then coming back to find—

No. Steve wouldn't even think about it.

The ramp of the Quinjet had barely touched the ground of the Compound's yard when Natasha was sprinting across the grass and rushing through the mandatory securities, still intact for a purpose that seemed useless now. Her heart was beating furiously as she stumbled over her feet in a desperate attempt to search the empty Compound when she paused. A lean figure emerged from the shadows of the living room and her racing heart came to a full stop.

"Nyla."

"Mom?"

Steve, Rhodes, Thor, Bruce, Pietro and Rocket tentatively entered the room to see Natasha and Nyla-Rose on the floor, sobbing and clutching each other with no intention of letting go. In just a few seconds, the long time apart that had formed a wall between mother and daughter crumbled, anger and guilt soon forgotten in the swept up moment of great and immense relief that the other had survived. The scene before men, god and raccoon was enough to reduce even the most heartless person to the sniffles and Steve, not bothering to hold back his own moved tears, looked over to see Rhodes and Rocket trying their best to keep their heads as the other men silently let loose.

"Why is this making me sad? And who's that, anyways?" Rocket snapped under his breath, rubbing at his eyes.

"That is Nyla-Rose, daughter of Natasha," Thor whispered to him.

"Daughter? She doesn't look like her..."

"I'd shut up now, Rabbit, if I were you..."

After being so brutally defeated and losing what seemed like their very own flesh and blood, this...this was a piece of happiness that was salvaged out of the ruins. Steve was grateful for it.

"I thought you were—I thought—"

"Shh, sweetheart. It's okay. It's all gonna be okay. I'm so sorry."

The words that Natasha wished she could've said in that office finally broke past to the sweet solace of her conscience.

"I'm so sorry."

Natasha drew back and cupped Nyla's face in her hands, using her thumbs to brush away the stray tears that trickled over her fingers.

"I love you so much, Nyla-Rose. I hope you know that," she murmured, her voice breaking as Nyla nodded furiously.

"I love you too. Mom?"

"What is it?"

"Why—why are you blonde?"

And for the first time in what seemed like forever, Natasha laughed. The young woman held onto that fleeting sound because as she looked around the room, her heart couldn't sink any deeper when she realized not everyone had come home. Pietro was standing off to the side, his head bowed low and his shoulders slumped over as if an invisible weight was pulling him down.

Wanda...one of the many victims to an outcome not one of them had prepared for.

—————

BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.

Nyla put a hand over her mouth, watching as the three dimensional globe that hovered over its plate slowly spun around.  Multiple screens pinpointing different countries had flashing red labels beneath their names.

Population displays, each one decreasing more rapidly than the next.

"Oh my..."

"This is a nightmare," Steve said grimly, clutching the edge of the table until his knuckles turned white.

Natasha shook her head as if in a daze.

"I've had better nightmares" was her throaty reply.

Thor had explained it as best he could before retreating into the depths of the Compound. He was glad to see Nyla-Rose as it had been some time since he last visited Earth, but it was a short joy that was overshadowed by his latest loss: Loki.

What he did explain was enough for her to understand.

Thanos, the Mad Titan, had used what was called the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of the universe's population in order to bring about peace and harmony of which he had taken upon himself to bestow. It was the reason why Laura, the kids and Tobias had disappeared so suddenly and when Nyla-Rose told Natasha of the Barton's fate, she had to take some time to herself. Nyla wanted to stay with Clint that fateful day, but when they'd gone to the city to try and piece together what the hell was happening, all they found was chaos.

And they'd lost each other in the midst of it.

With the Barton's gone and Nyla not knowing where to go from there, she'd returned to the Compound. The only person she found there was Pepper. One of the first things that Natasha and Steve wanted to do was track down Nick Fury, but finding that he'd been part of the desolation, was only able to retrieve something he left behind.

A pager.

"Hey."

The trio turned to Rhodes who'd just walked into the room.

"So that thing just...," he shrugged, "stopped doing whatever the hell it did."

Natasha shared a look with Steve and sighed.

"Let's go take a look."

Nyla slowly followed after them, half-listening in on their conversation due to the fact that she was having her own personal problems. She dug her fingernails into her palms, the sharp pain a reminder to bring her back around.

It's okay.

Go away.
Please...please..
Deep breaths.
One.
Two.

One.
Two.

"I say we crack it open."

"We don't even know what that is, Pietro. We can't just mishandle it."

"Fury did. You tell me the second you get a signal. I wanna know who's on the other end of that thing."

The assassin turned to walk out and froze. Nyla, seeing her expression, turned around too and started at the woman that had appeared behind her. Her face was set in stone and she looked right at Nyla, piercing her with a cold gaze.

"Where's Fury?"

"And who the hell might you be?"

"Nyla," came Steve's warning tone that she knew, even without looking, was assisted by the Eyebrows of Disappointment. She couldn't help herself, really, but she was glad for the distraction as she unfurled her fingers, rescuing the palms of her hands from unbearable pain. The woman was obviously not someone familiar to Earth due to the yellowish glow of her clenched fists and the strange attire that she wore. She looked pissed with slight undertones of worry as she raised her chin.

"Fury paged me..."

She trailed off as she caught sight of the transmitter and slowly walked towards the glass that separated it into its own small space. Nyla moved to stand beside Steve as the woman silently stared at the pager.

"That thing is—it signals you?" Bruce said in disbelief.

She turned and nodded stiffly.

"I gave that to Fury before I—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa."

Rhodes held up his hands to keep her from continuing her explanation.

"I wanna know who you are, first up. No hate, but you're swooping out of nowhere claiming that thing called you here because a one-eyed pirate pressed it before he disappeared. Again," he took a little step back at Natasha and the newbie's infuriated expressions, "no hate. But, who are you?"

The blonde woman sighed.

"Fine. My name is Carol Danvers, former U.S. Air Force Pilot and member of the Starforce. I'm from Earth, but a sticky situation having to do with one of my superiors got me kidnapped and brainwashed by an alien race called the Kree. That is also the reason why," she lifted her hands and the energy that had been warped around them only minutes earlier returned in a fierce flash of gold, "I have this."

She lowered her hands and it disappeared.

"I was on Earth a while ago because of a Skrull invasion that turned out to be bogus. That's how I met Nick. I gave him that pager to contact me in case of any emergencies and when I got the distress call, I came straight here. Any more questions?"

"Yeah," Nyla stepped forward, "what is important enough to be deemed an emergency? Because I can tell you, there happened to be a few worldwide threats that could've gone a lot better with your help."

"Nyla-Rose."

She turned to her mom, shrugging innocently as the assassin leveled a soft glare her way.

"I'm only asking the obvious question since no else wants to."

"No, it makes sense" Carol intervened, "it just wasn't up to me. Rest assured, I'd have been eager to help if notified."

"I'm sure you would have been. Guess we're just lucky to have you in the first place."

An awkward silence slithered through the room as Carol and Nyla-Rose kept steady eye contact, each trying their hardest to dominate the situation they'd found themselves in. When Natasha cleared her throat, Nyla shook her head and clapped her hands together, squeezing them tightly.

"I'm gonna go—uh, for a walk. I'll be right back."

No one except Nat was brave enough to look at Carol and when she did, the woman was watching as Nyla walked out of the room before casting her eyes about.

"So...anyone gonna introduce themselves?"