A hand clapped my shoulder and I gasped. My eyes opened, adjusting to the darkness that surrounded me. 

"Take it easy, take it easy," Clint said. I slowly sat up and tried to look around, my chest heaving. 

"What the hell happened?" I breathed out. 

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Clint flashed a light upwards, seeing that we had found ourselves in the sewer system below the compound. 

"Shit..." I muttered, changing my earpiece channel again.

"Cap?" Clint pressed his own earpiece. No reply. 

I glanced next to me, seeing the gauntlet sitting amongst the rubble. "Clint, the gauntlet." 

"Shh-" Clint stuck his hand down towards me. 

He knocked his bow and shot an arrow with light towards the dark tunnel, showing us a horde of Outriders crawling towards us. I quickly stood up with the gauntlet to my chest and stumbled backward. Clint began waving me back. 

"Go, go, go, go!!" He shouted and we turned to run in the opposite direction while the Outriders chased after us. 

I tucked the gauntlet under my arm to give myself more momentum, in my panic, I didn't even think to activate my skates. I also didn't want to leave Clint in the dust. The screams of the Outriders echoed behind us and I heard arrows whizzing from Clint's bow. 

"Ellie, I apologize in advance!" He shouted. 

"For what?!" I turned my head to see that none of his arrows had hit the Outriders. 

Instead, they were stuck in the walls with red lights beeping at the nock. My eyes widened and Clint's arm went around my waist as the flames burst from the explosive arrows. Clint and I were pulled upwards as the flames reached us, and a searing pain spread across my face and right arm. I screamed as Clint lunged to the side and we landed on an upper level, the Outriders burning below us. 

I rolled away from Clint and held my left hand to my cheek and screamed in pain. Clint crawled to my side and touched my right arm, causing me to scream again. 

"Oh, God- Shit- Ellie," Clint muttered. "Try to spread frost- shit- I'm sorry-" 

As I slowly spread frost across my arm and face, giving some sort of relief to the burning pain, my eyes landed on two boots approaching us. I looked up to see Nebula standing there, watching us. Clint followed my gaze and looked up at her. 

"Oh, hey– I know you," he breathed out, handing her the gauntlet. "Help me get her back up there." 

Nebula didn't respond and instead, put her hand to her earpiece. "Father." I looked up and frowned. "I have the Stones."

"That's not our Nebula!" I gasped out. 

"What?!" Clint shouted and tried to get up but Nebula stomped on his hand and pointed her gun at us. 

"Stop." Another woman stepped from the shadows. Her skin was green, hair black and purple. There was a deadly beauty about her, but this confrontation was all the same terrifying. 

"You're betraying us?" The bad Nebula held her hands up and another Nebula joined the green woman. Nebula pointed her gun at her future self. This gave Clint and I the chance to move out of the way and crawl to the wall behind us. 

"You don't have to do this," said who I assumed to be good Nebula. 

"I am this," Bad Nebula returned. 

"No, you're not," the green woman said. 

"You've seen what we become," Good Nebula said. 

"Nebula, listen to her." The green woman persuaded. 

"You can change." Good Nebula added. 

"He won't let me." Bad Nebula shook her head and pointed a gun at the green woman. 

"No!" The green woman shouted and present Nebula shot Bad Nebula. 

Clint stood up and brought me to my feet, not even attempting to process what we had witnessed. Nebula and the green woman looked at us. 

"This is Gamora," Nebula introduced. 

"Oh, nice." Clint nodded. "We have to go." 

"That way." Nebula pointed down the dark tunnel. 

~~~

Clint and I reached the surface to find a chaotic scene. The Compound was in ruins and clouds of smoke covered the sky above. Across the field stood Thanos' army, which included both Outriders and Chitauri. I looked around seeing that there were way more people on our side than I remembered being in the Compound and I was once again struck with a realization. Everyone was back. 

"Cap, what do you want me to do with this damn thing?" Clint shouted as we ran across the field aimlessly. 

"Get those stones as far away as possible!" Steve shouted over the comms. 

"No! We need to get them back where they came from," Bruce ordered. 

"No way to get them back," Tony said. "Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel." 

"Oh, so that's what happened!" I said before flinging a projectile at an alien. 

"Hold on!" Scott shouted. "That wasn't our only time machine." 

From afar, the sound of a car horn playing the song La Cucaracha was heard. I frowned in confusion and Clint and I exchanged glances. 

"Anyone see an ugly, brown van up there?" Steve asked. 

"Yes! But you're not gonna like where it's parked!" I heard a woman shout over the comms. 

An Outrider beast jumped at us, only to be intercepted by a pair of large, red and gray wings. Sam Wilson kicked the beast down and used the edges of his wings to pierce the alien's hide. I began running backward to grin up at my friend. 

"Sam!" I shouted. 

"Hey! El!" Sam flipped off of the Outrider and ran to me to give me a hug. "Great timing." 

"Thanks," I returned. I looked around again, seeing that Clint had run off with the gauntlet. "Think you can give me a lift? It would seem that some of these bastards need a chill pill." 

"With pleasure," Sam said before lifting off, taking my left arm, and flying us to the center of the action. 

I was dropped down and a circle of ice branched from around my feet when I hit the ground. The Outriders around me saw this and began charging. I brought out my blade handles, ice spread from the hilts and I tapped my toe to the ground, activating my skates. I swung my left blade and made the first killing strike to an Outrider. After a few long-lasting fights against a number of Outriders, I gave up on the blades and decided to use projectiles. I flicked my hand towards a group of aliens that were bounding my way and icicles branched out from my hands, impaling the beasts. My goal was to keep these aliens as far from me as possible, but I knew that wasn't going to stay that way for long when the first hit came to the side of my head. I hit the ground with a thud and struggled to get up quickly enough to defend myself against the next wave of hits that were coming my way. I stretched out my arm and pressed my hand against the chest of an Outrider. An icicle plunged through the beast and it screamed in agony. I kicked my feet up and shoved it off of me, then got to my feet again. I pushed my hands out, releasing another flurry of icicles. T'Challa leaped over me with the gauntlet under his arm and as he went over, he knocked out an Outrider that lunged for me. 

"Thank you, T'Challa!" I shouted as he went on his way. 

I activated my skates again and changed my location, coming to another group of Outriders that surrounded a group of men who I had not yet met. They all seemed to dress somewhat similar, but from the lasers that were shooting from their guns, I could assume that they were from space. I placed my hands on the ground and icicles plunged upwards from the ground, impaling the aliens. The men looked to me and hit their left fists to their chests in a saluting gesture. I nodded and turned to continue skating. Pepper and Tony flew overhead in Iron Suits, fighting together and orange lights danced around coming from people dressed in robes. 

My path of ice in front of me was blocked by a large, six-limbed, Outrider and I skidded to a stop in front of it. I quickly reached for my Glock, but the Outrider was quicker and swiped his large claws, knocking me to the side. I stood up and hit the next swing that came to me, causing ice to spread over the arm of the beast. The Outrider roared and began lumbering forward, its jaws open wide and I knew that no ice was going to stop it that quickly. This was a two-person job, but at the moment, I was alone. I stepped backward, avoiding each swing that was thrown at me until my foot tripped over a rock and I was on the ground, crawling backward. The ground behind me began to slope upwards, putting my body at the perfect angle for the Outrider to plunge its claws into my chest. The alien raised its arm high and before it could bring it down, gunshots rang out from behind me. The bullets hit the Outrider's face, blinding him and damaging his mouth. The alien took a step back and I thrust my hand forward, projecting an icicle through its chest. The Outrider fell to the ground and I exhaled, then realized that I didn't do that on my own. 

I turned my head to look up the hill, then scrambled to my feet and stood to face him. He stood there with his gun like the soldier he was. I ran up the hill to reach him and placed both my hands on his cheeks, I didn't even look at his face before crashing my lips against his. James' free hand went to my back and he pulled me closer, deepening our kiss. A growl from an Outrider was heard in my left ear, I grabbed my gun and shot aimlessly. There was a thud, signifying that I had killed it, but that was not my main concern at the moment. My hand that remained on his cheek, trailed around the back of his neck to comb my fingers through his hair that I missed so much. I inhaled through my nose, taking in his scent and almost coming to tears. 

"El-" Bucky spoke against my lips. "Eleanor." 

"Hm?" 

"As great as this is..." He pulled away and placed his own hand on my cheek and looked into my eyes. Oh, I missed those eyes. "We are standing in the middle of a battlefield." 

"We are." I nodded, looking at our surroundings. 

"Should we kill some aliens?" Bucky cocked an eyebrow and I smiled. 

"We probably should," I said. 

"Glad we're on the same page." He pivoted and aimed his gun again, shooting a group of Outriders heading our way. 

"Of course." I winked before activating my skates and circling the surrounding area, taking out any aliens in my path with both my gun and ice. 

As the battle waged on, I looked up at the five Chitauri leviathan that flew overhead, firing down at our army. I scowled and skated back by Bucky, skidding to a halt. He finished firing at another Outrider and glanced at me. 

"How high can you throw me?" I asked. 

"How high do you need to go?" Bucky followed my gaze and nodded. "Ah." 

I pressed my earpiece. "Hey, Sam. Buck and I are going to need an assist." 

"Coming your way." Sam reached us and hovered a couple of feet above us. 

Bucky placed his gun on his back and I watched as a leviathan descended in the sky till it was about twenty feet above us. 

"Just tell me when," Bucky said. 

"Now!" I shouted as the leviathan was right above us. 

Bucky kneeled and grabbed my legs, then stood up and lifted his arms taking me with him before letting go and throwing me towards Sam. I flipped mid-air, allowing him to grab my feet, then flip me back upright to give me more momentum as I ascended towards the leviathan. As I came closer, I lifted my hand and grabbed the bottom of the Chitauri armor. 

"Freeze." 

Frost branched out from my hand and across the belly of the beast. Icicles of impressive size branched out from the first leviathan in four parts, impaling the rest of the leviathans in a second. I let go of the first leviathan and began to fall. During my descent, my eyes caught sight of Peter struggling with a swarm of Chitauri aliens. Sam caught me before I could hit the ground. 

"Sam, bring me to Peter!" I shouted. 

"Got it!" Sam replied and he flew me to where the kid stood. 

I landed and a burst of ice shot up from the ground, ridding Peter of his attackers. Shields of orange light materialized above the fighters dressed in robes and they redirected the falling leviathans to the opposing army. 

"Hey, Ellie," Peter's mask retracted and he smiled at me. 

"Hi, Pete." I smiled back. 

"Holy shit, Snow Angel," Bucky spoke over the comms. 

"And that's going to be the end of the ice for about thirty moments," I breathed out. 

"Nice going, Frostbite!" I heard Tony shout over the comms. 

This moment of joy was cut short when a missile landed a few feet from Peter and me. This missile was followed by a second, then a third and soon the entire field was being rained on by missiles from Thanos' ship. I grabbed Peter and ducked us down next a hill for some sort of protection. Peter hugged the gauntlet to his chest, and I created a wall of ice above us that continuously shattered from the rain of missiles. And as quickly as they came, the booming explosions slowly subsided. I looked up at the sky to see that the cannons were now pointed towards the clouds. 

"What the hell is this?" Sam asked over the comms. 

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., what are they firing at?" Tony asked. 

"Something just entered the upper atmosphere," FRIDAY spoke. 

A bright light of thundering energy came surging down from clouds as Carol Danvers flew through Thanos' ship and resulted in an explosion and the ship crash-landing in the lake. I grinned and clapped my hands once. 

"Oh, yeah!" Rocket shouted over the comms. 

"Danvers, we need an assist here." I put my hand to my earpiece and glanced down at Peter, who was still clutching the gauntlet. 

Carol flew over to us and landed. She nodded at me and looked down at Peter. 

"Hi. I'm– Peter Parker." Peter smiled. 

"Hey, Peter Parker. You got something for me?" Carol smiled and I looked past her at the horde of Outriders and more leviathans coming our way. 

Peter got up and handed Carol the gauntlet. "I don't know how you're gonna get it through all that." 

A glowing red light flickered in the corner of my eye and I turned to watch as Wanda arrived, as well as an Asgardian woman flying on her Pegasus. I smiled at Wanda, happy to see her again. 

"Don't worry," Wanda said to Peter. 

"She's got help." Okoye jumped down from a concrete boulder and spun her spear. 

Pepper landed next to Okoye, followed by a woman I recognized to me Mantis from Rocket's stories. Shuri ran up next to me and grinned, preparing her two weapons. Scott's friend Hope appeared out of nowhere, her suit's wings fluttering behind her. Gamora and Nebula walked forward and joined our ranks. I tapped my toe to the ground, activating my skates as Thanos' army charged. We charged as well and each woman skillfully attacked and fought against Outriders, Sakaarans, and Chitauri. Wanda and Valkyrie destroyed the two leviathans and I made myself an ice ramp to skate up and take out a Chitauri that was lunging for Carol. Carol Danvers then started flying towards the van with the Gauntlet, flying past enemies and going through enemy blockades that were in her way with ease. Thanos, seeing this, starts running to Carol Danvers, but is stopped by Pepper, Shuri, and Hope, who blasted him backward using energy rays. As he was distracted by that, I skated forward, created a blade of ice and swung to hit him. Thanos was quick to react and countered my swing with his own double sword. Finally, I had someone to match weapons with, but it was a test of who was more skilled in their swordsmanship. Seeing that he was much bigger than I was, I created a second blade and gained the upper hand, stepping after each swing I made at him. Thanos blocked each swing but was getting frustrated as I continued to not give up. He let out a growl and swung upwards with the flat end of his blade, taking my feet with it and sending me flying back ten feet. My back hit a stone wall and I coughed. Carol flew past Thanos, who threw his double sword at the van, destroying it and the quantum realm tunnel. The blast threw Carol backward and she lost her grip on the Gauntlet, which fell to the ground. 

Tony ran in from the side to get the gauntlet but saw Thanos and tackled him. Thanos smacked Tony away, knocking him out. I struggled to stand but once I was on my feet, I made a move towards the gauntlet to somehow get it away from Thanos. I grabbed the gauntlet and looked up to see Thanos standing over me. He reached to grab the gauntlet and I raised up my hand, creating a shield of ice that was quickly smashed by Thanos' fist.

I scrambled to move away with the gauntlet under my arm and just missed Thanos' fist as it hit the ground. I got to my feet and took running steps backward as Thanos recuperated himself. He faced me and grimaced before he began to step toward me. I tapped my boot on the ground, activated the skates and made my way towards him. If I couldn't kill the guy, then I sure as hell could slow him down. I created a small slope of ice as I reached Thanos to build momentum into this butterfly leap.

I turned myself around as I jumped and my legs stretched out behind me. The skate blades were inches from his neck when Thanos grabbed the vibranium blade of my left foot. I felt the right blade graze his cheek before I was halted mid-air and Thanos let out a frustrated growl. I was whipped back around in my turn and I heard the sound of glass shattering.

I hit the ground on my stomach and turned around to face Thanos as he held his fingers to the long cut across his face. His other hand had bits of shattered skate blade, the rest of it lay on the ground at his feet. Thanos took a step towards me and I grabbed my gun, aiming it at his head. Before I could even put any pressure on the trigger, Mjolnir flew in from the side, hit Thanos' jaw and flew back to Steve's hand. My eyes widened in surprise then Steve sprinted to me, picked me up and threw me across the field.

I hit the ground and scrambled to my feet in time to kill a horde of Outriders that were heading my way. Gunshots rang out to my left and I caught sight of Bucky fighting off a group of Chitauri with Shuri. I grabbed my gun and shot an alien that was getting close to them before running over and joining. 

"Who has the gauntlet?" Shuri asked as the three of us stood back to back. 

"I did," I answered. "But I don't know who has it now." 

There was a flash of white light from where I had last seen Tony, Steve, and Thor. I instantly stopped fighting and turned in that direction. The entire battlefield was silent and my heart pounded in my chest. 

"James..." I began.

"I'm still here," he said behind me. 

Without saying another word I ran towards the white light and all around me Thanos' army began to disappear. Above me, Leviathan turned to ash and clouded away. The rest of our army stood, looking around in awe. Relief washed over me and my eyes welled up with tears. I put my gun back in its holster and a small smile crept over my face. We won. 

As my eyes scanned the field in front of me, they fell upon something that made my heart sink again. I ran forward and stood next to Steve, I breathed out at the sight of Tony's entire body. One half was charred and burnt from the raw energy of the gauntlet. My hand covered my mouth and Peter ran up to his mentor and kneeled in front of him. 

"Mr. Stark?" Tears started to form in Peter's eyes and Tony slowly looked up at him. "Hey– Mr. Stark? Can you hear me? It's Peter. Hey. We won, Mr. Stark– We won, Mr. Stark. We won. You did it, sir. You did it." There was no response from Tony and Peter began to break down. 

Both Pepper and I stepped forward to Peter and Tony. 

"I'm sorry– Tony–" Peter cried as Pepper put her hand on his shoulder. 

She gently moved him to the side and Peter fell to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and crying into my chest. Tears began falling from my eyes and I held onto Peter tightly, trying to comfort him as best I could. Pepper sat down in front of Tony. 

"Hey," she said quietly. 

Tony was barely able to move his head but managed to look Pepper in the eyes.

"Hey, Pep..." 

Pepper placed her hand on Tony's Arc Reactor and Tony rested his hand on hers. Pepper took a good look at Tony's fatal injuries. 

"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" 

"Life functions critical," FRIDAY answered and I let out a shaky breath. 

Tony smiled up at Pepper with tears in his eyes.

"Tony. Look at me." Pepper made sure Tony got a long look at her smiling face before reassuring him. "We're gonna be okay. You can rest now." 

With that acknowledgment, Tony's arc reactor flickered off for good. Pepper could no longer contain her grief and began to cry on his shoulder. I glanced over at Steve who watched with tears in his eyes. Peter turned his head to take a last took at his mentor before looking away again. We had won, thanks to Earth's Greatest Defender.