Steve runs up to us and puts his arm around Tony's shoulders, helping me carry him. I let Steve take him off my back and follow them to the compound. Tony's face is full of sorrow and relief at the same time. "I couldn't stop him."

"Neither could I." Steve puts one hand on Tony's chest to stabilize his walk, and to also see if he can feel a heartbeat. His own heart almost stops when he feels how faint Tony's is.

"I... I lost the kid." Tony stops walking and turns to me. "I didn't want to tell you, but I thought you should know."

I feel my chest tighten, and some weird feeling wells up inside of me. I don't understand why I feel this, but then I get it. Hatred. I could have stopped Thanos but Strange held me back, bound me with his magic. I know this is supposedly the only way, but I can't help but feel this burning hatred toward the sorcerer. It takes me a hot second, but I finally shake my head and clear the negative emotions.

Turning back to the reunion, I see Tony hugging Pepper. Thank goodness she survived, or else Tony would have lost his last ray of sanity.

Inside the main room of the compound, the remaining Avengers get Tony hooked up to an IV machine to try and restore some of his nutrients. There are many screens up, showing the Avengers that have fallen victim to the snap.

I watch the screens flicker from one face to another. T'Challa, Shuri, Scott Lang, Hope Van-Dyne, Hank Pym, Sam Wilson, Wanda Maximoff, Bucky Barnes, Stephen Strange, Peter Parker, Maria Hill, Nick Fury, and surprisingly Erik Selvig are the ones my eyes catch.

"The governments of the world took a census, and it looks about right. Thanos did exactly what he said he was going to do." Natasha explains to Tony and Nebula. "He wiped out fifty percent of all life."

"(Y/n), if I may ask a serious question," Steve Rogers locks eyes with me. He walks up to my sitting form slowly, crossing his arms. "Why did you wait so long to rescue Tony?"

His eyes aren't angry or hurt, but I still look away. I squeeze my hands in my lap to help myself deal with my immense guilt. "I... am so sorry. Usually, i-in stories like this, the main character is left stranded for a reason. I-I thought Tony was going to be able to find something to defeat Thanos with, or come up with something on his own. I didn't want to remove him from his environment and miss the potential clue left there for him. If that makes sense..."

There is a long silence. It seems like everyone is waiting for Tony or Nebula to say that they had indeed found something to destroy Thanos with. However, I can sense that they found squat while they were stranded on Titan.

"Nothing, eh?" Rocket breaks the silence. "And here I thought there was potential in reversing this whole snap ordeal."

At the mention of the snap, Tony seems to break. "Where is he? Where?!"

"We don't know. After he snapped, he opened a portal and just walked through." Steve leans on a table next to me as he explains the end of the fight.

Tony sighs in defeat, knowing they won't be able to find the Mad Titan. He looks over at a glass wall and sees Thor sitting behind it. "What's wrong with him?"

"He thinks he failed, but there's a lot of that going around so who can blame him?" Rocket nods over to Thor who hasn't moved an inch despite his name being mentioned.

"Tony, you fought him." Steve brings the topic back to Thanos.

"No I didn't. Who told you that? Was it the Stones Girl?" Tony flicks his hand toward me. "If she's so smart, if she is such a big fan of us, then why doesn't she know where he would go after his mission was complete?!"

Steve keeps a calm voice, knowing Tony is getting to his limit. "Tony I need you to focus. Did he give you any clues any coordinates?"

"And I needed you, as in past tense needed. I had a vision and didn't want to believe it. Thought I was dreaming. No, what we needed was a suit of armor around the world, remember that?" Tony stands up and aggressively rips the IV out of his arm. "Whether or not it impacted our precious freedom, that's what we needed!"

"Well, that didn't work out so well, did it?" Steve recalls the Ultron incident, knowing fully well that Thanos could have wiped through all of Stark's robots with a snap of his fingers.

Rhodey tries to get Tony to sit back down, but Stark isn't listening. "I said we'd lose, and you said we'd do that together too. Well guess what, Cap, we lost! And you weren't there! And what are we? We're the Avengers right? Not the Prevengers, we are the AVENGERS!"

"Okay, you made your point now sit down!" Rhodey demands, but Tony breaks free from his grasp.

Tony looks at Carol and points to her. "And you're amazing by the way. You're new blood could outrival the likes of us." He turns back to Steve and rips off his chest piece. "No, Cap, I've got no coordinates or clues. He left me with nothing while the Doctor gave away the store. Zero, zip, I've got nothing for you untrustworthy liar! You find him," Tony slams his chest piece into Steve's hand, "you put that on. You run."

The lack of nutrients finally getting to him, Tony falls to his knees. Steve yells his name and I put a hand on his shoulder, but he pushes everyone away. Tony insists that he is fine, but he collapses from exhaustion and malnutrition.

I back up and stand there as the Avengers rush to get him to the infirmary. Tony, you never deserved this. I feel the Soul Stone's powers resonate in my chest once again, letting me know that Tony is on the brink of death, but I know the Avengers will cure him. This is the second time today that his life has almost ended. Now determined, I promise myself that no matter what, I will save Tony. Along with everyone else, but especially Tony. He's suffered through too much.

After around twenty minutes, the Avengers get him safely hooked up to a medical bed. Rhodey joins the group and says, "Bruce gave him a sedative. He will be out for the rest of the day."

"I'll bring him some more meds when I get back." Carol turns toward the exit and starts walking. Steve asks where she's going and without turning around, she says, "I'm going to kill Thanos."

Steve and Natasha look at each other before I grab her arm and make her turn around. "Carol, we have to come with you."

"We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight too." Steve walks up next to me and nods confidently.

Natasha looks between the three of us with a confused face. "Do you even know where he is?"

"I know people who might." Carol's voice never wavers, which makes me wonder who these people are that might know where Thanos is currently residing.

"Don't bother." Everyone turns toward Nebula who steps out from the doorway's shadow. "I can tell you where Thanos is."

Rocket pulls up a projector and hooks up his personally made map of the universe to it. Nebula stares at the map. "My father made me in his own perfect way, programming me with his information. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I asked that once we won, where he would go when his plan was complete. His answer was always the same. To the garden."

"That's cute. Thanos has a retirement plan." Rhodey sarcastically comments, now even more angry that Thanos gets to live his life in peace after the mass murder he committed.

"Do you remember the planet?" I recall in the comic, Adam Warlock went to visit Thanos at the garden with a couple other heroes after the fight they had. "I can't think of the name, but you're right. He becomes a farmer."

"No, but it's not that hard to find." Rocket pulls up a picture of Earth on the map and starts explaining. "When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground-zero of an incredible cosmic force unseen by anyone before. That is, until two days ago on this planet."

Rocket swipes the map to the side and another planet comes in to view. Nebula's black eyes widen and she nods her head. "Thanos is there."

"He used the Stones again." Natasha's eyes start tearing up and she doesn't take them off the map of the planet.

That doesn't make any sense to me, however. "What would he need to do that for? Why would he use them again? To bring Ebony, Corvus, Proxima, and Cull back?!"

Steve puts a hand on my shoulder, and I realize I'm rambling. "Even if he did bring them back, they wouldn't be able to touch you."

I take a deep breath and try to think of anything else but the beings who kidnapped me in the first place. "So, Rocket, you're saying that Thanos still has the Stones and he is currently quite possibly still on this planet?"

"That's right." Rocket nods to confirm my question.

"Are you serious?" Bruce stands in the back of the group, so everyone has to turn toward him. "If you're sure about this, we'd be going in very short-handed."

"We have to go. We can find him, we can snap our own fingers, we can bring everyone back. We owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try." Natasha looks at everyone individually before glancing back at the map.

Bruce still thinks this a bad idea, and wants to make sure everyone is on board with this before they do something they will regret. "If we do this, who's to say it's not going to turn out like last time?"

"Because last time you didn't have me." Carol rolls her shoulders back in pride, her voice full of confidence.

"Hey, new girl." Carol turns to Rhodey who looks a bit ticked off. "Everyone in this room is all about that superhero life, but if you don't mind me asking, where have you been while all of this was going down?"

"There are a lot of planets in this universe, and unfortunately they didn't have you guys." Carol raises an eyebrow, which makes Rhodey just nod and look away.

Thor walks up from his little hidey hole and stands right in front of Carol. He stares down at her and holds out his hand. Instantly, Stormbreaker flies across the room and into his hand, making Carol's hair fly with the gust of wind it created. Thor waits a second before turning to Steve. "I like this one."

Did I just witness the start of a Carol x Thor ship? Anyway, I shake my head and turn to Captain America. "It's your call, Steve."

Steve clenches his fists at his side, and with a determined face, stares at the map of the planet Thanos is said to be on. "Let's go get this son of a bitch."

AVENGERS ENDGAME

Carol, Nebula, Rocket, Rhodey, Bruce Steve, Natasha, Thor, and me get suited up before piling into the Guardian's ship. I put on my blue tunic Doctor Strange let me wear along with the fake Eye of Agamotto he gave me. Awhile ago, Bruce made me some shoulder and elbow armor that's silver colored and light weighted. I strap those on as well.

Inside the ship, we are all strapped down and ready for the jump. At least, I know I'm ready for the jump. I can't say the same for Steve, Natasha, or Rhodey.

Rocket controls the ship and makes us take off so that we just exit the atmosphere. He turns his seat around to look at everyone behind him. "Alright, now who here hasn't been to space?"

Steve, Natasha, and Rhodey raise their hands. The rest of us have all had some experience up in the sea of stars. Rocket turns back around to face the front. "None of you better throw up all over my ship!"

"Approaching jump point!" Nebula says loud enough for Rocket to clearly hear. Myself, Steve, Natasha, and Rhodey tightly sit up and grip the handles of our seats like it's our lifeline. "In three, two, one!"

It feels like a huge gust of wind is trying to push me through my seat. All of my breath is getting sucked out of me, but I'm too amazed by all the colors to notice. Outside the window is rainbow streaks of light, which just brings me so much joy. It's like I'm a kid at an amusement park.

"Yeah! Wooo!" I raise my hands like I'm on a roller coaster. This is the first time in a year and twenty-two days where I finally feel... happy. We finally have a plan, a heading. We are going to get those Stones and bring everyone back!

We exit the jump point and Captain Marvel gets out of the ship, flying just in front of us. "I'll go ahead for recon."

Steve pulls out something round from his pocket and flips it open. I glance over and see a black and white picture of Peggy Carter, the same one he was looking at when he went under the ice.

I miss you, Peggy. I jump a bit at the voice in my head, but I manage to keep my cool. I don't want to cause a scene and make everyone concerned. No, instead I analyze what just happened. It sounded like Steve's voice, but why? Maybe it had something to do with the Mind Stone. Ugh, I'll think more on it later.

"This is going to work, Steve." Natasha says as Captain America closes the pendant.

"I know it will." Steve stares directly into Natasha's determined eyes. "Because I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't."

I want to say something encouraging, but there are too many different voices saying random things that make no sense. I'm Howard Potts. It will create a rift in my reality. Consumed by darkness. Sire, the Stone Keeper is awake. A soul for a soul. You have to move on. (Y/n), chose. Don't give me hope. Chronologically, it never left. Why are we acting like she's dead?! That's my mother, she dies today. I'm starting to think we mean different people. Hail Hydra. You are the Gauntlet. Six Stones, three teams, one shot. I am inevitable.

"(Y/n)!" Someone puts a hand on my shoulder and suddenly the voices stop. I look over at Bruce to see his face filled with concern. "Captain Marvel just told us we are clear to go in. Are you good to go?"

Not trusting myself to speak, I just nod my head. I create a portal and get sucked into it, going to where Thanos is.

I appear right in front of the purple alien, startling him. Eyes burning with revenge, I summon purple flames and get the first hit. Right after he crashes to the ground, Carol bursts into the hut and blasts him with her energy fists. She wraps her legs around his neck and sits on his shoulders to put him in sort of a choke hold.

Thanos raises his right fist to try and punch Carol off, so I grab that wrist and twist it, making him scream in pain. I ignite my fingers and start to burn his flesh. Thanos falls to his knees and slowly lifts his left hand to try and get rid of us.

In the Hulk Buster, Bruce emerges from the ground and grabs his gauntlet hand before Thanos can do anything to us. Rhodey crashes in and helps me with Thanos' right arm while also stomping on his legs. Thor flies in and doesn't hesitate before chopping off Thanos' left arm.

Thanos yells in agony, but I know it will take more than that to kill him. The rest of the gang walks in and Rocket rolls over the Infinity Gauntlet. "Oh no..."

It's just an empty shell, no Stones in sight. Now that I look at Thanos more closely, his entire left side is scarred as if his skin was burned. Not losing hope, Steve stares right at Thanos. "Where are they?"

"Answer the question." Carol tightens her grip around Thanos' neck, but he was going to explain anyway.

"The universe required correction. The Stones served no purpose beyond temptation." Thanos growls out his explanation.

"Where are they now?" Natasha's voice makes the question sound more like a demand, which takes me a bit off guard.

"Gone. Reduced to atoms." Thanos' eyes widen for a split second just before his face shows an evil grin.

"You used them two days ago!" Bruce grabs his shoulders and stares down at his face.

Thanos grunts at the new pressure applied to his shoulders. "I used the Stones to destroy the Stones! It nearly... killed me, but the deed is done. It always will be. I am inevitable."

Bing!

That's one of the quotes I heard back on the ship when the voices were resonating through my head. It was in his voice too, Thanos' voice. I let go of his arm and walk between Bruce and Thanos, staring at the latter. "To think that I used to respect you as a character. You're so small minded to think that this could result in anything good. You're crazy to think that people can recuperate from this. Are you happy now that you've broken everyone?"

Thanos has a look of hurt in his eyes, which I did not see coming. There is no way he could be regretting what he did. "Child, you're too innocent to know-"

"I know what happened to Titan." I cut Thanos off and continue my thoughts. "I saw what it looked like before the Great Famine. I saw it when I first touched the Soul Stone. I spoke with the Titans, and they seemed at peace. Thanos, you disrupted the natural laws. Please tell me that you're lying and that you didn't destroy the Stones."

Thanos' expression goes from sadness to anger in the span of a couple seconds. "You should be grateful! Grateful that I spared half of you!"

I clench my teeth together and I'm about to punch Thanos, but Bruce beats me to it. "You murdered trillions!"

"We have to tear this place apart. I mean, he has to be lying!" Rhodey stays in his spot and looks around for any possible place the Stones could be hidden.

"My father is many things." Nebula walks up to Thanos, who isn't being held back by anyone anymore. "A liar is not one of them."

"Ah, thank you, daughter." Nebula's chest tightens at being called 'daughter' by Thanos. His voice sounded actually caring when he talked to her, which she didn't think was possible. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly-"

Thanos' head rolls across the room, his lifeless body tumbling down. Stormbreaker's edge glistens with deep purple blood, and Thor looks like he's just seen a ghost. No one can speak at first, but Rocket finally says, "Thor... what did you do?"

Thor's voice is completely broken as he realizes he failed. That day in the forest he had the chance, and he didn't take it. "I went for the head."