A GROUP OF THE REMAINING AVENGERS rushes out onto the front lawn. AJ jobs quickly beside Natasha at the sight of Captain Marvel carrying a massive spaceship through the dark night sky. She can't help but hope that her best friend... Briana Stark. AJ can't help but hope that Briana's come back too. She just wants to know her best friend's safe, that she's still here, and maybe she finally has the chance to apologize for what she did the last time they seen each other.

But destiny has a funny way of toying with her.

Pepper Potts stands in front of the rest of the Avengers with a hesitant smile, hoping that both her soon-to-be-husband and daughter were safe.

Carol carefully eases the Benatar onto the brilliant green grass and slowly the bomb bay door slides open. Nebula and Cat helps Tony walk down the metal staircase, then Steve quickly runs over and helps Tony Stark down the ship's last few steps.

And as he stumbles across the lawn of the old Avengers Compound, Tony breathes out, "Couldn't stop him,"

Steve sighs back, "Neither could I,"

"I-" Tony chokes, his feet freezing him in place and his expression breaking, "I lost my kids,"

And with those words spoken, Steve knows exactly who he means. Peter Parker and Briana Stark. He knows that they must have gotten dusted, he knows that the only people Tony Stark has left is Pepper Potts and the girl he considered a second daughter, Catherine Parker. But Steve Rogers didn't know how he was gonna break the news to his own daughter of her best friend being gone.

With an aching expression, Steve pulls back for a long moment, "Tony, we lost,"

"Is-is, um," he grapples for the right words.

But he doesn't get the chance to finish because Pepper hurriedly runs for him, stopping just before him with wide eyes that quickly look him over. Tony draws back a little, letting out a soft gasp that sounds far too close to a sob. Then Pepper pulls him tightly to her. Both of them knowing what they lost.

They weren't parents anymore.

They lost their baby, their precious little girl.

Briana Stark was dead.

Catherine Parker simply closes her eyes as tears threatened to fall. She was pleading to herself so quietly that her aunt wasn't gone, then maybe... she wasn't alone.

And back at the Benatar, the only remaining guardians sit side-by-side. Rocket slowly rests beside Nebula, gently taking her hand.

"IT'S BEEN TWENTY-THREE DAYS since Thanos came to earth."

AJ watches the names like Stephen Strange, Samuel Wilson, Wanda Maximoff, Scott Lang, and finally James Barnes pass on the pale blue screen. She feels the tears that threatened to spill.

"World governments are... in pieces," Natasha leans into the table beside her, sighing, "Um, the parts that are still working are trying to take a census and it looks like he did-"

Tony's hands fall limp when Peter's face fills the screen of the Missing. Cat bites her lip at the face of her little brother as she tries not to break down.

Tony Stark can't even watch anymore when his baby girl appears next on the screen after Peter. He feels the tears that threatened to fall.

Rhodey sees his niece appear on the screen and looks down at the ground with quiet tears in his eyes. All those memories of her... taking her to the movies, giving her advice with anything, making her laugh and smile, tickling her when she was a little girl, and teasing her when it came to Peter Parker. He wouldn't forget those memories, he couldn't.

AJ feels tears filled her vision at the thought of her best friend being dead. She never got the chance to apologize for what she did, and now she'll tell her that she's sorry. AJ Rogers turns to her father and hugs him, burying her face into his chest as she did her best to hold back the tears. Steve Rogers doesn't respond but hugs his daughter back and rubs her back smoothly.

Cat sees her Aunt May's face appeared on the screen and she squeezes her eyes shut. She didn't care if silent tears made its way down her cheeks. She lost baby brother and her aunt. She was all alone now.

"He did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out..." Natasha begins. "50% of all living creatures,"

Carol's gaze flickers with tears at the sight of her old friend Nick Fury's face on the screen.

"Where is he now? Where?" Tony finally speaks up, anger laced into his words.

"We haven't been able to find out. He opened a portal and then he disappeared," Steve says, not removing his arms from around his daughter.

Then Tony's gaze lands on Thor who sits off by himself in a cold enclosed room, face dark and serious.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Oh, he's ticked," Tony freezes, staring at the raccoon as he answers, "He thinks he failed. Which of course, he did, but you know, there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"

Tony blinks, "Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear,"

"Maybe I am," Rocket simply shrugs.

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now," Steve says. "Deep space scans and satellites and we got nothing... Tony, you fought him,"

Tony cuts in, "Who told you that? I didn't fight him,"

Everyone looks at him in confusion.

Sharply shaking his head, Tony bites out, "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, cause he's unbeatable,"

"Did he give you any clues? Any coordinates?" Steve presses, "Anything?"

Tony blows a strange sound out of his mouth, cutting his hand towards his temple.

"I saw this coming a few years back," Tony starts lowly, shaking his head once more, "I had a vision. I didn't want to believe it. Thought I was dreaming,"

Steve straightens, "Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus-"

"And I needed you," Tony's eyes roll up to look at him, voice angry and tired, "As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry... you know what I need?" The Stark suddenly slams his hand down on the table, knocking over bowls and plates as he shakily tries to stand, "I need a drink,"

As the man rips out his IV, Rhodey quickly tries to stop him, "Tony, Tony, Tony,"

"A-and I believe I remember telling all ya's alive and otherwise that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world, remember that!? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not — that's what we needed!" Tony yells.

Steve squints at him, "Well, that didn't work out, did it?"

"I said, 'we'd lose', you said, 'we'll do that together too'." Tony gasps for air, his angry voice beginning to shake, "But guess what, Cap? We lost, and you weren't there. But that's what we do, right?" The man's legs begin to go walk and he stumbles back, pushing back against Rhodey when he tries to hold him up, "Our best work after the fact! We're the A-vengers. We're the A-vengers, not the Pre-vengers. Right?"

"Okay," Rhodey tries hard to appease him, to calm him down before he hurts himself, "You made your point. Just sit down, okay?"

"Okay," Tony quickly nods in agreement before remembering he's not done, fighting against Rhodey and pointing towards Carol, "No, no, here's my point. You know, she's great, by the way. We need you, you're new blood!"

"Tony, just sit down,"

But Tony is practically hysterical as he yanks his best friend off him, stumbling away and towards Steve with a shaking finger pointed in his face. God, without Briana, he was so broken. Like all the light from his life was gone.

"Bunch'a tired ol' mules. I got nothing for you, Cap. I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar!"

Steve just stares at him, willing to take it.

Then Tony suddenly rips his arc reactor right out of his chest and slaps it into Steve's hand, really not caring anymore. He could die for all he cares, maybe then he'll be with his baby, his little girl again. He lost his daughter, he lost Peter, he lost nearly everything. And now he's done. He's far past being done.

"Here, take this," Tony's voice trembles, tears beginning to leak down his thin face, "You find him. You put that on. You hide."

The air holds a painful heavy silence.

But then Tony's knees drop out from under him and suddenly he's on the ground.

"Tony!" Everyone hurriedly stoops down to help him.

"I'm fine!" The Stark spits out, swaying for a brief moment before he then completely collapses.

AS HE LEAVES HIS BEST FRIEND'S SIDE AND JOINS THE OTHERS, Rhodey lets out a sigh, "Bruce gave him a sedative. He's probably gonna be out the rest of the day,"

Carol nods, "You guys take care of him. And I'll bring a bizurian elixir when I come back," with that, she turns and walks away.

"Where are you going?" Steve raises an eyebrow.

"To kill Thanos,"

Everyone looks back at each other. The group hurriedly moves after the woman.

"Hey!" Carol freezes and Natasha tries to reason with her, "You know, we usually work as a team here, and, um, between you and I, morale's a little fragile,"

"We realize you there's more your territory, but this is our fight too," Steve says.

"We all lost someone... someone's," AJ whispers softly, her best friend and her uncle comes back into her mind.

Leaning in the doorway, Rhodey crosses his arms over his chest, "You even know where they are?"

Carol shrugs, "I know people who might,"

"Don't bother," a low raspy voice draws everyone's attention to Nebula as she stands in the shadows, "I can tell you where Thanos is,"

"OKAY. WHO HERE HASN'T BEEN TO SPACE?"

As the remaining Avengers sit in the Benatar, everyone is confused at the raccoon's question, but raises their hands anyway.

"You better not throw up on my ship," Rocket says. "Approaching the jump in three..."

"Two..."

"One!" Rocket yanks down on the throttle, making the ship suddenly blast straight through the wormhole.

The Benatar rapidly slicing through the darkness of space. Her eyes begin to sparkle with the brilliant lights of universe, planets, and stars and supernovas alike all glittering against the dark sky. Then they came to a stop through the other side of the space portal.

One last fight.

One last chance.

They have to make it worth it.

As everyone mills around him, Steve lets out a quiet sigh and slowly pulls out his compass, his brows furrowing at the same worn photograph of Peggy from so long ago. AJ glances at her father and sees him looking at the picture of her mother.

Natasha slowly glances over at him, "This is gonna work, Steve,"

"I know it will." Steve's blue eyes are so terribly heavy as he looks back, "Cause I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't,"

Carol flies back up to the front of the ship, looking confused as she reports, "No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him,"

"Then that's enough,"

THANOS IS WEAK.

The mad titan, the one who annihilated half the universe, now spends the rest of his pitiful existence in a false illusion of serenity. The giant lumps along as he gathers his harvest, clearly still wounded from the Snap. Thanos slowly approaches his small wooden hut, setting himself down and allowing himself a kind of peace that the rest of the universe will now never know.

But he will pay.

Suddenly Captain Marvel slams through the thin roof, knocking Thanos down, twisting around his body, and grabbing right onto his neck. Bruce, clad in the HulkBuster suit, bursts from the ground and snatches tight onto Thanos' arm that still wears the withered and decaying Infinity Gauntlet. The titan chokes and gasps, shocked at the sudden attack.

But it's about to get so much worse for him.

Lightning strikes once more and Thor slices through the sky, hurling the sharp edge of his axe right into the curve of the monster's arm. Thanos screams in agony as his hand is lopped off, and Rhodey, and Rocket follow in with their own guns raised.

Steve strides into the hut with Natasha and AJ following on either side, all three of them are angry.

The Avengers are working together once more. But it doesn't even matter. It won't change anything.

Because when Rocket kicks the now sliced off hand over, he finds that the gauntlet is empty.

"Oh no..."

Eyes narrowing, Steve demands, "Where are they?"

"Answer the question." Carol hisses in the titan's ear.

Breathing deeply, Thanos groans out, "The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose,"

"You murdered trillions!"

Thanos vehemently spits back, "You should be grateful!"

AJ clenches her fists.

"Where. Are. The. Stones?" Natasha demands.

"The stones are gone. Reduced to atoms," Thanos says.

"You used them two days ago!"

"I used the stones to destroy the stones! It weakened me, but now the work is done. It always will be," Thanos gives a sick smirk, "I am... inevitable,"

"We have to tear this place apart! He— he has to be lying!" Rhodey quickly looks around, wanting to bring back his niece.

Her eyes not leaving Thanos' face, Nebula quietly objects, "My father is many things. A liar, is not one of them,"

"Ah, thank you, daughter," Thanos breathes with a hint of that same sick smile. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly—"

And Thor suddenly silences him with the axe slicing right across his throat, severing his head from his body. His head and his body fall, creating two loud thuds, one after the other.

Everyone falls silent.

Nebula's hand slowly raises to where a lone tear slips down her metal cheek.

"What?" Looking up at the god, Rocket breathes in horror, "What'd you do?"

Thor doesn't meet their eyes, "I went for the head,"

The god of thunder stumbles away, finding no reason to look back, to wait for the others, no reason for anything anymore.

"Dad?" AJ whispers softly, her eyes full with so much sadness and grief. "There's no other way? Uncle.... Uncle Bucky is just gone... forever?"

No one answers.

Steve closes his eyes and drops his head, looking away, not knowing what to say to his daughter.

It's over. It's all over.

THE AVENGERS WERE DISBANDED.

There was no one left to avenge. There was no more hope. Most of them gave up on hope and went their own ways, starting their new lives, with their hearts aching with grief and sadness.

But it didn't matter how long.

Their hearts would always be aching with grief and sadness.

Because they all lost someone... someone's.

Tony Stark and Pepper Potts weren't parents anymore. They lost their baby, Briana Stark. She's gone, dead. They couldn't bring her back, love her, care for her.

Catherine Parker lost her baby brother and aunt, the last two family she had left. Her parents had dropped off herself and Peter at their Aunt May's and Uncle Ben's but then their parents died in a unfortunate plane crash. Then her uncle died due to a shooting. Now? She was all alone, no family left.

Everything was gone.

No hope.

Nothing.

They're all dead. And they're not coming back.

The end of the world has finally come, and they weren't ready for it.

None of them were ready for it.

Avengers belongs to Marvel

Cat belongs to Crazy_Fangirl_110

AJ belongs to richnbad0627