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It'd been an entire day since the team managed to pull off the time heist. Tony, Bruce, and Rocket had been working on a custom gauntlet for the Infinity Stones, while the rest of the team had been divulged in their own activities as they awaited the completion of the gauntlet. They would've loved to have helped, but none of them were scientists, apart from Marlena, though she wasn't exactly in the right mind to lend a hand. Not only was she unversed in the field of science responsible for the construction of the gauntlet, she was still dealing with the emotional toll of Natasha's death. Marlena also found herself particularly uncomfortable around the stones, so she preferred to remain away until the gauntlet's completion.

For Marlena, it'd been an agonizingly slow 36 hours. It consisted of crying, sleeping, eating, and sometimes vomiting. Marlena was thankful she didn't experience debilitating morning sickness as some unlucky mothers did, but regardless, it was still one of the most annoying inconveniences.

As of the moment, Marlena stood in front of the mirror inside her closet. She was wearing her old supersuit. Tony had given it a few modifications, something of which Marlena was perfectly okay with. She'd accidentally left her new suit back home in Brooklyn after a trip to drop off a few of her's and Steve's belongings. Their rooms were becoming a bit too cluttered for her comfort.

Marlena couldn't help but notice her reflection. The suit looked so different on her than she remembered. Marlena had grown so much over the last five years it almost looked as if it no longer belonged to her, or at least the person she had become. No matter how much Marlena missed that person, however, she couldn't go back—she wouldn't go back. That person had finally given her permission to be who she longed to be, and she was going to take it.

With a sigh, Marlena brushed her bangs out of her face and turned to head back into her room for what she hoped to be the last time under the circumstances. Tony and Bruce finally finished the gauntlet, which meant there now had to be a discussion regarding the user of the gauntlet. Marlena definitely knew she wasn't in line for the job, but she knew she would enjoy listening to her idiots argue over it.

Marlena grabbed her fingerless gloves from her bed and left her bedroom, pulling the gloves onto her hands after she shut the door. She started down the hall towards the lab, where Steve stood with everyone but Nebula. Her absence was strange, but Marlena didn't question it. She figured she was on her way.

"Well, why don't you get Snow White over there to put it on?" Rocket said, gesturing to Marlena.

Marlena eyed Rocket as she continued into the room. "What are you talking about, Rocket?"

"We're trying to figure out who gets to wear the gauntlet," Tony answered with a roll of his eyes.

"And you want me to wear it?" Marlena asked Rocket with a raised brow.

Rocket only shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, you're the only person in here who literally holds the power of two stones," he chuckled.

"Not right now I don't," Marlena told him, though she wasn't being completely honest. Tony was the only one who knew that, however. "I'm happy to know you're finally acknowledging my strength, though, thanks."

"Yeah, yeah."

"I'm gonna do it, Rabbit," Thor said to Rocket as he stumbled over to the group. The moment the words left his mouth they knew he wasn't fit for the job. It wasn't to say Thor wasn't strong, per se, but he wasn't in the right headspace to handle the power from the stones. They were protecting him.

"Wait," Tony and Steve threw their hands out as if to stop Thor from grabbing the gauntlet. "We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet."

Thor looked at Steve and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, are we all just sitting around waiting on the right opportunity?"

"We should at least discuss it," Scott chimed in.

"No, sitting here staring at the thing is not gonna bring everybody back," Thor remarked. "I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? So this responsibility falls upon me."

Thor and Tony squabbled for a few seconds before Bruce finally chimed into the conversation. Thor was intent on using the gauntlet, but as Tony had informed him, he was in no condition to handle its power. The only one who seemed to think they would be able to was Bruce, and he was intent on letting everyone know.

"Lightning won't help you, pal," Bruce said to Thor and began his stroll towards the gauntlet. "It's gotta be me. You saw what those stones did to Thanos; they almost killed him. None of you could survive."

"And how do we know you will?" Steve questioned him.

"We don't, but the radiation's mostly gamma." Bruce was still dealing with the loss of Natasha, and Marlena could see it in his face. He was broken, and she truly wondered whether or not his use of the gauntlet would kill him. The thought upset her; she didn't want to lose anyone else. "It's like I was made for this," Bruce finished quietly.

Bruce picked up the gauntlet and looked around the room at his teammates, all of whom watched him carefully.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Marlena asked him.

Bruce nodded and looked down at the gauntlet. "I don't wanna lose anyone else," he answered.

Tony let out a breath and looked up at him. "Are you ready to go?"

"Let's do it."

"Remember, everyone Thanos snapped away, you're just bringing them back to now—today," Tony informed him. "Don't change anything from the last five years."

"Got it."

As Bruce readied himself, each member of the team, apart from Nebula, found a protective spot around him. Steve held his shield up in front of him, while Marlena stood a couple inches behind him. Scott and Rhodey were beside them. Clint and Tony were behind one of Tony's shields, while Thor and Rocket were by the table. In seconds, the entire compound had been closed off to protect the outside world from a potential energy surge, and Bruce was ready to go.

"Everybody comes home," Bruce said to himself as he placed the gauntlet onto his hand. The stones lit up the room immediately, and Bruce fell to his knees on the floor as the power behind the stones overwhelmed him. Everyone watched with worried eyes as the energy from the stones moved through his body. They could see his pain as well as hear it, and they hated it.

"Take it off!" Thor called, but Steve was quick to instruct him to do the opposite.

"No, wait!" Steve looked at Bruce, "Bruce, are you okay?"

"Talk to me, Banner!"

"I'm okay," Bruce assured them, though he continued to groan in pain. His pained screams could be heard as he raised his arm, and he snapped his fingers.

The team watched as Bruce fell to the floor and the gauntlet slid off of his arm. They approached him immediately to make sure he was okay, and while he was, his arm was not. There were severe burns covering every inch of Bruce's right arm and up to his neck and shoulder. The sight was enough to let them know he wouldn't be healing any time soon.

"Are you okay, Bruce?"

Marlena, Thor, and Steve kneeled at Bruce's side. Bruce grabbed Steve's arm, the pain still present inside his eyes.

"Did it work?" Bruce forced out.

"We're not sure yet," Thor answered him. "It's okay."

The security doors around the compound began to disappear, illuminating the room with sunlight; it was definitely much brighter now than it had been earlier, and Scott was the first one to notice it. Everyone else was busy tending to Bruce, though Clint had found his way over to his ringing phone.

"Guys," Scott's voice could be heard, and Marlena turned to look at him. She noticed the amount of birds outside as well as he did and stood up, slowly making her way over to the window. "I think it worked."

Marlena took a step forward to enjoy the beauty with him, but was never allowed the chance. The compound exploded with the energy of a hundred rockets, burying the team and the gauntlet under piles and piles of rubble. The explosion, in reality, should've killed them all, but fate had other plans for the Avengers. They had a Titan to kill and a job to finish.

Beneath the rubble, Marlena was trapped. The water rushed in quickly, leaving Marlena fighting desperately to free herself. The angry tears filled her eyes, and she worked diligently to remove the debris from her body. She could hear Scott calling to her in her earpiece, but the explosion had scattered the team. She was much too far away for him to attempt a rescue, or so she figured, considering she couldn't hear him without help from their comm links. She couldn't hear anyone for that matter, and that worried her. She'd already lost Natasha and had yet to be sure whether or not the snap even worked. So much of her family had been taken from her. She worried she wouldn't make it if she lost anymore.

"Steve..." Marlena struggled to pull her leg from beneath a downed column.

"I'm here," he assured her.

"I don't know where I am," Marlena said with a heavy breath. She kicked the column off of her before pulling herself through the debris-riddled water and onto a ledge. She coughed and collapsed, her eyes falling to her bruised and bloodied hands. She couldn't help but remember a time before those hands had seen so much violence, a time where those hands didn't know what innocent blood felt like. She couldn't help but remember a time before she felt anything but human, and she longed to have that again, though she knew that life never belonged to her to begin with. "The water's rising too fast, I don't know if I'm gonna make it out."

Let go.

"I can't..." Marlena shook her head as if to ward off the voice inside her mind. She turned her attention away from her hands and back to the water. It was rising faster with each passing second, and Marlena desperately wanted to let it wash her away.

"Don't you dare give up, Claire." Steve's voice was stern yet filled with worry. He knew there was no way she'd be able to get herself away from this, no matter how desperately he wanted her safe. The only thing keeping him sane was Tony's constant reassurance that both she and his child were physically okay. He wasn't sure how, given the strength of the blast, but he figured it had something to do with what Marlena had yet to disclose to him. Regardless, he was just glad they were both okay and hoped they remained that way.

"I don't know where I am," Marlena spoke quietly, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to find a way to deal with the voice rattling around inside her head.

The rumbling of thunder sounded in the distance, creating static through the comm channel and preventing Steve from responding. The sound, however, was confirmation that at least one member of her team was still up for the fight. If Thor was up and ready to fight, Steve was sure to follow. While everyone knew that Thor was capable of holding his own, no one wanted even the God of Thunder to face Thanos alone. They were a team before, and they sure as hell were fighting as a team now when it mattered most. It brought the smallest comfort to Marlena knowing that while she lay there in defeat, Steve was likely not on his own.

"Marlena," Steve called as the static cleared. It was the mere sound of his voice that provided a decent buffer between the sound of rushing water and the sound of her own mind. Even through the worst of circumstances, he was still and always would remain her comfort. "Listen to my voice, okay? I need you. We need you."

Marlena lay on her back on the ledge, the water brimming the surface of even that. The cold seeped through her suit to her skin, causing her to shiver violently in her already weakened state. Over the years, she fought long and hard, always with great determination. She beat the odds time and time again, but now, time was running short. In fact, she could not ignore the fact that maybe her time was up. Perhaps this fight was not Marlena Claire's to win...perhaps she was never meant to make it this far at all.

"Marlena, don't focus on what you see. Focus on what you feel. I feel you, can you feel me? Can you feel how desperate I am right now? I'm not saying we're winning this fight, but I'll be damned if we're losing it without you." Steve's voice came through comms again as the static cleared, and Marlena stared up at the small piece of sky now visible through the collapsed ceiling of the Compound. She listened intently. His voice was hoarse, but soft. Marlena recognized it as a tone he typically only used around her, in conversations that never exceeded just the two of them. This was different; anyone active on comms would hear the words he spoke, and it made her feel guilty.

Marlena couldn't push back the feeling that she felt deep within her heart, the tugging of the strings that pulled her to her feet for quite possibly the last time if things did not go as planned. If anyone was going to convince her that her fight was not over, it was the soldier that never gave up, the soldier she'd fallen in love with so many years ago. Steve was not one to falter in the face of even the most dangerous of fights, and Marlena always admired him for that. She would never measure up to the person that Steve Rogers was, but she was willing to try for her team, for the people that kept her going all these years.

Let go.

Marlena took a deep breath at the sound of the voice and pulled herself the rest of the way up. She struggled to stand on her own at first, and she leaned onto one of the still-standing columns to her right. She shook her head, trying to brush off all the doubts bubbling up inside of herself.

"You've got this, Claire," she whispered to herself, disregarding the fact that her teammates were likely on the receiving end of her little self pep talk, as well. Her right hand firmly gripped the column while her left hand rested at her side, the hint of a spark eliciting from her palm. It faded as quickly as it came and she gritted her teeth in frustration. In the end, after years of not only fighting external entities, but the internal battles within herself, Marlena Claire yet again proved to be her worst enemy. She spent a long time gaining full control over her abilities, and now when they were needed most, it was her own self-doubt that brought her spiraling downward.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," Marlena grumbled as she eyed her trembling hands. She was doing her best to trigger the abilities she knew were still inside her—the abilities that had subconsciously been protecting her and her little one for days—but she was having trouble finding the appropriate state of mind needed to pull them to the surface. She was anxious, and she was afraid, but that was to be expected given she wasn't sure what she was about to get herself into. "Come out, come out, come out..."

"Marlena, listen to me." This time she heard Tony's voice rather than Steve's. It was calm, even through his heavy breaths. "I need you to calm down, okay? I need you to remember what I told you yesterday. All you have to do is let go. Just let go, kid."

Just let go.

Marlena squeezed her eyes shut and let out another breath. She grabbed the column tightly with her right hand, while her left still trembled at her side. She was trying to focus, trying to find a way to let go as Tony instructed her. She could feel the power building inside her, but it wasn't enough. Not yet.

"Damn it, Marlena, I need your help," Clint's voice came over the comms after seconds of silence on Marlena's end. Metal clanking nearly drowned out the sound of his aggressive plea for help, but Marlena was able to make it out. "Are Steve and Tony the only two capable of making you believe in yourself, or do I have any authority over that? 'Cause I could really use some of your ass-kicking space magic right about now!"

His breath was ragged and she could hear what she believed to be his fist colliding with straight metal, causing her to push herself away from the column she'd been relying on for support.

"You could never let us down, Marlena," Steve reassured her as she trudged through the water, searching for Clint anywhere in the rubble.

"Clint, I can't find you!" She'd turned every remaining corner, all the while forcing herself through the rushing water that threatened to knock her down with every step.

A bead of sweat formed on her head, though she was still freezing. Her hands shook as she grabbed onto the remnants of the compound, using all her strength to keep moving forward. Her heart thumped in her chest as she struggled to collect her bearings, unsure of how close, or far, Clint could be.

"Claire, you better get yourself together. I'm on the move, and I'm bringing the party to you," Clint's voice came through the comms, and she could tell by his panting that he was running.

Marlena stood still in the water and closed her eyes, trying to drown out the sound of the rushing water and the cracking of concrete. She instead zoned in on herself, on her senses. The voices of her distressed teammates began to echo in her brain, but she couldn't make out the words. There were far too many and the stress she was under was causing her inability to truly focus.

"I don't know where I am."

The energy inside her began to spike, and her hands trembled with nerves. Marlena felt a wave of childlike fear wash over her and suddenly she was taken back to all the times she felt out of control when she first acquired her powers. She felt terrified, yet invincible. She was a spark, an unpredictable spark.

"Is that you?" Clint's voice was raspy, confirming that he was still running.

"Is what me?" Marlena still kept her eyes shut as her fingers twitched, the strength of her abilities pushing boundaries she felt she hadn't crossed before.

"We see you, Marlena," Steve's voice also came through, and he sounded relieved. It'd been years since he'd seen that part of her.

Marlena opened her eyes, only to be blinded by a brilliant light. She looked down at her hands as she had right after the explosion, only this time she was met with the vibrant blue of her energy rather than cuts and bruises. She was a light, guiding her own way through the dark ruins of the compound. She wasn't sure if she'd ever been so bright before and she looked up, noticing that the light surrounding her extended through to the world beyond the compound. Steve could see the light, and he somehow knew that it was her.

Marlena sucked in a breath and turned around to see Clint coming into view. She took a step towards him, but the corners of her lips dropped as quickly as they had pulled up when she noticed he wasn't alone. Behind him, four large, mechanical beasts were in pursuit, and they were quickly catching up to him. He was obviously struggling, both losing energy and possibly working with an injury after the blast that had knocked them all on their asses previously.

"Get out of the way, Clint," Marlena spoke into the comms, though he was almost close enough to read her lips at this point.

He gave a slight nod and smirked as he veered to the right and leapt off the remnants of the roof, part of which was still propped up by a standing column about twenty feet away from where Marlena stood.

Clint landed safely below and just as what Marlena could only describe as meta-hounds leapt after him, she pushed her arms out with her hands splayed open before her. An energy surge shook the concrete below her. With a few flicks of her wrists, Marlena sent a mass of concrete and water soaring towards the hounds. They slammed into the closest wall with a loud bang, diminishing the metal creatures into bits and pieces.

Moments later, Clint climbed back up to the upper level where Marlena was and was pulling her into a wet, but comforting hug. He pressed a silent kiss against her hair as if to thank her, but she could feel his thoughts through the short second of contact. She could feel that he, after being nearly killed by a group of hell-hounds sent from space, could only think of how much that moment reminded him of Natasha and the countless times she saved his life.

"You're welcome," Marlena looked up at him as he pulled away, a small smile tinged with a hint of sadness on her face.

"Get outta my head, Claire," He shook his head, looking down as if the eye contact was too much for him to handle in the moment. He only gave her damp hair a quick ruffle with his calloused hand before taking her hand in his, leading her towards lightning in the distance.

Marlena felt the warmth from his hand overpowering the cold she felt before. Though sometimes she felt incapable, her teammates counted on her. They gave her the strength she needed, and she would in turn use that strength to protect them at all costs. These people were not just her colleagues; they were her family. She knew they might be facing a battle they could not win, but just like Steve said, they were at least going to fight together. Marlena felt deep in her heart that with them by her side, even a lost battle would not result in defeat. Not if they didn't allow it.

As Clint and Marlena ran, Marlena was met with more static shooting through to her eardrum. She heard a voice, but before she could concentrate too much on it, a searing headache brought her to the ground again. Clint nearly collapsed as her weight threatened to pull him to the ground as well, but she was focused on something else—someone else.

Marlena could hear them. She could hear every last one of them. It was overwhelming, so much so that she was having a hard time trying to find a way to control herself.

"Go," she ordered Clint with a deep breath. She stared at the ground, her hands pressed firmly into the mud and charred remnants of the compound. She could see the faint blue of her abilities once again working their way to the surface, only this time they were driven by such a longing familiarity Marlena could not and would not fight.

"I'm not leaving you," he replied breathlessly.

"I'm not asking."

Marlena looked up at Clint, and he smirked as he was met with the glowing blue of her usually-hazel irises he hadn't seen in years. She'd found her light again, and there was no way Clint was going to get in the way of letting her use it.

"Give 'em hell, Marlena Claire," Clint said before running off.

Marlena took another deep breath and balled her hands into fists, the glowing blue only growing brighter and brighter. The voices were only getting louder inside her head, and while she tried desperately to drown them out, there were a choice few that Marlena couldn't ignore.

"Did ya miss me, Claire?"

Sam.

Marlena grinned and fought back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. She couldn't believe what was happening.

"Time to get off your ass, draga."

Wanda.

The blue surrounding the brunette grew brighter and brighter, and Marlena began to feel stronger and stronger.

"One last fight, doll."

Bucky.

A few tears fell from Marlena's eyes and she smiled widely. She let out a breath and closed her eyes in concentration, working as hard as she could to push all of her power back to the surface. Marlena had her family back, give or take a few members, and she was ready to do whatever she could to make sure they stayed. She was ready to do whatever she could to make sure Thanos paid for taking them away in the first place, for inflicting such a pain on her she wasn't sure existed until she watched everyone she loved disappear into thin air. It was time for him to suffer the way she had, and she would spare no energy making sure he did.

"Don't worry, little one," Marlena spoke quietly to the growing body she'd spent days protecting. Her eyes were still closed as she continued to concentrate; she was focusing a large portion of her energy throughout her body in an attempt to protect her child. She'd already accepted there was no way out of the fight, but she was going to do whatever she could to protect her own from it. "We're gonna get through this...whatever it takes."

Marlena opened her glowing eyes and was immediately met with the bright blue of her abilities. She smirked, and with a burst of energy she was exploding through the debris and into the sky above where hundreds, if not thousands of enhanced individuals—heroes—were waiting below to take on Thanos and his army. She found Steve in the crowd and levitated down to him, taking her place among him, Thor, Bruce, and Tony.

"Avengers..." Steve called, his eyes on nothing but the battlefield in front of him. Mjölnir found its way into Steve's grasp, and the final word he spoke would change everything. "...assemble!"

It was time for the fight of their lives.