Grace felt the floor go out from under her, shouted for her father, and was unable to fly anywhere in her shock and confusion. Not even Sai could get her to safety with all the debris around them, presenting no way out. Grace remembers nothing else from the fall, as she went unconscious for a minute or so. Maybe longer. It's hard to tell.

She wakes to the sound of rushing water and Rhodey's glitching voice in her ear. "Mayday, mayday! Does anybody copy?! We're in the lower level, it's flooding!"

"Rhodey?" Grace says.

"We're drowning!" he shouts. "Does anybody copy? Mayday!"

"Rhodey?!" Grace sits up, ignoring the pain in her head. "I can hear you! Rhodey?!" He doesn't answer her, and then Grace hears movement near her.

She turns, seeing Clint through the red emergency lights, getting to his feet, groaning in pain. She gets up and walks over to him, stumbling over the debris on the ground.

"Grace?" Clint says.

"Yeah," she replies.

He turns on a flashlight, one wired into his glove, and he shines it around. Grace uses the chest blaster of her suit for the same purpose. They're in a sub level, Grace dimly recognizes, and it's mostly in tact. There's holes in the ceiling, though, and debris is everywhere.

"Cap?!" Clint shouts, receiving no answer.

"Dad?!" Grace hears nothing, and so she turns to someone more near, putting her helmet up. "Sai?" It's silent. "Sai?"

"I'm here," she finally says, her voice also coming through glitched. "You're alright. Nothing's broken. Thankfully."

"Can you contact my dad?" Grace asks. "Maybe see what's wrong with the comms?"

"I'll try," she replies. A few moments later, she says, "I can send a message to your dad and let him know you're okay. Fixing the comms might take some time, though."

"Okay."

"Uh, Grace?" Clint says.

She turns. "What?"

He holds up, of all things, the gauntlet — which still contains the Stones. "We got-" His eyes widen as he looks over her shoulder, and he tosses the gauntlet to her without a word. She manages to catch it, then turns to see one of his arrows, a light on the end of it, going down the tunnel behind her. There's something down there, and Grace recognizes them instantly.

The Outriders.

"Crap," she says, turning to run in the opposite direction with Clint, the gauntlet in one arm, the other shooting blasts behind her.

~~~~

Tony, as soon as he got his bearings, shouted for Grace in a panic. He received no reply, and it worried him immensely. Despite the pain he felt, he got up and went in search for her and the others. During his search, Friday alerted him to a message from Sai, letting him know that Grace was okay. It relieved him immensely, though worry was still present as he searched.

He found Thor first, and then they found a hole to the outside world. What they saw out there was part of Tony's worst nightmare.

Thanos.

He'd brought himself and a ship from the past, along with, Tony suspected, reinforcements. He just hoped Squidward wasn't among them; that guy was annoying.

Tony knew it was stupid to try to fight Thanos right then, especially seeing as he didn't look ready to fight either. So, he went off in search for the others, his daughter in particular. Instead, he stumbled upon a shield, and now has found the owner of it, laying down, unconscious. He kicks him, though not too hard. "Come on, buddy, wake up." Steve gasps as he wakes, and Tony looks down at him. "That's my man." He holds up the shield. "You lose this again, I'm keeping it."

Steve looks around. "What happened?"

"We messed with time, it tends to mess back. You'll see," Tony replies, then helping Steve up.

He leads him to where Thor is standing, at the hole to the outside. They look out at Thanos, who's sitting there, his blade stuck in the earth, his helmet hanging off the top of it. He looks back at them.

"What's he been doing?" Tony asks.

"Absolutely nothing," Thor replies.

"Where are the Stones?" Steve asks.

Tony shrugs. "Somewhere under all this. All I know is he doesn't have 'em."

"So we keep it that way."

"You know it's a trap, right?" Thor says.

Tony sighs. "Yeah. I don't much care."

"Good. Just as long we are all in agreement," Thor says. And then thunder rumbles as his eyes glow blue, lighting cracking, running down his outstretched arms, around his chest, and then striking the spot where he stands as his hammer and axe both fly right to his hands. When the lightning clears, his hair is half tied up and part of his beard is braided. It's a good look. "Let's kill him properly this time."

The three of them walk down to where Thanos still sits, all angered, all determined. He almost seems to be smiling, and he speaks almost immediately, before Tony, Thor, and Steve have even stopped walking. "You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me." The three of them surround him, spreading out, silent. He continues talking, evidently liking the sound of his own voice. "I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive. But you've shown me that's impossible. And as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."

"Yep, we're all kinds of stubborn," Tony replies.

Thanos smiles, seemingly laughing a bit. "I'm thankful. Because now, I know what I must do." He stands. "I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then-" he grabs his helmet, puts it on his head "-with the Stones you've collected for me, create a new one. Teeming with life-" he lifts his blade, double-sided, immense "-that knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given." The three of them ready themselves, Thor's weapons crackling with lightning. Thanos seems not the least bit intimidated. "A grateful universe."

"Born out of blood," Steve says.

"They'll never know it. Because you won't be alive to tell them."

Thor unleashes a battle cry and charges, and Tony jumps in the air, a blade extending from his suit which he brings down on Thanos, who deflects it with his own. Tony hits the ground, hears a clang, sees Steve's shield in the air. He gets up and flies to the right as Thor attacks. Tony blasts at Thanos with all he's got, and Thanos uses his blade as a shield.

This is supposed to be easier; he doesn't have the Stones — not a single one.

But it feels just as difficult as it was before.

~~~~

Grace and Clint eventually hit a portion of the tunnels that has water pooling in it, and Grace suspects they're getting closer to another part of the compound, probably one more damaged. The Outriders still follow behind them, and Grace is flying now, low, but she couldn't continue running. Clint still does, quickly, though he breathes heavily as he turns every so often to shoot an arrow behind him.

Grace gets an idea. "Can you holds this?" she asks. Clint nods, and she passes it to him, then turns to fly backwards, blasting with both hands and the blaster on her chest. They're coming fast, roaring, and it scares her.

Clint grabs arrows with one hand and starts sticking them into the pipes around them as they pass. Grace assumes he knows what he's doing, and doesn't ask him any questions, especially as one Outrider gets close and nearly gets her foot.

"Brace yourself!" Clint shouts breathlessly, and then the arrows explode, hitting the Outsiders and throwing Clint and Grace forward and backward respectively — but in the same direction — and they both hit the floor. Most of the Outriders are on fire, though some come out fine and keep running for them. Clint shoots a grappling hook up into the tunnel above them, and Grace follows his lead as he begins to rise. The Outriders follow, and she and Clint fight them off, Grace just a bit below him, to stay clear of his sword.

Eventually, they reach the top, landing in another sub level room. Down below, there are no Outriders left to attack them. Grace turns back to Clint, who's laying on the ground, trying to catch his breath.

"I should talk to Dad about some sort of... flight apparatus for you."

"Yeah," Clint breathes. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

Grace then hears footsteps and turns, spotting Nebula. She walks over to Clint.

He lifts the gauntlet, ready to hand off the responsibility. "Oh, hey. I know you."

She takes it, then presses something on her head. "Father," she says. "I have the Stones."

"What?!" Clint says, trying to sit up. She puts a foot on his chest as Grace runs forward, grabbing onto the gauntlet.

Nebula twists to her right, trying to get Grace off of her, but Grace hangs on, then trying to take Nebula's other leg out from under her. Nebula manages to elbow her in the head, then kick her knee, pulling the gauntlet out of her grasp as she does so. Clint reaches up to stop her, but Nebula kicks him away as Grace goes in for another attack, tackling her to the ground.

"Why would you do this?!" she asks, grabbing for the gauntlet.

Nebula doesn't answer, practically throwing Grace off her using one arm and her legs for the strength. Clint quickly scrambles to get up, but he doesn't need to.

A gun cocks, and a female voice says, "Stop." Grace sees a woman, green-skinned, her hair black and fading into pink, walking in the room and aiming her gun at Nebula.

Nebula stands, and in the light, Grace sees that she looks different; something is missing from her. "You're betraying us?" she asks.

And then, from another entrance, right next to where the green girl came in, another Nebula walks out, her hands in a surrendering position. There's a place on her head, uncovered, revealing circuitry, and Grace realizes that that's it. There's supposed to be a gold plate there. That's what's missing. The Nebula she fought, the one now aiming a gun at the other Nebula, isn't the one she knows.

Clint moves to get out of the way, silently urging Grace to follow him, and they back up into a nearby hallway, watching.

Damaged Nebula says, "You don't have to do this."

"I am this," the other Nebula replies.

The green girl shakes her head. "No, you're not."

"You've seen what we become," damaged Nebula says, pointing at something on her face. They all go quiet for a long moment, and then the green girl speaks again.

"Nebula, listen to her."

"You can change," damaged Nebula insists. The green girl lowers her gun.

The other Nebula sounds hopeless — helpless. "He won't let me."

And then, suddenly, she turns her gun on the green girl, who shouts, "No!"

Damaged Nebula quickly pulls out a gun and shoots her other self, right in the chest, without a thought. The other Nebula drops the gauntlet and sinks down to the floor. She ceases to move.

Grace, getting over her shock, darts forward, grabbing the gauntlet herself, holding it to her chest protectively. Nebula and the green girl look at her, and Clint walks out to stand behind her.

"I'll hold this," she says. "For safe keeping."

"Who are you?" the green girl asks, brows furrowed, looking at both Grace and Clint.

"That's Stark's daughter," Nebula says.

"I'm Grace," she adds.

Clint lifts a hand in greeting. "Clint."

"Gamora," the green girl replies. "I'm assuming you're trying to stop my father?"

"Assuming your father is Thanos," Clint says, "yeah."

Gamora nods. "Good. Let's go." She turns and walks back from where she came, and Nebula follows, casting a glance back at Grace and Clint.

"That was weird," Clint says, not moving.

Grace looks back at the other Nebula, dead. "Yeah..."

Gamora shouts back at them. "Are you coming?!"

"Uh, yeah!" Clint replies, then muttering, "I guess."

He walks on, and Grace follows, paying very close attention to her surroundings.