Downfalls
3rd Person POV
Everyone went to the dock over the lake that was outside a little ways past the Compound in silence to mourn the loss of their fallen teammate and family member with even JJ and Rocket being there.
Ash was by Bruce's side as he held her close trying to comfort her as she let the now silent tears slide down her face and in her hands she had Hops, his fur was a little dusty and grimy with a large scorch mark on his stomach and the ribbon around his neck was a little unraveled at the edges but was still in pretty good condition all things considered.
After being declared an outlaw, Tony had put him in storage with all of Ash's other belongings at the Compound where Nat had found him and had him by Ash's side the whole time she was in her time coma, the scorch mark had come from the first time Ash tried to wake up and let off a few sparks that almost made him catch fire if Nat hadn't moved him away and kept him on a table nearby the rest of the time so she wouldn't accidentally destroy him.
Now he was providing her all the comfort he could on his own as Ash continued to cry and everyone looked out at the lake in mourning.
"Do we know if she had family?" Tony asked everyone and Steve answered as if it was supposed to be obvious,
"Yeah. Us."
"What?" Thor spoke up confused and Tony tried to explain,
"I just asked him a question–"
But Thor wasn't having it as he ranted,
"Yeah, you're acting like she's dead. Why are we acting like she's dead? We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back, isn't that right?" He was practically growling as he spoke, "So stop this shit. We're the Avengers, get it together."
"We can't get her back." Clint suddenly spoke up from where he was standing.
"Wha–what?"
"It can't be undone... It can't..."
Thor dryly laughed as he told him,
"I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very earthly being. Okay? We're talking about space magic. And 'can't' seems very definitive don't you think?"
"Yeah, look, I know that I'm way outside my paygrade here. But she still isn't here, is she?"
"No, that's my point–" Thor tried to argue but Clint cut him off choking on his words every few seconds,
"It can't–be undone. Or that's at least what the red floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? GO GRAB YOUR HAMMER, AND YOU GO FLY AND TALK TO HIM!"
Clint was yelling angrily by the end of his statement before it quickly switched to grief as he rasped out,
"It was supposed to be me... She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bet her life on it."
"RAH!"
In a quick burst of anger, Bruce pulled away from Ash and grabbed the bench that was set on the deck and hurled it across the lake out of sight before he turned to the others with a look of resignation on his face as he told them,
"She's not coming back... We have to make it worth it... We have to..."
"We will." Steve declared.
"Let's get to it then..." JJ spoke softly but with determination behind her words nonetheless for her sister's sake.
As they all headed back to the Compound, Clint stayed back a second as he noticed Ash stayed in place on the dock looking out at the water before kneeling down to place Hops at the edge of the dock and standing back up as her hair and fists started to burn up but hardly any flames came out and instead dark smoke started to wisp out from her being and her broken and wavering deep breaths could be heard.
"Ash?" Bruce also stayed back a second noticing her distress and Clint held a hand up to signal that he had this and Bruce nodded before walking a little further away to give them some space to talk.
When Clint went by Ash's side, he wasn't surprised to see her crying but was surprised to see her teeth gritted like she was trying to restrain herself from yelling.
"Kid?" Clint was about to place a hand on her shoulder but the heat radiating off of her despite the lack of flames kept him from doing it as Ash muttered,
"Why did she do it...?"
Making Clint go quiet as she continued,
"I felt her leave... even from across time I sensed it in my core... I've felt peoples' losses before: Wanda's when Pietro and Vision were killed, Xay's right before he thought he lost me, but they felt like nothing compared to how it felt when Nat died..."
More smoke started to billow out as more tears streamed down her face putting out the flames that would've come out of her and she started to bawl with her voice cracking,
"I felt her sadness and her love for what she did... but I don't understand why she did it..."
"She did it for you..."
Ash looked up at Clint with overflowing teary eyes as he recalled,
"She told me that, what she was choosing to do, she was doing it for you, that she loved you... you were her family..."
Ash took that in before she closed her eyes causing them to squeeze out more tears as she whispered,
"I never got to call her mom and now it's too late..."
Ash started to hug herself tightly to the point where it looked like she was painfully folding in on herself and Clint thought carefully about what to say next before he told her gently,
"I know that.. if she were here right now... she wouldn't want you breaking down like this, destroying yourself with guilt that isn't yours.. cause she knew you had a bad habit of doing that to yourself." Clint smiled ruefully making Ash breathe a laugh before he continued with, "She knew you had a mother before.. and that maybe you weren't ready to call her that or she'd feel like she was replacing her... but she still loved you like you were her own kid... and she wanted you to continue living and thriving despite all the problems you've had to endure in the past and have yet to face for the future... cause she knew you'd always have family, both biological and non, by your side to face whatever it is you confront next head-on."
Ash stayed quiet for a second before remembering all the times Bruce and the rest of the team had had her back when facing any sort of threat; the very first time they all fought together in New York, Nat and Bruce saving her from Skodor, and every time the team got together to stop whatever enemy they faced and spent some time together even afterward to celebrate their victory, usually with food.
She gave a soft laugh as she remembered when they had finished defeating the Chitauri and they had all gone for shawarma like Tony suggested and she surprised them all by letting out a belch of flames or after defeating Ultron, Nat had taken her to get ice cream along with Wanda to try to cheer them both up with some "girl time" and Nat had rested her arms on Ash's head as she stood while Ash sat as she ate hers and some of it ended up dripping onto Ash's nose making the three of them laugh.
"I love my family..." Ash smiled softly and the smoke coming off of her lessened back down to wisps before fully dissipating as she stood up straight with a new light in her eyes and the tear stains on her cheeks evaporating from the new comforting warmth coming off of her and she turned to look back at Clint and Bruce in the distance as she spoke determinedly,
"So let's get back the others we've lost."
The three of them headed back to the Compound where JJ, Rocket, and Tony were seen starting the schematics for the "Nano Gauntlet" as the title for the blueprints stated with everyone doing a part in its creation; Ash let the machine melt down the metal for the outer plating but helped with the casting, JJ and Rocket handled the wiring assembly, and Tony and Bruce managed device assembly until it was finally time to put the Stones into the gauntlet...
Using the mechanical arms within the covered lab bench so they could have a shield in front of them in case something when wrong, Tony carefully manipulated the arms to place all six Stones into the spaces within the Gauntlet, all of them glowing as they settled into their positions before-
"BOOM!" Rocket blurted out suddenly, making Bruce, Tony, and Ash jump a bit before groaning at Rocket and JJ's chuckles.
Once they brought the completed Gauntlet into the main lab area to show everyone Rocket asked,
"Alright. The glove's ready. Question is, who's gonna snap their freaking fingers?"
"I'll do it." Thor started casually sauntering forward toward the Gauntlet.
"Excuse me?" Scott asked.
"It's okay." He continued walking forward until-
"No, no, no, whoa. Stop. Stop. Wait a sec. Hey, hey–"
Tony and Steve tried to keep him from reaching the Gauntlet as they protested.
"Wait, wait, Thor, just wait."
"We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet." Steve protested standing right in front of Thor to block his way.
"I'm sorry. What, we're just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?" Thor spoke with some sarcasm in his voice before Scott argued,
"We should at least discuss it."
"No, no, sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger, OK? So this responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty." Thor tried to reason.
"It's not about that–" Tony started to object.
"Shhchhhshhh It's not that– Stop it! Just let me!" Thor tried to shush and argue with Tony before he started tearing up as he begged, "Just let me do it. Just let me do s-something good. Something r-right."
"Look. It's not just the fact that that glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent, I'm telling you, you're in no condition." Tony told him seriously but Thor rebutted,
"What do you–What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?"
"Cheez Whiz?" Rhodey spoke up from his position.
JJ snorted at that making Ash smile a bit as well before putting on a straight face again as quickly as Thor answered,
"Lightning."
"Yeah." Tony still looked unconvinced before Bruce spoke up,
"Lightning won't help you, pal. It's gotta be me." He started walking forward toward the Gauntlet as he explained,
"You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive."
"How do we know you will?" Steve asked.
"We don't. But the radiation's mostly gamma... It's like... I was made for this..." Bruce spoke thoughtfully as he looked down at the Gauntlet.
"And we can help..." Ash declared as she stepped forward along with JJ.
"Ash there's no way-" Bruce tried to protest but Ash cut him off with,
"I've already lost one parent today, I'm not losing a third..."
"'Sides our existence came from those rocks, if anyone can give ya a fightin' chance to survive usin'em, it's us." JJ pointed out with her arms crossed.
"She's gotta point." Rocket noted and gave her an affirmative head nod as though giving her permission to go through with it.
"Alright then..." Bruce still looked unsure but relented to the idea as he picked up the Gauntlet and held it in both hands as he readied to put it on.
"Good to go, yeah?" Tony asked.
"Let's do it." Bruce nodded.
"You remember; everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago and just bringing them back to now, today. Don't change anything from the last five years." Tony made sure to reiterate the plan.
"Got it."
"Don't worry, we won't mess it up." JJ reassured him before Ash added with a small smile,
"Besides, I still wanna meet my little cousin."
Making Tony smile a bit as well before everyone started suiting up and readying themselves for the Snap: Steve had his helmet and shield ready, Scott and Rhodey had their suits snap into place around them, Thor ushered Rocket behind him as he pulled his goggles over his face, Tony had his nanosuit form around him before activating a shield to appear in front of Clint who was readying his bow, and Ash tapped her pin on her chest to make her suit form around her while JJ thumped her boot to summon some orbs to form a circle around the three of them in case she needed to provide an extra shield around them to protect the others.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., do me a favor and activate Barn Door Protocol. Will you?" Tony called out to the AI system.
"Yes, boss." She answered and all around windows and doors started to shut as the whole facility went into lockdown.
"Ready?"
Ash just nodded, her throat going tight from nerves and she and JJ held hands and hovered their free hands over Bruce's right arm as he was preparing to put the Gauntlet on while whispering,
"Everybody comes home."
The Gauntlet nanobotically expanded to fit his oversized hand before settling in and a power surge started to overwhelm him before the girls placed their hands on his arm and the flow of energy started going through them as well and seemed to lessen the pain on Bruce by sharing it between the three of them but not by not as Bruce grunted in pain and the girls were gritting their teeth and wincing.
When a secondary wave of energy surged from the Gauntlet through them they all let out a cry of pain causing some burns to form on Bruce's arm as well as the girls' hands causing them all to panic as Thor shouted,
"Take it off! Take it off!"
"No, wait. Bruce, girls are you okay?" Steve held out a hand before questioning them and Tony added worriedly,
"Talk to me, Banner."
"I'm okay... I'm okay..." Bruce managed to assure them and JJ and Ash added,
"Hurts like Hell but we're good..."
"We'll be OK..."
Thor gave a somewhat reluctant double thumbs up and Rocket was practically throttling the ends of the scarf around his neck with worry as he saw the burns on JJ's hand slowly creeping up to her arm along with her sister.
Raising his arm with a strained yell, Bruce lifted the Gauntlet into the air while still keeping in contact with the girls as they lent him their strength before-
*SNAP!*
A blinding flash of light shone before fading away and Bruce fainted to the ground with the Gauntlet falling off his severely charred hand and Ash and JJ also fainted to the ground with their cores flickering every few seconds like a dying light bulb before dimming back down.
"Bruce! Kids!" Steve cried out as everyone rushed to the three of them with Clint kicking the Gauntlet away before Tony signaled them all to stand back from Bruce as he told them,
"Don't move him."
He used his suit's coolant blasters to extinguish the smoldering burns on his arm before moving on to the girls' hands as they started to come to and their regenerative healing started to kick in working from their upper arms down to their hands.
Steve kept a hand on Bruce's shoulder to keep him from moving while Tony helped him but Bruce grabbed him gently to ask in a strained tone,
"Did it work?"
"Worth a shot. It's over. It's okay." Thor tried to assure him while patting his forehead in attempted comfort.
"Ash?"
"Dad?" Ash tilted her head in Bruce's direction before struggling to get up.
"Woah hold up..." Steve put his arms under hers to help her stand up before carefully moving her to be by Bruce's side in a kneel as she put her still-healing hand on his injured one as she pleaded, "Dad... wake up... please.. I can't lose you too..."
Oppositely, JJ sat up and started twist stretching like nothing happened and she tried to sound tough when she told Rocket,
"Wooh! I better get a cool scar out of this." JJ held up her burnt hand to Rocket's face and he scoffed before telling her,
"Jus' be glad yer still kickin'."
Before gently putting a paw on her hand and she gripped it carefully as they put their heads together and closed their eyes, silently thankful she was still alive.
The Compound started to come out of lockdown mode with the windows and doors opening back up again and Scott walked up to the windows that led to the outside and gave him a view of the birds and plants outside and Clint walked toward his vibrating phone and saw that his wife was calling him so he picked up and struggled to talk from relieved happiness,
"H-honey... Honey..."
"Guys... I think it worked!" Scott called out excitedly from where he was standing.
Ash was still kneeling by Bruce when she noticed a flash of light shining just as he opened his eyes and they looked up to see a giant ship flying over the Compound.
"What the...?" Ash barely had time to whisper when the light turned out to be a missile that smashed into the ground right in front of Scott causing his suit to activate to protect him before a mass of missiles rained down on the Compound, completely destroying the facility and everything around it.
The floor beneath them all gave away and everyone was sent into the pitch-black depths of the underground.
3120 Words
AN- A quick question for those of you reading; do you all want me to write the next chapter aka THE Final Battle in 3rd Person POV and include everything that happens or just from Ash and JJ's POV's?
3rd Person POV will be longer and so might take me longer to write out and from Ash and JJ's POV's it'll be a little shorter and so could get published sooner but I wanna hear what you all want to read.
I'll leave the voting open till September 25th and afterward I'll start writing the chapter from there.
Only two chapters left so we're almost done with Endgame!
Until the next chapter, Bye!
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