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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋

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Charlie's eyes were glued to Tony lying on a bed in their medical room. As she watched Rhodey and Bruce tend to the Stark man, all she could think about was her father. It felt like a century ago when she was worried about Clint after he was injured at the Sokovian HYDRA base. But that moment was replaying in her head as if it happened yesterday. It was at that moment that Charlie finally came to her decision. She should've done it twenty-three days ago. The Barton girl was going to the farmhouse to see if her family survived. She needed to know if any of them were left...and she wasn't going to let Steve and Natasha stop her.

It wasn't long before Charlie looked over at Pietro after he gently nudged her with his elbow. Just one look at the speedster told her all she needed to know. The Maximoff boy just looked exhausted and she knew that he didn't want to be there any longer than she did. After being in hiding for years, they were both done feeling like caged birds.

Their attention was soon drawn to Rhodey as he walked out of medical with an unreadable expression on his face. The Rhodes man let out a long sigh as began addressing the teammates they had left. "Bruce gave him a sedative. He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day."

"You guys take care of him and I'll bring him a Xorrian elixir when I come back," Carol said before turning around and heading toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Steve asked with a hint of confusion on his face.

"To kill Thanos," the Davers woman declared as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'll join you," Trina announced while getting her to her feet and following Carol.

Natasha and Steve exchanged a concerned look before their attention went back to the retreating duo. Not even a second after that passed when the Romanoff woman called out to them, stopping them in their tracks. Carol and Trina slowly turned around to face Natasha as she approached them before stopping a few feet away. "You know, we usually work as a team here...and, uh, between us, morale's a little fragile."

"We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight, too," Steve added after walking across the room to stand behind Natasha.

"You even know where he is?" Rhodey questioned as he leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I know people who might."

"Don't bother. I can tell you where Thanos is," a new voice declared, drawing everyone's attention to the other side of the room to find Nebula standing in the doorway.

Primrose couldn't help but stare at her now ally, who had kept to herself since they came into the Compound. The Quill woman knew she had information about what happened with Thanos on Titan. She knew that Nebula could tell her about Peter and how the battle played out. Primrose wanted to know the details more than anything else in the world. But she asked the Luphomoid woman about it, Nebula turned her down. And Primrose didn't dare to ask again. Because her refusal meant that it was far worse than the Quill woman could ever imagine.

It wasn't long before Primrose was snapped out of her daze by Rocket tapping her shoulder. The Quill woman was surprised to find him staring up at her with a hint of sadness in his eyes. But before she had a chance to ask him about his current mood, Nebula began telling everyone her information on the Mad Titan.

"Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. And when he worked, he talked about his Great Plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him," the Luphomoid woman explained while staring off into space as if she was reliving every moment, "I'd ask, where would we go once his plan was complete? And his answer was always the same. 'To the Garden.'"

"Didn't take Thanos as the gardening type," Pietro muttered under his breath, earning the first smile from Charlie in twenty-three days.

"So, where is he?" Steve asked while pacing around the room, only for him to stop in his tracks when Primrose pulled up a hologram of Earth.

"When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth emitted a power surge of cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it before," the Quill woman explained while keeping her eyes glued to the holographic image in front of her. It wasn't long before she swiped her fingers across the screen to show them a different planet. "But then two days ago the same thing happened on this planet."

"Thanos is there," Nebula declared as her eyes continued to scan over the image on the screen.

The distress on Natasha's face did nothing but grow as she walked closer to the diagram. "He used the Stones again."

"Hey, hey, hey," Bruce said, drawing everyone's attention toward him before he continued speaking, "we'd be going in shorthanded, you know?"

"Look, he's still got the stones, so-"

"So, let's get them," Carol interrupted Rhodey, causing everyone to look over at her, "use them to bring everyone back."

"Just like that?" Bruce questioned without even attempting to hide the uncertainty in his voice.

"Yeah. Just like that," Steve declared.

"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this...I mean, we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try," Natasha stated while trying her best to calm her true emotions.

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Bruce questioned, causing Charlie to nod along in agreement.

"Because before you didn't have us," Carol declared while gesturing to herself and Trina, who was now looking as though she didn't want to be brought into the conversation.

Everyone instantly turned their attention toward the two women. They were all unsure of what to make of her words. Some of them seemed to be offended by the idea that they couldn't handle Thanos on their own. While others seemed to be thinking over her words a bit more. Silence surrounded them for what felt like an eternity before an annoyed-looking Rhodey decided to break it.

"Hey, new girl? Everybody in this room is about that superhero life. And if don't mind my asking, where the h*ll have the two of you been all this time?"

Trina instantly tensed at the question. Her mind replayed the orders she was given by her former leader. Even though that moment was a lifetime ago, the Felicity woman knew it still applied today. She knew she shouldn't be getting herself involved in this mess and let them solve it themselves instead. And if this happened twenty years ago, she would've just sat on the sidelines. But she couldn't do that to Orion. Not when there's a small chance of rescuing him. But how was Trina supposed to explain any of that to a team of superheroes? People who dedicated their lives to save humanity no matter the cost. Would they even understand?

Luckily for Trina, she didn't have to find out. Carol was the one who responded to Rhodey, saving the Felicity woman from revealing everything. "There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys."

Not even a second after that passed when a chair rubbing against the hardwood floor cut through the air. Everyone instantly turned their attention toward the sound to find Thor approaching Carol and Trina. No one said a word as the God of Thunder studied them for what felt like an eternity. It wasn't long after that when the Odinson man held his hand out in the space between them. A confused look instantly appeared on Trina's face while Carol continued to stare at Thor with no emotion in her eyes. The next thing anyone knew, Stormbreaker came out of nowhere and flew toward them. Neither woman flinched as the axe flew between them and landed in Thor's hand.

The God of Thunder lowered Stormbreaker while keeping his eyes glued to Trina and Carol. It wasn't long after that when his attention moved to his teammates. "I like them."

Steve's attention soon moved away from Thor and back to the hologram projecting from the table in front of him. He just stared at it for a long moment before opening his mouth to speak. "Let's go get this son of a b*tch."

Everyone soon began to head out of the living room to get ready to set out to find Thanos. However, Charlie and Pietro didn't move from their place on the couch. The two of them found themselves looking at each other as if having a silent conversation. Both of them knew what the other wanted and they knew they were thinking exactly the same. The only problem they had was how they were going to break the news to their team. Especially since Steve and Natasha convinced them to stay every time they tried to leave before. But they knew it was now you never. After letting out a long sigh, the Barton girl's attention returned to the retreating heroes.

"Nat," Charlie called out, causing the woman in question to stop in her tracks and turn to face the young couple. The Barton girl just stared at her father's best friend for a long moment before finding the courage to continue speaking. "We're not going with you."

A confused look instantly appeared on Natasha's face as she approached the archer and the speedster. "What're you talking about? We need both of you for this."

"No, you don't. You have plenty of people going with you on this mission," Pietro responded while trying his best to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"It's not that we don't wanna go, Nat. We wanna help. But I need to check on my family. I need to know if they're still here," the Barton girl stated with a slight shake in her voice. That caused the speedster to take her hand into his and give it a gentle squeeze, which Charlie gladly returned.

The Romanoff woman just studied them for a moment while trying to think of a reason for them to stay, only to fail. It wasn't long after that when she let out a long sigh. "You might not like what you find, Charlie."

"I'm willing to take that risk," the young archer declared before swallowing the lump forming in her throat, "I just need to know."

Charlie was surprised when Natasha turned her attention toward Pietro. She just stared at him for a long moment before breaking the silence between them. "You better take good care of her."

"I will," the Maximoff boy said while giving Charlie's hand another squeeze.

"There's a jet in the outside hanger you can use," the Romanoff woman told them before pulling the Barton girl in for a tight hug. That lasted for what felt like an eternity before Natasha ended the moment between them. "You better go before Steve tries to change your mind."

"Thanks, Nat."

"Anything for you, Charlie," the redheaded woman responded with a smile before following the rest of their team out of the room.

It wasn't long after that when the Barton girl found herself turning her attention toward Tony without thinking. Her heart broke as she watched Pepper tightly clutching his hand. Charlie's mind soon wandered to the object in her pocket, something that hadn't left her side since reality set in. It wasn't anything big, just a small journal. But the words inside the journal were worth everything to the young archer. She had written in it every day since the Snap occurred and it seemed to be the only thing keeping her sane other than Pietro. Within its pages were twenty-three notes written to Thanos' victims. Most of them were to Alex and Peter and a few were to Bucky, Sam, and Wanda. But there was a single note to Tony, which was the hardest one for Charlie to write. It helped that she never thought she would see him again. At the time, she thought the letter would be for her eyes only. But now she knew it was different. She knew she had to give it to him now or she never would have the courage to again.

"Anđeo," Pietro called out after seeing the distant look in Charlie's eyes, drawing the latter's attention toward him. He was surprised to see the conflict on her face, but he knew it had nothing to do with not going with their team on the space mission. This was because of something else. "We should probably get our stuff and go."

The Barton girl didn't respond right away as she reached into her pocket and wrapped her hand around her journal. She let another silent moment pass before opening her mouth to speak. "Can you start? I'll meet up with you in a minute."

Pietro just stared at her for a moment before finally understanding her hesitation. It wasn't long after that when he simply sent her a nod in response and walked out of the room. A shaky breath passed as she pulled the journal out of her pocket. Her eyes scanned over it for what felt like an eternity before flipping through the pages. It wasn't long after that when she found the note she was looking for, causing a wave of emotions to wash over. But she quickly pushed her doubts away as she read over the words on the page for the first time since she wrote them.

Dear Tony,

We haven't confirmed if you're a victim of the Snap yet so I don't know why I'm writing this. And honestly, I don't even know why I'm writing letters to the people we know are gone. But I guess you of all people would know that everyone needs a way to cope. I don't have much to say right now other than I hope you're out there somewhere. I hope you're finding a way to come back to us. Because I want to apologize to you in person and that's going to be really hard if you got turned to dust. I guess for now I'll write it down so I don't forget it. Not that I would but then again, anything is possible. Okay, here it goes. I'm sorry, Tony. I should never have shut you out or blamed you for everything that happened with Ultron. You thought what you were doing was right. And in a way, it was. I'm sorry. I just hope that you return one day so I can tell you that in person. But I guess this is enough for now. Please come home, Tony. We really need you here.

From, Charlie

The emotions within her soon returned as she carefully ripped the page out of her journal. When Charlie looked back up at the room Tony was currently in, she saw Pepper walk toward the bathroom. The Barton girl didn't hesitate to make her way across the room, knowing this was her only chance to get it to the Stark man without anyone questioning her. A small sigh passed over her lips as she walked into the room and placed the folded paper on the table beside his bed. Charlie knew that if they were next to his sunglasses he wouldn't miss seeing it. After taking one last look at the billionaire, the archer walked out of the room and down the hall to join Pietro.

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