Archive of Our Own

“Katie.”

Kate Bishop, 21, Basically An Avenger, paused in her attempt to stuff macaroni and cheese down her throat.

“Hrm?” she grunted into the phone. Clint seemed worried. Clint seemed both worried and about to tell her about it, which was a combination of things Kate had never experienced before. Usually Clint tried to compartmentalize such things and deal with them himself, whether they were the Tracksuit Mafia, hypothetical videos of an Avenger committing murder, or Lucky’s arthritis.

She swallowed quickly. “Yeah Clint?” she asked.

“…it’s bad,” he told her.

“What’d you do?” she responded, already on her way out the door. She grabbed her bow and quiver, but didn’t bother with her costume. If Clint was in this much trouble, her sunglasses would just have to do.

“It wasn’t me!” he argued, “It was- well it was Tony, probably. But it’s big. I can’t- I don’t know if normal superheroics are gunna cut it, here.”

“I’m coming anyway,” Kate told him. “Where is it- Where are you?”

There was a muffled noise on the other end, as if Clint was shaking his head. “Manhattan, Kate. And the whole world.”

“Start from the beginning.”

He did.

-

Sometime later Kate Bishop, 21, sat on the rooftop and stared up at an impossible sight: a planet hovering just above New York City. She thought about what Clint told her: about hundreds of dead universes, about incursions in space, about the impending collision. She thought about her sister, who she hadn’t spoken to in months. She thought about her dad, about her mother’s grave, and about a little blonde girl who lived in Florida now. She thought about her team, all of them.

Then, Kate Bishop pressed her face against her knees and let herself cry.  Beside her, an ageing Labrador gave a rattling sigh and licked her fingers.

By the time her tears dried, Kate had a plan.

-

The abandoned warehouse that had once been the Young Avengers headquarters was much less abandoned these days. Kate wasn’t honestly sure whether her dad still owned it, but with universal doom looming overhead, she had bigger concerns than trespassing.

“Noh-Varr just texted me his ETA,” Teddy announced as he and Billy walked into the room. “He has to sneak past some Starktech, but he should be here within the hour.”

“Who’s Noh-Varr?” the next arrival asked.

Billy spun around, almost hitting his fiancé in his rush to get to the door.

It was Eli, standing there in a button-down shirt and jeans, looking older than Kate remembered, but also calmer, happier.

“Patriot!” Billy gasped as he jumped into a hug. “I haven’t seen you in so long!”

Eli squeezed Billy back, grinning into his stupid red cape. “The galaxy print is new,” he noted.

Teddy groaned and shook his head. Kate actually liked Billy’s new costume, but then again she also liked purple aviators.

“What are you doing here?” Teddy asked. His eyes darted across his friend quickly, as if trying to memorize all the changes he saw there.

“Kate texted me.” His eyes flashed to Kate momentarily, as if making sure she was there. In a younger teammate, Kate might think they were looking for validation, for support. Eli, as the second oldest Young Avenger, had never been her subordinate. Even when they butted heads, they were always equals.

“You never came before,” she pointed out. Kate thought she knew why Eli chose to show up now. It was the same reason her first impulse was to call her team together: It was human nature to seek out loved ones before the end.

Eli began to unbutton his shirt, revealing the quilted fabric of his Patriot costume underneath.

“I can see the planet from my grandma’s house. I’m not coming back to being Patriot full-time, but I’m not just going to sit quietly while my whole life ends.”

“It’s good to have you back,” Kate told him. The words stuck in her throat, but she didn’t think anyone else noticed.

She expected him to say ‘it’s good to be back’ or ‘don’t expect it to last’ or something cynical and somehow charming.

“I missed you,” he said instead. “I missed you all.”

“Oh gross, if you lured me here to talk about feelings, I’m gone.” Tommy appeared to Billy’s left, with a mock-disgusted look on his face.

No one bought it. It probably had something to do with how he was leaning toward Eli, his eyes locked on Eli’s face.

“Right,” Eli said, his eyes lighting up as he remembered the joke. “What was it? You don’t hold hands-“

“-and I don’t have feelings,” Tommy finished. “Well, maybe one feeling,” he corrected. “Is hunger a feeling?”

Kate didn’t ever remember Eli laughing at one of Tommy’s jokes before, but this Eli was looser, more carefree. He snorted in amusement and pulled Tommy into a one-armed hug.

“So I hear we’re going to save the world,” Eli said, releasing Tommy.

Kate nodded. “We’re just waiting on the rest of the team.”

“The rest-?”

The door opened again, with perfect dramatic timing.

Noh-Varr’s grin was so viscerally familiar that for a moment, Kate forgot to be aloof. Her lips spread across her teeth, automatically matching his smile, before she realized.

The smile dropped from her face.

“Noh-Varr,” she greeted.

“Kate Bishop of Earth,” he acknowledged. “I-“

Whatever he was about to say got cut off by America, who shoved Noh-Varr through the door so she could get past him. David followed behind her, smiling that knowing smirk of his.

‘The gang’s all here,’ Kate thought to herself. It felt right somehow to have them all in the same room. Even though some of them were complete strangers, they were all Young Avengers.

All that was missing-

Kate shook her head and banished the thought.

“This is Marvel Boy, Prodigy, and Miss America,” Kate introduced. “Team, this is Patriot.”

Eli froze. Despite two years out of the field, his body automatically fell into a combat stance. He was looking-

Oh, he was looking at Noh-Varr.

“Noh-Varr is one of us now,” Kate rushed to explain. “He helped save the multiverse last fall, he’s definitely not mind-controlled or working with Osborne or-“ Kate struggled to think of what else Eli might be afraid of- “Or looking to get back at the Avengers.”

Eli took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He practically mauled Teddy.” Eli’s voice was deceptively calm.

“I know, but-“

“He was a Dark Avenger.”

“Technically-“

“He burned a message into the skyline of New York!” Eli’s artificial calm had evaporated. “I leave for three years and Magneto’s an Avenger, you’re palling around with a budding supervillain, and the Avengers just teamed up with a bunch of mass-murderers to defeat Red Skull (or something)! This is why I quit!”

“We quit because Cassie died,” Billy said quietly. Despite the low volume, or maybe because of it, his voice seemed to ring through the room even more than Eli’s yelling did.

“No,” Eli said firmly. “You quit because Cassie died. I left because the Avengers wanted to kill you. We had to team up with a mutant terrorist, and the Scarlet Witch gave Doom access to unlimited power. There’s no accountability in the world of superheroes, you know? Someone commits a laundry list of crimes, but is still welcomed on the Avengers. How many war crimes has Tony Stark committed? Where’s Wolverine’s community service? Did any of these people get prison time?”

Kate’s mouth was a thin line. Eli had his points, but with the world quickly approaching its end, there wasn’t really time for philosophical discussion.

“What’s next, are you going to welcome Loki onto the team?”

This time, the other Young Avengers froze. Billy’s face looked especially guilty.

Eli rubbed his forehead as if warding off a headache. “So it’s true?”

“This team reunion is cool and all,” Tommy interrupted, “But I kinda thought we were going to save the world. You know, from the giant planet about to crash into Earth?”

“The Universe,” America corrected. She looked nauseous. “I’ve been jumping worlds for weeks trying to find stable ground. The Multiverse has been dissolving into nothing. These might be the last two worlds left.”

“Right,” Kate announced, steering the meeting back on-track. “So it looks like the Avengers are going to try to fight it out with whoever lives in that other world. They hope that whoever wins will get to live, basically.”

“Just so we’re clear, that makes absolutely no sense,” David chimed in. “The two worlds are going to collide. Unless someone can change physics…”

“I might,” Billy said suddenly. Most of the team looked at him, faces bright with dawning comprehension. Tommy and Eli looked less credulous.

“Well, the teleporting is cool and all…” Tommy began.

“I’m the Demiurge, or I could be. Maybe I could fix this,” Billy looked determined, but with an undertone of hope that hadn’t left his eyes since Mother’s defeat. It was like they had the Old Billy back, from before Cassie and Jonas and Nate’s betrayal. It was also nothing like that.

Eli shot a look at Teddy, who shrugged helplessly and made a gesture as if to say ‘I’ll explain later.’

Kate surveyed her gathered team. “Well it’s worth a shot.”

-

America lingered in the hallway, uncharacteristically hesitant.

“What’s up?” Kate asked, pulling the door closed behind her.

America clenched and unclenched her hands. Kate wondered whether it was deliberate.

“I’m useless here,” she said. She shook her cloud of brown hair, an action that caused a section of curls to get stuck in her hood.

“No you aren’t,” Kate said immediately.

“No, really,” America argued. “I can’t help Billy go Demiurge. All I can do is lurk in the background and look menacing. This isn’t like last time.”

Last time, Kate realized, when they were all stuck on Noh-Varr’s ship. Last time, when America was Loki’s unofficial parole officer. Last time, when America stood solidly at the back of the room, arms crossed, clenching her hands around her biceps until her knuckles turned white.

Kate looked her teammate in the face, and read the message America wouldn’t say aloud: I can’t be useless this time. I can’t.

Kate broke eye contact first.

“You’re our last hope if this doesn’t work,” Kate admitted quietly. “If this world dissolves under our feet, we need you to get us out of here.”

America shook her head solemnly. “Not this time. There’s nowhere to go.”

Kate swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.

“I’ll join the Avengers,” America decided. “Maybe I’ll do some good there.” She laid a hand on Kate’s shoulder. “Tell the team I’m gone. I’m not really one for goodbyes.” She stepped away.

“We’ll see you when this is all over,” Kate called to her, somewhat desperately.

“Sure, Princess.”

-

“Tommy.”

The white-haired speedster glanced over to where his twin brother stood, biting his bottom lip.

“Yeah, dorklord?” Tommy answered with a grin. They were still feeling each other out, even after three years of brotherhood. Sometimes it felt like they’d been family forever, different pieces of them clicking into place as if made to fit together. Other times, like now, Tommy felt like he’d bought a particularly complex toaster and lost the user manual.

“Tommy,” Billy said again. The last syllable caught in his throat, making it sound more like a sob than a name. He scrubbed at his eyes with his cape and reached blindly toward his twin.

Tommy reached back, pulling his brother’s brown head against his chest.

“Don’t get soppy on me,” Tommy said, but his words sounded insincere even to his own ears.

“I’m glad you’re here for this one,” Billy whispered. “I wish we’d had more time.”

“Shut up,” Tommy told him. “You’re gunna kick this thing in the ass, remember?”

And if Tommy’s eyes watered, his twin could never say.

-

“I’m almost calm,” Eli noticed. He slid his hands down his sides, an aborted gesture that would have delivered his hands to his pockets if he’d been wearing civilian clothes.

“Yeah, it’s hard to keep freaking out when every other month is the end of the world,” Teddy agreed. They walked through the deserted neighborhood, its residents having fled across the bridge hours ago.

“This job totally wrecks your fight-or-flight response,” Eli continued. “Do you know how many times I flinched away from guests at the library? They just wanted to use the reference desk and I-“ Eli laughed, a quiet, breathy sound, “I jumped like they were freaking werewolves. And now? I haven’t fought crime in years, and I still treat the end of the world like a bad football season.”

“Just like old times,” Teddy said wistfully. He carefully entered the deserted convenience store, politely stepping over the fallen stock.

“I almost expect Nate to show up,” Eli said. He consulted the list in his hand and started to gather supplies.

-

Kate closed the door quickly behind her, careful not to make a sound.

“What-?” Noh-Varr asked. Kate blushed and shook her head.

Seeing Tommy cry somehow seemed more intimate than seeing him naked would have been. Better to pretend she hadn’t walked in on the brothers’ quiet moment.

She refocused on Noh-Varr and tried to forget what she’d seen.

“So you’re still with us, huh?” Kate asked, putting on her ‘competent adult’ voice.

“You kept my number,” the Kree boy replied. A smile hovered at the edges of his lips, keeping close enough that it could appear at any moment, if she gave him the opening.

“This isn’t about us,” Kate warned, relentlessly suppressing any awkwardness she might be feeling. It wasn’t hard; she had plenty of practice swallowing her feelings for the sake of heroics.

“But you trust me,” Noh-Varr replied, getting to the heart of the matter.

“As much as I do any teammate,” Kate agreed.

The smile finally bloomed, a look of pure joy appearing on Noh-Varr’s face.

Kate was at a loss.

Noticing her confusion, Noh-Varr explained. “I’ve a bad habit of burning my bridges. I’m glad I still have a place with you, Hawkeye.” He offered Kate his hand. “It’s a pleasure to fight under your leadership.”

Despite her misgivings, Kate found that she believed him.

She took his hand.

-

“So ‘Prodigy’, what’s your real plan?”

“Back from the supply run already?”

There was no response, which forced David to turn his attention to the boy who could have been his teammate.

Eli, ‘Patriot’, was leaning against the far wall when David exited the main room. He crossed his arms and glowered, which was his natural state if one believed Tommy’s stories.

David fought a flinch. He could clearly see the brown skin of the other boy’s face, but the costume was too familiar not to associate it with the Patri-Not who stole his best friend barely a year ago.

This was a person, David reminded himself, a real person his friends knew and liked, not a Lovecraftian Horror inhabiting an old costume.

“My real plan?” David echoed, taking the time to compose himself. “Save the world. Duh.”

“Right. That’s why you’re so ready to jump ship and leave while Billy’s just gearing up.”

David shook his head and smiled. “We need to buy him some time in case the ritual takes awhile. I’m calling up my friends. We’ve got every hero on the East Coast on our phone tree.”

Eli looked unconvinced. “You don’t think this is going to work.”

“You’re incredibly untrusting,” David complained. “I’m a Young Avenger. I’m a superhero. We’ve got the same goal here.”

“Cynicism is kind of my thing,” Eli allowed. “It’s draining. Maybe it’s why I had to give this life up. But it’s also saved my life a dozen times over. What’s your real plan?”

David gave Eli a long look. He mentally tallied up the time he had left, the time he’d wasted arguing.

(What you can’t outrun)

He made a judgement call.

“Billy can rewrite magic, not physics,” David told him.

“So we can’t save the world,” Eli inferred. “What’s this then? Are you just giving them false hope?”

“I can save some of it,” David said, “as long as I can get ready in time.”

Eli dropped his hands to his sides and stepped off the wall.

“Let me help.”

Mentally counting down the hours to collision, David agreed.

-

David reviewed his plan, recounting the steps in his head. Everything seemed in order, except-

He gave up. Super-memory was just not within his powerset. Instead, he brought his smartphone out of his pocket and connected to the internet.

“Actually calling those friends of yours?” Eli asked.

David ignored him.

Several months ago, the villain known as the Hood had gained access to dozens of secrets, little bits of knowledge that David had just itched to know. When he was drafted to help Hood upload them to the internet, David made sure that he was the only one able to crack the encryption.

It was finally paying off.

Of the Cosmic Cubes still in existence, only one was within two hours travel from the Young Avengers’ warehouse hideout.

-

David slid the combination lock one way and the other, carefully recreating the number recorded in his phone.

“How do you even know about this?” Eli asked from behind him.

“Magic,” David answered.

Eli groaned in frustration.

“Look, if you hate being here so much you can go back,” David said. “I don’t need any help.”

He kept his eyes locked on the safe. Eli shifted behind him, but David didn’t hear footsteps or the creak of a door.

“Why are you even here?” David asked.

“Not sure,” Eli replied with remarkable honestly. “Piece of mind? My- the team has a habit of trusting people they shouldn’t, and even if I can’t stop them, I feel like I need to know. I need to be here, to witness this.” He paused. “I guess it makes me feel like I have some amount of control.”

(Denial)

David gently eased the safe door open and gazed at the innocuous box contained within.

“I know the feeling,” he replied. He reached in.

“Should you really be picking that thing up with your bare hands?” Eli asked, his voice finally sounding uncertain.

David glanced down at the blue cube in his grasp. It wasn’t a particularly stable cube, or an old one, so it was possible that the energy trapped inside might have negative effects on-

David shook his head.

“At this point it doesn’t really matter.”

-

They took the Cube back to the base. David told himself it was because the supplies were there, that the location was already secure, and that he needed to be near the team to make sure they made it through.

He and Kate were remarkably similar, in that.

-

David and Eli returned to a mess.

The rest of the team were harried and exhausted, as if they’d been working for days instead of hours. Tommy’s eyes were ringed with purple, Teddy  sighed at every sound, and Kate leaned heavily against the wall when she thought no one was watching. Noh-Varr had given up entirely, staking out a corner and sitting quietly, his head gently moving from side to side to the beat of his headphones.

Everyone was focused on Billy, on the circle drawn in jam on the concrete floor, and the candles that continually threatened to smudge the lines with globs of melted wax.

David made his excuses and retreated to the storage room that once served as the Vision’s bedroom.

Eli followed. That was expected, at this stage.

Tommy was right behind him, which was not.

“So what’s the plan?” he quipped, leaning over David’s shoulder.

“Am I that obvious?” David demanded.

“To anyone who actually notices you, yeah,” Eli teased.

David spared a thought for Teddy, of the distraction on his face, and immediately regretted it.

A warm hand landed on his shoulder, and he followed the arm to find Tommy, tired eyes still bright with curiosity.

“What is all this?” he asked.

David refocused on his work. He painstakingly traced vectors onto the floor with the remnants of a jar of raspberry jam. It echoed the other circle in the main room in an eerie way. This circle was lit only by fluorescent lights.

“It’s a containment circle,” he explained. “It turns out you don’t need magic for this part. This is just math and engineering.”

“Okay, but what’s it for?” Tommy urged.

“A Cosmic Cube,” Eli broke in. “He’s going to use it to stop the collision.”

David finished his drafting just short of a complete circle, and stood up. He stretched his legs and checked his range of motion.

“And that’ll work better than Billy’s magic thing?” Tommy asked.

Eli looked at David for an answer.

“It’s worth a shot,” Prodigy replied, picking up the Cosmic Cube in his hands.

“How’s the circle supposed to work if the cube is in the center, anyway?” Eli asked slowly. “Is the spell written on the circle? How do you tell it what you want?”

David didn’t answer. He stepped into the circle and placed the Cube in the mathematical center. He took a moment to align it perfectly. Haste was no reason for mistakes, after all.

“If I had more time I’d have made an interface,” David chattered, relief and adrenaline loosening his lips. “As it is, I’ll have to control the Cube directly.”

He stepped out of the circle and reached for the jam once more. One more line, just a tiny arc to complete the circle and activate the spell-

“How dangerous is this?” Tommy demanded.

“Less lethal than being hit by a planet,” David answered. His hand wrapped around the jar-

-just as Eli’s foot descended, kicking it out of his reach.

“I thought so,” Eli admitted. “You had that look.”

David gritted his teeth. “What do you want from me?” he growled. “I’m trying to save us! This is what we do!”

His eyes started to water (the dust, he thought inanely). Through his blurred vision, he saw a figure in blue and white step toward him.

What you can’t outrun, a voice echoed in his memory. David flinched heavily, pushing across the floor and stopping just short of crossing the lines of jam.

“This team isn’t losing any more members,” Eli told him.

(The voice was wrong, his memory said, it should be a whisper through the trees, gravel under your feet-)

“No, it isn’t,” a new voice agreed.

David whirled around.

A dirty and beaten Loki crouched beside his sigil. The fallen god was intent on the pattern, studying the lines on the floor with an intensity David barely remembered.

“Who-“ Eli choked.

Loki reached toward the jam-

“Don’t!” David pleaded. There was so little time, surely Billy’s ritual had already failed. If this circle wasn’t perfect, nothing would work and everything would be completely, irrevocably gone-

Loki leaned in and swiped a finger from one side to the other, completing the outer circle. The whole pattern lit up, buzzing violently with other-worldly energy.

White mist hissed from the points where lines intersected.

David heard Tommy cut off a gasp, and knew that he’d recognized that energy, too.

“Get away from that!” Eli yelled, rather ineffectually.

Loki turned zir head slightly, and locked eyes with David.

“Sorry,” ze told him. “It’s my turn to be the good guy.”

And with that, Loki stepped confidently into the circle.

And everything burned.

-

But for the containment circle, the resulting inferno would have engulfed the room, if not the entire city block.

The rest of the team finally took notice.

“Did it work?” Teddy asked, dazed. He blinked several times, shifting his eyes into something that could look directly at the flames. “Uh, nevermind, ignore that,” he amended once he had time to think.

“What did you do?” Kate asked, glancing between Tommy and Eli as if unsure who to blame.

Each boy lifted an arm to point wordlessly to David. The turncoats.

David shook his head. “I don’t know,” he answered. “For once, I really don’t know.”

He knew the plan. Parts of it had been percolating in the back of his head for months now, ever since his last meeting with the surreal monster who kidnapped Tommy once-upon-a-time. He’d been convinced that the monster in Patriot’s uniform was his future. The evidence seemed damning, at the time.

David reviewed it all in his head, but couldn’t dredge up the feeling of certainty he’d felt that morning.

The light changed, for just a second. Something was blocking the fire.

A figure stepped out of the circle, still smoldering.

It was familiar, clad in tattered green and black, and somehow even taller than the last time.

“How many times are you going to do this?” Billy asked the figure- Loki. It had to be Loki.

The new Loki’s eyes surveyed the room as if zir old teammates were nothing more interesting than furniture.

Ze walked toward the door.

“Hey, wait!” David managed to lunge forward, grabbing what was left of Loki’s sleeve. He meant to ask question, what ze’d done, whether it had worked, what happened to the Cosmic Cube, but when Loki turned zir eyes onto him, the words died in David’s throat.

“Who are you?” he rasped instead. These green eyes were cold, impartial as a winter night. There was none of the familiar teasing or history there. No resolution or conclusion. This person, David felt certain, wouldn’t know the significance of Loki’s last words to him.

This new Loki shrugged carelessly, boneless. “The story must go on,” ze said.

Ze left, and no one could bring themselves to stop zir.

David felt a strange feeling of loss, the phantom absence of something he didn’t know he’d had.

Tommy made a strangled noise, dragging David’s attention back to the circle of fire- which was finally dying down.

David squinted, trying to make out a figure in the flames. Did the Cube survive?

Faint shapes coalesced into something his eyes could make sense of, then dispersed again. David blinked several times, trying to convince his eyes to focus.

“Guys,” Teddy warned, a second before something stood up.

It was-

It was.

Or maybe it wasn’t.

Tommy let out a wheezing gasp and fell to the ground. Tommy. Speedster. Scrambling on his knees trying to get away from the thing in the circle.

The thing in the circle that was-

Was-

David swallowed back bile.

“Eli,” he rasped. “Any chance you have your old costume lying around?”

-

He didn’t, but Billy was able to magic up a convincing replica.

“So you somehow created the thing we chased across the multiverse last year?” Kate asked later, once the existential impossibility of the Thing had been covered up by blue and white fabric.

The Patri-Not tilted its… head.

It was a threat. Not the gesture, but the whole being. The fabric covered it, but the promise of what it hid remained in the mind of each Young Avenger. David didn’t think any of them could soon forget it.

“Ḍ̩̰̗̬͕ͤ̽̀͛ͥͯ̚e̪͂ͨ̇̅n̘̭ͧͤ̉ͥ̃͂i͔̳̥̫̞̟͌́̏̿͌ä̘́͂̐ͪ̒̀͒l̞̗͉͑,” the Thing said. It almost seemed gentle.

“And the incursions-“ Billy began.

“W͋̎̈ͤ̚҉͕̹̗h̴̲̳͓͊̉̀̉̅͘a̺̙̻̞͆̾ͬ͆̏̃͊̚t́̐͜͡ͅ ̘̜̣̟͙͇̤͖̮̊̋y̛͍̍͗̓̇o͔͉̯̘̜̰̾ͣ̆̔̓̈́̈́͝ͅu͍̼̯̮̝͚͗͐̋̽̈́ ̡̦̗̥̘̦̮ͥ̒̒ͥ̾̄c̷̛͉̉ͧ̈̐̅͆͞a̤͎͈̰͈͕͎̹̲̔n̨̗̥̣̜͙͒̀̉̋̋ͭͥ̿́̚ͅ’͉̦͎̆̀͝t̗ͦ̈́̿̕͡ͅ ̴͉̘̬ͪ́ō̙̤̝̰͉͕ͭ͑ͨ̚͡ṷ͔̹̅̒́ͨt͉̝̮̞͍͔̩̦͖ͤ̽̓͗͛̄ͮ̊̾r̷̸̟̪̜̂͛͆ũ̧͉̰̟̤̜̫̫̺͇̂͘͠n̶̮ͪ͂̐ͫ̕,” it continued.

“But you can,” David said. He was grasping at straws at this point, but the countdown in his head was nearing completion and he’d take what he could get.

The Patri-Not could open portals when it took Tommy. Maybe there was something, somewhere hey could be safe.

David could already hear the ‘Denial,’.

But the Patri-Not was silent.

It stepped backward, jerky and unsteady as a newborn fawn. With a gesture, there was a hole in the air- a rip in reality. Another world lie on the other side.

From what David could see, this world didn’t have a planet looming threateningly overhead.

Kate hesitated.

“Nate,” she said.

“What?” Billy asked, thrown. “You can’t want to go back for him?”

“Huh? No. This is like what Nate offered when the X-Men and the Avengers were fighting over Wanda. He offered to hide us in the timestream when it was falling apart. We can’t,” she said with weary certainly. “We can’t just give up and go- this is our home!”

“Ḍ̩̰̗̬͕ͤ̽̀͛ͥͯ̚e̪͂ͨ̇̅n̘̭ͧͤ̉ͥ̃͂i͔̳̥̫̞̟͌́̏̿͌ä̘́͂̐ͪ̒̀͒l̞̗͉͑,” the Patri-Not growled.

“Sometimes you have to let go,” Noh-Varr began, the first words David heard him say all day, “Allow somewhere new to become home.” He locked eyes with each of the Young Avengers. There was sympathy there, and mourning for yet another lost homeworld, but not hopelessness.

“Or you make one,” Tommy added. There was a new resolve to his voice, and David was so relieved to see him recovering from the Patri-Not’s presence that he almost forgot to be terrified.

“W͋̎̈ͤ̚҉͕̹̗h̴̲̳͓͊̉̀̉̅͘a̺̙̻̞͆̾ͬ͆̏̃͊̚t́̐͜͡ͅ ̘̜̣̟͙͇̤͖̮̊̋y̛͍̍͗̓̇o͔͉̯̘̜̰̾ͣ̆̔̓̈́̈́͝ͅu͍̼̯̮̝͚͗͐̋̽̈́ ̡̦̗̥̘̦̮ͥ̒̒ͥ̾̄c̷̛͉̉ͧ̈̐̅͆͞a̤͎͈̰͈͕͎̹̲̔n̨̗̥̣̜͙͒̀̉̋̋ͭͥ̿́̚ͅ’͉̦͎̆̀͝t̗ͦ̈́̿̕͡ͅ ̴͉̘̬ͪ́ō̙̤̝̰͉͕ͭ͑ͨ̚͡ṷ͔̹̅̒́ͨt͉̝̮̞͍͔̩̦͖ͤ̽̓͗͛̄ͮ̊̾r̷̸̟̪̜̂͛͆ũ̧͉̰̟̤̜̫̫̺͇̂͘͠n̶̮ͪ͂̐ͫ̕,” the Patri-Not said, but this time it seemed to be agreeing with Tommy.

“I can’t,” Eli said in a rush. “My family-“

“My brothers-“ Billy began.

“America-“ Kate whispered.

Patri-Not’s face was always blank, a function of its mask and its fundamental inhumanity. Still, it looked particularly ominous as the expressionless figure raised its other arm and forced the matter, expanding the portal to encompass the whole room and everyone in it.

With a rush of air and an explosion of sound, the Young Avengers left Earth-616 for good.

The others rushed around, first trying to stop the Patri-Not from leaving and then trying to figure out a way back, but David couldn’t dredge up the energy to join in.

He sat where he’d fallen, staring up at a tauntingly familiar sky, stars unobscured by clouds or planets. David had lived the last few months on borrowed time, knowing his future would catch up to him eventually.

It had been a weird sort of freedom, knowing that he’d give up his life to become the Patri-Not. He’d been free to hord data, to get temp jobs. He’d stopped planning for the long term, instead letting himself enjoy the now, whether that was clubbing with Tommy or finally trying Korean barbeque.

Having his whole life ahead of him, suddenly?

That just might be more terrifying than the end of the world.