Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hey y’all! This is the first fanfiction I’ve ever written and posted, so it might not be perfect, but I’ll try my best!
I’m also not a native speaker, my first language is German and even though I’ve made some experience in speaking English there might be some mistakes.
If so, don’t hesitate to tell me!
At the beginning of every chapter I’ll mention Trigger warnings, even those that I’ve already tagged.
I will probably add some tags later on, except for past relationships which won’t be mentioned in the tags but at the beginning of each chapter!
And I can’t say that I’ll update too often, I’ve got a lot going on at the moment, but I’ll do my best to update as often as I can!
Comments are very much appreciated, except hate comments of course.
Thanks for reading and enjoy!

P.S; If you guys have any wishes for scenes or stuff, just leave a comment!

<3

Chapter Text

Titan, 2018

 

“Mr Stark… I don’t feel so good…”

Seven words. It only took those seven words for Tony’s heart to drop.
No, this could not be happening.

With horror etched on every inch of his face he slowly turned to Peter, who looked just as shocked as the man was feeling.
The boy glanced at his hands as if they were to disappear into thin air any second and gulped, taking a small step into the direction of his mentor.
Tony was barely able to rush forward and catch him when Spiderman’s knees gave in and he almost crashed to the ground.

“I don’t wanna go, please, I don’t wanna go”, the teenager started stuttering and Stark felt his heart break by those words.
Peter’s hands clawed into his back as he desperately clung onto him, not willing to let him go that easily.

“You’re fine”, Tony managed to croak.
Is he, though?
The genius slowly let the two of them sink to the ground and lied the kid - his kid - on his back, his own nails still digging into the suit of the spiderling.
Not him. Please not him. He’s too young.

As he pulled back he saw Peter’s suddenly absent look, the fear written clearly on his face. “Peter?”
Avoiding Tony’s eyes he closed his own and whispered: “I’m sorry.”
Only then the billionaire noticed how the shoulders of the fifteen year old started to crumble to dust.

No. No. No!
His eyes widened and he tried to hold the trembling boy in place, whose face was starting to disappear, too.
Suddenly, there was nothing left to hold anymore, and Tony was just able to catch a glimpse of Peter’s tear rimmed eyes before they vanished, just like the rest of him.

“No”, the man whimpered, as realization hit in; all that was left of his kid was a pile of dust.
A pile of fucking dust.
And even that was taken from him as a sudden breeze of air blew away the remains of Peter.
Tony didn’t even make an effort to save it, for he knew it was no use.

He was dead.

His hands hit the ground and he closed his eyes, not being able to process what he had just witnessed.
Why him, why did it have to be the kid?
He was too young, despite having inhuman abilities and a big heart.
Only a few days with the boy and Peter had already become such an important part of his life that he wasn’t able to imagine one without him.

Though now, he might not even have to imagine, because his worst nightmare had come true.

Fuck.

His heart was racing as he slowly got to his feet, despite feeling incredibly exhausted and weak.
This had been one fight to much.
This was supposed to be the last battle he would take attendance in as Ironman. He promised Pepper that.
But he had a feeling that this wasn’t over yet.

Tony’s eyes fluttered open again and a new wave of dread overcame him as he realized that he was alone.

“Quill? Strange!”
Silence. A terrifying silence that went through his bones, crushed his hopes.
FUCK.

“Fuck!”, he groaned out loud, feeling frustrated tears well up in his eyes.
While quickly brushing them away with the back of his hand he stumbled a few meters, craning his neck in case he missed something, someone.

Nope.

No one made it, he realized.

Nobody.

Except for him.

For once, it really sucked to be the only exception.

„Somebody?!“
His hoarse scream remained unanswered, and the billionaire had to hold back a whimper.
This was bad, like, really bad.
Not only was he alone, he was alone on a random planet somewhere in the galaxy, miles away from home.
And he had lost the kid, which made him feel even more miserable.

An unexpected breeze hit him, so chilly that Tony became goosebumps, and he shivered, suddenly feeling as if he wasn’t that alone anymore.
Or, in other words; someone was there.
He needed no spidey-sense to notice that.
As fast as he could he span around, his eyes frantically searching for the sudden source of his discomfort.

And there it was.

A square shaped portal in bright orange suddenly appeared, as if somebody would cut through the air like it were a wall.

He stumbled back a few steps, in complete knowledge that he would not be able to survive another fight.
Thanos had been too much, the snap had been to much.
It was unlikely that he would be able to get over all of that at once.

While still breathing heavily he examined the portal, which now opened like a door.
Two soldiers in black uniforms and weird sticks stepped through it, three bright orange letters on their gear catching Tony’s eyes rather quickly: TVA.

They quickly became aware of Stark‘s presence and turned their weapons on him before he managed to say anything.
His heart skipped a beat and he flinched, preparing himself for his death.

This was it, then? The famous Tony Stark, dead, and that in his early fifties.

In that moment another man stepped through the portal behind them and yelled: „Wait!“
The others luckily listened to him, and let their scary sticks sink.
Tony quickly stuck his hands in the air, realizing that he was clearly outnumbered.
Usually he would’ve already been cracking jokes, but he was neither in the mood nor in the position to deadpan right now, so he remained silent, simply waiting for a reaction from the others, which was probably going to be killing him.

But the man, who was wearing a dark brown coat with the same letters spelled on it, didn’t seem to have any intention of harming him, instead he stepped further forward, holding out a hand as if Tony were an animal he was trying to tame or something.
With a weirdly comforting voice he said: „My name is Agent Mobius M. Mobius.“

Poor guy, Tony couldn’t help but think, and wondered if his middle name was also Mobius.
His parents must really hate him.

When the genius didn’t answer immediately and just stared at him confusedly, Mobius gave him a warm smile before his expression turned a bit more serious. He let his hand sink. „I’m sorry to say this“, he started, seemingly meaning it, and then carried on: „…but you’re under arrest.“

Which isn’t alarming at all.

„…What?!“

Mobius sighed loudly, and then continued, this time speaking slower, as if talking with a child.
Tony tried not to be all too insulted at that. He was a genius after all!

„You are hereby arrested by the Time Variance Authority.“

Tony blinked rapidly.
That did explain the capital letters on the weird men’s uniforms. But what the hell was that supposed to mean, and why did that concern him?
He opened his mouth to speak, but was only able to stutter a confused „Huh?“ because of the lack of words.

A bit frustrated the older man exhaled and went through his grey hair in exasperation, seemingly overthinking the whole situation. His head then suddenly snapped back to Stark and he eyed him for a few seconds before nodding curtly.

„We‘ll discuss this later, it is rather complicated to explain and I don’t want to repeat myself.“

Why should he repeat himself?

If Tony wasn’t confused before, he certainly was now. His face scrunched up and he let his palms sink, carefully stepping forwards.

„What do you mean, later? I…“ His voice trailed off at the reminder that he was alone, and that the ship they had probably didn’t have enough oxygen for him to survive longer than a few days. „I’ve somewhere to be.“

Mobius‘ eyes softened and he sighed quietly, looking at him with empathy.

„I know this must be very hard for you, Mr Stark, but we really need you to come with us. Now.“

The last word was spoken more firmly than the others. Mobius gave him an earnest look and, even though Tony really wanted to trust this guy and his kindness, he knew that he couldn’t do this, not while not knowing how the other Avengers, Pepper and etc. were doing.

„I’m sorry sir, I can’t. I need to make sure that the othe- my friends are alright.“

The older man seemed dissatisfied, but slowly nodded once more. He took a few steps back and turned around, walking back into the direction of the portal.

Just when Tony thought he was about to leave he stopped, in the doorway of the still faintly glowing portal.
Then, he spoke, barely over a whisper and without turning around: „This might hurt a bit, sorry.“

Stark‘s eyes widened in alarm and he stumbled back as the other two men started closing in.

„What are you- wait!“

But before he could even turn around to run, one of the officers jumped forward and dug the weapon into his chest.
Tony felt a searing pain tear through his skin and yelped- then everything went black.

 

Wakanda, 2018

„Where’d he go?“
Thor’s widened eyes met Steve’s, and the soldier read the room quicker than he liked it.

Thanos had done it. He had really done it.

Shit.

Steve felt his heart skip a beat as his name was suddenly called out of nowhere:
„Steve…?“

His head whipped around and he stood face to face with Bucky, who was inspecting his arm with a confused expression on his face.
That confusion quickly turned into fear when his right arm suddenly started to… vanish?

Steve felt his heart drop. No, not him.

Bucky gave him a panicked look, then tried to take a step into his direction-
Only to turn to dust fully.

Thor behind him gasped loudly and stumbled back a few steps, cursing under his breath.
Steve could only manage to stare at the place where his best friend had just turned into thin air, before he dragged himself there and dropped on his knees.

No. He had just gotten him back- there was no way…

Already feeling tears welling up in his eyes, he took a shaky breath and let his gaze wander over the battle field, where, to his horror, at least half of the soldiers fully disappeared.
The silence, that had fallen so suddenly only seconds ago, was now interrupted by thousands of voices at once.

Super hearing was in this case rather a disadvantage.

“Sam? Sam!”
“I am Groot.”
“He’s hurt, somebody help-“
“This is no place to die.”
“Oh my god.”

Steve barely resisted the sudden urge to vomit, instead he held his hands over his ears.
Too loud, too loud, too loUD, TOO LOUD, TOO-

“What happened?”

Nat’s confused and terrified voice interrupted his train of thoughts.
He heard shuffling of feet, groaning people, screaming, so much screaming-

“We lost”, he whispered, only loud enough for those around him to hear.
It felt wrong, saying those words.

They were heroes, they were the good guys, they were not meant to lose. They were supposed to win, they should have won.

Steve’s head flew up at the sound of crackling thunder, and he faintly took notice of the god next to him let go of his weapon, Storm-something.
The axe clattered to the ground and Thor stormed off into the woods. A few seconds later Steve heard a few steps hurry past him, and then Bruce’s soft voice: “Thor, wait…”

He’s probably blaming himself, Steve couldn’t help but think.
To be fair, he would blame himself too, despite knowing that there wasn’t another way to prevent… this.

He felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look up.
It was Natasha, looking at him with - could it be? - concerned eyes. “You good?”

The truth was, no, he most certainly wasn’t good, in fact, he hadn’t been good since Bucky had fallen down that damn train, since he had lost his best friend for the first of many times.

But this time, he didn’t lose one person, he lost a whole battle, a battle that cost more than his friends, but the entire world’s.

“How could we lose?”, he asked, voice cracking midway.

She sighed loudly and knelt in front of him, her hands still on his shoulders.
“Nobody always wins. Not even heroes.”
“I know, but…”

He let his voice trail off, shaking his head in a way that made clear that he wasn’t ready to talk about this.
Instead he slowly stood up, brushing the dust off of his suit.

During his little breakdown the remaining avengers had gathered around the captain, the horror clearly written on their faces, which were still full of dirt, blood or tears.
In the middle of their circle was still the body of Vision, his usual wine red skin now faded to a pale grey and his eyes white and staring into the distance.

His stomach turned around as he realized that all the pain Wanda was put through was for nothing at all.
Steve quickly looked away from the corpse of the robot and instead let his eyes wander over the group of avengers that had gathered.

His breath hitched as he couldn’t spot the other person he had hoped for;
“Where’s Sam?”

Colonel Rhodes stiffened and, while still avoiding eye contact, he shook his head softly. “He didn’t… he was…”

Another wave of sheer panic overcame him and he felt his face begin to crumple, the tears that have until now been rimmed in his eyes starting to fall.

Two of his remaining best friends were dead.
Two of his remaining best friends were dead.
Two of his remaining best friends were-

“Steve.”

He blinked. Right, now wasn’t the time.
“Sorry. We should-“

Way to go, Captain. Half of your team: dead, the other half waiting for you to give instructions.

But he didn’t know what words could possibly turn this situation into a better one, even though it was him who usually gave inspirational speeches.
And besides, he was sure that opening his mouth would only lead to a mental breakdown.
So Steve remained silent.

And the others did, as well; the only sound was the rustling of leaves as Thor and Banner pushed their way through the trees again to join them once more.
The god seemed to have calmed down a bit, but his eyes were still glassy and, which was unusual for the normally overly motivated man, strangely cold.

„So… what now?“, the doctor carefully asked into the silence. He looked awfully tired, and his words were weary and quiet. Under any other circumstances Steve would be delighted to see their two year long absent friend.

Under any other circumstances.

When he didn’t get an answer, Bruce curtly nodded and fell silent himself.

Now all the voices Roger’s had heard before have vanished, and everything was completely quiet.
Unusual for the rather loud team that they were. After any other battle, Tony would’ve probably taken them to a place to eat, preferably shawarma, for which they all had found a liking for.

But Tony wasn’t here, neither was a nice restaurant with shawarma, and neither were Bucky, Sam and so many others.

But the eerie silence was soon interrupted by a weird whooshing sound right behind the group.
Steve assumed it was just the wind playing tricks at first, but then he heard the other beginning to pull out their weapons again.

Seriously, Thanos wasn’t bad enough?

Steve slowly turned around, not wanting to see the new threat.
How was he supposed to be able to take another-

He didn’t expect to see an elderly man standing in front of an orange glowing portal, his hands behind his back and his face solemn and earnest.

Before anyone was able to speak up the mysterious guy cleared his throat and said: „My name is Agent Mobius M. Mobius and on behalf of the time variance authority I hereby arrest you for committing crimes against the sacred timeline.“

Chapter Text

The TVA, ???

 

Tony’s eyes fluttered open.

He groaned loudly and wanted to bury his head into his comfortable pillow again, or perhaps into Pepper‘s back, who should be resting peacefully next to him and would be scolding him on the next day for drooling on her, although Tony knew that she actually was relieved that he had been able to sleep for a few hours.

Except that there was no Pepper, and he was most certainly not lying on a comfortable pillow.

The genius immediately shot up as he remembered the events from before. While still gasping for air his eyes darted around frantically, looking for his enemies or an exit. His back was resting against a cheap office chair, but strangely enough he wasn’t chained up, he wasn’t even wearing handcuffs as one might have expected. Unfortunately, as he quickly noticed, he didn’t have his suit with him, in fact, the only thing that he was possessing at the moment was a grayish suit similar to a prison uniform, with the familiar three capital letters over his chest pocket.

„Ah, you’re awake.“

Tony‘s face snapped up and he sat up straight, his hands no longer resting in his lap but formed into fists in front of his face. Hand to hand combat wasn’t exactly his strength, but he was able to land a punch or two.

It turned out to be the guy from before, Mobius.
The elder man, who was sitting on a chair in front of him smiled at him warmly, but the friendly gesture seemed a bit stiff.

Tony scoffed. His usual snark and sarcasm was now returning again, now that he had been out for a while.
„What is this here, where the fuck did you bring me?“, the genius snarled angrily.
He was not in the best mood and being kidnapped by some kind of wannabe time police officers for trying to save the universe didn’t exactly help.

Mobius flinched at the harsh tone in Stark‘s voice, but other than that he remained calm, eying him as if he were some sort of animal in a cage in a zoo or an interesting science project or a ticking bomb, about to explode.

It made Tony feel weirdly exposed.

„I know this must be very confusing for you, Mr Stark, but if you would just let me explain…“

The man paused, as if expecting the billionaire to interrupt, but Tony just raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms protectingly in front of his chest, waiting for him to continue. It seemed to him like this guy wasn’t too big of a threat, at least not for now…

„The time variance authority, short TVA, is an organization built to protect the sacred timeline, which is Earth-616, the universe you come from. We-„

„Hold up, hold up; the multiverse theory is true?“, Tony wanted to know, leaning forward in newfound interest.
This was a lot of news for him, especially for one day or, more exactly, one minute.
If the multiverse really exists, that would kind of give him a whole new perspective on… well, everything.

Mobius nodded solemnly, then continued: „Your universe is the prime universe. Our agents were tasked with getting rid of any threat to Earth-616, every timeline or person who puts the multiverse in danger.“

The man paused, looking at Stark to see if he understood everything so far.
Tony was lost in thought for a second, overthinking if all of that really made sense to him, because that was a lot to take in at once.
After a minute or two he nodded slowly, and the agent continued.

„Your team- the avengers -might be the protectors of planet earth, but this failure would have led to a universal disaster.
We’re trying to prevent exactly that from happening. I hope you understand why we had to take you guys with us.“

Mobius finished his speech and looked at Tony expectingly, who was, for once, at the loss of words. Universal disaster?
Because the Avengers had fucked up one time? Crazy shit.

Stark eyed the man again, still deciding whether to believe his story or not. This could’ve all been a setup, maybe the orange walls are actually made of cardboard, maybe „Mobius M. Mobius“ was only a paid actor messing with him.

But something told him that this wasn’t a prank, so he considered to just hear his logic out.

Hold on- did he just say „you guys“? So that meant…

„Wait, the others are here too?“

„Indeed“, Agent Mobius replied monotonously. Alright then, question number one answered, only three million to go.

Tony decided to first figure out the whole truth, or the TVA’s truth, and said: „Okay, so a multiversal war sure as hell sucks.“
Mobius nodded and turned back to him, fixing him with concentrated eyes.

„But I don’t understand what we are doing here. I mean, we can’t prevent that from happening, Thanos snapped and-„

Tony silenced, the memories washing over him once again, reminding him of what he had lost.
He shuddered at the thought and gulped loudly, trying his best to not replay one of the worst moments of his life again.

„I don’t wanna go, please I don’t wanna go.“

„I’m sorry.“

Mobius listened with understanding eyes and sighed, before starting to talk once more: „I know, Mr Stark. I-„

„Tony.“

„What?“

„Call me Tony“, the genius repeated, his voice almost desperate, pleading.
„It reminds me too much of him“, he added softly, avoiding his gaze.

The agent seemed to get the hint, because he nodded patiently. He does that a lot.

„Alright, Tony, I understand your confusion. But listen, time doesn’t exist in here. You could stay here forever, and no one would ever notice. We don’t intend to do that to you, of course. We were actually planning on helping you fix this catastrophe.“

Tony’s mouth opened and closed, before he said: „And how do you want to do that?“
The „we“ in Mobius‘ sentence didn’t stay unnoticed, but he decided not to comment on that for now.

Mobius smiled again and leaned back in his chair, causing it to squeak a bit. „I thought you’d never ask.“

 

The TVA, ???

 

Steve slowly opened his eyes and squirmed at the blinding lights, forcing him to look away. Wait. Lights?

„What the-„

Memories suddenly started flooding his mind and he gasped when he realized what had happened; a portal. A man. Something with time. And then a sudden explosion, sending the whole team flying back and knocking them all out.

And now he was here.

Steve jumped up, his hands reaching for his shields only to realize that they weren’t there. Shit. Of course that wasn’t fatal for him, being a supersoldier. But he wouldn’t exactly describe not having a weapon and protection as ideal when you were just kidnapped, although it wasn’t really surprising. He raised his balled fists, just to play it safe.

Someone had also exchanged his fighting gear for a uniform with bright, orange letters on the front. TVA. That somehow sounded familiar.
Didn’t the stranger from before mention that word? And what could it possibly stand for? Did he say that, too?

His many questions remained unanswered, of course.

The captain only then started examining the room, which looked very similar to a lecture theater. The sea of seats behind him was colored orange, and a big, flat screen was hung up on the white wall in front of him. It all seemed very professional to him. But that didn’t explain where the hell he was!

All of a sudden, a few groans, yawns and gasps were heard, and Steve span around, fists in the air and eyes focused on the possible threat.

It turned out to be the rest of the avengers that got up.
The team was wearing the TVA uniforms as well and not their suits, or in Thor‘s case, „Fine asgardian leather“.
Well, not the whole team, obviously…
No, don’t think about that, he told himself and shook his head violently as if trying to get rid of the memories welling up inside him.

Instead, the soldier helped up Natasha, who was the closest to him and thanked him with a nod, then looked at the rest.

Thor, Bruce, Rhodes. The other three seemed just as confused and scared as Steve was feeling, Rhodey‘s expression incredulous as he noticed the absence of his suit and Thor taking a protective step in front of Banner, who was already inspecting the room with wary eyes but also a certain amount of curiosity.

„Everyone alright?“, the captain called out to the men.

Thor nodded slowly, Banner nodded quickly, Rhodey didn’t nod at all but was still feeling up and down his outfit, as if to check if the War machine suit was gone to 100%. „What the hell“, he blurted out, his brows furrowed.

The blond couldn’t help but snort at that. The confusion on the colonel‘s face? Priceless, but justified. Steve bet that the exact same expression was on his face the moment he couldn’t find his shields.

Suddenly Steve felt someone shift behind him and turned around once more, the overprotective side of him taking over as he pulled Natasha closer to him who scowled at him.
This time he was even more surprised when he realized who was standing there; It was Clint Barton.

„Clint“, Nat gasped, pushed Rogers’ arms away and immediately rushed over to her best friend who clung on to one of the seats with knuckles pale as milk and eyes wide as tennis balls. But that wasn’t the thing that alarmed Steve so much: it was the archer‘s face, filled with horror.

„Laura“, he breathed, when the redhead approached him and fixed his terrified stare onto her. She placed a hand on his back to support him while he started to splutter bits and parts of words, before being able to build whole sentences. „Laura, the kids, Nat, they’re gone. Where did they go, where the fuck did they go, Nat?“

The Black Widow looked as if she was about to throw up and Steve felt his heart drop at those words. Shit.

Apparently Thanos‘ snap didn’t even spare children.
That son of a bitch, he couldn’t help but think.
Especially Clint‘s family was innocent, even if they had Legos lying around everywhere, even if they were messy and loud.
They were supposed to live a long, happy life, but that life had been taken always from them, with one snap of Thanos‘ fingers.
They didn’t deserve what happened to them, not in the slightest. But did anyone?

Natasha exhaled and took another step forward, now fully embracing her shocked best friend.

„I don’t understand, Nat, where are they, where are we, what-„ His last words went under in a whimper and Nat tightened her grip on Clint, who’s shoulders were starting to shake.

„Fuck“, Steve heard Bruce whisper behind him, and silently agreed. Fuck indeed.

He considered pulling Barton into a hug, too, but quickly decided against it.
Clint and Nat had been very close friends since Steve met the two spies, if anyone knew how to help him it would be her.

He didn’t know all the details about the backstory of their first encounter, but he knew one thing;
Clint’s mission was to kill Natasha, but he didn’t. „My best shot: the one I didn’t take“, Barton had shared once.
And since then the two had been inseparable, no matter what threat the duo would have to face.
Their friendship kind of reminded him of himself and Bucky, before the whole mind control shit.
Although it pained Steve to think about their past brotherhood, he was relieved that Clint had someone who knew how to comfort him, who knew how to help him go through this difficult time.
Who was there for him.

The last thing that Steve saw before turning around to give the two best friends some privacy was Barton returning the embrace.

Hawkeye’s last question was one that he was asking himself too, though, and Steve knew that he wouldn’t get an answer by just standing here and suffering in silence, so he started to inspect the room instead for details that he had perhaps overlooked.

The captain let his gaze wander over the seemingly never ending rows of burnt orange seats, all of them still folded in.
It didn’t look like something or someone was over there, and he wasn’t motivated enough to go through every single row so he just let it be and concentrated on the rest of the room. Soon something interesting caught his eye; there was no door.

But how did they get in here? He automatically looked up to the ceiling, but nothing except a beamer was placed there. Huh.

„Didn’t he make a portal?“

Steve’s confused stare upwards must have caught the attention of Bruce, who now left Thor‘s side to step next to him, following his gaze.
Rogers blinked, only now that he felt the doctor‘s presence beside him realizing that he had said something.

„Uh- yeah, actually. That would explain how we got here“, he agreed.
It was kind of scary, being in a room without a door, without an exit, without a way to escape. The walls felt to big, to blank because of the absence of one. It made him feel trapped.

Rhodey suddenly spoke up: „Can’t you… you know… let the other guy out so he can just…?“ he asked hesitantly while imitating a punch to the wall, directed to the scientist who winced.

„I’m afraid that could get a little problematic…“ His voice trailed off, and due to the fact that it was obvious that Bruce would rather avoid the topic Rhodes didn’t dig any deeper. „Perfect“, he murmured instead and exhaled loudly, before beginning to go in circles.
Maybe that helped him think, the captain noted.

Steve turned to the only avenger that hadn’t talked since they were in this room; Thor was still standing in the same spot where he woke up, his two-toned eyes frantically surveying his surroundings. He didn’t have his axe slash hammer with him either, and Roger’s took notice on how the god stretched out his fingers, as if longing to hold Mjölnir once more. After a few seconds of silence passed he balled his opened palms to fists and took a deep breath to calm himself.

It was most certainly weird, seeing the god of thunder this way. He looked as if the weight of whole Asgard was lying on his shoulders and, needless to say, kind of depressed. And he didn’t even get started on the eye; Steve remembered Bruce vaguely telling him that Thor had lost it but seeing him with a whole different eye color was definitely something he would have to get used to.
What a psychopathic family, who’s sister rips out your entire eye?!
Then again, Loki did something similar to that in 2012, so he wasn’t that surprised.

The captain got thrown out of his train of thoughts when Thor spoke up: „Either I’m not worthy, or we must be very far away from Midgard. I honestly don’t know what is worse.“
At that, the god settled his gaze on Steve, examining him from his toes to his head, before muttering: „I can’t believe it, you really did copy my beard.“

Rogers huffed and shook his head, but couldn’t stop a small smile from forming. Asgardians could be quite… interesting sometimes.

The smile slid off his lips just as fast as it came when suddenly, the familiar whooshing sound from an opening portal rang out.
All six immediately span around, each pair of eyes fixed onto the orange rectangle that just appeared in the middle of the room, before the huge screen.

Nat immediately pushed herself in front of Clint, who had now calmed down a bit, his eyes almost as red as Wanda’s when she
uses- used her magic. Oh Wanda…

Meanwhile Steve took a step forward, making sure that Rhodey and Bruce were behind him. Although the god of thunder was missing his weapon the blond was pretty sure that he would still be able to defend himself better than the other two.

„Reveal yourself“, Thor boomed after nothing happened for a few seconds.

After a shorter pause someone stepped through the portal. Everyone held their breath when they recognized the (to almost everyone) familiar face.

Mobius gave them all a polite smile and was already opening his mouth when the angry archer suddenly lurched forward, easily lifting the elder man up by his collar and holding up a threatening finger with the other hand.

„Who the fuck are you and where is my fa-„

His demanding questions were cut off by a small beeping sound and then he suddenly disappeared into thin air.
No. Not him too.
The others stared at the place where Clint had slammed the agent against the wall. What just happened.

„Bring him back“, Nat growled at Mobius who shrank at the death stare.
Only then the others noticed that he was holding up a… was it a TV remote? Well, whatever it was it aimed at the spot where Barton had just been standing.

Technology nowadays is crazy, Steve thought.

„How did you do that?“, Bruce asked the question they were all wondering, his voice filled with genuine curiosity as well as concern for their mutual friend.

Before the man answered a loud „Thump!“ was heard, and Clint was standing exactly there where he was one minute ago; next to Natasha, a few meters distanced from the screen and with red rimmed eyes.

He stared at Mobius with shock. „How- What-„ he began to splutter.

„I shall explain, but before that can everyone please calm down?“, the man asked, eying the Russian agent who was still glaring at him while stepping closer to Clint.

She continued glaring at him.

Mobius blinked and muttered something under his breath before speaking up again: „Look, you all must be very confused and scared, but I assure you that there is no need to be concerned.“

The avengers glanced at each other.
How were they supposed to not feel threatened when they were just kidnapped to an unreachable, unknown location?

Clint scoffed loudly. „Oh yeah? Great, then why don’t you answer my questions?“

The agent nodded patiently. „Clinton Francis Barton“, he started, and Clint blinked at that. How did he know his name?
„At the moment you are at the TVA, short for Time Variance Authority. And your family…“
Mobius‘ voice trailed off and he looked at him apologetically.

„Laura and the kids… it’s Thanos‘ fault, Clint, not his“, Nat whispered next to him, patting his back. „The guy I mentioned last time we talked.“

Clint inhaled sharply, then let out a breathless laugh. „I retire for what, five minutes, and it all goes to shit?“

„Yes“, Thor, Steve, Bruce and Rhodey replied at the same time and Barton raised his eyebrow.
„Fantastic“, he murmured, the irony in his voice clear as water. He then wiped his wet eyes with the back of his hand before putting them into his pockets. „So, what are we doing here?“

„Uhm, exactly. So, basically, you’re from the timeline 616.“

Before Mobius could continue startled sounds filled the air again.

„Timeline what now?“
„616?“
„Wait, the Multiverse theory is true?“

„Woah woah woah, slow down, Jedediah“, a familiar voice from behind Mobius suddenly sing sang.

Wait a second.

„Tony?!“

Indeed, Tony Stark stepped through the portal, eying it weirdly while doing so, then grinned at all of them, who stared at him in shock.
But the broad smile didn’t seem like an honest one, not only because it didn’t reach his eyes all the way up.

Tony seemed exhausted, to say the least. His usually wide eyes were hooded and sore, and his gaze was rather hollow than attentive.
Seeing him like this was weird. The genius was almost always tired due to his sleeping problem, but he was always still there with his thoughts, mindful, concentrated. Right now, though? He looked as if he was about to fall over.

„What happened to you“, exclaimed Rhodey and worriedly stepped forward.
Tony waved his hand away. „Chill, I’m fine.“ The genius then turned to Mobius and sighed disapprovingly.
„They don’t understand that shit, let me explain.“

The TVA agent rolled his eyes but let Tony speak.

„Perfect, so, basically, we’re from the timeline 616.“
Mobius glared at the billionaire who snickered. „Okay, fine. Yes, Brucie Bear, the Multiverse Theory is true. I know, crazy, right?“

„Wait- Multiverse, as in more universes than this one exist?“, Rhodey asked and Tony gave him thumbs up.

„Exactly! And our universe is Universe 616. And because we kinda fucked up the universe is fucked, too. So Mobius brought us here with the help from a few friends so we can see into the future and shit to fix this crap. Am I right or am I right?“

„I didn’t word it like that but… yeah, technically.“

Tony bowed theatrically, a shit eating grin on his face. „No need to thank me.“

„Yeah yeah, whatever. So… see into the future?“, Nat wanted to know, frowning in confusion.

Mobius exhaled, relieved that the redhead wasn’t glaring at him anymore, then answered: „Well, we wanted to show you some clips on the screen over there.“ The man gestured behind him and took a step aside.

Rhodes stared. „Why do you have clips from us- are you a stalker?“

„Wha- no! I’m not a stalker, I just told you that we, the Time Variance Authority have access-„

„He’s definitely a stalker“, Rhodey muttered and Mobius threw up his hands in desperation. „Why would you have clips from us otherwise?“

„Just don’t ask“, the agent sighed.

The others looked at him suspiciously before begrudgingly letting it go.
It was unlikely that the man would tell them anyway, so they saw no need to waste any time.

„And these clips will give us knowledge that will help us change our future?“, Bruce asked.

Mobius thought about his statement for a second before saying: „Well, not exactly. Not all of your actions can be changed but you will be able to change certain actions. And the videos we‘re going to show you are not only going to help you overthink your future, but also your past decisions.“

The avenger nodded absentmindedly, slowly understanding what this was all about.
They all recalled some things that they regretted, and it seemed logical to learn from their mistakes.

„Fine. We‘ll watch the clips. But I’ve got one more question…“

Steve’s voice trailed off and the others turned to him with curiosity.

He cleared his throat before finally asking:
„Are the others… I mean, those who were ‚snapped‘ or whatever, are they really dead?“

A good question, and one that they were all very eager to hear the answer.

Clint’s eyes lit up in newfound hope for his family as well as Natasha, who’s head snapped up.
Thor looked at Mobius questioningly with an almost pleading expression, still feeling the guilt of not being able to kill Thanos when he had the chance to.
Rhodes held his fingers crossed, Bruce held his breath and Steve still waited for the answer, getting more nervous every second they waited.

And then Mobius shook his head, a small smile sliding on his face. „There is a chance to get them back. A small one, but it exists. And… you will be able to.“

The tension from the room disappeared into thin air and everyone let out a happy gasp, a relieved sigh or a hopeful laugh.
Finally some good news!

Mobius shared their happiness for a moment before coughing loudly to get their attention again. „Well then, shall we begin?“

The avengers looked at each other, then nodded simultaneously, all somewhat eager to see what the future held for them.

The TVA agent grinned widely and gestured to the seats. „Perfect. If you have questions, let us know.“

He then turned around and walked through the portal, which closed as soon as his foot left the room.
The avengers stared after him in shared confusion before shrugging and all taking a seat.

Seconds later the screen lit up- and a life changing experience took place.

Chapter Text

The TVA, ???

The screen lights up to show the original six avengers plus James Rhodes, Maria Hill and Helen Cho gathered around a table in the Avengers Tower in 2015, talking and laughing with each other. The atmosphere is light and warm, and everyone seems to be in a good mood.

 

The avengers‘ eyes softened at seeing their younger selves on the big TV, each heart aching a little bit.

Since the civil war they had had they hadn’t been able to regain the strength as a team that had took them long enough to build up, due to their pasts and poor communication skills at first.

But Civil War hadn’t just been a small disagreement, it tore the avengers apart.

 

Even though not everyone in this room was present during their fight at the airport, everyone noticed how tense things had become between them and how much they had actually needed each other in multiple situations, how much they had missed a simple small talk about if an elevator was worthy of ruling Asgard or eating shawarma in comfortable silence.

 

All these small gestures, every little detail was only noticed now, and it made the team upset that they hadn’t worshipped each other as much as they should have in the past.

Perhaps they would be able to do it better this time?

 

Clint Barton: (playing around with a pair of drum sticks) But it’s a trick!

 

Thor chuckled as he remembered the conversation they had had that evening. His thoughts automatically went to the Vision, who had, apart from himself, until now been the only one in the avengers worthy enough to lift Mjölnir. His smile faded a bit when he remembered the extraordinary cruel ending the man had met.

 

Clint meanwhile had no trace of sadness in his face, in fact, he looked happier than before. This whole situation was a distraction for him that was very well needed, even though he knew that saving his family was possible now and he wanted nothing more than to bring them back to life. Still, seeing his younger soul argue about a magical hammer seemed pretty hilarious to his older self, who has already come to terms with not being worthy, like the majority of the avengers.

 

„I still don’t know how you do it“, he laughed and threw his head back while doing so.

 

The god of thunder simply grinned, the obvious answer lying on the tip of his tongue. „I do; by being worthy.“

 

The archer rolled his eyes in amusement and Natasha next to him smiled widely, being more than relieved at his new found comfort.

 

Thor Odinson: No, no, it’s much more than that.

 

The blond stiffened the tiniest bit at that, being reminded of his history of how he became truly worthy. His thoughts trailed back to the night where he hadn’t been able to lift his hammer and the despair and frustration he had felt. Luckily no one was there to see that- his reaction might, but only might, have a little over the top.

 

Clint seemed to see where his train of thoughts was heading, because he was barely able to contain his laughter to a wide smile. Perhaps one day he would mention that, in fact, somebody was there to see how he reacted when he wasn’t able to pick up a chunk of metal…

 

Clint Barton: (sarcastically; mockingly) Whosoever be he worthy shall have the power!

 

Everyone let out a laugh at the deep voice Clint had used to imitate Thor, who raised his eyebrows. „That’s not how I sound at all.“

Tony nodded. „Yeah, you forget the ‚ANOTHER‘!“ A new chorus of giggles rang out and even the god himself couldn’t help but laugh at that. „Alright, fine, it might sound a little bit like me.“

 

Nat‘s smile widened at that and she muttered: „Oh, you should see him copy Loki‘s voice.“ Clint grinned back and seemed to consider it, but then saw the almost nostalgic expression on Thor‘s face. He winced. Perhaps it was a little to early, since Loki‘s death had only been a couple of days ago. Even though he couldn’t stand that guy, Barton was a man of honor and able to respect someone’s obvious boundaries, so he didn’t comment any further.

 

Clint Barton: (under laughter) Whatever, man, it’s a trick! Thor Odinson: (gesturing to Mjölnir; competitively) Well please, be my guest.

 

 

Clint groaned at that. „Oh, god.“ His reaction was met with a round of new laughter and Tony patted him on the back. „Yeah, been there, done that.“ The archer turned to Nat. „It’s so unfair that you didn’t try it, you’re such a killjoy!“

 

She only smiled at him, although her eyes held a trail of sadness. Why even try to lift Mjölnir if the amount of crimes she had committed weren’t even countable on all of their hands together? Instead of that rather depressing statement she replied with: „I just didn’t want to make a fool of myself like you all did.“

 

The room silenced until Thor spoke up with a soft „Come on!“ Clint Barton: (while standing up) Really? Thor Odinson: Yeah!

 

 

„Of course, you couldn’t say no to a competition“, Natasha teased and her best friend huffed, slowly sinking into the chair and seemingly trying very hard to become one with the seat. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.

 

James „Rhodey“ Rhodes: (sarcastically) Oh, this is gonna be beautiful.

 

Clint guffawed. „Excuse me?!“ Rhodey only smirked at him and said: „I was right, wasn’t I?“ This left the archer spluttering for a few seconds before giving up with a sigh. „You guys are mean.“

 

Tony Stark: Clint, you’ve had a tough week, we won’t hold it against you if you can’t get it up.

 

Bruce raised his eyebrow pointedly. „Well that kind of back fired.“ „Says the right one“, Tony shot back and silenced the doctor, who face palmed at the reminder.

 

Clint Barton: You might have seen this before, right? He tries to lift up Mjölnir, but it stays put, not even moving the slightest bit, as if glued to the table.

 

The others burst into laughter once more and Clint sighed. „Yeah, yeah, laugh at the poor old man with back problems.“
Steve looked at him with an innocent smile. „I’ll have you know that I’m currently over ninety years old. And my back is fine“
Thor snorted. „Ninety? I am over hundreds of years old!“ The father of four let his gaze wander over the two blondes and finally whispered: „I need to know your morning routine.“

 

Clint Barton: (wheezing) I still don’t know how you do it! Tony Stark: (with a Pokerface ) Smell the silent judgement.

 

Tony grimaced. „Yeah, okay, I got to smell it, too.“

 

Clint Barton: (Raising his hand invitingly) Please, Stark, by all means. Stark seemed to think about it for a few seconds before standing up and marching to the hammer, being accompanied by playful comments of the other team members. Tony Stark: Mhm. Never one to shrink from an honest challenge. It’s physics.

 

Thor grinned widely, on his half very amused at the embarrassment of his friends. Bruce next to him seemed to notice, because he scoffed in played annoyance. „You think this is hilarious, don’t you?“ „Definitely“, the god replied, his smile growing when he turned back to the screen.

 

Tony Stark: (the handle already slung around his arm joint) So, if I lift it, I then rule Asgard? Thor Odinson: (unfazed) Yes, of course.

 

„Oh, you were just playing with us at this point!“, Tony pouted and Thor only winked at him cheekily. „Perhaps.“

 

With that Tony Stark pulled at the handle of the hammer, but it remained on the table. Clearly confused he changed his hand placement, before sliding the handle off and walking away. Tony Stark: I’ll be right back.

 

Giggles filled the room once more and Tony grunted unhappily. „Aw, man. Would’ve really enjoyed ruling your alien planet.“

 

Thor laughed breathlessly, before quietly adding: „Yeah, well, I’m afraid that’s not going to happen anymore.“

 

Banner, who coincidentally heard his mutter, rested a supporting hand on the blonds shoulder and exhaled sharply.
Even though he didn’t get to know nearly as much Asgardians as Thor had, Thanos‘ attack did affect him, too. If he had only been able to do more… For now, he could only help his friend stand through this war outside of the battle field and inside his head by letting him feel his presence.

 

The scene cut to Tony Stark using his metal hand to try and lift Mjölnir and shot and incredulous look through the round when even his advanced technology failed to be able to.

 

Rhodey snorted at his friend‘s face. „You look so confused.“ „Of course I am!“

 

Even with his friend Rhodey‘s help they weren’t able to lift the magical hammer. James „Rhodey“ Rhodes: (confused, breathing heavily) Are you even pulling?

 

&bdquo Oh, believe me, I was!“ „It sure looks like it“, Natasha commented, leading to Tony sending a death stare her way.

 

Tony Stark: Are you on my team? James „Rhodey“ Rhodes: Just represent, pull! Tony Stark: Okay, let’s go.“

 

Despite the insincere distrust in the clip Tony remained thankful for his friend‘s support, although it led them to nowhere at the end of the evening. He knew that he was always able to count on Rhodey, and that meant more to him than he showed, despite his usual indifferent attitude. If only he would be able to count on everyone like that, he thought, glancing to Steve before turning to the screen again.

 

The scene cuts to Bruce Banner trying to lift the hammer while yelling loudly.

 

The comfortable smile slid off the doctor‘s face immediately. „Oh, fuck.“ Thor cackled at that and nudged him playfully, booming while gasping for air: „This is hilarious!“ Bruce‘s face soured and he murmured: „Yeah, totally. Haha.“

 

The man groaned loudly one last time and stepped back, hands still in the air, letting out a confused „Huh?“ at his little outburst.

 

The avengers couldn’t help but chuckle at the lost scientist, who hid his red face in his hands, clearly embarrassed. „I hate this.“

 

During his try to pick up Mjölnir, Maria’s head snapped up in concern, Clint stopped in his tracks for a second or two and Nat managed a forced smile at him. The only ones who didn’t look scared or at least startled were Steve Rogers and Thor Odinson, who both wore an amused smile.

 

The room tensed a bit at that, especially the doctor himself. Seeing that a big part of the team didn’t seem to trust him enough to keep his anger restrained did kind of hurt his feelings, but he wasn’t really surprised, either.
The two agents cringed at their behavior on screen, even though it was kind of justified, and both mumbled an honest sounding apology. Bruce only nodded curtly and muttered something along the lines: „Don’t worry about it.“ At least the other two weren’t scared of him, he thought, especially Thor, who’d had a couple of encounters with the Hulk before, too.

 

Next up was Steve Rogers, who jumped up and marched to Thor‘s hammer while pulling up his sleeves.

 

Thor leaned forward a bit, wanting to find out if his eyes had betrayed him at that evening. Could it be that Steve was…? No, he quickly thought, it’s not possible. He probably just saw things, right?
Meanwhile the others suspected nothing, simply giggling among each other again and eager to see Rogers‘ failure on screen.
The blond in question narrowed his eyes a little bit. He also had a funny feeling about this.

 

Rogers started pulling the hammer, which seemed to lift a centimeter off the table and squeaked suspiciously.

 

The laughter dyed down and everyone stared at the screen wide eyed before slowly turning to face Steve, who looked mildly surprised himself.

 

„Oh.“ „Wait- you’re worthy?!“, Clint shrieked, his voice almost octaves higher than before. Bruce’s jaw dropped, Rhodes blinked several times and Tony still stared at him with big eyes, silently wording „What the fuck?“.

 

Natasha eyed him for a moment before slowly nodding. She had had her suspicions, as a professional spy. And Steve’s turn at trying to lift Mjölnir was something that had been in her mind for a while, but she never really thought more into it.

 

Thor opened and closed his mouth, before muttering a small „Congratulations, captain“, a tiny glimpse of jealousy in his voice. Steve brushed the following complements off.

 

„Eh, I don’t know. That was 2015. Lot‘s of things…. changed after that.“

 

„Oh, don’t you dare.“

 

To the surprise of everyone, it was Tony who said these words. He was still looking at Steve, an almost incredulous expression on his face. „From how I understood this, whoever can lift Mj- mlo- Jo- Thor‘s hammer isn’t supposed to be perfect or never do mistakes, it just means that you’re a noble, good person.“ Thor nodded. „Correct, Stark.“ Stark thought for a second before adding: „That has nothing to do with our fight, Rogers.“

 

Steve seemed to be at the loss of words, before clearing his throat and replying: „Thanks, Stark, I appreciate it. And, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about how things worked out in Siberia.“ Tony considered his answer with offering a small smile. „I won’t pretend that what you did was fine, but… I think we can let it go for now.“ Steve agreed and let out a breath that he didn’t notice holding in. „Thanks.“

 

Bruce leaned to Thor and whispered: „I still don’t understand what the fuck happened in Siberia.“ The god shook his head, muttering „Me neither.“

 

On screen, the bright smile of Thor‘s face faded and he stared at Mjölnir, not understanding what he had just witnessed.

 

The group burst out laughing at Thor‘s face. „Dude, you look so confused!“ „I need a GIF with that.“ „I think this is hilarious.“ The god just shrugged, his cheeks slightly red. „Oh, whatever.“

 

Steve finally stepped back and raised his hands in respect, which made Thor laugh in relief. Thor Odinson: (under laughter) Nothing.

 

„Nothing, huh?“ Rogers tilted his head. „You know, ruling Asgard does sound pretty nice now…“ Thor snorted. „I can offer you two thousand people.“

 

The room stilled at that, remembering what Ragnarok and Thanos had done to the planet Asgard and its population. After a few seconds the god of thunder corrected: „Or one thousand now, because of the snap, I guess. Maybe.“

 

„Thor…“, Bruce said softly and the god shook his head. „Sorry for that, let’s continue.“ „Are you sure-„ „Moving on.“

 

When Steve sat down again, Bruce friendly raised his hands to gesture to Natasha, who, immediately shook her head. Tony Stark: Widow? Natasha Romanoff: (casually) Oh no, that’s not a question I need answered.

 

Bruce eyed Nat at that statement. He was sure that something else was the true reason of why she didn’t want to at least try, but he respected her privacy and decided to stay quiet.

 

Tony Stark: All difference to the man who wouldn’t be king, but it’s rigged. (At that Thor raised his eyebrows in disagreement.)

 

„Yeah, well, how did that work out, huh?“ „Oh, shush, Goldielocks.“

Clint Barton: You bet your ass! Maria Hill: (pointing at Clint) Steve, he said a bad language word. Steve Rogers: (annoyed) Did you tell everyone about that?

 

The captain groaned loudly. „Seriously guys? It was one goddamn time!“
„Language!“ „Language.“ „Language!“ „LANGUAGE!“ „Language.“

 

„I hate all of you.“

 

Tony Stark: (quickly changing the topic) The handle‘s imprinted, right? Like a security code? „Whosoever is wearing Thor‘s fingerprints“ is, I think, the literal translation.

 

Thor chuckled. „Yeah, because Rogers and the Vision both have my fingerprints.“ „Shut up, it sounded logical back then!“

 

Thor Odinson: (standing up) Yes, that’s a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one:

 

(He picks up the hammer with no signs of difficulty, flipped it, caught it and continued.)

 

Thor Odinson: (nonchalantly) You’re all not worthy.

 

„Loud incorrect buzzer“, Tony commented and the avengers burst into laughter again, Steve’s cheeks turning slightly pink.

The avengers on screen jokingly boo‘d, complained or, in Clint’s case, stuck out their tongue.

 

„Seriously, Clint? What are you, two years old?“, Nat laughed and the archer rolled his eyes fondly. „Geez, do I look that young? Why thank you!“

 

The good mood from the screen was automatically reflected on the avengers sitting on their seats, everyone feeling a tad bit nostalgic at their past close contact with each other. „We should throw a party again sometimes“, Tony said, and the others agreed. „After all this Thanos-bullshit is over, it’s shawarma at Stark tower again. Don’t worry, Steve, you can invite your murderous BFF.“ Steve winced at the mention of his friend, but smiled warmly at Stark including him. „I think he’d love shawarma.“

 

Suddenly a robotic voice came from behind the avengers, who turned around in confusion. Ultron: Worthy… no… (in Tony’s voice) How could you be worthy? You’re all killers.

 

The domestic and comfortable atmosphere from before faded as everyone in that room immediately recognized the creepy voice and the heavily damaged robot that followed seconds later.

 

Tony shuddered at hearing his own voice sounding so similar yet inhuman at the same time. This moment still gave him the chills when he looked back at it, even now, years later.

 

Natasha’s breath hitched at the not incorrect statement of the android. Even though he didn’t act the right way, she must admit that there was some truth in his words and some sense in his ideas. Still, his actions remain unforgivable. But more unforgivable than her‘s?
The others also tensed at Ultron‘s sentence, which sent chills down all their spines.

 

Steve Rogers: (warily) Stark.

 

Tony Stark: (tense) JARVIS.

 

Tony sighed loudly at the reminder of his… well, dead friend. JARVIS was more than just a useful AI to him, he was like a person, someone he was able to talk to without getting judged. He was someone he could always rely on, due to him always being with him. Well. Not anymore.

 

Ultron: I’m sorry I was asleep… or… I was a dream.

 

Bruce couldn’t help but scoff. „Yeah, more like a nightmare.“ A few chuckles filled the room at the dry comment.

(Stark tries to reboot Ultron, but he keeps on talking, unfazed by his actions.) Ultron: Such terrible noise… and I was tangled in… (upset) strings. Had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy.

 

Some of the avengers glanced at Tony with sympathy, who pointedly ignored their looks and stubbornly stared at the screen, although his body tensed at the mention of JARVIS. A part of him had hoped that Vision would be JARVIS, but, even though he’s a good guy, he was disappointed when he realized that his friend was truly gone.

Steve Rogers: You killed someone? Ultron: Wouldn’t have been my first call, but… down in the real world we‘re faced with ugly choices.

 

Everyone stiffened at that sentence, all of them being able to recall their very own ugly choices.

Thor Odinson: Who sent you?

 

Ultron: (Tony’s voice) I see a suit of armor around the world.

 

„Yeah, well I wasn’t expecting some wannabe JARVIS to kill my AI friend and try to, once again, destroy the world“, Tony bellowed to his defense, wildly gesturing with his hands before crossing his arms in frustration.

 

Bruce Banner: (realizing) Ultron!

 

Ultron: In the flesh. Or no, not yet. Not this… Christmas… but I’m ready.

 

(You can see Thor strengthen his grip on Mjölnir and Maria loading her gun.)

 

„I swear, y’all have some sort of sixth sense.“ „Yeah, it’s also called reading the room.“ „Didn’t know you could do that.“ Thor looked up at Natasha. „Hey!“

Ultron: I’m on mission.

 

Maria Hill: (standing up) What mission?

 

 

Ultron: (turning to the avengers) Peace in our time.

 

(In that moment two suits similar to the Iron Man suits crashed through the walls and attacked the team, which reacted quickly. )

 

Despite all having been in exactly that moment, that situation, everyone jumped at the sudden action, some even letting out a small yelp. „Holy crap!“

 

(Steve kicked up a table just in time to shield himself from an attacking suit and hit the floor.)

 

„That’s what you call reflexes“, Clint said, but Steve shook his head wildly. „That’s what you call super soldier serum. Without it I would’ve probably died by a sneeze.“

(Meanwhile Maria dropped to the ground too and started shooting at one of the robots.)

 

„Maria is the fucking best“, Nat said and Clint grinned. „Definitely. Until now she had, like, three seconds screen time and already managed to kick ass.“ „She’s amazing“, Tony agreed.

(Thor, obviously, used his hammer to slam a suit away, beheading it while doing so.)

 

You were able to go for the head back then, huh?

 

Thor gulped. This really reminded him of the whole Thanos situation they had going on at the moment, and he couldn’t help but compare this scene to what had happened only hours ago. Bruce next to him must have felt his uncomfortable shift, because he leaned a little closer to the god and muttered: „You good?“ Thor nodded stiffly, obviously wanting to avoid the topic, so Banner only gave him a small, comforting smile before turning back to the screen.

(Rhodey and Tony tried to escape, being not that much of help without their suits, but were caught in by the androids rather quickly. One of them attacked Tony and sent him flying through a shelf with books.)

 

Tony winced. He remembered the pain and shock that had shot through him in that moment. Why did his enemies always catch him off guard? It was complicated enough to let his guard down, to trust people, and when he does, some shit like that happens. Or other stuff…

(Rhodey tried to fire a shot at Ultron but the AI shot him right in the chest. Rhodey flew threw the air and burst through a window, luckily landing on some sort of balcony outside.)

 

Stark, once again, sharply sucked in air and paled. This reminded him of what had happened to his best friend during civil war, the memory of him falling immediately in his mind. Rhodey seemed to notice his discomfort, so he nudged Tony to get his attention. „I’m fine, Tones, don’t worry bout it.“ The two of them shared a hesitant smile.

(In the meantime Thor jumped at one of the suits again, destroying it as well.)

 

„Yeah, we get it, you’re a god.“ „Yeah, we get it, you’re Katniss Everdeen“, Thor shot back. „…wait, how do you know hunger games?“

(Clint Barton was able to jump underneath a table without getting hit by the shots fired at him. He looked up surprised.)

 

„Okay, but why is no one talking bout how smooth that slide was?“ Clint raised a thankful hand in Rhodes’ direction. „Thank you!“, he said, a smug and satisfied smile forming on his face. Nat only rolled her eyes. „Yeah yeah, good job, Hawkeye.“

 

(Natasha and Bruce try to save themselves behind the bar, sliding over the table and landing onto each other behind it.)

 

Tony raised a judging eyebrow and inspected the two of them, who didn’t exactly look thrilled about their actions on screen. „…so we’re just not gonna talk about that?“ „No“, both of them said at the same time, stubbornly facing the TV. That year had been a hard one for both of them, and the tension they might have had wouldn’t have developed into something deep or real. It was rather a distraction from all the shit going on in their lives. At least at the point where they had, well, in nice words, went separate ways after the fight against Ultron, all the possible romance dissolved to atoms.

 

Bruce Banner: (awkwardly) Sorry.

 

Natasha Romanoff: (warningly) Don‘t turn green.

 

Bruce Banner: I won’t.

 

Bruce and Nat thought back at what had happened back in 2012, where Bruce had transformed and almost killed her in the process. No wonder she looked so… well, nearly terrified in that scene. Banner sighed and took off his glasses to clean them. Why did the Hulk always destroy everything? Then again, the big guy probably thought exactly the same thing about him, he realized and winced at the thought.

 

(Meanwhile one of the suits grabbed the scepter and flew away. Tony gasped, then sat up and took one of the fondue sticks from the table beside him.)

 

„Never underestimate a genius with fondue sticks, a fancy suit and a dream. An inspirational quote from me.“ Some of them laughed at Tony’s words, who did an imaginary hair flip, before turning back forwards.

 

(Natasha took a gun that was attached under a table and shot at the enemies, distracting one of the suits. Steve used this opportunity to jump on the back of one of the suits, punching it until it suddenly flew backwards and into a wall, causing him to fall down.)

 

Steve winced. Rhodey took notice of this and asked: „Aren’t you a super solider?“ The captain sighed. „Yeah, but that doesn’t lessen the pain. It only helps me to not bleed out as quickly, that stuff.“ „Huh.“

 

(Nat turned to Bruce and told him to follow her, then the two of them started climbing the stairs as fast as they could, dodging shots fired at them.)

 

All of them only now noticed how close the two were to being killed in that second. „That’s was close“, Tony whispered and Bruce nodded absentmindedly.

 

(In the meantime one of the robots shot at Clint, who jumped around a corner and slid down a staircase, landing on broken glass and a puddle of spillt bier.)

 

„Ew.“ „Exactly what I thought.“ „We know“, Thor laughed at the archers face on screen.

 

(At the same time Tony jumped off the railing and onto one of his own suits.)

 

The heroes were astonished at the brave action from the man, who wasn’t even wearing his suit or anything. „That could’ve gone terribly wrong“, Bruce commented and everyone agreed. Tony only shrugged. „I had to do something.“

 

(Thor dodged two shots directed at him and picked up the robot, throwing it against the railing.)

 

„You make it look so easy“, Rhodey whined. Thor eyed him in amusement. „It was easy.“ „Oh, fuck off.“

 

(Tony stabbed the suit he was hanging on in the neck and tried to deactivate it.)

 

Steve Rogers: Stark!

 

Tony Stark: One sec! One sec…

 

Iron Man suit: (deranged; repeatingly) We are here to help.

 

Thor snorted. „They are doing an amazing job, at helping“, he said, the sarcasm in his voice speaking volumes.

 

(In the meantime the suit Thor had thrown from him got up again, at least the half of it, and flew towards Doctor Cho, who was crouched behind the piano. Her eyes filled with fear as she saw the robot raise his hand to blast her.)

 

Despite knowing that the doctor had survived the encounter with Ultron and his minions, everyone froze when the suit closed in. She was supposed to enjoy the evening, not be attacked by murder cyborgs. Luckily nothing happened to her, everyone thought.

 

(Ultron turned to the suit and demanded him to not hurt her, and the suit obeyed by letting his hand sink before being pulled back by Steve Rogers, who threw it to Thor who destroyed him with one slam of his hammer.)

 

Steve and Thor glanced at each other smugly. They did make a pretty good team in battle, and, especially in that year they had bonded a bit over their similar fighting techniques.

 

Tony meanwhile was inspecting the screen in surprise. „Huh. He didn’t intend to harm her.“ „Yeah well he was an asshole, but he only wanted to extinguish the avengers.“ „And an entire town.“ „Yeah, and that.“

 

(Tony was still trying to deactivate the robot.) Tony Stark: Come on! It finally worked; the suit suddenly fell to the ground and Tony landed in glass shards, wincing.

„Ouch.“ Tony sighed tiredly. „Yeah, that describes it pretty well.“

(Natasha and Bruce had reached the top safely, the Black Widow was now shooting at the enemies once more.)

Barton grinned at his best friend‘s actions. „You’re so badass“, he told her and a smile tugged on her lips. „I know.“

 

(Meanwhile Clint snagged the shield that was leaning onto a shelf and threw it to Rogers, who caught it, span around and hurled it at the last suit that fell apart.)

 

The avengers cheered at that, and Steve smiled awkwardly. „Show off“, Natasha teased and his ears turned slightly pink at that.

 

Ultron: (unfazed) That was dramatic.

 

„You see, even the genocide artificial intelligence agrees with me!“

 

(The avengers all turned to the nearby falling apart robot, who continued with a suffering sigh.)

 

Ultron: I’m sorry, I know you mean well, you just didn’t think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don’t want it to change.

The avengers quieted as Ultron‘s comment. „He’s not entirely wrong, y‘know?“ It was Rhodey who broke the silent tension, his eyes narrowed. „I’m not saying that what he did was, you know, right, but-„ „You’re right“, Nat muttered. „No, he’s right.“

 

Ultron: How is humanity saved if it’s not allowed to… evolve. With these… (he picks up a destroyed suit) these puppets. (He throws the suit away.) Ultron: There’s only one path to peace… the avengers‘ extinction.

 

Everyone stilled again, giving thought to Ultron’s comment. It’s no secret that all of them had done horrible things, things that kept them awake at night, things that they wouldn’t be able to forget, no matter how much they regretted them. And all of them were aware of those things, and the lives that could’ve been spared, the terror that could’ve been avoided. But was their death, or, their extinction, really the only way to make up for those things? Couldn’t they make the world a better place by protecting it, no matter how strong and scary the threat? Was dying the only option to bring peace to the planet they all loved, despite it‘s flaws?

(As he finished, Thor aggressively hurled Mjölnir at the AI which immediately fell apart.)

 

The avengers sighed. „We could’ve just talked it out, you know?“ „Oh come on, he was annoying“, Thor said, his face showing no signs of regret at all. Clint shrugged. „Point taken.“

 

Ultron: (lagging) I had strings but now I’m free. (He shuts down.)

 

A few of them flinched at that. Being attached to strings making them do things they had no control over? Yeah, that was a familiar situation. Although Ultron was probably speaking of the literal strings that were attached to him in that case, they couldn’t help but reflect his words on their own pasts, because they, in fact, had had strings, too, but now they were free. At least for now.

Chapter Text

2023, Delacroix

It had taken days until Sam had finally been able to convince Bucky that he was perfectly fine with him sleeping on his couch, and it had been years since Bucky had slept on a couch at all.

Not that he didn’t have one, of course; his dark blue sofa was one of the only pieces of furniture that he possessed. But it just felt too comfortable, too soft for him to be able to sit, let alone sleep on it. That couch was only decoration for him, he preferred the hard, cold floor or his cheap mattress.

It just felt like the right place for him. Where he deserved to be.

But Sam didn’t want to hear it, of course, and had argued with him for an eternity until they were able to find a compromise.
So here he was, slowly opening his tired eyes, realizing that he had actually been able to sleep for eight hours straight.

No nightmares, no staring at the ceiling for hours and hours. Actual sleep.

Huh. Maybe Sam’s couch wasn’t that bad after all.

He stirred at the sound of shuffling, and sat up, turning around, his blue eyes scanning the room for a possible threat.
His gaze softened as he took notice of AJ and Cass, Sam‘s nephews, who were playing around with the shield that Sam had placed around the corner.
They turned to look at him with widened eyes and dropped jaws, so that Bucky couldn’t help but chuckle. He raised a hand and murmured a quiet: „Hey.“
The children stared at him in surprise before scrambling to their feet and running out of the room, stumbling over themselves while doing so.

„Woah, slow down there!“, he heard a new voice from down the hallway, and seconds later Sam entered the living room, shaking his head in amusement.
Apparently he had already went for his usual morning run, because there were pearls of sweat on his forehead, which he wiped off with a casual movement, and he was also wearing a sweatshirt and shorts instead of his Pyjamas. He had already taken his sneakers off. He dropped the worn out pair onto the floor and gave them a shove to the side, so that his sister wouldn’t murder him right away for letting his sweaty stuff lying around.

After that he smiled at Bucky warmly, causing his heart to flutter, then dissapeared in the kitchen before returning with a cooled bottle of water in his hand, his other one holding two empty glasses. „Sorry bout that. Did they wake you up?“
Bucky shook his head, them swung his legs off of the sofa and onto the wooden floor. „It’s fine. I was awake anyway.“
Sam let himself fall into the enourmous armchair next to him and grunted as he opened the bottle, or tried to. After a few seconds he sighed and handed it over to Bucky with an annoyed groan, who was already grinning widely.

„Oh, shut up.“
„I didn’t say anything!“

The bottle made of glass hissed when he opened it, and he poured some water into both glasses, smugly shooting a glance over to Sam that was supposed to say something along the lines „Ha! I win!“. The other just snorted unamused and rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.
Bucky pushed the fizzling glass into his direction after he had finished and Sam thanked him quietly before cupping it into his dark brown hands, drinking every single drop of water in there with one breath. Then he shoved it over to Bucky once more, wiping the corners of his mouth before casually asking: „Nightmares?“

It was only one word, a small reassurance of his well-being, and yet it meant more to Bucky than he could ever say out loud.
This was something the two of them had normalized during their time as a team, because both knew how much a casual „You good?“ or „Is everything alright?“ was worth
in dark times. Usually the former soldier was slightly annoyed, even though Sam‘s care always made his heart feel warmer, because he’d rather avoid those sort of topics,
despite knowing how important it was to open up once in a while. This time, however, he was grateful for the question and replied with a simple: „No, actually“
while filling the captain‘s glass again.

He noticed out of the corners of his eyes how Sam’s smile widened, and, after emptying the next cup, the man genuinely said: „That’s great, man.“
Bucky, being pleased himself as well, nodded and raised his own glass to his lips, only so being able to contain a wide smile.

But then- a sound.

Barely louder than a whisper, unrecognizable for any normal person.
How good that he wasn’t a normal person, then.

He frowned and stood up, taking a protective step in front of his friend, who slowly put down his glass and got to his feet as well. „You good?“
„Something’s wrong“, he muttered and let his gaze wander over the living room, inspecting every single detail.

At first, nothing seemed unnatural or unusual; the same colorful pictures of family and friends were hanging on the wall, the same amount of sunshine was still falling through the opened windows and light curtains, not a single chair was standing on the wrong spot. And yet, something seemed different, something had interrupted the comforting atmosphere that ruled over Delacroix, especially over this house, this home, this family.

„Bucky?“, Sam whispered carefully. He felt his warm and still sweaty back brush against his and, still unaware of his source of discomfort, glanced over to the shield of his companion, which was leaned against the wall, the red, white and blue stripes shining brightly in the sun.

And there it was.
In the middle of the hallway, barely four meters away from the two of them and even less distanced from Captain America‘s shield.
An orange, rectangular portal, opening with a distant „whoosh!“.

And they were unarmed.
Shit.

Before he even considered it, Sam leaped forward and grabbed the shield, positioning himself between Bucky and the portal.
With a calm voice he called out, over the edge of the shield: „What do you want?“

Silence.

„Samuel“, Bucky hissed and quickly slid next to him with raised fists, „What the hell?! I’m a super soldier, I can take them-„
„And I have an enormous dinner plate with stripes, who gives a shit?“

He turned to Sam in exasperation and was already opening his mouth when someone stepped out of the portal. His head snapped back.
A nervous laugh echoed through the hall and they stared at the slightly elder man, who had just entered the room.

„Calm down, guys, I just want to talk“, the mysterious guy said. „You can put that down“, he quietly added, gesturing to the shield.

Sam didn’t move, but he replied with a not rude but rather firm tone: „What do you wanna talk about?“
Bucky remained silent. Something was wrong.
The man didn’t look threatened, his hands were casually hidden in his office pants and his facial expressions were rather relaxed.

That was the look of someone who knew that he was going to win.

„Let’s not do this the hard way“, the stranger said, instead of answering the last question. Even more suspicious, Bucky thought.
Sam pursed his lips, then glanced at him who narrowed his eyes.

„What hard way?“, he wanted to know, regretting the sentence while speaking.

The man raised his eyebrows and Sam next to him exhaled, slowly turning to face him with a deadpanned expression.
„For fucks sake, Buck-„

All of a sudden his eyes went wide and he gasped, then collapsed to the ground, his limbs starting to twitch wildly and uncontrollably. „Sam!“

He dropped down next to him and cupped his face in his hands, his heart dropping as he noticed his friend‘s now closed eyes.
With a scared whimper he span around to the portal, only now noticing the other two men who had stepped out with raised weapons, all aimed at him.
„What did you do?“, he spat angrily.

And then he was thrown back into the couch, his nails digging into the carpet.
Electrocuted, he realized, recognizing the shock running through his bones. Recognizing it very quickly, for it was a popular torture method, and he knew all about those.
His first thought: HYDRA, but that couldn’t be, right? But who else would want to attack them, the flagsmashers? It didn’t make sense.

He groaned, fighting against the urge to fall in unconsciousness. Not now, he couldn’t leave him.
And not only Sam was in danger; what about Sarah? The kids? The bare thought of them being harmed caused a new wave of panik to overcome him, drowning out every last positive thought and forcing him to think about every possible outcome.

Fuck.

The last thing he saw was someone crouching down in front of him and turn him around, three orange letters emblazoned on their chest.

TVA.

2023, Westview

Wanda let her hands drop, taking a shuddering breath.
They were gone. They were really gone.

Tears started prickling in her eyes and she finally let them roll down her cheeks, a strangled cry escaping her throat.
She felt her knees give in and ungracefully fell to the ground, only faintly feeling the painful impact.
In fact, she wasn’t even sure if she would ever feel anything at all again except for the dread pooling in her stomach.

Her red curls fell over her shoulders and now the sobs wracked her entire frame, leaving almost no space for air in her lungs.
Her face hidden between her hands she sat there and let out all the pain, all the despair and regret that she had been through with shaking breaths and whispered,
unheard apologies.

It didn’t matter anyway.

It was over, all of it. Vision, the kids, hell, even sparky.

All gone.

Agatha might have lost, but that doesn’t mean that Wanda had won. No, perhaps she had lost way more than that witch…

After a few minutes she slowly raised her head, gulping down the salty, warm tears, and let her gaze wander.
All she was able to see were the blurry outlines from the landscape of Westview around her.
Nothing was left of the place she had been able to call home for the last few weeks.

The vintage furniture that provided a comfortable atmosphere.
The new, colorful computer games, sprawled on the floor.
The family pictures, unsymmetrically dangling from the walls, the calendar with dates marked that will never take place, the sharp pieces of Lego lying around,
the faint sound of children, her children laughing.

All gone. Because of her.

A place to grow old in? Yeah, no shit, she couldn’t help but think.
For once, Vision had been wrong. Least of all he had been able to grow old here.

She buried her head in her hands once again at the reminder of his death, beginning to shake from head to toe.

Maybe that’s why she didn’t immediately notice the intruder.

Her gasps silenced when she heard careful steps approaching her, almost sneaking. A villager? No, what would one of them do here, they hated her.
They hated her for what she had done to them, and that for a good reason.

But… who was it then?
A threat? Did it even matter? Did all of this even matter if she wasn’t able to live with her husband, with her children, with her family?
Her head stayed ducked, but she spoke up with a raspy voice:
„What do you want?“

It was silent for a while, but then someone shuffled. The stranger must be standing right in front of her at this point, and yet she somehow couldn’t give a shit.
Out of a sudden- a calm hand, placed on her shoulder. She stiffened.

What the fuck? Who would comfort her, after everything she had done?
Despite of not knowing who this was and, especially, why someone would show the tiniest hint of pity for her, she leaned into the touch.
It had been too long, too long since she had been able to let her guard down.

The person stroked her back gently and a soft, male voice whispered: „Don’t worry, it’s gonna be alright.“
The worst part about this whole situation was, that she wanted to believe him so badly.
No matter who the actual fuck this was, she wanted to trust him, trust somebody real.

The tears welled up in her eyes once more, and she sniffed, barely able to contain the weight of this life, her life.
Overtaken by the moment‘s depth she didn’t notice the taser that the man slowly pulled out from behind his back.
„See you in a moment“, he muttered, an apologetic tone in his sentence.

Wanda’s shoulders stopped shaking, and she stilled, already guessing what would come now.
One flick of the hand, one simple thought and this man could be lying dead on the floor. But she didn’t care enough to even try, so she waited.
Seconds later a sharp pain in her back, and then darkness overtook her.
And she welcomed it.

2017, Asgardian ship

„Almighty Thanos, I…“

The words caught up in his throat and Loki gulped loudly, his gaze wandering downwards before snapping up again.

Was he really going to do this?

It was an awful, stupid idea. For Norns sake, he was able to conjure millions of versions of himself, cast illusions, shapeshift, teleport, turn fearless warriors into frogs,
even stop time, but this was his master tactic, the only halfway decent thought he could gather in this moment? If anything, this was a suicide attempt!

But then again…

He glanced over to Thor, his brother, bloody and bruised, chained up and caught under not only the weight of loss but also the pressure of sharp pieces of metal,
cutting into his skin and staining his armor a bright red. He looked angry. And tired. And oh, so exhausted. Heavily panting, as if his life wasn’t hanging by a thread,
as if he wouldn’t collapse in less than five minutes, as if Ragnarok had been nothing, just another scar on his back, just another dead family member, just another reason to give up on this former planet who now had less inhabitants than half of New York.

Loki knew that, despite all of this, Thor wouldn’t ever do that, he wouldn’t even consider it. He’d laugh out loud if someone were to bring up this, brush it off,
just like he brushes off everything. And who is he to judge- Loki does exactly the same.

He still pretends that the words from Odin, his „father“, never felt like a slap into his face, although he might have even preferred that to being told that he didn’t deserve to live. As if he didn’t remind himself of that on daily basis. He remained quiet when Thor asked him how he knew what exact ship that was, only minutes from now.
Like he would ever forget the name of that place. And he still keeps his head down during every conversation, knowing that he wasn’t worth being part of it or even listening. Knowing that he was only on second place, the backup plan, the crumpled five dollar bill in your left pocket that you forgot about.

They both avoided talking about topics that made them remember their fucked up lives, and they both pretended like it doesn’t matter.

And yet, Thor was the one who never gave up, who pushed his own limits and those of everyone around, the one who tried.
Who stood up and fought, even when their army was defeated, when every soldier was thrown to the ground, their wide, glassy eyes and filthy faces buried into the battlefield, their own, once not shining with blood, blades stabbed into their backs and through their ripped capes.

He didn’t give up on Asgard, and he didn’t give up on him. Ever.

So perhaps it was time to repay the favor…

„…Loki, Prince of Asgard-„

He cut himself off once more, this time frantically searching for Thors eyes. The blond looked at him, betrayal, fear and tears glistening in his eyes.
It pained Loki to keep this image of a traitor, a liar, a fraud to his people alive, but he knew he had to, for Thor, for whoever in this ship was still breathing,
still gasping for air as quietly as possible.

He had to do this, but he wanted to show him that he cared, that he wasn’t going to sacrifice himself because he was so incredibly tired but because he wanted
Asgard, the city that held nothing for him but ignorance and lies, to prosper.

He didn’t want to be a hero, but a savior.

So he continued: „…Odinson.“

Out of the corners of his eyes he took notice of his brother‘s eyes widening, silently mouthing the small word that held such an important meaning.
Hopefully he would be able to figure out that this didn’t mean that Loki accepted Odin as a father- that he never will, Odin‘s actions had never been somewhat lovingly,
caring or anything else than distant and cruel. But what he did accept was Thor as a brother, despite never having acknowledged that fact more than with a simple
„Brother“ now and then.

Another look filled with pain and regret was followed with the next sentence, each word chosen wisely and meant by full heart: „The rightful king of Jotunheim,
god of mischief.“

With a small, almost unnoticeable flick of the hand he conjured a nearby tiny dagger, barely visible underneath his darkgreen fighting gear made of fine, asgardian
leather. His nails, dirt itching from underneath them and the black nail polish smudged and scraped off by now, dug into the firm material of its handle, and he took another deep breath, avoiding the shocked look from his brother.

„-do hereby pledge to you“, he hesitated, then carried on, firmer than before: „My undying fidelity.“

The only thing he heard now was his (most likely blue) blood rushing in his ears. His eyes were fixed onto the ground, for he was suddenly incapable of looking Thanos
into the eyes and lying. God of Lies, huh? He hesitantly bowed down, his knees close to giving in and yet he managed to stand without letting his exhaustion show.

His heart pounded so hard he actually thought it might jump out of his chest any moment, a steady reminder that he was still alive. He could still let the dagger
vanish into thin air, pretend that it never existed, join Thanos‘ Crew, willingly this time.
Betray his country, the only people he considered as family, let his brother be killed in a most brutal way. He could still live.

And that’s when he realized. No. He could, in fact, not live. It was Thor, after all. The guilt would destroy him.
One of them had to die. Thanos didn’t like even numbers, he would never let two siblings live. It was him or his brother.
And he knew exactly who the world, hell, the universe needed right now out of the two of them. It sure wasn’t the bad guy, the villain, him.

Now or never.

Loki tightened his grip on the blade before striking out with it. The tip of it almost met the purple flesh of the titan in front of him, then, all of a sudden, his attack
came to a halt. The familiar, light blue shine of the space stone fell onto his face, causing him to squint at Thanos, who was inspecting him with disappointment.
He pulled, he pushed, he tried to regain control of his arm but it didn’t work, the former tesseract forced his hand to stay where it was, mere inches away from the chin
of his biggest nightmare and closed around one of his beloved asgardian daggers.

„Undying?“, the Mad Titan sneered, raising a hand of his own and grabbing Loki‘s, making him drop the weapon and shrink back the slightest.
„You should choose your words more carefully.“

Despite knowing what would happen from the moment he saw Thanos beating the Hulk as if it were nothing, he couldn’t help but feel… afraid? No, not exactly the word he would use.
Death had never been anything really frightening for him, since he was going to die someday anyway. He was rather relieved, to be honest, but also a bit sad.
Not scared, not angry, just sad. He had finally found a reason to stay, after all this time, but as it seemed the universe didn’t grant him a real, happy life.
Thanos rough hand now closed around his neck and lifted the young god from the ground. At first it was bearable, but after a few seconds he began to squeeze harder
and Loki felt his eyes begin to water, his throat behin to tighten.

No. No, he didn’t want to die like this. This hurt. A lot. Much more than when his body crashed into the hard ground after days of falling down the Bifrost, much more than when the Darkelf‘s spear pierced through his stomach. This burnt, as if acid was being poured down his throat, as if a wreath of thorns was being wrapped around his neck, merciless and tight, thorns cutting through his veins and wire pressing against his raw skin.

His body wasn’t his anymore and betrayed his mind, his feet started kicking out and his hands pulling on Thanos‘, practically begging him to stop.

He heard screams from afar, was it Thor? He didn’t know, he wasn’t able to see, his vision was becoming blurry, his eyes burning with tears that were threatening to spill.
The prince opened his month, choking on his words for a while. He basically felt Thanos grinning devilishly in victory and mockery.

„You… will never… be a god.“

He barely recognized his own hoarse and raspy voice, which went under in a loud, deafening crack.
It took him seconds to notice what that sound was and what it meant, and by the bare thought he felt the urge to throw up.

He was dead.

His limbs dropped, no longer obeying his mental instructions, and he faintly felt his body being aggresivly thrown to the ground. His ears were ringing, everything was
dark but so bright at the same time. He noticed Thanos murmur something unrecognizable, and then felt heavy steps causing the floor to vibrate.

And then- out of nowhere, a hand, gripping around his chest, pulling him into his direction, forcing his heavy eyelids to fall open once more.
He heard a sound, distant, unfamiliar, and then someone close to him mumbled: „Oh, no you don’t.“

Then his eyes fell close and the last thought he was able to think was: Please let him live.

2024, Peter‘s Apartment

If you wanted to describe Peter Parker’s life with one word, here it is: lonely.

Weeks ago, that was different, in fact, way different. His identity revealed to everyone left him with only three to four people to really trust, the rest of the world
was either trying to kill him or become his best friend forever, with bracelets, diaries and shit. Back then he had thought that nothing could be worse than that,
but he was wrong. So wrong on so many levels.

He’d rather have dozens of reporters annoying the shit out of him than spend one more day sitting on an uncomfortable mattress from eBay,
overwriting the same letters over and over again with a pen so cheap he had to rewrite every second word.
He’d rather have helicopters flying around his apartment in circles day and night than visit the coffee shop around the corner at least twice a week only to longingly
stare at his ex girlfriend, who literally forgot his existence, his coffee getting colder and colder every second, almost as cold as his blood when Ned had sat down next to him without exchanging a single word with him.
He’d rather write down thousands of reasons why he’d rather do anything than this than do this.

Because his lonely wasn’t not being invited to that one big party, it wasn’t having your friend not come to school for a day, it wasn’t sitting alone in the back of the
cafeteria, silently shoving one spoonful of unidentifiable food (if you can even call it that) into your mouth.

He’d been through that too, but this was different.

It was waiting for someone to wake you up to get ready for school, just to realize that that’s your job now.
It was making your own breakfast, and accidentally filling two bowls of cereal before you remember that the person you wanted to eat with is six feet under
in a graveyard two blocks away.
It was going through your phone contacts, your fingers hovering over the numbers of people you were unlikely to ever meet again.
It was playing the hero that everyone knew, but no one really knew.

It was his life right now.

Every morning, noon, evening, night. 24/7 trying to find the courage to barge inside that coffeeshop, walk up to the breathtaking Barista and tell her everything, from her
ridiculously beatiful scetches to where she had gotten that gorgeous necklace from. To dare to pull the guy in the chair in front of her over and make him remember how
he was not some, but his guy in not some, but the chair. To finally visit the graveyard, wait for the waiter with the funny looking hair cut and soft face to come along and
include him in his life again.

All he had now was a stupid mattress from eBay that squieked with every movement, mold crumpling from the corners of the too white room and a pair of glasses
that was able to murder half of this city with the word. That’s it. The only thing that awaited him every morning was empty hallways, an unpacked cardboard box thrown into
the corner, a door that didn’t even have an appropriate lock, a window that was no more use than a hole in the wall. Awful coffee from a cheap coffee machine,
pizza deliveries whose boxes end up being piled up on the other side of the room, his spidersuits, one smelling worse than the other, a rent bill that was overpayed as fuck.

What a life.

While other people his age were still whining about their braces and begging for a new phone, going out for their first date and getting their drivers license, shopping in the
city with their friends and made their dreams come true, he was stuck in a reality where not even one person knew who he was.
He might have the title ‚honorary avenger‘, but he didn’t really feel like a hero.

He might be surviving, but he was most certainly not living.

AC/DC‘s T.N.T echoed through the nearly empty room. The neighbors didn’t complain anyway, because they didn’t exist, except you count rats as neighbors.
Who would voluntarily live in such a crappy apartment anyway?

Peter was lying on the dusty floor, eyes closed, hands behind his head, quietly mumbling the lyrics under his breath despite not knowing them to one hundred percent.
Mr Stark used to listen to AC/DC. He sent him a playlist with their best hits once, and Peter was extremely thankful for still having it installed on his phone, even
after Strange‘s spell. Of course, a dead person can’t forget you, dumbass, he thought.

Nevertheless he listened to this playlist at least once a day, either while swinging through the city life of New York or dancing through his room at three am.
At first it had been to much to listen to the songs, he used to almost tear up every time he only heard as much as the beginning of Back in Black.
But now he basically inhaled their music, as if he needed every single lyric engraved in his head, every Melodie caught in his thoughts for the whole day.

He took a long, suffering breath and turned around with a sigh, stopping the music in the middle of the refrain. He had to get off his ass.

Sliding his phone into his jeans pocket he jumped up. Then he pulled on a jacket over his baggy shirt to not freeze to death in the early spring temperatures and stumbled
to the hallway, reaching for his keychain and pocketing it as well.

He yanked open the door that almost fell out of it‘s lock and was already halfway out the door, his hand already gripping the note in his jacket tightely, before he stopped in his tracks.

Spidey-sense, or, Peter-tingle, as May would’ve said.

Something was wrong…

He slowly reached out for his wrists, assuring himself that his self designed web shooters were there and not abandoned in the flat he had just left.
Then he looked around, inspecting the moldy staircase for the possible threat.

It turned out to be a grey haired man, standing at the bottom of the stairwell, locking eyes with him.

Uhm. What? How was this guy a threat? If anything, he looked like a friendly grandpa that waters your flowers, or a polite neighbor that lets you pet his cat.
And not… a danger for him. Was his spidey-sense broken? Was that even possible?

He hesitantly let go of the door handle and faintly noticed it squeaking painfully and sharply before shutting again. „…can I help you?“

The stranger smiled at him and slowly, his eyes not leaving his for a second, began climbing the stairs up to him. And then he spoke, kind voice and all, but the words
he said made a shiver run down his spine. „Peter Parker.“

„How do you know that?“, the teenager demanded, his friendly voice immediately changing to a confused and snarky tone. What the fuck.
The man only smiled sadly before continuing stepping closer, now having almost reached the top, his floor. „You’re so much like him.“

„Like who? And what is going- how did you-„ Peter‘s voice trailed off and he backed off a bit, his eyes narrowed and pale knuckles softly rattling at the door knob.

The guy‘s eyes widened in sympathy and he stopped in his tracks, raising his hands surrenderingly. „Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.“

„Oh yeah?“, Parker snapped. Oh, the Deja vu. „Y‘know what the last person who said that did? He revealed my identity to the whole fucking world, why should I
believe a single word coming from your mouth?“

„I know you’ve been through much and you’re confused-„

Confused was underreacting at this point, more like baffled. How did he know what he’d been through, how did he even know his name, how did he get in here, what-

„Peter. You’re hyperventilating.“

„Thanks a lot“, the official Spider-Man gasped and clutched the stair railing, his nails digging into the wood that felt like cushion to his super strength.

Not now. Not in front of him.

His gasps drowned every halfway sensible thought that crossed his mind at that moment, causing him to blackout completely.
This happened more often than he liked it. When it all became too overwhelming, mostly triggered by the tiniest of things.

Existential crisis? Yeah, tell him about it. Panic attacks? Been there, done that. Breathing exercieses? The most useless bullshit he’d ever heard of.
Maybe it was because of the inhuman blood running through his vains, but it just didn’t help him. Why should he start counting seconds while shaking uncontrollably from head to toe?

A steady, firm grip on his shoulder. Another carefully pulling his hand away from the banister, which now had splitters in it. Huh. He didn’t even notice.
„Breathe in and out.“
Ugh. Breathing exercise.

He roughly, but not too roughly, shoved the elderly man away from him and stumbled back, his feet touching the door behind him. No way to run.

Then suddenly- a loud „ZAP!“

Only as soon as he was lying on the ground he realized what had happened. Paralyzed. For real?!

The man sighed apologetically. „I hate my job.“

And then the eyes of the young hero fluttered shut. Shit.

???, TVA

„Is this thing broken?“, Clint groaned loudly. The adult had somehow ended up sitting in his seat with his dark brown boots in the air and his now quite red head sliding from the chair even more with every second. Nat next to him scowled. „Oh, sit like a normal person.“

„Okay, mom.“
Her eyes narrowed in played annoyance, although the words stang slightly. Hawkeye must have noticed it, because he sat up properly and shot over an apologetic glance. „Sorry Red, that was stupid.“
„Don’t worry bout it“, she muttered, a small, sad smile tugging onto her lips, then she turned to the others. „But that was a good question, actually.“

She pointedly looked at the screen that had remained black since the last scene had ended.

Tony, who was already standing at the device, shook his head. „Dunno, maybe this TVA isn’t as technically advanced as we thought.“
He then smugly added: „I’m pretty sure this wouldn’t have happened in my tower.“
A chorus of groans greeted his comment, and he threw up his hands. „What? I’m speaking the truth.“

Bruce, who had remained thoughtful since the last clip, silently pinched the brook of his nose in desperation.
Thor meanwhile suddenly jumped up, turning around, his eyes searching for something. „Didn’t the man say we could ask him if we had any questions?“
„Yeah, but how?“, Steve implied and Thor shrugged. „Maybe he has cameras or something?“

Steve acknowledged his assumption and hesitantly asked into the silence: „Uhm, are you still there, agent…?“

„Mobius“, Rhodey said, his hands on his hips as he looked around as well. „His name was Mobius M. Mobius.“
The colonel turned to Tony, an amused expression on his face. „Hey, d‘you think his second name is Mobius, too?“
„That’s exactly what I thought!“

The captain sighed loudly, now looking almost as tired as Banner. „Agent Mobius. Hello?“
Silence.

„Great job, Capsicle. Really, you’re killing it.“
Steve glared at Stark who winked at him mischievously, the blond then simply gave up and marched back to his seat, arms crossed.

„Should I try to summon a storm into here?“
Bruce’s head shot up. „How exactly would that help us, Thor?“
„I don’t know, it’s worth a try-„

All of a sudden, another rectangular portal opened in front of the heroes. None of them were startled or scared at this point, the most of them just looked up and waited.
Soon enough Mobius stepped out, straightening his suit and letting his gaze wander through the avengers, making sure that everyone was still there and fine.
„Alright, I’ve got some news.“

„Are we free to go?“

„…no, but-„

„Damnit.“

The agent exhaled sharply, and the others silenced, letting him talk.

„We’ve decided to bring a few guests in here. Don’t worry, I’ve already talked them through.“

The others looked at each other in surprise. Who could it be? Not many of them were left, anyway.

Bruce was the first to ask. „And? Who is it?“
While locking eyes with Thor he added: „Perhaps Valkyrie?“

„Or Danvers?“, Tony interjected, his brows raised. „Cool, we get an upgrade.“

„Maybe the rabbit!“

„He’s still not a rabbit, he’s a raccoon.“

„…huh?“

Mobius seemed confused at first. Why were they naming people they barely had anything to do with? Then he remembered; they had just been through the blip, and
even though he had already revealed that there was a way to get them back, they probably weren’t all too optimistic.

„Uh… no, actually.“ After hesitating shortly he said: „The TVA has the ability to not only travel through different universes and places, but also through, y‘know, time.“

This caused the room to go very quiet, everyone staring at him with widened eyes.

„You mean… you can bring back people from the past?“, Thor exclaimed, a shimmer of hope in his bright eyes.
„Or future? Wait-„ Rhodey interrupted himself, once again understanding everything quicker than the others.
Not everyone needed several PhDs and a really high IQ degree to be able to read the room as well as he can.

The others gasped as they realized what he had meant. „You’ll bring them back?“, Steve whispered, jaw dropped.
Mobius gave them a curt nod.

„Hell yeah!“

„That’s amazing.“

„Oh my god.“

„But!“, Mobius interrupted them and raised a finger to get their attention again: „They’re not from the same time. They didn’t just come back, and things have… changed in your team. People joined the avengers, but some people also… left.“

„Left? We fought again?“

The agent shook his head softly at Steve’s comment, and they all silenced.

„Oh. You mean… that left“, Thor weakly muttered, and glanced at the others in worry. Would he be able to take another loss? Probably not. But maybe he’d be able to prevent their deaths from happening. Maybe this time. His death wouldn’t be ideal, as well. Who would take care of the citizens of Asgard? Despite already having someone in mind for taking his place, he remained sceptical.

Bruce sucked in air as well, eying their team. He didn’t wish death on anyone… at least not anymore, he bitterly thought, remembering his attempt.
He couldn’t imagine a future without all of the original avengers, which had, despite their fights and such, soon become something like the loving family he’d never had.
He couldn’t help but wonder, who it would be.

Tony, who usually cracked jokes like breathing air, turned suspiciously silent. His thoughts trailed back to his vision, the one Wanda had given him years ago.
All of the avengers, sprawled on the ground, their skin pale and cold, their eyes opened but not looking. Dead. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of some of them meeting that exact fate. He didn’t even want to know who would die.

Rhodes meanwhile was looking at Tony. His friend had already jumped into dangerous situations numerous of times, he wouldn’t be all too surprised if someday, it wouldn’t all work out perfectly. He was terrified of the possibility of losing his bestest friend, but couldn’t help but consider it. He gulped nervously, trying to blend out the pictures
that were appearing in his head.

Steve inhaled sharply. Was he the one, who’s time had come after all these decades, or did one of the others meet the cruel fate they were all dreading?
A big part of him was incredibly tired, of course, but the bare thought of his death scared the shit out of him. And the thought of the death of one of the others scared him even more. He hoped that they’d be able to change the future, as Mobius had once mentioned, so that maybe this time they’d all come out alive.

Natasha closed her eyes, her heart skipping a beat at Thor‘s words. This team was more important to her than she let it show, and she felt sick at imagining some of them dying. None of them would deserve that. Not even her, despite all the crimes she had committed. The bare thought of several of them dying made her want to scream.
And even though it made her feel a bit guilty she desperately hoped that it wouldn‘t be Clint’s life that would end.

Little did she know that Clint was thinking exact the same thing, about his favorite assassin of course. He didn’t plan on visiting any funerals, he didn’t even plan on taking attendance at another fight, anyway, but he apparently didn’t get what he wanted. But also the imagination of his family finally coming back and him not being there to see them pained him. If he would at least get the opportunity to hold them one more time…

„Anyway“, Mobius interrupted their train of thoughts and clapped. „I’m gonna bring them here, they’re gonna explain from when they are and stuff. Uh, once again, they’ve changed. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. But please, for goodness sake, don’t try to kill eachother.“
At that he glanced at Clint who’s eyes narrowed. His heart dropped as he realized who might be standing in this room in a few seconds. „Oh, hell no.“

The agent quickly looked somewhere else, simply continuing: „And they might tell you some things from the future, so… yeah. I better go get them.“

He raised his hand, then stepped through the portal one more time.

Everyone inspected it warily, waiting impatiently for the people to step out. After a few moments passed one foot suddenly entered the room hesitantly, then another, then a whole person was standing in the conference hall.

Most of them remained confused. Who the hell was this kid, and how was he connected to them in any way?

But Tony immediately scrambled to his feet, shooting forward as fast as possible and pulling the boy into an embrace. „Oh my god.“
The other winced slightly as the man rushed forward, but then quickly wrapped his arms around him as well, his breath hitching as he realized who it was.
„Mr Stark“, he stuttered, his voice cracking.

He pulled back, looking at his idol with reddened eyes. Under tears he laughed. „I’m taller than you now.“

„Shut the fuck up, kiddo“, Stark gasped, tears of his own streaming over his face as he hugged him again, his shoulders shaking almost as hard as Peter‘s frame.

The others looked taken aback, still unaware of his importance.
„Wait a second“, Steve murmured, the truth dawning on him. He recognized that voice! „It’s the spider kid“, he splurted, eying the boy in shock. „I threw a truck on a kid?!“
Nat laughed at his whisper-scream and craned her neck as two new people walked through the portal, or, tried to.

„Let me go first, man!“

„Fuck off, it’s my damn turn.“

„Oh, in your dreams- hey!“

Steve’s shocked expression turned even more shocked as Samuel Wilson elegantly slid through the portal, smirking at James Buchanan Barnes who grudgingly stepped in after him. „That’s for the water bottle.“ „I didn’t even fucking say anything-„

Bucky‘s voice trailed off when he noticed the others, and the comfortable smile slid off immediatly. Sam followed his gaze, his own jaw going slack as he noticed their
(former) mutual friend, who slowly approached them.

Steve pulled both of them into an embrace before they were able to say anything. They blinked, still in shock, before returning the gesture, patting him onto the back comforting. „Hey, Punk“, Bucky said softly, and the blond looked at both of him, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes. „You good?“, Sam carefully asked, the worry for his friend in his voice clear as glass. Mobius has told them that these people were from 2018, after the snap, but it was still weird, seeing their now gone best friend in front of the two of them in younger again.

Steve didn’t answer, his gaze still shifting between the two of them before he asked: „Did you get a haircut?“

Bucky laughed, throwing his head back. „Yeah. You like it?“

The blond nodded, then added quietly: „It reminds me of before, y‘know?“ The former Winter soldier nodded knowingly, having thought the same thing after seeing his face for the first time in the mirror after the haircut.

Natasha considered joining the conversation, also being good friends with the now older visitors, when the next person entered the room behind them, slowly stepping around the three.

Clint tensed and immediately got to his feet, while Nat stood up as well.

It was Wanda Maximoff.

The woman silently approached them, head bowed down, then, all of a sudden, pulled them both into an embrace.
Nat stiffened, then slowly put an arm around the young adult. Clint wasn’t so hesitant, and pulled her closer to the two of them. „Oh, Wanda.“
The witch sniffed, then buried her face into their shoulders even more.

„I missed you so much.“

They bristled at that, exchanging a look. Were they the ones who…?

The archer exhaled quietly, then carefully went through her hair, tears prickling in his eyes. Wanda had always been somewhat like a daughter for him, and especially now he needed someone like that in his life. Natasha meanwhile gently stroked her back, understanding the weight of life at such a young age.
The witch let herself sink into the embrace. Her new found family didn’t need words, they simply understood, and that was everything she longed for at the moment.

The portal shut with a swift whoosh, and everyone’s head shot up to identify the last person. Many gasps echoed through the room, and some of the heroes quickly stepped away from the young god who was still standing there, unsure of where to go. „Uh… surprise?“

Clint glared at him and strengthened his grip on the other two women who eyed Loki curiously. Tony moved in front of Peter, one hand still on his shoulder.
Steve, Sam and Bucky turned to the man, staring. Bruce blinked, seeming the most unaffected of his presence. Of course he had been wary of him at first, but he soon
learned how to cope with the young god, who was in many ways quite similar to him.

And Thor.

Thor immediately crossed the room and only stopped in front of him, breathing in shakingly. His brother gasped, then gulped slowly, waiting for a reaction.
The god of thunder then suddenly shoved him, so that the black haired almost tripped over his feet and was barely able to catch himself. Loki looked up in surprise.

„That’s for dying“, Thor rasped, then grabbed him by the shoulder- and pulled him into a hug.

Loki surprisingly immediately melted into the touch, clinging onto him as if his life were dependent on it. Silent tears ran over his cheeks.

After a few seconds they pulled back, and everyone looked around to see who was new.

„So… it’s been a while.“
„I’m just gonna ignore the fact that Reindeer games is in here.“
„Man, can’t believe you’re back!“

Some quick conversations took place, then, suddenly, the screen lit up. Everyone turned around, and the room fell into a hushed silence.

„We should sit down“, Tony told the others, who obeyed him. After a few moments everyone was seated again, some of them changed their places as a way to
welcome the new guests.

„Well then…“

And shortly after that sentence coming from Banner, a new scene started playing.

Chapter Text

(The scene opened with three men entering a room behind each other. It is Helmut Zemo, James „Bucky“ Barnes and Samuel Wilson.)

Sam sharply inhaled and locked eyes with Bucky, who gulped nervously. Why this one?

„Uhm?“ Tony looked murderous when he recognized the antihero on screen and turned to the other two. „What the hell are you doing with him?“

„We had a deal. Believe me, I didn’t like it, okay?“, Bucky said and went through his hair to still his slightly shaking hands.
„Yeah, I wasn’t a fan of your plan, which was ‚Let‘s break a criminal who destroyed the avengers with one clip out of jail‘ either, Buck“, Sam deadpanned, more out of attempt to lighten the mood than out of genuine anger, and the super soldier grimaced, remembering Sam’s (justified) reaction to Zemo.

Tony and Steve sighed at the comment, avoiding eachothers eyes. Both of them had done many questionable things in that year, especially in that fight.
They both knew the unspoken truth; if they hadn’t fought so much and so brutally, the avengers might’ve been more prepared for Thanos‘ attack.

Bucky groaned. „I told you I’m sorry! Look, we needed him, right?“ Sam rolled his eyes and begrudgingly said: „Maybe“, but the smile tugging on his lips gave him away.

Steve shot a nervous glance to the two of them, especially Bucky. Him and Zemo? Maybe not the best idea…

(The camera zoomed to fingers with a silver ring drumming on a couch, and a female voice spoke up.)

Selby: You should know, Baron, people don’t just (scoffs) come into my bar and make demands.

Zemo: (sitting down) Not a demand. An offer.

„Who is she?“, Clint asked, cocking his head. She looked like a buisness woman, but what was the buisness?

„Her name is Selby“, Sam revealed when Bucky remained silent, „She owned a nightclub. Oh, and she was a criminal leader.“

„Oh.“

„Yeah, we were in Madripoor. That was a few days ago“, Bucky now interjected, his eyes stayed glued on the ground as if the clip was playing there.

Nat raised an eyebrow at that. „I think I already know how that ended for her“, she quipped, having noticed the past tense in Sam’s sentence.

Selby: A lot has changed since you’ve been here last. Anyway, I thought you were rotting away in a German prison.

„Yeah, me too“, Tony grumbled, still eying the man warily. He didn’t trust him.

Selby: (raising an eyebrow) How did you escape?

Zemo: People like us always find a way, don’t we? I’m sure you’ve already figured out why we‘re here.

„Wow, she sure gave you guys some credit“, Thor commented, having listened to their explanation from before.
Bucky laughed bitterly. „Well, we had to stay undercover, so, I’ll give him that.“

Selby: (pointing at Sam, slowly turning to him) You’re taller than I’ve heard, Smiling Tiger.

„Smiling what now?“, Nat asked amused, her lips twitching.

„I know, dumb name. But the dude kinda looked like me!“

Steve eyes the Sam on screen, then grinned. „Explains the funny suit.“

„Hey! I’ve worn worse“, he said defensively and crossed his arms.

„You mean your falcon suit?“ „Hey! It’s a cool suit.“ „Yeah, sure.“

Sam turned to Steve, unimpressed. „Who of us is the one who’s signature look is literally the American flag?“

„…point taken.“

Peter glanced at Sam in confusion before his eyes lit up in understanding. He must be out of the past as well. In Peters time, Sam had already officially been announced as Captain America, and gave the Falcon suit to Joaqin Torres, a young, passionate man. He smiled for himself. How the time flies.

(Sam nodded. Selby then waved at him with a wink, which he just ignored, a slightly annoyed expression on his face.)

A few chuckles were heard, although also a few disgusted looks were shot at Selby. Sam’s awkwardness amused them, but the woman herself was sort of weird…

„Not your type, huh?“, Wanda teased. It was a weirdly relieving feeling to sit in this room, among so many people she didn’t have any contact with anymore.
It made her a bit sad, mourning those that weren’t here at the moment, but she was also happy to see so many familiar people at one time.

„Uh… no“, Sam laughed breathlessly, ducking his head to hide his blush. „Not really.“

Rhodes raised an eyebrow and nudged him, a sly grin on his face. The two of them had known each other before they were a part of the avengers, the Air Force
had connected them years ago. But after a certain project went wrong they went separate ways, unknowing that they would meet again someday under other, yet not all too different circumstances. In the time the two of them got to know each other better and developed a quite good friendship.
So Rhodey was one of the only ones who knew that Selby was, indeed, not Sam’s type.

Selby: (smirking) What’s the offer?

Zemo: (unbothered) Tell us what you know about the super soldier serum.

„So that’s what all this is about“, Bruce muttered in realization. He had made some personal experience with that serum, himself- well, he’d tried to.

Steve inhaled slowly and leaned back a bit. „It’s always that dang serum.“

Sam and Bucky only nodded darkly, both of them being tired of the whole serum-situation.

(He stood up and walked up to Bucky, who remained silent, standing up straight and with an expressionless face.)

Zemo: And I’ll give you him. (Grabbing his shoulders) Along with the code words to control him, of course.

The atmosphere darkened rather quickly as Zemo slid next to the soldier. They all took notice of how confident the Baron seemed, how powerful, next to James.
Surprisingly, it was Tony who turned to Bucky first, his eyes widened in shock. „Wait- he controlled you?!“

Bucky quickly shook his head. „No, we were just faking it there.“ He tried his best to not look into Stark‘s eyes, which wasn’t an easy thing for him to do.
Tony and him still hadn’t been able to talk it out. He didn’t even want to go to the funeral in guilt, but decided against that in the last minute. He still felt bad for what he- the winter soldier had done to the man, despite knowing that it wasn’t his fault. It made him upset that he wasn’t able to make amends to him while he was still alive.

The genius relaxed at those words and silenced again.
This time, it was Wanda who looked at Barnes in curiosity. „And what about the code words?“

Sam grinned proudly as Bucky said: „They don’t work anymore. The Wakandans helped me get rid of them.“ Everyone heard the relief in his voice, which was clear as glass.

Steve began to smile from one ear to another. „That‘s amazing, Buck!“

The others, who knew the backstory to those words, nodded, some even voiced their congratulations. Bucky turned a deep shade of red and muttered a quiet „Thanks“.
He then turned back to the screen- and felt his heart drop when he saw what would come next. „Fuck.“

(Selby began to smile mischievously as Zemo turned to Bucky, raising a hand to his chin and stroking it.)

Zemo: He‘ll do anything you want.

At those words, the whole room fell silent and almost everyone’s blood ran cold.

Steve’s brows furrowed before his jaw went slack and he turned to Bucky, quietly and hesitantly asking: „Did they…?“
The former Winter Soldier took a deep breath and avoided his best friend‘s eyes, his gaze fixed onto the ground. The blonde’s eyes softened. „Oh, Buck…“

The darkhaired looked as if he was about to throw up and burst into tears at the same time, but he stubbornly kept his head down as everyone turned to him, silent shock written on their faces when they figured out the situation for themselves. Sam next to him scooted a bit closer to him, already knowing the truth about what HYDRA did to the man, and placed a careful hand on the other‘s leg, so that Bucky would be able to push him away if he wanted to. But the soldier didn’t, he even leaned into the touch a bit.

Meanwhile, Natasha winced at Zemo‘s words. She personally has made a lot of similar experiences, in her time in the red room and after as well.
She had been one of the only ones who had known about the other abuse James had went through, and this topic being mentioned made her visually uncomfortable.
Clint next to her glared at the man on screen and put a protective arm around his best friend. Nat had told him about the red room before, and he knew her well enough to recognize her discomfort rather quickly.

Loki‘s breath hitched and his fingers clenched around his seat so hard that his knuckles paled. The way Zemo was talking about Sergeant Barnes reminded him of someone, although it hadn’t been the exact same situation. The two weeks on Sakaar weren’t so splendid like he pretended, he had to do particular things so that he was and remained the favorite of the Grandmaster. Things that he regretted and would rather keep to himself.

The rest of the room stayed quiet, only shooting apologetic and pitiful glances at Bucky, who still avoided eye contact with everyone. The things that were implied in this
scene were very private, and they all respected his boundaries.

(Bucky didn’t move an inch and kept his eyes on the ground, a sign that he wasn‘t unfamiliar with this situation.)

„Those fucking bastards“, Nat murmured, her voice trembling with anger and recognition. She then turned to Bucky and whispered, so that almost no one was able to hear it:
„Don’t ever think it’s your fault. It’s not. Okay?“

He nodded faintly, looking at her thankfully. „Yeah.“

(Sam meanwhile looked at his friend in worry, his eyes filling with understanding and guilt.)

„Man, one more word out of his mouth and I would’ve shot him right there, I swear to god“, Sam grunted, still glaring at the man on screen, his hand slowly curling around
Bucky’s in comfort. The sergeant laughed quietly, carefully leaning into the touch. „I’m sure.“

Steve raised an eyebrow, but remained silent. The Sam and Bucky he knew were still bitching around because of a steering wheel. Apparently, they got closer to each other,
he realized in awe, and smiled to himself.

Selby: (still grinning) That’s the Zemo I remember. I’m glad I decided not to kill you immediatly. Yeah, you were right to come to me.

Selby: Arrogant, but right. (Zemo sat down again) The super soldier serum is here in Madripoor. Dr Wilfred Nagel is the man you wanna thank or… condemn, depending on what side of this you’re on. The power broker had him working on the serum, but… things didn’t go as planned.

Sam and Bucky shared a glance, while the others looked confused. „What’s he talking about?“, Loki spoke up, keeping his voice down a bit but not too shy to show his interest.

„There were… people we had to fight against. They called themselves the Flagsmashers. They were super soldiers as well.“

Everyone breathed in. „Oh.“ „Shit…“

„Yeah. Well, we managed it at the end, but not perfectly“, Bucky hesitantly said and cleared his throat. „They were sort of upset- for a good reason- because of the blip and how the government handled it.“

Those who came from the year 2018 stiffened at the mention of the snap, and first now thought about its consequences, not just for the people who were blipped, but also for the people who came back after it, and how everything affected them afterwards.

Zemo: Is Nagel still in Madripoor?

Selby: Oh, the breadcrumbs you can have for free, but the bakery is gonna cost you, Baron. (Smirking in Bucky’s direction)

„Fuck you“, Steve said, surprising everyone. He then turned to Tony, who was already opening his mouth. „Don’t say it-„ „Language.“
The blond sighed in defeat. „Why?“

„Because a few years ago you decided to be a smartass.“

The blond raised his eyebrows. „Did you, Genius, Billionaire and… something just say that to me?“

Tony only smirked. „Oh yes I did. And it’s genius, playboy, billionaire and philanthropist, by the way.“

Selby: And before you get all cute, don’t think you can find Nagel without me. (Stepping closer to Zemo and Bucky, an evil smile on her face)

The room fell silent once more, everyone a bit scared of what will come next.

„Don’t worry guys, we were able to“, Bucky glanced at Sam, „…handle it.“ The other man huffed. „Shut up.“

(In that moment a cell phone vibrated, and Selby span around to see Sam pull out his mobile out of his pocket.)

Clint turned to Sam incredously. „Did you seriously leave your phone on during a mission?!“

„Well…yeah…“, he replied hesitantly and awkwardly scratched his back, eyes closed in regret.

„For fucks sake, Wilson, you sure are a stupid son of a bitch“, Natasha commented with a snicker.

„Hey!“

(Bucky stared at him, halfway confusion, halfway thankful. Zemo meanwhile closed his eyes in despair.)

„Zemo is so fucking done with y’all“, Peter laughed.

„Yeah, well, imagine how done I was when he started lecturing me on afro American culture“, Sam muttered. Rhodes next to him coughed loudly to hide his laughter and failed miserably. „What the hell?“

„The worst part is that everything he said was correct.“

(Sam checked the phone. It was his sister, Sarah. He turned back to Selby.)

„Who‘s Sarah?“, Thor commented and turned to Sam, an eyebrow raised.

„My sister.“

„Oh. Okay.“

„You have a sister?“, Steve asked in astonishment, and Sam nodded.

„Yeah, he does“, Bucky smoothly added and winked at the other man, who rolled his eyes. „Flirt with my sister again and I’ll hurl that shield at you so hard you’ll
look like a donut.“ „Sure.“

Selby: Answer it. On speaker!

„Oh, that‘s bad.“

(A security man from behind closed in, and Sam looked at him unsurely before answering the phone.)

Sam Wilson: Hello?

Sarah Wilson: Hey, uhm… we need to talk about this situation, it’s been driving me nuts.

Sam Wilson: (warily) What situation exactly are you talking about?

Sarah Wilson: (hesitating) Are you high?

The room erupted into giggles and the falcon rolled his eyes.

„Why’d she immediatly think that?“, Clint wanted to know. „Not so important, now shut up!“

Sarah Wilson: You know what situation, it’s the only situation we have!

Sam Wilson: (a bit aggressively) What situation, Sarah, say it!

„Rude.“

„We would’ve been killed otherwise!“

„Still, respect your elders.“

Bruce turned to Thor and muttered, with a monotone voice: „You’d know all about elders, huh?“

„Excuse me?!“

Sarah Wilson: The damn boat, and watch your tone, okay?

„Yeah, watch your tone, Samuel.“

„Leave me alone, guys!“

Sarah Wilson: I let you slide at the bank.

Sam Wilson: The bank, yeah. Laundered so much money (laughs), they’ll come around.

„Now you’re scaring me, Sam.“

„Guys!“

Bucky only grinned. Sam’s attempt to act tough wasn’t really successful. Rather cute, he thought.

Wanda’s head snapped to the soldier and she eyed him suspiciously. Did she just hear that right?

„…what?“, James awkwardly asked when he noticed the look on her face. „Nevermind.“

Sarah Wilson: If that was the case, then why’d they dog you out, big time?

(Selby looked at him warily, unsure of whether he was who he pretended to be or if he was bluffing.)

Sam Wilson: Yeah, you’re damn right I’m big time. You’ll see that when I have that banker killed.

Tony grinned widely. „Big time? Great, I’ll add that to my nickname list.“

„Do you really have a list for that, Mr Stark?“

„Of fucking course, Underoos.“

Rhodey snorted amused. „Yeah sure, I’d like to see you kill that Banker.“

„Just you wait!“

Sarah Wilson: (talking to her son in the background) Cass! What’d I tell you about the Cheerios? I don’t have time for this- Sam, I’m sorry, lemme call you back…

„And you blew it“, Clint announced, throwing his hands in the air.

Selby: (shocked) Sam? Who’s Sam? Kill them-

(Suddenly, a shot rang out and pierced through Selby, killing her instantly. She fell to the ground with a thump.)

„Woah!“

„What the hell!“

„Damn.“

Almost everyone jumped at the sudden action and sighed in relief when they realized that it only hit the creepy woman. „That was close.“

(The man from behind Sam jumped forward, but he was able to take him out as Bucky knocked another one out.)

„Look at you, being able to work together and all“, Steve teased his friends, who started spluttering.

„Well, that doesn’t mean I don’t still hate him!“

„Good to see we‘re on the same page and everything, James.“

(The scene ended with the three of them running to the exit, panting heavily.)

„Okay, but I still have a question“, Bruce announced and turned to Tony, clearly confused. „What happened while we were gone?“
He guestered between Thor and himself, who nodded, and continued: „I mean, the tension between you and Steve is so thick you could cut it with a knife.“

The two shared a look, then sighed. „Uhm, it’s complicated“, Steve began, as suddenly, the screen lit up again.

A few big, white words on the black background stood on the screen. We can show you what happened, Doctor Banner and King Thor.

„Thanks… I guess?“, Thor said hesitantly, brows knitted together in even more confusion than before. „I mean, you are fine with it, ay?“

„Yeah, go for it“, Tony replied with a sigh. He too regretted things that happened during that fight, but knew that it was only fair that his team members knew what had happened.

Steve nodded curtly. „Why not.“ He seemed nervous as well, and regretful. They’ve both crossed the line back then, but if the lesson of all this was to learn out of their mistakes then so be it.

Alright.

The screen lit up once more and suddenly shook when two figures, who were identified as Tony Stark and James „Rhodey“ Rhodes, landed in front of the screen, which now panned to Steve Rogers. All of them were in their suits and seemed prepared for a fight.

The room stilled in tension, especially the avengers who were present in that year became suspiciously silent. Bruce, Thor and even Loki couldn’t help but wonder what could have possibly happened so that the team they were in was now so spilt, so distant. Like they were strangers.

Tony Stark: (Sarcastically) Wow, it’s so weird how you run into people at the airport. (To Rhodes) Don’t you think that’s weird?

James Rhodes: Definetly weird.

„Seriously Tony? The avengers are about to fall apart and you crack one of your stupid jokes?“, Bruce said, although there was no true dismay in his voice. He knew it was Stark’s way to cope, and besides, his jokes were most of the time successfull attempts to lighten up the mood.

His best friend only grinned, despite not being all too thrilled by what they would have to watch now. „Yes, actually, Brucie bear.“

Steve Rogers: Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he’s behind all of this.

Bucky and Sam glanced at eachother. „Why does it always have to be Zemo?“, the former falcon whined and Bucky shook his head in exasperation. „This guy is nuts.“

„I’ve got to admit, the man’s got my respect.“

A few confused sounds and death stares were sent Loki‘s way, who immediately continued: „That doesn’t mean I like him! I’m just saying, he was the only one who was able to break apart the worlds mightiest heroes, or whatever you call yourselves. He saw your true strength, which wasn’t the tesseract or anything else, it was your teamwork.“
After locking eyes with both of the „leaders“ of the team, he said: „And he broke you apart. I doubt that Thanos would’ve been able to do all this so quickly if it weren’t for him.“

The avengers gave some thought to it- and surprisingly found themselves for once agreeing with the god‘s sentence. If only they’d been able to see through Zemo‘s plan earlier, maybe then they’d still all be good with eachother, just like before.

Suddenly, the Black Panther, also known as King T‘challa, jumped from behind Steve and landed next to Tony and Rhodey.

T‘challa: Captain.

Steve Rogers: Your Highness.

Bucky sighed loudly. „He was an amazing guy.“

The others nodded, before turning to him confused. „Was?“, Natasha asked, her eyes widening when she realized what he could’ve meant.
The soldier stiffened, then nodded slightly. „He had a heart attack recently.“

Shocked gasps rang through the room and a few „No!“s were muttered. Although none of them had a really close relationship with T‘challa (maybe Bucky or Steve, but not really, either) they all were sad to hear that another team member had passed. The worst part? It was a heart attack. You can’t really prevent that from happening.

After the group had calmed down a bit, Thor tried to lighten the mood a bit by saying: „You never called me your highness, Rogers.“

Steve cringed, and defended himself with: „I’m sorry, it was hard for me to take you seriously when you had Poptart crumbs in your beard.“

„No excuse“, the god huffed, simply ignoring the stifled laughter, „I didn’t stop calling you captain because you tried to choke a robot.“

„Says the one who tried to tame the Hulk with the power of friendship“, Bruce next to him murmured. „Seriously?! It worked!“

„Yeah, for a second, then he went back to almost killing you!“

„I see that as success“, the god of thunder responded, earning himself an annoyed groan from the doctor.

Tony Stark: Anyway, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?

Peter snorted. „Can you help a brother out.“ He turned to Tony, his eyes wrinkling in amusement. „You thought that’ll help?“

„Excuse me?“, the genius scoffed in faked shock, „I’ll let you know that I can be very convincing.“

„Sure.“

„Who convinced you to join my team?“

„That kinda was blackmail…“

„…nevermind-„

Steve Rogers: You‘re after the wrong guy.

Tony Stark: (Pissed off) Your judgement is askew.

„Why didn’t you just talk about it?“

„Oh, shut up, Bruce, not everyone is as smart as you“, Clint teased, even though he silently agreed with the doctor. That would’ve been way more convenient.

Tony Stark: Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday.

Bucky bristled at that and awkwardly scratched his back. „Uhm…“

Tony meanwhile exhaled loudly and turned to him. „Forget I said that, it was stupid. I didn’t understand.“

„No no, it’s fine“, the soldier replied. „I didn’t really understand anything what happened there either“, he then admitted with a nervous laugh. „I mean, suddenly I apparently killed the parents of two avengers-„ He cut himself off, his eyes widening. „Oh god, I’m sorry-„

„Don’t be, you’re right“, Stark only replied. He then gave him a small, genuine smile and turned back to face the screen.

Steve Rogers: (becoming louder) And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can’t let the doctor find him first Tony, I can’t-

Natasha Romanoff: (suddenly) Steve.

„Where the hell did you come from, how do you always do that“, Rhodey muttered. Nat only smirked mysteriously. „It’s a gift.“

(Rogers turned back to face Romanoff with a surprised expression.)

Natasha Romanoff: You know what’s about to happen. Do you really want to punch your way out of this one?

„Lady Romanoff has got a point.“

Natasha eyes Thor amused. „You know you can just call me Nat, right?“

„Nay, this sounds more…“

„Asgardian?“

„Ancient?“

„Weird?“

The blond‘s head perked up and he glared at the others before continuing: „I was going to say fancy, but sure.“

(Steve turned back to Tony, brows knitting together in frustration.)

Tony Stark: Okay, I’ve run out of patience. (Cupping his mouth in his hands) Underoos!

Clint cackled. „I love how Tony‘s just like ‚Nah, fuck this shit.‘“

„That was quite exactly what I was thinking“, the playboy added with a smug expression.

Peter’s face meanwhile lit up as he realized that his entrance would be next and he leaned to the edge of his seat.

(All of a sudden, Spider-Man dropped in the scene, snatching Roger’s shield away with a web, webbing in his hands and landing on the top of a car, slowly looking up.)

Many of them jumped at the sudden entrance. Tony meanwhile proudly patted the back of the youngster, who beamed exitedly. „Look at you, being all badass and shit.“

„Eh, I could’ve stuck the landing a little better-„ „Don’t you dare. „Okay.“

Bruce looked between Tony and Peter a few times before his brows flew up. „That’s you?“, he asked in interest. The youngest team member span around to him, and his smile turned even wider and fonder when he realized who had asked. „Oh. My. God? Doctor Banner, it is an HONOR to meet you- I’ve read all of your papers- huge fan- you’re like, one of the most renowned scientists ever?“

Banner opened and closed his mouth while turning a deep shade of red, then turned to Tony, his mouth twitching. „Can we keep him?“

„Sure.“

„Yay!“ Peter cheered, then turned back to Bruce, calming down a bit. „To answer your question: Yeah, thats me- I’m Spider-Man.“

„Cool“, the scientist said with a smile and Peter nodded quickly before turning back to his mentor, slowly sinking into his seat. „Holy crap…“

(Rogers looked up in confusion as Peter started talking.)

Tony Stark: Nice job, kid.

Peter Parker: Thanks. Well, I could’ve stuck the landing a little better, it’s just the new suit. (Stuttering) It’s nothing, Mr Stark, it’s perfect, thank you.

Sam snorted, recognizing the behavior from their later encounter in the airport. Bucky beside him snickered, too. „He reminds me of young Steve.“

„You mean sick, one-cough-away-from-death Steve?“

„Yeah.“

„Gee, thanks, guys“, Peter and Steve muttered at the same time, blinking and then quickly looking away from each other.

Tony Stark: Yeah, we don’t really need to start a conversation.

Peter Parker: Okay. Captain- (he salutes) Big fan, I’m Spider-Man-

Tony Stark: Yeah, we‘ll talk about it later, just… good job.

Peter Parker: Hey everyone.

Wanda giggled at the salute. „How old are you again?“

„I’m eighteen!“

The room went silent for a few seconds.

„Well, actually, back then I was fifteen, so-„

„Hold up- what?!“

The team erupted into chaos after that confession, and Tony groaned.

„You brought a child to- what is your problem?“

„Are your serious?“

„What the fuck!“

Stark already started defending himself, but Peter was first: „I don’t see why it’s such a big deal. I still decided to show up, so it’s my own decision. Besides, some of you aren’t that much older.“

„And some of us are gods from Norse mythology.“

Peter rolled his eyes before continuing: „Still. Like, for example… I don’t know. Mr Loki?“

The god slowly looked up with a confused and wary expression, carefully saying: „Yes?“
„How old are you?“

„One thousand and fifty-two“, he replied without missing a beat.

The teen though about it for a while, then sighed. „You see? He’s only nineteen right now, he could be my brother!“

Clint choked on his own spit. „You’re nineteen?!“

„And during the battle of New York you were seventeen“, Bruce realized, burying his face in his hands. „What the fuck- Thor.“ He immediatly looked up. „What about you?“

„In midgardian years, I suppose I’d be around… twenty-six? Twenty-eight? Around that corner.“

The room quieted once more before Natasha spoke up: „So the battle of New York was just Loki being a bitchy teenager?

„Beg your pardon?“, the god scoffed, crossing his arms. „I’m just saying!“

„You see? It’s totally fine“, Peter said once more, looking triumphant.

„…I guess…“

„If you say so.“

„Thanks, kid“, Tony muttered with a smile. „No problem, Mr Stark!“

Steve Rogers: (To Tony Stark) You’ve been busy.

Tony Stark: And you’ve been a complete idiot.

„I second that“, Bucky muttered bitterly, remembering how his relation with Steve had altered. Sam only nodded. Steve’s sudden absence had hurt him as well, as well as probably others in this room. The duo glanced over to the blond next to them, who didn’t hear what they’d said and still stared in the screen in concentration.

This Steve would never.

Tony Stark: (angry) Dragging in Clint, rescuing Wanda from a place she doesn’t even want to leave, a safe place.

„About that…“ Wanda raised her eyebrows. „I wasn’t exactly a fan of being locked up in there. Tony sighed loudly, running his hand through his hair.

„I’m sorry. I was just trying to do the best for our team.“

„Me too“, Steve said, ducking his head in shame. „We kinda fucked that up, didn’t we?“

Tony smirked and nodded, before adding: „You kiss your mother with that mouth?“

„Actually, no, because everyone I know is dead, and now shut up.“

„Jesus, okay.“

Tony Stark: I’m trying to keep- (he cut himself off, exhaling loudly) I‘m trying to keep you from tearing the avengers apart.

Steve Rogers: (bitterly) You did that when you signed.

Both men looked away from the screen and avoided eye contact with the others, realizing how wrong both of them were.

Tony Stark: (unbelievably) Alright, we‘re done. You’re gonna turn Barnes over, you’re gonna come with us NOW, because it’s us. We‘re squad-adjacent guys with no compunction about being impolite.

„Who’s talking weird now“, Thor murmured under his breath and Tony rolled his eyes, exasperated.

Tony Stark: Come on.

Sam Wilson: (through coms, suddenly) We found it. The quinjet‘s in hanger five, north runway.

(The screen shows redwing flying to the quinjet.)

„Look who it is“, Sam exclaimed and nudged Bucky, who looked annoyed. „Redwing. Great.“

„Come on, he’s cute.“

„He isn’t“, Natasha and James said at the same time, eying Sam weirdly. „I personally think he’s adorable, Mr Falcon, sir“, Peter shared and grinned at the robot on screen.

„Thank you!“

(Rogers raised his hands and all of a sudden, an arrow shot through the air and freed him out of the webs. Tony Stark turned around, his suit now closing over his face as well. Meanwhile, Scott Lang in the size of an ant was seen on Steve’s shield, which was still in Spider-Man’s hands.)

Clint grinned smugly. „I’m awesome.“

Steve Rogers: Alright, Lang.

(Peter first noticed the hero when it was too late; Antman suddenly grew and kicked him in the face, sending Spider-Man flying back.)

James „Rhodey“ Rhodes: What the hell was that?

A few dry chuckles were heard at the colonel‘s reaction, but then the room turned even more tense than before. Especially Bruce and Thor realized that now, there was no turning back. The avengers were fighting. They really had a civil war.

Bruce inhaled sharply. „So. This is it. The big breakup of the avengers.“

The others nodded awkwardly, most of them looking down or at the ceiling, in fact, everywhere except each other.

„Well then.“ Thor cleared his throat and leaned forward. „Bring it on.“

Chapter Text

(The scene continued, showing Antman who passed the shield to Steve.)

Scott Lang: (smug) Believe this is yours, Captain America.

„Looks like someone has got a fan“, Natasha commented, nudging Steve with a smirk who only rolled his eyes. He then turned to shoot a glance towards Sam. „He turned out to be very helpful, I don’t understand why you don’t like him.“

Rhodey grinned at Sam. „Is it because of that one time where he tried to break in the avengers compound and whooped your ass-„

„Shut up, shut up…“

(Steve took the shield.)

Tony Stark: (scanning the area) Oh, great. Alright, there’s two on the parking deck, one of them‘s Maximoff, I’m gonna grab her.

Wanda‘s brows furrowed, but she remained quiet, looking at the screen in concentration despite the tension building up in her.

(He started flying into their direction and turned to his friend.)

Tony Stark: Rhodey, you wanna take Cap?

James „Rhodey“ Rhodes: (scanning the area as well) Got two in the terminal, Wilson and Barnes.

Rhodes grinned. „You sure were a pain in my ass“, he tried to lighten the mood, and Bucky chuckled.

T’challa: Barnes is mine! (Starts running)

Bucky sighed. „I wish we would’ve gotten along sooner, it’s a shame we started off like… this.“

(Steve hurled his shield at Rhodey, who barely moved.)

Peter Parker: Hey Mr Stark, what should I do?

Tony Stark: (stressed) What we discussed, keep your distance, web them up.

Peter Parker: (already swinging) Okay, copy that.

„Webbing y’all up worked pretty well“, the teenager said, glancing at Wilson and Barnes, who glared at him. „Oh, shut it.“

„Wha- why, I wanna know“, Tony asked, turning to face Peter who had a smug expression. „Oh, it’s nothing.“

(Steve threw his shield at T’challa, who was trying to escape to get Barnes, and hit him in the neck, causing him to fall forward, but he saved himself with a roll. Nevertheless Roger’s ended up strangling the man, but it didn’t take long until the Black Panther freed himself.)

T’challa: Move, Captain. I won’t ask a second time.

„He’s surprisingly polite“, Clint commented, his face turning sour as he remembered how the Black Panther had greeted him. With a dismissive ‚I don’t care‘.

(The captain didn’t move, and so T’challa kicked him three times, but he was able to block his attacks.)

Thor whistled slowly and impressed. “The king’s got moves. Looks like a worthy opponent.”

The others nodded, all clearly astonished by his fighting technique. „Does he have any serum?“, Tony quipped. Bucky seemed to think about it. „Well, something like that.“

(Meanwhile, Antman stepped to the Black Widow.)

Scott Lang: Look, I really don’t wanna hurt you.

Clint snorted. „Oh, god, this’ll be gold.“

Natasha Romanoff: (tilting her head) I wouldn’t stress about it.

(She kicked him in the groin and wanted to spin him around, but he suddenly shrank in antsize. He threw her to the ground and she groaned.

A few startled cries rang out and Natasha licked her lips in frustration. „Should’ve seen that coming.“

Tony glared at her halfheartedly. „He sounded like an idiot. I would’ve laughed at him in his face and then gotten my ass kicked.“ She smirked. „Sounds about right.“

(But then she recovered, zapping Tiny Antman with her Widow bites.)

„Ha. I win.“

„Ant against spider, who wins the ultimate bug fight?“

„You’re a literal child, Clint.“

(In the meantime, Spider-Man climbed into the airport to take down Sam Wilson and James „Bucky“ Barnes, who were currently running.)

James „Bucky“ Barnes: What the hell is that?

Peter head shot up in offense. „Hey!“

Sam Wilson: Everyone’s got a gimmick now.

„I’m not a- ugh, forget it.“

(Spidey broke through the window and jumped at the Falcon, who got thrown back.)

Steve and Rhodey snickered, and Sam groaned. „Man, shut the hell up.“

(James „Bucky“ Barnes went in for a punch, but Spider-Man catched his metal fist midair and examined it.)

Peter Parker: (excited) You have a metal arm? That is awesome, dude!

The room burst into laughter, especially Steve, who was gasping for air. „Why’d you never tell me of this, Buck, this is hilarious!“ The former Winter soldier turned a shade redder. „Just don’t.“

Then he turned to Peter. “I could’ve totally punched you, I just decided not to.”

“Yeah, sure.”

(James seemed completely flabbergasted.)

„Your face“, Sam snickered.

„That‘s pretty much how you looked when I ripped out your steering wheel.“

„Excuse me?“

(During their onesided talk Sam Wilson had got up and now flew at Spidey, taking off with him.)

Peter Parker: You have the right to remain silent!

„Seriously, we’re in a fight and you’re quoting Star Wars?“

Peter turned to the Black Widow, opened his mouth- and then, very quietly, said: „Yeah.“

(In the meantime, Tony Stark fired bombs around Clint Barton and Wanda Maximoff, who ducked to avoid getting hit.)

Bruce opened and closed his mouth. “Tony…”, he started softly. The genius ducked away. “I know. I’m sorry”, he added, looking at Clint and Wanda.
Surprisingly, it was Maximoff who shrugged it off. “I think some of us fought a bit more… brutal than others, me too. We should learn out of this and move on.”

Everyone nodded at the wise words.

(Rogers was still fighting with King T’challa, who’s claws left scratch marks on his shield.)

„Holy shit.“

(James „Rhodey“ Rhodes, who was watching their fight until now, slowly pulled out a weapon.)

James „Rhodey“ Rhodes: Sorry, Cap, this won’t kill you but it ain’t gonna tickle either.

“How good that I didn’t have to find out”, Steve said and Rhodey smiled at him apologetically. “I agree.”

(When Steve was thrown back, he jumped on him, but the Captain was able to raise his shield in the right time to block the attack.)

„Lucky guy“, Natasha told him and he nodded.

„I definitely am.“

(Tony Stark flew over to Clint Barton and Wanda Maximoff.)

Tony Stark: Wanda, I think you hurt Vision‘s feelings.

Wanda snorted. “I think Vis wasn’t the only one who’s feelings got hurt.”

Wanda Maximoff: (angry) You locked me in my room.

Tony Stark: Okay, First, that‘s an exaggeration, second, I did it to protect you.

Maximoff grimaced. „Uhm…“

„I know. Sorry.“

„It’s fine.“

Wanda Maximoff: (tilting her head)

“That’s a bit scary”, Peter whispered. “No offense! It’s cool. And creepy. But mostly cool”, he quickly added, laughing nervously as a few people turned to look at him.
“Forget it, nevermind, I didn’t...“ His voice trailed off and he groaned again, hiding his face between his hands.

Tony Stark: Hey, Clint.

Clint Barton: Hey, man.

Bucky smiled. “You guys should found a dad-club.”

Tony frowned. “Why, I’m not a-“ He cut himself off, eyes widening. The whole room froze.

Bucky’s smile vanished as quickly as it had come. “Oops”, he sheepishly muttered.

Shocked looks were sent Tony’s way, who was just staring into thin air for a moment before turning to those who weren’t from the year 2018. “I’m gonna be a father?”, he whispered, voice cracking midway. Peter nodded, a genuine smile sliding onto his face. “Yeah. Congratulations, Mr Stark, you and Mrs Potts have a daughter.”

The genius opened and closed his mouth, staring at Peter incredulously. He then pulled him into a hug, tears welling up in his eyes. Parker patted his back gently and added: “You were an amazing dad.” The billionaire didn’t notice the past tense in his sentence, but he murmured a weak: “Thanks.” He sniffled and backed off again.

“I’m sure she has an even more amazing older brother.”

Spider-Man looked at him in confusion before his face lit up, and his jaw dropped. “No, no- I’m not even- but”, he gasped, tears of his own appearing in his eyes.
Not only was he extremely flattered by the fact that Tony saw him as a son as well, but also sad. Sad that he hadn’t been able to spend a lot of time with Morgan after all, and even less with Tony after… everything. He jumped forward again and pulled Tony into his arms again, both of them teary eyed.

The rest of the room gave the two some privacy, but not without expressing their congratulations. Rhodey rubbed Tony’s shoulder and smiled from ear to ear as Stark proudly announced that he’d be the best uncle ever. After they’d all settled again, the group turned to the screen, the atmosphere a bit happier than before despite the serious topic.

Tony Stark: Clearly retirement doesn’t suit you, got tired of shooting golf?

Clint Barton: Well, I played 18, shot 18. Just can’t seem to miss.

(He suddenly shot two arrows at Stark, who destroyed it before it hit him.)

A few of the watchers jumped at the sudden action, and Clint smirked smugly.

Rhodey turned to him flabbergasted. „You’re supposed to be old, man!“

Tony Stark: First time for everything.

Clint Barton: Made you look.

Natasha rolled her eyes and muttered: „Wow, I’m so cool, I’ve got a few sticks, my favorite color is purple and my middle name is Francis, look at me.“

„Shut up, that doesn’t sound like me at all.“

A few looks were sent his way. Then Peter spoke up: „Wait- your middle name is Francis?“

„Shut up!“

(All of a sudden cars started dropping on Stark by Wanda, using her magic. Stark was soon buried underneath them.)

FRIDAY: Multiple conclusions detected.

Tony Stark: Yeah, I detected that too.

Wanda winced. „Sorry for that.“ Stark shook his head and turned away.

„Don’t worry bout it. Happens.“

(Meanwhile Sam Wilson and Peter Parker are still fighting in the air, the Falcon shooting at him and him dodging. At one point he landed, but his spidey sense noticed something and he ducked away.)

„You have remarkable reflexes“, Thor noticed with an appreciative nod, and Peter stared at him wide eyed before clearing his throat.

„Uh, yeah, thanks… your majesty?“

Thor shook his head in laughter and shot a glance at Banner as if saying ‚How adorable‘. „Just Thor should be enough, my young friend.“

„O-okay, just Thor- I mean, Mr Thor, thank you so much…“

(James „Bucky“ Barnes had thrown an object at him and hid behind a wall.)

Peter Parker: Hey buddy, I think you lost this!

(Barnes glanced around the corner and was barely able to duck before the object was sent flying against his hiding spot.)

„Oh my gosh!“

„Where’d that come from?“

Peter sheepishly laughed. „Sorry, Mr Barnes-„

But Bucky shrugged it off. „Don’t be.“

(Sam kicked Parker off his feet, but Spider-Man was able to escape his grip and shoot at the falcon’s jet pack, causing it to malfunction. Sam Wilson crashed into a shop and landed on the floor.)

Peter awkwardly cleared his throat. “Uhm. Sorry.”

Sam threw his hands in the air and turned to him, saying: “Don’t be! Honestly, everyone was worse and more brutal than you.”

(Just as he tried to get up again Spidey webbed both his hands to the railing of the airport.)

Peter Parker: Those wings carving fiber?

Sam Wilson: Is this stuff coming out of you?

„Is it, though?“, Bruce asked, turning to Peter in interest. The teen shook his head at the question. „No, I just use my webshooters. Look“, he interrupted himself and rolled up the sleeves of his TVA-uniform, revealing a pair of electronic devices. A few surprised gasps rang out and many curious glances were sent his way.

„Cool, right?“

„You built those yourself?“, Steve questioned him and leaned forward to get a better look. Peter gawked at him for a second, not having expected his interest, but then nodded quickly. „Yep, all me.“

„Impressive“, Nat complemented, causing the teen to sink into his seat an inch further. „Oh my GOD-„

Peter Parker: (ignores his question) That would explain the rigidity flexibility which, gotta say, that’s awesome-

Sam Wilson: (annoyed) I don’t know if you’ve been in a fight before but there usually isn’t this much talking.

Peter Parker: Alright, sorry, that’s my bad.

Sam chuckled. „Sorry for cutting you off, kid.“

Peter waved off. „It’s fine. You were too busy dealing with the fact that I was kicking your ass.“

Bucky and Sam turned to him at the same time, scowling at him. „Oh, really?“ „Fuck off!“

(Spider-Man jumps up and goes to kick Wilson off the railing, but James Barnes threw himself in front if him in the last second, so that both of them flew to the ground. Spidey webbed both of them to the ground.)

Sam turned to Bucky with a find expression. „You self-sacrificing idiot“, he said with a teasing smile, and Bucky glared at him, although his cheeks went a bit red at Sam‘s tone.

„Was just doing the right thing, would’ve done it for anyone.“ Sam‘s lips twitched into a smile, as if saying ‚would ya, though‘ but he remained quiet, and just gave him a thankful pat on his vibranium shoulder.

Peter Parker: Guys, look, I’d love to keep this up but I’ve only got one job here today and I’ve gotta impress Mr Stark, so…

Tony raised his eyebrows and looked at Peter. „Is that so?“

„Well-„

(While he’s talking, Samuel uses his suit to control his drone Redwing.)

Peter Parker: (raising his hand to attack) I’m really sorry- wha-

(Redwing came just in time to crash into the teen and throw him out of the window.)

A few horrified guffaws and a couple laughs rang out, and Sam raised his hands in defense. „I’m sorry! No I’m not, actually.“

„HEY-„

James “Bucky” Barnes: You couldn’t have done that earlier.

Sam Wilson: I hate you.

„No, you don’t.“

„Yes I- nevermind.“

In the meantime, Rhodes flew at Steve to attack, but the Captain kicked him and caused him to crash into the ground.

„Ouch.“

„You could say that, yeah.“

T’challa attacked Rogers as well, but again he was able to dodge him and kick him away too.

James „Rhodey“ Rhodes: (looking at the destroyed weapon in his hand and throwing it away) Great.

Rhodes rolled his eyes. „Not gonna lie, fighting against you feels like you’re cheating.“

Steve chuckled. „Well, keep in mind that that‘s just serum me, after all.“

„Yeah“, Bucky added, „Before the serum you could literally cough at Steve and he’d fall over.“

„Wha- HEY?!“

(Suddenly, Scott Lang emerged and put something into Steve‘s hand, which turned out to be a tiny car.)

Scott Lang: Cap, heads up! Throw it at this. (He held up another electronic device and threw it away from the two of them.) Now!

(Steve threw and Natasha was just able to dodge before the car hit the electronic thing, causing the car to grow larger and larger until it was car sized.)

„What the…?“ Bruce’s voice trailed off and he turned to the others. „Are you for real?! Throwing cars at eachother?“

Steve grimaced. „To be fair, I didn’t know what he was planning.“

James „Rhodey“ Rhodes: Oh come on!

(Him and Black Panther got hit by the car sent flying their way.)

„Looks like Mr Rhodes was having a pretty bad day“, Thor joked. Tony whirled to him with an almost angry expression, before remembering that he wasn’t there.

„Right. Bad day. You could say that.“

Rhodey nodded darkly, remembering what had happened later on…

Scott Lang: Aw man, I thought that was a water truck, uhmmm… sorry.

(They turned to run.)

„Okay, I love this guy“, Peter giggled, and Stark turned to him with an unimpressed expression. „What? He’s funny.“

„So am I!“

„Yeah, but you’re… old news.“

„…what was that-?“

„I take it back!“

(Meanwhile Natasha, who’d just gotten hit by the explosion as well got up. Iron man landed behind her, and Rhodey got up as well.)

James „Rhodey“ Rhodes: Alright, now I’m pissed.

„Relatable, coming from a person who’s had trouble with cars as well.“ Sam shot a dirty look at Bucky, who gave him a bewildered face.

„COME ON, SAM, IT WAS ONE TIME-„

Natasha Romanoff: Is this part of the plan?

Tony Stark: (helping Black Widow stand up) Well my plan was go easy on him, you wanna switch it up?

„Hold up.“ Bruce gestured with his hands wildly. „That was you being nice?!“

„Uhm… basically. I mean, I could’ve fired nuclear bombs at him.“

A few concerned looks were sent his way and Steve alarmedly asked: „You had nuclear bombs?!“

„Yeah, but i didn’t use them, right?“

(At the same time Clint Barton and Wanda Maximoff were jogging into the direction of the Quinjet.)

Clint Barton: There‘s our ride.

(Steve, Scott and Sam and Bucky joined them, but before they reached the Quinjet a golden laser hit into the ground right before them and they stopped. It turned out to be Vision.)

Wanda’s face darkened at the sight of Vision, and she lowered her head. If only he was still alive…

Vision: (calling) Captain Rogers. I know you believe what you’re doing is right.

(Iron Man and Black Widow land behind him.)

Vision: But for the collective good you must surrender now.

„Well, that worked out well“, Clint muttered.

(War machine entered with Black Panther and Spider-Man swung to them as well.)

(Team Iron Man shared meaningful glances while Team Cap just stubbornly stared forward.)

Sam Wilson: What do we do, Cap?

Steve Rogers: We fight. (With those words he started walking towards them.)

Steve looked down. What would’ve happened if he’d surrendered in that moment? He couldn’t tell if he’d liked the outcome more or less.

And little did he know that Tony was thinking about the same thing.

Natasha Romanoff: (tilting her head; sarcastically) This is gonna end well.

A few scattered laughs echoed through the room, then silenced again. This was the real, actual fight, the actual Civil War.

Thor and Bruce leaned forward an inch and shifted all their attention onto the screen while the others rather looked away shamefully.

(Team Iron Man started walking towards Team Cap as well.)

(Soon they all started jogging faster.)

Thor exhaled. „This… is it. For real this time.“

The others stiffly nodded along, eyes glued onto the screen.

Peter Parker: They’re not stopping!

Tiny Stark: Neither are we.

(Iron Man, War Machine, Vision and Falcon and Scarlet Witch took off.)

Natasha and Clint scoffed, having been the only ones who didn’t fly, have super serum or electronic to help them. „Assholes.“

„Oh really?“

„Excuse me?“

„Tss.“

(And then they all clashed together, and the real fight began.)

Bruce gulped thickly at the sight of their team, the avengers, being torn apart, by none other than themselves. He couldn’t believe it; he wasn’t there for two years, and suddenly everyone was trying to kill themselves over a few pieces of paper? Why weren’t they able to handle it like grown men and discuss the complicated topic, instead of nearly unaliving another?

Thor’s frown deepened. He’d been on the search for infinity stones, to prevent a multiverses catastrophe from happening. And now he was seeing what his friends were up to at the same time? Damnit, he felt the urge to scan the room again to make sure everyone really came out alive out of that mess, because what were they doing?! Firing bullets at eachother as if they weren’t playing silly games together weeks ago, hurling cars at one another like they were mortal enemies? Thor was shocked.

(Many things happened at once; Tony jumped on Steve, who blocked just in time.)

Of course it was Tony and Steve who clashed together first, who basically started this whole disaster, Rhodey thought bitterly. They weren’t ever able to stand eachother, even way back in 2012. But trying to kill eachother was still something even worse than roasting eachother over suits and serum. If they would’ve just been able to talk about it properly without fighting, Rhodey assumed all of this wouldn’t have happened just as brutal. And maybe he’d still be able to walk normally, he added in his mind and sighed, loudly enough to get Tony‘s attention.

Stark‘s face was paler than before, his eyes fixed onto the screen with such intensity it looked like he was being hypnotized. He now regretted his actions, and was sure that Rogers did, as well. He sent a glance towards him and Barnes, his thoughts trailing to what had happened afterwards. God, how they’d fucked up.

(Rhodey was chasing Sam over the battlefield, while Antman and Black Widow started fighting again.)

Rhodes and Wilson exchanged a short apologetic glance. At least they were still good friends, up to 2023, as Sam knew. Still, a shiver ran down Sam‘s spine. Rhodes had fallen, and he didn’t catch him, and that was barely a few minutes away from this scene. He prayed that they wouldn’t have to watch how he failed him…

Meanwhile, Clint had to hold back a cackle when in screen Natasha kicked back Scott in the stomach. He knew that right now everyone was sad and serious, but he couldn’t help but smile instinctively. That was his best friend wiping the floor with him, after all.

(Bucky and T’challa attacked eachother, and Wanda started throwing cars at Spider-Man who tried to dodge those.)

„I wouldn’t have thrown those if I had known you were a child“, she growled, angry at her on-screen actions. Peter aggressively shook his head. „No no, that’s fine, Mrs. … Maximoff? Maximoff-Vision? I’m sorry- does he have a last name?“, he stuttered and turned to her.

That caught the attention of some others. „Wait- you and Vision are married?“, Clint spluttered, and bizarre looks were sent her way.

„Were“, she answered monotonously. Barton blinked and nodded, right, he’d died in 2018.

…but hold on a second.

„When did you get married?!“

„2023.“

The room turned silent. „But“, Thor started, „You just said he died?“

Wanda nodded patiently. „Yeah, it’s kind of complicated“, she admitted, „But I brought him back to life. Don’t ask. And then he… died again.“

A few gasps, other wise everyone turned still and looked at the young witch with shocked expressions. Steve was the first to find his voice again. „I’m so sorry, Wanda.“

She just shook her head, and turned her face away to hide the pain in her face. „It’s okay, I’d just really prefer not to talk about it.“

They all respected her wish, and span back to the screen, all who knew Vision somewhat in shock.

(Clint was firing arrows at Vision.)

The archer in question bristled, now that he knew the robot‘s fate.

(Somehow Natasha and Clint ended up fighting, and he threw her to the ground.)

Natasha Romanoff: We‘re still friends, right?

Clint shot a fond glance to Natasha. „We‘ll always be friends, Tash, you‘re not gonna get rid of me that easily.“

She smiled back at him, but a warm feeling flooded her body. At least one person who wouldn’t leave her behind.

Clint Barton: (smiling) Depends on how hard you hit me.

(She freed herself out of his grip and went in for a kick, but got held back by Wanda‘s red magic, and thrown across the field.)

Natasha winced, but recovered quickly and nodded impressed. „That was not bad, Wanda. Perfect moment. Good job.“

Wanda Maximoff: You were pulling your punches.

(Clint stared at her.)

„Well, excuse me if I wasn’t trying to kill my best friend.“

(Meanwhile T’challa and Bucky held eachother in a chokehold.)

James „Bucky“ Barnes: I didn’t kill your father.

T’challa: Then why did you run?

„Only an insane man wouldn’t run if a man in a Panther suit with creepy-ass claws was trying to kill you“, Steve scoffed on Bucky‘s behalf, who nodded. „True.“

(They started fighting again, and T’challa was just about to scratch his face as Wanda used her magic on him as well and flung him away from Barnes.)

„You’re the one saving everyone around here, I assume?“, Loki spoke up, for almost the first time. He hadn’t really said anything till now, and decided to hold back his thoughts and comments, knowing that he wasn’t really wanted here. Wanda turned to him in surprise, but nodded. „I guess, yes.“

„Good. You can take care of my oaf of a brother, he always gets into trouble as well.“

„Hey?! I’m right here! And by the way, I get in trouble? Aren’t you, brother mine, the literal god of mischief?“, Thor squawked from next to him, and Loki‘s grin only widened.

(At the same time Spider-Man was swinging, until Steve threw his shield to cut his web off. He landed cleanly and Steve caught his shield.)

Peter Parker: That does not obey the laws of physics at all.

Steve Rogers: Look, kid, there’s a lot going on here that you don’t understand.

Peter tilted his head. That was quite right, now that he thought about it. Would he have still chosen Tony‘s side if he knew what this whole Civil War thing was about? Well, it didn’t matter now, anyway, did it?

Peter Parker: Mr Stark said you’d say that.

„When am I not right“, Tony said sassily and grinned at Peter, who beamed back.

(With that he webbed the Captains shield and leg and pulled him to himself, then kicked Rogers.)

„He’s not holding back“, Bucky spoke to Steve, who’s face soured. „Yep. I noticed that, believe me.“

Peter Parker: He also said to go for your legs.

„We shot him in ze legs, because his shield is ze size of a dinnerplate and he is stupid“, Peter murmured under his breath.

A few confused looks were sent his way, and he furiously shook his head. „Nevermind, it’s a meme… you know, like- ugh, I don’t know, forget it.“

(Steve tried to get up and take his shield but Parker webbed his hands. But he underestimated Rogers‘ strength, who ended up dragging him in his direction and sending him flying across the field.)

„Well, I got him back“, Steve triumphantly said.

(Meanwhile, Sam Wilson was dodging Tony‘s attacks.)

Sam Wilson: (through comms) Clint, can you get him off me?

Tony faked hurt as he clutched his heart dramatically. „Why, do you not enjoy my presence?“

„I’m sorry, thats not how I meant it“, Sam played along, draping his hand over his forehead. „I assure you, you’re existence is a gift for mankind.“

The two men chuckled, whole Steve and Bucky sent absurd looks their way. „The fuck?“

(Barton was already aiming for Tony, ant-sized Antman on his arrow.)

Clint Barton: Buckled in?

Scott Lang: Yeah. No, I'm good. I'm good, Arrow Guy. Let's go. Let's go!

(Miniaturized Scott is on the tip of Clint's arrow. As he fires it, the head splits and Iron Man shoots the shards. Scott dives between Iron Man's splayed fingers and slips inside the Iron Man Suit at the shoulder joint.)

„Okay, not gonna lie, that’s smart“, Bruce commented, looking at Antman‘s suit curiously. „How does he even do that?“

“Something with Quantum-energy, I guess.”

“Fascinating.”

(Steve catches a web and tugs Peter towards him, knocking him down with the shield. Peter recovers and pulls himself up on top of a gangway.)

„You good?“

Peter turned to his mentor in surprise. „Mr Stark, that was years ago, I’ve been through worse and you can clearly see I’m fine“, he said, confusion in his voice. Tony shook his head with a sheepish expression. „Well, yeah, but I’ve noticed that I didn’t really ask you back then, and you were even younger, so…“

Spider-Man’s mouth opened and closed in awe before he nodded slowly. „No, yeah, I- I’m good, I was good, I mean, I barely even felt it.“

Stark gave him a pat on his back. „Good. I’m glad.“

Steve Rogers: Stark tell you anything else?

Peter Parker: That you're wrong. You think you're right. That makes you dangerous. (He swings down and Steve leaps to kick him backwards onto the gangway's leg.)

Steve Rogers: Guess he had a point. (He throws his shield at the leg and the gangway falls. Peter holds it up.)

„Holy shit!“

„Woah!“

Many jumped at the sudden action and Tony put a protective hand on his definitely-not-son‘s shoulder. He turned to Steve with a pissed expression. „Seriously?“

„We were fighting?! I punch your best friend and no one bats an eye, I drop a gangway on a kid and everyone freaks out?“

A short silence, then the captain sighed. „Yeah, okay, now that I say it out loud…“

Steve Rogers: You got heart, kid. Where're you from?

„That‘s what you ask him? Where are you from?“ Wanda teased, and Roger’s turned red. „Wha- no, I didn’t mean- you know what I was trying to say!“

Peter Parker: Queens.

Steve Rogers: Brooklyn. [Steve leaves Peter holding the gangway.]

„And he just kinda… left you there?“ Loki snorted.

„Well… yes.“

(Clint fires arrows at hovering Iron Man whose arm-lasers malfunction.)

Tony Stark: Friday?

FRIDAY: We have some weapon systems offline.

Tony Stark: They what?

„You look so confused“, Thor laughed at his friend who rolled his eyes.

„My tech is very functional and always works, it’s like someone would destroy your magic hammer or whatever.“

Loki doubled over and began giggling uncontrollably as Thor‘s face froze. „About that, you’ll never believe this-„, his brother started saying, and he smacked him in the chest.

„Keep your mouth shut!“

Scott Lang: Oh, you're gonna have to take this into the shop.

„Did he just… blow his disguise?“, Natasha asked with an amused frown.

„Damnit, Tic Tac“, Sam muttered in annoyance.

Tony Stark: Who's speaking?

Scott Lang: It's your conscience. We don't talk a lot these days.

The room errupted into chuckles at the man’s childish but funny comment.

„That was a good one, I’ll give him that“, Tony admitted with a crooked smile..

Tony Stark: Friday?

FRIDAY: Deploying fire suppression system.

„That doesn’t sound good“, Bucky whispered.

Scott Lang: Uh -oh. Oh boy. Whoa!

(Inside the suit Scott sprints through narrow banks of components, chased by a rolling cloud of CO2. He's ejected from the suit.)

„Okay, can we talk about the fact that he’s as small as a LEGO-figure? Because that’s hilarious“, Peter snickered.

Steve turned to him. „What’s Lego?“

„Doesn’t matter, he’s too old for it anyway“, Rhodey replied, and a few laughs rang out.

Bucky Barnes: (To Steve) We gotta go. That guy's probably in Siberia by now.

Steve Rogers: We gotta draw out the flyers. I'll take Vision. You get to the jet.

Sam Wilson: (While being chased by War Machine) No, you get to the jet! Both of you! The rest of us aren't getting out of here.

„Well, I was right about that part“, the man in question murmured, remembering their time in the raft with a shiver. Prison was bad enough, but prison underwater and isolated from people was even worse.

Steve patted him on his shoulder. „I got you guys out, remember? It all turned out fine.“

Clint Barton: As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it.

Sam, Wanda and Clint exchanged a look. Their time with Scott on the raft wasn’t really amusing, as one could put in words.

„You know, did they have to put them in there?“ Wands spoke up, surprising the others. „I mean, at least I’m a witch with super powers. Not that you’re not talented or anything“, she quickly added, „But a normal prison would’ve been enough, right?“

Tony thought about it for a second. „I mean, that wasn’t really my decision to make. But if Roger’s was able to rescue y’all out of the best secured prison there is, then a normal prison wouldn’t have done the trick, either. Still, sorry for the difficulties with that. I know it wasn’t exactly luxury.“

Sam Wilson: This isn't the real fight, Steve.

Steve Rogers: Alright, Sam, what's the play?

Sam Wilson: We need a diversion, something big.

Peter laughed nervously. „Well, we got big, didn’t we?“

The others voiced their agreement with a nod or agreeing comments.

Scott Lang: I got something kind of big, but I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half . . . don't come back for me.

Bucky Barnes: He's gonna tear himself in half?

„You look completely traumatized at the thought“, Bruce said.

„Well, yeah?!“

Steve Rogers: You're sure about this, Scott?

Scott Lang: I do it all the time. I mean once . . . in a lab. Then I passed out. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the BOSS!

„In what world is once all the time- nevermind, he’s already doing it“, Clint sighed and rubbed his head. „Fucking idiot.“

[He leaps from mobile stairs and lands on War Machine's back as he flies past. He operates his suit's wrist, shuts his eyes and activates a remote. Scott grows into a towering Behemoth and grabs War Machine's leg.]

„Wait- now he’s big?! How does he do that“, Thor squealed, his eyes widening. Bruce threw his hands in the air.

„Why’s he called Antman when he can do… that?“

„Elephant-man sounds kinda shitty to me“, Loki commented dryly, and a few laughs rang out.

Peter Parker: Holy shit!

James Rhodes: Okay, tiny dude is big now. He's big now.

„This doesn’t make any sense“, Thor breathed out, still confused, and Bruce put a hand on his back.

„…told ya science is better.“

„Science is be- IN WHAT WORLD IS SCIENCE BETTER THAN LITERAL MAGIC?!“

„IN THIS ONE!“

Steve Rogers: I guess that's the signal.

“Yeah, no shit, Steve“, Bucky snorted and shook his head at his best friend.

Sam Wilson: Way to go, Tic Tac!

„Why Tic Tac?“, Steve asked his friend, and Sam shrugged. „It’s just a nickname.“

„But why? It doesn’t even-„

„Shush.“

Tony Stark: Give me back my Rhodey.

(Sam flies feet first into Iron Man.)

Rhodey turned to Tony in mocked offense. „Your Rhodey?!“

Peter Parker: I got him! (Scott sends War Machine flying and Peter catches him with a web.)

„Thanks, kiddo.“

„No problem, sir!“

(Scott kicks a bus towards T'Challa. Vision descends and braces himself, splitting the bus in two and protecting T'Challa from harm. T'Challa spots Steve and Bucky sprinting past. Chasing Sam Iron Man evades Scott swinging the wing of a plane at him.)

„Okay, no offense towards Scott but that could’ve totally killed us“, Tony muttered.

„Yeah, things got a little out of hand.“

„A little? You’re throwing cars at eachother?!“

Tony Stark: Okay, anybody on our side hiding any shocking and fantastic abilities they'd like to disclose, I'm open to suggestion.

(Sam arrows towards Iron Man, firing Red Wing which cracks into Tony's helmet. Scott blocks T'Challa's path.)

A few people laughed at Stark‘s comment.

Sam cringed at his on screen actions. „Sorry man-„

„It’s water under the bridge, don’t worry. And I got my payback later anyway.“

Scott Lang: You wanna get to them… you gotta go through me. (He sweeps his gigantic foot through the crates T'Challa's standing on, smashing them to pieces. Scott is engulfed in explosions as War Machine swoops towards him with Peter clinging to a web stuck to War Machine's back. He fires more webs and wraps them around Scott's over-sized arms.)

„You’re on fire, kid“, Tony smiled and ruffled Peter‘a hair, who gave him a grumpy expression.

„Stop that, Mr Stark.“

(Clint fires arrows at T'Challa who catches two right in front of his face. After the arrowheads explode he drops them and rises extending his claws.)

Clint Barton: We haven't met yet. (He flattens his bow and spins it around.) I'm Clint.

„So polite“, Bruce nodded respectfully.

T'Challa: I don't care.

Natasha broke into laughter and Clint grumbled a small: „Shut up, Tasha.“

„He- he said he didn’t care?“

„I said shut up!“

(Wielding the bow like a staff Clint attacks T'Challa who a acrobatically ducks then counters with a high kick.)

Thor nodded slowly. „Nice moves, Barton.“

„Thanks, I appreciate it.“

(Giant Ant-Man punches War Machine in the air and swings a gangway towards him as he recovers. War Machine opens fire and the gangway disintegrates. Scott tries to stamp on War Machine who dives clear evading a lunge of Scott's hand. War Machine is struck by something.)

James Rhodes: Ahhh! (Wanda waves her hands flinging vehicles into War Machines path.)

„Sorry bout that. Again.“ The young witch sheepishly told him, avoiding eye contact.

Rhodes shook his head. „Don’t be.“

Scott Lang: Get off! (Distracted by Peter Ant-Man doesn't spot Vision curling into a ball and ramming into him. Vision spots Steve and Bucky approaching the hangar as Ant-Man wavers. He simply floats through Ant-Man's chest.) Something just flew in me! (Vision fires a shining beam of energy from his mind stone and the control tower collapses towards the entrance of the hangar. Wanda struggles to slow its collapse. Then War Machine descends behind her fires a sonic disruptor. Wanda holds her head and screams. The tower falls all around Steve and Bucky, but they make it into the hangar where Natasha is waiting for them.)

„That‘s a lot at once“, Loki said, and his eyes flickered over the screen in confusion before he gave up completely.

Natasha Romanoff: You're not gonna stop.

Steve Rogers: You know I can't.

Steve and Natasha exchanged a look. „Do you regret you did that? Betray them for me?“

Nat bowed her head. „No“, she then whispered. „I think it was the right thing in the end. Would’ve prefered a more peaceful ending though.“

The captain nodded in agreement, but gave her a last thankful smile.

Natasha Romanoff: I'm gonna regret this. (She stuns T'Challa who's arrived behind them.) Go.

(Steve and Bucky run for the Quinjet as she keeps T'Challa at bay.)

Peter Parker: [Outside] Hey, guys, you ever see that really old movie, Empire Strikes Back?

„Really old-? It’s not that old.“

„Yes it is, Mr Stark, but you’re old too, so-„

„Excuse me?!“

James Rhodes: Jesus, Tony, how old is this guy?

Tony Stark: I don't know, I didn't carbon-date him. He's on the young side.

Peter opened and closed his mouth. „Hey! I’m right here!“

Peter Parker: (He swings towards Ant-Man) You know that part… where they're on the snow planet… with the walking thingies? (He wraps webs around Scott's legs.)

„As much as I hate to admit it, he’s really smart when it comes to movies. Smarter than me.“

„HA! I knew it.“

Tony Stark: Maybe the kid's on to something.

James Rhodes: High now, Tony. Go high.

Peter Parker: (He swings around and around Ant-Man's legs as Iron Man and War Machine power towards his head, both landing blows together.) YES! Ha ha! That was awesome! (Giant Ant-Man topples. A flailing limb catching Peter and knocking him flying just before Scott slams into the ground on his back. He returns to normal size and removes the face-plate of his helmet, grimacing.)

Scott Lang: Does anyone have any orange slices?

„…why should we have orange slices?“, Wanda asked, confused.

Thor interjected. „Is that some sort of midgardian wordplay?“

„No, don’t worry, we don’t know what he’s yapping about either.“

Tony Stark: (He lands by Peter who's in a heap. Retracting the helmet Tony looks concerned.) Kid, you alright?

Peter Parker: Hey! Get off me!

„You know I wouldn’t hurt you, right?“

Peter flinched, his thoughts wandering back to Beck and how he’d manipulated him into thinking he was like Tony. Like a father. How wrong he’d been about that he’d have to find out the hard way. He shook his head. Tony wasn’t Mysterio, after all. „No. Yeah, I know.“

The genius frowned at his face. „You good?“

„Fine! Just… that reminded me of someone… doesn’t matter, you’ll probably see later on.“

Tony Stark: Same side. Guess who. Hi. It's me.

Peter Parker: Oh. Hey, man.

Tony Stark: Yeah.

Peter Parker: That was scary.

Tony Stark: Yeah. You're done. Alright?

„Yeah. You’re fired.“

„That‘s not what he said!“

„Well, that’s what it sounded like“, Natasha teased the younger boy.

Peter Parker: What?

Tony Stark: You did a good job. Stay down.

Peter Parker: No, I'm good. I'm fine.

„Mhm. Very convincing“, Bruce muttered, eying the child on screen. He was far too young for such a fight.

Tony Stark: Stay down.

Peter Parker: No, it's good I gotta get him back!

Tony Stark: You're going home or I'll call Aunt May! You're done!

„That was a bit harsh“, Peter whined.

Tony only laughed.

Peter Parker: Wait. Mr. Stark, wait! I'm not done, I'm not . . . (He slumps down.) Okay, I'm done. I'm done.

„Yeah, we know, kid“, Clint agreed and grinned at him. He’d probably get along with his children, he thought.

(In the partially wrecked hangar the Quinjet's engines fire and the guns blast debris from the entrance. Natasha keeps T'Challa held until the jet rises. Black Panther leaps, but can't keep hold and the Quinjet flies out of the hangar. War Machine flies after it. In the hangar:)

Natasha Romanoff: I said I'd help you find him, not catch him. There's a difference.

„Well, she’s kinda right“, Bucky admitted with a smile.

(Outside Vision kneels beside Wanda and gently holds her in his arms. She pants for breath.)

Vision: I'm sorry.

Wanda Maximoff: Me, too.

„Us too“, Steve spoke up, and murmurs of agreement from his team followed.

„So are we“, Tony said firmly, and team Ironman nodded along.

„Us as well.“

Thor looked at Bruce funnily. „We weren’t even there!“

„I’m sorry, I just wanted to say something-„

Vision: It's as I said. Catastrophe.

The others nodded along.

„It’s so stupid, man. If this wouldn’t have happened, maybe we would’ve been better prepared for Thanos“, Clint spoke up, the regret in his voice clear as day.

„You‘re right. The most important thing about our team is being a team, and we really fucked that up“, Natasha added with a pained voice.

“Not that our team got along when we first teamed up”, Bruce reminded them bitterly. “We just got dragged there from S.H.I.E.L.D, and immediatly fought with eachother.”

„I hope we fix this stuff in the future.“

(Piloting the Quinjet, Steve looks over his shoulder and spots War Machine encroaching to the right. Steve pushes forward on the thrusters. Iron Man flies beside War Machine and Falcon follows them.)

Sam bristled. „Oh god.“

Rhodes shot a glance towards him. „This isn’t your fault? You tried your best.“

„It’s not just that“, the Falcon admitted bitterly, and Rhodey frowned for a second before he realized what he was referring to. „Oh. Oh, Sam.“

James Rhodes: Vision, I got a bandit on my six. (Falcon fires small explosives which erupt and buffet War Machine.) Vision! You copy? Target his thrusters, turn him into a glider.

„Thanks for not trying to kill me“, Wilson tried to joke, but his voice had a light shake in it. Bucky turned to him in confusion. „You good?“

Sam didn’t answer.

(Vision takes aim and fires his head laser. Falcon spots it coming and tucks into a tumble. The laser overshoots and slices through the core on War Machines chest plate. War Machine loses power and goes into a spinning free fall.)

„Shit“, Bruce called out. Those who weren’t there watched with wide eyes, and many glanced over to Rhodey to make sure he was still alive.

„That‘s why-„

„Yep.“

Tony Stark: Rhodey! (Iron Man and Falcon dive.)

Steve leaned forward in his seat a bit, chewing on his lip worriedly. „Fuck.“

Sam gulped thickly. If only he’d been a bit faster, if only he’d let Vision hit him, maybe Rhodey wouldn’t have almost died, wouldn’t have fallen, just like…

James Rhodes: Tony, I'm flying dead stick. (As he plunges the suit emits black smoke. Iron Man swoops down towards him. Rhodes' eyes start to close.)

Even those who were present during the action held their breath. Each eye was focused on the screen, everyone in complete knowledge that a fall like that could be deadly.

Tony Stark: RHODES! (Mar Machine smacks into a wide, grassy field just before Iron Man lands nearby. His helmet retracts and he pulls off War Machine's face plate. Rhodes' eyes are closed and there's blood on his face.) Read vitals.

Tony tightened his grip on his friend next to him, exhaling loudly. „I’m sorry-„

„Don’t.“

FRIDAY: Heartbeat detected. Emergency medical is on its way.

„Thank god they were there so quickly“, Wanda breathed out, her lips thin and pale.

Sam Wilson: (He swoops down and lands on his feet. His wings retract.) I'm sorry.

Bucky looked at his friend in concern, who seemed pretty upset. He put an arm around his shoulder. „Everything okay? It’s not your fault, y’know.“

„Yeah, I know, it’s just- it reminded me of something, thats all.“

James waited patiently for his friend to continue, and Sam sighed. „I had a bo- a friend. In airforce. He was really important to me. But he was shot down, and he fell, and I was too late, I’m just always too late.“

Bucky studied him for a few seconds. His spy skills had detected some sort of lie in those sentences, and it took a moment before he realized. „A friend, huh?“

Samuel flinched, and that was an answer. Bucky inhaled sharply. „I’m really sorry.“ He tightened his grip around his shoulders and Sam nodded thankfully, quickly wiping away a tear from his face before turning back to the screen.

(Tony zaps Falcon backwards with a blast of energy from the palm of his suit. Vision glides to the ground just in front of Falcon. Stony faced Tony remains with his arms around War Machine.)

Tony winced. „I‘m sorry, I shouldn’t have treated you like it was your fault.“

„It’s fine-„

„No, it’s not. You were the first one to ask for him, and you were in fucking prison to that time. You cared, and I shouldn’t have shot you. I was angry. Doesn’t make it right, but y’know. Feelings.“

Sam smiled softly. „I know, Tony. It’s okay. I forgive you.“

„I don’t blame any of you, okay?“ Rhodey said loudly, and looked at both of them intensely. „You did everything you could.“

„Okay.“

„Got it, thanks.“

Steve sighed loudly. „That was… something. I know I’ve said it before, but I’m sorry. This whole thing was really shitty from me.“

„It’s my fault as well. We both fucked up, and we should’ve done better. But we will. Right guys?“

Everyone nodded at Stark‘s words, and with that it was settled.

„The screen“, Loki suddenly spoke up, and everyone turned to the whiteboard, where now a few words were written on boldly. „It’s asking if we want a break?“

„That would be very appreciated-„

„YES. PLEASE.“

The screen turned white again, and the avengers started chatting with eachother a bit.

„Yeah, that was crazy-„

„Shouldn’t have thrown so many cars-„

„I filmed all of that, sorry for accidentally posting it on YouTube-„

For a moment, it seemed like the avengers were a team again.

All of a sudden, a portal opened in the center of the room again, and they all turned to look. It was Mobius again, who nodded at them.

“I just wanted to tell you guys that the scenes from now on might get even harder to watch. And that we might bring some new people in a few hours. You can take a break so long. You might be confused why youre not tired, right?”

A few of them nodded, and he smiled. “That’s because time doesn’t exist in the TVA. But I’m sure you’re all hungry, am I right?”

Again, voiced agreement. Peter raised his hand, and Mobius turned to him. “Yeah?”

“I wanted to ask if we could look around a bit. In the TVA, I mean. Not that it’s not nice here, it’s just…” His voice trailed off and he shook his head. “I don’t mean to seem greedy, sorry, we’re here to react and-“

“Don’t worry about it, kid”, the man quickly continued. He paused shortly and his eyes landed on Thor and his brother. “Actually, I met someone a few hours ago and would like to introduce them. But that can wait. You can leave the room with a guide, they’ll show you where the cafeteria is. In a few minutes I’ll open an exit. I have to check on someone first, just give it a few minutes.”

With those words he turned around and marched through the portal again.

“Well that was weird”, Steve muttered. “But let’s do as he says. We’ve got a lot to discuss anyway.”

———

“Tones.”

Tony turned around and grinned widely at Bruce, who’d approached him with a gentle smile. “Brucie bear, what’s up?” He excused himself from Peter’s side (who was gaping at Bruce, his eyes shimmering in awe) and followed the doctor to the side of the room into a silent corner.

“I just wanted to congratulate you again, because of your daughter”, the scientist told him and held out his hand. Tony laughed brightly and shoved it aside, pulling his friend into a bone crushing hug. “No need to be so former, Brucie. Thanks.”

He pulled back, eyes wide. “I still can’t believe it”, the genius admitted nervously, his voice quieting a bit. “How am I even supposed to take care of her? What if I mess it up?”
He sighed loudly before continuing with: “Sorry. I just want to be a better dad than my father was, you know?” His eyes darkened a bit at the mention of Howard Stark.

Bruce winced. “I kinda do.” He then tilted his head, and with a sad smile added: “Not really, though.” His thoughts trailed back to his and Natasha’s talk in 2015 at Barton’s ranch, and he breathed in, hiding his trembling hands behind his back before beaming at Tony again. “You’ll do amazing, though. I mean, we all see the way you care about Peter. You’ll be the best father one could wish for.”

Stark’s smile wavered. “Oh, stop it, Brucie, you’ll make me cry again”, he complained, his voice already watery again. He cleared his throat, then turned back to his best friend who was still watching him with proud eyes. “By the way, don’t think I’ll take mercy on you just because you’re smart. You’re gonna babysit her too.”

Bruce laughed breathlessly. “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly-“ “No buts, greenie, I mean it. After all, she has to get to know her uncle Brucie, right?”

He froze, his eyes widening. “Really?”, he whispered, “Me? Are you sure?” Tony patted his shoulder and gave him a warm nod. “Of course, never been as sure in my life! To quote you one minute ago, you’ll do amazing.” Banner’s expression softened and he turned away a bit, quickly brushing over his eyes with the back of his hand. “That’s… oh. Okay, I- thank you.”

Tony squeezed his shoulder one last time, then went back to his mentee, who stared at him. “Was that doctor- oh my god?!”, the kid whispered and Bruce let out a wet chuckle before he went up the stairs, still wrapping his head around what Tony had just told him.

Him- an uncle? He wasn’t even able to be a father, he thought bitterly, but couldn’t help but feel exited. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad?

Little did he know that he wouldn’t get to find that out…