________________________________

said, as the mutual understanding that they had lost everything was enough.

The second they landed at the compound, Alex went to the room she had stayed in before. It was no doubt meant to be hers, as the decor was all news articles about her. Tony thought of her, in a way, like his daughter, so it was only fitting he had a room for her at the compound. That, and, she had no plans of returning to her apartment.

She stayed in her room, never leaving for two days. She didn't want to eat, converse, or even move for that matter. Everything had gone to shit, and she felt entirely responsible. She was so close to destroying the stones, and ending the fight once and for all.

But, something got in her way.

She cursed herself for letting Loki be the reason why half of her team was gone. He was nothing but a distraction--a nuisance, there to stop her from succeeding. She wondered if his words in the weapon room were true, or if they were just a ploy to stop her from fighting. She seriously doubted he was telling the truth.

Even though a part of her wanted it to be true.

After two days, she came out of her room. She was met by Steve, who was as stoic as he could be for her. He wanted to be the backbone of the remaining, but his distress became clear after two weeks. They hit three weeks in a daze, as if the days went by faster rather than slower without the full team.

Alex read the list of the people who vanished so many times she had it memorized. What really haunted her was 'the missing'--people they didn't know if they'd vanished or not. Right at the top of the 'missing' list was Tony.

However, right after they hit three weeks, a ship landed on the lawn of the compound.

Alex was the first to sprint down to the yard. Hastily, Steve, Nat, Rhodey and Bruce ran out behind her. Once they got down there, they saw that Pepper was already standing there, looking up. The ship was landed by a bright ball of light, whom they hadn't seen before. She was quickly forgotten as Tony stepped out, assisted by a blue and purple robotic looking figure.

"Oh my god, Tony," Alex breathed. She ran over to the steps of the ship, careful not to engulf his frail body.

Steve ran with her, helping the robot woman with Tony.

"Couldn't stop him." Tony simply said.

"Neither could we," Alex's eyes filled with tears.

"Hang on," Tony stopped walking. "I lost the kid."

Alex rubbed his arm, knowing that Tony was greatly suffering.

"I was worried I lost you too." Tony whispered. Alex shook her head, wiping her tears away.

"Tony, we lost." Steve said.

Tony forgot about their conversation as soon as his eyes landed on Pepper. She ran over, embracing him tightly.

They helped Tony up to the compound, and hooked him up to an IV. They somberly sat together, as a hologram flashed pictures of everyone who vanished or was missing. Alex could name every single one before they appeared. Her eyes softened when Bucky's picture flashed.

"It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth." Alex said.

"World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census." Nat added. "And it looks like he did...he did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent, of all living creatures."

Alex noticed Thor sitting quietly away from the group. He hadn't said much since everything had happened, but made sure to ask her a few times how she was doing. Thor wasn't big on emotions, but he had a soft spot for Alex because of how she had affected her brother.

Alex also kept an eye on the woman who landed Tony's ship. She was human--or at least looked like it. She had a stoic expression, and almost looked bothered to be there.

"Where is he now? Where?" Tony spoke up.

"We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through."

Tony blinked, then looked over to Thor. "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh he's pissed. He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but you know there's a lot of that's going around, ain't there?" Rocket replied.

"Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

Alex scoffed at Tony's remark. At least he was still joking around.

"Maybe I am."

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep Space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him--" Steve turned the conversation back.

"--Who told you that?" Tony interjected. "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight."

"Tony," Alex tried.

"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?"

Tony waved Steve off. "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus."

Alex already knew this wasn't going to end well.

"And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late buddy. Sorry. You know what I need?" He stood, knocking several things over. Everyone winced at the sound of glass breaking. "I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse--"

Rhodey quickly came to his side. "Tony, Tony,"

"—Alive and otherwise what we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not- that's what we needed!" Tony seethed.

"Well that didn't work out, did it?" Steve replied with a hard face.

"I said, 'we'd lose'. You said, 'We'll do that together too.' And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there." Tony continued with a hurt look on his face. He then turned to everyone else. "But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers, we're the Avengers. Not the Prevengers."

"Okay," Alex tried to calm him down.

"You made your point. Just sit down." Rhodey added.

"She's great by the way." Tony nodded to the woman, who simply looked at him.

Tony walked over, jabbing a finger in Steve's chest. "I got nothing for you, Cap. I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar."

They shared a look, then suddenly Tony ripped his Arc Reactor from his chest and shoved it into Steve's hand. Shortly after, he fell into a heap, unconscious.

They placed him in a makeshift hospital bed, where Pepper sat at his side. The rest of the team looked at him through the glass, their spirits' low.

"Bruce gave him a sedative. He's probably going to be out for the rest of the day." Rhodey spoke.

"You guys take care of him. And I'll bring him a Xorrian Elixir when I come back." The woman then began to walk away.

"And where are you going?" Alex rose an eyebrow.

"To kill Thanos."

Alex looked at Steve, and went after her. Steve, knowing Alex's attitude, followed.

"Hey, I don't know you are, but around here, we work as a team."

"Carol Danvers." She responded, looking Alex up and down.

"Alright, Carol Danvers. You can land a ship. Good for you! That's great. I just lost half of my family. So did everyone else here. So, stop acting like you're above everyone, before I--"

"What she means is," Steve interjected, lightly pulling Alex back. "Morale's a little low. We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight too."

"Do you even know where he is?" Rhodey came in from the other room.

"I know people who might." Carol said.

"Don't bother. I can tell you where Thanos is." The robot woman appeared from behind Carol. "Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. And when he worked, he talked about his great plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask 'where would we go once his plan was complete?'. His answer was always the same: 'To the Garden.'"

"That's cute, Thanos has a retirement plan." Alex rolled her eyes. "Who are you, by the way?"

"Nebula."

"Cool. Would Mrs. Robot be okay?"

"No."

Alex grinned. "Awesome."

"So, where is he?" Steve asked.

They gathered around a hologram of Earth that rested on a table.

"When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it... Until two days ago." Rocket explained, as a new planet popped up on the hologram. "On this planet."

"Thanos is there." Nebula spoke.

"He used the stones again."

"Hey, hey, we'd be going in short-handed, you know." Bruce intervened.

"He's still got the stones, so..." Rhodey reasoned.

"So let's get him, use them to bring everyone back." Alex tried.

"Just like that?"

Steve looked determined. "Yeah, just like that."

Steve and Alex shared a look while everyone else looked unsure.

"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this... I mean we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try." Natasha spoke.

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Bruce asked.

"Because before, you didn't have me."

Alex's head snapped over to Carol.

"How do you feel about sleeping right now?" Alex's eyes darkened.

"Alex, no." Steve scolded.

"I'll do it." She muttered.

Thor finally came into the room, summoning Stormbreaker. He looked at Alex, and nodded. Steve took that as a cue that he was in.

"Let's go get this son of a bitch."

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Flying to space was an interesting phenomenon, but not as terrifying as using the Bifrost. At least it felt somewhat like a plane ride to Alex, until they broke through the atmosphere. However, she was not the worst one. Steve, Rhodey, and Natasha had all never experienced anything like it.

As they approached the jump, the adrenaline coursed through Alex's veins. She couldn't wait to see the life leave Thanos' eyes.

As they jumped through the wormhole, the ship slowed down as it neared the planet. Carol exited the ship to fly down and see what they were up against, but returned quickly.

"No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him."

Nebula scowled. "And that's enough."

They landed on a lush, green forest. There was a single farm, with a small house in the middle. Everything was quiet, until they attacked.

Carol shot through the house, holding Thanos' head. Bruce, in his Hulk suit, came next. He held the arm that previously held the gauntlet down, so he couldn't use it. Rhodey and Alex burst in together, with Rhodey holding the other arm, and Alex making Thanos a little tired.

Thor flew in heroically with Stormbreaker, slicing off the gauntlet-wearing hand. Rocket aimed his guns at Thanos' head, and finally, Steve walked through the door with Nat. Rocket peeled over the severed hand, only for all of them to see that horror had become a reality.

The stones were gone.

"Where are they?" Steve demanded.

"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation." Thanos struggled to speak.

"You murdered trillions!" Bruce pushed Thanos to the ground.

"You should be grateful."

"Where are the stones?" Alex approached Thanos, who was lying on the ground, breathing heavily.

"You used them two days ago."

"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me. But, the work is done. It always will be." Thanos sat up slowly. "I am...inevitable."

"We have to tear this place apart, he-he has to be lying." Rhodey panicked.

"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them." Nebula spoke up.

"Your what now?" Alex turned her head.

"Ah, thank you, daughter." Thanos looked down at her. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly--"

Suddenly, Thor's face filled with rage as he summoned Stormbreaker. Before anyone could stop him, he sliced Thanos' head clean off. His body fell limp to the floor.

"What...what did you do?" Rocket whispered.

Thor, realizing what he had done, swallowed.

"I went for the head."

Everyone was silent. Alex looked over at Steve, who couldn't take his eyes off the floor. Thor simply walked out of the shed, head down. She felt a wave of hopelessness rush through her, sending shivers down her spine. She kept her mind on anything but their current situation, in a pathetic attempt to reject the reality that was beginning to set in:

They really lost.

________________________________

𝚠𝚘𝚠 𝚘𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚒 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢'𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚞𝚣 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎!!!

𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘, 𝚒 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚕 𝚜𝚘 𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚡 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚘 :𝙿𝚕𝚞 𝚢'𝚊𝚕𝚕! :)