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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
xxi. WE ARE THE ENDGAME

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   SHE WAS HOPELESSLY SUFFOCATING. Soot saturated the blackened skies and caked itself onto her suit in grimy layers. Her ears rang at a frequency so high that they might as well have started bleeding. Riley coughed so vehemently that her eyes brimmed with heated tears. Her mask went sliding off her face to allow her to breathe somewhat more fluidly. The action was useless. A large remnant of the demolished Avengers HQ rested on top of her, almost completely cutting off her airway.

   Short, pathetic breaths nimbly went in and out of her mouth. She couldn't move until she removed the broken wall off of her abdomen. Riley licked her chapped lips, the taste of smoke on her tongue. Then, she began to push from beneath the drywall, grunting audibly before yielding it off of herself and rolling to the side where the land was cleared.

   Riley laid on her stomach, propped up by her forearms. She swallowed mouthfuls of air now that she wasn't encased beneath the facility's remains. Her hair draped over her face as she whipped her head to the side, taking in the horrific sights around her.

   What the hell just happened? Riley couldn't tell. All she knew was that there was an explosion. Scratch that—several explosions. The headquarters were completely demolished, fire and smoke swallowing them. Was it terrorists? That was the only thing that made sense. Terrorists had to be attacking, the Avengers being their targets. But who was leading the attack? And why now?

   She stumbled onto her feet, her mask securing itself over her head. Adrenaline pumped throughout her veins so vigorously that she hadn't even noticed how her body ached. Robotic sounds filled her ears, causing her to freeze. Energy shrouded her fists in an instant. She wasn't going to try and hide. She was going to fight.

   She gasped in relief when Tony walked around the corner of a rubbish pile. "Riley," worriedly called Tony. Riley approached him hurriedly, Tony meeting her halfway. He had been carrying Steve's shield with one hand, pressing the other on the side of her face. "Are you alright? You hurt?"

   "Ask me that when this is all over," Riley dismissed. Her eyes frantically darted around for potential danger. She momentarily gazed over her father. He seemed as okay as one could be in their situation. "What... What's going on? Where's Steve?"

   "Your guess is as good as mine. Come on. Cap must be around here somewhere."

   Riley nodded slowly, taking a step back to start looking for him. "You don't suppose he'll reply "Polo" if I call out "Marco", do you?" she queried.

   The two continued to separate further and further to search for Steve while remaining somewhat nearby in case of an emergency.

   "It's like playing I Spy but with an Iced Americano," said Tony.

   "I still think Iced Cappucino is funnier," she mumbled. Though the two still had it in them to banter back and forth, it was clear that they were masking their worries.

  Water spilled strenuously from the pipes that had burst in the explosion. Orange flames licked at the sky and debris, its crackling screams edging into their ears. Almost nothing remained of the facility.

   "Found him!" Tony rallied from a few feet away. Riley sharply turned on her heel and headed toward him. "Come on, buddy. Wake up." Riley hurried to his side as Tony kneeled next to an unconscious Steve Rogers. He stirred in his sleep prior to abruptly waking up. "There we go. That's our man." Steve glanced between his old friends, somewhat disoriented. Tony held up Steve's shield. "You lose this again, I'm keeping it."

   "What happened?" Steve breathily asked.

   "We messed with time. It tends to mess back," Tony said. "You'll see."

   "So, naturally, it sent a bunch of nukes at us?" Riley retorted. She offered Steve a hand, pulling him upward and onto his feet once more. He nodded gratefully at her while he took his shield back. "No, this is something else. This is some... 10th Circle of Hell type of shit."

   Without another word, the trio marched onward vigilantly. Silence swept across the atmosphere as they found Thor, who had been staring off at the hellish horizon alone. It didn't take them long to identify what was occupying Thor as they stood on varying levels of debris side-by-side. Through the demolition in the distance was the purple Titan known as Thanos.

   Riley hesitated as they stood together. They watched Thanos sit carelessly, calmly. "Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?" she queried.

   "What's he been doing?" Tony asked.

   Thor, who had been keeping watch while Tony searched for others, just reported, "Absolutely nothing."

   "Where are the stones?" Steve added.

   "Lost somewhere under all this," Tony revealed. "All I know is he doesn't have them."

   "So we keep it that way," Steve mentioned.

   "What's he waiting for?" Riley wondered. "If he knows we have the stones, why isn't he looking for them?"

   "He wants us to bring them to him," Tony guessed.

   "Makes sense," she mumbled. "Well, we can't let that happen." It seemed as though the four knew exactly what the others were thinking. They had to confront the man himself.

  "You know it's a trap, right?" Thor said. 

   "Yeah..." Tony lowly confirmed. "I don't much care."

   Thor nodded. "Good. Just as long as we're all in agreement." The looming clouds shifted. A booming rumble growled from the heavens as Thor's entire body lit up with lightning. Mjolnir and Stormbreaker were summoned into his firm grasp. For the first time in a long time, Thor was prepared to fight. "Let's kill him properly this time."

   The four descended from the debris they stood upon.

   Thanos locked his gaze on them as they approached him. "You could not live with your own failure. And where did that bring you? Back to me," Thanos proclaimed. "I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive. But you've shown me that's impossible. And as long as there are those who remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."

   "Yep," Tony chimed in. "We're all kinds of stubborn."

   Valor announced, "As much as I love hearing about this revelation you're faced with, I'd like to know how you're here. You're supposed to be dead."

   Thanos paused thoughtfully. "I suppose you're all far too incapable to understand the intricacies of my comeuppance without guidance," he stated, mostly to himself. "With the Decimation your universe was faced with, half of all existence vanished, leaving their souls to be transported and contained elsewhere."

   "The Soul Stone," Thor realized.

   "Precisely," Thanos sanctioned. "By releasing their souls and returning them to this damned universe, you all released everyone inside of it."

   "But you survived the Snap," Valor contended. "We were on Titan II together."

   Thanos nodded. "Indeed. But in order to fortify my plans five years ago, I needed to take it a step further. I bounded my soul to the Soul Stone to confirm that nothing could stop my Decimation. My physical presence guarded the physical stones; however, my soul remained tied to the stone," Thanos revealed. "By releasing the fallen from the stone, you freed my soul in the process. And I'm thankful. Because now, I know what I must do."

   Rising, Thanos sluggishly walked forward and withdrew his helmet from the point of his double-ended sword that had been stabbed into the dirt. He placed his helmet onto his head as he continued, "I will shred this universe down to its last atom. And then... with the stones you've kept for me, create a new one." He ripped his sword from the ground. "Teeming with life, but knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given. A grateful universe."

   "Born out of blood," Steve argued.

   "They'll never know it," Thanos insisted. He stood tall, confident. He was anticipating his victory. He had done it before, after all. He could do it again. "Because you won't be alive to tell them."

   But Riley had survived once before, too. She had lived her whole life surviving. She could do it again, too. Only this time, she really did have no other choice.

   With that, Thor released a rageful battle-cry and the fight commenced. Tony flew forward, his helmet now secured over his face, before diving back down with a weapon to slice at their enemy. Steve and Riley sprinted forward while Thor chucked Stormbreaker at the Titan.

   Riley tried to study his movements, but she couldn't stay still long enough to do so. All she could see was that he was sharp, maybe a bit slower to make up for the weight of his weapon. Valor observed him for an opening before striking him with beams of UV energy. Some were deflected off his sword, but others hit him, burning into his exposed skin tortuously.

   "Okay, Thor," Tony called. Large panels were exposed on his back. "Hit me." Thor banged his hammers together combined with his lightning, shooting the element toward Iron Man. Tony's suit sucked up all of the energy and shot it back out using his blasters. Riley just barely managed to duck out of the way in time, for she had still been fighting close to Thanos.

   Valor raised her hand to shield her eyes from the shining light. Tony's emissions of energy pushed toward Thanos, but the Titan fought against the beams by twirling his sword in circular rotations at an expedited speed. Tony moved closer and closer to him in hopes of striking Thanos at a closer range. Meanwhile, Thor tossed Mjolnir into the air and hit it like a baseball with Stormbreaker.

   Just before Mjolnir could reach them, Thanos flung his sword to the side and grabbed Tony, using him as a shield against the hammer. Mjolnir banged against Iron Man, sending him soaring and crashing into rubble.

   Riley pulled herself back onto her feet, eyes wide. Could Tony survive that? She didn't have time to wonder. Her head snapped toward the sword that laid not too far from her. As Thanos swung his fist toward Steve, Riley seized the weapon and chucked it at her assailant. The object grazed Thanos's exposed skin. He caught it before it could go any further.

   "Riley!" Steve shouted. He patted his shield, nodding at her. She knew exactly what he wanted her to do. She charged her fists with UV energy and, with a grunt, shot her rays at Captain America. He recoiled only slightly before turning his shield to act as a giant mirror. He deflected the rays at Thanos's face.

   There was a vociferous bellow of agony that came from Thanos. He knelt, hands shielding his face. He fisted a piece of the earth, gripping it tightly and catapulting it at Steve. The impact sent the soldier flying. 

   Thanos whipped his attention back to Valor. Before he could do anything, though, Thor lurched forward with Stormbreaker and brought the weapon down. Thanos hindered it from injuring him with his sword. But Thor was stronger. He sacrificed Stormbreaker to rip the sword from Thanos's grasp. With their weapons by their feet, they were left to only their fists and their wits.

   Clamping his hand around Thor's neck, Thanos rocketed the God of Thunder into the earth. Riley burst toward Thanos and jumped upward to punch him, causing him to elbow the teenager in response. He stepped away from Thor to knock her into the ground. She went skidding backward, her back creating a trail behind her until her head slammed against a boulder.

   Riley couldn't find it in her to keep watching Thanos as he fought Thor. She could barely keep her eyes open. She tuned out whatever JOCASTA was trumpeting into her ears. Her head spun as she traveled in and out of consciousness. Riley's hands patted the ground beside her for something, anything that could help her. She turned her head to the side. spotting Mjolnir. Riley could have actually laughed at that moment, for she knew she couldn't pick up that stupid thing.

   She could hear Thor struggling against Thanos, so it didn't surprise her all that much when Mjolnir began to levitate into the air. However, she was confused when it didn't glide in Thor's direction and instead went in the opposing direction.

   Riley raised herself on her elbows, her jaw plummeting as Steve Rogers held Mjolnir. "No fucking way," Riley breathlessly commented as Thor screeched, "I knew it!"

   Riley tried to stand back up again, but she physically couldn't. Her chest puffed up and down as her heart tried to keep up. Valor fell back and laid flat once more. She was left to listen to the sounds of Steve and Thanos fighting against one another. "C'mon, Riley," she muttered to herself. "Come on..."

   Riley couldn't believe herself. She had fought so hard, so diligently for years and years of her life. Everything she had been working toward, everything she faced was all for moments like this. Riley couldn't let a few blows to the head or pure exhaustion stop her. She couldn't quit. Not now. Not yet.

   "Do something right in the world for us, Riley. For the three of us." The words echoed in Riley's head. They danced alongside her raging migraine. She wasn't doing this for herself anymore. She was doing it for the Avengers, for Athena, for the world at large.

   And so, Riley propelled herself upward with as much might as she could conjure. She cursed under breath. She wished she had been provided with more time to recover after battling against Thanos just a few hours earlier that day. Perhaps Riley was the unluckiest person in the galaxy.

   "In all my years of conquest... violence... slaughter..." Thanos began after throwing Steve down again. "It was never personal. But I'll tell you now... what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet... I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much."

   It was in that moment Riley Juniper Stark wished she had just stayed on the damn ground.

   A fluorescent shaft of light shot down from the heavens, leaving behind an entire militia of aliens. Riley's blood ran cold at the sight. Chitauri aliens, the Children of Thanos, Outriders, and all kinds of menacing aliens crowded together as one extensive army. She had never seen anything like that except for in her nightmares.

   Trying to steady her breath, Riley turned invisible and stumbled toward Steve's direction. He was just barely standing. His shield was cracked and blood gushed from all over his body. Riley couldn't believe it at first. But the closer and closer she got to him as he stood alone, Riley realized that she could, as a matter of fact, believe it. Steve stood with the intention of taking on that entire army alone.

   "Are... Are you out of your goddamn mind?" Riley croaked, turning visible once she was beside Steve. "Were you... Were you really gonna try... and take on that army... by yourself?"

   Steve breathed heavily as he contracted the strap on his shield once more. "I can... I can do this... all day," he spat through gritted teeth.

   Riley wasn't in any better condition than he was, but that didn't stop her from declaring, "If we lose, we... we lose together."

   Steve didn't have it in him to speak anymore. Together, Captain America and Valor stood beside each other, staring out at the army before them with a fierce, but cynical determination scratched onto their wounded faces.

   Riley didn't have a plan. She didn't even have the makings of one. All she knew was that despite how weary she felt, despite how beaten down she had been, despite how slim their odds were, Riley would stand.

   "Cap, can you hear me?"

   Riley froze as Steve gandered at her, bewildered. They had both heard it—the crackling that tickled their eardrums where their communicator was. It was the voice of... but that wasn't right. It wasn't possible.

  "Cap, it's Sam. Can you hear me?" There was a brief pause before Sam Wilson added, "On your left."

   The pair sluggishly pivoted around. A golden portal stood behind them, allowing three individuals in tribal armor to walk out. It was Okoye, King T'Challa, and Shuri. Shortly after them, Sam Wilson went soaring above them. Riley was speechless at the sight of them. She thought she was going to pass out when more and more portals emerged, bringing forth more and more heroes to the warzone.

   "YIBAMBE!" T'Challa roared, causing every single Wakandan behind him to chant back in response. Riley had never seen anything like it. Hundreds and hundreds of heroes stepped out, prepared to fight. Every single hero had come together for the Battle on Earth. Maybe they still had a chance of winning after all.

   "Is that everyone?" Doctor Strange called from not too far away. It made sense to Riley now. He had seen what would happen five years ago. He was the one who brought everyone here.

   "What, you wanted more?" Wong retorted.

   As if on cue, Scott Lang emerged from the rubble of the Avengers facility as Giant-Man. Hulk, Rhodey, and Rocket stepped off of his enlarged hand while Thor and Iron Man returned to their side. The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Wakandans, Asgardians, and Masters of the Mystic Arts took their positions.

   Riley had been so taken aback by the heroes that she hadn't realized: she was in no condition to fight. She needed something to wake her up, and adrenaline alone wasn't going to do the trick. Her eyes trailed up to the dark sky above, an idea coming to mind. Her body began to glow with light again. She gathered her thoughts and sharpened her focus as needed.

   Steve summoned Mjolnir with his free hand and shouted, "AVENGERS!" A flattened forcefield formed beneath Riley's feet, leisurely elevating her. She extended her hands to the sky, the dark clouds beginning to separate. "...ASSEMBLE!"

   Riley shot skyward on her forcefield, bringing her arms down. Enormous beams of sunlight blasted toward the terrain, consuming and burning up countless enemies right from the start. War cries rippled through the battlefield as the heroes raced into action, their enemies meeting them midway.

   Valor felt rejuvenated as the few exposed areas in the sky brought sunshine upon her. She soaked it in while gliding aboard her forcefield, shooting UV rays out of her hands at the aliens from above. She spun around and continued to fire her beams, only faltering slightly when she noticed her father flying beside her doing the same.

   "Dad!" Riley realized, mostly jarred that he was still fighting effortlessly. She glimpsed to her right and gasped. A woman in a familiar purple, Iron Man-like suit had been fighting similarly to her and Tony—Wait. "...Mom!?"

   The Stark trio rotated in a circle fighting with their backs together. If you had told Riley five years ago that this was what Doctor Strange saw in the future, she would have never believed you.

   Diving toward the ground, Valor sprinted toward a pack of Outriders. She extracted one of the many weapons strapped to her body. "Time to find out what these things do," Riley mumbled. She held a staff that immediately became charged upon making contact with her energy. Riley stabbed it into one of the Outriders, her eyes widening when the creature exploded on impact.

   Riley continued to fight, swerving and swinging her body to take down her opponents. She slid onto the ground as another Outrider flung itself at her.

   "Riley!"

   "Huh?" Riley spun around in confusion at the voice that had called her name. She could hardly hear it over all the noise.

   "Riley! Over here! Hey!"

   The teenager whisked her head in the voice's direction. Her eyes widened upon landing on a boy wearing a red suit. "Oh my God... Oh my God!" Riley exclaimed. Her mask shifted to reveal her bloodied, startled face. It was him—It was Peter Parker. "Peter!?"

   "Riley!" Peter repeated. The two heroes bolted toward each other, dodging aliens in the process. "Riley—Whoa, hey, look out!"

  Before she knew it, Peter had jumped over her and sacrificed himself to protect his friend. This prevented Riley from receiving another wound amongst many of her other ones. Peter landed on the ground with a thud upon throwing the creature off. "No!" He dramatically reached up at the sky, gazing over at Riley as she watched him. "You have to go on without me!"

   Riley could have laughed at the familiarity of the scene. "Peter, stand up."

   "I can't!"

   "Peter, stand up."

   "Why should I? Just leave me!"

   Riley shook her head and pulled him to his feet. "Come on, Pete!" she declared. "I promised I'd protect you. Let me do my job!"

   Peter flashed a smile at her. "Well, then who's gonna protect you?"

   Riley paused and sheepishly smiled. "You?" she awkwardly rejoined, gaining a laugh from Peter.

   Before anything else could rip her away from him again, Riley impulsively reached out and wrapped her arms around Peter as tight as she could. She tucked her face into his neck, standing on her toes as she hugged him. She didn't care about anything else at that moment. She just cared about him. Peter pulled his arms around her in an instant. He didn't want to let go. He just wanted to stay like that for a long time.

   Because for a moment in time, they had lost each other, and now, they were finally reunited.

   Suddenly remembering their circumstances, Riley pulled back with wide eyes. "I, um, I... Sorry! I just... I really missed you... and..." she nervously blurted. "I'm... I'm gonna go back to fighting now!"

   Peter couldn't tell whether or not his cheeks were warm from fighting or because he was blushing. "I missed you, too," he shyly mentioned as the two unwillingly backed away from each other. "Don't die on me, Ghostie! You promised you'd take me out to celebrate me being an Avenger, you know!"

   She laughed. She actually laughed despite what was going on around them. "I'll try my best!"

   Riley tried her best to overlook the fuzzy feeling she experienced when he returned the smile. 'Geez, I must've really missed my friends, huh,' she momentarily thought. Shrugging, Riley retreated back to the fight.

   "Cap, what do you want me to do with this damn thing?" Clint shouted into her comm.

   A few seconds passed prior to Steve ordering, "Get the stones as far away as possible!"

   "No!" Bruce objected.

   "Did you seriously forget about the timeline crap?" asked Riley.

   "We need to get them back where they came from!" Bruce added. Valor flipped herself onto an alien's shoulders, spinning herself around to twist its neck. It was times like these where she was thankful for Natasha forcing her to become flexible throughout her training.

   "No way to get them back," Tony stated. "Thanos destroyed the Quantum Tunnel."  

   "There's got to be another way!" Natasha encouraged with a grunt as she fought.

   "Hold on!" Scott yelled. Riley could see him in the distance before he shrunk back down to normal size. "That wasn't our only time machine." With that being said, a car horn blasting La Cucaracha filled their ears.

   Riley devised a forcefield beneath her feet to ascend. She searched for Scott's van—the one he arrived at the Avengers facility with. She could hardly see a thing. Everything on the ground was camouflaged into one mess. "JO, check the sats," Riley enjoined. "We need to find a brown van."

   "Copy that," JOCASTA returned.

   "Anyone see an ugly, brown van up there?" Steve quizzed the others.

   "Yes! But you're not gonna like where it's parked," a woman's voice replied. Riley didn't recognize it.

   Coordinates appeared before Riley's eyes. "Got it!" she announced. "It's up by the pack of Outriders, just west of the spaceships!"

   "Scott, how long do you need to get that thing working?" Tony questioned.

   "Maybe ten minutes."

   "Get it started. We'll get the stones to you," Steve declared.

   "We're on it, Cap," another unrecognizable woman ensured. Maybe Riley needed to spend a few minutes meeting everyone when this was all over.

   Riley flew skyward in search of Clint. If she could provide him with protection and guidance, then he'd have a greater chance of getting the Gauntlet to Scott. She just had to—

   She grunted as something struck her from the ground. She tumbled, rocks and debris stabbing her sides until she managed to stop herself by creating a forcefield around her. She breathed heavily, propping herself on the palms of her hands. Still alive.

   She looked up, grimacing at what she saw. "Oh, come on," she groaned.

   Three of her toughest enemies stood before her: Thanos, Ebony Maw, and Corvus Glaive. "Where's the Gauntlet?" Thanos thundered to two aliens beside him. It didn't seem like they could see her from where she laid.

   "Sire!" Maw charged. Riley followed where he had been pointing with her eyes, locating Clint Barton and the Gauntlet.

   As Thanos and two of his alleged Children separated to take the stones, Riley got back on her feet. Maw and Corvus flew off, leaving Riley to focus on Thanos.

   Thanos marched ahead, only to stumble backward due to a forcefield he couldn't visualize. It didn't take him long to understand what was going on. "Show yourself, child of the sun!" Thanos boomed.

   Riley strode forward, revealing herself. "I'm not letting you take those stones," she snarled.

   Thanos cited pitifully, "You could have joined us. I could have made you a warrior!"

   "I used to think that you were the ultimatum. Everything we did was in preparation for you," Riley spat. "But I was wrong. We will survive whatever you have planned. Because this time, we are the endgame."

   With that being said, she charged her body with UV energy and stormed ahead. She blasted him with everything she had. He swung his large sword at her, but instead of ducking, this time Riley created a forcefield over her head. The sword slammed against it. Riley pushed her hands upward, causing the forcefield to push against him and send him to his knees with a shout. As he fell, Wanda leaped down beside her.

   "Go!" Wanda commanded. "Protect the stones!"

   Riley glanced back at her. "Are you sure?" Wanda just nodded brusquely before turning back to Thanos. Riley didn't need to argue. If there was anyone that Titan should have feared, it was Wanda Maximoff.

   Mounting another forcefield, Riley spotted T'Challa and Maw facing off. It seemed that Clint had passed T'Challa the Gauntlet in the meanwhile, but now, the King was trapped in a group of rocks, courtesy of Maw. He gripped onto the Gauntlet desperately.

   Riley glided toward them. "T'Challa!" she called. Once he spotted her, he threw the Gauntlet above himself without another second to waste. She caught it with one hand. Before she took off, Riley turned her attention to Maw. "Hey, asshole! Think fast!" Then, she detonated the alien, furthermore releasing his hold on the Black Panther.

   As the teenager moved in the direction of the coordinates JOCASTA had provided her with, she couldn't help but notice the ships above her point their cannons at the ground. That could only mean one thing.

  "Seriously!?" she whined. She dropped onto the ground, rolling forward with the Gauntlet tucked under her arm. With her right arm, she raised a large forcefield over the majority of the battlefield. Many of the Masters of Mystic Arts did the same, shielding the areas her forcefield could not reach. Canons began to fire down at them. "Can someone... agh, take this stupid thing from me?!"

   In her peripheral vision, a silver blur zipped around her. Pietro Maximoff took out the aliens that surrounded her, protecting her as she shielded everyone else.

   "Hey, Ghostie, I'm open!" Peter's voice came. Without looking, Riley chucked the Gauntlet up. He caught it with his webs before taking off.

   Riley focused on maintaining her forcefield, expanding it slowly. The cannons were troublesome to defend against, and it didn't help that the ground quaked violently. She clenched her jaw. Her head ached as her muscles burned with tension.

   A loud yell grasped Riley's attention. She thrashed her head to find Pietro flying in the air. He slammed his head against the ground. When he didn't get up, alarm overcame the girl.

   "Pietro? PIETRO!" Riley screamed. Those few seconds her focus had been broken were just enough for the cannons to push her down. Riley felt her legs dangling as she was thrown into the atmosphere. As Riley crash-landed, she clumsily stumbled onto her feet and ungracefully hurried to the unconscious man's side. She plummeted to her knees and grabbed his shirt with her fists. "Pietro? C'mon, Pietro, get up! Get up!"

   As the earth rumbled with every blast, Riley felt herself slipping further and further from reality. She shook him manically. "Pietro, wake up!" she screeched. "JO, check his vitals. Now, please!"

   "It's not looking good, Valor. Quicksilver's BP is 144 over 86. He's tachycardic and facing numerous hemorrhages from internal trauma. He's only unconscious, but he needs emergency medical care."

   "Great," Riley scornfully mumbled. She gasped as the ground shook again. She plunged herself over her friend as rubble fell onto them. She winced at the pain of it, regretting not using a forcefield instead. Her mind was racing. She couldn't think clearly. She couldn't let Pietro die.

   Riley faltered when she noticed the ground had finally stopped spinning for her. She cranked her neck to see the spaceships in the sky firing at a different target. "JO, what's... what's happening up there?" she croaked, coughing from the smoke entering her lungs.

   "Something has entered the upper atmosphere!"

   Pressing her lips into a line, Riley peered back at Pietro. It didn't look like he was getting up anytime soon. She leered at the sky again. For all Riley knew, whatever had entered the atmosphere could have been something bad. She needed to investigate. Riley glanced back down at Pietro once more and tensely sighed. "Please don't die. I'll be right back," Riley begged the unconscious speedster. "Please don't die."

   Riley, then, boosted herself on a forcefield. An explosion rang in her ears as the spaceships combusted into flames. A golden woman flew high in the sky. "JO, what the hell is that?" Riley demanded.

   "Boss, it's Carol Danvers."

   Riley choked on her own spit. That was Carol Danvers!? Riley was actually seeing her in action!? She was speechless.

   Now thinking about the other members of her team, she realized something. Had Peter gotten the Gauntlet to Scott? Concern dyed her as she took off in the direction of the van that was harboring a time machine. She dropped down when she spotted Spider-Man huddled up in a small corner with his arms tightly coiled around the Gauntlet. Carol Danvers stood directly before him.

   "Hi. I'm... I'm Peter Parker."

   "Hey, Peter Parker. Got something for me?"

   For just a split-second, Riley had completely faded from reality just to take in the fact that she was standing in front of Captain Marvel, star-struck again.

   As Peter passed Carol the gauntlet, he confessed, "I don't... I don't know how you're gonna get through all that." He motioned to the approaching aliens.

   "Don't worry," Wanda asserted, landing on the ground next to Riley. She placed a hand on her shoulder.

   Okoye joined the group. "She's got help."

   "Not that she needs much of it," Riley commented without thinking twice.

   A large crowd of female heroes gathered around before Peter Parker. Riley stood amongst Carol, Wanda, Pepper, Okoye, Shuri, and so many others as they all turned to face the approaching enemies. Together, the women charged ahead with Natasha and Riley leading the pack, annihilating every alien in sight.

   Riley had been so focused on fighting that she hardly noticed it when Thanos punched Carol Danvers to the side and slipped the gauntlet on. 'When the hell did that happen!?' she frantically thought.

   Shifting gears, Riley turned from her enemies and headed for Thanos as he plunged Thor and Steve into the terrain. She could take down as many aliens as she wanted, but it wouldn't matter if Thanos snapped his fingers.

   The closer Riley got, the more clearly she could see the fight as Tony was flung to the side. Natasha, Clint, and Bruce were also harboring wounds from facing similar hits. The original Avengers came together to undertake the Titan.

   But the time Riley arrived, it was too late. Thanos was embracing the sensation of all the stones and their powers coursing through him. Riley's heart sunk in her chest. Had they really lost again?

   Riley snapped out of her defeated stupor when she noticed Tony lunge at Thanos. Was he insane? In the blink of an eye, Thanos shoved Tony to the ground. Riley wasted no time in making her way toward her father, even if she had lost the energy to properly run toward him. If they were going to die, she wanted to be with him.

   Her eyes were locked on Thanos as she moved closer to Tony. She held her breath. Thanos had the gauntlet. Thanos had the stones. Again.

   But as Thanos held his gloved hand into the sky, she noticed something off about the Gauntlet. She had seen it up close many times by now, and she knew that it had a supernatural glow whenever the stones were in it. Riley swore she could feel their energies the closer she was to them. Unsure of what was happening, Riley peered back at Tony. He looked like he was far from reality, a disoriented gleam in his eyes.

   "Tony?" Riley gently called. "D... Dad?" Her eyes moved down when he refused to look at her, searching for an injury that could have left him so mute. "Oh, you've got... to be shitting me." In Tony's hand was the six Infinity Stones. He must have torn them from the Gauntlet.

  Thanos smirked at the mortals, oblivious. "I am... inevitable," he declared. 

   He, then, snapped his fingers, but nothing happened other than a metallic clinking sound. Thanos's face dropped. It was at that moment when he realized that the stones were missing. It was all clicking in Riley's head what Tony was about to do.

   The stones gathered on Tony's right hand as if it were the infamous Gauntlet. Thanos peered back at him and for the first time in history, he looked genuinely petrified. Meanwhile, Riley's heart rate had increased notably. Everything was happening so fast. Tony was going to die if he took on the power of the stones. And there was nothing she could do about it. Tony was going to die.

   Tears engulfed her eyes. All she could do was reach out and take his free hand. Tony spared a final glance at the girl. Beneath the fear and distress, there was a hint of apologetic regret in his gaze.

   "D-Do it," Riley mumbled with a wavering voice. "I'm... I'm here."

   Tony didn't say a word as he gazed back at Thanos. Riley couldn't breathe. She worried that if she blinked, she'd miss something important—that was how fast the scene unraveled before her eyes. She felt someone grab her hand. From the corner of her eye, she saw Thor and beside him were Steve, Bruce, Natasha, and Clint. The seven Avengers held hands as Tony said his final words.

   "And I..." Tony dawdled. This was it. This was how he was going to die. Tony had accepted it. "...am... Iron Man." Riley squeezed her eyes shut as Tony snapped his fingers. She had been expecting him to die in her grasp, killing their enemies in the process.

   But that wasn't entirely accurate.

   What she hadn't been expecting, however, was the power of the stones to swiftly surge throughout all seven of the heroes. Riley cringed at the powerful sensation. It was like her insides were being ribbed apart from the power of the stones. Screams of pain sounded from the courageous heroes until it was finally over.

   When Riley opened her eyes, tears gushed down her face. Her mask came off as the pain undeviatingly subsided. Her jaw fell open in shock, gasping aloud. She couldn't believe her eyes. One by one, every single member of Thanos's army turned to ashes and dust just as the rest of the world once had five years ago. Riley waited until Thanos was gone for good to breathe again.

   Riley didn't want to look to the side. She didn't want to face Tony. If he was really dead after all that, which was what she was expecting, she didn't want to see it. But the curiosity was killing her. The anticipation was eating her alive. Slowly but surely, Riley turned.

   "T...Tony?" Riley beckoned weakly, her voice cracking. He didn't speak. He just stood there breathing heavily with his glove steaming. He fell onto his knees, making Riley's anxiety worsen. "Dad, come on... Say something."

   She watched him worriedly, not even realizing that Thor had released her hand. Riley continued, "You can't die on me. Are you... Are you listening? I told you I wouldn't let you die. I told you... I told you we'd both survive. Together. Come on, Tony, please." When Tony didn't speak, Riley felt herself begin to panic. "FRIDAY, get that thing off him. P... Please."

   She and the other heroes who had slowly begun to gather around observed as FRIDAY dismantled his glove. The stones fell off in an instant. Pepper speedily disembarked beside her daughter, worry lines imprinted into her aging face.

   "Please, please, please..." Pepper murmured repeatedly under her breath. "FRIDAY?"

   Just before FRIDAY could speak, the teenager tensed as Tony stretched out and placed his uninjured hand onto her shoulder, squeezing it. The girl tensed at the familiar action. It was his go-to whenever she was in distress. Tony was trying to comfort her of all people... like she was the one walking the line between life and death.

   "Life functions are barely sustainable," FRIDAY finally disclosed.

   Pepper released a loud sigh of relief. "T... Tony," she weakly stammered. "You're... You're gonna be okay." She smiled faintly. "You can relax. You... You did it."

   By now, the tears hadn't stopped leaking from Riley's eyes. "You're-You're grounded for life," Riley tried to joke, hoping to make him feel somewhat better. "I mean it."

   "Looking... forward... to it," Tony managed to squeeze out. Riley shook her head, dipping her head down as she proceeded to catch her breath for the first time in what felt like years.

   Bruce looked around at their surroundings with a furrowed brow. "Is... Is that it?" he exhaustedly queried. "Is it over?"

   Everyone was dumbfounded, shocked, and overwhelmed to some extent. There wasn't an enemy in sight. Thanos was nowhere to be seen. They were all gone, snapped out of existence. "He did it," Steve mumbled. "It's over."

   It was irrevocably over.

   The Infinity War had concluded once and for all, and finally, the world could rest.

○ ○ ○

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

lmao ok hear me out. you might've noticed that tony and nat didn't die like they do in the film. i've been really going back and forth on this for a literal full month, and this is the only reason i really have is this:

their endings as characters was, in simple words, bullshit.

i could go on about this for HOURS. i understand and support the sentiment behind tony's sacrifice in the film, and that's the biggest reason why i was so hesitant about writing endgame this way. but then i remembered that tony deserved to live his life with his family and i stand by that!

SO now that i'm writing this story, i just decided to fuck it and do what i want. it's honestly far more interesting to write/read if you put your own twists on the stories we already know. if you're upset for whatever reason, just look at it like this: this is just one of the many universes in the multi-verse where things were different! that being said, while many survived, there's still a lot coming that has me sweating just thinking about it.

please do let me know what your thoughts are lmao - i'm curious n nervous n all that jazz <3