You're like a bullet.

You stood on the porch with your hand just inches from connecting to the white wooden door, the worn and scabbed wounds of your knuckles a sharp contrast to its clean veneer. Your hand shook as you watched it, trying to will it to connect but it wouldn't move. Maybe it would be best to try later, when you could compose yourself, but this was a task that wouldn't go away; it was something that had to be done, and something that only you could do.

Leaning forward with a shaky exhalation that matched the tremor in your hands, you rested your head gently against the door and gathered your will, only to find it wavering and slipping from your grasp. The longer you waited, the harder this became to face. The longer you waited, the easier it would be to turn and run. Pushing yourself back, you took a step to leave just as the hinges of the door let out their telltale squeal that you'd been found out.

"Hi, (Y/N)! What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Cassie," you smiled down to her, kneeling to her level with a wince of pain as your bruised and battered knees pressed against the hard surface. Tears pooled in your eyes but you fought them back before they could spill, trying to keep a strong exterior in front of the tiny girl. "Is your mommy here, peanut?"

"Yeah, hold on!"

She turned and skipped through the house, unknowingly flaunting her innocence and stabbing you in the heart with the joy in her laughter. She didn't know yet, and it killed you to realize that you were about to steal all of that away from her. In one freakish accident, in one flash of a second, everything changed.

~~~

"Shoot the damn arrow already, Barton! I can't hold on forever!"

"Do you want me to miss?" Clint snapped, slowly releasing the tension on the bow. "That's how people get hurt, Lang."

"Says the guy who never misses," he scoffed in reply. "Alright, Cap, coming to ya!"

Clint pulled back on the bow again and took aim, perfectly lining the shot that would bring Scott next to Steve and in the midst of a greatly outnumbered battle. You, Tony, and Natasha were already there with him, but the numbers were too great and getting larger. Steve called in Scott to undermine the assailants before they knew what hit them; literally. The arrow released and Scott yelled out with the velocity, laughing to keep his nerves in check more than anything else. He held on tightly despite the wind pushing at his body and trying to make him fall, waiting to make the leap from the arrow at just the right moment.

But the moment never came. In a misjudged, mistaken second, Steve turned, shield in hand and extended directly in Scott's path.

You're like a bullet.

~~~

Cassie returned, still happy to see you, bringing you the latest thing that Scott had sent her from your recent mission in Wakanda; a gift from T'Challa that she was holding against her chest securely, scared to lose her grip on the precious item. After a full inspection and painstaking description, she ran back into the house to find her next treasure to share, just as Maggie turned the corner and saw your face.

"(Y/N)...no."

You stood with a deep breath, finding it harder now to hold the tears back, "don't let her see me like this, Mag."

"Cassie?" she called out over her shoulder, though her eyes never left you. "Can you play in your room for a few minutes so I can talk to (Y/N)?"

"Okay! But she can't leave until I show her my new school bag! It has Tony on it!"

Maggie's steps quickened as she crossed the floor towards you, rushing into your arms as you finally let your emotions go now that you had the allowance to do so. You could only imagine how you were ruining her shirt with your flowing tears as she held you, but there was nothing that would be able to pull you away from her now. "Shh, it's going to be okay," she said quietly and soothingly, her hand gently rubbing circles on your back. "It's okay."

"I can't stop seeing it."

"You can tell me, if it helps."

"No," you sniffled, finally pushing back, "I've talked too much about it already." You reached into your bag and pulled out two envelopes, neither of them labelled, but it didn't matter which she opened first; you just wanted them out of your hands and the pain that sealed them to stop. "Here," you mumbled, extending them to her as tears dropped onto the plain white paper.

"What's this?"

"The future."

~~~

Scott saw the moment coming a mere second or two before he met the shield, but he wasn't fast enough to hit the button; if he could have regrown, the impact would have hurt like hell and broken a bunch of bones, but that would be the worst of it. The hit came a millisecond before the growth, bringing a completely shattered body to full size.

You're like a bullet.

Steve knew first-hand that bullets were no match for Vibranium; when he felt the impact and knew what it meant, he dropped the shield at his feet, refusing to lift it again until the battle was won.

"Scott!" you yelled out to him, rushing to his side and dropping down next to him. The raging battle around you faded into the distance of your mind, as if it weren't even there. All you could focus on was him and seeing if he had survived. You pulled at the broken helmet, ripping the skin on your hands and scraping your knuckles as you tore the twisted metal apart to remove it fully; when you saw his face, you could breath a sigh of relief for only a second. You looked down at the rest of him and your heart sank as his uniform began to soak with his blood from beneath it.

"(Y/N), it's okay," he moaned, his eyes shut tightly, "you told me to stop..."

"Shh, don't talk, Scott. We need to get you out of here." You tried to open the suit but a weak hand came up to stop you; when you looked back at his face, his eyes were now open.

"It's okay...just tell Cassie..."

"I will."

"And you..."

The team moved in to surround you, fighting off assailants with a renewed energy and full of anger, giving you the precious few minutes to say goodbye. "We love you too, Scott," you continued with a hitch in your breaths as your voice faltered, "you're the best thing to have ever happened to me."

"I am...the best..." he smiled weakly, closing his eyes again for the last time. You felt the drop in his chest as your hand rested against it, waiting for it to rise again, but it never would.

~~~

"The team started a fund for Cassie," you explained. "We've all contributed, and will every year until she's eighteen. It should cover any expenses for whatever you need. School supplies, clothes, or if you guys just want a pizza night. Please, use it."

"(Y/N), I can't take-"

"This one is from Tony," you went on without pause. Your mind and body felt like it was running on autopilot, and you had no control over yourself. "There's enough in that account to pay for any college that she wants to attend when the day comes. If there's not, he said that all you have to do is call."

"Wow," she gasped in a hush, "I don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything." You turned to make your escape, but the tiny voice came from behind Maggie again, holding her new backpack, bright red and covered in Iron Man from top to bottom.

"(Y/N), look! How cool is this?"

"So cool," you sniffled, wiping your eyes quickly before she could see. "Did Tony send you that? I bet he did just so Steve wouldn't send his first. Those boys are very competitive."

"You think so? Tell Cap that he can still send his! I'll use them both!"

"I will, peanut. Now come say goodbye," you smiled faintly, holding out your arms. When she gladly ran to them you squeezed her tightly and knew that it would be the last time you would see her. It hurt too much, and right now, you couldn't see a future that wasn't damaged beyond repair, and she deserved better. "I love you, kiddo. Be good to your mama, okay?"

"I will!" she pulled away, leaving a small kiss on your cheek before skipping away again, swinging her bag excitedly over her shoulder. As much as she loved that backpack, and that it had been given to her by a real superhero, you wished that he had sent her a suit of armor instead to protect her from a world so cruel. But you knew it wouldn't have helped; you had to take solace in knowing that the tiny little girl would enter the world just a little stronger than the rest because Iron Man would always have her back.