THROUGH THE WINDOW, the forest was on fire. The flames blazed along Bronwen's barrier, and as her power weakened, the barrier grew millimetres smaller.
Wanda drifts to the window, to the pained look on Bronwen's face.
"Go." Bronwen hissed, clutching the beam like a life support, "Go, Wanda."

Wanda glanced to the pained teen, and added her own layer of power on top of Bronwen's. Their reds and purples swirled together, and Bronwen was relieved.
Only for a moment.
And Wanda turned from the window and raced down the hallway, out of Bronwen's sight. Bronwen turned back to the window. Sets of large wheels slid under the first barrier, separating and plowing across the battlefield, crushing allies and enemies all the same. She could faintly hear the King's shouts as he called for his army to fall back through her comms, but the rush of blood through her ears soon overtook her hearing.
A muffled cry of pain brought Bronwen's attention to a sharp focus. She turned around, and her eyes narrowed as she saw a slimmer figure emerging through the hallway.
"Keep working." Bronwen hissed to Shuri, and she propelled herself up onto the second lever with her power.

The guards that had been left raced toward the figure, yet they were only swatted away like flies. Their attempt was useless.
The alien - or whatever Bronwen supposedly called it - snarled as he saw her. He knew her, remembered what the plans were for her all those years ago. She was supposed to be by Thanos's side - to aid him in finding the stones.
Bronwen only knew a part of that.
And in a split second of choice, Bronwen disbanded her shield around the city, and focused all her power to her body. She fought, blocking the creatures attempts at throwing her off track. It pushed her further and further back toward the edge of the platform, toward Shuri, who was rushing the shutdown of her program. Bronwen could hear Vision shifting on the examination table, and she wished they had more time.
Wished they had more time.
As soon as the program was shut down, Shuri flipped around to fire a hand-held gun-thing. Bronwen was not able to get a good look at it before she was flung across the room in a moment of confusion. She grunted in pain as the creature barreled after her, Shuri having disappeared.
Bronwen held a hand before her to stop the creature and —
Vision rushed into the creature, pushing them out of the window and into the forest world below. Groaning, Bronwen held a hand to her ear, "Vision is out of the building." She hissed, "Can someone get to him?"

"I got him!" Bruce's voice beamed through the comms, and Bronwen was able to sigh in relief.

For only a moment.

Hearing herself upward, Bronwen pressed against her wound. She didn't even know how she received it - and suspected that it happened during the midst of her 'battle'. Bronwen was unable to heal herself on the spot - she did not possess that type of power - but to slow the bleeding she covered the wound in a sheet of power.
Damn her for ripping her suit.
Bronwen stepped toward the open window, and scanned the tree line for any sight of Vision before hopping out herself.

∆ ∆ ∆

"...But you're dying, like any man."

In a blast of power, Bronwen propelled the creature away from Vision. Steve entering the clearing just as she did.
"Get outta here!" Steve braves himself beside her for an attack, and glances back over to the unmoving Vision, "GO!"

Using her power, Bronwen kept the creature on its knees from a distance, "Steve," she caught his attention, "get Vision out of here, I can hold him." Steve held his ground. "Steve, Go! Now!"

Reluctantly, Steve aided Vision in standing. The creature under Bronwen's power began to fight back, thrashing violently at the purple tendrils that kept him in place. The strain on Bronwen was immense, and considering that her power had been used for a long amount of time, her hold on the creature began to loosen.
She guessed it was time for hand to hand combat, then.
In a flurry of movement, Bronwen used the remainder of her power to teleport by the creatures side, conjuring up a weapon as she went. The two clashed weapons, and in the corner of her eye she could see Vision and Steve slowly leaving the clearing.
She just had to hold him off for a little longer.
Bronwen parried every slash and lunge aimed toward her. She had gritted her teeth, raised her arms, and pushed against the blade that was aimed for her neck.
She would not die today.
Her knees began to buckle, sweat was sliding down her back, her suit was becoming slick with it.
She would not die today.
She tightened her hands impossibly more on her conjured weapon, her knuckles turning white. The creature began to grin, knowing that her defeat was imminent.
A second pair of hands reached for her staff, and in a burst of energy her and the second pair pushed the creature back.
She panted, leaning over for a moment of breath, "I thought you left."

Vision was standing behind her, supporting her without her knowing, "We don't trade lives, Miss Deirdre."

∆ ∆ ∆

Bronwen sat on the undergrowth, leaning against a fallen tree. She held a hand on her wound, the pain radiating from the scar on her hand had overcome her senses. She hardly heard the worries of those around her. Through the rushing of her blood, she heard two words that she dread to here, "He's here."

After those words were spoken, strands of Bronwen's hair flew into her face. The wind had slightly picked up.
Steve held his wrist to his mouth, speaking, "Everyone, on my position. We have incoming."

Bronwen didn't see the hero's who joined them. Instead, she was focused on putting herself up on her own two feet. She shuffled toward Vision, bracing herself against the trees and branches near her. Her vision became focused on a small blur of blue off in the distance. To her shock is became bigger and bigger, blues and blacks swirling until a portal-sized hole in the forest appeared.
Bronwen began to glare.
Thanos was here, and all Bruce could do was confirm it.
She held up her fists and stood before Vision, watching as the other Avengers were thrown across by the gauntlet, by the stones.
Vision turns to Wanda, standing beside Bronwen, looking furious at the Titan, "Wanda, it's time."

She shook her head, "No..."

"They can't stop him, Wanda, but we can." Wanda turned her face away, Vision continued to speak, "Look at me." She obliged, "You have the power to destroy the stone."

"Don't." She took a step back, away from Vision, toward Thanos.

Bronwen shook her head, "Wanda if you don't do it, I will."

The red head looked between the blonde and Vision, conflicted. Sure, the pair had similar powers, but Wanda's was made of the same stone that was in Visions forehead.
Her lip wobbled and she bit on it, "It's not fair..."

"It shouldn't be you..." Vision fell to his knees before her, and Bronwen held up her hands, using the last remainders of her power to blast a wall between her and Thanos - who was still occupied with the other heros. "But it is. It's all right. You could never hurt me. I just... feel you..."

Reluctantly, Wanda extended a hand and a burst of her red magic flew to the stone in Visions forehead. Tears began to stream down her face, from the strain and the emotion - even Bronwen could tell what was worse.
The blonde was caught off-guard, and she was swatted away from Thanos like a fly. Groaning, she pulled her face out of the dirt and watched as he advanced toward Wanda. Using a hand, she reached out to keep the hand with the gauntlet unclenched. This was it, this was the final moments.
The Titan turned, stepping toward the girl. He smiled at the sight of her - a creation he once had hoped to take from Earth after the humans had finished with her. A creation he hoped to hone, to do his bidding - especially after the failure his children, Gamora and Nebula, were.
"Little one, why so sad?"

She sneered, bracing herself on the ground to push herself to her knees. With his other hand, he cupped her jaw, forcing her to look him in the eye.
Bronwen's upper lip pulled back into a snarl, "Go. To. Hell."

He tilted his head, "I'm sure you'll thank me once this is done." And with that, he regained control of his hand and used the stones to render Bronwen motionless. She had no control of her body.

She was forced to watch as Thanos used the stones against Wanda, pressing against her own beam of red energy as she destroyed the stone in Visions forehead.
"It's all right." Vision whispered, "It's all right. I love you."

After those words, the mind stone began to crack under the pressure of the power. Bronwen didn't see the look on Visions face as a pulse of pure yellow energy explodes, sending shards around until they too, faded into oblivion.
Thanos stepped forward toward Wanda, the energy ceasing from his gauntlet and her hands, "I understand, my child. Better than anyone."

She snarled in response, "You could never."

The Titan reached to stroke her hair, as if to comfort the woman, "Today, I lost more than you can know. But now it not the time to mourn. Now...is not time at all." He reached out with his other hand and activated a stone on the gauntlet - Bronwen fought for motion as she watched time turn back and pieces appeared from everywhere, solidifying back into Vision.

"No!" Wanda lunged, but was swatted aside.

Bronwen watched on in horror as Thanos lifted Vision by the throat, digging into Visions head and scraping out the mind stone. She watched as Thanos delicately placed the final stone into his gauntlet. Watched as a surge of energy beamed up his arm, floating his mind with the intensity of the full power of the stones together.
Thanos holds the gauntlet up to study it, as if mesmerised by the amount of power he held. The silence that prevailed was only a brief moment before a surge of lightning hit Thanos square in the chest - an axe following it. The Titan fell to his knees, and Thor appeared right before him.
"I told you." The God of Thunder shouted, "You'd die for that!" Thor took hold of the axe and pushed it deeper into Thanos's chest - causing the latter to groan in pain.

Weakly, Thanos forced words out, "You should have...you..." and for a moment, Thanos regained his strength to spit out his final words, "You should have gone for the head."

Finally regaining control over her body, Bronwen lurched to her feet as Thanos held his hand up and...

And snapped his fingers.

"NO!" Bronwen and Thor screamed in unison.

A flash of light blinded the pair, and as the group found their sight once more, Thor began to scream at the Titan, "What'd you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Thanos did not notice Thor as he used the space stone once more to disappear into the universe, leaving the axe behind.

Wide-eyed and speechless, Bronwen's heart began to race. She didn't notice her wound finally leaking the blood it waited to spill, did not notice the pounding in her hand or the headache that began to form in the back of her mind from the overuse of her power. She only noticed Steve stumble back into the clearing, asking, "Where'd he go? Thor...where'd he go?"

A disoriented Bucky stepped into the clearing, and Bronwen began to smile at how safe he was until—
Her friend tripped, and disappeared into a pile of ash. His last words ringing in her ears, directed toward his longest friend; "Steve?"

Bronwen began to shake uncontrollably, sinking to the floor, as a dreaded feeling began to form in her stomach.
Peter.
Oh god, Peter.
She could hear his words in her ears, from the planet galaxies away. Words she never hoped to hear in her short amount of time. She felt like throwing up, screaming, clawing at her stomach until the feeling left. Until Peter was safe back by her side, his two feet planted on earth.
It wasn't fair. She had lost so much in her life, and from the feeling in her stomach she could only think of one thing.
Peter...
She curled in on herself, clutching her stomach as a steady stream of tears began to slide down her cheeks.
Peter...
It wasn't fair it wasn't fair it wasn't fair.
Bronwen didn't notice the people around her, did not hear Natasha's worried words as the woman came into Bronwen's blurred view.
Peter...
Peter was dead.

I was going to write Peters actual scene from the movie but you know, almost had an...I don't know what to call it. Anxiety attack? PTSD? I don't know but because of how traumatic that scene was I just could not write it - I could barely write the ending of this chapter. My god this was so hard. I almost began to cry.
Remind me never to write something this sad again, even if I've watched Endgame. Didn't help when a sad song came on at the same time when I was writing that scene.
Thanks so much, Spotify. Love you, shuffle play.
Anyway, it's time to move on to something so much harder. Oh god I'm going to cry when I get to THAT scene during Endgame. But first - I'm hoping to do a chapter or so of my own original stuff about Bronwen. They're probably going to be really short but who cares. I still have to plan Endgame anyway.
Love you guys!
- J