AMERICA'S POV

Battle breaks out all around me. I attack with stealth, using both my speed and my metal hand with precision. At the same time, I'm scanning the field for familiar faces. They're everywhere, but I'm only looking for two. One, really.

"Lady Liberty." Tony blasts a Chitauri alien out of my way and lands next to me. He salutes. "Long time, no see."

I grin. "So I've heard. Did you miss me?"

"Oh, more than anything."

I wink and shoot at one another one. "How've you been?"

"Could be better, could be worse. You?"

"I was dead twenty minutes ago, so I'd say I'm doing pretty well."

I find half of Steve's shield lying on the ground and use it to protect myself from a rain of bullets. When I uncover myself, I hear a voice.

"Mer?"

I turn around faster than I've ever turned around before and spot Steve about twenty feet away. I drop the shield and run to him, flinging myself into his arms. He holds me tightly, like he can't believe I'm real, and I don't actually touch the ground for the first minute of our embrace.

"Mer," he whispers, looking at me like I'm all of the stars and moons in the galaxy. His blue eyes glaze over with tears. "Mer."

"Hi, Steve." Fully aware of the raging battle and Thanos, I give him the softest kiss possible. He cradles my face with his hands.

"You're here."

I take his free hand in mine, feel the callouses and cuts engraved into both of our skin. "I'm here now."

"I missed you so much."

"I know. Me too." Because even though it's only been about twenty minutes for me, I know the feeling. "Not to interrupt this, but bullets are flying through the air and I'm really good at getting shot. You're in the hazard zone."

"Mer, you are a hazard zone, and I married you anyway." His face splits into the biggest grin. "You going to run off?"

"Are you kidding? After last time, I'm staying right here."

We fight side-by-side, me with a gun and half of the shield and Steve with the hammer and the other half of it. With him watching my back, I don't think I've ever felt safer. Any member of Thanos' army that comes near ends up on the ground within seconds.

Clint's voice yells into my earpiece. "Cap, what do you want me to do with this damn thing?"

"Get those stones as far away as possible!" Steve responds, smacking another alien out of my way.

"No! We need to get them back where they came from," Bruce says.

Tony also chimes in from somewhere above. "No way to get them back. Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel."

"Hold on!" Is that Scott Lang? "That wasn't our only time machine."

Over the cries of battle, I hear a car horn, then a high-pitched version of 'La Cucaracha.'

"Steve, what kind of insanity did you bring us all back into?"

"I'll explain later, doll." He runs up to higher ground, scanning the field. I join him, but I don't know what I'm looking for, so I block oncoming attackers while he looks. "Anyone see an ugly, brown van up there?"

"Yes!" A woman from above riding a pegasus yells. A pegasus? Seriously? "But you're not gonna like where it's parked!"

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

"Maybe ten minutes."

Steve glances down at me. "Get it started. We'll get the stones to you."

A female voice I don't recognize answers. "We're on it, Cap."

As we fight, the stone-filled gauntlet begins to move through the group like a deadly game of hot potato. Clint, T'Challa, Spider-Man. At one point, I see Wanda's red magic flare up at the center of the action, encircling Thanos.

"Steve!" I yell, knocking an alien out with my metal hand and pointing to Wanda. "I think she's going to kill him!"

"Good!"

But then cannons begin to fire down on us. I duck behind my half of the shield to save myself, and Steve does the same thing.

"I got this. I got this! Okay, I don't got this." About seventy feet away, I watch Spider-Man start to get overwhelmed by Chitauri aliens. "Help! Somebody, help!"

My feet move before my brain realizes what I'm doing, and I knock an alien off of the kid. His brown eyes widen in terror as he holds the gauntlet closer to his chest. The cannons stop firing and turn to something above us all, but I focus on the gauntlet instead.

"Hi. I'm - Peter Parker."

A grin spreads across my face. I squat down in front of him. "Hey, Peter Parker. You got something for me?"

He stands up and looks at me warily. "Can you do this?"

"Let them try and catch me," I laugh. Another alien springs towards us and I kick it back with lightning speed.

"Yeah, okay." He passes the gauntlet to me. "I don't know how you're gonna get it through all that."

Wanda lands next to me, her eyes filled with scarlet fury. "Don't worry."

"She's got help," Okoye adds, brandishing her spear.

Around me, all of our female heroes begin to assemble. Some I recognize, some I don't, but they're all here, backing me up. A woman in a blue and red suit lands next to me, glowing with power, a smirk on her face. There's just one problem.

"Listen, I really appreciate everyone's support, and I'm sure this is going to go down in history textbooks as a great girl power moment, but you're all really slow, so I think I've got this." I run off without another word, leaving my lady legion in my dust. "Steve! Where am I headed?"

"Quantum tunnel in the van. Go! We'll cover you."

I weave my way through the battle at a faster speed than I've ever run before. The tunnel is literally in my view when Thanos throws his sword inside it. The explosion throws me backward against rock, and I lose my grip on the gauntlet.

My head is pounding and new scrapes have found their way onto my face and arms, but someone pulls me up, someone with a familiar accent.

"Come on, they need us."

"Pietro!"

My brother hugs me before turning around and staring at Thanos. "What do we do?"

"Get the gauntlet from him. Together." I cockily raise my eyebrows at him, and he grins.

"Race you."

We both run at Thanos, dodging his blows like two pesky flies. At first, we're both too fast for him, but he uses the stones and throws us both backward. I groan, and everything goes black.

"Mer. Mer, come on. Look at me." My eyes flutter open and I cough, trying to clear my throat. Steve breathes a sigh of relief and pulls me close to him. His voice breaks as he says, "It's over. He's gone."

I look at the battlefield from over his shoulder, still wrapped in his embrace, when I see him.

Tony.

I cover my mouth with my hand as tears fill my eyes. Steve holds me tighter. "I know," he whispers.

"Is he-?"

"Yes."

Everyone begins to kneel for him. The broken sobs of Pepper and Peter are the only sounds echoing in my ears. I stay there on the ground in Steve's arms, willing myself not to cry. We just hold each other and mourn one of the greatest people I have ever known.