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23 DAYS AFTER DECIMATION

JUNE 23, 2021

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Marlena stared at her reflection in the mirror. The black pants of her supersuit hugged her figure perfectly, the blue corset was snug across her abdomen, and her jacket fell perfectly over her shoulders. She hadn't touched her suit, let alone seen her suit since they left Wakanda. She'd practically suffered a breakdown on the quinjet after losing Sam, Wanda, and Bucky and ripped her supersuit off. After collapsing in Bucky's ashes, she couldn't stand the feeling of that being the last of him she'd touched. She couldn't stand the thought of having his blood on her hands. The suit served as a reminder of just how much she sacrificed fighting a war she'd only ever been meant to lose. It was too much for her emotionally, but since the news of a possible stone retrieval and snap reverse, Marlena decided not to let those thoughts completely overrun her brain. She was determined to use what little hope she had left to make her sacrifices worth it, even if it meant ripping Thanos's head off herself.

A knock on the door grabbed Marlena's attention. She called for them to come in, and when the door opened she was met with the face of Natasha. She was dressed in her supersuit—the same supersuit she wore in Wakanda. There was a small smile on the assassin's face as she looked at Marlena.

"Ready to head to space?" Natasha chuckled and leaned against the doorframe.

Marlena grinned and grabbed her boots from the floor. "No, but given the circumstances I'd probably jump into a pit of spiders in order for this to work."

"It's gonna work," Natasha reassured her, though the blonde was trying to reassure herself as well. "It has to work."

"I know," Marlena answered as she pulled on her remaining boot. She stood up from her place on the mattress and looked at Natasha. She'd never seen Natasha display such a vast array of emotions, nor had she ever felt so much pain and regret emitting from her. Thanos had truly made an emotional impact on every single member of the team, even those who were experts at switching their emotions off. "You know, I never really knew what to expect when I joined the fight against Thanos, but I know it wasn't this."

"Me either," Natasha sighed. "We've always done whatever we could do to protect the people—to protect the planet—and even though I know we put our all into this fight, losing it just makes me feel like we didn't do enough. It makes me feel like we could've done more."

"This is more, Natasha," Marlena told her in reference to retrieving the stones from Thanos. "We'll do this. We owe it to them—to everyone—to do this."

Natasha frowned at the sight of a tear rolling down Marlena's face, and she stepped forward to whisk it away. She grabbed Marlena gently by the arms and met her tear-filled hazel eyes. Natasha had shed her fair share of tears over the weeks, but there was something so devastating knowing what it meant to see tears spill from the eyes of Marlena. She led an innocent and safe life before getting mixed into the cruel world of avenging. She was kidnapped, tortured, physically altered to suit the needs of a sadistic corporation, broken down beyond mental and physical capabilities, and to watch the one shred of happiness she managed to procure after all of that just disappear was absolutely devastating. She didn't deserve that pain. None of them deserved that pain.

"We will do this, okay?" Natasha's tone was encouraging. "We will bring them back, and you will have your family back, we will have our family back, okay?"

"We will," Marlena nodded and managed a small smile. Natasha and Steve...she had no idea what she would've done without either of them.

"Wheels up in five," Steve's voice sounded from the doorway.

The two women gave a nod in understanding and Marlena walked back over to her mirror.

"I'll see you on the ship," Marlena told Natasha.

"See you up there."

Marlena let out a sigh of relief after Natasha left and looked back at the mirror. She raised her hand to the glass and allowed the blue haze of her abilities to make an appearance. The mirror lit up in front of her, and rather than seeing her reflection in it, she saw Bucky. Since the snap, Marlena had been playing around with her abilities to give herself something to do other than cry. She wanted to know how the reality-altering aspect of it all worked, so she spent two weeks trying to perfect it, or at least learn as much as she could about it. She found herself able to create realistic visions of any given person on her mind, but the worst part of it all was knowing the reality she truly longed for was out of reach, which made the image of Bucky almost too much to bear.

The image in the mirror disappeared as Marlena withdrew her hand, and without another glance back she headed out of the room and up to the ship. She was ready to find Thanos. She was ready to do whatever she needed to do to make sure he paid for taking everything from her.

"Have a seat," Rocket exclaimed as Marlena made her appearance. "We were just getting ready to leave you behind."

"Bite me, skunk," Marlena grumbled and sat down in her seat beside Steve. Marlena had a strange relationship with Rocket considering he was a living, breathing, talking raccoon. She just couldn't process it on top of everything else. So many weird things had happened over the last several weeks, and Marlena didn't feel that was enough time to completely digest so much new information alongside dealing with life.

"You do know you're, like, five minutes late, right?" Steve whispered to her as she began strapping in.

Marlena raised her brows. "Seriously? I didn't even notice."

"He really did want to leave you," Steve muttered.

"So why didn't you?"

"There's no way I'd leave you behind," Steve answered softly.

"Back then leaving me behind was what you wanted," Marlena reminded him.

"Until I realized just how important you are to this team."

The two were so involved in their conversation they hadn't notice Rocket taking off. It was only until the random flashes of color met Marlena's eyes or the moment she found herself pressed firmly into her seat that she found their time on Earth was now less than limited.

"H-holy shit."

Rocket turned his head to look at Marlena. He could tell just by the expression on her face that she had never been to space. It made him wonder who else hadn't, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer to that.

"Who else in here besides little miss hasn't been to space?"

Steve, Natasha, and Rhodey raised their hands.

"You better not throw up on my ship," Rocket remarked.

"Wait, wha—"

Marlena was interrupted by Nebula's voice, followed by the launch of the ship through the jump shoving her back into her seat. It was now she understood what Rocket meant, but she couldn't be bothered. The beautiful mix of colors zooming past her eyes took her mind off of anything negative floating through her mind in that very moment. Space held a beauty she never anticipated seeing in her lifetime, yet here she was now experiencing it under the worst of circumstances. There was a certain symmetry to that she couldn't understand.

In seconds the ship had slowed significantly. The stars surrounding the team were now moving at an incredibly slower pace, and a new planet could be seen in front of them. It looked so close, but they all knew that wasn't how distance in space worked.

"Yeah," Marlena leaned forward as much as she could through her seatbelts. "That's a planet."

"That is, in fact, a planet, Marlena," Carol said as she pulled her straps off and stood up. Marlena only grinned and watched as Carol hurried to the back of the ship. Before they knew it she was a glowing figure floating in front of the ship.  "I'll head down for recon," she said before flying away.

Marlena finally unbuckled herself after receiving the okay from Rocket. She turned to Steve, who was sitting in his seat staring ahead. He was anxious, yet upset over the possibility that what they were about to do wouldn't work.

"I told Marlena the same thing earlier," Natasha walked up behind the soldier and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "This is gonna work, Steve."

Steve glanced up at her, his eyes flickering back and forth between her and Marlena. "It has to, because I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't."

"There's nothing down there," Carol's voice sounded in everyone's earpiece. "There's no satellites, no ships, no armies, and no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him."

"And that's enough."

It was finally time to go.

"I'd probably retire here, too."

Steve scoffed and shook his head at Marlena while shoving grass out of the way. She was referring to the planet and how peaceful it was. Its sun shone so brightly, reflecting off the shining green of the strange tree species that surrounded them, and the temperature was just right. Unfortunately, however, the circumstances couldn't allow anyone to feel at peace or even enjoy their visit to a new planet. They had stones to get and a Titan to kill and they intended on doing just that.

"You have something new to say every thirty seconds," the super-soldier grumbled.

Marlena let out a small breath and looked at Steve with anxious hazel eyes. "We're billions of miles away from Earth about to fight some Titan on steroids to get some magic space stones, so forgive me for trying to cut the tension, Cap," she remarked.

"There is no tension," Natasha breathed out.

"She says to the telepath."

"Right."

"Not to mention, I'm trying to save my anger so I can lay out every last bit of it on him when Carol gives us the signal," Marlena added.

"That sounds like a bad idea," Natasha chided her.

"Just because it's a bad idea doesn't mean it'll end badly," Marlena hummed and pulled her fingerless gloves onto her hands. She waited seconds more for the signal from Carol, and the moment she heard it she was bursting off the ground.

Seconds later Marlena was flying through the already-destroyed cabin Thanos was spending his time in. She landed on the floor of the cabin with the aid of her abilities, and once situated she was holding Thanos's very damaged arm within the confines of her energy. Bruce came through the floor to keep Thanos grounded. Rhodey came in for Thanos's other arm. Thanos knew he was about to lose. He was outnumbered, but he was also outmatched. He knew every last one of them and he knew what they were there to do.

A pained scream escaped Thanos as Thor made an entrance with Stormbreaker, using the weapon to completely remove Thanos's left arm. Marlena maneuvered the severed limb over to her and by now everyone had made their way into the cabin. Natasha, Rocket, Nebula, and Steve joined Marlena in looking over the gauntlet, only to find every last ounce of their hope gone.

"Where are the stones?" Steve asked Thanos firmly. He seemed to be the only one with the ability to create comprehensive words.

"The universe required correction," Thanos forced out through Carol's strong hold around his neck. "After that, the stones served no purpose beyond temptation."

Marlena took a deep breath. She was unable to hold her anger in any longer, and she was more than ready to take it out on him.

"I'll show you temptation," Marlena angrily raised her glowing fist and used the strength behind her energy to punch him into the wall behind him. "Where are the stones?"

"They're gone."

"You killed trillions!" Bruce called out angrily.

"You should be grateful," Thanos retorted.

"Where are the stones?" Natasha asked slowly. She could feel herself falling apart inside and she hated it.

"I told you they're gone," Thanos answered from his spot on the floor. "Reduced to atoms inside a dying star orbiting the verge of the cosmos."

"You just used them two days ago!"

"I used them to make sure no other being in the universe could again," Thanos explained. "It nearly killed me."

It was no secret that the mood had shifted. Visible tears burned in the eyes of the team, and Marlena could feel the pain radiating off of them as well. Losing the first time hurt, but losing for the second time was so much worse.

"The work is done," Thanos continued through the silence. "It always will be. I am inevitable."

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

"My father is many things," Nebula spoke up, "but a liar is not one of them."

"Thank you, daughter," Thanos hummed, "Perhaps I treated you too harshly."

Marlena wanted nothing more than to end Thanos where he lay, but someone else had already claimed his life for themselves, and Marlena respected that. She stepped back as Thor's thoughts flooded into her mind, and once she was clear of the Titan, Thor swung Stormbreaker, removing Thanos's head. The sight didn't even phase Marlena. In fact, watching it gave her the slightest sense of peace, but it was nowhere near the amount she needed in order to live with herself.

"What did you do?" Rocket questioned Thor.

"I went for the head," he answered before very quickly disappearing.

The remaining team members stood quietly in their spots by Thanos's body. They couldn't speak. They couldn't think. Their hope had been completely shattered. Their trip had been made in vain. Thanos had succeeded in ruining trillions of lives across the universe, leaving those left behind a lifetime of terribly confusing pain. All anyone could do was hope to find a way to make it through that pain, though some truly doubted they would. It was over. They'd lost, and all they could think was that this time there was no turning back.