a/n: hey besties! so, yeah, we're pretending that dakota just didn't age during the blip <//3 i know it isn't realistic at all, but the blip in and of itself isn't realistic in far from home anyway. so let's just pretend that she's somehow still sixteen! i love you guys and i'm sorry that i'm not working around this <3 the work-arounds that i tried just didn't work for me. enjoy!

just when dakota had begun to lose all hope, she heard a voice on the intercom. "on your left." dakota felt a surge of hope as a small yellow ring appeared in the air behind her. through it came t'challa, the black panther, alongside his sister, shuri. more wakandian warriors quickly appeared, and kodie looked up as other rings making their way into the sky.

tony and thor walked over to where steve stood, looking around as more and more portals appeared. dakota was walking with a sort of limp as she moved across the terrain, moving to help hazel to her feet. they clasped at each other's arms before helping each other back to their fathers.

dakota found herself searching the portals for the one from the planet she had been on with her father and peter. she hadn't seen her love in so long, and her heart leapt in her chest when she saw him swing in. kodie made quick eye contact with peter who smiled widely, giving her a small nod. she also noticed pepper potts fly in, wearing the iron suit that dakota and tony had made for her.

"is that everyone?" strange asked.

wong turned to him in confusion. "what, you wanted more?"

scott, bruce, rocket, and rhodey then appeared, approaching the largely growing group.

"avengers.." steve called from beside dakota, looking directly ahead. "..assemble."

the battle was now fully in place. people were fighting left and right. dakota found herself battling thanos' disgusting minions, using her blasters to blow them up. the fight would have been more interesting for her if she hadn't injured her leg, for she would have been able to actually throw some kicks.

when a green creature knocked her over, dakota did a somersault, landing in a crouching position as she blasted the thing. when she looked up briefly, she noticed a webbed flyer knocking something next to her away before it could attack her. the purple being was quickly thrown to the side, dying upon impact. peter's mask disappeared, showing his face.

"so remember when we were on that planet and i got all dusty?" peter began, watching as dakota opened and stepped out of her suit, stepping lightly on her hurt leg. "i must've passed out, because i woke up, and you were gone. but doctor strange was there, right? he was like, 'it's been five years. come on, they need us.' and then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time–"

"just shut up and give me a hug, you dork." kodie smiled, giving peter a big hug despite the battle raging around them. she pressed her face into the crook of peter's neck, smiling softly. "i missed you so much." she said, feeling his hands in her hair.

peter hummed softly. "it felt like only five minutes, but, i missed you, too." he said honestly, watching as she laughed, the most genuine smile on her face.

dakota leaned in, pressing her lips to peter's in a soft kiss.

"your comms are on, i heard all of that, you disgusting pervs." tony said in to their earpieces. both teens laughed for a moment before dakota broke their embrace.

"let's kill this grape-ass ball-chin man." kodie said to peter, who nodded.

peter swung away as dakota flew into the air, looking around and helping people as they needed it.

"cap," clint asked, carrying the gauntlet, "what do you want me to do with this damn thing?"

"get those stones as far away as possible!" he said.

bruce shook his head. "no! we need to get them back where they came from."

dakota looked up from her spot by her father. "there's no way to get them back. thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel."

"hold on!" scott exclaimed, shrinking to normal size. "that wasn't our only time machine." he pressed a button, activating luis' van's horns. in the distance, dakota heard the song la cucaracha playing from the van.

"that song should never be played when a vehicle is unlocked." dakota said, turning.

steve got to higher ground, looking around. "anyone see an ugly, brown van up there?"

"yes!" valkyrie replied. "but you're not gonna like where it's parked!"

tony turned to scott. "scott, how long you need to get that thing working?"

he shrugged. "maybe ten minutes."

steve nodded. "get it started. we'll get the stones to you."

"we're on it, cap." hope replied. the two shrunk, flying towards the van.

strange trapped a group of chitauri with his magic, sending them flying through portals. the two starks joined him, blasting various creatures away.

"hey." tony said to strange. "you said one out of 14 million, we win, yeah? tell me this is it."

strange shook his head. "if i tell you what happens, it won't happen."

tony nodded. "you better be right."

pepper was the first to notice the water rapidly flowing into the battlefield. "uh, is anyone else seeing this?" she asked. strange used his magic to stop the water, creating a dam.

dakota looked down at peter, who was battling the chitauri by himself. "i got this. i got this!" he said to himself. "okay, i don't got this." he admitted. "help! somebody, help!"

"hey, queens," steve said, "heads up." he threw mjolnir, and peter shot a web, gliding along as pepper caught him.

"hang on. i got you, kid." she said, dropping him carefully onto valkyrie's pegasus.

dakota and hazel were both fighting a group of the children of thanos, and dakota had ended up under one of them, attempting to hold its sharp teeth away from her with her arm. it continued snapping at her helmet, and she sighed. "i'm done with this shit." she mumbled, twisting her arm so that her palm faced the creature. she blasted its face off, stepping back as it covered her in goo. "well, that was fucking gross."

suddenly, thanos' large ship began to fire missiles at the battlefield, seemingly aiming to hit anyone and anything that it could. dakota quickly slid under a rock, hiding behind it so that she wouldn't get shot. wong made portals, protecting those around him.

after a few moments, the firing stopped. kodie hesitantly made her way out form behind her rock, watching as all of the guns on the ship turned to fire at something in the sky. "f.r.i.d.a.y., what are they firing at?" she asked.

"something just entered the upper atmosphere." the ai responded.

a bright light of energy surged down as carol flew through the ship, exploding it. the ship crash-landed into the lake, and dakota looked over at rocket, who smiled. "oh, yeah." he said.

"danvers, we need an assist here." steve said. carol made her way to peter, who currently had the gauntlet. she took it to the van, attempting to start it.

dakota fought off a chitauri, looking over her shoulder just in time to see the gauntlet. she tackled it, landing with a hard thud. meanwhile, her father tackled thanos, who smacked him away, knocking him out. thanos moved towards dakota, who was running away with the gauntlet. he picked her up, but she didn't let go of the gauntlet, holding it close to her chest.

carol jumped onto thanos, punching him away. he dropped dakota, who clutched onto the gauntlet for dear life. thor arrived with stormbreaker and mjolnir, pinning thanos' arm down with them. thanos was able to overpower them, knocking both thor and carol out.

dakota began to fly away, looking around and seeing that there was no where she could hide. she looked back over at thanos, who was approaching her. he punched her out of the sky, sending her tumbling into the ground.

he put on the gauntlet, gamma radiation eating at him. he tried to snap, but carol opened up his hand, similarly to how steve had. he headbutted her then, using the power stone to send her flying away.

tony looked over at strange, who simply raised a finger, reminding him that there was only one possibility for the group to win. tony nodded, making one final attack on thanos.

the titan punched him away, looking down at him entirely unimpressed. "i am– inevitable." he said, snapping his fingers. nothing happened, albeit a small 'clink' of the metal. confused, he turned his hand, seeing that the stones were all missing from his hand.

thanos looked down, seeing that the infinity stones were all on tony's gauntlet. the radiation was flowing through him as he knelt in front of thanos, holding up his hand. "and i.. am.. iron man." he replied, snapping his fingers.