"You need to stay safe."

"I know."

"Maybe take a knife or—"

Bronwen threw her hands up in exasperation, spinning in her chair to turn toward the silvery figure on her bed. She was studying for her final assessment for one of her classes, the curtains drawn back and around the desk to allow light to shine inwards. The sun slowly set on the horizon, glimmers pushing through the trees. Her lamp on her desk was switched on, illuminating the papers, pens and textbooks littering the white surface. Bronwen's hair was messily tied up, strands falling everywhere, frizz uncontrollable. She glared at the figure, "Nat, I'm going to be fine. You don't have to worry about me."

Natasha shook her head, "I know, I... what if something goes wrong? I can't... I can't help you..."

Bronwen gave her a soft smile, "You being here, miraculously, is helping me. You're constantly helping me!"

The temperature dropped as another figure stalked into her room, dragging someone behind him. Tony paused before Nat, who was sitting on Bronwen's bed, "Look who I found."

Tony pulled the figure up. The long, locks were thrown back as the figure stood to his full height, readjusting his clothing. He wore a cape, or... was it a cloak?
Bronwen didn't know.
"Who's that?" The blonde asked.

Nat frowned, "Is that, Loki?"

"Who?"

Tony raised a brow, frowning at Loki — the latter glaring, having unsheathed a blade from a hidden compartment in his sleeve. Tony gestured to the knife, "You know that doesn't work here, right?"

Reluctantly, Loki put away his ghost-knife, glancing around the room, "Where am I?"

Bronwen stood, shook her head, and crossed her arms over her chest. She looked up at the new arrival, "Who are you?"

"Where am I?" He pressed.

"I'm asking the questions. You're dead, that's all you need to know."

"Properly dead." Tony added.

Loki huffed a laugh, "My brother has never been one for practical jokes, you may as well reveal yourselves now."

Bronwen furrowed her brows and turned to her father, "Who is he?"

"Thor's brother, the one that attacked New York in 2012. He died giving up the Tesseract." Tony answered.

"And he better be glad that we're dead, otherwise I would've offed him myself." Nat glared at Loki from her seat on the bed.

"So if Loki's here, who else could we find? Who else died for the stones?" Bronwen asked, glancing between her father and Nat.

"We don't really know." Nat replied, "There was Nebula's sister who never came back."

"I'm sure there are others we don't know about as well." Tony added, and a silent message passed between Nat and himself.

Bronwen looked over to Loki, "What are you going to do?"

He sighed, "Check up on my brother." And with that, Loki's image faded.

"Annie." Bronwen looked over at Nat, "We're gonna find the others. They'd be all over the universe, afraid of why they can't finally rest. They need to know they're not alone."

Bronwen nodded, "Okay..."

"Which means we have to leave you." Tony said.

"For how long?"

"As long as it takes."

Bronwen swallowed. She could do this. She could spend days, or weeks, or maybe even years without them. She's lucky enough to have them with her when they should have left this plane forever. "Okay. I'll see you later." She gave them her bravest smile and waved as they left, watching their forms dissipate into the atmosphere.

When they finally left, Bronwen couldn't help but feel a little colder.

∆ ∆ ∆

"When I first blipped back to my apartment, the family there was very confused. The wife thought I was a mistress." A ring of laughter echoed in the hall that became the Homeless Support building after the Blip. Bronwen stood sidstage as she watched May Parker give her final word of the evening. Patrons in clean suits and sparkling dresses sat prettily in their seats at round tables. They were all here to support those who had been forcefully abdicated from their homes as others inhabited them. "The grandmother thought that I was a ghost." The audience laughed again, "It was..." May laughed herself, remembering the scene, "It was really a mess. Thank you all for coming out to support those who were misplaced by the Blip, and, of course, thank you Bronwen Stark and Spider-Man!"

The audience erupted in applause, and Bronwen nudged Peter's side, jerking him to attention. She refrained from pulling him onstage as she ascended the steps. She gave the audience a polite smile. Peter took his spot at the microphone, his 'iron-spider' suit gleaming in the spotlight. Bronwen wore a white dress with trims of red and gold, in memory of her father and to match Peter's suit.
She hadn't seen her father in days.
Not that it mattered, right?
"Thank you, Ms Parker," Peter spoke shakily, "for having me. And, and, thank you guys for having me." He awkwardly gave the audience a thumbs-up.

The audience cheered once more, and Bronwen stepped out of the spotlight to allow May to take the microphone, "Thank you Spider-Man, Miss Stark. They'll be right back out to take photos and videos, thank you!"

The trip led their way backstage, Bronwen pulling back the curtain to allow the Parker's through.
Peter unmasks his suit as soon as Bronwen allowed the curtain to drop, sucking in a deep breath of fresh air. She handed him a small towel to dry the sweat that had pooled on his face from being under the metal in the harsh lighting.
"That was amazing." Peter said breathily.

"That was great!"  May high-fives Peter, giving Bronwen a side-hug.

"That was so cool. I was a little nervous!"

"My body was a little stiff, I felt like I wasn't in the pocket."

Bronwen laughed at their worries, "You were both amazing. Well done."

"Yeah..." May agreed, "Well, actually, I did think you were a little stiff." May gestured to Peter.

Peter shrugged it off, "I felt that too, I felt that, too..."

"It's fine. It's fine. It's fine." She looked between the two, "Did you guys get your passports?"

Peter nodded, Bronwen joining in, "Yeah."

"Mini toothpaste?"

"May!"

May laughed, unhooking herself from around Bronwen to lean against the table in the small kitchen they were in.
Bronwen inched over to Peter, tucking her hand in his.
Peter leant down to whisper, "How did you stay so calm?"

"I'll let you in on a little secret," Bronwen replied, voice equally as quiet, "I'm wasn't."

Peter jerked back, face full of confusion. Bronwen laughed again, covering her mouth to quieten it.
At that moment, Happy Hogan bursts through the back door, carrying a large placard with the printing for a cheque on it. He looked rushed, "Hey, sorry I'm late."

May glanced up, and a grin spread across her face, "Happy, hey!"

"Oh, you look lovely."

"Uh.. thanks, you too."

"Thanks. New dress?"

"Uh, yeah, yes it is." She gestured to his beard, "That's a new beard."

Meanwhile, as May's and Happy's conversation proceeded, Bronwen and Peter were looking back and forth between the pair. Their faces filling with equally as much confusion as the last.
"It's my Blip beard." Happy replied, "because I grew it in the Blip... Blip beard."

"I see." May nods to the cheque, "That's a pretty big cheque."

"Yeah." Happy chuckled, "The cheque itself is pretty big, not just the amount." Happy trailed off, before correcting himself, "Anyway, so, the reason I'm late is because this was misplaced at the office, can you believe it? Because it's enormous? I mean, not the amount, the size. The amount is nice too."

May laughed, "Oh..."

"The very generous Pepper Potts, said..."

"Thank you." May cut him off.

"...she's sorry she couldn't be here." Happy finally took notice of Bronwen standing in the room, "Of course, Bronwen would've already told you..."

May cleared her throat, pointing to the curtain and awkwardly backing out of the room, "I think I'm going to change the sterno under the vegan lasagna." She points to Peter, "Spider-Man, go shake hands."

Pete nodded, "Will do." Once May had left, Peter turned to Happy, "What just happened?"

Happy frowned, "Nothing happened. I brought the cheque." Happy lifted the cheque that was still in his hands to gesture to it before placing it down on the table. "Head up, Nick Fury is calling you."

"Nick Fury's going to call me?"

Bronwen squinted at the pair, "Hang on. Aren't we going to acknowledge what just happened between Happy and May? I feel like this is more of a pressing matter."

Peter turned to Bronwen, and then back to Happy, "Actually, yeah, what did we just witness?"

"And, why is Nick Fury calling Peter? How does he even have his number?"

"Why?" Happy frowned, "Because he probably has some hero stuff for you two to do. You're superheroes. He calls superheroes."

Bronwen shook her head, "Okay so I can actually say this now — being four years older than Peter now — he's just a teenager. Why can't Fury call someone else?"

The trio's eyes darted to a phone ringing on the table, "Apparently not." Happy said, "No Caller ID, that's him."

Peter scrambles to pick up the phone, "I don't really want to talk to Nick Fury."

"Answer the phone."

Bronwen took Peter's phone from his hands, "He's not."

"If you don't talk to him, then I have to talk to him, and I don't want to talk to him." Happy said.

Bronwen squinted at the man, "Why don't you want to talk to him?"

"Because I'm scared." Happy gestured to the phone in Bronwen's hands, "Just answer the phone."

Bronwen closed her eyes for a moment, whispering under her breath, "I'm a responsible adult. I'm a responsible adult. I'm a responsible adult." And slammed her finger over the decline call button.

Fun fact: Bronwen was born on the 22nd of June, 2002. Before Infinity War + Endgame Bronwen was a year or so younger than Peter, she was put in Peter's grade because those who had trained/made her into 024 knew Peter had his powers through unknown sources. Bronwen's 'Father' was there to get a good look at Peter/Spider-Man's abilities so they could take it back to Russia and make it into their serum that they pumped over kids with, as Peter's abilities were enhanced. Which makes Bronwen 21 in 2023, four years older than Peter (as Peter is 17!)

Long fact but ~the more you know~

I got really excited when I found the part of the transcript I was missing for this scene! Also most squealed ahahah.
See you!
- J