Forever and Always (Peter Parker)

Chapter 33

I'm sitting down on the dock next to lake with Dad, Steve, Bruce, Thor, and Clint. I've tried to spend a lot of time with Bruce since yesterday when we found out about Nat. He's loved her since the moment he saw her, and I know this is breaking his heart. Just like it is breaking mine and the rest of ours. All I can feel is guilt. Like this is somehow my fault. I kept pushing and pushing for us to find a way to fix all of this shit, and we lost her in the process.

After a bit of silence, Dad speaks up, "Did she have family?"

"Yeah, us," I say, choking back my tears.

Thor walks over, seeming agitated, "What? What did you say?"

"I just asked a question. Calm down, buddy," Dad says.

Thor starts rambling, "No, you're acting like she's dead. We have the stones. We can bring her back. Ain't that right? We have the stones, so we can stop all this shit! We're the Avengers, get it together!"

"We can't get her back," Clint speaks up, "It can't be undone."

Thor laughs, "No offense, but you're very earthly. And we're talking about space magic."

"Yeah, I know. I'm way outside my pay grade here, but I know that it can't be undone. Or that's at least what the floating guy in space said! Maybe you want to go talk to him! Yeah, why don't you just go get your hammer and you fly up there and talk to him!" Clint yells.

I put my face in my hands and mumble, "Guys, please. This is not the time!" I sob quietly to myself, and Dad puts his hand on my shoulder.

"It should have been me," Clint says.

"Clint, don't say that," I say, looking up at him with bloodshot eyes.

"She sacrificed her life for that god damn stone. She bet her life on it," Clint continues.

I look up and see Bruce, rip off the bench on the dock and throw it hundreds of feet away into the lake. He turns around with tears in his eyes, "She's not coming back. We have to make it worth it. We have to."

Steve turns around, wiping his eyes. "We will."

I stand up, "We sure as hell will. Nat didn't die for nothing. She died fighting for something she believed in, and we're going to win this for her."

Everyone nods, and we all start to head back up to the facility to get to work on a gauntlet for the stones. I draw some design ideas and give them to my dad.

"Friday, give it a little red," I say, as the gauntlet is being put together.

"That's my girl," Dad says walking up behind me. I laugh, thinking about when he was making his first Iron Man suit. That's exactly what he told Jarvis.

Once the gauntlet itself is ready, Dad carefully moves each of the stones closer to the gauntlet. It's made of nano tech, so a groove forms when a stone is close enough. Once all the stones are in the gauntlet, me, Dad, Rocket, and Bruce stand there and admire it.

But amongst all the quiet, Rocket scares the shit out of us by yelling, "BOO!"

I almost jump through the ceiling out of anxiety that something bad was going to happen. I look at him with my glowing blue eyes and give him an 'I'm gonna kill you' look.

"Sorry, bad timing," he laughs.

"You think?" I laugh back, making my eyes go back to normal, "You better just be glad I didn't blast you across the room, Rocky."

The raccoon scowls at me, correcting me, "Rocket."

I roll my eyes and laugh as I begin running another test on the gauntlet, "Whatever you say, fur-ball."