𝙎𝙋𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙀𝙍 ¹ | 𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖 𝙈𝙖𝙭𝙞𝙢𝙤𝙛𝙛 (𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵)

[11] - 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬

IN A FLASH the team reappeared back on the platform of the quantum tunnel and deactivated their suits. Tony had the briefcase containing the Tesseract, Scott had the Scepter, Rocket had the Aether, Bruce had the Time Stone, and Y/N held the Power Stone.

"Did we get 'em all?" Bruce asked.

Rhodey smiled, "Are you telling me this actually worked?"

Clint dropped to his knees, the Soul Stone in his palm. Y/N looked over at him, and his smile disappeared from his face upon noticing that Natasha wasn't with him.

"Clint, where's Nat?" Bruce asked.

Clint didn't respond and simply looked up at the Hulk. His eyes said it all, and the mood in the room became somber. Steve looked down in despair, and Banner got on his knees as well. He punched down onto the floor in anger.

• • •

OUTSIDE AT THE DOCK some of the team members sat by the water. They were still shocked about the loss of Natasha Romanoff. Y/N rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face into his hands. He had lost yet another longtime friend and basically family member.

"Do we know if she had family?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. Us." Y/N replied.

Thor walked over to the group after looking out at the lake, "What? What are you doing?"

"Just asked him a question." Tony answered.

"Yeah, no, you're acting like she's dead." Thor responded, "Why are we acting like she's dead? We have the stones, right?"

Thor's tone became louder. He was not trying to believe that the Black Widow was actually dead.

"As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back. Isn't that right? So stop this shit. We're the Avengers. Get it together."

"We can't get her back." Clint abruptly spoke.

"Wha...what?" Thor turned to Barton.

"It can't be undone. It can't."

Thor laughed. Y/N kept shaking his head, saddened yet surprised at the fact that the God of Thunder himself was in denial the most.

"Look, I'm sorry, no offense, but you're a very earthly being, okay? And were talking about space magic." Thor began, "And can't seems very definitive. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, look, I know that I'm way outside my pay grade here." Clint replied as he got up, "But she still isn't here, is she?"

"No, that's my point."

"It can't be undone." Clint's voice broke, "Or that's what the red, floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay?" Clint raised his tone, "Go grab your hammer and you go fly and you talk to him!"

Thor didn't reply. He nodded and looked back down at his hands.

"I should've gone...I'm connected in a way to that damn stone...it...things could've gone different." Y/N stuttered, guilt filling him.

"It wouldn't have made a difference, Y/N." Clint dropped his head, "It should've been me. She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bet her life on it."

Banner let out a loud grunt and pried the stone bench off the dock. He heaved it across the lake in anger.

"She's not coming back." Banner told them, "We have to make it worth it. We have to."

Steve got up and faced the doctor.

"We will."

• • •