meet me at our spot | n.r x oc | ✓

9 - it worked

[third person pov]

Everyone stares in awe at the Iron Man glove with the six Infinity Stones.

"Alright, the glove's ready,"
Rocket looks up at the group.
"Question is, who's gonna snap their freakin' fingers?"

"I'll do it,"
Thor offers.

"Excuse me?"
Tony lifts an eyebrow.

"It's okay."

"Stop, stop. Slow down."
"Thor, just wait."
Steve and Tony talks over each other.

"We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet."

Thor shakes his head.
"I'm sorry. What, we're all just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?"

"We should at least discuss it."
Scott tries to reason with him.

"Look, sitting here staring at the thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? I am Thor Odinson, God of Thunder,"
he says, thinking of the conversation he had with Stefaniya.
"So this responsibility falls on me."

"Buddy--"

"Just let me do it. Let me do something good. Something right."

"I'll do it,"
a weak voice calls out from the doorway. Everyone turns to look at Stefaniya, who was supposed to be in bed. Natasha jogs up to her.

"You're supposed to be resting."

"I'm fine. Look, I have the power of resurrection. If anything goes wrong, I should be the one to do it because you know I'll come back."

"Stef, you're too weak, we have no idea how much the power of this glove can drain from you,'
Tony tries to talk her out of it.
"You might not come back at all."

"Tony--"

Everyone talks over each other, spitting out about how wrong it could all go.

"Alright, alright! Fine, jeez. At least let me stay here for the test run?"
Stefaniya pleads.

"She can stay. Sit down,"
Steve pulls up a chair for her.

"Thanks, Capsicle."

Steve sighs.
"Thanks for that, Tony."

"You're welcome, old man. Alright, so who's gonna do it?"

"It's gotta be me,"
Bruce says.

"Bruce, no..."
Stefaniya shakes her head.

"You saw what those stones did to Thanos. They almost killed him. None of you could survive."

"How do we know you will?"
Tony watches as Bruce walks up to the glove in the glass case.

"We don't. But the radiation's mostly gamma. It's like... I was made for this."

Everyone stays silent, knowing that Bruce was right.

Bruce picks up the glove and walks a safe distance away from the group.

"Good to go, yeah?"
Tony asks nervously.

"Let's do it."

"Okay, remember. Everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago, you're just bringing them back to now, today. Don't change anything from the last five years."

"Got it."

As Bruce gets ready, everyone suited up for protection. Natasha pushes her girlfriend on her chair behind Tony, who was in his Iron Man suit and held up a shield. The girlfriends were in their Black Widow suits. Natasha put her hands on Stefaniya's shoulder for comfort.

"Friday, do me a favor and activate Barn Door Protocol, will ya?"
Tony speaks.

The faint "Yes, boss" emits from his suit's speaker and large metallic covers close over the glass windows and doors of the building.

"Everybody comes home,"
Bruce smiles softly. He brings his hand into the opening of the glove, and it adjusts to accommodate Hulk's hand size. As soon as he put it on, colorful strings of energy dance over the glove and onto his arm. Bruce groans in pain, falling to his knees.

"Take it off, take it off!"
Thor yells panicked.

Steve puts up his hand to Thor.
"No, wait. Bruce, are you okay?"

"Talk to me, Banner," Tony says.

"I'm okay!"

Stefaniya hears a shattering of glass in the distance, but is too entranced by the glove in front of her.

Bruce yells loudly, snapping his fingers. A bright light flashes in their visions for a second before Bruce falls to the floor with burn marks over his entire right arm. The glove falls to the ground.

Everyone got up to kneel next to Bruce.

"Don't touch him,"
Tony warned them, holding up his hand and using his suit's freezing feature over Bruce's arm. Bruce holds Stefaniya's hand, gasping in pain.

"Did it work?"
Natasha asks worriedly.

"We're not sure. it's okay,"
Thor comforts Bruce.

The metal doors reopen, showing birds flying overhead. A phone vibrates on the table. Clint goes to pick it up, smiling at the Caller ID on the screen. He holds it up to his ear.

"Honey,"
his voice breaks.

Stefaniya and Natasha tearfully meets eyes.

"It worked."

Their celebration is cut short as Bruce spots a large spaceship flying over the skylight. The ship sends a string of missiles towards the building, sending the Avengers flying backwards from the impact. In the matter of a few seconds, the entire Avengers facility crumbles to dust.

A/N: "crumbles to dust" how ironic. short chapter, but the next one is much longer :) i hope you're all doing well, thank you for reading!