The third Maximoff

Chapter 23

"Where do we go from here?" You looked up to Steve for answers, feeling completely lost after everything that had happened.

"What do you mean? There is nothing we can do. They are gone and we have to move on" Thor reminded you with his loud booming voice. "We stopped Thanos and that's all that matters"

"No" you shook your head, refusing to believe his words.

"Come on, you two can stay here as long as you need" Natasha and Pietro pulled you away as tears threatened your eyes. The woman who you had become close with walked you back to your room to get you away from the conversation happening in the main room.

"She can't be gone" you sobbed, sitting with Pietro in your room you had once shared with your sister. He gently rubbed your back as tears spilled from his own eyes, unable to speak any words of comfort.

Five years later.

You sat in the kitchen with Natasha while she spoke to the others in a meeting, observing how she handles different situation. Pietro was training in the gym, not caring about the mess the world had become.

"Yeah, we boarded that highly suspect warship Danvers pinged." Rocket started while Natasha cut her sandwich in half.

"It was an infectious garbage scowl." Nebula glared.

"So, thanks for the hot tip." Rocket faced Captain marvel with his sarcasm.

"Well, you were closer." She shrugged having not found anything useful on her end.

"Yeah. And now we smell like garbage." The racoon complained more.

"You get a reading on those tremors?" Natasha asked Okoye next, pulling the conversation back a bit.

"It was a mild subduction under the African plate." Okoye stated calmly.

"Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?" She pressed further.

"Nat, it's an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it."

"Carol, are we seeing you here next month?" You asked with slight hope, the compound feeling more empty and lonely than ever before.

"Not likely."

"What, you gonna get another haircut?" Rocket quipped.

"Listen fur-face, I'm covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth, are happening everywhere, on thousands of planets." She was clearly irritated with the raccoon.

"All right, all right, that's a good point. That's a good point." He mumbled to himself while nodding.

"So you might not see me for a long time." Carol turned back to Natasha and you.

"Alright. Uh, well. This channel is always active. So, if anything goes sideways... anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't... comes through me." Natasha reminded everyone.

"Okay." Rocket said as Okoye nodded and Nebula, Rocket and Okoye left the meeting.

"Alright." Natasha nodded.

"Good luck" Carol tells you all before leaving herself. Sitting down which a sigh Natasha looked up to see Rhode still waiting.

"Where are you?" She asked him.

"Mexico. The Federales found a room full of bodies. Looks like a bunch of cartel guys. Never even had the chance to get their guns off." Rhode explained the situation.

"It's probably a rival gang." Natasha claimed simply, not giving it much thought.

"Except it isn't." He stated. "It's definitely Barton. What he's done here, what he's been doing for the last few years... I mean, the scene that he left..." he continued as Natasha tested up a bit and so did you, seeing Barton as a father figure since you've been with the avengers. "I gotta tell you, there's a part of me that doesn't even want to find him." He finished.