Electric / Steve Rogers x OC x Bucky Barnes ✓

Chapter 170: Endgame

MADELINE

I wake up surrounded by rubble, grunting as I try to move my limbs. 

It feels like a bomb went off, like the entire compound is crumbling around me as I struggle to get up.

"Hey!" I yell, my voice strained, "Anyone alive?" 

"Yes," I hear a voice say from further down. I look to my side and see Bruce stuck under some debris, apparently not having turned back to his normal state because of the blast. 

"Bruce?" I ask as I stand up while trying my best to move around without upsetting the debris surrounding me, before walking towards him slowly, "Am I talking to you or big green right now?" 

"It's me," he says slowly, "I told you, it's always me now." 

"Yeah, I know," I say with a soft smile, moving closer before starting to clear the rubble surrounding him, "Just wanted to make sure the blast didn't make you too angry." 

He chuckles breathlessly, "Yeah, it doesn't really work like that anymore." 

He stands up, the rubble crumbling off of him way faster than I could have ever mustered, and looks down at me. 

"Are you okay?" 

I nod, "Yeah, I'm fine. But I don't know where the others are." 

"Kid," I hear Tony's voice through the comm in my ear, "We have a situation out here. It's the big purple guy, but also.. not?" 

I furrow my brows, "Tony, Thanos is dead. I killed him." 

"Oh I'm well aware you did," he says, "But then explain to me why he's walking across the field towards us right now." 

... 

"It's just you and me now, little one," Thanos says as he looks at me.

I look around, searching for someone - anyone - and I quickly realize that no one is left to help me. To back me up.

I spot them, the only family I have left - the only people I truly have left in my life - lying around the field, knocked out from trying to fight Thanos. 

"Fine by me, Nutsack," I say as I grit my teeth, walking closer to him.

"Nutsack?" He repeats with a chuckle, "That's good. I might remember that, when I tell the story of how I destroyed your planet, in the future."

"I don't give a shit about what you tell people about this planet," I spit, "All I care about are the people on it. And they don't deserve what you did to them."

"Ah," he says, nodding, "So I did live up to my purpose. That's comforting. Why aren't you taking this out on future me, then? The one who actually fulfilled his purpose."

"That's not possible," I reply coldly.

"And why is that?"

"Because I already killed him," I say with a smirk.

Thanos' brows raise in surprise, and I launch at him, taking his moment of vulnerability as an advantage.

I should have known better.

Before I can even reach him, I'm thrown back by his sidekick, landing harshly on the ground.

i groan as I try to get up, and Thanos laughs menacingly, a sound I'm all too familiar with.

"Oh, little one, you didn't really think you could defeat me all by yourself, did you? I am inevitable."

"Yeah," I say with a grunt as I get up, standing up to face him, "I've heard that one before. Doesn't really matter much any more, I still killed you, you purple raisin."

Thanos shakes his head disapprovingly, "Words won't get you far, little one. I'm still going to destroy this planet. And as far as I can tell," he says as he looks around, "You're the only one left to defend it."

I groan inwardly at his words, knowing that he's right, but that doesn't mean I'll give up.

I have nothing left to lose.

As long as my heart is still beating, I will fight.

"Ssgkkkss," I hear scatter in my comms and it makes me wince at the sound. I reach to take the thing out of my ear, not wanting it to distract me as I walk into certain death, but then something more audible comes through.

I look behind me when I hear a familiar voice in my ear, coming through the comms.

"On your left," the voice says and it knocks the breath out of my lungs.

I watch as Steve steps out of a golden circle to the left of me, Bucky following closely behind him.

They're followed by an uncountable amount of golden circles, the people I once thought were lost forever walking through them.

I spot T'Challa, the Wakandan warriors I fought alongside of, and Shuri. 

I see Dr. Strange, the guy who did the orange magic when he was fighting alongside Tony in New York, and walking behind him, Peter. 

And I also spot my best friend, the red glow covering her hands as she walks forward. 

Before I can even register who or how many people there actually are, half of them I don't even know or recognize, the giant mass of people run towards Thanos, attacking his army.

Rationally, I know I'm here to fight Thanos, I know that time is limited, but my emotions take over.

I drop to my knees instantly, sobbing, as I see Steve and Bucky, running in a different direction than the others. Running towards me. 

This isn't a dream. It isn't a reverie.

They're here. They're both actually here.

They're both here, really here, running towards me, and I take a deep breath as I try to calm my breathing and my loud sobs, but it's not working.

The tears are streaming down my face as Steve runs up to me and grabs me, lifting me up off the ground.

I am stunned as I feel the numbness from these past five years evaporate. I finally start to feel again, as his arms wrap around me.

He's here.

He's really here.

When he puts me down and I feel another pair of familiar arms wrap around me, my heart aches.

I feel it finally beating again, I feel everything I've been pushing aside for the past five years.

They're both here.

I never thought I would get to see them again. That I would get to feel them again.

But they're both here, right here, within my reach.

Bucky and Steve step back, and they're both watching me expectantly. I have no words as I look between the two of them.

I choke on my words as I sob, "Y-you're here. It's really y-you."

I wrap my arms around both of their necks, pulling them close to me, and Steve chuckles as Bucky makes an 'oompf' sound from me holding them close.

I sob into their clothes as I hold onto them tightly. I don't want to let them go.

I don't care if Thanos is right there, I can't let them go.

Their arms are wrapped around me as Steve whispers, "We love you," and Bucky says, "So much."

When I finally manage to pull away from them my eyes are puffy and my cheeks are stained by my tears.

"Y-you have no idea how h-hard it's b-been," I whisper as I choke down another sob.

Bucky's hand goes to my cheek, brushing a tear away, and I lean into his familiar touch.

A touch I haven't felt in five years.

He smiles as he says, "We're here now. You never have to be without us again."

Steve kisses me softly before pulling back, "Now let's go kick some alien ass."