𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐔𝐏, avengers: endgame [3]

four.

04 — atoms

SOMETHING FELT OFF, FROM THE very moment the Avengers had stepped onto this planet. There was some kind of energy around it, fizzing and buzzing across Ava's skin. It felt weird, it felt like something was trying to unwrite her very being.

Ava had always been good at shaking things off — she'd had to do it her whole life... but something felt different. Maybe it was because it was a whole new planet, but she was willing to bet that it was something else entirely. Pietro had taught her a lot of things, love, control, happiness, instinct; and he'd always said to trust it.

She trusted him, and so as they walked towards a cabin, she let herself feel her surroundings. Her power touched everything, every single atom in the sky was electrified and reinforced with something.

Thinking about what it could be was scary, and deep in her chest, Ava knew what it meant. That didn't mean she had to admit it, though.

The plan was in place, and Ava was just in time to see the remaining Avengers hold Thanos down, Thor cutting down the alien's arm.

Her nose curled in disgust: this guy took away her family?

"Oh no..." said Rocket, after kicking over the disfigured infinity gauntlet. The spaces were empty, and the stones were gone. Something snapped in the Avengers, and Ava knew everything went downhill from here.

"Where are they?" asked Steve.

"Answer the question." Carol demanded, wrapping her arms even tighter around the alien, the threat remaining unsaid.

"The universe required connection," said Thanos, and Ava saw the hint of a smile on his face. "After that, the stones served no purpose beyond temptation."

The sickening realisation rippled through the room, Ava's chest thudding painfully. She knew it. Everything she had felt, it was the stones.

"You murdered billions!" Bruce's voice came from the Hulkbuster, and he pushed Thanos down more, seething.

"You should be grateful." said Thanos, before being hit by Bruce's massive suit.

"Where are the stones?" asked Natasha, stepping forward and ignoring the squeeze in her chest. Billions included her friends, her family. And being grateful for those deaths? It was almost like being back in the Red Room, some deluded idiot conditioning her to believe or do something, and telling her she should be grateful for their 'help.'

"Gone, reduced to atoms."

Ava had never felt less grateful for her powers — she could feel the energy of the stones, sizzling the air around them. Every breath was full of power and space and time. Every time she exhaled, she breathed out souls and minds and reality.

How he had done it, Ava would never understand. Just like the why, she could never, would never get why.

"You used them two days ago!" said Bruce, a hint of Hulk leaking into his voice.

"I used the stones, to destroy the stones." confessed the alien, "It nearly killed me, but the work is done. It always will be. I am... inevitable."