black bird

thirty-five

[ Last chapter! ]

They lay together on the roof, wrapped in blankets and watching the sunrise over the horizon. They had been up all night, worried yet excited for their mission. They had figured out where all the stones were, three of them being in New York all at the same time, one was on Asgard, one being on a planet called Morag, and the last being in a place called Vormir. They were all assigned in at least teams of two, and Steve and Emilia were heading to find the soul stone while Nebula and James were going to Morag, so they were all going to space together. Clint was heading with Tony, Scott, and Bruce to New York, and Rocket and Thor were off to Asgard.

"Do you think we make it out of this alive?" Steve asked her.

"We better." She chuckled, not having a real answer for him. She hoped they would, but she knew any one of them would lay their life on the line to get half of the population back.

"You know I love you, right?" He said, and she looked up at him, smiling.

"I love you too." She responded, leaning her head against his chest as they continued to watch the sunrise. Her watch began to go off with her alarm, noting that it was five-thirty in the morning. The plan was to leave as early as possible so they could have the entire day to get the stones and come back to their timeline in order to bring everyone back.

"We should go." Steve said with a sigh.

"A couple more minutes. I just want to enjoy this a little longer." She requested, and he wrapped his arms tighter around her, no argument to be made. They enjoyed the peace for a little while longer before finally going inside to get into their suits, the familiar Kevlar reminding her of what they lost all those years ago. Once they were both ready, they met in the hangar, Tony passing out the nano-suits to everyone. They got into the suits, everyone now donned in white and red matching suits. They walked over to the platform in a group, and once they were all together, Steve made one of his motivational speeches.

"Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends, we lost family, we lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round-trip each. No mistakes, no do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know, but that doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful and look out for each other, for this is the fight of our lives, and we're gonna win. Whatever it takes." Steve told the group of them, and she reached down and squeezed his hand.

"He's really good at that." Rocket commented.

"Right?" Scott piped in.

"Alright! You heard the man! Stroke those keys, Jolly Green!" Tony shouted at Bruce as he stood at the panel. Bruce had already given them a run down, in while they would have a minute in their time before they were back, but they would have the entire day in the quantum realm to find the stones.

"Let's do this." Bruce said as he walked onto the platform. They all looked at one another, Tony and Emilia locking eyes. He had a smile on his face, and she smiled back.

"See you in a minute." She told him with a small smirk as the platform began to whirl, and everyone had their helmets on as the floor beneath them opened to the quantum realm, and they were all sucked in. Once they were in, they used their travel devices and split off to the timelines they needed to be at. The four of them landed on Morag, landing safely as could be after going through the quantum realm. The year was 2014, and at this time she would have still been in the Red Room completely under Dreykov's control as a special operative. It sent chills up her spine just thinking about it.

"You alright?" Steve asked her, and she looked up at him, nodding.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just can't believe it's working." She responded as Nebula and James got the Benatar set up for them to take to Vormir. Little alien creatures kept crawling around them, Emilia having to kick one of them to keep it from biting at her ankles.