𝗀 𝗁 𝗈 𝗌 𝗍 | | 𝗌 𝗍 𝖾 𝗏 𝖾 𝗋 𝗈 𝗀 𝖾 𝗋 𝗌

𝖾 𝗂 𝗀 𝗁 𝗍 𝗒 － 𝗇 𝗂 𝗇 𝖾

✧ 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟥, 𝗎𝗉𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗒𝗈𝗋𝗄 ✧

RETURNING TO THE PRESENT TIME, Marta breathed heavily as she came out of the Quantum Tunnel. She put a hand to her stomach, discreetly, silently cursing her tiny clump of cells for gifting her with such exhaustion. "Did we get them all?" Bruce asked instantly once everyone retracted their Quantum Suits.

"You telling me this actually worked?" Rhodey asked in disbelief.

Marta looks for Natasha, but she doesn't find her where she was supposed to be standing. Clint fell to his knees. "Clint, where's Nat?" Marta asked, confused at where her best friend was.

But Clint was silent, tears in his eyes. As Bruce angrily pounded the floor in grief, Marta broke away from Steve's gentle grasp and sunk to her knees beside Clint, wrapping her arms around him from the side. He cried, and so did she. "She said to tell Steven that she loves him." Clint said, and Marta just cried harder.

They went to the lake, the first Avengers, plus Marta. Natasha's closest friends. "Do we know if she had family?" Tony asked, sunglasses over his eyes.

Steve sat beside Marta, tears cascading down his face. "Yeah. Us." he choked out.

Marta wiped at her eyes. "She has... had a sister. Yelena. She got snapped, so I'll find her when she comes back." Marta explained shakily.

Thor walked over, grieving. "What?" he questioned, confused.

"I just asked him a question–" Tony began, not in the mood for Thor.

"Yeah, you're acting like she's dead. Why are we acting like she's dead? We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back, isn't that right? So stop this shit. We're the Avengers, get it together." Thor growled out, anger consuming him.

Clint leant against one of the dock posts. "We can't get her back." he spoke, arms crossed.

Thor turned to the archer. "Wha– what?" the god stammered.

"It can't be undone. It can't." Clint said quietly. Marta dropped her head to Steve's shoulder.

Thor laughed dryly. "No offense, but you're a very earthly being. Okay? We're talking about space magic. And 'can't' seems very definitive don't you think?"

"Yeah, look, I know that I'm way outside my paygrade here. But she still isn't here, is she?" Clint retorted

"No, that's my point–" Thor tried, Marta inhaling, wiping her tears.

"It can't be undone. Or that's at least what the red floating guy had to say," Clint started shouting. "Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer, and you go fly and you talk to him!" Clint yelled, angry with grief. "It was supposed to be me. She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bet her life on it."

Marta flinched when Bruce grabbed a bench and hurled it clear across the lake. Steve, still crying silently, put a hand on her leg. "She's not coming back. We have to make it worth it. We have to." Bruce said once his anger passed by.

Steve stood up. "We will."

✧