The Captain's Husband

60. Ticket to the Endgame (Ana)

A sudden, blazing heat floods my veins and I'm thrown up onto my feet, green light flaring from my hands as a power I've never encountered before fuses with my body.

A voice speaks softly in my ears.

"Help your father bring us home."

How?

How can I bring you home?

"Remember what I taught you, what I told you, baby bear."

Blue light surges around me, firing up into the sky, illuminating a literal path to the stars.

Papa?

"Took you long enough. Now hurry. Thanos is planning to destroy the Soul World, erase us from existence permanently."

This blue light, it's you?

Holy shit.

"Your Daddy always told me I was blue blooded. It's just my luck that this is blue too."

Tears flood my eyes, and they roll off my face and hit the ground, sparkling like diamonds.

What do I need to do?

How can I bring you home?

"Get to Thanos, and when the time comes, you'll know exactly what you need to do. Now, quickly, gather up the others and follow the path above you. I trust you, baby bear. We need you."

The blue light suddenly vanishes and I'm thrown down to the earth, the wind knocked out me.

Ow, fuck!

Oh shit, I've picked up Dad's vocabulary!

Ugh!

"Ana, are you okay?!"

Huh?

"Ana!"

Who's shouting?

Hands fall on me as I look up at the sky, the path burnt into my mind, each coordinate carefully mapped in front of me.

As I'm pulled to my feet and looked over, I realize that Carol, Uncle Tony, Mom, and Dad are here, and they look terrified.

"Are you okay?" Dad asks, taking my face in his hands.

Still a bit stunned, I nod my head and look for Carol.

She'll know where we need to go.

Sensing my rising panic, she gently nudges Dad aside and takes my hands in hers.

"Breathe," she says softly. "Just like your fathers have always told you to."

I take in a shaky breath, and then I let my abilities get to work, passing along the cosmically-driven information that Papa just dropped on me.

Her eyes light up, blinding white glowing from them, and it slowly fades as she says, "He made contact?"

I nod.

She grins, excitedly saying, "Ana, your father just contacted you from a completely separate dimension!"

"What?!" Dad asks, suddenly going white, like a ghost.

Uncle Tony and Mom rush to his side to calm him, carefully holding him upright as reality crashes down on him.

"He gave you the coordinates to Thanos," Carol says, squeezing my hands. "He gave us our ticket to the endgame. We don't have to wait until 2039. We can end this now."

"Coordinates?" Uncle Tony asks, perking right up.

Carol lets go of my hands and, using the communicator on her wrist, she projects a map of the stars. She keys in the coordinates, a strange earth-like planet coming to life before our eyes.

"This is where Bucky is sending us," Carol says. "This is where we kill that son of a bitch Thanos." She looks at me. "What else did your father say?"

"He said we need to hurry," I tell her, "That Thanos is going to destroy the Soul World soon, which would completely, permanently take everyone there away from us."

"He's waging war on the people he already took away from their homes and families?" Mom asks.

I nod.

"Rhodey, Bruce!" Uncle Tony shouts across the lawn.

They come running out.

"I need someone to contact Clint," Uncle Tony tells them. "We're mobilizing!"

"On it!" Bruce says before running back inside.

Uncle Tony looks at me.

I look at Dad, saying, "I may be leading this fight, but I can't do this alone, and I really can't do this without you." His eyes darken as I go on. "Orders, Captain?"

Mom gives me an impressed nod, Uncle Tony just grins, and Carol turns to Dad, waiting for him to give us our orders.

He turns to a man of steel resolve, the hero I've always known him to be, as he stands tall and puts on his game face.

"Prepare for war," he says.

I smile proudly as I stand at attention and salute him, saying, "Yes, sir!"