Saving Nat - Avengers Endgame alternate ending

Saving Nat

"Wait."

Little did they know that that one word would have so much impact. Little golden lines were moving from their original position, time moving along its newly regulated path.

Nebula stepped into the heart of the Avengers headquarters, almost having skipped the group meeting, but making the last-second decision not to, finally feeling as though she was part of the group.

All of the heads turned and in a split second she felt bashful. If her skin hadn't been blue, she was sure a red tinge would have shown up. Petty humans. Somewhere in the back of her now-machine mind she had room enough to chortle and to remain composed on the outside.

"What do you mean wait? This is our chance." Natasha was the first to speak up, voicing what everyone else was thinking as the girl who had been on the other side for too long began to plant a seed of doubt in their already doubtful minds. Especially Tony's.

Nebula took in a deep breath, surprised at the lack of training war had given her for situations like these. It was always so much easier to just eradicate something - a blessing and a curse of being a daughter of Thanos.

With every single eye on her, she looked at the drawing board.

Three in New York, one in Asgard and one each in Vormir and Morag.

"Do you remember what happened when my father collected the soul stone?"

Steve cocked his head, trying to think back to any mention of it. Rocket looked to Thor and Thor looked to the beer bottle in his hand.

"We don't have time for this," Tony said, tapping the screen. The glass sound echoed through the room. "Hurry up with your story." His mind was racing and every second that they didn't begin to work, he doubted whether or not it was worth it to leave. After all, he had two, who were waiting back home, who loved him 3000.

Nebula fought to stop her eye roll, although her optical implants were hindrances to them spotting it. "My father – "she stopped for a second. "Thanos," she corrected, swallowing hard. It was a habit. She had only wanted to please him her entire life until so little ago she had seen what was wrong. She sighed. "He left to Vormir. With my... Sister – "

"But Gamora never came back," Rocket finished, understanding the meaning behind her story.

It flashed before Tony's eyes. He had been so close to taking the gauntlet off the purple giant but then one imbecile had knocked the giant head and sat him loose from the weird girl's spell.

Tony grit his teeth. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could three words rang out.

"Whatever it takes."

Natasha and Clint spoke the words at the same time, eyes immediately looking up to meet each other's gaze.

"I'll do it." Again, they spoke at the same time.

She glared at him although there was no anger behind it. "If this works – "

"And it will," Steve interjected.

She sent him a soft smile, knowing he couldn't help it and that it was exactly what she needed. "When this works," she corrected, "you'll have your family back." Her words rang true and deafening to the rest of the Avengers. "Don't you think Laura should see you again? Your children?"

Clint hung his head, holding his face in his hands as he thought back to the five years without his family. "I've done bad things. I can't let you take this one."

"So have I." She took in a deep breath and then let it out. "But I don't have a family waiting for me." She looked up, her eyes met the combination of Bruce and the Hulk. He knew her secret even if no one else did. She gave him a smile as well before nodding away her fate. "It has to be me."

And in the midst of all the drama, Steve had actually been thinking. He would hate to sacrifice his old friend in the process. He was always never able to trade lives. "Wait."

Everyone turned to him.

"I have an idea."

.

.

-----

"Do you really think that's gonna work?" Nat asked, sceptical but hopeful at the same time.

Steve nodded. "If we return it to the exact same time, then yes. He'll never know."

-----

.

.

"I have a really bad feeling about this plan," Scott said, checking his suit as they flew closer to Vormir. Natasha's newly learned flying skills had been put to the test and had generally worked with the help of a couple programmed coordinates. After all, how hard could it have been if the Hulk had been able to do it?

Scott on the other hand, he'd been set as the highest stake player in this timeline with one and only one objective. Not to die, and to get the soul stone back to the future.

He did a mini jog on the spot, psyching himself up. "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this."

Natasha watched him, pitying him, but knowing why it had to be him. No one could manipulate the equipment as well as he could.

Someone small enough that Thanos doesn't notice.

We have one shot.

"Approaching the drop in three, two, one..."

Scott exited the spaceship, Peter Quill's flight tech on him with a couple advancements from Stark. It would be a silent drop in so that Thanos wouldn't hear him coming. The plan was to get as close to the mountain as possible, grab the stone and then get as far away from Thanos as possible.

"Nat, I've entered the atmosphere." And as he dropped, he prayed that the bottom of his suit wouldn't light on fire as he tried to slow his entry, careful not to turn on the boosters too loud. He couldn't shrink yet or he would take too long to descend and be a sitting duck as he did. But as he fell, a light emanated from the mountain, shooting up into the clouds.

"Are we too late. What was that?" he questioned before he spotted a purple body lying in the water. Thanos.

He frowned, shrinking as he hit the ground, close enough to the body to run towards it. Stealth had to be key and in the midst of all of the dirt he was sure he could make it. The whole crux of the plan lay on Thanos being emotionally affected enough to the point that Gamora's death would bring him one step towards foolishness. They just needed him distracted for a second.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" he asked, more to himself than anyone else because he knew that whilst they could watch, any communication from the ship back would be dangerous. While he could omit a small signal, the ship would overpower that by many times and any neighbouring ship would be able to find the signal. "Is it just me or is it too easy?" Much like the coincidental rat had been. And in how many other universes had the rat stepped perfectly to trigger the sequence?

Natasha watched from on board the ship, chuckling and shaking her head. "Easy is good," she said to herself. To her, Thanos was only a dot on a screen, and the small ant sized man was running towards him, just another dot on the screen.

She took a break from watching the two collide. Nebula had educated them on Vormir but nothing had prepared the earthlings for its beauty. Dark, but beautiful. Enticing. It reminded her of a reflection of herself.

Meanwhile, below on the planet, Scott jumped into the water, guided by signal on his forearm. "Getting it now."

In a delirious hand, it was easy to fit and to get a good hold.

"Got it!" He wrapped his arms around the stone and launched himself back through time to 2019, sacrifice free.