sunset. [wanda maximoff]

2.9

THE AFTERMATH

The second Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan had felt the earth move, they knew something had gone wrong.

New York was on fire. Buildings were burning from helicopter crashes and cooking stoves that had no one left to attend to them. The roads were jammed with cars full of dusted people, a frenzied panic settling over the city as those that remained tried to make sense of the events that were occurring.

The bodyguard left Pepper in their car as he dashed to the car in front of them, where Nick Fury and Maria Hill had been driving. They were all heading to the HQ to be prepared for the Avengers return once they had put a stop to Thanos, since there was certainly going to be a large debriefing waiting for them all. Obviously, that wasn't going to happen now.

Pepper jumped out of the car behind the man, rushing over to look in the vehicle and covering her mouth in shock at the sight of nothing but dust in the wind at where Maria and Nick had just been standing. Tears filled her eyes as it started to dawn on her that no-one was immune from what was happening. She didn't even know if Tony or Scottie had made it. She might never get to know.

Happy moved from his frozen position behind her, his foot having stepped on something that was cracked on the pavement below them. Furrowing his eyebrows at the sight of an old pager, the man slowly crouched down to pick up the red and blue flashing device.

"Pep," he grumbled, causing the woman to turn around and rush to his side. She stared at it in confusion, both of them looking at where N.F was enshrined on the side. The strange pattern on the middle was still lit up, causing them to both share a worried look.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, but I think we better head to the compound. Maybe there's someone left who can help us figure it out," Happy suggested, his sentences sounding monotone as he still tried to wrap his head around what had just happened. Pepper nodded, her mind moving faster than the speed of light at all the possibilities running through her head.

"Whatever it was, if it was the first thing Fury tried to do when he thought the world was ending, it's certainly damn important."

_______

"Pepper," Natasha breathed out as the blonde woman rushed out of the compound at the noise of the quinjet landing outside. Happy was hot on her trail, running out with his hand firmly placed on the gun in his belt.

"Oh god, Nat," Pepper breathed, taking in the state of the woman. She flung her arms around the other blonde, knowing that this exchange would never have happened under normal circumstances. They held on to each other tightly, aware that they were all they had left now.

Pepper pulled back, her eyes skimming over the rest of the remaining Avengers as they all slowly started to exit the quintet. She turned back to look at Natasha with a clouded pain in her eyes, not wanting to watch either of the two people she wanted to see the most not walk down that ramp.

"Are they...?" Pepper's voice croaked at the end, her sentence hanging unfinished in the air between them all. She watched over Natasha's shoulder as Bruce and Rhodey stepped out of the quinjet, followed closely by Thor and a walking racoon. She knew she would have questions about that in particular but it was the last thing on her mind at that moment.

"We don't have whereabouts on Tony, Pep," Natasha told the woman softly, watching as she slouched backwards slightly into Happy. The man lightly rested a hand on her shoulder to keep her steady, knowing that he had just lost his friend as well. "Scottie's alive, but she's not..."

Natasha didn't get to finish her sentence as a soft gasp fell from Pepper's lips at the sight of Steve Rogers walking down the ramp, cradling Scottie in his arms as he held her tightly to his chest. The blonde's eyes were shut as her head was lolled back and resting on Steve's arm, her legs hanging over his other as he walked quickly towards where the survivors were standing at the entrance. Pepper rushed over to meet him halfway, her hands reaching out to touch the girls arm as they moved as a group towards the medical bay.