Rundown (Spiderman x Reader) (II)

46. Blood on Blood

We'd still be standing
When all was said and done...
And I'll be here for you
Till kingdom come
Blood on blood

I could lie and say that I gracefully resurfaced on Earth, glowing in a blaze of glory or something cool like that. But it wouldn't be the truth. The somewhat soft slap of Clint's wet glove was the reason my eyes fluttered open.

"(Y/n), sweetie, I need you to wake up or your real and foster dads are gonna kill me," he said in a stern tone.

My breath and focus came just in time to see Nebula A kill Nebula B with a blaster, next to a green girl who I figure is her dead sister. "It might be the fact that I was unconscious seconds ago, but what in the time-traveling fuck is going on?"

Nebula A marched to us and helped me get up. "No time to explain. We need to get this back to the others," she explained, referring to the Iron Man gauntlet Clint carried.

The four of us strutted to find the exit of the fallen labyrinth. Apparently, the explosion was not my imagination; missiles and firepower had struck the facility. Thanos could be hidden anywhere— well, the sisters explained he was peacefully sitting on a throne. Typical villain stuff, y'know?

As we searched the tunnels, I felt odd and very weird.... The scars accumulated over the past 5 years were not there. I confirmed it when my fingers traced over my current non-calloused hands. I grabbed a chunk of my hair, only to realize dye was not plastered on it. It might be a stretch.... Um, I think I'm back into my fifteen-year-old body. Pietro's monologue about me being different was true, more true than I could possibly imagine.

Thunder and punches roared behind the broken walls. We had to find the exit soon. "Right. Then we go left," Nebula's sister announced to our tight group.

I couldn't wait for them to walk faster, so I chose to sneak off and crawl inside a hole small enough for me to cross over. When my eyes adjusted to the dim light on the other side, I observed Tony, Steve, Thor in the midst of battling Thanos.

The Titan was swiping them left and right, leaving no critical hit or blast behind. After a while, he snatched Thor's axe and was very close to cutting him straight in his chest. Thor grunted as he did his best to shove the weapon away.

Before attacking him, I took a step back. Do I even know how my powers work? I stretched my hand and attempted to lift a chunk of rock as I could before, but nothing happened. Guess I need to work on figuring things out. For the time being, I checked up on my guns and recalibrated them.

Then, the unexpected happened. Mjolnir, otherwise known as Thor's old hammer, flew right into Steve's hand. According to my history classes about Norse mythology, that means Steve's worthy of ruling Asgard. The God of Thunder screamed, pride all over his sweaty face, "I knew it!"

The combination of the hammer plus shield throws was enough to bring Thanos to the ground. What helped the most was the call for the blue lightning coming from the earth and the sky.

Steve desired a final hit, causing him to come closer; unlucky for us, it was a perfect opportunity for Thanos to fling him over and cut him with his double-edged sword. The sword that broke the emblematic Captain America shield piece by piece until a half remained.

He landed right next to my feet. "Mr. America! Sorry, uh, Steve, you okay?" He couldn't respond, as the pain was probably in every fiber of his being. "C'mon, sir." I carefully tried to lift him upwards, but it was no use; we were both tired and he was too wounded.

"In all my years of conquest... violence... slaughter... It was never personal." Thanos bloated as he saw us struggling. Oh, how I wanted to slaughter his arrogant voice. "But I'll tell you now– what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet... I'm gonna enjoy it. Very, very much."

Thanos' ship opened, revealing thousands of galactic, horrendous creatures I could not even conjure up in my wildest nightmares. Some were crawling, others were marching and the rest were in ships similar to the ones in New York. My jaw reached the floor.

The best way to describe it was by looking at darkness right in the eye. At first, I was shaking inside, terrified that we'd receive more death than in the previous battle. Nonetheless, it only took an instant for me to understand a crucial concept. What's great about the darkness is it's not scary when you know how to embrace it. In fact, you get to rejoice in it.

I turned to Captain America, who was barely keeping it together. "We can fight them off, but I need your help," I motivated. A little pull and some grunts, and he was back on his feet. He tugged on the leather handle of the remaining shield as a bandaid for his open wound.

I offered myself as a crutch to let him get closer to what we were fighting: an entire alien army led by a purple raisin. If this is how I die, then so be it— No, screw that mentality— we're gonna end up victorious.

Just as I had activated my gun wrists, the team's comms turned on. "Hey, Cap, you read me?" My heart stopped pounding because that voice sounded familiar, and it was from someone unalive if you catch my drift. "Cap, it's Sam. Can you hear me?"

Sam? As Sam Wilson, The Falcon? The snap worked! Sam's here, so... he is here. He's here! Both of us touched our earpieces to confirm we weren't imagining stuff. As it turns out, we thankfully weren't.

"On your left," he finished. My soul began doing somersaults.

We scanned the arena to find where he stood. Unexpectedly, a tunnel had appeared behind us, full of light and hope. The rim of the circle contained golden wisps, similar to Doctor Strange's mystical powers. So he had also made it through.

Through the portal, Black Panther and two women dressed in what I assume was Wakandan armor approached us. They seemed to have met Steve before, as they gave a confirming nod towards each other.

Then, Falcon soared in, his red wings brightening up the space. Immediately after him, more and more portals opened everywhere. All ranged in a variety of backgrounds and crowds. It might sound cheesy, but these people are the extended family I didn't know I had. Like, the ones your parents only interact with on Facebook. And I was going to happily fight on their side.

The Wakandan army chanted their song of war while all kinds of Avengers from around the galaxy came together to defend ourselves. "Wow," I said to no one in particular. If I had any energy to cry left, I'd be crying tears of joy right now.

Furthermore, I had finally found Tony again; he was panting on the sidelines. He aided himself in getting up, but did a high five on me. "Good to know you're not dead," he muttered between his usual excitement.

Behind the portals, my dad emerged from the rubble like a giant man, carrying people of our team on his palm. Just to mention some of the others heroes by my side, there was Bruce, Thor, Rhodey, Black Panther, Wanda, Bucky, Tony... the list could go on for hours. We were all in position, waiting for further instructions.

"Avengers!" Steve cried. The hammer reached his palm in less than the blink of an eye. Everyone adjusted the last details of their armor before Captain America, the man who started it all, indicated charging.

For the last attempt at activating my powers, I rubbed my hands together frenetically. That seemed to do the trick, because a sword made out of light glowed in my grasp. Yup, you read that correctly: a sword made out of light.

With an actual, ecstatic smile on my face, I faced the deadly horizon. It all comes down to this.

"Assemble."

_-_- 🐝 -_-_
Author's note:

So I just checked and Shutdown has 15k reads. What?! I'm at a loss for words. You guys are amazing. Thank you!! (is it weird to do be this excited about a fanfiction?.... probably... but I'm thrilled anyways *happy noises*)

~ Winter ❅