As The World Caves In: An Avengers / Star Wars Story

the reunion

**Don't skip ahead to read translations or risk spoilers**

       Beside us, a moving picture screen came to life. An image of the ring ship flashed on the screen as a blonde woman began to explain. On a white panel at the bottom of the screen flashed more strange symbols I could not read. It showed images of people screaming and running from the monsters that had attacked us. Bruce stared at the screen, without looking back, spoke into the phone. "Turn on the SBN channel. We've got to get the Avengers together."

      The line went silent for several minutes. When it did, the voice sounded slightly exasperated. "Stay where you are, I'm sending a jet."

      The line went silent once again as the other end finished the transmission. I looked at Bruce.

      "I hope you Avengers are ready for a war," I whispered. Bruce bit his lip and looked up at the sky where the ship had disappeared. The blue sky was bright, but around us, the ground was dark. The concrete was overturned and crumbling after only a short battle. Silence hung between us, pressing down and filling the air with tension.

      "How come Thanos let you live?" Bruce asked quietly after several moments. I looked down. I had not thought about it since we crashed through that roof. Why had he let me live? I wanted him to kill me, but he had asked me that question.

      Tell me, have you suffered?

      More than you could ever know.

      "I... I do not know," I responded softly. The realization that I had been allowed to survive again despite the genocide that took place had hit me. It was quite unfair for me to continue to live while those more deserving died. Bruce had a right to question my ability to survive. I had no reason to live here. I was not a part of this world. I had no reason to live in my galaxy either. I was not the best Jedi. I was a Mandalorian. Doomed to fall to the violence of those people.

      The silence between Bruce and I remained for what felt like hours while we waited for this jet to arrive. The ship we were to take landed before us. I rose from my seat of a nearby rock that had fallen from a nearby building. The back of the ship opened, giving us a ramp to climb up. I followed behind Bruce as we did so.

       "Good afternoon, Doctor Banner," A man that was seated in the front pilot's seat called back over the sound of the door shutting behind us. "Who's your friend?"

      Bruce took a seat in one of the seats scattered around the ship. I sat in the one opposite him. At the mention of me, I looked over at Bruce and shook my head. If that small soldier, Peter, reacted the way he had upon viewing me and Tony mentioned something about "Star Wars", I did not want my true identity to be known.

     "It's complicated. She's here to help," Bruce responded. The man nodded and returned his focus to flying the ship. We were barely in the air for more than fifteen minutes when we touched down on a pad decorated with a giant symbol of two lines connected with another. As we exited the jet, we were greeted by a large, flat building, covered in windows. Despite the windows, the building looked more of a military base with its beige coloring and various buildings around. The pilot remained on the ship as Bruce led me through the doors of the compound, hanger first. There were a variety of jets and ships porting in the hanger although none seemed able body to fly in lightspeed.

      The hanger led through a comfortable sitting room into a clean, white meeting room where a hologram of several people dressed in finely pressed suits stood around a hologram desk. A man, who was not a hologram, stood before them. His legs were supported by two metal harnesses. I recognized the contraption from the Clone Wars. Used by officers who were injured in such ways, so, naturally, I assumed the man to be paralyzed.