We're in the Endgame Now | Endgame [2]

Chapter 7

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"Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me," said Nebula. Stood around the living area, was she, Natasha, Steve, Rhodey, Irina, Bruce and Rocket, while Thor was seated in one of the chairs at the actual table, eating bread rolls. Irina had her arms folded, eager for information. "And when he worked, he talked about his 'Great Plan'. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask, 'Where would we go once this plan was complete?'. And his answer was always the same." Nebula moved from the wall to the round table that projected holograms. " 'To the Garden'."

"That's cute," snarked Rhodey. "Thanos has a retirement plan."

Steve walked around Natasha and Irene —between her and Danvers—, and came up beside the dark-haired woman. "So, where is he?"

From atop the table on Nebula's right, Rocket turned the hologram on, and Earth popped up. "When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions," he explained, and a burst of holographic waves came from the planet. "No one's ever seen anything like it. Until two days ago . . ." Rocket scrolled through the multiple planets Irene never knew existed, " .  .  . on this planet." He stopped it —it looked like Earth, Irina noted.

  "Thanos is there," Nebula informed, confident.

  Natasha leaned close to the holographic planet, "He used the stones again."

  "Hey, hey, hey .  .  . We'd be going in shorthanded, you know?" Bruce said, cautiously.

  "Who cares," Irina uttered, not so quietly.

  Rhodey re-stated what everyone knew. "Look, he's still got the stones, so .  .  ."

  "So, let's get 'em," Danvers cut. "Use them to bring everyone back."

  "I second that," Irene agreed.

  Skeptical, Bruce asked, "Just like that?"

  "Yeah," Steve nodded. "Just like that."

  "Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this—I mean, we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try," Natasha said, emerald eyes meeting Irina's hopeful brown ones.

  "If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Bruce asked, still not completely on-board.

  "We don't," Irene voiced. "But like Nat said, we owe it to everyone not here. We have to try." For Lane. For Fanny. For Melina and Alexei.

  "I understand that, but none of us know—"

  Irina's heart thumped. "But it could work?"

    "It might. Hell, it could. And like I said, how do we know—"

  "It'll end differently," Danvers cut, once more. "Because before you didn't have me."

  "Love the optimism," Irina faced Danvers, "but your over-confidence is a little annoying." They stared each other down.

  "Hey, new girl?" Rhodey grabbed Danvers's attention, "Everybody in this room, except Irene, is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?"