The Last Avenger [What If...? x DCAMU Crossover]

22. December 16th, 2015

Indiana Stark, A.K.A. Tony Stark's little sister, became the deadliest woman known to man.

And there came a day unlike any other, when Earth's Mightiest Heroes found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, she joined the Avengers.

This is what she does now that they're gone.

It's cute that you guys still look here expecting more info. xoxo

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Gotham City, Sunday,
December 16, 2015

It couldn't be avoided. Even if I thought I could handle it.

Physically, I'm alone. But in my head?

I'm drowning in memories of one of the worst days of my life. The day my parents were murdered.

My nightmare started like this.

I was standing on a deserted gravel road in the middle of the bush. It was the middle of the night. A gale was blowing ripping that the trees along the road. Dry and cold coming from what I thought was the north. I smelt like dirt and molasses grass. Ten meters up the road was a totalled 1967 Cadillac crashed into a solid concrete wall.

New Mexico, I thought. I knew this road. I remembered this place. And yet, everything looked surreal, like I was trippin or something.

I started to sweat as I approached the car. Sure enough, I found my mother and my father dead in the front seats. Dad's face was bloodied and Mum had a gash on her forehead that dripped blood down her face and smeared on her pearl necklace. Fucking pearl necklaces. The broken radio still playing Danger Zone in the background, warbling and distorting the lyrics.

I dropped to my knees. 24 years later and I still hurt like new. Gravel dug into my knees, so I sat and rested my back against the door.

Then I heard the crunch of gravel under feet. I turned and saw the younger version of myself running for her life. She's had a motorbike jacket over a Top Gun shirt and jeans, not a scar on her, skin as blemish-less as the day she was born, I just know; she's young - sixteen and eight months, an old, dog-eared copy of The Hobbit in one hand and a knife in the other.

She was fast and strong, and trained to fight from the day she could walk, but the Winter Soldier was there. He was relentless, like the Terminator. In comparison, Indiana was more like Sarah Connor, and in the first movie too, before she could do chin-ups.

That was me. A lifetime ago.

I started to shake and it's all I could do to stand but I breath and shake and look at her.

"P-please, Indiana - help me," she pleaded with a shaky voice.

"I've tried, kiddo," I sighed. "Every night since I ran from HYDRA... believe me, I've tried."

Indiana stumbled to a stop and turned to face the Soldier, terrified but vengeful. His nose was crooked and bleeding from where she'd broken it with The Hobbit.

I remember that feeling of vengeance and took the knife from her hand, plunging the blade into the Soldier's chest.

I know it isn't real. None of it is.

But... man is that satisfying.

"You did it," Indiana said. "You saved me."

But every time I do... nothing ever changes. It played like a broken record.