The Spring Soldier | Bucky Barnes

Chapter 23 - Endgame

"Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag." Rocket tells the group.

"Is that a person?" Bruce asks.

"Morag is a planet. Peter Quill is a person." Seraphina clarifies.

"Like a planet? Like in outer space?" Scott asks.

"Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything." Rocket mocks, petting his hair. "Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll take you to space."

They decide to send Nebula, Rhodey, and Aleks to get the stone from Morag before Peter can get it. Aleks agrees, both because she wants to visit another planet, and to see the pathetic human the Angel fell in love with.

***

"All right. We have a plan. Six stones, three teams, one shot." Steve announces. They split to get ready before meeting at the machine in their new suits. "Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams. You know your missions. Get the stones. Get them back. One round-trip each. No mistakes, no do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. That doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives, and we're gonna win. Whatever it takes. Good luck."

"He's pretty good at that." Rocket says.

"Right?" Scott replies.

"All right. You heard the man. Stroke those keys, Jolly Green." Tony calls as Bruce prepares the machine.

"You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?" Rocket asks, looking at the ship in Clint's hand.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'll do my best." He answers.

"As promises go, that was pretty lame." He mutters, making Seraphina chuckle.

"See ya in a minute." Nat tells them. Aleks shakes her head, both amused and annoyed at her sister's joke.

The machine comes to life, and everyone activates their helmets, preparing for their journeys.

***

"All right, bring it down, Blue. Right on that line. That's it. Down, down." Rhodey calls as Nebula lowers the pod. Aleks wrinkles her nose at the creature as it approaches her, Nat, and Clint. Her sister kicks it away and it snarls at them before running away.

"Hey, can we hurry it up?" Clint calls.

"Guys, chop-chop. Come one. We're on the clock." Nat adds.

"All that it really helpful." Rhodey replies. Once they've lowered the ship, they regroup to say goodbye. Nat hugs Rhodey.

"Take care, okay?" She tells him.

"Yeah. Get that stone and come back. No messing around." He replies. Nat turns to Aleks and pulls her into a hug. Aleks holds her back tightly, burying her face in her sister's neck.

"Be careful. Don't let that moron mess it up." She says. Nat scoffs and pulls back to look at her.

"That 'moron' is my best friend." She defends. Aleks scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Why do you have to act like such a child?" She sighs.

"I'm not the one constantly defending a murderer. Tell me, how many people has he killed in the last five years?" Aleks replies, sick of her sister constantly defending him but never her.

"How many have you killed? Too many to count?" She asks. Aleks glares at her.

"I know I'm a monster, he's the one acting like he's a hero." She scoffs. "One little tear and you act like he can do no wrong. Is that what it will take for you to care?" She taunts. "You want me to cry so you can come in and be my savior? It won't happen. Never again."

"Aleks-" Nat protests, now seeing how hurt her sister was that she didn't try harder to reach her or speak with her about what she was going through.

"Save it, Natasha. I know now who your true family is." She snaps, storming away. She hears the ship leave a few moments later, instantly regretting the fight she started. She rejoins the others, avoiding their eyes.

"Okay, so, uh..." Rhodey says awkwardly. "We just wait around for this Quill guy to show up and then he leads us to the Power Stone, is that it?"

"Let's take cover." Nebula replies. "We're not the only ones in 2014 looking for the stones."

"Wait a minute. What are you talking about right now? Who else is looking for these stones?" He asks.

"My father, my sisters, and me." She answers.

"And you? Where are you, then?" Aleks asks.

***

"So, he's an idiot?" Rhodey asks as they watch Quill singing and dancing around.

"The Angel fell in love with him?" Aleks adds, shocked.

"Yeah." Nebula answers them. They move out from behind their cover, and Rhodey knocks him out. Nebula searches his bag, taking out a tool.

"Ooh, that looks fun. What is it?" She asks.

"The tool of a thief." She answers. Nebula uses it to open the door to the Power Stone, and Rhodey grabs her arm before she can walk inside.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is the part where spikes come out with skeletons on the end of them and everything." He protests.

"What are you talking about?" Nebula asks as Aleks scans the room.

"When you break into a place called 'The Temple of the Power Stone', there's gonna be a bunch of booby traps." He explains. She shakes her head and walks forward.

"Oh, my God. Okay. All right. Go ahead." He scoffs.

"I don't see any traps, but let's let her go first." Aleks tells him. They follow a few steps behind her until they reach the orb. Nebula reaches inside with her metal arm, the metal heating from the protection around it. 

She passes the orb to Rhodey and blows on her arm, cooling the metal. She quickly lowers it when she spots them watching.

"I wasn't always like this." She tells them. Aleks nods, knowing they both could have turned out so differently under different circumstances.

"Me either." Rhodey agrees. "But we work with what we got, right?" Nebula hums in agreement. "Let's sync up."

They activate their suits and Rhodey counts them down. He and Aleks press their buttons, but unknown to them, Nebula is interrupted.

***

"Did we get 'em all?" Bruce asks once they've returned to the platform.

"Are you telling me this actually worked?" Rhodey asks. Aleks looks around, spotting Clint standing without Nat.

"Where's my sister?" Aleks demands, stepping forward. Clint drops to his knees, not responding. "Where is she? Where's Nat?" She screams and launches herself at him, wanting to kill him for returning without her sister. Steve catches her before she can attack, pinning her to his chest as she tries to free herself. "You son of a bitch! You killed her! I hate you! I should've killed you when I had the chance!" She sobs, blaming him but also herself. Steve carries her out of the room as she continues screaming and sobbing, having now lost everyone she loves.