Whatever it Takes: Endgame

Chapter 8

The next day they all suited up and went to the time machine.

When they were on the platform Steve started his speech, "Six months 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."

Natasha looked at Tony, who was giving Steve a small smile while Steve nodded at him, a mutual understanding between the two.

"Good luck," Steve addressed to group.

"He's pretty good at that," Rocket said to Scott.

"Right?" Scott agreed, amazed by Steve's speech.

"Alright," Tony said, getting everyone's attention. "You heard the man. Stroke those keys, Science Bro."

Bruce typed in what he needed to and joined the rest of the group.

Natasha took in the moment until Bruce stood next to her with Clint on her other side. She took a breath and as soon as Bruce tapped the device on his wrist, which brought the machine to life.

They all tapped the devices that would bring their helmets over their heads and the next thing Natasha knew, everyone was in a blue looking outer space track that they were flying through.

Natasha, Clint, Bruce and Scott all landed in 2012, where the New York battle was currently taking place.

We have our assignments," Natasha took control. "Two stones uptown, one down. Stay low and keep an eye on the clock."

Natasha heard the Big Guy's roar and everyone watched as he ran and jumped to attack the aliens, much like he did during the team's first battle.

"Let's try not to run into our past selves," she added.

She turned to Bruce, who said, "I'll get the time stone."

"Need a lift," Scott asked him.

"No, thanks" Bruce said politely, then walked up to a motorcycle and hotwired it. He got on, put on a helmet to cover his face and nodded at the group. "I'll meet you back here in an hour."

As Bruce took off, going fast but carefully, Clint broke the silence, "Didn't know he could hotwire."

"Let's get to the tower," Natasha said.

When they got there, Scott went with Clint to get the Tesseract, and Natasha went to get the scepter. Which she knew would be on the elevator with the secret HYDRA agents.

She got into a closet and put on a wig that looked like her hairstyle in 2012, covering her longer hair, and changed into a spare old suit she brought with her. She carefully snuck out and pressed the elevator button. When the doors opened, she got into the elevator full of HYDRA agents after seeing the scepter.

Instead of drawing attention by fighting, she leaned over and whispered, "Hail HYDRA" in Sitwell's ear, who looked surprised, but gave her the case without any arguments.

She got off the elevator at the next stop and smirked to herself.

"Idiot," she thought.

Natasha went up the stairs, nearly running into the Hulk. He looked at her and out of habit she said, "Hey, Big Guy."

He grunted and let her pass him. She continued to go up until she was on the floor where Melina's suit, the time suit and particles were located. She got into the broom closet, took her wig off and changed again.

She grabbed the case before opening the door and heard Clint over the comm, "Nat, we got it."

"On my way down. Watch out for the Hulk coming down the stairs," she replied.

Natasha went down the stairwell just as the Big Guy was roaring as the door slammed shut. She quickly secured a harness and jumped once she was at a safe distance where she wouldn't break or sprain anything. Upon touchdown, she unlocked herself and peeked out the door to see the team and Peirce trying to calm the Hulk. Natasha slipped out of the building unnoticed and caught up with Clint and Scott where they were supposed to meet Bruce.

"Good call on the Hulk," Clint said when he saw her. "He slammed the door wide open. We got to the other side of the building just in the nick of time or we might have lost the Tesseract. I forgot how much he hated the stairs."

"Speaking of the Hulk," Scott said as a motorcycle was heard.

Natasha turned her head to see Bruce riding towards them. He slowed down, stopped, got off and took off the helmet.

"Everyone good," Bruce asked.

"Got them," Natasha answered.

Bruce put his hand in his pocket and took out the time stone that was wrapped in a handkerchief.

"My precious," Scott said in a Gollum impression, causing everyone to look at him like he was weird.

"Not the time man," Clint told Scott.

Natasha sighed in slight annoyance as Bruce folded the stone back into the piece of cloth and pocketed it again. They all got their suits back on with the press of a button and travelled back to their time.

When they got back, everyone was landing. Natasha looked around and saw one of their teammates wasn't there.

"Stark, where's Cap," Clint asked.

Tony shook his head in sadness and looked down as he set Steve's shield down on the floor. Natasha felt tears threaten to take over but didn't let them fall.

Note: Okay, Steve fans, please don't hurt me.

Hides under my desk.