Take Me back to the Start | B. Barnes

44. We won

"Natasha, I don't wanna put pressure on you but it would be really helpful if you would hurry up and close the portal." I pipe up through the comm and dodge the weapon that the alien aims at me. My strength has decreased dangerously, every single bone tries to drag me down and my legs feel as heavy as lead. I struggle to steady my breath and my combat suit is covered with dirt and blood, the strands of my hair fall out of my ponytail.

"I agree." Clint confirms with a sniff. "I'm running out of arrows. And this fight doesn't make sense if more are coming. We're still only seven people."

"I have Loki's scepter now, should be possible." The red-haired declares and I shoot a blast of electricity at the Chitauri as the next one attacks me. Exhausted and tired, I punch it in the face and kneel down, taking a short break while the alien falls off the bridge. A shield flies towards me and I dodge, turning around just to see how the Chitauri behind me dies.

"You're alright?" Steve asks me concerned as he catches his shield again before he helps me up. I nod quietly and look around, the broken pieces of Manhattan arouse nostalgia in me.

"War has never been over. And it'll never leave." I sigh and my chest feels heavy, burdened by memories. I feel helpless, lost in oblivion.

Steve looks around and I see the same homesickness in his blue eyes that isn't too different from mine. Even though his hair is a mess and his skin is coated with dirt, I recognize for a short, barely existent glimpse, the innocent, small boy from Brooklyn who was too dumb to run away from a fight.

"I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down." Natasha announces and we both look up to the Stark Tower.

"Do it!" Steve commands but Tony interrupts us, sounding rather urgent.

"No, wait! I got a nuke coming in, from the military. It's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it." He refers to the portal and just seconds later, I see how Iron Man flies straight up into sky with a huge missile, towards the portal. My eyes widen, shocked by his plan and I suddenly think of Howard.

"Stark, don't! That's a one-way trip, it's suicide. Turn back now, we'll find another solution!" I yell through the earpiece but he keeps flying towards the portal, not slowing down. That's a sacrifice he shouldn't pay, why is he doing this?! He isn't supposed to die, not now, not on my watch. "Tony! Come back!"

I hold my breath and everyone of us watches how he flies into the portal, disappearing out of our sight. My hands are shaking and I swallow, praying that he's gonna come back. For unknown reasons, I feel responsible for him and guilt spreads over my chest. In the next moment, all aliens keel over, turning into lifeless bodies on the ground but we keep staring at sky, hoping for Tony's return. A supernova comes towards us and Steve turns around to Thor who has landed next to us. The God sends us a knowing nod.

"Close it." Steve tells Natasha through the comm and I bite on my lower lip, feeling helpless and numb.

"Come on, Tony...." I mumble, even though the billionaire can't hear me. I should have stopped him, instead I just watched him sacrificing himself. The energy beam of the Tesseract vanishes and the portal closes, my chest almost crumbles until a small figure is hurled backwards through the portal towards the earth. A sigh of relief escapes my lips, almost leading to a laugh. "That bastard."

"Son of a gun." Steve laughs relieved and even Thor smirks with joy. Iron Man keeps falling and falling and the realization hits us when he doesn't stop, panic overwhelms me.