AVENGE THE FALLEN | AN ENDGAME READER INSERT STORY

part thirteen

You'd slept in a little later than you usually did, but no one came to wake you. When you walked into the main room, everyone was eating breakfast, talking softly.

Your dad smiled at you. In his hands was a cup of coffee, your favorite creamer mixed in. He handed it to you and you took it carefully, offering a close-lipped smile as he drew your head in close and kissed your forehead for a long moment.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "I heard you get up last night."

"Yeah, I, uh-" You cleared your throat. "He was in my head last night. I think."

He grabbed your arm. "Thanos?" he whispered, genuine fear in his voice.

You nodded.

He let go of you. His hands were shaking.

This was all too familiar to you.

Chest tightening, you grabbed your dad's hand, desperate to keep him from having a panic attack the way he did after New York, with the wormhole and you nearly dying from getting your powers.

"Dad," you whispered. "Hey. Hey, focus on me. Dad - please."

He clumsily sat down on one of the stools, facing away from everyone. No one was paying much attention though; they were caught up in plans and leads, and your dad had mastered the "suffer in silence" thing.

"I'm gonna go get Pep," you said.

"No!" he snapped, face red. He shook his head. "Don't do that."

You nodded, torn still. "Dad," you said, leaning close to him. "I'm okay-"

"I'm sorry," he whispered, ignoring you. His brown eyes flickered to your face. Pained, he shook his head. "I made a target out of you."

"I think I did that myself. I'm an Avenger too, Dad."

He nodded quickly. "It was fine when he was in my head, but him being in yours-" He cut himself off, flinching. "God, I-"

You put your coffee down for a moment and wrapped your arms around him. "Stop, stop. Breathe. I'm okay, Dad. I can handle myself."

After a few seconds, his breathing went back to normal.

"You handled this a lot better than your old man did," he said, snickering lightly.

You forced a laugh. If only he could tell how terrified you were inside.

"You okay?" you asked.

He looked up at you and brushed some hair out of your face. "I'll be okay once this guy is dead for good."

"Yeah," you whispered. "Me too."

"We still haven't heard from Scott," Nat said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "or Clint."

Steve frowned. "Maybe it's time to accept that they may just be gone, too."

Everyone looked saddened. You sighed, picking your coffee back up. "You've tried to contact their households?"

Steve nodded. "No answer on either."

"We've attempted contact them several times. Over thirty, I'd say." Nat pushed her hair out of her face. It was getting longer now, red starting to grow in the roots.

You sighed and nodded, taking a sip of your coffee. "Okay," you breathed. "Okay. Well, we can't just give up on them, I mean... we need all the help we can get if we wanna take down Thanos, an-"

"Hi, uh, is anybody home? Uh - this is Scott Lang."

Your eyebrows furrowed at the sound of a fuzzy, crackled voice breaking through the speakers. Everyone glanced around, then Nat and Steve looked at the screens from the security cameras. They rose from their chairs.

"Remember me? We met a few years ago? At the airport? In Germany... I got really big?"

"Is this an old message?" Steve whispered.

"Ant-Man. I know - I know you know that one."

Hope swelled inside of you. You rushed close to the screens, pointing at the date of the footage. It was today, the time stamp exactly right.

"He's here," you said. You smiled. "He's really here. Open the doors."

Steve looked at Tony, who nodded, gesturing to you. They opened the doors and, as you stepped in front of the main doorway, you saw him.

His eyes were wide and he was breathless. "Will someone tell me what the heck is going on?" he asked.

                             ***

"A few weeks ago, a Titan named Thanos wiped out half of the universe's population. All living creatures."

Scott sat in one of the chairs, nodding solemnly. Everyone else was gathered around him, giving all the information we could.

"Didn't you guys try to stop him?" he asked.

"Yes," you said.

He raised his eyebrows. "The Avengers lost?"

"Yes."

"This is one powerful dude," Rhodes said.

Scott exhaled, leaning back in his chair. "Wow, okay." He rubbed a hand over the scruff of what was barely the beginning of a beard. "I, uh, checked my house. My ex-wife, her husband, my best friend, my... my daughter. They're all gone."

"I'm sorry," you whispered.

He lifted his shoulders, eyes red now. "So that's just it then? They're - they're dead o-or what?"

"We aren't sure," Nat said. "We think there's a way to bring them back."

"Really? How?"

"We're gonna take the flashy gold gauntlet that dude was usin' and we're gonna turn back time ourselves and undo all this crap," Rocket said, climbing on the back of the sofa, right beside where you were standing.

Scott dropped a hand from his face and pointed at Rocket. His jaw dropped, then closed, then dropped. He nodded once. "Raccoon," you saw him mouth. "That's a raccoon."

"Well, if you guys lost before, what makes you think it'll be different this time around?" he asked.

"This time, we're all fighting together," you said, "not planets apart. And we've got Captain Marvel."

Carol stepped away from the wall she was leaning on and smiled at you. Hands in her pockets, she stilled right beside you and nodded.

"Oh - Captain Marvel, right," he said. "I totally know who that is. House arrest didn't make me fall out of the loop or anything."

"She has the same powers as me," you said.

"Oh. Oh - well, then yeah, Thanos is screwed. Big time."

She smirked.

Scott looked around. "How many of you guys..."

"We lost several," Steve said. "But where were you the last few weeks?"

"Trapped in the Quantum Realm," he said. "It's another long story."

"We got the time," you said.