Tʜᴇ Aᴠᴇɴɢᴇʀs: Tʜᴇ Lᴀsᴛ Hᴇʀᴏᴇs

Ｏɴᴇ Ｙᴇᴀʀ Ａғᴛᴇʀ Ｆᴀɪʟᴜʀᴇ

1-Year After the Death of Thanos

The Avengers had failed, Astrid had failed and now they're friends were forever gone. A year had gone by since then, Astrid had come to a sort of peace of mind with the fact that everyone she ever really cared about was gone. Her mother hadn't been snapped away by some miracle and she was currently living with her in her apartment. Jane Foster had been worried sick when Thor came to her doorstep and told her that they had failed, she was concerned for her daughters health. But surprisingly and with a lot of therapy, Astrid was coping with the loss. Carson came by almost everyday just to be with her, even though his own mother was patrolling the cosmos day and night and was rarely on Earth anymore, instead of going with her he stayed with the broken girl.

Thor hadn't come back to visit in some time, after telling Jane the news of their failure, he left a letter saying that he needed to go off and "find himself" again. He flew off and never returned, that was a year ago that he left that letter. Again, surprisingly, Astrid wasn't mad at her father, they all needed time, time just to heal and figure out how to move on again, now that there was a few billion empty spots in the universe. That particular day though, Natasha who still worked with the rescue group at the Avengers base had called and asked Astrid and Carson to go do her a favor.

"Clint...Hawkeye, has been missing since the snap. He was supposed to be on his farm with his family but, they're all gone. Your mission is for you two to go to the farm and just...make sure everything's okay." Nat barely choked out the words, you could see the pain in her eyes as she said her old partners name. This time, the spy wasn't even trying to mask her emotion, she had done enough of that over the years. It was time to finally let go.

Without argument, Astrid and Carson flew to the deserted farm to make sure everything was okay. But as soon as the farm came into sight, Astrid was over taken with an uncontrollable pain.

Lilly.

Her teammate and friend used to live here, she hadn't even gotten to say goodbye to her father before she turned to dust. She began to fall from the sky as tears left her eyes. All her therapy went out the window at that moment, fuck coping with the losses, fuck not putting all the guilt on her. She had killed Thanos but there was still a pang of vengeance in her body that just wouldn't leave. She had been fighting the pain off for a year and it all just came running back at the sight of her friends old home. Her whole life ahead of her, disappeared in a, well a snap of purple fingers. "Astrid!" Carson called up. They were a few hundred feet from the ground when she fell, but Astrid knew that she wouldn't die if she fell, she just didn't have the will to stop herself anymore. Carson swooped down and caught her, sitting down on the ground with her in his arms. Astrid wailed into his arms.

"I can't do this, Car. I thought that the therapy was helping, that moving back home would give me the release I needed to find peace and to cope with it all. But it was just a distraction from the pain, and distractions only last so long." She cried. Carson hugged her as they sat. "I can only imagine the pain you feel everyday, As. But you're strong, and it'll be hard but one day, you'll finally feel the release you're looking for." Astrid wiped her tears away and looked up at him. "This was Lilly Valerie Barton's house, her father is Hawkeye, the man who went missing. Lilly was snapped away and when I saw the farm, I don't know I thought I could handle it but it was to much. Lilly was one of my best friends and she's gone!" She yelled. Electricity sparked around her but Carson placed a hand of power on her arm, telling her to calm down.

"It's going to hurt, we both know it is. But we'll cope together." Just as the two were hugging, a loud snapping sound could be heard throughout the farm. The sound of a machine gun going off echoed in Astrid's ears. "Get down!" She yelled at Carson. The bullets came spraying out at them, the goddess used her powers to make a shield of electricity to shield herself while Carson used his powers to make himself a shield as the bullets rained down on them. "I thought this place was supposed to be abandoned!" He yelled. "It's supposed to be! Maybe it was just a trap set!" Astrid yelled back. But the spray seemed forever replenished, someone had to be reloading it. "Okay, that's it!" Astrid yelled, sending an EMP from her finger tips to the direction of where she assumed the spray was coming from. There was a loud boom and then everything stopped.

Smoke rose from the small farmhouse a few feet away, which prompted Astrid to walk over. Carson followed suit, not putting down his shield just in case. The two were about to open the door to the smoking barn when suddenly, a blast of energy pushed Astrid to the ground. Carson's shield protected him from whatever it was, but as for Astrid, she was tackled to the ground and was seemingly fighting off the wind, which she technically was.

"Car, shoot me!" She yelled. Carson looked at her as if she were crazy, "You're crazy, I'm not going to shoot..." Before he could finish Astrid yelled, "Just shoot me! It's a SHIELD weapon that manipulates the air around it and takes the form of an attacker. Just fucking shoot me!" With a sigh of hesitation, he shot Astrid with a blast of energy, and with a scream the "wind" she was fighting disappeared. Astrid brushed her pants up and got up, only to be knocked back down by a grenade blast, this time Carson went down with her. "Who the hell is doing all of this!" She yelled. She was getting tired of getting knocked down so she finally gave in and shot the barn with electricity.

The whole thing burned to a crisp, forcing the coughing attacker to escape. "There!" She yelled. The attackers eyes went wide as he realized that they had spotted him, but something about them gave Astrid chills. "Hold on, I'll be right back." She said. "Hey! I just wanna talk, I think I might know you!" The girl yelled. The attacker stopped dead in their tracks and put their hands up. Just to be safe, Astrid put a shield of electricity around her body like it was clothing. Getting closer, her eyes widened as she started to put the boys face together in her subconscious.

"I had a brother, he was murdered."

"Brown hair, brown eyes, crazy."

"His name was Nathaniel and he ran away from our family after faking his death."

"Is your...is your name Na...Nathaniel, Nathaniel Barton?" She asked. The boy looked at her with familiar in his eyes. "Yes, I am."

"So...this is Lilly's brother?" Steve asked. The remaining Avengers that hadn't left for their own paths after the failed stone rescue were at the base when Carson and Astrid brought back Nathaniel from the farm. The teenage boy nodded. "Yeah I um...I'm her brother." Astrid gestured to a chair and Nate sat down. "So, last we heard about you was that you faked your own murder and ran." Rhodes said bluntly, earing a few glares from his teammates. Nate cleared his throat. "Well um, yes that's what happened if you put it bluntly. But there is so much to the story." He said. Tony nodded. "Then please, tell us."