Bird Set Free | Natasha Romanoff ✓

Chapter Fifty-Five

"Alright. The glove's ready. Question is, who's gonna snap their freaking fingers?" Rocket asked after he finished carefully setting their homemade gauntlet down.

"I'll do it," Thor said, raising his hand up as he moved towards the gauntlet. "It's okay.

The whole room erupted in sounds of protest, Steve moving forward to restrain him.

"Wait, wait, Thor, just wait. We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet." Steve replied trying to reason with the god.

"I'm sorry. What, we're just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?"

"We should at least discuss it," Aquila added as Scott nodded beside her.

"It's not going to be easy." Keira also added. "We need to make sure that the person can handle it."

"Look, us sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? So this responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty." Thor said, attempting to move forward again as Keira and Tony moved to stop him again.

"It's not just that-"

"It's. . . stop it! Just let me. . ." Thor trailed off, nearly begging as tears pooled in his eyes. "Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something great."

"Thor, it's not just the fact that that glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent." Keira tried to explain.

"You're in no condition," Tony added only to watch as Thor laughed shaking his head.

"What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?"

"Cheese whiz." Rhodey called from the other side of the room, his remark only causing Thor to roll his eyes.

"No. . . Lightning."

"Lightning won't help you, pal. It's gotta be me." Bruce said as every pair of eyes in the room turned to him. "You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive."

"How do we know you will?" Steve asked.

"We don't. But the radiation's mostly gamma. It's like. . . uh. . I was made for this."

With the small argument coming to a close, the team quickly moved into position, in case the worst ended up happening.

Thor stood protectively in front of Rocket, using his own body as a shield. Scott and Rhodey's masks from their own suits enveloped their heads. Keira activated her own Iron Man suit, holding out a shield to protect Clint. Aquila placed herself behind Steve's shield, standing next to him, worst case scenario she probably could have managed, thanks to her enhancements but it wasn't worth taking the risk.

"Good to go, yeah?" Tony clarified with Bruce.

"Let's do it."

"You remember, everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago and just bringing them back to now, today. Don't change anything from the last five years."

"Got it."

Bruce took his spot in the middle of the room, the gauntlet lying in his hands. Tony walked back towards Keira and Clint, activating his own suit and holding up another shield just in case.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y, do me a favour and activate Barn Door Protocol. Will you?"

"Yes, boss."

The heavy, metal doors came down, covering the doors, windows and every doorway. If anything happened, the damage wouldn't get far.

"Everybody comes home," Bruce muttered, holding his hand out ready to receive the gauntlet.

The team stood, ready for anything, watching in anticipation as Bruce lifted the gauntlet to his hand, the metal expanding to his hand size before conforming down to his body size, a sudden cry of pain reaching the ears of everyone in the room.

Colorful streams rapidly spread up Bruce's arm, through his veins, the very fabric of his shirt burning away, the cries of pain increasing in volume every passing second.

"Take it off. Take it off!" Thor frantically called.

"No, wait!" Steve called out, turning towards Bruce. "Bruce, are you okay?"

"Talk to me, Banner!"

Bruce let out another loud cry before he seemed to be able to form a short string of words together. "I'm okay. . ."

Bruce slowly lifted his hand into the air, struggling against the power of the stones. His fingers moved together until they finally snapped.

The whole team watched as Bruce closed his eyes suddenly, slipping to the floor, the gauntlet falling to the ground with him.

"Bruce!" Steve called out, the team quickly moving to kneel beside Bruce's laying form, Clint moving to kick the gauntlet away.

Tony quickly got to work spraying Bruce's damaged arm, trying his best to numb the pain to some degree.

"Did it work?" Bruce asked, his good arm holding on tightly to Aquila's.

"Worth a shot. It's over. It's okay."

Aquila quickly looked over her shoulder to see Scott and Clint walking towards the windows as the Barn Door Protocol was lifted.

Clint's phone started vibrating on the table causing Clint to quickly pick it up in disbelief.

"Guys. . . I think it worked!" Scott called out happily from near the windows on the other side of the room.

A large shadow crept its way across the room, bathing them all in darkness. Aquila looked over to where Bruce was looking up at the skylight with wide eyes.

"Wha-" The word died on her lips as she followed his gaze only to see the dark ship looming ominously above them.

It only took a brief moment for the Avengers Compound to be blown apart, the Avengers themselves falling into the cracks, disappearing from the surface.