Everly || Steve Rogers

80. Avenge the Fallen

Everly stumbled in place and blinked a few times, blinding light flooding through the sprawling windows. Her red and white suit disappeared into her gps and she looked at the friends that surrounded her. Never had she thought she would be so happy to find herself back within the walls of the Avengers compound. The whirring of the machine faded away, leaving the group suspended in silence.

"Did we get 'em all?" Bruce immediately asked. 

"Are you telling me this actually worked?" Rhodey grinned, a metal orb in his hand.

Everly flinched at the sound of a thud beside her. She turned to see that Clint had sunken to his knees, a lost look in his eye. A frown fell over her face and her eyes flicked to the stone resting in his clenched hand. She looked around a second time and her heart stopped. Natasha was nowhere to be seen.

"Clint, where's Nat?" Banner asked, brow creased with worry. Barton remained silent, though he shook his head lightly, his eyes welling with tears. His gaze fell to the floor and he drew in a breath before meeting Steve's eyes.

"What?" Everly choked. Bruce dropped to his knee, his face swimming with emotion before ramming a fist into the ground. 

~~~

Everly stared down at her hands resting in her lap, a soft breeze tickling her nose. She tuned into the sound of small waves brushing against the dock and frogs chirping in the distance. Steve stirred beside her and she peeked up at him.

"Do we know if she had family?" Tony asked in a soft tone.

"Yeah." Everly nodded, her eyes filling with tears once more. "Us."

"What?" Thor walked over, hands perched on his hips and eyes wide in disbelief.

"Huh?" Tony questioned.

"What are you doing?" Thor hurried, stepping closer.

"I just asked a question." Stark returned.

"Yeah, no, you're acting like she's dead. Why are we acting like she's dead?" Thor argued. "We have the stones, right?" His attention flicked to Steve and Everly sitting at the bench. "As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back. Isn't that right?" Steve let out a shaky breath and his gaze fell to the wood beneath his feet. "So, stop this shit." Thor growled. "We're the Avengers. Get it together."

"Can't get her back." Clint added from where he was leaned up against a post, arms folded over his chest as he stared out over the expanse of blue. Thor gestured loosely to Barton.

"Wh- what's he- what?" He stuttered.

"It can't be undone." Clint finally brought himself to look the god in the eye. "It can't." Everly sniffled and a tear rolled down her cheek. Thor paused for a moment as if processing what he'd just heard.

"Look, I'm sorry, no offense," He chuckled. "But you're a very earthly being, okay? And we're talking about space magic. And 'can't' seems very definitive. Don't you think?"

"Thor." Everly breathed, their bickering only tearing her heart further in two.

"Yeah, look, I know that I'm way outside my paygrade here. But she still isn't here, is she?" Clint stood a bit taller.

"No, that's my point." Thor answered simply.

"It can't be undone." Barton managed, though his voice nearly gave out as he struggled to suppress tears. "Or that's at least what the red, floating guy had to say." He exclaimed. "Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer and you go fly and you talk to him!" The world around them fell silent, as if the universe itself was mourning the loss of Natasha Romanoff. "It was supposed to be me." He added. "She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bet her life on it."