Everly || Steve Rogers

81. The Big Three

"Mayday, Mayday! Does anybody copy? We're on the lower level. It's flooding!"

A cough tore through Everly's chest and her eyes snapped open. 

"We are drowning! Does anybody copy? Mayday!"

She tried to sit up, only to bump her head on the slab of concrete positioned above her.

"Wait! I'm here!" She recognized Scott's voice crackling through her earpiece. "I'm here, Can you hear me?"

"Steve?" She breathed, only allowing more dust and smoke to flood her aching lungs. "Tony?"

When met with nothing but silence, Everly pressed her hands against the concrete above her. She froze when it shifted, a few pebbles raining down on her. She looked around again, squinting through the surrounding darkness to see a small hole spilling light into the pocket of rubble. She squeezed through and rose to her feet, an arm wrapping around her sore ribs. She winced in pain as she stood straighter, taking in the mound of destruction that had become of the Avenger's facility. The sky was grey with smoke, small fires sprouting here and there. Her mouth fell open at the sight of the haunting ship looming in the sky. One name echoed in the back of her mind- Thanos.

Her eyes fell to an unconscious Steve laying a few meters away, dirt and ash caking his face. She stumbled over to him and fell to her knees, pushing a bit of debris off of his chest. She shook him lightly, watching his closed eyelids intently. The clunking of metal drew nearer and she hurried to stand, yanking the blade from behind her back, thankful that it was still there. 

"Take it easy, Evelyn." Tony said as he tapped his metal boot against Steve's leg. "Come on, buddy. Wake up."

Everly flinched when Steve gasped, his blue eyes snapping open. A sigh of relief pushed past her lips and she allowed herself to relax in the slightest.

"That's my man." Tony grinned, taking a knee beside his friend. He held Steve's shield in one hand and rose a challenging brow. "You lose this again, I'm keeping it."

Steve looked around at the destruction in confusion. "What happened?"

"You mess with time, it tends to mess back." Everly huffed. 

"You'll see." Tony added before dragging the soldier to his feet. Stark handed him the shield and began walking away. Everly hesitated, briefly meeting Steve's worried eyes before they both followed.

Her stomach sunk when the trio stopped alongside Thor, who looked out over the valley carved in the rubble. Thanos sat amongst the debris, a large blade sticking from the ground beside him. He appeared oddly at home in the midst of it all, not a single sign of life anywhere around him.

"What's he been doing?" Tony asked, peering over at Thor.

"Absolutely nothing." The god answered simply. 

"Where are the stones?" Steve questioned. If Thanos managed to get ahold of the stones a second time, it could end up much worse than it had before.

"Somewhere under all this." Tony sighed, gesturing loosely to the piles of metal and concrete. "All I know is he doesn't have 'em."

"So, we keep it that way." Everly shrugged.

"You know it's a trap, right?" Thor returned.

"Yeah." Tony hummed. "I don't much care."

"Good." Thor nodded. "Just as long as we're all in agreement."  He finished, his eyes filling with an electric blue. Everly looked up into the dark clouds as thunder cracked across the sky, lightning pulsing through the air. He held his arms out, lightning encircling his hands before touching down and flowing throughout his every inch. Everly shielded her eyes from the light and turned to see him now sporting a suit, Stormbreaker in one hand and Mjolnir in the other. "Let's kill him properly this time."