#Rhodey the Raccoon

[romanoffshouse]

"Whatever it takes"

– Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame

[aeterna-auroral-avenger]

Avengers: Infinity's End

Two chapters today, gang, because the first is short, and I have little patience to share something I'm proud of LOL

Chapter 13 - The Hulk in Shirts [AO3 link]

Summary: Tony needs to rest, and Rory needs a team. So Rory decides to seek out another big brain to help in the operation. And she's surprised to find big brain and big brawn have turned into a more complete package deal.

Chapter 14 - They're Still Out There

Summary: The Guardians may have found where Thanos has been hiding, and a key detail has been revealed. Because of this detail, a particular heist idea is shut down by Rory herself. And it kills her to do it too.

[florida3exclamationpoints]

And if I said that even though the fat jokes in Endgame were cheap and lazy writing it was actually kinda Real because there will always be people who react to physical manifestations of mental illness in that way. But Thor got through it anyway. And he was still worthy. And I take a little comfort in the fact that none of the OG 6 made fun of him. They were all genuinely worried. Most everyone was genuinely worried. What if I said that? People are always gonna be mean but you can be ok anyway.

[antvnger]

((Aha! Great choice! Lol I’m surprised no one had asked me that yet.

ENTER ROCKET AND NEBULA IN THEIR SHIP, THE LANDING OF WHICH BLOWS LANG’S LUNCH AWAY

ROCKET [to Lang:] Thou humie—where is the one I seek, big green?

LANG The kitchen, if mine understanding’s right. The ship is wondrous, large and striking both.

NEBULA [in radio:] Be careful, Rhodey, on thy swift reentry, for there’s an idiot in th’landing zone.

ENTER JAMES RHODES IN HIS WAR MACHINE SUIT, DESCENDING SUDDENLY FROM THE AIR

LANG By heaven, most astonishing and startling!

RHODES How art thou, reg’lar-sizèd man?

BANNER [to Lang:] —I see thy lunch hath been gigantic’ly disturb’d— Share thou my tacos. ‘Tis just recompense for thinking I could do more than I could, transforming thee once more into infanthood.

The Bard’s Avengers

@ultimategamernerd @aintinacage

[agentem]

When Rhodey was taken

Okay so I don't know for sure when Rhodey was taken. No one does. Anyone who says they know is lying. The show didn't say explicitly.

But I have seen two points of "evidence" that I want to talk about.

Firstly, people are saying he did not wear leg braces in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier so it had to be before that. This is technically not true.

Rhodey does have the light up feature of the braces UNDER his pants in FatWS. Is it highly suspect that the braces got markedly better AFTER Tony (who developed them) died? Yes. But, again, technically he did have them.

If you enlarge this image, you can see the light underneath his pants in this screencap from TFATWS. It does sort of look like they forgot he was paralyzed and went back and added light spots in post. But they are there.

Secondly, people are saying when he saves Rocket in Endgame he is bleeding and the blood is red so he can't be a Skrull. (Their blood is purple.)

Rhodey bleeding in Endgame

I am still not sure how the Skrull bleeding works. I thought they had to be dead to change back, initially. But then Sonya later just shoots the Skrull in her office and he changes partially and bleeds purple.

People have also said Raava would not continue the ruse of "being paralyzed" at this point if she thought she was going to die.

I'm not sure. I don't know that the rules of Skrull blood or the rules of Rhodey's leg braces have been properly defined. So here's some "evidence", your guess is as good as mine.

[sarahowritesostucky]

I love Nat and Rhodey giving their yeses with attitude, and meanwhile my boy scout Steve over here be raising his hand and totally focused and serious paying close attention, 'cause this could be an important question.

AVENGERS: ENDGAME dir. Joe & Anthony Russo (2019)

[girll-almightty]

the what if series would’ve been so much more interesting if there wasn’t a major plot line going on with the watcher and *sighs* captain carter.

i wish they just gave us more and more hypotheticals and nothing more.

what if rocket raccoon was antman’s sidekick?

what if wanda died instead of pietro?

what if the other 50% was blipped?

what if spiderman was team cap?

what if rhodey had a crush on pepper?

what if the avengers were a rock band?

what if stucky?

what if we never heard of peggy carter ever again?

[fun-incorrect-quotes]

If the AOS team was in Endgame

Steve tightens his shield, glaring at Thanos, ready to get back into the fight, when suddenly his comm link crackles to life.

Steve shakes his head, not believing what he's hearing. Suddenly, the link is clear as day.

"On your left."

He turns to see a portal, and out walks the king of Wakanda and in flies Sam Wilson. More portals appear, and everyone has come back. Stephen Strange walks out of the final portal and Wong quickly finds him.

"Is that everyone?" Strange asks

"What, you wanted more?!" Wong says indignantly.

As Scott Lang crashes through the rubble, releasing Rocket Raccoon, Smart Hulk, and Rhodey, Steves comm link crackles to life once again.

"I was sad to see we didn't get an invite. Mind if we crash the party?"

Captain America's eyes widen. That voice belonged to a dead man. He raises his hand up to the comm. "Coulson?"

"Yeah, and some friends."

Suddenly the ground starts to shake, and a woman seems to levitate safely to the ground. "It's clear here, AC." She says through the comm. A loud whirring is heard from above, and a helicarrier descends on the battleground.

"You didn't think we'd miss this did you Cap?" Coulson said, climbing down from the helicarrier.

"Truth be told I think we all thought you were dead."

"I knew he was still alive." Tony said

"Let's cut the chit-chat, we've got half a universe to save." Agent Mackenzie says gruffly.

"Avengers! Assemble."

[ym4yum1]

Preface — My favorite Spy (5)

November, 2024.

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5.

How did the MCU shape Natasha Romanoff's character?

In AoU, THE Black Widow — arguably Marvel's sharpest, most capable spy — had her "damsel in distress" moment while waiting for Bruce (not even the Hulk) to save her from captivity. The only female Avenger at the time, Natasha was suddenly reduced to a love interest, questioning her worth as a hero and burdened with shame simply because she couldn't procreate. Who thought this was a good idea? My husband's answer: "A man." No offense.

Now, let's consider how Natasha has evolved in the MCU.

In Iron Man 2 (2010), she flirted with Tony, but earned his respect by hacking a system JARVIS couldn't crack to free Rhodey. In The Avengers (2012), she had a deep partnership with Clint, outsmarted Loki, and found the key to close the portal. In The Winter Soldier (2014), she was as much a protagonist as Steve, building a strong connection with him, even sharing a kiss. Then, in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), the film began with her already involved with Bruce. Yet, their story happened almost entirely off-screen, undermining the narrative principle of "show, don't tell," and diminishing her existing relationships.

If I were Thor, I'd be upset at being the only Avenger left out of Natasha's supposed romantic entanglements.

Jokes aside, the "monster connection" between Natasha and Bruce felt forced and unearned, as did their "romance" — a plot device to tie together two isolated people with no meaningful payoff. Ultimately, it was a disservice to both, reducing them to simplistic, cartoonish tropes.

Then, in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Natasha was forced to choose sides, pitted against close friends like Steve and Clint while trying not to lose her Avengers family. In Avengers: Infinity War (2018), though worked underground, she continued fighting crime alongside Steve.

Finally, in Avengers: Endgame (2019), her death was framed as her "redemption". But really? By this point, hadn't she evolved well beyond her past, proving her heroism time and again — even taking on a leadership role within the Avengers? And why would Steve Rogers — one of the best tacticians ever — send two non-superpowered humans to retrieve an Infinity Stone on an unknown alien planet? The Soul Stone's demand for a "sacrifice of love" was unknown to the Avengers, yet the writers chose Natasha and Clint, who had a deep bond, without any strategic justification.

From a storytelling perspective, sending someone with resilience or cosmic experience like Hulk or Rocket Raccoon would have made more sense. Natasha and Clint — skilled spies — would have been better suited to New York than the Hulk, where stealth mattered. Instead, many of these choices felt contrived and plot-driven rather than organic character growth, making Natasha's sacrifice feel hollow and unearned — designed more for emotional impact than logical consistency. Further, the absence of a funeral added insult to injury.

Sending Natasha Romanoff to Vormir, a mission that essentially preordained her death, without any explanation whatsoever, cheapened her development. From that moment, the plot felt lackluster, the movie lost its meaning, and the MCU lost a fan. But I digress.

[bedlamsbard]

About 800 words written today, returning to my MCU roots (banter). Cut most of what I wrote yesterday but feel much better about the replacement.

Snippet from Of Home Near chapter 18.

Rocket and Nebula both swiveled to watch Ross’s entrance.  “What, this is the a-hole you kept going on about?” Rocket demanded loudly. “I thought he’d at least be interesting or something, this is just a guy, everyone’s seen one of those.” “That is a talking raccoon,” Ross said. “What’d you call me, you –” Nebula grabbed Rocket by the back of his shirt as he made a flying leap for Ross.  He hung in her grip, scrabbling at the air and shrieking, “I’ll kill you!  I’ll kill you!  Don’t you ever call me that!” “Stop that, you’re embarrassing yourself,” Nebula hissed at him.  “You’re embarrassing me!” Rocket twisted around to glare up at her.  “You don’t get embarrassed!  And put me down!” She dropped him with a thump.  “I can get embarrassed if I want to!” “Travel’s broadening,” Tony said, trying not to too obviously collapse into the nearest chair as Rhodey helped him over to it. “You should try it sometime.” Ross looked hard at him, then swept his gaze around the room, taking in the occupants who hadn’t gone out to the gate with the Avengers.  His mouth went tight, but all he said was, “The less I know, the less I have to explain in a congressional hearing, so talk fast.” “Who is this guy?” Nebula asked Tony. “The Build-A-Bear there kind of summed it up,” Tony said. “He didn’t explain anything.” “Yeah, probably for the best.” Ross eyed the three of them in disbelief, then turned his attention to Steve and Natasha, apparently under the impression that they were the only two responsible adults in the room.  Under the circumstances, Natasha couldn’t exactly blame him.  “Rogers, tell me you actually have a plan.”

[dark-mcu-ship-tourney]

Hello!

Welcome to the Problematic MCU Ship Tournament!

This blog will pit 64 different pairings against one another. All of them are in some way “problematic”- some feature a minor and an adult, others feature incestuous pairings, others still simply have questionable or potentially abusive dynamics. Many ships combine elements of more than one.

Each day, 4 polls will be posted pitting two different ships together (for a total of 8 ships per day). You are free to vote in as many or as few of these polls as you’d like.

This blog is explicitly pro-ship and anti-censorship, and obviously features dark themes. If this is a point of discomfort for you, you are free to block this blog, I don’t bite. Hate towards anyone (and anything unreasonably rude about ships or characters) will not be published and users that send it will be blocked. Nothing explicit will be posted to this blog, regardless of the ship, so minors are free to interact if they so wish.

The bracket below shows all the ships that will be posted, as well as their first opponent. After the first round has been completed, the diagram will be updated and all of the winning ships will be pitted against one another. You can also find a typed list of all ships under the cut, for users that can’t or don’t want to read my terrible handwriting.

May the odds be ever in your (ship’s) favor!

All First Round Ships:

1. Morgan Stark x Harold “Happy” Hogan

2. Morgan Stark x James “Rhodey” Rhodes

3. Morgan Stark x Tony Stark

4. Morgan Stark x Pepper Potts

5. Scott Lang x Cassie Lang

6. Frigga Freyrdottir x Thor Odinson

7. Vision x Billy Maximoff x Tommy Maximoff

8. Wanda Maximoff x Billy Maximoff x Tommy Maximoff

9. Maria Stark x Tony Stark

10. Howard Stark x Tony Stark

11. Obadiah “Obie” Stane x Tony Stark

12. Tony Stark x Peter Parker

13. Peter Parker x Harold “Happy” Hogan

14. Tony Stark x Harley Keener

15. America Chavez x Dr. Stephen Strange

16. America Chavez x Wanda Maximoff

17. Odin Borson x Thor Odinson

18. King T'Chaka x Prince T'Challa

19. Xu Shang-Chi x Xu Wenwu

20. Marc Spector x Stephen Grant

21. Thor Odinson x Rocket Raccoon

22. Thor Odinson x Groot

23. Peter Quill x Rocket Raccoon

24. James “Bucky” Barnes x Rocket Raccoon

25. Adrian Toomes x Peter Parker

26. Dr. Otto Octavius x Peter Parker

27. Dr. Curt Connors x Peter Parker

28. Steven “Skip” Westcott x Peter Parker

29. Dr. Stephen Strange x Peter Parker

30. Quentin Beck x Peter Parker

31. James “Bucky” Barnes x Peter Parker

32. Steve Rogers x Peter Parker

33. Thor Odinson x Loki Laufeyson

34. Loki Laufeyson x Sylvie Laufeydottir

35. Princess Shuri x James “Bucky” Barnes

36. Princess/Queen Shuri x Namor/K’uk’ulkan

37. Thanos x Nebula

38. Thanos x Gamora

39. Thanos x Loki Laufeyson

40. Thanos x Tony Stark

41. Clint Barton x Kate Bishop

42. Clint Barton x Lila Barton

43. Carol Danvers x Kamala Khan

44. Monica Rambeau x Kamala Khan

45. Stephen Grant x Khonshu

46. Jake Lockley x Khonshu

47. Marc Spector x Khanshu

48. Arthur Harrow x Ammit

49. Xu Shang-Chi x Xu Xialing

50. Princess Shuri x King/Prince T’Challa

51. Billy Maximoff x Tommy Maximoff

52. Wanda Maximoff x Pietro Maximoff

53. Peter Parker x May Parker

54. Queen Ramonda x Princess Shuri

55. Queen Ramonda x King/Prince T’Challa

56. Peter Parker x Ben Parker

57. Marc Spector x Jake Lockley

58. Stephen Grant x Jake Lockley

59. Natasha Romanov x Yelena Belova

60. Gamora x Nebula

61. Odin Borson x Loki Laufeyson

62. Frigga Feyrdottir x Loki Laufeyson

63. Peter Parker x Carol Danvers

64. Peter Parker x James “Rhodey” Rhodes

[aeterna-auroral-avenger]

Avengers: Infinity's End

Two chapters because it's a holiday, and the first one isn't really anything new. But this will be the last time you get two chapters at a time because things are really starting to pick up now, so enjoy!

Chapter 17 - Full Team

Summary: There's some missing Avengers that haven't arrived to the party yet, and as Rory and the rest work toward the Quantum Heist, she's going to need all the help she can get. It's about to be all hands on deck.

Chapter 18 - The Awakening

Summary: Rory knows she's somehow connected to the Infinity Stones, but she doesn't know how or why. She's just a nobody. She has no right to be there, right? Except for her unique knowledge, but even that only goes so far. What makes her so important? Something has laid dormant within her for far too long, but it's about to wake up. The tide is beginning to turn at long last.

[raccoonfallsharder]

the raccoon, the witch, & the roadtrip. part one. prepare for departure.

the raccoon, the witch, & the roadtrip masterlist next part | main masterlist

angst, comfort, friendship, & fluff for @hibatasblog rocket & wanda | part 1/7 | word count: 1371.

rocket gets a very-important mission from danvers and needs a partner to go with him. enter the witch.

It is a well-documented fact (I know you know) that in the comic books, many of the marvel ladies have a thing for Rocket Raccoon. How could they not? Eyes like red beryls and pyropes, teeth and wit both so sharp they can kill long before the perfectly-aimed gravity-blast. Intuition off the charts, not to mention the things they've heard he can do with that tail...

Alas, this is not the comics. This is the MCU, some time between 2018 and 2023.

And while everything else remains more or less the same, Wanda Maximoff was not turned into ash.

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you,” Rocket says, rolling his eyes.

Wanda isn’t sure what to call him. He looks like a raccoon, but insists that he isn’t one. Maybe he’s an alien. Maybe he’s something else. Either way, he’s rolling his eyes at Natasha, so hard that his whole head rolls with them.

“Look, I got a very important mission from Danvers, and Nebs is busy right now, working with Kraglin to make Knowhere a more hospitablistic place for Snap refugees. D’you wanna fuck over a bunch of Snap refugees, Nat?”

He crosses his arms and raises a brow up at the new leader-apparent of the Avengers. If Wanda hadn’t felt so — nothing at all, actually — she might have let a smirk curl the corner of her mouth. He’s kind of a brat, and he knows how to get under peoples’ skin. When she’d been a child, she would have found that entertaining. Endearing. She supposes she’d used to have a soft spot for scrappy survivors. Then she’d had to stop having a soft spot for anything but her brother.

Then —

“Goddammit, Rocket. Go to Washington, then. I don’t care. But we still need the Benatar.”

His challenging look turns into a glower. “Fuck off, Nat. What am I supposed to do, then? Drive your frickin’ car?”

Natasha flaps a hand at him distractedly from behind her desk. “Yes, that’s fine, take the car—”

The look he gives her is withering. “I can’t reach the fuckin’ pedals, Nat. So unless you’re giving me permission to take the whole inefficient machine apart an’ put it back together to suit my needs, you’re gonna have to—”

“I can’t spare anyone, Rocket,” the Russian snaps.

“And I can’t be alone right now,” he snaps right back. Wanda’s eyes flick back and forth between them. 

Natasha grits her teeth. “You said this was a mission from Carol?”

“Yes,” he hisses, tapping one booted foot impatiently. 

She closes her eyes and sighs heavily, leaning back in her chair and pressing her fingers into her temples. “Fine,” she says at last, drawing the word out — petulantly, Wanda thinks from a great distance. “Find someone who’s willing to go with you and I’ll tell you if I can spare them.”

Rocket doesn’t hesitate. Without moving anything but his arm, he’s brandishing a single dark claw in Wanda’s direction.

“I’ll take the witch.”

Five years earlier — in the first days after the Snap, before they’d left all their hope on 0259-S with Thanos’ headless body — everyone else had belonged to somebody. Cap and Nat had each other, and Nat had Banner and the arrow-guy. Rhodey had the rich guy who thought he was a genius, and the rich guy had that other redhead. Thor had maybe lost the most, but he had Banner too, and his buddies from Sakaar. The Dora Milaje had their whole sisterhood. Only Danvers might have been on her own — but as far as Rocket had been able to tell, Captain Marvel hadn’t seemed to have a lotta close ties she was mourning.

But Rocket — Rocket had nobody. 

Again.

Nobody except Gamora’s sister, whose name he’d kept forgetting.

Of course, there was the witch. 

Disproportionate number of redheads on this planet, he remembers thinking bemusedly.

He hadn’t been able to remember her name for a while either, but unlike everyone else on Terra, she’d seemed almost as alone as he was. And he hadn’t been able to help but watch her, his eyes slanting sideways to stare at her as she’d sat by herself across the room, hands anchored around upper arms. He couldn't make out the color of her eyes — they’d seemed impossibly dark, with rage or grief or something else, something haunted.  

Except for when they’d smouldered like furious banked fires. 

She’d never said a frickin’ word, either: face blank and beautiful as a statue’s. Her silence had felt more surreal than any other stupid thing he’d encountered in space, which he supposed was probably just because he’s spent the last four years with a family of weirdos who’d never seemed able to shut the fuck up. 

Still. He’d tilted his head when the other avengers had walked past her — watched as they’d seemed almost to forget she was even there. They’d barely talked to her, and once, when they’d been ordering lunch, they’d missed her entirely.

Uh — you didn’t ask the witch what she wants, Rocket had said to Nat awkwardly, and the assassin had blinked and her eyes had hunted the whole room before they’d finally focused on the other woman — like she hadn’t even known where her fellow-Avenger was. 

No. The witch had been an outcast. And Rocket has always known something about outcasts. His whole frickin’ family — both, some small part of his brain had tried to speak up before he could smother it; both families were made of the unwanted — his whole frickin’ family had been outcasts and misfits. It had made some part of Rocket’s heart suddenly stretch in his chest. It had reached with grasping fingers, trying to hang onto something he’d already known he’d lost.

Family.

The next day, Rocket had cleared his throat and told Gamora’s sister that he was gonna go starside to touch base with Kraglin on the Third Quadrant — to see if he still exists, he hadn’t said, but he’d been pretty sure the cyborg had picked it up. 

“You wanna come, Blue?” he’d asked — wincing when his nonchalance had been too thin to be believable. But the Luphomoid had inclined her head, eyes dark and steady. When that had been squared away — surprisingly a hell of a lot easier than he’d thought — he’d  shuffled to his feet, and headed to the bench outside the compound, where the witch had been sitting since sunrise.

He’d stood in her line of vision and stared at the sky too, shifting his weight uncomfortably from foot to foot, tail trying to tuck itself underneath him. It had probably been a full twenty minutes before he’d felt her eyes on him.

“I. Uh. I heard you lost your robot-boyfriend.” The words had been as clumsy as an orloni drunk on fermented Asgardian figs, but he’d been trying.

The witch’s eyes had flared, crimson-bright. “Robot?” she’d repeated dangerously.

Rocket’s ears had flicked back and he’d taken a step away, into the grass: hands extended, palms out.

“Hey, m’not trying to be a dick,” he’d protested. “I think I might be part-robot myself.” He’d stabbed a thumb over his shoulder toward the Benatar, where he could feel  his new blue companion staring holes in his back. “Gamora’s sister’s almost all-robot, too.” 

He could also feel the sister in question rolling her eyes. 

“M’just saying,” he’d muttered at both of them, hunching his shoulders and half-turning to kick a patch of grass. “Some of us are solo now.” He’d gestured at the cyborg again. “Might be good to stick together.” 

“I was used to being solo,” Nebs had pointed out, and Rocket had winced. “You’re the one who got attached.”

His ears had flattened. “Whatever,” he’d growled. “Just thought — whatever.” He’d spun again, kicking more grass, and muttered bitterly under his breath. “So much for trying to be the captain. So much for trying to look out for the damn strays.”

“You’re the stray,” Nebula had replied with a mutinous jut of her chin — and how the fuck had she heard him? That wasn’t standard Luphomoid hearing range. 

Rocket had cursed whatever aural implants Thanos had given her. 

Then the witch had made a strange sound behind him — a little huff of breath.  A disbelieving, agonized little shred of laughter.

the raccoon, the witch, & the roadtrip masterlist next part | main masterlist

During a watch party for Avengers: Endgame on Twitter, Markus revealed the idea to team Wanda with the Guardian of the Galaxy captain actually made it into several versions of the film's script. "We had whole drafts with Wanda on a road trip with Rocket," Markus wrote, "but after the Vision plot in Infinity War, nothing we came up with was anything but wheel spinning for her character." CBR

[i-am-the-hero-alfred-jones]

I'm going to write a fanfiction based on random Cards Against Humanity Marvel Cards.

Any dirty ones will likely just turn into a comedy fic lol

[mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: M/M Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man (Movies), Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies) Relationship: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Nebula (Marvel), Loki (Marvel), Carol Danvers, Thor (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Rocket Raccoon, James "Rhodey" Rhodes Additional Tags: Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers Compound, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Established Relationship, Established Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Loki Lives (Marvel), Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Loki Needs a Hug (Marvel), Angst and Feels, Feels, Avengers Family, Use of Endgame dialogue, Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort Language: English Collections: StonyjAnUary Published: 2024-01-16 Words: 4,859 Chapters: 1/1

Summary: It's been three weeks since the battle with Thanos in Wakanda. Tony is still missing in space, Natasha has been trying to track down Clint, and Steve has just been trying to keep it together for everyone. How long can he keep it up, though? His soulmate is somewhere in the universe, but he knows Tony isn't dead. He can feel it. Still, they haven't spoken since Siberia, not once, though Tony has never been far from Steve's mind. He keeps seeing the ghosts of his team all over the Avengers Compound. Then Natasha tells him that a ship has arrived on the property - a ship that Rocket recognized as the Guardians' own.

Notes:

For the @stonyauniverse January Event Prompt: Soulmates Bingo Card: Y4 Redemption

Happens after I love you regardless

[lizzie-is-here]

like the dawn

part xvii- dust and blood

“if you must die, i’ll envy even the earth that wraps your body” - albert camus

summary: you can’t stop thanos. now you have to deal with the consequences.

wordcount: 4k

warnings: cussing, violence, death (oops), angst (oops), breakdowns, unhealthy coping mechanisms, more violence, fluff if you squint

taglist: @whelvedfeelingsstuff @sebsgirl71479 @rebloggingmyrecs @babyblublossom @local-mr-frog @thenyxsky @capsiclesdoll @moonlightreader649 @saranghaey @almosttoopizza @itsprashimusic

a/n: tfw you forget ur writing a series and write a new piece in one night 🤭 anyway, i really like this bit so i hope y’all enjoy 🤍 i love y’all and i’m sorry it’s emotionally devastating also i literally am posting this from class

previous part | series masterlist | next part

As soon as the barrier around Wakanda opens, the entire army charges forward.

You take to the air in an instant, watching in disgust as the dog-like aliens pour from the gap. They’re concentrated right outside the border.

Charging up your powers, you slip through and cast down dozens of blasts on the horde. They shriek and wail in pain as you duck back inside the force field, shooting down the few that try to jump up at you.

They’re easy to kill. Hardly death fodder, if anything. But there’s thousands. And they keep coming.

One tackles Bucky to the ground before you swoop down, kicking it away and blowing it into bits.

“You need to be more careful,” you scold as you help him up. He spins a knife in the new vibranium arm, nodding.

“Yeah, yeah. Go tell Steve that.” He points to your partner, who’s standing in the middle of a river, fighting three aliens at once.

You start towards him, but a few quick punches from the blond kill them before you can even take a step.

“You know what? Never mind,” Bucky says. He stares a bit before smirking. “Violence looks good on him.”

“Hell yeah. Cathartic, even,” you respond. From the water, Steve feels your eyes on him.

He raises his arms. “Are you two gonna join us or just stare at me?” he shouts, before kicking another alien into the muddy banks.

Out of nowhere, a giant metal weapon flies through the air, smashing Rhodey to the ground. When the chain retracts, it returns to the hand of the larger, bulkier alien at the edge of the border.

More aliens swarm in, and you can barely keep them at bay. You don’t want to risk flying, not when that thing easily knocked a Stark-made suit from the sky.

It’s frantic dodging and firing, and the combination of Bucky’s machine gun, shouting from all sides, and the vicious growling of the creatures is overwhelming.

“There’s too many of them,” Bruce shouts over comms. You don’t even have room to breathe, let alone respond. Drawing back your bow, you fire an arrow down an alien’s throat.

“I know! But Shuri has to get the stone-“ You’re cut off by a light striking the ground. The resulting blast is as bright as your powers.

An ax flies from the stream, lighting trailing behind it. Thor.

When the glow fades, the god himself stands in the crater. Alongside… is that a tree and a raccoon? A raccoon with a gun?

“Oh, shit, I really am going crazy,” Bucky mumbles.

You blink a few times. “Then that makes two of us.”

A few yards away, the helmet of the Hulkbuster suit retracts. From the comically large suit, Bruce cackles. “You guys are so screwed now!”

Thor runs at the enemy lines, demanding Thanos as his newly forged weapon glows with power.

With the new arrival, the tide begins to turn. You fight your way to Steve as the aliens are distracted.

“Glad you could join me,” he snarks. You chuckle, shaking your head as you fire arrow after arrow.

“I only came over because you also need to be careful. I can’t kick alien ass and babysit you two.” He dodges an attack before sending the creature flying.

“I’m Captain America, (Y/N), I don’t need to be-“

The alien with the retractable hammer sends it flying towards the blond before you blast it away, searing with heat in the water.

You raise a brow at Steve. “Like I said. Careful.”

Bucky comes running towards the both of you. Right away, you go into alert mode.

“Are you okay? What’s going on?”

“I’m fine.” He promises you and Steve. “Uh, the raccoon with the gun tried to buy my arm, but other than that…”

You all look at the small creature. It’s shouting obscenities as it crawls around.

“I’ve seen weirder,” Steve decides after a moment.

You make a disbelieving sound as you ready another arrow. “Are you sure?”

A low rumbling shakes the ground before he can joke back. Something’s moving, and fast. The ground bulges, and some sort of technical monstrosity tears out.

They’re like giant razors, rolling across the field and ripping up everything in their path. T’Challa calls for everyone to fall back, but you take to the sky instead. Even though the machines are taller than the trees, 70 years of training helps you find the weak spot.

Nimbly dodging the sharp edges, you fire a powerful beam of light into the center of the wheel, along the side where the engine is stored. Thanks to the radiating heat, the whole thing shuts down, crumbling apart and running into the ground.

But there are nine more, and you don’t have the energy to keep this up.

“Sam, Rhodey.” You call out to the other fliers. “Focus on the sides near the center, there’s some sort of engine there.”

They respond in the affirmative, and after a while, drive it back toward the enemy. It’s progress, but it’s too slow. People are dying.

Then you spot a glowing red blur.

Wanda’s powers cover the wheels, tossing them into the air before bringing them down atop the oncoming aliens. She smiles up at you, nodding in unspoken understanding.

She’s unstoppable, really. Whatever her powers are, they pack quite the punch. And it looks like you could almost win with her influence alone.

“Guys, we got a Vision situation here,” Sam says. Shit. He’s tackled out of the air as he heads toward the forest.

From the center of the fighting, Steve shouts, “Somebody get to Vision.”

“I will,” you call to him. It’s not like any of the ugly space dogs are jumping up to where you hover 200 feet in the air, and the alien generals are preoccupied with Wanda, Thor, and the rest of the group. Well, mainly Wanda and Thor.

You hear them before you see them. Bruce trails you as you spot the giant alien and a skinnier male. He’s carrying a scythe.

The scientist lands first and almost immediately starts duking it out with the larger one. So much for teamwork. You practically crash-land between the android and alien, light swirling around your hands.

“Back up,” you warn the wrinkled creature. “Or I’ll blast you back into space.”

He sneers at you, before spinning the weapon in his hands. Okay, not one for conversation, you think to yourself as he charges.

You block the strike by grabbing the pole and slamming your elbow in between the plates of his armor. Even as he crumples to the ground, he clings to the scythe.

You should’ve melted it when you had it in your grasp, because before you can block he leaps up and slices it across your leg. Flinging yourself away from him as you groan in pain, you watch as Vision rushes forward.

“C’mon, c’mon,” you wince, watching the skin stitch together. The cut was deep, and you’re already exhausted. “Kind of in an important situation right now.”

While you’re still down, the alien manages to stab Vision through the gut. You didn’t even think it was possible. One of the robot’s many abilities was to change his density, so if something was thrown at him, it could simply pass through without harm. But as you watched, you saw his body flickering, almost glitching.

“I thought you were formidable, machine,” the thing hisses. “But you’re dying, like any man.” He yanks the weapon from your friend’s body, and only then do you find the energy to blast him back on his insectoid ass.

When your leg is still healing, you stand shakily.

Hissing from the pain, you limp to the alien. He swings the scythe again, but you grab the hilt, kicking it from his hands.

You yank a knife from your belt, allowing yourself to fall back on instinct as you slash and stab. Even if you only manage to nick him a few times, it’s better than letting him close to Vision.

A downward slash here, a stab as he dodges, toss the knife to your other hand and go for the face.

Eventually, you get tired of attacking and he gets tired of dodging. The alien kicks you square in the ribs, knocking the air from your lungs as you fly back. Shit.

He looms over you, scythe in hand. You groan. It probably won’t kill you, even if he stabs all the way through your body. But it’s gonna hurt like a bitch.

Your savior comes in the form of Steve, in all of his spangly glory, knocking the alien off his feet.

“Get out of here!” he yells to you and Vision. “Go! Get to Bucky!”

Rather than doing as he says, you fire off a beam of light at the man, tag-teaming him as Vision struggles to get on his feet.

“I’m not leaving you,” you sternly say. “And I’m definitely not losing either of you dumbasses.”

Steve has the gall to laugh before the alien throws him over a log and chokes him. From behind the two, the android gestures to the scythe. It’s still on the ground.

You grab it as the two fight, tossing it to Vision.

He stabs it through the alien just as Steve starts choking. Raising the shish-kebabed creature before tossing him away, Vision almost collapses before Steve helps him up.

“I told you to go,” the latter chastises. Despite the gaping, glowing wound in his chest, Vision chuckles.

He repeats Steve’s quote from earlier. “We don’t trade lives, Captain.”

A loud boom sounds from behind your group. As soon as you raise glowing hands, Thor bursts through the tree line.

“Hrafn.” He calls you by a language that even you don’t recognize. “I need your help.”

Steve presses a kiss to your hand as you take off, soaring into the air after the god.

“There, target the seams,” he shouts over the howling wind. You can feel his powers crackle. They’re more erratic than yours or Wanda’s, but they’re also destructive. Perfect for blowing up alien ships.

You cast blasts at the tech, your precise attacks followed shortly by Thor’s lightning.

Then something changes in the air. You feel it in your bones. A deep unrest that stills you mid-air.

Your boys. You have to get to them.

Thor’s already gone by the time you drop from the sky. You want to shout for them, but if this feeling means what you think, you don’t want to draw in any attention.

You practically jump a foot in the air when Steve and Bucky appear from the brush behind you.

“Doll,” the latter gasps, hurrying towards you. He grabs your face in gentle hands as Steve joins the both of you.

Swallowing hard, your voice almost breaks when you speak again.

“Do you feel that?” you whisper. It’s haunting, and sends a cold chill up your boys’ spines. “It’s in the air, it’s…”

Steve raises a hand to his earpiece. “Everyone, on my position. We have incoming.”

It’s silent for a moment, then something appears in the woods. It almost hurts, the wave of energy that washes over you.

He’s there.

Thanos is as ugly as you imagined. He’s absurdly tall and purple. But more than anything else, he wears a gauntlet. And there are five stones in it.

He’s come for the last.

Steve expands the shield on his arm, sighing slow and long.

“Eyes up. Stay sharp.”

You stay further back, waiting and watching. Bruce is first to charge, but phases through the titan and lands halfway in a cliff.

Steve is thrown by a purple surge, so is T’Challa. Sam’s wings are deactivated and he crashes to the forest floor.

You run over to Wanda as Thanos fights the others.

“I’ll hold him off.” It’s too late to save Vision. “I’m sorry,” you say, gently squeezing her hand.

Rhodey goes down, so do Bucky, Okoye, and Nat. Plus the tree alien. But you’re not too worried about him.

You draw your bow, aimed on the titan as you pour all of your energy into a single arrow. Light pours from it, searing and burning. You loose it.

Thanos tries to block it, but it soars to its mark in his chest. He goes to rip it out, but you raise a hand and force the light deeper.

He’s groaning in pain now, clawing at his chest where the light is embedded. If you can just get close enough, you can get the gauntlet, or maybe the stones from it.

You creep forward, hand twisting every time he seems to push through the pain.

‘I can do it,’ you think. ‘The gauntlet is right there.’

The second you lay a hand on the golden glove, Thanos’s eyes shoot open. Through the pain and the literal burning hole in his chest, he grabs you and throws you away.

The force with which you slam onto the ground causes your head to fling back, hitting the ground with enough force to knock the average human out.

You blink hazily, gasping for air and words and your boys. If Thanos is going to win and you’re going to die, you want to spend your last moments with them. They’ll move on without you, you think.

A part of you wants them to move on. To remember you fondly and smile as they learn to live without you. But you’re too selfish. You never want them to live without you.

Turning your head to the side, you see Bucky a few feet away. You crawl to him, dragging yourself across the leaves.

“(Y/N)?” he whispers. He’s as dazed as you are.

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s me, Buck.” Slowly, he pulls you close, shielding both of your eyes from the titan. You don’t have enough energy to even stand, much less put up a fight.

And then the Mind Stone shatters. You feel it, and manage to raise your head to see. Vision’s body is gray, and Wanda is sobbing, but maybe it’ll keep Thanos from the last stone.

“He’s got the Time Stone,” Bucky mumbles. Your heart drops.

Just as he said, Vision is back in the blink of an eye. And Thanos crushes his skull as he pries the stone from his head.

If the energy upon his arrival was powerful, it grows stronger with all six stones. You tuck your head under Bucky’s chin, trying to fight off the headache.

From behind you, Thor strikes. You hear a blow connect, and a whisper of, “I told you… You’d die for that.”

The next words remove any hope you had.

“You should’ve gone for the head.”

Bucky barely manages to roll over to take the brunt of the explosion, holding you even closer. He doesn’t know where Steve is. He’s almost too scared to look up to find him, lest all he sees is his body.

Gentle hands give him a breath of relief.

Steve grabs the both of you, helping you sit up and Bucky to stand.

“Where’d he go?” the blond asks.

From beside you, Bucky feels something in his flesh hand. A tingle, like it’s asleep.

“Steve? (Y/N)?”

You want to scream. He’s dissolving, he’s fucking dissolving and you’ve healed bullet wounds and lacerations and bones completely out of their place but you can’t heal this.

All you can do is hug him as Steve does the same. You’re both crying now, pressing kisses to his lips before it’s too late.

“Please don’t go,” you whisper.

Bucky laughs, scared and quiet. “It’s all right, doll. You two take care of each other, and I’ll see you a long time from now. You’ll be okay.”

“Not without you,” Steve pleads. He can’t watch this. Not again.

Then there’s nothing. He’s gone.

No blood, no screams. Just… dust.

In the field, you see more soldiers turning to dust. They just vanish. Painlessly, at least.

Steve goes to reach you, comfort you and for you to comfort him. He needs to know you aren’t going to disappear too.

And you won’t. A part of him knows that.

But when his hand goes to pull you in it dissolves.

“No.” Your tone is final. You’re shaking and the tears are coming silently now. Grabbing his quickly disappearing arm, you push your powers to their limit. But there’s nothing to heal. There’s nothing to heal because there’s technically no injury. No illness.

You sob out in frustration, wishing for the first time that HYDRA had fucked you up even more if it would let you save at least one of the loves of your life.

“I’m so sorry,” Steve whispers, kissing your forehead. You’re going to be alone again. You’re going to watch both of them die and it breaks him knowing that it’ll break you. “I’m sorry sweetheart, you don’t deserve this.”

Your knees buckle under you and he’s not there to catch you.

Neither of them are.

You cradle your arms to your chest, and curl in on yourself. Your forehead rests on the dust, but you can't bring yourself to gather the remains.

The last time you lost Steve and Bucky, there was still a sliver of hope. But you just watched them both slip through your fingers.

They’re gone.

———————————————————————

None of the surviving Avengers have it in them to pull you away from the dust-covered ground, not when you’re screaming and sobbing hours later.

After the crying, you go silent.

It’s late at night when Natasha comes to check on you.

Your eyes are bloodshot and puffy, your hair is messy from where you’ve grabbed at it, and there’s marks on your hands where you dug your nails in.

She sits next to you without saying anything. Instead, she puts an arm around your shoulder, and lets you lean on her. Your grief is palpable.

As smart as Natasha Romanoff is, she’s slightly lacking in the healthy coping mechanisms department. So she proposes the exact thing that will get you out of this goddamned field.

“Thanos is still out there.”

It’s all she has to say.

“I’m going to kill him. And it’s not going to be quick,” you respond. Your voice is hoarse and level but tired all the same.

She nods. “Once we find him, he’s all yours.”

———————————————————————

You wish you could say that you were excited when Tony came home alive. However, the weeks were blurring together and everything was washed in an all-consuming grief and frustration.

When Tony came off the plane and saw you alone, he knew in an instant.

He knew better than to wish you well, or give you condolences. All of the thoughts and prayers in the world can’t bring back a loved one. Tony knows that more than most.

And the day later, the surviving heroes gather. There’s a new girl, Carol Danvers, another alien that knows the raccoon. You try to be polite, but you can’t. You’re too drained, too tired.

And honestly, you’re angry above everything else. You’re tired of being so fucking sad. You hate how much of your life you’ve spent grieving, and how every time you get something, it’s ripped away in the cruelest way possible.

You’ve lost the ability to distinguish anger and sadness. The ache hurts just the same. Burning.

“It’s been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth.” You look up at Rhodey’s voice, and immediately wish you hadn’t.

You’re met with a picture of Bucky. An ID.

James Barnes. When it flashes away, Steve Rogers takes his place.

You swipe the screen away.

Natasha doesn’t mention it. “World governments are in pieces.The parts that are still working… are trying to take a census and it looks like he did… He did exactly what he said he was gonna do.”

“Thanos wiped out… 50% of all living creatures,” she finishes.

“Where is he now?” Tony asks before you can.

Rhodey shrugs. “We don’t know. He just opened a portal and walked through.”

The genius rolls forward a bit in his wheelchair, pointing to Thor.

“What’s up with him?”

“Oh, he’s pissed,” the raccoon, who’s name you’ve come to know as Rocket, sighs. “He thinks he failed.”

“And he didn’t?” you spit. You know you’ll regret blaming him later. It’s not his fault any more than yours. But now, you just need a reason that you’re alone again.

“No, he definitely did. But there’s a lot of that going around, ain’t there?”

“Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear.”

You listen to them argue back and forth, tensions rising, flinching as Tony rips out the IV and starts yelling.

“Listen!” you snap. “All I want, is to know where Thanos went.” Your voice starts shaking again, but shit, you aren’t going to start crying. Because if you start, you won’t stop.

“I- I just need to know where he went so I can do what I do best, and… And you’ll never have to deal with me again.”

No one wants to ask what you mean by that.

Nebula, a blue cybernetic alien, speaks up.

“I can tell you where Thanos is.”

———————————————————————

Before loading onto the ship and heading to the planet the titan was on, you dug through an old bin.

Some more of yours and… Bucky’s equipment had been recovered from Siberia a while back. And in your box there was a weapon.

HYDRA had tried to train you with the scythe, with a blade far larger than the one carried by the alien a few weeks ago. It didn’t go well. A scythe really isn’t meant for constant combat. It’s a tool for execution. That’s why you were HYDRA’s scythe.

It’ll work perfectly.

The group climbs on the ship, and jets off. At any other time, you’d be in awe of the vastness of space. Now… you squeeze your eyes shut before you think too much.

Carol flies back up from where she went to scout. “There’s no ships, no armies, no recon. It’s just him.”

The planet is gorgeous. Even through all of your cynicism, you can’t deny that.

Even so, your eyes are set on the cabin in the distance. You split up and arrive last, scythe at your side and your eyes set on the titan.

He’s well restrained. Danvers had him in a chokehold, Bruce has one shoulder in the grasp of the Hulkbuster suit, Rhodey has the other arm, and Thor’s chopped off the hand with the gauntlet.

Rocket turns over the severed hand, and it’s empty.

“Where are they?” you ask Thanos.

Carol tightens her grip. “You heard her. Answer the question.”

“The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose… beyond temptation.”

“You murdered trillions!” Bruce yells, shoving him back.

“You should be grateful.”

Natasha speaks when you can’t. “Where are the stones?”

Thanos gasps from where he’s been punched to the floor. “Gone. Reduced to atoms.”

“You used them two days ago!”

“I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me.”

You laugh. “You’re gonna wish it had.” You tuck the scythe into the holder in your back and kick Thanos further into the hut.

There’s so many things you could do. You’ve inflicted horrific tortures on people, and this one is the most deserving. You could grow new bones, you could puncture his lungs or rip apart his organs. You could-

“(Y/N)?” Bruce asks. He moves the suit in front of you, but the look in your eyes will haunt him for years. He hasn’t known you long, but the violence you’re about to inflict scares him.

“Move.” When you go to step around, Rhodey and Nat pull you back. “Let me go!” you shout. Carol charges up her powers, but you shove them all away with a harmless wave of light.

“I am inevitable,” Thanos says. You smirk, cold and unfamiliar.

“So am I.”

You don’t even know what you’ve done until you sink the blade down the middle of his skull.

The body is covered in deep cuts and burns, boiling across the skin and melting the muscles and organs that are visible.

There’s blood. There’s so much blood.

As you step back, Thor takes the head off the corpse in one swing of his ax. The two of you start walking out, intent on leaving and never looking back. The god had promised to drop you off at an old safehouse before disappearing. He was as broken as you were now.

“What did you do?” Rocket whispers in horror. You pause, swallowing down the mix of guilt, regret, and so much grief.

“I avenged.”