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When did things get so out of hand that eleven people who never thought they’d ever have to work together, would have to.
None of them expected any of this to happen…
***
Tony, Peter and Stephen finally arrived back on Earth and were now in the common area of the compound. Peter was traumatized; understandably so. The poor kid just had to watch people whom he had only just met disintegrate into ash right in front of him. Sure, Tony and Stephen had to watch that as well, but they had seen things like this before. Okay, maybe not exactly like this, but they’ve seen death before.
Stephen once was a doctor; even if he was the best neurosurgeon in the business that doesn’t mean that he would not have seen dead bodies.
And Tony had not only witnessed people dying, but he had caused a decent chunk of those deaths. Whether he didn’t have a choice or not, he still saw dead bodies.
Now, Tony hated that Peter had to see this…
***
Natasha didn’t like that Loki was on Earth, but she could handle it and let him and Thor stay together. From what she knows, Asgard has been destroyed and they lost everyone. She could understand. The first thing she did when everything calmed down after people were disintegrating into ash around her was to try to call Yelena.
No answer. With anyone. Her sister, her mother, her father. No one answered.
And she knew what that meant. Her families has broken up, and she doesn’t know how or if she can fix it.
***
Thor knew he should be more upset about the people who disintegrated in front of him, but it was hard to do so when he almost saw his brother die once again after so little time had passed since his father had died. Thor didn’t know if he could feel angry at Loki when it’s clear his younger brother could have died very easily. It was only due to him not letting go of Loki when the Statesman exploded, so when the Guardians showed up they could help both of them.
Now, he, Loki, Natasha, Wanda, and two men that he was told were named Sam and Bucky were on their way back to the compound in America. He forgot that Earth was not one connected world like Asgard once was.
For Thor, he is just glad that Loki was going to be okay.
***
Wade Wilson. Deadpool. Jackass. Merc with a Mouth. Those were just some of the names that he had been called. He didn’t care what he was called, as long as he had Russel. His kid.
But then, one day he disintegrated in Wade's arms. Sure, he knew something was going to happen, but he never expected it would include Russel.
It hurt. It hurt to lose his son so soon after he lost Vanessa. But he won’t let that stop him from doing what needed to be done.
That is why, only two hours after what will soon be known as “The Snap” he was in a car that he stole (to be fair, the person who owned it disintegrated and they had no family that would come by to pick it up) and headed towards the Avengers Compound. He knew that going there would help him to get his son back. It had to.
***
Dr. Stephen Strange had seen millions of futures, and while this was the one that leads them closer to fixing everything and getting rid of Thanos completely, he did not like the idea of the kid - Peter - seeing it. He hated himself for bringing harm to him, even if it was emotional harm instead of physical.
This child should not have been there, but he knows Stark had tried to get him to stay on Earth and was probably feeling the same things he was. Stephen realized that he was going to have to explain to Stark why he didn’t explain what was going to happen, but he wasn’t sure how he should do that without informing them of what they needed to do.
His hands were shaking more than usual. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to stop it this time.
Tony was trying to call who Stephen could only assume as his fiance. It didn’t seem like he was getting any answers. Peter was sitting on a couch texting people. The kid was most likely trying to text everyone he knew to see who was left.
Stephen wished he could simply tell them what needed to happen to bring everyone back.
***
Wanda was lost. She lost her mother, her father, her brother, and now Vision. Her boyfriend. First, she killed him, only for Than- No. No. She refuses to say his name. Only for that monster to bring him back and kill him again right in front of her. She hated herself for having to kill him, but she knew at least with her, he had wanted her to be the one to kill him.
Nat, Sam and Bucky were extremely upset about everything. She understands, she doesn’t understand how Thor and his brother Loki can be so calm. Sure, they were holding onto each other as if their lives depended on it, but they hadn't cried or lashed out. She doesn’t understand why. Wasn’t it normal? Maybe it was different on Asgard.
All in all, Wanda didn’t know if she could work through this even with the help of the others. That’s why when Nat told her they were heading back to the compound she almost didn’t move.
***
Loki was annoyed. While he did love Thor; not that he’d ever tell him that to his face, he also didn’t like being so close to the Widow. She made him feel uncomfortable. At first, all he felt from her was hatred, but after about an hour she stopped focusing on him as much. Loki thought it was probably because she called many people and they didn’t pick up.
He didn’t want to go with the group when they were heading to the “compound”, as they called it. Except, Thor had got up to follow. So Loki sighed and sucked it up before following his brother to a place that would have more people who could potentially try to either arrest or kill him. Could you tell he wasn’t very happy?
The main reason Loki went with Thor in the end was because he was all Loki had left. He knew Thor thought the same with him, but for Loki his older brother really was the last person he had. Loki and Thor’s relationship was just repaired and the younger wasn’t going to risk losing him once again. Whether that be Thor leaving him, or either of them dying.
Loki didn’t care what happened, as long as he had Thor.
***
Peter didn’t know how to feel at this moment. He just had to watch a group of people he had just met die in front of him because a giant purple alien decided that he could. He was glad that Mr. Stark was still with him, but he had to check for everyone he knew. The only problem was that not many were responding. Peter knew that was probably because most were trying to do the same thing he was, but it definitely didn’t help his silent panic.
Even though he should be focusing on himself at this moment, he couldn’t help but look at the Doctor. Strange’s hands were shaking. Peter knew they were injured to begin with, but did they get further injured during the fight and no one noticed? That was going to worry Peter for a while.
When Peter looked towards Mr. Stark things weren’t much better. Mr. Stark was trying to call people; one of which was most likely Ms. Potts. Peter hopes she was alright, but from the look on his face things weren’t looking too great.
***
Eddie had been visiting Anne and Dan when it happened. Venom became visible on his shoulder and told them something was coming. Instantly, the group of three (“FOUR” Venom yelled inside Eddie's head) were on their feet and ready to fight however they could. What they expected was not what they got. In a matter of seconds, Anne and Dan were disintegrating into ash in front of Eddie and Venom.
Eddie tried to grab both of them, hoping that would cause them not to leave. Unfortunately, that wasn’t what happened. All that happened was the two disintegrated in his arms.
He collapsed to the floor, Venom didn’t stop it due to his own shock. Eddie stayed on that floor for a few hours alternating between anger and crying. Once he had calmed down enough for Venom to speak to him, he was told they needed to find people who could help. Venom suggested the Avengers, even with Eddie questioning if that would be a good idea since they might simply end up arresting or killing them.
However, Venom was very persuasive. They got on their bike and drove all the way to the Avengers Compound.
***
Sam had crashed due to Thanos in a brush. When he was able to get up the first thing he saw was Colonel Rhodes disintegrating into ash. He whipped his head towards Barnes when he heard his quiet call of Steve’s name. Only to watch as their mutual friend met the same fate as the Air Force Colonel.
What was Sam supposed to do? The person he looked up to was now gone, and he didn’t know what to do. He looked to Barnes who had kneeled down to touch the ash on the ground that used to be Steve.
Barnes turned to look at him after a moment, looking just as distressed as he felt. How were they supposed to deal with this?
***
James Barnes didn’t know what was happening when he saw Steve’s shoulders starting to disintegrate. He called Steve’s name, his voice soft and scared. He was scared, and he didn’t know why until Steve completely disintegrated in front of him.
Bucky knelt down by the ash left behind, touching it with shaking hands. He was no longer scared. He was outright terrified. He felt someone looking at him and looked up to find Sam staring at him with devastation. Bucky now knew he wasn’t alone in his feelings.
He was in agreement with Sam for once; things were going to get worse. Or, at least, that’s what they both thought. That was until Natasha came by them after a while and told them they were going to the compound. Bucky didn’t know how well that would go, but was willing to follow along. He didn’t think he’d still be welcome here in Wakanda after his failure to keep this from happening.
They followed her to the vehicle they were all going to take to get back to America and sat down with heavy hearts.
***
It had been a few days before everyone arrived at the compound. It felt uncomfortable with everyone being wary of Wade and Eddie. Thor and Loki were wary of Eddie due to Venom, but then again Venom was wary of them as well.
Natasha got used to them being there, though it took longer than she actually expected. Sure, she didn’t trust most of the people in the building, but getting used to others' presence usually doesn’t take that long.
None of them expected that they would need to team up, but Stephen said that they could fix things. Even if he couldn’t tell them what they needed to do to accomplish their goal, he was able to guide them.
In total, it had been a week before they were ready to start their mission to save the ones who’d died. Standing in a circle, they all reached their hands towards the center.
One thought going through all of their minds. ‘We can do this.’
They all looked at each other intensely.
“Whatever it takes.”