[ENDGAME SPOILERS] Half of a Whole

[pirateangelbaby]

Three weeks after half the universe turned to dust, several things happen all at once.

Nick Fury's transmitter abruptly stops its broadcast, not because the battery has died, but because its intended recipient has finally arrived. Carol Danvers has flown from one end of space to the next to find them, bringing news of worlds in chaos across the galaxy and seeking an explanation - seeking Fury, who they cannot give to her, his body Vanished along with half of the Earth.

Rocket gives her the transmitter frequency for the Benatar, desperate for news on his missing team. She leaves, and returns a day later with a crippled spaceship on her shoulders, its engines dead and life support failed completely. Rocket is among those who run to greet its arrival, beady little eyes desperate to catch even a glimpse of his family, but the only one he knows who emerges is Nebula, sorrow in her black eyes as she takes his small hand in hers.

She's not alone, however. The other occupant of the ship is Tony Stark, looking much worse for wear, half wasted away from injury and starvation, and so upset that he works himself into collapse only hours after landing. Tony confirms what the Nexus has already hinted to Natasha: Peter is gone, along with Rocket's family and the Sorcerer Supreme. The Man of Iron may be too weak and too emotionally shattered to be of much help but Nebula quietly confirms that she's fit for duty. Whatever horrible alterations have been made to her body, at the very least starvation doesn't seem to work for her quite the way it does for humans. When she and Rocket fill the other in on what each has missed, she immediately volunteers to sign on with him.

The mission is to find and kill Thanos. Where else in the universe would she choose to be?

And it turns out she knows a great deal indeed about his plans for after accomplishing his mission. An unremarkable world only a few jumps from Earth, uninhabited by any civilization, that Nebula calls the Garden. And once Rocket restores power to the Benatar, the ship's scanners tell a startling tale - the energy wave of the snap in Wakanda has been sighted again, on that very same world that Thanos has intended to call his home.

Confirmation that he is there, and so are the stones.

For weeks, Thor's battle-fire has been banked in his heart, smothered beneath the heaviness of blame and grief, but now it begins to smolder again as he calls Stormbreaker to his hand, and goes to find his new-forged arm, stronger than the last. This, then, is his chance for redemption. His chance to undo what has been done, and bring back the trillions of lives he'd failed to save. One way or another, either Thanos will die today, or Thor will meet a warrior's death trying.

As he looks around the room, he sees that same sentiment reflected in the eyes of those who still remain. "Let's go get this son of a bitch," Steve declares, and Thor feels cold determination settle into his stomach.

After three long weeks of waiting, finally, they can act.

Comments

[juststeverogers]

What they're suggesting is crazy.

A part of Steve knows it even as he's listening to Nebula deliver her intel on Thanos. Listening to Carol's confidence in carrying out the assault on the Titan. But Tony's outburst at Steve has only pried open wounds he's been digging into his own chest for weeks now. No one, not even Blaze and Ghost, have been able to keep Steve grounded in the present. His guilt is a living entity that eats away at him. In a sense, nothing Tony can say to him is worse than what he's already been telling himself.

And if he's as desperate to prove Tony wrong about him as he is to shut up the roots of self doubt that have twined desperately around his heart, well. It keeps him from second guessing himself when he stands tall and gives the Order. Natasha's hand seeks out his and squeezes it gently while they both duck their heads to board the Benatar.

"Who here hasn't been to space?" Rocket calls out once everyone's had a chance to strap in. Despite how queasy he looks Bruce shrugs while Rhodey and Natasha raise their hands. A Look passes between all of them when Steve remains still.

"Been to Venus." Steve mutters quietly. "A version of it, at any rate. Blaze needed a hand with one of her patrols." The answer appeases Natasha, while Rhodey and Bruce both mouth 'a version of it?' to each other while Rocket grunts from his seat.

"You better not throw up on my ship."

"At least no one's shooting at us while we go, this time." Bruce mutters darkly just before they Jump. This time it's Steve's hands that reach out and take both Natasha's and Rhodey's to hold in a steady grip. Any other time he'd be thrilled to even catch so much as a glimpse of space. A look back at the Earth. Anything. Right now, it's hardly worth even thinking about. Only one thought breaks through the buzz in the back of Steve's head.

Thanos.

Quietly, Steve hopes beyond all reason that Carol is as strong as she claims to be. They lost against the mad titan with a much stronger force than they're bringing to The Garden once. What they're trying now is suicide on paper. But if this is the day they die then Steve's more than willing to go out swinging.

Time Passes

[red_room]

"I just got off a call with the Norwegian government. They haven't had much luck getting in touch with Thor either." Natasha turns and sets a plate loaded with sandwiches onto the table.

There's four of them at dinner tonight.

Nebula never says much unless it's to do with their work but she listens to everything. Takes it all in with dark eyes that aren't quite so sharp as they were when she first arrived. She's folding her napkin into a little paper football the way Tony showed her how to do when they were stranded adrift in space. She never asks anyone to play with her but just making them seems to bring her comfort. Rocket's perched on a bar stool so he can sit and still properly be at the table instead of half underneath it. Steve's back for the night, his gaze focused on Natasha while she's speaking rather than the food in front of them.

It's the most of them that have been in one place for weeks but there is little in the way of smiles or jokes just yet. They've mostly been catching each other up on work.

"Did they say how his people were settling in, at least?" Steve knows there were refugees with Thor now. Neither he or Natasha have been back to the Nexus since Thanos yet but they've got other ways of getting information. Natasha being on speed dial of every major government left standing is a huge one. He takes half a sandwich and eats while trying to sort his thoughts out on the matter. It's hardly as though Steve's magically over all of this. What's happened isn't the sort of thing one just gets better from. But he is more steady on his feet than he's been. Coherent enough to think back to the times he and Thor spoke before the Garden.

Thor had been worse off than him then, too. It doesn't sound like he's gotten any better in the weeks since. Would Steve either, if Natasha hadn't kept trying to reach him?

"I don't have counsel tomorrow. I should go check on him. If you don't mind giving me a lift, that is, pal." Steve shifts his glance across the table toward Rocket and Nebula. Either one of them would be able to get him to Norway quick. "Be welcome to come with too, if you wanted."