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He stood there silently, his eyes never leaving Alex's. His face was pained yet relieved, like he hadn't seen her in years but he didn't quite have her yet. Alex's whole body screamed at her to run toward him, but her brain halted her. His words from his mirage of a chamber echoed in her mind.

"All of it was to keep you alive."

There wasn't a moment since that those words didn't repeat themselves. She had been tricked by the God of Mischief so many times that it was impossible for her to simply give in without a second thought. However, in front of her, was a seemingly remorseful man.

"Surprised to see him?" Thanos' voice ripped her from her thoughts.

"I was many visits ago." She replied, her eyes on Loki. "I'm used to it now."

"Such a strong bond between your two energies. Makes me sick."

She chuckled humorlessly at Thanos' disgust. "Is that jealousy I hear, big guy?"

"What's even more disturbing is the secrecy--the betrayal of a right-hand that I trusted so much."

Loki's demeanor remained nonchalant. "However do you mean?"

His voice sent shivers down Alex's spine. There was something different about it, something more present and alive.

"You think me a fool. I know it's been a ruse since the beginning."

Loki's eyes now were widened and he was cornered. Thanos turned toward him, approaching menacingly.

"I could never punish you for it since she was so valuable, but now that I am in her midst my need for you is finished. I thought sparing her life would ultimately sway your loyalty to me, but now I see that it is still to her. A lesson is to be taught, of what happens when you betray me."

Before Alex could blink, Thanos hit Loki across the face with his double edged sword, leaving a gash on his cheek and sending him flying backwards. In shock, Alex was frozen.

Loki really was on her side.

The suppressed love she had for him burst through the surface, and paired with the energy that electrified the emotion she was feeling at this current point in time. In her hands were balls of light that glowed tremendously, and her eyebrows knit together.

"Don't," She took a step toward Thanos, causing him to turn around.

"Touch," She raised her hands.

"Him."

In that instant, she shot blasts at Thanos so strong that he was thrown back into the ground, hard. The rush that surged through her was so strong, it almost knocked her off her feet. She looked down at her hands before looking back at the villain, holding them out to freeze him temporarily.

She ran over to where Loki was on the ground, blood spilling from his gash. She knelt down to his level, holding his head up on her knee.

"Are you okay?" She breathed.

"That," He grunted. "Was immensely sexy."

She meant to roll her eyes but what escaped her was a laugh. She pulled him off of her and to her level, immediately engulfing him in a hug. Feeling his arms around her made her forget her surroundings for just a second, filling her heart with peace.

Loki pulled back from the hug, their faces still close. His eyes pierced hers, and she realized in that moment she had just touched him.

"I can touch you," She whispered. "You're really here,"

"That I am," He grinned. "Ta-da,"

She smashed her lips to his, catching him by surprise. He recovered in a nanosecond, moving his lips against hers in a dance they hadn't forgotten the steps to. Time briefly stopped, and she could live in that moment forever.

Until she remembered Steve was literally unconscious.

She pulled back, jumping up. "Come on, we need to find Steve before the ballsack wakes up."

"The what?" Loki coughed.

But, she was already running back. He briskly followed, watching her look through the rubble for her friend.

"So, can we, erm, talk about--"

"Loki, look around you real quick. Does it look like the time for a discussion?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Steve!"

Alex spotted him, running over to where he was picking himself up. She glanced back, and noticed that Thanos had awoken from his temporary position. She helped Steve stand, and he did a double take when he saw who accompanied her.

"I thought you were dead." He breathed.

"It's a long....story...." Her voice trailed off when the same blue portal opened and thousands of Thanos' minions appeared.

The three of them looked at the vast army in front of them. Alex gripped Loki's hand, accepting a reassuring squeeze.

"It was really nice knowing you guys."

"Alex," Steve groaned.

"This would be a really good time to be an illusion." Loki deadpanned.

Alex looked to Steve, who tightened his shield around his wounded arm. He began to walk forward slowly, and she followed suit. All of her fear left her, and the only thing inside of her besides her energy was perseverance. She owed it to every missing person. Nat. Most importantly, she owed it to Tony to try.

Suddenly, Steve stopped walking. She looked to him questioningly as he held his hand to his intercom. Then, she heard a sizzling sound, turning over her left shoulder to see a yellow portal opening up.

Out walked T'Challa, Okoye, and Shuri.

A breath of relief escaped Alex's lips when she saw people she never thought she'd see again. Then, out flew Sam. Ten more portals opened up and Alex felt tears well in her eyes. Dr. Strange came next, along with two Alex had never seen before.

Then came Peter. He gave her a smile as his webs retracted into his hands.

Soon, they had an army of their own. Hundreds and thousands of soldiers from different worlds marched out of the portals.

Bucky gave her a nod.

Wanda descended down next to her.

Thor and Tony joined the ranks, and Scott emerged as a giant through the rubble of what was HQ. Alex couldn't believe her eyes. This was what would win.

This was the Avengers.

"Avengers!" Steve yelled, summoning Mjolnir into his hands.

"Assemble."

The two sides broke out into a run at each other. They clashed fiercely and violently, bodies already beginning to pile. Alex ran beside Loki, looking at each other with an unspoken promise to come out of this alive.

She froze minions and blasted others, her ears ringing from the amount of explosions around her. From afar, she saw Peter and Tony reuniting, bringing a brief smile to her face.

The fight was long, but one thing remained clear: get the stones to safety. Clint raced them through the fight, handing them off to multiple people.

"We need to get them back to where they came from," Bruce said over the intercom.

"No way. Thanos destroyed the Quantum Tunnel." Tony responded.

"Hold on," Scott piped up. "That wasn't our only time machine,"

The faint sound of a horn playing La Cucaracha was heard, causing Alex to roll her eyes.

"Anyone see an ugly brown van up there?" Steve called.

"Yes! But you're not gonna like where it's parked!" 142 was heard.

"142, haven't seen you in a minute," Alex spoke.

"Alex, you still with the guy from Sakaar?"

"Not the time, ladies." Tony interrupted.

"Get the van started, we'll get the stones to you," Steve ordered.

Meanwhile Clint handed the stones off to T'Challa, who raced through gunfire to get them to safety. Thanos briefly encountered Wanda, who had hell to give him. Peter sniped the stones, saving them from harm.

More blasts came from Thanos' ship, creating explosions all around the battlefield. Peter became engulfed by minions, but was quickly saved by Steve. The hellfire coming from Thanos' ship continued to pour down on their troops, and it was beginning to win until it suddenly stopped to point up at the sky.

"What the hell?" Alex spoke aloud.

A large, yellow ball of light entered the atmosphere. It flew right through the ship, causing it to crash-land into the lake. They cheered as Carol Danvers came into sight, flying about the sky.

"Well, she's good for something, that's for damn sure."

"Danvers, we need an assist here." Steve spoke.

Peter got up to hand the gauntlet to Carol, looking wearily at the troops. "I don't know how you're gonna get it through all that,"

"Don't worry," Wanda flew over.

She was joined by 142, Alex, Pepper, Mantis, Shuri, Hope, Gamora, and Okoye.

"She's got help." Alex added.

The women marched against the opposing forces in an effort to protect Carol who clutched the gauntlet. Together, they fought off many aliens and minions that hurled themselves at them.

They had almost gotten the gauntlet to the now-fired up van, but Thanos was quick to stop it. He obliterated the machine, causing another huge explosion. The gauntlet went flying, and Tony made a run for it.

Alex ran over, trying to keep Thanos from it. Steve and Thor joined, and almost had Thanos by the neck until he pushed them all off. Carol and Alex took on Thanos together, swirling around him in energy, but were quickly flown off.

He raised his hand, moving to snap his fingers but Alex held his hand back. Thanos went to hit her on the head, but the energy field around her made it impossible to do so. She gritted her teeth and looked up at him, pulling so hard the stones began to diminish. However, he took out the Power Stone and quickly fought her off.

All that was left was Tony, who was gasping for breath on the ground. He glanced over to Dr. Strange, who shakily held up a single finger.

Tony knew what he needed to do.

He raced over to pull the gauntlet off in a last attempt, which Thanos easily pushed his weak body off. Tony crumpled over as Thanos raised his hand once again.

"I am," Thanos grinned evilly. "Inevitable."

He snapped his fingers, and silence was heard. Alex looked over from a couple feet away, to see the stones missing. She was immensely confused until she looked over to see the stones secure in Tony's armor. The energy filled Tony's body as the stones activated in his make-shift glove, and he looked Thanos dead in the eye.

"And I," He breathed. "Am Iron Man."

He snapped his fingers, and a bright white light appeared. Thanos' soldiers began to disappear into ash, and the Avengers looked around as they panted. It was silent on the battlefield as the numbers began to decrease.

Alex frantically looked around for Loki, wondering if he were to diminish as well. She couldn't spot him, however, and panic arose in her chest.

Her attention quickly moved back to Tony, who stumbled over to sit down. She approached him, and Rhodey was crouched next to him. She could see half his body was charred and destroyed from the amount of energy that his body consumed, and she knew it didn't look good.

"Mr. Stark," Peter ran up to him. "Can you hear me? It's Peter. We won, Mr. Stark."

Tony was completely spaced out. He stared into nothing, his chest rising and falling heavily. Alex walked over as Rhodey pulled Peter back slowly.

"Tony," She whispered.

He mumbled a response.

"You did it. You were the hero, Tony." Tears welled in her eyes. She held his hand, and felt a faint squeeze.

"Never," He pained out. "Forget....who....you are."

She nodded, tears now spilling. She gave him a kiss on the forehead before she heard Pepper approach.

"Hey Pep," He whispered.

She placed his hand on his arc reactor, Tony resting his hand on hers.

"FRIDAY?"

"Life functions critical."

"Tony, look at me." She gave him a smile. "We're gonna be okay. You can rest now."

Alex felt a hand grab hers, and looked down to see it was Peter's. She squeezed it, patting him gingerly on the back. She let go as she watched the light slowly fade from the arc reactor. The best man she knew, the closest thing to a father she had, was now lifeless in front of her.

"No!" She let out a scream, falling to her knees and as they hit the ground, a rush of energy left her body.

She sat there shaking until she felt a pair of arms lift her to her feet. She was pulled into them, and recognized the scent easily. He comfortingly ran his hand over her hair, and rubbed her back. Her shaking slowly began to cease as she felt him.

She held tightly on to his green-armored torso, and let out a sob.

_____________________________

𝚠𝚘𝚠 :(

𝚒 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

𝚒 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚞 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍! 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚒𝚝 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚒 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚒 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚢'𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑!!

𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜.....𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚏 𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖....

𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚟𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜!