- SVRCINA, Meet Me On The Battlefield

Clint and Nat sit on a log, watching the Stonekeeper.

“How’s it going?” Clint asks awkwardly. “Jesus, maybe he’s making this shit up.”

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Why, ‘cause he knows your daddy’s name?”

“I didn’t. Thanos left here with the stone without his daughter. It’s not a coincidence.”

“Yeah.”

“Whatever it takes.”

“Whatever it takes.”

Nat stands up. “If we don’t get that stone, billions of people stay dead.”

“Then I guess we both know who it’s gotta be.”

“I guess we do.”

Clint holds Nat’s hand and looks at her, Nat giving it back.

“I’m starting to think...we mean different people here, Natasha.”

“For the last five years I’ve been trying to do one thing: get right here. That’s all it’s been about. Bringing everyone back.”

“Oh, don’t you get all decent on me now.”

“What, you think I wanna do it? I’m trying to save your life, you idiot.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t want you to, because I...Natasha, you know what I’ve done. You know what I’ve become.”

“I don’t judge people on their worst mistakes.”

“Maybe you should.”

“You didn’t.”

“You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?” The pair lean their heads together. “Okay. You win.” He knocks Nat to the ground. “Tell my family I love them.”

Nat responds by tackling Clint to the ground. “You tell them yourself.”

She electrocutes him and runs towards the cliff. He stands up and shoots an explosive arrow to knock her down, then runs and towards the cliff and jumps. Nat jumps after him and hooks him to a grappling hook.

“Damn you!”

“Let me go.”

“No. Please, no.”

“It’s okay.”

“Please-” Nat kicks the wall and falls off the rope, plummeting to the ground. “NO!”

Nat’s body lies on the ground dead, blood slowly pooling from her head. A boom in the sky sends Clint into a pool of water with the Soul Stone in his hand. He hits the ground in sadness, before his Quantum suit activates and he is sent back to the present day.

--

Everyone starts to arrive back from their missions, and they look around to see the recovered stones.

“Did we get them all?” Bruce asks.

“You telling me this’ll actually work?” Rhodey questions.

“Clint, where’s Nat?” Clint’s silence speaks volumes, and everyone realises that she’s dead. Bruce falls to his knees and pounds the floor in grief.

--

On the lakeside of the Compound, everyone except Rhodey, Rocket and Scott mourn Nat’s death.

“Do we know if she had family?” Tony questions.

“Yeah,” Steve responds. “Us.”

“What?” Thor asks, confused.

“I just asked him a question-”

“Yeah, you’re acting like she’s dead. Why are we acting like she’s dead? We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back, isn’t that right? So stop this shit. We’re the Avengers, get it together.”

“We can’t get her back,” Clint says quietly.

“Wha...what?”

“It can’t be undone. It can’t.”

Thor laughs dryly. “I’m sorry. No offense, but you’re a very earthy being. Okay? We’re talking about space magic. And ‘can’t’ seems very definitive, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, look, I know that I’m way outside my paygrade here. But she still isn’t here, is she?”

“No, that’s my point-”

“It can’t be undone. Or that’s at least what the red floating guy had to say.” Clint starts to get angry, beginning to shout. “Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? GO GRAB YOUR HAMMER, AND YOU GO FLY AND TALK TO HIM!” His anger is quickly replaced by grief. “It was supposed to be me. She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bet her life on it.”

Bruce suddenly grabs a bench and hurls it across the lake, then turns back to the others. “She’s not coming back. We have to make it worth it. We have to.”

“We will,” Steve responds softly.

--

In the Avengers’ lab, Bruce and Rocket watch Tony use technology to place the stones in a makeshift gauntlet. The gauntlet looks like a modified version of Tony’s suit, but just from the forearm down of one arm.

“Boom!” Rocket yells, all the stones in. Tony and Bruce jump slightly and then groan at the raccoon’s joke.

--

In another room, the Avengers crowd around the finished gauntlet.

“Alright,” Rocket starts. “The glove’s ready. Question is, who’s gonna snap their freaking fingers?”

“I’ll do it,” Thor answers.

“Excuse me?” Scott asks.

“It’s okay.”

“Wait, wait, Thor, just wait,” Steve stops him. “We haven’t decided who’s gonna put that on yet.”

“I’m sorry. What, we’re just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?”

“We should at least discuss it,” Scott pushes.

“No, no, sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I’m the strongest Avenger, okay? So this responsibility falls upon me. It’s my duty.”

“It’s not about that,” Tony says.

“It’s not that...stop it! Just let me!” He starts to tear up. “Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something right.”

“Look - it’s not just the fact that the glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent, I’m telling you, you’re in no condition.”

“What do you..what do you think is coursing through my veins right now?”

“Cheez Whiz?” Rhodey asks sarcastically.

“Lightning.”

“Lightning won’t help you, pal,” Bruce says. “It’s gotta be me. You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive.”

“How do we know you will?” Steve asks him.

“We don’t. But the radiation’s mostly gamma. It’s like...I was made for this.”

--

Unaware to the team, Neb had come back instead of Nebula. Working on her father’s orders, she sneaks away to the Quantum portal and activates it.

--

“Good to go, yeah?” Tony questions.

“Let’s do it,” Bruce responds.

“You remember - everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago and just bringing them back to now, today. Don’t change anything from the last five years.”

“Got it.”

Everyone suits up, ready for any battle or damage that might happen.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., do me a favour and activate Barn Door Protocol. Will you?”

“Yes, boss.” The Compound goes into lockdown, all windows and exits being blocked.

“Everybody comes home,” Bruce announces. He puts the gauntlet on, the technology expanding to fit his hand. The power surge from the stones overwhelms him, making him grunt in pain.

“Take it off!” Thor yells. “Take it off!”

“No, wait,” Steve stops him. “Bruce, are you okay?”

“Talk to me, Banner,” Tony pushes.

“I’m okay,” Bruce puffs. “I’m okay.”

--

Back at the Quantum Tunnel, Neb lets the 2014 Sanctuary ll to the present. This is bad.

--

Bruce starts to scream from the intense pain, somehow managing to push through it and snap his fingers. He passes out and the gauntlet slides off his arm, Clint kicking it away.

“Bruce!” Steve exclaims, and everyone crowds around the injured man.

Tony starts to spray Bruce’s damaged arm. “Don’t move him.”

Bruce clutches Steve’s arm, eyes closed. “Did it work?”

Thor soothes him. “Worth a shot. It’s over. It’s okay.”

Scott walks towards the outside windows and sees plants and birds. “Guys, I think it worked!”

Clint hears his phone ringing and sees that it’s his wife calling. “Honey. Honey.”

Bruce opens his eyes to see the Sanctuary ll hovering above the Compound, and a single missile heads towards the base. More begin to fire and the base becomes destroyed, everyone sinking below underground.

Bruce holds up tons of debris from falling on top of the other Avengers with his good arm.

Rocket lies trapped under some debris. “I can’t breath. I can’t breathe! I can’t breath.”

“Canopy,” Rhodey says, climbing out of his damaged suit. “Canopy. Canopy.”

“Rhodey, Rocket, get outta here!” Bruce yells. Rhodey crawls over to help Rocket, using a rebar as leverage to lift the debris off. They sigh in relief. “Rhodey!” A blood suddenly engulfs them.

--

In another section of rubble, Scott survived the blast by shrinking down.

“Mayday, mayday!” Rhodey’s voice comes over his comms. “Does anybody copy? We’re in the lower level, it’s flooding!”

“What?”

“We’re drowning! Does anybody copy? Mayday!”

“Wait! I’m here! I’m here, can you hear me?”

--

Clint finds himself in the sewer system, trying to get his bearings. He casts a flashlight upwards to see what happened.

“Cap?” He finds the gauntlet next to him, but senses that he’s not alone. He shoots an arrow with a light on the end though a dark tunnel, illuminating hordes of Outriders. “Damn.” He grabs the gauntlet and starts to sprint in the other direction, the Outriders chasing after him.