superposition

surely we'll live to see the day 
when all of our problems, they fade away

They truly were in the endgame now. 

Tony was still wrapping his around the fact that they had been successful in bringing back those who had been dusted. The moment that Bruce had snapped his fingers, it seemed like the world had gotten a little brighter. At least, that was before Thanos had destroyed the compound. 

He barely had a moment to take in what had happened before he found himself eye to eye with the mad Titan and battling the culls of his Black Order, the whir of his repulsors sounding every few seconds as he shot down the invading aliens. This battle was something that he had been anticipating; however it still came as a shock when almost every hero that the Earth had to offer was now banded together, taking on an entire alien army. 

Tony grunted as one of the culls knocked into him with such force that he was thrown back, struggling within the grip of one of the outriders, claws digging into his nanotech. Before he could get a chance to blast it back, a familiar thwip filled the air and suddenly his throat was tight. Just like that, the outrider was gone and he had a moment of quiet.

He turned, his helmet retracting as his eyes fell upon the teenage boy. The helmet of the Iron Spider had retracted into the suit as well and if they weren’t in battle, Tony could have cried at the sight of Peter’s face. He looked exactly as he did on that day on Titan.

“Mr. Stark. Holy cow, you would not believe what’s been going on. Do you remember when we were in space? And I got all dusty? I must’ve passed out, because I woke up and you weren’t there, but Doctor Strange was, and he was like, “it’s been five years, they need us.” And he started doing that yellow sparkly thing he does.” Tony couldn’t help it, stepping forward to pull the kid into a tight embrace. In the past five years, he would have done anything to listen to Peter ramble.

“Oh,” The kid’s voice was muffled against his chest, “This is nice.” Tony squeezed his eyes shut, relishing the hug before he let him go. He paused for a moment, taking in the kid’s face before he patted him on the shoulder. 

“Let’s kick some ass.” 

And with that, they were immersed back into the battle, cutting down creatures and culls left and right. But just as many that they killed, more seemed to spawn. “What do you want to do with this thing?” Natasha’s voice called out through their comms.

“Get those stones as far away as possible!” Steve commanded. Oh, she had the gauntlet.

“No!” Bruce’s voice was a mix of his and the Hulk’s. “We need to send them back where they came from!”

Tony shook his head, “There’s no way to send them back, Thanos destroyed our time machine.” He said with disgust. 

“Hold on!” Scott exclaimed and from a distance, Tony could see Giant Man shrink down. “That wasn’t our only time machine!"

It seemed like his implication clicked for all of them at the same moment because just as Tony was about to respond, Steve beat him to it, “Does anyone see an ugly brown van?"

It took a moment before anyone responded, “Yeah, but you’re not going to like where it's parked.” 

Tony hovered in the air, overlooking the battlefield and was annoyed to see that the van sat deep within the enemy line, a hoard of aliens separating them both on the ground and in the air. “Scott, how long do you need to get that thing working?” 

“Uh, maybe ten minutes?”

“Get it started,” He spotted Steve, the man looking at him in determination, “We’ll get the stones to you.”

“We’re on it, Cap.” 

Tony flew towards Doctor Strange, the man using his magic to battle the aliens, “Doc, you said we win one in fourteen million, is this how it goes down?”

The sorcerer stared at him for a moment, something in his eyes that Tony couldn’t quite read before he sighed, “If I tell you what happens, it won’t happen.”

“You better be right.”

They went on, taking out alien after alien. He found his mind wandering to those missing from the battle, his heart aching as he recalled exactly how they obtained the Soul Stone and Clint’s sacrifice. Without it, they would not have been able to bring everyone back. They had to win.

Through their comms, Tony could hear as the gauntlet was passed from hero to hero anytime the higher members of the Black Order caught sight of it. His heart skipped a beat when Peter’s voice echoed over, the young teen exclaiming, “I got it!"

He could only glance over for a moment, watching as Spider-Man activated the Instant Kill feature on his suit, taking out multiple aliens at the same time. For a moment, it seemed as if they were going to be successful. Peter was making his way across the battlefield with the gauntlet and Wanda seemed like she was taking care of Thanos.

But as all things tended to be, an easy win was too good to be true. All at once, Thanos’ ship starts raining down on them and every Avenger ran for cover as warriors were being struck down. 

“Um, is anyone else seeing this?” Tony’s head turned almost immediately at the sound of Pepper’s voice. At first it was difficult to figure out what she was talking about, with the chaos of the battlefield, there were so many things that she could be referring to. 

Then he saw it. The dam holding the river water back was hit in the crossfire from Thanos' ship and the water that had been released was rushing towards them and the riverbank was threatening to collapse. Forget wiping out the Black Order, if nothing was done then they would all get swept up from the gushing water.

Out of nowhere, Strange, Wong and a flock of wizards began waving their arms in every direction, orange magic holding the water back. Tony breathed a small sigh of relief, turning his attention back to the battle. 

“Hey Queens, heads up!” Steve said and Tony watched as he threw Mjolnir (he was still shocked at the fact that Steve could lift it) and Peter hung onto it by a web. 

His relief was quickly thwarted when a blast knocked the kid out of the sky, only for him to be caught by Pepper in the Rescue suit. He pursed his lips, using his repulsors to blast more culls out of his way as he did his best to get closer but the battle was growing more intense at this point. 

Heroes from all directions were fighting at max capacity but as the battle went on, the stamina and adrenaline was beginning to dwindle. Tony grit his teeth, trying to remain optimistic but right now, it wasn’t looking good. The relentless barrage was gaining the upper hand. 

All of the sudden, things went dead silent and everyone followed the direction of Thanos’ cannons, heads pointed towards the sky. “What the hell is this?” Sam questioned. 

Tony flew up, his eyes scanning the skyline, “FRIDAY, what are they firing at?”

His screen lit up as FRIDAY’s systems whirred to find an answer, “Something just entered the outer atmosphere.”

As his AI spoke, a fiery comet broke into their line of sight, heading straight for the Sanctuary-2 and Tony couldn’t help but grin. Carol Danvers shot through the ship, her binary form flying out the opposite side and the engines began to explode. 

Now with the Sanctuary-2 destroyed, the fight continued on and the Avengers began to come out victorious. Carol now had ownership of the gauntlet and Natasha and Wanda led their gang of female Avengers in annihilating the troops surrounding her and Peter. Things were beginning to look up and he grew more confident when Scott’s voice filtered throughout their comms, “Thirty seconds!”

However, just as Carol made it to the van, Thanos launched a spear towards it and before she was able to send the gauntlet back through the quantum time machine, the van exploded and Carol and Scott were sent flying.

Tony didn’t have a chance to take in the weight of what just happened, his eyes locking on the abandoned Infinity gauntlet and quickly moved into action in the same moment as Steve, Thor, and Thanos.

Anxiety flowed through him as Thanos obtained the glove, kicking Thor down and away from them. Steve lunged towards the titan only to be thrown away. Tony doesn’t have any time to react as Thanos knocked him away, groaning in pain as his head knocked against the side of his helmet. 

Before he could snap, Carol landed beside him and with a passionate yell, began to pull the gauntlet away from Thanos, unphased as the titan headbutted her. Tony got to his knees, gathering his bearings just as Thanos pulled the Time Stone from the gauntlet, a wave of green encasing his fist as he punched Captain Marvel and sent her flying. 

It's at that moment that Tony is struck with a horrifying realization, they were going to lose again. 

He knew what he had to do, flying forward just as Thanos went to snap again, his nano-tech growing around the gauntlet. He had a failsafe, a backup plan. It would cost him everything but also save everyone and put an end to Thanos, he just had to-

Thanos threw him backwards, the mad titan ripping off the armor on Tony’s hand. “Letting you live was a mistake that I am not inclined to make again,” Thanos grinned, holding up the Iron Gauntlet. 

Tony stared, his heart thudding against his chest. How did he-? He looked towards Doctor Strange, the wizard fighting a losing the battle against the water. His eyes met Tony’s and his heart sank, the sorcerer shaking his head as he confirmed Tony’s fear; this wasn’t one in fourteen million. 

Thousands of thoughts flooded his head. Morgan. Pepper. Peter. He was about to lose all of them, they had lost. Again. “I am inevitable.” Thanos’ voice was delighted and no one had any time to react before the titan snapped his fingers, a blinding white light filling the sky. 

It was only seconds later that Tony was opening his eyes, preparing himself to witness the fate of both himself and everyone around him only to be met with an orange sky. He sat up quickly, his bare hand meeting the soft sand that covered the ground. His chest heaved as he looked around, finding both Natasha and Steve staring back at him, both still adorning their uniforms. 

“We lost.” The pain was obvious in Natasha’s voice. “Where are we?” The sand seemed to span out for miles all around them, reflecting the orange sky. There was nothing else. 

Tony didn’t have an answer, too overcome by the grief of what he had lost. His family…he didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye to them. He squeezed his eyes shut, he was never going to forgive himself for losing Morgan, his little girl. Maybe spending eternity in this place was his punishment. 

“Tony…” Steve’s voice trailed off and he couldn’t even bring himself to be angry at the man. As much as he wanted to punch him in his star-spangled face, when it came down to it, it wasn’t his fault that they had lost.

Tony could blame him all he wanted for bringing him back into the fight, but when it came down to it, he had willingly invented time travel to bring everyone back. To bring Peter back.

If only he could have obtained the stones quicker, he could have snapped. Tony could have saved them all. 

“Captain America,” A deep voice startled him out of his thoughts, “Black Widow, Iron Man, three formidable heroes. The Stones applaud your resilience.” The three Avengers stood up in a defensive position although the voice seemed to come from all around them.

“The Stones?” Steve called out, holding his shield up. “Who are you? Where are we?”

“Steve Rogers, I am Uatu, the Watcher of the Multiverse. You are in a prism within the Nexus of All Realities.”

“What? Why are we here?” Natasha asked.. 

“Normally, I do not interfere within the realities. However,” The Watcher paused. “The Stones called out to me. The circumstances of your world’s demise were unfounded and would have created a rift within the Multiverse.” 

“The wizard said this was not the reality where we won.” Tony said slowly. They only had one chance to win, how could this loss have an impact on the entire Multiverse?

“It was also not the reality where you were meant to lose either,” His eyebrows furrowed at the Watcher’s words.”Tony Stark, the Stones recognize your sacrifice.” 

Steve and Natasha stared at him, confusion evident in their faces as Uatu continued, “The Time Stone showed Thanos what you were planning, that is how he was able to obtain your Iron Gauntlet. That was not meant to happen in any reality, regardless whether or not you win or lose.”

“What does that mean, what are we here for then?” He questioned. “I thought the Stones in our timeline were destroyed?”

“The physical manifestation of the Stones may have been destroyed, however their energy and power cannot so easily be taken. However, your world had to be removed before it could cause the rift.” Uatu said simply but before the three Avengers could react, he continued on, “You three were not meant to go with it.”

“So what?” Natasha snarled bluntly, “We’re just stuck here?”

“Natasha Romanoff, you three were brought here because this was not how your stories were supposed to end.” Out of nowhere, a door appeared a few yards from them. “The Stones have decided that you three are deserving of a second chance.” The door creaked open slightly, “Beyond that door is a world that won against Thanos but has lost its Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Natasha Romanoff. It is your choice whether or not you go through.”

They all glanced at each other, letting this information wash over them as they took in the Watcher’s words. A world where they had won. Tony squeezed his eyes tight again, a world that had Morgan and Peter. His Pepper.

“We have to go through.” He whispered.

“Tony, we don’t kno-”

“Would you rather stay here?” He asked, giving Steve a hard look. “Look around, Cap, there’s nothing for us here! Even if what the Watcher is saying isn’t true, what do we have to lose?” He let out a dry laugh.

“He’s right,” Natasha said, stepping forward. “We have nothing to lose,” She looked towards the door. “I’m going through.” Both her and Tony started towards the door when Steve stopped them. 

“Wait!” He called out, gaining their attention. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this together.” He jogged towards them, joining them as they got closer to the door. It looked harmless enough, partially open but not enough to see what awaited them. They exchanged a look, nodding in unison before they pushed through. 

Tony let out a baited breath as he stepped through, blinking in shock as he took in his surroundings. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting but it definitely wasn’t a garage. They were surrounded by four wooden walls, a strobe light flickering violently within one of its corners, a shrill sound emitting from it. It’s an alarm, he realized, however he didn’t have time to share his thoughts before the door (to the actual shed) burst open.

Clint Barton stood in front of them, a bow and arrow pointed right at them. He looked different than when they had last seen him.

“What the hell?” He muttered, his face paling. He looked like he had seen a ghost. Which, Tony reasoned, he probably was.

“Clint?” Natasha breathed. It was only the day before that he had sacrificed himself for the Soul Stone, having managed to throw himself off of the cliff in Vormir before Natasha could best him. They were also seeing a ghost.

“Nat?” He responded, his voice tight. The bow was still trained on them but it came as a relief that he at least recognized who they were. The archer shook his head, a hard look crossing his face, “This is impossible.”

“Clint, it’s us,” Steve raised his hands up, dropping his shield beside him.

“Prove it,” Clint countered.

Natasha was the one to speak, taking a step towards him, “Your family got dusted in the Blip,” She said softly, “You couldn’t cope, so you became the Ronin.” They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before he finally dropped his stance, his face sullen. 

“How is this possible?” He asked, the bow fallen to his side. “How are you here? You guys…you’re dead.”

It was silent for a moment, nobody knew what the right thing to say was. “We lost,” Tony finally said. “Right after Thanos snapped again, we were brought here.” He didn’t mention the Watcher. 

Clint looked between them before rushing forward, bringing Natasha into a tight embrace. It was an emotional moment between the two and Tony was suddenly struck with a realization; Uatu had said that this world had lost its Natasha, that had to mean that when the two had gone to Vormir, Clint had been the one to return. 

He glanced at Steve, seeing that the man had the same thought, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes. Clint looked towards them after the hug broke, managing a watery smile. “It’s been too long.” He said, his voice soft. 

That’s right, both this universe’s Tony and Steve were gone too. 

“How long?” Steve asked. 

Clint paused for answering, “Two years,” He whispered.

Tony’s eyes widened in alarm, two years? That meant…that meant that it was at least 2025, give or take a few. That was two years that he had been dead, two years that Pepper had lost her husband and Morgan had lost her father. 

“It’s 2026,” Clint stated, “January 15 actually.” 

No one spoke, soaking in the information. The universe that the Watcher had sent them to was not one where they had just brought everyone back, it was two years ahead. In a way, they were now out of place. While this was a world that had lost its Natasha, Steve, and Tony, it was also a world that had moved on without them.

“I’m sorry.”

Tony didn’t know how to respond to Clint’s apology. He understood the man’s sentiment and while part of him focused on the time that he had lost, the majority of him was focusing on the time that he was now gaining. His family was alive here. 

“How…” He trailed off, trying to find the right words before he just bit the bullet, “How did we die?” 

Clint looked between the three of them, hesitance visible in his eyes. Tony had a suspicion on the circumstances of his own demise and he was sure he knew what had happened to Natasha, but Steve? He wasn’t exactly sure. The archer let out a sigh, looking down, “Natasha sacrificed herself for the Soul Stone,” He said and it was obvious that the moment had traumatized him, “Steve didn’t make it back from returning the Stones,” He glanced at each of them as he spoke.

“And Tony…Tony, you snapped.”

Steve and Natasha’s heads whipped towards him, eyes wide in shock. “That’s…that’s what Thanos saw? Tony, I-” He held up a hand, silencing the Captain, shaking his head.

“Stop,” He said, “Just, just stop.” He didn’t want to hear it. (You’re not the type to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you.)

“Where are we?” Steve nodded slowly, changing the subject away from their deaths. There was a large desk equipped along the wall, with multiple monitors set up across it. A police radio also adorned the space, along with a plethora of other electronics. A map was taped onto the wall with different pins placed all over among other things, adjacent to a large mounted television.

“In my garage,” Clint stated. “On my farm, in New York.” 

Natasha raised an eyebrow, “What about Iowa?” Tony recalled the farmhouse they had stayed in after the Ultron offensive. 

“We still have our land there, but Coop was hellbent on going to Columbia so we figured if anything were to happen in the city, I’d be right here to protect him.” He explained. “Honestly I think the change was needed regardless.” He glanced at Tony, “Actually, Nate goes to school with Morgan. It's a little weird that we have kids that are the same age.” 

At the mention of his daughter, Tony’s heart swelled. “How is she?” 

He was met with a small smile, “She misses you. Everyone misses you.” Clint looked between all three of them, “All of you.” 

Tony took a deep breath, he couldn’t wait to see his family again. With that thought, he asked another question, “What about the kid? How’s he doing?” 

Clint gave him an odd look, confusion evident in his eyes however before he could respond, a faint beeping emitted from a computer on the desk. His eyes flickered between Tony and the desk before he finally crossed over towards it. 

“Uh, what’s going on?” Steve questioned. 

He didn’t get an answer at first, Clint messing around with something in front of him before clearing his throat. “It means that a comm was turned onto the communal line.” 

“Comms? You run the Avengers out of here?” Natasha laughed, raising an eyebrow.

Tony was left dissatisfied with his lack of information about Peter although he bit his tongue. 

“Mm, something like that.” Came Clint’s vague response, the beeping continuing. 

“Well,” Tony said, his voice unimpressed, “Don’t let us stop you.” He gestured to the computer. 

Clint was obviously concerned by whoever turned on the comm because he didn’t argue, instead flipping a switch and pulling a microphone close to him. Natasha, Steve, and Tony were watching intently, curious as to what had come of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. 

“-saying is that the trick arrow would come in handy. Like, imagine it hits its mark and then BOOM, they’re just stuck!" A female voice crackled to life over the speaker. “Just something to think about."

“Kate,” Clint said into his mic, “What’s going on? Do you need backup?” 

As he was speaking, Steve looked towards Natasha, mouthing “Kate?"  only for Clint to give him a hard look, holding a finger up to his mouth, signaling all of them to shut the hell up 

“Clint Barton," A different voice responded and Tony didn’t miss the way Natasha tensed uncharacteristically at the sound of the Russian woman, “Very rude of you to interrupt. We are fine, we do not need another archer.” She said with a scoff, “If Kate gets a trick arrow then I want a grenade.”

It felt like there were so many things going on at once. Who was Clint talking to? Who was this mystery voice that seemed to have the Black Widow shaken? Why didn’t he get an answer about Peter? 

"Please, no one is getting a web arrow or grenade." Tony’s heart skipped a beat at the newest voice. Peter. "Also, codenames. C'mon, we talked about this."

“Right, okay, we’re revisiting this conversation later," Kate said, “Don’t knock the archers, Widow, what’re you using? Guns? You gonna use bullets for these bots?”

“Very rude of you, Hawkeye, very rude. No, I am not using a gun. For your information, I have a bo staff and it does very well in-” She grunted, a crunching sound emitting from the speaker, “-stopping them!”

Clint rolled his eyes, apparently this banter was a common occurrence, “Where are they coming from?”

“Hell if I know,” Peter said, annoyed. Tony was startled to realize that his voice was a pitch deeper. “They just keep fucking spawning!” He emphasized his exasperation, the familiar sound of his webs echoing in the background. 

“Hey Spidey, you know what would make this much easier? A web trick arrow.”

“Enough about the trick arrow!”

“Ah, you Americans.” Yelena laughed, “So much drama."

“You literally just asked me for a web grenade.” Peter deadpanned. 

“Guys,” Clint begged them to focus, “The robots.”

“I told you guys we should have used the other channel.”

“Oooo, look at Hawk-Eve going against her idol.” Peter's response gained a shocked laugh from Clint. Hawk-Eve?

“ Oh my god, I told you about that in confidence. ” Kate squawked. 

“Was it a secret?" Yelena asked, “Clint Barton, you did not tell me that was supposed to be kept a secret.”

“Clint, you told Yelena?!”

"Names!"

The archer in question covered the mic with his hand, an amused look across his face before he composed himself, “The robots.” He repeated, clearing his throat.

It was silent for a moment, the only sound being those from the fight. The thwip of Spider-Man’s webs or the whistle of an arrow, every now and then the sound of Yelena’s bo staff crunching against what he assumed was the metal of the robots.

“They’re coming from everywhere, they don’t really look like anything we’ve seen before. I don’t know who’s responsible for them.” Kate explained.

“Actually,” Peter said, “I think…Kate, you know what happened at the bridge a few days ago?”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows, curious as to what the kid was alluding to. “Yeah, good job with that, by the way. How come?”

“Do you see the wing symbol on the bots?” He desperately wished they had some kind of live stream of the fight. “The guy on the bridge, his gadgets had identical symbols.”

“Do you know how to disarm them?” Clint questioned. 

“That’s a great question."

A loud thud was heard before Yelena spoke, “Perfect, we’ll just exhaust ourselves.”

“Wait,” Peter paused. “I think they’re all operating in one network.”

“And that means…?”

“It means that if we figure out which one is the uh, the alpha robot, we can take out all of them at once.”

“That’s great, now how are we going to do that?”

“Just give me a second,”

It took everything in Tony not to speak, as much as he wanted to. In regards to the bigger picture, he realized that announcing his return in this particular instant could end badly. (Although, what a hell of a comeback that would be, right?)

“They’re all running with the same frequency, except…” Peter trailed off.

“Except?” Kate parroted. 

“Do you see the one by the Chrysler Building? It's vibrating at a different frequency than all of the others.” He explained. “Widow, I need you to clear the building, I don’t know what it’ll do when we take it down and I don’t want anyone to get caught in the crossfire. H, ya think you can take the shot?”

Kate let out a sharp laugh, “Of course I can.”

“Perfect, I’m going to lead it away from the building, wait for my mark.” Tony’s heart swelled as Peter gave orders, he always knew that he would have the chops to be a great leader. 

“On it, Webs." He exchanged a look with his fellow Avengers, anticipation building between all four of them as they waited for their plan to unfold. Was this what passing the torch felt like? He had so many questions, when this was over, he had no idea where to start. 

It was several minutes before anyone spoke again and Tony was pondering what exactly Clint’s role within this little group was. He seemed to be taking on some kind of leadership position, however he only really seemed to chime into their conversation when their focus was veering off too far. 

“The building is clear.” Yelena announced. 

“Hawkeye, you ready?”

“Count me off, Spider-Man.”

The sound of Spider-Man’s webs echoed throughout and the teenager’s heavy breathing was all that was heard. “Hawkeye,” He yelled urgently. “Now!”

The quiet whistle of the arrow filled their ears before a loud explosion erupted through the speaker and a loud screeching sound was heard before everything went quiet. Tony’s eyes widened in alarm, stepping forward as he prepared to yell for Peter, his existence be damned, what the hell just happened?

“Kate? Spider-Man? Yelena?” Clint questioned, equally as concerned and uncaring about the codenames, “Anybody copy?” The high pitched sound of feedback was all that responded and he was beginning to imagine the worst case scenario. 

“Clint!” The sound of Kate’s voice caused the archer to slump in relief. “It worked!”

“What did you do?”

“I shot a trick arrow at the alpha robot, perfect aim by the way, not anyone's surprised by that. Anyways, Spidey caught it and stuck it in the little wing symbol and it exploded.” Her voice was giddy. God, was she a kid too?

“ Spider-Man, you good?” Silence followed and Tony’s heart sank a little. “Spider-Man?”

It was Yelena who responded, “He’s fine. The idiot broke his comm in the explosion.” Another voice could be heard, although it seemed to be coming from the background of her comm. “Spider-Man, do you realize that you are shouting? Ugh, I think he also burst his eardrums.”

Instead of concern, a loud laugh emitted from Kate, “Ha! You owe me ten dollars!”

“Wha…didn’t…bet…” Peter’s voice was faint from Yelena’s comm.

“Shut up! You are shouting in my ear!” She yelled, “I am turning this off. Hawk, I will see you later.” Before anyone could respond, she deactivated her comm. 

“I guess that's my cue, I think we’re helping with the clean up. See ya Clint!” And with that, Kate signed off too. 

Clint spun back around in his chair, scrubbing his face with his hand before he faced them. They were all watching him with questioning eyes, no doubt that the same thought was running through each of their heads; how much has changed in their absence?

“Well,” He said, “I’m sure we have a lot to talk about.”