Chapter 18
“Y/n,” Steve began, gently taking ahold of your arm and guiding you away from the rest of the team, “Penguin is at the main gate requesting access. I wasn’t going to let him in without checking with you first.”
When you didn’t respond, he added, “If you want, I’ll get rid of him.”
“No, Steve, it’s fine. He’s probably just here to try to talk me out of this again, but I’ll see him. Let him in.”
In an attempt to avoid a scene in front of your friends, you chose to wait for him outside. You were standing with your arms crossed over your chest and a small frown on your face when his car pulled alongside.
“Oswald, what are you doing here?” you asked as soon as he was out of the car.
“Y/n, my dear...I-well I’m not very good at this sort of thing,” he started, struggling to put into words everything he’d been thinking about since you left. “I don’t know what else to say other than I’m here to support you. If this is important to you, then it’s important to me, too.”
He watched as your expression softened considerably.
“It means a lot to me to hear you say that.”
“And YOU mean a lot to me,” he replied, giving you a small, but sincere smile.
No longer angry, you stepped forward and wrapped your arms around him.
“Thank you, Oswald.”
“Now, what’s going on here?” a man’s voice said behind you.
You knew who it was as soon as you heard him speak.
“Clint!” you exclaimed, turning around quickly and running to him. He wasted no time catching you and pulling you close.
“Hey, partner,” he said. “I missed you.”
“Right back at you.”
You were the only one of the team (that you knew of, at least) that Clint had kept in contact with over the years. It had only consisted of secret messages and short phone calls, just enough to make sure you were safe and to assure you of the same. Although he never said it, you assumed part of it was because he knew you wouldn’t judge him for the path he’d gone down. How could you after the one you’d chosen?
Time had changed him, and not just physically. You could tell from simply looking at him. There was a sadness in his eyes that had never been there before, and a hardness to his features.
But, some things were permanent. He would always have your back, just as you’d always have his.
“Barton,” Oswald said awkwardly, interrupting the moment. You realized that this was the first time they’d seen each other since the team’s infamous first trip to Gotham so long ago.
“Penguin.”
Oswald looked from you to Clint, and you could tell that he was thinking something over.
“Barton, about what happened...about what I did-“
“Forget about it.”
“But I-“
“It was a long time ago. None of us are who we were then,” Clint said, getting a distant look in his eyes. Coming back to the moment, he rubbed your shoulder affectionately and said, “Just don’t ever do anything to hurt her, and we’re good. She’s about all I’ve got left.”
Leaning into his embrace you softly said, “Let’s see if we can do something to change that.”
Oswald watched from a distance as you and the other Avengers formulated your plans. It was...truly fascinating to observe. In spite of all the years he’d known you, he’d never seen this side of you. You were so comfortable, so competent, so capable. Not that he didn’t always think of you that way, but this was different somehow...like watching an artist work on her masterpiece. This was your arena, and you were a natural.
“I never realized how much a part of you all of this is,” he admitted once the two of you were alone. “Being an Avenger...it’s in your blood as much as Gotham is in mine.”
“Yes, it is,” you agreed quietly as you stared up at the board in front of you. Everything had been finalized. Now, came the hard part: getting the job done.
“I want to talk to you about that,” you began, unsure of how to word what needed to be said. “I think you need to go back to Gotham.”
“What?”
“Oswald, coming here to support me was the best thing you could’ve done, and I appreciate it so much. But, I don’t know what’s going to happen now. All of this is unprecedented. I’d feel better knowing you were far away from it.”
“If it’s that dangerous, then I want to be here.”
“I know you do. I know you’re afraid of losing me. You’ve lost everyone else that ever mattered. But, I don’t want anything to happen to you, either. You’re not a soldier. You’re not a hero. You’re Oswald Cobblepot...the Penguin...a five foot five, hundred and something pound mob boss with a bad leg. Sure, you’ve been in firefights, and you’ve killed a lot of people, but this is something else. This is...this is simply a part of my life that you just don’t belong in.”
“But Edward did?” he asked, his emotion overcoming his better judgment.
“No, he didn’t,” you began quietly. “I begged him not to go, but he wouldn’t listen. I wish you would.”
Staring deeply into his blue eyes, you added, “I told you once that I needed you more than you realized. It’s still true. Why else would I ask this of you?”
The two of you stayed silent for several moments before he said, “You’re right. I am scared of losing you. It’s the only thing I am scared of.” He stopped to clear his throat then asked, “You’ll take of yourself?”
“Of course.”
Looking through the glass wall at the rest of your team, you said, “Besides, I’m well looked after.”
———————
The force of the explosion was still ringing in your ears as you tried to pick yourself up off the ground. Although it seemed like only seconds had passed, your body was already starting to feel the soreness that comes from being thrown several feet, or perhaps yards, through the air and directly into a hard surface. You became conscious of the fact that water was quickly beginning to pool around your legs.
“Y/n? Are you okay?” you heard Rhodey ask.
“Yeah, I think so. What’s happening?”
“We’ve got to get out of here. This place is filling up fast.”
The water was now getting dangerously high.
“Mayday! Mayday! Does anybody copy? We’re on the lower levels! It’s flooding! We’re drowning! Does anybody copy?” Rhodey yelled into his communicator.
Your face was beginning to press against the pieces of broken building that had you all trapped as the water lapped at your neck and ears.
“I think this is it,” you whimpered, feeling more alone and frightened than you ever had before. You’d died once and been brought back. You wouldn’t be that lucky again.
“Y/n, look at us!” Rhodey shouted as best he could. You focused your attention on him and Rocket. “See you on the other side.”
You nodded your head as the tears ran down your face. If you had to die, it wouldn’t be afraid. Natasha had died a hero, so would you. Reaching out to grab ahold of them, you shut your eyes tight, preparing yourself for the inevitable. But over the roar of the rushing water, you heard “Hold on! I’ve got you!”
Seconds later, there was a loud crashing sound as something wrapped itself around you. You became aware of the sensation of leaving the water behind. When you finally opened your eyes, you saw that Scott was holding all of you in his giant hand.
“Remind me to give that man a kiss,” you said, as he deposited you gently on the ground.
Looking out at the crowd around you, you said to yourself, “We did it. We really did it.”
Straightening yourself up, you pulled Natasha’s extra pair of batons out of their holsters. You gave them a test twirl in your hands and said, “This one’s for you, Nat. Let’s show them how that Black Widow bites one last time.”
“Avengers!” you heard Steve yell out from the front of the column. Squeezing through the crowd as fast as you could, you made your way up to stand next to him. After all, you were one of the originals.
He made eye contact with you as he caught Mjornir and saw that you were absolutely beaming with pride; you’d always known he was worthy.
“Assemble”
As you ran forward with the rest of them, you felt no fear, no hesitation, no doubts. It had all led to this moment, and you were going to see it through. You began whacking aliens left and right with those batons the second they were in reach. Now you knew why Natasha had always been so fond of them.
“Talk about that entrance of yours...it was theatrical...dramatic...I loved it.”
You froze in your movements for only a moment before whipping around in a tight circle. Then, you saw him. He was giving you his best Riddler grin, but his eyes were all Edward. He looked just as you remembered him...from your memories...and from your dreams.
“Ed!” you yelled, running to him as fast as you could and throwing yourself into his arms. You wrapped your own tightly around his neck and kept saying, “It’s you! It’s really you!”
“Yeah, it’s me. I take it this means you missed me?”
“Every minute of every day.”
When you pulled back, you could tell that he was going to kiss you, but he was stopped by you snatching the gun out of his hand and using it to shoot an alien that had been coming up fast behind him.
He raised an eyebrow at you, but he was clearly impressed.
“No time for a reunion,” you said.
You both turned to resume fighting and your backs found each other. As he fired into the enemy forces, he said, “So I gotta ask, does this make me an Avenger?”
“Hell no!”
“And why not?”
“Because the Riddler is a really shitty superhero name, but it ain’t bad for a villain,” you said, giving him a good natured smirk over your shoulder.
“Good point. What do you need with another hero anyway? It looks like you’ve got more than enough.”
You wished that the joy of that moment could have lasted forever. But with Tony’s sacrifice, it faded out of existence as quickly as it had come. You stood close by, watching as he drew his last breaths and Pepper said her goodbyes. At some point you and Edward had been separated, but when you glanced past the scene in front of you, you saw him standing some distance away. He met your eyes and gave you a small nod, a silent gesture of understanding. With it, you buried your face against Steve’s arm so that no one could see you cry.