"Peter?!"
When everyone got back, Peter looks around with a grin, "Did everyone get their stone?" Peter asks and he can see subtle nods and little noises of victory spread around. Peter practically wanted to jump and hug Rocket when his surprised tone said, "You're telling me that'll work?"
Everyone was happy. They were smiling, they were giggling, they were celebrating. All on the pad that sent them to different times to retrieve the tones. It was until Peter looks towards Kate and does a headcount that it went south. He sees Bruce, Steve, Rhodey, Thor, Rocket, Nebula, Scott, Kate, C-
Where's Clint?
"Kate, Where's Clint?"
Kate blankly looks up at him, her eyes glossy, her cheeks glowing pink, She was sniffling and she was shaking. She just blankly looked at him as if she weren't there but she was. Peter can see her jaw clench and her eyes squint as if to go back to reality and when she does.
And when she does, she lets out a sob. A loud, heavy sob. Kate falls and pounds the floor while Bruce joins her. The sudden joyous atmosphere turned into a gloomy one.
-
Mostly everyone was outside on the lakeside. Rocket and Nebula were inside to let them grief alone. Alone together, of course. Peter was sitting on the bench, wiping his tears for his uncle but was already ready to move on and go forward with the plan, Thor was looking at the sunrise as if thinking about something, Bruce was walking forwards and backward, Kate was still sobbing but Peter can see that her eyes have gotten puffy and every time she rubbed her eyes, it'd make it worse, Steve was looking on the wooden floor, playing with his compass.
"Why are you all acting if he's dead?" The god of thunder breaks the depressing silence, "We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring him back, isn't that right? So stop this shit. We're the Avengers, get it together."
"We can't get him back." Was the first words Kate had said once she returned from Vormir.
"Wha- what?" Asked a confused Thor.
"It can't be undone. It can't." Kate says, matter-of-factly.
But Thor didn't accept this. In fact, from Peter, It looked like Thor was trying to find loopholes on death.
"I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very earthly being. Okay? We're talking about space magic. And "can't" seems very definitive don't you think?" Thor said, glaring at Kate.
But Kate didn't step down from a god that can kill her if he so wished too. Instead, She stands and strides towards Thor with confidence but something else Peter can't point out. She only a mere centimeter away from Thor when her puffy eyes meet his and she says the following, "It was supposed to be me. It really was. I wanted to die for him and I almost did. But he took one for all of us. For me. He sacrificed his life for the soul stone and guess what? We got it!"
Everyone stood still and quiet upon hearing Kate's words towards Thor but no one bothered to step in. So, Kate kept going, her voice rising but also breaking, "MAYBE! MAYBE YOU CAN GO TALK TO THE FUCKING NAZI AND PROPOSE A DEAL BUT REALLY!" She holds up the glove that was glowing a bright orange, "HE'S DEAD ALRIGHT! IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ME BUT INSTEAD... but instead, it isn't."
Kate stares at Thor as if daring him to speak about bringing back her dead mentor, but he chooses to stay silent. Good on his part.
Peter can see Bruce throwing a chair and turning around, his facial features saddened but also angered.
After an hour, everyone heads inside. Peter orders a gravestone for his uncle and a bouquet. He also looks at the infinity stones. The infinity stones that will give him his old family back. He won't be the one to use it. At least he hopes not. But Peter's spider-sense made him feel uneasy when it came to the infinity stones. It was if the sense had detected their last act and wanted Peter to stay away at all costs. They didn't act like that when the stones were separate but alternatively when the stones were together.
He glances at the iron-man inspired infinity gauntlet.
He looks at the brand new Spider-Man mask that he made within that hour.
"KAREN?" Peter timidly asks upon putting it on.
Karen turns on and if Peter can identify smiles, he just had with Karen, "Hello, Peter, what do you need?"
"Can you record a message?"
-
Peter, Bruce, and Rocket sit together as Peter tries to put on the last infinity stone. The soul stone. He carefully does and was content not to see any reaction when putting the last stone with all the others. "BOOM!"
Both Peter and Bruce jumped to see Rocket laughing, "GOTCHA!" He shouts and Peter who was impressed but also upset, grabs his phone, goes on an app, and presses a button which was eerily similar to an electric razor and pretends to shave him which made Rocket panic.
"Gotcha." Peter says with a smile.
And following that, all of the Avengers (minus Nebula) was in a room. They all stared at the infinity gauntlet in anticipation and fear. They could either bring back every one or doom the Avenger wearing it. "All right. The glove's ready. Question is, who's gonna snap their freaking fingers?" Rocket asks the rest of the Avengers.
Thor puts his hands up, "Me."
"Excuse me?" Scott cuts in.
"It's okay." Thor reassures.
"No, it isn't." Rocket replies.
"Wait, wait, wait, Thor," A rushed Steve jumps in, "Just wait. We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet."
Peter could feel that everyone wanted to wear the gauntlet. Not to get bragging rights but to do something right. Peter only watches everyone cautiously, hoping humans like Scott, Steve, Rhodey, or Kate make their want clear on putting on the gauntlet.
"I'm sorry. What, were you just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?" Thor asks everyone.
"We should at least discuss it." Scott rationalizes.
"Look, us 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." Thor stated.
"It's not that..." Peter finally says.
Thor hisses and looks at Peter and Peter only, "Just let me," He says unevenly and tears up as he grasps Peter's hand and gently squeezes it, "Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something great."
Peter could relate to it. To want to do something good after they did something horrendous. Peter's uncle died and he didn't wallow in grief for all those years, he became Spider-Man instead. Peter's whole family were victims of the snap and he was still Spider-Man but added it on with being CEO of P.I. and having Gwen as his right hand. Letting Gwen Stacy die and then almost dying from the fit of rage and grief he had felt upon realizing he was responsible for her death, but he does the next best thing and takes care of their kid.
He did bad and wants to do good. He wants to do better because the negatives will forever outweigh the positives.
But Thor wasn't in the right condition. If they told Peter to wield the gauntlet and bring back half of the dead, Peter wouldn't have done it. Instead, he would've bought both Gwen and Harry back. Everyone mutually agreed (without words) that Thor wasn't mentally or emotionally capable to wield such a powerful device that could grant them anything they wished with a snap of their fingers.
"Look...It's not just the fact that that glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent, I'm telling you you're in no condition." Steve says to Thor.
But Thor detests it, "Do you know what's in my blood, Captain?"
"Cheez Whiz?" Rhodey asked.
"Lightning." Thor answered.
"I'll let you think that." Murmurs Kate.
"Lightning won't help you, pal," Bruce enters the argument with a resigned look, "It's gotta be me."
Everyone stares at Bruce in subtle shock. They weren't going to straight out say oh my god you!? But rather oh my god you.
Bruce is the most equipped to handle this besides Thor.
"You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive." Bruce reasons.
"How do you know you won't?" Steve questioned.
"We won't," Bruce answers realistically, "But the radiation's mostly gamma..." Bruce takes a long look at the infinity gauntlet, "It was like... I was made for this."
None of them know that Nebula is outside activating the quantum portal.
"You're good?" Peter asks Bruce as everyone finds their own shield to hide behind in.
Bruce nods.
"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." Peter explains and looks on as Bruce nods again and breathes.
Rhodey and Scott put on their masks, Steve hides behind his shield, Rocket hides behind Thor and Peter use the old iron man suit shield for him and Kate.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., activate protocol eight." Peter announces.
"Yes, boss." and the Avengers HQ immediately goes on lockdown, the perimeter closing itself with metallic bars that cover each building. Tony never went over this but FRIDAY told him protocol eight was made due to private information can be shared and protocol eight can help in making sure no one sees.
"Everybody comes home." Bruce whispers.
Then, he puts the gauntlet in front of his hands and the gauntlet extends to fit Bruce. He slips his hand and puts on the gauntlet.
Everyone has their shields open in case of an explosion. They watch as Bruce grunts in pain before it grew into a scream as the power surge overwhelms Bruce. Peter can see a bright white glowing within his veins but at first, it retracts as if rejecting something. Peter watches, his fear growing by the minute.
"TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF!" Thor booms.
"NO! BRUCE, ARE YOU OKAY?" Steve questions.
Bruce didn't answer immediately as he was just screaming.
"Bruce!" Peter shouts, just a little lower than Thor, "Talk to us!"
"I'm... I'm okay!" Bruce finally responds.
Thor gives Bruce a double thumbs-up as Bruce screams in pure agony as Peter finally sees the power surging through every vein they can find. Bruce forces his hand upwards as the screams grow and grow, and Peter almost called it off if he hadn't seen Bruce's thumb and middle finger go together and:
snap!
Bruce instantly falls backward, his eyes rolling back and the gauntlet slipping out of his fingers as easily as it slipped into his fingers. Kate kicks the burning gauntlet away and the protocol eight was quickly reverted.
"Did it work?" Kate asked.
"Bruce!" Thor yells and goes to his side and caresses his head, "It's okay! It's okay!"
Peter sees Scott goes outside and faintly hears birds chirping.
"Well, I-" Peter was about to answer when his phone started to ring. He looks down and to see those names made his heart run in many directions.
Aunt May
Ned ted
MJ
He only answers one, "H-Hello?"
"PETER?!" A frightened Ned is on the phone with MJ, "DUDE WHERE ARE YOU?!"
"WHY DOES HIS VOICE SOUND SO DEEP?!" MJ asks.
Peter gulps. He forgot that they were teenagers when they were snapped out of existence. He didn't know what to say, "It worked." He simply whispers.
"WHAT WORKED?! PETER- HEY PETER!"
Everyone was again joyous. Joyous that they bought everyone back.
But Peter's spidey-sense halted his early celebration.
ATTACK!
Both Peter and Bruce looks up to see a spaceship and as it aimed, no one had time to prepare as it shot out continuous missiles and destroys the base completely.
All the remaining Avengers fall underground.
"PETER!?" MJ yells through Peter's phone. Pure static coming through, "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"