Star Labs
Morning
Clint turned off a news report on the attack on the precinct a few days ago before turning to the other original Avengers in the cortex.
"Well, this was a complete disaster. Savitar is at his nutty best," Clint growled.
"No, he's worse now," Steve said and his three teammates looked at him. "Before, there was always a method to the madness, a goal Savitar was trying to reach. Now…now he's just causing chaos for the sake of chaos."
"Well, the symbiont clearly kicked whatever sanity he had left to the curb," Tony said with a sigh.
"How's Wanda?" Natasha asked and Steve and Clint exchanged a grim look.
In the longue, Wanda sat on the couch, numb to the world. She had thought it was bad when Pietro had been in a coma but she had known, despite what she had told others, what the doctors had told her, that he would one day wake up. Now, now she knew he was gone forever. And she knew a large piece of her heart was gone to.
Barry walked into the room, staring at his catatonic love. Barry sighed, walking over and sitting down beside her. Barry took her hand and she looked over at him, a blank expression on her face.
"I won't ask if you're okay, because I know you're not. I won't say it gets easier, because the pain-the pain never really goes away. But you're not alone in this, I'm here," Barry told her softly.
"I should've been there," Wanda spoke, the first words that she'd said since she'd heard about Pietro. "I should've done something."
"What could you have done Wanda?" Barry tried to reason.
"I could've stopped the building from coming down on everyone," Wanda mumbled.
"You think Savitar would've allowed that? Savitar wanted that place to come down, he wasn't gonna let anything stop him. He would've killed you," Barry said taking her face in his hands. "What ifs, they don't help, ever. You think if only you could have done something, but that just makes you feel worse. I've been there, with my mom, Eddie, Ronnie, and so on. But it never helps. The only thing that really helps is time. You never stop missing them, ever. But you learn how to live with the loss. And I'll be here, every day, as you do that."
Wanda buried her head in Barry's shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. Barry silently stroked her hair, saying nothing as Wanda finally allowed herself to break down, to grieve the loss of the other half of her heart.
Central City
Same time
Singh led Joe and some other officers into what was, at first glance, an abandoned warehouse.
"You can't be serious sir," one of the officers said in disbelief.
"I'm afraid so. Until the mayor can find us somewhere…more suitable, this is going to be CCPD HQ," Singh sighed. "I don't like it any more than you, but this is all we've got at the moment. There are some computers in the back, let's get to work hooking them up."
As some of the officers got to work, grumbling, Singh walked over to Joe.
"Do you think Savitar will come after us again?" Singh asked in concern.
"I don't know," Joe admitted. "Cisco and Stark are working on some weapons that will help us against him, but for right now, all we can do is be prepared for the worst."
"How do you do this Joe? How do you live, knowing there's nothing you can do to stop people like Savitar?" Singh asked after a moment.
"I have faith that my son and his friends can," Joe said simply.
Star Labs
Not long after
Roy was in the cortex, alone, watching a news report about Vigilante and Punisher allegedly attacking Oliver, Thea, Laurel and Quentin as Sam walked in.
"You call them?" Sam asked as he looked at the report and Roy shook his head.
"No idea what I'd say. Figure I might head up there, help out," Roy said.
"So you're just gonna leave?" Sam asked surprised.
"I don't know what use I am here. I'm a guy with a bow and arrow Sam, not much use against someone like Savitar," Roy argued.
"I think the fact you got him with that arrow a few days ago says otherwise," Sam argued. "I get it, it's daunting. Standing shoulder to shoulder with these legends. I'm a soldier; you know how inferior I felt the first time Steve and I fought side by side? He was Captain America and I was just some guy with a pair of wings. But maybe that's why we're here, to keep their heads on straight when they need us to. To have their backs. Before you make any rash decisions, remember that it was you who saved us from Savitar the other day."
Sam then turned and walked out, leaving Roy with his thoughts.
In the workshop, Tony was fixing the part of his suit Venom Flash had damaged when Steve walked in.
"Fixed your suit I see," Steve said and Tony nodded.
"Yeah," Tony said the tension between them noticeable.
"Well, we want everyone in the cortex in fifteen minutes," Steve said before he turned to leave.
"Cap," Tony called out and Steve stopped. "I have something I need to say."
Steve turned around to face Tony, giving him his undivided attention. Tony gulped before he pressed on.
"I messed up," Tony admitted. "You, Sam, Allen, you were all right. The Accords were a bad idea."
"You had a point about Oversight Tony, but The Accords were never about oversight. If you'd stopped to listen for half a second, you could've seen that," Steve said not unkindly.
"I know, but I needed, no, I wanted absolution. And I was willing to do anything to get it, even break the team apart," Tony sighed wearily before looking over at Steve. "I'm sorry Cap."
"I owe you an apology as well. I shouldn't have kept what I knew about your parents a secret. I'm sorry Tony," Steve said.
"When did you find out?" Tony asked quietly.
"Just before the fall of SHIELD. Nat and I were following a lead Fury sent us and it led us to a secret bunker where a computerized version of a Nazi scientist was. He stalled us while he gave our location to Hydra by telling us about Hydra. He implied that Hydra had something to do with your father's death. That was all I knew Tony, I never looked into it, I swear. I thought I was sparing you, but I see now I was really sparing myself. I'm sorry Tony," Steve said filled with remorse and Tony was silent for several moments.
"In your position, I probably wouldn't have said anything either," Tony finally said. "Besides, it's not like you could just come out and say 'By the way Tony, Hydra may or may not have had something to do with our parents' deaths because a Nazi computer program told me so. Wanna catch a movie?'"
"Still, I'm sorry I kept it from you," Steve said.
"I'm sorry for everything that went down between us," Tony said. "I've been blaming you and everyone else for what happened but really…it was my fault. I need to stop blaming everyone else for my poor life choices."
"We've both hurt each other. So, maybe we should just let it stay in the past and move forward," Steve said as he turned around and started to walk out. "We're meeting in the cortex in ten."
Not long after. The Avengers and Team Flash, plus Roy, all met in the cortex. Steve looked around at all of them before speaking up.
"A few days ago, we lost one of our own," Steve said, his eyes lingering on Wanda before carrying on. "We can't bring Pietro back, but we can honor his memory by defeating Savitar."
"We couldn't save him, but we can sure as hell avenge him," Tony added and Steve nodded in agreement.
"Tony and I are working on some weapons that will be able to use sonic frequencies against Savitar," Cisco said.
"It's time to end this, once and for all. It's time to kill that son of a bitch…no offense Barry," Clint said as he looked over at Barry.
"No, I agree. Savitar has taken something from all of us. Let's make sure he can't take anymore. The next time we face him, he can't leave the fight alive," Barry said with conviction that Oliver Queen would've been proud of.
Unspecified location
Same time
In an abandoned warehouse, after two days of unconsciousness while his system and Venom had passed the poison in his system, Venom Flash pulled himself to his feet. And only one thought, one goal, was in his mind.
Kill. It was time to kill The Avengers.