Hey fellas, either one of you know which way the Smithsonian is? I’m here to pick up a fossil
Endgame writers ignored Natasha and Sam’s friendship so I’ll just do it myself
Sam was crushed that he never saw her again. He came back in Wakanda expecting his dorky assassin friend to there ready to kick ass, but he never saw her. Once he found out, he was in shock. He’d just been fighting by her side and all of sudden she’s gone. When it starting to sink in, he mourned with Clint. He helped Clint, he remembered how destroyed he was after he saw Riley die and understood how traumatizing her death would be in a way no one else did. Clint and Sam had an unspoken bond afterwards, two brothers who lost a sister. It took months for Sam to stop making inside jokes out of habit of Natasha being there to laugh with him. Everytime he was answered with silence the grief hit all over again. Sam took even longer to not instinctively ask for her help or make sure she’s okay over comms when in a fight. No one said anything though, they’d just move on instead of correcting him. Steve growing old was hard on Sam, his best friends vanished so suddenly. He missed Steve, his Steve, the reckless dumbass he’d follow to the end of the earth. But Natasha’s death left more of a hole in him though. Steve got to live his life. He married, grew old, he got to be happy. Sam missed him but was happy for him. Knowing Natasha, he could guess how she must have been suffering over those five years. She died without getting to live, she led a desperate team when others left. He asked Rhoedy about how she had been over those years, they ended up talking for hours about her. Sam was proud of Natasha, she never gave up on being good and stayed strong when no one else stepped up. But he regreted not being there to tease her, to get her allow herself to express how she feels, to stay in the compound as much as he could so she’d not be lonely, to just be there for her. He felt like he failed her, even though it wasn’t his fault. He’d lost a part of him, he’d lost his sister and he missed her. After over a year, Sam visited D.C. again. He went to the spot where they met. A tree by the road, to anyone else it was just a tree, but to Sam it was where he met Natasha. He left a small figure of a dinosaur skeleton at the base of the tree. Sam finally found that fossil she was looking for, and left it for her to pick up someday.
Your watching spiderman far from home. The after credits scene has finished and people are just starting to leave. The lights go back down and the screen lights up. Everyone stops.
The screen shows an apartment and a blonde getting out of bed in overwashed purple boxers. He has messy stubble that matches his disaster of a bedroom. He throws on an old grey hoodie and goes to the kitchen to start the coffee machine.
He was Hawkeye, now he’s just the neighbour people warn their kids about. He downs coffee straight from the pot and checks the mail. There’s the usual overdue bills, divorce papers and a large grey package. He opens it to discover a plastic case the entire front filled with a loud font. “a dummies guide to Budapest”.
Great which idiots idea of a sick joke is this.
He opens the case and discovers its an audioguide. Throwing the CD on he continues to drink from the coffee pot not a clean mug in sight. The CD begins filling the apartment with classical music. It ends abruptly.
Scrambling to stop the CD he manages to reach for the plastic case. The CD stops and he examines the case. There’s a postcard from Budapest. He turns it over to find the words “Did you miss me?” written in a swirling calligraphy that can only belong to one person. He pales before laughing as he sees a silver arrow necklace taped to the bottom. “you little-” he begins but the footage cuts before he can cuss her out.
Its replaced with the words “Natasha Romanoff will return in” and the black widow movie logo. Toxic by Britney Spears is playing. The audience erupts. Somewhere in the distance, Joss Wheldon is crying.
After Ragnarok, the Revengers travel back to earth, which includes everybody meeting up with Loki again. As prompted by the post by @artemxmendacium Loki meeting Peter goes a lot better than a certain Irondad feared.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
“Thor, why on earth would you bring Loki here?”
Stark was angry, and Thor had to admit for good
reason. The last time the Avengers had seen his brother he was in chains after
attacking New York and was trying to kill them. But a lot had happened since
then and Loki was no longer the homicidal maniac, as some may have put it; he
was getting better, which Thor tried to explain to his friends.
“I understand your hesitation, but believe me when I
tell you that he has changed.”
“He threw me off a building!”
“I am aware, but…”
“Do you remember how many people he killed?”, Natasha
continued.
“I do.” Thor knew it would be hard to convince them of
Loki’s changed nature. They hadn’t seen him back on Asgard and Sakaar, how they
worked together, side by side. “I also do remember how many people he saved on
Asgard.”
“And we’re just supposed to believe that?”
“Tony, I know it’s hard to believe, but I actually saw
it with my own eyes”, Bruce explained, “we did fight together.”
Thank Frigga for Bruce. Maybe Tony would trust his
word.
“I’m sorry Bruce, but I don’t trust Hulk’s judgement
on fighting.”
“You know, I don’t either. But we have travelled
all across the galaxy together, and, as weird as it is to admit
it, but we’re actually friends.”
Thor looked around the room, at his fellow Avengers,
as reassuringly as he could.
“Guys, I’m sorry, but it is a lot to take in. You
disappear for two years which you spent as gladiator-style slaves on an alien
planet before blowing up your homeplanet to defeat your evil older sister you
never knew and oh, by the way, Loki is good now”, Clint summarized. “Excuse us
for taking a moment to process all this.”
“I understand”, Thor answered, “though if you put it
like that, my brother being good is the most believable of all this.” He
grinned a little and heard a chuckle from Bruce.
“It’s really not funny, guys”, Nat grumbled.
“It’s a little funny.”
“Maybe you had to be there…” Bruce gently patted his
arm, sort of pulled him back. Maybe humour was the wrong way to smooth things
over.
“Friends, we are not asking you to trust Loki. We are
asking you to trust us!”, he pleaded.
Tony locked eyes with Bruce. “You really trust him?”
“I trust that he is willing to better himself and I
trust that we can help him with that”, he nodded.
The Avengers exchanged a few glances, before Tony took
two steps towards Thor, who was getting a little nervous. What if they were to
tell them to leave?
“You vouch for your brother, Point Break?”
“I take full responsibility”, Thor nodded.
“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”, he grumbled and
shook his head, before looking back up. “Fine. We will give him a chance. But
the slightest slip-up…”
“Thank you, Stark, a chance is all I’m asking for.”
Gratefully, he smiled at the man, before he turned to Bruce. “What do you say,
we go and give him the good news?”
“That will not be necessary.”
Thor didn’t need to turn around to recognize his
little brother’s voice. Of course, he had listened in on the entire discussion.
And his friends looked mad about that.
“Loki, what about waiting outside?”, Bruce hissed at
him.
“But it is so much more fun here!” With a smug grin,
Loki greeted the Avengers. “Hello. Long time, no see. How have you been?”
Silence. Thor and Bruce exchanged a quick, worried
glance, before Bruce broke it. “How about I take Loki back to the ship and get
all our belongings?”
“That is a good idea, Bruce.” He nodded at his friend
and shot his brother a warning glance. Loki did a theatrical curtsy and
followed Bruce out of the room.
As soon as the door closed, it felt like all the
tension vanished out of the room. Everybody sank on a chair, leaned against the
furniture and Thor wasn’t sure what to do or say.
this scene was just everything. because its so domestic and, if you think about it, these three are really like the only 3 who consistently got on well with each other. and its just so sweet. brulk (?) smiling softly coz he’s with an old love and his science bro. nat thinking aloud knowing she’s just had an epiphany when there’s a genius either side of her. tony being able to relax for once. because he knows these two understand him and what he does. its beautiful
Clint laughs at the statues they build, at the wakes they hold. He scoffs at the businessmen and politicians who say that they owe her their lives.
Fuck yeah you do, he thinks, chucking a plum at the TV screen.
He thinks of the hundreds of Shield agents who called Tasha a commie behind her back, the ones who whispered that she was a traitor, a spy, a killer, a mercenary without mercy. The ones who looked at him as if he’d painted a target on his back, just by happening to see something in a girl brainwashed to kill.
He thinks of the people that praised Captain America but tore Tasha down, calling her a spy, a traitor, a b*tch and a sl*t. He thinks of the men bitching about her being a hero, the right wing cowards too scared to fight themselves, but all too willing to tear down Tasha.
He thinks of how Tasha released her entire record, her crimes, her murders, her darkest nightmares, to the public. For anyone to see.
He thinks of Tasha not caring about anyone but the people she’d sworn to protect. Not caring about the opinions tossed at her, not caring about anything other than keeping people safe.
They call her a hero, they say that she saved billions, and Clint laughs.
Of course she did, he thinks, looking up at her statue. She was always a hero.
After all, there was always a reason Clint chose her in the first place.
I think what makes “she’s not alone” and especially “don’t worry, she’s got help” so impactful isn’t that she had backup. It’s that she had female backup. There are enough strong, capable female warriors that a scene with an army of women was possible. For literal years, Natasha was all there was. She made this, an actual army of hero women, her legacy.
