Infinity War x Modern! Reader ~ The Infinity Stones' Protector

Chapter Twenty-One: Soul Signals

The target stares at her, daring her to shoot the arrow. Her arms are stiff and her hands wobble at the slightest push of the wind. Her shoes are caked in mud, yet she dares not move her feet from the position they are in.

"Tilt it up a bit, yes there you go. Now relax, Lila. Imagine the arrowhead hitting the center of the target." Clint Barton positions his daughter's arms to where they should be. He squeezes her shoulders one last time and steps back.

Clint's wife, Laura looks up from the hot dog she just placed in the bun. "Who wants mayo on their hot dog?"

"Who puts mayo on a hot dog?" Lila glances at her father with a confused expression, making Clint laugh.

"Two mustards, babe!" Clint turns to his wife and holds up two fingers. His two sons, Cooper and Nathaniel, play catch with a baseball and say something about wanting ketchup. Clint turns his attention back to his daughter.

Bing clink!

Lila's arrow makes a whistle sound as it flies, and pierces through the yellow center of the target. Lila gasps with happiness and and looks up at her dad. Clint yells in amazement, "Alright! Nice shooting, Hawkeye! Go fetch your arrow while I get our lunch."

"Ok, dad!" Lila runs to get her arrow from the target and Clint smiles down proudly at his quiver. He turns his head to see if Laura is done with the food yet, but she isn't there.

"Laura? Babe?!" Clint stares in confusion for a second, thinking that he would have noticed if his wife left to get something from the house.

Now that he's looking around more, he sees that his sons aren't anywhere to be seen either. Their baseball gloves lie in the grass as if forgotten by their owners. Clint sees weird flakes of dust flow in the wind, which makes him more confused. "L-Laura?! Lila! Cooper! Nate! LAURA!"

***
~One year and twenty-two days since the snap~

"And if you set it up right, you can take aim and flick your fingers to make it fly." Tony Stark sits at the main table in the lounge of the Guardians' spaceship. He made a paper football out of some silver foil he found, and is now trying to teach Nebula how to play.

Tony flicks the football with his fingers, but Nebula jerks away from the foil. Tony reaches forward and takes the football back. "No no, you have to keep the goal set up for me so I can try and score. Don't worry, I'm just showing you how it works."

This time Nebula stays still, holding her fingers up to represent a goal. Tony flicks the football again, and makes it between her fingers. "And I just scored. Now it's your turn to try and get a point."

They play the game for awhile, each scoring as many points as the other. Nebula starts to get good at the game, and she manages to tie it up. Tony tells her that the next point wins. He misses on his next attempt, leaving the win open for Nebula. The daughter of Thanos takes the silver football and flicks it with her fingers, scoring a perfect goal.

"See, there, you won. Fair game." Tony reaches out his hand for her to shake, but Nebula hesitates. She's never really had a good father figure, so she is shocked by the game's outcome.

Nebula shakes Tony's hand. Out of all the people, she's glad she got stuck with him on the ship. "That was... fun."

"Yeah, well, you're lucky I'm the most fun person in the universe or you'd be very bored." Tony does his best to smile, even though it's proving to be difficult. "I'm going to record another message."

Tony stands up and makes his way to the bridge of the ship. There, he finds his ripped up Iron Man helmet still in the center of the control room. He sits down in front of it and turns it on with one shaky hand.