C24 - Luke's final years in the simulation! Nothing changed?!

E/d note: Before you read, you need to pay the cookie tax! This chapter is the continuation of the simulated world! As such, no MTL chapters were used when I wrote this.

'Inner dialogue/thoughts'

"Normal dialogue"

[System]

[Diary entries]

(Word count: 2,201)

~ With Luke, Natasha and Clint, still in the flashback scene at the docks in the simulation ~

"Where are they coming from?!" Luke shouted as he gunned down another henchman. Luke, Natasha and Clint had been fighting for over 10 minutes now, with no end in sight. While it may not seem long, 10 minutes was 8 minutes too long for agents of their calibre. Normally, they would be able to dispatch their opposition with ease and swiftly, however, the numbers they were facing was not in their favour. Not to mention the enemies all had full-auto weapons. Each time any one of them had tried to take a quick sweep of the area, they would be pinned back into their cover with enemy gunfire, only taking out the occasional enemy stupid enough to run out in the open.

"The QRF should be 5 mikes out. If we can hold them here for a little while longer, we'll be able to force them into a corner. Chief should be among them here, so let's play the long game and wait them out." Clint briefed.

"Sounds like a plan." Natasha acknowledged.

Luke however, had seen their target running through an open doorway in the middle of the area they were in. "That's him!" Luke exclaimed as he chased after Chief.

"LUKE!" Both Natasha and Clint had reacted and tried to chase after as well. However, when Luke had abruptly left the cover they were in, the enemies had already begun shooting in their direction once again. This had caused both of them to move back into the cover to avoid getting shot at. However, as if the god of luck had been smiling upon him, Luke had miraculously avoided all the bullets flying his way, and successfully went through the doorway.

"I'm going to kill him." Natasha said, her voice clear with anger. Natasha and Clint could now only ensure that they kept the rest of the enemies at bay, while hoping that the QRF team would reach quickly so that they could go support Luke.

~ With Luke ~

After passing through the doorway, Luke had followed the path ahead to try and stop Chief from escaping again. Turning the corner, Luke could only curse internally as he had found himself at the start of a long, narrow hallway that was filled with doorless doorways on both sides. 'F*cking hell, he could be in any one of these doorways. . .' Taking a moment, Luke unloaded his gun's magazine to check the rounds before thinking up a plan.

Finishing his preparations, Luke had his handgun aimed down the hallway, ready to open fire, as he took slow and careful steps towards the first doorway. Positioning himself so that he could have clear view of both the hallway and also the room that the doorways led into. At the first doorway, nothing happened. He then moved onto the second, and then the third, with nothing happening on both occasions.

As Luke slowly pivoted into the fourth doorway, Chief had suddenly came out of the doorway while grabbing the handgun and shifting it to point to the side as Luke squeezed the trigger. Missing the target, Luke tried to reposition himself and shoot again, but was swiftly disarmed by Chief, who kicked the handgun a long way from either of them being able to reach it in time. Luke, having been disarmed, had then faked an attempt to charge in, causing Chief to brace for impact, before moving backwards to create distance between the two of them.

Seeing this, a smiled formed on Chief's lips. "You've got a lot of balls to be chasing me down solo like you did, kid. Good awareness. Decent reaction time. Impressive fake. Yet I can tell, you're still green, aren't you?"

"Yeah, you definitely are. Tell me, have you ever lost your partners?" Chief started as both he and Luke stared each other down. "See, I've lost mine before, seven of them to be exact. All at the same time. Mission gone wrong and all that." Chief stated as he waved his hand, as if indicating he was not bothered by it. "That doesn't matter now. What does is who you people are and how did you find me. So, care to give me the answers to those questions?"

At Chief's insistence, Luke remained silent, already thinking of the different ways to subdue Chief.

"Not one to talk, are you? That's too bad, I would've told my men to spare your partners back there." Chief said as he lunged forward aiming for Luke's head with a right hook. Luke ducked under the swinging hand, while pivoting on his heel to deliver a powerful fist punch to Chief's ribs. Chief had managed to catch the fist, Chief managed to retaliate with a quick right jab that was then followed by an elbow strike, forcing Luke to stumble back.

"Yup, still green." Chief taunted as he spun into a low sweep, aiming to take out Luke's leg. Luke leapt over the sweep, landing behind Chief and attempting to lock him in a chokehold. However, Chief had twisted out of his grasp, sliding under Luke's arm and delivering a heavy blow to his midsection. Grunting in pain, Luke immediately made a move to grab Chief's wrist, which was successfully countered as Chief launched a swift knee to Luke's abdomen. Sensing the opening, Chief followed up with a spinning back kick, catching Luke square in the chest as he was sent stumbling backwards once again.

Fuelled by adrenaline, Luke made the rookie mistake of charging forward, aiming a flurry of punches at Chief. Showcasing his years of experience and superior combat skills, Chief had deflected each blow with precise blocks, before countering with his own combination of strikes, targeting Luke's vulnerable areas with pinpoint accuracy. Despite his resilience, Luke found himself on the defensive, struggling to keep up with Chief.

As the fighting neared its end, Luke attempted a desperate grab, hoping to gain the upper hand. Anticipating this move, Chief sidestepped Luke's attempt and delivered a devastating spinning backfist that connected with Luke's jaw. Luke, dazed and disoriented, was then delivered the finishing blow – a powerful roundhouse kick that sent him crashing to the ground.

While Luke laid on his back, gasping for air and defeated, Chief calmly walked towards the handgun that Luke had brought with him, before returning to Luke and pointing the barrel straight at Luke's head. "So, do you want to tell me now who you are and how'd you find me?"

Luke could only raise his head slightly before flipping his middle finger at Chief and responding firmly, "F*ck. You."

"Suit yourself." Chief said as he shot the weapon. However, the weapon only made a clicking sound, signalling that the weapon was not loaded. During Luke's preparations, he had already taken out all the bullets in the magazine, save for one round. He knew that he would not be able to best any trained fighter in a hand-to-hand matchup, as he was primarily a long-ranged shooter. So, knowing that he would realistically only have one shot at Chief in the enclosed space, he had devised a plan to stall Chief long enough so that the QRF team would arrive and both Natasha and Clint would be able to catch up to them in time.

Hearing a gun cocking and a bow being drawn, Chief could only laugh at his misfortune. "You sneaky son of a. Here I thought you were still green." Chief stated as he threw the weapon aside, got on both his knees and raised his hands up to surrender.

"Just in time guys, just in time." Luke said as he laid his head back onto the floor, finally relieved that the fight was over.

~ End of flashback scene. With Luke and Natasha in the boxing ring ~

"So, what have we learnt?" Natasha asked.

Luke, who was laid out on the floor just as he was in the mission, could only grunt. "Not to disobey orders and put myself at risk" Luke answered. Luke had just ended a brutal sparring session with Natasha, where Natasha had, literally, put him through the ringer. "And?" Natasha questioned.

"Not to only focus on long range combat, and to expand my current skill repertoire." Luke replied, feeling pain throughout his entire body. "Why?" Natasha questioned once again.

"So that I won't find myself at a disadvantage as I had in the mission again." Luke started as he sat up using all the strength he had left. "Listen Nat," Luke began, "I'm sorry, okay? But I couldn't just let him get away. We've been chasing him for months. And I know that I've been studying under you and Clint, and that the both of you try to keep me safe whenever we're on a mission. I'm thankful for that, really. But I don't to always be the one that holds the two of you back."

Looking straight into Natasha's eyes, Luke started. "I just wanted to. . ." before looking away, a little embarrassed. "I just wanted to prove myself to you and make you proud."

Staring at Luke, Natasha's eyes gradually softened, before she hardened her stare again. "Don't ever do that again. Am I understood?" Natasha asked firmly to which Luke replied, "Yes ma'am."

"Good. You're lucky it worked out in our favour. I don't want to see this happen a second time only to have a different outcome." Natasha nodded. "Now go take a shower, you reek." Natasha said, concluding their session before turning to walk away.

Luke had a soft smile on his face as he watched Natasha walked away. Suddenly, Luke had a wild thought, 'Maybe if I can train myself to be better than how I had written in the diary, maybe I just might be able to prevent Natasha or anyone else from dying.' Thinking to himself, Luke had made a conviction. 'I have to be better than this. Although it felt like I had skipped two years of living to get to this point, all the memories that I've made in that time are still with me. Meaning that by the time this simulation ends, I will be at Natasha's funeral, having gone through many years of experience within the simulation world. I doubt that I would be able to resist the effects it would have on me while I am in this simulated world. Doesn't help that they all look, feel and behave like real people, making it hard for me to see them as just a "simulated memory", and not a real person. So, I'll use this time to train harder and smarter in the hopes of changing this world's future.'

Like this, years had passed by as Luke had gotten Natasha to personally train him since that day. He had trained his hardest as the simulated life flashed by his eyes. He had 'experienced' multiple birthday parties, Christmas celebrations, missions with Clint and Natasha – especially the one in Budapest, he had been there when Captain America returned and up to the point where Natasha had fought for Luke to be included in the Avengers.

~ Fast forward to after the Avengers had won in 'Endgame' ~

However, even through all the hard work and preparation that he had made, all the time he had spent with Natasha, honing his skills while deepening the familial connections he had with her, Luke was still unable to change the simulation's outcome.

Thanos had still been able to snap his hands. And in order to bring everyone back, Natasha had outwitted both Clint and himself to sacrifice her life for the Soul Stone.

In the end, nothing changed. Natasha had died.

- End of Chapter 24 –

Next time in C25 - I'm trying my best. . .

Looking at the two, Luke thought of an idea to cheer Pepper up, "You know, whenever I am feeling down, I like to distract myself by reading a book or playing my own music. You ladies cool if I play Pepper here a little something? That means you too, you nosy puppy."

E/d note: PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I had to rush through the ending of this original mini-arc because it was taking too long to get right back into the MTL!! Now, onto the story itself.

Was anyone able to predict the ending of the fight sequence in the chapter??? If you did, kudos! Also, in the next chapter, I will be having Luke do a internal monologue to explain a little more about the simulation feature that he had figured out! Please be patient and wait for tomorrow's chapter to be released before you start blasting me with the "buT hE haS coMPleTe mAsteRy of hiS waTEr maNipULatiON anD yeArS oF expERienCe frOm thE prEviOus siMUlatiOn"! I can already feel it coming, so, just wait man. Really, just wait.

With that, this is the conclusion of this mini-arc that I've came up with to showcase Luke's time in the simulation! Hope you've enjoyed and thank you for reading! If you like what you read, could I get a cookie?

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