Desolation Row
It had been months since Thanos met with his execution.
Evie spent everyday after searching for the bottom of bottles of tequila, whiskey, rum, and whatever else she could get her hands on for a temporary escape. Her once loved home was now just a dark hole where she was perpetually secluded. Tony and Pepper had both tried uselessly to get her to join them after her dad had regained his strength and health. But with her phone smashed to bits and Friday disabled, the messages were reaching no one. Some of her friends had tried to check in with her, only to be greeted with nothing. Thor had done just about everything to keep her company in an effort to look out for his little sister, but instead was burned by the brunt of her anger. The house was on total locked down to any and all visitors. And eventually they all gave up, giving her the space they believed she needed.
The days slowly melted into weeks, and soon enough weeks became more months of total isolation. Finally having enough of the distance, Tony made the trek from his newly acquired cabin in the woods to find his daughter. Bruce eventually told Tony everything that had happened to Evie before, during, and after Thanos’ invasion. An unbearable guilt settled into his gut when he learned just how much she had been put through. Pepper could only cry quietly hearing the series of unfortunate events that had haunted their poor girl. Wishing to be able to hug her, to keep Evie close, never to leave her side so that their child wouldn’t have to grieve alone.
But she wasn’t grieving. Evie was drowning in pain and sorrow, unable to really cope with her newfound reality.
So that's how she found herself when Tony came knocking at the front door. Starting off her day way past noon and having a large serving of alcohol for breakfast. He had called her name several times and pounded at the door before she was groaning awake. “Genevieve, honey. Open this door or I will kick it down!” As she guzzled down the liquid, Evie fell off the couch and onto the floor. With the racket it wasn’t too long before the front door really was kicked in and Tony came rushing in. “Evie… Jesus christ, baby!” He darted to her side, helping her back on the couch, clumsily. “What the hell is all this? Since when have you ever been this self destructive?!” She brushed him off as she propped her feet on the coffee table and tried to light a cigarette. But Tony snatched it from her fingers before she could light it. Signing audibly in agitation she sank further into her seat.
“Why are you here?”
“Ah, she speaks. How nice of you to actually communicate.” She rolled her eyes. Tony had gone there very much planning to use tough love in hopes of snapping her out of the muddled headspace she was in. Afterall he knew she wasn’t one to open up and openly voice her struggles. That she had gotten from him. But he refused to see her lost to the darkness eating her whole.
“Come on get up, let's get you cleaned up and then I’m getting you a proper meal. Pepper is at the house waiting to make or get anything you want.”
But food was the last thing on her mind, Evie just wanted to be numb. So she reached over for her glass, and Tony grabbed it before she could. “Evie…” he huffed, “kiddo come on. I can’t let you continue like this. I know your hurting sweetheart. Trust me I know-”
“Do you?” She said in a small hollow tone. She finally met her father’s eyes and all Tony saw was an emptiness where there was once a joy for living. “How could you possibly know what I’m feeling dad? Pfft, I don’t even know…” Flicking her wrist another glass was pulled from a puff of smoke and she poured another drink as Tony watched helplessly.
“What’s the fucking point, hm? We lost. Loki and our son are dead. All my friends are gone or dead too. And the stupid fucking stones are toast, so what's the point dad? All life has gotten me, is endless nightmare fuel and a menagerie of skeletons to stuff in my closet.” Tony did nothing to stop her this time as she brought the tumbler with what smelled like straight lighter fluid to her lips. But right before she did, she paused. A bitter laugh erupted from her chest. Tony was momentarily disturbed by how hard she started to laugh uncontrollably. The grip she had on the glass becoming excessive.
Stunned by the pure rage that glimmered in her eyes caused a shiver to run down his spine as Evie got up abruptly to pace the floor, finally venting to a living being what she had kept pent up inside. “All I ever wanted was from the moment this, this ‘gift,’ came into effect was to be a hero. To be like my dad… But all I’ve ever been handed has been the exact opposite!” Her frantic movements and bared teeth made her look almost animalistic…like a wolf ready to maul its prey. “But no, ever since those bastards took me and nearly killed me all my life has been, is a revolving door of shit storms and doomsdays!” She sucked in air before vomiting out more words. “And then I finally catch a break, right? A-and I found love. In a dungeon of all places! I found him and everything just felt right. Like, it just made sense that we were together…”
She smiled, blinking away the haze from her eyes. “We just clicked… and I finally felt at home. Like everything was gonna actually be okay. However that was too much goodness for the universe and they dished out another tribulation. I go on believing Loki died and then get hit across the face with my past trying to actively kill me. After surviving an entire fucking building getting dropped on me, I’m plagued. Plagued with these horrific nightmares! Flashbacks to Strucker’s experiments, to-to Killian, to you disappearing into the wormhole. Just so much shit that haunts me, that just haunts… so, so much shit…” As she started to ramble on and mumble chaotically. Tony tried to take the cup and settle her down. Yet in her drunken rage Evie pulled back and stepped away from him, glaring furiously at nothing in particular.
“Honey I’m so sorry.” He breathed out, his own hot tears running streaks down his cheeks.
As if it were the last straw that broke the camel's back, Evie snapped at her father without meaning to. The glass she had in hand suddenly exploded and pierced through her palm as she clenched her fists together. “I don’t want to hear your god damn apologies…” Evie’s voice was quiet now…almost a whisper. The once large glass broke into small fragments that dug into her skin. Slowly, Evie turned around with a look of disbelief across her face. “You’re…sorry?” She paid no mind to the warmth that flooded her hand since her mind was too clouded with rage. “FUCK YOU!” She shouted, causing the man to flinch and drop his head. The remaining glass she held shattered against the wall as growl fell from her lips. Large drops of blood plopping against the hard surface of the floor.
The exhaustion she felt caused her eyesight to go hazy as any strength she had left disappeared from the outburst. Evie was running on fumes at this point. “I bet you only say it to appease your conscience. Just like the rest of them... ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ I am so sick of hearing it. What does feeling sorry ever do for me?” At this point Evie was almost panting with how worked up she had gotten. The urge to hurt something like how hurt she felt was overwhelming, causing the void to stir within her mind. Wanting… needing to attack anything due to the heightened aggression she felt.
She tried to walk over to the kitchen where there was an array of drinks for her to choose from. But the shambles the house was in made it nearly impossible to see the floor, muchless navigate without having to dodge the disorder. Evie took two steps before stumbling and due to her muss, she just accepted the fall and collapsed against the nearest wall. Any energy the girl could’ve had disappeared as she cupped the wounded hand against her chest. Because of the small bits of glass that dug into the skin, and her unwillingness, Evie’s healing abilities were unable to take effect.
So now she sat on the floor with glazed over eyes and a foggy mind, haphazardly digging around in her hand in search of the shards after dropping the hand to the cold ground. Evie wasn’t even sure if Tony was still there. Or if he’d really been there at all, much less how long she’d been laying there before hearing soft words floating aimlessly in the air.
A gentle voice pulled her slightly from the dissociated state. “Baby?” Dad… It was dad. Evie felt her body lightly jolt at the sound of his voice but made no attempt to move. It was as if her body had molded with the ground she found herself on. The cold hardwood freezing her in place as the weight she carried crushed her. That’s when Evie heard him again…calling her name. It was faint, fading in and out from the ringing in her ears. Then the pain in her chest began to grow as her eyes stayed forward. It was as if someone reached their hand down her throat and took hold of her heart. Squeezing just enough to make it feel like she couldn’t breathe. Evie could hear his pleas but they sounded lightyears away.
Her throat began to close as she heard cries in the distance. Was Tony crying? Why is he crying? Then the wetness came. It rolled down her cheeks and began gathering on her shirt, yet Evie stayed glued to the spot. She was crying. After months of nothing, she was finally shedding tears again. Tony heard them. The sobs tore through her throat as if it was cutting her from the inside. That’s when he saw the blood and without another thought, the man pushed everything aside to go towards his daughter who was propped up against the wall. Barely breathing as tears flooded down her face whilst broken cries left her lungs.
And her hands. One was peeling the skin apart on the hand that smashed the glass, resulting in even more blood to spill across the ground that carried the shards of glass once stuck within. Tony could taste bile in his throat at the now exposed layers of skin Evie had clawed apart, but he pushed any nausea aside and jumped into action. Quickly, the man found the first aid kit and tore her hand away from the wound. That’s when her eyes slowly moved over to meet his…but they weren’t the same ones he remembered. They were vacant, distant, devoid of any light he once saw and so puffy he thought her eyes would become swollen shut. He called her name again, but the girl simply stared at him. Looked through him as if he wasn’t even there.
“It’s going to be okay. I’m here, baby. I’m not going anywhere.” Tony’s whispers finally broke through the fog that clouded her senses and made her realize he was actually there. Actually tending to the wound she had inflicted upon herself. Evie choked out, “d-dad… daddy…” between sobs as she fell into his arms. The moment consumed her within his warmth. Sending her sobs into wails. He knew that the weight of everything that had happened collided within her the second he wrapped his arms around his little girl. So no matter how hard Evie held him or how wet she was making his shirt, the man refused to push her away. He could never, not to her.
He isn't going to leave like the others you loved have done…
Evie’s shivering body was pulled into Tony’s lap as he encased her in him. She got as close as one could to the man and with each passing minute her wails grew quieter and quieter until, eventually, she sat quietly on his lap as he finished bandaging the wound. Her eyes began to droop as the exhaustion finally caught up with her and as she let herself fall into a peaceful state between sleep and awareness, something shifted within her. But, any thoughts that formed seemed to slip from her mind as her father picked her up and carried her to the bed. Like he had done so many times when she was a child.
With her senses clouded with sleep, Evie finally let go and released a deep exhale before passing out, some of the weight dissipating. Tony watched from the foot of the bed. His eyes turned soft at the sight of her finally being able to relax.
“Rest now, honey. You’ll be okay, daddy’s here. You’re not alone baby, you are never truly alone as long as I'm alive, baby girl. Daddy’s got you…always.”