Day 96
He looks to the hole in the sky. His target. He knows this is where his end is to be. He doesn’t fight it. He embraces it.
“Stark you know that’s a one way trip.”
He knows, but he clutches the nuke even tighter. It is rocketing full speed toward his his tower; if it hits it the whole city dies.
“Give me full power on the thrusters Jay,” Tony orders pushing up on the massive bomb right above him. His thrusters increase their force, and he and the missle are angling upward. His foot scrapes along the building as he rockets toward the sky. That was close. To close.
“Shall I try miss Potts?” Jarvis asks softly. Tony swallows hard.
“Might as well.”
Talking to her would be good. Saying goodbye. The call just sits there at the edge of his vision. Pepper doesn’t pick up; he climbs higher into the sky. The missile is doing most of the work now, he could let go, risk it swerving off course, he could take a chance, a chance for himself, but he doesn’t. Tony clings to the missle gives a little more thrust into his thrusters, and pushes harder toward the hole in the sky. He glances at the corner of his display. Pepper’s picture is still hovering there. He turns his gaze back to the hole in the sky just as he passes through it. This is it. His end. The picture of Pepper fuzzes away, and Tony turns his gaze toward the massive ship before him. The lights in his suit go out, and he releases the missile. Away it goes. The air in the suit is sucked away by space. He chokes as the last tiny amount of air is spent. The missile hits its target, and bright burning fire fills Tony’s gaze as darkness slowly pulls itself over him. He allows his eyes to slip closed as he falls back. Earth is pulling him back, but he will be dead before he makes it back through the portal. He doesn’t regret it. He had to do it, for the world, for the city, for his team, for Pepper… he hopes she understands that he had no other choice. There was no one else to carry the nuke away from the city. It had to be him. The full force of the darkness grabs him and pulls him under its thick waves. He can’t feel his body anymore. He can’t feel his thoughts anymore. He is slipping away, falling deeper into the black abyss.