Sombre
Wakanda
2018
Everything stops.
Steve wonders, briefly, if maybe someone has activated the Time Stone and preserved them in this moment. It would be the icing on the metaphorical cake, at this point. Forcing them all to sit and gaze at the dust settling on the grass and suffer and mourn endlessly until Thanos is done with them and ready to let them go. The silence suffocates him and seems to confirm his suspicions. Anxiety starts to claw its way up his throat, leaving him scared to even attempt moving from where his knees have settled in the remains of one of his best friends.
The spell is broken when someone wails to his right, a heart wrenching sound that echoes through the trees and tears through his chest. Steve curls his fingers in the dirt where his friend should be but just sort of isn't and tries to breathe, tries to ignore the wail as it hiccups off and starts up again. He digs his hands into the dust and dirt and closes his eyes, trying to force himself to focus through the fog of shock and horror as he runs dust (ash? he isn't sure which) through his fingers. He questions why Bucky is gone and he's still here, tries to decide whether to chalk it up to luck or fate.
Nothing about this feels right. They've lost fights before, lost people before, ruined friendships before, had to piece things back together before. It's a part of all of them, almost a staple of being in the Avengers - but it's never been like this. Steve wants to break down and sob and scream about how not fair it all is, but finds his chest heavy and his eyes dry despite himself.
Anchored to the ground, Steve drops his head and breathes and loses track of himself for a few moments.
Moments turn into minutes, twisting into what feels like hours where the dirt stains the knees of his suit and his fingers start to go numb from being curled so tight. The effort to hold on to the last of Bucky Barnes chokes him, renders him incapable of thinking past he was just here and I just got him back. The universe, not for the first time in his life, seems to be having a good laugh at his expense.
"That's half." Someone says behind him, voice dull. He recognizes it, after a moment, as Bruce. "Half the population of - of the universe."
"Where did they all go?" The second voice is Rhodey, tone tight with worry.
Natasha cuts in next, hard and blunt. A harsh dose of a reality that no one needs reminded of, but he's relieved she's not gone. "They're dead."
Tuning them out, Steve drops his handful of nothing back to the ground and rubs at his nose. He braces his hands on the ground next, pushes until he's on his feet and dusting his hands off and looking around. There's no telling who all is left, so far. There were so many of them - in Wakanda, around the states, off the planet. There's no way of judging how bad the damage is when they're all so spread thin and unable to communicate.
In front of him are Natasha and Rhodey, holding a tense conversation that he only catches bits and pieces of. There are whispers of names; Tony, Clint, Scott, Parker. Just behind them, still encased in the Hulkbuster is Bruce. He's silent, probably trying to communicate with FRIDAY to assess the damage. He's one of the few she might care to talk to, anyway. Off to the side is a the body of Vision, limp and dark and unresponsive. Steve wants to kneel by him and shake him except -
"Where's Sam?"
When the words come out of his mouth his companions freeze, looking to him. He can see the wheels turning behind their eyes, processing the question but not answering. He tries again, because he has to. He needs to.
"Where is Sam?" This time when he receives no response, the blond reaches his hand to the comm in his left ear. "Sam." His voice cracks, his skull and ribs ache. Nothing. "Sam."
Across from him, Natasha pushes her hair behind her ears and apologizes with nothing more than a look. The wailing in the distance goes quiet.
It's Thor who breaks the silence this time, looking and sounding tired and ragged. "We need to get everyone together." A pause. "We must assemble."
"There's nothing to assemble." Rhodey shoots back. "We've lost - Thanos is gone. Most of the Avengers are gone."
"We are not. Thanos is alive. We will find him." The god seems pretty determined, stomping his foot like a large child.
"You forgot the barely. We're barely alive."
Nat crosses her arms, looking between them with hard reluctance. "He has a point. We aren't exactly on the winning team, here."
"Not yet." Thor insists.
"He's right." Steve hears himself say as he bends down to retrieve his shield. "This isn't over."
Bruce sounds mildly horrified when he speaks up. "It's not going to be over until we die, is it? We're going to do this again, aren't we?"
Quiet falls around them again, an uncomfortable cushion between their words. They all seem to be thinking it over, judging whether or not this is worth it when they don't even know who or what is left on their planet or in the universe. The Hulkbuster pulls a hand down his face, filling the air with the sound of scraping metal. The accidental action would be funny, under any other circumstances. Hell, seeing the man in front of the Hulk in the Hulkbuster should be laughable.
"We don't even know where everyone is." Rhodey finally says, looking over at Steve.
"Then we do a head count. We find everyone who -" Natasha pauses, looks away. "Everyone we can. We regroup."
Thor nods then, seeming to approve of their group decision as he starts back toward the city. Rhodey gathers up Vision's lifeless form and is gone moments later, likely to beat all of them there. Bruce and Natasha take their time, discussing something Steve doesn't have the brain capacity to keep his mind on. It doesn't seem like a proper beginning or ending to the story, they've never been caught in this weird in-between before where no one is sure what to do.
Up ahead, a small figure blocks their path. After a second he can recognize it as the raccoon that jumped into their scuffle with the Norse god. The creature gestures erratically, voice loud and abrasive even from a distance. Thor stops to communicate with it, nodding every few moments. As Steve approaches he starts to make out bits of their conversation.
"-fighting the same fight. They could be out there." The raccoon ruffles his shoulders, waves a gun around without much care. "We should be out there."
Thor nods, rubbing at his right eye. "And we will be, Rabbit."
"We better. That dried up grape is gonna be a puree when we're done." He spits, giving Steve an ugly look the closer he gets. When he looks back at the larger man he seems to settle a bit. "I got something that can help."
*
Titan
2018
"I don't want to go."
The words are still ringing in his ears. Peter's voice wet with tears and full of nothing but fear and sorrow and apologies that Tony didn't even fucking want.
"I'm sorry. Mr. Stark -"
Now that he's covered in the ashes of the younger boy, his eyes are burning and his mouth is dry. Any words he might have had are gone with the teenager, as if they never existed at all. Just like Peter. As if none of it mattered, he didn't matter, and this was for nothing.
The worst part, Tony thinks now that he can't feel the boy melting in his arms, is that no one will know. His family, any friends, his significant other - if they're around they won't know he's gone, or that he played a part in saving their lives. Or tried to, anyway. Tony's pretty sure that didn't work out, considering everyone else on this planet has disappeared and odds are his planet looks much the same.
It was all for nothing. The kid is dead for nothing and he never even got out of high school hell.
"You could've saved us. Why didn't you do more?"
It's all he can think about now. Tony's breath comes out sharp and quick, labored as if something has been draped over his chest and shoulders. He thinks he might be dying, too, nailed down in the ashes of a boy he couldn't save. Pete deserved better.
"You need to get up." The voice is cold and sharp. "We cannot stay here. You will get up."
"Wait." Tony hears himself shudder out a harsh breath, one hand still cradling a nonexistent body while the other moves to the wound in his abdomen. "I can't. We need to -"
"You need to not be a disappointment to your species." A hand lands on the back of his shirt, dragging him off of the ground and to his feet with ease. "I will not die here with you, I will leave you. We need to go."
Beside him now, the blue skinned Luphomoid is glaring at him. Or... He's pretty sure she's glaring at him. Her eyes don't have pupils so he can't be sure, she could be just glaring at their orange surroundings or the sky. The furrow to her brow and annoyance in her stance means she's probably glaring at him, though. He pulls from her grasp, admittedly surprised when she doesn't try to make him stay put. Tony looks around, tries not to think about the five people who were here just minutes ago. Nebula goes still, like a statue, as she watches him steady himself.
Tony forces himself to go through the motions, to get himself together. He tests his armor, finds himself less than surprised when it comes out spotty and refuses to stabilize around his body. It's taken more hits than he can count, probably saved his life when the Titan was smashing them around like toys. He can't even get a response from FRIDAY. But it's normal. Going over the suit is normal. It keeps him from choking or crying - a necessary distraction.
"The Necrocraft was... rendered useless, upon landing. They would have brought their ship. They will no longer be needing it." The woman to his left eventually says, though her gaze is no longer on him. "We will find it, human."
"I have a name." He whips back automatically, looking at his dirty nails.
Squinting, Nebula rounds on him impatiently. "What?"
"Tony." One brow rises. "Stark. Your genocidal dad knows me." The nasty look she gives him has him raising both hands, palms up in defense. "Human is fine, too."
When she speaks again, the cyborg's tone is clipped. "I am not done. This is not done." She's walking, apparently convinced she knows where she's going. Tony follows because, well, there's no one else. They're all that's left. "Thanos will die by my hand. His torture will be a thing of legends."
This is all well and good, but Tony is becoming increasingly less sure that his new companion is stable or trustworthy. In fact, the tone of her voice implies she might kill him too. Just for fun. For giggles. She's also talking about facing off one-on-one with the alien that put him steps from death and probably just destroyed half of the universe, so. She's not really proving herself to be stable here.
"He has all of the Infinity Stones." He points out, looking back to see the wind carrying blackened dust into the sky. He dimly wonders if he should have tried to grab some of it - of them. "That's six. That's a lot, if you hadn't noticed."
"I will kill him." She says immediately, voice sharp. "Or we will die trying."
Tony raises a finger to object, frown settled onto his features. "I might have a mild concussion but I don't think I heard myself agreeing to that."
Whipping around, Nebula comes to a halt. She's grinding her teeth, expression growing more and more agitated by the moment. Pushing all of her buttons is probably not a great idea right now, but it's not like there's anything else to be doing and, well. It's true. Tony might have run out here on a suicide mission but it's not like he agreed to go another one with a practical stranger.
"What else would you have us do?" She sneers at him, head cocking to one side. "You can waste away here, if you like, the same way they did. I will have my revenge, this year or the next, the cosmos will run -"
Tony waves his hands at her the best he can without irritating his wound. "Okay, hold on Naomi Campbell, hold your horses." She stops, actually willing to let him speak. It's a genuine shock. "We don't even know where he is. Running after him blind and injured is a bad plan - an even worse plan than the last one, and that one destroyed half the universe because we couldn't keep it together. We have time to... make a plan. A better plan."
"I don't even know who Naomi Campbell is." Nebula snips, turning on her heel to head forward again. But she doesn't argue any further, so he counts it as a win.
"She's a supermodel, attitude problem, assaulted her assistant with a phone." The other doesn't respond, Tony gives up on this line of conversation. "That wasn't the important part. We need to be prepared."
They're reaching the top of a knoll now, light wind sweeping around them and bringing the smell of rot and decay. As they reach the top light reflects harshly into their eyes. When Tony puts a hand over his brow he can see it's reflecting off of something bright orange and light blue, standing out against the landscape like a sore thumb. If the Guardians had been trying to hide their presence they had done a shit job. But, maybe they hadn't bothered. Thanos was going to be prepared for them either way, probably.
Nebula stops at the top, gesturing down to their newfound ride. She nods once, to herself more than him, eying him over her shoulder as she begins down the steep hill.
"Fine." She concedes finally, turning her gaze to him with something like reluctant respect. "We prepare. And then the cosmos run thick with his blood. The universe will scream and quake -"
Tony is pretty sure this is going to be the longest ride through space he ever takes in his life.