Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers.
AN: This is my way of expressing myself.
You Can't Save Everyone
Being a super hero wasn't always easy.
It wasn't the odd hours, tough jobs, expensive repair bills, or personal attacks that bothered Tony Stark either. It was the fact he couldn't save everyone; he couldn't prevent every death.
He was a firm believer that some people deserved to die. If you took away other peoples' rights to live their lives, you forfeited your own, at least to him. This especially applied to those that he, as Iron Man, had to stop from eradicating a city, a country, the entire world...
But watching the news, he could only berate himself for not being fast enough to respond; not being able to prevent the terrible tragedy displayed on all of his televisions (and he had many).
"You can't expect yourself to be omniscient, Tony." Pepper said, coming up behind him and touching his shoulder. Tony turned to her, his eyes dark and haunted. He said nothing, but Pepper stepped into his waiting arms. They held each other, almost clinging. Tony had his head bowed into the crook of her neck, and he kissed the redhead lightly there. Pepper in turn kissed his hair, her hand sweeping from his neck, across his back, and down to grip his forearm. She pulled away slightly, to look at her boyfriend in the eye.
"Tony, you can't prevent every crime, or every death. It's just not possible. You can't be everywhere at once." Pepper said softly. "This world is a terrible place Tony, but you're making it a little bit better. You protect us from those that would destroy us all. But you can't always protect us from ourselves."
"Children Pepper, children. And I was what, a hundred miles away? If I can't goddamned protect kids, then why the hell am I Iron Man?" Tony said vehemently as he pulled away from Pepper. He didn't know why this bothered him so much. He knew the world could be a terrible place - hell, he'd endured it first hand. People died every day. He knew he couldn't save everyone, and that to do so would be illogical, at least in relation to the sustainability of the earth. Maybe it was how close it was, how unexpected, how illogical. He turned away from the television screens and Pepper, striding towards his row of Iron Man suits. He stared at them sullenly.
The sound of Pepper's high heels clicking echoed as she walked across the floor. She wrapped her arms around Tony, hugging him from behind. He didn't move.
"Tony, stop beating yourself up about it." She said, a little more harshly this time. She was upset too, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. She was worried he'd push himself even further - even more hours spent improving his suits, more sleepless days and nights fighting crime...he would push himself to death.
"You don't get it Pepper. I have a tool that can save people. I know I can't save everyone. I get that. But I could've saved those kids."
"How?! By knowing everyone's actions, and preventing every murder that's going to happen? It's impossible, Tony. You're being way too hard at yourself. Should you blame police officers for not stopping it too? The army? Captain America? How is that fair? Mourn, but be realistic, Tony."
Tony turned around to face her, and quirked his lips at her in a sort of half smile.
"I know you're right. I just feel that I'm better equipped to deal with the world's problems. Sometimes I feel like I let the world down."
"I know, Tony. But you didn't."
Sometimes the pressure of having to save the world was overwhelming, especially when you feel like you failed. Iron Man had done well before, but it was hard to count those victories when such misfortune had occurred.