A/N I'm currently working on this story, but I thought I would grace you with a little preview. Please note the SPOILER ALERT! Seriously, if you haven't seen Endgame yet (and really, why haven't you?) don't read!


Buffy stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her, and sighed. Steve was at the mirror shaving his beard off. He glanced at her with a smirk, taking a moment to admire her more toned physique. It had been 23 days since the snap and she'd spent most of those days beating the stuffing out of the punching bags and lifting more and more weights.

They were waiting for Captain Carol Danvers, the woman in the red, blue, and gold suit that Fury's pager had summoned. She had gone in search of Tony Stark and Peter Parker not long after she arrived and explained who she was. That had been almost a week ago.

Buffy toweled off quickly and grabbed a pair of black yoga pants and a fluffy red sweater. She walked back to the bathroom and leaned in the doorway. "Why the change?"

Steve shrugged. "We're not in hiding anymore." He rinsed off the razor and set it down. Buffy grabbed the towel before he could and gently dabbed the water and leftover shaving cream from Steve's face. "I take it that means you'll miss the beard?"

"It was sexy." She ran her fingers down his now smooth jaw.

He closed his eyes and sighed. Pulling her to him, he leaned down to kiss her, but the building began to shake. They looked around and then ran for the door. Steve grabbed a sweater on the way out and they met everyone out on the front lawn. Carol was flying with a spaceship held above her. She landed it and a few moments later, a blue robot alien thing helped an emaciated Tony Stark down a ramp.

Steve and Buffy ran up to help Tony stand. He leaned on them for support, saying, "I couldn't stop him."

"Neither could we." Steve said.

Tony stopped. "I…. I lost the kid."

"Tony, we lost."

Tony started to say something, but Pepper ran up and hugged Tony tightly. He kissed her cheek and held her tightly. "Let's get you inside." Buffy said.

They got inside and Bruce hooked Tony up to an IV. He demanded that they tell him what had happened with Thanos. They took him to the conference room and Natasha brought up the hologram with the names and pictures of the missing.

"It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodes said.

"World governments are in pieces." Natasha said. "The parts that are still working are trying to take a census and it looks like he did…. He did exactly what he said he was going to do. He wiped out fifty percent of all living creatures."

"Where is he now?" Tony asked.

"We don't know." Steve admitted. "He just opened a portal and walked through."

"Wow." Tony looked around and spotted Thor sitting in the next room staring angrily at the floor. "What's wrong with him?"

"Well, he's pissed." Rocket the Racoon said. "He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did. But, you know, there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"

Tony looked at Rocket in shock for a moment. "Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am."

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now." Steve said. "Deep space scans and satellites and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him…."

"Who told you that?" Tony asked. "I didn't fight him. No. He wiped my face with a planet while the Bleeker Street magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight…."

"Ok."

"He's unbeatable."

"Ok. Did he give you any clues? Any coordinates? Anything?"

Tony gave a sarcastic salute. "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision…. I didn't want to believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

"Tony, I'm going to need you to focus."

"And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry. You know what I need?" Tony sniffed at the bowl of soup, before standing up and knocking it over. "I need a shave. And I believe I remember telling you…." He yanked out his IV as Rhodes protested. "That what we needed was a suit of armor around the world, remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not. That's what we needed."

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?"

"I said we'd lose, you said…." Tony pointed angrily at Buffy. "You said 'we'll do that together, too.' And guess what? We lost and you weren't there."

"Tony, we were there!" Buffy snapped.

"I didn't see you up there. Were you hiding?"

"You weren't the only one that got their ass handed to them by evil Barney! And in case you missed it, we lost, too. My little sister turned to dust in my arms!"

"Of course you'd have a comeback that makes it all about you."

"Look who's talking, you egotistical ass!"

"Guys!" Rhodes yelled.

"My friends and family turned to dust around me because we all failed. Everyone here failed to beat Thanos! So now, we need to put our big boy pants on and …."

"And what?" Tony interrupted. "We're going to, what? Get the team together again? The team that you and Cap broke up, may I remind you. We go out and then what? Avenge? That's what we do, right? Our best work comes after the fact? What are we? The Avengers? We're the Avengers, not the Pre-vengers."

"Why can't you just…."

"Buff, stop!" Rhodes held Tony up before he could fall. "Ok, you made your point! You both have. Just sit down, ok?"

"No, no, no. Here's the thing, you know, she's great." Tony pointed at Carol. "We need you. You're new blood in a bunch of tired old mules…." He Tony fought past Rhodes and advanced on Buffy and Steve. "You know, I got nothing for you Mr. and Mrs. Rogers. I got no coordinates. No clues. No strategies. No options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liars." He ripped the nano-suit pack from his chest, grabbed Buffy's hand, and slammed it into her palm. "Here, take this. If you find him, put that on, and you hide. You're good at that." Tony suddenly collapsed and Buffy reached out to catch him. "I'm fine!" He growled at her, pushing her hands away. She tried to steady him, but he passed out.


TO BE CONTINUED