Heyy,
Welcome back, times have been busy lately but enjoy...
.
X-X-Recuperating-X-X
Bruce pulled up images of those that were gone. Dusted. They were calling it that now. Not even disintegrated anymore. It was dusted. Which was a great word, except it made him every time he thought about it. Except now, they were sure that Tony was not amongst those that had been dusted. He was alive, and for the most part, he was okay —which was a lie, he would never be okay. None of them ever would be.
PTSD was a serious thing, and because of Thanos, it was going to follow them for a long time. They were not going to forget about this fight any time soon. Perhaps ever. The pain and the consequences…No one would ever really get over it, whether they fixed the problem or not. They'd lost half the universe, it wasn't something that was just forgotten over time. It was gonna be with them forever.
Jason parked his wheelchair next to the table where Bruce was pulling up pictures, and the son of Jupiter took a seat on a chair next to him. There was high tension in the air, and he knew, they were all waiting for both Tony and Carol to make an appearance, and once they did, that tension would be enough that it could snap bones if it so wished.
He didn't like it, he also knew that he was simply there for presence. He knew, that it would be the first time, Steve and Tony talked, for two years. Since their fall out in Siberia. Did you know? I didn't know it was him. Don't bullshit me, Rogers, did you know? Yes. Tony's anger towards Barnes, he could not understand, but his anger towards Steve…that he could. But he did not hold it against him, whatever happened in that bunker, was between Tony and Steve, and he had no right to choose a side. It was none of his business. He knew, though, like everyone else did, that they were going to witness the first step of rebuilding today, and, you had to fall to get up.
Tony was brought in on a wheelchair, an IV stand next to him, Rhodes pushing him. He was wearing a black robe, with no shirt underneath, and the arc reactor or the suit particle thingy was visible there. Why he wore it, he was unsure. Beneath that, a long gash in the middle of his stomach. He saw a gaping hole in his dream, was that it. He also saw him dead, he was alive now. Wearing glasses indoors, but alive nonetheless.
Rhodes took a stand next to Tony's wheelchair. "It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to earth," he said, starting what he was sure, was going to be one very special meeting. He looked at the images displaying those that were gone. He couldn't keep his eyes on them for too long at a time.
"World governments are in pieces," Natasha said then, and he knew then that this was mostly to catch Tony up rather than anything else. "The ones that are still working are trying to take a census." He looked around himself, at the people in the room. Was this what was left of the Avengers? Tony, Rhodes, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Thor, him, the Raccoon and what was her name —Nebula. "And it looks like he did…he did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out…fifty percent of all living creatures."
Somewhere along that, Percy caught Tony's expression as he saw Peter's face pop up on the screen. Whatever the relationship between the two, he knew that it had been tight, to leave Tony so reeled. He made a list in his mind, about people Tony cared for, and he checked it off, coming to the conclusion that really, Tony had been lucky. Peter was gone, Happy was gone, but close to him…that was about it.
Marvel had a similar broken expression as Nick Fury's face popped up on the screen. Luckily for him, the screens only showed their losses. People they all had been close to. They didn't show the demigods, which he was glad for, because he did not want to see her picture up there.
Tony was holding his chin on his fist, and he lifted his head from it. "Where is he now?" he asked and he looked away from him, at hearing how different his voice sounded. "Where?"
Steve's arms were crossed on his chest, and they relaxed when Tony looked straight at him. "We don't know," he told him with a sigh, without meeting Tony's eyes. "He just…" He looked down at his own hands. "Opened a portal and walked through." His eyes finally met Tony's.
Tony bit the inside of his jaw, as he pushed his wheelchair forwards. He scoffed, as his eyes set on Thor, who was in a secluded room, away from them, brooding over his failure. "What's wrong with him?" he asked a lisp on his words, pointing with a finger.
Rocket, who was sitting close to the floor replied to that. "Well, he's pissed," he replied to Tony. "He thinks he failed, which of course he did, but you know, there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"
Tony's hands gestured towards him, and moved weirdly as he talked, and shockingly. "Honestly at this exact second, I thought you were a build-a-bear."
"Maybe I am," Rocket said.
Tony turned his wheelchair to look at him. "What happened to you?" he asked him, and there was barely any hint of the Tony he remembered. The man in front of him, was cold, and calculating, and not the man he had learned to care a lot about. He was different, and he hoped it was simply because Steve was in the room and he was just putting up a front, but it was terrible when it was directed at him.
"I exhausted myself," he told him, trying to keep it simple for now, they had other things to discuss, he didn't want to take up much of everyone's time. "Nothing that can't be undone."
"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now," Steve cut it all off there, sensing the conversation leave the point of them all meeting at this time. He was talking to everyone, but his attention was mostly aimed at Tony. "Deep space scans and satellites and we got nothing." His eyes really settled on Tony, he made a move with his head as if to say here goes nothing. "Tony, you fought him—"
Tony's head shook minutely. "Who told you that?" he asked him, and Percy looked away again. His voice was different, his tone was different, everything about him was different. Raspy and dry and starved. Where was the tone he'd come to appreciate even in the darkest of times, what had happened? Tony's hand hovered protectively over the nano-particle-suit storing unit, and his fingers fiddled with the hem of the robe. His head cocked to the side. "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker-street magician gave away the stone. That's what happened, there was no fight—"
"Okay—" Steve tried to say, trying to stop what seemed to be a building fight, but failing, because Tony talked over him.
"He's—he's unbeatable," Tony said as if to say and there's nothing we can do, so let's just forget it.
Steve nodded his head. "Did he give you any clues?" he asked, and Percy turned around to look at Jason. Could he believe this guy? "I mean coordinates? Anything?"
Tony scoffed, and gave Steve a mock salute while making a pfft noise with his lips, and not looking at him. Natasha was not amused, but it didn't stop Tony, he noted her roll of the eyes and he pointed at her as he stared at her. "I saw this coming a few years back," he said, and then he leaned back in the seat of his wheelchair and turned to look at Steve, his pointed finger turning to a flat hand. "I had a vision, I didn't wanna believe it…thought it was a dream—" He made a gesture with his hand, dismissively, and looked at the table, his hand falling on his cheek and supporting his head up. His eyes met his, and there were a million questions.
Steve leaned off the counter and took a step forward. "Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus—"
"And I needed you," Tony cut him off immediately, his hand leaving his face and his eyes glaring at Steve. He gave Steve a very disappointed look. "As in past tense. That trumps what you need," he added gesturing at him. "It's too late, buddy. Sorry." He leaned down on the table, smelling the bowl of stew that sat there in front of him, untouched. "You know what I need?" he slammed his hand on the bowl, pushing it and tipping it over. "I need to shave." He stood up, and then turned his attention to his arm, where the IV poked a hole in his skin, and there was tape keeping it there. "And I believe, I remember telling—"
He yanked the IV out as Rhodes approached him, two hands up showing he meant no harm, but he needed to calm down. "Tony, Tony—"
"Why that otherwise," Tony continued, looking back at Steve. "That what we needed," he said, his voice rising, unlike him. Percy had not many recollections of the times that Tony had raised his voice. "Was a suit of armor around the world." He was gasping. He was out of breath. "Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms, or not," he made a vast gesture with his arms and hands, "that's what we needed."
"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve said, and buddy, it was not the right thing to say.
Tony pointed at himself. "I said we'd lose." He made a circle with his fingers. "You said, 'we'll do that together, too'." His voice got deeper. "And guess what, Cap? — We lost…And you weren't there." Steve bit the inside of his mouth, and Tony started taking a step forward but ended up swaying on his feet. Rhodes was there to keep him steady. "That's what we do, right?" His voice started rising again, now taking steps towards Steve, but Rhodes held him back. "Our best work after the fact. We're the Avengers? We're the Avengers?" He was mocking it. "Not the prevengers?"
"Okay," Rhodes said, holding him back still, Tony looked at him.
"Right?"
Rhodes nodded. "You made your point, now sit down—" He struggled to get him to do that.
Tony started struggling against Rhodes grip, but he slowly made his way out. Fixing his glasses. "Okay. No, no, here's my point—"
"—Just sit down—" Rhodes tried again, but Tony was now free of his grasp, and he pointed at Carol.
"She's great by the way," he told her, as Rhodes kept on asking him to sit down. "We need you. You're new blood. We're a bunch of tired old mules!" He started walking towards Cap on unsteady feet, a finger pointed at his face. "I got nothing for you, Cap," he said, getting in his face. "I've got no coordinates, no clues, no strategy, no options, zero, zip, nada. No trust, liar." The last word was just a whisper. Then he yanked the storage unit off his chest and forced it into Steve's hand. "Here, take this," he told him, his voice coming out strange, strained, and shaking. "You find him and you put that on. You hide." His voice broke, and he dropped to the ground, hitting his knees hard.
Everyone made to move forward, even Jason, who had nothing to do with anything stood from his chair, ready to help him if he so needed. "Tony—" Rhodes called out, his hands getting on him, steadying him.
"I'm fine," Tony said, pushing Rhodes away, and then he fell to the floor further, passing out.
Rhodes checked for a pulse, which he noted to everyone, was there, then Steve walked over and scooped him up in his arms, gently placed him in the wheelchair, and Rhodes —looking at them all pretty disappointed— started pushing him out of the room. Bruce followed him, but no one else did. They would eventually, but it was just weird if a group as big as this just followed an unconscious man to a sickbed.
He looked sidelong to Jason, cracked what he managed to call half a smile. "Well, you didn't sign up for it," he said offhandedly. "But these are the Avengers."
We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but, that up there? That's…that's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?
Together.
We'll lose.
Then we'll do that together, too.
They'd lost, but they hadn't been together. No, Tony had been in space. Steve had been here though and he didn't understand. Although he did, it was confusing at best, and impossible to understand at worst.
We lost love, we lost loved ones, we lost leaders, we lost believers, we lost gods, we lost sons, we lost, because we were divided. Yes, he's stronger, but once they're all together, he doesn't know what's coming for him.
He started moving his wheelchair in the direction Rhodes had pushed Tony in, and then Jason was helping him. Always helping him, as much as he was grateful, he hated needing to rely on someone else. He hated that to move anywhere further than five meters someone had to bring him there. That his body was taking days to no end to recover and there was nothing he could do to speed it up but wait for it to move on.
Medical was becoming like his home in the past four days. It's where he slept, because so in case of an emergency during the night he could press the panic button and someone could come running. Unlike in his room. There was Friday, but not in all of the compound, only some bits, and those were Tony's bits. Even then, Friday was more in his suit and his personal homes than it was in the compound for everyone to use.
At least, it didn't look like a hospital, but instead the rooms were made to resemble suites, and so when they found Tony, he was asleep in one big luxurious room. Rhodes was taking off the glasses he'd been wearing, and Tony had a nasal breathing tube on him. Pepper was there, too, and she was holding his hand as she gently stroked his face.
Rhodes walked out. "Bruce gave him a sedative," he informed them all. "He should be out for a while."
Carol nodded along. "You guys take care of him," she said as she started walking away. He was not going to follow. "I'm gonna go kill Thanos," he heard of her but then she rounded the corner and she was out of earshot, and whatever they were going to do, he would not be able to help, he was in a wheelchair.
The rest of the Avengers followed her out of earshot and he was left there alone with Jason, outside the room. Pepper was inside with Tony. So he turned to look at Jason. "You should go home, Jason," he said, trying to convince him to go to his daughter, for what he hoped was the last time. He continued before he could hear Jason's come back. "I know it's hard. But, thank you, a lot, like, you actually have no idea how grateful I am that you've been my chauffeur for the past four days, but your daughter needs you more. Especially since I won't be leaving this area until he does, so…Please go home to Kylie."
Jason bit the inside of his mouth. "Thank you, Percy," he said, a hand on his shoulder, he squeezed. He looked inside to the sleeping form that was Tony Stark. "I hope he gets well soon."
He grabbed Jason's hand and smiled up at him. "Yeah, me too," he agreed.
Jason then started walking away. "I'll see you, Percy," he told him, and Percy nodded at him, a soft smile on his lips, which all but vanished the moment he turned around and looked at Tony.
He made eye-contact with Pepper, and then she was motioning for him to come inside. It hadn't been his plan to interfere with her space or Tony's, he just wanted to be there for him, whatever form that took he was game. But Pepper was telling him to go inside, so he took the invitation, and used his weak strength to wheel himself inside, having some difficulty at the end, but he managed.
She smiled at him. "Hi, Percy," she greeted him. He stopped his wheelchair on the same side as her, further down, of course, but same side. "How are you?"
He didn't make eye contact, instead kept his eyes glued on Tony's face, and then his rising and falling chest. He wished he would do more than that. He wished he could talk to him, and —don't know— do something. Share what they'd been through, anything. He shrugged. "Some times better than others, I guess."
"How long 'till you can walk again?" she asked him.
He looked at her, forcing himself to stop looking at Tony. "Took me four days to get the bare minimum of movement back in my arms. I guess I can eat properly, and move my arms properly, but again…I can't do more than five meters in this wheelchair without completely exhausting myself. So…I Bruce hasn't been able to tell me an estimate, there's no telling. Could be weeks, could be months. And that's just my muscles, my powers…those are another story altogether."
"Nothing?"
I got nothing for you, Cap. I've got no coordinates, no clues, no strategy, no options, zero, zip, nada.
He shook his head. "No, nothing," he told her. "I guess I should have been ready for this, after all, I doubt the gods are gonna let me keep that amount of power, but…I was getting good at it."
"You almost killed yourself," she pointed out.
"Fair enough."
-.-.-
29th May 2018
-.-.-
Hours later, he heard the spaceship flying away, and he was dozing off. More hours later, and Pepper was shaking him, telling him she was going to go to sleep, please wake me up when he awakens, she asked him, to which he nodded, but he too fell asleep. He spent a day there, sometimes leaving for a toilet break, then for lunch, which he shared with Pepper, but in the end, she was gone, off to sleep in a proper bed, and he remained there, stuck in his wheelchair.
He managed to sleep, though, and that was mercy in its own way.
"Hey," he was woken up by Tony saying. He opened his eyes and turned his head slowly to where Tony's head was. He'd left the breathing tube in, as well as the IV, which was surprising. He was looking more colored than he had before. "They drug me?" Tony asked him when he was sure he had his attention. He nodded, barely comprehending. "What the hell happened, Percy?" he asked him then, and now was a better time to tell him about the details.
He pushing himself into a better position. There was more than one limb of his which was aching, he perhaps should have found a bed. "I, uh…" he started, his voice sleepy and slurry. He blinked rapidly and tried to wake up, for Tony's sake. "We fought in Wakanda. A thousand and some demigods, and another thousand and some Wakandans. And then us. The army we faced was big, Tony. Monsters and these aliens —outriders. Then the giants came…Tartarus did too. They all made an appearance. And when Thanos arrived, I was too busy with Tartarus to go help them, you know so…Thanos snapped his fingers and…I lost it. I snapped. I let loose everything I had and I burned myself out. My body is still recovering. So, I can't stand because of it, I can barely push myself around. So that's why Jason —you might remember him— was there today. He's been helping me since I got out of my, uh, coma."
"You were in a coma?" Tony asked him, he whistled. "How long?"
"Nineteen days," he told him. "I should call Pepper—"
"No, don't," Tony stopped him. "Don't get me wrong, I love her, but…I need a moment here, and you're enough. Just, keep on talking, or something. Who'd you lose?"
He tried not to be offended, or take offense, or be mad at his tone while he was asking that. This was Tony, he had to remind himself, and he'd been starving and surviving on rationed food for the past twenty-three days. He'd been stabbed and he was hurt even now. "Annabeth," he told him. "When she disappeared…well, let's say she was the reason I lost it." He looked down at his hands. "My sister, and my son," he finished tears in his eyes. "I lost my family."
Tony swallowed, his eyes looking mad, but they weren't mad at him. If he had to guess, they were mad at Thanos. "Pepper and I…" he started, and then Tony really called for his attention and waited until he was really looking at him before he continued. "I mean I talked to Pepper," he started again. "And…we thought, that well, you're basically family, Percy. The only one really —apart from Rhodes perhaps— in this whole mess. You stuck by me in the past two years and even now…" He gestured at him. "You're here, and you're dealing with me after the fiasco that was the meeting earlier, and you were sleeping in your wheelchair because you wanted to stay here even though you're exhausted."
He wiped his eyes, and Tony grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry I wasn't there in New York," he told him. "I only heard it on the news, and by that time you were long gone. I called Pepper, and she was panicking, and then Bruce got back and Steve was there as well—"
"Hey, slow down," Tony stopped him there. "Go easy on the storytelling. I might be awake and talking, but don't mistake that for me being able to follow. I'm very tired too, to be honest."
"You should sleep then," he offered.
"And leave you there on your own, I think not," Tony told him.
Tony looked at him, his head cocked to the side. "Thank you, Tony," he told him, and they both knew he was talking about what he'd said before. He clenched his jaw. "I thought you died," he whispered, his whole face contorting as he looked at him. "I dreamed you dead— and it was…so real. When I saw you then yesterday—" He managed a smile as tears threatened again. "Gods I was so happy."
He let his head fall on the bed, just out of reach of where Tony had his hand clasped. Tony's other hand reached up to run through his hair. "I almost did," he said, "perhaps that was what your dream was telling you." He didn't raise his head to look at him and question. "Thanos stabbed me with my own sword, and then he was ready to kill me," he chuckled a mad chuckle. "I hope they remember you, he said, and then, he was ready to kill me but the wizard gave him the stone. We're in the endgame now, he said, and five minutes later he disintegrates into dust."
That up there, that's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?
He pulled himself up and stared at him. "I knew people were gonna die—"
"Of course people were going to die, who are we kidding—"
"No, Tony, I saw it," he told him, cutting him off. Tony looked at him weird. "I had a dream two years ago…it was a demigod dream…just before—when you were talking to my dad. That morning, you remember I was in a mood."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "You're always in a mood, Percy," he said. "But I do remember you and and your father trashing my training room. That, yes."
"I saw them all dead," he told Tony. "Or well, everyone that died, that's gone, I saw them all hanging there, and then in the middle—" He gestured at him. "There was you, and you had a hole in your stomach—which makes sense since you got stabbed." He took a pause there, and then bit his lip. Tony was gonna hate him. "Tartarus showed me. It wasn't a dream, it was—a warning. Of what—would come to pass. And then…then he offered me a deal. Hand yourself in, help me gain world domination, and your friends won't die." He looked at Tony, waiting for him to say something, but the genius was simply looking at him, his mouth slightly open, a look of betrayal on his face. "Please say something," he said after too much time was starting to pass.
Tony's mouth snapped shut, he licked his lips and cocked his head to the side as his hand retrieved his glasses. They half obscured his eyes. "What do you want me to say?" he asked, and the tone was way less harsh or sharp than he had guessed it to be. He pointed a stiff hand at him. "Whether you told me or not, it wouldn't have changed the outcome. It's not like I would have let you take the deal anyway, I would have probably threatened you and locked you away somewhere. It would have happened anyway. Thanos won, and it isn't your fault half of all living things is gone. So don't feel guilty, and just move on."
He bowed his head. "I am so sorry, Tony," he told him, and then, "The same goes for you, you know that right?" Tony looked at him questioning, but also like he could say anything and he was only listening, he wouldn't believe him. "Peter—it's not your fault he's gone."
"He was my responsibility," Tony said. "He was in space—because I told him to go after the wizard." He stopped making eye contact. "Then the suit I built him…unbelievably intuitive…He latched on to the side of the ship when I tried to ground him. I made him an Avenger and then—he was tossed around and then he died. Like everyone else on that planet."
"Tony," he called, getting his attention again. "Whether he came to Titan or not, he would have died anyway. The snap targeted at random, simply half of all life, and Peter was in that half. You can't blame yourself. Please don't blame yourself for it."
Tony nodded. "Alright," he said, "so we shake on it. You don't blame yourself for not taking the deal, and I don't blame myself for that." He offered his hand, which he shook. "Great, now, is there food anywhere near? I am starving."
.
Just left to say that I hope you enjoyed this, and to have a wonderful winter break. Enjoy your holidays and the new year, and Christmas if you celebrate it.
Hunter