The Avengers Whump & Bromance Anthology
If Steve Was On Titan
Part 1 of 2
Whumptober 2020
PenPatronus
Steve woke up from the hardest punch yet, but remained flat on his bearded face, inhaling the rotten Titan soil. A tremendous ache weighed down his body and he had to order it to move three times before it actually did. He raised his eyes. The spider kid was on his left, not moving. The Guardians were on his right – they were unconscious, too. Strange was ahead, also on the left and Tony – Tony was fighting Thanos all by himself. And that was when Thanos ripped off part of Tony's own suit, and skewered him with it.
"NO!" Steve cried. His voice came out in a whimper.
Thanos walked Tony backward until he collapsed, then put his massive gauntlet on his head. "You have my respect, Stark," said the Titan. "When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive." He shoved Tony away, and Stark gasped. "I hope they remember you," Thanos continued, standing tall. Blood rained from Tony's mouth.
"No," Steve cried again. He tried to stand, but only managed to do a push up. That power stone sure packed a punch.
Thanos raised the gauntlet. In seconds there would be no more Tony Stark.
"Stop!" said a new voice. Steve looked to his left and saw that Strange was sitting up. "Spare his life, and I will give you the stone."
Steve's stomach flipped, then sunk.
"No tricks."
Strange shook his head.
"Don't," said Steve, at the exact same time as Tony. As much as Steve cared for his friend, not even Tony Stark's life was worth half the universe.
Strange raised his right hand and the time stone appeared between his fingers. Steve fought his way up to his knees, then up to his feet. He stepped forward, desperate to tackle Thanos – to do anything – but his left knee gave out and he collapsed.
Strange surrendered the stone. The Titan added it to his gauntlet. "One to go."
Steve summoned the last of his strength. He got up and started to walk – started to jog – started to run – but Quill flew out in front of him, towards Thanos. The Titan disappeared through a portal. Steve changed directions and sprinted to Tony's side. He knelt beside his friend and clasped the back of his head with his right hand, and Tony's hand with his left. "TONY!"
Tony's blood-soaked lips formed words, but didn't speak them. He looked into Steve's eyes, his own bouncing back and forth between dazed and distant, and narrowed and focused. "C-Cap," he finally slurred, "get it out of me."
"We – we don't have any bandages. You'll bleed to death."
"Trust me," Tony insisted. "Steve – get it out, now!"
The sword was larger than Steve's arm. He gently wrapped his left hand around it, then looked at Tony's whitening face. "Hold on to me," he instructed. Tony wrapped his arms around Steve's neck and pushed his nose against his blue uniform. Steve counted to three, and pulled.
Tony screamed, nearly deafening his friend. His arms went limp, followed by the rest of his body, and he collapsed against Cap.
"Tony!"
"Is a'righ…" Tony said. He regained a bit of strength and sat up, his left arm against Steve's right arm. "Is a'righ, C-Cap…" Tony aimed what was left of the suit that covered his right hand, and sprayed what looked like a thick mist of chemicals against his wound. The bleeding instantly stopped. Steve touched the sealant, mesmerized. It was warm. Tony took the device off his hand, then, and handed it to Steve. "Press your middle and forefinger down and to the left," he instructed. Steve, realizing what Tony wanted him to do, put the device around his hand, gently leaned Tony forward so that he could get to his back, and applied the sealant to the exit wound. Tony grunted and coughed. He put his face in his hands and groaned, then leaned, once again, against Steve's chest.
Then, Tony reached past the pain and returned to reality. He sat up with a start and stared back at a wide-eyed Quill. "Did we just lose?"
Tony rotated his body so that he could see past Steve to Strange. "Why would you do that?" he whispered.
Strange didn't even look sorry. "We're in the endgame, now," he said.
The other Guardians ran over. Peter rushed to Tony's left side and, after looking back and forth between him and Steve, decided that it was a moment to shut up.
Steve was grasping at straws, and he knew it, but he still tried to put on a brave face, for Tony's sake. "The others – Wanda, Bruce, Nat… Maybe Thor returned… They'll stop him. They'll protect Vision."
Tony looked at him, emotionless.
"We'll… We'll get home – back to Earth. We'll get home, and we'll help."
Tony blinked. He pursed his lips together once in a deep flex, then allowed his mouth to open part way. "I…" he started to say. Then he shook his head and lowered his chin to his chest. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"For what?" Steve asked. "Tony?"
"I should've done more…"
Steve looked at Peter, who shrugged slightly. "Tony…"
Tony looked at him. There were tears in his eyes. "I… I had a vision, once. You and the others – earth – invasion… You told me I could've saved you… You asked me why I didn't do more…" A tear dropped onto Tony's bloody face. "I should've done more… I – I lost."
Steve cupped his cheek. "WE lost…" The two teammates nodded at each other. Tony sat up straighter and pressed a series of buttons on the chamber on his chest. The nanotech – what was left of it - slowly floated across his skin into their home. Steve and Peter helped Tony stand up.
Just then, the mantis girl suddenly said, "Something's happening." Seconds later she – she just dissolved. Her body morphed into ash, and she just floated away…
Every mouth dropped in shock. "Oh, god," Steve whispered.
The muscled man disappeared next. Quill looked at Tony with wide, scared eyes. "Steady, Quill!" Tony said.
"Oh, man…" Quill was gone.
"Tony." Steve and Tony turned around. Strange still sat on the ground, looking at them, blood on his cheek. He shook his head and said, with a confidence neither man understood, "There was no other way." And then he was gone, too.
"Mr. Stark." Steve and Tony turned again. The kid – Peter – was staggering towards them looking, dumbfounded, at his hands.
"Oh, no," Steve whispered.
"Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good."
"You're all right."
"I don't know what's happening." The kid collapsed forward into Tony's arms. Steve put his hand against Tony's back to steady him. "I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go, Mr. Stark, please, I don't wanna go." Then the kid went limp, and Tony did his best to lower his body gently to the ground. Steve followed, kneeling on Tony's left.
Peter looked at Tony with an expression Steve couldn't identify. "Sorry," he whispered. And then he was gone, too.
Tony collapsed forward, Peter's body no longer supporting him. Steve grabbed his shoulder and turned him around before he smacked his forehead into the rocks. Tony sat flat, then looked at his own palms. Steve did the same thing. Both men waited a full ten seconds – waited to see if they would die, too.
"He did it," the blue woman said. Tony folded forward in frustration. Then he put his hands to his mouth – then he shut his eyes – and then a small tear exited his right eye.
Steve sat on the ground beside Tony and put his hand on his friend's shoulder.
A minute passed, and then suddenly Tony started breathing deeper and faster, deeper and faster, deeper and faster, like he was having a panic attack. He gave Steve a flabbergasted look, and in that moment Steve knew that the blood loss had caught up to him. He immediately rotated his body so that they were chest-to-chest.
Tony's eyes rolled back into his skull, and he collapsed forward into Steve's arms.
"TONY!"
To Be Continued
