I'm so sorry for not updating last week, y'all! I got a my final paper of the semester assigned, and I was recording an audition. On the bright side, I literally got permission from my nerdy English professor to write the paper on (Infinity War spoilers ahead) whether or not Loki is actually dead for good. Personally, I don't think that he's gone for good at all, and I already have a paper written about it in my head. I just have to take it from brain to paper. But I also have to give the other opinion that he is gone for good, so that's a little frustrating, but hey! I get to write a college paper about Loki! I can safely say that this is the only time that I am excited to a school paper.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this late chapter! Sorry again!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter Eighteen

I bring the gun up and train it on him. Please, hit me, Tony. Leave Steve alone. He wasn't part of killing them. It was me.

Tony blasts the gun to pieces with a golden ray from his hand, and I toss it away. I throw a half-hearted punch at him with my left hand, that he easily caught. I'm just glad I got his attention away from Steve.

I rip my hand from his grasp as his helmet reforms, covering his face. I block his punch, but then his boots spit fire, and he picks me up. He carries me through the air until throwing me down onto the concrete floor, kneeling over me. He steps on my constantly aching left shoulder, making it even more painful, and aims his hand on my face. His hand glows more and more intensely, and he fired, but something hit his hand, causing him to miss.

Tony gets to his feet and turns in time for Steve to run up and kick him in the chest. Tony flies towards him and impacts Steve so hard that he throws him meters away. He fires something out of his wrist that binds Steve's legs together, and I get back up. I have to keep his attention on me. I deliver a hard uppercut to the jaw of Tony's suit, and he grabs my shoulders, pulling me into the air again. He slams me into a steel wall and brings his hand up towards me as he prepares a shot. I duck as he fires, making him miss me by centimeters.

I grab his hand with my left and force it away from me. I squeeze as hard as I can, crushing the metal of his glove. He pulls back and opens another gun from his forearm, but I hit his wrist away as he fires, redirecting his aim. The missile slams into the steel frame above one of the cryo chambers and makes it topple over. It crashes into the next chamber, and then the next like dominoes.

Tony lets go, and I drop to the ground. I roll away from the collapsing steel towers as fast as I can while they crash down, but part of me wonders why. Survival instinct, I suppose. That, and the fact that if I do let myself finally go, Tony might turn on Steve.

I get to my feet and glance around for Steve. I spot him over a pile of stone and metal debris, and he waves me away. "Get out of here!" he shouts.

I run off towards the ladder that leads to the launch doors that was used for rockets, leaving him behind. Tony will follow me. I'm the one he's after.

The high-pitched whine of Tony's suit preparing a blast hits my ears, and I duck, the blast sparking on the concrete wall instead of my head. I hit the button for the mechanism, and the roof opens up. I climb up the ladder, and once I get my footing under me on the first level, I jump up to the second. I pull myself up onto the metal flooring and get up as quickly as I can. I run along the metal as the roar of Tony's engines sounds below. I glance down, and find him landing on the level below me. I instantly change course and jump towards the other side of the circular chamber, latching onto the next level.

Tony flies up and kicks me hard in the stomach. I get thrown back to where I just left and land hard, the air instantly leaving my lungs. Tony glides towards me and readies another blast as I struggle to breath again.

I killed Howard Stark because of this place. It's only fitting that his son should kill me because of this place, too.

A flash of blue and white blocks Tony's shot, deflecting it back towards him. Steve. Why won't he stay out of this?

Steve offers me his hand, and I take it. He pulls me up from the floor and says, "He's not gonna stop. Go."

I glance down at Tony as he starts to get back up and run towards the next platform. I jump up and kick off the wall to land on the next level.

If only to remember my previous life and to make Steve happy, I won't die. I'll stay here in this terrible world that only ever took from me.

A devastating crash comes from below, but I don't look back. I come up to the final level and reach the icy air. There's a hiss, and a fiery explosion next to me. I flinch and glance up. The roof mechanism had been blasted apart. The door's falling back down.

I push off and drop down a level or two, landing hard on my left side, a sharp pain shooting through my ribs. Why does my left have to be so much heavier than my right? It makes for terribly painful landings.

Tony's engines roar, and he comes into view soon after. I pick up a piece of led pipe that fell with me, and swing as he comes for me. I hit him into the wall next to me like a baseball and swing for him again as he starts to turn around. He grabs the pipe and rips it from my grasp. He latches onto my wrist and pulls me into him, flipping me around and wrapping his arms around my throat. I gasp for breath, but he refuses to let go.

"Do you even remember them?" he hisses.

They all flash through my mind briefly, but I shove the memories down. "I remember all of them," I strain.

Tony leans backwards and pulls me from the platform. We fall slowly through the air until Steve launches himself at us. He breaks us apart, and we fall much faster. I land on another platform-stone this time-and my metal arm gets wedged between it and my ribs, making my side sting so much worse.

I hiss and gasp as I force myself to at least sit up. I look down and find Tony getting to his feet further below. I can see Steve's shoes but not much else from this angle. Tony takes a few steps towards Steve's shoes, and Steve's voice pants, "This isn't gonna change what happened."

"I don't care," Tony muttered. "He killed my mom."

My heart is crushed even more by his words. I didn't have a choice about it. I didn't. If I did, killing anybody was the last thing I would have done. I'm sorry, Tony. I understand your anger, but please understand my situation.

Tony soars towards Steve and out of my view. I could hear punches landing and groans in response, but I couldn't see them.

A glint of light shined in my eye, and I spotted Steve's dropped shield. I rushed over to it and picked it up, jumping a little further down towards the ground. A few feet below me, Tony had tackled Steve and was preparing either a blast or a punch-I couldn't tell. I raise the shield above my head and launch myself off of the ledge. I bring the edge of the shield down hard on the back of Tony's neck, and he rolls away.

He stops on his back and fires a blast towards me. I block it with the shield and toss it back into Steve's hand as he gets up. Tony rises and throws a wild punch at me that I duck and return. It was enough to make him stumble, and I knee him in the gut. The hard metal made my knee ache, but I ignored the pain as Steve ran up and hit Tony in the face with his shield.

I punch again, but Tony manages to block. Steve punches him, temporarily drawing his attention. I kick Tony in the back of the knee, getting him to kneel. Steve tosses his shield towards me as Tony prepared another blast. I blocked the blast as Steve punched him in the face. I uses the edge of the shield and stab Tony in the stomach, making him double over. Steve punches him again, pushing him down further.

I toss Steve's shield back towards him, and Tony lifts his head, blasting Steve in the stomach. Steve is thrown into one of the concrete walls, and Tony gets up. I rush to get between him and Steve and throw a punch. He blocks and tries to hit me, but I duck and take a step forward. He's forced to take another step back, and I punch again, continually moving forward.

The glowing circle in the middle of his chest must be his power source. Each time he readies a blast, it glows brighter and then dims after he fires. Tony's suit will most likely shut down without it.

Tony takes another step back and extends his hand. His suit whines, and his hand glows as he prepares the shot. I grab his wrist as he fires, forcing the blast upwards. It cuts through the ceiling, and I force him back. The blast cuts off, and I press him into the concrete wall. I force his face away from me and grab for the glowing circle in his chest. He reaches for my wrist and grabs hold, but I dig in, resisting him. His suit sparks as I dig in further and further. The feeling in my left hand might be dulled, but I still felt it. The metal of his suit was so sharp that if I had skin on my left hand, I would be bleeding. The sparks burned as I pulled.

There was a flash of white light and the most blinding and sudden pain that I barely registered that it happened.

I land on my knees and catch myself with my hand. My shoulder. It hurts almost as horribly as when I first lost my arm, and the metal underneath my skin burned. It was almost like my heart was melting. I force myself up and glance at my arm. The metal is gone. I see my left arm lying several feet away. There's wires and sparks coming from my starred shoulder.

A sharp and hot pain stabs me in the back, and I get thrown through the air. I land on the concrete ground on my back and am too exhausted to get back up again.

I shouldn't have tried to emphasize the feeling in my left hand while I was on the run. It would make this moment hurt so much less.

I could hear Tony's blasts and both of their groans. I have to get up. I have to fight with Steve. I can't leave him to fend for himself. But I can't. My body won't let me. It's too hurt and tired. I think I've been awake for two days straight. I'm just as useless as I always am. Before, I couldn't stop myself from hurting others, but now I can't make myself get up to defend a friend.

There's one last blast, and Steve ends up kneeling next to me. I could see Tony out of the corner of my eye.

"He's my friend," Steve panted.

After a moment, Tony muttered, "So was I."

Tony punches Steve to the floor, then picks him up and throws him towards the snow. "Stay down," Tony demanded. "Final warning."

I couldn't see him anymore, but after a second, Steve breathed, "I could do this all day."

With one last push, I manage to roll onto my side. Tony puts his hand up, and his suit whines. I grab his ankle and try to pull him back, but he easily frees himself from my weakened grasp. He turns and kicks me in the face with his metal boot. My nose audibly pops, and everything fades.

I hope you guys enjoyed! Thanks for reading! Hope to see you soon for the final chapter!