"You know, the last time I saw you all, I left to go and make a run at Thanos' life. There was this unspoken thing between Gamora and me before I left."
Nebula kicked out at a loose stone, sending it skidding across the surface of the dead planet she had always heard so much about.
"When she saw me off, I was probably going to die because of it. If I had joined up with you like she had offered, then perhaps I wouldn't have been captured and my sister would still be alive. She was always the good one. The one that people loved. I'm always coming in second place."
The Guardians of the Galaxy were licking their wounds after their ill-fated attempt to prevent Thanos from taking the Time Stone. Even with their numbers bolstered by three colorfully dressed Terrans and a former enemy turned member, Nebula, they had not succeeded. Lightning cracked in the sky, and a breeze began to move through the sky.
"Something's happening." Mantis said. "Oh, no. The crabby puppy…"
"Rocket's alive?" Drax asked. "Tell him to meet us here, then. Preferably with the pirate angel. His rippling muscles will save us."
"He was," Mantis said. "I'm so sorry."
"Aw, man." Star-Lord said, closing his eyes. "Not Rocket. First Gamora, and now him. What about Groot?"
"Groot is alive. I think." Mantis said. "Nebula, did your father say anything about encountering Rocket and Groot?"
Nebula shook her head.
"He didn't say anything about that. He just brought Gamora back to his ship."
"And what were her last words?" Star-Lord said.
"The last thing my sister said was that she wouldn't let my father torture me. That she'd rather take him to Vormir then see me be hurt." Nebula said. "That's where the Soul Stone was. That's where she is now, I'd bet."
"Then we gotta go there." Star-Lord said. "He must have been lying, he wouldn't kill his own daughter just for a stupid little rock…"
"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them." Nebula said, bowing her head. "He did it."
"Peter, our own father killed our siblings for less." Mantis placed her hand on Star-Lord's shoulder gently. "I read Thanos' feelings, nothing else could have made him feel so-"
"Now?" Star-Lord interrupted. "Get your hand off me. I don't want you to try and make me feel better. Now is the time you're dropping this on me, Mantis?"
"What?" Mantis said, looking confused.
"Like, the day the woman I love and my best friend die, you just unload this garbage on me." Star-Lord scoffed. "Real smooth."
"I just thought-" Mantis began, trying to step closer to him.
"Thought what?" Star-Lord began edging away from her. "That you could just go on and pretend that you weren't that monster's kid? That I'd be happy to learn there's another piece of him out there in the universe? Some help you were back there. You have his powers, but you couldn't stop Thanos from breaking free."
"But I don't have his powers, that's why-"
"That's why I exist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Heard it all before. How long did you know?"
"Well, he never told me, but I put it together-"
"And how many of our siblings died before it got through to you? Five? Fifty? Five-Hundred?"
"Nebula-"
"Don't change the subject. Thanks, uh, for the warning, by the way." Star-Lord said. "You could have told me hey you're Dad's a psycho jackass Celestial who killed your Mom but you didn't, did you? You didn't treat me as your sibling then, so why should I now? Yondu wouldn't have died if not for you. I'll bet he told you about that tumor in my Mom's head and you just laughed and laughed at us poor, stupid, mortal Terrans."
"But Peter," Mantis' eyes began shining with tears. "We're family."
Star-Lord seemed to consider this for a few seconds, conjuring up the cruelest insult he could possibly think of.
"No. You're just some bug on the galaxy's windshield. You disgust me. You know what, you're not even in the Guardians of the Galaxy anymore. You're fired."
Star-Lord marched off, enjoying the sick sensation of anger in his chest. That someone else was responsible, someone else had hurt him so badly. But somebody blocked his way.
"Get out of the way, Drax." Star-Lord snarled. Drax didn't budge.
"What you said was textbook asshole behavior, Quill." Drax said. "I don't know what that means, but I assume that means a scientist brought you to a lab and studied you and presented their findings to the university and about what asshole behavior truly looks like. That's the only thing that makes sense to me."
"Mantis didn't kill your mother, or Yondu, or Gamora, or Nebula. We were going to kill the person who was actually responsible for that as well as the deaths of my wife and daughter, but you disrupted Mantis' concentration. If anything, it's your fault we're where we are now."
"Nebula's not dead, genius." Star-Lord scoffed.
"Thank you for the compliment." Drax pointed towards where Nebula had been sitting.
Nebula.
"She died a few seconds ago." Drax explained. "Perhaps if you weren't feeling so sorry for yourself and blaming Mantis for your problems, you'd have noticed. If you're planning to fire me for insubordination, Quill, don't bother. I quit."
"Then the Guardians of the Galaxy are over, then." Star-Lord said. "Whatever. I'm going to go fix the ship."
And with that, Star-Lord flew off to find parts for The Benatar.
"You were very brave, telling him that." Drax said. "I know what that meant to you."
"He hates me." Mantis hiccupped.
"Yes." Drax said. "About as much as I hate dancing. But I don't hate you. And that's something. Let us cry together for friends and family lost in this vast universe of ours, and when we're finished we can help that asshole get us off the planet."
The two friends held hands with one another. Drax began to cry alongside Mantis.
"Maybe we can start our own team." Mantis said, attempting to sound cheerful. "How does the X-Men sound?"
"I was thinking Drax and the Destroyers, but we'll workshop it." Drax said, frowning slightly yet still happy he had a friend to have an argument with at all.
…
"Tony." Doctor Strange addressed Iron Man. Spider-Man had run off after Star-Lord to try and find food in the ship.
"There was no other way. I looked through the millions of possibilities the time stone presented to me. I even used the time stone to act out dozens of them. I saw our entire party die over and over and over again. This is something that cannot be changed. It's a canon event. Anything else would risk an incursion."
"Incursion." Iron Man repeated. "I assume that means something worse than what just happened?"
"It means all life is destroyed." Doctor Strange said. "You, me, the kid, everyone. It was either 50% of all life lost or 100% of all life lost. Neither one of those choices were desirable."
"No shit, Sherlock," Iron Man said. "So you're saying we were damned if we did, and we were damned if we didn't."
"Basically, yeah." Doctor Strange nodded.
"You know what the worst part of what you just said is?" Iron Man said. "In your toga (you'll have to tell me who does your tailoring when we get back, by the way, I'm having a college reunion in a month), I'd have done the exact same thing. And that drives me crazy."
"This is a crazy universe." Doctor Strange said. "You learned you could save your own life through transistors, and I found the rabbit in the hat."
"Yeah, about that. The blue meanie back there… she dusted." Iron Man said. "There were seven of us, unless your cape counts. That's a fifty percent chance of one of us dying. So, who's next?"
A pregnant pause passed between the man of science and the man of magic.
"I might have known." Iron Man sighed. "Is there any coming back from this?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"The Time Stone only showed me up to a certain point. The future hasn't happened yet. We have to choose it for ourselves. But it's not pretty."
"Well, do me one favor." Iron Man said. "Tell the kid. He's my future. He can fix this."
"Okay." Doctor Strange agreed.
"You look out for him. And if he won't do what needs to be done, you do that shit for him." Iron Man said. "You owe me that much. Deal?"
"Deal." Doctor Strange reached out and shook hands with Iron Man, wincing as his injury was exacerbated by the metal hand that shook his own.
"Tell me what happens so when I come back, I can help."
And so, Doctor Strange detailed in length to Iron Man how exactly the victims of Thanos could be saved.
…
"Mr. Stark? Mr. Strange?" Spider-Man swung in, carrying bags of rations. "You don't look so good."
"Yeah. Getting stabbed does that to you." Iron Man grimaced. "Hey, kid. Sit by me."
Spider-Man obliged, offering a bagged treat.
"It's edible. I saw the Star-Lord eat one of them. Called them zargnuts. Although, earlier he said he's half-human, so not sure what it does to you and me."
"Save the rations for yourself and the others." Iron Man said. "I don't need them."
Spider-Man's spider-sense went off.
"Whatever happens next, I just want you to know that I made the right choice when I met you in Queens." Iron Man said.
"No! Mr. Stark, no, no, no, you can't go, you can't go…" Spider-Man begged.
"I was Iron Man." Iron Man said. "Now, you're going to have to be the new Iron Man. Can you do that for me, Peter?"
"Uh, yeah." Spider-Man said. "I guess."
"Well, before you go off firing tank missiles and unibeaming baddies like I did, there's a little test. Can you say, 'I am Iron Man' for me? It's the equivalent of signing your name on the S.A.T's, you get 500 points for doing it."
Spider-Man took a deep breath, and said it with as much confidence as he could muster.
"I am Iron Man."
He looked over at his mentor, who smiled at him knowingly. Iron Man patted Spider-Man on the back and pulled him into a hug.
"Nice work, kid."
Iron Man.
…
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