Second Sphere

Debrief

Another week passes. The days had been blending together. We had no leads on Thanos. I wanted nothing more than to make him reverse whatever he had done.

There's shaking as a ship comes into orbit and we all go out to see it. Tony and a girl emerge from the ship and Steve immediately runs over to help.

Pepper rushes over to meet him and wraps him in a hug. I feel a pang in my chest. I won't get that with Bucky.

The day after we are sitting in a debrief.

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodes starts.

I stare at Bucky's picture among the many that we know have been lost.

"World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census and it looks like he did..." she pauses before continuing. "He did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out 50% of all living creatures."

We are quiet as we take this in.

"Where is he now? Where?" Tony asks.

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

Tony sighs. "What's wrong with him?" He gestures to Thor.

Rocket the tiny space raccoon answers, "Oh, he's pissed. He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did but there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"

"Honestly until this exact second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear." Tony says, even now his sarcasm is present.

"Maybe I am." Rocket responds nonchalantly.

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

"Who told you that? I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight, because he's not beatable." Tony retorts.

"Did he give you any clues any coordinates, anything?" Steve asks.

"Uh." Tony sputters, "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus." Steve says.

"And I needed you. As in, past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy." Tony is getting angrier as he talks.

"Sorry" Steve responds but it's barely a whisper.

"You know what I need?" Tony stands up knocking glasses over. "I need a shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse," he rips the iv out of his arm, "alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world. Remember that? Whether it impacted our previous freedoms or not. That's what we needed." Tony rants.

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve retorts getting on edge.

"I said we'd lose. You said, 'We'll do that together, too.' And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there. But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the 'Avengers.' Not the pre-vengers." Tony stumbles and Rhodey grabs on to him.

"Okay." Rhodey says trying to put an end to the rant.

"Right?" Tony asks.

"You made your point. Just sit down, okay?" Rhodey continues.

"No, no, here's my point. You know what? She's great by the way." He points to the new girl.

"Tony, you're sick. Sit down." Rhodey keeps trying to get Stark to take a seat.

Tony doesn't listen. "We need you. You're new blood." He breaks free of Rhodey. "Bunch of tired old mules. I got nothing for you, Cap. I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar." He rips the triangle reactor off his chest and shoved it into Steve's hand. "Here, take this. You find him, you put that on, you hide." Tony collapses to the ground immediately after saying that.

"Tony." Steve says. Rhodey and him both rush down to Stark.

"I'm fine. Let me-" Tony passes out.