|Towards the Endgame|

•Chapter 16• The Kids

"Daddy! Daddy!" Y/n called out. The little girl runs into Tony's lab with a drawing in her hands. "Daddy!" Y/n exclaimed. Tony glanced down at the girl. Y/n proudly holds up her drawing. It was her father in his Iron Man suit. Or well, she tried. Tony smiled at her. "Is that me?" He asked her. Y/n nodded and handed him the piece of paper. She holds up her pointing finger to her lips. "I did not tell Mommy about your secret." She whispered. Tony picked her up and sat her on his lap. "Thank you, Squirt. Mommy would kill me if she found out what I was doing." Tony tells his daughter. Y/n glances up at Tony. "That's why we don't tell the-the secret." The little girl continued. Tony nodded in response. "That's right." He said, "Now, do you want to help Daddy pick out some new designs for his suit?" He asked. Y/n nodded excitedly. Tony tapped on his desk, making a hologram appear. It was the leg piece of the armor. "Daddy, shouldn't that part be up there?" Y/n asked. Tony looked at the design of the leg piece. He soon realized the little girl was right. He figured that's why one of his legs failed on the test the other day. "Shit, you're right," Tony whispered. "Shit," Y/n repeated. Tony snapped his head down at the little girl. His eyes were wide. He presses his pointing finger against his lips. "No, no, only mommy says that word," Tony tells her. "Shit." Y/n giggled. "No, no." He replied. Y/n frowned at her father. Tony returned the frown. Y/n giggled and snuggled into her father's chest. "Shit." She said quietly. Tony sighed. "Mommy's gonna kill me." He said. Y/n looked up at Tony. "Don't worry, Daddy. I won't let that happen." Y/n assures her father. Tony smiled at the little girl. He kissed her forehead. "I know, Squirt. You will always save me." He said as he hugged her. That's what Tony thought about as he breathed his last breaths. He sat in a seat, on the spaceship, facing the big window. He closed his eyes slowly. He thought of his daughter. It was day twenty-two aboard the ship. Oxygen was running out. Tony felt old and weak. He sat thinking about his failure. He lost his daughter. The most important thing in his life was now gone. He was lost in his thoughts as a light appeared on his face. The light free brighter. Tony slowly opened his eyes again. His eyes fell on a woman. She was out there, in space. The woman flew away. Tony sat up slightly, trying to see where she might have gone. Suddenly, the ship started to move. Tony let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes again. A while later, Carol landed the ship on an open spot at the Avengers compound. Pepper looks at the ship with hopeful eyes. The door opens, and Nebula supports a limping Tony as they made their way off the spaceship. Steve runs up to them. He helps Nebula support Tony. "I couldn't stop him," Tony tells him. Steve looks at Tony. "Neither could I." He replied. Tony stopped walling for a second. "I lost the kids," Tony whispered. "Tony, we lost," Steve replied. The blonde man had noticed the red in Tony's eyes. He had been crying. Steve had never seen him like this before. Weakened. "Is, uh..." Tony started. Pepper walked up to him. She had tears in her eyes. "Pep..." Tony whispered. She wrapped her arms around him as she started to cry. Tony wraps his arms around her waist. "I'm sorry, Pep." He whispered. Steve puts his hand on Tony's shoulder. "Let's get you inside." He said.

Inside the compound, Tony sat in a wheelchair. A holographic casualty report lists the names and faces of those lost to The Snap. Peter Parker and Y/n Stark appeared in front of Tony. He looked away from their names and pictures. "It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth," Rhodey spoke up. "World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census. 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." Natasha informs. Tony looks at the Avengers. "Where is he now?" He asked. "We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through." Steve explained. Tony turned to look at Thor who sat in the corner of the room. "What's wrong with him?" He asked. "Oh, he's pissed. He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but you know there's a lot of that's going around, ain't there?" Rocket explained. Tony looked at the raccoon amazed. "Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear." He admitted. "Maybe I am," Rocket replied. Steve looked up at them. "We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep Space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him-" Steve started. "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 stone. That's what happened. There was no fight." Tony replied. Steve looked up at Natasha for a second. Neither of them knew how to comfort him. Steve turned back to Tony. "Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?" He asked. "Pfft! I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming." Tony mumbled. Steve folded his arms over his chest. "Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus," Steve tells the man. Tony rubs his chin gently. "And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late buddy. Sorry. You know what I need? I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse-" Tony said. He stood up from his wheelchair, pushing things off the table in front of him. He then turned to Steve. Rhodey stepped in between the two of them. "Tony," Rhodey warned him. "Alive and otherwise what we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not- that's what we needed!" Tony continued. Steve glared at the broken man in front of him. "Well, that didnt work out, did it?" Steve pointed out. Tony "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, we're the Avengers. Not the Pre-vengers." Tony said. Rhodey pushed the man away slightly. "You made your point. Just sit down." Rhodey tells him. "No, no, here's my point. You know what? She's great by the way." Tony said as he looked at Carol. Rhodey struggled to push his friend back into his chair. "Tony, you're sick. Sit down." He orders. Tony pointed at Carol. "We need you. You're new blood." He said. He managed to push away Rhodey. He now turned to Steve again. "Bunch or tired old mules. I got nothing for you, Cap. I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options...no daughter." He tells the blonde man in front of him. Natasha took a deep breath, trying to hold it together as Tony spoke. Tony puts his hand over his Arc Reactor. He ripped it off his chest and pushes it into Steve's hand. "Here, take this. You find him. You put that on...you hide." Tony panted. The older man then dropped to his knees, having no strength left in his body. Steve quickly bends down, Rhodey following close behind. "Tony!" Steve said. "I'm fine. Let me..." Tony couldn't finish. He blacked out in the middle of the room.

Rhodey had put the man to bed. Tony was sleeping as Pepper sat beside him. Meanwhile, Natasha turned to Steve. "We have to do something and we have to do it fast." She said. Steve looked at the woman. "What are we gonna do? We don't know where he is." Steve reminds her. "Steve, look at him." Natasha started. Steve turned his head to see an unconscious Tony in a bed. "He lost the kid, but most importantly, he lost his kid." Natasha continued. "We're getting them back," Steve replied. Natasha folded her arms over each other. "We have to get them back now, Steve," Natasha argued. "We can't. We have no idea where to go. How are we going to get the stones back if we don't know where to look?" Steve asked her. Natasha glared at Captain America. "I know you want to get her back. But we need to do this right." He tells her. Black Widow shook her head. "No, we just need to succeed." She replied. Rhodey walked into the room. "Bruce gave him a sedative. He's gonna be out for the rest of the day." Rhodey informs them. "You guys take care of him. And I'll bring him a Xorrian Elixir when I come back." Carol spoke up. She turned to walk out of the room when Steve stopped her. "Where are you going?" He asked the woman. "To kill Thanos," Carol answered. Steve and Natasha walked after her. "Hey, you know, we usually work as a team here, and between you and I, your morale's a little fragile," Natasha tells her. "We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight too," Steve added. Rhodey walked in after them. He leaned against the doorpost. "You even know where he is?" He asked her. Carol shrugged in response. "I might know people who do." She tells them. "Don't bother. I can tell you where Thanos is. Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. And when he worked, he talked about his great plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask 'where would we go once his plan was complete?'. His answer was always the same: 'To the Garden'." Nebula spoke up. Rhodey rolls his eyes slightly. "That's cute. Thanos has a retirement plan." He said. "So where is he?" Steve asked. Rocket jumped on top of the table. "When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it... Until two days ago. On this planet." Rocket tells them as he showed a hologram of a planet. "Thanos is there." Nebula added. Natasha took a closer look at the planet. "He used the stones again." She acknowledged. "Hey, hey, hey. We'd be going in short-handed, you know." Bruce cut in. "Look, he's still got the stones, so-" Rhodey started. "So, let's get 'em. Use them to bring everyone back." Carol cut him off. Bruce looked at the blonde woman. "Just like that?" He asked her. "Yeah, just like that." Steve cut in. Natasha looked at the three. "Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this... I mean we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try." She said. "If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end differently than before?" Bruce asked. Carol looked at Bruce Banner. "Because before you didn't have me." She tells them. Rhodey crossed his arms as he looked at Carol. "Hey, new girl, everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?" He asked her. Carol turned to look at him. "There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys." She replied. Thor suddenly stood up from his seat. He walked up towards Carol. He stood in front of her, holding out his hand, catching Stormbreaker as it flies over to him. Carol doesn't flinch. Instead, she smiled at Thor. The God of Thunder looks at his friends. "I like this one." He tells them. Steve looks back down at the hologram of the planet. "Let's go get this son of a bitch." He said. The Avengers agreed, starting to gear up. Natasha walked up to the room where Tony lay unconscious. Pepper looks up at the woman. "We're gonna get her back." Natasha tells her. Pepper holds onto Tony's hand. "He needs her. She means more to him than life." Pepper said quietly. Natasha put a hand on Pepper's shoulder. "She did to all of us. But she's coming back." Natasha assures her. Pepper looks up at her and smiled. "Thank you, Nat." She replied. Natasha looked at Tony. "Keep an eye on him. We'll be back as soon as we can." She said. Pepper nodded and watched as Natasha left the room.

A/n: Short Author's note. It's my birthday!!🤗
-Jaycee🤗💜