Walking in the Wind // Avengers

A Second, More Depressing, Reunion

•••

It had been 22 days since the snap and Lexie had taken Evie with her to the Avengers Facility, where all the others left were staying as well. Pepper was there too, and even though she had her own apartment there, Lexie'd been staying with her, neither of them wanting to be alone.

So many of their teammates were gone, Erin and May were gone, and they still didn't know anything about Tony and Peter, which was honestly worse. Lexie hated not knowing.

She was currently sitting with Natasha, playing with Evie, but the game stopped abruptly when they heard a distant rumbling. They looked at each other, and quickly got up, leaving Evie in the room as they ran outside, meeting Bruce, Rhodey and Steve on the way, and Pepper who was already outside.

A spaceship was flying, or being carried by a glowing figure?, towards them. The ship touched down on the ground and a stair was lowered to the ground, two figures walking out.

Lexie felt the air leave her lungs when she recognized Tony. A very unhealthy looking Tony, but Tony no less. The other person was blue, and basically carrying Tony down the stairs which was nice of her. This might be the first alien she could like.

She looked behind them to see if Peter would follow them out, but no-one came, and she felt her heart sink.

Steve ran forwards and helped Tony. The two exchanged a few words before Pepper joined them, and her and Tony shared a hug.

When they began leading Tony towards the group, he looked up, for the first time scanning who was there, and his eyes stopped at Lexie, letting out a heavy breath of relief.

Lexies chin began to tremble as her feet finally moved from where they'd been frozen to the ground. She met them halfway and wrapped her arms around Tonys waist and buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging as tightly as he could right now, and placed one hand on the back of her head, shushing her gently when he felt her shaking.

"You're okay," he muttered, and Lexie wasn't sure which one of them he was trying to comfort.

She pulled back slightly so she could see his face. "Peter?" she asked simply. She'd already understood that he wasn't there, but she had to ask. She needed Tony to confirm it.

He didn't say anything, but from the way his eyes went from relief to grief, and he nodded weakly, she got her answer and let a tear fall.

The feeling of loss and defeat was pretty much a constant to her at his point, but she knew that she could grieve later on, and that right now, she needed to help Tony. 

So she wiped her tear away, and her and Pepper supported him over to the others and into the Compound.

•••

The next morning they were all gathered again.

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth," Rhodey spoke as profiles of the people who disappeared were shown.

"World governments are in pieces," Natasha continued. "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." Lexie teared up when Peters picture appeared, and Erins after that. "Thanos wiped out... 50% of all living creatures."

Lexie sat in a chair next to Tony, holding Evie in her arms and tried not to look at the holograms around her, only feeling worse and worse with every face she saw.

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

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

"What's wrong with him?" he pointed at Thor, who sat away from the group.

"Oh, he's pissed," Rocket explained. "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 though you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am."

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

"Who told you that?" he asked. "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, 'cause he's not beatable. He was barely even affected by Lexie, apparently."

"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?" 

"Uh..." he sputtered. "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."

"And I needed you. As in, past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry. You know what I need?" He stood up. "I need a shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse..."

He began taking out the needles in his arm and Rhodey tried to stop him. Lexie curled into herself even more, not able to deal with the conflict on top of everything else. She didn't even have the will to open her mouth and say something, and could only watch on.

"... alive and otherwise, that 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."

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve retorted.

"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?" He stumbled and Rhodey tried to move him back to the wheelchair. "Our best work after the fact? We're the 'Avengers.' We're the 'Avengers,' not the 'Pre-vengers.'"

"Okay," Rhodey nodded, still trying to get his friend to sit down.

"Right?"

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

"Okay. No, no. Here's my point. You know what?" He pointed at the newcomer Carol Danvers, also known as Captain Marvel, while he struggled against Rhodey. "She's great by the way."

"Tony, you're sick. Sit down."

"We need you. You're new blood." He broke free from Rhodeys hold and walked forward angrily. "Bunch of tired old mules. I got nothing for you, Cap." He stopped in front of him. "I got no coordinates... no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar." He pulled the arc reactor from his chest and put it in Steves hand. "Here, take this. You find him, you put that on... you hide." When he was done speaking, he collapsed.

"Tony!" Steve and Rhodey grabbed for him, and Lexie sprung to her feet.

"I'm fine. Let me...," he mumbled, before he passed out.

•••

Tony's back, yay. Peter's not, boo.

I'm still writing Endgame, and it's so sad, I honestly feel bad. I just want my baby to be happy, is that too much to ask for?

However, Lexie is very emotionally dependent on the people she loves, and it wouldn't make sense if she wasn't affected by so many of them disappearing.

Next chapter, which will be out on Christmas Eve, is when they lose against Thanos the second time, so it'll obviously be very festive.

Hope you liked the chapter and have a good final few days before Christmas <3

Vote and comment xx