Brooklyn Boys|Marvel x Male OC

32 - Tony's Back

"Three weeks, Steve," I sigh as he walks into my room and sits at the end of my bed, "three goddamn weeks."

"Laurie-"

"We can't just sit around doing nothing for the next... who knows how many years."

"I know," Steve sighs, "but what can we do?"

"I don't know! The one guy we need is either dead or still missing."

"Stark?"

"No, Batma- yes, of course Tony." I roll my eyes.

"Hey, drop the attitude." He says.

"Sorry," I sigh, "it's a force of habit."

"I gathered."

"I was thinking of shaving the beard, by the way," Steve continues, "you think I should go for it?"

"If you want." I reply.

"Alright," he nods, "I'll see you in a bit."

With that, he gets up and leaves the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

I go back to usual of staring at the ceiling until either something happens, or until I think of something to do. This time, I couldn't even be bothered to get up and put any music on, so I lay there in silence. A silence that seemed loud. Even though it had been three weeks, my brain was constantly reminding me of what had happened. Yeah, I've lost Bucky before, but it was only him. Not him, Pietro and so many others on the team. We don't even know if Scott or Clint had disappeared, or if they're still around either.

Half an hour or so later, a light shaking goes through the compound and gradually grows stronger. I rush out into the main room to see Rhodes, Bruce, Steve, Nat, Pepper and Rocket about to run outside. So, I follow them.

When we get outside, a huge orange and blue ship is being carried over the compound by Carol. I watch as she brings the ship to land and help both Tony and another person exit the ship.

Behind the group, I stand shocked, seeing that Tony was still alive after him being missing for so long. I watch as Tony speaks to Steve, then hugs Pepper, clearly struggling to walk without help.

"Tony." I smile as he stumbles over to me and falls into a hug.

"Marty," he chuckles, "it's good to see you."

"Are you alright?" I ask when he exits the hug.

"I've been stuck staring at the literal void of space for three weeks, so, I don't know." He laughs softly.

"Come on," I say, "let's get you inside."

We head back inside to one of the living room areas and Rhodes puts a hologram of the casualty report list up. I swallow the lump in my throat as photos of those who have fallen are shown.

"It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey sighs.

"Governments are in pieces and parts that are still working are trying to find how many have gone," Natasha informs, "but it looks like Thanos did exactly what he said he was going to do. He wiped out exactly fifty percent of all living creatures."

"So, where is he now?" Tony asks with a slightly fed-up tone.

"We don't know," Steve sighs heavily, "he literally just opened up a portal and walked straight through it."

"What's wrong with him?" Tony asks again, pointing at Thor.

"He's pissed," Rocket says, Tony giving him a confused look, "he thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but there's a lot of that going around, isn't there?"

"For a second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear." Tony chuckles.

"Maybe I am." Rocket sighs.

"We've been trying to find Thanos for three weeks now," I comment, "deep space scans, satellites, but we got nothing."

"Tony, you fought him." Steve states.

"I didn't fight him," Tony shakes his head, sounding slightly offended, "he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the store."

"He's unbeatable." Tony sighs.

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

"No," Tony replies, "I had a vision a few years back. I didn't want to believe it. Thought it was a dream."

"Tony, I need you to focus-"

"And I needed you," Tony stands up, slightly out of breath and interrupting Steve, "as in past tense. That's more than what you need. It's too late. Sorry."

"You know what I need?" He continues, stumbling a little and pushing things off the table, "I need to shave. And I remember telling you that what we need, is a suit of armour around the world. Whether that impacts our freedoms or not!"

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve says, a little spitefully.

"I said 'we'd lose.' You said, 'we would too that together too.' But guess what, Cap?"

"Tony-" I attempt to interrupt him but it doesn't work.

"We lost, and you weren't there."

"You made your point," Rhodes says sternly, "just sit down."

"No, no, you know what?" Tony continues arguing to Steve, "we need her, you're new blood."

Everyone looks at Carol as Tony says this. She stands there a little awkwardly, but with enough confidence to accept what Tony's saying.

"I got nothing for you, Cap," he now stands right in front of Steve, "I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero, zip, nada. No trust."

"Liar." Tony whispers and everyone stands watching him in shock. Steve has a betrayed and numb look on his face; he's unable to say anything in return.

"Take this," Stark rips off his Arc Reactor and shoves it into Steve's hand, "you find him, put that on, and you hide."

Shortly after, Tony stumbles to the ground. The team all reaches to help him before he claims he's 'fine,' but then falls unconscious. Bruce and I lift him up and onto one of the medical beds in the room next to the lab. Pepper follows us and remains by Tony's side while Banner and I head back to the rest of the team.

"What's going on?" I ask as I see the team discussing their next move.

"Carol was about to leave to find Thano-"

"Don't bother," Nebula comments, appearing behind Carol, "I can tell you where he is."

The team move into one of the conference rooms, and Nebula and Rocket explain Thanos' plan for when he had finished.

"Thanos is there." Nebula states, pointing at a planet on the hologram.

"He used the stones again." Nat says.

"Don't you think we'd be going in a little short-handed?" Bruce questions.

"Well, he has the stones," Rhodey comments, "so why don't we just go and get them, then use them to bring everyone back?"

"Just like that?" Bruce asks again.

"Just like that." Steve nods confidently.

~

"Be safe." I say to Nat as she gears up to get on the jet.

"You're not coming with us?" She asks.

"No," I sigh, "I'm staying to help Tony."

"You're a good man, Laurie." Steve walks over.

"That's a bizarre thing to hear from you," I chuckle, "but thank you. Good luck up there."

"We'll see you in a bit." Steve smiles before entering the jet with everyone else.