Project: A Stark Winter

Prologue: In a Heartbeat

Your breath comes in short gasps as you use all your remaining strength to hurl yourself over fallen rubble. To your right you see Peter Parker leaping and swinging away from the fray with the Infinity Gauntlet, a horde of enemies on his heels. Making a beeline for him, your heart pounding loudly in your ears, you send a silent prayer up that you can reach him in time. As you reach Peter and grab his forearm to lead him in a new direction you feel his arms snake around your waist as he hands you the gauntlet and lifts you both off the ground with his webs. Clinging to him as you swing farther away from the space dogs that you've come to learn are Outriders.
"Watch those hands, Kid.", comes two sets of voices simultaneously in your comms, belonging to your father and your fiancé. As you land and share a small smile with the now blushing teen hero you respond sarcastically,
"So glad that you both don't have anything else to be worried about and can focus your weird protectiveness on me." Before you have time to wait for a response you're off again gauntlet clasped tightly to your chest. You narrowly dodge a space dog as it leapt for your legs, jumping to the side and rolling into a crouch. Your knees take the brunt of the fall, tearing through your suit. Dragging yourself to your feet once again you take off toward the ridge.
"I shouldn't have skipped P.E so often! This game of capture the flag is a little much and these guys play dirty," you say to the team in a gasp, legs pumping carrying you as fast as they can.
"This way Speck!" called your father from the top of the ridge waving to you briefly in his Iron Man suit as he blasted away enemies that came his way. As you reach him, your father's mask pulls back to reveal a concerned-looking Tony, bloodied and bruised.
"Friday, scan for injuries." He commands his A.I as he looks you over.
"Dad, I'm fine. Just a couple of scratches. No biggie." you say as you shrug and do a small twirl to prove that you're not too badly hurt. Expecting a sarcastic comment, it surprises you when he instead pulls you into a tight hug. You rest your head gently against the metal of the Iron Man suit hoping your dad couldn't feel the way you trembled from both exhaustion and fear. As you pull away and look around at the battlefield around you, the battle looks hopeless. Outriders were swarming like roaches over the scene and close behind were the many enemies of the Black order that seemed never-ending in number. Scanning the field your eyes then land on Captain America, your Steve Rogers. Bloodied and beaten but still fighting Thanos with everything he has. He reaches behind him and calls Thor's hammer Mjolnir to him. Your eyes go wide as he stands proudly, shoulders squared wielding a weapon only those who are deemed to be worth can lift. He takes a steadying breath and begins the assault again. Each strike he takes against Thanos is met with an equal blow. You had to admit that it was kinda hot seeing him so unleashed like this, your eyes scanning his every rippling muscle.
"I fucking knew I saw that hammer move at our party." Tony mutters in surprise as he places his hand on your shoulder and then is off to help his friend. Right. We are fighting to save the world. You watch as they enter into an almost dance of a fight. Each strike against the other is perfectly timed. You chew your lip and debate on weather to join the fray or remain here with the gauntlet. The reprieve of battle you had ended as a pair of sharp teeth dig into your calf and drag you to the ground. Reaching to the belt on your waist you take out a dagger and begin slashing at the Outrider as it tries to take the gauntlet from your hands. You feel the warm wetness as your leg becomes sticky with blood, the space dog taking another bite and locks his jaw dragging you from the ridge. A Black order soldier strides up beside you and kicks the gauntlet free from your arms as you cry out in pain. The soldier smirks down at you a kicks your wounded leg with a great force, but doesn't expect that you'd use the moment to grab his leg and pull him to the ground beside you. Grunting against the pain you claw for the gauntlet in his hands frantically, calling for anyone to help you. With a sharp crack of an elbow to your jaw he catches you off guard and you lose focus. Suddenly there is a sharp pain in your left side as you look to see an arrow lodge in your ribs. The soldier you were wrestling with knocks you to the ground with ease while scrambling to his feet. He tosses it to a comrade as they work to get the glove to Thanos. The soldier looks back with a sick smile and gives a low whistle as the dog once again lurches for your body. Raising your hands defensively you roll to the side and just barely dodge it's first attack.
"Fucking hell." You shout, gripping your side where the arrow is firmly lodge. Taking a deep breath you quick break the end and toss it to the side and take your dagger from your belt. The space dog rounds the ridge for a second attack but you manage to gain an upper hand against the as you slit its throat, blood spraying over your face. Limping to your feet you call out to the team,
"The gauntlet is lost! They HAVE IT!" tears begin to prick your eyes as you will your legs to carry you over to the ongoing fight with Thanos. You see that he has knocked down Steve, who now lays practically unconscious on the ground, blood coats his face as he looks on defeated and battered. Your father is still locked in combat with the giant purple man when you notice him looking over to Dr. Strange. With shaking hands, Stephen raises a single finger to your dad and you feel your stomach sink. In all your life you had never felt a feeling like this. You thought you had hit the lowest point five years ago when half the world disappeared in a cloud of dust, but as you looked on at the scene before you, breath caught in your lungs, your world began to crumble.
"NOOOOO!" you scream out for your father as you begin to realize what is about to happen. The sound of it bone chilling as it echoes across the rumble of the battle field. Teammates look to you; some with confused looks of bewilderment, some with knowing sadness. You feel tight tendrils of mystic magic wrap around your body as they hold you to the spot. Fighting against your restraints like a bull in a cage, you thrash and seize doing anything to break free; to get to your dad before it's too late.
"No! Please. Strange. Please!" You scream out, sobs shaking your frame as our eyes look around frantically for help. Making eye contact with Dr. Strange he lets loose a single tear and shakes his head. This was the one way that we would win this fight, you realized. Tony Stark would die so that everyone would live. Bile rose in your throat as you stared in horror at the scene unfolding before your eyes. Gulping in air, you released a shaky breath while tears spilled free.
"Dad?" You murmur into the comms. Steve raises his head to meet your eyes confused to what he's hearing. Tony drags himself into a sitting position next to the rumble of the time portal and looks at you with a soft smile on his face.
"Yeah, Speck?" He replies, a quiver in his voices as he turns back to face Thanos who is mid speech.
"I'm not ready for you to go."
"I know, y/n. I'm not ready to leave you." He whispers honestly. Thanos takes a large step forward and you realize you were out of time. Panic fills your chest as your breathing picks up and you fight against your restraints once more.
"I love you, three thousand." You say firmly, pouring everything you had into your words. You hear the deep rumbly laugh of Thanos as he says to your father,
"I am inevitable.", a sick smile spreads across his face as he leans even closer to your father. As your frantic motions almost draw attention from Thanos, a second tendril of magic wraps around your mouth as you fall to your knees, tears spilling free. You close your eyes and scream the sound muffled and silent, willing this to not happen. This couldn't be happening. You had lost so much to Thanos already, but this was a loss you couldn't bear.
"Speck, I love you." comes a soft whisper through the comms, and your heart shatters. Opening your eyes to the nightmare before you, you watch as your dad reveals the infinity stones in the glove of his suit. A gentle breeze begins to stir the dirt around you as the energy begins to shift. Thanos takes a step back in panic as he stares at your father. The power of the stones, not meant to be held by human hands, courses through your fathers body and already draining his life. His body protesting the power he shook from the strain but held firm as he raised his arm higher into the air.
"And I...am...Iron Man." are your father's final words as he snaps his fingers. A blinding flash of white light blurs your vision as you lean away at the surge of energy that fills the air around you. When it clears you can see the dust of the enemies around you as they begin to dematerialize. The magic restraints release you as you sprint straight toward your father, not sparing a glance at anyone else. Falling to your knees at his side, you turn his face to look at you.
"Friday, scan for injuries!" you scream at the A. I. in your father's suit as you lean him against a broken slab of concrete.
"Systems shutting down, internal injuries too great," Friday responds in a matter-of-fact tone.
"No, GODDAMNIT! Someone help him!" You scream hysterically, your heart practically beating out of your chest. Through your stream of tears, you see Pepper running up. She slows as she approaches and falls to her knees opposite you and takes Tony by the hand. Looking into your eyes, tears begin to fall down her pale face sharing a look as if to say This is it, honey. Realizing help was not on the way because the help was always your dad. You throw your arms around your dad's broken body clinging to what little life he had left, begging him to fight to stay alive.
"Dad, no, please. Please, don't leave me here. You can't go yet." His only response was a single tear falling down his cheek as he wrapped his hand around yours.
"I love you, Tony. Always." comes Peppers small, broken goodbye. She gently kisses his forehead as the team around you takes a knee. You feel Steve behind you as he places a hand on the small of your back, letting you know he's here. As you pull back a bit and look into your father's eyes you feel the grief taking hold a settling in for a long stay. The light slowly begins to leave his eyes until his breathing stops and you know he's gone. A broken sob escapes your throat at the realization of all you have lost. The world might've won another day and lives are being restored across the planet but you have lost the one person who was always there for you. This was a loss far greater than anything you had ever felt. Losing Natasha was hard enough to move on from but knowing that your dad would never be there to make sassy commentary on the way you work in the lab, your choice of the 'Capsicle' as your person, or tease you endlessly about anything and everything was creating a black hole of grief in your chest. The world lost Iron Man, sure. But you lost your hero, your dad.