Loving Yous A Little Bit Hard Sometimes / Bruce Banner

8. Failure is an Option

I Can do it with a broken heart/ Joffrey Baratheon / Rieka Stark out now!

"We just wait?" Alisha pondered. 

"We just wait." Bruce agreed. "And you heal." 

So Alisha spent a lot of time in bed tinkering on her tablet while Bruce gave her foot massages. It wasnt a bad life but she was bored laying around and waiting for her body to regain her strength. She started physical therapy with Tony and they were getting stronger every day. When Thanos emerged they would be ready, they had to be. 

"Pepper is pregnant." Alisha remarked coming up to Tony. 

"I know." Tony agreed. 

"Must have been some affair, three months along already... that was pre wedding..." She added. Tony smirked back at her. "Shame, shame, I know how serious you are about waiting until marriage."

"You know me." Tony mused. 

"Congratulations Tony. You are going to be good father because you are a great brother, that kid is going to be so lucky."  ALisha assured. 

"Thanks, Lida. You are going to be the best aunt and babysitter right?"

"Duh, I have wanted kids since I was a kid. I'm stealing this baby the moment they stop being an infant. Infants are gross, toddlers are my jam. Thats when the fun starts-"

'He used the stones again' Nat declared. Tony and Alisha's smile fell. 

'Let's go get them,' Carole demanded. 

''we use them to bring everyone back... just like that?' Alisha questioned looking around. Her and tony were stronger now. Not full strength by any means but they could walk and move and in their suits they were twice as strong, five times as strong on a good day. 

 They were ready, they needed to get them back. It wasn't too late. They hadn't lost all hope. They could get everyone back. 

''Yeah just like that.' Steve agreed.

'Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try.'' Natasha added. 

''If we do this, how do we know it's not gonna end differently than it did before?' Bruce questioned, always the logical voice in the room. 

''Because before you didn't have me.' Carole added, confidently. 

''Hey new girl, everybody in this room is about that superhero life. If you don't mind my asking where the hell have you been all this time?' rhodie questioned her.

''There are a lot of other planets in this universe and unfortunately they didn't have you guys.' Carole told him. Thor got up standing to face Carole summoning his axe she stood confidently in front of him staring him down. She didnt flinch, Alisha would have if she didnt know Thor and knew he was a teddy bear to his friends. 

''I like this one.'' THor decided. 

''Let's go get this son of a bitch.' Alisha agreed. 

"You shouldnt go." Tony corrected. 

"Excuse you?" Alisha sassed. "I was there, with you when all hell broke loose. You can't bench me."

"YOu are still healing, recovering-"

"So are you!" Alisha corrected. "If I'm not going, neither are you." Tony grit his teeth. "Dont even try Tony. We are in this together."

"We can only win together." Steve agreed. 

"Fine but-"

"No buts, I call shotgun!" Alisha corrected heading out to the jet. 

But that fight, from the moment they landed to the moment Thor killed Thanos was all a blur, because they lost again. Heading home, they were less amped up, they slumped back in their seats, in a daze. The stones were gone. This was their new reality. 

The universe required correction after that the stone serves no purpose,  beyond temptation, Thanos had told them, Alisha closed her eyes rubbing the tension from her head. You should be grateful Thanos had told them as if it was something to be proud of, mass murder with a snap. 

You murdered trillions! Bruces voice echoed in her mind that night as she stared at the ceiling, they lost... again. 

Where are the stones?

Gone, reduced to atoms, reduced to dust, just like everyone he dusted. Was this really the world he thought would be for the best?

Thanos had used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed Thanos apparently but as he claimed it, the work was done. It always will be. He thought himself inevitable.

"Lida?" Bruce whispered kissing her shoulder, she rolled over to face him. 

"We have to find a new normal without them." She realized. "Without Peter..." 

"I'm so sorry, Alisha." Bruce whispered holding onto her. "I'm so sorry." 

"People were counting on us and we failed... we failed trillions." 

"Dont put this on yourself." 

"I was there, I fought against him that day in space and he tossed us around like we were nothing." Alisha countered. 

"He had too many stones already." Bruce reminded her following her up as she sat up. "He was too strong." 

"Stephen said something about 14 million possibilities and only one where we won... I guess it was the other 14 million because we lost, there is no coming back from this."

"What do you want to do?" Bruce questioned. 

"I need a drink." ALisha decided getting up. "Then I want to sleep for week before thinking about what the heck is next for us." 

"Sounds like a good plan to me."