Earthbound

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟜𝟛

Third Person

Coming Home

『• • • ✎ • • •』

23 Days Later

Astred had took to teaching Nebula how to play games, inbetween trying to repair the ship and try and get home, but they were now stuck, with the oxygen running out. "We're playing games, as we're waiting to die." Nebula told her.

"Yes. Yes, we are. Better than waiting to die." Astred said as she flicked the piece of paper towards Nebula, Astred looked over and saw that Tony was going to sleep, presumably for the final time. Astred stood up and Nebula followed, they both placed him in a chair and Astred sat down next to him, looking out of the window.

What she was not expecting was a bright golden light to show and for Tony to be affected by this light, the light moved closer and it looked to be in the shape of a person, a woman to be exact.

『• • • ✎ • • •』

It was a long journey back, but they made it, Astred and Nebula helped Tony walk out of the ship and Steve ran up and took Tony off of them. "Eric!" Astred yelled as she saw her brother, he ran up to her and hugged her. "I've missed you. I'm so glad you're OK." He said.

"I'm guessing the UN have given up on chasing you guys." Astred said, as she tried to take a step forward, but the past 23 days caught up to her, she fell forward, and Eric held her up until they got inside.

Once inside the compound, Astred was put on an IV, because despite being Asgardian, she was still hit heavily from the time spent in space. "It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey said, Astred was sat next to Luke, who had told her that Sarah-Jane, Sky, Rani's parents, and Chewie had suffered at the hands of Thanos.

"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 50% of all living creatures." Natasha explained as people the Avengers knew came up on the hologram, the ones who were wiped out.

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

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

Tony then pointed to Thor and asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh, he's pissed." Rocket answered, "He think he failed. Which, of course, he did... but there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?" Rocket added.

"Honestly, until this exact second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear." Tony told the talking raccoon.

"Maybe I am." Rocket said.

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

"Who told you that?" Tony asked, he added, "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."

"Did he give you any clues? Any coordinates? Anything?" Steve asked.

"Uh... I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming." Tony told them.

"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus." Steve told him.

"I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy." Tony told him, he then stood up and said, "You know what I need? I need a shave. And I believe I remember telling all you'se, alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armour 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 told him.

"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 told him, Rhodey tried to get Tony to sit back down and he said, "Okay."

"Right?"

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

"Okay. No, no, here's my point. You know what? We need you. You're new blood. Bunch of tired old mules. I got nothing for you, Cap. I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar." Tony told him, he then took off his arc reactor and handed it to Steve, "Here take this. You find him, you put that on, you hide." Tony said, he then collapsed to the ground.

『• • • ✎ • • •』

"They're going to kill Thanos?" Astred asked Luke, "Yeah, that's where Eric is." Luke answered.

"Yeah, I totally think that's gonna end well." She said as she picked up her Xbox controller and turned it on, "Are you really gonna play video games now?" Luke asked.

"Yes. There's nothing better to do, until everyone comes back from space." Astred answered, she then added, "We have to stay here until everyone is back, then we can go back to Ealing. Considering that's where Mr Smith is, and we can't continue asking Rani and Clyde to look after the house."

"I know. Oxford have emailed, they said that all learning will be conducted online after summer, due to the damage caused by Thanos. That's if we want to continue going." Luke told her.

"You should. As horrible as this might sound, we can't just stop our lives... Wait, what about the Doctor?" Astred asked.

"I got Mr Smith to call him, the TARDIS landed on Bannerman Road, but when Clyde and Rani checked, no one was inside, the TARDIS is also dead." Luke answered.

"Oh, shit. We really are stuck."

『• • • ✎ • • •』

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