|Towards the Endgame|

•Chapter 96• Gasoline

Bruce has to resist the urge to cope with the anxious feeling by biting on his nails and the skin of his fingers – since there were barely any nails left to nibble on. Bad habit. But it came back during times like these. Tony was sitting in the chair in front of Bruce and tapping his feet on the floor rapidly with no idea how to calm down. He didn't want to break the news to him so soon, but he couldn't keep it a secret. What good would that have done?
Beside Tony, Natasha had pulled her knees to her chest. She was staring at the wall behind Bruce with watery eyes and hadn't said a word since he stopped talking. Peter wasn't any better. The boy stood behind Tony's chair with the same worried expression as the adults. "I won't do it, Tony. I can't." Bruce added. Abruptly, Tony stood up from his chair and stormed out of the room. His feet almost moved faster than his body.
Natasha remained seated and continued to stare at the wall. She didn't move or acknowledge Tony leaving. Peter stood still and didn't even think about going after him. "Kid, Strange is waiting for you." Shit. Peter forgot about that. "I didn't want you to leave without knowing," Bruce added. Peter nodded his head and rubbed his arm. "Yeah... yeah, thanks. I'll see you later." Peter shot a small glance at Natasha before leaving the room. Bruce felt just as bad as the did. He heard Tony's footsteps stopping in the distance down the hall. He wasn't certain if he should stop him or not. Bruce lowered himself into Tony's seat beside Natasha. "You won't?" Nat's voice was so quiet he barely heard it. "I can't," Bruce replied softly. He could sense his own tears prickling behind his eyes. "I can't and I won't." He repeated and wiped his eyes.

Tony carefully sat down on the chair standing beside her bed. Y/n seemed a little insecure without Peter here. He didn't want to scare her or make her shut him out again. Not now. He inhaled deeply to collect himself and not let his emotions get the better of him at this point. "Can you please talk to me?" It felt strange to beg. Y/n needed to know he only wanted to understand, not lash out. "I want to know what happened, squirt. You really scared me. I thought you were gone. Actually gone." He added. Y/n nibbled on the inside of her cheeks. "Well, I'm not." She mumbled. "Y/n, don't get smart with me," Tony replied calmly. He didn't want to upset her with his tone. "One moment, you're gone, and a few hours later, you managed to pull yourself out of an artificial coma." Y/n avoided her father's gaze. How was she supposed to explain the whole Loki thing to him? Of all people, Tony's the one that would freak out the most of all. Loki has been an actual trauma for him that he has never been able to process and get over. He wouldn't like it - or believe her - if she told him Loki was the one who helped her. But when she turned to him she could see the clear desperation in his gaze when he looked at her. "Y/n, please, talk to me."
"If I tell you, will that take away some pressure of my punishment? Or are you going to throw me in a box and throw away the key nonetheless? That's what you do with the people who go against you, right?" She remembered what happened in Germany. Natasha and Steve were all either locked away - and broken out by Steve - or fled the country. She would end up like that now, wouldn't she? Natasha would lose her just like she had years ago. "No, Y/n, I couldn't do that. I probably should but I'd rather go to prison myself." Tony said honestly, meaning every word.

He couldn't let his daughter go to jail. He just couldn't allow that. Y/n had to take responsibility for her actions; even Tony agreed on that, but he couldn't send her off to be locked away. The more he thought about it, the more pain it brought him. Anxiety rose in his chest when he thought about his baby behind bars. Like Wanda, with a collar around her neck to make sure she wouldn't leave. Tony couldn't do that to his own flesh and blood. "Dad-" Y/n cut herself off when she looked her father directly into his eyes. "I want to listen to you, baby." Tony carefully reached out to hold his daughter's hand in his. "You don't even have to talk about what happened before you passed out. I'm more concerned about you pulling yourself out of the coma." His words almost got stuck in his throat. Tears were still burning behind his eyes and they could spill any moment as he awaited a response from her. Y/n shook her head. "You won't believe me if I told you." She held onto Tony's hand a little tighter. "You won't want to believe me."
Tony started to grow a little worried. Wouldn't want to believe her? Y/n inhaled deeply and held her father's finger just like she did when she was a child. She was scared that he would rip his hand away and that would have been the last time she ever got to feel her father's touch. "I saw Loki." Her father sat very still. "Loki?"
"He was there. Not some dream version of him the real one." She explained. "I was supposed to die. And when I didn't, I disrupted something in the sacred timeline, but nothing happened to it." It was a lot to take in. If Tony didn't believe her it wouldn't have surprised her. 

"What are you talking about?" He asked. her. With closed eyes Y/n tried to remember what the God of Mischief had told her, as crazy as it may sound. "He works for some organization that keeps track of the timeline and the multiverse. He told me so himself." Taking small steps so he could follow her. But she could tell he didn't believe her "And he placed himself in your mind?" Tony questioned. He sounded a little more like himself. "I know it sounds insane-"
"It is insane, Y/n." He rose out of his chair. "Why are you lying?" This is why she shouldn't have said anything. Peter didn't know either. He would have reacted the same way, if not worse. Not to mention what Natasha would have said. She opened up already, there's no point in stopping now. "I'm not." Her expression was dead serious. "Loki is gone." Tony protested. Y/n was still holding onto Tony's fingers like a child. His hand was still bigger than hers, but not by much. "He's not, Dad. But he's not a threat to us anymore."
"Not-" He stared at her with disbelief, "Not a threat? It's Loki. He almost took you from me along with the rest of the planet! How could a man like that not be a threat? People like that don't change, Y/n." Tony tried his best not to snap at her. She would close up again like an oyster and only speak to Peter again. "If he hadn't changed, why did he pull me out of the coma?" She asked him. Tony fell silent and sat back in his chair. "He used his powers to pull me out of it." Y/n continued. Her father shook his head again. "Impossible." Loki, the God of Mischief, helped his daughter. Why would he have done that? 
Y/n leaned back against her pillows and kept looking down at their hands that rested on the mattress. "I didn't do it myself. I couldn't have." Pieces started to fall in place like the missing pieces of a puzzle.

No, she couldn't have. That's why they were so confused and shocked when she was sitting up with her eyes open. But Loki? What did he have to gain from any of this? To help her wouldn't give him anything. "What else did he say to you?" Just what they needed. A villain from the past to worry about. "Loki?"
"No, Bob Ross." Tony rolled his eyes, "What else did he say, Y/n?" She shrugged slightly and thought back. "You said he's been keeping an eye on you," Tony recalled. "Only for this. They're keeping track of everyone. I created a spike and then lowered it again."
"That's all he said? He didn't ask you for any favors?" If she owed him anything then they had a lot more to worry about. "No," Y/n mumbled. She wasn't going to tell her father about what happened with Norman Osborn, the phantom in her mind she had to fight, and the glances Loki gave her. He even complimented her on her looks. "But there is something else. Something I already knew." She hesitated for a moment, "There were others. Across the Multiverse I mean. Loki said he studied about five hundred thirty-eight files of my variants. They all got an idea, tried to make that idea a reality, and lost her life. All of them died except for me." 
"That is not creepy at all." Tony rubbed his chin slightly as he thought about it. She was supposed to die and didn't. All of this was a little much to take in at once.
"Loki said you were keeping me in there because you were scared I would hurt anyone," Y/n mumbled to her father. Tony's gaze softened almost to the point where he appeared sad and guilty. "Peter said so too." She added. 
"Squirt, we didn't just do that for us. We had no idea what your body was going to do if it woke up. Your heart was, and still is unstable. Your lung... we can't fix it. Not now at least."
"Uncle Bruce can't do anything either?"

Tony shook his head and Y/n's heart started to shatter. His tears were slipping past his eyes, he couldn't hold them all back. "I spoke with Bruce earlier. It was too much. While you were passed out, your heart was acting up, and... well... baby, he can't do anything without putting your life on the line. And I don't know if an arc reactor is going to work..." Tony spoke softly, "I can try to build one but I don't know how much it'll do." That is why he stormed out. He needed to talk to her. He needed to know. Tony wanted to know everything, but Peter was right. They needed to take baby steps so as not to overwhelm her. Y/n placed her hand over her chest. Bruce couldn't fix her? Her dad couldn't fix her?
"I refuse to turn you into some kind of robot and have you run on gasoline or something for the rest of your life." Tony wiped his nose with his free hand, "That's why I wasn't certain if I should wake you up or not. Even asleep you were unstable, just like you are right now. It's only a matter of time before something happens and I can't fix it."
Y/n's eyes began to water. Was she going to die? Tony got a little closer, sat down on the bed right in front of her, and cupped her cheeks in his hands. His thumbs caressed her skin just like he'd done all those times she had nightmares or got hurt and cried her eyes out. That's all she wanted to do right now. She was a ticking time bomb. "That's why we're not going to tell anyone else what happened here today, okay?" Y/n frowned while she tried to hold in her tears. 
"No one can know and no one will know. They're not taking you away from me. They can't if they don't know." Tony continued, "Then we can figure out what to do, okay?"