Tony Stark's mind was a mess.
He had just seen his protégé fade away into nothingness – all that was left of him was dust, and that too was soon flying away in the slight wind of Titan's Surface. Cancel that out – he was ready to admit that Peter Parker was close enough to him to be called his own son, and he was sure that Pepper wouldn't object.
Thinking about Pepper. A dreadful thought came in his mind – how was Pepper? Had she been dusted away as well? or was she still at home, waiting for him to come back? He tried to activate his communication, but then remembered that he didn't exactly have a suit. The wait would kill him, but he knew that there was no other alternative.
Suddenly, he was aware of rustling behind him. Whirling around, he saw that it was just Nebula, and he suddenly remembered that he wasn't the only person left alive on the planet. The "blue-girl" as he had first called her when she made an entrance into the battle, was now his only companion for god knows how long. And with another pang of horror, he remembered how Strange, Quill, Drax, and Mantis had all faded away in front of his eyes.
He wanted to punch Strange in the face when he had first offered to give up the Time Stone to save his life. How he wished that he could've taken the stone himself and hid it far from Thanos' grasp, somewhere he wouldn't be able to obtain it. But destiny had other plans – based on something which Strange saw in his 14,000,605 futures and based on the one future in which they won, it was apparently essential for him to survive. "We're in the end game" – whatever that meant, and "There was no other way." – there's always another way, you just need to know the directions for that other way.
Trying to put his grief aside, he went up to Nebula to check up on her. To his extreme surprise, he found that she was weeping as well. Upon seeing him, she immediately attempted to wipe her tears.
"There's no need to hide your fear, you know?" he said, "It's all part of being a human being."
"Look who you call a human, Stark! I am no human."
"Whatever the case, it is okay to cry sometimes. If u want to talk about it, I'll be here. Only if you want to, though. I'd rather fancy my body being in one piece after all this." It hurt to even talk, but Stark was trying his best to make his compatriot feel better.
"It's my sister, Gamora. Thanos sacrificed her to obtain the soul stone. She wasn't much, but she was the only one I had who I could call family. Her death is entirely my fault. I was stupid enough to think that I could tackle Thanos alone, and sneaked aboard his ship. But I guess I wasn't good enough, and I was caught. Instead of killing me off straightaway, he kept me as bait, as a bargaining tool. He knew that seeing me in that manner would surely cause Gamora to reveal all of her secrets, and that is exactly what happened. Seeing Thanos torture me was enough for her to reveal the location of the soul stone. He took her there, sacrificed her and obtained the soul stone. I not only lost a sister, but the blood of half the people in the universe is on my hands."
"Heyy, heyy, heyy, stop being so hard on yourself. Sure, you made a mistake, maybe it was a big one. But there's no use gloating over it now. It's time that we pulled ourselves together. It's about time that we found Thanos and gave that bitch a taste of his own medicine."
Tony stood up and looked around, searching for a way to return home back to earth. Spotting the Guardians' ship, he was sure that Nebula would be able to pilot it. But when he looked for her, she was still on the ground.
"Look, it may seem hard. But trust me, it gets much easier later on. I've been through such experiences before. Once, a witch showed me a vision in which all of my friends were lying dead in front of me. It could be the worst thing which could happen to me – all my friends dead, and me still being alive. The exact same thing has happened now. I have no idea who's been dusted and who's still alive, and I'm pretty sure that staying here will not be of any help. I need to get back to earth as soon as possible, and I plan on doing with your help, but I think I'll manage to do it without you as well. Now, I'm gonna ask you this one time – are you coming or not?"
Without a word, Nebula stood up and followed him to the Benatar.
"I'm steering."
Tony just smiled.
YOU ARE READING
And the Snap Echoes
Action"You should've gone for the head." Thanos snapped his fingers, and half of all life faded away into dust. In the aftermath of the snap, the Avengers face their strongest foe, but with their numbers ever-dwindling, the Mad Titan seems undefeatable.
