In Your Eyes // Steve Rogers

Heart & Soul

At the conference table, they had sat Tony down. Bruce hooked him up to an IV machine to get his fluids back to normal. Natasha returned from the kitchen and set down a plate of saltine crackers in front of him.

Tony remained the only one sitting at the table. The remaining team gathered, spread throughout the room. Carol, Thor, and Nebula remained on the outskirts. Rocket had sat against the wall.

Steve and I naturally gravitated towards standing together. He rested his palms on the chair in front of him, watching Tony solemnly. I watched him, too, but didn't spare a glance in our directions.

Rhodey programmed the projector on the table to work. A hologram of faces started to appear, with a red shaded number rapidly increasing, representing the names of the Vanished as they were reported missing across the world.

"It's been twenty three days since Thanos came to Earth," said Rhodey, beginning the meeting.

"World governments are in pieces. Parts that are still working are trying to take a census... It looks like he did, well, exactly what he said he was gonna do: Thanos wiped out fifty percent of all living creatures," continued Natasha.

"Where is he now?" asked Tony, looking around. "Where?"

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

Tony, at last, rolled his eyes to meet mine. "'A portal' huh? Portals. That's your territory, isn't it?"

"If I knew where he went, we would've been there," I sighed.

"You knew where I was though didn't you?" he asked rhetorically. His head was tilted, his brow furrowed, because he knew he was in the higher position of power.

I shrugged. "I went back, Tony. By the time I went back to Titan, you weren't there." He opened his mouth to say something witty, I suppose, but I didn't care to hear it. "You're Tony Stark. You created the greatest invention of our time in a cave. Did you really expect me to believe you wouldn't find your way home?"

"I wouldn't have, if not for her," he was quick to retort, pointing to Carol. "Clara Blake, Watcher of Time and Space, Agamotto or something, couldn't be bothered to find me. But, sure. I digress."

I pursed my lips and tilted my palms face up for a moment. I didn't have anything else to say. He wasn't going to hear my reasoning; he looked for blame, and he placed it on me. I let it happen.

Tony turned to look at Thor. "What's up with him?"

"Oh, he's pissed," chimed Rocket. "Thinks he failed. Which, of course he did, but there's a lot of that goin' around, ain't there?"

"Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear," admitted Tony.

"Maybe I am," said Rocket.

Steve steered the conversation back on track. "We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans, satellites, and we got nothing," he said. He faltered, then inhaled a soft breath. "Tony, you fought him."

"Who told you that? No, I didn't fight him. He wiped my face with a planet while the Bleeker Street Magician gave away the Stone," corrected Tony hastily. Raising his eyebrow, he turned to me, waving his finger in the air. "You know about that by the way? The guy you trusted to protect your precious Stone gave it away. We kept it from you and I trusted him. But maybe we should have just given it to you."

"I know about it. But you also know what he said. 14 million possibilities. One win. He did it for a reason," I reminded him.

Tony rolled his eyes. "God. He lied to you and you still trust him."