The Man My Father Always Talked About • A CAPTAIN AMERICA STORY

53

~53~

Clara had left for her room to suit up. She changed from her comfortable sweatpants and sweatshirt to a pair of black pants and a faded light yellow fitted t-shirt. She tied her hair back before reaching for the final piece to her suit. Her fingers fiddled over her old silver bracelet, a prototype she had made before her final product. She had lost her suit in Wakanda after Thanos smashed her nanobot bracelet, so the prototype would have to do for now. When she was finished, she stopped by Tony's room to say goodbye. She sat on the edge of his white sheeted hospital bed with her hand on top of his.

"We'll be back before you know it," Clara said. She knew he couldn't hear her but she didn't care. "We're going to get everybody back, I promise," she whispered. Footsteps stopped at the, causing Clara to look up and see Pepper. She had left Tony's bedside for only a few minutes to grab a cup of coffee. "I guess you've heard." Clara said as she stood up.

"You'll be safe, right?" Pepper asked. Clara nodded before Pepper wrapped her arms around her neck and hugged her tightly. The two women have had a bond since Tony hired her all those years ago. Clara wouldn't be lying if she said she considered Pepper to be a sister to her. "He just got you back too, you know..." She said as she pulled away from her. "You have to come back...for him."

Clara glanced over Pepper's shoulder to her sleeping brother. "I will, I promise." Clara said as Pepper gave her a warm smile. She said goodbye once again before finally making her way outside.

Clara took a deep breath before activating her suit, other than her helmet, and walking outside to meet the others. Steve fiddled with one of his gloves as Clara approached him. "Have you ever been to space?" She asked.

"Never got the chance to," Steve said. The others began to board and Clara saw Steve's complexion turn white. She was as nervous as he was, so she intwined her fingers with his and walked with him into the ship. It was strange, even for them. They had seen aliens, they had fought robots, hell their friend was a Norse god, but the thought of going into space seemed absolutely crazy.

Upon entering the ship, Clara noticed a lot of retro stuff. Her favorite thing by far was the cassette player. "I love this place." She said to Steve, trying to lighten the mood if she could. In the front of the ship were six seats along with the pilot's. Leaving Earth's atmosphere wasn't as bad as Clara thought. Before she knew it, they were floating calmly in space. "Okay, who here hasn't been to space?" Rocket turned to face everyone else. Natasha, Steve, Clara, and Rhodey raised their hands as Thor and Bruce smiled to themselves. "You better not throw up on my ship. Approaching jump in 3...2...1!"

"When did you go to space?" Clara asked Bruce.

"It's a long story that is very complicated." Bruce explained. Before Clara could react, the ship jumped forward into a wormhole. Clara gripped her armrests tightly before seeing Steve doing the same thing. She would have placed her hand on his to calm him down, but she felt as sick as he did. Her queasiness faded when the thousands of colors filled her view. She stared in amazement at all of the colors she had never seen before, all the stars that passed by in the blink of an eye. It was beautiful. The ship began to slow down, before Carol flew to the front.

"I'll head down for ground recon." She said. Everyone got up from their seats. Clara was fine, but she saw Steve stumble like he was dizzy. She placed her hand on his back to try and steady him out. When he was less dizzy, he wore a worried expression as they waited for Carol to return.

"This is gonna work, Steve." Nat said.

"I know it will." He said. "Because I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't." Suddenly, Carol was back with news.

"No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him." She explained.

"Then that's enough." Nebula said. When they arrived to the shack, Carol was the first to attack. She flew in and held him by his neck. Next was Bruce as he burst through the floor and grabbed his arm. Clara released a sort of taser from her suit, catching Thanos off guard as the electricity surged through his body. Thor finally flew in and sliced off Thanos' arm that held the Infinity Gauntlet. Steve walked in along with Natasha and Rocket. Rocket went over to the sliced off Infinity Gauntlet, and kicked it over. Clara kneeled down beside him, her eye widening in shock.

"Oh no." Rocket said said.

"Where are they?" Clara asked, turning to face the titan in pain.

"Answer the question!" Carol tightened her grip on his neck as he hid his pain.

"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose, beyond temptation." Thanos huffed.

"You murdered trillions!" Bruce yelled at him, but Thanos just snarled.

"You should be thankful." He said through gritted teeth.

"Where are the stones?" Steve demanded.

"Gone. Reduced to atoms." He answered.

"No." Clara said, first in disbelief. In an even angrier tone, she repeated, "No! You only used them two days ago!"

"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It... nearly killed me. But the work is done. it always will be. I am inevitable." Thanos hissed.

"We have to tear this place apart, he has to be lying." Bruce said frantically.

"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them." Nebula said solemnly.

"Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly." Thanos said, almost showing that the cruel monster had a heart. Thor suddenly summoned Stormbreaker before chopping Thanos' head clean off. Everyone watched in complete shock, not knowing what had just happened.

"What...What did you do?" Rocket asked. Thor turned to all of them, meeting their eyes before realizing what he had just done. Out of anger, he killed the only being with the chance of bringing the stones back. Clara looked at the god in shock.

"I went for the head." He answered.

***

The ride back to earth was silent. Everyone was trying to process the fact that they had failed. For almost seven years, the Avengers had faced so many enemies that it's hard to count and yet, they had never failed. At least, not like this. All Clara could think about were the millions of people who lost their parents, or children, or siblings. She thought of everyone who lost their lives so early with no chance in defending themselves. She felt guilty. Guilty that she didn't try hard enough in defeating the mad titan.

They arrived back at the compound before entering, not knowing exactly what they would do next. They went their own ways. Thor stayed behind in the open field. As Clara was about to enter the compound she heard a cry of anger. She turned to see Thor shooting lighting into the sky out of anger before falling to his knees in defeat. Natasha wiped tears from her face while Bruce. Carol, and Rhodey hid their emotions until they were alone. Clara looked to Steve before they walked to Tony's room. Before entering, she rested her hand on Steve's shoulder.

"It needs to be me," she said. She took in a deep breath. Her heart sank when she head Tony's laugh from outside the room, knowing it would fade away as they told him there's no way to get Peter or anyone else back. Tony sat up in his bed when Clara entered.

His face looked sunken from his starvation, bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, but knowing they were back made his heart leap with faith. "Pep told me what happened," he said with hope in his voice. "Did it work? Did you get the stones?" Tony asked. His smile faded when Clara couldn't look at him. She shook her head slowly before she was forced to meet his hurt eyes.

"We were to late," she said quietly and sorrowfully.

Tony looked down in disbelief before meeting her eyes and clenching his jaw. "Was there any way?"

"He destroyed the stones before we found him." Clara explained, the tears finally falling. "He won."