chasing waterfalls [Peter Parker]

~29~

The next morning, the remaining Avengers stood in the Compound. Tony and I were both hooked up to IVs to make sure we got enough fluids. In the center of the room were holograms of all the Avengers that went missing. James Rhodes was explaining the situation.

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." I was struggling to take that in. It had been 23 days since I lost two important people in my life. I was in space for 23 days. Nat continued the thought.

"World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census." The picture changed from Scott Lang to Peter, and my eyes started to tear up. Turning on my phone, the first thing I saw was a picture of Peter, Dani, Ned, and I. I turned the phone off and set it down. I looked over at Tony, who seemed just as distraught as I was. Nat sighed. "He did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent, of all living creatures."

Tony thought for a moment before speaking up. "Where is he now? Where?" Cap stood on the other side of the table, arms folded.

"We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through." Tony pointed over to Thor.

"What's wrong with him?" A raccoon who was sitting on the other end of the room answered.

"Yeah, he's pissed. He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but there's a lot of that's goin' around, ain't there?" I looked down at my hands. I felt like I failed too. We all did. Tony looked over at the raccoon.

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

"Maybe I am." Cap interrupted the conversation.

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep Space scans, satellites, and we got nothing." He looked over at Tony. "Tony, you fought him." Tony clutched at the arc reactor on his chest.

"Who told you that?" Everyone turned to him. "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."

"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates?" Tony made a gesture that I understood as a no.

"I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming." Cap sighed, slightly annoyed.

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

"And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late buddy. Sorry. You know what I need?" He stood up shakily, leaning on the table. "I need to shave." He ripped the IV out of his arms, startling everyone else, even me. "And I believe I remember telling you, Cap.Otherwise what we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedom or not- that's what we needed!" Steve's emotion did not change.

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?"

"I said, "we'll lose". You said, "We'll do that together too." And guess what, cap? We lost. You weren't there." He started to walk towards Cap, and Rhodey ran over to help him stand. "But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers, we're the A-vengers. Not the Pre-vengers, right?" Rhodey sighed.

"Okay, you made your point. Just sit down, ok?" Tony shook his head and pushed Rhodey away.

"No. Here's my point. You know what?"

"Tony, you're sick." Tony ignored Rhodey, and gestured to the blonde.

"She's great. By the way. We need you. You're new blood. Bunch of tired old mules." His eyes darted from the blonde to Cap. "I got nothing for you, cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar." The whole room went silent. I did not expect that. Tony ripped the arc reactor off of his chest and placed it angrily in Steve's hand. "Here, take this. You find him, and you put that on. You hide." Still weak, Tony collapsed on the ground. I looked up to Nat, then quickly took a sip of water. I didn't want to pass out as well.