my endgame : stony

16: blame

"tony and nebula should be somewhere in space" rocket jumps up on the table

maria stands on the other side of the table, arms crossed. bruce, nat, bruce, rhodey and carol stand in the study room also.

rocket pulls up a hologram and starts to move things around, soon enough the hologram beeps and the coordinates of the ship pop up,

"that's them"

maria walks up to carol, and holds out a hand to her, carol shakes it and takes off to get tony and nebula.
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a few hours go by ever since carol flew off, maria sits on the couch reading through tonys work and prototypes when a glass on the coffee table starts to shake vigorously. she sets aside the folders and walks outside. nat, bruce, and rhodey follow her outside.

carol is carrying the ship and lands it in front of them. she turns her head to the team to reassure them and her binary status disappears. the ship doors open to reveal nebula helping tony out of the ship. maria runs towards tony and hugs him,

"dad"

"hey maria"

"where.." tony struggles to ask where steve is

"papa is gone..."
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tony sits in a wheelchair and looks at a hologram with the people who got dusted, steve's face pops up and tony puts a hand over his mouth.

"it's been 23 days since thanos came to earth" rhodey says

"world governments are in pieces. the parts that are still working are trying to take a census. and it looks like he did... he did exactly what he said he was gonna do."
"thanos wiped out fifty percent, of all living creatures." nat adds in

"where is he now?" tony questions

"we don't know... he opened a portal and walked through" maria leans on the table

tony looks out the window and sees thor sitting in guilt,
"what's wrong with him?"

"he thinks he failed.. which of course he did.." rocket states from his spot on the floor

"honestly, until this exact second, i thought you were a build-a-bear"

"maybe i am"
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"we've been hunting thanos for three weeks. deep space scans and satellites, nothing. dad, you fought him" maria uncrosses her arms and walks towards tony

tony turns his head to maria and looks at maria surprised,
"who told you that? i didn't fight him"

"he wiped my face with a planet while bleeker street wizard handed over the stone, that's what happened. there was no fight"

"..okay"

"he's unbeatable maria"

"did he give you any clues? any coordinates?"

"ha! i saw this coming a few year back.. thought it was a dream, didn't believe it"

maria holds out a hand towards tony.
"dad.. i need you to focus"

"and i needed you to protect steve"
"as in past tense, that trumps what you need. it's too late honey, sorry"

tony knocks over something on the table as he tries to get up,
"you know what i need. i need to shave"

tony tries to go at maria but rhodey steps in front of him, maria steps back a little

"tony. tony. tony!"

tony stands up in front of maria,
"what we needed was a suit if armor around the word. remember that?"

"what are you talking about?" maria raises an eyebrow

"you had one job, and that was to protect your father. and guess what, he's dead all thanks to you" tony points a finger towards maria

maria stands there with teary eyes
"d-dad..."

"alright"
"you made your point tony" rhodey tried to defuse the situation

"no, no. here's my point"

"tony, you're sick"

tony points at carol,
"she's great by the way"

carol cocks her head at tony.

"you're new blood, we need you..." tony turns to maria, disregarding the fact that she's crying

"i've got nothing for you maria. no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. zero, zip, nada... liar" tonys voice lowers and is shaky as he says the last word

a single tear falls down maria's cheek as the word "liar" comes out of tonys mouth. the look at each other, not a second later tony rips the arc reactor from his chest and forcefully placed it in maria's hand,

"here take this, you find him and you put it on. you hide" tony stumbles to his knees

maria is by his side and tries to help him up,
"dad!"

"i'm fine.. i-" tony collapses