Endgame (Charlotte Stark)

Ch. 16 You Can Rest Now

Tony snaps his fingers with a loud clang, and a blinding flash of white. Rocket fires at a Leviathan and before it devours him, it crumbles into ash. The Black Order starts crumbling to ash. T'Challa and Quill look around in surprise; Steve looks on in exhaustion, knowing that they won. Thanos, in horror, looks around and sees his entire army disintegrate. He looks at Steve, who just stares at him. Thanos sits down and mourns before slowly being erased from existence himself.

The power of the gauntlets raw energy has left Tonys entire right side fatally injured. He stumbles for a bit before his body collapses besides a pile of debris. Rhodey soon flies in and goes up to Tony to see his long time colleague and friend fading away. He bows his head, knowing the damage was done.

Peter Parker soon flies in and sees Tony collapsed on the ground. "Mr. Stark?" He runs up to his fallen mentor. Tears start to form in his eyes. "Hey... Mr. Stark? Can you hear me? It's Peter. Hey. We won, Mr. Stark... We won, Mr. Stark. We won. You did it, sir. You did it." Tony is unresponsive. Peter breaks down and hugs him. "I'm sorry... Tony..."

I gently led him aside to grieve. And then sit down next to him. He just looks at me and weakly says, "Char..."

"Shhhh. You don't have to say anything." I tell him, resting my head on his shoulder. "I know." Then I look up to him. "Me too."

Pepper Potts sits in front of the two of us.

"Hey."

Tony is barely able to move his head, but manages to look Pepper in the eyes.

"Hey, Pep..." He says quietly.

Pepper places her hand on Tony's Arc Reactor and Tony rests his hand on hers. Pepper takes a good look at Tony's fatal injuries.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?"

"Life functions critical."

Tony smiles with tears in his eyes. "Tony. Look at me." She makes sure Tony gets a long look at her smiling face. "We're gonna be okay." She grabs my hand. "You can rest now."

With that acknowledgement, Tony's arc reactor flickers off for good. Pepper can no longer contain her grief and starts crying on his other shoulder. Tony Stark, the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, my brother... is dead.

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"Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn't always roll that way. Maybe this time. I'm hoping if you play this back, it's in celebration. I hope families are reunited, I hope we get it back, and something like a normal version of the planet has been restored. If there ever was such a thing. God, what a world. Universe, now. If you told me ten years ago that we weren't alone, let alone, you know, to this extent, I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised. But come on, you know? The epic forces of darkness and light that have come into play. And, for better or worse, that's the reality Morgan's gonna have to find a way to grow up in." Pepper, Morgan, Happy Hogan, Rhodey, and I all watch Tony's holographic message being projected from his Iron Man helmet. Tony is sitting down recording the message.

"So I thought I'd probably better record a little greeting... In the case of an untimely death on my part. I mean, not that, death at any time isn't untimely. This time travel thing that we're gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it's... it's got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all. That's the thing. Then again, that's the hero gig. Part of the journey is the end." Tony suddenly gets up walking towards his camera. "What am I even trippin' for? Everything's gonna work out exactly the way it's supposed to." He leans down and smiles. He is looking straight at Morgan. "I love you 3,000."

The message ends and the hologram cuts out.

Pepper carries a wreath out of the house to an audience waiting outside for the intimate funeral. I'm holding Morgan in my arms, walking right behind her. She lays the wreath on the lake. On top of the wreath is Tony's first arc reactor which Pepper had framed with the words "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart" back in 2008.

Everyone is here. Pepper, Morgan, and I, Happy Hogan, & Rhodey, all being joined by Steve Rogers, Peter Parker, May Parker, Thor, Bruce Banner, Doctor Strange, Wong, Scott Lang, Hope Van Dyne, Janet Van Dyne, Hank Pym, Peter Quill, Nebula, Rocket, Groot, Drax, Mantis, T'Challa, Okoye, Shuri, Clint Barton & his family, Wanda Maximoff, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Harley Keener, Secretary Ross, Maria Hill, Carol Danvers, and Nick Fury, silently watching the wreath float away.

After it's all over, I walk up to a young man I haven't seen in a very long time.

"Hey, Harley." I say to him with a smile.

"Hi, Miss Stark."

"Harley, I've told you before, you've earned the right to call me by my first name." He smiles and looks down, placing his hands inside his pocket. "So, done any upgrades on that potato gun of yours?" I ask.

"A few, I've also made a few different things. I'd love to show you them sometimes, if your not too busy." He tells me, looking back up to me.

"I'm never too busy for a friend." I smile at him and he returns it.

"You know, I have a lot of new ideas for your suit. I've even made a few prototypes." He informs me.

"Like the retro reflective panels?" I ask, recalling his idea from our first encounter.

"Yeah," He raises his eyebrow at me, "I can't believe you guys never incorporated it into your suits."

"Hey, Tony was the one who designed the suits, I just helped him bring his vision to life." I put my hands up, defensively.

"I can't believe he's really gone." Harley looks down again. I move closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be okay. He died knowing he was saving the world. That he was saving us." Tears start to form in my eyes. "That's all he ever wanted. For us to be safe."

Harley stayed quiet. He just wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. Trying to comfort me, but I could tell he was also trying to comfort himself. I wrapped my arms around him.

"He cared about you, Harley. Always did." We release each other, and I look him in the eyes. "Thank you, so much for coming."

"Of course. He was the only father figure I ever knew."

"Well, I will do my best to be a similar father figure for you." I smile at him, and he lets out a soft laugh. Then he turns, and walks away.

Afterwards, I see Clint and Wanda, standing by the riverside. I walk up to them.

"You know, I wish there was a way...that I could let her know. That we won." He looks over to Wanda and I. "We did it."

"She knows..." I say, trying not to tear up.

"They both do." Wanda adds, referring to Vision as well as Nat.

Clint gives her and I a side hug and we reciprocate it.

I see Steve walking back into the house. I let go of Wanda and Clint and follow him in.

"You're going to do it, aren't you?" I ask him. "Go back to Peggy, finally live out your life?"

"Yeah, I think I will." Then he looks to me. "What will you do?"

I smile. "Well I just had so much fun in space with Thor, I think I might go with him and the Guardians. There's nothing really keeping me here anymore. And maybe it will help me forget."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'll be okay." I wrap my arms around him, saying goodbye. "I always will be."

"Goodbye Charlotte." He whispers in my ear.

"Bye, Capsicle." I smile into his shoulder and I hear him let out a little chuckle.