EYLIS ※ Tony Stark [3]

17 - NO OTHER WAY

THE SILENCE THAT FOLLOWED Thanos' departure from Titan fell like a ton of bricks on the eight of them. For a long time, longer than it was sensible, they all scattered around the ruins of the planet, ruminating on the shocking, devastating loss.

They had one job: protect the Time Stone. And they failed at it.

The Guardians were only just beginning to shake off the haze of the unconsciousness Thanos had put them in. Nebula sat, crouched down against a knocked over column, grinding her knives against each other, airing all her silent rage through the screeching sound. Quill's head hung between his knees, mumbling frustrated nonsense to himself.

A few meters away, Angie was just starting to gather her strength and managed to sit up with difficulty. She and Tony had taken the worst of the assault by far.

Tony was leaning over her and sprayed the long gash over her chest with a regeneration cradle from the nanites of his suit. He had sprayed the same substance over the wound of his flank where Thanos had impaled him. It wasn't a permanent solution but it worked wonders to stop the bleeding, and most importantly, keep him alive.

"Better?" he asked gently, once Angie's injuries were fully tended to.

She nodded slowly. Her own pain was irrelevant to her. She couldn't keep her eyes off the gaping wound on his flank that was now covered up. She had watched Thanos drive a sword through his body and seen it come the other side. There had been several instances over the years were she thought Tony wouldn't make it out alive, but this had been the worst one by far.

She should've known better. Tony had made it out alive every time. And why should this be any different...?

And yet she couldn't shake off the feeling that the worst was yet to come.

"Don't worry about me," she told him, putting a hand over his to stop his fretting "Are you okay?"

He glanced at his flank, then back at her, trying to muster an expression of casual detachment, though Angie was not fooled in the slightest bit "Stings a little," he said with half a smile.

Over the years, 'Stings a little' had become their code word for 'It hurts like hell but I don't want you to worry'.

Angie heaved a long sigh, scanning the scene around her. They were in terrible shape. All eight of them. Her gaze stopped on the one person who had single-handedly turned the odds against them.

The Harpy's mouth thinned into a line. She pushed herself onto her feet, wincing in the process and crossed the few meters that separated her from Quill.

"You," she dropped icily "Get up."

Quill lifted his head slowly from between his knees, only now registering Angie's presence. The other six were now looking curiously though no one dared to say anything.

Quill ended up doing as he was told. He got on his feet, standing at eye level with Angie. Even then he seemed under a spell, like he still hadn't recovered from the shock of the last few hours. In truth, Angie hadn't either but she was too angry to give in to the hopelessness of the situation.

The punch came completely unannounced. One second Quill was on his feet, the next he was on the floor, clutching at his broken cheekbone.

"Wh-what the hell!" Quill exclaimed, finally out of his trance.

"You're a moron! Do you even realize what you did?!" Angie shouted "We almost had him! We came so close until you decided to be a stupid piece of shit!"

Quill didn't even have the drive to protest as the Harpy barked more obscenities in his face. It was Peter who stepped in between them just as they felt Angie was about to pommel Quill's other cheek.