The Life of Veronica Stark

Chapter 27

Roni's POV:

Later that day Steve shakes me awake. I sit up groggily. "What is it?" I ask. "Danvers just left to go find Tony. Thought you should know. Also, is there any way I can convince you to eat something?" He asks. I shake my head. "I'm not hungry." I say. He sighs, but nod.

Then he notices my sketch book. Knowing I won't mind with him he picks it up and opens it. "Wow, these are really good." He says. He then gets to the last drawing. He sighs and places the book down. He sits on my bed with my and pulls me into an embrace.

He doesn't say anything, just sits there, holding me. That's all I need right now. I just need someone to hold me while I continue to cry over my lost family. He pulls away and looks at me sadly. "If you need anything you know where to find me." He says. I nod.

He then gets up, kisses my forehead, and exits the room, shutting the door behind me. I stay in my room for 20 days until Steve races in, beard gone. "Danvers is landing with Tony now." He says. My eyes widen, tears coming to them. I race after Steve.

When we get outside I see the giant spaceship, some robotic looking girl is helping a malnourished Tony down the steps. Steve races up and takes tony from her. Pepper rushes past me and hugs Tony. When she pulls away my brother and I lock eyes.

I race forward and throw myself in his arms. "Thank God you're ok. I don't know what I would do if you were gone too." I sobbed in his shoulder. "I'm here. You're here, we're ok. God, I can't even believe you're awake right now." He says, rubbing my back and kissing the side of my head.

"We have a lot to catch up on, don't we." I say. "That we do." Steve then helps me escort Tony inside. We get an IV hooked up to him and sit him in a wheelchair so we can have our meeting. "It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey explains.

"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 going to do. Thanos wiped out 50 percent of all living creatures." Nat explains. "Where is he now? Where?" Tony asks.

"We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through." Steve answers. Tony sighs. Then points to Thor who is sitting moping worse than I have been. "What's wrong with him?" Tony asks.

"He's pissed. Thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but, you know, there's a lot of that going around anyway." Rocket says. "Honestly, until this exact moment, I thought you were a build a bear." Tony tells him. "Maybe I am." Rocket quips.

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans, satellites, and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him." Steve says. "Who told you that?" He asks us. We all look around. I know where he is heading with this and this is not going to be good.

"I didn't fight me, no. He wiped my face with a planet while the Bleaker Street magician gave away the stone. That's what happened, there was no fight." Tony snarks. "He didn't give you any clues?" Steve asks. Tony then lets out a very unintelligent noise meaning no.

"I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision, I didn't want to believe it. Thought I was dreaming." He says. "Tony." I say softly, placing my hand on his shoulder. "I'm gonna need you to focus." Steve says. "And I needed you." Tony snaps. We all go silent at this.

"Needed, as in past tense. That trumps what you need, it's too late buddy sorry." Then Tony gets to his feet. I keep close eye on him. He's already very weak. He shouldn't be standing or walking around right now. I healed him abdomen injury, but I can't heal fatigue.

"You know what I need? I need to shave." He snaps. He then rips out his IV. "Tony." Rhodey says, trying to get the jabbering man to calm down and sit down before he hurts himself, but he i too engrossed with his argument with Steve to listen to either of us.

"I remember, that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world. Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not, that's what we needed." He says. "Well that didn't work out too well did it?" Steve asks.

"I said we'd lose. You said we'd do the together too. Well guess what Cap, we lost and you weren't there. That's what we do right? Our best work after the fact? What are we? The Avengers? We're the Avengers? Not the Prevengers?" Tony yells.

"Ok, you've made your point, just sit down." Rhodey tells him. He doesn't listen though. "You're great, by the way. You're new blood. We need that." Tony says, pointing to Carol. He then breaks out of Rhodey's hold and walks towards Cap.

"I got nothin for you Cap. No coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options, zero, zip, nada. No trust, liar." He whispers loudly. He then takes off his Arc Reactor, causing me to gasp, but then I see he has no hole in his chest, just a scar. He got it removed?

"Here, you take this. You find him, you put that on. You hide." With that Tony collapses to the ground.