Resilience | ✔

Chapter Thirty-Five

They were all here.

Steve, Nat, Sam, Wanda, Vision. Beck. Even a man who Marley recognized after a moment as Bruce Banner, who last she checked had yeeted himself off Earth in a Quinjet.

Steve, bearded, in a dark suit that looked a lot like his Captain America one, eyebrows drawn together with worry. Nat, bleach-blond and evenly holding her gaze. Sam, also bearded, standing tall but not quite looking at her. Wanda, hair now a soft ginger, eyes welling with tears. Vision, holding a cut in his side, looking as close to concerned as he could. And Beck—Marley couldn't look at Beck. Not yet.

She turned to Rhodey, feeling like she was drowning, questions crowding her head. Why were they here—how were they here—

But she remembered they were war criminals, even as Rhodey was opening his mouth, and realized that if they were here, risking arrest, something must have happened. Something bad. Something unthinkable.

She wished she hadn't left her phone in her room. She wanted to call Tony and ask him what the hell was going on.

She said, cutting Rhodey off before he could speak, "What happened."

"Who is this?" Bruce Banner asked. Nobody answered him.

Rhodey sighed. "Abridged version? First, Bruce got sent back to Earth. He'd been wandering in space and joined up with Thor, but Thor's ship got attacked by this Titan dude named Thanos, who wants to take over the whole galaxy yada yada same old story as every asshole. Most of the people on Thor's ship died, but Bruce got rainbow bridge'd back to Earth before he saw what happened to Thor. He landed in the front hall of some wizards' base and called your dad and they were talking about what to do, since apparently Thanos is after these super powerful stones, like the one in Vision's forehead, when this big ring-shaped ship of sorts showed up, and so he and the wizards went out to fight the people who came down from it. One of the wizards got taken because he guards one of the stones and so Tony and Peter chased him as the ship left the planet and we haven't heard from them since. At the same time, in Edinburgh, Vision was getting attacked by aliens in an attempt to get his stone, and they managed to fight him off but they came here. Now we're all here and we're trying to figure out what to do."

Marley stared at her uncle, swaying a little as she tried to process his words. That was the abridged version? Okay, a rainbow bridge—that sounded like the thing Tony had said Thor said he used to get from Asgard to Earth. Wizards—Marley had no idea what that was about. Last she'd checked wizards didn't exist. Though given the world they lived in she couldn't say she was particularly surprised about it. A ring-shaped spaceship—sure, sure. Why the hell not. Tony and Peter . . . She fought the urge to start screaming. Tony and Peter—and they hadn't been heard from—and now what? Was she supposed to give a shit that Vision had gotten attacked?

Don't say that, a small voice chided in the back of her head. She ignored it.

"Seriously—who is that?" Bruce demanded, gesturing at her. Any other time she would have been freaking out—one of the most accomplished scientists in history was standing right in front of her—but she had other things on her mind.

"Tony and Peter went into space?" she said.

"About an hour ago," Rhodey said gently.

"Can we establish any sort of contact with them?" Marley asked.

Rhodey shook his head. "We might be able to reach them, but it'd be a one-way transmission. Tony's suit doesn't have the capacity to send any sort of message back."

"Why the hell didn't you call me?" she said. "When they just gallivanted off into space?"

"Is anyone going to answer me?" Bruce exclaimed.