Avengers: Whatever it Takes

A Reunion and a Plan

Thor lifted the can of beer to his mouth and drank deeply. It was the first thing he'd ingested since the soup he'd eaten on the Guardians' spaceship. It seemed like an entire lifetime ago. A lifetime where he'd believed he would win the day.

"Thor, Sue's just finished making some dinner," Bruce explained as he walked into the room and sat down at the table across from him. "I think you should maybe take in something besides beer." He paused and stared at the collection of crushed beer cans and then fixed a sympathetic gaze upon his friend.

Thor shrugged his broad shoulders and flicked the newly-emptied can, sending it clattering across the table.

Bruce sighed. "Thor, please."

At that moment, Natasha and Steve came walking into the room, followed by Rocket and a woman Thor had never met before.

"Thor," Natasha said in a steady voice. "This is Carol Danvers."

Thor looked at the woman- an athletic blonde with the countenance of a warrior who has seen much- and simply grunted.

"Carol recovered Tony," Steve explained. "He was lost in space, floating adrift in a dying spacecraft with Nebula, a member of the Guardians."

"Well, she's sort of a member," Rocket cut in. "She's Gamora's sister. Thanos's other daughter."

The mention of Thanos drew an angry glare from Thor.

"The point is," Steve went on, "Tony is alive."

"Is he well?" Thor asked.

"He's severely malnourished and dehydrated," Bruce explained. "I've got him on bed-rest right now and he's being treated with intravenous fluids."

Thor waved a hand irritably. "But he's alive?"

Bruce nodded. "Yeah. He's alive. And he's got Pepper at his side. He'll recover."

Thor sighed. Every person that was still living was a victory for him. Sue walked into the room and announced that she'd finished dinner.

"I wish you'd let us help you," Steve said with a sad smile.

Sue shook her head. "No, it's alright. Like I told you earlier- I needed to be busy and alone."

The group mechanically began to help bring bowls of potato soup and plates of sliced bread into the room and Thor, despite having no appetite, began to make himself eat.

"Tony told us that Reed Richards, Dr. Strange, Peter Parker and all of the Guardians he was with are gone," Steve went on.

Sue's hands trembled and she dropped her spoon. She'd heard the news already but it hurt every time.

Suddenly, Tony himself appeared in the doorway. Seated in a wheelchair, he allowed Pepper to push him in, his IV bag swinging back and forth on an IV pole. "Who else did we lose?" he asked in an all-business tone.

Bruce looked at his friend with sorrow and shook his head. "Since Thanos...did what he did...we've lost...too many to even begin to name." He waved a hand at a computer screen where holographic images of those confirmed to be gone were displaying themselves.

Tony sat and watched in stunned silence as familiar faces greeted him.

"The governments of the world are in pieces," Natasha explained. "But that's probably a no-brainer. The parts that are still functioning are trying to take a census. But it looks like he did exactly what he said he'd do. He wiped out fifty percent of all living creatures on earth. People. Animals. Fucking plants, even."

Carol folded her arms over her chest and bit back emotion as Nick Fury's face was displayed among the missing. "Not just on earth," she said in a clipped tone.