so bad guys can't see me bleed

•tape twenty-seven•

Pepper and I look over at each other from our spots on the couch in the Avengers' compound. Everything around us starts shaking and moving and rumbling.

A moment later, Nat comes in the room. "Am I going crazy?" she asks as I stand up and grab my pistol from the coffee table.

"No," I say, shaking my head as the three of us start to go outside, meeting up with Rhodey and Cap and Bruce in the process.

We walk across the grass, looking up as a spaceship lands on the ground with the help of what looks like a glowing person.

Just when I thought I couldn't see anything weirder.

The ship opens, and we see Tony stumble down the stairs with the help of a blue and purple woman. Cap runs over to them and takes Tony from the woman. Pepper runs after him, hugging Tony when she sees him.

—

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth," Rhodey says while we sit around the table with pictures of people up in the hologram screen with their names under them.

Stephen Strange. James Barnes. Samuel Wilson. Erik Selvig. Hope Van Dyne. Wanda Maximoff. Scott Lang. Henry Pym. Peter Parker. Shuri. T'Challa. Nick Fury.

"World governments are in pieces," Nat says as the pictures keep rolling. "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."

"Where is he now?" Tony asks. "Where?"

"We don't know," Cap says.

"Well, we're gonna have to do a whole hell of a lot better than 'we don't know,'" I tell Cap. "I'll hunt this guy down if I have to."

Cap shakes his head. "He just opened a portal and walked through. It's not going to be easy to find."

"What's wrong with him?" Tony asks, pointing to Thor.

"Oh, he's pissed," the racoon, Rocket, says. "He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did, but there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"

"Honestly, until this exact second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear," Tony says, pointing to Rocket.

"Maybe I am."

"We've been hunting for three weeks now," Cap says. "Deep space scans and satellites, and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him."

"Who told you that? I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There's no fight, 'cause he's not beatable."

"Did he give you any clues?" Cap asks. "And coordinates, anything?"

"Uh," Tony scoffs, putting his hand to his temple. "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't want to believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus."

"And I needed you," Tony retorts. "As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry." He sniffs the food in front of him before hitting the bowl. "You know what I need? I need a shave." He stands up. "And I believe I remember tell all you-s..."

He rips the IV out of his arm. "Tony, Tony," Rhodey says, trying to stop him.

"...alive and otherwise, 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."

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Cap says.

"I said we'd lose. You said, 'we'll do this together too.' And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there. But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the 'Avengers.' We're the 'Avengers,' not the 'pre-vengers.' Right?"