A girl from a different universe

49. Hope?

There was a pause as everyone tried to keep on brave faces but seemingly all failed. "Where is he now? Where?" Tony asked

"We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through." Steve answered.

Tony sighed and looked to the side and noticed Thor. "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh, he's pissed. He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did, but you know here's a lot of that going around, ain't there?" Rocket said.

"Honestly, until this exact second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear." Tony said surprised.

"Maybe I am." He quipped back.

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

"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 stone. That's what happened. There was no fight, cause he's not beatable." Tony said annoyed.

"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?" Steve stayed calm.

Tony blue a raspberry as he saluted, "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

Steve got up from where he was leaning beside you and walked closer to him, "Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus."

"And I needed you. As in, past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry." He said then smelt the soup, "You know what I need?" He flipped the bowl over and got up. "I need a shave. And I believe I remember telling youse." He said taking the IV from his vein.

Rhodey got closer to him and tried to calm him down. You looked up at him sadly seeing how weak he had gotten. "Alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world. Remember that?" He said getting angrier. "Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not. That's what we needed."

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve said.

"I said we'd lose. You said 'We'll do that 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?" He asked as Rhodes held onto him as he started to lose his balance.

"You made your point. Just sit down, okay?" Rhodes tried to cox him.

"Okay. No, no here's my point. You know why? She's great by the way." He said pointing at Carol.

"Tony, you're sick. Sit down." Rhodes tried to get him back in his wheelchair.

"We need you. You're new blood." He said then walked closer out of Rhodes grip. "Bunch of tired old mules. I got nothing for you, Cap." He said pointing a finger in Steve's face as he got closer. "I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar." He whispered angrily to him.

He then ripped the arc reactor off of his chest and grabbed Steve's hand putting it in it. "Here, take this. You find him, you put that on, you hide." He said with his breath shaking. He then fell on his knees.