NUMB || MARVEL

21

Aileen takes a deep breath as she looks in the mirror. Her cheeks were swollen and her eyes were red, all due to crying every moment she was left alone.

There was so much she didn't understand or had remembered yet, and just when she had finally found a piece of the puzzle in Sam. He vanished. Turned to dust by Thanos.

The mirror slowly starts to shake and Aileen tilts her head slightly before her eyes widen at the severity. She quickly runs out of the bathroom and follows Natasha who is running outside.

The remaining Avengers gather in the yard everyone looks up seeing a woman carrying a space pod.

She lands the spacecraft softly on the ground, making the landing gears deploy. The entry hatch opens and out walks a blue woman, supporting Tony. Aileen's eyes widen at the sight and relief fills her heart.

Though the two may not have been on the best of terms when everything happened, she still had a soft spot for the man that cared for her when everyone thought her closest friends were fugitives.

Everyone walks inside, giving Tony and Pepper a few moments together before they hook the man up to an IV and start explaining exactly what happened.

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey says as a hologram shows what the monster had done.

"World governments are in pieces." Natasha adds. "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 gonna do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent, of all living creatures."

"Where is he now? Where?" Tony looks around and Steve shakes his head.

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

Tony looks around and sees Thor, looking stoic. "What's wrong with him?" Aileen had tried talking to him, bit it had only made her more sad.

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

Tony frowns at Rocket. "Honestly, until this exact second, I literaly thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am."

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

Tony frowns at Steve. "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 was no fight."

"Okay."

"He's unbeatable."

"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?" Tony starts to laugh.

"Pfft! I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

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

Tony looks at Steve angrily.  "And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late buddy. Sorry. You know what I need?" Tony stands, pushing things off the table with a clatter. Everyone winces at the noise. "I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse -"

Tony goes for Steve. Rhodey quickly steps in front of him, trying to stop him. "Tony, Tony, Tony!"

"Alive and otherwise 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?"

"I said, "we'd lose". You said, "We'll do that together too." And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there." Aileen's heart breaks as she looks at the man before her. "But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers, we're the Avengers. Not the Prevengers."