Bond of Stone ~ A Loki x OC Story

Chapter 46

Thor sits up and embraces Loki into a hug. "I failed..."

* * *

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey says as images of the people who are missing flash across a holographic screen.

Loki clenches his fists when he sees Rhiannon's picture.

"World governments are in pieces." Nat starts. " 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 50% of all living creatures."

"Where is he now?" Tony, who was now wheelchair bound, with an IV in his arm asks.

Tony was thought to be dead after the snap. However, he had survived and was rescued from being stranded in space by a woman with immense cosmic powers, named Carol Danvers.

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

"What's wrong with them?" Tony points over to Thor and Loki sitting in the corner.

Loki goes to get up to confront Tony, but Thor places his hand on his shoulder and holds him back.

"Oh, they're pissed...think they failed...which of course, they did." Rocket chimes in. "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."

"Maybe, I am." Rocket shrugs.

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now." Steve cuts back in. "Deep space scans, satellites...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 stone. That's what happened! There was no fight, cause he's not beatable!"

"Did he give you any clues? Any coordinates?Anything?"

"Yeah...no." Tony chuckles to himself. "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." Steve says sternly.

"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 up and rips the IV out of his arm. "I need a shave. And I believe, I remember telling all youse...alive or otherwise-"

"Tony..." Rhodey tries to cut in to calm him down.

"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." Steve claps back. "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. But that's what we do right? Our best work after the fact? We're the "Avengers" not the "pre-vengers", right?"

"You made your point." Rhodey says again in an attempt to calm Tony down. "Just sit down, okay?"

"Okay...no, no...you know what? I got nothing for you, Cap." Tony rips out of Rhodey's hold on him and walks towards Steve. "I got no coordinates. No strategies. No clues. No options. Zero...zip...nada." Tony tips off his reactor and hands it to Steve. "Here take this. You find him...put that on...you hide..."