Avengers Alternate Universe

Age of Ultron

(Note: I do not dislike Wanda or Pietro Maximoff)

Tony's comm crackles in his ear, but he couldn't move his arm to fix it. His body felt weightless, his mind reeling from what he's seeing.

Everyone's dead.

He feels his body hit the ground and his vision goes dark, letting nightmares overtake his brain. He was never aware if the twins watching behind him, one with a look of suprise and horror and the other blank.

"Iron Man? Anthony? Answer me!" Thor asks into his comm, worry like a ball of lead in his stomach. "Captain? I can't get in touch with Anthony."

"Where was he last?"

"Going in the base." Natasha answered from where she was tending to Clint.

"I'm there." Cap says. "I'll go find him. Jarvis, direct me please."

Steve follows Jarvis's directions to find Jarvis with Tony's empty suit. He quickly jogs down a set of stairs the AI points to. He doesn't like the sight he sees.

The woman from earlier with the red powers is crouched over his teammate, power flowing from her hand and over his head. He's twitching.

"I can't fix it, Pietro!" She yells, distressed.

"Get away from him!" Steve yells, ready to throw his sheild as his protective instinct surges. No one hurts his family.

The woman stumbles away as someone who must've been the speedster, Pietro, catches her. Iron Man suit comes up behind them, placing a metal hand on both their shoulders to keep them there. "Should I escrot them to the jet, Captain?" Jarvis's voice was calm, but Steve could hear the under current of anger and worry. Anger at the two and worry for Tony.

"Please, Jarvis."

Steve gets on his knees beside Tony, putting his hand to the pulse point on his neck and removing the broken comm eith the other. He talks into his own. "I've got him, but something's wrong. He's unconcious and twitching. I'm bringing him to the jet." He glances up. "And I've got the septer."

A metal glove closes over his hand when he finishes. A silver one. From the Iron Legion, then. Steve quickly scoops Tony up over his shoulder and then grabs the septer.

"Wake up, Tony." He knows it's useless, but he still tries. Tony stops twitching, but his eyes don't open. Steve doesn't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

.

Tony sleeps through the ride to the compound. Clint tries to joke that he's finally catching up on sleep, but it falls flat.

He doesn't wake up on the way to the infirmary.

He doesn't wake up when the doctors start prodding at him.

He doesn't wake up for the next 24 hours.

Then he does.

.

Tony tells them everything. Everything that he saw.

No one commented on the silent tears going down Tony's cheeks as he spoke. The way he had hunched in on himself in the bed, arms wrapped around his legs.

Natasha pets his hair back, quietly assuring him that they're alright.

In the end, the whole team ends up cuddling around Tony is one big pile. A children's movie plays on TV and Clint comments on scenes in a voice lower than the average indoor voice. Each comments brings a quiet laugh from them.

One by one, they all fall asleep.

There's a long, bumpy road ahead. But they'll get through it.

Together.