Now or Never

Chapter 16 ~ Let's go get this son of a bitch

"Tony, Tony, Tony!" Rhodey tries 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!" Tony continues.

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Dad says back to him as I give him a look.

"Dad, you responding is just gonna escalate things," I mutter to him.

As if right on cue things did.

"I said we'd lose. You said, both of you," Tony says, looking between Dad and me, "'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 Prevengers!" He says, getting mad.

"Okay," Rhodey says as he tries to push him to sit down.

"Right?" He asks.

"Uncle T, please just sit down," I tell him.

"Listen to her, Tony. You made your point. Just sit down, okay?" Rhodey tells him.

"Okay. No, no, here's my point. You know what?" He says as he pushes away from Rhodey.

"Tony, you're sick. Sit down." Rhodey fights against him.

"She's great by the way." Tony points to Carol. "We need you. You're new blood."

"Tony!" Rhodey says as Tony completely pushes away from him and gets in Dad's face.

"Bunch of tired old mules! I got nothing for you, Cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar." Tony seethes the last word and I can tell that his words affect Dad as the two men share a look. He then suddenly rips his arc reactor from his chest and shoves it into Dad's hand. "Here, take this. You find him, and you put that on. You hide." He says before falling to the ground, but I use my speed to place Rocket on the table and catch Tony before he fully hits the ground. I set him down softly.

"Tony!" Dad calls out as he tries to help him and everybody starts to gather.

"I'm fine. Let me..." Before he can finish he passes out on the ground.

Dad carries Tony to a bed where they hook him up to an IV. Pepper sits by his side as Bruce gives him a sedative. Rhodey walks out of the room and to the rest of us who are waiting to see if he's okay.

"Bruce gave him a sedative. He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day." Rhodey informs us.

"You guys take care of him and I'll bring him a Xorrian elixir when I come back," Carol says as she starts to leave.

"Where are you going?" I ask her.

"To kill Thanos." She answers.

Dad, Natasha, and I share a look before walking after her.

"Hey," Nat says, getting her attention. She turns to face us. "You know, we usually work as a team here and, between you and I, morale's a little fragile."

"We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight too," Dad says to her.

"You even know where he is?" Rhodey questions.

"I know people who might." She answers.

I try again to speak up to tell them I know, but the blue robotic woman, who's name is Nebula, speaks up before I can.

"Don't bother. I can tell you where Thanos is." She says, leaning in the doorway of the room we were once in. We all walk back into the living room as she continues speaking. "Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. And when he worked, he talked about his Great Plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask 'Where would we go once his plan was complete?' And his answer was always the same. 'To the Garden.'"

"That's cute. Thanos has a retirement plan." Rhodey says sarcastically.

"So, where is he?" Dad asks.

"Well if you guys actually let me talk, I was trying to say that Rocket and I found him." I sass as I nod to Rocket, letting him do the explaining.

"When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it. Until two days ago..." He brings up a hologram of the planet, showing an indication of a shockwave that has formed on the surface of the planet. "...on this planet." He finishes.

"Thanos is there." Nebula says.

"He used the stones again," I inform everyone.

"Hey, hey, hey. We'd be going in shorthanded, you know?" Bruce warns us.

"Look, he's still got the stones, so..." Rhodey says.

"So, let's get 'em. Use them to bring everybody back." Carol says.

"Just like that?" Bruce questions.

"Yeah. Just like that." Dad says and gives Carol a knowing look.

"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this... I mean we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try." Nat says to all of us.

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Bruce asks, worriedly.

"Because before you didn't have me," Carol speaks up.

"Hey, new girl? Everybody in this room is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?" Rhodey asks her.

"There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys." She answers him.

Just then, Thor, who has been eating this entire time, stands up and walks over to Carol. He stands in front of her and holds out his hand, catching his ax, Stormbreaker, as it flies to him, missing Carol by inches. She doesn't even flinch but instead gives the god a small smile.

Thor nods. "I like this one." He says to all of us.

"Let's go get this son of a bitch," Dad says.

"Language, Stevie!" I exclaim jokingly.

Dad just lowers his head and sighs. We all suit up and meet in Rocket's ship, ready to face the titan once more.

And the fun begins!

—ASE715