You're going to loss.
It's in your nature.
I suppose you're right.
23 days.
Funny, it feels longer.
22 days since Thor left his bedroom.
18 days from Thor giving me the Valhalla's blessing.
14 since he showered.
7 after he last ate.
And two...
Two when I felt the weights lifted off my shoulders again. The feeling of the mind stone being destroyed. I don't understand.
1 day since Stark and Thanos's daughter, Nebula, arrived back on Ter- Midgard.
4 hours since Thor was dragged down to a conference room.
And I'm one second away from falling apart.
"World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working..."
Asgard in flames, Surtur murdering them all.
Images flash across illusion, the cat man, the sorceruss, Tree.
They're all gone.
"... we're trying to take a census and it looks like he did,"
"He did exactly what he said he was going to do,"
I am inevitable.
"Thanos wiped out... 50% of all living creatures,"
Thor is still silent in the back corner, I am sitting next to him. Comforting him, listening to his pain, being a brother to him.
As if it matters anyways.
"Where is he now? Where?" Stark asks, a tube contraption attached to his wrist.
Rogers sighs, "We don't know. He just, opened a portal and walked through,"
Stark pushes his wheeled chair around, taking a second look at my brother, "What's wrong with him?"
I growl threateningly, my Jötun tendencies pushing through.
What more could I lose?
The raccoon gives Thor a pitying look, "Oh, he's pissed. He thinks he failed,"
We did fail, don't lie about it.
"Which, of course, he did. But there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"
You were supposed to protect us.
Stark rolls his eyes, raising his hand, "Honestly, until this exact second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear,"
Now is not the time for jokes, shut up before I cut out your tongue.
"Maybe I am," the raccoon retorts, I snort at his response.
I very much like the raccoon.
"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now," Rogers says, diminishing the mood, "Deep space scans and satellites, we got nothing,"
Probably because he's most likely not on Terra- Midgard. I meant Midgard.
"Tony, you fought him," Rogers continues.
Stark jerks his head up, "Who told you that? I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet... while a Bleaker Street magician gave away the store,"
What? Clearly, I am missing some sort of mortal reference.
"That's what happened. There was no fight 'cause he's not beatable. We barely beat the kid, Reindeer Games. How the Hel did we think we were gonna manage with this guy?"
I stiffen, pressing against Thor. Unsure if it's because of his reaction to my nickname or my own.
"He wasn't a kid Tony, he was a god," Rogers reasons.
Was. Not is. Was.
"Stark is not too far off," Thor says, his voice raspy from days of misuse, "Loki is-was only 1,054,"
Stark scoffs, annoyance flickering across his face, "Right, evil devil boy was only a thousand years old,"
I clench my fists as tears pool in my eyes.
Is that how they see me?
Evil?
But I'm not...
Right?
I was only the villain so they could
be the heroes.
"How long do Asgardians usually live?" The raccoon asks, the topic having piqued his interest again.
Thor sighs, staring at his hands, shaking slightly, "Maybe 5,000 years,"
I wrap my arms around Thor's neck as I bury my face. Only to have my body phase through.
I'm so sorry brother.
The rest of the team is silent for a moment, trying to do the math.
"So I, that's- fuck," Tony trails off, massaging his temples.
Racoon turns his head, "What, Shellhead, spit it out,"
"That's 17 in Earth years,"
I'm confused, why does my age have anything to do with this? Much less my age in human years?
"17," Agent Romanoff mutters, clasping her hands on her head, "That's practically a child,"
I am not a child, thank you very much.
And don't pretend to care about me.
Rogers is silent for a moment the silence taking a heavy toll before he speaks, "Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?"
Stark sputters, looking at the Captain like he's an idiot.
Well, he's not wrong.
"I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming,"
"Tony, I need you to focus," Rogers says, exasperated.
"And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry,"
"You know what I need? I need a shave," Stark sighs, his fist crashing into some objects on the table as he stands shakily.
"And I believe I remember telling all youse," he continues as he rips the wires out of his wrist, not paying attention to the man trying 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 freedom or not. That's what we needed,"
Rogers frowns, "Well that didn't work out, did it?"
"I'd said we'd lose,"
Do you truly think so little of me?
"You said, 'We'll do that together, too,'"
Loki, I thought the world of you.
"And guess what, Cap?"
Thought we were going to fight side by side forever.
"We lost,"
But at the end of the day you're you and I'm me.
"And you weren't there,"
Maybe there's still good in you but let's be honest, that hope faded a long time ago.
"But that's what we do, right?" Stark asks, his cocky voice returning, but it's fractured, a masquerade from the hurt I've caused.
"Our best work after the fact? We're 'Avengers.' We're the 'Avengers,' not the 'Pre-vengers,'" He sounds slightly delirious now.
"Okay, you've made your point just sit down," the gray metal man says, desperately trying to put Stark back into the chair with wheels.
"No, no, here's my point. You know what?" Stark feebly pushes the man out of his arms.
The stuttering protests become ever louder as he turns to the woman with the Tesseract in her veins, "We need you. You're new blood. Bunch of tired old mules. I got nothing for you Cap," he exclaims, his attention going back to Rogers. "I got no coordinates... no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada," his voice becomes more and more strangled as he talks.
"No trust, liar,"
I wish I could trust you.
Then, right as I begin to wonder if he is going to pass out, he rips his metal device from his chest, placing it into the Captain's hands.
Then he promptly faints.
Oh dear, is he dead?