Forever and Always (Peter Parker)

Chapter 23

The next day I make my way upstairs and enter the lab. Everyone is standing around in silence until I walk in. Dad is in a wheelchair, hooked up to an IV. He speaks up to me, "Brianna, you need to be resting."

"I deserve to be here just as much as everyone else," I say sternly.

Rhodey pulls up the screens, which shows all personnel associated with the Avengers that has been dusted. Ant-Man, Nick Fury, Sam, Bucky, T'Challa, and so many more.

"It's been 22 days since Thanos' snap," Rhodey says.

"World governments are in pieces, and in the parts where there is a census, it looks like he did exactly what he said he was going to do," Nat says, "He's wiped out 50% of all living creatures."

About that time, Peter's picture comes up on the screen in front of me and Dad. I turn my head away from the screen. Seeing his face on the screen makes it so hard not to burst into tears. His perfect brown eyes and perfect grin. The thought of never seeing them again terrifies me, but I know we can fix this. We have to.

"So where is he now?" Dad asks.

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

Dad scoffs and looks over at Thor in the room across from us, "What's wrong with him?"

"Well, he's pissed. He feels like he failed," Rocket says.

Dad looks at the raccoon in shock, "For a minute, I could have swore you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am," Rocket says back.

"Well, he did fail. But we all did along with him," I say.

Steve speaks up, "We've been hunting Thanos for 3 weeks now. Deep space scans, satellites, but nothing. Tony, you fought him-"

Dad cuts him off, "Me? No, I didn't fight him. He wiped my face with a planet, while the magician gave away the stone. That's what happened."

"Okay, but did he give you any clues? Any coordinates?" Steve persists.

Dad rolls his eyes and makes a fart noise. He's obviously not in his right mind. "Dad, seriously. Quit messing around!" I exclaim, getting impatient.

"Stay out of this, Brianna. You're just a kid. You shouldn't even be involved in all of this!" Dad snaps at me.

The anger inside of me grows more by the second. I've never been one to stay quiet, even if it's for the best. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Dad! I was there. I fought him-"

"Well you're my daughter and you will do as I say. You're done," he says, looking away.

"But Dad-" I start to argue, standing up from my chair.

"DONE!" He yells. My eyes fill with tears, mostly out of anger. But I don't leave. I plop back down in the chair I was sitting in and wipe my tears. My dad starts talking again after a long, awkward silence among everyone. "But back to what you were saying Cap, I got nothing for ya. No coordinates. No clues. Zip," he says, popping the "p" with an attitude.

"Tony, we need you to focus here," Steve says.

"What I need is a shave!" Dad says, standing up, "What I said we needed was a suit of armor around the world, whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not. But look what happened."

"Dad, stop!" I exclaim.

He walks over to Steve, "You said we would lose together. Well, guess what, Cap. We lost, and you weren't there." Rhodey walks over and tries to sit him down, but Dad fights with him and pushes past him. Dad starts pointing at Carol, who squints her eyes at him, "We need new blood. That's what we need. All that's left is a bunch of old wheels. So like I said, I got nothing for you, Cap. No clues, no options, no trust. Nothing."