Venus | James B. Barnes✔️

lxx. 𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚢'𝚜 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗

STEVE tried once more. "Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?"

Tony gave him nothing. "Pfft! 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."

"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 stood and pushed things off the table with a clatter. Evelyn sat up, watching him pull out his IV as he glared at Steve. She stood then as everyone winced at the noise. "I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse—"

Tony pointed at Steve, almost falling. Rhodey stood in front of him, grabbing his body.

"Tony, Tony, Tony!" Rhodey shouted.

"—alive and otherwise 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!"

Steve kept his face stoic as he snapped back, "Well, that didn't work out, did it?"

Tony glared at Steve. "I said, we'd lose. You said, We'll do that together too. And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there." His eyes flickered to Evelyn. "And, where were you? Off who knows where!" Evelyn took a step back, a frown on her face. "But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers, we're the Avengers. Not the Prevengers."

Rhodey knew Tony needed to go lay down. "Okay," he said, pushing Tony back.

Tony nodded at him. "Right?"

"You made your point. Just sit down."

"Okay..."

"Okay?"

Tony pushed him off. "Nah, nah. Here's my point. You know what?"

"Tony, you're sick!"

Pointing at Carol, Tony added, "She's great, by the way."

"Sit down. Sit."

"We need you. You're new blood. Bunch of tired old mules!" Tony pushed Rhodey enough to get near Steve's face. He lowered his voice to a deathly whisper. "I got nothing for you, Cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar."

They stared at each other, hurt evident on Steve's face. Suddenly, Tony ripped off his arc reactor, shoving it in Steve's hands.

"Here, take this. You find him, and you put that on. You hide."

Tony fell to the ground, losing his footing. Evelyn was right there, helping him as much as she could. She did not realize the tears that were free-falling from her face.

"Tony, please," she whispered.

"I'm fine. I..." his eyes rolled back as he went unconscious. Steve helped Evelyn get him to stand. They brought him to a medical room, laying him on a bed while Bruce gave him a sedative. Evelyn set up his IV again, making sure his body was receiving the correct nutrients.

Rhodey placed a hand on Pepper's shoulder as the woman held Tony's hand. "Bruce gave him a sedative. He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day."

Carol nodded at Evelyn. "You guys take care of him. And I'll bring him a Xorrian Elixir when I come back."

She began to walk away. Evelyn followed after her. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to kill Thanos," Carol told her. Steve shared a look with her.

"Hey, you know, we usually work as a team here, and between you and I, morale's a little fragile," Natasha tried to joke quietly.

Steve nodded. "We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight too."

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

"I know people who might," Carol answered.

Nebula stood up, her eyes hard. "Don't bother. I can tell you where Thanos is. 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? His answer was always the same: To the Garden."

Rhodey smiled mockingly. "That's cute, Thanos has a retirement plan."

"So where is your father?" Evelyn asked Nebula carefully.

"That man was never my father."

Rocket answered her. "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 pulled up a hologram showing a planet. "On this planet."

Nebula nodded. "Thanos is there."

"He used the stones again," Natasha concluded.

"Hey, hey, hey. We'd be going in short-handed, you know," Bruce added, worry in his tone.

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

Carol finished. "So let's get him... Use them to bring everyone back."

"Just like that?" Evelyn asked, fearing it would never be that simple.

Steve wanted it to work. He needed Bucky back. For himself. For Evelyn. "Yeah, just like that," he said seriously as he and Carol shared a 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," Natasha murmured.

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Bruce asked, trying to see reason.

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

"Hey, new girl, everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?" Rhodey snapped her way.

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

Thor stood from his spot where he sat almost every day. He stalked over to Carol, glaring down at her. Holding his hand up, he waited until Stormbreaker flew into his hand. Carol did not even flinch as it almost hit her. She smiled at him.

"I like this one," Thor said with the first real smile he had in weeks.

"Let's go get this son of a bitch," Steve said with a glance at Evelyn. She nodded, clenching her fist. They would get him back.