Kaleidoscope. (Tony Stark Fanfic)

Chapter 75

*The only cure for grief is to grieve*

"Snap!"

"I said it first!" Natasha said.
"Yeah well my hand is on the cards, yours isn't!" Leah argued. The two women glared at each other for a few seconds until Natasha let a smirk escape.

"Fine, we'll split it evenly," She suggested. Leah split the winning cards of snap and sulked due to not being allowed to keep them all.
"Not fair," she mumbled.
"It so is, ask.." Nat stopped and sighed.
"Sam? The so called card master?" Leah laughed.
Natasha laughed too.

"How long has it been?"
"23 days," Leah replied as she placed down a card. Natasha done the same.
"Where's Steve by the way?" Leah asked.
"No idea, him and Thor had a bit of a disagreement before." Natasha answered. Leah sighed.

"Probably in a mood then in his room...SNAP!" Leah shouted, winning the card game.
"Damn, that was so not fair."
"Oh it so was!" Leah cheered.

"Drink?" Natasha offered, getting up and taking glasses out the kitchen cupboard.
"Obviously," Leah answered also walking towards the kitchen area.

"Drinking without me?" Rhodey asked as he walked in.
"I'll pour you one too," Natasha laughed. As she was about to do that, the glasses started to shake, as well as many other things.
"Earthquake? Here?" Rhodey questioned. Leah walked towards the windows and saw a huge space ship landing in front of the compound.
"Omg..."

Natasha, Rhodey, Leah, Steve, Bruce and rocket walking on the yard towards the spacecraft. They stand waiting for it to land. The entry hatch opens and Tony and Nebula walk out. Everyone stands in shock as Steve runs to help Tony for support.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" Leah runs up to Tony and embraces him in a hug.
"It's okay," Tony sighs. Steve and Leah support Tony as everyone heads back to the compound.

* * *

Rocket is sat down with Nebula and takes her hand as they both mourn their losses quietly: Peter Q, Mantis, Groot, Drax and Gamora. Tony is sat at a table with Rhodey and Bruce; while Steve, Natasha are stood around that table discussing the deaths that show up on a holographic casualty report list. Leah hands Thor, who is sitting by himself, a drink and walks back towards the table after patting his shoulder.

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth," Rhodey announced.
"World governments are in piece. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census," Natasha added.
"And it looks like he did... he did exactly what he said he was going to do," Leah stated walking to stand next to Steve. "Thanos wiped out firty percent of all living things."

"Where is he now? Where?" Tony asked.
"We don't know, Tony."
"He just opened a portal and walked through," Steve explained.

"What's wrong with him?" Tony also asked, referring to Thor who is deep in thought.
"Oh he's pissed. He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but you know there's a lot of that's going around, ain't there?" Rocket replied.
"Honestly until this exact second, I literally thought you were a Build-A-Bear."
"Maybe I am."

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans and satellites, and we got nothing," Steve said. "Tony, Leah, Nebula... you fought him-,"

"Who told you that?" Tony asked surprisingly. "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleaker Street Magician gave away the stone. That's what happened. There was no fight."

"Okay," Leah said stopping him from going too far before he says something he regretted. But Steve continued to interrogate.

"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?"
"Steve, we've had this conversation," Leah muttered.
"Yeah well you didn't stay there as long as he did so maybe..."
"Pfft!" Tony interrupted. "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," Steve said.
"And I needed you," Tony pointed at Steve.
"Tony don't..." Leah tried to stop him.

"As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late buddy. Sorry! You know what I need?" Tony stands up, pushing things off the table. "I need to shave. And I believe telling all youse..." Tony goes for Steve but Rhodey quickly comes in front of him, trying to stop him.

"Tony, Tony, Tony!"

"Alive and otherwise what we needed was a suit of armour around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not- that's what we needed!"
"Tony just stop!" Leah demanded.
"Well, that didn't work out did it?" Steve spat.

"Are we seriously going to have another civil war?" Leah rolled her eyes and walked to Natasha.

"I said we'd lose. And you said we'd 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? We're the Avengers. Not the Prevengers."

"Okay," Rhodey said.
"Right?"
"You made your point so just sit down."
"Nah nah, here's my point."
"Tony your sick."
"She's great by the way!" Tony pointed at Carol Danvers.
"Sit down. Sit."

"We need you! You're new blood!" Tony then walked right up to Steve's face, his voice quieting down to a venomous whisper. "I got nothing for you, Cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liar."

Steve appeared affected by Tony's words. The old friends just gaze at each other. Suddenly, after a moment, Tony rips his arc reactor from his chest and shoves it into Steve's hand.

"Here, take this. You find him. You put that on. You hide." Tony falls to the ground, Steve kneeling by his side and everyone starts to gather.

"Tony!" Natasha shouts in worry.
"I'm fine, I..." Tony falls unconscious.

* * *

"Bruce gave him a sedative. He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day." Leah said to everyone, and leans on the table next to Steve.
"You guys take care of him. And I'll bring him a Xorrian Elixir when I come back," Carol said and begins to walk away.

"And where is it that you're going?" Leah stands straight following, crossing her arms annoyed.
"To kill Thanos." Leah laughs, and Natasha and Steve share a look before following them.
"You're funny. And clueless," Leah laughed causing Carol to come to a holy and turn around, allowing Steve and Natasha to catch up, Rhodey soon joining.

"We usually work as a team here," Leah stated. "And between you and me, morales a little fragile."
"We realise up there is more your territory, but this is our fight too," Steve adds.
"You even know where he is?" Leah tilted her head slightly in question.
"I know people who might," Carol answered also crossing her arms.
"Oh great we're all saved. She might know some people." Rhodey let out a little smirk.

"Don't bother. I can tell you where Thanos is," Nebula joined.
"Thank you!" Leah celebrated.
"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: The garden."

"That's cute. Thanos has a retirement plan," Rhodey rolled his eyes.
"So where is he?" Natasha asked.

"When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions," Rocket described. "No one's ever seen anything like it. Until two days ago." Everyone gathers around the table again to see a hologram of a planet pops up, with a shockwave visibly traversing the surface. "On this planet."

"Thanos is there," Nebula said.
"He used the stones again," Natasha stated.
"Hey hey hey! We'd be going in short handed," Bruce added.
"Look he's still got the stones so.." Rhodey trailed off.
"So let's get them," Leah said.
"Just like that?" Carol asked.
"Yeah, just like that," Steve answered.

* * *

Word Count:1350
A/n: finally updated lol. Sorry bout the very long wait. ☺️
Kiwi~ 🥝