Guardian Angel | Steve Rogers

26

Thanos punched Tony off of him, Arden catching Tony breaking his fall, waving her hand over his body as she guides him to the ground. Thanos raising his wrist, smiling to himself. "I am inevitable."

But when he snapped, nothing happened. He turned his hand over, noticing no stones on the gauntlet, jerking his head over at Tony and Arden. Tony looked down at his wrist, but the stones weren't there either from when he stole them from Thanos. Tony slowly turned beside him, looking at Arden who breathed heavily and slowly lifting off of the ground. 

"Sorry..." Arden mumbled, raising her wrist, revealing a gauntlet of her own.

"Am I stepping on your moment?" She sarcastically chuckled at Tony, taking in a deep breath as the power from the stones projected themselves into her, sending waves of glowing colors up her arm.

It was like it was it was completely silent around them. All eyes were on them, with no sudden movements. The sight of power making its way up to the veins in her neck, making her eyes glow the different colors of the Infinity Stones. 

"Told you I was going to kill you." She exhaled, wincing as she snapped her fingers, sending a bright light around them. 

Everything from Thanos, including his army and ships started to turn into dust, floating away into thin air. Thanos watching as his right hand man, reached out for his help, turning into dust as he fell onto the ground. Defeat taking over him as he took a seat on a boulder. Exhaling as he turned into dust himself. 

"Arden." Tony whispered, grabbing a hold of her as she stumbled to reach the ground.

"Hey, hey, hey. I got cha'." He added, pulling her to sit against a broken tree stump. 

She took deep, heavy breaths looking at Tony, holding onto his hand as tears ran down his face. Pepper and Peter made their way over first, kneeling by Arden, holding any piece of her they could touch. 

"Now why'd you go and do that?" Tony sniffled.

"I promised my goddaughter that her dad would go home." Arden let out, smiling weakly at Tony. 

Tony dropped his head on her hand, picking it back up quickly, smiling at her with tears in his eyes. 

"Arden." Steve's voice appeared, pushing past the crowd surrounding her, dropping to his knees. 

Pepper pulling Tony and Peter up, giving Steve his space with her. 

"Hey, stay with me." Steve cried, holding her hand tightly.

Arden smiled, another tear running down her face. More tears fell down on his cheeks when he noticed the burnt skin on her, running from her cheek down to her arm with the gauntlet. 

"Friday?" Tony spoke up.

"Vitals critical." 

Steve's head dropped onto her forehead.

"Let us take her." T'Challa insisted. 

"Steve." Tony called after him, but Steve didn't budge from her side. 

"Let them take her." Thor demanded. 

Arden wheezed out a breath, looking at her brother's watering red eyes. Thor pushed Steve onto the ground, removing him from holding Arden's hand, picking up near lifeless body up. 

"I'm coming with." Steve cried, wiping his face as he got up. 

"Don't you think this little mind game of yours with her is enough?" Thor spit out at him. 

Steve stood there speechless, taking a step back to allow Thor to walk away with T'Challa. Strange opening a portal for them to walk through to Wakanda. 

T'Challa refused any visitors besides Thor, while his people did everything they could to help Arden. It took an entire day of reviving her for her to finally be stable. The only person able to keep Steve steady was Tony. His voice of reason, keeping him from disobeying T'Challa's orders to go and see her himself. 

"Yeah, got it. Thanks, Banner." Tony ended his call, turning to Steve. 

"Well, you coming or what?" Tony asked Steve, and he immediately got up, following him out the door. 

Bruce, Tony, Steve, Bucky and Sam all rode together to Wakanda, waiting outside the recovery room for them to bring her in. When Shuri opened the blinds of the room, they all saw her laying on a hospital bed, still burnt to a crisp. T'Challa, Shuri and Thor walked out of the room to speak to everyone. Everyone practically on their toes, waiting to hear the nears. 

"She's stable. For now. We did everything we could, it was just too much radiation." Shuri informed them.

"So what? We just wait for her to die?" Sam initiated, and all eyes went on him. 

"What? I'm just saying what everyone's thinking." He explained. 

"It's been a day, if that. Give her time to heal. Her powers are already healing herself, we give her a couple days, monitor her and go from there." Shuri added.

"Can I see her?" Steve muttered. 

Shuri and T'Challa turned to look at Thor for permission, but he looks to Tony who gives him a light nod. 

"Come. It will be good for her to her your voices." T'Challa answered, leading them all into her room. 

They stood by her bed, just watching her. Steve pulled up a chair, holding her undamaged hand. 

"So you two are together, right?" Sam broke the silence. 

"It's complicated." Steve answered. 

"Let me get this straight. You're telling me you had 5 years to confess your love to her, and you still didn't do that?" Sam broke it down, looking around the room, but Steve didn't reply, Sam turned to Tony.

"That's exactly what he's telling you." Tony confirmed. 

"You still don't know how to talk to women." Bucky sighed, patting Steve on the shoulder. 

"I was going to, but..."

"But your girlfriend, who isn't really your girlfriend is practically on her deathbed. Yeah, think we got that." Tony barked. 

"I think that's enough for today." Thor insisted, crossing his arms at the door. 

Without argue, Steve stood up, kissing her hand one more time before leaving the room with Sam and Bucky. Thor waited until they left before he stopped Tony and Bruce from stepping out. 

"I hope you two may do me a favor." Thor spoke up.

"Of course, anything." Bruce replied, Tony nodding in agreement. 

"I would like you two to stay. Help in anyway you can. Keep me updated." Thor pleaded. "She's the only family I have left." 

"We'll take care of her." Tony reassured him.