Infinity

Chapter 166

Tony's POV

I appeared on the platform, holding the case with the Tesseract, and standing between Steve and Bruce once again.

"Did we get them all?" Bruce asked.

I looked around quickly and noticed the different stones. It worked. We had all of the stones. Marlie's plan was going to work.

"You telling me this actually worked?" Rhodey said happily.

Our happiness was interrupted by a loud thud. I looked over and saw Clint kneeling on the ground with a look of pure grief on his face. That's when I realized. Natasha wasn't here. Something had happened and from his expression, it wasn't good.

"Clint, where's Nat?" Bruce asked, but we all knew the answer.

Sadness filled me as I stared down at Clint. I couldn't help the images flooding my head. All of the memories I shared with Nat both good and bad. I couldn't believe she was gone. Nat and I may not have always gotten along, but these past few years drew us closer. I was proud to call her my friend and now she too was gone. This wasn't supposed to happen. We did this mission to bring everyone back, not lose another person. Marlie was going to be devastated.

I looked around and saw everyone's devastated faces, especially Steve's. I could see the tears in his eyes as he tried to swallow the sob that had to be building in him. I remembered Marlie always used to give Steve and Nat a hard time their underlining attraction for each other. To be honest, I saw it too, but I don't know if they ever acted on it. Even still I knew that Steve, Clint, Bruce, and eventually Marlie were going to take her loss the hardest.

I watched as the reality of it all sunk in on everyone's and Bruce fell to his knees in grief. We all stood there for a long time. Eventually, the others who hadn't known her as long left, leaving me, Bruce, Clint, Steve, and Thor. I walked over to Clint and offered him my hand. He took it and got to his feet.

"I'm gonna take the stones to the lab. I'll meet you guys down by the lake." I said, he just nodded and handed me the stone.

I grabbed the other stones from Bruce and Steve before walking out towards the lab. When I got there, I noticed that the other stones were already brought into the lab and placed in the specialized containers I'd made. I placed the other stones in and fell backwards onto one of the chairs. The feeling of grief filled me as I stared at the stones. I just needed a minute to compose myself before meeting the others outside.

"Sir, another message has just been made available. Would you like to see it?" Friday asked, interrupting my thoughts.

I sat up with a sigh. "Yeah, go ahead." I told the A.I., who instantly brought up the written message.

Tony, I know you just got back, and you have all the stones. Great job. I also know what happened and I'm sorry. There wasn't any other way and I feel dirty for being the one to lead Nattie and Clint to that choice. I'll never forgive myself for the pain it caused. I wish there was a way around it. I really do. If it's any comfort she was at peace with her decision. She died at peace. It doesn't change the fact that she's gone through or the pain everyone is feeling. I just wish I was there to say sorry. It was my fault. Anyway, go see everyone and I'll be seeing you all real soon. I love you and I'm sorry.

I read through it once more. She knew this was going to happen. She knew someone had to die to get the Soul Stone and she sent Clint and Nat there. I have no clue why. I just added it to the growing list of questions I would ask when I finally got her back.

I then closed the message and walked out if the building down towards the dock where the other remaining original team members were all waiting. As I sat down on one of the benches, I looked around. There were only five out of the original seven members of the original team left. So much had happened in the eleven years since the battle of New York.