Infinity

Chapter 10 Welcome to New York

They've collected they body, cleaned up the blood, and they've moved on.

Except me.

Coulson was a good man, he didn't deserve to die. He had been nothing but kind to me, once I recovered, he saw that I immediately got settled; that I was secure, and even if it were temporary: That I was safe.

My Father, well, I have no words. I'm mad at him, but I know that I can't be. I want to hate him for not coming sooner, but I know that I can't. I know that I would be the same way. I wouldn't retrieve or rescue someone, not unless there was a sure way home, and if it were the person's remains, well, that's even less motivation.

My body and mind are exhausted, but I can't sleep.

I've just sat for a few hours, my legs hanging off the stairs and into the empty space that once held Loki's cage.

The doors behind me swoosh open and closed as someone enters the room.

"I didn't think someone like you could cry." Tony says, sarcastically.

"This isn't a time you're your games, Stark."

"I get it, you're in a rough spot. You don't really know what to do with yourself." He says, looking down at me, "Digging the armor by the way."

"Do you have a significant reason for being here? Or are you just here to bother me?" I ask.

"I figured I'd come pay my respects to Phil." He says, looking at the blood stain on the wall. He falls silent and stands for while before Steve walks in, silently.

We all sit in silence, until Steve asks, "Was he married?"

"No." Tony says.

"There was a cellist." I say.

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man."

"He was." I say.

"He was an idiot."

"Why? For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone."

"He wasn't alone." I say.

"Thor did a lot of good in that falling cage." Tony says sarcastically.

I get to my feet, "You weren't here to save him, so what gives you the right to judge them?"

"He was out of his league! He should have waited-"

"If he had waited, it would have been worse." I say.

"She's right, sometimes there isn't a way out." Steve says.

Tony walks away, "Right. How did that work for him?"

"Is this the first time you've lost a solider?" Steve asks.

"WE ARE NOT SOILDERS." Tony bellows, looking back to the blood stained wall and with the sudden realization he says, "He made it personal."

"That's not the point."

"You don't understand, Steve. That is his point. It's always been that way." I say.

"He hit us right where we live, but why?" Tony asks.

"To tear us apart."

"He had to conquer his greed, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience." Tony says, putting the pieces together in his head.

"Right, I caught his act in Germany."

"Yeah. That's just a preview, this is opening night. Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, parades, he wants monuments build to the sky with his name plaster-"