Journey Back To You // Spider-Man [Book 3]

thirteen {Arya's POV}

I leaned on Nebula's shoulder, feeling guilty for burdening her like that, but I just couldn't stand on my own two feet without falling to the ground. 

We stumbled down the stairs of the Benatar and a pair of arms caught me as I sank through my knees. I looked up and saw Steve Rogers' blue eyes. "You're okay. I've got you," he said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders to keep me on my feet. 

Nebula rushed back inside to fetch my dad. 

"He's gone, Steve," I choked out, a tear slipping down my cheek. His hand squeezed my shoulder. 

Tony came down the stairs. "I couldn't stop him," he managed to muster out.  

"Neither could I," Steve stated, starting to take both of us back to the Avengers' compound. 

Tony stopped and looked at Steve with guilt in his eyes. His voice trembling, he said, "I lost the kid." 

Steve sadly nodded. "Tony, we lost." 

Tony swallowed. "Is eh..." 

Before he could finish his sentence, Pepper reached us, mustering out, "Oh, my God," before tightly hugging us both. 

"It's okay," Tony said quietly, pulling back and pressing a kiss to her cheek. 

Behind her, stood Rhodey, Bruce, and Natasha. The woman who had rescued us from space joined their side.  

"C'mon," Pepper softly muttered, taking us to the Compound. 

Once inside, Bruce hooked both me and Tony to IVs to get out fluids back to normal. We had been terribly deprived of everything we needed to survive out there and I refused to look at myself in the mirror. I had seen how Tony looked and I didn't feel the need at all to see how badly my condition was. 

Pepper helped me out of my disgusting clothing and heaved me in a clean bathrobe after putting me in fresh underwear and some sweatpants. I sat down at the table in the main area where I was handed a couple of crackers. Tony sat on the other side of the table with a plate of food of his own. 

Our blonde rescuer introduced herself as Carol Danvers. She was an old friend and ally of Nick Fury back in the 90s. 

Rhodey entered, holding a tablet in his hands. He placed it on the table between me and Tony and tapped it twice. A large hologram appeared, along with the pictures of the people who had disappeared. I recognised Bucky Barnes, Stephen Strange, Nick Fury, and-

And Peter. 

I looked down at my plate and felt a hand on my shoulder. When I glanced up, I found Natasha smiling at me solemnly. 

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth," Rhodey spoke. 

"World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working, are trying to take a census," Natasha added. "He did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out 50 per cent of all living creatures." 

As everyone let those words sink in, Tony spoke up, "Where is he now? Where?" 

"We don't know," Steve answered. "He just... opened a portal and walked through." 

Tony smiled sarcastically before turning to his right, motioning to someone who had been sitting against the wall this entire time. "What's wrong with him?" he questioned. It was Thor. I hadn't seen him in years and he had changed drastically. His blonde hair was now short and his beard had thickened. He held a depressed look in his eyes and the sight broke my heart. I had never before seen him this defeated. He had always been the first one to get back up and keep fighting. 

"He's pissed," a new voice spoke up and I looked around, discovering the voice belonged to a raccoon who sat on the floor. I blinked, thinking my mind was playing tricks on me. "He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but there's a lot of that goin' around, ain't there?" The raccoon had a southern accent and right at that moment, I believed I had died and this was some kind of weird afterlife.

"Honestly, to this exact second, I thought you were a build-a-bear," Tony commented, voicing my thoughts. 

The raccoon cocked his head to the side. "Maybe I am."

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now," Steve spoke up, ending our strange conversation. "Deep space scans and satellites. And we got nothing." His eye fell on me and my father. "Tony, Arya, you fought him." 

"Who told you that?" Tony snapped. "We didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street magician gave away the Stone. There was no fight." 

"Okay," Steve agreed. "Did he give you any clues, any coordinates? Anything?" 

Tony cackled shortly before making a fart noise with his mouth. Steve sighed. 

"I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it," Tony spoke. "I thought I was dreaming." 

"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus," Steve stated, rising to his feet. 

"And I needed you," Tony said coldly. "As in past tense." 

"Dad..." I sighed, but he ignored me. 

"That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry," he said, his voice softening, but I knew he felt far from sorry. He sniffed the plate that stood before him. "You know what I need? I need to shave." He whacked the plate away from him and rose to his feet. 

"Dad, sit back down," I said, scared for what would happen if he got too worked up.  

He started to fumble with the IV in his arm. "And I remember telling you that what we needed was a suit of armour around the world." He ripped out the IV. "Remember that?" 

"Dad!" I exclaimed, rising to my feet but stumbling instantly as black spots danced in front of my eyes. A pair of hands gripped my arm to steady me. 

But Tony wouldn't listen. He was pissed off and there was nothing that was going to stop him from lashing out right now. Not even his own daughter. 

"That's what we needed," he sneered, stepping closer to Steve. 

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve replied and I mentally cursed him for saying that. 

"I said we'd lose and you said 'we'll do that together too'," Tony said terrifyingly calm. "And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there." The pain in his voice brought tears to my eyes. I walked over to his side and took his arm, trying to get him to sit back down. Rhodey tried to help me, but Tony wouldn't listen. "But that's what we do, right? We're the Avengers, not the Pre-vengers. Huh?" 

"Dad, you made your point. Sit down," I ordered. 

"No, no. Here's my..." His eye fell on Carol, who was observing the scene carefully. "She's great by the way." 

"Dad, I mean it. Sit down," I repeated. 

"We need you. You're new blood," he continued. "We're a bunch of tired old mules. I got nothin' for you, Cap. No coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar," he seethed. 

"DAD! That's enough!" I barked, stepping in between the two. Tony's eyes were filled with betrayal and anger. "Both of you are responsible for tearing this family apart and I will not have you put everything on Steve."

"You're taking his side? His? He practically killed your grandparents," Tony snarled. "Or were you too busy being his best friend?" 

"You're not thinking clearly. Just sit down. Please," I pleaded, but he ripped his arm from my hand and weakly pushed me aside, standing across from Steve. He ripped the blue arc reactor from his chest and slammed it in Steve's hand. "You take this. If you find him, put this on, and you hide." 

He was trembling from top to bottom and when his knees buckled, he dropped to the ground, holding himself up with his hand. 

"Dad!" 

"Tony!" 

"I'm fine," he breathed heavily before he collapsed on the wooden floor.