HIDDEN ─ marvel

XXXIV. First Trip To Space?

Chapter Thirty-Four
Soroya

The next two weeks were busy and a part of me was glad for it. Any spare moment of time I wanted to cry and scream until my lungs gave out. But that feels like giving up to me, and I haven't lost hope yet. I still have hope that Alex and Bucky will be returned to me. But their absence weighs on me like a pair of barbells.

I've spent the past few days back in London, trying to help Parliament deal with the deaths of the entire royal family. It's not easy. We're trying to come up with a temporary solution for now. Steve has been helping with a drug lord taking advantage of the disappearance of the people after him; he's been going on a selling and killing spree in Mexico and South America. Rhodey has been in France dealing with the loss of half their government officials. Thor hasn't really come out of his room since everything happened, still feeling guilty for failing to kill Thanos. Bruce has mostly stayed in the compound monitoring everything alone with the raccoon, who is apparently named Rocket.

When Natasha and I returned to the compound, Steve informed us that Carol contacted us about Tony Stark. She found his ship. He's still alive. Steve also said he called a woman named Pepper Potts. Natasha explained to me that's his fiancé. She arrived a few hours ago and she looks probably just as well as the rest of us. She's a very kind woman, strong and confident as well. Natasha and I sat with her until we heard a ship from outside. Everyone else had been trying to occupy themselves and not sit in the horrible anticipation of waiting. But at the sound of the ship, we all rushed out together, finding Carol carrying a large ship down to the ground.

The ramp to the ship opens up and a blue robotic looking woman is carrying a malnourished and exhausted looking Tony Stark. Steve rushes up to him, and the two exchange a few words. Tony talks about losing 'the kid', with Steve telling him that we all lost. I watch as Pepper runs up to her fiancé, letting out a sob of relief as she wraps her arms around Stark. The loving look the two share fills me with so much jealousy and pain I have to look away. I feel guilty that seeing two people so happy and relieved makes me so miserable.

Rocket goes over to the blue woman and the two share a moment of mourning, so I can only assume they are close. We bring Stark inside and sit him down, having Bruce hook him up to an IV and try to explain the situation we find ourselves in.

"It's been twenty three days since Thanos came to earth." Rhodey explains.

"World governments are in pieces, the parts that are still working are trying to take a census and it looks like he did...he did exactly what he said he was going to do: Thanos wiped out 50% of all living creatures."

We all take a moment to sink this in. As I look around I don't see superheroes; I see a room of people who are broken and angry and driven more than ever to take Thanos down. Holograms of the fallen keep flashing around us. As I see Bucky's face as well as Alex's, I have to hold back more tears.

Stark rubs his temple, saying with a slightly shaky voice: "Where is he now? Where?"

Steve, who apparently shaved off his beard during the wait for Stark's return, shakes his head. "We don't know. He just opened up a portal and walked through."

Stark sighs, glancing over at Thor; who has been broodingly starring at the wall for a good three hours. "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh, he's pissed." Rocket explains from the seat he has next to me. "He thinks he failed...which of course he did but there's a lot of that around, ain't there?" He says.

Stark blinks several times and slightly shakes his head. "Honestly until this second I thought you were build-a-bear."

"Maybe I am." Rocket quips back.