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"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey says. He and the rest of the remaining Avengers, including Carol Danvers, stand in a briefing room. Tony sits in a wheelchair connected to drip fluids. He's very thin and weak from spending almost a month in space and nearly dying.

"World governments are in pieces." Nat adds. They watch holoscreens as they filter through the photos of people who have been snapped away. It shows Pietro, then Wanda, and finally Y/n. Thor, who had been sitting to the side by himself and watching the screens, looks away at the sight of her picture with a clench of his jaw. "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 gonna do. Thanos wiped out... 50 percent of all living creatures."

"Where is he now? Where?" Tony asks.

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

Tony sighs and looks over at Thor. "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh, he's pissed." Rocket answers. "His girlfriend got dusted right in his arms. He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did but, you know, there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"

"Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am."

"Okay. Wait, wait. You said 'girlfriend'? Who was Thunder Boy seeing?"

"Y/n." Nat supplied. "She traveled with him for a while when we were all split. They grew close."

Tony looked back at Thor in understanding. He had a pit in his stomach if he even thought about Pepper possibly being snapped away. He couldn't even imagine what it would be like if he was actually holding her like Thor did. Although, he thought it might be close to how he felt when the kid was snapped.

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now." Steve continues. "Deep space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him."

"Who told you that? I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleeker Street magician gave away the Stone. That's what happened. There was no fight, 'cause he's not beatable."

"Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?"

"Ah- uh- pffth-" Tony sputters in almost disbelief. "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't want to believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

"Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus."

"And I needed you. As in, past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry. You know what I need?" He leans forward and sniffs at the bowl in front of him before smacking it away and standing. "I need a shave. And I believe I remember telling all you guys-" He starts to take out his IV and Rhodey tries to stop him.

"Tony, Tony, Tony!" But he fails as Tony rips it out anyways.

"-Alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world. Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not. That's what we needed." He ground out the last word like poison.

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" Steve said quietly.

"I said we'd lose. You said, 'We'll do that together, too.' And guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there. But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the 'Avengers.' We're the 'Avengers,' not the 'Pre-vengers.'"

Rhodey has to hold Tony back as he starts getting more emotional and animated while talking. "Okay." He tries to calm.

"Right?" Tony looks at him.