Snakebite | Avengers: Endgame [8]

Chapter 11

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth," Rhodey said. "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 we was going to do. Thanos wiped out 50% of all living creatures," Nat said, as faces flashed across the screens. James Barnes, Stephen Strange, Erik Selvig, Samuel Wilson, Hope Van Dyne, Wanda Maximoff, Henry Pym, Scott Lang, Peter Parker, Shuri, T'Challa, Ch'tasi, M'ahni, Tanya Stark-Livdottir, Misha Banner, Theodosia Rogers, Nick Fury. All gone because we couldn't stop Thanos. "Where is he now?" I asked from the wheelchair I had been exiled to.

"We don't know. He just...opened a portal and walked through," Steve admitted. "What's wrong with him?" Tony asked, pointing at Thor. "Oh, he's ticked. Thinks he failed. Which of course, he did, but, you know, there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?" The raccoon spoke. Because today hasn't been weird or depressing enough, nope. Talking raccoon.

A girl with yellow eyes rolled her eyes, obviously used to the raccoon's snide comments. "Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a build-a-bear," Tony said. "Maybe I am," Raccoon said. "We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans, satellites, and we got nothing. Tony, Ellie, you fought him," Steve said. "Who told you that? We didn't fight him. No, he wipes our faces with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the stone. That's what happened. There was no fight because he's unbeatable," Tony said.

"Did he give you any clues? Any coordinates? Anything?" Steve asked, and Tony made a fizzling sound. "I saw this coming years ago. I had a vision, I didn't wanna believe it. Thought it was a dream," Tony claimed. "Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus," Steve said. "And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late. You know what I need? I need a shave," Tony knocked a bunch of stuff over. "And I believe I remember telling you, alive or 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," Tony said, ripping out his IV.

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?" He asked. "I said we'd lose. You said 'we'll do that together too.' Well, guess what, Cap? We lost. And you weren't there. That's what we do right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Avengers. We're the Avengers, not the Prevengers. Right? Okay. No, no, here's my point. Bunch of tired old mules. I've got nothing for you, Cap. I've got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero, zip, nada. No trust. Liar," Tony spat, ripping off his chest thing. "Here, take this. You find him, you put that on, and you hide," Tony fell to his knees, and Rhodey rushed over. "I'm fine," Tony said, before falling to the floor, unconscious. They brought him to a med room, giving him a sedative.

I didn't say anything.