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They were standing in ruins again.
Steve looked below, where the base of the Compound used to be, where Thanos waited, sitting like he already owned the place, his helmet on his sword like he had already won. It made his blood boil, to see the so-called Titan on his world.
The ruins they stood on weren't so different from the ruins where they had made what they thought were final stands. Ultron, Loki, Wakanda...he hadn't been there on Titan, but he had heard. He had helped Tony walk down that ramp from the spaceship, and he had seen him with dark eyebags and stumbling and tired, and there was something in his eyes that was so utterly broken.
Pepper had caught him. Nearly slapped Steve's hands away as they held Tony upright, and he let go; let her take the full weight and didn't say a word as she murmured to him, pushing back sweaty hair with her hand, and she looks entirely unsurprised. That, of everything, leaves a pit in Steve's stomach - that she doesn't blink when she sees him in a state that in all their years of teamwork he has never.
He had thought he had seen Tony drunk. Thought that he had seen him when he was drowning himself in alcohol, when in reality, all he was doing was taking the edge off. That - that Tony, who stumbled out of the ship like he hadn't seen sunlight in weeks, looked worse than when Steve saw him drink what he thought was the most alcohol someone could. Pale and gaunt and with his eyes almost lolled back.
He hadn't said anything when Tony murmured into Pepper's shoulder, words that were too soft for even a supersoldier to hear. He hadn't said anything when Pepper hugged him tight and didn't let anyone but Rhodey near. And he hadn't said anything when they talked among themselves in hushed voices.
He hadn't said anything because he knew the look in Tony's eye. Knew that those ice-blue eyes, that had always held together strong, had shattered. Had seen it in himself, waking up seventy years in the future; had seen it in Clint's eyes when Phil died; Thor, when he came back to Earth with a new weapon and a missing eye and a brother nowhere to be found.
He never thought - never thought that Tony would have someone like that to lose.
He had been wrong. He had been wrong about so many things, and he wanted to apologise, but he had no chance before Tony locked himself in the woods with his wife and his friends and started to piece himself together in a way that no one else could have but Tony Stark; a way that told Steve he had done it before, and regretted, and this time he would not do it wrong again.
They all had shattered hearts, once. Now they stood in a ruined world with a threat that was already upon them.
Thor's eyes crackled as he summoned his weapons. One from the past, one he had forged with his own might, two hands to hold them.
Steve made sure he had his shield. And Tony - Tony started walking towards Thanos.
Another time, Steve would have said arrogance. Steve would have said that he wanted the glory.
Steve knew Tony Stark better than that, now. And he knew that Tony Stark was someone who found every way around a problem, so no one would lie down on the wire. He would rather do it himself.
He walked like a man of his past. A man with nothing to lose, even though Steve knew that wasn't true.
"You coming?" Tony called, looking back. His eyes held no plea, but a question - a test. Steve tightened the straps that secured his shield to his arm and gave Tony a tight nod, following him down.
Steve had made many mistakes. Today would not be one. He followed Tony to the battlefield, as he had so many times in the past; relied on him to be their eyes and ears as they infiltrated base after base, to know what they were dealing with on the tech side.
Some part of him wondered why he had not trusted him that day, in the meeting room.
Another part of him knew. And regretted.
Thanos was waiting. He was always waiting. He looked exactly the same, but Steve knew that this Thanos - this Thanos was not the one that Thor had beheaded, though the god beside him itched to grip his blade and swing. No, this Thanos was different, but he was still cunning, and still ten steps ahead of them, seemingly saying pitifully, I'll wait for you to catch up. If you can.
He thought of each and every one of the people that Thanos had murdered before he even got the stones. He thought of every planet he had murdered, every daughter's life he had ruined, and the lengths they went to stop him.
They couldn't let him win this. Not again. Never again.
For Natasha.
They spare no words for him. Even so, he taunts them in the battle, swings his sword lazily when he can until they push him to fight properly.
Steve - he's out of practice, serum keeping him healthy and strong, but he has not used this shield in a while, and it shows. He is rusty where Thanos is new, fresh, and with the knowledge that he had won against them before. He could do so again.
He pushes the axe into Thor's chest, and Steve's heart stops.
They lost Clint, to his rage, once, and Bruce was gone for two years, and now Natasha was dead and there were them three and they splintered -
He couldn't let it happen -
He threw his hand out and hoped.
Something in him thrummed, sang with the lightning that crackled in his veins. Something in his felt complete.
He held Thor's Mighty Hammer in his hand, and the battle started again.
But no matter how hard they fought, Thanos had years of experience on him. Sheer will and spite had kept them alive. Thanos wanted to gloat, and they let him. None of them had said a word yet. Despite all the years apart, they were still a team. They were still the Avengers, and they had a hell of a world to avenge.
He pushed them back. And then -
One slip. A yell, from the ruins, and Steve's head snapped back because Clint, and not Clint, not after he left once before -
Thanos charged.
Thor blocked, and fell to the ground.
Steve felt a crushing pressure on his collarbone, suddenly on his back, pieces of glass and concrete unforgiving on his back. He choked, gasped, managing to only make wheezing sounds. For all the serum he had in his veins, he was still human, and he needed air.
Air that he couldn't feel, lightheaded, turning blue -
Tony, from where he had been behind him, getting to his feet. Thanos had left him alone, stepping on Steve's chest and neck, a massive hand around Thor's. He was monologuing again, directed at Tony. "Why do you still fight?" he asked amusedly, a glimmer of genuine curiousity shining. "There is nothing left for you to gain." He released Thor's throat to gesture with both arms at the landscape around them - the crumbling remains of the Compound, the dark shadows of his army on the hoizon. Steve gasped as the pressure loosened on his chest.
Tony's breath hitched. His head had been bowed, but he raised it, opening his eyes to reveal eyes that were blue, frigid, cold, hard. Eyes that had been through a hell of his own making and back, that had shattered and reformed. That had broke under the pressure and remade themselves to be stronger. Those diamond-like eyes that shone with tears, because for all of his faults, Tony Stark was a good man. He was a good man, and he made himself stronger, and he made himself care.
"His name was Peter," he said quietly, to Thanos' question, to the silent battlefield. Steve looked at him in surprise, at the man who was bleeding and raised himself to his feet with a suit that he first made in a cave, with his bare hands, with his pain, and escaped. At the man who had suffered and had no one but a lying, scheming, bastard who manipulated his way into the Stark family. At the man with an asshole of a father, at the man who first hated Steve with a burning fury that Steve could never understand until Natasha had finally made things clear and spelt it out for him.
He looked at the man, and all he sees is a survivor - a fighter, a soldier in a war he had warned them against and wanted no part in, but he was here anyways. A war he had fought on Titan, and lost. Tony never talked about that day, but Steve had wanted to know what could cause him to look so broken, and Rhodey had told them, quietly, in the stillness of the Compound where Tony could hear but didn't want to, about a boy whose name was Peter, who Steve had fought. He talked about a boy named Peter but he showed them a son. And Rhodey - Rhodey had looked so broken, too.
Steve had never pushed, never asked again. And that had been it. Peter Parker was a ghost that Tony had no intention of mentioning to them. Someone Tony cared about too much.
Thanos looked at him, surprised enough to lift his boot. Steve rolled over, took in gulping breaths of air that tasted divine. "What?"
Tony stood up, with blood streaming from his head, but steady on his feet, and he looked the Mad Titan in the eyes as he said, "His name was Peter." His body quivered with rage, fists now clenched in his suit, his helmet wrapping around his head. "His name was Peter," Tony repeated, and though they couldn't see his eyes, Steve could imagine the pain and the rage and the fury that they must be filled with. "He was my son," he whispered, and Steve inhales. "And you took him." The slits of the Iron Man armour glowed.
"And for that, you will pay."
Thanos laughed. He laughed like a Mad Titan, Mad only because he had not heeded Tony Stark's warning. And if Steve learnt anything from Tony, it was to always heed his threats.
Then the weight on him was back, now pressing on the base of his neck. Steve stilled. It was not heavy enough to crush, merely a warning. A threat for Tony Stark.
To choose. Steve's life, or Peter's avenging.
Thanos tilted his head, and he said no more. The words were for Tony.
But Tony had no reason to speak, either. He lifted his chin, stared into the sky, and murmured something under his breath, a sentence that sounded familiar from when he walked out of that spaceship and murmured to Pepper. A language he didn't recognise, but the sentiment was something he knew intricately.
"Ne vali la pena," he whispered raggedly.
And then -
And then electricity crackled through the air, but him and Thor were still far away from their weapons, arms too weak to call, but Steve knew that lightning -
And then broken pieces rushed onto the battlefield. The handle, first, brown and leather strong, significantly more worn than the Hammer Thor had brought back. Metal, that glowed the cobalt blue of the Iron Man armour, gathered, slow at first, and then sped up, held together by nothing but will.
And when the last piece fitted into place, it hit Thanos square in the head long enough for the two warriors to escape under his feet.
The cracks glowed with the rage that Tony was channelling. Steve and Thor held their hands out. The magical weapons rushed to their hands and landed solid hits on the back of Thanos' head.
Tony Stark held the broken Hammer with no surprise. Just a resigned determination as he gripped the handle. His suit glowed, the triangle on his chest nearly blinding white. As he breathed, the glow turned from blue to golden to blue.
A broken weapon, reforged, remade. Something entirely new. Like the man that Tony had made himself into.
Tony Stark saw the future. He tried to make things better, no matter how it ended up. He had made himself into a new man, one worthy enough to help a broken weapon come back together.
It made Steve wonder just who Peter Parker was. A light in his life, Rhodey had said that day, with a wistfulness in his eyes.
Steve watched as Thanos stood again, and met Tony's gaze. Metal didn't break. It might bend, but it would simply keep bending until it straightened itself out again.
Tony Stark, bearer of Mjölnir, Creator of Iron Man, Father of Two Children, and Guardian of Earth, stood tall as he faced down against Thanos. He held the weapon high, with no remorse.
He had promised. Promised to kill Thanos.
Tony Stark did not break promises.
And Tony Stark did not intend to start today.
Steve Rogers would not be the one to help him. And as Thor Odinson lifted his battle-axe, he had the feeling he would not, either.
Steve Rogers did not know Peter Parker. But he knew Tony Stark.
One boy. One boy to change the man in front of him that leapt at Thanos with no hesitation.
One boy. The boy. Steve wondered who he was. He must have been important. For Tony to do this for a boy.
And when Tony Stark sat against the ruins, he would see the boy's, Peter Parker's face in front of his, and he would see months of planning and thinking and the people he had loved once before and lost trust, had trusted again, and he would smile and whisper in a language they had both learnt from their mothers’ side, "You’re worth it."