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mcu_kink_meme2016-04-26 02:55 am
mcumod) wrote in mcu_kink_meme2016-04-26 02:55 am
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Prompt Post #1
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[FILL] The Law of Retaliation (2/?)
(Anonymous) 2020-09-07 03:49 am (UTC)(link)Thanos’s army, his manpower, his empire all crumbles to dust at the sound of metallic fingers sliding against each other. The Black Order keels over like houses of cards atop a shaking table, fading into nothingness just as half of all life did five years ago. Sakaraans, Outriders, and Leviathans all disintegrate into nothingness as if they were never there.
As if they never existed.
As if they never were.
Exhaustion comes at Tony like a tidal wave, and he would’ve fallen over if he isn’t already seated. He pants and breathes in gulps of air, bringing his right hand closer to look at the Stones. They glimmer from the glare of nonexistent rays of light, but are otherwise dull in the likeness of fake replicas. At his neural command, the nanotech loosens and retracts around his forearm to give him the space to pull the wretched gauntlet off of him.
It’s flung a few feet away and lands on the dusty ground with a clank. He can only stare at his bare arm. It’s red from the heat of the gamma radiation and slightly indented with six ovals on his skin where the Stones once were, yet it’s... working.
Clean. Uninjured. Unblemished.
Tony looks up, just as Thanos fades away, the last man standing among his men, the leader that led his troops off of a cliff. Satisfaction pools in his gut and realization trickles in through the haze of using the Gems and the adrenaline of battle.
He did it.
He actually fucking did it.
“Tony.”
Tony whips his head around. “Rhodey.” War Machine has landed near him and the faceplate is pulled back to reveal the face of his honey bear, his favorite platypus, his best friend.
Breathing.
Okay.
Alive.
He exhales, repeating with something akin to disbelief, “Rhodey.”
“...You’re alive. You did it,” Rhodey says in awe, disassembling the suit around him and rushing to crouch in front of Tony.
“We did it,” Tony corrects, still gasping for sweet air, and holding out his right hand. He’s helped up to his feet, grasping onto Rhodey’s strong arms as his legs continue to shake from the lingering energy in the air. Uncaring that it’s uncharacteristic of him, he wills the bits of nanotech off of his body and into their hub before he hugs Rhodey tightly.
God, he needs nothing else now other than a really long nap. He could sleep forever, maybe do a victory dance before that. Tony could invite the others... the rest of his family (warmth blossoms in his chest at the word) for a sleepover. Do domestic stuff with all of them together. Light a fire. Make BBQ. Watch movies. The whole shebang. He leans into Rhodey’s reciprocated embrace, relishing in the affectionate touch.
(Damn. He really is touch starved.)
"Mr. Stark?"
The two of them pull away from each other as Peter soundlessly lands near them. All those wistful dreams of his three kids meeting are becoming a reality, no longer a nightmare masquerading as a dream that he'll inevitably wake up from. The kid's watery eyes are full of relief and no, Tony's not tearing up. He isn't.
He barely registers Rhodey's nudging as he and Peter rush towards each other.
“We won, Mr. Stark. We won! You did it, sir. You did it—” Peter’s babbles get muffled into his shoulder and dear God has Tony missed this motormouth. Queens, and all of New York by extension, has never been the same since their beloved vigilante got Snapped and left behind a gaping hole in the bridge that kept them all connected. He’s already betting that his three kids meeting would cause an explosion (a figurative one, of course, please and thank you) of some sort when their minds are put to collaborative work.
Placing a small kiss on Peter’s cheek, Tony steps back a bit to cup Peter’s face, noting the splatters of blood, gashes above his eyes, and his battered lips still in the process of regenerating. Despite the lines of tiredness marring his features, Peter still has a look of adoration directed towards him. Not the blind hero worship he originally did during the rocky beginnings of their relationship, but genuine trust and deep-seated love.
Speaking of love, the light of Tony’s life comes to his view.
Pepper, with all her blazing glory, appears to have a shining halo around her bright hair. A distant fire reflects off of her face, giving her a slightly yellow-orange glow. Her eyes alight with emotion as they roam over Tony’s form for any injuries, for confirmation that he actually is miraculously alive after handling the six most overpowered rocks that have ever existed.
“Hey,” she exhales.
“Hey, Pep,” Tony says as Peter untangles himself to give the two of them their moment. His wife, his better half, his soulmate dressed in the Mark XLIX suit he created for her, looks like a gorgeous badass. A warrior. A true queen among women. God, Tony loves her. Wants to give her the world and everything.
He embraces her too, grounding himself in the presence of the people he loves so dearly.
“It’s over—it’s really... over.”
The ruins and rubble of the New Avengers Facility give him reassurance that this isn’t a dream, that they’ve actually brought everyone back, that Thanos is permanently gone for good. Tony tightens his hold on Pepper, unwilling to let go but their job as heroes isn’t done yet—restorations, housing, food, and other resources have to be managed. Families torn apart have to be put together.
So, he lets go of her.
“Tony, you did it,” Steve utters softly. Tony turns to look at him, the one that used to be the fixation of his father, the one that became something akin to a family member, the one that left him behind in Siberia, the one that ambushed the mechanic with the fucking insane odds of victory through time travel.
“We did it.” Whatever animosity his petty heart holds has long crumbled to dust.
The wizard—ahem, Doctor Strange strides towards him with a weird aura of purpose, eyes wide as if he’s seen the face of a grueling death. Or a particularly attractive naked body. Who knows what’s going through his magic mystical mind? Tony certainly doesn’t, and he opens his mouth to make a remark, something to lighten the mood when Strange cuts his thoughts off:
“You’re alive.”
Tony blinks, a bit taken aback. What’s that supposed to mean? He’s not some ghost still tethered to the Earth because of an unfinished mission, is he? He voices his bewilderment to Strange. Pepper clutches onto his shirt a bit harder.
“You’re...” Strange is hesitant, eyebrows scrunched together in an expression Tony knows he mirrors when faced with a particularly stimulating and complicated problem. “In that one, singular outcome I saw among fourteen million, you died.”
That makes Tony’s blood turn to ice, a chill overcoming his body. He’s supposed to be dead? Surely there must be another future or two Strange didn’t see. “When I wielded the Stones, I had a thought of ‘Do I have to die?’, then they said that I didn’t have to,” he tells him.
“They talked to you?” Strange is no longer staring at him, instead fixating his eyes on the nanotech gauntlet he’s carefully holding in his own arms.
“It was kinda like telepathy—they manifested into voices in my head and asked what it is I wanted to do, so I asked them to get rid of Thanos and his army. I also told them I didn’t want to die, they agreed. Then, poof.” Tony uses his free hand (his right one, the one that used the power of the Gems) not wrapped around Pepper to make a popping gesture for emphasis.
“Isn’t the important thing the fact that Tony’s alive?” Rhodey cuts in. “We don’t know everything about the Stones, but they worked. We can speculate more about it later.”
Tony sweeps his eyes over the other heroes present, fighters of all different capabilities and skill sets that banded together for the sake of life. Holy fuck. They don’t have any casualties from this battle, do they? They’ve already lost so many.
Strange does have a point, though. When Bruce used the Stones earlier, his arm was practically roasted from the energy, and the scientist was groaning from the excruciating pain. Tony didn’t experience that, though. His arm is whole, free of any permanent marks or burns. He supposes that it has to do with his command to come out of it alive, but alive means living and not unharmed...
There’s a sudden tug on his right arm, an attempt to get his attention. Tony glances and meets Peter’s wide and panicked eyes.
“Tony—”
“Peter?”
The kid’s entire body is rigid, tense in anticipation for danger. “Something... something’s wrong,” he says through gritted teeth, catching the attention of Pepper and the others too. “I still sense danger.” Peter squeezes his eyes shut.
“Where?” Tony demands, dread creeping up inside him. Fuck. He knows that Peter has a precognitive sense for threats, and that radar of his partnered with his reflexes have saved many lives as a result. Nanotech begins to form on his chest, and he prepares himself for a beast, a monster that managed to wiggle through the Stones, or a fellow hero with sinister intentions.
“Everywhere.”
Re: [CROSSPOST ON AO3] The Law of Retaliation
(Anonymous) 2020-09-10 03:41 am (UTC)(link)https://archiveofourown.org/works/26385106/chapters/64269559
Re: [CROSSPOST ON AO3] The Law of Retaliation
(Anonymous) 2020-09-16 06:00 am (UTC)(link)So happy you're keeping this going! I've noticed the fics that get started on this site seem pretty much abandoned. Your update makes me super excited to see the next chapter to see how horribly wrong it all goes after such a great victory. I'm glad you're posting on A03. I'm over there too, so I'll send you a review there as well. Thanks so much for updating. Hope you can post more soon.