02 — poetic evaluation.

SILENCE STRETCHED IN THE ROOM filled with Avengers. Many beats passed, as pictures and names all flashed across the hologram computer. It showed a fraction of who was lost to Thanos.

Tony sat at the table, an unreadable look on his face. He had an IV in order to help him along in his healing process... Thanos had really done a number on the man. In more than one way.

"It's been twenty-three days, since Thanos came to Earth." said Rhodey, and Ava could practically feel the grimaces and pain that rippled through the room with that statement.

"World governments are in pieces," Natasha told them, mostly informing Tony, "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 fifty percent of all living creatures."

Ava frowned, the phantom feeling of Pietro falling apart in her arms making her nauseous.

"Where is he now? Where?" Tony asked, a stony look on his face.

"We don't know," supplied Steve, holding back a wince. "He just opened a portal and walked through."

Ava's frown deepened, and she glanced over to Thor, who seemed to be deep in thought. His hands were clasped together, and Ava knew it was to stop them shaking. He glanced up, and Ava couldn't even manage to produce a smile.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Tony, staring hard at where Thor sat on a bench.

"Oh, he's pissed," Rocket spoke up, "He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did. But you know, there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"

"You all failed," Ava snapped, in Thor's defence. After all, it wasn't fair to put everything on Thor's shoulders. Yes, he had the weapon, but he only got there so fast. Thanos already had all the stones, right?

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

"Maybe I am." Rocket said.

Sensing the tension, Steve chose this moment to speak up. "We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks, now. Deep Space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing." He told them, before settling his gaze on Tony. "Tony, you fought him."

The man himself seemed... surprised. "Who told you that? I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight—"

He spoke so harshly, so angrily, that most people in the room shrunk in on themselves. Ava didn't know how to react — Tony had always been so... she wasn't even sure what Tony had been.

"Okay." said Steve, cutting him off, not wanting to argue.

"'Cause he's not— he's not beatable." continued Tony, ignoring the increasingly hopeless expressions on people's faces.

"Did he give you any clues? Any coordinates? Anything?" Steve asked, and even Ava was growing annoyed with Steve's questions.

"Do you stop attacking someone to give coordinates, Steve?" Ava bit, annoyance festering in her chest. Tony had been through a lot. They had all been through a lot — Steve should know better. And with how Tony had been talking? He clearly didn't have anything left to give.

Before Steve could reply, Tony spoke up again. "Pfft, I saw this coming a few years back! I had a vision," At the familiar name, Ava winced, frowning. "I didn't wanna believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

Despite the man's obvious frustration, Steve spoke up again. "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?" Tony asked angrily, pushing all the items on the table to the floor with a loud clatter that resounded around the relatively silent room.

"I need a shave," he continued, as he began to rip his IV out of his arm, "And I remember telling all youse--" He ignores Rhodey's protesting as he finally gets the IV out. "Alive and otherwise, that what we needed, was a suit of armour around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not -- that's what we needed!"

Steve didn't bother to humour him, stating, "Well, that didn't work out, did it?"

"I said, 'We'd lose,' you said, "We'll do that together, too." And guess what, Cap? We lost! And you weren't there." Tony hissed at him. Ava remembered that moment clearly, it was back when... when Ultron was alive. "But that's what we do, right? Our best work is after the fact? We're the Avengers, we're the Avengers! Not the Pre-vengers."

Ava knew that Tony was onto something. They never prevented anything. They just attempted to clean up after it had started. Just like when Pietro died the first time... she didn't prevent it, she just stopped it after the fact. When it never should've happened in the first place.

"Okay." Rhodey stated, cautious around Stark. He was... unstable. Unpredictable.

"Right?" asked Tony, looking around at all the other so-called heroes in the room. He felt like he was alone -- grasping at straws. They didn't understand. Thanos was... Thanos was something else entirely.

"You made your point, just sit down." Rhodey almost pleaded, holding him back from getting closer to Steve, and mostly worried about the man. He was almost... He looked almost dead. He looked dead when he first arrived. As Stark's best friend, he had every right to be concerned. Especially after what the man had been through, and how he was acting.

"Okay." stated Tony, and when Rhodey parroted his words, he quickly spoke again. "No, no, here's my point. You know what?"

"Tony, you're sick." Rhodey spoke, trying to usher Tony back into his seat, which he fought against.

"She's great, by the way." said Tony, gesturing over to Carol, who looked... unimpressed. Worried. Angry.

"Sit down, sit." Rhodey tried again.

"We need you. You're new blood, young blood." He said, talking at Carol and looking over to Ava, "The rest of us? Bunch of tired old mules!" He got free of Rhodey's grasp, and shakily walked over to Steve, a finger pointed aggressively towards the super soldier. His voice got quieter as he spoke, getting in Steve's face. "I got nothing for you, Cap! I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust, liar." said Tony, staring him down. His words were venomous, and all the Avengers could feel it. If you could even call them Avengers, anymore.

Steve barely gave a reaction, but everyone could tell just how much Tony's words had affected him.

After another tense moment, Tony reaches up, and rips the Arc Reactor from his chest, ignoring Ava's words to stop, and as she curled in on herself. He shoved the object into Steve's hand.

"Here, take this. You find him, and you put that on. You hide." said Tony, his words shaky as his breaths stuttered. Quickly, he fell to his knees, and Steve is quick to stay by his side as everyone began to gather around them.

"Tony!" Steve worried, reaching to him, Arc Reactor still gripped in his hand.

"I'm fine! Let me..." He fell to the ground, everyone reaching out for him.

༻✦༺

"Is he gonna be okay?" asked Ava, gazing over at the man who had always appeared so strong, even at his weakest moments. The man who had helped her after Ultron. The man who left her to Secretary Ross' mercy. The man who, despite everything, she considered family.

"He'll be fine, kid, don't worry about him. Bruce gave him a sedative, he's probably gonna be out for the rest of the day." Rhodey explained, not acknowledging the dirty look Ava gave him. The adults nodded, glancing through the glass at Pepper and Tony. Ava suddenly wondered why the wall was made of glass - he was sick, did that not grant him any privacy?

"You guys take care of him, I'll bring him a Xorrian Elixir when I come back." said Carol, power walking away. If Ava was honest, she didn't care all that much about where this stranger was going. What she did care about, however, was Thor; and his deteriorating mental health.

And so, without a word to any of the adults, she headed off in the direction Thor, where he now sat in the kitchen. He was staring at the kitchen sink intently, and Ava figured that was probably not a good sign.

"Something interesting about the sink, Thor?" asked Ava lightly, trying her best to keep positive, as she would under normal circumstances. But the circumstances were less than normal, and she was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up the optimistic façade. She wanted, more than anything, to cry. But she couldn't do that to Thor, she wouldn't. He felt guilty enough as it was, and she was well aware the effect that her tears would have on that guilt. He was losing himself, and she didn't want to be responsible for him slipping away completely.

The God couldn't even muster a smile, no matter how much he wanted to.

Regret was pulling him under, and despite all the battles he'd fought in his long life, this was not one he was willing to add to the list.

Maybe, if he was good at in depth poetic evaluation, he would find something interesting about the sink. Maybe, he'd compare it to the endless running of his mind. Maybe, he'd say how he wished he could turn off the thoughts that plagued him. But he wasn't good at poetic evaluation and now, more than ever, he was struggling to find meaning in anything.

"No," he answered, and Ava tried to keep her frown hidden, replacing it with the biggest smile she could bring herself to give.

"Do you wanna go out for a walk, maybe?" Ava questioned, not getting her hopes up that he would accept. Honestly, she expected him to refuse.

"Not at the moment, Ava." said Thor, trying to keep his voice as friendly as he could. He didn't want to hurt the young girl, but he couldn't go outside; not after what he'd done to the world around them. What he'd done to everyone's world, he reminded himself.

"Another time, then." she said lightly, trying to keep any pressure from her suggestion. She wasn't disappointed, a bit sad - maybe, but she understood that it could be difficult to face a world where you thought you were to blame for everything that went wrong. She could understand that it could be hard to do anything, like this.

"Another time," agreed Thor.