#ircnstxrk

Any time Bruce was called out for a mission, he went fully prepared. He had a bag that always stayed packed, with a comfy change of clothes, a blanket, a high energy snack, and his tranquilizer kit. 

Everything was sorted in exact measures. Darts, in case the Hulk couldn’t be calmed with a lullaby, and injections for Bruce, to lower his body’s adrenaline levels and give him a chance to recover before the Hulk could even think about coming back out. It was all Bruce’s own concoction, and it was all perfectly calculated. Except that they were perfectly calculated for a normal transformation. One where the Hulk was out for thirty minutes or more, that’s what Bruce was always prepared for. 

But this one had only lasted around ten minutes. Bruce hadn’t considered that as he had pulled on his soft sweat pants and oversized hoodie. He never fired on all cylinders right after turning back, and this time was no exception. So he administered the tranquilizer without thinking. 

That was why, not too long later, he was sat smiling away to himself about nothing in particular. The smile dropped for a moment when he saw Tony, replaced by a small frown of confusion, but returning mere seconds later at his eyes lit up.

“Tony? Tony! I didn’t know you were here!”

Even if he had counted on actually living through the attack on the Ark, Loki hadn’t planned on joining in any sort of plan against Thanos.  Laying low and preserving his own life was sort of what he was known for, which was why he had done that for five years.  Admittedly, he should have at least told Thor where he was, but he wasn’t sure if that would help or hinder the thunderer.  It seemed that whenever the trickster was around, Thor’s life only grew exceedingly complicated.  So, for that five years after Thanos had wiped away half of all life, Loki had hidden in various countries.  It had been working well until he felt shifts in the universe that could only be attributed to time travel.

Despite his best efforts to ignore it, his worry and curiosity had gotten the better of him and soon enough it had landed him on the battlefield at the Avenger’s Compound, against a Thanos of an earlier time.  The god worried that the ‘heroes’ were going to lose once more and all that it would accomplish would be undoing what they had done by bringing back those that had been lost within the snap in the first place.

It was over.  Thanos had the gauntlet and he snapped...but nothing happened.  From Loki’s hiding spot, his brows furrowed and he stepped out, only to sense the power of the stones actually being activated. None other than Tony Stark possessed them.

The billionaire was going to die.

Tony snapped and moments later, the god of chaos found himself running towards the other man.  It was as if his legs had a mind of their own because he hadn’t the faintest clue as to why concern burned within his chest for the human, but it did.

Once he arrived, he knelt down.  The smell of charred flesh permeated the air, almost overpowering that of the dust from the destroyed compound.  Loki made a face at it but did what he could to ignore the assault on his senses.  

“You’re a reckless fool,” he told Tony, blocking out the various expressions of shock from those that surrounded the trickster.  He wasn’t sure why, but he had a job to do.  His hands begun to glow, the familiar green of his magic, while his eyes shone a bright gold.  Tony wasn’t going to die, not if he had anything to say about it.  He chalked it up to the enemy of his enemy being his friend and reached his hands forward, placing one upon Tony’s chest and the other upon his right arm.

Within a minute, the inventor would be in stable enough condition to be sure to live.

@ircnstxrk

Fingers entwined with his, lips stretched into a smile, and the cool breeze on her face - Pepper was happy. Despite all that had happened just days ago, in this moment, she felt happy because minutes ago, she and Tony were officially married. Virginia Potts was now Virginia Potts-Stark. Well, Virginia Pepper Potts-Stark and just saying that in her head had her heart fluttering. Their original plans to marry in a few months had felll through because of...well, everything, and because of everything that happened, they didn’t want to wait any longer. They didn’t want to remain another second not married to one another because the longer they waited, the bigger the chance of something bad happening again - of something going horribly wrong - and they’d had enough.

After Tony had woken up he suggested that Pepper marry him and at first, admittedly,  Pepper worried his memory had been affected given that they already were engaged but then the explained that he meant right now. No more waiting, no more planning - he was ready. And so was Pepper. She had nearly lost him - again - he went up into space - again - and had been stranded until Carol found him and brought him home alongside Nebula. But the condition he was in was so poor. Malnourished, underweight, jaundice - it was devastating to see but he was alive and the relief - as it always was - was clear as day on the redhead’s face. So, yeah, she was ready to marry the love of her life, she was ready to marry this frustrating, stubborn, wonderful man that Pepper couldn’t live without. 

But it didn’t happen right in that moment. They wanted to at least make it somewhat wedding like. Pepper told Rhodey who was all for the idea and then she called Happy whom was also all for the idea and Pepper could tell it was in part due to all the stress he was under and he even informed Pepper that he was ordained - he’d done so just in case and so, Happy was going to marry them. He brought the rings - having been asked by both of them to hold onto them - and Rhodey grabbed their outfits. Unfortunately Pepper hadn’t bought her wedding dress yet, but what more perfect dress to wear than the backless blue dress she wore that night. 

And Tony had been very pleasantly surprised. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her and Pepper couldn’t keep her’s off of him - they were all smiles as they faced one another, repeated Happy’s words, said their vows and kissed. Happy and Rhodey were all smiles, too, and Pepper could have sworn she saw Happy hand some money over to Rhodey, but she’d ask about that later. Right now, she was content in just sitting with Tony outside, having a quiet moment with him as husband and wife. 

Steve kept his back straight, chin up, and calm expression stoic as the quinjet carefully docked at the Tower. He’d already gone over the details concluding their mission goals and touched base with everyone currently in the vessel. Their mission had been a success but it was not without its hiccups. Natasha and Clint worked seamlessly together. They both brought an easy professionalism to their team that Steve openly admired. Thor was currently off-world and Banner wasn’t needed for this particular mission which required a good amount of stealth.

Stark was the final team member present and the one that worried Steve the most. Yes, the man was a genius and his gadgets and toys sure helped but he was often the wildcard on the team. Steve had seen him take risks too often when it wasn’t necessary. He could be reckless which effected everyone on the team, most of all his own health.

And Steve was certain the man had been injured much more than he was letting the rest of them know.

As they docked completely and the doors opened, Steve waited for Clint and Natasha to get ahead before honing in on Tony. He took off his cowl and followed Iron Man.

    Peter doesn’t know where he’s going, but he keeps on RUNNING anyways. With the last safe place he found getting discovered by the zombies, he’s got to find a NEW place to camp out and try and keep himself alive. He doesn’t know HOW he’s managed so far. He doesn’t have any strengths that would be USEFUL in defending himself against these things-- in fact, he’s a scrawny teenager who hated running laps around the track at school before all of his happened. And now, he’s got to run EVERYWHERE. He’s all on his own, SEARCHING somehow to try and find his aunt again. Separated, he’s got to find her somewhere, she HAS to be alive, right? He sure hopes she is. He’s surprised by himself, how he’s managed to keep himself somewhat upright. 

              All he needs to do is keep that going.