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Bruce was helping a Wakandan medical team when his walkie beeped. At least, he was trying to help; even though all communications were down (the walkies were a backup system they'd found on the Quinjet and they only partially functioned), enough medical tech was working that his skills weren't much use. They had all thrown themselves into busy work: Steve and Thor were helping with search and rescue; Nat had been closeted with a comms team trying to raise any functioning organizations or governments.
He opened the channel, but no one spoke. There was just a burst of static, then another.
Nat's voice came over the device. "Who's standing under a power line?"
"It's not us" Steve said, before more static came. A blip, another long burst, two blips, and a pause. "Morse code?"
Bruce listened to the open line and tried to remember anything more than SOS. Nat spoke quietly, "L," Then as the bursts continued, "L B R U C E S H I P T O N Y T E L L B R"
"Tony? What ship?"
"Radar's spotty," Nat said. "But something might be coming down outside of the city. I'll tell the defense grid not to shoot it down. See you all out there."
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The remaining Avengers approached in a ragged group, Steve planting himself slightly ahead of the others.
A hatch clanged open before the ship had fully settled to the ground and a figure stumbled out, already babbling. "Sorry, the communication's shot to shit on this thing." Once Tony lurched out of the shadow of the ship, they could see he was ragged, bloody, and clutching one side. "Did you know you still give off a specific radiation when you're not green? I calibrated the ship to find it."
Bruce jogged forward. "Jesus, Tony, are you okay?"
Tony reached out and gripped his hand, hard. "Of course not. We couldn't reach anyone coming in, and I'm guessing things went poorly here." Despite his flippant tone, there was something vague and distant in his expression that worried Bruce. Tony glanced over the others. "Vision? Wanda?"
Steve took a breath. "Thanos killed Vision and took the stone. Wanda's gone, along with half the people on Earth."
"I told you," came another voice from the ship, bitter and metallic. "What we saw could only be explained by his victory." A woman made mostly of metal limped down the ramp.
Tony was still counting heads. "Rhodey? Falcon? Hawkeye?"
Natasha spoke up. "Rhodey's okay; he's in medical until his prosthetics stop glitching. Clint wasn't here, and I haven't been able to raise any old SHIELD channels yet to check on him. We haven't seen Sam since it happened; we think he's gone. Black Panther's gone," her eyes cut fractionally to Steve, although she didn't pause, "and Bucky."
"Shit." Tony's eyes caught Steve's.
Bruce shook his head, saying, "What about Strange, was he still with you?"
Tony nodded and swallowed once. "He's gone. And Spider-man."
"Oh no, he seemed-"
"Yes, thanks," Tony cut him off sharply, "I already feel great about the damn kid just-" he looked away and took a shaky breath.
Rocket stepped forward from where he had been hanging back behind the others. "Nebula, have you seen Quill, or Gamora?" Her lips tightened in response. "Mantis? Drax?" She just shook her head. His paws clenched, and his already small frame seemed to crumple. Thor went gracefully to one knee and placed a hand on his back.
Bruce eased Tony's hand away from his side. "That looks awful, did you get stabbed?"
Tony let out a single angry laugh. "Yup, got stabbed and somehow doomed the whole goddamn universe."
Thor shook his head. "I had the chance to stop him and missed my strike. I failed my brother, my people, and all of you as well."
"No," Steve said, "It shouldn't have gotten that far. Vision asked us to destroy his stone early on, but I thought we could save everyone."
Nat put in, "It wasn't your fault. He turned back time to take that stone."
Tony closed his eyes and leaned on Bruce a little more. "He only had the time stone because Strange saved me."
No one spoke for a moment.
Rocket suddenly shook Thor off. "Okay, so you all screwed up! Now what? I know Earth is a backwater craphole, but one of you idiots must be good for something!"
Natasha looked faintly amused. Steve said, "We've only gotten started cleaning up here."
Rocket waved that away with one paw. "These guys don't need you moping all over them. What are you going to do about Thanos?"
"Do you know where we might look?" Thor said. "I still owe him something, several times over now."
Nebula spoke up. "I would join you for vengeance, even if it doesn't matter. He was always going to win. There was no other way."
"At least we tried," Steve said. "We lost a lot of good people."
"And you think I didn't? You don't know-"
"Hey," Bruce raised a hand to get their attention. "Tony, what is it?"
Tony was staring into the distance again, but now with focus, as if he saw something. "This is the only way." He lurched forward, Bruce following. "That's what Strange said. He looked through time, he said there was one possible future in which we won. I thought we lost it when we lost that battle, when Strange gave up his stone. But even after all that, he said 'This was the only way.'"
Steve flexed his hands. "I have to say, Tony, this doesn't feel much like winning."
"Not yet."
"You think we're still on that path," Bruce said.
"Maybe."
Steve sighed. "And so what if we do hunt Thanos down, then what? It wouldn't change what happened."
"You literally just said he turned back time. I just came back from space, where I fought an alien warlord alongside a wizard." Tony started to laugh. "I have no idea what's possible anymore."
"That's nothing," yelled Rocket. "we forged this effing weapon" he pointed at Thor's axe, "for an effing god" he pointed at Thor, "with the heart of a star, in a place even I thought was a myth!"
"See, the weirdly cute talking raccoon agrees with me. Impossible things are happening every day."
"Did you just quote Cinderella?" Natasha asked.
"Stranger things have happened." He stepped forward once more. "Cap..." He half-smiled wanly. "What happened to your can-do attitude?"
"It took a beating recently." Steve looked hard at Tony. "You're serious. Damn, Stark, you think we can... what, we can turn back time and save everyone?"
"I don't know yet. I just know that Strange swore to me that he would protect his stone at all costs, then he looked through time, and then he changed his twisty magic mind. There has to be a reason. At least, I hope there is."
Thor said, "I have met the good doctor, he seemed to do nothing without purpose."
Steve was visibly struggling for words. "Hope... is asking a lot right now."
"You know what got me off that dying rock and back here? Cap? I hoped that maybe you had a plan." Tony rubbed his face. "Corny, right? But...I can't accept that there's nothing we can do. If I did, I might as well sit down and die right here." He looked up. "I'm glad you're all...well, not okay, but not dead."
Natasha smirked. "It's good to see you, too. And if there is something we can do, I want to try."
Thor nodded, saying, "Yes, time enough for rebuilding when either justice or vengeance is done."
"This guy gets it!" Rocket exclaimed.
Steve took a long breath. "Okay. I think if there's any way to somehow undo what's been done, we all need to be part of it. All cards on the table."
"Absolutely, intergalactic emergency, all hands on deck," Tony said. "We get comms up and we call anyone who might be useful."
Bruce spoke up. "Let's start with Wong, assuming he made it."
Natasha looked up at the ship. "You affected our channel with the systems on that, even broken. If we combine that with the Wakandan tech, I bet we can start reaching people."
"Do it," Steve said.
Tony's mouth kicked up on one side. "You heard him, Avengers. Let's go."