Bab 14: 13. What are you gonna do ?
It's not an unfair question. At least that's what he thinks. After all, there are dozens of better choices than him to use as a president for the earth's defense. Like Captain America, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi.
They brought him here and he died. So it's not crazy to think they can't bring in someone else, even if they are already dead.
Uatu looks at him with a conflicted expression, "It is difficult to explain."
"No, it isn't."
They both turn to the source of the grating voice and see Mephisto walking towards them.
He smiles sinisterly at the Vlad being, "Come now Watcher, you know the reason why he was chosen."
Spider-Man looks back and forth from the Omnipotent being and the devil. He stops and looks at the Watcher and says, "Okay if the master of all lies is being honest then I'm guessing it must be something really bad."
Uatu doesn't answer him, which doesn't exactly fill him with comfort, 'But then again I haven't been comfortable since I got here so this is like a drop of water to an ocean of uncomfortableness I'm having. Is uncomfortableness even a word? Oh wow, I really did lose some IQ points. Hang on a sec, if I'm dead then how did I bang my head against a stone pillar. Is it a magic pillar or something?'
"Spider-Man?"
Spider-Man is taken out of his thoughts when the Watcher calls him.
He shakes his head and says, "Sorry I kind of drifted there for a sec. What were we talking about?"
"You were curious as to why you were chosen and not someone else."
Spidey nods and says, "Right, now I remember. Uatu, seriously, whatever it is, you can tell me."
Uatu takes a breath and starts talking again, "You are aware of the origins of your powers, the web of life and destiny, and your role in it, correct."
Peter nods at that, "The spider that bit me was destined to bite me or some such. And as for the web, I'm an important part of it or something."
He recalls all of the encounters he's had with both the Madam webs, Ezekiel Sims, and big cosmic spiders that make him pee a little when he thinks about them. He hates that he can't argue with all the evidence that says it wasn't science that gave him his powers.
But them's the breaks.
"You are the most important part of it," Uatu tells him, once again bringing him out of his thoughts.
"Okay, fine," He says begrudgingly, "I'm the most important part. That still doesn't tell me why I'm here."
He hears Mephisto chuckle condescendingly and sends him an annoyed look.
"And just what are you laughing at Mr. I-think-I'm-smarter-than-everyone-but-I'm-really-too- stupid-to-realize-that-capes-are-no-longer-cool."
The corner of the red devil's lip slightly twitches, but his smug smirk remains, "It's ever so simple my dear young arachnid," he says, "You being the most important part of the web means that your choices matter."
Still confused, the Queens-born hero sends him a look saying as much, and asks, "Care to elaborate on that Mr. I-use-Justin-Bieber-music-to-torture-souls-in-hell-but-I'm-secretly-a-huge fan-of-his."
This time Mephisto gives no reaction at all and says, "You're the reason the earth is doomed."
"...What?"
*****
(K'un Lun Temple)
Captain stands at the door to the chambers Tony Stark has been in since they arrived in K'un Lun. He hadn't realized he arrived at his destination until he almost collided with the door. His mind was too preoccupied with recent events.
Knock Knock Knock "Tony? Are you in there?" He calls out but doesn't hear a response. He pushes the door open and walks in to see a mess of a room.
Open and closed books are scattered everywhere. Mostly stacked on the floor almost touching the ceiling, while some on the desks and very few on the bookshelves where they're supposed to be. A single candle nearly melted down completely next to a computer with multiple windows open.
And on the ground leaning against the desk is the man the good Captain is looking for, Tony Stark, the Invincible Iron Man. Although if Steve is being honest he's never seen the man more vulnerable in his life.
Red puffy eyes are the first things he notices on Tony as said super genius looks ahead with vacant eyes. Next is how damaged his armor is. By now Tony would have fixed it or at least replaced it with one of his many others. And the last thing he sees is in Iron Man's hands, something he recognizes. An avengers key card. And he can make a pretty good guess on whose it was.
Steve kneels next to Tony and places a hand on his friend's shoulders. He nudges him gently, "Tony."
He doesn't immediately respond or give any kind of reaction to the Captain, just slowly blinks. After two seconds he turns his head to the Avenger leader and says, "Hey Cap."
"Are you okay?" Cap asks him even though he knows the answer.
Tony goes back to stare at the wall and says, "I figured it out. I figured out how we can win."
Steve's eyes widen and he smiles slightly, "That's good we can-"
"But I couldn't do it in time."
He drops his smile at that.
Tony continues, "I've made a lot of mistakes. And I don't just mean recently."
Steve sighs, "Tony-"
"No it's true," Stark cuts him off as he continues, "I uh used to sell and manufacture weapons of mass destruction, just because I could. I mean there was nobody better than me, right?"
"But you stopped Tony," the WWII soldier told him sternly, "you stopped. You're not that man anymore."
Tony scoffs at his claims and smiles in bitter amusement, "Aren't I? Cause it seems like I haven't changed. Because as much as I create, I still seem to be destroying a lot more. The superhero civil war. I could've sided with you. I should've sided with you but I didn't. God I-I turned the Avengers against each other."
Steve clenches his fist as he continues to hear Tony talk.
"How about the Illuminati, huh. All the genius decisions we made with that group. Like shooting Banner into space. That was brilliant. He came back with an invasion force, beat us all into submission, and made almost everyone turn against us. But you were dead so you wouldn't really remember that."
Having heard enough, Steve quickly lunges at Tony and grabs him by his collar. He picks him up and pins him up against the wall.
"You listen to me you egotistical, narcissistic son of a bitch," the patriotic avenger says through his clenched teeth to his teammate, "you do not get to sit here and feel sorry for yourself."
"...You didn't let me get to the best part," Tony says, unperturbed by Steve's actions, "I thought I could deal with the Phoenix as quick as it came with a suit of armor. Like most of my problems, I thought I can fix it just by blowing it up. Instead, all I did was make a bad situation even worse. And because of that, I lost someone who I considered a son. Sadly, he longer saw me the same way after what happened."
It was at this point Steve noticed the tears gathering in Tony's eyes. He knows what Stark is referring to. The mass mind wipes Spider-Man asked Strange, Stark, and Reed to do so that nobody knew who he was. Save for a select few that he trusted.
And Tony wasn't one of them anymore.
"...I could have gone back for him," Steve said as his grip on his teammate loosens, "I chose to leave him behind while we evacuated the others," he lowers his head, "I could've stayed and helped, while the others evacuated the rest. Any one of us could have stayed to at least help him. But we didn't."
He finally lets go of Tony and walks away as the billionaire listens on.
"The fact is Tony, we all share the blame, but sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves isn't going to bring him back," he looks back at him, and Tony can practically see the fire in his eyes, "Spider-Man gave us a chance. We can't let it go to waste. You want to make it up to him, then finish this."
The billionaire genius watches the American icon walk away and asks, "What are you gonna do?"
Steve stops at the exit and answers, "I'm going to call in some backup."
.....
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