1. Oh dear. Survivors. starkingenuityMay 22 2012, 20:05:02 UTC
[He's really not handling this well. Tony exhales slowly as he picks over the remains of the Tower. There's a bit of red material sticking up a few yards off, identical to Thor's cape. He's been systematically avoiding it for the last half an hour.]
Find that power coil?
[Tony's voice is rough from lack of rest and not enough alcohol. He's dehydrated. He's bruised. His pride is wounded. They've found no one alive since the explosion, no one in the entire city. Tony's guilt is weighing him down.]
[Steve's been mostly silent since they started the long search. He's not sure what to say to make the situation any different. There's so much destruction. Stark's been insistent on looking for something -- a power coil -- so they could reactivate certain systems within the Tower and figure out what's happened. Steve keeps getting sidetracked by every broken or decimated object before him.]
No. [His voice is small, and hoarse. He doesn't raise his head, nor does he look up at Stark. He doesn't have the strength to right now. Not when there are so many people dead.] Not yet.
[Steve scans over the piles of mortar and steel, the broken and overturned furniture, scorch marked floors, and debris of all sizes. He keeps imagining he'll see someone, hear someone, from the distance and his hope will return. But hope looks...]
... Stark. [The wind howls at him, mockingly.] I don't think it's here.
[He's going to lose his patience and his cool. He can actually feel it clicking away. Each and every passing second is another weight on the tipping edge of sanity.]
Of course it's here!
[He doesn't mean to yell, Steve. He truly doesn't.]
Where the hell else would it be!?
[That bit of red cap is driving him crazy. He knows what's under there, what's under that pile, and it's not going to start breathing again because Tony tugs on it...and yet, that's just what he goes to do, hands shaking in gauntlets as he reveals their thunder god's corpse.]
[Steve swallows away his doubts when Stark yells at him. He knows that there's nothing else for them to do. He keeps searching, that is, until he looks over to see Stark staring at something. He silently joins Tony at his side and looks down at Thor's crumpled body. He instantly turns away, not wanting to keep the image in his sight for too long.]
Damn it. [He squeezes his hands into tight fists, nearly crushing the bones in his palm.]
Not gonna cry ;__; Okay, maybe.starkingenuityMay 23 2012, 15:14:00 UTC
[For some reason, this is worse than when they found Bruce. Tony had actually laughed then, though he and the other scientists were arguably closer and friendlier than he and Thor would ever be outside of a battle. Tony had laughed because Bruce had never looked smaller. He'd laughed and mocked him for telling them that he couldn't die, that Green And Nasty spits out bullets.]
Some god you are.
[This is Tony now, suit smashed up, power depleted, kneeling in wreckage, face plate up and revealing someone that has always professed to not having a heart, despite what Pepper said.]
[Steve places a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, remorse and pain sweeping over his entire body. The pit of his stomach churns and now he truly feels hopeless.]
... Tony.
[He falls short with his words though. What can he say? What can he possibly say to make this any better? How can he apologize for something so big and screwed up, something so devastating? He goes silent. He's trembling. Afraid. War hadn't been this cruel.]
I'm sorry.
[He didn't know Thor that well, but he'd grown to admire the large man. He'd been a skilled warrior and a kind-hearted soul. Steve didn't want to imagine how he'd been bested, how he fell, and his last moments. It would never sit right. Never.]
[Steve doesn't deserve this. The poor man has gone through enough already that the only thing Tony's sudden anger is doing is splitting them apart. And for all they know, this is all that they have left.]
Steve-- Cap. I'm sorry.
[He lets Thor's hand go, unaware that he'd been squeezing it, and staggers back to his feet again.]
It's not here. You're right. We need to find some place to bunker down for the night.
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Find that power coil?
[Tony's voice is rough from lack of rest and not enough alcohol. He's dehydrated. He's bruised. His pride is wounded. They've found no one alive since the explosion, no one in the entire city. Tony's guilt is weighing him down.]
Reply
No. [His voice is small, and hoarse. He doesn't raise his head, nor does he look up at Stark. He doesn't have the strength to right now. Not when there are so many people dead.] Not yet.
[Steve scans over the piles of mortar and steel, the broken and overturned furniture, scorch marked floors, and debris of all sizes. He keeps imagining he'll see someone, hear someone, from the distance and his hope will return. But hope looks...]
... Stark. [The wind howls at him, mockingly.] I don't think it's here.
Reply
Of course it's here!
[He doesn't mean to yell, Steve. He truly doesn't.]
Where the hell else would it be!?
[That bit of red cap is driving him crazy. He knows what's under there, what's under that pile, and it's not going to start breathing again because Tony tugs on it...and yet, that's just what he goes to do, hands shaking in gauntlets as he reveals their thunder god's corpse.]
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Damn it. [He squeezes his hands into tight fists, nearly crushing the bones in his palm.]
Reply
Some god you are.
[This is Tony now, suit smashed up, power depleted, kneeling in wreckage, face plate up and revealing someone that has always professed to not having a heart, despite what Pepper said.]
One little army of aliens and look at you.
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... Tony.
[He falls short with his words though. What can he say? What can he possibly say to make this any better? How can he apologize for something so big and screwed up, something so devastating? He goes silent. He's trembling. Afraid. War hadn't been this cruel.]
I'm sorry.
[He didn't know Thor that well, but he'd grown to admire the large man. He'd been a skilled warrior and a kind-hearted soul. Steve didn't want to imagine how he'd been bested, how he fell, and his last moments. It would never sit right. Never.]
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[Steve doesn't deserve this. The poor man has gone through enough already that the only thing Tony's sudden anger is doing is splitting them apart. And for all they know, this is all that they have left.]
Steve-- Cap. I'm sorry.
[He lets Thor's hand go, unaware that he'd been squeezing it, and staggers back to his feet again.]
It's not here. You're right. We need to find some place to bunker down for the night.
Reply
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