I do not own Avengers: Infinity War.

And apparently I do not own my soul anymore either. Thanks, Russos.

Voicemail

"Friday."

The . . . remnants on his hands, those trembling, empty hands held so protectively up to his dirty, suited chest.

Those smeary molecules might look like dirt.

But they weren't.

And he couldn't.

He couldn't wipe them off.

"Yes, Boss?"

It was all he had left of him.

Forever.

He had failed.

They had lost.

And he had broken his promise to keep him safe.

"Voicemail."

He was alone now.

Alone on an alien planet that was cold.

"Hey, Mr. Stark."

And empty.

"It's me, Peter."

And, save for him, completely devoid of life.

"So I was wondering . . ."

"Friday, voicemail."

The natural-language user interface . . .

"All messages have been played, Boss."

. . . might have sounded overly careful.

To someone unaware they were speaking to a machine.

Tony Stark didn't seem to care either way.

"Voicemail."

The binary-coded, digitally-based entity seemed to hesitate for the briefest of moments before activating . . .

"Hey, Mr. Stark. It's me, Peter."

. . . the requested data.

He closed his eyes, wearily shutting out the forbiddingly cold, heartless void of space and the rest of his life.

"So I was wondering . . ."

The boy's casually ready and eager voice was backdropped by lively, bustling city sounds.

Car horns.

Engines.

Voices.

Movement.

Life.

Life.

Life.

"Friday. Voicemail."

His request went unanswered for an eon of a second.

"Friday. Voicemail."

Before answering in an Irish-lilted tone of concern no program should be able to duplicate so sincerely.

"This is the forty-third replay, Boss."

"Friday."

Tony Stark's directive was barely more than hollow rasp.

"Voicemail."

He stared blindly at nothing, at the empty blackness of the remaining vastness of the universe.

"Hey, Mr. Stark . . ."

And refused to wipe the lingering dusty bits of Peter Parker off his empty hands.

Tumblr via Pinterest writing prompt, I hate you.

Anyway, now that I can breathe again, hope you enjoyed this tiny snippet of what the Russos did to us.

Thanks for reading!

Everybody appreciates feedback. Leave a review if you like.