Here is the last chapter!

THE TITAN'S CAPTIVE

CHAPTER TWELVE

AVENGERS COMPOUND

They didn't return to Wakanda. Instead, they requested for the Guardians to drop them off at the Avengers Compound in up-state New York where Helen Cho was based. It was here that Rhodey decided to remain with Tony and Pepper. Strange departed too, using a portal to return to the Inner Sanctum, but not before dropping Peter Parker off at his Aunt's home.

The boy only went at Tony's insistence and the promise he would visit him when he was better.

Thor and Natasha returned to Wakanda with the Guardians. The Guardians, having stopped at Vormir on their way back to Earth to resurrect Gamora, did not intend to stay too long.

Tony fully expected not to see them again though they wished him well, even the one named Gamora who had been killed. He didn't know how they had brought her back but she'd been put in a medically induced coma once she had been brought on-board. He figured it had something to do with the Soul Stone being returned to Vormir. Since Tony had, had his own injuries to think about he hadn't really noticed her. However, the enhanced healing available to the Guardians had ensured Gamora's recovery.

Tony lay on the examination table in Helen's lab. He felt a bit sick, nervous about what was going to happen.

"This may not work, Mr. Stark," she said nervously. "The clinical trials haven't even started yet. I believe the theory is accurate…"

"I don't care," he replied. "I can be your test subject."

"I'm not sure I…"

He didn't let her finish. "Look, someone is going to be a test subject. If this new drug doesn't work on me then I wouldn't want it being tested on other people."

Helen was silent, but she still looked concerned. "Extremis is still volatile, even combined with my Cradle technology. Even your own work on it, though has helped me develop this, could still cause problems when combined with a different form of chemicals."

"I'm willing to take the risk," he stated again. "If not, I'll just use Extremis. At least that has been proven to grow back limbs, even though the effects if your body does not accept it, are highly explosive. Your tech and Extremis reduces the volatile aspect of the formula. I won't have any superpowers after it if this works."

"You are really determined, aren't you, Mr. Stark?" she asked. "I don't want to be the person who kills Tony Stark."

Pepper spoke up then from beside Tony. "Helen, I can personally guarantee you, if something happens to Tony, you will not be held responsible for it. Your name will be protected from the media at all costs. This is my idea too. I want you to help Tony, any way you can. His lost both arms in the space of two days."

Helen sighed, her features softening. "What arm do you want me to start with?"

Tony considered it. "The right. We can remove the metal arm he gave me. If this doesn't work, it can always be reinstalled again. The left is as good as dead anyway. May as well try this on the arm which is already gone."

"Then, we shall proceed," said Helen.

Tony was put to sleep to have the metallic arm removed, after it was established the arm itself had been grafted into his shoulder and required more work to remove than they had initially thought. A highly skilled team of surgeons were called in and signed confidentiality agreements before they learned their patient was Tony Stark. If any leak of Tony's condition reached the media, Stark Industries would destroy them.

After the operation, and once Tony was awake, Helen began by injecting a dose of her new chemical formula whilst Tony lay in the newly constructed Cradle she'd made.

He was surprised the process wasn't painful though there was a slight tingling at the junction of his shoulder. They saw the first results begin to emerge after a few hours. There was slight growth of the bone starting to form, alongside skin and muscle. Feeling a bit freaked out by the motion of seeing his arm regrow back, Tony had requested to be put to sleep for the duration of it.

When he did next wake, which was a full seventy-two hours later, Tony was pleased to see he had one full, human arm again. He hoped the same procedure could be repeated with his left arm, though since he'd received the injection of Helen's formula, it had started to do something with his left arm, even giving him some of the movement back but not reducing the blackened and burnt look of it.

"What are you going to do about your left?" asked Pepper a few days later.

Moving his new, flesh-grown right arm was a joy. "I'm getting more movement back in it. Whatever is in Helen's formula has made a difference." He held up the blackened hand. "I'm not sure I am happy with it though. Do I just have this one removed and then a new one grown again? Or do I keep this? The movement and strength is coming back… and if I really wanted to, I think I could be Iron Man again, especially if I keep working on these exercises."

The daily physio Tony did daily was helping a lot.

"Iron Man?" she whispered quietly.

"I'm not going to though," added Tony.

Pepper quipped her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"As soon as I can, I will be making an official statement to the media announcing my intention of standing down as Iron Man. I will fully retire from the Avengers for good. I've done all I can. The world is in safe hands with the other superheroes around. Peter, Strange…heck, even Rhodey! He intends to stay on, I think, but the path I've been walking on for the last decade has always led me towards one thing."

"And what's that?"

He smiled. "You. Always you."

And he leaned forward to kiss her deeply on her lips.

"As soon as I can, I fully intend to make you Mrs. Stark. As of now, Tony Stark is a family man, not a superhero."

It didn't surprise Tony in the slightest when he received notice that Steve Rogers wanted to talk to him. Since the Wakandan battle, the arrest warrants for the fugitive Avengers had been suspended, allowing them to return to the United States, pending an investigation into their actions during the so-called Civil War. They had been limited to the Avengers Compound, something the rogue Avengers had reluctantly accepted. It had been the conditions Rhodey had given them if Steve wanted to talk to Tony.

And because Steve had wanted to talk to Tony he had agreed to those terms and his team had followed him.

It had taken another week after Roger's return for him to seek out Tony.

He had been relaxing in his Private Lounge in the Compound when Tony was alerted to Roger's arrival. Reluctantly, Tony had let him in and now they sat facing one another, an uncomfortable silence falling between them.

Tony wasn't going to budge. He wouldn't speak first which was what Steve clearly wanted. He kept looking away from him. The last time they had seen one another properly, before the whole furore with Thanos was Siberia. The memories were still fresh.

"Tony…" said Steve quietly. "I think I made a mistake."

That surprised Tony. "About what?"

"I should have told you about your parents. I know I said this in the letter I sent but I wanted to tell you in person. I'm sorry I kept it from you. I shouldn't have done. It was selfish of me to do so."

Tony's lips twitched. "I'm sorry for trying to kill Barnes." Because he was. The video had caused him emotional distress and he hadn't been able to control himself. Who would have been able to in those circumstances? "I lived for twenty years believing they had died because my father had drunk at the wheel. If I'd known it was murder… Barnes wasn't responsible for his actions then. I know that now but when you are faced with a truth of that magnitude and the person who killed them is in the room with you…" He swallowed. "You lose all sense of control."

"I shouldn't have fought you," replied Steve. "I should have tried to talk you down. I should have done the right thing in telling you when I found out."

"It's done now," said Tony.

Steve nodded. "I wanted to say… I'm sorry for letting Thanos keep you. For what he did to you."

"Not your fault," whispered Tony. "I told you to let him take me. I couldn't let him have the stone. Strange gave him the Time Stone in order to spare my life. I didn't want to have two stones on my conscience. Still, what matters is this is over now. We won."

"No. You won, Tony." Steve lifted his chin. "The others told me what happened. What you did. And the sacrifice you made. People live because of you. Thank you."

Tony wasn't sure what to think. "I did what was necessary."

"You're not the man I thought you were. I misjudged you…" admitted Steve. "Several times now you've sacrificed yourself for the team. You were prepared to die and I never acknowledged it. I've always thought I was the heart of the Avenger's team. But… I was wrong."

Was Roger's saying what he thought he was?

"The team was better off with you a part of it. Without you, we weren't… a team. There was always a piece missing and it was the place you filled. Tony… I know what happened between us is probably irreparable. But I hope we can still be civil with one another in the future of our working relationship," explained Steve.

"We won't be working together," replied Tony quietly. "I'm resigning for good from the Avengers. Iron Man is retiring."

"What? Why?" Steve was surprised.

Tony sighed. "Pepper. I love her. I want to be with her. And being Iron Man is getting in the way of what we both want. Besides, I've lost two arms, though one has been grown back, and I'm old and too old for these superhero heroics. Besides, how many new people have emerged since we first formed? Enough now that a new team can be assembled. The Avengers do not need me."

"There's nothing I can say to bring you back?" asked Steve.

Shaking his head, Tony said no. "I'll still have the suit but it will be used in emergencies only and as a last resort. After what has happened the last few weeks, I don't think I can do this anymore."

"Then the Avengers will not be the same without you, Tony. I think if I had not kept your parent's murder from you, we would have stood against Thanos and won before he could even kill half the universe."

Tony slightly smirked. "You're saying this to get on my good side, aren't you?"

"No!" Steve looked shocked. "I undervalued you and I shouldn't have done. If I'd opened my eyes and seen you as the hero you really are, none of this would have happened."

"Maybe… maybe not," admitted Tony. "It happened. All we can do is deal with it."

Steve stood from his seat and walked forward. "Can we at least part as associates even if we were never truly friends?"

Tony glanced at Steve's extended hand. There was a lot of history between them but perhaps there was a chance it could be salvaged. Retiring from the Avengers didn't mean cutting out all the people he had met from his life. If they wanted him there, wanted to still know him, why shouldn't he? Tony stood up. "How about this? We start over? As friends."

Steve looked astounded. "A new beginning."

They shook hands.

A few months later, away from the public eye, Tony married Pepper. The ceremony was kept to only a few people. Pepper's family and on Tony's side, Happy and Rhodey, along with the original five Avengers.

It was a small, dignified wedding; one that Pepper had wanted.

Tony, standing in his tuxedo, holding Pepper's hand as she said her vows, could only reflect upon the path that had been brought them to this place and time.

The last eleven years had been a story of redemption, of finding his true place in the world, but right now, all he wanted was the woman in front of him. Her red hair spilled around her shoulders and her lips were as red as they could be.

Taking her into his arms as they were proclaimed husband and wife, kissing her passionately on the lips, Tony knew where his future was. It wasn't being a superhero, it was being a husband, a lover, a friend and, hopefully, a father.

His story may have ended but his future had only just begun.

THE END

I wanted to wrap up Tony and Steve in a way that means they can at least get along with one another. And Steve has had his eyes opened about Tony too...

I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has supported this story. It has been incredible to read your responses and thank you for following me on this journey!

It has been a real pleasure,

the-writer1988