Had a thought, had to write it down. Don't own the Avengers.

"Tony!"

Tony Stark turned around at the sound of his name, his hand lingering on the door. Steve Rogers trotted up to him barely breaking a sweat even though Tony was pretty sure he had just run down over eighty flights of stairs.

"What up Captain Spangles!" Tony said brightly, his grin widening at Steve's grimace. A gust of wind swept through the still open door. Tony let it swing shut. "Watcha' want Cap, I'm kind of in a rush."

Steve raised an eyebrow, "For what, you're going out to get tacos."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Exactly, can't let Thor's craving for Mexican every Thursday night last too long. I'm rather fond of the coffee table."

"It's Tuesday Tony."

"I by no means said his cravings never came early." Tony stepped out of the way as someone came scurrying into the building to escape the biting wind, "What's up Cap, I lost a bet to Clint so I have to walk and I want to escape the impending rain."

Steve looked out the glass door and saw the dark looming clouds overhead. "Right, uh, Natasha says that she doesn't want tacos."

Tony blinked surprised, "Tell her to make spaghetti or something." Tony huffed in annoyance when Steve gave him a petrified look, "For the love of– you're six inches taller than her. Grow a backbone!"

"You wouldn't be saying that if you were in my position." Steve grumbled.

Tony scowled, "Fine, what does she want?"

"Spaghetti."

Tony groaned, "Seriously?" Steve nodded. Tony held a finger up towards Steve, "You're lucky that Luigi's is only half a block down from the taco place. I am assuming she wants it from Luigi's right." Steve nodded again, "Good. If I get rained on I'm sicking the Hulk on you."

Tony turned on his heel and walked out the door, automatically he turned up the collar of his expensive coat, the wind biting at his ears.

"And hurry up everyone is starving." Steve yelled out the closing door, Tony waved a hand behind him telling Steve that he understood. Stuffing his numb fingers into the woolen pockets of his coat Tony turned to the right and started his walk.

Tony cursed whoever had introduced Thor to tacos and burritos, he continued cursing them until he remembered that it had been him who had given Thor his first taco. That didn't help alleviate Tony's foul mood. A car sped past him, hitting a puddle and splashing Tony with dirty street water.

"Shit!" Tony held his arms out from himself and flicked the water from his hands, he ground his teeth and watched as the car that had splashed him hit the brakes to stop at a red light. Taking note of the license plate Tony once again stuffed his hands into his now soggy pockets, he shot a glare at the man through the window, taking note the dirty hair and tobacco stained fingers. "Someone is going to have a terrible credit report tomorrow.

Ten minutes later Tony reached the designated 'Kingdom of Tacos' as Thor called it. It wasn't flashy, actually it looked rather shabby, paint peeled from the sign hanging above the door and the foundation had cracks tracing up the sides. Tony made a mental note to leave a sizeable tip for the owners before he gratefully pushed open the door of the restaurant and walked up to the counter.

The young man behind the counter gave no sign of shock when Tony Stark stepped up to him. Tony – whenever Happy wasn't available – was the designated taco runner; for one he was the most comfortable out in public compared to the other's, and another was that everyone got a kick out of the stories Tony told whenever random citizens stopped him on the street. The boy however in front of him saw him regularly and the novelty of serving Tony Stark tacos had worn off.

"Hello Mr. Stark, you're early this week." The boy said in a thick southern accent.

"What can I say, I missed hearing your stories Don." Tony said. "Everyone got a good laugh out of the rabbit story."

Don gave a fond smile, "Dad was able to fix the tractor soon enough."

"How are your grades coming?"

"Better, my professor was very impressed with the results after I used the titanium alloy like you said." He beamed as he placed the already prepared bag of food from underneath the warmer on the counter for Tony to grab. "He didn't believe me when I said I got advice from Tony Stark."

Tony chuckled, "They never do." Tony handed him a fifty even though he had already paid. "Buy that horse of yours something special."

"Mitsy's already spoiled enough as is, Dad says she was rather put out when I left her at home back in Texas again."

"Well then, get something for that girl of yours." Tony smiled as Don went doey-eyed.

"Thank you Mr. Stark. You'd better hurry up, looks like rain." Tony looked over his shoulder and sighed. He nodded towards Don and headed back out.

Against his better judgment Tony walked in the opposite direction towards Luigi's. The wind whipped past him causing Tony to shudder. He transferred the bag of warm Mexican food to his other and hand and stuffed his numb one into his pocket, Tony stopped at a crosswalk and waited.

He made the mistake of cursing because the young girl next to him seemed to recognize him. Tony grimaced and carefully extracted himself from the girl's sudden grip, he dug into his pocket and extracted something from his pocket and pressed it into the hands of the hysteric girl. She squealed, hugged Tony again – much to his chagrin – and took off down the street. It was only then that Tony realized that he had passed the girl his newly designed music player, or as he liked to call it, the Starktuner. Way better than an IPod; however, it was still a prototype but Tony had been rather fond of it. Tony made a mental note to have Pepper get him a new one.

He reached the Italian restaurant soon after – just as it started to drizzle – and entered through the door. Tony shook his head before weaving his way through the rows of tables, ignoring the occasional gape as he passed people eating their own dinners. He was a regular here too so when he reached the counter he was pleased to see the usual girl standing there.

She smiled when she recognized him, "I haven't seen you in a while Mr. Stark."

Tony smiled back, "Haven't had a craving for your smile in quite some time Janet. How's your new apartment holding up?"

"Very nicely, I've been meaning to thank you for helping me and giving me that reference. You didn't have to."

Tony waved a hand, "Please, and let my favorite waitress move away, no." Tony grabbed the bag she set down, he thanked Pepper for having called ahead, "And, how about that other thing. You get it all worked out?" Tony eyed the yellowing bruise under her eye that she had failed to cover up that morning, he didn't miss the way her right hand twitched towards her left wrist.

Janet dropped her gaze, "Alright, I called that number you gave me, and I think Randy got the message."

Tony gazed at her and she avoided his eyes, he lowered his voice, "He was here earlier today I'm guessing."

She looked up at him, her jaw jumping as she clenched it, "Yes, I got Brad to kick him out. I was on break at the time so he didn't disturb the customers." Tony looked over his shoulder, he was only slightly amused when he noticed several faces flick away.

"Customers be damned, if he comes back again at all I want you to call that number again got it. I'll personally make sure that he doesn't bother you again."

"You don't have to Mr. Stark. You've done so much for me already, I'm sure you have better things to do." She flicked her gaze somewhere behind Tony, he didn't bother turning around to see what had caught her attention.

"I don't care." Tony set down a bag again and dug out a second and third fifty, "Here," he said pressing them into her hand keeping his voice low, "Buy something nice for that new apartment of yours, and if that isn't enough call me and I'll give you a bigger tip." She blushed when he clasped his hand tighter around her's, "I mean it Janet." She looked him in the eye and took a deep breath before she nodded, Tony was about to let go of her hand again when he heard the door behind him being forcibly opened, it slammed into the wall and cracked the glass.

Tony dropped her hand and turned. To his surprise the man who had splashed him earlier with his car stood there, glaring over the heads of frozen patrons. His gaze was on the woman behind Tony, but it quickly turned to Tony. The man stalked up towards them, he ignored the angry protests of the people he ran into.

"Randy, I told you to leave." Tony blinked in surprise when Janet spoke behind him, he shifted when Randy shot a look over Tony's shoulder to her. "B-brad!" She called.

"Is this him?" Tony frowned at the dirty finger that was thrust inches from his face.

"Yeah, that doesn't work for me." Tony swatted the finger away and stepped in front of the man so that he blocked his line of sight, Randy glared at him.

A deep voice sounded behind them, "Janet is something wrong? What the hell is he doing here?! I told you to leave."

"Make me fat-ass!"

Tony bristled, he turned to see the owner and chef of the restaurant behind him, Tony caught his eye, "I'm going to make a call." He turned towards Randy, "There's someone I want you to meet, you'll like him, just don't make him angry." Tony pulled out his phone, "Oh, and could you take a step or two back, I can smell the cheap alcohol from here." He pressed the number three speed dial and raised the phone to his ear.

Shnnt. Tony paused when he noticed the small pocket knife in the man's hand, "Here we go." Tony muttered under his breath. Tony dropped his phone and twisted his body as the knife shot towards him, he locked the knife wielding arm between his arm and his side. His hand shot out slammed into the man's wrist causing him to drop his knife. An elbow to the nose and a swift kick to the man's knee and he was on the floor groaning.

A small scattering of applause filled the room, Tony ignored it and bent to pick up his phone and notices the spilt tacos across the floor. He turned to Brad.

"Sorry about that." He indicated towards the remains of the tacos.

"Don't worry about it Mr. Stark." Brad motioned towards one of the still frozen waiters, "Johnny, could you get a mop and a waste bin." The aproned man turned back to Tony as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket, "Are you alright Mr. Stark? He didn't hurt you?"

"Hmm? Oh, no, I'm fine. I've met scarier men than him." Tony smiled slightly when Brad looked awkward. Tony looked down and noticed that Randy was pushing himself up, "I would suggest you leave before I have in mind to file charges against you. Unless you have further need of him." Tony said indicating towards the man behind the counter. He shook his head. "There you have it. Now go before you are escorted out."

The man scrambled when Tony moved to help him and he darted out of the restaurant.

"I'm going to see how Janet is." Tony watched Brad go towards the back kitchen where the distraught girl had darted to after Tony had dealt with the other man.

"Hey." Tony called causing the larger man to stop and turn, "If he does come back to bother her or you, let me know." Tony placed a card next to the small bowl of mints. Brad picked it up, and darted his eyes to the now disposed pile of spilled food.

"You going to be alright Mr. Stark." Tony followed his eyes and chuckled.

"Yes, I'll make it up to them," he held the bag with the to-go box of spaghetti, "I would be more afraid if I had lost this." Tony smiled and waved as he turned and left the restaurant.

The wind was still blowing but – to Tony's relief – the small drizzle had actually stopped, giving Tony hope that he might make it back to the tower in time before it started to pour. Tony felt his phone buzz in his pocket and fished it out.

"Yello!" Tony said brightly when he answered.

"Tony, where are you? You're taking forever." Tony smiled at the sound of Clint's voice.

"Hello gorgeous, miss me already?"

"You wish goat-face. I want my food, where are you?"

"Ouch, goat-face, that isn't painful at all. You're losing your touch Barton." Tony paused as he someone burst from a shop in front of him, nearly knocking him over, "Anyway, I'm on my way. But, there was a slight incident and I may or may not have lost the tacos." There was an audible collective groan from the other side of the phone.

"What did you do now Tony?" Tony looked at the phone in his hand when he recognized Steve's voice, "Barton am I on speakerphone?"

"…maybe."

"You aren't using Jarvis are you?" Silence, Tony cursed, "I believe I specifically told you that Jarvis is in the middle of a system reboot and should not be used for anything but an emergency."

"This is an emergency."

"You're bottomless pit of a stomach does not count as an emergency."

"Never mind that Tony, what incident, was that why you called?" That was Bruce.

"Sorta, kinda, yeah." Tony adjusted the bag in his hand, "There was a certain incident with a guy and he made me drop dinner." Tony ignored Clint's groan, "Just order several pizza's." Tony heard Thor's yell of protest, "We'll order extra tacos on Thursday big guy, hang in there."

"Did you at least get me my spaghetti?" Natasha's voice floated out of the small device in Tony's hand.

Tony rolled his eyes, "Yes, your special plate of spaghetti is fine, just so you know I expect many, man–a" Tony stopped as someone slammed into his back nearly making Tony drop his phone, "What the fu–" Tony turned around and saw dirty tobacco finger man behind him.

"Okay, clearly you do not understand who I am." Tony said the phone in his hand forgotten.

A dirty finger was shoved in Tony's face, "You, it was you. You took Janet away from me."

Once again Tony shoved the finger away, "No, you drove her away when you continued to beat the shit out of her. If you were even a decent enough human being you wouldn't be able to walk the same ground as her." Tony turned to start his way back to the tower, he was stopped when the man grabbed his shoulder and yanked him around. "Alright, you have really got to stop doing that."

Tony didn't get to say anything else when suddenly there was a gun pointed at him, "You will pay for what you did." The man's eyes were wide and wild, the dilated pupils enough of a clue for Tony to realize that he was in deep shit.

Tony raised his hands slightly and opened his mouth, "Look Randy–" Tony didn't get any further when the shot sounded and the first bullet slammed into him just an inch below the Arc Reactor.

Tony jerked, his eyes widening in surprise. He didn't have time to react before another shot sounded and the second bullet landed right of the reactor. Tony fell to his knees, he wasn't aware of the screaming people around him, or the faint yells from the plastic phone in his hand. Tony didn't hear the third or fourth shot, but he felt them slam into his upper body. He fell to the ground his eyes wide and staring towards the grey sky.

There were no more shots, but it wouldn't have mattered because everything was silent, and grey, except the sky. That had always been grey, so that wasn't new, but the people he was sure used to be a varied bunch with yellows, reds, and blues, not anymore.

There was someone standing over him, he didn't know this person, and yet they were uncomfortably close, his tobacco fingers dug through his pockets before yanking out Tony's wallet and snatching up the fallen phone. Tony could do nothing to stop it, breathing was becoming increasingly harder, a wet rattle was escaping his lips while warm liquid trickled down his cheek. A cough shook his body causing pain to finally course through his body.

Tony arched his back, he felt body lurched and Tony threw his head to the side as blood and stomach contents came up and out. Tony sucked in a desperate breath his eyes rolling as pain coursed through his body.

"Hnngh-hnn" Tony gagged when he failed to draw another breath.

It was then that the skies decided to open. Tony was helpless as the stinging rain soaked his body, washing away the blood that had saturated his torso.

Someone was kneeling in front of Tony, his face hovering over his own, blocking the rain. Somewhere in the back of Tony's mind he dimly realized that it was Steve. He was soaked from the rain and he was pressing something down on Tony's chest.

Tony felt his throat jerk as he tried to take another breath, his eyes widened when yet again he felt no air race past his throat.

Steve's mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out, he was silent just like the rest of the world, silent and grey; but curiously his hands were red. His mouth continued to move, and Tony continued to hear nothing.

Tony coughed and felt warm liquid splatter his face, it was quickly washed away by the freezing rain. Tony felt his eyes start to fall, they were so heavy and he was so tired, he just wanted to sleep.

*/*

"…order extra tacos on Thursday big guy, hang in there." Steve rolled his eyes as Tony's voice floated down from the speakers hidden in the ceiling.

Steve sat next to Pepper on the couch, she sat with her feet up on the coffee table, a magazine in her hand and a faint smile on her lips. Bruce, Clint, Natasha, and Thor were all sprawled in different positions around the room, all listening to Tony over the phone.

"Did you at least get me my spaghetti?" Natasha asked.

Steve could here Tony's eye roll, "Yes, your special plate of spaghetti is fine, just so you know I expect many, man–" Tony's voice was cut off and a distant "What the fu–" could be heard over the phone.

"Tony?" Bruce asked concerned, he was ignored as the conversation on the other side of the phone became more and more tense.

"You took Janet away from me." The disembodied voice was faint and distorted over the distance.

"Tony!" Pepper this time, she was on her feet quickly followed by Steve as he turned towards the elevator, he didn't like the direction that conversation was going and he wasn't going to wait to hear the ending.

"I'm going down." He simply said.

"Look Randy–" Steve froze when he heard the gunshot interrupt Tony, Pepper screamed, Clint and Natasha were on their feet followed quickly by Bruce. Thor stood once he realized something was wrong, not recognizing the immediate danger of the gunshot. A second, third and fourth shot were heard. Steve was already out the door leading to the staircase, not bothering to wait for the elevator.

He flew down the stairs, taking four or five steps at a time not caring about the danger of what he was doing. Steve thought it ironic that not one hour ago he was running down the same flight of stairs to catch up with Tony, but now he didn't even want to think about what he might find.

Steve reached the ground floor in two minutes, the moment his feet touched the lobby floors he took off, bowling over the few people in the foyer, he was only dimly aware that Clint and Natasha had jumped out of the elevator as he shoved through the glass doors.

It wasn't hard to find the right direction to go, when Steve turned the corner he immediately saw the crowd of screaming frightened people, he took off into the swarm of running pedestrians.

Tony was a block-and-a-half away. It had started raining causing his blood to run in rivers down the sidewalk. Steve fell to his knees beside Tony.

"Tony!" Tony was staring at up at the sky, his mouth agape as he tried to take in air. Steve tore off the jacket he had been wearing and pressed it against Tony's torso, Tony arched his back in pain, Steve just pressed harder. "You're going to be okay Tony, alright."

Tony didn't seem to hear him, his eyes rolling around in their sockets. He coughed, blood splattered his cheeks only to be washed away by the rain.

"You're going to be alright Tony. Come on, just breathe." Steve panicked when Tony's eyes started to lower, "No! Tony, Tony you need to stay awake." He patted Tony's cheek, it didn't help, "Come on Tony."

"Shit!" Steve looked up and noticed that Natasha and Clint had made it, Bruce and Thor were just coming up behind them, the former huffing as he tried to catch his breath. Bruce noticed Tony and automatically knelt down on the other side ignoring the puddle of water.

"Tony." Bruce grabbed Tony's shoulders and tried giving him a shake, Tony's eyes remained closed, Bruce looked up at Thor. "Thor, give me your cape." Thor unhooked his cape and handed it over, the rain saddening it further but Bruce ignored that.

"Did anyone call for an ambulance?" Steve's voice sounded from Tony's other side but Bruce ignored him.

"Pepper was doing that when we all ran out." Natasha moved forward and held something aloft. Bruce looked up when the rain stopped falling around them, he was only faintly surprised when he realized that she had grabbed an umbrella before she and Clint had zip lined down the elevator shaft. Bruce applied more pressure around Steve's hands in attempt to stop the flow of blood from the unconcioius man's body.

"Where is the Eye of Hawk?" Thor's voice boomed through the rain nearly causing Bruce to jump.

"He went to go see if he could find the gunman." Natasha passed the umbrella to Thor who took it with a weary look, "I'm going to go help him." Natasha ran off into the pouring rain.

"Where the hell is that ambulance, we need to get him out of the rain." Bruce looked down again at Tony's face, fear coursing through him when he saw the trail of blood trail from the corner of his mouth. Leaning forward Bruce was able to hear the wet rattle as Tony tried to breathe.

"Here they are!" Steve stood and ran over to the paramedics as they brought their equipment out in the rain and rolled a stretcher over to Bruce and the injured man. Thor stepped back to allow them room, he stretched out his arm so he could keep the umbrella above them; however, it was no use because the wind was blowing the rain up and under the umbrella soaking them even more and causing the paramedics to curse.

"We need to get him out of here now." One yelled as he strapped an oxygen mask to Tony's face and began pumping air into him by hand.

"Yeah, on three. One, two, three." Steve and Bruce helped the paramedics lift Tony into the stretcher. "If one of you is coming you better get in now." The second paramedic barked over his shoulder.

Steve looked towards Bruce who shook his head, "I don't want to lose whatever little control I have right now. You better go Cap." Bruce shoved Steve who stumbled over to the open ambulance. "We'll meet you there."

"Mercy General." Someone yelled before the doors slammed.

The sounds and activities inside the ambulance were overwhelming, Steve had crushed himself into the smallest corner possible, he watched wide eyed as they worked over Tony.

"Blood pressure is dropping."

"We need to get access to those wounds."

"Have the defibrillator at the ready."

"We have a male gunshot victim, late thirties to early forties, have a team on standby."

The paramedics started to cut away at Tony's shirt underneath his jacket. The opened up the now ruined shirt, and both men reeled back.

"Holy Hell!"

"Son of a bitch!"

They both stared at the Arc Reactor that was resting in its usual space, one reached out to touch it.

"Don't!" Steve said causing the men to pause. "It's keeping him alive."

"How," Steve hesitated, "You better tell us everything so we can do our job! What the hell is it?"

"I can't really explain it. It's really advanced technology." Steve looked at Tony's face, "I've always thought of it as some sort of pacemaker. Tony's never corrected me."

"Fine, good enough. John leave it be. Alright we need t–" A machine started screaming, a line stretching across the screen, "Get me the defibrillator now!"

Steve watched in horror as they leveled the paddles against Tony's bare chest, "Clear!" Tony's torso jumped, "Again, clear!" Nothing. "Go four hundred. Clear!" Nothing. Again, again, and again they pressed the paddles to Tony's chest, and again, again, and again with no results.

"Alright last time. Clear!" Steve watched the screen, unable to see Tony's body jerk, he held his breath willing for a sign that his heart would start. The machine continued to scream, and the line remained.

The two other men looked at one another, the one holding the paddles set them down.

"7:42. September fourth."

"Alright Buzz."

"What?" Steve spoke up, his eyes widened when they started to detach Tony from the various machines and remove the oxygen mask. "What are you doing?"

"Sir, I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do. You're friends gone."

"Like hell he is! Do you know who that is? That's Tony Stark."

"I- I'm sorry sir, but there is nothing we can do." The man had placed a comforting hand on Steve's shoulder, Steve shoved him off, he got out of the way when Steve shoved passed him and went up to Tony's face.

"Tony!" Steve grabbed at Tony's still shoulder, "Come on Tony, you better open those eyes because I am sure as hell not dealing with Barton, and Banner all on my own!" Tony didn't respond, "TONY!" The driver and the two paramedics jumped at Steve's roar.

Steve stared at Tony's still face, he noticed the absence of breath, the stillness of his chest, and the paleness of his body. "No." Steve said softly, "No! You did not survive three months in a cave and bombing outer space to die from a bullet. Tony! Come on!" Steve looked hurriedly down at the Arc Reactor, it was still glowing. That meant Tony's heart was still pumping, right? Steve had no idea, he didn't understand the first thing about the Arc Reactor, Steve slapped it. It didn't help.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, "Sir?" Steve looked around, his face betraying his shock. Steve let the man sit him back, his eyes never leaving Tony's still face.

He didn't realize the ambulance had stopped until Tony's face rolled away, when his eyes caught back up with it Steve realized that someone had pulled a sheet up and over his body so that he was shrouded in white. Steve throat stuck, his eyes burned and he allowed himself to be numbly led away from the ambulance. He was distantly aware that they were rolling the stretcher with Tony on it away from the entrance he would have taken had he made it to the hospital.

Steve let his legs give out from beneath him as he sat in a chair just inside the door, a moist towel was placed in his hands and he numbly started wiping Tony's blood from his hands. It was while he was scrubbing at his palm that it dawned on him what was on his hands. Steve clenched his jaw as he started scrubbing harder, unable to get the dirty feel from his hands.

He stopped when his fingers felt raw, allowed the now pink towel to be removed from his hands, he continued to stare at them. His throat was burning, and his vision was blurring. When the first drop landed on his hand Steve allowed his head to fall into them.

*/*

Clint slammed on the brakes when they reached the hospital, ignoring the cries of alarm as he left the vehicle in the middle of a no park zone. His fellow passengers jumped out with him and quickly moved towards the entrance to the emergency waiting room.

After Clint had failed to find the gunman he had doubled back, he was halfway there when he ran into Natasha. It was with her that he broke into the nearest car, hotwired it and sped towards where they had left the others. Tony and Steve were gone but Pepper had joined the group. They all jumped in, and after initial hesitation Bruce squished in next to Thor. Clint hadn't wasted anytime.

They had sped through the city as Natasha called Fury and Coulson, not one police car stopped them on the way.

As one they entered through the glass doors. The first thing they saw was Steve Rogers sitting slumped in a chair with his head in his hands. Pepper and Bruce made a beeline for him. He didn't look up at them until they addressed him.

"Steve? Where's Tony, is he in surgery?" Pepper asked, Steve turned to look at her, his eyes dark and sorrowful, Clint felt his gut clenched. "Steve?" Pepper prompted again.

"Pepper," Steve's voice was hoarse, "Pepper, Ton–" his voice cracked a little. "He, uh, he never even made it to the hospital." The last words were said in a whisper, Steve crunched his face and shut his eyes as a single tear escaped out of the corner of his eye.

Pepper's breath hitched, she pressed her hand to her mouth as a painful sob escaped. Natasha grabbed her and held her as Pepper started to shake. Clint swallowed when he noticed Natasha blink several times in a row before her face was back to her usual neutral expression.

"Bruce." Steve's voice was soft.

Bruce was standing there, his hands tightened into fists at his side, and his eyes tightly shut. When he opened them again there was a glimmer of jade. "I– I need to go." He turned and ran out the door, heading straight for the still running car.

"Bruce!" Pepper called, her cry falling on deaf ears.

"I do not understand." Thor's voice was unusually soft, almost desperate, "How is the Man of Iron faring." He almost sounded pleading, like he did not want to hear the truth but knew he must.
"Tony's gone." Clint said softly, "He's gone."

*/*

"I'm not going."

The group of darkly dressed individuals looked up as Bruce stood before them. A knapsack was slung over his shoulder and he was dressed in tattered jeans and dirty t-shirt. He swallowed hard and looked at the people staring at him.

"Bruce, please, Tony would want you to be there." Pepper said as she walked up to him.

Bruce shook his head, "No, Pepper. I can barely keep in control standing here let alone surrounded by hundreds of strangers."

Pepper shook her head, "There won't be hundreds, it's a private funeral."

"You aren't counting the hundreds, possibly thousands, of people who will be waiting outside. No, I won't ruin Tony's name by killing innocent people because I cannot keep in control of my emotions." Bruce paused and looked at his feet, "Not at his funeral." He whispered.

"Where will you go?" Natasha spoke from her place on the couch.

Bruce shrugged, "I don't know, Peru, maybe India. I could lose myself in the Amazon, lots of undiscovered chemicals and drugs. Who knows, maybe I'll find a cure for Cancer." His attempt at humor failed to make anyone smile, even Bruce.

"You'll be missed Doctor Banner." Fury had been standing in the corner of the room, his arms crossed.

Bruce eyed him, "Does that mean I can count on you leaving me alone."

Fury shrugged, "If the world is ending you might here from us."

Bruce nodded, knowing that that was the closest thing he would ever get to a yes. He turned towards the elevator but was stopped by Pepper.

"Bruce please. Tony wouldn't want you to run off. Please, you can stay here still, no one will bother you." Pepper's eyes were watering, and she was swallowing to keep the tears at bay.

"I can't Pepper."

The room was silent, Clint stared off out the window ignoring all of them. Steve was sitting next to the place Pepper had been, and Thor wasn't there. He had refused outright to come, he did not understand the treatment of the dead, insulted by the treatment he had received when he had proclaimed his anger he had left for Asgard two days before.

Bruce caught Pepper in a hug, she clung to him as tears spilled down her cheek. Holding her out at arm's length he studied her face before reaching up and wiping a tear from her cheek.

"I'll be alright Pepper. I survived before Tony Stark and I'll survive after." She nodded and squeezed her eyes shut. Patting her arm he turned towards the other members of the team. He nodded at them, not needing to say anything. Turning around he headed over to the elevator.

The doors opened before he could reach them and out stepped James Rhodes and Happy Hogan. Rhodes paused when he saw Bruce, his eyes trailed from his feet to his eyes taking in all the details. Rhodes held out his hand.

"Safe travels Doctor Banner."

Bruce gave a soft smile, "I'll see you around Colonel Rhodes." Bruce shook Rhodes hand and then Happy's. He then stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. Bruce gave a small smile and a nod before the doors closed in front of him.

It was silent for a moment, then Pepper walked up to Rhodes where she threw her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder. Rhodes held her to him rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"Hey Pep." Pepper mumbled something into his shoulder, Rhodes scrunched his face in confusion. "What?"

"You're not wearing your dress blues."

Rhodes shook his head, "No, I didn't want to be Colonel Rhodes Stark Industries liaison. Today I am James Rhodey, Tony Stark's friend." Pepper smiled into his shoulder and gave a soft 'Thank you.'

"It's time to go Pepper." Happy said softly behind her. He like Rhodey was wearing a dark suit, it was not his usual suit that he wore while he chauffeured Tony around but rather a dark under shirt with dark slacks and a dark jacket.

The same was for the rest of the people in the room, for the exception of the two women who both were modest black dresses. Fury still wore his trademark coat and the ever present eye patch.

Pepper nodded and turned to Natasha who stood and ushered the rest of the men out of the room including Coulson, Fury was not going.

They made their way down to the car that had been parked in the private parking garage so that they could avoid the press that had been camped out at the front door for a week now. It was slow going but they eventually made it past the crowds of people circling the building.

At some point a hearse made its way in front of them as they traveled down the empty roads, the streets lined with thousands of people waving flags and saluting. Pepper bit her lip and looked away from the window of the limo.

They reached a blockade that kept the public back from the church that Pepper had chosen. The crowds were half a block back and were unable to disrupt the mourners. Pepper watched as the back door of the hearse was opened, she gasped when she noticed the American flag that lay across the mahogany coffin.

"I didn't–" Pepper looked towards Agent Coulson who kept his eyes forward, she smiled and reached out to clasp his hand causing him to flick his eyes towards her, "Thank you." He allowed a rare smile to grace his face.

Steve, Clint, Natasha, Coulson, Rhodey walked up to the hearse and carefully transferred the coffin out of the back. There was one person missing, Bruce had been meant to be the sixth, but instead Happy stepped up and grabbed the remaining handle. The group of six walked slowly up the steps of the church. Pepper followed behind them, and she was followed by few other mourners that had been allowed to come, mostly the higher ups of Stark Industries.

They made their way into the church and through the doors. Pepper sat in the front row. She watched as the coffin was placed onto its stand.

She didn't want to think about what lay inside. Inside where the Arc Reactor still glowed despite the fact that the heart no longer continued to beat, it was also where her best friend lay, his brown eyes forever closed and where he would rest there for evermore. Pepper shut her eyes and turned her head, not allowing herself to think anymore, because he shouldn't be there, with an Arc Reactor that would not dim and the dying battery of the largest Jarvis controlled device that Pepper would allow. Pepper thought it was cruel that after Tony survived so much he had been gunned down in the streets of New York, just blocks from the one safe place in the whole city. Tony Stark was not meant to die that way.

A hand found hers, she smiled when she realized it was Rhodey, she squeezed his hand and he squeezed it back. Pepper blinked and took a deep breath before she straightened up. She looked at the coffin with the flag still resting on top. She took another deep breath.

"Goodbye Tony."

Keep reading, there's more. It's short but sweet.