2014-02-16 - Cutscene: The Death of a Dream

It takes hours before things finally calm down enough that Tony Stark can get a few minutes to himself. Well, not exactly all by himself. He has a dead man on a medical bay bed or rather metal slab beside him as he sits in a chair, dressed in his normal clothes. The tears he thought were done are flowing again down his face.

Tony's teeth clench to hold back the sounds he wants to make. He couldn't even cry truly when Sawyer died in his arms, though well, she didn't really die. This however, is dead dead. There was no blade with drugs, it was a bullet. He had his Iron Man suit on to do the medical scan himself.

Eventually, Tony reaches out to grasp his best friend's hand, giving the now cold hand a squeeze. "You were always the better man. It should have been me," his voice breaking as he says those words. Even the knowledge of Natasha's condition can't make him change the feeling behind those words.

Tony releases Captain America's hand and it drops hanging limpy just off the side of the metal slab. Stark stands up from the uncomfortable metal chair and starts to walk away, not looking back at the body that once housed the essence of the man he respected most in the entire world.

A piece of the world died today...