Reed knows where this is going. Steve isn’t going to compromise. He sees it in his cold eyes, in the stubborn line of his jaw. One after the other, he asks them for a statement, he talks about “humanity” and “doing things the right way”, refusing to entertain the thought that doing things his way might be the exact wrong thing to do, the thing costing everyone the most.
Reed interjects, but Steve just seems to get angrier. In the end, he directly addresses Tony, who had been conspicuously silent all throughout the conversation. Reed looks at him, at the way he doesn’t look up, at his eyebrows tightly knotted together and his tense posture.
He thinks back to the conversation they’d had only half an hour ago, Steve having left to get some fresh air, he thinks about the look on Tony’s face when Stephen had suggested wiping Steve’s mind should he not compromise and let them do what is necessary. The look of sheer horror and hurt that Tony had concealed quickly, but Reed had caught it, remembering only too well what fighting Steve and then losing him had done to Tony the last time (he wishes he had understood the full extent of Tony’s devastation quicker, back then, before Tony became desperate enough to go on the run without asking him for help). In the room with the Illuminati, he had also interjected, suggesting that the final decision should be left to Tony, who after all knew Steve the best and should be able to judge if the situation was hopeless or not. It was throwing Tony a lifeline, and he knew it. Tony had nodded curtly, and the matter wasn’t spoken of anymore.
Now, though, Tony looks up, and Reed sees sincere desperation in his eyes.
“I’m sorry… I’ll find some way to make this right.”
Steve doesn’t seem to understand what is about to happen, confusion is written on his face, but then things happen fast – Tony averts his eyes again, and quietly gives the order. Steve falls. When Reed looks down on him, he can’t help but think that this is only the beginning.
Tony leaves the room without another word, even though they all know fully well that he is the one who has to pick Steve up, get him back to the tower, get him into bed, pretend that nothing has happened.
Reed wonders what he should do – he suspects that Tony is in emotional turmoil, something he doesn’t feel comfortable dealing with, and maybe Tony wants to be alone anyways? He knows he’s making excuses, but nonetheless, he decides to wait and give Tony his chance to get himself together, and sure enough, just a few minutes later he reenters, helmet firmly in place, walks over to where Steve’s body is lying on the floor, carefully picks him up and walks towards the door again. The boots of the suit are clanking loudly on the floor. The rest of them haven’t really moved, they just turn to watch, and before Tony disappears from sight, he half turns and says “so long, gentlemen”, the voice modulator of the armor erasing all traces of emotion from his voice.
*****************
This is it. Reed knows it. So far, they have been incredibly lucky – not having had to destroy another populated earth, not having had to fight heroes (except for Steve, he adds quietly in his mind). But now, they are locked in combat, and time is running out. There are only a few minutes left until the incursion will be complete, taking both universes with it. Reed knows they have to make a decision. Maybe they could at least try and get the members of the Great Society to their earth, at least save a few more lives, some formidable heroes?
To his right, Namor is fighting one of them, snarling. Black Bolt and a fiery woman, rather reminding him of their own Captain Marvel, are locked in intense combat. A bit further down, Iron Man battles the girl whose name he learned is Boundless.
Suddenly, though, a fire erupts from the middle of the battle. Stephen, who hasn’t really talked since he returned from wherever he had been, is standing there, his left arm raised, glowing from the inside. His eyes are aflame and seem to consume everything around him. For a second, the battle stands still – everyone turns to Stephen, not knowing what to do, wondering what is happening. Then Stephen lowers his arm and the members of the Great Society burn. They − − simply burn to ashes, disappearing within seconds. Reed, appalled, tries to get to Strange, to make him stop, Tony, on the other side, does the same, but it is too late. They are gone.
The silence in the wake of Strange’s outburst is deafening. Then Hank jumps at Strange, fists raised, his face contorted in anger; Namor tries to hold him back, as does Bruce, who has transformed back into himself, but they all just tumble to the ground.
Reed knows they don’t have time for this. He looks at Tony with wide eyes and only sees the mask of Iron Man, unmoving, cold, ready. In the end, it always comes down to this, doesn’t it – the two of them having to make the ultimate decision that will cost everyone dearly. He and Tony have the activation codes for the bombs, Tony needs to activate Sol’s Hammer. That’s how it was always going to be. And the people they love are going to hate them forever.
Reed thinks of the alternative him and Tony that they saw in the mirror, of how broken they seemed at the dusk of time. Reed thinks of Sue, of in all probability losing her once she finds out, but losing her is okay as long as she lives, and all that comes out of his mouth is an urgent, pleading “Tony!”
Iron Man nods.
Reed knows that Tony will take the fall in the end (again), and he’s pathetically grateful. He takes a device affixed to his leg in his hand, pushes a button, and the world momentarily blurs – the teleportation device they had prepared for this very scenario.
When they see clearly again, the world in the sky over their heads burns, it burns, and Reed knows Tony has set everything into motion, and now all they can do is wait and watch another world die at their hands.
When the other earth has burned to ashes (just like the Great Society) there is a flash of light and a tremor that Reed feels in every cell of his body and the two universes start drifting apart.
And then it is over. Just like that, it is done. They have killed a world.
********************
Reed is shaking a little, something he isn’t prone to, and when he looks around, he sees the other Illuminati still staring at the sky where another world was just seconds ago. Only Tony has left. Reed knows he has to find him, after what he essentially just made him do through his own inaction. He doesn’t want to, he doesn’t cope well with emotions, not even his own, much less those of one as fervent as Tony, but he thinks of the cuts on Tony’s face, of the utter distress he saw in his eyes when he told him that Cap remembered, and he knows he has to. This time, he has to react. Before the Avengers arrive and find Tony.
He turns around and leaves, heading back into the Necropolis. Of course, Tony could be anywhere, he could have flown off and be somewhere over the ocean right now, impossible to find, but somehow, Reed thinks he hasn’t made it that far.
He enters Black Swan’s room. Something seems to be off: the glass cage that held Thanos and the others is broken and empty (why? No time to investigate right now, later), and there’s a faint smile on the Swan’s face.
“The big men have finally done it. Do you see now, Reed Richards? Do you see that there is only one way this can end? That there is no way out of this that lets you save your precious soul?”
Reed clenches his lips. Right now, he can’t deal with the Swan, with her dark riddles, her insinuations and thinly veiled insults.
“Where is he?”
“The Man of Iron, the one who always takes the fall? Because in every possible universe, Reed Richards is ultimately too weak, too consumed by his feelings for his family, dependent on one willing to go all the way? I told you, he is coming to the end of himself.”
She almost spits out the insults aimed at him, but Reed doesn’t care. “Where is he?”
Swan just points in the direction of the catacombs leading deeper into the Necropolis. When Reed hastens down the dark corridors only illuminated by the flashlight he is carrying, he hears his own blood rushing in his ears. Weak, she had said. And maybe she was right. He could build a device that destroys worlds, but he couldn’t activate it, in the end. Afraid of everything he could lose, his precious soul, above all, and with it, his family. Maybe Tony is ultimately the one with less to lose, in every universe. He quickly swipes his hand over his eyes.
When he turns a corner, he sees Tony sitting on the floor, almost fully in the dark, having just disassembled the armor right where he sits, parts of it strewn on the floor around him. Reed stops in his tracks. Tony doesn’t even acknowledge his presence, head bowed to the floor. He doesn’t react when Reed carefully moves closer, either.
“Tony?”
Still nothing. Tony’s hands are clenching and unclenching where he has placed them on his knees, but apart from that, he is as unmoving as a statue.
“Tony?” Reed tries again.
Tony just bows his head a little lower.
Reed doesn’t know what to do, he’s never been equipped to deal with this kind of situation. He goes to his knees and puts the flashlight he took with him down on the floor, trying to get a look at Tony’s face, almost completely hidden in the shadows.
“Anthony?”
Nothing, Tony only seems to try and curl in on himself even further. Reed doesn’t know what is going on. Is Tony in shock (in that case he might need treatment), is he crying and doesn’t want him to see…? He carefully extends his hand and touches Tony’s cheek, turning his face towards him; Tony flinches, but lets him, and when Reed gets a good look at him, he can’t help but flinch a little himself.
Tony looks absolutely ruined. His face is screwed up and wet with tears that have even managed to loosen the bandage on his nose, now half-exposing the broken mess below, and he has obviously bitten his own lip so hard that he has blood running down his chin, adding to the various cuts and bruises his face is laced with.
But the worst thing is that his eyes, usually so expressive and, despite Tony’s best efforts, often easy to read for someone who has spent as much time with him as Reed, don’t seem to track right, he seems to just blankly stare at nothing, his gaze is fixed somewhere to the left of Reed’s ear, he’s not looking anywhere.
So it seems he has gone into shock, then. His skin is cold and clammy and Reed knows that he has to get him to the sick bay, warm him up. Catatonic states like the one Tony is obviously in are dangerous if left untreated.
Suddenly, Reed hears voices, angry voices, still rather far away in the catacombs, but clearly moving towards them. It doesn’t seem to just be the other Illuminati – there are sounds of battle, some people probably trying to keep others from entering the Swan’s room. They don’t have much time, then.
“Tony, can you get up?”
No response, which Reed almost expects by this point. He sighs and gets his arms around Tony’s shoulders, pulling him up into a standing position. Tony looks rather confused, swaying on his feet. Reed stabilizes him as best as he can and they start slowly moving further down the corridor, in the direction of an exit, as Reed knows.
But they don’t get far: Suddenly, Cap, Thor, Widow, Clint and two of their new members whose names Reed hasn’t yet memorized burst around the corner. Cap immediately lunges at Tony, wresting him away from Reed, and smashes him against the wall, holding him there with his arm on his throat. Tony looks vaguely terrified and makes a quiet choking noise, but apart from that, he still doesn’t really react, obviously in a world of horror of his own, his body having all but shut down.
The other Avengers just stand around, doing nothing. Reed knows he can’t let this happen. He can’t let Cap beat Tony up even further, no matter how righteous his anger at what they did. Cap opens his mouth, obviously to start screaming at Tony, but Reed extends his arm and places it like a shield between Cap and Tony, at the same time pushing Cap back. Cap turns around and all but snarls at him in primal fury.
“I can’t let you do that, Steve”, Reed says, surprised at how calm his own voice sounds.
“You can’t let me do this? Richards, you have no idea what I have seen, what Stark will do to us all. He is just up first, and believe me, the world will be all the better for us locking him up. And then, the rest of you are up, and you will pay for what you have done.”
Steve’s voice quivers with barely restrained anger, but his eyes betray him – they are wide and hurt and somewhat dazed and Reed wonders what he has seen that has sent him this far over the edge. A man coming to the end of himself.
Whatever it was, it doesn’t matter right now.
“We will accept the consequences of our actions, Captain. However, I can’t let you brutalize Tony even further.”
There is a sharp intake of breath from Steve and an infinitesimal pause before he harshly replies:
“Brutalize him? BRUTALIZE HIM? The others just told me, Reed. He killed a world. He is the only one to blame for brutalizing himself.”
“Be that as it may…”
“Reed”, Tony suddenly says. Everyone turns to look at him. He has slid down the wall where Cap had held him moments before, but he seems to be more conscious and looks up at Reed with a pleading look in his eyes. “It’s okay, Reed. Let them take me.”
“Tony, I –“
“No, Reed. It’s okay. Really. Remember, it was me who built the bombs, it was me who hit the trigger, it should be me who bears the consequences. Let the others be, Steve.”
Reed tries to open his mouth and tell them that no, it was all of them (especially himself) who built the bombs, Steve snarls: “Stark –“
“Steve, please.” Tony now looks at him, and there’s something intangible in his eyes. Steve seems to subside a little, even though he still bristles with anger. Without another word, he walks towards Tony, pulls manacles out of his pockets, puts them on Tony’s hands, and picks him up. Instead of trying to help him walk, as Reed had done moments before, he turns and all but drags him towards the exit. Reed and the others just stand there. The boots of Steve’s uniform are clanking loudly on the floor.
****************
Tony is in a cell.
It is clinically white and bare of anything that could serve as a distraction. Reed shudders. It is the first time he’s been allowed to see Tony in weeks, and he can’t bear the thought of the man being locked up here all this time without anything to work on, without anything useful to do. All that creative energy locked up for nothing.
Tony seems to channel it into bouts of nervous energy. While he was sitting on the floor apathetically when Reed entered the room, now he practically bounces around, asking Reed about his family (Sue was and is appalled at what he has done, even though he was ultimately too weak to follow through with it himself), about the progress they made (virtually none), about the rest of the Illuminati (all on probation because they have to solve this incursion-problem, and after all, they are some of the smartest men on the planet. All but Tony).
Reed knows Cap isn’t going to let Tony out, if he can help it at all, maybe never. For all his admirable qualities, the Captain is a stubborn man; hurt in his pride, he will take extreme action. And after all, he saw something in the future, something he hasn’t really talked about, and no one else has given Reed any details (if they even know any), but it was apparently enough to make locking Tony up for the rest of his life look like an adequate course of action.
So that is where it’s at, and Reed feels his heart clench at the look of Tony, moving like a caged animal, brittle smile only barely hiding the fact that he is cracking.
Maybe he’s always the one with less to lose. But it is still too much.