Chapter 2
Thanos did exactly what he said he'd do, the Avengers lost their fight -- half of their universe was erased from existence! They really tried, but not even Thor could stop Thanos... Surprisingly, Toni made Thanos bleed -- it was only a drop, and he threw a freaking moon at her -- but she made the Mad Titan bleed! Frustratingly, it's all Toni could do, before he got his hands on that time stone then he'd left Toni to die... she spent one month in space, stranded with a cyborg assassin named Nebula, before the Avengers found them both. Toni was dangerously malnourished, half dead and her heart had stopped four times but she kept fighting and they saved her life. Only, she now had to re-install the arc reactor to keep her heart beating properly... recovery has been slow, but they're confident Toni was going to be okay. Mentally, Toni was a mess. She was angry and grieving. She did not like being this physically weak.
After returning to earth, and while having her necessary procedures, the remaining Avengers went after Thanos, knowing his location thanks to Nebula. But, any hope they had at bringing everybody back, was gone, as the stones were destroyed after Thanos used them, to kill half the galaxy. In a fit of rage, Thor swung Stormbreaker at Thanos, cutting off his head. The team returned to earth hours later, feeling even more defeated than ever and with those useless, broken alien rocks.
Still, they were cautious with them. They scattered the stones remains across the universe and made certain no one could find them but, unsurprisingly, Toni did not think it a good idea; she Thor for the time stone and he gave it to her without many questions. He trusted Toni more than he trusted anyone, and Thor knew why Toni wanted it, so he just let her have it.
Dr. Strange bargained the time stone for Toni's life, its the only reason she was still alive... Thanos agreed to keep Toni alive, in exchange for the stone. If not, there's a good chance she would've turned to dust with the other half of the universe, given how much the Titan hated her -- he knew her name... he knew she was responsible for those thousands of Chitauri deaths in 2012. He had never been defeated or even challenged like that before. So, he loathed her. Only seconds before this bargain, he very literally had Toni's life in his hands -- Thanos had thrown a moon; stabbed her and he had beaten her up. But, once they gave him the stone, he let Toni go and he was gone, then Toni was watching those standing around her turn into dust. Peter Parker, Spider-man, had died in her arms, he was only seventeen years old... Peter was like a son to her, she would probably never forgive herself for letting Peter get involved with Avengers stuff. May Parker certainly wasn't going to forgive her...
So, now, the broken stone took it's place in a glass casing, in Toni's workshop lab, right next to her very first arc reactor; the one she had built with Yinsen in a cave.
Much like their broken infinity stones, the surviving heroes scattered away, they are no longer the Avengers; Earths mightiest heroes. So, both Nat and Clint went back to working for SHIELD, with Phil Coulson as Director, recruiting Scott Lang. Nebula, Thor, Carol and Rocket left on the Milano; having the entire galaxy in need of some help. Bruce Banner went back to working science, reconnecting with Betty. Rhodey was personally offered a job by their new President, he's now as Secretary of state. T'Challa returned to his country, he was a King, after all. Toni was in New York City, she spent most of her time in her private lab, at the Avengers Tower. Steve, on the other hand, was everywhere; wherever he was needed... sometimes, they didn't see Steve for weeks because he was so deep in his humanitarian world. Though, Steve kept in contact via an old phone, sending a few reassurance texts that he was well, and that was good enough for Toni.
He took Bucky's dust very hard. But, who could blame him? He watched Bucky die in 1945, he froze for seventy years then two years after he woke up, he found out HYDRA had secretly taken over most of the world and his oldest friend was alive; tortured, enslaved, and used to kill. It'd be difficult for anyone to comprehend. Bucky was free of HYDRA's control in 2016, only to be killed by Thanos two years later. So, Steve lost everything, woke up to a whole new world which he didn't understand, he was given hope again, only to lose it all... It was a miracle Steve was still so hopeful and that he actually wanted to keep going. Toni was not so sure that she could do it, if she were in Steve's position.
Toni was working, she suddenly groaned at the blinds opened and her music was turned off. "What?! No!" She had whined in protest, frowning as FRIDAY refused to switch her music back on and darken the room again, so she could keep working.
When she heard a disgusted groan and a few footsteps, the automatic glass doors hissing open and then a gag. "Oh my god, it smells like Hulk's morning breath!" She had guests... super. Toni turned around to see a bearded and slightly tanned Steven Grant Rogers walking in, holding his hand over his nose to protect his super soldier senses and he asked. "Jesus, Toni, when was the last time you showered? FRIDAY, can you please open all of the windows?" The windows opened, and the sounds of the outside world instantly invaded Toni's peace, which made her groan loudly.
"NOOOOO!" She whined, petulantly, then dropped her head into her work bench.
Steve snickered, walking towards her, he held the back of her chair and forced her away from her work. Steve mocked Toni. "Yeeeesss." She scowled up at him when Steve frowned and pulled something out of Toni's tangled hair and he pointed out. "You've got bacon bits in your hair?"
"I was saving it for later." She quipped.
Steve gave Toni a flat look, she snorted a laugh. Steve ordered her while he kept on pulling Toni further away from her bench. "Shower. Have something real to eat, and get some sleep -- at least six hours -- then I will let you come back to your work."
"But mom!" Toni protested, sarcastically, grinning innocently. Steve rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll shower. But I'm not even tired."
"You've been up for two days!"
She shrugged. "My record is four days."
"Fou-- TONI?!" Steve gasped in horror and they began to bicker. Toni thought Steve was being unnecessarily protective with her; overbearing and overstepping. Steve -- and the rest of their friends -- thought it was necessary... given everything they've been through -- everything Toni has been through! She may not like it, but given her history, somebody needed to make sure she ate, kept up with her cleanliness and prioritised her healthy. Whenever she fell into her rabbit-holes, she often neglected herself; Toni hyperfocuses that intensely, time blurred together and, all of a sudden, a week has gone by and shedidn't realise. They were all scared that Toni would get hurt, so they've been visiting her in shifts to make sure she remembers she wasn't a robot and she needed things to survive. And today was Steve Rogers' turn.
"Boss." FRIDAY spoke, trying to get Toni's attention but she and Steve were far too busy bickering to listen to her and with a very annoyed huff, FRIDAY yelled, making an irriating high pitched screaking sound, like two microphones held together. They recoiled at FRIDAY's loud sound. "BOSS!"
"Good lord, Fri, what?!" Toni touched her ears, which were now ringing while Steve looked nauseated, groaning in pain while he tried to gather his bearings. Toni gave him a worried frown then scowled at her AI's main server and demanded. "FRIDAY, do not do that! I think you've broken Cap."
FRIDAY apologised. "I am sorry, Captain."
"I'm okay." Steve assured them, weakly.
Toni demanded with sass. "D'you wanna tell me why you just deafened us or not?"
FRIDAY explained to the duo. "The time stone, Boss... the time stone is glowing."
Their heads whipped round to where she kept the stone, Toni almost fell out of her chair when she saw it glowing, and Steve was confused. Why did she have the time stone?! Thor was supposed to get rid of it almost a year ago! Steve was speechless and he wanted to ask Toni questions but Toni was so focused on the stone it's like that she had forgotten nobody else knew about it; she had forgotten Steve. FRIDAY was right, it was glowing. BUT WHY?! The stone shouldn't be doing that. The creepy Asgardian elderly witches reassured Toni and Thor that the stones were dead; they were nothing more than brightly coloured rocks, so this should not be possible!
Tony walked up toward the glass casing, squinting, leaning forward to get a better look. "What the fuck?!" Toni whispered to herself, gasping wide eyed. Steve tried to pull her away, but Toni was a surprisingly very strong person and she really wanted to have a look, so she was going to look!
"Good god, Toni!" Steve panicked. "I really don't think you should press your nose to the case of the infinity stone!" How crazy was this? He honestly couldn't believe it.
"Seconded!" FRIDAY agreed, but Toni did not listen to either of them. "Perhaps you should listen to Captain Rogers and step back. Its energy signature is off the roof."
"What the fuck!" Toni repeated, louder.
FRIDAY quickly became frustrated by her boss' curiosity, and scared, if an AI could even do that. Then, repeated her warning to Toni, almost begging her to listen, this once. "Boss, I urge you to step away. The stone becoming increasingly unstable."
"Oh wow, this is incredible." Toni laughed, astonished, grinning widely. "The stone's healing itself. Holy shit! Fri, do you know what this means?!" She gasped.
"I should contact Doctor Banner?"
"Yes!" Steve nodded frantically. "Call him! Call Nebula, she knows the most about these stones -- TONI GET AWAY FROM IT, PLEASE!" Steve begged her, still trying to pull the scientist from her alien project.
Toni rolled her eyes and corrected her AI. "It means its not over, what Strange said, it makes sense now. It's our one chance."
When, all of a sudden, she flinched back and screwed her eyes shut, turning away as the glow was now blinding, covering the entire room in a hulk green glow, and FRIDAY raised her voice at Toni, violently demanding they run away for cover; their stone was not safe to stand near! Captain America listened, he didn't much care for taking her feelings into consideration; he grabbed Toni by her waist and he yanked her over his shoulder as the lab's alarms went off, a horrifying red light flickered in the lab. Toni let out a loud yelp, the green light blinding her and Steve manhandling her! The Iron Man suit began to eject out of it's case, with the intention of covering Toni but, before it could do that, the time stone exploded and Steve and Toni went flying across Toni's personal lab.
Steve had tried using himself as a human shield while they crashed through many old science projects, across the furniture and through the glass walls, but Toni got hit by something and already succumbed to unconsciousness fairly quickly.
Steve hit the concrete ground, hard, and blacked out. But, because of that serum, he woke up a few moments later.
Only, when he awoke, they weren't in the lab anymore... They're in a dark alleyway, lying on heaps of black trash bags. Steve was careful to move Toni, who had yet to regain consciousness. Steve wobbled as he stood up, then carefully scooped Toni in his arm and slowly walked towards the stree lap at the end of alleyway which led to a road. He could hear a little noise, but it was still unusually quiet for New York.
Steve froze when he saw the street. The buildings were different; the people were not wearing clothes typically seen in the 21st century and all the cars weren't too different from what he was used to as a child... If he didn't know any better, Steve would think he was back in the 1940's.
AN -- HEEEYYYYYY <33 so welcome back to my time travel fanfiction. I did a few changes because the 1940s sounds way more chaotic then 2012 😭✋🏻 and I really want Toni to meet young Howard because he is too funny and so iconic. YES, we are having nice and loving Steve, because the MCU has RUINED him... Cartoon & Comic Book Steve wouldnever 💔 the TVA does not exist to me... unpopular opinion but I really did not like the Loki tv show. So I'm ignoring it. Yes, there maybe plot holes, but at least it will be fun to read.
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- Sarah xoxo