Infinity War

On earth, in the city of New York, at 177A Bleecker Street two sorcerers were discussing lunch plans when the ceiling above was blown wide open as something crash landed on the Sanctorum stairs behind them. They ran over, projecting defensive spellcrafts as they peered over the edge of the crater only to see Hulk protectively cradling something close to himself. However, he was quickly vanishing and Bruce Banner was taking his place. Frantically he cried out, “Thanos… Thanos is coming! But please help her! You gotta help her!” 

“Who?” 

Strange’s eyes went wide as he saw Bruce roll over, presenting them with Genevieve Stark. The woman was beaten and battered. A bloody mess on their floor. But what stunned him the most was the very round belly she had. Together with Wong and Banner, Stephen had her placed on the closet table they could find. He instructed Wong to do everything in their power to save her as he went to fetch her father. While Wong got his hands busy casting every healing spell he could think of, Strange went to Central Park.

Tony and Pepper were gleefully talking wedding plans and going over Tony’s latest and very vivid dream when suddenly a dooming voice came from behind them. “Tony Stark, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me.” He paused to think, and decided to add, “oh, uh, congratulations on the wedding, by the way…” As an effort to avoid any suspicions of being a threat. But it didn’t work. “I'm sorry, you giving out tickets or something?” Not trying to frighten the happy couple, Strange opted to go for a business-like approach. 

“We need your help. Look, it's not overselling to say that the fate of the universe is at stake.” 

“And who's ‘we’?” As Tony stood protectively in front of Pepper, he watched how Bruce came from behind Strange with a dire look on his face. “Hey, Tony…” Perplexed, Tony just blinked. 

“Bruce?”

“Pepper.” 

As he got closer, Tony could see the fear he was trying to hide. “You okay?” Bruce simply catches Tony in a hug, not yet answering his question. After everything he had been through, he was just not sure how to put it all into words. Much less break it to his friends what was currently happening to their daughter.

“From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing… Then, boom! The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurdling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence.” Wong used magic to show the universe and five out of six Infinity Stones to Bruce and Tony. The older Stark sat on a chaise listening as his mind wandered helplessly. “Space. Reality. Power. Soul. Mind. And Time.” Strange finished speaking and opened the Eye of Agamotto, revealing to Tony the Time Stone. 

“Tell me his name again.”

“Thanos. He's a plague, Tony! He invades planets, he takes what he wants, he wipes out half the population. He sent Loki! The attack on New York, that's him!” Tony snapped to Bruce, unable to continue processing the avalanche of information he was being forced to digest. As his mind was reeling he muttered to himself, “this is it… The thing Evie saw in Loki’s memories…” He got up and walked to the other men in the room. 

“What's our timeline?”

Bruce followed him as he paced the main floor of the Sanctum. “No telling! He has the Power and Space Stones, that already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe! If he gets his hands on all six Stones, Tony…” 

“He can destroy life on a scale hither to undreamt of.” Strange said ominously, completing Banner’s train of thought. Tony, always choosing to face the hard times in his own special way; had decided to lean on a large black pot and casually start stretching.

“Did you seriously just say ‘hither to undreamt of’?” 

“Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?”

“Is that what this is...?” 

Already annoyed with the only conscious and talking Stark, The Cloak of Levitation smacked Tony's arm as Strange looked at him as if he were a petulant child. Tony, looking offended by the garment, faced Strange. “I'm going to allow that... If Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?” “No can do.” Wong stepped in next, “we swore an oath to protect the Time Stone. With our lives.” 

“And I swore off dairy, but then, Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me, so…” “Stark Raving Hazelnuts.” Bruce was lost as the others went on about ice cream at the worst possible moment… “That's a thing?”

Exasperated, Tony moved on. “Whatever. Point is: things change.” 

“Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change. This Stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos.” 

“And still conversely, it may also be his best chance against us.” 

“Well, if we don't do our jobs-” But Strange suddenly got cut off by Tony who was quickly reaching his limit. “What is your job exactly, besides making balloon animals?” 

“Protecting your reality, douchebag.” As the two men butted heads, Bruce tried stepping in to defuse the battle of egos. “Okay, guys, can we table this discussion right now? The fact is that we have the Stone. We know where it is. Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone, and we have to find him now!” Tony crossed his arms as he tried to let the cat out of the bag, giving Bruce the updates he’d missed during his time off world. 

“Yeah, that's the thing…” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder. He's offline.” Banner nearly shrieked as he felt panic start to swell again. “What?! Tony, you lost another super bot?!” 

Tony rolled his eyes before glancing down the hall, “I didn't lose him. He's more than that. He's evolving .” So Strange asked what Bruce was about to say but didn’t as his chest started constricting. “Who could find Vision, then?” Tony paused, breathing out, “shit.” Reluctantly he spoke up, “probably Steve Rogers.” As the other sorcerer groaned, Strange sighed loudly, “oh, great.” Bruce came up to his friend, eyes pleading with urgency. “Call him.” Tony shook his head with apologetic eyes, “it's not that easy. God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we? The Avengers broke up. We're toast.”

Suddenly Evie’s words made sense for Bruce, it made the dots connect of how happy yet despondent she seemed when they reunited on Sakaar. “Broke up? Like a band? Like The Beatles?” Giving him a tight lipped smile Tony added, “Cap and I fell out hard. We're not on speaking terms.” 

“Tony, listen to me. Thor's gone. Thanos is coming. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not.” Tony hesitated before pulling out the cellphone Steve had mailed him, muttering quietly, “flip phone…” It seemed as though he brought it everywhere, always ready to call his lost friend. 

But everyone turned to the ominous voice that rang out from the room’s far end. “There here…” Evie, still in her blood soaked and ruined clothes, stood before them looking worse for wear. 

“Honey?”

Moments earlier…

When Tony first stepped foot in the Sanctum Sanctorum, his eyes landed on the massive hole in the grand staircase. Then the crimson streaks painted on the floors. His heartbeat was in his ears as he neared the room where he heard the shuttling of feet, Wong hard at work. 

“Tony… I don’t know how to break it to you, but Evie she’s…” 

“She’s what!? Bruce…” 

“She got hurt real bad, man…” 

Strange then blocked him from going any further, “Tony your daughter has been gone from earth roughly three days… But to her,” He took a deep breath, remembering how he delivered the bad news while he was still a neurosurgeon. “Evie has been living on a different world, lightyears away. She went there following the Asgardians princes. Thor and Loki…” Tony’s eyes finally peeled away from the blood stained shoes he was fixated on. 

“Loki?” 

“Yes, your daughter has been living with him for nearly a year. It seems the two reconnected and got married.” Another deep breath. “Your daughter is currently expecting. But like Bruce said. She’s been severely wounded as they fought off Thanos and his followers. We don’t know what it was they… stabbed her with. But it’s making her recovery difficult. If not for whatever magic she and Loki used, Evie and the baby wouldn’t have made it this far…” 

The baby? A baby? A baby… My baby is having a baby? Tony’s mind started to spin, without warning he shoved Strange aside and pushed through to see his daughter. And what he saw was both infuriating and breaking him at the same time. It had been twelve years since he’d ever seen her this bad. Blood was everywhere. On the floors, the table, and on the handfuls of rags used. Wong was covered up to his elbows. He instantly stepped back allowing Tony a better look at his daughter. “She’s stable-” 

“Friday, vitals?” Tony needed to confirm it himself. “Vitals signs are steady sir, Ms Stark is currently healing from the inside. However her infant is hidden to me… I believe her powers are protecting the infant with some sort of barrier. I can, however, detect a strong heartbeat.” 

He didn’t even know how to touch her or how to even try and comfort her. Evie’s eyes were closed as her body glitched. She was a ghostly white, the little black veins scribbling from her cranial orbit were faintly visible. Yet her hair was glitching, unable to settle on her normal shades of rich deep brown, or inky black as Void struggled to take possession. 

As gently as humanly possible, he placed a hand on her face, brushing back her hair. “B-baby? It’s me, it's daddy…” Swallowing drying he blinked the tears from his eyes cause she just wasn’t responding. “Evie, honey. I’m right here. You’re safe… t-the baby…” 

He saw her bump, it was there and yet he just couldn’t believe it. Inhaling sharply he cradled her head. “The baby is okay, honey. You're both gonna be fine. So you fight this! Power through. You come back, you hear me! Your mom and I are gonna take care of you both. So don’t you worry ‘bout a damn thing besides getting better, so that baby comes out okay!” 

Present…

Strange jogged over catching Evie as her knees started to buckle. “Genevieve you need to rest-” “No.” She pushed him aside as she hobbled over to her dad. Tony ran. Bolting to her as she threw her arms around his neck. Tony could see the agonizing pain behind her amber eyes. “Hey honey… What are you doing up!?” She leaned back, there was nothing on her pale face except for a dreadful expression. 

“They’re here, they're coming for the stone.” 

Everyone in the room followed her as she looked at the opening on the ceiling to see trash scraps flying by outside. The sound of muffled screaming, gale force winds, and chaos slowly growing from outside was heard. Tony placed his hands on his girl’s shoulders, “stay here.” But he knew it was useless, the stubbornness he had imparted on her was ever present. “Like hell, I’m gonna make each of them pay!” Evie did something that caused a shimmer of emerald light to cascade over her figure. Within seconds her attire was cleansed and spotless, with the Iron Armor secured around her neck, and no bump insight. Her glamor spell tucking away her precious secret. 

“Evie, the baby…”

“He's fine. I can feel him. He’s strong, like his father...” As she led the way out the door, they came to the scene of hysterical panic taking over the streets of New York. 

People were running, screaming, and crying. Some tried to get out driving, but with all the bodies scurrying for shelter, it was making it impossible. Tony helped a woman get off the pavement after she fell. But the distraught woman only took off as fast as she could when back on her feet. Evie had her hands up swatting away debris from knocking people over. Meanwhile Wong and Banner fell back to aid a man who had crashed his car. 

“Hey! You might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!” While casting his own magic, Strange only replied to Tony with, “might wanna use it.” Placing her vambraces back on, Evie instructed Friday to, “evacuate anyone south of 43rd street! And notify responders!” 

“Will do!” 

In the sky above, was the cause of the hurricane force winds. A huge circular O-shaped ship was floating atop the NYC skyline, looming like a guillotine. With a few fluid motions Strange sent a massive surge of power towards the ship. It was as if an EMP had gone off. The sound of the engine sputtering to a stop was heard and the dust and winds began to settle instantly. Tony and Evie walked side by side to where the beam of light had just delivered two of Thano’s cult members. Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian exited the ship looking rather pleased to see the group before them. 

“Hear me, and rejoice! You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful that your meaningless lives are now contributing to-” “I'm sorry, Earth is closed today. You better pack it up and get outta here!” Tony couldn’t help but cut off the ugly thing they were staring at. Ebony looked to Strange, disgust clear on his face as he saw who stood with the older Stark. 

“Stone keeper... Does this chattering animal speak for you?” As he stepped up to join the Starks, Strange invoked his magic to glow brightly at his hands as did Wong. 

“Certainly not, I speak for myself. But you're trespassing in this city and on this planet.” 

Evie, feeling hot from both fury and exsertion, started to billow off smoke. The plumes of black fog slowly blanketed the ground around her feet as Void tried once more to secure her place. “It means get lost Squidward!” She smiled mirthlessly as her dad taunted the warlock. 

Ebony scuffed, “he exhausts me. Bring me the Stone.” Cull muttered in some alien dialect before he started his stroll. His massive pickax dragging alone behind him. Tony turned to their left, “Banner, you want a piece?” “No, not really, but when do I ever get what I want?” Tony clapped his shoulder, “That's right, been a while. Good to have you, buddy.” As her dad talked, Bruce tried to hand the wheel over to Hulk, but Evie started to grow tense when she saw the veins in his neck turn green but the big guy wouldn’t come out. Bruce huffed, “I just... I need to concentrate here for one second. Come on, come on, man!” Even Tony started to feel antsy, “where's your guy?” “I don't know…” Bruce answered nervously, “we've sorta been havin' a thing .” Obsidian was getting closer, his guttural snarls were causing Evie’s heart to thump erratically.

“There's no time for a thing!” 

“I know!” 

“That's the thing, right there. Let's go!” 

But her dad’s pep talk did nothing to entice the Hulk, and as Tony glanced at Sorcerer Supreme he tried using shame, “dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards.” “Tony, I'm sorry!” Bruce was stammering his words and Evie summoned her blade from the shadows. “Either I can't or he won't-” “It's okay. Hey, stand down.” Tony looked at Wong saying, “keep an eye on him, thank you.” To which he nodded, but Evie included herself in covering Bruce saying, “I got him.” As much as she wanted to rip their heads off Evie knew she wasn’t at full battery yet. Plus Strange’s powers did outmatch her’s. Where she was a ten, the Sorcerer Supreme, keeper of the stone, was easily a twelve. 

With the creature releasing a roar, Tony took it as his cue to unveil the Iron Man Mark L. The nanotech housing unit activated to spread across his body over the clothing. At the same time, Evie powered up the sword and her own armor. Much like her father’s, Evie’s armor dispersed to protect her torso and shoulders, sporting the same colors as he. The blade quickly extended roughly three feet, glowing a radiant white. With the beast finally upon them, Tony drew out a shield before punching back. Cull grunted as he stammered back, and from the nano suit, four additional blasters were produced. The beam was so strong the beast was sent flying back on a collision course with Mawl. However, the dark lord imposter simply tossed him aside with a wave.

“Where'd that come from?!” Bruce asked as his eyes went wide in awe. “It's nano-tech. You like it? A little somet-” 

“DAD!” 

The earth beneath Tony’s feet suddenly came to life, and he was ejected into the sky. Mawl started to hurl trees, cars, and anything else that was big and heavy at them, forcing Wong and Evie to form a defensive barrier. Sensing the impending danger, Strange took it upon himself to get rid of the babysitting duties. “Dr. Banner, if the rest of your green friend won't be joining us…” Bruce slipped into a glowing portal with a small yelp and landed in Central Park. Rolling out of the way when half a taxi nearly crushed him. “You too,” Strange pulled Evie out of the fight before she could even protest, falling on her ass next to Bruce. No longer in the Greenwich Village area. Evie got up in time to yell out as the portal closed, “Strange you son of bitch!” It wasn’t long after that she was projecting a black cloud to catch her dad as he had been sent spiraling away from the battle by the evil space wizard once again when he went back to aid the sorcerers. 

“Dad?” “Tony, you okay? How we doing? Good? Bad?” Bruce asked tentatively as Evie pulled her dad off the ground.

“ Really, really good. Really good. Do you plan on helping out?” He asked sarcastically.

“I'm trying. He won't come out.” Evie senses suddenly picked up on someone coming in fast.

As the building to their right exploded, Cull bursted through, throwing his ax at Bruce. Evie propelled her dad and Bruce away from her and her hands went up to suspend the weapon’s trajectory. Tony rushed back in but his energy beam was deflected off Cull’s shield. Lasering down the nearby trees. With Bruce slapping himself to call out Hulk, Evie used a play from their own book and returned the severed trees at Obsidian. But when her gut announced Peter Parker was closing in, she started to falter. This was the last place the kid needed to be. So caught up in spotting the spiderling, she was thrown back from a nasty sucker punch while Tony fired more lasers. But when the beast’s ax was coming down on her head, Peter sprung in just in time to hold it off. “Hey, man!” He turned to look back at her, still holding the ax in place. 

“What’s up, Evie?” 

“Kid, where'd you come from?” Her dad asked coming in hot to assist. 

“Field trip to MoMA-” But large fingers wrapped around the kid’s upper body before he even knew it, and was thrown off into the fountain a long distance away. In a heartbeat, Peter swung back into the action as the two Starks went to dishing out blows with the giant. “What is this guy's problem, Mr. Stark?” “He's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard.” Tony satirically quipped as they all fought to bring the beast down. But when she heard Peter screaming after getting caught, she started to panic. She focused all her energy into crippling the monster by inclosing him in a shroud of black smoke. But her strength was fading quickly. Evie knew her body was being held up by duct tape and safely pins on the inside. She was barely able to hold him down long enough for Peter to swing down the back-half of the severed taxi, burying his head into the dirt. As Evie released her grip, Bruce caught her as she keeled over. 

“Whoa, hey you okay?” 

Just then Strange’s unconscious body zipped over the tree line with Maw chasing after. As the monster got back up for round two, Tony yelled out to Peter. “Kid, that's the wizard. Get on it!” Even though her lightbulb was busted, Evie tried to get up again, “n-no, don’t… you can’t send the kid!” But her voice was hoarse and weak. No one but Banner heard as she struggled to get back on her feet. Her ears had a low ring muffling the voices of those around her. Tony abruptly found himself caught in a bind with Cull ready to deliver a final blow, when all of a sudden Wong appeared from nowhere. 

Obsidians' leap landed him in snowy terrain. As he looked up in confusion he saw Wong’s golden portal with Banner and the sorcerer looking down at him. He jumped, clawing at them but Wong closed the portal in time to sever his hand. Tony didn’t stick around to celebrate the small victory as he took off after both Peter and Stephen, instructing Bruce to look after his daughter while also inviting Wong to the wedding. 

“Give me a minute and I’ll be right back.” Bruce muttered as he was trying to think of the next logical steps to take. Evie finally caved and fell back down trying, yet failing, to mumble out cohesive sentences.

“Don’t worry about that, I-I think I’m…” Fainting , was what she wanted to say. But the dark spots in her vision multiplied rapidly till she was once more down and out.