war games
The taste on his tongue was bitter, be it the taste of his meal or his failures, or perhaps a combination of both.
His corporeal form was seated, breaking his fast alone in his chamber. Physical needs such as hunger and sleep were weaknesses and never something to be indulged in company. His mind, however, was not with the gruel which he consumed. It was on the state of his mission. His mission which didn’t seem to be developing as planned. Disappointment hummed through his veins, clashing with his spirit and attempting to weather and break it down. He would not allow himself to weaken at the face of it, his mission was far too important.
If A’Lars had allowed Zuras and his sycophants to control him, the great Titans would never exist. Yet, here he was, a testament to the Mentor’s strength. But A’Lars was not without his weaknesses, and what was a father other than someone to learn from? He would not have those same weaknesses. He would have the will to complete his mission.
He looked around his chamber, dark colours and harsh edges. Comfort was a weakness that he refused to indulge in. He turned left, a mirror showed him the the scowl fixed on his face. He was named to symbolize triumph over death. “Thanos,” they called him. He would not only triumph, but he would conquer death, embrace it… own it.
No matter that his leads had not yet yielded results. The Mind Stone was in his possession, and it was the key to success. It unlocked his potential to educate the masses. To breed more children. No matter that Corvus Glaive disappointed him so. He would replace him with someone better.. worthier.
There was no stone upon his path that will make him stumble. This is where he must remain surefooted and steadfast, or his weakness will be scented and his cause abandoned.
The Power Stone once wielded by his ancestor Eson the Searcher, on his own conquest, was lost to the world. There were no hints which yielded success, and if Morag was not already in ruins he would’ve decimated it.
His most competent child, Gamora, was on her search for the Soul Stone, and he had no doubts that she would return either wielding it or with directions.
The weak Svartálfar allowed themselves conquered by the mortal Asgardians and lost not only their planet, but also the Reality Stone. The spineless seidrmadr’s hid the stone and it hasn’t been seen since, but there were grumblings. Nothing that has materialized, but the planning has begun.
The final pieces… Time and Space. Both said to be at the end of Yggdrasil, hidden amongst the forgotten branches. He had believed that he had time before he had to worry about that. But there were no other pieces in play.
The Mind Stone no longer resonates as it once did with the Space stone. There no longer was direct path to claim it and that left it vulnerable.
He could not allow another to claim his destiny.
With his favourite child on her own mission, his choices were abysmal. Nebula was useless as she stood. There were many improvements and trials she must endure before he trusted her with anything of import. Corvus Glaive, in his infinite uselessness was unable to survive a trip to the garbage planet run by the hedonistic Elder, En Dwi Gas. And with him went one of his ships stocked with resources that could’ve taken him to the ends of Yggdrasil and back twice over.
What a disappointment, unworthy of being called his child. He would be replaced.
With only 5 children left, he did not have many he could trust. There were none who understood his cause. Who understood the necessity. The urgency.
No matter. In time they would be grateful that he had the strength to do what was necessary.
He felt a prickle of fear at the back of his neck. It creeped down his spine, slowly. He knew why, logically. The amount of destruction he could create, the amount of devastation. He didn’t want to, obviously, but just the thought of it made him uneasy.
To him, Power, Space, and Time were only concepts, concepts which defined the world around him. The thought of them being physically manifested was unnerving and even unnatural. Thoughts flew through his mind, ideas of what could be done, but he couldn’t truly know.
This wasn't a power that man was meant to wield. He was a futurist, yes, but he knew that there were certain truths about the world that were infallible. This wasn't a world that was ready for omnipotence. Such is the nature of humans, and seemingly all living beings; something exampled by the foe they were rising to meet.
He shouldn't be surprised at all, he'd lived these years and felt the consequences. He knew what this fickle world would devolve into; some even from his own hand. There were so many evils. So many directions that they were being attacked by.
And the core of it all, as it seems, were Power, Space, and Time. (And Reality, Soul, and Mind).
These stones had controlled them, and destroyed the lives of so many for as long as he'd been alive.
Before Iron Man, before the other stones came into play, the Tesseract still ran Howard's life.
And he sure was tired of it.
He felt contempt fill him as he continued to stare at the 2 innocuous looking metal cubes. Inside of which were the subject of his ire, the catalyst of their destruction, the cause for his death (if Stephen was to be believed).
Power and Space embodied by two gem stones, being targeted by a genocidal alien. What had his life become?
He thought that the life of a CEO was hectic, with the weight of thousands of livelihoods on his shoulders. But this magnitude? The Universe?
But this was the cross he was meant to bear. He was the hero, right? He had the resources; physical, mental, and financial. He was not so egotistical to think he couldn't be replaced, but he was making himself useful in the interim.
Most days he had half a mind to sign his fortune over to Rhodey and leave him in charge of it all. But that was a burden he wouldn't wish on anyone.
The least he could do is try to be the man they needed him to be. The man he wished he was. The man with a plan. The American Ideal.
At least he had a role model for that.
Steve was getting used to the modern world slowly and surely. Undoubtably there were numerous new trappings, new references, new media, all of it.
But at the core of it, people don't change. Not really at least.
People were just as miserable now as they were in the '20's. They were still slaves to their innate drives and desires. There was just a point in the 60s where people threw propriety out of the window, calling it an ideal of old, and embraced their more lascivious tendencies.
It wasn't just sex, of course. It was the unashamed individuality, which was not necessarily a bad thing. It was shocking, initially. Steve was used to people being buttoned up, hiding away parts of themselves.
Nowadays, those hidden parts were where people drew strength and what they proudly lead with.
The more he spoke of this interesting paradigm, the more Dr. Stewart tried to tear his own propriety open. He didn't generally like to share his shortcomings. They were a point of shame for him.
Perhaps it was because of the role he chose to play. The hero. The man with a plan. Good-hearted and sure-footed, the man who would save them all. He was not allowed to stumble or flounder. There was no allowance for insecurity or anything less than deserving of his red, white, and blue.
He wished distantly that he could accurately emulate Tony's laisser-faire confidence, which was so reassuring in it's own carefree way. Nevertheless, he stood all the more straighter, chin straight, shoulders back, and jaw tense.
Although tentative allies, the council still represented a governing body. They were the superiors which he needed to convince of the severity of the threat. It was unique, trying to convince them of a threat which he'd never seen himself.
Although, admittedly, seeing Aliens pop in and out of existence in front of his face was plenty in the way of convincing him. Unfortunately, those were aces in their sleeves now, and they couldn't pull out a magical demonstration to sway the stern faces.
He was sat beside Tony and Jim on one side of a large table. Thor stood behind them, much like a sentinel. He'd have preferred that job over the actual talking, he thought balefully.
Facing them was the full breadth of their governing council. Generals and Admirals all representing their own branches of the United States government, including the newly signed and minted WSC reps.
Tony was unable to hold in his eye roll at their presence (He called them the goth parade—because of all of the black Steve assumed). The council certainly painted a stern and unyielding picture, but he was assured that that was not the case.
They’d met and discussed their situation. The death of that alien was a call to war that they weren’t necessary ready for. So they’d spent hours holed up in their meeting room yelling at each other.
They ended up with a tremulous agreement. Some parties wished to be out front and swinging, but were kept behind. Some wished to background support and were called to the front lines. Essentially, there was a lot going on and there was little agreement amongst their steadily growing group of characters.
He ran over their argument in his head, trying to pin point the best team to tackle the specific challenge at hand, although there was little known about what exactly the threat was going to look like.
He felt Tony’s leg nudge him under the table, snapping him out of his thoughts. His heart started racing as he realized he was lost in his head, completely detached from the conversation. He scrambled to catch up with the conversation.
The conversation…which seemed to be wrapping up?
He turned quickly to Tony, who caught his eyes for a brief second before turning back to the council. His eyes were twinkling with amusement.
Well, if the lightheartedness was anything to go off of, the conversation had went went.
His mind drifted again, trying to formulate more battle formations.
“So, he won’t be able to use the Space Stone to teleport this time, if Tony’s creation holds up.”
Tony scoffs, but doesn’t say anything. They knew that his work was reliable.
“Which stands to reason that we have more time before he might descend upon us.”
“Who said he will at all? He can't tie the death of his ‘child’ to us,” Bruce’s tone was insistent, almost as if he was pleading with them. Tony wanted to clasp his shoulder, offer some comfort, but there was nothing he could really do. This was their reality and he needed to accept it sooner rather than later.
“He had been scanning Yggdrasil utilizing the Mind and Space Stone’s connection,” Loki explained. “By the time I was in his possession, he only needed a pawn to send. He cared little for where the Stone actually was, it was a surprise that it was on such a backwater realm.”
“Without using the Space Stone directly, how will he know where to go,” Bruce reasoned.
Loki sucked a deep breath in before he spoke again, “He would search every realm in his path,” he added darkly, as if he hadn’t thought of it.
The room was silent at his assertion, slowly processing threat.
“So, we should set a trap then, right?”
Tony turned to Peter, who was standing beside Stephen. He raised and eyebrow and suppressed the burst of emotions that threatened to bubble up at the closeness the two of them had seemed to develop.
He simply raised his eyebrow at him before turning back to the group, “kid’s right.”
He expected a little pushback, maybe some outrage, but instead it was grim acceptance. He nodded his head once, then twice, “we can try to control his moves as best as possible then.”
“You truly are arrogant if you seek to control a maniac like that,” Loki scoffed immediately, before looking chastened as if he realized the futility of his anger.
“He might be right, bother. We can seek to remain advantageous with our knowledge and limit his time to plan successfully.”
Tony was gladdened to see the tide turning slowly. His argument was somehow received better from anothers lips, he thought bitterly.
He expected it, but that doesn’t mean he enjoys the confirmation of his own worst thoughts.
Silence pervaded through the room, unknowingly they’d all very clearly made their stances clear. Somehow, Tony was’t surprised to see the furrow in Steve’s brow and the rigidity in his shoulders.
He valiantly fought to keep his rationality. It wasn’t that it was his idea, it wasn’t.
“What are the real cons here?”
Steve look exasperated at that before reeling his expression in. hm. Tony thought, I guess therapy is effective.
“How about the risk to civilian life by inviting a fight onto our doorstep? How about the fact that we argued for the ability to prepare sufficiently not to suddenly send out a siren call to the bad guy?”
Tony sighed. “Did you mean the risk to civilian life that would occur regardless of when Thanos descends upon us? The risk that we can control by setting a trap in a location of our choosing? That risk?”
He didn’t mean to sound as he did, but the taunt floated through the air, reaching the ears and raising tensions ever higher.
Tony watched Loki closely, he knew that he had his own reservations, but they seemed to stem more from innate animal fear of Thanos. Not that he would admit that though.
Tony was actually banking on him never admitting that. “Don’t you both boast strategic prowess? Surely you can see the folly of sitting on our hands and throwing the advantage away?”
Tony could see the words having the impact he desired.
“Regardless. The meeting is next week, not now. Leave, because Pete and I have lab time to get to.”
Tony wrapped an arm around his shoulder and dragged him away without looking back.
“..Sir,” Tony lifted his head, intrigued at the hesitant tone of voice.
“What’re you hiding, sneaky AI of mine.”
“I believe little sister FRIDAY and I have mentioned in a previous instance that we have created some prototypes in our down time.”
Tony tilted his head, “What have you unleashed unto the world, HAL-twins?”
“I resent that,” came FRIDAY’s response, making Tony roll his eyes.
A blue screen pops up then, silently as they were likely embarrassed.
The screen was split into two, top and bottom. The top half was a blueprint for a sensor, designed to orbit deep space. Tony hummed before diverting his attention to the bottom half.
He stared for a second. And then another.
“Guys…”
“..They will be of use in the plans of the group,” JARVIS added, a statement rather than a question.
“I thought I told you guys that you needed approval before deploying your shenanigans,” his voice was stern and admonishing, with an undercurrent of amusement.
Some would say his fatal flaw is how much leeway he gave his children, he can understand that point of view, but he disagreed. His children were amazing and sometimes he just needed a minute to catch up and understand their next moves. No one else got it.
Tony sighed. “Okay… yeah.”
JARVIS didn’t respond, but Tony imagined that he was pleased with the easy acquiescence. He nodded to himself and returned his attention to his computer. A feeling of tranquility filled Tony with the sound of keyboard clacks melodically filling the air. Until he was startled by a sardonic voice.
“That’s it? Your children are going HAL-9000 and don’t even get a reprimand?”
Tony raised an eyebrow, “Are you calling me a bad parent?”
“I’m dialling CPS as we speak, actually,” Rhodey chuckled, pushing off the wall and slowly walking closer. “I shouldn’t be surprised really, after you named your first-born Dummy,” he added, sitting on the table beside Tony’s chair.
“It’s DUM-E, I can practically hear you pronouncing your own sons name wrong,” Tony huffed, punching Rhodey’s thigh. “Just wait till CPS gets here, they’ll take you away!”
Rhodey rolled his eyes. The long weeks of waiting had been grating on all of their nerves, no more than Tony’s. Tony who felt the weight of the responsibility fell squarely on his shoulders. Rhodey rolled his eyes a second time, for good measure.
Tony scoffed at him, sensing the attitude as he watched him turn to read the holograms. He held his tongue as Rhodey looked at the blueprints.
“We’re lucky they’re not evil,” he slumped back onto the table, taking a second before leaning back, arched over scrap metal.
“Are you here to convince me that a trap is a bad idea?”
Rhodey sighed, “Actually, for once, I agree. With a trap we can preserve our advantage.”
Tony frowned. “So go convince Captain Handsome of that and we can get going, my hand is currently being forced still.”
Rhodey craned his neck to look at him funny, he mouthed the words Captain Handsome incredulously. Tony rolled his eyes.
“I don’t wanna move,” Rhodey said, head falling back. “I’ve been in meetings all week and the R&D ducklings keep cc’ing me in everything since you sent that email blast.” Rhodey kicked his foot forward, getting Tony in the knee.
“Well, you deserved it and Pepper said it would be funny.”
“She’s mad about last week still?”
“Not mad mad, just willing to inconvenience you.” Rhodey huffed. “You shouldn’t have eaten the dumplings,” Tony said, trying to make his voice sound sage.
This time, Rhodey sat up before he kicked him, extra hard, “I should show her the security footage.”
Tony narrowed his eyes, giving Rhodey a look, before huffing and standing up, “I’ll convince him myself, I guess.”
“And I guess I’ll check on the big and mini spiders?”
Tony chuckled on his way out, “don’t let them hear that!”
The tension in the air was palpable. The two men were staring each other down, but honestly Stephen was a little lost. He didn’t know what Steve’s problem was, if Tony wanted to be the bait, then who are they to stop him.
They all knew how he was, but they couldn’t make it their problem. Not now that the stakes were back to ‘end of the world’.
Stephen grunted, “Can you guys please shelve this domestic dispute, we have to actually plan this.”
The room seemed to reanimate after that, the tension dissipating quickly. Loki stepped forward first, never one to bite his tongue, “Let us lure them here and cut their heads off. It’s simple.”
Stephen wanted to raise an argument, simply because of who suggested the plan, but frankly there was none to be raised. To him, it was that simple.
The less magic-minded members of the meeting began raising their own arguments, hemming and hawing over logistics, and Stephen found himself looking across and locking eyes with Loki. Understanding passed between them, and exasperation.
Stephen had lived 2012 before too, except he was in the ER for damn near 72 hours straight, only stepping out for the suite to be re-sanitized and the body replaced. He understood the impact, he understood the fears at play too. What they didn’t understand was that they had sorcerers on their side now. Not one, not two, but six.
“This conversation is becoming circular,” Stephen remarked, trying to project the cutting edge on his voice. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t waste time anymore, not after the second chance he’d fought to give himself.
“Yes, why don’t you all just focus on making a trap and let us do the hard work, hm?”
Stephen sighed. He wanted to agree, but once again.. it was Loki. There were too many egos in the room for any sort of productive outcomes, and he was self-aware enough to know that he wouldn’t do anything other than inflame the already simmering anger.
“Loki,” came the chiding voice. A tone of voice so motherly that it could tame the most recalcitrant members of their mismatched team. Loki wasn’t the only one to lose all bluster in response.
“I think it’s best if I take control of this wayward conversation, it is of no matter any longer because we have a plan.” The finality in her tone brokered no room for argument, that much was clear. Even so, the respect that she and her counterparts garnered simply for their skill level was enough to halt any.
Stephen almost felt like he could smile. Of course she’d be the saving grace, he felt an almost childish sense of smugness. My mom wins.
He held in a snort. Yao was in no way his mother, especially now that he had his actual mother returned to him, but he knew the jokes they all made. She was a rather shameless mother hen. Might as well take enjoyment where he could.
He surveyed the room again, his gaze catching Tony’s who was clearly watching and understanding his childish sentiment, making him scowl.
What was presented next was a concise plan delivered with a tone that implied how unwelcome their arguments would be. As such, he held his tongue but mentally prepped his list of objections for later.
He found himself locking eyes with Loki again, the both of them radiating a similar amount of smug assuredness. Stephen felt the understanding pass between them again. These people were hopeless without us.
It took a couple of weeks before they were ‘ready’ with their trap. A couple weeks longer than some wished to wait, but caution won out.
It was far from simple trying to settle on the exact logistics. Not due to differing ideas, but due to differing comfort levels and risk appetites.
That was seemingly always the limiting factor. Some people were not prepared to do what is necessary. Some people were a little too eager, and that left them making stupid mistakes. Most of the times, they made stupid mistakes anyways. No attention to details, no patience, no guts.
He supposes that it was always easier to be critical when you’re simply observing, but they gave him no choice but to observe, so he did.
From his point of view, there were several weaknesses in the plan. Most of these weaknesses stemmed from the same flaw. There was a disturbing lack of tangibility in the all levels of the plan—the participants, the safety guards, the location, even. He didn’t know how he felt about trusting ‘magic’. Or ‘Wizards’. None of it was tangible and the plan over-relied on it.
There was a ‘magical spell' around upstate New York—to ‘protect’ the area. There was a magical trap set—to lure the enemy to their area. There was ‘magicians’ waiting to receive—to ‘attack’. He hadn’t seen any proof that this could actually happen. Yes, they may have proven themselves capable of ‘magic’, he would begrudgingly admit that.
After all, his now functional mind was proof. But still. He could accept Sci-Fi—the things he’d always seen in the comics seemed to play out in front of his eyes everyday, some of them were even used on him—but not actual magic quite yet.
So there was little chance of a successful mission. Which is all the more reason he should be on the ground with them all. But the stubborn ox’s wouldn’t see reason, they insisted on sidelining him continuously. He was not unstable. He was not in need of therapy. But they didn’t listen, did they.
Dr. Strange was admittedly trustworthy, but Loki wasn’t someone he would bet on. He was a dodgy character, eyes were a little shifty and attitude terrible.
So they would fail. And then he would conveniently be available to help, strong and to be relied on. It was fine if they needed to learn the hard way because Bucky would be there regardless.
They were an odd group to survey. ‘The Avengers’. They were different, obviously, because they weren’t political adversaries or agents of any opposing government—but the major distinction was that they were completely aware of his presence.
He didn’t manage to get past the AI at any point, although he didn’t have much hope that he would’ve, and he could only loosely tail them. Until they inevitably clocked him and then sent him on his way with a message for Fury—he’d only been shot at a couple times, and not at all since he stopped trying to get to Tony. He should’ve known better—he’d been warned—but he decided to have an ego about it. Slight mistake.
That’s to say, today started off relatively normal. The weather was tepid by mid afternoon, plenty of indirect sunlight. He’d left his gear in his trunk and hunkered down with his croissant at the coffee shop across from the mansion. The view of the gates were unobstructed, foot traffic was moderate. Wednesdays were like that. He munched on his croissant and began his watch, feeling much like a people watcher.
Steve generally did the same, except he really was people watching. It was almost cute, the way that he was earnestly interested. It got boring quickly though, considering it always looked the same. Usually, Steve left him alone, as long as he stayed across the street. He made sure that Steve never found out about his secondary location.
Today, however, Steve didn’t even take a full bite of his croissant before he snapped to attention, scented the air, and marched back into the mansion. Weird.
Distantly, a bell rang in his head. He’d been waiting for this, he thinks.
He sent out a quick message before returning to his car and grabbing his gear. It took him close to ten minutes to finally settle in his usual spot and fix his surveillance equipment. It was generally a therapeutic process, but it took him at least 3 attempts to even get it working right. Every moving part was squeaking or getting caught or was backwards or whatever else to completely drive him crazy.
It took him longer than he’d like to acknowledge to realize that his kit had been messed with. Again.
He grunted indignantly, as he finally settled behind his scope. Third time in a month—he seemed to have a secret-admirer. The scope was greasy and out of focus. Fuck.
10 minutes after Steve marched purposefully into the mansion, he could distantly see him drinking a smoothie in the kitchen. He looked stressed. He squinted a little and the image changed and he was looking at Tony and Steve in the kitchen chatting. Huh?
He switched windows and then he was looking at Tony and Stephen chatting in the sitting room. He switched back rapidly, and Tony was… still in the kitchen?
What the fuck?
He switched back to the sitting room and the windows were blacked out. Wait…
Suddenly there were words on the windows.
“Tell Fury it’s time for a team-up >:)”
What the fuck?
——————————
To: Fury, N. J. Director
From: Barton, C. F. Field Agent
cc: Coulson, P. Field Officer, Hill, M. Field Officer, Romanoff, N. A. Field Agent
Subject: Flagged behaviour
Something might be happening!
I’ll keep you updated,
Clint xx
——————————
To: Fury, N. J. Director
From: Barton, C. F. Field Agent
cc: Coulson, P. Field Officer, Hill, M. Field Officer, Romanoff, N. A. Field Agent
Subject: Re: Flagged behaviour
Stark sent a message: “Tell Fury it’s time for a team-up >:)”
Explain?
Clint
The day came faster than he’d liked.
Which is to say that he didn’t feel sufficiently ready, although he’d be the first to admit that he wouldn’t ever truly be. Unfortunately, it was quickly becoming a point of contention with the group and he had to acquiesce.
It wasn’t his lack of faith in the more hand-wavy aspects of the plan—cough, magic, cough—but also the ever-present thrum of anxiety simmering right under his skin. There was nothing he could do to quell it. No tools learnt, or loved-one leant on. It came from the very real threat to his and his planet’s life and the very real need to face his largest fears head on.
There was also the unique mix of facing a fear of yours while simultaneously being barraged with PTSD inspired anxiety and flashbacks. It was ridiculous really.
His best bet was focusing—obsessing—over the minutiae. What was the timeline, the location, the safeties, the A team, B team, C team. Which of course, led to their next problem.
SHIELD had been circling like vultures ever since they’d met with the council.
SHIELD’s attempts at surveillance and ‘asset management’ were juvenile and adolescent, probably intentionally so, but he’d been advised to leave it be.
He didn’t want to. He really wasn’t even planning to.
But then JARVIS showed him some emails that made him reevaluate his assessment of SHIELD. He’d thought he had it in hand, but he shouldn’t have underestimated the lengths they would go to.
Fury’s ‘security’ for their compliance was the threat of drawing them up on a barrage of non-compliance hearings that would have them tied up in red tape and useless hearings for so long they’d never make it out the other side. Designed specifically to muzzle them in the most diplomatic way possible.
Initially, it made no sense to him—for two reasons.
First, considering the amount of time he’d spent with Steve and Pepper drafting out agreements and keeping ahead any possible legislative nightmare, he didn’t even think it was possible. foolish.
And Second, this would surely tie SHIELD and Fury himself up and lead to a downwind flurry of precedents that would rapidly limit the way that they were legally permitted to operate. foolish again.
Because the answer was simple enough and it came in remembering… SHIELD was a bunch of little shits.
They had the power of a shadow council of 80s supervillains bankrolling them and support from various wings of the government. Realistically, Tony knew he’d never be able to weed them all out, especially without the data he’d collected in the now-non-existent-future.
And this sort of Mutually-Assured-Destruction was exactly the kind of bullshit he should expect from them. They could care less about precedent and legalese, it had quite literally, never stopped them before.
So, Tony did the best possible thing and delegated. He hadn’t asked for any updates since he handled over control to FRIDAY, JARVIS, and Peter. He knows they made a game of it, but he wasn’t entirely sure how, the only caveat was that the lines of communication stay open.
Which is how he found himself in a jam packed meeting room with several characters of ill-repute (in his opinion).
Hemming and hawing over protocol and allowances and chains of command was easily the most painful thing he’d ever been forced to witness—luckily Rhodey agreed to take command on the actual talking/arguing front. Initially fun to watch, it quickly devolved in to the specific brand of arrogant pettiness only SHIELD was able to achieve, leaving everyone drained.
Tedious and tiresome though it may have been, they left the meeting on a distinct high. It wasn’t everyday that you could attempt to browbeat SHIELD into submission and actually walkway successful.
The AI-lead re-con and the abundance of caution Tony had led with since coming back in time had done wonders for bolstering his and his compatriots reputation. He hadn’t even been aware of the Big-Brother-esque vibe that they’d been putting out to the world, but objectively it made sense.
Billionaire creates super tank and becomes hero, recruits a group of all-powerful people, builds a monument to themselves in the form of a gigantic mansion in the middle of the city, does everything so right that it was unnerving.
He could see it.
But he wasn’t going to stop, either.
There was a ‘fine line to walk between heroism and tyranny’ and blah blah blah, but one glance at Stephen reassured him that he was fine. They both knew how bad it really was on Titan. The understanding between them was borne from a uniquely bleak shared experience and since they were the only ones who had that, they were the only ones who were willing to do what needs to be done.
Though it did help to have Rhodey and Pepper ready to check him when he started sounding too much like an overlord (in their opinion).
After all of that, Tony thought that he’d be well and prepared for when the day finally came, but no. He really was not.
The day came about rather innocuously. It was a remarkably unremarkable Tuesday. It was remarkable how unremarkable it was. Tony had been calibrating his deep space sensors when he’d gotten the call. Stephen sounded harried and at the end of his rope. Alarm bells were immediately going off in his head.
They had set their trap upstate, although any details that he’d gotten so far had not been helpful in the least. A lot of the magical jargon was lost on him, but the essence was that they used the frequency of space stone to make a siren call of sorts.
They’d needed him for the space, which was the upstate property that would eventually become the Avengers training grounds. Beyond that, the magical quadrant had taken charge, with setting up forces fields or mirror zones or alternate dimensions or something. When he’d asked the second follow-up questions he’d been politely dismissed.
It had taken 2 days of being ‘on call’ for their trap to finally be acknowledged. They’d spent the time debriefing Nat and Clint, who’d unavoidably found themselves apart of the team—on loan, temporary, reserve-reserve members, if Tony had anything to say about it.
So, now they were on alert. The situation room was officially activated. They tentatively knew where they’d be needed, but they needed access to the reserve team. Stephen’s portal was able to solve that problem and with some tech from Kamar-Taj they had an open path between their battle ground and situation room.
He felt remarkably out of the loop, considering the fact that he was the de-facto leader of the group (or ‘no one had actually assigned you that role, it’s completely self-assigned’, you’re more like the mascot as Rhodey had said)
The magical people had taken a leading role in this and Tony, having memories of a wormhole dredged up, was happy to let them. There was no reason to worry, they said.
They had it completely in hand, they assured.
And that turned out to be true because Tony had scarcely been on site for 2 hours before victory was declared. To what end, he had no idea.
With all the meticulous planning and strategizing, the plan mostly was made up of: lure out Thanos’ children and kill them all. There was no doubt that, in terms of power alone, they surpassed that of the disciples.
Logically, removing Thanos’s team and eventually destroying the source of power (if possible) was the best way to make the titan an easier adversary. Without these steps, they knew that he was near unstoppable.
What they hadn’t anticipated, however, was for a portal to open on its own accord..
They’d been met initially by Proxima Midnight and Ebony Maw. Against the Sorcerer Supreme, Hela, and Queen of Asgard, they hardly counted as worthy adversaries.
They were also unprepared for Midgard to have such a sophisticated defence, which was evidenced by their lack of back up. They’d appeared near the fake-space stone and were immediately met with a line of some of the heavier hitters in the nine realms. Ebony Maw had sensed the futility of fighting and immediately began contacting the Sanctuary in warning.
Proxima, however, was immediately on the offensive. Running forward, she was poised to strike and slash Hela, but never got that far. It was rather embarrassing to watch the ease in which those gruesome characters were dispatched.
Tony was glad he was one of the few who remembered the previous timeline, because he’d been equal part humiliated and impressed. Even Stephen had been embarrassed when he saw Yao use a portal to behead Ebony Maw, likely remembering his own negligence.
Loki and Stephen had quickly collected any useful tech from them so that Tony could help configure an outbound message. The tech had scarcely been shuttled to the lab before another portal opened in their protected battleground. This one was much bigger and stayed open.
Inside was the hull of the Sanctuary, a sight that some would never forget. But instead of an immediate offensive as they expected, Thanos appeared serenely seated on his throne.
The silence was almost deafening. One side of the portal held the silence of deep space. The other held the silence of a force-field blocking all outsides elements. Then, to break the silence, Thanos let one word float through the air.
His voice was deep, confident, and distantly amused, “Interesting.”
It was insulting how light-hearted he sounded, completely dismissing the impressive defence they’d created. The silence stretched as the majority of the group felt indignant and the first o to respond was Hela, who stepped forward and dryly responded, “hardly.”
In an uncharacteristic fashion, Thanos’ eyes locked immediately onto Hela, his expression turning into something unrecognizable.
“Hela Odinsdottir,” he breathed out. “I was under the impression that you were in need of rescuing.” He rose from his throne then, taking a single step forward.
Everyone but Hela seemed to flinch at that, some stepping back and some simply allowing their fingers to twitch. Thanos clearly noted all of thse reactions, but made no outward acknowledgment.
“Clearly not.”
Thanos’ eyebrows furrowed lightly before smoothening. He took several steps forward, now only a few steps from the portal. “The Goddess of the Underworld.. of Death. She is someone I’d always dreamed of meeting. Of loving.”
Hela responded with a single raised eyebrow, “And why should I deem you worthy of that?”
“Who else could understand you, but me? We were made in each others image, beloved.”
Hela’s posture seemed to slump in response, she tentatively took a step forward. “And how are you worthy of my regard?”
“I would gift you billions of souls should you have me. My mission is nearly complete, I have already cleansed much of these realms.”
Tony could see Frigga tense up further as her daughter slowly sauntered forward with each word. She’d gotten near the lip of the portal, just a few steps shy.
She made a soft considering sound, and completely ignored the outraged cries of her brothers to reach forward with her right hand.
It hung in the space of the portal, as if to reach and caress, before dropping back to her side. Her foot reached a step back, “I am not sure you know me,” she said, commiserating.
“Let me—“ Thanos pleaded, taking the final large step through the portal, reaching forward to Hela. As he stepped onto Midgard, the entire team of mortals behind her seemed to frenzy, though she paid them little mind.
“There is no one more deserving of my devotion,” he asserted, lifting his hand to reach her face, to gently cup in reverence. Before he was able to, Hela summoned her largest blade and sliced his head clean off his shoulders.
She was turned 180 degrees by the force of her swing and she grinned maniacally at the rest of her team as Thanos’ blood dripped from her blade.
The resounding thump of Thanos’ head hitting the ground seemed to unfreeze everyone in her vicinity as they exclaimed in shock. From behind her, a rumbling pair of footsteps were heard, but before she could turn, Loki had sent a blade flying.
“So, we won..” Tony said hesitantly.
Pepper nodded, holding a glass of champagne. She used the glass to gesture at the celebratory party around her, as if to say ‘no shit, sherlock’.
“I can honestly say that I couldn’t have called that ending,” Steve said from beside him.
He was nursing a drink of his own, an asgardian ale that had him looking a little dizzy.
He looked around the party, the Asgardians were having a drink-off, the sorcerers were playing some sort of game of their own, and here he stood with Steve, Pepper, Jim, and a very grumpy Bucky. They’d even convinced Bruce to drink with them, but he was now half asleep leaning on the back of the couch behind them.
And at the centre of the room, sat on the table, was Thanos’ head. Tony personally found it to be in poor taste, but Loki couldn’t be swayed.
As he looked around, seeing his team, his friends, and their success, he couldn’t help but feel…
anxious.
It was too easy and he didn’t know what he was missing.