Welcome Avengers
The last thing Tony remembered was watching Bruce put on the Infinity Gauntlet, bringing his fingers together to snap half the universe back into existence. The next thing he knew he opened his eyes to find himself in a large two story room with an abundance of chairs and couches facing a screen taller and wider than any movie theatre he’d ever been to, including his own. He didn’t have long to think about it, though. His arrival was followed by several flashes of light accompanied by a popping noise as Steve, Clint, Thor, and Bruce joined him in the mysterious room.
“Bruce!” Tony jogged over, completely missing the shocked and wary faces of his friends as they watched him. “Hey, what the hell man? Did your snap do this? I thought we were just going to bring everyone back.” He noticed now their dumbfounded expressions, completely at a loss for words as they battled the hope that their friend could really be here.
“Tony?” Bruce asked tentatively, eyes full of mistrust.
“Uh… yeah? Who else could be this ruggedly handsome,” he grinned, using his humour in an attempt to feel in control. Bruce let loose an involuntary laugh, but before anything else could be said more popping sounds signalled more new arrivals.
Now joining them were Sam, Bucky, Wanda, and… Nat.
Natasha Romanoff.
Who was dead.
Tony’s brain short circuited, a difficult feat for the genius. He looked around and saw that many of them looked just as confused at Nat’s presence as he was, but they fixed that same expression on him, too. But that didn’t make sense, unless…
Oh.
Oh.
Oh, god no. What about Pepper and Morgan and Peter and the Avengers and please, this wasn’t supposed to happen—
He was pulled from his hyperventilation by Sam, resident therapist, making exaggerated breaths and counting quietly for Tony to follow. Not for the first time, Sam managed to pull Tony from his impending panic attack, for which he gratefully nodded.
“So,” he said once he’d caught his breath. “I’m dead.”
It was a statement, not a question, but their sad faces and slow nods confirmed anyway.
“Yeah, well, you’re not the only one,” Nat answered, grinning conspiratorially despite her words. Tony laughed, then enveloped her in a hug. With this unspoken barrier broken, the rest of the group gathered around to hug their friends they never thought they’d see again. Once everyone had settled, Tony steeled his resolve.
“How did it happen?”
Steve looked confused. “You mean you don’t remember?”
“No,” Tony replied, shaking his head, “the last thing I remember is watching Bruce put on the Infinity Gauntlet to do the snap.” Eyes widened everywhere.
“I just assumed we were all from the same time,” Clint said. “Is everyone else from 2025?” Many of them nodded, while a few, namely Tony, Steve, and Nat shook their heads.
“Where –or, I guess, when– are you guys from?” Bruce asked, trying to stifle his excitement at the strange phenomenon bringing them together from different times.
“Well, you already know when I’m from,” Tony answered. “2023, for anyone confused.”
“My last memory is just before we time travelled to retrieve the stones in 2023,” Nat explained.
“I’m also from 2023,” Steve added. “From when I was going to return the stones after…” He trailed off, grief overtaking his expression as he turned to Tony.
The man in question simply sighed. “Tell me how it happened,” he demanded, trying to maintain his composure.
“Are you sure?” Sam seemed apprehensive, but Tony just nodded.
“I need to know.”
“I’d like to hear this, too, actually,” Steve added nervously. “If I’m not from 2025, does that mean I also died?”
Bucky smirked. “No, you knucklehead. You lived.”
“Could someone explain before these two make out?” Nat teased, both men blushing, though she noticed that Bucky made a worried glance towards Sam to gauge his reaction.
“Right, well… I guess we start at the beginning,” Bruce suggested, nodding to Clint to begin. The man took a deep breath to steady himself before turning to his old partner and friend.
“The two of us went to Vormir to retrieve the Soul stone,” he explained, pain coating each word. “There was a man there, though less of a man than a monster, and he told us that the Soul stone demands a life for an everlasting exchange.” Tears welled in his eyes, his breaths hitching as he continued. “I tried to stop you, I wanted it to be me, but…” he hiccuped. Finally, he said, “You threw yourself off the cliff,” wincing as he averted his eyes.
For a moment no one moved, no one spoke. Then Nat pulled him into a hug, gentle but firm like the woman herself.
“It wasn’t your fault, Clint,” she whispered. “I made my choice. I don’t regret it, not if it means you got to go home to your family.”
“You had a family, too,” Clint accused. “What about us, what about–”
Nat cut him off, sensing he was about to reveal her sister’s existence to the team. She wasn’t ashamed of Yelena, but she figured she should be the one to tell everyone about her.
“Clint. You have kids, and you have Laura. You know I love them, I could never take you away from them.” Clint continued to cry, but Nat just smiled softly. “Don’t be angry about my sacrifice. Don’t regret what happened. Just live your life, enjoy your family, be happy.” Clint nodded, but his hand grasped hers and squeezed, needing to feel her alive for the time being.
“After Bruce brought everyone back,” Sam started, letting the assassins have their moment, “Thanos appeared, a Thanos from the past who somehow followed you all to 2023. He brought an entire army, but Strange used magic portals to bring everyone together to face him. We fought to keep Thanos from the Gauntlet, but eventually he managed to put it on. In order to stop him, to follow the one path to the future where we win, Tony…” He locked eyes with the man, feeling he deserved that much as he heard his fate. “You’d made a contingency, building your suit so that it could carry the stones. You took them from him and snapped his army out of existence, but… the stones, they were too powerful for you.”
Most of them had tears in their eyes now, remembering the moments after as they watched their teammate and friend die.
“Wow,” Tony whispered, still in shock.
“You made the sacrifice play,” Steve said quietly. When Tony looked at him he found sadness, but also guilt in his eyes. “I was wrong, all those years ago. You are the kind of guy to make the sacrifice play. You’ve done it for us, many times.” So quietly Tony wasn’t sure if he’d actually heard him, Steve added, “I’m sorry.”
Tony let what he’d learned sink in.
“Pepper, Morgan, and Peter… they live?”
Bruce nodded sadly, to which Tony gave a single, determined nod.
“Then I have no regrets. I’ll sacrifice myself for them over and over again if that’s what it takes.”
They all smiled at him, glad to know their friend had made peace with his fate.
“Not to change the topic, but… could someone tell me what happens to me?” Steve still had no idea why he was from another time but the other survivors just smiled, clearly not worried.
“Well, we watched you go quantum to return the stones, but when Bruce tried to bring you back you didn’t show,” Sam explained. “I was very calm—”
“He freaked out,” Bucky deadpanned.
“Did not,” Sam muttered. “Anyway, Terminator over here was staring off into the sunset and spotted you on a bench by the water, but you were… how do I put this delicately—”
“Old as hell,” Bucky suggested, smirking. Sam nodded.
“Yes, that. You told us you saw an opportunity to go back to a time where you belonged, to live the life you should have lived, and you took it. I’m pretty sure you married Peggy, but you wouldn’t tell me,” he glared, whispering, “jackass,” under his breath.
Steve smiled tentatively, almost scared to hope for this to be true.
“So… I lived? With Peggy, I got to have a life?” Sam and Bucky nodded in unison.
“You lived, pal,” Bucky confirmed, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You told us it was beautiful.”
Before anymore words could be exchanged, four more pops of light delivered Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, and Peter. The new arrivals looked around, shocked, before they found Tony, alive and well.
“T-Tony?” Pepper stuttered, in utter disbelief as she launched herself into his arms.
“Hey, Pep,” he whispered into her ear, earning a watery laugh from his wife.
“Mr. Stark, you’re… you’re alive? Here? How? And where is ‘here’ anyway, where are we? Mr. Stark, what’s going on, I’m so confused, are you even you, I mean—”
Tony chuckled. “Breathe, Pete, it’s me. I don’t know where we are or how we’re here, but… it’s me.”
Happy and Rhodey had joined the happy couple in reuniting, but Peter still looked suspicious.
“But you… well, in the battle, you…” He trailed off, unsure.
“I know buddy,” Tony said softly. “But I’m here right now.” Peter deliberated for a second longer before throwing his arms around his mentor, breathing a sigh of relief while Tony did the same. “Oh, Pete, it’s so good to see you.”
“You too, Mr. Stark,” the boy mumbled against Tony’s chest.
“Stark, who is this boy?” Thor asked. “He is your son? I think I saw him at your funeral.”
Peter blushed and tried to pull away but Tony just laughed and held on tighter. “Peter is my intern,” he explained. Though it had started as an excuse for Spider-Man, after the Vulture incident Tony had formally hired Peter as an intern and mentored him in his personal lab several times a week until the Blip happened.
Thor nodded in understanding; he knew relationships between children and parents could be complicated, and surely these two were father and son.
“So, what, you’re just… back from the dead?” Happy asked bluntly.
Tony laughed. “No, I was pulled from before I died, like Nat and Steve, although Capsicle survived but retired in the 40’s,” he summarized.
“Wait, you guys aren’t from 2024?” Happy asked, trying to wrap his head around it.
The others were slightly shocked by the question.
“Most of us are from 2025,” Wanda said slowly.
“What?” Happy looked even more confused, turning to the others that arrived with him. “Pepper, Peter, are you guys from 2025?” Pepper shook her head, correcting that she was also from 2024, but Peter froze like a statue.
“You… Y-you remember me?” He ignored the concerned looks he received, fully focused on Happy.
“What are you talking about? Of course I remember you kid.”
“2024,” Peter mumbled to himself in understanding. “You said you’re from 2024?” Happy nodded, causing Peter to deflate.
“Ok kid, what the hell?” Tony asked, using snark to hide his concern at the resigned expression the kid wore.
“All will be explained in time.”
The Voice came from all around, causing each hero to jump to fighting stances, reminded that they were in a strange room with no windows or door and no idea how they’d gotten there.
“Who are you,” Wanda said, her accent lilting as she tried using her powers to feel for a presence, finding nothing.
“Who I am is not important,” the Voice responded. “You are in an interdimensional space; while you are here, no time will pass. You will feel no physical needs while in my theater, no hunger or fatigue will reach you here. I have gathered you here from across time to reconnect. I have prepared some videos for you to better understand one another. Whenever someone speaks, the video will pause until all are ready to watch. If you try to avoid watching at any time, the moment you dread will repeat until you watch. You cannot escape, so please take a seat and we will begin.”
The heroes wore a variety of expressions; shock, confusion, a touch of fear, and a lot of anger.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Thor roared, summoning lightning but unsure where to direct it.
“You cannot harm me, Thor Odinson, nor do I wish to harm any of you, but you cannot avoid this fate. Take a seat, and enjoy the show.”
The heroes looked at one another. Realizing there was no other choice, they settled into the couches and chairs facing the monstrous screen. Despite their tension, the return of their departed friends had many of them smiling and sitting with their lost loved ones. Tony sat with Pepper on one side and Peter on the other, Happy and Rhodey beside them. Steve sat with Bucky and Wanda, oblivious to how close Sam was on Bucky’s other side. Nat and Clint sat together, Bruce nearby with Thor.
Once everyone had settled, popcorn, drinks, and snacks appeared in their hands.
“Let’s begin.”