trust me
#4a - stephen tells tony to find scott lang
The most important attribute one could find in the Time Stone was the gift of time.
Sure, it helped you see into the future. Sure, if used correctly, you could even use it to gaze and change the past. Yes, it could give you visions, possibilities, certainties.
But it gave you time, and that was the most important gift it could give you, in Stephen’s opinion.
It gave you time to sit to the side and think. It gave you time to go through dozens, hundreds, thousands, millions of possibilities with hardly any time at all passing. It gave you time to make unrushed decisions that actually meant something.
It gave Stephen the chance to not only float cross legged on Titan and go through a number of future and plans on how to destroy Thanos, but to also stop after a few thousand futures and pause to consider what was the trend, what were the common factors that always led to their defeat and failure.
It gave him the time to fail, consider his failure, find out the trends in his failure, and ensure that he did not fall in the same trap again.
Peter Quill was a problem. He was a problem because no matter when he found out about his girlfriend’s demise, he lost his head and his cool, and a clouded mind was not beneficial to a final win.
Nebula was also a problem. They had no way to communicate with her before she landed, and trying to figure it out always took too much time. On top of that, it was not until after Thanos had left that she allowed any of them close enough to speak to her, having previously been completely focused on Thanos.
Peter Parker and Tony Stark were a joint problem. So long as he was in danger, part of Tony Stark was not fully focused, and so long as Tony Stark was there, Parker was worried about showing off and 'having his back'. But at the same time, while Stark seemed to trust him enough when it came to fighting and having said back, he was not yet at a place where allowing Stephen to teleport Peter away from the battlefield was something that’d give him peace of mind.
There were many more common denominators but, at the end of the day, there was one word for the reason they kept losing against Thanos: trust.
Or rather, mistrust.
They did not trust each other. The Guardians did not trust them. They did not trust the Guardians. Nebula trusted no one. Peter trusted everyone, but Stark was his captain calling the shots, and Stark did not trust anyone other than Peter - and even that, only to a point. Stephen did not particularly trust Peter.
And Stephen and Stark did not trust one another.
And that was the reason they never won, in Stephen’s opinion.
Because Stark never truly believed Stephen knew what he was doing, and Stephen did not feel like he could trust Tony Stark, at least not fully.
And because of that, their win had a high cost.
A too high cost.
Because sure, Stephen did not really trust - or like - Tony Stark, but that did not mean his death – which for now seemed like the only way they managed to actually win – was something he looked forward to.
Not because he cared about Stark.
Simply because he was a doctor. He did not kill if he could help it, and putting Stark in a situation where he had to die to save everyone else sounded a lot like murder to him.
But how else did he put into action the events that needed to happen in order for Thanos to be defeated? How else did he ensured Thanos lost and they won? How did he make sure Stark survived, the universe did not end and Thanos was fully defeated?
It wasn't like he could just tell him.
... Right?
Strange's lips pursed, as people started turning into dust.
Trust.
Trust was the root of all of their problems and the foundation for any of their successes.
Trust.
Trust started with one person trusting another, with one person taking the leap and doing what needed to be done and believing in another.
Trust started with belief in oneself and in another.
In believing that someone would do the best without needing any proof for it.
And Stark had more than proven himself across all of the futures Stephen had gazed upon.
He was not the same man, but...
Stark’s eyes were panicked when he met his, and Stephen...
Stephen did something he had not done in any of the futures, did something he had not even bothered to check would work before hand.
He took a gamble with the lives of trillions of people, and stared right back into Tony Stark’s eyes.
Trust.
Stephen leaped.
“Find Scott Lang," he said, instead of the words he was meant to, the words he had said over a thousand times in a thousand different futures. "Find Scott Lang, and be as paranoid as you have ever wanted to be.”
The horror in Stark’s eyes turned into confusion for a second.
Stephen did not have time to regret his decision.
He disappeared before he could see if the man had understood him or not.
+++
When Stephen re-opened his eyes, he could immediately tell that his gamble had worked.
They came to on Titan, like in those futures he had seen before, but when they landed on Earth there was no war or blood.
Just Tony Stark waiting in front of the door as dozens upon dozens of phones kept ringing behind him, the Compound intact, and Nebula at his side.
He did not immediately say anything to him, only watching the way his shoulders finally relaxed as Peter Parker rushed to hug him and tell him everything that had happened in the past few minutes – in his mind – since he had last seen him.
He looked over at the watch in the wall, feeling a slight sense of satisfaction at the date (only two months and six days since the snap).
When he made eye contact with him, Stark narrowed his eyes at him. Stephen met his eye evenly, and then Stark huffed, clearly unappeased, but nodded.
Stephen nodded back.
#4b - stephen leaves tony a step by step plan
They had lost.
Tony had known from the moment they had gone against Thanos that there was a chance that they could lose. From the second he had gotten on the ship and after, too, when Strange had looked him in the eyes and said ‘one’, he had known that there was a very big chance of them losing this battle.
But some part of him had still thought, deep inside, had still believed… that they’d have a chance.
They’d had so many close calls, after all. And they had always won, always triumphed in the end.
But not this time.
This time Tony was half lying on the ground with part his own weapon in his side, and everyone was gone.
The kid… the kid was gone.
Thanos had done it.
He had taken everyone – he had taken Peter – away from him.
And now Tony was alone on an alien planet, with nobody and nothing–
He did not even managed to startle when his vision was covered by the sight of something red, something that took him way too long to recognise as the Doctor’s Cloak.
He had expected it to disappear with him, like Peter’s armour–
The Cloak patted his shoulder, in what Tony thought was sympathy. And how sad was it that he had gone so low that a piece of wear was consoling him?
It was hard not to take it, however, when Peter was gone. Because nothing could make up–
The Cloak patted him on the shoulder a little harder.
“I believe it is trying to tell you something.”
Tony raised his head, blearily glancing at the other shadow not too far from him.
The alien who was Thanos’ daughter and who he hated. Her name was that of a celestial body, if he wasn’t wrong. Galaxy? Meteorite? Ne- Nebula.
Right. Nebula.
“The Cloak,” she repeated, when Tony stared blankly at her while the Cloak kept patting him on the shoulder and now tugging at his sleeve.
Tony would like little less than to listen to a piece of Doctor ‘Liar’ Strange’s clothing, but it did not seem like it was his decision, between the alien and the cloth (... what the fuck was his life).
So he stood and half stumbled towards the area the Cloak wanted him to go to, the alien following him noiselessly behind him (should he be worried about that?).
They stopped near the spot Strange had been meditating before, and Tony’s heart clenched at the memory. Strange had promised them one chance. He said they’d have one chance, and that he knew it.
Then why–
“There is something there,” stated Nebula.
Tony followed her eyes to the ground that the Cloak was impatiently patting, clearly for Tony’s sake.
Tony stared between the spot and the Cloak.
It really said a lot about what he had gone through these past few hours that some sort of hope started to fan in his heart at this and he bent down painfully, using his hands and then his armour to unearth what was under it.
It only took about a minute of working the ground to pull out a small box sitting carefully in the ground, covered by symbols not unlike those Tony had seen in the Museum of the Order of the Phoenix.
His heart beat faster.
Perhaps Strange was not an utter bastard. Perhaps...
Perhaps.
The box opened as soon as it was in Tony’s arms, yielding a small bottle of perfume inside of it.
Tony did not have time to be disappointed before he heard Stephen Strange’s voice from inside the box.
“I don’t have time to waste with apologies. I told you we had one chance, Stark, and this is the one chance. If you want to win and to save the universe, then you need to follow my words to the letter. I know you have the reputation of being a bad listener, but considering the fate of the universe rests on your shoulders and that I am offering you a healing salve for your injury, I hope that you will make an exception.”
Tony had never wanted to strangle and kiss someone more.
“Step one: get Thor here. The whole alien/Norse thing is more complicated than you’d imagine, but point is, if you call his name with intent and often enough, he will hear you and show up.
“Step two: ask Nebula for co-ordinates for the planet Thanos planned to retire on, Rhea. At this moment, he has only just done the snap. He will need time to get the energy necessary to use the gauntlet again, so you need to get to him now. Thor will be able to get you there via Bifrost.
“Step three: you all do what you must do to defeat him. I would say don’t kill him, but I know better than to expect any of the three of you to leave him alive.
“Step four: get the Infinity stones and snap everyone back. I suggest Thor or Hulk for this task. And while I think Thor is strong enough to sustain the energy of six Infinity Stones with only some injury, do what the Guardians did and hold hands to share power. That will make sure he doesn’t die.
“Step five: your wish must be very simple but also very clear. You need to wish for Thor to not have missed Thanos' head the first time around. The balance of magic sort of rests on the minimum damage being done to the magic of the universe, and that wish would achieve this. So please. If this balance is not restored, then Thanos might as well have won, and we will all die painfully anyway. So please make your wish to the Infinity Stones very, painfully clear.
“Step six: disperse them. The Infinity Stones, get rid of them. Get them all as far away from each other as you can, even the Mind and the Space Stone. If the Time Stone wishes to return to us, it will. Otherwise, just tell them to go wherever they want to go.
“Do not fuck this up, Stark. As little as I like this... I am depending on you.”
The Cloak rushed to Stephen Strange as soon as the man stepped through the portal on Rhea, but Tony still took his time walking towards the sorcerer (once he was done hugging Peter to an inch of his life).
“Super well behaved,” he told him, indicating to the cloth. “We had loads of fun. 10/10, would let it babysit me again.”
“And here I thought you were gonna make a joke about you babysitting them,” mused Stephen.
“Please,” said Tony, waving him off. “It became apparent that you were his old pet and I his new one a few minutes in.”
Strange rolled his eyes, and then pursed his lips as he looked at a point over Tony’s shoulder.
A point where Thor and Nebula were holding Loki and Gamora away from each other, while Peter Quill tried and failed to get his supposedly deceased girlfriend’s attention.
“What,” said Tony, when the sorcerer gave him a pointed look. “I can’t get into their heads and guess what they’re going to say.”
Strange silently turned his head to where Vision was standing not too far from Tony, head containing no Infinity Stone, and eyes now a soft brown rather than an electric blue.
He turned back to Tony, one unimpressed eyebrow raised.
“What?” asked Tony defensively. “I’m tired of being the only one who pretends or tries to be selfless. Let me have this.”
“It is what Sir deserves,” said the synthezoid behind him. “And there is no proof that the disappearance of the Mind Stone is not the reason behind this sudden change in me. The only people who could prove it so are Sir himself, who won’t. Bruce Banner, who would not wish to. And Princess Shuri, who I doubt will care enough to.” He tilted his head. “Or you. In which case I hope you will not. It would be most... troublesome.”
Stephen just sighed. “Vishanti give me patience. I did not just save the world from Thanos to die at the hand of Stark’s murderous AI.”
The Cloak batted him on the shoulder.
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, fine. Die at the hands of Stark’s murderous son.”
Tony grinned at the Cloak, patting it gently. “You are my favourite too,” he promised.
Stephen gazed between the two of them suspiciously, holding his Cloak tighter to keep it away from Tony.
It wasn’t like Tony was planning on taking him from Strange, but it was hilarious to see.
Still, "Thank you," he ended up saying, not quite smirking anymore. "For depending on me."
Stephen looked like he wanted to remain neutral, but he nodded, and he did not look as annoyed anymore, nor that much resigned. "Thank you for not letting down."
Tony nodded and glanced away before the moment could become a Moment.
“Now, J,” he said, patting the synthezoid's shoulder. “Come meet Peter. You will love him.”