it's a big world
#5a - magical council
“Thanos... Thanos is coming,” said Bruce Banner, before dramatically collapsing in the equally dramatic hole he had made in their Sanctum.
“How is a broke man on the run from the law going to pay us back for this?” Wong gestured at the hole in the ceiling, looking at the half naked passed out man in irritation. “Does he think that just because we are sorcerers we can make money grow from trees?”
“We can,” pointed out Stephen, the Cloak already getting ready to help the Hulk’s weaker half. “You just say that it’s against the rules.”
“It is against the rules.”
“I would love to argue about how it really isn’t, but are we going to ignore this... Thanos guy that is apparently coming? Is this something we should be concerned about or should we drop him in front of Stark Tower and hope the Avengers pick him up?”
“You are far too obsessed with Tony Stark for me to believe you don’t know the Avengers split up,” said Wong, pulling out his phone. “And we don’t really need to worry about that. We knew this was coming.”
“We? Who is we?”
Wong did not bother answering him.
+++
“You’re telling me that all of you knew about this Thanos guy and were actually getting ready and not just going to concerts every other weekend?”
Agatha Harkness leant forward, giving him her most judgmental look. “Were the matching shirts not answer enough? I feel like the matching shirts should have been answer enough.”
“He’s just salty that he was invited exactly once while I have a standing appointment,” said Tony, looking smug. “He feels excluded.”
“Of course he does, we excluded him on purpose.”
“Wow.”
“You were not an official member of the Order,” explained Wong, rubbing his forehead to prevent the headache otherwise known as ‘Stephen Strange bitching’ from manifesting. “And then the Ancient One died and none of the Sorcerers actually attended a full meeting since.” He looked around. “Did we settle on a plan of attack?”
Almost everyone in the official Court of Magik turned council of the magical beings of the Nines (plus Tony Stark) - trademark pending - was in attendance. Ajak was there with all of the Eternals - many of whom Wong was meeting for the first time - alongside Ying Nan and the leaders of Ta-Lo, Agatha Harkness and other unaffiliated witches, sorcerers of Kamar-Taj and Wakanda, King K’uk’ulkan of Talokan and Generals from most of the Nine Realms.
Everyone who was anyone in the Nine Realms was here – with the glaring exception of the people of Nidavellir and the Asgardians.
Nobody was quite sure of where they were, which was worrying, but they did not have time to wait for them.
“We did,” said Tony, sitting on one of the desks. “Which one of you is more handy with the Infinity Stones?”
“Stephen?”
The doctor made a face, shrugging a little uncomfortably. “I’ve used the Time Stone before.”
He had done more than just 'use' the Time Stone, but it was a touchy subject for him, so Wong simply nodded to support his statement.
“Cool,” said Tony. “Practical magic is Billy’s forte." Prince Byleistr of Jotunheim did not blink at the nickname. "Together you can try and localise the Infinity Stones so that we can pinpoint Thanos’ location.
“Agatha?”
“Everything in order,” cryptically said the witch, a grin that promised nothing good firmly in place. “Don’t ask me where I found the spells or the materials.”
The sorcerers of Kamar-Taj eyed her warily but, with the Ancient One dead, there was little way of actually controlling her.
And Wong would never admit it, but he enjoyed her brand of chaos.
And he understood a thing or two about losing your anchor.
“We will let our King know if his forces are needed for the battle,” said Abeeba of Wakanda, already dressed for battle.
“And my army is ready, of course,” finished K’uk’ulkan.
Tony smiled, ears a little red – and whatever was going on between the two of them was as weird now as it had been from the beginning. Were they not in the middle of a war against a Titan, Wong would have pulled him aside and demanded every detail of it.
Agatha was clearly itching to do the same, only Ajak’s hand on her keeping her from following suit.
“Okay,” said Tony, looking around. “Everybody knows what to do, right? Because we get one chance at this. If we fail–”
A flash of black magic interrupted their discussion, and everyone, even Tony and Stephen, fell into battle stance automatically.
“Do not attack me if you value your lives.”
The woman who stepped from the shadows was not Thanos or anyone Wong had ever seen. Though, with her dark hair, badly made up and light eyes, and all-black outfit...
“I am not apologising,” she said, as Thor, Loki and Sigyn shouldered past her, all three pale as ghosts and shaky on their feet. “If you had let me do what I needed to do-”
“You killed half of the Asgardian army!” said Thor, in a terribly choked voice, glowering at her.
“Ugh, you are so hung up on the past.”
“It happened not even a full day ago!”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Do you want me to raise the people Thanos killed or not? Because, I would be doing so of my own volition. I do not owe you anything, since you tried to kill me and destroyed our home.”
“Thor,” said Loki, still appearing shaky but voice firm. “This is not the time for your quarrels with Hela. You are King now. Our plans to protect the Nines must come first. The Titan must pay for what he has done.”
The blond still looked incredibly ticked off by the woman who could easily pass for Loki’s older sister, but he nodded.
She smirked. “Say please.”
“Hela,” said Loki, looking equally irritated by her as Thor was. “Think of what would happen to you and your Realm if Thanos won.”
She made a disgusted face at the thought. “That is quite true. I would not enjoy the sudden arrival of so many souls ripped away without reason or due death. I shall do as you have asked; but make no mistake, I am not doing it for you or for Asgard!” She gave one last sneer at the two of them and the group at large, before disappearing.
“She is so your sister,” said Sigyn, as soon as she had disappeared.
“I was adopted.”
“Kidnapped,” corrected Sigyn. “But she is still so your sister.” She then turned to the very confused magical council, with a trembling smile. “Are we ready to kill a Titan?”
Stephen turned to Wong, but he immediately shook his head.
“I have no idea of what just happened either.”
+++
Thanos never got to Earth. He was defeated and caged with ease while some guys called the Guardians of the Galaxy watched in confusion.
When Wong and his group returned to Earth with a trapped Titan and three Infinity Stones, two other aliens had been dispatched – lethally, since there was no Stephen Strange there to stop them.
Nobody found out the full extent of what they had done or what they had avoided, but that was half the fun of the 'council of the magical beings of the Nines (plus Tony Stark) - trademark pending'.
They celebrated by going to the On the Run Beyonce (and Jay-Z) tour together.
So worth it.
#5b - thanos is well known, and many have a vested interest in seeing him dead
One second Tony was standing in front of Bruce, fully suited up and ready to fight.
The next, there was a flash of purple, and the Squidward alien was passed out on the ground.
It happened so fast that not even the big hammer guy saw it coming.
Nor did he see the way his head just slid off his neck next coming either.
“What the hell?”
“Oh not her,” groaned Wong, as a strange woman dressed fully in purple appeared, talking on the phone with someone.
“Her?” Tony turned to look at him, keeping the woman in his line of vision. Her fingers were still purple with the spell she must have just cast, and it did not make him relax. “You know her?”
“Agatha Harkness,” said Wong, with a sigh. He shook his head and started walking towards her. “Agatha, what are you doing here?”
“Hold on, Petunia, Wong is here,” he heard her say. “Say hi, Wong.”
She put her phone in his face, but Wong did not say hi.
He just stared at her, very unimpressed.
“So rude,” complained 'Agatha', putting her phone back to her ear. “Sure, I will let Tony Stark know. Yeah, don’t worry. You killed them both? Oh, perf. You’re an angel. Send them to the Sanctum, Wong will deal with the bodies.”
Tony had thought Wong and Doctor Strange friendlies, but he found himself reconsidering it a little when he heard talks of 'dealing with bodies'. Especially since Wong rolled his eyes but did not disagree with the statement or seem to find it disturbing at all.
The only plus was that Bruce and Doctor Strange looked as weirded out by it all as Tony did.
“Agatha.”
“Oh, hi, Wong,” said the purple magic woman, putting her phone away and beaming at him. “I’m fine, Wong, thanks for asking. How are you, Wong? The kids are good as well. I’m so happy to see you.”
“You have no kids, and I am not so happy to see you.”
“But I just saved you from certain death,” complained Agatha. “Aren’t you at least a little happy to see me?”
“What are you doing here, Harkness?”
“Believe it or not, I was out here shopping,” said the woman, pointing at a brown bag in her hands. An empty bag. “I was not planning on killing Thanos’ henchmen when I woke up today. Nor was Petunia.” She smiled at Tony. “Hello, Tony Stark. Vision is okay.”
“Did you say Vision? Why would he- You heard from him?”
“Well no,” said the woman, frowning. “Petunia did. She was about to take the subway when these other two henchmen came for him and his little bad witch girlfriend, so she killed them. She’ll drop the bodies at Wong’s place.” She turned back to Wong. “Are you Sorcerer Supreme, yet? If not, you totally should be. You deserve a raise, you’ve been working in that hellhole for long enough.”
“Anyway, I heard that Thanos is coming, and I have a bone to pick with him regarding his insistence on being purple when he has to know purple is my colour. And a little birdie told me he's hunting Infinity Stones, and since my wife is dead and I do not trust that little morally good boy toy of hers to keep her little emerald safe, here I am." She beamed. "You need a hand?”
+++
Tony was not sure why they had taken the fight to Wakanda, nor was he sure of why T’Challa had agreed.
Sure, it was fun to work with Shuri and Bruce to take off the Mind Stone and make fun of each other’s scientific abilities.
It was less fun trying to avoid Rogers and his team while doing so.
At least there were the sorcerers of Kamar Taj and Agatha Harkness. Tony might not know them that well, but they were the less annoying crowd to be around, magic aside.
Though, the fact that there were literally witch covens and sorcerer cults around the world that he had somehow missed was a bit annoying.
As was the fact that they had all been expecting something like this to happen and had mobilised as soon as it had without needing anyone’s prompting, ready with contingency plans.
He was grateful, of course.
But it would have been nice to know about this when he had been having nightmares about not being ready enough to save the Earth.
It was–
There was a sudden light show in the garden in front of them, and everyone stiffened, arms ready and waiting.
“Is that him?” demanded Rogers. “Is he here, is that–”
“Of course not,” said Agatha, rolling her eyes as a group of stereotypically pretty ladies and guys appeared. “Hi, Queen Ariadne!”
“Agatha,” said the woman in the front, a telling crown on her head. “How wonderful to see you. I receive your letter and Loki’s.”
“Did she just say–”
“This is Queen Ariadne,” said Agatha, turning to the rest of them. “Ruler of Alfheim.”
“Alfheim,” repeated Tony.
Of course he knew what Alfheim was. Thor had mentioned the Nine Realms before.
But he had only ever seen people from Asgard and while he hadn’t thought he was lying... he had just never seen anyone else.
He had not really known what to expect, considering how apparently some people in the Nine Realms were made of ice, some of fire, some only survived in the darkness and some only in the light.
He had a feeling he had just met those who only survived in the light.
“Yes,” she said, smiling. “You must be the Prince of Iron Anthony that Thor has spoken so often about.”
“The what of uh, what?” asked Tony, as several people around him made sounds of confusion. “Thor spoke of me?”
“Of course. He said you and the Berserker were his favourites on the team. And rest easy, Prince of Iron: the rest of the army will be here soon. We were warned of the threat of the Titan too.”
“The rest of the-” Tony shook his head, deciding to archive that confusing news for later. “More of you will join?”
“Of course,” said the lady, as if that made sense. “Thanos endangers us all. As soon as Asgard informed us of his first attack on Midgard and of his possible retaliation, the armies of the Nines readied themselves. The Jotnar, the Muspels and the Vanir will join us soon. Rest assured: will not win.”
Tony felt the hope growing. “He will not.”
She smiled back, showing a row of surprisingly sharp teeth. "Good. Now, let's discuss strategy."
+++
Thanos was strong, and he had four Infinity Stones on hand when he landed on Earth.
But not even he could take down so many powerful aliens (many of whom were almost as powerful as Thor himself was) at the same time.
And when Thor came, with a weapon capable of taking him down, any last hope Thanos might have had, vanished.
King Helblindi and he took him down together, and the Titan did not get up again.
Being redudant had never felt so good.
#5c - the universe is more than the Nine Realms
“Why would you do that?”
Stephen looked over at where Stark was propped on a rock, looking exhausted and betrayed.
He would have felt bad, had this not been the only way for them to win.
“Fanatics are strong,” he told him. “Desperate people are stronger.”
He watched as Stark absorbed the words.
Then, the predictable anger that appeared once they sunk in.
“Desperation is not substitute for strength," he snapped, and Stephen was sure that, had he not been injured, he would have definitely tried to come for him. "Not even Vision is strong enough or angry enough to take down five Infinity Stones.”
“Vision is not the strongest being in the universe.”
“He’s the strongest being on Earth.”
Stephen was not sure he agreed with that statement either, but this was not the time or place to question it.
Instead, he raised an eyebrow. “You think we are the only people pissed off enough to take on the Mad Titan?”
“What?”
Stephen glanced at Drax, who had been blatantly listening in, and the alien huffed.
“It is true,” said the alien. “Thanos has angered many like he has angered me. He has killed many people and families.”
“I just needed time,” said Stephen. “Needed to let them have enough time to make it to Earth and fight him. Thanos nearly killed the Collector, and let me just say this: his siblings are among the people you do not want to piss off.”
“You used us as cannon fodder,” said Stark, staring at him. “You let him kick the crap out of us to gather enough time for the alien forces to get to Earth and fight him.”
He couldn’t quite read Stark's tone, so he stared back, refusing to look sorry or intimidated.
“I watched fourteen million futures, Stark,” he said, impassively. “I chose the one with the least people dead and in which we won. I’m not apologising for saving all of your lives and letting you get a little hurt in the process.”
“I wasn’t asking you to,” said Stark. He pulled himself up, hand on his injury. “We win?”
Stephen nodded. “We win.”
Stark nodded, and looked away.
Stephen took it for the apology it was.
+++
They did win.
The Elders were ruthless, as were the various alien races and mercenaries who came together to fight back against Thanos’ armies.
There was a little hiccup when it came to dealing with the Infinity Stones and sending them all on their merry ways, but Stephen was a sorcerer, and between him, Wong, the Order, Vision and Thor, they got them away before they could get any ideas.
There were some deaths, but it could have been worse.
He was home in time for dinner.