Divergence

Tony stark wasn’t afraid to die. He had been courting death his entire life. It came with the territory of being a Stark if he was to be completely honest with himself. Which he tries to avoid at all costs. Tony was surprised he made it to almost fifty. As he sat in the ruins of Titan, the particles that were once Spider-Man scattered by the wind, Tony came to the conclusion this was worse than death.

Tony had lost so much over the decade since he first put on the armor. His team, his peace of mind, Jarvis, his bots, and now Peter. Peter, who had been just as much of a son to him as Jarvis had been. Both were gone due to his hubris and incompetence. 

“I don’t want to go, sir.” 

He put his head in his hands and gave a broken sob. 

Tony sat there for what felt like ever, his blood dripping on the hard dirt of Titan. Thanos had won, he had stripped Peter away from him with a snap of his fingers. There was no help: Strange, and Peter Quill were gone. He was alone with a woman that was just as much of a robot as he was. At any other time, Tony would be bombarding Nebula with questions. 

Tony couldn’t think about anything else. He could only hear Peter say ‘I’m Sorry’ over and over in his head. There was a pair of cool hands-on him and Tony jerked away. Panting, eyes wild, he staggered onto his feet. Nebula put her hands up but Tony stumbled away from her, his feet tripping on over something. The landscape morphed, the world around him twisted like a Kaleidoscope and faded into white.

Tony’s heart pounded in his chest, his hands flailed in midair as he floated. No doors, no windows, just white as far as the eye could see.

Then there were voices and they were so loud that he could barely make out the words at first. Then the voices merged together into a single one that Tony could finally understand.

“Anthony Edward Stark,” said a woman with a vaguely European accent. 

“W-who are you?”

“It is not necessary for you to know who we are.” The voice said. “What is necessary is to know what you will do to change this ending. Thanos has won and half the universe is lost. “

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.” 

There was a caress over his face from fingers he couldn't see. “We have witnessed what you have endured, Anthony.” 

“Okay, so what?” 

“This genocide must not endure. You are the only one who saw the threat of the Mad Titan years before his arrival in your world. You must stop him.” 

Tony flinched as if he had been slapped. He wanted to reach over and strangle this person, entity, or whatever the hell this thing was because hadn’t he tried? Even with Strange fighting beside him, the fucking ‘Sorcerer Supreme’ wasn’t enough against the purple son of a bitch. 

“I’m not enough— “He choked out. Tony Stark despite all of his tech and money was never enough. 

“Will you take this chance, Anthony?” 

Tony tried to think.  He tried to calculate all the probabilities. But in the end,  all he could see was Peter Parker’s terrified face as his body dissolved right in his hands. Tony Stark should have died on Titan but the inferno of his rage and his desire  for vengeance overshadowed his defeat.

“Yes.” 

***

Tony groaned as his eyes were suddenly assaulted with a bright light. He groaned and turned over. Pepper muttered something in her sleep and spun to wrap her hands around his chest. Tony pulled her closer, and buried his nose in her hair. She smelled like oranges and cinnamon and Tony frowned because Pepper wasn’t the type to use fruity hair products. 

Pepper preferred subtler scents.

“You can’t get enough, Tony?” A low voice muttered and Tony froze because that diffidently was not Pepper. His heart sank down to his"stomach. He jerked away so hard that Tony fell on his ass. He was naked in bed with another woman and his girlfriend was going to murder him and make it look like an accident. 

The very naked woman sat up in bed revealing her full breasts, her long golden blonde hair falling around her beautiful face as she stared at him in bewilderment. “Tony?” 

It was Christine Everheart. 

“What the actual fuck,” Tony swore under his breath because what? The last time he had seen Christine was at the Grand Pre in Monaco in 2009? 2010? Tony rubbed his head and tried to rationalize it but came up empty. 

“Sir, may I be of some assistance?” 

It couldn’t be Jarvis. Jarvis died, and was reborn as Vision." Tony grabbed his head and tried to make this delusion go away. Was this one of Wanda’s mind games? Tony scrambled back until he hit the dark glass of the windows. His eyes darted around the room. It was achingly familiar. It was his bedroom, his old bedroom in Malibu

The Malibu mansion had been destroyed, right? He remembered the Ten Rings bombing it to hell. 

He was pretty sure Jarvis and Christine were talking to him but Tony couldn’t answer. Christine said something, but the pounding in his ears drowned that out And then he remembered Peter, hitchhiking on Maw’s ship, killing Maw, saving Strange, and the fight with Thanos and being stabbed. With shaking fingers, his hand went to hover over his torso.

His hands swiped over the uninjured skin in wonder. Has it all been just a nightmare? Peter Parker’s pale and shaken face flashed in his mind and then he recalled what happened in that white room and that voice: “Will you take this chance, Anthony?” 

” Oh shit.” 

Tony broke out of his stupor just in time to hear the familiar furious click clack of heels as a young looking Pepper Potts marched into the room dressed impeccably in a black suit even thought had to have been in the middle of night, uncaring that both of the room’s occupants were naked as the day they were born. “Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?” 

***

Tony rubbed his cheek looking at the retreating back of Christine as she marched out of the front door. She had accused him of being insane, threw some insults at his penis, his sexual prowess, and other things that would have hurt him more if he hadn’t heard them repeatedly from his ex-teammates. He looked over to where Pepper was having a hurried conversation with most likely his PR agent. Tony was overdue for another breakdown.

“Stop right there, Tony.” 

Tony paused and closed his eyes. He tried to come up with an explanation because he couldn’t just tell his assistant that he had traveled back in time. Tony scrunched up his nose. Wow, it felt weird to call Pepper that. 

“Make sure to email me when it’s done.” She ended the call and marched right over to him.Jarvis called me and I found you in your bedroom having a panic attack with a naked reporter in your bed. And since when do you have panic attacks?” 

‘Since the Battle of New York’  But he couldn’t tell her that could he? Tony ran a hand down his face and struggled to come up with an explanation. “I—I think I might have taken something.” 

“We had this conversation about the pills Tony.” 

Tony wasn’t a drug addict, even when he was younger"Tony had occasionally taken a bit of E or some weed if he was feeling fancy. It all came with being a Billionaire Playboy. 

Pepper sighed, “You can’t be this irresponsible Tony. The Jericho demo is in 24 hours.” 

And Tony felt as if someone had punched him in the gut because he tried not to think of it. Tried not to come face to face with the full implications of what all of this meant. Tony somehow went back in time to 2008, back to where it all began.

“Will you take this chance, Anthony?” 

Tony had been given a chance to make things right. To prepare for Thanos, to make sure there was no Ultron, and no Civil War and he could save the people he cared about. He looked right into Pepper’s wide worried blue eyes, Jarvis once again a silent sentinel. And with the vision of Peter Parker fixed in his mind, Tony knew what he had to do.

To Be Continued...