Chapter 1
The “Avenger Initiative” Might Just Be Humanities Saving Grace
03/12/64 | Written by, Christine Everhart
Late yesterday morning, it was announced by SHIELD director Nick Fury, that the organization would be sending a ship into space to make contact with a new planet, and starting the “Avenger Initiative”.
This new planet has been named, Gaia, and it is completely habitable and susceptible to human life. SHIELD is hoping to make this the end of our problems here on earth, and future goals include populating Gaia with a new generation of the human species.
Over 1000 people have volunteered to give up their lives here on Earth and will board the ship, named The Avenger, to travel towards this new and unknown planet. Upon arrival, these volunteers will use their abilities to work together and create a new world, in hopes to save our species for the better.
“These brave volunteers will be asleep during the duration of their trip,” says director Nick Fury, at yesterday's press conference. “Do not worry about their health or safety. To them, it will be nothing more than waking up after a short nap. Their bodies and appearances will maintain to work the way they did when they fell asleep as if nothing even happened.”
The Avenger will be arriving at Gaia sometime in the next 20 years. It is being duly led by Captain Carol Danvers and Captain Steve Rogers. They too will be put under once the ship has successfully launched, and the spacecraft will be piloted by a computer-generated system until it safely lands.
Who knows how Earth will be by the time they touch down, but all we can have is a little hope and a ton of patience.
2,204 Days Post Launch:
In hindsight, it was most likely the unnerving lack of noise that eventually woke Tony.
Before, it had all been noise. Blinding lights that faded into darkness as well, but the noise lingered. Loud and unapologetic. Now, it was darkness and silence. So much silence that it was starting to set him on edge.
Have we landed already?
Tony groans and tries to stretch, but his hands suddenly hit something hard, and the sound ricochets through his head like a ball bouncing off the walls of his mind.
When his curiosity spikes, Tony pries his eyes open to find himself staring up at a grey, distorted ceiling. He reaches out once more to feel the dome of thick glass around him, and with a jolt of panic, he realizes that he’s still inside of his hibernation pod.
“Hello?” Tony calls out, patting his hands aggressively against the glass. “Hello, anyone?”
When he doesn't get a response, he starts to pound on the barrier. Tony didn’t understand. Before they put him under they said he would be waking up surrounded by medical professionals, and not in his pod.
If they have arrived, why did he seem to be alone?
Tony suddenly stops his banging when a high pitched whistling sound catches his attention. He looks to the source of the noise and realizes that the seal around the pod’s lid is slightly open. The warmed air surrounding him was slowly leeching into the outside, and Tony’s eyes widen.
If no one was coming to help him, he certainly wasn’t waiting around.
He digs his fingertips under the lip of the cover and lifts with all of his strength -- which wasn’t a lot considering he’s been under for God knows how long -- and after a few grueling moments, his efforts have been rewarded.
The glass dome swings open with a gasp, and the cool air rushes forward to greet Tony in an icy embrace. He grits his teeth and wraps his arms around himself, pushing into a sitting position after several seconds of shivering.
Once his body finally starts to adjust to the room-temperature air, he raises a hand to pull off the heart monitor stuck under his grey shirt.
“Hello?” Tony calls out once more. His voice echoes through the room. “Anyone here?”
The room he was sitting in looked a lot like the example photos he was shown when he started considering signing up for the initiative. Long, tall, grey walls and no windows. Every few feet were a cluster of five pods, each housing an individual person who was still deep in hibernation.
Despite the interior being incredibly bland, there was a sense of technological elegance portrayed by the room.
With a second groan, Tony places his bare feet on the floor and shakily stands. It takes a minute, but he eventually does get his bearings and gains a bit of balance.
After winning the internal debate about whether to try walking or not, he takes a step and almost faceplants. His arms wave like pinwheels at his side, and it instantly rights him. The second step is a lot more successful.
“Who woke me up?” Tony shouts out, only to be greeted by his own voice echoing back to him. “Hello!”
Again, nothing.
“Am I alone?” He mutters to himself. A million thoughts race through his brain at once. Why am I awake? How did I wake up? Who else is awake? How long have we been traveling?...
SHIELD told them that the journey would be 10 years at least, and 27 at the most. But that was only if they ran into some horrific technological failure. Tony had been worried about the toll that would take on his body, considering he would miss a decade of his life, but they assured him that nothing about his body or appearance would change in the time he slept.
It would be as quick as a blink.
Well, they were certainly right about that. Tony didn’t even remember sleeping at all. He didn’t know about how looked though… everyone was dressed in the same outfit; a pair of grey pants and a grey tee-shirt emblazoned with the SHIELD logo over the heart.
His clothes definitely did not change, and when Tony runs a shaky hand through his hair, it feels the same length he last remembered it being. Even every hair in his goatee was still in place; not one overgrown.
On the far wall is a tall set of doors, and as soon as Tony steps close enough, the sensor goes off and they slide open. The hall on the other side is also empty, and when he crosses through, he notices that it seems to stretch farther and farther on either side. The end was nothing more than a speck on the horizon.
The doors suddenly close behind him with a woosh, and Tony only jumps slightly. When shut, the two doors meet to form a large S.
Tony starts walking.
The floor underfoot is cold on his skin, and he quickened his pace. The crew was supposed to be awake before the passengers -- if he could find a captain, then they could let him know why he seemed to be the only passenger awake.
As Tony makes his way towards the end of the hall, he notices that the left wall holds doors matching the ones closing off his sector. Each one carved with a different letter. The alphabet flashes by Tony in a steady stream.
T… U… V… W…
Eventually, he reaches the end and the doors slide open just like the ones before. Warmth immediately floods towards Tony in a wave as the air pressure changes.
“Lobby 14.” A female voice says from the ceiling.
Tony looks up in surprise, but when the voice says nothing else, he continues walking.
The lobby was also abandoned, which disappointed Tony. There was a giant fountain close by, and it immediately sputtered to life when he walked into the room. Lights lining the floor and walls rose in intensity until the entire room was bathed in artificial sunlight.
Along the cathedral-esc ceiling were long and narrow skylights; it didn’t take a lot of focus to see the millions of stars floating overhead in the depths of space.
Behind the fountain was a pillar of blue light positioned in the center of the floor. Every few seconds it flashes a brighter shade of blue and then dims. Tony immediately speed walks towards it.
“Hello, and welcome,” the same voice from earlier says as Tony steps up. “My name is FRIDAY, and I am here to assist with anything you may need.”
“I need the captain,” Tony says, not getting the words out quick enough.
“Which captain would you like to speak too?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Tony spits out, “either is fine.”
FRIDAY is silent for a second before responding with, “I’m sorry, only ship personnel is allowed to speak with the captains.”
“I need too—“
“I’m sorry, only ship personnel are allowed to speak with the captains.”
Tony has to restrain from putting a fist through the column of light. “It’s an emergency.”
FRIDAY takes an even longer pause, “The elevator will take you to the bridge. There you will find who you’re looking for.” She sounds reluctant.
The elevators along the right wall open with a ding and the lights inside flash on. Tony makes his way inside, sitting down on one of the benches and watching as the doors slide closed.
A button on the wall console lights up a bright blue, and he can see a glowing “B” emblazoned in the middle of the circle.
The elevator is faster than any that Tony had been in before, and the quick motion presses him into his seat, leaving his stomach feeling slightly queasy.
The doors finally open with a second ding, and Tony rushes out into the hallway. He was hoping to be surrounded by crew members, but his heart drops into his feet when he realizes that he is, once again, alone.
“Hello!” He practically screams. “Anyone?”
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
This floor is much smaller than Tony would have thought. Nothing more than a short hallway, and a heavily guarded door directly across from the elevator.
The bridge.
Tony steps forward, but the door doesn’t slide open like every other had. He pounds on the steel a few times before FRIDAY’s voice comes from thin air.
“Please place a hand on the scanner.”
Tony only now notices the small blue screen next to the door. He rests his hand on top forcefully, and he can feel the anxious sweat building on his palm.
Nonetheless, his identity is read successfully.
“Welcome, Tony Stark,” FRIDAY says, sounding cheery. “Please note that due to the nature of your emergency request, this is the only reason why you are granted access. Do not expect this to be a regular occurrence.”
“Noted,” Tony muttered under his breath as the doors part.
Tony has to swallow down sick when his eyes fall on an abandoned bridge.
He steps in tentatively. The command center is short and wide. Along the sides are desks and keyboards. In the middle of the room is the main console, and beyond that is a window looking out into pitch-black space.
If Tony just focuses on looking forward, he can almost imagine being back on Earth and sitting in a movie theatre; the world of stars around them nothing more than a projection on a screen. Except this screen is bigger than any he had seen on Earth.
Tony swallows and moves forward, his eyes falling on the thousands of buttons, switches, and screens decorating the main console. In the middle of the board is one giant, green button.
Something inside tells him to push it. Push it, push it, push it, push it…
With a nervous grimace, Tony reaches out and hits the button once, quick and painless.
A short chime fills the room, and every light slowly brightens. Next, all of the buttons on the main console flare to life; a thousand colors shining up and reflecting on the man’s face.
At every surrounding desk, the empty space is filled by a holographic computer screen. Tony could almost imagine what this room would have looked like if it was filled with crew members hard at work.
“Good morning, Sir,” a new voice says.
Tony spins around, hopeful that someone else had woken, but his smile fell when he found no one.
“Ah-hem. Over here.”
Tony follows the sound of the voice and looks towards the giant windshield sitting before him. Along the glass a few projections have appeared; sitting bright and green against the spattering of stars.
“My name is JARVIS. I have been the pilot of The Avenger while Captain Danvers and Captain Rogers have been in hibernation.”
As the AI spoke, a transcript of its speech typed out on the glass. Tony watched the words form quickly, and then disappear as soon as they arrived.
“Can you help me?” Tony asked.
“I will try my best, Mr. Stark.”
“It’s just, Tony.”
“Of course, Tony. What seems to be the problem?”
“Um… I think something went wrong,” Tony says, feeling stupid with the fact that he can’t give a solid answer. “I am awake, but it seems like everyone else is still asleep. Including the crew. I’m worried… SHIELD told us that they would be awake before us. They also said I would be waking up in a medical bay.”
“Let me see what I can do.” JARVIS pulls up a file on the screen, and soon enough, familiar words are typed against the glass.
Anthony Stark -- Passenger. Mechanic.
Hibernation Pod: S27
Pod Status: Active and Evacuated.
“That’s me,” Tony confirms. “That’s definitely me.”
“It says that your pod has been activated.”
“Yes, but no one else’s has. I need to know why.”
JARVIS is quiet for a minute, before pulling up a second file. A video that looks like grainy security footage shows the outside of the ship. Tony watches intently as something in the distance gets closer and closer, and with a pounding heart, he realizes that it’s a small asteroid.
The rock gets so close that it almost takes up most of the footage, and then the screen goes to black. The horrible crashing noise that follows definitely doesn't fill Tony’s mind with joy.
The video clicks off.
“That footage was taken just over an hour ago,” JARVIS informs. “The asteroid hit only a very small portion of the ship, but it did happen to destroy a certain part of our computer. To be exact: the part of the computer that controls your hibernation, as well as several other pods.”
Tony inhales deeply, his eyes wide. “Are you telling me that I won’t be able to go back to sleep without fixing that harddrive, but I can’t fix it because it is outside, on the side of the ship? In space?”
“Yes. That is correct, Tony.”
“JARVIS, exactly how long was I sleeping?”
A number shows up on the screen: 2024. “You were in hibernation for exactly 6 years and 14 days.”
The underside of Tony’s eye starts to twitch. “How long until we touch down on Gaia?”
A second number displays: 2920. “The current estimated date of arrival on Gaia is 8 years from now.”
When tears of anger spring up in Tony’s eyes, he doesn't bother to wipe them. If there were other people here, he would dispose of them quickly, but there weren't. He was alone.
Alone, alone, alone, alone.
“What about the others, JARVIS?” Tony asks. His hands grip the edge of the console. His voice is shaky.
“What do you mean, Tony?”
“You said that the computer chip that was destroyed controlled not only my pod but others. What about those people?”
“They are all still in hibernation, but we will just have to wait and see, Tony. Director Fury built The Avenger to be foolproof. I am not programmed to know what will happen to those people.”
Tony lets go of the console. “Foolproof my ass. Said the same thing about the Titanic, and look what happened there.”
“I am afraid I don’t know what you mean, Tony.”
Tony waved off the AI’s comment, but then he wondered if JARVIS could really see him. Tony looked back to the glass. It was blank as JARVIS had yet to say something, yet he could tell the AI was just lying in wait.
“You’re sure?” Tony asks. “No one else is awake? Just me?”
Something his father told him when he was younger flashes through his mind: “Measure twice, cut once. Never wrong to be certain, Tony.”
JARVIS actually sounds sympathetic when he speaks. “I’m sorry, Tony. It’s just you. No one else.”
The tears are back.
Alone, alone, alone, alone… alone.