Tony was sleeping in his lab when he saw him first.
He’d awoken- but not quite awoken- exactly where he’d fallen asleep. But the details were magnified- the air of joy he felt when he’d discovered something that would change the world- or when Peter popped by after school with a new idea, ranting about a dog he’d found on patrol last night and: ‘Oh my gosh Mr. Stark he was just so fluffy!’
The wall that usually held his old suits and designs instead opened to windows- sunlight streamed in, and he absently noticed the lack of weight in his chest, the lack of a reactor digging its claws into his heart.
When he did, something lit up with joy, something… something felt whole for the first time in a while. Something selfish and barren, sure, but whole.
He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, drinking everything in.
“Nice, isn’t it?”
He jumped at the sudden intrusion, the voice shaking the calmness in the room to its foundation. “Who are you?”
Light formed the glowing shape of a yellow pyramid, the single eye in the middle glinting with delight, the hands deftly spinning a bent black cane. A black top hat and bowtie made him have this air of- almost benevolence, or maybe a semblance of charm. But… slightly colder. The room was having no effect of warming that up.
It reminded him of his time as the Merchant of Death.
“Name’s Bill! You like it?” He gestured to the room, the cane only accentuating the changes that separated it from reality.
“I-”
There was a laugh from the floating yellow... dorito? “Of course you do! It’s made for you!” The frankly ominous statement dissolved into giggles. “That was a stupid question!”
“It kind of was.” Tony found himself laughing with the… thing.
It almost felt cozy.
After a few minutes, just as his lungs were giving way due to lack of oxygen, the floating dorito demon wiped a tear from his eye with one last chuckle.
“Oho, I certainly haven’t laughed that hard in a while. And certainly not at myself!”
Tony tried to bring his thoughts back together. “You didn’t answer my question. Who are you?”
“Didn’t I tell you? Name’s Bill!”
“What, no last name? Middle? Social security number? Mother’s maiden name?” He tried to keep it light, although he was starting to get a vibe that this wasn’t a normal dream.
“Cipher, no, I don’t think so, and I have no idea! I love how your brain works… aha! Reactor!”
Um, what? “Reactor?”
“Oh! I give nicknames to people I know. You don’t mind, do you?”
He could have easily said no.
But he didn’t.
“It’s not the weirdest nickname I’ve had.”
The glowing triangle brightened, as if he was happy. “Excellent! I didn’t want to break my lucky streak!”
The room started to dim.
“Welly well well! You’re waking up. See you on the flipside, Reactor!”
--------
He woke up on his desk, a receipt for… something stuck to his forehead. Ugh. Cheap ink.
He figured out why he had woken up though.
A call from Rhodey.
He gestured for FRIDAY to let it through.
“Rhodeybear! How are you! Haven’t seen you in ages!”
He grabbed an offered cup of coffee from DUM-E and took a sip.
Hey, no motor oil.
[Not bad. Nice to see you Tones.]
Even as caffeine deprived as he was even he could notice that something was wrong. “What’s wrong Honeybuns? Bad day at the office?”
Speaking of which- oh, hey, it was ten at night. Great. He’d been asleep for… half an hour.
[A day, one that isn’t even over yet. That had better be decaf, Tones.]
He peered into it. “I think it might be. Or it could be motor oil. You never know. I think I have Schrodinger’s coffee cup.”
A chuckle from the screen, and he had to bite back his smile. Success.
[Only you would be drinking motor oil with a straight face, Tony.]
He flashed a smirk and leaned back in the chair dramatically. “That’s what I’m here for, Honeybuns.”
[I’m at work, Tony, c’mon.]
He rolled his eyes and took another sip. “Fine. Colonel Honeybuns. That’ll get the higher-ups excited.”
A half-laugh. Aha. A challenge.
“They can meet over dark chocolate brownies and gossip about the Colonels. Honeybuns and… Terrier?”
[Perriot, actually.]
“Aha! Clownguy! Colonel Clownguy, at your service! They’ll be gossiping all day- Honeybuns and Clownguy, dynamic duo!”
[Damn it Tony-] But he was already laughing.
“On another topic, wanna hear ‘bout a weird dream I had?”
[I dunno, do I?]
He gave him a look full of mock hurt. “Rhodey-bear! You wound me!”
[Fine, fine, tell me.]
He turned around to start fiddling with his most recent modifications to his suit.
“Well, I was in the lab-”
[Of course you were.]
“Now, now, wait! I’m not done! There was this weird triangle dude, who asked my for my mother’s maiden name and social security number!”
[Oh my god- even your dreams are as weird as you are. I have a meeting coming up, so I gotta go, but Tony?]
“Yes Honeybuns?”
[Get some sleep, alright?]
Yeah, yeah. He probably would one way or the other. “Have fun at your boring meeting, Rhodeybear!”
The call disconnected, and some of his usual music came through the speakers.
Time to get to work.
---------
The glowing yellow triangle became a recurring character in his dreams.
Witty. Funny. Satirical. Pretty damn smart, if he could keep up with his ramblings without batting an eye. But he was part of his subconscious after all, if a weird one.
They had a chat in Siberia. When he was lying half-dead in the snow. He was glad he’d taken the reactor out.
“Reactor? What are you- oh they DARED?!”
He almost saw… a moment of fear? It was weird. He’d never seen Bill show an emotion other than maniacal glee before. And that flash of red-hot anger. Literally red too- that was a neat trick.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to see it again.
Then he learned about Thanos.
But, somehow, there were no nightmares that night. Just the comfort of the Other Lab, and Bill.
“What’s beating ya, Reactor?”
The usual lack of inflection didn’t faze him.
“There’s this… destroyer of worlds. Thanos.”
He didn’t notice the way Bill’s eye darkened at his words, the triangle uncharacteristically quiet for once.
“Well what are you gonna do about it? You’re smart, aren'tcha?” There was a hint of bitterness.
“I’m not that smart. He has these Infinity Stones- we won’t stand a chance. And with what happened with the team-”
“Ya want help?”
Silence. Tony looked at him.
“You’re a part of my subconscious. What can you do to help?”
A mirthless chuckle.
“Pal, I ain’t your subconscious. But we’re friends, you and I, right? Next time you’re here, let me offer you a deal.”
He didn’t have the time to ask any more questions before he was woken up by alarms.
Great. Another riot.
He’d better suit up.
---------
“What are you?”
This time they sat on the roof of his Tower where his launch pad used to sit, back when he still had it. It was a welcome change of scenery.
Bill pondered the skyline.
“You know when I said I wasn’t your subconscious?”
“Yeah. You’re not an alien, are you?”
A laugh. “That’s a complicated thing to answer, Reactor. I’m not an alien, but not one of your meatsack humans though, no.”
“Then what are you?”
“I’m a dream demon. Pop in, pop out, nobody the wiser.”
“And why are you talking to me?”
“A guy gets bored every once and awhile. Besides, I find you interesting. I can’t say that ‘bout a lot of people.”
A beat of silence. “I’m honored?”
Another laugh, longer this time.
“Ya want my help?”
And that was the first deal he made with Bill Cipher.
Bill worked while he slept. Wrote on his notes. Made prototypes.
FRIDAY was muted after the third time she told Bill to sleep, that he was acting strange.
Tony wasn’t sure that was the right decision, but he certainly got results.
----------
It took him three days to notice the diagrams. The Circles. The numbers.
When he found out, he asked Bill.
“A last case-scenario. If you need my help. I’ll come.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Seriously?”
“You betcha.” His normally peppy words fell flat.
That was the first time he’d asked if Bill Cipher was alright.
That was not the first lie he was told in return.
But the others were ones Bill was starting to regret.
-----------
Bill was working when the news came of something nearing Earth’s orbit.
He cursed through Reactor’s mouth.
There wasn’t time!
Wait.
There was! Ol’ Sixer had designed it… ages ago.
He’d have better odds if he was here instead of through Reactor, but he might have a plan.
Time to activate Plan C.
He had just finished putting the final pieces together and the last of the instructions down when time started again.
He swapped out.
----------
Tony looked at the instructions in shock.
What the-
Oh. OH. This was genius.
“Bill you fantastic floating dorito.”
He almost could feel Bill’s grin.
They might have a chance.
----------
He flew to the Sanctum in his new suit.
There was a doctor to see.
He knocked on the door.
“Hello? Is the doctor-” His surroundings abruptly changed. “-in. Company's approaching soon, Doc.”
“I am aware, Doctor Stark. If you have any ideas on how to fix this problem-”
“You know of someone called Bill Cipher?”
--------
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Come on, Doc! This is literally the best chance we have.”
“Have you even done research on that creature? He’s a literal demon, Stark. A world destroyer. You can’t just pit two against each other and expect-”
“I dunno, I think he’s pretty alright.”
“You’ve talked to him?!”
He hummed an agreement. “Doesn’t seem like someone who’d destroy worlds. Shifty, sure, but he’s rather nice once you get to know him.”
A deep sigh. “Only you would think a literal dream demon was nice.”
“What can I say? I’m a fan of powerful people.”
“He razes dimensions for fun. There’s a bit of a difference.”
Tony sighed behind his sunglasses. This wasn’t going anywhere.
Mind if I but in?
Eh, why not.
---------
Bill looked at the magician.
“I have to say, you might want to take my ideas into consideration.”
“No, Stark.”
He let out a sigh and clapped his hands together a few times. “Not Reactor anymore, keep up! Keep up! If we just use this-” He took out a red journal from the shelves and flipped through it.
“You- he made a deal?! With you?! Don’t touch that!”
The overlaps between worlds were very convenient. He opened the compartment and showed him. “All we have to do is-”
“No, Cipher. By the power vested in me by the Ancient One-”
“Just hear me out Magician! I hate Thanos as much as the next guy! If you want to survive this round, you need help!”
“No.”
“14 million possibilities- and you’re not going to accept the help?”
A pause. “Give Dr. Stark back his body. Now.”
He sighed. “Fine. You might want to keep the circle in mind though.”
A blink, and the yellow in his eyes was gone, replaced with brown.
“Did you agree?”
“No. That’s insane.”
Tony groaned. “It’s the best chance we have! If he can help-”
“He’s not going to help! He’s just going to join Thanos and destroy the rest of the universe while he’s at it! You haven’t thought this through!”
“I don’t have time to think this through! We are part of Earth’s last line of defense here, and we need to take any advantage we can get!”
There were a few seconds of silence.
“No. Not until we figure out what can go wrong. Now-“
There was a crash somewhere in the building, and they ran to go find the source of the noise.
——————
“You’re telling me you have a way to stop Thanos… and you’re not using it because there’s a chance it might backfire?”
“Yep.”
“You’re focusing on the wrong part of the sentence Banner-“
They were broken off by screaming outside.
The things got very, very busy.
----------
Thanos appeared.
Cue a slight moment of panic.
“Strange. Come on.”
“No.”
“Strange-”
“I said no, Stark.”
“What’s going on?”
Ohhh he really wished, not for the first time, that the kid had just stayed home…
Well. They were in quite the rough spot.
He was pretty sure it was just the time for Plan C.
------------
Bill switched out, expertly flipping the miniscule triggers along the side of one arm, eyeing the distance between them and the nearing Titan.
“Sorry, but you didn’t have to agree. He wanted to leave you the choice.”
Strange looked like his inner monologue was suddenly full of swearing. “Bill, no-”
“Wait, what?”
“I’d stand back if I were you, Dumbles. Sorry Spider-kid, haven’t thought of a nickname for you yet, but yeah, do that too. All of you probably should, really.”
Strange was definitely Dumbledore. Reactor was right on the mark with that one. He knew he liked him for a reason. Okay okay… tagalongs were out of reach...
Now….
He spoke the words by heart, carefully watching the way that Thanos’s nostrils flared in fury as he realized that something was at work.
Spider-kid’s brain looked like it was working a mile a minute.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. Holy SHI-”
Oh great. Another Pinetree.
He finished the last bit just as Thanos’s head turned and the carvings etched into the nanotech flared arc-reactor blue...
And everything went white.