A Second Way
Frost watched as Nebula half carried and half dragged Tony into the cockpit and laid him to rest facing the stars. The assassin herself went back to the engine room and checked the oxygen one last time before sighing and sitting down at the table where she and Tony had been playing their game only a few hours earlier. Frost would be surprised if they even had a few hours left. He tightened his hold on Tony’s helmet.
“So Frosty, I take it Tony spoke with you earlier?” she asked. Frost nodded, though he knew she couldn’t see. He had a feeling that she wasn’t looking for a response anyway. “I know that there’s no way of knowing what comes next after… what comes next. I just want you to know that if we can watch over anything that happens once we’re gone, we’ll be betting on you, snowman,” she said. “Don’t fail us.” With that, she curled on her side and closed her eyes.
Frost wandered the ship aimlessly as Tony and Nebula waited for death, he himself not quite knowing what to do. He knew that he was supposed to be feeling high emotions at this point, but they just didn’t come. They hadn’t for a long time now, but it still felt wrong when he felt only nothing when others were so miserable. He ended up standing beside Tony’s seat and watching the stars from out of the large window. The spirit's eyes narrowed as the space around them began to glow gold, and he jumped back from the window as a bright light shot towards them. Tony grumbled in his sleep and began to stir, the light waking him from his slumber. His eyes widened as he looked out the window to see none other than Carol Danvers in front of him.
Tony and Nebula both stared out the window as Carol carried their ship back to Earth at light speed, and Frost nodded to himself. Two more major players back on the board, along with the confirmation of Carol’s survival. This was good. On Enexion, he had been the spymaster for Mirval. It was his job to know what to do and make plans in situations such as the one he now found himself in. His thoughts raced in his mind as they stumbled off the ship.
“Tony!” Pepper said, running up to embrace the man. “Tony, I was so worried, I-”
“I lost them, Pepper,” he said brokenly. “The kids, they’re gone. I failed them. And Stephen is-” he cut himself off with a sob and Pepper held him closer. Nebula stayed at the back and sat on the ship's ramp. Frost watched as the talking raccoon joined her and tentatively took her hand.
“Tony,” the voice of Steve Rogers said, but the other man ignored him. Good, Frost thought. While he knew that working with Rogers would be non-negotiable, he was still furious on Oliver’s behalf. Now that his host was dead, Frost was going to have to be angry for two people.
They all sat in the compound’s conference room, and Tony felt a lump form in the back of his throat as he took in how small their group now was. He remembered having to build in extra chairs for the junior Avengers. Now half of the chairs weren’t in use.
“Tony, you fought Thanos on Titan. Did he give you any hints? Any possible clues as to where he would go?” Steve asked. Tony felt the urge to punch the other man flow through him but forced it down.
“I didn’t fight him,” he said instead. “I got my ass kicked along with everyone else, it wasn’t a fight. It was annihilation.”
“Tony, I highly doubt that that’s true-”
“Yeah, it fucking was, Steve!” he shouted. “You of all people should remember how good I am at that! We went in with a plan, something went wrong, and I almost ended up dead! So no, I don't have anything of use to offer you! I have nothing left to offer you!” he screamed. He clawed at the arc reactor in his chest until he felt his hands pinned to the table and looked up to see Nebula standing over him.
“Calm yourself,” she said. It was the last thing Tony saw before everything went black.
“Is he going to be alright?” Natasha asked as she watched Tony sleep, his vitals being read on the screen beside him.
“He’s in shock,” Rhodey said. “We have him under sedation for the time being. He’ll be alright.” They lapsed into silence before Natasha turned back to Steve.
“I think it would be best if, for the time being, you keep your distance,” she said. “You aren’t exactly his favorite person, and I doubt that a reminder of old trauma will help him handle the new stuff,” she spoke softly but her expression was clear; stay back, or I end you. Steve nodded and left the room.
“According to Nebula, Frost is back too,” Rhodey said. “Oliver’s dead though, so he’s without a host.” Natasha hummed.
“He’ll probably still be useful to us. Even if he can’t physically fight, his mind is that of a war strategist and spy. He isn’t exactly a liability.” Rhodey nodded.
“Carol and I are gonna go over what we have so far and then call a meeting. I’m gonna guess it’ll take a few hours, so try and be in the conference room bright and early,” he said. Natasha nodded. She doubted that she’d be able to sleep, but she could at least see what was going on in the rest of the world.
Rhodey headed down to where Carol was waiting in the conference room. A slight chill in the air told him that Frost was listening as well.
“Alright, what have we got from space?” he asked.
“Talos is currently with his own people to see how bad the damage is, but he’s going to send in daily updates. From what we saw, it’s the same all around. Everything is broken, and planets are in chaos. I’m going to have to be in and out a lot from now on. Earth isn’t my only charge,” she said. Rhodey nodded.
“I haven't seen any sign of Thanos either. It’s like he just fell off the grid. From what I can tell, he’s still alive though. If he weren't, then I would have been able to pick up the stone’s signal. Clearly, he’s masking them somehow,” Carol concluded.
“Well things here are about as bad as they look,” Rhodey said. “Everyone lost someone, and the world governments are in chaos. Half of the accords council and Avengers Initiative aren’t even here anymore. We haven't heard anything from Scott or Hope, and Clint is currently running around the world with a sword committing mass murder. Things aren’t exactly working in our favor. We’ve got so many problems here, I don’t know how we’re gonna leave to fight Thanos.”
“Well we’re gonna have to figure it out soon, because we can’t have him regaining strength,” Carol said. “If worst comes to worst, we leave some people here and have Wong and Clea portal them up when needed.” They continued to throw out ideas, all of which were hopeless. By the time dawn came, they still had nothing.
~
Peter watched the Shadow Wielder wearily. She was staring at Oliver intently as he told the story of him and Frost, and Peter couldn’t tell whether she was planning on attacking him, or just listening very hard. Stephen hadn’t taken his eyes off of the woman ever since she arrived and Wanda’s magic was pulsing around her. As Oliver finished summing up what happened with Thanos, Jax nodded to herself before turning towards the rest of them.
“So we are trapped in the soul realm,” she said. “I don’t have a whole soul, so why am I permitted here?” she asked. Stephen stepped forward at that, and Jax shifted into a battle stance at the sudden movement, the darkness swirling protectively around her.
“I believe I can answer your question, Ms. Simone,” he said. She slowly lowered her scythe. “The universe wants us to undo what Thanos did to it. To us. Clearly, you are required for that to happen, and so you have been brought here. Given your affinity for darkness, I’m guessing you were sent to the dark dimension after the snap?” he asked. There was a sharp nod in response and Stephen continued. “It must have taken a lot of power to drag you out, so you must be important. Is there anything that the universe told you? Mantis here was told that it was anticipating something. Did you get any similar messages?” Jax stared at a spot above the sorcerer's shoulder for a moment before responding.
“I awoke here with the thought that I wanted Silven Drascoue. I thought it was a strange thought to be having as I am not a friend of Silven’s. An ally when the occasion calls for it, yes, but not a friend.” Stephen nodded.
“Could you summon him here? If you wanted?”
“I suppose I could try,” she said. “I’m too tired right now. I want to sleep,” she said. Wanda stepped forward, and Jax’s head snapped up.
“I can show you where we usually sleep,” she said. Jax eyes her carefully before nodding and allowing herself to be lead away. Peter relaxed only when the shadow lady was clearly gone, and even then he made sure to keep alert.
“Well that was enlightening,” T’Challa said. Bucky nodded his agreement.
“Her energy doesn’t match anything I’ve never encountered before,” Shuri said, running Jax’s energy signature one more time just to be sure.
“That’s because she isn’t from our galaxy,” Oliver replied. “She’s from Enexion, so everything is different. Strange, can you tell if she’s safe to be around?” Stephen shook his head.
“I can't really be sure, but I don’t think we have much of a choice. If the universe wants her here, then she’s here.”
“I am Groot,” Groot said and Quill nodded.
“Yeah, she’s weird,” he agreed.
“She’ll be useful though,” Stephen said. “From the sound of it, her power is great. She’s clearly here to help us fight Thanos.”
“Yeah, or to finish killing us off,” Quill grumbled. Stephen did not bother to try and answer as he himself was not sure what to make of the newcomer.
“Well, whatever happens, will happen,” T’Challa said. “All we know right now is that we have a chance to fix this, and now have more support. Strange, can this be worked into some sort of plan?” he asked. Stephen nodded slowly.
“I believe so. I’ll need some time to figure out Jax’s powers first, but I believe that she will be useful. I’ll let you know what I think once I have trained with her a bit.” T’Challa nodded, but Bucky stepped forward.
“You said that you’d seen all the possible futures. Why weren’t this Jax and Silven present in those visions?” he asked. Stephen looked thoughtful for a moment before answering.
“Yes, I did. I believe that, at the time, this future was not available. Jax says that the universe pulled her out of the dark dimension in order to put her here. I think that they created a new future in which we could win,” Stephen said. Bucky nodded.
“Okay, so then we should take advantage of it. What happened in the future that you saw us winning. What do we need to do?” he asked. Stephen sighed.
“It’s mostly what they do on the outside. The surviving Avengers attempt to get the stones back from Thanos only to find that he destroyed them. They then go back in time to retrieve the stones from key locations on the timeline. Natasha-” he takes a deep breath before continuing, “Natasha dies retrieving the soul stone with Clint.” Silenced echoed and Wanda stared at Stephen in horror.
“W-what next,” Bucky asked, clearly shaken.
“Rhodey and Nebula, one of the Guardians, retrieve the space stone from the past. They steal it from you, actually,” Stephen explained, pointing at Quill. “While there, Nebula’s systems merge with past Nebula’s, and so Thanos is alerted to what is happening. He switches the two so that he has a spy inside the compound and has her bring him and his armies forward to our time.”
“No, h-he can’t!” Peter exclaimed.
“The Avengers don’t know what’s going on, of course, and so Hulk is able to use the stones to undo the snap right before Thanos arrives. The compound ends up destroyed, and the final battle begins.”
“If Thanos is there, how do we win?” Riri asks hopelessly. Stephen looks like he’s on the verge of tears.
“Because of Tony. He gets all the stones, and snaps his fingers.”
“But all that energy-” Wanda begins, unable to finish the sentence upon seeing the look on Stephen’s face.
“It’s the only way,” he said, voice breaking. Tears streamed from Riri’s eyes as she realized what Stephen was saying, and Peter’s face crumpled. T’Challa stepped forward.
“Tony Stark cannot die,” he stated. “He is necessary to the Avengers. Him and him alone is the only reason that we’ve made it this far,” he said. Stephen nodded, wiping his eyes.
“That’s why I’m doing everything in my power to stop that from happening,” he said. I believe that the universe agrees.”
“So Mr. Stark will be alright?” Peter asked. Riri looked up hopefully at that and Stephen patted them both on the shoulder.
“I hope so. If not, then I don’t know what I’ll do.”
Wanda watched Jax carefully. The other woman looked about her age, but she had a feeling that the Shadow Wielder was far older. She recalled what Stephen had told her about the dark dimension granting cursed immortality and shuddered internally. It felt wrong being near such darkness, and it took all her control to keep her powers from lashing out at the shadows that clung to Jax.
“Are you a mage?” Jax asked.
“I’m a sorcerer. I’m training to be one at least,” she replied. She wasn’t quite sure if that was the same thing or not. Jax tilted her head slightly.
“Then why do your powers feel different than that ones?” she asked, jerking her head in Stephen’s direction. Wanda looked down at her hands which were glowing faintly red.
“My powers aren’t that of a regular sorcerer. I got them from one of the infinity stones while his are naturally crafted,” she replied. Jax nodded slightly.
“So we’re both lab rats then,” she said calmly, slowly moving her hand and letting a strand of darkness weave between her fingers. “You don’t trust me,” she stated. “Neither do the others. It’s a good call, I don’t trust me either.”
“How likely is it that you will lose control of the darkness and unleash it on the rest of us?” Wanda asked.
“Highly unlikely in here, the soul realm is keeping a tight grasp on them. It’s why they’re all manifesting; they don’t like it. Out there though? It’s always a possibility. Especially in battle. I can tell you this though, I highly doubt you’d be the one feeling their wrath. The darkness isn’t as cruel as everyone likes to make it out to be. It prefers to hurt those who wrong it rather than just random individuals. If I lose my grasp on it, I believe that it would be Thanos that suffered. Not you.”
“I thought that it was an uncontrollable weapon. The stories Frost told-”
“The only times that Orûk ever saw my powers in action were when Morgalith still had his claws in them, and my mind was still lost to me. His abilities gave him influence over the darkness. He made it into a vicious, volatile, force that not even he could control,” Jax interrupted. Wanda nodded.
“If you're here, then clearly you’re going to be involved in the plan. Dr. Strange believes that you can be useful to us.”
“I can be useful to anybody,” Jax replied, “I assume you will want me to fight Thanos?”
“If it comes down to it, yes. We’ll need all the help we can get,” Wanda answered.
“That probably includes Silven. I’m not sure if he’s been dusted, but if he has then I can probably teleport him here,” Jax said. “Now let me rest. I haven't slept since entering the dark dimension.” With that, the shadows crawled over her like a blanket, and she closed her eyes.
~
“I know you’re there,” Loki said from where he sat alone in the conference room. The Avengers had just left to find Thanos, leaving Loki and the Clea to run the compound in their absence. Loki had been reading a book, trying desperately to keep his mind off of Thanos when he’d felt the temperature of the room drop ten degrees. A patch of the metal table beside him iced over the word ‘Frost’ appeared.
“Hmmm, so I’ve heard. I doubt that’s your real name, though. Care to introduce yourself properly?” the god of mischief asked, putting the book down. There was a moment of nothing until more ice crawled over the pre-written word and something else was carved in.
“Orûk,” Loki said. “Interesting. I think I’ve heard of you, you know. Enexion isn’t a very common place to study on Asgard, but I did a bit of research. From what I hear, you and I can relate to a few things,” he said. Tell me, what did it feel like having your own mind ripped from your grasp,” Loki said. He got no response.
“Oh very well,” he sighed. “I guess we’re doing this the fun way.” With that, he closed his eyes and pushed himself into his astral form.
The room looked different in astral form, and Loki took a moment to look around before letting his eyes settle on the now visible Frost. He looked like he did when taking full control of Oliver’s conscious, except made entirely out of ice.
“Do you really need an answer?” he asked. His voice sounded echoey and strange, and Loki couldn’t be sure if it was his actual voice or just the way that his astral form perceived it. “Last I checked, you knew all about what it felt like,” he said. Loki shrugged.
“I haven’t exactly had anyone to compare experiences with. Nebula was tricked with words, not magic, and asking Barton would just be cruel.”
“Well given that you traveled all the way into another dimension, I suppose I’m obligated to respond,” Frost said. “If you must know, I barely remember any of it. Even now, I only see flashes,” he admits. “You though, you can remember everything, can’t you? The torture at Thanos’ hands. The feeling of helplessness in New York. I know what kind of twisted mind beings such as Thanos posses. They take joy in watching their play-things fall apart. He wanted to break you, and he succeeded,” Orûk said in his normal, blunt fashion. His voice was not unkind, and Loki could hear a kind of understanding in it.
“Who did you know, then? What being could possibly rival Thanos?”
“Many,” was a simple reply. Loki could tell he would be getting no other response. He stayed in his astral form with Orûk until the others returned home, and found himself sinking back into once he heard the news; Thanos had destroyed the stones. There would be no reversing the snap.