Disclaimer: Don't own. Please don't sue.
This story will be heavy in Tony, and later in Iron!Dad and Spider!Son. It's gen, but hey whatever you'd like to read into it, go right ahead.
This is a sort-of-fix-it for Infinity War. And for some of the dysfunction in the team, too (I'm looking at you Civil War). Sort of as in it involves time travel- and changing things- so things will change drastically due to timeline changes. I don't want to give anything away, if you want to know more PM me.
This is therapy for me, so it will end up with fluffy outlook, but hopefully not OOC and will have plenty of ups and downs.
VERY handwavy science, and wibbly wobbly timey wimey. I play with the timeline a bit for some things, but not much.
I have no beta, so all mistakes are mine (I try to catch them, but don't always.)
I love concrit if it's respectful. If you're a good writer, let me know what I can improve on in your opinion.
And here we go!
Tony took a deep breath and fired everything he had.
As expected, everything in the general vicinity was blown back by a wave of light and energy. Windows in nearby buildings were blown out; car alarms out on the street added to the symphony of chaos that was the a major scale emergency response. Tony, in his suit, was blown hard into a wall and then falling forward back into the alley where he came to rest.
He laid there for a few seconds, attempting to gain his bearings; he heard the others do the same. He was blocks away, hidden in a trash filled alley between two buildings, but he could hear the sirens, the military jets and helicopters now flying overhead, the occasional sounds of terrified people screaming names of people they desperately hoped to find.
Regaining his feet and looking around, Tony took stock of the others. All were getting up, shaking it off. Maybe they actually did it without losing any more people. They had already lost so much.
"Is that it?" Ant-Man asked, leaning back tiredly against the filthy wall of one of the buildings. He lightly kicked a body of one of their foes lying dead next to him.
"It was the last two stones, at least. I'm not sure what to expect now, though. Not really. Though I think if the worst option of what we discussed were the case it would have already happened." Banner was standing but had his hands on his knees, looking a bit dazed. Relief, and a good dose of apprehension, was painted on his haggard face.
Tony didn't feel all that well himself, to be honest. He'd been running on no sleep, little food, adrenaline- and grief- for so long, he wasn't quite sure how he was actually still standing. The completion of the mission was a great balm to him; but like Bruce he knew to be wary of what to expect now. He felt a wave of disorientation roll through him, but it was gone a few seconds later so shrugged it off as exhaustion.
"The important thing is that we did it. We all knew the risks of what could happen. We knew we could be stuck here. We accepted that risk." Though he obviously tried to emphasise confidence in his words in an obvious attempt to shore up the others, Steve sounded uncertain. This was out of his wheelhouse, Tony knew, and Steve did not like the inability to control what was happening.
"Aye. We can stand tall, knowing we prevented catastrophe, whatever may happen." Thor, meanwhile, was pure satisfaction. He'd lost the most out of everyone. He had sharpened his grief into a sharp weapon and had used that to fuel his fight over the past six months. Knowing he succeeded, where had one failed, had obviously brought him some sense of closure; at least for now.
Tony felt a stronger wave of dizziness hit right then, and felt himself sway. He heard a groan from Scott as well, and a quite "Woah!" from Steve.
"Is this some kind of side effect from being so near the stones as they were destroyed?" Thor asked, as he stumbled to stand nearer to Bruce, putting out a hand when it looked like he might fall.
"Very well could be." Carol came around the corner, one had on the wall to help her keep steady. "Some residual energy waves, maybe."
Scott retched near his wall, and Tony had a hard time not doing the same. He flipped his face plate up, hoping air might help; the stench from the nearby dumpster and a few of the dead enemy had him gagging instead. God, he had forgotten how bad these things smelled.
He stumbled out of the alley, away from the dumpster and closer to where the others were standing near the road. He had gotten further into the alley to get the shot off using his unibeam but guessed that the suit had protected him a bit from whatever was causing this as he didn't seem to be worse off than the others. He really didn't feel any better, either.
Looking up and down the road, the destruction here wasn't as bad as it was elsewhere, but there was certainly damage and people hurt. There were more bodies of their enemies in road as well where Carol and the others had kept them at bay while Tony was off getting what they needed. They hadn't expected to have to fight-the idea was to not even be seen- but unfortunately the enemy was aware of their presence somehow and attacked.
"Or maybe a medical result, maybe it gave our brains a good shake" Bruce said. "That was quite a strong shockwave."
"First priority then, find someplace to rest. We can figure out our next steps once we all aren't so disoriented," Cap stated. He had pulled Scott away from the wall and was semi-keeping him upright, though he himself wasn't looking as steady as he normally was. His normally pale complexion, which had already been looking sickly due to months of fighting and stress, was now almost grey.
"I own a few buildings we can hole up in for now in the area. Most of the places with living quarters are in Manhattan, not here in Queens, but to be honest as long as I can get vertical soon I think I'll be happy." Tony really wished he was vertical now, to be honest. The disorientation was still coming in waves, but it never left now, just receded.
Closing his eyes and nodding, Steve agreed. "Sounds like a plan to me. Where's the nearest, preferably without people? I don't think any of us are in much shape to travel far. And we still have to pick up Natasha and Rocket; we can't leave them where they're at. Especially with her so injured, she can't get around on her own with that broken leg."
Tony opened his mouth to answer, but instead got hit with a wave of vertigo so strong he went to his knees to avoid just falling over. His hearing and vision whited out, but as it slowly came back he found the others in the same position. This time, though, the disorientation did not recede but a little. He would not be able to stand.
"What the hell is this!" Carol yelled out. Though she had taken a knee and had her head in her hands, her voice sounded more annoyed than afraid, though certainly a bit of fear was in there as well.
"I'm starting to think this is not just a side effect," Bruce groaned, falling completely onto the ground now.
Tony agreed, but knew if he opened his mouth to make a verbal reply he'd be sick. He was on all fours now, still in the suit. The waves were coming no more than a few seconds apart now, and getting more and more intense. He knew he was going to black out soon. He could no longer hear the others, just his own pulse and white noise.
Then everything went black.
In the alley, it was suddenly quiet save for an occasional paper being blown around in the wind and a terrified alley cat taking the chance to get out of the alley from underneath the dumpster. It had been afraid of the strange people, but as they had simply disappeared in the blink of an eye it felt safe enough to come out of cover.
As it rounded the corner, it was startled back into hiding by the appearance of heavily armed men.
"I don't understand why this group broke free and attacked over here. It was like they were looking for something, and there's nothing here," one of the men said, sounding puzzled as he kept his gun up and ready. They were dressed in combat gear, the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem clear on the arm.
Keeping his eyes open to their surroundings, one of the men replied. "Something was here though. The helicarrier reported strange energy readings near here, and people are reporting that there was a group of people fighting them on this street. Apparently even Iron Man was here for a bit before he must have went back to the main battle. Don't know where they went though."
They carefully turned into the alley to clear it, keeping alert.
"That's why Fury sent us over here, instead of having the civvies clean this up. Something was definitely here," another replied.
"Well, there's nothing here now, except a few of these dead aliens which are about to make me barf they smell so bad," the first one said, gagging. Finding nothing of further interest in the now cleared alley, they headed back out to the street to continue clearing the area.
The second guy agreed. "Yeah, they are some ugly fuckers. Bates up on the helicarrier heard that they're called Chitauri. At least that's what that other alien asshole called them."
"How'd he hear that?" One of them asked, coming back from clearing a blown out store front.
"He was monitoring the radio frequency Iron Man and those other guys were using. And get this- that really was Captain America! The real one! They thawed him out of ice or something. Fury teamed them all up together. Get this- they're called the Avengers! Earth has their own superhero team as of today!"
Continuing on down the road, they chatted excitedly; still keeping enough discipline to make sure no trouble came at them, but excited to share the details of the first alien encounter that was public . Most people were hiding, or gone from the area, Leaving cars with the ignition still on, doors wide open, and businesses unattended.
A small store on the corner was one left unattended, the men only glancing at the front page of the newspaper for today left out on sale. It featured a headline about an attack in Stuttgart Germany, where a lone man had attacked a gala yesterday, but was stopped by Iron Man and a man in a Captain America uniform. It was dated March 3rd, 2012.