I had been repeatedly saying to my mum that 'as long as Tony doesn't die in Endgame, I'll be fine'.
…WELL I'M NOT FINE!
I knew that getting attached to fictional characters was a stupid move. I knew I'd get hurt, it's happened before. But then I watched the marvel films and fell in love with all of them (especially Tony and Peter)...and now I'm heartbroken. Like, I was genuinely grieving for like a week after Endgame. I just couldn't handle Tony being dead.
(Disclaimer: I obviously don't own the Marvel comics or films, or their characters. Tony wouldn't be dead if I did)
Chapter 1.
How did Bruce end up in space?
Tony blinks his eyes open, letting out a breath. He doesn't remember falling asleep last night…or was it this morning? Either way, it's not like it's unusual for him to not remember falling asleep.
However, what is unusual, now that he's becoming more aware, is that he's waking up on the ground. That's not right. Not unless he passed out, which he's pretty sure didn't happen because he doesn't remember feeling dizzy.
He looks around and notices two things right of the bat. One, he isn't in his lab or any room at the compound. He's in a room that's maybe only 10 or 15 meters wide all the way around, that has a bunch of chairs and a huge screen on one wall. And two, there are a bunch of other people laying on the ground, also sleeping…or maybe knocked out.
His chest is hit with a sudden thud of pain as he starts to panic. He's in an unknown room, in an unknown location, with a group of unknown people and he has absolutely no clue how he got here.
Sitting up, Tony takes a few controlled breaths to keep himself composed, and he looks around at his unconscious companions. Upon closer inspections he realises that they aren't unknown…
His breathing gets caught in his throat as he looks at the rouges. The people who had once been his friends…family even. His eyes narrow in on Barnes and Rogers. The man who killed his parents…his mother, and the man who lied about it.
Tony will admit that now, nearly two years later, he has somewhat come to terms with Barnes killing his parents. Well no, not come to terms with it…more he gets that it wasn't really Barnes, it was Hydra…he was just their weapon of choice. If they hadn't of used Barnes, they would have used someone or something else to kill them.
Though knowing that doesn't make seeing Barnes any easier. Or make the anger burning inside him cool down. Especially at the sight of Rogers.
Barnes was brainwashed so he didn't know what he was doing, but Rogers did. He freely kept the information away from him, and they were supposed to be friends.
Hell, if Rogers had told him about Barnes and his parents when he had found out, then maybe he wouldn't have been so blindsided at the video Zemo played.
However, it was two years too late for 'ifs' and 'maybes'.
A groan coming from his left makes Tony look over sharply and he see's that it isn't just him and the rouges. Rhodey and Peter are here as well.
There is also another man, the one who groaned, who Tony doesn't recognise at all…who's wearing a …cape? Wow. That's some style choice.
When the man with the cape groans again and begins to shift, Tony shuffles closer to Peter and Rhodey to protect them in case this guy isn't a friendly. He taps the reactor, that is storing his nano suit, and his heart thumps harshly against his rib cage when his suit doesn't appear. If he hasn't got his suit, he's not protected. Peter and Rhodey aren't protected.
Where the hell is his suit!? Why is it not coming out?
Tony doesn't like whatever the hell is going on here at all.
Cape guy sits up quickly, his hands coming up in front of him and starts waving them around. Tony watches as the man frowns at his hands, before he waves them around again but more firmly.
"Having fun?" Tony asks, an eyebrow raised.
Cape guy whips his head around to face Tony, "Stark?"
"Yep" Tony's not worry that the stranger knows his name, because who doesn't know him?
He watches the strange cape wearing man look around the room at all the other occupants before looking back at him, "what's going on?"
"Don't look at me" Tony shrugs keeping his face as blank as possible. He doesn't particular want this stranger or the rouges seeing that he's almost completely freaking out on the inside, "I woke up here too, Mr Cape".
"This isn't a cape, it's a cloak" the stranger rolls his eyes, his tone bored, "I'm doctor Stephen Strange".
"What a strange name" Tony clips and Strange glares at him.
Before either man can say anything else there is movement from the other side of the room. Movement in the form of a super solider flinching awake.
Steve wakes up with a start. His gut is screaming at him that something is wrong. He doesn't remember falling asleep…and even if he did, he can feel that this isn't the room he would have gone to bed in.
He hears voices…one he doesn't know, but the other…he knows that voice, it's Tony. Why is he hearing Tony?
He sit's up and looks towards where he heard Tony's voice and he see's the man staring back at him. He see's a flicker of panic and fear in the man's eyes for a second, and it hits Steve hard that the man who had been his friend, was now fearful of him…not that he didn't have a right to be. They had fought, quite viciously, and Steve really regrets it. He wishes it had never happened…but he couldn't let Tony hurt Bucky.
Tony was his friend, but Bucky…he was his brother.
He eyes move away from Tony for a moment and he notices that they aren't alone. Bucky is here, as well as Sam and Nat, and the other ex-avengers. Plus, next to Tony a…kid? That is a little odd.
Steve looks over at Bucky, who is starting to shift, and then looks back at Tony, who is looking more tense as he seems to have noticed that Bucky is waking up.
God, he hopes that there isn't another fight. He doesn't want to fight with Tony, not again. Not when he didn't even want to the first time.
"Rogers" Tony's voice is hard, though he's almost certain he heard a slight waver, with an underlaying tone of anger.
"Tony" he says with a what he hopes is a friendly tone.
"Oh, for crying out loud" the man with the cape mutters with annoyance, who, apart from the kid, is the only person Steve doesn't know "I'm not getting involved in your lovers spat".
"Lovers spat?" Tony makes the kinds of face people make when they've stepped in dog poo.
The man rolls his eyes as he stands up and looks around the room.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Steve watches him carefully, standing to his feet himself. He notices Bucky quietly sitting up, moving slowly and warily, trying not to alert Tony to him being awake just yet, and taking in the whole room and the people inside it.
"Doctor Strange. I'm the sorcerer charged with guarding the New York Sanctum".
"Sorcerer? As in…you're a wizard. You wave your magic wand and turn people into toads?" Tony looks at Dr Strange incredulously," seriously?"
"I'm not a wizard, I'm a sorcerer. I don't have a magic wand" Strange glares at Tony, which is kind of all Strange has been doing since he woke up Steve realises.
"Well whatever" Tony stands up, but stays firmly planted were he was sat, in front of Rhodey and the boy, "why don't you work your 'magic' and get us out of here then".
Strange looks as though he contemplating killing Tony, "don't you think I've already tried that? My sling ring is missing, and I can't channel any mystical energy".
"Was that what you were doing before? When you were waving you arms around like a loony? Channelling your mystical energy?"
Steve quickly steps in before Strange actually does try to kill Tony, "so you can't get out of here?"
"No" Strange frowns, looking around frustratedly, "why don't you use your suit and get us out Stark".
"Loved to…but just like your 'magic' it's not working" Tony huffs out.
"Do either of you know how you got here?" Steve asks.
Strange shakes his head, "no. I don't even remember-".
"Falling asleep?" Tony finishes, "neither do I".
"I'm guessing that all of us probably don't remember fallin' asleep. Just waking up here with no idea how" Bucky comments, staying sat on the ground and trying to make himself look as none threatening as possible because he doesn't want to freak Stark out. He knows Steve will just tell him it wasn't his fault That it wasn't really him… But it was him that killed Starks parents, so he had every right to react the way he did.
Stark visibly flinches and tense at the sound of his voice. He notices that the man takes a slight shuffle back away from him, even though they are already on opposite side of the room.
"I can't speak for everyone else, but yep…that's what happened to me" the guy who had grown huge at the airport, Scott, spoke up as he wakes up, scratching his head, "cool cape", he looks over at Strange.
The sorcerer just turns away, muttering what is probably curse words, as everyone else in the room starts to come to.
"Mr…Mr Stark?" Peter looks up at Tony with his big brown eyes filled with confusion, but also a smidge of relief at the sight of his mentor, "what's going on?" Not only was he in a room that he had no knowledge of getting in, but the room was filled with avengers…or well, ex-avengers. He was freaking out slightly, not sure whether he should be excited or scared.
"Not sure yet kid" Tony sighs as he pulls Peter to his feet, keeping the boy as far away from Rogers and Barnes as he can. He lowers his voice so only Peter should be able to her, "stay close to me".
Peter nods and instinctively moves closer to Mr Stark as the man helps Rhodey to his feet since his leg braces made it a little awkward.
"I can't see any doors or windows" Natasha observes the room.
"The vents are too small to fit through" Clint adds.
"If I had my suit, I could have fit" Scott sighs.
"What the hell is going on" Tony is trying really hard to keep his panic on the inside and not freak out. Though it was hard because he was outnumbered, there is only him, Rhodey and Peter. Vision isn't going to want to fight Wanda again, android is smitten with the witch, and he's pretty sure Dr magic would just sit out and glare at all of them. He seems fond of doing that. Glaring.
"That's what I'd like to know" Sam shakes his head and he stands up.
"I think I can answer that for you".
All the hero's in the room froze and tensed at the unfamiliar voice that sounded around the room.
"Please tell me that you guys heard that too" Scott's widen eyes look up at the ceiling.
"Yes Scott, they all heard me too".
"The random voice knows my name…"
"If the random voice can get us all here with out us knowing about it, I think it's safe to say that it'll know our names" Rhodey points out.
"I'm sorry about this, it's just…I've seen Endgame and as truly spectacular as it is, a true masterpiece, I don't like the ending. It's too sad and it left me feeling broken, So, I figured that getting you guys here would be a good idea".
"Yeah, because locking me in a small room with the guy that killed my mum is a real good idea" Tony bites, and Steve and Bucky flinch.
"I'm sorry, really I am, I know it's uncomfortable for you…but you guys need to work your shit out and work together to stop Thanos now, so that Endgame doesn't have to happen, again as amazing as it is, and I don't have to go through that emotional roller-coaster".
"What the hell is going on? And who the hell are you?" Sam asks.
"I am just a girl, who got way to attached to a bunch of characters, who wants a happier ending. I mean I get why they did what they did. He started the whole thing, so it's fitting he should end it…but I just can't deal with it. I need him alive. I've become way to emotional invested in you guys, so you all need to live".
All the hero's share confused glances with each other.
"Wait…all of us to live? So, some of are going to die?" Peter frowns.
"Who?" Steve's eyes move across the room looking at all his friends and teammates.
"Sorry, but spoilers…well I've already spoiled a bit already but telling you guys who dies in endgame won't help matters, nor does it matter because we are going to stop it from happening".
"So…your trying to save us" Clint asks slowly, not really believing what the voice was saying.
"Yes".
"How exactly? Cause once again, locking us in a room…doesn't seem good or helpful" Tony glares at the ceiling.
"Well if I didn't lock you in, you'd leave".
"I take it you are the reason why I don't have my powers, or Stark has his suit?" Strange raises an eyebrow.
"Yep, figured it was safer if no one had any weapons and such".
"Back to how this is supposed to help us" Natasha folds her arms across her chest.
"Right, yes. I figured that showing you what's going to happen if don't work together might be effective in getting you to understand just what's at stake".
"So, you're going to show us this Endgame?" Rhodey makes his way to a seat, as good as the leg braces Tony made him are, there's still a limit to how long he can take standing up.
"No, I'm showing you Infinity war, because hopefully with you guys working together Endgame will never happen. Thanos and his children will be stopped".
"Is anyone else just as confused now as they were at the start of this?" Scott asks, but they all ignore him.
"If you would all like to take a seat, I will show you what will happen to not just you guys, but the whole galaxy, if you don't get your acts together…expect you Peter, you're a sweetheart".
Peter ducks his head, a pink blush spreading across his face, as Tony snorts a chuckle. He herds the blushing spider-child into the chair that is furthest away from Rogers and Barnes, planting himself in the one next to him, so that he's between Peter and the soldiers, with Rhodey next to him.
Tony honestly has no idea what to make of what's going on and is only slight at ease knowing that no one has any weapons because the old guys are still super soldiers. However, this voice mentioned someone dying and something happening to the galaxy, so if whatever they are going to been shown can stop whatever's going to happen…then he'll sit here for now.
Bucky sits at the other end of the room, knowing that Stark would not be happy if he was any closer, and Steve sits next to him with Sam sitting next to Steve. Clint and Natasha sit together at the back, Dr Strange also sitting at the back but alone. Wanda and Vision sit together just behind Steve, while Scott just sits right in the middle.
"I'd say 'hope you enjoy the movie' but I very much doubt that you will".
The room goes dark for a moment before the screen in front of them turns on and a bunch of cartoon like images flicker on the screen. Those images turn in to real life images of them and other people that they've never met.
As little videos move on the screen, sound starts playing…a voice, talking.
"This is the Asgardian refugee vessel Statesman. We are under assault, I repeat, we are under assault - The engines are dead, life support failing. Requesting aid from any vessel within range. We are 22 jump points out of Asgard".
"Wait Asgard? Thor's home?" Tony frowns, as the watch the images on the screen turn into the word 'Marvel' before going black for a second.
Then the screen fades into a very damaged looking ship getting hit with some blue bolts of something, and the voice from the start becoming more desperate.
"Our crew is made up of Asgardian families, we have very few soldiers here. This is not a warcraft. I repeat, this is not a warcraft!"
The screen changes to the inside of the ship, and everyone get's an uneasy feeling when they see fire and bodies scattered all around.
"Hear me, and rejoice. You have had the privilege of being saved by the Great Titan... You may think this is suffering... No. it is salvation. Universal scales tip toward balance because of your sacrifice" an ugly looking thing with no nose comes on screen as another ugly thing stabs someone on the ground, "Smile… For even in death, you have become Children of Thanos".
"What the hell man…" Sam mutters, eyes wide.
"The voice said something about a Thanos before" Vision remembers.
"How is killing these people salvation?" Peter asks.
"Crazy people, Pete…it's the kind of thing bad people and crazy people think" Tony throws his arm around the back of Peter's chair.
The screen moves around to show Loki.
"You have got to be kidding me" Clint growls, "isn't that bastard supposed to be dead!"
"Go figure he'd be involved in some mass killing scheme" Tony huffs.
The screen moves around to show a large form looking out of a window.
"I know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right... yet to fail, nonetheless" they watch as the purple giant lifts some poor person, presumably Asgardian, by the neck of their armour, "It's frightening. Turns the legs to jelly. I ask you, to what end? Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now, it's here. Or should I say... I AM".
"I'm going to take a guess and say that maybe this is Thanos" Rhodey says.
They watch as Thanos lifts up his hand, which has some sort of gauntlet on it, with a glowing purple stone.
Both Dr Strange and Vision frown at the sight, Vision wincing slightly as the Mind stone twinges.
The camera moves down to show Thanos holding the person from earlier with just his one hand.
"Holy crap!" Scott shouts, "isn't that Thor!"
"My God" Steve mutters.
"What happened to his hair?...and his eye?" Peter's eyes widen, "…wait, if this guy can take down Thor, who's a God…how powerful is he?"
Everyone in the room freezes at that terrifying question, because they aren't as strong as a God. They only person who could bet Thor was the Hulk…and he's disappeared.
"You talk too much" blood drips from Thor's mouth.
Thanos looks at Loki, "the Tesseract, or your brother's head. I assume you have a preference".
"Oh, I do. Kill away!"
"You son of a bitch!" Clint yells.
"I know the dudes crazy…but he's not actually going to let his brother die…right?" Scott looks around at everyone.
"The guys tried to kill Thor himself so take that as you will" Natasha glares at the screen.
Thanos presses the gauntlet to Thor's temple. The purple stone glows brightly and Thor starts to scream. Loki starts to shift uncomfortably, looking increasingly worried the longer it goes on.
"ALL RIGHT, STOP!" Loki shouts.
"That's surprising" Tony comments, as he and everyone else are all surprised that Loki cracked and didn't let Thor die.
"We don't have the Tesseract. It was destroyed on Asgard".
Loki glances at Thor, before lifting his hand into the air and revealing the Tesseract.
"Of course, he has the Tesseract" Tony throws his arms up in a huff of frustrated anger.
"You really are the worst brother".
"I assure you, brother… the sun will shine on us again".
"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian".
"Well, for one thing, I'm not Asgardian. And for another... We have a Hulk".
Everyone's eyes widen in shock at Loki's words, all of them exclaiming, "what" as the Hulk roars.
Thanos looks to his right just as the Hulk slams into him, while Loki pushes Thor out of the way and the Tesseract skitters across the floor.
"Bruce?" Tony stares at the screen in shock, "…what the hell?"
"How did Bruce end up in space?" Natasha can't take her eye of the screen.
"Holy cow" Peter mutters.
"Can quinjets even travel into space?" Steve asks.
"Apparently" Rhodey raises an eyebrow.
"Do you think he's been in space this whole time?" Sam asks.
"Maybe. Could explain why there haven't been any sightings of a crashed quinjet or the Hulk" Tony says.
The Hulk starts punching Thanos, backing him into a wall, and then starts to strangle Thanos.
"Go Hulk" Peter cheers.
One of Thanos children starts to walk forward to help, but the other one stops him, "Let him have his fun".
"That doesn't sound good" Scott winces.
Thanos pries Hulk's hands away from him, and the green guy gets a look of both surprise and fear on his face.
"No…no" Tony shakes his head, "no, this guy can't be stronger than the Hulk".
"I think this 'guy' is" Strange frowns.
Thanos punches Hulk several times, and Hulk fails to land a blow back. Eventually, after several heavy hits, Thanos picks up Hulk and slams him into the ground.
The hero's all watch stunned as Hulk doesn't get up.
"Oh my God…" Wanda pales.
"How is that possible…Hulk he's…" Clint is lost for words.
Thor slams a metal bar across Thanos back.
"Why isn't he using his hammer?" Peter questions.
Tony narrows his eyes at the screen, "good question".
Thanos kicks Thor away, and the ugly creature from before starts moving bits of metal around until Thor is bound in place.
The screen moves to a man, Heimdall, "Allfathers… let the dark magic flow through me one last... time".
He faces his hand towards Hulk as he summons the Bifrost, which takes Hulk away.
"That was a mistake" Thanos stabs Heimdall in the chest, twisting the blade to make sure the Asgardian was dead.
"NO!You're going to die for that!" Thor yells, before more metal gets bent around his mouth.
"Anyone else getting really freak out?" Scott asks.
One of Thanos children kneels in front of him, holding up the Tesseract, "My humble personage… bows before your grandeur. No other being has ever had the might, nay the nobility, to wield not one, but two Infinity Stones. The universe lies within your grasp".
Thanos crushes the Tesseract, revealing a blue stone. He places that stone on the gauntlet, gasps at the surge of power that the stone gives off.
"What the hell is that thing? And why is he collecting these glowing stones?" Sam frowns.
"Infinity Stones" Dr Strange corrects him, "I don't know about the gauntlet…but…him having the Stones isn't good".
"Hold on…before Thor left, he said something about finding the Infinity Stones and that the stone in Visions head was the Mind Stone" Tony points out, remembering the time before everything went to hell with the accords and Barnes.
"What are 'Infinity Stones'? What do they do? Thor didn't go in to detail" Steve turns to look at Dr Strange.
"They're elemental crystals, they were around long before we were. There's six of them and each Stone controls a certain aspect of existence".
"Oh yeah" Rhodey nods, "that definitely seems like these stones are not a good thing for the crazy mass murderer to have".
"And the Tesseract has been one this whole time?" Tony asks.
"Yes, that's the Space Stone. The one he already has is the Power Stone".
"There are two more Stones on Earth. Find them, my children, and bring them to me on Titan".
"Two more on Earth? Vision has the Mind Stone…but there's another?" Clint looks at Strange since he seems to have most of the answers.
"The Time Stone. I look after it, back at the Sanctum".
"So, we just destroy that and then we should be good" Tony says, easy-peasy.
"We will not be destroying the Time Stone. I swore an oath to keep the stone safe".
"It's not like we can destroy the one in Vision, you know…since it's in his head".
"I will protect the stone with my life, you will not be destroying it".
"It's like having two Starks" Clint mutters.
Another one of Thanos's children kneels down, "father, we will not fail you".
Loki emerges from behind his children, "if I might interject… If you're going to Earth, you might want a guide. I do have a bit of experience in that arena".
"I hate him so much" Clint glares.
"If you consider failure experience" Thanos looks down at Loki, unimpressed.
"I consider experience, experience. Almighty Thanos, I... Loki... Prince of Asgard..." Loki pauses and looks at Thor, "Odinson... The rightful King of Jotunheim... God of Mischief... do hereby pledge to you, my undying fidelity".
"He's has no loyalty to anyone. He's just selfish and can't help but betray everyone" Clint shakes his head in anger.
"I don't think so" Bucky says slowly, watching the God of Mischief carefully.
As Loki walks past the screen, a dagger appears in Loki's hand, hidden from Thanos's sight. As he steps in front of Thanos, he thrusts up quickly to stab the Titan, but is frozen in place by the Space Stone before he could sink the blade into him.
All eyes are once again wide in shock and horror. Loki hadn't tried to betray Thor…he just risked his life to kill Thanos…and he failed. That's not going to end well.
"Undying… You should choose your words more carefully".
Thanos twists the dagger out of Loki's hand, then takes hold of Loki's neck with the gauntlet and lifts him to eye level. Loki struggles, kicking, as his throat is squeezed. Thanos makes eye contact with Thor before he increases his force on Loki's neck.
"Holy crap…never thought I'd feel bad for Loki" Tony watches, along with everyone else, in horror.
"You will... never be... a god" Loki manages to say before Thanos crushes his neck, killing him.
Thanos drops Loki's body in front of Thor, "No resurrections this time".
"He…he just killed a God with his bare hands" Peter looks at Tony.
Tony's eyes remain on the screen, but he rests arm over Peter's shoulder. Even Clint hasn't got anything to say.
Thanos raises the gauntlet and uses the Power Stone to destroy the rest of the ship. Then he uses the Space Stone to teleport himself and his children away.
The metal around Thor releases him, and he crawls over to Loki's body, "no…Loki…", he lays his head down on Loki's chest as the ship explodes.
"Oh my God" Wanda's eyes widen as the what's left of the ship explodes.
"Thor! Is he…did he…" Peter stutters, "Thor can't be dead…right?"
Tony shakes his head, "I…I don't know".
"This Thanos…killed a God and beat the Hulk. How the hell are we supposed to be able to take him?" Sam asks.
The screen shows the Bifrost moving across space towards Earth before changing to show New York and then the Sanctum.
"Seriously? You don't have any money?" Dr Strange comes on to the screen, walking down the stairs with a man next to him, Wong.
"Look, it's you, douchebag" Tony points out and Strange glares at the back of his head.
"Attachment to the material is detachment from the spiritual".
"I'll tell the guys at the deli. Maybe they'll make you a metaphysical ham on rye".
"Oh, wait, wait, wait, I think I have 200".
"Dollars?"
"Rupees".
"Which is?"
"Uh, buck and a half".
The Dr Strange on the screen sighs and shakes his head, "what do you want?"
"I wouldn't say no to a tuna melt".
Hulk crashes through the Sanctums roof and land through the stairs as he starts turning back into Bruce. Wong and Strange turn around and run back up the stairs, the cloak of levitation fly's on to screen and swirls around Strange and plants it's self on his shoulders.
"Wait, wait, wait. Did that cloak move on its own?" Tony looks back at Strange with wide eyes.
"It is called the Cloak of Levitation" Strange sighs in a bored tone.
"Awesome" Peter grins.
"Totally" Scott agrees.
"Thanos is coming. He's coming..." Bruce mutters looking up at Wong and Strange.
Strange shares a confused look with Wong before looking back at Bruce, "who?"
The screen turns black and some music plays as the words 'Avengers' and 'Infinity War' appear on screen.
Basically, I can't deal with Tony being dead so I'm fixing it with this story and pretending like it never happened.
Like I am in actual denial and will remain in denial for the rest of my life. To me, Tony survived the battle and decided to retire to be with Morgan and Pepper, with Peter visiting regularly. This is what happened, and no one will convince me otherwise. Tony did not die, he retired.