she's watching me. again. i can see her through the corner of my eye. why does she watch me with such intent? i'm not going to do anything wrong. all i am doing is playing a card game with my friends. poker. i don't have a gambling problem; i'm not in danger of losing more money than i have; to be honest it's a relatively tame game for once. no-one has cheated yet, which is a miracle in itself. bruce hasn't got mad, steve hasn't told us all about when he used to play it with bucky, natasha hasn't threatened anyone, clint hasn't cheated and thor seems to be playing quite well. i am the only one who realizes what no-one else does. this is the last time we can be friends together just hanging out. this is why i invited them over, agreed to the game, haven't cheated or made fun of anyone. they don't know it yet but we are all walking on eggshells; it is just a matter of time before something cracks.
20 hours earlier...
"Stark, listen to me."
"Why? This isn't real. It isn't a real threat."
"It is."
"We can stop it."
"You can't. All of you must die for us to find him. It won't be painless and it won't be quick. He will play with your lives like a game."
"No."
"You have twenty hours. Spend them wisely."
"You can't condemn us to death."
"You will come back if you are strong."
"That's a big if."
"Then you must be strong. You must have something to live for."
12 hours earlier...
"Something's wrong."
"It's not."
"Tony, I know when something is wrong."
"You don't."
"I know you."
"Pepper, leave me alone. What time is it?"
"9am."
"I have twelve hours left."
"Until what?"
"I can't tell you but please stay away from me. Go somewhere else tonight. Leave now."
4 hours left...
"Why do you want us to come over?"
"Bruce, just please get everyone to come."
"You sure? Last time everyone messed up your place pretty bad."
"I don't care. Make them come over. We need to do this together."
"Do what?"
"It doesn't matter. Well it does but I'm not telling you yet."
"What's going to happen, Tony?"
"I can't tell you. It'll happen at nine though."
50 minutes left...
"Hey, do you want to play poker?"
"Uh sure."
"Stark, no cheating."
"Barton, no cheating."
"I don't cheat."
"You do."
"Come on everyone, gather for poker."
10 minutes left...
"Tony, I'm leaving now."
"Good."
"Tony?"
"Yes Pepper?"
"Please be safe. Don't do anything stupid or dangerous."
"I'll try not to."
"Okay."
"I love you, you know. As a friend."
"You too."
8:58pm
Bruce looks at me, curiously, as I tell everyone to stop and listen. "Fury gave me a mission." I say and take a deep breath. "We are all going to die. Tonight."
8:59pm
I have never seen all of the Avengers silent at the same time and I hope I never have to again. The seriousness of what I had just said settled on us like a thick cloud. They all stare at me. "What?" Thor asks.
"Someone is going to kill us all now and it will be like a sick game. That's what Fury said. We have to die. If we have something to live for, a reason that is worth living again, we are resurrected."
9:00pm
"And if we don't have anything to live for?" Steve asks and I know he is thinking that he is in the wrong time, he doesn't belong here, he has no family, no love, nothing. Like me. What do I have to live for?
"We stay dead."
9:01pm
"They're not very punctual are they?" Natasha looks at the clock with a frown. "A whole minute late."
Then she dies.
It is sudden and painless, the opposite of what Fury said. She just stops breathing and slumps to the floor. Then we all follow.
The Beginning
We are in the living room but it is lit up by a murky green light and everyone looks pale and gaunt. How long have we been dead for? My watch has stopped; a side effect of dying I guess. "Where are we?" Bruce asks.
"In some sicko's idea of a game to draw out our deaths and try and make us lose all hope in what we do have to live for." Clint says. Then he looks at me. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have spent all of today with the people we love. Our last hours. Instead you keep it to yourself. Oh poor Anthony Stark. I could have...done some things differently today. Changed my life before I died."
"Shush." I say.
"What? We are dead. We don't have to follow your orders."
"Shut up." Bruce suddenly says. We can all hear footsteps and suddenly a man materializes.
"What do you have to live for, children?"
"We are not children. We are the Avengers." Thor says loudly.
"I was born before the world began. Before every world began. You are children to me. I am Death and I live in the shadows. I am the most powerful being alive and I am the eldest being alive. I know all your secrets, children, and I shall put you to the test. Time and time again you have evaded me but today I shall see if you should be dead. Or if you should live."
The man disappears.
"Let's get out of this building." Natasha says and we follow her into the elevator. "The buttons." They are all flashing but none of them are numbers anymore. They are words. Before any of us can read anything, we are taken down to the bottom floor, underneath the ground. My cars. They lie in ruins and sparks fly out of them. Steve's antique motorbikes are on fire. The word is Vehicles.
"How does this do anything to us?" Clint asks angrily and the elevator goes up a floor. The electricty generator. Power. As soon as we arrive, the lights go off and we all cling to each other. I close my eyes. With my overactive imagination, I can always see things in the dark.
"Someone needs to fix the electricity." Steve whispers.
"We don't split up. Not yet." Natasha says and the elevator goes up a few floors. It skips Stark Enterprises reception, the business office areas for my workers and all our floors. Finally it lands on the fighting simulator floor.
A button lights up as the doors open and I look at the illuminated button. Hawk. "Hawkeye, you have to go." Natasha shoves her partner out and Clint turns to us, eyes wide, before drawing an arrow out of his quiver.
"Was that necessary?" I ask Natasha as we land at the giant swimming pool floor.
"Yes."
Thor suddenly steps out and I see the lightning button. "I must live for Jane. For Asgard. For Jane." He says and we zoom up to the library. Steve walks out. Soldier.
He isn't saying anything and I feel a pain in my chest. "Steve? Good luck."
He nods and we go up another floor. My Ironman lab. No. No. No. Not me. Not yet. Demons inside. I suspect Natasha but Bruce walks out then I see inside the room. The light is dim but Hulk is smashing three Ironman suits and another suit, apparently powered up but empty, is ready to attack the Hulk.
Natasha gets out at the archery floor. Hawkeye, a red-eyed copy of Hawkeye, is waiting for her, holding out a gun to her. "Clint. Clint. Clint." Natasha chants to herself. "This isn't real. Not real. Not real."
I arrive at the roof. My mouth feels dry and I walk past the helicopter landing space to the Asgardian teleport. With a frown, I step on it, hoping to be teleported away from here. The view is incredible, a glowing New York, but it is silent and too unrealistic for my liking. Nothing happens on the teleport so I sigh. I need this to end. What is my fear? What is it about this roof that has made me end up here?
I am dead. The only way this can end is if I create a paradox. Dead people can't die. But I am still moving, breathing, talking. I am the living dead, literally. So if I die, it will make that paradox, a real dead person in this between world. I don't know if it will suceee. It's my only chance to save us all.
I stand on the edge and lean over.
I fall slowly, seeing my friends through the windows. Natasha shooting Hawkeye. Bruce killing the Hulk. Steve attacking Bucky. Thor controlling the water to kill Jane. Clint shooting arrows at invisible assailants.
Fury said we'd have to die.
So I die.
After
I wake up, my whole body hurting, and see the bright lights of the SHIELD airship hospital area. "He's awake!" Someone yells. I groan. Why won't they shut up?
I sit up, despite a nurse telling me not to, and look at my friends. Bruce is beside me, sleeping, his skin a hue of pale green that I guess will wear off after a while. Side effect of killing the Other Guy in the twisted nightmare. Steve is on the other side of me, cuts all over his face, and he's whimpering in his sleep. Thor lies across from Steve, snoring, and Jane is sat beside him, whispering into his ear. Clint is asleep across from me and Natasha is sat on his bed, frowning. When she sees I am awake, she gives me a brief smile then looks back down at her partner. She doesn't look like she'd been dead, just a bit tired.
Pepper approaches me and hugs me. "Thank God, Tony, I thought you wouldn't wake up."
Then she slaps me. "Pepper! What was that for?" I yell.
"You idiot! How dare you tell me it was all fine! You were going to die! Then Fury told me that you were sucked into that nightmare thing in Hell or wherever you were! What happened there?"
"I jumped off the top of the tower.". I say sheepishly.
"Fuck."
"Pepper!"
She never swears so my eyes widen. Then she kisses me.