Once Tony sees her, it's already too late.
The battle against the Chitauri has hit its full swing, now that Bruce has decided to join them. Where before it had been a desperate struggle against a superior force, now it was an even fight, overwhelming numbers against teamwork so suddenly perfect that Tony's head isn't only spinning due to the aerial manoeuvres he's put himself through. Quantity against quality in the purest sense of the phrase.
Impressively, there has yet to be any fatalities on Earth's side reported. That was sure to come later, after some of the rubble had been cleared, but it worked to keep Tony's mind on the battle and nothing else. Until he sees her, that is.
Her hair is blonde, so bright that it borders on white. Her skin is tanned and unblemished, her perfect face set into a small frown as she glances up at the alien ship that is about to crush her. She doesn't seem scared, doesn't seem to have realised her situation. Tony has, through his sensors that put human eyesight to shame a few hundred times over, and he can do nothing but watch as her death approaches her. The death that he'd been rushing over to distract, the death that he was too slow to prevent.
Her mouth moves in that moment. It's not a scream, as probably anybody else in her position would have done. Instead, she says a single word, one that even Tony, with his limited skills in lip-reading, can make out.
"Master."
And then, in a burst of black feathers, a bird is at her side. The appearance of it is instantaneous, sending out a small wave of energy that JARVIS immediately begins to analyse, and Tony can see its beady little eyes turn to glare at the approaching Leviathan. Then it opens its beak, and Tony's world is turned upside down.
The noise that it emits sounds like the chiming of a bell to Tony's ears, but through JARVIS' sensors and his own eyes, he can see the effect it is having on the aliens. The behemoth of a creature that had been bearing down on the woman and the bird veers wildly to the side as though struck by Banner, crashing through an entire city block that Tony can only hope is abandoned. It lets out a gurgle which shakes the ground, thrashing weakly for a moment before falling unnaturally still.
Every single Chitauri warrior between him and them falls over, dead before they hit the ground. All heat leaves their body as they collapse, spanning in an ever-widening circle, with the woman and her bird as the epicentre. Whether they be on the ground or in the air, it doesn't discriminate, until it reaches Tony's body.
For a moment, he's worried that he has died. There's an overwhelming sense of peace taking over his mind that makes him want to drop the armour and hug something. It passes after a moment, and Tony awakes to a field of dead aliens and a noticeable anxious lilt in JARVIS' synthesised voice.
"Sir, can you hear me?"
"Y-yeah." Tony shakes the cobwebs from his mind, an action that only takes a few fractions of a second. He is Tony Stark, after all. "JARVIS, what just happened?"
"Sir, a pulse of unknown energy has just spread through the city. Scans indicate that every Chitauri currently in the city has lost their vitals, but it appears that no humans within the radius has been harmed."
Tony once again focuses on the strange duo in the street. As he watched, the bird expands and shifts until a man with black hair is standing in its place. He's already having a hard enough time believing everything he's just seen, up until the man turns both bright green eyes in his direction, giving him a sly wink before both he and the woman simply… vanish.
"So they're on our side, huh?" The cloud of black feather that covered their exit falls to the ground. Feeling faint, Tony simply nods to himself. It's been a very long day, and he would have time to question this later. "Good. Great, even."
That said, he swoops low over the street, handing full control over the suit's trajectory to JARVIS while he looks over the devastated avenues. It is as his AI said, not a single Chitauri moves as he zips overhead. There's no reaction at all when he alights the sidewalk and takes a long, measured look around.
"Does anybody know what just happened?"
The stunned disbelief that must have taken a hold over everyone is broken by Hawkeye's words, and Tony laughs before anybody else can speak up, tapping an armoured hand against his helmet, even though the gesture isn't necessary.
"We've got an enhanced, possibly two, in the field." He can remember that phrase from one of SHIELD's files that he'd hacked, once upon a time. It felt so long ago, back when he'd had enough free time to sit around for an entire evening and memorise emergency codes for an organisation that he'd never thought he'd have anything to do with. There's an odd silence that goes ignored as Tony continues, nudging a Chitauri's corpse with his foot as he does so.
"Tanned, blonde woman and a black-haired guy with green eyes, who can turn into a bird. The guy let out some sort of energy pulse that KO'd every Chitauri in the city. Might have even sent it through the portal, seeing as I'm not seeing any others coming through."
All is still for a moment, until…
"Green eyes, you said?"
Tony frowns at the trepidation in Thor's voice. The man's a God, why would be concerned about this one guy? "Yeah, greenest I've ever seen, probably. Why, you know him?"
"…Oh dear."
Now Tony's a bit concerned.
XxX
The portal is closed, Loki has been pulled out of the hole the Hulk left him in and contained, and the team are sitting around a table in a restaurant most of them have never heard of before, waiting on their meals and for Fury and Thor to break their staring contest.
It's been this way for the last five minutes, and Tony has resorted to pulling out his browse the internet for conspiracy theories about what's happening in New York right now. He's interested in what has Thor so upset that he's demanded Nick Fury's presence outside of the Helicarrier, yes, but his armour is too dented right now for him to be comfortable on the edge of his seat.
Finally, after their food has arrived and everyone is already silently blaming him for this poor decision, Thor decides to speak.
"This realm has drawn the attention of the False Immortal."
Tony slides his phone away, ignoring the metal digging lightly into his stomach as he sits up straight. Across and to the left, Fury's irritated expression gives way to an irritated expression with the slightest amount of interest present. It's so faint that even JARVIS would have trouble picking up on it, but it's there.
"False Immortal?" Tony can only imagine how many plans for either recruitment or elimination are running through the Director's mind at the moment. Thor shakes his head, likely having guessed the same thing.
"There is a tale, that has passed down as fiction in Asgard since before I was but a baby. It began as the first vision of a novice Seer, and it tells the story of a young boy who evades Death to the point of conquering her."
"Of course Death is a her…" Clint mutters, too loud for it to have been an accident. Tony holds in his laughter, because he's not too keen on taking a punch from Natasha like Clint is now trying to fend off.
"That boy, upon becoming a man and the Master of Death, would then walk for all of eternity, with nobody but Death by his side. He would survive his people, his planet, and his universe. He, a mortal, would live beyond forever, reaching and surpassing the Gods themselves in strength and influence." Thor takes an agitated bite out of his shawarma. How that differed from a regular bite, Tony couldn't tell. "Scorned by his existence, the Gods would forever be at odds with this man, until such a time that he could prove himself just as mortal as his kin."
"And how long has this Master of Death been alive?" Tony had heard that tone before; Fury wanted a new Avenger, and if this guy was new to his powers, then he thought there was a chance he would get one. Sinking back into his seat, Tony surreptitiously slid his phone out of his pocket, opening the camera and hitting record the moment before Thor managed to swallow everything in his mouth. Hopefully, this would be good.
"Billions of years. Trillions. Quadrillions. Take your pick, it matters not." Fury looked like he'd just swallowed a lemon. It wasn't as grand as Tony had been hoping, but he would still be printing that expression onto a poster to hang somewhere around the tower. You never knew when you would need something to lift your spirits. "He has outlived countless universes before, and he will outlive both Midgard and Asgard. You would not ask a man how many breaths he has taken in his lifetime, would you?"
Fury wouldn't ask. He'd assign a team of experts to comb through footage and map out how many breaths were taken in a single day, which would then go on to be the basis for whatever mathematical formula would be used to give them the closest possible number. And then he would get a copy of that man's birth certificate down to the millisecond to prove it to him.
Just to challenge himself, Tony immediately began attempting to calculate how many breaths he'd ever taken.
Fury stands up and pushes his chair back under the table. He's not ordered anything, probably having known better than to risk it. With a scowl etched deeper into his face than skin would allow, he looks down at Thor, asking the only question that really matters in this situation.
"Is he dangerous?"
"Immensely." Comes the immediate reply. Thor tears another chunk from his food, eyes cask skywards and apparently missing the way Fury's hands clench and knuckles whiten. "Should you not provoke him, however, then nothing shall come of his presence."
"You know an awful lot about this Master of Death." Clint points out, silently asking the question that they all want answered as he pushes his barely touched shawarma towards Bruce.
Thor stares at all of them in turn, gaze judging as he chews slowly. Tony can feel the weight of that gaze, and in that moment, he has to wonder. How old is Thor? How much does he know that Tony doesn't, couldn't?
"This is not a topic to be discussed elsewhere." They all nod, unnecessary as it may be. After all, half of them are super spies, and the other half aren't exactly the type to gossip about something this truly important. Well, perhaps Tony is, but even he can see how heavy this is. "He is… an ancient friend of the throne of Asgard."
"A friend?" Tony can't help but feel slightly disappointed. No ancient war-time stories or ridiculously complex treaty agreements? Where was the fun in that?
Apparently, his thoughts are easy to read, as Thor pins him with a blank stare that wouldn't have looked out of place on Loki's face. Brothers indeed.
"I have watched this man destroy a universe with a click of his fingers." None of them ever knew Thor's voice could get so dry. It is usually so booming, that hearing him speak as though explaining a simple concept to a stupid child is disconcerting at best. Thor shoves the last of his shawarma into his mouth, one eyebrow raising as he catches Tony's eyes once more.
"Is that not a man you would want as a friend, rather than an enemy?"
None of them really have anything to say to that.
XxX
Early the next morning, earlier than he's ever woken up before, Tony stares at the image on one of his lab's monitors, eyebrows raised in abject disbelief.
The picture is settled on a food truck parked beside one of the many devastated buildings in downtown Manhattan. A group of men wearing high-vis jackets are crowded around in a loose line, laughing along to whatever the black-haired man behind the counter is saying. Beside him, a blonde woman with tanned skin is handling a coffeemaker with expert grace, spending more time watching her co-worker than she does watching the beverages she's making.
Tony runs the picture through facial-recognition five times. Each time comes up with a perfect match, holding up beyond any doubt. He watches as the man hands one of the workers his coffee, waving a hand dismissively once wallets are pulled out of pockets. The workers look like they're arguing for a moment, before they step back one by one and allow those behind them to order.
A single tap of the keyboard has JARVIS saving the coordinates of the man who single-handedly wiped out an entire invasion. A moment later, Tony's suit is rushing towards him in parts.
He takes off right as Bruce walks in, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.