Besides the fact that Jarvis was offline for maintenance for the day, it was a typical day in Stark Tower. Well, typical for a group of people like the Avengers.
Everyone was in the living room, all engaged in different activities. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner were moving some experimental scientific equipment from the lab to the terrace. Clint Barton was introducing Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes to his favorite video game, World of Warcraft. Sam Wilson was lounged on the couch watching a football game. Thor was nearby in a recliner taking a nap, a half-eaten Poptart in his lap. Natasha Romanov and Pepper Potts were sitting up at the bar, chatting about things the boys really couldn't care less about.
"Hold on a second, Tony," Bruce told the billionaire, setting his end of the giant machine down. "I think I left the stabilizers back in the lab, and we can't start the experiment without them." "Sure we can," Tony replied impatiently. "We've done without them before, we'll be fine now. I really wanna see how this one works compared to the smaller models." "That's just it," argued Bruce. "The smaller models were more stable. This one... who can tell? We need to be careful or else we could rip a hole in the fabric of reality!" "Theoretically..." Tony muttered, still rather unconvinced at Bruce's somewhat dramatic conclusion. He didn't continue to argue when Bruce went towards the elevator and the lab. We sure don't need another Hulk episode, he thought. Not after we just finished renovating the tower.
"This is my highest level character," Clint was telling Steve and Bucky, referring to the game. "He's a level 87 Night Elf hunter. Mityclint is his name." Bucky and Steve both started laughing at the name, with Steve chuckling and Bucky full-out guffawing. "What?" asked Clint defensively. "He was my first character! It's not like I'm gonna change it." "Why's that?" asked Natasha, who had turned her attention towards the three at the computer. "Because Blizzard doesn't allow name changes yet," he said sulkily.
Bucky stood up. "You nerds keep playing your silly computer game while I get some popcorn," he told them. He walked off and disappeared into the kitchen. Soon afterwards came his frustrated yell. "HOW DO YOU WORK THE MICROWAVE AGAIN?" Sam jumped up from the couch. "I'll go help him," he offered. Not long afterwards, the fire alarm went off and the smell of something burning drifted into the living room. "So much for a day off," muttered Pepper, going to fix whatever the boys had broken in there this time.
By this time, Clint was helping Steve create a character, telling him all about the different races, classes, and other aspects of the perfect avatar. Thor hadn't stirred from his spot on the chair. Natasha was checking her phone for notifications, and Tony was texting Bruce, telling him to hurry up.
Nobody had noticed that one of Tony and Bruce's devices had turned on.
A little blue light was flashing on the side of it. At first it was at a slow, one blink-per-second rate, but it soon began to pick up.
The device powered up, revving up until-
FLASH! A blinding light filled the room, and some shouts of dismay and confusion arose.
A brilliant blast of energy erupted from the device.
The light faded almost as quickly as it had filled the room. The room itself was little changed. The only difference was that the five former inhabitants were now gone.
That, and the computer screen had changed to a character selection menu with five new avatars.