AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Truth to be told, even though I always wanted to introduce a "Avengers/Justice League"esque team in the Rangerverse, I never thought about doing a proper crossover with the MCU (well almost proper) until I saw this awesome fan trailer on YouTube starring Michael Copon (TF Blue), which inspired me instantly.
This story takes place in an AU where the events of the Infinity War took place in 1996, just after the events of PR: Zeo, but before the Turbo movie.
1996
TITAN
Tony stuttered, seeing his allies disintegrate to dust before his eyes. He'd never been clueless or speechless, his entire life, but now, he felt totally lost.
Peter... That kid reminded him of an younger version of himself. In many ways, he was like the son he never had. And he'd failed to protect him. Peter was gone, and if Thanos' words were to be believed, half the population of the fricking entire universe should have been wiped away too.
"Pepper..." He whispered. His fiancée, the love of his life, one of the very few people who never gave up on him - He could not lose her. If she was gone, what would he do? He was nothing without her...
"I don't want to go... " The voice echoed in his head again. "Mr Stark, I don't want to go..."
He relieved the moment, holding on tightly to Peter, hoping against hope nothing happened to him. Praying he remains safe...
Tony would never be able to forget the helplessness he felt when he saw the fear and despair in Peter's eyes, as he faded.
Tears rolled down his eyes, and his hands trembled. He had failed.
"He won..." Tony looked sideways to see the blue alien cyborg stand up weakly. "They are all dead."
She started to cackle. "What the hell was I thinking?"
"He is all powerful and infallible." She said between giggles. "He gets what he wants. We were always just chest pieces in his game, Gamora. Sister, I'm sorry. I wasn't able to avenge you..."
Avenge ... The word rang in his ears. Hell, that's what he'd do even if everyone he loved was dead. He'd avenge the fallen and make that maniac pay for all this death. He was an Avenger, after all.
"We still can." He spoke quitely.
"What did you say ?" She turned to him slowly, her voice cold.
"I said we can still avenge their deaths." Tony replied, narrowing his eyes. "Better yet, we can save them."
"Save them ?" The girl gritted her teeth. "Did you not see what just happened, human ? He just killed them without even being here. With all six stones, he cannot be stopped."
"If the stones were powerful enough to destroy half the world's population, then it must be able to reverse it as well." He surmised, stroking his goatee. "We need to get the stones back from Thanos."
"We will die trying." The cyborg walked up to him stiffly. "Thanos isn't a fool to keep the gauntlet so that some pesky humans can steal it and reverse his life's work."
"Then we will die. What do we have to lose?" He yelled. "Damn it! "
"You're right." She nodded stoically. "We can't let my father get away with this. He must die, and if I get my sister and her merry band of crazy pirates back, well... that's a bonus."
"Your father is Thanos ?" He asked in disbelief.
"Adopted father. He destroyed my planet, kidnapped me when I was a child, augmented me with cybernetics and killed my sister, Gamora." She stated without any emotion. "My name is Nebula."
"Wow... You have a crazy family. Really makes me appreciate mine." He replied dryly. "My name is Tony Stark."
"I know who you are. Thanos gathered intel on you and your fellow Avengers for years. You are the Ironman. Ironically, your suit is destroyed. All we have is a broken spaceship."
"I see what you did there." The elder man nodded. "Jokes aside, did you say you have a spaceship ?"
EARTH
ANGEL GROVE
OLIVER RESIDENCE
Tommy looked at his mother suspiciously, as she paced back and forth across the lounge.
"Mom, are you okay ?" Tommy asked, sitting on the couch.
"Yes, dear. I'm fine just -"
"Is it about Henry asking you to marry him ?"
"What ? How ?" She stopped in her tracks and looked at him, shocked.
"Henry asked my permission before asking you. He's a good guy and I'm totally cool with you guys marrying and stuff." Tommy smiled.
"You are !" Jacinda laughed, before wiping tears from her eyes. "That's great. And I should've guessed that he asked your consent. I love him so much. But you... it's been you and me for so long and if I do this, that'll change. And to be honest, I don't want that to change. "
"It won't, mom. You are always going to be my mom. You deserve to be happy and I can't stand in the way of that, after all you've done for me. You never gave up on me even after Dad left, even though I'm adopted. You believed in me when no one else did. You gave me a home. You are my family and now Henry is too. I love seeing you happy. "
"Thank you." Jacinda embraced him tightly. "That was so sweet."
Just then, Tommy felt wierd, like something horrible was about to happen. Within a second, it did... the unthinkable.
Jacinda gasped as she looked down. Her legs were withering away to dust. She gripped her son tightly, her face contorted with fear.
Tommy's eyes widened. "No ! What's happening ? Mom, stay with me..."
"I love you, son." Jacinda said tearfully before disintegrating completely.
"Mom... No !" Tommy shouted, feeling the emptiness in his arms. Tears streamed down his eyes. What the hell just happened ?
There were crashes and screams from outside. He rushed to the windows and watched people across the street vanish admist the chaos. Cars crashed as drivers vanished.
He clutched his communicator, teleporting to the Command Center.
"Aie aie aie..." Alpha 5 shrieked, typing away furiously at the consoles.
"My mom just vanished infront of me. " Tommy said slowly, observing the images in the Viewing Globe, which showed people disappearing all over the globe.
"SHE IS NOT THE ONLY ONE. MILLIONS ACROSS THE WORLD DISAPPARED WITHIN THE LAST FEW MINUTES. "
Four coloured lights signalled the arrival of the other zeo rangers.
"Zordon, what happened ?" Rocky yelled.
"Everyone just faded away."
"Ernie, Bulk, Skull... They all became dust." Katherine whispered, holding Tanya's arm tightly.
"We couldn't do anything. It happened so fast." Tanya said. "It is just some spell or something, right?"
"Aie aie aie !" Alpha shouted. "Zordon, we are recieving distress calls from Aquatar, Triforia, Eltar... The same thing is happening all over the universe."
"How ? Who did this ? The Machine Empire? Rita and Zedd ?" Tommy asked.
"THIS IS NOT THE WORK OF THE MACHINE EMPIRE. THIS IS MAGIC BEYOND THE CALIBRE OF RITA OR ZEDD. IT'S SOMETHING WORSE." Zordon said gravely.
"The way they disappeared, it was different from teleportation. They are alive, right ?" Adam asked quietly.
"I DO NOT KNOW." Zordon stated. "I AM AFRAID WE MUST PRESUME THE WORST. I FELT A SUDDEN SHIFT IN THE MORPHIN GRID. WHATEVER THIS IS, I DON'T HAVE ANY WAY TO FIX THIS. I AM SORRY, RANGERS."
"We'll fix this. We always do." Tommy nodded his head repeatedly. "There must be something we can do."
"What can we do ? We don't even know who did this ?" Kat crossed her arms.
"It's someone you have never met before." It was a voice they knew all too well. They whirled around to see a blue feline humanoid in golden armour walk towards them.
"Goldar!" Tommy snarled. "How the heck did you get in here ? If you had anything to do with this..."
"I assure you, I was not responsible for this. On the contrary, I am here to help." Goldar replied. "As for how I got in here, I used this..."
He opened his fist, showing a golden ball. "This is forged from the dust from your old power coins. It is useless, but it allowed me to bypass your sensors."
He threw the ball at Tommy, who caught it.
"Did Rita send you here to gloat?" Kat snorted.
"Hardly. Rita, Zedd and the others have all been wiped away. Only I remained." He stated gruffly.
"Why should we trust you?" Adam asked coldly.
"Tommy, you shouldn't. But I may very well be the only person who could help you bring everything back to normal."
"AND WHY IS THAT ?" Zordon asked.
"Because the monster who did all this... I used to know him. His name is Thanos."
GERMANY
Zack ran towards Trini and Jason admist the chaos.
"What's happening ?" Trini murmured slowly, seeing people all around them just fade to dust. Her hand instinctively reached for Jason's, only to grab empty air.
She turned around, just in time to see him fade away.
Trini screamed, just before she too completely disintegrated.
Zack fell to his knees, watching helplessly as two of his best friends vanished before his eyes.
There was only one thing he could do.
He pulled out his old communicator from his backpack... something he never thought he'd have to use again.
"Alpha? Zordon? Anyone... People are vanishing all around here. Jason and Trini are gone. Please help." He cried, tears streaming from his eyes, hoping against hope, that his message reached someone who could help them. Throughout his years as a power ranger, he'd never seen anything like this...
FLORIDA
Kimberly smiled after doing yet another elaborate somersault.
"Perfect!" Coach Schmidt applauded, handing a bottle of water to her. "That was incredible, Kimberly."
"Thanks, Coach." She said, opening the cap. Just then, she felt an uncanny feeling. Like something was going to be horribly wrong.
"Do you feel that ?"
"What-" Before he could complete the sentence, he crumbled to dust.
Kim screamed, stumbling back. She looked around to see others vanishing as well.
She thought she'd left her life as a ranger behind forever. She'd even written the letter to cut ties with Tommy. And now, she'd no other choice but to go back to them, because this crisis was bigger than her personal issues. She'd to help, anyway she could.
Kim sighed, taking out her communicator from her bag and press the teleportation button. Admist the chaos, no one noticed the brunette vanish in a jet of pink light.