PROLOGUE

December 21/22, 2012

They were having such a good time that Tony almost forgot to check his watch. When he did, he saw that it was 11:59. He waited two minutes, and then called for everyone's attention.

"I would just like to point out," he said, "that the time is now twelve-oh-one, which means that it is now December twenty-second. Which means," he said, while pouring himself another drink, "the Mayans were full of shit."

"Well, we knew that," said Clint, reaching for another beer.

Tony raised his own drink. "To the world not ending!"

"To the world not ending!" the others echoed, and drank.

If Bruce had been there, he could have told them that the Mayan prophecy had been mistranslated; the date in question was not the end, but a new beginning. And in the coming year, a lot of things would change, in ways they couldn't even imagine.