Barry has an unwanted rematch with Maw and Obsidian...
This chapter is part one of a two-shot, if that makes sense. Again, please excuse typos. I don't have a beta. Please enjoy!
(Disclaimer)
"Call him!" Bruce urged Tony.
Tony wasn't sure why he kept the flip phone in his pocket. Maybe it was security in moments like now, when he knew he couldn't face a threat alone and desperately needed help. Only if he was desperate would he call Rogers. Right now, he was feeling a hell of a lot more desperate than he would like to admit.
Before he clicked Steve's name on the phone, a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder sounded throughout the sanctum, and Strange and Wong stood ready to attack.
The young man who materialized before them put his hands above his head as if to say "don't shoot!". In one of his hands he held a container with a glowing blue stone. Strange narrowed his eyes at this; the time stone had almost a magnetic pull to the stone the young man held. After everything Bruce just told them….had they really gotten so lucky as to run into another infinity stone?
"Oh, this day just keeps getting better and better," Tony said with a roll of his eyes.
"Trust me," Barry said as he pulled down his cowl from his face, "today could have gone much worse."
Tony opened his mouth to make a quip, but decided against it. There was something oddly familiar about this guy… "Do I know you?"
Barry sighed. "You might wish you hadn't asked that question."
The Flash went on to explain where he was from and how he'd met what was left of the Avengers in the future. It was strange to see Tony so lively, because when Barry had last seen him he was so broken from the loss of his friends, the loss of Peter.
Then Barry told them about the Asgardians and Bruce sighed in relief. He'd thought Thor and Loki were dead and was glad to be proven wrong (he was surprised that he was relieved to hear the younger Odinson was alive as well). With the Asgardians on their side, Thanos and his goons would be so screwed.
"Woah. Is it weird I'm getting deja-vu right now?" Tony quipped as he brought a hand to his head. Something was way too familiar about this situation, like he'd seen it in a dream… or a dream of a dream.
Barry shrugged. "Time travel and all that. You'll get used to it."
"How do we know we can trust you?" Strange cut in, obviously the most skeptical of the group. "It's not like your word means anything to us."
Tony almost wanted to do a facepalm. Really, this "Dr. Strange" guy wasn't the best at making friends. Who knew, maybe this lightning kid could be the key to defeating Thanos, and Strange's sunny and welcoming demeanor could scare him off.
"No. I guess you don't really have a reason to trust me yet. I can prove to you what I'm saying is true, though. Look through my memories, and you'll see. You're the master of mystic arts, right? Do some mystical… stuff," Barry said as he tucked the space stone under his arm. He took a couple steps towards the doctor. "But, uh, try not to erase them, okay? I've done that before and it's not fun. Plus, without me you guys are pretty much screwed."
Strange glanced at Wong, and he gave the doctor a small nod. Strange reached a hand forward and touched the speedster's forehead. He was really unprepared for what he saw…
Stephen practically lived through every one of Barry Allen's life experiences in the span of eleven seconds. He saw the man in yellow, he felt the betrayal when everyone thought Henry Allen a murderer. He felt love for Iris, camaraderie with Oliver, the lightning changing him in more ways than one, and the admiration and then hatred for Dr. Wells. The guilt over the singularity, fear of Zoom, the agony of losing his father, the bliss of Flashpoint quickly turning into regret, and an unsettling calm in his decision to turn himself over to the Dominators. Just based off of this, Stephen could tell that Barry Allen posed no threat, but even still he delved further. There had to be some reason as to why the young man had an infinity stone, and after seeing the horror that was Savitar and then the whole DeVoe issue Strange found what he was looking for.
There were six bursts of colored light and then the Flash had found himself in the midst of only some of the Avengers. So, it was true about the destructive power of the infinity stones. Half of humanity—half of the universe—was gone. Strange's vision swam along with Barry's, especially upon seeing the broken version of Tony Stark.
There had been a haunted look in the man's eyes and tears threatened to tumble down his face. Needless to say, the Iron Man looked about ready to curl up into a ball and stay like that forever.
Stephen was never the empathetic type—he couldn't be when he had to pull the plug on a patient or announce time of death when he failed a grueling surgery. But seeing the Tony he'd met just a few minutes ago compared to the one in Barry's memories, he couldn't help but feel sorrow and then a sudden urge to prevent whatever left Stark shattered like that.
With a gasp, Strange pulled his hand back from Barry's forehead and the two men were sent staggering back.
Barry wasn't sure exactly what this interaction with the doctor would entail, and he certainly wasn't ready to relive every single one of his traumatic experiences. He steadied himself; he wasn't one to be vulnerable in front of others (except his family), and even though he'd gotten to know Tony and Bruce earlier he didn't feel as comfortable around the past versions of them.
"I thought you were only going to look at the past couple of days! Not my entire life!"
"Sorry," Strange shrugged, standing taller. "Had to see if you were trustworthy." He didn't need anyone questioning his magic ability, because, you know, street-cred.
"Well, I am! You happy now?" Barry rubbed his temples. Now wasn't the time to get angry; Maw and Obsidian would be arriving soon, which meant Earth needed to be prepared as much as possible for the upcoming battle.
God, saving the world really took a lot out of him.
"We need to get ready. Strange, you saw the plan right? And you saw what happens if we fail, so we can't let them get the time stone," he informed the group.
"Ready? Get ready for what?" Bruce spoke up. He vaguely remembered the attack on the Statesman, and those memories alone were horrific. Dread flooded him as he heard a distant buzzing and a breeze burst into the sanctum.
"For that."
Barry, Tony, Stephen, Wong and Bruce rushed outside of the sanctum. Wind ripped road signs clean out of the ground and confused drivers swerved every which way, causing a major backup. The stupid flying donut was sure to show up anytime now, and Barry was ready to beat the crap out of Thanos's so-called children. It was creepy enough that the mad titan would "adopt" his own children, but to raise them to love killing people? That was just plain awful; it was almost worse than all the people of Earth-X.
Walking through the rubble of what was once one of New York's busy streets, the five of them came face-to-face with Maw and Obsidian.
"Rejoice! For you are about to die at the hands of the children of Thanos—" began Maw's grating voice, but Tony simply wasn't having any of this. How many times could the world be threatened to be destroyed? He seriously lost count.
"I'm sorry, Earth is closed today! You're gonna have to pack it up and get out of here," he cut off the misshapen figure. Why, why did the evil aliens always pick to stash their powerful items on Earth?
Maw only showed the slightest bit of irritation. "Stonekeepers, does this chattering animal speak for you?" he addressed Strange and Barry. The speedster forgot that he still held the space stone in his hand. He cursed himself for not thinking of putting it down in the sanctum. He was the fastest man alive and had pretty much all the time in the world but couldn't keep focus long enough to get rid of the space stone? Some failsafe he was. He discreetly handed the container to Wong, who tossed it in a portal. Stephen spoke up to hide this small action from Maw, but wasn't that successful.
"Certainly not," the sorcerer replied. "And you're trespassing on this planet."
"He means get lost, Squidward!" Tony added.
"I beat your asses already once before, you really wanna go for round two?" Barry stepped up. He was going to take a lot of pleasure in beating these two up again. No matter which earth he was on, the Flash would have no trouble taking down villains who threatened to harm the universe. This would be easy.
Maw only smiled, making all their stomachs churn. "Oh no, child, things shall play out differently this time."
Barry frowned.
…
With a grunt, Stark slammed to the ground from the force of Obsidian's punch. Barry landed right next to him.
"I thought you said these guys were floating around in space!"
"They were! I have no idea how they survived! Thanos has the power stone, who knows what he's capable of!" Barry shouted back.
The two of them shielded their faces, expecting a devastating blow from the big monster above them, but nothing ever came. They looked up to see Spiderman holding off Obsidian's fist.
"Hey Mr. Stark!"
"Kid!" Tony exclaimed. "Where'd you come from?"
"Fieldtrip! Remember, I—" the young hero didn't get to finish his sentence since he was thrown off of Obsidian's weapon. He went flying through the air, and Barry was just barely able to speed over and catch him.
"T-thanks, uh, Mr…"
"I'm Barry Allen. You must be Peter Parker. Finally! Someone who won't call me 'kid'!"
If it was possible, Peter's confused glance was showing through his mask. Barry awkwardly patted the teen on the shoulder and got back into the fight.
Strange and Maw were fighting hand to hand it seemed, and eventually Wong was able to get Obsidian out of the picture. Peter and Barry rushed to keep Strange safe, but only found the "wizard" knocked unconscious. Right as Barry tapped into the speedforce, he felt a stab of agonizing pain in his left leg, and then another in his right shoulder. He screamed, looking down to see shards of metal impaling his leg and arm. Great, just what he needed.
"I told you, boy, this encounter would end much differently," came Maw's voice from above him.
The Flash's vision started to go dark and he could vaguely make out Peter's shouts next to him.
"Mr. Stark, we're being beamed up!"
Barry's last conscious thought was how Cisco would have appreciated the Star Trek reference.
Thanks for reading and please review! Helps me to get motivated to write faster.