Chapter 9: Surrogate
"Tony, I need a word," Bruce's insistent voice came through Iron Man's sound systems.
"I need a word too," Tony grumbled, shooting out a multitude of projectiles at the invisible force field of sorts that surrounded the alien ship descending from the skies, "when will the Hulk be available and can Loki do a counterfrequency for this voodoo."
"Jarvis is sending over the data that there is right now and I'm coming."
"What you mean data there is? Do we have it or do we not?" Tony argued impatiently.
"I'm not sure how accurate it will be. I had to put Loki on a ventilator, but he said before that you need to set up three energy sources to form a triangle round him using Arcadian stones to originate from. Nobody can ever kill Thanos, rumour has it that, but you can trap him."
"Are you kidding me!" Tony scanned through the data relayed to his visor. "What the fuck are Arcadian stones? Not to mention the energy required to initiate such electromagnetical disturbances is equivalent to the US' entire consumption and that's just one point of the triangle!"
"Do you have connections to make that possible?" Steve's voice interrupted the conversation.
"Fury will be more able quicker," Tony asserted.
"Fury is dead," Captain America announced.
"Are you sure? Cause you were mistaken before," the red armoured superhero probed.
"Nobody can surviveā¦this," Steve sounded like he made an involuntary gagging sound. "Clint too."
Tony momentarily paused in targeting his missiles and the result was him being knocked off course, draining 29% of the suit's energy reserves. He fine-tuned his manoeuvres once more as he heard the Hulk's wrathful roar. "I can do this. I will do this," the normally red clad superhero urged himself, "where is Thor?"
"He's bouncing back and forth to Asgard a dozen times over with the Tessaract to try to confuse Thanos, or at least cause him to always be a step behind. There are many casualties over there too." Cap filled him in once more, "he's fighting on two fronts at the same time and so is Frigga."
"What's his current status? Asgard or Earth?"
"Asgard."
"Next time he is back, I want to be notified, we need to ask him about those Arcadian stones."
"How are you holding up your end?" Tony enquired.
"I have Sam and Bucky just appeared. I'm good." Despite all the adversity, there was some degree of elation in his voice at having his best friend fight side by side with him once more.
"Cap, listen to me. I need you to be on standby for when we can set up perimeters for the ploy. You take one point of the triangle, I take another and perhaps Thor or Natasha can set up the last one."
"You can count on us," the Captain assured him before stepping out from behind a wall to concentrate on the aliens again.
Tbc
