Tony is becoming one of my go-to narrators. His snark is just too much to resist.
Be advised – things are supposed to be feeling a little shaky as far plans go. No one is being entirely rational. Imagine a group of people, all at the ends of their respective ropes, trying to smother a whole lot of tension that has been building between them for years, thrown into a room to try to come up with a solution to an alien invasion on the fly. A whole lot more shit is going to go down before a resolution even begins to come into sight.
That being said, in this story there will be casualties – just like there will be in the Infinity War film. The stakes have to be high for the threat to be convincing, and the eventual payoff to be worth it, and Thanos is supposed to be the biggest threat our heroes have yet faced. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
"Tony," said Bruce across the table, voice stunned. "Is that Wanda?"
Tony hadn't needed Bruce to point out Wanda Maximoff, who appeared without warning into the grainy footage Tony had acquisitioned from the city's transit authority. She sprinted out of the darkness, wielding the spidery flames of her magic. She hauled a subway car through the air so it wiped out the alien figure who had incapacitated Vision. Damn, girl had some chutzpah.
The faces around the conference table, somewhere in the spinal cord of Stark – wait, Stronghold Tower – became stricken as Vision rose from the ground, only to turn on Wanda like some kind of mind-controlled puppet. Whatever the alien had done to him when she'd stuck her scepter into his forehead had apparently manipulated the Mind Stone to their control.
"Whoa," said Peter in awe as the footage ended.
They already knew the rest of the story. Their ragtag crew had arrived at the crater in the middle of 14th Street in time for the sleek spaceship to emerge from the ground, zooming up and away into the air too fast to stop. Tony and Strange took off in pursuit, but they were too late: the ship flickered through the portal before they could hinder it, with apparently both Vision and Wanda aboard as prisoners of an interplanetary war.
Too late. Again, too late.
Tony's chest ached to think about Wanda, the blank look on her face seared into his memory after he saw the footage of her wrapped in a straightjacket in the Raft. How had she known where to find Vision? Obviously, the aliens wanted her alive, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered to take her aboard their ship. She's a kid! A scared kid, Tony! She never asked for any of this! Tony could only hear Clint and Steve's voices thundering in unison through his skull. Tony's eyes flickered unconsciously to Peter, looking way to enthralled with all of this.
"Underoos," he said, and Peter looked up to meet his eyes. "You owe your aunt at least a text," he said sternly. "Go on. You've got five minutes."
"Oh – oh, sure, Mr. Stark." Peter scooted out of his chair, fishing for his phone in his back pocket. "Be right back." He dashed from the room.
"Now that the kid's out of the way," began Fury gravely at the head of the table, surly and unmoved as ever, as if he hadn't just seen one of the most disturbing things since Barton's eyes turned icy blue six years ago. "What the hell are we gonna do about this?"
"I think the obvious answer would be to find a way to destroy that portal so no more alien ships will be able to make their way into our city," said Strange, speaking above his steepled hands.
"It's not like that will stop them from somehow just constructing another one," Tony snapped. He was going to make damn sure his opinion wasn't ignored this time, and the first step to that was holding his temper – already a lot of effort. "I think before we figure out how to shut down the portal we should consider the possibility of going through it."
"Not an option, Stark," said Fury. "We don't know what's waiting on the other end of that portal. We can't risk it."
"Vision and Wanda are waiting at the other end of that portal," said Tony.
"Sure, along with a hole host of those alien bastards," Fury replied.
"Are we going to talk about what exactly that portal is?" Bruce cut in. Bruce was the only one who had suffered any visual injury – a minor blow to the face from a Chitauri's fist – and held an icepack against a blossoming black eye. He hadn't been graced by even a whisper of green throughout the entire battle, a new and baffling development that Tony would have to grill him about later. Add it to the ever-growing list.
"It appears to be of similar construction to the one Loki opened last time," Bruce continued, "but he required the Tesseract for that – and I think we can be sure Thanos doesn't have that, seeing as Thor left earth with the Tesseract in hand this morning."
"And maybe if you hadn't shot Thor out into the atmosphere we'd still have someone around who knew about this shit," Tony retorted.
"Point taken, Stark," said Fury grimly.
"Yeah, just taken about five hours too late," Tony rolled his eyes.
"This isn't about you," Fury said, voice raised slightly and good – good. Tony wanted to rile him up. Tony was pissed and wanted someone to lay into.
"No, you're right," said Tony. "We shouldn't be talking about me. Maybe we should be talking about Wanda or Vision, abducted by aliens. And the last time I checked they were citizens of Earth – or, at least, Wanda is – and deserve the protection of their planet."
"Which we'll give them." Fury's single eye blazed across the table. "If we can."
How many caveats would it take before Fury just admitted that Wanda and Vision had finally left the solar system – two big problems taken off their hands for free? Weapons of mass destruction, Tony thought and winced. Hindsight really was a bitch.
Tony was done with this shit. He was done with taking orders from other misled figures of authority – Ross or Fury, they were all the same after a while: talking heads with other people working their jaws, pulling their strings, and Tony was sick of it. Obedience was a collar that was starting to itch.
"And if we were to go through the portal, Stark, what then?" said Strange, staring at Tony with calculating eyes. Tony struggled not to squirm under the other man's gaze. His eyes were piercing and much too perceptive for Tony's liking.
"Then we nab Vision and Wanda before they're killed," Tony replied. "Game's changed. Thanos has one of the Stones now, and we can't allow him to take out two of our biggest players."
"But how will we find them?" said Bruce tiredly. "The universe is a big place."
"If we're lucky, the portal will take us right where we need to be," Tony answered. "If we're not…then I guess we'll have to get the coordinates from Selvig for wherever Thor ran off to. If we can find Thor, we'll have free use of the Tesseract for our intergalactic transportation convenience."
"Sounds a little far-fetched," said Fury. "We don't know a goddamn thing about traveling through space."
"Now's our chance to learn," said Tony. "Bruce, you should be jumping at a chance like this."
"I think I've seen enough of space over the past week, thanks," said Bruce. Right. Yeah. Stuck on another planet for two years and all that. Tony had forgotten.
"What do you say, Strange?" said Fury.
Strange frowned over his hands. "I think it's…unwise to go through a portal into space without knowing exactly where it will bring us out," he said slowly. Tony wanted to point out that Strange was the only one among them with any experience at charging through interdimensional portals. Strange continued, "That being said, Stark has a point."
"I'd like it taken down that the good doctor has conceded that Stark has a point," said Tony.
Strange rolled his eyes across the table but proceeded without comment. "We can't just abandon Vision and Wanda Maximoff. Yet neither can we deny the swiftness with which Thanos was able to overpower Vision and gain access to another Stone. We cannot leave earth defenseless."
"But there aren't anymore Stones on earth," it was, surprisingly, Bruce who spoke up. But, then again, he had always been an open-minded sort of fella. "Shouldn't we be thinking about how to protect the rest of them now?"
"Strange," Fury growled and Dr. Strange lifted a hand in warning.
"Director, please," he said.
Fury clamped his mouth shut, and Tony stared in awe. Never had he seen someone with enough power to shut Nicolas Fury up. Teach me your ways, oh master.
"Right, Bruce," said Tony, deciding to ignore that puzzling exchange for now. "Exactly what I was thinking. And the rest of the Stone are out there," he waved his hand vaguely over his head, figuring they'd get the point he was referring to the cosmos within which earth dangled like a miniscule Christmas ornament. "So that's where we should be heading, too."
"We can't abandon earth –"
"Sending one Iron Man into the galaxy isn't exactly abandoning earth, as much as I'd like to think I do the majority of the grunt work as far as saving the world."
"No, I think earth would actually have a better chance of survival if you were not on it, Stark," said Strange – and did the good doctor just crack a joke? A miniscule smile gone in a flash across his stiff lips? Tony was impressed.
Bruce scrubbed his eyes with his fists. "I think we're starting to talk in circles."
"And I think the Itsy-Bitsy Spider will be barging back through the doors in a second," said Tony. He stood from his chair. "Which reminds me, I've got some phone calls of my own to make. Coffee break?"
Fury looked peeved at the interruption, but Tony hadn't exactly meant it as a suggestion. He left through the one of the large double doors, letting it swing shut behind him. No one followed him. Let the mean girls gossip about him while he was gone, he didn't care.
Sure enough, Peter was dawdling in the corridor when Tony stepped out, sulking on his phone, but his face brightened when he looked up at Tony. "I couldn't get back in. Doors lock from the inside."
"Nobody ever teach you to jimmy a lock?" said Tony. Innocent kid. He didn't even guess that maybe the point was to keep Spidey outside in the hallway while the grownups discussed their options. Didn't want junior to see Mom and Dad fight.
"Well, yeah," Peter shrugged sheepishly. "But it seemed kind of rude, you know? And it's all sound proof, so I couldn't even listen in through the wall. So, what's up?"
"Nothing's up," Tony sighed, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice. Last thing he needed to do right now was rant to a sixteen-year-old. "Just a whole lot of convoluted litigation – which translates to bullshit, if you didn't know the SAT words."
"No, no, yeah, I got you," Peter nodded enthusiastically. "So, what are we gonna do?"
"We?" said Tony. "We aren't going to do anything, Peter. In fact, it's past your bedtime. High time you went back home."
"It's barely one o'clock in the afternoon," Peter objected.
"So it's high time you went back to school. What are you, some kind of lousy delinquent?"
"School closed because of the attack," Peter said readily.
"Peter –"
"Ah, come on, Mr. Stark. You're the one who wanted to make me an Avenger in the first place."
"An offer you declined," Tony reminded him. He couldn't believe he was having an argument with a teenager right now. He had things to do. Plans to set into motion. Still, he didn't feel right just leaving the kid hanging. "Because you wanted to stick to being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. So why don't you just run along and stop some petty crime or something?"
Peter's eyes narrowed. "You're planning something, aren't you?" he demanded. Shit, the kid was observant. Tony tried not to let a tell-tale expression of shock show on his face, but he had a sneaking suspicion he was too late. He felt like he'd been caught out by his father after sneaking in past curfew – a feeling that really should be reversed, considering who he was talking to here.
"Wrong, guess again," said Tony. "No cards up my sleeve."
Peter gave Tony a look that made it clear he didn't believe him. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation. "But, like, if you were," he whispered. Did the kid think they were some sort of cold war spies in the middle of a bad 1980's action flick? "Can I come?"
Tony was already shaking his head. "No way. Even if I was planning something – which I'm not – there's no way I'd be taking you down with me."
"But –"
"No," said Tony flatly. He took off down the hallway; Peter jogged to catch up. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and saw that there were fifty-seven and counting missed calls from Rhodey and Ross combined, and another fifteen from Pepper. Boy, was he in trouble.
"But, Mr. Stark, it's –"
"It's outer space?" Tony guessed and, damn, when did he get so serious? It was no fun to be the adult in the situation. "This isn't some kind of amusement park. This is serious. Way more serious than Toomes, and you're going to have to take my word for it, kid. There's no way I'm letting you get mixed up in an intergalactic space battle."
Intergalactic space battle – wrong thing to say. Peter's eyes glinted even brighter at the idea of such a thing. "But I could help –" he babbled. "Fight off more of those weird reptile creatures on the speeder bikes. You know. Fight laser guns and –"
Tony halted in the center of the hallway and reeled on Peter, who backpedaled, eyes wide and so goddamn hopeful.
"No, Peter. No. I said no." Tony was dangerously close to shouting. Peter's face crumpled like Tony had just revealed to him that there was no such thing as Santa Claus.
"Oh," Peter blinked, trying to keep his voice light even though Tony could still hear the note of hurt. "Okay. Yeah, sure."
Tony took a deep breath. He ran his hand through his hair. He wasn't going to have a child's blood on his hands, no matter what Peter said to try to convince him otherwise, and puppy-dog eyes be damned. "So the way I see it," he said gruffly, "is you've got two options. Either you're going to scram on your own or I need to call your aunt to come pick you up."
"You have my aunt's number," Peter said in disgust.
Tony raised his eyebrows, waiting for the kid to make his decision.
Peter rolled his eyes. He scuffed the ground with the toe of his Air Jordans. "No, it's fine," he said glumly. "I'll leave."
"Good," said Tony shortly. "Look both ways when you cross the street and all that." Peter didn't answer. He was clearly upset. Tony tried not to care. "It's for your own good, you know."
"Sure," said Peter.
Tony rolled his eyes. He turned away from Peter and stalked back down the hallway. He was glad when the kid didn't follow him. He couldn't deal with much more teenage angst. He already had enough of his own to deal with.
He turned down a corridor, looking for a private place to make his calls. Damn, had they rearranged the hallways in this thing, too? Nothing looked remotely familiar anymore. He finally came to a stop in a windowed alcove with a view that plummeted downward fifty stories. He paused to wave at a small security camera hanging from the ceiling before he disabled it into static by ratchetting up a frequency emitted by the cuff on his wrist. He had about fifteen minutes before one of Fury's staff noticed the disturbance and got cranky.
"Talk to me, Rhodey," said Tony, lifting up his phone and punching the callback button.
"Tony, where the hell have you been?" Rhodey yammered into Tony's ear. "Ross is losing his shit. He's about a second away from issuing a warrant for your arrest – and mine too. If you don't report in fifteen minutes –"
"Tell Ross he's behind the times," said Tony. "My letter of resignation should be en route to his inbox in about five minutes."
Okay. Okay, so Tony was wrong. Sue him (which they would, probably. It had happened often enough). He had thought they would be better prepared against Thanos' attack – Loki's previous assault on New York hadn't been exactly very well thought out and Tony had figured that was just Lord Palpatine's style. But Tony was wrong, and now Vision was captured, and so was his teeny-bopper girlfriend who possessed more power than a nuclear bomb. And Tony hadn't seen this coming, he really hadn't. But now it was time to take matters into his own hands. He didn't have the patience to deal with Ross's or Fury's doublespeak, any longer.
"Tony, what the hell?" said Rhodey, but he didn't sound exactly disapproving.
"Listen," said Tony. "I know you've probably got a list taller than Stark Tower to yell at me for, but I've got a huge favor to ask of you."
"Yeah?" Rhodey's voice held that familiar note of wariness Tony had grown to so know and love.
"So, you remember little miss Asgardian princess?" Tony began. "Well…I'm going to need her specific set of skills for a highly classified mission I'm planning." Fury was right; Tony didn't know a goddamn thing about space travel. He needed someone who did, even if she was a pain in the ass.
"Tony…" Rhodey cautioned, sigh of resignation in his voice.
"Have her flown over ASAP," Tony pressed onward. "Special delivery. Not expecting anything less than your trusted hands for this one, Rhodes."
"You're going to get me court-martialed, Stark," Rhodey growled, but Tony grinned behind his phone, because he knew he had him, hook, line, and sinker. Sure enough Rhodey added, "I'll get her to you in three hours, tops. And, Tony?"
"Yeah?"
"You're a bastard, you know that?"
"You too, Rhodey, old pal. You too," Tony chuckled, hanging up the call.
He dialed Pepper's number next and winced as soon as her voice snapped through the line, greeting him with a line of profanity. "You told me you would warn me the next time you went off to fight more aliens! Have you seen the news? New York is a shambles and you're on every single smartphone video circulating on YouTube –"
"Rhodey just finished calling me a bastard," said Tony, "so there's no need to tell me again."
"Well, good for Rhodey," said Pepper. Tony smiled. He could tell she wasn't actually angry at him, just concerned – bless her precious, long-suffering heart.
"So, er, Pep," said Tony. Now for the hard part. "I know you've been planning this big dinner party shebang for –"
"For three months, yes," Pepper said sweetly. "And you're calling me to let me know how much you're looking forward to it and that you'll be bringing two bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon with you when you come home."
"Er – not exactly," said Tony.
"Anthony Stark –" Pepper began, pulling out the full name, which meant Tony was in worse trouble than he initially thought.
"Listen, Pep," Tony said hastily. "Something's come up with work. You saw it on the news, scary aliens and everything."
"You can tell the scary aliens to wait until morning," said Pepper.
"I wish I could. Really I do." Tony hoped his earnestness translated through the phoneline. "But that's not going to happen right now. So I hope you dinner party goes right as rain – which it will, because you're the tops, and everything you touch turns to gold. And I love you." And I love you, Pepper. I really do.
"Tony – don't you dare –" Pepper warned, having experienced way too many of these kinds of calls not to know exactly where it was heading.
"Hugs and kisses, love bug," said Tony. "Don't bother waiting up for me."
He blew a kiss into the phone. "Tony –" Pepper's voice was cut off when Tony hit the end call button, guilt swimming in his stomach, but he didn't have time to deal with that now. Pepper would be there. Tony had to believe she would always be there. There to pick his pieces back off the floor, there waiting for him until he finally figured out how to screw his head on the right way.
He could hear distant footsteps down the hallway now. He was running out of time before the STRENGTH personnel arrived to find out who the hell had knocked out their camera.
Tony didn't bother to check Rogers' prehistoric artifact, even though he wanted to. Maybe Steve had gotten his message, maybe he hadn't – Tony couldn't worry about that now. Mr. Stars and Stripes would be on his own now; maybe Fury would have better luck in motivating him out of his sulk.
"Friday?" Tony tapped his cuff around his wrist, waking up his user interface from her peaceful slumber.
"Yes, boss?" she replied readily with that jilting Irish brogue of hers.
"Get me the security codes for every door in this building." Good thing about once owning the Tower, Stark knew exactly where the goods would be parked. "And I'm gonna need a sign-on for one of the quinjets, too."
"Right away, sir," said Friday.
"And, Friday?"
"Yes, boss?"
"Send a letter of resignation to Ross, sign it with my big John H, and don't bother to be too polite."
"With pleasure, sir," said Friday.
OOO
Stephen walked through a revolving Sling Ring into his study, only to find Wong waiting for him, characteristic frown on his face. Wong had little interest in politics, so he had elected to stay behind while Stephen addressed Fury for the debrief. Stephen envied Wong his wisdom to avoid it.
"Stephen," said Wong with a nod. "And how did it go?"
"Awful," said Stephen, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. "Fury is angry, Stark is pitching a hissy fit, and so is his teenage apprentice. The only one keeping a level head is Banner – and even that is wrong, because he should still be a raging green monster right now. And two of the most powerful beings on earth have been kidnapped by an alien warlord."
"And the Mind Stone has been apprehended," Wong added.
"That too," said Stephen.
"Will you go after them?" said Wong.
Stephen shrugged. He collapsed into a nearby armchair. He would not let Stark or Fury see how drained he was, but he did not mind if Wong knew that he was exhausted. Wong would tell him to embrace his human weakness, to accept it lest it should control him. "Fury thinks it unwise. I'm inclined to believe him. Yet…"
"Yet," said Wong. "If you do not, then who will? Can we really condemn them to a cruel and unknown fate?"
"Yes, we can," said Stephen heavily. "If it means saving earth from a similar destiny. In fact, we must."
"And you believe that?" said Wong.
"What do you want me to say, Wong?" Stephen demanded. He wasn't in the mood to play games. Wong was a hard man to read. Stephen could not tell if he was prompting him to agree with Fury or urging him to commit mutiny.
"I want you to be truthful with yourself about what you think is right," said Wong. "Fury is a smart man, but he does not know what you do. Although he is aware of the Time Stone's presence on earth, he has no true idea of its power, or its threat."
"You think Thanos will return for it?" said Stephen.
"I think it is inevitable," Wong answered.
Stephen sighed again. "So do I."
"And you think it likely we will be able to protect it?" said Wong. "Thanos easily acquired the Mind Stone. With its possession he will only grow stronger and more unpredictable. How can we hope to hide the Eye from him?"
"I don't know," Stephen murmured. And dammit, didn't Wong have his own answers? Why did everything always have to come in riddles?
"This Stark," Wong changed the subject. "Do you fear he will act rashly, or in some other way damage the safety of earth?"
"I think he's just crazy enough right now to make a dash for the portal regardless of Fury's orders," Stephen answered. "In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if I got a call from Fury in the next twenty minutes. As for endangering earth, I think anything any one of us does right now could jeopardize our planet."
It was Wong's turn to sigh, a rare show of emotion. "If only we could see into the future," he said.
"It's not like you to yearn for the impossible, Wong," said Stephen, although he could not deny that he wished for the same thing. They needed more Time.
Stephen stood. He had made his decision. Wong stared at him levelly from across the room. Could the other man read his thoughts? It certainly seemed so, for Wong said, "Stephen, I have warned you before of the dangers of manipulating the Stones. Only ruin waits at the end of this road. So, I implore you, do not do what you have in your mind to do." Wong paused, taking a breath. "But, if you feel you must, I will not stop you by force."
"There is no other choice," said Stephen. Stephen, himself, had warned Stark of the dangers of using the Stones, but Stephen had already successfully wielded the powers of the Time Gem. He was confident he could do so again if the need should arise, which Stephen felt sure it would. These were dire times, and he was certain that the only way to combat an Infinity Stone was to use one of its sisters. And he could not simply leave it laying around on earth for Thanos to pick it up as if stopping by the corner store.
Stephen and Wong's surroundings rapidly altered as Stephen teleported them through the Sanctum. The dimensions of the Sanctum were thin, nearly transparent, allowing for seamless transportation through its walls that did not require the aide of a Sling Ring. Stephen and Wong now stood in the center of the archive of relics, a level below the street.
The Cloak of Levitation swept through the room of its own accord and snapped onto Stephen's shoulders. Stephen patted it welcome and stalked up to the pedestal in the center of the room. Stephen had removed the Eye of Agamotto's pedestal from Kamar-Taj to the New York Sanctum. He stepped up to it, fist closing around the chain and drawing it from the dais. He placed the chain around his neck, where the pendant dangled as a heavy weight against his chest. He could already feel the tantalizing power within the Stone, calling to him, almost taunting him.
Wong watched him silently, eyes following him from his place across the room, unmoved since Strange teleported him there. He nodded briefly when Stephen looked at him, in acceptance of Stephen's choice, Stephan knew – although Stephen could not stop a slight feeling of misgiving from flickering through his stomach, regardless of Wong's reluctant approval.
As if on cue, Stephen's pager beeped, indicating an urgent message from Fury. Stephen pressed down the receiver, already knowing what Fury was calling him to say.
"Stark's gone AWOL," Fury's voice crackled through the intercom.
"Is that so?" said Stephen. Not a moment too soon, Stark.
"Intercept him. He's headed toward the portal in a filched quinjet."
"On my way, Director," said Stephen. He switched off the pager.
Wong caught his eye across the room. "I wish you good luck, my friend."
Stephen smiled tightly. "I don't believe in luck."
"Neither do I," said Wong solemnly. "I was merely a figure of speech."
"Well, then, thanks," Stephen replied. Without another word, he tossed a Sling Ring into the room ahead of him. Flinging his cloak over his shoulders, he stepped into the swirling vortex and emerged a second later into the steel confines of a SHIELD era quinjet.
"What the hell?" a woman Strange had not met yet turned to face him, already reaching for the sword she kept at her hip. She was clad in armor and leather – one of Thor's friends, perhaps?
"Don't you dare, Stange," it was Stark, emerging from the cockpit and already warming up his suit's repulsors, ready to blast Stephen back down the gullet of his Ring. "I'm warning you –"
Stephen cocked an eyebrow, letting the Ring dissolve behind him. He raised his hands into the air, palms forward, to indicate he meant no harm. "Dare what, Stark?" he asked. "Dare help you fly this bird across the galaxy? Because, like it or not, you've just earned yourself another passenger."