"For the last time, I strongly suggest you convene in this house."
"Yeah, and for the last time, your suggestions mean nothing to me. Stark Mansion is more secure and I don't want you getting involved in the kerfuffle that's bound to happen when Steve Rogers shows up."
"If Steve Rogers comes to your mansion it'll be swarming with government officials."
"Guys! Please!" Bruce shielded his ear. "Sorry Steve, we're in a bit of a disagreement here."
Dr. Strange lowered his voice. "I'm not inviting you here because I want you here." He gave Tony a piercing stare, and the fringe of his cloak slapped around him, turbulent. He spoke his next words slowly. "I'm allowing you to stay for the sake of reality."
Tony paused a moment, thinking. Then he backed off as if he'd never considered a different possibility. "You know what, you're right! Let's meet here. I just hope you don't mind the baggage that comes with them."
There was a small silence; the snap of Steve's flip phone ended it. Both of the men turned towards the sound.
"Alright," Bruce sighed, hand wrapped around the phone, knuckles growing white. "I told him to meet us here as soon as he could."
Strange appeared surprised, if only slightly.
"Did you tell him the address?"
"He said he got a reading on the phone's location and would track that."
The silence that followed got to one beat before Tony abruptly cut it. "Well then, I'd better go get the android." He turned for the door. "You coming with, Bruce?"
"I can make a sling ring right now to retrieve your stone," Strange offered.
"Nope, we'll pass. I don't want any of your portals touching my property."
"I...uh, actually need to talk to Stephen about something." Bruce shrugged apologetically. "I'll meet up with you in a minute."
Tony looked from one to the other, suspicious almost to the point of incredulity, before opening and exiting through the mansion's main door. But Bruce came out like he'd said - a minute later.
As soon as the car door closed, Bruce started talking. "Tony, what's going on here?"
"Besides teaming up with Steve Rogers again to stop Thanos? Not much."
It was the signature sarcastic nonchalance he recognized, but the way Tony said 'Thanos' unsettled Bruce.
"Well," Tony added, now losing the sarcasm, "I also officiated some wedding plans."
"For you?"
"Yeah, me and Pep."
"Oh. Congrats! Send Pepper my regards."
"Will do, Bruce."
"...But that can't be what's bothering you." He wouldn't let it go. He couldn't. It seemed too important.
Tony turned a corner. "Bruce, I told you-"
"Yeah, and you still act like there's something you don't want to bring up. Come on."
Tony paused. When he spoke again he was quiet, like he was choosing and checking each word.
"There's someone at the mansion you might recognize, and I'd rather not have Cap coming in until I've worked out all the kinks. Which means we're on a very tight schedule."
Bruce could tell Tony knew he wanted to ask further, but as they rolled into the driveway, Bruce decided to wait it out.
Tony gestured widely. "What do you think of the layout?" He walked up to one of the indistinguishable glass panels. "I've got a new and expanded lab inside, too. Even a separate one for S.H.I.E.L.D so they won't mess ours up."
Bruce swept his gaze around the front yard. "I guess it's nice to be closer to the ground." It wasn't the answer Tony wanted, he knew. But Tony didn't seem to take much notice to it.
Rather, he opened the door and let Bruce walk in, steering him towards a pristine white hall. "First things first, we'll check you out. If diagnostics prove trustworthy, we can talk."
"What about the other person?" Bruce craned his neck around to get a glimpse at Tony. "The someone at the mansion?"
Tony was busying himself with setting up the scanning procedure, but he furrowed his brow. "He'll just have to wait."
...
Everything was a frightening shade of red.
Thor burst forward from a position that would have been extremely uncomfortable if he'd been awake (he'd somehow ended up by a plant in the back corner) and ran towards the front, where the Guardians sat. If it weren't for their physical presences to assure him, he would have thought he still witnessed the results of Thanos' destruction.
"What's happening?!" He shouted, his roar mingling with the atmosphere's high pitched whine. "Why can't we see anything?"
A small rodent-like creature scowled up at him.
"Relax, ya big pirate, we're just entering the stratosphere." Then, as an afterthought, "Now get your hand off my seat."
Thor complied (after all, he was in a pilot's seat, and Thor would rather not make him swerve due to distraction) and unevenly moved back a few steps. He balanced himself instead on the seat with the Groot strapped to it. The Groot gave him a once-over, extended a branch for a fist bump, and refocused himself to a neon-colored screen.
Thor took in all the red his eye could handle, wondering how the ship didn't combust. "So we're entering Earth, then?"
"That's right." Starlord gave a slight nod in his direction. "It would be helpful if you told us where these Avengers are supposed to be."
"New York."
Starlord was unamused. "Is that all you've got?"
"When I went to Tony Stark's place in the past, it usually wasn't by ship." Thor thought about it. "I can most likely land us if you let me pilot."
"No way." That was the rodent speaking.
Starlord echoed with what he thought was the rodent's gist. "No offense, but we barely know you, man. I can't just let you take over my ship."
"Do you even know how many credits this thing is worth?" The rodent added, to which Starlord eventually nodded.
"And yes, it's also worth a lot."
Thor's mouth set into a firm, grim line. "Then how do you expect to arrive?"
"Mantis, can you look up - what was this place called again?"
"Avengers Tower." Thor's disposition definitively worsened.
"Avengers Tower."
"You expect to find it on the holonet? That's a poor plan, even for you." Gamora followed their conversation unsmiling, but now she had to object – their stubbornness was ludicrous. "We'd crash or burn at that rate."
"Or both," Drax added indifferently.
The rodent didn't turn back to address her, choosing instead to keep focus on his window of red. "I, for one, am not about to take my paws off the wheel or my butt out of this seat. You and Starlord here can duke it out."
"Why doesn't Thor just navigate while you pilot?" Also not the best idea, probably, but at least better than what Quill had suggested.
"I..." Quill made eye contact with Thor, who nodded. He begrudgingly shrugged. "Alright. We're exiting the Stratosphere in 3-"
The red pulled away to a clear blue sky, and from the edge of the windows lay shiny grey dots. Skyscrapers, many of which they were rapidly approaching. Quill pulled on the brakes.
Despite the urgency of the pressure and gravitational pull skewing the ship's movement, seeing a fully Terran city for the first time in decades brought a smile to Quill's face. "New York. Where're we headed?"
"There should be a tower with a circular plank sticking out of it."
Quill's smile turned to a hard grimace. "Anything else?"
"A large 'A' is on the front," Thor added after a second. Then after another, "Turn the ship the other way and travel northwest."
Quill tried to turn as smoothly as he could and nearly ran into a the edge of a building. He maxed out the propulsion to increase their distance just as Thor shouted, "That one was Avengers tower!"
"Oh, great."
Quill stopped trying to pull the ship upwards and hit all the brakes, scrabbling to descend in a way that wouldn't take the landing pad down with them.
For the second time that day, Thor was nearly flung around, but he managed to hold on to Groot's chair as the impact rushed through. What got him instead was landing back on the floor.
Landing back on the floor got the ship, too. Needless to say, there were flames.
...
"When did Tony Stark say Thor would come?" Ned was seriously debating whether it was worth taking a break from keeping watch to go grab a soda.
"Well, he didn't mention a time per se, but that means it could happen any moment."
Ned pulled down his cap, sighing. "If you say so..." They'd been waiting for hours.
"He just wants us to keep watch." Peter once again scanned his surroundings. Nothing. Code Egg had disappointed them.
Technically, that was supposed to be a good thing.
"Which way do you think Thor will arrive?"
"Eh...that direction." Peter pointed randomly.
Ned rolled his eyes. "What mode of travel?"
They'd already thoroughly debated what Mr. Stark meant by 'losing' a hammer, including it being flung so fast it travelled into a different dimension. But neither of them knew how reliant Thor was on his hammer for traveling, so they moved on to that next.
"Bifrost, I guess?" Peter always wanted to see someone travel that way.
"I don't know, man, I think I'd want to be more discreet than that."
"Dude. I don't think I've ever seen you discreet."
"Well, I've never been an Asgardian either, so..." Ned folded his hands over his head. It was a pretty valid point.
"Well, okay, but what if-"
A large roar drowned out his words as an even larger ship drop-crashed in front of them. So much for discreet.
Peter and Ned stared at the flaming, epic spacecraft that now nested askew on the non-functional landing pad. Peter hypothesized that when the tower was functional its landing zone must have used some sort of gravitational stabilizer to help with landings. He and Ned tried earlier, of course, to boot the system, but all Peter's pass allowed him was the right to use the air conditioner and emergency panel.
Emergency panel.
Peter started and ran to the panel, fumbling to find a relevant button. Ned, still slightly dazed by seeing a spacecraft up close, turned as if he was wading through water. "Peter?"
Quinjet Landing: Fire Extinguisher. "Got it."
Bright white foam sprayed like electrical sparks from every angle that geared towards the ship. He didn't know whether the foam was supposed to stop automatically, but it was a big ship, so he just let the extinguisher run. It took until about three-fourths of the ship was covered for the intensity of the spray to subside.
Although obviously still impressed, Ned now appeared much more clear-headed. Peter rejoined him. "You good?"
"Yeah."
They began to walk towards the structure, and as if on cue, the gangway opened, causing a dark hole to appear amidst the swath of white foam.
The man who stepped out was battered, ragged, Mjolnir-less, short-haired, and had only one eye. But he was obviously Thor, so Peter and Ned considered their mission a success.
Then Thor centered his gaze on the two of them.
His voice came out as a low whisper. "Who are you?"
Peter blanched at his unfriendly expression but soldiered on. "I'm Peter. I'm friends with Tony Stark and he asked me to escort you."
Thor shifted his gaze to Ned, who quickly added, "I'm helping him escort."
Thor looked unimpressed. "Is Stark not here?"
"No; see, since you left he's moved upstate to a place he calls the Avengers mansion, but he knew you'd be here, so he asked me to be here and I asked Ned to help." The words rushed out of Peter, and he really hoped Thor trusted him because if he didn't there then there would be a severe setback in the get-Thor-to-the-Mansion plan.
Thor straightened, and Peter noticed he grabbed for something that wasn't there.
Mjolnir.
"Well then," Thor said. "Take us to this mansion."
"Us?" Ned asked.
"Us." Thor gestured to the ship, and Peter thought he saw a quick movement at the edge of the gangplank. "We need to give him some news."
...
Loki was working himself into a mental breakdown when Vision came back.
"Mr. Stark is here." Vision's expression remained guarded.
Loki inhaled and tried to match his composure. "I see."
"Once he's finished with business downstairs I suspect he'd like to discuss with you."
Loki couldn't tell if Vision was toying with him by declining to mention the tesseract. Perhaps he was merely waiting for Stark's arrival.
"Thank you." Loki nodded in a dismissive manner, expecting Vision to leave him alone. He stayed put.
Pausing just long enough for Loki to renew nervousness, Vision asked, "Is that what you've decided to wear?"
Loki looked down. Considering the circumstances, it seemed an odd thing to bring up, and he didn't think his apparel was incredibly strange. "Erm, yes?" He'd checked his selection multiple times and couldn't perceive any natural reason to be made fun of, although with Stark, there was always some edge.
Vision raised his eyebrows but changed the topic. "Until he arrives, Mr. Stark requests that you refrain from causing mischief."
"He forgets who he's addressing," Loki mumbled, but under Vision's intense glare nodded his understanding. He felt more askew and confused than before.
...
It was about time to check in with the Jotun, and sending his eldest – Ebony Maw – seemed the most enjoyable, if not most surefire, way to do so. Thanos knew Maw wouldn't disappoint. And if he learned that the Jotun failed him...
Well, Thanos would deal with that himself.