Hello all!

Updating slightly later as I was out today.

Short chapter today... Next one will be longer.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Bruce Returns

Wednesday 30th May 2018

Avengers Facility

Tony leaned over his work-bench, goggles on as he fiddled with the little nanonites he was carefully inserting into his Arc Reactor. It was delicate work. He was still running the program that installed the software into their tiny little CPU brains.

Now that they were close to Thanos' arrival, Tony had decided he needed to advance his suit further. He needed the suit he'd used just before his death, so he'd set about designing it and having it built. It was taking longer than he would have liked. He'd originally built it over five years, making tons of different versions of it before signing off on the final design. He was also trying to implement the ability to withstand large amounts of power, mainly to counteract any powers Tony may demonstrate. If he did have powers and they unleashed, he wanted them to be compatible with his suit. Of course, the amount of work he was putting into his suit, didn't mean it would work. He had no way of knowing what type of powers he had until he demonstrated them. Only then he'd be able to accurately configure the suit to work with them.

Currently, the Arc Reactor was in bits as he fitted each nanonite into its separate, small housing within the casing itself. It was delicate work and one wrong placement could cause problems.

It was during this time he was surprised by Doctor Strange opening a portal directly into Tony's lab, walking through it with his cloak swishing behind him and Bruce stumbling out after him. So startled was he by the sudden appearance, Tony nearly dropped the pincers holding the nanonite centimetres from the Reactor, but he managed to salvage it.

"Bruce?" Tony asked, putting his equipment down. He shouldn't have been surprised by the sudden appearance of Bruce. Today was the date Tony had left Earth originally. What had thrown him off course was Strange bringing him straight into Tony's private work lab at the Facility.

"Tony." Bruce rounded the table. "You need to get everyone together. Thor is gone… And Thanos is coming."

Dread filled the pit of Tony's stomach. The inevitable had happened. The Space Stone had been acquired by Thanos, the only Infinity Stone he and Natasha hadn't been able to retrieve last year. They'd known this was coming.

"Damn it," he whispered quietly, running his left hand over his face. "Bruce –"

But his friend cut him off. "Wait, when did you get married?" Bruce had spied the ring on Tony's ring finger.

"Five months ago. I would have liked you there," said Tony.

"I really have missed a lot," Bruce sunk into a chair opposite Tony's work desk.

Doctor Strange stepped back towards the portal he had opened. "I'll be back at the Sanctum if you need me."

Tony nodded. He knew Strange had looked into the future before he had gifted the Time Stone to them last year. He probably knew he wasn't needed right now. "I'm sure you'll come when we need you."

Strange inclined his head and stepped back through the portal, closing it behind him.

"Do you want a drink?" Tony asked Bruce.

"Just water," answered Bruce.

Tony poured Bruce some water and passed the glass to him. "Here."

"Thanks." Bruce eagerly drank it, downing it in one fluid motion. He placed the cup on the desk. "Tony, we don't have long. Thanos is coming."

"We've been preparing for him for a while," admitted Tony.

Bruce looked up sharply. "How can you know about him?"

"It's been a long three years…" noted Tony. "We've known about him for about two years now and have been working on solutions to counteract him."

Bruce was stunned. "How…?"

"We received intelligence regarding his activities. We've been aware of the Stones and have been collecting them. There were already two of them on Earth – I'd hazard a guess Thanos is coming to retrieve those ones, but we've hidden them."

"There are still another three out in space, Tony, he could get them!" Bruce warned. "He'll do that first before he comes here!"

"We'll handle it," smiled Tony. "We'll call a meeting with the other Avengers for today. There is a lot you do not know and a lot we need to talk about. Why don't you freshen up, whilst I make some calls?"

Natasha wasn't surprised when her phone rang. She'd been expecting a call from Tony, today of all times.

She didn't even bother to say hello when she answered. "He's arrived?"

"Yeah. Bruce is here…"

"Then that means Thor is somewhere floating in space and will be picked up by the Guardians," swallowed Nat. "They'll bring him here, right?"

"They will. Before they left Earth, I made sure to ask them if they ever ran into Thor to bring him straight to Earth. I hope they will," admitted Tony. "Everything is falling into place. Only problem we have is Thanos has the Space Stone, the last one we need. How can we get it from him?"

Natasha couldn't say what she knew. Tony would have to get it on his own when Thanos kidnapped him. She knew it was going to happen at some point but when? The Stones were being quiet, not confirming anything to her. The guilt she felt knowing it was inevitable Tony would be in Thanos' hands and not being able to warn him. She hated it. "I don't know how we can get it, Tony," she replied quietly. "I'm sure a solution will present itself."

Tony fell silent for a few seconds and when he spoke again he didn't directly respond to her last words. "We need to get Steve, Wanda, Rhodey, and Pepper here for a meeting with Bruce."

"What about the others?" she inquired, surprised at Tony's instructions to only include a select few. "Clint?"

"Clint is with his family. You know he is semi-retired, only comes when he is called," pointed out Tony. "It'll take him a good few hours to get here whereas we can be sitting down to a meeting with everyone in the next half-an-hour."

He made excellent points.

"Still, we should call him in. He doesn't have to be here for the meeting but if we are going to be attacked imminently it is better we have everyone assembled," she explained logically.

"Points well made," conceded Tony. "Okay, Conference room in forty minutes."

She signed off on the call.

Everything was coming together.

"Hey, Bruce." She walked into the conference room twenty-five minutes early. Tony and Bruce were already there. Tony was on his phone, whilst Bruce tucked into a sandwich.

"Nat!" Bruce kicked back his chair and stood up, watching her approach.

Choosing to step around the table towards him, Natasha approached him, a slight smile on her face. "It's good to see you again."

Bruce scratched the back of his neck. "Kinda wish it wasn't when the world was ending though."

She chuckled slightly, reached out and pulled him into a hug. "I've missed you."

Bruce held her slightly tighter, pressing his face into her shoulder. "Me too."

"I'd ask how you are but I gather it isn't good?" she enquired.

Bruce shook his head. "I'd rather wait until everyone is here," he said. "Don't want to repeat myself."

"Understandable," she mentioned, aware of how many times she and Tony had repeated the same conversation with the other Avengers about their unique circumstances. Unfortunately, they would have to do it again now with Bruce. And Thor, once he arrived. Pulling a chair out, Natasha sat opposite Bruce. "There is something Tony and I need to tell you before the others get here."

"You do?"

She nodded. She caught Tony's eyes. He seemed to agree with her decision to inform Bruce now. "It hasn't been simple for us. Not for a while at least."

"What do you mean?" Bruce swallowed, his voice slightly cracking.

"Tony and I… We came back," she stated, as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

"Came back?" Bruce's face was a mixture of confusion. "From where?"

Natasha traded glances with Tony. "From the future."

Bruce pushed himself back in the chair. "What? But? How? That's… that's impossible!"

Tony chuckled gently. "It's very true. It happened. That's how we've known about Thanos for a while. In our time he won. We've been trying to change it."

Bruce swallowed, his eyes flicking back and forth between them. "But… where did our Tony and Nat go? Did you replace them? Did they just vanish?"

"We merged with our past selves," explained Natasha. "We both went to sleep one day and then woke up here, back in the past, before Thanos, giving us the perfect opportunity to prevent it from happening. Something sent us back and wants us to stop it. And we're close. So close as well."

"I'm not sure I believe this…" muttered Bruce.

"Everyone else knows," added Tony quietly. "They've been working with us for a while now. We wouldn't lie about this. We've worked together before, Bruce. I know last time we did, Ultron happened… but over the years I've learned from my mistakes and from the future I'm from you taught me a lot."

"I did?" Bruce seemed surprised.

Tony smiled warmly. "You did."

"Thanks…" A light tinge of pink appeared over Bruce's cheekbones. "I think."

Once everyone had gathered for the meeting, they sat around a table in the conference room. Tony sat next to Pepper. To his right were Natasha and Rhodey, and to his left were Wanda, Bruce and Steve. Clint was on his way and the rest of the Avengers would be filled in later that day once Tony and his core group had filled Bruce in with everything going on.

There was no reason for them all to be there for this initial meeting.

Steve looked at Bruce. He'd hugged him warmly as soon as he'd seen Bruce when he'd walked into the Conference room. "What happened to you? Ultron was three years ago… You've been missing since then."

"I was the Hulk for two years," admitted Bruce, "in a contest of champions on a planet called Sakaar, until Thor showed up. I don't really remember those two years… Thor… rescued me? Talked sense into the Hulk… I think." He passed his gaze to Nat. "Waking up after so long… It was… I missed out on two years! All that time I was the Hulk. I don't know how I got there, only we had the QuinJet… then Hulk destroyed it. There were portals in the sky… wormholes. I can only assume the QuinJet flew into one and it transported me to Sakaar where I was found. They loved the Hulk there…" Bruce shook his head. "I can't explain it."

"Where's Thor?" asked Steve.

"Gone." Bruce bowed his head. "Thanos defeated him. Asgard is destroyed. Half of Thor's people are dead too… He allowed half to live… He wasn't there for Thor or for the Asgardians…"

"What was he there for?" enquired Rhodey, even though they all knew what he was after.

"Infinity Stones. There was one on that ship. Loki had it and he never told anyone about it. He's changed… He's not the Loki we fought in New York. To save Thor's life he gave it up. He tried not to at first… He attempted something stupid afterwards. Tried to kill Thanos when his back was turned… He knew."

Tony swallowed. They hadn't been able to prevent the same events unfolding. The one thing they hadn't been able to change was the fate of Thor's people. He'd still lost half of them. Loki had still died, even though Tony wasn't unhappy about that, he knew Loki's death and the loss of half his people, and failing to kill Thanos had been the biggest reasons in Thor's reaction to after the Snap.

"He killed Loki," continued Bruce. "But something I need to know. Tony said you learned of Thanos two years ago. How? What have you been doing?" He splayed his hands out on the table, surprised by how much he had missed.

"It's complicated," answered Natasha.

"The last few years have been… different," stated Pepper quietly.

Bruce looked at Tony, a questioning expression on his face.

"As I said a lot has happened in the time you've been away, Bruce." Rubbing a weary hand down his face, Tony sighed. "How did you escape the ship?" He already knew the answer but needed to hear it from Bruce.

"Heimdall," muttered Bruce. "He sent me back here to warn you all." He leaned forward, his face in his hands. "The Hulk lost against Thanos. I tried but he overpowered me."

"What else happened there?" asked Natasha. "He said something, didn't he?"

Bruce nodded. "Thanos did. Once he had defeated us he told us about his grand plan for the universe and his need to acquire all six Infinity Stones. He said there are people working against him already. He said someone stole one of the Stones from his army before they could retrieve it. He's angry. Thanos is looking for the person who took it. We need to find them before Thanos does. He can't mean the two you've found here, he's not visited Earth yet, so he wouldn't know."

Tony exchanged a glance with Natasha. They both knew the truth. Regardless of what Bruce assumed, it was obvious Thanos was coming to them. The question was, was how long would it be before he launched an attack upon Earth?

"Did Thanos say anything about where he was specifically going next?" asked Rhodey.

Bruce shook his head. "No. Only that he knows where they are. How can we get to them if we don't even know ourselves? They could help us stop Thanos for good!"

An uncomfortable silence went round the room. Pepper squeezed Tony's hand and Steve's expression went solemn.

"I feel like I may have missed something big…" Bruce observed, his eyes questioning as he looked at each of his teammates in concern. "What else did I miss?"

"A lot," admitted Natasha.

Tony sighed. "We do not need to find the person with the Stones, Bruce." Now was the time to tell Bruce the truth.

"But –" Bruce began.

Tony rose from his chair and began to walk around the table, his shoulders dropping. Hopefully this would be the last time he would have to repeat himself over the Stones and how he and Nat had come back from the future. At least he knew for sure now that Thanos was coming for him. The incident with the Power Stone on Xandar last year had clearly put a target on his back, even if Squidward had not witnessed what Tony had fully done with the Stone, it had been enough for Thanos to want him, to seek him out.

Well, I'm not going to make it easy for him to get me. That was a vow he intended to keep.

He passed Natasha and Rhodey and placed his hands on the table, leaning forward.

Taking a deep breath, he prepared to speak.

Tony never got the chance.

Wind buffeted behind him, chilling him to the bone. Looking behind him, he saw a blue, crackling portal open up behind him.

Oh shit.

"Tony!" Natasha pushed her seat aside, hand out towards him, one hand going to the gun in her holster.

And then Thanos was there. His head and shoulders, and both arms, with one leg still in the portal and the other placed on the floor was coming out of the portal, the Space Stone glowing in the Gauntlet as he maintained the portal.

Tony tried to step back but Thanos reached out and grabbed him by the neck, cutting off his air. Reaching for Thanos' thick hand, scrabbling at the tight grip, Tony fought to free himself.

He heard yells, the sound of gunshots but all he could decipher was Thanos' cruel words to him.

"You're mine, Stark."

And, he was pulled through the portal as it closed around them.

To be continued...

Please let me know what you think!

Evil cliffhanger... Sorry! I always intended on ending this chapter here.

And yes, Tony did not have his Arc Reactor on him when Thanos took him. So, erm, he has no suit! :D

Loki is dead, sorry. Ragnarok happened as it did. There was nothing Tony or Nat could do to stop it from happening.

The next chapter entitled Thanos will focus on Thanos and Tony... I'm really excited for this chapter. It will be a big one and will make up for the short length of this chapter.

To be posted next Sunday 2nd February 2020!

Until then,

the-writer1988