Chapter 1: Let's NOT Wipe Out the Human Kind
It could have been any other day, really. It had started out just like a normal morning (or as normal as life could be for the son of a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist). Anthony Stark Jr, better known as "AJ", had started his morning off with coffee. Typically he was a morning person, but sleep deprivation was hitting him hard recently as he had taken up helping his mother run Stark Industries. The Avengers, including his father, were off who knows where at this point, trying to defeat Thanos before he could wipe out half of all humanity. He had been forced, along with the rest of the younger generation, to stay out of the fight and hold down the fort back home. His father had claimed that this was a fight for the Avengers' and none of them were of that status. It wasn't any of their faults that their parents weren't quite ready to step down yet and give up control.
These thoughts all flowed through AJ's head as he started off the work day. His Oxford leather loafers were nearly silent against the pristine marble as he walked through the Executives floor of SI, a cup of coffee in hand. The first office he passed by was his own, neat and orderly as always. Tony always joked that he was his twin when it came to appearance, sporting his same dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, but he was Pepper's "mini me" when it came to work. The next office over caused him to pause as it did every morning. The name plaque outside read: "Victoria Stark, Vice President". The lights inside the office were off as they had been for the past 6 weeks. A coating of dust covered everything inside, which was a good thing as he knew Tori hated it when people entered her space without permission, cleaners included.
No one, including himself, had received any phone calls from his older sister, which would have been concerning if it wasn't so typical of her anymore. There were months where no one would see or hear from her before she would just decide to pop back in. Victoria hadn't used to be that way. She had been the responsible one: serious about training to take over the company from their mother one day. When she wasn't shadowing their mother, she had been busy inventing new medical advancement technology to help those with disabilities. It had become one of the most prosperous offshoots of Stark Industries and had helped her earn a name for herself outside of their father's well-established fame.
It was nearly 2 years ago when Tori had changed. After coming back from an unannounced 5 month vacation, it was as if she had been replaced with a completely different person. Her passion and drive were gone, as was her infectious smile and laughter. Hours that used to be spent working in the office or tinkering in the lab were spent getting blackout drunk at parties. Headlines of "Like father, like daughter" and "Party heiress not seen in weeks: In rehab again?" became common place in the tabloids. Tori had gone down a path that their father had sworn to never let either of them go down. There was no trying to talk to her about it either, as she would shut down any attempts. AJ knew something had to have happened in those 5 months she had disappeared, but what exactly, he didn't know. So when most of her friends turned their backs on her, he stayed faithfully by her side, being a voice of hope in her ear. He prayed that one day he would get his big sister back. More than anything, he missed her. Their parents did too, but they didn't say much of anything about it. Maybe it was just too hard.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Tor," AJ murmured, softly shaking his head as he continued on down the hallway. Turning a corner, he nearly ran right into Tori's secretary, Savannah Carlyle. Her hand landed on his upper arm as she steadied herself. Light laughter floated off both of their lips as their eyes met.
"Sorry, I should have been watching where I was going. I swear I wasn't trying to give you a heart attack," he spoke, an easy grin forming on his face. The 21 year old rolled her mocha brown eyes, reaching up and tucking wild black curls back behind her ear with the hand that has previously been resting on his arm, as her other one held a stack of files.
She snorted in a very unlady like fashion, "I'm pretty sure if anyone was to have a heart attack it would be you with all of that caffeine you consume." AJ shrugged nonchalantly, not the least bit offended.
"Gotta do what you gotta do. That's my motto. Where are you off to anyway?," he inquired, tone casual. His free hand delved into the pocket of his suit jacket as he leaned against the wall, appraising her. She moved to lean against the wall beside him, reaching out and straightening his tie as she responded.
"Pepper needed me to file some papers while she's stuck in a meeting. Not the most exciting way to start the morning. I swear, Tori needs to get her ass back here." AJ was about to voice his agreement when he heard screams cut through the air. Without a second thought, he pushed Savannah behind him, hand near his watch ready to activate his own Mark V if needed. It wasn't that sort of danger though, unfortunately.
"AJ.." The youngest Stark spun around just in time to witness the dark haired woman disintegrate into a pile of ash right before his eyes. AJ could have sworn that in that moment his heart stopped.
"No. No, no, no. This can't be happening!" As calm and collected as AJ usually was, that was all out the window as he caught site of other employees turning to ash as well. The cup of coffee fell to the floor as he took off running down the hallway. His pulse raced as he threw open the glass door to the main conference room.
Brown eyes scanned the room, looking for one person in particular: Pepper, whom was nowhere in sight.
"Where is my mom?" The 19 year old's voice was thick with emotion, nearly cracking at the end as he stared into the eyes of one of the male board members who appeared to be going into shock.
The man's finger pointed to a pile of ash on the chair at the head of the table, "She…She was here one minute and…gone the next…." A strong hand landed on AJ's shoulder, prompting him to turn around to a thankfully familiar face. Happy held his cell phone up to his ear with his other hand.
"Tony isn't picking up. Kid, what the hell is going on? People are just disappearing." AJ didn't pause to answer as he pulled out his own phone, hitting speed dial 2. His hands shook as he listed to the phone ring once, twice, three times. She had to be ok. She just had to be.
"Come on Tor, pick up your damn phone!" It was as if his shouts had been heard as the ringing stopped followed by a moment of silence.
"Yeah?" Just the sound of his sister's voice felt like a blessing. He let out the breath he hadn't realized that he had been holding all this time. He had to swallow thickly before he could actually bring himself to form words.
"Tor.." he paused, choking back a sob, "They lost. Thanos won. Mom is gone and we can't get a hold of dad. We need you. I need you. It's the end game now."
Submission information
Characters must be in the age range of 18-27
Some of the characters that you make will have turned to dust. They will get equal time in the spot-light. Once the first few chapters of the snap/aftermath are done, every other chapter will be focused on those "stuck in the Soul Stone". No, I will not tell you ahead of time if your character was dusted or not. Some of the Avengers/characters who did not get dusted in the movie may get turned to dust in the story or vice versa.
Here's to the big question: pairings. I know everyone has their own ships that they adore, but for the sake of the story, some set pairings must be chosen. Now, that doesn't mean that two character that aren't together can't have a child together. You just have to explain it so that it would make sense (I don't want any cheating Avengers!). A good example of that could be an Avenger had a relationship with an OC and had a kid before getting together with someone else.
So, I personally do not care if there are more boys or more girl, etc. It doesn't have to be equal. I would like a good mix though. Age wise a good variety would work out the best for the story, so send me older and younger characters.
I do not have a limit on how many kids per character, but I will only be accepting a certain number (unknown yet) due to the fact that I want equal spotlight time for each character and too many is too much to handle.
Pairings/Info
⁃ Tony Stark/Pepper Potts
⁃ Clint Barton/Laura Barton
For these two, you may create/use Cooper, Lila, or Nathaniel. Just realize that since this is AU they would be older, maybe even the oldest of the group. You could also create your own original child for them.
⁃ Thor Odinson/Jane Foster
⁃ Wanda Maximoff/Vision
⁃ Scott Lang/Hope Pym
Like with Clint, Cassie can be used, but she would be one of the oldest in the group. You could also create your own original child for them since Cassie isn't Hope's kid.
⁃ FOR THE REST: Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, James Rhodes, etc: Set pairings have not been decided on. Submit kids for them with whomever you would like and I will decide depending on what I receive. If you use an OC for one of the parents, that's fine. If you pair two of these Avengers together, that's fine as well.
FORM
1. CHARACTERS WILL ONLY BE ACCEPTED THROUGH PM (private messages) ONLY. THE FORM CAN BE FOUND ON MY PROFILE PAGE
2. MAKE THE PM SUBJECT "The Contingency Plan: (Character's full name)"
3. IF YOUR CHARACTER IS TOO LONG TO FIT IN ONE MESSAGE, THATS OK! SEND THE OTHER MESSAGES IN THE SAME PM THREAD THOUGH, PLEASE
4. YOU MAY SUBMIT A MAXIMUM OF 2 CHARACTERS
5. BE DETAILED AND CREATIVE
6. ONLY SUBMIT A CHARACTER IF YOU ARE OK WITH ME TAKING CREATIVE RESPONSIBILITY OVER WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM THROUGHOUT THE STORY
7. BIOLOGICAL, ADOPTED, AND KIDS CREATED FROM GENETIC EXPERIMENTS ARE ALL OK
8. CHARACTERS WILL BE ACCEPTED THROUGH 3/15. (It may be shortened or extended based upon how many characters are received by then)