Erm... hello *waves*
Sorry for the lack of update last week. I hit a huge roadblock with this chapter. It wasn't budging at all. And then I finally fixed it yesterday when I then wrote this entire chapter in under 24 hours... I'm not sure if I will be able to keep to weekly updates but I will try my best too. We are getting so close to the end now.
The rest of the story has been planned out now and should be finished by the end of May... I hope!
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Powers Unlocked
Thursday 31st May 2018
Avengers Compound
Training Rooms
It had been a hard and difficult day for Tony. He'd arrived early that morning, ready to train with Wanda, and learn more about his new abilities. They'd started by discussing each Infinity Stone Tony had absorbed, before determining which abilities were linked to each Stone when Tony had been on-board Thanos' ship using them for the first time.
They had established Tony's ability to teleport must originate from the Space Stone and that the energy beams from his hands were by-products of the Power Stone. However the problem was Tony simply could not control them or summon them when he wanted to.
Wanda had started off attacking him in an effort to get his powers to show themselves. Even when she threw him across the room, they did not appear. The tendrils of power from her own fingertips were able to throw Tony around the room with hardly any effort.
He was bruised and battered by the afternoon, wincing slightly in pain. "I'm not sure you attacking me is working, Wanda," Tony had said. "I think we need to try something different."
"Like what?"
"Make me angry. That seemed to work before," he'd suggested.
Wanda had blinked at him in surprise. "You're not gonna turn into the Hulk are you?"
Tony had laughed and shaken his head. "No. I'm not."
And so Wanda had tried Tony's suggestion, making threats against him, saying things designed to make Tony angry. Yet, because he knew Wanda didn't really mean what she said, he couldn't get angry.
No matter what they tried they could not manifest any of Tony's powers.
He returned to his quarters frustrated and annoyed at his lack of progress.
Tony lay back on his bed, running his hands over his face. Pepper was busy with Stark Industries otherwise she would be here with him. She'd been called away to an urgent meeting earlier that morning and he'd had not had a chance to see her. He doubted he'd see her for a few days.
"Wanda said you'd had trouble manifesting your powers today."
Tony jumped, flinging his arms out and sending out a beam of energy from his hands.
There was a yelp and he turned to see the hole he'd made in the wall, and kneeling down below it was Natasha, hands over her head. "TONY!"
Tony winced. "Sorry?" He glanced at his hands. "That's the first sign of powers I've had all day. And I nearly killed you with it."
"I did sneak up on you…" Natasha said. "I asked FRIDAY to let me in discreetly."
"Yeah, don't do that," he advised. "Last thing I want is to find I've accidentally killed someone because they sneak up on me."
Natasha raised her hands. "Won't happen again. It did confirm a theory though."
Tony's eyebrows crinkled as he considered her words. "Unexpected surprises and events trigger my powers?"
She nodded. "I'm wondering if your powers are not fully realised yet."
"We know they're not," he replied. "I cannot even harness them correctly without needing to be shocked into making them materialise. I'm not sure how we can fix this, or am I supposed to fight Thanos with the occasional energy blast and defeat him that way?"
Natasha sat down on the bed next to Tony. "I think I need to examine you."
"Err… what?" Tony wasn't sure what she meant.
She chuckled. "Not that way, Stark."
"Wasn't even thinking it," he defended.
Natasha shook her head, a slight grin pulling at the edge of her lips. "Do you remember when I was waiting for Carol to arrive in August 2016 and I asked you if I could explore our bond? You were with Peter at the time, working on some projects."
Tony frowned. "I vaguely remember it… Why?"
"At the centre of your soul I found a ball of rippling energy. My own body was responding to it, even though we were miles apart at the time. I think if I'd been able to see my own body, it would have been glowing. The ball of energy was bound together, tied together and I couldn't reach it. An invisible barrier was protecting it. I'm wondering if the chains are still there."
Tony turned to face her. "Surely they wouldn't be? I've got all the Stones… And I am displaying evidence my powers are loose…"
"But not widely, nor controllable," she pointed out cautiously. "You're not like Carol or Wanda who can use theirs freely. Will you let me look again?"
He wasn't sure. He knew Nat and he had a bond, but he'd just had his mind invaded by Thanos. The thought of someone else entering his brain, even if he trusted them, wasn't something he was that keen on. He swallowed. But if he wanted to be able to control his powers, perhaps Natasha was on to something? He shifted his body towards her, crossing his legs on the bed and placing his hands in his lap. "Ok."
Natasha nodded, understanding the level of trust Tony was giving her. "I won't hurt you."
"If you do, I think we both know what will happen," he replied, his fingers twitching.
"Please try not to fling me into a wall." Natasha reached out and placed her right hand in the centre of Tony's chest.
He watched as she closed her eyes, her breathing slowed and then her body began to glow orange. She was in his soul. It didn't feel like hardly any minutes had passed before –
Natasha opened her eyes. She'd followed their bond directly into the centre of Tony's soul. She could see the ball of energy in front of her. It was glistening six different colours: blue, purple, red, yellow, green and orange. It was shining brightly and she stepped forward.
The ball of energy still seemed bound together, crackling gently, still imprisoned and unable to fully unleash, however there were small sparks seeping through. It was these small sparks which Tony had to be unleashing unexpectedly.
"Why are you still bound?" she wondered aloud. "How can we free this power?"
Before when she'd tried touch it during her previous visit to Tony's soul, she had been unable to move past the barrier and had been flung back out his soul.
"I wonder…"
Reaching out, Natasha pressed her hand to the invisible barrier and moved forward. She wasn't clung back, instead she moved seamlessly through the barrier and into the centre of the ball of energy.
She was now fully inside the powers bound to Tony, but what was keeping them tied like this. She hadn't been able to reach this far before. "There has to be something I need to do… I wouldn't have got this far if I hadn't needed to do anything here…"
Casting her gaze about, Natasha saw the flickering energies of the six different Infinity Stones cascading through the air. "They're loose in here… but not outside the ball…" She frowned and then noticed her fingers were slightly glowing orange, as if she was responding to the infinite energies around her.
Kneeling down, Natasha pressed her hands to the floor. She didn't know why she felt the need to do this, yet something was urging her to do just this.
Six small pillars of orange energy rose from the floor and they latched on to one colour each that had been harmlessly floating around inside the ball.
Rising from her spot on the floor, Natasha approached each strand of energy. "Maybe they need to link together…" Oddly, those words felt right. Perhaps she was being moved towards this without really realising it?
Six strands of energy, all representing the Infinity Stones were resting now on the pillars of orange energy. Her hands were still glowing. What else did she need to do? Stepping up to the first pillar which had latched onto a red strand of energy, Natasha reached out and touched the end of it. Her body vibrated, almost like it was shocking her, before calming down.
Confused, and almost unsure of what she was supposed to do, Natasha walked to the next pillar, only noticing when she reached it that there was now a line of energy extending from the small strand of red she had touched just moments before.
"Am I connecting them together?"
There was only one way to find out.
She stood in front of a purple strand and reached out and touched the tip of it. The same sensations as before rocked through her, and the red and purple strands connected, interweaving with one another. There was a small hum echoing in her ears. Overjoyed by her success, she moved between each pillar representing each Infinity Stone, before stepping back and admiring her work.
All six pillars were now joined together by the weaves of strands emanating from each small aspect of the Stones. Smiling, Natasha moved back, watching as the pillars glowed together in the assorted colours of the Stones before there was a flash of light which blinded her.
When she opened her eyes, she was back in her body, looking at Tony. Surprise flashed across her features.
And his whole body was glowing in front of her.
"What did you do?" he managed to ask, his voice croaky. He held up his glowing hands, admiring the colours running over his skin.
Natasha swallowed. "I think… I may have released your powers…"
"How?" he asked, a hint of a smile on his face.
"They were still trapped inside you… But I could go inside the energy ball this time… I couldn't before and there were strands all over it, floating around, unconnected. My own powers seemed to activate whilst I was in there… I kinda… formed pillars and then linked all six together?" She tipped her head to the side. "That is probably the best way to describe what happened."
He held up his hand, wriggling his fingers. "So… you think you've just given me the ability to switch them on and off?"
"I hope I did… Not sure Pepper would appreciate a glowing husband all the time," Natasha laughed.
"She'd grow to love it!" grinned Tony, but his face sobered a bit. Uncrossing his legs, he moved off the bed to stand in the centre of the room. "But can I control them now?" He cast a glance all over himself. "I really am glowing!"
Natasha leaned back against the wall. "If you're going to experiment, try not to hit me."
"Now why would I do that?" Tony grinned. "Hmm, what shall I try? I already a made hole in the wall… It wouldn't harm the structural bases of the room if I made another one…" Raising his hand up like he did when he used the repulsor on the Iron Man suit, Tony felt a rush of power and a beam of energy erupted from his hand and hit the wall, making the hole even bigger than before. "Ok… that was relatively easy. I just wanted to shoot something and it worked…"
Natasha's face brightened into a smile. "That's great news!"
"Maybe…" Tony frowned. He took a deep breath and the glow around his body ceased. "Huh. It's that easy?"
"Breathing switched it off?" she asked.
Tony shook his head. "No… Well… sort of. It's weird… I can sense my power whereas before I couldn't." He could feel a strange sensation in the centre of his chest, a slight warmth which he had not experienced before, even when he'd briefly used his powers. "Odd."
"So…?" Natasha wanted to know more.
Tony closed his eyes, breathing slowly, reaching out mentally to the warmth in his chest and then suddenly he was glowing again. "Woah…" Then, with his eyes now open, he reached for the little nub he could feel and the glow faded. "Ok… that really is simple." He placed a hand upon his chest. "I feel a little nub here, close to my heart. I think it has to be soul related, but I can feel it. I reached for it… I do not even have to really concentrate doing it…" He began glowing again. "I can do it!" He was grinning now, happy and pleased he'd finally found out what had been stopping him from fully realising his powers. Tony reached for the nub again and stopped himself from glowing. "Seems so easy now that I know how…"
Natasha folded her arms across her chest. "Do you think you need to train to use them or will it come naturally like it did for Carol?"
Scratching the back of his head, Tony winced. "I hope naturally but I'm not silly enough to assume it will be that easy. Just because I can easily switch them on and off now doesn't make it simple to use them all. I suspect I have a range of abilities I still need to discover." He grinned then. "Don't say anything to Wanda. I want to surprise her tomorrow…"
She chuckled. "You are so mean, Stark."
Tony's eyes twinkled in amusement.
Friday 1st June 2018
"He's late," groused Wanda, tapping her fingers over her folded arms, her eyes focused firmly on the clock.
"It's Tony?" reasoned Natasha. She was sitting on a makeshift running wall, kicking her legs out and in, waiting for the moment Tony intended to arrive. He was thirty minutes late. She'd known he was going to be – he'd told her he planned to attempt to portal down to the training room. She had attempted to advise him against doing something so reckless.
Naturally, Tony being Tony Stark, didn't listen.
She hoped, if he had tried to portal down, he hadn't got stuck somewhere and they'd never find him. Easily, she could try to trace him with their bond, yet she was strangely enjoying the anticipation Tony's sudden appearance would bring, when he eventually decided to join them.
"If he's not here in five minutes I'm going up to that room of his and dragging him out! Naked or not!" stormed Wanda, red lancets of energy dancing around her form.
"He'll be here," reassured Natasha.
"He should have been here half-an-hour ago!" Wanda began pacing. "I know I shouldn't get frustrated with him but he's pushing his luck like this! All I'm trying to do is to help him try to learn these powers. He needs them. If he's not going to apply himself to the teaching process then I may as – ARGH!"
Tony had appeared right in front of Wanda, smugly grinning at her.
"What the-!" Wanda slapped him. "-hell do you think you're doing?!"
Tony rubbed his sore cheek.
Natasha bit her cheek to stop herself from laughing, though Tony rightly deserved to be slapped after intentionally turning up late just so he could attempt to portal into the training area.
"And how did you do that?" shouted Wanda angrily.
Tony shrunk back, a little frightened by Wanda's angry stance.
"Sorry. I may have found out why I couldn't use my powers yesterday… Nat and I discovered it last night."
Wanda turned on Nat. "You knew about this?"
Great, now Wanda would be mad at her for playing along with Tony's idea. "I did… He wanted to surprise you."
Wanda sighed, her shoulder slumping. "Ok. Start from the beginning. Yesterday you couldn't do anything and now you can just portal in here just like that?" She clicked her fingers.
Natasha listened quietly as Tony explained to Wanda what had occurred the previous night and how he could now use his powers whenever he wanted.
"It's like a television. I can switch them on and off whenever I want to. All I need to do is figure out what I can do and to use each power safely," said Tony. "Nat and I were given this bond for a reason. I think she's meant to help me control them… Think about, I have the power of the universe within me… Perhaps she's meant to keep me safe, anchor me and stop me from using too much power… If I do, she has the ability to break the links, thereby shutting my powers down. I've barely slept, been thinking about this most of the night."
Wanda frowned. "I guess it makes sense…"
Natasha had considered the same thing. Tony did have a lot of power. She recalled her conversation with Soul on Vormir. "He has incredible power at his disposal. He needs someone to ground him when it unleashes. That person is you. He needs you, Natasha Romanoff."
Tony's theory was correct. She was needed to keep him grounded, to keep him human. Tony didn't know it yet but he wasn't fully human… But she did. Focusing her attention on Tony and Wanda, she leaned back to watch as Tony activated his powers again.
Tony rubbed his hands together. "Now, shall we find out what I can do?"
It turned out to be an interesting session. Since Natasha had linked Tony's powers together, he was now able to control them, bring them to the fore with ease and shut them down whenever he wanted to. He could portal all over the place and they wondered if he'd be able to take them to another planet without the need of space travel. Tony assumed he could since he'd brought himself home.
But that wasn't an experiment they really wanted to try, not when Tony was uncovering his powers and experiencing what he could do.
They learned he had abilities linked to each Infinity Stone.
Space enabled him to portal to wherever he liked.
Power enabled him to attack anyone with energy beams, and the strength of them were capable of knocking Wanda unconscious. Surprisingly he couldn't kill with them, though he wondered if that was because he didn't want to kill Wanda or Nat or Steve, who had joined them in the training room to help Tony test his powers. He supposed knocking people unconscious would be useful. The question was whether they worked on Thanos. Somehow, Tony doubted it would be that easy. If the Titan was worthy of wielding them, the chances of them being lethal to him was unlikely. Still, at least these powers made him more of a challenge against the Titan.
Time, Tony found, he could stop it whenever he wanted. He could even accelerate it. He wondered if he combined his powers for Space and Time if he'd be able to travel back and forwards in time. It was an idea that had merit but one he wouldn't experiment on.
Not yet at least.
Defeating Thanos was his first priority.
Mind enabled him to be able to read mind's, mainly from touching their forehead. He tested this technique on Nat, Wanda and Steve, and then went to the kitchen where he found Sam and Bucky quietly discussing what to have for lunch. Tony had intervened and had declared he knew exactly what each wanted for lunch, but neither could be bothered to cook what they desired. With their permission, Tony had asked if he could try something out, and after placing a hand on their respective foreheads, he'd been able to correctly guess what they wanted to eat.
He'd then promptly ordered FRIDAY to order in an Indian Curry for Sam and a Pizza for Bucky.
Reality gave Tony interesting powers. He could alter reality around him, confuse his attackers into believing something was real when it wasn't. He transformed the Training Ground into a jungle, only to amuse himself when Steve walked right into a wall, nearly breaking his nose in the process. He couldn't change the size of the rooms, but he could alter what others perceived it to be. It would be an interesting tactic to use against anyone who dared attack him. Because Tony was the one altering the surroundings, he still saw the room as to what it was, not what it had become, though he had a second vision that he was able to switch between if he wished to.
Finally, Soul. This was the most difficult Stone to manifest powers from. Seemingly, it turned out that he wasn't able to directly harness its powers as it mostly resided within Nat. However, when Nat suggested they hold hands, he was able to use her own powers himself, channelling them through himself, and he was able to read people's souls, and determine what they were about to do. He could sense whether they had good or bad intentions. Though it was difficult to sense bad intentions from his friends, the concept was there, that no one could really attack or harm Tony anymore because of the range of abilities he had to protect himself.
Using the abilities still needed some fine-tuning and he vowed to work with Wanda and a rotating group of his friends throughout the rest of the week to test out his new abilities. Quite easily, once he knew what he was doing, he was able to fully control them with no problem.
Happy and thrilled he had finally figured out how to use them, that night Tony slept well.
Thursday 7th June 2018
They were called in the early hours of the morning to the arrival of the Benatar, which had arrived unannounced just twenty minutes before. Bleary eyed and hurriedly dressed, Tony made it to the Conference room just as the Guardians of the Galaxy were settling into chairs around the table.
Tony was not surprised to see Thor with them, missing one eye and looking absolutely devastated. The God of Thunder did perk up slightly when he saw Tony but soon returned to his sombre mood.
Once all the Avengers were seated around the Conference table, Thor finally spoke. "Thanos is coming to Earth. He's after the –"
"Thor… they know," interrupted Bruce quietly. "I told them."
Thor nodded. His hair had been cut and he looked more kingly than he had ever done so before. "He's still coming here."
"For me," said Tony. Thor still did not know their side of the story.
"Why would he come for you?" spluttered Thor, surprised at Tony's gall to suggest such a thing.
Tony smirked. "Because I'm incredibly important and Thanos' greatest fear?" He was probably overstating his self-importance, but he knew Thanos did fear him.
"For once, Tony's ego is right," continued Steve, glancing between Tony and Thor. "Even Clint was surprised."
Clint had arrived at the Compound a week ago and he and Natasha had shared a little time together, catching and the archer had been informed of everything that had occurred lately, ensuring he was up to speed on what the Avengers had been doing lately in his absence.
Clint had promised to be there for them when the Avengers called. If Thanos was such a big threat, he wanted to be there to defend his home and his family. But since they didn't have a time frame as to when Thanos may return, Clint didn't want to stay behind when he could be with his family.
Thor glanced around the room. "Quill said he'd had some adventures with all of you…"
"I didn't say what," defended Quill. "Just that we'd met and –"
"Gone on space-faring adventures?" guessed Tony.
"Yeah? Got a problem with that?" Quill replied.
Gamora rolled her eyes. "You do like to quarrel with others, don't you?" she mused.
"I'm not quarrelling! I'm making conversation," stated Quill.
Tony shook his head. He wasn't surprised. Quill did have a record for being trouble to others, or getting others in trouble. "It doesn't matter anyway. Thor, you've missed a lot, and its time you were filled in." Glancing around the room, Tony sent an apologetic look to the others. "I know we're going over old ground… but it needs to happen."
With Thor now filled in, it was time to turn their attention to their next steps.
"We were expecting you sooner," said Natasha. In the old timeline, the Battle of Wakanda had already happened. For now, no attack on Earth had occurred. They were in new territory, with the threat of Thanos still out there.
"We had a detour," admitted Thor. "I needed a Thanos-killing weapon." He glanced at Tony. "Might not have needed it if I'd known Stark was collecting the Stones. Still surprised he's able to wield them."
"We all are," said Bruce. "The future they came from, they said Thanos won. We have to prevent it, Thor."
Natasha walked around the room, easing the aches in her shoulders. "We have a good chance of ensuring this plays out the way we'd like it to. But Thanos is still out there and he'll be coming here. Not for Vision or for Doctor Strange, but for Tony. Tony may be powerful now, but he still needs to be protected."
Tony rolled his eyes, and his body began to glow. He hadn't really revealed his powers to the others yet though they all knew he had them. He sat there, the variety of colours echoing around him. "I think Thanos has a lot to worry about when he faces me. He'll be preparing to face me before he comes to Earth. If he can find a way to take me out in advance, he will."
Natasha was remembering the device she had been shown during her talk with Soul. The device Tony had been attached to, and where Thanos had been wielding the Stones. Was that a potential future which was still to come? "Thor… the Stones melded with Tony, is there a way their energies could be extracted from him?"
"If they can be given, they can be removed…" answered Thor. "Stark should not be able to wield those Stones without significant changes made to his body."
Natasha winced. If anyone was likely to work out the full truth, it would be Thor, especially since he recognised Tony shouldn't be able to hold the power of the universe in a frail human body. She'd carried out her own scans of Tony discreetly, asking FRIDAY to send her the results of a full body scan she'd undertaken of Tony. It had revealed him to be human.
I wonder if he'd register as human when he is using his powers. Something in him was changed by the Stones. But if he's still registering as human…
"Could finding a device to harness Tony's powers be Thanos' goal?" asked Natasha.
"It's possible but no one would help Thanos create such a weapon," continued Thor. "I do not believe we need to worry about Thanos obtaining a weapon which could be used against us."
"That's a relief," said Tony. "I'd rather not be his prisoner again. It hurt too much last time."
"I think in your case, Tony, he'd go straight for the kill," nodded Steve. "If you are a threat to him, his priority would be to wipe you out."
"Yet, killing Tony may prevent him from taking the Stones…" interjected Gamora. "No, my father may not go straight for the kill, not until he would know for sure he cannot take them some other way first."
"Then what do we do?" Wanda leaned forward in her chair. "We have to plan for the eventuality Thanos will come. If he does, it will be soon."
"I've got the defences sorted," said Tony. "The Accords Committee and I have been working on this for a long while. If Thanos comes here, the planet is protected. He'll still be able to make his way onto the planet, but he'll have a hard time in overrunning places. Wakanda has been very helpful in enabling us to set this up. Most major cities around the globe have energy barriers now. Thanos' forces could get through them but not too many at once. I've been working with Wakanda for a few years now."
"So we wait?" asked Sam.
Tony nodded. "We wait."
Because it was the only thing they could do unless they took the fight to Thanos, and Tony had learned the hard way doing so had not been his smartest move. It had doomed him and Nat to eventual death after all.
That night Pepper joined Tony in bed, curling up beside him. With Thanos' likely now on his way to Earth with his army, Pepper had taken a leave of absence from Stark Industries. She was determined to see this through and fight beside Tony, no matter how much he tried to deter her from that path.
She was stubborn and refused to accept waiting around. Her argument that Thanos would be after her because of her association with Tony was a good one, but he worried having Pepper out on the battle-field would make her a bigger target. She assumed Thanos wouldn't believe Tony would put her in danger and would keep her hidden, potentially meaning he'd split some of his forces from his main army to go in search of her.
Because if anything would break Tony Stark, it would be seeing the woman he loved die.
It was a good theory but Tony knew he couldn't stop Pepper doing what she wanted to. She'd been training in the suit he'd prepared for her and she had picked it up quickly. She'd had more practice in this suit than the one she had worn when he had died.
"Can't sleep?" she asked, wrapping her arms around him.
"No. Just…thinking…" he said truthfully.
"About what?" she queried.
Tony sighed. "The future and what is heading our way."
Pepper rested her head on Tony's shoulder, snuggling under the covers. "We'll be alright, Tony, you'll see. Everything will work out just the way it's supposed to."
As Pepper fell asleep beside him, Tony couldn't help his mind running over Pepper's choice of words. Everything will work out just the way it's supposed to.
Those were the exact words he had used in the message he had left for Pepper and Morgan before departing for the Time Heist. It chilled him to the bone hearing those words from Pepper.
And he couldn't help but worry that it was an ominous hint of what was to come.
That everything would work out the way it was supposed to, but not necessarily the way Tony wanted it to.
And it terrified him.
To be continued...
Please let me know what you think!
Originally I was going to show Wanda and Tony going through the steps of learning his powers but that was the roadblock which was halting progress of this chapter. I made the decision to change it, and what is now in this chapter is how Tony learned.
Thor is back and the Guardians! From here on out there is going to be a lot of stuff happening as we build up towards the final chapters! :D
I hope to post next weekend... Chapter Title will be 'The Strategy'...
Until next time,
the-writer1988
