Show Yourself Into The Unknown

Summary: The one where Thanos is dead, Tony has weird dreams instead of nightmares, the Avengers watch dubious Disney movies and mystical creatures are more than real. Oh, and the Cloak totally ships it.

"While I'm glad that you're little Rocky training sequence ended in a success and a timely and orderly fashion, Stark," Fury began wearily not three days later as he stared at the scene before him while the Cloak of Levitation brought Stephen and in his arms Tony down from where they had been ridding from the other side of the world on Elsa's back. "How are we supposed to hide or explain this?" He took his sweet time gesturing at the whole of Elsa's now much larger body to encompass the enormity of his point.

Behind him, among the gawking line up of Avengers, sorcerers, Northuldra warriors, the newly arrived Wakandans, Asgardians and Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter looked ready to vibrate out of his skin in excitement as he stared up at the big dragon that may have come straight out of legend or some really good fiction movie. Captain America, though, was the one to break the spellbound silence at seeing Elsa's full new size. "What the fuck?"

"Language~!" Tony, Elsa and Stephen took great delight in singsonging the scold, which only left several of the gathered people hysterically laughing their asses of. Like Barton, Barnes, Rhodey, Thor and Carol. Lang was giggling but looked awkward about it while Romanov was trying to keep her lips from twitching.

T'Challa could only stare dryly up at the dragon. "No one told me about this new development."

Stark only stuck his tongue out at him like a petulant child, half teasing and half dead-serious. "You're only jealous because you don't have one."

T'Challa shot him a deadpan look. "No, but I'm sure that Shuri will be when she learns she missed out on this. May I take a selfie to rub it in her face? She really needs to stop dissing my sandals."

Tony grinned. T'Challa, it seemed, he could tolerate. But he felt his amusement drain when Elsa nudged at his consciousness. 'Right,' he thought with a barely restrained put upon sigh. "So, this is nice and entertaining and all, but we've sort of got a time sensitive crisis going, so if you would stop gawking, we'd all be very grateful. Talk to me, FRI." He bypassed them all and marched straight towards the usual meeting room for world-ending disaster discussing - and it's incredibly sad that they even had one of those - even if they could have set up shop anywhere and it would have been all the same. With his technology, they could have had this meeting anywhere since they can have holographic screens with all the important data anywhere, but it's probably for the best for them to have it at a formal and professional setting. Everyone will be more professional about it, so hopefully there will be no petty fights or stupid arguments popping up at the most inconvenient of times. Those tend to happen in the Avengers a lot, after all.

"Dr Banner has managed to predict, with the alterations you've made to his algorithm, the exact spot of the rift for when it rips open, Boss." FRIDAY, reliable as always, immediately replied but whatever further she was going to say was interrupted by the scientist himself.

"The only problem with my calculation seems to be that the rift started tearing up faster the weaker it got. First, the numbers said that it will open over the Gobi Desert, but my newest calculations if we add in the new speed of the ripping, the rift will probably open somewhere in Egypt, possibly around Cairo, which is major bad, Tony. You know how many people live there and it's a never ending tourist season. The loss of life would be catastrophic."

"Then we'll just have to open the rift ourselves at a more convenient place and the proper timing," Elsa interjected, startling everyone as she glowed a bright, fierce light which left in its wake a very pretty eighteen year old version of the first human form she'd taken. This one had been taken with the goal being for everyone to treat her as an equal instead of overlooking her or mistaking her age with her knowledge and information levels. "That way, we can control where the greatest impact will be and prevent the loss of lives."

"That's all well and good," Wilson started, sounding unconvinced. "But I thought the point of all of this was not to let them into our dimension or whatever."

"The rift will open sooner or later, that is all but inevitable," Wong said with his usual deadpan, unimpressed expression and tone. "We had one chance to stop it while it was still open, but we failed and now we must deal with the consequences. We can't seal that which is already closed. We need to wait for it to open so we can do it properly this time."

"Not to mention that the Empirikul will never stop until all magic is dead," Loki interjected, sounding like he thought the former air force pilot to be the dumbest creature to ever cross his path. "They will find another way to come to Earth eventually. Not only is it the home of the Sorcerer Supreme, but it also houses the Asgardians now and our magic is rather unique. To find out that the last dragon is here as well is only icing on the cake. If they come, they will come with the intent to destroy us all. There will be no hesitation, no prisoners. We're all in danger now."

"Besides, we need to keep Tony and Elsa safe, or else everything is destroyed," Stephen stepped in this time, approaching the already waiting diagram of the barely detectable rift that FRIDAY had prepared for them when they entered the meeting room. "I am a doctor and I hate weighting lives, but a planet of life is not the same as the multiverse and existences itself. We can't let the Imperator get his hands on either of them. It is our duty as Sorcerers of Kamar-Taj to protect the mystical world and Tony and Elsa more than fit that criteria. However the rest of you decide to act, we will be entering this war with or without your help."

"From what we've seen, you could definitely use it," Romanov pointed out lightly, though she seemed much more at ease with life in general since the whole world-wide healing and then the Ross fiasco. Tony wasn't sure why he was so sure about it, but he thought Natasha, for once, didn't have any angle. He wouldn't mistake it for loyalty or anything, but at least she wasn't calculating all the ways she can screw over all sides involved so she'd get some bizarre end result that suited her. Small mercies, that.

"That's unfortunately true," Tony felt the need to agree when his human soulmate made to open his mouth to protest. "The Witchfinder Wolves are definitely our biggest concern. They attack only those with magic and can sniff out anything magical no matter where it's hidden. sorcerers need some degree of intense concentration for the more powerful spells so they can't watch their backs all the time. Witchfinder Wolves won't attack ordinary muggles like you guys - no offense - but they will attack me and Elsa and Loki and all the other magical Asgardians and the snow demons. We'll need someone as backup, especially the units set for closing the rift."

"Don't worry, we've got this," Rocket the Raccoon drawled confidently, making Tony eye him with suspicion that he might have reverted to his old kleptomania and had stolen something. He actually had the gall to look offended when Tony instructed his AI to keep a close eye on him.

"So, what's the plan? Because if you don't have one, I'm sure I can-"

"Shut up, Quill. The adults are talking," Nebula easily cut in, making the half human glare at her in offense but Nebula only glared back and he started inching not so subtly behind Drax, who only looked confused. Well, not as confused as Mantis, who seemed to be trying to determine whether she should touch Elsa to see how things felt for a dragon or something. Elsa herself was careful to stay out of her reach. Not that there was exactly much of skin Mantis could touch, as Elsa had seen fit to clad herself in crystal armor reminiscent of her dragon scales and a rather weird cape/cloak with a construction of sorts that made Tony think would possibly function as some sort of fold-in wings. Not unexpected. Why in the name of the ever loving Ahtohallan would a dragon cut off their own wings? All in all, Elsa looked like a queen from a fairytale ready to go into battle. In fact, she looked like the prettier version of the White Queen in that Alice in Wonderland movie with Johnny Depp.

"We don't have a plan yet, Mr Quill, which is why we've called everyone here today. So we can prepare. We still have a few days according to the newer calculations," Fury explained as he gestured at the timer FRIDAY brought up to demonstrate. "But we need a plan of action. A decisive and final one, so we know at least somewhat what to prepare for. Like this purposefully opening the rift bit. We need to discuss that."

"I agree with Lady Elsa and the sorcerers of Midgard," Valkyrie was the first to cast a vote in, so to speak. "The thing will rip open one way or another. It's better that we have control over when and where if we can't triangulate it off of the planet."

"We need to find the right place for it, though," Loki argued. "Ms FRIDAY, would you please be so kind to bring up a globe of the planet." The AI did so without further prompting, revealing the very detailed representation of Earth. "We need some place which has next to no population but has strong ley lines for easier magical use. The easier we draw on our and the world's magic, the easier it will be for us to fight. That narrows down the places best suited for this fight rather significantly. And considering who our outside allies are, I think this place here," he pointed to one of the dots he had made while he had been pointing out strong ley lines and had then dismissed them when FRIDAY showed him how densely some of them were populated, leaving only five, one of which was rather close to Kamar-Taj. "Would be our best bet."

"Not all of us can fight on Mount Everest, Loki," Barton pointed out with little to no venom, which was great, as that meant the meeting might actually end without unnecessary dramatics.

"What if Mr Stark were to loan you guys some suits?" Peter, who had been surprisingly quiet thus far, just standing between Tony and Stephen, as was his norm in meetings like this, suggested thoughtfully. "It'd sacrifice none of your flexibility or movements while also protecting you from both the elements and the stronger attacks."

"Starkson over there raises a fair point, my shield brothers and sisters," Thor agreed, either not noticing or ignoring the half protests and denials Stark and Parker made at the very wrong moniker. The wink the blond Asgardian threw his way made Tony swear vengeance on his mother's grave. Loki was starting to rub off on his brother. 'Or had Thor always been this way and we'd just never noticed it before?' A thought for another time. "We've all seen how good of a smith friend Anthony is. It would be good for you to have extra protection against enemies like these."

"And it's super comfortable! Like, it's got heating and padding and everything! I fall asleep in my suit half the time, just ask KAREN, though she scolds me about that from time to time." Tony couldn't help but facepalm as Peter continued talking about how nice his suit was, although it secretly relieved him. As far as he was concerned, Peter Parker was too precious for this world and should be wrapped up in bubble wrap and placed in the safest, most secure apocalypse bunker in the world and be protected from it. Unfortunately, he can't do that so he did the next best thing with the Iron Spider suit. If you were to ask one Anthony Edward Stark for his honest opinion, he'd tell you that he was actually more than happy that Peter spent so much time in his suit. It meant he was generally safer most of the time and that set ease in Tony's mind.

'No wonder everyone thinks he's your son, my Ib, if this is how you always react,' Elsa teased over their bond and he sent her the impression of scowling.

'Quiet, you. Of course I act like this all the time! The kid is just too reckless and I feel responsible for dragging him into the superhero business in the first place.'

'He's been swinging around buildings on his own before you reached out to him. If anything, you at least made him safer.'

'I brought the kid to the airport battle in Berlin.'

'Not knowing it will be a fight, might I remind you, my oh so genius Ib. Besides, young Peter loves you. He's just embarrassed. If you were to tell him that he was allowed to, he'd definitely be calling you 'dad'.'

Tony turned his focus back to the real world to ignore his embarrassment and pleasure at the thought. He wasn't really worthy of Peter. He didn't want to ruin the kid or scar him for life. It's better not to contemplate such things. "I can make you some exosuits to keep out the elements and protect you in the fight, but I expect them back and I will be getting them back, just so you all know. FRIDAY has a connection to them all and if any of you even thinks about hacking the suits you're given, you can be damn well sure that you'll be ejected out of it faster than you can say Toothless. I'll need about a day to get the nanites ready. In the meantime, we need to figure out when we want to open the rift. It will pass over that point at least three times, today included, before it's too close to opening."

"During daylight, they would be next to invisible," Hiku said, immediately discarding the first of their two real options.

"The nights on Everest aren't gracious," Stephen pointed out and Tony shuddered at the thought of the howling winds, the whipping snow and the cold he would have felt had he not bonded to Elsa.

"A tactical advantage is more important than our own comfort," Barnes said decisively, obviously leaning more towards Hiku's suggestion that they choose the second day.

"Besides, the witching hour always allows for greater magic flow," Loki commented again and it was already decided as far as the magic users were concerned.

"Our ice magic will be strongest at Everest and the witching hour will definitely help. The visibility, though, will still be a problem without any light on," Aidna, who was the representative of the Northuldra waiting outside with most of the sorcerers along with Migil, advised. "We need light, and a lot of it, but not too much to blind us to the Empirikul's white armor."

Elsa nodded. "Leave that to me."

'What are you going to do?' Tony couldn't help but wonder, asking over their bond. He could tell from the other one that Stephen was interested as well.

'I will simply influence the Flow to make the Moon full and shining brighter than usual. The snow will reflect its light fine enough for us to see our enemies. A shining crystal here or there more will be more than enough to set the proper scene.'

'Are you sure you should be messing with the Flow of all of existence like that?'

'I am dragon, my Ib. My kind has been in and out of the Flow, changing and managing it for countless eons. I know what I am doing.'

Tony sent her a discrete nod before once again turning to the gathered people. "Anything else we should cover before I get to work? Something to add, a suggestion, a comment?" He didn't bother trying to stop himself from rolling his eyes when he he heard Rogers clearing his throat to speak. 'Oh, boy.'

"I have my concerns with the suits you want to put us in, Stark. Quite frankly, I don't trust you. I think we should take our chances without such restraints limiting our movements."

"Well," Tony cut in before anymore idiocy could be spewed out. "If that's how you all feel, I am sure I can just keep my toys to myself. I don't lose or gain anything with this, Rogers, but don't make decisions for everyone else. I won't try to argue with you why you should take my suit because, quite frankly, I don't trust you with a screw, let alone one of my babies. So, if you don't mind, a show of hands of who agrees with Rogers and doesn't want a suit?"

Unsurprisingly, very few hands went up. Maximoff was a given and he wouldn't shed a single tear if she gets killed. Bruce and T'Challa were also a given, seeing as T'Challa had his own Black Panther suit and the Hulk was practically indestructible. Carol, too, had her own alien tech suit that most suited her powers and Loki didn't need protection from the cold any more than Tony did given his Frost Giant ancestry. Everyone else, from the Guardians, to the Asgardians, to the Northuldra, all silently agreed to be given a suit to protect them from the cold, even Scott and Hope, who will no doubt not hear the end of it from Pym when he learns that there might come to some combining of his and Tony's tech. Really, that man was almost as much of a pain in the ass as Rogers was, but only almost.

"Well, I guess that settles that. FRIDAY, fie up the lab. Daddy's got work to do. Meet you guys here same time tomorrow for a quick test run. Try to get some rest. Shit's about to get real real soon."