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.
The day of the soon-to-be fight came far too soon as far as anyone's concerned, really. The suits had been made, everyone tried their's out and found them comfortable and then they all went over their vague plans once more before hitting the sack and sleeping the day away until late afternoon, when they had to start getting ready and setting up the scene to be in their advantage when the Empirikul get through. The time flew by so fast that, had he not known better, Tony would have accused Stephen of using the Time Stone to speed things up out of anxiety for the big fight. Hopefully the last one for a little while. Things had been too hectic as of late.
Everything was going surprisingly smoothly as Tony stood to the side and watched Elsa position the crystals with the Northuldra and the sorcerers to not only get the maximum light out of the things but also set up magical traps around and in them, too. Everyone else was either scouting out their field of battle, making their own traps or finding their ambush hiding spots - or their perch, in the cases of James and Clint as snipers. The terrain probably wasn't the best for a battle of this size but Elsa had put some sort of spell on the snow to make sure it doesn't hinder the Avengers' and their allies' movements while also making life difficult for anyone else. The snow demons were also doing something with magic that made Tony wonder if any snow demons will be left after this battle, but Hiku and his men were determined and would not be deterred.
It was their choice and Tony could only hope that they have taken precautions to survive the backlash of the massive spell they will attempt.
"So, this is finally it, huh? The battle against the biggest foes of magic everywhere, the final stand off." Stephen, who had been busy with Wong and the other sorcerers in setting up the things needed to close the rift properly this time around, came to stand beside him, looking out at the work everyone was doing right now. The Wakandans weren't having nearly as much trouble with the weather as some might have thought to be the case. Good.
"Guess so. Feels like it came too soon."
"Honestly, I just want it all to end. It's been a trying and utterly, unbearably tiring few months. I just want to go back home, get some sleep and take you out on a proper date and never have to see anything white for the next couple of months." Tony tried not to blush at that, completely caught off guard by the admission. Stephen noticed and smirked. "I've wanted to take you out on a date since Titan, dragonrider Stark." Tony snorted at the unnecessary Eragon reference, amused but mostly intrigued and a bit embarrassed by what his human soulmate was saying. "It's just that the universe likes to throw wrenches in my plans and I never got to asking you. Becoming your soulmate kind of left you with the knowledge of my true feelings for you so might as well take you out on a proper date to treat you right lest your dragon take my head off."
Tony felt his blush slowly fading away and instead smirked in what had once been his most exercised sly smile, all flirtation and seduction. "Mhm, then I guess it's a good thing I like your head where it is, doctor. And if you treat me right, indeed, you can be sure that your reward will be a bit more than just getting to keep your pretty little head on those amazing shoulders." Now that Strange was the one blushing, Tony turned around and marched off with amused, fond laughter bubbling out of his chest.
"Flirting with your cosmic beau, Mr Stark?" Natasha asked with a teasing lilt as they passed by each other, a smirk playing on her lips.
"You know it, Agent Romanov," he replied before heading over to where Rhodey seemed to be having a heated discussion with Rogers, neither man looking all that pleased with each other. Nothing new there. "What is it now?"
"Rogers here," the Colonel said with disgust in his voice, obviously too frustrated to be his cool, smooth, calm self. "Insists on Barnes being in his line of sight at all times but also being on the front lines. Barnes doesn't want to leave the sniper nest he'd just finished making and wants Rogers nowhere near him so he won't distract him. Rogers doesn't seem to get it that people have their right to choose on their own and that their choices should be respected despite people not being happy with them or that they don't align with the choices of other people."
'As per the usual, then,' he thought with a sigh and nearly got a headache, had he not been bonded with Elsa, when he saw the mulish look on Rogers' face. "Look, Rogers, Barnes is a damn good sniper and we need one of those since we've only got three if we count the kleptoraccoon. If he doesn't want to be on the front lines, then you shouldn't try to make him. It's as simple as that. So be a good walking propaganda for the paragon of freedom of choice and equal rights for all and leave the reasonable adults to do their work. We don't have time to clean up your mess or deal with your shit right now, Rogers, so, really, do kindly fuck off. And if you say 'Language!', so help me Ahtohallan, I will reach into the Flow of Existence and turn you into your spirit animal - an ass!" Then, with a little shooing motion and barely a half thought desire, the snow and the wind answered his call and started pushing Rogers away from him and his best friend since MIT.
Who was looking both incredibly amused and even more so impressed. "Damn. You need to teach me ow to do that."
"Anytime you want, platypus!" The genius chirped before making his way over to where Elsa and her team had finally finished all of their preparations. His dragon greeted him with a pleased rumble as he reached out to pet the scales of her right front leg, silently marveling at the play of lights and the texture under his hand. He was the only one other than Loki and the snow demons who was walking around in normal clothing. Well, as normal as his undersuit that looked like a track suit can be, anyway. Still, he wasn't dressed in layers and the only 'abnormal' thing about his outfit was the Arc Reactor glowing merrily on his chest. "You ready?"
"With you by my side, my Ib? Always," Elsa replied in a quiet voice so no one would hear them. "Though I do wish to make a change to your outfit. Will you please put on your armor?"
Tony didn't think twice before tapping his fingers on the housing unit and the suit spread around him, covering him from head to toe. Elsa rumbled in pleasure at the trust before she bent her head and breathed over him. He felt her breath like he would never feel the too hot heat and the frigid cold ever again, both present there at the same time as it left her mouth, so packed with magic that even the most oblivious would not remain ignorant of it. At first, he had no idea what was going on, but then he heard it, the sound that reminded him of wind chims and crystals. When it was over, Tony looked down at his armor and had to retract the helmet to believe what he was seeing.
His armor was practically a replica of the one Elsa had worn in her eighteen year old girl guise, a replica of her scales. He probably looked like some prince charming or an ice king. There were wing-like shapes on his back when he twisted around a bit to see if there were any changes there and the crystals around his Arc Reactor met in such a way that the final mosaic was a beautiful snowflake that resembled the one from Frozen but was a bit different due to its centerpiece.
"I thought a little extra protection will do you some good," Elsa said when he finished inspecting her work and looked up at her, finding she had been inspecting it herself with the same critical eye he usually inspected his newest inventions to search for any flaws before he goes on to the testing phase. "It will also hide you against my scales so we can spring surprise attacks on anyone so foolish to attack a dragon."
Tony grinned.
"We're ready to crack open the rift now," a once again calm Stephen called as he approached them, his blush having faded away. The dragon pair turned to regard him in interest. "Everyone's getting into position. Where do you two want to be?"
"We'll be behind the cliff drop over there," Tony replied, pointing towards the said cliff drop to the north. "Elsa and I will be emitting the most magic out of everyone, so hopefully, the worst attack will head straight for us and disregard the rest of you so you can get behind them for an attack from both sides. Hopefully, that will at least give us some sort of an advantage."
"You two just be careful." Then, because he was a little shit and had to get even with Tony for before, he bent down and dropped a kiss on the tip of his nose, which might be the sweetest thing Tony had ever experienced. And he knew Peter. The sweet moment was broken, however, when his ass was slapped.
"Hey!" He yelped, embarrassed and a bit mortified Elsa had to see that. Though she only felt amused when he checked over their bond. Traitor.
Strange, though, had the gall to try and look innocent. "It's the Cloak!" The red magical cloth, though, puffed up as though offended and pointed one of its high collar wings at the Sorcerer Supreme. The man shot it a murderous look that suggested some form of petty revenge will befall the loyal outerwear. Tony found himself in the unflattering position of not being able to tell which one of them was sincere in their accusation of the other and which one was just being a troll and a shit-stirrer.
What has become of his life if this was a perfectly normal interaction in his book?
After that, though, all amusement and humor drained from the plateau they'd chosen on Everest for this, hopefully, final battle against the Empirikul. Everyone got in place and waited as Stephen, the one who had sewn it together the first time around, undid his spell and they all watched from a reasonable distance as the rift slowly, steadily, opened, unraveling reality to reveal, once again, what used to be the domain of the snow demons. There was very little of it left. It made Tony enraged to see the destruction wrought by the Empirikul, especially as he knew they planned to do the same to Earth in their misguided attempt to 'cleanse' the world of the 'filth' and 'sin' of magic. He had to grit his teeth at the idiocy of such a notion. Ever since he knew of Elsa, he knew that the multiverse can't survive long before collapsing without magic. And ever since he literally dived into the Flow of Existence, he had confirmation and all the proof he needed to believe that, no matter how ridiculous he had once considered things like magic.
The Empirikul had to be stopped, before they destroy everything.
The first wave that came through, as expected, was made almost entirely out of Witchfinder Wolves, who sniffed the air a bit before lunging straight towards the cliff fall where Tony and Elsa were hiding, completely bypassing all other magic users, even ones as powerful as Stephen and Loki. Which was more than good, as Tony and Elsa were expecting them with scorching and freezing fire that was delivered with just a few stronger beats of big, elegant wings to life Elsa higher than the cliff level and the opening of a jaw full of big, sharp teeth. The wolves barely had any time to howl in death before their lives were gone but it was a clear sign to everyone that the fight had started. From behind the first and now second wave of Empirikul forces - with more Eyebots - the Avengers and their allies surged into a charge, taking down Empirikul after Empirikul and Witchfinder Wolf after Witchfinder Wolf with no hesitation or all that much difficulty. With cover from three snipers, they made rather easy work of the next wave that came at them as well, but then a beam hit the rift from the other side and it started growing until it was huge, like big enough to let a spaceship through.
"Quill!" Tony called even as Elsa surged high into the air, roaring in defiance at the approaching starship of the Imperator.
"I've got your back, Stark!" And moments later, indeed, the Guardians' ship came down from beyond the clouds, Nebula already engaging guns and shooting. Tony had to grin as he opened the arsenal of missiles in his suit and let it precede him and his dragon partner as they flew behind them. The missiles flared, preferably blinding whoever was flying the big ship, before they exploded against a defensive force field shield. Neither Elsa and Tony nor Quill and Nebula were deterred, the two aliens being the first to fire before Elsa followed through with fire and claws. The freezing temperatures of Everest will no doubt cool the surface soon enough, or at least Elsa will make it so given that the shield was energy but Elsa was the master of the aspects of creation. She'll be using her magic in any way to make the shield crack.
It didn't take long for the Imperator's ship to fire back, only this time, Tony used his own armor's energy shields to expand around both himself and his dragon, deflecting the attack before it could possibly cause a tragedy similar to last time. He didn't know how long his shield can hold out against a continuous stream of attacks, but then Rhodey was there and deflecting some of the attention to himself long enough for Elsa to disappear within the clouds.
The snow demons attacked at that moment, sending a big hurricane of ice and cold wind straight at the ship while the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj and the Asgardians were busy with the Eyebots and the Empirikul soldiers, the Avengers and Wakandans taking care of the Witchfinder Wolves that tried to gang up on them. Those things were no doubt their biggest worry, given nothing magical can hide from them and with Elsa and her hatcher up high in the clouds and the wolves almost immune to any and all spells that didn't require physical contact, the main focus were the sorcerers, Asgardians and the Northuldra warriors. The last were busy guarding the crystals Elsa had set up so that both the wolves and the Empirikul would be easily visible. Tony didn't like the numbers they were fighting against. The suits he'd made for everyone were great at protecting them but those things attacking them were tricky and had some seriously advanced technology and the suits can only do so much if the hit is lethal to Thor.
Speaking of the thunder god, he and Carol were busy taking down the smaller attacking ships that were trying to make their way through the rift. And Vision was taking care of the drones the command ship was releasing, though Tony would rather he not be that close to weapons that may or may not affect him given that no one had tried using an Infinity Stone on any of these things, nor had they checked if the weapon that had taken down Tony and Elsa can take down Vision as well.
And then there was Peter, part of the team with Wasp and Ant Man meant to get into the engines and fuck them up. Tony didn't like it but at least they had Loki with them and the trickster god had promised him that he would take care of the kid. Not to mention that Karen was recording and sending a live feed of everything that was happening on the kid's mission so Tony can intervene if anything were to go wrong. It was a small comfort, but he needed the assurance that Peter will get out of this as relatively unharmed as he can.
"Stark, we need backup down here!" Rogers called over the comms, but the answer came from Wilson first, surprisingly enough.
"Sorry, Cap. But it just ain't safe. If Stark and Elsa were to drop right now, it'd be game over in seconds."
"I second that." His Rhodey-bear was quick to add, even as he barrel-rolled to the side to avoid a bunch of laser attacks from one of the smaller ships - drones, maybe - before Carol all but headbutted it into smithereens. He heard his best friend whistle appreciatively, even if that did not leave through the suit's speakers, even as War Machine saluted the half Kree woman. "Tony, you stay where you are or so help me god-"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll stay up here all cozy and covered in frost. Try not to get yourselves killed, dumbasses." He cut the line before tentatively calling out to Elsa. "Surely we could do something to help them out a bit? A storm? A hundred little Olafs but definitely stronger and far more powerful? A rain of icicles that hits specific targets?"
Elsa stayed quiet for a moment before he felt a spark of mischief over their bond. Maybe she had spent too much time around Loki as of late. He was obviously a bad influence. "I'll do you one better. Sing with me."
"What?" Tony couldn't help but deadpan, not having expected that at all and not even sure he'd heard right.
But Elsa didn't heed his need for an explanation. Instead, she was already arching her neck and letting her voice vibrate through the mountain air around them. For the second time in as many visits to the planet's highest peak, Tony marveled at how much it reminded him of his glimpse of Ahtohallan, especially as the world answered Elsa's call. Deciding to throw caution into the wind, Tony followed suit, letting his own voice mimic what Elsa was doing until they combined their songs into one and the harmony seemed to make the very planet shake.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a snow golem rose from the white powdery substance covering Everest and roared as it grabbed the Witchfinder Wolf closest to Wong, flinging it right onto the fire wolf that appeared out of thin air. Several Eyebots were gathered up by the giant wind snake and spun and spun and spun until it got bored and crushed them. A stone golem had no qualms about squashing right alongside the Hulk all those soldiers even as a water horse swept everything in its way but the humans and friendly aliens in a flood down the cliff fall Tony and Elsa had been hiding behind in the beginning. The metal golem was helping the Northuldra defend the crystals that lit up the night.
Then, the first magical trap was set off and the explosion that came from it was glorious. Tony couldn't help but watch in awe at the then series of other explosions shook the battleground. The place was full of such pretty colors that, had he been a painter, he would have loved to try capturing the moment. But he was not. He was a scientist and all he could do to appreciate the colors was determine where they were coming from, how strong they were and how fast they were traveling.
"Okay, that sure beats my suggestions." The elements will surely be a good addition to their fight, even if it made him nervous that there was very little protection left in the Temple of Ahtohallan. If these bastards wanted to destroy magic, in their misguidance, they'd no doubt go for the Flow of Existence and think it a river of magic or whatever. All that Tony knew was that they can't get to the Temple, especially not the innermost sanctum.
Then again, only he can make it into the Well, where the memory of Ahtohallan and the Flow of Existence actually were, so hopefully, they were safe in that regard.
"Stark, incoming, six o'clock!" Nebula's warning had him and thus Elsa looking up and evading just in time as a wide and strong beam shot to where they had been seconds ago. The shooter was, as expected, the Imperator, though he wore a significantly different battle armor this time around. Still white, still between sleek and bulky, but witj more red lines to make a sharp contrast against the white plating. He also had more visible weapons on himself than the last time and there was rage in his gaze. Tony didn't know why but that didn't matter. What mattered was putting this bastard down.
"Anyone know whether taking down the Imperator will take out the Empirikul like taking down the mothership did the Chitauri?"
