Born Of The Same Impulse
Summary: Barely five minutes into the past and Tony has already taken care of Ultron, thus prevented Sokovia, thus – hopefully – made sure that the Civil War would never happen. All things considered, he was doing pretty well!
Then he just had to look up his fellow superhero turned time traveller on the internet.
Star Surgeon Involved In Car Crash, Condition Unknown
Chapter 25 - (Then) and Now
(Tony learned Thanos' name in the cluttered unfamiliarity of Strange's Sanctum and felt in his bones that this was it. This battle was what they'd been leading up to ever since aliens had attacked New York and left a part of them behind to fester in Tony's mind.)
(He listened to a sorcerer talk about a titan's army and stones from the dawn of the universe. All he could think of was that his team ought to be there to shoulder the burden.)
"It is time," Thor told them, his voice heavy from the burden that lay ahead.
They wasted no time talking. They'd planned and prepared as well as they could, and either it would be enough or it wouldn't.
"I guess we'll see you on the other side," Clint said to the twins, forced cheer in his voice.
There was no tension other than that caused by the impending battle. There was no hostility other than that they shared against Thanos. There was no conflict – none other than the one that would determine the fate of the universe.
(Thor was likely dead. Bruce tried softening the blow, but he couldn't think of a plausible alternative when most of Thor's people had been killed and even the Hulk had fought Thanos and lost.)
"My father refuses to hand over the tesseract," Thor said, his brows knit together and an apology written over his features. "I cannot leave my home."
Sam let out a curse. Tony shared the sentiment.
"No one expects you to," Stephen said.
They'd all hoped they wouldn't need to split up and fight on three fronts. With the infinity stones scattered, Thanos was as likely to attack Asgard as he was to attack Earth.
"Plan B then," Tony said.
(The distance between Tony and Bruce felt like a gaping abyss. The years they'd spent apart after Sokovia – the years that Bruce had spent missing, running from the team, from Tony, running from his life – had never been more apparent.)
(Tony couldn't bring himself to ask whether Bruce had stayed away on purpose, or whether he'd had no choice for the entire two years he'd been gone.)
Bruce looked nauseous after their trip through the Bifrost. Tony couldn't tell whether the magic didn't agree with him or whether he felt queasy about what lay ahead.
"You alright?" Tony asked, his voice low as they nodded a greeting toward a tall Asgardian clad in golden armor.
Bruce's eyes lingered on his gleaming broadsword. "As well as I'll ever be."
Tony gave him a tight smile.
Thor noticed their hesitation and hung back to clasp a firm hand on both of their shoulders. "I have always wished to show my home to my friends." He cast a soft glance at the shimmering city that greeted them on the other side of the rainbow bridge. "I wish the circumstances were different."
Thor's grip on his shoulder was warm and grounding. "So do I," Tony forced past the stifling sensation in his throat, feeling both honored and undeserving of the sentiment.
(The amulet felt like a boulder hanging from Stephen's neck. It tugged and dragged and pulled at him with the weight of a responsibility he wasn't prepared for.)
(The Ancient One had named him her successor before her passing. She hadn't mentioned that in doing so she'd destined him to fight one galactic threat after the other.)
(He knew none of the people he was fighting with personally. Despite Wong's presence, Stephen had never felt quite this lost and out of his depth.)
"Good luck," the Ancient One said once Tony and the others had left and the portal to Titan stood. "Do well. I will see you once the battle is over."
"I don't remember you being this optimistic." Stephen's gaze lingered on the amulet. It looked at home around the Ancient One's neck in a way it had never around Stephen's.
"I didn't used to be." There was a spark in her eyes Stephen did not recognize from his first life. "I suppose you are not the only one who has grown."
"No." Stephen looked away. "I suppose not."
(Tony, Strange and the kid went to space on their own. Bruce was left behind. Thor was gone. The Rogues were scattered, learning of the threat too late and unable to make a difference.)
Tony, Bruce and Thor entered the Asgardian royal palace. Bucky and the twins stayed with the Sanctum. Stephen took the rest of the Avengers to Titan, and a reluctant Loki followed along.
(Thanos was here, and Tony's nightmares were coming true.)
Thanos was here, and the Avengers were united.
"Where is he?" The words tasted like ash in Tony's mouth. Static filled his mind, a white noise that pressed into his ears like cotton and let no sound filter through. Even if Maw answered, Tony wouldn't be able to hear.
Maw, because Thanos hadn't come. Tony had chosen wrong. Relief battled with disappointment, and Tony couldn't decide which emotion he ought to feel more ashamed of.
Maw's lips twisted into a lopsided smile. Tony forced out the static in time to hear him say, "– no need to trouble himself with vermin."
With that, he swatted his hands and sent Tony, Thor and Bruce flying.
The Sanctum withstood the attack of the single spaceship that had entered the orbit. Figures embarked from it, forced into a more offensive approach after their shields held steady.
Wanda fit into the line of the Ancient One's students marvelously. She made out only flashes of her brother, but he seemed to be holding his own well enough. Captain America's sniper friend perched on one of the surrounding skyscrapers. They'd be fine. The Ancient One trusted Stephen's judgement.
One of the attackers – their leader – made the Ancient One pause once close enough to examine.
"Do you know her?" Wong asked, eyes fixed on the rapidly approaching figure.
"Not in this reality."
Nebula, daughter of Thanos. The Ancient One thought of a reality that could have been, and wondered whether there was still time to redirect her fate.
Loki disappeared as soon as he'd finished his task of contacting Thanos. Nobody was surprised.
They'd have to deal with him later. Thanos had learned their location, and they had no time to spare on a cowardly trickster.
Alien creatures swarmed Hulk like insects. Some were tiny like his friends, some larger than him, some would have been, if they didn't walk on all fours like animals.
Banner hated the fighting. He told Hulk not to hurt anyone who came from the golden city. Hulk wasn't stupid. They looked like thunder god: the same metal wrapped around their bodies, the same puny weapons and the same joy for battle. Hulk could respect that. Even though he didn't need their help.
"You fight well, beast!" One of the puny gods stepped up to him. "What realm are you from?"
Hulk grunted, leaped onto one of the creatures and punched it into the ground. The godlings did not attack him, so he didn't attack them, either.
"He came with the Midgardians," another godling said. "I would assume he is one of them."
"Commander." The first godling gave a respectful nod.
Hulk tore a creature from its glider and stamped it to pieces.
"One of them made it into the palace. Should we take up the pursuit?"
"No need." One of the godlings stole an enemy from right under Hulk's nose. He felt the sudden urge to sweep her off her feet and smash her into the ground.
"We have soldiers in the palace. Deal with these ones, and we shall see."
"The Midgardians–"
"Are capable of handling themselves, I've been told." The godling commander felled the two creatures closest to Hulk. Hulk resisted the urge to punch her. "Prince Thor told us–"
Hulk cut her off with a roar. "Less talking, more fighting!"
Their commander startled, then smirked. "Right you are."
"Well said, beast!" Another godling swatted Hulk's arm and broke out into a battle cry.
Hulk frowned at his arm. Thunder god's friends were odd. Didn't matter. As long as they could fight, Hulk would tolerate them.
Terrans weren't supposed to put up a fight. They weren't supposed to have skills in combat – especially not of the magical kind. Nebula grit her teeth, maneuvered her glider and grabbed for the amulet resting around the neck of one of them.
The bearer dodged. Straight through a circular opening she created on the very ground she stood.
Nebula snarled, vowing to slaughter whoever had given her insufficient data on her target. She was not equipped to deal with this. If she'd known, she'd have taken at least double the amount of henchmen.
"You know it is hopeless," the stone's keeper said. She looked infuriatingly unruffled for someone standing on the other side of Nebula's blade. "Are you going to keep fighting regardless?"
A throwing knife to her throat was her answer. She dodged. Pity.
"You are not here out of conviction," the sorceress continued. "Not out of your own, that is. And yet you would throw your life away without a second thought."
"Gladly," Nebula growled. She powered up her glider, flew past the sorceress, retrieved a lean wire and hurled it so it wrapped around the sorceress' legs. She stumbled. Nebula surged in for the kill.
"I have no qualms with killing you," the sorceress said.
Nebula's sword broke when it met her shield. The wire around the sorceress' legs snapped like it was yarn. Nebula dodged a bullet from a long-distance shooter. Pathetic mortals. She wasn't surprised that some of them were so cowardly that they would rather lie in hiding and attack from afar.
"Then do it," Nebula yelled, heat flushing her body that had nothing to do with her circuits running wild.
"Patience." The sorceress' lips twitched. "Your story doesn't have to be over yet."
Better it ended now than at Thanos' hand, after he found out about Nebula's failure.
"Then suffer the consequences for your hesitancy," Nebula hissed, and steered her glider towards a group of Terrans ogling the spectacle instead of running for their lives.
A streak flickered through the streets towards the mortals and back. Two of the spectators disappeared. Then two more. And more. The blur slowed down marginally and allowed Nebula to recognize some of its features.
She made out bright hair and a cocky smile before a portal swallowed her whole and she plunged forward.
Thanos had the reality stone. It was the only one he had, and yet it was almost enough to demolish their plans right from the get go.
"What is that?" Clint gaped as Stephen grunted from the strain of holding up the mirror dimension. It shattered upon impact with Thanos' fist, but the deed was done. All the Avengers were still standing instead of lying in ribbons or stripped of their equipment.
"Impressive." Thanos' attention was entirely on Stephen. "You're the one who protects the stones."
Stephen pulled the mind and the power stone from his pocket. They lit up and disappeared from sight as Stephen reflected the light around them. To everybody else it appeared as though they'd vanished. "You'll have to kill me to get them back."
Thanos' brows twitched in irritation. "As you wish."
The ground gave way below Stephen's feet, crumpling and melting like butter. His feet found no purchase and he fumbled more than he leaped, missing the platform he built from hastily conjured magic.
His Cloak carried him over the gap. Stephen gave it a quick pat of thanks.
A boulder shattered beneath Thanos' fist. Stone burst into debris and sharpened into daggers. At the wave of Stephen's hand, the shrapnel sprouted wings and changed direction, sharp beaks finding purchase in the titan's skin.
Projectiles raced to hit their mark, Cap's shield and Natasha's taser and Clint's arrows. Thanos swatted the shield. He unmade the arrows. He caught the taser's wire. It convulsed, the silvery thread expanding into a gleaming viper. The snake barred electric fangs at the Avengers before collapsing into rope that wrapped around Thanos' legs at Stephen's command.
Rhodey dove in from above as Thanos stumbled. Vision phased through the ground from below. Pulsing red light rose up from the reality stone like a tidal wave, and Stephen yanked both of them back before it made contact.
"You weren't exaggerating about that thing," Rhodey muttered.
The reality stone glowed, and Stephen's magic flared up in response.
"Who designed this palace?!"
Tony reached the end of the hallway, swerved wildly, managed not to smash into the wall and picked up speed once he'd conquered the corner. His suit wasn't practical for flying indoors. It was faster than running, so Tony had no choice.
"Stand your ground and fight!" Thor hollered. He made a sharp turn and nicked a stone pillar with his hammer.
Maw didn't dignify them with an answer. What was worse than fighting an enemy who could fly and move objects with his mind was chasing one.
"We've almost reached the treasure vault." Thor created a shortcut by punching straight through the wall and into the next hallway.
Tony cursed. The tesseract was in the vault. They had no clue whether Maw knew how to use it – they certainly didn't – but if he did, he wouldn't even need to fight his way out of the palace.
They should have waited in the vault. They should have taken the tesseract elsewhere, but no – Thor's dad just couldn't help himself and insisted on being a stubborn moron.
"Take heed," Thor called.
They rounded another corner. A large set of wooden doors was blown out of its hinges and revealed a giant chamber that reminded of a museum. Tony faltered but pushed on, forcing himself to step through the doors and into the open treasure chamber.
Maw stood at its center, holding the tesseract.
A net of electricity crackled around Mjolnir, though Thor didn't dare release it. Tony charged his repulsors, but didn't fire. He'd felt useless before, knowing that he wasn't where Thanos was. This was worse. He couldn't even get this part of the plan right.
"What marvelous power," Maw muttered, regarding the tesseract reverently. He seemed hesitant to even touch it. "Lord Thanos will be pleas–"
A jolt of energy hit Maw's hand and sent the tesseract tumbling to the ground. Maw hissed and jerked back, clutching the burnt appendage to his chest. His gaze looked murderous.
"I had not taken you for such a formidable opponent," boomed a voice much like Thor's in terms of volume and boisterousness. Unlike Thor's, there was arrogance dripping from every word.
Thor stiffened. "Father."
Maw sneered. "So the wise king makes an appearance after all."
"You've broken into my palace." Odin eyed the tesseract. "It would appear that my sons have told the truth about you. Where is that master of yours who is supposed to bring about the end of the world?"
"He has no need to lower himself to a trivial task such as this." Maw reached for the tesseract and found it surrounded by an impenetrable barrier. His lips twisted unpleasantly. "Your realm is not worthy of his attention any more than the dust beneath his–"
Odin brandished his sword and forced Maw to leap back. Tony had trouble placing the glint in his visible eye. "Allow me to teach him better."
Tony shared a glance with Thor. If the actual Allfather wanted to back them up, he was the last person to complain.
"If you insist," Maw spat out. He straightened his spine and narrowed his eyes.
Energy flooded Odin's spear and thunder shook the entire palace. Tony had to wonder what he was doing, treading the same ground as deities.
Thanos' daughter stopped fighting back after about a dozen portals. She lost her glider in a Norwegian fjord and her sword in the Atlantic ocean. The Ancient One waited patiently as she coughed up water in the Mojave Desert before she drew the next portal and sent them on their way.
If Nebula's plan was to aid her father in destroying the planet, it was only right for her to take a closer look at what she was ruining.
"Just get it over with!" Nebula burst out after tripping over a root in the Valdivian rainforest. She growled, dodged the next portal and stumbled backwards against the nearest tree. Her hands clenched to fists, trembling as though they weren't used to being empty.
The Ancient One suppressed a smile and lowered her hands. "Get what over with?"
"Just kill me," Nebula spat. A rodent skittered out of the underbush at her feet. She picked up a pebble. It hit the mark. The animal noises ceased.
"I could," the Ancient One allowed. "Although I have to wonder for what reason you wish me to."
Nebula's brows knit together and darkened her expression. "Better to be slain in battle than to live with the knowledge of my failure."
"Would your father not attempt to save you?"
Nebula's eyes flickered away. Her fist trembled with lowly suppressed rage.
The Ancient One hummed. "I see."
"You know nothing." Nebula took a step forward, her wariness forgotten. "None of you backwater vermin do. You would not dare to resist, knowing what awaits you once he decides you have angered him."
She did not sound prideful when she said it. Rather the opposite. "You're afraid of him," the Ancient One realized, and Nebula's role in the other reality immediately made more sense.
Nebula disapproved of her deduction. Her body shook with the force of her anger, and she forgot that she'd meant to keep her distance lest be swept away by another portal.
The Ancient did exactly that. She pictured New York and reappeared on top of its skyscrapers.
Wanda looked up briefly, but was not startled into attacking her. Her hands overflowed with her unique shade of crimson mist, and she continued where she'd left off.
Had the Ancient One not stopped Nebula, she would have hurt countless civilians as collateral damage. She did not seem like the sort of person capable – or willing – to change her ways. Yet, she'd done exactly that in another reality. Given the chance, would she do the same in this one?
The Ancient One took a step to the side as Nebula tumbled through the portal after her. She considered her options. Nobody had said it was her decision to make alone.
Tony couldn't get closer to Maw than five feet. There may as well have been a barrier surrounding him – whenever he came close enough to attack Maw would swat his hand and send him hurling away.
Tony launched missiles from his suit, dozens of them hurling at Maw in a swarm of explosives. Maw redirected them with a curt wave of his hand. One of them headed straight for Thor. He knocked it away with his hammer and sent it swerving into a stone pillar.
Tony hoped that Odin's stormy expression was aimed at Maw instead of him. He wasn't sure how Earth currency compared to the Asgardian one, but he doubted even he was rich enough to buy forgiveness after the father of gods decided he was responsible for the collateral damage to his palace.
"Pitiful." Maw turned to Tony with a vicious grin. His hand shot downwards like a guillotine. Tony had time to register Thor's alarmed shout when the palace ceiling caved in right above his head.
Tony threw up his repulsors and let them blast him backwards, right into some kind of podium. The stone ceiling crashed onto his legs instead of burying him alive.
"The armor has taken mild damage," JARVIS said. The nano tech was already patching itself back together. "I am unable to detect injuries upon your person."
The sharp pain in Tony's legs begged to differ. "Wonderful," Tony grunted, pushing off the largest pieces of debris to free his legs.
"You misunderstand. I am unable to detect injuries as a significant energy source is interfering with my scans."
Tony's HUD flared up in color. It was the brightest in between the chunks of stone, right where… "Huh." Tony stepped up to the blue, square-shaped object. He must have knocked it down when he'd crashed into the podium.
It looked like a treasure box made from murky, half-see through glass. Instead of jewels, a miniature blizzard swirled at its center.
"Desperate times," Tony muttered. He picked up the box and fired up his repulsors to find a path around the cave-in.
The Ancient One entered the mirror dimension with Nebula and left it without her. She'd be unharmed, but unable to escape. Perhaps Stephen would decide that their streak of rehabilitating former enemies had not yet come to an end.
The good news was that even Maw's powers were ineffective against the gigantic blizzard that burst out of the treasure box. The bad news was that the same could be said for Tony's suit. And Thor and Odin's powers, apparently, seeing as the storm kept raging and nobody seemed able to do anything about it.
Tony cursed under his breath. The words were lost amid the roaring sound of hail pouring out of its container. It had torn itself out of Tony's grip and hurtled to the ground after the first onslaught.
"The temperature is dropping rapidly," JARVIS informed him helpfully. "Activating the internal heating system now."
A thin sheet of ice formed on the surface of Tony's armor. He couldn't see anything through the dense cloud of ice and snow.
"J, help me out here." Tony threw himself forward, leaning his weight against the force of the blizzard. "Your scanners any good?"
"Regrettably no, sir. I have no read on either lifesigns nor infrastructure."
Improvising it was. Tony braced himself, hail thundering against his armor, and took step after step towards the densest part of the blizzard. He couldn't make out anything beyond the snow, so he searched the floor blindly. Something nudged the tip of his glove. Tony grabbed for it, squeezed his eyes shut to block out the blinding whiteness and wrestled the treasure box closed by throwing his entire weight on top of it.
The blizzard subsided. The snow settled in a soft cushion that covered the entire floor. At the center of the chamber stood Maw's frozen figure – as well as Thor's and Odin's.
Tony sucked in a sharp breath. They'd be fine, probably. Asgardian durability and all. But would Tony be? "Do you think Odin is the forgiving type?"
The ice around the Allfather cracked and shattered with an almighty bang.
"I believe you are about to find out," JARVIS said.
Tony supposed that as far as heroic deaths went, he could do worse than going down at the hands of a furious Allfather.
(Maw died floating in the depths of space, and it didn't make a difference.)
Maw lived, but not for long. Odin was done underestimating his enemies.
(Stephen and Stark had no time to learn more about their unexpected allies. They had to trust that the Guardians of the Galaxy wanted Thanos dead as much as they did and figure out the rest from there.)
(Stephen tried not to think about the outcome of the battle depending on them working together with people they hadn't so much as exchanged names with.)
"Stephen!" Sam called. "Little help here?"
Stephen's head whipped around in time to watch Thanos unmake the ground on which they stood. He conjured platforms for Steve and Clint while the others took to the air or – in Natasha's case – leapt from one nearly disintegrating boulder to the next.
"Should have gone with Tony," Rhodey muttered over the coms.
Clint snorted a laugh. Stephen imagined he'd have come up with a witty retort, were he not preoccupied with avoiding a plunge to his premature doom.
(Stephen emerged from his spell that showed him thousands of realities and felt as though they'd already lost. They'd done too little. Perhaps if they'd acted sooner, they would have more than a single chance of defeating Thanos in the far, distant future. One that didn't rely on billions dying first. If they'd known to prepare sooner–)
(They didn't. And they hadn't. It was too late to make amends, and Stephen would have to accept the hand they were dealt.)
This time, Stephen had no countless number of realities telling him whether their actions were doomed to fail. He didn't know a single possible outcome, and he didn't particularly want to.
Perhaps if he did, he wouldn't be quite so taken aback by a clone of his he didn't remember creating.
Were Thanos not distracted by Vision and dodging an uppercut from Captain America, Stephen would have suspected a trick from the reality stone meant to catch him off guard.
Other Stephen put a finger to his lips and grinned. The expression looked as wrong on Stephen's face as a moment of selfless heroism on Loki's.
The imposter changed his shape and turned into Clint. Stephen took a gigantic, reckless leap of faith. He took his eyes off of the imposter and gathered as much magic as he managed without draining himself entirely.
(Thanos had four of the stones. It happened just like in all the realities in which they'd decided to stand their ground on Titan. Stephen fought despite knowing that there was no point. He fought knowing that no matter what they did, it wouldn't be enough.)
(He fought, knowing that they'd already lost. Their only chance lay years ahead in the future. And Stark needed to be alive for it.)
("Don't," Stark choked out in horrified incredulity.)
(The time stone floated between Stephen's fingers. This was the only way.)
(But was it? If they'd known sooner to prepare, and if they'd had more warning...)
(Thanos tightened his grip around Stark's throat. "The stone," he said, holding out his hand expectantly.)
("It's our best chance," Stephen said, looking straight into Stark's – Tony's – eyes.)
(None of the possible realities he'd seen were ideal. None of the pathways he saw extending from this point in time were pleasant. So, Stephen refused.)
(The time stone lit up. Thanos, the planet, the Guardians, everything was swallowed in green light.)
(Stephen woke up in his apartment, the light of the time stone imprinted into his mind and Titan a rapidly fading memory.)
Matter folded and morphed under Stephen's grip. The planet wavered. The skies dipped low. Thanos unmade the debris and dust whipped by the wind into his face, but no matter how many of Stephen's spells he reversed, he couldn't unmake magic.
Reality bucked and crumbled under the force of the reality stone. The landscape tilted as though the planet was thrown off its axis. The heavens screamed and the ground leaked starlight, and the stone in Thanos' grasp dyed the planet with heat.
Other Clint copied Natasha and leaped from boulder to boulder towards Thanos. The real Clint had found purchase beyond the worst of the destruction and fired arrow after arrow at the reality-shifting titan. Some of them vanished before they hit, some changed direction, and some exploded in mid air, enveloping Thanos in a cloud of smoke.
Stephen split his form into several – actual copies, as many as he dared – and drew Thanos' attention onto himself.
Thanos clenched his teeth. He raised his hand, took a step forwards and stumbled, green magic trapping his feet. Natasha threw a wire around his neck. Vision phased through the ground and grabbed the arm that wasn't wielding the stone. Steve came from nowhere, pinning the other with his shield.
The Cloak propelled Stephen forwards. His hand crackled with energy. One strike, and it was all over.
The reality stone fell to the ground. Reality righted itself. Other Clint turned into Loki, and Thanos was no more.
A/N: Almost there! :D One more, then we're through!
Beta'd by the wonderful To Mockingbird, PyrothTenka and Igornerd!
Let me know what you think!
~Gwen