The Secret History of the MCU
(as related by Zuras)

Based on the MCU, based on Marvel Comics. I own nothing.

Chapter 2: The Infinity Gauntlet


The trio had settled into a formal dining room. Karun had let his elders take the more prominent seats, as always. The being calling himself "Harry Cleese" had amused himself looking through Kingo's memorabilia decorating the rooms as they waited for the meal to arrive. Zuras had waved off any particular preferences, noting he had no real need to dine, but had supped on many a variety of dishes on this planet over the aeons. He urged Karun to go ahead with his blessing when the food arrived. Harry dug in as if famished. Zuras gave him a look of disdain, then began his tale.

"Those of us, let's say 'ousted' from the original entourage of Eternals were not truly banished. More of a what you would call an informal 'exile' or 'sabbatical'? We held no ill will to each other. Not back then. I hear this would start many an argument among the group until it's eventual dissolution some five hundred years back. I'm surprised the group stayed together that long.

"Don't get me wrong. There were always little disagreements over various issues. The occasional 'sabbatical', from one member or another when they would rather explore elsewhere or stay when the rest would move on. Any group will do that, eventually. They would always regroup after a time. Especially when the others came.

"You would call them deities. Pantheons. Raised humans who found themselves revered as such. Today, you would know them as Olympians, Aesir-"

"Asgardians!" Harry corrected, taking a swig of wine.

"Asgardians, Ennead, and the like. Many names for many peoples. The first visitors, we thought could be more Eternals. They were not. Our second impression was more invaders like the Kree. They were not. In simplest terms, their planes and Earth intersected on a regular basis and they came to investigate. It seems this planet is some sort of local galactic or multiversal nexus point? Whether that is because of the presence of the Sleeping Celestial Tiamut formerly growing inside this planet, mere coincidence, or other issue, I have not the insight on that matter.

"We soon came to an agreement with these visitors. They would not interfere with human evolution, we would not oust them from this earthly plane." He took a long swallow from his own wine. "It lasted for a while. Longer than we all expected, really." He seemed to consider the glass for a long moment. Then crushed it in his hand. "Then it all ended."

Karun started at the breakage. Zuras waved him off, but the mortal summoned someone to clean the glass up as a show of respect for his honored guest.

"You have all heard of the mad Titan, Thanos, yes?" Karun nodded. "He was not the first to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet. He was certainly aware of the previous attempt, I believe, which inspired his own, shall we call it, Infinity Quest?"

Harry chuckled under his breath, earning a hard stare from Zuras that quieted him.

"It was probably a thousand of your years before the Kree Invasion. I no longer remember, exactly, few still exist that would. SkyFather Cronus was the first to hear of the plot on this planet. I know not where he came to this knowledge." He saw Karun making a note. "Yes, the Olympian Titan, as he called himself, yet to father the ones you know now as Zeus and his pantheon. He had his own pantheon back then. Most you would not know, as only a handful remain in your archaeological world researches."

"He claims he waited for confirmation from 'outside sources' before he bothered to warn the rest of us. He called a God Moot, if that's the word for it in your current usage? I attended, as did Ajak and Thena, from our coalition. Bor from the Asgard. The sorcerer Agamotto represented the Vishanti in what you call the Far East. Others as well, but these little lordlings of nascent deisms were of little consequence in what would follow. Or so we thought."

Zuras rose and approached a globe in the corner. He seemed to muse over it a while before looking back to Karun and his recording devices.

"We met at Olympus, since Cronus was the one who summoned us. There was the initial outrage, of course. Why weren't we warned sooner? How long do we have? Who is behind it? All the usual complaints.

"Ajak contacted our Celestial master, Arishem. Even the Celestial Host had heard rumblings of this. They had decided we were to stand down, until they decided it was time to act. Our compatriots felt different. Many were from different planes of existence, and demanded they had the right to defend their realms. Even mortal Agamotto stood as the guardian between the Earth realm and those more mystic demanded action.

"Ajak and Thena agreed to follow their master, and would only act if Earth was attacked. Until then, they would offer no help, nor hindrance to those who did wish to venture back out into the cosmos in an offensive action.

"Cronus had confirmed there was an effort out in the cosmos to combine the six known Elemental Ingots. You would know them as Infinity Stones, now. The nature of their discovery behind their origins is not known to me, but word spread among various longer lived factions that they existed. As always, someone decided to find out what would happen when they were assembled. This universe has just lived through the second time that has ever happened. To my knowledge.

"The first time, we traced the rumors back to two supposed brothers. Taneleer Tivan and En Dwi Gast. Known across the universe now as the Collector and The Grandmaster. They call themselves Celestials, but are less than we are. Long lived mortals, at best. Elders of this universe, at worst. I am surprised they are not known here on Earth. As you humans step into the cosmos wider, I'm sure you will."

Karun checked his tablet. "A quick search has turned up references to them in the Official Debrief from the Avengers on the Thanos Affair," he announced. "The Guardians of the Galaxy known as Rocket and Nebula believe that this being calling himself Collector is now deceased at the hands of Thanos while retrieving the Reality Stone aka Aether, entrusted to him by Asgard after the Dark Elf Insurrection?" he read. "His alleged base of operations was in a deep space mining asteroid known as Know-Here? Erm, Knowhere, purported to be the severed head of, of a, um, a Celestial?" he stammered.

Zuras smiled. "He never left the scene of the crime, did he?" he asked Harry. I expected no less of Tivan." Harry raised his glass in salute. "I also expect we'll hear from him before too long. Does your device say anything about the Grandmaster?"

Karun scrolled back up through the report. "There does seem to be a hotlink on this Collector's name that- Y-yes, there is a related report from Thor and his fellow Asgardian, Valkyrie. It seems that the Grandmaster ruled over some 'Contest of Champions' on S-Skare? Sa-Kar?"

Zuras nodded. "Sakaar. So that's where he's been hiding all this time? Interesting." He glanced to Harry, who nonchalantly looked elsewhere.

"As I was saying, a group of those dedicated to protecting this planet and associated realms had gathered. Without the support of Ajak, we had no immediate resource to return to the cosmos. Our craft the Domo was already established as the foundation of what you call Babylon. Deviants were still coming to this planet. We had to look elsewhere for transportation."

Karun made more notes, stopping at the mention of Babylon. He glanced back to his phone. Reports of something having erupted out of the foundations of ancient Babylon were still breaking when the world nearly ended with the near birth of the Celestial Tiamut out of the planet. Scientists and researchers scrambled to be the first to examine this stone giant once things had settled. The ruins of Babylon had been all but ignored, save by those living in the area, dismissed as a preceding event to Tiamut's birthing.

"Thoth, Bor, and Cronus pooled their resources to create a craft worthy of the endeavour. Agamotto, meanwhile, crafted his- what did he call them? Oh yes, sling rings. Only a few could use them to step between locations. Since we had no idea where we were going then, we could only use them for retreat measures. He and his disciple Zarathos were designated for that purpose. Little did we know what action that would hold for us, back then.

"The craft they created to take us on our own, ah, Infinity Quest was mostly basic by our standards, but still in advance of what you humans would accomplish, even with...what was his name?"

"Iron Man," Harry offered.

"Tony Stark?" Karun suggested.

"Yes, him," Zuras nodded. "The sacrificed one. I wonder if he is not somehow descended from one of those crew? An ancestor who shared our adventure? Or reincarnate of one? It would help explain his fate."

Harry shook his head, as if to say "don't look at me!" Zuras gave him a slight shake of the head. That change would come later. The Eternals assigned to Earth (among many other worlds, but not all) were close enough to human, save one trait. They could bear no descendants.

"Anyway, there were a dozen of us on this ship. Call it Ark or Argo, call it Titanic, it matters not. The then-human sorcerer Zarathos ventured with us. His mystic portal connection with Agamotto would help maintain a connection and supplies with our comrades on Earth who would come when we called. One had to stay behind to help guard this plane, they claimed. Agamotto would not yet take the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme until later. After the war.

"We journeyed many years, contacted many races in search of these beings looking to assemble the stones. Kree feared us, but had nothing to offer. Skrull feared Kree, but again, nothing to offer. System after system, little planetary empire after little star empire. Even a few Eternals we encountered spread among other planets had not heard anything. A young Alars of Titan joined our crusade, which is likely how Thanos later learned of what happened back then," he mused. "It matters not, anymore."

He paused in silence a moment. "Had she come, we would have known the truth of our existence millennia ago. Thena would never had hidden away to find peace. How much could have changed by one little decision?"

"The Butterfly Effect, sirrah?" Karun offered. "Small events ripple into larger events, across the world, or into the cosmos, itself, now?"

Zuras nodded.

"Cronus insisted his information was correct, so we pressed onward. When we finally caught up with them, the Collector and Grandmaster, we learned they had their own council dedicated to the assemblage of these Infinity Gems."

"Stones," Harry corrected. "The Elders called them Infinity Stones."

Zuras glared at him. In the distance, a faint rumble of thunder. "Hold thy tongue, unless bidden to speak, boy."

Harry nodded, mocking zipping his lips. Kuran watched this with interest. All was not as it first seemed.

"There were six each of them," Zuras continued. "Six Elders, six Stones. We caught up to them as they argued who was worthy of bearing each stone, let alone the assembled Gauntlet." Another dark look at Harry. "Grandmaster held the Mind Stone, Collector the Reality. Four of their so-called Brothers held the other four. The Runner held Space, the Gardener held Time, the one I knew then only as Adam held Soul." He paused, glancing to Harry once again. "The last was Power, held by one calling himself Champion, akin to the Avengers' Hulk, you could say."

Harry finished his drink, then refilled his cup. He was blatantly ignoring the elder man, now.

"They toyed with us. The Champion laid waste to an entire civilization merely as a warning. The Gardener then used his Time Stone to make the remnants of plant life left on that planet the dominant life form. Rumors latter claimed this is how the Cotati were created. Others claim he sent it back in time to create a living planet. I give these rumors no weight. I only know the battle we fought was long and hard. Agamotto joined us, as did others when we called.

"By this point, the Celestials had sent one of their own to stop the battle to come. I am told it was Exitar? Tivan claimed it was the one they conned out of the Power Gem, his brothers disagreed."

Harry harrumphed, earning another glower from Zuras before he continued.

"The Celestial claimed my fellow Eternals and I were breaking our oaths of non-interference. In one moment of unity, the Elders obliterated the Celestial using the gemstones. Splintered into a thousand pieces, scattered across the universe. What remained of his head became what is now known as Knowhere.

"By this time, other parties from higher planes had come to observe, if not side with either group of Infinity Warriors. One faction even became known as the Watchers, taking an oath to observe, but never interfere. Others are still beyond your concept of existence.

"The Elders became drunk on power, but the Grandmaster's obsession with games laid their defeat. Had the Elders cooperated in the slightest amongst themselves, they could have ruled the universes. Instead, Gast declared a competition for control of the Stones, two of ours against each of their Stonekeepers. The Seconds were not really needed in this battle.

"My fellow Titan Alars defeated their Adam for the Soul. I do not know the full details, as that contest was held on the Astral Plane. I often wondered if that gemstone was what allowed him to later sire children, and lead to the birth of Thanos, aeons later.

"Bor against their Champion was the closest contest. The Asgardian eked out a physical victory over the brute, who protested the loss as a cheat. Gast only sided with Bor when his own brothers turned against him, calling the loss fair. They still held four gems, and their overconfidence showed."

Harry grumbled something inaudible and ancient under his breath. Zuras paid him no mind.

"My own contest was against Gardener for the Time," he continued. He gave a soft chuckle. "They knew of other immortals such as themselves, but knew naught of Eternals. He looked so innocent as a baby," he mused.

"The sorcerer Zarathos fought for Reality. At one point, the disciple gained control of it, and something inside him changed. He finally wrested control from the Collector, but he saw something during the battle that changed everything. Agamotto would later tell me he delved into the other planes of existence, the Mirror dimension and further. He disappeared soon after we returned to Earth.

"Thoth faced off against Gast himself for control of Mind gem. Like Soul, this contest was held on the Astral plane, unseen to us on this one. He later claimed it was a battle of pure logic, which our combined Eternal knowledge was superior to his. It was over almost as soon as it began."

"This Thoth, he became known as the Egyptian god of knowledge, yes?" Kuran interrupted.

"Yes," Zuras nodded. "A few boasts here and there upon our return, and the next thing we know, he's being hailed as one of the Ennead." He sighed.

"The last contest was against the Runner, who held Space. He challenged us to a race against our fastest. Agamotto accepted. By then, he had mastered this sling ring enough to outrace even the Space gemstone. We chided the Runner into a, what do you humans call it? A scavenger hunt? Each previous contest pairing were sent to new locations by Gast, and the remaining pair had to collect their peers and return to the original site before the other," he explained. "All Agamotto had to do was concentrate on the rest of us and we stepped through his portals, while Runner had to physically travel to his brothers. It was embarrassing for them on multiple levels."

Karun looked at him skeptically. "That was it? That was the extent of this Infinity War? A handful of children's contests?"

Zuras looked into his new wine goblet. "Far from it. We had bested them, yes, but the temptations of using the Infinity Gemstones were almost too great for us, as well. You see, we were dealing with the raw power of the gems, themselves. It was Agamotto who devised the idea of encasing them in containers. The Reality gem did most of the work. Space was encased in a cosmic cube, what you call a Tesseract. Mind inside the larger gem of a nondescript ceremonial sceptre that Alars took. Power was locked into a casing. That one took some work. Trust me, vibranium is not always the best material to work with."

He paused a long moment. "Soul was eventually locked away by spells on an out of the way dead planet, which I understand the human assassins fought to sacrifice themselves to release it? Pity. Agamotto created another spell to lock away the Time gem inside his locket that only the chosen stonebearer could open. Crafting these housings cracked the Reality, it's essence fading into a mist. Bor took it to Asgard, locking it away during a convergence of dimensions, which presaged a later failed attempt by the Dark Elves to recover it, and again, recently, which his grandson Thor defeated. His mistake there was to hand it over to Tivan, once more. Luckily, he had just lost an albeit brief attempt at possession of the Power stone, I hear?"

"So the Avengers case files claim?" Karun agreed.

Harry eyed his elder a long moment. "That's not everything. Is it?"

"No, it's not," Zuras challenged. "The Elders tried to escape justice. Tried. The Gardener was said to be imprisoned on a planet of vegetation, which he considered a mercy. Some claim it was the same planet he created in the war, others claim the planet is forever locked on the edge of a black hole, where time stretches into eternity. He tends that garden, still.

"The Runner was handed over to the Celestials. I know not what his fate was.

"Adam was made to stand guardian over the Soul stone as penance. He only released it once, which allowed him to escape into the cosmos, once more. Some claim that he was sacrificed to free it from it's spell bondage, others claim he still roams the galaxies, looking for a revenge that will never come, now. A stranger to all he crosses."

"And the rest?" Harry challenged. Karun could see the elder man was losing his patience. "Right. Don't mention HER. We know the Allfather tried to hide any mention of her away."

"Silence, boy!" Zuras snapped, before continuing. "Tivan and Gast, were imprisoned for their crimes, as well. Obviously, they escaped. Tivan to create Knowhere, and Gast wound up on Sakaar, as previously discussed."

"And the Champion?"

"Yes, well, without his gemstone of Power, he was nothing more than an over-muscled bully. He was forced into a life of servitude, Agamotto's spells binding his power and him to at least one of those who defeated him. I'm told he is traded back and forth among the remaining victors about once a century or so, until they tire of him and send him to the next. Since several, no, most of the, ah, Infinity Watch have passed on, the spell allowed them to assign a designated recipient of servitude in the event of their passing." He was silent a long moment. "I have not heard from Alars in some time."

Karun looked between the two men. He silently understood who he was really dealing with.

The man calling himself Harry glared at the mortal. "Do you wish to know more?"

"O-Only that w-which you wish to share, sirrah?" he stammered.

"Tell him of the Xandarian, won't you?" Harry urged his mentor. "You left him out of your story. How he started as a humble Kree diplomat, but your group's interference gave him more power than you expected. Bor tried to end your experiment, but you spared him, did you not?"

"Noh-Vell is not important to this story, boy." The sky rumbled once more. "Nor his mate, Mara."

"Was that her name? I recall you took quite the shine to her," he taunted.

"They are both long dead, as you should be," Zuras warned.

Kuran noticed the lights flickering. He could feel the static charge in the air growing. "Gentlemen! Please! I do not need to know all your secrets!"

"Are you sure, little man?" the younger queried. "Would you not share this information with your puny speck of a world?"

"This world gave us the means to stop the Infinity Gauntlet once more, and undo the damage wrought by Thanos."

"And what will happen now, O Great Zuras? Who will be your next pupil that will found the new Nova Corps? What galactic protector arises from this latest contest?"

"Silence your tongue, boy. Your last warning."

Harry smiled. The game was on. "Make me."

"Cover your ears, mortal," Zuras warned. Kuran grabbed his tablets and hid under the table, covering himself as he saw Zuras move toward the other man. The shockwave from the Eternal's blow nearly knocked the heavy table over onto Kuran. He heard glass shatter.

"Send me a bill for the damages," he heard Zuras say as he glanced up, to see the large man take flight out the shattered window. The Eternal dove down, then flew upward, carrying the other struggling man by the ankle, disappearing into the gathering storm clouds.

Kuran said a silent prayer to his gods, then realized that it may be a futile plea, compared to the power of the two men who had taken up his evening. He gathered his tablets and rushed to dictate and edit them into a report for the Avengers. If not them, then who?

Kingo would know. He usually knew. But where was he now?


first draft, Dec.20, 2021.