RE:Avenger Chapter 30, an Avengers + Re:Zero Crossover fanfic

Chapter 30 – The Guardians of the Multiverse

SUBARU NATSUKI, SPIDER-MAN. SLAYER OF THE MAD TITAN AND HIS ARMIES, BANE OF THE WITCH CULT AND THE GREAT CALAMITIES.

YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!

"…EH?! EH?!" Subaru screamed in baffled shock as he pointed to the sky, right back at the cosmic creature pointing at him. "GIANT-BABY-CAPED-MAN-DUDE!"

"Another one!" Reinhard growled as he gripped Reid tightly with both hands.

*DASH!*

*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*

"R-Rein!" Felt gasped in surprise as the Sword Saint dashed back to the skies, his holy blade shining brightly with divine energies. "REIN, WAIT!"

CALM DOWN, SWORD SA-

*SLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!*

*FWOM!*

"Wha-?!" Gasping in confusion, Reinhard froze in place in the stratosphere as his world-shattering slash vanished into nothing mid-swing.

YOU MUST CALM DOWN, SWORD SAINT; I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY.

"…" The redhead's eyes slowly turned from the being and to his weapon; it had not been the man in the sky that had cancelled the attack, Reid had merely depowered itself. It did not recognize the being as its enemy. "…What is your purpose here?"

I HAVE COME TO AID YOU AGAINST ULTRON, BUT I SEEK YOU NOT ASTREA. ONLY SUBARU.

"A-Ah…" The Avenger muttered in the ground, still in stupor. "M-Me?"

"Subaru-kun? Do you recognize this… 'Being' by any chance?" Rem inquired as she glared to the sky, her horn still out.

"Err- not that I'm aware of?! Or more like, I've never seen it in my life!" The teenager denied, flummoxed by the meeting.

"Subaru!" Emilia yelled as she looked at the hero in question. "I think we should listen to his request!"

"Emilia-sama?!" Frederica mumbled in visible confusion. "Do you really think this a viable option?!"

"It's another sky-creature, Emilia-sama." Ram backed her fellow maid with wariness. "There could be the possibility that it's conspiring with the machine to end us all-"

WISE WORRIES, YOUNG ONI, BUT FEAR NOT; ULTRON IS AS MUCH AN ENEMY OF MINE AS IT IS OF YOURS.

"?!" Ram almost yelped in alarm as the creature spoke directly to her.

"Ram, you needn't worry." Emilia reassured with a light smile. "I met this being during my Trial."

"You did?! I-I-I mean, you know this guy?!" Subaru looked at the half-elf with wide eyes, surprised by the revelation.

"…What?" Roswaal's eyes narrowed apprehensively as he looked above. "This being too…"

"He called himself 'The Watcher'." Emilia continued with a contemplative tone. "He… He said he was 'filling-in' for Echidna after she vanished during my Third Trial."

"Filling-in for mother?!" Beatrice now squealed, awestruck by the information.

"Err- I don't follow…? What's goin' on here?!" Felt rapidly shifted gazes between the members of the Emilia Camp and Subaru, confused by their conversation. "Who's Echidna?! What Trials?! Mother?!"

NOTHING OF IMPORTANCE RIGHT NOW, YOUNG FELT. I'VE COME SEEKING ONLY SUBARU, NO ONE ELSE.

"Geh-!" Felt flinched as the being now spoke to her.

*ZOOOM!*

"Felt-sama!" Reinhard yelled as he returned to his master's side.

"R-Rein!" The blonde candidate yelped back in response. "Did you-?! I mean, is he an enemy?! Did you confirm something?!"

"He is not an enemy, Felt-sama." Reinhard shook his head in denial. "At least that's what I believe… I did not sense a lie on his words, and the Dragon Sword refused to attack him. It is not a threat."

"S-So he really is an ally…" Subaru scratched the back of his head tiredly.

"What alarms Betty is why he would only wish for her contractor, I suppose…" Beatrice grumbled with annoyance.

MY APOLOGIES, BEATRICE. IT HAS TO BE SUBARU ALONE. YOU CANNOT COME.

"And that's exactly what Betty dislikes, you despicable baldie!" Beatrice shouted in furious retort.

"Ah, Beako, calm down, calm down… Let me talk to him!" Subaru tried to defuse the distrust of his Great Spirit as he stared back at the Watcher. "U-Um… Buddy?! Hey! Watcher-dude?! What did you say I was chosen for?!"

I NEED YOU AND THE SOUL STONE TO COME WITH ME, TO STOP THE SYNTHEZOID'S MULTIVERSAL SLAUGHTER.

"Multiversal-!" Subaru almost fell back over backwards at the reveal. "Goddammit! So he wasn't raiding ONLY us just now?! Is he attacking other worlds simultaneously?!"

"Multiversal… Other universes… Ultron mentioned something along those words as well, what with calling you a 'liar', Subaru." Reinhard turned to look at the Avenger, his worries overpowering his reasoning as he disregarded social cues. "What are you not telling us?"

"…" Subaru, however, stopped on his tracks in shock as Reinhard called him out.

"Rein…" Felt murmured with disappointment.

"…I don't know what you are implying, but I don't like your accusatory tone Reinhard." Emilia answered the Sword Saint's question with a glare, alongside Rem and Beatrice. "This is neither the time nor the place to be questioning the legitimacy of Subaru's claims."

"ESPECIALLY because Subaru-kun was the one to warn everyone about the dangerous foe, he's already proven his truthfulness." Rem remarked with a scowl and an aggressive voice.

"No, no, he's right. Rem, Emilia, Beako…" Subaru lowered his head with dejection. "I didn't tell everyone all the details about Ultron; they were unreal enough, that even I doubted them in the beginning… I'm sorry."

"…Betty's Subaru shouldn't need to apologize for doubting whether you could even be trusted, you impertinent brute. He's done enough, in fact." Beatrice insulted Reinhard with disillusion.

"Ugh…" Emilia frowned with frustration, wondering that perhaps his reason for not confessing everything were his still lingering doubts in her.

"My most sincere apologies to you all, my careless commentary was a slip in judgement." Reinhard bowed his head with genuine shame. "I just… Ultron insisted on coming from Earth, yes, but not your own Subaru."

"…Yes, you are not wrong in saying that, Reinhard." Subaru lamented as he stared at the swordsman apologetically. "The thing is, 'this' Ultron-"

*CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!*

"?!" Everyone froze as the skies above the Royal Castle broke again into shards of glass, a fissure between realities manifesting ominously as a familiar monster appeared once again.

"HE'S BACK!" Garfiel yelled with hatred. "Motherfucker! He really came back!"

Ultron had returned, chaos ensuing amongst the masses as they witnessed the machine's unbelievable reappearance.

"OH GOD, NOT AGAIN!"

"HE'S BACK! HE'S BACK!"

"G-GO AWAY!"

"LEAVE US ALONE ALREADY!"

"ABOMINATION!"

"WATCHER!" However, Ultron ignored the gasps of terror as he crossed the crack in the heavens, his first focus priority the creature in the sky. "SO YOU SHOW YOURSELF AGAIN!"

*ZNNNNNNNNNNNNNNM!*

NO!

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

The Watcher and the Synthezoid both raised their hands, pointing at each other as blasts of cosmic, psionic and many more foreign energies clashed with one another above the Capital, a rainbow of pure power covering the city as this one shook far more than before.

*RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!*

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH-?!" Subaru, along with everyone down below, had to cover his eyes in order to avoid being blinded by the clash. With the exception of Roswaal and Reinhard, everyone else but him had tripped and fallen to the ground unceremoniously as soon as the earth below began trembling.

"What powers-!" Reinhard gasped as the sword on his hands trembled with anticipation. Immediately after this, the Sword Saint rushed back into the heavens again.

*DASH!*

SUBARU! HURRY! YOU MUST COME WITH ME! NOW!

*FWOOOSH!*

"Wha-?!" A door that looked like the entrance to a bar suddenly appeared before Subaru, making the Avenger flinch.

*THUD!*

"Hngh-?!" Emilia grumbled as she slipped and fell to the floor behind the hero. "S-Subaru!"

"Emilia-tan! Let me-! Let me help you-!" Subaru tried to help the girl stand up, but Emilia shook her head as she denied the help.

*Slap!*

"Subaru! You must go!" The half-elf pressured as the blasts above intensified, slapping the boy's helping hand away. "We don't have much time!"

"But-!"

"We'll be fine!" Emilia stressed as she stood up by herself with shuddering legs.

"…"

"Trust me… We will! We will not kick the bucket! When you return, we will all still be here, waiting for you!" The silver-haired Royal Candidate assured with determined amethyst eyes.

"…" The Avenger turned to look at everyone else, turned to look at all of his allies still struggling to stand up with worry and doubt.

"Th-The half-elf is right, I suppose!" Beatrice yelled too, a trembling smile on her face as she gazed at her contractor. "Betty is not exactly glad that her contractor must leave… but he has to! For Betty's sake, in fact!"

"Ergh…" Subaru clenched his fists with anger as he faced the choice of having to leave his friends behind, unsure of the option still.

"…It is as they say, Subaru-sama!" Frederica shouted as she grinned toothily. "Trust in Emilia-sama and Beatrice-sama and go!"

"J-Just go! Cap'n! We'll be peachy here!" Garfiel smirked as he stood up with difficulty.

"Just leave already, Barusu!" Ram shouted as she followed suit in standing up. "Cease being such a pathetic wuss and leave!"

"Subaru-kun!" Rem nodded in agreement while she looked at her hero lovingly. "We'll be fine! Go!"

"You go, Big Bro!" Felt yelled as she glared at the confrontation above. "I didn't get saved by you just ta fall over against some empty armor-man! So go! We'll be fine here!"

"Everyone…" Subaru bit his lip as he gazed at their forced smiles, frustrated over the fact that they would pretend to be fine on top of fighting for the sake of encouraging him. That they would go the extra mile to cheer someone like him on, that doubted even at the worst possible moments to do so.

"Hmm!" And we'll still be here when you return, Subaru!" Emilia promised with hopeful eyes.

*ZOOOOM!*

*RIIIIIII~P!*

"ALRIGHT, YA FUCKS!" Garfiel roared as he transformed completely into his beast form, tearing his clothes apart, and making the Avenger notice that more legionnaires were descending upon the city whilst he doubted. "MY AMAZIN' SELF'S BEEN WAITIN' FER ROUND TWO!"

*SHWIN!*

"Go beat that monster already, Spider-Man!" Emilia turned her back on the hero, glaring back at the soulless machines as she produced a dozen ice spears around her teammates. "…And take care on your way back!"

*DASH!*

"!" Subaru's mouth was agape as Emilia wished him safe travels. "Those words…"

"Take care out there, won't you tiger? Oh! I mean… Spider!"

"Take care out there!"

*GRAB!*

"…Yeah!" Subaru's lips trembled as he heard May's words, in both reality and in his Trial, replicated by the reassuring Emilia, prompting him to look away from the half-elf with teary eyes as he grasped and turned the ethereal bar gate's doorknob. "I'LL BE BACK! I PROMISE!"

*CREAK~!*

GOOD! HE'S ENTERED THE GATE!

*What?! NO!" Ultron shouted with hatred as he glared at the Watcher as he sighed with relief. "You were distracting me?!"

MY PURPOSE HERE WAS OBTAINING THE SOUL STONE AND TAKING SUBARU WITH ME. IF YOU WANT THEM TOO, I SUGGEST YOU TRY TO KEEP UP IN FOLLOWING BEHIND, MACHINE…

*FWOM!*

"NO!" Ultron complained again as the Watcher vanished from the sky. "NO… NONONONONONONONONONO! DAMN YOU! WATCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"

*CRAAAAAAAAAACK!*

*ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

The Synthezoid broke through reality again, his obsession with the Soul Stone, Subaru and the Watcher surpassing his self-proclaimed duty of eliminating all life in Lugunica.

*ZOOOOM!*

…Or maybe not, for as soon as the left, the cocoon in space began deploying another sort of mechanical soldier upon the land below altogether, by the hundreds instead of the dozens like before.

*CRAAAASH!*

"New types of soldiers…" Roswaal pointed out with disdain as he prepared myriad fireballs.

"Damn… Ya'll actually as big as my amazin' self now, eh? Are ya tougher dan da others? Ya certainly look da part!" Garfiel commented in response from beside the Margrave, for before them stood not just any type of combat androids. Those were…

*KLA-KLAAAAAAAAAAA~NG!*

Those were Hulkbuster armors.

Meanwhile, across the multiverse…

YEAR 2014 AD / EARTH / OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

*WHOOOOOOO~M!*

A jet-black, technologically advanced military plane, most commonly known as a Quinjet, broke through the night sky at break-neck speeds. Parting the clouds flawlessly, it blended with them as it activated its stealth mode and became virtually invisible.

"The Lemurian Star." Aboard the plane, pointing to a screen before a group of well-armed and trained stoical soldiers, a tall, muscular, brunette British woman indicated the debriefing given to them by their superiors. "It sent its last transmission some ninety minutes ago when a group of pirates hijacked it."

"How many pirates?" A slightly shorter redheaded woman named Natsha Romanoff, a spy that went by the alias 'Black Widow', inquired with a pensive expression.

"Twenty-five, and they are led by this man: Georges Batroc." The tall woman indicated on the screen as she displayed the hijacker's profile. "Before the French DGSE Action Division discharged him, he had a total of thirty-six successful missions under his belt."

"Hmm! Sounds more like YOUR type of man." Natasha teased playfully.

"Yeah, yeah… I have the shield, you have the sword." The tall woman dismissed with a bored face.

"A few knives, actually… But I liked that phrase."

"Alright people, turn off the engines and get ready!" The tall woman ordered to all soldiers with a commanding voice. "I want you searching for the hostages YESTERDAY! Equipment ready for smooth take out of any hostiles in the way!"

"STRIKE Team! You heard the Captain, prepare yourselves!" Rumlow, a soldier aboard the aircraft and third in command of the team after the tall woman and Natasha, organized the men per his Captain's words.

"So… You've got plans for this Saturday?" Natasha asked the tall woman as this one took out a smooth, circular Vibranium shield from a locker.

"No, stop, I don't want to hear anymore nor any longer-" The tall woman pointed an accusatory finger toward Natasha.

"It's just that Bernard from accounting wants to know about you."

"No offense to the guy, but nothing 'good' comes after the phrase 'Bernard from accounting'." The tall woman sighed as she punched a button on the wall of the Quinjet, opening the back hatch.

*CLANG!*

*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH~!*

"…And what if his name was Steve?!" Natasha insisted again with a chuckle.

"Owch!" The tall woman groaned with fake hurt. "And just when we were starting off with the right foot, Widow! I thought we were friends!"

*FWIIII~SH!*

Immediately after, the tall woman jumped off from the Quinjet and into the dark ocean below, no parachute attached to her body.

*SPLOOOOOSH~!*

Unnoticed by the hostile forces aboard the Lemurian Star, the woman quietly swam to the ship and climbed the aft and into the deck with ease.

"…"

Gauging her next action carefully, she identified five soldiers guarding the stern, and the moment one of them looked distracted…

*FLNMMM!*

*CLANG!*

"URNF-?!"

Became her moment to act.

"Over there!" One of the soldiers exclaimed as he pointed his machine gun in the direction the shield that downed his comrade had been thrown from; just when he was about to shoot, however, the shield flew once more in HIS direction.

*FLNMMM!*

*CLANG!*

"GRAGH-!"

*CLANG!*

"BAGHAG-?!"

The shield managed to knock-out two more soldiers in one go before returning to its owner, not before the other two soldiers finally identified the attacker.

"It's Captain-!" Another hostile yelped as he glared at the woman, but it was too late.

*CLANG!*

"BLEARGH-!" The man fell to the floor unceremoniously as the woman bashed him with the shield, the tackle's recoil rendering him unconscious.

*SHUFFF-!*

"?!" The woman stopped mid-charge as the fifth soldier managed to avoid her attack rolling behind her with gun on hand.

"Hmph!" The fifth soldier pointed his assault-rifle to the woman the exact moment she turned around to block the incoming gunfire with her shield. However, the gunfire never came as the two stared each other down. "…Hahahahaha! And here I thought ya were more than just a shield!"

*Thud!*

"...Batroc." The woman smirked as the man threw away his weapon, insisting instead in raising his fists like a boxer. Likewise, the woman put her shield on her back, raising her own two fists as she glared at her opponent. Without words, they had agreed to solve their fight with close-quarter combat. "I'm also a rather good dancer!"

*DASH!*

"H-ut!"

*SMACK!*

*BASH!*

"Hngh-! Not a bad kick!"

*CLAAAM!*

*FOOOSH!*

The pair exchanged blows, parries and blocks expertly, like martial artists with a solid foundation and training behind them. In the dark of the night, within the quiet deck, the two soldiers danced in the heat of battle until…

"WOAH!" The tall woman's eyes almost shot out of her skull as she stared into the night sky, upwards at the moon.

"What?! Ya scared or something?!" Batroc laughed haughtily as he stared at the confused woman.

"No, no, are you seeing that?!" Nevertheless, the woman dismissed the aggressive man as she stared at the figure in the sky. "Wha-?!"

CAPTAIN CARTER, THE SOLDIER LOST IN TIME.

YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!

*FWOM!*

YEAR 2014 AD / EARTH / SAINT CHARLES, MISSOURI

*BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!*

*WHOOOOOSH!*

*WOBWOOOOOOOONG!*

*WHOOOOOSH!*

*WOBWOOOOOOOONG!*

*BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG!*

*ZNMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!*

Laser gunships ablaze! Alien material corroding the earth! Explosions of sheer plasma, energy and collapsing gravity! An spectacle beyond what a normal earthling could ever hope to see was currently happening right outside some no-name fast-food restaurant, the place where one would least expect it…

"DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" A fast-food joint employee shouted in fear and pain as a blue ray of cosmic light enveloped his body, showering him with foreign powers beyond his comprehension.

"Finally… FINALLY! After HUNDREDS of years of breeding with lower-species females! After THOUSANDS of years implanting versions of myself across the entire cosmos! Over MILLIONS of years of solitude amongst the stars, roaming like a lonesome drifter! My true purpose comes to pass at last!" An old man with a jovial face shouted in celebration as he continuously showered the employee with his exorbitant powers. "The entire universe! Everything BECOMES me! After so many failed children, corpse after failed corpse, the true Celestial child, MY KIN arrives to my hands safe and sound! Accept your old man's gift, my boy! YOU are the lucky one, Peter! The blessed child of the Celestial, EGO! After a life of loneliness, of being BULLIED around by inferior pests that know not their place… YOU shall ascend with ME onto our higher forms! For the first time in our existence, we are truly NOT ALONE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"GHRNGH-?! DAAAD-GHHAAAAGH?!" Peter Jason Quill, the man the older maniac was raving about, cried in hurt again.

"Ah… Relax, son! It'll a~ll be over in about a thousand years or so! Just let it be-!"

*CRAAAASH!*

"Hmm?" The human puppet of the living planet, Ego, turned around with apparent confusion as a ravager flew directly towards his son Peter. "Wait, who-?!"

*SNAP!*

*TWING-TWING-TWING!*

"Oh, come on!" Ego mumbled with boredom as a time-bomb thrown by the intruder attached itself to his chest.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

*FWOOOOOOOSH!*

"U-Uagh…" Peter groaned as he fell on top of the grass, outside of the burning pieces of debris that were once his place of boring work. "Muh-?"

"Stay here!" A dark-skinned man with elegant yet fierce facial features said as he unmasked, displaying care for the civilian. "Leave this fight to us!"

"*Cough-Cough!* Y-Yeah, I'll do that, I understand…" Peter nodded as he pointed to the smoke cloud behind the man with a tired and injured hand. "I'll just s-stay here with the giant-baby-caped-man-dude…"

"Who-?" The ravager turned around, following Peter's finger, gazing into the sunny sky to see…

STAR-LORD, T'CHALLA, LEADER OF THE RAVAGERS AND ESTRANGED PRINCE OF WAKANDA.

YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!

*FWOM!*

YEAR 2018 AD / EDGE OF THE SMALL MEGELLANIC CLOUD / NIDAVELLIR

*CLUNG-CLUNG!*

The echoes of chains rattling in the distance reverberated across the multi-ringed structure orbiting around a small Neutron Star. Within this gargantuan marvel of engineering, three people stood before a raging furnace.

"*Sigh…*" Eitri, the giant dwarf, sighed with exhaustion as he tied the Inifinity Gauntlet to some chains over a pot of molten Uru.

"What's the matter, Eitri?" A golden armored, green-skinned woman with magenta-colored hair, asked the dwarf with worry.

"It's just…" The dwarf gazed melancholically at the Gauntlet, his hurt eyes full of regret and sorrow. "Three-hundred dwarfs lived on this forge."

"…" The woman stared with contemplation at the Gauntlet.

"Three-hundred… Generations after generations, we served to make the most terrible weaponry the universe had ever seen. Eons after eons, we served the gods that ruled across all galaxies, our furnaces raged with the power of a neutron star, and with our skills, we did the impossible possible, our art making the unbreakable breakable, the immortal killable…"

"And then the hubris got to you, and you forged a weapon for the madman that ended up slaughtering your family…" Tony Stark, Iron Man, lamented from within a colorful Hulkbuster made with scrap.

"I thought that if I smith what he wanted, the Mad Titan would allow my people to live…" The dwarf scowled with hatred at the item hanging over the pot. "I hoped… And he dashed those hopes against the stones when he slaughtered two-hundred ninety-nine of my brethren. Had I known the all-father was gone, I wouldn't have taken such a STUPID risk!"

"You were foolish, Eitri." The woman shook her head with pity. "Thanos… Mercy never existed in his dictionary. The only kindness a monster like him could ever gift is a swift death, and that was asking a lot."

"And isn't kindness what kept you alive?" Eitri wondered aloud.

"As his daughter? Committing atrocity after atrocity under his banner? Sullying my hands with innocent blood in HIS name? Hmph! I would have rather been slain along with my people…"

"I'm sorry…"

"You needn't be." The woman shook her head. "The past is the past and what is done is done; now we should just focus on fixing the damage… To ensure that dreams like the Mad Titan's never come to fruition."

"Surely! At least the other dwarfs that lived outside Nidavellir, in the other realms, can return back here safely now that the danger has passed. Though, I don't think they'd be too grateful to me for failing to save their families."

"…The only thing we CAN be thankful about is that we managed to stop Thanos before it was too late. That's reassurance enough in my book." Tony nodded in agreement with the sentiment. "But to make a reality out of those, uh- 'lofty dreams' of no more berserk Grimaces…"

"Hmm?" Eitri looked at Tony with worry as he fiddled with the chains.

"Tony?" The woman turned to look as well with a raised eyebrow whilst the Infinity Gauntlet was lowered into the molten Uru.

*CROOG-CROOG-CROOG-CROOG-CROOG-CROOG!*

*FIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ~!*

"These Infinity Stones… Look man, I already left the business of selling weapons, it's not my thing anymore!" Tony explained himself with trouble. "But… How can we make a suit of armor around the world? Around the entire GALAXY, huh?! You can't, just, tell me there's not going to be another monster hidden in the shadows or under the bed, waiting for-!"

"TONY!" The woman shrieked as she drew a double-edged sword, pointing it at the stars in space beyond Nidavellir.

"Wha-?!" Both Tony and Eitri turned to look in the direction the woman was looking in as well with surprise as they saw…

GAMORA, SURVIVOR OF SAKAAR AND SLAYER OF THANOS.

"And the one who's gonna punch your moon-shaped ugly mug!" Tony bellowed as his armor's mask activated.

NOT YOU, STARK. YOU, GAMORA!

YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!

*FWOM!*

YEAR 2010 AD / EARTH / LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

*ZOOOM!*

Over the city of gambling, where the wildest dreams could come to fruition if one was lucky or underhanded and dirty enough, a million Ultron drones rained down, ravaging and disintegrating everything on their path. Amongst them, a solitary hero fought valiantly to halt the invading forces…

"You!"

*KLAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

"And you!"

*KLAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

"And you!"

*KLAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

"And you!"

*KLAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

"And you-!" A tall, muscular, handsome, blonde-haired, blue-eyed man in custom-Viking armor shouted as he threw a heavy-looking hammer around, destroying legionnaire after legionnaire in retaliation as these ones destroyed the city of sin. "Aaaaand you!"

*KLAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

"We were going to have a date together!" The man complained as he swung his mighty hammer.

*KLAAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

"And I was going to buy her some flowers-!"

*KLAAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

"And I was going to light a lot of pretty-smelly candles-!"

*KLAAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

"And I was going to- hngh!"

*KLAAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

"Shower and –argh! Brush my hair all cute and stuff!"

*KRA-KRAAAAAACKLE~!*

*SLAAAAAAAAAAM!*

*ZAAAAAAAAAAAP!*

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

"No one messes with Las Vegas!" The man destroyed a wide array of legionnaires in one swing as electricity danced around him wildly, failing to notice however the presence in the sky…

FINALLY, THOR ODINSON. CROWN PRINCE OF ASGA-

"And you! And you!"

*KLAAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

T-THOR-!

*KLAAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

THOR! YOU HAVE- YOU HAVE BEEN-!

*KLAAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

"Aaaaand specially you, ugly-ass uggo!"

*KLAAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

"And you too, don't think I forgot!"

*KLAAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

THOR-!

"Haha! En-garde, you too!"

*KLAAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

CALM DOWN-!

"Bet you didn't see that one coming, huh?! And you!"

*KLAAAANG!*

*BOOOOM!*

THOR ODINSON!

*GRAB!*

"WHA-?!" Thor gasped as a giant bald man in the sky picked him up, his enormous hand lifting him high into the air.

THOR ODINSON, CROWN PRINCE OF ASGARD.

YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!

"UWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!" The man squealed childishly in response.

*FWOM!*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Thor finally paused his incessant wail as he came to notice the wooden floor under his feet. "Huh? Er… We are in a bar? Huh?"

"What-?!"

"Eh?!"

"I-I know this pub…" Carter commented melancholically as she observed her surroundings, her eyes fixating immediately on a black and white framed photograph resting in a shelf. It was a portrait of her beloved Steve Rogers, from a time long past already.

"The pub façade was my idea." As the Captain appreciated the photo, another man explained to her the creation of the bar from across the counter. "I read about it in your biography… Hope you like it."

*CLANG!*

"HELLO!" As the man finished speaking, Thor cheerfully saluted as he laid a Vibranium legionnaire's head on the counter. "So wazzup, man?! Can I get a beer here?! I kinda need it after all the smashing and screaming, hehe!"

"…" The man behind the counter stared for a few seconds with ominous silence before producing the alcoholic drink on his hand.

"YEAH! *Glug-glug-glug!*" Odinson laughed as he grabbed the jar of beer from the stranger's hand and began chugging it down furiously.

"And who are you?" Carter turned to look at the people around her, unsure of their allegiances.

"WHERE am I?!" With wariness, Gamora gripped her blade's hilt ever tightly as she glared at the man behind the counter.

"Why have you brought us here?" T'Challa, likewise, inquired with apprehension.

"WOAH!" Subaru yelped in awe, instantly grabbing everyone's attention.

"Uuuh… Who's the gimp? I mean, not that I have anything against such things, buuuuuuu~t…" Thor pointed at the masked Avenger rudely as he whispered to the 'bartender'.

"Thor!" Spider-Man said with excitement.

"No, no! I AM Thor!" The Asgardian deity frowned with insult. "I asked who you are mortal, not the other way around! Unless, of course, you are somehow called Thor too, but you know… Why WOULDN'T any mother call her child after me with THESE guns, eh?"

"…" Gamora stared at the blonde man flexing his muscles with boredom before shifting her acute focus toward the Avenger. "I believe the 'gimp' meant to say that he knows WHO you are, blondie."

"Which begs the question of who he is." T'Challa also said ominously as he stared at Subaru with caution, a hand over the blaster on his hip.

"No doubt about it, you are suspicious… Gimp." Carter admitted as she frowned at the teenager following everyone's comments, reaching for the shield at her back.

"Ah, I still have the mask on- er, I'm not a gimp, I mean!" Subaru shook his head hastily as he noticed everyone's stares, proceeding then to unmask himself. "M-My name is Subaru Natsuki, and I'm an Avenger from Earth! Spider-Man!"

"A… Child?" Carter's eyes widened in surprise as she gazed at the young Avenger's appearance behind the mask.

"…You do realize how little that narrows it down, kid?" Gamora lowered her blade as she stared at Subaru with disillusion, not perceiving him as a threat anymore.

"Hold on, Avenger? What's that supposed to mean?" T'Challa however remained pensive as he inspected the teenager's appearance. "How does that translate into knowing us?"

"U-U-I didn't mean I knew ALL of you, I just kinda…" Subaru scratched the back of his head apologetically as his eyes drifted around the room. "I sorta recognized some of you… L-Like Thor here! The Asgardian God of Thunder!"

"Muh?" The blonde man pointed to himself incredulously. "You know me? As in, I know you? I don't remember you though?! Was I THAT drunk last night?!"

"He means he KNOWS of you, Thor." The man behind the counter corrected. "Because back in his universe, you are an Avenger, much like him."

"Universe? Why are you talking as though… As though there was more than one." Gamora's frown was threatening to turn into a glare as her suspicions over the man behind the counter grew.

"Doctor Strange…" Subaru murmured with a surprised face as he looked behind Thor, noticing at last the grim-looking Sorcerer acting as a bartender. "You look a bit… Sinister now, huh?"

"…" Strange, nevertheless, averted his gaze from the boy with shame clear in his eyes.

"So it would be that Subaru recognizes you too, 'Doctor'." Peggy turned to look at the Sorcerer again with careful consideration. "And while the kid doesn't seem to hold all the answers, you do. Care to explain?"

I WILL, IF YOU WOULD ALLOW ME TO.

*FLING-FLING!*

"?!" Everyone except for Strange froze in alarm as the lights of the bar began flickering intermittently, the air feeling prickly as the ominous voice of the being that brought them all into this bar echoed inside their heads.

*FWOM!*

"I surmise a more physical form will allow us to communicate better." The Watcher spoke again as he manifested physically before the group. "I present myself formally before you, champions. I am Uatu… The Watcher."

"It's you again!" Peggy exclaimed with shock at the being that manifested from thin air before her.

"Urgh, get a better trick man…" The Wakandan prince shook his head with visible disappointment.

"You, all of you." The Watcher continued talking with profound urgency. "You have all been chosen for a mission that is both highly dangerous and ABSOLUTELY necessary for the continuation of life as you know it."

"…" Everyone was left in silence by the revelation of the being, because most of the warriors present have witnessed such dire circumstances in past conflicts as well.

"In the beginning I scoured eternity on search of a singular hero above all others, but soon, I realized the bigger picture." The Watcher continued explaining with a deep and considerate tone. "This mission requires a team; the absolute best combination of skills and experience that shall grant us victory over the insurmountable enemy."

"Experience?" T'Challa wondered aloud as he turned to look back at Subaru. "No offense, but that sounds like a lie. The guy behind me doesn't seem to have that much under his belt, what with being twelve and dressing in pajamas."

"I'm fairly older than that, thank you." Subaru frowned in response to the insult. "And this is not a pajama, it's-!"

"Thirteen, alright." Gamora sighed as she rolled her eyes, much to Subaru's chagrin. "The point being, how can you expect us to trust your words if one of our members is a literal child, cue ball?"

"That child slayed the Mad Titan and his armies back on his home universe, Gamora."

"!" The green-skinned woman froze in shock at the truth laid bare before her.

"The Mad Titan… So Thanos didn't give up on your universe, huh?" T'Challa lamented with a defeated sigh.

"Huh? Hold on, you said Gamora just now?" Subaru asked with alarm. "A-As in Thanos' daughter? That Ga-"

"That bastard was NOT my father, he was my captor." Gamora gazed away from the Avenger, clearly angered by his comment.

"I-Er… I'm sorry…" Subaru apologized with a troubled face.

"Perhaps I don't get the full picture here, but I'm fairly certain NONE of us do!" Peggy shook her head as she failed to comprehend the scope of the conversation. "I don't know about Mad Titans or whatever, but you talk of him as two separate beings when they sound like the same guy… Am I missing something?"

"Captain Carter…" The Watcher stared at the soldier with respect as she attested to her confusion.

"So you brought us here, to the entire OTHER side of the Galaxy to do… What exactly?" The woman asked with confusion.

"…Save the universe? Somehow, it wouldn't fit what the theme of 'more' than one Mad Titan." Gamora blurted with suspicions as she scowled at the Watcher.

"Agreed to that." T'Challa too gazed at the being with mistrust. "What are you not telling us?"

"It is not as simple as saving one universe, unfortunately." The Watcher closed his eyes with regret.

"You are not our best hope in saving just one universe." Strange affirmed sternly.

"We are your best hope in saving ALL of them… Right?" Subaru concluded ominously.

"Exactly, Subaru, and all of you gathered here… You are the Guardians of the Multiverse." The Watcher affirmed with a powerful and confident voice.

*GLUG-GLUG-GLUG!*

*CRASH!*

"Hah…! I know what this is!" Thor chuckled as he threw the empty beer mug away, breaking it against the wall. "Loki put you up for this joke, right?! Listen, I do not have time for his pranks today!"

"I-I- Wait, I wouldn't do that-!" Doctor Strange warned the Asgardian cautiously as this one distanced himself from the group, approaching the pub's exit carelessly.

"Look, my lady Jane needs me, so… I'll be going-!" Nevertheless, Thor dismissed the worried warnings as he opened the door unceremoniously, laughing all the way.

*Creak~!*

*FRWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The God cried in fear and panic as a raging vortex composed of the clash of foreign dimensions and mysterious powers began pulling him out of the bar forcefully, his sole salvation from certain doom the doorknob he was still holding onto.

*CLACK!*

"*Huff! Huff…!*" Thor panted rapidly as he closed the door behind him, the rest of the Guardians staring at him with monotony.

"…So, what are we up against?" Captain Carter asked the Watcher with a cheeky smirk.

*ZNMMMM!*

"As we speak, your worlds are either under siege or soon to be attacked by Ultron and his forces." The Watcher explained as a hologram depicting the Synthezoid and his destruction across the cosmos manifested before the team.

"Ultron…" Peggy alone noticed with preoccupation how Subaru growled the name of the machine as he scowled at the image on-screen.

"An Artificial Intelligence elevated to a cosmic entity thanks to an augmented synthetic body and the might of the Infinity Stones." The Watcher affirmed as the machine's hologram glowed with cosmic power.

"Six gems of unfathomable power, each of them controlling an aspect of our existence." Strange continued as the image changed to that of a display of the Six Stones. "Time, Space, Reality, Power, Mind, Soul. And Ultron has five of the six…"

"Wait, only five?" Gamora raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You say he is this absurdly strong being and he only has five of them?"

"Because… Someone here managed to steal one of them, Gamora." The Watcher lowered his gaze, staring directly at Subaru, making everyone stare in surprise as well.

"I-It's not like it was a walk in the park to steal it, you know…" The boy opened his hand, revealing resting in his right palm the Soul Stone.

"You mean to tell us…" Peggy flinched with awe as she looked at the boy. "This absurd, homicidal monster… You stole one of his McGuffins mid-fight?!"

"Unlike the rest of you, Subaru was already engaging Ultron directly when I recruited him." The Watcher affirmed again. "He had amassed an army when stranded on another world, foreign to Earth, in preparation of the Synthezoid's massive invasion."

"He… Ultron launched his giant army, invading Lugunica in an attempt to kill all life in existence." Subaru described with frustration. "The sole reason I was able to steal this Stone was because he was distracted… And he was arrogant enough not to kill us all the instant he appeared over the Capital."

"You shouldn't lament it as though what you did wasn't worthy of praise, kid!" T'Challa laughed as he put an arm over Subaru's shoulder. "His blunder, yes, but YOU took full advantage of it by sucker-punching the omnipotent scumbag! That… That takes courage. I was wrong about you earlier; you do have the mettle for this."

"U-U-I-Urm…" Subaru blushed at the praise. "Urm… Thank you…!"

"The Soul Stone…" The flash of brilliance shone in Gamora's eyes as she stared at the orange gem resting in Subaru's hand.

"If Subaru managed to steal one of the Stones, then now all we've got to do is separate Ultron from the other five right?" Peggy suspected with a pensive face and tone.

"Not quite." Subaru, however, shook his head in denial. "Karen… When I fought Ultron, I had a partner A.I. called Karen, and with her android body called 'Jocasta', she could draw power from the Infinity Stones directly. She used this power to tear Ultron apart and scatter his pieces across different dimensions…"

"But Ultron regenerated near instantly afterwards." The Watcher elaborated. "The machine's nano-bots are as advanced and durable as they are invisible to the human eye; it is no understatement to call them almost molecule-sized. They could draw power from the Stones themselves to fuel multiversal portals towards each other, allowing Ultron to piece himself together regardless of how far apart the pieces are. The sole requirement for this is that Ultron's machines are in contact with the Stones at the moment they generate a portal."

"So that's how he recovered from Karen's attack… How unreal can one robot get?" Subaru rolled his eyes with tiredness.

"Hold on, if that is the case, isn't it dangerous for us to even have this Soul Stone?!" Thor concluded with alarm as he pointed at the gem with his hammer. "You mean to tell me that those buggies are attached to the orange gem and we cannot even see them?! What if he teleports here?!"

"Not exactly." Strange smirked confidently as he looked at Subaru. "During the fight, Spider-Man here activated a sort-of, uh, hidden power that fried the nano-machinery attached to the Soul Stone. It's how he was even able to detach it from Ultron's body successfully in the first place."

"That's why Ultron was 'groaning' in apparent pain when you used your golden rays, Subaru." The Watcher continued explaining. "Those were not just rays of cosmic energy, as you had theorized… It was more akin to an amalgam, a force of nature itself displaying through you as an avatar."

"A force of nature?" Subaru looked troubled as he stared at the Watcher. "But why me? I-I mean to say, my blue lightning only appeared AFTER I used the Stones to defeat Thanos…"

"The blue lightning is a result of your Spider-based mutations evolving further after the contact with the cosmic energies of the Stones, Subaru." Strange continued explaining as he drew with magic circles in the air, expressing Subaru's as a sort of nexus for the Stones energies. "The golden lightning however… it came from a force sealed within the Soul Dimension that reached into you through that radiation you exposed yourself to…"

"That radiation…" Subaru held his stomach as he remembered the moments after he first used the Infinity Stones to fell Thanos back on Earth.

"I did what I could for your ribs but I couldn't close the burn in your arm at all, it's as if there was something blocking the healing mana from permeating completely through you."

"…All this time, I just thought what Emilia-tan felt when she healed me was the lightning alone. So there was something that insane bouncing within me?" Subaru smiled as he remembered Emilia's worry for him back then. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait a hot second. You! What the hell?!"

"Is something amiss?" Captain Carter inquired with a frown as she stared at the boy's disturbed face, it seems as though he had suddenly realized something.

"What, you are NOT going to tell us we can't depend on you to use that golden energy now, are you?" Gamora sighed with apparent disappointment.

"Well, APART from that…" Subaru glared at the Watcher as he spoke. "How do you know all of this?! About my Trial, when I first fought Ultron, about the golden energy?!"

"…" The Watcher closed his eyes with shame, as did Strange as he turned his head away from the group.

"…Are we missing something here?" T'Challa followed Subaru's scowl, making him glare at the powerful beings as well. "What are you not telling us?"

"…Just so you know, Satella may be attached to your soul, but she cannot grip your heart when absent from the same universe as you." Doctor Strange explained again with neutral expression. "Return by Death's penalty does not exist when outside of your home universe."

"?!" Subaru's pupils shrunk, his hands trembling as he processed the Doctor's words. "…"

"Wha-?! Kid!" Peggy yelled as she took notice of Subaru's shuddering hands and pale skin.

*Grab!*

"Kid! Answer me!" The brunette soldier shook the boy, prompting him to blink as he recovered from his stupor.

"I-I-I-!" With a few tears rolling down his cheeks, Subaru mumbled in a subdued voice as he looked at Peggy in the eyes… "I Return by Death…"

"Hmm… We know." Strange nodded as he and the Watcher lamented with frustration their decisions.

"Return by-?" Peggy turned to glare at the two with confusion as Subaru covered his face with his hands, swallowing cries of resentment and pain. "What the hell does that mean?! Why is Subaru crying?!"

"Strange?" Gamora, too, could not overlook the oddity of the situation as she scowled at the Sorcerer.

"…Subaru is subject to a Witch's love, or more like a twisted curse that robbed him of his mortality." Strange described as Subaru leaned on a wall, his face still covered. "Every time he dies, his consciousness is forcefully flung back in time, resetting the Timeline of his universe… And this comes with the downside of remembering the pain of his deaths, and any memory he made with anybody across those loops in time, vanishing into nothing."

"YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE! YOU SHOULD HAVE STOPPED THIS!"

"May the blessing of the Spirits be with you. See you soon, okie?"

"It's cold… so cold…!"

"I'm sorry…!"

"That's wrong! Abandoning them while heading to the Capital… How can you be this insensible?!"

"Onii-san… Thank you for the toys…"

"Roswaal asked you to ask the question… But deep inside, I knew you just couldn't be the one… Betty's one…"

"You're truly a man who never cowers down to anyone or anything. As the 'Witch of Greed', I like that about you… Natsuki Subaru."

"Live… Love… You…"

*CRUNCH!*

*BITE!*

*CRACK!*

*MUNCH!*

*CHOMP!*

"…Ghk!" With an avalanche of memories assaulting his mind, Subaru plummeted with a quiet shriek on top of a stool as Strange finished his explanation.

"U-U-Uh… This is a bi~t heavy-? What's wrong with him?" Thor pointed awkwardly at the boy as he shrunk into a corner, feeling out of place amongst these brave heroes now that his secret was out of the bag.

"He's flashing-back to his deaths and to Satella's cold ethereal grip on his heart…" Strange lamented as the other Guardians looked at him with aghast faces. "Most likely, he's remembering when he was eaten alive… The knowledge that his wails WERE seen and heard, yet ignored all the same, are what's scarring him just now."

"Eaten alive…!" T'Challa grumbled in restrained anger as he stared at the Watcher. "How many times has he died?!"

"In this universe… Around six times. Across the multiverse? Cannot be numbered… But he also felt his repeated demises in some other realities as well, through magical means." The Watcher confirmed ominously. "On the other hand, I bore witness to ALL of them, across all realities, never interfering."

"You-?! You witnessed every single one of his deaths and didn't do anything?!" Peggy growled as she drew her shield in a fighting stance.

"Look, I'm sorry, and I understand Subaru didn't deserve any of those deaths, but we cannot focus on-" Strange tried to defuse the situation to no avail as Peggy, Gamora and T'Challa turned against him, weapons drawn.

"You can bring us out of our universes, but you can't be bothered to help a troubled boy?!" Peggy bellowed again.

"It sounds awfully fishy that you can witness a man repeatedly die yet NOW that he proves useful you seek said man's help." Gamora said between clenched teeth as she scowled at Strange.

"How do we know Ultron wasn't your fault? The more I hear about all of this, the more you sound like you've come here to use us as scapegoats!" T'Challa shouted as well from behind the two women.

"Stop!" Subaru suddenly stood up, wishing for the conversation to cease immediately. "Just… Stop, alright?! I'm fine! I'm- I'm f-fine now!"

"The hell you are, you were a shuddering mess right no-!" Gamora tried to argue, but Subaru silenced her yet again.

"I won't go into details about this, okay?!" The Avenger stressed once more whilst glaring at the Watcher. "Look, as we speak, my friends are fighting for their lives against an army of Vibranium legionnaires! I don't- I don't WANT a pity party! We need to focus on Ultron, nothing more!"

"But Subaru, you can't just-!" Peggy insisted with pity.

"Stop… Please." Subaru locked eyes with Peggy again, his reddened mean eyes displaying a fierce and determined glare beyond the dried tears. "The more we take focusing on me, the less time we have to save my friends and everyone else in danger. This is not about me, it never was. It's about the entire multiverse Captain; I'm not standing idly by as that bastard gets away with his every play."

"Kid…" Peggy was impressed by the tenacity of the boy, uncannily reminding her of someone close to her…

"At the very least… You should know that the golden energy would not appear unless at its absolute most necessary for the survival of your universe, Subaru." Uatu kept explaining as Subaru reaffirmed his determination through the pain. "It displayed itself only on the moments you could not be allowed to lose, for the sake of all life."

"My own Deus ex Machina? Well, it sure has some shitty timing… Though, I suppose Return by Death was the exact same." Subaru shook his head with disillusion as his shivering stopped, his skin regaining some color as he focused on the problem at hand instead of his pain. "So you didn't act in a hope I'd tap into that 'enigma' energy or whatever? Man, you are the worst. And I thought MY Strange had low-balled me…"

"Urgh…" Strange shook his head with regret again as the boy looked at him with disappointment.

"But that golden energy… We cannot rely on it anymore, can we?" Gamora insisted again. "Sorry if that sounds like an insult… Spider-Man."

"No harm taken, Gamora." Subaru managed to smirk back at the woman with sincerity. "But yeah, I cannot produce it at will… It's not reliable enough for me to summon whenever I want."

"…No, we cannot rely on that energy alone." The Watcher affirmed after a few silent seconds. "But we CAN use the Soul Stone to our advantage."

"Ah…" Subaru then realized he was still holding onto the Stone, finally handing it to the Watcher. "Yeah, here… cue ball."

"Well, even if we HAVE a Stone, we still are going to be braving it against the odds here." T'Challa brought a hand to his chin as he thought aloud.

"Fighting it out with a monster that has an infinite army of killing machines at his beck and call, on top of being capable manipulating reality and time? Now, that sounds a tad bit unfair, I will not lie." Carter brought a hand to her head, rubbing her temples anxiously as she gazed at the Stone in Uatu's hand.

"I never said it would be easy, Captain." The Watcher responded with a slight shake of his head. "Although, being truthful, we do HAVE the time to plan out a strategy here."

"…" Carter glared at the being, still uncomfortable by his presence.

"I understand… That you hold your doubts about me." Uatu nodded as he acknowledged everyone's apprehension about him. "I am not a good person, by any of your standards. The duty of a Watcher is to be ever-present, yet never act. To not intervene, no matter what is at stake. We are historians to all history across all realms, unbiased no matter what…"

"Yet you are interfering now, by bringing us into your conflict." Gamora signaled at the Watcher accusatorily.

"Because, for the first time, my conflict has bled onto the wider multiverse. It is a risk for all universes that Ultron prevails." Uatu reinforced with urgency.

"…Going back to what you said: What do you mean we have all the time to plan a strategy here?" Subaru pointed out with theories ringing through his head. "Are you saying this place work like Echidna's realm, but actually physical as well as mental?"

"Exactly, but to a higher degree." Strange assented with a smile. "This 'space' in which we find ourselves now constitutes an 'atemporal' realm within the multiverse. Normally, it exists solely when beings like Uatu here cross through it, and it disappears right after. Nevertheless, it can also exist for a prolonged time if one establishes some er-let's say… Limitations. Point is; when in here, time does not flow on the outside. From our perspective, all of your universes are frozen in time and space, awaiting your returns."

"So it's a 'Super Hyperbolic Time Chamber'… Neat." Subaru smirked with fascination. "The implications for the field of physics would be- Hell, string theory- I mean, it already PROVED true with the existence of alternate universes, but-!"

"Now someone seems cheerful again!" Carter chuckled with amusement.

"Ahahaha…" Subaru shied away with embarrassment from the teasing of the soldier, his rant going interrupted before it even began.

"So… If this place has wonky-doinky time shenanigans going for itself…" Thor raised his hand slowly as he gazed at the Watcher.

*GROWL~!*

"Is there a universe of Chinese food that has express delivery to alternate dimensions? Tummy's getting rumbly with all this doom and gloom! Hehehe!" The Asgardian giggled as he looked at the unamused faces of everyone around him.

"…You picked him." Strange shook his head as he commented off-handedly.

"…Yup, I picked him." The Watcher nodded with slight disappointment.

The group was now sitting around a table, refreshments and individual boxes and plates of exotic food lying before them as they continued elaborating on the action plan to take against Ultron...

"Well, the first step would be how to find him. *Slurp~!*" T'Challa pointed out as he picked up a box of noodles, slurping away at its contents before speaking yet again. "Hmm… You said that he left Subaru's universe in pursuit of the Soul Stone, right?"

"Yes." Uatu nodded in affirmation. "But without the Soul Stone, he cannot accurately locate our Subaru's soul across the fractals between realities."

"Hmm… What about the Mind Stone?" Subaru theorized with doubt. "Maybe he can't find my soul, but can he identify my mind singularly?"

"Are you familiar with the concept of the collective unconscious?" Strange denied such a conjecture however as he used wonton on a plate as example. "Think of the wonton dough as a universe, and the fillings as the minds within said universe."

"Whilst the existence of souls can transcend through their own universe and plane of existence, minds are all restricted by their own universe's collective unconscious." The Watcher explained as everyone looked on with interest at the plate in Strange's hand. "This means that Ultron's Mind Stone can only identify the minds of those within the same universe he is in."

"So he cannot see into my mind when outside a universe, when not part of a collective unconscious…" The Avenger scratched his chin with surprise.

"That's good and all that he can't find us by reading our minds, but how do we deflect that when we actually DO fight him?" Gamora pointed out as she picked the wonton, crushing it between her chopsticks. "It'd be real easy for him to mind-crush us into vegetative states when not holding back."

"That's why I'm here." Strange reassured with a confident smirk. "I was not the Sorcerer Supreme of my universe just for show, you know?"

"Can your… 'Spells' or whatever really shield us against reality-warping?" Carter raised an eyebrow with suspicion. "Were that the case, why shouldn't Uatu here just summon more of yourself instead of us?"

"This Variant of Strange is rather special, Captain Carter." The Watcher justified his decision with a clarification. "While most Sorcerer Supremes are indeed powerful, our Strange here is the only one that holds within himself the necessary fortitude of mind to not see himself corrupted by the darker energies he wields… Apart from holding the necessary millennia worth of magical knowledge and expertise to clash with Ultron relatively evenly."

"…" But as he spoke, Strange looked away from Uatu with sorrow in his eyes, this action going ignored by everyone except for Peggy herself.

"That's still slightly dubious, if I have to add…" Carter laid her doubts bare, as her gaze on Strange grew intense.

"If I summoned a hundred Doctor Stranges, or a hundred Captain Marvels, or even a hundred Sword Saints, the result would be the same. I'd have nothing to show for it but a hundred corpses." The Watcher reinforced his explanation. "The team gathered here IS the best combination available, believe it or not."

"Variant… 'That how you call other versions of ourselves?" Subaru inquired again in an attempt to deflect his worries from Uatu's dreadful claims.

"It's an umbrella term." The Watcher affirmed. "As it is difficult, if not outright impossible, to determine who the original version of yourself is, the term 'Variant' is used to call every other of your 'selves' across all realities."

"So we have the way to survive beyond the first punch narrowed down, that still leaves us with the doubts on HOW to find the guy." T'Challa reiterated as he picked a wonton for himself. "Do we just wait in some random empty universe for him?"

*ZNNNNM!*

"Not just any universe." Uatu raised his hands in the air, forming a sphere of light with an hologram inside it. "HIS universe…"

"This is-!" Both Subaru and Peggy stood up as the Avenger gasped with dread. "The image… This is New York?!"

The sphere depicted a barren wasteland of a destroyed modern-day New York, with a ruined Avengers Tower in the background; everything was dilapidated and few dried human corpses and charred skeletons managed to remain intact in the heat of a post-nuclear Armageddon, barely a few buildings left in recognizable state.

"Watcher…" Captain Carter turned to look at the being with newfound dread. "What… This is supposed to be New York, is that right?!"

"In Ultron's origin universe, before attaining the Infinity Stones, the machine laid waste to Earth with the uncontrolled might of Nuclear Bombs… There are barely any survivors left in this universe, as most that remains is dead worlds like this one." The Watcher confirmed with a frown.

"Ultron is constantly keeping Watch of this universe in particular, fixated on maintaining his barren 'utopia' for machinery alive." Strange explained with regret as he looked at the imagery as well. "If we can draw his attention here, he will come immediately."

*Thud!*

"*Buuu~rp!*" Thor burped as he threw an empty box of Chinese food away, gaining everyone's attention. "Good thing you have me, eh?! I'm the best one when it comes to attracting unwanted attention to himself!"

*ZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!*

"Holy cow-!" Subaru gasped in amazement as he witnessed the bolts of electricity radiated by the God of Thunder's body and hammer; just a casual one Thor was using to show off was enough to surpass the Avenger's 'pillar of light', the strongest lightning he could produce willingly.

"Not too shabby, eh?" Odinson smugly claimed as he gazed at the impressed faces of the mortals.

"…Yeah, that attracts one's attention, alright." Gamora looked at the display of power with fascination. "Which just leaves us with HOW to deal with the machine itself."

"You have a plan, Gamora?" Subaru asked with curiosity.

"Watcher?" Gamora gazed at Uatu with sharp eyes. "You saw my universe, didn't you?"

*ZNMMMMM!*

"The Infinity Crusher." Uatu confirmed once again as he manifested a bulky, two-handled mechanical grinder with golden accents.

"Made by the dwarf Eitri with a special alloy of Adamantium and Uru, this baby can crush the Stones into atoms, and no doubt, it'll also pulverize the nano-bots attached to the gems as well!" Gamora smiled with determination as she elaborated. "In my universe, we used the Soul Stone to fuel the machine when battling Thanos, thus virtually rendering all Six Stones unusable the moment the other Five in the Gauntlet were grinded into the atomic level."

"All right! Now we have something good going here!" Subaru celebrated with shining eyes, full of hope.

"Uh- hold on, slow down a little bit. There's a few people in the room who that don't understand." Thor halted Subaru's cheers as he failed to understand any of the concepts just talked. "Not me, I-I get it, of course."

"Crusher plus Stones equals dead robot." With a smile of satisfaction, T'Challa explained in nonprofessional terms for the God.

"O~h! I see now… Yeah, that makes sense!" Thor nodded with excitement.

"Hold it, bud… How can you really assure us that just because they are reduced to the atomic level that the Stones will be unusable?" Nevertheless, despite the newfound hope amidst the darkness, Peggy questioned the Watcher and the Sorcerer. "Couldn't Ultron reduce his size into an atom's or something and use them when he is small?"

"…When reduced to the atomic level, the Infinity Stones become unstable, their hold over each of their aspects turning radically more difficult to use and leaking into the cosmos sporadically. Even Ultron alone wouldn't be capable of controlling their power at such a size... That's another reason he keeps so many nano-bots attached to the Stones, he'd need more than one of himself to interact with all the gems simultaneously." Strange nodded as he explained, looking at the Subaru all the while.

"And it is also how the other Avengers that resurrected you after the Snap were able to use Stones from other Timelines when the ones from your universe were rendered unusable, Subaru… And how YOU were able to use their powers as well when defeating Thanos." The Watcher backed the claim of the Sorcerer. "The foreign Stones from other timelines resonated with the atomic-level Stones from your universe, allowing them to tap into their respective counterparts aspects as thought they were native to that universe."

"…Why do you talk as if the Stones shouldn't work in each other's presence?" Subaru looked confused by the words of the two.

"Because they shouldn't." Uatu affirmed with severity. "Infinity Stones SHOULD NOT work outside of their respective universes… Ultron's are an unsightly exception."

"Of all universes in which the Infinity Stones HAD to be special…" Subaru growled with frustration as he held his head.

As everyone finally finished their meals, the team gazed at each other as they prepared their gear for combat with the machine…

"I see you are finally ready… Most of you, anyways." Uatu commented as he gazed at Subaru.

"Oi, what's that supposed to mean?" While he masked on with a frown, the Avenger mean-eyed the Watcher talking him down.

"…I understand you've gone through a lot just to get here, to save the multiverse Subaru." Uatu gazed at the teenage hero pensively as he spoke. "But, as you are now, I have the fear you might fail still…"

"Oh, dude! Stop shifting my mood like this!" Subaru grumbled in annoyance.

"So you bring him here, tell us to trust him, lay his secrets bare and then proceed to doubt him?" Gamora shook her head, vexed by the being's behavior. "There's a limit to teasing someone, you know?"

"I think he might mean he feels guilty about all Subaru has gone through… He and all his Variants." Strange explained as he adjusted his cape. "Remember, by human standards, this guy saw Hitler win and did nothing. Fairly certain you can think of him as an idiot unable to express sympathy in the conventional way."

"Tsk! Thanks for the translation, doc; so insulting me is expressing sympathy?" Spider-Man clicked his tongue as he gazed at the Watcher with apprehension for the umpteenth time. "GOLLY-GEE, THANKS!"

"I am trying to say… I wish to make it up to you." Uatu assured as he raised an open palm, his fingers directly at Subaru.

"Huh?" Spidey, along with the other Guardians, looked at the glowing hand with confusion. "Wha-?"

*ZNMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!*

"Wha-?! Subaru!" Peggy shouted as Uatu fired a ray of cosmic light from his hand, covering Subaru's body.

"Woah-Woah-Woah-!" Thor squealed with alarm as the boy beside him glowed like a sun.

"Dammit, what the hell!" Gamora pointed her blade at the being again with a scowl.

"Watcher! Stop this-!" T'Challa ordered with anger, but then, Subaru's voice interrupted him.

"HOLY CRAP!" Subaru shouted as the blinding light surrounding him dissipated. "I CAN'T- HOLY SHIT DUDE!"

"Huh?" Captain Carter looked amazed as she gazed at the new appearance of the boy standing before her. "Su…baru?"

"An armor?" T'Challa mumbled in surprise. "More like… Is that how your suit was originally supposed to look like?"

"It's the Iron Spider armor!" Subaru shouted with glee as he looked at himself reflected in the bar's mirror. "Scratch that, this Iron Spider looks even SICKER than my original one!"

"Indeed." The Watcher affirmed with a satisfied smirk.It was an all-black armor with golden-amber accents in the chest and the eyes, the details of the joints being less saturated than the previous version. Gone were the unions between the plating or the shining parts where the miniature arc reactors rested, looking like a far smoother composition overall that resembled more a metal-colored full-body suit than an armor suit. Nevertheless, despite the simple design, clearly pure metal covered the boy's body. "I know how Ultron robbed you of your armor back in Echidna's Tomb, so utilizing Karen's motherboard; I've repaired and improved upon it using Vibranium as a base. I call it… Iron Spider Mk. 2"

"Vibranium…!" Subaru looked impressed for a second before Uatu's statement finally landed on him. "Wait… Karen's motherboard?"

"Subaru?" As he pronounced the A.I.'s name, her voice suddenly rung within the helmet. "Subaru, it's me! Can you hear me?!"

"Karen… KAREN!" Subaru cried with glee as he heard his partner-in-heroics' voice again. "Karen! You are here?!"

"Yes! I'm here!" Karen chided with equal joy. "I'm here again!"

"That voice… Was that your virtual friend? The one with an android body that Ultron destroyed?" Gamora wondered as Karen and Subaru celebrated their reunion.

"Ye-Yes! This is Karen!" Subaru nodded as introduced his new teammates to the Artificial Intelligence.

"Uatu already pre-installed within me a base knowledge of you." Karen responded quickly. "My greetings, Guardians."

"Good to see at least one machine with politeness included, taking into account who we are about to face." T'Challa said cockily as he masked on himself. "So Vibranium… It looks quite sleek."

"Hey… Hey, that mask!" Subaru pointed to T'Challa's mask with surprise as he realized something. "Oh, I see now!"

"Hmm? Is something wrong, Spider-Man?" T'Challa asked with amusement.

"I remembered you now, yeah!" Subaru affirmed with wide eyes. "In my universe, you were Wakanda's Black Panther AND its King! Meanwhile, a guy called Peter Quill was an interstellar rogue that used that mask instead! His alias was 'Star-Lord'! Like the band!"

"Star-Lord? I don't know anything about a band, but that's MY alias in my own universe." T'Challa responded with fascination. "So if I had stayed in Wakanda, I would have become the Black Panther and the King, eh? Now that would have been a sight…"

"Oh, um- Uatu?" As he noticed the other Guardians' equipment, however, Subaru turned to look at the Watcher once again with determination for his team's safety. "I-I don't wanna sound like a thankless beggar or anything, what with having looked at you with the stink-eye before, but what about everyone else? Can't you give them armors as well-?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Immediately as Subaru made the considerate proposal, Peggy, Thor, Gamora, Strange and T'Challa all interrupted his pleading with a hearty laugh.

"U-Um… Captain? Everyone?!" Subaru flinched as he stared at the Guardians with surprise. "What did I say?! Did I do something wrong?!"

"Oh… Sorry, sorry! I'm fine, really…" Peggy shook her head as she dried a tear once she was done laughing. "It's just… I do not need an armor, Subaru. And I don't think any of us would accept one, anyways."

"Huh?" The rest of the Guardians all nodded in agreement with her, leaving the Avenger confused. "W-Why not? Wouldn't we all be better prepared if we-"

"Kid, I know you are worried about us, but don't bother." Gamora reassured with a smile as she looked at the confident pair of Thor and T'Challa. "Everyone here is fairly sure of their own abilities. We won't fail."

"Bug-Boy, I appreciate your worry for me, but it is unneeded!" Thor giggled as he flexed his muscles again. "That machine- Hngh~! Has got NOTHING on the guns of Odin's mighty scion! I'll have him crying uncle in NO TIME!"

"We'll be fine, Spider-Man." T'Challa saluted the boy as he bowed his head. "But I'm genuinely thankful to know that a hero as recklessly brave as you is worried about us."

"Ugh… Now I feel inadequate again…" Subaru grumbled as he looked away from the thankful group, feeling insufficient over the fact Uatu determined that he out of everyone needed a specialized armor to survive.

"Subaru…" Karen muttered with sadness, hearing the regret in her partner's voice.

"Don't be, you heard the Watcher himself." Strange assured with a smirk as Uatu summoned a portal.

*FWOOOOOOOOSH!*

"You'll probably need that armor, if his giant head predicted you should wear it." The Sorcerer Supreme affirmed.

"Nevertheless, I'm glad to know the kid thought about our safety first." Captain Carter nodded with a smile again. "Thank you, Subaru. Real sweet of you!"

"…I-It's nothing, Cap." Subaru blushed as the soldier expressed her gratitude for his worry.

"Are you ready now, my friends?" Uatu smiled as everyone stood tall, their gear and weaponry at the ready for the fight of their lives. "The battle ahead will be tough, no doubt, and it will take everything out of you to see it through. But together, I am confident in our triumph… Today, you fight not for one life, but for ALL OF THEM! Go forth, Guardians! Save… The Multiverse!"

*FWOM!*

The portal closed as the Guardians of the Multiverse crossed through, their destination…

2018 AD / EARTH / NEW YORK CITY

Earth of Ultron.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

TRANSITION CHAPTER YAY!

Sorry to say, what with knowing you guys wanted to get to the fight immediately, but this exposition was long overdue. I know MCU rules when it comes to the Infinity Stones are wonky as hell, so I'm trying to do some damage control here by having Uatu info-dump the Guardians. This explanations, however, are gonna impact heavily on this Fic's logic WAY later down the line so please bear with it… I promise, if it feels like a plot hole or something, I'm taking it into consideration, I just haven't explained it yet.

Also, Subaru's new armor, the Iron Spider Mk. 2, looks like the classic comics Iron Spider, just with black replacing the red.

Now the next TWO chapters are going to be the proper final battle, so look forward to them!

Enjoy the chapter and SEE YOU IN THE NEXT ONE!