Chapter 94
Toni took a sip of her coffee from the thermos she'd brought with her from the Tower and let out a happy sigh. The year and a half she'd given it up while being pregnant and nursing had been truly awful, and she was grateful to have the drink she loved so much back in her life. She knew there was a chance she'd have to give it up again if she ever got pregnant again, but for now, she was relieved to be able to happily drink the coffee without pause.
She was currently at a park close by the Tower with Ava, as the two of them had taken Morgan out for a walk. Steve was currently off with Pietro and a few of the others on a mission in Germany, and she missed him dearly.
But watching Morgan playing in the sand as her daughter giggled while she dug was priceless to her.
The transition back to work had been slow since Morgan was born, but she had no regrets about making time for being a mother and working. She was extremely grateful that she was able to do both, and that she had a stream of volunteers to watch her daughter in the chance that she had to go to the SI dedicated floors or spend a few hours in the lab working through any issues that may have arisen.
She looked down at the arc reactor attached to her shirt. She may not need it anymore to keep her alive, but since she'd created a nanotech suit, she couldn't help but keep it on her at all times. Especially when she went out with either of her children. Peter may have been able to take care of himself, but she'd be damned if anything ever happened to them while she was on watch.
Steve didn't protest it, knowing that it gave her comfort, and she was grateful for that. She knew that Pepper hadn't really understood why Toni and Rhodey had needed the armour close to them, but it made her feel safe. Made her feel like she could keep others safe. So she wore it. Day after day, even if the most dangerous thing that was going to happen was her running out of coffee.
"She's growing up so fast," Ava said wistfully as she looked on at her niece playing in the sand.
"She really is," Toni said mournfully. "If it were up to me, she'd stay little forever. But alas, I do not have that luxury. Unless-"
Ava shook her head, amused, "We're not building something to make it so your children never age. As adorable as Peter and Morgan are, they're growing children, and they will continue to remain that way."
"You're no fun," Toni pouted at her, and Ava just laughed.
"Do you really want to change diapers for the rest of your life?" Ava asked her and that gave her pause.
"I suppose it would be nice if she was potty trained," Toni conceded. "But afterwards, perhaps-"
"No," Ava said, amused.
She was about to protest it further, when a portal appeared there, in front of her.
She stood up quickly, as she saw Stephen come out of it, knowing something must have been wrong.
Oh Lovelace, had something happened to Steve? He would have contacted her if something would have happened. And if he couldn't, FRIDAY would have. She saw Ava tense up beside her too, as she wondered the same thing.
Strange had made a big deal of wanting to keep themselves out of the public eye. That they operated in secrecy to keep the world safe. He wouldn't have just thrown all of that out the window for no reason.
Something was wrong.
Strange stepped out of the portal and had a grim look on his face.
"Stark, you need to come with me," he said, and she looked at him scrutinizing, trying to discern what was happening.
"What happened?" she asked, as she picked up her daughter, and help Morgan close to her. Her daughter looked sad at not being able to play with the sand any longer, and she mentally promised herself to give Morgan an extra half hour of play time if only everything was alright.
"We need your help," he said, not really answering her question, "The fate of the universe is at stake."
"Who's we?" she asked, wanting to fire off a couple hundred questions. But first thing first. Was Steve, Harry, and the other Avengers okay?
"Hi Toni," she heard a familiar voice say. "Ava." Bruce stepped out through the portal from behind Strange, and she felt herself pale. Where had he been for the last three years, and what was he doing now with Stephen Strange?
She saw Ava tense, and knew the same questions were on her mind as well, starting with What the hell happened to you?
Bruce stepped forward, and pulled Ava into a tight hug, as if his life depended on it, and her cousin didn't say a word. It took her a few seconds to react, as she eventually pushed him away and took a step backwards.
"Where the hell have you been?" Ava asked him, as her voice was careful not to reveal any real information.
"I'll tell you all about it soon," Bruce promised her, "But not now. We don't have time for it now. Please, we need to prepare."
She frowned, as Ava picked up Morgan's toys, and Strange beckoned towards the portal behind him. She held her daughter to her tightly, as the three of them followed Bruce in through the portal, into the New York Sanctum.
"Things really have changed, huh?" Bruce said, as he looked over at Morgan. She felt a tinge of awkwardness, remembering the once relationship between the two of them. Bruce had been her friend. One of her closest friends. And they'd been able to talk without any sense of barrier between them. And now that was reduced to awkward small talk.
"Yes, I suppose they have," Toni said softly. "I'm glad you're okay, Bruce. We really did miss you."
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah, well, I didn't really know what all had happened in the last few years," he commented, "I wasn't really in charge."
Ava glanced over at him, curiously, but he didn't elaborate.
"I won't get into details about it, but the part that you need to know was that I was in space, and for the last little bit, I was with Thor and Loki," Bruce told them, and that gave her pause.
Well, she supposed she was only searching for the man on earth. If he was anywhere else, then it made sense why she wasn't able to find him.
"You were off planet?" Ava questioned, and Toni was a bit concerned with the fact that her face was still expressionless. Ava had never been good at hiding her emotions before, and often wore her heart on her sleeve. But then again, after the way they broke up, she didn't expect it would be easy to see him again like this.
"I was," Bruce told her, voice softening, "I promise, I'll give you all the details after all this. But we don't have time. Thanos is coming. We were heading here on a ship after Asgard was destroyed and-"
"Thanos destroyed Asgard?" She asked, paling.
"No, that was Thor and Loki's older sister," Bruce shook his head, "Unrelated. We were heading here for refugee when Thanos attacked. He killed so many people, and the only reason I got away was because Heimdall sent me ahead to warn you all."
"Warn us about what?" she asked, knowing that it wouldn't be good.
"Thanos, is coming after the infinity stones," Bruce said, and Wong looked grim.
"What are the infinity stones?" Ava asked, looking at Wong.
He drew his hands up and in front of them she saw the
"From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom! The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurtling across the virgin universe," Wong spoke, as she saw a light glow in the centre of the room explode, leaving six brightly coloured gems floating in the air. "These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."
"Space. Reality. Power. Soul. Mind. And Time," Strange said, gesturing at each of the stones. He opened the eye necklace he was wearing, and she kept her face neutral as she understood what it meant. He had the Time stone.
And the other stone on earth was currently embedded in her grandson's forehead, keeping him alive.
"Tell me about him," she said.
"Thanos. He's a Titan. A plague, Toni," Bruce told her, "He started with his own planet and wiped half the population. Then started invading the rest. He takes what he wants, then wipes out half their population."
He paused.
"He was the one who mind controlled Loki. He's the reason for the attack on New York," he told her.
"This is-" she said, pausing, unable to find the words. "What's our timeline?"
Steve was halfway across the world. And Peter was on a fieldtrip.
"No telling," Bruce said, regretfully. "He has the Power and Space stones, and that already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he gets his hands on all six stones, then Toni-"
"He can destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of," Strange said with a nod.
She leaned backwards, as Morgan played with her hair. "Did you seriously just say hitherto undreamt of?"
Strange shot her a look.
"If Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?" Ava suggested.
"No," Strange said firmly.
"We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone. With our lives," Wong confirmed.
She gave them both a baffled look, "Okay but your oath most likely didn't contain this as being a possible situation. We can't let him get all six stones. Is your oath worth more than the fate of the universe?"
"Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change. This Stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos," Strange shook his head.
"And still conversely, it may also be his best chance against us," Ava argued.
"Well, if we don't do our jobs," Strange said, looking pointedly at them.
"Okay, guys, could we table this discussion right now?" Bruce cut them off, "The fact is that we have this Stone. We know where it is. Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone, and we have to find him now."
"About that," she sighed, and Bruce looked at her confused. "He's been trying to find his place in the world. There isn't a lot of protocols for androids, so he doesn't know where he fits. Wanda was training with Strange here in Kathmandu, but the two of them took a vacation. His transponder is off, so I don't have an exact reading besides what received a few days ago."
"Who could find them?" Strange asked her.
"Last I checked they were in Europe. Steve is on a mission there, so he could probably get to them the fastest," she said.
"Okay so call him," Bruce told her, and she nodded, already moving to get her phone.
Before pausing. Something was wrong. She may not have spider senses like Peter or super strength like Steve, but she knew when something was wrong, and it definitely was now.
She could hear the building begin to shake. And she knew that all too well. She'd experienced it in the same city five years ago. She looked around the room, as she looked back at the others.
"Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?" she asked, as she noted the way the hairs pulled in front of his face were moving around.
"Not at the moment, no," Strange said, and that was all the confirmation she needed.
"Ava?" she asked, as she handed her daughter off to the woman.
"Go," Ava told her, "I'll watch over Morgan. I'll head back to the Tower and keep her safe there."
"Thank you," she said gratefully, as she kissed her daughter on the forehead, "Mommy loves you, Morgan. Mommy loves you so much."
Her heart broke as her daughter patted her cheek with a giggle, "Mama."
She kissed her once more, before throwing herself out the door.
"FRIDAY call Steve right now," she said, swearing under her breath as she saw people running away frantically. She ran in the opposite direction of the masses, towards whatever was causing them to flee.
"Toni?" Steve asked her urgently, and she wondered how much he knew. "What's happening."
"Remember how I thought something was going to come back for us one day? That Loki wasn't the end?" she prefaced, as she helped a woman up. "It's here. It's name is Thanos, and it's after the infinity stones. The thing in Vision's head, and Strange has one. He has two, and they're powerful enough to wipe out all life. And if he gets it, he plans on taking out half the universe," she said, giving him a quick summary.
"How long?" he asked her, and she knew he was calculating if he could get back today.
"Now," she said, staring up at the spaceship that had landed in the middle of Manhattan.
She knew the others were close behind her, as she felt her heart break.
"Steve," she said pained, "I need to fight this. I can't sit at home while we wait for you to get back here."
"I know," he said gently.
"The one parent protocol will be broken," she said, knowing that if they both fought, there was a chance neither of them would come home.
"When we planned for it, we didn't plan for life ending circumstances like this," he told her, comfortingly, "If this Thanos ends half the life on earth, then staying at home won't help Morgan or Peter anyways. We'll fight this, like we do everything else. Together."
"Okay," she said taking a deep breath. "I love you, Steve."
"I love you too," he responded, and she ended the call to focus at the task at hand.
It was time to get to work, "FIRDAY, evac anyone south of 43rd Street, notify first responders," she said, as she put on her glasses that connected her to her bot.
"Will do," FRIDAY responded.
Strange cast a spell then, to contain the dust, and she looked at him in surprise. But before she could say anything, she saw two aliens beam out of the ship and land on the street in front of them.
"Hear me, and rejoice," The smaller one started. "You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful, that your meaningless lives are now contributing to-"
She laughed, not today they wouldn't. "I'm sorry, Earth is closed today. You better pack it up and get outta here."
The speaker looked over at Strange, "Stonekeeper. Does this chattering animal speak for you?"
Strange glanced at her, "She doesn't need to. But her words hold true. You're trespassing in this city and on this planet."
He raised his hands and formed a magical shield.
"It means get lost, Squidward!" she confirmed.
"They exhaust me," Squidward sighed.
The bigger creature made a few grunting sounds.
"Bring me the Stone," the speaking one said again, and the bigger alien dropped his Hammer.
"Bruce?" she looked over, "You want a piece?"
Because if anyone could take the giant monster it would be him.
"Not really, no, but when do I ever get what I want?" Bruce sighed.
"That's right," she confirmed, and she saw his neck turn green. And nothing else.
"Been a while. Good to have you, buddy," she said, trying to coax out the green being.
"I just... I need to concentrate here for one second," Bruce tried. "Come on, come on, man."
"Where is he?" she asked, trying not to pressure him as the alien used his hammer to take out a car.
"I don't know," he said in a half hulk voice. "We've sort been having a thing."
"There's no time for a thing," she said, incredulously. "That's the thing right there. Let's go."
"I know," Bruce groaned, but the Hulk didn't come.
Strange just looked at her for anything.
She sighed, knowing it was time to let go of that venue, "It's okay. Hey, stand down," she said, looking at Wong, "Keep an eye on him. Thank you."
She pulled her outfits drawstrings and tapped the arc reactor she was wearing twice as it lit up. She began walking forward, as nanotech covered her body, and she took off her glasses, as they became part of her suit.
And just as the alien rock charged at them, she created a shield to block the attack. A set of blasters similar to the ones she'd used to put the Ferry back together sprung from her suit and beams emerged that tossed the rock creature back towards the speaking alien. Who simply waved his hand and tossed the creature onto some cars.
"Where'd that come from?" Bruce said in awe.
"It's nanotech," she grinned, knowing he'd appreciate it. "You like it? Something Ava and I've been working o-"
Only for the earth to spring up under her and lift her into the air.
She flew back down, and tossed a car at the alien, only to have it split in in half. What was this guy?
"Gotta get that stone out of here now," she said to Strange.
"It stays with me," he said firmly, as she knew he would.
"Exactly, bye," she said, trying to take the fight to the aliens. She flew towards them, as she was struck by the hammer and thrown back a hundred yards to the park where Bruce was.
"Toni, you okay? How we doing? Good? Bad?" Bruce asked her quickly.
She groaned. It had been a while since she'd been in a fight. "Really, really good. Really good. Do you plan on helping out?"
"I'm trying. He won't come out," Bruce said, frustratedly.
The alien's weapon came at them again, "Hammer," she warned as she pushed him out of the way. She shot an energy beam at it, as it deflected using its shield.
She flew into the air, and blasted it again, as the alien tossed her to the ground. She turned around, as she knew the hammer was coming for her.
Only for Peter to catch it.
"Hey Mom," he said, knowing no one else was around, "What's up?"
"Where did you come from?" she asked, groaning again.
"Field trip," he shrugged, "Figured this was more exciting than some art I've seen a hundred times."
"You should get out of here," she said quickly, "Go home to Morgan and stay safe."
"I'm not leaving you here alone," he said firmly, "Plus looks like you could use all the help you could get."
She wanted to protest further, but she knew he was right. They could use the help. And with Steve with the others halfway across the world, she knew he was all she had. So she didn't argue.
"Be careful," she told him, only for the rock creature to pick him up and toss him aside.
"What is this guy's problem, Mom?" Peter groaned, and it was at that moment Bruce came up behind them.
"He's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a certain Doctor Wizard," she responded.
"I was only gone for three years, right?" Bruce said in confusion, "When did you get another kid?"
She looked at him, bemused, despite wearing her helmet.
It wasn't that she didn't trust Bruce with her son' secret identity. But it was his secret to tell. And while the two had been close before Bruce had left, she knew it hurt her son that he'd run away without saying good-bye. But then again, Peter being her son was hardly a secret, so if he stayed around, he'd probably put the pieces together real quick.
"Life happens," she said with a shrug, "Something you would have known about if you'd stuck around."
So she might have said the last bit a bit pointedly, but sue her. She was still a bit mad at him.
She shot the alien with her thrusters, and saw his body absorb the shot, and Peter shot him with a web shooter.
Peter charged at the alien, and the rock beast grabbed him with his hammer and spun around, throwing him to the side. She flew around him once more, shooting the alien with both thrusters, before Peter picked up a car with his webs and crashed it down on the beast.
She made a shield as the alien brought up his hammer once more, only to see Doctor Strange floating through the park as his cape guided him, looking rather unconscious.
Shit.
"Kid, go to him," she gestured to Strange, "Keep him safe."
"On it, Mom!" Peter said with a nod.
She saw him swing away, and she knew it was time to end this.
"Mom?" she heard her son say over the comms. "I'm being beamed up."
Shit.
"Hang on, Peter," she told him, a bit strained. The hammer turned into a claw then, as it crashed down and pinned her suit. She heard her suit begin to short circuit, as the alien came charging at her. She saw him raise his sword to bring it down on her, only to fall into a portal.
She stood over it with Wong, and watched as the alien tried to jump back, as Wong quickly closed it on his hand.
"Gross," she said, pulling a face. "Wong, you're definitely my favourite Wizard." She said, as she flew straight up; there was no time to talk.
She flew closer to the ship, but with the rate it was flying away, she knew it wasn't enough.
"Give me a little juice, JARVIS," she said, as her suit legs morphed together to combine the thrusters and increase power. "Unlock 17A."
"Peter, baby, you gotta let go," she said, as she saw him clinging to the ship. "I'm going to catch you, Sweetheart."
"But you said save the wizard!" her son said, gasping for air, "I can't breathe."
"I know," she soothed, "It's cause you're too high up. You're running out of air."
"Yeah, that makes sense," he gasped, and she saw on her screen that his vitals were getting low.
Her son began to fall, and the pod she'd sent for began to engulf him, as the brand-new suit covered his body.
"It smells like new car in here!" Peter said, sounding awed. "When did you make this one?"
"I had FRIDAY make it just in case," she shrugged, "Peter I love you okay? I love you and Morgan so much, and I want you to know that. When you get home, take care of each other, okay? And be happy. I love you."
"Mom?" Peter said, a bit confused.
"I'm sorry, Sweetheart," she said, closing her eyes, "JARVIS, take him home."
"Right away," JARVIS confirmed, and a suit deployed from her son's suit, as it dragged him downwards.
"No! Mom!" Peter exclaimed, and she took a deep breath.
"Miss, call coming from Mr Stark-Rogers," JARVIS told her.
"Answer the phone, baby," she said, wondering if it would be the last time she talked to her husband.
"Hi Steve," she said.
"Toni, are you alright?" Steve asked her frantically. "What happened? The news said the ship just left, what happened?"
"They got what they wanted," she said, trying to steady her breath, "They got Strange."
"Please tell me you're not on that ship with them," Steve begged her. "Toniā¦"
"I had to," she said, unable to hold back a sob, "Thanos is dangerous. He can't get that stone, Steve. He can't. I have to stop him."
"Come home," he pleaded with her, "Come home to me, okay? If you die up there, I'll never forgive myself for being in Germany this weekend. You have to come home safely to me, okay? I love you. I love you so much, and I want you to know that. My life in this century wouldn't have had any meaning without you, and I don't want to go through this life without you in it."
"You have to," she whispered, "If something happens to me, you have to be there for Morgan and Peter. Peter, he can't lose another parent, Steve. Promise me you'll be there for him and for Morgan."
"Of course," his voice sounded broken, "But I need you too, Toni. I love you-"
"Boss, we're losing him," JARVIS told her as the call cut off, "I'm going too-"
Both of them left her, and she knew she was utterly alone now, in space, as she was on a ship heading straight towards Thanos himself.
