Hello!

Welcome to my new series. I said at the end of "Old Souls" that this was a fic I always wanted to try. And here it is.

This story will start off quite an anti-Team Cap one. But when you write this type of story you do have to push the characters further. All the characters will go on a journey through this series so please bear with me, especially if you find the characters more hostile than they should be. It's the way these types of stories work to make them more interesting.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or Marvel Studios. The text of the movie is not written fully, instead it will be described as to what the characters are saying with a few exceptions where more detail and speech is given in the scenes.

Understanding the Real Hero: Iron Man

One

When Tony opened his eyes, he hadn't expected to see Steve Rogers's concerned face looking down at him.

He groaned, closed his eyes, and rolled over, shaking his head, hoping it was an illusion. Casting his gaze around at his surroundings, Tony found himself in a room painted yellow with a large wall-to-wall screen embedded inside the wall on one side of the room. Two rather long couches were positioned neatly next to one another.

He realised he had not imagined Steve Rogers face, something he had hoped he had.

And Steve wasn't alone here either.

The whole gang was there, including Thor and Bruce who were both looking rather confused, especially since no one had seen either of them in over a year since the Ultron fiasco.

But then everyone was looking wary and confused.

Clearly none of them knew where they were and how'd they come to be there.

"Tony, are you okay?" asked Rogers.

Tony threw him a glare. It had only been a few weeks since Rogers had broken into the Raft and released the Avengers that had been imprisoned there. That had been a political nightmare for Tony, though he had delayed Ross enough on the phone to allow Rogers and the fugitives to escape.

Not that they knew Tony had simply allowed them to walk out. He expected they wouldn't really care if they had known.

He could have easily stopped them if he had wanted to.

Tony scrambled to his feet and moved back towards Rhodey, who was sitting back against the wall, rubbing his head.

"Where are we?" Rhodey winced. "And how did we get here?" He caught sight of Rogers and his little gang. "They're here too?"

"Seems so," replied Tony quietly. "Everybody is. Even Thor and Bruce and no one has seen Bruce in over a year."

"Have you noticed there is no door out of this place?" noted Rhodey quietly.

Tony cast his eyes about. "Good point."

"Hey, Stark!" Sam Wilson's voice broke out over the small clutter of chatter emanating around the room. "What did you do to bring us all here?"

"This wasn't me!" retorted Tony. "I'm just as in the dark as all of you!"

"Why bother lying, Stark?" snarled Wanda. "You know we will find the truth eventually! You've had us all bought here to turn us over!" But as Wanda tried to use her powers, she found wisps of red escaped her fingertips but then vanished. Her eyes widened in shock. "What… my powers… I can't…." Hate-filled eyes sought Tony out. "What did you do to me, STARK?"

"Wanda!" barked Rogers. "If Tony says he had nothing to do with this, I believe him."

"Protecting me doesn't mean I will suddenly forgive you!" shouted Tony. He wished he had a suit with him but if Wanda's powers were not working there was a high chance his suit wouldn't work either. "Look, whatever has happened to all of us, we need to stop accusing and get around to fixing!"

"What have we missed that has got everyone at Tony's throat?" asked Bruce, stepping forward, noting the tension in the room between Tony and the rest of the Avengers. "Last thing I remember is being with Thor on a spaceship. We were heading back to Earth…"

"What were you doing on a spaceship?" asked Tony. "You've been missing for over a year."

Bruce scratched the back of his head. "I've been gone since Ultron. For me, that was over two years ago…"

"But for us that was just over a year ago…" said Tony, his mind whirring through the facts that were becoming clear.

"Can the Futurist not explain what is going on?" smirked Clint, now approaching the small group that was forming.

On one side Tony stood with Rhodey and Vision, with Natasha hovering close by, with Thor and Bruce in the middle, whilst the rest compromised of Steve's team.

"Wait, where's Scott?" asked Steve. "And T'Challa? They're not here."

They were not required.

The voice echoed around the room, startling everyone there.

"Is this one of your psychopath A.I's gone nuts again, Stark?" hissed Wanda.

Before Steve could remind her again, the voice spoke up, a hint of anger in its voice.

No, you silly little girl. I am someone far more powerful than that. I have brought you all here for one specific reason.

"And what's that for?" asked Natasha quietly.

If you stay apart, hating one another, you will not be able to prevent the catastrophe that is bearing down upon you all. For Bruce and Thor, it will begin as soon as they leave this place. They have been wrenched from the future, back in time, because all of you need to be prepared for what is to come if you are to prevent it.

"Prevent what?" asked Steve.

You will learn about it in this room. You will not be allowed to leave until you are made aware of certain future events.

"So, you are going to show us our future," said Sam, "in the hope, we can stop it from happening?"

Yes.

A brown box suddenly appeared in front of the two sofas.

However, for you to feel dedicated to changing the future, you must see the past. The air of distaste in this room for one person is clear to me you will not focus on truly changing anything until you see the true person underneath the façade.

Tony swallowed, an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach.

You, little girl, the voice focused on Wanda, have an unhealthy hatred of Tony Stark. I think it is time all of you had your eyes opened.

Tony knew he wasn't going to like this.

There is a total of nine movies for you to watch. If you try to skip any, the movies will not play.

Rhodey opened the box and lifted out nine blu-rays. "Well… this is going to be fun."

"It's Stark, isn't it?" spat Wanda. "I don't need to see movies about him! I know exactly who he is!"

Tony knew he could never change Wanda's opinion of him. She still thought of him as the murderer of her parents. Trying to explain to her that he'd had nothing to do with their deaths was like hitting a brick wall.

Yes, all of these movies have one thing in common. They all feature Tony Stark, the voice explained. They are in order of how you should watch them.

"What's the list?" asked Bruce.

Rhodey laid out all the casings on the floor. "The first one is aptly named 'Iron Man'." He cast a glance at Tony.

"I did not sign up for this shit," groaned Tony. "Are the rest labelled 'Iron Man 2 to 9' by any chance?" He sincerely hoped they wouldn't be.

Rhodey cast his eyes over the titles of each one. "No. They have two more titled 'Iron Man 2' and 'Iron Man 3'. The rest are called Avengers with a subtitle. Oh, apart from these two. 'Captain America: Civil War' and 'Spider-Man: Homecoming'."

"No, no, no, no, no… We are not watching the kid!" Tony refused. "I draw the line at that! This lot -" he motioned to Cap's team, "-can not know who he is, period!"

You have no choice, Tony Stark, the voice said gently. They'll learn his true identity eventually. And, this way, the Avengers knowing who he is will help you protect him.

"I've got no choice, have I?" sighed Tony. "We're here until we've watched all of these movies. I'm not thrilled they seem to be all about me."

Wanda scowled. "You love the limelight, Stark. If these movies are telling the truth then we will soon see the real you. You're not a hero."

Tony grated his teeth. He was about to snap back a reply when the voice interrupted instead.

Do you consider yourself a hero, witch? Because you are not a hero.

"Everyone here is a hero in their own right," added Steve. "Whatever happens in the future has to be really bad if you want us to stop it from happening by reviewing our previous and future actions." He lifted his face a bit, hoping he was addressing the voice. "Can we just not watch the ones from our pasts? We all know how things happened anyway. Surely we should be focusing on the future?"

You have no choice in the matter.

"So, you're stuffing Stark down our throats further?" snarled Wanda, her fingers twitching. "Nothing you can show us about him will ever make me change my mind about him!"

Oh, you'd be surprised, little witch. Are you afraid these films will show the others the real you? Because they will. You have every reason to be scared of me.

Steve stood up straight. "Do not threaten her! She's just a child!"

Really, Rogers? scoffed the voice. Do you even know how old she is?

"She's just turned eighteen," said Steve. "Not even legally an adult during the Ultron debacle."

She really has you wrapped around her finger… She's twenty-four.

"No, I'm not!" screeched Wanda.

How old were you when your parents died?

Wanda seethed. "I was ten."

The Sokovia war occurred prior to Stark's kidnapping, back when his business was primarily selling weapons. In 2008 you were sixteen. Therefore in 2015 you were twenty-three. And in your home country of Sokovia, you legally become an adult at age eighteen. You've been hiding your real age.

Rhodey frowned. "Why would you lie about your age to us?"

Tony wanted to respond. He had a pretty good idea of why she had tried to hide her true age. Everyone had assumed she was just a kid who hadn't known any better.

Because she doesn't want to take responsibility for her actions, the voice retorted.

"I do!" Wanda defended herself.

Then why did you allow Stark to take the blame for Ultron?

"Wanda had nothing to do with Ultron's creation," said Steve. "That was all on Tony."

Wanda's face paled. It was a reaction only Tony caught.

The truth will be known as you all watch the movies. Please, you need to begin.

Tony sighed. "I don't like this. But we have to do it. Put the first one in, Rhodey. The sooner we get these watched, the sooner we can go back to our lives and forget this ever happened."

To be continued...

Please let me know what you think!

We've never known Wanda's true age. I've always felt she was older than 18 in the movies and decided to give her age in her early twenties. She doesn't look like someone who is just 18 and she isn't a kid either, another factor in reasoning why I did so.

Bruce and Thor have been transported back from the moments just before Infinity War began, whereas Tony and the others are somewhere close to just after the events of Civil War, which is why there will be a lot of tension between Tony and the others.

I also decided to not include T'Challa, Peter Parker, or Scott Lang. I wanted to focus on the main divisions between the Avengers.

And the title "Understanding The Real Hero" comes from the Avengers: Endgame soundtrack where the music for Tony's funeral is titled "The Real Hero".

Next chapter, they start watching Iron Man. A lot of the movie scenes will be described with what the characters say eluded to and will not be in script format. There will be some scenes written out in full but I feel this is the best approach to this type of story.

I aim to update weekly. :)

Until next time,

the-writer1988