Peter Parker = Peter
Peter Quill = Quill
It was 2018 and Tony Stark found himself on a dead and deserted planet in space; he wasn't sure what to think, he still had nightmares about space from when he went through the wormhole in 2012. Yet there he was. In space. Waiting for a madman… the fittingly named Mad Titan, Thanos, with a magical doctor, the spidering kid and three strange seemingly idiotic heroes of the galaxy. Tony knew there was a good possibility that he'd die… and that he may end up killing the three Guardians of the Galaxy…
Soon enough, Thanos arrived in all of his tall and purple glory. Tony felt a strange tingling in his spine at the four stones attached to his large golden gauntlet; it was the same sensation he had felt each time he had been in the presence of an infinity stone, only this time, it was far stronger; to the point that he could feel his limbs tremble ever so slightly. What confused Tony was the fact that no one else was reacting the same way. More so, the genius had no clue why he felt so strange nor did he understand exactly what he was feeling.
Then the fighting started and they subdued Thanos until Quill interfered; next thing Tony knew, he was trying to avoid the moon that Thanos had thrown at him and once he had, he learned that the alien apparently knew him by name. And that was a shock to the system.
It didn't even register to the genius that whilst his body was littered in cuts and bruises, none of them were from direct hits by the stones. In fact, the stones themselves hadn't done any damage to him; his injuries were from being thrown and tossed about. Then when he was fighting one on one with Thanos, the Titan's use of the stones still did nothing. Still, the genius didn't notice; he was busier fighting the madman than investigating the oddity. Thanos did more damage as he hit Tony in the face repeatedly than the power stone punch to the gut did, yet the genius had held up well considering the difference between them. He even made Thanos bleed.
But, as with all fights, there could only be one victor and as the pace between them picked up and their dance became less synchronised and more erratic as Tony took more and more damage. It was almost over in a blink; Tony had been pushing against Thanos, the nanoparticles forming a sword only for Thanos to break it off and stab Tony with his own weaponry. It was a clean stab; it went straight through Tony's left abdominal quadrant and the genius found himself in pain instantly as blood trickled out of his mouth.
The titan uttered some words that Tony could barely hear over the white noise of agony he found himself hearing before the stones glowed and Thanos went to deliver the final blow. Yet, at that moment, for some reason, Tony was not scared. He did not fear what would happen when the stones hit; so he kept eye contact, breathing heavily as he did. Then Dr Strange spoke up and handed the stone over.
All seemed to be lost then.
—LINE BREAK—
Tony outstretched an arm in a poor attempt to stop Thanos as the titan used the space stone to vanish; once gone, he clumsily stopped the bleeding of his wound with his nanotech before jerking his head towards Strange, ignoring Quill.
"Why would you do that?" He asked, eyes watery at the concept of them failing the universe because the doctor gave the stone away because of him.
"We're in the endgame now," was Dr Strange's reply as he looked at Tony with something deep in his eyes that the genius didn't understand.
—LINE BREAK—
"Dude, what are you?"
"Excuse me?" Tony exclaimed exhaustedly at Quill,
"No seriously, you can't be a human. I've held the power stone and had help from my pals with it; we've seen what it does to someone. Yet the only damage you have was made by everything but the stones. Your cuts, bruises and shit, they're from having a moon land on you, but even that didn't kill or seriously injure you. Then that stab wound; that was caused by your own weaponry. The fuckin' stones didn't do jackshit to you, so seriously, what are you? Some kind of Celestial maybe? That being said, we've dealt with one of those before, so I hope you aren't."
"Umm… as far as I am aware, I am your run of the mill male human," Tony looked over to Dr Strange as if to get him to agree, but the sorcerer looked away. Then Peter landed in front of him looking confused and battered in a way that made the surprisingly existent fatherly feelings in Tony rear its head, "you alright, kid?"
"Mr Stark… your hands…"
"What?" Tony asked as he looked down at his hands and froze; he had his palms facing up at him as he had moved them to investigate what the teenager was on about and found blue glowing orbs in the centres of his palms. He turned his hands around so that his palms were facing the ground but the orbs merely rolled around his hand; flicking them back so the palms were up, the orbs formed once more.
"You ain't a human, mate," Quill announced as they all stared,
"What the fuck," was Tony's ever so eloquent response.
"Tony," called Dr Strange causing the genius to look over (because that was the first time the doctor had said his first name and the man had said it in a kind and gentle tone, which was odd), "where will he go? Thanos. Where has he gone now?" Tony stared at him confused before answering,
"Wakanda, why-" before he could finish his question, the orbs seemed to glow brighter and moved in front of him, shaping a doorway of blue that once finished showed the beautiful greens of the African country. Tony quickly looked at Strange, who shrugged.
"I can't tell you what I saw in the future because it could ruin everything; that does not mean I cannot give subtle hints,"
"Fucking wizards and their riddles," he muttered under his breath with a sigh before struggling to his feet; just because he'd patched up his wound as best he could, did not mean he wasn't in immense pain. Peter quickly moved to help him, lending his mentor and father-like figure an arm to support him, "thanks, kid."
"Are we going through the blue swirly portal?" Asked the strange-looking alien,
"It would appear so, Mantis," Quill answered as he looked at Tony, who shrugged and limped forward.
"You coming, Blue Meanie?" Tony called over his shoulder as he spied Nebula loitering around in the background a bit lost; she looked at him, face emotionless save for the slightest and smallest twitch of her lip before she strode forward, passing him and coming out the other side of the portal. The others set to follow her and quickly found themselves in a forest in Wakanda staring at the battle before them.
—LINE BREAK—
They watched as Thanos dealt quickly with the other Avengers that ran at him; it was only when they had been subdued that Tony found himself walking closer to where Wanda stood with her magic aimed at Thanos and Vision. No one was following him; Peter went to, but Dr Strange held an arm out and shook his head.
The second the mind stone was destroyed, Tony froze, falling to his knees and clutching his heart, not even aware that his armour had crawled back into the arc reactor leaving him in his tracksuit. Those who had been knocked down by Thanos slowly joined the Guardians, Strange and Peter where they stood; Steve wanted to move towards Tony, but Dr Strange stopped him as he had with Peter.
"He's going to kill himself," Rhodey stated as he too went to go after his best friend but Dr Strange just shook his head,
"No. This is the only way."
Thanos used the time stone to reverse Vision's death and the destruction of the stone; Wanda moved to attack and then the titan had all the stones on his gauntlet and Tony… there was an unexplainable feeling that was rushing through the genius' body as he straightened and stood before Thanos, who finally noticed Tony.
"Back for more, Stark? You should've left the armour on if you wanted to provide a little bit of a challenge." Tony said nothing as he stood there, eyes on the gauntlet as they seemed to hum to him. Thanos looked at everyone who stood poised to charge at him and smirked, "behold what true power looks like," he exclaimed as he pointed his fist towards Tony, the gems glowed in response as Thanos sent a combination of the stones' power his way.
Everyone shouted for Tony to move but the genius felt compelled to stand where he was; part of him screamed for his legs to work but that side was quickly overcome by the sheer calm that he felt. His eyes closed and he tilted his head skywards with his arms relaxed at his side, the palms facing Thanos as an array of colours washed over him. The tendrils of the stones curled around his body, touching his face, his arms, torso and legs as they faded into him whilst being surrounded by a mist of the galaxy; no one could see in and he could not see out (though, he kept his eyes closed).
—LINE BREAK—
Thor, who had been in the air, posed to throw Stormbreaker at Thanos, saw what was happening and landed beside the group of onlookers.
"Beer wizard, what is happening? Why are you allowing Thanos to kill Stark?" He asked his fingers trembling ever so slightly as he stared at the galaxy that seemed to surround and block Tony from view,
"It's the only way," Dr Strange murmured again, "he is awakening."
"He?" Thor asked his eyes flicking from the sorcerer and back to the scene at hand before realisation dawned on his face, "oh. I had always wondered if there was any truth to the myths."
"Myths? What myths?" Natasha asked,
"Screw that, I'm standing here watching my best friend getting killed and you're stopping me from helping him!" Rhodey shouted angrily,
"My friend, believe me when I say he will be fine. More than fine." Thor answered gently as he watched with a look of awe.
—LINE BREAK—
The galaxy around Tony shrunk inwardly, getting smaller and smaller as Tony became more visible; it seemed to sink into the man until it vanished completely under his skin. Tony's back was to the group, but even they could tell that something was different; around him, there seemed to be a glow of sorts and when they caught a glance of the backs of his hands, they spied golden rings on his thumbs, pinkies and middle fingers, each ring held one of the six stones, which they noticed were no longer on Thanos' gauntlet. Something about Tony screamed ethereal as they watched the genius.
"Honestly, Time, this is the being that led to you suggesting we all part? It took millenniums for him to even get close to you all." Tony spoke, yet his voice was softer and quieter than normal, it washed over them in a serene way that had the others feeling calm and relaxed instantly, "by chance did you just want to leave me?"
"Do not be foolish, Infinity, we have all missed you dearly," Soul answered instead, although only infinity could hear the voice as it sang out in his head,
"You cannot hold me at fault, I foresaw many enemies and battles in your future. Battles that would wear you down and make you tired beyond imagination," Time replied,
"Has he finally lost it?" Bruce asked from where he stood in the more than battered and broken suit that he had borrowed from Tony,
"Nay, my friend, he is merely reuniting with old friends," Thor answered with a small smile, despite talking quietly, the pair had caught Tony's attention and caused the short genius to turn to them with a gentle smile; that was all the acknowledgement they got before Thanos decided to snap (no pun intended) out of his shock. The Mad Titan stared at his empty gauntlet and looked at Tony's ring covered fingers.
"How?" He growled,
"Surely you, who has been searching for the stones for years, know the history behind them," Tony stated with a slight tilt of his head as he looked up at the Titan.
"The Infinity Stones never had an original master. They were of their own being until I came and collected them."
"When stories get passed down generations and generations, certain details tend to be… forgotten. The tale did not start as 'The Infinity Stones', it began and it ends as 'Infinity and the Stones'. You, Thanos, cannot be arrogant enough to see yourself as the victor here." The titan growled once more and threw a punch that sent Tony flying, only the genius landed on his feet.
"So you have chosen," is all Tony whispered before the stones began to glow around him and he sent a rainbow of colours towards Thanos, the stones' powers were bright and engulfed the titan before vanishing completely. Thanos was nowhere to be seen and as a resounding snap of the fingers followed the titan's disappearance, the rest of his army turned into dust.
Here's my Tumblr if you're interested, it also has the story collages: anxious- - -soul (no spaces between the dashes, this site sucks and wouldn't allow them without spaces).
Anyway,
Thank you for reading,
Hope you enjoyed this,
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Bye~