Hey guys, yay, chapter 3! Can I just say that I really suck at not dropping off the face of the earth for a good few months before finally resurfacing and showing up with new content I frantically wrote in a burst of motivation at 12 in the morning. I should really get that sorted out. Anyway, here is a new chapter to this fic that I hope you all are enjoying so far. I think that in the next chapters I am going to try to up the word count, so just be aware of that for the future.
As always, your feedback literally gives me the reason and motivation to write at all, so it is infinitely appreciated if you could respond to this, letting me know what you thought, or even just that you read it! I appreciate and love you all so much, and I hope you enjoy this new chapter!
Relatively quickly, Clarity had dealt out the tasks that needed to get done by each of them to ensure that everyone made it here: Strange needed to get to Scotland and track down team Cap; Wong was tasked with handling team Space; and Peter had the slightly less magical job of calling Tony Stark and telling him they were crashing his place in 10. Clarity would have liked for them to meet in Wakanda - what was probably the most secure location on earth at that point - but she had learned from previous attempts that King T'Challa and his people weren't so eager to allow a group of strangers into their uber-secret-kingdom unless they knew what was going on first.
Which left Clarity with that job – contacting the King himself.
After hashing that out with everyone, they split off to their separate tasks, though a little hesitantly – the wizards clearly still skeptical of the reliability of a 16-year-old girl, and Peter still shocked at Clarity's abilities. Nonetheless, they got on it.
Clarity watched as Wong and Strange used their sling rings to magic themselves to their separate locations as she heard Peter trying to convince Happy that the call he was making was important – no he wasn't calling about another churro lady – yes Mr. Stark would want to hear it – in the background. She found herself smiling slightly as she listened to his exasperated voice plead with the disgruntled head of security.
Shaking her head, she turned to fish her phone out of her bag once more, letting the luggage slip off her shoulder and onto the floor once she had what she needed. Flashing the screen on, she made her way to a corner of the room, hands tracing the walls and opening a secret compartment with the familiarity of someone who had done this before. 3:49. Good. There was still time. They were actually a little ahead of schedule compared to some of the other tries, which meant more time to argue over what to do this time around, only to come to another dead-end conclusion that would wind up with Thanos winning – again – half of the universe turning to dust – again – and Clarity being dragged back to start over – again.
Shrugging off those depressing thoughts, she focused her attention on what was at hand, or rather, in her hand right now. Walking away from the compartment where she had just retrieved the sling ring in her palm, she heading back over to her fellow teen, throwing her phone onto an old looking table with an expensive looking artifact on it. She was going to have to trust her inner clock for now.
By this point, Peter had gotten through to Tony and was rambling away in his effort to get the older man to agree to a massive super-hero-style reunion at the compound in 10 minutes.
"'What is this for'? Well, you see, actually, I am not like 100% sure – yeah I know it's not the best idea to just go with whatever someone says without being 100% sure – well I do know her – elementary, but— Mr. Stark I trust her, and she says that this is really serious – yeah serious, like world-ending serious I don't know-" Peter had his back turned to her as he argued with his mentor, making exasperated hand motions every so often.
Clarity found herself staring at the back of his head, smiling softly at how normal it seemed. Even though, yeah, they were discussing the world-ending phenomenon about to take place, but the way they bantered back and forth made her appreciate this time all the more. Especially considering how she knew the older man would take Peter's dusting after The Snap. Like how he had the first time, when the loop wasn't in place. When half the universe was snapped into non-existence, and had stayed that way. For eight months.
Eight months of trying to pick up the broken pieces left behind by the decimation, and eight months of falling apart despite their best efforts. Those eight months had taught Claire that even the most callous-seeming people have a breaking point - have a heart. And Tony's heart was Peter, even if neither of them realized it right now. Losing his surrogate son had destroyed the man, it had destroyed all of them – it was impossible not to love the dork – and Clarity had been witness to it up close. It was one of the reasons she had agreed to being stuck in the time loop, and one of the reasons that kept her going through each reboot; she was not going to let Peter and the other people dusted cease to exist even if it killed her, both for them and those they left behind.
With that memory and her subsequent surge in motivation, Clarity slipped on the sling ring, twisting it slightly so that it fit snuggly on her fingers. Turning around in a circle for a moment, she finally paused facing a section of the room that had a relatively clear space. Throwing both hands up, she positioned them, readying to open a portal.
Glancing at Peter, she found him still on the phone. "Pete, you want me to send you to the compound early, or you up for seeing some genuine royalty?" At his name, Peter glanced towards her, his eyes catching on her outstretched hands and a look of barely-suppressed excitement washing over his face.
"Oh my god, Mr. Stark, I have to go – she's about to open a flipping magic portal, this is not something I am going to miss being a part of – yeah magic, it's awesome and – hey, I'm not lying I swear! Magic!" At an annoyed but amused look from Clarity, Peter quickly rushed to end the conversation.
"Ok, Ok, I have to go – yeah in ten – oh this is about to be the best day of my life-" Peter clicked off his phone and scrambled over to stand beside Clarity. He was practically vibrating with excitement despite his best efforts to seem professional. Any earlier apprehension about her reveal of abilities and awkwardness about talking to her for the first time in what he thought was years was gone, replaced by pure giddiness at the chance to walk through a magic portal. Clarity chuckled, she always did, no matter how many times she lived the same thing over again. He was like a puppy.
"Alright, what'll it be? Stark or Wakanda?" She smiled up at him playfully. He returned the look, all giddiness. "I mean, I've never actually been to Africa, so…"
As soon as both teenagers had stepped through the portal and into Shuri's workshop in Wakanda, the golden sparks fizzling out behind them, they were dodging a blast of blue light, Peter's spider sense causing him to shove them both to the ground before they were hit.
"Woah, Shuri! Hold fire! Hold fire!" Clarity yelped, her hands quick to form a large golden protective shield in front of them as the attack continued to rain down. At the mention of her name, the young girl ceased her fire. Cautiously, and with a nervous Peter practically hugging her side to push her out of the way if he sensed danger again, Clarity rose to her feet, letting the circle fizzle away.
"Who are you?" the Wakandan Princess questioned, her hands still raised with the two panther shaped gauntlets pointed at them "And how do you know my name? And, while we're asking, how did you get in here?" Shuri stalked closer to them, her expression wary and untrusting as she sized up the two teenagers in front of her.
"We need you and your brothers' help with something. Something you both are definitely going to want to be a part of," Clarity reasoned, her palm slightly extended towards the girl in an attempt to placate her.
"We'll be the judge of that," came another voice, accompanied by an almost soundless thump behind them that was no doubt the King himself in his famous Black Panther costume, come to see why his sister was firing shots. Peter whirled around at this new guest, but Clarity had expected it, and merely turned so that she could look at them both at the same time, folding her arms across her chest in a causal stance.
"Great, we're all here. Ok, so, we really need you both to come with us to help stop a world ending catastrophe happening in less than 24 hours." Claire's explanation was met with silence. After a moment, Shuri broke it by laughing half-heartedly, a little dumb-struck by the straight-forward confession. Her brother, though, was the first to speak, "Why should we believe you?"
"Well, you really shouldn't, considering we don't even know each other. But I'm telling the truth, and that's really all I can offer at this point," She laid it out flat for them both, being honest because they really did not have time to explain everything right now only to have to re-explain it all in a couple minutes.
The two royals regarding her for a second more before T'Challa's nanotech suit retracted into his teeth shaped necklace, and he responded.
"You work with Stark, don't you." He eyed Clarity. A tilt of her head was her only response to what he said. "You have his bluntness. I will come with you, but I warn you now, you have one chance."
Clarity laughed despite herself.
"You can stay if you want, Shuri, but I must find out what Stark wants," T'Challa moved to stand beside the teenagers, giving Clarity a short nod.
"And let you save the world by yourself? I will not let you have all the fun, brother." The Princess moved to stand on the other side of them, following her brother's decision with confidence.
"Cool cool. Ok, two down. Let's see how the others are doing," with that, Clarity raised her hands, summoning another portal, to which they all stepped through.
It seemed the others had succeeded as well, although the circumstances with which Wong had gotten the Guardians there seemed sketchy at best, if Quill's ramblings about being kidnapped were anything to go by. Nonetheless, within 5 minutes of Clarity's group's arrival, the rest of the team was assembled in the largest conference room at the compound, with an uncomfortable looking Tony Stark standing towards the back. She could imagine why. Not only had he just been ambushed by a surprise meeting of 15+ superheroes, but although Tony had managed to avoid him for the time being, the tension between him and Steve was felt by everyone. The latter man was positioned beside Black Widow and The Falcon near the front opposite corner. Clarity rolled her eyes. Right now the old arguments of Siberia, no matter how awful Clarity knew it had gotten (going off what Tony had confessed to her over those eight months), was petty at best compared to what they had coming.
Crossing to the front of the room, she stopped to survey the large crowd of superheroes. To her left, and at the front of the room, the Guardians were gathered in a lose group, attempting making it seem as though they were comfortable in the situation, but she could tell by the stiffness of their movements that they were nervous and staying close together for comfort. Slightly to their right, Thor and Bruce stood side by side. Clarity was glad they hadn't brought Loki with them this time. That had been a challenging reboot, and it was already hard enough trying to work with the unresolved tension between Tony and Steve.
Speaking of which, Tony was leaning against the wall behind them, his arms crossed and sunglasses covering his eyes. Peter stood beside the older man, not quite touching him, but Clarity could tell his presence was a comforting one to the billionaire. The boy in question was practically bubbling with the excitement of it all - being in a room with all the top players in the world, scratch that, the galaxy. It was exactly how she had felt the first loop around, the first time she had gathered all these people together. By now, though, it felt like nothing more than speaking to a roomful of friends and family. She had grown to know each and everyone of these people, spending at least a reboot with each group (back when she was trying to find the one event through being at all of them), not to mention the first three times around, before the loop. She had spent months bonding with those left after the snap, finding comfort and family in each other.
To Peter's right stood Wong and Strange, both men looking as skeptical as they did when she had first met them. Beside them, King T'Challa and his sister, standing with a poise that screamed authority. To their right, Wanda and Vision stood so close together it seemed as though they were connected. Wanda had her arms hugging herself as Vision's hand rested on her bicep, a comforting presence for the Witch, who felt unease at being back at the compound for the first time since fighting with the rest of the Avengers. In front of them, standing in a tight group, Team Cap, or what was really left. Sam and Natasha stood on either side of Steve, both of them with their arms crossed while the captain's were merely hanging by his side. Every single face in the room was looking around (or at their feet, in Wanda's case) taking in the other heroes, all of them eager to hear why they had been summoned here by literal wizards. Clarity was now happy to supply that.
Taking a quick glance at the clock on the wall (4:02), she began her spiel. "Alright, cutting right to the chase," she began, clapping her hands to draw the attention of the room. All eyes fell upon her, some surprised to see a teenager leading the conversation. "Most of you know that the world is about to end in about 23 hours, well, end for half of us." She corrected herself. The faces around the room changed, some eyes widening in shock while others narrowed skeptically. Evidently they had not.
"Ok, anyone ever heard of a dude named Thanos? Big purple grape who really likes his rock collection?" She saw Gamora visibly stiffen and raise her head, staring intently at Clarity.
"Likes to destroy half of populations in his spare time?" She offered grimly, all heads turning to her. Clarity gave a tight-lipped smile, "that's the one."
She turned back to face the entirety of the group, "this giant raisin of a guy has been searching for and trying collecting all of the six infinity stones so he can snap his fingers and wish away half of all living life in the universe. I come from a future where he succeeded. I was sent back to make sure he doesn't again, no matter how many tries it takes." Her gaze fell towards her feet with the last part, feeling the weight of the words on her shoulders. No matter how many tries. What ever it takes.
Looking up again and hiding her expression behind a forced smile, she gave her last piece of the speech "so anyway, right now we need to brainstorm another idea that we haven't already tried that just maybe will work this time around. I gathered all the best and brightest for that, so…cheers?" With that, she pushed herself to sit on the table positioned right behind her, slouching forwards slightly and giving the room an expectant look.
There was a long silence before anybody spoke. The first to do so was Bruce, looking timid but determined as all eyes flew to him.
"You're telling us you're from the future?" Clarity nodded. "I don't understand, how is that possible? How did you time travel?"
"Well with that stone right there actually Dr. Banner," she explained, motioning to Dr. Strange and the golden pendant hanging around his neck. Everybody turned, while Strange reached out to touch it protectively, turning a confused expression to the teenager before realization seemed to dawn on him.
"You're in a time loop," he rationed, "set to bring you back whenever we fail to stop him."
"Ding-ding-ding."
"So if you're brought back to try again each time we fail, and you've obviously done this before, what number are we on?" This time the question came from Steve, his face set in a grim line, already expecting a depressing response.
All eyes once again fell on Clarity. The girl maintained eye contact with Steve as a sorrowful look fell across them. She clenched her jaw, gathering the energy she needed to face the responses after this reveal.
"Sixteen"