Chapter Notes

Another somewhat short one! More magic!

Chapter 12: A work in progress (…That´s the title, not a disclaimer.)

I sighed while staring at the ceiling of my NYC-apartment. I turned to lay on my side. I sighed again.

"It doesn´t sound like you are concentrating.", Domi said knowingly. He didn´t even look up from the tome he been engrossed in for the last hour. My increasing suspicion was that he wasn´t actually reading it, just trying to taunt me in my unwilling mood.

I had invited him here to study together, but it wasn´t going well. It hadn´t for weeks now and I was out of ideas.

When I left Bruce with the Ancient One, I had been excited. No future knowledge until 2012, nearly two years to finish my project to contain and neutralize the infinity stones, achieve my mastery and get my magical artifact. Nearly two years of just studying magic.

Well, and I still had my ongoing thing with the X-Men, but that had slowed down quite a bit. There are only so many mutants in captivity. I was pretty sure we had spooked Hydra and co. into hiding too.

Speaking of the X-Men, they had not just spoken to Murdock, but even contributed their own lawyers to the writing of our Accords. Figures that they would know more mutant lawyers. Also, very helpful that Xavier could confirm that there were no spies. My anxiety would have spiked without him.

A team of lawyers also had the privilege of introducing the Masters of the Mystic Arts™ to a bunch of legal documents that went over my head. I just dropped them off in a room with a serene Ancient One and a bunch of skeptical sorcerers and hauled it out of there like I had just delivered a bomb.

I think the following discussion took years off of the legal team's lives. It didn´t help that the circumstances of the order were so different to mutants. You know, not born as enhanced, quasi job-like as a defense against extradimensional threats, etc. Basically a whole other document, that had nothing to do with what they had worked on before.

And that is why I could never be a lawyer.

Instead of sitting in that timebomb of a room, I went and had tea with Bruce.

And you know who I met there? Jane Foster! What a tenacious woman. I might have imagined the slightly suffering look on the Ancient Ones face when I asked about the scientist's arrival.

I really had to stop dropping all my problems into the Sorcerer Supremes' lap…

It was surprising how well the two scientists got along. Honestly, I felt like the third wheel at our teatime. I even took down my mask, but they didn´t notice with how caught up they were in their discussion. I wanted to say that their specialties were totally different, but then I didn´t really know what Bruce´s field of study was beyond "something with radioactivity".

Apparently, Darcy was around too. Probably bullied some poor sorcerer into playing taxi for her.

What that teatime did accomplish though, was to make me firmly team, eh, Bruster?

Was there a shipping name for those two? Not good at this.

Anyway, Bruce seemed to like Jane and Jane was at least in love with Bruce´s brain. My side project for 2011 was to get those two together.

It was a good way to distract myself from my own work, which, again, wasn´t going that well.

Well, at first it did. I made fast progress for a few months. I was confident that I could even contain atomic bombs without a problem. Infinity stones were a bit more powerful than those, sadly.

I switched out runes and more runes, tried different combinations of different runic alphabets. I got closer and closer, but it never quite worked the way I wanted it to.

By January of 2011 I had pretty much halted in my progress. It was September now. You get my frustration?

Said frustration made it harder for me to concentrate. I had to minimize my Tony-time, because I just wasn´t very productive in his vicinity. At least for my projects. The Ironmansuits now sported brand new runic inscriptions of tracking and durability.

I had tried getting Jarvis to help me (made him learn runes, also so that Tony wouldn´t blow himself up). I had tried getting the Ancient One to help me. Hell, I had tried to read all my runes upside down and in a mirror in the hope that it would give me a new perspective.

Nothing worked.

I tested my little binding vessel regularly with the time stone. Right now, it could contain the stone, but there was still a slight emittance of energy that increased over time and could be used to track the stone. Which I didn´t want.

Also, I couldn´t use it either. What the fuck Agamotto. What did he do?!

I glowered at my prototype on the table.

"Maybe Agamotto used more than runes?", speculated Domi, finally looking up.

I grunted. We had this conversation before. Domi wasn´t such a fan of runes. He thought they were boring. Tch. Heresy.

"No special metal, all the enchantments are replicated, no evidence of rituals.", I grumbled. I didn´t deign him with a longer answer. Again, we had this discussion before.

I rolled onto my stomach and repeatedly bashed my head into my pillow.

"Stop that."

Domi frowned at me with disapprovement. What a mother hen. I sighed.

"If I could just reliably measure what kind and how much energy still escaped. Then I would have the containment solved at least."

Domi hummed, turning back to his studies.

"Why don't you ask your scientist friends?"

I huffed.

"How is tha-", I ripped my head up from the pillow and stared at Domi with wide open eyes. "That´s it! That could work!"

I hurriedly stumbled up. Domi shook his head and just kept reading. I snatched my prototype and jumped through a portal into Bruce´s room.

I looked around. He wasn´t there. The tearoom! I started sprinting down the hall, ignoring the disapproving looks at probably both my attire and my manners. I was still in my (slightly dirty) pajamas and had bare feet. I really didn´t care.

I took another turn sliding and slammed open the door. Bruce and Jane jumped away from each other. They had clearly just kissed. Good for them.

"Congrats.", I told them distractedly and turned all my attention to Bruce. "Now, I need your help Bruce."

I think my manic grin scared him a bit. He'd live.

"So, you found your solution with the help of your new friend?", the Ancient One asked calmly. Like always. She made me feel like a toddler under the gaze of his indulgent nanny each and every time.

I was fiddling with my refined prototype, that had the time stone in it. I hummed an affirmative while checking the equipment Bruce had set up for me. Jane helped too, but this was more Bruce´s thing.

I couldn´t believe I hadn´t remembered how Bruce had been brought aboard Sieldra´s flying machine of death because of his knowledge, not just his tendency to turn green. Well, that was at least the reason Shield stated. (We all know how trustworthy they are.)

"Now, if I could just find out why it makes the stone unusable... I don´t understand, nothing in my runes prevents that in the corresponding mode.", I muttered, setting down the prototype and taking up the empty Eye of Agamotto. At the same time my boss took my experiment.

"I mean, there is nothing-"

I stopped. Telltale green energy surrounded the Sorcerer Supreme and my container in her hand. She raised an eyebrow.

I dropped my whole upper body onto the table below me. All my energy had left me. I groaned and banged my head against the wood with a thunk.

"I´m an idiot."

The Ancient One didn´t say anything, but I had the distinct impression that she was laughing at me.

"Such an idiot."

"Do you want to present this to the Masters as your mastery work?"

"Yes, please."

"Alright."

And with that she left me in my misery.

Now to explain; the issue wasn´t that something in my runes wouldn´t let the stone be used like with the Eye of Agamotto. The issue was that I couldn´t use the stone. The stones couldn´t affect me, probably because I wasn´t of this universe. At the same time, I couldn´t affect them either.

I guessed that was fair. I just felt stupid. Months spent thinking about a problem that didn´t even exist. Who knows how long that would have taken me, if the Ancient One hadn´t been randomly curious.

Maybe she had known the whole time? Sounded like something she would do. Or she was just really good at coming across as omniscient. Honestly, it was most likely the latter.

I was back at my apartment, running around from kitchen to living room and back like a headless chicken. Domi was with me, making sure that I didn´t accidentally push over any of the food we had painstakingly prepared.

Sue me, I was nervous. All my friends were coming and they didn´t know each other. This could be a disaster. What if Tony annoyed Mordo so much that he got himself killed? It was a possibility. I made Jarvis swear beforehand that he wouldn´t go Skynet on me if that happened.

The door chimed. I screamed. Domi chuckled. That was probably the first time the doorbell had been used in months. Portals rule.

I opened and welcomed Pepper and Tony in. Pepper gifted me with a bottle of very expensive juice, which was very thoughtful of her. Tony meandered through my joint, looking around. Pepper went to join Domi and the two started a pleasant conversation.

When Tony made eye contact, I raised my eyebrow in question.

He gestured to the creatively decorated walls and huffed: "It´s… small."

I shot him a deadpan look.

"It´s New York. This is gigantic for New York."

He laughed.

"Just wait, my tower is nearly ready, that is going to be gigantic."

He grinned while throwing his arms out. I rolled my eyes but had a small smile on my lips too. My tomfoolery had pushed up the Starktower's construction by a few months. He was planning on running it off of Starkanium from Christmas on.

Pepper and Domi were already planning a beautiful Christmas celebration in the penthouse. Neither Tony nor I were invited to the planning. I was a bit insulted at being put in the same category as Tony, but I think Pepper was still a bit mad about the mess at the Stark Expo and her botched appointment as CEO. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Or something like that.

"Not everyone has a bajillion to spend on a symbol of their manhood to make themselves feel better."

He gasped dramatically as I stuck out my tongue.

"You approved it to! And leave my manhood out of this."

Before we could bicker on, Mordo arrived with Bruce, Jane and Darcy in tow. I waved at them and noticed that it was time to get the last group. I opened a portal to Xavier´s place and through came Pjotr, Lara, Hank and Jean.

A colorful bunch.

"Thank you all for coming over to celebrate my mastery (even though some of you don´t even know what that is). Now to introduce you!", I announced and started to name everyone. Like I should have expected the scientist all immediately flogged together. Tony tested out the patience of Hank and Bruce, Jane questioned everything, Bruce was halfway stuck between being flattered and being overwhelmed and Hank was just making friendly conversation. Big Blue taught children, Tony wouldn´t bother him. Huff, Skynet avoided.

Pjotr made polite inquiries about the food to Domi, and they hit it off. Pepper went over to Jean, who looked a little lost and worked her magical conversation skills.

Mordo came to stand next to me and surveyed the scene.

"Interesting collection of friends you have here."

I grinned up at him.

"You know, you are part of that collection right."

He smiled at me. Aah, I knew he was a softy deep down inside. Very, very deep down. (Two words: training. Sessions.)

Lara came up to us with a big plate of food, Darcy trailing after her.

"Man, if you always eat like this, I have to visit you more often. The dips are lit! Not that the food in Kamar-Taj is bad or anything, but damn!", Darcy prattled on. Lara took that opportunity to steal some of said dip (one of Domi´s) and ducked behind me giggling when Darcy protested.

"Hey pipsqueak! That´s mine, get your own? You have a giant platter there!"

Well, this was going surprisingly great!

"So, the relic would just choose me, right? I don´t have to do anything?", I asked, feeling slightly awkward as I slinked down the corridor. Mordo had his arms crossed and stood some distance away from me.

We were in the collection of named relics in London. Why London first? Ask Mordo. He seemed to have a reason.

He would have filled me with more confidence however, if he didn´t look like he expected something to blow up. Not cool. He just nodded at me.

I was kind of afraid to touch anything. Half because there could be some really harmful stuff here and half because it looked like a freaking museum and I didn´t want to break a thousand-year-old magical artifact. They wouldn´t be very good relics to use if they would break that easily but still. The principle stood.

After the first few display cases with relics I vaguely identified as weapons, there was a black hood. It reminded me a bit of a simple version of the iconic Assassin´s Creed hoods. Just plain black. Well, and I felt like putting it on.

I slowly reached out, peaking a look at Mordo. When the older man didn´t tackle me, I took the hood and wrapped around my shoulders. It felt right.

As soon as the hood was up my hands disappeared. Well, my whole body disappeared, but I noticed the hands first.

Mordo hummed.

"The hood of Hades, or cap of Hades. Makes the wearer invisible."

I blinked. Okay. That is both incredibly useful and kind of underwhelming. Also, such a pretentious name. Or is that literal? Did the MCU have the old legendary gods as characters?

I took the hood down and tried to not freak myself out other something that was probably nothing.

"Well, that was pretty quick, eh? Want to grab a bite to eat while we are in London?"

I started walking towards Mordo, who was getting ready to say something – probably a retort about how I could consider eating in London when we could portal to everywhere on earth- when I crossed a black tall staff that promptly fell on my head.

Firstly, ouch.

Secondly, I didn´t touch that, that fell on its own.

I stared at the staff weirdly and picked it up. I weighed it in my hand, made sure to have some space around me and gave it a whirl. Nicely balanced!

"Huh, this isn´t bad. Does this count as the staff choosing me?", I looked up with an exited smile and whirled the staff again. This time however a blade shot out of the staff right in front of my nose.

"Whoah!"

I scrambled to not let the suddenly very sharp weapon fall. If I had pierced my foot while selecting a relic I would have never heard the end of it. I covered up my blunder by straightening up and forcing a nervous smile on my face. I was fully expecting a reprimand by Mordo. He was somewhat of a stuck-up.

Contrary to my expectations, he was staring at me with wide eyes. Oh no, that´s not good.

"Bad?", I asked. I braced myself.

"I mean-", Mordo cut himself off and snapped back to his normal self. "It isn´t something I would have seen for you. That is the scythe of Thanatos. It is very deadly, like the name suggests. Even a small cut can be deadly and trap the victim's soul in the blade."

My face distorted more with each word and my grip became kind of gingerly. Without my input my hood came up and I disappeared from sight.

"You shouldn't have to fear the effects of the weapon, it chose you after all. You control it now."

I absentmindedly moved to take my hood down again. My eyes were fixed on the weapon in front of me.

Well, powerful for sure. However, most of my fights were nonlethal. The scythe had an incredible limited use for me.

I really hoped this wasn´t some sign that I would need the weapon in a future fight.

It could be good against Thanos. Or in the invasion. I would have to test beforehand to know though… Fuck, I can´t even test it without killing! So macabre.

"What´s up with all the Greek gods? All the named relics I heard of just have names I don´t recognize. Also, does he know every relict here? Do I have to learn them all too?"

I grumbled quietly under my breath and followed Mordo outside.

"Oh and see me tomorrow morning for an early training session with weapons. You seem to need it.", Mordo said without turning around.

I groaned.

"No, my sleep! I need my sleep!"

"If you aren´t following a healthy sleep schedule and sleeping in all the time, maybe we should start sparring daily again."

When I groaned even louder, he started chuckling.

"You are evil.", I whispered at him with narrowed eyes.

Chapter End Notes

A time skip chapter! Next up, finally! The Avengers!
Heh, the stones, yeah, Al won´t be able to use them. I mean, the fights would get increasingly boring otherwise. At least if wanted to use any kind of canon villains. It is also at this point that Al finally understands that Thanos couldn´t dust him.
Shouldn´t be a surprise to him, but I myself don´t always think things through and feel pretty stupid afterwards (kinda like acing the hardest math questions in a test and then getting a B- because you accidentally skipped the easy questions at the top, no that has never happened to me, what are talking about :P). At this point Al is too invested anyhow.
The relics: I had planned those two since the beginning, like Al mentions, they are both somewhat op and useless at the same time, but I have scenarios in mind for them.
Oh and of course, I made them up. The cap of Hades is ripped from myths and the scythe is just straight up a mashing together of deathly symbols. As far as I know Thanatos is never really depicted with something like a scythe. That´s more Grim Reaper and Middle Ages stuff. Meh. Am not that good with naming and I like scythes.