Cosmic is Forever
Summary:Set after may have fooled Galactus and left before the Devourer could do anything,but was that the end?If so, then why is there a gold man the Universe is celebrating and the Cabal hunting?
A month passed by and the Cabal made no move, probably mostly due to Hyperion fearing the Space Knight bearing down on them if they used the Tesseract too soon, or so Thor theorized. They didn't know that the Herald is practically under their noses. Not that the rest of the Avengers were any wiser but at least one person on the team knew what secret Tony was keeping.
Speaking of which, Thor was surprised that the Man of Iron, as he often called his leader, has yet to ask him for help with dealing with his new power. Thor was impressed with the control he had over it as it is, since new powers usually reacted more to emotion than to thought so people had to get used to its very presence, let alone the weight it will put on them as time went by. He knows Tony is an exceptional case, both with the power he received and the amount of control he got over it in such a short amount of time. He will still need to start training with it if he wants to deal with it properly.
"Hey, Thor. Did you see Mr Stark anywhere?" Peter Parker, one of their newest additions, broke him out of his thoughts. The Asgardian turned around and smiled at the upside down teenager, hanging from the ceiling even if he wasn't in costume. Peter was still in the Learning Hall - or school - period of his life and he had just come back from an especially long day of school. As per usual, the first person he sought out was his idol and hero, Tony Stark AKA Iron Man. The kid had almost swooned when Tony said he, and Ant-Man, would be a good addition to the team. He had accepted right away, and even though his jokes were exceptionally bad (Natasha said that they were worse than Haweye's, which earned a n indignant "Hey!" from the archer even if he did agree) he was a sweet kid. Imagine his pleasure when Tony started teaching him jokes! Good ones! Even Thor liked to sit in on their "lessons" and memorise the things that Iron Man said about tact, moment and the finer arts of making jokes.
"Nay, my young friend. I, too, have been searching for him all morning. We have plenty to discuss." The blonde answered just as Steve and Natasha walked into the corridor leading to the lab, obviously on their way to see their resident genius as well. They paused in confusion (although the Black Widow showed nothing on her face) before Steve greeted them and they happily said hello to the good Captain.
"Wow, is there a party going on down here?" Scott said as he stopped talking with Sam and Clint about how to improve his arrowheads without disrupting their aerodynamics, the two scientists sure they can make many adjustments yet Haweye wasn't letting them anywhere near his quiver. He kept telling them that the ideas may sound great but might not actually bee great. He would talk it through with Tony, who has been making him arrows for years now and Clint has never been more satisfied than with Stark's work.
"It can't be. Tony's not here and the bilgesnipe is still in Thor's room. You can't have a real party without a lose bilgesnipe!" Clint told the man with all the seriousness in the world and Nat rolled her eyes.
"It's a sad day when you realise that that would be a normal Avengers party."
"Since when have we been normal? Or had normal things?" Hulk grunted as he joined them in the hallway, carrying his metal mesh blanket that now has a huge tear in it. Everyone raised a eyebrow as they knew Tony made that thing almost indestructible just for Hulk, and the green giant looked somewhat sheepish. "What? I had a restless nap!"
Steve just shook his head. "I'm guessing that we're all down here to see Tony?" When he got a bunch of "well, duh!" expressions aimed at him he scowled but walked over to the lab doors anyway, typing in his code even as the other Avengers talked behind him about why they were there.
"Cap and I just got back from a mission and my Bites got damaged. Also, Steve is finally consenting to that magnet thing Stark has been suggesting for his shield. Turns out, there are situations where even his Vibranium shield doesn't bounce back."
"Forget that, Nat!" Clint said in a whiny voice. "My arrows! Today is the day Tony promised to work on my arrows! I'm supposed to give him requests today!"
"You can do that after he fixes my blanket. Hulk needs some shut eye. All that smashing is a strenuous job." The green one grumbled with a big yawn.
"I still think that I could upgrade your arrows." Was all Sam said but Hawkeye just glared at him.
"I simply wish to speak with the Man of Iron. And possibly humbly request that he fix the toaster." Thor said, his voice booming even when he wasn't shouting in the battlefield.
"I just wanted to say hi," was Peter's mumble and Scott patted the kid on the head. Truth be told, he just wanted to hang out with Tony, too, but the man was always busy. And with a needy team like this, it is really no wonder that there were always bags under his eyes. The man always tried his best for his team but he sometimes wondered if the Avengers even noticed.
"No way is anyone but Tony Stark touching my babies!" Barton hugged said "babies" close to his chest with a dangerous glare on his face. The Black Widow face-palmed and Steve sighed even as the doors to the lab opened. Cap glanced inside and immediately turned to the others, a finger raised in front of his lips. It got everyone's attention and they all went quiet as one of their leaders sneaked into the lab of the other. Clint was quick to follow him in, Natasha shadowing him, the two quieter than the summer breeze. The others exchanged looks and went after them, only to stare at the sight of a sleeping Tony Stark bent over an unfinished project on his work bench. Thor seemed to relax, an unknown part of him having been tense this whole time without even noticing. He had not spotted Tony since yesterday morning, and since Stark had been so shaken up with the whole Cabal encounter, the Asgardian had been in constant fear that he might wander off somewhere to deal with it fully alone, as would be his preference, so to see him resting was a relief.
It was a relief shared with Steve because he was the one to usually hunt the genius down and force him to act like a - somewhat - normal human being. Too bad that he had been busy for a few weeks and it had left him stressing with thoughts of whether the man was eating or sleeping or not. He now has some help in the form of Ant-Man and Spiderman, who have both taken to dragging Tony out of the lab as well. However, they, too, would often need to be dragged out of said lab as they could get as enraptured by one of Tony's projects as much as the man himself. They usually passed out after some time, too exhausted even with such "marvelous science" in front of them, and Tony was often left to his own devices until Steve came in and dragged all three of them out. JARVIS had long since given up, although he still nagged at his creator, on Tony ever eating like a normal person but he could, apparently, knock the man out with a light sedative dart that were installed all around the tower. The AI controlled the amount in each dosage so it could turn into a helpfull security measure as well. Instead, the AI mostly relied on Cap to drag Tony to bed and Steve rarely disappointed, more out of his own worry than anything else.
"That can't be comfortable," Ant-Man was the first to comment, taking in how his friend's head was tilted at a strange angle due to him being sprawled over the strange thing he was working on. It looked like an engine but he has yet to see Stark's famous car collection so he wasn't sure if it was, especially since more than half of the object was covered by the man.
"You have seriously not seen Stark sleep." Clint commented, searching the lab for any threats. It was more by instinct than anything else, as JARVIS was equipped with the best sensory systems and a fierce loyalty to Tony so no threat was likely to get in without raising some alarm. He was even especially protected from Modoc but the Cabal now have the Tesseract and have yet to use it. Skull feels most threatened by Tony - as could be seen in his obsession to kill or incapacitate the man, such as was suggested in his offer to Hammer in the Savage Lands - so he wouldn't be all that surprised if they went after Iron Man first. After all, he knew how to keep a dysfunctional group like the Avengers together, lead them to victory and still be the genius, billionaire, philanthropist that he is while maintaining a huge and successful company like SI. And that's not even mentioning how he could take on gods and monsters - and aliens, can't forget the aliens - in his armors if he put his mind to it. Out of them all, he was the most unpredictable. And, as such, the most dangerous. "Stick around and you'll see the most bizarre sleeping positions known and unknown to man and Asgardians."
"I'm surprised he fell asleep at all," Nat actually even showed her surprise for once, one delicate eyebrow raised towards her hair line. "Usually he can last three days before he either collapses or one of us goes down to make him sleep."
Sam snorted. "Maybe he is too old to hold out to do his job." He nearly screamed in fright when a hand landed on his shoulder and the Avengers turned around to see ... another Tony? This another Tony was half glaring half laughing at them and the Avengers didn't know what to do or think. "Wha?" Falcon got out before the man stopped him.
"That is for calling me old," Tony said in his usual Starkastic way before he gestured to the ... Tony ... laying on his desk. "And this, my friends, is my latest invention." As soon as the words left his mouth, the other Tony flickered out of existence. Hulk, who had been about to poke him, jumped away as the pixels fluttered out of sight and instead out came the schematics for a small device. "I still haven't figured out what to call it yet but it's a trap for the enemy. Or the Cabal."
"Wait, if the Cabal is not the "enemy" then who is?" Peter asked as he came to stand near Tony, obviously fighting the urge to hug him. If they were alone, he wouldn't have resisted but since the others were present ...
Tony adopted the straightest face he could manage. "The paparazzi." The kid blinked at him and Scott and Clint didn't bother containing their laughter, unlike Steve, who covered it up with fake coughing. "I'm dead serious."
"There is something seriously wrong with you."
"Don't underestimate them, Widow. You think HYDRA and AIM are bad?" Iron Man shuddered. "Obviously you've never dealt with a herd of paparazzi after every last bit of your remaining private life."
"Thankfully, I'm not a super rich, super hero of a super genius, who also happens to be the CEO of a super successful international corporation with a team of super heroes staying at his super popular, super visible, super tall tower in the middle of the super busy center of New York." Tony cracked up laughing somewhere at the third 'super' and by the end of it, no one was left without at least a smile on their face.
Tony wiped away a stray tear the laughing fit had caused. "You should be a comedian. You'd be 'super richer' even than me in no time." A smirk was playing at the redhead's lips and Tony smiled at her. "But, seriously. I wouldn't wish paparazzi upon anyone. Not even Justin Hammer."
"Wow." Barton said as he not so subtly placed his quiver and bow on the inventor's desk, obviously claiming first dibs on the genius's attention. "You hate that guy."
"Why do you think I always leave the scene as soon as I can. I answer a few Avengers related questions before I bail out of there like a bat out of hell because they then target me. And I'd rather watch Modoc and Skull making out than stay longer than I need to."
"Eew!" Was the common reaction but Tony just shrugged. It was the damn truth and if they didn't want his opinion then they shouldn't ask for it.
"So what is this, basically?" Lang was the first one to recover from that terrifying mental image and instead focused on the invention. It was bound to be safer than discussing on just how many levels what Tony said was so wrong.
"As I said. It's a trap. You know how you all train with different holograms, right?" A round of nods meets the rhetorical question. "Well, I've been thinking: can we use those same holograms to our advantage in the field as well? The answer I found?" He looked expectantly at Peter and the kid sheepishly blushed as everyone else did, too.
"Um, yes?"
"Bingo!" Tony said with a snap of his fingers before pointing at various parts of the small device and going into techno-babel, as Clint, and really anyone who has heard him talking about engineering, calls it. Even Scott had a hard time keeping up and he was actually interested in the subject of debate. Peter was still nodding along and Sam had to give him credit: he himself was a big Iron Man/Tony Stark fan and had quite a high IQ, if he may say so himself, but even he tended to tune him out after a certain amount of words leaves his mouth. The only one Peter had left to compete with, at least for the moment anyway, was Steve. Steve, who was always interested in anything and everything modern but even more so if it was Tony who was saying it. A dark scowl quickly settled on Falcon's face before it smoothed out but four people still saw the shift.
"But how did you make it so small?" Spiderman asked, wanting to keep his hero talking and hoping he wouldn't notice that one moment of hostility coming from the other armor user. He kept his eye on Falcon, not at all liking that brief flash of ... something on his face a few moments ago.
Tony just looked at him. "Out of all of the questi- JARVIS, bring up the full, life sized display of the tower's Arc Reactor from the time before Afghanistan." He had taken a second to pause before saying the name of the country and Steve had flinched at the mention of it for him. Natasha only pulled her lips into a tin line but didn't react otherwise.
"Right away, Sir." Even JARVIS was clearly concerned about his creator because of the mention of Afghanistan and the AI estimated that there would be no sleep for Sir tonight. The holographic image filled out the room, making the Avengers gasp as they realized that they were practically standing in the image of the reactor itself. They turned and turned and saw that even Tony's immense workshop would be quite a tight fit. The genius only gestured at the huge energy source. "I managed to miniaturize this in a god damned cave. With a box of scraps. It's kinda my thing, you know? Making things smaller but ten times more efficient."
Clint couldn't hold back an impressed whistle. "No wonder my arrows are no challenge to you. Speaking of-"
"Oh no you don't!" Natasha said and nearly pushed Clint into a very expensive machine which Dum-E, one of Tony's earlier creations and helper bots, fussed with until he made sure it wouldn't topple over. "My Bites first. I need them upgraded and fixed since I have a mission tomorrow."
"Oh yeah? So do I!" Hawkeye argued right back. "Tony asked me to help him in some secret mission regarding some guy, Tiberius Stone. Me, Ant-Man and Spidey over there were going to go as his backup."
"Really?" Peter excitedly asked as he nearly lunged for Tony, who almost bumped into Thor when the kid startled him.
"Really? Tony, Tiberius Stone is just one of your competitors. Not even SHIELD has a single piece of dirt on that guy." The super spy said while crossing her arms and jutting out one hip.
Tony mimicked her stance. "I know Ty better than anyone and I fear that he's either somehow willingly involved with the Cabal or they are using or threatening him. We may no longer be on the best of terms but we were friends once. And former or not, I don't allow my friends to meet the business end of the Cabal's smoking guns. Or bleeding gums, in one case."
"So it has nothing to do with the new flight stabilizer product his company just published?" She challenged still.
"It has absolutely nothing to do with it, especially since it was a joint project of both out companies."
Widow stalled. "I didn't know that..."
"Because it's the company secret, only meant to be revealed after tomorrow's presentation. It's what we're using as a cover story to go to Switcherland-"
"Whoa, hold on Tony." Steve interrupted, coming up beside him, Thor and Pete. "Do you really think now is the time to split us up? The Cabal have the Tesseract and are hunting for the new, mysterious Herald of Galactus AKA Space Knight. We're at a huge disadvantage so we don't need to add splitting up to the list. Or possible injuries."
"Cap, it's fine." Stark said as he placed both hands on the super soldier's wide, strong shoulders. "We're not going to be there long. In fact, we'll probably head back in the noon. I just need to talk to Tiberius. I know him well enough to recognize and suspicious behavior. Besides, JARVIS will he hacking his systems and gathering information as soon as we land." Tony stared into Steve's eyes and the good captain couldn't help but give in. "I promise we'll be back before you know it."
"If you say so. But if you end up in trouble-"
"You're just a phone call away." The inventor smiled and Steve felt his breathing hitch just as the Avengers alarm sounded off.
"Sir, there is a hostage situation at the bank." JARVIS dutifully reported the whole situation.
"Then why are we being called?" Hawkeye asked even as he was preparing his arrows.
"It is AIM, Sir." The AI answered. ''They have a hundred hostages. And there are readings of the Tessaract's power there.''