For several weeks a peculiar pain had been hitting Tony. At first, it was insignificant. It was as though a finger had poked the side of his head gently. Gradually, it escalated, the pokes becoming sharper before it felt like he was being slapped and then punched. He had confessed to Pepper about it during their run one morning. Before the two came to a stop.
"I'm just trying to protect us." He murmured to her when she pointed out the arc reactor that was once again in his chest and just as they finished kissing, Stephen Strange appeared from a portal. Then Bruce appeared. The two hugged as Tony took in his long-lost Science Bro.
Tony, Strange and Bruce gathered with a man called Wong and the billionaire was informed about a threat that was headed towards Earth.
"Doctor…am I the only one feeling this odd…connection to you?" Tony added his expression was serious and he wasn't flirting, truth be told the Sorcerer had, in fact, felt it. But, he didn't know what 'it' was. There was a faint buzzing between the two. Tony, now that he thought about it, had felt it before when he was around the Tesseract and Vision or rather the Mind Stone.
—LINE BREAK—
No one got to think about it though because soon enough they were fighting against Thanos lackeys. Then Tony faced his fear. His nightmares. He went back to space. They landed on a planet called Titan after rescuing Strange and running into some of the apparent Guardians of the Galaxy. Their meeting was…well not really polite, but they came to an understanding and set to making a plan.
The Mad Titan arrived with fury on his face, his gauntlet-less hand clutching a green arm that belonged to a woman who could've been the Hulk's long-lost sister, Tony assumed it was Gamora -he became certain when he saw Quill's eyes light up. She was tossed to the side as Thanos approached Stephen. Fighting ensued. They fought and fought and fought but nothing worked. Though Tony could cross having a moon thrown at him off of his Bucket List.
"All that for a drop of blood?" Thanos murmured mockingly and Tony suddenly recalled the words Ivan Vanko said to him eight years ago,
"'If you can make God bleed, the people will cease to believe in him.' You are no God, Thanos." The way Tony spoke the Titan's name was enough to make everyone shiver (including the purple grape though he didn't show it.), "You never will be. You will fall as all Titan's do." Tony unknowingly repeated Loki's final words as he referenced mythology. The fight between them continued, Tony's technology stood well against the Power Stone (or at least everyone thought it was his technology and not because of the Soul Stone) but before he knew it, his own blade was being pushed into his torso. Thanos, ever the gentleman, gently held Tony's head as the billionaire was forced to lean against the ruins.
"I hope they remember you." Tony looked on, fear shone in his eyes for the first time as he realised he was going to die by the being that had tormented his mind for six years. The gauntlet began to shine but just before anything could happen, a voice cut through the air.
"Spare his life…and I will give you the stone." It was Stephen Strange. Tony looked at him in horror as the Sorcerer handed over the Time Stone. Shortly after Thanos vanished and went after the Stone down on Earth. He had the Power Stone, the Space Stone, the Reality Stone and now the Time Stone. The location of the Mind Stone was on Earth, he had yet to locate the Soul Stone.
—LINE BREAK—
"Why'd you do that?" Tony asked Stephen as the group of eight huddled together (Nebula had turned up) and it was clear that the man wasn't the only one upset by Strange's actions,
"There was no other way. I saw all the possible outcomes. We need to get to Earth now though. Please, trust me on this. Thanos cannot win because he won't be able to obtain the Soul Stone."
"Why not?" The robotic woman asked, "Gamora told him the location to save my life."
"It wasn't there." Gamora spoke when everyone turned to look at her, "It was gone. Even I was confused."
"Stark…" Strange began to say before stopping,
"Wait! Stark? As in Tony Stark, the guy who blew up the Chitauri?"
"Yeah that's me, how do you know this?" Tony asked as he turned to look at Quill,
"Dude you're a legend out here in the galaxy."
"As fascinating as this is, we need to portal through to Wakanda on Earth." Strange stated,
"Can you really do that? I'm not doubting your abilities as a Sorcerer or anything but it's a big sort of distance." Tony added with a furrowed brow,
"I will need your assistance."
"What can I do?" Tony was confused, he was just a regular human after all…right,
"Just hold my left hand." Still baffled, he did as he was told and several painful (for both Tony and Stephen) moments later a portal appeared,
"What the hell was that?" Tony shouted in pain as Peter came over to check on him like the good kid he was,
"Are you alright, Mr Stark?"
"I'll be fine, kid, thanks." The group wandered through the portal and came to a clearing of trees.
—LINE BREAK—
Thanos approached Wanda who was using her magic against him as she tried to destroy the Mind Stone. She was close to succeeding when a voice echoed loudly throughout the whole of Wakanda,
"That is enough!" It was Tony, his eyes held confusion as he spoke but his face was blank. Natasha, Clint, Steve, Bucky, T'Challa, Okoye, Sam and Rhodey came into the clearing alongside Thor, a racoon and a tree…both were talking and their eyes lit up when they saw the Guardians. Tony began to walk towards Thanos who was staring at him with puzzlement like the others. The billionaire's body shone with an orange hue as his suit vanished and his wound healed. Orange eyes appeared instead of his beautiful chocolate ones.
"Tones?" Rhodey asked worry consuming his voice,
"Your reign of chaos, destruction, suffering and death ends now, Thanos. Return the Stones to their rightful places or suffer further consequences." The Titan began to laugh,
"You, a pitiful human, think you can order me about. I allowed you to live once, you do not foolishly believe I won't hesitate to kill you now?"
"You won't kill me. You can't. No one can." It was more noticeable now that there was another voice speaking alongside Tony's. The genius' voice held a lighter and somewhat angelic tone than it normally did.
"What are you?" Thanos asked curiously,
"Release my siblings from your hold."
"You are the Soul Stone." He murmured moments later,
"That I am." Tony's voice was perfectly mixed with the lighter one, "And you have chosen to force my siblings to do your bidding. No one forced you to murder half of the universe. You are under no orders. Merely foolish delusions. Cease this Thanos of the Titans. Son of A'Lars." But the Titan refused to listen and his body moved into an offensive stance. The gauntlet raised at an armour-less Tony, who stayed still. Acting without a care. "You choose to fight? How foolish you must be. You turn my own siblings against me and believe it will work." Thanos growled and used the Stones against Tony, the others were being held back by an invisible force as they shouted for Tony. Light struck down on the defenceless man and as it cleared everyone's eyes widened as Tony remained unharmed. Body glowing even more, he began to rise in the air, arms spread out to the side as orbs that looked like small suns began to grow in his hands.
"Why do you protect these mortals?" The Titan asked in confusion as the two stared each other down,
"We were created to bring balance to the universe. We were not created to be hunted down and collected. To be used as decorations of destruction. To become an equivalent of animal heads on the walls of hunters. You seek us to bring the opposite of our purpose." The Soul Stone spoke through Tony, ignoring the question and gesturing to the glowing gauntlet, "Trapped in your gauntlet, my siblings are forced to become something they are not. You use destiny as an excuse to make you a better man. You're a saviour. A survivor. A prophet. You have a martyr complex. But all you are is a madman deluded by your own belief. I ask once more. Surrender yourself, free my siblings and return home, leaving behind your foolish agenda or refuse and die."
"You cannot kill me."
"You are no God, Son of A'Lar. You can bleed and therefore you can be killed."
"You are using a mortal container. I may not be able to defeat you, but I can certainly kill Stark. He has been nothing but a thorn in my side. He has been in my head for the past six years. I seek to kill him because of this and I missed my chance before as I was merciful."
"Have care how you speak of Anthony." The voice growled and anger crackled in the air, "You have tormented him for six years. Led him to confusion and terror. Made him believe he was mad. He is mine and no one else's. Do you surrender or not?"
"Join me. We can fix this failing world. We can save it. You feel the same way. I can sense it. Stark is a reflection of me."
"Do you surrender or not?" The voice was louder and Tony's voice could be heard clearly too, Thanos smirked,
"So Stark is in there. We are very similar, you and I. You want to protect the world and I offer the solution."
"Do you surrender or not?" The voice screamed alongside Tony's and Thanos raised the gauntlet as his answer,
"Never."
"Have it your way then." Tony snapped his fingers just like Thanos would have had he gotten all of the Stones and light orange consumed the world. It lasted for what felt like hours but was only a mere few seconds. When the orange hue finally faded, the superheroes watched as Thanos toppled over, he was dead before he even hit the ground. Above the purple corpse, four stones rose from the gauntlet and formed a circle as they floated towards Tony, who was consumed in what looked like fire. The glow grew brighter but smaller as another stone, the Soul Stone, appeared and the glow left Tony as he fell lifelessly to the ground. Everyone stood frozen in shock and horror as the stones began to spin around in their circle at an impossible speed. Vision hissed as the Mind Stone glowed just as brightly as the others.
"Avengers -Old, New and Rogue, Guardians and Wakandans. We apologise for the destruction and death we were forced to commit. Have no worry, Anthony Stark is well, though the effects caused by Soul's exit may take a few days or weeks for him to recover. Though, Soul is still connected to him just not as much as previously as the threat has been vanquished. Through Soul's sight, we have all watched the child grow. Despite many beliefs, he has not had a simple life. Be kind to him. Be respectful. Be gentle. Cease the blame you throw at him. He seeks love and care. Time wishes to warn you of the loneliness and depression that threatens to drown him. We see all and our sights will forever remain on Anthony until he departs from your plane." There were noticeably six voices speaking to them in unison, each one belonging to a Stone, they spoke in perfect synchronisation and it was like a lullaby; soothing and soft. Rhodey rushed over to Tony, departing from the suit as he did so, Bruce followed the paralysed man's actions seconds later.
"We thank you for your help and generosity, Infinity Stones. We will forever remain in your debt."
"Thor, Son of Odin, you need not thank us. We apologise for the loss of your people and wish you to know your brother continues to live." Loki suddenly appeared next to Thor, eyes wide in shock and confusion as he spied the fallen body of Thanos, though the Trickster had mere seconds to realise what had happened as muscular arms wrapped around him tightly. Thor began to cry softly as he held his brother whom he had thought was dead for good this time.
The Stones finally disappeared save for the Mind Stone that would stay with Vision. Along with their vanishing, Thanos' army turned to dust and disappeared in the wind as did the pods they came in, leaving many Wakandan soldiers to wonder what had happened.