Prologue The Snap

2023

*TITAN*

Tony's point of view

The purple alien known as Thanos glared at me from across the battlefield. His cerulean eyes were like ice chips. His gold armour stood out against the darkening red sky that was the backdrop of the battle.

"Stark?" he snapped

"You know me?" I demanded

"Unfortunately" he sneered

"You're the one whose been in my head for 6 god damn years, and you dare say that that's unfortunate?" I growled, fixing him with a glare of my own.
"Yes I dare. You are arrogant, brash, cold, self-serving… how the redhead puts up with you, I will never know."

"God you're annoying! I don't know how either of your daughters put up with you… or why let me tell you something you 400lb no good son of a bitch. If you throw another planet at me I'm gonna lose it and knock you into the middle of the next century! I'll kick your sorry ass so far into orbit that you won't know what's hit you when you land. You're going to stop this crap and go away. You're going to get lost right now, and you're going to go back to whatever hellhole you crawled out of and stay there. I don't want anything to do with you. I don't want you anywhere near my family and I sure as hell do not want to have to deal with you again any time soon and the fact that you would sacrifice your own child to get what you want is disgusting."

"Father, he's right… I'll go with you to get the stone… so long as Gamora tells us where it is"
"It's on Vormir"

Thanos's point of view

"Proxima, it was good of you to volunteer for this job."

"I didn't think it was good for Gamora to have to give up her life. She has established herself - albeit with others but don't you want your children to be happy?"
"That's all any good parent wants"

*VORMIR*

"Welcome Thanos son of Alars, welcome Proxima Midnight, daughter of Thanos" said a voice.

"Where is the Soul Stone"
"It lies down there… along with what you fear. To retrieve it, you must sacrifice that which you love most"

"Your sacrifice will not be in vain Proxima"

"I should hope not. Please tell Gamora and Nebula I did this for them"
"I will"

Tony's point of view

"What do we do, do we wait for Thanos so that we can end this or do we go"
"Wait"
"Wait"

"Go"

*Back on TITAN*

"I am inevitable"

"That's what you think"

"It is not what I think, it is what I know… I am… inevitable"

*SNAP*

He was wearing the Infinity gauntlet when he snapped his fingers. I fell backwards and Peter landed on top of me.

"Dad… I don't want to go… please…"
"Peter you're OK… I got you buddy, I just…"

He started to disintegrate into dust… and the dust blew away into nothingness.

"NOOOO!"

"Tony I…" Strange began and he too became dust.

"We have to get back to the ship come on Tony we have to go no!" Nebula cried, she and Jay dragged me by my elbows. Bruce was behind us. Gamora followed. Her eyes on Thanos and the devastation that his snap had created. Gamora had admitted to knowing where the Soul Stone was but Proxima Midnight volunteered to go to Vormir to retrieve the stone, allowing Gamora to stay with us.

"What do we do?"
"We try to patch up the engine and go home!"

*ON EARTH*

*NEW YORK*

Pepper's point of view

For some reason, the television was tuned to Tony's tracker device, and I saw Thanos snap his fingers. That's when I realised that Tony was on Titan.

"No! No! No! No!" I shrieked "THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING!"

"Pepper what's wrong?"
"Tony's in trouble BIG trouble… there has to be something we can do to help"
"There is" said Wong. "And right when The Snap happened… Fury did it. I don't know if it worked but…"

"What do we do?"
"We get together at the Sanctum Sanctorum, and stay there. We take a head count, and we figure out what comes next… all of us… together"

"There's more room here"

"Yes, you're right, however, as The Sorcerer Supreme, I have responsibilities."

"Bring everyone here, we need people skilled in triage"
"Of course. I will bring the students from Kamar-Taj - we teach basic first aid there as well as Time Studies, so they will be able to help."

*WAKANDA*

Steve's point of view

The battle was ferocious. Then quite suddenly… people started turning to dust…

"BUCKY!" I shrieked

"BROTHER!" yelled Shuri

"What do we do? I don't know what to do" yelled Wanda and then she turned and found that Vision had been stabbed and she broke… completely. Sam hugged her…
"We go back to New York, we find out what's going on, we find the others, we see what we can do to help" said Nat, her voice brooked no argument. "I'll go on ahead, Shuri you round up those who are left and bring them to New York. My best friend needs me… ummm Time Lady? Can you… portal me to my best friend?"

"Of course Nat. My name is Aoife."

"Yes ma'am" said Shuri

*CLINT'S FARM*

Clint's point of view

Nat and I were not living together. I was living with the surrogate we'd hired when we had our other three children. The media had caused all kinds of problems and although Nat and I were still soulmates, this arrangement was less grating on my temper.

"Laura? Hey Laura? Nate? Coop? Li? What the… HOLY SHIT!"
"Clint… look at me… stop… stop, hey hey hey, stop it. Look at me… it's Nat…"

"They're gone Nat…"

"It's OK Clint… we'll go to New York… Pepper is going to need our help"

*ON LONG ISLAND: AT THE S.H.I.E.L.D OFFICE*
Peggy's point of view

"Howard?"

"Peg?"
People became dust before our eyes. Agents, trainees, professors… Thanos's snap did not discriminate.

"Howard. Gather everyone who's left in my office… we'll head to New York. Pepper is going to need our help. In more ways than one"

"All right Peg"

*WSC HQ*

Councilwoman Hawley's point of view

"We have a Code 89… I repeat we have a Code 89"

"An extraterrestrial being is causing problems?"
"Yes… I know that's a rather glib understatement Coulson but, it's the shortest sharpest way to get the message I need to get across to people across. We need to go to Stark Tower, immediately"

"Who's left?"
"Head agents Carter and Stark, Agent Fitz, Agent Simmons, Agent Coulson, Agent Hill, Agent May, Trainee Agent Johnson, Trainee Agent Potter, Trainee Agent Granger, Trainee Agent Fred Weasley, Trainee Agent George Weasley and Trainee Agent McMahon"

"All right, we have to get to Manhattan, ASAP!"

*STARK TOWER*

Nat's point of view

"OK Pepper, listen, we're going to figure out what happened and how to get Tony and the others home"

Peggy took Pepper upstairs and put her to bed. She was exhausted and worried.

Peggy's point of view

"I just found out this morning when I was at the doctor that… I'm pregnant!"
"Oh Pepper that's wonderful"

"It's twins… Twin girls. I was going to tell Tony tonight and… now everything's ruined."

"Not necessarily"

Carol's point of view

"That's the distress signal box you gave Fury" said Monica

"I know"
I turned and found that she was gone… there was dust on the wind.

"THANOS!" I snarled.

There was a white flash and two figures crash landed on the grass.

"Thor…"
"Carol"
"Thank goodness… are you OK?"
"No… Thanos… destroyed Asgard…"
"What happened to your eye?"
"Ah, that was Hela… my half sister. She took my eye in a fit of tempest because I stepped between her and Loki"
"Thanos did what he said he would" said Loki.

"I received a distress signal from Fury"
"He dusted… I'm going to go to New York and check on things there. How about I take Jane with me?"
"All right… be safe. This could take a while."
"You too. Take as long as you need, just… come home."

Thor and I went back into space… Near Titan, the Benatar II was floating… it was glowing.

"There's life on board"
"It's Stark"

"The ship is badly damaged. Tony is quite seriously injured and he has a nasty infection."

Pepper's point of view

23 days after Tony left on the ship with Strange, Jay, Peter and Bruce, Carol and Thor brought them back.
I stayed back, stomach churning uncomfortably, the pregnancy related sickness had been horrible. Peggy had helped me through it. Steve got to the Benatar II first…

I heard Tony say

"I lost the kid"
"Tony, we lost"

"Is umm…"

And I stepped out of the shadows.

"Hi" he said embracing me

"Hi… god Tony I was so scared"
"I'm here now… and I'm going to be OK"

Once Bruce and the others had been looked after by the medical team, we arranged a celebration and memorial for those who had been snapped.

Just before the celebration took place I took Tony into Bruce's lab. I sat on the bed and lay down.

"Bruce?"
"OK"

Bruce picked up a bottle of cold jelly and the scanning probe and put it on my abdomen.

"Tony, remember how I said I had something to show you?"
"Yeah"
"This is it"

He turned, awestruck towards the screen.

"That's wonderful Pep…" he said, and then he broke… completely. He turned and tried to run out of the room but his exhausted legs wouldn't hold his weight any more and he collapsed.

"What happened Jay?"

"Peter got snapped. Tony blames himself."

Bruce had to give Tony a sedative.

"The sedative will allow him to rest properly and clear the remaining infection from his system. I'm going to give you a sedative too Pepper. You need to rest. Mom tells me you have had dreadful pregnancy related sickness"
"Yes I have. Haven't been able to eat anything or drink anything… certain smells make me nauseous…"

"Sounds like a nasty case of hyperemesis. I'm putting you on bed rest. You and Tony."

"All right"

Tony's point of view

When I awoke several hours later, Pepper was still asleep beside me. I pulled her into my arms, hissing slightly as her weight hit the injury. I felt exhausted, the injury was still a little tender.

"How are you feeling?" said Jay. He'd been sitting watching over us.
"Tired. Sore. Guilty. I never should have let Peter come on that mission"
"He wanted to learn, he wanted to be an Avenger. He wanted to be like you."
"He should have been goofing around with his friends… not… taking on purple aliens"
"He did really well"
"I know he did, but he shouldn't have been there."

Pepper groaned softly and woke up

"I can't help but feel as though I failed as a father"
"You didn't. Peter wanted to be there. He was happy to help. He gave his life for the one thing he believed in more than anything. The Avengers."

"There might… and I stress… might be a way to bring everyone back"

"Not until after the twins arrive." I said firmly.

"We can work on it. When you and the method of doing it are ready, we will do it."