Tony felt shook up after his...well, whatever that was. Strange was still there.
"What do I do?"
Strange sighed and stood up.
"The Eye of Agamotto fails to give me guidance, nor does Uatu inform me of the future. All you may know of the future is that it possibly brings death."
He walked to the door.
"Can I count on you when hell falls from the sky?"
He turned to look at Tony.
"Yes, my friend. I shall reside in this city for the time being."
"Thank you."
Strange left. Tony got up, and walked into the kitchen. Steve Rogers sat at his table.
"Jesus Christ, can I go one minute tonight without being disturbed?!"
Steve laughed.
"I need help, and you're the only guy I can really turn to."
"Shoot."
"They've made me a hero, Stark. I'm being held up in the light and I don't think I should be there. How do you deal with it?"
"You want the whole 'Look Inside' talk? Well, sorry to disappoint. Don't want to be a hero? Don't be a hero."
"But I want to-"
"Then be a hero! Jeez. Have something, someone to latch onto, to be the person or thing you fight for. And then forget them. Do stupid things and just hope that they work out."
"...thanks?"
"Good. Now, if you excuse me I need to sleep."
He walked upstairs, and Steve slipped back outside.
lllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Tony set off early next morning to see someone who knew about space.
He entered the Baxter Building, and jogged into the elevator. He knocked on the only door on his chosen floor.
A greying man answered the door.
"Tony. Nice to see you."
"Reed."
"Come in."
He stepped inside, and found himself surrounded by papers and machines.
"Listen, I need to talk about space."
"Well, as someone who has been there and of course, been affected by it, I can see why you came."
"Show me, first. Stretch Armstrong."
Reed sighed, and his arm stretched incredibly over to his fridge. He removed a beer and handed it to Tony, before his arm went back to normal. Reed, his wife Sue, her brother Johnny and his friend Ben had been part of an expedition to space. Reed had wanted to measure and look at potentially dangerous flares, and his ship had been bombarded by strange energy. Reed had been given the power to stretch his body, Sue had been granted invisibility and limited abilities to create barriers, Johnny had been given the ability to cover himself in flames and flight, whereas Ben had been irreversibly turned into a stone creature.
"How long would it take something coming from space to be seen in the sky?"
"Depends on where it's coming from. Why?"
"Oh, nothing, Just an alien invasion that's happening in three months."
"What?!"
They both looked as a blond woman appeared out of nowhere.
"I was contacted by this guy, Dr. Strange. Said I was destined to fight a threat from another world. Then a big-headed guy called Uatu whisked me off to the astral planes, told me that a guy called Thanos is coming in three months."
They laughed. However, their surroundings changed into a misty blackness.
"Not now, Big head!" Tony sighed. Uatu walked from the mist.
"Anthony Stark tells the truth. Thanos shall arrive in this city, to wreak havoc and murder on a large scale. He shall wipe out the human race."
"Why?!"
"Thanos seeks only to please Death, the one woman he let enter his heart. The only way he knows how to do this is by destroying life."
"But what do we-"
"I have to get the world ready. I have to gather an army, to fight Thanos. All I've got so far is Steve Rogers, Peter Parker, Dr. Strange and Clint Barton. Nick Fury, maybe. Bruce Banner, hopefully. And me, of course."
"We'll help too. The four of us."
"Thanks, guys."
Uatu retreated and the world returned to normal.
"You guys tell Johnny and Ben, I'll go tell the others."
They nodded. The preparation for the fight was underway.