"I don't much time, I'll explain what I can before I must leave."
"Could you, well, elaborate further on that?" Hope inquired in response to Dr. Strange's vague words. She was still hung up on the fact that the two of them were supposedly going to help save the universe. Surprisingly, her goofy partner didn't make a comment of his own, merely continuing to stare at the newcomer with a befuddled look.
"Yes, of course, time is of the essence," the sorcerer replied, snapping back to reality. "From what I saw, you two will be crucial parts in the battle to come. Fir—"
Strange paused his explanation then at the sight of Scott's hand being raised, the man approaching the situation with much of the same apprehensiveness he had when he was first recruited by Hank Pym to be the Ant-Man. "Okay, first of all, who are you again? And second, what kind of battle are you talking about here? I thought we already defeated Ghost."
"Ghost?" Strange inquired, sidetracked by Scott's flurry of questions.
"Scott, believe me, I have a lot more questions I'd love to ask," Hope said in an attempt to placate her partner. "But it can wait. Let the man speak, he obviously knows something."
"She's right, I do. And to answer your question Mr. Lang, I saw a future battle and all its possible outcomes," Strange explained calmly.
"… That's kind of heavy, but why would you… er, I mean, how can you—" Scott stuttered out.
"I can conjure weapons and portals out of pure dimensional energy," Strange held his hands in a stance, the glow of his orange shields providing a momentary light source. "Access realms like this one, and I'm one of the more powerful sorcerers on Earth. Looking into the future certainly isn't above my paygrade."
"Right, right," Scott pondered this information for a moment. Apparently, magic was a thing outside of his card tricks and slight of hand. "Isn't that kind of considered cheating?"
"Perhaps. But I've always been one to bend the rules when deemed necessary. And against someone like Thanos, it was necessary."
"Thanos?" the two questioned, in sync as Strange expected. After all, not even he, Master of the Mystic Arts who monitored all kinds of threats to Earth, knew of the Titan who had slain entire civilizations before Dr. Banner crashed into the sanctum.
"You'll learn more of him in time," Strange said simply.
"Right," Hope replied, trying to process this new information. "So, I assume you must've fought this Thanos, then?"
"Yes, we lost the battle," a certain tranquility showed in his voice, Strange having come to terms with the winning outcome long ago. Still, to see half the universe perish fourteen million times… even Dormammu's assault on him paled in comparison. He decided to elaborate a bit further, given that the two would likely get the details sooner or later regardless. "Lives were lost on an unprecedented scale, and you, Mr. Lang, will be crucial in defeating Thanos when the time comes."
Scott shot the doctor a sideways look at yet another mention of his supposed big role. "Yeah, about that… Why I am the key to making all this work? I mean, Hope's a way better kickass fighter than me, she's smarter, not to mention her suit's way better than mine…"
"Scott…" Hope could only roll her eyes at her partner's rambling.
"It's true though!" he persisted. "I still can't believe Hank held out on me like that."
"If I may interject…" Strange cut in before the two got too sidetracked. "The truth is, Ms. Van Dyne wasn't supposed to be trapped here with you in the winning scenario I saw. It appears the timeline has branched off slightly from the winning scenario I manipulated into place."
"That doesn't make sense," Scott's voice was laced with confusion. "I mean, just how many of these futures did we win anyway?"
"I only saw that one," the sorcerer mused, trying to convince himself the timeline hadn't been butchered. Having another person on deck for Thanos would certainly only increase their chances, right? "You raise a good point though, perhaps I just didn't look into enough possibilities."
"Fair enough," Hope nodded, a little disturbed by the notion that this man had been micromanaging events to play out exactly as he wanted. "So, where do we fit in this winning scenario?"
"I'm not sure," Strange said honestly, to be met with skeptical glances from the two of them. "I couldn't see beyond my death and—"
"You died? But then… how are you even here right now?" Scott asked.
Strange winced at his slip up, which didn't go unnoticed by either of them. He was reluctant to tell them of Thanos's act in the moment. Instead, he conjured up a small projection of the Infinity Stones before them that didn't take up too much of his dwindling energy, hoping to keep the details vague, but enough to satisfy any questions.
"Thanos sought out these six elemental crystals called Infinity Stones. They each control a certain aspect of life, and when he got them all…" Strange trailed off, willing himself to draw the resolve for what he had to say next. "He eliminated his enemies, those who he deemed not worthy of life, people who could to be a threat to him once he achieved omnipotence. I was one of those on his list." Technically not a lie, he did view half the universe as his enemies against 'balance'.
Neither Scott or Hope spoke at this, visibly disturbed by the information, allowing Strange to continue. "But what he didn't know was that he didn't completely kill us, he merely transported us all to a pocket dimension inside the Soul Stone. This one." At this, he made the glowing shine of the orange stone sparkle.
"So you mean this is your soul then, your… life essence?" Hope asked, realization hitting her.
"I prefer to call it my astral form, but yes, that is essentially what you're seeing," the sorcerer said with a nod of his head before giving further details. "After I arrived in the Soul Stone, I began searching for temporal gateways, interdimensional rifts between realms using my sorcery. The stone is very stingy when it comes to its captured souls, it took a great strain of energy just to get here to the…"
"Quantum realm," Hope put in.
"Right, quantum realm. Anyway, I doubt I can return to the physical world, not without some help."
"But just where do we fit in all of this?" Scott asked, slightly frustrated.
"I'm not sure. In the winning scenario, I was resurrected somehow, and the two of you were fighting alongside the Avengers, all of them. But I don't know how we got to that point."
"The Avengers?" Hope said with a hint of distaste in her voice. "I know it seems miniscule in light of facing a being who has power over all of reality, but what about the Accords? If we reveal ourselves, the UN will send a strike force on us."
"Believe me, Ms. Van Dyne, by the time you return, the Accords will hardly be a problem. It won't hamper your efforts or willingness to fight the battle."
"Good to know, but what happened after you got magicked back into existence? You must've been able to see since you were… er, will be alive, how'd we defeat Thanos?" Scott pressed.
"I was brought back when the fight was already practically won. I don't know what led to that victory," Strange said. "I only saw a beacon of golden light, presumably from the Infinity Stones, and I couldn't see any further than that."
"It can't ever be easy, can it?" Hope stated, as if she expected such an empty answer.
"Your girlfriend catches on fast," Strange mused, a slight smirk on his face.
"She does that a lot," Scott shrugged before laying out the beginnings of a plan. "So, we have to find the Avengers when we get out, got it," he stated simply before a question came to him.
"Any idea how we get out of here?"
"No, and speaking of which…" The two of them glanced at Strange, who seemed to be flickering in and out of existence, like a video transmission with poor reception. "I've used too much of my energy staying here, I must return to the Soul Stone at once."
"Wait!" Scott yelled as Strange began to twirl his hands to search for the interdimensional gap between the realms. He paled at the annoyed look Strange gave him before asking meekly, "Is there anything else you can tell us?"
The sorcerer opened his mouth, but before he could respond, he faded away again, this time for good in a dazzling flash of white. It was a bizarre encounter in the quantum realm to say the least. In the span of what felt like a few minutes, they learned they would have to go from fighting a woman who could phase through objects, and sure, she was a trained assassin for SHIELD, but that didn't exactly match up to a being who held the power of the universe contained in six tiny pieces of rock. Hope eventually broke the silence, summing up their new predicament perfectly in just a few words.
"What are we getting into here?"
Pain.
It was like clockwork to him, sometimes an oddly assuring constant in his life to remind him that he was still living, that the 'up there' was the endgame. The mistakes he made, the ends would justify the means… until they didn't. Building the team, all the camaraderie, only to see it crumple with the passage of time, forged and dismantled by the same hand of human ambition and moral conflict.
The restless nights, trauma building, an uncertain future ahead where he made promises in vain. The past leaving him susceptible, blinding enough that he couldn't see the full picture, the road to defeat being taken on his desire to avoid it. All the tedious hours of preparation, advancing what he could all for naught in the end, to fail nonetheless.
And yet, there had been that lulling period of blissful peace. Time where he truly felt for once that he was only doing what he was doing as precaution, with no sense of urgency or world-ending threat on the horizon. A time where he thought just maybe, maybe he could settle down and step away from the battle that would inevitably have to be fought.
How naïve he'd been.
"Stark." He knew firsthand just how much fear words could strike into a person, but in that moment, the dread and anticipation had reached its climax. This was it; the demon he had in his head for the past six years, the very being he knew from afar, the one that influenced every single one of his actions. It was almost liberating to finally put a face to the orchestrator who had set everything into place, but of course, his fear undercut everything else then and there.
So he gave it his all even with the knowledge he would lose. Because that's what heroes do. The feeling of coming up short, the weight of the universe on his shoulders, he felt almost catatonic afterwards, still living as a soulless animated corpse in a sense. Seeing his life being valued like that, the 'respect' he had earned, why? He hated that sense of helplessness, of being a pawn in someone's intricate game. Going out on his own terms, that would've been enough. It was never his own death that scared him, he was almost resigned to it, an inevitability like the sun rising.
But now, he felt… nothing, his resolve dwindling, only to be refueled by vengeance in an instant. The internal conflict gnawed away at him even in sleep, the images forever ingrained in his mind. To live… what would be the point, knowing that he, a hardly measurable entity in an unforgiving universe, had caused its death? Avenging a planet was one thing, but an entire universe was… was inconceivable. He wanted to lull himself into submission, to let go of the pain, but without it, there was no life to live. But would that be so bad?
The thoughts consumed Tony Stark like an eternal flame, only to finally be met with a reprieve in consciousness, a distraction.
Tony woke up to the sight of a holographic interface of some sort. Instinctively, he touched his hand to his midsection, only to discover the gaping stab wound gone. He reached under his shirt apprehensively, and sure enough, the nanites that had sealed the puncture weren't present either. Whoever had patched him up did a top-notch job. Still, there was one more thing test…
He got up easily, not even showing a hint of the limp he was sporting when he was last awake. He walked over to an observatory deck, glancing out at what looked to be an underground train line, moving with a great speed to it. The room he was in was a lab of some sort, and Tony couldn't help but notice a certain metal he had researched to a great extent two years ago was embedded in almost every single device there. Oh yeah, there was no question as to where he was.
"I'm glad you're doing better."
Tony turned towards the voice, one that belonged to someone he hadn't from ever since that fateful letter two years ago. It startled him, though he wasn't necessarily surprised by the gritty, bearded man standing before him, who looked to be jaded by the cruelties of life.
"Captain Rogers." He gave a head nod, trying to sound as noncommittal as possible. Where would they even start?
"Tony, look I—"
"That's where I'm going to have to get you to stop," Tony held up his hands, not wanting to hear this conversation with his emotions still running high. "Look, I know it's been two years, we all know, but Thanos just wiped out half of goddamn existence. Let's air out the extracurriculars later, okay?"
Steve was a little disappointed by Tony's willingness to cast the past aside for the time being, knowing it would only be a looming cloud over them, an unspoken thing that needed to be addressed, but fully understood his reasoning. He didn't want to risk alienating Tony again, so for the sake of diplomacy, he nodded. In light of recent events, the Civil War did feel like water under the bridge, even more so with the passage of time.
"Okay," he said eventually, walking forward to extend his hand.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Tony took it, shaking loosely. A droning silence held in the air, until Rogers asked the question that both of them needed to know the answer to. "How… How'd things go on your end? Your… acquaintance hasn't been very upfront about it."
"Well…" Tony snuck a look towards the incline walkway that presumably led upstairs, immediately noticing said acquaintance peering down at them. Nebula, that was her name. He shivered at the sight of her as the events on Titan were brought to the forefront of his mind again. Just thinking about it… "We should probably get everyone up to speed. It's not a story I want to repeat."
Steve simply gestured for Tony to follow him, a silent agreement between the two. He fiddled with his all way comms device, asking everyone to meet in 'the same room as last time'. As they passed the observation deck that lounged above the medical bay/lab, Nebula gave Tony an expression of what looked to be relief at his healed condition, much to their surprise.
"Nebula, glad to see you stuck around," Tony said as he stopped to address her.
The woman's face immediately shifted to one of her patented icy glares, one that Tony was already a little familiar with. "Don't think I will stay for long, Stark. I am only here to gather information to kill my father," she snarled.
Tony shrugged. "Whatever the reason, it's good to see a familiar face."
She didn't respond to his attempt of breaking the ice, instead turning on her heel to stomp upstairs. Steve looked at Tony, impressed that he had actually gotten words out of the woman.
"I'm just such a good people person," Tony said, sarcasm dripping in his voice.
"You got more out of her than the rest of us did," Steve replied with a light chuckle as a question came to him. "When she said her father, she didn't mean…?"
"Yeah, him. You fought some of those aliens, didn't you?" Steve nodded, thoughts fleeting to the moment where the skinny, pale one had choked him. "They were supposedly his 'children', though I'm guessing not biological. She wouldn't elaborate on it."
"Well then," Steve replied, a bit disturbed, because what the hell else could he say about a being who wiped out half the universe raising others' children as his own?
"Yeah…" Tony decided talking about Thanos could wait just a little more. "Let's just get upstairs."
Tony couldn't help but stare at the grandeur of Wakanda's capital from the view he was given. How vibranium could enhance an entire city like this was still beyond his comprehension. As they walked around the corridor of one of the upper floors, Steve couldn't help but smile a bit at his old friend's admiration.
"Like what you see?"
"Yeah, it's pretty… ground-breaking tech."
Steve shrugged. "I remember seeing it for the first time too. Feels like you're on a different planet."
Tony shook his head in amazement, still in awe of all the enhancements made. "I've gotta talk to one of the scientists here."
"Your best bet's probably Shuri, though right now she's busy…" he said with a grimace.
"Busy?" Tony felt an ominous feeling begin to rise in his throat, nothing good could come of that word right now.
"The ceremony… She was T'Challa's sister, he…"
Oh. Another good person gone by Thanos's hand. Though they had never really conversed during the whole Accords debacle, Tony had held the former Black Panther in high regard, in part due to his vibranium suit, sure, but also for the whole wise beyond his years demeanour he exuded throughout. The manner in which he apprehended his father's killer in Zemo, Tony wasn't sure he could show such restraint at that age. And while he did suspect him of harbouring the rogues, he respected the decision and understood that what the Wakandan King was doing would be beneficial in the long term. But in the end, it was all in vain. Damn Accords…
Before Tony could get too engrossed in his thoughts, they finally made it to this meeting room, where inside, another series of reunions could ensue. Rhodey, Bruce, Barton, and Romanoff all sat around a table that had way too many seats for the circumstances.
"Where's Thor?" Steve asked, much to Tony's surprise. How long had it been since he last saw the 'God of Thunder'?
"Point Break's here?" he blurted, the old nickname earning a few smirks from the others.
"He's helping the Asgardians settle in," Bruce said simply.
"Why are his freakishly superhuman people here?"
"Long story short, all the Asgardians got on this giant spaceship to escape from Thor's evil sister—" Bruce began.
"Thor has a sister?" That was news to him.
"Well, probably half sister in retrospect. Anyway, we summoned a giant fire demon to kill his sister and the planet with it and now the people have nowhere else to go but here. That about sums it up."
"And you were, well, with him? In space?"
"For the last two or three years, yeah. Though most of it not with him. But anyway…" Bruce trailed off as Clint gave him a look.
At this, Rhodey stood up and strode towards him. "It's good to have you back, Tony. You really are a survivor."
While he appreciated the sentiment, he couldn't help but feel a fleeting wave of darkness spread over him at the words that reminded him of Dr. Strange's foolish bargain, which of course drew the attention of everyone. "Hardly," he said with a snort. "Sometimes, it's just people prioritizing my life over others."
"What do you mean?" Steve asked as everyone's faces notably drooped. It was chilling to see just how much his 'trading lives' complex seemed to play a role in everything.
"I need to sit down for this," Tony muttered, collapsing into a chair while truly taking in the presence of his former teammates for the first time.
"Agent Romanoff, looking spiffy. Though I gotta say, the blonde is a bit extra."
"You haven't lost a step in the quips department," she responded, cool as ice.
"After the day we've all had, we could use some lightheartedness." Tony's words didn't match his tone though, the math of the situation beginning to sink in. "This is everyone left?"
"Yeah." The one word from Steve reverberated throughout the room, until Tony cleared his throat to speak again.
"I assume you guys already know I was in space," Several nods ensued, followed by Tony taking a deep breath. "Okay, here's the gist of it all."
He explained how he discovered Peter on the ship, the odd exchange with Strange's sentient cloak, before blasting evil Squidward into space to free the wizard. When he got to the part where they encountered those oddball Guardians, suddenly everyone's interests piqued.
"Another human in space?" Bruce's eyes were wide. "And for his whole life?"
"Well, he claimed he was only half human, never really got into the other half though," Tony elaborated.
"To think we thought we were alone in this universe," Steve mused aloud.
"Yeah… The Chitauri were our first major tip off, though that still caught me off guard. We ended up working with them to ambush Thanos, humanoid Quill came up with the plan, and we were getting ready when Strange, the bastard, said he saw the future to find out how we win." His breath hitched in his throat as he recalled the dread brewing within him. Everyone leaned in closely to hear what transpired next. "He said there was only one way for us to win, but he wouldn't tell us what it was. All he told us was to just go with our plan. We waited for Thanos to show up, jerk talked about completing his 'goal' and 'watching the sun rise' before we put the plan into action.
"And it worked. We had him pinned down and sedated until…" Tony closed his eyes, unsure what to say. He didn't want to condemn Quill in death, but at the same time, it made his teeth grind knowing how close they were.
"Until what, Tony?" Rhodey asked quietly.
"Until Thanos broke free, knocked out half the team, and then threw a moon at us," he said, keeping it short. "I saw Strange fighting when I was trapped under the rubble, that guy…" Images of him duplicating himself and conjuring spells to nullify black holes were seared in his brain. "He put up a good fight."
"I stepped in, got stabbed with my own blade, maybe you could call that coming full circle or whatever, and it was over. We failed. But then Strange, being the all-knowing guy he was, he gives up the Time Stone to spare my life! Half the universe for me! And then he gives me some bullshit answer about being in the endgame to justify it!" Tony was yelling now; his anger being displayed in full force right before breaking down with his head in his hands.
"Tony… is there anything else Strange said that might help?" Bruce asked gently in an effort to snap the man out of his self loathing mood. "If he knew what was going to happen, he wouldn't have let us lose like this."
"What could he have done? Any of us? Everything I had, and all I could come up with was a drop of blood. He told me so himself that there was no other way, right before fading out of existence along with a kid who was only sixteen years old!"
Steve had grimaced at Tony's tale, much more defined with horror than the battle in Wakanda, where Thanos had merely subdued them in a matter of seconds despite wielding the power to obliterate them all in that moment instead of leaving it up to chance. "Tony, we'll get through this," he said, trying to create some spark of hope. "We may have lost the battle, but as long as there are still people willing to fight, to oppose Thanos, we can still avenge the fallen in the end. That day will come."
"Avenging?" Tony wanted to laugh at Steve's proposal, but at the same time, he didn't want to crush his own foolish hope of bringing Thanos down himself. He thought back to Nebula's words regarding the Titan. "If we could even get within the same solar system as him, he could wipe us out of existence without even lifting a finger. Not that I wouldn't do it in a heartbeat, but we don't even know where he is."
"I know Tony, it was just an idea. But you're right, there are other things we can do to make this right. Tony, Pepper's waiting for you." The billionaire finally allowed himself to lighten up a bit at the news. "We're sending out a damage control team to release some statements to the public. Cleanup efforts for the mass panic in cities will begin soon. Countries will collapse, governments left in turmoil. I know we haven't done much of this kind of work before, but it's the best we can do for now."
Steve's words hung in the air, met by only nods and some downcast eyes as resignation and acceptance to this new reality clicked in. A universe where a madman could shape it however he pleases. The room took on a solitary mood, the Avengers still reeling from the losses they would carry with them for the rest of their lives. But this time as they adjourned their third meeting in the past twenty-four hours, there was at least some semblance of unity, a silver lining in the midst of a worldwide armageddon as they sat down together as a team for the first time in two years. Regardless, the sorrow was still ever present as the team parted their separate ways, with the knowledge deep down that it'd be difficult to regain that team dynamic and the cohesiveness that came with it.
Even though the past was the past, things would never be the same. Maybe they didn't have to be though.
"Did you do it?"
Dr. Strange turned to face the woman, nodding solemnly. "Yes, everything's fine… everything's the way it should be."
"Stephen—"
He groaned. "Again, I much prefer Doctor Strange."
She gave him a look of skepticism. "Don't lie to me. You think we're in the wrong timeline, don't you?"
"That isn't a concern. Having another person to fight Thanos can't be a bad thing."
Deciding the answer was satisfactory, she nodded. "Makes sense. But why lie to them?"
"It was—"
"Doctor, we both know you did. Again, but why?"
"Your constant knowledge of my intentions is quite disturbing," Strange commented, deflecting the question.
"It's one of—actually it's the only benefit of being tethered to the stone, but the knowledge is also a burden," she replied simply. "And I can't read your thoughts, I'm merely going off intuition, based on how I perceive your soul."
"Thank you for the insight, Gamora," he replied, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "Now, should we search for some souls now?"
Again, she gave him that look. "Not until you tell me what your plan is," she reaffirmed.
Strange sighed in response to the person who was regarded as the fiercest woman in the galaxy, but decided to come clean before she discovered what he was hiding herself. "The truth is, I am not entirely certain of my plan right now, only ninety-nine percent sure because the stone didn't tell me what occurred between my death and resurrection. I lied to them because maybe I wasn't supposed to be there to tell them anything in the first place. I only told them what they would definitively know upon their return."
"You didn't tell them Thanos killed half of all life in the universe, did you?" Gamora countered, appearing slightly miffed based on the texture of her green skin. "They would learn about it the instant they returned!"
Strange held up a shaking hand in an effort to appease her. "There was no reason to have me inform them just so they could project their anger at me for letting it happen. It was a judgement call to save time."
Gamora huffed, but eventually conceded to his point. "Fine. So if you can't see into the future right now, what's your plan?"
"Like I said, we need to search for some certain souls right now," Strange said adamantly.
"But why? Once Thanos's work is undone, every soul here will be brought back to life anyway."
"Well, you see," the sorcerer began a bit sheepishly. "Not telling those two about Thanos's deed wasn't the only lie I told them…"
Gamora could only roll her eyes at the man's need for crypticness as he explained.
A/N: Thanks for reading everyone, it's been kind of rough nowadays with my uploads because of midterms now, it may be a while until the next chapter. Regardless, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it was probably the toughest to write just because of my efforts to make the interactions between characters like Strange, Gamora, and the Ant-Man team sound fluid. Not to mention, the Avengers (well most of them) getting back together.
Be sure to review, follow, fav, and all that other stuff, it brightens me up a lot. Even if you just want to say something simple, go for it if you want to. Next chapter should include some Rocket, Thor, and some more Wakandan stuff probably. Thanks for 2,000 views!
Until next time,
-BasketballIsFun