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marvelskies1969 · 4 months ago

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Infinity

Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader / Loki x Fem!Reader

Premise: Y/N Rogers was sent away as a child, her powers deemed dangerous. After years of brief summers with Steve and Bucky, she returns for good when their mother dies—just as war begins.

As her abilities awaken, she draws the attention of Loki, the trickster god, and faces growing fear from those around her. Caught between destiny, war, and forbidden ties, Y/N must decide who she truly is—and who she’s willing to fight for.

Warnings/content: slight angst, brief mention of death/dying, jealousy, sexual assault, fluff, swearing, unstable parental relationships, follows the plot of the MCU timeline, with small changes.

[Masterlist]

[Part 1]

(Chapter 26)

The End of the World as we Know It.

The world outside was white and endless. Snow-covered peaks stretched beneath them as the wind howled against the plane’s metal frame. The grief inside Y/N was a chasm, but there was no time to fall into it.

Not yet.

She clenched Bucky’s dog tags in her fist, shoving them into her pocket as Steve stepped beside her. He didn’t say anything at first, just rested a gloved hand on her shoulder. His touch was warm despite the cold seeping in from the air.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.

Y/N exhaled slowly, steeling herself. “We have to keep moving.” Her voice was even, but Steve caught the waver in it.

He frowned, studying her. “Y/N… I know you two were close, but—”

She turned sharply, jaw tight. “Steve. Don’t.”

Something unreadable flickered in his eyes. She knew he didn’t understand. He’d never known about her and Bucky, about the stolen moments, the whispered promises.

And now, he never would.

Before he could press further, a voice crackled over the radio. “We’ve got him,” came Dum Dum Dugan’s voice. “Zola sang like a canary.”

Y/N turned to the others, her focus snapping back into place. “Where is it?”

“The base is due north,” Peggy confirmed, standing near the cockpit with General Phillips. “Schmidt’s on the move. He’s boarding a plane.”

A shiver ran down Y/N’s spine before anyone even said it.

The Tesseract was on that plane.

She could feel it.

A pulsing energy, calling to her like an echo in her bones.

Steve met her eyes, already knowing what she was thinking. “Then we stop him.”

They stormed the airfield in a flurry of fire and steel. Explosions erupted as HYDRA soldiers fell, one by one. It was a desperate battle, but they fought like hell.

Y/N and Steve boarded the plane just as it lifted off, barely catching the edge of the hatch. The roar of the engines nearly drowned out the chaos behind them.

The plane trembled beneath them, the engines roaring as it soared over the endless stretch of frozen ocean.

"You could have the power of the gods..." The voice, thick with a German accent, echoed through the steel walls of the craft. "And you will not admit you want it?"

The eerie blue glow of the Tesseract pulsed in the center of the room, its energy crackling through the air like a living thing. Near its light stood a man with crimson skin, his skeletal visage twisted into a satisfied grin. Johann Schmidt—Red Skull.

Y/N barely flinched at the sight of him anymore. After everything she had seen, everything she had endured, his monstrous appearance hardly fazed her. It was the Tesseract that sent shivers down her spine. Its power was alive, humming beneath her skin, whispering in a language only the universe could understand.

Steve stood a few feet away, his gaze dropping to the shield at his feet. His voice was steady, filled with purpose.

“I want what every soldier on every battlefield wants,” he said. His fingers curled into a fist. “I want this war to end.”

With that, he moved—fast.

"Steve, no—!" Y/N's warning barely left her lips before the vibranium disc was airborne.

The shield struck Schmidt hard, slamming into his ribs and knocking him backward into the console. The impact triggered a sharp, electric whine. The Tesseract trembled, its glow intensifying, lifting from its station as though it had been waiting—waiting—for this moment.

For the first time, silence filled the room.

Then, reality fractured.

The plane, the cockpit, the very air around them seemed to vanish. In its place, visions unfolded—realms beyond comprehension, infinite and vast. A golden observatory perched at the edge of the cosmos. A shimmering bridge stretching across the stars. The Bifröst. Valhalla. A world of gods and kings, myth turned reality.

Schmidt’s breath caught. His expression twisted into something like reverence. “Valhalla... I was right... It is real...” His voice was almost a whisper. “Yes, I understand now... I have waited so long—”

Y/N felt it before she saw it—the shift in energy, the way it crackled through her bones like a coming storm.

“You don’t understand what you hold,” she warned, stepping forward, her pulse in sync with the thrumming power.

Schmidt only grinned. “On the contrary.”

The Tesseract vibrated violently in his grasp, its light darkening, twisting, spiraling out of control. His grin faltered.

“No.”

Steve reacted in an instant, yanking up his shield as a surge of energy exploded from the cube. Schmidt barely had time to scream before a bolt of light struck him, ripping through his form, turning his cry into something raw and inhuman. His body contorted—then dissolved, drawn into the endless unknown.

The Tesseract tumbled from his fingers.

For a heartbeat, it hung in the air, suspended in the force of its own power.

Then, it fell.

The moment it hit the floor, the metal beneath it melted away, burning through layer after layer of steel, unstoppable, inevitable.

A final pulse of energy rushed through the room.

And then—silence.

Schmidt was gone.

And the Tesseract?

Lost to the ice below.

And the plane—

The plane was still a bomb.

---

The alarms screamed through the cockpit, the flashing red warning lights casting an eerie glow against the frost-laced windshield. Steve gritted his teeth, his fingers tightening around the controls. His pulse pounded in his ears, but his grip was steady, resolute.

Y/N felt the weight of it settle in the air between them. The realization creeping in, slow and suffocating.

This plane was going down.

And they weren’t getting out of this.

The radio crackled to life. Static bled into a frantic voice.

“Agent Carter, come in—” Steve’s voice was controlled, but the cracks in it were showing.

“Steve? Is that you? Are you okay?” Peggy’s voice was sharp with worry.

“We’re fine.” He half-lied.

“What about Schmidt?”

“Schmidt’s dead.”

A beat of silence. Then, “And the plane?”

Steve let out a short, humorless chuckle. “That’s a little harder to explain.”

“Give me your coordinates. I’ll find a landing site.”

He exhaled sharply. “Peggy—”

“There isn’t going to be a landing.” The words left his lips like lead, final and cold. His voice thickened, heavy with the weight of what he was about to say. He turned to Y/N, and the words burned his throat. Saying it would make it real.

Y/N’s stomach dropped. The full weight of his words slammed into her chest, knocking the air from her lungs. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her hands curled into fists. No. There had to be another way. There had to be.

“I’m sitting on a hundred tons of explosives.” His voice cracked. His eyes flickered to her, searching, hoping for an answer. “This plane… it's not making it out of here." Y/N could feel the depths of regret behind her big brother's eyes as he prepared for the words he was about to speak.

"I’ve got to put her in the water.”

“No, no, there has to be another way,” Peggy’s voice broke. “Y/N—please—do something!”

Y/N’s hands trembled. Her breath came fast and shallow. Think. Think.

But there was nothing.

“I—I can’t,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “Peggy, I can’t.”

“Y/N, please,” Peggy pleaded, desperation dripping from every word. “You have to—you have to stop this!”

But she couldn’t. Every ability, every ounce of power she had—it wouldn’t matter. She could tear this plane apart, but she couldn’t save them. She couldn’t save him.

Not this time.

She met Steve’s gaze. And in his eyes, she saw it. The realization. The acceptance. The fear buried beneath it all.

Peggy’s voice cracked through the radio. “Steve, please—”

“I already did.” His voice was steadier now, but barely. “Right now, we’re in the middle of nowhere. If we wait any longer, a lot of people are going to get hurt.”

“Peggy, this is our choice.”

“We’ll send out rescue ships. We’ll find you.”

Steve exhaled softly, the ghost of a smile flickering over his face. “I don’t think there’s going to be much left to find… Peggy?”

“I’m here.”

“I’m gonna need a rain check on that dance.”

Y/N felt her breath hitch. She could only listen as they spoke, the promise of a dance that would never happen hanging between them like a thread of hope that was fraying too fast.

Her mind reeled. Her mother’s face, the day she sent her away. Bucky’s laughter, the way it used to make her feel safe. Steve’s determined expression before every fight. Every moment, every memory, crashing down like waves against rock.

She only snapped out of it when Steve reached for the comms.

And switched them off.

She watched as he looked at Peggy’s picture, then at her. And for the first time in her life, Y/N saw fear in her brother’s eyes. Not of dying, not of crashing—

But of leaving things unsaid.

His breath hitched. His jaw clenched. His hands trembled.

“I’m sorry.”

Y/N blinked. “For what?”

“For everything.” His voice thickened. “For letting Mom send you away. For not finding a way to keep us together. For making you feel like you had to fight alone.”

Something inside her shattered.

She shook her head, tears slipping down her cheeks. “Steve, you don’t have to be sorry.”

His breath hitched.

“I always loved you,” he admitted. “Even when we were apart. Even when we fought. You were my sister first. And I—I should’ve told you that more.”

Tears blurred her vision, but she squeezed his hand. “You didn’t have to.” A small, broken smile. “I always knew.”

The plane shuddered violently.

“I'm sorry it's come to this.” He said softly, voice wavering slightly. “We always swore to protect you, Buck and I.” Y/N's heart clenched, at the thought, thinking that she would be with him again soon. She remembered all the protection they had given her from a toddler to when she returned. How safe she felt. But this was different. “But there's no coming back from this Y/N.” And that was the last thing he said.

The ice loomed closer.

Y/N sucked in a shaky breath. This was it.

Steve gripped her hand tighter. Y/N held on just as hard.

Neither of them let go.

And as the aircraft plummeted into the frozen ocean, engulfing them in ice and darkness—

They were together.

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in-my-loki-feels · 9 months ago

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WIP Wednesday

Thank you @lokimobius and @elodiah for the tags! ❤️

I've got one more fic cooking for the Lokius reverse bang that I haven't shared any of, so here is a preview of that.

Loki glanced back through the doorway, then tucked the scepter under his arm and pressed his fingers to the man’s temples. The man on the table slowly opened his eyes, causing the blue glow in the room to intensify. One eye was a normal, unremarkable blue. The other glowed with the energy of an Infinity Stone. Before the man could wake further, Loki called on his seidr. Once he had removed the Tesseract from this mortal, he would make his escape. Green light surrounded his hands, warring with the blue that already filled the room. Loki focused on the power of the Tesseract—so temptingly close—and pulled. The man arched off the table with a scream, held in place by the restraints. Loki grimaced and gripped the man’s head to hold him still. He should have known it would be difficult to separate the two. He had no idea how these mortals had even engineered this, how the man was still living. The energy of the Tesseract resisted, seeming to pull away the more Loki tried to grasp it. He closed his eyes—wishing he could close his ears as the screaming continued—and sent more seidr into the man. Sweat broke out on his forehead as the invisible test of wills continued.

No tags since this is so last minute, but feel free to share and @ me! <3

#lokius fic #wanderingflame wip #loki #mobius #or is it? 👀#hmmm who could say?

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divinityrisen · 4 months ago

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@asgardianhammer gets a starter! ( from carol )

‘There isn’t another way.’ That’d been the last thing Carol had said to Fury as she flew into a wormhole that emerged in Antarctica. The scientists and eggheads had been clear: to collapse the opening and stop the endless flow of alien drones pouring through, they needed an explosion of energy similar to the portal.

The Tesseract and the Space Stone were gone, and the Lightspeed-Engine had been destroyed decades ago. Whatever remnants S.A.B.E.R possessed of Hydra tech and the weapons S.H.I.E.L.D sought to create, didn’t carry a heavy enough impact… but Carol’s powers did. Pure energy close enough in resonance to the Tesseract that it might work.

She couldn’t remember much about the moment she’d unleashed a blast. Only that every fibre of her being screamed in horrendous agony for—well she didn’t know. But it was over as fast as it’d begun. When she opened her eyes, she was looking out over a barren world.

It hadn’t taken her long to figure out it was Earth. Desperate, she called the Hoopty and was surprised when it answered. Damaged, it had sputtered to the beacon and then crashed into the dirt. Inside she’d found a body – her body – or the remains of it. From what she could tell, the other her died a long time ago.

It was a bizarre experience burying herself. Carol hadn’t said anything over her own grave.

After months of exploring she’d come to the conclusion that whatever happened on Earth, had happened everywhere. World after world, barren. Consumed of everything and everyone. Carol thought to the monsters that had tried to reach her Earth… had those things done this? Had they killed everything in this… timeline? Universe? Where even was she?

Trying to find survivors, Carol systematically explored the galaxy. The next place on her list was Asgard. She didn’t know if it would be there or not, and she felt a wave of relief when she dropped out of jump space and it existed.

It wasn’t as barren as other planets and stations, but most of it was gone. The Rainbow Bridge was dull grey, the Bifrost shattered and the beautiful waters of the plane had evaporated. The city was leveled and blackened. The Palace stood, but it was so badly damaged anything could cause it to collapse.

Whatever had happened here, it was like everywhere else. It happened a long time ago.

Carol flew the Hoopty in a wide circle around the realm, and felt that relief she’d experienced begin to turn to hopelessness. Had she died when she collapsed that portal? Was this limbo or some sort of punishment? She barely felt anything when her ship highlighted much needed supplies.

She landed in a wide courtyard near a side entrance into the palace. From the design, she imagined it may have been a garden. She exited the ship and stopped, surveying the desolation.

Carol guessed it was too much to hope for anyone to be alive. A sigh escaped her and she entered the ruined structure, using a projected minimap to navigate. She descended a few flights of stairs, and then came to a wide hallway that was half collapsed. At the far end was a large wooden door, partially opened. That’s where her map wanted her to go.

Carol began forward, then stopped. Almost everything she passed had been covered in a thick layer of dust; floors included. But here, there were boot prints. Carol’s minimap evaporated as she cautiously approached. She reached the ajar door and pushed it fully open, heart sinking when there was no one inside. There were food and water containers, some Asgardian weapons… but no person.

Disappointed, she let out a frustrated exhale.

Carol heard something move behind her. She swung around, power igniting and flowing over her form. If it was more of those damn aliens–

She froze. There was a man standing in the doorway.

“Holy shit,” she managed in a surprised breath, shocked to see the god of thunder. “Thor.”

#// whatever calamity happened does not need to be the monsters XD #// she blew up a wormhole anything could happen XD #// she could have ended up any universe/timeline/dimension #// let me know if anything needs changing :D #✧ he who be worthy | asgardianhammer

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legendarydoesoul · 1 month ago

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✨Fold the stars✨

There’s a ripple in the sky,

a whisper stitched into the night,

a shimmer where silence bends,

and light forgets to travel straight.

Not a ship,

not a path,

not a rocket's burning cry—

but a wrinkle in the cosmos,

folded soft like cloth,

where thought becomes direction.

Time, just a thread

woven by will,

space, a breath

we dare to skip.

Close your eyes—

feel it spark.

The leap begins

within the dark.

Tesser, tesser, fold the stars.

Take me where the lost things are.

Stretch me wide across the sky,

past the limits of the eye.

No need for wings.

No need for maps.

One pure thought—

and space collapse.

Love, the key,

the light intact,

guides me through

the tesseract.

I saw the strands that weave the spheres,

heard voices only silence hears.

A thread of gold,

a pull, a flame—

I followed it

and found his name.

Faith is more than what we see.

The heart can warp reality.

Beyond the stars, beyond the fold,

the path was marked

in fire and gold.

Tesser, tesser, fold the stars.

Take me to where brave hearts are.

Through fear, through storm,

I won’t look back—

I ride the line,

the tesseract.

No sound of engines,

no sky to crack.

Just one deep truth

and time goes slack.

The darkness breaks,

the light reacts—

and love rewrites

the tesseracts.

Bend the laws.

Break the chain.

What’s lost in time

can bloom again.

The universe,

a fragile thread.

And we,

far more than what is said.

So fold the stars.

Let night collapse.

My soul will find

its missing halves.

And when the leap is done at last,

I’ll still be held—

in tesseracts.

#babtqftim #babtqftim boris #babtqftim bendy #babtqftim cuphead #babtqftim mugman #the future questers

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winters8child · 1 year ago

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It´s been a long, long time

Chapter 33

We were all back in the jet, including a shackled Loki and the red shiny guy, who turned out to be Tony Stark, Howard's son. He was standing at the helm with Steve, discussing how surprisingly smooth the whole mission had gone. Loki, supposedly a god, had been captured so easily, and for some reason, he kept staring at me.

"There is darkness in you, I can feel it," Loki leaned over to me, grinning. "You are not like your lover. You would like to be, but you are not."

"Excuse me?" I recoiled. "You don't know me."

Thunder rumbled outside, and Loki flinched. "What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightning?" Steve mocked him.

But Loki seemed genuinely afraid. "I'm not overly fond of what follows," he muttered. The thunder and lightning intensified, and a loud bang erupted overhead, making the jet shake. Steve and Tony donned their helmets as Natasha opened the ramp.

I was about to protest that I wanted to join, but a massive guy landed before us, wielding a hammer. This world was getting crazier by the minute. He had long blond hair, a red cape, and muscles like Hercules. He looked seriously angry. Everything happened so quickly that I didn't have time to react.

He struck Tony with the hammer, throwing him back, grabbed Loki by the neck, and jumped out as if it were nothing. I stared after them, mouth agape. How were we supposed to fight people like these? At least the Nazis were normal humans; this was a whole other ballpark.

"That guy is a friendly?" Steve asked, panting, as Tony prepared to jump after them.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract is lost."

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve called after him.

"I have a plan. Attack," Tony responded confidently, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

"Maybe it's better if we stay here, Steve. This is way above our pay grade... I mean, these are gods we're talking about," I reasoned, glancing nervously at the clouds outside.,". Steve didn't pause, strapping on his shield.

"There is only one God, and I'm pretty sure He doesn't dress like that," he replied firmly.

"You know I have to come with you if you go. I won't stay behind," I yelled over the loud jet engines, grabbing the last parachute. Steve sighed, his frustration evident, but there was no time to argue.

"Fine, but stay with me," he demanded, jumping out of the jet.

We landed amidst the chaos. Tony and the god guy were locked in battle, the forest around them a wreck of fallen trees and scorch marks. The god guy still looked like a supermodel.

Steve threw his shield between them to break them apart. "That's enough," he yelled, jumping down from the tree stump he had landed on. "Now I don't know what you plan on doing here," he added.

"I've come to put an end to Loki's schemes," the god guy said, his voice edged with anger. I hesitated, gripping my pistol. Aiming at a god felt pointless.

"Then prove it. Put that hammer down," Steve demanded, standing tall.

Tension crackled in the air. My fingers twitched toward my knife, and my blood started to boil. I had never carved up a god; I wondered if their blood was any different. "I will gut you like a pig," I yelled, getting ready to jump at his throat.

God Guy did not look happy. Tony was rolling his eyes, and Steve held me back by my arm. "There is no need for bloodshed. Just put that hammer down," he asked again.

Tony was shaking his head. "Yeah... no. Bad call, he loves his hammer," only to be hit with it the next second.

He landed in a pile of wood, groaning in pain as the god guy advanced on us. "You want me to put the hammer down?" he taunted, leaping into the air and aiming his hammer at Steve. Steve quickly pulled up his shield, hiding me behind him, but the impact was so loud and powerful that the three of us were thrown in all directions.

I flew through the air, flailing, and landed in a pile of branches. Not even the suit could stop the pain that followed. "Ugh, I hate nature," I stammered as Steve picked me up by my hand. He looked at all of us with a defeated expression.

"Are we done here?"

Reluctantly we all decided that there would be no winners today and returned to the helicarrier, with a shackled Loki in tow. Twenty armed soldiers escorted him to his cell although it was more like a glass cage, that could be dropped only with the push of a button, just in case Loki tried something.

We all could see him over the screens, sitting in the conference room of the aircraft. He was taunting Dr. Banner, "A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you? A green monster and a bloodthirsty demon, masquerading as the good guys."

I swallowed hard, telling myself he wasn't talking about me. I glanced at Steve for reassurance, but he was focused on the screen."How desperate am I?", Fury's voice came out of the speakers, "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.", he threatened.

Loki remained unfazed, his confidence unsettling. "It burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded what real power is", he continued, his voice dripping with condescension.

The video cut off, leaving us all uncertain about what to do next. Dr. Banner had his arms crossed, fidgeting uncomfortably. Loki had just called him a monster.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner said sarcastically.

I was still reeling from the way Loki had openly called me a demon and hinted at the darkness within me. I glanced around, trying to gauge if any of the others looked at me differently, but they seemed focused on Loki's plans for Earth. Maybe Loki knew something about me, or maybe he was just trying to unnerve me.

Thor, the god guy’s real name, spoke up. "He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

He had also kidnapped an astrophysicist named Erik Selvig and put him under a spell. According to Natasha, someone else on their side was also under Loki's control. Her body language conveyed that it was someone she greatly cared about.

All this talk about science—half of it I didn’t even understand, especially after Tony joined the conversation. He was much like his father: confident in his abilities, but maybe slightly more sarcastic. I wasn’t getting any answers here. The only person who could give them to me was in a glass cage, two stories down.

I excused myself, touching Steve's shoulder on the way out. "I'll be right back," I told him and walked out. I had thought getting to him would be harder, but wearing this uniform afforded me some authority, I supposed.

When I arrived, Loki was pacing in his cage. He turned around with a vicious smile. "I knew you would come. I did get into that little head of yours, didn't I?" he drawled. He was toying with me, and I felt stupid for even being here. I turned to leave when he stepped closer to the glass separating us.

"I see a lot of blood in your future. More than already, anyway," he taunted.

I balled my fists and faced him again. "What do you know about me?" I asked sternly.

He gloated like a cat that had caught a mouse. "You crave the blood you shed. You welcome it, you bathe in it. You could be so much more if you didn't hide behind all that shame," he said, looking at me with pity. "And that man you claim to love, he will never understand you. You are the very thing he is fighting against."

My lip quivered, and I was at a loss for words. It felt like he had brought forth every feeling I had desperately tried to suppress. "I am not a monster," I whimpered, turning to leave.

"You are just like me, only you're not in a cage... yet," he called after me.

I walked out, shut the door behind me, and knew deep down that he was right.

Next Chapter

#sebastian stan #bucky barnes #marvel #marvel fanfiction #steve rogers #the avengers #fanfiction #bucky barns fanfiction

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dynastyofannihilation · 6 days ago

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Albukhar Dynasty

"The Albukhar Dynasty was once many smaller dynasties, composed of only small crownworlds that most other dynasties would likely label as fringeworlds at best. Each of these dynasties held Phaerons and Phaerakhs who hosted large Cryptek conclaves. These Crypteks worked with the Illuminator to understand Biotransferrence, they sought the potential glory of contributing aide, for the resources they may have been able to get, and to comprehend the glorious future they each foresaw in their own ways. They had convinced their phaerons to focus on the mining and manufacturing of necrodermis, to pool their resources in cooperation, something which was rather difficult for them to do, but the odd shared ambition, pressure, and drives of the cryptek courts finally convinced them. They built they hollowed out their worlds, killed their stars, under the watchful eyes of the Void Dragon, they collectively constructed a World Engine, an artificial Tomb World comprised of necrodermis and blackstone, capable of moving across the cosmos. They housed an artificial star in it's center to power it, they built biofurnaces within the core, and with a little coaxing, the dynasties were amongst the first to willingly walk into the emerald flames. That was amongst their first treacheries, their second was the Archcryptek of the Technomancer Conclave being the first to walk through the furnaces. For she changed the forges, altered the bodies the others would recieve, she altered the codes they would be beholden to, she betrayed and usurped the dynasties. The nobility of the disparate dynasties were converted to cyrptothralls, their minds effectively wiped, needing to be rebuilt with time and experience in the brightest of their fellows, with many being effectively killed forever. Those who could rebuild were potentially lucky enough to become Apprenteks, but few would be so lucky. She overwrote herself to be the Phaeron of the new unified dynasty, the rest, the Crypteks, Nobles, and Plebians alike, beholden to her will, much as she was secretly beholden to the Silent King's. Her changes were rushed, brutish, clumsy, the minds of the plebians were destroyed, left to be warriors at best. Many of the Crypteks were diminished, brought down into the level of mastery of Apprenteks. Those brutalized by the transferrance leaked coolant, energy, or oil from their eyes, corroding their deathmasks to possess permanent tears. The Archcrypteks, the new Phaerakh's compatriots, were trapped in Engrammatic Labyrinths, deprived of soul by the Void Dragon and deprived of bodies by her. The crippling of the Dynasty was a problem for the new Phaerakh, so, she began to study the most basic engrams retained in her dynasty, in the hopes to duplicate them. Throughout the war in heaven, she failed to properly duplicate even the most basic engrams. The process of biotransferrence was required to some degree, and she lacked souls, she fundementally understood this flaw, but had no way to get around it. Ashamkha betrayed her race and her dynasty, it should've been no surprise that she betrayed the C'Tan as well. She trapped a shard of the Void Dragon within the central star of their artificial Tomb World, converting it into singularity shaped tesseract labyrinth.

She recieved the command to sleep, for stasis, and her ambitions were not complete. She connected her past rivals to her casket, hoping to dream and learn from the skills and mastery of the Archcryptics. When they awoke, early due to a solar flare from the nearby system, they had all fused, their engrams mixed together. They retained the body's identification, but nolonger considered themselves one, but a multivarious polymind.

They awoke to a different galaxy, and they foresaw a method to their ambitions. The soulgems of their ancient enemies, reformatted, changed, altered, their own version of the technology. They systematically dismantle systems for energy, for necrodermis, for blackstone. They systematically eliminate other races in those systems, harvesting their souls to be reformatted into necrons. This process often fails, but any success they view as a success. These new versions are far more pliable to advance and change, warriors become more dangerous with their integrated weaponry, cryptothralls more likely to become Apprenteks and eventually Crypteks.

In a classical Dynasty, the Phaerakh would be Ashamkha the Many, and she holds a court of Crypteks, their Apprentek attendants, and Cryptothrall servitors. Overlords would be Crypteks of renown, one for each of a particular disipline (technomancy, psychomancy, plasmancy, chronomancy, and geomancy currently). The Overlords hold courts of Apprenteks and their Cryptothrall attendants. Lords would be Apprenteks who are in line to become proper Crypteks, with courts of Cryptothralls. Promising Cryptothralls form what are known as 'Regents', and they possess no noteable court.

Ashamkha, as the Phaerakh, watches over the World Engine. The Overlords watch over particular segments of the World Engine and advance their particular conclave of research. Lords go out to nearby starsystems to survey and begin dismantling them. A Regent is sent to each celestial body of the targetted systems, to oversee the dismantling and processing of the materials. Some of the material going to the Regent, some going towards their Lord, some going towards their Overlord, and some going towards the Phaerakh.

The World Engine has the Singularity Core, the Inner Foundries where the biofurnaces and resurection forges lie, the Phaerakh's Sanctum, the Overlord's Segments, the Lord's Armor, the Regent's Plates.

Due to the extreme number of failures in Ashamkha's mock biotransference, a majority of their World Engine is patrolled by Canoptek Scarabs, Plasmacytes, Macrocytes, Canoptek Doomstalkers/Reanimators, and even Seratek Heavy Constructs when you get to the Inner Foundries."

#40k #warhammer 40k #wh40k oc #necrons

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the-queen-of-hell-666 · 21 days ago

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The Accident

Chapter 17 of 'The Angel of Death'

Book Masterlist

Pairings: Vera Kovalyov (OC) x Steve Rogers x James 'Bucky' Barnes, Vera Kovalyov (OC) x Steve Rogers, Vera Kovalyov (OC) x James 'Bucky' Barnes, Steve Rogers x James 'Bucky' Barnes

Word Count: 3.3k

Chapter Summary: The mission was supposed to be easy, how was Vera to know that it was a trap?

Warnings: angst, HYDRA being HYDRA, abduction, bodily injury, amputation, leaning to live with prosthetics, amputee awareness, some comfort with Tony

a/n: I liked this idea of Vera being an amputee like Bucky to add to her backstory! I hope you enjoy!

Stuttgart, Germany. 1980.

It was supposed to be a routine mission. In and out. It was an abandoned HYDRA gun cache or at least we thought it was abandoned. I placed the explosives, grabbed the files, swept the building and on my way out, I was confronted by a HYDRA agent in an old 40s uniform and he had an old tesseract weapon strapped to his back. He had taken me off guard and one blast changed my life.

The building was a setup, after I went down Jeeps pulled up around me and men climbed out in body armour but a few were in lab coats. I was in and out of consciousness as they loaded me onto a stark white stretcher and they strapped me down.

My eyes landed on the pool of blood that they pulled me from and a dull throbbing came from my left side but I didn’t look down. I knew better, I knew my adrenaline was pumping keeping me from feeling the pain and as soon as I looked down I would feel it. I felt a collar clamp around my neck and my powers faded just out of my reach and my body weakened. I heard the men talking around me in Russian as I was loaded into a metal truck and medics sat around me and started working on what had happened to me. The engine started up just as I passed out.

I woke up to the smell of blood and antiseptic and my eyes peeled open and I had to squint because of the bright white lights that were pointed at me. I was strapped to a gurney with an IV set in my right arm and I was just in a gown and when my eyes landed on my left side, I let out a loud gasp. My arm was gone, straight up to the shoulder, it was bandaged and was hooked up with a tube to help it drain and my leg was gone, up to my hip bone and it was in the same condition that my arm was. Tears welled in my eyes and I could help that they fell and I yanked at the straps on my right side and I looked around but felt a metal collar locked around my neck. I tried looking down by picking my head up but it felt like it weighed a hundred pounds that I just slumped back.

I had electrodes stuck to my chest that led to a heart rate machine next to me and the steady beeping got faster as I took in my surroundings. I was in a cold dark room that had metal tables scattered around that were full of used medical instruments and bloodied gauze and they had four medical lights pointed at me and my left side. The door to the room that was in front of my gurney and a man in a white lab coat walked in with two guards flanking him.

“Здравствуйте, г-жа Ковалова. Вы попали в несчастный случай, но мы подлатали вас, как могли, но ущерб... необратим.” (Hello, Ms. Kovaylov. You were in an unfortunate accident but we patched you up as best as we could, but the damage is well... irreversible.” He started as he regarded me with cold and calculating eyes.

“Никакого дерьма.” (No shit) I mumbled through a sore throat but he just chuckled at my remark.

“Мы искали тебя очень долго. Но представьте наше удивление, когда ты попала прямо в наши сети. Я думала, ты хитрее, Вера.” (We've been looking for you for a very long time. But imagine our surprise when you walked right into our net. I thought you were sharper than that, Vera.) He hummed condescendingly, as he smirked at me. “Но это нормально, потому что у нас есть для вас очень важная работа.” (But that's okay because we have a very important job for you.) He explained before he walked over to a covered medical table and pulled the sheet off to reveal a dark blue book with a black star on the front of it.

My heart dropped to my stomach as I took in the book that he held. He opened it and walked up in front of me and he started saying each of the ten words. My brain blanked as each word was spoken, the soldier wanted her time in the sun but I had lost years of my life to those words and I wouldn’t do it again. I fought it, my brain fighting against itself, I felt like it was going to tear itself apart as I fought. I shook my head, trying to shake the soldier out. I felt her clawing her way up but I shoved her back, fighting tooth and nail to stay myself.

Once he finished the words he walked over, “Soldat?” He asked and I looked up at him with blank eyes.

“Готовы подчиниться.” (Ready to comply.) I said and he gave me a grin before he started undoing my straps and once my leg and arm were free, I launched myself on him. I wrapped my legs around his neck and grabbed one arm with my only hand and I yanked it back till it snapped. The guards pulled their stun guns on me but even as they fired I didn’t stop. I snapped the doctor’s neck before I yanked the electrodes out of my back and chest and I whipped them at the guards, they embedded themselves in the guards chests and they fell to the ground. I grabbed the keys off the guard and unlocked the collar and I felt my power snap back to me like a rubber band.

“And I’m back.” I huffed and stretched out my one arm and my back, feeling my power run through my veins.

I huffed as I felt my ass hanging out of the gown and I grabbed one of the guards. I snapped his neck before stripping him down and slipping on the uniform, it was a bit difficult without my leg and arm but I made do. I just put on the tactical pants and t-shirt and I hopped over to the wheelchair that they had in the corner of the room. I only fell once so I’d call it a success. I grabbed the guns and knives off the guards as I sat in the chair.

I looked down at my one hand and leg and took a deep breath, I knew if I used my one hand, I would just be going in circles, so I enchanted the wheelchair to connect to my mind so it would move with my directions. I flew through the door of the room and rolled down the hall with the automatic weapon posed in front of me as I went. The dimly lit hallway was empty but had a door on both the right and left, I paused at a door that said “Assets” in Russian and I opened it to reveal a small room full of containers that had labels with names.

I found one with my name on it and I opened it. I grabbed my dark blue leather jacket, my hunting knife, my boots, a few hex bags, the boy’s dog tags, and my gun. I closed the bin and I moved towards the door but paused as I recognized a name on one of the bins. “James Buchanan Barnes”. It had the date, I believed to be his death, printed under his name. I yanked it open and inside was his leather jacket from the fall, his old dog tags, and all his personal items that he had on him during the fall.

My heart sank as I looked through the bin, they had taken him from the ravine and did the goddess knew what with him. I yanked the door open and I sped down the hallway towards the lift at the end of the hall. I couldn’t stay to figure out what happened to him, I was weak and hurt and needed to regroup before I came back. I took the lift to the ground floor and the doors opened to reveal a dozen or so guards in the room in front of me, guarding the exit.

They all turned to look at me and I huffed and rubbed my forehead, “Damn, so close.” I sighed before I started firing. It hit them hard and fast, catching them by surprise. I fired till I ran out and I used my magic to send tendrils of energy through the room taking out the rest. I rolled through the room to the door and took out the guards on the outside and I unfurled my gray wings, my back popping and my wings cracking as they stretched. I took in the bunker and my surroundings, committing it to memory because I would be back. I soared into the skin even as my no existent limbs throbbed as the adrenaline wore off, leaving a debilitating pain behind as I flew to where SHIELD had set up base in Berlin, then I passed out from the pain as my body knew I would get help and fell from the sky.

Berlin, Germany. 1980.

Peggy and Howard were starting to draft up a plan for a rescue mission because I hadn’t reported in or met them at the rendezvous location. They had no choice but to think that the worst happened to me. The maps were sketched out and the teams were starting to be drafted when they heard some agents yell for help, then a deafening thud. Peggy ran out and the sight she saw will haunt her forever. She saw a passed out and bloody me laying on the ground outside the tent, I had ripped my stitches and my wounds were steadily dripping blood into a puddle underneath me. I was in the stolen clothes and I had both mine and Bucky’s jackets pressed to my chest.

Howard and some medics ran out and Howard picked up my limp body and laid me on the stretcher the medics provided him with. The medics wheeled me into the infirmary and immediately started working on stopping the bleeding and tending to my missing limbs as fast as possible because the HYDRA patch job would lead to worse injuries.

They realized that I needed real medical attention and flew me to the nearest hospital. Then after eleven hours of surgery I was finally out of the OR and placed into a real room. I was still passed out with all the anesthesia they gave me. They had to give me double the doses because my metabolism burned four times faster and needed extra so that it actually took effect.

A few days later, Peggy was sitting in a chair next to my bed. She was reading over some files on the mission that went wrong. When my eyes opened and I croaked out in a weak voice, "Peggy?"

Peggy's head turned to where the noise came from. When she saw that I was awake, she closed the files and stood up. "Hey, V. Yeah, it's me." Peggy assured me.

"W-what h-ha-" I started to say but was cut off because I started coughing.

Peggy grabbed the pitcher of water and grabbed a cup and poured a cup of water. She helped me drink the water, then she sat the cup down. She helped me sit up and she gave a tight lipped smile. "Better?" She asked, and I nodded and took a deep breath. “Tell me what happened.”

“First off, that building was a trap. I was out, could see the sun when a guard came around the corner. He had a tesseract weapon and fired one blast. One fucking blast that took me down. They grabbed me and took me to a bunker.” I started and I took another sip of water. “They tried to bring the soldier forward, Peg.” I whispered as tears filled my eyes and Peggy gasped softly, “I fought her though. I did. I beat her back. I stayed myself and I escaped.” I said and she smiled and squeezed my one hand. “I have to go back.”

Peggy shook her head at me, “No, you can’t. You barely got out alive. Vera-”

I cut her off, “I have to. They did something to Bucky after he fell. I found signs that they had him, Peggy. I can’t just leave it alone.”

Peggy sighed and squeezed my hand, “You can’t. At least not right now. You’re hurt. You lost your arm and leg for god sakes. You were there on that train, no one could’ve survived that. You know that. He’s dead, Vera.” She huffed and I shook my head as more tears fell down my cheeks.

My eyes filled with more tears as I let out a watery laugh, "This almost feels like a dream. Like I'm going to wake up in my office at HQ. But then again I know it's not because I am not that lucky." I sniffled, and looked at Peggy. “I know he’s most likely dead but I have to try at least once I get better.” I whispered and she nodded. "What the hell am I going to do, Peg?" I asked, my voice breaking at the end.

"Well, Howard is working on some prototype limbs. When you are feeling better you can go see him and look them over. Also there is someone here to see you." Peggy said, a smile crossing her face.

"Who is it?" I asked, confusion crossing my face.

"Let me go get him." Peggy said, getting up and walking to the door. A few minutes later a 10 year old Tony Stark came walking in. He was in black sweatpants and a red t-shirt, his eyes were red rimmed and he was playing with his fingers.

I sat up and looked at him with a warm smile crossing my features, "Hey kiddo. What are you doing here?" I asked, as he sat in the chair next to my bed.

"I was worried about you." He explained shyly, looking down at his hands.

I reached out with my right hand and took his hand in mine, "Hey, îngerul meu. Look at me." (my angel) I said, and he looked up at me. "Don't worry about me. I took a hit, I'll be able to shake it off." I assured him and he nodded. I scooted over and patted the space beside me on the bed. "Come on. Those hospital chairs must be uncomfortable as hell." I chuckled, and he laid next to me and I held him close with my right arm and we fell asleep like that.

New York. 1982.

Two years later, I was living at the Stark residence outside of New York City because after my accident, I needed help getting around. I could barely walk and even if I did, I fell at least once or twice but Tony was there to help me especially as summer break started. Howard was still working on my prothstetics, so as a thank you for making them and for letting me stay with them, I helped with Tony's studies. Even though I was in a wheelchair, I would help Jarvis in the kitchen and help Howard with his show and Maria with any projects she found around the house.

It was a normal day, Tony was at home for summer break so he and I were making fourth of July cupcakes for tomorrow. Howard was in his home lab working on random stuff. Maria went to the supermarket when she found out that me and Tony were baking. Us baking together was a recipe for disaster, I wasn’t the greatest baker and Tony liked to mess with the flour which was why we were covered with it.

Tomorrow was July the fourth, Steve's birthday. Most people celebrated it as independence day, but I celebrated it as Steve's birthday. That was why me and Tony were making cupcakes and I had set aside two cupcakes for Steve and Bucky because Bucky always made Steve’s birthday big every year. Tony understood why I continued to celebrate his birthday even though he was dead. He understood and he helped me celebrate it for him.

We had just put the cupcakes in the oven, when we heard Howard running up the stairs from his lab. "I did it! I finished it!" He yelled, as he ran into the kitchen. He saw the mess we had made and paused, "You two are cleaning this up." Howard said sternly, pointing at us all messy in the kitchen.

"Yes, Howard. We know. But what did you do?" I asked as I spun my wheelchair around to look at him.

"I finished your prosthetics." He said, proud of what he did.

"You did?!" I exclaimed, he nodded and I wheeled over to him and he leaned down so that I could hug him. "Okay. Well when do I actually get to walk again?"

"The procedure is in a few weeks at the SHIELD infirmary. The first procedure will be to implant the connectors then we will attach the limbs. We will be observed by other doctors, because your prosthetics are going to be pure vibranium and connected to your nervous system. So you will be able to use your powers with them." Howard explained.

"Oh my God! Thank you! Thank you so much, Howie!" I exclaimed, and wheeled myself back over to Tony to start making the frosting for the cupcakes.

A few weeks later, my procedure went according to plan and I woke up in one of the infirmary beds in SHIELD a few hours later. The bases were attached and because of my advanced healing it only took a few days for the wounds to scar over and Howard was able to attach the limbs. I was able to sit up and look around. I looked down at my new limbs and I almost cried. My eyes studied the jagged edges of my scars that connected the base to my body. I was so excited to be able to do things again, I couldn’t wait to walk around without help. I tried to lift my left arm up and I was able to. I lifted it up, moved it side to side and curled my hand into a fist.

I relaxed my fist and then Howard walked in. "Hey, Vera. You checking out your new arm?" He asked as he walked over and looked over my chart.

"Yeah. It's so weird to have my arm back after two years." I explained, looking down at my arm.

"We tried to make the scars neater but HYDRA really did a number on your wounds.” He explained as he gestured to my scars. “How about you try walking?" He offered a smirk on his face.

"You know after forty something years you still have the same smirk." I said, a small smile crossing my face.

"Oh, come on. Just try walking." He chuckled, I turned my body to the side and swung my legs to the side. I started to put weight on my feet and I got to a fully standing position and went to walk but my metal limb gave out under me and I went to fall but Howard caught me before I could meet the floor.

"Woah, calm down Bambi." Howard said, as he lifted me up. I slapped him on the shoulder but smiled as he helped me over to the bed.

He helped me sit back on the edge of the bed. "I hate this, you know." I huffed, crossing my arms.

"You'll get better, I promise. You have four months of physical therapy to help you get used to your new limbs." He explained, sitting on the bed next to me.

He wrapped his arm around my torso and I did the same to him and I laid my head on his shoulder. "Thank you, Howie."

"No problem, V." He responded and kissed my head softly.

#fanfic #fanfiction #fandom #marvel #marvel fic #marvel fanfiction #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers #stucky #marvel mcu #mcu #mcu fandom #tony stark

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kuiilandtorch · 7 months ago

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My Random-Ass Headcanon Lore Compilation That Nonetheless Does (Mostly) Tie Together, Part 1

aka, My Personal Star Wars "Theory of Everything" that's more than a little deranged and I'm putting it out there in hopes that somebody else would like to foam at the mouth over it as much as I do

If you thought midichlorians were bad, buddy you ain't seen nothing yet

(if it helps, just imagine bill wurtz is narrating this)

HISTORY OF THE ENTIRE GALAXY, I GUESS

So in Legends EU - which frankly, if you're gonna do weird shit in the star war, at least the old EU had panache - the ancient proto-Jedi were called the Je'daii and TL;DR, got started after some flying pyramids called Tho Yor showed up all across the galaxy to, uh, benevolently abduct Force sensitives from many different species and dump them on a magic planet in the heart of the galaxy called Tython, where they studied the Force.

The Tho Yor were implied to be creations of a super-advanced alien species (who may have even been from a different galaxy). However, in my nonsense reality, the Tho Yor are instead the hyper-evolved forms of beings who used to be regular people of various species that spent such a long time in intense contemplation of the Force, their existence transcended the 4 perceptible dimensions of space and time and the corresponding laws of physics. Think the bulk beings from Interstellar except instead of totally peacing out of reality apart from their wormholes and tesseracts, the Tho Yor still somewhat hang around as "ships." Due to a sort of "sacred geometry" they chose to take on a pyramidal shape as their default, but my Tho Yor are fluid in their quasi-physical forms, shifting into any number of other configurations. At one point I have a Tho Yor shifting into the dodecahedral shape of what's recognized as being the Great Holocron, implying that that's what inspired the holocron's design. Their surface is a glossy dark iridescent material segmented almost like scales, sometimes rippling in an organic motion - think the skin of an indigo snake, or the oily rainbow sheen of a crow's or raven's feathers. The glowing portals on their hulls are also irregular, pulsating and changing size, shape, and color in a complex display of communication.

Because the Tho Yor are extra-dimensional, they can not only alter their shape, they're just plain not limited to anything perceivable in the 4D realm; like a TARDIS, they're infinitely "bigger on the inside" because they can serve as portals to higher dimensions. They're able to teleport anywhere instantaneously in a form of travel that's a much further advanced version of what serves as hyperspace for the GFFA (implying that, as Legends itself establishes about hyperspace, it's a not-well-understood reverse-engineered form of space travel constructed by powerful beings and left behind for other people to sort of figure out later on, just enough to be able to utilize it but never fully comprehend it). The Tho Yor sort of fold themselves up, collapsing and vanishing into higher dimensions, then pop back out wherever they please, causing major atmospheric displacement when doing so. (aka, it's really fucking LOUD.) Ramiel from Neon Genesis Evangelion's Rebuild edition is also a huge inspiration for my version of the Tho Yor, just, y'know...minus the catastrophic destruction lol.

Sort of.

Because while my Tho Yor are not weaponized per se, they're not defenseless. They're peaceful - a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack - BUT if a Tho Yor is threatened or "damaged" (which isn't actually possible but they could appear to be temporarily harmed if, say, bombed or blasted with turbolasers, etc.), they simply open themselves up like an eldritch origami flower and dissolve and absorb whatever the fuck is attacking them. This feeds (pardon the pun) into the Force's greater cosmic philosophy of the balance of life and death. Life is valuable and precious as it is what generates the Force and keeps it flourishing, but without death more life can't exist, so sometimes you gotta break some eggs and recycle them and it's fine in the grand scheme of things, even though it seems very much NOT fine on the microcosmic scale of people on planets. It's the ciiiiiiiiiiiiircle of liiiiiiiiiiiiiife.

Another feature of their shapeshifting is using it to communicate with non-Force-sensitives. They can stretch, bud, and liquify parts of their hulls, transforming them into any possible material, to display something recognizable to that person as a means of expressing, you are known to us. For example, one of the Tho Yor signals to a wary, defensive Din Djarin by extending a tendril toward him that first transforms into raw beskar, and then into the deep red cloth of his boyhood garb on Aq Vetina, acknowledging his whole identity and freaking the fuck out of him even more lol.

That's not all about the Tho Yor, tho. Since once upon a very distant time they used to be people...

...they're also the Whills.

Thus the Tho Yor/Whills are hyper-beings with godlike powers who only exercise those abilities to observe galactic events for the sole purpose of recording all of history, without intervening apart from that one time they decided to kickstart mass organization of Force users. Occasionally, when certain strongly attuned Force users die, they will approach them within the cosmic soup of the Force and offer to have them join their ranks as a fellow observer.

(One of these was Anakin Skywalker, who was considered a "Chosen One" because he experienced the full gamut of good and evil in his deeds and thus is considered a particularly knowledgeable being. In one of my WIPs, Anakin - whose spirit exists as a sort of tesseract of all his personas, including all the people he could have been but was not - is actually considering their offer as a sort of self-flagellating punishment, to make himself bear witness to the heat death of the universe, the greatest torment to his soul that he deserves for his crimes. But Luke - who's tripping balls in the Force and has been taken on a wild ride by the Tho Yor/Whills - simply tells him, "You don't have to, though. You could come with me." Luke, who readily confesses to the Whills that he couldn't tolerate standing on the cosmic sidelines watching the universe continue to suffer, prefers to live out his natural life and just become one with the Force, ceding his individual consciousness to the spiritual sea. The philosophical journey he's taken on is actually a great relief to him, to grasp how infinitesimally tiny he is in the immeasurable scale of time and how the galaxy will still spin long after he's dead and all memory of him has been erased. It makes the crushing responsibility of restoring the Jedi Order feel like a lighter burden, because no matter what he does or doesn't accomplish, it'll be okay eventually. Things will work out. Cycles ebb and flow. There will be countless others after him with similar burdens, more golden ages to come, more wars, more times of peace, more catastrophes and tragedies, and so it goes. He's just a blip, and he can live with that. And Anakin inflicting almost-eternal misery upon himself isn't going to fix any of the wrongs he did. He can still make amends from the hard-earned wisdom he's gained from beyond the mortal plane, but he's welcome to join Luke in equally mortal existence, following Obi-Wan and Yoda who've already "crossed over" and given up their own consciousness.)

All things must be, and all things will end, the Whills state. That is the great promise. And indeed they will, because with the Force dependent on life, there will eventually be a time when the decaying universe, bereft of anything except evaporating black holes, can no longer support life of any kind, and thus even the Force itself will come to an end, and the journals of the Whills will be complete.

The Force itself may seem to have a "will," but I personally prefer it to be a largely unknowable and unpersonified entity. I don't espouse the view of The Ones from Mortis being embodiments of the Force. If anything, I like to conceive of the Force more along the lines of the fractal alien from Annihilation:

An ambiguous essence that straddles the line between benevolence and callousness, because it functions at a level outside the scope of living comprehension.

Do you not know that you were born in violence? the Whills ask. That without the deaths of stars, the cradles of your worlds and the elements in your blood could not exist? Without the abyss of singularities as their engines, your galaxies could not coalesce? Without decay, whole living systems could not proliferate? Matter itself arose from a cosmic crucible. Death has allowed you to live.

I also like to picture the realm of the Cosmic Force as a fractal tapestry a la melodysheep's drug-trip visuals:

All living things in the universe displayed in shrimp colors, each strand an individual lifeform, unfurling and budding as their lifespan stretches out, evaporating upon their death while another filament snaps into place with the birth of a new one, from bacteria to megafauna and everything in-between.

*As a side note, I also have some vague desire to connect the Force with quantum physics/entanglement and maybe even electromagnetism. I mean, if George Lucas envisioned a space version of The Powerhouse of the Cell™ as magic Force germs inside of everybody, I don't think it's any crazier to imagine the Force as having a relationship to quantum physics as a means to sort of explain how some people can become psychic bathrobe glowstick wizards with the power to move shit with their brains, feel others' emotions, have clairvoyance, and perceive some things across vast interstellar distances. I don't mind a spiritual concept having an interrogation with scientific principles, I just like shit to be as weird as possible.

#hi my mind palace is more like a radioactive flaming dumpster #welcome in just don this biohazard suit #tune in next time for some more insane bullshit #thanks for letting me charlie day all over your dash #my meta #the force #the whills #star wars

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gunsandspaceships · 1 year ago

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Tony Stark’s achievements

Childhood:

“Brilliant and unique mind”

At age 4 built his first circuit board

At age 6 built his first engine

Cracked the Pentagon’s firewall in high school on a dare

Went to college at 14

Built cool smart robots (Dum-E and U) when he was a teen

At 17 graduated summa cum laude from MIT

Polyglot

Before Afghanistan:

“Da Vinci of our time”

Became an owner and CEO of Stark Industries at 21

Successfully ran the company for decades

Advanced the world of technology, not only in weaponry and robotics but also:

created advanced AI J.A.R.V.I.S.

created holographic interface technology

created repulsor technology

Participated in charity

In and after Afghanistan:

“I’m sorry, I’m not Tony Stark”

Survived an open-heart surgery in a cave, without general anesthesia

Lived with, in fact, a debilitating wound, shrapnel, and a huge and dangerous technological device in his body for years and was willing and capable of doing not only his usual work but also being a superhero and doing all these next things...

Did not give up under torture and fought with his captors

Invented and built a miniaturized Arc Reactor, in a cave, with a box of scraps

Invented and built Iron Man armor, in the same cave, with the same box of scraps

Escaped from captivity by himself (with help from Yinsen, but without any armed assistance)

Became an expert in piloting and driving

Saved people in Gulmira

Saved a USAF pilot

Probably the best hacker in the world, was able to easily hack networks of the Pentagon, US government, AIM, and SHIELD

Fought with Iron Monger after nearly died. Defeated him and saved many lives. Was ready to die for that

Built many more different Iron Man armors

Fought terrorists between IM and IM2 (IM2 tie-in comics)

Saved a submarine crew (IM2 - newspapers in Vanko’s home)

Saved a woman from a fire (IM2 - newspapers in Vanko’s home)

“Stabilized East-West relations” (IM2 - newspapers in Vanko’s home), so the world was “enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years”

Organized Stark Expo

Was able to keep Iron Man armor in his safe hands despite the government’s and HYDRA’s attempts to take it for themselves

Defeated Ivan Vanko in Monaco

(Re)Discovered a new element

Synthesized it, by building a particle accelerator, at home

Revolutionized energy industry and science. Gave clean energy to the world

Defeated Vanko in New York with Rhodey, Natasha, and Pepper and saved many lives again

Saved Peter Parker (IM2)

Made it so that the Abomination would not leave prison and join the Avengers

Built Stark/Avengers Tower powered by Arc Reactor technology

Saved Steve Rogers and many civilians in Germany from Loki

Was able to fight with Thor on equal terms

Biggest brain on Earth, arguably - in the Universe:

best scientist on the team, in SHIELD, on Earth, in the Universe

expert in nuclear, particle, and quantum physics

was able to learn very quickly – became an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics in one night

Successfully tracked Tesseract by its gamma radiation with Bruce

Saved Helicarrier with the Avengers and SHIELD agents on board, almost died

Saved Rogers from a merc right after that

Fought with Chitauri, killed many of them, saved a lot of people

Was able to blow up a Leviathan by himself

Saved New York City by redirecting a nuke to the wormhole

Saved the world by destroying Thanos’ Chitauri army, almost died again

Founded The United States Department of Damage Control to clean up after battles

Rebuilt Stark Tower into Avengers Tower and gave each team member their own quarters

One of the best biologists and biomedical engineers on Earth, even if it’s not his main area of expertise:

helped Maya with Extremis back in 1999, because knew more in her own field, and even didn’t remember that

was head hunted by Aldrich Killian to work on Extremis with/instead of Maya, who was the leading expert in tissue regeneration

improved and stabilized Extremis, so it became safe regenerative technology, and with it…

cured Pepper

healed extensive injuries in his chest

invented and implanted devices for remote control of his suits (into his forearm in IM3, and most probably into his brain for Mark L armor in Infinity War)

invented build-in diagnostic system in his suits

Invented many devices for protection purposes (ex. bomb disposal)

A capable detective. Figured out the cause of explosions in IM3 on his own

Saved Pepper instead of himself by putting Mark 42 on her during the attack on his Malibu mansion

Survived the attack with a barely working prototype suit. Shot down a helicopter with a piano

Was able to fight with enhanced fire-breathing regenerating terrorists without armor and weapons in Rose Hill. In handcuffs

Knowledgeable and skilled in medicine:

saved a kid with his arc reactor in a deleted scene from IM3, selflessly pulling it out of his chest and performing defibrillation under electric shocks

knew how to recognize hyperglycemia when Harley was eating 3rd bawl of candies

closed his wound in Infinity War with nanoparticles

performed first-aid on Bruce after his snap

Built a lot of stuff from random things he bought in a store for the assault on the Mandarin's mansion. In a motel

Successfully stormed the Mandarin's mansion full of armed and huge security guys with dogs. Alone. Without his armor

Successfully escaped captivity in the Mandarin's mansion with just a few pieces of armor on

Saved all the people who fell from the Air Force One

Stormed Roxxon Norco ship with Rhodey, without a suit. With one handgun

Saved the US president

Defeated Killian and his Extremis-enhanced terrorists, saved many lives

Built quinjets

Created Iron Legion

Became the benefactor of the Avengers, provided them with everything, was a combatant, and also the team’s pilot, hacker, engineer, medic, and scientist

As an Avenger saved many lives on missions, including destroying the rest of HYDRA in AoU

With Bruce’s help created Veronica and Hulkbuster suit

Defeated a rogue Iron Legionnaire with a fork

In contrast to other team members was able to function after Wanda played with his mind

Defeated mad Hulk. Saved a lot of lives in Johannesburg

Easily hacked nuclear codes in Nexus and found J.A.R.V.I.S. “in the world’s biggest haystack”

Created advanced AI F.R.I.D.A.Y.

Many advanced AIs

Created Vision

With the Avengers defeated Ultron and his army

Evacuated people who were left in Sokovia

Saved a falling evacuation shuttle with people on it

Together with Thor saved Earth by destroying the falling Sokovia

Rebuilt Stark Compound into Avengers Compound for the team in Upstate New York

Invented several medical devices, including leg braces, blood toxicity detector

Sponsored the development of technology for psychotherapy (B.A.R.F.). Prevented it from being used for harm

Funded all the students’ projects at MIT

Did everything possible to legally, politically, and physically protect the team before, during, and after the Civil War

Was able to disarm Winter Soldier without a suit, with only one armored glove

Figured out Spider-Man’s identity

Created Spider-Man’s suits

Mentored, sponsored, and looked after Peter Parker

Saved Peter Parker (SMH). Twice

Saved the ferry from sinking

Invented nanoparticles

“Earth’s best defender”

Went to space to save Peter, Strange and bring back Time Stone

Saved Peter Parker (IW)

Saved Strange on the Donut spaceship. Killed Ebony Maw

Cloak of Levitation chose him as his second favorite (deleted scene with Tony wearing Levi and Strange in Mark L)

Was respected by Thanos himself

Withstood when Thanos hit him with a moon

Fought Thanos, made him bleed, kept fighting even without armor

Survived a severe injury thanks to his own invention

Was able to function, tried to fix Benatar, and return home while injured and ill with an infected wound

Built a lab for Bruce and helped him to become one with Hulk (combine the best of both worlds)

Became an amazing dad

Became an expert in time travel physics

Discovered/invented (controlled) Time travel

Built a time machine

Went on Time Heist and stole Tesseract from a guarded military base

Created his own Infinity Gauntlet

Thus brought half of the universe back to existence (Bruce snapped and partially sacrificed his health, but nothing would be possible without Tony)

Saved Bruce’s arm by providing emergency medical care

Fought with Thanos again and…

Saved the whole Universe

#tony stark #iron man #mcu #marvel #the avengers #avengers endgame #captain america civil war #avengers age of ultron #iron man 2 #iron man 3 #spider man homecoming #avengers infinity war

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braveclementine · 1 year ago

Text

Thanos

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OC Elizabeth Lightwood. I do not condone any copying of this.

TWO YEARS LATER

"This is the Asgardian refugee vessel Statesman. We are under assault. I repeat, we are under assault. The engines are dead, life support failing. Requesting aid from any vessel within range. We are twenty-two jump points out of Asgard. Our crew is made up of Asgardian families. We have very few soldiers here. This is not a warcraft. I repeat, this is not a warcraft."

Elizabeth didn't know what to do. She was hiding her children behind her, while also trying to hold one of them at the same time.

Halfdan and Astrid were behind her, only eight years old. They both looked so much like their father, though Astrid had straight black hair unlike Halfdan's curly hair. They both even had his blue eyes and Halfdan had the point to his chin and Astrid had his smile.

They were holding the two of the two-year-olds: Tove who was female and also had Loki's blue eyes though Elizabeth's brown hair and Hogun who she had named after her best friend on Asgard and had been Tove, Hogun, and Sages' god-father. And now, he was dead.

The entire ship was on fire and she was crouched down. She had tears in her eyes, looking across the ship to see the brave fighter, Heimdall, laying down on the wreck in pain, bleeding.

"Hear me and rejoice." A new voice said, a voice that belonged to one of the invaders. He walked past Heimdall and Elizabeth clutched Sage harder in her arms, the little two year old girl, her eyes wide open, but she didn't cry. "You have had the privilege of being saved by the Great Titan."

Elizabeth often had trouble holding her tongue, especially when she was passionate about something or someone she loved. But she bit down hard, tasting blood, because now as not the time to get sassy.

"You may think this is suffering. No. It is salvation. Universal scales tip toward balance because of your sacrifice."

There were more of the alien creatures, walking around, over dead bodies. She kept a hand on her sword and she knew her children were behind her, with knives in their hands. They would fight, but they would all die. And she didn't know how to protect them.

Loki was standing in the front, with Thanos in front of him. He was the only one standing, in fact, his back to her.

"For even in death, you have become children of Thanos."

Thanos was standing over Thor now, who was unconscious on the floor. "I know what it's like to lose." He addressed Loki, as the others moved around, stabbing the Asgardians that were still breathing on the floor. Elizabeth tightened her invisibility spell as much as she could like Loki had taught her, but she wouldn't be able to hold it much longer, not for six people, even if five of them were children.

"To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail, nonetheless." He bent down, picking up Thor with one hand. Thor choked and moaned in his grasp. Elizabeth could hear Astrid crying quietly. "It's frightening. Turns the legs to jelly. But I ask you, to what end? Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same."

They were pointing a weapon at Loki's head now, all of them surrounding Elizabeth's husband and soulmate. She had to throw an arm out to stop Halfdan from rushing them with his knife, though she wanted to do the same.

"And now, it's here. Or should I say, I am." Elizabeth saw the purple gem that was already in his gauntlet. The first of six infinity stones for him to have.

"You talk to much." Thor grumbled, blood pouring out of his mouth. He'd lost an eye in their fight with Hela, they had lost so much in the fight with Hela. And now, they were losing everything. All of the people. Soon, the Asgardian population might be wiped out of existence completely.

"The Tesseract. Or your brothers and wifes' heads." Thanos said. Elizabeth's breath hitched when Thanos pointed at where Elizabeth was hiding the rest of her family. "I assume you have a preference."

"Oh, I do." Loki said. "Kill away."

Thanos pressed the gem to Thor's head and one of the lackeys immediately approached Elizabeth's corner. She wasn't sure if it was a lucky guess or if her shields were down, but she decided to act.

Thrusting Sage into Astrids' arms, she dropped the spell completely, lunging at the monster in front of her. The two of them immediately started combat, their swords clashing against one another. She was strong, far stronger than anyone Elizabeth had ever fought before, even T'Challa in his vibranium suit or Tony in his titanium one.

"ALL RIGHT, STOP!" Loki shouted.

"We don't have the Tesseract." Elizabeth could just barely hear Thor say as Thanos stopped what he was doing to him over the clashing of their swords. But she couldn't stop her fight with the woman in front of her- if you could even call her a woman. "It was destroyed on Asgard." There was a pause and then, "You really are the worst brother."

"I assure you, brother. . . the sun will shine on us again."

Elizabeth pushed away from the woman, retreating a few steps to come to Loki's side, holding a hand out at her kids so they would stay put.

"Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian."

Loki immediately retracted the glowing cube in his hand, "Well, for one thing, I'm not Asgardian. And for another. . . we have a Hulk."

Loki tackled Thor out of the way and Elizabeth shielded her kids as Hulk came through, bashing Thanos over and over. Loki came to her immediately, wasting no time in pulling her into a deep, passionate kiss.

"I love you." Loki whispered. "Forever."

"I love you forever." Elizabeth choked out, kissing him again.

Hulk was defeated far to easily for Elizabeth's liking. Thor attacked him when Hulk was down and was immediately captured in metal by the Squidward looking dude.

Elizabeth glanced over and Heimdall met her eyes. He nodded slightly to Hulk and she understood immediately.

"Get to Hulk." She whispered to her children and they went quietly, making their way to the Hulks' side.

"Allfathers." She heard Heimdall start to say. "let the dark magic flow through me one last time."

Elizabeth couldn't look at Heimdall as he started to activate the Bifrost. She met Thor's eye and knew he understood. But Loki was gone, scheming she was sure. She let out a pained cry, wanting to see him one last time. The rainbow light started to envelope her, "LOKI I LOVE YOU." She screamed as loudly as she could, before she was gone.

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"NO!" Loki heard Thor scream as Heimdall was killed. Loki breathed in, almost shakily. At least his wife and children were safe. And they would be able to alert Midgard of the doom coming to them. His wife and children were safe. That was all that mattered. "You're going to die for that."

Ebony Maw lazily swiped his hand so that the metal clamped over his brothers mouth. He lifted a finger to his mouth, "Shh."

"My humble personage." Ebony presented the Tesseract to him. He knelt, "bows before your grandeur." Loki watched as Thanos took off his armor. "No other being has ever had the might nay, the nobility to wield not one, but two Infinity Stones." Thanos plucked the glowing cube from Ebony Maw's hand.

"The universe lies within your grasp."

He crushed the cube in hand, blowing on it gently like it was hot, before lifting the blue stone between his fingers, glass tinkling to the ground. He placed it beside the purple one, a blast of blue energy going through the ship.

"There are two more stones on Earth. Find them, my children, and bring them to me on Titan."

"Father, we will not fail you." The womanly one said, as all of them bowed.

"If I might interject." Loki said quickly. "If you're going to Earth, you might want a guide. I do have a bit of experience in that area." He said with a smile, hoping this was all going to work. He was the master of lies and manipulation, but he had never done them on a Titan as powerful as this one. Nay, a Titan as powerful as this one that had controlled him.

"If you consider failure experience." Thanos said slowly.

"I consider experience, experience." Loki retorted. "Almighty Thanos, I, Loki, Prince of Asgard. . . Odinson. . ." He looked over at Thor, hoping he knew what he was doing, "the rightful kind of Jotunheim, god of mischief," He let the dagger form in his hand behind his back, "do hereby pledge to you, my undying fidelity."

He knelt, as though bowing, before thrusting upwards, his knife aimed for the throat. But blue energy stopped him, just inches away. Thanos didn't even look fazed.

"Undying?" Thanos questioned as he grabbed Loki's wrist, the blue fading as he lowered the stone, "You should choose your words more carefully." He twisted Loki's wrist so that he had to drop the weapon, before lifting him up by his throat.

It was a different sort of pain from dying before. Or coming close to death anyways. The air was gone completely from his lungs and he could already feel a sort of pressure against his forehead. And on top of that, he could suddenly feel Elizabeth's screaming pain through their bond. That she knew he was dying. And it was hurting her.

"You. . ." He choked out, kicking his legs a little. He struggled to get free, but he could not. "Will never be. . . a God."

And then Thanos snapped his neck.

🎃 ::::: 🧡 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🧡 ::::: 🎃

"Seriously, you don't have any money?" Stephen asked, dressing in a T-shirt and jeans as he and Sam walked down one side of the grand staircase, hand in hand. He was talking to Wong, a fellow sorcerer, as he walked down on the other side.

"Attachment to the material is detachment from the spiritual." Wong responded.

"I'll tell the guys at the deli." Stephen chuckled, "Maybe they'll make you a metaphysical ham on rye."

"Oh. Wait, wait, wait. I think I have two hundred."

"Dollars?" Stephen asked while Sam chuckled, used to the banter now between the two wizards.

"Rupees."

"Which is?"

"Uh, buck and a half."

Stephen sighed, "What do you want?"

"I wouldn't say no to a tuna melt."

Suddenly, they heard a huge crash behind them. They all covered their heads with their hands and then turned around. Stephen's cloak came around and Sam saw the Bifrost light not unlike that of which Thor and Elizabeth often had used to travel to and from Earth, but hadn't been seen in almost two years.

They all raced up the staircase, Wong already firing up his orange shields.

Sam looked down to see Elizabeth on her face and Bruce on his back, turning from green to normal. There were also two kids who looked like they could be anywhere between seven and ten, along with three babies.

"Thanos is coming." Bruce gasped.

"Bruce! Elizabeth!" Sam shouted, dropping down into the hole with them. He quickly checked that the babies were all breathing.

"He's coming." Bruce said again.

"Who?" Stephen asked.

"Elizabeth?" Sam asked, rolling her over now that he knew the kids were alright.

She rolled over and he saw that her face was tear stained and blotchy. "Sam." She sobbed.

"Hey, whoa, it's okay." He said, pulling her into a hug. "Elizabeth, whose Thanos? And why is he coming here?"

But she couldn't answer, to distraught. He looked over at the oldest boy. "What happened?"

"Sam, let's get them out of the hole." Stephen commanded. Sam quickly handed the babies up to Stephen and Wong and then helped Elizabeth out. Bruce got out himself and then Sam.

"Thanos attacked our ship." The boy, who said his name was Halfdan said. He was trembling, looking like he wanted to cry. He clutched a little girl in his arms. The elder girl hugged Elizabeth tightly as both of them cried. "He killed everyone, except us, Uncle Thor, dad, and Heimdall. Heimdall got us to safety but. . ." Halfdan rubbed his eyes. "Mom has been crying and. . . she screamed as we were falling. I think our dad. . ."

"It's okay kid." Sam said gently.

"And he's coming here, the man who did this?" Wong asked sharply.

The boy nodded.

"Okay."

"I'm going to kill him." Elizabeth said, staggering to her feet suddenly. "I'm going to kill Thanos."

Sam wrapped his arms around her, "Elizabeth wait. Just wait. You have your kids, we need to get them to safety first."

"They're safe here, aren't they?" Elizabeth hiccupped, but sank down on the steps, burying her face in her hands.

Stephen looked over at Sam, "Is there anyone on Earth?"

"Y/N, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, definitely Bucky Barnes. But the only ones I know you can get into contact with are Y/N and Tony."

"I can portal her straight to the Compound." Stephen nodded. "Um, Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth looked at him, wiping her eyes. "Y-Yeah?"

"Is it okay if you take the kids to the Avengers Compound? Y/N Stark is there with her children and Tony should be there as well. Rhodey too."

"Um sure." She whispered, standing up.

"Alright." Stephen said, creating a portal onto the grounds of the Avengers Compound. Elizabeth picked up a child and left through the portal.

"Hey," Sam said suddenly. "I'm going to go with them. If there really is a fight here, Tony has the phone to call Steve and the others that are on the run. If I can get to the phone sooner-"

"Okay." Stephen said, pulling Sam into a kiss. "I love you."

"I'm staying with you guys." Bruce wiped his own eyes and Sam looked at him. "Thor. . . Thor is gone too, I think."

Sam squeezed Bruce's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

He nodded, "I'll. . . we'll kill this fucker."

Sam nodded and then hurried into the portal after her.

🎃 ::::: 🧡 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🧡 ::::: 🎃

Tony had gone on a run with Everleigh that morning. Y/N of course, had to stay on the Compound with their newly born son Arlo.

"How about we go and get some ice-cream, now that we've finished our run, huh?" Tony asked his nine-year old daughter, panting a little. "You know we have our favorite ice-cream spot down around the corner."

"Then it's just around the corner, not down around the corner." Everly laughed.

"Very true lovebug." Tony chuckled.

Suddenly, he heard a very loud, professional voice ask, "Tony Stark."

He started, turning and Everleigh stopped by his side. "I'm Doctor Stephen Strange." He saw a man wearing blue robes with a red cape standing there. A portal- he assumed that's what it was- was behind him. He could see a broken staircase behind him as well, "I need you to come with me." Tony just stared and Everleigh grabbed his hand, "Oh and uh, congratulations on the new baby, by the way."

"I'm sorry," Tony responded quickly. "I thought Stephen Strange was Sam's doctor soulmate, not. . . whatever you are."

"We need your help." The man didn't respond. "Look it's not overselling it to say that the fate of the universe is at stake."

"And who's we?" Tony demanded. He then turned shocked when Bruce came to stand next to the wizard person.

"Hey, Tony."

"Bruce." Tony said, voice laced with surprise. Bruce came to stand in front of him, shaking his head. Tony could see his eyes were laced a little red and he asked, "You okay?" And then Bruce hugged him tightly.

Once he had settled down a little, wiping his eye with his thumb, Tony knelt near Everleigh, "You know how to get home to mommy, right?"

"Yes Daddy." Everleigh said solemnly.

"Good." Tony said firmly. "Then you run as fast as you can to her, understand?"

Everleigh nodded.

"I can portal her to the compound." The man said, opening a second portal which showed the Compound. Tony could already see Y/N far in the distance, talking to another woman.

"That's Elizabeth." Bruce explained, "Her and her kids. Long story short but Loki's dead. All the Asgardians are dead."

"Go." Tony said to Everleigh, who scampered through the portal and ran towards her mother. Then he followed the wizard and Bruce back inside.

He sat on a couch in what was known as the New York Sanctorum, watching another sorcerer show off some astral projections and tell a story about the infinity stones.

"At the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, Boom. The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurtling across the virgin universe."

There were so many corrections Tony wanted to make in the speech, but he kept quiet.

"These infinity stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

Each one was highlighted as they named it.

Blue.

"Space." Strange said.

Red.

"Reality."

Purple.

"Power."

Orange.

"Soul."

Yellow.

"Mind."

The one inside of Vision, Tony made note.

"And time." Strange said, looking down at the necklace thing he was wearing, opening it up to reveal the green stone that was inside of it.

"Tell me his name again." Tony demanded. He hated seeing Bruce so broken like this.

"Thanos." Bruce said. "He's a plague, Tony. He invades planets. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population. He sent Loki, brainwashed him. The attack on New York, that was him."

"This is it." Tony whispered. "What's our timeline?"

"No telling. He has the Power and the Space Stone." Bruce said. "That already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he get his hands on all six stones, Tony. . ."

"He could destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of." Stephen finished.

Tony stretched against the banister, "Did you seriously just say 'hitherto undreamt of'?" He asked.

"Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?" Stephen retorted.

"Is that what that is?" Tony asked, letting go quickly as he felt something like fabric hit him. He gave Stephen a look and then said, "I'm going to allow that."

"If Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?"

"No can do."

"We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives." Wong replied.

"And I swore off dairy but then Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me." Tony retorted. "So-"

"Stark Raving Hazelnuts." Stephen said in what almost sounded like an ashamed tone. . . but it couldn't possibly have been.

"Not bad." He responded.

"A bit chalky." Stephen said slowly.

"A Hunk of Hulk of Burning Fudge is our favorite." Wong informed Bruce, who looked utterly confused.

"That's a thing?" Bruce yelped.

"Whatever. Point is, things change." Tony responded.

"Our Oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change." Stephen said. "And this stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."

Tony responded with, "Yeah, so conversely, it may also be his best chance against us."

"Well, if we don't do our jobs."

"What is your job exactly? Besides making balloon animals?"

"Protecting your reality douchebag."

"Okay, guys. Could we table this discussion right now?" Bruce asked almost angrily. "Thor is dead. Loki is dead. Mine and Elizabeth's soulmates are gone. Forever. The fact is we have this stone. We know where it is. Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind stone, and we have to find him now."

"Yeah, that's the thing." Tony said uncomfortably.

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked.

"Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder." Tony replied. "He's offline."

"What?"

"Yeah."

"Tony, you lost another super-bot?" Bruce sounded so disappointed in him.

"I didn't lose him. He's more than that. He's evolving." Tony replied.

"Who could find Vision then?" Stephen asked.

"Shit." Tony hissed. "Probably Steve Rogers."

"Oh, great." Stephen muttered.

"Maybe. But. . ."

"Call him." Bruce demanded.

"It's not that easy." Tony said, looking at Bruce over his shoulder. "God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we?"

"No."

"The Avengers broke up. We're toast."

"Broke up? Like What? Like the Beatles?"

"Cap and I fell out hard." Tony muttered. "Sort've."

"Not quite true." Stephen interjected. "The Government made them choose and they all fought each other in an Avengers Civil War. Half of them like Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson are on the run. The other half like Y/N Stark, Scott Lang, and Clint Barton are on House arrest."

"Either way, we're not on speaking terms." Tony grumbled.

"Tony." Bruce begged, near tears, "Listen to me. Thor's gone. Thanos is coming. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not."

Tony sighed. He had always carried the phone on him, no matter where he went, just in case. Never thought he was actually going to need it. He flipped it open. "Flip phone." He muttered in disgust. He paused though, as he heard something.

He looked around, things slightly rattling. Stephens black hair was moving slightly in a wind. "Say Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would ya?"

"Not at the moment, no."

What kind of answer was that? When did he move his fucking hair then?

Car alarms started to beep outside, they could see people running past the doors of the Sanctorum, and could hear screams outside.

Tony was the first one out the door, opening it up, and then headed in the direction that people were running from. A woman and a man bumped into each other, both of them falling. He quickly helped the woman to her feet and she kept running without a word. A car crashed into a pole.

"Help him." He ordered.

"Wong!" Stephen shouted.

"Got it."

He put his glasses on. "F.R.I.D.A.Y. what am I looking at?"

"Not sure. I'm working on it."

"Hey! You might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc." Tony said, before taking off into a run.

Tony saw what basically looked like a flying donut in the sky. Chocolate, maybe some orange sort of goop inside of it.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. evac anyone south of 43rd Street." Tony ordered. "Notify first responders."

Strange did some sort of spell, which stopped the wind. Tony looked over his shoulder at the wizard and he winked at him. Tony raised his eyebrows in acceptance and then looked to see where a blue light had beamed two creatures down from the sky. One was extremely tall and buff, with heavy armor. The other was thin and shorter, but looked a lot like a squid.

"Hear me and rejoice. You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful that your meaningless lives are now contributing-"

"I'm sorry. Earth is closed today." Tony shouted, interrupting the monologue. "You better pack it up and get outta here."

"Stonekeeper. Does this chattering animal speak for you?"

"Certainly not. I speak for myself." Stephen said, stepping forwards, doing some really cool, dramatic, somewhat stupid hand motions to create shields, "You're trespassing in this city and on this planet." Wong did the same shields on the other side of him.

"He means get lost Squidward!" Tony shouted.

"He exhausts me. Bring me the stone." Squidward said and the stomping brute creature started towards them.

"Banner, you want a piece?" Tony asked.

"Mmm, no, not really." Bruce responded. "But when do I ever get what I want?"

"That's right." Tony responded back. "I know it's been a while. It's gonna be good to have you, buddy."

"Okay. Shh. Let me just. . . I need to concentrate here for a second." Tony looked at him skeptically. He was green at the neck and knuckles, but nothing more. "Come on, come on man."

"Where's your guy?"

"I don't know. We've sorta been having a thing."

"It's no time for a thing."

"I know!"

"That's the thing right there. Let's go."

Stephen looked at him in expectation. "Dude you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards." Tony said.

"Either I can't or he won't." Bruce responded.

"It's okay. Hey, stand down. Keep an eye on him. Thank you." Tony said, realizing the emotional stress of losing his entire family on the soulmate side probably was a lot. He thought it would fuel the Hulks rage, but perhaps he was wrong.

He stepped forwards, pulling the strings of his jacket, then tapping the new arc reactor on his chest. He took his glasses off as the suit seemed to melt onto his skin, the helmet coming over his face. He lifted his shield in time to counter the attack with the brutes club, before bashing him with his fist. Light jets came from his back, shooting a beam of energy that sent the brute flying backwards, which Squidward flicked away easily. The beams went back into Tony's suit.

"Where'd that come from?" Bruce asked in excitement.

"It's nanotech, you like it?" Tony asked, "A little something I-"

Suddenly he was sent skyrocketing as the ground underneath him shot up. He swooped around through the wizards, blasting the car that was sent their way.

"Gotta get that stone out of here, now." Tony said.

"It stays with me." The angry wizard said.

"Exactly. Bye." Tony said, then flew towards the aliens. He dodged the concrete walls, but was hit by something metallic and powerful enough to send him all the way back to where he'd been running earlier with Everleigh.

"Tony, you okay?" Bruce's voice called out, footsteps pounding on the ground as he ran over. "How we doing? Good? Bad?"

"Really, really good." Tony said sarcastically from where he was laying seven inches down in the dirt, back against a tree. "Really good. Do you plan on helping out?"

"I'm trying. He won't come out." Bruce responded.

"Hammer." Tony pushed Bruce out of the way, then tried to beam the brute with his laser, but his shield blocked it, cutting down trees instead with backlash.

Tony was suddenly stopped by being crushed by a hammer, by a very slender figure in a red suit. "Hey man!" The kid greeted the alien cheerfully. "What's up Mr. Stark?"

"Kid, where'd you come from?"

"A field trip to MOMA." He responded as he was picked up and tossed across the park. It gave Tony a chance to fire a laser beam up his side.

"What's this guys problem Mr. Stark?"

"Uh, he's from space. He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard." Tony said and the two of them continued to fight the brute. Tony watched Stephen fly by, seemingly unconscious or something. "Kid that's the wizard. Get on it."

"On it." Peter said, taking off after Stephen.

After a few minutes, he heard Peters' voice, "Um, Mr. Stark, I'm being beamed up."

"Hang on, kid." Tony said, extremely stressed out. He tried fighting the metal contraption around his body. The brute ran at him with a sword, leaping, but before he could come down on him, a portal opened up and the brute fell into a snowy tundra. Wong cut the portal off as he lunged upwards, the hand being cut off.

"Wong you're invited to my baby shower." Tony said, before blasting off the ground and taking off after the kid and wizard. "Give me a little juice F.R.I.D.A.Y." His feet melded together into one big booster to give him some extra speed. "Unlock 17-A."

"Pete you gotta let go, I'm gonna catch you." Tony instructed.

"But you said save the Wizard." Peter argued. "I can't breathe."

"We're to high up. You're running out of air."

"Yeah." the kid gasped, "That makes sense." And then suddenly, "Mr. Stark it smells like a new car in here!"

"Happy trails, kid." Tony hovered over him. "F.R.I.D.A.Y. send him home."

"Yep."

"Oh come on!"

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