New Avengers: The New Initiative

CHAPTER VIII

"Tony Stark seemed to have proven that assertion otherwise."

"And the damage and casualties would have been much worse if we didn't step in."

"What about Tony Stark and his new team? From what I saw on multiple news channels, they have less damage and casualties than we had on our missions."

"And Tony attacked first, so Bucky and I had to attack in self-defense."

"Only after you never told him about what happened to his parents. Besides, he even added Bucky to the team, so regardless, Stark would have forgiven him." Whether or not Wanda genuinely believed her presented arguments, Steve either didn't listen to her or ignored her and continued to state the assertions that he only wanted to hear. If she weren't confident in her choice of joining Steve in the Civil War, then now, this one-sided conversation certainly convinced her that she had joined the wrong side. However, she was supposed to be dead, and she wasn't in Stark's good graces at the moment, so she honestly had no one else than Steve and Natasha. "Steve, I want to support you and follow you in whatever plan you have in mind, so if you trust this man, then I will too. But under one condition, we will leave Stark and his team alone. It would be disastrous if they find out what we are planning. It would be better to keep them in the dark and not draw attention to ourselves."

"Deal. Now, come on, we have to a plan to enact."

ETHAN COOPER'S POV

Ethan couldn't have one day without panic or stress? Was a little moment of peace and stability too much to ask from the universe? Well, technically, the Infinity Stones had control over the entire universe, so was it all too much to ask from them? Oh, what did it matter? When it came to his lifestyle as a New Avenger, more often than not, it was always too much to ask for mental sanity and relaxation. Although, it shouldn't even surprise him anymore. After all, he had essentially normalized and expected any environment to change into an instant headache, nightmare, and terror.

"So, what is it like essentially having over the entire universe?" Josh asked with an overly excited tone. He looked like he was on the verge of bouncing up and down on the couch. And Josh gave Ethan the teasing treatment for acting like the same overly dramatic fanatic when meeting Tony Stark for the first time. Now he would know what it was like. Payback would never be any sweeter.

"To put it in one word, unforeseen," The Time Stone responded.

"Aggravating," The Reality Stone answered with a ticked-off and irritated tone.

"Hellish," The Soul Stone replied bluntly.

"Complicated," The Power Stone answered back with an almost direct tone.

"Difficult," The Space Stone lastly responded.

"... Interesting," The Mind Stone spoke almost hesitantly. Even more than that, she looked distracted and distressed over what was on her mind. A little ironic as she was the Mind Stone. But what was even on her mind? What made her so stressed?

"What is the most difficult part about it?" Jessica intervened in the conversation with her question.

"Oh, where to even start," The Reality Stone commented. "Well, for starters, it is not just your universe that we have to protect; there is a whole multiverse out there. And it is all annoying because certain people in a certain universe have messed up their timeline to an unfixable extent that it makes my job more complicated than usual. It especially doesn't help when we all technically don't exist in that timeline anymore."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"As my name states, I can alter and bend all kinds of reality, Kid. But if you want to know about domain-specificity, it is my responsibility to ensure that different realities don't cross into each other. But one universe had already broken into the multiverse on numerous occasions and messed up the stability of their reality. It honestly made my job so much easier when those who believed in and studied the multiverse were called insane."

"Even with my assistance, the damage has already been done, much more than can be fixed. Besides, I can only alter and control time, not reality," The Time Stone explained.

"Let me just say that in the entire multiverse, you all are in the most competent universe. And that is saying a lot coming from me."

"Thank you?" 

"Other than the Reality Stone, what are you guys irritated by?"

"When people automatically assume I am the weakest Infinity Stone," The Soul Stone answered annoyedly.

"Oh no, we are not starting that conversation again."

"Why not? Every researcher questions the extent of everyone else's abilities, but not me. No, I am the instant weak link of the bunch."

"In their defense, Soul, you are the most hardest to understand and not the most easiest to locate," The Power Stone argued with a joyous smirk.

"I control life and death itself. What more do people need to understand about me?"

"Do we need to remind you that you were the one who made the requirement of people throwing friends and family off of a cliff in order to acquire you?" The Time Stone questioned.

"Wait, what?"

"First of all, it is not just a cliff; it is an abandoned planet that just happens to have a giant cliff."

"A planet is in the middle of nowhere, and it still doesn't make the whole sacrificing a loved one any better."

"Listen, there is a logical reasoning for my, admittedly, barbaric method."

"What explanation?"

"Well, you see, people often take death for granted or don't care who it impacts until it affects them personally, especially when they would willingly take another life for their own selfish desires. So, in order for them to understand the gravity of death, the sacrifice of a loved one seemed like the best solution."

"You could have thought of a better idea?"

"And what method do you think is more effective? You can call it brutal and heartless, but in a way, people can understand their own mortality and understand that death isn't a joke."

"Well, nice lesson, but terrible method."

"Life is often like that." Without any indication, the Soul Stone suddenly began to hyperventilate, energy aura flickering as he looked unnerved and unsettled.

"What's wrong, Soul?" The Space Stone asked with evident concern in his voice.

"An emergency in the Soul Realm. It should not even be possible, but... Someone escaped." It wasn't who Ethan thought it was. Was it?

"What? Who?" The Mind Stone asked, speaking for the first time since Josh's question.

"... Wanda Maximoff." No, not her. Why couldn't it have been anyone but her? And to add more to the situation, there was a vibration on Ethan's emergency watch. And from how everyone else in the room looked at their wrists, the same occurred to them. Well, time for an emergency meeting. Ethan could only imagine what would be discussed. Tony would want to hear about this update.

As Ethan said, he could never have a moment of peace and sanity.

(A/N: Hey, everyone! First of all, I wanted to apologize for not updating in a while. It was a mix of a busy schedule, a lack of motivation, and writer's block, but now, I am back, and the next chapter should come out in the next coming weeks. Thank you for your patience. See you all soon!