Rogue: Annihilation (An Avengers Sequel)

3. Strange

Stark gave me a sympathetic look, before grabbing my hand and ushering me on a slow walk through the park, our hands still intertwined.

"Are we really doing this?" I asked, gesturing to our hands.

He shrugged. "Don't read so much into everything."
"I'm not!" I asserted, a small smile creeping onto my face. "I'm just saying, after everything that happened last time..."

"Last time was last time," he told me firmly. "We're different people now. Let's leave the past in the past."

"Agreed. The past is in the past," I nodded immediately, singing along to the familiar song lyrics in my head. Despite everything that had happened over the years between me and Stark, it was nice to have him back in my life. And it was even nicer to have his hand in mine. Sometimes, I didn't know what I'd do without him.

"And, stop wishing for disasters," he reprimanded me. "Because, with our luck, the next worldwide threat is already planning his big entrance."

I smiled despite the subject matter. "You think danger's waiting for us?"

"Isn't it always?"

Just as we were about to continue, something stopped us in our tracks. A ball of glowing light formed in front of us. We stared at it with wide, confused eyes, watching as it changed shape and formed a portal. Finally, out stepped a man that neither of us had ever seen before.

He was tall, with dark hair and a designer goatee that matched Stark's. He was wearing blue robes, with a red cape draped over his shoulders, and a locket the shape of an eye around his neck.

"Mr. Stark? Miss Miller?" he questioned us, though the tone of his voice suggested that he already knew he was right.

"Rogue," I corrected automatically, taking a small step away from him. "Do we know you?"

"I'm Doctor Stephen Strange," he announced. "I need you both to come with me."

Stark tilted his head, glaring at the man with a suspicious look on his face. "I'm sorry, are you giving out tickets to something?"

The man, unfazed by Stark's obvious contempt, continued. "We need your help."

"You expect us to follow you through that magic trick and into your cave of wonders based on the word of a magician?" Stark asked, looking at the man as if he was completely crazy. With our luck, maybe he was.

"It's not overselling it to say that the fate of the universe is at stake," Dr. Strange continued, his expression solemn.

"Wait a second," I said, holding up a hand. "You just said 'we'. Who else is with you?"

There was the sound of feet shuffling from behind him, and a familiar face stepped out of the portal, looking tired and scared. In fact, he looked like he'd been through hell.

"Bruce?" Stark asked in disbelief. It had been over two years since we'd seen him.

Bruce Banner took a breath. "Guys." He didn't say anything else, and he didn't have to. Because, from the tone of his voice, we knew that whatever this threat was, it was serious. He stumbled into Stark's arms, breathing heavily.

"The fate of the universe?" I repeated uncertainly, looking at Dr. Strange, who nodded once. I looked back at Stark, his shocked expression mirroring mine. "Guess it's time to save the world."

I followed the Doctor through the portal, Stark and Banner walking closely behind. Suddenly, we were in a huge room at the bottom of a large broken staircase, accompanied by another man who was dressed similarly to Strange.

"Does one of you guys want to explain what's going on?" I asked nervously. "Because you're making it sound like this is a life-or-death situation."

"He's coming," Banner told us, his voice shaking. "He's searching for the Infinity Stones, and when he finds them..."

"Back up," I interrupted, refusing to be scared of something that I didn't understand. "Who's coming, and what are Infinity Stones?"

The other man raised his hands, and suddenly images appeared before our eyes, like magic.

"From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom." The image he showed us changed, and now we could see five colored rocks. "The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurtling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

From here, Strange took over. "Space," he announced. We watched as the blue stone lit up. "Reality." The red stone. "Power." Purple. "Soul." Orange. "Mind." Yellow. "Time." Strange used magic to open the eye-shaped locket around his neck, revealing a green stone – the only one that was actually here.

"And someone wants to find them?" I asked warily.

"He's a plague. He invades planets, he takes what he wants and wipes out half the population. He sent Loki, the attack on New York, that was him!" Banner said, taking an unsteady breath to calm himself down. "He already has the Power and Space stones. That makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he gets his hands on all six stones..."

"He can destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of," Strange finished for him.

This didn't feel real. A mysterious guy who was on a mission to find magical stones that could destroy the world? But even if we didn't want to believe it, we couldn't ignore the atmosphere in the room, or the look on Banner's face.

"Tell me his name," Stark commanded, in a voice that couldn't hide his apprehension.

Banner looked at Strange, before looking back at Stark.

"Thanos."

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So we're officially in 'Infinity War' territory - indefinite spoiler alert from here on!

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