CHAPTER TWENTY
❝ dude, we're getting the band back together! ❞
"FROM THE DAWN of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom! The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurdling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."
Wong, who was Doctor Strange's fellow sorcerer, used his magic to conjure holograms of the six Infinity Stones into the air as he explained the purpose of the stones to the three Avengers. Stars floated around them, circling the air around Aster's head.
With her arms crossed over her chest, Aster stared at the colorful stones with a pensive look on her face. She thought back to the first time she had ever seen them, back when she was under Wanda's mind control. Her stomach twisted at the thought of the rest of her vision, and if those segments were going to turn out true as well.
"Space." The blue stone lit up. It was the one that Thanos attained by crushing the Tesseract.
"Reality." The red stone glimmered.
"Power." Aster recognized the purple one as the other stone Thanos already had in his gauntlet.
"Soul." As the orange stone twinkled, Aster narrowed her eyes at it. Just like the reality stone, she hadn't seen that one in person.
"Mind." The mind stone was well known to the Avengers. It was the one that resided in Vision's head.
"And Time." Doctor Strange crossed his wrists over one another, pulling them apart in a purposefully slow movement. An eye-shaped pendant hanging around his neck glowed green, opening and revealing the Time Stone.
Sitting on a bench at the edge of the room, Tony's face was devoid of any of his usual amusement. "Tell me his name again," he gritted out, pushing himself to his feet.
"Thanos," Bruce said, taking a step forward. "He's a plague, Tony. He invades planets, he takes what he wants, he wipes out half the population. He sent Loki! The attack on New York, that's him!"
Aster looked down at her feet.
"This is him," Tony murmured, almost speaking to himself. Aster lifted her head and squinted at him, wondering what was going through his mind. "What's our timeline?"
Blowing a long sigh from her lips, Aster shook her head. "Not long, that's for sure. He already has the Power and Space Stone. And he's not gonna stop until he gets the rest." Pausing, Aster bit the inside of her cheek. "I remember him always being obsessed with balancing the universe. He would go from planet to planet and wipe out half of their people because he had this urge to stabilize overpopulation. Those stones will make him the most powerful being in the entire universe. If he gets his hands on all six of them..."
"He can destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of," Strange finished her sentence.
Using a cauldron to balance himself, Tony reached back and pulled his right leg up, casually stretching. "Did you seriously just say 'hitherto undreamt of'?"
Glaring at the billionaire, Strange shot back, "Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?"
"Is that what this is...?"
Doctor Strange's cloak raised into the air and smacked Tony, knocking him off balance.
Dropping his foot back to the ground, Tony released his hold on the cauldron and turned around, clearly offended. "I'm... going to allow that." He gestured toward the Time Stone hanging from Doctor Strange's neck. "If Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?"
"No can do," Strange immediately reiterated.
"We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone," Wong cut in firmly. "With our lives."
Tony shrugged. "And I swore off dairy, but then, Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me, so..."
"Stark Raving Hazelnuts," Strange muttered.
"It's not bad."
"A bit... chalky."
Aster clasped her hands behind her back and bounced on her heels. "Star-Lick Salted Caramel is good too."
Wong grinned, pointing at Aster. "That one's my favorite. Along with A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge."
Confused, Bruce's eyes flickered between them all. "That's a thing?"
Surprisingly, Tony was the one to pull their attention back to the issue at hand, "Whatever. Point is: Things change."
"Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change," Strange countered, holding his ground. "This Stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."
"And still conversely, it may also be his best chance against us," Tony argued.
"Well, if we don't do our jobs—"
"What is your job exactly, besides making balloon animals?"
Doctor Strange's jaw ticked as he took a moment to compose himself. Clearly, he was fed up with Tony's antics. "Protecting your reality, douchebag."
The men glared at one another, forcing Bruce to cut into their heated discussion, "Okay, guys. Can we table this discussion right now? The fact is that we have the Stone. We know where it is. Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone, and we have to find him now."
Crossing his arms over his arc reactor, Tony awkwardly averted his gaze. "Yeah, that's the thing... Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder. He's offline."
Bruce shook his head in disbelief. "What? Tony, you lost another super bot?!"
"I didn't lose him. He's more than that. He's evolving."
Aster knew Vision was going to turn off his transponder, a piece of information that Tony didn't have. The android had a deal with Tony, that he would get to go see Wanda occasionally, as long as he would come back no more than a week later in order to stay under Ross' radar. To avoid being recognized in another country, he would travel in his human form. But before he left most recently, Vision confided in Aster and told her he most likely wouldn't be coming back at all.
The thought of losing another member of her family crushed Aster, but she knew it wasn't fair to ask Vision to stay. He constantly talked about Wanda, telling Aster how much his longing to be with her grew as time passed. Aster didn't blame him for choosing her over staying at the Compound.
"Who could find Vision, then?" Strange asked.
Perking up, Aster's heart skipped a beat. Tony swore under his breath and stopped pacing, raising his head to share a look with his daughter. "Probably Steve Rogers," he murmured.
Behind them, Doctor Strange groaned, "Oh, great."
"Maybe. But..."
Not seeing what the issue was, Bruce's eyes flickered between Aster and Tony. "Call him."
"About that..." Aster drawled, doubling his confusion.
Tony sighed, finally turning to face his old science buddy. "It's not that easy. God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we?"
"No."
After a beat of silence, Tony told him, "The Avengers broke up. We're toast."
Surprise flashed across Bruce's face. He tilted his head, glancing between Aster and Tony. "Broke up? Like a band? Like-like The Beatles?"
Placing her hands on her hips, Aster breathed out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, picture that but like, ten times worse. And way more illegal."
"She's right," Tony cocked a finger at Aster. "Cap and I fell out hard. We're not on speaking terms."
Struggling to process the information he was being given, Bruce stared at Tony for a long moment. "Tony, listen to me. Thor's gone. Thanos is coming. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not."
Panic flashed through Tony's eyes. It was subtle enough that only Aster caught it as he glanced over at her. Swallowing hard, Aster rubbed a hand over her necklace and gave him a nod.
She had been thinking of this day for a long time. She was smart enough to know that there was only one way the Avengers would be together again, and that was if Earth needed them.
Safe to say, this would be their biggest threat yet. And as much as she didn't want to admit it, Aster wasn't sure if they were ready for it.
With a sigh, Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a black flip phone. Like Steve and Natasha had given Aster her necklace, the former also gave Tony a phone with only one number in it. In case of emergency.
Flipping the phone open, Tony's finger hovered over the "call" button and he hesitated. Before Aster could tell him to quit wasting time, a low rumbling filled the air, along with a shift of airflow around them. Turning to Strange, Tony narrowed his eyes at the sorcerer's one stray strand of hair that was now moving in the wind. "Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?"
Trying to look up at his fluttering hair, Strange murmured, "Not at the moment, no."
Aster peered up at the hole in the ceiling of the Sanctum, watching with narrowed eyes as debris floated by. "Uh, guys?"
The four adults around her followed her eyesight, tipping their heads toward the ceiling. Aster walked over to the front door and sounds of screaming civilians met her ears. Without another word, she yanked the door opened and stepped outside, emerging into total chaos.
Cars were speeding past them, all trying to go in the same direction. People ran past Aster, nearly bumping into her with how distracted they were with trying to flee. Blurring her face, Aster tapped on her earrings and activated her comm system. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., what are we looking at?"
"Not sure," the A.I. told both her and Tony, who was right behind her, "I'm working on it."
Slipping his high-tech sunglasses on, Tony appeared at Aster's side and pointed back at Doctor Strange. "Hey! You might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!"
"Might wanna use it," Strange reiterated, crossing his arms over one another to activate his magic.
Jogging past the objects flying around them, they ran into the middle of the street and peered up at the sky. A massive Q-shaped ship floated above the city, which explained the sudden change in environment outside.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., evac anyone south of 43rd Street, notify first responders," Tony yelled over the rampant wind.
"Will do."
Swirling his hands together in a circular motion, Strange thrust his palms forward and cast a spell at the ship. The engine stopped as a result of his magic and the dust began to settle. Lowering his hands, Strange sent a smug look Tony's way, along with a wink. Tony turned away and rolled his eyes.
A blue beam shot out from the ship and touched down on the road ahead of them. Ebony Maw appeared in front of them, with his hands pressed together and a sour look on his face. Next to him was Cull Obsidian, a Hulk-sized combatant of Thanos. "Hear me, and rejoice. You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos." Maw paused, staring at Aster with cold eyes. "Father warned us of your presence, sister. Is there any possibility you want to change sides now? Leave these pesky humans behind and join us while you still can?"
"Not your sister," Aster deadpanned, keeping her words short and sweet. "I never was and I never will be, you freak."
Lips curling into a smirk, Maw went on, "Well then, you can be thankful that your meaningless life is now contributing to—"
"I'm sorry," Tony cut him off, not liking the way he was talking to Aster. "Earth is closed today. You better pack it up and get outta here."
Disgusted, Maw glanced over at Doctor Strange. "Stone keeper... Do these chattering animals speak for you?"
"Chattering animals?" Aster repeated, taking a threatening step forward. "If anyone's an animal here, it's you, you ugly—"
Putting an arm out in front of her, Strange intercepted her venomous words, "Certainly not, I speak for myself." He pounded his fists together twice before pulling them apart, now harboring Tao Mandalas on both wrists. Wong mimicked his actions and both sorcerers stood in defensive stances. "But you're trespassing in this city and on this planet."
"It means get lost Squidward!" Tony yelled.
Rolling his eyes, Maw glanced over at Obsidian. "They exhaust me. Bring me the Stone."
When Obsidian slammed his weapon into the ground and took a menacing step forward, Tony leaned back and murmured to Bruce, "Banner, you want a piece?"
"N-no, not really, but when do I ever get what I want?"
"That's right."
Rolling his shoulders, Bruce nodded. Clenching his jaw, he closed his eyes in an attempt to release the Hulk. The veins on his neck protruded as green began spreading across his skin, though he wasn't able to make the full transformation with ease like usual.
Aster was staring at him, slightly worried. "You okay, Bruce?"
Tony was unimpressed. "Been a while. Good to have you, buddy.
"I just..." Bruce's voice was strained as he closed his eyes, curling his hands into fists. "I need to concentrate here for one second. Come on, come on, man."
"Where's your guy?"
"I don't know. We've sort of been havin' a thing."
"A thing?" Aster dubiously repeated. "What, did you guys get into a fight or something?"
"Well, make up. There's no time for a thing," Tony rushed out.
"I know."
Clasping a hand on Bruce's shoulder, Tony pointed toward Obsidian, who was slowly making his way toward them. "That's the thing right there. Let's go."
A deep grunt left Bruce's lips, though he still failed to release the Hulk. Still in their defensive stances, Strange and Wong were staring at the scientist with weary eyes.
Tony glanced between them and murmured, "Dude, you're embarrassing us in front of the wizards."
"Guys, I'm sorry. Either I can't or he won't—"
Aster nudged Tony, pointing at Bruce in his distressed state. Rolling his eyes, Tony turned and laid a comforting hand on his back. "It's okay. Hey, stand down." He eased Bruce to stay behind Wong. "Keep an eye on him. Thank you."
"I have him," Wong confirmed, taking a step in front of Bruce. Behind him, Aster could hear Bruce curse under his breath, "Damn it."
Tony let out a heavy sigh and turned to his daughter, raising one perfect eyebrow. "You ready?"
Pulling up the left sleeve of her shirt, Aster nodded back. "Hell yeah."
Tapping his arc reactor, Tony enabled the nanoparticles hidden in his chest. The familiar red and gold suit began creeping around his body, engulfing every inch of his workout clothes. Taking his sunglasses off, his faceplate covered his face and the eye slits glowed as soon as he was fully suited.
Next to him, Aster tapped on the thin silver bracelet on her wrist. It broke off into nanoparticles that crawled up her arm, spreading across her entire body. As her new shiny blue and silver suit slowly took the place of her school clothes, Aster's palms bled cosmic energy as she waved a hand over her head, wrapping her hair up into a ponytail with ease.
But just before her suit closed over her chest, Aster's hand slid down to her necklace and she pressed the panic button on the back. The necklace flashed blue and it beeped three times.
Tony turned to her and tilted his head, pointing a metal finger at her necklace. "Was that...?"
Dropping her powerful hands at her sides, Aster smirked. "Yup. I'm getting the band back together."
If Vision was with Wanda, then Steve, Natasha, and Sam would be the only ones able to locate him. With the rest of the Black Order after the Mind Stone, Aster could only hope that her warning call wouldn't be too late.
Despite the grim weight of the situation at hand, a pang of excitement shot through her chest at the thought of the Avengers coming together again.
She just wished she had a distress signal for her sisters too.
AUTHOR'S NOTE!
uploading a day early because i'm impatient!!!
how is everyone and what did we think about the chapter??
infinity war is one of my favorite marvel movies because of the humor alone.
tony and strange KILL ME.
i'm so glad bruce is back too because he's so underrated.
anyways, aster's in her shiny new starlight suit and she sent the distress signal to steve and nat!
shit is about to go down.
see you soon!
<3 mal