Sanctum Sanctorum, New York City
Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, proceeded down the main steps of the Sactum with Wong.
Doctor Strange, dressed in casual American clothes, said, "Seriously? You don't have any money?"
Wong, dressed as he always was, replied, "Attachment to the material is detachment from the spiritual."
"I'll tell the guys at the deli." He added wryly, "Maybe they'll make you a metaphysical ham on rye."
"Oh, wait, wait, I think I have 200."
"Dollars?"
"Rupees."
"Which is?"
"Uh, buck and a half."
"I wouldn't say no to a tuna melt."
Bruce crash-landed through the Sanctum stairs. The Cloak of Levitation swirled around Doctor Strange's shoulders immediately.
Bruce, out of breath, warned, "Thanos is coming. He's coming..."
Doctor Strange, sharing a look with Wong, fully in his mage attire, asked, "Who?"
PUBLIC PARK - NEW YORK CITY - DAY
Tony and Pepper were walking in the midst of their conversation.
"Slow down, slow down," Tony said. "I'm totally not kidding."
Pepper laughed silently and spoke over him. "You're totally rambling."
Tony spoke over her. "No, I'm not."
"Lost me."
"Look, you know you're having a dream, and in the dream you gotta pee?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, and then you're like, 'Oh my God, there's no bathroom, what am I gonna do', 'Oh! Someone's watching'. 'm gonna go in my pants.'"
"Right. And then you wake up, and in real life you actually have to pee."
"Yes."
"Yeah. Everybody has that."
"Right! That's the point I'm trying to make Apropos of that, last night, I dreamt, we had a kid. So real. We named him after your eccentric uncle. Uh, what was his name?"
Pepper nodded in understanding. "Right."
"Morgan! Morgan."
"So you woke up, and thought that we were..."
"Expecting."
"Yeah."
Tony got excited. "Yes?"
Pepper shook her head. "No."
"I had a dream about it. It was so real."
"If you wanted to have a kid, you wouldn't have done that." She untied his jacket sleeves and tapped Tony's attachment."
"I'm glad you brought this up, 'cause it's nothing. It's just a housing unit for nano particles."
"It's not helping your case, okay?"
"No, no, it's an attachment, it's not -"
Pepper spoke insistently. "You don't need that."
"I know. I had the surgery. I'm just trying to protect us. The future uses, and that's it. Just in case there's a monster in the closet, instead of, you know..."
"Shirts?"
"You know me so well. You finish all my sentences."
"You should have shirts in your closet."
"Yeah. You know what there should be? No more surprises. We're gonna have a nice dinner tonight. Show off this Harry Win-stone. Right? And we should have no more surprises. Ever. I should promise you."
"Yes."
"I will." He kissed her.
Doctor Strange came through a portal. "Tony Stark, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me. Oh, uh, congratulations on the wedding, by the way."
Tony and Pepper were shocked.
"I'm sorry, you giving out tickets or something?" Tony asked.
"We need your help," Doctor Strange told him. "Look, it's not overselling to say that the fate of the universe is at stake."
"And who's "we"?"
Bruce emerged from behind Doctor Strange and greeted, "Hey, Tony."
A surprised expression crossed Tony's face. "Bruce."
"Pepper."
"Hi," Pepper replied.
"You okay?" Tony asked.
Bruce gave Tony a desperate hug, not answering.
SANCTUM SANCTORUM
Using the magic to show the universe and five out of six Infinity Stones, Wong said, "From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom! The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurtling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."
Each Stone lit up as Doctor Strange named them. "Space. Reality. Power. Soul. Mind. And Time." He opened the Eye of Agamotto, revealing the Time Stone emitting emerald light.
Tony, incredibly assertive, said, "Tell me his name again."
"Thanos," Bruce replied. "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."
Tony spoke to himself. "This is it... What's our timeline?"
"No telling. He has the Power and the Space Stones, that already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he gets his hands on all six Stones, Tony..."
"He can destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of," Doctor Strange finished.
Tony leaned against a cauldron, stretching like he was about to go for a run as he asked, "Did you seriously just say "hitherto undreamt of"?"
"Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?"
"Is that what this is...?" The Cloak of Levitation smacked Tony's arm, surprising him. Tony looked offended and straightened himself. "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," Wong explained. "With our lives."
"And I swore off dairy, but then Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me, so..." Tony trailed.
"Stark Raving Hazelnuts," Doctor Strange said.
"It's not bad."
"A bit chalky."
"A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge is our favorite," Wong stated.
"That's a good thing?" Bruce asked.
"Whatever," Tony retorted. "Point is: things change."
"Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change," Doctor Strange shot back. "This stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."
"And still conversely, it may also be his best chance against us."
"Well, if we don't do our jobs."
Tony's tone was slightly condescending. "What is your job exactly, besides making balloon animals?"
Doctor Strange spoke in a calm tone. "Protecting your reality, douchebag."
"Okay, guys, could we table this discussion right now?" Bruce asked. "The fact is that 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."
Tony spoke awkwardly. "Yeah, that's the... thing."
"What do you mean?"
"Two weeks ago. Vision turned off his transponder. He's offline."
"What? Tony, you lost another super bot?"
"I didn't lose him. He's more than that. He's evolving."
"Who could find Vision, then?" Doctor Strange asked.
Tony spoke quietly to himself. "Shit." He said in a normal tone, "Probably Steve Rogers."
Doctor Strange sighed in exasperation. "Oh, great."
"Maybe. But..." He sighed.
Bruce, who didn't know what happened during Civil War, said, "Call him."
"It's not that easy. God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we?"
"No."
"The Avengers broke up. We're toast."
Bruce, rather surprised and slightly let down, repeated, "Broke up? Like a band? Like The Beatles?"
"Cap and I fell out hard. We're not on speaking terms."
Bruce was nearly pleading. "Tony, listen to me. Thor's gone. Thanos is coming. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not."
Tony hesitated before pulling out the cell phone Steve mailed him and muttered, "Flip phone." Before clicking the call button, he paused, distracted by an unusual rumbling and said, "Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?"
Doctor Strange looked up at his forelock fluttering before saying, "Not at the moment, no."
Tony looked at the Hulk-made opening through the ceiling and saw debris flying by outside. He exited the Sanctum through the front door and scanned the chaotic surroundings. People ran and screamed in alarm, traffic became impossibly tangled, a litter-filled wind like a Nor'easter's. A woman nearly fell at his feet and he helped her up.
"You okay?" Tony asked the woman.
The woman ignored him and ran away. A car crashed against a pole behind Tony.
"Help him!" Tony ordered. "Wong, Doc."
"Go!" Bruce yelled. "Got it!"
Tony put on his sunglasses. "F.R.I.D.A.Y, what am I looking at?"
"Not sure, I'm working on it," F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied.
"Hey! You might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!"
Bands of spells readied around Doctor Strange's arms as he said, "Might wanna use it."
A mechanical hum grew louder as Tony approached the intersection. As he turned the corner, he saw a huge circular shape floating over Bleecker street.
---
On a school bus, the hairs on Peter Parker's arms stood up. He looked out the window and saw the ship.
Peter tapped his best friend in the seat in front of him and said, "Ned, hey. I need you to cause a distraction."
Ned turned around, saw the spaceship and cried, "Holy shit! We're all gonna die! There's a spaceship!"
Students scrambled to the windows in the back to see the spaceship.
Peter quickly slid on one of his Stark-made web-shooters and webbed the emergency exit lever on the opposite side of the bus.
The school bus driver, Stan Lee, asked, "What's the matter with you kids? You've never seen a spaceship before?"
Peter jumped out the window, clinging to the side of the bus and pulled off his mask before leaping over the side of the bridge, shooting a web-line and swung free. He hastily made his way towards the ship.
---
"F.R.I.D.A.Y., evac anyone south of 43rd Street, notify first responders," Tony ordered.
"Will do," F.R.I.D.A.Y. answered.
Doctor Strange threw the Winds of Watoomb over Bleeker Steet and winked at Tony. The dust cleared. Tony was begrudgingly amused for a split second.
Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian exited the ship by transmat.
Maw said, "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 to-"
Tony cut him off. "I'm sorry, Earth is closed today! You better pack it up and get outta here."
Maw looked at Doctor Strange. "Stonekeeper..." He gestured to Tony. "Does this chattering animal speak for you?"
"Certainly not," Doctor Strange retorted. "I speak for myself." Magical shields were readied with his fists as he stepped forward. "But you're trespassing in this city and on this planet." Wong emulated him.
"It means get lost, Squidward!" Tony added.
"He exhausts me, " Maw said.
Obsidian spoke untranslated syllables.
"Bring me the Stone."
Obsidian spoke another three untranslated syllables. He dropped his alien hammer and dragged it along as he obeyed his brethren.
"Banner, you want a piece?" Tony asked.
"No, not really, but when do I ever get what I want?" Banner replied.
"That's right."
Bruce attempted to release the Hulk. Instead of Hulk easily surfacing, the most that turned green was Bruce's neck.
"Been awhile," Tony commented. "Good to have you, buddy."
"I just... I need to concentrate here for one second," Bruce told him. "Come on, come on, man."
"Where's your guy?"
"I don't know. We've sorta been havin' a thing."
"There's no time for a thing."
"I know."
Tony pointed at the approaching Obsidian. "That's the thing right there. Let's go."
Bruce gave a loud grunt, but failed to release the Hulk. Doctor Strange stared at Tony and Bruce in disbelief.
Tony glanced at Doctor Strange before saying, "Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards.
"Tony, I'm sorry," Bruce said, stammering. "Either I can't or he won't-"
"It's okay. Hey, stand down." He turned to Wong. "Keep an eye on him. Thank you."
"I have him," Wong said.
"Damn it," Bruce muttered.