You roamed the streets of Tel Aviv, Israel until you found the hotel you were staying at. You were an archeologist who studied specifically the Middle East and North Africa. After your stays in Cairo and Jerusalem, you went to Tel Aviv. Just outside of Tel Aviv was the site of the digging of an old Hebrew civilization. You arrived late Friday, so you'd wait until Sunday, knowing Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath. Several Israelis in the area were going to help, and you weren't about to force them from their synagogues.
After a relaxing Sabbath, you and the aiding Israeli archeologists set to work digging up the site.
"Azriel! A little help!" you shouted to one of the Israelis as you struggled to lift a slab of rock. Azriel came to help and with your combined strength, the slab was moved to reveal the inside of the archaic building.
You peered inside the ancient room that was seeing sunlight for the first time in centuries. Sweat beaded down your face as you shone a flashlight. "This is some serious Indiana Jones crap," you said as you pointed at the floor. Azriel's gaze followed yours and he gasped as he saw what had you amazed.
"Scorpions," he said as he frowned. "They shouldn't be too bad though. We can get rid of them, and it's only a few."
When the majority of the scorpions were killed, you, Azriel, and a British companion, Samuel, climbed down into the Hebrew ruin. You carefully walk to the center of the room, Azriel and Samuel close behind. In front of you stood a small box with intricate designs. Around them stood destroyed statues of old Jewish idols.
"Good God," said Samuel in amazement.
"That's what the Hebrews thought," you said.
"And still think," added Azriel. Azriel brushed dust off the Box.
"Azriel, was it it?" Samuel asked.
"There's an old Hebrew myth. The Israelites were disobeying Yahweh, which is Hebrew for God, by worshipping idols. So Yahweh sent a prophet to preach the people the everlasting gospel, but no one listened to the prophet. So Yahweh gave this box to the prophet and told him He had put His power in it. The prophet used the box to destroy the idols and the Israelites once again worshipped the one true god. Later, the prophet used it to help some Israelites in a battle. The Hebrews won," Azriel explained.
"Which prophet was it?" you asked.
"The records were incomplete. We don't know who was the hand of Yahweh. It could've been Elijah, or Isaiah, or anyone else. No one knows. Your guess is as good as mine."
"You really think this has God's power?" Samuel asked.
"I do, but I doubt it would work now. It would need to be wielded by a prophet of old," Azriel said.
"These idols are probably the ones destroyed by this prophet," you said, ignoring the argument of God's divinity. Let the philosophers and priests figure that out! All you wanted was to learn what the Israelites did and believed in the past.
You stepped forward to the Box, and Azriel stepped back so you could study it. "Does it have a name?"
"מנגנון"
Azriel said. "It means Apparatus in Hebrew."
You continued to brush sand off the Apparatus until all its intricacies were revealed. "Let's take it out. Give it to that museum in Tel Aviv."
The Apparatus was surprisingly heavy. It was three feet long and one foot wide, with handles on either side. It was two feet deep, and it looked almost like the Ark of the Covenant from Indiana Jones.
"What the heck is even in here, Azriel?" Samuel asked. "It sure as heck isn't hollow!"
"Oh, I dunno. The power of God, I suppose," you said in a joking matter.
"I don't have a better answer," said Azriel.
"Shall we look inside?" Samuel suggested. The trio carefully placed the Apparatus on the ground. You slowly opened the box, wondering what you'd find.
You don't know what you expected. Something that would look more like a relic, no? Instead, it was full of sand. The finest sand you had ever laid your eyes on. It was dark and shiny, almost like charcoal. You eyed Azriel and Samuel in confusion. "Sand?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, Azriel, but there isn't a whole lot of sand in the Arabian peninsula that's black," Samuel said.
"There isn't any black sand that I know of," Azriel confirmed.
Enthralled, you scooped some sand in your hand and raised it, letting the sand sift back into the Apparatus. "I wonder how it could've gotten here?"
"This'll be the mystery for the next era of Hebrew archaeology," Samuel stated.
"Indeed it will. If God wills it, we'll learn more of this Hebrew myth that isn't as mythical as we thought," Azriel agreed.
You wisely didn't respond, knowing that any misplaced words could cause a religious flame war or offend someone.
When you were in the vehicle heading back to Tel Aviv, you let Azriel drive and you went to your phone. "What's so important on there?" Samuel asked. Usually you drive, considering you don't trust other drivers.
"Oh, I'm just excited to get back to a book I'm reading," you said, trying not to panic. You didn't want your professional reputation to be harmed because people knew you were reading a fluffy Avengers x Reader.
Unconcerned, Samuel left you to the fanfic while he and Azriel talked about another site Saudi Arabia that was interesting.
When you arrived, Azriel and Samuel went to discuss the find with the museum director in Tel Aviv and left you to "read your book." Like they expected you to do that.
You put your phone in your pocket and walked over to the Apparatus. You being one of the three in charge of the dig, no one questioned it. You slid the Apparatus open and peered inside at the sand.
Huh, I thought it was darker than this, you thought. The sand was now a very dark grey rather than a black. To be fair, you were in a poorly lit room when you first looked at it, so it's unsurprising that it looked darker then.
You studied the inside of the box. It was plain other than the sand. The outside was very decorative and had several characters engraven into it. The characters were in Hebrew or Aramaic, you figured. You'd ask Azriel later what it said.
You wondered what was at the bottom of the box. You started pushing the sand around in the box, keeping it all in the box, but piling it up on one side.
The bottom of the box was silver, which made it clash with the sand. It was smooth and it appeared to cover the entire bottom.
Satisfied, you closed the lid and opened Wattpad back up.
When Samuel and Azriel came back, the three of you carried the Apparatus inside. "This feels...heavier than it was earlier," you said.
"You're right," Samuel agreed. "That's weird."
You got the Apparatus in the building, and took a big swig from your water bottle. You rubbed your fingers across your temples.
"Are you okay?" Azriel asked.
"Yeah, I'm probably just dehydrated," you said. Azriel nodded and threw a plastic water bottle at you, despite seeing you holding one already.
Boring talking to the museum director. Blah blah blah. You loved archaeology, but this part was the worst. It agitated your migraine. Seeing your pain, Azriel and Samuel did most of the talking for you, you only saying "Yep" and "Nope." The director, noticing the reasoning behind this, directed most of the conversation to Azriel and Samuel.
As soon as you could, you went back to the vehicle. In a day you went back to your home in San Francisco. Your head still pounded with pain, and you were about to go to a doctor about it. It wasn't excruciating, but it was lasting longer than usual.
You weren't home to often. You were always off in Arabia. You had considered getting a home in Israel in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, but you have so much family in San Francisco that it was worth it to stay in California.
Normally, you would've been back in the Middle East, probably Cairo. But you couldn't even think about getting on a plane and working at a dig in your condition. You stayed home and watched some of your favorite MCU movies: Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Thor: Ragnarok, and Avengers: Infinity War.
During the final battle of Wakanda, your head ache got worse. You thought it was because there's so much movie in this movie. Too much for your brain to take in. Too tired to get the remote and turn it off, you lie down on the couch and close your eyes. You listen to the mess called Infinity War and massage your temples. Why does it hurt so bad? you thought.
As Thor came to Wakanda, the pain increased. It hurt just to hear Thor hurl Stormbreaker across the Wakandan plains. It became excruciating very quickly. The last thing you heard was the Snap.
•••
"Ugh, what happened?" you asked as you woke up.
"I, uh, I don't know," said a gentle female voice. You opened your eyes to see a young woman you had never seen before lean against the wall. You quickly took in your surroundings, and saw you were in a hospital room, speaking to a doctor.
"How did I get here?" you asked.
"We found you unconscious on the street a block away and thought you had been mugged. I don't think you were though, your wallet has your ID, cards, and cash." The doctor sighed. "How did you end up there?"
"I wasn't in the street! I was at home, watching a movie," you said in confusion.
"Have you been drinking?"
"I don't drink!"
"Illegal drugs?"
"What? No, I don't do that stuff! And you'd know if I did! You could do a blood test!"
The doctor sighed. "I'm just tryna find an explanation as to why you were outside of your home. When you were inside, were you experiencing any discomforts?"
"Yeah, I had a headache for a few days. It was getting really bad, I was about to call my mom and have her drive me to a doctor."
"We can do a brain scan." The doctor proceeded to do a CAT scan on you. "Nothing looks wrong. Your parietal lobes and cerebellum are slightly larger than average, but that shouldn't cause any problems."
"Is there anything wrong with me?"
"Nothing but a small road rash."
"So can I go?"
"Yes, just come back if your head hurts again, then we can do a PET scan."
•••
You went home and got on your laptop to look at the news. You were expecting something about the current political situation. Not what you saw. The headline read:
BREAKING NEWS: TONY STARK REVEALS HIMSELF AS "IRON MAN"
Iron Man? you thought. This is old news! The movie came out in 2008, it's 2019 now. What is this?
You clicked the article and skimmed through it. It was from BBC, an actual news outlet, not some fanboy on Reddit. You looked at more news articles. It was about Tony Stark being captured by terrorists, Tony Stark being rescued by the US Air Force, Tony Stark closing down his weapons production, Iron Man fighting terrorists, etc.
The heck?!