CHAPTER NINETEEN
"noobmaster69"
Once Tony pulled himself together, he turned all of Jade's things off and when downstairs where Pepper was. She was sitting on the couch, in front of the burning fireplace reading a book.
"Not that it's a competition, but she loves me 3000. You were somewhere on the low 6 to 900 range," Tony smiles, trying to pretend he wasn't just in Jade's room.
Pepper scoffs jokingly, "What are you reading?" Tony asked, not fully paying attention to her. His mind went back to the time machine model he figured out and how Jade wants him to do it.
"Oh, it's just a book on composting," Pepper said.
"What's new with composting?" Tony asked slowly.
"Just—"
Tony cut her off quickly, "I figured it out, by the way,"
"You know, just so we're talking about the same thing—" Pepper said confused.
"Time travel," he said and flopped onto the couch.
Pepper's mouth opens, "What? Wow... That's amazing, and... terrifying,"
"That's right," he said.
"We got really lucky," she said.
"Yeah, I know," Tony sighed.
"A lot of people didn't,"
"No, I can't help everybody," Tony shrugged his shoulders. He hoped Pepper would talk him out of it— tell him it wasn't possible or a death trap for them.
"It sorta seems like you can..." Pepper said softly.
"Not if I stop. I can put a pin in it right now, and stop,"
"Tony, trying to get you to stop has been one of the few failures of my life," Pepper smiles gently making Tony smile too.
There was a short pause between them and Pepper looked at Tony and at how uneasy he looked. She knew he went in her room, she heard the first video of Jade's and knew Tony would go in there.
"You went in her room, didn't you?" She asked, placing a hand on Tony's, even though she knew the answer.
Tony looked up at her, his eyes wide. He waited before speaking again, "... Yes. She wants me to do it. She wanted me to figure it out and try to fix everything,"
"And you did," Pepper said. "Why are you trying to talk yourself out of it?"
"I feel like I should... put it in a locked box and drop it at the bottom of a lake... go to bed," Tony said. "I don't want to ruin or mess up anything of what we have now."
Pepper paused, she thought that too, but she knew Tony, she knew what would happen if he did that. He'd be in guilt, wishing he did it and wishing he could have brought her back, "But would you be able to rest?"
Tony looked back towards his study and the hologram model still there. He sighed deeply and gave Pepper a sad smile.
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The next morning, Tony woke up early and packed everything he would need to go to the Compound.
"Whatcha doin'?" Tony heard the sweet voice of Morgan ask.
He turned around and saw her still in her pajamas, her hair in a knotted mess.
He walked up to her and kneeled down, patting her hair down, "I'm heading to Upstate," he said, knowing she knew what that meant.
"For what?" She asked sweetly.
"Some work," he said, giving her a light smile.
"Superhero work?" She asked grinning.
"Yeah, superhero work," Tony laughed.
"Then you're gonna need this," Morgan smiled before running behind him and pulling out a brand new Captain America shield.
She picked it up as best she could and started walking to Tony and he met her halfway. He picked it up and looked at the shield, a smile came to his face.
"Thank you," he smiled at Morgan and squatted down to pull her in for a hug.
Once he was packed, he said goodbye to his girls and left for the Compound.
It would have taken Tony about an hour to get to the compound, but since he's a billionaire who doesn't care, he sped over there making it in thirty minutes.
He turned into the front where he saw someone standing and pulled up beside them, but stopped too late and passed by the person— it was Steve.
There was a pause, then Tony put the car in reverse and slowly backed up. Once he saw Steve, he rolled the window down,
"Why the long face?" He asked after another pause. "Let me guess: He turned into a baby."
"Among other things, yeah. What are you doing here?" Steve asked shaking his head.
"That's the EPR Paradox," Tony says as he opens the door, ignoring Steve's question. "Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might've wound up pushing time through Lang. It's tricky. Dangerous. Somebody should've cautioned you against it."
Steve smirked, "You did,"
"Oh, did I?" Tony asked sarcastically. "Thank God I'm here. Regardless, I fixed it."
He holds up his right hand, with a device on it, "A fully functioning Time-Space GPS," he pauses and lets Steve take it in and he ends up smiling.
"I just want peace," Tony makes a peace sign with his fingers and closes the door. "Turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it."
"Me too," Steve nods.
"We got a shot at getting these stones, but I gotta tell you my priorities: Bring back what we lost? I hope, yes. Keep what I got? I have to, at all costs. And... maybe not die trying will be nice," Tony explained, leaning against the car.
"Sounds like a deal," Steve agrees and reaches out his hand to shake in the deal, Tony taking it.
The two don't speak for a second, and Tony remembers what he brought. He walks back to the trunk and opens it, Steve following. He lifted up the shield and flipped the blankets and toys of Morgan's off, showing him.
Steve sighs deeply, hanging his head low, "Tony..."
"Why? He made it for you," Tony said referring to his dad— Howard Stark. "Plus, honestly, I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding."
Steve takes the shield and slides it into his arm, admiring it, "Thank you, Tony,"
"Will you keep that a little quiet? Didn't bring one for the whole team," Tony says smirking slightly. Then he pipes up again. "We are getting the whole team, yeah?"
"We're working on that right now," Steve nodded walking Tony inside.
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Natasha was assigned to get Clint while Bruce and Rocket were assigned to get Thor. Bruce and Rocket took the Benatar to Norway where Thor supposedly placed New Asgard.
They took a truck down to the town area where Thor lives and looked around at all the people.
"Kind of a step down from a from a golden palace for an Avenger highness and whatnot," Rocket said.
"Hey, have a little compassion, pal. First, they lost Asgard, then half the people. They're probably just happy to have a home," Bruce said looking around and spots Valkyrie.
"You shouldn't have come!" She shouts noticing them.
"Ah, Valkyrie! Great to see you, Angry Girl," Bruce ignored her comment.
Valkyrie looked Bruce up and down, "I think I liked you better either of the other ways,"
"This is Rocket," Bruce slightly ignores her again and motioned towards Rocket.
"How you doin'?" Rocket nodded his head.
Valkyrie pauses, staring at Bruce and Rocket, "He won't see you,"
"That bad huh?" Bruce asked. They haven't seen Thor since they buried Jade and after then he ran off to be with his people here in Norway.
"We only see him once a month, when he comes in for..," Valkyrie pauses looking over at many empty barrels that used to held alcohol. "Supplies."
"It's that bad," Bruce said nervously.
"Yeah," Valkyrie sighed.
But, she showed them to his place anyways and Rocket was the first to knock on the door. No one answer, Rocket and Bruce look at each other before Rocket knocks again and this time the door opens slightly.
Rocket walks in first, looking around at the place in disgust, they really did go down, he thought to himself.
"What the...?" He mumbled. "Woo! Something died in here!"
"Hello? Thor?" Bruce called loudly.
"Are you here about the cable?" Thor asked from behind the two and walks into another room, obviously not noticing it was them. "The Cinemax ran out about two weeks ago, and the sports were all kind of fuzzy."
He bends over and grabs a beer bottle from the ice bucket, "Thor?" Bruce asked and Thor turns around to face the two.
Bruce's eyebrows scrunch together when he sees Thor— who's gained a lot of weight.
"Boys! Oh my god!" Thor belts out excitedly, stretching his arms out wide and chuckling lightly. He walks to them and gives Bruce a giant bear hug. "Oh, my god! It's so good to see you!"
"Oh, come here you cuddly little rascal!" He laughs and pulls Rocket into his very large beer belly.
"Ahh! I'm good! I'm good!" Rocket shouts, struggling to get away from his grip. "That's not necessary!"
"Hulk, you know my friends, Miek, Korg, right?" Thor asked and the two aliens sitting on the couch waved excitedly.
"Hey guys, long time no see," Bruce said a little awkward.
"Beer's on the bucket. Feel free to log on to the Wi-Fi. No password, obviously," Korg said and faces towards the tv again. "Thor! He's back... The kid on the TV just called me a dickhead again."
"Noobmaster..." Thor says quietly, staring at the TV.
"Yeah, NoobMaster69 called me a dickhead," Korg said.
"Let me settle this," Thor whispered and walked over to Korg, taking the headset. "Noobmaster? Yeah, it's Thor again. You know, the God of Thunder? Listen, buddy. If you don't log off this game immediately, I am gonna fly over to your house, come down to that basement you're hiding in, rip off your arms AND SHOVE THEM UP YOUR BUTT!!! Oh, that's right. Yes, go cry to your father, you little weasel!"
"Thank you, Thor," Korg said.
"Let me know if he bothers you again, okay?" Thor said.
"Thank you very much. I will," Korg said and continued to his game.
"So you guys want a drink? What are you drinking? We have beer, tequila, all sorts of things," Thor said turning to Rocket and Bruce. He takes the unopened beer bottle and uses Stormbreaker to pop the cap off.
Bruce walks over to Thor and places a hand on his shoulder, "Buddy? You alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine! Why, don't I look all right?" Thor asked quickly.
"You look like melted ice cream," Rocket said with no emotion but disgust.
Thor laughs, "So, what's up?"
"We need your help," Bruce said. "There might be a chance we can fix... everything."
"What? Like the cable?" He burps. "Cause that's been driving me bananas for weeks."
"Like Thanos," Bruce cut in.
And Thor shuts down, he pauses for a while, staring at nothing. Then he turns to Bruce, placing a hand on his shoulder and pointing a finger at him, starting to choke up, "Don't.. say that name,"
Korg stands up and takes the headset off, "Um, yeah. We don't actually say that name in here,"
"Please take your hand off me," Bruce smiles lightly and lightly takes Thor's hand off him. "Now, I know that... guy might scare you—"
"Why would I be? Why would— why would I be scared of that guy? I'm the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone else here killed that guy?" Thor said holding back the tears as he spoke. "Nope. Didn't think so. Korg, why don't you.. tell everybody who chopped Thanos' big head off."
"Umm... Stormbreaker?" Korg said questioned.
"Now, who's swingin' Stormbreaker?" Thor asked.
"I get it. You're in a rough spot, okay? I've been there myself. You wanna know who helped me out of it?" Bruce asked.
"I don't know. Is it... Natasha?" Thor smirked.
"It was you. You helped me,"
"Why don't you ask the Asgardians down there, how much my help is worth," Thor walks away from Bruce and points out the window. Then he drops onto the sofa. "The ones that are left, anyway."
"I think we can bring them back," Bruce said.
"Stop. Stop, okay?" Thor says and opens a packet on M&Ms. "I know you think I'm down here wallowing in my own self-pity, waiting to be rescued and saved. But I'm fine, okay? We're fine, aren't we?"
He turns to Korg and Miek, "Nah, all good here mate," Korg smiles.
"So, whatever it is that you're offering, we're not into it, don't care— couldn't care less. Goodbye," Thor smiled and continued eating his candy.
"We need you, pal," Bruce says. Thor didn't say anything back. Bruce sighed, he didn't want to have to use this card— "Jade would want you to."
Then Thor turns his head sharply and glares at him, "Don't— don't use Jadian as a way to pull me into this... this trap."
Rocket sighs, tilting his head down, "She would though, Thor. And you know it,"
Thor looks down at this candy and takes another bite, holding back some more tears. He missed her and Loki, but nothing could bring them back, and he didn't need to hear false hope.
"There's beer on the ship," Rocket says giving up after seeing Thor just sit there. Thor looks at Rocket,
"Alright, I'll come— but just so we're clear, it's because I want to," Thor stands up and grabs his beer bottle.
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Sorry if this one was a little long, I just didn't want you guys to have to wait forever :)
We're basically halfway done with Endgame and I don't think I'm ready for it ... 😭
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and didn't mind me adding a few parts and words to the script :))
(P.S. today was the 10 year anniversary of one direction and I'm not okay 😭)