Chapter Text
“You’re full of tricks, wizard,” said the Titan, reaching for the Eye that still hung around Stephen's neck. “But you never once used your greatest weapon.”
He grabbed the Eye, breaking its chain as he yanked it off the sorcerer's neck. As he turned the relic over in his massive hand, a look of disgust came over his face.
“A fake,” he muttered as he crushed the empty Eye with his fist and tossed Stephen aside like a discarded toy.
Stephen hit the ground hard, despite the Cloak’s best efforts to soften his fall. He pushed himself up on one arm, only for it to give out a moment later and swiftly deposit him back on the hard rock below him. He had to…… He had to…… Something. They had a plan. After he explained to Tony all the possible outcomes of the fight against Thanos he’d seen through the time stone, they’d come up with a plan for this exact scenario. Tony would distract Thanos while Stephen ran away from the battle and left the planet in the escape pod they’d found after the Guardians had arrived. But he also had to leave a projection of himself -- “magic shit”, as Tony put it -- to convince Thanos the stone hadn’t escaped him yet.
He shook his head to try and clear the blurriness from his vision. Something…… Something was happening in front of him.
◐◒◑
Tony doged another massive blow from Thanos. He wasn’t going to be able to last much longer like this. His suit was at only 70% integrity, and falling fast. Hurry up Strange . He thought as he pulled the nanobots in his suit into yet another configuration in his latest attempt to catch the Titan by surprise. He flipped his entire body parallel to the ground and drove the rocket booster at his feet directly into the Titan’s face. Thanos stumbled, and remained off balance just long enough for Tony to smash him into a stone wall. Which unfortunately appeared to have no effect on the Titan, as he ripped Tony’s entire helmet clean off, not even missing a beat. In the brief moment while FRIDAY configured the nanobots into a new helmet, Tony saw Stephen moving slowly across the rubble of the planet. Can’t you go any faster? He thought.
◐◒◑
Stephen tripped over yet another rock -- and would’ve gotten a facefull of planet had the Cloak not caught him -- as he made his way away from the battle. Faster, I’ve got to go faster. He thought to himself as he picked his way around an unusually unstable boulder. A blast of purple light from behind surprised him enough that he was turned around and halfway into his fighting stance before he even realized what had happened. No. He thought. I have to keep moving. Tony can handle himself. He turned back around just as the Cloak tugged up at his shoulders again. Why does it keep doing that? He wondered absentmindedly Fuck, of course. He realized, already mentally kicking himself. It’s the Cloak of Levitation .
◐◒◑
Tony slammed his boot down on top of Thanos’ hand, the nanobots instantly forming a clamp to hold it in place. He pushed more of the nanobots into his hand as he swung it around to smash it into Thanos’ face. He reconfigured his suit instantly, trying to anticipate the Titan’s next move, but Thanos paused. He touched his hand to the side of his head, where a small cut had appeared
“All that for a drop of blood,” he said with a chuckle before rising again to fling Tony through the air.
◐◒◑
The Cloak deposited Stephen just outside the pod they’d carefully left in a shallow canyon. The sorcerer made a quick inspection of the pod to ensure it hadn’t sustained any damage during the fight. Thankfully it still appeared spaceworthy. He returned to the door and removed the security runes he’d added just hours ago, then entered the password that deactivated the more primitive security features, stepped across the threshold, and promptly smashed his head into the doorframe.
Once he shook the stars from his vision and made his second attempt at entering the pod -- this time with a bit more ‘duck’ and a little less ‘tall’ -- he moved on to the next phase of the plan. He stared at the alien letters on the instrument panel in front of his cramped seat, trying to remember what Tony had said about flying this thing. Suddenly he spotted a brightly colored slip of paper out of the corner of his eye.
“Who even uses Post-it notes any more,” he grumbled as he unstuck it from the console.
As soon as he got a good look at the messy handwriting covering the note, he could tell who it was from. Does he really think I can’t be trusted to remember how to turn on the damn spaceship? Stephen thought, annoyed. Of course, he had forgotten how to turn on said spaceship, but that was irrelevant. A loud BOOM from outside the pod shook him back to reality. He returned is attention to the note.
Wizard:
Lemme guess: you remember absolutely nothing of what I told you about the pod. Well, lucky for you I have remarkably low expectations of the people I work with (I mean, look at Rodgers. I’ve been burned before, baby), so I wrote you a list. You’re welcome. You can kiss me later.
-- Tony
It went on to list the (relatively short number of) steps for launching the ship and setting the trajectory for a random slice of empty space Tony had picked out while they were waiting for Thanos. Stephen followed them to the letter (Tony’s insufferable sense of superiority aside, they did have a universe to save), and started the 10-second countdown for the launch. He sent up a silent prayer to any deities that might happen to be listening that Thanos would be distracted enough by his fight with Tony that he wouldn’t see the pod taking off.
“T-minus 3, 2, 1, launch initiated,” said the onboard computer, the statement punctuated by the roar of the engines.
Stephen felt the gravity pressing down on him increase painfully for a moment, then disappear. So whatever kept them anchored to the ground in the ship they’d arrived in wasn’t deemed necessary in an escape pod. Oh well. He thought. I can work with this. He pulled his long legs into the lotus position in the empty space above his seat and made sure no part of him would lose circulation anytime soon before ‘pushing’ his astral form out of his body.
He sailed through the astral plane, leaving the pod behind and crossing the surface of Titan to where he last saw Thanos and Tony fighting. He dropped closer to the ground, ready to form an illusion of himself and surrender the stone. Only to see Thanos stab a broken-off piece of the Iron Man suit into Tony’s side.