Chapter Text
Prague, Czech Republic, 2023 .
A man in a black suit was running.
Running for his life .
He never thought he would be doing so a few hours ago. He still held his gun in one hand, although he knew it was useless without bullets. He tapped on his watch and shouted,
“Code Red! I repeat, it’s Code--”
The man never got to finish his sentence. His pursuer was standing in front of him and without hesitation, he choked him.
“..Pl--Please...let..me..go…” the man begged for his life.
The pursuer let the man go but only to lift him up using his powers--blue and silver light started to choke the man in black suit again, harder this time.
“...It’s not my fault that you were at the wrong place at the wrong time,” the pursuer said.
“W--Who are you?!” the man asked, knowing what was coming.
“...I think you already know the answer to that,” the pursuer said, taking off his mask.
The man’s eyes widened. Yes, of course he knew who this was. He just--just couldn’t believe it.
“You..you are--”
Before the man could finish, the pursuer snapped his neck, leaving him lifeless.
“It’s okay, Agent Nolan, you would’ve died soon anyway.”
Tom checked the date on his phone:
April 4.
He sighed. It was Robert’s birthday today. It’s been four (five, if you count in MCU years) since his heroic death. The media has been flooded with birthday wishes for the Iron Man--although Robert left the MCU with Avengers: Endgame four years ago.
Due to their agreement, the public had no idea that Robert Downey Jr. actually didn’t exist in the world anymore. The only people knew the truth was the cast, Susan Downey and his children. It was quite difficult to convince his family that Robert died in the actual MCU--but Tony showing off his actual Iron Man suit and the hologram footage of Robert seemed to do the job.
Every year, on his birthday, the Avengers cast celebrated the special day by travelling to the MCU. They wanted to spend it with Tony, a version of Robert. Tony gladly accepted this tradition and did his best to remember his friend. The cast would play videos of Robert having fun on the Avengers set over the years and Tony and other Avengers laughed at them--remembering the good times.
Over the last four years, Tony figured out that time runs quite differently between his universe and theirs. While it’s been five years since Robert’s death, it’s only been four years for the cast--because they lived in the year 2019. Tony didn’t understand why time runs a bit faster in his dimension, but he soon figured that both dimensions are trying to achieve so-called “Time Balance.” Since they are parallel universes, it was doing its best to align them side by side. Once they hit year 2023, the time was running at a normal pace for both worlds.
The cast gave a proper funeral for Robert--but decided it was best to bring his body back to the MCU, mainly because they couldn’t have a grave dedicated to Robert Downey Jr. in their world. They invited Susan and his children to the MCU, and Tony was more than happy to arrange an official farewell for Robert. For the service, all the Avengers showed up once again and paid their respects to the fallen hero. Robert lied in New York Cemetery with these words on his grave:
“ A loving husband, father, friend, and the Real Hero
Robert Downey Jr.”
April 4, 1965-May 29, 2018
It was ironic and painful that Robert died on the same day as Tony Stark’s birthday--it was as if it was serving as a reminder for Tony that Robert really took his place--place of death.
“...I miss you, Robert,” Tom said, looking at the pictures they’ve taken together. One of them was with him and Tom holding the “Stark Industries Peter Parker” Internship certificate and smiling at the camera. He held the picture up--how ironic is that this picture was used in the actual film as a motivation for Tony? Now here he was, missing his mentor and friend terribly.
In a few hours, he would use the Opener to travel to the MCU--he would reunite with other castmates and more importantly, Tony, there. It’s been a few months since he had seen Tony, because of his hectic schedule of shooting different films, including another Spider-Man movie.
“Happy birthday,” Tom said softly. “I hope you’re having a great time up there.”
It was NOT a great day for William Allen. He was late to work today--his alarm did not manage to break through his sleep--and first news he got slammed with was one of the key agents of SHIELD has been murdered in Prague last night. It’s a regular thing lately; SHIELD agents were disappearing more and more by day. It was no question who was behind all this: HYDRA.
After SHIELD (HYDRA)’s fall in 2014 due to Captain America and Natasha Romanoff, both organizations took a break. However, they both knew they will rise again as the opposites soon enough. SHIELD was getting things together in 2015, and by the end of Thanos’ threat, it was almost back to its own glory back in the day when Peggy Carter was the Director.
But that didn’t mean HYDRA has been on vacation--in fact, the totalitarian organization collected new agents, or assets, as they call them and attempted to take over governmental facilities all over the world. For the past year, HYDRA has been mostly working in Europe--and unfortunately, they were winning.
“...Only if the Avengers were here…”
William muttered under his breath. Most of the Avengers--Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Thor--concluded their life as superheroes after they stopped Thanos once and for all five years ago. Since then, most work has been done by SHIELD agents or heroes like Spider-Man or Doctor Strange. Yes, they were sure powerful...but they did not have the same team dynamic as the original Avengers. People have been asking them to come back, but every single time they refused and distanced themselves from the public. Thor physically did that by leaving Earth with the Guardians of the Galaxy.
“Stop calling for the damn Avengers, they are not going to save your ass every time,” a voice said from the door.
William looked up and chuckled. Nick Fury was standing in the doorway, staring at him with his good eye.
“This is the third time that someone on our side mysteriously died this month,” William said. “Sending another agent after agent is not going to solve the problem. We need the Avengers.”
“If you want to call Parker or Strange or--”
William stopped Fury with holding his hand up, which not many agents in SHIELD dare to do, but William did not give a damn. He wasn’t the type of person who played well with others--that’s why he usually worked alone, mostly in his office, cracking codes or developing new weapons. That’s wasn’t to say that William was weak--if he wanted to, he could kick almost any agents’ ass easily. The presence of Nick Fury did not scare him at all.
“No--I meant people like Tony Stark, Steve Rogers--”
It was Fury’s turn to cut William off.
“How many times do I need to tell you? They are done with Avenging and all that bullshit,” Fury said. “Besides, disappearances of agents are a very secret matter--Avengers fight huge threats. They don’t solve undercover missions, Allen.”
As William formed an argument to Fury’s response in his head, his hologram screen made beeping noises. When William clicked on it, his eyes widened.
“...What, Allen?”
“...I think you really want to call the Avengers for this one, sir,” William said. “It’s about the Infinity Stones.”
Chris Evans checked his watch. It was almost 3PM--which meant it was time to make his jump to the other dimension. He tried not to look at Twitter--ever since he posted a picture of him and Robert from a few years ago to wish Robert a ‘Happy Birthday,’ Twitter has been flooding with wishes, memes, and comments. Evans only did that to not raise any suspicion in the public--and it was true that he would’ve definitely wished Robert a warm happy birthday if he was alive.
“Guess today is the day,” Evans said to himself.
“What are you getting for Downey’s birthday?”
Sebastian Stan walked in. Both of them were filming a movie together, which was about two agents going undercover to catch a serial killer. They just wrapped for the day, and Sebastian was feeling exhausted. As he said those words, he saw Evans’ expression changed a bit--it was as if that reminded him something. Sebastian didn’t know why, because Evans would never open up about it, but every time he mentioned something about Robert, Evans would almost cry. At first he thought it was because Tony Stark died on screen in Endgame and Robert reminded him the emotional moments, but as the years passed by, Sebastian knew there was something more to it.
“...Something wrong? You seem very down today, Chris,” Sebastian said, sitting next to Evans.
I lost one of my best friends four years ago, Seb. It’s his birthday today and he’s not even here to celebrate it.
But Evans just smiled at Sebastian and shook his head.
“Oh, nothing. Just tired from shooting all day,” Evans said.
Sebastian seemed to believe this. Evans put his hand in his pocket--there was the Opener. He had to find a good place to go and disappear in, otherwise it was going to be quite difficult to come up with a plausible explanation.
“Me too, buddy--”
And before Sebastian could finish, a blue portal appeared in front of them. Evans was shocked-- did he accidentally press the Opener? --but when he checked his pocket again, the Opener was not activated yet. Evans looked up, while Sebastian just sat there, with his mouth open.
“What in the name--” Sebastian said.
A figure, a very familiar figure appeared from the portal.
“...JUMP IN!”
It was Tony. Tony Stark. He was even in his Iron Man suit.
“Like now? I was gonna--”
Tony cut Evans off immediately.
“THE BARRIER IS CLOSING! NOW!”
Evans looked at Sebastian, who was still staring at Tony with his mouth open, not able to say a word. He sighed and jumped into the portal, taking Sebastian with him. Since he already saw the portal and Tony, leaving him alone in the room was not an option. As he travelled through the other dimension, Evans really hoped everything was alright--because Tony sounded very desperate, and last time he was this desperate was...Thanos four, five years ago.
Everything was alright for Tony Stark today. Today was Robert’s birthday, which meant the cast was coming over. He couldn’t wait until they came through the Portal, because this was going to be the first time that Morgan can meet them. Although it took a while for Morgan to understand the concept of multiverse, she gratefully accepted the fact that they were Avengers living in another world. He still had an hour left until their arrival, so Tony was playing with Morgan on the grass when a black Audi pulled up. Tony instinctively shielded Morgan with his arm and waited to see who dared to pay him a visit--especially when he retired from being Iron Man five years ago.
“..Stark.”
It was Nick Fury. The last person Tony wanted to see at his house. Fury wasn’t the type of person to enjoy celebrations or parties or any kind of social gatherings, so him showing up at the moment was probably not a good thing.
It’s probably a bad thing. Tony could feel it. Fury usually went to Peter or Stephen for help these days, and the fact that he actually drove out all the way to here--meant something urgent, very urgent happened.
“I’m not doing it,” Tony said, holding Morgan. “...Especially not today.”
“Mr. Stark, you really should take a look at this,” a man said, getting out of the driver’s seat. Tony was taken aback that Fury brought someone new--someone Tony has never met in his life to his own house. The man was average height--maybe on the shorter side--and had blonde hair and blue eyes. He reminded Tony of Thor a bit.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” Tony asked.
“...William Allen,” the man introduced himself after a couple of seconds with a smile. “I’m a SHIELD Agent with a Clearance level of 9. I’ve been working for the organization for five years.”
“What are you doing at my house with a 007?” Tony asked, not really wanting to know. “You have a British sidekick now?”
“I’m actually half-American--”
Tony cut him off.
“Don’t care. Answer my question,” Tony said.
He really didn’t want to deal with Fury or Allen guy today, in front of Morgan, before the cast arrived.
“...We found something. Something extremely dangerous,” Fury said.
“Oh, good. Please take that to Strange--” Tony said, walking towards his house.
“...It’s about Infinity Stones,” William said.
That stopped Tony. He stood there for about a minute or two, frozen. He then quietly knelt down next to Morgan and gave a kiss on her forehead.
“Hey, why don’t you run up to Mom and ask her if lunch is ready?” Tony said softly.
“Sure, Dad!”
Morgan ran through the grass and went inside the house. After seeing the door close, that’s when Tony turned around, facing Fury and William.
“That can’t be. We put the stones back five years ago,” Tony said firmly. “We made sure there wouldn’t be a problem in the future.”
“With your Quantum Tunnel Stark, they always have access to the stones,” Fury pointed it out.
“Who’s ‘they?’” Tony asked--the Tunnel was only accessible to the Avengers...he made sure of that…
“HYDRA,” William said. “They’ve been active in Europe for the past year. We already lost another key agent last night in Prague. It looks like they only attacking the ones who have access to classified information or technology. For example, Agent Paul Nolan was working on the elements of the Tesseract--which is the Space Stone.”
Tony shook his head.
He did not want to get into this mess again. He just wanted to live his life peacefully, with Morgan, Pepper, and Peter. It felt like this was his destiny--the reason Robert gave up his life.
“...Why still come to me? Just because I had experience with the stones doesn’t mean I have to keep solving their issues,” Tony said.
“Because,” William opened his mouth. “For the first time in five years, the traces of Infinity Stones--or their energies at least--were found near here , Mr. Stark.”
“...Are you accusing me, Allen?” Tony stood up straight, staring directly into his eyes.
“No, but I’m looking at all possibilities,” William said.
Tony did not like this Allen guy at all. Not only he barges into Tony’s place, ruining his time with his daughter, but also he is calling Tony out for something he never did?
“Whether you like it or not, Mr. Stark--we have similarities,” William said. “Similarities that you are yet to find out.”
“I don’t--”
Tony was cut off by a whirring noise behind him. He turned around, and saw several portals opening. Hemsworth, Hiddleston, Tom, Scarlett, Mark, and Jeremy stepped out from each of them. Tony smiled at them--it was good to see familiar faces again.
“Where’s Cap?” Tony asked, realizing Evans hasn’t come through yet.
“Eh, probably taking his time,” Hemsworth said.
“..Sir, the stones...they are beeping again,” William said, showing the graphics on his tablet.
Before Fury could take a look at it, Tony took the tablet. His eyes widened.
“Th-that’s impossible,” Tony said.
“What’s impossible? Also, why is Fury here?” Scarlett asked.
Instead of answering Scarlett's question, Tony tapped his arc reactor--his suit covered his body. He then took one of the Openers and opened the portal. He flew through the portal and within seconds, he came back with Evans...and someone new-- Sebastian Stan . The rest of the cast gasped at the new arrival, not knowing what to say and what not to say to him.
“What the fuck was that?!” Sebastian yelled at no one in particular.
“...That,” Tony began, heavily breathing. “..is a sign that’s telling us that we’re fucked up. Someone or something--closed the barrier. The gate is closed.”
“Do-does that mean..?” Mark asked, afraid for the answer.
“You can’t go back,” Tony said. “For real this time.”
“..Someone did this on purpose,” William said. “Someone who knows that you all come through the barrier this day every year.”
18 hours ago
Prague, Czech Republic .
“...Mission accomplished, sir,” a voice said, who was wearing a black leather armor with a mask. “The subject is dead.”
“Perfect and clean as always,” Kuznetsov greeted. “...Are we ready for tomorrow, soldier?”
“Killing Nolan should do the job, sir,” the soldier replied. “No one would suspect a thing--not even Tony Stark himself.”
The soldier took off his mask--he had dark brown hair and eyes. His eyes only reflected pain and sorrow, nothing else. But if you were to take a closer look, the soldier resembled--no, looked exactly like Tony Stark--the Iron Man himself.
“Let’s do it, then,” Kuznetsov said with a vicious smile. “If the Avengers won’t show...we’ll go to them. We’ll close the gate.”