Chapter Text
The feeling of tremendous loss was what Tony Stark woke up to once again. He could never get used to this, even though two months had already passed since Titan. The world lost. They all lost. Thanos did exactly what he said he was going to do. He wiped out half the universe, including the kid who desperately begged Tony to save him. Tony had failed Peter Parker. The kid’s death was on him. Tony could never forgive himself for that, no matter how much the Avengers or Pepper Potts had tried to tell Tony it was not his fault. Because it was exactly his fault. He dragged Peter into this mess and as a result, the kid died in space, so many light years away from home.
Tony slowly got up. The high position of the sun informed him that this was already past noon. Not that it mattered because Tony really had nothing else to do at this point. There was no hope. Only misery and despair. As he got dressed and walked out of the bedroom into the living room, he couldn’t help but notice the envelope at the counter. On its top was the engagement ring that previously belonged to the woman he loved. He didn’t blame Pepper for leaving him after his refusal to get his act together and he was grateful that she continued to lead Stark Industries. The world was in a place that needed as much as help it could get. Unfortunately with everything that had happened, Tony simply didn’t have enough willpower to go on. He needed time to grieve and he didn’t want to drag Pepper down. If she found happiness elsewhere, good for her.
Like Pepper, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff were ensuring that the remaining Avengers were lending hands to the extent they could. His best friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes was busy with both the military and the Avengers but none of them was able to convince Tony so far. Among all the Avengers, Tony probably empathized the most with Thor, who also couldn’t bear the loss and apparently had not stepped outside New Asgard in Norway.
The day was as dull as any other day of the month for Tony until an opaque orange rectangle like door appeared out of nowhere in the middle of his living room. He put down his coffee and stared at the three figures who stepped through from within the rectangle. They were all dressed in black and the code “C-20” was written in bright orange on the helmet of the woman standing in the center.
“Who the hell are you?” How did they even get through the security? Tony was perplexed by the unknown phenomenon. If it was a circular orange ring, he could’ve then at least pinned this on that wizard’s gang.
The woman ignored Tony and instead looked down at a device she was holding. “It seems like a standard sequence violation. If anything, this branch is growing at a much gradual rate and slope. A variant in sight.”
“I do commend you for having the guts to barge into my home. Foolish, but admirable,” Tony remarked sarcastically. “But please be my guest and enlighten me before I summon the suit.”
The woman finally faced Tony, unfazed by his warning. “On behalf of the Time Variance Authority, I hereby arrest you for crimes against the Sacred Timeline. Hands up.”
A what? Tony immediately reckoned that they were serious about whatever this was when the other two men powered up their baton-like weapons that glowed in orange at their tips. “OK, as entertaining as this has been, I really appreciate it if you get out of my house or I can’t promise to not break any bones.”
“I see.”
Tony couldn’t react in time when the woman pushed forward, snapping something around his neck. When he tried to activate his suit, he was forced to stop himself when she pressed another device. What the actual fuck? He tried again to no avail. It was as if his actions were controlled by something else for a brief moment.
The woman did not spare Tony another glance and went to the counter, taking the engagement ring before grabbing his arm and dragging Tony through the door. She then commanded the other men, “Reset the timeline.”
Tony didn’t get to see what followed as he entered a completely foreign place with an interior consisting of orange and grey that were reminiscent of the 50s and 60s era. But Tony didn’t let the retro visuals deceive him as they clearly just traveled through a portal across god knows what distance. Given his encounter with aliens, magic and all sorts of craziness, Tony unfortunately was beginning to understand the predicament he was in. This was related to time, if he believed anything the woman had claimed. Apparently he was arrested for what, violating the correct timeline? Perhaps. Tony failed so miserably and let Peter die. He agreed that this was a crime to be honest. He deserved whatever retribution for ruining the kid’s future.
“Hello, ma’am,” spoke the nervous man at the reception.
“Log this as evidence Casey,” the woman said, placing the engagement ring on the counter.
Tony wondered how a ring could relate to his whatever time crime but was pushed through to another room where he was greeted by a machine. The creepy smiley face on the monitor really made Tony miss FRIDAY. The fact it started to pluck at his clothes made this situation way too surreal. Tony barely had the time to process what was happening as the machine gave him a makeover in the ugliest jumpsuit and the next second, he fell to a floor below, standing in front of another office man who presented him with a stack of paper.
“Please sign to verify this is everything you’ve ever said.”
This was pure insanity. He was pretty sure he didn’t even drink anything last night so why he was hallucinating this madness was beyond him. “What?”
The printer at the side whirred to print another page, which was added to the pile. None of this made any sense. Maybe this was his punishment. If so, it was working. This was truly a torture to his brain. At this point, Tony gave up and decided to just go with the flow. So yeah, Tony signed that goddamn pile of countless papers, and went through a freaking scanner to confirm that he was not a fully robotic being, was born an organic creature, and did in fact possess a soul. This whole ordeal piqued his interest as to how it would have treated Vision, which was another somber reminder of his failure. He did not even bother to argue and took the ticket to line up at a place that was absolutely empty. How did he wound up here honestly?
“Hey there!” The cheerful female voice caught Tony’s attention. “You’re probably saying, ‘This is a mistake. I shouldn’t be here.’ Welcome to the Time Variance Authority. I’m Miss Minutes, and it’s my job to catch you up before you stand trial for your crimes.”
As condescending as the animation was, Tony listened to every word she said and couldn’t help but reflect on the past two months. If there was a single timeline worth protecting, it surely wouldn’t be his. He could not live with his own failure. Not in a world the kid was gone. Not even with Pepper being there for him, although he ended up losing her because of this. The mark the kid left was too big too deep.
“For all time.” “Always.”
So this was apparently the TVA created by Time-Keepers to preserve the proper flow of the Sacred Timeline. Tony laughed at the absurdity of it all. Yeah this was his life. After Thanos killed half the universe, this might as well happen.
The woman with the C-20 helmet rejoined Tony at the end of the line.
“Don’t you think you should at least let me know your name by now?”
She looked at him devoid of any humane emotions. “You can call me C-20.”
No name but a code. Very appropriate for a lifeless place like this. C-20 guided him into a courtroom where a woman was seated high at the grand desk with three large wooden faces looming over her. There was no one else except for two guards on each side. The audience benches were completely empty, just like the ticket room earlier. This inefficient bureaucracy was fascinating in a bad way. Not to mention that you’d think an organization supposedly dealing with the space-time continuum would be more sophisticated in its taste. He or Wakanda could easily make something far more elegant than this lackluster of decors.
“Next case, please,” ordered the woman as C-20 led Tony to the stand. “Stark. Variant S0568, AKA Anthony Stark, is charged with sequence violation 4-14-08. How do you plead?”
Tony wondered if she truly knew who he was. Who would’ve thought Iron Man, an Avenger, would end up in a courtroom being asked to plead his case. Of what, he still had no single clue. Maybe Thaddeus Ross would find this amusing.
“Are you guilty or not guilty, sir?” She pressed when Tony didn’t answer.
The door opened behind but Tony did not bother as it was probably just another goon of this place. But.
“Holy shit, that’s Iron Man.” The familiar voice snapped Tony out of it.
The woman also noticed the intrusion and sent a stern glance. “Please keep your voice down, Agent Parker. We’re in the middle of a trial.”
Tony had to turn to the source of the voice and widened his eyes when the boy carrying a folder of files came into his view. He was wearing a brown blazer over his hoodie and looked exactly how Tony remembered. Just as young. Just as bright.
“Sorry Judge Renslayer,” Peter apologized sheepishly. “Didn’t realize you got an Iron Man variant here. What are the odds?”
“Indeed,” Renslayer noted in a monotone. “Well, Mr. Stark, since you made no plea, the court finds you guilty and -”
“Hold on,” interrupted Peter even before Tony could refute the arbitrary ruling. “What was his nexus event?”
Tony recalled from the silly animation that a nexus event was essentially the root cause of the variance that triggered the timeline to branch.
“He’s no longer engaged.”
Wait, what? Of all things, that was his nexus event? It was actually quite insulting and Tony could not resist his urge. “Couldn’t you have picked something less petty, like losing to Thanos?”
Renslayer raised her eyebrow, unimpressed. “No. That was supposed to happen. You not moving on was not.”
Tony felt anger brewing inside him. She was telling him that losing the kid was meant to happen and to add insult to injury, Tony should’ve just let Peter go? Hell no. That was not a path he was willing to accept.
“Oh yeah I guess that’s a huge divergence,” Peter commented, which made Tony pause. Did the kid even understand what he was saying? “Were you planning to reset him?”
“Wait kid what are you -”
“Yes,” confirmed Renslayer, disregarding Tony.
Much to Tony’s dismay, Peter also did not acknowledge Tony’s confusion. “May I approach the bench?”
Renslayer sighed. “This better be good.”
Peter walked toward them and stopped by Tony’s side. “Look, I know it’s a gamble but he’s Iron Man. The one who actually fought Loki. Ultron. And Thanos. His experience is invaluable. Take that away and he won’t even be half as useful.”
Tony winced at the reminder. None of these battles was something he was too proud of, especially the last one where he utterly lost. Also the kid definitely had grown some serious attitude that would give Rhodey a run for his money.
“Besides, he’s way smarter than me,” Peter added. “We need him as he is.”
Renslayer contemplated briefly. “No. It’s too risky.”
“High risk, high return.”
“No.”
“But he’s the closest to his endgame we could possibly get. We will never find anyone better than this variant.”
“I said no.”
Tony could only watch as the two engaged in a staring contest. If anyone would’ve told him that he would be seeing the kid again in a courtroom, he would be concerned about their level of intoxication. Maybe he was actually still asleep from some accidental drinking or something because this was maddening.
“Fine,” replied Peter without hiding his irritation. “I’m calling in a chit then.”
That seemed to get a rise out of Renslayer. “But that is -”
“You should feel lucky I’m using my last slot on him and not Sylvie.”
Renslayer narrowed her eyes dangerously. “Is that a threat, Agent Parker?”
“It doesn’t have to be and even if it is, you have everything you need to stop that, don’t you?” Peter challenged with a smirk.
If Tony were honest, he was as shocked to see Peter like this. This was not the boy he remembered. Peter in Tony’s memories was always kind and innocent, with a level of naivety Tony was quite fond of because the kid’s heart and bravery made him the best of them. But this Peter here was cynical and sassy, almost reminding Tony of himself, or worse, that wizard.
“You really do know how to drive a hard bargain Peter.” Renslayer shook her head. “Alright. He’s under your unit, effective immediately. If he missteps, I’m coming after your head.”
“Duly noted,” Peter gave a lazy salute. “Thanks Ravonna. I knew you’d come around.”
Renslayer didn’t indulge and dismissed Peter with a wave. “Now get out.”
In response, Peter gave C-20 with a smile and ushered Tony out of the courtroom into the hallway. Tony was about to ask Peter when he saw a massive city through the window. There were layers and layers of intricate buildings and paths intertwined, formulating a cityscape mix of retro and futuristic aesthetics, similar to this building. He stood there, gaping at the uniquely engrossing scene.
“What is this place Pete?”
Peter was taken aback slightly (which was weird). “This is the TVA, created by the Time-Keepers. Didn’t you watch Miss Minutes’ intro?”
“It was a little difficult to believe.” But seeing was believing. Tony could not deny that this place was nothing short of spectacular and was beyond his imagination and comprehension. “How are you here?”
“This might take a while,” Peter responded. “Let me put my files back and we can have a chat. Oh before I forget.”
Peter took out a device and deactivated the collar C-20 laced around Tony’s neck.
“This is a Time Twister by the way,” explained Peter. “Basically forces the wearer of the collar to return to their original position by a few seconds.”
Which was why Tony couldn’t activate his suit because his motion was rewound. “Why are you telling me this?”
Peter shrugged. “With a genius brain like yours, I thought you’d be curious.”
Despite looking exactly the same as the boy who died on Titan, Peter behaved very differently. He was too calm and mature for a teenager. “You don’t think I will try to escape?”
“Where to?” Peter countered. “There’s no place you can return to. You won’t be able to use your suit either since we are a little too far removed, literally, from your system.”
Peter’s rueful expression was genuine and Tony could tell this was all real. That didn’t stop him from tapping his housing unit, which, as Peter cautioned, did absolutely nothing.
“Because the timeline was already corrected,” assumed Tony, recalling the animation.
“Pruning is the word but yeah. You were paying attention then,” Peter grinned, as they walked into an elevator and descended to an office floor.
After Tony changed to a white shirt and a pair of brown pants Peter took from the storage locker, they entered the working area, passed by several desks in an open concept and ended at a much larger corner cubicle. The name label P.P. indicated that this was Peter’s.
“Look at that, you are enjoying some luxury.”
“Hah yeah. Wait until you see my lab.”
“You have a lab?”
“Yep.” Peter tossed his files on the table, which was messy with several piles of papers. Luckily, the kid was smart enough to have some paperweights so that they didn’t fly off -
Tony hit the emergency brake on his train of thought when the glimmer caught his eyes. There were quite a few of them - six in total actually - placed randomly across Peter’s desk holding the piles of papers in place.
“Peter,” Tony breathed, unable to keep his eyes away from the six distinct colors. He had seen them up close too many times to not recognize what they were. “Please don’t tell me these are what I think they are -”
Peter looked at Tony in confusion and followed his gaze. “The paperweights?”
“No, the stones,” Tony muttered under his breath. “Are they even real?”
“Oh,” Peter blinked. “Yeah. We collected quite a lot of them from branched timelines so I borrowed a few from Casey, you know the dude at the front.”
What the heck. “Do you even realize what these did to our world?”
And here, the Infinity Stones were just laying here, used as freaking paperweights. It was an inconceivable downgrade in power that Tony could not wrap his head around.
“So? They mean nothing here.” Peter picked up the purple one, as if to prove that it was a mere paperweight.
Tony stared at Peter with his mouth agape at the scandalous statement. Half the universe, including Peter, died because of these stones. Thanos reduced them to atoms so the Avengers could not reverse what he had done. Yet Peter was playing them like toys. This terrified Tony of what the TVA possibly represented. An existence that was capable of neutralizing the most powerful cosmic stones in the universe. To this place, the Avengers meant nothing. Thanos meant nothing. Maybe even the universe itself was inconsequential.
Peter probably noticed Tony’s shock and softened his expression. “The faster you accept this, the easier it becomes.”
Tony exhaled deeply. “Since when did you become so wise?”
“Not here,” Peter replied quickly and led Tony through the door near his cubicle into an empty room labeled as Time Theater 6.
Peter took a seat at the table and gestured for Tony to follow. This really felt like an interrogation room had it not been the kid’s presence here, although Peter was nonetheless an unknown factor and could very well stab Tony in the back.
“To answer your question, I’m actually a lot older than you think. I have been here since I was 14.”
“You don’t look more than 16.” Tony was confident in his assessment because his memory served as the benchmark to compare against.
“Time passes differently here in the TVA,” clarified Peter. “I might be even older than you.”
Tony nodded. This was not outside the realm of possibility but he doubted Peter was actually that old because he still had his youthful energy Tony always appreciated. “What was your nexus event then?”
“Good question.” Peter tapped the table in contemplation, perhaps to debate whether to reveal or not. “Who knows. Maybe it’s as little as being late to a class, or as big as not going to Germany with you.”
Tony did not like either of them even though the latter perhaps would have been a better timeline than what Peter he knew experienced. However, this begged the question considering Peter was here since 14 and appeared to have gained quite a rank within the system.
“Is everyone here a variant?”
That seemed to have hit the nail on the head and Peter expressed his surprise for the first time in this conversation. “Woah. That was quick. I mean of course, who am I kidding, you are Iron Man.”
“I’m waiting Peter,” Tony urged, not wanting the kid to divert the issue.
“Alright alright my bad. Officially, no. Time-Keepers created everyone here. Unofficially?” Peter gave a snort. “We’re all outcasts mostly without memories so we can, without reservation, be the agents of the Time-Keepers to protect the Sacred Timeline, where you died and I got to live.”
Tony froze. This couldn’t be true. In his timeline, Peter died and Tony survived. And Renslayer said that was supposed to happen so what Peter claimed could not also be true. Unless...The implication shook Tony terribly.
“The ripple effect from your nexus event is much bigger than you think,” Peter noted. “According to the predetermined path, you should’ve moved on.”
“I can’t. Not without you there,” replied Tony promptly. This scenario was simply out of the question for him.
“Which is precisely why you are here.” Peter gazed at Tony sympathetically. “I’m sorry.”
The apology reminded Tony of Titan, breaking his heart once more. Tony couldn’t take the surge of emotions and had to cover his face with his hand, trying to contain everything. Peter didn’t speak and patiently waited for Tony to regain his composure. Once Tony was ready again, Peter activated the device on the table.
“This is what we are dealing with,” said Peter softly as the device began to project holographic sequences.
Of the future Tony was supposed to have.
The next while was spent in complete silence as the scenes unfolded in front of them. Tony watched in awe as he seemingly got married to Pepper, had a beautiful daughter together and built a lakeside cabin. Then five years had passed with Scott Lang re-emerging from the Quantum Realm. How Peter motivated him to solve time travel. How he reunited with the kid in the middle of the battlefield. How he died to save the world from Thanos once and for all. This was what they meant by the Sacred Timeline. Where Peter was safe and sound. In Tony’s opinion, it was worth it all. He was rather ashamed of himself for giving up so early. No wonder he was considered as a variant.
“You seem to appreciate this,” Peter observed.
“It’s far better than mine, that’s for sure.”
An indiscernible emotion flashed across Peter’s eyes before he suppressed it. “I take it that you’re willing to commit to the cause then?”
“If this is what we’re preserving, yes.” As long as Peter got to live on, Tony was happy. It was a worthy future.
“Right.” Peter let out a sigh. “I guess there’s one thing I need to be clear with you since you’re going to be on my unit.”
Tony furrowed his eyebrows, not sure why Peter sounded so exhausted when Tony was the one who got thrown into this chaos today. “I won’t bring up the topic about variants. Pretty sure this memory thing is a tricky and stinky topic here. I’m guessing that’s what resetting meant?”
“Ah yeah and that’s cool. No I meant -” Peter took a deep breath. “I can see you are still mourning over him but I’m not Peter Parker you know.”
“I kinda got that?” The kid’s behavior so far was more than enough indication for Tony to grasp.
“No, I don’t think you do, Tony Stark.” The use of his full name sounded so foreign out of Peter’s mouth. He also just noticed now that Peter had only called him Iron Man and never referred to him by his name until this moment. It must have been intentional on Peter’s part to differentiate himself from the boy residing in Tony’s memories.
“We never properly met and we definitely didn’t spend any time together. I’m not him. I can’t be him,” Peter emphasized. “You have to accept this reality if we ever want to have any sort of working relationship.”
If Peter had been here since he was 14, Tony wasn’t too surprised. However, judging by Peter’s expression, perhaps there was something more here. The kid took a pause and closed his eyes momentarily before staring directly at Tony with an adamant determination.
“I was never Spider-Man.”
Tony held his breath, instantly realizing that this was Peter’s nexus event that likely had a much more profound impact on the universe than Tony’s. Because Tony knew too well that even the more “successful” version of him would not have tried to reverse the snap, if not for Peter. Which meant that Peter becoming Spider-Man and inevitably leading to Tony before Germany was pivotal for the Sacred Timeline. Tony felt for Peter, the kid in front of him as well as the one from his own timeline. A teenager should never bear the weight of the world on his shoulders yet the universe had deemed that it was his destiny.
Life was sometimes too unfair and tragic.