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Four simple words.
"I am.. Iron man."
He took what could be his final look at the world around him. This was it. The nail in the coffin, sealing the deal that would save the universe. Thanos and his army would be dead. Pepper would be happy; Morgan would be happy. Peter would be happy. Everyone would be fine. He just had to snap his fingers.
Thanos watched in horror as the power of the Infinity stones flowed through Tony. He felt glorious knowing that this would be the Mad Titan's last moments.
And then, he snapped.
The second he snapped, everything went white and his body felt the most pain it had ever felt before. He could barely describe it. He just knew that everything burnt.
He no longer heard the noises of explosions, or people fighting, just silence. And then, the white faded into a black, as he was left for the last time with the void.
But before he died, before he lost consciousness one more time, he swore he heard a voice, and he swore he saw a glowing orange light fill his sight.
"Well done.. Stark."
.......
"But you cannot rest yet."
It was a normal day for Stark. Woke up, talked amongst the other Avengers, had his daily cup of coffee. He had no plans today, which, coming from a Stark, was like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Yet, he didn't want to spend it doing something crazy as Iron Man, or going on some cool place on a cool trip. He wanted to relax, to wind down with the other Avengers at home. And now he could finally do so.
He was talking amongst Natasha and Bruce in the kitchen, as they sat amongst the table on stools. They were eating breakfast.
"How are you feeling, Tony?" He heard Cap say. He turned around, to see his lover entering the room, a light smile on his face.
Tony couldn't help but smile back. "As amazing as ever. How are you?"
Cap walked over, offering a kiss on the cheek as they began to talk. The quick conversation soon turned into an hour, with people coming by as they talked, and by the end of it Clint, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Bucky and Tony were still chattering, gossiping about some drama they'd heard online.
"You doing anything special today, Tony?" Bruce asked. "You got a free day. I'd say take it easy. You don't get those often, especially for a man such as yourself."
Tony chuckled. "I don't think any of us get nearly the amount of breaks we deserve. I'm probably just gonna head to my lab, work on my suit for a hour or two, then take it easy."
So that's what he did. He went to his lab, working on the Mark XLVI. He had finished it recently, but some tests needed to get done, and there were still some flaws he could upgrade on it.
He had set a timer for 3 hours to work further on his suit. He was about half way done when he was looking through his lab and found something he swore wasn't there before. It was like a glowing blue crystal, slightly bigger than the average gem, and it faintly reminded him of the Arc Reactor with how it glowed.
"JARVIS, when did this get here?" Tony asked the AI.
"I... Am not sure." The AI said, seeming confused. "I can pinpoint a time when it came into the lab, but not where from. It just seemed to teleport out of nowhere. And I mean that quite literally, sir."
Tony blinked. He sat the crystal down on the main desk in the middle of the lab.
"JARVIS, run a scan of the object. See if you can find an energy source."
After an inspection, JARVIS said he couldn't identify the element it held, and that he hadn't seen anything like it again. Tony tinkered with it for a little while to see if he could find anything, but nothing happened.
That was until its natural glow began to get a bit brighter, and it began to pulse.
"Woah."
"Uh, sir?" JARVIS said.
And suddenly, the object floated into the air, letting a small shockwave that knocked Tony to the ground. Tony stared at it in bewilderment. And then, it intensified, letting out another shockwave. Tony's vision turned white for a second, until it faded back to normal and he noticed he was closer to the wall now and there was.. a figure on the ground?
He stared at the object once more. What the hell.
And then there was an explosion.
"Sorry to interrupt your conversations," JARVIS suddenly piped in. Most of the Avengers were in the living room. Sam, Bucky, Clint, Natasha, Steve, Thor, Bruce.. so everyone was a bit suprised when the AI randomly spoke.
"But Mr Stark is in danger."
Steve immediately rose up from the couch he was sitting on. "What? What happened to Tony?"
"An experiment gone wrong, I believe. I recommend some of you go down to check on him."
"Okay, Thor, stay here and eat your pop tarts, we've got this covered." Clint spoke, as they all headed to the elevator.
"Will do, Man of Arr-" Thor spoke from the couch he was sitting on, but Thor's words were lost with the elevator closing.
"What do you think Tony's got up to this time?" Natasha asked.
"I'm willing to bet he messed with his repulsors again." Clint guessed.
When the doors opened, they opened another door leading into the lab, and everybody walked in. They all stood next to each other, taking in the scene.
"So.. who's that?" Sam pointed at the brown-haired man who was laying on his back. He looked similar to Tony, Sam noted.
Everyone's eyes moved to the figure who was laying sat by the wall, head ducked down and one arm resting on his lap.
"Tony didn't mention a guest," Steve said, walking at a fast pace to him. The others followed. "Nat, Clint, take a look at the other guy."
Steve checked Tony's pulse, then noted for any injuries. He had a tiny scar on his face that would probably go away in a day or two and was bleeding a bit in his legs and hands but otherwise seemed fine.
He heard Clint mutter "What the fuck.." and he frowned at that.
"Is the guy okay, Clint?" Bucky asked, but none of them moved their eyes from Tony.
At the lack of response, Nat piped in, but even she was surprised. This man looked a bit too similar to Tony. "How's Tony?" Was the only thing she could say.
"He's fine, just minor injuries. But don't ignore the question, Nat. How's the guy?" Bucky replied.
Nat let out a shaky sigh. "I.. don't know. I think you should see it for yourself."
They all came over, freezing as they saw the face.
It looked like Tony, but a bit older. He had some grey hairs growing on his hair and he was definitely injured, he had multiple bleeding injuries and scars on his face. Steve noticed there was no blue glow emitting from his chest where the arc reactor would come from. He grabbed at the man's shirt and hesitantly pulled it so he could see his chest. His fear came true. This carbon copy of Stark had no arc reactor.
"JARVIS," Rhodey said, hesitant as they all looked down at the unconscious figure. "How similar is this guy to Tony?"
"They have the same DNA, Colonel Rhodes. There is no mistaking it. From my data, it seems they are likely the same being."
Natasha scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous, that's impossible."
"Holy shit. Are they actually the same person?"