Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“A scenario is a description of possible events, meaning there is one overall picture with different minuscule events to achieve that singular overall picture.  In truth, when the Sorcerer spoke of one winning scenario, he meant there was one ultimate winning vine of reality created by different possible events or branches, varying in tiny ways, but they all led to the same singular winning reality.  Thus is the mystery and fascination of destiny.”

“Oh!  Uh, hi!  Hey, umm, is anyone home?”  Scott Lang waved at the camera perched on the top of the left pillar that held the gate guarding the Avengers compound and hoped someone was home.  How awkward would it be if he was talking to the camera, and no one was there to answer?  He mentally shrugged; he’d been in more awkward spots than this.  “This is Scott Lang,” he continued, ignoring his stomach growling for the fourth or fifth time since he made it upstate.  “We met a few years ago at the airport?”  Nothing.  “In Germany?  I - I got really big.  I had my mask on.  You might not recognize me without it, but yeah, I’m that guy.”  

He paused for a moment to see if anything would happen, but nothing did.  It was super quiet.  Freaky quiet.  He couldn’t even hear birds chirping.  “Ant-Man?  Ant-Man...I know you know wh - I know you know that !”  He was starting to feel a little sheepish now, talking to seemingly nobody.  “Tha-that’s me.  I really need to talk to you guys.  Can you buzz me in?  Please?”  

There was nothing to answer him, and Scott started wondering what to do now.  He did what he was supposed to do, but he couldn’t do much more if there were no Avengers to let him in.  Scott shot a worried glance to the passenger seat of the van.  He hoped he’d feel better once he got his special delivery safely indoors.  Finally, much to Scott’s relief, the gate to the Avengers’ compound slowly swung open of its own accord, and if the circumstances were better than they were, he would have been really excited to actually be at the Avengers’ compound for a change. 

The Decimation was the worst thing that could have ever happened to the universe.  Scott was spared from being dusted since he was in the Quantum Realm at the time, but little did he know he had missed so much because of it.  The Decimation took Hope, Hank, and Janet, the only ones who knew he was in the Quantum Realm and could get him out, while he was there.  To say he was worried was an understatement.  To say he was trying not to panic was also an understatement.  When you’re floating around with nothing to do and not much to look at, hyperactive thoughts have a tendency to run free.  So instead of letting his brain drive him to a frenzy, he decided to be productive and explore what he could within the Quantum Realm.   

Oh man, the stories he could tell about the crazy stuff he saw, stuff he wouldn’t have thought to imagine.  Some of it, a lot of it, was just flat out nuts and super cool.  But one weird thing that happened to Scott, for which he was now thankful, was finding...well, to Scott he looked like a ghost.  A ghost of a man wearing a navy tunic and red cape using one last spell cast years before to find the subatomic hero when the time was right.  It kind of reminded Scott of a ninja type outfit, if ninjas wore capes that is.  Honestly, seeing a levitating semi-transparent man in funky clothing freaked Scott out a little bit, but what freaked him out more was the ghost calling him by name.  “Scott Lang,” the ghost greeted.  “The current Ant-Man.  I have a mission for you of the greatest importance.”

“Uh,” Scott verbally paused as he tried to gain his bearings before continuing, “You have?  How do you know my name?  Also what are you, how did you get here, and where’s the rest of you?  And…are you about to make the same thing happen to me?”

“I’m not your enemy, Scott,” the newcomer answered, “and time is of the essence right now and should not be wasted on explanations concerning me.  What you need to be concerned about is what you’ve missed in the time you’ve been gone and your part in fixing it.”

Scott chuckled nervously.  “Uh, okay, man, I dunno how you know me or why you’re not all there,” he said as he waved in the ghost’s general direction as if to emphasize the fact the being before him did not have a physical body, “but come on.  I haven’t been gone that long.  I’ve been here for like less than three hours.  Tops.”  He shrugged before confessing sheepishly. “I think.”

“You’ve actually been gone two years,” the ghost replied without missing a beat before slightly bobbing his head in thought and adding, “give or take a few months.”

Scott stared dumbfounded.  “Wait, what?”  That was unexpected.  “Wh-what?!  Two years?”  He scoffed and started floating in one direction before turning around and floating in the opposite direction, a floater’s version of pacing.  He shook his head as he did so, contemplating the time lost in the Quantum Realm.  “No way.  Nuh uh, no…But - but how?  I - I don’t get it.  What happened to Hope?  And Hank and - and Janet?  They were supposed to pull me out hours ago.”  

Suddenly, a deeper realization hit him, and he stopped his pacing as his eyes grew wide at the thought.  “Oh man…Cassie,” he muttered.  “Two years?  I’ve - I’ve been away from Cassie for that long?  That’s too long.”  Scott looked back up to the ghost expectantly, pleadingly.  “Can you get me out of here?”

“No, but I can tell you how to get out of here,” he answered.  “However, as you go, I’ve got a job for you to do.  It’s no exaggeration to say the fate of the universe lies partly in you completing this task successfully.”

Scott was silent and wide-eyed for a long moment.  “Wow,” he finally breathed.  “No pressure, right?”  He chuckled nervously again before sucking a breath in through his nose, nodding as if preparing himself.  “So what’s,” he cleared his throat and tried again.  “What’s the job?”

“Retrieval and delivery,” the ghost answered solemnly, “not so different from past jobs you’ve taken, but this one will be very beneficial to the universe, more so than you stealing your,” he paused for a moment before finishing with the slightest smirk, “Ant-Man suit.”

“Okay,” Scott replied slowly as he contemplated the ghost’s words.  How’d he know I stole it?  He wanted to ask, “Who the heck are you, man?”  But instead, he asked, “What am I getting?”

“Not what, Scott.  Who. ”

“Wait, what?  Hold up.  Wait a minute,” Scott responded quickly before pausing and shaking his head at the meaning behind the ghost’s words.  He stared at the ghost with a daring yet bemused glare.  “You - you want me to kidnap somebody?”

“In a way, yeah,” the ghost answered sheepishly.

“Nope,” Scott said as he held up his hands to stop the ghost from continuing.  “No way,” he said as he shook his head repeatedly and crossed his arms making an X.  “No how,” he added as he broke the X.  “I’m not a kidnapper.  I don’t do that.”

The ghost sighed as he bowed his head slightly and let his eyes wander over the space below him as he gathered his thoughts.  He was quiet for a moment before he tried again.  “Scott,” he began softly without looking up, “I’m afraid you don’t understand.  There’s a reason why Dr. Pym and the van Dynes never brought you back from the Quantum Realm.  They - they’ve been...they’ve been lost .”  He lifted his eyes to find he had Scott’s full attention now.  “They and half of all life in the universe turned to ash and just disappeared.”  He paused, raising his head again, to give a wide-eyed Scott a chance to soak in the news before continuing, and if Scott’s helmet had been off, he would have seen how poor Scott’s complexion turned alarmingly pale rather quickly.  “There are families that have been torn apart.  One minute loved ones are right there beside them, and then the next minute they’re completely gone with nothing but ashes in their place.  Scott,” the ghost said, practically pleading, “this catastrophe has occurred all across our universe.  Nobody was spared from this, whether they were the ones who were lost or the ones who watched loved ones disappear.”

Scott’s voice was barely a whisper.  “Cassie?”

The ghost’s brows furrowed in thought.  “She is not one who was lost.”  When Scott’s look begged for more, the ghost continued as his eyes dropped again, “Besides you, I don’t know who else is part of her family group; ergo, I don’t know if anyone was left behind with her.  I’m sorry.”

It was a good thing Scott was in a part of the Quantum Realm where he was floating because with the way this news hit him, his legs would have turned to jelly and gave out from under him.  Holding his head in his hands, he tried so very hard to swallow this terrible news.  Hope.  Hank and Janet.  Just gone ?  Vanished in a pile of ashes ?  HOW?!   He kept thinking about his baby girl, the best thing in his life, lost, but not in the way the others were lost.  What happened to Maggie and Jim?  Luis and Kurt and Dave?  Was Cassie safe?  What if she was alone?  Or worse, what if she--  He couldn’t bring himself to consider that possibility or any others.  “There’s no way,” he muttered as he closed his eyes to keep the world from spinning.  Panic started seeping in again, and he had to focus to breathe.  “There’s - there’s no way.  This can’t be real.”

“I wish it wasn’t,” the ghost replied sadly.  

Scott’s head jolted up as he glared at the ghost and demanded, “What the hell happened?!”

“More than can be explained here and now,” the ghost answered.  His voice remained steady, but his eyes, now looking back at Scott, betrayed the desperation.  “Do it for your daughter.  Do it for her, so she can have her whole family back.”

Scott gave himself a few minutes to let the panic and the quivering in his body work itself out first, and the ghost silently let him for which Scott was thankful.  After feeling a smidge calmer, he inhaled a deep breath and exhaled for as long as he could.  His resolve was stronger now as he nodded firmly and relented, “Alright, fine.  Who am I taking?”

The ghost offered a smile, though Scott thought it was a sad one, before answering, “Her name is Aurora Callahan, and she is the best hope for our universe, maybe the only hope.”

Scott looked dumbfounded, and all he could do was shake his head a couple times slowly and mutter, “Wow.  Okay.  That’s a lot of pressure for one person, you know.”

“Unfortunately,” the ghost said with a slight tremor in his voice, “I am fully aware of that fact.”  Then he sighed heavily, like the weight of the world burdened him too much, before shaking his head and informing Scott, “I can lead you to a portal that will take you directly in front of the building she’s currently in, but you must understand.  The place in which you’ll find yourself is a world that looks very similar to yours but not quite the same.  You can’t be seen using your suit there.  Discretion is key, Scott.  I also cannot guarantee how long the portal will stay open, but once you retrieve her, you’ll need to quickly return the way you came before that portal closes for another one hundred years.  Before you know it, you’ll be back in our world, and you must get her to the other Avengers.”

“Wait a minute.”  Scott clamped his eyes shut and groaned.  If he wasn’t wearing his helmet right now, he would be massaging his closed eyes with his fingers.  This was way too much too fast.  “I - I have to go to a different world,” he questioned incredulously as he opened his eyes again and stared at the ghost, “to get her.  A different world?  Like a different planet or what?”

“A different universe, actually, an alternate universe.”

Scott’s face twisted from confusion and surprise, and he tried to say something in response but was too overwhelmed to spit out the words.  “U - u - universe ?  What, we - we have to outsource superhero help now?”

The ghost chuckled despite the situation.  “She belongs to our universe just as much as she belongs to the other one.”  His face grew sad as he added quietly, “She’s just been lost for a while too.”

“What does that mean?”

“That’s something that will be discovered later on,” the ghost responded, suddenly grim and business-like, making Scott groan in frustration again.  “We don’t have time to go into all of that, and it’s not my place to explain anyway.”

Scott rolled his eyes.  He never did like not getting full answers.  “Okay, but do I have to get this person to the Avengers right off the bat?  No offense to anyone, but I need to make sure my daughter is safe.”

“I understand your concern, and I promise you that you will get the chance to do that.  Take care of Rory first, then ask her to help you with that.”  He offered Scott a sly grin and added, “She’ll make it faster and easier than you think.  Now,” the ghost said sternly before Scott could ask anymore questions, “you need to hurry before these portals shift, and you’ll be trapped here for at least a hundred more years.  We need you to succeed, Scott.”

Scott offered nothing more than a stern nod, and as he followed the ghost to the portal, he tried to wrap his mind around the massive bomb that was dropped on him.  People turned to...ashes.  That alone was hard to swallow, but then the knowledge that his friends, his family were some of those people that just disappeared.  Gone.  Died.  And Cassie.  Scott’s windpipe suddenly grew tight, threatening to choke the life out of him.  He needed a distraction; thinking about this now would break him.  Retrieval and delivery, huh?   

“So,” Scott started slowly as he followed the ghost who silently, quickly maneuvered through the Quantum Realm to the right portal, “this person is our only hope, huh?  Sounds pretty Star Wars -ish.  What’s so special about her?”

Without looking back, the ghost said, “You’ll find out for yourself.”

“Come on,” he scoffed, “surely you can tell me something, right?”

The ghost stopped by a large swirling circle of blue and orange colors and turned towards Scott.  “This is the portal that will take you to her.”  He smirked as he extended his hand towards the circle.  “Good luck.”

“I’m gonna take that as a ‘no,’” Scott muttered to himself.  He huffed once, offered a salute to the ghost, and jumped into the circle, determined to do what he could to help fix the mess and bring everyone back.

Chapter Text

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the now half-inch-tall Ant-Man muttered as he craned his head back to look at the large structure before him.  When he first stepped through the portal, he was full sized, and he retracted his helmet to let himself take a moment to relish fresh air.  The sun was high in the sky, but the air was cool.  The trees scattered around the grounds held the tell-tale collage of red, gold, and brown leaves with a bare hint of green ones amongst them, the last remains of a summer saying goodbye.  All these things he noticed first, happy to see clear skies of the world again.  Not his world, he remembered, but he shrugged.  This was close enough for now.  He took a deep breath.  “Oh God, fresh air smells so good.”  

He turned back behind him to see the portal hiding conveniently in the bushes, but when he recalled he didn’t have much time, he faced forward, replaced his helmet, and shrank.  The building he was supposed to infiltrate loomed largely over him, and when he read the facility’s name, he groaned.  The ghost never mentioned this Rory Callahan person was in a hospital.  “You’ve got to be kidding me.  I really hope she’s a doctor or a nurse or something.”

No one ever saw him enter the hospital.  No one would ever have thought to look.  His covertness made it easier to roam around the hospital looking for this person.  His size, on the other hand, made the search last a long time which was something he didn’t have much to waste.  It can take a while to scour a large facility for one person when you’re not even a full inch tall, and it really didn’t help that he didn't know what this person looked like.  

Every moment that passed by as he searched made him sweat, and he really had to focus to keep his panic from taking over.  Going into this mission, Scott decided he might have better luck just searching for Callahans in the hospital since he had no idea this woman would be listed under Rory, never mind he didn’t know how it would be spelled, or listed under Aurora, but so far no matter where he looked, Scott could not find a single Callahan anywhere.  

“Oh man, what am I gonna do?”  In his mind’s eye, Scott pictured the sands of time pouring out all over the hospital floor, drowning him in sand, and he ran into the nearest broom closet, grew to normal size when he saw the room was empty, and removed his helmet, giving him a chance to catch his breath and calm himself down.  He muttered quietly to himself, “What am I going to do, what am I going to do, what am I going to do!  How am I supposed to find someone I’ve never met?”  Scott groaned as he leaned against the closet door and rubbed his eyes in frustration.  “I don’t even know how much time I have left.”  

He didn’t hear the approaching footsteps, but he did hear the knob of the closet door turn.  But his footing wasn’t steady, and he wasn’t able to push himself off the door before it opened.  As Scott fell with an “Oomph!” while the door opened, his helmet returned to its rightful spot, and he shrank just before the custodian got the door fully open. 

“What the hell was that?”  Scott ran and hid as the owner of the surprised, gruff, old voice turned left and right to try to see what strange thing flashed and disappeared before his very eyes.  Scott didn’t dare move as the custodian finally stopped his peering and pulled out a cloth from one of the pockets from his suit.  As he patted his forehead with the cloth, he muttered with an air of a person who just admitted to going nuts, “I think it’s time to retire.”

As the custodian left the closet, Scott ran in the opposite direction, sorely anxious to find his target and get back to the portal before his window of opportunity closed.  “Find Callahan, get back, deliver to the Avengers.  Find Callahan, get back, deliver to the Avengers.”  He repeated his mantra a few more times as he searched the floor for any kind of sign, hoping his luck would change quickly.  He could practically hear the time he had left ticking away in his mind. 

Somewhere on the second floor, Scott maneuvered to the nurses’ station, hoping it was deserted so he could check for any listings or anything left out on the desk.  At this point, he was desperate for anything.  Thankfully, the desk was abandoned, and he hopped up and scanned everything as quietly and quickly as possible.  Just when he was thinking the ghost sent him to the wrong place, Scott spotted A. Callahan on a listing and allowed himself a second-long celebration when he saw a room number listed by her name:  room 207.  Best of all, it was just down the hall.  “Now, we’re getting somewhere!”

He made his way down the hall to room 207, keeping close to the wall to avoid footsteps, but for the first time in his life, he considered how much he hated the color choice of hospital walls.  “Geez, I stick out like an ant on a wedding cake with these bland walls behind me.”  After what seemed like hours, Scott finally looked up.  “207.  Finally!”  He slid under the door and took a quick peek to find the coast was clear before growing full size and removing his helmet.  

The room’s only occupant, whom he suspected to be Rory, rested on the lone hospital bed.  If Scott had to guess, she looked to be a few years younger than he was.  Her eyes were closed, and her arms rested by her sides.  The left side of her head, right above her ear, had a patch of hair significantly shorter than the rest because it obviously had been shaved away some time ago, and the center of that spot sported a scar that had thinned over time.  She was crowned with long, thick brunette curls which fell down just past her shoulders, framing her freckled face.  She looked tired, almost sad, and for a brief moment Scott felt guilty for what he was about to do.  She looked like she needed rest and something to cheer her up.  Not whatever mess he was about to drag her into.  

It took him a few moments of studying her features to make him suddenly wonder why she slept in such a stiff-like manner.  That didn’t look comfortable.  It looked like someone just laid her down like that.  Which must mean… “Uh oh.  Oh no. Oh no no no no no.  Ummm...”  Scott scrambled around, looking for any medical information on her, hoping that the sudden sick feeling he had in the pit of his stomach was wrong.  He spotted a clipboard at the foot of her bed and snatched it before quickly scanning it for something he could understand.  Unfortunately, he found it.  “That’s just…great.”  Rory wasn’t just a patient.  She was a comatose patient.  Another thing the ghost didn’t tell him, if he knew about it anyway.  Big problem.

Scott simultaneously groaned and shrugged with exasperation.  His suit allowed him to slip into the hospital unnoticed, but this was another matter entirely.  He couldn’t shrink her as is, and he couldn’t just carry her out.  A dude in a weird suit carrying an unconscious patient out of the hospital was a plan that really wouldn’t work out well in the end, and he really didn’t want to get arrested in a whole other universe either.  

Scott scratched his head and turned in circles many times in Rory’s hospital room as he tried to come up with a plan.  The room had a window, and they were only on the second floor.  Scott suddenly wondered how strong the bed sheets were.  He’d seen that stunt on TV more than once.  “Sorry about this,” he muttered sympathetically to her even though she couldn’t hear him, suddenly embarrassed about what they were about to do, about what he would have to do to get her back.  “We’re just gonna have to wing it.  We don’t have much time.  Oh, I really hope you wake up soon.  You mind waking up for me please?”  

Well she didn’t, but Scott somehow managed to get her to the Quantum Realm and then back to his own dimension just like the ghost instructed.  “If it’s all the same to you,” he told his unconscious companion as he took her through the portal, “I think we’re gonna keep the story of how we got here to ourselves.  You good with that?”  He paused for a beat as if listening for a reply before nodding.  “Works for me too.  Sorry again about dropping you.”

Considering the ghost’s insistence to take Rory to the Avengers first, Scott decided that guy was not a parent.  The ghost insisted Scott had to hurry to get Rory to their world or the portals would shift and close.  He never actually said anything about there being an urgency to get Rory to New York.  Well, Scott thought with a mental shrug, half of the population disappearing aside… But if there was no urgent rush to get her to the Avengers, then no parent would deny Scott’s request to check on his kid.  He’ll do the job like he’s supposed to, but since he had the wiggle room to do it, he was going to find Cassie first.

The portal led them into a large room blocked off into smaller sections by wire fencing, and it took Scott by surprise.  His surprise was pushed further when he realized he was surrounded by his own possessions.  All of them.  His property, shoved into boxes marked in his name with black marker, were stacked all around them, and Luis’ van, which held the machine that sent him to the Quantum Realm, sat at the edge of his section.  “What the --?”  

Thankfully, the van was unlocked, and he carefully set Rory in the passenger seat and scrambled around trying to find a way to get out.  The section they were in was locked, which wouldn’t be a problem for him if he was by himself.  As it was, he didn’t have enough Pym particles on hand to get what he needed out.  He had to get out another way.  After pacing and wracking his brain for a few moments, his eyes spotted a security camera in the corner, and he grinned as an idea bloomed in his mind.  There better be somebody on the other side of that camera watching.  

Chapter Text

Leaving all of his things behind except for the van and a bag of clothes and other necessities he could find in his storage unit, Scott pushed the van as fast as it could go towards familiar territory without fear of a ticket.  To get to the Paxton house, he first had to travel down his street, but once he got there, he stopped in the middle of the road, jaw dropping at the sight.  The first thing he noticed was how the overall street looked desolate.  Some of the houses were boarded up and abandoned, and some of those boarded-up houses have clearly been broken into and ransacked for whatever possessions were left behind inside.  He drove towards his house, feeling eerie about how lifeless the street looked.  

When he pulled up to the front of the house he and his best friend, Luis, shared, Scott was out of the van and on the sidewalk walking towards the house before he noticed a car parked where Luis used to park.  The sight of it made his steps waver.  Would Luis’ van be left with Scott’s stuff if Luis was still around?  Scott was too preoccupied to notice if his belongings were the only ones in the unit.  Maybe whoever boxed his stuff up didn’t know it was actually Luis’ van.  Or maybe Luis’ stuff was shoved into its own unit or everything from the house was just shoved into one space.  

Scott saw a shadow pass by one of the windows, and he ran up to the front door, unable to take the suspense any longer, and knocked on the door.  It took a few moments for footsteps to answer him from the other side, and a middle-aged woman opened the door.  “Oh,” Scott couldn’t help but mutter in disappointment.

The woman offered a pleasant but wary smile.  “Can I help you?”

“Ummm, sorry to bother you.  I was actually looking for somebody else.”

“I’m sorry, dear.  You must have the wrong house.  I’ve been here since it happened.”

Two years.  He remembered then that he's missed two whole years, and this woman would have no reason to think he was looking for somebody who probably disappeared because of... it .  She thought he was looking for a survivor.  “Ummm, okay thanks.”  Scott retreated slowly down the walkway, dazed and trying not to panic again.  “Sorry to bother you.”  The woman called after him, maybe to check if he was alright, but he didn’t stop to check what she said.  Somebody he cared for still had to be here.  

Somebody.   Anybody .

Completely uncaring if he got a speeding ticket or not, he barreled down the streets until he made it to the road where the Paxtons lived and came to a halt in front of the house.  The very short ride over had him sweating.  He probably shouldn’t have been driving while fighting off such fits of anxiety, but it had to be done.  The changes were too much.  The implications of what he’d missed were too much.  The worry and grief over people he loved were too much.  Hope was gone.  Luis was gone.  Hank and Janet were gone too.  What about the rest of his loved ones?  

He scrambled up the walkway to the front door, rang the doorbell almost obnoxiously, and banged on the house right beside the screen door, mumbling, “Please please please please please please let her be here.”  He was too panicked to think about anything save for one person right now.  

The object of his thoughts appeared from around a corner in the house moving towards the door and stopped abruptly once she caught sight of him.  Then very slowly, she approached the door, eyes locked on him in an unblinking stare, and from the look on her face, she must have been wondering if she was dreaming.  Scott couldn’t help but wonder the very same thing.  

This can’t be real .  

She’s a little older and definitely a little taller.  He could tell as she stood at the door, eyes wide and glossy from unshed tears.  She flung open the glass door then the screen door like she was so desperate to get to him she would have ripped the doors off the hinges and exited the house, and he was frozen by how she looked at him.  Like he was a ghost himself.  “Dad?” 

The amount of surprise, disbelief, and relief in Cassie’s quiet voice jolted Scott back to his senses.  “Cassie,” he breathed before she tackled him in a hug and started to cry.  He wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her close, and his tears started to fall too.  “You - you’ve gotten so big.”

“Scott?”  Scott looked up to see a confused and amazed Jim Paxton stand in the doorway now.

“Jim!”  Relief swept through Scott at the sight of him.  At least Cassie wasn’t alone, and she had her stepdad with her.

“What the -- How...how are you even here?  We thought you were--”

“I don’t even know, man,” Scott interrupted, not wanting him to finish the thought.  Scott shook his head, overwhelmed and suddenly tired.  “I don’t even know.”

“Let’s get you inside.”

At Scott’s insistence, Jim carried Rory inside and laid her on the couch so Scott could keep an eye on her, and then the remaining three sat at the kitchen table.  Scott explained what little he knew, then Jim explained everything else while Cassie clung to Scott as if afraid he would disappear again.  “It was chaos,” Jim told him.  “Complete and utter chaos on that day and for months after the fact, trying to compile lists of who disappeared and who didn’t, take care of any disasters that occurred because of the people who disappeared - crashes, fires, blackouts, supply shortages, you name it - and stop survivors from going crazy and doing whatever they want like we’re in those damn Purge movies.  It took about a full year for things to finally calm down enough so those left behind could build some semblance of life.”

“Who…” Scott didn’t really know how to phrase the question without voicing what he didn’t want to admit.  “Who survived?”

Jim and Cassie shared a glance before Cassie dropped her gaze and Jim steeled his.  “It’s just us.”

Scott stared at him, unblinking, and he wasn’t even aware he was slowly shaking his head.  The implications of such a statement were too great for Scott to accept, never mind anything else.  Maggie?  Gone.  Kurt and Dave?  Gone too.  “What?”

“Cassie told me even half your ants are gone too.”

Scott’s jaw dropped at that.  Not even the ants were spared?  Scott looked down at Cassie who nodded sadly.  “It’s true, Daddy.  Half your ants disappeared too.  I’ve taken care of the rest as best as I can since then.”  

He couldn't believe this.  He couldn’t believe any of it, but the staggering evidence had been right in front of him since he got back to this universe.  “Wow,” he breathed in numbed shock.  “When you said half the population of every living thing, you weren’t kidding.”  He gave Cassie a gentle squeeze and kissed her head.  “I really appreciate you taking care of them for me, Peanut.  That was really sweet of you.  Or, ummm,” he asked hesitantly, “are you too old for the nickname?”

Cassie shook her head adamantly.  “No!  No, never.  I’m never too old for it.”

“Good,” he replied with a soft grin.  “I wasn’t ready to give it up yet anyway.”

Scott elected to spend the night with Jim and Cassie before he completed the last part of the instructions and made the cross-country trek to the Avengers’ compound in upstate New York, but he didn’t get much sleep because he spent hours with Cassie, catching up with her and making up for missing another two years of her life as best as he possibly could.  She’s almost thirteen now, and he had missed just about half of her life. 

Half of her life...

That thought rolled over and over and over in the back of his mind while he spent time with her, tugging at his heartstrings as he kept her awake for as long as he possibly could without feeling guilty before he managed to crash in the guest bedroom.

It was unbearable to leave the next morning though.  Cassie’s tugging on his arm, on the verge of panicked tears and begging him not to go, afraid that if he left again it would be another long time before he came back.  If he came back at all.  “Please, Daddy!  Please please please don’t go.  You just came back!  Why do you have to leave?”

Jim had just put a still unconscious Rory, now dressed in some of Scott’s clothes with the help of Cassie and a nurse who lived down the street, in the passenger seat, and Scott and Cassie were on the porch, both trying hard not to cry.  One was failing, and one was barely getting by as it was.  “Peanut, I’ve got to take her to the Avengers.  She can help fix the mess that happened, and I’ve got some ideas on maybe how we can fix it too.  Either way, Peanut, I have to go.  I can help bring everybody back.  I know it.”

“Please don’t go, Daddy!  Please don’t go!  I need you.  I just got you back.  I can’t lose you again.  I can’t!”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Scott said as calmly and soothingly as possible.  He cradled her face in his hands and dropped to his knees so he could be more at her eye level.  He used to be at her eye level when he did that.  She had surpassed that height now.  He gently wiped tears away from her cheeks with his thumbs.  “You’re not gonna lose me, Peanut.  Once I help fix this, I’ll come back.  I promise.”

“Let me go with you,” Cassie pleaded as she grabbed his wrists, afraid he would let go.  “I can help.  I can help you.  I can be your partner now, and I can help you get her to the Avengers.  I can be a really good partner now, Daddy.  Please let me go with you.  Please .”

“I -”  This was killing Scott, but he knew what he needed to do.  This was a solo mission.  It hurt like hell to do this, but he knew he couldn't bring her with him.  “Peanut,” he said gently but firmly, “I’d love for you to go with me, but this isn’t a trip you need to go on.  I need you here.  If I managed to help bring everybody back, and your mom found you one, are almost thirteen years old and two, doing Avengers stuff, we’d get in trouble for at least one of those things,” he joked.  Cassie scowled at the attempt at humor, so Scott sighed then said finally, “Look, bottom line.  I need you here because you’ll be safe here.”

“Why?  What do you think could happen that I wouldn’t be safe with you?”

“With superhero stuff, Peanut, anything could happen.  My top priority is to take care of you, and to best do that right now?  You need to stay here.  I’ll come back, Peanut.  I promise.  Look, I’ve still got my phone too, okay?  Same number and everything, and I managed to get it charged last night.  We can text and call every day, okay?  I’ll be in touch a lot.  I promise.”

Cassie glared at the van, and if looks could kill, Scott thought the van would have probably blown up.  She muttered bitterly, “Why are you picking her over me?”

“Huh?”  Scott looked between her and the van a couple of times before the question clicked.  “Oh.  Oh no, Peanut, I’m not picking her over you.  I promise that’s not what’s happening here.  Believe me, I would stay here with you if I could, but I need to help the Avengers bring everybody back.  You got me back, but what about Mom?  You want her back too, right?”  Cassie nodded as she chewed on her bottom lip.  “Okay, I can bring her back.  Give me a chance to bring her back too, Peanut.  We’ll both come back to you, okay?”

Cassie stared at him long and hard for what felt like hours, studying his face and clearly fighting a fear of losing him again, but she eventually nodded again with great reluctance.  “You better come back.”

“I will,” Scott promised as he pulled her into a tight hug.  “I’ll come back, and I’ll make sure your mom and everybody else does too.”

“And we’ll talk and text everyday?”

“Everyday.  We’ll talk and text and FaceTime all the time.  If I don’t reply immediately, I promise I won’t leave you hanging for long, okay?  And when I come back, I promise I’ll make all of this up to you.  Road trip, just you and me.  We’ll go wherever you want.”

She sniffed, trying hard to stop the tears, but it was a losing battle.  She knew he was going to go, and she knew that as much as it sucked, she had to let him go.  Sometimes having a superhero as your dad was awesome, and sometimes it was one of the worst things ever.  “Can we finally go on that haunted house road trip we always talked about?”

“Absolutely, Peanut.  We’ll explore the entire west coast searching for ghosts when I get back, okay?”

Cassie nodded into his shoulder.  “Okay.”  She held onto him tighter after that, not wanting to let go just yet.  Scott barely heard the whisper spoken against his shoulder.  “I love you, Daddy.”

Now it was Scott's turn to lose the crying battle.  “I love you too, Peanut,” his voice cracked.  “So much.”

Chapter Text

Using the fastest route his phone’s GPS could offer, it took Scott under three days to get to the Avengers compound in upstate New York, spending the majority of his driving time talking to Cassie on the phone, rocking out to whatever he could find on the radio, and carrying one-sided conversations with his comatose passenger.  “You gotta let me know if you heard any of that when you wake up, but you gotta wake up first.  Please wake up?”

Before he finally pulled up to the Avengers’ door, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff burst through the compound doors and ran down the steps to meet the van.  “Scott,” Steve called out as Scott exited the vehicle.  He was surprised to see Captain America with a beard and even more surprised, yet pleased, when Captain America wrapped his arms around him in a hug.  “It’s good to see you, man.  We thought you were one of the Ashen.”

“Who?”  Scott asked as he returned the hug.

“The people who turned to ashes two years ago,” the ever-stoic Natasha answered as the hug ended, and Scott was even more surprised and pleased to find she had been waiting for her turn for a hug.  This was kind of nice.

“Oh, uh, yeah, I mean, no,” Scott said as he returned the hug.  “I’ve been pretty much caught up elsewhere, but I’ll explain that in a minute,” he said as he pulled away and moved to the passenger side of the van.  “Don’t ask me how or why because I barely know what the hell is going on myself, but in the passenger seat sits the key to fixing this whole people disappearing and turning to ash mess.”

Scott admitted opening the van door to reveal an unconscious woman wearing some of his clothes curled up in the passenger seat was a lackluster presentation, but that was really all he had.  The confused, almost annoyed expressions on Steve’s and Natasha’s faces told him they needed more than this.  “Help me get her inside, and I’ll explain what little I know.”

A few minutes later, they laid Rory on a couch, then Scott, Natasha, and Steve sat down nearby so Scott could relay his story in between bites of a peanut butter sandwich he swiped from the table.  A pale, feeble-looking Bruce Banner had wandered in when he heard the commotion, and he took a curious interest in the compound’s latest peculiar newcomer.  He silently checked her eyes then studied the scar on the left side of her head as he listened to Scott’s tale.  This Quantum Realm Scott kept mentioning sounded fascinating to him, but what really intrigued him was the so-called ghost.  “Wait,” Bruce interrupted as he moved to sit by Natasha, “what did he look like again?”

“Well, he looked a lot older than me,” Scott began as he furrowed his brows and rolled his eyes to the right in thought.  “I think that’s just because he’s mostly got black hair except for thick white streaks on the sides of his head.  Little bit of facial hair too,” he continued as he gestured to the sides of his head as if combing front to back then to his face to indicate where the facial hair was.  “He wore something out of a ninja movie.  Navy tunic thing and a red cape.”

Bruce got excited, and though he struggled a bit,  he stood up again as he pointed at Scott and looked to the other listeners in the room.  “That’s Strange!”

“Well, I mean,” Scott said with a shrug, “yeah, it was pretty weird, but that wasn’t the weirdest thing I saw down there –”

“No, no, no,” Bruce corrected as he shook his head.  “ Stephen Strange.  That was Dr. Stephen Strange.” 

Steve asked, “The wizard with the Time Stone you told us about?”

“Yeah, that’s him.  He was taken by one of Thanos’s goons in New York, and Tony went after him and Spider-Man.”

Steve looked back at Scott at that note and asked, “Did he say what happened to Tony or any of the others?”

Scott shook his head as he swallowed another bite and gestured to the couch.  “No, she was his biggest priority, saying she was the universe’s one chance at fixing what happened.”

Natasha released a hardly noticeable sigh as she leaned back in her seat.  “Not much good an unconscious woman can do for us.”

“I agree,” Steve said as he shook his head and scratched his beard before crossing his arms.  “We can’t do anything with that.”

“Guys, I’m telling you,” Bruce interrupted adamantly, “if the wizard thinks she’s the answer to the problem, then he’s probably right!”

“I’m sorry, Bruce,” Steve argued, “but that’s not enough to go on.  How do we know he’s right?  How can we trust this so-called wizard?  Or, even better, how do we know Scott wasn’t having a hallucination being in the Quantum Realm for so long?”  He quickly turned to Scott and offered a quick, “Sorry.  No offense.”

Scott just shrugged.  “Hey, none taken.  I mean, I think it’s a good point ‘cause I saw some crazy things in there.”  He paused as his brows furrowed as his face grew in intensity as he recalled.  “I’m pretty sure it all was real.”  He laughed as he added, “I mean, I know I can be pretty imaginative, but I don’t think this brain,” he said as he tapped his temple, “could imagine all of that.”

“No way,” Bruce countered as he turned to Steve.  “That couldn’t have been a hallucination, Steve.  Scott was in the Quantum Realm before the Decimation took place.”  He turned to Scott and asked, with a hand extended to him as a gesture, “Have you ever met Stephen Strange before the Quantum Realm?”

“Name doesn’t ring a bell.  I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

“That’s the ghost you met,” Bruce said excitedly.

“That’s his name?”  Scott looked to the others in amazement.  “Wow, what a name!  It really rolls off the tongue.  Stephen Strange.  That’s pretty cool.”  He paused for a moment, nodding as he thought about the name some more, then said matter-of-factly, “Yup.  Definitely never met him before.  I’d remember that name.”  He paused before adding, “ And his ninja clothes.” 

“Yet,” Bruce continued as he turned back to Steve, “he was able to describe a man he had never met before and could identify.”  He shrugged as if to say the point he made was hard to deny.

“What about her?”  Natasha tilted her head towards the unconscious woman on the couch.  “What did you say her name was again?”

“Aurora Callahan.  Rory for short.”

Steve turned back to Bruce and asked, “Well, how does the wizard know about Rory and her future role in this?”

“Uhh,” Bruce verbally paused as he thought before answering, “he carried the Time Stone.  It’s already been proven to us the Time Stone could reverse time and events.  It wouldn’t surprise me if the Stone could make the user see into the future also.”  Bruce looked back at Rory.  “Maybe when all this started happening, Strange looked into the future to see what the outcome of all of this would be.”

“Then why didn’t he tell me everything instead of being vague?”  Scott wondered aloud.  “‘Cause he wouldn’t tell me anything, and that was pretty annoying.”

Bruce verbally paused as he ran a hand over his head.  “Maybe the butterfly effect?”  He offered with a shrug.  When he didn’t get a response, he expounded, “It’s a term in chaos theory.”

“Appropriate,” Natasha muttered under her breath, but Steve heard it and shot her a look that was somewhere between chastising and humored.

Bruce continued without noticing.  “It’s a term in chaos theory to describe the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state can result in a large difference in a later state.”  Seeing the confused faces of his audience, Bruce explained further.  “The common example of this is like the details of a tornado, such as the exact time of formation and the exact path taken, can be influenced by the most minor things like the flapping of a butterfly’s wings that happened miles away and weeks earlier.”

“ Woah …wait, I think I remember that from Jurassic Park .  That’s an actual thing?  Wild,” Scott muttered in mind-blown astonishment before raising his hand as if in class.

Bruce tilted his head and offered a quizzical expression.  “Uhh.  Yes?”

“So if I stood outside and sneezed, I could affect a tornado in Texas next month?”

Bruce bobbed his head and sighed before mumbling, “Well, yeah, that’s - that’s the idea, I guess.”

“What does this have to do with our current scenario, Bruce,” Steve asked.

“What I’m trying to say,” Bruce answered, finally coming to his point, “is that Strange’s vagueness may be because he knows, has seen , how small things now can create huge effects in the future.  Perhaps even telling us how to win could ironically put us on a path to ultimate loss.  Perhaps just shoving her,” he said as he pointed to Rory, “in our direction and leaving us with the vagueness we have are the only things he was allowed to do without forcing us onto a losing path.”

“Well,” Natasha said as she leaned forward and rested her forearms on her knees, “in its own weird way, it makes sense.”

Steve sighed through his nose.  “So if that’s the case, then what is supposed to guide our choices?”

Bruce shrugged.  “Same things that always have, Steve.  A little bit of this,” he said as he tapped his chest, “and a little bit of this,” he continued as he moved his hand to tap his temple.  “That and hopefully,” he added with a head tilt towards the couch, “whatever she may know or finds out on her own.”

No one noticed fingers that have laid dormant for two years slowly, very slowly, start to flex.

Chapter Text

White-hot pain flared maddeningly up her right arm, from fingertips to shoulder, then back down again, numbing the rest of her body so all she felt was the searing, blazing agony in her arm.  She hugged that arm close to her body with her left as she forced the scream that was already halfway up her throat back down, and a moan seeped through her pursed lips instead.  Within her soul, she heard a shriek of fear and a cry of despair for help.  As quickly as it came, the pain vanished, leaving Rory Callahan to stare at her now fine arm as the rest of her body shook from the experience.  First the left arm, now the right, and both times the experience was the same.  It frightened her.

“Rory?”  She turned, still holding her arm, to find a concerned Stephen Strange poking his head into her room at the Sanctum.  

She slowly exhaled the fear that settled in the tingling of her arm, the aftermath of unseen trouble.  “Another pain,” was all she managed to say.

“What?”  He quickly moved further into the room and carefully inspected the arm she held.  “It started in the left and moved to the right,” Stephen said slowly, more to himself than her.  “Same intensity and side effects?”

“Not quite,” Rory answered, her words carrying a hint of the Southern twang as she spoke.  She flexed her fingers, working the tingling out of them and wishing the involuntary trembling would stop, however slight.  “Everything was just like the last time except the intensity has increased slightly.”

“How much is slightly,” Stephen asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Rory sighed, closed her hazel eyes, and rubbed them while thinking of her response.  “On a scale of one to ten,” she answered with a shrug, “it increased by a two or two-point-five, I guess.”  She pulled her arm out of his hands, sat down on the guest bed, and glanced at her friend, noticing his casual attire:  jeans, t-shirt, cardigan, and tennis shoes.  She couldn’t help but think it slightly peculiar to see him out of his mystic arts attire, but nevertheless it was good to see a balance between Doctor Strange and Stephen Strange.  She dropped her eyes and muttered, “Maybe I should forgo my trip.”

“There really wouldn’t be any point in that, my friend,” the doctor said with a small smile.  “If it continues to get worse, then I would suggest returning here, and we’ll see what we can figure out about it.  But this isn’t much to go on for now.”  He shrugged and suggested, “Maybe you’ve been training too hard.”

Rory stared down at her right hand and methodically flexed her fingers, nodding though she didn’t believe his suggestion.  With Stephen being careful about how much she was learning, she felt like she didn’t have that much training to do.  In fact, she’s heard him tell Wong she was advancing too fast with what little she had been given, which pleased her.  “Yeah, maybe,” Rory verbally agreed even though her voice didn’t sound all that confident to her.  

“Go on your vacation,” Stephen ordered with a tone Rory knew was reserved for commanding, the surgeon in him shining through once again.  “You’ll need it since, once you get back, you’ll be moving into a new place soon.”  He chuckled.  “That alone will take up a lot of time and energy, along with the job.”

She pointed at him and offered a smile.  “Which I can now have over here since you helped me create a - what did you call it?  A multidimensional citizenship, right?”

“Yes, that’s one way to describe it, and,” Stephen said with a dismissive wave of his hand, “that was no trouble, honestly.  You’d be surprised how easy it is to do.”

“For you, maybe.”  Rory chuckled while standing from the guest bed.  “Honestly, I owe you a lot more than you know.”

“I think we may be even now,” Stephen said with a shrug.  “You saved my life after I accidentally found myself in your home while trying to get to mine well over a year ago; I provide you with the ability to live here and there as you see fit.  I think we can be on common ground now in terms of who owes whom.  Don’t you?”

“Yes, when you put it like that, I think that’s fair,” Rory nodded as she opened her arms out to him, offering him a hug.  With a small smile, he accepted it and wrapped his arms around her as she added imploringly, “I can still come visit the Sanctum, right?”

“You have an open invitation,” he sincerely answered.  “Anytime you want, you can come.”

Rory pulled away as her eyes shone with admiration and appreciation.  “You’re a really good friend, Stephen Strange.  I’m glad you accidentally found your way into my life.”

“So am I,” Stephen concurred, his grin spreading across his face before his countenance returned to its default solemn expression.  “Now, go on,” he said as he waved her on, “before you make others jealous about your trip.”

“Fine,” Rory said with an eye roll as she slipped on her sling ring and created a portal to another universe.  

Stephen shook his head in amazement.  When he and any other student of Kamar-Taj conjured a portal, the magic circle sparked and crackled a brilliant, fiery orange.  When Rory conjured the same spell, her portals were a blinding, pure white fire swirled with smoky wisps of cobalt blue, calm and gentle like still waters.  It was amazing to witness and a mystery to ponder.  “That never gets old,” he uttered to himself.

But his statement was overheard.  “Is it because it’s different or because you still don’t know why my magic looks different than yours?”

Now Stephen rolled his eyes.  “You say that like you know why when you don’t either.”

Rory shrugged.  “Hey, I figure if I gotta know, then I’ll know when the time is right,” she said as she waved her hand dismissively.  “But for now, I’m just enjoying your look of stumped wonder.”  

Stephen couldn’t help but laugh at that.  “You really are a dork, you know,” he muttered with an easy-going smile.  

“Tell me something I don’t know.  I’ll give you the time I’m gone to think of something.  See you when I get back, Strange.”  And with that, Rory Callahan grabbed her bag and hopped through the portal which disappeared just after she vanished through it.

“Did I hear Aurora leave?”  

Stephen turned to find Wong peek inside the room, and he nodded as he replaced the check.  “You did.  Our friend is off to join her family for a few days, and I,” he said as he turned and walked out the guest bedroom, “am off to the bank then the deli.  We can’t rely on her to feed us anymore unless she cooks when she visits, and I’m starving.”

As the pair made their way to the stairs in the main foyer of the Sanctum, Wong replied, “Excellent.  I too am famished.  Would you grab something for me when you go?”

“Of course.  Would you rather give me some money for whatever you’re wanting now or later?”

“American money?  I don’t carry that; you know that.”

Stephen stared incredulously at his friend for a moment.  “You’re kidding.”

“I have never needed such funds.”

“Until you're hungry,” Stephen muttered.  Then he asked, still having trouble believing it, “Seriously?  You don’t have any money?”

Wong’s tone reflected a teacher reciting a lesson as he responded, “Attachment to the material is detachment from the spiritual.”

Stephen scoffed as he walked down the stairs with Wong following behind.  “I’ll tell the guys at the deli,” he said dryly.  “Maybe they’ll make you a metaphysical ham on rye.”

“Oh, wait, wait, wait,” Wong said quickly, successfully making Stephen pause and turn to see him digging into a pocket.  “I think I have two hundred.”

“Dollars?”

“Rupees,” came the slightly sheepish answer.

“Which is?”

Wong shrugged and offered an even more sheepish, “Buck and a half?”

Stephen sighed defeatedly and resumed walking down the stairs, fighting the amused smirk that threatened to cross his face over his friend’s rupees.  “What do you want?”

Wong clapped his hands once in thought then said, “I wouldn’t say no to a tuna melt.”

Suddenly from right behind them, a large beam of opaline light slammed through the roof and through the stairs with a deafening crash.  Stephen and Wong crouched and covered their heads in response to the thunderous intrusion before turning and watching the large beam finish its entrance then completely vanish.  As the pair climbed up to the big, new hole in the stairs, a groan could be heard from below them.  Stephen and Wong peered down to find a shirtless man, covered in dirt and dust from the crash, looking up at them in panicked fear and desperation.  “Thanos is coming,” he announced in horror.  “He’s coming!”

Stephen shared a confused glance with Wong before he looked back down at their unexpected guest.  “Who?”

Sometime later in a neighboring dimension

The voices in Rory’s mind were in a panic.  A frantic, terrified, desperate panic.  They were screaming now, overwhelming her senses.  “ Come back ,” they cried.  “ Save us!  Please! ”  Five voices pleaded with her from somewhere far away, and they were driving her mad.  Rory knew she had to get back to the other universe; she knew going on vacation in her home universe was a bad idea.  Something nightmarish was happening, and the unknown in tandem with those pleas unnerved her.  Unraveled her.  

Rory was so close to her parents’ home now.  It horrified her how she couldn’t find her sling ring among her possessions; otherwise, she would not be driving like a bat out of hell to go look for it and get back to the other universe.  The sling ring’s loss had to have been by her own doing, however accidental.  Maybe it fell out of her pocket when she thought she slipped it back in.  She did put it in her pocket, right?  It wasn’t in her bag or in any pockets of her clothes, and she practically ripped everything apart in her desperate search.  It must be at her parents’ house. She had no need of it any time on the trip. It must be there. 

Rory had to get back; she just had to.  Everything within her was demanding it, forcing her back to the other world, her other home, and making her suffer the longer she stayed away.  There was so much going on, so much she didn’t understand, and it all seemed insane.  Rory tried to ignore the sick feeling in her gut that maybe she would never find her sling ring and be stuck on this side.  “No,” she growled through her teeth, “it will be there, and I will get back, and this madness will stop!”

And to say the madness was affecting her was an understatement.  Rory’s frantic outburst after the fourth random pain, this time in her chest and more excruciating than its predecessors, and the decision to return to the other universe frightened her family.  Though she promised to return and fill them in on what was going on, she could tell they feared for her and didn’t want her to go.  She wanted to tell them to not worry and everything was going to be okay, but she knew the tears in her frightened, angry eyes betrayed her.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.  “I have to go.”  An hour plane ride and a two hour drive in a rental car later, home was just a mile down this last curvy road.  

Five pains in five different places.  Left arm, right arm, right eye, chest, left eye.  The fifth pain occurred sometime during the drive, and Rory had to pull over until it passed, afraid she would crash and die before she could get back, find the problem, and solve it.  The longer she stayed here, the greater her anxiety swelled.  “So close,” she breathed, more to the unknown voices than to herself.  

Rory’s head began to ache, whether from stress or from something going on in the other universe, she couldn’t be sure.  It wasn’t like the other pains; those were violent outbursts felt with no warning but then gone as soon as they came, leaving a buzzing, trembling sensation in their wake.  This, though...this was quickly building up, swelling like a balloon, and there was no sign of it stopping.  The pressure kept climbing, expanding and pushing against unseen barriers as if breaking them or dying were the only two options.  She suddenly couldn’t hear.  The roar of the engine Rory had been dangerously demanding to go at top speed once she knew she was out of police view was silent even though it obviously kept going.  She screamed at the top of her lungs for whatever assaulted her to stop, but she couldn’t even hear her own screams.

In the midst of all of this, somewhere in an untouched portion of her soul, a sorrow like she had never known and an acceptance of finality settled over her, and her screams turned to sobs as the pressure reached its climax and blew.  Her hearing returned in full force with the sound of something shattering like glass, and her vision suddenly grew dark.  She slammed on her brakes, afraid of what she couldn’t see and furious that she was so close to her goal and kept hitting obstacles.  Without warning, the rental car, reacting to the sudden braking and the law of inertia, slid into a tree in the driveway and came to a complete stop.

Rory took one large, haggard breath and blinked.  Her sight was terribly blurry, worse than if she wasn’t wearing her contact lenses even though she was.  She coughed, lungs begging for air, before breathing heavily once again and blinking.  “Stephen?”  Rory could have sworn she saw the sorcerer, but when she blinked again, he was gone.  But at least she could see normally again.  “What is going ON?!”  

She unbuckled herself and managed to climb out of the car.  “Sling ring,” she breathlessly muttered to herself with tears rolling down her cheeks, reminding herself what she was doing in the first place.  “Sling ring.”

By the time she made it to the door of the house, her head ached like the previous five mysterious pains she had endured, and she fell through the door she just opened, setting off the security alarm.  It blared and whined at the intrusion, but Rory ignored it as she slowly got to her feet again.  The sling ring had to be in the guest room.  It had to be.  Please be there.   “Sling ring.”

She could now hear six distinct voices calling out for her, but there was more.  Sounds of war and carnage blurring together like a chaotic orchestra reaching a crescendo with the pleas of the voices as she stood and stumbled forward towards the guest room, just a few feet away down the hall passed a flight of stairs leading to the basement.  As she stumbled forward, with the mouth of the basement to her left, Rory stopped as the blood in her veins suddenly turned cold and forced her body to tremble uncontrollably.  It was so hard to breathe.  She felt sick.  Is this what dying feels like?

As Rory tried to force her body to take a step towards finding the sling ring, the six voices in her head spoke again, repeating the same sentence over and over in defeat, echoing each other as if singing a round.  

“He should have gone for the head!”

     “He should have gone for the head!”

             “He should have gone for the head!”

                      “He should have gone for the head!”

                             “He should have gone for the head!”

                                   “He should have gone for the head!”

It took a moment for Rory to focus enough to comprehend the words being spoken, but though she understood the words, she didn’t understand the meaning.  “What?”

Before an answer could be given, a resonating crack roared in her ears, and the crack reverberated through her bones, threatening to break them.  A sudden heat ruptured in her chest, familiar yet foreign, exploding out through every inch of her body, and Rory could see nothing but white light.  The heat suddenly retreated back to its epicenter and disappeared, leaving a cold numbness in its wake, and the white light disappeared too.  Her vision swam recklessly, and a maddening silence was all she could hear.  For a reason she couldn’t quite pinpoint, she released a heavy sob and mumbled in anguish, “This is all my fault.”

Her vision clouded before succumbing to darkness, and the last thing she remembered was feeling her body collapse towards her left and tumble like it was falling from the sky.

Chapter Text

Rory awoke with a start and found herself lying on a cliff overlooking the ocean.  The sun was low on the horizon behind her giving the world an orange tint.  She slowly stood and brought a hand up to her aching head, surprised to find her whole body hurt.  “Where am I?”  She gently massaged the left side of her head, the epicenter of the pulsing pain that pounded loudly in her ears.  “What happened?”  Rory felt exhausted, groggy, and dizzy, but instinct demanded she remain sharp and alert.  “Something really bad just happened,” she mumbled slowly as if trying to remember something important as she started looking around.  “Is happening?”

Finding no one near her, she glanced down at the cliff on which she stood and released a quiet gasp of awe.  The top of the cliff was covered in grass except a large circle of exposed stone, with deliberately and intricately carved patterns all over its surface area.  Inside the circle and along its circumference, equidistant from each other, were six circles the size of hula hoops, and in the very center of the exposed stone was another circle twice the size of the other six, where Rory now found herself.  

This peculiar landmark was reminiscent of the mandalas made by Stephen’s magic but different somehow.  She shook her head slowly.  Though she had been under Stephen’s tutelage for most of their friendship and could conjure some magic relatively well, the magic mandalas created by spells meant more to Stephen than she knew, than she understood.  The mandalas didn’t really mean anything to Rory other than just helping her identify specific spells.  These in the stone, however, felt familiar, intimate even.  She studied them in awe, wanting to sit down and trace her fingers over them as if that was the key to solving her own mysteries.  “Have I been here before?”

A rustling sound could be heard somewhere behind her as if someone was walking in the grass, and she turned towards the setting sun, only to see a dark silhouette against the orange beams.  She raised a hand to shield her eyes from the light, and the silhouette shifted into a man dressed in black with brown hair down to his shoulders and a large semi-automatic weapon in one human hand.  His other arm was completely metallic.  Rory was surprised to find she recognized him instantly and not just by his arm but by his face too.  The more she explored the universe where Avengers and aliens and magic actually existed, the more she was convinced the brains behind the cinematic universe in her world were getting phenomenal inside information and not just on what faces to hire either.  Maybe once all the madness had passed, she would look into how that was possible.  

But for now, Rory adopted the newcomer’s own confused gaze as she walked towards him.  “Hey,” she called out to him, but he seemed to pay her no attention.  “Uh,” she hesitated as she slowed her advance towards him, “Sergeant Barnes?  Bucky?  How’d you get here?  Do - do you know where we are?”

Bucky Barnes looked up at her.  No, she realized, he was looking at something beyond her.  His voice was small and confused.  “Steve?”

“Uh, no,” Rory said as she moved closer and slowly extended her arm to touch his, to get his attention.  “I’m no--”  Suddenly, Bucky collapsed forward, and before she could reach out to catch him, she stopped short, reared back in horror, and held a scream in place by covering her mouth with her hand as she watched the man before her literally crumble, leaving a pile of ashes behind.  He was gone.

The display before her was so shocking that when Rory reared back, she stumbled and fell into a sitting position, watching the ashes settle before her and wondering, hoping, her mind was just playing cruel tricks.  “Up, General,” Rory heard a man with an African dialect say, and her eyes darted around quickly trying to locate the source of the voice.  Not far from where Bucky fell, a man in a black, skin-tight suit Rory recognized as T’Challa, King of Wakanda, extended his hand to someone Rory couldn’t see.  “Up,” the Black Panther ordered.  “This is no place to die.”  Then he too disappeared into ashes.  

She couldn’t believe her eyes.  There was no way this was happening.  This couldn’t be real.  Out of horror and a morbid curiosity, Rory stood on shaky legs to inspect what was left behind, as if answers could be divined from ashes.  As she reached the spots of the fallen, suddenly more people appeared out of nowhere crowding around her.  They couldn’t see her, but she could see them, every single one of them.  

So many faces surrounded her.  

Some looked around in alarm before gazing down at themselves and watching, trembling, as they faded away.  Some screamed for help.  Some just screamed.  There were some too dumbstruck to cry or react in any way.  But most of them called out for people Rory couldn’t see, begging for reassurance or attempting to say sentiments for the last time.  Adults.  Children.  Babies.  “Oh God, please no,” she breathed as a revelation completely settled on her.  She was watching last moments.  All of them were last moments before they… 

I’m watching people die.  

Frantically, Rory started scanning the faces and maneuvering among them and the ash piles as best as she could, hoping beyond hope that none of these faces belonged to her friends.  She didn’t have very many in that universe, but it still didn’t stop her from running through the crowd to look.  It still didn’t stop the flow of tears as the scenes around her overwhelmed her.  Rory wanted to help them, all of them, but she didn’t know how.  She didn’t even know if she could.  

She prayed this wasn’t real, but with everything that had led to this monstrous moment, she was afraid this was all too real.  To her surprise, humans weren’t the only victims of this catastrophe.  Animals, plants, and alien species she had never seen before disappearing just like the humans Rory saw.  The nightmare was universal, and she felt like, despite everything, she still didn’t fully grasp how vast, how deep, how violent the damage was.

Much to her own heartbreak, there were faces Rory did recognize.  Because of her unique situation, living back and forth between two universes that were connected in such a strange way, the majority of the people Rory recognized were superheroes, and that was one of the things that frightened her most.  If the heroes disappeared, who was left to fix this?  

Her eyes spotted most of the Guardians of the Galaxy among the crowd.  Rory thought she saw the Scarlet Witch in her peripheral vision.  Rory accidentally tripped over the Falcon who was lying prostrate on the ground as he disappeared.  The more people who vanished, the more a great cloud grew around her, making breathing in this new wasteland more difficult, never mind navigating it.  Rory really didn’t want to think about the breathing part of the problem; the truth was making her sick.  

“Mr. Stark?”  

“Oh no,” Rory moaned quietly as she followed the sound of the young, frightened voice to find a boy in a crimson and blue suit hugging himself as if trying to prevent the pain spreading across his face from going any further.  She knew who this boy was.  Of course, she knew him; she had first seen pictures and, after sneaking into Stark Industries to meet Tony, heard the Iron Man talk almost non-stop about this sweet, kind, naive sixteen-year-old kid who was as smart as he was kind.  Then when Tony actually introduced her to Peter Parker and he asked if he could call her Aurora because it was too pretty a name to not call her by it, she loved him instantly.  

Now, Rory’s heart couldn’t take watching Peter tightly cling to Tony, even though Tony was invisible to her, listening to this young hero, this kid , cry and beg for his life.  “I don’t wanna go.  I don’t wanna go.  Please .”

“Rory.”  The sound of her own name among people who couldn’t see her was enough to force her gaze away from the boy and find, to her surprise and horror, Stephen Strange standing nearby with a torn Cloak of Levitation wrapped around him.  His head was down, but his tearful eyes were on her.

“Stephen?”  She ran over to her friend and wrapped her arms around him as if the force of her hug would keep him from meeting the same fate as the others around her.  “What’s going on,” she cried.  “Why is this happening?  Please, Stephen,” she demanded through sobs, “I don’t know what’s going on.  I’m so scared .”

“Rory, Rory, please listen to me,” Stephen said as soothingly as possible while trying to push her away so he could look at her.  He cupped her face in his trembling hands, forcing her attention on him.  “I wish I could tell you everything that’s going on, but I can’t.”

“Stephen!”  She huffed at him, but her sobs made it sound more like a hiccup.  She covered his wrists with her hands as she tried to catch her breath to speak through the tears.  “I need answers,” she begged, “ please !”

He looked so sad, war raging in his eyes as he fought the temptation to lay bare everything.  Instead, he replied, “Believe me, you’ll get answers in time.”  She growled in frustration at him.  “Remember you told me to tell you something about you that you don’t know?”  She nodded vigorously as a whimper escaped her lips.  “Well, I’ve discovered something, and I wish with everything I have that I could tell you.  But I can’t.”

“Why?” Rory whined as fresh tears fell down her face.

“For the sake of the universe, I can’t.  Even if I could tell you everything now,” he added, “you wouldn’t believe me.  You have to learn for yourself.”

“Then what can you tell me?  Please, tell me something ,” Rory demanded, her voice cracking.

Stephen tried to smile, but it came across as sad.  Heartbroken, actually.  “Whatever you encounter in the days ahead, you can handle it.  You can do what needs to be done.  You can do it,” he emphasized, “whatever it takes.”  He gently wiped her tears away with his thumbs as he continued, “You’re worth more than you think you are, my friend.  You always have been.”  

Before Rory could wrap her mind around his words, before she could say anything more, his hands dropped from her face, and his eyes focused on something to his right.  Whatever magic brought him to her in this place was gone, and once again she was invisible.  She knew what she was about to watch, and though she wanted to tear away, to close her eyes and wish to wake from this nightmare, she couldn’t.  She barely heard Stephen speak over her sobs.  “Tony,” he said softly, shaking his head as he did so, “there was no other way.”  Stephen’s eyes dropped, and he released a shudder as he faded into ashes.  

A tremor began in Rory’s hands and violently worked its way up her arms and through her body, a tremor born of grief.  Of fear.  Horror.  There was so much to take in and process, so much to question, so many to mourn.  Rory had never felt this lost and hurt before.  And there was something else.  Something deep in her soul and in the marrow of her bones.  She felt…abused.  Yes, somehow in some way she did not yet understand, she felt abused.  The voices she heard in her head from before must have shared some of the same sentiments for they had grown silent in their sorrow.  It was just too much.  

The sun finally set, and she turned her back to it, collapsing to the ground as she did so.  Holding her head in her hands, she tried to focus and process the events of the past few hours, hoping something, anything , made sense.  The world was quiet, the kind of quiet that comes after an explosion that goes off too close to a person, where all they can hear is the white noise of disaster and feel discombobulated.  

As the ashes finally settled, the quiet turned to an eerie silence, like where the shock wears off and one realizes just how much pain they feel.  Somewhere in the distance, Rory thought she could hear the wails of the left behind echoing off the sky.  The sorrow she heard in them, and the sorrow she felt, was too much to bear on top of all of this.  As darkness descended on the cliffside, Rory tucked her knees under her chin, crossed her arms over her face, heaved one heavy breath, then sobbed until she made herself sick.

Chapter Text

An exhausted Tony Stark moved through the thin crowd of aliens with some trouble, keeping his head down so as to not attract attention.  He grimaced as he thought, Well, I guess technically I’m the alien .  Nebula led the way to the outskirts of the town like a pissed-off assassin about to rain on somebody’s parade, and her silent but very obvious demeanor kept beings out of her way like prey instinctively avoiding an annoyed predator.  He and Nebula were able to fix the Benatar enough to leave Titan after the fight with Thanos, but, due to not having enough parts to fix the hyperdrive, it only flew for about fifteen days before starting to shut down.  Thankfully, a planet Nebula was somewhat familiar with was just within reach, and before the Benatar could fully kick the bucket, they crash-landed and left the ship in a worse state than it was when they left Titan.  That was almost two years ago.  

Tony was surprised, and more thankful than he had ever felt before, to realize the planet’s air was untoxic, and he could breathe.  But that didn’t curb his anxiety.  Tony had been insistent on fixing the ship again so they could head back to Earth, and though Nebula was a bit of demonic Debby-downer, she had been a really good assistant through the process.  It had taken some time to get the right parts and equipment, yet slowly but surely the Benatar started taking shape again and showing signs of life.  Hopeful signs.  Hopeful enough it helped keep Tony’s PTSD from letting him slip too far into the void.  

The work had been a good distraction.  Also trying to teach Nebula how to chill and have a little fun was a challenge, especially since he’d felt like gloom and depression were leeches on his temples and over his heart he couldn’t rip off, but it had been surprisingly entertaining.  Poor thing seemed to be physically unable to smile.  Nevertheless, he thought his persistence had done some good.  It certainly helped keep the leeches from sucking him dry.  Plus, Tony had seen shadows of real smiles in her eyes, and that was enough for him to keep trying to get his friend to smile.

They made their way through the alien town which was still teetering shakily from what Thanos did two years ago.  Nebula told Tony once the town used to be lively and vibrant, but as he observed the beings that seemed to be only shells of their former selves walking around and going through the motions of life and buildings that once must have looked impressive starting to crumble, he bitterly thought how Thanos turned the entire universe on a path similar to Titan.  It made his heart physically ache.

The Benatar sat on the edge of town, and Tony and Nebula, well mostly Nebula, had been successful in protecting the ship from scavengers and troublemakers.  Tony had done his part in protecting the ship as well when his wound wasn’t acting up and making him feel sick.  It never healed properly and continuously gave him issues.  

They were so close .  Tony could feel it.  The ship would soon be ready to leave this planet behind and head for Earth.  What was left of it anyway.  

There were so many questions he had, a thousand concerns he was too afraid to voice, and so much anger and grief he didn’t know how to release.  He wanted to be home again.  He wanted to wake up and realize he was just having a nightmare, and the scariest thing he had ever endured was a cave in the Middle East.  Man, that seemed like a thousand years ago.  

When they finally reached the ship, the unlikely pair silently climbed up the ramp.  That was another thing Tony noticed about himself.  He wasn’t a fan of the quiet, but he didn’t know what to say.  He didn’t really want to say anything lately.  Nebula handed him a strange looking fruit they had bought from the market in town, and he gingerly took it, looking it over and trying to decide if he was even hungry.  “You need to eat,” she stated quietly, matter-of-factly before taking a bite of her own fruit.  “Even if you don’t feel like it.”

He sighed.  “Yeah,” he said as he tried to reignite his trademark smirk, “but it would help though if it didn’t taste like spraying my fiance’s perfume in my mouth.”

Nebula gave him a deadpan glare.  “Why would you do that?”

The question was spoken so seriously but the scenario itself was so silly that Tony didn’t even know how to respond at first.  “I… I didn’t do that, but I--”

“Then how do you know that is what it tastes like?”

“Because sometimes when she sprays it, the stuff still lingers in the air, and when I walk by it gets in my mouth.”

“Why did you walk through it with your mouth open?”

How could she sound so deadpan and so condescending simultaneously?  “I didn’t realize it was there until I walked through it, and I guarantee I was talking at the time.  I mean, the perfume was just an invisible cloud of oils, flowers, and alcohol, and not the fun kind either.”  Nebula opened her mouth again, but before she could respond, Tony said quickly, “Nevermind,” and took a large bite of the disgusting fruit.  Thankfully, Nebula dropped the conversation as she took a bite of her own fruit and walked off to her favorite area of the ship to rest.  

Tony forced himself to chew and swallow the bite as he made his way to the cockpit of the ship and sank into one of the seats in front of the large cockpit window.  The planet’s sky was overcast, and the stars were hidden behind thin clouds.  Tony suspected what those clouds really were, and the thought made him shudder.  He wanted to cry, but he had cried a lot in the months after losing.  Survivor’s guilt, anger, and an overwhelming sadness made being inside his head unbearable.  He watched his worst nightmare come true.  

He told them, didn’t he?  He warned them, but of course they didn’t listen.  Did anybody actually listen to him?  The world needed a suit of armor to protect it from threats like Thanos, and when he tried to provide it, he was shamed for it.  Plus, it wasn’t his fault the Ultron project turned out to be an ultra mess.  Right?  At least he was trying to do something about the imminent threat.  And Cap - Tony growled at the thought of him - said if they lost then they would do it together.  He promised.  Liar .  The ever righteous Captain America was a big, fat liar full of really big, fat secrets.

Tony sighed, but it came out more like a sob.  He was so lonely.  He missed his friends.  He missed the family he had gained in the past few years.  He longed for Pepper.  He just wanted to go home and the nightmare to be over.  An idea crossed his mind then.  Not the first time it had, but this time, he was desperate enough to try it.  He’d try anything to get home again.

“Hey umm…Rory?” he suddenly whispered, “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I really need a friend right now, okay?  I really, really need help.”  Tony knew Rory worked to excel in whatever topics interested her including magic, thanks to Strange, and after seeing some of the crazy stuff both could do, he hoped that maybe, just maybe, she could somehow hear him.  “Don’t leave a guy hanging, or I’ll write you out of my will.”  He tried to chuckle, but it came out more like a hiccup.  “Come on, Roar.  Help me.  Please?”  Nothing happened except the tears he thought he couldn’t shed started to flow again, and they flowed until he fell asleep out of exhaustion in the chair.

“Tony?”  

Tony woke up and found himself curled up and lying on a patch of soft grass under a starry sky.  To his left, sitting in the center of a large stone circle, to his great relief and sudden confusion, was the person he begged to hear him.  He slowly sat up and looked around quickly.  Everything seemed fuzzy and disoriented, and it somehow occurred to him that this was just a dream.  His heart fell at that thought.

As if reading his thoughts, Rory commented as she gently rubbed her head, “Before you ask, it’s not a full blown dream.  It’s,” she verbally paused in thought before continuing, “well, I don’t know what this is.  I guess a half ‘n‘ half:  half dream, half not?  I’m not sure how or why, but I really did hear you, Tony.  And how you got here, well, this place is like thick with some kind of magic, so I’m guessing that’s how.”

Tony swallowed before asking, his voice cracking slightly, “Are you sure I’m not dreaming?  This is real?”

“In a way, yeah.  It’s real enough for us anyway,” she replied.  “I mean think about it, how often do you remember physically feeling things in dreams?”  It was true.  Tony suddenly noticed feeling the individual blades of grass against his skin, and as he slowly stood, he placed a hand on the edge of the carved circle and felt the smoothness of the stone and the indentations of the strange symbols.  Despite the friendly face, the sudden and very vast change of scenery sent his sensory system into an overload he wasn’t prepared for, and he started hyperventilating and half-sat half-collapsed on the ground.  

“Hey, hey, hey,” he heard Rory say soothingly as she struggled to stand and approach him.  “It’s okay.  It’s gonna be okay.  Oh man, I didn’t even think about how this could possibly mess with you.  It’s okay, Tony. It’s gonna be okay.  I’m sorry this freaked you out; I can’t blame you though.  Things have been really weird lately,” Rory said with a heaviness to which Tony could definitely relate.  “I’m sorry, Tony.  It’ll be okay.  Take deep, slow breaths for me, okay,” she instructed appeasingly as she sat beside him, gave him a side hug, and rubbed his back to help him calm down while he gripped his knees until his knuckles turned a ghostly white.  “In through your nose and out through your mouth.”  

Tony did as instructed, and he released his grip when his knees started to ache and rubbed his hands together multiple times.  He tried focusing to make his breath match the slow pace of her fingers going up and down his back like she was calming a nervous puppy.  When he felt steady enough, Tony stood, with Rory’s help, and gave her the biggest bear hug he could muster which she happily returned.  “I knew you could hear me,” Tony muttered against her shoulder, not ready to pull away just yet.  “I hoped anyway.”

Rory gave him a squeeze as she answered, “I heard you, Tones.  Like I said, I don’t know how or why or… anything really, but this is the best that can be done right now.”

When the embrace ended, Tony looked around again.  “Where are we?”  Then he turned his attention back to her and noticed for the first time a large gash on the left side of her head.  His voice betrayed his surprise and concern as he gestured to her head.  “What the hell happened to you?”  

“I should ask you the same thing,” she said as she gestured to his entire being before walking over towards the cliff’s edge to look out over the ocean, stiffly Tony couldn’t help but notice.  “No offense but you look terrible.  You’ve lost weight, and not in a good way it looks like.  I mean, come on, dude, you look like you need to be in a hospital.”

Tony sighed, followed her, then sat by her on the edge as he remarked gravely, “You have no idea.”  He was quiet for a moment, watching the gentle waves below, before he added quietly, “I need a vacation.  Like from this entire universe for a week.  Think I could hide away for a while in your universe?”

“You officially have a standing invitation to hide away in my universe whenever you need to, Tony. Mi universe su universe and mi casa su casa .”

Tony hummed softly.  “That sounds really nice actually.  A real vacation where I don’t have to be anybody important; I can just breathe.  Yeah,” he nodded slowly, liking the idea a lot, “that’s what the doctor ordered.”  

Without warning, Tony suddenly remembered Doctor Strange was Rory’s friend, and his heart sank again.  “Umm, by the way, Roar, the friend you’ve been staying with, why hadn’t I ever met him, huh?  You’ve met Pepper, right?  So why didn’t you ever introduce me to Strange?  That’s his name right?  I mean, for a guy who does magic tricks, the name seems very fitting.  Does he do birthday parties?”

“Stop it,” Rory insisted teasingly as she smacked his arm.  “First of all, you say that like I’ve been hiding a boyfriend or something, and that’s not the case at all.  I’m just friends with a man who’s just about as busy as you are half the time.  Secondly,” she said as she lowered her voice and rolled her eyes, “yes, believe it or not, sometimes he does do birthday parties.”  

At that, Tony turned a complete ninety degrees towards her and gaped in surprise.  Her face made him think she was being sarcastic, but her tone was sincere.  So were her eyes.  Tony snorted.  He was honestly joking about the birthday party thing, but to find out it was true… Tony suddenly roared in laughter, harder than he had in what felt like ages, and he fell backward, covering his face as he laughed with Rory smacking his shoulder and telling him to shut up.  “It is NOT funny!”

“That’s hilarious !”  The place where Thanos stabbed him hurt as he laughed, but it was worth it.  “You’re telling me,” he said as he shot back up, “the great and powerful Oz legitimately does birthday parties?!  What, does he make balloon animals too?!”

“For your information, smart ass, being a master of the mystic arts doesn’t really pay the bills!”

“Okay, yeah, but,” Tony said as he was catching his breath and wiping tears away, “you have a legitimate job.”

“So what?  I don’t live there anymore, and I was only a, well…I guess a long-term guest.  I had to fight him to pay for some stuff.  Besides, the key word is had, Tony,” Rory replied with a huff.  “I don’t know how long I’ve been stuck here, but I guarantee I don’t have a job any longer.”

“Don’t worry.  You’re pretty damn smart and capable.  You’re a what, again?  A forensic accountant?”  As she nodded, he continued, “That’s a really interesting career choice.”

“It’s cooler than it sounds.”

“All the same, you’ll find a job somewhere.”  He paused before muttering, “And maybe we all can have the slightest resemblance of a normal life after…”

When his voice trailed off, unable to finish his sentence, Rory gave him a soft, knowing look.  “After losing so badly.”

Tony’s eyes showed surprise, but his countenance remained sullen.  “You know?”

Rory hesitated.  “I know that something horrible beyond belief has occurred,” she answered quietly.  “I know people died, but I don’t know why.”

Tony was silent for a long moment.  When he finally spoke, his voice was barely a whisper, and it cracked, “I lost the kid.”

The reply was just as quiet.  “I know.”  Rory scooted closer to him, placed a comforting hand on his back, and sighed softly.  “I’m sorry, Tony.”

As if he hadn’t cried enough over the last two years, Tony felt a fresh wave of emotion overwhelm him, and he hid his face behind his hands and cried.  Rory turned towards him and wrapped both arms around him, holding him tightly and letting him get it out of his system before softly talking to him to help calm him down.  They eventually slipped into silence, and for a long time, neither person said anything.  When the silence became too much, Tony changed the subject and asked again, “Where are we?”
“I honestly don’t know.”  Tony stood and began to walk around the stone’s perimeter as Rory continued, “I feel like this place is familiar to me.”  She paused as she stood to follow Tony.  “Or at least it’s supposed to be familiar to me.”

Tony cocked an eyebrow and imitated her tone in his teasing.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, you know,” she answered with a frustrated growl as she shrugged.  “Ugh, okay.  You know how you meet someone, and they look kinda familiar to you.  And you feel like you should know them, but you’re not sure from where or why?  That’s what this feels like.”

“I hardly ever know what that feels like,” Tony replied almost matter-of-factly.  “I remember nine out of ten people I interact with.”

“Yeah,” Rory commented dryly, “you just pretend not to so you can mess with them.”  

“You know it’s hilarious.”

“Not when you do that to me!”

“That was one time,” Tony responded defensively as he pointed his index finger up, emphasizing his point, before smirking.  “Besides, the look on your face that one time was worth it.”

“Whatever,” Rory muttered with an accompanying eye-roll.  When all she got was a chuckle in response, she tried again.  “Okay, forget that analogy,” Rory said somewhat hubristically.  “How about when you wake up with a massive hangover, and you feel like you should remember what happened last night but you don’t.”

“Alright, smart ass,” Tony resigned exasperatedly as he playfully shoved her away from him.  “That one I get.  So, basically, I’m interrupting your hangover.”  He looked around once again then down at the markings in the rock.  “Some helluva hangover, Roar.”

“No kidding.”

Tony shot her a questioning glance.  “You said you’ve been stuck here?”  When all he got was a rapid-fire nod in response, he asked, “How long have you been here?”

“Heck if I know,” she answered with an exasperated shrug.  “An hour, a day, a month, a year?  I don’t know.  All I know is I can now relate to Phil Conners reliving the same day over and over again.  I think I’ll lose my marbles before I get out of here.”

“How do you even get out of here?  What’s over there?”  He pointed towards the furthest edge of the field where a darkness thicker than the night sky they stood under veiled everything beyond. 

“Nothing,” Rory answered too quickly.  When Tony gave her a questioning look, she sighed and offered, “I saw some - some bad stuff over there.  Stuff I - I think you’ve seen too.”

Tony was beginning to get an idea of what stuff she was talking about, but that really didn’t clear up any questions he had.  “You saw people...disappear?”  Her nod was heavy, like the sorrow she felt was too much.  “You’ve been here longer than you think you have.  Who did you see?”

Rory was quiet, and her countenance sank as she fiddled with her hands, her left thumb slowly and methodically massaging her right palm in an effort to remain calm.  “Uh, all - all of them.”

“All? What do you mean ‘all of them’?”

“Exactly what it sounds like, Tony.”  She relayed her story with as minimal detail as possible, speaking slowly to keep from going too fast and stuttering her words and to read Tony’s nonverbal cues as she spoke.  “I - I watched them all disappear.”

He bowed his head and massaged his closed eyes, as if doing that would stop painful memories from surfacing.  He sucked in a deep breath as he dropped his hands and asked, “Why?”

She shrugged.  “I wish I knew.”  She scoffed and added, “Heck, I wish I knew anything at this point.  But I’ve got as many questions as you do.”

“And I doubt we’re gonna get any answers here and now.  We gotta get out of here.”

“ You’re not the one stuck here, Tony,” Rory answered begrudgingly as she crossed her arms.  “ You will be able to go back to wherever you are when you wake up.”

“And you?”  All he got was a shrug as a reply.  “What if the way out’s that way?”  He pointed towards the darkness in the field where ashes still remained. 

Rory looked in the direction of his gesture and shook her head slowly, face turning pale as if she saw ghosts blocking her path.  Instead she questioned defiantly, “What if it’s not?”

“Alright, listen to me,” Tony said seriously as he turned to Rory and grabbed her upper arms like they were a lifeline.  “You think you’re stuck?  You said you heard me, right?  You heard me call out for you for help, and the mumbo jumbo magic of this place somehow brought me here to you for you to help me, right?”

“Yeah,” she answered slowly.  

“You know why I need your help right now?  I’m lost in space.  Literally.  Space , Rory.”

The look of disbelief on her face would have been comical under different circumstances, Tony thought.  She managed to stutter, “You - you’re what?”

“Stuck.  In.  Space.”

“As in outer space ?”

“Yes, outer space!  As in Star Wars outer space or Battlestar Galactica outer space or Muppets in Space outer space, whatever the hell you wanna call it.  I’ve been stuck there for a very long time, almost as long as you’ve been stuck here, on a planet that’s definitely not Earth in a piece-of-garbage spaceship that got damaged in the biggest battle of my life, and I think it can be fixed but maybe not enough to get me and my blue meanie friend back to Earth which feels like lightyears away by the way.  But I’m sure as hell gonna try or die trying.  But I gotta say, Rory, my odds are not looking good, and to say I’m scared out of my mind is a gross understatement.  You thought I was having panic attacks before?  You thought PTSD was an issue before?”  He scoffed and sneered, “You have no idea.”  Then his voice and features grew soft and pleading as he finished, “And honestly, I think my best bet of getting home is you.”

“Me?”

“You and your magic whatnot, yeah,” Tony said as he let go of her.  “I’ve seen what you can do.  I’ve seen what Strange can do too, but Strange is…”  Tony’s voice trailed off, unwilling to actually finish the thought. 

Rory closed her eyes and slightly bowed her head, breathing slowly and deeply before stating quietly but stoically, “I know.  He’s gone.”

“Why do I feel funny?”  The outburst was sudden and totally ruined the mood, but it was valid.  Tony suddenly felt like his entire body was being poked in a million different places.  No, he realized, it was more like… “Why does it feel like my entire body fell asleep and is waking up?”

Rory’s head jerked, and she stared at him in surprise.  “Because wherever you are, you’re literally waking up.  You’re about to leave.”  Oddly enough, he knew it was true.  He could feel himself slipping into the phenomenal state of awake and dreamy slumber.  “You didn’t sleep for very long,” she commented, “or at least as far as my distorted sense of time can tell anyway.”

“Yeah, well,” Tony muttered, “let’s just say this has been one of the better dreams I’ve had in a long time.”  He grabbed his friend by the sleeve of her shirt and pulled her into a tight hug, and when he spoke, his voice shook like he was a scared little boy.  All things considered, that’s how he really felt.  “I wanna go home, Rory.”  Somewhere in the back of his mind, it dawned on him that he sounded like Peter in his last moments, and that was enough to break his heart all over again.  How much heartbreak can one person take?  “I wanna go home.  Please get me home.”

She returned the hug as tightly as she could.  “I - I - I’ll try.”

“ Please .”

“I will, Tony!  I’ll - I’ll get you home.”

“Promise me.”  There was a silent pause, and Tony could feel himself waking up.  He didn’t have much time left.  He knew if she promised, she would do everything in her power to keep it.  Rory did not make promises lightly.  “Do you promise?”

Rory pulled away gently just enough that she could hold his hands in comfort and look into his big, honey-golden eyes, darkened by fear.  Her voice was calm yet strong, and her eyes shone with sincerity and determination.  “I will bring you home, Tony.  I promise.”

Tony nodded slowly.  “I believe you.”

“And while you’re waiting for me, I can at least give you some good news.”  Tony waited expectantly, and he yawned, seconds away from leaving Rory and waking up back in the ship.  “I never saw Pepper disappear.”  

Tony woke up for the first time in a long time with a genuine smile on his face.

Chapter Text

For as long as Rory had been stuck, time had essentially stopped as far as she could tell.  Or maybe it had continued like normal, and it’s the world that had stopped.  Either way, she had no idea how long she had been in this strange place or why she was there.  Still.  Since the sun had set on the cliffside after the Decimation, Rory’s memory felt warped, but when there was nothing to be done, nothing to mark the passing of time for the sun had not risen again since she got there, it was easy for memories and moments to morph into one eternal strand.  She couldn’t tell how long she’d been there in the dark.  An hour, five days, fifteen minutes, or thirty years, time was obsolete at this point. 

And Rory had felt so numb and defeated since watching all those people die, she was hardly aware of anything else.  It felt like ages, or mere minutes, since Rory had seen Tony, but she sort of remembered him being there with her.  

That wasn’t a dream, right?  She could remember he wasn’t home, and he was in trouble.  That felt real; the urgency at the thought of him being in trouble felt real.  He’s lost.  Just like her.  If she could only escape this place, then she could find him and bring him home.  The question was how. 

“Maybe Tony’s right,” Rory muttered hesitantly as she traced the magical patterns in the stone for what felt like the thousandth time.  She delicately traced them so frequently, she knew the patterns by heart now.  “Maybe I gotta get passed over there,” she continued with dread as she tilted her head towards the ashen area, “if I want to make any headway.”  Though she said the words, she wasn’t too keen on moving.  “This is stupid!”  She slammed her palm on the ground before standing up.  “I’m not getting out of here that way.”  She gestured wildly towards the field covered in ashes before crossing her arms defiantly, but then her face fell and her shoulders slumped as she thought about Tony’s plea.  “I can’t, right?”

You promised him.  You should at least try.

“Ohhhhhhh,” Rory growled as she rubbed her face with her hands in frustration.  “Fine.  I’ll try.  For,” she paused and swallowed, “for Tony.”  And maybe a little bit for me and my sanity. 

It took a very long minute to pump herself up enough to push past her fear and walk forward, but eventually she finally walked beyond the stone circle and tiptoed as quickly as she could through the ashes, muttering to herself as she did so.  “It’s alright, Callahan.  Nothing to worry about.  Nothing to fear,” Rory told herself as soothingly as possible.  “This is no big deal.  Don’t think too much about what you’re actually doing.”  Because heaven knew the back of her brain knew, and it threatened to make her sick.  

When Rory reached the border where the field ended and the dark veil began, she stopped.  The air turned cold around her, and the darkness seemed to move, wisping around like smoke.  Curiosity overruled everything else, and she slowly extended a hand out to touch the darkness.  

Find yourself.   

The voiceless whisper echoed all around her, and she drew her hand back quickly in surprise and fear.  Looking around rapidly, she searched for the source but found nothing.  Find yourself, the command echoed, this time centering from the darkness in front of her.  Hoping this was a hint to try this path, Rory sucked in a hard breath and huffed it back out as if bracing herself for the unknown before cautiously stepping inside the deep, dense darkness.

Find yourself.

Rory wandered in the thick darkness, shivering in the cold air it provided.  Her arms were crossed in front of her, and she rubbed her upper arms with her palms in attempts to generate warmth.  She wasn’t entirely sure how long she had been traveling, though she suspected a couple hours had passed by, and she did her best to move only forward, fearing to veer off the imaginary line she walked.  “This is nuts,” she muttered under her breath.  “I’m not getting anywhere.”  She glanced around at the darkness surrounding her and tried to address whatever told her to find herself.  “How is this helpful?  How am I supposed to find myself if I can’t even see where I’m going?  Never mind anything else.”

Without warning, the darkness pulled away from her and gathered until it formed a massive twister.  Sinister eyes peered at her from it, their gazes boring into her like bullets, and the winds it created shrieked with terrible might.  The darkness broke formation and quickly charged at her like a fog clawing its way toward her, screeching and seething and desperate for some kind of reprieve.  Fear shot up Rory’s spine and froze her until the darkness began to chase her, and when she saw it took pursuit, she turned and bolted from it as fast as she possibly could. 

But she wasn’t fast enough, and it overtook her within minutes, shrieking and tugging at her clothes and hair.  But she kept running, flinging her arms around her as she did so and trying to rid herself of its hold.  Suddenly, she tripped while trying to break away from the dark pursuer and fell. 

And fell.  

And fell.  

And fell.  

Finally, she smacked the ground so hard, the breath was knocked out of her.  Coughing and sputtering, trying to recapture her breath, she slowly stood.  Wherever she was, the strange twister that chased her did not follow, and she was thankful for the break.  She had no idea where she was, but the only thing she could see was a bright white light in the form of a candle’s flame.  She felt no heat in its presence, and she did not approach it.  Approaching the darkness did nothing for her, and she was weary of this new development now. 

It didn’t matter because the light source approached her instead.  She wanted to back away from it, but she found herself immobilized, causing a tremor to work its way through her body.  The light stopped a foot away from her, and as she looked at it, she could see her own eyes in it staring back at her.  “What are you?” she asked in a whisper. 

Instead of giving any response, the light twirled and danced around her, encircling her and rapidly closing in until it seeped into her skin and clouded her vision with its light.  Suddenly to her right, thousands of silhouettes sprouted from the ground, some recognizable to her and many were not.  Then a cold air sent shivers down her spine, and she looked to her left to find a towering, bulky silhouette standing over her, wearing a wicked smile.  It looked down at her with an air of prideful entitlement, like how an arrogant king would look down on a peasant, before looking beyond her at those behind her, and its expression twisted into that of domination and destruction.  It occurred to Rory then that she stood in the way between it and the rest. 

And she could not let it get to any of them. 

The monstrous silhouette advanced, and as if on instinct, she held up her arms against it, the white light creating a barrier and holding it at bay.  But it put up a fight and relentlessly pushed against her barrier.  When she thought she couldn’t hold it any longer, she slammed her fists together, the force of the action flinging the silhouette back, and she held out her right arm as the silhouette charged again.  When it met her palm, a blazing pain roared through her causing a shout to erupt from her lungs.  The great silhouette dissolved and faded away as she collapsed to the ground.  The silhouettes she protected circled around her as she rolled onto her back and looked up at them.  Somewhere above them six different colored dots floated in a circle as if looking down at her too.  Her eyelids felt so heavy, and she was having a difficult time focusing.  Maybe if she closed them for just a moment…

“Aurora,” someone called out to her.

Her eyes fluttered at her name.  Despite suddenly feeling so tired and so drained, she tried to keep her eyes open.  It’s time to wake up now, she thought in the back of her mind.  She couldn’t help but suspect she’d been gone too long.  Whatever that meant, she couldn’t really remember.  She closed her eyes and felt them burn. 

“Aurora.  Rise.”

Chapter Text

Rory’s eyes slowly, painfully opened.  It took a lot of effort to open them, but at least she could.  Her vision was blurry, but it was a familiar blur she had endured most of her life.  After blinking multiple times, she decided somehow her contacts were missing, and who knew where her glasses were.  Weird.  Her whole body ached, so stiff and sore.  At least what she was lying on was comfortable.  What happened?  She couldn’t really remember much.  She was on vacation with her family, right?  That sounded correct, but something in her brain nagged at her to remember more.  She was missing something.  What the heck happened?  

Rory heard quiet voices nearby, and that made her think.  Didn’t she hear voices before she passed out?  Why did she pass out?  Whose voices were they, and what did they say?  They were urgent, weren’t they?  Frightened even, if she remembered right.  Am I just losing my mind?  She felt sick yet stomach-growling hungry.  And parched.  Incredibly parched.  Rory’s brain was running rampant with too many questions, questions she hadn’t even thought to ask yet, but they were drowned out by the mental whitewash disorientation and confusion brought.

One of the voices questioned, “So what do we do in the meantime while we wait for her?”  Rory tried to shift her facial muscles to express her confusion, but it didn’t work out very well.  Wonder who they’re talking about...

“I don’t know,” answered another voice, a female voice, “but if we’re supposed to take a stand, we gotta figure out something soon.  Too much time has passed as it is.”

“And like you said,” the first voice added, “an unconscious woman doesn’t help us now.”

“Maybe not, but, guys,” interjected a third voice, “I’m telling you, we may have been given a chance here.”

“I’m with him,” a fourth voice stated.  “I mean, why would the ninja doc make me go through all the trouble to get her if we didn’t need her?”

Ninja doc?  Wait………Stephen?  What the--  Her head throbbed, and she couldn’t shake the feeling she’d heard these voices before.  They sounded so familiar, like people she knew and hadn’t seen in ages or something.  One thing Rory knew though, she needed to get up and get out of there.  She had too many questions, and none of them would be answered lying wherever the heck she was.  

Nevertheless, the idea of moving her body made her want to growl and groan in frustration.  Not to mention her nearsightedness would make escaping difficult as well.  Every muscle in her body felt so stiff, and she had to resort to making very small, subtle movements to remind her body how to move.  Even flexing her fingers made her ache.  But they flexed, and Rory was thankful for that.  Once she realized she could move, she methodologically made her way down her body, checking things off a mental list, from her head to her toes.  Movement, though painful and very stiff, was still doable.  Thank God for that.

Now came the part she dreaded:  getting up.  Rory glanced around as slowly as she could manage while she worked up the stamina to sit up, and the idea that she had no idea where she was at the moment was enough to jolt her instincts into action, demanding her to get out of there and get to some kind of safety.  It was enough to build up stamina too, and she managed to sit up, though the action sent a loud, painful groan up her throat.  Slamming a hand over her mouth to contain it caused another groan to follow, but she managed to swallow them both without making a noise.  She sighed through her nose.  It was going to be a long day.  And she still wasn’t sure about the voices she heard nearby, no matter how familiar they sounded.  After all, sometimes the voices of enemies can be just as familiar as those of allies.  If only she could remember everything.

From the conversation those voices were carrying, Rory now gathered that when they spoke of the unconscious woman, they must have been referring to her, and they had not yet realized she was awake and trying to function.  She also knew she wasn’t ready to reveal her new prognosis to the unknown persons just yet.  She looked down at herself, as if to assure herself she wasn’t broken but actually still alive, and tilted her head in confusion.  Though the flannel button-up shirt was warm and comfy, she knew it wasn’t hers, but she couldn’t help but acknowledge the green and navy color scheme and decide she liked it.  She’d probably keep this shirt no matter to whom it belonged.  The navy sweatpants actually matched rather well in her opinion and were very comfortable, but she sighed again as she removed her hand from covering her mouth and rubbed her eyes.  As if that really matters right now.   She peeked down at her clothes through her fingers.  Not my clothes and no shoes.  Man, something weird’s going on.

Sling ring.  An image of the object popped into her mind along with urgency, the desperate need to have it, making her all the more befuddled.  If only she could remember what happened.  Rory didn’t understand why, but she ached for her sling ring.  In fact, nothing made sense.  Feeling tired, frustrated, and absolutely confused, Rory decided to at least try to stand; maybe she’d have some luck there, however small.  She ever so slowly shifted her legs over the side of the couch and gingerly tested her footing.  So far so good.  Feeling confident and anxious to get moving, she shakily stood then promptly collapsed forward.  “Ack!”  Kerplunk!   “...Oww...”  

The fourth voice from earlier asked with surprise in his tone, “What was that?”

Rory groaned and muttered in answer to the question, “Stupid.  That’s what that was.  Stupid.”  

“Sounds like our guest is awake,” stated the first voice.  

“Don't mind me.”  Rory winced as she slowly adjusted her position, irritated at how her muscles ached, so she could lean against the base of the couch and put her head in her hands.  “I’m just wondering what the hell is going on.”  Her throat was sore from being out of use and so dry, making her voice very hoarse, and Rory couldn’t help but wonder how long she had to be out of it to make her voice hoarse like that.

Rory didn’t lift her head at the approaching footsteps; she wouldn’t be able to properly make out the faces to whom the footsteps belonged anyway.  Instead she slowly rubbed her eyes then moved to massage her temples.  The fourth voice asked with concern, “Are you okay?”

It irked her to be unable to place the voices; she knew she had heard them before.  If only the fog in her mind would clear.  “Uh.”  She coughed, cleared her throat, and tried to swallow.  “Define okay,” she suggested with a cough.  Now that sounded a little more like her normal voice.  Not great but better.

The fourth voice asked, “Do you need some water?”

“Yes!  Please,” Rory insisted, nodding adamantly.  “Really badly.”

As footsteps could be heard walking away quickly, the third voice offered kindly, “Let’s start with some basics.  Do you know who you are?”

Find yourself.  The memory floated in and out of Rory’s mental fog, haunting her with its urgency, teasing her to remember everything she couldn’t yet place.  It was maddening.  “Uh,” Rory mentally paused as she shook the thoughts away.  “Thankfully, yeah, I do,” she answered with a sigh as she lifted her head to find three blurry silhouettes standing before her, near enough to be noticed but far away enough to irritate her nearsightedness.  Squinting sometimes provided more definition to objects further from her, but not this time.  “Sorry I’m squinting,” she muttered.  “I’m nearsighted, and I’m not wearing my contacts.  And I have literally no idea where my glasses are.  Oh yeah,” she added as if just remembering what she was supposed to answer and she offered a wave of greeting, “name’s Rory by the way.  Rory Callahan.”

Footsteps were approaching her, and a fourth silhouette joined them, extending a glass to her.  “Here you go.”

Rory coughed her eager thanks before greedily drinking the precious water, moaning over the relief it brought.  “Do you remember what happened to you?” the first voice asked in an all-work-no-play manner as she finished drinking.

“Nice to meet you too,” Rory said drily before closing her eyes and resting the glass against her temple as she thought.  She hummed a short note before answering, “I remember being at home.  Then...I was on a cliffside?  I think.”  She opened her eyes and looked at the blurs, shaking her left index finger as she spoke, “I know for sure home was one of the last places I remember.  I know I’m not there now, and I know that, even though I can’t make out your faces, I know your voices.  It may take me a second, but I’ll figure out who you guys are.  I’ll figure all of this mess out eventually.”

“No offense, but we don’t know you,” the second voice commented, unemotional yet wary.  “So how do you know us?  Are you sure you know us?”

Suddenly a portion of the mental fog dissipated, and she smiled.  Of course she knew those voices, though she had never met their owners before.  Thanks to the cinematic universe back where she came from, she knew exactly who stood before her, and, despite the situation, she had to focus on not fangirling.  Rory sat the glass down beside her and grinned slyly.  “Well, I think I do.  I certainly know of you, that is, Natasha.”  Rory didn’t need her glasses to know there were a couple of surprised looks at her remark; she suspected at least Natasha’s complexion remained stoic.  “In fact,” she continued, “I guarantee I know all of you.”

“Oh,” said the fourth voice with a slightly disappointed, self-abasing air, “I bet you don’t know me.”

Rory’s smile shifted from sly to excited, and a bit self-conscious, at the idea of being in the same room as one of her favorite, though often overlooked, heroes.  It was the same way she felt upon first meeting Tony and Stephen.  Oh, she was going to kick that abasement attitude out to the curb if she could help it.  “Well, then I’m happy to report you’d lose that bet, Scott Lang.  I actually do know who you are.”

“What?”

The sincere surprise and pleasure in his tone was the tonic to make Rory’s grin completely cover her face.  “The astonishing Ant-Man?  Heck yeah, I know you!”  She offered a sheepish wave and a matching facial expression.  “I’m a - I’m a big fan.”

Though she really couldn’t see him do it, Scott turned to the others and whispered excitedly, “Guys, I got a fan!”

The third voice curiously asked, “Do you know me?”

“Oh absolutely, Dr. Banner.  May I call you Bruce?  Sure I know you; you’re one of the greatest minds of a generation!  Not to mention, I also know about your tendency to go green and smash every once in a while, but, ya know,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, “the whole package is pretty great.”

Bruce chuckled.  “Uh, thanks,” he said, his voice betraying his embarrassment at the flattery.  “And, yes, you may call me Bruce.”

“What else do you remember?”  

“Ah,” Rory said at the first voice’s question.  “Getting straight to the point, huh, Cap?  I definitely know who you are too, Steve Rogers, in case you were curious, and in response to your question, you’re gonna have to give me a minute.  I mean, I just woke up, and I feel like my whole body got hit by a fricking semi.  Plus, I’ve got questions of my own too.”  She extended her left arm out to them.  “Somebody, help me up please?”

No sooner did she get out the word ‘up’ did she feel a strong hand take hers and pull her up.  Unfortunately, she couldn’t get her bearings fast enough since she was still as wobbly as a newborn deer, and she ended up partially collapsing forward against her helper.  “Easy,” Scott said as he stood as a support so Rory could adjust and gain her footing.  “You sure you’re okay?”

Rory couldn’t help but be a bit star-struck now that he was close enough for her to see him clearly.  Green eyes studied her features, concern clouding the smile in them as if he tried to gauge how well she really was.  Dark brown hair, rich and thick, looked a little more disheveled than normal thanks to his natural curls; he must comb his hand through his hair a lot.  A five o’clock shadow framed a smile that made Rory’s heart do a backflip.  Gosh, he’s really handsome in person .  Her cynical brain told her starry-eyed heart to shut up and focus, reminding her he was taken.  “Well,” she chuckled, trying to swallow her awkward feelings away, “as okay as anybody can be in this case, I guess.  Thanks.”

“Hey, no problem.  Anything for a fan of mine; I didn’t know I had any of those.  You just made my day.”  Her heart did another happy backflip.  Her brain thought there was enough trouble already and didn’t need any of that mess right now.  

Hearing Steve, Natasha, and Bruce explain the Decimation to Rory left her dumbstruck.  The five of them were sitting around the compound’s dining room table with the original Avengers opposite Rory with Scott sitting at her left.  Though Rory’s stomach growled, she was in no mood to eat just yet.  The three original Avengers were ready to ask her more questions, and Rory was ready to ask some of her own.  Scott was content with listening to everyone’s accounts, answering questions when he could, and just trying to process everything much like Rory seemed to be trying to do.  

Rory got to ask first, but she didn’t know where to even start, and she admitted as much.  “I know where,” Scott asked before he looked at the others and asked the magic question that opened the floodgates for every detail.  “What the hell happened here?”  

The events of the Decimation were far more extensive than Rory originally thought.  As she sat there and listened to the Avengers’ accounts, every emotion she felt during her own experience at the time resurfaced, but this time, two new emotions - strong emotions - were added to the mix:  disgust and rage.  She noticed Scott listened just as intently to the retelling as she did.  He apparently knew something about what had happened already, but listening to the other three tell what they knew seemed to shake him as much as it did her.

But what it also did for her was help her remember .  When she woke up on the Avengers’ couch, she barely remembered being home, never mind the cliffside, but hearing the Decimation and its horrors finally be explained made her remember everything:  the strange pains, the voices in her head, the panic and abuse and loneliness she felt, collapsing at the top of the flight of stairs, watching all those people die, and the vision she had just before waking up.  She remembered it all, and it made her soul feel heavy.

It also helped Rory connect some very important dots.  For one thing, the looming threat in her vision was indeed the same looming threat in the stories from her universe:  Thanos.  For another thing, she now realized somehow her six strange pains all coincided with every time one of the six Infinity Stones was stolen by Thanos.  When the Mind Stone was being destroyed, that was what caused her head to feel like it was shattering when she wrecked the rental car.  Then when Thanos snapped his fingers, the impact of using all six Stones at once reached her all the way in another universe and caused her to pass out.  For another thing, the voices in her head must have been the Infinity Stones, which was a wild thought on its own.  Each time a Stone was taken by Thanos, it cried out to her, begging and pleading for rescue.  

Why her?  Why this strange connection with these Infinity Stones?  The only Stone she had ever interacted with was Time, thanks to being friends with Stephen Strange.  The rest of the Stones, she only knew by name.   And what did her vision mean?  Some dots may have been connected, but there were still a lot of gaps in her understanding.  One question was answered, and a bunch more questions were revealed as a result.

The final epiphany from this interaction Rory had was everything she witnessed on the cliffside was real .  It actually happened, and it was just as hard to process as it was to watch.  “I can’t believe it,” she whispered as the Avengers finished their tale.  She sat there completely dumbfounded, and she shook her head slowly in disbelief.  “This is so messed up.”

“No kidding,” Scott uttered in agreement beside her.  

“After that, we’ve been trying to do something about it,” Natasha said quietly, the heartbreak seeping into her voice, “to try to fix or make up for what had happened, but two years later, we’ve still had no such luck.”

That caught Rory’s attention, and it briefly hid her sorrow in confusion’s shadow.  She jerked her head forward and glared with panicked, wide eyes.  “Wait, what?  What did you say?”

“‘After that, we’ve been trying-’’’

“For how long?”

The way Rory asked the question was enough to give Natasha pause before she finally answered slowly.  “Two years.”

Rory’s jaw dropped, and she held her breath as this bizarre revelation settled on her.  Two years had passed since those people disappeared.  That meant… 

Scott’s voice broke through her thoughts.  “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Two - two years?”  Rory’s voice sounded small to her own ears as she managed to squeak out the words.  This was way too much to take in.  Not only had she woken up to find the nightmare on the cliffside was real, her pains were somehow connected to this tragedy, and she had lost loved ones just like those sitting at the table did, like everyone in this universe did, but she had also lost two years of her life.  “ Two years !  But - but - but I - that - that’s impossible - I -”  

Rory looked up at the others, frantic, and managed to ask, “When - when did the Decimation happen?”  She raised her hand parallel to the table and tilted it sideways more than once as she added, “Give or take a month.”  Steve answered her - April 2018 - and she felt sick.  “And,” she asked slowly after swallowing hard, “just so - so we’re all on the same page, today is…?”

The answer Bruce gave her made her head spin.  Rory decided this was what mental whiplash felt like, and she felt really dizzy and flabbergasted.  “Twe - twe - twenty - uh - uuhhh...”

“What is it?”  Natasha leaned forward and softened her voice as she spoke.  “Come on, Rory.  It’s okay; use your words.”

“The - the last.”  Rory swallowed, held the sides of her head in her hands with her elbows on the table, took as calming a breath as she could manage, and tried again, “The last thing I - I remember took place in April 2018.  Next thing I know,” she said, her voice trailing off as she looked around and gestured to her surroundings.

Bruce’s surprise summed up the consensus of the group.  “Wait.  You’ve been in a coma for two years?”

“Apparently,” Rory muttered as she rubbed her eyes.

“But how?”

“I have no idea.”  She moaned, “I didn’t even think that was possible, just something you’d see in a movie or something.”

“Like a soap opera,” Scott offered curiously.

“Exactly!  But I’m telling you,” she insisted.  “One minute I’m at home in a lot of pain, and I feel this monumental rush of energy, like, explode in my body.  Then it disappears, and I remember losing consciousness.”  She added darkly, “I think I was standing at the top of a flight of stairs at the time too.”

As Steve, Natasha, and Bruce nodded and muttered their understanding, Scott released an elongated “Ohhhhh,” before wincing at the thought.  “Oh gosh, that hurts me just thinking about that.  I’m sorry.  At least that explains the scar above your ear,” Scott said as he pointed at the mark in question.

“What?”  Rory’s hand shot up to the area in which he indicated partially to hide the scar, suddenly embarrassed she didn’t know it was there, and partially to feel what was there for herself.  Sure enough, the tell-tale texture of wounded skin that needed outside medical help to heal could be found in that spot, and as she gently traced over the scar’s length, she guessed it to be about two inches long.  After releasing a soft, low whistle, she commented quietly, “Well, I’ll be darned.  You’re right.”  She shrugged and dropped her hand.  “I shouldn’t be surprised I’ve got at least one scar.  I’m actually more surprised that’s all I got from such a tumble.  At least, that’s all I know about.  All I can say is I guess it wasn’t time for me to go yet.  Which reminds me,” she continued as she glanced around at the other faces at the table, “I was not in this universe when I slipped into said coma.  How did I get here?”

Steve and Scott spoke simultaneously at that point.  Steve asked incredulously, “What do you mean ‘not in this universe’?”

Scott, to her surprise, answered her question.  “That’s on me.  That Doctor Strange guy got me out of the Quantum Realm and showed me how to get to your universe so I could get you and bring you back here through the Quantum Realm.”  He then turned to Steve and said, “I told you guys I had to go to a different universe to get her.”

Rory shook her head quickly and interrupted, “Hold up, Scott.  Got you out?  What does that mean?  Like, you were stuck?”

“Yup, in the Quantum Realm for two years,” Scott replied as he nodded his head.

Her jaw dropped in horrified surprise.  “Oh my gosh, what?!  You’re kidding!  And I thought a coma was bad.  Ohhhhh man.”  She placed a comforting hand on the back of his shoulder.  “I’m sorry,” she said sincerely, now that she understood what it was like to realize life had gone by for two years without her too.  “That must have been a really long two years.”

“But that’s the thing,” he said as he shook his head adamantly, “for me it was just over two hours long.  See, time and space play by their own rules in the Quantum Realm, so even though two years passed in the real world, it was nothing for me.”

Despite the situation, Rory’s curiosity couldn’t help but be piqued.  Even though the situation was depressing, it turned out to be pretty easy for her brain to switch gears.  Apparently, it wanted to avoid the issue at hand as much as she did.  “Really?”

“Not to interrupt,” Bruce said hesitantly, “but I’m kind of with Steve right now.  As fascinating as the Quantum Realm sounds, and I would definitely like to hear more about that, I also want to hear about this...other universe.”

“So would I,” Natasha concurred while Steve merely nodded his agreement.

Rory looked to Scott as if to ask if it was okay to talk about this instead, and he shrugged.  “I’m kinda curious too,” he admitted quietly.

Rory leaned back in her chair and gently massaged her temples, contemplating how much to tell them.  She was suddenly so curious, so eager to watch their reactions to what she knew and who they were to the universe she left behind.  She exhaled slowly through her nose before crossing one leg over the other.  “Well,” she began, unable to fight the smirk twitching the corner of her mouth.  “I mean there’s not that much to tell, honestly.  The universe I come from is very similar to yours.  A lot of the same faces, same places, same day to day struggles, you know,” Rory answered with a shrug.  “We’ve got our own drama too, just certainly not to the same scale as yours.  No alien invasions or anything except in our entertainment and media.  Very similar universe with differences that seem really big but are actually small in the grand scheme of things.”

“What kind of differences,” Bruce asked rather eagerly, enjoying learning something new and exciting. 

“Same faces,” Natasha echoed quietly.  “So,” she ventured slowly, “we exist there?”

Rory glanced from Bruce to Natasha then back to back before uncrossing her legs, leaning forward, and resting her forearms on the table.  “I’ll tackle Bruce’s question first then yours, Nat, I mean, Natasha.”

Natasha shrugged.  “Nat’s fine.”

“Oh,” Rory said, slightly taken off guard but pleased all the same at the allowance of the nickname’s use.  “Okay.  Umm, so guys, your universe is not the only one in existence, obviously.  The multiverse is vast , and all the possibilities out there are too great to fathom.  Attempting to discuss how they could vary from one to the next would be obsolete because there are literally infinite possibilities.  Numerous large differences or one single difference, it doesn’t matter.  One way or another, discussing the differentiations would take a thousand lifetimes and then some.  Some universes are so different from yours they’re unrecognizable.  Some universes have the same people in the same roles but with slight differences in events in their lives, but ultimately they are the same person.  For example,” Rory said as she gestured to Scott, “in this universe, the one and only Scott Edward Harris Lang was born and bred in Florida and moved around as a kid before finally settling in San Francisco, correct?”

“Yeah,” Scott answered slowly, completely fascinated and surprised by the conversation.  “How do you know my full name?”

“I’ll get to that; I promise.  It’s kinda weird; I know.  I also know you carried out the VistaCorp job because the company was cheating its customers, and you knew that wasn’t right.  Yet I know in another universe, Scott Lang was born and bred somewhere in Connecticut and in yet another universe, that Scott Lang did the VistaCorp job to try to support his family because his daughter was very ill.  Three different Scott Langs end up being electrical engineers, thieves - excuse me, burglars,” she said as she gave him a smile, “and become Ant-Man and led somewhat similar lives but still had a lot of obvious differences from one life to another.  I could go on with different examples of how the multiverse has the same people but with slightly different lives, but like I said, there’s not enough time and it’s essentially obsolete.”

“But for your universe you said ‘same faces’,” Steve pointed out, “not same people.”

“You’re right.  I did because this is where one big difference between this universe and the other universe comes into play,” Rory said as she leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs again.  “In answer to your question, Nat, you do exist, and you don’t.  I could go home, and I could find each and every one of your faces, but,” Rory said with some emphasis, “your faces share only a small fraction of your lives.”

Scott asked, “What does that mean?”  

“To put it bluntly, guys,” Rory answered with a serious, almost apologetic look on her face, “the people back home who share your faces are actors.  But I know exactly who you guys are here because the actors back home play you there.”  She paused for a moment to let them think about that before stating, “Back home you guys are fictional, and there are actors back home who look just like you and even play you in the movies.  But that’s really it.  Back home, you’re comic book and movie characters.”  

She turned to Scott and continued, “That’s how I know your full name.  That’s how I know different things about you guys, whether it’s significant events in your life or trivial things the hoi polloi here wouldn’t know.”  She turned to Steve and said, “Like, Cap, you used to shove newspaper in your shoes to make yourself taller, pre-serum anyway, or,” she continued as she turned to Natasha, “like your real name is - hang on, I gotta think about it to say it correctly - Natalia Alianovna Romanova and you changed your name because Americans don’t know how to pronounce anything correctly.”

“Except you apparently,” Natasha responded with a hint of surprise and approval in her tone.  

Rory offered a nod of thanks at Natasha’s approval before adding, “And, Bruce, how your secret is you’re, and I quote, ‘always angry’.  The longer you hang out with me, the more you’ll learn I know more things like that I would otherwise have no reason to know, and I’ll let it slip I know, and it’ll probably freak you out for a second.  But that’s how and why I know.”  She brought her explanation back to the matter at hand by finishing with, “So you exist in that millions know who you are and follow your stories and are fans of yours, and you don’t exist in that you are fictional.”  Rory sighed.  “Where I come from,” she said softly, “heroes do exist but not superheroes.”

“Sounds like a boring place to me,” a new voice commented as everyone turned to find James Rhodes walking into the room to see what was going on.

Someone else replied, but Rory didn’t hear them.  She just stared ahead, dumbfounded by the colonel’s voice as her brain exploded with urgency.  Rhodey’s sudden appearance made her remember one last thing, and she suddenly felt sick, panicked, and desperate.  “Oh my gosh,” she uttered quietly. 

Natasha overheard the mumbled realization.  “What?”

But Rory didn’t notice the question, too lost in her own horror and self-disappointment.  How could she forget him?  How could she forget her promise?  She wouldn’t have escaped the cliffside if it wasn’t for the promise she made to him.  And she forgot him.  She felt the abrupt onslaught of tears blur her vision and sting her eyes, and a great big lump formed in her throat, punishing her for her forgetfulness.  The fact she was on the verge of sobbing was enough to show her how shaken she was over all of this considering she was one to rarely shed tears, especially in front of other people.  A horrid thought cut through all the others, making her gasp.  What if she was too late?  Rory suddenly jumped out of her seat, startling the others, and shouted, “HOLY SHIT!”  

“What?!”

Rory had no idea which one of the boys shouted, but she didn’t care.  She scrambled around, desperate to take action as her mind was reeling from trying to figure out what to do.  Plus, it really didn’t help that her nearsighted self was without either glasses or contacts readily available, and it was causing a headache.  “Ohhhhhhhh, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do,” she muttered rapidly as she paced.  “Come on, Rory,” she demanded of herself as she wiped the tears from her cheeks then massaged her temples, “think, think, think!”  

 “Rory,” Scott said slowly as if trying to calm a wild animal, “what the hell is going on?”

“I just remembered someone terribly important, but I don’t know what to -”  Rory stopped mid sentence and mid step as the answer popped into her head.  The very thing she needed two years ago was still very much in demand.  “Of course!” she exclaimed before turning to the others, wishing she could see their faces clearly.  “I need to get to Greenwich Village as soon as possible!  Who can get me there the fastest?”

Natasha stood and moved towards her like the Black Widow understood Rory was on a mission, and she grabbed her by the elbow and led her, remembering the poor woman was partially blind without her glasses and contacts. “I can get you there.  Where are we headed specifically?”

“177A Bleecker Street,” Rory answered immediately as she followed Natasha’s lead, “and we have to act fast.  I don’t know what kind of time limit I have.”

“Wait, Bleecker Street,” Bruce repeated.  “Isn’t that Strange’s address?”

“Yup, it is.  Rhodey,” Rory ordered, ignoring his verbal surprise at her knowing who he was, “get a hold of Pepper; tell her to get here ASAP!  You’ll want to be here for this too!”

“For what?”  Steve asked as he, Scott, and Bruce followed, Rory’s urgency affecting them too.  “What are you going to do?”

The answer they received wasn’t one they were expecting, but it was enough to make everyone stop in their tracks for the briefest second.  “I’m bringing Tony home.”

Chapter Text

The gold and crimson helmet, broken and chipped and collecting dust from lack of use, sat on the ship’s floor in front of Tony.  The poor man felt exhausted, and he looked as worn and haggard as he felt.  He was dehydrated.  Honestly, from all the tears he’d shed and the fact the liquid substance on the planet he and Nebula left a few weeks prior didn’t even come close to water, never mind a decent Gatorade, it was a wonder his body didn’t just dry up like a raisin months ago.  

He seriously dreaded what he was about to do because a part of him knew that filming this particular message was like admitting what he didn’t want to admit, what he dared to hope wouldn’t happen.  But almost a month had gone by since he’d spoken with Rory, and nothing had happened to show for it.  Maybe it really was a dream after all.  But at this point, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to save his own skin for once, and the tiny little light of hope he had left for Rory to bring him home was fading.  Tony huffed, but it came out like an exhausted, defeated sigh.  “Let’s get this over with,” he muttered to himself.

Slowly, carefully, as if the exertion might finish him off, Tony leaned forward and reached out for the helmet.  His fingers slid over the left side until they found the switch they were looking for.  Tony flipped the switch, and a thin aquamarine light shone from each of the eye sockets on the mask, scanning his body.  He tapped on the forehead of the helmet like it was a microphone.  “This thing on?”  He sighed.  Here goes nothing.

“Hey, Ms. Potts,” Tony began casually, like it was just another day at Stark Industries.  “If you find this recording, don’t be posting it on social media or anything.  It’s going to be a real tearjerker.”  He leaned back against one of the chairs in the cockpit as he continued, “I don’t know if you’re ever going to see these.  I’ve got a bunch on here for you.  Hope you didn’t skip ahead; that’s boring.  If you did, go back to the beginning.  Binge watch or you’ll miss out on classic Stark humor.”  Tony tried to offer his trademark smile, but it faded too quickly.  “I don’t know if you’ll ever find these,” he said quietly.  “I don’t even know if you’re still…”  His words trailed off as his vision swam with unshed tears.  He couldn’t bring himself to say it; he refused to.  His heart had already been broken too much to bear one more loss, especially hers.  “Rory told me you still are.  God,” Tony whispered fervently, “I hope she’s right.”

Tony inhaled through his nose, straightened as much as he could, and continued.  “Today’s day 885?”  He paused as he tried to count through the days that have seemed to fuse together lately, blending so well from one to the next, it was hard to keep track.  “Uh, no, 886.”  He turned his head and gazed out the front windows to yet again study the wonder of space.  So many colors interwoven so beautifully with the thousands of stars that freckle the vastness around him.  It was beautiful, yes, but he would willingly admit, especially after two years of being lost in space, it was pretty damn terrifying too.  “You know, if it wasn’t for the existential terror of staring into the literal void of space, I’d say I’m feeling pretty good today.”

“Apparently, and I bet you know this already, Pep, but when a human being doesn’t have the right kind of nutrients he needs or gets the kind of rest he needs or the right kind of medical attention he needs - you get the idea - wounds don’t heal properly, and infections tend to come and go in waves.  Thankfully, this round of infection has run its course, thanks to the Blue Meanie back there.  I know I keep saying this, but I hope you guys get to meet.  You’d like her, very practical and only a tiny bit sadistic.”

“So, I’ll fill you in on what’s been going on since the last clip I made.  My lil’ buddy and I managed to get adequate parts to fix the ship enough to fly us home.  Problem was the fuel cells were hit just enough during battle to leave the most minimal damage, and I really do mean the most minimal.  So much so that it wasn’t enough to notice, and we were too anxious to get going to complete the most thorough check possible.  As we took off from our temporary stay on Tatooine - I don’t know what the planet’s real name was - the cracks in the fuel cells kept getting worse fast.  We had to drop out of lightspeed to repair them as best we could.  We couldn’t completely repair them, but we figured out a way to reverse the ion charge which bought ourselves about 48 hours of flight time.  That,” Tony concluded with a sigh, “was 49 hours ago, which means we’re dead in the water.  A thousand light years from the nearest 7-11 and just when I’m craving a slurpee.  And the last bit of news is oxygen will run out tomorrow, and that’ll be it.”

“Pep, I - ” Tony continued with his message as he looked down at his hands as he nervously scraped at the grime and dirt off one hand with the thumbnail of his other hand, “I know I said no more surprises, but I was really hoping to pull off one last one.  But it looks like...”  Instead of stating what he thought was obvious, he just let his eyes glance up at the helmet before back down at his hands.  “Well,” he said sadly, “you know what it looks like.”

“Don’t feel bad about this,” he stated casually with a dismissive shrug.  Please don’t.   “I mean, if you grovel for a couple of weeks, then move on with enormous guilt…”  Live your life, Pep.  You deserve so much more than I could ever give you anyway.   Suddenly, Tony’s exhaustion caught up with him, as if he could feel himself start slipping away.  “I - I should probably lie down.”  He felt like he knew what was coming, and it made his heart ache.  All this failure made him hurt so much.  He would literally give anything to see Pepper one more time.  “Please know,” Tony added, voice cracking slightly, “when I drift off to sleep, it will be like all the other 885 days:  I will think about you.  Because it’s always you,” he whispered.  “Always you.”

Tony reluctantly flipped the switch on his helmet, effectively turning off the recording device and shutting everything down.  Slowly, as if it took a lot of effort, he laid down on the floor and tried to get as comfortable as he could possibly manage.  Once he finally got settled, thoughts of Pepper put a small smile on his face as one last tear rolled down his skin.

The New York Sanctum was empty except for an eerie, lonely silence that haunted it which forced Rory to briefly pause at the Sanctum’s open entrance.  It was so somber and so disconsolate that Rory believed the sounds of her footfall interrupting the silence would almost be a dishonor, so she would politely offer it a quiet moment before inevitably interrupting.  As vital as her mission was, Stephen and Wong taught her better than to disrespect the Sanctum Sanctorum.  Whoever survived and now looked over the Sanctum, his or her duties currently pulled that person away, leaving the building empty of humans.  Her four companions, curious about her and how she would bring Tony home, had traveled with her and now stood behind her at the Sanctum’s entrance. 

“I used to live here,” she informed them quietly.  She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to tell them this tidbit, but the words came out as if it was the best way to slowly break the silence before she began searching for a sling ring.  “When I first came to this universe, Stephen Strange let me stay here as a guest.  Two years ago, I was just moving out of the Sanctum to make my own way in this world before, ya know, all the mess happened,” she said sadly.  

Ever since Rory witnessed the Decimation on the cliffside, its impact left a terrible ache within her being that had grown dull, though certainly not less painful, over the years, and everytime she’s reminded of the loss, especially her own personal loss, the ache regained some fierceness for a moment.  It was like a knife wound where the blade had never been removed, and every reminder was like pressure briefly applied against the blade.  Rory crossed her arms protectively over herself as she finished softly, “I owe Stephen a lot.”

“I’ve never heard quiet like this before,” Natasha mumbled as her eyes slowly studied the large room as if searching for the source of the discomfort. “It’s heartbreaking for some reason.”

“The Sanctum is in mourning,” Rory answered solemnly.  “Still.”

“The building is in mourning?”  Though Steve’s voice was as hushed as the others, his tone was doubtful.  “You do realize buildings aren’t living entities, right?”

Rory turned her head to him and offered a sly, pitying smile. “Come on, Cap.  After everything you’ve seen, are you honestly going to stand there and question what magic can do?  Or have you just been blind to the mystical side of this universe?”

“She kinda has a point, Steve,” Bruce ventured quietly as he peeked over the shoulders of those who stood in front of him.  “I may be a science guy, but as an Avenger, there’s been magical stuff you can’t deny like Thor and Wanda.”

“Yeah, Bruce, but those are people,” Steve argued as his eyes shifted warily, betraying his uncertainty.  “This is a building we’re talking about here.”

“Ok yeah, but you guys have at least heard of movies like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia , or heck, even Mary Poppins , right?” Scott asked as he looked around the Sanctum’s foyer with a look of wonder on his face, anxious to look around.  “There were objects and buildings in those movies that were magical.”

“But those are just movies,” Steve retorted.

Rory snorted.  “So says the movie character,” she said under her breath.

But it was overheard and met with an eye roll.  “But I am real,” he insisted.

“And somewhere out there,” Rory answered, “Frodo and Bilbo Baggins probably are too!  Maybe way out there, but still.  After all, I once thought you were just fictitious, yet here we are!”

“Frodo might be on his way to Mount Doom with a magical Ring right about now,” Scott suggested.

“With Samwise the Brave and his magical Elven rope,” Rory added with a smirk.

“Scott’s got a good point, you know,” Natasha pointed out.

Steve let his head drop with a defeated air for a moment, swallowed his sigh, and uttered, “You too, Romanov?”

“I’m just saying,” she said with a shrug.  “Magical objects have been popping up in our work for years.  Thor’s hammer, for one thing.”

“And the infamous Infinity Stones for another,” Bruce added.

“ And ,” Rory added, ready to finish the conversation, “the object I’m looking for is magical too.  Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if the magic was inherent or already possessed, the fact it’s there is enough.” She turned back to look inside the Sanctum and finished with, “If you keep a closed mind on the possibilities, then you’re missing out.”  

“Well, not to ruin the moment,” Steve answered, “but you mentioned a time limit.”

Rory sighed and straightened her shoulders, preparing for action.  “Right.  Of course.  It’ll take me a minute to find what I need, especially since I must continue to squint, but I know where they are stored in here.  Or at least,” she admitted as she stepped inside, “I know where they were stored two years ago.  Hopefully, things haven’t changed that much.”  As Rory wandered inside, she gestured to the group.  “You’re welcome to follow, but for your sake, don’t touch anything,” she emphasized that statement with as much finality as she could muster.  “Literally anything could happen in this place, and I can’t fix everything.”

Scott, Natasha, and Bruce successfully followed her inside, but when Steve tried, he was met with an invisible force blocking his way.  “Hey,” he called out in surprise, “what’s going on?”

“You insulted the Sanctum, Rogers,” Rory answered matter of factly, “and it’s more than likely not going to let you in anytime soon.  Hang tight, and I’ll be finished as soon as I can.”

She walked on as the other three turned and watched Steve test the barrier keeping him out before sharing amazed glances with each other.  “Wow,” Scott said quietly, his tone matching the amazement on his face. A little louder he said, “Sorry, Cap.  We’ll be right back.”

Though their eyes wandered all over the rooms of the Sanctum, the three Avengers that could follow Rory kept close, heeding her warnings of not touching anything.  “I’ve only been here once before,” Bruce said with a quiet awe in his voice.  “Well, I guess twice, actually, but I don’t ever tire of looking at the splendor of this place.  It’s really beautiful.”

“I’ll say it is,” Natasha concurred, sounding rather content as well.  “It’s got an ancient, old-world charm or something like that.”

“I don’t think a more astute observation could be made,” Rory said with a smirk, “especially when one considers the different meanings of ‘charm’ that can be applied here.”

Scott looked around, his curiosity itching to figure out some of the things he saw.  “Why can’t we touch anything?”

“Because some of these objects are enchanted to do who knows what, and some of these aren’t.  And truthfully, I can’t tell the difference on which is which.  Stephen and Wong told me which ones were safe and which ones weren’t, but we don’t have time for a magic lesson.  And besides,” Rory added sheepishly, “after a two-year absence, I’ve forgotten a lot of them.”

It took hardly any time at all for Tony to fall into a deep sleep, and even though he proved to be a heavier sleeper the more exhausted he became, Nebula made sure her footfall was like a cat, quiet and light, so as to not disturb him.  She believed she saw the slow rise and fall of his chest, but she placed a hand directly in front of his face anyway to feel his breath and make sure he was still alive.  And yes, this human being proved to be very resilient.  He was indeed only asleep.

Nebula felt conflicted.  Though resilient, this man was very complex and had suffered so much, not unlike herself.  In the two years she had known Tony Stark, he had done anything he could think of to get her to smile.  It was endearing and rather sweet.  Such gestures were something she had never received before, and it was very strange.  But she liked it.  She wasn’t sure what it was about it, but she liked it when he tried to make her smile.  

And though Tony may not have noticed or Nebula made sure she was out of his vision at the time, some of his attempts actually proved fruitful as the tiniest of smiles crossed her face.  Like during the paper football game or when she thought some of his jokes were actually funny.  Smiling turned out to be another thing she wasn’t used to but kind of liked.

But now her confliction lay in the inevitable possibility of this light in a very dark galaxy being snuffed out, and there was nothing she could do about it.  It hurt in a way she never expected.  It was a great shame.  As if the universe hadn’t suffered enough.  As if Nebula hadn’t suffered enough.  Her sister was gone, those morons she called family were gone, and now this newest friend would more than likely be taken away soon.  It was not fair. 

Nebula carefully put a jacket on Tony and moved him from the floor of the ship into one of the cockpit seats.  They were more comfortable and warmer than the cold floor, and the jacket would provide extra comfort, however small.  She took one more look at her new friend and sighed. Worn, frail, and thin, he looked like he could fade at any moment.  There was nothing more she could do for him or for herself, nor was she going to hope for anything to happen except for him not to suffer when he slipped away.  Hope was a luxury no one could afford any longer.  As quietly as she came, Nebula slipped away into another part of the ship.  A lone tear slid down her cheek.  She didn’t bother wiping it away. 

Keeping an extra pair of glasses at the Sanctum was certainly a very good decision Rory made when she first started staying there because it turned into a lucky break that was desperately needed.  Now hopefully the headache from squinting and straining her eyes would alleviate at last.  Her stomach growled and complained, reminding her the headache wasn’t just from straining her eyes.  She shook her head and sighed.  “Sorry, stomach, but this is like really important.  But as soon as I get him home, I’ll eat!  I promise.”  

Having the sling ring in hand once again also helped Rory feel a sense of calm and control.  The frantic scrambling to get back to this dimension two years ago was a horrible experience, and it didn’t help it was accompanied by those violent, mysterious pains she endured.  Nevertheless, now that she had a sling ring in her possession, she felt like she could actually do something right for the first time in a long time.  And it felt good.

Rory sent her companions back to the compound without her.  She told them when they all first left the compound she didn’t need an entire entourage to help her, but they were too curious to stay behind.  She honestly didn’t blame them, but she was adamant about sending them back without her.  Steve didn’t like the idea of going back to the compound unable to help, but Rory was persistent.  “There really is nothing you can do here, Cap.  Get back to the compound as soon as you can and have medical on standby.  I can get Tony to you, and you get him medical care because I fear he’ll need it.  There really is nothing else you can help me with here.”

“But--”

“And besides,” Rory said with a slightly sly smile, “for those who remain curious, you’ll get a better show back at the compound.  If all goes well, I’ll either beat you back or get there at the same time you do.”

The problem now was finding Tony, wherever he was in the vastness of space.  Rory didn’t tell the Avengers this nor was she planning on it, but finding him would be the hard part.  She had a lot of area to cover in her search, and if he wasn’t any better than the last time she saw him, his presence would be weak and hard to find.  She moved to a quiet room in the Sanctum, one of the spots where Stephen preferred to meditate, and the empty room made her heart ache.  “I’m sorry, Stephen,” she whispered into the air, “I wasn’t there to help you.  I hope you’re right in that I can help fix this horrible situation somehow.”

Rory slid the sling ring on her right hand and sat down in the middle of the room with her legs crossed, copying Stephen’s meditation position, and closed her eyes.  How to use the sling ring was the first lesson Stephen taught her, and in her opinion, it was the only thing in which she had completely mastered.  She even extended its use to finding people.  It applied the same concept as the sling ring’s normal use:  instead of focusing on all the details of a place, focus on all the details of a person like their appearance and personality.  Focus on their essences, and they can be found much like places.  Tony would be no exception. 

Rory thought about everything she could think of from the last time they interacted, from his haggard and weary looks to his jokes, comments, and laughter, to his deep loyalty and friendship.  Every positive aspect she could think of about Tony led her closer to his location.  She feared she wasn’t going to find him at all.  If she couldn’t find his presence, then that would mean his presence had passed, even if there was a body to be found, and she hoped with everything she had that wasn’t the case.  

But suddenly, she gasped in surprise and relief as she felt that familiar presence as warm as the California sun and as electric as an inventor tinkering in his lab.  But it was faint.  The presence was definitely there, but it was worn and weary.  She had to hurry.  “Gotcha,” she whispered in satisfaction as she stood and created her bright white and blue portal to take her to Tony.  “Hang on, Tony.  I’m coming for you.”

Rory walked cautiously through the portal to find herself in some kind of spaceship.  It took her a few moments to recognize her surroundings, and her jaw dropped when she realized where she stood.  “Wait...the Guardians’ ship?  How…?”  Rory remembered she saw at least some of them disappear into ashes, but she couldn’t remember if she saw all of them or not.  But the area she found herself appeared empty.  “Tony?”  Only silence answered her.  “Oh please let me not be too late,” she pleaded quietly.  Louder, she called again.  “Tony!”

Suddenly, a hand grabbed Rory’s hair from behind and a cold arm wrapped itself around Rory’s neck, the hand holding some kind of weapon at her throat.  “Don’t move,” a gruff, female voice commanded.  “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t kill you where you stand.”

“Did,” Rory said slowly, carefully since she was very aware of the weapon at her throat, “did it ever occur to you to - to wonder how I ended up on a - a ship stranded in the middle of space, Nebula?”

If Rory actually wanted an answer to that question, then she messed up her opportunity by calling Nebula by name.  A stranger’s use of her name startled Nebula, and she flinched slightly then pressed the weapon closer against Rory’s throat.  “Who are you?”

“I’m n-not your enemy,” Rory replied as calmly as she could, the weapon pinching her skin.  “I’m just - just a nobody, but I-OW,” she yelped as Nebula pulled on her hair, silently demanding answers.  “I’m a friend!  And I - and I can get you and Tony to Earth!  In a matter of seconds,” she added to help her case.

Nebula seemed unresponsive for a moment, her grasp unwavering as she considered Rory’s claim.  Just when Rory thought Nebula would decide she was false, the weapon was removed from her throat, and Rory felt the grip on her hair give way.  Rory rubbed the pinched skin on her neck and tried to take a calming breath.  Attempting to appear as unthreatening as possible, she slowly turned to face Nebula who glared at her, studying her intently.  “How do you know my name?”

Rory shrugged as she rubbed the back of her head.  That hair pulling did not help her headache in the slightest.  In fact, it just kept getting worse; she kept feeling worse.  “Honestly, that’s a long story that I’ll answer on Earth if you - if you want.”  As she spoke, Rory’s breaths grew quick, like she had run a marathon before getting here.  “Wha -” she gestured around her and shrugged, “what’s with the - air?”

“Oxygen is almost depleted,” Nebula answered matter-of-factly. “We’ve done everything we could, but there was no saving this piece of garbage on the planet we were on.  He wanted to try to make it to Earth, so we tried.”   She grew quiet for a moment before asking, “You can save us?  You can help him?”

Rory nodded adamantly while asking, “Where - is he?”  Nebula pointed to the cockpit area, and Rory turned and quickly scrambled to where Nebula pointed.  Tony sat in one of the cockpit chairs sleeping, at least she hoped he was.  She checked for a pulse, and thankfully, it was there though weak.  Faint.  No wonder she had trouble looking for him earlier.  “Tony?”  She gently shook him, praying he would wake up.  “Come on, Tones,” she said in between breaths, “wake up.  Please?”

Relief flooded through her when his eyes fluttered open slowly.  Tony’s face twisted with weariness and pain as he turned to look at who woke him up.  Distortion filled his eyes, but then it cleared when he realized who was there.  “Rory?”

“Sorry I - I’m late,” she apologized with a small smile, “but I think it’s - it’s time we get you home, huh?  To some - some more oxygen.”

Tony looked around as if to check again to make sure he knew where he was.  “Not a dream?  Not like,” he asked between breaths, the oxygen depletion messing with him too, “the last time?”

“Nope, Tony - this is - very real.”

“How will you get us to Earth,” Nebula asked from the side. 

“I’ll show you,” Rory said as she straightened.  “Tony, you just stay there,” she said through labored breathing, “and, Nebula, you can sit in another chair.  Sit back - relax - and watch the very - short show.”  Rory ran a finger over the sling ring and took as deep a breath, and as calm a breath, as she could despite the oxygen decrease.  “Oh, and, Nebula, you - might wanna release whatever - landing gear this thing’s got.  It might be a - bumpy landing.”  

Rory extended her right hand out to the cockpit window and slowly spun her left hand in a circle, a relatively larger circle compared to the one she made moments ago.  Outside the ship, a sparkling portal, as white as a newly fallen snow with cobalt blue veins weaving in and out and around the portal, formed that was large enough to consume the entire ship.  Inside the portal was a green field facing a lake beside a recognizable large, sleek building.  After Rory started pulling the portal past the ship, a small number of people could be seen pouring out of the compound and making their way closer to the portal.  “Welcome home, Tony.”

Scott sat at the dining room table with Natasha, Steve, Bruce, and Pepper while Rhodey paced the length of the table multiple times.   Ever since Rory announced she was going to find Tony and bring him back, Rhodey’s been completely on edge.  Scott only knew Rhodey from the airport fight, and honestly, he was relieved to see the guy walking and doing well after that.  Man, that was really rough.  Poor Sam struggled with it, and Scott could tell.  So during their time on the Raft, he did what he would do for any other friend.  He listened and let Sam work through it. 

Pepper has been completely on edge too, but she’d been showing it in her own way.  Scott had never met Pepper before, but he mentally labeled her as the strong, suffer-in-silence type.  She reminded him of Hope in a way.  She kept fiddling with her fingers, running through breathing exercises, and looking up to keep tears from spilling over.  

“Where are they,” Rhodey demanded for the third time in a span of two minutes.

“Rhodey,” Natasha answered soothingly, “she said she would either beat us here or get back around the same time we did.  We got back not even a full five minutes ago.  Give her a chance.”

“All I’m saying is, this chick better be as good as what was supposedly promised because two years of this mess is enough.”

“If she successfully brings Tony back, that’ll be a start,” Steve commented.

“I wonder how she’ll do it,” Scott couldn’t help but wonder aloud.  “She called the thing she was looking for a sling ring, but I don’t know what that is.  Wonder how it --”

He stopped short because the table suddenly shook.  So did everything on the table.  And everything in the room.  The sounds of low rumbling and the fizzing of sparklers accompanied the mini earthquake.  “Uh, what in the world?”  Bruce asked as everyone started looking around, uncertain.  

It was Scott who noticed the bright light outside first.  “Hey guys, you gotta see this,” he said as he stood and moved towards the glass doors.  “Holy— Wow !”  

Outside, a giant circle of crackling white fire and blue smoke formed just inches above the ground and perpendicular to it, and like moths to a flame, everyone moved outside to see what in the world was going on.  As they ventured cautiously outside, the giant circle slowly moved forward over the vast lawn, and as it moved, it left behind a large structure.  It took a few minutes for everyone to realize that some kind of spaceship was poking out of what they now understood to be a portal and continued to be exposed the more the portal moved.  In minutes, the entire ship was exposed, and as the portal disappeared, the ship fell the last few inches to the ground and landed heavily on its landing gear.  

Everyone ran forward as the ramp opened and three individuals descended slowly.  The one in the middle, Tony, Scott realized as they all got closer, was deeply inhaling the fresh air and had his arms wrapped over the shoulders of Rory, who was also taking deep breaths, and… Scott had no idea who the other person was, but he would have certainly remembered someone who looked like her.  

Steve got to the trio first followed by Rhodey, and Tony looked up to see who was coming to greet them, relieved to see friendly faces after so long.  He removed his hold from Rory and Nebula and reached out for his friends, gripping Steve’s arm as he and Rhodey joined the trio.  “Cap,” he greeted tiredly.  “I - I couldn’t stop him.”

“Neither could I,” Steve confessed as he held onto Tony to support him.

“I lost the kid,” Tony mourned quietly.

There was so much Steve needed to say, to tell his friend, but he didn’t know if he could express it properly, never mind how.   “ We lost,” he said finally.  

Tony looked at Rhodey and grinned softly.  “Platypus,” he greeted. 

“Man, come here,” Rhodey pulled him into a hug and held him for a second.  “It’s so good to have you back.”

“Thanks, man.  Good to be back.”   Tony started looking around hesitantly as he started to ask, “Uh, is, umm, is…”  But he choked on a sob of relief when Pepper ran up to him, crying and too overwhelmed to actually get any words out, and he broke away from the others to hug her as tightly as he could.

Nebula sat on the ramp of the ship, and though her face remained stoic, her eyes betrayed the surprise when she spotted Rocket approaching to sit beside her.  Neither spoke though they greeted each other with a nod, and when Rocket sat beside her, they unceremoniously held hands, just making sure that part of their family they thought was gone really was there.

Rhodey approached Rory who had moved off to the side and shook her hand adamantly, a bit choked up by what he witnessed.  “Thank you,” he managed to say past the lump in his throat.

She smiled softly and bowed her head slightly.  “Glad I could bring him home.  Now you take care of him, okay?”

“That I can do.”

“Rory,” Tony called, and she slowly moved towards him, her movements weary and sluggish.  He and Pepper both wrapped her up in a hug, surprising her some before she recovered and returned the hug.  “Thank you,” Tony said softly, “for keeping your promise.”

“You’re welcome,” Rory replied with a soft grin.

After they released from the hug and started heading inside, Scott moved over by Rory who was silently watching the others walk away, and he exclaimed in awe, “That was amazing!  I had never seen anything like that.  How did you–”  But then he interrupted himself when he noticed the exhausted, almost sickly expression on her face.  “Hey,” he asked with concern as he moved in front of her to better study her, “you okay?”

“I - I don’t feel good.”  She shook her head slowly and placed a hand on her stomach.  “I’m worn out.  Like I’m seriously dead tired.  I’ve got a bad headache that’s gonna turn to a migraine if I’m not careful, and I’m–”  As if to speak for itself, her stomach roared its demands for food, and it was loud enough to make Scott’s eyes grow wide as he tilted his view to the hand over her stomach.

“Hungry,” Scott correctly interpreted.  “Got it.  I can at least help out with that and the headache to some extent.  C’mon,” he took her by the arm and started leading her back inside.  “I can whip you up something quick and filling to help you feel better.  Any allergies?”  She shook her head slowly, and he nodded.  “Okay.  I can definitely work with that,” he grinned softly.  “Leave it to me, okay?  I’ll take care of you.”

Normally, Rory kept her thoughts to herself unless she felt they needed to be shared, and while she certainly felt her current sentiments needed to be shared, her weariness made her a bit more liberal with her word choice than she would have typically intended.  “The Scott Lang coming to my rescue,” she said with a grin.  “Can’t get much better than that for me.  Makes all of this worth it.  Thank you, Scott.”  

The smile he gave her was bright and genuine, appreciating the gratitude and the bit of praise.  “You’re welcome, Rory.”

Chapter Text

Rory’s week was up, and it partially made her sick, though not for her own sake.  After she successfully brought Tony, Nebula, and their ship to Earth, and after giving Steve Rogers a piece of her mind for not letting Tony rest as she instructed, she strongly implored Natasha to allow her one week to settle issues left behind in her home dimension.  Rory would have asked Steve also, but since she reprimanded him earlier, she didn’t think he would be in a mood to listen to her request.  Nevertheless, he and Scott joined the conversation just as Rory was making her case.  “No offense to Scott since he only did as he was told, but imagine being my parents or my brother and sister-in-law and finding out one day that your comatose daughter or sister suddenly disappeared from the hospital a few days ago with literally no trace.”

Natasha and Steve were quiet as they contemplated Rory’s words while Scott’s eyes grew wide with panic, and all the color drained from his face.  “Oh God,” he muttered softly before returning his voice to normal volume.  “I’m so - I’m so sorry.  I never even thought…”  He rubbed his hands over his face then back up again through his hair, and Rory just knew his dad instincts kicked in when she described the situation from her parents’ point of view.  “I just, well, you know, I was just doing what I was told, and the situation was - was weird enough as it was that I never - never thought about anything like that.  And I just - oh God.  I am so sorry.”

“Scott honey,” Rory said soothingly, appreciative of his sudden concern and finding it endearing, as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.  “It’s okay.  I don’t blame you or anything.  Promise.  No harm done as far as I’m concerned.”  She turned her attention towards the others and added, “But I have to go back and take care of stuff at home.  One week tops, that’s all I’m asking for.  Heck, it may not even take that long, but I have to make sure everything’s okay there.  Once I feel certain of that, then I’ll come back and help fix this whole mess.”

Steve and Natasha shared a glance before Steve ventured hesitantly, “Rory, we’ve been waiting a long time for any hope of bringing everyone back.”

“Yeah, but, Cap,” Scott interjected, “her family’s been waiting two years for any hope of her waking up, to know she’ll live .”  He glanced back and forth between Steve and Natasha and shrugged as if to suggest one week will not be as long as they think it would be, and Rory gave Scott’s shoulder a short rub, hoping he caught how she appreciated his appeal on her behalf.  “Don’t they deserve to at least know she’s okay?”

Natasha nodded her agreement before turning to Steve.  “We’ve waited this long; we can last one more week since we know we’ve got a chance.”

“But we don’t even know what kind of chance we’ve got,” he countered quietly.

“At least we have one, Steve,” Natasha answered.

Rory sighed and let her head drop slightly.  “Steve,” she said softly, “I know how desperate you are to bring everyone back.  I get it.  You’re not the only one who lost loved ones.  I lost people too.  But please, just let me assure the loved ones I’ve still got that I’m safe and sound, and let me tie up some loose ends too.  Once I come back, I’ll devote everything I’ve got to bringing everybody back.  You have my word, and I intend to keep it.”

Steve was silent for a very short moment before he responded, “What kind of guy would I be to say no to that?  Alright.”  He extended his hand to Rory who took it.  “One week,” he agreed as they shook hands, “then we get to work on reversing the Decimation.”

“You got it.”

“Good luck,” Natasha wished sincerely before she followed Steve out of the dining room, leaving the burglar and the burgled alone.

Rory walked over to the table, leaned against it, and removed her glasses so she could rub her hands over her face, exhaling tiredly, deeply as she did so.  As Scott turned to stand in front of her, he commented inquisitively, “It’s kinda weird how you’ve been unconscious for so long only to wake up and be so exhausted.”

Rory offered a short chuckle, shrugged as she returned her glasses to their rightful spot, then crossed her arms.  “I think the stress of the situation I woke up to and finding out everything I remember from before was true are the things that make me feel exhausted.  Not to mention, I don’t really know what I’m going to find when I go back to see my family.  Plus,” she said slowly as the idea occurred to her for the first time, “oh man...I was about to go apartment hunting around here two years ago but never got the chance, so I’m technically homeless in this universe.  And I guarantee the job I had two years ago is no longer mine either.”  Her shoulders drooped, and she let her head drop so her chin rested against her chest, groaning and massaging her temples as she did so.  “Holy crap,” she muttered slowly, heavily.

“Hey,” Scott responded assuredly, “it’s gonna be okay.  I mean, I bet you can stay here.  The place looks big enough; it’s gotta have some extra rooms for us.  And once you get back, your job is gonna be avenging and getting everybody back, so you won’t really need a paying job ‘til that’s finished.  I don’t really know about your family stuff, but I do know that when you get back to work on the Decimation thing, you won’t be working on it alone.”  

When she didn’t respond but crossed her arms and continued to stare at her feet, Scott placed his hands on her upper arms and said softly, “Hey, look at me.”  When Rory obliged, he saw hazel eyes trying to conceal fear, and he felt compelled to at the very least alleviate the fear she felt.  “It’s going to be okay.  You’ll be fine.  You just gotta take things one atta time.”  He shrugged and added, “That’s really all you can do, right?”

Rory allowed herself a small smile, a grateful smile, and answered, “Right.”  She nodded slowly, purposefully, as if mentally calming herself down.  “You’re right; I’m just overthinking everything as per usual.  Just one thing atta time.”

“Right.  No big deal,” Scott agreed as he dropped his hands.

Rory made a sound that was somewhere between a scoff and a chuckle, but her smile seemed genuine.  The fear in her eyes was less evident, so Scott felt a little better about that.  “First thing’s first:  gotta fix the mess back home,” she said as she pointed her thumb to her side like she was hitchhiking.  Then her hands dropped, and her eyes lit up as an idea popped into her mind.  “Ya know,” she began, “I think it would be a shame for me to be the only one who was allowed a week to take care of stuff at home.”

“What do you mean?”

She gave him a soft, knowing smile.  “Five years is a long time."

Scott furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.  “But only two years have pa--”

“I know,” she interrupted quietly. 

Clarity dawned on him then, and he suddenly felt torn between what he knew he had to do and what he wanted to do.  “Oh,” he stated before crossing his arms over his chest, but he didn’t offer anything further. 

Rory tilted her head slightly at his reaction.  “You don’t want to?”

“No, no,” he answered quickly, “I do!  I really do, but,” he said as his voice trailed off. 

“But what?”

He suddenly looked very uncomfortable, shuffling his feet and not making eye contact.  It took him a minute before he managed to ask, “Can - can I get away with it?”

“Scott,” she told him, her grin growing a little wider, “if I can get away with it, then why can’t you?  You’re just as allowed to take care of things in San Francisco as I am in the other universe.  I can get you there in no time at all, and then when my week is over, I’ll swing by your place and get you before I come back here.”

He needed no more convincing after that, and she was very pleased to drop him off at the Paxton residence before she went home.  Now the week had come and gone, and as Rory stood on the sidewalk in front of the Paxton home, she was almost tempted to not go up to the door at all.  Scott had done his part, and she thought he deserved to stay with his daughter.  He’d been gone too long, and as far as Rory was concerned, he earned a break.  

“Don’t even think about leaving, Rory Callahan!”

Rory jumped and muttered something under her breath as she glared up at the head sticking out of the second floor window.  Scott’s smirk was wide and unapologetic as he met her glare head on.  Beside him, also peeking out the window due to curiosity, was a girl that was the spitting image of her father with thick, dark curls and eyes that looked at her with questions, concern, and - Rory couldn’t help but notice - some disdain.  Cassie must know why she was there, she thought.  “Who said I was leaving, Scott Lang,” she yelled back.

“The way you keep fidgeting with that sling ring thing and how you keep backing away from the house.  You back up any further, you’ll get run over.”

Rory looked around behind her to see there was literally no traffic whatsoever on their road, and a grin slowly spread across her face.  “By what?  Did you shrink the traffic?”

He laughed in response.  “Not a bad idea to try when I’m running late next time.  You’re kinda early, aren’t you?  Or did I remember wrong?”

“No, no, I’m early.  I got kinda restless, so I just decided to come on back.  And I thought to pass the time,” she explained with a shrug, “I thought I would offer cooking a big brunch for you guys so you could spend more time together and not worry about food.”

Scott and Cassie shared a glance and a grin, and while his attempted to be more encouraging, hers was small.  “A food offering is always appreciated.  Come on in,” Scott said as he waved for Rory to enter.  “Door’s open,” he added before disappearing inside, Cassie following quickly behind.

The home was quaint and rather charming, recently cleaned, and covered with lots of family photos.  Older family photos.  Rory could tell because the Cassie she saw in the window a moment ago looked older than the one in the photos, and as she studied the photos more, it dawned on her why.  Maggie must have been one of the Ashen, and all Jim and Cassie had left of her was displayed all over the house.  At this revelation, Rory felt more guilty for being here to take Scott back to New York.  Maybe she could still talk him into staying.

“So you’re awake this time,” a voice said from behind her, and Rory turned to see Cassie leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed.  Upon a closer look, Rory guessed she must be twelve or thirteen years old, but there was certainly no question to whom she belonged.  The uncertain glare from her made Rory’s heart ache.  After looking at all the pictures in the room, as Rory further studied the girl for a moment, she realized that while she looked just like Scott, it wasn’t his eyes that were looking back at her.  They were Maggie’s.  Which made her feel even more guilty.

It took a second for Cassie’s words to finally register and take meaning before Rory replied, “So we’ve met already, huh?”  She smiled sheepishly and offered an apologetic look.  “I’m sure you made a better first impression than I did.”

She shrugged in response then said, “My dad said you’re nice.”

The words were kind, but the tone was reserved as if Cassie hadn’t quite decided how nice a person could be to take her dad away from her.  Or maybe it’s just because Cassie legitimately didn’t know her, and she was just overthinking things.  Either way, Rory couldn’t blame her for being reserved, and she did what she could to not look guilty in front of Cassie.  “He’s pretty nice too.  And I hear you’re pretty great.”

Before Cassie could reply, Scott walked in, and she immediately took to his side while he instinctively wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  “So brunch, huh?”

“Uh,” Rory mumbled as she forced herself to tear her eyes from Cassie’s gaze and look at Scott instead, “yes!  Brunch.  As a peace offering….or a bribe, depending upon how things go.”

In almost perfect synchronization, father and daughter both cocked an eyebrow and tilted their heads in identical confusion, and under different circumstances, Rory would have giggled over how cute that was.  “A bribe?”

“Possibly.  Now,” she continued before explaining her meaning, “before I finalize the menu, are there any breakfast foods either of you don’t like?”

Scott and Cassie both shared a glance before shrugging.  “If you gotta pick between bacon and sausage, go for bacon,” he suggested.

“The better option, obviously,” Rory agreed with a small smirk.

“Can we have pancakes?” Cassie asked quietly.

“I don’t see why not.  Can’t have a good brunch without something like pancakes! With chocolate chips or without?”

The girl rolled her eyes but smiled.  “Chocolate chips.  Always.”

Rory chuckled and glanced at Scott.  “She’s definitely yours.”

“Hey, I bet you love chocolate as much as we do.”

“True.  Yeah true, you got me there.  Umm, I’m assuming it’s okay to use the kitchen, right?  I’ll do clean-up and everything.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” he replied with a dismissive wave.
“I want to!  Really.  It’s no trouble.”

“Well, I don’t know how else you’re gonna cook if you can’t use the kitchen,” he teased with a smirk.  “So yeah, go ahead.  Jim won’t mind, especially if you’re offering to clean too.”

“I’ll make sure to make enough for him later if he wants any,” Rory promised.

“I’m still stuck on how this could be a bribe though.”

“Don’t think too hard on it,” she suggested, smiling at him as she patted his upper arm a few times.  “It’ll more than likely come to you.  Now,” she says as she waves the pair off, “go on and do what you were doing before I showed up.  Leave everything to me, and I’ll make a mean spread.  You’ll see.  Now go on and don’t worry about a thing.  I’ll let you know when it’s ready.”

It didn’t take very long for Scott to guess what the bribe was for, and he couldn’t help but think it was rather sweet.  She was going to try to convince him to stay.  Try being the operative word.  He had to go back.  He had a part to play in this, and he knew it.  He might even have the solution they were all hoping for.  How could he stay behind if he could help make all of this right?

After a breakfast feast was eaten and leftovers were stored, Scott joined Rory in washing the dishes.  She raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a disapproving smirk.  “Scott, what are you doing in here?  I can handle the dishes just fine.  Go spend time with your daughter.”

“Dishes will get done a lot faster if there’s two working on it, Rory.”  Then he added with an amused smirk of his own, “ And if the dishwasher is used.”

But she took the comment in stride with a shrug.  “Gives me time to think while my hands are busy doing something.  Besides, I don’t mind the work.”

“You wouldn’t be stalling by any chance, would you?” he asked as he grabbed a towel to dry the dishes as she washed.

“Stalling?”  Her tone was innocent enough, but there was a flash in her eyes that Scott recognized immediately.  Busted.   “What do you mean stalling?”

“I think you mentioned this breakfast was a bribe.”

“Maybe…”  She raised an eyebrow and smiled hopefully at him, “Did it work?”  His only reply as she handed him a dish to dry was a soft smile that said Not a chance .  “Oh c’mon, Scott, I think you’ve done enough here.  More than enough.  You did exactly what Doctor Strange asked you to do.  You deserve to spend this time with your kid.  You’ve missed out enough.”

He sighed, setting the dried dish aside to be put away later.  “Maybe I have.  But I can’t walk away when I know there are others out there who would kill to spend another moment with their own kids.  Kids who want to spend another moment with their parents.  If I can help make this right, if I can help bring not just the rest of Cassie’s family back but the families of all kids who are alone now?  I’m sure as hell gonna try.”

“Scott–”

“Rory, I appreciate you trying to get me to stay.  I appreciate it very much, and honestly, it’s killing me to not take you up on it.  But I have to do this.  I can’t in good conscience stay.  I gotta bring the rest of Cassie’s family back to her and do the same for others like Cassie in this world.  If I can help you do that, then I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.”

The whole time he spoke, her movements to clean slowed, taking in everything he was telling her and trying to determine ways to poke holes into his resolve.  She could not figure out any.  Plus, it was pretty evident that any attempt she made at this point would be useless.  Even if she left without him, what would stop him from driving cross-country again to get to the Avengers’ compound to help?

“You’re a good man, Scott Lang,” she said quietly, sincerely, “and a great one.  I’m not gonna lie, I will accept any and all help I can get.  But you say the word, and I’ll get you back here for visits in downtime faster than you can blink.  Okay?”

Scott’s smile was warm as a sigh of relief escaped him.  “Okay.  Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.  Least I can do for you after what you’re doing for me and the entire universe.”

Chapter Text

They’re calling it Infinity War , and the hype about it was monumental. 

The first part of the culmination of ten years of cinematic history was going to be released in a matter of months; for the fans, it will be like Christmas will come twice next year.  Theories congested the internet, and fans were so out of their minds with excitement and anxiety about the lack of news from the studio, they kept building up the anticipation for a new Avengers movie with months left before its release.  Rory shook her head in pity.  Oh, the sucker punch those people were going to get.  They had no idea what was coming.  The problem was neither did the studio.  

The real problem was neither did she or the Avengers.

Once Rory felt well enough to do so, she left the compound with the promise of returning soon to give her family the relief of knowing she was alive and well, and she gave herself time with them to assure herself as well as them that for the time being, they all were going to be okay.  It was during one of these short days reunited with her family that she decided to do a little digging on what she had missed in the MCU.  Maybe what was going on there could give her insight on the fray she now faced.

According to reports from valid sources online, the studio was scheduled to start filming Infinity War ’s conclusion right after its release to get it in the cinema hopefully in a year at best; however, progress on that was already showing signs of hitting snags.  Reports couldn’t pinpoint the reason, and Rory snorted.  Some hypothesized the time between part one and part two of the story was some kind of advertising ploy by the studio, to continue building the hype.  Some suspected script and story changes that were causing delays.  Some wondered if there were certain actors the studio wanted who had commitments to other projects that needed to finish first before part two could be completed.  Rory closed the website tabs and scoffed. 

“Well, of course filming has been postponed,” she muttered.  “It’s postponed because they haven’t gotten their usual phenom of an inside scoop yet.  Story’s not over in its original universe, so it can’t be told yet here.”

“I figured it was only a matter of time before this multidimensional insider trading would bite the studio in the butt,” Rory’s younger brother, Reid, said nonchalantly as he turned off Thor: Ragnarok after the end credit scene and began flipping through TV channels, disappointed he couldn’t find anything good being broadcasted.  “So what do you think they're gonna do?”

Rory sighed as she turned off the laptop and set it on the coffee table in front of her.  Lying down on the couch and letting her eyes glaze over as she watched the monotonous flipping of channels, she answered, “Well, one of two things will happen, I think.  One is the studio will get fidgety and decide they can’t wait any longer and write the ending on their own, and who knows how that’s gonna go.  Because I can’t guarantee how long it will take before the Infinity War, as they call it, will reach its conclusion.  Two is they’ll wait it out, find out how this story will actually end, then make adjustments as they see fit, and again, who knows how that will turn out.”

Reid’s brows furrowed, disgruntled.  “What do you mean ‘make adjustments as they see fit’?  Have they done that before?”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.  It’s not like they’re going straight from the comics word for word either, so why would they follow whatever inside scoop they get from this universe word for word too?” 

“Okay, that’s fair, but still, something tells me it’s not the same thing you were suggesting.”

“You’re right,” Rory admitted.  “Believe it or not, I was actually talking about me.  Now that I’m in the picture, and apparently not to be just an extra in the background, either the studio will keep me in the story or rewrite it and work me out of it.”

“Why would they write you out?”  He found a college football game and, with a shrug, left the television on that, but he muted the sound, more interested in the conversation at hand than the game.  

“Would you introduce a new main character in an Avengers movie?”

Reid thought for a few seconds before countering with, “I refer you to Wanda, Pietro, and Vision.”

Rory felt an unexpected twinge of guilt and sadness at the mention of the fallen heroes, only reminding her of the weight of the loss and the pressure of needing to fix it.  “Let me rephrase:  would you take a nobody from one universe and make her a key player in a superhero movie?”

“Probably not, but it depends upon the character, I guess.  Who’s the nobody?”

Rory rolled her eyes.  “Who do ya think?”

“You?”

“Me.”

Reid hummed in thought before asking, “No offense, but do you think your role in this will be that big?”

“Would Doctor Strange have essentially ordered my kidnapping from the hospital if I wasn’t?”  Her brother shrugged again and shook his head.  “But that’s not the main reason why I think so,” Rory added quietly, sounding like she was on the verge of sharing a secret.

“Why?”

“You wanna hear a couple of,” Rory paused as she took a quick moment to think, “spoilers for Infinity War ?”

Reid leaned forward and adjusted his position in the recliner.  “Considering your involvement, absolutely.”

Rory sat up and adjusted her own position to face him and took a deep breath.  “So I figured this out yesterday, and honestly the prospect of it scares me.  I probably should have figured this out sooner, but whatever, at least I did.  What I’m about to tell you is something I haven’t told any of the others yet,” she said slowly.  “It’s going to come up eventually, but I don’t want to deal with their reactions to it any time soon.”

“To what?”

“You recall, of course, my bizarre behavior on the family vacation two years ago.”

Reid scoffed.  “How could I not?  Frantic, panicked, scared by something we couldn’t see, feeling random pains...not to mention leaving in the middle of the night, buying a ticket, and flying back home without us because you couldn’t find your sling ring.”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” Rory sputtered quickly, waving away his recap, “okay, yes, I was very emotional and scared because everything that was going on were things I could not explain, but I knew they were related to the other universe, the pains especially.”

“But Jill examined you and found nothing wrong.”

“As good a nurse as your wife is,” Rory replied assuredly, “she wouldn’t have found anything anyway.  There was nothing to find.  The pains were warnings I did not understand nor heed.”  She paused before adding, “Still don’t quite understand.”

“Warnings?”

“Let me put it this way, Reid.  Are you familiar with the underlying plot devices of the cinematic universe?”

“Yeah, the Tesseract,” he answered without missing a beat.

Rory bobbed her head in hesitant agreement as she thought about his answer, realizing he was technically correct.  “Well, ok, yeah, but devices , Reid.  Plural.”

“If you’re referring to the Infinity Stones, then, yes, I’m familiar with them.”

“Ok,” she said slowly, preparing to explain.  “I had six individual pains.  Different physical locations that built in intensity each time.  It would feel like each pain location was on fire, like lightning-hot fire, and it would have a tingling sensation like that part fell asleep and was waking up but on steroids.  The pains didn’t last very long, but they felt like they lasted for ages.”

“Six individual pains?”

“Yes.”

“As a warning,” he said slowly, dots connecting in his brain.

“Of a threat unlike anything the other universe had ever seen,” Rory continued.  “Someone we have only seen glimpses of from time to time.”

“Because his quest involved finding said plot devices,” Reid added, building upon what his sister suggested.  “Six individual things,” he repeated slowly, nodding equally as slowly before looking at Rory with a mixture of awe.  “You’re somehow connected to the Infinity Stones?”

“I’m afraid so, yeah,” Rory said with a heavy sigh.  When Reid didn’t continue, still clearly wrapping his mind around the prospect, she continued with her evidence.  “Based on the accounts I’ve heard from the remaining Avengers, the order in which the Stones were stolen is Power, Space, Reality, Soul, Time, and Mind.  The order of these is important because I think certain Stones are specifically embodied in certain parts of my body.”

“You and your puns,” Reid mumbled as he checked his vibrating phone before putting it away again.

Rory jolted slightly as her mind replayed her words, and she chuckled.  “Happy accident.  Anyway, when the Power Stone was taken, my left arm, my dominant arm, was what hurt.  The Space Stone’s theft made my right arm hurt; why that combo, I don’t know.  When the Reality Stone was taken, my right eye hurt.”

“The connection being a person’s reality is based on their perception, their views,” Reid supplied, catching on quickly.

“Right.  Soul was the fourth to be taken, and that occurred that night at the hotel when I left.”

“Right, yeah, I remember.  You kept rubbing your chest, complaining about how it hurt.  But wait, I thought you said the pain didn’t last very long.”

“It didn’t, but the tingling lasted longer than the pain.  And by that time, the warnings increased enough that the sensation was almost unbearable and certainly didn’t help my mental or emotional state.”

“No kidding,” Reid muttered.  Ignoring his sister’s glare, he nodded and gestured in a circular motion with his hand.  “Continue.”

“Time was next in line, and my left eye hurt then.”

“The powers of the Stone allowed the user to peer into the past or the future,” Reid said more to himself than Rory.

“Exactly,” she agreed, “plus, of course, the Eye of Agamotto.  Finally, the Mind Stone was taken.”

“And let me guess,” Reid interrupted, “you had a headache.”

“Trust me.  Calling that a mere headache is like calling a T-Rex an iguana,” Rory told him with a slight bite.

Reid nodded once as he contemplated that.  “Noted,” he said calmly before growing quiet.  “So...”  He paused, hesitating before continuing, almost unwillingly, “I hate to say it, but it sounds like you might be right.  Again, no offense, but why you?”

“No,” Rory said as she shook her head adamantly, “none taken.  I’m questioning the same thing.  Why me?  How could I have this connection?  I’ve been involved in this universe for just a short time.  Why me and what am I supposed to do with it?”

After a moment’s thought, Reid said solemnly, “I don’t know why you, but I think you know what you’re supposed to do with it.”

Rory sighed and met her brother’s gaze as she nodded silently.  “I’m supposed to fix it,” she whispered.  “Whatever it takes.”  

“Maybe that’s why you.  Maybe you’re the only one who can fix it.”

She slumped against the couch, wishing she could disappear into it.  “But I don’t know how .”

They were quiet after her muttered lament.  Then an idea sprouted in Reid’s mind, and he asked, “Can’t you just take them back?”

Rory stared at him incredulously for a moment.  “‘Take them back,’” she echoed monotonously.  “You mean the Stones?”

“Yeah.  Just take them back.”

“Just like that?”

“Why not?”

“I can give you quite a few reasons why not actually,” she groaned as she leaned forward and planted her feet flat on the floor.  “How about we start things off with the fact I have no super powers?”

“Come on, Rory,” Reid chastised, giving her a disapproving look, “you can’t be connected to Infinity Stones, infinite super power, without having some powers of your own.  Or at least being able to tap into that power.”

“I don’t know if that’s true or not.”

“But it makes sense.  You need to figure that out; that’s step one.”

The idea was crazy, but Rory couldn’t help but wonder if it was true.  “Super powers?” she whispered with fascinated awe. 

“How crazy is this?  I’ve hung out with the Tony Stark, and my older sister has supernatural powers.”  He looked at Rory with sincere curiosity.  “If you can wield the powers of the Infinity Stones, could you give me powers?”

“Reid--”

“I’ll be content with just one super power.”

“I don’t even know if I have super powers.”

“I honestly have no doubt about that.  After all, considering what you’ve told me and how everything has played out to keep you away from that universe when everyone disappeared and then brought you back to that universe in hopes of helping fix the problem, you gotta have some kind of power.  You’ve just gotta find it.”  He leaned back in the recliner and smiled slyly.  “That will give me time to think of my super power.”

“Reid,” Rory said again slowly as a warning.

“I’ll let you approve it, of course.”  When all he got was a chuckle in response, Reid changed the subject and said, “Well, Mom’s not going to like it.  She’s already nervous about Tony being Iron Man, and he’s closer to her in age than he is us.  This will really set her maternal instincts on edge.”

“Oh crap,” Rory groaned as she covered her face with her hands.  Removing her hands and taking a deep breath, she suggested, “Let’s not worry her at the moment, okay?  We’ve got no reason as of right now to shed any light on the situation.  When it becomes necessary she knows, then I’ll tell her.”

“When will it become necessary?”

“I hope I don’t have to find out.”

Chapter Text

A part of Rory’s brain reminded her that staring was rude, and staring with one’s mouth wide open was even more rude.  That part of her brain knew her parents raised her better than to behave that way.  The rest of her brain was too confused about what she was seeing to care and completely threw proper social conventions out the window.  After all, she couldn’t help but think the being before her was worth the extreme confusion and contemplation, especially since the last time she saw him, he did not look like that.

She, Scott, Steve, and Natasha sought out Bruce Banner to recruit him in their efforts to brainstorm ideas on how to get the Infinity Stones back and reverse the effects of the Decimation, and they met up with him at a diner tucked away like a little surprise for a rainy day.  It took a few minutes to find, but once it was found, Rory couldn’t help but think it was rather quaint.  

Some families were gathered in various booths, living as normally as possible, and to her, that was a hopeful sight to behold.  This was the reason behind the goal.  Return the Ashen and let everyone live normally again.  Happily ever after. 

If such an idea was possible.

Rory had decided to forgo asking Tony for his help, and made a point to instruct the others to leave him be for now.  Almost dying plus two years of being stranded in space along with infections randomly throughout were events that were worth plenty of recovery time.  Plus, he had a daughter with whom he needed to fully acquaint himself.  Rory wasn’t about to interfere with that, especially considering he had already missed the first two years of Morgan’s life.  If Tony decided on his own to join them and help in whatever way he could, Rory would leave that up to him.  But as far as Rory was concerned, Tony deserved a break.  

Instead, her attention turned to finding Bruce.  He had disappeared the day after Rory brought Tony back to earth which wasn’t that long ago, but with the drastic change Rory saw, it might as well have been two more years.

“I’m so confused,” she heard Scott admit to the left of her, and she shifted her attention towards him long enough to notice he wore the same confused expression she expressed. 

“Oh good.  I’m not the only one.  I’m so confused too,” Rory muttered to Scott, who nodded his head in agreement, before she turned back to face Bruce again.

He was a sight to behold.  Somehow, Bruce Banner had done the unthinkable and achieved the perfect combination of the Hulk and Bruce into one entity.  He sat at the end of the booth the five of them occupied, too large to slip into one of the booth’s seats anyway.  He wore glasses, pants, a v-neck t-shirt, and a cardigan that could actually fit the Hulk body, and there were no holes, rips, or tears on any part of his clothing.  Again, a sight to behold.

His green skin and broad, girthy stature were of the Hulk, but it seemed like everything else belonged to Bruce.  His eyes were soft, intelligent, and kind, and his facial expressions were more reminiscent of the human Bruce than of the Hulk’s fierceness.  But there definitely was a streak of confidence that didn’t seem to be there before.  Nevertheless, even hearing Bruce’s soft-spoken voice speaking full, eloquent, intelligent sentences out of such a large, looming body was strange, and this paradox made Rory question a lot more than it probably should have.  Bruce offered a knowing smile and said, “These are confusing times.”

Scott began to shake his head as he lifted up a hand as if to stop Bruce’s thought process.  “No, that’s not what we’re --”

But Bruce interrupted him with a chuckle as he said, “I’m kidding!  I get it.  It’s crazy.”  He nodded as he spoke, and a gentle but proud smile spread across his face.  “I wear shirts now!”

“Right, yeah, cool,” Rory said adamantly as she nodded her approval, but her eyes kept shifting among the faces of the others there.  Steve and Natasha, who sat on the opposite side of the booth from her and Scott, were surprised, but, being their usual selves, they kept their nonverbal surprise at a bare minimum.  Their faces were rather stoic, but their eyes didn’t follow suit.  Scott, much like her, didn’t know what the heck was going on, and his bemusement was all over his features.  When Rory’s eyes finally settled back on Bruce, she stopped nodding and finished, “Okay, but…”  She really didn’t know what to ask, never mind how to ask it, so she simply went with, “ why ?”

Bruce pointed a large green index finger at her and answered, “You.”

Not expecting that response, Rory’s head jerked back slightly, and her eyes grew wide as she pointed at herself.  “Me?!”

Bruce shrugged as he rolled up a pancake like a burrito, then he amended, “Well, kinda.”  In front of him sat three large plates stacked high with food:  scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon, and pancakes.  Rory did tell him to order whatever he wanted to eat, and he took advantage of her offer.  Hulk-sized appetites needed a lot of nutrition to keep up with big brains and big brawns.  He took a bite of the pancake, which was roughly half of it, chewed, swallowed, then continued, “Two years ago, we got our asses kicked, right?”

“So I heard,” Rory confirmed while Scott nodded beside her, indicating he was aware of the story too.

“It was worse for me,” Bruce admitted after he finished the rest of the pancake and grabbed another to roll up, “because I lost a lot.”  He held up one finger and said, “First Hulk lost,” then held up a second finger and added, “then Banner lost.”  Then he held his hand out and waved it over the table with his palm up, gesturing everyone.  “Then we all lost.”

Natasha’s voice was soft and understanding when she said, “No one blames you, Bruce.”

He turned his face to her and gave her a small smile.  There was a look in his eyes Rory couldn’t quite place, too many emotions were built up and expressed with one look that it was hard for her to discern them all.  “But I did,” Bruce said quietly, as if this was the first time he admitted such a thing out loud.  Then he quickly turned his attention to the food and muttered like a host who forgot his manners, “I feel like I’m the only one eating.  You guys hungry?  Please, try some.  Take whatever you’d like.”

When everyone politely declined the offer, Bruce shrugged and continued eating, more content with the pancakes than the rest of the food.  Before Rory could prompt Bruce to continue his explanation, he did so on his own.  “See, the thing is, for years I treated the Hulk like a disease, something I had to rid myself of.  But then it hit me:  what if I started treating him like the cure?”  He continued explaining in between bites, “I spent a lot of time in the gamma lab.”  He shrugged.  “I probably would have gotten these results faster if I had spent more consecutive time in the lab, but oh well.”  At this he put down the pancake he held and meshed his fingers together.  “I tried to put the brains and the brawn together, but the time in the lab took a toll on me,” he said as he uncurled his fingers, “making me weak and worn out.”

“I remember you looked pretty drained the last time I saw you.”

“Yeah, and that’s why.  Only now do I see it was just part of the process, but at the time, I saw it as more failure on my part.  So I gave up.  Then Scott, who we thought was one of the Ashen, seems to come back from the dead suddenly, and he brings you to us and tells us what Strange said about you.  I saw the wizard in action two years ago, so I know he’s legitimate.  And then you bring Tony home from being stranded in space for two years, and I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time.”

“What’s that?” Steve asked before anyone else could.

Bruce looked at the faces of his friends at the table and offered a kind smile.  “Hope.”  He extended a closed fist to Rory, and she, with a sheepish smile, pounded his large fist with her own smaller one.  “So then after Tony’s rescue, I felt rejuvenated, ready to try the gamma lab again.  This time?  Everything clicked like it was supposed to,” he said as he shrugged and extended his arms as he finished with, “and I walked out with the best of both worlds.”

“Holy crap,” Rory exclaimed quietly, emphasizing each syllable.  “That’s fricking amazing.”

“It’s definitely taken some getting used to,” he admitted as he gestured to the plates in front of him as well as his size, “but it’s been like a fun science project for me.  Really rejuvenating.”

Rory nodded quickly and grinned, finding her opening for why they were here.  “Good!  That’s good.  I like to hear that for you, buddy.  Are you…are you perhaps interested in another rejuvenating science project?”

Bruce swallowed a mouthful of scrambled eggs before asking with a gentle smirk, “You recruiting me for your team?”

“Well, I mean, you’re already part of the team, Bruce.  You’re one of the original team members after all.  So I don’t think this is a recruitment, per se.”

“So what is this then?”

Scott couldn’t help himself, and before he thought it all through, he commented, “A bribe for brunch.”

All eyes turned to Scott then, and Rory nudged his ribs with her elbow in a playful yet annoyed way, like she would her own brother whenever he made an ill-timed joke.  “Ignore him,” she commented quickly, “that was an inside joke.”  She cleared her throat while Scott attempted to keep his quiet laughter in check.  “The truth is, Bruce, this is me asking for superior help here.  I know what Strange said about me, but there’s no way I can do this myself.  I need the best on my side.”

“You’ve definitely got quite a task in front of you,” Bruce agreed with a nod, “and yeah, you’re going to need all the help you can get.  No offense.”

“No, I 100% agree with you there.”

Bruce nodded as he grabbed another pancake and started rolling it up, “Yeah, I’ll help you.  It’s what the universe needs, and I’m finally where I can help.  So yeah, let’s do this.”  While Rory did a victorious fistpump, Bruce asked before eating the pancake, “Do you have a plan?”  

That made Rory freeze for a split second, swallowing as she started wringing her hands together under the table.  “I have…an idea.  A plan in the very early stages of development.”  That’s assuming the Stones were still out there to be taken back.  For all she knew, they could have been destroyed while she was in her coma or so far away they’re completely out of her reach.  If that was the case, she needed a huge contingency plan.  And she barely had an idea for Plan A.

She quickly added before anyone could ask what the plan was, “Still though, there’s a lot of things I don’t know that we need answers to in order to make any of this work.  There’s data that needs to be collected, more specifically about our adversary.  Where he is, what he’s been doing, does he still have armed forces, where he keeps the Infinity Stones, etc. etc.  We need information because going into this blind is just batshit crazy.”

“As I said before,” Bruce said with a gentle smirk, “these are crazy times.”

“Not that crazy, hopefully.  Maybe that desperate?  But hopefully not that crazy.  The more intel we can get before we start all of this the better.”

“Smart thinking.  I like it.  Alright, when do you want to start?”

Rory leaned forward some and asked with a smirk, showing how encouraged she was by this turn of events, “How soon can you get to the compound?”

“We were going to offer to let you ride with us,” Natasha told him, “but to be honest, we weren’t planning on encountering Professor Hulk today.”

Bruce chuckled at that.  “Professor Hulk.  I kinda like it. And don’t worry about me,” he says with a gentle, dismissive wave, “I can get myself to the compound.  I need to go home and collect a few things anyway.  I’ll meet you all there before the day is over.  But first,” he gestured again to the pancakes, “you have to order some of these and eat and visit with me.  They’re so good.”

“Well who are we to turn down an offer like that?” Scott asked as he waved to the waitress with a courteous smile.  “I can’t say no to pancakes.  Cap?  I bet you’re more like an omelet kinda guy.”

“Oh the omelets are good here too,” Bruce offered.

Steve sighed before he nodded his head in a resigned manner.  He’d prefer to get started right away.  The sooner they get everything fixed, the better.  But he swallowed his comments for the time being and decided for the moment, this was what was needed.  Some normalcy.  “Yeah, I could go for an omelet.”

“I hope they have peanut butter,” Rory commented.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at her.  “I’m hoping you mean peanut butter for your pancakes?”

“Of course I do!  Ew, that other combo is disgusting.  But peanut butter on pancakes though,” she hummed hungrily with a soft chuckle, “don’t knock it till you try it.”

“I just might try it then.”

Rory leaned back against the booth seat and sighed.  Okay, so far so good.  Maybe they really could do this after all.  It was a start anyway.  

She looked around the room again at the families, heart being tugged over how peaceful and normal this scene was.  The ache in her chest threatened to override what she saw, but she refused to let her negative thoughts and emotions bring her down. 

But one thought did slip through the barrier.

This is no video game, kid.  This is real life with real consequences.  One wrong move, and all of this could be gone in a snap.  And you’re no hero.

Chapter Text

Rory opened the door to her quarters, disorientated and grumpy.  The banging on her door and voices calling her name woke her from an actual good sleep, and she was very unappreciative.  Despite the satisfactory time for healing that had passed since reviving from her magical coma, it still had a weary effect on her, like she was still pulling herself out of the darkness on the cliffside.  Not to mention the anxiety of how the hell she was supposed to fix the Decimation was starting to take its toll on her.  Sleep had been offering a nice reprieve whenever sleep could be found, and having that interrupted on top of being disturbed at such an early morning hour was enough to piss off this night owl.

Adjusting her glasses and glaring at the few Avengers who crowded around her doorway, she muttered coldly, “It is five o’clock in the morning.  If there isn’t a fire or a life-threatening emergency, then I’m going back to sleep.”   Two of the culprits interrupting her sleep, Tony, who decided to join the fray, and Steve, started talking simultaneously while Natasha, the final culprit, simply rolled her eyes.  Rory waved her arms and shouted to get their attention.  “Woah woah WOAH!  SHUT UP!”  When they quieted down, she pushed her glasses up above her eyes so she could rub them.  “It’s waaaay too early in the morning for this, guys.  Go back to bed.”

“I haven’t even been yet,” Tony muttered, looking as tired as Rory felt.

“Tony,” she chastised quietly, which was answered with a shrug.  “You need to rest too, ya know.”

“I’ll crash later.”

“We may have found something,” Steve said with a little bit of excitement, getting right to the point. 

“-- the hell’s going on out here?” One door down from Rory’s door, Scott stumbled out into the hall as he rubbed one eye and squinted at the others with the other.  His hair was wild and askew from sleep, and he wore a black Star Wars t-shirt and blue plaid pajama pants.  He shrugged as if to ask why and out loud asked in a sleepy voice, “You guys know what time it is?”

“Sorry, Scott,” Steve said.

“The early birds can’t help working with night owls sometimes,” Natasha added with a shrug.

Rory turned to Tony and asked, “So what does that make you?  Since you haven’t been to sleep yet.”

“Uh, I don’t know,” Tony answered absentmindedly as he looked from Rory to Scott then back again.  “I’m more interested in what’s up with the plaid twins right now,” he said as he pointed between Rory’s top and Scott’s pants repeatedly in a fast motion.  “Did we miss the memo or something?”

Rory had to physically work to keep her eyes from growing wide.  She got chilly last night, which wasn’t a surprise to her since she always felt cold.  So she grabbed the pair of sweatpants and the flannel shirt she found herself wearing after she woke up from her coma, pulled those on, and left the plaid shirt unbuttoned, displaying her purple Hakuna Matata t-shirt.  She really should give the flannel shirt and sweatpants back to Scott, but she’s found it hard to do that since she just liked them too much.  Now that she got caught with them, she attempted to hide her annoyance about being caught with them behind her annoyance for being up so early which wasn’t too difficult to accomplish.  “Well excuse me for not dressing to the nines at five in the fricking morning.”

“At least Scott’s stuff matches,” Natasha said with a smirk Rory had come to know as signaling Natasha was going to bond via jesting.  “We’ve got a hodge-podge of stuff going on here,” she commented as she fixed the collar of Rory’s flannel shirt. “Your t-shirt’s an interesting choice too.  Is that your mantra?”

“Hey now,” Rory said as she pointed a finger at her while Scott joined the group, “don’t diss the best Disney movie ever, okay?”

“Uh,” Scott chimed in, “I think you mean Toy Story is the best Disney movie ever.”

“That’s the best Disney/Pixar movie ever,” Rory amended.

Natasha shook her head.  “No, that would be Monsters, Inc. ”

“Well, it’s pretty good, but is it the best?”

“Yeah, it is, Scott.  I don’t think I stuttered.”

Rory raised an eyebrow at her and smirked.  “Do you normally have a stuttering problem?”

“Uh, hold on, Roar,” Tony piped up, “are you actually trying to tell me The Lion King is better than Aladdin ?”

“As a matter of fact, yes, I am.  Although that is a really good one too, but I didn’t really peg you as the Disney type.”

Tony shrugged, “I’m just full of surprises.”

“I’m just going to throw out there that Operation Dumbo Drop is a great movie,” Steve quietly commented.

Tony, Natasha, and Scott simultaneously gave him incredulous looks and said, “What?”

“Actually, Steve,” Rory said with a partial shrug, “I’ll agree with ya there.  That one’s good too.”

He nodded once as he said, “Thank you.”

“But please tell me you didn’t wake me up at five in the morning to discuss movies.  Or make fun of my sleeping attire,” she added before sticking her tongue out at Natasha who chuckled in reply.  “I got cold last night,” Rory told her, “and these are comfy.”

“No, of course not,” Steve replied as his posture stiffened, and his brain swapped back to the matter at hand.  “Like I said, we may have found something.”

“Found what exactly?”

“Thanos.”

Rory’s eyes grew wide before she closed the door behind her.  “I guess that’s worth getting up at five in the morning.  Show me.”

Tony and Steve took turns explaining to Rory what they had found as they made their way to the conference room with Scott and Natasha quickly following behind.  Tony took the first round.  “So having Blue Meanie and, what did you call him, the trash panda in our ranks has been really interesting.”

“I can only imagine.”

“They’ve been reporting back from various corners of the galaxy filling us in about what the Decimation has done to other planets as well,” Steve informed her.  

“As I hear, Carol has been doing the same.”

Tony nodded.  “For sure, but it’s what Nebula and Rocket have to show us that’s so interesting.”

“We don’t know how we missed it,” Steve admitted, “but to be fair, whatever they have to show us, they said it wasn’t something we were looking for. It was just a last resort hunch on their part.”

Rory shook her head as they walked into the conference room. “If my curiosity wasn’t aroused before, it sure is now.”  When she realized Bruce and a hologram of Rhodey were in the room as well, standing in front of holograms of their galactic teammates, she gawked at Bruce too. “What are you doing up?  Don’t you guys sleep?”

Rhodey shrugged and gave her a look like she was crazy even though most there, including himself, were still in pajamas.  “It’s morning, Rory.”

“ Five in the morning.  The sun itself is barely awake!”

Steve cleared his throat, signaling for them to quiet down and pay attention, then he nodded to the Guardians. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Nebula gave him a curt nod before beginning.  “In my time with Thanos, he spent a long time trying to perfect me, hours upon hours of work it seemed, and when he worked, he talked about his great plan.  Even disassembled, I wanted to please him.  I’d ask, ‘Where would we go once this plan was complete?’  His answer was always the same.  ‘To the Garden’.”

“Oh that’s cute,” Rhodey commented with bitter sarcasm.  “Thanos has a retirement plan.”

Tony leaned close to Rory and muttered, “Sounds a little generic.”

“‘Specially for a guy who plans every detail,” she muttered back.  Louder she asked, “So where’s that?”

“That remained a mystery he kept to himself.  He never specified, and he never took me there beforehand,” Nebula answered.

“But,” Rocket interjected, “we think we found the bastard anyway.”  He pushed a button on the device he wore on his wrist, and from it sprouted a holographic image of Earth.  Rory was amazed by how clear and crisp the image looked despite being a hologram of a hologram, as if she could pluck it from where it sat and hold it in her hand.  How ironic something so huge like Earth could be displayed so small, she thought.  

Rocket continued, “When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions.”  The Earth hologram displayed a shockwave of energy encasing the entire planet, exploding from its epicenter in Wakanda.  It also showed a shockwave erupting from the planet and expanding outward into all reaches of the universe.  “No one’s ever seen anything like it.  Until almost four months after the Decimation on this planet.”  Another hologram popped up beside the tiny Earth to show a green and tan planet with a shockwave that began from an epicenter, traveled a short distance, then quickly retreated back to its point of origin.  “Well, sorta.  Still a freakishly large power surge, but it didn’t act like what happened on Earth.”

“He used the Stones again,” Natasha stated, her voice tight with fear.

“Why?”  Tony shrugged though he looked like he was on the verge of an anxiety attack.  “Winning wasn’t enough for the guy; what the hell could he have possibly done now?”

“Nothing,” Rory answered quietly before everyone turned to her with questioning glances.  Watching the hologram replay what happened on this planet versus what happened on Earth, intuition told her nothing happened.  Nothing that was supposed to happen anyway.  No, she felt confident the Avengers didn’t have to worry about the Stones in this instance.  Rory corrected Natasha’s earlier comment and said, “He tried to use the Stones again, but whatever purpose he intended didn’t work.”

Bruce asked, “What makes you think it didn’t work?”

“Look,” Rory answered as she pointed to the hologram.  “The snap resulting in the Decimation completely covered the planet.  This one though starts off the same way then reverses itself as if it was an error or something, and my gut tells me that means whatever he wanted, the Stones couldn’t actually do it for whatever reason.”

“What could he have tried to do that the Stones couldn’t fulfill?”

The room was quiet for a moment as everyone thought about what could possibly be beyond the Stones’ powers, but none seemed to have an answer.  Finally, after a moment, Scott shrugged and said, “Seems kinda obvious to me.  He got the job done, so it’s better for him if everything stays as is, right?  So he’d try to make that happen, but if they’re Infinity Stones, then can they even be destroyed?”

Rory turned to him with wide eyes and smiled as dots connected in her brain.  “Scott!  That’s brilliant, and it totally fits what’s going on here.”

Steve crossed his arms and asked, “How do you figure?”

“Think about it,” Rory explained.  “He won.  As far as he’s concerned, the game’s over, and he can retire now.  And because he won, he has no reason to keep the Infinity Stones anymore, but he wouldn’t just leave them around.  Oh no, if he did that, they could be found by anyone else, particularly us, and all his hard work would be undone.  But if he could get rid of them,” she suggested, leaving the rest of her sentence unfinished.

“That would ensure everything he’s done could not be undone,” Natasha finished for Rory. 

Tony looked between the holographic planet and Rory.  “But you’re saying it didn’t work?”

“Yes.  I think Scott’s right.  It’s the only thing that makes sense to me, now that he’s said it, because what I see,” Rory said as she pointed to the planet’s image again, “is Thanos tried to pull something involving the Stones, and compared to what happened when he snapped his fingers on Earth, this particular plan backfired.”

“So the Stones are still out there,” Natasha pointed out quietly. 

“Which means everything he did could be undone,” Bruce added.

Tony held up a finger.  “Uh.  That would require retrieving the Stones…and as long as Thanos has them in his grasp, are they even retrievable?”

Steve shrugged as if he already surrendered to the idea of taking the Stones or die trying.  “If that’s the only way to fix everything, then we need to try.”

“There’s smart ways to do this and stupid ways.”  Rory gave Steve a look as if to say chill out, dude .  “Let’s not jump the gun on this, okay?  We’ve gotta be smart about this if we’re going to be successful.”

Rhodey shrugged.  “Do you think they’re even retrievable?  Is there even a point in trying this option?”

“Honestly?”  Rory paused, inhaled slowly for a moment, and frowned.  “Yes, possibly.  Granted, we don’t even know what we would find once we reach that planet.  We could find a fortress or a hut.  We could find an army or just him.  After two years of no opposition, maybe he’s chilled out and really is living out that retirement plan, but we’ll have to be really careful in how we plan this and carry it out.  But theoretically, yeah, I think they can be.  The real question that I’ve been trying to figure out is how to best do it.”

“That sounds like a suicide mission to me,” Tony commented as he shook his head.  “I don’t know if we should go that route at all.”

“But we need the Stones, Tony.  We can’t fix it if we don’t have them.  We need them.  I need them.  Otherwise, we’re no closer to fixing everything than we are right now.”

“But if he still has them, what’s stopping him from snapping his fingers when we show up and wipe us out before we could take one step in his direction?”

“What’s stopped him from doing that already?  He could have taken any and all super people out from the start and could have for two years now but has not.  I think we can make this happen.  We just have to be careful on how we do it.”

“All the stealth in the world won’t help us unless the Stones are removed as a threat,” Natasha pointed out.

Bruce added, “And they won’t be until we take them back.”

Scott was lost in thought for a while, catching bits and pieces of the debate as he worked through his own solution one last time.  He’s had a lot of time to think about this, and if there was one thing he knew deep in his gut it was the Quantum Realm was key.  He scratched the back of his head and took a breath like he was mentally preparing himself before he spoke up.  “Maybe there’s another way.”  All eyes turned to him, and he exhaled slowly.  “Okay,” Scott asked hesitantly, very much aware of the other brilliant minds in the room, “have any of you ever studied quantum physics?”

“A little rusty on it,” Tony answered.  “I haven’t touched the subject in a while.”

Bruce shrugged and replied, “Yeah.”

“Only to make conversation,” Natasha answered.

Rory turned and gave her an astounded look.  “‘Only to make conversation’,” she repeated incredulously, but Natasha waved her off.

“Alright,” Scott began, “so two years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm which is like its own microscopic universe.  To get there, you have to be incredibly small.  Hope, she’s my – she was my…” For a brief second, his loss hit him hard again, and he had to compose himself before continuing, “She was supposed to get me out after I got done with my job, but then Thanos happened, and I got stuck there.”

Tony looked horrified.  “For two whole years?”

“That’s the thing though,” Scott said as he shook his head.  “It was just under three hours for me.  See, the rules of the Quantum Realm work differently there than they do here.  Everything’s unpredictable there, especially time, which is a problem because we don’t have a way to navigate it.  But what if we did?”

Rory’s head jerked forward, and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  “Navigate...time?”

“I can’t stop thinking about it,” he explained quickly.  “The Quantum Realm has gotta be the key to this.  I know it is.  The problem is I just don’t know how it is.  But this idea could work.  I mean, what if we could somehow control the chaos and navigate it?  Time, I mean.  What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm,” he questioned as he held his hands parallel to each other and shifted them forward slightly as if inserting them into a space, “at a certain point in time but then exit,” he continued as he shifted his hands to the left, “at another point in time?  Like,” he paused, partly to catch his breath and partly to measure the reactions in the room, as he dropped his hands, “like before Thanos.”

Steve threw a hand up to stop him and asked, “Wait, Scott, are you talking about a,” even after everything he’d seen and heard, Steve couldn’t quite believe he was asking about this, “time machine?”

Scott knew it was an insane idea, but he also couldn’t shake the idea that the Quantum Realm was supposed to play a bigger role in this somehow.  But it still didn’t stop him from feeling a little embarrassed about his suggestion.  “No.  No, no, of course not,” he said rapidly, trying to backpedal, feeling his cheeks burn which only embarrassed him more.  “No, not a time machine.  It’s more like a…” he paused, trying to figure out a better way to describe it.  But when he realized a time machine was the very thing he was describing, he pressed his lips together and reluctantly nodded.  “Yeah.  Yeah, a time machine.  Look, I know it’s crazy, but there’s gotta be some way.  There’s gotta be - be some -”  He shook his head, keeping his eyes down.  “It’s crazy.”

“Scott,” Natasha commented in an almost tired manner as she pointed at Rory, “she’s literally from an alternate universe, and there is a talking racoon in the room.”  She shrugged nonchalantly.  “Nothing sounds crazy anymore.”

“I’m not a raccoon,” Rocket growled.

“Okay so what,” Steve asked Scott curiously yet a bit warily.  “We go back in time and do what exactly?  Stop Thanos before he tries his plan?  Before he takes any of the Stones?”

“Yeah,” Scott said eagerly, nodding quickly, encouraged by somebody wanting to explore and better understand his plan.  “But I think we can take it a step further.  I think we can go into the Quantum Realm, travel back in time, and take the Stones for ourselves before Thanos can!  Now, you know, we gotta strictly follow the rules of time travel if we pull this off.  No talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events, things like that.  But I’m telling you guys, the Quantum Realm is the answer.  It’s just gotta be.”

“Wait, wait, wait a second,” Rhodey interrupted as he waved his hands to get others' attention.  “Let me ask you something.  If we can do this, you know, time-travel thing, why stop at going back to before Thanos starts looking for the Stones?  Why don’t we find a younger   Thanos before he gets all good at fighting instead and, you know,” he said before making a gesture of wrapping something around his neck and then pulling the ends of his invisible rope in opposite directions.  

Rhodey got some mixed reviews and expressions in response, and Rocket was the first one to speak out before anyone else.  “Finally!  A friggin’ plan actually worth listening to!  Let’s wipe out the problem before it even starts!”

Bruce shook his head.  “Uh no .  First of all,” he said with disgust, “that’s horrible.”

“It’s Thanos ,” Rhodey answered monotonously.  Off to the side, Rory shrugged and bobbed her head as if to reluctantly agree with him. 

“Secondly,” Bruce continued as he held up two fingers, “time doesn’t work that way.  Changing the past doesn’t change the present or the future.”

“Look, we go back,” Scott explained, “and we get the Stones before Thanos gets them.”  He shrugged as if to say he didn’t see an issue.  “Problem solved.”

“Bingo,” Rhodey said as he pointed at Scott.

“Sounds good to me,” Steve said.

“Uh, that’s not really how it works,” Tony commented.

Nebula nodded once.  “They’re right.  That’s not how that works.”

“Well,” Rhodey remarked, “that’s what I heard.”

“Really, platypus?  Who told you that?”

“Oh well, okay you ready for this?”  Rhodey began to count on his fingers.  “ Star Trek , A Wrinkle in Time , Terminator , Somewhere in Time --”

“ Quantum Leap ,” Scott suggested.  “ Groundhog Day .”

“Right.  Predestination, Edge of Tomorrow. ”

Bruce interrupted, “That’s a fantasy film.”

“These are all fantasy films,” Tony stated with an eye roll.

“Nerds,” Rocket muttered under his breath.

But Rhodey and Scott kept going, ignoring them.  “ Hot Tub Time Machine ,” Scott suggested.

“Thank you!  Yeah, that’s another one.  Hot Tub Time Machine ,” Rhodey continued as he counted that one on his fingers too.  “ Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure .”

“ Die Hard ?”  Scott shook his head and waved dismissively, answering his own question.  “Nah, that’s not one.”

“Basically,” Rhodey summed up, “any movie that deals with time travel.  This is known.”

“This is known,” Scott repeated with an enthusiastic head nod.

“Okay,” Bruce said with a pronounced sigh as he shook his head, “I don’t know why everyone believes that, but that isn’t true.  Think about it:  if you travel to the past, that past becomes your new future, and your former present becomes the past which can’t now be changed by your new future.”

“Exactly,” Tony concurred.  “Jolly Green knows what’s up.”

Scott turned to Rory and muttered, “So... Back to the Future ’s a bunch of bullshit?”

“I’m literally not in any position to answer that question,” she muttered back with a slow head shake.

“Not to mention,” Tony continued, “quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale which triggers the Deutsch Proposition.”  He scanned the room and shrugged.  “Can we all agree on that?”

Rory’s brows furrowed, and she pursed her lips together as she raised her right hand like she was in school.  “Ummm, Tony?”

“This isn’t high school, Roar.  You don’t have to raise your hand.”

She sheepishly lowered it as she said, “Okay, umm, look, I know I’m smart, but I’m not - I’m not that smart.  So, I have literally no idea,” she said as she shook her head, “what you just said.”

“In Layman’s terms, it means we wouldn’t be coming home.”

Scott spoke up in defense of his plan, “I did.”

“No, sorry, buddy, you accidentally survived.  It’s a billion to one cosmic fluke, and now you wanna pull off a plan based on that fluke?”

“I’ve come back from the Quantum Realm once on my own and once with help.  Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne came back on their own too because of tech and science.  Definitely not a fluke, so based on that, yeah, I do.”

“Traveling to and from the Quantum Realm is one thing.  Traveling through time via the Quantum Realm is on a whole other level.  Not even remotely close to what you’ve done.”

“Closer than anything else we’ve got now!  Come on, this is totally doable:  a,” Scott answered as he elevated his chin and offered a small, dimpled smile, “a time heist.”

“Oh,” Tony replied with some sarcasm as he nodded his head, “right.  Okay.  A time heist.  Of course, why didn’t we think of this before?  Oh, that’s right.  Because it’s laughable?”

“Tony, we can go get the Stones before Thanos gets them,” Scott argued, feeling a bit defensive over his idea not being accepted, “and we can fix everything .”

“We can snap our own fingers,” Natasha concluded, warming up to the idea.  “We can bring everyone back.”

“Or screw it up worse than Thanos already has, right?”

Steve shook his head firmly as he said,“I don’t believe we would, Tony.”

Tony crossed his arms, shook his head slowly, and exhaled through his nose.  “Gotta say, these past two years I’ve sometimes missed that giddy optimism.  However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for us to safely execute said time heist.  I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise.”

“Rory, you’re being awfully quiet about all this,” Bruce commented suddenly.  

Rory winced slightly.  She really wished no one would have noticed; she wanted more time to think about this plan.  Every set of eyes turned to her, and she looked at them like a deer caught in headlights.  “I usually am quiet,” she responded, trying to deflect the attention off herself.  “Besides, I’m still thinking.”

“Your opinion matters in this instance,” Steve said, “probably even more so considering how much importance has been placed on you for us to succeed.”

She hated being reminded of that.  First of all, that was a lot of pressure for one person of any kind of caliber.  Secondly, when one’s sense of self-esteem and self-worth weren’t all that great anyway, the idea of being that important was a hard pill to swallow.  Thirdly, she’s no superhero.  No powers.  No suit.  No spy skill set or assassin skill set or whatever.  No nothing.  How could that be helpful in this case?  Finally, even though it was unlikely much to her chagrin, what if Stephen Strange was wrong about her?

Rory scratched the back of her head as she allowed herself a few more seconds of thought.  Intuition seemed to be awake and working because it immediately told her no when she first heard the plan, and as she continued to think, she quickly encountered multiple reasons why this plan was not the way to go.  She looked down, more interested in studying her bare feet than discussing how she was against the idea, and she tried to ignore the fact the idea was Scott’s because it only made her feel worse.  “I was a house guest of a guy who literally studied time,” she began quietly, “and for as long as I stayed under that roof, I heard a lot about it too.  While time can be a really great asset to have, when you start messing with timelines and swapping things around in pasts that have already been established, things can get really outta whack.”

“Oh yeah,” Tony asked.  “Like how?”

Rory scoffed and shook her head as she looked up at him.  “Man, where do I start?  Manipulating time like you’re talking about can create alternate timelines, time loops, spacial paradoxes, or completely wiping things and/or people from existence.  Alternate timelines are 100% guaranteed consequences of this plan, and more than likely they will not be good timelines either.  Of course, that is assuming we actually figure out how to control time like that.  All the other things I said and potentially much worse are the hazards faced in attempting this plan, never mind actually pulling it off.”  She shook her head again and crossed her arms.  “My vote’s no.”

“Okay,” Bruce commented first before anyone else could, “good points, yeah, but what if I could ease your mind about the alternate timelines issue?”

Rory furrowed her brows and tilted her head slightly, surprised Bruce was speaking in defense of the idea.  “Are you for this plan?”

“Not saying yes or no either way,” he answered with a shrug.  “Like you, I’m thinking about it.”

“What about your argument saying that’s not how time works and stuff like that?”

“It’s not how time works, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t doable.  We just need to figure out how to do it.”

“Alright, fine.  For argument’s sake, Bruce, let’s hear your counterpoint.”

“Okay, I’m not saying we can prevent those timelines from happening, but I think we can erase them.  Once we’re done with the Stones, we can return each one to its own timeline at the exact moment it was taken.  So, chronologically, it never left, and things resume as we know them to have resumed.”

Rory remained quiet as she considered Bruce’s explanation.  It made sense, and it would solve the alternate timeline problem.  “Provided, as I’ve already said, we were actually successful in the time travel thing.”

“But,” Bruce said slowly, “I think it’s possible.”

“I can easily believe it is,” Rory agreed, “because I’ve seen some crazy things with time.  But just because it is possible doesn’t mean we should try it.”

“At least it is a possibility,” Steve commented.  “Probably the best possibility we’ve heard.  That’s the most we’ve had in two years.”

“Even if we were successful in time travel, there is still one really big, ginormous thing you’ve failed to discuss.”

“Which is,” Steve prompted her. 

“The Stones in this timeline,” Rory responded while pointing forcefully down to the floor, “still exist and will still exist no matter what we change in the past.  If we go back in time and grab the Stones before the Thanos of the past gets them, that does not erase the set that the current Thanos has now .  No, worse, that means there would be two sets,” she continued while holding up two fingers, “unchecked at the same time, and if you thought one set unchecked was bad enough.”  She chortled wickedly.  “Imagine both sets falling into Thanos’ hands.  I’m sorry,” she concluded with a solemn headshake.  “But I’m still vetoing this plan.”

Tony stretched and yawned at this before saying, “That’s good enough for me.  I’m gonna go crash now.”

Steve wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.  “Tony, come on.  Maybe we can work out all these issues.”

“There are way too many catastrophic cons compared to pros.  Rory’s entire list is scary as hell, especially having two sets of Stones compared to one set, and I’m with her.  This isn’t the way for us to go.”

“But this is more than we’ve had in two years,” he argued.

“You already said that.  Look, it’s a start, and I wish I felt better about the whole thing.  But I don’t, and she clearly doesn’t either,” Tony said as he pointed at Rory.  “And you said that her input matters the most, and if she says no, that should be good enough for us.”

“Then maybe,” Steve suggested in a low voice, something akin to a growl born out of frustration, “she should at least give us something to work with if she’s going to veto the one plan we’ve got.  Something better than we could maybe take them back.”

Scott glanced in Rory’s direction to find the confidence she had in her adamant refusal vanished.  Instead, her shoulders drooped; her head hung slightly; she was wringing her hands; and her eyes were sad and anxious as they shifted around to each person in the room.  When her eyes landed on him, Scott could see the apology in her expression, but her gaze was quickly torn away as Steve pleaded with her.  “Rory, reconsider.  Please .”

The sadness and anxiety didn’t fade, but Rory straightened, forced herself to put her hands by her sides, and said coolly, “My decision is final, Rogers.  Absolutely not.”

Chapter Text

“Soooooo, you’re sure these modifications are safe?”  Scott adjusted the Quantum suit he wore while he stood beside Luis’ van as he, Bruce, Steve, and Natasha worked in the hangar of the Avengers compound.  The Quantum Machine sitting in the back of the van waited to be revved to life as Bruce worked nearby on a control panel.  The suit Scott wore was the same one Hank Pym wore weeks ago to retrieve Janet from the Quantum Realm.  Years , Scott reminded himself.  Years ago, not weeks ago .   That was something he wasn’t going to get used to anytime soon.  

Bruce looked up from his work at the control panel and adjusted his glasses which was a sight that under different circumstances would have made Scott chuckle.  The Hulk wearing clothes and glasses while speaking long, intelligent, cohesive sentences was something else Scott wasn’t going to get used to anytime soon.  Bruce pulled him out of his thoughts by assuring him, “I reran my calculations three times.”

But that didn’t seem to satisfy the Ant-Man.  “Because the guy who invented this thing is pretty much a genius, so…”  Scott let his words trail off with a shrug.

“Hey, relax, pal,” Professor Hulk responded.  “I have seven PhDs, an MD, the Hans Bethe Award for Physics,” he listed while he counted them off on his fingers, “ and I’m personal friends with Bill Nye the Science Guy.  So…” Bruce let the word trail a little bit before finishing with, “I think we’re good.”

Scott scoffed as he grabbed the suit’s helmet.  “Yeah,” he said in a deadpan tone, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, “and you look like that on purpose.”

“What?  You don’t think it’s a good look?”

“Buddy, I think you’re the only one who can pull it off.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Bruce answered genially.  “You seem kinda tense though.  You sure you’re good?  You’re usually pretty chill.”

“Usually, yeah,” Scott agreed quietly.

“So what’s wrong, Scott?” Bruce asked lightheartedly, trying to get the human guinea pig for the day’s experiment to loosen up.  “You’re not getting cold feet, are you?  You volunteered to do this.”

“That’s not what’s bothering me,” he muttered.

No, Scott had no qualms about going back to the Quantum Realm to test any theories and ideas the team might devise to reverse the Decimation, especially since he felt confident he could be retrieved and not left behind this time, but he wished everyone involved was okay with the time-travel plan.  It also hurt him a little bit that time travel was his idea, and it was shot down so stubbornly, by his friend no less.  Scott knew deep in his gut the Quantum Realm was the key to helping them fix everything, and even though he knew time travel was a half-baked idea, he wished he could get the universe’s one hope to believe the Quantum Realm was the way to go too.  

What bothered Scott further was that Rory’s logic against time travel seemed pretty legitimate, but Captain America insisted on trying the idea anyway.  

At that moment, Steve and Natasha appeared through an exterior door, and as they walked toward the control panel, Steve announced, “Breakers are set, and the emergency generator’s on stand-by.”

“Good,” Bruce commented as he continued punching buttons and adjusting dials and levers on the control panel.  “If we blow the grid, I don’t wanna lose Tiny back in the 50s.”

That caught Scott’s attention, and midway through putting on the helmet, he stopped short, eyes wide and mouth agape.  It was comments like that which made his confidence waiver too.  “Excuse me?”

“He was kidding,” Natasha chuckled as she waved dismissively at Bruce.

“I was kidding,” Bruce echoed in kind as he shrugged.  

Natasha shook her head, still chuckling. “You can’t say things like that, Bruce.”

“Bad joke,” he confessed.  “All my jokes are pretty bad honestly.”

“Uh huh,” Scott mumbled slowly and quietly, shooting a suspicious glance towards the pair before sliding the helmet in place.

Natasha turned, walked closer to Bruce, and whispered so Scott couldn’t hear, “You were kidding, right?”

Bruce quickly turned towards her and bent close so she could hear his exasperated whispers.  “Honestly, I have no idea.  I mean, we’re talking about time travel here, Natasha.  Either it’s all a joke or none of it is!”  Before giving Natasha a chance to respond, Bruce straightened up a little too quickly to be considered casual, gave Scott a thumbs up, and stated loudly and optimistically, “We’re good!”

As Scott moved to take his place in front of the open van doors that revealed the Quantum Machine, he couldn’t help but ask, “Uh, Cap, not to be uh, not to be a non-team player…is that even a word?  Non-team?  Anti-team player?  Whatever, you get what I’m trying to say.  Are you - are you sure this is a good idea?” 

“You having second thoughts, Scott?” Steve asked as he casually crossed his arms over his chest.  “I thought you wanted to try your idea.”

I’m definitely second guessing time travel, Scott thought, but not the Quantum Realm.  “I mean,” he continued hesitantly, “I’m willing to try this.  No problem there since I’ve been to the Quantum Realm loads of times.  Well,” he amended sheepishly, “not loads but definitely more than once.  Anyway, Rory seemed pretty adamant about not doing the time-traveling idea, so do you think attempting it anyway is a good idea?”

“I understand your reservations,” Steve answered calmly.  “I wish she was on board with it too.  She may not have liked the idea, but she wasn’t able to give us any alternatives.  Despite what the wizard told you about her, we can’t just sit still and do nothing.”

“Yeah, but he never said we had to sit still and do nothing,” Scott countered.  “I think he meant we gotta work with her as a team.  You know, make her an Avenger, and we all avenge together, that kinda thing.  Plus,” he added, getting more to the main source of his hesitancy, “Rory gave really good reasons why time travel sounds like a bad idea.” 

“Scott,” Steve said almost pleadingly, “this is the only lead we’ve got right now.

“And we owe it to everyone we lost to try,” Natasha added.

“We can bring them back,” Steve continued with a confidence that seemed to charge the air as he put his fists on his hips, adopting a strong pose like he was selling war bonds again.  “We can turn the tide and fix what’s been broken, Scott, and it starts right now.  I believe we can bring our loved ones back, but we need your help to do it.”  He gave Scott a just and hopeful gaze like a man on a mission who was calling him to something higher and pure, and Scott felt a rush of encouragement and renewed enthusiasm.  “Are you with us, Scott?”

Feeling pumped and ready to go, Scott answered energetically, “Hell yeah, I am!”

“Then let’s do this,” Steve declared before turning and giving Bruce a single nod, signaling him to get the process underway.

Bruce returned the nod before giving Scott his full attention.  As Natasha and Steve moved to stand by Bruce at the control panel, Bruce explained, “Okay, Scott, I’m gonna send you back one week, give you an hour to look around, then bring you back in ten seconds.”  He placed his hand on the main lever and added, “Make sense?”

Scott nodded and gave a dismissive wave as if Bruce explained something as simple as making toast, but Scott’s facial expression disagreed with the rest of his gestures.  “Perfectly not confusing,” he answered somewhat dryly.  

“Good luck, Scott,” Steve said as he nodded his encouragement.  “You’ve got this.”

The way he said it, he may as well have saluted and offered his shield to Scott because that’s how motivated he felt.  He was practically beaming with confidence as he said, “Yes, I do, Captain America.  I got this.”

“Got what?”

Suddenly, four pairs of eyes turned to find Rory walking up to stand by the control panel, curious about the setup they had in the hangar.  She massaged her left shoulder as she walked in since she had just finished some sparring exercises.  In her view, she was the weakest link when it came to a fight, and anything she could do to remedy that, she was going to try it.

The gazes Natasha, Bruce, and Scott had were at varying levels of surprise, Natasha being at the lower end of the spectrum and Scott being at the higher end of the spectrum, but they all had the same message in their eyes.  Busted .   

It was then Rory’s turn to look surprised and confused as Scott suddenly disappeared as Bruce accidently pulled the lever as he turned to face Rory.  “Where’d he go?”

“Last week apparently,” Steve answered.

“At least, that’s what we hope,” Natasha muttered quietly.

Rory’s face went from confused to appalled and angry as she glared at the three remaining Avengers.  “Tell me you did not--”

“Counting down in three,” Bruce interrupted suddenly as his focus returned to his work.  “Two.  One.”

The machine in the back of the van illuminated, spun, and revved in activation, and in a flash, four people became five again.  Only this time, a boy stood among them, and Rory’s heart jumped to her throat when she paid attention to the boy’s attire.  A Quantum suit.

“Uh, guys?”  The boy said as he looked down at how the suit swallowed his frame then looked back up at them looking confused and a little frightened, “This doesn’t feel right.”

“Ummmm,” Natasha said slowly, unsure how to take what her eyes saw.

Rory stared at Natasha, Steve, and Bruce with wide eyes that held surprise, anger, and distress.  She pointed at the boy and demanded them to answer, “Is that Scott?”

The boy answered for them.  “Yes, it’s Scott!”  He looked down at himself again before quickly shaking his head and asking insistently, “What’s going on?!”

“Bruce?”  Steve’s tone remained somewhat stoic, but Rory heard the anxiety seeping into his voice.

“Hang on,” he answered as his hands moved a little more frantically than normal over the panel, pushing buttons in what Rory hoped was a purposeful order.

Young Scott disappeared, then seconds later, he appeared again.  This time as an old man...a really old man.  He was bent over at the waist, and he brought a hand up to his lower back, lamenting, “Oh my back!”

Rory stared in shock as she placed her hands against the side of her head, a little overwhelmed not only by watching the circus spectacle going on but realizing that despite her warnings, these people actually went ahead and tried this.  “This is bonkers !”

Natasha looked up at Steve and said with a slight bite, “This wasn’t supposed to happen.  What the hell is going on?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted.  “Bruce!”  Steve briskly turned to him and barked, “Get it under control.”

“I got it; I got it,” Bruce said rapidly as he continued working over the panel.  “Hang on.”

Old man Lang disappeared, and Bruce began typing something into the panel’s keyboard, and for the first time, Rory noticed the pencil he used to help type since his Hulk-sized fingers were too large for the keys.  The van hummed to life again and spat Scott back out yet again…this time as a one year old wearing a helmet far too big for him and a suit that was so large it mostly laid around him on the ground.

“It’s a baby,” Steve stated in utter disbelief.

Rory clamped her eyes shut and announced in a deadpan tone, “Oh good.  Now we’re all aware of the obvious.”

“This was a bad idea,” Natasha muttered as she adjusted on her feet and crossed her arms.

“It’s still Scott, Cap,” Bruce said defensively.

Steve looked at Bruce incredulously.  “As a baby !”

“He’ll grow!”

Baby Scott, meanwhile, was moving his head so the helmet swished around, entertaining him so much he giggled, completely carefree and not paying attention to the adults’ strife. 

Steve argued, “We don’t need him to grow!  We need this to work !”

“Shut up!!”  Rory howled at Steve and Bruce in anxious frustration.  “Fix it!” she demanded as she pointed to the toddler.  “Bring him back!  As!  He!  Was!”

Bruce pushed a button causing Baby Scott to disappear.  He turned and pointed to a lever on the side of the panel.  “Rory!  See that switch?”  When she nodded, he instructed, “When I tell you, flip it and kill the power!”  She moved into position, and Bruce flipped a switch then pushed two more buttons.  As he flipped another switch, Bruce yelled, “Now!”

Rory pulled the lever as instructed, effectively killing the power.  The van hummed one more time and spat back out Scott, who was back to normal, before shutting down completely.  Scott stumbled off the platform and rapidly shifted his gaze among the four people in front of him who were hardcore staring at him. “Somebody peed my pants,” he announced abruptly.

Rory clapped her hands and proclaimed, alleviated, “He’s okay!”

“Oh thank God,” Natasha said in relief as she put a hand over her chest.  

“I don’t,” Scott continued slowly as if he didn’t hear them, “I don’t know if it was baby-me or old-me.”  He paused for a moment before adding somewhat sheepishly, “Or just me-me.”

Bruce spread his arms wide and exclaimed confidently, “Time travel!”  He nodded at the others who all gave him unenthusiastic looks.  “I see this as a win.”

“Do you,” Rory snapped.  “What about the rest of you, huh?”  She turned to Steve and glared as she placed her hands on her hips, “What about you, Rogers?  You pleased with your results?  Well, you better be, because this was a good scenario.”

“We’ll get it figured out,” Steve stated confidently, looking ahead at the Quantum Machine and not looking her in the eye.

“What about all the warnings I gave?  What about all the reasons I said this was a bad idea?”  Rory pointed at Scott and continued, “What about the possibility that you could have lost him somewhere in time?  Or forced him to relive the same moment forever and ever?  Or caused him to even not exist at all ?  What about that?!”

“Uh,” Scott said slowly as he raised his hand, as if to low-key get attention, “I’d prefer to exist honestly.”

Steve turned and slowly walked to Rory.  “None of those things happened though.  We just need to make a few adjustments; we can make this work.”

Rory swallowed hard and worked to erase the scowl from her face.  “Steve,” she said with some calm as she forced herself to drop her hands and appear more at ease, changing tactics in attempts to reason with him, “take it from someone who learned from a master who studied time.  And the Time Stone.  There are way too many consequences here that are not worth the risk.  For one thing, as I already said, mind you, two sets of Infinity Stones are not better than one, especially if they end up in the very hands of the Big Bad we’re trying to defeat.”

“We can keep this set away from him,” Steve insisted.  

“Secondly, and equally as concerning,” Rory continued ignoring Steve’s comment, “there is the very probable possibility of leaving other timelines in distress just to fix our own or wiping out these past two years as if they never happened among other possible similar negative outcomes.  All of these on their own should be enough to stop you, but that last one really should.”

“Why that one?”

“Look,” she said as she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose for a second, “I know life has been really rough these last two years.  I get it.  Despite what you may think, I really do get it.  Just because I wasn’t here two years ago doesn’t mean I don’t know how horrific the Decimation was when it occurred.  And I lost people too.  But in case you weren’t aware, life goes on,” she said, enunciating the last three words to underline her point.  “And somehow, despite it all, there have been some moments of happiness that have occurred since the Decimation.  Quite a few of them last time I checked the census.”

“What are you talking about?”

“ Think , Rogers, why would I check the census?”

“Kids,” Scott answered quietly, and the other four turned to him to find he was still standing by the van but had removed his helmet.  “There have been kids born since then.”

“Only nineteen in New York City alone, but that’s at the very least nineteen innocent babies in danger of this guessing game you’re playing right now.”

“Bruce has been working on the science for this,” Steve countered.

“So Scott turning into a baby was on purpose,” Rory asked dryly.  “Just for kicks and giggles?”  Steve opened his mouth to speak, but Rory held up a finger to silence him.  “Despite how brilliant Bruce is,”  she turned and looked at Bruce when she added, “a fact which I’m not arguing or questioning FYI,” then she returned her focus to Steve, “there’s more guesswork in this than any of you would care to admit.  I’m begging you, Cap, do not pursue this course anymore.  This is not the way.  I mean, come on, it’s almost like you don’t even know about Morgan, never mind care--”  Rory stopped short as she realized what she said was true.  They couldn’t know about her.  Surely, they wouldn’t attempt this if they were personally connected to someone in danger of their guessing game.  “You...you don’t know who Morgan is, do you?”

She received some blank looks, confused glances, and a lot of head shakes.  “Should we?” Natasha asked.

Rory drew her lips into a thin line, mentally debating on whether she should share and why Pepper would not share this really good information.  Probably Rory and Rhodey were the only ones who knew.  If Pepper and Tony get angry, she would handle that if it comes about.  For now, Rory pulled out her phone, opened the photo app, and pulled up one of her many photos of the toddler.  “Her name is Morgan,” Rory explained as she turned the phone around for everyone to see as they crowded around.  “She’s almost two; she jabbers like there’s no tomorrow; and she’s one of the sweetest little munchkins I’ve ever seen.  And she’s smart to boot too.”

Scott chuckled.  “You call little kids munchkins too?”

“Oh yeah,” Rory replied with a grin.  “Picked that up from my mom if I’m being honest.  Plus, I love The Wizard of Oz .”

“Oh my God,” Natasha muttered sweetly, taken aback by the little girl in the photo.  “She’s darling.”

“She looks like,” Steve started but didn’t finish, letting his sentence drop.

“Go ahead, Cap,” Rory prodded, “say it.  Who does she look like?”

“She looks like Tony.”

“With a little bit of Pepper,” Natasha added with a grin.  

Bruce commented dryly, a soft grin on his face, “Quite the recipe,” and the joke made Scott laugh.

“But why,” Steve began again but let his sentence drop once more, wrapping his brain around the situation.

“Why are you finding out from me?  You’re asking the wrong person.  I don’t know, and I can’t answer that for you.  All I know is I’m using Morgan as my last plea bargain for this, and if Pepper and/or Tony get pissed at me, I’ll deal with that later.  I am begging you, Steve.  Do not continue on this path.”  She kept the phone in his line of sight, so he could see the sweet toddler in the picture while she spoke.  “Do not endanger her future or her very existence by manipulating the past.  Look, I know you’re frustrated with me cause I haven’t instantly fixed everything like you hoped or expected, but I’m working on it.  I’m trying .  Give me a chance and shut this down.  Please .”

Rory dropped her arm when Steve gave her a firm nod after a quick moment’s thought.  “Alright, Rory,” he relented, “we won’t try this way anymore.  But you’ve got to give us some kind of plan by week’s end, or we may have no choice but to pick this back up.  Deal?”

Apparently, desperate times call for stupid measures , Rory thought as she stiffened some at his proposal.  That gave her four days.  Would that be enough time if she’s had no luck so far?  She finally sighed and reluctantly nodded.  “Fine.  By week’s end, but if it actually comes to that point where you ‘have no choice’ but to try this again,” she said sharply as she turned to walk away, “then you can explain to Tony and Pepper why you’re gonna put their daughter’s life on the line.”

Rory left the group behind, trying to be strong while carrying a hefty burden on her shoulders, and as Scott watched her go, he heard Natasha tell Steve, “You know we’re asking a lot of her.  Why do you two have to butt heads like this?  She’s not a Stark, you know,” she added with a slight smirk, hoping the humor would loosen up her friend.

“She might as well be.”  He grew quiet for a moment before giving her a serious answer.  “Two years have come and gone, and we’ve failed to come up with a solution.  As Avengers, we’ve failed.  Then suddenly a supposed solution is brought to our doorstep, but she’s been here for quite a while already and has offered nothing to show for it.  Can you blame me for being frustrated?”

“No, but we need to work together, Steve.  The last time the team didn’t work together, the results were catastrophic.”

Steve sighed, letting his shoulders droop.  “Okay.  You’re right.  We’ll do this together.  We’ll do this the right way.”

“What is the right way?” Bruce asked quietly.

Steve shrugged.  “Hopefully, she’ll show us.”

“She will,” Scott stated confidently.  “I really believe she can help us fix everything.”

“I hope you’re right, Scott.  Otherwise, we’re pretty much back to square one.”

“You’ll see, Cap.  By week’s end, square one will be further behind us than you thought,” Scott remarked before gesturing to the equipment around them.  “Should we break down shop?”

“Not yet,” Steve answered as he shook his head.  “Even if we don’t use this, we might need some of this for whatever plan we’re given.  For now, we might as well carry on as usual.”

As the other three Avengers left, Scott quickly went in the opposite direction to go search for Rory to cheer her up and help her brainstorm.  Right after he changed into cleaner clothes.

Chapter Text

Rory jolted awake, panting hard and frantically looking around for any threats hiding in the shadows of her room.  There was nothing there to make her so tense, but she was tense all the same as involuntary tremors traveled up and down her body.  Once she scanned the room and saw she was alone, she ducked back under the covers, curled up in the fetal position, and tugged the blankets tight as if to protect herself as she rode out the panic from the nightmare, trying very hard not to cry.

The nightmares were becoming common now, rotating in story lines.  The more popular storyline for her nightmares had Rory watching the world turn to ash around her, except everyone died instead of half the population, even people who weren’t in this universe like her family.  And as they died, they screamed at her, either begging her to save them or accusing her of such ruin.  The ashes formed great clouds and surrounded her, and she could see monstrous eyes and mischievous smiles in the ash, taunting and punishing her.  

“ Save us! ”

“ You could have stopped this! ”

“ Save us! ”

“ This is on your shoulders. ”

“ Save us! ”

“ You’re no better than the monster who snapped his fingers. ”  

Six flashes of color distorted her vision accompanied by high-pitched, elongated screeching.  “ Auroooooooooraaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! ”  

A large hand wearing a gauntlet reached out from the ash clouds that trapped her and picked her up like a rag doll.  “ You’re no threat to me.  You have failed.  You will fail again. ”  The hand squeezed tightly, crumbling her into dust and blood as her world went black.

This was one of those nightmares, and Rory failed to stifle her sobs as she grabbed her pillow to bury her face in it.  She felt exhausted, like she had been running for her life, even though she had only been lying in bed.  But she knew this exhaustion would not give way to sleep; it rarely did after one of those nightmares.  Rory was too anxious and disturbed to go back to sleep anyway.  

After lying in bed for a while, she honestly didn’t know how long, Rory slowly crawled out of bed and noted the time on her phone.  3:41 in the morning.  “Great,” she groaned to herself as she reached for the pair of glasses on the nightstand.  She huffed a sigh as she put them on before getting up to make herself a little more presentable on the off chance she would run into someone this early in the morning.  After doing what she needed to do, Rory took a brief second to assess her appearance in the mirror: sweatshirt, shorts, glasses, and hair in a messy bun.  Not the best she’s looked but certainly not the worst.  “Good enough for four in the fricking morning,” she muttered sassily at her reflection before walking out the door.

As expected, there wasn’t a soul in sight, which was completely fine with her.  Fewer people to ask why she was up and then ask why she couldn’t sleep.  Rory’s problem now was deciding what to do to pass the time.  She contemplated her issue which helped her not focus on the haunted feeling she carried after waking up from one of those nightmares as she roamed into the kitchen, scavenging for any kind of snack while making some coffee.  She felt like she hit the jackpot when she found a brand new package of Double Stuff Oreos.  Also something to help her not think about her nightmares.  But the main topic she forced her mind to once again was how to fix the Decimation issue.  

Three days had passed since Steve’s ultimatum, and Rory wasn’t anywhere closer to coming up with a plan to fix everything than she was before.  She already knew the only way to reverse the Decimation was to steal back the Infinity Stones, just like Reid suggested.  The question was how to go about doing that while going up against the most feared being - currently anyway - in the galaxy.  Thanos was a force all on his own, but with the Infinity Stones at his disposal, the task of stealing them back was monumental.  If only there was a way to turn off the Stones until she could take them back.  Level the playing field a little bit more.  

As she leaned against the counter near the kitchen’s island and held the mug she chose for her coffee once it was finished brewing, she slowly shook her head.  She still couldn’t believe Steve Rogers convinced the others to try time travel despite her warnings, despite the whole team not being on board and willing to try.  Of course, she understood his desperation.  But with the way things were, that was not the way. Maybe if things were different, like there were no Stones at all or something like that, but since they still existed here, she couldn’t condone this plan.  The question now was how to steal back the Stones.  “Scott was pretty adamant about the Quantum Realm,” she mumbled to herself after swallowing an Oreo.  Peanut butter would be a great addition to these Oreos, she decided.  “Wish I knew more about that.”

“What d’ya wanna know?”

The sudden appearance of the Ant-Man and resident Quantum Realm expert scared Rory to the point of almost jumping out of her skin and dropping her mug.  “ Shit ,” she drew out in a hiss.

Scott held his hands up in surrender, though Rory noticed he was fighting the urge to smirk.  “Sorry!  Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Dang it, Scott!  You’ve got an incredible knack for showing up outta nowhere and making me jump, don’t ya.”  She didn’t really appreciate the scare, but his presence made her feel better.  Encouraging his smirk to break further, she stuck her tongue out at him, prompting a chuckle.  “What the heck are you doing up?”

“Honestly?”  He scratched the back of his head as he moved to take a seat at the island facing her.  “I woke up and thought I heard like a scream or a shout or something.”

Rory felt pretty confident the color in her face drained at that point.  His quarters were adjacent to hers.  She quickly put down her coffee cup before it slipped out of her grasp and began looking for peanut butter.  “You - you did?”  She did not scream; she was absolutely certain about that.  Well...she was mostly confident about that, and her sudden uncertainty made her grimace inwardly.  Nevertheless, Rory would have expected Avenger quality walls to be thicker than what they seemed to be.

“Yeah,” he says nonchalantly, trying to not hint at anything, “and I stopped to listen to see if it would happen again.  I didn’t hear anything after that, but I was awake at that point anyway.”  Rory found the peanut butter as he continued his story.  “So I got up and wandered in here and found you talking to yourself about me.”  He offered her a sleepy grin that made her heart pound a little too loudly.  “So, why are you up?”

There’s that question she was hoping to avoid but couldn’t, even at four in the morning.  “Couldn’t sleep,” she answered as she crowned an Oreo with a spoonful of peanut butter.

“Ooh,” Scott squeaked as he caught sight of her little snack, and he extended out his hand.  “Can I have some?”

She couldn’t help but give a sly grin.  “Magic word?”

“Please,” he elongated the word like a five-year-old boy would when asking for something he really wanted.  Rory couldn’t help but giggle as she placed the Oreo package and the peanut butter jar in front of him on the island, offered him his own spoon, and took the seat catty corner from him.  They both dug in and ate one Oreo each before Scott tried again.  “Why couldn’t you sleep?  You heard something too?”

“I can honestly say I didn’t know anybody screamed or shouted or anything like that.”

He gave her a soft look and asked quietly, “Are you gonna make me ask point-blank?”

Rory choked on her Oreo, and she covered her mouth before releasing a snicker.  “So you mean to tell me that was you being discreet?”

He rolled his eyes and bit into another Oreo.  “Okay, okay, I could have done better than that, but it’s way too early in the morning to think, especially for me.  But seriously, I heard something from your room, and at first I thought I was dreaming.  But then a little bit later, after I couldn’t go back to sleep right away, I heard your door open and close.”  He shrugged.  “I put two and two together.”

“So why are you out here then?”

He smiled as he licked the excess peanut butter off his Oreo.  “Oh c’mon, I can’t check on my friend?”  His smile grows wider when a small one blooms on her face, accompanied with a healthy blush she hoped would go unnoticed.  “So what’s going on?”

Rory’s smile faltered slightly, and she sighed.  “Well,” she began slowly, “lately I’ve been having some nightmares.”

“Yeah?  About all of this stuff?”

“Afraid so.  Three different ones as a matter of fact,” she clarified quietly, embarrassed to discuss this.  “They kinda like take turns each night, and two of them usually wake me up.”

“You wanna talk about them?”

Her face held a grimace, and she cocked an eyebrow at him.  “You sure you wanna hear?  I mean, I don’t wanna bother you or—”

 “Oh don’t worry about that,” he said as he waved his hand dismissively before dressing another Oreo with peanut butter.  “I appreciate it, but I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t mean it.  If you don’t wanna talk about it, I get it, but I know talking about stuff can help.”

“Yeah,” Rory agreed hesitantly, “that’s true.”

“So the way I see it, there’s no better time than now.  No one else in sight, Oreos, peanut butter, a friend who’s there for ya.”  Scott shrugged and added before shoving another Oreo in his mouth, “What d’ya think?”

She sat there quietly for a moment, contemplating his offer as she popped another Oreo in her mouth, buying herself some time.  After her mouth was clear, she hesitantly asked, “You sure you don’t mind listening?”

“Promise.  Go for it.”

“Alright,” she conceded, though reluctantly since she was still embarrassed by the idea.  “I guess I’ll start with the one that doesn’t wake me up.”  By now the coffee had finished brewing, so she got up to pour them both a cup.  “You want a mug?  How do you take your coffee?”

“Sure, uhh, milk and sugar please.”

Rory fixed his as he requested and hers with cream and sugar as she began, “Okay if you’re absolutely sure you want to hear, then here it goes.  In the first one, I’m wandering around what looks like New York City, but it’s a ghost town.”

“Like in I Am Legend ?”

“Yeah, just like that except there are none of those monsters like in the movie.  I knew I was the only one around.  In fact, I knew I was the only one on the whole planet.  And I kept moping and crying and saying stuff like, ‘It’s all my fault.  What have I done?’  Blah blah blah, that kind of thing.”

“Right, yeah, okay.  What’s all your fault exactly?”

“The ghost town in my dream.  Being the only one on the whole planet.  The Decimation mess.”

“But you’re not the only one, and the Decimation mess isn’t your fault.”

Rory sighed as her shoulders drooped.  “For some reason, I’m not fully sold on that idea.”  Then she continued with her tale before Scott could comment, “And also in my dream there’s this large shadow that keeps following me.”

“Creepy.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.  The shadow kept telling me that I couldn’t live with my failure for long, so it - it suggested I, umm, well more or less I end my misery quickly.”

Scott’s jaw dropped slightly, and he dropped his hand that was about to put another Oreo in his mouth. “Wait.  Did your dream just suggest you…”  He let his words trail off, but his meaning hung in the air. 

“Uh, yeah, it - it did,” Rory answered, flustered, and she quickly backtracked.  “You know, maybe this was a bad idea, cause - cause that was the tamest of the three.”

“Nuh uh,” Scott said firmly as he shook his head.  “I said I was here for you, and I’m no stranger to nightmares.  But that’s neither here nor there right now,” he added when he spotted Rory’s concerned yet curious glance.  “We’re talking about you.  So go ahead.  On to number two.”

Rory huffed as if preparing herself for the conversation.  She offered him his coffee before taking her seat.  “Okay,” she agreed before taking a sip of coffee.  “So, the, uhh, next one that’s less tame actually, umm, actually involves everyone here.”

“In a good way or a bad -- never mind, it’s a nightmare for a reason,” he said, answering his own question.

“Yeah, unfortunately,” she muttered.  “Basically, that one is everyone here demanding answers and everything to be fixed as soon as possible, but I had no answers or a way to fix everything.”

He shrugged.  “But like I said, that’s not really your fault though.”

“Doesn’t matter,” she replied sadly as she shook her head.  “The less I could give them, the more hateful and frustrated and distressed they got.  And when super people get that hateful and frustrated and distressed, in my brain they go to extremes.”

“What - what kind of extremes?”  When Rory slid an index finger across her throat, Scott couldn’t help but shake his head.  “Holy shit,” he muttered quietly.

“It’s stupid; I know, and it’ll never happen,” Rory stated as an involuntary shiver slid down her spine.  “But gosh, I always feel like I’m in danger every time I wake up.”

“No wonder you looked anxious after vetoing the time-travel plan.  Man, that sounds really awful.  I’m sorry.”  Scott paused and studied her as her eyes glazed over as she stared straight ahead, watching her nightmares play out again, he suspected.  “And,” he ventured slowly, “the third one’s the worst?”

Rory slowly nodded her head.  “In my opinion, yeah.”  She relayed the entire dream to him, dropping her head to let her stare get lost in the coffee, focusing on things only she could see.  Scott remained quiet as she told him everything, and she didn’t dare to look up.  She finished her retelling with, “And that’s when I wake up, feeling like I’m in danger again.”

Scott let out a long, low whistle before uttering yet again, “Holy shit.  I’ve had my share of nightmares, horrible ones too, and those sound… horrible .”

“They certainly suck, yeah,” Rory mumbled before sighing.  “I’d feel a little bit better about them if I could actually figure out how to fix this whole mess.  I know what we need to do, but I don’t know how we need to do it.  And I feel really lost.”

“Hey, you’re not alone in this.  You know that, right?  This isn’t just on you.”  Scott’s eyes light up with recognition.  “I know this is really random, but what you just said reminds me of something the doc told me before he sent me to find you.”

Rory looked up at him with a curious look.  “Yeah?  What’d he say?”

“He said something like you belonged to this universe,” he said as he pointed downward, “as much as you belong in the other universe,” then pointed away from him with his thumb like he was hitchhiking.  “He said you’ve just been lost for a while.”

“‘Been lost’?” Rory scoffed.  “Still lost is more like it.”

“But he was very confident in you being the universe’s only hope.”

She squirmed in her seat, feeling uncomfortable by that phrase again.  “Stop saying that, please.  That’s a lot of pressure for one person.”

“Oh yeah,” he said as if he just contemplated the idea for the first time, even though it wasn’t.  “Sorry.  Actually he said best hope if not the only hope, but yeah, sorry.”

“Oh no, I’m the one who should be sorry,” she amended as she massaged her left temple.  “I didn’t mean to snap or anything.  It’s not your fault.”  She paused before adding, “On the other hand, I low-key kinda like it because it sounds like a Star Wars thing.”

Scott’s face lit up, and he grabbed an Oreo as he said excitedly, “That’s what I said!”

“What?  No way.”  Rory’s haunted demeanor quickly faded as the urge to geek out hit, and she grabbed the peanut butter and said, “Please tell me you love Star Wars too.”

“Hell yeah, I do!  How can anybody not?  Now,” he paused, his demeanor grew serious, then asked, “do you order the movies correctly?”

“Four, five, six, one, two, three, of course.”

“Finally, someone who understands!”

“Favorite episode.  Go.”

“ Jedi ,” he answers without even thinking about it.  “You?”

Rory’s grin was sly.  “ Empire. ”

Scott’s jaw dropped, and his eyes grew wide as if she just challenged him.  “Nooooooo,” he elongated the word in disbelief.  “Seriously?  Come on!”

“One of the biggest plot twists in cinematic history?  You come on!  But I’ll give it to you; Jedi is a very, very close second for me.”

“Your favorite Star Wars movie is the one where the bad guy wins?!”

“The irony is not lost on me, I assure you.”

“I can’t believe this,” he said as if he found out someone just ate the last cookie that he was looking forward to eating.  “And just when I thought you were really cool.”  

Rory feigned hurt.  “Hey now, I’m still cool!  As cool as a nerd can be anyway.”

“Well,” Scott said with a shrug, “you’re in good company as far as that goes.”

“Couldn’t ask for better,” she said sincerely, and the comment brought a soft grin to his face.

They talked about lightsaber colors - hers would be purple and his would probably be blue since red was strictly bad guy territory - and spaceships they would fly, and that conversation led to other things they would geek out about, finding many similarities and differences there.  They talked about movies, music, books, sports, favorite puns, and differences between her world and his.  Before they knew it, the Oreo package was three-fourths bare, four AM turned to seven AM, and the rest of the compound began to buzz with more life.  They completely missed Cap going for a run or Natasha peeking in on their conversation for a moment and rolling her eyes despite the gentle smile on her face.  If Yelena and I were nerds , she thought as she made the sibling comparison and hurt her own feelings at the memory of her sister.

Scott and Rory were deep in a discussion about his past heists and her forensic accounting experience when she got up from her seat, the first time since she sat down with her coffee, to make breakfast.  It was her turn to provide meals for the day anyway.  “Wait a minute, Rory,” Scott said with his hand up as if to physically pause the world around him so he could wrap his mind around the information given to him.  “That’s your legitimate career?  That’s what you do?”

“I’m telling you, my friend,” Rory said as she scanned the contents of the refrigerator to determine a breakfast menu, “if I had been around when you pulled the VistaCorp heist, and you, ya know, didn’t drive a car into the pool and actually got away with it, I would be one of the people investigating.  I’d be the one combing through the accounts and some of VistaCorp’s tech information to see if I found any patterns or could hunt down what was going on with the accounts and things like that.  And ,” she said as she grabbed bacon, eggs, biscuits, and some other ingredients from the fridge.  It was a good thing Tony made sure the Avengers’ fridge was stocked.  “If I do say so myself, I feel pretty confident I would have found you.”

Scott raised an eyebrow at this declaration and smirked.  “Oh, is that so, huh?”

“I kinda think so.”

“Pretty ambitious of you.”

“Ambitious, competitive, a little stubborn, and a bit of a perfectionist, yes,” Rory said as she grabbed flour from the cabinets.  “I’ll admit that’s how I am when I work.”

“And intelligent too,” Scott added, trying to hide an impressed smirk, mind racing with an idea.  “Quite a combo.”

Rory found the skillets she was looking for and started preparations for cooking, making sure she prepared more than enough for the others who would eventually make their way to the kitchen following the smell of food.  “So I’ve been told.”

“Are you making hash browns too?”

She stopped short and quickly turned towards him.  “Umm no.  Am I supposed to?”

“No,” he answered with a smile as he shot out of his chair.  “Let me make those.  I make some mean hash browns.  And the bacon.  I’ll take care of that too if that’s okay.”

She chuckled as she shifted down to give him space to maneuver too.  “That sounds great to me.  Just be sure to make enough for everybody else too cause it’s my turn today.  Ooh, what a menu,” she said happily as she licked her lips.  “Bacon, eggs, hash browns, biscuits, and white gravy for anyone who wants it.”

“Oh God,” Scott moaned hungrily as he too licked his lips, “that sounds so good.  I love cooking.  My Gigi taught me everything I know.”  Scott’s paternal grandmother if Rory remembered correctly what he told her.  “But you can cook and bake, right? I am remembering correctly, right?”

“That’s right,” Rory said, grinning.  “My mom taught me all of that stuff.  I like baking more than cooking though.”

“I can’t bake to save my life,” Scott admitted with a sheepish smile.  “I burn store-bought cookies you throw in the oven.”

“What?” Rory asked incredulously.

“I swear.  I can’t bake, and Gigi has tried to teach me.  It never worked out.”

Rory laughed and patted his upper arm.  “Don’t worry.  I’ll help you satisfy your sweet tooth.  Some time you can show off your amazing cooking skills for me, and I’ll show off my awesome baking skills for you.”

Scott grinned eagerly at her.  “Deal!”  After getting everything situated and working long enough to get a good system going as they both cooked at once, he eventually continued with their previous conversation.  “Okay so, back to what we were talking about before.  Let’s say you did catch me.  Think I could persuade you with my charm and sense of humor to let me go,” he asked, offering his most innocent smile. 

Rory turned her head slightly and responded to his smile with a pensive one of her own.  “Actually,” she said slowly, “I don’t think you’d have to.”

His smile faltered, and his face distorted some with confusion.  “What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean think about it,” she said as she stirred the ingredients for the gravy while Scott started working on his hash browns.  “If VistaCorp was as dirty as you say, and I believe you about that, the numbers would prove that if I dug deep enough into the records.  I’d see what VistaCorp was doing - stealing from customers, how stupid - and I’d begin to realize I’m on the wrong side of this case.  I’d think maybe the thief --” 

“Burglar,” Scott corrected.

“Oh right, yeah, sorry, burglar.  Theft involves violence.  Anyway,” she said after she tested the gravy then added a pinch of salt and a little more flour to thicken it before stirring again, “I would think the burglar was onto something, and that’s when I’d come to the real issue of the whole thing.”

Enthralled by her explanation, he asked, “What’s that?”

“Do I bow out, or do I sabotage my own case?”

Scott’s brows furrowed deeper as he stopped what he was doing and turned to her to ask in surprise, “Sabotage?”

“If I bow out, then VistaCorp would just hire someone else to catch you, and the next person may not care about what else they may find.  They just might want you .  But if I derail my own progress, then I could at least give the modern day Robin Hood a chance to get away.”  She turned from her own work, giving a surprised yet clearly touched Scott a soft look.  “Even this perfectionist knows not everything is about a perfect record.”

That clenched the idea that bloomed in Scott’s mind, and he asked as they both returned to cooking, “So do you have to work with a firm or something like that?”

“I can work with any business really.  Law firm, police department, accounting firm, security, the sky’s the limit.  I could even open up my own practice if I want.”

“Do you wanna open your own practice?”

“I love the idea of my own practice, but I wouldn’t even know where to start with that.  I don’t really wanna work in a big business or anything either.  I grew up in a small town, so I’m used to working in a close-knit environment.”  She shrugged.  “I like working with people I know and like.  People I can be friends with.  Who doesn’t?  But opportunities for a forensic accountant in such a small town are, like, zero.  Hence one reason to move to the big city.”

Scott couldn’t fight the smirk on his face from spreading.  “And I remember you said you more than likely didn’t have a job anymore right?”

“Correct.  I did say that, and I don’t.  Two years of not showing up to work can make you lose a job; go figure,” she commented with some good-humored sarcasm, and Scott laughed.  “So after all this mess gets fixed, then I’ll need one.”

“I might have one for you.”

Rory abruptly turned around and gave him a surprised, confused look of her own.  “What?”

“Do you know what I do for a living now?”

“Honestly, Scott, I don’t know what happened to you between Germany and those couple hours in the Quantum Realm.”  She shrugged and added, “And what happened a little bit after those couple of hours since I was still unconscious.”

Rory noticed Scott’s green eyes shine with excitement, and his smile made her think he was about to share some kind of secret.  “Luis, Kurt, Dave, and I started our own business!”

His excitement spread to her, and she gasped in amazement.  “What?!  You did?  That’s awesome!  Aw, Scott, I’m so proud of you guys!”

“Thanks.  It’s a security consulting business,” Scott continued, “called X-Con but like X the letter not E-X.”

Rory laughed.  “Oh, I get it!  That’s super clever.  I love that.”

“We’ve got a lot to offer clients, what with all the skill sets the four of us have, but a consulting forensic accountant will really be a great addition,” he prodded.  Rory poured the gravy in a bowl then began working on scrambling eggs while glancing at Scott with hesitant curiosity as he spoke.  “Plus,” he added with a shrug, “it’s a small business with a pretty good size client base if I do say so myself, and you’ll be working with friends.”

“Wait a minute, this is for real?”  

“Uh, yes, this is for real.  I’m offering you a job.”

Rory worked on the eggs quietly, eyebrows deeply furrowed as she processed the exchange.  “Offering the services of a forensic accountant could be a good business advantage for a security company,” she said slowly, warming up to the idea. 

“You would still more or less have your own clients but not have to start your own business,” Scott added, helping his case as he plated the bacon. 

“San Francisco clientele could still provide enough business.  Maybe not New York level, but still really good.”

“And you’ll still get that small town feel you were talking about because we are pretty small, but we’re an awesome business.  You’d totally fit in with us, Rory.”  She slipped so deep into thought over the idea while she cooked that she didn’t even notice when the timer started ringing indicating the biscuits were done, so Scott grabbed the biscuits out of the oven and set them aside, waiting as patiently as he could for any kind of answer.  “If, uh, if it’s pay you’re worried about because we’re a start up, you really don’t have to worry about that.  Yeah, we were a little rocky at first, but we’ve got a good clientele right now.  Or at least we did .  I’ve missed out on two years too, but still.  It may not be great pay at first,” he admitted with a shrug, “but-”

“No, I’m not that worried about the pay.”

“So, what is it?”

A blush colored her cheeks, and her expression betrayed concern as she poured the scrambled eggs in another large bowl then started anxiously massaging her hands.  “This might sound dumb, but,” she paused for a second before continuing, “you said I’d be working with friends.  You - do  - do you think your friends would like me?”

Scott couldn’t help but sigh with some relief, and he resumed adding some finishing touches to the hashbrowns.  “Is that all?”

Rory stiffened slightly, and her eyes dropped as she fidgeted a little bit which was enough to tell Scott that his question wasn’t exactly the right one to ask.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to like…what’s the right word here.  I don’t mean to brush off your feelings or anything.  But I mean, I don’t quite get it.  I think you’re pretty cool.  Why wouldn’t my friends think so too?”

She stopped mid-movement for a second, not looking him in the eye, and sighed before admitting, “I’ve been labeled a misfit for most of my life and bullied as such.  High school was hell.  College was a little better at least, but....”

“Rory,” Scott said gently with a small smile on his face after she let her sentence fade as he moved towards the fridge, “c’mon.  Who do ya think you’re talking to, huh?  I know all about feeling like a misfit, and that was way before being an ex-con.”  He opened the fridge and scanned the contents inside before finding what he was looking for.  “Ooh!  Yes!  Salsa.”  Then to Rory, he continued after he grabbed the salsa and closed the fridge, “The guys know what it’s like too.  If anybody’s gonna be friends with you, it’s gonna be us:  me, the guys, and even the other Avengers too, in my opinion.”  He added his hashbrowns and salsa in the food line up, grabbed a plate for him, and offered a plate for her.

She offered him a small smile in return as she accepted the plate.  “Well anyway, I’ll happily take you and the rest as friends.  I could use some friends.”

“Some good friends, right?” he asked as he gestured between himself and her.

“Oh.  Definitely,” she agreed, her smile broadening.

His smile grew too, and he waved dismissively.  “Yeah, I wouldn’t worry about the guys.  They’re gonna love you too.  I can’t wait for you to meet--”

Both their smiles faltered as Rory read Scott’s abrupt silence correctly.  “You miss them, huh?” Rory ventured quietly.  He only nodded as he returned to his seat, looking suddenly very lonely.  “Hey,” she said encouragingly yet softly as she returned to her own seat.  “We’ll get them back.  We’ll figure out a way to fix this, and we’ll get them all back.  The Ant Fam will be reunited again.”

That produced the barest hint of a smile and a raised eyebrow.  “Ant Fam?”

“It’s what you and your family and friends are affectionately dubbed by many back home including myself.  But listen to me, okay?  This mess you and I came back to is only temporary.  We’re gonna fix it.  I promise you, Scott; we will get them back.”

“We just gotta figure out how.”

“Yeah,” Rory said with a sigh as she slumped back in her chair, “that’s the million dollar question.”

Scott was quiet for a moment, staring down at his empty plate, and he said sheepishly, “Look, umm, about the time-travel thing, I’m sorry about that.  When Cap gets to motivating people, I mean he’s really good at that.  Really good.  I think that’s like part of his super power.  And I didn’t feel all that great about trying it after you gave your reasons, but Cap convinced me and the others to try it.”

“I can believe Cap’s good at that kind of thing.”  Rory sighed then offered an apologetic look as she said quietly, “I’m sorry I shot down your idea.  I really am.  If some things were different, I think I’d give the okay on it, but you do understand why I was against it, right?”

“Yeah, I mean, those are pretty valid, hardcore reasons,” Scott replied as he bobbed his head.  “No need to apologize.  I was bummed, yeah, but your reasons sounded like good ones to me.”  He shook his head slowly in thought as he attempted again, “But I still can’t shake the idea that the Quantum Realm is the key to helping us fix all this.”

“Tell me about it, then,” Rory suggested as she got back up to fill her plate.  “Come on,” she prodded as she waved at him to get up and follow suit.  “You need to eat too.”  As he got up to get food, she continued, “I think it goes without saying; I don’t know much about the Quantum Realm, so fill me in.  Tell me everything you can think of.”  

So he did.  In between bites, and in between talking with others who grabbed breakfast, Scott told her everything he could about the Quantum Realm, from the first time he ever went there, to saving Janet Van Dyne, to the quantum energy he was harvesting, to his time being stuck in the Quantum Realm, to finally transporting Rory from one universe to another via the Quantum Realm.  Somewhere amidst his explanation, Rory pushed her plate back unfinished and listened, completely enthralled by his stories.  “Holy crap,” she said, enunciating each syllable, when he finally finished.  “What a wild ride!”

He scoffed after swallowing a bite of biscuit and gravy.  “I’ll say it was.  Hey,” he added as he pointed at what was left of the biscuit and gravy on his plate.  “This is so good!”

“Why thank you,” she responded with a pleased smile.  “Your hash browns were awesome too, and the salsa was a nice touch.”

“Thanks.  My own recipe.”

“I’m impressed.  You weren’t kidding about being a great cook.”  She grew quiet for a moment, mind clearly racing, which gave Scott some more time to eat the last of his breakfast before the food got cold.  Finally, she asked, “How did you know it was over two hours?  Did you have a watch or something?”

“Not exactly.  We did add a clock readout on my wrist,” he explained as he tapped his left wrist.  “Same place where I can bump up the particle boost to make me grow giant.  The clock was added before we started collecting the quantum energy since we were gonna do a lotta work in the Quantum Realm.  But once I got down there, it glitched and wouldn’t work for me.  We were trying to come up with a way to get a reading on how time worked down there, hence the clock.  The two and a half hours is a guestimate on my part, but honestly, I can’t tell you how long I panicked before I started exploring the area.  The whole experience felt like over two hours to me, and I’m usually good at guessing how much time had passed, something prison and house arrest taught me honestly.”

Rory was silent for a long moment before she muttered slowly, “Your watch…stopped.”  She paused again as she mentally worked through her logic before saying it out loud.  “It was designed to play by the rules of this world, but when it entered the Quantum Realm, it stopped working.  It stopped .”

“Right,” Scott said, nodding slowly before asking, “What are you getting at here?”

“Scott, what if - what if the Time Stone was only designed for this universe?  What if it couldn’t function outside of this universe?”

Catching on, he added, “What if…it was taken to a place where time worked differently than here?”

“What if it stopped working when it did?” 

They both gasped simultaneously at the prospect before he muttered, “Holy shit.”

“Scott!  You’re right!  The Quantum Realm has got to be the key!”

“The Time Stone could potentially be useless down there.  Just a rock.  It couldn’t be used there.”  Then his eyes grew wide.  “What if Time wasn’t the only one affected?  What if Space and Reality stopped working too?  Because those played by different rules down there too…”

Rory gasped again.  “That’s it!  Scott, if we can get the Stones down there, that’s half of the threat gone!  Who knows?  Maybe the rest would stop working too because they were designed just for this universe!”

Scott nodded eagerly before another thought came to him.  “Okay, but that means we’d have to get Thanos himself down there.  Right?”

“Well,” she said slowly as she contemplated his question, “if he still wears them on his gauntlet thing, then yeah, I guess so.  We’d have to transport him down to the Quantum Realm.”

“And then what?  Ambush him?”

“Yes!” Rory exclaimed as the idea took more shape in her mind.  “Yes, if we can get him to the Quantum Realm, we’ll ambush him and get the Stones back.”

“What if he doesn’t wear his gauntlet thing anymore and has the Stones tucked away elsewhere?”

“Then we tweak the plan.  But I doubt he would let them be out of his sight honestly.”

“How in the world are we gonna get him down there?”

That stopped her for a moment.  “I don’t know.  Yet.  But I can’t shake the feeling this is it, this is our way in.  As crazy and dangerous as it sounds, nothing else I’ve thought of comes close to being considered doable.  This is doable.”

“Not a Time Heist but a Quantum Heist.”

“Oooooh!”  Rory gave his back an enthusiastic pat.  “A Quantum Heist, I love the sound of that!  You, my friend, are invaluable.  Couldn’t have figured this out without you.  We’ve got a plan.”

Scott bobbed his head some and shrugged.  “Half a plan.”

“It’s more than what we had five minutes ago, and considering my track record so far, this is a win.  Bye bye, square one.”

Chapter Text

An hour later, and with more than half a plan at that point, Rory found herself scrambling to get to the conference room, late for Natasha’s galaxy-wide conference call.

For the past two years, Natasha had been the head of operations at the Avengers facility, and she had periodic conferences with other Avengers across not just the world but space as well.  Rory found out about these meetings and out of curiosity asked if she could attend the next one, to which Natasha agreed.  She hurried off to find the Black Widow who was in the middle of said conference, and when she got there, she couldn’t help but be amazed.  This was the kind of stuff she thought only existed in Star Wars .  Five holographic images stood around Natasha, forming a circle, and they all moved with ease as if they were right there in person.  The projection was so clear, Rory would have thought they actually were there if each image didn’t have an unnatural blue tint to them.  

Even though she had seen this technology at work already, that was at five in the morning, and she wasn’t awake enough to fully marvel and appreciate what she saw then.  She was under no such hindrances now.  Rhodey, Nebula, and Rocket were three Rory had already met before, and the other two had Rory uttering a soft, “Oh wow.”  Okoye, the great general of Wakanda’s elite Dora Milaje, and Carol Danvers, also known as Captain Marvel, were a part of the conference as well.  There’s Okoye and Captain Marvel , she thought in awe, right there in front of me!

As Rory quietly moved to stand partially behind Natasha, the others listened as Rocket spoke with some annoyed sarcasm, “Yeah, we boarded that ‘highly suspect warship’ Danvers pinged.”

“It was an infectious garbage scowl,” Nebula informed them with her typical disgust.

“So thanks for the hot tip,” Rocket told Carol as he turned and gave her a smirk and an exaggerated thumbs up.

“You were closer,” Carol responded with a slight shrug.

“And now we smell like garbage,” he argued with a sneer.

Rory rolled her eyes and sighed softly which made Natasha turn slightly to notice the newcomer’s presence.  Natasha offered Rory a small smirk, knowing well what the eye roll and sigh meant, before turning back and asking Okoye’s hologram, “You get a reading on those tremors?”

The general gave a short, firm nod and reported, “It was a mild subduction under the African plate.”

“Do we have a visual?  How are we handling it?”

Okoye gave the slightest raise of one eyebrow before stating simply, “Nat, it’s an earthquake under the ocean.  We handle it by not handling it.”

At Natasha’s silence, Rhodey spoke up and offered, “I can have NASA redirect a satellite, do a sweep just to make sure.”

Natasha nodded at him appreciatively.  “Good idea, Rhodes.  Thanks.”

“Who’s the newbie on your shoulder,” Carol suddenly asked Natasha.

Natasha brought her arm behind Rory and gently pushed her forward to be by her side and seen by the others.  “This is our newest addition to the team, Rory Callahan.  Part of our intel and operations division,” she added with a sly smile.

“Bit of a weird chic,” Rocket mumbled under his breath.

But Rory heard it and responded, “Says the talking racoon.”

“I am not a friggin’ raccoon!”

“You need a lesson regarding the wildlife of North America, dude.”

Rocket muttered something with a sneer on his face while the other holograms studied her for a moment.  Okoye asked, “What is your skill set?”

That’s a new one Rory never thought she would have to answer, and she didn’t think ‘being a nerd’ would be a valid response.  Her eyes cut to Natasha as a request for help, but the innocent smile she received indicated Natasha was enjoying this and more curious about how Rory would answer than anything else.  “Uh, let’s say intel and special forces.  I know things and do some weird stuff.”

“You gonna help settle the score with Thanos?” Carol asked.

Rory smirked in response and answered seriously, “That’s why I’m here.  At least gonna help figure out how to settle the score anyway.”

“Carol,” Natasha asked, “you still coming our way next week?”

Captain Marvel grimaced slightly and gave one short headshake.  “Not likely.”

Rocket snorted before questioning with some snark, “What, you gonna get another haircut?”

Rory raised an eyebrow at such an odd thing to say.  Apparently, the captain had changed hairstyles enough for this to be brought up as a joke.  Currently, Carol’s hair was cut short in a tomboyish hairstyle, and Rory thought it looked really good on her.  Rory also thought there was no way she could pull off such a look.  She’ll just stick with her long curls, thanks.

“Listen, fur face,” Carol growled in irritation as her holographic image turned towards Rocket’s image, “I’m covering a lot of territory here.  The things that are happening on Earth are happening everywhere on thousands of planets.”

“She’s right,” Rory interjected rather sadly.  “The Decimation’s reached the farthest corners of the universe.  Literally every single being is affected by it.  The damage is more widespread than you may think.”

Rocket’s ears laid down somewhat against his head, and he fidgeted where he stood, muttering as he did so.  “Alright, alright, that’s a good - that’s a good point.”

Carol finished with, “So you might not see me for a long time.”

Natasha sighed quietly and nodded her head.  “Alright.  Keep your eyes peeled as you go,” she told the group.  “You know this channel is always active.  If anything goes sideways, anyone’s making trouble where they shouldn’t, comes through me.”

Okoye nodded as she spoke an affirmation in her native tongue before cutting her transmission.  Nebula nodded once, and Rocket muttered, “Yeah, okay,” before both of them disappeared.

Carol and Rhodey looked at each other for a second before she told him, “Good luck.”  Then she disappeared as well as she cut her call.

As the holograms faded, Rory and Natasha turned to each other, and Rory asked, “You’ve been running this for the past two years?”  

“I have,” Natasha confirmed.

“Where were the others?”

She shrugged and dropped her head some.  “More or less disbanded, doing their own thing.”

Though she tried, Rory did not do a good job hiding how dumbfounded she felt.  “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.  Tony had a legitimate excuse though.  Can’t really help avenge down here when you’re stranded in space.”

“Okay, right, yeah, but why did the others stop?  Why were you the only original Avenger doing the job?”

She shrugged and supplied, “I can’t really answer for everyone else.  It’s been hard and complicated for all of us.”

“You’ve managed to stick around,” Rory observed gently.

Natasha remained quiet as she dropped her head and crossed her arms, lost in thought for a moment.  “I used to have nothing,” she finally said quietly.  Natasha didn’t quite know why she was sharing with her.  Maybe it was because Rory had proven to know some things no one else would know, should know, and figured she already knew what Natasha would say.  Maybe she felt comfortable enough with her new friend, it felt safe to share.  She shared it with Steve, so it’s not like it was a complete secret.  “And then I got this.”  She raised her head up and looked around the room, and Rory was surprised to see tears in the Black Widow’s eyes.  “This job.  This...family.  And I was,” she paused for a moment to maintain composure, “I was better because of it.  And even though the - the others are - are gone, I’m still trying to be better.”

Rory smiled softly and slowly wrapped an arm around her friend, giving Natasha the chance to pull away if she wanted to, which she did not.  Rory gave her a gentle squeeze and replied, “You’re definitely succeeding.”

The pair suddenly noticed Rhodey’s hologram remained, and Natasha cleared her throat before saying, “Sorry, Rhodes.  You should’ve said something.”

“It’s alright,” he responded quietly, sheepishly.  “Didn’t want to ruin the moment.”

“So what’s up?  Where are you?”

“Mexico,” Rhodey answered, his tone quickly turning grim.  “I’ve got some news.  Federalés found a room full of bodies outside Juarez.  Looks like a bunch of cartel guys.  Never even had the chance to get their guns off.”

While Rory muttered a soft exclamation beside her, Natasha simply shook her head.  “Probably a rival gang.”

“Except it’s not.  Same M.O. as Marseille and Kiev,” Rhodey countered, and Natasha stiffened as a realization settled on her.  “It’s definitely Barton.”

“Barton,” Rory repeated incredulously after a silent, heavy moment.  “As in Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton?  He did that?”

“More than once,” Rhodey confirmed with a grim nod.  “Nat,” he continued softly, cautiously, “what he’s done here…what he’s been doing...”  He faltered slightly before continuing, “I mean, the scene he left behind.”  Natasha closed her eyes and released a small shiver as she tried not to cry.  “I gotta tell you, there’s a part of me that doesn’t even want to find him.”

Without even opening her eyes, Natasha asked, “Will you find out where he’s going next?”

“Nat,” Rhodey started gently.

She opened her eyes to look at him, and a tear slowly rolled down her cheek.  “ Please .”

He thought it over for a short moment before nodding reluctantly.  “Okay.  I’ll send word as soon as I find out anything.”

“Thank you,” Natasha said quietly before Rhodey’s hologram faded from view.

“Nat,” Rory asked quietly after giving her friend a moment, “are you okay?”

She turned to Rory as more tears slowly fell.  “Clint was under house arrest at the time of the Decimation.”

“Accords stuff,” Rory said with a knowing nod.  She had learned from Scott that Hawkeye got the same deal he got.  “Yeah, okay.”

“Apparently, watching your,” she took a measured breath, “your whole family just…”  She let her sentence fade into silence as she rubbed her upper arms like she was cold.  “It messed with him.  In a really bad way.  He’s only going after the bad guys, but the way he does it…”

“That’s - I,” Rory scoffed and finally said, “I don’t know what to say.  He’s been at this the whole time?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

They just stood there quietly, each lost in their own thoughts. Natasha wiped tears from her cheeks, feeling helpless and unsure. Rory’s face turned grim and resolute as she crossed her arms and finally broke the silence. “Nat,” she stated gently but firmly, “the moment Rhodey sends you word of where he is, go get him.”

Natasha looked at her with a relatively surprised expression, surprised enough for her to express anyway.  “What?”

“We’re gonna need a full team on whatever plan we come up with, and he can be of better use here instead of running around vigilante-style and taking things into his own hands like that.  No,” Rory said as she shook her head, feeling more firm in her statement.  “No, his time of wandering is over.  When you get the word, go bring him back.  Take whoever you need, if you even need anyone to go with you, but I think it’s high time you help set him right.”

Natasha studied her for a moment as she mulled over Rory’s words.  Then to Rory’s surprise, a small smile graced her features, and she sighed in relief.  “I’ve thought about doing this so many times since I first heard what he started doing, but I knew he wouldn’t come with me.  I’d have to tie him up and drag him back, and in my head it never seemed to play out well.  But now I think I’ve got something good enough to bring him back.”

“What’s that?”

“Hope.”  She chuckled softly and said, “Maybe we really should start calling you Obi-Wan like Tony suggested.”

“I don’t know about that,” Rory mumbled with a shrug and a headshake.

“We’ll certainly see, won’t we?”

“One way or another, I guess.  Alright, so you’re gonna bring Barton back, and I need to go talk to Bruce about how we can find a certain Thunderer and bring him back here too.”

The Next Day

“So, let me get this straight,” Rory said slowly with a smile that indicated she was trying to barricade giggles from pouring out.  “You had to go to New York one time after becoming Ant-Man, and,” she said with a disbelieving snicker, “you stole Bruce’s last Coke from his lab.  And,” she giggled, her efforts to keep her laughter at bay in vain, as she sat down and continued, “he hulked out on you over it and chased you down the street?”

“Yup,” Scott answered with a nod and a sly smile.  It was Tony’s turn to provide meals for the day, and for lunch he brought in a taco and nacho bar.  Not everyone was collecting lunch at the same time, and it was a pretty enough day outside, Scott suggested the pair eat outside and enjoy it.  He had been sharing a few Ant-Man stories with her, and the latest one had put her in a giggling fit, which he loved.  He could listen to that sound all day.  He sat down on the bench beside her to her right and stated, “I swear it’s true.  It was the funniest, scariest few moments of my life.  There’s nothing like being this big,” he said as he almost pinched his index finger and thumb together, “and being chased by something,” he then spread his arms out wide and concluded, “ that big!” 

“Oh my gosh, Scott,” she exclaimed, her laughter fully springing forth now.  “I can only imagine.”

“Anyway, in the end I gave it back, but he was still hulked out, ya know.  It was one of those mini Coke cans, and those really big fingers couldn’t open it to save his life, so I opened it for him.”

“I can’t believe this,” she admitted as she shook her head.  “That actually happened.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“Oh!  No, no, no,” Rory said quickly as she shook her head.  “I do believe you; I promise.  That’s not what I meant.  I meant if I remember right, I’m pretty sure that was a Super Bowl Coca-Cola commercial a few years back in the other universe.”

“What?”  This news was unexpected, and while he was rather flattered he was good enough material for an actual Super Bowl commercial, he still was bummed she already knew that story, and he couldn’t keep the disappointment out of his tone.  “Aw, come on, you knew that one already?  That’s one of my favorites to tell!”

“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely as her laughter faded.  “I had forgotten that story until you told it, but if it makes you feel any better, you definitely tell it better than the commercial did.  And I didn’t know the other stories you told me.”

“I guess that helps,” he muttered as he bobbed his head.  Then after a moment, he asked, “Okay, but how do you know this stuff, Rory?  Seriously, like how does stuff that happened here get over there?  And with so much accurate detail?”

“I honestly don’t know that, but I’m hoping to find out once all this mess is settled.”

“You really didn’t know the other stories I told?”

“Cross my heart,” she replied as she made the corresponding motion.

“Okay, well I feel better then.  The last thing I wanna do is bore you with stories you already know.”

Rory scoffed at him and gave him a gentle, playful push.  “You’re not boring me.  I don’t even know if that’s possible at this point.  I’ve had fun with you every time we’ve hung out so far.”

Giving her a big, satisfied grin, Scott replied, “So have I.”  Then he started unwrapping the tacos he assembled for his lunch and commented eagerly, “I’m starving.”

“Me too,” she concurred with a nod as she opened the container that held her nachos.

Before either one could dig in, a rumbling sound erupted from somewhere nearby, and as it grew louder, the wind began to pick up and blow around them.  The noise in tandem with how the wind gradually picked up its pace made the pair slowly look up from their food, share a confused and slightly concerned glance, then look to their left towards the sound to figure out what was going on.  It didn’t take long to find out.  

A massive exhaust wind suddenly roared past them, causing taco fillings and nacho toppings to fly away.  Both squinted their eyes against the gust, and their faces twisted in discomfort as the wind pulled at their hair and clothes, leaving the pair rather discombobulated.  When the gust died down, Rory and Scott looked to find the Benetar had landed roughly fifty yards from their location, and they both just watched, stunned by the sudden intrusion, as the landing ramp descended revealing Nebula walking down it like she had important business to handle.  Rocket leaned against the ship at the top of the ramp and called out to the onlookers.  “Hey, humies!  Where’s Big Green?”

Rory mumbled to Scott without taking her eyes off the ship, “Did he - did he just call us... humies ?”

Scott nodded even though she wasn’t looking at him.  He thumbed to his right and answered Rocket, “Uh, kitchen, I think.”

As Nebula walked by them, she turned and glared at them, or maybe that was just her default face looking at them, and Scott and Rory both offered a wave.  “Hey, Nebula,” Rory greeted.  

Scott pointed at the ship and commented to Nebula, “That’s awesome.”

“You should go to space sometime, Scott,” Rory suggested.  “I’ve only been for like two minutes, but it’s crazy.”

“Sounds pretty stellar,” he replied with a smirk.  “You coming with me?  It’d be a trip that’s just out of this world!”

Rory matched his smirk, cracking up at his puns.  “Yeah, I’d love to.  Sounds like a fun trip.  We should planet out sometime!”

As the two laughed, enjoying their wordplay, Nebula rolled her eyes as she walked by and spoke into her comm link, “Rhodey, careful on re-entry.  There are a couple of idiots in the landing zone.”

“Hey,” Rory said with some resentment.  “There’s no need for that.”

Out of nowhere, War Machine landed on the ground, not a full three feet from Scott and Rory, scaring both of them out of their skins with the roar of his repulsors and the slamming force of his landing.  Scott jumped, dropped the rest of his taco, and brought a hand to his heart, beating way too fast for his comfort, and muttered, “Oh God.”

Rory jumped too, inadvertently flinging the rest of her nachos in the air which landed back on her and on Scott.  She covered her face with her hands, bent over until her head rested on her knees, and shouted in an aggravated tone, “ Rhodey !”

“What’s up, Regular-Size Man and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” Rhodey greeted, his smirk and pleasure at scaring both of them evident in his tone, before walking away.

Rory slowly sat up and lowered her hands enough so she could see, while Scott remained frozen in place as they tried to calm their overactive hearts from the scare.  They slowly turned towards each other, and Rory refrained from giggling as she completely dropped her hands from her face so she could pick out a piece of lettuce that landed in Scott’s hair.  “Sorry,” she mumbled.

“Not your fault,” he said as he returned the favor and picked the pieces of nacho chips he could see out of her hair.

As they cleaned the food debris off themselves, Bruce, who had been waiting for Rocket to show up and watched the entire scare episode, walked up to the pair.  He had made a more than satisfactory quantity of tacos for his lunch, and he almost decided against making the extras he planned on taking for the trip.  Now, after watching such a spectacle, he decided he was happy that he made the extras.  With a smile, Bruce wordlessly handed Scott two tacos, then gestured between Scott and Rory, indicating they should share, before walking on towards Rocket and the Benetar .  

“Thank you,” Scott called after him, still a little dazed from the scare.

“Yeah, thanks, Bruce,” Rory called too.

Bruce waved at them before walking up the ramp.  “Enjoy the tacos!”

Scott and Rory waved back, and as the Benetar began to take off, Scott turned away from the ship to protect the tacos this time.  They definitely weren’t about to lose these too, not if he could help it.  Once it was just the two of them again, Rory shook her head in disbelief as she accepted the taco Scott gave her.  “Man, that was a weird five minutes.”

“No kidding,” he agreed as he looked down at their original food, now scattered around them.  “Next time, we’ll try a different spot to eat.”

“I’m good with that.”

“Cheers,” Scott said, and they tapped tacos like they would glasses before they each took a bite.

“These are good,” Rory commented.

“I’ll say.  Bruce can make a good taco.”

“It was nice of him to give us his extra tacos.  It’s like he knew he needed to have some extra.  It’s good to be prepared.”  She paused for a second before she added dryly, wearing a Cheshire grin, “Just in queso. ”  

It was a small thing, and it certainly wasn’t the best taco joke she could tell, but Rory couldn’t hide her pride as Scott laughed all the same.

Chapter Text

If Rory had to hear Tony and Steve mostly argue and partially flirt with each other one more time, she just might scream.  They’re ridiculous.  If this was truly how they communicated with each other, better communication skills needed to be taught between the two of them, but for now, Rory dissociated and daydreamed.  A typical tactic of hers when the situation proved to be one she couldn’t handle or change.  

But when the disembodied chanting started somewhere beyond her line of vision, that was when she forgot where she was altogether.

“...Don’t you agree, Roar?”  Tony waited for his friend to concur with him, still glaring at Steve while doing so.  Yet she didn’t jump in with enthusiasm like he had hoped.  In fact, she didn’t jump in at all.  “Right, Rory?  You agree?” 

“Uh,” Scott muttered hesitantly, “guys?  I don’t…”  He paused as Tony and Steve turned their attention to him before pointing at Rory.  “I don’t think she’s paying attention.”

“Paying attention?  She’s not even on the same planet right now,” Clint commented as he cautiously stood in front of Rory and waved a hand across her blank face.  Her unblinking eyes were looking slightly upward, and her head tilted sideways as if she was listening to something.  When Clint saw his hand movement made no impact, he rapidly waved directly in her line of sight but received no reaction.  Then he tried snapping his fingers to get her attention.

“Don’t do that please,” Thor insisted quietly as he stood to the side and watched the scene in front of him. 

Clint turned his head to Thor and nodded heavily, understandingly.  “Sorry, man.  Wasn’t thinking.”

Natasha suddenly stood beside Thor and gently patted his arm before silently walking to stand by Clint and inspect the seemingly hypnotized Rory.  “What the hell is up with her?”

“She’s not into psychedelics, is she?”

Tony scoffed.  “I highly doubt that.”

“Yeah, me too,” Scott added as he nodded adamantly.

“I don’t know,” Natasha countered with a shrug.  “It’s the quiet ones you gotta watch out for.  This, however, isn’t normal behavior for her.”

“To be fair,” Steve answered, “nothing we deal with is normal.”

Clint shrugged then turned his head to Natasha and gave a wolfish grin.  “We could always try cognitive recalibration.”

“She’s already had one coma from hitting her head, Clint.  I don’t know if that’s the best idea,” Natasha replied with an eye roll.

Scott, not understanding the inside joke, offered with mild concern, “Whatever that’s supposed to mean doesn’t sound like a good idea to me either.”

“Actually,” Natasha said slowly as her brows furrowed, and she straightened her posture.  Without warning, her right arm swung around, and her open palm made direct contact with Rory’s left cheek.  The once zombified Rory jolted and sputtered like she had just been hit with a bucket of ice water, frantically looking around and hissing a few choice words as she struggled to calm herself.  “It was a pretty good idea after all,” Natasha finished then quickly worked to appease Rory who was giving Natasha an icy, appalled look.  “Breathe, Rory.  It’s okay.”

Rory simultaneously shrunk away briskly from Natasha and tried to push her away as she snapped, “Get away from me, ya jerk!”

“Relax, punk, I could have hit you harder,” Natasha answered nonchalantly as she offered a disarming smile, but it had no effect on her friend as her smile was still met with the icy stare.

The others were not prepared for the sudden strike, and they reared back, startled, as if afraid they would be next.  Rory’s Southern dialect grew more vibrant as she demanded, “What the hell’s wrong with you?!”

Natasha pointed her comment at Clint when she said, “Let’s see if she knows the joke.”  Then to Rory she answered, “I was just applying some cognitive recalibration.”

Rory repeatedly looked between Natasha and Clint for a moment, and it took her just as long before she understood that reference.  When she did, she gaped at Natasha, scoffing.  “What are ya, nuts?  Do I look mind-controlled to you?”  Rory huffed loudly as she rubbed her cheek then indignantly muttered, “Cognitive recalibration my ass.”

“It’s weird you know what that means, Rory,” Clint muttered.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know,” Rory answered with a gruff sigh and a shrug, before she gave her cheek one last rub then dropped her hand.

“Well to be fair, you were too far off in la la land to notice Clint waving his hand inches from your face, so --” Natasha’s voice trailed off as she shrugged.

“I was listening to that sound,” Rory insisted, “trying to figure out what it was.”

“Excuse me,” Tony interrupted as he adjusted his glasses and stepped forward.  “I’m still stuck on the inside joke.”  He turned to the others, pointed at them, and asked, “You guys find it funny?”

“I think that’s one inside joke I’m okay with not knowing,” Scott answered confidently as he shook his head and held his hands up as if to keep anyone from trying cognitive recalibration out on him.

“It’s an old inside joke,” Rory explained as she gave Black Widow a look that said “We're okay, but you better watch yourself”.   “Like 2012, helicarrier-under-attack old.”

“The helicarrier,” Steve repeated quietly, pensively.  “Where it all began, it feels like.”

“Roar, is it a burden to know everything?”

“I would think so, Tones, but I don’t know everything,” Rory answered matter-of-factly as she shifted and twisted around in her seat as if looking for something.

“Close enough,” Rhodey replied in Tony’s place.  “You know more than you probably should.”

“Ohhhh,” she chortled, “if you think I know too much, you’d be floored by Wade Wilson.”

“Who the hell is that?”

Rory sighed to herself as her shoulders slumped.  “Where’s the Merc when ya need him?  I need another Marvel fan to geek out with.”  Then she turned to Rhodey and gave a reassuring smile.  “Seriously, Rhodey, I honestly don’t know as much as you all seem to think I do.  Yeah, I know things about you guys and certain events and stuff even though I wasn’t there, but I don’t know a lot more than that.  It’s literally like if you watched all the Die Hard movies and know a bunch about the characters and the plot and suddenly find yourself in their universe, interacting with them.”

“Can we make that happen,” Scott asked, trying to keep casual but sounding like he could geek out over the idea at any moment, “for like a day or something?”

Tony shot him a questioning glance.  “Favorite movies, buddy?”

“Some of them, yeah.” 

Rory stopped paying attention after she gave her explanation and was scanning the area again, head quickly jerking around as if she can’t pinpoint what she’s searching for.

Steve tilted his head and asked, “Rory, what are you looking for?”

“I told y’all.  I was listening to that sound, but I can’t figure out where it’s coming from.”

All the other Avengers shared a confused look among each other.  Finally, Bruce decided to speak for the group when he ventured, “What sound?”

Rory’s head jerked around to look at the others in surprise.  “You can’t hear it?”  When she got a chorus of no’s in response, she explained slowly, trying to decide how to best describe what she heard, “Well, not to freak you guys out, but it sounds like something between singing and chanting.”

“What are they saying?”

“I’m not sure.  It’s a language I don’t know, but…”  She paused as her eyes glazed over again.  “I feel like I should,” she muttered slowly as if trying to remember a dream that had quickly faded after sleep though still lingered.  She slowly stood from her seat, trancelike in her movements, and slid the sling ring on her hand then held her hand out in front of her. With the other hand, she lazily waved her hand in a circle, and a blue and white portal opened in front of them revealing an ancient surface under the night sky freckled with bright, vibrant stars.  Chanting could be heard by everyone now that the portal was formed, as soft and quiet as a lullaby but deep as the Earth’s core.

“Okay, why is the chanting calming and creepy all at once?” Rhodey asked.

“I kinda like it,” Bruce said.  “I don’t think it’s creepy at all.”

“Wait a minute,” Tony said as he moved around the others to get a better view of the portal.  “I’ve been here before.”

“You have?”  Steve, like the rest of the Avengers, huddled around Rory and peered through the portal to get a look at the world beyond.  “How?”

“Rory kinda brought me here in a way.  Through a dream.”

“A dream?”

Tony didn’t get a chance to explain because Rory stepped through the portal and walked straight to the edge of the stone circle surrounded by grass.  The rest of the Avengers, encouraged by Rory’s actions, cautiously crept through the portal one by one until they all joined her at the circle’s edge with the portal closing behind them.  Scott was the first to speak the question on everyone’s mind, and he asked in awe, “Where are we?”

“The birthplace of the Infinity Stones,” Rory answered reverently.  “This is where they were gifted to the universe after it and the Stones were designed and brought to existence by the Creator.”

Rhodey asked incredulously, though quietly, “How do you know that ?”

After a moment’s thought, her features betrayed her uncertainty.  “Well,” she responded slowly, sheepishly, “that part I’m not sure about.  Intuition?  I just feel like it’s something I’m supposed to know.  Maybe I’ve always known it.”

Tony spoke up as his eyes lit up with recognition.  “You did tell me you thought this place felt familiar to you, or at least it was supposed to.”

“What does that mean,” Natasha asked as she let her gaze slowly roam over her surroundings, mentally tracing over every detail, “supposed to know?”

Rory answered, “It means it all feels familiar, like really familiar, but I can’t remember why.”

“Roar,” Tony said as he moved to stand at Rory’s right, “I know this is gonna sound weird, but something feels different from the last time I was here.”

“No, you’re right.  It feels more - I dunno - electric.”

“I was gonna say ‘alive’, but that works too.”  As if the thought occurred to them both at once, Rory and Tony shared a look before glancing behind them towards the expanse seemingly leading nowhere.  The wall of darkness was gone, and they could see green grass span beyond into the night.  “That looks different too,” he said quietly.

“Yeah,” she responded just as quietly.

“Why is everything different?”

“I think because we’re here for real this time.  This is no dream or vision, Tones.  This is the real deal.”

Steve questioned, “Are we going to ignore the fact we’re somehow at the birthplace of the Infinity Stones ?”

“And why we’re here,” Natasha added.

“And what it all means,” Bruce finished.

Thor set his beer can down in the grass before glancing around, an old spark igniting in his eyes.  “This is indeed a strange occurrence.  This is Vormir.”

“Wait,” Natasha said as she held a hand up and shook her head slightly.  “The same Vormir where Thanos killed his daughter?  The, and I quote, ‘dominion of death at the center of celestial existence’ Nebula was talking about?”

“Death and life,” Rory corrected.  “You can’t have one without the other.”

Thor nodded at her.  “You are right.  One side of the planet is death, and the other side is life.  We’re on the side of life here.”  

Rory looked up at the stars and added, “It would make sense this is the center of celestial existence since--”

“Since the Infinity Stones were born here,” Steve interrupted, still hoping to gain answers.

“It would seem us being here is indeed for a reason,” Thor stated.  “Why else would Rory lead us here otherwise?”

“Yeah, and what exactly is that reason, Kenobi?” Clint dubiously questioned Rory as he crossed his arms.  “You gonna share with us?”

Rory stiffened a bit at the tone and gave Clint a daring glare.  “Well, if you’d give me a minute to think, Bullseye Boy,” she commented as she stepped onto the stone area, “I might be able to figure something out.”  Unbeknownst to her, as she stepped onto the stone area, the mandalas carved into the surface near her feet began to glow a soft white, and the light moved in tandem with her as if she was the source.

Tony pointed at the light around Rory’s feet and announced, “That did not happen last time!  Since when did your Chucks turn into Sketchers light-up shoes?”

“Huh?”  Rory looked down at her feet and stared, mesmerized by the sight.  She slowly lifted her right leg, and the light in the carved indentions near where her right foot once rested disappeared.  She put that foot back down again, and the indentions lit up in response.  “That’s new.”  Looking back at the others in confusion and wonder, Rory asked, “Does that happen with you guys?”

“Thor,” Steve asked as a few of the others stepped out onto the stone surface, “do you know what the symbols mean?”

“No light-up shoes for me,” Clint muttered as he moved around.

Scott shook his head and said, “Yeah, nothing for me either.”

“I do not,” Thor confessed sadly to Steve. “This is a language as old as time and unknown to most in the Nine Realms.  I don’t know if any survivor in the universe can read it.”

Clint stepped into one of the smaller circles around the stone surface’s circumference, and the circle glowed a brilliant cobalt blue.  “Now this is awesome!”  He moved out of the circle, and the light faded completely until he stepped back inside again.

“Try a different circle,” Rory suggested as she pointed to the other circles along the circumference.  

As Clint moved to try another one, the rest of the Avengers who stayed behind to watch looked among each other. Tony scoffed and said, “Like there’s no way Hawkeye is the only one who gets a glow-up.”  He started testing what he could make shine, and the rest followed suit.

Eventually a pattern began to form as certain Avengers found themselves standing in specific spots that glowed in their presence.  “Stay in your spots,” Steve instructed as more of the ancient place began to shine in response to the visitors’ actions.  “I don’t know why, but something tells me the tide turns today.”

Scott, who had quickly tried all the remaining spots and was bummed none of them worked for him, watched the others as they filled the spots that were left.  Clint’s spot was cobalt blue, and Tony made one spot turn a dark yet vibrant red.  Thor stepped onto one circle, and royal purple light appeared from it.  Natasha found a spot that illuminated a calm, serene orange for her, and Bruce found a spot that illuminated a sweet, happy yellow for him.  “My favorite color,” he muttered with a smile.  The remaining circle along the circumference went to Steve, which gave off a radiant green that would make Hulk jealous. 

“These are Infinity Stone colors,” Natasha observed. 

“It would seem we stand as substitutes for them,” Thor ventured as he looked around the circle. “The question is why?”

Nobody answered him.  At least Scott didn’t notice if anyone did.  He was watching Rory.  She had taken residence in the very center of the stone surface facing the cliff’s edge and the ocean below, sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed.  What mesmerized him more was what happened while she sat there.  Rory remained quiet and seemingly unaware of what was going on around her, and all she did was take slow, deep breaths.  That part wasn’t mesmerizing, of course, but what was mesmerizing was how the very stars above them seemed to breathe with her.  With every inhale Rory took, the stars would burn brighter until she exhaled, and the stars returned to normal.  He couldn’t help but shake his head and ask, “What’s going on?”

When the six Infinity Stone circles were occupied by an Avenger and glowing their respective colors, a hum of energy began to build, and the chanting stopped.  Even though there was no wind, Rory’s curls gently swayed as if a fluttering wind played with them.  Scott backed off the surface to stand by Rhodey as the other Avengers remained in their spots.  Bruce shouted over the humming which was turning into a roar, “What’s happening?”

Suddenly Rory’s eyes snapped open, but instead of the hazel eyes the rest were used to, a brilliant white light blazed in them.  The circle in which Rory sat glowed the same white light in response, and the mandalas displayed a faint iridescence.  A screech sounded from the grassy area behind them, and all but Rory turned to see a great cloud of darkness and smoke form from the ground and zoom towards them.  Scott and Rhodey jumped out of the way as the great cloud zipped between Steve and Bruce and encircled Rory.  She remained unfazed and unblinking, but eventually the cloud grew so thick, she could no longer be seen.

Many of the Avengers moved to help, but Thor shot out a hand and shouted with authority, “No!  Stop!”  Despite themselves, they froze at Thor’s command, and he continued, “Do not interfere!  This is beyond us.  We must remain.”  

With reluctance, they remained in their places, but Tony couldn’t help but call out, “Roar!  Rory!  Can you hear me?”

Scott shouted over the wind the swirling smoke created, “What the hell is going on?!”

“As Steve said,” Thor answered with a smirk, “I believe the tide is turning at last!”

Within the cloud, Rory remained sitting as her light-filled eyes stared up at the darkness churning around her.  She could see nothing beyond it, and she could barely make out the voices of her friends.  But she didn’t pay attention to them.  Instead she listened to a soft voice in her mind, whispering a story she could not believe.  A story that seemed too surreal, but she knew somehow it was true.  She was living proof of it.  

The others are so not going to believe this.

She barely could herself, but it was hard to argue the evidence happening right before her eyes.  Finally, everything was starting to make sense.  The pains, the voices, the connection to the Stones, the vision, everything.  Once the story she was listening to ended, instinct led her actions, making her slam her fists together, and the darkness vanished as the mandalas shone brighter while a burst of white light shot upward from where Rory sat.

The Avengers covered their eyes when the burst of light broke through as the darkness disappeared.  When everything settled and the glowing around them completely faded, they slowly uncovered their eyes to a rather amazing sight.  Rory stood in the same spot with her hands raised in front of her, studying them with fascination.  Her eyes were completely white, a very bright white with the barest hint of iridescence, and if she looked at her skin, she could see threads of the same light flowing in her blood.  Other than that, everything else remained the same about Rory, yet she knew this was just the beginning.  

She looked up at her friends and smiled at their flabbergasted expressions.  “Guys,” she said slowly as she dropped her hands, and the light in her eyes and skin faded.  “You’re not gonna believe what I have to tell you.”

Chapter Text

“This is amazing,” Bruce uttered in fascination after Rory revealed the light in her eyes again and displayed the light in her veins.  “I mean, really this is amazing.  How?  And why?”

They had returned to the compound and sat around the long dining table, and Tony and Steve made sure Rory sat at the head of the table since she was the one with the story to tell.  “It’s kind of a long story,” she confessed.

“This is one worth hearing I’m sure,” Thor declared from the kitchen, grabbing another beer. 

Rory turned in her chair towards him and asked, “Haven’t you had enough?”

“A good story needs a good drink.”

“Your idea of a good drink is different from mine apparently,” Rory muttered as she faced the table again.  “But whatever.”  To Tony, she asked, “Why do you keep stocking the fridge with them?”

“He’s still Thor,” Tony answered as Thor took a seat at the table.  “I need no threats about a lightning ass-whooping, okay?  Plus, he’s not the only one who drinks them, though no one else drinks as much.  Now, come on,” he prodded as he gestured to her, “spill the magical beans already.”

Rory shrugged and let the light disappear within herself as she began the story whispered in her mind moments ago.  “Okay, okay.  Here’s what I know.  After the creation of the universe, the Creator saw it was good and presented it with gifts:  Stones that controlled a certain element of the universe.  You already know what I’m talking about, of course.”

“The Infinity Stones,” Bruce supplied with a nod. 

“Right, exactly.  Well some time after, I have no idea how long after, a secret organization of beings from across the universe banded together to watch over and protect the Infinity Stones from anyone who would attempt to abuse those powers for selfish, evil purposes.  They called themselves the Infinites.  There would be one person assigned to each Stone to be its keeper, and the rest would be protectors of the keepers.  The keepers would study the Stones, teach others about them, and use their powers only when necessary.”

“But there was one keeper in particular who had gotten greedy and power hungry, and he sought a Stone he wasn’t meant to keep.  And he went through desperate measures to claim it.  It’s hard for those in the group to protect the keepers when they never suspect one of their own to become an enemy.  After a lot of careful planning, the enemy killed the keeper of the Stone he wanted and used its power to flee, so he could do with the Stone whatever he pleased now that he had it.  But one thing he didn’t plan for was his complete inability to handle the Stone.  In the end, the Stone overwhelmed him with its power, and it killed him.”

“The problem now was the Stone was lost, and the rest of the Infinites were unsuccessful in their attempts to find it.  They searched far and wide, but they could not locate the lost Stone.  Grief-stricken, horrified by what had taken place, and ashamed they couldn’t find what was lost never mind prevent the tragedy, the Infinites disbanded, splitting into smaller groups, and each group took a Stone with it to protect.  One group hid the Soul Stone on Vormir and left it to fate.  Other groups lost their Stones too, and they were completely scattered across the universe.  Only one keeper, a being by the name of Agamotto, who was entrusted with the Time Stone was able to keep it safe, and it was passed down through the line of Sorcerer Supremes until it reached our friend, Doctor Strange.”

Natasha asked, “What happened to the lost Stone?”  

Rory’s smirk was small.  “The lost Stone had essentially been wiped from history.  No one ever spoke of it; no one knew anything about it; no one living knows of its existence.”  At this, Rory let the light return to her eyes and the glow to her skin.  “Until now.”

All were quiet as the gravity of the revelation settled on them, dumbfounded by the turn of events.  Scott pointed at her and asked in fascinated awe, “You?”

“Apparently,” she answered with a sheepish grin and a shrug.

Thor questioned intently as he set his beer down on the table.  “ Seven Stones?”

“Seven is the number of completion, right?”  Rory nodded confidently and continued, “This is the last key to the puzzle that makes everything make sense now.  Everything that happened to me two years ago was because of this, and Thanos being unable to destroy the Infinity Stones was because he didn’t have them all.  Plus -”

“Wait a minute,” Steve said as he held up a hand to stop her mid sentence.  “They really can be destroyed?”

Rory sighed and nodded.  “Yes, but it requires the use of all seven Stones for it to work.”

“But if we got the Stones and tried to destroy them after we reversed the Decimation,” Natasha said slowly as she looked meaningfully at Rory, “then wouldn’t that mean--”

“No way,” Scott and Tony stated simultaneously, clearly seeing where that line of thought was going.

“I mean,” Scott continued with a shrug, “do we even have to destroy them?”

Tony concurred, “Yeah, that doesn’t necessarily have to be the answer to making sure all our hard work isn’t for nothing.”

“Guys, guys,” Rory interrupted as she held up both hands to calm them down.  “I appreciate the thought.  Immensely.  Like you have no idea.  But you’re jumping way ahead here.  We’ll figure out what to do when we get to that point, okay?  In the meantime, I didn’t get to finish what I was saying.  The Light Stone, the seventh Stone, isn’t just another Infinity Stone.”  She shrugged.  “Not exactly.  Light is its own Infinity Stone, yeah, but it kinda encompasses the other Infinity Stones too.  Infinities within an infinity.”

“Infinities within an infinity?”  Clint leaned forward so his forearms rested on the table.  “There are infinities bigger than others?”

“Sure, plenty of them.  Think of numbers for example.”  Rory began counting on her fingers, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  I can keep going and going and going just counting those.  That’s one infinity.  But then I add 0 to the beginning of that list, and suddenly I have an infinity that’s bigger than the first one I had.  Then I add -1, -2, -3, etc. to that list, and I’ve got an even bigger infinity than the first two.  Not to mention there are smaller infinities than that because there are an infinite number of numbers between 0 and 1 and so forth.  Infinities, ironically, can have size too.”

“How does that affect us right now, exactly,” Tony asked as he leaned forward slightly, intrigued by this line of thought.

“The argument could be made that in some shape, form, or fashion, light affects space, reality, mind, soul, power, and time.  Some of these may seem like a bit of a stretch, but,” Rory shrugged, “I didn’t make the rules.  But anyway, it affects them enough for the Light Stone to not only wield powers of light.  Like I said,” Rory said as she extended her left hand out and placed it on the table.  “Infinities within an infinity.”  

Without warning, her entire right eye burned with a fierce red as the table beneath her palm cracked and twisted into a new shape.  As everyone scooted away from the table as fast as they could, the table was now a small, green, slender, living-breathing dragon that flew in a circle around the room, roaring and spitting fire.  With her right hand, that now glowed blue, she pointed at different spots in the room, and the dragon would disappear in what looked like a cover of blue smoke and reappear where Rory pointed.  Then she pointed directly in front of herself, and as the dragon appeared there, her right eye turned red again as the dragon turned to stone.  She reached out her left hand, now glowing purple, and grabbed the statue’s throat.  Purple cracks erupted in the stone before it crumbled into a pile of pebbles on the floor.  Then Rory’s left eye shone green, and she turned her hand in a counterclockwise circular motion as every action the dragon took reversed itself:  from pebbles to stone to flight to table again.

Every set of eyes that watched were blown wide with shock and amazement, and everyone was quiet for a long time until Clint muttered very slowly, “What the hell was that?”

“That was four Stones in use without them actually being here,” Tony said quietly as if processing everything.

“So you pretty much control all the Infinity Stones,” Rhodey said to Rory but with some uncertainty.

“Well, not exactly,” she answered with a shrug.  “It seems I can use the powers of those Stones too, but I can’t stop the Stones themselves if someone else uses them.”

“It’s far more than we had before though,” Steve stated with some excitement.

Rory smiled slyly.  “Plus, it means we can move forward with the Quantum Heist in full force.”

Scott bounced excitedly in his chair, quickly catching on, and announced, “Field test!  If we test how your powers work in the Quantum Realm, then we’ll know how the Stones will react there too, specifically Space, Time, and Reality.”

“Giving us an edge over Thanos when we get him there,” Bruce added eagerly.

"After we figure out how to get him there anyway."

"Listen," Tony said with challenging smirk, "leave that to us.  Quite a few large noggins at this table, Roar."  He nodded with the Stark-brand confidence.  "We'll get it figured out in time for the Heist."

Natasha nodded once in a long, drawn out motion as a hopeful grin spread across her face.  “This could actually work.  We’ve got a legitimate shot here.”

Chapter Text

Despite the realization that the Avengers now had a legitimate shot at what seemed like an impossible mission to restore the Ashen to the universe, not everyone was eager and raring to go with the plan.  One in particular seemed to retreat more into himself than offering any help that was typical for him.  That wasn’t the problem.  The problem was Thor needed help, and the rest were trying to figure out how to best help him.

“He’s depressed, guys,” Tony stated like it was an obvious thing they overlooked.  “He’s literally lost it all, and he blames himself for the Decimation.  I don’t remember who, but one of you said the very same thing.  That’s why he drinks all the time; that’s why he’s let himself go.”

“He does blame himself for the Decimation,” Bruce agreed reluctantly.  “I mean, you guys didn’t see him when Rocket and I first went to get him.  It was bad,” he said, drawing out the word.  “He’s scared, and who can blame him?  Thanos did a number on him.”

Scott gave the whole group a confused and rather appalled look.  “Hold on, am I reading this right in that nobody went to go check on him in two years?”

“We did go check on him,” Natasha explained. “Bruce and I did numerous times, but any coaxing to do something other than drink beer and eat three day old pizza was met with a lot of resistance.”

Bruce nodded.  “Never mind asking him to talk about what happened.  That was out of the question.”

Scott frowned, concerned and bothered by the idea of all of that.  “Poor guy.”

“And what happened to Mjölnir,” Steve asked curiously after a moment.  “The new ax is pretty nice, but Thor without his hammer just doesn’t sound right.”

After a moment of silence where no one seemed to have the answer, Rory provided, “That would be credited to Thor’s big sister, Hela, goddess of death.  She kinda broke it into smithereens.”  

Tony raised an eyebrow at the word choice.  “Kinda?”

“With one hand,” Rory added as she nodded.

“I’m sorry,” Steve said as he shook his head and held up a hand for her to slow down.  “Who?”

“Hela the goddess of death,” Rory said again.  “Oden’s firstborn whom he banished after the two of them had a fallout ‘cause she got power hungry.”

“Imagine Loki as a girl, twice as wicked, twice as weird, and a bit of a badass,” Bruce offered.  “She could produce any weapon she wanted at will.”

“What happened to her?”  Scott asked.

“Destroyed by this humongous, ugly, lava-looking monster,” Bruce supplied.

Rory explained as she chuckled over Bruce’s descriptions, “Surtur.  He’s a big fire demon prophesied to cause an apocalyptic event called Ragnarok where he will destroy Asgard.  Which, ya know, he did.”

“Damn,” Scott muttered.  “Saying ‘that sucks’ is an understatement here.”

“No kidding,” she agreed.  “So to recap,” she started counting on her fingers.  “Thor has watched his father, mother, and brother die along with many of his people.  He watched his home be completely destroyed.  He lost an eye, and his hammer was destroyed.  He came this close,” she said as she almost pinched her fingers together, “to defeating Thanos before the Decimation could occur but no such luck and now blames himself for what Thanos accomplished.  Under the circumstances, I’d say he more than has a right to be depressed.”

Scott looked around among the group and asked with a shrug, “So can we help him deal with this?  Sounds like therapy would help him a lot.”

“There’s not really a therapist on Earth who treats Asgardians,” Bruce commented.

Tony shook his head, warming up to Scott’s idea.  “No, but at the base of it, it’s still problems we face too.  Major loss, failure, lack of direction and purpose, fear.  I wouldn’t knock out Scott’s idea just yet.”

“It won’t do him any good if he won’t accept the help,” Natasha muttered.  “There must be something to help give him a boost in the right direction.  He needs a reason to believe he deserves help.  He needs to understand that what he’s going through doesn’t make him any less of who he is.”

Scott nodded eagerly.  “Exactly!  I mean, he’s Thor .  He’s still worthy.”

Rory gasped as an idea bloomed in her mind.  “Scott!  That’s it!  You’re a genius.”

“Man, I’ve been really good at that lately.  Why am I this time?”

“ Worthy .  Thor needs to be reminded he is still worthy!  Nat’s right; his depression doesn’t make him less worthy of who he is, his title, and all that other stuff, and he needs to know that.”

“How?”

“I’ve got a crazy idea, and I think it just might work.”

It took more time for Rory to find any essence that remained out in the world of Mjölnir  than it took for her to teleport to it.  She knew it was in Norway, but considering there were probably quite a few cliffs overlooking the ocean there, she needed to pinpoint its location as accurately as possible.  It felt weird but exhilarating to open a portal without her sling ring, especially since her right arm shimmered with blue light while the portal remained open, and she now understood why her portals looked so different from Stephen’s.  She wished he was still around so she could tell him.  She imagined her friend would be completely fascinated by that. 

Remember you told me to tell you something about you that you don’t know?  Well, I’ve discovered something, and I wish with everything I have that I could tell you.  But I can’t.  Rory sighed.  Perhaps Stephen Strange already knew.

“Norway,” Tony stated as he followed Rory through the portal before inhaling the sea air through his nose.  “Seems a bit on the nose, don’t you think, Roar?”

“I’m not the one who brought it here, Tones,” Rory chuckled as she started looking for the shards of Thor’s hammer.  “But yeah,” she nodded, “maybe a little.  Help me look for the hammer pieces.”

She didn’t know how long it would take the combined efforts of Natasha, Bruce, Rocket, and Scott to lure Thor here and through the portal, but she needed to hurry.  As long as they did as she requested and tried to explain what they all believed about Thor and why he was still worthy, and how this experiment was supposed to prove that, then maybe he would give it a try. 

If it didn’t, well…they would have to cross that bridge if they came to it.

Tony conceded and started scouring the area with her.  “You and me and cliffsides, huh?  We have got to stop meeting up like this.  At least next time, let’s make it a beach instead of a cliffside.  So what exactly is your crazy idea?”

“If I can manipulate time, then maybe like in my demonstration, I can reverse time’s effects on Thor’s hammer and restore it.”

“And then he can do his ‘Whosoever holds the hammer be worthy’ bit, right?  Yeah, I can see that.  Do you think it’ll work?”

“It has to, Tony,” she answered with a sigh.  “It has to.  Otherwise, I don’t really know what else would convince him.”

“Besides a good therapy session.  Too bad he couldn’t have been talked into that earlier.”

“Well, he’s a bit stubborn, ya know.”

“Boy, do I.”

Two years of being left in the dirt made it difficult to find any sign of the hammer.  She had to at least know it was here before she tried her crazy scheme.  Just before she thought she would have to get on her hands and knees to dig around, Tony’s foot caught a chunk of the metal and made him trip, a mystical clanging sound resonated as he stumbled.  “Oh shit!”  

He managed to keep himself from falling completely, and Rory quickly moved over to inspect the piece he tripped over.  She could definitely make out the metal sticking out from the ground, and it made her smile triumphantly. “Gotcha!”

“No, I think it got me.” Tony picked up his injured foot and massaged the tip of his shoe. “Damn, that was unpleasant, but I don’t think anything other than my pride has been terribly wounded.”

Rory snorted as she dug the remnants of the hammer from the ground. “Don’t worry, Tony.  I won’t tell.”

“Wait, you can lift those?”  Tony got on his knees beside her and poked at one of the larger pieces.  “Or is it because it’s broken?”

“I doubt I’m worthy of the hammer,” Rory shrugged.  “Pick up a piece and see.”

He successfully did so, and stared at it in awe.  With his free hand, he knocked against the piece, making that faint mystical ringing sound.  “Well, I can technically add ‘held Thor’s hammer’ to my resume.  Even if this is all I could hold, it still counts.”

Rory held up another piece, a corner she suspected, and rubbed her thumb over the smooth surface.  “It is pretty neat to think about.  We’re holding Thor’s hammer.”

“Technically.”

“I do love technicalities sometimes.”

Tony chuckled, feeling the same way.  “As long as they don’t go against us, of course.  Okay,” he set his piece back down, stood, and shrugged as he wiped his hands.  “Now what?”

“Now,” Rory followed Tony’s lead, and once she’s standing, she cracked her upper back, and shrugged her shoulders, loosening up for the task at hand.  “Time to play.”  She took a slow breath, letting instinct take over.  She heard Tony hum with intrigue once her left eye glowed a brilliant green, and she slowly lifted her left hand and lazily twirled it counterclockwise.  It took a second for the magic to take effect, but the hammer pieces flew up from the ground and met at an invisible center, forming Mjölnir once again.  Every piece was accounted for, and once it was whole again, it fell back down to the ground with a resounding clank.  Rory sighed, thoroughly pleased with herself, and then she too wiped her hands.  “Done and done.”

“That’s a very handy trick,” Tony stated with an impressed nod.  “One I wouldn’t mind having myself.”

“It is pretty nifty; I gotta agree.”  She eyed the hammer for a moment, eyebrow raised slightly.  What could it hurt to try?  Almost hesitantly, she wrapped her fingers around the hammer’s grip, took a breath, and pulled up as hard as she could.  And was met with the most stubborn resistance ever.  “Holy shit,” she exclaimed in surprise as she continued to tug at it, now really wanting it to move.  “What the heck!”

“Welcome to the club.  That thing has favorites, I’m telling you.”  He snickered when Rory went for a two-handed grip on the handle and pulled with all her might, even going as far as having her left hand glow purple in hopes of a mystical advantage.  “So your time-reversal magic definitely works now; that’s good to know.”

“This…is… insane ,” she groaned, straining for another moment longer before giving up and letting go.  “Damn.  I kinda had my hopes up holding a piece of it, but clearly I was right from the start.”

“Like I said, welcome to the club,” Tony told her as he patted her back once.  “Let’s just hope Thor can still pick it up with ease.”

Rory nodded once in total confidence.  “He will.”

Over an hour later, while Tony and Rory were discussing things like if an elevator was worthy of Mjölnir, voices could be heard on the other side of the still open portal.  It sounded like a half-hearted argument from the Thunderer as the quartet that went to retrieve him led him through the portal.  “I don’t see what the point is to–”  But Thor stopped himself when he realized where they were.  

The hammer was hidden from his sight since Tony and Rory stood between them, and Thor slowly looked around, haunted by memories that took place there.  “Why have you brought me here?” he asked no one in particular after the memories had played out in his mind.

“We told you, buddy,” Bruce answered gently.  “We’re here to prove a point to you.”

Thor nodded slowly and sighed sadly.  “Ah yes.  That I am not as bad off as I think I am, is that right?”

“More like you have let your mistakes and losses unfairly define you for far too long,” Natasha told him.  “That’s not who you are, Thor.”

“And who says it’s unfair?  Perhaps it is just to mark myself so.”

“Why?”

“Because I really messed up.  Because I was supposed to be better than that.  Because I was not supposed to be a failure.”

Scott commented quietly, “Everybody makes mistakes, Thor.  Everybody fails at some point.  And that’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.  Take it from a guy who makes mistakes a lot.  We’re not perfect, and we make mistakes.  Unfortunately, that’s just a part of life.  It happens.  The most important thing though is what we do after we make the mistake.  You can take the opportunity to learn and grow from it and be better for whatever lesson you can take from it all or you can just…hide and become less.”

“And what lesson am I to learn from this, man of ants, hm?  Besides always aim for the head?”

“Exactly what we’ve been telling you:  you’re still Thor.  Despite your mistakes, you’re still worthy.  You don’t have to let your mistakes and failures define you.  Your depression and sadness don’t define you either.  You don’t have to let the bad in life shape the whole of who you are because you’re so much more than that.  You can pick yourself up, learn and grow, and keep moving forward doing what’s right.  You can run towards your problems and work to fix them and solve them.”

That triggered a memory for Thor.  Didn’t he once say something similar about himself?  To Valkyrie, yes, that’s right.  I choose to run toward my problems and not away from them.   That felt like a lifetime ago.  “Because…that’s what heroes do,” he said slowly.

Scott grinned at that, taking encouragement from that and pressing on.  “I know everything that’s been going on for you specifically lately has been hard and scary and very sad.  It’s a lot for just one person, and I know you’ve been trying your best to just get through the day lately.  But you don’t have to live like that, Thor.  You don’t have to punish yourself or isolate yourself or believe this is as good as it should be for you.  You’ve got friends who are in your corner, friends who understand how you’re feeling and wanna help you.  And we all know who you are, Thor.  You’ve just kinda forgotten.”

Thor sighed, feeling heavy and worn.  “I don’t know how to remember.  Or even if I want to.”

“Do you want to continue living as is?”  When Thor didn’t offer an answer, Scott took it as a no.  “Look, buddy, you have a chance to remind yourself right here and now who you are.  You have a chance to help fix this big problem we’re all facing.  You have a chance to be who you really are and not this shell of a person.  If you choose it, today is the day you start moving forward and be Thor again.  Not just hero Thor but Thor who’s a good guy.”

“Thor who is a good friend,” Bruce added.

“Thor who is a considerate and kind person,” Natasha added.

“Thor who’s a badass,” said Rocket.

Tony finished with, “Thor the lovable teddy bear.”

“That sounds nice,” Thor admitted after a moment, but then he hesitated, “but I just don’t know…”

“You want to believe it though,” Scott correctly pointed out.  “You want to believe what we’re telling you is true, and I promise you it is!  It really is.  But hey, I get it, sometimes words aren’t enough, so if you can’t take our word for it,” he pointed towards Rory and Tony who stepped to the side to reveal Mjölnir on the ground.  “Maybe you should test it out for yourself.”

Thor’s eyes lit up at the sight.  “Mjölnir,” he whispered in reverent surprise.  He looked at Rory and asked, “How?”

“A little Infinity Stone power did the trick.  Go on,” she gestured to the hammer, “try it.”

“This really is Mjölnir and not an illusion?”

“Cross my heart, Thor, that is no illusion.  That is the real deal.  I reversed the effects of Time on it and restored it.”

Thor eyed the hammer for a long moment before looking around and catching the eyes of his friends, and they all offered some encouragement to try picking up the hammer.  Finally he shrugged and sighed.  “What have I got to lose?”

“Nothing,” Natasha answered.

And Bruce added, “But a lot to gain.”

Another moment to muster courage passed before Thor finally held up his hand to Mjölnir, and immediately, the hammer hummed and shook before flying into Thor’s grasp.  His jaw dropped as he gasped before his face split from his bright smile.  A tear slid down his cheek as he uttered in great relief, “ I’m still worthy.”

Chapter Text

Rory stared at herself in the mirror for the longest time.  This was just as surreal as watching herself demonstrate supernatural abilities.  Quite frankly, the suit Tony made for her was epic, and every time she put it on, the look she gave herself was always the same.  This is your life now.  How on earth is this your life now?   Slowly, the ridiculous thought of Rory being a superhero was starting to sound a little less ridiculous.  

It was silver, a surprising color choice if she was being honest with herself, but at least it wasn’t gold.  That would have been way too much.  Besides, Tony held claim to gold anyway.  The gloved hands did not have fingertip coverings, which she appreciated not just for aesthetic purposes.  There were discreetly concealed pockets and pouches throughout the suit, including pockets she could slip her hands in when at ease, another choice she appreciated.  “I know how girls love to say, ‘Thanks, it has pockets’,” Tony teased, and Rory couldn’t disagree with him.

Instead of a traditional helmet, the suit came with a hood, truly like a hoodie’s hood, but it was reinforced with durable, protective material Tony swore by.  A most impressive feature was the hood was meant to not slip off her head on its own but would stay put unless she slid it off her head herself.  She tested it multiple times in various ways and was floored to find it worked.

How Tony managed to pull that off, she would never know.  All she knew was he was a master of so many skills and secrets.

Rory’s favorite part of the suit however was the stitching that outlined features of her suit.  From the hips down, the stitching was black.  From the hips up, the stitching was the Infinity Stone color that aligned with the body part that glowed when in use.  For example, on her left arm the stitching was purple.  On the hood, the stitching was split where the left side was green, and the right side was red.  It was details like that which made Rory smile.  

“You really do look nice.  You have special friends.”   

It wasn’t Rory’s own thought but a thought belonging to the entity living within her, an entity that has been with her since she was born but only recently discovered.  The Light Stone’s “voice” was phenomenal all on its own; it felt so strange and so familiar to her.  A boisterous shout and a soothing whisper.  A hurricane’s fury and a rainshower’s gentleness.  The majesty of a thousand-voice chorus.  The sincerity of a lonely soloist.

Rory nodded in agreement with the voice in her head, and she mentally replied, I really do have special friends, uhhhh…You know, I feel like I should call you something.  Do you have a name?

“I have never known a name.”

Don’t the other Infinity Stones call you something?  You can talk to me, and I’ve heard about the Stones trying to speak to other people?  Like the Mind Stone talking to Vision.  Don’t you have names for each other?

“We speak to each other in a language all our own.  I communicate with you in a way special to only us because of our bond.  The other Stones, though powerful, must learn how to communicate with their keepers in their own way.”  

Can you help me understand other languages?

“If I know them, yes.”

There are things you don’t know?

“I am not omniscient.  The multiverse is too vast, and my unbounded abilities do not reside in knowledge, much to your disappointment, I feel.  Do not worry.  My knowledge is indeed vast, just not infinite.”

I see.  Ironic.  By the way, you never answered my original question.

The Light Stone hummed in thought.  “A name,” the voice fluttered in her mind.  To Rory’s surprise, she felt a tight tremor in her chest, as if the Stone physically shook the thought away.  “No,” the voice replied, “a name for me will not be necessary since I will not be here much longer.”

What?!  Rory’s heart plummeted while her blood pressure simultaneously spiked.   You’re leaving me?!

The Light Stone offered a soft chuckle.  “I will not leave you; I am always a part of you.  But my cognizance will fade and eventually join yours, and all my knowledge, powers, and experiences will become your own.”

So, I’ll become you?

“No, child,” the voice whispered sweetly.  “You will become you , the you I saw in my vision many centuries ago.  My cognizance will not affect your personality, nor will you confuse my memories with your own.  You’ll know the difference.  You’ll have every part of me at your disposal, but you won’t need my voice anymore.”

I don’t understand.

“When you accept yourself as you are and learn the truth of your worth for yourself, you will understand.”

Rory sighed sadly and closed her eyes as an old, familiar ache settled on her.   I don’t know how to do that.

“I know,” the voice replied gently, understandingly, “but in time, you will find a way.  And when you finally do, oh, how you will shine.”

At that point, F.R.I.D.A.Y. interrupted her thoughts and announced, “Miss Aurora, Mr. Stark asks you to meet him and Mr. Lang at the Quantum Tunnel please.”

“Right,” Rory whispered a little anxiously as she pulled the hood up.  “Field Test.”  The big field test anyway.  Rory had already undergone multiple field tests to gauge how well the suit handled her abilities.  She had ample practice completing those field tests, and she didn’t have any problem with that kind of field test.  This kind, though, this one made the heist plan far more real than anything else could.  

This was the Quantum Realm Field Test.

She took a long breath before she turned to walk out of the room.  “Tell Tony I’m on my way.”

“ Yes, ma’am .”

The tunnel wasn’t actually a tunnel this time; it was just easier to call it the Quantum Tunnel.  It was a circular platform elevated almost Rory’s height off the floor. Panels curving inward sat along the circumference of the platform in various locations equidistant apart from each other.  What is it about circles? she wondered.  Circles here, circles on Vormir, circles were definitely a theme here.  “Infinite,” she mused as she approached the platform.  

Scott was already there in his Ant-Man suit, adjusting a band on his right wrist as he and Tony discussed things in quiet tones.  Rocket wove in and out and around underneath the platform, taking care of some last minute check-ups.  Rory could hear a muffled song that sounded very 80s coming from the headset he wore as he worked, and she couldn’t help but grin when she thought she heard him barely mumbling along.

“Alright, math bros,” Rory called, announcing her presence as she walked up the ramp to the platform, “I hope you’re ready because I’m not yet.  I should mention I have pitiful test anxiety, and I have multiple instances in high school and college to confirm it.”

“A field test is not quite like a Calculus III test, Roar,” Tony stated with a smirk and an eyebrow raise.

“No, I bet it’s more like an Abstract Algebra test or a Discrete Mathematics test, and that’s not good for me, Tony.  I especially hated Abstract Algebra.”

“It’ll be like riding a bike,” Tony promised her.  “You’ll be just fine.  You’ll ace this one.”

“Meanwhile, wow ,” an impressed Scott exclaimed as he pointed to Rory’s suit, “check you out!  That suit looks cool!  Bonafide superhero now.”

“Something like that, I guess,” she shrugged as she slid her hands into her pockets, “although, I don’t really know how well this’ll actually fare in the Quantum Realm.”

Tony held up a wrist band matching Scott’s before tossing it to her.  “That’s where this comes in.  Hit it, Scott.”

At Tony’s prompting, Scott hit a button on his band, and instantly a suit literally built itself over Scott’s suit, and Rory’s jaw dropped.  The suit in question looked reminiscent of his Ant-Man suit, especially the helmet, except this suit’s armor was white, accented with red, black, and gray, and a small Avengers logo was marked on the left breast plate.  It was sleek and fitted, and Scott and Tony both looked proud of themselves.  As they should.  

“ Woah !”  She shook her head and circled Scott to get a 360-view of the suit that seemed to appear out of thin air.  “That’s incredible!  What the heck did I just watch?”

“What?”  Tony asked her, “You don’t recognize it?”

“Well, it looks like a white version of the Ant-Man suit.”

“You’re half right,” Scott said with a grin, “but not exactly.  Imagine an older version of this on me while I’m standing in front of the van.”

Realization made her eyes widen.  “Ohhhhh duh !  It’s a Quantum suit.”

“A more upgraded, stylish version of the original,” Tony clarified.  “I think it turned out alright.”

“Nanotech,” Scott supplied as he tapped the band the suit came from.  “Gotta love it.  It’s some pretty amazing stuff.”

“Insane,” she responded enthusiastically.  “Doesn’t the extra suit add a lot of heat and weight though?”

“Nope.  Not a bit!”

“It shouldn’t.”  Tony walked over to her, took the band he just gave her back, and snapped it on her left wrist.  “Nanotech is super lightweight and flexible.  Hardly even notice it’s there, yet it still functions like a normal suit.  I mean, my own Iron Man suit is nanotech now, and it’s the most lightweight suit I’ve ever created, yet I’m not limited in the functionality of my suit.  In fact, I have more options now because of the nanotech.”  Once he was satisfied with everything, he tapped on her band.  “This one is yours.  Obviously.  I had to get yours and Scott’s ready first for the field test, and I’ll finish with the others after this.”

“Right…the test.”  Enthusiasm was fading now, replaced with anxiety of doing something as crazy as shrinking to subatomic size and entering a world infinitesimally small.  “Well,” she finally shrugged, “I always wanted to know what it felt like to shrink.”  She activated her own Quantum suit, and released a little “ooh!” of astonishment as she felt it expand over her suit.  

“It’ll feel really weird at first,” Scott explained.  “All tingly and like your body’s waking up after being asleep, but as soon as it comes, it goes.  The after effects just feel like the tingling sensation is still around, but it’s not.  It only feels that way, and those pass pretty quickly too.”

“Rocket,” Tony called as he slightly leaned over the edge of the platform.  “Everything good down there for another test?”  After a few seconds without an answer, Tony called again a little louder, but there was still no reply from the Guardian.  He even stomped a couple of times to try to get Rocket’s attention, but it was only met with silence, making Tony sigh.

Rory walked to join her friend, laid down so her upper body was hanging over the edge, and peered underneath the platform to find Rocket finished with his tasks and just silently jiving to the music playing in his headset.  She held out her left palm and focused, and soon enough a little ball of golden light formed and grew to the size of a baseball in her hand which she promptly projected in Rocket’s general direction.  

The light beam definitely caught his attention and surprised him.  “Hey!  Flashlight!” he shrieked, “Watch where ya point that thing, alright?  Give me a fricking heart attack!”

“Sorry, dude, but how else are we supposed to get your attention when you can’t hear us?  Is everything all set down here?”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” he waved dismissively as he started to crawl out from underneath.  He wouldn’t want to be down there when this thing powered up.  “Everything’s ready to go again.”

“Good deal, thank you.”

“Eh, don’t mention it.  I kinda like watching this thing at work anyway.”

A few more minutes of system checks and suit checks and checks for checks, Rory and Scott stood alone on the platform facing each other.  Scott was eager to go, and Rory was trying to control her breathing.  “Hey,” he said in that soft way that helps a person feel more calm and assured, “it’s gonna be okay.  You’re gonna be fine.”

“Gonna be fine,” Rory repeated for her own benefit as she nodded quickly.  “We’ll end up in the same place, right?”

“That’s the plan.  If not right in the same spot, we’ll be close by.”

“Okay,” she breathed out.  

Tony started the countdown starting at ten for them to go subatomic, and at the count of five, Rory closed her eyes.  “...three, two, one.  Subatomic.”

Her breath hitched when she felt the tunnel come to life and the shrinking sensation take effect, and her entire body prickled and felt hypersensitive.  True to Scott’s word though, the sensation wore away quickly.  But what he didn’t tell her - what she should have remembered from watching Scott’s first time going subatomic on the big screen - was seeing color swirls and dust clouds and strange geometric patterns and things that reminded her of lightning storms and… Holy crap, that’s an atom.  An actual atom.

She gulped a breath after realizing she’d been holding her own too long, and before she knew it, her feet found ground again.  Unexpectedly so, and she staggered before ungraciously plopping down on her backside.  “Holy fricking crap,” was all she could mutter, elongating the first word.

“Pretty wild, right?”  Rory was too relieved to see Scott’s hand extended to help her up to even reply.  He didn’t give her a chance to.  “You did good for your first ride!  How ya feeling?  Lightheaded?  Sick to your stomach?”

Rory shook her head as she gained her bearings.  “A little overwhelmed, but I’m okay.”  Then she took a moment to look around, and she gasped in complete awe.  “ Wooooooah .”

The world around her looked like an extraterrestrial jungle.  That was the best comparison her mind could devise.  Vibrant colors of plant life surrounded her under a yellow sky, and there were creatures that flew overhead, unaware and uncaring of the newcomers below them.  This new world extended as far as the eye could see, and that in tandem to the knowledge there was a far larger world above them somewhere, that overwhelming feeling Rory mentioned simply grew.  Rory, you are definitely not in Kansas anymore.   “This is…” she tried to select an appropriate word, but nothing seemed to suffice in how massive and incredible and paradoxical this place was to her.  “This is…”

But Scott merely smiled as he looked around too.  If anyone could understand what she was trying and failing to express, it would be him.  “I know.”  He chuckled softly as he nodded in agreement.  “It really is.”

Then something else occurred to Rory, and she blinked away her surprise to look at her friend.  “But wait.  Have you been to this part of the Quantum Realm before?  Did you even know this part was here?  Because I know for a fact you were in some void portion the first time you came here.”

Scott chuckled again as he raised an eyebrow at her.  “This isn’t the first time Tony and I are testing the Quantum Tunnel, Rory.  This is like my…” he paused to mentally count, “sixteenth or seventeenth trip since we started.”

“Oh!  Oh yeah okay, that would make sense.  Why so many trips?”

“Making sure the suits and tunnel were functioning properly as well as trying to figure out how we can all meet up in the same place if we’re not all going to the Quantum Realm at the same time.  The last thing we need is for one half of the team to be hundreds of miles away from the other half once we get down here.”

“Well that makes sense too.  Any luck?”

He nodded, chuckled, and gave her a thumbs up.  “Oh sure.  I mean, we ended up in the same place, didn’t we?”  

“Oh…”  Duh, Callahan.   She bobbed her head before nodding in agreement and shrugging.  “Yeah, that’s a given.  Sorry…”

“Hey, relax,” Scott waved dismissively.  “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.  You’ve been super busy yourself, what with all the training and practicing you’ve been having to do.  And speaking of all the stuff you’ve been busy with, time for your part of the field test.”

“Right,” Rory nodded again as she rolled her shoulders and neck in preparation, feeling them pop.  “Field test.”

To Rory’s great relief, the field test didn’t take very long to accomplish.  It was easy to complete it quickly when most of one’s efforts were in vain.  As hoped, Space, Time, and Reality were useless once taken out of the realm they were designed for.  Once they were removed from the rules they could play by, they couldn’t play at all.  Mind and Soul were hard to test in the Quantum Realm, especially since Rory was still learning what to do with those powers, but eventually she determined they were useless down here as well.

The only Stone that proved to still be valuable was Power.  For whatever reason, Power was beyond the rules of their realm as well as the rules of the Quantum Realm, and that was a problem.  Scott knew it was a problem too once he watched Riley punch a tree-like plant into smithereens.  “Damn, that’s not good.  If Thanos can still use the Power Stone down here, that’s going to cause a lot of problems during the fight.”

“Especially if there’s going to be a lot of Quantum foliage he can use as ammo,” Rory agreed.  “Is there like a barren area of the Quantum Realm we could all plop down on somewhere?”

Scott shrugged helplessly.  “Mmm, I mean, we’ve got options, but I don’t know.  This place is massive, and I’ve only scratched the surface in exploring the terrain down here.  The problem is the whole ambush thing.  Take away too much cover for us to hide, and we may not have that much of a shot.”

“Unless we make sure he is one of the last to arrive down here, and everybody is already lying in wait.  And then once he arrives, everyone already here just pounces before he knows what’s going on.”

“That could work.  Tony and I have been practicing sending one person down and then sending another person down in the same spot, and we’ve gotten it to work.  Took a few tries, but we got it to work.”

Rory’s eyes grew wide in surprise.  “ Tony’s been down here?”

A familiar voice answered in her ear, in the most deadpan tone, “And it was not fun at all.”

Scott shook his head, rolled his eyes, and smirked.  “But you survived it!” he answered, clearly able to hear Tony too through his own comm.

“My heart can only take so much, Thumbelina, and that trip was pushing it.  Man, the things I do for science and saving the world.”

Rory couldn’t help but laugh.  “Aaw, c’mon, Tony.  We all know you’ll outlive us all.  That heart of yours will tick forever.”

“I don’t know if I want to experience forever on this planet honestly.  Iron Man will need to retire someday.  Plus, I’ve seen those immortal movies, and a lot of them look bored out of their skulls, totally miserable.  Nobody wants to see me bored.”

“An eternally bored Tony Stark, whatever would we do,” Scott replied teasingly, giving Rory a wink.

She added, fighting a smirk, “God forbid.”

Tony was quiet for a moment before he said, “Rory, you have a younger sibling.  Is this feeling I’m experiencing akin to an older sibling's annoyance?”

“You mean the whole ‘I love and respect them to death, but dear God, do they get on my nerves sometimes’ feeling?  Yes, that sounds about right for a typical sibling relationship.”

“Well then congratulations, you two, you’re official Stark sibling pests,” Tony answered with endearing annoyance which made Scott and Rory give each other a high five. 

“So this is how a younger sibling feels,” she said with a satisfied sigh.  “I kinda like it.”

Scott nodded and grinned wide.  “It’s a pretty fun feeling.  I’ve certainly enjoyed it my whole life.”

“Alright alright, you two,” Tony commented, “you guys done with the testing or not?”

“Not yet, buddy, Rory’s gotta test out those Light Stone powers first.”

Rory gently smacked her head like she completely forgot the concept and muttered, “Duh, Callahan, that would be pretty important to check out.  Fingers crossed I don’t have any problems with this part though, or all I’ve got in my arsenal down here is one helluva left cross.”

“Whatever works, Rory,” Scott shrugged.  “Now c’mon, let’s see whatcha got.  I haven’t seen your skills at work yet.”

“You said it yourself, I practice them all the time; I don’t know how you haven’t seen them yet.”

Tony offered, “Scotty, we should throw her in the ring and see how well she does against us.”

That made Rory’s eyes grow wide.  “Going up against Natasha and Steve is rough enough, thank you very much.”

“And you think Thanos is gonna be more tame than that?  No offense to the Black Widow and Captain America in the slightest, but Thanos is a war monger.  He’s on another level.  Not to mention his army is massive.”

“ Was massive,” Rory corrected.  “He wiped out half his forces at the same time, remember?”

“Still, you need more practice than just against those two before the Quantum Heist plan goes underway.”

Rory didn’t reply to that but instead went into a demonstration of her powers for Scott, testing photokinesis, energy projection, controlling lights from other sources, creating protective barriers, and turning invisible to the naked eye.  That last trick made Scott gasp in disbelief before releasing an excited, “Woooooooooah!  You disappeared!  That’s so cool!  How’d you even do that?”

“Took me forever to figure out I could do this one,” Rory told him, “but I’m basically bending light waves around me to make it seem like I’m invisible.”

“That’s awesome!”

Rory released the light waves in her hold and appeared before Scott once again.  “I know there’s far more I can do with these light powers, far more than what’ve been able to figure out on my own so far, but knowing what I can do and actually being able to do them are two different things.  Some of it feels inherent, and some of it feels like things I need to practice, like bending light waves.  Sky’s the limit though, I think.”

“Makes sense considering you’re wielding Infinity Stone powers.”

Tony spoke in her ear, “Not to rush the Field Test, but if you guys are done, we need to get you both back up here.  Our satellites near the Garden are picking up anomalies that don’t look all that great.  Maybe he’s not as isolated as we thought.  Bruce and I need to do some checking on things, and that means I’m not leaving you two down there.”

“Alright, Tony,” Scott nodded his confirmation and tapped a button on the Quantum band on his wrist.  “Preparing for reentry.  Wait for my signal.”

“Roger that, Scott.  Awaiting signal.”

“Standby.”  Then he held out his hand palm up for Rory to lay his hand in his, and once she did, he flipped her wrist over to show the same button he pushed on his band.  “See that?  That’s the button to signal to the tunnel back in our realm where we are so it can catch our signal and lock onto us.  Then,” he pointed to a different button beside the first, marked in another color to differentiate between the two, “we push this button to send ourselves back up.”

“What’s Tony awaiting our signal for if we send ourselves back up?  And why are we sending ourselves back up?”

“The Quantum Heist is gonna be an all-hands-on-deck kinda thing, right?  You said so yourself.  Do you really wanna leave one of our key players up there to wait for a signal when they could be better used elsewhere?”

Rory nodded.  “That’s a good point.  Boy, you really have thought of everything.”

“I run a security business, and I have a specialty in heists.  It’s my job to think of everything.  Tony’s waiting for our signal so he can confirm all systems are functioning like we programmed to before D-Day.”

“Fair enough.  Anything I need to know before we head back up?”

“Basically it’s gonna be like coming down except backwards, with that tingling being one of the last things you feel.  It should be like a straight stretch for us.  Just try not to veer off the path the Quantum suit’s relaying with the Quantum Tunnel, and you should be fine.  Man,” he muttered to himself, “now I’m putting ‘quantum’ in front of everything.  Okay,” he said at normal volume as he grinned at her.  “Ready?”

She bobbed her head more than actually nodded it.  “Let’s do this.”

“Tony, here we come,” Scott said as he tapped on the second button, and Rory followed suit.

“See you guys soon,” Tony replied as Rory felt herself be pulled from the ground and straight up, like a powerful magnet locking onto her body and directing her back towards it.  The sensation was just as weird as the tingling from the trip down, and Rory could not get over how insane all of this was for her.

As they were launched higher and higher into the upper atmosphere of the Quantum Realm, Rory couldn’t help but look around at everything now that she had an aerial view of this world and gawk in awe over it all.  She looked to their left though and saw some strange Quantum…creature, thing?  Rory had no idea what it was.  Whatever it was, it was zooming right towards them, looking like its flight path would intercept Scott right before they reached the portion of the Quantum Realm where the lightning storms began.  

And that was a problem.  

“Scott!” she called to her friend above her.  “That looks like trouble!”

Scott looked over and saw his predicament, mumbling a quiet but panicked, “Uh oh,” once he realized what was about to happen.

“Can’t you speed up?!”

“That’s not up to me!” he called back.  “Tony!  We need more speed!”

Rory didn’t catch what Tony replied, or even if he did, because she could see not even Tony would supply it fast enough, assuming he could.  Scott would make contact and effectively throw him off his flight path.  So Rory did the only thing she could think of to do.  She reached up, grabbed Scott by his ankles, and pulled with all of her might to slow him down so he would miss the thing that was flying in their direction.

Her plan partially worked.

In pulling Scott down so he was more at her level, the efforts launched Rory up and past him, making them trade places instead of them both being where she originally was.  “That’s not part of the plan!”

“Rory!  Look out!”

But it was too late.  The thing slammed right into her, knocking her off her flight path at an angle that kept propelling her upward but to the right, and Scott zoomed on by, unable to follow her.  “Rooooooooryyyyyyyy!”

“Scoooooooooooott!”

Tony shouted, “What’s going on down there?!”

Rory never had a chance to answer because as soon as they broke through to the lightning storm level of the Quantum Realm, she flew right through some gap between the clouds and rode the current against her will for what felt like ten minutes before she found - to her horror - herself plummeting towards some unknown terrain far below.

Chapter Text

Rory landed hard on her back, knocking the breath out of her, and she rapidly retracted the Quantum suit’s helmet as she coughed and gasped for breath, her lungs forcing her to hyperventilate to catch up.  When she finally managed to calm down and breathe normally, Rory allowed herself to relax and gain her bearings before assessing her predicament.  The sky above her was the purest blue she had seen in a long time, splotched with large cotton-candy clouds.  The grass beneath her gloved hands was soft and comfortable, and the air smelled crisp and fresh.  A hint of paradise.  “Where am I?”

Rory slowly sat up, groaning softly as she did so, and glanced around the world in which she found herself.  “Wow,” she managed to breathe.  Luscious farmland surrounded by a flourishing forest extended far into the distance and down into a valley where the sun was just barely peeking over a mountain range beyond the valley, leaving the world cast in long shadows but slowly amending that.  She knew a lot of people from back home would love to settle here.  “Quite a retirement spot.”  

She took her time standing, feeling every inch of the ache in her back from the sudden and very unexpected fall, and she rubbed that sore spot while thinking she should probably be more concerned about the fact she wasn’t in the Quantum Realm anymore.  Rory suspected Scott and the others were certainly concerned.  She could still feel the comm resting comfortably in her left ear, and after she retracted the Quantum suit into the band on her left wrist, revealing her new suit, she covered that ear in hopes of hearing better.  “Scott?  Tony?”  No response.  “Anybody there?”  There was no sound coming from the comm, not even static.  “Hello?”  After pausing again to listen to nothing, she huffed and started walking in no particular direction.  “For crap’s sake,” she snapped, fingers itching to take the comm and chuck it as far as she could into the forest.  “I must really be lost if the comm’s not working.”

From somewhere nearby and out of sight, an animalistic screech echoed around her, and the hairs on the back of Rory’s neck stood as a tremor ran through her body from the sound.  Frantically, she scrambled to the nearest hiding place and crouched behind a cluster of small boulders at the forest’s edge, eyes peering around for any sign of what could have caused such a nightmarish sound.  She didn’t have to wait long until a pair of ugly alien quadrupeds broke through the forest yards away from her, growling and nipping at each other like wild dogs.  Their feet were like a lizard’s, and their skin looked like burned leather.  Their snouts were all teeth, snarling with Cheshire grins, and they had no eyes, adding an extra frightening factor to their already monstrous appearance.  To Rory, they looked like they barely survived the climb from the depths of hell, and they were happy to be out in the clear air of paradise, unaware of how sorely out of place they looked.

As they sniffed the ground before them, yipping and baying menacingly, a squadron of eight alien biopeds, one of them being a rather large specimen, exited the forest in the same spot the animals had, and the eight split into two groups and parted ways for their leader who was just stepping out from the tree line.  Rory sucked in a breath, and her eyes grew wide.  “Oh no.”

Thanos the Mad Titan broke from the forest in between the two groups of his agents and walked confidently towards the flat farmland with another alien bio-ped following close behind.  Thanos was certainly larger than she anticipated; even from far away, his girth was impressive.  He was garbed in a sleeveless blue tunic and gold armor, and his purple skin was covered in scars from previous battles.  He wore a golden helmet that seemed to resemble more like a crown fit for a king of war than just a normal battle helmet.  He walked with his entourage following behind him, and he seemed to be discussing something with the agent who followed close behind, certainly closer than the rest of the group.  That alien was a strange looking one as well, with a long, flat face of pale blue-gray skin, lots of wrinkles, and no nose.

Part of her was afraid.  Very afraid.  Considering all the damage Thanos had done to the universe, there was no question her fear was valid.  Plus, judging from the accounts of the living Avengers as well as seeing him now for the first time, he was physically large enough to snap her in half like a twig.  Violent, reckless yet clever, and feeling justified in his misdeeds:  that combination was worthy of fear.

On the other hand, she was also furious.  Hot, bright, righteous rage fueled by her fear, grief, and guilt boiled her blood and demanded compensation, justice, and blood.  His blood .  It demanded she act as violently and recklessly towards the villain in this story as he had been and not be satisfied until his victory was demolished before his very eyes and his entire existence suddenly ended.  Rory’s rage also preferred she beat him mercilessly first.  She scoffed at herself as she watched the group casually walk further out into the clearing.  As if she could actually manage such a feat.

“Not that you should but you could , ” the Light Stone whispered in her mind.  

Rory snorted quietly.  I’d really rather not, she mentally replied.

“It’s for the best.  As you well know, there is no sense in confronting him now without your allies.”

The question is how did I get here?

“That, I do not–”

Rory could feel the deadly stare on the back of her head before the Light Stone even finished speaking, and she quickly spun around to face the intruder.  But the intruders, two of them Rory discovered, anticipated her movements, and they slammed Rory’s shoulders against the rocks, pinning her down with strong force.  One of them lifted a large sword to her throat and practically growled, “Pretty foolish to spy on us, Terran.”  The one who spoke had a long, thin, and gray goblin-like face with beady, scowling eyes and a sneer on his lips.  His companion looked like a blue version of Maleficent with blue skin, horns, dark hair, and a wicked gleam in her intelligent eyes, and she offered a menacing smile to her captive.

Rory growled under her breath.  Idiot, she mentally chastised herself.  

“Sorry,” the Light Stone whispered sincerely for distracting her as the alien pair forced her into motion.  Blue Maleficent grabbed Rory’s arms and held them behind her back while Goblin Guy violently grabbed Rory’s ponytail and kept the weapon at her throat.  If Rory thought she was afraid before, she was especially afraid now.  She may have jeopardized everything, and just like everything else that’s happened so far, this will be her fault too.  

“Father,” Blue Maleficent addressed Thanos as they approached, respect and admiration in her tone.

“ Father? ”  Rory muttered in confusion and unexpected amusement, disguising laughter under a cough.

The respect and admiration quickly turned to venom as Blue Maleficent continued, “We’ve found an unexpected surprise.”  At that, she shoved Rory onto her knees while Goblin Guy removed the blade from beside her neck and pulled her hair, forcing her to look up at the Titan. 

Whatever Rory was expecting to see when she looked into Thanos’ eyes, hate or deep bitterness or insanity, she didn’t expect to see the eyes she saw.  Sharp, tired, knowing, devious.  Eyes that have seen a lot of things.  His gaze was unwavering and powerful as if he could look into the future at a destiny large enough for only his shoulders.  When Thanos looked to study her, she almost felt like he saw everything about her, even the Light Stone’s powers within her, and it was unnerving. 

Sometimes in past occasions, Rory had known fear to paralyze her, and sometimes instinct would take over, allowing her to act accordingly and do what needed to be done.  After interacting with the Avengers for as long as she had, Rory wondered if she would develop the same kind of heroic defiance common among them, common among all heroes it seemed like.  Maybe that defiance was simply the urge, the responsibility to do what’s right, to take a stand when no one else would, when no one else could.  But in situations like this, that kind of defiance didn’t seem necessary, and Rory couldn’t help but wonder what her friends would do in her situation.  

For her, she found her fear eventually digested by an overwhelming curiosity.  “What a lovely place you and your comrades have here, far away from the rest of the universe.  Quiet,” she continued as she casually looked around, as well as she could despite the hold on her ponytail, “and peaceful.”  Rory grimaced and winced as Goblin Guy tugged her hair sharply.  “Ironically hypocritical, don’t you think?”

Silence.  For a moment, Rory wondered if Thanos was the type who would kill her on the spot without acknowledging she said anything, which she suspected he probably was if he wanted to be, and she braced herself to die without showing fear.  “Yes,”  he finally answered slowly, “this is a peaceful spot.  Harmonious and balanced.  A paradise.”  The responding voice surprised her far more than his eyes did.  Gruff yet soft.  Calm yet somewhat wary.  Intelligent.  Kind even.  “I find it surprising yet interesting you describe this peaceful spot as hypocritical,” he added as he gestured to the two who held her in place.

They released her with a disappointed growl, and though she was released, Rory did not dare to stand just yet.  “Compared to the state of the rest of the universe, broken and hurt beyond comprehension,” Rory responded as she casually looked up at the Titan, “it is hypocritical.”

Where are the Infinity Stones?   The gauntlet described by the others was strangely absent, but she could somehow still feel the Stones, though they felt far away.  Where are they?

“They’re here,” the Light Stone responded slowly as if searching, but then its tone shifted to confusion, “but they’re not here now.”

What the heck does that even mean?

Thanos tilted his head slightly, thinking about her statement before shaking his head in disagreement.  “Perhaps, but the universe will recover and endure.”  He looked up and out to the horizon as he added, “as its destiny has determined.”

“Will it?”  Rory took this opportunity to stand and mirror Thanos’ head tilt as her features scrunched with disagreeing thoughts.  “Suppose I take half of the pieces making up your residence.  I don’t know what you live in, a fortress?  If I take half of your fortress, will it recover?  Will it remain standing,” she asked as she shot him a curious, daring glance, “or will it crumble?”

Thanos allowed a small, amused smirk, willing for now to play this game.  “Which pieces will you take?”

Rory shrugged.  “In your years of conquest, how did you choose who would die and who would live?”

“I employ a random, dispassionate selection of good and bad alike,” Thanos answered without missing a beat.

“Then I would take the same approach, although you may think you did random selection, I’d argue it wasn’t entirely true.”  When he didn’t reply, waiting, she realized, for her argument, she continued, “When a non-omniscient, imperfect being, like you or me, attempts randomness, it will not be true because of subconscious, or even conscious,” she added with another quick glance, “biases affecting our choices.  We could try to achieve true, perfect randomness as best as we could, but imperfect beings will not be able to achieve it.  So back to your little fortress, in my attempts at randomness, I would take various pieces from all over the house:  foundation, walls, ceiling, floor, etc.”

“And you may take enough pieces to make the fortress crumble,” Thanos supplied.

“And I might not,” Rory countered, but then she shook her head sadly.  “But I don’t think it matters which pieces I take.  I took pieces all the same, and the structure is not whole anymore.”

“It could still stand.”

“But,” Rory said as she extended her index finger upward as if ready to make her point, deliver the blow to which she had been building up, “it’s not in balance anymore.”

Thanos’ expression was stern as he studied her silently for a moment.  “I disagree with your scenario.”  She didn’t respond, allowing him to continue.  “The fortress you’ve described is not an accurate comparison to the universe.”  He turned to the alien with the flat face and nodded once. 

Flat Face then, with a wicked smirk, raised a hand lazily, and suddenly nearby trees snapped into smaller, jagged pieces and flew around Rory and some others of Thanos’ entourage creating a cage.  The cage pushed its prisoners together, decreasing the space until Rory and the others were scrunched together.  But the cage kept collapsing in, hurting and cutting those within as they flinched and jerked and tried to break free.  The gravity of the cage and the other bodies on her made every inch of her body tight and hypersensitive.  Too afraid to want to move but too desperate for freedom to not fight and claw like a wild animal.  Even the air seemed thin as Rory forced herself not to hyperventilate even though her lungs demanded it so much it hurt.  Her mind was racing maddeningly, but it was too panicked to provide any useful solutions.

“This,” Thanos said as he gestured to Rory in the cage, “is more akin to the reality of the universe.”  He paused as he watched the gravity of the situation settle on her.  “I think you see the obvious problem.  You see the turmoil this causes.  The races of the universe are growing too vast for the universe to keep up with the resource demand, and this creates catastrophic problems.”

You’re a catastrophic problem , Rory’s frantic brain managed to think bitterly, but she swallowed the comment, trying to calm herself and gain some form of control.  Instead she replied between sharp breaths with a bite in her tone, “You do - the universe an - injustice -  stating it’s - too small.  It’s more vast - than you realize.”

“Yet the populace is consuming its resources too rapidly,” Thanos replied with a shake of his head.  “Eventually, the universe won’t be able to keep up.”

“I - didn’t know - you spoke for - the universe,” Rory growled as the Light Stone within her tensed defensively.

Thanos regarded her for a brief moment before finally saying, “Someone needs to.  That is part of my purpose.”  He watched the prisoners in the makeshift cage struggle and panic for a moment longer before giving a side glance to the alien who made the cage.  “Maw.”

“As you wish, Sire,” Maw responded with reverence, and he made a fist causing some of the tree pieces to break away from the cage and kill some of the entourage trapped in the cage.  Then Maw opened his hand, and the cage expanded enough to give everyone room.  The living alien prisoners pushed away from each other and scrambled to gain space, and Rory attempted to stand and gather herself as she gasped, coughed, and sucked in long, precious breaths. 

“And look at the results of my work,” Thanos finally said.  “You are free in a universe that can now provide for you, and you are grateful.”

Rory sucked in a more calming breath then harrumphed as she wiped blood away from her face with a shaky hand, some of the result of the cage.  She shot a glance at the dead bodies on the ground, some of Thanos’ own troops, and muttered, “I doubt those whom you decided would die are grateful.”  Half of the beings locked in the cage, she realized.

“For the greater good, sacrifices must be made,” Thanos declared with a dismissive wave of his left hand.  In that instant, Maw dropped his own hand, and the cage collapsed, disassembled.  “And the universe is saved from erosion and collapse.”

“Do you know that?  Are you a prophet?”  Rory’s anger was building up, and she was forgetting her fear of the being before her.  She hissed at him, “How could you possibly know what you have done?”

“Fewer beings in the universe means the resources will be better spread, and the universe is balanced.”

“You forget,” she snapped, “those beings are also a part of the universe’s resources.”  She pointed at the dead bodies and continued, “They were a part of your army, and you just wiped them out like they were nothing.  Do you think their loss serves a purpose?”  Rory could feel the Light Stone’s powers bubbling within, though she wasn’t certain whether it was equally as angry on its own or angry because she was.  “Everyone you’ve killed was a part of the universe.  They could’ve made a difference, but ya snuffed them out,” she said as she sassily snapped her fingers, “before they could make a choice.”

Thanos’ voice remained stoic despite the shift in hers.  “They have made a difference in their sacrifice.”

“Yeah, a devastating, negative one.”  Rory could feel her power flowing through her like the anger and sadness in her blood and the grief and guilt in her soul, and she didn’t bother to keep it out of her eyes and the bark out of her tone.  “Their loss hasn’t made the universe balanced.  They were a part of the universe, and now the universe isn’t whole and therefore,” she paused as her voice grew louder from passion, “not balanced!  And you should pay for the damage you’ve dealt!”

“How dare you,” Blue Maleficent sneered as she and Goblin Guy reached to restrain her, but Rory had enough of them.  With the powers of the Light Stone shining in her eyes, Rory made a protective barrier of light to keep them from her.  They shot at her with their laser weapons, but she reflected those energies back at them, forcing them to halt their attack.  The alien almost as large as Thanos roared and ran towards her, but when he got close enough, she punched him as hard as she could with her left fist, glowing purple with Power.  She looked back at Blue Maleficent and Goblin Guy, who decided to pursue again once her attention was drawn from them, and she opened a portal beneath them.  They fell through it and flew through the other side of the portal which resided above the large alien, leaving them collapsed on the ground in a dog pile.  

Maw raised his hands and sent any nearby objects hurling in her direction, and Rory shot at them with light beams of her own while also shooting some at Maw, forcing him to dodge her attacks and lose his concentration.  As the rest of the living alien entourage ran towards her in offense, Rory flung her arms wide open, sending a blinding pulse of light from her and throwing her attackers back. 

Thanos, meanwhile, stood in silence and watched the scene with curious fascination, studying her, reading her, questioning her.  As his minions stood to fight once more, Thanos commanded, “Enough.”  The rest refrained, standing back to let their master work.  Thanos took two calculated steps toward Rory, and she did not back down.  They were mere feet away from each other now.  His voice was quiet yet very curious and cautious.  “ Who are you?”

Rory released a sigh as the light faded from her eyes.  She honestly never liked that question.  There had been too many times where others, for reasons she didn’t understand, would provide an answer for her, and it was always the same one.  One she adopted and applied more than she would like to admit.  This was one time she didn’t feel bad about applying that answer now.  “I’m nobody.”

His eyes scrunched in scrutiny, and a smirk crossed his face.  “I highly doubt that.”  He turned from her and walked toward the horizon as he waved to the others.  “Return to the ship.  Prepare for departure.”  Reluctantly, they obliged, bowing slightly as they retreated.  When Rory and Thanos were finally alone, he uttered with some astonishment, “So, it’s true.  There were seven once.”  He shrugged as he turned back to her and gave her a knowing look.  “I suppose there still are.”  Rory didn’t offer a reply, praying he didn’t mean what she thought he meant.  Thanos took her silence as confirmation.  “Light,” he said slowly, contemplating the full, deep meaning behind the word.  

Rory’s eyes grew wide, and she had trouble grasping his words.  How was it possible he knew?  How could he know when it seemed literally everyone alive never knew about her and the powers she possessed, not even herself until recently.  History had forgotten the Light Stone for millennia.  “But - but how...?”

“I had a vision of you and the lost seventh Infinity Stone when I was young,” Thanos answered as he crossed his arms.  “Since I could not find anything in the histories of the universe regarding seven Stones, I dismissed the vision as fantasy.  The vision did always bear you with a threatening air, perhaps because my destiny threatens your existence.  Have you come to challenge me?”

Rory slowly shook her head and, as a gesture of peace, held her palms open before him.  “No,” she answered as nonchalantly as she could manage.  She didn’t know how to answer this question of why she was there, and she suspected answering “on accident” would really land her in more trouble.  “I’ve - I’ve actually  - Well,” she hesitated before deciding on an answer that wasn’t a complete lie.  “I’m satisfying a curiosity.”  She shrugged and, despite herself, offered a sheepish grin as she let her hands drop.  “After everything I’ve heard, I felt like I needed to see Thanos the Mad Titan for myself.”

Thanos grimaced at the title, and he actually fidgeted as if uncomfortable.  He was quiet as he contemplated her words, but then he stated, “Madness and enlightenment are often confused for the other.”

Her eyes went wide in surprise for a brief second before she cocked an eyebrow in suspicion.  “Either you’re serious or you just made like,” she paused, swallowing the chuckle threatening to arise from her throat, “a pun.  Because, you know, I’m the Light Stone, and you’ve been referenced as Thanos the -” she paused as she caught herself before adding quickly, “well, you already know that part.”

He tilted his head as if debating how much his statement really was a pun, and he gave a partial shrug as he dropped his arms.  “The wordplay was a coincidence.  Despite your amusement, this situation is serious.”

“I will agree with that.”

“I’m also serious in saying more often than not madness and enlightenment coincide.”

“Or collide,” she added with equal seriousness.

He sighed after a silent moment.  “Not today at least,” he uttered softly.  “Now then,” he said as he shook off his melancholy demeanor, “is your curiosity satisfied?”

Rory could not get over his voice.  How could someone so violent and aggressive sound so gentle and kind?  It was quite contradictory; it unnerved her.  “You certainly exceeded expectations.”

“And yet,” Thanos replied as he turned and looked out over the valley, “you are still disappointed.”

Rory matched his motions and looked out, wondering what kind of early life could lead a being to perform such malicious deeds.  “While your,” she paused as she considered proper word choice, “ ambition to help the universe is admirable, your methods are certainly ill-advised.”  She sighed as her shoulders drooped.  “How you think such abuse to the universe is actually beneficial is just so staggering to me.”  

“The ends justify the means, Light,” Thanos answered.  “If such means were not enforced, the universe will suffer more abuse ,” he said with a slight bite, “as you put it, than if they weren’t.”

“You know what really annoys me, Thanos?  The fact that a part of me understands your reasoning, a fact I will never admit to anyone else, especially my friends.”  Rory shrugged exasperatedly and scoffed, “Of course, it makes sense fewer beings wouldn’t need as many resources.  Limited resources can only provide for a limited number of beings.”  She turned to Thanos, her movements pleading for reasoning.  “But if that’s the case, surely there are other ways to solve this problem, right?  Create more resources, ration resources, import more resources, I mean something !  And believe me, that import thing is an option.  Any other option has got to be better than wiping out half of the population.”

Thanos sighed and answered without turning to her.  “Every option you listed, every other option you could think of, will eventually lead back to the same dilemma.  Ultimately, there is no other option.”

“But by your reasoning, your option will lead back to the same dilemma too.”

“If it does, which I know it won’t because I’ve seen it work on a smaller scale, it will take far longer for that to occur than using any other method.  This is the only way.”

Frustrated, angry, sorrowful, and sorely afraid of whatever truth rested in his statement, Rory rubbed her hands over her face a few times and growled.  It’s like talking to a giant, purple wall.  “You know what?  I’m fed up with you.  I’m fed up with all y’all!  I will never agree with your choice in methods for using the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of existence.  You steal the Stones; you use and abuse them; and no one can escape the vile trauma you’ve inflicted.  You are mad, and I’ve had enough of the effect you’ve had on the universe, on the Avengers, on the Stones, and on me!”  

She let the Light Stone’s energy flow through her and fuse with her emotions, eyes and body shining.  She was sorely tempted to test the theory on what she actually could do right then and there.  “You remember Tony Stark?”  She said challengingly as she pointed at him.  “Iron Man?  The guy you threw a whole moon at?  Yeah, that’s my friend.  You remember Doctor Strange?  Or Wanda and Vision?  Do you remember any of them whom you’ve hurt?  They’re my friends.  Even Nebula is my friend.  I claim her as a friend anyway.  You’ve messed with my friends, some as close as family to me, and believe me, Thanos, you will regret abusing the Stones and going against us, because I will threaten your destiny, and you will lose , you purple bastard.”

Rory’s breaths grew deep and slow as she worked to rein in her emotions and prepare herself for his retribution at her bold statements.  Thanos didn’t turn to face her.  He didn’t move; he just stared out to the mountains in the distance as the sun continued to rise higher in the sky.  “Stark,” he said slowly.  “Strange.  The Avengers.”  There was no malice in his voice.  There was no challenge or disgust or admiration or anything in his voice, but that wasn’t what frightened her.

There was no recognition in his voice.  

“Who are they?”  Rory’s blood suddenly turned cold, and her powers retreated and hid deep within her as she held her breath.  “And more importantly,” Thanos continued as he turned towards her, “how do you know what I plan to do with the Infinity Stones once I find them?”

“What you - you plan…?”  The Infinity Stones are here just not now …. Oh no .  Rory swallowed as she cautiously stepped back and away from Thanos as he advanced with equal speed.  Scott’s warning about time vortexes when he explained the Quantum Realm to her suddenly popped into her mind, and she fought against the anxiety attack that was quickly building inside her.   Ohhhh no no no no no!   Forget where am I.  When am I?  “Umm,” Rory uttered as her brain ran a mile a minute, trying to figure out a way out of this mess.  She had to pinpoint where in time she was.  “Just - just out of curi-curiosity, have you by - by chance employed a certain, umm, mischievous demigod to your - your ranks?”

Thanos smiled at her, and a cold shiver ran down her spine.  “Ah yes, as a matter of fact, I have, and I’ve released him to do as he wished to your planet, Light.”  He tightened his fists as if preparing for a brawl, encouraging Rory to back away all the more.  “A curious thing to question.”

“Just so we - we’re on the same page, you - you know,” Rory answered with an awkward shrug.  

“You still haven’t answered my questions,” Thanos pointed out, “you know, just so we’re on the same page.”  His tone was calm and cool.  His features were not. 

“As far as - as the Infinity Stone thing, well,” she answered with a forced chuckle, “you al-already correctly pegged me as the l-lost seventh Stone, so there  - there’s that.”  Rory quickly calculated as best she could how far into the future and into space she would have to travel to get back home now that she knew she had unexpectedly found herself in 2012.  If she used the Time and Space powers simultaneously, then she should return home without any hiccups.  Hopefully.  

“Uh - as - as far as who the - the Avengers are, well,” Rory said as she took a controlled breath and swallowed, as if she could physically shove her fright down deep, “if - if you’ve already unleashed Loki on my - planet, then - I promise you will soon find out who they are.”  

And with that, before Thanos could say or do anything else, Rory slammed her fists together.  Her left eye glowed green, and her right fist glowed blue with the powers of Time and Space respectively.  Rory disappeared in her makeshift time-travel portal, leaving Thanos the Mad Titan deep in thought with a wicked smile on his face.  

Chapter Text

“You went where?!”

“You did what?!”

Rory ducked her head a bit, feeling small and embarrassed, like she had been sent to the principal’s office.  Except she’s getting reprimanded by not one but two principals.  “I didn’t do it on purpose!  It was an accident!  Scott and I were coming back up to our realm and something in the Quantum Realm interfered with Scott’s flight path or whatever, and in trying to prevent him from getting hit, I got hit instead.  It wasn’t my fault.”

After she had disappeared from the Quantum Realm, the rest of the team was in a great panic, but their panic turned into great relief upon her return.  Of course, questions were raised about what happened and where she disappeared to.  She didn’t want to tell them anything about the encounter.   But not telling someone felt irresponsible in the grand scheme of the Quantum Heist.  Hence why her audience for her story went from all Avengers to only two.  It also helped that the anger of only two Avengers was better than the anger of all, even if the two angry Avengers were Iron Man and Captain America.

“Okay, but you had him, Callahan,” Steve said sternly, and the use of the last name told Rory how much trouble she actually was in with the man.  “You could have eradicated the problem before it even started.  Instead you probably just made things much harder for us.”

“I don’t know if I could–”

Tony interrupted her with a realization of his own.  His eyes couldn’t hide his fear from her.  “You mentioned us to him, didn’t you?  That’s how he knew us, that’s how he knew me.  By name.”

Rory ducked her head a bit more, belly churning with shame.  “I mean…maybe it’s because of the whole Battle of New York thing…but maybe that too…”

“Rory!”

“I’m sorry!  I didn’t know I had gone through a time vortex!  Or whatever Scott called them.  I thought I was in the current time; I had no idea I had traveled through time!  See?  This is one reason why I said time travel was a bad idea!  Anyway, I didn’t know where I was or what was going on.  And getting caught all happened so fast…I was just trying to keep myself from getting killed.”

“By debating with Thanos,” Tony pointed out with a deadpan expression.

That made her pause for a moment before confessing quietly, “I didn’t say it was the best idea.”

“Great,” Steve said with a hefty sigh, like a father tired of dealing with his troublesome child.  “Now he knows we’re coming for him.  It may be over before we’ve even had a chance to start.”

“Not necessarily,” Rory quickly replied, shaking her head.  “Look, I know things look bleak, but here’s the thing:  if you were Thanos, wouldn’t you have expected retribution almost immediately?  Over two years have gone by with no one to challenge him.  For all he knows, I’m probably one of the Ashen.  Surely by now his guard’s down for us to continue with the plan.”

“It’s a suicide mission now.”

“I disagree.”

Tony scoffed.  “Still in the debating mood, huh, Rory?”

Rory swallowed her shame and embarrassment and let her own face turn stern.  She had already apologized for the error, but she still had a job to do.  They still had a job to do.  “Are you seriously going to tell me all is totally lost now?  Have you forgotten why I’m here to begin with?  Tell me, Tony,” she insisted, hands on her hips, face now challenging.    “What did Stephen Strange tell you, Tony?  Tell me.”

He took a calming breath before he answered, “One winning scenario out of 14,000,605.”

She turned to Steve then.  “And what did Stephen Strange tell Scott about bringing me back here, Rogers?  Tell me.”

It took Steve a moment before he answered slowly, “You’re our best hope at winning.”

“Right!  So it sounds to me like we still have a chance at getting this done right.  We’re not out of the fight yet.  I know it looks bleak, but let’s be fair:  it always looked bleak.  One winning scenario out of over 14 million is bleak.  Doable!  But very, very bleak.  The field test did not erase our one shot.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because if Thanos really was worried about us thanks to my accidental time travel adventure, since he still has the Stones, he would have done something about us.  I mean, it would make sense, right?  Wipe out the problem before it actually becomes a problem.  We still have a chance, and you cannot give up now because of a hiccup.”

“This is more than a hiccup.”

Rory repeated herself, enunciating her words with resolve, “We still have a chance.”

It took a silent moment for Tony and Steve to digest all of this, and after they shared a grim look with each other, Tony stated, “At least we learned something positive from the field test.  All but one of the Stones will pretty much be obsolete down there.  That really will put us on common ground with him.  If we can just avoid and evade long enough to get to him and his gauntlet without him using the Power Stone to throw any moons at us, we could make it work.  If we cancel now, we could have an Avenging riot on our hands.”

“And we really don’t need that,” Rory added, wide-eyed and a bit frantic over that thought as one of her nightmares played out in her mind.

Steve shrugged and sighed.  “Alright.  We’ll keep this to just us three for now.  But in the meantime, we’re going to send you and Nebula for a little reconnaissance while the rest of us complete tasks here and prepare for the Quantum Heist.  Make sure he is alone and still in his Garden with the Stones.”

Rory mulled over that a little bit, trying to think if there was any better way to do that.  Maybe there was, but no other options were coming to her mind.  If this would help them all settle from being on edge, then so be it.  “Alright, fine.  Nebula and I will scout ahead and make sure our target is still there with the Stones while you guys finish the rest of the field test.”

“Just don’t get caught this time, Callahan.”

“I have a better idea of what I’m walking into this time, Rogers.  This time it will be different.  We’re not going to get caught.”

After two years of no challengers coming after him and no one taking a stand against him, Thanos had wondered if the Light Stone really was dead.  There was a time where he believed his intentions worked, and he took her out along with half of the population.  The rest of the selection was dispassionate and random just as he had done with every other conquest in his life, but his will sought for her death specifically that time… and a few others too.  

It was too good to be true.  Perhaps everything really did work out as he fully intended it to.  The Light Stone had been snuffed out along with half of the universe, two years had passed quietly and uneventfully, and there was nothing left to stand in his way.  Every threat he had envisioned, including Light as he referred to her, must have disappeared from his view, and there was nothing left for him to do.  

But that didn’t stop him from doing things.

He had rebuilt his armies with the Infinity Stones, everything he had lost before he snapped his fingers, but it didn’t feel quite the same as before.  The new Gamora didn’t seem like the same Gamora.  The Black Order didn’t seem quite the same either.  Even the new Nebula, brought to life by Gamora’s insistence since she was lonely, wasn’t quite the same either.  It might be because there was nothing left for them to do either, and they didn’t appreciate the peace as much as he did.  They didn’t have to sacrifice for it like he had to.

Thanos had thought about wiping them out, leaving him alone in well-earned peace, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.  Instead, he sent them all to a nearby moon to do as they pleased while he had some peace and quiet in his Garden for a while.  He couldn’t decide if it was because he was too used to having these beings around him to remove them from his life completely or because he felt on edge that Light would come back for him, whether in the form of that woman from years ago or in some other form, and there would be no debate that time around.   

Thanos decided it was a good thing he kept his army nearby but not with him.

He felt it in his bones.  Something was coming.  Some force was building, like a storm in the distance, and he could practically hear the thunder of war in his ears.  The very brief sighting of a second Nebula - or rather the original Nebula - confirmed it for him.  

Light was not going to leave him in his peace, and she now had allies to help her.  Light was gearing up for war.

Very well.  His victories in battle could not be counted, and between the two of them, he was confident in his abilities and knowledge more than in hers.  If it was war she wanted, then it was war he would provide.  

One last war.

And if he had anything to say about it, the end of an Infinity. 

Chapter Text

“ Alright, we have a plan.  Six Stones.  Two teams.  One shot.  Two years ago, we lost.  All of us.  We lost friends; we lost family; we lost a part of ourselves.  Today, we have a chance to take it all back.  You know your teams; you know your missions.  Get the Stones, sabotage anything he’s created, kill Thanos.  One round trip.  No mistakes.  No do-overs.  Most of us are going somewhere we don’t know, and that means we really need to be on the lookout.  Stay on your toes and be prepared for anything.  Be careful and look out for each other.  This is the fight of our lives, and we’re going to win.  Whatever it takes.”

Rocket nodded, impressed by the speech, and he looked up at Scott who stood beside him.  “He’s pretty good at that.”

Scott nodded quickly, excited and eager to set things right.  “Right?!”

“Rory,” Steve asked, “anything you want to add?”

Rory can’t help but scoff.  “What, after that speech?”  She sighed softly as she looked around the circle of Avengers.  “Actually yeah, I do.  It won’t be as good, but it needs to be said.”  Her grin was calm yet confident, hiding her intense fear behind it.  “I know we each have our own reasons for doing this.  Like Cap said, we all lost people we love.  And after two years of dealing with such a loss, you could have given up and accepted the status quo, but true to who you are as Avengers,” she nodded to the majority standing with her, “as Guardians,” she nodded to Nebula and Rocket, “and as heroes, you haven’t.  You’re taking a stand and jumping into the fray with me, and you don’t know how much that means to me.  You’re willing to fight our greatest threat once again, and this time it will be different.  I won’t let you down.  I won’t let your efforts go in vain.  Promise.”

Rocket bobbed his head and muttered, “That wasn’t all that bad either.”

“Once I get my hands on Thanos,” Rory told them as she, Scott, Rocket, Nebula, and Rhodey remained where they were as the rest of the Avengers moved onto the platform to be sent to the Quantum Realm, “Scott or I will let you know we’re inbound to join up with the Quantum Team.  Then the Demolition Team will scour the Garden to make sure any sign of Thanos or what remained of his armies is gone.”  

Scott added, “We gotta be quick though; we are kinda against the clock here to make sure our quantum devices send us to the same place.”

“Right.”  Rory waved her hand towards the console connected to the Quantum Machine, and her power activated the appropriate sequence to send the Avengers to the Quantum Realm.

Natasha smiled excitedly.  “See you in a minute.”

Once the Quantum Team disappeared, Rory looked to the Demolition Team and nodded.  “Okay, you guys ready for your part?”

Rocket laughed mischievously.  “I love some good ol’ fashioned sabotage.”

“Assuming there’s anything there to sabotage,” Rhodey pointed out.  “You sure you don’t need more help with Thanos?”

“No,” she answered honestly, “but I really can’t shake the feeling he’s not alone and up to something.”

Nebula hummed a short, blunt note.  “I’m inclined to agree.  He’s never been one for rest, no matter what he claimed to pursue.  Since he could not erase the Stones, he must have forces in place to protect him and them despite what we have seen.”

“That’s where we come in,” Rocket said excitedly.  “Let’s go!  I wanna blow some shit up!”

Rory took a long, calming breath before opening a portal to the Garden, and everyone quietly bounded through it with Rory bringing up the rear and closing it behind them.  Like she had planned, the portal took them to the edge of the forest, peering out into a clearing where a little village resided.  “Exhibit A,” she said quietly as she nodded to the village, “why would a singular individual need a village?”

“Exactly,” Nebula commented with a deeper grimace than normal.  “Something is not right here.”

Rhodey found himself agreeing with them, nodding his head slowly before saying, “Once you get Thanos to the Quantum Realm, we’ll head down and do our part, but we’ll be back up in case you need it first.”

Rory and Scott nodded before they glanced at each other.  “Ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Scott answered before shrinking down and hopping onto her shoulder.  “Let’s go.”

The pair snuck along the forest’s edge, quickly closing the gap between them and the village.  The sun setting behind the buildings slowly threw the landscape in darkness, making it easier for them to approach without getting caught.  Just before Rory was going to step out from the safety of the trees, Scott asked quietly, “Is that him?”

She looked further ahead to see the Mad Titan slowly make his way back to the village, a bucket of fresh produce in one hand and a scorched but intact gauntlet on the other hand.  Six Stones shone from the gauntlet like colorful embers, at rest and awaiting something to happen.  Thanos himself looked more worn and grim than the last time she saw him up close.  “That’s him.”

“How do you wanna handle this?”

After a moment, she muttered, “Hold on tight,” as she opened a portal in the ground.  One second, they were at the forest’s edge, but once she hopped through, they immediately appeared right behind Thanos.  As she reached out to grab him, he quickly turned, swinging the bucket as he did so, but she just barely ducked out of the way.  

Recognition flashed across his face, and he grimaced at what that meant.  “You are alive.  I had hoped for a different outcome for you.”  The Infinity Stones began to glow brighter in the gauntlet as he made fists.  “Seems I was wrong.”

Surprised, Scott asked so only she could hear, “He knows you?”

“Long story,” she muttered quietly.  Then to Thanos, she answered, “We all have to be wrong at some point.”

“You were wrong to come here.”

“Time will tell, I suppose.”

“I suppose so,” Thanos agreed as the Time Stone outshone the rest.

The sensation of feeling Time working against every fiber of her being to reverse every motion she made was a bizarre one, but with her own power, she countered the effects before shouting, “Scott, shield your eyes!”

He turned his head away just before Rory sent a brilliant pulse of light towards Thanos, who did not get his eyes closed in time, and he growled as his eyes burned from the exposure.

No sooner did Rory blind Thanos did she run around the Mad Titan, jump on his back, and lock him in a chokehold from behind.  The unfortunate downside to the quantum devices was for one to transport three beings, they all had to be touching.  “Now, Scott!”

“Incoming!” Scott shouted into his comm before he activated his device.  It whirled and buzzed with an electric powerup before shrinking them all to subatomic size in the blink of an eye.

“That’s our cue,” Rhodey said before the trio quickly headed towards the village to investigate and sabotage anything they could find.  

Little did they know a face matching Nebula’s was watching them.

“No!” Thanos roared as the sensation of shrinking overtook him.  He tried to use the Stones against Light’s trick, but whatever was going on, it was something he couldn’t think through clearly enough to do as he hoped.  In a few moments - or a few hours for all he could tell - he now found himself in a place far more bizarre than the Garden.  He also noticed that the person who sent him to this place no longer held a grip on him.  Foolishly leaving him alone.  

He willed the Space Stone to send him back to the Garden, but to his surprise, nothing happened.  The Space Stone didn’t glow, and no portal opened in front of him.  In fact, all but one of the Stones glowed.  The rest just sat there like ordinary colored gems.

“Light!”  Thanos was angry, but he couldn’t help but be slightly impressed.  And worried.  “What have you done!”

The answer he got was not one he was expecting though he should have expected it.  The high pitched electrical whirl of a repulsor beam was his answer as the beam pounded against his chest, making him falter backward a bit.  And as one Avenger revealed himself, they all revealed themselves, each raising a battlecry and barrelling towards him from all flanks.

Before he knew it, he was in the middle of something akin to an Avengers dogpile, and he roared in agitation before attempting to rip them off him one by one.  One of them, he could feel, grabbed his gauntlet and was desperately working to pull it off his hand.  The searing pain was enough for the Mad Titan to act viciously in response.  Little did they know his snap from two years ago had permanently melted the gauntlet to his hand.  There would be no removing it from his hand without taking flesh with it. 

And that certainly wouldn’t do for Thanos. 

With all his might, Thanos flung his arms in great wild gestures, successfully throwing some of the Avengers off him, and then he grabbed the rest one by one and flung them off him.  But no sooner would he throw them off would they rush back to hold him in place. This was their plan?  This is what two years of lying in wait produced?  Still, Thanos couldn’t deny it was a bit of a struggle to fight them off all at once. 

Until he remembered one of the Stones was still active and waiting for him to use it at will.  With some effort, he focused on the Stone’s power, feeling it surge over him like a barrier.  At the same time, it electrocuted everyone desperately trying to hold him down, and when he felt their grips weaken simultaneously, he flung his arms wide open, and they all flung off him. 

Instead of crashing hard into the ground like he expected, they all landed on what he could only describe as a pillow of light.  Thanos knew what that meant.  The one who brought him here was not active in the fight.  “No!” he roared again as he slammed his gloved fist into the ground, creating an earthquake that cracked and rolled out like a three foot tall tidal wave, knocking some of the Avengers over.  “Light!  You brought me here!  Now you come out and fight for what you want.  Stop hiding behind your troops like a coward.”

The Iron Man was as relentless as the rest of them, and with his repulsors keeping him off the ground, he missed the earthquake attack entirely and rushed towards Thanos at great speed, unleashing as much power from his arc reactor as he could.  “You don’t get to call the shots,” Stark growled at him.  “You get us.  You get our wrath.  That’s what you deserve.”

Thanos grabbed him by the arm and squeezed until the armor groaned under the strain.  “Do you know why I was so successful, Stark?  Because I was in the midst of it all with my troops.  I never feared getting my hands dirty if that meant there would be peace and prosperity in the end.  Your Light Stone cannot hide behind you forever.  You all failed once.  You will fail again.”

Thanos flung Stark away from him before he could think of a reply.  The Power Stone flickered in the gauntlet, and he knew what that meant.  It was the same way he knew the Light Stone was sneaking up behind him before.  “You cannot hide from me, Light.”  Thanos turned around, but there was no one there.  “Whatever miserable excuse of a plan you’ve come up with will fail, and I will rid you of this power you never deserved.”

The Avengers held back for some reason though they surrounded him, cutting off any escape route he could take from them.  As if he knew where to go anyway.  This realm was nothing like he had seen before, and he had scoured the universe more than once in his time.  Hopefully the tracking device he wore would be enough for his generals to locate him and extract him before these miserable Terrans could do anything damaging.  “Come out and fight me now!”

“You want me?” Light’s voice demanded from somewhere directly in front of him, frighteningly close, though he could not see her.  Suddenly a pair of luminous eyes blinked into existence and glared up at him before the rest of the Light Stone shifted into view.  “Here I am.”

Thanos lunged, and Light disappeared from view again.  Before he could recover from the sudden vanishing act, he felt the force of a hurricane in the form of a punch slam into his chin, knocking him ungraciously off his feet and onto his backside.  So that must be what it felt like to be struck with Power.  An alarming sensation.  One Thanos would rather not experience again. 

He scrambled to his feet, but as he got to his knees, a beam of light erupted from somewhere and came towards him.  He wasn’t in time to completely shield his eyes, but it was enough to keep most of his vision intact.  He blinked and quickly scanned the area only to see a ring of electric, luminous energy surround him and quickly shrink to contain him.  It burned and charred his flesh and clothes, making him growl in pain.  Thanos made a fist and focused Power’s energy into the ring, and extended his arms with all his might.  The ring broke and pushed outward, back to its original source. 

The defensive maneuver knocked Light off her feet, and once her concentration broke, she was visible.  And that’s when Thanos charged. 

So did the rest of the Avengers, and Iron Man got to Thanos before he could get to the Light Stone.  He released strong pulses of energy from the palms and chest of his suit, making Thanos pause to brace himself against the impact.  No sooner did he accomplish this did he feel something heavy bounce off his shoulder, pushing him further off balance, the resounding clang of Vibranium ringing in the air.  They all came at him then, some punched and kicked to discombobulate Thanos while some were trying to hold him steady.  So, he thought with a sneer, they’re trying this again.

Thanos bucked and thrashed and tugged bodies off him, desperate to get free.  He had to escape this place, and he knew no one in his ranks would attempt to pull him away while he wasn’t in the clear.  Yes, such an act would be detrimental to the Avengers, but it could be for him too.  His warriors were smarter than that.  It was up to Thanos to escape first. 

Suddenly, Thanos noticed every time he threw an Avenger away, twenty would rise from where they landed and charge.  It threw him off, and he didn’t understand at first what he was seeing.  It wasn’t until he punched the archer and watched his fist sail through the archer’s head like he wasn’t even there did Thanos understand all the copies were some trick of the Light Stone.  “Clever,” he muttered before slamming his fist straight into the ground, knocking down only the Avengers that were touching the ground.  The holographic imitations did not fall, and Thanos knew who to look for.

Before he could charge towards his enemies, from his left, Light appeared and tossed a lasso of energy around his wrist and tugged with all her might, and he found her magic was durable enough to prevent him from his charge.  She growled and squeezed her end of the rope, sending a large pulse towards him, and it brought him to his knees.  But he retaliated with a pulse of Power back towards her. 

With a groan of pain and effort, she absorbed the pulse and sent it back to him.  “Don’t approach,” she cautioned her teammates, “but anything you can throw or hit him with, do it now!”

A shield, repulsor beams, a hammer, an ax, bites of electric shock, even rocks that started small and grew large mid-flight came at him then.  Thanos tried to dodge them and pull against his restraints all at once.  Light simultaneously pulled to keep him still and inched closer to his gauntlet covered hand, eyes gleaming with purpose as her gaze fell on the Stones.  Thanos wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard Light mutter to herself, “Check.”  He didn’t understand the chess reference, but he didn’t care.  He had more pressing matters to focus on at the moment.

To his great surprise, he found himself unable to counter or properly defend.  And that unnerved him.  He blocked the attacks as best as he could manage, feeling blood drip down his face and free arm, until the Light Stone was within reach.  At that point, he grabbed the rope and yanked hard, causing the Light Stone to stumble towards him. 

And land between Thanos and the Avengers’ artillery. 

“Hold fire!” someone shouted, but Thanos didn’t care who.  He just cared that Light had to throw her hands up and create a barrier to protect herself from friendly fire, and Thanos grabbed her with his left hand from behind by the neck.  He heard her gasp in pain, and as he held her off her feet, he slowly squeezed his hand while purple energy coursed from the gauntlet to her throat. 

Light, in panicked desperation, threw her hands to the back of her neck and thrashed at his hand, releasing every possible shred of magic she could release aimed right for him.  And it burned .  He could feel his flesh burn underneath the gauntlet and felt fire in his bones, and after a moment, he realized he suddenly could not feel his hand any longer. 

Light suddenly dropped from his grasp.  Except his hand was still wrapped around her throat along with his wrist and a quarter of his forearm.  And the Stones. 

“Now!” Light loudly coughed out, one hand removing the chokehold and the other collecting the Stones while simultaneously trying to get away from Thanos.  “Hit him now!  Don’t hold back!”  The Avengers didn’t need to be told twice. 

And Thanos the great warrior turned around and ran.  He had been in enough battles to know when it was time to advance and when it was time for a tactical retreat.  This was one of those times for a tactical retreat.  

After activating the homing device tucked away in his apparel, he wondered how long it would take for the Black Order to activate the extraction device and pull him away from this strange place, but it didn’t take long for him to find out the answer.  Just as Iron Man and Captain America caught up to him, a beam of light from above found Thanos and caught him in its snare.  With a wicked, triumphant smirk, Thanos disappeared with the beam.

The pain in his arm was excruciating.  It would take time to repair the damage and apply a prosthetic, but it had to be done.  The sooner the better.  

Thanos vowed to himself right then and there that the Light Stone and the Avengers’ time was quickly coming to an end, and he would be the one to tighten the noose.  He just hoped his Nebula was successful in her task.

“One last war,” he muttered to himself.  “Whatever it takes.”

Chapter Text

The Quantum Heist did not go off exactly as the Avengers had hoped.  True, it could have gone a whole lot worse, but it could have gone better.  With what little they had to work with to begin with, Scott was pleased the main goal was accomplished from the heist.  “We’ve got the Stones; we’re all alive; and we all made it out.  Listen, that’s a win in my book.  We did what the heist was ultimately designed to do.”

Pushing away thoughts and questions about Thanos escaping, the Avengers did the only thing they thought they could do, the only thing that had been driving them forward from the start:  bringing the Ashen back and reversing the Decimation.  There was just one problem…

 “Okay,” Rocket began as he set the gauntlet in place before everyone, “the glove’s ready, but who’s gonna snap their fricking fingers?”

The room fell eerily silent as everyone contemplated the question.  Or rather, the room was quiet because, Rory suspected, there were no volunteers to offer a solution.  No one wanted to put the responsibility on themselves or each other, but eventually, someone would have to say something.  

And Rory knew most if not all of the other Avengers were wondering the same thing.  Should the Light Stone do it?   But no one wanted to ask.  To her, it was a matter of how long it would take one of them to break the silence and ask her about it.  But she also knew the answer to their unspoken question, and the choice it presented made her heart ache.  If the answer she had to give was different in any way from the truth she knew, this discussion wouldn’t even be necessary.  

Natasha spoke first after long moments of silence, “I think the question we should start with instead is if it matters who does it.”

“I think it does,” Tony answered almost hesitantly.  “I mean, you saw Thanos’ arm, right?  He used the Stones once successfully and once unsuccessfully, and his arm was in pretty bad shape.  And I guarantee he’s got some internal damage because of it.  It’s just a guess of how much damage.”

“Yet, we still couldn’t kill him,” Steve stated solemnly.

“Uh, he ran,” Tony defensively countered.  “When he lost the Infinity Stones, he didn’t stick around for a last dance.  He bolted.  We couldn’t kill him because we didn’t even have a chance to.”

You guys just might get another chance, Rory thought as she attempted to swallow away her fears.  This war is far from over.

Thor stood off to the side from the group with his arms crossed and sighed.  “Alright look.  It seems we all are avoiding something very important because either we’re too afraid to ask or too afraid of the answer.  I understand.  Believe me; I do.  But I also understand, finally, that avoiding it is only going to make things worse.”  

He nodded solemnly as he moved in closer to the group.  “Your silence, Rory, is a rather curious thing,” he said as he turned his attention to her.  In turn, Rory tilted her eyes up to the Thunderer before letting them drop to the gauntlet sitting among them.  “But I think we all have the same question we need you to answer.”

It was dead silent as everyone practically held their breath and turned their eyes on her.  Rory didn’t look up at them but continued to stare at the Stones in the iron gauntlet, letting herself get lost in the glow for the first time, and maybe for the last time for all she knew, and she sighed before finally answering, “I’ve been thinking about this moment for a long time.  When I wasn’t working on the Heist, I was thinking about this.  Who should do it, and what kind of outcomes will arise from each potential choice we have here.”  

She crossed her arms and slowly moved closer to the gauntlet, never taking her eyes off it as she continued, “Of course, I’ve considered myself for this.”  Rory gave a short, halfhearted chuckle, but it came out like a scoff.  “It would make sense, right?  I’ve got the power of the Light Stone, the most potent of the Infinity Stones.  I should be able to do this with no problem and bring everyone back,” she paused and snapped her fingers, “just like that.  And in a way, I can, but just as with every other possible candidate in the room, there will be consequences.”

Bruce asked, “What kind of consequences?”

Rory looked up and studied each face staring back at her, and her heart ached as her soul tried to brace itself for what was to come.  Who would have thought this rag-tag group would become like family to her?  Not her.  Rory loved every single one of them.  She wished she had the nerve to tell them that.  

“Part of my responsibilities as the embodiment of the Light Stone is to guard the other Infinity Stones, make sure they’re safe and protected and their powers are not abused.  Even before the Light Stone was stolen thousands of years ago, its keeper was designated with those responsibilities as well plus making sure anybody tasked with being a Stone keeper could and would do their job right.”  

She paused to take a breath then slowly spoke as she built up to the point she wished she didn’t have to make, “With that being said, for me to use all the Stones in such a manner, even if it is for a good cause such as bringing everyone back, would be considered an abuse of power.”  Rory wanted to drop her eyes, but she kept them up and watched the reactions as she concluded, “If I’m the one to snap my fingers and use the Stones, then while I succeed in bringing back everyone who was lost, I will have essentially abused my power and betrayed my responsibilities.  As a result, all the Stones will completely disappear, wiped from existence.”

It took them a few seconds to catch on, but each face went from contemplation to shock. Tony was the first one to voice it.  “‘ All the Stones,’” he repeated.  “No,” he said as he shook his head in disbelief, “that’s not fair.  I mean, technically, you’re not a Stone.”

Rory couldn’t fight the sad smirk that tugged at the corners of her mouth.  “And yet, technically, I am a Stone all the same.  I mean, there was a reason Thanos couldn’t destroy the Stones when he tried.  It can be done, but all seven are needed.  And he didn’t have all of them.”

Scott looked horrified.  “Wait a minute.  You mean - you mean you’ll die?”

“I’m afraid so, yeah,” Rory answered quietly.  “And you know what,” she said slowly as her eyes dropped back to the gauntlet, thinking about the people around her and the promise she made to herself, “it’s probably our best option.”  And with that, before anyone could move to stop her, Rory quickly slipped her hand into the gauntlet, lifted her now covered hand to the side of her face with the Stones facing the Avengers, positioned her fingers to snap, and backed away from the movements of the other Avengers trying to stop her. 

When the Stones hummed loudly and shone fiercely in the gauntlet and Rory’s eyes glowed with the power of the seventh Stone, they backed away and watched as the six Stones’ power climbed up her arm and spread across her skin like lightning bolts in the sky.  The great pulse of energy that flowed through her was an enigma:  painful yet soothing, powerful yet gentle, sweet yet fierce all at once.  She couldn’t decide if the enigma was due to the Stones’ composition or because she was a Stone herself or a combination of the two.  

The other Avengers expressed their disapproval persistently and simultaneously; it was hard for Rory to keep track of who was saying what.  “Absolutely not.  No way.  There’s got to be another option,” Tony stated with finality, as if that was enough to change Rory’s mind. 

“There are other options,” she responded, “but most if not all of them will end in a similar fashion, Tony, if not worse.”

“How do you know?”  Natasha challenged.  

Clint chimed in with Natasha, “Did you use your powers to peek?”

“I don’t have to, guys,” Rory answered.  “It’s just logical.  We’ve all seen how powerful these things are,” she said as she shook the gauntlet slightly, “and we saw the impact using them twice had on Thanos.  Using them once on any one of us will be devastating if not fatal.”

“We don’t trade lives, Rory,” Steve stated. 

“I know you mean it, Cap, but you say that like a man who’s had to use that line too many times,” she answered solemnly.  “Plus, by you arguing with me, you’re expecting me to trade one of your lives for mine which I absolutely refuse to do.”  He was about to say something else, but she interrupted him.  “No, listen to me,” she said loudly, sternly.  “You don’t understand.” 

Rory hated it had to come to this.  She hated admitting it to herself; admitting this to the others would break her heart.  “I - I could have stopped this.  That was - that was my responsibility.  I should have stopped this mess before it even started.  But look what happened because of my - my ignorance.”  She looked around at them and cursed the lump forming in her throat.  “Families torn apart.  Friends lost.  Trillions murdered.”  Her voice cracked, irking her even more.  “Murdered!  And two years completely wasted.”  She sucked in a breath and exhaled shakily before continuing, “The fault cannot solely lie with Thanos.  This is my - my fault, my mess, my mistake, and no one, and I mean no one , should have to fix it for me but me.”

For a moment, no one spoke.  Either they didn’t know what to say or they agreed with her and just didn’t want to admit it.  Rory didn’t want to know what it was.  At this point, it didn’t matter.  Her mind was made up.  

“No.” 

Scott’s one word was spoken quietly but firmly as if he read her thoughts, and it took her by surprise.  “What?”

“Your mistake?”  Scott asked incredulously as he moved to stand right in front of her, and though she suddenly wanted to back away more than she already had, she stood her ground.  “Your fault?  Last I checked, everyone in this room who stood against Thanos failed to stop him.”  He turned to the others and barked, “Right?!”  He turned back to Rory, not giving them a chance to respond.  “Right!  You can’t be blamed for not knowing all of this.  Would anybody have guessed this was how things would work out?  Not me!  I sure couldn’t.  And even when you didn’t know you had these really cool powers, you were still doing what you could to make things right.  In fact, and no offense to anyone else here, but we didn’t actually start making progress until you showed up.”  He shook his head stubbornly, daring her to argue, and his green eyes glistened with defiant energy.  “This isn’t all on you.  It’s all our fault.  We lost.”

“Technically, progress didn’t happen until you showed up,” Rory countered with a small smile.  “The Quantum Heist was your idea.  You made it happen; I just helped carry it out.  And besides, if this really is dependent upon me, you’re the one who brought me back here so I could do what I gotta do.  Honestly, none of this was possible without you, Scott.”

“I’m going to agree with her on that one,” Steve stated as others in the room nodded and stated their agreement.

“I don’t know about that,” Scott replied softly with a shrug as his cheeks blushed deeply.  “Actually, if anything, if it wasn’t for Doc Strange, I wouldn’t be here right now.  I’d probably still be stuck in the Quantum Realm wondering what the hell was going on.  He’s the one who got the ball rolling, not me.  Still though, you’re sidestepping my point, Rory.”  

“Well then, going back to your point, you all can’t be blamed for this mess,” Rory continued with a tired sigh.  “I mean, come on, Scott.  You were in San Francisco, thousands of miles away from the fight.  You had no idea anything was going on; you can’t be blamed for that.  And everyone else here actually fought against Thanos.  They tried .”

“And you haven’t?”

“Not when it was needed the most,” she replied solemnly before shrugging in resignation.  “I’m just saying; the blame’s gotta fall on someone.”

“It does,” Tony chimed in quickly.  “I gotta say, Scott’s right, Roar.  This mess, the whole two years, everything, the fault is on all of us.”

“But mostly with Thanos,” Rhodey added.  “A really large part actually.”

“Listen, guys,” Clint chimed in, hands up as if telling everyone to chill out.  “We can play the blame game all day long, but Rhodey’s wins it. End of that discussion.  The real point is that was two years ago, and at least we’re acting on the chance we’ve got now.”

“Right, we’ve got a chance now.”  Rory straightened her shoulders, inhaled through her nose, and stiffened her stance, preparing herself.  “So I am going to fix it.”

“But not this way,” Scott said.  “ Please not this way.  We’ll still need you.”

“Scott,” she answered slowly, “if there are no more Infinity Stones, then there’s no more need for me.”  Did her tone really sound as sad to them as it did to herself?  “And besides,” she added quickly, “what better way to say, ‘Screw you, Thanos,’ than to bring everybody back and get rid of the Stones so he can’t try this again or try something worse?”

“I’m not even going to comment on that part because I don’t really know how to respond to that,” Scott said with a shake of his head, “but I am gonna say something about that no-need-for-you comment.  I mean, seriously, Rory?  C’mon!  While the Light Stone thing is pretty cool, that part of you doesn’t make up all of you, right?  It’s not the part that helped me come up with Quantum Heist and figure out how to do that, and, yes, don’t argue with me on that.  You did help me come up with it.  It’s not the part that came up with the importing resources from another universe idea.  It’s not the part that’s got a quick, dry wit or is super smart or kind or shy or fun.  It’s not the part that made us want to adopt you in this weird, slightly crazy, avenging family, and it’s not the part that’s my friend.”

The lump in Rory’s throat was seriously threatening to force her to sob for breath, and her eyes stung with unshed tears.  The power of light faded from her eyes, revealing her hazel irises as well as the uncertainty and sorrow in them.  Her gauntlet-wearing hand trembled from both the strain of keeping her hand ready to snap its fingers and the fight to keep from losing her nerve.  She wanted to break away from his pleading gaze, but she couldn’t.  She wouldn’t, especially since she thought this would be the last time she would see him.  “ Please , Rory,” Scott begged quietly, “don’t do this.”

It took her a few breaths and a moment to swallow the lump in her throat before she asked, “Then who?  Who?  Give me a valid, willing candidate that’s got a better chance of survival than I do, and maybe I’ll consider it.”

Scott turned to the other Avengers with a desperate stare but said nothing, trying to decide if there even was a candidate.  He sure as heck didn’t know, and he wasn’t going to ask anyone to take her place.  He couldn’t force anyone, especially knowing he wasn’t a valid candidate himself.  But if any of them thought they could….

“I’ll do it,” Thor volunteered as he walked forward, shaking his hands at the others to wave them aside.  “It’s got to be done, so…”

Tony stepped in front of him, gave him a knowing look, and said sympathetically, “No offense, but you’re in no condition to wear the gauntlet, Point Break.”

Scott turned back to Rory,  his whole expression asking hopefully, “What about him?”

She shook her head slowly and, though she looked at Scott, didn’t speak to him.  “He’s right, Thor.  I’m afraid you’re not in the right condition for this.”

“Oh, come on,” Scott moaned in frustration.  “Just because he’s not as muscular as before?  I mean, he’s still Thor!”

“Yes, he is, but his physique’s got nothing to do with it, Scott.”

“Not to mention the fact that glove’s got enough energy to power a continent five times over,” Tony interjected. 

“Yeah okay, but so what?  What’s flowing through my veins right now,” Thor argued.  “Lightning!”  He moved towards Rory with Tony and Steve blocking his way and trying to refrain him from getting to her.  “I can handle whatever power those Stones carry.”

“If Rory says you can’t, then we need to consider a different option,” Steve said calmly.

“What if there is no other option,” Thor asked Steve, his voice cracking.  “ Please ,” he begged as he turned his attention to Rory, “just - just let me do something right.  Let me do something good.”

Bruce spoke up calmly, emphatically as he moved towards Thor, “Lightning’s not gonna save you, pal.”  He placed a large hand on his friend’s shoulder.  “I know you want to make up for two years ago, and we all do, but they’re right about one thing.  It certainly matters who does it.”  When Thor ceased his advances, wiping tears from his eyes, Bruce looked at Rory who had backed away from the group with Scott moving as well to stand between her and the others.  “Guys, the radiation emitting from the gauntlet is mostly gamma.”  

He gave Tony a sideways glance and a small, solemn smirk.  “Tony, you remember way back when, on the helicarrier, you told me you thought Hulk saved me for something, and we’d have to wait and see why that was?  I think you’re right.”  He turned his gaze back to Rory and continued, “I think that time has come.”  Bruce took a few steps forward towards her but then stopped when he saw Scott wasn’t going to move out of the way, protectively standing between her and everyone else.  

Bruce waited for Scott to step aside, which he only did after getting one quick nod from Rory, then Bruce gingerly stepped closer, speaking directly to her as he did so.  “I understand where you’re coming from, Rory, and I know you want to do what’s right and save the rest of us from paying the price.”  He smiled at her.  “You certainly fit in with us.”  She stared at him with a torn expression, unsure whether to believe him or to just snap her fingers now and be done with it.  “You asked for a willing candidate with a better chance of survival than you do, and I think you’ve got it.  It’s like,” Bruce paused and shrugged as he shook his head, but there was resolve in his movements.  “It’s like I was made for this.”

The tension in the room was unbearably thick as everyone waited for Rory’s decision.  She didn’t look at anyone except Bruce, as if trying to gauge his claim.  No one noticed how, for a brief moment, the Time Stone glowed a little brighter than the rest of the Infinity Stones on the glove, nor did anyone seem to notice how Rory’s left eye seemed more green than hazel, thanks to the majesty of Time’s power.  

These powers were still too new for her, and despite her attempts at self-training and learning about her new powers, she still considered herself such a novice with them that she feared peering too far into time.  What if Bruce survived, but that put them on a losing path?  What if she really needed to do it, and by her not doing it set them up for a larger failure than two years ago?  So many what ifs, so little time. 

Are we at least on the one way to win Stephen saw?  Time revealed the answer to her, and in the span of a breath, she saw the Avengers winning the war.  She saw enemies fall.  She saw friends and allies who haven’t been seen in two years return.  She saw her friends, her family, safe and alive.  The only thing she was unsure about was herself, because she could not see herself in the end, and that only deepened her fear of what she suspected her fate to be.  But at least she knew they legitimately had a chance.  And she knew deep in her bones it started in this moment with Bruce snapping his fingers.  

Rory exhaled deeply as her shoulders slumped in defeat, the light of Time fading from her eye.  Her right hand relaxed, and she slid it out of the gauntlet.  “I yield,” she admitted quietly, a couple of tears sliding down her face, as she offered Bruce the gauntlet.  He accepted the gauntlet from her and offered her a very soft, small smile, and she tried to return it but just didn’t have it in her.  

If they really were on the one path Stephen saw, then that should excite her, make her glad.  But the path between this moment and victory would be more dangerous than it had been so far, and she couldn’t help but fear the price that would need to be paid to bring the victory she saw.  But if that was what it took to set everything right, then so be it.  

She took a long, slow breath as she wiped the tears from her face.  “Good luck.”

Nobody noticed the false Nebula slip away and activate the homing device she slipped out of one of her belt pouches.  The device began to flash and beep in a slow, steady pattern.

As everyone stepped back to give Bruce some space, Tony asked him, “Good to go, yeah?”

Bruce nodded and stated, “Let’s do this.”

Scott moved to Rory’s side and asked quietly, “Are you okay?”

Instead of fully answering his question, she replied, “As long as this all works out where we fix everything, then I’ll be satisfied.”

“Didn’t you pass out and go into a coma, the last time someone snapped their fingers with those things?” he asked as he gestured to the gauntlet with a quick head tilt.

Uh oh.  She didn’t think about that.  Rory nodded grimly and confirmed, “Yup, I did.”

“Tell me that’s not gonna happen again,” he pleaded.  “None of us want that, especially you I bet.  What will make this time different?”

She stayed quiet for a moment as she thought about how this time would be different, provided it actually would be different this time, but then the answer seemed to hit her out of nowhere.  She turned and looked at him before answering seriously, “Bruce has permission to do it.  That’s the difference.”

“Remember,” Tony told Bruce, “everyone Thanos snapped away two years ago and just bringing them back to now, today.  Don’t change anything from the last two years.”

Bruce nodded once and said, “Got it.”

In unison, the Avengers prepared as best as they could for the unknown, suiting up and applying any shielding they deemed necessary.  Helmets returned to place for those who had them, and those like Natasha and Clint hid behind either Steve’s shield with him or the shield Tony projected from his suit.  “F.R.I.D.A.Y.,” Tony instructed, “do me a favor and activate Barn Door Protocol, will you?”

“ Yes, boss ,” the A.I. answered.  Instantly after, large, steel doors slide down over the entire Avengers facility, effectively putting it under lockdown.

Rory let the light powers flow and shine through her as she created a barrier around the gauntlet, save for the opening so Bruce could slip his hand in.  “I’ll try to contain the damage as best as I can, but I won’t be able to stop it all.”

Bruce shrugged yet offered a gratuitous smile.  “Every little bit helps.”  He looked down at the gauntlet, shining from the various power sources connected to it, and he took a deep, calming breath.  “Everybody comes home.”  As he moved to slip on the gauntlet, the nanotech intuitively expanded to easily fit on the Hulk-sized hand, and as soon as the gauntlet’s in place, the same power surge that hit Rory hit Bruce as well.  The electric energies traveled up his arm causing him to grunt and gasp in great pain.

After a short moment of this, Thor anxiously took a step forward towards Bruce and demanded, “Take it off!  Take it off!”

“No,” Rory barked as she tried to increase the barrier’s strength, but against the other six Stones, even her Infinity Stone abilities could not fully combat them.  “He can do it!”

“Bruce,” Steve asked over Bruce’s grunts, “are you okay?”

“Talk to me, Banner,” Tony instructed him with concern.

“I’m okay,” Bruce answered through gritted teeth.  “I’m okay.”

“I thought your little magic trick was supposed to help,” Thor growled at Rory.

“Hey,” she snapped at him.  “This isn’t as easy as it looks!  It’s one against six, and despite the infinities within infinities thing, in this case I can only do so much.”

Meanwhile, somewhere beyond the Avengers’ sights, the daughter of Thanos looked down at her homing beacon as it began to rapidly flash and beep, and she smirked.  The Terrans would never know what hit them, she thought as somewhere above them in the upper atmosphere, the Sanctuary broke out of lightspeed and slowly descended to a spot just above the compound.

Bruce suddenly shouted, fighting through the intensity of the Stones as their energies hummed and crackled, and Rory hissed a growl through her teeth as she let the light barrier seep into Bruce’s skin and act as a balm, countering the sting of the other Stones as best as she could.  Finally, with great force, Bruce lifted his hand, and with a deafening click, snapped his fingers, blinding everyone in the room for a brief second.  

After everyone blinked a few times and their sight returned, they found…Bruce. Not the blend of Bruce and Hulk that once stood there. Human Bruce, the green of his skin slipping away and sinking deep inside as if the Hulk was returning to whatever place was reserved for him inside.

“Bruce,” Natasha exclaimed in surprise as the Avengers stared at their friend who had collapsed on the floor, relief on his face from the release of the terrible pain he just felt.  Rory was the only Avenger not staring for she held her head in her hands, her face distorted in pain.

The gauntlet had slid off Bruce’s hand, and Clint quickly kicked it away as if it could do more damage lying on the ground beside Bruce as the Avengers tried to determine what had just taken place.  Tony, Steve, and Thor crowded around Bruce as Steve shouted his name.  “Don’t move him,” Tony instructed as he started spraying Bruce’s arm with frozen nitrogen to counteract the gamma radiation’s burns.

“Did,” Bruce questioned wearily, “did it work?”

Thor took hold of Bruce’s good hand, shook his head, and shrugged.  “Worth a shot,” he commented.  “It’s over.  It’s okay. You’re - you’re not green anymore.  By the way.”

“Huh?”

“Seems the Stones reversed your hard work, Bruce,” Tony explained.

“Wha–for real?”

On the nearby table, Clint’s cell phone started ringing, and he slowly moved towards it.  When he saw the caller ID showing his wife’s name however, he scrambled quickly for it, and as he answered it he could barely speak out of sheer joy.

Barn Door Protocol was deactivated at that point, and the large steel doors slowly retracted from the windows, and as Scott walked towards the windows to look outside, he was already struck by how clear the sky looked.  But what was the craziest thing to him was the tree sitting just past the window.  

That tree wasn’t there before.  

He’d bet his suit on that fact.  That tree was not there before, but it was obviously there now.  He looked up at the tree, and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth when he heard the chirping of birds then watched as they flew away.  Did they actually do it?  His smile grew wider as he uttered in awe, “Guys, I think it worked!”

Natasha watched as Rory abruptly dropped her hands, zoned out, and remained completely oblivious to what was going on around her.  Her hazel eyes hid behind white, blazing light as she stared at the gauntlet laying feet away from her.  “Rory,” Natasha called warily as she moved to stand in front of her friend.  When Rory made no response or any indication that she heard or saw Natasha, she gently gave Rory a shake and asked, “Hey, what’s going on?  You okay?”

Rory barely heard the Black Widow over the buzzing in her brain.  The Stones had been surprisingly quiet throughout the process, perhaps because they were with her and felt they were safe enough to remain quiet.  Now, they were frantic and buzzing loudly, and Rory had to concentrate to hear and understand what they were telling her.  But when the message became clear, she sucked in a quick, quiet gasp as her blood ran cold.  She knew the end to this was coming, but she didn’t expect it this quickly.  Rory looked up at Natasha, fear in her eyes as the light faded from them.  

“He’s here .”

Chapter Text

Rory’s words were no sooner spoken before they were lost in the bone-shaking KA-BOOM of a missile that hit the ground right by Scott’s tree, and he shrunk down and rode the blast as the wave shook the compound.  Another missile slammed down directly above them, and Rory reacted quickly by flinging her arms up above her as a white energy field held the ceiling above them in place.  But Rory’s arms were trembling already, struggling to hold the weight of the building from collapsing on them.  “Out, out, OUT,” she exclaimed quickly.  “Everybody OUT!  HURRY!”

But the fire storm from above them was relentless, and no one had the chance to escape before the entire structure cracked and crumbled from the missile fire.  The Avengers fell through the hole forming in the floor as the compound was being demolished around them.  When Rory fell through, her concentration broke, and the barrier disappeared allowing everything else to collapse.  She smacked her head as she fell and slipped into unconsciousness as the debris settled around her, creating a cocoon-like pocket in the rubble.

Somewhere below her, the Hulk roared in anger and pain as he struggled to hold up a large mass of debris with his good arm to keep it from collapsing on him and two of his teammates, Rhodey and Rocket.  Gritting his teeth and sucking in breaths as he tried to hold it up, he wished his right arm could be of more use.  He could move it to some degree and slightly curl his fingers despite having very little feeling in them.  Rory’s efforts kept his arm from being completely lifeless, but it wasn’t enough for it to be of much more use than that.  “Hulk arm HURT!” he roared.  “Hulk MAD!”

Rhodey’s War Machine suit was damaged in the intense tumble, sparking and humming with the electrical wheeze of things trying to fix itself.  “Canopy!  Canopy,” Rhodey spat out, needing to get out of the suit.  “Canopy!”  

The suit ratcheted open, and Rhodey hauled himself out to quickly make his way over to Rocket who was stuck under some debris near where the suit lay.  He was squirming and gasping in his panic as he tried to push the debris off himself.  “I can’t breathe!  I can’t breathe!  Get it off me!  Get it off me!”

“Hang on!  I’m coming,” Rhodey assured over Rocket’s frantic cries as he looked for something to help levy the debris off.

“Building heavy!”  Hulk shouted urgently as more weight settled on his shoulders.  “Hulk and friends go!”

“Hurry up,” Rocket begged as Rhodey grabbed a bar and positioned it to leverage the debris.  “Hurry up!  Come on!”

“I’m trying!  Hang on, I’ve almost got it!”

With some strain and force, Rhodey lifted the debris up enough for Rocket to squirm out from underneath. 

Before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, Hulk roared, “Hulk no want WATER!”  He pointed with his bad hand at a large crack opposite them that was seeping water through alarmingly fast.

Rocket moaned, “Oh shit, no!”

Somewhere nearby, a small clutter of dirt moved and shifted away to reveal a tiny Ant-Man, groaning, shaking his head, and trying to gain his bearings.  Either his comm was busted or someone else’s was, but whoever’s trying to get through, only every other word was succeeding.  “Mayday!...anyone...lower...flooding!”

Hey , Scott thought as he remembered what had just happened before he woke up here.  That sounds like Rhodey .  Scott put his hand over his comm to try to hear better and shouted, “What!”

“We’re trap...drowning!...copy...mayday!”

Scott could pick out another voice on the comm too.  It sounded fainter than the other but just as urgent.  “Tell ‘em...hurry...asses!”

“...body...no time... please !”

“Wait!”  Scott took a quick glance around and followed where the water in his area was running to.  They said drowning, right?  Follow the water, then hopefully he would find them before it was too late.  “I’m here; I’m here!  Can you hear me?!”

Further down, in the sewer system, Clint and Natasha slowly picked themselves off the ground, groaning quietly and looking around.  Clint flashed a light upward and gave a low whistle at the sight of the large gaping hole above them.  “Geez, what a fall.  Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Natasha answered as she stretched her back.  “You?”

Clint nodded as he brought a hand to his ear to cover the comm and hear better.  “Cap?  Tony?  Anybody?”

“Clint,” Natasha interrupted quietly as she pointed in front of them down on the ground.  The iron gauntlet was mixed in with some of the rubble at their feet, and the only reason Natasha saw it in the first place was due to the glow of the Stones resting in the knuckle placements.

Suddenly from somewhere behind them down the sewer tunnel, the faint sound of claws scraping against metal rang through the dark, dank space.  After he and Natasha shared a wary look, Clint silently removed his bow from its resting place on his shoulders and shot a flare arrow into the darkness.  As the flare passed by, the illumination revealed a gruesome sight.  Dozens of vile looking quadruped aliens scrambling around, snapping at each other and yipping quietly like dogs.  Outriders.  They all watched the flare arrow fly past them then looked back at the source of the arrow.  “Damn,” Natasha muttered under her breath.  

“This is a long way from Budapest,” Clint commented quietly, the slightest hint of a smirk tugging at his lips.

As Natasha grabbed the gauntlet and the pair ran away from the Outriders, the strange, ugly creatures did not hesitate to give chase.

Outside the crater that was once the compound, a beam of whirling, buzzing light shot down from the Sanctuary to the ground, and Thanos, fully armored and looking very grim and greedy, stepped out from the beam.  Attached to his left arm was an armored prosthetic to replace the hand he lost in the Quantum Realm.  He looked around at the destruction, his expression one of satisfaction as Nebula approached him.  “Daughter,” he greeted, making sure it was indeed the Nebula of his own making instead of the true Nebula.

“Yes, Father,” she responded confidently.

Content knowing it was his Nebula, he nodded his approval and said, “So this is where the Light Stone has been hiding.  Well done.”

“Thank you, Father,” Nebula responded, pleased at the praise.  She ripped off the orange head plate from the original Nebula and was about to toss it aside but stopped short.  There’s nothing wrong with having a trophy to remember the victory.  She pocketed the plate and informed him, “They suspected nothing.”

“The arrogant never do,” he commented with disdain as he stuck his double-edged sword into the ground, took his helmet off, and sat it on top of the sword’s edge before he sat down on a large piece of rubble.  “Go,” he instructed her.  “Find the six Stones.  Bring them to me.”

“What will you do?”

He looked up at her then moved his eyes beyond her to see the Thunderer standing above them off to the distance, watching.  He smirked and replied, “Wait.”

Above the pair, Gamora watched them from an opening on the ship feeling overwhelmingly uneasy about everything.  This isn’t a new feeling, of course.  She had felt this way for quite some time.  Ever since she realized she had a significant gap in her memory, a gap no one could - or would - explain, she had been trying to covertly piece together what she could, though with little success.  She remembered Thanos charging her with hunting the orb that held the Power Stone, but then after that, the next thing she could clearly remember was waking up one morning where the army had camped and her “father” planted his garden.  Everything in between seemed distant and distorted.  Far away.  

Thanos finally made it to the Garden.  Overall, she felt relieved and proud the plot was successful, or at least, she thought she was supposed to feel that way.  But something told her she did not want to feel that way.  Why should she feel proud of this plan?  Something was wrong.  She felt wrong, not herself.  Then the appearance of another Nebula, a different Nebula who gazed upon her with something akin to confusion and longing, convinced Gamora something was indeed terribly wrong.

She stepped away from the Sanctuary ’s opening and walked over to the prisoner.  Nebula.  “Tell me something,” Gamora asked, keeping the curiosity, and even the desperate need to know and understand what is going on, out of her tone, “how can there be two Nebulas?  Are there two Gamoras?”

“There would have been,” Nebula responded quietly.  “Thanos created you and me anew using the Infinity Stones after he...lost us.  The other you is gone.”

Gamora remained silent as she tried to process this information, but it’s something one cannot easily understand and accept.  “But I’m not really Gamora?”

Nebula gave her standard stoic look and asked simply, “Do you make your own choices, or are choices made for you?  My sister made her own choices, and her being killed by Thanos was not her choice.”  

Gamora stiffened considerably.  A part of her was not even surprised by this turn.  Whether it was true that Thanos remade her, she still hated him with everything she had.  That apparently was something even Thanos couldn’t change.  

“And forgoing being his puppet and living her own life was a choice she made,” Nebula added.

“And what of us?  What happened to you and me?  Or rather, I suppose you and the other Gamora.”

“I tried to kill you,” she admitted.  “Several times.”  Gamora rolled her eyes and barely sighed.  Of course, Nebula would try.  Despite what Gamora had always wanted from Nebula, it seemed no set of them would achieve it.  “But,” Nebula added quietly, “eventually, we became friends.  We became sisters.”

Sisters.  And a life free from Thanos.  The other Gamora had everything she had ever wanted, everything she could ever dream of.  Was it possible those things could be hers for the taking as well?  What kind of life awaited her finally beyond Thanos’ grasp?  “And what of you and me ?”

“That remains to be seen.  But if you are anything like the Gamora I knew, the same is possible for us.”  

Nebula’s answer was all she needed to hear.  Obviously, she had a choice to make, but between the options she had, it’s the easiest choice she would ever make.  She reached her hand out to Nebula to take, and her sister looked at her hand and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Making a choice,” Gamora said firmly.  “Come on.  We can stop him.”

The barest hint of a smirk touched Nebula’s face, and she eagerly took her sister’s hand.

Tony’s friends were lost and buried somewhere below his feet, and he grimaced, trying to push past the grief that wanted to swell in his chest prematurely.  They could still be alive for all he knew.  He hoped that was the case.  

Instead, he looked to the sky and frowned at how it had almost completely disappeared behind smoke and ash and dust.  There was still a job to do.  He quickly but carefully walked through the debris to Steve, lying unconscious on the ground, and when he reached his friend, he knelt beside him and shook his shoulder.  “Come on, buddy,” he prodded.  “Wake up.”  Steve jolted awake, shook the cobwebs out of his head, and coughed.  “Atta boy.”  Tony displayed Steve’s shield for him and gave him a deadpan look.  “You lose this again, and I’m keeping it.  For real this time.”

Steve looked around at the debris and smoke around them and coughed out, “What happened?”

“We didn’t end the game, just the inning.  Team Titan was just up to bat and caught us tying our shoes.”

“I don’t think that’s completely fair, Tony,” Steve said as Iron Man helped him up.

“All the same, Cap, game’s not over yet.”

The pair made their way through the carnage of what once was the compound and found Thor who was standing and observing their opponent from a distance.  Tony looked between Thanos and Thor once before he studied the Titan as well and asked, “What’s he been doing?”

Thor shook his head and replied, “Absolutely nothing.”

“Where are the Stones?” Steve asked as his gaze never left Thanos, as if his glare could kill him where he stood.

“Somewhere under all this,” Tony answered as he gestured to the destruction around them.  “All I know is he doesn’t have them.”

Steve nodded solemnly.  “So we keep it that way.  And our living Infinity Stone?”

Tony’s brows knitted together at the thought of what happened to their friends.  Hopefully, they’re alive and okay despite the attack.  “Again, somewhere under all this with everyone else.”

After a quiet moment, Thor commented grimly, “You know it’s a trap, right?”

Steve nodded once while Tony shrugged and sighed heavily, as if preparing for what was coming.  “Yeah, and I don’t much care.”

“Good.  Just as long as we are all in agreement,” Thor responded as he extended his arms out from his sides, eyes glowing as lightning energies crackled and sparked around him.  With a mighty thunderclap, Stormbreaker and Mjölnir flew into each hand.  Steve tightened his grip on his shield, and Tony’s repulsors revved.  Lightning surged, and with the aid of Norse magic, Thor’s attire was replaced with his armor and cape, and his hair and beard were fashioned with braids more suitable for the god of thunder.  “Let’s actually kill him this time.”

Chapter Text

“Scott!”  Rory called out as she sat straight up, gasping for breath and frantically looking around.  “Tony!  Guys?”  Her head throbbed, and she leaned forward and held her head in her hands, moaning in pain as her mind went into overdrive, reminding her why her head hurt in the first place.  

Thanos has come for them.  He came to bring Decimation two years ago; now he has come to bring total destruction.  Rory growled as she looked up from her hands to find she was sitting in the center of the familiar and peculiar cliff side she had unexpectedly traveled to many times before.  “I’m getting really tired of closing my eyes in one place,” she growled in frustration as she scrambled to her feet, “and suddenly waking up in another !  Especially this place!”

Rory blinked a few times and turned round and round in desperation, unsure of how to get back this time.  She tried opening a portal to get back to the others as fast as she could, but to her fright and frustration, nothing happened.  The powers she had inherited and developed through the trial-and-error type of solo training and practice now failed her, and she literally roared in anger.  “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!”  

Suddenly, standing before her was a sight unlike anything she had ever seen before, yet she knew exactly what it was.  The entity appeared to her in a floating, glowing flame, a light so bright it was white.  It shifted forms to take on a human silhouette and gently moved towards her in a friendly manner.  But enough was enough. 

“NO!”  Rory shouted as she pointed accusingly at the Light Stone and frantically backed away from it.  “You,” she sneered as the Light Stone flinched under her hateful, hurt gaze, “you’ve been nothing but trouble.  What good have you been, huh?  Hiding away all this time, and when major trouble arises, you still hide for a little bit longer, stressing me and the others out while we’re trying to figure out how to fix everything, and then you decide maybe it’s time to rejoin this universe!”  

“And on top of that,” Rory continued, still seething and keeping her distance from the luminous silhouette, “you drag me into it.  Stupid!  I think the only person less qualified to take my place is Thanos himself!”  She flung her arms around her, gesturing to the rest of the universe as she said, “There are literally millions of better candidates than me for harboring you, but no, no, no,” she said as she waved her finger at the Light Stone, “that would have been too easy, wouldn’t it!  No, you picked a nobody.  You could have picked someone like Scott or Tony or Nat or Bruce or Thor or literally anybody else, but you decided to go with convenience.  My mom was there at the right time, and she was pregnant at the right time, right?  That’s the only reason why you picked me, right?  Right?!”

“But like that matters now,” she continued, caught up in her venting, finally releasing her pent up emotions.  “You could have at least shown up sooner!  Let me know what I had and what I was supposed to do with the Infinity Stones before the trouble with Thanos ever started so I could have prevented all of this!  But NO!  Well, I’m through!”  Rory shouted as she crossed her arms in front of her then broke the X as if cutting ties with the Light Stone.  “Stay away from me because you and I have only caused unnecessary, horrendous trouble, you fricking waste of cosmic energy!”

“Walking away now is only going to add to the ‘unnecessary, horrendous trouble,’” a serious baritone voice spoke calmly behind her.

“Oh yeah?  Says wh-” Rory said as she turned towards the voice’s owner and stopped short upon seeing her friend for the first time since watching him fade to ashes.  “St-Stephen?”  Her anger deflated as she took a few cautious steps towards him.  “Please - please tell me it - it really is you, and it really did work.”

Stephen offered a gentle smile.  “It really is me, and it really did work.”

“Oh, thank God,” she muttered in relief as she ran and tackled the man in a large hug.  Stephen, and even the Cloak of Levitation which was restored and whole again, returned her hug as she noted, “This is certainly under better conditions than last time we were in this place.”

“I agree, but we’re still not out of the woods yet, Rory.”

Rory growled and shoved away from him, a little more forcefully than she meant to, but her anger had returned full force.  “We never would have entered the woods in the first place if I had known about my connection with the Infinity Stones.  Or better yet, if that thing ,” she remarked bitterly as she shot a hateful glance towards the Light Stone, still standing awkwardly to the side like a child in trouble, “had told me about all of this,” she said as she waved her arms around in gesture, “then none of this would have happened.”

“Be that as it may,” Stephen interjected, “you can’t focus on what could have been or your idea of how it should have been.”

She cocked an eyebrow up at his statement, taken aback but for the wrong reason.  “Did you seriously just say, ‘Be that as it may’?”

“Are you seriously questioning my word choice right now?”  Stephen couldn’t help but scoff and smirk as a memory replayed in his mind, distancing him as his eyes peered far away if only for a few seconds.  “You sure you’re not related to Stark?”

“That would be something, huh.  But no, I’m not a Stark.  Although if you asked Steve Rogers, he would say I’m as stubborn as a Stark.  Does that count?”

“Never mind.  What you are,” Stephen said, bringing the conversation back to the more pressing topic at hand, “is not facing the facts.  Turning your back now,” he said as he extended a shaky hand at the Light Stone and pointed at it, “is turning your back on everyone and everything else.  And I know you better than to think you would seriously do that to them, to us .”

“I peeked ahead, Stephen,” Rory answered harshly.  “I used Time’s power to check to see if we were at least on that one way you told Tony about two years ago, and from what I could see, we were.”  Her voice grew quiet.  “I saw Bruce’s snap was successful in bringing everyone back, obviously,” she said as she gestured to Stephen, “and I saw them fighting alongside the rest of the Avengers.  I saw Thanos fall, and I saw all the good guys, all my friends, safe and alive.  You know who I didn’t see?  Me.  I mean, us,” Rory amended as she gestured between herself and the Light Stone.  “Proving, as I’ve thought before, one of two things.  One:  I won’t --” She paused then said, “You know what?  I don’t want to talk about that option.  Number two:  the Avengers don’t need me.  Why would they?  Because, again as I’ve already said, good ol’ Sparkly Rock over there and I have caused too many problems as it is.  If I don’t see myself in the end where the good guys win, then I’m not meant to be there.  Nobodies not allowed.  So I’m bowing out and staying out of the way.”

“That’s not the ending I saw,” Stephen answered solemnly, adamantly.  “You’re there.  Believe me, you’re just as essential to the upcoming fight as any of us, if not more so.”

That statement scared her, but Rory swallowed the fear down as far as she could and instead pinched the bridge of her nose, clamped her eyes shut, and huffed.  “No, Stephen,” she answered as if lecturing a child, “the Light Stone may be essential due to its connection to the other Infinity Stones, but if that’s the case, then I would be essential by default.  It’s like the Light Stone is the smartphone, and I’m just the protective case.  That’s really all I am in this scenario.”

“That’s not true.”

“How could you know?  How could you prove that?”

Stephen looked at his friend, torn and unsure.  “I don’t know.  I don’t know how to prove that to you.”

“ I do. ”  Rory and Stephen turned towards the Light Stone who used Reality to take on Rory’s complete form and voice.  

As if everything else wasn’t crazy enough, for Rory to see and hear herself and not with a mirror really freaked her out.  “Don’t do that!”  She blinked multiple times then rubbed her eyes hard before glaring at the Light Stone.  “I don’t need this madness either!  Change back!”

Instead of responding to her, the doppelgänger looked to Stephen.  “ Son of Agamotto, you have more pressing matters to which you must attend .”  The Light Stone nodded towards Rory and added, “ Leave her in my care.  She will see you on the battlefield .” 

Stephen bowed his head slightly yet respectfully before turning towards Rory.  “For the record,” he said quietly, “the Light Stone can’t do anything on its own.  It needs someone to guide it and use it, despite what you see before you.”

“Not really the best argument, Stephen,” Rory argued after crossing her arms and clicking her tongue once in thought, “because what I see is pretty convincing otherwise.”

“ You should know this place is special ,” the Light Stone said in Rory’s own voice, “ playing by its own rules.  Here at least I can be a little more animated; although, he is correct .”

“And besides,” Stephen added, his voice dropping to almost a whisper, “pretty much everyone in the universe, whether for a moment or for a lifetime, thinks they’re nobodies, but they’re not.  You’re not.”  When Rory didn’t offer a reply, Stephen nodded a couple of times and finished with, “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

As he opened a portal to leave, Rory called back after him, “Wait, Stephen!”  She waited until he turned to her before saying while offering a gentle smile, “It’s good to see you.”

Stephen returned the smile.  “It’s good to see you too, my friend.”

Once the Sorcerer had left the area, the Light Stone’s sigh was content.  “ I thought that was overall a nice little reunion, don’t you think so? ”

“ Shut up ,” Rory snapped at her image, blood boiling and suddenly picturing choking the life out of her doppelgänger.  “I’ve still got beef with you.”

“ I am well aware of your, ” the Light Stone paused as it contemplated Rory’s word choice, “beef with me.  I am also aware of your struggles, the burden you have felt, and the toil it has taken on you.  For those things, I apologize. ”

Rory still kept her arms crossed, but the tension in her facial muscles relaxed slightly, taken off guard by the Stone’s words.  “What?”

The Light Stone began to move towards her but suddenly decided against it and backtracked.  “ I realize the events of two years ago and the pressure of trying to solve this dilemma on your own have wounded you, leaving scars of the body and of the soul you will carry forever.  I realize my timing was a hindrance, almost wretched and careless even. ”  

The Light Stone sighed, looking uncomfortable and humbled, and it tried to keep eye contact with her but had to avert its gaze numerous times as it spoke.  “ I am not a perfect entity, ” it continued as it extended its hands out and exposed its palms, “ and I will not try to pretend to be.  When I was stolen from my world many centuries ago and taken to yours, I was lost like I have never known before.  Betrayed by a keeper, separated from my keeper and the other Stones, and having no way to get back on my own, I peered far into the future to see if there was anyone in your universe who could be my new keeper, who could help me.  I peered centuries ahead with no luck in finding anyone able, never mind worthy, to be charged with me. ”  The Light Stone offered a small smile as it continued after a brief pause, “ Until I saw you.   I found a woman of sharp mind, gentle soul, large heart, and a will of steel.  I found a woman who exceeded the rest as an option, not just to be my keeper but to achieve convergence, the fusion of our essences to become one entity. ”

“ So I waited, ” the Light Stone continued, not giving Rory a chance to comment or question, “ once I found you and knew how long it would take for life to bring us together, I… ”  It paused as it scratched the back of its neck sheepishly.  “ Well, I suppose I more or less went comatose myself, and after centuries of not being used, only aware of when I needed to transfer from my stone sanctuary to you, I became sluggish, dormant, effectively cutting myself off from consciousness. ”

“What about when the other Infinity Stones were taken?”  Rory snapped, angry and unsure how to take the Light Stone’s story, “Could you not feel the pain in my body or hear their pleas in my head?”

The Light Stone sighed.  “ No, I’m afraid not.  When I looked ahead in time, I was only looking for you, and once I found you, I had no reason to keep looking further into time.  I knew nothing of Thanos or his plan, and I am ashamed to admit when the other Stones were being stolen, I was still so dormant, it took the Snap to bring me back to my full senses. ”

“And still didn’t bother to make yourself known.”

“ I did make myself known!  The ceremony in this very spot with your mortal friends standing in lieu of the other Stones was essential to not just revealing myself to you but for beginning the convergence. ”

Rory scoffed, working to keep hold on her anger which made it easier to mentally push the Light Stone away.  “You’re actually serious about the whole me becoming you thing?”

“ Not you becoming me, ” the Light Stone replied softly.  “ You becoming you , the you which you were always destined to be.  I will not change who you are, just what you can do. ”  The Light Stone tilted its head sideways, and Rory found it so bizarre to see her image acting on its own accord, like a mirror free from the curse of imitation.  “ Don’t you understand?  I chose you out of millions of prospects because of who you are.  You are not just a casing as you put it earlier.  Your worth is far more valuable than that.  You are not special because I chose you; I chose you because you are special. ”

“I find that pretty damn hard to believe,” Rory answered quietly.

“ I know, ” the Light Stone responded with equal quietness, “ but you must believe me, and you must believe the others for whom you have grown to care and who have grown to care for you.  Their sentiments are true. ”  The Light Stone paused as it studied Rory curiously, cautiously, hopefully.  “ Will you join with me at last?  Complete the convergence and join your friends against the enemy?  They need you.  I need you. ”

Rory returned the Light Stone’s gaze with a wide-eyed, guilty one of her own.  “I,” she whispered as her head dropped, “I - I don’t know if I can.”

Chapter Text

Thanos watched the three of them coming.  His countenance was unreadable, but inwardly, he was relishing this.  The peace and quiet the past two years had been glorious, but this pitiful little planet had been in the back of his mind threatening him.  He had loved his rest, but he did not mind going back into the fray to annihilate this pest of a planet and the rest of this universe before returning to his rest. 

As the trio got close enough to hear him, Thanos told them, “You could not live with your own failure.  And where did that bring you?  Back to me.  I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive.  But you’ve shown me that’s impossible.  And as long as there are those that remember what was , there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be.  They will resist.”

The Avengers slowly circled around him, angry and ready to strike out.  Tony Stark responded hotly, “Yep, we’re all kinds of stubborn.”

“Yes,” Thanos agreed, “you are.”  He bowed his head slightly as if to give acknowledgement.  “And I’m thankful,” he said sincerely, “because now, I know what I must do.”  As the Titan stood and crowned himself with his war helmet, he continued, “I will shred this universe down to its last atom and then with all seven Stones, create a new one teeming with life.  One that knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given.  A grateful universe.”

“Born out of blood,” Steve countered as Thor’s anger spurred lightning somewhere above them.

“They’ll never know it,” Thanos promised as he removed his sword from the earth, “because you won’t be alive to tell them.”

The Avengers rushed him, and he smiled wickedly at them.

The Hulk’s body was trembling from the strain.  He didn’t know how much longer he could hold up the weight of the building.  The waters were rising alarmingly fast, and he nor Bruce somewhere inside had any ideas as to how to get himself, Rhodey, and Rocket out of there alive.  Within a matter of a few short minutes, the waters will reach his head, and there will be no escape. 

Rocket and Rhodey were desperately trying to keep their heads above the rising water, but they were running out of room fast.  Rocket’s ears laid down on his head, and he released a frightened curse under his breath.  “See you on the other side, man,” Rhodey told him before they took a deep breath as the water surpassed them and moved closer and closer to pass Hulk’s head.

Not far from their location, Scott scrambled as fast as he could to the crack in the wall that would lead him to his friends.  “Hang on!  I’m coming!”  He ran toward a pencil head and used his momentum to make the pencil act as a catapult to fling himself into the air before diving into the rushing water.

As Natasha and Clint sprinted down the sewer tunnel, she commented, “Now might be a good time to blow this place, you think?”

“Way ahead of ya,” Clint responded as he reached for arrow-charges from his quiver.  He shot them along the walls as they ran, and just as the Outriders were about to overtake them, Clint pressed a button on his bow.  The charges detonated with a resounding pop, and the roof above the Outriders shook and crumbled in a matter of seconds, crushing the pursuers and launching Natasha and Clint through the air.  They rolled a little down the pass once they landed, coming directly under a vertical shaft leading to freedom.

As the pair groan and start to stand, Natasha spotted a handful of Outriders that had managed to survive the destruction come barreling toward them.  “Clint!”

“Hang on,” he instructed as he pulled her to him before shooting a grappling arrow up the shaft.  They quickly ascend the shaft just as the monstrous alien hounds enter the base of the shaft, nipping at their heels.  Before the assassins could sigh in relief, the Outriders jump onto the walls and start climbing up, giving chase and screeching at their prey.  “Nat!  The katana!”

Natasha understood the plan, and she quickly unsheathed his weapon.  Once the Outriders got close enough, one by one they started to lunge at them as they continued their ascension, and Natasha slashed at each one as quickly as she could manage.

Finally, they reached the upper chamber, and they collapsed on the ground for a brief moment, gasping for breath and giving themselves a chance to collect themselves before pressing on.

Clint was the first to spot Nebula standing over them, seemingly coming from nowhere, and he sighed in relief.  Better to see an ally than an enemy.  “Oh hey, we know you,” he commented, more to assure himself they were still safe than anything else.

Nebula looked upon the pair with hubris before speaking into her comm, “Father.”

Clint and Natasha shared a surprised look, and she muttered, “What?”

“I have the Stones,” Nebula continued as she snatched the gauntlet from them.  The assassins moved to get up, but Nebula pulled out a blaster from its holster and aimed for them.  “Move and you die.”

Suddenly a voice called out, “Stop!”

Nebula looked up to see Gamora and…she stared, a little dumbstruck at seeing her own self staring back at her.  Without looking at Gamora, she accused, “You’re betraying us.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” her sister responded.

The original Nebula, the good Nebula, added, “You don’t have to do this.”

“I don’t understand what I’m seeing.”

“You’re seeing a better option, Sister,” Gamora told her.  “You’re seeing a choice to do good.”

The remade Nebula shook her head, looking between her other self and Gamora.  “This is good.  This is what is best for the universe.”

Nebula took a tiny step forward.  “That is a lie.  You know deep down it is a lie.  You do not have to be what he made you to be.”

“He - he won’t let me,” the other Nebula said quietly.

Gamora started, “We can help you w–”

But the other Nebula shouted in frustration and pent-up anger, “Shut up!”

“Either you live for Thanos and die today,” Nebula told her other self, “or you live for yourself and may see another day.”

“Come with us, Nebula,” Gamora pleaded.  “Give us the Stones.”

Nebula shook her head, a realization settling on her.  “Oh I see.  You want to deliver the Stones to Father yourself.  As if you weren’t already the favorite.”  Gamora opened her mouth to speak, but Nebula quickly turned her blaster to Gamora and aimed.  But the original Nebula was faster, and before the new Nebula could kill Gamora, she fell.

And the original Nebula stared down at her other self, conflicted and horrified.

Gamora looked at Nebula as Natasha took the gauntlet back from the fallen Nebula.  “Are you alright?” Gamora asked quietly.

It took some effort for Nebula to pull her eyes away from the body on the ground.  “I…”  When no words came, she closed her mouth and looked back at the body.

“Hey,” Gamora took Nebula’s hand and turned her so her gaze was on her sister instead.  “That is not you.  That was a false image.  An imitation.  You are better than that.”

Nebula’s expression twisted in sadness ever so slightly at the comment, and Gamora knew what Nebula was thinking because she was suddenly wondering the same.

If Gamora’s logic was sound, what did that make her? 

“In all my ears of conquest,” Thanos said slowly as he watched the tiny human with a broken shield struggling to stand, “of violence and slaughter, it was never…personal.” 

With a flick of his hand, a thunderous rumble echoed from somewhere behind him.  Suddenly, from over the edge of the crater he stood in, thousands of aliens appeared.  Thanos’ army loomed over them all.  Legions of Chitauri, Sakaarans, and Outriders led by the Black Order stared down into the crater, excitable and hungry for war and blood.  

Thanos gave a menacing smile.  “But I’ll tell you now, the things I’m about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet?”  As if the army at the edge of the crater wasn’t enough, from above Q-ships, dropships, necrocraft, and Leviathans joined the ranks, buzzing with electric energy.  “I’m going to enjoy it.  Very… very …much.”

Steve Rogers gazed over the vastness of the army of evil eyeing him like a pig for slaughter.  He should be afraid.  Terrified actually.  But he was angry.  Angry and determined, and he’ll be damned if he lay down even now.  It took some effort, but he managed to get to his feet.  He tightened the strap of his broken shield, glared at Thanos from across the field, and started walking toward him and his army.

Three steps into his walk, the comm in his ear crackled.  “Cap!  On your left.”

Chapter Text

If Rory didn’t already feel guilty about denying the Light Stone’s plea, looking at her own face gape at her in shock and disappointment would have certainly accomplished that task.  “ What?  Surely, you cannot be serious ,” the Light Stone demanded as it stormed near Rory and placed its hands on its hips with intense agitation.  “ Are you to deny your friends, your family as you call them, your aid?  After it has been made known to you by many that you are needed? ”

“I - I - I don’t - I can’t - I…” Rory’s voice faltered as she backed away from the Light Stone’s advances, and her chest tightened as her blood ran cold.  “I - they - they don’t really need me…”

“ Now you are acting foolishly and very unlike yourself.  I do not understand how you would betray the others like thi s,” the Light Stone muttered indignantly as it began to pace.  “ You who are an advocate of loyalty and care so deeply for these beings.  You have worked so hard to see the universe restored, and now when the time has come to secure victory and the wholeness of the universe, you decide to retreat!? ”  The Light Stone scoffed and shook its head.  “ Absurd.  Why, you even faced Thanos himself twice and managed to - ”  The Light Stone suddenly stopped its pacing and turned towards Rory with understanding in her own eyes.  “ You are afraid .”

It wasn’t an accusation.  It wasn’t spoken with disappointment or disgust or pity.  It was stated calmly as a fact.  Yet the very sentence made Rory crumble to her knees.  “Of course I’m afraid!  How - how the hell could I not be?!  I’m scared out of my mind!  There’s soooooooo much riding on this.  We have one shot - one shot ! - of winning out of millions of chances.  Every possible variable, every - every tiny thing could turn the tide.  The path to victory is a very, very thin line, and if I’m so essential, then every action I take will count, and in the back of my mind I’ll be questioning and overthinking everything I do!”

“ You are afraid to fail .”

“ Duh !  You and I failed the universe once already,” Rory answered as her voice grew softer.  “I will not be able to live with myself if I fail it again.”

The Light Stone moved to sit by Rory, and together they looked like a pair of miserable twins sitting on the ground.  “ You are aware, of course ,” the Light Stone said cautiously, “ if you walk away now, you fail.  The universe just may survive without you there, but you will surely fail someone. ”  

Rory groaned and hid her face in her hands as a response.  “What does that even mean?”  her muffled voice asked from behind her hands.  “How can I fail and the universe still survive?  Isn’t that sending me a contradictory message?”

“ I will speak truthfully with you, Rory ,” the Light Stone continued, “ with or without you there, the one chance of victory is still an option .”  

Rory’s body stiffened at the news as she straightened up, removed her hands from her face, and released a gasp.  “Wait, what?  How’s that possible?  That doesn’t really sound like a one-out-of-millions-of-chances-to-win scenario to me.”

“ A scenario is a description of possible events, meaning there is one overall picture with different minuscule events to achieve that singular overall picture.  In truth, when the Sorcerer spoke of one winning scenario, he meant there was one ultimate winning vine of reality created by different possible events or branches, varying in tiny ways, but they all led to the same singular winning reality.  Thus is the mystery and fascination of destiny .”

“So,” Rory said slowly, resting her forehead in one hand as she wrapped her mind around this revelation, “there is one main winning scenario that can happen in different ways, and those different ways are small but essentially significant?”

“ Yes ,” the Light Stone answered, “ which is why there is still the possibility of victory without you, but the chance of achieving it without you is slimmer than with you.  With you there, the worst possible outcome is cataclysmic.  Thanos will steal back the Stones and use them to successfully strip my powers from you even after a successful convergence, shred the universe down to the barest atom, then rebuild the universe as he sees fit.  Even without you there, the only difference in those worst possible outcomes is Thanos would use the six Stones, not have my powers, still destroy the entire universe, and rebuild it as he sees fit .”

It took a few long moments for the gravity of those possibilities to settle on Rory, and even then she still had difficulty grasping it.  Eventually, she released the breath she realized she was holding as her hand dropped from her forehead.  “Holy shit,” she breathed in horror as an involuntary tremor tumbled down her spine.

“ And it is only a matter of time before Thanos discovers the multiverse and sets his sights on other universes, including your home universe.  Eventually, everyone you love will be completely wiped out ,” the Light Stone added.  “ Forever .”

“What’s,” Rory swallowed and shuddered again, “what’s the best case scenario?”

“ With you there, the best outcome would be the one victory with no casualties on the side which you fight. ”

“Wait."  She sat ramrod straight and looked wide-eyed at the Light Stone.  "You mean there’s a chance I could actually survive?  I’m not necessarily destined to die?”

“ There is a chance you could survive, yes.  Slim, I’m afraid, but yes.  The second best outcome would see only one casualty for your side .”  The Light Stone turned its head toward Rory and said softly, “ Yours .”  Rory shuddered again as she rubbed her hands over her face.  “ But ,” the Light Stone continued, “ without you there, the best outcome would be one victory and two casualties .”  

“Two casualties even without me there?”  Rory’s throat constricted as she thought of the possible people that could be, and none of them set her at ease.  Still she dared to ask and whispered fearfully, “Who?”

The Light Stone sighed and bowed its head before looking up at Rory and giving her an apologetic look.  “ Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff .”

Rory’s breath hitched as her body jolted as if it received an electrical shock.  “What?”

“ Yes ,” it answered solemnly.  “ I am afraid without you, either way your friends will die .”  Rory closed her eyes, but it didn’t stop the sudden flow of tears.  “ The choice is yours alone, Rory, ” the Light Stone declared gently as its charge covered her face with her hands and seemed to deflate, “ but you must choose now.  Who are you and what will you do? ”  Rory remained as she was, unmoving with her face covered and her body trembling.  She didn’t respond or even acknowledge the Light Stone had asked her a question.  

After a silent moment with no change, the Light Stone stood and walked away from her, looking up at the stars in the mystical sky and wondering if there was anything it could do on the off chance Rory still said no.  The Light Stone was not immune to the quiet dread that made the composure of the universe heavy and dark, and it shivered as that dread tried to darken its essence.  It was not unaffected by the terrors of war.  But it knew if Rory refused her place, the Light Stone could do nothing, and it pressed its hands together as if in prayer, hoping that would not be the outcome of its or Rory’s destiny.  

“I can’t leave them,” Rory stated mournfully, her voice muffled by her hands.  The Light Stone turned back to find she dropped her hands from her face, rose, and turned to face it.  She hadn’t bothered to wipe the tears from her face and continued, “I was willing to die for them moments ago, and I have faced Thanos twice already.”  She shook her head slowly as her eyes dropped.  “But I’m having so much trouble running into the fray this time.”

“ Because you have realized this story is truly about to end one way or another.  Everything has been building up to this battle, this moment:  the culmination of Thanos’ horrors, the Avengers’ desperation and drive, and the friction of their collision.  And you realize you will be at the very center of it all; all of this has been placed on your shoulders.  I was born at the beginning of time, presented as a gift of love to the infant universe with the rest of the Infinity Stones as a gift from its Creator.  You as the Light Stone will be born at the restoration and rebirth of the universe, presented as an act of love amidst the ashes of a universe at war. ”

“That part sounds all well and good, but that’s not how it feels.  We’re in the endgame now where everything matters.  The stakes are exponentially high, and - ” 

“And the pressure has been mounted so high upon you, you feel like you just might break. ”  Rory shuddered in confirmation as more tears rolled down her cheeks, and she worked to regain her composure, searching desperately within herself for the strength and courage she craved in this moment.  The Light Stone continued, “ I know you feel a great burden upon you, and I know the fear you feel seems unbearable, but you can succeed.  You can do what needs to be done whatever it takes. ”  The Light Stone added, “ Face your fear, find yourself, accept yourself, and dawn will break over a universe at peace again. ”

Rory closed her eyes and took a slow, controlled breath.  After wiping the tears from her cheeks, she inhaled and straightened her back, and she slowly opened her eyes revealing a steel gaze, burdened with fear but hardened with the courage needed to carry it.  Though there was still a tremor in her movements, she walked towards the Light Stone despite them, despite the fear that ate her alive, despite knowing she might die.  

In the center of the ancient circle, the Light Stone dropped the doppelgänger facade and revealed its glorious form.  With each step, Rory let faces pass by her mind’s eye:  friends she had lost then restored, friends she had made, family, reasons why she couldn’t walk away.  Who was she to leave them now?  How could she?  It may be a war she was walking into, but her reasons to fight outweighed her reasons to run. 

 She stood in front of the luminous human silhouette now.  The Light Stone nodded its approval, and even though Rory couldn’t see it, she suspected the ancient entity smiled softly, knowingly at her.  It extended a glowing hand towards her, and Rory looked down at it.  

This was the moment, she realized, where the convergence, the true merging of her soul and the Light Stone, would take place.  And she knew it would not take place with something like grasping hands.  No, Rory knew, if she was to accept who she was, everything she was, she was going to do it right and embrace it.  

Rory looked up at the Light Stone and, forgoing the hand, quickly wrapped her arms around its neck.  As it returned the embrace, Rory felt every atom of her body burn with the light of the Stone as it fused with every inch of her being, singing one last song as Rory’s world was swallowed in light.

Somewhere underneath the rubble of what was once the Avengers’ compound, nestled in a crater of debris, Rory’s unconscious body began to glow with blinding light.  Suddenly, her eyes snapped open wide with a rush of energy, revealing the same incandescent power that consumed her being, before shrinking to slits as her hands clenched into fists and the debris around her began to tremble.  

Aurora Callahan, the lost and found, fully realized Light Stone, was ready for war.

Chapter Text

After looking around at all the heroes that arrived for the battle, recognizing faces of people he didn’t think he would see again and trying not to get choked up over it, Steve asked those within earshot, “Anybody seen our living Infinity Stone?”

“Don’t worry,” Stephen Strange answered with a half-smirk.  “She’ll be here any second now.”

As if on cue, a brilliant beam of alabaster light burst from the ruins of the Avengers compound and reached for the sky.  The sight of it made the enemies waiting to charge anxious, save for their leader standing among them who wore a calm countenance and displayed a wicked hunger in his eyes.  The heroes who had joined the fray from all corners looked on in wonder, curiosity, and even a little bit of wariness, not understanding the significance.  The Avengers who had lived and interacted with the Light Stone knew who caused the beam and felt a surge of relief and hope at the sight.  

Then the remains of the compound split apart, unseen forces pushing the twisted metal and large, broken debris away from a gaping hole in the ground as the beam disappeared.  Out of the crater, rising from the ashes of destruction, walked a shining, blazing entity.  Her appearance was like ivory fire molded into a human form.  Every feature, from hair to eyes to freckles, was outlined in black, like the black shadows found in the cosmos of space, making it very clear who walked among them.  Aurora Callahan.  She glared challengingly at Thanos as she stopped to stand beside the rest of the Avengers on the frontlines. 

Thanos allowed himself a smug grin as he greeted her on the battlefield, his greed demanding the Infinity Stones again and the lost Stone’s power.  “Light.”

Rory shouted at the enemy, resolve and fury thick in her voice, “This!  Ends!  Now !”  At that, she slammed her fists together, and a pulse of energy broke from her and covered every hero with whom she stood, wrapping them in invisible protection, renewing their energy, and focusing their courage.  Rory turned her head to Steve, and with a sly grin she said, “Call it, Cap.”

Steve returned the grin before facing forward.  As the heroes lined up beside each other, preparing for the upcoming onslaught, Steve shouted above the noise, “Avengers!”  A hush fell over the side of the heroes at the sound of the call.  He reached out his hand, and Mjölnir met his outstretched arm with a mystical ringing of steel.  After one long silent second, Steve ordered loudly so all could hear, “ASSEMBLE!”

With that, the skies exploded with the raucous roar of war cries and shrieks on either side as both armies charged forward and collided in an ugly kaleidoscope of swinging weapons, shifting bodies, dirt, debris, and blood. 

“Sire!”  Thanos turned to Ebony Maw who pointed across the battlefield with one hand while sending shards of debris towards some Kamar Taj acolytes with the other.  “The Stones!”

Thanos quickly jerked his head towards where Maw pointed and saw across the way the Avenger with an archer’s bow and the Avenger with fiery red hair run through the carnage of war.  The woman carried a gauntlet resembling Stark’s armor with the six Infinity Stones resting in place.  He quickly glanced around to make sure the living Infinity Stone was preoccupied elsewhere before he charged for the pair escaping with the gauntlet.  

Suddenly, large chunks of debris, covered in a bright red energy, began to levitate around him, causing him to halt in his pursuit, wary and cautious of what’s going on around him.  Then a woman clad in red flew in and landed directly in front of him.  She held the same red energy in her hands like she was wielding fiery weapons, and her eyes burned with the same furious red, as if her gaze alone should be enough to make him disintegrate on the spot.  Her voice was cold yet full of pain and rage.  “You took everything from me.”

Of course Thanos remembered her, though he did not know her name.  A powerful enemy who stood between him and the Mind Stone years earlier.  If Thanos had not had the Time Stone already, she alone would have sabotaged everything .  “I remember you.”  He also remembered the tears that ran down her face as she was forced to destroy someone she apparently loved very deeply.  “I know your sorrow.”

“Now,” she responded in the same cold yet hateful manner, “you will know my rage.”  In the span of a breath, Wanda Maximoff unleashed every ounce of power she possessed, filling the air with her red energy.  She flung every piece of debris she could grab at him, and then when there were no pieces left, she flung bursts of energy at him, pounding him hard in the chest and on the head and forcing him back from her quick advances.  Then like a squid, the energy wrapped itself around his limbs and lifted him off the ground, squeezing the life out of him as it did so.  

Thanos was a master of war.  He had slaughtered enough beings in his lifetime to fill oceans with the blood of those against him.  He was a strategist, planning everything as quickly and efficiently as possible.  And because of all his skills and knowledge and expertise, Thanos also knew when a change in strategy was needed.  Because if he didn’t, Wanda would successfully kill him.  “Rain fire,” he shouted into his comm link.

Somewhere else on the battlefield, Corvus Glaive argued, “But, Sire, our troops.”

Thanos commanded through clenched teeth, “Just do it!”

The Sanctuary slowly descended as the many cannons on its hull shifted downward and simultaneously began rapidly firing at everything moving down below.  

Rory looked up at the massive ship as it cascaded explosive shots all around her and her friends.  Heroes and foes alike all scattered to find some kind of cover from the ship’s onslaught.  Scott, still as GiAnt-Man, grabbed a leviathan trying to fly from the danger and used it as cover.  

In her comm, Rory heard Pepper question, “Anybody else seeing this?”  Rory turned to see what Pepper was talking about as she formed a shield over her head.  The wall keeping the riverbank at bay as a natural barrier around the compound cracked and moaned at the water’s pressure before breaking completely and gushing waves of water onto the battlefield.

Before Rory could move to stop the flooding, she spotted Stephen Strange standing alone between the flood and the war.  With a few specific waves of his hands, a magical barrier wrapped itself around the water and spun it into a liquid cyclone, subsiding the waters and saving everyone else from drowning.  “Well that takes care of that,” Aurora muttered to herself with relief before looking up at the ship, still sending a barrage of lasers down to the ground.  Her features grew stern as she commented to herself, “I’ll take care of that .”  As her right arm glowed Space blue mixed with white Light, a portal opened before her, and she hopped in quickly, letting the portal close behind her.

The rain of fire ended mere moments later as the Sanctuary crackled, purple and white electric currents curling around the hull as the cannons went limp.  The electric currents ceased after that before the entire gargantuan ship began to shake and hum with unseen energy.  Everyone on the field couldn’t help but stop mid-attack and look up at it, wondering what in the world was happening.  

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.,” Tony asked the A.I. hesitantly yet hopefully, “what’s going on up there?”

“ Power levels are increasing exponentially inside, and it looks like it’s coming from a singular source ,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. answered.

Over the comms, Tony heard, “Heads up down there!  This ship’s departure delay is over!”

A grand iridescent explosion burst through the bridge and out one of the sides causing many other orange and yellow flaming explosions to wreck through the Sanctuary , and it fell out of the sky with a large groan and creaking noises before slamming into the lake and sinking to the depths below.  Above it all, where the ship once was, a bright floating figure hovered in the same spot, though shakily since this was the first time Rory attempted any kind of flight with her light powers.  “Thank you for flying Aurora Airlines,” she chuckled with hubris.  “Please remain seated until the ship has come to a complete stop.”

Thanos’ face was the quintessential picture of disbelief and shock.  He just watched his flagship be completely wiped out in a matter of seconds.  By one person.  The Titan would not be swayed so easily, though, not even at the loss of his ship.  He released a snarl before pointing up at Rory and shouting at his warriors, “Fire at the Light Stone!”

Suddenly, every alien with a blaster took aim at the glowing white target in the sky, and Rory had to quickly maneuver to get out of the way.  The shots taken at Rory made the rest of the heroes remember themselves and jump back into the fight.  She was thankful the shots finally stopped, but they had already broken her concentration.  And her wobbly flight turned into a fall.  As she fell, her panic skyrocketed, and she tried to open a portal to save herself but was panicking too much to concentrate.

She landed faster than she expected as the ground below her disappeared behind a black, leathery surface, and it moved with her, adjusting as she fell, causing a softer landing.  A bit dazed and confused, Rory studied the black leather as it curled slightly around her to realize she was being held by two massive gloved hands.  A familiar voice asked from behind her, “Need a hand?”

Rory’s relief and joy could not be any bigger at that moment.  “Scott,” she cried happily as she turned around to look up at the GiAnt-Man, whose smile reached his eyes, which was all she could see thanks to his helmet, and offered him the biggest grin she could possess.  “You’re the best!  I owe you one.”

Somewhere out in the battlefield, Rory could hear Natasha and Clint ask someone simultaneously, “What do you want to do with this thing?”  Her gut knew exactly what “thing” they were talking about too, and she had an answer ready before anyone else could answer them.

“Get the Stones to me,” Rory ordered over the comm set.  This battle had been going on longer than she or probably anyone else wanted, and her dread of what she hoped to prevent was escalating.  “We have to end this, and the sooner the better!”

“We need to get the Stones far away from here,” she heard Steve in her ear. 

So apparently the S.H.I.E.L.D. assassins were asking Cap.  Nevertheless, she felt she had more say in the matter of the Infinity Stones, and she countered, “No, we need to use them to end this war!”

“We do that by killing Thanos,” he answered sternly.  “Cut the head, the whole system goes down.”

Not necessarily, Rory thought with a huff, but she relented.  “Then where do you suggest we take the Stones?”

“Somewhere Thanos couldn’t follow.”

This time Bruce could be heard over the comm, “Send them to the Quantum Realm!  He can’t follow there, and the Stones can’t cause trouble.”

“In case you didn’t notice,” Rory commented as she sent a beam of light through a horde of aliens, cutting through them and setting them ablaze, “our Quantum Tunnel is effectively kaput, and I need a lot of concentration to reverse Time to restore it.”

“Hold on!”  Scott spoke up this time.  “It’s not the only Quantum Tunnel we’ve got!” Scott grunted as blows could be heard from his end of the conversation, and then a few seconds later, somewhere out in the midst of the carnage, Rory heard “La Cucaracha” playing.  Her jaw dropped in amazement as Scott exclaimed, “Yes!  It’s still out there!”

“Anybody see an ugly, brown van out there?” Steve called out to the entire team.

After a moment, Valkyrie, from somewhere above them, answered, “I see it…but you’re not going to like where it’s parked.”

Tony asked from somewhere out in the battlefield, “Scott, how long do you need to get that thing running?”

“Give me ten minutes, and we’ll be ready for another Quantum trip.”

Rory supplied, “I’ll meet you there, and I’ll take the Stones to the Quantum Realm when the tunnel’s ready.”

But Steve answered for Scott, “Negative.  We still need you up here.  Ant-Man, Wasp?  Think you can handle watching over the Stones for a few moments?”

“Steve,” Rory began in a warning tone.

But she was interrupted, and Rory recognized Hope’s voice this time.  “We’re on it, Cap.”

Rory, though, wasn’t having it.  “Steve, not to pull rank or anything, but as an Infinity Stone, watching over them should be my responsibility.  No disrespect to Scott and Hope, because I certainly trust them, but I’m just saying–”

“I know what you’re saying, but we still need you up here.”

“But–”

Then it was Tony who spoke up this time, “Roar, Cap’s right.  We need you up here.  You’re in this fight for a reason, right?  If you trust Scott, then let him do his job.  You need to do yours.”

Rory growled in frustration but relented all the same as another horde of aliens rushed towards her, and she blinded them all and confused them to the point where they started attacking each other before she raced towards the van.  If she couldn’t watch over the Stones, she could at least protect Ant-Man and the Wasp as they worked on the van.

Meanwhile, a very tiny Scott and Hope entered Luis’ van then grew to normal size.  He moved to shove the key into the ignition…only to find the ignition was broken, and it would take too long to repair it.  He quickly dug around for the appropriate wires to hotwire the vehicle to life.  “Ignition’s busted.  I gotta hotwire this thing.”

Hope looked at him, a bit surprised.  “Wait, you know how to do that?”

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the question.  “I’m an electrical engineer; I grew up in Florida where a lot of crazy things happen; I went to prison; and I’m a superhero where, again, a lot of crazy things happen.  I know how to do a lot of things.”

Hope watched with impressed fascination as Scott spliced the wires, causing sparks to fly.  Once he got the engine running, he and Hope quickly got to work on the Quantum Tunnel, hotwiring it and fixing everything they could to bring this part of the van back to life.  Finally, they got to a point where Hope left the van to retrieve the Stones and Scott called out over the comms, “We’re almost there!  You gotta get that glove to us now!”

“And you better hurry,” Rory added as she fought alien after alien after alien after alien after fricking alien.  Where the hell were they all coming from?  It was like they just kept respawning.   “I don’t know how much longer I can keep them away!  Who’s got the glove??”

“Uhhhh I do,” Peter Parker called from another part of the battle, not too far away, “where am I supposed to take it?”

Natasha reached Peter first and said, “Here, kid, hand it to me.”

Peter’s eyes grew wide in fanboy awe as he handed the gauntlet over to her.  “Woooooah, it’s the Black Widow!”  Then they heard the screeching of an approaching alien horde, and he muttered, “How are you going to get through all of that?”

“Don’t worry,” Natasha replied with a challenging smirk as Wanda, Okoye, Gamora, Nebula, Valkyrie, Hope, and Shuri flanked her and stared down the aliens approaching them.  “I’ve got help.”  The group barreled towards the alien horde, mercilessly fighting them off and effortlessly playing keep away with the gauntlet like the entire Avenging team had been doing all battle long.

As they approached the van, Scott kicked the rear door of the van open, the Quantum Tunnel exposed, and shouted, “Thirty seconds!”

But the heroes were not the only ones who heard the announcement.  Thanos snapped his head towards the van and ran as fast as he could towards it.

As the Quantum Tunnel revved and hummed back to life, Hope was given the gauntlet, and she had an opening to fly right to the tunnel where she and Scott would travel to the Quantum Realm.  “Scott!  Here I come, get ready!”

“Ready and rarin’ to go!”

Rory kept violently shooing aliens away from the van, and she sensed the incoming danger more than saw it.  She quickly turned and was just in time to see and catch a spear that had been launched at the van.  She gasped and stared at what she caught, more surprised that she managed to do it than anything else.  

But no sooner did she stare in surprise, did a second spear zoom past her, and she watched in horror as it landed dead center on the van.  The van exploded, drowning out Rory’s frustrated, panicked cries, as Scott and Hope were launched from the explosion.  What was worse was the gauntlet was launched too, but on an entirely different trajectory than the heroes.

It landed right at Thanos’ feet.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” Aurora thundered as she propelled herself towards the Mad Titan, ready to end this once and for all.

“You blew up my best friend’s best friend’s van!”  The Light Stone’s shouted statement sounded absurd to Thanos, but it was just more fuel for her fire as she grabbed the gauntlet he wore.  A burning, searing pain racked up and down Thanos’ good arm, scorching him from within the gauntlet as the woman poured her fury into ripping it from his grasp, trying to repeat what happened in the Quantum Realm.  He didn’t know how much longer he could take it.  

In a desperate attempt to break Light’s hold, he pulled his arm in close, pulling her with it, and threw a punch directed at her forehead with his new, inorganic hand.  And he was met with an immovable force since the Light Stone quickly held up her left arm, glowing purple, to block his punch. She wore a fierce expression and eyes that laughed at him, and his reward for his efforts was nothing but a pounding pain from the prosthetic that traveled up his arm.

“I’ve seriously had enough of you,” Light growled at him as she jerked at the gauntlet again to double her efforts into taking it from him, and Thanos could feel his grip slipping.

This was not his destiny, to be outdone by these Avengers led by one supernatural accident.  Thanos was meant to cleanse and renew the universe, and this little light would not stop him.  At that moment, a breath of inspiration cleared his mind.  “That makes two of us.”  With his free hand, he grabbed the Power Stone from its place in the gauntlet.  The Light Stone’s eyes grew wide, and she managed to release a gasp before Thanos punched her with the Power Stone fueling his jab, launching her far away from him.  With a satisfied smile, Thanos felt confident the Light Stone wouldn’t get up from that very quickly. 

“I went forward in time to view alternate futures, to see the possible outcomes of the coming conflict.”

Stephen Strange looked up as a peculiar combination of sounds soared over his head.  It sounded like a welding torch, crashing ocean waves, and a wolf’s howl echoed above him as the strange symphony was accompanied by a bright white comet flying over the battlefield, lighting up the dark sky.  And his face grew tight with fear.  His physical eyes saw the comet, whom he now realized was his friend, be literally launched across the sky by Thanos’ efforts, but his mind’s eye saw something else entirely.  

“How many did you see?”

“Fourteen million six hundred and five.”

The vine of the future reality he once studied over fourteen million times two years ago with its millions of branches were being snipped and pruned with each choice made on the battlefield until the one branch to victory laid bare before him against the many thorns of defeat.  

It made Stephen release a shaky breath.  The moment he had searched millions of timelines and lived through millions of possibilities to even hope for a chance for this world to survive had come at long last.  All his planning, all his attempts to make sure everything worked according to this timeline, to follow this vine of reality, to make sure all other unnecessary branches were clipped away had come at last to one of the universe’s most defining moments.  In tandem with one of the most defining, defying moments of one man.  And that man caught Stephen’s eye with a questioning, almost defeated look of his own.  Stephen could practically hear his question.  We’re going to lose, aren’t we?

“How many did we win?”

Stephen’s eyes quickly shifted back to see where Rory landed, but he had lost her once he took his eyes off her.  Who knew if she’d make it back in time.  Rory could make it.  Stephen hoped so, but he knew the fate of the universe did not ultimately, solely rest in the Light Stone’s hands.  Stephen turned back to meet the gaze that still rested on him, and all Stephen knew he was allowed to do was to offer a grim expression and a singular gesture.  Though his hand trembled, Stephen held firm as he pointed his index finger to the sky hoping the message was clear.  

“...One.”

Tony Stark saw the Sorcerer’s message and received it loud and clear, and his look of defeat turned to resolve.  He knew what he had to do.

Chapter Text

“I am inevitable,” Thanos announced slowly and with a finality akin to death.  In his mind’s eye, he could see the universe he would rebuild.  Paradise.  At last, all his hard work would come to fruition, and he would rest in knowing there would be no more tragedies like Titan.  And there would be no more foolish, reckless Terrans, Avengers , unraveling all his good work.  No more of that walking Light Stone challenging his every move either.  Thanos snapped his fingers with a sense of pride and victory.  

And nothing happened.

The Titan blinked once, stunned as nothing but the single snap of the nanotech covering his fingers dulled in his ears.  He simultaneously turned his head to his hand and his palm away from him as he wondered what could possibly halt his will?  Surely the Light Stone couldn’t stop him when he had all the other Sto--.  

Thanos gaped at the empty crevices in the knuckles where the Stones once sat and felt his heart freeze in his chest.  What was this sensation turning his blood cold and imprisoning his breath in his lungs?  Shock?  Horror?  It had been so long since he last felt it.  If he didn’t have the Stones and the Light Stone was incapacitated, then who?  No, he knew who.  The question was how ?

Thanos turned towards Tony Stark, the Iron Man, kneeling on the ground with his right arm raised beside his face, the Infinity Stones resting on his gloved knuckles.  A burst of colorful power shook him causing him to tense up and fling his head back, but instead of crying out in pain, he merely released a groan and a sigh.  The Infinity Stones’ electricity crawled up his arm and neck, appearing as cosmic cracks on his skin.  

He dropped his head as he adjusted to the intense, fizzing electricity in his body, and as he lifted his eyes to Thanos, the Titan was floored by the look of utter defiance in the man’s eyes. But Stark would blink, and Thanos caught something else hiding behind the defiance, something he wasn’t sure he was supposed to see.  Acceptance?  For a brief moment, Thanos thought it was surrender, a peaceful surrender. 

Tony Stark looked up at the enemy and felt himself crossing a threshold that the entire universe seemed to stop and watch.  Stars held their breath, and the wind died down.  Even the symphonic carnage of the battlefield was beyond his hearing now.  The only thing he could hear was a song, an ancient and quiet song that was soothing and thunderous all at once.  A tear or two rolled down his cheeks as he glared challengingly at Thanos, and faces of loved ones crossed his mind slowly as he steeled himself for what was to come.  “ It’s alright ,” a whisper said just above the song buzzing in his brain, in his soul.  “ It’s going to be okay .”

“And I.”  Tony answered Thanos slowly, feeling the crackling energy in his body anxious to set everything right once more, and it took a lot of his own energy to remain upright.  “Am.”  If this was the end, if Tony was to die, then at least he knew he didn’t waste his life.  And he felt peace.  “Iron Man.”  

Tony barely registered a pushing pressure on the back of his right shoulder as he snapped his fingers, and the world turned white. 

Tony stared in stunned silence at the pile of ash seven feet away from him where his greatest nightmare once stood.  It’s over.  It actually really was over.  Thanos and his armies were gone for good; there were no casualties on his team’s side as far as he knew; and most surprising of all to him, he was still alive.  

With the way Rory spoke earlier and Bruce’s reaction to the Stones, he thought he would die for sure.  Once the Stones slipped into place on his gloved hand, Tony did feel a burning sensation in his arm that slowly spread.  After he felt the pressure on the back of his shoulder though, all pain ceased, sucked out of him like a vacuum.  

Tony released the breath he suddenly realized he held, and his body relaxed.  He had never felt more relieved in his life.  Tony wanted to dance and laugh and cry and kiss Pepper and hold Morgan and hug all his friends and take a really good nap and throw the biggest bash the world had ever seen all at once.  To say Tony Stark felt ecstatic and happy to be alive was an understatement.  And for once, it felt so good.  

Suddenly he was tackled in a hug by Peter Parker as the boy talked ninety to nothing.  “Mr. Stark, that was so awesome!  There were so many superheroes and aliens fighting, and there was so much going on all at once, and it was all so crazy, and a lot of stuff blew up, and I met so many cool people, and I’m so happy to be back.  And the bright, glowing lady knew my name before I could introduce myself, but I’m not sure why.  I feel like I should know her; should I know her?  Was that Aurora?  I think it was.  It looked like her and sounded like her, but I don’t ever remember her glowing like that.  I think it was her.  Either way, the glowing lady seemed cool, and a lot of people on our side seemed cool.  This was just the craziest day ever.  Mr. Stark, we won!  We did it, Mr. Stark!  You did it, Tony!  You did it.”

Tony returned the hug and kissed the boy’s cheek with fatherly affection.  “Yeah, kid, it’s over.  We did it.”

“Tony!”  Steve, Bruce, and Natasha ran up to him, anxiety evident on their faces.  “Are you alright?”

“Hey, Pete,” Tony said quietly, “let me go so I can stand up, huh?”  The teen complied, and they both stood as Tony answered, “Surprisingly, Cap, I’m feeling pretty good.  I hardly felt anything from that.”

“I don’t understand,” Bruce muttered, clearly perplexed, before adamantly shaking his head.  “I mean, don’t get me wrong, Tony.  I’m glad you’re alright.  Thrilled, honestly.  But I don’t get how you didn’t take on any damage.”

“Uh, no, I think I did,” Tony admitted.  “My arm stings like it’s been burned or electrocuted or something, but I gotta admit, I’m with you on this.  I don’t know how I’m even alive.”

“Thank God you are,” Pepper said behind him as she walked up to the group.  Tony turned to her, so relieved to see her alright that tears stung his eyes, and he kissed her and hugged her tightly.  “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you,” she whispered in his ear.

“My exact thoughts on you, Pep,” he whispered back before releasing her from the hug.

“You sure you’re alright, Tony?” Natasha asked. 

She was answered with his trademark smirk.  “Always.”

“Man, guys,” Scott said after he and the Wasp grew back to normal size, giving the impression they appeared out of nowhere.  He stretched and sighed contentedly as their helmets retracted and disappeared from view, “I don’t know about you all, but I think we did good.  We should call it a day, no, a week.  Take a vacation or something like that.”

“It’s not over yet,” Stephen Strange interrupted urgently as he joined the group, legitimately appearing out of nowhere.  “If we don’t hurry, we will have one fatality on our side.”  As other heroes moved closer to listen, Stephen turned to Tony and continued, “It may have been by your iron will you could easily snap your fingers, Tony, but it is not by your power you survived.”

“Meaning what?”

“Hey, Mr. Stark,” Peter suddenly interrupted.  His face was distorted with confusion as he pointed at Tony’s right arm.  “What’s peeking out of your armor?  I didn’t know that could happen with nanotech.”

Tony looked down and for the first time studied his armor.  There was little outer damage from the initial surge of power from the Stones, but he could see what the kid saw.  It made his chest tighten.  Bright, brilliant light poked out from different, tiny cracks in his armor, but it flickered as if growing weak.  “Oh God,” Tony breathed, “is that what I think it is?”  Tony remembered Rory’s words and quickly turned his hand over to find the Stones still in their places, but the gems were clear, completely void of the colorful energies with which they once shone.  

Tony let the nanotech that hugged the Infinity Stones relax so they could slip out of their spots in his gauntlet and drop onto the palm of his other hand.  As he rolled the clear gems between his fingers, he and the others who knew what the Stones were supposed to look like were baffled.  Eventually, a dread settled over them as well because Infinity Stones without their colorful energies could not be a good sign.

“The Stones are still here,” Scott stated with some optimism, hopeful that meant the living Infinity Stone was too.

“But they don’t look like the Stones we’ve been dealing with,” Natasha argued reluctantly.  “They look,” but she let her words trail off, unwilling to admit what everyone else thought.  

They looked dead.

Tony turned and marched up to Stephen, ready to throttle him.  For one thing, Strange sent Rory to the Avengers specifically for the purpose of helping restore the universe, probably knowing very well he was sending her to her potential death.  For another, even though Tony was grateful Rory saved his life, a part of him wanted to throttle her too for doing something so reckless.  It was hard for him to grasp the idea of someone willingly laying down their life for his own, to value him enough to take on the risk of death so he could live.  It was humbling, frightening, wonderful, and stressful all at once, and he wanted to simultaneously hug her and smack her over it.  

But since Rory was nowhere to be seen, Stephen would have to do.  “Tell me you didn’t send her to us just so she could die!  Is that the whole reason why you brought her to this universe in the first place?  To be thrown into a fight she wasn’t supposed to survive?”  

This wasn’t how it should be.  Tony didn’t want it to end up this way.  He was willing to die if that meant the universe would be restored for his family’s sake, for his daughter’s sake, but Rory’s sacrifice was too much for him.  Anyone else’s would have been too.  He didn’t know how to handle it.  It could not end this way.  “You better tell me she’s got a chance!”

“I promise you, Tony,” Stephen responded as calmly as he could, refusing to back away from Tony’s angry advances, “I did not initially bring her to this universe for this purpose.  I brought her here upon her request.  I didn’t even know what she was until I peered into the future timelines two years ago.  And yes, Rory still has a chance,” he added, “but we don’t have much time.  If we don’t find her and help her now, she won’t survive the day.”  He turned to the Wakandans, bowed slightly, and asked Shuri, “With your permission, I know our friend will have the best chance of survival with your help.”

“Yes,” Shuri replied with a firm head nod, “I will help your friend, but if it is severe as you say, we must get her to my lab as soon as possible.”

“Everyone spread out,” Steve ordered those standing within hearing range, and Scott ran off to look for Rory before Steve could finish.  “Find Rory --” 

“The glowing Avenger,” Tony interjected for the others’ benefit.

Peter’s eyes grew wide with concern as he turned to Tony.  “So that was Aurora!  Has she always been able to glow like that?  Is something wrong?  Is she going to be okay?”  

Tony shrugged and shook his head.  “I don’t know, kid.  I hope so.”

 “Find Rory,” Steve tried again, “and bring her back here quickly.”

“Bring her to me,” Stephen added as others turned to go search before turning to Shuri.  “I can get us to Wakanda immediately once she gets to us.”

Chapter Text

There were ten things Rory knew for sure.  

Number one:  the phenomenon of time seeming to speed up and slow down was more real here in this universe than in other universes, like where she was born, because it literally could speed up or slow down here.  If the Time Stone wasn’t enough proof of that concept for her, then the first five seconds after Tony’s snap should have sufficed.  After Tony snapped his fingers, time slowed almost to a stop like it was stuck in molasses, making the world freeze in its tracks except for two people:  Tony and Rory, the only ones involved with this snap.  

Number two:  Tony’s five seconds consisted of his eyes glazing over as he was mentally, spiritually transported to the Soul Stone’s realm.  It’s the same place Thanos went to after he snapped his fingers.  Bruce went there too.  Once the five seconds ended, they came back, and Tony would too.  What Thanos and Bruce saw there in their respective five seconds, Rory had no idea, and she was not privy to what Tony would see.  It wasn’t her place to know because while she was technically involved with the snap, Rory didn’t snap her fingers. 

Number three:  “Greater love has no one than this:  to lay one’s life for one’s friends.”  After Thanos took the Power Stone and punched Rory with the force of a comet, sending her flying like a shooting star, the battlefield was left behind her as she crashed into the unmerciful earth.  Dazed, gasping for the breath that was knocked out of her, and groaning in pain from the hard landing, she slowly, hesitantly moved, mentally demanding she get back on her feet.  She had to get back.  How could she let Thanos win after they had come so close?  

Begrudgingly rolling onto her stomach, she took a few quick breaths, as if buying herself a few seconds of time to gather her strength before jumping back into the fray.  She was about to push herself up when a surge of energy from the Stones sent warning pulses through her body, and a gasp escaped her lips.  She knew what that meant; she had felt it before.  The Stones had changed hands.  Literally.

Rory’s heart jumped to her throat, practically choking her as she snapped her head up to look back to the battlefield.  Thanos had lost the Stones, much to her relief, but when she saw who was on his knees with his back to her and bearing their weight, Rory’s heart sank to her shoes just as fast as it just jumped as she remembered the latest exchange on that mystical cliffside.  Tony .  Panic froze the breath in her lungs, and uncertainty stilled her movements too long for comfort.  But in that moment of stillness, an idea ignited, and once she realized what she was going to attempt, she followed through with it in full force.  

As fast as her powers of light would allow, an illuminated Rory launched off the ground and zoomed towards Tony, desperately reaching out her right arm to him just as he snapped his fingers.  Rory knew deep in her gut that there was no way she could save Tony from all the damage, but that didn’t stop her from hoping beyond hope she could at least save his life.  If he took the consequences of the snap alone, he would die, and she couldn’t bear the thought.  Tony may have been willing to lay down his life for others, but he wasn’t the only one.  There were only milliseconds between Rory touching Tony’s shoulder and him snapping his fingers.  But it was enough.  

Number four:  energy is neither created nor destroyed; it is transformed or transferred.  When Rory touched Tony’s shoulder, she released a large wave of luminous power into his arm, providing much needed insulation between his arm and the Stones’ power, as well as blocking that power from going any further into his body.  She learned from trying to help Bruce, and she couldn’t shake the images of Tony snapping his fingers and the impact from the Stones exploding up his arm and all throughout his body, burning and tearing his internal organs to shreds and ultimately ending his life.  She couldn’t let that happen, but as she well knew, energy isn’t created or destroyed.  

And she also knew just how consequential this particular transfer could be.

When the energy couldn’t go any further into Tony’s body, it took the only outlet available to it:  the one Rory provided.  Like siphoning venom from a wound, the energy of the Infinity Stones drained out of Tony’s shoulder directly in and up Rory’s right arm to the rest of her body, ripping through her like a chain reaction of TNT.  Rory had never felt heat like that before.  Heck, she’d never felt anything like that before.  She almost expected death instantaneously simply from the sheer force of what electricity coursed through her, yet, miraculously, it didn’t come.  

In that moment, Rory felt everything and nothing all at once.

Number five:  shock can provide an ample dose of adrenaline and endorphins, but it doesn’t last long.  Poor Rory’s brain was temporarily yet completely numb to the damage she had endured, and for a reason she was too numb and exhausted to fathom, she felt like she needed to move, as if walking it off was all it would take to ease her symptoms.  If only it was that simple.  

The slowed five second time frame was still in play, and Rory hobbled past frozen friends and enemies alike, wondering whose face would be the last one she saw.  After all, the shock would wear off in no time, and though death hadn’t taken her yet, she had a feeling once the shock wore off, she’d know just how close behind it would be. 

Number six:  the Avengers won.  They actually won, and Rory couldn’t be more relieved about it.  If she died, then at least she would knowing everything was set right at last.  

The five seconds finally ended, and the world resumed at normal speed.  While Bruce’s snap brought the Ashen back, Tony’s snap brought the very same fate Thanos sentenced the world two years prior on him and his armies with beautiful irony.  Alien beings and monsters and ships, everything, disappeared into ashes just like everyone else did two years ago.  

And how fitting, she thought, it was for Tony to be the one to do it.  He who had been haunted by Thanos since Loki’s attack in New York, who had a vision of the world falling to pieces around him because of a threat he couldn’t truly perceive, who had tried so damn hard to keep everyone he loved and this world, this vulnerable blue one, safe.  Rory thought she couldn’t have planned it better herself even if she had tried.  

Rory managed to stop and turn towards Thanos, catching her labored breath and watching as he looked on in stunned silence at his empire turning to ash around him.  Sensing her gaze on him, Thanos turned to her and gave one of his own.  It was a strange sensation to see Thanos’ face fall as the finality of the situation settled on him.  She had warned him that he would regret his plan, and in that moment she couldn’t help but mutter, even though he more than likely couldn’t hear her, “Checkmate.”  

He looked around one last time as he sat down, a look of ultimate defeat on his face and in his movements.  Thanos the Mad Titan bowed his head for the very last time and died, ashes in the wind.  The war was over.  It was the most satisfying thing to watch. 

Number seven:  she was dying.  The shock had worn off too quickly, and the pain overwhelmed Rory with a vengeance.  Everything smothered her with unbearable heat.  The suit clung to her, and she imagined the material melting against her skin.  It was hot enough, she wouldn’t be surprised if it really was.  A fever, unmerciful and indifferent to her predicament, spread from her shoulder, across her torso, and down her right leg, consuming her from the inside out.  Rory couldn’t feel her right arm; it just uselessly hung by her side, charred and bloody.  

Rory suspected the hearing in her right ear was completely shot since any sounds coming from that side were very muffled and quiet, if she could hear them at all.  Her breathing, haggard and rapid, made her chest ache.  Jabbing sensations stung with the exertion of every breath, something that used to be so effortless.  Rory sounded like a fish out of water to her own ears, harsh and painful.  Her right leg now radiated with horrible heat, and the muscles tensed, spasmed, and struggled to support her weight, never mind walk.  Exhausted, in great pain, and afraid, Rory collapsed ungracefully against some rubble on the battlefield. 

Number eight:  Rory knew what she didn’t know.  When she explained to the other Avengers what would happen if she snapped her fingers and used the Stones herself, she told them the truth.  But what she didn’t know was if the consequences would be instantaneous or not.  But she craved the affirmation that the results should have been instantaneous.  Because if that was the case, then she was right in believing, in hoping, she discovered a loophole in how she saved Tony.  

Rory technically didn’t snap her fingers.  Rory technically didn’t use the Stones for her own purposes, but she took on the results of the snap as if she did.  The question that now beat against her weary mind was if the loophole was valid or not.  Either way, Rory figured her chances of survival were slim, and her predicament was grim all the same.  

Number nine:  Rory couldn’t help but recall her nine-year-old self upset with the idea that her favorite heroes sometimes couldn’t have happy endings.  She adored her heroes for taking center stage when all hope seemed lost and saving the day, but knowing that some of them, if not all of them, had to give up something dear to them to let that happen was a hard pill for her to swallow.  

With child-like simplicity, nine-year-old Rory promised to save them if she could so they could have their happy endings, a childish promise made with intense sincerity.  Years later, Rory, grown and aware not everything was so cut and dry, never thought she’d ever have a chance to fulfill such a promise, never mind what she would have to give up to do that.  But even now as she laid in a collapsed and broken heap on the ground, fighting for every breath, Rory knew she would sacrifice it all again for them if she could. 

Number ten:  Tony deserved to have a full night’s sleep without nightmares haunting him. He deserved to marry Pepper and raise his daughter and any other children they’re blessed with.  He deserved to be happy.  He deserved to live .  So did the rest of the Avengers, her little family of hodgepodge heroes.   Rory pictured herself hugging each one and telling them things she wished she could say before...before she had to say goodbye.  

Rory sighed then coughed before trying to catch her breath.  Even the very air scraped and burned her throat and lungs, like she swallowed spicy sandpaper.  There was a lot she wished she had the nerve to say face to face.  The video she left behind would have to do instead.  But at least she did her job well, and they all could have their happy ending.  That was enough for her.  She just wished she wasn’t alone, and she chastised herself for roaming around like she did after the snap.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of her own light flickering weakly, and she was thankful her last ditch effort to be found was actually working.  With a silent prayer, she let her beacon, faint but still visible, peer out through the dust and ash of war as it settled around her.   Hopefully, it would be enough, because, surprisingly, it wasn’t dying that scared her.  

It was dying alone.

Chapter Text

Scott hunted frantically for Rory though he tried to be methodical in his search, debating whether he’d have better luck as normal size or giant size.  The faster she was found the better.  He really didn’t want to think about losing her, not now that the fight was over and they had won.  If she didn’t survive, he’d count this as a loss.  And he didn’t want to lose.  

Deciding to forego giant size, he maneuvered among the debris, calling for her as he did so.  “Rory!  Rory!  Where are you!”  This was bad.  She could be anywhere among the rubble and carnage of the fight, and with those Space powers of hers, she might not even be there at all.  She could literally be anywhere.  Please be alive.  Please be alive .  

“Rory!  Ror—”  Barely within his peripheral vision, Scott could have sworn he saw light flickering, and his head quickly snapped in the direction he thought he saw it, eyes scanning anxiously.  He paused, holding his breath, as he waited to see if he’d see it again, desperately hoping he would.  “Oh please please please please please,” he whispered rapidly.  Sure enough, a white light flickered like a weak distress signal nearby against a large piece of what was once the Avengers compound.  

Scott bolted with a prayer on his lips as he weaved around the mess to get to the flickering, fading light.  “Oh God,” he muttered in distress when he saw Rory collapsed on the ground as if lifeless.  “Nononononono,” he pleaded as he picked up the pace, and when Scott reached her, he quickly dropped to his knees in front of her.  “Hey, Rory, hey,” Scott said, trying to get a response from her, as he helped her sit up and lean against the rubble.  “Come on.  Come on, please.”  He held her face in his hands as gingerly as he could while he spoke to her, hoping, begging, for any kind of response.  

Rory was barely breathing, and her breaths were really short and jagged.  The light she gave off stopped flickering and faded, but it remained in her half-closed eyes.  He couldn’t tell if she was focusing on anything or staring off to a place he couldn’t see; he guessed the latter, especially since her face held a blank expression which was surprising to him.  Her right arm was scorched and charred black, and the stench of burning flesh and melting suit was gross but bearable.  The burns had traveled up the right side of her neck, passed her ear and up to her hairline, and Scott noticed they had traveled down her side and right leg too, smoldering her suit as well.  

“Oh man,” Scott breathed before turning his attention back to her eyes.  “Come on, Rory,” he insisted.  “Come on, give me something here.  Please!”  

Rory’s eyes grew wide suddenly as she gasped before coughing brutally, scaring Scott in the process, and her left arm habitually covered her mouth when she started coughing before protectively wrapping itself over her stomach.  Her eyes clamped shut in pain as she tried to catch her breath, and he spoke softly to her, stroking wild strands of hair that escaped from her braid away from her face as he waited for her to calm down.  “Hey, hey, it’s okay.  It’s okay.”

She blinked a few times, and the white light disappeared completely, revealing hazel eyes trying hard to focus.  Finally, recognition hit, and a weak but genuine smile slowly spread across her face.  “Sssscott,” she struggled to mutter, making her speech sound more like a breath.  

“Oh, thank God,” he uttered in relief.  “I was so worried when we saw the Infinity Stones weren’t glowing anymore that you--”  He swallowed the rest of the sentence before it could pass through his lips.  Instead, he nodded confidently, assuredly and said, “You’re gonna be okay.”

Rory’s eyes grew a smidge wider, and she let her head tilt to the side slightly.  “N-not glow-ing?”

“No time to explain that right now.  You’re gonna be okay, alright?  I gotta get you back to the others.”  Scott shot a glance to her right leg.  “Can you walk?”

Rory gave a small, very tired shrug.  “Du-dunno.  Think so,” she breathed.  “Ev-ev’rything hu-hurts.  Ca-can’t feel my ar-arm.”

“Hurts to breathe too?”

Her responding nod was slow and weak, and his heart felt like the life was being squeezed out of it when he saw tears slide down her cheeks.  “Bad.”

“Okay, okay,” Scott said slowly, more to help him calm down and think than to actually answer her.  “Okay,” he said again as he dropped his hands and moved to Rory’s left side.  “No problem.  I’ll help you.  Wrap your good arm around my shoulders,” he instructed.  As she did, he slid his right arm around her waist and helped her stand as best - and as gently - as he could, heart jumping to his throat as she gasped and winced at the action.  “Sorry,” he whispered. 

“S’okay,” she managed to whisper back. 

They slowly started walking towards where Scott left the others as he pleaded, trying to keep worry from seeping into his voice, “Just stay with me, okay?”  Her involuntary tremors made him tighten his hold, keeping her steady as best as possible.

To her credit, Rory managed to nod as she wobbled beside him and answered weakly, “‘K.”

When they got closer, Scott shouted ahead, “Guys, I’ve got her!”  Rory flinched, not prepared for his sudden shouts, and Scott winced at her response.  “Sorry,” he mumbled, “I should’ve warned you.  I’m sorry.  Heads up:  I’m gonna yell again.”  Then he shouted to those up ahead, “Guys!  I found her!  Over here!  Hurry please!”

Once Doctor Strange, Tony, and the young woman Strange spoke to earlier caught up with the pair, a lot happened all at once, and it was hard for Scott to keep track.  After one quick glance at Rory, who was leaning against Scott for support and breathing hard through gritted teeth, the doctor and the woman rapidly spoke with each other, throwing medical jargon around that Scott didn’t really know.  Then, after Tony recovered from the initial shock of seeing Rory so burnt and wounded, he started throwing more jargon around with them as Doctor Strange opened a portal and with a sweeping gesture sent the five of them through the portal.

Scott had no idea where he ended up, but the battleground was completely gone and some kind of lab took its place.  He looked around, absolutely fascinated by his new surroundings, and he couldn’t help but ask aloud, “Where are we?” 

“Wa-kanda,” Rory answered.

“Wakanda?  Neat.”  He had no idea how significant this place was, but it looked important.  “Where’s that?”

“Africa.”

“Holy shit,” Scott muttered in awe.  “That sling ring thing is pretty legit.”

“I - I should - teach you - some time.”

The trio got to work quickly, turning things on, clearing space, and setting everything up for what looked like surgery.   Scott moved towards a nearby table and helped Rory lay on it, heart breaking every time she sucked in a labored breath from the movement.  When he had her settled, she closed her pain-filled eyes, and tears slid down the sides of her face.  Scott sat beside the table on Rory’s left side and wiped the tears away.  “You’re still with me, right?”

She tried to chuckle, but it sounded like more coughing.  “Think so,” came the strained reply as she opened her eyes and tilted her head in his direction.

“Good.  I need you to keep it that way, please, okay?  We’re gonna fix you up in no time.  You’ll see.”  Scott’s whole body shook slowly, and now it was his turn having a hard time focusing.  He had gotten better at being able to stay giant-size for longer periods of time.  Today was a record in size and time length, but he knew the effects would catch up with him eventually.  Scott hated those effects couldn’t wait five more minutes. 

Rory seemed to notice him trembling, and even in her state, her weak voice expressed concern.  “Y’okay?”

“Me?”  He shrugged and scoffed before offering a carefree smirk.  “Oh yeah, I’ll be fine.  Just - jus’ got too big for too long s’all.”  Uh oh .  His words started to slur; he knew that was another sign of the effects.  Scott tried to make himself more composed as he added with a forced chuckle and more enunciation, “Just give me some orange slices, and I’ll be good to go.  Don’t worry about me.  It’s you we gotta take care of.”

She tried to match his smile and managed to offer the barest hint of one.  “That’s - that’s alotta - work.”

“Hey, you’re gonna be fine,” Scott told her, trying to assure them both.  He took her hand in his and gave it a comforting squeeze.  “It’s going to be okay.”

“Y’sure?”

“I’m totally sure.”  

Rory’s smile was small but genuine, and it helped him believe she would be okay.  She had to be.  How terrible was the thought of finding one of those people you click with, one of those people you were destined to know, only to lose her no sooner than finding her.  He couldn’t bear it, and he knew he wasn’t the only one.  

She tilted her head a bit at the sudden look of fear and anxiety on his face as he suddenly found his thoughts spiraling a bit.  “Scott,” she called quietly, effectively pulling him away from his sad, scary thoughts.  “It’s - gonna be - okay.”

He wanted to ask.  He ached to ask it, and before he could stop himself, he blurted out, “You promise you’re going to be okay?”

She hesitated, and his heart sank a bit.  He knew she wasn’t one to give out promises so carelessly.  He shouldn’t be surprised she didn’t answer.  It wasn’t actually a fair question.  Finally, she said, “No…but I pr-promise you’re gonna be o-okay.”

Rory flinched in pain and sighed sorrowfully, and before Scott could say or do anything else, with what last strength she had, she squeezed his hand before removing hers from his grasp.  Then she managed to sit up enough to wrap her left arm around his neck to hug him tightly.  As an instinctive reaction, Scott wrapped his arms around her, simultaneously hugging and supporting her as he asked, “What are you -”

“I - I gotta say - somethin’.”  The exertion caused her to breathe harder, but she forced herself to speak anyway as if afraid she’d never get the words out.  “You’re the - the best, ya kn-know?  D-don’t ever for-forget it.”  She let herself take a breath before she finished with, “I’m r-really lucky to have you - in my-my life, my m-most favorite hero and - and one of my - my favorite people e-ever.”  

Scott was stunned, ecstatic but stunned, and when his brain begged him to say the very sentiments back to her, to say anything at all, words failed him.  All he could do was tighten his hold around her and hold her as close to him as he could.  

But then suddenly Rory’s breaths grew sharp, harsh, and quick, too quick as if she couldn’t keep up.  Remembering Doctor Strange’s words about what little time she had left, Scott suddenly panicked, thinking they were running out of time, if not too late.  “Rory?”  

“Lang!”  Doctor Strange demanded, “Let her lie down.  Now!”

Rory’s tight grip gave out, and she collapsed in Scott’s arms.  He moved as Doctor Strange ordered and asked frantically, “What’s going on?”

“Her lung has collapsed,” the woman answered quickly. 

“One of the many problems we’ll have to take care of,” the doctor added. 

Scott watched helplessly as Rory gasped for air and grabbed his hand like a lifeline for a moment, both their panic swelling, before he turned to the others and demanded, “Do something!”

“Princess Shuri and I are,” Doctor Strange said firmly as the woman, Shuri, moved to Rory and began working on her, forcing Scott to move away.  

Under Doctor Strange’s direction, the Cloak helped him corral Tony and Scott towards one side of the lab.  Tony asked with a strained voice, “What can we do?”

“Yeah, anything,” Scott agreed quickly, “anything to help her, we’ll do it.”

“Good,” the doctor said as he gave them both a stern but sympathetic look.  “If I were you, Tony, I’d start looking into what you can do with prosthetics.”  He turned to Scott and continued, “You’re an electrical engineer, right?”  Scott only offered a nod as an answer.  “Maybe you both can start brainstorming some ideas, because if she survives, she will need what you can come up with.  Perhaps you and a Dr. Cho?  I believe that’s the name.  Perhaps you can combine your efforts with her to devise a plan, but you can’t do that here right now.”  

As the men began to protest, Doctor Strange held his hands up and continued, “Having you both stay in here right now will do no good.  We’ll keep you updated as best as we can, but for now we have most important work to do.  I’m sorry.”  At that, he magically shoved both protesters through a portal he instantaneously opened behind them and left them sitting on their backsides on the battlefield with the rest of the Avengers nearby, staring helplessly at where the portal closed. 

Scott didn’t know what to do.  He didn’t know what to think.  He sure as heck didn’t want to be there, and he silently called Strange a sonofabitch for sending him away.  So many things were running through his mind, and they all scared him.  He tried not to think about the negative possible ways this could play out, but for once he was having a hard time staying positive, especially considering how bad a shape Rory was in when they were forced to leave.  

Please, Rory, don’t you dare die . 

Scott was vaguely aware of hearing a quiet, mystical noise, like a whispered lullaby on the wind, but he just ignored it.  He couldn’t, however, ignore the sudden weight he now felt in his right hand as if someone slipped an object into it.  His hands were certainly empty a few seconds ago, right?  They were when he was pushed through the portal; that’s for sure.  

Confused, Scott looked down at what he now held, and once the red mists of Reality cleared to reveal the gift, confusion gave way to clarity.  His heart simultaneously swelled and deflated, and he couldn’t fight the sudden onslaught of tears that blurred his vision and the sobs that choked him up.  

In his hand was an orange. 

Chapter Text

It was weird to go back to San Francisco without a home to go to.  It wasn’t the first time this happened; Scott was definitely homeless for a short time after being released from prison, and while these circumstances were overall better, it still felt weird.  After Scott was numbered as one of the Ashen two years ago and since Luis actually was one of the Ashen, the house they lived in had been cleared, and everything in Scott’s name sat in one of the numerous storage units in the city.  Those storage units were built after the Decimation to store everything left behind by the Ashen.  The units were built by the city as a big gesture of hope that someday, somehow those who were lost would be brought back, and many other cities in the nation took part in the same gesture.

Scott was not only thankful for that gesture but also for the fact nobody demolished the units after two years of that hope being unanswered.  Before he left for the Avengers’ compound, he didn’t bother with the majority of the stuff inside his unit but just grabbed some essentials like clothes and things he knew he needed.  Other than that, he left everything else alone.  Now he still didn’t see the need to do anything with his belongings.  He had nowhere to put them anyway, and he was too tired to care about them.  Exhausted, drained, and worried sick, Scott just wanted to sleep.

He broke two records during that epic battle:  his size and the time he spent as a giant, and they both really took a toll on him.  That on top of his worry and dread, he barely had enough energy to function.  Since he was homeless now, Hope led him to Cassie, Maggie, and Jim’s house and left him in their care, extracting the promise from him that if he needed anything, he would let her know.  “I really think she’ll be okay, Scott,” she assured quietly but confidently.  “She’s in good hands.  You’ll hear from her in no time.”

Scott didn’t answer but simply mustered up a small smile and nodded.  He felt awful and so in need of nourishment and sleep that he felt physically sick.  At this point, the orange Rory gave him was the only thing that kept him from passing out so far, but he needed more essentials.  Definitely sleep first.  Food second.  

He remembered Maggie hugging him and then asking him if he was okay and informing him with great concern that he looked like hell, but he didn’t remember his reply or if he replied at all.  He remembered Hope telling Maggie something, but he was too consumed by Cassie’s warm hug and the relief in her tone as she welcomed him back to notice what Hope said.  “I’m glad Rory kept her promise,” Cassie whispered, and he swallowed the lump in his throat.  The last thing he really remembered before his exhaustion overtook him was him asking for the nearest place to crash and wondering aloud what he would do if Rory didn’t survive.

Over three days later, Scott very slowly awoke, groggy and wondering how long he’d been asleep.  “God, what year is it,” he groaned in sleepy confusion.  He kept his eyes closed as his sense of feeling and sense of self came back to him.  Scott’s brain was still too drowsy to remember exactly what happened, but he figured he must have gone giant again.  Nothing else had proven to make him feel like this after sleep.  His stomach growled loudly like something was pounding against his insides demanding to be fed sustenance, and he moaned, debating upon just rolling over and going back to sleep instead.

He registered the quiet creak of a door being opened before hearing a soft voice.  “Daddy?”

That made Scott slowly open his eyes and tilt his head towards where the voice came from to see Cassie’s head poking into the room.  As he did so, the quick glance around reminded Scott he was at the Paxton residence, more specifically in their guest bedroom.  Then every other memory was revived after that.  He offered her a small, sleepy smile.  “Hey, Peanut,” he greeted quietly.  “You can come in if you want.”  

He slowly curled up more, careful not to disturb the warmth and comfort he already had under the blankets, as Cassie slipped into the room and laid on the bed beside him.  “How are you feeling?  Are you okay?”

Scott hummed as he closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath.  “Growing really big is always rough, but I’m okay.”

Cassie nodded but remained quiet for a moment before asking carefully, “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?  You were really sad before you fell asleep.  You’re sad right now.  Sad and scared.”  

Scott opened his eyes halfway and lazily raised an eyebrow.  “Did you get a new superpower in the past two years?”

Cassie smiled softly and shook her head then shrugged.  “Well, not exactly.  Mom says I’m an empath like her.  Sometimes we can feel other people’s emotions and stuff, especially when they’re strong.”  Then she added quietly, “Like yours.”  

“Oh yeah, I forgot your mom can do that.  It’s crazy how spot on she can be sometimes.  You can do that too?”

She nodded and said, “I’m doing it right now.”

She wasn’t wrong.  Sleep did not remove the emotions from him nor make them less heavy as they were before.  Scott was tired enough he didn’t dream, and he was thankful for that.  The way he was feeling, he knew any dreams he would’ve had would not have been pleasant.  He disturbed his warmth and comfort enough to rub his hands over his face a few times before returning to his initial position.  “You’re right, Peanut,” he admitted.  “I am sad.  And scared.  And really tired.  But I’ll be okay in the long run.  Hey, has anyone tried to get a hold of me while I was asleep?”

“Tony Stark’s left a lot of messages for you on Jim’s phone.”  She scooted closer to her dad and curled up more before asking gently, “What happened to Rory?  Are you sad and scared for her?”

Scott sighed before answering, “She got hurt.  She got hurt really bad, Peanut, and I just hope she’ll be okay.”

“Oh.  Are you afraid she won’t make it?”  He didn’t reply.  He just curled up more under the blankets as his chest tightened with the fear of that possibility.  Even if he wanted to reply, the lump in his throat made it hard to speak anyway.  Cassie must have sensed his fear growing, and she scooted even closer to him to comfort him.  “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

Cassie was close enough now that he pulled his arm out from under the blankets and hugged her tightly to him, and she returned the hug.  He couldn’t bear to speak anymore about the possibility of Rory dying, so instead he asked, “Do you know what those messages Tony sent said?”

Cassie shook her head.  “No, I don’t.  Sorry.  Jim doesn’t even know how he got his number.”

Scott couldn’t help but chuckle.  “He’s a certified genius.  Could probably do that in his sleep.”

“Dad,” she asked after a moment, “why are you here?”

“I don’t have a place to live right now.”

“No, I mean why aren’t you with Rory?”

“I wanted to see you.  And Hope thought it would be good for me to be here with you guys and get some rest and stuff.”  She didn’t reply to that, so he added, “And Rory’s got a lot of people helping her and looking after her.  There’s nothing I can really do for her right now anyway.”

Cassie remained quiet for a moment longer before suggesting, “I think you should be there with her.”

“I should be with you ,” he insisted.  “I’ve been away from you too long.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Daddy.  You brought Mom back, and I’ve got her and Jim here.  And I know you made it and that you’re okay and that you’ll come back soon.  So I’ll be okay.  But I think Rory needs you, and,” she added quietly, “I think you need her too.”

Five days had passed since the weary and worn out Doctor Strange and Shuri emerged from surgery and announced with relief that Rory would live.  Ever since then, she had slept in a dormant state, partially induced by some of Doctor Strange’s healing magic.  “It’s not quite a coma,” Stephen had explained to the Avengers waiting anxiously in the Wakandan duplex, “but a deep enough sleep to help her recover faster from the exertion and trauma.  Give it a few days, and she’ll wake up on her own.  Trust me,” he added as he read the cynical faces of the group, “it definitely won’t be another two years.”

After the battle while everyone was waiting on news about their fallen friend, the possibility of her dying filled the air with a quiet dread, and it especially fueled a fear and pain in two of them in particular.  Scott had gone back to San Francisco to check on his loved ones and recover from his time as GiAnt-Man, then after four days of being gone, Scott called Tony to see if Doctor Strange would be so kind as to portal him to Wakanda to be with them while they waited.  Doctor Strange was so kind to do so, one of the many gestures that made Scott feel ashamed for ever mentally calling the man a sonofabitch in moments of frustration.

Meanwhile, Tony spent his time pacing the floor like a caged tiger, fidgety and restless and exhausted, with a paradoxical hodgepodge of emotions slamming all around his insides like bumper cars.  Gratitude.  Guilt.  Relief.  Anxiety.  Joy.  Sadness.  They won.  How much did they lose?

One of the more tragic things about war is, after it’s over, there are those who still feel like they were in the midst of it, like it was their new state of being.  For a war that was as peculiar as the Infinity War, the battles from 2018, the two-year period of endlessly trying and failing to repair the desolation, the Quantum Heist, and the Battle for Earth left the Avengers in a miserable state.  The war was over, and they had won.  But they didn’t feel like they won.  Some of them poured so much time and energy searching for a way to reverse the Decimation.  Some poured so much time and energy into attempts to move on and figure out what they could do for the present moment and solve the problems the Decimation’s aftermath had created.  A few tried to do all of the above all at once.  

But ultimately, they all spent so much of themselves trying to understand and cope with a tragedy so beyond common moral decency, none of them could barely remember how to live before the Decimation.  Oh, they remember what life was like before the Decimation, but they didn’t quite know how to leave the horrors of Thanos behind and live.  They didn’t even know if they could.  There were too many internal wounds they didn’t know how to heal.

On the sixth morning after the Battle for Earth, Tony, Natasha, and Steve, each unable to rest, found themselves wandering out of their respective rooms simultaneously and ended up going to the kitchen to make coffee before the first morning rays began to reveal themselves.  Since Tony claimed he knew how to brew better than any other Avenger, he took it upon himself to make the coffee.  His companions were too weary to put up a fight but not too tired to joke with him about it.  

“You sure do know how to make a really rich blend, Tony,” Natasha muttered with a playful smirk.

“And make it strong, too,” Steve suggested with a smirk to match Natasha’s.  “You know, pack an iron punch.”

“You guys are blowing my mind with your coffee jokes,” Tony commented in a deadpan manner.  “I’d laugh, but ya know, I’ve heard these jokes more than once in my Avenging career.”

“I’m just hoping this coffee maker works as well as the one we had at the compound,” Steve continued, ignoring Tony’s remark.  “My favorite thing about it was how it had the same paint job as your suit.”

“You and I saw two very different coffee makers.”

“What mark was it, Tony?”  Natasha asked, fighting the slight upturn of the corner of her lips.  “Mark XII?”

“Just Mark I thank you very much,” Tony answered with an eye roll as he inspected the Wakandan coffee maker.  “Turns out I got that one right the first time.  Plus, it’s not so much the machine, it’s the person working it, and let’s face it.  I’ve got the magic touch.  Oh come on, guys,” he added when he got good-natured snickers in response, “who kept asking me to make the coffee?”

Steve and Natasha shared a glance before turning back to him and answering simultaneously, “Rory!”

“No!  The correct answer is ‘literally everybody.’  But thanks for playing.”

“Okay,” Steve countered, “but out of all of us, who asked you the most to make the coffee?”

“Good ol’ Rory,” Natasha answered for Tony.

“Who partook in the drinking of my coffee though?”

“Oh, definitely everybody,” Steve answered, “because you make good coffee.”

“And that’s the tea,” Natasha quietly added.

The trio laughed for a moment longer before the sounds died out, and the cloud that had settled on them in the past few days swelled again and dampened their moods.  Natasha sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter before admitting, “I don’t know about you boys, but that was the first time I haven’t felt miserable in a while.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed with a strain in his voice.  “I can’t really figure out why we’ve all been miserable though.”  He shrugged as he poured the coffee grounds into the machine.  “I mean, we won.  Thanos and his armies are gone; we brought everyone back; and we all managed to survive.”

Steve began looking in the cabinets for three mugs, restless despite feeling exhausted.  “So you think she’ll wake up?”

Tony sighed, fighting the urge yet again to run hi s hand over his own burn scars.  Rory did save his life, but the short time he held the Stones alone was enough to cover his right arm with burns resembling lightning webbing over his skin.  His arm still hurt, and his skin felt tight, dry, and itchy as it tried to heal.  Tony was thankful for the balm one of Wakandans gave him.  He thought the term ‘miracle drug’ was dumb, but the stuff from Wakanda really did work some wonders.

He turned from the coffee maker and faced Steve and Natasha as he answered the question.  “Yeah, I do.  Rory’s tougher than most of us thought, including herself I think.  Don’t get me wrong.  Am I worried to death about her?  Absolutely.  Like she was my own kid sister.  Who knows what kind of state she’ll be in when she wakes up because of all this trauma and the pressure that was put on her and the sacrifice she made.  I can imagine the PTSD and anxiety that could arise from that.  Trust me, I’ve got a pretty good idea.”

Natasha and Steve shared a knowing look before letting their eyes drop.  “Yeah,” Steve said quietly, “we know.”

“We know very well.”

“You know, Tony,” Steve said after a silent moment, “as far as families go, I don’t think the Avengers have been the best one as far as support and unity go.”

“Oh well, you know,” Tony said quickly as he turned his back to them and focused on the coffee maker, “dysfunctional superhero dynamics and all that, coming from separate lives and backgrounds and trying to build something off that can be tough, especially since our job description specifically says something about fighting.”

“It doesn’t say anything about each other,” Steve interjected.

“Yeah, but don’t families do that too?”

“Not like how we do it,” Natasha commented.

“The point is,” Steve stated, “the Avengers were supposed to be something more for the world, but they were supposed to be something more for each of us too.  And I think in trying to be more for the world, we overlooked what we needed to be for each other.”

Tony shot Steve a questioning glance.  “What exactly is this?”

“It’s an apology, a long overdue apology.  As long as we’ve been in Wakanda, I’ve been thinking about this.”  Steve paused then amended with a sigh, “Actually, I’ve been thinking about this a lot for the past few years, how I’ve butted heads with you and made a mess of a lot of things without meaning to.  Buck always said I was stubborn,” Steve said with a soft chuckle.  “Then Rory comes in suddenly and, for lack of better wording, sheds some light upon our dysfunctional superhero dynamics as you put it, and I realize how a part of that lies on me.  I haven’t been the best friend nor the best brother to you, Tony, and to the rest of the team, and I’m sorry.  You were right about a lot of things, and I didn’t listen.  We split the team apart, and I wasn’t there for you when I said I would be.  And I’m sorry, Tony.”

Tony studied him quietly for a moment, then turned to Natasha to see if he could gauge a reaction from her.  Her features softened, and a small, genuine smile tugged at the corner of her lips.  This was no lie.  This was a real apology.

And then Tony found himself needing to say one of his own.  “I’m…I’m sorry too.  This whole thing is a two-way street, right?  I played some part in all of that too, and I’m sorry I didn’t do better when I could.  I’m not going to apologize for losing my cool and blowing up on you and Barnes in Siberia.  Yet.  Who knows?  Maybe someday, I’ll get to that point, but I am sorry that it all went down like it did.  I just –”

“No, Tony, don’t.  You don’t have to explain,” Steve told him.  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth.”

“I would like to think that I would have understood, that I would come to terms with it all better, and that I would have been able to see Barnes was a victim.  I would like to think I would have helped somehow.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t give you the chance.”

“Yeah well,” Tony sighed and shrugged.  “Water under the bridge, I guess.  I’m still not happy about that part, but I am willing to work past that to get on better terms, for our friendship and the Avengers.”

Steve nodded.  “As am I, Tony.  We’ll do this right from now on.  Communicate better.”

“Build trust again.”

Natasha piped up, completely serious, “I recommend couples therapy.”  The pair looked at her, and she simply said, “Neither of you are above therapy.”

“I actually think we all need a group therapy session,” Tony told her.  “Who else could use it more than the Avengers?  Especially after the hell we’ve all been through?  Let’s put that as top priority.  Group therapy session for the Avengers and then maybe break out into smaller group sessions or one-on-one or–”

“Couples,” Natasha said again.

“That particular therapist will need to be compensated pretty well for helping Captain America and Iron Man deal with some long-seated issues,” Tony commented.

Steve shrugged and asked, “Think we could find one who can do that?”

“I…maybe?  I guess it’s worth looking into.  Then maybe, who knows, we could actually be real friends?”

Steve smiled and nodded.  “I like the sound of that.”

Natasha let out a soft sigh of relief.  “It’s about damn time.”

Chapter Text

In another part of the complex, unseen to human eyes, an iridescent being projected itself from Rory’s sleeping body, sat on the edge of the bed, stretched, and yawned.  The glowing, semi-transparent, celestial-like being bore a striking resemblance to the Light Stone’s old form, but this one’s features were more defined, more human.  Rory’s essence was the same shining white-hot light she had become known for, but now there were traces of the six vibrant colors of the other Infinity Stones flowing through her like blood in her veins creating a majestic sight to behold.  

After she stretched and yawned, she sat still for a moment as memories of the battle and what she had done came flooding back, sending a shiver down her back, her essence shimmering with the movement.  Her eyes caught sight of the shimmers, and she looked down at herself for the first time and released a small, silent gasp of wonder.  She slowly lifted her hands up in front of her face, taking the time to study them as she turned them over more than once, mesmerized by what she saw.  There was no way this stunning light was her.  Was it real?  Or was she still dreaming?

She turned around and gaped in surprise to see herself lying on the bed.  This was just as surreal as when the Light Stone took on Rory’s own form to speak with her before the final battle, and it was just as crazy.  Rory took stock of her physical self lying there and felt a strong emotion, either self compassion, self pity, or something in between, at what she saw.  

She looked like hell.  Her suit had been stripped from her, and she now wore a black tunic that went down to her knees.  Burns, cuts, and bruises covered her body, especially her right side, and bandages covered and protected as many of the ailments as possible.  Her right leg was bandaged from hip to ankle, and she could smell the strong scent of the salve used to combat the burns.  She gasped and moved to the right side of the bed, eyes never leaving the spot on her arm two inches below her shoulder.  Because that’s where her arm ended.  

Rory absentmindedly wrapped her arms around herself at the sight of her bandaged, amputated limb and released a shaky breath.  That was something she was going to have to get used to.  Maybe she could get an arm similar to Bucky’s?  Hopefully not all metal though, she thought as her glance rocked between what was left of her physical right arm and her celestial arm.  Beggars couldn’t be choosers though.  Maybe Tony or Scott could do something for her.  Or both of them working together.  That would be neat.  

Something shifted in her peripheral vision, and Rory looked up from her physical form to find, lo and behold, one of the subjects of her thoughts curled up in some kind of fancy Wakandan recliner that he had pulled right up to her bed, looking exhausted despite being asleep.  The sight tugged at her heartstrings.

A small smile spread across her face, and her celestial features turned soft at seeing Scott as she moved around the bed towards his chair.  Unaware if she could be seen or felt in this state, she curiously yet warily reached a hand out and gently stroked his hair.  His hair made no movement despite her actions, yet she could feel it as her fingers combed through it.  

“Strange phenomenon,” she couldn’t help but mutter.  “Oh, Scott,” she said quietly, “you look as tired as I feel.  I’m so sorry about all this.  How long have you been here?  You didn’t have to stay for me.”  She sighed.  “I wish I knew what was going on.  Why am I suddenly out of my body?  I don’t think I’m dead.  All those monitors say I’m not.  I’ve never learned how to do the astral projection thing Stephen knows how to do.  So why am I separate from my body?”

Rory froze when she saw Scott’s bloodshot eyes slowly, lazily flutter open.  Her heart ached on his behalf.  He looked half asleep and probably felt half dead as he slowly sat up, completely unaware he was being watched.  Scott turned to Rory’s physical form, smiled sadly, and started talking to her.  “Hey, Rory.  Still asleep, huh?  Boy, Doc’s sleeping magic must pack a punch for you to still be asleep.  It’s been - what - five days since that fight?”  He checked the time on the clock on the wall.  “Yeah, this will be day s-six,” he confirmed as his voice cracked slightly.  

Rory’s jaw dropped at the news.  Five days since that battle?  Stephen magically put her to sleep?  Why?  Is that why she’s like this now?  To tell him to wake her up?  She rolled her eyes at herself.  Stop being stupid, Callahan.  Nevertheless, she wondered if Stephen could see her like this.  Scott clearly couldn’t.  What did all this mean?

“It’s way too early for me to be awake,” Scott continued as he rubbed his eyes and yawned, “even after having a couple of days to adjust to Wakanda’s time zone.”  He shrugged and sighed.  “To be fair though, I really haven’t slept much since I got here.  I’ve hardly done anything since I’ve been here.  I wanna explore this place cause it looks awesome, but I wanna -”  He paused as his shoulders drooped some.  “I thought maybe you’d wanna explore too, so I was waiting before I did anything like that.”

“I’ve worked and talked with Tony though; that’s been good.  We’ve been trying to come up with something for you for your arm and stuff, and we’ve got some options to talk about with you.  Tony also brought in this doctor - what’s her name again?  Heather Cho?  No,” he shook his head,” that’s not right. Uhhhh, Helen!  Yeah, Helen Cho; that’s it.  Anyway, she and, uhh, Shuri are working on rebuilding something called the Cradle.  I could go into detail about it, but something tells me you probably already know what that is.  But anyway, we can only do so much without your input, ya know.  Technically, we could go ahead and do it all, but we want you to have a say.  I mean, it’s gonna be your arm.”  He looked at her sadly as he took her still hand in his.  “But you gotta wake up first, Rory.  Please wake up.” 

“Scott honey,” Rory said as she reached out for him, not even certain or caring if he couldn’t register her presence like this.  “You need to get out of this room for a little while.  Talk to someone who can talk back to you, and let me work on waking up.  Come on,” she prodded gently as she tugged at his shirt.  It was so strange how she could feel the material yet see no visible sign of her interaction with it.  An idea crossed her mind, and she hesitated to try it.  It felt like a breach on her part, but she knew it was the best if not the only option she had.  

She gently pressed two fingers against his temple, and her forehead glowed sunshine yellow with Mind’s power.  She whispered the suggestion to make it Scott’s own thought.  “Maybe I should get out of this room for a bit.  Stretch my legs and stuff.  Just for a few minutes.  Then I can come back.”

A faint yellow thread of energy slithered and crackled down from her mind, through her arm, into Scott’s mind, and settled there.  As she dropped her fingers from his head, the yellow thought disappeared from her view, and Scott slowly nodded as he agreed to the thought.  “Yeah, maybe.”  He sighed as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and told her sleeping form, “I’ll be back soon, okay?”

“Okay,” Rory answered gently with a small smile even though he couldn’t see or hear her.  “Come on, honey.  Let’s stretch your legs.”

They made their way through the corridor until they found a room with a long table either for conferences or dinners, and the walls were windows, exposing a gorgeous jungle landscape with the first traces of dawn slowly pouring over the horizon.  Scott sat down in one of the chairs facing the world outside the windows, slouched, and rested his chin on his crossed arms which he placed on the table.  “Pretty,” he muttered to himself.  “Maybe Rory’d like to see this.”

Rory smiled at him, touched by him thinking of her this way, and pressed her fingers to his temple again before whispering, “Maybe she’d let me show her sometime after she wakes up.”

He sighed.  “Gotta wake up first.”

“She will,” she assured him.  “Doc said so, and since he’s an actual doctor too, he should know.”

“He better,” Scott grunted.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted and surprised them.  “Scott,” Steve greeted sympathetically, “what are you doing up?”  Scott and Rory looked to the right and found Steve, Tony, and Natasha walking into the room, each with a coffee cup in hand.

“You look like you should hibernate for a month,” Tony mumbled in agreement as he handed his mug to Natasha before walking back into the kitchen to get the poor guy a cup of coffee too.

“I’m fine,” the poor guy in question muttered unconvincingly as he sat up and leaned back in his chair.

“Scott,” Natasha said gently as she sat down across from him, “you haven’t been fine since you got here.  She’s going to be okay.”

“You sure?”

“I’m convinced of it,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“So am I,” Steve said with a firm nod as he sat beside Scott.  “It’s just like Tony told us in there, she’s tougher than even she probably thought she was.  She’ll wake up.”

“Yeah, but what about after?  That’s gonna be rough too.  She lost an arm for one thing; they’re not sure if she’s gonna have a limp or not in her right leg; there’s a concern about her hearing and her vision; and let’s not forget any mental stuff from all of that.  I mean, she was willing to die for us.”  Then he added quietly as he crossed his arms and partially dropped his head in sadness, “She almost did.”

“I hate how really depressing this is gonna sound, but I think…” Tony said pensively as he walked back into the room and offered Scott the mug of coffee, which he accepted.  “Lots of creamer and sugar, right?”

“Yup.”  Scott takes a sip and nods.  “Perfect.  Thanks, Tony.”

“You’re welcome, buddy,” Tony replied as he patted his friend’s shoulder before continuing.  “Anyway, I think there was a point after we all discovered what Rory was that she started believing she was going to die.  I don’t know what brought it on or what made her think of it, but Rory actually thought she wasn’t supposed to survive all this.”

Rory sucked in a breath and stiffened.  Tony found the video.  How else would he come to such a conclusion?  He wasn’t supposed to find the video unless she really did die, but leave it to Tony to find it.  He must have an override for F.R.I.D.A.Y. that surpassed everything else, even the security protection she asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to put on the video.

“That’s an interesting development,” Natasha said quietly as she mulled over Tony’s theory while handing back to him his cup of coffee.  “What makes you think that?”

Tony sat at the head of the table and took a quick sip of his coffee before he answered the question,  “The most damning piece of evidence is the video I found tucked away pretty deep in F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s memory banks.  It was made shortly before we pulled off the heist, and it was something I wasn’t supposed to find unless Rory actually did die.  She put restraints on the video and everything.  Pretty clever honestly, and I had to use my biggest override code I’ve got just to access it.  Override You Know Who I Am.  Works with everything as long as it’s my voice.”

“Of course, you’d have a code like that,” Rory muttered as she smacked her palm against her forehead.

“Anyway, Tony,” Natasha said with a slight eye roll as Steve nodded and Scott commented how funny his override code was.  “The video?”

“I didn’t watch it except for the first five or six minutes just to know what it was.  Guys,” Tony said sadly, “it was a last goodbye.  It took a couple minutes for her to actually start the goodbye because she just couldn’t get herself going, as if starting her speech would be her admitting what she was afraid of.”

“My God,” Steve mumbled as he leaned back and crossed his arms.  He knew any one of them would also have been willing to lay down his or her life for others, but to spend days suspecting, expecting to die for others, and wondering if an encounter with someone would be one’s last, would weigh so heavily on anyone’s mind.  To leave a goodbye behind too… “What happened to the video?”

“I deleted it,” Tony stated with a shrug.  “She’s alive, and she’s gonna wake up.  There’s no need for that goodbye, and I didn’t have the heart to watch it all.  If there’s anything she wants to tell us, she’s gonna have to tell us face to face now.”

Rory heaved a great sigh of relief.  She’s going to have to remember to thank Tony later.  “I owe you one, Tony.”  

To her surprise, at the sound of his name, Tony shifted his gaze quickly and stared right at her, a confused look on his face.  After a few seconds of the staring contest between Tony and Rory, he blinked and looked away, appearing unsure as if wondering if he saw a ghost.  “Can you see me, Tony?”  He didn’t make any other movement to indicate he heard her nor did he look at her again, but she saw a flicker of white light in him.  “Of course,” she breathed.  “My protection from earlier is still in him.  That must be how he heard me, but I guess it’s not strong enough for him to fully see and hear me.”

The conversation shifted then, and it shifted to what Rory didn’t want to hear.  “We won,” Natasha commented softly, “so why doesn’t it feel like we won?”

Tony sighed and shrugged.  “Eh well, when you’ve been doing the dance for so long to the point where it becomes all you can focus on, it’s hard to separate yourself from it.”

“So how do we move past that?”  Natasha looked at Steve and asked, “You were in those group sessions.  Any suggestions?”

“For once,” Steve sighed, “no, I don’t have any.  I feel the same way though.  Like I’m in limbo between the need to fight and do my part or rest.  There’s nothing to fight right now, thank goodness, but I don’t know how to tell myself that.  But as we all know, war does things to you. We’ve been heavily affected.”

“Not just us,” Scott commented quietly. 

Tony nodded.  “He’s right.  The world too.  Universe, really.  We changed the universe.  I’m hoping for the better since we brought our loved ones back, but we’re all in the same boat.  We’ve been heavily affected, and we have to somehow move forward.  What we could use is a jumpstart in the right direction.”

They were all quiet for a moment before Scott softly asked, “So how do we give the universe a jumpstart to healing?”

“You can’t,” Rory answered though no one could hear as a crazy idea bloomed in her mind.  It was one of those ‘crazy enough it just might work’ kind of ideas, but it was better than doing nothing right now.  “But maybe I can.”  

Before the final battle, Rory had hoped to be done with this place; she had seen enough of it to last for her lifetime.  But a part of her had accepted the fact this mystical cliffside was connected to her in ways she could not overlook.  After all, it was the birthplace of the Infinity Stones at the beginning of this world’s time, and in a way, it was her own birthplace as the living Infinity Stone.  They were connected, this place and her, almost as much as the Light Stone was tethered to her soul.  However, she was willing to give up all of it to access a power greater than any power she had ever held in her own hands.  For the sake of her friends’ - and the rest of the universe’s - healing and true freedom from this war at last.

After witnessing the conversation over coffee, it was clear to her the effects of this war still had a tight grip on her friends, some more than others, and it upset her.  Rory had gone too far and went through too much to know the Avengers, and who knows how much of the rest of this universe, were still plagued and couldn’t heal yet.  Couldn’t move on yet.  That didn’t mean there wasn’t anything she could do to help them move on.  At least, that’s what she hoped.

Rory stood in the center circle of the ancient space and watched as the circumference of her circle glowed softly, and then the six other circles along the edge began to glow their respective colors.  She sighed quietly as she turned her eyes upward at the stars for a moment as if calming herself enough to focus on the task at hand before bowing her head slightly and closing her eyes.  She inhaled and exhaled deeply and slowly, and as she did so, she felt her power bloom and burst like a supernova, electrifying the air.  The six other Infinity Stone powers flowed through her, feeling more energetic than before as if stronger somehow.  Much stronger.  Maybe it was just by being in this special place, but her wield over the other Infinity Stone powers never felt more easy and powerful.

That’s a good sign, she thought with some relief.  Deep in her gut she suspected it was going to take every ounce of power she could muster to pull this off.  

Growing up, she was taught that love, in its truest and purest form, was the most potent force in the universe.  Nothing could match it, never mind top it.  It’s wild and fierce and gentle and tender.  It’s enduring, unconditional, and everlasting.  Rory couldn’t help but think there was no Love Infinity Stone because it just could not be contained and wielded in such a way.  

Since love is the most dynamic, most good, force in the universe, then Rory saw no reason why it couldn’t heal her friends and the rest of the universe, and free them from the last remnants of the Decimation, the war, and the resulting destruction.  But since the impact was so widespread, Rory had no way to determine how much love could heal the universe.  A little?  A lot?  There was no way for her to quantify that.  So she decided it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Go big or go home,” she told herself with a dismissive shrug when she first thought of the plan.  Her plan called for a lot of love simply because she didn’t know how much she actually would need.  Thankfully, she was aware of a very large, untapped source of love specifically directed to this universe.  She was a part of that source for most of her life.  Still was.  Where she came from, billions of people had fallen in love with such a universe, adoring and supporting its characters with some fierceness.  It’s exactly what Rory needed to make this work.  Syphon that love from that universe into this one, give the fans a chance to make a difference for these heroes and the universe they love so much, and let this universe heal. 

It wouldn’t hurt anyone, of course.  She was tired of people getting hurt.  The fans would feel a sense of relief like pent up energies finally finding a catalyst for release.  Their feelings would still remain with them.  Rory wouldn’t dare strip those feelings from them; she wouldn’t want that at all if she were in their shoes.  Those feelings would simply be shared with everyone in this universe, and everyone here would receive the benefits of knowing they’re loved.  Perhaps then they could move on.  It was bold; it was kind of crazy.  And it just might work.

It would take all of the Stones, including herself, to make this work.  The Mind Stone would determine what she wanted to happen.  The Power Stone would instigate it.  Time would make it work all at once.  The Soul Stone would find every being with love for this universe.  Space would find them all at once.  Reality would be the siphoner, and Light would spread the love to everyone in this universe. 

But it would come at a cost.

This wasn’t exactly the same thing as snapping her fingers, but all the Stones would be used at once.  Wouldn’t that count as the supposed abuse of her powers she had warned the others about?  Did it matter?  She closed her eyes and sighed as her head dropped at the thought.  If the cost for this was what she thought it was, she wished she could have more time.  But she was willing to die for the Avengers and this universe more than once already, and if she was to die now for them, then this last act of love was the way to go.

Rory took a deep breath and let her powers flow and burn full force within her, the glow of them surpassing the stars above her head.  Besides her iridescent white, the six other colors of the Infinity Stones glowed in the respective places on her body, and she began the process of opening a large portal to siphon the love from one universe to another.  She looked straight up and extended her hands above her, ready to receive, as the portal opened above her.  She didn’t have to wait long for her to see something cascade down upon her.  

It had no color.  Well, at first glance, it had no color, but then once it hit her, the only description she could think of to describe it was fireworks.  Even then, it wasn’t completely accurate. It was so much more than she could comprehend.  It was bright and powerful and loud, warm and soothing like a balm, fierce and sharp as a weapon.  It tingled and filled her bones with electricity.  It covered her and shielded her like a blanket yet stripped her and exposed her in the deepest way.  She’d never felt this much joy and pain all at once, and it stole her breath and brought tears to her eyes.  

Thousands of voices flooded her ears all at once, making it difficult to grasp everything she could hear, but she didn’t have to hear every word clearly to know what was being said.  Statements of awe and excitement over a favorite hero.  Statements in defense of favorites against haters, and discussions over who was better.  Statements expressing how much these people mean to their fans.  Flashes of art and snippets of fiction consumed her vision, millions of them, one right after the other, blurring by so quickly she couldn’t make out any details of them, but she knew what they were.  Tributes.  Labors of love and support for people who meant the world to them.

She wasn’t sure, but she thought she could hear her own voice and see her own meager artwork and fictional words in the mix of all the millions of others.  And why not?  She too celebrated and defended her favorites like everyone else did.  But after living with them and working with them and becoming friends with them, her love for these friends of hers had deepened significantly, and she could feel her feelings for them flow and combine with the feelings of the others.

Rory’s eyes burned with tears, overwhelmed by such a powerful emotion in such a large quantity.  She couldn’t hold anymore, but the flood kept rushing through the portal and crashing on top of her.  She finally collapsed to the ground, slamming her palms against the stone surface beneath her, and a great wave of light exploded from her and rippled out into the universe with intense speed and strength, and the love energy surfed the wave, effectively reaching every corner of the universe.

The only thing Rory was not aware of in that moment was the results of her efforts.  Every being experienced her efforts but in their own ways. 

She didn’t know Natasha collapsed in the nearest chair, curled up, and smiled warmly, feeling safe and happy and understood so completely that it was the most comfortable she’d ever felt in her life.  

She didn’t know Stephen closed his eyes and tilted his face upward like he was basking in sunlight, feeling at peace and secure for the first time in ages.  

She didn’t know Bruce could do nothing but sit in dumbfounded, speechless awe.  Having some fans was one thing, but feeling something like this was another.  

She didn’t know Nebula stiffened and froze at first, unfamiliar with the sensation especially in such an overwhelming amount, but despite herself, Nebula actually smiled.  

She didn’t know Scott couldn’t keep all the joy and energy bubbling inside him contained, and it sprung forth in pure and happy laughter, like nothing in the world could be wrong.  Like every bad thing he’s ever endured in his life never occurred.  

She didn’t know Tony was so overcome with such feelings of love, understanding, and acceptance that he collapsed against the wall in his room, sunk to the floor, and sobbed.  But these were good tears, the release of years of pent-up worries, questions, betrayals, and failures that have eaten away at him for far too long, and at last he felt free.

This act of love shall not end in a sacrifice of life.  In exchange, the Stones will be returned to spare the soul.  

Was that a voice or a thought?  Rory didn’t know and was too dazed to comprehend any of it, but no sooner were the words formed did she feel something siphoned out of her this time, pulled out from her upper back as she remained on her hands and knees, recovering from being overwhelmed with emotion.  For a moment, she thought her life was being drained away, but in a matter of seconds it was over.  

And Rory remained.  

Something felt different within her.  She felt lighter somehow, but she was too worn out to care about how or why.  That was a mystery for another time.

For now she slowly adjusted her position so she could sit and pull her knees close to her chest.  She felt drained but content and hopeful she was successful in her task.  As the portal above her closed, Rory looked up to find droplets of the essence trickling down, and as they landed on her forehead, she couldn’t help but squeak in surprise.  This was certainly unexpected.  

The love she siphoned was not for her, and she knew it.  As far as everyone in that universe was concerned, she didn’t exist here.  She was a nobody, yet the last remnants of her work that fell upon her were solely just for her.  Mom.  Dad.  Brother.  Other family members.  Friends.  She felt their love for her in that moment, and she serenely smiled at the sensation.  Maybe she wasn’t quite the nobody she thought she was after all.

Just in front of her, out over the ocean’s horizon, the sky began to turn shades.  A warmth flooded the sky, and Rory stared in awe at it.  Dawn.  It felt like it had been so long since she’d seen the sun in this place.  What a comforting and hopeful sight.  Rory sighed heavily yet peacefully as she watched the sun rise over a grateful universe.

Chapter Text

Rory knew she was waking up, truly waking up, because she could feel pain.  Lots of pain.  She felt disoriented and exhausted.  But alive.  The thought managed to produce the tiniest of smiles.  It actually worked.  She did it.  They did it.  The Infinity War was over.  

She ever so slowly opened her eyes to let her vision adjust.  But it never did.  She blinked a few times before realizing she was without her contacts somehow.  Someone removed them for her?  That was peculiar.  On a hunch, she closed her left eye, and the normal blur she was used to seeing without her contacts was far more distorted than before.  She could tell there were things in the room, but not like how she could distinguish before.  At least my vision’s not completely destroyed , she thought.

Rory sighed and tried to sit up, but it hurt too much.  It took her almost five minutes of fumbling with the bed to figure out how to raise it so she could sit up.  She squinted her eyes to better focus her vision and could discern some glasses and a note on the table beside the bed.  Knowing the glasses weren’t hers, since hers were destroyed with everything else in the compound, she picked up the note first and brought it five inches away from her nose so she could read it properly.  Enchanted glasses to adjust to your eyesight.  Should have given you these years ago - SS. 

“Aaw, Stephen,” she said softly as she reached over and grabbed the glasses.  “I owe you big .”  She slipped them into place, blinked a few times, then sighed in relief.  They worked like a charm, even with her damaged right eye. 

She turned her attention to the chair beside the bed to find it empty. No surprise there since she made sure Scott went to find people to talk to, but now that she was awake, she wanted him there.  After calling out his name to see if he was nearby, her throat hurt like it was scratchy and hoarse, and she rubbed her throat soothingly before cautiously letting her hand slide to the right and feel the burns on her skin.  They were coarse, and the flesh underneath was still tender to the touch.  And the presence of heat had remained, but it felt more like embers now, slowly dying out.  

She exhaled a deep, heavy sigh as her eyes trailed down her right side to look at the damage.   Everything looked the same as when she had that strange out of body experience which meant she looked terrible.  But I’m alive , she mentally told herself.  I survived, and that’s more than I could have asked for .

It took an embarrassingly long time for her to get out of the room, but once she had a crutch in hand to help her progress, she was out the door exploring the area and looking for any familiar faces.  She knew they were around there somewhere anyway.  The building so far was surprisingly bare of people, which seemed out of character for Wakanda.  After hobbling down a maze of hallways, she finally came up to a spot where voices could be heard, and she grinned.  

She got to the entrance of the room and quietly observed those who were there.  Tony, Rhodey, Bruce, Natasha, and Steve were sitting in a lounge area talking amongst themselves.  Or at least that was at first glance.  Tony was pacing the floor while Rhodey tried and failed to get him to sit down.  Nat and Steve sat beside each other with their arms crossed, and Bruce was nursing his bad arm.  Then Rory actually listened to what they were saying and realized they were talking about her, and a weird sense of déjà vu took over.  This wasn’t the first time she had woken up to Avengers talking about her, and she refrained from snorting at the situation.

“Tony, please, sit down,” Rhodey prodded.  “Come on, man, sit down.”

“This is the sixth day she’s still unconscious,” Tony announced as if the others didn’t know that as he continued to pace.  “Strange said she would sleep a while, but this is a little ridiculous.”

“Last we checked, her vitals are steady and growing stronger all the time, Tony,” Bruce informed him.  “She’ll be fine.  Strange said any time now his spell should wear off.”

“And he’s 100% positive she’ll wake up when it does?  I mean, c’mon, we’re talking quite a bit of physical trauma here.  What if the damage extended to something they couldn’t see or something they didn’t think to check?”

“Strange and the princess were very thorough,” Natasha replied.  “You said so yourself.”

“And Wakandan technology is phenomenal,” Bruce added.  “It would have picked up anything they might have missed.  She’s going to be fine, Tony.”

Steve commented gently, “We just got done calming Scott down earlier today, and you seemed alright then.  What’s got you shaken up now?”

“Maybe the coffee’s kicked in,” Rhodey suggested.

Rory had a hunch what the issue really was, and if she was right, she suspected that if she had died Tony would have been hit with survivor’s guilt rather hard.  He was willing to die to save the universe, but Rory wasn’t willing to let him.  She was more willing to take his place instead, and she suspected such knowledge, such an act, would be hard to accept if it ended badly.  

She could read it all in the brief second Tony’s fear and sadness overtook his facial features before he hid it away behind a mask.  “Can’t I be worried for my kid sister?”

Rory decided it was time she finally revealed herself.  “Aaww, big brother,” she said quietly, hoarsely with a soft, tired smile, turning all heads her way, “that’s really sweet of you, but you look like you need to sleep for about as long as I have.”  Her grin grew wider when she was greeted with a chorus of cheers, well wishes, and exclamations of what are you doing out of bed .  

Tony, almost on the verge of tears and silent because of the lump in his throat, pushed past everyone else and hugged her as carefully as he could.  Rory dropped the crutch, and returned the hug, wrapping her arm around Tony’s neck.

Tony carried the clear gems in his cupped hands as he searched the vast Wakandan building that still housed the Avengers for Rory.  She wasn’t in her room, even though she was supposed to stay there, and he wanted answers.  He was ready for answers, and even though it had barely been a few days since Rory woke up, he didn’t think he could wait any longer to find out what happened to the Infinity Stones.  They had wreaked havoc on the universe, and this new mystery about them scared him.  It freaked him out to even be carrying the gems, and the burns on his right arm tingled which only freaked him out further.  

While Stephen Strange was in surgery with Rory, Tony fretted over what to do with the Infinity Stones.  Even though it seemed no life resided in them any longer, he certainly didn’t want to keep them in case by some miracle they would start glowing with power again.  But the only one he trusted with them was fighting for her life.  The next person he trusted with them was helping her fight for her life.  

The only thing he could really think of as a temporary fix was to see if T’Challa had a vibranium vault in which the Stones could be kept.  Once those things were locked away and finally out of Tony’s sight and mind, he couldn’t help but feel a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, drifting his focus from the inanimate Infinity Stones to the only living, breathing Infinity Stone.  But that relief did not last long, and doubt and anxious curiosity crept back into his mind.

Tony had to know what happened to the Infinity Stones.  And maybe why Rory felt compelled to save him.  He figured the others would want to hear an explanation about the Infinity Stones too, but he wasn’t going to take the time to find them first.  He would fill them in later, but he had grown impatient waiting.

He ran into Doctor Strange while on his search for Rory, and the sorcerer raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of what was in Tony’s hands.  “What are you doing, Tony?”

The question sounded a little more accusing than inquisitive to Tony, whether it was meant to be or not, and since he was already on edge carrying the damn things, Strange’s tone did not help matters.  “Getting answers,” he snapped.  “It’s not just me who wants to know.  You want to know what happened to them too.”

“I do,” Stephen agreed as he walked beside Tony.  His tone softened when he added, “But that’s not the only question you seek answers for.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Why are you going to ask a question to which you already know the answer?”

Tony stopped in his tracks and huffed through his nose.  “Maybe because I don’t actually know the answer,” he snapped.  “Maybe because I have a guess, a hope, of what she would say and need confirmation of it for myself because maybe I don’t believe the reason to be true.  Because I’ve always had a hard time believing something like that to be true.  What?  Is that so wrong?”

Instead of answering, Stephen offered a soft, sad look.  “Would you believe her anyway if she told you what you hope she will say?”

Would he?  Tony wasn’t sure if he would fully believe Rory if she told him she saved him because his life was worth saving.  He wants to believe it, and since Rory went through great lengths to save his life more than once, maybe he thought there was truth to it.  Maybe everyone else who told him the same really was telling the truth.  Like Yinsen …

Granted if that was the reason she gave him.  

Stumped and taken aback, Tony refused to answer but instead resumed walking and asked, unable to keep some bite out of his tone, “Can you tell me something useful like where she is, or will I just get cryptic answers?  Since that’s what you're so good at.  Maybe you should go by Doctor Cryptic instead.”

“Tony,” Stephen called as he used his long stride to quickly catch up and then block Tony’s way.

“Get out of my way, Strange,” Tony growled, and when the Cloak wrapped its lower half around Stephen’s chest as if to say Try me , he added, “Please.”

“Tony,” Stephen tried again, “I know you’re angry with me over everything that took place, but I only did what I had to do to set everything right.”

“Look, you helped save Rory which I’m thankful for, but everything else really doesn’t sit well with me.”

“There was no other way,” Stephen insisted sadly.  “I really did see only one scenario for us winning, and I did everything I could to make sure we stayed on that path.”

“And there was absolutely nothing that could have been changed?  Like half the universe disappearing for two years?  Or Scott being stuck in the Quantum Realm and being away from his daughter for two years?  Or me being away from Pepper and my baby girl for two years?  Or everything Rory went through? Any of that couldn’t have been changed?”

“No.”  Stephen’s answer was sad but firm.  “All of those things had to come to pass, I’m afraid.”

The words slipped out before Tony could stop them.  “That’s not fair.”

“You’re right,” Stephen replied quietly, head dropping ever so slightly.  “It’s not fair.  It’s not fair that things had to occur this way, but you’ve got to understand.  This was the very best scenario we could achieve, Tony.  Things could be worse in so many ways; you can’t even imagine.”

Tony snapped, “Like how?”

“Like you could be dead.”  The response was quiet but confident, knowing , leaving no room for Tony to wonder the validity of the statement.  “Like you would never see your daughter grow up or never spend another quiet moment with Pepper.  Like you could be stripped away from all of your loved ones, and they could be stripped from you.  Or far, far worse outcomes.  You seem to forget I lived through 14,000,605 potential timelines and determined their outcomes to see which ones could lead us to victory, and do you remember how many out of over fourteen million I said we would win?”

Tony’s anger and bitterness faded some as he answered, “One.”

Stephen nodded.  “One.”  He solemnly continued, “If there was any way those things you mentioned could be better and we still win, I would have pushed us towards that path, but I only had one path to push us towards.  We are living in the aftermath of the best case scenario, Tony.”

“And your crypticness?”

“Like I told you on the battlefield, if at any point I told you what would happen, it would not have happened.  My crypticness, as you put it, was absolutely necessary.”

“And it really is over, right?  He’s not coming back; we don’t have to worry about him or any backlash from this fight, right?”

“Thanos is not coming back.  We do not have to worry about him any longer.  As far as backlash, that remains to be seen, but it would be difficult to see how there will be any, what with his entire army wiped out as well.  Anyone who felt strong loyalties to him is gone with him.”

Tony sighed heavily in relief, fully taking the sorcerer at his word.  “Okay.  Okay, good, yeah.  I can live with that.  Now, there’s just one big question left.”  He looked down at the gems in his hands and muttered, “Where are they?”

“Only one person knows.”

“Then we better find her.”

“Is she not in her room?”

Tony snorted, gave Strange a look that said please , and shook his head.  “Despite being so exhausted as she heals, she’s apparently gotten bored enough to try to wander around and explore, despite everyone’s attempts to tell her not to.  But I guarantee wherever she is, Scott’s not too far away, watching over her.  And you know what?  I can’t tell if he’s got it bad for her or if this friendship’s just that tight.”

“Yeah well, I suspect she doesn’t fully understand her thoughts and feelings regarding that either.”

They wandered around the large facility in their search, and Tony was unsuccessful in getting Stephen to use magic to find her, arguing it would be easier and faster.  The sorcerer did not budge, arguing the trivial use of magic was unnecessary in this case.  Finally, after half an hour of searching, Natasha was able to point them in the right direction, barely refraining from smirking as she did so.  “Scott talked her into going back to her room to rest.  She must have felt worn out because she didn’t argue.”

“Oh my God,” Tony grumbled as he rolled his eyes.  Glaring at Stephen, he requested, “Will you please use your sling ring thing since we wasted thirty minutes looking for her when you could have used magic to make everything easier to begin with?”

Stephen huffed and removed the sling ring from his belt.  “Fine,” he conceded as he slipped the ring onto his fingers.  He made quick work of opening the portal to take them to the door of Rory’s little suite, the place Shuri had assigned to her to recover and remain until the princess had discharged her.  

Tony knocked quietly before opening the door and poking his head in.  Scott was sitting in the chair he pulled to sit right beside Rory’s bed and had been watching TV, and he turned his head in the direction of the door when he heard the knock.  Rory was lying on her good side on the bed and tucked under a weighted blanket, fast asleep.  

The pair entered quietly, and Tony offered an apologetic smile.  “Hey, little brother, how long has she been asleep?”

Scott grinned at the term and shrugged in response.  “A while,” he answered quietly.  “This is the first time she’s actually slept soundly, so good news there.  Why?”

Tony grimaced, not knowing how to proceed.  He hated to wake her, but he needed to know.  He sighed long and quietly through his nose before saying, “We’ve got a question for her.”

Scott tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at them.  “Now?”  

Tony showed him what he held in his hands and said, “I’m afraid so.  I want - no, need - I need to know what happened to these things and where they are now.  The doc wants to know too.”

He noted how Scott’s expression went from slightly exasperated to curious and wary as he absentmindedly shifted in his seat to put himself more between them and Rory as if protecting her from just having those things in the room.  Despite his wary look, he asked, “Can’t it wait a little longer?  She’s actually sleeping peacefully.”

Tony couldn’t blame Scott for eyeing the gems with caution; he’d do the same.  He’s been doing the same.  The Infinity Stones have caused a lot of trouble for them.  Lots of trouble.  For all the good the Stones could do, they’ve also been the source of a lot of bad, and their names leave a bitter taste in Tony’s mouth.  “I don’t know if it can.  I don’t want to wake her either, but I’m almost freaking out not knowing where they are and if they’re where someone else could make a bigger mess than the one we just got out of.  I should’ve asked earlier, but I didn’t, and now I can’t wait anymore.  Please, Scott?  Please?”

Finally after a moment of weighing his options, Scott sighed, relenting.  Tony’s anxiety and his own uneasy feeling won the argument in his mind, and he started repeating Rory’s name and gently shaking her, coaxing her awake.  Her face twisted some as she started reviving, and she tried to bury herself more into the blanket, humming a very definite nuh-uh to waking up.  Scott chuckled softly.  “I’m sorry, Rory, but you’ve got a couple of visitors who’ve got a big question for you.  And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious too.”

Rory softly moaned with resignation as she slowly opened her eyes but made no effort to move from her position.  She squinted enough to determine more details of her surroundings, and when she recognized her visitors, she smiled sleepily at them.  “Hey, fellas,” she yawned.  “What’s up?  Everything okay?”

“I’m sorry we woke you, Roar, and honestly, I should’ve asked this sooner, but I can’t wait any longer.”  Tony held the gems so she could see them and asked simply, “Why aren’t the Infinity Stones glowing?  Where are they?”

That was enough to coax her to sit up with Scott’s help, and after she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she asked Scott for her glasses.  Once those were in place, she extended her left hand out to Tony to better see the clear crystals.  He handed her a couple of the gems, and she looked down and studied them carefully, rolling them slowly in her hand.  

So it was true.  They really were gone.  Looking at them now, she couldn’t have guessed they once held great power.  She looked at Scott and told him, “I forgot you said something about this when you first found me.”

“Needless to say, we’re confused,” he replied.

“And honestly,” Tony added, “worried.  What does this mean, Rory?  Where are they?”

Uncertain of the answer herself, she was quiet for a moment as she stared at the crystals in her hand before her eyes grew wide with realization.  “ Oh .”  

It all made sense now.  There was a reason why she felt like she was buzzing with more power after Tony’s snap despite being in so much pain and feeling so exhausted.  There was a reason she could see the six colors of the Stones flowing in her.  There was a reason why she could easily access the other six powers when she carried out that siphoning trick on the cliffside.  

In exchange, the Stones will be returned to spare the soul.   

“Ohhhhhh!”

“What?” Tony asked, fearing the worst.

“Where are they, Rory?” Stephen asked, voice tight with urgency.

Rory looked at the sorcerer and raised an eyebrow at him.  “You don’t know?”

“I didn’t peer that far forward into the future timelines two years ago.  I didn’t dare go further than I had to.”

She nodded knowingly, understanding such a response.  “I see.  I don’t blame you in the slightest.”

Tony couldn’t take it anymore.  “Come on, Rory,” he pleaded, “ where are they ?”

“Gone,” she said simply.  “Out of everyone’s reach and will probably stay that way for a very, very long time.”

The other three in the room gave her surprised looks, clearly unprepared for her answer.  Tony couldn’t quite believe what he heard.  It was too good to be true.  If they were gone and out of reach, they couldn’t be targeted and misused anymore.  “Are you sure?” he asked hopefully.

“How is that possible,” Stephen demanded quietly.  “Part of my responsibility is to guard the Time Stone.  I thought --”

Rory interrupted him, nodding as she spoke.  “Yes, that was part of your responsibility, but now that burden has been removed from you.  And from me.”

“What does that mean?”

Scott suggested, “Maybe you should explain everything from the beginning.”

“Alright.”  Rory took a deep breath and began, “Tony, when you snapped your fingers, the Infinity Stones’ powers left the gems and flowed through you for the briefest second.  That’s how the snaps work.  Using all of that power requires the sacrifice of the body; they use you as a vessel, and you may or may not survive it.  I didn’t believe you would survive the snap if you took it all on your own, and I couldn’t let that happen.  I couldn’t .  I knew you were willing to sacrifice your life, but I believed I could save you without messing up your efforts.  Your life is too important for me to let you die if I could save you.”

“Anyway,” she continued, “when I touched your shoulder and sent a wave of protective power into you, the Infinity Stones’ powers had to go somewhere, and since I blocked you off from them, the only avenue they could take was the one I provided into me.  It’s like the powers were vacuumed out of you into me, and then when I broke contact from you, there was no way for the Infinity Stone powers to go back into the gems.  But at the time, I didn’t know that’s what I did.”

Stephen asked, “So those powers are in you?”

“ Were .  They were in me, but they’re not anymore.”  She smiled sheepishly and asked, “Did anything strange happen while I was still unconscious?  Like just before I woke up?”

Scott and Tony shared a surprised glance, and Stephen studied her with a look that could be read as he suspected something and was right.  “That was you, wasn’t it?  That wave of intense... feeling that passed over the universe.  You were responsible for that.”

Scott and Tony questioned simultaneously, “That was you?”

Rory couldn’t help but chuckle.  “Guilty as charged.”

“What was that exactly?” Tony asked.

Scott added, “It felt really good.  Well I thought so anyway.”

“It felt good for everyone,” Stephen assured him.  “Freeing, healing, safe, a sense of being understood.”

“Loved,” Rory clarified with a small smile.  “You felt loved.”

Scott asked, “So what was that?  What did you do?”

“Tony, put those down on the table over there,” Rory instructed.  “You don’t have to hold them the entire time, and put these with them.  They’re not going to do any harm over there.”  Rory reached out her hand and gave him the two she held, and as he set the six gems aside, she explained, “I actually woke up on that day in question just as the sun was rising.  It was weird honestly.  My body was still asleep, but I wasn’t.”  She looked at Stephen and described, “I think it was like that astral projection thing, but since I’ve never done it before myself, I don’t know if that’s really what happened or not.”

“That’s very interesting,” he stated with an eyebrow raise.  “You didn’t do this yourself as far as you know?”

“Yup.  One minute I remember you and Shuri standing over me, and then the next thing I know, I’m a shimmering, pretty human lightbulb looking down at my own beat-up body.”

“Wait.”  Scott shook his head in bewilderment.  “You were aware?  You were watching?”

“Yeah,” Rory answered, sheepishly grinning.  “I actually followed you out of this room to where Tony, Nat, and Cap were.  I heard that whole conversation, and that got me to thinking about how just ‘cause we won doesn’t mean it’s all fixed.  I know I can’t fix everything, but I thought maybe there was a way for me to at least help clear up a lot of the mental and emotional muck.”

“How?”

“I was taught growing up that love is without a doubt the most powerful force in existence.  It is unparalleled, unmatched, unyielding, and everlasting.  And good.  It’s the most good force in existence, and it can do amazing, miraculous things.  I came from a universe full of people who love this universe and its people.  A vast, untapped source of goodness just begging to be expressed, so I used the powers of the Infinity Stones to siphon all that love and spread it to the corners of this universe.  It didn’t hurt anybody there!  I promise.  I guarantee to them it felt like a satisfying release of pent-up emotions.  And, hopefully, this universe experienced a positive supercharge to jumpstart it into a better, brighter future and leave the past two years behind.  That’s the goal anyway.”

Scott gave her a hug which she returned.  “I hope it worked, because that was one of the best feelings ever.  I hadn’t felt that way in ages.”

“Me neither,” Tony added quietly, pensively.  It really did feel good, and it made him feel really good.  Better than he thought he was worth feeling.  Instead of expressing such thoughts, Tony asked, “What happened next?”

“Something I did not understand until just now.”  Rory held up her hand and tried to access any power she once possessed, and she could have sworn she saw a flicker of light in her fingertips or felt a tiny jolt of energy to which she became accustomed when using those powers.  Nothing more occurred however, and she dropped her hand and sighed.  “I suspected going into this that this siphoning trick could technically be considered a use of all Stones.”

“As in the ‘all the Stones would disappear from existence’ kind of thing,” Scott asked warily.

Tony exhaled slowly, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose.  “Rory,” he moaned in exasperation.

“I know!  I know what you’re going to say, Tony, but I believed doing this was worth the risk.  But after I sent that wave of power out into the universe, I heard a voice say, ‘This act of love shall not end in a sacrifice of life.  In exchange, the Stones will be returned to spare the soul.’  Then after that, I felt something siphoning out of me .  I didn’t know what it was at the time, but now I understand.  All Stones were returned from whence they came, and I was spared.”

“So wait,” Tony muttered as he put fingertips to his temple, wrapping his head around all of this.  “You’re not the embodiment of the Light Stone anymore?”

“I guess not.”  Rory held up her hand again to try to produce light, but she couldn’t make anything happen like she wanted.  “Light’s not shooting out of my fingertips like before, so I guess I’m not anymore.”

“The convergence was supposed to fuse you and the Light Stone together,” Stephen pointed out slowly as he stroked his beard for a moment.  Then he silently reached out and made a motion of pulling on a rope.  Suddenly Rory’s body fell backward on the bed, and her astral form burst forth from her body.  Tony and Scott jumped back in surprise, not at all expecting to see Rory suddenly look like a ghost, and a quick, stern glance from Stephen told them to hush for the time being.

Rory gasped as she looked down at herself.  If she didn’t know better, her astral form looked cracked and broken, held together by seams of pure, bright light.  The cracks were all over her, giving more of an impression that a furious lightning storm was trapped inside her trying to break free.  “What’s happened to me?” Rory asked with alarm.  “Am I broken?”

“Not at all,” Stephen replied slowly after studying the seams of light for a moment.  “You are still an embodiment of light and powers that come with it.  The Stones may have been taken back and are out of our reach, but the Creator still left you with a gift.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at the seams of light,” he instructed, and Rory brought her hands close to her face.  “Study them closely.”  She did as she was told, and it took a few minutes for her to realize what was happening.  She gasped in bewilderment, and Stephen asked, “You see it, don’t you?”

“The - the seams…”  Rory looked up at Stephen and asked, “Are - are they growing ?”

“The Light Stone has been stripped from you but not enough to leave your soul broken and deprived.  After all, the convergence made you one, and as a result, light had to have been left behind because it is a literal part of you.”

“And it’s growing back,” Rory quietly concluded for him, catching on.  “This part of me is healing too.”

“At the rate it’s going, it will take a very long time for this part of you to be fully restored, but it will be fully restored.  The question that remains is will you still be the Light Stone and have those connections with the other Stones again?  Or will you just be someone with the powers of light?”

Rory looked down at her hands, literally watching herself heal, and it brought a soft, relieved smile to her face.  She didn’t care about the answer to Stephen’s question; she was too amazed at watching healing in real time take place.

Scott finally spoke up, unable to keep quiet any longer, “What the hell am I looking at??”

Tony took that as an invitation to speak too, and he spoke so fast, his sentence sounded like a single word.  “Please put her back in her body!”

Rory couldn’t help but laugh as she felt her soul re-enter her body.  She was healing at all levels, and that gave her hope. 

Chapter Text

—Eight months later—

Rory Callahan sat on the porch steps as the Californian sun set somewhere behind her new home, staring at her right arm.  The most expensive arm in the universe probably, considering it was the brainchild of Shuri, Dr. Cho, Tony Stark, and Scott Lang, it really had to be super expensive.  Personal sacrifice aside, of course.  

She tucked that arm closer to her stomach as she sighed pensively.  The past eight months have been a bit of a whirlwind to say the least.  Between physical and mental therapy, dealing with and living in the Aftermath as the rest of the world called it, moving to San Francisco, and jumping through all sorts of hoops with the rest of the Avengers to assure the world it will be okay again and to help move it forward into the future, she was wiped out.  It had been a struggle.  Nevertheless though, she couldn’t help but smile.  There have been good moments too.

Like a wedding occurring a week afterward Rory’s release from the Wakandan facility.  After all, Tony said he was years late to his own wedding anyway, so why the hell wait any longer.  The only reason he and Pepper waited as long as they did was to make sure Rory could attend and be a part of the wedding party.  

And in typical Tony Stark fashion, the wedding was stellar.  In truth though, Rory liked how Tony and Pepper did their wedding as one big, happy celebration.  It certainly was.  Not just for them but for the world.  It was a sign of hope and a promise that better things were coming.  The world could definitely use a reminder like that and another reason to celebrate life.

Scott walked out of the house and sat by Rory on the steps, a Diet Coke in each hand.  He offered one to her, and the pair simultaneously opened them and took a swig of the soda, practically in sync.  “Thanks for this,” she told him as she held up her can.  

“You’re welcome,” he answered before taking another sip.  “You about ready for us to go?”

“Soon,” she confirmed with a nod.  “Travel’s super fast with a sling ring in my possession again.”  Although, the first time she produced a portal, she was disappointed to see it was the same fiery orange as any other portal Stephen Strange could make.

“Do you miss it?  Your powers, I mean.”

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t, Scott.  But it’s good to know I can still help out even without them.”

“You’re a great help just by being you, Rory.  We could use more kind people in this world.”  After a moment of silence, he asked, “So how many visits do you think it will take to make a breakthrough?”

Rory sighed and shrugged.  “Hard to say.  Out of all of us, she and Thor lost what could not be recovered.  I hate that for them though.  I wish I could fix that part for them, but I can’t.”

“At the very least, Thor has learned how to move on, and he seems to be on the mend now.  Way better than he was during those two years.”

“True.  I hope we can get Wanda to a better place too.”

“I think we will.  At the very least, we’re sure as hell gonna try.”

“We sure are because honestly, I’m worried about her.  I can’t imagine trying to cope with everything she went through before turning to ash.”

“No,” Scott said quietly as he stared at the soda can in his hand, clearly trying to imagine it, “me neither.”  After another moment’s thought, he asked, “You do have Doc on standby this time, right?  Last time, she wasn’t too keen to hear some things we had to say.”

“He knows we’re going again, and he’ll be ready to intervene just in case,” Rory confirmed with a nod. 

“Good deal because when it comes to helping a magical person cope, we can use all the help we can get.”  Rory nodded at that in total agreement as they slipped into a comfortable silence.  After a moment, Scott asked, “You think we’re the best people to help her get to a better place?”

“Who’s to say?  Do we have the schooling for this?  Nope.  Do we care about her and her wellbeing?  Yeah, and I think sometimes that’s enough.  It’s a start anyway.  You did really well with Thor, remember?  You do that well with just about everyone, it seems.”  Scott merely shrugged and nodded thoughtfully in response.  “You seem to be full of good advice like that.”

“I try anyway.”

“You’re good at it!  You could write a book, you’re that good.” 

Scott raised an eyebrow at that but didn’t say anything more.  That’s not the first time he’s heard such a statement.  No, he’s heard quite a bit of comment and suggestion lately regarding writing a book, and it’s something he was seriously considering.

Eventually, the street lights came to life, and Rory looked up at the nearest one.  The truth that very few knew about was ever since she was well enough, she had been testing what she could do with light as a way to gauge if she had been making progress since it was revealed some of Light was left within her.  Everyday, she would attempt some manipulation, but to no avail.  It didn’t discourage her yet, because she knew healing of any kind just took time.

But when she reached out towards the nearest streetlight and it flickered, Scott gasped beside her.  “Did you do that?”

“I don’t…” Rory shook her head slowly, “I don’t actually know.”

“Do it again.”  So she did, but she raised her hand to another streetlight, just in case.  Scott patted her arm excitedly.  “It flickered too!”

“That can’t be coincidence.”

He chuckled.  “It’s definitely not.  That’s progress, Rory!”

“Well,” she smiled softly, pensively.  Gratefully.  “How about that?  Here’s to progress,” she said as she held up her can in toast.

“Here here,” he agreed as he lightly tapped his can against hers.  

They both took another long sip and then sighed in sync.  With her free hand, she fished out the sling ring from her pocket.  “Ready?”

Scott nodded beside her and stood.  “Let’s do this.”  Rory stood too, and after passing her Diet Coke to Scott, she slid the sling ring on her fingers and opened the portal to their destination, wherever the Scarlet Witch ended up since their last interaction.  “Do you know where we’re heading this time?”

“Not a clue,” Rory shrugged as she took the can back from him.  She smirked at him as they walked through the portal.  “Let’s find out.”