- True Damage, GIANTS

~No POV~

In the Sanctum Sanctorum, four men stand. One is the Sorcerer Supreme, with shattered bones in his hand. One is a simple sorcerer, whose main job is to help the Sorcerer Supreme. One is a man who made a name for himself out of Iron, who is the richest billionaire in the world. One is a man who is always angry, who turns into a big green dude.

Five stones hang in the air, illusions created by the short Wong. “From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom! The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurtling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence.”

Strange points to each of the stones, which individually glow as he speaks their names. “Space. Reality. Power. Soul. Mind.” He opens the Eye of Agamotto that rests on a chain around his neck, revealing a glowing green Time Stone. “And Time.”

“Tell me his name again,” Tony says, having listened closely.

Bruce answers. “Thanos. He’s a plague, Tony. He invades planets. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population. He sent Loki. The attack on New York. That’s him.”

“What's our timeline?”

“No telling. He has the Power and Space Stones, that already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he gets his hands on all six Stones, Tony…”

“He can destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of,” Strange interrupts.

Tony leans against a cauldron, stretching as if going for a run. “Did you seriously just say ‘hitherto undreamt of’?”

“Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?”

“Is that what this is?”

Strange’s Cloak of Levitation reaches over and smacks Tony’s arm, surprising the man. He looks offended and then leans off of the cauldron. “I’m going to allow that. If Thanos needs all six, why don’t we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?”

“No can do.”

“We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone,” Wong adds. “With our lives.”

“And I swore off dairy,” Tony quips. “But then...Ben & Jerry’s names a flavour after me. So…”

“Stark Raving Hazelnuts,” Strange states.

“It’s not bad.”

“A bit chalky.”

“A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge is our favourite,” Wong laughs softly. Bruce looks at him in confusion.

“That’s a thing?”

Tony ignores them. “Whatever. Point is: things change.”

“Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change,” Strange argues. “This Stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos.”

“And still conversely, it may also be his best chance against us.”

“Well, if we don’t do our jobs.”

“What is your job exactly, besides making balloon animals?”

“Protecting your reality, douchebag.”

Bruce pushes in the middle of them. “Okay, guys, could we table this discussion right now? The fact is that we have this Stone. We know where it is. Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone, and we have to find him now.”

“Yeah, that’s the...thing,” Tony says awkwardly.

“What do you mean?”

“Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder. He’s offline.”

“What? Tony, you lost another super bot?”

“I didn’t lose him. He’s more than that. He’s evolving.”

“Who could find Vision, then?” Strange questions.

Tony turns to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose with scrunched eyes. “Shit.” He turns to the others. “Probably Steve Rogers.”

Strange sighs. “Oh, great.”

“Maybe. But…”

“Call him,” Bruce says simply. Tony looks at him.

“It’s not that easy. God, we haven’t caught up in a spell, have we?”

“No.”

“The Avengers broke up. We’re toast.”

“Broke up? Like a band? Like the Beatles?”

“Cap and I fell out kinda hard. We’re not really on speaking terms.”

“Not on speaking terms? What about Blythe? Does she know?”

“No. And we weren’t planning on telling her for a little. She’s already got enough on her plate. She doesn’t need another burden.”

“Tony, listen to me,” Bruce pleads. Thor’s gone. Thanos is coming. It doesn’t matter who you’re talking to or not.”

Tony hesitates, listening to Bruce. He pulls out the flip phone Steve sent to him, one where the only contact is the Captain himself. The screen rests on the blinking call button, waiting to be pressed.

A suspicious rumble makes him stop and look up. “Say, Doc. You wouldn’t happen to be moving your hair, would you?”

Strange looks up at his slightly moving hair. “Not at the moment, no.”

Tony looks at the hole in the ceiling created by Hulk smashing through, seeing debris flying by outside. He exits the Sanctum through the door and scans the surroundings. People are running past and screaming. Traffic bunches up as people storm out of their cars. Strong winds blow debris around.

A woman falls in front of Tony, and he bends down to help her up. “You okay?” She ignores him and runs away in terror, as a car crashes into a pole just behind him. “Help him! Wong, Doc!”

“Go! Got it!” Bruce yells.

Tony puts his sunglasses on. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., what am I looking at?”

“Not sure, working on it,” The A.I. responds.

“Hey!” Tony shouts back to Strange. “You might want to put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!”

“Might wanna use it,” Strange counters, spell bands around his forearms.

Tony approaches the intersection, the mechanical hum growing louder. As he turns the corner, he sees a huge circular ship floating over Bleecker Street.