Chapter Text
“And I…” Tony growled, staring into the soulless eyes of the genocidal maniac in front of him. He took a sharp breath as his heart worked overtime. He felt the pain of all six radioactive stones, each burning with the heat of a dying star, searing into his hand.
“Am…” he gasped. Through the sea of pain and clouds of smoke he tried to keep his head. Through the power of the stones he felt the presence of every being and machine that was trying to destroy the Earth, the universe, and his family. Including the bastard in front of him.
Thanos. The one who had caused all of Tony’s pain for twelve years. He needed him dead. He needed them all dead. He felt this suddenly in his mind, and knew he could have it, as simply and as easy as blowing out a dandelion. He steadied himself. The pain subsided for a brief glorious second. Tony shaped his fingers to mirror his adversary’ as he stared him directly in the face.
“...Iron Man.”
The last thing Tony remembered was moving his fingers into place, and then a flash of light. Bright, blinding light. Everything was disorienting and suddenly it was like he was floating in water, but only for a brief second, because no sooner than he could comprehend what was happening, everything changed.
All his pain subsided. Not just the blinding pain in his hand, but every single injury he had sustained in the battle as well. The constricting but secure metal feeling of his Iron Man suit was missing too, and everything was dark. He panicked for a second before realizing he just hadn’t opened his eyes yet. Then he panicked again when he realized he had eyes. And a body. He was alive.
Tony tentatively opened his eyes, expecting to be in a hospital, but what he saw instead was so confusing it took his brain a second to catch up.
“Inverted Mobius strip. Time travel model: Successful,” said the familiar voice of his AI.
“FRIDAY?” Tony asked softly.
“Yes sir?” she responded, as though nothing had changed. When in fact everything had. He was home . That is, in the lab in the basement of the cabin Pepper had left him in six years prior. Everything was as it was. The time travel model was still holographically projected above his work table. He was still wearing his gray longsleeve tee. And his hand was still uncharred and intact.
Tony checked his watch. Ten hours ago from this specific time, Tony distinctly remembered telling Steve to respectfully go fuck himself. And ten hours later, Tony also distinctly remembered returning his shield and promising to help save the world with him.
“Now that’s interesting,” Tony said, mind racing. He was already halfway through calculating all of the turns the infinity stones could have taken to have transported him back here when FRIDAY responded.
“What is interesting, Sir?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing,” he responded, “Just the EPR paradox paired with a fully realized time jump,” he said, inspecting his uncharred hand again.
“Not sure I follow, Sir.”
“Time through me, me through time…” he mumbled. “Want to run some modifications on that model again? This time with these specific parameters.” Tony typed in the calculations he had figured out just a week ago his time, in order to make the time jump map slightly more accessible.
He was back. It didn’t matter how he was back, but he was back. He could do it again, this time with fewer mistakes. Less losses. Less… Thanos. He made a mental note to scan the timestone again once they acquired it to find out exactly how they could flip him back in time like this, but that didn’t matter until he had the stones. And with his knowledge of the future AND a fully functioning timespace gps, they could do no wrong this time.
Tony finally went to bed that night after not only completing and perfecting the timespace gps, but also typing out everything he remembered about the next week. It would be crucial to the survival of his friends. Just get through this , he told himself. All I need to do is get through this one more time, and everyone can go home.
Tony’s car screeched into the Avengers Compound as Tony quickly checked his watch. He hoped he had timed it right. He looked up again and soon found that yes, he had timed it perfectly.
There was Steven Grant Rogers standing alone outside the compound. Tony’s heart lurched as he remembered everything. The argument they had had before this day. The strenuous mission that would follow. The most heart wrenching pre-mission speech Tony had ever heard. And the snap. Tony felt himself choke up a bit, but quickly recovered. What had Steve said when they fought? They now had a second chance. Now Tony had one too. A second chance at the mission. And at life.
Tony pulled his car up to the compound to see Steve gazing at him through the car window. God, he missed seeing that sassy face in the six years they’d spent apart. Tony’s head spun as he realized he had had that exact same thought the last time he went through this. He slowly rolled down the window. He didn’t say anything this time, he just watched Steve, who sighed.
“Come to gloat?” he asked. Damn, Steve had gotten sharp in his time away. Luckily, two could play at that game. Tony grinned as he got out of the car.
“What? Me? Never.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
“I figured it out,” Tony blurted. Steve stared.
“Figured what out?”
“Nothing much,” said Tony, “Just the full physics of timespace and how to navigate it.” pulling the wrist device out. Steve grinned.
“Oh but that’s not all,” said Tony. “I’ve also located all 6 stones, across the timeline.” Tony pulled another device out, a mini hard light holo-projector, with all of his “plans” on it. They weren’t really plans. They were just memories. Painful ones. But Steve didn’t know that and practically beamed at Tony.
“I just want peace,” Tony said, feeling the intense wave of deja-vu rush over him. He tried to keep grounded. In doing so, he let the next line get away from him. Steve chimed in before he could say anything.
“What made you… change your mind?”
Tony looked Steve in the eye, looked away, and looked back again.
“I hate hating you, Cap, and that’s a fact. And plus, grudge holding won’t save the universe.”
“I agree,” said Steve.
“We get the stones,” Tony said, growing increasingly more determined, “we get out. We bring everybody back. We do it right this time.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Tony felt things slipping away from him again. Steve had no idea. Steve had no idea what Tony meant by ‘this time.’ But suddenly he felt himself brought back to Earth by Steve’s hand in his as they shook on it. Tony tried not to look into Steve’s eyes too much.
I just need to run this mission. And then I’ll make it out. It’ll be over.
“One more thing,” said Tony, desperate to break the grip Steve had on his hand. He turned around to the back of his car and opened the trunk. The shield sat right there, fully fixed up as Tony had done the week after Steve had dropped it at his feet, and polished up as Tony had done the night before.
Tony picked it up and decided to forgo the mocking pose this time. He flipped it around and handed it to its rightful owner. Steve hesitated.
“Tony…” he started.
“It’s yours,” said Tony. “You can have it back. Plus, I’m sick of looking at it.”
Steve grinned again and Tony avoided looking. And feeling.
Tony also avoided feeling as Steve strapped it to his arm, getting the right fit for it again after so many years.
“There’s the Captain America I know,” Tony said.
“Thank you,” said Steve. Once again, panic flooded through Tony. This time wasn’t because of how familiar their dialogue was, but rather because of how un familiar. The last time he went through this, he didn’t remember Steve’s voice becoming that soft . Tony cleared his throat and slammed the trunk of his car shut.
“Let’s assemble a team, shall we?”
“So, what’s the plan again?” asked the talking raccoon.
“Right,” said Tony. He stood in front of the team, his holo-projector up and running, displaying the map-out of the infinity stones’ locations. He could feel the caffeine he consumed coursing through his veins. Normally he wasn’t so affected by caffeine, but combined with the disorientation of the time reset and the anxiety of, well, everything, Tony was starting to feel strung out and jittery.
“I’ve located all six stones across the timeline,” he continued. “This is where and how we retrieve them. Starting with the reality st-”
“Wait a minute,” said Nebula. “How do you even know about half of these? We only discussed a few on the ship.”
Tony tried not to falter. He had missed Nebula a whole goddamn lot during the last five years, too, and to be honest all he wanted to do was give her a hug and tell her how proud of her he was. But he didn’t. Instead he rolled his eyes.
“I did the reading. Information on these stones is on the SWORD database, thanks to Captain Marvel.”
Nebula nodded, and nobody else batted an eye. Tony assumed they would just chalk it up to Tony being Tony, and he was right. It’s not like they had any reason to suspect him, but still, it felt like he was concealing something incredibly dangerous.
He had considered telling everyone the truth. The truth that Tony was back from another timeline, and they had a second chance. But after calculating everything, the risk seemed too dangerous. It was too great of a chance someone might go off script and lose the stones forever, destroying what chance they had. Better to nudge them in the right direction, Tony thought. Which was what he was doing as he explained the locations of the stones.
“And like I said, the space stone, time stone, and mind stone were all in New York in 2012-” he started, but was cut off by the sound of the meeting room door swinging open.
“Hey guys, sorry I’m late,” said Natasha Romanoff. She was alive. Standing right in front of Tony. His heart felt like it was being ripped to pieces. His best friend, alive again. After he thought he had lost her forever. And she had no idea.
“What’d I miss?” she asked, staring blankly at him. Tony made an involuntary choking noise in his throat, and then before he could stop himself, he flung his arms around her in a quick, awkward hug.
“I missed you,” he mumbled. He pulled away quickly, but it was enough to earn him some weird looks from around the room. Nat didn’t seem to mind. She chuckled lightly.
“Tony, I just saw you yesterday,” she said.
“Yeah, but I yelled at you. And Steve. And I’m sorry for that. But now I’m back. And I’m going to help.”
“Woah, did I forget to change the batteries on my hearing aids, or did Tony Stark just apologize in front of everyone?” asked Clint with a chuckle. The room lightened a bit as the people who knew Tony exchanged laughs. To Tony’s surprise, Steve wasn’t laughing.
“Come on, Clint, he does it more often than people think and you know it.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m just teasin’,” Clint said. Tony raised his eyebrows as he caught Steve’s eyes, which again had that dangerously soft look in them.
Maybe after, he told himself, but mission first.
Tony shook himself mentally and continued explaining the stones. Once he was finished with the rundown of each location, with Rocket and Nebula stepping up to help at the space parts, he reviewed everything.
“Like I said, Space, Time, and Mind are in New York, 2012. Reality is in Asgard. The power stone is on Morag, and the Soul Stone is on Vormir.”
Everyone seemed to understand. Tony took a deep breath. He knew this part was going to be difficult, but it had to be done.
“Now, I have some suggestions on who should lead these teams, based on what makes the most logical sense. I know I’m no team leader, or anything, but-” Steve raised his hand to stop him.
“Yes you are. You always have been, Tony,” he said.
“Really?” Tony asked, sassy mouth going before he could stop it, “because as I recall, that was mostly your thing-”
“You lead. We’ll follow,” said Steve in that deep, compelling voice of his. He looked around at the room, received general agreement, and then looked back to Tony.
“Okay,” said Tony, trying not to sound as nerve-wracked as he felt. “Let’s get into this.”
To Tony’s non-surprise, everyone agreed with their “assignments.” Some even volunteered to go on their missions before Tony could propose the idea (Nebula had already been to Morag. And Steve wasn’t exactly protesting being on a team with Tony).
The only thing Tony couldn't bear to do was send Nat and Clint to Vormir. But when the assignments came, they actually volunteered to do it. By themselves. With absolutely no suggestion from Tony. It broke his heart. And he knew he had to do something about it.
They separated from the meeting area to start construction and tests on the time machine. This time, Tony wasn’t as involved. He gave the plans and materials to Rocket and Nebula, of course, but most of his time was spent shut up in his office, going over his notes and memories.
About a day and a half later, Tony finally got it.
He was sitting on the table in one of the many meeting rooms in the compound, papers strewn about, holograms projected around almost the entire space, coffee cups and mugs covering the table that wasn’t occupied by the rest of the clutter.
The realization zipped through him as he sat up, trying to locate the rest of his team members, who were in various other rooms, easily visible through the glass walls.
“NEBULA!” he yelled, catching her eye from the lounge. She shot up and darted into the meeting room with him. He knew she understood that Tony using her real name meant that something was serious.
“What is it, Tony?” she asked.
“Do you still have the damage reports and repair logs for the Milano, dating back to five years ago?”
“I’ll have to check, but I don’t remember wiping any of them, so they should be there. Why?”
“Nebula,” he said, looking into her pitch black eyes. “You and I both know what’s supposed to happen on Vormir. If we send Nat and Clint over there…” his voice started breaking. He took a breath and continued. “...one of them isn’t going to make it back. And that can’t happen. They’re my friends. My… family. I think you understand.”
“And how do you plan on protecting them?”
Tony took another steadying breath, and told her his plan.
“Do you think they can handle it?” she asked. Tony stared directly at her.
“I know they can.”
After the time machine was completed, and tests were run, everyone went over the mission plans again. Which gave Tony time to give them his alterations.
“New plan, everyone. We’re splitting up into four groups, not three. Those who are collecting the Soul stone, Nat and Clint, need to jump to 2018, at the exact time and date Nebula and I have calculated.”
“Why?” asked Nat. “That’s going to use up more Pym particles.”
Tony took a sharp breath. “Because when you get to Vormir, someone has to die in order to get the stone. Period.”
“Tony, I think we all know the risks, we’re prepared for-” Clint interjected.
“Unless,” Tony continued over the top of him, “you get there right as Thanos takes the stone, and take it from him before he has the chance to get out.”
Everyone looked at him blankly.
“I know, I know, it’s a high risk. But Thanos is going to be at his most vulnerable, and there’s a higher chance of both of you walking away-”
“We’ll take that risk,” Nat said, as Clint nodded.
“Uhh,” Rocket chimed in, “Are you sure those two are going to be able to-”
“I have full confidence in them,” said Tony firmly. And that was that.
The time had come. Tony felt like throwing up as he walked up onto that machine they had spent so long building. Again.
He didn’t know if he was ready to go through this again. He had tried to pull strings and fuss over analysis and wrack his brain over and over again on ways he could try to keep Thanos away from their time heist over the days they spent on construction, but he came up with nothing. Absolutely nothing, other than ‘try to watch your back and don’t let anybody stalk you on your mission.’ Duh. For once in his life, Tony didn’t have a plan. Which was ironic, because he’d already done all of this before.
Tony didn’t know what was making him feel worse, the fact that he was going to have to watch everything happen for a second time, or the fact that he was ridiculously, laughably unprepared.
Either way, he stood silently and determinedly on that platform as the time machine booted up. Everyone circled around, watching as Steve stepped up.
“ Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends... We lost family... We lost a part of ourselves,” he said. Tony felt his chest twitch behind his nano reactor as he felt the pain of ripping it out for Steve all those years ago. Steve continued.
“Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. But it doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're gonna win.”
Tony felt Steve’s eyes on him and a hole opened up in his heart. Tony thought the only reason Steve had looked at him during this part last time was because Tony looked at him first. But now Steve was fully staring at him as he uttered,
“Whatever it takes.” Tony glanced up at him. His face was firm but his eyes were soft. Tony’s throat closed up. Steve focused back on the team.
“Good luck,” he said. And they were off.
Again.
The machine beeped and clicked, and suddenly everyone was thrown through time at a breakneck pace. Tony felt like he was being ripped apart at the seams, tossed around, like he was under an enormous wave. Then finally the machine spit them out and Tony could breathe again.
Until he couldn’t.
Tony was in 2012, the battle of New York, the day he had lost part of his broken soul forever, for the third time . He almost couldn’t bear it. He reminded himself again, the mantra he had been telling himself for the beginning.
Just finish the mission. Do it for your family. This is our second chance. Then it will be done, and you can go home.
Tony tried to ground himself as he heard Cap give everyone their orders. As soon as he was done, Tony tapped his fingers on his nano reactor and felt the suit encase him like a cocoon, before flying off to survey the tower.
Stark tower. Before Tony turned it into Avengers tower, before Tony turned it into a decrepit building. He felt the pain of the nostalgia stab into his beating heart as he watched the sun gleam on the battered up “A” in Stark that would become the “A” in Avengers.
Tony took his 400th steadying breath of the day and ignited his thrusters to bring him in closer. He flew around the building, hiding behind the metal walls of the balcony, hoping nobody happened to look outside. They’d probably think he was one of Tony’s suits flying itself with AI, but if Tony himself happened to look… goodness knows what could happen.
As Tony landed on the balcony and snuck into the lobby, he caught a glimpse of his 2012 self. And the rest of the team, as they were before. He stared at them. They were all so young. So hopeful. The beginnings of a family that would be forever, no matter how many times they fell apart. But mostly Tony was looking at himself.
Hair less gray. Eyes brighter and less dead. Still with the arc reactor carved into his chest and keeping his heart beating, but with ever-the-optimistic attitude. Tony watched himself bounce around in the lobby, firing off sarcastic comments. He couldn’t believe he was ever that naïve, excitable person, who had nervously doused himself with Axe body spray that morning when he had found out he was going to meet Captain America.
Tony shook his head as he snuck behind a piece of metal architecture. Scott Lang soon joined him, hopping up on his shoulder. Tony barely acknowledged him as he soon got a view of a real distraction. He debated with himself over whether he should say it again. He reminded himself that Steve didn’t remember, and if he let this moment pass by he wouldn’t be able to do it over again, and smirked as he gave 2012 Steve a once over.
“Mr Rogers…” he muttered into the comms.
“What is it, Tony,” came Steve’s voice in an annoyed huff over the comms. “If you’re about to make fun of 2012 me…” Tony’s grin widened. Steve knew him so well.
“Oh no, not you . I could never . All I am saying though, is that the suit I made for you was much better at accentuating your… assets than Coulson’s.”
“Stop staring at my ass.”
“I mean, it’s ridiculous. You should have thanked me for my designs, but no, you had to go switch to that angsty, ripped up one once we- I mean, the team broke up.”
“You know I look good in anything I put on, Tony,” Steve said. Tony’s mouth dropped open. But before anything could escalate further, Scott’s amplified voice came through the comms.
“I can’t believe I’m the one saying this, but can we please focus?”
Tony cleared his throat (and his mind) and focused on the task at hand. Explaining HYDRA to Scott. Getting Antman onto the Tesseract. Jumping off the landing pad to follow the elevator down.
“Tony, I need the location of the Scepter,” came Steve’s voice again over the comms.
“Passing the 80th floor,” he said.
“On it. Head to the lobby,” said Steve.
“See you there.”
The minute Tony hit the lobby he grabbed the package they had placed beforehand and changed into his disguise, timing it just perfectly so he could follow the team out. He needed this to go smoothly, without a hitch. He made a mental note to avoid the door to the stairs.
He watched his 2012 self throw a temper tantrum again (which, he thought to himself, was completely justified considering SHIELD was full HYDRA back then). Then he told Scott to give his past self a heart attack.
As Tony caught the case Scott kicked over to him, he realized with a pang that by keeping his hands on the tesseract, he wouldn’t be going on a little vacation to 1970 with Cap again.
He quickly shook himself out of that thought as he moved out of the lobby with Scott on his shoulder, telling himself that ensuring the saving of half the universe was more important than spending time with Steve.
“Did we just get it??” Scott asked excitedly through the comms.
“Don’t celebrate quite yet, pipsqueak, we haven’t made it out of the lobby. Capsicle, how we lookin’?”
As they made it out of the lobby and into the alleyway where they were safe, the comms crackled with Steve’s panicked voice.
“Tony, I have a bit of a situation.”
Panic coursed through Tony. He didn’t remember this from last time.
“What kind of situation? I have the cube, Steve. What’s going on. Do you have the scepter?”
The sounds of a tussle came through. Tony ran through all the scenarios in his head. Was this a time paradox thing? If by fixing the mistake of losing the tesseract, was Tony going to lose the scepter? Was he going to lose Steve??
More sounds of a fight.
“Oh, that doesn’t sound good. I don’t know what’s going on but it’s probably bad news,” said Scott. Damn, he was so good at saying the exact wrong thing. Tony forced himself to ignore him and focused again on Steve. There were a scary few moments when Tony was standing in the middle of the battered-up alley, with absolute silence over the comms, and Tony was convinced he lost him.
Then the comms crackled again and Tony remembered how to breathe as Steve started talking.
“I got the scepter, Tony. Just had to deal with… something.”
Steve arrived at the alleyway a few minutes later, climbing down a fire escape. Scott stood at normal size with the tesseract in the case, and Tony leaned against a beaten up car with his arms crossed.
“Mind telling us what went down back there?” Tony asked him. Steve raised his eyebrows.
“I got the scepter. Isn’t that all we need?”
Steve’s sudden dodgyness made Tony even more concerned. Now it wasn’t just about the continuity of the time travel, now it was about why his teammate was keeping secrets. It made Tony feel more fired up than he’d like to admit.
“Not if we’re concerned about whether one of our teammates needs medical attention. You’ve got a bruise on your face. Where’s that from, huh?” The sudden protectiveness Tony felt was new, too.
“Tony, you know I’ll be fine.”
“Not if you keep refusing to tell me what happened, Steve. For all I know you could have been hit on the head with a Hulk.”
“Yeah. Well. I wasn’t. Does that make you feel any better?”
Scott looked confusedly between the two of them.
“Umm… what’s happening here?”
Steve sighed and looked down in resignation, then looked back up at Tony.
“I ran into myself, okay?”
Tony had to prevent himself from chuckling. “You… what?”
“2012 Steve. He thought I was Loki, he tried to take the scepter…”
“You mean, you thought you were Loki,” said Tony, not even holding in his laughter anymore. Steve rolled his eyes.
“Yeah. That. Whatever.”
“How’d you escape?”
“Had to knock him… I mean me, out. With the scepter. I didn’t give myself a concussion,” said Steve, gesturing with the scepter. It was incredibly endearing. Tony grinned.
“And that was easy, right? I assume you’re a much better fighter than you were back in 2012.”
Steve hesitated for a half second before saying, “Obviously,” and it told Tony all he needed to know. He beamed at Steve.
“Shuddup,” said Steve. “Let’s just get back to the compound.”
The light flutter in Tony’s heart was immediately killed by remembering what had happened last time. Tony almost couldn’t help crossing his fingers as they made the jump back, silently pleading that everyone made it back. He was hopeful. He still had complete faith in both Nat and Clint. But that didn’t stop him from being absolutely terrified. Because he couldn’t stop picturing what had happened last time.
The enormous machine spat them out onto the glass landing pad and all the colors of the time warp stopped spinning around Tony.
“Did we get them all?” Steve asked. The stones were there. But that wasn’t the most important thing. The minute Tony cleared the stars in his eyes, he looked over to the place where Nat should be, heart pounding.
And she was there.
Shakily, he turned his head over to Clint’s place in the circle.
He was there, too. Along with every other team member. Some of them looked a little roughed up (Clint and Nat especially), but the important thing was they had all made it back this time. Alive .
Tony let out an enormous sigh and felt his knees give out as he fell onto the glass landing pad.
“Woah, Tony, are you okay?” Steve asked. Tony felt Steve’s arms around him, gently helping him back onto his feet. Tony looked up at him.
Sunlight streamed through the windows of the compound onto Steve’s face. Tony felt a thousand times lighter and yet a thousand times weaker as the crushing anxiety drained away. They still had so much to do. And yet the only thing Tony could concentrate on in that moment was Steve’s eyes. They looked so beautiful in the sun.
“You gonna be alright?” Steve asked him.
“Yeah I’m fine. You know me,” said Tony. A tired smile made its way onto Steve’s face. It was the best thing Tony had seen that entire day. All he wanted to do at that moment was throw his arms around Steve and hold him forever. “I think… I just need…” Tony continued tentatively.
“Hey, genius!” a coarse voice called from across the compound. Tony looked over. “We need your help to construct this stupid glove! Are you game or not?”
“Yeah, I’m coming, Rocky, don’t have a hairball,” Tony called back. He looked back at Steve once, and then turned around again, leaving Cap standing on the time machine landing pad. He would never know how close Tony had come to asking for a hug in that moment.
In the time it took for Clint and Nat to tend to their injuries in medical, the gauntlet was completed. It was half the time they had taken last time, Tony might add. If Rocket the space raccoon was impressed, he didn’t show it.
Finally, Hulk donned the gauntlet. This time, instead of just protecting Clint with his nanoshield, Nat was by Tony’s side, too. Tony looked over at her.
“Faring well?” he asked her. “How’s your head?”
“Can’t complain,” she said with a smile. Tony grinned back. She and Clint had suffered badly at the hands of Thanos, but they had made it back alive. Tony donned another nanoshield for good measure.
“FRIDAY?” Tony asked. “Barn door protocol. Effective immediately.”
“On it, boss.”
The compound closed up. Tony held his breath.
“Everybody comes home,” Bruce mumbled.
Snap .
Tony’s nerves were shot. Everything seemed fine. Everyone stumbled around wondering whether it worked. Tony knew it did, but he also knew a few other things, too. He kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. His heart was in his throat.
Even with his lungs feeling like they were collapsing, Tony was still able to rush over to Bruce and apply the gel sealant to his arm, hoping to save as much of Bruce as he could. But as soon as he did, he stood up and ran to the window, heart pounding.
“Tony?” came Steve’s voice. He got up from where he crouched near Bruce and ran to Tony. Tony knew he could sense something was seriously wrong. “What is it?” he asked. Tony grabbed both of Steve’s hands with his iron gauntlets, holding him tightly.
“I…” Tony began.
“Guys…” said Scott, “I think it worked .”
BOOOM .
A flash of light, sound, debris, everything at once, slammed into Tony. Again. Except this time he was flung towards Steve. He booted up his nano shields again and tried to protect him, jumping on top of him as they were blasted out of the building and onto a pile of rubble.
Tony held his position as the compound collapsed and broke into pieces around them. Tony’s shields were mostly covering Steve, but that was okay, because Tony was wrapped in an iron suit and Steve wasn’t.
The explosions settled down around them. Steve coughed underneath Tony as both of their lungs filled up with ash and smoke. Tony removed his helmet. Blood dripped down his head from being smacked into his own suit by the explosion. Steve gazed up at him.
“You saved me,” Steve said hoarsely.
“Ehh,” Tony shrugged, “you would’ve made it by yourself.”
He helped Steve up and looked around them to see the compound turned into a minefield.
Again.
Stupid , Tony cursed himself. I was an idiot. A complete idiot. To think that Tony could have done this whole thing again and relied on nothing but luck to keep Thanos away was laughable. He had the foreknowledge. It was his job to do something about it. He could have worked harder.
You could have prevented this , Tony told himself.
No you couldn’t have, said another voice from deeper inside him. He didn’t know which one was worse.
Either way, he stood at the precipice of a hill of debris, facing down Thanos and his own mortality. There was only one way he could prevent him from getting the gauntlet and snapping away the whole universe, and that was by taking it himself.
Tony didn’t know if he could do it again. He’d die, he knew he would. But he steeled himself as he looked around at his friends. At the broken world around him. At Steve.
If all of that was to survive, Tony would have to die. He didn’t like it, but that was that.
Tony scoffed darkly to himself as he handed Steve’s shield to him, all of them staring down Thanos. Some second chance he had. At least Nat would survive, he thought somewhat bitterly. And that was his last thought before instinct took over and they were fighting Thanos again. Second time for Steve and Thor, third time for Tony.
Thanos made his speech again as the three of them circled around him. Tony tried to get a better position, less concerned with listening as he was the last time. The minute Thor charged his lightning, Tony backed him up, booting up his arc reactor and shooting it strategically at Thanos’s helmeted head.
Tony knew how it went last time. He knew Thanos’s fighting style. He knew that just giving it everything Tony had wouldn’t be enough, because that purple alien bastard always found some way to block it. Instead, he had to go in while Thanos was distracted with another weapon.
Just as Steve flung his shield at Thanos’s face, Tony swung back around with his repulsors and aimed a shot right at an exposed place in his armor, behind his knee.
As Thor shot lightning from both of his hammers, which was blocked by Thanos’s Big Fucking Sword, Tony wound up and slashed right at Thanos’s head from the back with his nanoblade. Then Tony suddenly remembered.
“Steve!” he shouted over the comms. Everyone was too busy trying not to get their ass kicked.
“STEVE!” he shouted again. “CAP! CALL MIJOLNIR!”
“What?” grunted Steve as he was thrown to the ground by Thanos’s free hand.
“WHAT?” Thor yelled as he charged yet another lightning blast to disarm Thanos’s sword while the first one had failed.
“JUST DO IT!” Tony yelled. “I know you can do it. Thor, let go!”
“Tony, I don’t know if-” Steve started.
“Now just a minute!” Thor shouted as he came in with a thunderbolt strike, “I am a god of Asgard. That hammer is-”
“It’s gonna look super fucking hot,” Tony said quickly, dodging a sword strike that had come much too close for comfort.
“On it, Tony,” Steve said (a little too quickly), and stuck his hand out.
Lightning crackled. The hammer lifted from Thor’s hand. With a loud sound, it flung right into Steve, who caught it.
“OH COME ON!” Thor yelled.
“That’s my man,” Tony sighed fondly. Right then he was smacked right in the chest by a flying wind up by Thanos’s helicopter sword.
The sound of thunder crackling and the feeling of lightning rushed through the air as Tony brushed the rubble off of himself and wound up for another round. He wasn’t knocked down as badly as last time, so he could get up and fight with his friends.
He watched as Steve swung his hammer right at Thanos’s big ugly chin, cracked shield in his other hand, electricity sparkling all over his already battered blue suit.
Tony didn’t think he had words to describe how proud he was of him in that moment as he rushed in to fight beside him.
And then, when the time came, Tony got to stand with him on the precipice and watch as sparkling yellow portals spun open in midair, revealing allies, friends, and family. Tony felt like crying. The battle had begun once more.
Once everyone was assembled. Tony looked over at Steve and Thor. They were leading the charge. All three of them. Together. If Tony reached out just the slightest bit he could grab Steve’s hand, if it weren’t otherwise occupied with a broken shield.
“AVENGERS!” Steve shouted. He turned to Tony, gracing him with a hopeful glance. Tony felt sick.
“Assemble.”
The battle was one big case of Deja-vu, which Tony tried to keep his head for. He tried so desperately to call the shots before they happened to be prepared for them, but so much was going on at once that he could barely remember the fight and fight it at the same time.
He called out “WHERE’S THE GAUNTLET’ more times than he could count, knowing how crucial it was that it never got anywhere near Thanos. They had just barely made it last time, the last thing they needed was a slip up this time. He got to reunite with Peter again, which was nice. He got to see Captain Marvel flying in to the rescue and absolutely wrecking everybody, which was also nice. And for a second there, as she was taking care of Thanos like nobody’s business, Tony actually thought they had a chance without the snap.
Then Dr Strange came flying in. And everything came back to him.
The memory of what Stephen said to him hit him right in the chest.
One in fourteen million, we win.
Captain Marvel yelled in determination as she yanked at Thanos’s gauntlet, so close to having it off. And then Thanos yanked the power stone off, and blasted her back with it in his free hand. She was blown back and slammed into the ground thirty feet away.
Tony felt his heart beat in his throat. He looked Dr Strange in the face, who looked back at him. Tony pleaded with the universe, though he didn’t know what for. He didn’t want the universe to be destroyed but he didn’t want to go through this again, either.
Stephen’s fingers slowly formed a “one.”
Tony felt the gut punch and forced himself not to care. His body was in survival instincts mode, almost as if he knew he was about to die.
At least it would be quick.
Tony watched as Thanos returned the power stone to the gauntlet, power coursing through him. Tony took his chance. It was in his memory. He could do it again. He could save everyone, and Nat. But not himself.
Tony pushed the thought down and grabbed the gauntlet as Thanos was distracted by the power of the stones. He felt all six stones traveling from Thanos’s hand to his. Each one made its place on Tony’s hand and it took everything Tony had within him to prevent from showing the pain.
The last stone made it to Tony and he relaxed, right as Thanos slapped him to the side with the force of a car wreck.
“I am… Inevitable,” said Thanos as he stood up, looking Tony in the eye and holding up the gauntlet. He snapped with a pitiful clank .
“Yeah, I know,” said Tony, rolling his eyes. Thanos looked at his empty glove, and then right back at Tony as he realized his mistake. The pain in Tony’s hand was great but the feeling of power Tony got from Thanos’s fear in that moment was far greater.
“And I… am…” Tony gasped, readying his hand, and his heart. He hoped Natasha would thank him for this at the funeral.
“...Iron Man.”
Tony snapped his fingers.
Everything went white. An explosion ripped through him. He took what he knew to be his last breath.
Or so he thought.
Because Tony suddenly felt like he was floating again.
You know that feeling when you wake up at an early hour in the morning, and light is streaming through the windows, and you have more time to sleep, so you shut your eyes, expecting sleep to come? Concentrating on it, even? But after three or four seconds and a dozen beats of your heart, you slowly realize your brain is conscious and you’re not going to be able to fall back to sleep?
That’s how Tony felt when he realized he was not dead.
Not only not dead, but sitting in that same damn gray tee shirt, in the lab of his cabin, staring at the looped hologram of a mobïus strip, hand completely intact.
“Shit,” he swore. “I’m in a fucking time loop.”