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A Day Unlike Any Other

Two days ago, Avengers Tower.

"Boss, Doctor Stephen Strange is in the building," said a female voice with an Irish accent just before the elevator doors on the top floor in Avengers Tower (maybe he could go back to re-naming it Stark Tower now that everyone is elsewhere) opened.

"Stephen! It's been so long!" Tony said, standing up from the couch to pour himself and the guest a glass of martini.

"Yeah, Tony, it's been what? A year?" said the Sorcerer Supreme, accepting the glass and sitting down with the shorter man.

"I think it's been longer than that. About a year ago was that party you missed because of the accident, remember? Oh, how are you, though? I heard you can't operate anymore because of the damage done to your hands," said Tony with faked casuallity. He knew why he had called the man here.

"Well, it could've been worse, right?" smiled Strange. "Now I work at Lrei. It's a middle school basically at the crossroads of sixth and Bleecker."

"Really? I've heard something else," mused Tony. "You know, news travels fast. That is, if you're a techno-genius, a billionare and a superhero." Tony smiled and slightly bowed. "What I want to say is - nice to meet you, Sorcerer Supreme."

Stephen smiled, then looked him up and down. "You seem worn-out, Tony."

"I know you've been busy, but you have heard about Berlin, right?" Strange nodded.

"Yeah. The dubbed 'Civil War'. I heard the team was split up, and what was left of you here, wasn't the sort of team someone would wish to be a part of." "Thanks for rubbing it in my face, Stephen," Tony mumbled.

"But I don't get why you would be so tired," Strange continued. "You see, even if you wanted to bring the team back from Wakanda - before you ask, you have your sources, I have mine - you could've simply hired some good lawyers. Knowing how much money you have, you easily could've gotten a real-life Denny Crane. I know that your friend is recovering really well, and I also know that the Spider-Kid, or whatever his name is, can take care of himself just fine. So what's eating at you, Tony?"

The genius' media smile was fading the whole time Stephen was talking, and now it was completely gone. He looked away and took a deep breath, then slowly said: "I need help."

Now, Stark Tower.

Tony couldn't sleep. He just couldn't. He knew something was coming, but he didn't know what or who or how or where or even when that would happen. Well, after the talk with Dr Strange he at least had an Idea of why They might be coming.

It was two in the morning and he was lying in his bed, wide awake. The ctiy outside was as loud as ever, but in his room, everything was quiet like the objects themselves were in anticipation of something. That was, until Friday broke the silence.

"Boss, I don't want to bring bad news, but a big object of unknown origin has just entered our Solar system and is approaching Earth at great speeds."

"Is it slowing down?" Tony was up and running in an insant. He went straight for the elevator door.

"Yes, Boss. By my data and calculations it has been slowing down for some time and will come to a complete stop at the edge of our atmosphere."

"Can you give me a visual?" he asked, stepping out into his armory. It was darker than usual, like something was covering his windows. Or the night sky.

"Nevermind Friday, I see it." He started suiting up. "Call Strange and tell him to get the others. Tell him that Peter is in London, just finishing a competition I think, Rhodey, Vision and Natasha are still at the compound upstate, and the rest of them are still in Wakanda. You can also remind him that anyone else who he knows can help will be happily accepted." "Got it, Boss. And just so you know, something decended from the alien object onto Central Park."

The faceplate came down on his face. "Then let's go. We have a meeting to attend to."

Central Park.

The spaceship was huge, to say the least. It stretched about ten blocks from side to side. In length, though... That was another matter entirely.

"Friday, where is the thing that landed?" Tony said looking around.

"Things," the AI corrected. "I've counted five of them."

"Even better..." Tony sarcasticly mumbled when five spots appeared on his HUD. "Is Strange carrying out his part?"

"He is, Boss. He has also found some new people who are willing to help." Tony smiled.

"Okay then, Friday. What do you say we-" Tony was stopped mid-sentence by something colliding into him. He realised one of the spots was missing, and turned around. There it was. And the thing the spot was showing to was right in front of him.

It was two meters tall, muscly, dark purple, with some kind of armour. On its left hand it had a golden gauntlet with three holes and three gem-looking stones, one blue, one orange and one purple.

Tony wasn't scared easily, but this alien made him want to go curl in his bed with the lights on and surround himself with fluffy pillows. It reminded him of Afghanistan and of the portal from all those years ago (That spaceship did look familiar. Huh.), it reminded him of how terrified he was when he was tortured and when the so familiar shield turned on him, it reminded him of how scary the dark can be and just how much scarier the things which dwell there are.

"Let's see what we have here..." it boomed with a deep voice that sent chills down his spine. It looked at him and Tony could swear he felt like the Alien was looking into his soul, through the armour. He realised he didn't feel safe and he hasn't since the moment he saw the Alien.

"Tell Strange to hurry the hell up!" Tony yelled, adrenalin pumping though him. "An alien is here and it's scaring the crap out of me!" And after a second of careful consideration he added: "Don't tell him that last one!"

The Alien reached out towards him and Tony instinctively took a few steps back. "I think it's a scared little human." It turned towards the other four aliens. "I can handle him. Go have fun," it said to them.

"Yes, Master Thanos!" they said in unision, then went their seperate ways.

The Alien - Thanos stood up straight and grinned at Tony. "Do you know why I'm here, little man?" he said, taking a step towards the genius.

"Infinity Stones or something like that, right?" Tony aswered with his practised air of cockiness.

"That is also true. My main objective though," Thanos said, towering over the Iron Man armour, "is to end this world and every other world I come across."

"Well, that's just too bad, Thanos or whatever your name is. You see, this planet is protected," Tony argued, "by many, many powerful Terrans. Well, and non-Terrans," he smiled. "My point is - you might come across some of them, and, believe me when I say this, you don't want to be on their bad side."

"We'll see about that," Thanos said and took a swing at Tony. He was lighting fast and Tony was blown out of the park and into a building.

"Friday, how's Strange doing? Just curious, nothing else, I mean, we're defnitely not in a hurry" Tony said, trying to get out of the rubble. "Some of the people invited are just setting in their comm devices," Friday informed him. "I'm turning your comm on, so you will be able to hear them."

The few seconds it took Tony to get out of the rubble of the wall were enough for Thanos to show up in front of him. The blue gem must be from the Tesseract. It would make sense for him to be able to teleport with it, if it's the space gem like Strange said.

Thanos grabbed the face of the armour and threw it away. And there goes my way of communication.

"Spider-Man on," Tony heard a young voice in the remaining part of the helmet.

"Vision on."

"War Machine on."

"Black Widow on."

Tony was starting to smile when Thanos threw a punch. His lip got cut and and his right cheekbone probably got broken. Tony knew he wouldn't be able to distract him for too long. But he decided to do the best he could.

"Captain America on."

"Sergeant Barnes on."

Tony threw up his arms to protect himself, but it didn't help much against the next punch. He felt a bone brake through his skin and his left hand was engulfed in white-hot pain.

"Ant-Man on."

"Wasp on."

"Falcon on.

"Scarlett Witch on."

"Hawkeye on."

"Black Panther on."

Tony couldn't believe it. Everyone from the so-called Team Cap was coming to help. Well, they weren't really coming to his aid, but at least they had a common enemy now. He spread his arms wide and shot the unibeam at Thanos.

Miraculously, Thanos was blown away and Tony got himself a few more seconds to properly get out of the rubble and into the air.

"Star Lord on."

"Gamora on."

"Rocket Raccoon on."

"Groot on."

"Strax on."

"Mantis on."

"Nebula on."

"Yondu on."

Wow. The Guardians of the Galaxy? Every time Tony chatted with Quill over the home-made long-range radio, the latter told him he felt like he didn't really have a place on Earth with his mother dead and his father being a living planet ("Though he's not so much living anymore..."). That means Thanos must've been a humongous threat if the whole team decided to help. Maybe they know what his plan is, Tony thought to himself.

"Thor on."

Look who decided to finally show up.

"Loki on."

"Valkyire on."

"Lady Sif on."

"Volstagg on."

"Hogun on."

"Fandral on."

"Heimdall on."

Tony was flying above Central Park, looking for Thanos, when said alien fell on him from above. "Son on a-" Tony yelled just before they hit the ground.

"Bruce Banner on."

"Korg on."

"Miek on."

"Caira on."

Tony turned around onto his stomach. With the heavily-damaged suit, he somehow managed to slowly climb out of the crater they made, watchful of his hand and freshly-broken ribs, and before him stood Thanos... Unscathed.

"Nick Fury on."

"Maria Hill on."

"Sharon Carter on."

"Captain Marvel on."

There isn't a scratch. On. Him.. "How...?" Tony managed to spit out before Thanos grabbed his broken hand and lifted him into the air.

"Director Coulson on."

"Agent May on."

"Agents Fitz-Simmons on."

"Agent Mackenzie on."

"Quake on."

"Yo-yo on."

"Ghost Rider on."

He was simply dangling there, his arm almost numb from the pain. "Do you give up, human? Or do you want to play on?" Thanos smirked.

Tony lifted his head to look Thanos in the eyes. "Oh, I'm just getting started." He lifted his other hand and shot a repulsor blast right into Thanos' face. But nothing happened.

"Medusa and Black Bolt on."

"Gorgon on."

"Crystal on."

"Karnak on."

What is going on with this guy?! Is his skin impenetrable or something?!

"Jessica Jones on."

"Luke Cage on."

"Iron Fist on."

"Daredevil on."

"Elektra on."

"That won't work on me, little mortal," said Thanos, smiling, and then suddenly his eyes turned a blazing yellow and he blasted Tony away with some kind of plasma energy that shot out of his eyes.

"Wong on."

"Doctor Strange on. We're coming."

Tony couldn't get up. He just couldn't. Yup, punctured lung. Thanks, Thanos. He rolled his head to the left when he saw an orange spark in the air near him. The spark grew into a small circle and was getting bigger and bigger until it was big enough for people to pass through. Then the orange inside of the circle turned to white and Tony could see a room.

A room full of people. And they were coming through.

Tony saw a dark blue figure standing above him and he thought he was back in Siberia, when the person extended their hand to help him up. "Stephen Strange said you needed help. We're here," said Captain America.

"Oh and we brought you a new armour," smiled Bruce.

"We knew you'd be totaled when we got here," added Peter Quill with a wink.

Tony smiled, truly smiled. He stepped out of the armour and into the new model he made just the day before, but didn't get to see it built. The armour enveloped him like a warm hug. He looked around. So many people came to help. He felt safe like he hasn't for years.

"Iron Man on. Let's do this."