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(ELEANOR RIGBY)
CHAPTER ONE-----▹

"YOU KNOW WHAT THERE SHOULD BE...NO MORE SURPRISES." Tony Stark, gently placed a hand on his fiance's shoulder, "We're going to have a nice dinner tonight, show off this Harry Winstone. Right? And we should have no more surprises ever. I should promise you." 

Pepper beamed, "Yes." Tony leaned forward capturing her lips in a soft kiss, "Thank you," she whispered into the kiss. Another happy couple that the universe was trying to pull apart. 

Do the heroes ever truly win?

"Tony Stark. I'm Dr. Stephen Strange, and I need you to come with me." recognition flickered on Tony's face. Was this Leigh's father?

The portal flickered behind Strange, orange sparks moving around, "Oh, uh congratulations on the wedding by the way."

"I'm sorry, you giving out tickets to something?" Tony quipped in annoyance, "We need your help...look, it's not overselling it to say that the fate of the universe is at stake." 

"And who is 'we'?" Bruce stepped out from the portal, "Hey Tony."

"Bruce." his voice came out slightly shocked, "Pepper." Bruce nodded towards her, "Are you ok?" Tony asked, and Bruce just leaned forward and hugged him.

------

"At the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then...boom," Light filled the room, a sort of projection of the galaxy filling the open air. "The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals...hurtling across the virgin universe.

Wong began explaining the whole thing, Tony sitting at the edge of his seat, "These Infinity Stones, each control an essential aspect of existence." 

The blue stone glowed, "Space," Dr. Strange stated, "Reality," the red stone floated through the air, "Power,"

A purple stone was followed by an orange one, "Soul." The final projection was of a yellow stone, "Mind."

"And time," Stephen reached down to the necklace that dangled from his neck, revealing a green stone. Tony's eyes moved from the stone to Bruce, "Tell me his name again."

"Thanos. He's a plague, Tony. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population. He sent Loki." Tony turned to face him again, "The attack on New York, that's him."

"This is it....what's our timeline?" Tony asked, "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 could destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of." Strange cut off Bruce, Tony leaned against something, stretching his legs. 

"Did you seriously just say "hitherto undreamt of"?" Tony asked, "Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?" Stephen countered.

"Is that what that is?" Tony started to ask when the cloak whacked him, Tony looked down, taken back, "I'm going to allow that."

"If Thanos needs all six why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?" Tony asked, "No can do." Stephen shut him down immediately. 

"We swore an oath to protect the time stone with our lives." Wong stated, "And I swore off dairy but then Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me." Tony countered.

"Stark Raving Hazelnuts." Stephen spoke, "Not bad." 

"A bit chalky." Stephen shrugged, "A Hunk of Hulk of Burning Fudge is our favorite," Wong announced.

"That's a thing?" Bruce asked, "Whatever. Point is, things change."

Stephen stepped slightly closer to Tony, "Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change. And this stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."

"Yeah, so conversely it may also be his best chance against us." Tony argued, "Well, if we don't do our jobs."

"What is your job exactly, besides making balloon animals?" Tony asked, "Sure as hell isn't being a good father."

Stephen was taken back. What gave Tony Stark the right to say something like that?

"Why would that be any of your business?" Stephen looked at him, "Maybe it's because I was more family to Leigh than you have been in years. Maybe an occasional 'excellent job, you made through med school' message but that's about it."

Stephen only faltered briefly at the comment, "Protecting your reality douchebag."

"Okay. Guys, could we table this discussion for now?" Bruce pleaded, "The fact is that we have this stone. We know where it is." 

Bruce exasperatedly motioned around, "Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind Stone...and we have to find him now."

Tony glanced up from the ground, "Yeah, that's the thing. Two weeks ago Vision turned off his transponder. He's offline." 

"What?" Bruce exclaimed, "Tony, you lost another superbot?"

"I didn't lose him, he's more than that. He's evolving." Tony defended.

"Then who could find vision?" Stephen asked, and Tony walked off to the side, quietly muttering, "Shit."

"Probably Steve Rogers..."Tony trailed off, "Or maybe even Leigh."

"Oh, great," Bruce walked forward, "Maybe." Tony cut off, "But..." 

"Call him." Bruce instructed, "It's not that easy."

Bruce looked confused when Tony met his eyes, "God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we?"

"No."

"The Avengers broke up. We're toast." Tony stated, "Broke up? Like a band? Like...like the Beatles?" Bruce asked 

How could such a thing happen, to such a close-knit group of people? I mean they always had the key element of shared trauma, they were the only people who would truly understand each other in a way.

"Cap and I fell out hard. We're not on speaking terms." he explained, "Tony...listen to me. Thor's gone. Thanos is coming. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not."

Wong off to the side made a similar comment to Stephen Strange, "You should call her, it might be your last chance."

The phone rang once or twice before the girl on the other end of the line picked up, "Natasha I know I didn't check in thi-"

"Leigh?" Stephen asked, immediately getting the woman's attention. "Dad? How-what? I have so many words for you right now!" he could tell that she was angry, she had the right to be.

"You disappeared for like a year and didn't call me once!" she fumed, "Leigh, I know...I know. I will make it up to you when the whole world isn't about to end."

Leigh scoffed, "What the hell are you going on about? Ok, you know what forget, whatever drugs you are on, or something, just don't call this number again. Stay the hell out of my life."

By the beeping from the other end of the phone,  Stephen knew she had hung up on him. It appeared as though Stark was about to make the call to the only other chance they had when a distant rumbling started up.

Tony looked around, his eyes landing on Stephen, "Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would ya?"

"Not at the moment, No."