Revelations

Tell me, Agent Romanoff, how was Vormir?"

"I didn't particularly enjoy the skydive I did without a parachute… It could have ended better."

He wanted to shout for joy. There was no way this was not his Natasha. "It is you," he whispered. "Clint said you fell…"

"We fought. Someone had to do it and Clint had a family to go home to. And, I had red in my ledger…"

"Nat… you made up for that years ago…"

"I never believed I did. But sacrificing myself so we could bring everyone back? I cleared the red in my ledger, Tony." She moved to sit beside him on the bed.

He surprised himself by wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in for a hug. "God, when you didn't appear back on the platform… Nat, don't ever do anything like that again, okay?"

She embraced his hug, wrapping her arms around him too. "If there is no other way…"

"No, there is. There has to be," Tony answered. "We're both here for a reason. We didn't die and be sent back if we were not going to change our deaths."

Natasha pulled back, looking up at him with her intense green eyes. "You… died?"

"Surely you must have guessed…"

"I hoped you hadn't…" She squeezed his arm. "Pepper… Morgan."

"I know." He bowed his head, tears threatening to fall as he thought of them.

"Who else died?" she asked quietly.

"No one. Just us."

She paused but her answer was barely a whisper. "We won?"

He nodded. "We did."

"But… if it worked… and we won…" She moved from the bed and began pacing. "Why have we been sent back?"

Tony shrugged. "To fix things." At least that was what the mysterious voice in his head had informed him.

"Wait," she turned to face him, "if we won, how come you died?"

"Turns out messing with time means it can mess back with you," he explained. "We brought everyone back. Bruce did it. He was the only one strong enough to wield the stones without dying. But… moments later the Compound was blown to pieces. Thanos was there with his army."

Natasha raised a hand. "Hold on, Thanos? I was there when Thor killed him."

Branch reality. Nebula and Rhodey. 2014.

The words floated into his head as if he had always known those details.

"My guess is this Thanos was from a branch reality which was created when Rhodey and Nebula retrieved the Power Stone. We knew from Nebula that the time we were aiming for was around the days when Thanos was actively looking for the Power Stone. I think he must have found out… Wait…" His mind was whirring and he gasped. "Nebula disappeared when we had all the stones… She wasn't there for the Snap…" He jumped from the bed, running his hands through his hair. "She did it! She brought Thanos from the past! But… she hates him… why would she?" He was talking more to himself now.

"Nebula once told me she was connected to a network. A network Thanos has access to," remembered Natasha.

"Of course! That's it!" Tony was jubilant. "The Nebula that came back with Rhodey wasn't our Nebula! It was her past self! That's why Thanos arrived." Tony sat back on the edge of the bed. "We had to fight Thanos and his army. We were out of practice, Nat. Even Thor struggled. It was bleak… then the cavalry arrived. All of the Avengers assembled together and we faced Thanos' army. Pepper was there…" His face shined as he remembered Pepper fighting in the Rescue armour, how she had proven to be at ease within it. "Thanos knew we had the stones. He kept trying to take them from us. The time machine was destroyed when his ship came through and our only option to get rid of them was to get back into the Quantum Realm. Scott's van was on the battlefield. But Thanos, he got hold of the stones…Nat, he was going to wipe out the entire universe and rebuild it in his image. Carol arrived and destroyed his ship but she got blasted by the Power Stone and thrown away… It was the only way, Nat. The stones were in a gauntlet I had made. It resonated with my own suit… I attacked Thanos, one last effort to stop him from killing all life in the universe…"

Tony looked at his right arm, shuddering suddenly.

"The nanonites in my suit stole the stones from the Gauntlet. Thanos didn't notice. When he tried to snap his fingers, that's when he knew I had the stones."

"Oh, Tony…" Natasha swallowed. He could see in her expression she already knew what he'd done and the heavy price he had paid for his act of self-sacrifice.

"I killed him," choked out Tony. "Killed him and his whole army." He was still standing in front of Natasha but the reality of what he had done was crashing down around him. Of what he had given. Of what he had lost. "Pepper… She was there…" He could feel tears welling in his eyes. He never cried. Tony Stark never cried. "I remember dying… my vision going… the next thing I know I'm waking up here."

Natasha got to her feet and gently pulled Tony into a hug. "It's alright. You've been through a lot. You threw yourself right into this new time without really coming to terms with what had happened to you."

Pulling away from her embrace, Tony fumbled for a handkerchief and dried his wet eyes. "Pepper was the last thing I saw. She said I could rest now… Obviously, I can't if I'm here."

Natasha winced. "I think you're here because of my choices, Tony."

He looked at her sharply. "What do you mean?" He frowned, his eyes still shimmering with tears. "When I was regaining consciousness in Lagos, you said you still needed me. Why?"

Nat shifted away from Tony so she was facing him. "How long do you think I've been here, Tony?"

"Slightly longer than me. A few weeks?" he answered.

She shook her head, her hair falling about her shoulders. "Two years."

Tony's eyes widened. "What? Two years?"

"Maybe I should start at the beginning?" she suggested.

Tony nodded for her to continue.

"When I died, I retained consciousness. I didn't know where I was. I remember seeing orange skies… orange water… I was just there… in the water. I'm not sure how long I was there for… Then I heard a voice calling my name. It told me I had a choice to make. I could accept my fate and move on or live again and save everybody. I chose the second option because I assumed it meant my sacrifice hadn't meant anything, that all of you had failed…"

Tony shook his head. "No, we won. I beat him. I was nearly out of it but I remember seeing his army begin to turn to dust. I never really saw Thanos go but I made sure to target him… And we'd bought everyone back too. We won, Nat."

She frowned, looking a little confused. "But then why give me the option to choose?"

"Because maybe we are meant to stop Thanos from using the stones in the first place," Tony reasoned. "The universe was destabilised in the wake of the Decimation. Imagine what it could be like in the aftermath of everyone being brought back? People moved on with their lives. Some, not all but those that did… If their loved ones returned… how chaotic would it be?"

"We'll never know as we are not there."

"Why do you believe I am here because of your choices?" he asked. It had been curious wording from her. Nat had been given a choice, he hadn't unless he couldn't consciously remember being given one.

"After I made my choice the voice told me I'd be sent back but I could only waken in the year I died in, which was 2014. It told me it wasn't time for me to change anything just yet and if I'd tried, outside forces would prevent me from doing so. And, believe me, I tried to expose Hydra, prevent Ultron, everything but each time I attempted it, I was stopped. The voice kept telling me, these last two years, I had to wait for someone else, that I needed them. They wouldn't tell me who. Only that I'd know when events started to change."

"Ah, so you knew as soon as I stepped into the planning room," deduced Tony.

"Yes. You were never involved with Lagos. Admittedly, I assumed it would be Steve. I wasn't sure if the voice meant someone else would die but I always thought it would be Steve who'd go down fighting… and he'd be the one to arrive. I spent so much time around Steve the last few years, so to me it made sense to be him."

Tony wasn't sure whether to feel offended or not. "You know I've made more sacrifice plays than Cap has, right?"

Natasha winced. "I know."

"Still," assured Tony, "if our original timeline isn't the one we are altering –"

It is. The voice echoed around his head.

"Mysterious voice says it is!" Tony rolled his eyes.

Natasha cracked a smile. "You'll get used to the voice. I hadn't heard it in a while… then you arrived,"

"At least we're in this together. I'm glad I'm not alone."

"It's nice I can finally do something instead of living the same thing again."

Tony chuckled. "So…" He leaned back, hands resting behind him, supporting himself on the bed. "Got any ideas on where to start other than what I've already started on?"

"A fair few," she admitted, "mainly involving how to obtain the Infinity Stones earlier."

"Hmm. We need to keep the team together, Nat," said Tony quietly. "We cannot let ourselves split over the Accords."

"Agreed. We need to prevent what's occurring now." She inclined her head. "What have you started on?"

"We both know Barnes is hiding in Bucharest but I've ordered Friday to start a worldwide search for him so I can convince Rogers I did my research."

"Good idea. I don't believe telling Steve about… our conditions… would be a good idea."

Tony nodded his head. "Definitely not. The fewer people who know about us, the better. I've got her also searching for Helmut Zemo. He's either putting his plans in motion or he has yet to act… I want to find him before he begins to act. We have a few weeks before we really need to worry. 22nd May is the day he plants the bomb and frames Barnes. Ideally, I'd like to capture him then if we are unable to locate him prior."

"Good. We need the intel to back up our assertions if we are going to exonerate Barnes from any wrongdoing," valued Nat.

"I'm also tracking Stephen Strange. I think we need his involvement in this but we have to wait until he becomes the Supreme Sorcerer or whatever he will become," finished Tony. "But that isn't all. We need to call in Carol and make links with the Guardians."

"Calling in Carol will be difficult. Fury keeps the pager with him at all times…"

Tony frowned and sat forward. "We need to convince Fury somehow… Telling him is not an option. The only person I want to tell is Pepper."

Natasha grimaced. "What if telling Pepper backfires?"

"It won't," he smiled. "I've got a feeling telling her everything is the right move."

It is.

"Oh." Natasha jumped.

"You heard?" he grinned.

"Yeah. Whoever the voices are they are trying to pinpoint us in the right direction. We need an ally, Nat. Pep is the best one. And… I cannot keep secrets from her." Tony's lips twitched. "She's already had to suffer enough… watching me die."

"She won't this time," assured Nat.

Tony didn't comment, just pulled a face. "God… I just think of how strong she was in my final moments. She didn't cry… She kept on smiling, knowing it would be the last thing I'd see. She was so strong… I didn't want to go, Nat…" He turned his head away, the tears threatening to fall again.

"Most of us don't," she answered quietly, moving closer to Tony, resting her head on his shoulder. "We both made the choice to die, knowing what it would cost us. We were at our endgame."

"We thought we were," noted Tony sighing. "We were wrong. We're still needed."

"Seems the universe cannot cope without us, Stark," quipped Natasha, laughing quietly. Then her face grew more serious. "So, long term goals: stop Thanos. Short term goals: keep the team together."

"Yeah. A middle goal for us is making contact with Carol and/or the Guardians. We're lucky the Accords are not being pushed forward as quickly so Zemo may not be able to break us apart as he hopes. I do know several countries are calling for them to be ratified. I think we should operate on the assumption they will be happening. Instead of the government coming to us about them, we should be going to the United Nations ourselves to work with them. It may mitigate the impact they'd have on our activities if we show a willingness to co-operate with the international community."

"But how do we sell the idea to Steve?"

Tony leaned back, frowning. Steve was the problem. His moral compass wouldn't allow him to compromise. Steve wanted to do things his way because he believed it to be the right way. "Leave that to me. I think you should discuss it with the others… and… reach out to Clint. And Scott too. I know we haven't officially met him yet either but we need to be on good terms with him and…" Tony paused. "No. Leave the Pym's to me. Hank Pym hates me simply because of my father. I need to be the one to reach out."

"Right. We have a plan then."

"We do. We also need our own secret communication channel. I'll build a wrist device which will allow us to communicate discreetly. And that's another thing, I'm going to avoid involving Ross in the Accords business. His involvement last time didn't help matters," explained Tony. "We may not have any choice in dealing with him at some points but it is doable. It is important we go to the United Nations as a united front to work with them or we'll find ourselves split…"

Nat's expression was stern. "We have to prevent it from happening."

"We're gonna have a rough couple of months with this, Nat…" Tony looked at her. He felt old, wanting to be back at home in his cabin with Morgan and telling her stories of what he used to do. But he couldn't because she didn't exist just yet nor did the cabin as he'd built it from scratch.

"I know. You're lucky, Tony," she smiled wearily. "You didn't have to wait for two years, living through the same thing, knowing you could do nothing to change it. Waiting for you has been… hard."

"I'm here now, Nat," he replied quietly. "We've been given a blessing and a curse."

"Two years to not mess this up," she pointed out.

"Two years before Thanos," swallowed Tony. He was not looking forward to facing him again. He knew he would. And that was when he remembered, the secrets he had carried with him since Titan, the words Thanos had said to him… "There's something about Thanos and I which I never told any of you about when I got back from Titan. And… God.. Nat, it terrifies me."

Natasha caught his gaze, studying him. "Tony, what is it?" She reached forward and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to say."

He swallowed, knowing it was the right thing to do to tell Natasha. If they were going to be working together she had to know. His trip to another planet had continued to haunt him on a regular basis even after Morgan had been born. Waking up from nightmares had become a regular occurrence. "I was the last one standing. Nat. He threw a moon at me… But when I flew back down to face him, to defend Strange, to stop Thanos from taking the stone… Nat… He said my name. He said 'Stark'."

Natasha's eyebrows rose up in surprise. "He said your name?"

Tony nodded slowly. "Yeah. When I queried it, he said I wasn't the only one cursed with knowledge… I don't know what he meant. Or really understand how he knew my name. It's like… He knows me."

Thanos was behind the attack on New York in 2012.

The voice echoed through their heads. They both glanced at one another.

"We knew he was behind it… Bruce told us," observed Natasha. "But… why you?"

Tony didn't need a voice to tell him why. He already knew. "The missile… I destroyed his army, didn't I? He might not have cared about the rest of you because you just fought his army…" Tony began to reason.

Natasha gasped. "But he would want to know who repelled his invasion, successfully ended it."

Tony shuddered, a shiver running down his spine. "It's scary thinking he may have done his research on me. He was eager to fight me one-on-one. When I launched my first attack I heard him say 'come on' as if he was preparing himself to face me, as if he had been anticipating fighting me for a long time." He was surprised how much he still remembered of the fight, even years after it had happened. "It was short. But I lasted the longest. I managed to draw blood after using a variety of attacks. He just came at me, Nat. Punching, hitting me… tearing my suit from me. Picking me up and hitting me at point-blank range with the Power Stone. I tried everything to fend off his attacks… even tried to stab him." The others had never known of his stab wound as Nebula had already healed it before his return to Earth. "That backfired spectacularly on me. Turned my own weapon against me and stabbed it through my right side."

"HE DID WHAT?" Natasha shrieked. "Why did you not say anything before?"

Tony winced. "Blue meanie helped me before Carol rescued us. Only two who ended up knowing were Pepper and Rhodey. I didn't want to admit what he did to me. Or what he said. There's more… I couldn't fight after he stabbed me. Pushed me back until he could force me to sit on some rocks… He put the Gauntlet on my head, forcing me to look at him. He said to me I had his respect, that half of humanity would still be alive, which was true…He shoved me back, stood back up… He told me he hoped people would remember me… He was gonna kill me with the stones. He pointed the Gauntlet at me, all four stones lighted up… And then Strange bargained for my life. Willingly gave up the Time Stone to spare me. I guess we know why he did. He knew what the outcome would be when he looked into the future and saw one way to win. He knew I had to be alive…" He'd never revealed Strange had looked into the future and when he saw Natasha's questioning glance, he decided to elaborate. "Before Thanos arrived on Titan, Strange looked into the future with the Time Stone. He searched for many different ways to win… We lost in all but one of those futures. He was right… but the cost of that future was…"

"Our lives," finished Natasha quietly.

Tony sighed. "Yeah, our lives, but we've been given another chance. Why we don't know. We just have to work with what we've got and hopefully we can beat the timeframe set down upon us."

"We will." Natasha caught his gaze. "I do not intend to die failing. We will succeed, Tony, but we need to work together. And… with what you've revealed about Thanos and you… it may be something we can use against him."

Tony wasn't sure whether he liked it or not. "Maybe…"

She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You won't be alone next time you face him. I'll be there too. We'll face this together."

A slight smile tugged at his lips. "Thanks, Nat. Thank you."

"We're a team, Stark." She stood from the bed and placed one hand on her hip and held out her right one to him. "Come on. We've got work to do."

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