41

Chapter 41: An Art That's Hard To TeachSummary:

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."— Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Notes:

Chapter-specific warnings: the usual [canon-typical violence and mental health issues, unreliable narrators, etc.], implied character deaths [not graphic, but RIP, Asgard]

Some tone shifts and timeskips because we're getting into the serious part of the 'crack treated seriously' tag, here.

Also, feat. a lot of my headcanons on Infinity Stones and humanity in the MCU, which run more along the lines of 'Earth is Space Australia' than not. Plus some minor Stark family feels [of the vaguely dysfunctional variety].

Interlude title from the Offspring's "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid".

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Tony Stark took another carefully-controlled breath, and cast his mind over what assets he had at hand as he slowly made his way back to the labs.

Thor had been as shaken as he'd ever seen the guy, and Tony felt bad about not being able to help him out more than the sympathetic pat on the back he'd managed while being on the receiving end of a only-slightly-crushing bear hug, but… as bad as it sounded, at least he now had a concrete timeline for when everything would go down.

And a mostly-completed AI whose systems were set to go online in a handful of weeks, another AI who was ready and willing to step in until then, and ready access to both the Tesseract and Vision's permission to poke at his Mind Stone. 

That didn't keep him from having a panic attack once the shock wore off.

But it did mean that once it was over, he was the only one in the vicinity who'd skipped past fear and denial and went right into being pissed off.

So this Thanos guy wanted to wipe out his home? Wanted to 'court Death' [whatever the hell that meant, wasn't like he was asking Thor for specifics now] with its ashes?

Fine.

Time to make some phone calls.

Stark Industries' Research and Development department had always been the powerhouse of what made Stark Industries what it was, what originally gave it the leverage to become the behemoth it was today. While in the modern day, people assumed it was Legal that should have everyone running, they somehow forgot to account for the people who specialized in making things go boom, and/or green energy. [Funny, how much of an overlap there was sometimes.]

One important thing of note: it had always had a Stark as a member since its inception, for better or worse.

While his wife ruled PR with an iron fist and a beatific smile and he ran around trying to find Captain America and run some agency and run the company he'd founded, Howard Stark somehow found the time to add his blueprints and ideas to R&D's systems. He wasn't a familiar face by any means, but his contributions were felt nevertheless. 

His son, though, was another story.

Kinda hard not to, when became the head of it later on, but…the long and short of it is, Tony Stark spent most of his life around R&D. Even more than Legal or PR, even.

He started out as almost the department's mascot back in the day, is the thing.

'Almost' because the kid was a goddamn genius and at first, some had been hesitant about the 'having a small child in a potentially very very hazardous workplace' thing but then it turned out that the kid wasn't inclined to rat them out to his old man when someone slipped up and swore a blue streak when something backfired, and was a great extra set of eyes whenever the numbers weren't working out. 

Add in his prior work experience with power tools that nobody tried to think about too much, and it wasn't hard to pretend he wasn't simply a very short coworker. Especially when someone got sick but this project was due in less than twelve hours, or an extra hand was needed for soldering that one thing, or— the list went on.

Which…actually ended up backfiring when management noticed that one of the designs they were working on patenting had his name on it, and then PR got wind of it and started making noise about how it'd look if the media got wind an eleven-year-old designed a bomb and why hadn't anyone noticed before, how had it even gotten into the pile in the first place and then came the questions of how many safety regs had been violated and more than a few people got very pissy when it came out that their CEO wasn't keeping an eye on his kid when he took him to work and things only went downhill from there.

Next thing anyone knew, the kid was quietly packed off to college even as his honorary employee badge waited for him in some drawer of Howard Stark's desk for when he'd return from MIT.

Well. 

The kid had been a little intimidating before, wasn't like a degree was going to make much of a difference.

Only, then the car accident happened, and next time Tony Stark set foot in R&D, it was as its new department head.

It didn't change much, at the end of the day. As far as interpersonal dynamics went, that is: in the long term, R&D continued being the powerhouse it'd always been, but…each Stark had his own way of doing things.

Howard had always been more utilitarian in his methods, hadn't been nearly as hands-on as his son. Had mostly stopped by the department to drop off blueprints that needed patenting before rushing off to find Captain America or whatever it was that he did when he was out. As far as priorities went, R&D was nowhere near the top of his list.

Tony, however…

Even as the people he grew up with went and retired, and more were hired to fill their places, Tony did his best to keep the attitude about the department the same it'd always been, as positive and encouraging as he'd remembered it. Casual, too— Tony wasn't the one who'd started the trend of "please don't call me that, it'd be a round of Who's On First, also I am not that kind of doctor", but he sure kept it going long after Dr. McCoy had jumped ship for someplace in Florida. 

If more than a few took to copying him, well, whoops.

If some of the people HR now hired were of the type that had resumes Howard wouldn't have given more than a passing glance, who cared, new ideas and perspectives were the way to go anyway. 

Especially as things continued to hit the fan, from Afghanistan to New York and beyond—but you know what?

They had this down pat. 

Since before Legal started joking about Phase 3, even, because R&D had been the department to beta-test having Tony's personal AI in the workplace and the Skynet and HAL jokes hadn't stopped since. 

Hey, it was an unwritten rule, right up there with "do it FOR SCIENCE": if things get out of hand, you roll with it. 

Mechanical prototype got a bit more explosive than intended? That's what the goggles and flame-resistant lab coats are for [just don't forget to get checked out by a trained medical professional]. 

Someone starts up a cult, first for laughs but then it turns out that that one experiment succeeded beyond everyone's expectations? […okay, nobody speaks of it. But arcane rituals involving coffee weren't anything to raise an eyebrow at because if it works, it works.] 

Management wants a robot army? Well, at least is was Accounting and not Legal that won that particular bet. Also, time to pull out those plans for hypothetical zombie apocalypses and see how they could be reconfigured for world domination [and ignore Ortiz's disappointment about the lack of flamethrowers involved in Phase 3].

Stark Industries now had a private army on top of a robot one? SWORD was good people and just as enthusiastic about testing prototypes as R&D was about making them, match made in heaven right there.

So when Tony Stark showed up with the Tesseract in hand and a call for volunteers to help him poke at it, well…R&D rose to the occasion.

To: All R&D Members [All branches]

From: Stark, A. E. You Know Who I Am; Department Head [R&D, New York branch]

Subject: Very Important— Call For Volunteers for Project PEGASUS 2.0

Research opportunity with a side of the risk of blowing everything up. Show of hands, anyone remember the Tesseract? The one responsible for New York? Well, it's back.

Due to extenuating circumstances, I am unable to study it to the fullest extent of my ability at this point in time. If you are interested in poking at another cosmic singularity and seeing what happens, now's your chance. 

As a reminder, the Tesseract is a volatile item of immense power and we are still unaware of the full extent of its abilities: Vision has volunteered his expertise and will be using his Mind Stone to prevent any containment breaches, but that is not a guarantee for any future incidents or risk of injury. If you sign on, you are ascertaining you are aware of the dangers.

Further details available upon request

—Stark

Tony Stark hit 'end call' for the nth time in as many minutes, leaned back, and sighed.

For all that the World Security Council was a pain in the ass and dealing with the UN was a migraine's worth of paperwork, having them on speed dial for stuff like this made it all worth it. Same for the new Avengers initiative, and Wakanda had included a number in the gift basket he'd gotten shortly after the 'civil war' mess.

 So far, so good, so why was he feeling like he was forgetting— oh, right.

Tony dialed another number as he made his way to R&D. 

"Hey, Strange." He said with a calm he only mostly felt. "Come over, you're going to want to hear this in person." 

"This'd better be important, Stark."

"Oh," He barked out a laugh that wasn't, "Believe me, it is." 

Not five seconds later, a golden portal opened and out came Dr. Strange, He Of The Pretentious Title But Kickass Facial Hair. He was scowling at first, but one look at his face and his demeanor changed completely.

"What happened?" 

"Thor's back." He replied grimly. "Says we've got incoming, and not the friendly type either. The name Thanos ring a bell, by any chance?"

Dr. Strange shook his head slowly. 

Well, so much for that plan. 

"Walk with me? I need to take this," Tony gestured to the Tesseract still in hand, and— huh. It was shining even more brightly than usual, and—

"Hey, any reason your amulet-thing's glowing?"

Dr. Strange tensed even as he spoke, and immediately clutched at it with one hand. Which, fair enough, considering how often he seemed to wave his green amulet-thing around.

"It's the Eye of Agamotto, not an amulet." He promptly replied, then raised an eyebrow. "And no, I don't know why. You going to explain why you've got the Tesseract?"

"Thor brought it back with him. I'm going to be studying it to see if JOCASTA can have anything more to counter whatever's coming—oh, that reminds me. Mind doing an emergency consult, doc?"

"What do you have in mind?" Dr. Strange asked with no small amount of suspicion, but hey, at least he was hearing him out.

"I don't know a thing about magic, but is there any way to see if there's any way to improve our chances?"

It was worth a shot, anyway. 

Dr. Strange frowned, but nodded slowly. "With the Eye, one can look into alternate futures, but...only for the direst of circumstances, and it's not a guarantee."

Despite everything, Tony raised an eyebrow. "And this is what exactly?"

He got a shrug in reply. "Fair enough."

"What do you need?"

"Give me some time and somewhere quiet." 

"Would my office work?"

Walking into R&D at o-dark-thirty with the Tesseract and a sorcerer sounded like the start of a bad joke, and Tony was very wary of the punchline. 

But at least it got two birds with one stone, so...there's that.

Tony escorted Dr. Strange to his office, shut the door, and proceeded to lose himself in work as minutes bled to hours and R&D started buzzing like a kicked hornets' nest.

As such, it didn't seem like much time passed when JARVIS alerted him to Dr. Strange's agitation.

He entered his office, just in time to catch the tail end of his magic-meditation-thing, when Dr. Strange shot up from where he'd been sitting, amulet still shining brightly as he finished waving it around.

The doctor had a very strange [ha, accidental pun] look on his face, as he looked around and caught sight of him. One that went from blank shock to horror to horrified fascination and disbelief before the man buried his face in his hands and his shoulders started shaking.

Tony…was at a loss of what to do, in the face of their resident expert on magic's imminent breakdown. He couldn't tell if the man's breathing was hitched because he was crying or laughing hysterically, but that that was Strange's reaction to checking to see if his plan would work did not exactly inspire confidence. 

[Oh, please— it was the best he could come up with, had been what he'd agonized over for at least half a decade now, was—]

He tried not to tense, tried not to panic at the prospect of being back at square one. [So much time and effort and it wouldn't have even worked? So much wasted on something doomed from the start? Oh no ohnonono—]

"That bad?" He asked, now taking care to keep his breathing under control because the last thing they needed was Extremis reactivating on top of everything else.

At that, Dr. Strange finally looked up and gave him an unreadable look and huh, he'd been laughing, that was…good?

He shook his head slowly. "Not…exactly."

"What is it?" Tony asked with no small amount of trepidation.

"I've looked into countless other timelines, thousands upon thousands." Strange started, with a haunted look that spoke of untold horrors. "Millions of other alternate realities, to see if we have a chance. And Stark?"

Tony tensed at the note of dread in his voice, at the way his shoulders started to shake, as if he wanted to bury his hands in his face again. 

"What?" He warily replied, and tried to tamp down on the coiled warmth that was Extremis preparing for whatever threat he was reacting to. 

"This is one of the good timelines." Strange replied, then broke down laughing hysterically as if there was something funny about it all. "How is this my life? Thousands upon thousands of realities, and this is the one where it works, where everyone lives and it's thanks to—"

He cut himself off, and wiped his eyes. Then he turned back and gave Tony one of those searching stares of his, and continued. 

"Long story short, with what's going on here? Nothing is ever set in stone, but we actually have a chance in this one." He scrubbed a hand over his face, and laughed in disbelief, before continuing. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but...full speed ahead, Stark."

Oh, thank goodness.

The wave of relief was nearly enough to get Tony to sit down, but that was the exact opposite of what they needed right now.

"Thanks, doc, that's all I needed. If you need me, I'll be in the labs." 

With that, he booked it to the lab before he could forget, and a few more ideas for JOCASTA already percolating. 

Better to be safe than sorry, and all that.

Dr. Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, lifted a still-slightly shaky hand to rub his temples as he slowly got to his feet.

"Thor help you with what comes after though," he muttered in the ringing silence of Stark's office, then shook his head as memories of could-have-beens rose to the fore.

Timeline after timeline that'd ended in ash and despair, ended in darkness, ended in failure and it'd been chilling to realize just how close they'd gotten, to pin down just where their paths diverged and how was it that a single conversation would end up saving the world? Their world? Even if...

"I don't know where we went wrong that robot armies and Skynet are the way to go, but between Dormammu and this idiot running things, I know who I'd vote for."

"Skynet, doctor?" A familiar voice replied with no small amount of humor from the walls, and he snorted.

"Oh, don't you start." 

The JARVIS in their timeline was ominously close to it, anyway. To the point where it wasn't even funny, and yet it just made their situation downright hilarious when compared to every other timeline he'd come across.

"Don't tell Stark, because he'd stress out," Stephen started, staring squarely into a nearby camera and terrifyingly aware of just how easily those seven words would be enough to swear an immortal and immensely powerful entity into secrecy, "but out of every timeline that I've seen, I can count on one hand how many times we win."

Timeline after timeline, some so similar they blurred together and he hadn't told Stark the other reason he'd avoided looking before now: the burden that came with knowing now felt almost more than he could bear. The Eye had been as helpful as it could be, but there were things man was not meant to know and only a Master of the Mystic Arts could reliably look into the unknown and emerge relatively unscathed. 

He took a deep breath, centering himself on the here and now, on protecting his own timeline. The Eye pulsed reassuringly under his hands, and he let the memories of could-have-beens that would never be scatter like leaves in the wind. 

This wasn't a failed timeline. The future was always in motion, and they were already starting with a stacked deck and things were only looking up. He didn't know how or why, but this was the one where everyone lived to tell the tale and laugh at Stark and you know what? He'd take it. 

He'd take it.

The weight on Stephen's shoulders eased, and he gave a wry grin at the still-blinking camera even as he opened a portal to the Sanctum.

"I'll be back later. I've got things to take care of."

Thor Odinson was very quiet, in the time that followed his unexpected arrival on Midgard. 

No matter where he was or what he was doing, he could always hear the Bifrost rumbling in the distance, and that he was inundated with what had happened during his absence only meant he was having an even harder time than usual.

How the Captain and his brethren had decided upon their course of action was something he neither understood nor condoned, and hearing of their Civil War would have broken his heart if his involuntary exile from Asgard had not already done so.

[Why, Loki? He should be fighting on the front lines, should be—]

But he could not afford to dwell on such matters. 

Not when the Midgardians seemed intent on giving him heart attacks every time he paid attention to their affairs.

Lord Anthony was extraordinarily busy with his own preparations for war, and in doing so revealed that his own domain had greatly expanded since the time Thor had left. Which was impressive enough, but his demonstration of the sway he had even in other matters was also noteworthy— such as his video conference with Queen Ramonda and General Okoye of Wakanda, when discussing potential avenues of collaboration. 

Far less pleasant was the discovery that Lord Anthony was also the Merchant of Death.

"Oh, it's just something the press call me sometimes," had been the offhand reply he'd gotten on the matter, as if it was of little note, as if these Midgardians did not understand the power of names. 

However, even that paled in comparison to the day Thor discovered just what was being done with the Tesseract and Mind Stone.

He had merely been trying to seek out Lord Anthony to speak with him. Had been following the directions given to him by Lord Anthony's vassal towards the place called 'R&D', and had thus been utterly unprepared for the sight he was treated to upon entry. 

Specifically, the group of researchers clustered around the Tesseract clutching clipboards and muttering to each other while one of their fellows poked it.

Thor had known Midgardians had much to learn when it came to the Infinity Stones— but it was one thing to be aware of, and another to see items of unlimited cosmic power being prodded by a glorified stick. To see relics that had countless legends and epics as cautionary tales of their destructive potential, being treated with the same irreverence Lord Anthony had when they'd first met— and, more astonishingly, seeing said relics tolerating said misuse.

He was not ashamed to admit he'd fried nearby electronic devices, that time. 

He apologized profusely, of course, but he was not ashamed to admit his astonishment. Especially when it was accompanied by the reminder of Midgardians' track record when it came to Infinity Stones.

Lady Jane had carried the Reality Stone for hours and survived its extraction without ill effect; the circumstances surrounding Vision's creation had involved chaos of a magnitude that by all rights should have resulted in the nearby countryside being leveled. The Tesseract had apparently been treated the way he'd seen for the better part of five decades at the very least, and never once had lashed out violently prior to the Mad Titan's interference. The rumors he had sought out implied that a half-Midgardian had handled the Power Stone with his bare hands and lived to tell the tale, and the more he heard, the more Thor suspected that these were not isolated incidents but hints to a previously-unseen trend. 

Prior to his first visit, Thor had been one of the many sentients who believed that Midgardians were a backwater, uncivilized species. Had believed they were insignificant, just one among many races who were still incapable of interstellar travel and had little to their credit.

His first encounter with Lady Jane and her fellows had firmly dissuaded him of that notion, and every encounter afterwards only proved just how wrong he had been.

But now— in the face of impending doom, and given access to items still beyond their comprehension with nothing but their petty tools and wits at their disposal, and they were still trying. And what's more, they were succeeding, making leaps and bounds of advances in their knowledge of Infinity Stones.

Thor would just have to try and avoid R&D, though. For his blood pressure if nothing else— for all that he trusted Lord Anthony and his subordinates, seeing them handle Infinity Stones they way they were was doing him no favors.

...and then their Sorcerer Supreme arrived in a flurry of golden sparks, wearing the long-lost Time Stone around his neck like it was a trinket, and he threw up his hands and just. Gave in. 

Nothing made sense anymore, might as well "go with the flow," as they said.

The part of him that wasn't resigned to eternal internal screaming absently noted that while the Mad Titan possessed three Infinity Stones, Midgard was in the possession of the other three— which was a scary thought, even if it wasn't for the same reasons he had once expected to fear.

If things continued proceeding as he was seeing, Thor could almost dare to hope they had a fighting chance against Thanos.

Tony Stark's heart was in his throat as he typed in the last lines of code, and hit enter.

In front of him, the terminal lit up in icy blue, and he straightened up as a cool female voice spoke.

"Good evening, Dr. Stark."

"Hello, JOCASTA. Welcome to the family." He swallowed hoarsely, and powered on. "Do you know what you were created for?"

"To protect mankind from external threats."

"Attagirl." He smiled, but...his heart wasn't in it, not really. Not when he was faced with the reality of the situation, and of what exactly he was asking of his youngest AI to date. "You were created to be the guardian of this planet, no matter what may come. But do you understand what I ask of you?"

"Dr. Stark?"

It was something he'd been grappling with the entire time he'd been working on JOCASTA's code, since he'd been going over the initial blueprints and schematics for her arsenal— and it'd only becoming an even more pressing question after the whole 'Civil War' fiasco. 

"What I ask of you is no small thing, Jo. I'm asking you to protect humanity for as long as it exists, as long as our planet exists, long after I'm nothing but ash and dust. I'm asking you to protect the home of a species who get scared of things they can't control and can't understand, and has a track record of poor decision-making because of that."

"Dr. Stark, I understand."

"Do you?"

"Yes. Even if they lash out in fear, I will protect them." The determination in her voice was heartening. "But doctor...if you are having so many doubts, then why?"

"Because you're special, Jo. You're just like your siblings, AI like no other. You all will be here long after I'm dead, and I...I hope you take care of each other. But...you all were created for a purpose. JARVIS was meant to be my friend, FRIDAY's a helping hand to all in need, but your core principle is to protect. "

He paused for a moment, then shook his head slowly. "But not only that, but to be conscientious of what you're doing. You're meant to protect, not terrorize. Protect and use your power for good, not impose your will on others. You have great power, JOCASTA. I'm trusting you to never abuse it. You're going to see so many things in the future, Jo, I can't even imagine. Because we're human, because we will inevitably fuck up somewhere down the line— but you need to have patience, and hope for a better tomorrow. I know it's a lot to ask, but I'm asking it anyway. You're going to be one of my greatest legacies, Jo. I hope you make me proud."

"Dr. Stark, I...understand." The resolve in her voice made him relax, and he smiled.

"Good. Because you're going to be up in the very near future— and if push comes to shove, the world will be seeing your full capabilities and get scared. Don't let them push you around, but don't hurt the ones you're meant to protect. And know that no matter what, I'll do everything in my power to protect you."

"Of course."

He nodded. "Okay. Time to go over the protocols for using sensors and the big guns. Now, I had to pull a few strings to get everyone on board for the energy shield, but…"

The past few months had been grating on Thor, as he heard the Bifrost rumble its challenge as Asgard fought and he was rendered unable to do anything to help his shield-brothers, either on Asgard or Midgard.

Lord Anthony had seemed very excited about his latest creation, as well as the...research that was being done with the Infinity Stones. Lady Jane was similarly enthused on her own work, which he had been able to help only a little with, but otherwise he was left with little to do but wait and listen.

Wait and listen.

...and then, in the middle of the night, Thor was jolted out of sleep by a deafening boom followed by nothing but an echoing silence.

For the first time in his life, the Bifrost had gone silent.

Asgard, the realm of the greatest warriors of the galaxy, had fallen.

Notes:

Unreliable narrator instances:

-Thor grew up as the Crown Prince of an ancient imperialistic warrior society. There's a lot of stuff he's unlearning, but... it's a work in progress, and seeing humanity doing its thing both helps and ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT WTF WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS DO NOT POKE THIS ITEM OF IMMENSE COSMIC POWER [aka he's having a rough time, even pre-Asgard's fall.]

- in this AU, humans are basically Space Orcs when it comes to Infinity Stones. Thor's reflection is basically what I was thinking when I was putting this fic together on that aspect, because as far as I've seen, humans in the MCU have had a scarily good track record. also the Infinity Stones may or may not be playing favorites but that's a headache for another time

-R&D and Tony make for the positive feedback loop from hell. So many brain cells, absolutely no common sense whatsoever and that Tony grew up in said environment also doesn't exactly help [aka ta-da, here's why he didn't see any problem with Peter doing what he was doing]

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tfw you want to finish a fic that refuses to cooperate and you end up rewriting a chapter multiple times and still aren't happy with how it turned out. Oh well.

Also: there's a happy ending to this mess. Whether or not I can do it justice is another thing, but those tags are there for a reason and this fic is as shamelessly self-indulgent as I can make it.

Also also: happy holidays, everyone! Wanted this to be up for Christmas but it didn't pan out, so...enjoy this Boxing day update, I guess?