Storm ≛ Tony Stark ≛

72.

'From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom! The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurdling across the virgin universe. These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence.'

The man named Wong created a display of colourful stones and of the universe. Tony, Sue and Johnny were unsure of the dark house at first, but Stephen Strange reassured them that it was safe. A grand staircase was the focal point of the lobby and a large window attempted to stream sunlight into the gloomy place. But with the deep corners and wooden interior, the house remained in the shadows. The lightshow from Wong's abilities allowed them to see each other, their faces lit up by green, purple, orange, red, blue and yellow.

'Space, reality, power, soul, mind and time,' Stephen followed. He put his hands to his pendant that sat on his chest. Its mechanics retracted and a green stone emerged, twinkling and turning in the doctor's hold. Sue found the Time Stone beautiful despite the power it held.

'Tell me his name, again,' Tony said, his hands in his pants' pockets and walking around the lobby.

'Thanos,' Bruce replied. 'He's a plague, Tony. He invades planets, he takes what he wants, he wipes out half the population. He sent Loki! The attack on New York, the silver surfer, that was all him!'

'What?' Johnny and Sue's heads whipped up at the same time. Bruce glanced at the siblings, giving a short nod before returning his gaze to the Stark.

'Thanos is the surfer's master?' Johnny thought aloud, and Sue shrugged when he looked to her for confirmation.

'Even more of a reason,' Tony mumbled to himself, before raising his voice for everyone to hear. 'What's our timeline?'

'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 can destroy life on a scale hither to undreamt of,' Stephen added, his expression grave.

'All that you know is at an end...' Sue remembered the words of the silver surfer. She thought about how they should have known that the alien's escape would come back to bite them. Leaving it to SHIELD was their first mistake, but she had to remember that at the time, they were tired of always being around to save the day. After being sanctioned by the Sokovian Accords and challenged by the Earth's people, it made the Avengers question what they were protecting. The arrival of the silver surfer had been at a rough time, with the feud between Tony and Steve and Sue's pregnancy happening during the same period. It was unfortunate that the alien got away from SHIELD's containment, but it proved that Director Fury wasn't as capable as he talked himself up to be.

'If Thanos needs all six of these fruity pebbles-' Johnny stopped Stephen's scolding of Tony for leaning on the Cauldron of Cosmos. '-why don't we just destroy the one you have?'

'We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone. With our lives,' Wong stared at Johnny with a look of pride.

'You'll let an oath get in the way of stopping Thanos destroying our planet?' Sue raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. In her head, it sounded silly to not do whatever it took to protect the Earth. But from the look she received from Stephen and Wong, she clearly didn't understand the extent of their oath.

'It's not that simple,' Stephen struggled to not go on a tangent about his oath. 'You wouldn't understand.'

'Looks like we've got time if we're here talking about it.'

Sue knew that she could be coming off as rude. But it had been over a year since she had to discuss yet another instance of the world being at stake. She had been content in having normal people things to worry about, like when Morgan's nap time was and when was Tony's last haircut. He would never remember such things, so it was up to her to make sure his locks weren't growing past his ears.