Chapter Text
The Avengers were having another meeting about the coming end of the world with the addition of a few more fighters for good measure. A new threat was upon them and the rest of the universe this time. Bruce had brought word of a mad titan known as Thanos who was hunting for the infinity stones, two of which were on earth, another two in his possession and the last two that could easily be within his grasp to their knowledge. They were already down a few members, especially one of their heavy hitters, Thor, who Bruce sorrowfully believed to be dead by the hands of said threat. The remaining Avengers could only hope that they had others that were willing to fight alongside them.
The Avengers were all able to congregate in Wakanda’s royal palace after Tony had gotten up the courage to call Steve for help. They had been gathering information and shooting out plans to defeat this enemy and Tony and Steve had uncomfortably had to bear standing next to one another, each with another hero as comfort to organize said assault. It was then that the congregation of heroes was interrupted by a rumbling lightshow of a portal that had blinded them all before taking with it a group of heroes from the meeting. The portal opened up somewhere spacious and cold, dumping the separated group god knows where. A few moments of complete disorientation later, the now displaced group of heroes able to finally make out the words being shouted at them, each of them getting to their feet, ready for a fight. What they were met with was the trained eyes of about twenty or more armed agents. Those of which wearing security gear were each sporting an emblem on their right shoulder and those patches were a dead ringer for the retro S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem. That only increased Steve’s worry about what was happening as his stomach dropped. Before he could communicate this to any of his companions his thoughts were cut off by another, albeit now clearer voice in the room.
“What on earth? What’s going on? This was supposed to be a routine visit for me, Director Carter. What is this?” a familiar voice sounded, missing the coy wit and charm that Steve knew though it retained the rigid, no nonsense, edging grit that Tony knew almost too well. Steve's disoriented mind was still too stunned to clearly make out those in the room, though he did think he heard Tony's armor if possible grow tense.
“Kid, get behind me,” a very serious Iron Man hushed out, pushing Spider-Man behind him, as though to protect him from the glares of the large assortment of gunmen. Spider-Man, with the glowing white eyes of his mask wide open, complied, thankfully, to the metal encased man, though he did attempt to get into his own defensive stance. However, he didn’t stop jerking his head around, clearly uneasy with not knowing where they were.
“What the actual hell,” the Winter Soldier now White Wolf grinded through his teeth, his mind now clear enough to be able to take in his surroundings.
“Identify yourselves.” Steve perked up, a bit weary of an all too familiar and confident voice speaking up that moved through the air with a certain British lilt to it. He could never forget that voice, the same one coloring the orders barked his way. “I will ask one more time before we detain you with use of force.” Perhaps it was the slightest bit more husky and weary than he knew before.
“Look, we have an explanation. Right?” The youngest in their ensemble looked over to Tony, encased in his new nano armor. Of course it was Spider-Man who panicked next to Steve, hands raised at the sight of agents pointing guns at them. That and he still had his lumpy and dulled forest green backpack on, one of the JanSport ones that kids would take to school, not one to hold artillery or high tech weapons in. Steve was beginning to worry about how young this guy really was but before he could get to that, he knew he had to focus on the situation at hand. Steve held up his hands looking the most earnest he could.
Steve started by addressing the group of suspicious operatives, “we’re not here to do any harm, I swear.”
“You say that while you managed to break into our highly secure facility with that portal of yours. I won’t say it again. Identify yourselves before we use force,” Peggy shot right back as the light portal began to gradually fade. Now that Steve could see, plain as day and standing tall in the middle of the room with the commanding presence of any military leader was Peggy Carter. She looked older than he had seen her before the ice, her hair gray and skin wrinkled, but still younger than she was when he woke up. She was competent, in charge of her own faculties and so very alive.
“She’s sure as hell not going to believe us,” came the voice of the brunet super soldier by his side. Bucky was gripping onto his weapon, eyes scouring their surroundings, clearly on high alert like a feral animal petrified by being caged.
“I don’t think we’ve got a choice, Buck.” Steve stepped forward as a rushing noise sounded behind him. The light behind them finally ceased completely to be before Steve could turn around to watch it go, leaving the heroes behind in a room full of armed personnel. The light that was behind the heroes must have been obscuring their features but now with their faces no longer eclipsed, the assembled crowd could now see their unwanted guests in finer detail. Steve barely had the time to process the odd twitches in the placated professional looks of many of the agents. He needed to explain now.
“I am Steve Rogers. I am not here to fight you,” his eyes were trained on Peggy’s who’s hands wavered a bit, as if to wonder if it was true. It was now that he remembered how different he must look, a beard grown out and a clearly worn uniform on. One that was missing the white star in the center of his chest but it’s colors and general pattern should have been no less recognizable to those in front of him. Especially her.
“Prove it. Prove you mean no harm,” she commanded as elegant and strong as she had ever been. Steve took it upon himself to remove his arm bound shield gauntlets that T’Challa’s sister, Shuri had provided for him upon his arrival in Wakanda after Tony’s distress call. Steve was still left in wonder now about who was in front of him to forget the audience in the room.
It was then that he noticed the gapping Howard Stark next to Peggy again another past comrade who was now, here, much older than when Steve would have called him a friend but more alive then he had been for almost three decades given his familiarity of the world of 2018. Oh this would be a joy to deal with, Steve thought to himself, glancing Tony’s way for a second. He hadn’t heard Tony say anything nor could he see the face of the genius billionaire through his face plate but he assumed from the silence that he had seen the man as well. Howard gulped at the sight of his old friend, the Star Spangled Man with a Plan, his face attempting to hide any emotions but his attempt was poor at best.
“Not just you. Your associates as well.” Howard actually managed to sound professional and a tad threatening. Bucky complied at Steve’s look towards him, placing his machine gun on the concrete floor in front of him. Spider-Man attempted to look less intimidating which, thankfully, wasn’t a hard feat to achieve even with being in a highly advanced battle ready suit. Tony’s repulsors whirled down as he forced his arms to his sides but the face of the Iron Man suit did little help make anyone comfortable as it was set in a permanent glare.
“Masks too.” Peggy stayed professional, wanting to gage who and what she was dealing with. Clearly she wouldn't be familiar with the Iron Man technology given the guess at when they were.
Tony forced out a sigh, “I guess we better get this over with.” A few of the officers looked a bit curious at the very human sounding voice coming from the mass of metal. Tony didn't seem to notice nor care. “Kid,” he turned to Spider-Man who jumped up a bit, his comically big mechanical eyes blinking a few times before he spoke up.
“Oh, right.” Spider-Man nodded in understanding. Steve observed Spider-Man’s own mask retracted to the middle of his neck and, oh god, Spider-Man was just a kid. Actually a kid who couldn’t have been eighteen yet and Steve was going to kill Tony for dragging a kid into a war he had prepared so little for.
Peter Parker tried his best to smile, but it was forced and awkward and he actually waved to the strangers with guns pointed at him and the Avengers, trying to make the scene better for the displaced heroes.
“Hi,” and, god, Peter was never going to be able to live this down so long as he lived but Peter was panicking. His world was spinning and his palms were sweating. This was all sorts of wrong. They couldn't be in the past. Sure all the world was going to shit as Tony had put it but this was too much. His mind was racing far too fast with worries of what this could mean. What if they erased themselves from the timeline? Peter wondered if there was any use in hiding his identity if this was the past. Doctor Strange said he didn't want anyone messing with time. Now Peter was in a strange place with strange people without the one strange person he knew could deal with time travel. His only solace was that Tony was here with him.
Tony in any other circumstance would have rolled his eyes at Peter or would mock threaten to disown the kid for how embarrassing he could be but he was far too focused on the man standing next to the woman he used to visit and call Aunt Peggy when he was just a boy himself. Tony took a deep breath, forcing himself to keep calm lest he have another panic attack.
The Iron Man faceplate retracted from Tony’s head, a new benefit of the nanotech no doubt, revealing a stone faced Tony Stark, staring blankly towards his very alive father.
Howard’s face had gone white with shock and disbelief at the man encased in metal. Peggy’s eyes seemed to widen a bit in recognition as well. Tony himself was shaking a bit, just enough to be noticeable by those who knew him. But it was there, and he could tell Steve could see it. Tony tried to ignore the pitiful look in Steve’s eyes, stepping forth himself given the seriousness of the situation this unlikely group had found themselves in. Tony then spoke up, voice riddled with concern and anxiety,
“My name is Tony Stark and, apparently, my team and I are in need of a way back to the future to stop the end of the universe.”