128
New York City
177A Bleecker Street
1:23 p.m.
When the beings from another world ravaged New York and brought their tyranny onto the populace, the Masters of the Mystic of Arts would most certainly have taken action. While most of their threats were focused around the spiritual and mystical plain of existence, they were forced, on occasion, to battle physical threats if necessary.
It wasn’t necessary. After the Ancient One sensed the Avengers uniting near Grand Central Station and the base of the Stark Tower, she knew everything would turn out exactly as she pictured it. In the meantime, the Ancient One did everything in her power as Sorcerer Supreme to defend her sanctum. The Chitauri invaders who dared to enter Greenwich Village or anywhere near the sanctum were eviscerated by the power of the Ancient One’s Eldritch Magic. She stood within the Sanctum Sanctorum’s confines, whipping her hands about and decimating any chariot that flew near the structure.
Only she paused, holding out her hands and tilting her head lightly to the side. The orange disks upon her palms sparked and spun, yet she did not attack. With the yellow hood shielding her head, the Ancient One remained in that silent state of bliss and serenity. She had sensed him making his approach from every building top he leapt from, but only then did he arrive four seconds than expected. She felt his presence upon the rooftop, a short smirk tugging at her lips.
As for the Hulk, once he landed on the Sanctum Sanctorum’s rooftop, he scanned the environment to ensure he was out of sight from any wandering sorcerers. Noting that, Banner turned to the nearest door and reached for the handle.
“Robert Banner!”
Instinctively, Bruce pulled away from the door and turned to his right, gazing to the hooded figure who wasn’t standing there a second ago. She pulled down her hood, revealing the shaved head of the woman beneath. She smiled quizzically to the towering behemoth of muscle and brains, making her slow approach past the rooftop garden to stand before him. Several feet apart, just in case he wanted to try something fishy.
“Or… you go by ‘Bruce’, don’t you?” she asked, somehow already knowing the answer.
“Uh, yeah,” Banner replied, still unsure how or why she knew that. Then again, he was walking on the property of the so-called Master of the Mystic Arts. Of course he was going to be walking into a whole other world, as well. “I’m… I’m looking for Doctor Strange.”
That was a name that certainly sparked the Ancient One’s interests. Doctor Stephen Strange, brilliant neurosurgeon, and only growing more and more wildly popular in his field, so much so that he might become a threat to higher forces he knew not of. That would come later, for now he had an interested visitor. He would have. “Well… you’re about five years too early. Stephen Strange is currently performing surgery about twenty blocks that way. Sad… The Chitauri Invasion was what caused him so much paranoia. All the lives he swore to save from it. All the lives lost this terrible day,” the Ancient One mused, pointing to the set of buildings where Strange was situated before eventually dropping her hand.
Though, that was still musing. She lifted her eyes and met the Hulk’s. “What do you need from him?” she asked.
His eyes trailed down to the yellow robes she wore, eventually finding the object his mission required. Bruce took a step forward, pointing to her and stating, “Actually, that.”
“Ah!” the Ancient One stated, her own eyes falling down to the necklace of which she wore. Of which she protected. “The Eye of Agamotto. You have a keen eye yourself, it seems. While it is apparent you may see it, touching it is something I cannot allow.”
Bruce took another step forward, shrugging. “Sorry, but I wasn’t asking. Whole lotta people in my time desperately need it.”
“Is that so?” the Ancient One said, smirking. “Could we discuss this rather peacefully instead?”
“Don’t have time. So, if you don’t mind, I’ll be borrowing that Stone—!”
His last word came out as a yelp of surprise. When Bruce invaded her space and reached for the Eye of Agamotto, that was when the Master of the Mystic Arts took action to protect their most sacred relic. She slammed her open palm directly into Banner’s heart, literally pushing the spirit out of him and watching as the Astral Plane accepted Bruce into its embrace. As for Banner, he hovered helplessly above in his human form, the body of the Hulk falling down and crashing on the cement roof.
And all he could do was breathe. It was all he could do considering he could see through his hands and fly for the first time in his life. Turning to the Ancient One, Banner watched her smile.
“Now then…” she began. “About that peaceful discussion?”
Banner hovered forward, still aghast to his own body. “What did you do to me?”
“It’s your Astral Projection. Or, as you may know, your soul. Perfectly harmless; I can get you back in your body and safely out of here whenever you ask. But… it would seem you won’t be asking for that anytime soon.”
Bruce frowned, flying to meet her face to face. He was hardly in a position to fight for his body back, and considering the magical prowess the Ancient One held, Banner was literally at her mercy. That didn’t deter his desperation as he shouted, “Yeah, because I need that Stone! You don’t understand what’s happened in the future!”
All she did was smirk. “You would be surprised.”
Considering his position of weakness at the moment, Bruce truly didn’t know how to approach the situation laid before him. All he needed to do was tell the truth, give their situation to her, and perhaps she would understand. He hoped she would. Not really knowing where to begin, Bruce rubbed his palms and stuttered, “Okay… well… this guy… ‘Thanos’… he wiped out half of all life with the six Infinity Stones in 2018. He did it with one of the Stones hanging around your neck.”
The Ancient One furrowed her brow at that, gazing down to the Eye of Agamotto curiously. Sadly. When she lifted her eyes, Bruce already met her own, that same pain amplified more so than the Sorcerer Supreme expected from him.
“We tried to undo everything he took from us,” Bruce continued. “We tried to take the Stones back, but he destroyed them all and himself. Now, five years later, all we’re trying to do is go back in time, take the Stones before Thanos ever had a chance to find them, and bring everybody back in our time.”
She carefully breathed in that information, eyes darting aside as she slowly nodded. Of all the outcomes the future held for the Masters of the Mystic Arts, the death of half of all life was certainly a great tragedy to befall not just the sorcerers, but all life on Earth. All life in the universe. Remembering to breathe, the Ancient One said, “Perhaps… I should be surprised.”
“So, can you help us?” Bruce asked.
She lifted her eyes and met Banner’s pleading pair.
And she responded with a swift and simple, “No.”
Taken aback, Bruce watched as the Ancient One walked right through him and made her way back to the staircase to return to the sanctum’s confines. “W-what do you mean?” he called out, following close behind her. Still not used to hovering, Banner took to the ground and found his legs to still interact with the floor. Weird. Not important. “Look, I’m telling the truth! Use one of your spells to find the truth yourself, but it’s all laid out!”
She paused just outside the rooftop’s door, spinning around to meet the Astral Projection of Bruce Banner before her. “I don’t distrust you, Bruce. It is the simple fact that if you take this Stone from me now, I have no guarantee you will succeed in your time. I’m sorry about what happened, I truly am. But if I give you the Stone, I’m dooming my own reality to threats far greater than your Thanos.”
Now that was an answer. For how long Bruce had imagined Thanos was the greatest threat in the universe had only opened up the possibility to something greater. Something far, far worse that lurked in the corners of the cosmos, just waiting for that single moment the Masters of the Mystic Arts lost their weapon to defend Earth and the universe as a whole.
“Okay…” Bruce muttered, mulling over her words. “Okay, okay, but… I’m not sure the science really supports that.”
The Ancient One merely stared at him, an expression of hardened truth painted on every wrinkle on her skin. Grabbing at the air to her left, the Sorcerer Supreme yanked a yarn of pure Eldritch Magic across both her and Bruce, creating that fine line that shimmered off the rooftop of the Sanctum Sanctorum and off into the city. Bruce stared as far as his eyes could actually gaze to it, eventually returning to the Ancient One once she began to speak.
“Time… is like a path. Break away from that path, and you deviate into uncharted and unknown horrors beyond compare. The Infinity Stones, in our reality, work to keep that flow of time steady, leading to your future. Take just one Stone away, and you deviate from the path and branch off into an entirely alternate timeline.”
She did so, removing an Astral Projection of the Time Stone from the belt of Infinity Stones circling the supposed timeline she created. Bruce watched as the Time Stone was pulled away, birthing a black, sickened version of reality that fell away from the main timeline and off somewhere else. To an unknown fate.
The Ancient One continued, Bruce turning back to her. “This may benefit your reality, but without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness… my new reality would be overrun. Millions will suffer. Every decision you make, every act you take will determine which path this timeline will follow. Even if it hurts… we must stay on the path. There is always a reason to these events transpiring, Bruce. There is always a plan.”
“It’s just like we theorized,” Banner whispered under his breath, lifting his eyes from the shimmering line and back to her. He held out his hand. “Okay, look… You may be right about the alternate timelines. If we change something in the past, that timeline splits off into an alternate future, leaving my own as is and yours in this… horrific nightmare.”
“Correct,” the Ancient One confirmed, nodding once.
Hand still held out, Bruce declared, “But what if… we could prevent all of that?”
The Sorcerer Supreme tilted her head.
Bruce grabbed the projection of the Time Stone. “If we return the Stones to the exact moment they were taken…” he said, placing the Stone back with the five others. In an instant, the alternate timeline vaporized, leaving just the main timeline shimmering and alive, unscathed and healthy. “It’ll be like they never left.”
Though somewhat surprised with Bruce’s ingenuity and genius—something even she hadn’t thought of—the Ancient One remained unmoved. Turning away and approaching the edge of the rooftop, she leaned against the railing and gazed down to the fiery battlefield before her. Chariots infecting the skies. Leviathans roaring above the clouds and between the buildings. Everything that must come and must not be changed.
“You may be right. But you forget the most important thing…” she whispered, turning around to face him. “You have to win.”
Bruce approached her. “We will win. I promise.”
“I can’t risk the fate of this reality on a promise, Bruce,” she stated plainly, seeing his expression fall apart despite all of his efforts. In the end, that was all it really was. Hopeless efforts. Seeing his downtrodden expression, the Ancient One offered, “It’s the duty of the Sorcerer Supreme to protect the Time Stone no matter the cost. No matter how much it hurts.”
Nearly defeated in that aspect, Banner sighed and turned away, rubbing his chin in thought to her final words. He shrugged, grumbling, “Guess Strange wasn’t so willing to give up his life when Thanos’ goons attacked the Sanctum Sanctorum.”
The Ancient One’s eyes shot open.
“What?”
Turning to her, Bruce could see the stark shift in her expression. Her eyes were enlarged, her breath was tightened, and her skin seemed even more pale than it already appeared. She even broke away from the railing, standing before Banner as straightened as her spine could allow, alert and fully aware of what Bruce was telling her.
He didn’t stop. He answered her. “That’s what Wong told us. Thanos sent his goons to attack the sanctum and steal the Time Stone. That’s how they got it.”
The sorcerer didn’t even blink. “And Strange let them?”
Bruce shook his head, shrugging his shoulders in the end. “Maybe he tried to fight back. Wong said he wasn’t really using his full potential.”
Processing that, the Ancient One continued, unending in her pursuit as she asked, “What else did Wong tell you?”
“He said that… Strange saw fourteen million possible outcomes for how we were going to win this, but he couldn’t see how or if we even won.”
That was it. That was what she needed to hear. Despite all the protests, the bond she agreed her life on, the Ancient One had followed through with her instincts and her heart, letting them be the deciding factor for the following actions. She lowered her hands just over the Eye, breaking apart her fingers and revealing the Time Stone and its ghostly, green glow. Bruce’s eyes widened to it, watching as she didn’t pull it out. Not just yet.
Instead, she breathed in rather deeply and performed another strange but intricate dance with her hands. Her fingers were bent and positioned in certain ways, arms held out as she closed her eyes and tilted her head to the sky. A flow of energy from the Stone slithered from the necklace and crawled up her body until it swarmed her mind, a gasp of shock escaping the Ancient One. Bruce shot out his hand to her, but slowly retracted back when he witnessed…
Well… he didn’t really know. All he saw was the Ancient One darting her head in various directions at once, slowly hovering from the roof until a near-minute had passed. A minute later until she cried out and opened her eyes, practically clutching the railing and her heart simultaneously. Bruce asked her if she was okay. Asked what she did or what she saw. Only… she couldn’t explain it.
Millions of outcomes. The future the Time Stone expressed through her vision and unveiled to her the horrid truth. Not only of her fate, but the fate of the universe. Trillions of lives lost, one Mad Titan claiming the six Infinity Stones and then decimating them to ensure that future was secured. Perhaps it was. 14 million outcomes showed that Thanos could rest easy.
Except…
The Ancient One shook her head in disbelief, rising to full height as she could hardly even breathe in the truth. As she could hardly understand how six little ponies of all beings in the universe were so important. Yet she saw it for herself. She saw the endgame and it was more treacherous than she could imagine. Treacherous… but necessary.
Gazing to Banner, she told him, “No. He lied to you.”
Before Bruce could even question that, she shot out her right hand and pulled the Hulk’s unmoving body from the floor and towards them, meeting Banner’s soul and merging together once more. But he still couldn’t speak. She never gave him the opportunity. Her left hand was used to pull the Time Stone from its necklace, the ancient relic hovering between her fingers as she held it out for Banner. And the Hulk just couldn’t fathom her actions, knowing that mere minutes ago she was willing to die for the Time Stone.
Then she just gave it to him.
With the Time Stone resting in his right palm, Bruce lifted his eyes to the Ancient One and asked, “What did Strange lie about?”
“I cannot say anymore,” the Sorcerer Supreme stated fearfully. She was visibly shaking, her chest rising and falling sporadically, still quite agitated by what she witnessed. What she could say, however, came out as a stuttering quiver, the Ancient One looking up to Bruce with rising fear in her eyes. “Just know that what Strange did was for a reason, something only he could truly fathom. I see that now.”
Bruce nodded, closing his left palm over the Time Stone. Safe and sound. “Thank you.”
Her palms gripped his large hands, tightening over them to ensure the Time Stone’s journey reached its end. She shook her head, gazing back up to Banner. “We’re counting on you, Bruce,” she whispered, voice practically begging. “Just do what comes natural.”
He nodded. His eyes slowly fell to his palms, watching as the Ancient One’s pair fell away. Leaving just him. Leaving just five more. “One down,” Bruce muttered.
Closing his right into a fist, he pressed down on his left hand and the Time Travel GPS. The Quantum Suit crawled over his body, his mask closing tight and shrinking Bruce Banner down to microscopic size, ultimately returning him to his present time.
In that solitude of burning air, the Ancient One was left alone. Still shaken, she turned and approached the opposite end of the Sanctum Sanctorum’s rooftop. Until she reached the very edge did she finally stop, her palms pressed heavy onto the railing. She gazed down twenty blocks and saw through all the madness, all the fire and hell that rained down before her in flickering ashes and dying aliens. She saw the man performing surgery and shook her head.
“Those ponies were always important to you, Stephen. Now they’re important to all of us.”