Infinity Era

by JDPrime22

Chapter 132 – Second Chance

After a rowdy interruption from a driving-by hippy and his girlfriend, the remainder of Camp Lehigh returned to its original status—training the next generation of soldiers to ensure S.H.I.E.L.D., America, and the world’s safety ten times over. A plethora of recruits were up and about working the day away while their superior officers bellowed orders every second. Large vehicles from manned tanks and jeeps to even a few helicopters were either driven or flown across the base to deliver supplies or train the newcomers. It was as noisy, disruptive, and utterly distracting as could be.

A perfect opportunity to sneak in hopefully unnoticed. That was the thought running through Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash’s heads all at once, the four of them peaking over the distant grass hill just outside the facility. Seeing the hustle and bustle from the men and women inside the fenced campgrounds, all four Avengers sunk back behind the hill and rose up to full height. Obviously, the how on getting inside was top priority, but it was also the threat of being recognized or caught that still lingered heavy in the air.

Being the birthplace of the idea of Captain America while the actual Captain America was strolling about would definitely be distracting. Not to mention two pastel-colored horses trotting alongside them. Tony offered another invisibility spell, but Twilight shot that down when she reminded them what happened last time in Stark Tower. Besides, too much movement caused the spell to fail in the first place. Rainbow even suggested she and Twilight hang back and let Tony and Steve handle the mission. Steve was about to object to that, but was beaten to the punch by the Alicorn herself.

“Wait…” Twilight muttered, earning the eyes from all three surrounding her. They saw the growing and knowing smile grow across her lips, the slow nod from Princess Twilight being a strong indicator that something just sparked. Possibly a good idea. It usually did. “I got it. Rainbow, can you stand next to me?”

It was no different then.

As Rainbow cautiously approached Twilight’s left side, the Alicorn bent low with her horn and shut her eyes. An easing breath entered and left her, Twilight letting her horn’s magic swirl and stir around and to the tip of her violet horn. Tony and Steve watched from the sidelines, their eyes only widening when they witnessed the bright light envelop both ponies’ bodies. The brightness was intense, forcing both men to shield their eyes for a brief second. That was all it was, just a second.

And when the light died and both Tony and Steve lowered their hands, they were witnesses to two fully-grown young women standing in the places of their equine allies.

Tony’s jaw practically hit the dirt. Steve was breathless, his brow furrowing at the sight.

It was quite a sight to behold. Twilight Sparkle took a radical change from her usual Alicorn appearance. For starters, she was a human with soft white skin and long, violet and pink hair. That hair was tied up in a ponytail, much like her pony counterpart. Thankfully, Twilight was able to conjure up some clothes for her and Dash to wear, otherwise that would have been a very awkward confrontation. She wore a tight purple tank top and blue jeans, her cutie mark stitched on the thighs of her pants. Beneath the tank top was a long-sleeve white shirt, Twilight observing herself before turning over to Rainbow Dash.

Her Pegasus friend was oddly similar in terms of clothing, but she wore no shirt beneath. Rainbow simply wore a blue T-shirt with black leggings as pants, rainbow lightning bolts designed on her thighs. Her skin was a pale white with short, spiked rainbow hair, half of it blocking her right eye. The two women observed themselves, then each other, Rainbow bringing up her hair after pulling at and playing with it between her fingers.

“Is that the best you can do?” Rainbow asked, seeing the clear look of frustration fill Twilight’s features. She pointed to both Tony and Steve’s hairstyles, noting their own with, “I mean, purple and rainbow hair aren’t really common around here.”

Snorting, Twilight stamped her shoe in the dirt and whispered fiercely, “I’m working on it, okay?! We’ll only have a short period of time for these disguises to last, so we better make this quick.”

Taking a moment to collect themselves, Tony and Steve shot a glance to one another before nodding. Tony snuck on a pair of glasses, Homer already synced in and giving him a rundown of the facility and defenses resting before them, finding the safest route in possible. Steve, meanwhile, gripped his shield tight. He knew that bringing it in would earn a lot of unwanted attention. He would need to find somewhere safe to hide it on base.

Gazing towards the camp, Steve nodded fiercely, stating, “Let’s get in there then. Get some disguises for ourselves.”

Steve led the pack with Tony trailing close behind, Twilight right on their heels and striding alongside Stark. Doing a quick headcount, Steve seemed to miss a certain rainbow-maned girl trailing them. He looked back, watched as Rainbow struggled to make it down the grassy hill. In fact, she seemed to struggle just in walking. It wasn’t abnormal, as Twilight had experienced a slight struggle to walk the first time she was transformed into a bipedal human a lifetime ago. Before Twilight could express her concern, however, Rainbow fell, shielding her face just before she could hit the dirt. She never did.

Steve caught her, hoisting the young woman up in his large, powerful arms. Looking about to her quivering pair of legs, Rainbow frowned to them and gazed back up to Rogers. “We’re definitely gonna need to cover up that hair. You’re with me, Dash,” Steve said, pulling her back up to her two feet. Wobbling a bit, Rainbow leaned and gripped on Steve’s shoulder for further support, chuckling awkwardly to him before she allowed him to lead her to the facility.

He let Tony take the lead, Stark nodding back to the duo.

“Guess that means Twi’s with me,” Tony stated, looking ahead to Twilight and nodding her way. He didn’t turn back when Twilight nodded in return. “Let’s do this. Good luck, Captain.”

Steve pursed his lips. “You too… Doctor.”

The disguises worked fairly well. No one stopped them or confronted them for that matter. A waning glance here and there, but nothing to be worried about. They blended in almost perfectly. Certainly, the dark purple and pink hair escaping Twilight’s ponytail caught a couple of eyes, but it didn’t last long before those individuals shrugged it off and got back to work.

Both Tony and Twilight wore a couple of fake badges and borrowed a suit and dress from a lovely couple currently resting in the furthest outhouse. Twilight’s large glasses sat at the edge of her nose, the young woman pushing them back as the glasses just a size too big for her kept slipping down. She carried a clipboard close to her chest, eyeing every human they passed cautiously. Tony was more at ease, his own suit and tie offering the perfect disguise for him. He and Twilight walked side by side, eventually coming across the elevator and sneaking their way into the lower levels of the S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker.

Steve and Rainbow, however, hid in plain sight. They were both wearing military uniforms so selflessly donated to them by a couple of army officers taking their “break” early. Rainbow’s hair was tucked safely inside her cap, not even a strand of multicolored locks leaking out and exposing them. Together, the two walked side by side and followed closely after Tony and Twilight made it to the elevator. They waited for the next available elevator as to not cause any suspicion. Unfortunately, that was all they could cause, Steve’s oddly-familiar face earning a few curious eyes before the duo retreated into the elevator. They were joined with a S.H.I.E.L.D. secretary, the woman smiling politely to both Rainbow and Steve. Dash smiled in return, taking a step forward to block her eyesight from Rogers. The secretary’s eyebrows hardened at that.

Within the lowest level of the S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker, Tony and Twilight found ease to realize they were the only beating hearts in the entire basement. As far as they could see. Taking little to no time left, the two came across a large safe resting at the end of the room surrounded by piles and piles of paperwork, boxes, and even more safes. Homer had successfully scanned and located the energy source for the Tesseract and led them both to that exact location. Tony smirked to the Alicorn, jamming out his palm and pointing to the safe’s locks.

Then she held her breath as the Mark 85’s nanotech consumed his palm and fired a stream of fire from his fingertips. That fire easily melted through the locks, granting them access to the safe and its contents within. Helping Tony pull the doors aside, Twilight gazed in astounded wonder to see none other than the Tesseract lying before them. The glowing blue cube with rippling energy courtesy of the Space Stone resting before them, fresh for the taking. Twilight shook her head at that, letting a victorious grin take her once more.

They did it. Twilight may have had her doubts before, but she had to admit that it was a pretty ingenious plan of Tony’s.

“Twi, we are back in the game,” Tony muttered softly, shifting his gaze to his Alicorn friend and smirking her way. With the two of them bent forward, smiling to one another, it took Tony a second or two to finally break away. He reached for the cube with his metal-plated palm and set it carefully into his briefcase for safekeeping.

Then the voice emerged and caused both of their bloodstreams to screech to a halt.

“Hey, you two!” the voice boomed, Twilight quickly shutting the safe’s doors closed as quietly as she could. Turning appropriately at last, Twilight and Tony could see a figure emerging within the shadow’s the bunker. When he came into the light, the mustache was the first thing they saw. Tony saw something else entirely after that. He pointed behind him. “Door’s this way! I’m looking for Doctor Zola; have you seen him?”

Stark was flabbergasted, for reasons Twilight didn’t even know. She continuously shot her gaze back to him for that response she was certain he would have, but there was nothing. The man that continued to approach them and break that distance seemed to catch Tony in a way she had never seen. At least… one other time. Siberia.

And for a moment, Twilight could see why. There was an odd but familiar sense of atmosphere hanging over the individual that approached them. She couldn’t put her hoof on it. Or finger. Taking a much-needed stand for both of them, Twilight stepped forward, clipboard close to heart as she responded, “Doctor… Zola? No, I’m afraid not.”

He didn’t seem too concerned on that subject anyway, the man simply shrugging to her answer. “Oh, well… Don’t mind me asking who you are?”

That was where Twilight was caught, her tongue twisting and refusing to speak any logical form of word or response. Thankfully, Tony broke out of his stupor and stepped forward by her side, holding up his visitor’s badge upside down and quickly stuffing it away so he couldn’t read the actual names on them. “Visitors from MIT,” Tony replied shakily.

“MIT, huh?” he said, nodding his head slowly to them both. Twilight smiled awkwardly, arms gripping tightly around her clipboard. Shaking his head, he held out his hand. “Where are my manners? Howard Stark.”

Twilight gasped lightly. It all made sense. Tony’s abnormal behavior. The familiar sense of atmosphere hanging over him. The name, especially, made everything click. Twisting her gaze to Tony and back to Howard, she could finally see those similarities and clear differences, the kind that Tony made for himself. As for his father, he looked wildly different than how Twilight remembered. Then again, the last she had ever seen him was in low-quality VHS footage, while simultaneously getting his face beaten inwards by a mind-controlled Winter Soldier. That was kind of hard to forget.

“Excuse me?” Howard declared, earning a flinch from both Tony and Twilight, both of them seemingly lost in their own thoughts. Twilight shook her head to that, shooting her eyes downwards to see his hand still held her way. “Your names?”

Tony reached first, gripping his father’s palm with his own. In coming up with their fake names, Tony had to admit that they really hadn’t mulled it over. The best he could come up with was the first name that came to mind. “Howard… Potts, with my… uh…”

Looking over to Twilight, he was at a loss for a name to replace “Twilight Sparkle”. Thankfully, she was there for him, meeting Howard’s hand and nervously replying with, “Wife. Pepper… Potts.”

Stark turned to her fully, seeing Twilight nervously mouth the word “sorry”. Howard dropped his hand after a few seconds of shaking, smirking to the lovely couple before him. “Well, Howard and Pepper… Should be fairly simple to remember. What do you say we head outside, grab some air?”

He looked directly at Tony when he asked that, Twilight slowly shifting her gaze back to Stark after nearly five seconds of awkward silence.

“Potts,” Howard called.

Tony turned back to him, blinked furiously before nodding even more so. “Huh? O-oh, yeah, yeah. Let’s… let’s go.”

He grabbed Twilight’s arm and practically dragged her along, wanting to get out of the bunker quicker rather than not. He was stopped, however, when his father called for him, declaring loudly, “Don’t wanna forget your briefcase.”

Tony and Twilight stopped dead in their tracks, the duo slowly spinning around to see Howard Stark holding out their briefcase with his free finger, smirking their way. If only he had known what he held by a simple finger. He would never know, Tony snatching the briefcase out of his hand with a grateful smile to go with his audible, “Thanks.”

With his briefcase, the Tesseract, and the Space Stone secured, Tony and Twilight turned to make their exit. Howard stared at Stark’s backside quizzically, then to his wife’s purple hair. Then back to Tony with that curious brow shot upwards as he followed them.

“You’re not one of those beatniks, are ya, Potts?”

The door quietly shut and locked behind Steve and Rainbow, leaving the two trapped in perpetual darkness of the office space. Rainbow Dash pulled off her cap, wiping her sweaty brow with a forearm and gazing through the window blinds, searching for company or trouble. Either one. Her rainbow hair fell down the right side of her face, shielding her right eye. It didn’t matter. The left saw everything she needed to see.

S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. A lot of them. After the secretary got a little too curious on their identity, she must have called for security to search the base for them. That, and the false call that Steve sent to a certain Hank Pym of a fake package for him. As far as they knew, the mailing room was a cluster of questions with little answers as a furious Hank Pym stormed in and started ordering men to strip for a severe cleansing, then to hop into hazmat suits to search for the package in question.

Either party must have caught on to their little diversion, but it was already too late. Steve Rogers and Rainbow Dash had already snuck into Pym’s lab and stole a plenitude of Pym Particles for their journey back home. Enough for a few round trips each, actually. Not like they needed that much, but they could never be too safe. After hearing what happened to Lang, they couldn’t take any risks anymore.

With the Pym Particles secured, all they needed to do was rendezvous with Stark and Twilight and hopefully not get caught in the meantime. There seemed to be a little bit of a predicament in that plan, both Steve and Rainbow forced to take cover in the nearest office room available to them.

Rainbow waited until all the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel had cleared from the hallway before she allowed herself to breathe again. “Okay, I think we’re in the clear.”

She heard no response.

Furrowing her brow at that, Rainbow turned around to see his burly figure gazing out the office’s back window. “Steve?”

He didn’t answer her. He couldn’t. His eyes were latched to the window and the stirring body outside of it. Rainbow took a step towards him, pausing when her eyes fell down to the office table resting near the back of the room. Upon its solid oak face was a picture. Just a simple picture. If it was so simple, then how did it take Rainbow’s breath away? Her hands shakily fell down to its frame, her fingers latching around it and bringing the picture closure to her eyes. Closer for inspection to see if what she was witnessing was real.

It was a face she could never forget, the face of none other than Steve Rogers. She gazed to him, only saw his backside, and shot her rose-rimmed irises down to the picture frame once more. It was definitely Steve, but the body did not match the face. It was skinnier, scrawnier, the face of utter exhaustion filling Steve’s expression. That was when it dawned on her.

She always wanted to see a picture of him prior to the serum. She just never imagined it would turn out to be in… the current situation they were in. Especially for Steve. Setting the picture back on the desk, Rainbow shakily made her approach by Steve’s side, saw what he was seeing. Stared to the lone individual standing on the opposite side of the glass. Rainbow recognized her. Even if it took a second or two in silence, she still recognized that face. It was hard to forget the love of Steve’s life.

Slowly, she shifted her eyes upwards towards her left. There he was, the Steve she knew gazing longingly to the woman he loved standing mere feet from where they stood. If only she could just turn away from her work for a second. Just a second. Just a second for her to see him in his weakened state. So weak that he couldn’t even gain her attention, knowing the repercussions that would follow. He wanted to stay planted right there forever, stare at her forever. Do something…

“We can’t stay here, Steve,” Rainbow whispered, her own voice pained.

Steve Rogers dropped his head, his eyes, that silent admittance to Rainbow’s word and logic ultimately killing him. Killing him and whatever strength he had left to stay planted right there forever.

When Peggy Carter finally did turn away from her work, a bundle of folders resting in her forearm, her eyes gazed across her office window. She paused momentarily. Seeing nothing. No one. It was but a mere moment of hesitation before Peggy turned away and got back to work.

They walked out together. All three of them from the confines of the bunker and into the warmth of the afternoon sun and the shared comradery of Camp Lehigh. They weaved between the bodies of young soldiers and waited as large jeeps and tanks strolled past them. Once the dirt streets were clear, Tony and Twilight followed side by side along the ever-curious and talkative Howard Stark.

“How far is your wife?” Tony asked.

“Ah, I can never tell with that sort of thing,” Howard said, waving at the air, measuring his own belly. “She’s at the point where she can’t stand the sound of my chewing. Had to eat dinner in the pantry a couple times.”

Twilight giggled to that, listening silently and smiling to the two men. Father and son. Finally finding that much-needed bonding that neither realized they needed.

“Oh,” Tony said, staring ahead and waiting for a jeep full of S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers to pass. “Well, congratulations nonetheless.”

Howard wordlessly offered a nod of thanks. The silence filled the trio and Twilight did not like that. She turned to Tony for something, anything to spark that conversation and that needed closure she knew he deserved. But—for the first time since she could remember—he was silent, out of words and desperately running out of time. Howard’s car and his butler were waiting just on the other side of the dirt road, Twilight fidgeting nervously as the squad of soldiers stamped past them.

“We have a little girl,” Twilight stated aloud, earning those dangerous and questioning pair of eyes from Tony on her right.

To both of their surprise, however, Howard smiled to that, continuing the conversation where it left off. “Honestly… a girl would be great. Less of a chance she’d turn out like me.”

And with that, Twilight took the backseat, a victorious grin tugging at her lips when Tony was the one to answer. “What’s so wrong with that?” Tony asked.

“Never felt like I would be the greatest parent. My old man… never really saw me as anything more than a spitting image of himself. I gotta tell ya, the hardest part of that is trying to live up to that image,” Howard responded, turning to fully face the man called Howard Potts.

The man called Howard Potts slowly began to smile, staring into his father’s eyes with as much longing as there was grief. Something that needed to be properly buried. “You know, I used to think that, too,” Tony replied, earning a curious expression from Howard. “My dad wasn’t the greatest. Sometimes he seemed abnormally cruel, but… ya know, now I see he was just trying to turn me into something he wasn’t.”

“Did he succeed?” Howard asked.

“In a way, yeah,” Tony said. “But that doesn’t mean I didn’t carry a few things he left off with.”

“Like what?”

“No amount of money ever bought a second of time.”

Howard smirked to that, then began to chuckle. “I like that. Sounds like a smart guy.”

“He is. Smartest guy I know,” Tony said with a warm smile. From behind and out of sight, Twilight breathed an even warmer breath of relief, her tear-filled eyes watching father and son finally bury the hatchet. More so the son, Twilight knowing how much resentment and pain he still had for his father and his passing. But the two of them saw two people even Howard couldn’t see, a certain Captain America and Rainbow Dash giving a pair of thumbs-up a few yards in the distance. They were good to go. Twilight breathed another sigh of relief… then fell silent, her eyes shifting back to Tony and his dad.

Tony sighed at that. “Listen, I gotta bust.”

“No worries,” Howard stated with a clear smile, handing off his flowers to his butler Jarvis standing by the driver’s door. He surprised both Tony and Twilight when he turned and approached them one last time. “Whole parenting thing might just have to be pieced along, but… I enjoyed this. Thank you, Potts. Gotta tell ya, my kid isn’t here yet… and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him… or her.”

Tony chuckled. “Or her.”

“It was very nice to meet you,” Howard said, hand held out once more.

And Tony didn’t hesitate that time. “You too,” he said, meeting his father for a firm and much-needed handshake. He made sure he was staring him dead in the eyes, nowhere else, as he said, “And Howard… everything is going to turn out exactly how it’s supposed to.”

Before Howard Stark could even question that, Tony did something that was also much-needed. He broke the distance between them, meeting his father for a hug that Howard, obviously, didn’t return. Regardless, Tony whispered a silent “thank you” before breaking off. He shrugged at that.

“All right,” Howard said, turning to Tony’s “wife” and smiling to her. His hand rose one more time, that last time to her. “Mrs. Potts, it was a pleasure.”

Twilight smiled after wiping at her teary eyes, meeting his palm with her own. “Oh, no, the pleasure was all mi—”

Her voice was momentarily cut off at the last second, a flash of light enveloping the entire woman and leaving just Twilight Sparkle. Leaving just the Alicorn in a baggy dress and skirt, glasses, and tumbling clipboard hitting the dirt. Her violet hoof was outstretched, held with an astounded and utterly awestruck Howard Stark. He wasn’t alone.

Another flash of light caught a plenitude of eyes, everyone within the vicinity turning to see the rainbow-maned Pegasus standing in an oversized officer’s uniform and cap. Then they saw the Alicorn shaking Howard Stark’s hand. Then utter silence filled the entirety of Camp Lehigh.

Then Tony Stark said, “Yeah, I’m into horses.”

Moments before making a mad run for it.

The entire base had gone into full alert. Twilight offered one last awkward smile to Howard before her horn shimmered and she vanished, leaving just the clothes she wore and nothing else. She appeared right behind Tony, the two of them joining Steve and Rainbow. Together, all four raced ahead and away from any nearby soldiers, allowing Steve to pick up his shield hidden behind a pair of garbage cans. Rainbow tossed the vials of Pym Particles to Tony and Twilight.

Just before the entirety of the base could come rushing and falling down on top of them, all four Avengers slapped their Time Travel GPSes at the same time, the Quantum Suits overcoming them. Tony gripped the briefcase as tight as he could, the Space Stone in their possession once more and successfully taken into the Quantum Realm when all four of them shrank down and disappeared.

They left an entire S.H.I.E.L.D. utterly shaken. More so, they left Howard Stark stunned, the man only smirking to see them escape.