• Published 26th May 2018
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Infinity Era - JDPrime22



Avengers: Infinity War / Avengers: Endgame crossover. The culmination has arrived. The Mad Titan has waited so long for this moment. Long live the Infinity Era.

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Chapter 127 – An Old-Fashioned Notion

127

New York City

Year: 2012

1:12 p.m.

The massive blue and black portal hanging over Stark Tower ripped at the very fabric of space. Doing so allowed an armada of beings from another world to enter, unleashing an army of Chitauri chariots, Leviathans, and foot soldiers upon the helpless city of New York.

Only they weren’t helpless.

Far from it.

As the skies burned and the buildings quaked beneath the Chitauri Invasion, one team stood together to face the war wrought upon their world. They stood amongst the overwhelming forces that inflicted pain and suffering upon the innocent populace. Those Chitauri covered the building sides, sliding down, removing their masks and screeching towards that team.

The Incredible Hulk roared right back.

Hawkeye pulled an arrow from his quiver and loaded it into his bow.

Thor twirled the mighty Mjølnir about, glaring to the armies above.

Black Widow added a fresh magazine into her pistol.

Captain America tightened his shield and faced the armada head-on.

Iron Man landed between him and the Hulk, his Mark 7 armor gleaming under the sun.

Together, they stood. One team. One group of saviors for New York City and the human race. The Avengers finally united for one cause: to stop the mischievous Loki and his schemes of world domination. Even as the entire weight of the alien invasion fell upon them, they stood together. Even if they failed that day, they would be damn well sure to avenge the Earth and its people.

Their fight lied ahead.

Steve and Carol’s teams lied elsewhere in the shadows of the war.

In a flash of white and a sudden shock wave within the far-off alleyway, the team of eleven appeared from their microscopic sizes and grew to their original height. The second they emerged together in the alleyway was the very same second the Quantum Suits materialized back into the Time Travel GPSes upon their hands and hooves. The nanotech faded when Steve Rogers took a step forward, shield in hand, as he observed his surroundings to see if they had made it to the correct time.

Above, he spotted the alien portal high above Stark Tower, unleashing a fresh wave of Leviathans upon New York. Just in time to enter the peak of the battle. Nodding to that, Steve turned around to face his team, as well as Carol’s. All of them, really.

The Quantum Suits shrunk back into the small devices everyone held, every eye observing their surroundings as well as each other. Tony wore a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative uniform for undercover purposes. All a part of the plan. Scott stood in his Ant-Man suit while Carol stood beside him in her Captain Marvel attire, both of their masks retracted back into their suits. Bruce wore a plain T-shirt and black jeans beneath his Quantum Suit, checking everyone’s status on his GPS.

Twilight and Rainbow wore no extra clothing beneath the Quantum Suit, just the Arc Reactor each were given from Stark. Murdock stood like a shadow within the alleyway, his black Daredevil suit covering him from head to toe as his mask retracted back to reveal his awestruck expression observing and hearing every horrifying sound of the battle surrounding them. Sunset Shimmer was right by him, standing with Daisy Johnson as both equine and Inhuman gazed to the battle with awestruck expressions. Daisy’s skintight S.H.I.E.L.D. jumpsuit and silver gauntlets joined her beneath the Quantum Suit, light brown and purple hair flowing against the heated, burning air. Frank Castle rose to full height behind them, the Punisher Armor adding a few inches as his mask retracted back and he analyzed the situation. New York was burning. People were dying. He scowled. Shit happened back in 2012. Couldn’t do anything then, and he did nothing now. Couldn’t risk it.

Unlike the others, Steve Rogers wore a little blast from the past; something to help him appear inconspicuous. He wore his old-fashion Avengers uniform. An oldie but a classic. Perfect to blend in to where they would land. He wore no mask but would not need one for what he had planned. Observing the streets and the buildings of New York for a second longer, Steve faced his team.

“Invasion’s in full-swing,” he stated loudly over the echoing explosions. “We’ll go through this one more time. Banner, you’re gonna go find the sanctum and Doctor Strange, convince him what’s going on and get the Time Stone. There’s gonna be one moment where both the Space and Mind Stones are in the same location at once. Tony, Scott, Twi, Dash, Sunset, Matt, you’ll be with me. Tony will be handling the Space Stone while I’ll take care of the Mind Stone. Carol, Daisy, and Frank will be backup in case things turn south.”

“Just to be clear,” Rainbow interjected, the eyes of the many facing the Pegasus. “The Space Stone is in something called the… ‘Tesseract’? Glowing cube thing?”

“And the Mind Stone is in a scepter?” Sunset asked, taking a soft step forward to avoid the sharp debris beneath her hooves. Twilight was still awestruck to the pure size of the alien invasion of New York, her violet ponytail lightly shaking in the heated wind.

Steve nodded to them both. “And the Time Stone is gonna be in a necklace.”

They all nodded. Not even a moment of hesitation. Good, Steve thought, tightening his lips and stating harshly, “We can’t make many mistakes, preferably none. We stick by the plan; wait for the right moment. Got it?” It was certainly harsh how he added the extra emphasis on his tone, but it needed to be done. It needed to be said and understood amongst the masses.

It wasn’t nearly as harsh as what followed. The resounding roar caught everyone’s ears and heart and brought their attention to the street ahead. With a car high above his head, the Hulk slammed the vehicle onto a helpless Chitauri foot soldier, killing it after the second crushing blow he inflicted upon it. To add even more overkill, the Hulk proceeded to hop upon the car and drive his feet into it again and again, bouncing up and down until he created a small sinkhole where the Chitauri once lived. A nearby alien witnessed the death of his ally, and chose to retreat instead of firing on the hulking beast. The Hulk cried out, leaping out to return to the fray.

Everyone slowly turned back to the only person they could. Banner covered his face.

“And maybe smash a few things along the way,” Steve added.

Offering a helpful smile, Twilight gazed up to Bruce to ease his worries, considering he would be on his own for the Time Stone. Shrugging his massive shoulders, Banner sighed in Twilight’s direction before eventually returning the smile. Then it vanished as he ripped off his shirt with ease, stating bemusedly, “I think it’s a little gratuitous, but whatever.”

He stepped out of the alleyway and into the open war, stretching his muscles and hopping up and down. He punched at the air, flexing and growling softly as he punched a taxi cab and tossed a motorbike across the street. He was just warming up, not even getting to the stretches yet before everyone eventually turned away. Turned to Carol Danvers as she, too, stepped out of the alley and observed the invasion unfolding before her.

She furrowed her brow, frowning to it all to see the devastation fall upon one of America’s most populated cities. Her golden hair blew in the wind, hardly shielding the offended expression in her eyes as she asked, “Why didn’t Fury call me for this invasion?”

Steve turned to her. Banner leapt off from the street to make his way to the Sanctum Sanctorum, but no one even seemed to notice. In response to her question, Steve stated, “Well, he probably trusted us too much.”

Carol turned back to face Captain America. Her eyes met his before quickly shooting upwards, widening in horror as she reacted and cried, “Look out!”

Everyone else only had a second less than her.

They had spotted them when Danvers stepped out in her colorful uniform, practically radiating light and attention amongst the dreary, gray landscape of New York burning. Once they had them in their sights, the Chitauri were relentless in their pursuit. More than a dozen chariots unleashed a volley of blaster bolts upon the alleyway and the ten lives stationed within it. It was a scramble from that point on, only a few firing back. Those few being Frank, Twilight, and Sunset, one unleashing a barrage of gunfire and missiles while the other two unloaded spell after spell onto the familiar alien invaders. Carol grabbed Steve’s shoulders and pulled them both to the ground, just out of the way of the nearest bolt of energy that would have struck Rogers in the back. Lying on top of him, Carol gazed down to the First Avenger unnaturally close in her personal space.

Smiling awkwardly, Carol pushed herself up until they were face to face, strands of gold falling from her head and barely reaching Steve’s face. “Hey,” she greeted.

“Hey,” Steve breathed. The shrieks caused his eyes to flick to his left, his face convulsing into a look of terror as he roared, “Get back!”

Wrapping his left arm and shield around her, Steve rolled to his knee and carried Carol with him. She rolled, too, trapped within Steve’s body and shield as he covered them both from the onslaught of blaster fire from above. Gritting his teeth against the enemy fire, Steve looked about and witnessed the scramble for himself. Daisy, Murdock, Tony, Scott, and Rainbow were practically blind to the blaster fire raining down on top of them. He growled, shouting, “Grab some cover and hold them off!”

Carol’s mask materialized over her face, eyes burning a bright gold and her hair forming a mohawk from the red helmet. With that order and freedom given, Stark took action and pressed firmly over his chest. The Arc Reactor burned to life beneath his suit and sent forth an army of nanobots across Tony’s body. It washed over his S.H.I.E.L.D. suit and covered his body from head to toe, the eyes of the Mark 85 igniting and turning to his assailants.

Captain Marvel engaged alongside Iron Man.

With the blaster bolts harmlessly striking his advanced armor, Tony Stark shot up from the street. Carol Danvers pushed herself, as well, flying off from the street and away from Steve’s shield. She flew right next to Tony, both Avengers leaning back with their fists as they struck the chariots at high speed. The following explosions filled the air as a reinforcing plethora of Chitauri swarmed near their location. Daredevil whipped out his batons, not even looking as he flipped backwards and struck the nearest Chitauri foot soldier in the head with his thrown baton, killing it instantly. Frank stomped about in the street with his gauntlets aimed in every direction possible, unloading streams of bullets at anything that moved and looked unnatural to him. Sunset, thankfully, was right behind him, out of his line of sight and firing alongside him, shooting energy beams instead of bullets. Scott Lang took Steve’s advice to heart and grabbed the nearest cover he could, shrinking down to avoid any conflict. The air and the streets were swarmed in seconds, leaving very little breathing room and not much of a path to follow.

Twilight, Rainbow, and Daisy Johnson unfortunately fell into that category, taking Steve’s last order and following it: grab some cover and hold them off. There was no cover for them. They were pushed back several blocks, Rainbow forced to activate her Iron Mare armor once the Chitauri were becoming too overwhelming. Still not particularly used to the suit and its weapons just yet, Rainbow fired blindly from her repulsors, managing to strike a couple of foot soldiers out of the dozens that filled the road to their front and back. She wobbled a she hovered above the street, the suits repulsors barely keeping afloat as she didn’t particularly know which direction she wanted to fly in.

Twilight knew she was far from being an expert with her suit, so she didn’t activate it just yet and instead chose to unleash heavy spells upon their attackers. She fought side by side with Daisy Johnson, the Inhuman jamming her open palm to an abandoned taxi and sending a shock wave into the vehicle. The car flipped as it rolled, crushing numerous Chitauri ahead of them and clearing the street.

Twilight’s horn died down. Daisy dropped her gloved-palm and breathed heavily, sweat already beginning to dampen her attitude and her senses. She flinched as she gazed to the skylines fire and smoke melting it and thousands of other Chitauri filling it. Johnson breathed heavily, shaking her head and her bangs.

“This brings back some unwelcome memories,” she noted, exhales leaving her person every second. Twilight nodded to that, sweat starting to stream down her forehead as did Daisy’s.

Spotting Steve battling alongside Murdock to fend off a reinforcing wave of Chitauri foot soldiers further down the street, Twilight pursed her lips. The Alicorn lifted her gaze to the Inhuman, saying loudly, “We should probably regroup with Steve!”

Daisy was about to acknowledge that with a firm nod, but then she froze. Looked about and asked, “Wait, what about Rainbow?”

Son of a—!”

The raspy cry came from above, only Twilight and Daisy within the vicinity to hear it while the others were trapped in a wave of explosions and other distractions. They lifted their heads to the sky, both of their jaws falling simultaneously to witness Rainbow Dash flying in her Iron Mare suit, firing wildly to the Chitauri chariot chasing her. As she spun and fired a repulsor into it, she was caught within the fiery carcass that remained of it, pushing both itself and the metal-covered mare further down the road and onto an elevated bridge. There, they witnessed Rainbow Dash crash upon it.

Flinching and cringing as the crash was followed up by an explosion from the chariot, both Twilight and Daisy turned to one another, both already having the same thought in mind. Daisy fell to one knee, palm pressed to Twilight’s backside as the Alicorn lowered her horn and brightened it, teleporting both herself and Johnson to Rainbow’s location atop the bridge.

A flash of light later, they appeared in the aftermath. Upon the bridge, they witnessed the debris of the chariot join the bodies of numerous others, the road filled with Chitauri bodies and burning vehicles. In the center of it all, Rainbow Dash lay while clutching her forehead, her mask materialized back to reveal the pain evident on her face. Pained… but well alive. Twilight and Daisy both breathed a sigh of relief on that, taking those necessary steps to meet her.

But they stopped.

They lifted their eyes further down the bridge.

And their hearts froze.

The star-spangled shield struck three Chitauri at once, killing each as the frisbee-like shield returned to the gloves of Captain America and he drove his fist into the last Chitauri before him. He finished it by slamming the edge of his shield into its face, killing the alien beneath him. Just on his left, the wicked dance of the Black Widow was joined by several others, various other Chitauri who could not comprehend nor fight against one so deadly in their art. She ducked, rolled, swung, stabbed, and fired at any alien willing and daring to meet her on the bridge. Leaping from the hood of a car, the Widow latched herself and her legs across the nearest Chitauri’s head, leaning back and slamming the Chitauri head-first into the cement. On her knees, she flicked her short, red hair backwards and fired a bolt from her Widow’s Bite into the Chitauri charging her. Her free hand, her right one, gripped her pistol tightly and blew the brains out of the Chitauri swinging for Captain America’s blindside.

The Captain turned back, smiling beneath the mask and nodding her way. The Widow smiled in return, her eyes flicking forward and that smile instantly dying. Quickly leaving her when she spotted the two intruders upon the bridge with them.

“Uh… Cap?” Natasha asked within the lull in the battle. “You seeing this?”

Steve Rogers’ smile slowly left him, a look of confusion filling his features until he finally turned to the direction of which Romanoff stared. It was there, just mere yards ahead of them on the bridge, did they see the young woman in the black and purple S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. Not only her. Not by any means. What might have been reinforcements sent by Fury was completely tossed out the window when they saw who—or what—was standing with her there. Joining the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was a bright purple unicorn. With wings. Laying before them was a blue Pegasus wearing a suit of armor reminiscent of a certain billionaire playboy. He was speechless. Both Steve and Natasha couldn’t even breathe as they gazed upon the group of three before them.

And they were in the same boat, Rainbow Dash spinning about and slowly rising to her hooves, her jaw just as unhinged as either Twilight’s or Daisy’s. Slow in her ascension and even slower in her retreat, Rainbow could look nowhere else but dead ahead. Meeting the eyes of a certain Captain America and Black Widow. Only… it wasn’t their Captain. His bright blue mask was donned and a clear lack of a Time Travel GPS was also a damning piece of evidence. Even Natasha looked far different, her hair shorter, redder, and the suit she wore didn’t even match the one she left the facility with.

It didn’t take long for Twilight, Rainbow, and Daisy to put two and two together.

“Who the hell are you?” Steve asked, eyes only to the two mares and barely flicking upwards to Daisy. He was more so centered on the possibility of colorful, alien-like horses within New York City rather than some random S.H.I.E.L.D. operative. “Where did you come from?”

Rainbow and Daisy were already tongue-tied, unable to speak for the smoke in the air and the shock of the situation had taken their voice away. The same fate nearly fell upon Twilight had it not been for the Chitauri leaping out of the flying chariot behind Steve and Natasha. With a blink of her eyes, Twilight took in a horrific gasp of air and cried, “Duck!”

The next thing Steve knew was that her horn charged up and fired a bolt of energy right for his head. He ducked accordingly—on instinct and not on her word—and turned to see what had been her actual target. She killed the Chitauri charging Steve from behind with her magical bolt, the energy striking its head and sending it several yards backwards.

Steve spun around, Natasha joining him, and gazed to the pony in pure amazement.

Then saw as an army of Chitauri surrounded them. From the two Avengers, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, the pony in a suit of armor, and the winged unicorn. All of them facing down the same enemy. They all turned to face one another once again, one last time, just to see how they would react. Rainbow Dash hardened her expression, her Iron Man mask materializing and sealing her expression from the world. Her blue eyes burned to life.

Then they fought.

It started when Daisy Johnson spun around, screaming as she did so and slammed her fist into the solid cement, sending a shock wave of energy into the line of Chitauri behind her. The wave was strong enough to knock them all off their feet, off the bridge and to their deaths below. Next was Rainbow Dash, jetting forward with extra help from her repulsors on the wings of her suit. She fled directly over Natasha, the Black Widow ducking and watching the mare work, astounded to see her meet the Chitauri with furious and precise strikes only a soldier could manage. Steve, as well, as quite impressed. Still shocked, but impressed.

Rainbow met the first Chitauri with her hind leg, bucking its weapon away and spinning in a complete circle. She gained the necessary momentum, unveiling a nanotech blade from her foreleg and slicing the first Chitauri’s head clean off its shoulders. As the remaining aliens watched their fellow soldiers’ head bounce across the bridge, they were almost unprepared for the following onslaught that awaited them. Rainbow Dash as merciless in her close combat technique, her and her blade becoming partners in a deadly dance of blood and screams. The Iron Mare suits provided that necessary protection from any lucky shots, and it was able to keep track of anything within a 180-degree line of sight. She tore apart various Chitauri on her left and right with her repulsor blasts, micro missiles, and nanotech blades.

Yet it was that one lucky Chitauri that always got her in the back like a coward. It slammed its rifle into her backside, sending Rainbow colliding against the side of a burning vehicle. Turning accordingly, Rainbow jammed out both of her hooves and nearly fired two repulsor blasts into the charging Chitauri foot soldier. It approached her with its rifle raised, the bladed end ready to meet her Arc Reactor. It convulsed as two loud bangs rang off in the air, the alien slumping to the side and allowing Rainbow to witness her protector.

Natasha Romanoff lowered her dual pistols, the ends of the barrels smoking.

Rainbow Dash lowered her hooves, the blank expression from her helmet silent, just as much as Black Widow was.

“I’m not gonna ask where you got that suit,” Natasha stated, practically breathless with a trail of blood on her lip leaking down. She turned her attention to the Iron Mare armor, Rainbow lowering her eyes to it, as well. Shaking her head, Natasha just shrugged and held up her pistols. “Whoever or whatever you are… just keep doing what you’re doing.”

That was exactly what they did. Even more Chitauri came for them, and they were only forced closer and closer together. Twilight Sparkle found her breathing room to become more and more constricted as she and Daisy were eventually separated and she was slowly retreating further down onto the bridge, closer to Stark Tower. Her magic was becoming less and less effective, even her list of spells memorized becoming exhausted. She was mere seconds away from considering the Iron Mare when that shield flew over her head and struck two Chitauri side by side, instantly returning to its bearer.

Twilight spun around, but soon found no need to when Captain America ran and flipped completely over her, using his shield to block the oncoming blaster fire and send it right on back to their assailants. The three other Chitauri died on the spot. He slowly rose back to full height, his expression hardened but curious as he turned to his left to face her. Finally up close and personal with the alien unicorn. Pegasus. Mixture of the both.

He wasn’t just losing his mind from earlier. She really could talk. She even smiled awkwardly to Steve and cleared her throat. “I’d hope I’m not the weirdest thing you’d ever seen,” she weakly stuttered.

To her relief, he nodded. “You’re right,” Steve replied, loosening his shield and flinging it directly into the air behind her. Spinning about, Twilight flinched as the shield struck a chariot flying right towards them, hitting it so perfectly the entire chariot broke apart and exploded yards away from them, harmless debris not even reaching her hooves. Turning back, she saw as the shield returned to his forearm, Steve tightening it and turning back to the mare. “You’re up there, though.”

She couldn’t argue with that.

She couldn’t argue much of anything when she witnessed the trail of fire fly past the buildings and focus directly towards the bridge. Towards them. Towards her. It only become more and more evident who it was when the sound of raw repulsor blasts filled the air and the bright red and yellow suit of armor zoomed in and wiped out the line of Chitauri racing down the bridge. A smile slowly grew across her lips. Twilight also noticed that he wasn’t slowing down, the Alicorn gasping and taking cover as he made his landing right in the heart of the conflict. Right where she once stood next to Steve.

Skidding to a halt, Iron Man spun around and fired a round of repulsors onto the approaching wave of Chitauri surrounding him and Captain America. Steve joined the fight instantly, kicking away the nearest foot soldier and spinning to meet his fellow Avenger. With his palms already glowing, Iron Man fired a conjoined beam of energy right at Steve. Twilight gasped. Then she lay slack-jawed in amazement as the energy of the repulsor blast was redirected and enhanced as Steve turned that reflected beam onto the Chitauri surrounding them, instantly clearing the bridge of any remaining alien infection.

All except for one.

Just before he could take off and join the fight with Thor and Banner, Tony Stark paused. He caught the warning from Jarvis. He turned harshly to his left and jammed his palms in the direction of the unspecified alien species resting a few feet away from Cap and himself. His repulsors charged for a brief second before slowly dying, quickly analyzing the strange, colorful horse. Noting that she wasn’t a threat. At least not yet. The look of fear on her face was clear, but as he lowered his palms, so too did she lower her hooves. Sentient, as well. That was interesting.

It was at that moment did Twilight realize that he wasn’t the Tony Stark she knew. The suit of armor was certainly different, an older model that Tony wouldn’t be caught dead wearing back in their time. But considering 2012 wasn’t their time… then she should have suspected to see some old but familiar faces. Unfortunately, that wasn’t shared amongst the other side. Captain America joined Iron Man in standing side by side, studying the alien pony for seconds on end while Twilight turned from one to the other, slowly rising back to her hooves.

Pointing to Twilight, Stark finally asked aloud, “What the hell kind of alien is that?”

It was a question that never could have been answered, especially not from Twilight. Especially when Carol Danvers swooped in and destroyed the oncoming wave of Chitauri chariots. Natasha, Steve, Tony, Twilight, Rainbow, and Daisy all flinched and turned accordingly to see Captain Marvel zooming back and forth at unbelievable speeds. She paused once the skies were clear over the bridge, hovering momentarily before smiling down to the three Avengers.

“You’re doin’ great!” she called, a big thumbs-up given. Tony, Steve, and Natasha were utterly speechless, breathless, all of the above.

But before they could question any of it, she was gone. She flew down with such incredible speeds and picked up Twilight, Rainbow, and Daisy and vanished off into the air in less than two seconds. Almost like they were never even there to begin with. Maybe they were. Maybe they weren’t.

Tony Stark shook his head, the blank expression from his Iron Man mask mirroring that of his actual expression beneath. “Anyone wanna fill me in on what just happened?” he asked, turning from Natasha to Steve and back again.

“Maybe Loki expanded his army… or we got some other visitors from the portal,” Natasha said, gazing longingly to the portal with exhaustion burning in her eyes.

She wasn’t alone. Steve shook his head to the fading trail of light. “Jesus… they should’ve kept me in the ice,” he breathed.

Out of the frying pan and into the coolness of the rushing wind, the team of three that were once lost but now found all turned upwards to their rescuer. Carol Danvers looked about, getting them as far away from ground zero as possible and as high into the as possible. She watched herself and Daisy, though, merely holding the Inhuman by her forearm and the ponies in her free arm. Once they broke free and flew by her side, she reached down and grabbed Daisy with both hands, keeping a firm grip that mirrored Johnson’s.

“Be sure to stay close from now on!” Carol called to the flying mares on her left. “We need to regroup with our Cap!”

Twilight and Rainbow agreed by silently nodding rapidly, having lost all sense of speech and tongue just mere minutes into the Battle of New York.

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