章 143: Trick 142: It's only the Death of us all, relax.
Ace appeared in Kamar-Taj, next to Wong, who said "He's here." as he pointed on an orb, showing a quadrant of the universe.
Ace squinted "A planet? Where?" Wong replied "In the 473rd Quadrant." Ace frowned and muttered "Hard to get to… Can you connect me to him?" Wong frowned, "I'll try. Inject your mana."
Ace pressed on the Orb and Wong nodded, "That's enough. If I'm successful, Strange will speak to you." Ace nodded and Wong asked "The Avengers?" Ace replied "At Avengers HQ securing the Mind Stone."
Wong said "Okay. Go, we can use all the help we can get." Ace nodded and said "Protect the Sanctum. Don't let anyone take advantage of this." Wong nodded, replying "I will. Make sure the stones are not gathered together."
Ace snorted with a smirk "If they are, I'll be dead. Good luck, Wong." Wong nodded, "To you as well. You'll need it." Ace chuckled "Yeah…" before disappearing.
He returned to the Avenger HQ and sat on a table as Rhodey was talking to the Secretary.
They paused and turned to Ace as the Secretary said "Cloak. Very bold of you to show up here." Ace ignored him and looked at Rhodey with his arms crossed, "Where's Banner and Pietro?"
Before Rhodey could answer, the duo appeared. Ace nodded at them, asking "Steve?" Banner shook his head, "Not here yet."
The Secretary said "If you don't turn you-" Ace looked at him, cutting him off as he said "Listen to me very carefully. If you don't shut your mouth, I will remove it from your body. Do you get it? I'm trying to save your worthless life, and after what you've done out of sheer greed, trust me, it's going far and beyond what you deserve."
The Secretary was speechless as Ace smiled "So please. With all due respect, get the fuck out of my face, 'kay?" Rhodey tapped the air and closed the hologram, asking "Damn. Who shit in your cornflakes?"
Suddenly, Steve, Natasha, Sam, Wanda, and Vision appeared as Steve said "Probably Thanos." Rhodey looked over and said "Steve!" Steve looked at him and nodded, "Rhodes." before walking over and shaking his hand as Rhodey said "You guys look like shit."
Sam remarked "Well the Hotels weren't exactly 5 Stars." Natasha stared at Banner, who said "Nat…"
Ace ignored them, saying "Steve." Steve nodded, "Come with me." Ace followed him into a meeting room. The rest looked at each other before following.
Ace tapped the table, creating a diagram of the stones, saying "This Thanos individual is allegedly collecting the Infinity Stones. According to Banner, he wipes out half the population of the planets he goes to for some unknown purpose."
He waved in the air, continuing "The Infinity Stones were created at the beginning of this Universe's creation. Without them, the Universe would collapse and be devoured by other Universes. They are the crystallization of Origin Energy. They represent Power, Time, Space, Mind, Soul, and Reality."
He grabbed a Tesseract and went on, "The Tesseract was the Space Stone and it is in Thanos' hands now. Along with another Stone for sure, which one, I don't know. But Stephen Strange was kidnapped by tricky Aliens along with the Time Stone. The Reality Stone is with the Collector in the Universe, the Power Stone is not anywhere I know of, and the Soul Stone has been lost for so long whoever hid it took it to the grave."
Steve frowned and nodded, "The Mind Stone…" Vision said "It's me." Ace nodded and continued "Yes. The Mind Stone is the gem in Vision's head. Which…" he looked at Vision's wound, asking "You were attacked?"
Vision nodded and Steve explained "Two aliens, male and female looking, carried spear weapons." Ace frowned and said "I met a lizard thing and a skinny guy without a nose. I'm assuming that they are his lackeys, they weren't that strong." Steve nodded, agreeing.
For a universal threat, they weren't strong at all. Steve had more trouble with Ultron if he was being honest…
Ace looked at the diagram and said "Here's the kicker. I didn't take this guy seriously because he couldn't be so strong if his minions are so weak, but if he has the Infinity stones, we have a serious problem."
Steve said "Just say it." Ace sighed and explained "Each Infinity Stone is incredibly powerful. Just like the one in Vision's head, if he were to truly use it, he could obliterate all of us in a second, probably… He could also brainwash us easily, he just doesn't. The problem is, if this Thanos guy has more than one, then he'll be that much more powerful. If he collects them all…"
He paused for a moment before continuing "Think of it this way, erasing half of life in the universe would be so easy and simple, he could snap his fingers and do it just like that. He could theoretically do anything he wanted. None of us could stop him at all. Not only us…"
He frowned and let out a breath saying "Even the most powerful beings in the universe, in charge of life, death, space, chaos, annihilation, etc they would be nothing. The Celestials that create galaxies and planets, would be like children to him. Only a handful of people in the Multiverse would be able to stop him…"
Steve frowned and the rest were dumbfounded, Banner was incomprehensible, saying "The Multiverse… It's real!?" Ace said "There are many things that are real. For example, Yahweh is real. The Christian God."
Everyone looked at him and he added, "Odin sealed him in Heaven, don't worry about it… Anyway, listen. Buckle your pants and tighten your boots, cus there's a very good chance we're walking straight to death. Depending on how many Stones Thanos has…" Steve looked at him and asked "What do you think?"
Ace clicked his tongue and jerked his head in a tilt, replying "What do I think? I think we're gonna have a great time in the Death Realm after we stop Thanos, that's what I think." Steve smirked and said "Not bad. I like that idea."
Natasha let out a breath and waved her arms, saying "So we just have to protect the stone, right? Sounds easy enough." Rhodey scoffed, "Yeah. From a Galactic Superman."
Vision said suddenly "Or destroy it." everyone looked at him as he continued "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head. About its nature. But also its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source… something very similar to its own signature, perhaps… Its molecular integrity could fail." as he looked at Wanda.
Ace frowned and asked "I can do it, what's the catch." Vision looked at him, saying "I would cease to be." Ace let out a breath and looked at Vision silently, Wanda shook her head and said "No. We're not having this conversation."
Vision looked at her, saying "Eliminating the Stone is the only way. You heard Cloak." Wanda retorted "But he could be wrong. Plus, we can protect you!" Ace rolled his eyes and turned back to the table in silence.
Banner said "Well, wait. Maybe it isn't." everyone looked at him and he walked to Vision, continuing "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixed together, all of them learning from each other."
Wanda grabbed onto a shred of hope, saying "You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Bruce turned to everyone and replied "All I'm saying is; if we take out the Stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left! Maybe even the best parts!"
Natasha looked at him, asking "Can we do that?" Ace looked at Vision and added, "Just rip it out or what?" Banner shook his head, saying "Not me, not here."
Rhodey said "You better find someone, somewhere, fast. The Secretary isn't just gonna let you have your old rooms back." Ace looked over, scoffing "He's not afraid? What a fool…" Rhodey crossed his arms, replying "I think he's betting on us being, you know, HEROES and not the bad guys."
Steve said "Wait a minute. Cloak, you said if the Stones don't exist, our Universe would crumble?" Ace looked at him and tilted his head from side to side, replying "Basically. They form the building blocks of everything you see around you. They're like the Foundation of a house. If the foundations are gone, you're gonna find yourself buried under your own roof."
Steve looked at Vision saying "So then?" Ace added while lifting his hand, "However!" everyone looked at him as he went on, "The universe has existed for so long, one of them missing will have a minimal effect."
Rhodes held out his hands and asked "Hold up, how 'minimal' is this effect, man? Cus you seem to take a lot of stuff lightly." Sam added, "If we have to start patching up holes in space, I'm not gonna be happy."
Ace explained "Basically…" he waved his hands around, continuing "Our Universal walls would become a little thinner and weaker… Maybe some things would collapse, more susceptible to incursions…"
Rhodes snapped his fingers and pointed at Ace, looking at Sam, saying "You see? No big deal guys, only some things would collapse!" Steve looked at Ace, saying "Cloak…" Ace looked around and tapped his hand on the table, explaining "If powerful people in other universes wanted to come into ours, it would be easier now. If they couldn't before but only by a bit, they would be able to now. The Collapse would be erratic and handled by the Cosmic Entities, and Incursions happen anyway, they would only be more frequent…"
He paused for a moment and continued "The people wanting to come in are so strong they can cross through the Multiverse by themselves with only their power. Like for example… a person like that would be able to literally rip space itself in half or annihilate a galaxy with a casual punch…"
Rhodey held his chest with one hand, saying "Oh… That's it? I destroyed a Galaxy for breakfast today." Pietro looked at him, saying "Come on, man." Rhodey rolled his eyes and said "Listen, man. These are some severe consequences!"
Steve looked at Rhodey, saying "And we'll deal with them in the future, together. If this is the best shot we got, we gotta take it, Rhodey." Ace added "The Incursions are when two of the same planet from different universes unluckily line up to collide with each other. It's like… Universe cancer. Normally one planet destroys the other to save themselves, these things are inevitable because it's how the Multiverse ages."
Sam asked in confusion "The Multiverse ages? Like a person?" Ace replied slowly "Everything dies, Sam. The Multiverse is no different. It dies and collapses before being born again. There are beings whose whole purpose is to consume and stockpile energy for the next iteration of the Universe or Multiverse to be born. This is the way the world works, it's not a big deal."
Sam blinked and replied "I'm sorry. That sounds like a big deal to me… personally. I don't know about you." Banner was fascinated, asking "Wow… That's so strange! How do these beings get the energy for that?"
Pietro asked "Should we be talking about this now?" Ace replied to Banner, "Eating planets." Banner was stunned, asking "Really?! How? Why?" before Ace could answer, Steve stopped him, asking "And that's all?"
Ace looked at him and nodded "Most likely. The Other 5 will pick up the slack as they are a balancing factor, but even if one Stone is lost, it's very possible that the Cosmic Entities in charge will come to find out why."
Steve frowned, asking "Is that a bad thing?" Ace cleared his throat and asked "How would you define the word 'bad'?" Steve replied, "Worse than Thanos." Ace answered "Then no. They wouldn't kill half the universe, they would only kill all of us."
Rhodey nodded, saying "Oh, that makes me feel better." Natasha asked "How do you know all this but not about Thanos?" Ace looked at her and asked sarcastically, "You know about being a spy?"
Natasha nodded and Ace said "Good. Name every spy to ever live." Natasha froze and replied "I get it…"
Steve confirmed "So destroying the Stone is okay. Got it. I know a place." everyone looked at him as Rhodey sighed "Here we go." Sam looked at him saying "Man, why you so sarcastic all the time?" Rhodey looked at him and retorted "Why you gotta one up me, man?"
Everyone ignored them as Steve said "Let's go, we're on the clock."
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