AN: There you go, another chapter.
Tony gave Howard a sidelong glance, his usual smirk absent. "You've got a hundred questions, I know. I'll explain everything. Later. Right now, time's tight."
Howard looked like he might argue, but after a beat, he nodded. "Fine. But don't make me chase you down for answers."
Tony clapped a hand on his father's shoulder. "Wouldn't dream of it. Keep Steve stable. I'll meet you at Horizon."
With that, Howard turned and jogged toward the waiting transport jet, where Peggy and Melina were already securing Steve inside the containment pod. The engines roared to life, wind swirling snow into spirals as the ramp closed behind them.
Tony waited until the jet was airborne and fading into the stormclouds. Then he turned to the Widows still gathered near the scaffold.
"We're done here," he said, voice clipped. "Pack up. Remove our trace. Head back to base. Take the long route and avoid any signal hotspots. I don't want chatter about this bouncing off every satellite."
Melina's second-in-command, a sharp-eyed Widow named Anya, gave a single nod. "Understood."
Within moments, the team scattered into motion, gathering equipment, disabling surveillance drones, and collapsing tents. Tony didn't wait for them to finish. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
The Infinity Stone in his head was reacting to the energy of the Tesseract. It was like a resonance of some kind.
A different vibration.
A deeper hum beneath the surface. Cold, ancient, alien. The Space Stone. The Tesseract.
He could feel it pulsing under the ice, like a buried star. Not a signal exactly. It was like an echo his enhanced senses could trace, thanks to the Mind Stone amplifying his awareness.
Tony opened his eyes and muttered, "Alright. Let's go."
Nanites surged from beneath his skin, climbing over his body like liquid armor, reshaping into the Snow Edition Suit. Matte white. Streamlined. Built for Arctic operation. The faceplate slid down with a soft hiss, HUD lighting up instantly.
"Hermes, lock on to the energy signature."
//Online. Coordinates locked. Energy spike consistent with Infinity resonance, 1.3 kilometers northeast.//
"Then that's our direction."
Tony launched into the sky, propulsion system flaring silently beneath his boots as the suit adjusted for altitude and temperature. Snow parted in a spiral beneath him, the landscape shrinking into a field of white and shadow.
The HUD blinked in rhythmic pulses, a glowing trail etched across the digital map.
The white landscape stretched endlessly below, broken only by ridgelines and shadowed valleys. Wind resistance adjusted automatically.
//Hermes: Energy signature growing stronger. Distance to source: 1.3 kilometers.//
The terrain shifted beneath him, less uniform, more fractured. He adjusted altitude, descending slightly as the pulse led him toward a low basin surrounded by ice-crusted peaks.
A shallow depression in the ice, nearly invisible from the air. But his sensors lit up the moment he passed overhead.
//Lock confirmed. Energy signature detected. Depth: approximately 14.2 meters.//
Tony hovered in place, scanning. There were no structures. No wreckage. Just the ice and beneath it, the low, unmistakable hum of Infinity-level energy. He could feel the Mind Stone in his head throbbing, giving him that old headache.
He descended gently, boots touching down with a soft crunch.
He knelt, pressing one palm to the surface. The HUD lit up again, a faint blue glow pulsing beneath the ice directly below him. Solid. Undisturbed. Sealed in time.
He tapped into the deep scan mode, feeding more power into Hermes' quantum sensors. Readings came in clean. The Tesseract was here. No container. No interference. Just raw energy trapped beneath layers of frozen earth.
But it was starting to shift. Reacting to him... The Mind Stone, to be precise.
Tiny threads of blue light flickered under the surface, like veins of electricity trying to reach the air. The suit's readings spiked for a split second before stabilizing again.
//Warning: localized spatial distortion detected. Minimal, but increasing.//
Tony stood. No time to wait.
Panels slid open across his forearms, releasing a set of micro-excavation drones. They launched instantly, spinning into the ice in a precise formation. Laser drills flicked on, boring a tight vertical shaft through the frost.
Steam hissed upward in curling tendrils.
Below, the blue glow began to pulse faster.
The Tesseract was waking up.
The drilling continued for approximately half an hour. Tony took it slow and carefully controlled the drills because one wrong move and the Infinity Stone might activate and send him somewhere else or to some other part of the Multiverse.
The final layer of ice broke apart in a hiss of steam. Blue light flared from below as the drones hovered in formation, scanning the cavity they'd just cleared.
Hovering slightly above the fractured floor, glowing with steady pulses of energy. It didn't rest on anything. It didn't need to. It floated as if it existed outside the rules of the terrain around it.
"Hermes, deploy containment protocol. Delta pattern. No direct contact." Tony ordered.
The nanites on his left forearm shifted, flowing forward in a tight spiral. The drones reconfigured around the cube, forming a synchronized field. From the swirling nanites, a container took shape: compact, angular, reinforced with vibranium mesh and lined with energy-dampening nodes.
It floated down into the pit, guided by Hermes' micro-thrusters.
The Tesseract reacted. Light pulsed faster. Energy flared at its corners, flickering toward the drones.
"Easy," Tony said. "We're not here to pick a fight."
The container opened midair. Panels extended outward. Magnetic locks engaged with a muted thump. The drones adjusted their formation, creating a directed null field to suppress the flare.
The cube drifted into place on its own.
No touch. No contact.
The container sealed around it instantly. A hex-patterned shield shimmered to life, enclosing the cube in a tight web of energy insulation. The glow dulled inside, steady but contained.
Hermes responded in his ear. "Containment secure. Energy emissions are stable. No leakage."
Tony didn't look away from the shaft. "Good. Tag the site, mark it cleansed. No trace left behind."
//Confirmed. Wiping residual data from the local grid. No satellite ping.//
Tony turned and took off, containment unit secured at his side. Snow scattered beneath him as he flew low and fast, angling back toward the ridge.
He had what he came for.
Now he just had to keep it out of the wrong hands or maybe find a way to use it for a better purpose.
...[Night] [11:00 PM]...
[Horizon Facility – Medical Bay]
Steve Rogers lay in a sterile med bay, suspended in a narrow recovery cradle. Bio-nanites are already circulating in his bloodstream. Real-time vitals scrolled across a slim projection screen beside him: heart rate steady, body temp rising back to baseline, neural activity fluctuating just above coma level.
Melina used the drones to change Steve's clothes.
Tony stood near the foot of the bed, still suited, helmet retracted. His eyes scanned the data. He said nothing. He arrived 10 minutes ago and, after placing the Tesseract into his hidden vault, he came straight to the med-bay.
Peggy sat beside Steve, one hand resting on the edge of the cradle. Her fingers hovered just above his, never quite touching. Her expression was unreadable.
Howard was also there, sitting on the couch near the window, sipping a cup of coffee.
"The nanites are doing their job," Tony muttered. "Circulation's stabilizing, neural synapses are sparking on pattern. If this keeps up, he'll wake up within the hour."
Melina watched from near the wall, arms crossed, silent. She didn't interrupt. Her eyes never left the screen.
Peggy leaned closer to Steve. "Come on, soldier. You're not done."
Tony took a deep breath. "Don't worry. He'll be fine."
The rain tapped steadily against the reinforced windows, soft and rhythmic. The room stayed quiet.
Then the heart rate monitor spiked.
Peggy sat upright, fingers tightening on the bed's edge.
Howard rose from the couch, coffee forgotten.
Tony stepped forward. He focused on the monitor. Neural activity was climbing. Fast.
Then, with a sudden jolt, he sat up.
His breath came fast and sharp. His hands curled into fists. Eyes wide. Alert. Defensive.
He swung his legs off the bed and stood on the floor, instantly in a combat stance. Shoulders squared. Chest rising with quick, steady breaths.
His eyes darted around the room.
Strange walls. Machines. Rain tapping on the glass. Unknown faces.
His fists clenched tighter.
Then his gaze landed on her.
She stood without a word.
Steve's stance faltered.
His eyes locked onto hers, frozen for a beat like the world had stopped moving. His breathing slowed. A flicker of recognition sparked in his expression, cutting through the confusion.
His voice came low, rough. "Peggy...?"
Her eyes shimmered. She nodded. "Yeah. I'm here."
He took a step forward. Then another.
"Is this real?" he asked.
She gave a shaky smile. "It's real."
Steve's arms dropped slightly, his whole posture changing as the weight of the moment hit him. He looked like he didn't trust his legs to hold him anymore.
He didn't speak. He just held onto her, arms wrapping tight like letting go would break the world. Peggy hugged him back as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Howard let out a breath and muttered, "I'll be damned."
Tony whispered to his dad, "I think we should give them a moment... alone."
As they stepped outside and were about to go to the main building, Tony's vision blurred. He fell to his knees and felt as if his head was about to split apart. Legion sensed the spike in his neural activity and instantly activated the armor. But Tony lost his consciousness...
Howard and Melina rushed to hold him...
AN: Let's clear some questions> Tony will go to space on Ch: 100. As for which year it is, it's 1991.
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[Read 15 advance chapters] + [Shazam: 8 chapters early access]
Ch: 84 [Howard and Tony]
Ch: 85 [What's next?] [Vol-2 End]
[Vol-3] Ch: 86 [Time Skip]
Ch: 87 [Tony & Susan Storm]
Ch: 88 [A big chance for Susan]
Ch: 89 [Proving worth]
Ch: 90 [Model 50 x MECHA]