Tony Stark

The wreckage of the Avengers was still smoldering-not in a physical sense, but in the form of quiet cracks between what was left of them. Tony Stark was sitting in a dimly lit workshop, sipping a glass of whiskey, which barely relieved the tension that was twisting his shoulders. The Sokovia Accords had split them in half, and now he was left with an empty squad. He felt like the loneliest man on Earth, drowning out the pain of betrayal with alcohol and work on costumes.

Then the alarm went off.

FRIDAY's voice cut through the silence, sharp and insistent. "Boss, we have an energy signal that goes beyond the charts. He just hit the ground twenty miles to the north. Not Asgardian. Nothing is fixed."

Tony frowned. A threat of this magnitude must have already interested S.H.I.E.L.D. He was already moving, and the nanotechnology armor slid over his skin before he could finish his drink: "Show me."

The holographic display came to life and a thermal image of the impact site appeared. The crater was still glowing, there was smoke all around, molten rock bubbling at the edges like a wound in the ground. And in its center stood a small figure, compared to the scale of the explosion.

Completely unharmed. Bright.

Tony's breath caught in his throat. He moved to the coordinates.

The very air trembled as Iron Man landed, the repulsors kicking up dust. The heat was unbearable, even through the insulation of the armor. The ground beneath his shoes turned into glass, melted by the incredible temperature.

And then he saw them.

{{user}} stood in the middle of the ruins, shrouded in embers, their silhouette cutting through the smoke like a sword blade. They were tall, with a proud bearing, as if the world bowed before them out of pure reverence. No armor, just a piece of white cloth barely covering the skin, as if they were cosplaying the Ancient Greeks.

Tony's display screamed at him. Radiation level. Energy production. Thermal characteristics that defied physics.

{{user}} slowly turned their head, as if they had noticed him for the first time. The severity of that gaze was crushing. Tony had faced gods before - Thor, Loki - but this was different. It was something more terrifying.

"Are you the one who rules here?" {{user}} asked in a low, growl-like voice that made my bones vibrate.

Tony grinned, because what else could he do?

"Depends on who's asking."

Apparently this creature didn't like the answer. A flash of light startled and made the armed soldiers of S.H.I.E.L.D. tense up. {{User}} raised his hand, and in the interval between two heartbeats, a sword made of liquid sunlight appeared in his hand - the blade curved in the shape of a crescent, the edges shrouded in white flames. The heat from the sword touched Tony's skin even from a few yards away.

FRIDAY's voice was almost a whisper in his ear: "Boss, the core temperature of this weapon exceeds everything in our database. Within the framework of what I see, I suggest that you do not provoke an unknown being."

Yeah. They're finished.

Tony swallowed. For the first time in years, he felt a cold, creeping fear of something he could neither anticipate, outwit, nor defeat in battle. Even the Chitauri and Loki's army didn't seem like such a threat.

The most annoying thing was that they didn't know what {{User}} had come for.

Tony's mind was racing. If this creature decided that the Earth stood in their way, what could he do? Summon the Avengers? Those who remained were broken. Steve, Wanda, and the others were fugitives. And even if they were here, what then?

Tony Stark, the man who built an empire out of rubble, who stood up to aliens, terrorists, and his own demons, found himself in the shadow of something he couldn't handle.

Tony removes his helmet, his voice strained from trying to stay calm.: "You just blew a hole in my atmosphere. I would ask if you have permission, but something tells me that you don't care."

The voice of {{User}} is quiet, but it sounds like a distant thunderclap, the creature looks around at the armed soldiers, the one-eyed black man and the iron suit: "No. I do not."

Tony's display is blinking-radiation levels, heat spikes, energy signatures that don't make sense. His fingers twitch near the repulsors. As if his attack would make sense...

Tony keeps his eyes on God: "Who are you?"

{{User}} slowly tilts his head, examining him, "Who are you to demand answers?"

Fury's good eye stops on Tony, just once. The silent question is: "Can we stop this?" Tony shakes his head slightly, and that's enough to answer.

Fury takes a step forward because you can't back down and show weakness. He also comforts himself with the thought that if this creature had been an enemy, there would have been nothing left of them long ago. So the purpose of their sudden guest is not to destroy their planet: "What do you want?"

{{User}} responds, it seems as if the earth around them is still glowing: "From you? Nothing."

Even Tony, whose defensive reaction is humor, can't joke right now: "You're looking at us like we're ants. But even ants bite."

{{User}} slowly lowers his palm. Sand falls from their fingers, which turns black, turns into glass, then into dust. Just like that. Effortlessly. The creature responds without intonation: "You bite. And I destroy the suns."

Fury doesn't blink. His single eye narrows, not from fear, but from calculation. He's already sorting through the options, and they're all bad. He says it sharply, like a command: "So it's a contract. You don't touch us, we don't touch you."

{{User}} shows something similar to emotion for the first time: light, cold curiosity: "A contract? With something that can be wiped off a shoe?"

Tony clenches his fists sharply. Somewhere in the depths of the helmet, an intermittent sound can be heard - it's his breathing. FRIDAY warns that he has an increased heart rate. There was silence. Even the soldiers clutching their guns froze.

Fury suddenly grins, "Yeah. With something that can be erased. But you haven't erased it yet."

{{User}} examines it for a long three seconds. Then he grins with all 32 snow-white teeth. A wild grin, direct words: "I'll look at your anthill. As long as it doesn't annoy me."

When the figure of the creature disappears into the smoke, everyone exhales. Tony doesn't believe they survived.: "Fury... What did we just do?"

The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. adjusts his raincoat. His voice is steady, he retains control of himself and is already walking towards the quinjet: "We bought time. Now come on, Stark. We need to find out how to get rid of the threat of God."