Red Assassin: Infinity War

one ~ the infinity stones

"I don't know why I expected this place to have changed," I say, half to myself, as I look around Central Park. "It's nice to be back." I give the guy at the pretzel cart a quick "thank you" and rejoining Pepper and Tony with our snacks.

"You should have shirts in your closet," Pepper says. I know there has to be context to that statement, but I don't think I want to know.

"Y'know, Tony, I thought you'd have learned by now. Arguing with Pepper is like arguing with me: pointless," I say, handing him his pretzel.

"You know what there should be? No more surprises," Tony says. "Kat, you mind if I cancel tonight's game of Twister? I want to take Pep to a nice dinner tonight, show off the Harry Winston."

"You do you, Tony Stank," I reply, taking a bite of my pretzel.

"And we'll have no more surprises. I should promise you," Tony says.

"I wouldn't make that promise, but once again, you do you, Stank," I say, noticing gold sparkles out of the corner of my eye. "Guys? What is that?"

The sparkles hold still for a moment, opening a portal. "Tony Stark? I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. I need you to come with me," a middle-aged man in a red cape and wearing a gold pendant says, stepping through. I stare at the pendant in shock, the design sickeningly familiar to me. "Oh, uh, congratulations on the wedding, by the way."

"I'm sorry, are you giving out tickets to something?" Tony sasses.

"We need your help," Dr. Strange says. "It's not overselling it to say that the fate of the universe is at stake."

"Tony, the necklace. I recognize it," I say without thinking. "It was in my first vision three years ago. I think we can trust him. Provided he doesn't attempt to get in our heads. I haven't forgotten that."

"I remember apologizing," Dr. Strange says pointedly.

"Who's we?" Tony asks.

A familiar person steps through the portal, and I swear I'm seeing ghosts. "Bruce?" I ask, my throat dry.

"Hey, Tony," he says. "Hey, Kat. You've grown up."

"Of course I have," I say. "Oh, my God, I missed you!" I run to him and wrap him in a hug.

"Missed you too, kiddo," he says, hugging me back.

"You...Bruce, what's happening? Your whole vibe is different," I ask, letting go of him so he can greet Tony. "Something bad is going on. I can feel it. Somebody needs to start explaining things right now."

"We have to check this out, Pep," Tony says. "We'll be back as soon as we can. Promise." He hugs Pepper goodbye, and we follow Dr. Strange back through the portal.

"That was...weird," I mutter to myself. "Somebody better start explaining things. Like what's the weird necklace the doc is wearing, and why was it in my first vision?"

"At the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then...bang," Dr. Strange's fellow magician says, creating a projection of space. "The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals hurtling across the virgin universe." Six colored rocks appear in the projection. "These Infinity Stones each controlled an essential aspect of existence."

"I did see the stones," I mumble. "Why...my powers only show me things I need to see. Why did I see them three years ago?"

"What exactly did you see?" Dr. Strange asks.

"I..." The day I had my first vision is one that I'll never forget, but it takes me a moment to recall what exactly I saw. "I don't know which Stone is which, but I saw...this weird red soupy blob solidify into one stone. I saw an orange stone fall off a cliff. I saw a yellow stone in Loki's scepter. I saw this glowing blue cube, apparently the Tesseract, shatter and reveal a blue stone. I saw a purple stone get sealed in this sort of mechanical ball. And I saw a green stone get closed into that." I point to Doctor Strange's amulet.