"Until you showed up, brought us here out of nowhere, and then just went to sleep like nothing happened?" Tony said, watching Leonardo walk down the stairs.
Leonardo ignored his annoyed tone and sat on the couch across from him before answering.
"Good to see you too, Tony." He then greeted the other two in the room with a slight nod.
"And Gwen?" asked Wanda.
"She's upstairs. I told her to keep resting given her current condition. Either way, we can handle this without her," Leonardo replied.
"You say that like we're not in serious trouble," Tony said, a bit irritated by Leonardo's calmness.
"It's fine, I wouldn't have brought you here if I didn't have a plan," Leonardo said serenely.
"And you're sure it'll work?" Tony asked with some distrust.
"Of course. Do you trust me?"
"Of course," Wanda replied.
"Sure do," added Pietro.
Tony hesitated for a moment, but seeing how the twins responded without a second thought, he ended up giving in.
"Alright, explain your plan. Let's see if we can improve it," he said seriously.
"The plan is simple," Leonardo smiled at the three of them. "We'll attack head-on."
Tony, who was drinking coffee, almost choked.
"Head-on? That's it? Where's the strategy, the details, the calculations?"
"Tony, Tony... do you know why plans are usually so detailed?" Leonardo asked in the tone of someone teaching a child.
"To make sure nothing goes wrong. Every detail is planned meticulously, so even if something does go wrong, you can respond properly without ruining the whole plan," Tony answered.
"Exactly. And you don't have to worry about that. I'll make sure everything goes exactly as I want. No deviations, no mistakes."
"It's impossible to make sure nothing goes wrong. There's no such thing as a perfect plan, because no one can see the future and know what's going to ha..." Tony stopped as he realized it.
"I see you understand. So, shall we begin?" Leonardo said calmly.
"Wait, now? Where are we even attacking?"
Leonardo didn't answer. He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing.
'Sir, urgent news, something just...' JARVIS began.
Before he could finish, Leonardo spoke.
"I already exposed their base. Now let's go there. Where is it, JARVIS?"
'Britain' the mechanical voice replied.
"Good."
With that single word, the four of them were surrounded by a celestial light before appearing suspended in the air over British lands.
The place, once a clearing with the ruins of Camelot, was now occupied by a metallic fortress of both ancient and modern design, a castle reborn from the ground.
Before they could fall, chaos magic held them in the air, allowing them to see everything from above.
"What is that? Amazing!" exclaimed Pietro.
Tony, however, was more surprised by the castle's sudden appearance than by its look. Even though Leonardo had told JARVIS not to explain anything, Tony couldn't help asking for a report. Several holographic screens appeared before him showing the incident: satellite footage... though that didn't make it any less mysterious. A red light had emerged from nowhere, and in an instant, the castle materialized, rising straight out of the ground.
"Did you do this?" Tony asked.
"I just brought it to light. It's the Skrulls' base," Leonardo replied.
"Do you have telekinesis?"
Leonardo shook his head. "This place was meant to surface in the future. I just made sure it happened earlier."
"But..."
'Sir, this defies logic. I recommend you stop asking' JARVIS interrupted.
"Why? You think he won't answer?"
'Because you wouldn't understand anyway' The mechanical voice replied.
Tony sighed. "Fine. I don't need to understand. That's the Skrulls' base, that's all I need to know. So I'm guessing the rest of the team is in there?"
"Something like that," Leonardo replied with an ambiguous tone.
"I'll take that as a yes. Avengers as..."
"Wait a moment," Leonardo interrupted.
"What now?" Tony asked impatiently.
"Just a small improvement," he said with a smile.
Before anyone could react, a violet light enveloped them.
Wanda barely reacted, already used to it, but Pietro and Tony were left in awe.
Pietro moved at blinding speed, even though he was still being held midair by Wanda's magic and shouldn't have been able to move, suddenly appearing on the ground.
"Incredible, I feel at least five times faster," he said, his voice echoing everywhere because he couldn't stand still.
Tony looked at his new armor. "Ultra-light nanotech... but stronger than before. I've got at least ten times more power. With this, I could power an entire country for months. And all these functions... the future me is a genius."
Though surprised, unlike Pietro, Tony fully understood what had happened. It wasn't new to him; Leonardo had done the same thing before. His files confirmed that Leonardo had the ability to grant others their future powers and enhancements.
"Now we're ready," Leonardo finally said.
The four advanced toward the castle. As soon as they approached, the Skrulls came out, though unarmed.
Leonardo hadn't simply made the castle appear. He had materialized a future event in the present, the rise of the Skrull base from underground to the surface. Someone had originally caused that event, and along with that action, others were affected. That meant the Skrull leader who triggered the castle's emergence, as well as everyone who would have been inside at that moment, were all linked to the event "rise of the castle," and thus were affected by Leonardo's power as well.
It wasn't a temporal power, but a true alteration of reality itself. That's why none of them could perceive any inconsistency.
However, this created a contradiction. The Skrulls guarding the area tried to use their powers... and discovered they didn't have them.
Because in the present, the antennas hadn't yet been activated.
Tony deployed four devices, like minimalist laser weapons, and aimed at the Skrulls on the wall. But before he could fire, Pietro had already knocked them all out.
"Be faster next time," he said, appearing beside him.
Ignoring their exchange, Wanda extended her hand. The gate of the outer wall warped and was violently torn away. Although it looked like wood, the material was strong enough to withstand a nuclear warhead, yet before her magic it offered no resistance at all.
At that moment, alarms sounded within the structure.
Just like the contrast between the gate's appearance and its real material, the interior was completely different from what the exterior suggested. In fact, the space that should have existed between the wall and the castle didn't exist at all. Once you passed through the gate, you saw metallic corridors in shades of silver and white, a cold and technological environment.
At that same moment, antennas around the world activated. What at first seemed normal soon became alarming.
The waves emitted by each antenna connected with one another, amplifying their power until they enveloped the entire Earth.
In a matter of seconds, every being with powers, regardless of their origin, type, or range, was stripped of them. Even the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj felt their magic vanish for a moment before it returned.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)