(MCU) Arcs Collide: Chapter 37 - Declarations

Chapter 37 - Declarations

Summary: Tony is forced to face something he was never prepared for, while in the same time some stones choose to start their own light show.

Carol and Tony were in the same restaurant they went to for their first date over a year ago, but today they were there to taste some dishes Friday researched and recommended to include in the wedding.

When it came to the wedding plans, Tony made things very difficult. Her fiancé kept suggesting they would just elope, and each time this idea was rejected he tried to escape any form of planning possible, claiming that he might be a genius but that wasn't his field.

What kept amusing Carol is the fact she didn't mind much the eloping plan. To be honest, she didn't mind either way. She wasn't one of those girls who planned her wedding day and had grand dreams of a perfect knight in shining armor.

She preferred to consider herself an independent woman, and for the longest time she believed that things like relationships and especially marriage were something she just didn't want or need.

She was happy with the little family she had with Maria and Monica, but when all of this fell apart because of the Kree she was content with her work. Flying around the galaxy, helping the Skrulls and random other groups who needed it was fulfilling.

When the Guardians of the Galaxy started to operate around, it was around the same time the Skrulls settled on a planet that agreed to host them, and so Carol felt a little empty inside.

She began doing patrols and scans mostly around Earth's solar system, but she could never bring herself to fly over for a visit to her previous home.

When Fury's call came in, she was happy for a reason to come back to the planet, but she never expected what would happen after that.

She never expected to meet someone like Tony Stark, never expected to get a job that fulfilled her like she was in the past, never expected to bond with Friday or anyone else on the team. And the thing she mostly didn't expect was falling in love and being engaged.

But here she was, and she can wholeheartedly say that she didn't have a single regret about anything since returning to Earth and meeting her fiancé.

All she wanted at this point was to marry the man she loves and to win the coming war against the mad titan. Be it by eloping or with a grand ceremony, it mattered little to her.

So why are they here planning the grand party for everyone? In a word, Friday.

Their baby girl heard about their plans to elope and immediately tattled to Rhodey. Rhodey didn't even hesitate to pass the information to everyone he could think of. The next morning it looked like a protest rally had gathered in their living room.

Carol had no shame admitting that she was a little afraid of the outraged group and wasted no time throwing Tony under the bus as the culprit of the plan.

Stephen was the first to fire accusations demanding that if he had to go through the entire ordeal when he got married so did Tony.

Laura and Sharon joined their efforts to pressure Tony because they both knew they would be bridesmaids, and they weren't going to miss out on that.

Rhodey complained that he invested so much into their relationship that he deserved to be a part of its celebration.

Peter, Kamala as well as Harley and Kate much to her surprise crowded Tony with complaints about them being left behind, Carol was still unsure what their point was.

Lily, Cassie and Holly plain and simply went for the annoyance until he surrenders course of action, with repeated complaints about flowers, dancing, kisses and so on.

Daisy passed a message from Coulson and his girlfriend that they were counting on his wedding as a vacation day for a date, so he better not mess it up.

Jess and Val protested too, though all of their argument was hanging around the enormous amounts of alcohol for them to drink when there is a party like that.

And finally, to wrap everything up Friday, Jocasta and Vision began to express their desire to be a part of their parents' wedding as well.

All of that time Loki and Fury were more than satisfied with hanging in the back and watching the show unfold with amused smiles on their faces. Carol can't say she did anything better than them either.

Carol wasn't sure when but at some point, Tony just sat down and let everyone just talk to him, already resigning himself to the grand wedding idea.

Of course, everyone took his silence as the stubbornness he was known for and kept their onslaught of words until Tony stood up and declared officially that both of them would have their wedding after they defeat Thanos.

The next moment the room was filled with cheers and Tony looked shocked at what he just did.

Of course, Laura, Sharon, Helen and Christine immediately snatched Carol to the side so they could start talking about wedding plans. While Stephen, Rhodey, Scott and Bruce took Tony aside for something. All she knew was that when she saw him again Tony looked as if he had just fought Thanos and just barely survived.

"Is there really a difference? All of these are just vanilla cakes." She was drawn away from her musings by Tony's whining.

The chef that was showing them the cakes cleared his throat before speaking, "Mr. Stark, each cake has its own touch. The one you are holding is a touch of peach while the one on its right has a hint of watermelon."

Tony turned to look at her pleadingly and Carol could only chuckle at him in return.

Carol held back her smirk as she said innocently, "Go ahead dear, taste it and tell the chef which one will go perfect with our decoration."

Carol had to bite her cheek to stop the laughter when she saw Tony's horrified look, immediately he tried to bargain his way out, "I do tech and saving the planet. Cake choice is above my pay grade."

The response came immediately and not from Carol, but from Friday, "I negotiated your pay raise boss, you can go ahead."

"As active as always baby girl," Tony said with fake cheerfulness.

Carol finally burst out with her laughter. It took her a couple of minutes to calm down, all the while Tony looked at her offended.

When she did calm down, she petted Tony on the shoulder and said gently, "Relax Tony, we are just messing with you. We are waiting for..."

In that moment the door of the large room they were in opened, and in walked Pepper and Laura.

Tony looked surprised and asked, "Pepper? Laura? What are you doing here?"

Pepper snorted and asked, "Did you think I would leave this kind of choice to the man I had to order meals for years, and a girl who is more used to alien food than Earth's?"

Laura shrugged, "Peter, Kamala and MJ are watching over the kids so I'm here for a little fun."

Tony shot a look at Pepper and complained, "Pep, must you? I have been taking care of myself pretty good since I let you take over SI."

Pepper raised a skeptical eyebrow at him, "Taking care of yourself? More like Friday taking care of you. Anyway, Hope and Maggie are handling SI, some relaxing time should do me good."

Tony still looked at his old friend offended but Carol cut across him and said brightly, "Thanks girls for coming, now we were looking at cakes..."

Before she could finish Friday spoke again, her voice a mix of sad and remorseful, "Boss, mom you are needed in the tower immediately."

Tony immediately jumped and tried to cover his happiness behind a mask of worry as he said, "Don't worry about it baby girl, we are on our way."

Carol let out a heavy sigh, hating that the plan has to be pushed back just like that. But Laura put a hand on her shoulder and reassured her with a smile, "Me and Pepper will handle things here while you do what you need to in the tower, go ahead and don't worry about a thing."

Carol was very grateful for her friends; it was such a long time since she had some of those and the ones she found now, thanks to her fiancé, are the best. With a wide smile she thanked both of them before following Tony out of the room and to the tower.

---

The moment they entered the tower Friday directed them toward conference room A. When they entered the room, they saw Loki and Strange talking between the two of them with worried looks.

The Defenders, the Guardians, and the rest of the New Avengers including Rogers and his team were all gathered as well.

On the screen at the end of the room the faces of all the council members appeared with a separate screen on its right showing T'Challa and Shuri looking quite worried themselves.

Another screen on the left was divided to show video calls with Fury and Sharon in one screen, they were in a meeting together, as well as Coulson and his close team behind him.

Tony raised an eyebrow and asked, "We stepped out for one hour what the hell happened?!"

Stephen and Loki stepped aside and turned toward them, revealing what was worrying them so much. The green stone in Stephen's fancy necklace was glowing more than usual, as did the blue cube Loki was holding.

Tony tilted his head and asked wryly, "Ummm, why did your stones begin their own light show?"

From the screen T'Challa spoke in a grave tone, "They are not the only ones. The mind stone has been acting up as well."

T'Challa pushed something on his screen and the video switched to the CCTV from the safehouse with the stone in it, intense orange light escaping the container.

The video switched again back to the Wakandan royalty. Carol let out a heavy sigh before saying, "Does it mean what I think it means?"

Gamora nodded and spoke in a grave tone, "Thanos is coming closer, and he has two infinity stones with him."

Carol took a deep breath before asking carefully, "Are we sure he has two and not just one or worse three? The stones will react like that to any other of its kind getting close."

Nebula, blunt as always shook her head and burst her bubble, "We assume he has the reality stone since we arrived here because of the distress call from the Collector, he still won't pick up, so we are certain Thanos took the stone. We received a call from Xandar a week ago. Thanos attacked them, but it was different."

Rhodey perked up and raised his eyebrow, "How so?"

Nebula frowned in a rare show of emotion as she explained, "He just took the stone and left. Usually, he would kill half the population of the planet on the way, or at the very least send the Chitauri in advance, but according to the Nova Corps he himself broke into their vault and took the power stone before leaving the planet."

"Maybe he believes it doesn't worth the effort when he is so close to having the entire set and completing his goal in a snap of his fingers?" proposed Daredevil.

"No." Fury grunted from his screen before elaborating, "We already have confirmation from a few sources that Thanos fears the battle on Earth because of Tony, he is saving his army for us."

That was a sobering and terrible truth, Thanos won't hold back, so neither can they.

Coulson sighed and said in a deadly serious voice, "There is no other way to interpret this. It is Thanos's final declaration of war for our stones."

Gamora nodded and added helpfully, "I agree. And considering he is traveling from Xandar, I will say we have a couple more days before all his forces are here."

Mrs. MacKenzie nodded and said officially, "The moment we dreaded is here. We have our plans. Everyone should leave and prepare themselves for the coming battle. Colonel Rhodes, Captain Danvers, Mr. Fury, Director Coulson, King T'Challa and Dr. Stark please stay behind so we may begin setting all our systems into motion."

And just like that it's time for shit to hit the fan. The clouds are here and all they can do is brace for the storm.