“So you want us to talk?”

Stray and Morgan were all alone in a deserted complex long Stray was preparing. The day Stray realizes the possible ‘omni-death’ of Stan Lee maybe even across all of the multiverse, he has come to think of treasuring his relationships more.

For that, he starts with Peter, the young Spiderman. But that isn’t where all of his relationships end. There is Morgan too… There is no way in hell Stray will give up on Morgan.

“Morgan… Your suit is ugly… You need a makeover…”

“Don’t do that, Mart. We aren’t friends… Just give up already… If you want to talk, then talk… I’ll listen. If you think I will open up and go sappy sorry with you, then good luck. At the very least, I’ll allow you of speaking your woes to me. I’ll listen, but I cannot promise you anything, that’s all I can do for you…”

Stray sees the stoic look on Morgan, but beneath that, he also sees her trembling eyelids and a little hint of nervous sweating.

“I am against you stopping the birth of Ironman. I am against you for even thinking of replacing Ironman. Your suit looks a lot like his, from the face plating, and even the design… but it doesn’t fit you… You cannot be Ironman… Your father won’t be saved even if you do succeed in beating Thanos, or even what comes after…”

Morgan resists arguing. In her mind, she thinks of Stray’s words as self-serving, and unworthy even of her entertaining them. In the end, Morgan wasn’t able to resist the urge. “How do you know that? That my dad won’t be saved…”

“What is inevitable to happen will inevitably happen…” Stray somberly says a bit aware of how the logic of the Endgame movie ends up killing Thanos. “You are just torturing yourself, Morgan… You saw that, correct? Your father did become Ironman…” Of course, Stray did a bit of pushing, but Morgan doesn’t need to know that.

“Maybe if you stop hindering my path, I would’ve succeeded.” She sarcastically remarks. “You ambushing me by that alley had some sort of objective… You are stalling me so that you can ensure that my dad’s traces would be erased in time. You coming out of Obadiah’s vehicles are a giveaway already. What are you not telling me, Mart?” Morgan spitefully adds as she has an inkling of what Stray is up to.

“I had deniability…” Stray spins his web of lies with some truth and defends himself. “The last time we fought in the alley, I headed for where Obadiah is confining Stark… I disguised myself as a guard for some time. I came extremely prepared. If the situation calls for it, I’ll save Tony Stark, but the situation never arose… Your father is amazing, Morgan… He did all of those things, he became Ironman inevitably... The 'villain' just had to be there, and it will happen...”

“So what?” The distrust in Morgan’s eyes is too evident.

There is no way Stray would be able to manipulate Morgan. Stray comes to realize the value of the Marvel Wiki (S) skill as the days pass by. Excluding his luck-defying lotto wins, manipulating people to work in his interest has been a very easy thing for him.

The truth about Stray is that he is a liar so vile, he disgusts himself.

New life? Reincarnation? The scummy slum kid inside him was still there. The identity of a past he resists remembering, and the coercion of the natural flow of things… he tries to bury them deep yet they keep on coming back. His real nature is just as dirty, or maybe even more disgusting than the ‘selfish bitch’ that Morgan labels herself with.

Go with the flow is not some carefree slogan of a kid who enjoys freedom... It is a command of the highest order to those who belong to the flow. Just like the Sacred Timeline.

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“I don’t want to go with the flow…”

The hot orange veins that were secretly slithering in his arms and legs fade away, disarming his Extremis powers. He risks Morgan running off, but Stray has to do this. It cannot be that difficult… he was able to tell a lot about himself to Toussaint at one time in the heat of the moment.

But.

“I…”

It is more difficult done than said.

Thoughts of his short two years studying at Midtown High flashes in his eyes. Stray starts thinking of happy thoughts, not an ounce of calculative manipulation even seeping into his mind. He wants to be honest.

“I am not from this universe. I don’t know if this world and that world even share the same ‘timeline’ but I hell am sure that world didn’t have a Tony Stark, not Steve Rogers, no Hawkeye or Black Widow, not even a Hulk or Thor. No Thanos too. Terrorists and bad guys still exist though…”

A slight tear runs across his eye.

“Morgan, I love superheroes… My world doesn’t have any of them. Is that a good thing? Maybe… Maybe not… We do have heroes too but they aren’t as invincible as this universe had… Truthfully, we do have Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and others, but they… aren’t real… They are just fiction in that universe…”

A sneer escapes from his lips.

“Comics, movies, the superheroes that I know all come from that stuff… I am a movie buff, especially the MCU franchise so I know a lot of things about this world… Call me crazy, but I was reincarnated to this universe to continue a suspended life…”

Morgan reluctantly lowers her weapon.

“I still want to save my dad…”

“And we will do just that…”

Stray smiles as he finds a breakthrough for the stubborn Morgan.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Stray feels a piercing pain in his palm. He looks over and immediately realizes he fucked up. An arrow is lodging itself in his palm, and with a bam, it explodes on Stray’s face.

“Run! Be careful about covering your face, you have to maintain anonymity! Just go, I will handle this!”

Stray shouts at Morgan, while he tries his best to navigate his surroundings. The explosion was able to get his eyes, at the same time busting his dominant hand. There is only one guy who is this good at playing arrows, and that is Hawkeye.

“Hey, their sweetie…” Sneaking on Stray is a familiar sweet voice. Black Widow comes at his flank electrifying Stray with her tasers.

Stray falls done to the ground weakly and unconscious.

Hawkeye’s eyes are on the flying armor. He aims his arrows and makes a consecutive arching parabola. The arrows miss earning Hawkeye’s annoyance as his projectiles meet the anti-gravity tech that is clearly the bane of his bow.

But Hawkeye is not just a guy. With a calculative maneuver, he shoots two more arrows at lightning speed. The first is an explosive arrow, and the second is a heat arrow. The explosive arrow starts spinning in midair and nicks the heat arrow. The arch of the first arrow is so much higher and would need more air-time to reach its destination.

A beautiful choreography ensues in the air. The second arrow makes contact first and prematurely starts heating up causing it to be heavy with energy. That heat arrow was actually using repulsor technology and creates an oscillation that disturbs Morgan’s anti-gravity field. The second arrow comes crashing down and explodes at Morgan.

Too much for 2010, Morgan sarcastically thought as she lands with a bang at a trash bin where Nick Fury seems to be waiting. Morgan who had several injuries looks up at the bald black one-eyed director of SHIELD looking at her with amusement.

“Need help, little miss?”

While all of this is happening, the events of Ironman Mark I’s appearance are coming to a close. Carrying the bleeding Rhodes in his arm, Tony activates his armor’s thrusters and starts flying. It didn’t malfunction midair like in Ironman 1 maybe all thanks to the better resources he has at Obadiah’s capture.

Arriving at the nearest hospital, he gives up Rhodes in his arms.

For now, Tony decides to maintain his anonymity, so as carefully as possible, he waits for the day to turn to night. And then he goes to the nearest junkyard to dispose of his suit. After that, he hurriedly returns home, dresses up, and then visits again the hospital. He did all of this in a calm manner, not showing much to the media of what is actually going on.

“Missing? Who is missing? I am not actually missing… I flew on my private jetplane and actually had a fun day… Where did I go? Some place fun of course…” he vaguely answers the interview.

Accompanying Tony is Pepper Potts, his secretary, in the waiting area for Rhodes who is under intensive care. It looks like an artery was hit, and Rhodes’s survival is questionable.

“What happened?” Pepper asks.

“You better not know…”

Pepper worries for Tony but after learning that he was just on his usual escapades, another worry encroaches on her mind. “I have to tell you something…”

It’s as if Tony is not hearing her at all as all of his focus is on Rhodes.

But then.

“Tony… Do you remember Maguna? Maguna Morgan? She is missing…”

Tony tenses and look at Pepper.