Summary – Tony gets called to investigate a strange occurrence along the eastern coast of the US and finds more evidence that Earth is not alone in the Universe. Takes place about a year or so after the events of Captain America: Civil War and a short time after Thor: Ragnarok, but begins before Black Panther
Warnings – Avengers AU (Timeline Divergence)
Word Count – 1839
Notes – This is my own characters combined with the Avengers and some other Marvel characters. I appreciate any feedback and questions!!!
Read on AO3
Series Masterlist
Prologue on AO3
Chapter 1 Part 1
Malaki had traveled many planets and many dimensions of Earth and the one constant that she was happiest to find was the universally popular dish known on Earth as spaghetti and meatballs. Steak and seafood was a close second, but only on Earth. Other planets didn’t have the same outlook on combining the two and she always got dirty looks from the chef or the server anywhere else but here when she ordered it that way. She wondered if it was part and parcel with Earth being a nexus point. Not that she really cared to find out, and hopefully she would never find an Earth that didn’t serve it, as it was her two favorite dishes and the best way to recharge after expending her energy supply on Gating.
It had been a close call, getting off that highway earlier. First the state troopers had shown up, then the National Guard, then the guy in the power suit.
She knew when he showed up, it was time to beat a retreat, before he finished his scan and started going through the crowd. Making the crowd stampede the weekend soldiers was easy enough, as was finding a car with only a driver and knocking him out so she could drive to a city and get lost. Her hunger made it urgent, or she would have passed out and that wouldn’t have been a good way to begin her exploration of this dimension.
She was well into her spaghetti and salad and waiting on her steak and mixed seafood grill when he walked through the door and scanned the place. It was done very casually, so casual no one would have noticed unless they were also paranoid and combat ready. Malaki would have bet he knew the exits, the placements of the tables and had evaluated every person in there for threat potential before heading over to her table.
The headset he was wearing was definitely higher tech than anything else she’d seen so far around here, sending her nerves into high alert. She lowered her left hand down below the edge of the table, resting it on the booth seat. Keeping the fork in her right hand, she waved at the seat across from her. “Go ahead, have a seat.”
He gave her a once-over, his dark brown eyes piercing her with their stare, shining with intelligence, before sliding into the seat across from her. She could smell him now, expensive cologne mixing with the smell of hot wiring and metal. It reminded her of mecha-warriors she’d known, how they’d smell after being enclosed in their machines while on duty. Her heartbeat sped up and she took a couple of deep breaths, feeling herself tingle at the stimulation. When he didn’t say anything, she decided to break the ice.
“So what gave me away? I thought I blended in quite well.” She gave him a grin, then took a bite of salad. He started to answer and was interrupted by the arrival of the rest of her food. The server seemed surprised and speechless to find her guest sitting there. Obviously, he was well-known, something she’d seen back at the landing site, and the server had a hard time restraining himself over meeting someone he idolized. After satisfying the server that he didn’t need anything and signing a napkin and taking a picture with him, they were finally alone again.
Malaki hadn’t let it stop her from eating, feeling her hunger like a pit in her gut now. The steak was hot and juicy and the variety of seafood on her platter made her feel happy, despite the handsome super sitting across from her. She grinned at him again, and let out a chuckle when he responded with a frown.
“Your speech pattern is off. I’ve never heard your type of accent before.” He waved his right hand up toward his headset, giving her a slight grin. “Neither has my computer.”
Malaki laughed and popped a large shrimp from the skewer into her mouth, closing her eyes at the enjoyment of the juices and taste flooding her mouth. With her left hand, she tapped the device at her waist, triggering it to scan and jam radio and telephony frequency around her to block his headset and prevent him from contacting anyone for backup. As a bonus, it also blocked internet signals, and as she wasn’t sure how advanced the technology was in general for this dimension and time, she amped it up to include satellite coverage as well.
She opened her eyes to find him watching her. “I guess I shouldn’t have said anything, then, neh?”
He gave her another one of those tight little grins. “Nope.” Looking around, he unobtrusively checked his phone, then tapped his earpiece. “You seem very relaxed for someone who has just jumped out of a strange anomaly, stolen a car with the owner in it, and is now enjoying a meal, probably with the stolen money from the driver’s wallet.”
She raised her glass to him in a mock toast. “Half-right. I didn’t steal any money. I don’t see why I should be worried. It’s not illegal to dimension-hop here. Is it?” Her eyebrows came together in a slight frown.
“You can’t just open a wormhole wherever you want and invade…” he started off, raising a finger to point at her.
“Not a wormhole, Gods above, no!” Malaki interrupted him, having to establish that fact from the get-go. “And not invading.”
“Then what do you call it?” He tapped his phone again, then his earpiece, then took the headset off and checked it thoroughly. “You came into the country without letting anyone know you were coming, blocked traffic on a major freeway, stole a car…”
“I borrowed the car. The guy might have a bit of a headache when he wakes up, but I didn’t do anything more than use up some of his gas.” Malaki grinned again and popped another shrimp in her mouth, then began cutting pieces off her steak. Swallowing the mouthful, she motioned at his headset in his hands. “What are you gonna do about it? Call someone to come pick me up for questioning?”
He tossed the headset down and picked up his phone. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.” He waited a moment, then looked at his phone and tapped it again, turning it over in his hands to examine the back of the case, then looking at the screen again.
She could see it lit up with numerous apps and icons, so she knew it was working, but he hadn’t seemed to figure out that his signal was being jammed just yet. “Maybe you don’t have coverage here. Have you checked your service date? Made sure you have enough minutes?” she giggled as she asked the last question, unable to resist needling him. The look of exasperation he gave her was definitely worth it. Waving the server over, Malaki hide her grin behind a napkin and asked him for a to-go box.
When she looked back at the handsome, yet frustrated man sitting across from her, she decided she wanted to get to know him better, though not here and now. “My name is Malaki, by the way.”
He looked at the hand she held out to him like it was covered in something slimy. “Tony Stark. What did you do to my phone?”
Her grin only made him frown more. She decided it was definitely one of his better looks. Serious, intense, intelligent...most assuredly someone to get to know better, she thought. “Nothing permanent.”
She took the to-go box from the server and dumped all her remaining food in it, then stood to leave. On a whim, she ripped a piece of paper from the top of the bill and handed it to him with the pen. “Give me your number and I’ll give you a call when I get my own phone.”
Again he looked at her like she was handing him a worm. Shrugging, she set it down on the table and picked up her food box. As she stepped past him, he grabbed her wrist.
“You’re not just going to walk out of here that easy. Besides, you haven’t paid yet.”
Malaki glanced down at his hand on her wrist. His grip was strong and firm, yet he wasn’t squeezing tight enough to hurt her. “I’ll let you get that for me, as a diplomatic show of friendship. As for walking out of here, I claim diplomatic immunity for everything. That is a thing here, isn’t it?”
His exasperated sigh as he released her wrist was music to her ears. “Wait,” he said and she heard him pick up the pen and write on something. The napkin he stuck in her hand made her grin and look over as he rose to stand next to her. “Let me walk you out.” he said, placing his hand on her elbow.
The thrill of him touching her skin there sent tingles up her spine as she moved toward the door. He didn’t let go as he opened the door for her, ushering her through and letting it close behind him. Out on the sidewalk, he tugged on her arm, turning her toward him.
“Don’t think this is over, Malaki.” He seemed to be tasting her name when he said it.
“Not by a long shot, Tony Stark,” Malaki replied, letting another grin slide across her mouth. She definitely like how he said her name. She went to turn away and found herself held in place. A raised eyebrow made him give up another of those little grins.
“Just a minute, before you leave,” he said as a cab pulled up to see if she needed a ride. Malaki waited, the tension building inside of her as she wondered what he wanted. Slowly he pulled her sunglasses from her face, his eyes locked on hers.
“Ah, green,” he murmured, almost to himself. He kept the sunglasses in his hand as he turned her loose.
Malaki blinked a couple of times. The sun here was never too bright but she always found herself overly sensitive to light after Gating, which was why she had started wearing sunglasses on her explorations.
“Hey, lady, do you need a ride or what?” the cab driver shouted out his passenger window at her, grabbing her attention away from Tony’s gaze. Turning to the vehicle, she opened the door and climbed in.
‘Where to?” came the driver’s short question.
“A nice place to stay,” Malaki replied, her eyes again locked on the man still standing on the sidewalk, her sunglasses in his hand, watching her.
“You got it.” The cab jolted into the traffic stream, the driver cursing as he maneuvered his way onto the main street. Malaki waited until Tony Stark was lost from sight before looking at the napkin he’d stuck in her hand. On it he’d written two words and a phone number.
Iron Man 1-888-Avengers.
Chapter 2 - Part 1
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Summary – Tony gets called to investigate a strange occurrence along the eastern coast of the US and finds more evidence that Earth is not alone in the Universe. Takes place about a year or so after the events of Captain America: Civil War and a short time after Thor: Ragnarok, but begins before Black Panther
Warnings – Avengers AU (Timeline Divergence)
Word Count – 2611
Notes – This is my own characters combined with the Avengers and some other Marvel characters. I appreciate any feedback and questions!!!
Read on AO3
Series Masterlist
Prologue on AO3
It started with the anomaly showing up on the coast of Virginia, blocking traffic along US Highway 64 from Richmond to Virginia Beach. Not until later did Tony realize what kind of a turning point in his life it represented. At the moment, he and Rhodey were analyzing the data and trying to determine what level to assign it for its potential danger to the general public. The thing appeared to be a large, flat disk of energy, floating perpendicular in the middle of the highway, blocking most of the lanes of traffic, but without putting off any heat or large amounts of light.
“Any change in the energy signatures?” Tony asked, setting down the two large coffees he’d just fetched.
“Nothing yet. I’d have told you if there was.” James Rhodes, known for his cool head as War Machine, was feeling the frustration of 12 hours straight monitoring the anomaly, stuck at the desk instead of being able to charge out there and see it for himself. He hadn’t meant to snap at Tony, but it just came out like that, short and sharp. He grimaced and ran his hand over his face, then grabbed one of the coffees and drank down several swallows. The heated caffeine burst into his system like a recharged battery jolt, setting his senses alight once again.
Tony Stark, brilliant inventor, scientist and billionaire philanthropist, head of The Avengers and the man known as Iron Man, smiled at his friend and fellow Avenger. He knew why Rhodey was tense and he didn’t blame him a bit, or hold any short tempered remark against him. If he’d been able to, Rhodes would have been one of the first people out in the field to check out this latest weirdness. Instead, he was stuck at this desk, in that wheelchair, still recovering from his injuries and the latest surgeries to fix them.
Tony felt the twinge of guilt hit him as it always did, made worse this time by the fact that he was able to leave and go do what Rhodes couldn’t. He was the only one available at the moment, though, with the other remaining Avengers out on patrols and assignments, so it wasn’t like he was taking it out of turn. He slurped his own super strong coffee, then stood back up, stretching his back and legs, working the kinks out from sitting so long.
James looked up at him. “You’re gonna leave me here, aren’t you?” He grinned at Tony to take the sting out of the words, but the bitterness was still a sullen shadow in his tone.
Tony gave him a squeeze on the shoulder. “Yep. Gonna go take an up-close and personal look at this thing, see if I can’t find something new on it. Like if it’s going to get bigger or just go away or what.” He gestured and his Iron Man suit walked over from the corner where it had been on standby to open up and wait patiently for Tony to step into it. Giving Rhodey a friendly pat on the back, he stepped into his armor and as it closed up around him, grinned and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll let you watch my live feeds so you can catch anything I miss.”
Triggering his 360 camera, Tony caught Rhodes sticking his tongue out at his back and mentally shook his head. He would have done the same. Once out of the building, he took off in a beeline for the Virginia coast, leaving it to Rhodes to let HQ know where he was headed. It didn’t take as long as he expected to reach his destination, his thoughts having wandered off to work on refining Rhodey’s exoskeletal frame to help him maneuver better and get back on his feet.
Landing next to the National Guard commander, he turned and scanned the crowd, searching for anything unusual. Everyone looked human, looked normal, relatively speaking for a crowd of city dwellers headed down to the beach on a sunny Memorial Day weekend. They had gathered up as close as the restraints set up by the National Guard would let them, leaving their cars parked on the road to get a closer look at the anomaly, hoping for a glimpse of something strange and unusual so they could brag about it to their friends and neighbors back home.
He turned and scanned the anomaly, noting how it appeared to reach all the way across the road, even though the opening’s actual circumference was narrow, just wide enough for a person to step through unimpeded. Walking around it, he also noted that it was not 3 dimensional when viewed from the side. In fact, if he hadn’t known what to look for in alternate spectrums, he wouldn’t have seen it at all. It was fortunate for the cars traveling on the road that it was perpendicular to the road instead of parallel, as that would have really caused problems. Most likely from slicing a car in half, along with any passengers.
Testing this theory, he reached out and slid a fingertip along the invisible edge of the anomaly.
“Suit integrity has been compromised.” The sound of his suit’s AI in his ear confirmed his theory and he stopped pushing, wondering how close it was to his fingertip and if he would have felt it if it had penetrated.
Tony finished his walk around the perimeter of the blocked space, noting how the readings on the energy coming from the anomaly fluctuated on the backside down to almost nothing but immediately increased the moment he crossed over to its front. He stopped by the commander, noting that the guy seemed quite cool and collected, considering the oddness happening here.
“Any sign of life or other unusual occurrences?” Tony asked, scanning the crowd again. His nerves were tingling, telling him that something had to have come through this, or gone into it.
“No life signs of any kind, sir,” the commander replied, his eyes scanning his men constantly. “There was some flashes earlier, three of them, about 15 minutes apart, but that’s been 3 hours ago and no other signs of activity.”
Tony nodded. He and Rhodes had noticed these as energy spikes during their monitoring. The spikes had effectively blocked readings on the area, keeping them from telling if any life forms had exited the anomaly, or entered it. “Did anyone see anything come out of the anomaly, Commander? Or go into it? When it flashed, I mean.”
The commander shook his head. “No one reported anything, sir.”
“Can you ask them, individually, if they saw or think they saw anything?” Tony was getting impatient now. The answer was here, he could feel it. Someone had to have seen something, even if they didn’t realize it or didn’t want to admit it.
The commander nodded and started walking the perimeter, speaking softly to each of his men in turn as he reached them. Tony waited, waving to the crowd and signing autographs as he did. He was also scanning the people there, searching for anything strange, out of place. Most of them were looking more at the anomaly than him, except those who were asking him to pose for pictures as well as sign stuff for their collections.
The commander came over and stood next to him, surveying the crowd for a moment before commenting, “Turns out a couple of guys saw a shadow pass over them when the third flash came but didn’t report it. One of them says it seemed to be a cloud or something, but he blinked. The other said it had a smell that made him think of fresh laundry.” He shrugged, looking perplexed.
Tony nodded, the suit making it look more exaggerated. “Thanks, Commander. Stay on alert, but you might want to expand the perimeter of the search. Whoever or whatever came through could have gotten quite far in 3 hours.” He scanned the crowd again as the commander walked away, giving orders for more men and an expanded search. Turning back to the anomaly, he didn’t directly see who spoke but a voice came from the crowd, soft and clear.
“I think it’s getting smaller, don’t you? We should be able to get through now.” Several other voices rose in discussion, competing with their opinions and asking when they could continue their trip, causing a general rise in agitation of the crowd as they surged toward the commander, demanding that he let them pass and continue on their way.
Tony turned back but couldn’t see anyone that might have voiced the comment. He pushed through the crowd, noticing that several of them were now heading back to their cars in anticipation of being let through. Other cars were following the lead of the state trooper that was directing traffic through the median to turn around and head back to Richmond.
He addressed his current AI with a low murmur that didn’t get out of the suit. “Alice, scan the cars and target those that aren’t running hot. I want to know which ones just started up and are heading back to the city.” He got clear of the crowd and triggered the repulsors, taking flight to get above the crowd and waited for the results of the scan. In less than 10 seconds, he had 7 targets headed back down the road, along with 23 others that had been running their engines and just now decided to retreat. “Follow those 7 cars and let me know their destinations. Track the licenses if necessary. I want all the information available on the occupants.” His AI’s affirmative was barely heard as he watched the cars drive down the freeway.
“Play back the 360 recording of the crowd from the last 10 minutes, Alice.” Tony had a feeling that the one who had instigated the crowd’s rush was quite possibly connected somehow to the anomaly. Why else cause such a rush, if not to cover their leaving the area? He watched the playback twice before catching sight of the woman that stood out. She was watching him the whole time, he noticed, yet didn’t approach for an autograph or picture. Instead, she waited until he turned away from her part of the crowd to speak, just loud enough for her voice to carry.
“Separate and analyze that phrase, including cross-reference of speech for pattern recognition and give me the approximate area of origin for that person,” Tony ordered his computer. The numbers streamed by his left eye, tracking the speech pattern and not finding any match in the database. Tony wasn’t surprised. He examined the picture of her captured from the video while he tracked the vehicles below him on the freeway, rising up high enough not to be spotted by casual observers.
A thought came to him as he was shifting his attention back to the pictures and he contacted Rhodey back at base. “Is the anomaly the same size as it was earlier or is it shrinking?”
Rhodes came back almost immediately. “It is shrinking now. I was about to contact you and let you know. What made you ask?”
Intrigued now, Tony gave a soft grunt and sent the pictures to Rhodes. “Check the database for any hits on the identity of this person. She was at the scene just before the crowd began getting rowdy. I think she caused it to hide her exit from the area.”
“Do you think she came through, then?” Rhodes sounded wary and tired.
“Yes. You should put the monitoring software on automatic now and get some rest.” Tony tried not to sound bossy but it came out like that anyway. Force of habit, he supposed.
“You got a bead on her now?” Rhodes replied.
“Yeah, mostly. Tracking the cars that left the area at the same time she disappeared. I’ll find her and bring her in so we can figure out what she wants.” Tony made it sound so easy, like a deal guaranteed to close.
Rhodes knew, as he did, it wasn’t always that easy. “Be careful, Tony. We don’t know what we’re going up against. Call for backup if you need to.” Before Tony could make a smart-aleck comeback, Rhodes finished his comment. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Who, me?” Tony chuckled. “This is me you’re talking about. I never do anything stupid.”
Rhodey’s laugh sounded good in Tony’s ear. “Stupid, no, I’ll give you that. Spontaneous, yes. Not planned out, yes. Hare-brained and rash, definitely. Be careful. I mean it. Rhodes out.”
Tony laughed and went back to studying the pictures. She appeared human enough, just above average height, high cheekbones, long hair pulled up into a high ponytail and cascading in curls of mahogany brown and honey gold down her back. Her eyes were hidden behind darkened lenses but her mouth was smiling. Wide, with thinner lips than was considered fashionable, teeth white between them. This just before she spoke.
He wondered if she was laughing at what she was about to do and found himself smiling, then quickly snaps a scowl into place, reminding himself to stay serious. This could be a dangerous alien sent as an advanced scout through the anomaly to report back on defense capabilities of Earth. No matter how much she appeared to be human. Look at Thor, he reminded himself. That was a good example of looking human and not being human at all.
Upon reaching the greater Richmond area, Tony hovered over the city, still tracking the cars that he’d targeted earlier. Most of them headed out to the suburbs, with only 2 of them heading into the city. One of them, a Lexus, parked in a public lot and the two people in the car got out and went into a nearby restaurant. The last one, a white Lincoln Continental, drove around the downtown area for a while, not really stopping anywhere, before finally pulling into a public garage and parking.
The concrete and steel of the structure made it hard to scan into the center, along with the heat signatures of the cars blocking the view in infrared. Tony did the next best thing. He watched the exits from the garage from high above, waiting for the appearance of the driver. She emerged shortly afterwards and headed down the street, a backpack slung from one shoulder, her hair bouncing as she walked.
Tony watched her enter an Italian restaurant and waited to see if she was going to stay or was just ducking out of sight. When she didn’t exit after several minutes, he took the chance and landed on the top of the garage, then headed down to check the car she’d left there. There he found an older guy just waking up from an unconscious state. Notifying the EMTs and the local police, he reported it as an attempted carjacking and gave them the location, then left to go back to the restaurant.
He landed and stepped out of the Iron Man suit, leaving it on standby, and placed the remote control band on his head. Rhodey couldn’t accuse him of not having backup that way. His stomach churned a bit at the thought of confronting this unknown being without anyone else on his team being there, but he clamped it down quick, telling himself he didn’t have time to wait for someone else to arrive. He didn’t want to lose track of her while waiting, either. Activating the remote, he stepped into the restaurant’s darkened entrance, his sunglasses automatically adjusting to the dim light so he wouldn’t be blind and vulnerable.
🌌🔥 3I/ATLAS: The Alien Visitor That’s Turning the Space World Upside Down!
Date: 30 October 2025
Author: Kanika
🚀 A Visitor From Beyond the Stars
The universe just dropped a bombshell — Comet 3I/ATLAS has entered our Solar System, and it’s not your average ball of ice and dust.
It’s an interstellar object, a true cosmic traveler that has journeyed across light-years of space to reach…
3rd Rock from the sun is more factual than Big Bang theory. Back in the day they both played at the same time so I always watched 3rd Rock because I’m just like Gaia, but my favorite sitcom inside the category of science fiction was Eureka and I visited Eureka at California Coast likewise.
Third rock from the Sun is anti-education unlike the Big Bang theory, whereas education exist mostly so you can’t steal the employee that was educated by your employer that’s why third rock from the sun is based on experience like an occult, if the government insured fair compensation for an employee that was stolen for their educational experience gotten in economic efficient way in a different company most of institutional education would disappear because it’s inefficient and wasteful except for the arts and medicine because the arts are not based solely on economy, but beauty and medicine needs a bond of a great expense with a commitment of time to ensure that the employee doesn’t do stupid things without a great expense to themselves such as the expense of education given that is an investment like a bond that institutional education ensures.
I am pro life experience and anti-institutional education especially for men, whereas I would think the government should create a system that rightly compensate the theft of employees to ensure a fair economy in opportunity of life experiences that men need to be successful. I also recommend Freemasonry as a type of opportunity biased on life experience.
Information appreciation is about the dumb degraded troll whores who forgot me!
Daily writing promptWhat are three objects you couldn’t live without?View all responses
In the quiet hush of a rain-kissed temple, an ancient monk offers three sacred treasures—wisdom, memory, and life itself—to a traveler from the stars who has everything yet possesses nothing.
The storm had passed, leaving the temple grounds soaked in silver rain. Mist curled between the lanterns, and the…
Daily writing promptWhat experiences in life helped you grow the most?View all responses
Beneath the moonlit bamboo, a warrior and a wanderer from the stars share their wisdom—two souls shaped by time, bound by the search for meaning.
“What experiences in life helped you grow the most?”
The question was spoken softly, yet it echoed through the stillness of the bamboo grove, caught between the…
