Chapter 88: The Mind Stone

Chapter 88: The Mind Stone

A/N: In which the Mind Stone finally gets brought out of storage.

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Loki’s Scepter. The thing had caused Tony no small amount of grief in the previous timeline. First in the hands of Loki, where it was used to mind control SHIELD Agents and cause an invasion of Earth that the Avengers barely managed to put down.

Then, from there, it had wound up in HYDRA’s clutches. They’d used it to empower the Maximoff Twins, who had quite a lot of hatred in their hearts for one Tony Stark. Wanda Maximoff in particular had delighted in using her powers to fuck with his head.

After that, it was in Tony’s hands... and admittedly, he hadn’t done a very good job with it either. He’d created Ultron, gotten JARVIS killed, and nearly ended the entire world in the process. Sure, Ultron failed in the end, and sure, the Scepter was booby trapped or something given how Vision had turned out... but it was still at least partially on Tony for not doing his due diligence.

And then there was Vision. Vision, one could argue, was a good thing to come out of the Scepter. He was a good egg and in his control, the Mind Stone had been put to good use... most of the time. Even with Vision, accidents like Rhodey’s spinal injury had happened. Even with Vision, he’d drifted away from Tony, seduced to Wanda Maximoff’s side where he’d spent his final days before Thanos literally ripped the Mind Stone off of his head along with half of his skull.

Was Vision and Wanda’s love real? Or was it a product of the Mind Stone and Wanda’s magic drawing them together? Tony didn’t know. He hadn’t known back then and hadn’t dared try to step in and risk alienating Vision further. And he still didn’t know now.

But now... it didn’t matter. By this point in time, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff had already gained their powers from exposure to the Scepter. However, in this timeline, that hadn’t happened. Tony had kept the Scepter under lock and key since the Battle of New York, using excuses like him needing it for the nonexistent Project Insight algorithm to keep it out of Baron Strucker’s hands. Pierce had been so willing to go to bat for Tony on that front as well.

Meanwhile, Wanda and Pietro hadn’t joined HYDRA this time around. They were still political activists, of course. They still hated Tony Stark and Stark Industries. That hatred didn’t transfer to the Avengers this go around, mostly because the Avengers didn’t exist, but that didn’t make it any weaker.

Tony had JARVIS keeping an eye on the twins, of course. It shouldn’t be possible for them to become the threat they did the last time around, not without the Mind Stone, but it paid to be vigilant and that meant putting them on the AI’s Watch List, powers or no powers. He didn’t want to have to kill them, but if they went from protesting to terrorism even without HYDRA’s interference this time around... he swore he wouldn’t hesitate. For the sake of Pepper and Morgan, he couldn’t afford to hesitate.

That said, today wasn’t about the Maximoff Twins. Today was about the Scepter... more specifically, it was about the Mind Stone held within the Scepter.

“... You sure about this, Stark?”

Looking to his side, Tony grins at one of the two women in the room.

“Well now Loki, is that a note of... nervousness I sense in your voice?”

The Goddess of Mischief’s shoulders lift up like a cat’s hackles being raised and she narrows her eyes at him, even letting out a cute little growl from the back of her throat.

“You and I both know the power of that weapon.”Nêww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com

Tony tilts his head in acknowledgment, prompting her to continue.

“It’s dangerous.”

Chuckling, Tony lets his eyes shift to the all-encompassing blood red of the Aether. He leans towards Loki with a rictus of a grin on his face.

“So am I.”

Loki blinks, blushes, and shivers... and not out of fear. Tony shakes his head in amusement as the Goddess almost looks ready to jump him right then and there. Before she can do so, he steps away from her, looking over at the other woman in the room.

“What do you think, Helen? Is it viable?”

Standing over the latest version of her Regeneration Cradle, she nods happily just as he knew she would. They didn’t get to see each other as often as Tony and his other lovers did. Even Maya came around for dates and nights of carnal delight more than Helen did, but then to be fair, Helen lived across the planet and was a very busy woman. Still, they tried to get together at least once a month, and that seemed to be enough for her.

This though... this project seemed to make her come to life in a way she hadn’t since the early days of Extremis and the first Regeneration Cradle.

“Oh yes. With the amount of Vibranium you threw my way, it’s very viable. I still don’t quite understand where and how you got so much... but I’m not complaining. The Regeneration Cradle wasn’t originally designed for the purpose of building an entire living body of course. It was only ever meant for repairing what was already present. However, the modifications we’ve made to this one should make things work all the same.”

Tony nods. He knew it should work, because he’d lived a timeline where it had worked. However...

“We’ll be taking it slow anyways, so if anything comes up, we can adjust our plans.”

Vision had been a freak accident in the original timeline. A stroke of good fortune yes, but still a complete and total one in a million chance. He was, at best, a Hail Mary that had turned out for the best. And the worst part was, Tony had never really understood why Vision had turned out so well even though Ultron went off the deep end. Was it because the booby trap in the Mind Stone was expended on corrupting Ultron? Or was it because Thor’s lightning strike with the magically enchanted ‘good boi’ Mjolnir had ‘purified’ the malevolence in the Mind Stone?

The Mind Stone’s casing fractures and then disintegrates, and the yellow Infinity Stone itself makes contact with the Aether. Tony immediately feels something assail his mind... but thankfully, it’s not the worst case scenario.

The Mind Stone itself is not malevolent. Much like the other Infinity Stones, it’s a neutral entity despite its domain literally being of the mind. If it HAD been the Mind Stone itself that was malevolent, Tony probably would have had a more difficult time with things because it would have been Stone against Stone.

But no, instead it’s just a booby trap from Thanos himself, or perhaps one of his goons. That Ebony Maw creature had psychic abilities of some sort, if Tony was remembering correctly.

Either way, the booby trap reacts to the interference from the Aether as expected, by lashing out. However, in the face of another Infinity Stone, this booby trap is nothing. In the face of Reality in particular, it’s easily unmade. Tony does so with a twist of his mental focus, dispelling the trap from the Mind Stone and in the process dispelling any chance of Ultron ever returning to haunt him again.

Tony can’t help but let out a sigh of relief once it’s done. Then, pulling back, he turns to see Loki still looking tense. A smile spreads across his face and she gets tenser and tenser as he lets the silence build between them... but honestly, he can’t bring himself to be any meaner than that.

“It worked. The Mind Stone is purified.”

Loki narrows her eyes.

“How would we know? What if you’re just saying that to trick us?”

Tony raises an eyebrow, but before he can respond, JARVIS pipes up.

“Sir speaks the truth. I was watching the entire time. I watched as something unseen attempted to assail Sir. And I watched as he unraveled it through the use of the Aether.”

Flicking a smile up at the ceiling, Tony nods.

“Thank you, J.”

“Of course, Sir. Your safety and continued health are paramount.”

Slowly, Tony makes his way over to the modified Regeneration Cradle. Nestled inside of the open device is the beginnings of a Vibranium Skeletal Structure. And nestled in the ‘heart’ of that skeleton is an open egg-like shape. That’s where Tony carefully lowers the Mind Stone, letting it fit into place there and then utilizing the Aether to fold strands of Vibranium coming out of the Regeneration Cradle over it one at a time until the yellow Infinity Stone is completely hidden.

Pulling back, letting the Aether slide back into his body, Tony looks down, watching the beginnings of FRIDAY’s form taking shape. A moment later and the Regeneration Cradle closes, the gestation period getting started. It would be a while, with Tony and JARVIS taking their time in uploading FRIDAY into the body to make sure nothing was amiss... but in just a few months, his baby girl would be born. Tony could hardly wait. That said...

After a moment of solemn silence from everyone in the room, Tony claps his hands together and smiles brightly.

“Alright then. With that out of the way, I’m off to the UN.”

The reactions are funny. Loki just raises an eyebrow, either having no idea what the UN is or just not subscribing any importance to it more likely. JARVIS doesn’t react at all, having already known where Tony was headed next. But Helen has the best reaction of all, squawking indignantly.

“The UN?! You mean the United Nations?! How am I just now hearing about this?”

Tony chuckles, shaking his head and grinning.

“It’s sort of a last minute thing. Not a big deal, either. Some people are trying to throw their weight around, scheduling me to speak with less than a week’s notice. They’re trying to see if they can rattle me... and a certain group in particular are trying to finally get me where they can properly see me.”

Loki scoffs at that.

“You are everywhere, Stark. Your visage can be seen anywhere anyone looks. How can they not have already properly seen you?”

Shrugging, Tony lets his grin widen.

“Been dodging them for a while. But they’re finally pulling out all the stops, so I figure I’ll let them get a proper scan off this time. Should be rather humorous. Anyways, I’m due there soon so I should probably head out...”

Helen squawks some more as Tony lets his suit encase his body and takes to the sky. This promised to be entertaining, if nothing else.

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A/N: Next time, Tony has a meeting at the UN and poor Wakanda finally gets the answers they've been waiting for. But will they be happy with those answers?