Guin Stark
Location: New York City Streets
Skills: N/A
Everything was absolute
shit.
Guin used to think the idea of the multiverse was
cool - that it would be fascinating to see what different worlds looked like, glimpse what sort of person she could have been. Of course, she had expected to find out that one of her counterparts had been a rockstar, another had become a hermit, maybe even one had started a surprisingly successful TikTok channel. But she had never considered that a reality could be this bleak and this grim. In this new world and in the world Wanda had designed, she was Quicksilver's prisoner. It made her wonder if that was true in
every world - even her own.
Her father was dead here, and even though he wasn't technically her dad, it still hurt to see him straight up ignore her in favor of yelling at Pietro and the others. Everything about this reality, she hated. Where was her agency here? Where was her ability to make choices and make her own destiny? It made her want to scream and punch something - so she did. Guin punched the brick wall, her hand instantly smarting and stinging.
"Motherfucking piece of shit," Guin cursed, wringing out her hand and regretting the impulsive decision.
And then, the Force Ghost of Tony Stark appeared in front of her again. She opened her mouth to shout at him, only for his attitude to have almost completely changed. She blinked slightly, unable to fully process what he had said before he faded out of sight, slipping back into whatever sort of in-between he had been trapped in. Her eyes watered and Guin clenched her fist.
"I -" she started to say, assuming Tony could still hear her wherever he was, when Pietro showed up.
As Guin looked at him, a memory flashed through her mind - one of searing pain, as a metal shard went into her eye. She remembered feeling like her head was on fire. And she remembered the person who did it - Magneto.
"I-I just needed some air," Guin said, her voice unsteady. It was all too much, all too much happening just at once.
"This world... It's the fucking worst."
Runa Baldurdattir
Location: New York City Defenders HQ
Skills:
Runa considered Strange's words for a moment, an idea forming in her head. If Stark was scattered across several universes, there was one artifact she knew of that existed simultaneously in all realities, serving as a nexus point - the M'Kraan crystal, the home of the Phoenix. Runa had really never had a proper conversation with her grandmother, but the staff that she wielded had been made by the Phoenix. Perhaps her grandmother would be willing to pull the pieces of Tony Stark together and make him whole.
"It is probably best to stay together as much as we can... I agree then. We can begin at Stark Tower." "Excuse me, I need to retrieve Lance - could someone similarly go fetch Guinevere and Pietro?" Runa asked. They did need to get a move on. Her mind kept thinking on the M'Kraan crystal - when she had a spare moment, she intended to divine to see where it was located. In their home reality, she was fairly certain it was with the Shi'Ar, but perhaps it was somewhere more accessible here.
"Lance? What is it?" Runa asked, entering the room Lance had gone into.