Ch81. The change

When Tony's consciousness finally awoke, he found himself floating in a multicolored stream of energy, feeling light-headed yet comfortable.

Blue, Yellow, Red, Green, Purple, Orange...

Six colors that Tony recognized right away. The colors of the infinity stones. The colors that haunted him, the colors that drove him to sacrifice his life for a different universe.

If Tony still needed a confirmation that channeling enough power from the infinity stones through his body to bring every person Thanos snapped out of existence back somehow changed him, this was it. After all, right now, he was supposed to be in the innermost layer of his soul, in its core.

Tony had no idea how much time passed as he watched the core of his soul, the multicolored stream, slowly changing, bending, and reshaping, bit by bit losing its color... until there was only the shade of white and black visible.

Tony could do nothing, for he was only half-conscious, not really capable of more than slow thought. He couldn't perceive time nor space, his senses nonexistent in the turbulent stream of energy that was slowly changing itself to the whims of the alchemic ritual.

Despite his total helplessness, he couldn't help but think it was beautiful.

The world lost its colors, the space collapsed, the time lost its meaning... all that remained in the core of his soul were three things.

Tony, White energy, and Black energy.

Tony knew what he was 'seeing' was not true. His consciousness... his being in this turbulent stream... it was nothing else than the symbolization of his mind. His existence on the Astral Plane, his very mind, was ripped from there and deposited here, straight into the middle of his very own soul. The safest place where it could be.

No longer would Tony need to be afraid of meeting a strong mind-reader. For his mind was safeguarded by his soul. If anybody did manage to get through his soul and access his mind... then there would be nothing Tony could do against that kind of entity anyway.

His mind was being entrapped by the White energy and the Black energy that filled his soulscape to the brim, pushing against its borders and expanding it to accommodate their volume... and yet the core of Tony's soul gave in and let itself be expanded.

That went against everything Tony had ever learned about how souls worked. It went against every bit of knowledge Kamar Taj had on souls and how they interacted with various energies. But he knew this would happen.

And as he focused his mind on the border of his soulscape, he could see the outline shining with orange color. The color of the Soul Stone.

Any doubt of why his and Natasha's souls were so prone to alteration vanished then and there.

Tony watched energy fill his soul, like a water filling glass. He could feel this energy coming from his soul and it was fascinating. It was his energy. He was producing it. It was his existence. His... altered existence.

For who knows how long, Tony watched the white and black energies harmoniously expanding his soul until in one moment, they abruptly slowed down the process and Tony knew the ritual was over.

The energies did not cease expanding. They would never cease that. His soul became an ever-expanding dimension of its own with its very own energy. He... succeeded.

As relief and elation flooded Tony's mind, the black and white world suddenly pulsed, stopping Tony's mind in its tracks...

Tony's consciousness was abruptly yanked and he felt as if he was pulled down before landing on the ground with discomfort tingling through his being.

The white and black bled out from the surroundings as Tony's mindscape merged with his soulscape, showing...

"My bedroom? Really?" Tony dryly mumbled, not impressed at all.

This... was not grand enough for someone like him! At least make it into his lab, for goodness sake!

Finding out that the representation of his mind in this space looked like his body, Tony petulantly crossed his arms on his chest and scowled.

Suddenly, Tony heard a soft giggle coming from somewhere, and before he could try to locate it, two whirlpools appeared next to his bed, one black and the other white, both seemingly bleeding through the fabric of his mindscape.

Tony was fascinated but he quickly came to his senses when the black whirlpool twisted... and a woman with freckled striking ginger-colored hair, piercing blue eyes, and full eye-catching red lips set in a calm smile appeared in front of him.

She wore office clothes with a striking resemblance to Natasha's own attire whenever she considered taking her position as Tony's secretary seriously.

It was a tight-fitting white shirt with the top few buttons unbuttoned, showing enough cleavage just to be tempting but still appropriate, a black office skirt with a slit on the side for more comfort, black translucent nylons, and comfortable yet elegant heeled shoes.

Tony didn't get enough time to apprecia-, ahem, observe the woman that somehow appeared in his mind slash soul.

On the other side of his bed, the white energy whirlpool also twisted and formed a figure... this time it was a man. Middle-aged yet with a still handsome face sporting just a few wrinkles that added to his charm rather than subtracted from it. He had gray-colored hair, befitting his age, also sported piercing blue eyes but his were a shade darker than the woman's, and his smile was serene, betraying just a small bit of happiness behind it.

The man was wearing a smart old-fashioned butler suit with many decorative features... and when Tony looked closer, his lips twitched. He recognized that suit. He saw it just yesterday in Natasha's new favorite anime, Overlord. Apparently, the man was imitating Sebas with his clothing.

Why... Tony had no idea.

He didn't get enough time to think about it, however, as the ginger cheerily spoke.

"Is it really so surprising your mindscape is your bedroom, boss? You had some of your happiest memories there with Aunty Natasha." Her tone was a bit teasing and suggestive with an obvious Irish accent.

Accent, Tony instantly recognized. After all, he was the one to program it!

"FRIDAY?" Tony's eyes widened, giving the gorgeous woman in front of him another once-over and his jaw might or might not drop a bit at the revelation. "That would mean..." Tony turned towards the man, still completely baffled.

"Yes, sir." The man spoke with a nod, his tone calm and collected with a British accent.

Tony blinked a few times, then he furrowed his eyebrows and rubbed his chin while the two newcomers patiently waited for him to finish his inner monologue...

And then Tony suddenly sighed in defeat, "So you had to use the contingency plan, huh? And here I hoped it would not be needed." He wryly smiled.