Halloween in New York, Same day

Same night, different place

New York City, the evening of Halloween.

Tony stood on the balcony looking at the creepy woman who had just landed on his terrace. She was wearing a tight black dress, partially torn apart. Cobwebs were visible on the dress and in her hand she carried a long broom whose bristles glowed and pulsed an unearthly green. On her head, the red-haired witch wore a large slouch hat and a ghostly cat sat on her shoulder. greenish mist formed her body and made her appear unreal. Under the big floppy hat he could see 2 blood red lips looking at him in amusement.

"Tony! Why don't you have your costume on yet!" hissed Pepper, walking towards him laughing. "You know the kids are waiting downstairs!"

"Just a minute! Friday! Creepy night protokol!" he said with a laugh, then walked over to his wife who was waiting for him on the landing port. As he walked up the long staircase, robotic arms extended to his right and left, putting on the parts of his costume in a perfect symphony.

Pepper had to laugh when she saw her husband in a new Iron Man armor. The armor, however, was not as beautifully sparkling and noble as it usually was, but was badly damaged and rusted. Parts of the arms and helmet were destroyed and there was a holographic camouflage over it that made his body underneath look like that of a rotten corpse.

"Zombie Man? or rather Iron Zombie?" giggled Pepper, taking a seat on her broom. Thanks to the latest repulsor technology and stabilizer systems, she could ride the broom like a real witch. "Honey! I want to keep that broom!" she laughed and launched herself into the depths. Confidence in his systems overcame her fear and yet she screamed like a banshee as she tumbled down the side of the house, Iron Man beside her watching over her.

When he landed at the bottom, hundreds of children were already waiting and cheering him on. They all wore great costumes and even those who didn't wear such elaborate costumes were there with passionate fire.

Tony landed in his usual pose and was about to say something when the earth trembled. Right next to him, Hulk crashed into the concrete, angrily roaring and slamming both fists into the ground, causing the earth to shake slightly and alarms to go off everywhere. The Hulk then reared up angrily and roared at the children, who then cheered and shrieked enthusiastically as the titanic green Hulk looked to them. even the Hulk had dressed up and was wearing bunny ears on his head.

"HULK TREATIES!" he then roared, holding out a hulk barrel full of treats to the kids.

Pepper and Tony had to laugh when they saw this massive rage monster surrounded by vampires, zombies and miniature Avengers handing out candy.

Slowly, the other Avengers joined in. Natasha had dressed up as a ninja, Steven wore an Indiana Jones costume, Clint was logically Robin Hood and Thor.... came as Thor.

"Friend Stark! You look terrible!" laughed the Thunder God before turning to the kids. "Behold you little miniature heroes! Your God of Thunder lets the mighty thunder speak!" he was about to raise his hand to lift his hammer when Hulk backhanded him, chasing him through the closed door and into the building.

"Don't bother HULK with stupid lightning! Hulk want candy!" growled Hulk throatily and was cheered by the kids for it. Finally, he just took a seat in the middle of them and popped the cookies and wrappers into his mouth while the others just laughed at his behavior.

Tony finally stepped aside for a moment when he got a call from Reed Richards. As expected, he was not dressed up in the least and looked into the camera. Behind him, a race car driver-Johnny, a Jewish Golem-Ben, and an Egyptian Goddess-Susan-were walking around decorating the Baxter Building.

"Hey Reed! great costume! you look just like Mr. Fantastic!" laughed Tony, and Reed raised his eyebrows.

"But I'm Mr. Fantastic, right?" Johnny in the background just sighed audibly at that statement. "Tony! Have you seen the star configuration?"

"You mean that all the planets in the solar system line up? Sure I have! Only happens every 5,000 years. Why?"

"That's not what I meant. we actually form a line that goes on much longer. Even the moons of the individual planets are in a line. Such a thing has not occurred since 20000 years! Isn't that exciting?!"

"Reed! You realize it's Halloween?"

"What?" the man asked, confused, and Susan pressed into the picture.

"HAPPPY HALLOOWEENNN Tony!" she laughed, then shook her head. "You know Reed! Don't let him bother you and have a great time!"

With those words, the camera went off and Tony smiled briefly. "Friday. Just to be sure. Align all Stark sats and check the planets and moons. Report anything unusual to me yes?"

"Of course Iron Zombie!" he heard Friday's voice say, and then he mingled back in and celebrated boisterously with the other Avengers.

Sanctum Sanctorum, Himalaya

"Did you feel that too?" asked Wong as he walked into Dr. Strange's chamber, The Sorcerer Supreme just raised a brow and looked questioning.

"What, that tremor that was felt all over the world? The flare-up of an ancient power? Or rather the **** of Dracula?" asked Steven Strange, amused.

"Well all of the above! you must be.... oh... you're kidding me?!" then asked Wang skeptically.

"Yes!" nodded Strange seriously.

"I hate it when you do that!" said his old friend grumpily.

"I know."

"And that's exactly why you keep doing it, isn't it?"

"Exactly!" nodded Strange again, taking a seat behind his books once more.

"And what are you going to do about this problem now?"

"Nothing Wong." he said darkly, drawing an astonished look. "It's not my job Wong, and it's not yours either!"

"But..."

"It's not an off-world danger. It's a thing of this plane. Something for the Avengers or anyone else to take care of."

"Steven."

"Enough Wong!" said the wizard, unusually stern. "You have no idea what that fool has awakened. And the magical protection of this world is in my hands. I already know what I'm doing! Besides, we have other things to worry about today. Dormamu is already attacking the barriers. We have to stop him."

"It won't be as easy as usual today, though," Wang said uncertainly.

"The convergence of the planets.... yes I know." said Steven, rubbing his temples. Fighting off Dormamu on Halloween was hard in itself, but having to fight him off at a Convergence of all planets... that was going to be hard. "Has this ever happened before...that night falling on a Convergence?" he asked quietly, and Wang shook his head.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before. This could be the end of us all."

"Do me a favor. Please call Wanda. We need her help."

"Wanda?! are you sure we can trust her?"

"Do we have a choice?" he asked quietly. "Something is going to break through today...I saw that.... but I didn't see what it is.... so... we're going to have to do everything we can to stop it! We're breaking through!"

With an energetic leap, he jumped up from his chair and the braided cloak settled over his shoulders.

"For the protection of the realms!"

Wong just grinned broadly and followed him. Outside, everything the Order could muster was already waiting. Dozens of portals opened and the battle for reality would be decided tonight.

Midnight. Witching hour. New York City

The car exploded in a bright fireball as the rocket hit.

"Trick or treat!" laughed Tony as he flew over the AIM agents in his Halloween armor. "Hey Nat, the getaway car is destroyed. Time for the party bomb."

"I guess that definitely means trick-or-treat!" laughed Natasha good-humoredly, then opened the jet's cargo hatch. "You hear that, big guy? They drove you away from your candy over there!"

"HULK SMASH!!!" roared Hulk angrily and ran toward the hatch. As soon as he landed, the Aim Soldten froze and looked down at the 10-foot tall Hulk. "HULK FURIOUS!!! HULK SMASH!!! HULK WANTS CANDIES!!!" he roared frantically and grabbed the burning car. only seconds later, 4 soldiers were pushed into a wall by the car as Hulk threw the burning wreckage like a pack of handkerchiefs. He ignored the hostile fire from the panicked soldiers as he jumped in the middle of them and did what the kids loved him for. Beating up bad guys.

The smaller scenes were taken care of by the rest of the Avengers, keeping them a little separated from each other.

Tony was just about to go after one of the heavy guys when he turned around and pointed some kind of missile launcher at him. The suit's protection system immediately poured out decoys, and yet Tony felt himself hit and tumble to the ground.

But just as the soldier reloaded the weapon to finish him off, he was grabbed and torn apart by something like a massive snake with horns.... Shortly after, Wong emerged from a portal and seemed to be fighting the monster.

"Hey Wong! how's it always been?"

" Fine. Great costume Tony!" he said calmly.

"Thanks! Another one of Strange's shenanigans?" asked Tony who was getting back up.

"We'll take care of that. You take care of those nutcases."

"You're welcome!"

With these words Tony flew off and got about 2 blocks when his suit warned him of impending danger, but it was too late. Something had hit him in mid-air and ripped open his suit. The pain was overwhelming, but nothing compared to when he slammed into a wall of buildings. Without the cushioning systems of his suit, such impacts were always quite violent. He blacked out and fell to the ground.

"Mr. Stark, can you hear me?"

"What... happened Friday?"

"I don't know exactly Mr. Stark. The sensors and the connection was gone. But you' re injured and the suit is only 19% operational! I strongly recommend retreating."

"Roger that. Show me the damage.... pfff...flesh wound.... and I don't need that... that either... that would have been great... oh that too... that's going to be really expensive..." he sighed and flew back towards the combat zone.

"Mr. Stark. Do you want me to at least hand out the painkillers?"

"That sounds great! Go for it!" laughed Tony and rejoined the fray, which fortunately for him was almost over.

"How bad is it?" asked Steve Rogers as everyone gathered around and Tony shook his head.

"Nothing serious. I'll have that armor ready to go again in no time."

"He meant OUCHII!" said Hulk solicitously, poking him with a finger.

"Oh? I don't even notice that. It's just a light flesh wound, nothing to worry about. Maybe I can finally show off a scar like you, Steve.

"Too bad for you that I don't have one. I'm just too good for that!" he grinned and walked back to the jet. "We're leaving."

"You guys go ahead. I'll catch up." Tony grinned and scanned the wound just in case. The scanner confirmed what he had thought. A guided anti-tank missile. If it had hit him, he wouldn't be here now.

However, the wound was only light, the suit had absorbed most of it. On the flight home, however, Friday then spoke up again.

"Mr. Stark. Remember I said the suit was only 19% operational?"

"Of course, why?"

"Because the thrusters and radio communications are down right now!" he heard before he dropped like a stone from the sky and landed in some trash cans. The fall was enough to knock him out for the rest of the night. He woke up hours later to find his suit completely destroyed. only a few armor plates remained attached to the exoskeleton, and most of it lay scattered in the dark alley. all systems were off, so he had no idea how hard he had hit. however, his ARC reactor was operational, so there was no immediate danger.

When he looked at his cell phone the old-fashioned way, he noticed that he had 21 calls from Pepper...

"Hey babe... yeah... I'm fine.... my costume less! no I'm not hurt bad. I'm fine... Oh everyone's looking for me?! how sweet... Even Clint? Oh, so he's not?! Of course not! Could you have someone pick me up? Where am i? it's obvious. Next to garbage can number 23."