"I've always called your Mr. Stark," Pepper replied. She wondered if the bright flash caused him to gain memory loss and change clothes? The first reason made sense, the second, however, did not.
Tony sighed and shook it off. "Nevermind. I've gotta go talk to Bruce." He got up from the ground and looked around the area.
For some reason it was different. In fact, everything felt different now that he thought about it. The atmosphere was gloomy, the area was dark, and he had a gut feeling that there was a problem.
"Hey, F.R.I.D.A.Y! Could you call Bruce over for me?!"
Instead of a feminine voice coming from the walls, a male British voice was heard. "Come again?"
"J.A.R.V.I.S?" Tony asked in utter confusion.
"Sir?" The AI responded.
"What kind of sick joke is this?" Tony cupped his hands around his mouth. "Clint if this is your doing I am going to lock you out of the kitchen!" He yelled out.
He didn't mind a prank here and there, but this crosses the line. He doubted that Clint would go this far, but he was the prankster of the group. Then again this could be Loki's doing, he did have a past of evil after all.
Pepper interrupted his thoughts with a question. "Who's Clint?"
That's what absolutely baffled Tony. From the tone of her voice and the expression on her face, he knew that she was being serious. It scared him a bit.
"You know, Clint Barton. Hawkeye? Legolas? The bow and arrow guy?" It didn't make sense as to why she didn't know who he was.
She shook her head, not recognizing any of the names. "Sorry."
Tony ran his fingers through his hair and thought through the situation. He paced back and forth, wondering the answers to his questions.
Meanwhile, Pepper noticed a silver orb on the ground. She picked up the sphere and opened it. Nothing was inside which slightly disappointed her.
She placed the orb down and called Jarvis. "J.A.R.V.I.S, could you do a scan on Mr. Stark? I think something is wrong with him."
"It appears that Mr. Stark has sudden levels of high stress and anxiety. There is also another issue, but I am unsure of what currently."
"Stress and anxiety," Pepper questioned with disbelief, "I highly doubt that the Tony Stark is ever stressed or extremely nervous. He's the most outgoing and narcissistic person I know. Speaking of which…" She looked around the hallway. "Where did he go?"
As Pepper was chatting with the AI, Tony decided to go to his lab to figure this weird mess out. It turned out to be a difficult journey since all the rooms were either nonexistent or in a different location. There was also the fact that the majority of the people in the building he didn't recognize.
Whenever he looked at them, they would always avert their gazes or even walk the other direction. Nothing was different about him, why were they trying to avoid him. He didn't ponder on that for too long, however.
After what felt like hours of searching, he finally found the lab that shouldn't be lost. The place had changed completely. There were military weapons everywhere and his suits were nowhere in site. Not only but so was the orb he and Bruce were looking at.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y, where are my iron man suits and that silver ball that I dropped?" Tony searched underneath a table. "And where did all these weapons come from?"
"It's Jarvis sir and you've always had the weapons here. I am afraid that I do not know what iron man suits and silver ball you are talking about."
"Why does no one know anything I'm talking about? Am I speaking another language?" He yelled at himself. "Now I know how Bruse felt when he was telling me about his time in space…"
He kicked at an incomplete device on the ground in frustration. Maybe some fresh air could help him sort things out and relax his nerves.
Tony sighed and exited the room for a break. When outside, he leaned against the pole and watched the busy streets of New York. The many cars zooming by and hordes of people passing through, going who knows where.
Not too long after he got comfortable, a familiar looking person ran past him. He turned his head in the direction they ran off to and squinted his eyes. However long blonde hair whipped his face as he was shoved to the side.
"Hey!" He shouted while balancing himself so he wouldn't fall.
It was then when he realized who exactly these people were and decided to follow them.