Hi everyone, my exams and my summer job from hell are officially over, I am now back at uni and my hiatus is officially over! I'm not sure if I will be updating every week or every other week, we shall see how things go and then I'll stick to a schedule!
I realise it's been a while since I updated, so, here's a summary to jog your memory:
- Tony and Stephen have come back in time to the middle of the Avengers. Tony has told SHIELD/the Avengers about Thanos.
- The Avengers (plus Loki) are trying to come up with a solution, but they're arguing too much to get anywhere.
- Dr Strange is trying to alert the Ancient One to Thanos.
- In doing so he met Kaecilius (who is working at the New York Sanctum) and thinks he might have accidentally sent him down the path of evil sooner than in the last timeline.
- Peter Parker (11) has had the best birthday ever, meeting Mr Stark on a school trip round Stark Tower.
Before I get on with the chapter, I just want to say that I'm blown away by all the reviews, follows and favourites! It's completely insane and I love you all!
Also, I realise this chapter is angsty af in parts, but this is literally the worst this story will be and literally everything will basically be resolved and happy in chapter five. I just felt I needed to say that given that I'm meant to be fixing IW not giving you all more pain!
15/10/2018
Chapter Four – Kamar-Taj
Tony looked up in shock as the deafening tones of Black Sabbath cut out abruptly. Ears ringing slightly in the silence, he scanned the room, his gaze quickly landing on Pepper, standing by the door, her arms crossed, an expression of mingled concern and disappointment on her face.
"You can't keep avoiding me, Tony," Pepper said, and Tony opened his mouth to protest that that wasn't true, he hadn't been avoiding her, before closing it again, realising that was exactly what he'd been doing. The hardest person to talk to was Pepper, they'd been about to be married, and now look where they were, so much time erased. And what was Tony even meant to tell her? That they'd been engaged? Was he meant to lie to her? No. Hiding from his problems had been easier. "…listening to me? God, Tony, I know all the stuff about SHIELD must have been stressful but you can't hide down here and not sleep for three days!"
"Well, you know how it is, Pep," Tony said, having no idea what he was going to say, but figuring that his brain would make up something appropriate as it went along. "I've been-"
"Are those…are you making weapons again?" Pepper interrupted, looking horrified and staring at the plans on the nearest hologram. Tony was grateful that Pepper was fully on board with the new direction of SI (he hadn't been able to remember if she had been at this point) but he sighed at the thought of having done something else that might damage his relationship with her.
"There are things out there, aliens. I need to make these, we won't stand a chance if I don't. No one will!"
Pepper started to look panicked at these words, before sighing and pulling herself together.
"When are these aliens coming?"
"In six years or so, maybe sooner."
Pepper nodded. "Then you have time. Tony come to bed, please, and then talk to me about all this in the morning. You need rest, and you can't ignore me, you can't leave me in the dark like you've been doing!"
Tony considered this, remembering the last time he'd slept, nightmares of Peter turning into dust, waking to find Pepper turned to dust beside him, waking for real in the throes of a panic attack.
"Could we just go for a coffee instead?" Tony suggested and watched as Pepper grimaced, clearly weighing up the pros and cons of giving into his request.
"Okay," she said, her resolve falling away. "As long as we go to the nice coffee shop five blocks away and Happy drives us."
-AC-
They sat in the window seats of the coffee shop, chatting far more easily than Tony had been expecting. Tony was inhaling his second mug of coffee (and Pepper was right, they did do nice coffee here) while Pepper sat across from him, smiling softly as she elegantly spooned another forkful of chocolate cake into her mouth. Tony was waiting on a toastie; Pepper had been very insistent that he would have to eat properly before he chose one of the shops desserts. He had grumbled about Pepper treating him like a child, but he had to admit that maybe she was right, he hadn't eaten in over 24 hours after all (Jarvis had informed him that infrequently snacking on blueberries didn't count as eating).
"How did the school visit go?" Pepper asked, taking a sip of coffee.
"It went really well," Tony said, before thanking the barista that had just brought his toastie over, casually handing her an extra 50 dollar tip.
"I have to admit that I was really surprised when I saw it on your schedule."
"Well, it was a but of a spur of the moment decision, you know."
Pepper smiled in understanding. "What isn't a spur of the moment decision for you?" she asked. "Do you think you'll be running any more visits?"
"No, I don't think so," Tony replied. "I was thinking that maybe I should set up some sort of Stark Internship, make it available to gifted kids with low incomes."
Pepper thought for a moment. "It's a nice idea Tony, but this is these kids' lives you're talking about here, if you start this you've got to commit, you can't drop it if you get bored."
"I wouldn't" Tony said firmly, thinking of Peter's delighted expression as he quizzed him about circuits.
"Okay," Pepper said, somewhat reluctantly. "I'll set up some meetings for you with people who work with the kind of kids you're talking about, see what we can do."
Tony nodded, scarfing down his toastie. It was weird how when he got caught up in his work he didn't often notice he was hungry until he actually started to eat. Now he was eating he realised that he'd been starving.
"We also need to think about if your work will put any of these kids in danger, they're already in vulnerable positions and if some types of people find out about the internship they're going to be under a lot of pressure."
"It'll be fine," Tony said. "We'll just get Jarvis to monitor them and Happy to check in frequently."
"I'm not sure Happy will be the best person for that," Pepper said, glancing over to where he was glaring suspiciously round the shop.
"Sure he is," Tony said flippantly. "Happy's the most dedicated security guy I've ever met. Remember when he thought the take-out guy looked shady and ended up in hospital because he ate the pizza meant for our date night. Jarvis didn't even pick up on that and every time I order food he's… Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Happy… was poisoned?"
"Yeah, don't you remember it was…" Too late, Tony realised his mistake, the pizza incident had taken place a few weeks after he had finally had all the repairs done to his tower. After the New York invasion. "A dream… it must have been a dream."
Pepper looked concerned. Great. "Tony, I know you don't want to see anyone, but maybe you should, because if you don't even remember what's real anymore… I'm sure SHIELD could find you someone who'd be totally confidential."
"Pepper," Tony sighed, thinking about how they hadn't got anywhere on solving the Hydra problem yet. "I don't trust anyone, but I trust SHIELD even less. All they'll do is pass my information on and make a file on me."
Pepper's face fell and Tony grimaced internally, he didn't want to disappoint Pepper. Not when he knew everything that could happen between them.
"Could you talk to me? Any of the Avengers? Bruce seems nice. Perhaps you could try pills, you've been drinking a lot less alcohol recently, so they might be safe."
Tony pointedly ignored the fact that the only reason he'd been able to sleep three nights ago was because he'd opened the liquor cabinet in the tower and got absolutely smashed. Pepper didn't need to know that, didn't need to know that he'd slipped up (apparently he'd been going through a good patch drinking-wise in early 2012, he didn't remember too clearly, but he was sure that that had stopped after the invasion and the arrival of his nightmares about the wormhole).
"I can't!" Tony said, slightly more loudly desperately than he'd meant to, and the conversations around them quietened a bit.
"Tony, please, tell me a way that I can help!" Pepper begged as hopefully everyone went back to ignoring them. Tony could see the Pepper that couldn't cope as he began to fall apart after New York the first time round. He couldn't let that happen.
He needed to talk to her. Every time their relationship had threatened to come falling apart last time had been because he was keeping things to himself, hoping to deal with it on his own. All that had done was push Pepper away.
"Okay," Tony said. "I'll tell you what happened. Just… not here."
-AC-
The mood in the car on the way home had been tense and awkward. Tony figuring out how much he was going to say but not being able to come up with a good answer - the only thing he had decided on was 'stay away from Aldrich Killian…also we should take over his company as he's experimenting on people and we need to stop it, but I forgot about that because I was too focused on Peter and Thanos'. Pepper nervous and wondering about what exactly Tony was going to reveal to her.
Once they had got to the safety of their penthouse apartment Tony had started to talk and hadn't stopped, deciding to tell Pepper everything that had happened that he could think of and just seeing where that left him.
"We were engaged?" Pepper interrupted his ramblings, sounding more hysterical than she had done during any of her earlier queries. And oh yeah, Tony had been planning to skip out that one. At least, for now.
"Yeah, we were," Tony said, realising that he couldn't exactly backtrack here.
"Oh my God," Pepper said. "The other things I could deal with but this? This?"
"Pep, honey, it's fine. It's years in the future and lots of stuff happened before that and I know that we're not ready for that now and-"
"No! You don't get it!" Pepper said, sounding distraught. "This is the future, it already happened. I feel like I don't have a choice in any of this, what do I do? Do I marry you because that's what I did…will do, even though that isn't me. I feel like my choices are being taken away by someone who is me, but not me. If I choose not to marry you will it be because I don't want to do what the future tells me to do? Would we have been happy together?"
"Pep, please, calm down, it's okay!" Tony said, unsure of what to do with the usually unflappable Pepper Potts standing in front of him completely freaking out.
"I feel like I've had all my choices taken away from me! I'm sorry, Tony, really I am! I just, I need to think! I need to go, and I need to think through this and get my head on straight! I'm sorry!" And with these words Tony watched Pepper basically fleeing the apartment, shaky and overwhelmed.
What had he done? Had he ruined everything he had with Pepper? No, it would be okay. Pepper had taken breaks from him in the future, and they had always come back together in the end. It would be fine, wouldn't it? Ugh, he needed not to think.
Tony strode over to the bar and opened up a scotch, who knew, maybe this time he drank himself into oblivion he wouldn't get nightmares.
-AC-
Stephen stood outside the door to Kamar-Taj, taking a deep breath before knocking. Who knew what Kaecilius would have told the Ancient One in the time he'd taken to get from New York to Kathmandu. He would have taken one of Stark's private jets to save time, but they were wary of Hydra getting wind of a connection between the two of them. For now, it was better to stay under the radar, especially as Tony was certain that Hydra would already be incredibly suspicious of Tony and wanting to find out as much information about him and his contacts as possible. According to Tony, his mere existence was proof that Project Insight hadn't worked.
He knocked on the door and waited.
To his delight it was Wong that opened it.
"Hi, I'm Dr Stephen Strange and I'm here to see the Ancient One." Stephen said, getting straight to the point.
"What business do you have with her?" Wong asked, frowning in suspicion.
"I'm here to see her for her help in stopping an intergalactic genocide."
Wong considered him. "Kaecilius warned us of you."
"Which is exactly why I wish to speak with him," the Ancient One's voice floated round the door. "Open the door and let him in, if he does mean harm he is no match for the whole Sanctum."
Wong opened the door with only a slight hesitation and allowed Stephen to pass.
"Thank you," he said to the Ancient One. It was strange to see her, alive, looking just as she did before she died. "I need to warn you about a lot of things, and it might be best if I do so in private."
The Ancient One tilted her head. "And why might that be?"
Stephen took a look around him, but it seemed that only Wong was present. Wong could be trusted, he hadn't abandoned the cause after learning about what the Ancient One had done, not like Mordo had. Still, it was best to be careful. "It concerns your longevity."
"I see," The Ancient one replied, calm despite the veiled accusation of knowledge. "In that case I agree with you." She cast a portal with her sling ring and led him into what Stephen knew were her private chambers. When the portal had closed behind him she turned to him and said seriously, "Now, tell me everything you know."
"I've come from the future. There, there is a mad Titan named Thanos, he seeks to eradicate half the universe, thinking that if half the people die then that will solve the issues of the lack of ressources."
The Ancient One shook her head. "That makes no sense at all."
"Hence the 'mad'," Stephen said drily. "I presume you know of the Infinity Stones, given that you house one in the library."
"I do," she replied. "But what do you know of them?"
"It's a long story which I'm going to need to fill you in on, but I've used the time stone several times in protection of this realm. Before I came back, I had the Eye of Aggamodo under my protection. Before Thanos stole it, that was."
"Under your protection; where was I?"
"Dead," Stephen replied bluntly.
"I assumed as much," the Ancient One said, not looking particularly disappointed. "You're going to need to tell me everything, how you came to be here, what happened with the time stone, how I died – it is not wise to meddle too much with time but I am assuming you want me alive if you are telling me all of this – what happened with Kaecilius, I know he is up to something, but what it is I am unsure. And especially what is happening with this Titan.
And so, sparing no details, Stephen told her.
-AC-
The next day found Tony swooping through the sky, mentally preparing himself for another team meeting from hell and hoping the flight would calm his racing thoughts and get rid of his hangover. It was by no means the worst headache he'd ever had, but if it would go away, thinking would definitely become easier. His brain felt sluggish, like if he tried to produce any weapons this morning they would be no better than the ones Hammer made, and Tony was not okay with that.
"Sir," Jarvis said and Tony winced at the volume. "There's been an accident on 43rd Street."
"Jarvis, unless it's aliens, I don't want to know," Tony grumbled. "I don't do accidents, we have ambulances and cops for that stuff."
"Sir, Mr P-"
"Jarvis mu-"
"-arker is at the scene and-"
"What did you say?"
"I said, Mr Parker, the boy that you say will become Spiderman, is at the scene and appears uninjured but quite distraught."
"Plot me a flight-path J, stat."
Two minutes later found Tony, frantic, landing at an intersection in between various ambulances and a playpark and scanning the area for a small, dark-haired child.
Before he had barely had the chance to register his surroundings he was surprised by a small object barrelling into him. It was only his quick mind that stopped him reflexively attacking a sobbing Peter Parker in self-defence.
He lifted up his mask. "Kid, what's happening? Are you okay? What's going on?"
"She's in an ambulance, she's not waking up!" Peter all but screamed. "It's my fault I wanted to go to the park and we were trying to cross the road but…but…" he finished, dissolving into tears.
"It's okay, it's going to be okay," Tony said, as reassuringly as he could, gently resting a gloved hand on the kid's head. "What's going on?" he asked a policewoman that was hovering nearby, looking unsure as to what she was meant to do in this situation.
"His aunt was hit by a drunk driver, she's in a stable condition, but she's not waking up. The medics are worried it might be a coma."
Tony nodded. "Any medical bills she needs, charge them to me. You do anything you can to make her better."
The woman nodded and left, walking in the direction of the ambulances.
"It'll be okay kid, you'll see," Tony said, hugging the kid back as best he could without crushing him. "Aunt May is going to get better. Everything will be fine."
I'm sorry! I swear she's going to be fine I just needed a way for Peter to live in the tower and bond with Tony for a bit! Please don't kill me!
Also, this fic is marked Pepperony, so please don't panic. I needed Pepper to freak out as otherwise it didn't seem realistic.
That being said, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!
Next up: Tony takes Peter to the tower and tries to figure out how best to help him.
Stephen discusses what to do about Kaecilius with the Ancient One.