"I will help you defeat Thanos," Wong declared after a moment of silence that seemed to last eons.
Tony's shoulders rose and fell as he sighed, and Pepper squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. Bruce had cautioned them that Wong might not be willing to abandon his post guarding the Sanctum, which seemed to refer to the odd old house where he'd brought them upon leaving the hospital.
Wong continued, "I must arrange for someone to take my place before I leave. Where should I meet you?"
They hadn't talked about that. Pepper exchanged a glance with Rhodey and was about to answer when Tony beat her to it. "Ultimately we'll all end up in Wakanda, so you might as well head there."
"Shouldn't some of us go with him?" Bruce asked.
"That depends on when he goes. It's better not to assume he's willing to continue opening shortcuts for us willy-nilly," Pepper said. "Especially since we still need him to get us back to the compound."
Wong bowed a little in her direction. "I will call you when I am free and the details will arrange themselves. Are you ready to depart?"
Pepper looked down at Tony from her perch on the arm of the couch where he'd collapsed as soon as they were through the first portal. What little color he'd regained from the blood transfusion and a day of rest at the hospital had disappeared as she and Bruce helped him limp from the front door of the hospital to the alley where Wong's doorway awaited them. She could tell he was in significant pain despite whatever medication he'd received right before being discharged. Even so, he was shifting in his seat in preparation to stand and she nodded to Wong as she gave Tony a hand up. "Thank you, we'll go now. And thank you again for the handkerchief."
"My pleasure, Ms. Potts," he said, already summoning the yellow-orange sparks of magic.
This doorway led to the first floor of the compound, just inside the front entry. Pepper hustled Tony through, grateful that they weren't far from the elevators. No one was there to receive them, but she hadn't expected anyone. She hadn't known when to tell May to expect them, so she'd merely said they'd return before midnight. When the magic doorway blinked out of existence, they were left in the dim half-light of dusk.
Pepper heaved an abbreviated sigh. So far, so good. Now she just had to get Tony into the shower and then into bed at least until she could go down-
"I'm going down to the lab," Tony announced, trying to head for the elevator even though she was still holding on to his arm and wasn't moving.
"You need a shower and you need to rest, preferably in your own bed," Pepper objected.
"I can shower after I restock," he said, tapping his chest piece. "You know I don't like leaving myself unprotected."
He was throwing her words back at her, but she'd done it enough times to him that she couldn't be mad. "You don't trust that I'd protect you?"
"I do. But you shouldn't have to. And the longer you delay me the longer I'm standing here instead of resting."
She scowled at him and he had the audacity to wink. He'd outmaneuvered her again. "Fine," she said shortly.
"We'll just find May and tell her we're back," Bruce ventured.
"Do you need another hand?" Rhodey asked with a pointed look at Tony.
"No, you need to sleep some if you're going to fly the jet back to Wakanda," Pepper said. "Midnight, as we discussed?"
"See you then," Rhodey said with a nod.
"I can rest on the jet, you know," Tony said as they stepped into the elevator and Friday whisked them downward.
"Yes, but you'll have to do it without me beside you. Those bunks are barely big enough for one person."
"Am I supposed to take that as a challenge?" He waggled his eyebrows and smirked and for a moment she could ignore the fatigue in his face and the exhaustion in her bones.
The hallway to the lab was silent and Pepper glanced over at Tony, who was leaning more heavily on her arm. Almost as if he felt her gaze, he squared his jaw and stood up a little straighter. He pulled away from her entirely to enter the code for the door and hold it open, gesturing her inside with a sweep of his arm before following her inside.
"What the-" Tony started, and the sound of eager voices stopped as suddenly as if the oxygen had been sucked from the room.
Harley was at one station, having been arguing across the room with Ned, who was comfortably ensconced behind an array of screens. Nebula was perched on a workbench in the corner, her leg bent up so she could work in an open access port on her shin. Rocket was in a different corner, surrounded by an array of dissembled and half-assembled clusters of machinery, muttering to himself and occasionally throwing things over his shoulder in disgust. He was the sole occupant of the room either unaware of or unconcerned by Tony and Pepper's arrival, and the crash of him discarding a piece of one of Tony's old armors broke the tense silence.
"Who gave you permission to be in here?" Tony demanded, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the room in general.
"I did," Pepper said, striding forward with a confidence she didn't completely feel. "Nebula needed to do repairs, and I gave the boys a few projects to help us out."
Harley looked back and forth between her and Tony, as if uncertain who he should be answering to. Ned just looked happy that he wasn't currently the target of Tony's ire.
"I gave you control of my company and now you're taking over my lab. Good thing we'll have a prenup before the wedding." His words were biting but his heart wasn't in it.
"Not that it matters, since I'll inherit everything when you die," Pepper retorted. "I'm not taking over your lab. We borrowed it. And I couldn't have let anyone in here if you hadn't put Friday under my control without my knowledge when you left."
Tony glanced at her, sorrow in his eyes. "She needs someone in charge or her programming grinds to a halt," he said softly. "And I'm beginning to think you're better at getting her to do things than I am." He cleared his throat loudly. "We can continue this later, Ms. Potts, when we're not in front of the children."
"Hiya, Mister Stark." Harley picked up an oblong dish with a spout at one end and hesitantly approached, holding it out. "Here's your replacements."
Tony's eyes flicked down at the dish and then up at Harley's face. "Good lord, what has your mother been feeding you? You've grown at least a foot since I saw you last." He reached up with both hands and detached his chest piece, then accepted the dish. "Thanks, kid."
Harley beamed even as he retreated a step, watching with fascination as Tony tipped the nanoparticles toward an opening in the back of the unit.
Pepper was equally fascinated. The pool of particles looked liquid and reminded her of glitter nail polish. "You should have shown me how to take that off. The surgeons would've appreciated having it out of the way."
"As long as some of the nanoparticles are deployed, removing it really isn't a good idea," Tony said almost without thinking, focused on his task.
Pepper had a sudden vision of Thanos ripping the unit off his chest during the fight and her stomach clenched. She clasped her hands behind her back to hide any orange glow. "Right. So, Harley, what about the other part?"
"Here, Miss Potts," Ned said, rolling to one end of his table to lift a bracelet-shaped object from a cushioned box. "Friday helped us modify the plans. You can use this separate from your actual suit and press a charm to tell it what to do, or it will meld with your suit to provide reinforcement."
The bracelet looked like a gold coil with shaped red beads alternating with gold round ones, long enough that it wrapped around her wrist three times. She pressed the glove-shaped bead, and the bracelet melted into a gauntlet encasing her hand, the shapes becoming symbols etched into the armor. After studying them a moment, she pressed the coil and the gauntlet returned to its bracelet form.
By this point, Tony had reattached his chest piece and was watching with an eyebrow raised. "You designed this?" he asked Ned skeptically, pointing at her wrist.
"I programmed it. Harley and Friday figured out the design," Ned said quickly.
"Who are you again? You're Peter's friend."
"Ned Leeds, sir. Peter Parker's guy in the chair." He sat up straighter and gave a mock salute.
"Right, you're the one who busted through the Training Wheels Protocol on his suit." Tony gave him a sidelong look. "I should be annoyed, and maybe I will be later, but right now I'm just impressed."
"Were you able to figure anything out in that data I sent?" Pepper interrupted. Tony had perched on the edge of a table, which was better than being on his feet, but she still wanted to get him out of there as quickly as possible.
"Okay, so, that was a ton of data, but we think we pulled out a few interesting things," Ned said, launching eagerly into what they'd been doing with the combined data from the three suits that had fought Thanos.
Pepper had suspected there might be something to learn from the encounters with the titan and whatever Infinity Stones he'd used, and from the sound of it, she'd been right. In particular she was interested in the segments where the suits had encountered streams of energy they couldn't quantify-those would be the stones, she'd stake her engagement ring on it.
"Hey!" Tony called across the room in the midst of the explanation. "Put that down! What the hell do you think you're doing with that armor?"
"Trying to make something useful out of it," Rocket retorted, still clutching the gauntlet he'd just ripped off one of Tony's display armors. It was from the reproduction of the Mark VI, Pepper thought, but she was far from an expert on all of the various models.
"Excuse me? I went up against Thor in that armor and held my own, I'd consider that plenty useful."
"Eh, it's cute," Rocket said dismissively, tossing the gauntlet over his shoulder. "They aren't bad . . . for a humie. Now that nanotech stuff, that's more like it. Did she help you come up with that?"
It took Pepper longer than it should have to realize he was referring to her rather than Friday. Tony looked like he wasn't sure whether to deploy his suit and take on the insubordinate creature, or just dismiss it as a talking raccoon.
"No, I don't work on the armor," she said quickly, hoping to defuse the situation. "You're Rocket, yes?"
"Yeah, I'm Rocket. What's it to ya, Iron Lady?"
The nickname felt wrong, but she didn't comment. "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to do what I'm best at: making weapons. But the stuff you got here ain't helping much."
"I've not been in the weapons business for years," Tony said wearily. "Have you broken into the armory yet? Something there might suit your fancy."
"Armory? Why didn't anyone tell me you had an armory?" Rocket demanded, throwing his hands-paws?-into the air and stalking toward the door. "Point me in the right direction and I'll make sure we're stocked with anything that might help against Thanos." Just before the door, he turned back and looked at Tony hopefully. "You got any of those big machine guns? I'd love like a dozen of those bad boys."
"I'm sure we have machine guns," Pepper said. "Boys, would you take Rocket to the armory and help him pick out what he wants?"
"Wait, you're actually giving me permission to take whatever I want?" Rocket sounded dumbfounded.
Tony looked equally skeptical. She met Tony's gaze as she answered, "We're going to need all the help we can get, both in people and in weapons. If you're going to help fight Thanos, that makes us allies. And since we're short on people, we'd better be well-armed."
"Awesome!" Rocket dashed out of the room, with Harley and Ned following, looking uncertain about the expedition.
"I will make sure the fox does not relieve you of all you own," Nebula said, tossing a screwdriver back into the toolbox with a crash as she hopped off the table where she'd been silently observing.
"Thank you, Nebula. We'll be leaving for Wakanda in a few hours. Bruce will ride with you and Rocket whenever you decide to join us."
Nebula nodded her acknowledgement and followed Rocket's chattering down the hall.
When the doors closed behind the ragtag group, Tony sighed deeply, resting heavily on his hands. "Was a talking raccoon really just insulting my armor?"
"He was more positive about the current version," Pepper said diplomatically. "Come on, you still need a shower."
"Don't think I didn't notice that you cleared them all out of here before you made me move." He stifled a groan as he got back to his feet, then paused to rest his head on her shoulder a moment. "Thanks for that."
His arms snaked around her waist so she returned the embrace. "How are you doing?"
"I'm not in fighting shape yet," he said evasively, pulling away gently.
"You up for a shower?" She wasn't sure he'd stay on his feet long enough.
"If we make it a quickie."
In the end, a shower wasn't meant to be, despite the reassurances of both Susannah and Shelley before they left the hospital that showering was safe.
Pepper thought it might work right up until Tony took off his shirt and she saw the extent of the bandages wrapped around half his torso. "I didn't think to bring anything to redo that afterward," she confessed as they both stared.
"And I don't fancy ripping it all off right now." Tony scratched his head. "If we can do something about my hair, I'd be happy with that."
Hair. She could do that. Right? That she'd overlooked something as essential as more bandages sent her into a spiral of anxiety about what else she'd forgotten in all her plotting and planning.
"Pep? Hey, you still with me?"
His voice was gentle and kind and way too indulgent considering she was standing there frozen while he sat shirtless on the closed toilet lid. His hands were on hers and he kissed her fingers until she took a shaky breath. "Sorry," she said, still feeling breathless. "Hair. Yes. We can do your hair."
He hushed her and tugged on her hands until she knelt in front of him. "Give it a minute, honey. Panic attacks never go away as quickly as they start."
"Panic attacks?" she repeated numbly. "I don't get panic attacks."
"Whatever that was looked near enough to me. You okay?"
Pepper shrugged, studying his hands around hers and noticing the slight tremor. "Are you?"
"We both know I will never be okay. I was hoping you wouldn't join me in that, but we'll make do. We always have." He sounded wistful, almost melancholy.
She rose up on her knees and kissed him softly. "Let's take care of your hair before you fall asleep on the toilet."
He huffed a laugh and this time he released her hands when she tugged them away.
.
Pepper hesitated in the doorway, reluctant to leave Tony sleeping alone. She'd already delayed as long as she could by taking a quick shower to wash everything but her hair and packing some clothes for them both. She needed to go do other things but she felt drawn to the open space beside him on the bed.
"Friday," she started.
"Yes, Ms. Potts," the AI responded as a latticework of armor spread across Tony's chest. "I will notify you if boss shows any sign of waking."
Pepper sighed. "Thank you."
She went looking for May but the boys found her first. "Good evening, Miss Potts," Ned said, feigning nonchalance as he fell into step beside her.
Harley took up position on her other side, and she stopped in the middle of the hallway. "What is this about?"
They exchanged a glance, and Ned nodded and gestured for Harley to go ahead. What made him the designated spokesman when he was the younger of the two, Pepper didn't know, but he was obviously uncomfortable in the role, his fingers playing with the zipper on his hoodie.
"Nebula and Rocket said you'd all be leaving for Wakanda soon. We want to come, too."
Her first impulse was to say no without hesitation, but she looked at their hopeful faces and remembered Peter. "What do you think we're going to go do?"
"You'll figure out a way to fix this," Ned said eagerly. "We can help. We didn't finish working on that data, there's definitely more there to process. And- and there's nothing we can do out there, so you've got to let us do something or what's the point of bringing us here?"
"Please, you've got to let us help," Harley said beseechingly, picking up where Ned left off. "There has to be something we can do. I can't just, just not do anything when-" he frowned and stopped, looking down at his feet for a moment before facing her again.
Pepper could guess what he'd been about to say; he'd already told her he watched his sister vanish.
She sighed heavily. She had said repeatedly that they needed all the help they could get; why was the age of these volunteers making her hesitate? They'd lost more in the last two days than she had, so who was she to stand in their way? "Let me talk to May," she said finally.
"She doesn't need us here," Harley said confidently. "We'd only be a nuisance."
"You mean you'd make yourself a nuisance?" Pepper arched an eyebrow and gave him a skeptical look. She resumed walking before he could answer. "Go back to the lab so I know where to find you when I'm done."
May was in a large pantry-type room off the cafeteria, conferring with another weary-looking woman. Pepper lingered near the door until May noticed her and waved her in. "Come on in, we're just double-checking that the stock records are correct. Let me guess, you're leaving again soon."
"Yes. And I need your opinion on something."
May addressed the other woman. "Thanks, Julie. I'll see you in the morning."
Pepper exchanged nods with Julie as she left the room.
May tucked the tablet she'd been holding under her arm so she could pull off her glasses and rub her face tiredly. "How's he doing?"
"That's why we're leaving." Pepper briefly explained the invitation to Wakanda and who they'd already recruited for the revenge mission against Thanos.
"And you need my opinion?" May said doubtfully after listening in silence. "Before you answer that, do you want coffee or anything? I think I left some on." She led the way into the kitchen area of the cafeteria and poured two cups from the pot before switching the warmer off.
Pepper leaned back against the nearest counter and blew across the top of her mug. "Ned and Harley want to come with us. I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"Why? Because they'd be stuck alone in a foreign country when you lot inevitably head off across the universe?"
"Because they'd want to come with us when we do."
May pursed her lips, then took a long drink of her coffee. "What does Tony think?" she asked sourly.
"I haven't asked, but I know he'll say no." He wouldn't want the loss of another kid on his conscience. Better to push them away now than chance losing them later.
"So he let Peter go gallivanting off the universe, but it's too dangerous for anyone else?" May demanded, her fingers clenching around the mug tightly enough that any other type of cup would have shattered.
"He tried to send Peter home," Pepper replied sharply.
May scoffed. "As if I'd believe that after he dragged Peter to freaking Germany on a whim."
"Friday, access the recording of Tony and Peter and play it from the beginning." She just hoped that hearing Peter's voice wouldn't be too much for May. It had been a hard couple of days.
May's gaze grew distant when Peter first spoke, and they listened together in silence. When there was nothing but background noise after Tony's "Friday, send him home," May looked at Pepper with confusion. "What happened? How did he end up in space, then?"
Pepper sighed and bowed her head, staring at the coffee she wasn't going to finish. "Friday, skip ahead to Tony and Peter on the ship."
Tears welled in May's eyes as Peter explained why he'd stayed with the ship. Pepper set her mug down and clasped May's shoulder gently. "I'm sorry, May," she said when the playback stopped.
"You foolish, brave boy," May murmured, then threw back the rest of her coffee as if it was something stronger. "Can I have those recordings?"
"Of course. Friday?"
"Copies have been sent to Mrs. Parker, Ms. Potts."
"Let them go as far as Wakanda," May said, turning away to set her cup into the sink. "Maybe they can think of something that will help, like P-Peter did." She rested her palms on the counter and hung her head for a moment, then straightened, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. "Teenage boys are nearly impossible to boss around anyway, so it's better if they're your problem rather than mine."
A/N: I'm traveling next weekend, so the next chapter will be in two weeks (ish).