He gasped. There was a figure above him.

"Stephen?"

"Tones! Are you alright? What happened?"

"Ob...Obbie, he...he took my heart," Tony panted, chest tight and heavy with the old reactor in place. His mind was hazy as he got to his feet and the next few hours blurred together in a rush of adrenaline, worry, and agony. It took weeks for him to fully remember what had happened after he woke in a private hospital wing, bandaged and with the new reactor back in place.

A few days later, his life changed yet again. Tony stood before the press and proclaimed who he was to the world, praying that Stephen had heard him.

"The truth is...I am Iron Man."

In the weeks that followed Tony worked diligently to improve the armor and his company. He reorganized the company, ensuring that his employees weren't thrown to the wayside in the change. Trainings were set up for all that wished to change to one of the new divisions or leave for an entirely new job. Tony wasn't about to ruin the lives of so many after working so hard to improve the world for all. He found himself looking out at the stars time and time again, hoping that Stephen would be proud of who he had become. He no longer hoped that the memories would return, only that Stephen would.

It was several months following the press conference when Jarvis woke him in the middle of the night.

"SIR! Facial recognition places Doctor Strange in downtown New York approximately 15 minutes ago." Tony slammed his knee into the nightstand, tangling himself in the sheets as he sprang out of bed.

"Show me the footage, now!" A grainy video projected on the glass, showing a dark city, a whirl of wind swarming down the middle of the street, and there! Just briefly, Stephen's face in the corner, looking at something out of view and then back out of the frame, it paused. "Jarvis...can we clear up the video any?"

"Negative, sir." Tony could swear Stephen had streaks of white in his hair, but no this was the Stephen of the present. "Where is that, exactly? Is there any more?"

By the time the sun had risen, Tony felt like tearing out his hair. Stephen had been at the hospital, he had spoken to Christine for Christ's sake, and then fucking disappeared all over again. Christine didn't remember seeing him leave the hospital, instead concerned by all the coma patients suddenly waking. Combing through all video feed of the area had only shown freak tornadoes and some sort of explosion in the middle of the road.

Tony relocated to New York hoping that Stephen would show up again and he would be there, but the months went by without any further trace of Stephen. Pepper had brought in more help at one point; a gentleman named Phil he never met in person. Pepper had apparently run into the guy during his earlier press conferences. Aside from the lack of Stephen sightings, Tony's life continued on. SI had branched out further, providing new grants, scholarships, and funds to aid those in need. Today he and Pepper were actually beginning the test run for the use of arc reactors for clean energy, which led to him doing a bit of underwater maintenance on the power-lines to the Tower.

"Pepper, how does it look?"

"Levels are holding steady... I think."

"Of course they are, I was directly involved," Tony smirked as he flew back.

"Haha, very funny Mr. Stark." Pepper handed him a glass of celebratory champagne once he had gotten out of the suit-he loved his new disassembly pad-and took a sip. "It looks great, Tony. I am sure he would be proud." Tony didn't reply; he couldn't in the wake of Jarvis's interruption that had him jumping up from his seat.

"Sir, Mr. Coulson is attempting to reach you."

"Did he find Stephen?!"

"He is refusing to state, sir."

"Get him up here." The elevator opened almost immediately at his words and showing him yet again just how well Jarvis knew him.

"Mr. Stark, I need to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative."

"Phil, unless you have something for me about Stephen, I don't care about anything else you could possibly have to offer me. I.." Pepper's hand on his arm had him pausing.

"Tony, you need to listen about this. You keep telling me you have changed. That you want to protect the world the way Stephen had known you could." She gestured to Phil with her free hand, the other now pressed to his lower back. "This is how."

"Pep...you..."

"I need to get back to California. I'll leave you and Phil to get this figured out." Tony stared at the elevator closing behind her and turned to Phil.

"What the hell is the Avengers Initiative?"