STARK MANSION - AUGUST 1, 1991 - 8:35AM
Tony smiled to himself as he slowly woke up, feeling the warmth of Pepper beside him. Without thinking, he clutched her tighter and entwined their bare legs together in an attempt to get closer to her, burying his nose in her hair and taking a deep breath of her familiar apple-scented shampoo. It took him a few moments of being awake to finally realize that something was wrong - Pepper shouldn't be in his bed anymore. The memories returned as his sleep-addled brain began piecing itself back together. The blue glow of the Tesseract and the familiar taste of coconut. Working with his father in the workshop in the mansion. Seeing his father with Obadiah. Being comforted by Pepper while lying on his mother's favourite fountain. Then, that comfort taking a different turn and he and Pepper stumbling into one of the guest bedrooms, wrapped in each others arms. Him, crying softly as they made love and she repeated his name like a prayer. Not his finest moment.
Slowly and regretfully, he extricated himself from her arms and sat up, reaching for his boxers on the floor and beginning to get dressed. This wasn't him - he normally wasn't this emotional, this fragile. He had survived three months in a cave with a car battery shoved inside his chest, for Christ's sake! And here he was, falling apart in front of Pepper more than once yesterday over what? Seeing his old man? Thinking about his mother? It made him feel raw and exposed. He pulled on his shirt, then took a few deep breaths, feeling his heart hammering inside his chest and waiting for the panic to subside.
Where the hell was his armour when he needed it? What he wouldn't give to hear the familiar sound of his faceplate slamming shut, see the comforting lights of the HUD and feel the rush of soaring through the sky for a while. Here, in 1991, he had nowhere to hide or get away. He needed to get home, desperately.
Once he'd calmed himself down enough, he got up to leave quietly, not wanting to wake Pepper. He knew last night had been a mistake, and didn't really want to have to get into it with her. There was a reason they didn't work out, and he was a mess. Nothing had changed. However, he couldn't help but run his hand tenderly through her hair one last time before he left, and wish things could be different.
As he quietly shut the door behind him and headed down the hallway in the direction of the dining room, he could hear a murmur of voices in conversation. The other Avengers were already awake and having a heated discussion at one end of the long table. They appeared to have been served breakfast already. His father was nowhere to be seen, and the staff appeared to be keeping their distance from the group of strangers.
"You all look way too animated for this early in the morning. Especially when I haven't had my coffee yet." He whistled softly and snapped his fingers in the direction of the dining room entrance without even thinking about it, the gesture coming naturally to him even after years being waited on only by his robots and JARVIS. To the amusement of Bruce and Natasha and the displeasure of Steve, a nearby housekeeper immediately appeared at his side looking eager to please.
"Sweetheart," he said, condescending in a way only he could get away with, "can I get a triple espresso please, yesterday?" The woman just stared at him blankly. It took Tony a moment to remember what year it was and correct himself. "You know what, I changed my mind. Make it a coffee. Two milk, four sugars."
Steve made a face at the instructions, presumably disgusted by the amount of sugar. He hadn't even been up for ten minutes yet, and already he'd gotten two disappointed glares from the man. It wasn't anywhere near his record, but he'd take it. "Good morning to you too, Spangles. You got in late last night. Hot date?"
"Yes, actually," said Steve, enjoying the look of surprise on Tony's face at the response. "Not that it's any of your business."
"Right," said Tony. "I learned my lesson last time Cap, no worries. I don't want to know. Now, the three of you looked caught up in a pretty intense conversation when I came in. What's up? Anything I need to know?"
"We got some news from Fury an hour ago," Natasha said. "Howard woke Steve up with it. Apparently, they've lost contact with a team out in the Arctic. A team who were looking for the wreck of the Valkyrie."
"So what?" said Tony. "It's a coincidence. It's not like drilling in the Arctic ice isn't dangerous work. Anything could have happened to them. What does that have to do with us?"
It was Bruce who continued. "In one of the last messages from the team, they described seeing a blue light flashing in the skies that was unusual. That message was sent right around the time that we arrived here."
"The Tesseract?" Tony asked.
"Possibly," said Steve. "Nick has asked me to assist the SSR any way that I can. I was with the Red Skull when the Tesseract was activated and he vanished, and I have better information than anyone related to where that plane was when I crashed it and what they may have found. I'd like Natasha to accompany me, since she's not needed here. You and Bruce can continue to work with Howard."
"What's wrong Cap? Not able to handle Fury on your own?" asked Tony.
"No, actually," Steve replied. "After yesterday, I'd feel more comfortable with Natasha backing me up." He left it at that, and Tony knew better than to ask any more questions.
"Works for me," he said, and they all went silent for a moment as the housekeeper returned with Tony's coffee, as well as a full breakfast.
"Nice!" said Tony, digging in to eat. "You're good, I'm gonna tell your boss to give you a raise, Hazel," he complimented, reading her nametag. Hazel just blushed before leaving the room. "What?" asked Tony noticing the amused stares coming from the others.
"It's just nice to see that you're nicer to your help when it's human," Bruce said. Tony pictured Dummy in his dunce cap and admitted to himself that they were right. When he got back, he was gonna give his robots each a big hug.
STARK MANSION - AUGUST 1, 1991 - 8:50AM
Pepper supposed she should have known better than to expect Tony to be there when she woke up. But unfortunately she couldn't help but feel hurt that he had left without saying anything. She knew that last night had been a mistake. However, it was a mistake she refused to regret. She loved Tony, and he had been so vulnerable. He needed her, whether he wanted to admit it to himself or not. And she loved him, in spite of all of his issues. Why did things have to be so complicated?
She put her clothes on slowly, took a moment to pull herself together in the attached bathroom, and slipped quietly out into the hallway. Unfortunately, she hadn't been paying enough attention on the tour the night before and the mansion was enormous. She quickly took a wrong turn down a hallway and found herself hopelessly lost. Finally, she overheard a voice coming from a room nearby. As she approached it, she realized that it was Howard's study and he was speaking to the housekeeper who had served her and Natasha their dinner. She stilled near the door, not wanting to interrupt them if they were in the middle of something.
"Is that all the messages, Helen?" she heard Howard ask.
"No, sir," said Helen. "There was one more that came in this morning, at 6:30am. It was from the Eatonville Wellness Centre. It was Mrs. Stark, sir."
"Oh?" asked Howard. "And what did she want?"
"Thomas answered. She told him to tell you that she needs you to send someone with new books. She's read all of the ones she went in with, and she's apparently dreadfully bored."
"Well," said Howard. "would you pick out a new stack for her then, Helen. You know the sort of things she likes to read - check the third floor library. Have Thomas take them around to her later today, along with the clothes she sent to be laundered."
"Of course, sir," said Helen. There was a pause before Helen found the courage to continue. "Thomas said that she sounded better, sir. She didn't call you any names this time, or make any threats. She even asked about Anthony, although she seemed to have forgotten he wasn't living here anymore. He said she was in a very good mood when he spoke to her."
"Well, I'm glad to hear it. Thank you, Helen," Howard said tersely.
Pepper was just about to give up and go back to searching the mansion for the others alone - she felt terrible for having overheard something so obviously private - when Helen exited the study and nearly bumped into her.
"Oh," said Helen, "what are you doing here, ma'am?"
"I was just looking for my friends. Sorry, this place is just so big!"
Helen looked at her skeptically for a moment, before smiling and offering to assist her with finding everyone else.
When she reached the dining room, she found Tony just finishing up his breakfast while the other Avengers made plans.
"- arrange a car to pick us up. It should be here within an hour. Did the two of you make any progress with Howard yesterday?" she heard Steve ask as she entered the room. She caught Tony's eye but he quickly looked away, obviously ashamed.
"Some," said Bruce, "but we're still no closer to figuring out a way to get us home safely. Although we've collected some pretty amazing data on the Tesseract. It's remarkable - I'm hoping that we can make better progress today. Tony?"
Tony looked up from his food, which he had been staring at a bit too intently since Pepper had entered the room. Natasha noticed and filed that information away for later. "Huh? Oh yeah, Howard's theories are interesting, if completely and totally flawed in every way possible. But, don't worry. I'm here, so I can fix it. Hopefully we'll have a plan to get us home soon."
"Pepper," Natasha asked. "Did you sleep well last night?"
"Fine, thank you." Pepper wondered how much Natasha knew about what had happened after they had parted ways. The woman was very observant.
"Steve and I are being picked up and taken to the SSR headquarters soon. There's been an issue with one of their Arctic drill teams that they'd like our assistance with. It could relate to why we're here." Natasha explained.
"Oh?" asked Pepper. "So it'll be just me all alone in the mansion while the boys work, then? That could be interesting, I suppose." She tried to sound more enthusiastic about that idea than she was. The staff weren't exactly the friendliest group of people she'd ever met, and she'd only been in the mansion for one day and already felt lonely.
"Or you could come with us?" Natasha asked.
In that moment, Pepper looked over to Tony and saw how desperately he was trying to avoid looking at her or talking to her. He clearly wasn't able to handle the fact that they'd spent the night together. She remembered how upset he had sounded the night before when the topic of his mother came up, what he had said about being so much like her. She thought about Helen telling Howard that Maria hadn't called him any names when she called and felt a sadness in the pit of her stomach at the thought of it. And she made a decision. She needed to see this woman for herself. She needed to understand her and, through her, Tony.
"You know what, Natasha, I think I would like that. I'm obviously not really needed by anyone around here." Her stare burned a hole in the back of Tony's head that she swore, to her satisfaction, he could feel. Natasha would understand when Pepper told her. She wasn't going to the SSR with them. She needed answers.
ARCTIC CIRCLE - AUGUST 1, 1991 - 9:00AM
Karlsonn awoke slowly, feeling something slimy and disgusting make its way down his face. One of those creatures had drooled on him, or at least he hoped it was drool. It stared down at him from above, its eyes black without pupils, boring into him. As he stared from his prone position on the cot, another figure came into view. Karlsonn couldn't help but try to turn away and curl into the fetal position, but was prevented from doing so both by the manacles around his wrists and legs and by the hand that reached out to grip his chin painfully, keeping his eyes focused on the horrors above him. Karlsonn had no choice but to stare up into the maniacal face of the Red Skull in terror.
"Wh...wh...what do you want? Please..." Karlsonn muttered. He had been herded into the small base previously used by the rest of the team and thrown onto the cot, left there under the supervision of the creatures while their kin retrieved the wreckage from its icy grave. He could hear them, all night, howling and panting with their efforts. He could hear the creaking and moaning of the howling winds and the old metal being hauled up from below. He was going mad. He could feel it.
"What is your name?" asked the Red Skull. Karlsonn was too scared to answer. All speech or words had left him. When he didn't respond, he was backhanded across the face. "Your name!"
"K...Karlsonn, sir," he finally said.
"You will call me Master, Karlsonn. Because that is what I am. You belong to me now, and you will help me. Do you understand?" the Red Skull asked, too calm after such powerful anger. It was unnerving.
"Y...yes," said Karlsonn, "Master," he added. He didn't want to die. Not like this.
"You are a doctor?" asked the Red Skull.
"Yes, Master," said Karlsonn, answering automatically.
"What do you know of Steven Rogers, Karlsonn? What do you know of the Super Soldier Serum?"
"Everything," Karlsonn said, honestly. He knew that he should be rebelling, should be refusing to tell the Red Skull anything, but he was so scared. And he was willing to be a coward, if it meant getting away from the hideous creatures and being allowed to keep his sanity. "I studied the serum extensively. And Rogers - his physiology, what the serum did to him. That's why I was sent here. To be on hand in case we found him and was alive and needed medical attention. Or in case an autopsy needed to be performed."
"GET UP!" the Red Skull screamed at him, and the creature - two creatures - were suddenly pulling him to his feet, unholy moans coming from them as they moved, shuffling him forward and out the door of the small structure.
Once out in the snow, Karlsonn saw that the Valkyrie had been removed from the ice in its entirety. Pieces of it had been blown off, and things from its interior had been removed. Karlsonn could see, laying out in the open with the strange blue flashes from the night sky glaring off of it unnaturally, a large block of ice, frozen solid. Inside, obscured, Karlsonn could just make out the familiar red, white and blue of Captain America's infamous shield.
"Well, it would appear that you are just the man I need then, Doctor," said the Red Skull. "Don't worry though - we won't be performing an autopsy. I have other plans."