"Boss, Flag Man is trying to reach you," said FRIDAY.

"Mute all attempts unless life threatening."

"Affirmative," she replied with gusto.

"Do I have an affected area?" asked Rhodey with a smile.

"Yeah, it's called the US Government."

Rhodey's smile fell. "Damn - well at least they don't have me dressed as another flag man now." They shared a laugh.

"You know I still need to get you an updated suit. May paint 'War Machine Roxxx" with three 'x's for giggles," said Tony shooting exaggerated kissy-faces at Rhodey.

"Don't you dare," threatened Rhodes playfully. "Welp, time to appease the masses."

Tony shrugged. "Pretty much." Rhodey went up to Tony and hugged him tightly. He turned to Pepper and pulled her into a one-armed hug as well.

"Don't know much about you except that you saved Tony's life. Thanks for returning this thorn in my side," said Rhodey as he stuck out his hand for Stephen to shake. "James Rhodes."

Stephen took his hand. "Dr. Stephen Strange, and this is Wong," replied Stephen gesturing to the other sorcerer. Rhodey nodded to the other man.

"Wong? Just 'Wong'? Like 'Beyonce'?" questioned Rhodey. Wong preened.

"Exactly like Beyonce," replied the shorter sorcerer.

Stephen looked at him aghast, as if he had never seen Wong make a joke before. Rhodey and Tony laughed.

"Alright, I best be off then," said Rhodey with a two-fingered salute as he walked toward the door. "See you, Pepper."

"Goodbye, James."

"Okay Pep, you have the hardest job of all," Tony said as he came over. Pepper looked bemused. "You have to make sure SI is alright. Employees, stocks, property, inventory - the works."

Pepper's face looked serious. "I've already been on it. I'll be stealing Happy - can't be too careful." Tony's face looked relieved. He walked closer to her and hugged her tightly. He whispered something in her ear that had tears forming in her eyes as she held him back just as tightly.

"Stay safe and call me or contact FRI if you need anything at all," said Tony as he backed out of her space. She cleared her face of any previous emotion. "You got an armor ready for me too?" she asked lightly.

Normally Tony would have a better poker face than what he was sporting right now, but the answer was clear as day on his face.

"Oh no, no no no," said Pepper, backing away slowly.

"You handled it pretty well back in Malibu, I call this one 'Rescue'," Tony amended quickly. "But, I also got your kind of armor too." At this Pepper looked intrigued.

"FRI," Tony prompted. A panel slid open on one of the walls. Encased was a sharp pant business suit complete with accessories. "Think we can meet halfway and you could wear this?" asked Tony as they both approached the wall. The suit was made from bulletproof material and the watch would be a one time use Iron Man gauntlet. The rest of the outfit had other special features and a new bluetooth device was there as well, with direct access to FRIDAY and JOCASTA.

"Oh, Tony," Pepper sighed as she took in the personalized armor in front of her. "Yes, I'll wear it."

Tony's grin was infectious as he took the thing down and passed it to Pepper. "FRI, contact Hap and have him meet Pep back here. He should be back from taking the Spider kid home."

"I can bring him if you like," cut in Stephen who had used this time to argue quietly with Wong regarding the whole pop culture thing. Tony quirked an eyebrow.

"Sure. FRIDAY, contact Happy," said Tony. They could all hear the phone ring.

"I will never do that again," complained Happy as soon as the line connected.

"What? Take the Spiderling home?"

"No, have him take ME home," Happy grumped. "Do you know how much traffic there is? How much wreckage? Couldn't even make it a few blocks without having to pull over. That menace then grabbed me and we swung on his web all the way to his aunts," Happy continued to complain. "My heart is not cut out for that."

Everyone in the room had a bemused look on their faces. "Alright fair enough. Where are you now?"

"Trying to figure out a way to get back without losing my lunch."

Tony sniggered. "Alright, but where?"

"A block south of the kids place."

Tony nodded to himself and walked over to Stephen and lifted his hand. "May I?" Both Wong and Pepper had surprised looks on their faces but for different reasons.

Stephen voiced his consent and Tony transferred the image of the street to him. Stephen immediately opened a portal. Pepper let out a gasp and Wong sighed as they all saw Happy's back.

Tony waived at FRIDAY to cut the call. "Turn around, Hap." The other man quickly turned and was immediately in a boxing was glad to see his skills had not gotten rusty.

"No way," said the other man, part disbelieving, part disconcerted.

"I promise it doesn't hurt - not even a tingle," joked Tony as he leaned over and stretched out his arm through the portal. Happy looked at it, steeled himself, and walked straight through, ignoring Tony's helping hand.

"Never a dull moment," he commented as he made it into the workshop.

"Hello Happy, think you can accompany me to work on some SI business?" asked Pepper. Happy nodded.

"Of course."

"Doctor Strange, would you be able to take me to my office at SI?" asked Pepper calmly.

"Certainly," replied the sorcerer. He nodded to Tony and Tony once again transferred an image of Pepper's office into his mind.

"He's better than a taxi, right?" jokingly said Tony as Pepper and Happy stepped through the portal.

"Take care of yourself, Tony," said Pepper as the portal almost finished closing.

Tony took out the engagement ring from his pocket, tossed it in the air and then pocketed all in one smooth motion. His face had a look a resignation on it but it was quickly hidden away.

"Alright, now that that is taken care of it seems we have a few other things to look forward to."

"Namely that gauntlet," cut in Wong.

"What happened, Tony?" asked Stephen. They all pulled over a chair and Tony retold the story.

Tony reiterated to Stephen and Wong all they had missed during the final confrontation with Thanos. After the fight on Titan Tony and Nebula were the only ones left. They took Quill's ship, The Milano, and flew straight back to Earth after Nebula contacted Rocket for his location. They ended up in Wakanda in the middle of another battlefield. Dozens of Wakandans littered the ground along with the dead alien army. Nebula joined the fight and Tony finally got in touch with FRIDAY and Pepper. One was more happy to hear from him than another. Even now Tony cringed at Pepper's outrage. Tony tasked FRIDAY to send him a new batch of nanites and he tried to coordinate with the Rogues regarding the situation. It was a clusterfuck. They were all spread too thin and no one had eyes on Thanos. No one knew how he looked aside from Thor and Tony.

Thanos stood there admiring the destruction around him. Tony could see Vision's broken body sagged against a tree, his eyes dead. The last remnant of JARVIS dead. No matter how much it pained him to see another person under his care perished he had to hold on to his anger and sadness and think clearly.

He contacted Thor and the remaining fighters instead and essentially sent a beacon of his location. Thor arrived almost immediately, lightning running up and down his arms, his eyes glowing with unnatural power.

Rogers, Romanoff, Bruce, a few Wakandans, Nebula, Rhodey and a Raccoon were all the back-up he got.

They fought. If Thanos with a few stones was a powerhouse, one with all 6 was likened to an actual God. Tony was surprised they had all managed to survive by the end of it.

They fought with tactics - fought with primal rage - fought to their last breath.

Tony had gotten his hand on the Soul Stone though he really couldn't recall how it happened. There was so much noise, and pain and blood and he couldn't focus. He used the Soul Stone by instinct alone.

The battlefield suddenly got a whole lot fuller.

People that had been snapped away into dust came back into being. Many were in awe at seeing their comrades again.

Wilson, Barnes, a tree, T'Challa, & Maximoff

They took a moment to assess what had happened and immediately joined the fray. Wilson took to the air along with War Machine. Maximoff raged at the loss of Vision. The Racoon immediately hugged the tree and they rejoined the fight now that Thanos' forces had located them, T'Challa briefly reunited with his people before he too started to fight back in earnest, and Barnes sacrificed himself for Tony as Thanos shot a beam of pure power from the Power stone.

In a weird twist of fate Tony got his hands on the gauntlet again. He clawed his way back to Thanos. Thanos had let him get in close - desperate to get the Soul Stone back, but the Titan was also busy trying to fight back the never-ending onslaught from Tony's side. They had managed to stop the Titan from snapping his fingers again and during that scuffle Tony literally stole the rest of the Stones from the gauntlet and made slots for them on his own Iron Man gauntlet using the nanites.

All in all it was weirdly simple.

The power had raged through him so much that Thanos was able to get a good hit on him and threw him into a tree. Without much thought Tony made eye contact with Thanos and quickly snapped his fingers, hoping with everything he had that he had done the right thing, used the Stones like Thanos had.

There was no time to experiment - it was now or never.

Just like that Thanos' forces were extinguished from reality. Thor managed to get his ax into Thanos' chest, making the Titan fall to his knees.

"This is for Gamora, and for me," said Nebula before she used her full strength and literally cut off the Titan's head before he could say anything else.

It was over.

TBC