A/N: This story takes place in the 2014 timeline...the one that Thanos abandoned when he time jumped in End Game. As a result, this timeline has no Thanos, no Infinity War, no End Game. Tony is alive and Peter is happy. This story takes place in 2023, a couple years after the end of 'To Meet A Need'. If you haven't read that story just know this is an AU.

I thought about doing a "what you need to know" if you haven't read the other story but there are a lot of twists and turns. If you want a summary without reading all 123 chapters PM me!

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Laughter could be heard from the common area of the compound. It had been a while since this team in particular had been together. Tony had all but retired to the lake house and only worked on pet projects that he found interesting. Clint had officially retired...again, but it seemed to be sticking this time. Rhodey kept saying he was retired but every time the military called he answered. Nat and Steve had both transitioned into more of a liaison role between SHIELD and the various superhero teams. Sam and Bucky were still active but tended to do more of the small team incursions. Scott and Hope led the west coast team. Wanda worked mainly with Professor Xavier and his teams. And, wherever Wanda went, Vision followed. Peter was the unifying figure since his team included members from a couple different teams. When he went on a mission it was almost always with his team. If it required a little more fire power they could pull from any of their options...which were extensive at this point.

"Why isn't Stephen here? He's the one that suggested this whole thing." Clint leaned over the counter and grabbed a piece of pizza, bow and quiver leaning unobtrusively against the counter.

Steve looked up from his tablet. "He's checking in with T'Challa. He wants to make sure they're prepared." For the life of him he had no idea what they were supposed to be prepared for. All Stephen could tell them was that the timeline that had caused the 'Bleed Through' event five years ago had another spike in activity today. He glanced over at Natasha and smiled. Whatever was coming, he was just glad she was here.

The thought was interrupted by the familiar squeal from Morgan as she was being chased into the common area by Nathaniel. Barton's youngest was a few years older than her but Morgan acted way older than her young age of almost five. It made Steve wonder what Tony was like as a child since Peter always seemed way older than he actually was as well.

Pepper strode calmly into the room, hair pulled back into a pony tail. Stephen was so sparse on details there had been a lot of discussion as to if it should just be the team at the compound. The memory of the last bleed through event was still very clear in their minds, despite the length of time since it happened. Tony and Peter in particular wanted their family close by so the rest of them followed suit. It ended up making for an enjoyable gathering.

Bucky and Sam walked in, both carrying weapons, albeit not their standard issue. Cassie, Cooper, and Lila followed them into the room carrying similar weapons.

"How was the battle?" Clint called from the kitchen.

"Team Falcon was victorious." Sam put his nerf gun down on the table next to Steve, ignoring the glare from Bucky. "Although Lila has amazing aim. I've got a couple bruises on my arm."

"That's my girl." Clint grinned at Laura who just shook her head and followed Pepper to make sure the two youngest weren't getting into too much trouble.

Sam looked around the room. "Are Peter and Tony planning to join us anytime soon?"

MJ looked up from her book, feet tucked under her. "They're still in ops."

Bucky frowned. "They haven't heard from Johnny and Wyatt yet?" He didn't wait for MJ's response, he headed down the hall towards the large room that had always served the purpose of their operational command center. He stopped at the entrance and studied the scene in front of him. Tony was standing behind Peter with his arms crossed looking over his shoulder at a screen. Peter had a headset on and a frown on his face. Bucky crossed the room to stand next to Tony and looked down at the screen they were both studying. He quickly read through the information on the screen.

Not looking up, Peter pointed at a dot on the screen. "They're still out of range." Reed had taken their team up in a prototype vehicle to check out some reading they were receiving past the moon. Tony and Reed had been working on the communications aspect but they still hadn't come up with anything that could get a signal at certain times. It frustrated Tony to no end. Reed was just happy they got the shielding working correctly.

Peter tore his eyes away from the screen and looked over at Bucky. "When they got up there the signal ended up being further out than we thought." He frowned and looked back at the screen. "They're on the other side of the moon which is why they're out of range."

All three of them heard the pounding of little feet before Morgan came into view. "Peter, come play with me!"

Tony leaned down and scooped Morgan up before she launched herself at Peter. "Maguna, you have got to give your brother a break."

Morgan frowned at her dad. "You and Peter have been in here forever."

Peter smiled at the heavy emphasis Morgan placed on the word forever. Before he could respond, Bucky leaned over and poked Morgan. "Come on Morgan, I'll show you some moves you can use on Nathaniel."

Peter and Tony watched Bucky and Morgan disappear through the door of the command center. Tony tapped Peter on the shoulder. "There's nothing you can do. FRIDAY will let us know when they're back in range."

Peter pulled the headphones off and looked at his dad. He knew he was right but he hated not knowing what was going on with two members of his team. He sighed and threw the headphones down on the desk and pushed himself up. "You know Bucky is probably teaching her some kind of assassin trick that she's going to end up using on one of us, right?"

"Yeah, we'll get Nat to debrief her. It'll be fine." Tony pushed Peter out of the command center. He knew how worried Peter was about Wyatt and Johnny but it was more than that. Peter had been on edge for the last 24 hours which meant Tony had been on edge for 24 hours.

Walking into the common area, Tony leaned against the bar next to Rhodey and watched Peter kiss MJ on the head and hop over the back of the couch to sit next to her. Satisfied Peter was distracted for now he turned his attention to Rhodey. "You've tested the interface and you feel comfortable using it?"

Rhodey stared at his friend. "Seriously? You think I didn't test drive the War Machine interface when Strange said he thought there was some kind of battle brewing? I mean Steve is back in his Captain America get up. I haven't seen that in ages."

"I just want to make sure the interface is working and you can trigger the armor." Tony paused and took a sip of water, "In case Strange is right and something does happens."

Rhodey smirked in response. "You mean the interface that took you and Peter five years to come up with? You know, I thought you could do better than that. Shuri figured it out years ago."

"Shuri has the benefit of vibranium...both in the suits as well as in T'Challa's physiology. Plus, you've said you're retiring at least twenty times over the last five years. Why would I design something you'll never use."

Rhodey laughed at how defensive Tony was getting. He was such an easy target. He and Peter both always reacted the same way which made it fun to give them a hard time. "I'm just messing with you. The interface is fine. Works great."

Tony glared at Rhodey. "Has anyone heard from Stephen yet."

Steve answered from his position next to Natasha. "No. And FRIDAY hasn't picked up any abnormal readings." They both looked over when they heard "Checkmate."

Tony sighed. "Tic Tac, how many times has she beaten you?"

Scott frowned at the chessboard. "Six." He glanced over at Hope who was smirking at him.

"You're not going to win. You never win." Hope sat back and crossed her arms, waiting for Scott to decide he was tired of getting beat at Chess.

Scott wrinkled his nose and started resetting the board. "I'm just pulling her into a false sense of security."

Tony shook his head and started to retort when he noticed Peter stand up and walk over to the large glass doors. He crossed the room to stand next to Peter. Glancing down at Peter's arms and saw the fine hairs standing up. "Pete, what is it?"

Peter eyes darted across the landscape on the other side of the window. It was an open field that led up to the landing pad. The Hudson River was just on the other side of a small hill. There was nothing, yet everything in him said there was something. "I don't know." He tapped the panel to open the door and stepped out onto the patio. Triggering the Iron Spider he started running towards the field as the first tear started opening.