Hello! I wanted to thank everyone for transferring over from ELU to SLB! Updates will be slow as I'm balancing recording videos, applying for online/remote jobs, and raising for terrors disguised as kittens! They'll make an appearance in this version of the fic ;)

She woke up in Malibu, a place she hadn't been to since the Mandarin destroyed it.

At first, she wasn't sure what was wrong, just that staring up at the white ceiling caused panic to build up in her so much, she struggled to breathe. Distantly, she could hear FRIDAY talking to her, but something was wrong, her voice was deeper, and had an English accent rather than an Irish-

Pepper came into view, and she found herself grasping at the redhead's arms. "Pete," she wheezed out. "Where's Peter?"

"Peter?" Pepper murmured. "JARVIS, did Toni bring anyone home last night?" Her heart stopped at the name, and so did her lungs when the achingly familiar voice replied.

"No, Miss Potts. It would appear Missus Stark had a night terror. Shall I-"

"JARVIS," she whispered, looking up and- she had long hair. How long had it been since she had long hair? Not since Ultron almost scalped her at the party- Ultron. "What is today's date?"

"March 21st, 2009, Missus Stark," her AI answered, and her world spun.

"No, not possible… it was 2018! November 8th!" Toni could feel something, pressing up against her head, as if it were a balloon refusing to pop.

Pepper looked over her shoulder. "Call UCLA," she told someone before turning back to Toni. "Let's get you dressed."

"I'm not crazy, I remember! I got shot by my own damn weapon." she all but tore off the oversized shirt she had stolen from Rhodey, staring at the perfectly smooth skin between her breasts where the arc reactor had been… will be… "Holy shit," she murmured. "Thor got it right."

Thor Odinson had seen many things. He had witnessed his father marrying the woman who he chose to be his mother, and he had witnessed both of their passings. He had seen his father bringing forth a young babe, who grew to be his brother, and he saw the said brother die in front of him.

He saw the rise and fall of Asgard and staring up at the golden ceiling above him, his hair felt too long, and both of his eyes worked.

Slowly, he sat up as the memories of a life he was determined to never live again washed over him. Antonia, Toni, she was on Midgard, and she had no magic to protect her-

He threw his legs over the bed and instantly fell over as he tried to stand up and immediately fell to the ground. He struggled to push himself up as the guards stationed outside of his door entered, going to his side.

"Get Queen Frigga,"

"I'm not crazy," Toni said, scowling as Rhodey, Happy and Pepper shared a look.

"Let's just wait until Obadiah gets here, ok?" Rhodey said, and she froze.

"No!" she shouted, making them jolt. "No, keep him away! He helped kill my parents! He coerced me into giving up Peter when I was pregnant with him! He's stealing from Stark Industries and he'll try to kill me! Keep that fucker away from me!"

You could hear the proverbial penny drop when it clicked for the three. "You were pregnant?" Pepper whispered.

"Back… Back in 2001," she mumbled. "Stane found out early on and made me not tell you guys, saying that you would all agree I'd be a shit mother and fuck him up like Pops messed me up."

"Toni…" Rhodey looked gutted, even more so than the first time she told them, but that had been after Stane's betrayal, so…

"We'd never," Pepper promised, and the glass door slid open, revealing the traitor himself. Happy, bless him, was immediately standing, but she just motioned for him to sit back down, anxiety pounding at her heart as she did her best to make it look like she wasn't about to gut him there and then.

"Obie," she smiled. "Tell them I'm fine."

"So no claims of seeing the future?" He asked, a light tone in his voice, but she could hear his undertone.

"I'm fine,"

"We need you at your best Toni," the older man told her, seemingly unaware of the rising tension in the room. "You're supposed to be reviewing the final paperwork for the Jericho approval."

Oh, fuck no. "Again, I'm fine," she dropped her smile in favor of a scowl. "It was just a stupid night terror. Pep and J overreacted."

He just smiled and left the room, Rhodey swearing the second the door closed. "How did I not see it before?"

"Rhodey," she sighed. "It's fine, really."

"The hell it is Tones! You have a kid out there! Do you even know where he is? If he's safe?"

She thought back to Queens, and Wednesdays with May and Peter, and how she- "The safest he could ever be," she finally answered quietly. "He's in Queens, living with his adoptive aunt and uncle."

"Is there any way you could contest the adoption?" Happy suggested.

"I… I don't think I'd want to," she admitted. "I am fucked up. I'm an alcoholic, I work too much, and the weapons division is still too active for my liking. I'm the Merchant of Death. Believe me when I say that title isn't something taken lightly on certain worlds. Besides… Peter loves May and Ben. It would kill him to separate them."

"Nine Midgardian years from now, this will be nothing but rubble,"

He jolted, turning around sharply, taking in the sight of his -pale,shaking,choking,dead- younger brother for a second before dragging him into a tight hug.

The sun will shine upon us again, Brother.

"Loki," he breathed, pulling back to see the stunned, if frightened and worried, look the frost giant had on his face.

"Thor," he echoed, lost, brows furrowed, and then… "When?"

"I won't allow it to happen," he murmured, pulling his brother away from their parents and guards, down towards the main doors to the throne room. "Hel, Frenir, Jormungandr, and Sleipnir, they all need you." his brother's breath hitched, and green eyes filled with tears. "I'll find them and take them to a safe place. I wasn't alone when the shattered stones sent me, but I must go to Midgard to find her soon."

"Her, brother?" He almost smiled at the teasing, but instead shook his head.

"I see her as a sister, nothing more," he replied, a different brunette flashing in his head. "She has the same wit as you… and the same stature."

"How dare!" Loki laughed, shoving the blonde away. "When do we leave?"

That's a first, he thought, grinning. "'We', brother?"

"You can't expect me to send my children to some human I've never met before,"

The lights were bright as she stepped up to the podium, raising a hand for silence. At the same time, security guards came up to either side of Obadiah and guided him off stage as she began to speak. "I was 21 when I became the CEO of Stark Industries. I've made things that bring me endless pride and joy, and I've done things that I will regret to my last breath. I found someone who I later realized was the perfect one for me and left him because I didn't want the media to destroy what reputation he had. And that leads me to today. Recently, an anonymous person contacted me, letting me know of unauthorized weapon dealings in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. These dealings, as we later found out, were under the table, and the personnel in question have all been fired and arrested. That brings me to my next point:

"Effectively immediately, all weapons divisions of Stark Industries are on hold. Any branch still producing weapons will be shut down and liquidated. This is something I have been thinking about doing for the past nine years, and it is something that I have decided will be best to do. My board of directors and I have been talking about what will be next, and we ask that our military contract holders please reach out to us about fulfillment or refunds of what was purchased that was paused in production. A recall is placed on all Stark weaponry, and please note that, as of today, I have absolutely no knowledge of selling weapons to anyone outside of official contracts. I ask the public to contact me directly if you see any Stark Industry products outside of official channels so that they can be dealt with accordingly. I will be taking no questions, thank you all for your time."

As she left the chaos behind her, Pepper appeared beside her, pulling her into a one-sided hug while Rhodey marched behind them and Happy led them. "You did wonderfully," Pepper said. "Where did you get all of this wisdom?"

"Leading a team of superheroes with your kid being one of them kinda helps," she quipped, causing the other three to share looks. "Don't worry Platypus, you were one of them."

"That doesn't help," the said man muttered. "What about SI?"

"Right," she turned to Pepper. "I didn't do this last time cause I was kinda dying, but would you like to train to be CEO? Like, within the year? Because when I go AWOL for four months, I don't want Stane to be in charge."

"Me?" Pepper stuttered. "Toni, that's, you just can't-"

"You don't have to say yes or no right away," she assured. "Big decision and all."

"Thank you," the redhead sighed. "In the meantime, I'll manage the front."

That night, Thor stood beside one of the byways, hidden among overgrown vines and bushes, waiting for Loki to show. And show he did, with two children no older than 6 in tow. His heart broke almost instantly as he realized what had happened, and held the vines open for the three to go first.

"What are their names?" he asked once he was in the byway as well. Loki tensed up, but glanced at him and relaxed.

"Nari and Vali," he replied. "Twins."

"They'll be safe," he promised quietly. "Lady Antonia is considered one of the most powerful people in the universe by the time that Thanos attacks."

"How can one Midgardian be that powerful? Is she a magic-user?" his brother asked, and he shook his head.

"She was able to handle the Time and Mind stones with no issue barehanded, wasn't at all tempted by the Mind stone when she first encountered it, and can See into the future without meaning to. And those are only a few of the things mentioned. She made the Mad Titan bleed when they fought, hand to hand when he had four of six stones. On Midgard, she is called the Merchant of Death."

Loki paused at this, his sons pausing as well as they shared a look. "Merchant of Death?" One of the boys whispered.

"Like Sisie's reaper?"

Sisie must be Hela, he realized, smiling a little at them and nodding. "She only became aware of what it meant after we officially met."

"You normally brag about achievements first, Brother," Loki reminded him quietly.

"Antonia despises her past and what led her to get her titles before Iron Man,"

So quite a few changes compared to ELU, as well as a few explanations on what's happening.

1) Stane won't be redeemed. I've been thinking about it very carefully, and while it's a path less traveled, it's also harder to keep him "in character" and an anti-hero. Sorry to everyone who enjoyed that bit in ELU.

2) Thor's POV! I'll be alternating between him and Toni for these first two chapters until they're together.

3) Toni is shutting down the weapons earlier, and while most of the under the table dealers are getting fired, she can't do anything about Stane other than warn him about continuing due to the backlash of what would happen if he got fired (rather than killed via self-defense)

4) It's implied that Toni and Stephen had been dating for a while (roughly 7 months/just before Civil War) in the opening, and it's also implied that she saw him a few more times past that first night, but they never officially got together, nor did she realize that he was Peter's biodad.

5) Nari and Vali are the youngest of Loki's children. Not much is known about them, only when they were 6, they were used to punish Loki in the worst way possible. Read their mythos at your own risk, it's very sad.

Please tell me what you think! Reviews are a writer's lifeline on this site!