Like always, thanks to the amazing Alia275 for beta-reading :*
Clint looked at his future self with confusion. Come on, he was an archer, he was Hawkeye. He didn't carry a sword. But it was part of this Ronin, part of the man that he was going to become. The assassin. A runaway.
He couldn't even be in public on the anniversary of Tony and Natasha's dead because he was a wanted man.
Steve was troubled when he realized that his future self didn't inform the rest of the team about his plans to use time travel, that he had left his team behind without a proper word or leave.
Pepper, Tony, and Natasha paled visibly when they saw the words Blood Toxicity in the vision.
"He's livin' your life," Natasha said, her tone void of emotion, factual.
"What?" Steve asked, and looked at Tasha and then at Tony.
"Sometimes I think that Tony will just rise from his grave to demand copyright, you know? That the thing that gives me powers is killing me at the same time." Peter chuckled bitterly to the holographic EDITH, who watched him with worry and compassion.
Yeah. Peter was aware of that, too.
"EDITH... is... he dying?" Pepper asked after she noticed that EDITH had dropped her half-transparent head and turned away. That was a freaking human thing to do. But she was AI. Pepper ha dealt with AI since she started to work for Tony. JARVIS had his moments, but nothing like this. Maybe that's why Peter's here, to find out a cure or come to Tony for help, Pepper theorized.
"I'm not allowed to answer that question," EDITH answered.
Tony snorted.
"I did the same, after all... I banned JARVIS from informing you about my health status," Tony rolled his eyes and looked at Pepper.
"That was the stupidest thing you ever did!" Pepper yelled, remembering the moment when she had heard the conversation between Romanoff and Tony about dying, when she connected all dots and that terrible realization came.
"Flying into space with nuke wasn't it?" Tony teased and Pepper hit him gently in the chest, before becoming serious again. Because Tony was going to die... doing one of his "stupid things" again.
The Avengers just looked at them with a sad smile. Then Thor grunted, turning attention to him.
"What are you talking about, friend Stark? You were dying?" Thor asked, unaware of the adventures his comrades had had before the assemble.
"Didn't you read Tony's file?" Tasha asked with a raised brow.
"Tony hacked the SHIELD database ages ago when it was still standing. The 'Iron Man' lyrics are the only thing in his files," Banner explained, like he needed to state something so obvious. Tony only smirked.
"So... I'm new Jesus?" Tony asked, half-serious.
"You don't want to know. It would freak you out," Edith answered honestly. It was freaking out people close to Tony in her timeline, and they tried to fight it, but it became very strong.
Tony looked at EDITH with uncertainty. This AI was so... human that it was kinda scary, but it seemed that there were still some regulations to what she could say and what she could not. That was the more AI part of her. But on the other hand, if people really were worshiping him and his sacrifice in the future... did he want to know it?
Peter walked from the Starks' lake house, approaching the lake were Pepper stood, staring at the calm waters. She was wrapped in a blanket to stay warm in the chilly evening.
"Mrs. Stark," Peter said with a smile.
"Peter, what are you doing here?" Pepper asked and looked at him as he stood next to her.
"I drove Morg home," he shrugged. "Happy went to spend some time with May, so I offered to take care of Morgan," he added.
"They're together again?" she asked, quite surprised.
"You know how they are. Once they are, once they aren't." Peter chuckled and rubbed his eyes.
"Are you okay with that? You know... she is your aunt," Pepper asked, concerned.
"Well... in the beginning that was weird, but she's a grown woman, and she deserves some... happy in her life."
Pepper laughed when she heard Peter's choice of the words. Peter smiled, too.
"And besides, it's not like she's my mother. She was always the cool aunt who took care of me... but the first motherly figure in my life would be you," Peter said, trying to sound natural. Pepper looked at him, quite shocked. She was not hiding that.
" I... I don't know what to say," Pepper answered after a while.
"You don't have to say anything. I wanted to say that," Peter smiled... and it was the moment that Pepper knew something was wrong. She had known Peter long enough to know that he didn't talk about his feelings without a reason.
"When I returned from London, May was picking me up from the airport. She asked me about my luggage, but then she was like 'Oh right! It exploded! Let's go home,'" Peter said, trying to imitate May's voice.
"That sounds like her," Pepper chuckled.
"And when you learned about stuff like that... you usually panicked. You were worried if I was okay, even if I was standing right next to you," Peter added. "Aunt May was and always will be a cool aunt who took care of me, and she was very accepting of my superhero life and I was grateful for that...but when you showed up with your smothering motherly love, I didn't know how much I needed that in my life."
"Pete... is everything okay?" she asked, worried.
"No-I mean, yeah. Everything is fine. It was just... you know. The moment," Peter chuckled. "I had this on my mind for some time. Anyway. What's on your mind, Mrs. Stark?" he asked, changing the subject.
Pepper watched him for a moment in silence, then she looked at the lake.
"I'm thinking of selling the house and moving to the city," she answered.
Now it was Peter's turn to be shocked.
"Why?" he managed to say. "This is your home."
"No... this is just a house... it stopped being home after Tony's death. He was the one who made this place feel like home. When he tried to ruin my kitchen. When we argued about his alpaca eating my veggie plants. It was our dream to run away from the city...but without him, it seems to be empty. For years I ignored that because I lived here with Morgan, but now that Morgan spends almost all her time outside the house, I could be closer to the company when you need some help," Pepper answered.
Tony looked at Pepper, imagined the life that her future self was describing in the memory. It was scary. Like all those situations. But still... he wanted to know more about it, he wanted to... life through that, even if this would mean that he would end his life like the Tony from Peter's timeline did.
Peter only nodded and looked at the lake.
"Do you think that Morgan will be okay with that?" Pepper asked. She knew that at this age, Peter would know better what was inside Morg's head better than she did.
"I think that she will understand this. Maybe she will convince you to keep the house, maybe just moving to the city," he answered honestly.
Pepper nodded in silence, but then Peter noticed tear on her cheek. He hugged her. She was always trying to be strong for everybody else. For him, for Morgan... she'd never had time to grieve, not really. For a long 10 years, she was grieving in silence.
"Hey... I got you," Peter said with a smile.
Pepper chuckled.
A flashback-
Peter's web was stuck to Mjolnir, which was propelled high into the sky. Then a blue and silver Iron Suit flew to him and strong arms caught him.
"Hang on, I got you, kid," Pepper said.
-and return to Peter's lakeside memory.
"Maybe that trip to Xandar will be good for you two; little bonding time," Peter suggested.
"I'll think about it. Come inside, it's cold," Pepper replied, and they returned to the house, Peter one step behind her. He did the same thing he had at the anniversary ceremony. Glove from suit. Blood on his finger. Glasses on.
BLOOD TOXICITY: 12%
"He's going to do this. The kid is totally doing this," Tony said, unsure of how to react to the fact that the kid was behaving like him.
"What?" Bruce asked.
"Saying goodbyes," Pepper answered, shocked that Peter considered her as a mother. Well, Tony was his mentor, but it seemed that she was still part of the boy's life after Tony's death... and her daughter, her sweet little Morgan (because now Pepper couldn't see her future without having that girl in her life, it was already her Morgan) was calling him brother.
"I was the same. I was saying things, doing things, because I knew that my life was going to end," Tony sighed, glancing at Pepper.
"Why were you dying?" Steve asked guiltily. Tony didn't know why Steve should be guilty, but this was how he interpreted the emotion in his voice. Cap was feeling guilty that he didn't know such things about his teammate. He realized that he honestly didn't know anything about Tony's past.
"My first arc reactor was powered by palladium core," Tony said, and Bruce visibly paled, wanting to say something, but Ton silenced him with a hand. "Yes, I know it's poisonous. Like the kid said. Only in my case, the thing that was keeping me alive was killing me at the same time." Tony shrugged. Time went on.
"I hope that kid will be smarter than you were in those days," Natasha responded.
"I hope that as well, Natashalie," Stark sighed. Then, he looked at Pepper and EDITH.
There was a big party. A lot of people wore suits and black ties...an then there was casually-dressed Morgan, who was rapping.
Peter wasn't dressed as casually with a burgundy suit and a cream-colored turtleneck. He had, of course, his EDITH glasses perched on his nose. Peter walked across the room to see MJ, who was wearing a long, silvery dress. Her hair was tied up, but a few strands were lying on her bare arms. She looked wonderful. Everything beside her was irrelevant, blurred. Music was somewhere in the background, but MJ was the only thing that Peter could really see.
Clint allowed himself to wolf whistle.
"Hold your horses, Legolas, right now she's probably in kindergarten," Tony smiled.
Peter came closer.
"MJ, you look..." Peter couldn't find the right word. Sometimes, around M.J, he was still that goofy teen.
"Ridiculous?" she suggested, her voice 100% serious.
Peter chuckled. "I had something different in mind," he responded.
"Trust your sister to do a serious charity party for a bunch of losers," MJ said, watching Morgan perform.
"That's Morgan, and that's why people love her. You can't ever predict what she'll do. Besides... this is her 'last party on earth'," he answered with a smile.
"So, they're going on that trip to Xandar?" MJ asked.
"Yeah, for a few months. Visiting our branch there, and then they're going on holidays." Peter shrugged. He glanced at Morgan, who started "Gangsta's Paradise" on the stage. She was spending too much time on YouTube, searching for old tunes.
"I don't remember having a branch on a place called Xandar. It sounds like something in Africa." Tony lifted his brow questioningly. Pepper looked at him, wanting to say something, but then Thor interrupted.
"It's not on Midgard. This is a planet," Thor frowned.
"Yes. Mr. Odinson is correct. Xandar is a planet. In our timeline, Stark Industries is considered one of the largest companies in the universe," Edith answered casually.
Wow.
Just. Wow.
"Dork, something wrong?" MJ asked.
"Can we talk? Privately?" he suggested.
When they were outdoors, everything became blurred. Like there were some problems with watching this memory.
"What's happening?" Bruce asked.
"Emotions are affecting the memory," Edith answered.
"I'm living life do or die. What can I say? I'm twenty-three now, but will I live to see twenty-four? The way things is going, I don't know," Morgan rapped in the background.
"I slept with Felicia," Peter stated casually, and MJ stared at him with shock and pain in her gaze.
Then she walked away.
"Tell me why are we so blind to see, that the ones we hurt are you and me," Morgan sang.
Peter felt a tear on his cheek.
"Been spending most their lives living in a gangsta's paradise."
Peter hissed with pain, grabbing a barrier so that he wouldn't collapse.
"What was that?!" Steve asked. He didn't understand what had just happened in that memory.
"He's dying... He broke up with his girlfriend, telling that he betrayed her because he prefers her to hate him than see her pain when he dies," Tony answered. The longer he was watching these memories, the better he knew what the kid probably thought during that.
Pepper just shook her head. They had talked about it in the past, about why Tony had stepped back from her after the fight with Stane. He already knew that something was wrong with him. It seemed that Peter was already in a relationship, so... he needed to find another way to step back.
And... she was a mother to this boy in the future.
A mother that he would send on the faraway planet while he was dying.
Ned was carrying him to his apartment. Peter was drunk and bugging everybody on the way. Ned looked like he had enough.
"There it is. A friend who will be sent away, too," Tony shrugged. God. It was really like the kid was living his life. It was freaking scary.
Avengers knew that Tony didn't see Peter and his friend; he saw himself and Rhodey.
"Woo hoo. It's like ol' timess," Peter yelled drunkenly.
"I don't remember in the old times that I had to carry your drunk ass. And I run into MJ. Really? Sleepin' with Felicia? Man, what's wrong with you?" Ned put him on the couch and looked at him.
He was tired of Peter. Angry at him. He loved his friend, but this Peter... was not the Peter he knew.
"What can I say... I fell for that tight black spandex suit," Peter chuckled.
Ned raised his hands in a gesture of defeat.
"I don't know what to happened with you, man. I've been your friend since kindergarten and I don't recognize you anymore," Ned shook his head.
"Stop with that gibberish... come, have a drink," Peter rose from the couch and went to the table for alcohol.
"No, you had enough," Ned grabbed his arm, but Peter caught his wrist with his superstrength. Then he pulled it away. Ned hissed with pain and caught his hand. He was almost sure that Peter broke something in his wrist.
I'm done with you, man... I'm done," Ned said, and walked away.
The moment the door closed, Peter sobered immediately. Or... he was never drunk in the first place. He dropped his jacket during his walk toward to mirror, then pulled his collar down gently, revealing one big, ugly, infected wound on his neck.
Flashback-
He was much younger. Like the age he was in the memories with Tony. Maybe even younger. He had lab coat on, and a red spider sat on his neck. It bit him, and he automatically killed it.
-Return.
"Was that necessary?" Holo-EDITH showed up. Peter looked at her.
"Did you finish the tests?" He didn't answer her question.
"Yes," she answered.
"Come on, I'm already aware that I'm dying. You can't have worse news," Peter rolled his eyes.
"Your pain this evening... this means that your kidneys are shutting down," EDITH answered. "That gives you even less time," she admitted with sadness in her voice.
"How much?" he asked.
"If the mutation will progress like it was before...a week. Maybe less," EDITH replied. She wanted to say something else, but Peter murmured softly, "Mute" and then he went to the window, looking at the city.
"I wanted you to be better." The words rang again in his head.
Everybody was silent in the room. They hung down their heads. Poor kid... well everybody except Tony. His mind was working, how this happened, what kind of spider it was. He seemed to be much younger. Why was this spider bite important to what was happening years later? How he could help him? He didn't even know if the kid was still dying or if it was past mattering.
"You allowed Rhodey to steal your suit, didn't you?" Natasha realized, looking at Tony.
"Yeah. I didn't want bury idea of Iron Man with me," he admitted. He didn't even know why he was so honest with everyone right now.
"Peter always knew that his friend was afraid that the money would change him and that MJ was jealous of Black Cat. Peter used that to push them away," EDITH explained. "Peter just knew where to push to get the result. Like Tony did."
"Black Cat?" Clint raised his brow.
"Felicia," Edith clarified.
Peter, Morgan, and Pepper were standing on some cliff when a spaceship landed next to him. The Guardians of the Galaxy stepped out of it. They greeted each other, laughed for a while. They were Pep and Morg's ride to Xandar. Stark Industries had their vehicles, but Guardians offered to take them. Peter knew that Nebula just wanted to see Pepper and Morgan.
"Take care of them, will you?" Peter said with a smile, looking at Nebula.
"They're family," Nebula shrugged like it was obvious. Peter noticed that she was still using her IronArm.
"One crazy Iron Family," Peter chuckled. "When you return, I'm counting on some kind reunion," he said, knowing that there probably would be one. On his funeral.
Nebula only smiled slightly. Pepper came and started babbling about being careful and everything. Peter only smiled and said that he would be fine, have fun.
"No kid, you won't be," Pepper said with a sad voice.
"Who is she? That blue chick," Tony asked.
"That would be Nebula. You already saw her during the memory where Peter turned into dust," EDITH explained. She didn't have a lot to say, and her programming didn't allow her to say much, but she was doing as much as she could, knowing that there was no turning back now. She couldn't pretend that she didn't have knowledge about the future.
"Why does she believe that we are her family?" Pepper asked.
"I can't say much about it. But... you always had this gift to bring... unique individuals close and make them feel like a family," Edith answered, looking at Tony, shrugging.
Tony frowned.
"She's right," Banner admitted with a little smile. Tony was the first person in his life that didn't know him before (like Betty did) and was never afraid of Hulk. Nah, he was poking him, checking if he was going hulk out. Bruce never said it, but he valued that.
Peter was walking down the corridor of his company compound when he stopped close to the doors. He looked at it. "Harley Keener, the main director of RSSI" it read on a plaque.
Tony looked shocked.
"Do you know this Harley?" Thor asked.
"Yeah... we met," Tony gulped.
Flashback-
"Do you think that he would want this?" Harley asked, looking at Peter.
"There is no better operator of Iron Suit than you... the only question is... if you are ready for it?" Peter answered honestly.
-Return.
Peter asked Edith to open the doors, then he walked to the desk. Jeez. That man was messy. Peter pulled out some box from a pocket in his jacket and looked at it.
Flashback-
Peter looked at Fury, who was holding the same box, giving it to him. He took it and opened it. Inside was the note and pair of glasses.
"For the next Tony Stark, I trust you. - Tony"
-Return.
Peter placed the glasses in the box where the same note lay and closed it, leaving it on the desk. Then he left. When he walked back to his lab, he felt his knees giving out and something wet on his lips before he tasted the salty tang of blood. Then he fell to the ground.
Time to answer some reviews!
Sorry for everybody about that blood toxicity and I didn't give much explanation about it in this chapter... but be patient!
TeraWatt - I like "watch the movies" trope too, but I always felt like I couldn't write something like this. I'm too impatient to write reactions to scenes which are boring to me or something like that. Watching memories gives more freedom... and there are some amazing fics about watching the movies, so I wanted to do something different. I'm glad that you like it.
Guest - Thanks for the correction, I'm going to change it soon!
Aayushi - Don't worry :D
And what do you guys think about Disney/Sony drama? Tom Holland says that Spider-man fans are going to be still happy about the continuation, but... Nobody says anything about MCU fans. Come on. I loved IronDad/SpiderSon. I would love to see Peter in the role that Tony left behind. Geez. but... money money money... geez. x.X
See ya in the next :*