Finally, we reach Carol arriving in this story! Natasha experiments with her powers and Tony and Peter spend some time together...

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Carol

Friday 5th August 2016

Carol Danvers didn't arrive straight away. It had taken her a few days to reach Earth when the Avengers had found Fury's communicator calling out to her. They'd kept sending out the signal, wanting to know who Fury had called before he had become a victim of the Snap. Much like this time when Fury called her, she didn't arrive until a few days later.

Natasha had agreed to remain with Fury until he could be truly certain of her identity and that she wasn't a Skrull. The fact she had known how he had lost his eye was a big point in her favour however Fury wanted to be sure she wasn't a Skrull and Carol would be able to be certain. She'd been allowed to inform Tony who hadn't been happy with leaving her with Fury; however, she had asked him to stay out of this as it meant they would be able to get Carol on their side if they agreed to Fury's wishes. Suspicious in nature, Fury wanted to be sure before he could fully put his trust in Natasha. She'd been surprised he'd allowed her to contact Tony but it was a welcome one.

Natasha had remained in a small room, quite happy to wait to ally Fury's fears. He'd find out the truth soon. At least they had given her access to a datapad which suggested Fury believed her but he wanted Danvers to have the final say. She'd have gotten bored rather quickly. Though Fury was technically retired he was still running what remained of SHIELD in the background, away from the public's eye.

Sitting on her bunk with her legs crossed over, Natasha closed her eyes. Now was a good time as any to practice using her powers.

Show me Tony.

She knew she could sense him, that she could trace him through their connection. She wished she could understand more of it. She saw him in her mind's eye. He was in his lab at the Avenger's Facility with Peter Parker. They seemed to be designing something. She was seeing out of Tony's eyes as she had before when he'd been imprisoned by Ross. This was an ability that could be useful. It was a shame Tony was unable to reach out for her though he would know she was there as he had recognised her before.

Tony, do you mind? I'm bored sitting in this room waiting for Danvers… Just wanted to explore what I can do…

Still seeing out of Tony's eyes, she felt him jerk a bit. He hadn't noticed her there, so absorbed in his work he had been. She watched as he wrote 'I don't mind' on a scrap of paper to his right.

Thank you. She hadn't wanted to intrude upon his soul without permission. Of course, there would be times when she may need to do so but in this instance she wanted him to have the choice to allow her access to his soul.

She decided to delve deeper into his soul. She could feel him all around her, his emotions, his worry for the future, his intense desire to do things right. Images flickered up in front of her, of his life and she felt mortified she was partial to specific moments of his life. There was no order to them, random snippets jumping out of her.

And then she saw it: Tony engaging Thanos, tugging on the Infinity Gauntlet, desperately trying to wrestle the stones from him. She saw Thanos throw him away, proclaim proudly that he was inevitable only to snap his fingers and nothing was there. She saw his realisation that the stones had been stolen, turned his attention back to Tony who revealed them on his right hand, settling into place on a nano-built Gauntlet, set into his suit. She saw Tony say 'I am Iron Man' and snap his fingers before pain wrecked through his entire body and the energies of the Infinity Stones burned his body, destroying cells and causing organ failure.

She felt his body failing as he lay in the dirt…

No!

Natasha pulled back out of the memory, panting heavily, still connected to Tony's soul. What she had witnessed had not affected him in real life. She'd travelled too deep into his soul. Glancing back at the cascade of memories she noticed a small glow from behind them.

What is that?

Natasha pushed onwards and felt an intense power rush over her as she flowed past the memories, and found herself in a darkened room, faced with a glowing ball of rippling energy which seemed to be set at the very centre of Tony's soul. Entranced by it, she stepped forward, feeling drawn to it. She could feel her own body responding to it, vibrating to the energies that sat within Tony.

What is this?

It was power.

This was proof Tony had powers.

But what was odd about it was the ball of energy seemed bound, tied together, as if there was an invisible barrier there, preventing the energy from being unleashed.

Spiritually she reached out towards it…

Her fingers brushed against it and static electricity coursed up her arm in a variety of different colours. It was too quick for her to catch all of them but she'd at least recognised red and purple. She almost felt drawn to them. Her curiosity grew.

But why can't he use them? She stared at the ball of energy, marvelling in its beauty.

That was the most baffling part of this discovery. The knowledge he had the capacity for powers the same as her, yet she could use hers with no trouble but Tony… He couldn't. He refused to believe…

Oh… Is that the reason? Because he refuses to believe he has them?

She phrased the question in her mind, hoping the inner voice would answer but it didn't, slightly disappointing her. She wanted to push on further, exploring past the ball of energy but as she tried to move around it she struck a hard, invisible barrier.

Ow! Natasha wasn't one to give up and she pushed herself forward again.

This time the invisible barrier glowed brightly as she tried to push against it.

And then she went flying backward as intense pain spread through her, pushing her further away. Yanked backward by an invisible force, Natasha felt herself being pulled back to the edge of Tony's soul, being yanked out completely and back into her own body.

Her eyes opened and she was back in the small quarters she had been given. Shaking her head and allowing her red hair to fall down her shoulders, Natasha leaned back against the wall, her mind whirring with the information she had obtained during her search of Tony's soul.

She had a lot to think about.

A few hours later she was collected from her room by Fury who walked her towards the conference room. When they entered the room, she saw Carol Danvers standing there is ordinary clothes, her blonde hair loose around her shoulders but her eyes were hard and steely as she considered the woman in front of her.

"Hi." Natasha stood in front of the other, watching as she was assessed by the steely gaze.

"I've never seen you before," Carol stated.

Natasha shrugged. She knew Fury would have filled her in on what she'd said. "I've met you."

"In this future, you come from?"

Natasha nodded. "I did. We were friends. You told me a lot about yourself as you grew to trust me over the years. I think we could do the same."

Carol frowned. "You know about Fury's eye. He vowed me to secrecy. And I know my best friend has had no contact with you either." She strode forward until she was directly in front of Natasha. "So how do you know?"

"As I said," repeated Natasha, "I got to know you. Fury was lost. You were an ally of ours."

"It's hard to tell if you are telling the truth." Carol mused.

Fury walked around Natasha, hands in his pockets, relaxed. "I want to believe her. She wanted me to summon you. Would you have told her?"

Carol glanced at Fury. "It's not a question one can answer. She's a dilemma. I could have become close to her… especially if we shared experiences with you."

"'She' is right here!" Natasha frowned. "Tony and I have been trying to avoid telling people what happened to us. But we need to get out there." She pointed upwards. "And Earth doesn't have the technology to do it yet. Tony could probably create something but…"

"That would be too suspicious," assumed Carol wisely. "Assuming you really are from the future, how can we know for sure you have Earth's best interests at heart? How do we know you simply do not want to destroy the Earth?"

"I'm not a villain. I want to save it." Natasha gritted her teeth. She'd always known convincing Fury would be hard but she hadn't expected it to be this challenging. It was reassuring that Fury wanted to believe her. "Look, if you're not going to believe me, just shoot me and get it over with. At least then you'll be satisfied it really was me."

"I'd have taken her blood," noted Fury, "but Skrulls are capable of changing DNA and would be able to mimic the samples." He stopped and turned to face Natasha. "The problem we have is how to rule out one hundred percent that you are not a Skrull without shooting you dead? I'd rather not kill one of my best agents. I called you in, Danvers, to see if you could help us with this."

"Most Skrulls I know are not hostile," replied Carol easily. "There are some fractions of the species that continue to remain hostile…"

Natasha was beginning to get fed up with this constant back and forth. "Can someone tell me what a Skrull really is?"

"Shapeshifters. They can take the form of anyone and mimic them in DNA. They also have the ability to maintain recent memories," explained Carol.

"How far back in memories?" enquired Fury.

"Not too far. A few days, potentially weeks at most."

Natasha folded her arms across her chest. "Happy now? Would I know how I became an agent of SHIELD if Skrulls only have recent memories?"

"No," confirmed Fury. "That was years ago. But you could have obtained that information from Stark. That's why I'm suspicious still because you were never close to Stark before and now you are. You've been working with him since May. You would have plenty of months of memories to be able to draw upon. We could bring Stark in, question him, and see if he is the real Stark too. But if he wasn't real he wouldn't have the knowledge to tell you about Agent Romanoff which makes his identity assured."

"He wasn't too pleased about leaving me here whilst you sought to confirm who I am," stated Natasha.

"There is an easier way to clear this up," interrupted Carol. She reached into her jean's pocket and pulled out a small device, almost a wristwatch. "This is a scanner. It has the ability to determine if you are a Skrull or not. It can detect the chemical changes required for you to mimic others. It was developed a few years back. One simple scan is enough."

"And you couldn't have bought this up before?" argued Natasha. "It would have saved us this whole conversation if you'd shown it in the first place!"

Carol shrugged. "Fury's decision, not mine." She opened up the scanner and a hologram flashed up above the screen. Pointing it at Natasha, she moved it up and down from head to toe and then from side to side. It beeped and then the hologram above the device turned green. Carol turned to Fury. "She's human. Fully human."

"Finally." Natasha rolled her eyes, glad the whole thing was over.

Fury leaned back against the wall. "I suppose we do have a time-traveller on our hands then."

"Two of us. Tony and I. No one else knows."

"Apart from Pepper Potts," mused Fury.

"How did you guess?" Natasha had hoped to keep Pepper's identity as the other person who had known the secret.

"Stark only trusts three people," stated Fury carefully. "Potts would be at number one and if he is going to tell anyone he is from the future, it would be her. It hadn't escaped my notice they had been taking a break and now they are back together." He leaned forward. "Stark may think he can spy on our activities but we also spy on him."

"Oh, he knows," replied Natasha. She turned her gaze to Carol. "We need your help which is why I asked for Fury to send for you."

Carol pressed her lips together. "What for?"

Natasha bit her lower lip. "A mission. One that can help Tony and I stop the inevitable from happening. We need to stop Thanos from achieving his goal. And only you can help us do so."

As promised back in June to Aunt May, Peter's internship with Stark Industries began on the first Friday in August. School had already broken for Peter and for his first overnight stay at the Avenger's Facility, Tony had made sure he had been the one to pick Peter up from his Aunt's place in Queens, once again reassuring her that he had no plans to include Peter on further Avenger missions at the present time.

They were in Tony's lab together looking over the designs for Peter's Spider-Man suit. Tony was showing him all the nifty adjustments he had made and was taking him through the 'training wheels' protocol he intended to deactivate for Peter once the kid was aware of all the nifty things his suit could do. Tony had given it to him for the Winter Soldiers mission.

Peter scratched the side of his head. "Why did you install a parachute again? I don't need one!"

"In case you fall from a great height and there is nothing for you to use your webs to reach?" Tony quipped back. "Just don't get tangled in it."

"But that wouldn't happen!" grinned Peter.

Tony wasn't amused. "In my experience, kid, it's better to be prepared for anything."

Which was why when he had designed and built his final Iron Man suit he had put in the safety feature of being able to contain and use the Infinity Stones. It had been a feature Tony had added knowing full well if he had to use them, he'd die. At the end that had been the future Strange had seen. Tony's fate had always been inexplicably linked to the Infinity Stones.

"I don't want anything to happen to you. With a parachute, you're ready for anything. And it can be deployed if your new A.I inside the suit senses you are incapacitated and unable to activate it. Parachute is a must. It's staying." Tony wasn't going to take no for answer.

"What else is in my suit?" Peter leaned over the holographic table studying the other contents of the suit.

Tony frowned, his fingers twirling the Spider-Man suit around in the holographic display. "Plenty of things, kid. Depends, I could create a whole new suit for you." He was thinking of the Iron Spider suit. "It would be a lot more advanced than the one I have already given you."

"Mr. Stark, you don't-"

Tony raised his hand. "Please, it is Tony." He had a feeling he would be reminding Peter to call him Tony for a while yet. He'd been dying when he'd faintly heard Peter call his name… He hadn't been able to answer, he'd been saving what remained of his strength for Pepper. "Besides, I have a habit of upgrading everything. Nothing is ever good enough. You always need something… more." He'd kept on designing and improving Iron Man suits because he felt the current model wasn't the answer to the universal threat that was Thanos. He'd later learned none of his suits was a match to him, though the nano-suit had been his best at the time. He'd still failed.

Peter winced. "Am I going to get more suits from you?"

"Probably. Better get used to it, kid, I'm going to be a big part of your life!" Tony grinned. "Now… what else shall I show you?"

Once Tony had finished taking Peter through the suit, he'd told Peter he would lift the restrictions on the suit a bit at a time so Peter could get used to all its various functions. The A.I installed in the suit would be one of the last things which would be activated as Tony wanted Peter to learn without it. Peter agreed with Tony's assessment and was looking forward to using the Avengers training area to test out his new suit in a variety of trials in varying environments.

They had now moved onto other projects, including new designs for Stark Industries, which Tony hoped Peter would leave his mark on. He wanted the kid to be involved with the company in the future, even if it was in an unofficial capacity.

Tony was flickering through different designs, using paper to write down a few calculations and numbers, whilst Peter worked beside him, looking at prototypes and giving him his honest opinion. Tony hoped they could use the feedback to create a new improved product.

It was then he felt a familiar tingle in his mind but he couldn't place what it was. Therefore he was surprised when Natasha's voice echoed in his mind and he jerked a bit. He didn't know what she was doing there but he hoped she wasn't bringing him the bad news.

Tony, do you mind? I'm bored sitting in this room waiting for Danvers… Just wanted to explore what I can do…

A slight smile tugged at his lips. He was surprised Natasha had waited this long to try exploring further. He didn't mind. She had unparalleled access to his soul for a reason. Besides, Natasha exploring further may enable them both to come to an understanding of their link.

He wrote 'I don't mind' on a piece of scrap paper.

Thank you.

Tony went back to work.

"I think it is time you went to bed," said Tony, his eyes seeking out Peter. The kid was clearly tired. They'd been at work in the lab for over six hours and it was way past midnight. He was sure Pepper would yell at him for letting Peter stay up this late. Time went by quickly when one was having fun and Peter had the natural flair for designing that Tony had.

"But it's not even that late!" Peter didn't look up from the design, his tongue poking out the edge of his mouth as he concentrated on tracing over lines on the hologram.

"It's after midnight. Just because I work through the night doesn't mean you have the option to do so." Tony stayed firm. "And I promised your Aunt you wouldn't have too many late nights."

Peter finally glanced up from his design. "But she won't know."

Tony frowned. "Only if I do not tell her. Who says I wouldn't? I was going to tell her about you being Spider-Man after all…" He trailed off, ensuring Peter was aware that Tony intended to abide by the rules his Aunt had set down for Peter's visits to the Compound.

Peter sighed, saved his work and walked towards the lab's door. "I can come back tomorrow before I leave, right?"

"Sure. Remember I'm taking you home at 4pm." Tony watched him leave before contemplating his own work and decided to close it before heading up to bed.

Saturday 6th August 2016

Pepper called Tony from the lab around 11:15am the following day, leaving Peter on his own. He instructed FRIDAY to inform him if Peter made a move to leave. The kid was curious enough to want to know why Tony had been called away.

He found Pepper sitting in their private common area of the Compound with Natasha and Carol Danvers.

"Finally got free," said Natasha. "Before we start, Fury knows about us being from the future, as does Carol. It was the only way to convince them."

Taken back by the admission, Tony stepped back. "I thought we weren't telling anyone."

"We aren't. Fury and Carol have agreed to maintain our secrecy. It hadn't escaped Fury's notice that we had been working together more often. It raised his suspicions. But he won't tell anyone else. He understands why we need to keep our conditions a secret," explained Natasha carefully.

Tony joined Pepper on the couch. Carol was watching him. "I remember you."

"I don't remember you," stated Carol.

"You won't. But you won't forget me," grinned Tony.

Pepper slapped him on the arm. "You won't. It's impossible to forget him."

"We'll see." Carol leaned forward. "You have a request to make? A mission?"

Tony nodded, squeezing Pepper's hand. "We do."

"Tony, do you want to do the honours?" asked Natasha.

"Err… sure?" He'd been expecting Natasha to be the one to talk to Carol and ask her but he could understand Natasha's reasoning for wanting him there as well.

Carol focused her steely gaze upon him.

It made him slightly uncomfortable.

"We need to get in contact with a group who call themselves the 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. Have you heard of them?" enquired Tony.

"I have. I've never encountered them before but I've heard rumours about them. Why do you need them?" she responded.

"First, they have a ship which would be useful to move around the universe in. Secondly, they know a bit more about the Infinity Stones and where some of them currently are. We need to retrieve them before Thanos does."

"I could just kill Thanos for you." Carol's hands glowed in her lap.

"No." Natasha shook her head. "Killing Thanos right now is not the solution. He may be a tyrant or whatever he is out in the universe, but he has an army."

"I can take out ships with my hands alone." Carol was adamant and Tony couldn't blame her.

He'd watched her take out Thanos' command ship during the battle. She was fully capable of carrying out her threat.

"We were sent back for a reason," continued Natasha quietly. "I think if the answer was as simple as you going off to kill him, we wouldn't be here. We've been given this chance to do things again…Tony and I have to be the ones to face him."

"But if she could, Nat, why not?" asked Tony. If it was as simple as sending Carol off to kill Thanos…

Natasha caught his eye. "I do not believe it is that simple," she repeated.

Sadly, Tony didn't either. "You had trouble killing him before."

"I fought him?" Carol's head twitched slightly to the side. "And lost?"

"You did," admitted Tony. Natasha hadn't been there. "It was a close call though. He's after the Infinity Stones. We need to stop him from gathering them by finding them ourselves and destroying them. But we also need a ship to go out into space. Since the Guardians helped us before, we wanted to bring them in on this. We lack the technology to send a message out there or build something quickly to reach out to them. That's why we'd like you to find them for us and ask them to come to Earth."

Carol inclined her head. "I could do that."

"And you won't go after Thanos?" asked Natasha.

Carol sighed, her shoulder slumping slightly. "I won't. But only because it feels… right?... to leave him to you."

Later that evening, after Carol had departed Earth to seek out the Guardians and Tony had driven Peter back home to Queens, Tony and Pepper lay in bed together. Pepper's head rested on Tony's shoulder and his right arm was wrapped around her body, holding her close to him.

"It's going to start now, isn't it?" she asked quietly. "Now you've got Carol going out there…"

"It is Pep. But we both knew that."

"You've got to go out there, haven't you? Into the stars. If you want those stones…"

Tony's lips twitched. "I have no choice. I don't want to… but Nat and I can only rely on each other to get these stones destroyed. And we can't get into space on our own. I may be a genius and I have knowledge of the future, but we do not have the materials to ensure safe spaceflight from one end of the galaxy to the other. I could design something but it wouldn't be a simple or quick build." Tony pressed a kiss to her head. "I'd rather not go into space again. I have no choice though, I have to."

"New York?" she guessed.

Tony nodded. "And… Titan." He'd not informed Pepper of his other trip to space. "I didn't want to tell you but I went to space again. I was chasing after one of the Infinity Stones, trying to prevent Thanos from getting it. It went straight to him. He would have gotten it anyway, regardless of any decision I'd have made. That was the place where Peter died in my arms. It was where I faced Thanos for the first time. I nearly died there, Pep. I was stabbed there. He wanted to kill me…"

"But he didn't," she said gently. "Tony? Wherever you need to go, I'm going to be there, whether it is in space or not."

"Pep… you can't," he pleaded.

"Tony, I promised you I would be there for you. I mean it. Every step of the way." She leaned up now, resting on her elbow.

"I don't want to see you die…" he whispered.

"You won't," Pepper reassured him. Leaning down to kiss him on the lips, Pepper ran a hand down his face. "If you are going to die, Tony, I'm spending as much time with you as possible, whether it is on Earth or off it. I'm not leaving you."

Tony turned his head away. "I don't deserve you."

Taking his chin, she turned his head back towards her. "You deserve me, Tony."

He shook his head. "No, I don't." He didn't want to believe it. How could he be so lucky?

"No matter what happens we'll face it together, the way we have faced everything for the last twenty years. It won't ever change. You were sent back here for a reason. You were told to trust me with the truth for a reason. Destiny bought us together, destiny will keep us together."

Tony pulled her closer. "You're right like you always are. I died but destiny sent me back. Whatever forces are at work they wanted me to trust you. And I will." He smiled, and pulled her closer, kissing her on the head.

It didn't take long for them to fall asleep snuggled in each other's arms.

To be continued...

Please let me know what you think!

It's pretty obvious from all the hints I've been dropping that Tony does have powers... He just can't use them yet but I can promise they will come!

Fury was mostly convinced it was Natasha at the end of the last chapter but he still wanted Carol to confirm she wasn't a Skrull. Even though at the moment, the MCU has shown the Skrulls to be victims and the good guys, I'm sure there would be bad fractions of them still out there, so I can still see Fury being suspicious of anyone being a Skrull.

Carol will be in the story but not much. She won't appear again for a while.

Up next: The Mind Stone... Vision, Wanda, Tony and Shuri...

To be posted next Sunday!

Until then,

the-writer1988