"Friday's back online."
Pete frowned, looking at Peter, curiously, when Karen suddenly made the announcement, interrupting the video game that they'd been playing.
"What does that mean?" he asked Peter.
"Tony must be back," Peter guessed, knowing that that would be the only way his AI could be back online with the suit. And that would be the only reason Karen would think he'd want to know. "I wonder if Stephen's back with him, or if he went to the sanctum, directly."
The other boy tossed the controller onto the coffee table and stood up.
"Only one way to find out."
He was anxious to find out what they'd learned, and eager to see what happened, next. It was nice hanging out with the Avengers – and Stark and Peter and Pepper were amazing – but he missed his reality more and more every day that passed with him not in it.
Peter got up, as well.
"Tony is entering the lounge," Karen told them.
"Is Stephen with him?"
"No. Pepper is in the lounge, however, and the others have been notified. You could be there by the time Nick Fury arrives, but Natasha and the others are out in the field with drills and will take longer."
"Come on," Pete said. "Let's go see what they learned."
Peter was willing, and he stopped just long enough to pick up Nutmeg before heading for the door of his rooms.
OOOOOOOO
"What are you working on?"
Pepper smiled, trying to hide her relief when Tony walked up to the table that she was sitting at. She set her tablet aside and tilted her head, offering her cheek to his kiss.
"I'm checking emails from today's meetings."
The ones that she'd missed because there had been no way in hell that she'd have been able to concentrate enough to go to the tower with Tony off with Stephen getting into who knows what kind of trouble.
"Anything interesting?"
"Not really. Not with Thanksgiving coming. Everyone is pretty much just going through the motions waiting for the holiday break. Where's Stephen?"
Tony rolled his eyes, sitting in the space beside her.
"He went directly back to the sanctum."
She glanced at her watch.
"Is he alright? I didn't expect you to be gone so long. He wasn't."
"Because he wasn't looking through all of the stuff that was there," Stark reminded her. "And he's fine."
"Did you find the statue?"
"We did." Tony noticed the motion at the entrance to the lounge and saw the boys coming into the room. "I'll tell you all about it when everyone is here," he added, reaching out and resting his hand on hers. "That place was crazy."
"You took recordings?"
"Yes. Hey, guys," he greeted Peter and Pete. "I'm back."
"Where's Stephen?" Peter asked, sitting across from him, Nutmeg casually draped in his arm, purring as the boy stroked him. "Is he alright?"
"He's back at the sanctum," Tony told them both. He turned to Pete. "We found that figurine we were looking for and he sent it back to the sanctum, too. He and Wong are going to figure out what to do, next, I guess."
"What was it like?" Peter asked. "Was it cool?"
"The statue?" Tony asked, purposefully misunderstanding.
Peter smiled, shaking his head.
"The place where you went."
"It was incredible. Like the sanctum only times a million."
"Wow."
Peter and Pete both looked interested, but both turned their heads at the same time – just as Nick Fury walked into the room, as well, and made a bee-line for the table they were sitting at.
"What did you learn, Tony?"
"Flerkins eat a lot of weird things."
"Did you record it?"
"Of course."
Nick ruffled Peter's hair as he sat down at the table, as well, and stole Nutmeg from the boy.
"Did you find what you were looking for?"
"We did. It's at the sanctum, now, and Stephen and Wong are probably staring at it as we speak trying to figure out how to use it to get Pete back where he belongs – in the same time frame," he added, using Stephen's exact words.
"Do they need me there?" Pete asked, hopefully.
"I'm sure they'll contact us when they know something," Stark assured the boy. "What did you guys do, today?"
He had been surprised to find that it was much later than he'd expected it to be when he'd returned, to be greeted immediately by Friday. The time wasn't too wonky in the place where he'd been with Stephen, but it hadn't seemed like they'd been gone so long. It was edging up to dinner time, and he was hungry, but he knew they would want to hear what he'd seen – and maybe even see what he'd seen.
First, though, he thought he'd stall things to give Romanoff and whoever else was interested a chance to join them. That way he only needed to tell the tale, once.
"We hung out with Pepper and Natasha for a while," Pete replied. "Then after lunch Natasha had to go take care of some things, and Pepper said that she had some work to do, so we played video games to stay out of the way."
The way he said it made it clear that they weren't worried about actually being in the way, and Tony smiled at that.
"We're working on a project," Pepper told him. "Something that we definitely need you to consult on with us."
"Now?"
"Soon."
Another motion at the entrance, and this time it was Romanoff and Steve who entered. She checked, automatically for Strange as she walked over, and not seeing him, turned her attention to Tony. The billionaire smiled, letting her know that her boyfriend was fine – at least that he had been the last time he'd seen him – and some of the tension in her expression melted away as she took the chair beside Pete, leaving one for Steve next to Fury.
"What took you so long?" she asked.
He smirked.
"We wanted to make sure we brought back the right statue," he replied. "Otherwise, who knows where Pete might end up?"
"What was it like?" Steve asked, echoing Peter's earlier question without knowing it. "Did you see the smoke monster Stephen mentioned?"
"We did," he confirmed. He noticed everyone was interested in his response, so he shrugged, deciding that he would show them the recordings that he made of the place. Friday was already sifting through them, now that she had access to his suit once again, and she could edit it into the more interesting parts. Like the smoke monster, some of the weirder looking items that had been scattered about, finding the figurine and Stephen transferring it away from there without touching it – and the octopus on the dinosaur, of course. "If you want to see the recording, though, we'll have to move to a proper briefing room, since I don't have a display in here that will do the place justice."
"I want to see it," Peter said, quickly.
"Me, too," Pete agreed, distracted for the moment from the figurine and how they were going to be able to use it to get him home – and when.
The rest were already getting to their feet, so Tony shrugged, looking at Pepper and squeezing the hand he was already holding.
"Are you done working?"
She smiled, amused (and pleased that he'd considered asking her rather than assuming she was willing to drop everything).
"Yes."
"Let's go, then."
OOOOOOOO
"You found it."
Strange nodded, allowing just a little satisfaction to seep into his expression.
"We did. And in half the time that it might have."
"So taking Stark was a good idea."
"Definitely. We didn't run into anything too dangerous, really – my guess is that the smoke creature, or whatever it is, is the only thing alive in the place."
"Probably ate anything else," Wong agreed. "What did you find there?"
"The craziest mix of things… most so alien I couldn't even describe it if I wanted to, and an alarmingly large amount of armor and weapons."
"Remnants from Flerkin hunters?"
"That would be my guess."
Tricky to kill something that can eat you whole, after all.
The two men looked at the figurine that was carefully ensconced in the glass case and was sitting on the table. The area around it practically hummed with magical energy as the spell on the case kept it from being touched – and maybe sending one of them into an alternate reality, as well. They both liked May, of course, but it wasn't a good reason to be willing to go there.
"Tell me Stark recorded it."
"He did. I'll make sure we get a copy – although we won't tell anyone where it is, or how to get there."
"Of course not." Wong shook his head. "Looking at the little statue. "Well, we have it. Now how do we figure out how to get Pete back where he belongs?"
"We're going to sleep on it, tonight," Stephen told him. "I'm rather counting on the mind stone sticking its proverbial nose into things and giving one of us a hint."
"Oh." He shrugged. "Why not?"
It certainly wouldn't be the first time, now would it?