At Edwards Air Force Base, Pepper and Happy watched a C-130 land by the Rolls.

It pulled up to them and the ramp lowered.

Pepper had tears in her eyes as Tony and Laura were revealed.

She was in a wheelchair with her shoulder, arm and wrist in a cast and sling which was around her neck.

Her neck being in a brace itself.

She also had hearing aids in both of her ears.

The doctors had confirmed what she had already knew.

She was paralyzed and partially deaf in both ears.

The bullet itself had struck her L5 spinal column, causing extreme laceration.

She would never walk again.

Pepper had also picked one of her pairs of jeans, a t shirt and a unzippered black leather jacket that covered her sling.

Her other arm being in its sleeve.

She breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the warm California sunshine on her face.

She was fiddling with her necklace nervously with her free hand as Rhodey pushed her down the ramp and towards her with Tony walking next to her.

"Oh, Laura…" she crouched down to hug her.

"Hey Pepper." she reached up to hug her best friend as tightly as she could.

The two eventually stopped hugging and Laura noticed the large black leather l bag she was carrying.

"You have my bag?" she asked surprised.

"Yes. You left it on the plane. It has your phone, passport, and other belongings there. I kept an eye on it for you." she said and gave it to her.

"You're a life saver. Thank you." she took it and hugged her again, pulling her down slightly.

Pepper hugged her back again and the two eventually stopped hugging.

Laura slumped down in her chair and Pepper looked over to Tony.

"Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?" he joked.

"Tears of joy. I hate job hunting." she joked back.

"Yeah, vacation's over." Rhodey helped Laura into the back of the car and put her wheelchair in the trunk as the others got in.

"Where to, sir?" Happy asked.

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy." Pepper asked gently.

"No." both Laura and Tony denied.

"No? Tony, you have to go to the hospital. You as well Laura." she argued.

"I got checked out at Bagram. I'm fine." she said, not wanting to spend another minute in one.

After her multiple operations that caused lengthy delay for their arrival to the U.S.

"We don't have to do anything. We…" Tony said while gesturing his finger between him and Laura in front of Pepper's face.

"Have been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger." he asked.

"I could eat three right now!" Laura said as her stomach growled.

"And the other…" he began but she interrupted him.

"Gross."

"That's enough of that." Pepper added.

"...is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now." he asked.

"Call for a press conference?" Pepper asked confused.

"Yeah." he nodded.

"What's going on Tony?" Laura asked with an eyebrow raised.

"You'll see. Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first."


After getting burgers from Burger King, Happy pulled up to the sprawling Stark Industries headquarters in Los Angeles.

Employees and Obie were clapping for them on the sidewalk.

Happy opened the door for Tony and then grabbed Laura's wheelchair for her.

She grabbed the handle and heaved herself into it with her food bag in her lap.

"Thanks Happy." she thanked him.

He placed a quick hand on her shoulder and she smiled up at him as Obie embraced Tony.

"Look at this! Tony. We were going to meet at the hospital." he said amazed.

"No, I'm fine." Tony said while grabbing his food bag.

"Look at you! You had to have a burger, yeah?" Obie joked but looked over to Laura stuffing her face.

"Laura it warms my heart to see you. Take as much time as you need to recover and if you need anything I'm here for you." he reassured her.

"Thanks Obie." she said while pulling out another burger and stuffing it in her mouth.

"Well, come on." Tony said and he and Obie began walking inside.

Pepper pushed Laura behind them inside to the room filled with reporters.

There was a podium up front and they settled in the back.

Laura pulled out her onion rings while a man walked up behind them.

"Ms. Potts? Ms. Watson?" he got their attention.

Laura looked up behind her shoulder while about to eat one and scowled, thinking he was a reporter thanks to his suit and security badge around his neck.

"Yes." Pepper nodded.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" he asked politely.

"No." Laura denied with her mouth full.

"We're not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now." Pepper explained.

"I'm not a reporter. I'm Agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"Never heard of it." Laura insulted and he looked down at her.

"Ms. Watson I'm going to need to debrief both you and Mr. Stark on the circumstances of your escape. I understand this must be a trying time for you but…" he began but she interrupted him with a hand raised.

"No, agent, you have no idea how "trying" of a time this must be for me. I've been on American soil for four hours and I've already been harassed by the FBI, CIA and every other three letter agency. Who, by the way did jack shit to rescue Tony and I, apart from Colonel Rhodes that is. So the last thing I wanna do is talk about what happened over there… or ever. You'll be hearing from my lawyer. Now leave the premises or I'll have you removed. Agent." she hissed while narrowing her eyes at him and turned around to resume eating.

He was calculating his response silently and Pepper was taken aback by her outburst but recover quickly.

"I'll put something in the book, shall I?" she offered politely.

"Thank you. Ms. Watson." he nodded at her who didn't even bother to look back at him.

He walked away and Pepper clenched her shoulder.

"What?" she looked back up at her.

"You could have been… a little bit nicer." she said softly.

"Whatever. I'm never talking to him." she muttered and continued to eat.


Pepper just clenched her shoulder in a comforting manner as Obie walked up to the podium.

"Well, let's get this started, uh…" he got everyone's attention.

"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" Tony asked while he was sitting in front of the podium.

"Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can... A little less formal and..." he rambled while pulling out a burger from his jacket pocket.

Everyone either sat or squatted and Rhodey kneeled next to Laura.

"What's up with the love in?" he asked confused.

"Don't look at me. I don't know what he's up to." Pepper replied.

"Good to see you." Tony tole Obie.

"Good to see you." he said while clenching his shoulder.

"I never got to say goodbye to Dad. I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them." Tony said and Laura frowned, thinking about the ones she was joking and laughing with.

And how they died trying to protect her.

"And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability." he accused.

The reporters began shouting over each other.

"Mr. Stark!" one in the front row asked.

"Hey, Ben." he said calmly.

"What happened over there?" he asked.

"I had my eyes opened." Tony said and walked back around the podium.

"I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International." he declared.

Laura crossed her arm and nodded approvingly as the reporters shouted loudly over each other.

"Until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be." he added.

"I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers." Obie said unimpressed.

"What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." he concluded and walked out.

"Laura did you know about this?" Pepper asked her.

"No but I agree with it. The government can take their contracts and shove it." she spat.

"Well let's just get you home." Pepper turned her around and began walking out.

"Uh… what are you doing?" she asked confused.

"Laura don't you think I'm going to leave you alone for a second. You can't even drive. At least let me stay over in your spare bedroom for a few days to help you get settled in. Please." she asked kindly.

"Fine." she sighed but conceded, agreeing with her reluctantly.


Meanwhile, in Wakanda.

T'Chaka and T'Challa were watching the press conference.

T'Chaka was scanning the crowd on the holographic, trying to spot Laura.

He spotted her in the back with Pepper and paused it.

"Bast, she is alive." he said amazed.

"They say the two escaped." T'Challa stated.

"She still has her necklace." T'Chaka replied.

"But at great cost to her." T'Challa said gravely, seeing the condition she was in. He looked over and saw that his father looked deep in thought.

"Baba?"

"What I'm going to ask of you must be done with great secrecy… and discretion… "


"Well, here we are." Pepper said while pushing Laura into her apartment.

She closed the door behind her, turned on the lights as Laura looked around, seeing how clean it was.

"Uh… Pepper did you clean my apartment?" she asked surprised.

"Yes. I know you're... particular with how clean you want it to be so I wanted it to be perfect when you came back." she replied.

"You can say neat freak it's okay." Laura joked, she smiled.

"I also restocked your fridge and pantry for you." she added.

"Thank you…" Laura said but yawned.

"I'm actually kinda exhausted. I'm going to go to bed." she said.

"Okay. I'll be out here if you need anything." Pepper offered.

She rolled herself down the hall and closed her bedroom door.

After pulling out her pajamas from her dresser and tossing them onto her bed she managed to take her jacket off.

She tossed it on her bed and pulled out the vile with the bullets that struck her in it from her jeans pocket and held them in her palm.

She frowned and released a shuddered breath.

She rolled herself over to her pillow and reached down to pull the blankets over, revealing a safe underneath her bed.

She pressed the code on the keypad and pressed the finger print scanner with her thumb.

"Laura Watson." she activated the voice control to open it, revealing some other possessions of hers.

She placed the vial inside and closed the door.

She rolled herself over to her dresser to get a look of herself in the mirror wheelchair made it difficult.

She took off her necklace and placed it on top.

She tried taking her shirt off.

She struggled with it but couldn't pull her arm out.

She sighed, realizing she wasn't going to be able to do it herself.

"Pepper…" she called out for her.

"Yes…" she said while walking in.

"I'm uh… I'm going to need help changing…" she said while cringing embarrassingly.

"I assumed as much." Pepper nodded, having waited for her to ask.

She walked over to grab her and Laura used her shoulder to balance herself and helped herself up with her shaking arm.

"What happens next stays in this room." she said while blushing.

"Laura this is nothing to be embarrassed about. It's okay to ask for help." she tried comforting her but tears began forming in her eyes.

She collapsed into her chair while crying uncontrollably.

Pepper just hugged the younger woman, seeing how broken she was, both physically and mentally and she cried into her shoulder.

"They died because of me." she choked out.

"What?" Pepper asked confused.

"The soldiers. They all died trying to protect me .All of them. I saw them all die in a horrible way Pepper. Because we put them in danger…" she rambled hysterically but Pepper stopped hugging her.

She clenched her shoulders and looked at her directly in her face.

"Laura it wasn't your fault. Or Tony's." she tried comforting her.

"It was horrible. The past three months over there. In that cave. We barely got out of there alive. And look at me…" she said while sniffing.

Pepper grabbed a tissue box and she used them to dry her eyes and wiped her nose.

"Laura you're the strongest person I know. I promise you everything is going to be okay."

After helping her change and tucking her in bed, Pepper eventually got off the bed once she knew Laura was asleep.

She turned on the ceiling fan and turned off the light.


Flashback to the year 2002

It was Laura's graduation ceremony at M.I.T.

The ceremony had just concluded and a seventeen year old Laura was walking through the crowd in her graduation gown while holding her diplomas outside over to her mother.

"Oh sweetie congratulations. I'm so proud of you." her adoptive mom, a brunette in her fifties, hugged her.

"Thanks mom. I'm just glad it's all over." she said relieved.

"A master's in engineering at 17. I have no words." she said proudly.

"Double master's. Don't forget about the one in computer science." she joked.

Her mom smiled down at her but looked past her to see Tony and Happy walking up to them.

"What?" she turned around to see them.

"Hello Mr. Stark. Nice speech." she complimented his commencement speech.

"I gave a speech? How was it?" he asked Happy.

He shook his head no and she raised an eyebrow at the exchange.

"Can I borrow her for a moment?" he asked her mom.

"Sure." she nodded and the three walked a short distance away.

"So I do these things every year and they're mostly the same but imagine my surprise when I heard about you." he smiled at her.

"And what did you hear about me?" she asked.

"Child genius. Brilliant and unique mind. The next me." he joked.

"The next you may be a bit much." she said humbly.

"That's what I told them. Anyway I'd like for you to work for me." he asked bluntly.

"Me? Really? Wow I wasn't…" she said surprised but he interrupted her.

"Now that would mean long hours. Little time off but…" Happy handed her a sticky note.

She took it and went wide eyed, seeing the large number that would be her salary.

"Well, you certainly gave me a lot to think about Mr. Stark." she said, trying to be smooth.

"Tony." he shook her hand.

"Laura." she nodded while shaking his hand.

"Nah… I like Watson better." he joked.

"Like I never heard that before." she rolled her eyes.

"Well that is your name." he smirked at her.

"So what does that make you Sherlock Holmes?" she crossed her arms.

"Who else would I be?" he smirked.

"Mrs. Hudson." she joked while failing to not smile.

Happy smirked with amusement briefly while Tony tilted his head at her, liking her instantly.

"Don't think too long. I don't like waiting." Tony told her and he and Happy walked away.

"I like her." Happy whispered to her.

"Yeah I like her too."


The next morning, Laura was tossing and turning in her bed, clearly having a nightmare.

"No…" she spoke out loud.

Her eyes clenched tighter as she grabbed the blankets.

"No.. don't…" Pepper heard her from the living room and entered the room.

"Laura…" she said while speed walking over to her.

"Don't…!" she shouted but jolted forwards.

She was looking around frantically while panting but saw she was in her room.

"Laura, it's me. You're in your room. It's okay." Pepper said while sitting on the edge of her bed next to her.

She swallowed in fear and wiped the sweat off of her forehead.

"I'm okay." she said while calming down.

She reached over for one of her hearing aids with her available arm on her side table and placed it in.

Along with her neckbrace.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Pepper asked, knowing she suffered from a nightmare. "

Not really." she mumbled and she sighed.

"Okay. Do you want me to help you get up?" she asked.

"Yes please." After Pepper helped her get ready, put her hair back into it's bun, changed into a pair of jeans and a t shirt.

She slipped on her necklace and was grateful Pepper didn't mention her breakdown the night before.

Or that she felt her scars on her shoulder and the small of her back while she helped her change.

Or how she helped her perform the basic task of changing out her own clothes.

The two were sitting on her couch in the living room, drinking coffee and watching the news from her TV mounted on the wall.

Laura herself was popping in an assortment of pain prescriptions she had sprawled out on her coffee table.

"Stark Industries! I have one recommendation. Ready? Ready? Sell! Sell! Sell! Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells?" was heard and Laura rolled her eyes.

"Listen, Laura…" Pepper got her attention.

"Yeah?" she frowned.

"Those… people over there. They didn't do anything to you did they?" she hinted while emphasizing the word "Do"

"No. I mean they were going to but Tony stopped them. We stopped them because…" suddenly images of the day when they forced her down and pressed a gun to her head flew across her brain.

She gripped her cup tightly and struggled to breath.

Then of images of her killing them.

Her lungs felt like they were constricting.

Sweat began pouring down her forehead and Pepper scooched over to her.

"Laura. It's okay. Just breathe." she clenched her shoulder, realizing what was going on.

After what seemed like an eternity, she looked over to her and managed to regain control.

"I'm okay…" she released the tight grip on the mug so she was just holding it normally.

She wiped the sweat off of her face from and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry Laura I didn't mean to do that to you. And know they didn't do anything. Because they never got the chance. It wasn't your fault Pepper. I'm okay. Truly." she tried reassuring the both of them and took a sip of her coffee.

Pepper frowned, not liking the "they never got the chance" part but chose not to push it right now.

A knock on the door, interrupted them.

She got up and looked through the peep hole to see who it was.

She opened it, revealing Tony.

"Hi Tony." Pepper greeted.

"Hey Pep." he nodded.

Laura looked back at him and raised an eyebrow, not expecting him.

"Hey Watson how are you feeling?" he asked.

"Fine. I guess." she lied, not wanting to talk about the anxiety attack.

He sat down next to her, she put her cup down on the saucer on the coffee table.

Pepper moved to the kitchen table and brought out her laptop to give the two some space.

"Listen, I'm sorry for not giving you a heads up about my plans but…" he began but she put her hand up.

"Tony it's okay. I agree with you. All along I thought we we're protecting our soldiers. America and its interests but it took what happened out there to realize it was all a lie. And we we're always a part of the problem. Who knows how many innocent people have died thanks to our weapons and the mess America has made. There's blood on my hands and I'm glad we're no longer a part of it." she said firmly.

He tilted his head, not expecting her to agree but smiled.

"Well, good. Because I do have plans. Plans that involve this…" he said while tapping his chest piece underneath his shirt.

"Clean energy based on Arc reactor technology?" she asked and he smiled.

"Nobody is in the clean energy game. It could be revolutionary." he said hopefully.

"Did you replace the original chest piece already?" she asked, noticing it.

"Yeah. I had Pepper help me change it earlier." he replied.

"Oh." she said surprised, not even knowing that she left.

"And it's better than weapons." she added and the two smiled at each other.

"How did Obie handle the news?" she asked and he sighed.

"He's going to be a hard sell. But we have control of the board and he said he'd handle the fallout." he answered.

"Well, good." she said and took a drink of her coffee.

Tony glanced around her sparkly clean apartment.

"You know your OCD really shines here." he joked.

"Compared to the shop anything is." she joked back.

He smiled.

"Actually if you're up to it there are somethings I wanna show you back at the house?" he offered.

"What?" she asked curiously.

"Hey Pep, Watson and I are gonna head out for a bit." he alerted her.

"Tony I don't think that's the best idea. It's barely been a day." she argued.

"Pepper it's just a small errand. Staying in here all day isn't going to help. And you know how my mind works. I like keeping busy. I'll be okay with Tony." she reassured her but she looked unconvinced but let her go.


Tony drove her up to his house and parked in the workshop,

He got out quickly, grabbed a wheelchair that was nearby, and helped her out of the car.

"Ms. May I say that it is a relieve to see you again." JARVIS, the A.I. greeted her through the speakers.

"Thanks JARVIS. I missed you too. It's nice to be back." she smiled while plopping in her chair.

"This is gonna get annoying." she told Tony.

"Yes but that's where the surprise comes in." he hinted.

She followed him over and he pushed a more advanced wheelchair out.

"Looks nicer than the one I'm currently in at least." she shrugged her shoulders.

"Well go on. Try it out. This wasn't cheap you know." he smiled at her.

She heaved herself into it and shifted to get comfortable.

The cushion itself was leather, along with arm rests and headrest.

It also had a mouse like control pad by her right hand.

"So how does it feel?" he asked.

"I feel just like Stephen Hawking." she joked and he smiled.

"That's not the only surprise I have." he said and she followed him over to his setup.

"JARVIS open up file Mark l." he asked.

"Yes, sir." it opened up on a monitor.

Laura looked at it, revealing to be a more sleeker more advanced version of the suit they built to escape the cave.

"Wow this looks really advanced. Is this possible?" she asked him.

"Yep. And because it will…" he dragged the suit legs onto the holotable and she went wide eyed, realizing they were supposed to be prosthetic legs.

"Are you saying that I could walk again?" she asked hopefully.

"That depends if your build quality hasn't gotten sloppy." he joked and she smiled.

"So can we get to work?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes but come with me. I wanna speak with someone first." he gestured for her to follow him and she followed him to the R8.

"Who?"