TITLE: Iron Maiden - Days of Future Past
DISCLAIMER: The Marvel Cinematic Universe characters and everything from Earth-199999 belongs to Marvel under the umbrella of The Mouse of Doom, ahem, sorry, Disney... anything from other Marvel Universes / dimensions / timelines belong to their respective comic creators… basically, if you recognise it, it isn't mine... Please don't sic SHIELD on me, I'm just here for the fun.
Stark Mansion
10880 Malibu Point
Malibu
California
January 30th, 2010
Pepper Potts was dubious, bordering on worried as she drove up to the Stark Mansion.
It was late in the afternoon now, and while she had received a message from JARVIS saying Mr Stark had requested her presence at the mansion, JARVIS had been clear to note that it wasn't an emergency and that she should only come as soon as she was available.
Tony asking for her presence was... worrying, but the fact it wasn't urgent gave her a bit of breathing room. However it didn't mean that he hadn't done something monumentally stupid again, it just meant that he wasn't dying or anything like that.
It had only been three months since that whole thing with Stane, and the company was still recovering from dropping out of the weapons business. While she definitely approved with the new direction the company was taking, it didn't make her days any easier since she had to deal with so many disgruntled emails and employees trying to make their cases to Tony.
It was a headache, but it was starting to slow down thankfully. Now she could only hope that Tony hadn't done anything crazy again, or hadn't injured himself doing something stupid in that armour of his.
She honestly didn't know what to expect as she pulled up outside the mansion and got out of her car. It could be absolutely anything knowing Tony. All she could do was take a deep breath and walk inside.
The mansion looked in good shape, tidy and organised, at least on the main floor. She could hear voices, one that she recognised as Tony's, so she followed the sound of them through to the back of the mansion where she could feel cool air being blown through the main floor from.
What she walked into was... probably nowhere near her list of possibilities.
To start with, Tony was sat on the leather couches with a bottle of water in one hand, a smile on his face, fully clothed and happily chatting with a young woman that was sitting opposite him.
He wasn't just happily talking, he was engaged, passionately discussing something and gesticulating with his hands in a way she hadn't seen for a very long time now. Since before Afghanistan and everything that had happened since.
The woman was a surprise, she was drinking from a bottle of water as well, and definitely wasn't what she'd come to expect from young woman visiting the mansion. For one thing she was younger, probably in her early twenties, and wearing comfortable jeans, cowboy boots, and a loose fit sleeveless top with a band logo across the chest.
Her deep brown hair had a light auburn shimmer to it in the sun as she argued back with Tony about something, using her hands as she talked and gesturing wildly to get her point across.
There was another... woman, or something sat with them. She was glowing purple and sat on the couch next to the young woman, apparently relaxed and listening to what was being said, but it was hard to actually figure out what she was as apparently she was just made of solid purple colours, everything from her skin, hair, eyes and every piece of clothing that she could see.
What Pepper definitely hadn't expected was a big trash can that had been pulled over to the side of the room and stood just outside on the patio, filled with bottles of alcohol and the crystal decanter's from around the mansion.
"Tony?" Pepper asked, a worried look on her face as she walked into the room, honestly curious what was going on here but very worried about the amount of alcohol bottles that had apparently been thrown in the trash close to Tony.
"Pep!" Tony beamed, actually standing up from the couch and bounding over to her.
Pepper watched his steps carefully, he wasn't drunk, his movements were sure and precise, so that was one worry gone, but didn't answer the question as to why the massive amount of liquor bottles had been thrown in the trash like that.
"Tony? What's going on?" Pepper asked, curiously looking around the room as the young woman stood up, looking at her with familiarity and a warm smile that bordered on loving. She even caught the build up of some small tears in the woman's eyes before she swiped them away quickly.
"Planning, and... mostly planning and house cleaning," Tony admitted, gesturing for Pepper to come over to the couches and join them. "Water?"
"You're drinking water? Willingly?" Pepper asked dubiously, that was a BIG personality shift from the last time she'd seen Tony in person only a few days ago. Back then he'd actually had one of those fancy crystal decanter's full of bourbon down in his workshop, and was making his way through it at a frightening speed.
"Yup, and I definitely need to up my stock of mixers. I'm out of fresh OJ, and the only other things I've got in the house are things like carbonated water. Which is not nice on it's own." Tony practically gagged at his confession.
"Angry water," The woman commented with a wry smile.
"Definitely, it tastes like running a battery over my tongue," Tony shuddered. "Why anyone would drink that is beyond me." He muttered in disgust.
"And the bottles in the trash?" Pepper asked, pointedly looking over to the overflowing trash can outside.
"All full," Tony shook his head. "No more, I'm on the wagon for good."
"You?" Pepper asked, staring at him in shock. "Tony, is this... I don't even know what this is?" She asked, frowning at the wild shift in personality. "What's going on?"
"Right, you'd better sit down." Tony took a deep breath, directing Pepper over to the couches.
"Tony..." Pepper groaned, but followed Tony's directions and moved to sit down on one of the spare couches, casting a curious glance over to where the young woman sat back down next to the purple woman, both were watching her with fond smiles. "Sorry, who are you both?" She asked.
"Right, uh... Pep, this is Morgan." Tony said with a wave of his hand as he sat down. "And FAITH."
"Alright," Pepper nodded, happy that Tony could actually remember the women's names. That was definitely a step up from his usual nocturnal misadventures.
"Right," Tony sat down, taking a deep breath before he turned to face Pepper properly. "This is Morgan... Morgan Stark." He said, making sure to catch Pepper's eye so that she knew he was being serious about this.
"Tony..." Pepper breathed out as a warning. "Is this another paternity thing, because..."
"No, nothing like that." Tony interrupted quickly, holding his hands up to halt Pepper's rant. "You're gonna have to bare with me because I don't know how to explain this without going pretty deep into quantum physics and theoretical stuff that would make even my head spin." He explained.
"Talk Tony," Pepper narrowed her eyes at him.
"Alright, so... time travel," Tony held his hand up to stop Pepper's interruption. "No joke. I figured it out. Well, not me, future me. Some time in..." He paused, looking over to the young woman.
"Twenty twenty three," Morgan nodded at him.
"In thirteen years I'll figure it out," Tony continued on. "No, not a joke. No, I'm not drunk, or on drugs, or having a nervous breakdown." He rattled off quickly, spotting how Pepper was about to interrupt again. "This is serious, and there's proof." He said firmly.
"Proof, of time travel?" Pepper asked dubiously.
"Really," Tony nodded. "Ask FAITH, go on... ask her something about something that's coming up, something I would have no knowledge about." He said with an earnest nod, gesturing towards the softly glowing purple woman.
"Tony... I don't even know what's going on here, or who Faith is?" Pepper asked, looking over to the purple woman with a dubious glance.
"She's an AI, ninth generation Stark AI." Morgan said with a smile. "Yes, she knows you already." She explained with a small laugh when Pepper looked at her dubiously.
"Fine, I'll play along for now." Pepper rolled her eyes. "Today I had a meeting with the Expo event organisers. One of the companies that wants stage time is asking some ridiculous questions. What company is it?" She asked pointedly.
The purple woman cocked her head to the side for a second before turning her attention fully onto Pepper. "Your schedule included six meetings today. You met with the Stark Expo committee at one seventeen. The meeting was about Hammer Technology's wanting a prime time stage for the opening week of the Expo." She rattled off easily.
"How'd Hammer's stage thing go?" Tony asked curiously, smirking as he saw Pepper's shocked expression.
"Not well," FAITH admitted.
Pepper startled slightly as a large holographic screen appeared in front of them all, showing Justin Hammer actually dancing ridiculously on a stage in front of a large audience.
"What... how..." Pepper breathed out, captivated as she watched Justin Hammer prancing around before he came to stand at the front of the stage and started talking aloud into an ear set microphone.
"Oh come on, what are those?" Tony rolled his eyes, staring as the screen showed the stage separating various areas apart, and dozens of high tech suit looking drones raising up as Hammer waved his hands towards them in a ridiculous dance, indicating which set of drones was designed for which branch of the military. "The military is actually trusting Hammer with this stuff?" He demanded, his disdain for Hammer tech coming across clearly in his voice.
"Tony..." Pepper frowned, watching as Hammer actually stood aside and a very recognisable form rose up from underneath the stage. "Wait, that's one of your suits!" Pepper frowned.
"How did the military get hold of that?" Tony demanded. "Wait, freeze that... did he just say that's Rhodey?!" Tony shouted as he stood up from the couch. "FAITH? Explain?" He span around, staring at the AI.
"Lieutenant Colonel James Rupert Rhodes, code name War Machine." FAITH responded. "The suit repurposed as the War Machine Mark One was originally taken by James Rhodes from Mr Stark's armoury during his fortieth birthday celebration on the tenth of May twenty ten."
"He took my suit?" Tony demanded, a bit offended than Rhodey hadn't just come to him and asked about it.
"The Mark Three suit was then repurposed and adapted by the US Air force in conjunction with Hammer Technologies." FAITH continued. "Upon it's first conflict with Ivan Vanko, seventy three percent of Hammer installed weapons failed. The following year it was upgraded by Mr Stark, before being repurposed again by the Air Force, and given the name Iron Patriot."
"Well, that name sucks ass. Sucker's bet that that was a politicians idea to try and latch on to some publicity with the right wing patriotic assholes out there." Tony muttered, shaking his head in disgust. "Wait, is this... is this how Rhodey got paralysed?" He asked, turning to Morgan now.
"Yeah," Morgan nodded. "It was... it's a long story, but yeah. It was a big battle, you were there and a few others. Uncle Eightball got hit with some friendly fire but he was flying at the time, I've got the suit footage somewhere but..."
"No, no..." Tony breathed out, shaking his head. He definitely didn't want to see that, he wasn't sure if his heart could take seeing Rhodey injured like that.
"Tony... what... what is all this?" Pepper stared, unable to tear her eyes away from the screen hanging in mid air.
"FAITH, skip forward. You got anything about Pep?" Tony asked curiously.
"Virginia Potts. Made CEO of Stark Industries in the spring of twenty ten. Married Anthony Stark on August twenty seventh, twenty eighteen. Gave birth to Morgan Hannah Stark on December twenty ninth, twenty eighteen. As CEO of Stark Industries, she took the company global on July nineteenth, twenty twenty four, renaming the enterprise Stark International." FAITH reported.
"That's enough for now," Morgan cut FAITH off before she could go into details about her mom's cancer and failed chemotherapy. She could see her mom looked stressed enough as it is.
"Pep?" Tony asked, looking to where Pepper's eyes were flicking around the room, wide and shocked.
"This... this isn't a joke, is it?" Pepper stammered out, looking between them and the footage being shown on the holographic screen. "Time travel is real?" She asked, while her mind was still circling around the fact that apparently she'd got married to Tony while apparently quite pregnant with their daughter.
"It's real," Morgan nodded, making a gesture towards the screen and causing it to fade away into nothingness. "Hi mom." She breathed out with a small smile.
"Mom?" Pepper bit out, laughing nervously. "Oh my god, I'm... you're... Tony?!" She stammered out. "I'm a mom?" She demanded.
"Hasn't actually hit me yet, not properly," Tony admitted. "And yeah, I really wanted a drink when my brain caught up with that."
"But you didn't?" Pepper asked, latching on to this conversation rather than dealing with the truly terrifying thought of her and Tony actually having a child together.
"I was about to..." Tony started.
"I cut him off," Morgan said with a firm nod. "My choice, I've been dry for a few years now, don't want to start again."
"You... you had a problem?" Pepper asked, not sure if she actually wanted the answer to that or not.
"Apparently me and the kid had more than genes in common," Tony grimaced, walking back to the couch and sitting down heavily on the leather. "Both drank ourselves stupid rather than dealing with grief." He admitted, rubbing his forehead before reaching for the bottle of water again. "Kid got therapy for it though."
"Uncle Eightball," Morgan nodded. "Said he'd seen you spiral before and didn't want me to hit rock bottom as hard as you did." She explained.
"Great," Tony sighed. "At least I'm a warning story to my own kid." He groaned, letting his head fall back onto the backrest of the couch. "FAITH, any projections on me staying sober from now on?"
"Upcoming events that include problems caused by your alcohol abuse include your fortieth birthday event, causing significant damage to Stark Mansion, along with the theft of the Mark Three Iron Man suit and some minor law suits for small injuries." FAITH reported. "Several minor events due to drunk behaviour and the events of your intoxication were used as justification in Senator Sterns' attempts to seize the Iron Man technology for the United States military, something he succeeded in with Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes."
"Well there's no way Rhodey would be working for Sterns' if he knew." Tony muttered, rubbing his temples as he tried to figure that cluster fuck out.
"Tony... I don't... I don't even know what to say here." Pepper admitted, looking between Tony and Morgan. Now that she was focusing on it, she could see the similarities. The same chocolate brown eyes, the jawline, the narrow nose. The casual and relaxed slump that hid confidence and an untouchable will.
"I've been trying to figure that out all afternoon," Tony admitted, leaning forward on the couch and resting his elbows on his knees. "At the moment, my brain's still latched on to making you the CEO, and apparently you did great with it."
"Tony," Pepper groaned out, shaking her head in frustration. "How... how is this even possible?"
"You hated me trying to explain most of the tech I worked on before, you sure you want quantum physics and theoretical stuff right now?" Morgan asked with a very familiar smirk, causing Pepper to quickly shake her head in response.
"Basically, the world's going to hell." Tony explained, slapping his thighs before he stood up again. "Aliens, invasions, stupid people with powers, more aliens, wacky space marbles. It's a mess."
"That's more polite than I would'a been." Morgan huffed at him, getting a roll of Tony's eyes in response. "OK, yeah, it's a mess."
"You... you came back in time to fix things?" Pepper asked, staring at Morgan again. "And the fact I can actually ask that with a straight face and not wonder what drugs you are on, honestly terrifies me." She breathed out, shaking her head in horror at how this afternoon had gone. "And aliens, alien invasions, you're serious?!"
"Yeah, I got stuck on that one too." Tony muttered, shaking his head in bemusement as he paced around the room. "Twenty twelve right?" He asked, getting a nod from Morgan in response. "Two years to get ready for an alien invasion, because that's apparently going to be a thing." He huffed in annoyance.
"I don't even know what to say to that," Pepper admitted. "Is there... what... what can we do against aliens?" She asked, horrified that her life was apparently about to turn into some low budget B-rated science fiction drama thing.
"The New York invasion?" Morgan asked. "It's sorta complicated. They bottle necked themselves coming through a portal over the city, so it makes it pretty easy to deal with things as they come through, not a massive army all at once." She explained. "FAITH, break down the Chitauri weakness for me?" She asked.
"The Chitauri are a cybernetic military race under the direct command of Thanos. As a hive mind controlled by a direct mothership, they are weak to a tactical strike against the commanding vessel, rendering the entire army inert." FAITH reported casually. "Individually a Chitauri soldier is above average human strength, speed and dexterity, but is far less resilient to physical trauma, necessitating high grade armour and cybernetic enhancements."
"Take out the mothership, and no more army?" Tony mused, nodding thoughtfully. "A stupid enemy with an easily exploitable weakness, my favourite kind." He said with a small smirk. "How'd the battle go last time?" He asked curiously.
"The invasion of New York was led by Loki Odinson on May fourth twenty twelve. The Chitauri forces were finally defeated by Tony Stark, who destroyed the Chitauri mothership using a SHIELD enhanced nuclear warhead that had been launched at Manhattan with the intent of containing the invasion." FAITH reported.
"Whoa, whoa there." Tony interrupted before FAITH could continue. "SHIELD fired a nuke at New York?" He demanded.
"Yeah," Morgan nodded. "Like I said, SHIELD aren't the good guys. They're fighting aliens, but they'll happily screw over anyone they can if it gives them a leg up and keeps them in control of things." She explained. "SWORD came after, basically SHIELD just rebranded. They tried a dozen times to steal Stark tech, mom held them off but I know outright they got at least one or two warehouses full of your stuff before mom got the injunctions sorted."
"So we can't trust SHIELD, great." Tony groaned, rubbing his temples again. "So, what, it's just me and you against an entire alien army?" He asked, disbelief covering his face as he looked to Morgan in hope.
"Hopefully not," Morgan frowned thoughtfully. "Well, not counting Uncle Eightball, I think there's two people we can apparently trust, but they're with SHIELD right now." She explained. "And I say 'apparently'," She added with quote marks. "Because jury's still out on that one."
"You just said we can't trust SHIELD," Tony pointed out.
"Yeah, I know... well, one of them, in the future. He came to me, realised how much of a dick he'd been. Apparently realising you helped create the apocalypse kinda makes you rethink your life of being an asshole." Morgan explained with a smirk.
Tony snorted out a laugh at that, but had to grin in agreement with Morgan's comment.
"He recorded some messages for the version of him back now and his... I don't know, partner I guess?" Morgan shrugged. "I never met her, so I've got no idea. But Clint said we can trust her to take the shot if we need to, we just need to give her the weapons."
"Right," Tony frowned, not really knowing how to take that. "So... four of us, five, maybe? Against an alien army?" He asked. "Not great odds." He commented.
"Five of us using technology from thirty five years in the future," Morgan pointed out with a grin. "Armour, AI's, everything, not to mention I already know exactly when and where everything is going to happen."
"Point," Tony conceded, nodding in agreement with Morgan's comment there. "And keep Pepper safe too, because if we're kicking over a whole host of anthills here, she's going to be the one people look at when they can't target us." He pointed out, his focus going directly to Pepper when he noticed her wide eyes.
"Oh yeah, I got that too." Morgan grinned, jumping up from the couch and dashing off, running out of the room and heading down the spiral staircase that led down to Tony's workshop.
"Tony... this is... I don't even know what this is," Pepper admitted. "Aliens? Time travel? We have a daughter somehow?" She demanded. "How is all of this even remotely possible?"
"I think it's just going to get crazier from here on," Tony admitted with a sigh. "Seriously Pep, you should see her armour. It's... I don't know, a thousand improvements over mine. It makes Iron Man look like a fossil in comparison." He exclaimed with a huff of annoyance.
"She's got her own armour too?!" Pepper demanded. "Tony... I don't... how am I supposed to cope with all of this? My daughter... my grown up daughter... I can't even wrap my head around that idea!" She hissed out.
"I never even thought I'd be a dad," Tony admitted, shaking his head and looking at the futuristic Arc reactor core that Morgan had left on the side table near the couch from where she'd been talking about it with him and showing some of the features off. "Always figured I'd turn out like my dad, but apparently I did something right... and you raised her well enough to kick ass and figure out things I couldn't even dream of." He pointed out.
"I raised her... Tony..." Pepper frowned. "You're... you're not there in the future, are you?" She asked with a worried expression, her eyes flicking over to the purple woman that seemed to be just watching them. "When did Tony die?" She asked.
"Mr Stark's death was recorded during the Thanos Invasion on October seventeenth, twenty twenty three. The official cause of death was noted as extreme gamma radiation exposure coupled with existing cardiac trauma." FAITH reported.
"There it is," Tony grimaced, not liking the sound of his impending death one bit, he was about to ask for more details when Morgan came sprinting back into the room, holding a small black velvet bag in one hand. "What you got there?" He asked curiously.
"Mom's old bits," Morgan explained, coming to stand in the room before holding the velvet bag out for Pepper to take. "I told you, I grabbed everything important before I came back here." She explained.
"What..." Pepper frowned as she accepted the bag, loosening the tied top before tipping the bag out into her hand. The elegant diamond ring definitely caught her eye, but the two rather solid filigree bracelets were a surprise, along with an elegant silver and blue watch.
"Hold on... did I make those?" Tony interrupted, leaning down to get a closer look at the jewellery. "Not the ring obviously, but there's something... I know my own work when I see it." He clarified when Pepper looked at him curiously.
"Yeah," Morgan smiled with a nod. "The watch was linked to FRIDAY, it's got a miniature Arc reactor under the smart watch casing, and a small nanite pool. Enough for a hand repulsor or some forearm armour, not much else."
"Security and defence, I approve of myself," Tony smirked happily.
"Same with the bracelets. Two miniature Arc reactors. Full nanite pools. It's a full armour, but mom said she hated the chest reactor thing, so you put it in bracelets instead." Morgan explained.
"Wait, this... these are an armoured suit?" Pepper asked, staring at the rather elegant bracelets in surprise.
"FAITH, bring up the RESCUE Mark Two designs will you." Morgan said with a quick glance over to the AI. Tony immediately span around as the screen shifted into appearance again, showing a familiar armour design that looked somewhere between one of his designs, and the armour he'd seen Morgan arrive in.
"Hold on, Pep gets nanotech from..." Tony trailed off, looking at the designs on the holographic screen. "Twenty twenty nine? I never finished this?" He pointed out, looking back to Morgan.
"I did, mom wore the Mark One suit during the last invasion, I know you always wanted mom to have the best protection though." Morgan explained. "I added some of my own touches. Hard light shields, reactive armour, updates to FRIDAY's code so she could take over the suit controls." She said with a small shrug. "I've got no idea where your old base for TADASHI went, I'm missing that one, EDITH, and a couple of others I think. SHIELD probably stole them away before mom got chance to chase everything down" She said with a scowl at the thought.
"Well, that's annoying." Tony frowned, but giving his firm approval to anything that kept Pepper more protected. "But to my point, how come Pep gets fancy nanotech from the future, but I don't?" He huffed with a small pout.
"Because any of the later nanite reactor designs would conflict with the current Arc reactor housed in your chest grand-boss." FAITH responded before Morgan had chance to, causing Tony to spin to face her with a mock hurt expression on his face.
"She's right," Morgan grinned at him. "You can't use any of the later designs until you get that antique out of your chest." She pointed up to the glowing Arc reactor under his t-shirt.
"Stop, just... slow down for a moment." Pepper said firmly, standing up from the couch. "First off, I'm fully in favour of getting that... thing out of your chest as soon as possible. If the promise of a fancy new toy is what it takes to make that happen... then fine." She huffed, shaking her head as both Tony and Morgan made unimpressed noises at the idea of nanotech suits being called 'toys'. "But how on Earth are we going to do this? Preparing for an alien invasion, on our own? Nobody is going to believe us."
"Point," Tony nodded. "Me, Rhodey, and you, not exactly great odds against an alien army. Not counting two unknowns that we don't know if we can trust or not." He conceded the last with a nod to Morgan. "Two years isn't exactly long enough to put anything serious into action either."
"What about the Air Force?" Pepper asked. "Talk with Jim? Do you have anything that could... I don't know, boost our chances against an alien army?" She asked, looking to Morgan hopefully.
"Probably," Morgan frowned thoughtfully. "I'd have to go through things, make a few adjustments. But there should be something from Avionics that I could probably re-purpose for the Air Force." She mused aloud.
"Avionics? The Aviation division got an upgrade then?" Tony asked, actually curious now.
"Oh, yeah, redesigned repulsor tech, Stark Aviation has the cleanest jets in the world. International flights, private and the big ones that carry about eight hundred people at a time." Morgan nodded absently. "I should be able to knock together something small, a one man craft maybe? Targeted energy weapons, shields... yeah, it's doable."
"I know that look," Pepper frowned as she looked down at Morgan, recognising the same look she had that Tony always got when he was focusing on a new exciting challenge. "OK," She paused taking a deep breath. "I need to know everything, literally everything that's coming. I need options, ideas, and I need to know who our enemies are." She said.
"I need food," Tony mused absently, draining the last of his bottle of water before tossing it over to the bin outside.
"God yes, cheeseburgers?" Morgan asked hopefully.
"You read my mind," Tony grinned down at her. "JARVIS, we got burgers?"
"Indeed sir, igniting the barbecue now. The pantry is stocked with everything you should need." JARVIS' voice came clearly through the mansion.
"Great, food first." Tony grinned happily. "I'll get the meat going. FAITH, when I get back, I need a top ten shit list. The ten most dangerous enemies we need to take out ASAP." He said with a glance towards the AI as he walked around the couch. "Anyone that's an up and coming threat, to Pepper, Morgan, to me, all of them."
"Sure thing grand-boss," FAITH chirped happily.
"Still wrong, so wrong." Tony shuddered as he headed out of the room, intent on grabbing as many burgers and bits as he could to enjoy a proper meal tonight.
Silence stretched on for a bit, with Pepper torn between staring at the jewellery in her hands, and looking at the woman that apparently her daughter had grown up to become. It was all so... fantastical. Like something out of a movie somewhere.
Time travel, alien invasions. Flying suits of armour and holographic artificial intelligence sitting on the couch and made of purple light. Nothing made sense anymore.
"This is awkward," Morgan broke the silence with a small smirk over towards Pepper. "You doing OK?"
"Honestly... I don't know?" Pepper admitted. "I don't think any of it has really sunk in yet." She said with a small frown. "You're... my daughter?" She asked, getting a nod and a small smile in response. "I raised you after... after Tony died?"
"Yeah," Morgan nodded. "I've got some photos of the old lakeside compound that you and dad used to have. We moved out a couple of years after dad died." She explained.
"That... that must have been hard," Pepper said, moving to sit back down on the couch opposite Morgan. "Did... did we move somewhere nice?"
"Oh yeah, our home in Spain was amazing," Morgan grinned happily, apparently very proud of the home she remembered the most. "You loved it there, there was this gorgeous orchard out back, we used to have picnics out there under the trees." She explained with a fond smile. "And a huge willow tree down by the river, it was your favourite spot to sit and relax."
"It sounds beautiful," Pepper smiled, seeing how happy Morgan was describing everything. "I can't imagine moving to Spain, I don't even speak Spanish." She exclaimed with a slightly hysterical laugh.
"You learnt," Morgan laughed back, happy to be here and laughing with her mom once more like they used to. "We took lessons together, and Uncle Eightball. Uncle Happy already knew it all, so he helped me practice."
"Uncle Eightball?" Pepper asked.
"Rhodey," Tony explained, coming back into the living room carrying plenty of burgers, burger bugs, cheese, and bacon rashers. "Apparently he went bald. I haven't seen photos, but it's on my list!" He cackled happily. "The kid nicknamed him Eightball when they were playing pool in college. I want the full story by the way, and photos, video, everything!" He grinned.
"Jim lost his hair?" Pepper laughed before slapping her hand over her mouth in surprise. "He moved to Spain with us?" She asked curiously.
"Uhuh," Morgan nodded as Tony walked through, heading outside to take the food out towards the barbecue. "He'd the head of the SI Aviation. Runs everything from engineering and tests, they even have their own R 'n' D division that only works on planes, repulsor engines, stuff like that." She explained with a wide smile.
"That's... that's amazing," Pepper smiled at that, happy that Jim had actually joined SI properly.
"Yeah, apparently you and the kid took Stark International after I kicked the bucket," Tony smirked at the uncomfortable phrasing as he walked back into the relaxing area by the doors. "Gotta say, Rhodey... Eightball, that's his new nickname now, him as the head of SIA, I can totally see it." He nodded with an approving smile.
"It's a lot to take in," Pepper admitted.
"Oh yeah," Tony nodded in agreement. "Come on, might as well sit outside while the food's cooking." He said, gesturing for them to follow him. He watched in curiosity as Morgan stood up, doing something with her watch before FAITH's glowing purple avatar vanished from the room so she could pick up her Arc reactor from the table. "We're going to have to do something about that. Also, that hard light tech? I want it in every room. I need to design a proper avatar for JARVIS as well. Seeing him interact with his great great grandkid... I need it." He laughed as he led the way outside to the pool area where true to word the barbecue was already lit with half a dozen burgers happily sizzling away over the flames.
"I've got the schematics for the projectors, but there's no way I'm going to get them working on twenty ten tech." Morgan shook her head. "I'll need silicone fabricators first, get the processors up to date... making the tools to make the tools." She explained with a frown. "Honestly I think I might be able to get processing nodes down to one point five nanometer, that'll lead the way to true quantum processing, then we'll have the processing power to run true AI's and hard light systems, along with actually building proper nanite supplies."
"Makes sense," Tony nodded, moving to stand by the barbecue while Morgan and Pepper took sets at the table nearby. "The fabs at SI won't go that low, not a chance. We'd have to invest in an entire new run to start getting them up to scratch first. Custom fabricators, silicone wafers, updated transistor designs, the whole thing."
"I'll transfer the designs over to JARVIS," Morgan nodded. "I've got all the specs for Uncle Eightball's armour too, but until we've got nanite reactors it's all going to be limited to solid plate designs."
"How advanced is that?" Pepper asked curiously, having placed all the jewellery from her hands onto the table and was still flicking her eyes back to the solitaire diamond ring, unsure what that ring actually meant now and if she should even be carrying it.
"Twenty eighteen, maybe twenty twenty?" Morgan mused thoughtfully. "Some of the later designs might have stuff I can work with better. The shoulder mounted railgun would definitely be a huge help during the invasion."
"I can see that," Tony nodded, idly flipping the burgers before draping some bacon over them. "I'm not letting the military get their hands on the suit though, especially with future tech inside. It's a SI suit, and they can accept that or they don't go near it."
"Fair," Morgan nodded. "That'll stop that Iron Patriot crap as well."
"Definitely a good thing," Tony nodded fervently at that, much to Pepper's confusion.
"Can we just... I know saving the world and alien invasions is an important thing... but what sort of time scale are we talking about here?" Pepper asked hopefully.
"Actually, a pretty good one from what I've been able to piece together so far," Tony admitted. "Twenty twelve right? That's the invasion?" He asked, looking over from the barbecue towards Morgan.
"Yeah, then we don't get a repeat performance until twenty eighteen." Morgan nodded. "Those are the big threats, there's some other crap that comes up to deal with, but most of it can be cut off early."
"And we can't just... stop the invasion somehow? Stop them from coming altogether?" Pepper asked hopefully.
Morgan actually grimaced at that, leaning back in her chair slightly. "I mean, maybe..." She admitted, shaking her head. "The problem is, during the invasion the leading moron actually brings one of the infinity stones to Earth."
"The mystic marbles you talked about?" Tony asked curiously. "I don't have the full story either," He shrugged when Pepper looked at him.
"Right," Morgan nodded. "There's six of them, really powerful stones. SHIELD is playing with one, that's how the whole invasion thing started. Thanos, he's the guy actually behind everything, he's hunting for the stones."
"Why?" Pepper asked curiously.
"Because he's a lunatic? And an asshole?" Morgan shrugged, getting a frown from Pepper about her language. "No, seriously, he used the stones to wipe out half of every living being in the universe. Trillions and trillions of people, dead in a single second." She explained. "That's how powerful these stones are, we're talking God like power."
"The fact one of those is in SHIELD's hands, is legitimately terrifying." Tony said, having nearly dropped his spatula when Morgan had talked about Thanos' plan.
"Keeping the stones away from Thanos is the most important thing, that's the game, we manage that and kill him before he gets them, we win." Morgan explained. "But he doesn't come to Earth until twenty eighteen, so if we can get this stone from the New York invasion..."
"That's one he doesn't have," Tony nodded, seeing where Morgan was going. "Two, if we count the one SHIELD has." He pointed out.
"Three," Morgan smiled at him. "There's another one on Earth, but you REALLY don't want to pick a fight with the people that have it. Thanos doesn't even know about that one, and doesn't come for it until twenty eighteen, so I figure it's best left where it is right now so we don't screw things up and don't know where it'll end up."
"Point," Tony nodded, flipping the burgers over to make sure the other side was properly cooked before draping some cheese over the tops.
"Can we just take an evening then? This whole time travel thing... I don't even know where to start with that... but... you're my daughter, so can we just get to know each other without the whole end of the world hanging over the conversation?" Pepper asked hopefully.
"I'm for that," Tony smiled happily, sliding the burgers into the buns before serving them up onto plates. "An evening won't change anything, and I'm pretty excited to learn more stories about what you got up to in the future," He grinned as he came over to the table, happily putting the plates down in front of everyone before sliding a chair out for himself. "And Rhodey and Happy and everyone else. And your college days, wait, you went to ETH right? University then."
"ETH?" Pepper asked, looking between the two.
"Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich," Morgan rattled off with a fluent accent. "The Swiss university, it's the leading place for cybernetics and bio-engineering. Seriously, their semester on nerve translation between digital and biological nerve clusters was what got me to break through and create the engineered spinal cord, before that we'd just been making arms and legs, but in my last year I figured out the nerve translation matrix that we use to actually give bionic arms real sensations and feelings in the fingertips and other sensation pads." She explained, happily biting into her burger as Tony and Pepper stared at her in awe.
"Replacement... spinal cords? You mentioned that but with everything else you said..." Tony asked, holding his burger half way to his mouth in shock.
"Kinda, not really," Morgan wobbled her burger from side to side as she spoke. "Replacement disks and a synthetic fibrous nerve thread, you don't need to replace the entire spine in one go, just the nerves and sequence some of the individual cartilaginous discs. I think the record is six disk replacements in one go, that was a huge thing from what I saw."
"You can do that? Make replacement arms? Legs for people?" Pepper asked, the shock visible on her face.
"Yeah," Morgan nodded. "Dad actually started the program with Uncle Eightball, it was just an exo-skeleton for his legs, but he started work on researching the idea of cybernetic vertebrae to replace the damaged disks a year or two before... you know." She trailed off with a shrug. "I just continued the research and figured out the nerve translation matrix for attachments and sensations. The arms and legs are some of the biggest things for Stark Medical, we've got huge contracts with government's all over Europe for vets and disabled people."
"Can you build those now? I mean, with the technology we have today?" Pepper asked in awe.
"Uh? Maybe?" Morgan frowned, chewing on her burger as she thought about it. "I'd have to get some of the processing hardware sized down, the circuit boards would need to be completely redesigned, and I've got no idea about the nerve matrix because that's based on Q processing nodes, it just wouldn't work in binary."
"There's no way we're getting quantum processors this year," Tony shook his head. "You want to get down to one point five nodes first, that's going to be a miracle and will be a game changer for the computer industry. Processors, GPU's, phones, tablets, everything. Simply getting down to a one point five fab will break the silicone industry wide open."
"But you could design them? Build them but they wouldn't be able to feel sensations through them?" Pepper asked. "They'd still be able to use them like normal limbs?" She clarified.
"Yeah, that's not hard, I've probably got my old designs saved somewhere, or dad's old research on arms." Morgan nodded before taking a big bite of her burger. "The ones I designed for Uncle Eightball had a micro Arc reactor for power, but for public stuff we used a wireless charging node. Easy enough for people to disconnect and charge every couple of weeks."
"Weeks?" Tony blinked. "OK, I'm seriously going to have to have a look at your battery specs sometime." He grinned, making another note about another industry they were about to break wide open.
"You should talk to Rhodey," Pepper said, looking to Tony now. "Make a presentation for the Expo. Replacement limbs for veterans would be a huge thing, that would be world wide news and could help millions of people." She explained.
"Hnh," Tony grunted while chewing his burger, thinking about the logistics of it. It would definitely be a huge thing, and the military contract would be a massive publicity boost. The idea of actually changing millions of peoples lives like that, improving them, and actually making up for some of the damage his weapons caused... yeah, it would be huge. "I'm already planning on getting Rhodey down here next time he's on leave, but I could probably get in touch and bounce some ideas around with the Air Force, see what their temperature is on things." He said with a nod. "Starting Stark Medical a few decades early sounds like a good idea to me."
"No more business tonight though," Pepper said with a warm smile over towards Morgan. "Why don't you start by telling us some more about you? You said you grew up in Spain? And went to university in Zurich?" She asked, tilting her head as she actually looked at Morgan's clothes and evaluated what sort of woman she had grown up to be. "I can tell you inherited your father's style and taste in music." She commented with a wry smile as she noted the Iron Maiden sleeveless shirt.
Morgan snorted in amusement at that, grinning over to her mom. "Yeah, Uncle Eightball always used to listen to these oldies, said my dad loved them, so it kinda became a way for me to get to know him through his favourite music." She explained with a shrug. "The Iron Maiden thing just kinda happened though. The press decided on the name, and I didn't say anything about it. You taught me better than to try and argue with the media." She explained with a nod over to Pepper.
"They called you Iron Maiden?" Tony grinned in amusement, barking out a laugh at the idea. "What did the band say?" He asked, biting into his burger and watching in amusement.
"It was a whole thing," Morgan laughed shaking her head. "They actually loved it. Apparently your thing for AC/DC was pretty well known, so they sent me a ton of merch, t-shirts, hoodies, everything, and did a whole social media post about loving that I'd chosen the name."
"Beating a law suit by enjoying kick ass music, I love it." Tony grinned happily. "Wonder if I can get them for the Expo? Some awesome music for an introduction, could be a fun gig." He mused thoughtfully, anyone that was willing to play along and not kick up a fuss like that were people he could get along with. Hell, he could even try to get AC/DC along with them, a full lineup of kick ass bands.
"Why don't you tell us more about your school years and college?" Pepper asked hopefully. "You went to school in Spain?" She asked curiously.
"Uhuh, there was this awesome private school up in the mountains, kick ass view. I started there after..." Morgan explained, happy to actually sit down and actually get to know her parents while they were young, and alive, and now have a chance to change the future for the better.