Tony nodded, feeling a slight surge of dread – or maybe seeing the expression on Peter's face and translating it into such. Either way, he replied to Friday.
"If she isn't already heading that way, ask her to meet us in the lounge," he requested. "And tell Steve, Nick, Natasha and Clint that we'd appreciate it if they would assemble there, as well."
"And the guardians," Peter added.
They seemed to have some kind of affinity for this Xandar place, after all.
"And our guests," Tony added, knowing Friday would take care of it. He looked at T'Challa. "Coming?"
"Of course." The young king hesitated, though, looking at his sister. "I do not know if-"
"Oh, I am going to go, as well, brother," she interrupted. "If this is an indication of what is to come, then I need to hear for myself the aftermath of these power stones. It will be the best way for me to judge if the shield I am creating with Peter will be strong enough or if we should take the time to produce something even more powerful."
T'Challa looked at Stark, who shrugged.
"She's your sister," he pointed out, telling him as simply as he could that it was his call. "But she has a point."
Besides, Shuri was cool and calm most of the time, and would be a good steadying influence for Peter, who was a heatsink of uncertainty at the best of times.
"Fine."
They all headed for the lounge, then, with Peter and Groot walking with Pepper. She frowned, looking up at the kitten still trapped within the small branches – although he didn't look to be in any distress.
"How did you do that?" she asked the tree, directly.
"I am groot."
Rather than wait for Peter to translate, he held up his hand and immediately little wooden tendrils began growing, literally branching out, smoothly, like fingernails growing at an impossible rate. Then they retracted back, and the tree looked at her, growing the area around the kitten just a little.
"That's amazing," Pepper said, making Groot smile.
They didn't have time for any other conversation, then, because a happy bark drew their attention as Steve and Jack came around the corner in the corridor, pausing when he saw them heading his direction.
"Carol's back?"
"So we're told," Tony confirmed. "I asked Friday to point her to the lounge."
"I'll walk with you, then."
They weren't too far away by then, but they picked up Clint on their way and when the small group entered the lounge, they saw Carol was just sitting down at the table in the corner, and everyone headed that direction. Behind them, Quill and Gamora were walking in, as well, Drax and Mantis not there but Rocket entering with Strange, Natasha and Wong.
"You okay?" Steve asked, before anyone else could, as they drew close to Carol.
She forced a smile, but Peter wasn't the only one to see her expression look somewhat bleak.
"It's not pretty," she said, and Steve went to the bar while the others all sat down or gathered around to stand near at hand. They were all silent, though, waiting for everyone to show up before actually starting. Drax walked in just as Steve returned to the table, setting a cup of something warm in front of her.
"It's tea," he told her, unnecessarily. "With honey and a little lemon."
"Thank you."
Natasha glanced at Steve and then Carol, but didn't say anything, and Peter heard a purely mental snort of amusement in the back of his mind, but Alec didn't say anything.
"What did you find?" Quill asked, impatiently.
"The planet's been decimated," she said. "There were plenty of people who had been off world when Thanos came, but they had a few satellites in position to record what happened and when I arrived they were willing to show me – although they didn't share the footage, and I can't blame them."
"What happened?" Tony asked, reaching silently for Pepper's hand under the table.
"A massive army came, with Thanos in the vanguard – surrounded by an array of creatures. Thanos demanded the stone and they refused. There was an exchange of words, a threat of decimating the planet and the populace with the still arriving army. He apparently gave them a sample of what resistance would give them and took out three major cities." She glanced at Tony. "They unleashed these creatures, Tony… they tore – literally – through the population, and didn't differentiate between who was being killed. Whoever was guarding the stone handed it over, and Thanos recalled the army – and the creatures."
"That's awful," Rocket said, softly.
"He put the stone in a metallic glove of some kind on his hand, and when his army was out of the way he unleashed the stone onto the planet."
"How long ago was that?"
"A few weeks ago, now."
Tony looked over at Peter, obviously doing the math and thinking back to the day that they'd discussed what Peter had mentioned having a dream about one of the stones being angry.
"So he is collecting the infinity stones…" Gamora said, softly.
"I'd say so, yes," Carol agreed. "And without remorse."
"We need to get Vision and Wanda here, Tony," Stephen said, looking concerned. And with good reason, since he was keeper of one of the stones, and it was obvious that the stone's very presence was going to put the planet in danger. "The Mind stone is in danger, and we're better off with Vision close by where we can protect him – and it."
The billionaire looked at Peter.
"Can you handle that?"
Meaning was he going to be alright with the Mind stone so close and for an unknown length of time.
"You'll be fine," Alec told Peter, confidently, who nodded.
"Yeah."
"We still don't know that he's coming here, next," Tony reminded them. "There are other stones out there that he's looking for."
"Did anyone warn Thor, yet?" Pepper asked, reminding them all that she was paying attention to where all the locations of the stones were.
"Not, yet."
"I will handle that," Wong assured them.
"He comes by portal though, if he comes," Tony reminded him. "If you're willing. I don't want the Bifrost anywhere near us."
Near Peter, was more the case, but it amounted to the same thing.
Wong nodded his agreement, but didn't say anything.
"Your stone is safe?" Clint asked Strange.
"It's buried in the sanctum, and will stay there – for now."
"And if Thanos comes?"
"He doesn't know the Time stone is on the planet," Tony pointed out. "I'm more worried about this prophesy, really, and Thanos finding out about it. If he comes here," and they all knew Tony was convinced that he was going to. "Then he's going to be looking for Peter, not for any stones – at least not yet."
"We need to be ready," Danvers said. "I'm not going to let him do to Earth what he did to Xandar."
"Agreed," Natasha said, and the others nodded their agreement, expressions once more ranging from worried to resolute.
"Yeah." Tony looked at Steve. "The military liaisons are on their way?"
They had to let the military know what was going on, after all. They were going to be important to providing the numbers to offset the massed army that Carol warned them about.
"They'll be here by morning."
"You'll handle them?"
"Of course."
"Alright. Peter and Shuri are talking rail guns for the compound," he said. "No offense to them, but I'd rather someone with a little more experience with field of fire was in charge of actual decisions on where to place them for best effect."
"We'll take care of it." Steve looked at Quill, Gamora and Drax. "You know what he has better than anyone. Can we pick your brains?"
"I'm not going to-"
Gamora put her hand up to stop Drax's automatic refusal, knowing that the turn of phrase Rogers used would confuse things.
"Yes. We'll help wherever we can."
They wanted Thanos to fall, as well, of course, and Earth seemed to be their best bet.
Peter's phone rang, then, and he glanced at it, but turned it off. At Pepper's questioning look he shrugged.
"It's Ned. I'll call him, later."
"You guys good with the shield, still?" Tony asked Shuri.
"We are."
"Let Friday know if you need anything."
That was clearly a dismissal, but neither teen was offended. They were being trusted to work on an important part of the compound's defense, and were determined to make sure they did it right.
Tony, of course, was more concerned with keeping Peter occupied at the same time. The shield was important, of course, and Peter and Shuri were a perfect team to work on it, but if Peter was busy, then he wasn't going to stress. If Peter wasn't stressing, then Pepper wasn't going to be stressing, as much, either. Which was all to the good.
They all watched as Peter and Shuri left, once more with Groot going with them, and then Tony turned his attention to Carol.
"You look beat. Get some rest, okay?"
She rolled her eyes, but nodded.
"Yes, dad."
Which made Tony smile.
He could live with that.