By the time the group was finished eating – and many had lingered over a final cup of coffee – or tea – and some somewhat idle conversation, the large group of odd individuals knew a little more about each other. Steve and the military guys had released the guard units and had given a very casual debrief of how the population in the area had reacted to the movements.

"Most just shrugged it off," Steve said. "We told them it was for an experiment going on at the compound and that was all that was needed."

"Some hung out and watched at a distance," Lyle said, still somewhat awed at the company that he was keeping.

True, he was the right hand of a general, but this was the Avengers, after all, and don't even get him started on the aliens in the group.

Tony shrugged.

"That can't be helped," he replied. "And there isn't anything secret about it. Besides, if they see a shield like that, it's just going to make this place more secure. The word will spread that we have a cool new toy."

He looked over at Shuri as he said it, and winked.

The Wakandan princess smiled, pleased at the praise.

"Speaking of the new toy," Steve said. "I'm ready to hear exactly how the test went and what we can expect from the thing."

"We set up a debrief in the small theater – rather than a conference room," Natasha told them. "The guard commanders need to be present for enough of it to find out what their roles will be if something happens, so we'll need the extra space."

Everyone started to get up, but Vision turned to Tony.

"I would like a word with you and Peter, please?"

His face rarely showed expression – even though he worked on them, constantly, but there was something about the request that made Wanda's expression turn pained, and Pepper noticed, instantly. She was incredibly adept at reading people (she had to be to make the mergers, deals and business decisions that she did every day – not to mention dealing with Tony and his sideline group of superheroes) and she had no trouble reading Wanda, just then.

"And myself," Pepper added, inviting herself.

"Of course," Vision agreed.

Tony had planned on doing the debrief on the shield, but he looked over at Shuri, who was watching, and he smiled.

"It's your shield, little girl," he told her – and from him, the title wasn't an insult. Especially since she knew he was impressed by her. "Think you can explain to them how it works and what it does?"

She smiled at that.

"Of course."

Stark watched as Clint slid up behind Peter, wrapping his arms around the boy – cloak and all – and started wrestling him to the ground, burning a little energy and helping Peter do the same.

"You might need to use little words for some of them…" he added.

Clint looked up, holding Peter, still, but trying to move his head to avoid the cloak as it tugged on his ear.

"I heard that…"

Natasha chuckled, and offered Peter a hand up before she and the others began to head for the door.

"We'll catch up," Tony assured them. He turned to Vision. "Let's go to our quarters."

He had a feeling they were going to want a little privacy.

OOOOOO

They were silent as they walked, but that wasn't unusual for Vision – or Wanda. Vision really didn't have the capacity to make small talk (although it was another thing that he was practicing) and Wanda's abilities made small talk pretty much unnecessary. She knew how others were doing without needing to ask them, and certainly wasn't interested in the weather very often.

When they reached the entrance to Tony and Pepper's suite of rooms, however, she looked at Peter.

"How are you handling being so close to the mind stone?"

He hesitated, uncertain why she looked so tense – as if afraid he was going to give her the wrong answer.

"I'm okay. Really."

If he was hoping that that reassured her, he was wrong. Her expression tensed, even more.

"No pain? No fever?"

He shook his head, and then tilted it to avoid the cloak's caress on his ear.

"No. Nothing more than I'm getting having the cloak all over me, right now. It's not too bad, anymore. Alec can buffer it, and he does."

"What's going on, Wanda?" Tony asked. "Why do you look worried? Beyond what we already know is going on, that is?"

He hadn't missed how tense she was, either.

"She is upset, Tony," Vision said, before Wanda could. "We are having a bit of a disagreement."

Wanda scowled – something Peter hadn't seen her do, before – and there was a flash of annoyance across her lovely face. He felt Alec stir inside his mind, and knew the ancient sorcerer had read something in her that he wasn't sharing, just then. Unusual, since Wanda's mind was almost certainly a closed book to others because of her abilities.

"Yes. Because you're determined to kill yourself," she snapped. "Of course I'm upset."

"I won't die."

"Wait…" Tony help up his hand. "One of you tell me what's going on."

He didn't want two such powerful personalities squabbling in his close quarters. That was a recipe for disaster.

"He wants to give Peter the stone," Wanda said.

There was a thundering silence in the room at the statement, and it was Pepper who finally spoke.

"What?" she asked. "You mean the mind stone?"

Vision nodded.

"Yes."

"You can do that?" Pepper asked, looking at the stone in the middle of the construct's forehead. "Won't… I mean… it's part of you, right? Wouldn't you die?"

"I'm technically not alive as you think of the term," Vision told her, calmly. "But no. The stone gives me enormous power, but it isn't what keeps my synapsis connected. I would still retain my connection-"

"You'd lose almost everything," Wanda interrupted.

"Why would you want to do that?" Tony asked. He looked at Peter, who was staring, dumbly, at all of them. "She's right. The mind stone is what gives you the ability to animate. You'd be nothing more than a super-hyped quantum computer without it."

Vision shrug.

"It's necessary. The stone itself has been telling me this."

"It wants you to give it to Peter?" Pepper repeated.

"I can't wield it," Peter objected, appalled at the idea. "It'd kill me."

"You will have to think of a way," Vision told him. "Because it is necessary that you do. A gauntlet would be best – such as the one Gamora has described that Thanos wears. With the mind stone and the time stone both in your control, you-"

"Stephen has the time stone," Tony interrupted.

"For now," Vision agreed. "But that will change. When it needs to. Peter is destined to face Thanos, and in order to do so, he's going to need as much power to back him up as he can handle."

"They'd kill me…" Peter said. "I can't-"

"Wait. This isn't a good idea," Pepper told them all. "He's right. They'll kill him."

"Not to mention, we need you at your best when Thanos comes," Tony added. "You're too valuable an ally to let you do this."

Vision shrugged, and Wanda scowled, again.

"He has a different role in mind for himself," she said. "Once you remove the stone."

"What?" Tony asked, curiously.

The construct looked at Pepper and at Tony.

"You're building a new suit."

He didn't need to ask how Vision knew that. Vision knew everything. He was connected to Friday and every computer, network and system on the planet. There was very little he didn't know.

"Yes. For Pepper."

"An amazing new suit. That will be capable of everything that your Ironman suit can do."

"Right. Although she won't be able to utilize it all, of course."

"Because…?"

"Because I can't teach her to use it in the short time we have – presuming everything happens as soon as people are thinking that it's going to happen…"

"I can."

"What?"

"I can teach her to use it. I helped you learn how to use your initial suit."

Tony frowned.

"You didn't. You weren't even around. It was JAR-"

"JARVIS…" Vision finished. "And he's a part of me. I know everything the new suit can and will be able to do, and Friday can't effectively be the AI for both."

"You want to be Rescue's AI?" Peter asked, shocked.

"It would be the best role for me with the stone gone. The best way for me to contribute."