CHAPTER 14
Wow, look, inconsistency in the updating. Hahahah. Who would have guessed? Shoutout to anyone still watching I suppose. What are you guys thinking of the story so far? Too much? Too stupid? Weird? Awesome? Cool? Interesting? I'd love some feedback.
In light of Civil War (Which since it's release, I've already seen twice,) I feel like I might need to clear some things up, just in case.
This will be spoiler free for that movie. It will NOT take place afterwards. Imagine this set between Ultron and Civil War. But like a… UA (Universe alterations, thanks tumblr,) of the Ultron battle. Thanks, and happy reading.
"I tried, okay, I tried to save him!" Jack gasped, feeling his heart clench and his mind go numb as the terrible memories were brought to the surface.
"What happened?" Steve asked.
"Jack…" Ianto murmured. "You could have told us…"
"You don't understand." Jack growled. "This was different. This wasn't… Going down in a blaze of glory against the daleks, or falling on Trenzalore… This was a letter in the mail like… like all the others."
Steve had fallen silent, all too familiar with the concept of a letter, with an unsympathetic signed name of a captain at the bottom, words basically taken from stock. Jack had spun away, pacing across the darkness of the hub, running a hand through his hair and trying to get his thoughts together.
"What happened?" Ianto asked eventually.
"I don't know. I used my vortex manipulator, I talked to all his companions, I teamed up with River Song for god's sake and I couldn't make a damn difference. He's gone, and that's that." Jack snapped.
"Yeah, but what happened?" Bruce stressed. "To this… this Doctor?"
"I don't know." Jack admitted breathlessly. "I got a note in the mail. Blue envelope. It was a goodbye of sorts."
"A goodbye of sorts?" Ianto pressed.
"Yeah, it was written by him, but it didn't sound like him. It didn't sound like him at all. It seemed, robotic, like someone was telling him what to write. It just… said goodbye. Said goodbye to all of us," Jack offered, calming himself down.
"That's horrible," Steve said, and looked like he was about to say more, but was cut off.
"We don't have any more time," Jack snapped suddenly. "We've got to work on finding the others. If they've been gone for so long, well, then maybe we need to get our buts into action and find them."
"Very well, but where do we even start?" Steve asked, but he'd barely finished the sentence when the phone rang.
Pepper was having one hell of a few months.
Tony had stopped taking her calls, Nobody, actually, had been answering her anymore. Jarvis apparently didn't have a trace of him anymore, giving his last location to be somewhere on the edge of Cardiff, of all places. Director Fury hadn't had anymore information either.
She'd been out shopping, the large grocery store bustling and moving on as normal, barely a thought to her lost friends or, more likely, completely unaware. The cashier had been nice, not particularly chatty, and Pepper had moved on in a sullen daze, wondering when, if ever, she'd find them again.
This all happened within about two weeks.
The beginning of week three woke Pepper up with Jarvis announcing she had a visitor at the door. That, and the consistent pounding of someone in the lobby once Pepper got closer. She quickly dressed herself, smoothed out her hair, tried her very best to not look on the verge of tears at any given moment, and went down to greet her guest.
A dark skinned women greeted her, large brown eyes frantic and hair pinned up in a bun. She wore a red leather jacket, and Pepper didn't recognize her to be in any status within any company, and she felt immediately put off that someone had woken her up for… propaganda, or something.
The woman flashed a badge, and Pepper was more interested.
Was that Unit? Like the SHIELD of actual government law.
"How can I help you?" Pepper asked, crossing her arms.
"My name is Doctor Martha Jones, from Unit," she said with military like confidence. The woman had already moved past the door and into her house. "And I wouldn't be bothering you ma'am, unless I had other options."
"What do you mean, other options," Pepper stammered.
"As you may have known, the worlds been tipping a little upside down lately," Martha began, pacing almost nervously around the space. "And with the disappearance of your husband and his team-"
"I'm definitely not married-"
"I don't keep up with celebrity drama," Martha re-interrupted.
Pepper raised an eye.
"Alright, I don't care for your attitude. Now cut the cheap military crap and tell me what's going on," Pepper snapped, and the two women found themselves face to face.
"Crazy aliens are killing everything," Martha said dryly. Pepper thought for a moment.
"Alright, add a little of the military thing…?"
"An alien species called the Weeping Angels have been attacking choice citizens all around the world, in time and space. Now I've encountered them before, I knew how to deal with them. And I had a little warning. I have reason to believe that Donna Noble has already been detained, and Mickey has also been taken. The status of Rose Tyler and Sarah-Jane Smith are uncertain."
"Well, that made a whole bunch of less sense," Pepper muttered. "What do you want me to do? Aliens? I'm not really the fighting type, I run a company."
"Virginia Potts, you are definitely the fighting type, and Mr. Stark needs you. So do the rest of the Avengers. I told you, I don't have any other options. They've already tried to get me once." Martha begged.
"Fine, fine, what do you need."
"I need you to come to London with me, specifically, 13 Bannerman Road." Martha decided. "And we're going to save the world this time. We don't have anyone else to rely on."
Pepper nodded, finding the girl oddly encouraging, albeit a little morbid.
"Alright, I'll arrange a flight right away."