When he stopped by the kitchen to drop off his empty smoothie bottle, Tony almost missed the note tucked under the edge of the cutting board: We're in the pool, if you want to come down.

"Friday, are they still in the pool?"

"Yes, boss."

He didn't need to ask who'd written the note; he'd recognize Steve's old-timey handwriting anywhere. "Are they going to ask where I've been?"

"Unknown. When there were inquiries about your location, I told them you were not to be disturbed. Such inquiries ceased after Captain Rogers informed them of your insomnia."

"So they're going to think I was napping. Could be worse."

He meandered down to the pool and sank onto a bench near Vision, who greeted him. "Good morning."

"Morning," Tony replied lazily, his eyes sweeping over the water. The team was doing lap drills again, so he wouldn't have been able to participate anyway. Rhodey wasn't there, either, so he briefly checked in with Friday; Rhodey was with the Bartons, for whatever reason, but at least he was accounted for.

Now that he was sitting and not doing anything, his exhaustion was catching up with him. He buried his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and leaned back against the tile wall.

"How good of you to join us," Clint called from two lanes over as he pulled himself out of the water. "I thought maybe you were rethinking the whole team thing."

"What, do I need a doctor's note to miss a swim lesson? Besides, I've already done my pool time today."

"You just know you couldn't keep up."

"Yep, but it doesn't matter. If I'm in the water on a mission, I won't need to worry about swim strokes because I'll have repulsors."

Clint laughed before diving back under. Vision turned to Tony. "What if your repulsors aren't functional?"

Tony stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankle. "Then someone's going to have to rescue my ass, or I'll have to get out of the armor. The suit is way too heavy to keep above water."

"That is a troubling notion," Vision commented as he returned his gaze to their wet teammates.

"I guess." He wasn't too troubled, though, since they hadn't yet had a mission where being stranded in water was a possibility, much less a likelihood, and the manual release mechanisms improved with every suit design. The suit itself was also marginally lighter than it had been several iterations ago, but there wasn't much he could do there without sacrificing durability and armor integrity. Unless he changed the materials, that is, but sufficient vibranium wasn't going to come his way anytime soon.

Somewhere in musing about how he could convince T'Challa to part with a portion of his stores, Tony lost complete track of time and his surroundings. The lapping water made for soothing background noise, and it was only when he realized he couldn't hear it or the others' voices echoing off the walls that he woke up.

Somehow he had been moved from the bench by the pool to . . . where was he? He shifted slightly; from the feel of it (and the ache in his hip), he was back on his old friend, the couch. How they'd gotten him there without him waking up was uncertain, but he'd wager Wanda was involved in the not-waking part and Vision in the moving part, though Steve was also a possibility.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes, then blinked several times to clear his vision.

"Glad you could join us, old timer," Sam said from where he stood a few feet away.

Tony yawned. "Get off my lawn," he grumbled.

"Lunch is ready whenever you are. The rest of us have already eaten."

He stood and stretched, frowning when he opened his eyes to find Sam still standing there, watching him. "What, are you waiting for me to keel over?"

Sam chuckled. "Nah. I figure if I stay here, you won't."

"I won't whether you're there or not. Guaranteed." Tony moved away from the couch and toward the kitchen, passing where Rhodey and Steve were playing chess while Wanda watched.

"Hey, Tony," Rhodey said. "Am I as doomed as I think I am?"

Tony paused a moment to review the board. "Yep."

"I thought I might have it this time," Rhodey said with a sigh. He gestured toward Wanda. "You want to give it a go after I lose horribly?"

Wanda protested that she didn't know how to play. Rhodey offered to be her opponent while Steve coached her, and at that point Tony stopped listening. Lunch had been BLT sandwiches with avocado, so he assembled a sandwich (generous on the avocado; he'd lived in California long enough to appreciate their merits) and grabbed a banana. Sam was still following him.

"What the hell do you want?" Tony finally demanded when Sam sat down at the table with him.

"Two things: first, to ask if you're all right. It's not normal to nap this much."

"I didn't sleep last night. Leave me alone," Tony said around a bite of his sandwich.

"Whatever you say, gramps," Sam replied. "Second, to tell you I'm going with you to the hospital tomorrow."

"Oh, really? Who elected you?"

"Rhodes."

Tony glanced over to the chess game. Wanda and Steve were switching places and Rhodey was setting up the board. Rhodey briefly looked toward the table and met his gaze; Tony nodded to him and Rhodey nodded back before returning his attention to the board. "Yeah, okay."

"Is anyone else coming?"

"I hadn't thought about it. Do we need anyone else?"

"That depends on whether you want someone to guard your stuff while we're away from the room."

"Seems like a waste of time. It's not like I'll be bringing anything important."

"It might be better to be safe than sorry, you know?"

"I'll think about it."

Sam nodded and finally left him alone. Tony pulled out his phone and wrote a message to Pepper while he finished eating. He cleaned up his dishes, put away the rest of the food, and loaded the dishwasher before wandering back to the group at the chess board.

He had opinions about how Rhodey was playing, though at least he was faring better against Wanda than against Steve. Tony gave him a few suggestions, but then his phone vibrated in his pocket. "Good luck," he said, standing up and starting to move away.

"You're abandoning me already?"

"It's Pepper," he said, shrugging.

"I see how it is." Rhodey waved him away. "Go on, lover boy."

His phone was already at his ear. "Hello, beautiful." He made it through the doors into the hallway before the conversation could go any further so there was little risk of being overheard. Still, he headed for the elevator to go somewhere more private.

"You had to know I'd call after that cryptic message you sent me. What happened this morning?"

Now that the moment had arrived, he felt almost shy about admitting it. But she deserved to know, after all she'd put up with. "I talked to a therapist. Like, had an appointment and everything." He resisted the urge to stay safely enclosed in the elevator and headed for his workshop. He could sit under the table there, if he still felt this need to curl up and hide.

He heard her take a deep breath. "Oh Tony, I'm so glad. And yes, I'm proud of you for doing that," she said earnestly. "How did it go?"

"Good. And long. But good." He told her the gist of what they'd talked about while idly spinning around on his workshop stool.

"I don't know if I should ask this, but do you think you'll go back again?"

"Yes," he said simply. "You can go ahead and say 'I told you so' now."

"That's . . . that's really good, Tony." She sounded relieved. "When have I ever been the sort of person to say 'I told you so'?"

"I can think of a few times. More than a few. We both know I've deserved it on a number of occasions. More often than not, in fact."

"That's very true. Well then, I told you so."

"Is there anything else you think I should be doing, oh wise and wonderful Pepper? I might listen now."

She laughed. "No you won't," she said. "But I do want you to call me when you get back tomorrow. I'm sorry I won't be with you."

"Don't be. Sam is coming, at Rhodey's request."

"Good. He can handle you."

"I think the medical people will do a good enough job of that."

"Maybe." Pepper sighed. "I need to go. Take care of yourself, and call me tomorrow."

"I will," he promised. "Love you."

The line went dead and he took a moment to check his messages for the first time all day. There was one from Dr. Mann, of course, reminding him to show up at the hospital and not to eat or drink after midnight. Everything else had either already been directed to the appropriate Avenger working group or was something he didn't care enough about to acknowledge.

He returned upstairs, curious how the chess game was going, if it was still going. It was, with Sam and Steve playing while Wanda and Rhodey watched. Tony sat next to Rhodey and watched Wanda rather than the game. He knew very little about her mental abilities aside from what she had said and done that other night, and his curiosity was winning out over his wariness of what she could do.

Eventually she felt him staring and shot him a look of confusion. Rather than speak, he pictured Vision carrying him from the pool to the couch and waited to see what she would do. Her brow furrowed as she continued looking at him. He tapped his temple, then pointed to her.

Finally, understanding. "I don't do that to allies, it upsets them," she said.

"I'm giving you permission. I want to see what you can do."

She visibly hesitated, then straightened her back. "As you wish."

It might have been his imagination, but he thought he could feel her presence in his mind a moment later. He certainly noticed the way she was moving her fingers in her lap and how her eyes turned slightly reddish. He thought of the same image again; it changed to show Steve carrying him.

Tony brought up an image of Vision.

An image of Ross appeared, accompanied by a feeling of unease.

He frowned, then thought of Ross in the conference room to confirm he was understanding what she meant.

She nodded.

He tilted his head slightly to the side as he considered how else to test her. He thought a question at her, but she didn't seem to pick that up. A memory of Steve and his team at the airport was countered with a view from her perspective of Iron Man and his compatriots.

"It works in images, not words?"

"Images and emotions," she said. "Why?"

He shrugged. "I'm curious. Can you see things that I'm not actively thinking about?"

The response was a rapid succession of images: reading to Lila, watching Pepper from the bed as she got dressed, the Iron Man armor designs as they had looked last week, Bruce staring at a screen while they were trying to figure out using the scepter to create Ultron.

He responded by closing his eyes and bringing forward what he remembered of the video of his parents' deaths.

Her answer was the wave of grief and pain she'd felt when Pietro died.

Tony opened his eyes and had to clear his throat before he could speak. "I understand. You should stop now."

She almost visibly withdrew into herself, saying nothing. The red in her eyes faded away.

"Would anyone care to tell me why Ross was here today?"

"Apparently he doesn't have enough to do as Secretary of State," Rhodey said sarcastically.

"It was nothing, really," Sam said. "He wanted to chat about the mission and any intel we might have gathered."

"We did not admit to collecting any of the data from the base," Vision added, rising up through the floor.

"Vis!" Wanda exclaimed disapprovingly.

"I would have been too late for the conversation had I arrived in another fashion," Vision told her, then addressed everyone. "Secretary Ross seemed satisfied with what we told him."

"Has anyone started looking at what we got from the base?" Tony asked.

"Not yet. Is it decrypted or translated or whatever else it needed?" Rhodey said.

"I thought so." Tony checked quickly on his phone. "Yep, it's ready when we are. I've started the scan for names and patterns, but we'll have to go through it ourselves if there's anything else we're looking for."

"We can talk about that when the game is finished," Steve said as he moved one of his pieces.

"I'm guessing I'll be done soon," Sam grumbled as he considered his possible moves.

"He's got you cornered," Tony agreed.

Sam sighed and conceded. He, Steve, and Rhodey started discussing what they wanted to check the HYDRA documents for, but Tony returned to contemplating Wanda and her mental capabilities. Having her read minds could be useful against opponents even if she didn't manipulate their thoughts. Also, some communication during fights might be easier in pictures rather than words.

When Tony checked back in on the conversation, everyone else was looking at Vision, who seemed to be concentrating. He was about to ask what was going on when Vision spoke. "There are six additional locations of current or recent HYDRA stations in the new documents. All of them are also mentioned in the SHIELD files leaked by Natasha."

"Why didn't we find out about them sooner, if they're in the old documents?" Rhodey asked.

"They were not yet decrypted."

"Is there enough information in the old documents to convince the U.N. this is something we need to pursue?" Sam asked next.

Wanda looked confused. "Why?"

"We didn't tell Ross about the new intel, so unless we can argue our case based on the old information, we either have to admit to withholding information or take care of this under the table."

"Which would be a nightmare if it's ever found out," Tony said sourly. "Unless you liked the Raft."

Vision went still for a moment, then reported, "The information available in the documents for four of the locations is approximately equivalent to what we had for the base we successfully defeated."

"So we get permission for the four, then hope we find something there to point to the other two. Easy," Tony said with a shrug, dismissing the entire conversation and returning to his previous train of thought.

"Will that be enough?" Sam asked doubtfully. "Last time the primary reason they had us go was that threat toward the U.N."

Rhodey was about to chime in when Tony interrupted. "Wanda, how close do you have to be to someone to see into their mind?"

"Tony," Steve said sharply. "You can't resort to underhanded methods to get what you want."

"I'm just asking," Tony said defensively. "It's something we can use in a fight."

"No."

"So you're willing to let me go through their files, but not let her go through their minds? How is that any different?"

"It's not the same thing," Steve protested. "Files are meant to be seen and used. A person's thoughts and memories are private."

"Privacy is a myth. Or didn't you notice that I've developed a way to project a person's memories? It's just the next step toward where we're going."

"Someone has to choose to use that system before it will work. What you're talking about takes away the option to choose."

"I'm sorry, I thought they chose to be part of HYDRA. Are you saying we should be giving them opportunities to switch allegiance rather than just blowing them up like you've been doing?"

"You're missing the point," Steve said heatedly. "We're talking about convincing the U.N. to let us go after these HYDRA bases."

"I'm talking about what happens when we do hit the bases. We all know it will have to be done eventually. If you're worried about convincing the U.N., get Nat to help. She's good at persuading people to do things and making it seem like it was their idea all along."

Steve took a deep breath, then nodded. "Finishing off HYDRA is something we need to do. I'll work with Natasha on making the case to the U.N. panel but the rest of you should prepare as if they'll approve. We need to figure out when to strike, and in what order."

"I may have a few suggestions," Vision said.

"Good. Hash it out with Sam and Rhodey. We'll discuss our options this evening."

Orders given, Steve left to find Nat. The others were left gathered around the chessboard. Tony turned to Vision. "If you can get through the data that fast, why weren't you the one hacking the files at the base?"

"I interact with the data, I do not copy it," Vision answered. "While I have been able to bypass the security mechanisms that I have encountered, there would still need to be a way to download the files for our later perusal."

"We can figure something out," Tony said. "You're an android, you've got to have someplace to store information."

"It is possible," Vision said, not sounding convinced.

Sam suggested they move elsewhere to discuss the plans, so he, Vision, and Rhodey went over to the conference table to strategize. Tony returned his attention to Wanda. "How close do you have to be?"

"I have only done it from very close. A few feet away at most," Wanda said after she'd thought about it for a minute. "In Sokovia, I spread fear and a desire to leave. I did not manipulate the people's thoughts."

"So, spreading emotion within roughly a half mile works. But you haven't tried reading a mind at any distance?" Tony persisted.

"No," she admitted. "After the Captain said we would not use those methods, I did not try to practice."

"Whoa, what are we talking about?" Clint asked, coming up behind Wanda and crossing his arms across his chest.

"Wanda's ability to read people and potentially influence their thoughts," Tony said. "I'm thinking it can be a useful strategy for the arsenal. Steve doesn't agree. Big surprise."

"Mind control is a bad way to do things," Clint said resolutely.

"I'm not talking about mind control, I'm talking about finding out what people know. Keycodes for doors. The layout of a building. Anything else that can be remembered. I think we can use her abilities to better effect than just flinging cars at people." He gave Clint a long look.

"Yeah, okay," Clint said. "I can think of a few times something like that would've been nice to have."

Tony turned back to Wanda. "What do you think? Are you willing to give it a shot?"

"Sure," she said with a slight shrug.

"This is what we're going to do." He explained an experiment based upon him leaving the room and then thinking of chess layouts that Wanda would have to recreate on the board. Then Clint would send Tony a picture of the board to determine if she'd correctly read his mind.

As Tony had suspected, Wanda's range was better than her past attempts would indicate. She successfully read him from a variety of distances, even on different floors. Clint let him know that she couldn't read him when he was two floors down and on the opposite side of the building, so he returned to the common room.

Wanda was holding her head with both hands.

"Headache?" he asked sympathetically.

"It happens. It will pass," she said stoically.

"We should try that with someone else, later," Tony said. "There may be a difference in how easily you can read people."

"Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it isn't," Wanda agreed. "You are not hard."

"I don't know if I should be flattered or offended," Tony said. "Who do you think would be hard?"

"Natasha," Wanda said almost immediately, then glanced at Clint. "And maybe you. I haven't had contact with your mind."

"And I'd like to keep it that way," Clint said.

Tony had Wanda rank the Avengers according to how easily she thought she would be able to read their minds. "We'll have to test this in case it's useful in fights," Tony said, looking over the list that Friday had made up as Wanda made her decisions. "And we'd better hope our opponents don't ever have similar abilities, not with Steve, me, and Vision all at the easy end."

That thought troubled him through dinner and into the meeting about their new targets. What was the likelihood of encountering another being capable of reading minds? Was there any way to protect one's mind from intrusion? These and other questions he never thought he'd be asking crowded his mind. I'm just a man in a can, he recalled saying once, and it felt equally true now. He could think of a lot of things, anticipate a lot of things, but stuff like this . . . this was beyond him.

He tried to pay attention to Vision's explanation of the information they had on each base or outpost or whatever, but it was difficult to focus when it seemed unlikely that he'd participate in the raids. Also, he was definitely starting to feel the effects of his sleepless night. He pulled out his phone and messaged Pepper. She responded fairly quickly, and the conversation continued in a rapid back-and-forth until Rhodey knocked on the table next to him. "Heads up, we're done here."

Tony looked around quickly; he and Rhodey were the only ones left at the table. "Sorry," he mumbled, slipping his phone into his pocket and standing quickly.

"I won the bet, so no apologies are necessary," Rhodey said, falling into step next to him as they left the room.

"What bet?"

"Whether or not you'd notice if everyone left."

"What did I miss?"

"We're hoping to start hitting these locations within a week. Other than that, not much. You can skim the documents yourself faster than it took us to talk our way through them."

"Right. Good night," Tony said, perhaps a little brusquely. Rhodey didn't comment, though, and said good night in return. Tony closed his door and pulled out his phone again, replying to Pepper twice before he got around to changing for bed, his thoughts jumping frenetically from one worry to another.