Gwen walked off the Quinjet and onto the helipad at Stark Towers, though all it said currently was A. She was surprised the Quinjet could actually land there after the battle. Pepper was nearby waiting for her. Gwen rushed over. She immediately noticed a ridiculously large diamond engagement ring. She almost said something but let it go. Pepper seemed pretty stressed.
"Thank you so much for coming. We can really use help. The government was pushing hard against Tony letting anyone back inside the perimeter until you forced SHIELD's hand."
Gwen nodded and hurried to keep up with Pepper's rapid pace. Pepper had at least six inches on Gwen, so her stride was longer. As they rode the elevator down a few floors Pepper glanced down at Gwen.
"He's been a bit manic since the battle. Started redesigning the towers top floors. Working on a new design for a helicarrier, Quinjets. New armor. He's been all over the place."
Gwen looked at Pepper's engagement ring.
"Yet he still found time to propose?"
Pepper blushed and fiddled with the ring.
"How do you know it was him?"
Gwen smiled.
"I've seen the way he looks at you. Is this a 'we'll do it one day' or did you set a date?"
Pepper shook her head.
"He wanted to do it yesterday! I told him we should maybe give it time. He almost died."
Gwen shrugged.
"Well either he's freaking out because he almost died and is struggling to deal with it, or he realized he will not live forever and its time he stopped putting off the things that matter. Either way rushing into it is probably a bad idea. Unless you're pregnant. Oh my god my dad would so demand I get married if I got pregnant. Anyway, if he's working on tech stuff, he should probably just get Martha. Compared to her I'm basically a primitive hick."
Pepper shook her head.
"No, he doesn't want her anywhere near here. So far the general public has no idea who she is, he wants to keep it that way."
Gwen nodded. She followed Pepper off the elevator. Tony was currently working with a large holo-display that had what she recognized to be a massive repulsor engine on it. He was wearing a T-shirt and was still looking pretty banged up from the battle. He had a pencil between his teeth for whatever reason and his face lit up when he saw her. He motioned to her.
"Gwen come here."
He put his arm around her shoulders and started discussing the design he was working on. Gwen had a good handle on the repulsor tech after some work she'd done on the side for the Jericho project. What Tony was doing here was designing a much bigger repulsor. She worked with him for several hours. It was getting to the point where it was long past supper. She was starving. Tony was showing no signs of stopping. She glanced at the display on her holo-phone wristband.
"Is there a chance we can maybe break for supper… or something?"
Tony nodded but kept working on the repulsor. Pepper's description of manic may not have adequately captured how seriously obsessive Tony was being. Pepper as if she had read Gwen's mind had already ordered food in. Gwen had no idea how Pepper had managed to get the delivery guy past the perimeter. She wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Pepper had obviously heard about Gwen's appetite from someone because she had ordered three meals for her. The pair sat and ate watching Tony obsess over the repulsors for the new helicarrier he was designing. Between mouthfuls Gwen said.
"I'm worried about him. It's like he thinks if he doesn't get these designed and built yesterday the world is going to end. He knows we won right?"
Pepper swallowed what she'd been chewing.
"Something Loki said set him off. Something about never being prepared for what is coming next."
Gwen watched Tony and shook her head.
"Is there anyone he talks to? Someone who can bring him back to reality?"
Pepper shook her head.
"Rhodey but after he took the Mark II… their fight. They haven't been talking."
Gwen picked up more chow mien with her chopsticks.
"You think if I could talk Spider-Woman into coming out she could maybe talk to him? Loki just says stuff to get under your skin. Figured that out this morning."
Pepper looked directly at her instead of glancing out of the corner of her eye like she had been.
"I am so sorry you had to go through that."
Gwen laughed.
"I'm an unpopular teenage girl whose dad is far from rich who goes to a private school. That wasn't even up to the standards of a regular Monday morning for me. Take away Loki's powers toss him in my situation he'd be begging Odin to take him back."
Pepper actually laughed. Gwen knew she'd been stressed about Tony, the tower, Stark Industries, basically everything. It was nice to hear her laugh and see a bit of the stress leave her eyes.
"Well Pepper, thanks for supper. I'm going to go home before my clothes walk away on me. I'll see what I can do about getting her to come see him."
Tony noticed Gwen heading towards the elevator.
"Gwen? Leaving already?"
Gwen glanced at her wrist.
"Tony, its after 9 pm and Martha is at my apartment alone probably going nuts or her version of it. I'll be back tomorrow."
He glanced down at his own wrist then nodded. He went back to his design. Gwen shrugged and gave Pepper a sympathetic look. She rode the elevator down and as soon as she could get out of sight she slapped her bracers on and willed her new armored suit on. She climbed up Stark Towers which was a bit of a game for her because many of the windows were broken. She took the elevator down. Pepper looked surprised to see Spider-Woman. Spider-Woman did her typical I'm not a teenage girl deep voice.
"Hey, Gwen said Ken was having a breakdown. I just had to see it for myself."
Pepper blinked at her. She looked offended. Spider-Woman walked past her and right through the holo-display Tony was working on. He let out a cry of dismay as she disrupted it. He had been crouching down looking at something. She looked down at him with her hands on her hips.
"Oops, did I break your fancy toy?"
Tony swept his hand over the flickering hologram and sent it to his desktop screen. He stood up.
"What do you want?"
"Gwen said you were having a mental breakdown, just had to see you go Howard Hughes with my own eyes. Are you peeing in bottles yet?"
He crossed his arms.
"Is it possible for you to take anything seriously?"
Spider-Woman shook her head.
"Nope. Absolutely impossible. What can I say, the Stark Super Soldier Serum was flawed. Sooo what cha' doin?"
"Why don't you go catch some flies in a web somewhere and let the adults keep working?"
She mimicked a yawn and stretched.
"Flies are boring. Imploding billionaires. I could watch that all day!"
Tony gave her the most exasperated look she'd ever seen cross his face. She was getting to him, which was her goal.
"Oh, am I annoying the all-mighty Anthony Stark?"
He looked at Pepper.
"I don't suppose you're going to call security?"
Pepper shook her head.
"No, technically she's an Avenger and you've already officially made this Avenger's tower."
Tony threw his hands up.
"You think Fury will reconsider her membership?"
Pepper shook her head.
"No, she took out two worms herself, no one else managed that. I think she's on the starting line-up. And she's annoying you. I think I like her."
"So now you're teaming up on me?"
Spider-Woman nodded.
"You're damn right we are. You're acting nuts, Ken."
Tony was getting angry now.
"It's Tony! Why do you keep calling me that?"
Spider-Woman gave a soft giggle.
"Because your armor isn't anatomically correct, and it annoys you."
"What are you ten?"
Spider-Woman shrugged.
"Maybe. I'm not leaving until we talk privately. Then you can go back to your little holograms and play at being half the engineer Gwen is."
Tony clenched his fists and pointed at the elevator. The pair rode it up. Tony was fuming the whole ride. He stormed out to the site of her battle with Loki. She had a flash of the surprised look on his face when she smacked him with Mjolnir. It brought a smile to her lips. Tony crossed his arms and looked down at her.
"What?"
Spider-Woman decided it was time to be less quippy and more compassionate. She'd been purposely trying to drive him to anger to snap him out of his spiral of fear. She leaned on the remnants of the railing after making sure it was still solid and looked out over the destruction caused by the Chitauri.
"Tony, you almost died. It's okay to be frightened, but you're letting that smarmy Asgardian bastard get to you. Even if he lost, he's winning…"
Tony moved closer. He wrapped his hands around the railing and looked down at the remnant of the Stark sign.
"What if he's right?"
She shrugged.
"What if he's right? I have this friend… I was super upset, like full on freak out about something that could really impact my life in a very bad way. He says to me: Girl, you don't know that for sure. What will come, will come, worrying about it won't change it. It was kind of a wakeup call for me. You're trying to fix things, prevent things, because you're feeling guilty for causing so much… death and suffering because of your weapons."
He looked at her suspiciously.
"How would you know that?"
"I'm friends with Gwen, girls talk. Even if one is twice the other's age. She was telling me how you talked to her about what she was doing with Obadiah. Sounded like you were carrying an awful lot of guilt. You didn't fly into that portal to save people, you did, but you did it because you figured it might make up for what your family legacy has caused. Its why you fly around as Tin Man."
He grimaced at her verbal jab at his name.
"That is the difference between you and me. I would have done it because it was the choice that saved the most lives. The same reason I told them to close the portal before you'd escaped. I like you fine Ken, but I'm not sacrificing hundreds of thousands of people to save you. Not how I'm wired. Bet you figured you weren't coming back from that. But wow, you're back. Now how do you deal with that? Like being face to face with Death, and Death is like, nah bro gtfo. Knowing you're going to die and suddenly you're not dead?"
"I don't know."
She nodded.
"That is the most intelligent thing I've ever heard you say. I'm gonna tell you how you don't deal with it. Burying yourself in work and ignoring a beautiful woman who adores you."
"You adore me?"
She snorted derisively.
"I'm not beautiful. Take it from me, time with people we love is precious. Don't waste it on vague hints of a threat from a guy whose whole shtick is getting in people's heads. Sure, we need to be prepared but it doesn't mean you can't enjoy the ride."
She started humming a tune that popped into her head. Tony glanced at her.
"Mr. Fantasy?"
Spider-Woman shrugged.
"Not sure why it popped into my head… speaking of which, instead of worrying about what's coming in the future, maybe you should focus on the here and now. The city needs a morale boost and there are people who are homeless because of this mess. Maybe you should see about working with Gwen to sponsor a charity concert. I bet Pepper could help with that. Gwen's in a band. They're no headliners but I guarantee they will play a charity concert. I wonder who else Iron Man and the Avengers could convince to help…"
He smiled.
"Now I know why Cap holds you in such high esteem. There is more to you than the shallow flippant glory hound you pretend to be."
Spider-Woman elbowed him gently.
"Eew! Take that back. You're going to ruin my well-earned infamous reputation."
He laughed. She looked back at the elevator.
"Go tell your fiancé you love her and enjoy life. The future can wait, Tin Man. Show her you have a heart. See you around."
She leapt over the railing and shot webs out and swung out into the night.
