Hello everyone. A fresh new story for you all, that I'm pretty excited about. Not much in this chapter as its just the prologue. Next chapter shouldn't take too long to get out.


"What silence rules the ghostly hours that guard the close of human sleep!"

- GEORGE STERLING

Chapter 1 - Prologue

Friday, 12:07am

Virginia Stark, more commonly known as "Pepper," was standing at the kitchen sink absentmindedly humming to herself. The sounds were barely heard over the running faucet water that ran over the pan she was currently cleaning. It was late at the secluded Stark Cabin; the window in front of her showed pitch-black darkness outside. The moon wasn't even out tonight, and the few stars that shown in the sky were not enough to light up the outside.

After the last dish was rinsed off, Pepper turned the faucet off, effectively cutting off the sound of running water. Silence filled the air. She grabbed the hand towel off the oven handle to dry her wet hands, and a quick glance at the digital clock showed the time to be a little after midnight. If they were still living in the city, the sounds of New York City would still be heard even at this late hour. That's one thing she really liked about living out at the cabin, it was far enough away from civilization that you can almost believe you're on a permanent vacation. You have no idea what's happening in the world unless you turn on the news, which they rarely did. It was a habit they started after Tony's first retirement; it made things a little easier for him not knowing who he should be trying to save right now.

It quickly turned into a way of life for them. That is until Steve Rogers showed up and almost destroyed her family. She tried not to feel resentment towards those who wasn't even living anymore. It's not like the Super Soldier pressured her husband into figuring out time travel and almost losing his life to try and bring back half the universe. But Steve was the one who put the idea in his head and caused Tony to remember the one person he mourned enough to risk everything.

She would never find it in herself to blame Peter Parker for everything that happened, it didn't even make sense too. It was much easier to put the blame on Captain America, but she tried not to put the blame on anyone. A part of her knew she was being selfish trying to put blame on anyone, because everything eventually worked out in the end. The only scar the whole event had left was Tony losing his arm. The doctors in Wakanda tried to save it, but it was impossible. Tony had insisted ever since that it was all worth it; and it wasn't hard for Pepper to agree with him. Having Peter back in his life again, brought back a spark in her husband, she didn't think she would ever see again. He sometimes couldn't stop himself from referring to both Peter and Morgan as his children. By now even Morgan calls the teenager her older brother.

Pepper tossed the now damp towel into the sink and let out a blood pumping yawn. It was definitely time for bed. But she wanted to go check on Morgen before attempting the nail pulling task of getting her husband to go to bed on time. Sometimes she thought their daughter took a little bit too much after her dad, since getting her to go to bed was sometimes just as hard. By this time Pepper would probably have heard the girl if she was still up, but went to check anyway. There were too many times she had caught her daughter hiding under the covers watching cartoons on Tony's tablet.

Morgan's door was always left open, just a crack, so she had some light to follow in case she needed to get up in the middle of the night. Pepper slowed her footsteps as she approached the door, not wanting to wake up the girl if she was already asleep. Which she suspected Morgan was. Even if she was in there trying to sneakily watch her favorite show, her soft giggles would always give her away; and Pepper had not heard a peep out of her since she was put to bed around eight-thirty. The bedroom door creaked softly when the woman gently pushed it up and peaked inside the room. A small frown formed on her lips as it appeared that the bed was empty of any sleeping forms. The blankets had been drawn up as one would have them for sleeping, but no lump the size of her daughter seemed to be under the covers. "Morgan?" Pepper called out not too loudly, but loud enough that the girl would hear if she was awake in the room.

There was no answer. Perhaps she was hiding in the closet or under the bed in hopes that her giggling wouldn't be heard. Pepper checked the closet first, and when she found nothing but her dresses and toys; she then checked under the bed. Still no sign of Morgan. "Morgan!" Pepper called a little louder, this time intending to wake her up if she was hiding where and fallen asleep. Still no sound. Trying to stay calm, Pepper left the room to go check if she was in the bathroom. She wasn't there either.

Quickly on her way to panicking, Pepper ran for the workshop where she knew Tony was hiding out. She found him at his workbench with a screwdriver in his good hand, and holding some device in his prosthetic. "Tony!" she called out approaching the man. He looked up at hearing the panic in her voice. "Do you know where Morgan is?"

Tony gave her a confused look, "Um… in her bed? Sleeping? At least that's where she shou-"

"She's not there!" Pepper interrupted still not able to keep her voice level. "I just went to check on her, and she's not in her room!"

"All right, just relax Pep," Tony calmly responded while setting the device down on the table in front of him and getting to his feet. "I'm sure she's around. Did you check the kitchen? Probably trying to sneak a juice pop for a midnight snack."

The man walked past his wife out of the workshop; and Pepper quickly trailed behind him. "I was just in the kitchen before I went to check on her."

Tony didn't respond as she made his way to the kitchen, finding it empty. "Morgan!" he called out in a calm but still firm voice. "You need to come on out. You're scaring mommy?"

Like every time before, the call was answered with silence. The two adults began searching through the different rooms of the house calling out their daughters' names. Pepper continued to shout with panic and fear pitched in her voice. Tony started out calm, but even his voice began to pitch with panic as the minutes passed with still no sign of the little girl. "She wouldn't leave the house, would she?" Pepper asked, her fear ridden eyes now beginning to fill with approaching tears. It certainly didn't seem like something Morgan would do; she knew better than to leave without any adults especially in the middle of the night.

"FRIDAY, is Morgan in the house right now?" Tony asked his A.I.

"Negative sir. Miss Morgan is not detected in any place in the house and none of the surrounding perimeter of the house."

This answer was too much for Pepper and she began to cry. Her worst nightmare seemed to be coming true. Their daughter was gone, had she been taken by someone? Or even worse, did another dusting occur? How was it possible with Thanos gone and all the infinity stones back in their timelines. Tony looked just as terrified as she felt, but hadn't broken down yet. "FRIDAY pull up the location of Morgan's bracelet?"

Years ago, shortly after Morgan was born. Tony had wanted to get her microchipped so that they could always find her if she ever got lost. Pepper had instantly shot down the idea of implanting one in her body, insisting that she wasn't a dog. Tony then settled for implanting a micro tracker into a bracelet that she could wear. A projected screen popped up on the nearest wall, showing the location of said bracelet. The piece of jewelry was in the girl's bedroom. Pepper felt her heart sink at sight and she began to sob harder. Morgan had been told her whole life that she was never to take off the bracelet for any reason; and she had always listened and compiled. So, there was only one reason why the bracelet would be in a room she obviously wasn't.

Without either saying a word, both ran over to Morgan's bedroom. Tony reached the room first, which was just as empty as it had been before. Her husband stumbled over to the bed and began rifling through the blankets. Pepper continued to cry, praying to any God that might listen. Please don't let it be true, please don't let it be true! Tony suddenly halted his movements, staring down at the bed as still as a statue. After a few seconds, he looked over at her with horror filled eyes. That was when Pepper knew. It was true.


Universe: Takes place 3 months after Endgame and Tony survives. Ignores all canon after Avengers Endgame. Infinity War takes place a month or 2 after Spider Man Homecoming, and May was not dusted. I know the two movies aren't supposed to be that close together but I don't care. This is going to turn into a MAJOR AU, so I'm not fretting about the timeline. I've also adjusted Peter's age slightly to make it so he was 14 in Homecoming.

I want everyone to note that even though I've made it so Tony survived endgame, I only did that so this can be an irondad story. If you are looking for a post Endgame story where everyone survives and all live happily after, this is not going to be that story. In fact if I can manage to keep going long enough this story will actually get quite dark. I won't say anymore so I don't give anything away.