Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and James Rhodes stand outside T'Challa's home as the Quinjet carrying Tony's guests flies in and lands gracefully on the lawn.
As the engines slow Tony and Bruce approach the jet. The back hatch opens and they can see a couple of the occupants struggling with luggage to exit. The first to exit is a tall lanky man with long hair. He is wearing a pink-beige business suit with pants that are a little high water. He rushes to Tony.
"Pepper?" Tony asks as the man moves in closer.
"It's me Tony." Pepper says as he comes even closer, now avoiding eyesight. Tony takes a step forward and winces. "You're hurt?" Pepper asks, rushing closer. Tony leans back slightly as the changes to Pepper's body become very apparent and a bit overwhelming. Pepper doesn't notice.
Pepper does not have any facial hair, but the hair on his head seems much shorter. It does not take Tony long to realize that it's because Pepper is now over six inches taller. Unlike the others, pepper still maintained a thin frame, but it is now more accentuated due to his new height.
Pepper has to kneel down to lift Tony's shirt and get a better look at the injury. His hair gets in his face and he has to brush it aside, giving off a Fabio like vibe. Tony is somewhat fascinated by the changes and can't help but think Pepper looks as if Jesus and Thor had a baby. He has to bite back making a witty comment. His only concerns are for how his wife feels.
"Were you stabbed by something?" Pepper asks, lightly touching Tony's bandaged side.
"Someone actually." Tony replies without thinking. Now, Tony is trying to avoid eye contact. He knows Pepper will likely become very upset.
Instead of scolding Tony, Pepper actually gets up and hugs him saying "I'm glad you're safe."
This surprises Tony, but he is glad to feel Pepper's loving embrace. It doesn't last long. Pepper lets go of him quickly. "I'm sorry. It must feel awkward hugging me like this." Pepper says referencing his new look.
Tony looks at Pepper with a face of confusion. This was very uncharacteristic. "It's fine." He tells Pepper. "It's not like you're a completely different person."
"I know." Pepper responds. "I'm sorry. This is just really awkward. I never expected something like this."
"Hi Pepper," Bruce Banner interrupts them. She is wearing a brightly colored Wakandan top with matching shorts. The outfit looks somewhat like a dress. She has no bra on causing Tony to notice her somewhat visible nipples.
Pepper steps around Tony to get a better look at Banner. "Is that... Bruce?" Pepper asks.
"It's me, Pepper." Bruce answers. "You look good." She tells Pepper nervously.
Pepper takes in Bruce's new image for a moment before actually getting excited. "Oh my God. You're so cute!" Pepper rushes to Bruce and gives her a big hug. Tony does not think anything of this at first, until the hug begins to linger.
"Oh my." Bruce says, face buried in Pepper's shoulder. "You've gotten so tall." Pepper loosens his embrace, but still has his hands on Bruce's arms.
"Look at you." Pepper replies. "You've actually gotten smaller."
"Yea, I was joking about that earlier." Bruce tells Pepper. "This has been quite the experience."
Pepper continues looking over Bruce. "This outfit looks good on you too. Where did you get it?" Pepper starts feeling the fabric and is somewhat getting handsy with Bruce who has now begun to blush.
"I think it's one of the staff's" Bruce points back toward the palace. Pepper looks up and notices Rhodes for the first time.
"Hi, Rhodey." Pepper greets him.
"Hey, Pepper." He replies just as someone comes rushing out of the palace.
"You know we have a landing pad, right?" Shuri shouts to Tony Stark angrily.
Bruce jumps and turns back around. Pepper lets her go only momentarily then places her arms around Bruce's shoulders as Shuri comes rushing forward.
"Your majesty!" Pepper addresses Shuri. He tries to do a bow but instinctively curtsies at the same time, creating an awkward pose that looks even worse as he clings to Bruce for balance. "It's an honor, King T'Challa."
Pepper catches sight of Rhodes waving his arms wildly while mouthing the word "NO," behind Shuri.
Shuri makes an angry face and looks directly at Pepper. "Who's this?"
"Shuri, this is Pepper... my wife." Tony jumps in. "Pepper, this is Shuri... She's the king's, uh, sister."
Pepper looks to Tony, then back to Shuri. "Oh, I am so sorry."
Shuri looks back and forth between Pepper and Tony before addressing Pepper. "Well, seeing as I'm not the only one, I understand." Shuri looks down toward Bruce and smiles widely. He then notices her protruding nipples. "We should get inside. It's getting cold out here."
Pepper agrees and they start heading in, she still has her arms on Bruce's shoulders. Tony notices this and he tilts his head in curiosity. Before he can start heading in, Shuri turns back around and snaps at him.
"Get that thing out of here, before I claim it for parts." Shuri snaps. Tony gives Shuri a confused look now and turns away. Happy Hogan is walking up with a cart full of luggage for both him and Pepper.
"I got this." Tony says with a grunt as he grabs the cart and feels the weight of it pulling. "Have the pilot fly this thing to the nearest landing pad and meet us inside in a few."
"Yes sir." Happy responds. "Happy to see you too sir." He says with a mischievous smile.
"Good to see you too buddy." Tony answers back patting him on the arm. Happy nods and rushes back toward the quinjet. With a grunt, Tony turns back and tries to pull at the luggage. Everyone is already halfway through the door. "Little help guys." he whispers sarcastically as he starts trying to make his way closer.
*** Later that night ***
Tony sits up in bed and massages his bandages. Pepper is laying on the far side and he is snoring very loudly. Tony gives him an annoyed look, gets out of bed, and goes to the closet for a change of clothes. He makes no attempts at being quiet, knowing Pepper is a heavy sleeper.
Moment's later Tony finds himself wandering into Shuri's lab. He can hear voices, so he knows he is not the only person who can't sleep. Upon entering the lab he finds Shuri and Bruce Banner standing awkwardly close. They're looking over holographic schematics for Vision but Tony can tell they're distracted by Bruce giggling. They turn to see Tony walk in.
"I take it you can't sleep either?" Banner asks Tony.
"I've never been much of a sleeper." Tony responds, looking Bruce up and down. "What are you wearing? That doesn't look like it's Wakandan."
Bruce turns to Tony revealing more of his night outfit. It's a pink-beige matching cotton set with exposed shoulders and somewhat revealing shorts. The fabric is rather thin with little pictures of milk and cookies printed all over it. Bruce pinches the leg fabric and blushes.
"It's Shuri's." Bruce responds. "We thought it looked cute."
Shuri smiles and nods but does not take his eyes off Bruce. Tony shakes his head and rolls his eyes before looking at the schematics for Vision.
"What have we got here?" Tony asks.
Bruce turns back to the hologram. "We're glad you got here." She says. "Before Thanos attacked, we were trying to find a way to separate the mind stone from Vision. Shuri was hoping to reprogram each synapse layer to work collectively."
Tony studies the diagram for a moment. "That would only eliminate the polymorphic layers. You'd basically be restoring him to his Jarvis settings. That's all fine and dandy, but you would also be missing a key component."
"You're talking about a power source?" Bruce asks.
"You sound like you've thought of this before." Shuri mentions.
"The idea for a system like Vision was always one of my ideas. Unfortunately, due to Ultron, I had to rush my plans. Most of the blue prints used by Ultron were variations of my incomplete ideas. When Ultron attacked, I had no choice but to install Jarvis like a patch program rather than integrate him into the system fully."
"So the infinity stone was just a shortcut?" Banner asks.
"If you had managed to pull this off," Shuri interrupts, "what were you planning to use as a source of power."
Tony looks toward Shuri and taps the arc reactor on his chest.
"An arc reactor?" Shuri asks. "Would palladium have been able to produce the amount of energy needed to bring him back up to 100%?"
"Not palladium," Stark answers. "I produced a new element. Something quite a bit stronger and not quite so toxic."
"You created a new element?" Bruce asks, shocked.
"I didn't necessarily create it. It always existed, I just learned how to make it? With the help of my dad."
"You learned how to make a new element?" Shuri asks. "Where exactly on the periodic table is this element? Period 7? Just after uranium?"
Tony Stark tilts his head and makes a concerned face toward Shuri.
"You're talking about vibranium." Bruce interjects.
Shuri's eyes widen and he points at Tony's chest. "You learned how to make vibranium?" Shuri looks at Bruce then back to Tony. "We can't let my brother find out about this, he'll absolutely flip."
"Well," Bruce responds. "Considering that's the source of Wakanda's fortune, he might not benefit from the competition." Shuri looks at Bruce. "Maybe he can sell crocs."
There is a short awkward silence before Shuri and Bruce start giggling wildly. Tony notices their shoulder brushing and Shuri's eyes linger on Bruce for a long moment.
"I figure if I can't sleep, I may as well join the party." A woman says as she enters the lab. All three turn to see Captain America walking in. Tony hesitates to turn only a moment, after spotting Shuri's hands moving up to rest on Bruce's upper arms.
Steve Rogers is wearing gray sweatpants and a white T-Shirt. The sweatpants appear a little too large, but the white shirt is clearly too small. There is no hiding her new breasts which are causing the lower half of the shirt to dangle like a waterfall. Tony feels a twinge of awkwardness when he can't resist checking out Steve's new figure.
"I'm sorry, did we wake you Steve?" Bruce asks. Tony turns to see Shuri is now lightly massaging her shoulders.
"No," Steve responds. "I just couldn't stop... thinking."
Tony takes a step forward. "Were you crying?" he asks the Captain.
Steve Rogers crosses her arms across her abdomen which causes her breasts to push out a bit. She turns away a bit."This is a lot to take in." She responds.
Tony is now at a loss for words. He looks back and forth between the three, wondering what to say when Bucky enters the lab. "Hey Steve, have you seen..."
"And now, he's here!" Tony says angrily.
Bucky does not have his vibranium arm, but he raises his right hand and steps back. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were here."
Tony does not take his eyes off Bucky when he addresses Steve Rogers. "Cap, I need you to get your boyfriend out of here before we have a repeat of what happened in Siberia!"
"He's not my boyfriend." Captain America snaps. She turns away further and lowers her head.
"What happened in Siberia?" Bruce asks.
"It's ok," Bucky says. "I'll go. Steve, I'll talk to you later." Bucky leaves without saying why he stopped by.
Tony stands there still fuming, but before he can say anything else Steve Rogers breaks the fresh silence. "You don't have to be so mean to him." She says.
Tony looks at Captain America with annoyance, but hesitates when noticing the extreme emotions in her eyes. "Are you OK, Captain?"
"No, I'm not OK." Captain America snaps back while walking toward Tony. "We lost vision, we just avoided the end of the world, we mucked everything up, I'm suddenly an emotional wreck, and you're yelling at my best friend."
Steve Rogers is standing so close to Tony that he can now feel the heat of her body inches away. Tony want's to respond, but for once he is confused and at a loss for words. He is also distracted by Captain America's sheer beauty.
"I'm sorry, Tony." Steve says, tears starting to form into her eyes. "We've never faced anything like this. All those times saving the world, I would have never thought the fate of the universe would be at stake. I never thought Something like this would happen." Steve is full on crying now. Tony's face consists of confused shock.
"You don't have to like Bucky." Steve says. "You don't have to forgive me. You don't have to pretend things are back to normal between all of us, Tony." Steve places both of her hands on Tony's chest. "But can we please work together and get along, please, just long enough to solve this problem and save the universe."
The room goes completely silent as Shuri and Bruce watch a teary eyed Steve Rogers wait for Tony's response.
"All right! That's it!" Tony exclaims loudly. He grabs Steve's hands and pushes them back to her. Tony then turns away and takes a few steps as he taps the device on his chest. Nano particles flow out and work their way toward Tony's hands.
"Tony, what are you going to do?" Captain America asks, watching Tony with concern.
Tony removes the now fully formed armored gloves from his hands. He tosses one to Steve Rogers. He then turns to Shuri and says, "Heads up," before tossing him the second one. He looks back to Captain America. "I need you both to put those on."
Tony removes his sunglasses from his pajamas and puts them on. Steve, Bruce, and Shuri look a little confused, but they slowly slip on the gloves. Shuri is wearing the right and Steve is wearing the left.
"Friday, I need you to run a biometric scan on these two." Tony says moments after tapping the rim of his glasses.
"Scanning." Friday responds. "Subject one, female, elevated heart rate, elevated endorphins, and most likely in emotional distress. Subject two elevated dopamine, oxytocin, adrenaline, and vasopressin. Subject appears to be in good health."
"Thank you, Friday. I need you to check something else for me. Do a biometric scan on hormones." Tony requests, causing everyone to look at him with confusion.
"Scanning." Friday responds. "Subject one shows highly elevated production of oestrogen and progesterone. Subject two is showing highly elevated production of Testosterone. Both subjects are showing strong early signs of puberty."
"What?!" Shuri shouts.
Bruce is now looking back and forth between Shuri and Tony. "Wait a second. What does that mean?"
Tony removes his glasses. "It means the changes after the snap were not just the end of it. It means your body's are still changing."
"Still changing? How?" Bruce asks.
"The transformation must not have just been outwardly physical." Shuri answers. "It means the transformations were internal and emotional as well. It means we didn't just swap genders, we're slowing changing identities as well. Our personalities, traits, behaviors, likes and dislikes..." Shuri quickly removes his hands from Bruce. He then looks Bruce up and down realizing the significance of the outfit. "Oh my god!"
"We have to reverse this, Tony." Steve Rogers says, taking a step toward him. "We have to change back." She can't stand anymore and falls to her knees.
They all share a moment of concerned silence which is unexpectedly interrupted when a small creature carrying something in its arms comes walking backwards into the lab.
"What is that!?" Shuri shouts causing it to jump.
Rocket slowly turns around to face everyone. She is carrying Bucky's vibranium arm.
"Uh, hi." Rocket says. "I was wondering if I could just hide her for a minute?" They all continue to look on in shock.