"I need to grab my wallet, and then," I paused as I looked around what should've been my bedroom. It was definitely not my bedroom. "What the fuck?"
"Who are you?" A voice came from the side. Thankfully, the woman was too stunned to speak, because had that been any other time, I would've screamed bloody murder. Still trying not to panic, I turned on my heel. The sole of my Birkenstocks scuffed against concrete as I saw a fancy car with a man in front of it.
"What the fuck," I said again, staring at the achingly familiar face of Tony Fucking Stark. "Wait, no. Stop, hold on. Are you Tony Stark, or are you Robert Downey Jr, because the facial hair is saying Stark, but reality is saying RDJ, except for the fact that it shouldn't be either of them, because I'm supposed to be in my apartment in OHIO! And this is clearly neither of those things!"
I took a forceful step back, trying to calm down. The anger in my chest was so hot it hurt, not that I could tell you who, exactly, I was mad at. I held out my hands, as if I was trying to keep my balance. I bit out a short apology, then huffed and looked at him again.
"Definitely Tony Stark, who are you? How did you even get in here? Jarvis?" Tony looked like he was readying himself to attack me – or dodge if I pulled a weapon. I was sure I'd feel guilty for that later.
"I do not know how she came to be in your lab, Sir, as I have no record of her entering the building," Jarvis said from the ceiling. My head shot back as I looked up in awe. The anger was gone, replaced by the joy of having a conversation with one of my favorite fictional characters. Until my brain caught up with the emotions.
"You're a fictional fucking character, how? Am I hallucinating? I shouldn't be, I'm sober!" I tapped my pocket, relaxing slightly as I felt my vape. The minute I could get outside I was hitting it – possible hallucination or not, you don't just smoke in someone else's house. "Can I sit down, I'm sitting down. What the fuck is happening to me?"
I sat on the floor with my legs splayed out in front of me, then gave up and flopped down on the floor, one arm under my head, the other off to the side. Maybe I was being a touch dramatic, but let's see how anybody else would react to suddenly being in a completely different universe. And if this was real – how the fuck did it happen? I definitely wasn't smart enough for quantum physics, and I wasn't important enough for the TVA to steal. Unless I was, which might have been even scarier.
"Still confused over here, who are you?" Tony asked. I tilted until I could see him. He'd stood up. He was taller than RDJ. Good to know. "And how did you get here?"
"Fuck if I know, my guy, ten minutes ago I had plans to go spend my last fifteen dollars on coffee creamer at a Kroger in Ohio, and now I'm in fuckin' Malibu with a multi billionaire superhero."
"Superhero?" I looked over at him. Really, actually looked at him as I sat up. He was young. I smacked my hands over my mouth before I could gasp, or worse, coo at just how young he was. His hair was still floppy. He was still happy.
"Do you believe in fate?" I asked as I looked around the room. "That our futures are already set in stone and there's nothing we can do about it?"
"You've lost me." I climbed to my feet and crossed walked to his desk until I found a pad of paper. "And now you're going through my things. Love a nosy trespasser."
"Tony, I already know everything there is to know about you, I don't need to go through your things, I spent the past nearly fourteen years of my life watching your movies and reading your comics. Now shut up, I'm trying to think."
"Think about what?" I had to applaud him for not immediately asking about the movies and comics. It wasn't something that would last, not with his curiosity, but at least he was focusing on the logical thing.
"The best way to save your life, dipshit," I said tossing the paper back on the desk. It wasn't helping me think. I had no thoughts coherent enough to write down. "What's the date?"
"It is April 24, 2010," Jarvis said for me. I opened my mouth, closed it, rubbed my face, and sighed. Shit.
"So, you're late for the Jericho presentation, Christine is upstairs asleep in your bed, and aliens haven't yet invaded New York. Cool. You're not going to Afghanistan. That's absolutely not happening. Not on my fucking life."
"I don't think you're in any position to be giving me orders," Tony said, I raised an eyebrow at him as a challenge. "You break into my house and tell me what to do, I don't think so."
"I really don't think you have a choice here, because Obadiah Stane is trying to kill you, and if you go to Afghanistan, they will very nearly succeed. And then you'll end up creating a mini arc reactor in a cave and putting it physically in your body, so you live. And then you get Palladium poisoning and nearly die. AND THEN! Because, oh yes, sir, there is always more. You create a new element. And beat up a few bad guys and become a superhero, the Iron Man. You team up with other superheroes and fight an alien invasion in New York, then a crazy killer robot in Sokovia, and then, your best friend beats you half to death and leaves you for dead in a Siberian bunker to take your parents killer to hide. Until yet another fuckin' alien shows up in New York and kills half of all life in the universe. And then! And fucking then, you fucking die trying to bring everyone back. So, yes, Tony, I do break into your house and tell you what to do, because obviously somebody fucking should!" I shouted, losing my temper in the middle of my incredibly short summary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I had no idea what had happened to give me the opportunity to yell at Tony, but it was seriously starting to freak me out. And I didn't usually exhibit fear, it was almost always anger. Anyone who knew me would not have been surprised by this. Unfortunately, Tony didn't know me and was then very surprised at me outright screaming at him.
"Okay," Tony said, eyes a little wide, and his hands held out in surrender.
"Okay?"
"Okay."
I gave up and slid back to the floor, leaning heavily against the desk. With my knees up, and my face in my hands, I was a pretty effective ball. I'd have cried if I had the energy, but in that moment, I didn't have any to spare.
"Okay. So, we need a plan, we need to prepare, and we need to cancel your Jericho presentation. And I need a cup of coffee." I looked up through my fingers at him and kept praying he'd let me at the very least give him a list of things to not do.
"I have a cappuccino machine on the bar, milk in the fridge." I nodded but made no effort to move. "I also can't cancel the presentation. I can be late, can't cancel. It would hurt the company."
"Okay, we can either care about your life, or we can care about your company." Right then, I only had the emotional capability to consider the MCU, not the real-world implications of living with a superhero. Or a billionaire. Everything I knew about business was from scant google searches for my Arrow fanfiction. I still wasn't sure what the board of directors did.
"The company is my life," Tony said firmly. There was something glinting in his eyes, but I was too socially inept to understand it. Anger, perhaps? Upset with the person who accidentally fell through dimensions and immediately started giving orders? Maybe it was irritation at the perceived assumption that he was as flaky as his press persona. Or maybe I was reading too much into nothing, and he was just as tired as I was. I stood and walked toward the cappuccino machine. Something beeped at me, and when I looked over, it was DUM-E. Which brought every single field trip fic I'd ever read flooding to mind. Which gave me not only a dozen ideas, but a surprising boost of energy. Maybe I could do both, but only with help. I needed a notebook, a computer with two screens – maybe three, and six shots of espresso.
"Okay, we save the company, your life, and the world, I need a fucking pay raise. Good news, I've read enough fanfiction to figure this out. Bad news, I'm literally on the verge of dropping out of my fourth college, so we're gonna need some help. Who do you trust?"
"I think I'm supposed to ask you that." The machine hissed as it steamed the milk, and I pulled a clean cup over to pour the espresso in. Eventually, the milk was frothy enough to enjoy. Shame there was no flavor though. I settled for a handful of sugar packets. "You said Obie is trying to kill me. If you're right, he's my only family. And you said that my best friend leaves me for dead in the tundra."
"Oh Steve, that moron. Okay, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Jarvis. We could break Barnes out of Hydra's control. With your resources we definitely could. He'd be great to get onside early." And it might completely negate Civil War. Well, hopefully. Probably not, knowing my luck.
"I don't know a Steve. Or a Barnes. Did you say Hydra?" I nodded and took a pull from my latte. Blech. Needed hazelnut. Or vanilla. Or literally any flavor at all. "I need a drink."
"Nope, we've got work to do. Have a latte. Jarvis. How secure are your servers?"
"I'm offended you would ask," Tony said, already moving toward the espresso. I slammed my phone down on a desk.
"I want everything on my google drive downloaded to a secure server. Don't read them. Not a single file, Jay, I mean it. We have to walk a stupid fine line if we're gonna fuck with the timeline." Not that I knew what I was doing, not in the slightest, but I didn't think it to be the best plan letting everyone know everything.
"Can't change things without risking losing the advantage," Tony said, drinking just straight espresso. "Can't kill the bad guys early in case something worse comes along."
"Also, free will and letting people make their own choices. People can change, they might need a kick up the ass, but no one is irredeemable. Except maybe Thanos. Odin. Hitler. Trump." I made a face, then shook the thoughts away. I couldn't get lost down the rabbit hole. For once in my life, I needed to stay focused. "There are lives that can be saved here, if we do this right, we might end up saving the world twice."
"I'm giving you a year," Tony decided. "One year of my trust, because even I can see that you're genuinely freaked by whatever it is that happened to have you end up in my garage. After that, you'll likely have proven yourself either right, or insane."
"You know, I think I might be both, in this case." I wouldn't lie, the moment I actually acknowledged that I'd never see my mom again would result in a mental breakdown. But for the time being, I was mentally ill enough to put it in a box. Very healthy, right?
"But!"
"But?" This was Tony Stark, so I was actually concerned about his condition.
"You have to convince Pepper," Tony said. I grinned.
"I'll accept that challenge. Now can we get to work?"
"What's the plan, boss?" Tony asked, sitting at his desk.
"First things first, Jarvis, can you also download my Spotify as well? I appreciate you! Second, we start with Afghanistan. Now, I was actually just writing a fanfiction about this, hilarious, right?" I shook my head in exasperation. To be fair, I'd been writing some form of that fic since I was a pre-teen, pretending I knew what angst was. "Now, what do you know about synthesizing a brand-new element?"
Line Break
"You are supposed to be halfway around the world right now," Pepper said as she walked in the lab looking at her phone. She looked up and froze. I looked up and grinned.
"The famous Pepper Potts," I said, accidentally quoting Christine not seconds before. "Done taking out the trash?"
"What?" Pepper asked, too shocked for words. I could hear Tony chuckling next to me. In my defense, I made odd references like that all the time, so it wasn't out of place for me.
"Sorry, we forgot to keep an eye on the time, you're late, Jarvis can walk me through the rest of this as parts arrive. And I'll get started on the rest… afterwards." I rolled my eyes and turned to give Pepper my full attention. "Hi, I'm Grey, nice to meet you."
"How many women came home with you last night?" Pepper demanded.
"Oh, ew!" Tony and I shouted, looking at her in disgust. After a second, I laughed, which set off Tony, which pissed off Pepper. I held up my hands and tried to calm down.
"I'm sorry, here. Nice to meet you, Miss Potts, my name is Grey, and for the next, rest of my life, apparently, I'm his daughter." Pepper laughed in my face. Which, I definitely deserved, but it still hurt my feelings for some inexplicable reason.
"Not biologically, Peps, don't worry. Wrong blood type, Jarvis said." Tony's help didn't help. Maybe us seeming related wouldn't be a stretch.
"Take a seat, we'll explain," I assured. Pepper didn't budge, so I shrugged and started explaining anyway.
I gave her the same short summary of their future that I'd given Tony, adding little bits here and there, mentioning SHIELD, and the eventual attempt on President Ellis. I refused to elaborate on the invasions except for aliens hellbent on destruction. I ended it with the date of Tony's death, October 17th, 2023. That was when she sat down.
"And if I don't believe you?" I could tell that even if she didn't completely believe me, she was worried about the possibility of me being right. Which, unfortunately, I was.
"About the fact that six hours ago you were a fictional character? I know you didn't have any mace in your purse. I know you're allergic to Strawberries, which you always found ironic because of your hair color. Or about the fact that you briefly went by Ginny until someone called you Weasley." I didn't actually know that last one – Tony told me. But I sure as shit wasn't gonna tell her that. "I know about your favorite uncle Morgan. I know that there's no way we pull this off without you, Pepper. I know that no matter what, you won't let Tony fight to the death alone. So, are you in or not?"
"Tony, I don't like this!" It wasn't a no, but I wasn't going to let her go without a solid yes.
"You don't have to like it, Potts, you just have to do it," I snapped. "For fucks sake, I just told you he's got thirteen years left to live if we don't get our collective heads out of our own asses!"
I needed something to eat. I had already skipped eating most of the day in my timeline, not to mention the six hours – and six shots of espresso – I'd spent here. I was lightheaded and shaking at the knees. I had a very loose grip on my temper. I'd apologize later, hopefully.
"If you fuck up, once, I'll kill you myself," Pepper swore, and shook my hand. I smirked.
"I cannot wait to introduce you to Slytherin politics," I said, brightly. "So, let's get Tony on this jet so he can explain to Rhodey why he's voluntarily getting kidnapped by a terrorist cell."
"He's what?" Pepper demanded, glaring daggers at me. I had the decency to try and look sheepish.
"We'll explain in the car, Peps," Tony said, ushering us forward. "We'll have to walk Happy through it anyway. I gotta change, kid, go get something to eat, you're gonna pass out."
I wasn't gonna argue, so I pushed past Pepper and walked upstairs, leaving them to have a very quick argument. Tony jogged past me after only a few minutes, a wry grin on his face. Pepper came up a bit later; I was halfway through a breakfast sandwich. I offered her a fresh cup of coffee and she nodded wearily. There was a second sandwich wrapped in a paper towel for Tony.
"I get it, you know," I said, hiding behind my hand since there was food in my mouth. Pepper looked at me. She looked like she was about to scoff or slap me. "How crazy this is? My head is fucking spinning trying to figure out what happened."
"You didn't come here on purpose?"
"Ha! The people on TikTok only wished it was that easy. No, I was walking in my apartment, intent on grabbing my wallet and heading to Kroger, but I'd barely made it three steps before I was in the lab with Tony staring at me like I was insane. I'm still not entirely convinced I'm not hallucinating. Or maybe, I've finally had a psychotic break and I'm lying in the looney bin somewhere." I shrugged. I'd freak out later. Much much later, and with so much alcohol. "Could be a very vivid dream, but I feel like if that were the case it wouldn't be so detailed. Or coherent. But who knows? Maybe I've died and this is hell."
"So, Tony's going to help you get home?" Pepper asked. I sucked in a breath. I honestly hadn't even considered asking Tony to figure out Quantum travel so I could go home. I hadn't even considered asking to go home. But that was my brain – always diving deeper into fanfictions with no care to reality.
"No. I'm going to stay and help him stay alive. When I was eighteen, nineteen ish, the movies about you all were the only thing keeping me from killing myself. You all saved my life; I want to repay that." It seemed that anytime I really thought about suicide, Marvel dropped another trailer, or announced a new show, and it would be enough to get things settled. Pepper put her hand on my shoulder and looked at me strangely. "Oh, no, I'm okay. That was like five, six years ago, we're fine."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-four," I said, grinning a bit. "Although Tony and I are considering pretending I'm younger to slot me in as his daughter that he'd kept hidden. Neither of us want me to be his wife. And sister wasn't feasible, unfortunately."
"Why not?"
"Why not be his wife? First of all, ew. Gross, that's my dad. Actually, I wrote a fanfic where I raised him since Howard is a bastard. Raised him with Bucky Barnes, Tony married you and you two had two kids, Jasper and Antonia. And then Bucky and I adopted the rest of the Avengers." I idly wondered if that fic was still hidden somewhere in my drive. I started writing it when I was like twelve, so it had terrible prose. "Then there was the fic I attempted to write that shipped Tony and Natasha, which felt very forced because they radiate sibling energy, but I wanted to try my hand at a new ship."
"The only name I recognized was Bucky Barnes," Pepper admitted just as Tony walked into the kitchen. I handed him sandwich.
"Wait, Bucky Barnes, Cap's friend? You mentioned a Barnes earlier – the same?" Tony asked, unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite.
"Oh, yeah, he didn't die when he fell off that train. He'd been enhanced the same as Cap when he was being held at Azzano," I explained, topping off the four coffee cups with hot coffee and adding a splash more creamer in mine. "He was originally found by French medics, but taken by Hydra where he was enhanced more, completely brainwashed and turned into a wind-up murder puppet. I think he's the one that killed JFK."
"And you want to rescue the man that killed JFK?" Tony asked incredulously. I sighed heavily. Truth time.
"No, I want to bring to justice the man that killed Howard and Maria Stark," I said. Well, it was mostly the truth. Tony choked on his sandwich. "Howard had the super soldier serum in his trunk that night, no, I don't know why. The Winter Soldier shot out the tires, causing it to hit the tree. Maria was killed first, mercifully and as gently as possible, the rule was no witnesses. Howard actually recognized him, but Bucky was so stuck under Hydra's programming that he had no idea who was there. Or even who he was."
"And you want to bring him here?" Pepper nearly shrieked. I winced at the volume. "Absolutely not! You will take your information to the feds, and they will handle him."
"No," Tony said. Pepper and I both spun to look at him in surprise. I had expected a bigger fight. "He's brainwashed and a prisoner of war. Get him out of Hydra's hands, bring him somewhere safe to recover and get his mind right. We'll protect him."
"Tony, you can't be serious," Pepper pleaded. Part of me agreed with her. Tony should not have been that amicable to the suggestion of bringing Barnes into his home. Not that I was going to complain. "He killed your parents."
"How did Hydra know the serum was in the car?" Tony asked, looking directly at me. Of course, we'd already discussed this – he had demanded to know why I was quick to shut out his Godfather. Seeing the betrayal in his eyes in real life was much worse than watching it in the movie. Tony deserved so much better than this.
"Obadiah Stane told them," I said softly. Pepper gasped and covered her face with her hands. Tony nodded, as if he expected that answer. There was pain in his eyes, and I could tell that he was still processing everything I told him about Iron Monger.
"If Barnes was truly brainwashed, and really did have no choice, then we cannot blame him for the things he did while in Hydra's hands," Tony said diplomatically. "I don't like it, but like Grey said, we don't have to, we just have to do it. Do it."
"Yes boss!" I said, smiling a little. Tony nodded and gestured for me to grab the coffee. "Ready to go?"
I followed them out the front door, where Happy was waiting with the car. Happy immediately locked onto me and frowned.
"Yeah, I know, the pink in my hair is too faded," I said, intentionally throwing him off balance as we walked up. "But I brought you coffee!"
"Who are you?"
"She's with me," Tony said. "We'll explain in the car. Ready to go?"
"You're actually letting me drive?" Happy asked, shocked.
"I'm not letting her drive," Tony said, pointing at me. I nodded, that was entirely fair. "She has to explain and talks with her hands – she'd drive us off the road."
"Okay, I smacked U one time on accident, I'm not used to having the Adora-bots around me and didn't realize she was so close. I've already apologized." I handed out the coffee and climbed in the backseat, sliding all the way over to sit behind Happy. Tony climbed in the back, and Pepper took the passenger seat. She got her tablet out, ready to take notes. Tony was working off another tablet, doing who-knew-what.
"Alright kid, it's forty-five minutes to the airfield, you have until then to explain what you know, and what we're going to do about it," Tony said. I took a sip of my coffee and moved my vape out of my front pocket, where it was pressing uncomfortably into my leg. I tucked it in my hoodie pocket and sighed heavily.
"Okay, so here's what we're looking at." I explained in the broadest terms possible. I explained away Iron Man and Iron Man 2 as Stane's fault and Hammer's incompetence respectively, even mentioning the movie titles to they understood where my knowledge was coming from. Avengers was explained as an invasion lead by a most likely brainwashed Loki. Ultron was described as an alien AI possessing a robot, and Winter Soldier as a shitshow. I called Civil War a misunderstanding made worse by Thaddeus Ross, and Infinity War was a problem. Then I explained my goals for things to change.
"Can you combine the first two movies like that?" Happy asked, taking everything in stride. "How would that work?"
"Technically it won't, we'll still end up attacked by Vanko at the Grand Prix in Monaco, but since I know how Tony discovered the new element-"
"Badassium," Tony declared immediately.
"Starkanium," I corrected, if only for my own sake. I needed to stop thinking of this as a live action fan fiction, and more as a real live life. Because life, for the most part, was boring. Fanfiction was traumatizing if you did it right. "We will call it Starkanium, and you will likely win a Nobel prize or something like that for its discovery. No more of this casual attitude for shit, Tony, we're taking over this timeline. You will be king in all but name, and you will shut up and take it."
"Yes, dear," Tony said, a small grin on his face. I just rolled my eyes at him.
"Anyway, because I know how Tony discovered Starkanium, I have plans to get that synthesized and ready for him to use the minute he gets home."
"Involuntary vacation, woo," Tony said sarcastically. Happy and Pepper were still pissed that I was letting him go get kidnapped, but it wasn't what I wanted either. I didn't care about the plot, I cared about Tony.
"And that will negate most of the bullshit of the second movie – like almost dying from heavy metal poisoning."
"But we're letting him get kidnapped," Happy stated. I glared at him through the rearview mirror.
"I ain't letting him do shit, Hogan," I snapped. "He's choosing this shit because I don't know where that cache of Stark Weapons is located."
"There's a cache of Stark Industries weapons in terrorist hands?" Pepper demanded. I tilted my head and mentally flicked back through all my conversations with the woman since I met her.
"Oh, yeah, sorry, I'm so used to being later in the timeline, uh, Stane's also dealing weapons under the table to terrorists like Al Qaeda, the Ten Rings, and Hydra," I said. Pepper turned around in her seat to stare at me in open-mouthed horror. "He dies at the end of the first movie, so he's only a problem for like six more months. If even that long."
"I want him to face a jury," Tony said. I looked at him in surprise. "You said we were going to preach transparency in what we do so the people trust us, right? Putting my Godfather on trial for his crimes does that and legitimizes what we're going to do."
"Except for the fact that he's the one single person that could expose me for being a fraud," I pointed out. "But I have like fifteen ideas for that, I'll run through them with Pepper and Happy and Rhodey while you're… gone."
"You want to kill him?" Pepper asked, aghast. I couldn't blame her; I was sitting there contemplating murder. In their minds, I was contemplating murder. In my mind, I was writing a fancy fanfic and needed a character out of the way. I hoped that mentality went away soon. I needed that mentality to go away, real life, not fanfiction. They weren't just characters anymore; they were real people.
"We can have him stand trial, get a guilty verdict, and then while we're all very obviously on camera, Stane gets shot by his own terrorist connections, it isn't too far a stretch," I said, wobbling my head side to side as I thought. "If we have Barnes by then, he could do it, if he agrees. And then we technically wouldn't be lying when we say the bullet was fired by a terrorist. I hate to ask him to kill, knowing he doesn't really like violence, but it could work. But that's a later problem. We have bigger problems right now."
"Like what?" Pepper asked, looking at me like I was out of my mind. I snorted and pointed out the windshield. Rhodey was waiting next to the jet, looking pissed off. "Oh. Shit."
"That about sums it up. Welcome to the worst decade of our lives," I tried to joke as Happy parked the car. I watched Rhodey's face, waiting to see how he'd react to the four of us. He was impassive, if confused, when Tony climbed out of the backseat. His brow furrowed when Happy opened the door for me. "Are you sure I can't talk you out of this? You truly don't have to do this."
"I have some responsibilities that I can't ignore. And if my weapons are in the hands of terrorists, I have to do my duty and fix it. I'll get Rhodey on board, you get home and get started." I circled the back of the car to grab Tony's shoulders and force him to look me in the eye. "Starks are made of iron, it's something my father said. I didn't understand it at the time, but I think I do now."
"He also said that you're the greatest thing he ever created," I said, remembering the film reel from Iron Man Two.
"Then I guess it's time for me to create something great. Ready to work for a living?" Tony asked, shifting his grip so he cradled my face in his hands. They were callused, just like the fanfictions always said.
"Let's get to work, Dad," I said. I sniffed, suddenly drowning with the urge to cry. He smiled at me, then turned to Pepper. He pulled her into a hug and pressed a fast kiss to her cheek. Happy got a handshake hug combination, before he walked up the jet ramp. "Good luck, Godspeed."
"He'll be okay," Pepper said quietly, watching from afar as Rhodey and Tony bickered. Rhodey gave me one more suspicious glare before following him into the jet. The door closed, and I felt like I'd been sucker punched. "Right?"
"He'd better be, else I'll kill him myself," I grumbled as I leaned against the car. None of us were willing to move until after the jet taxied and took off. After a few minutes, I groaned and climbed in the car. Pepper climbed in the back with me, and Happy pulled us out of the airfield. I grabbed the notebook that was in the back of Happy's seat for me and started writing down ideas I'd had, or things we could steal from various fanfictions. It isn't plagiarism if the fics don't exist yet, right? "Oh my God, I'm Deke fucking Shaw."
"Who?" Pepper asked, turning to look at me.
"Agents of SHIELD was a TV show I adored, watched it so many times I can say the lines along with the actors. He's the grandson of FitzSimmons, and we meet him when they travel forward in time to a timeline where the planet cracked like an egg – don't worry they fix it," I assured as the color drained out of Pepper's face. "He gets dragged back to the present day with the team, and in season seven – which isn't considered Canon, by the way – he gets stranded in the eighties with Mack. He uh, creates a band and 'writes' songs that came out in the later eighties. I'm literally doing the same thing with literature."
"And that's bad?"
"I was always so annoyed by Deke, and I'm starting to realize it's because we might just be the same person." I rubbed my eyes, trying to push it out of my head.
"Are you planning on writing songs that haven't come out yet?"
"Not for anything more than Karaoke," I said. "Or personal usage. But I did have Jarvis download my entire Spotify just in case. Don't wanna lose my tunes."
"You're doing surprisingly well for someone who was just kidnapped from her own timeline and thrown into ours," Happy said gently as he turned onto the highway. I sighed and sank into my seat.
"I'm not convinced I'm not going to wake up in my own bed tomorrow morning. If I don't, I might be putting in PTO for three days to drink myself into a stupor. And cry." I didn't want to think about the implications of me being stuck in a different timeline. I wanted my mom. "But for now, I'm here, and I've got questions for you two."
"Questions for us?" Pepper asked, slightly surprised. "I thought you already knew everything."
"Sure, I do. But I'm giving you the chance to change your own future. So, here's the question – how far are you willing to go to protect Tony Stark?" I looked at Pepper, who may have shown up for the final battle, pissed and ready to fight, but also walked away from Tony when he was trying to be a better person. If she walked away here, I wouldn't let her back. They were getting one chance.
"Shouldn't we be the ones asking you that question?" Happy asked, glancing at me through the rearview. I scoffed and looked back down at my writing, absently correcting the spelling.
"Should I plan to do more, I'd be forced to worship him as my God," I said firmly without a glance up. When I did look up in the silence, Happy and Pepper looked at me like they'd never seen me before. "You forget, you think I've known Tony for a few hours. I've known him for thirteen years. I've seen Tony save the world and end it. I've watched him fight against terrorists, genocidal aliens, and people who think being snubbed gives them a villain origin story. I've seen Tony tell the world to go hang, and I've seen him set the world on fire."
"Tony would never!" Pepper protested. But there was doubt in her voice. Tony was one to give in to his whims. If his mind talked him into something, there was truly little they could do to get him to stop.
"Tony would never seek revenge against those that murdered his parents in cold blood, then sat around and hid the answers he needed to save his life?" I asked, glancing at Pepper. I wasn't mad at her. I knew she loved Tony, and I could already tell, in this life she'd pick up the mantle of Rescue with ease and joy. But if I was going to have this work, I needed less real-life logic and more "for the plot" logic. "Tony Fucking Stark would never let his team walk all over him while he shells out millions for them? Tony Stark deserves better than the shit he's going to go through if we stand around with our thumbs up our asses! Anthony Edward Stark deserves more than to sacrifice his life for a world that doesn't appreciate him."
"He sacrifices himself?" Pepper asked faintly. She'd gone pale again. I was starting to worry about her blood pressure.
"It was the price to save the world. But I have a few ideas for that." I wasn't going to admit that at the moment, my plans were Hulk, She-Hulk, or myself doing the final snap. The Hulks could survive it, and if I was stuck here without my family, it wouldn't really matter if I died.
"You didn't tell Tony that he sacrifices himself, you just said that he dies," Happy pointed out. I grinned at him through the rearview, but there were too many teeth visible for it to be kind.
"Do you really want me to tell Tony that if I change this, someone else will likely die in his place? You really want me to tell him that just as he's finally starting to gain a conscience?" I asked Happy through the mirror. He grumbled under his breath but gave me a petulant 'no' as he turned off the highway. "I didn't think so. Give me time to either find a way around the whole sacrificial lamb bit, I have two and a half ideas, but not enough information."
I shook my head as Happy pulled up to the Starbucks window. I turned in my seat and rolled down my window so I could do the ordering.
"Welcome to Starbucks, what can we get started for you?"
"Morning love! Can we get a hot, Grande French Vanilla latte with soy milk and whip with caramel drizzle, an iced, tall white chocolate mocha with almond milk, and a vente cold brew with a splash of cream and two sugars?" I made sure to pause in between specifications. I knew that I had the tendency to talk at a million miles an hour, but I didn't want to inconvenience the barista.
"Okay, anything else today?" I glanced between Pepper and Happy, who both shook their heads.
"And a, um, chocolate croissant, warm if you could?" I said, practically beaming at the screen.
"Absolutely! That'll be eleven seventy-eight at the first window," the associate said.
"Thanks sunshine!" Happy pulled us forward and waited for the barista to open the window. "Shit, I forgot how cheap shit was in 2010."
"That different?" Pepper asked. I was sure she was considering something for SI.
"My latte is usually eight bucks by itself," I said dryly as Happy paid for our drinks. "Inflation got bad in 2017 and then 2020 made everything astronomically worse. I forgot; y'all are just off the housing market crash."
"Are you able to give us a rundown of what the economy is going to do?" Pepper asked, leaning closer to me in her excitement. "Do you know what that could mean for SI?"
"I know there's an energy crisis coming. The planet is dying. In 2011 we're gonna wanna be pumping out green energy like that's what we were founded to do. I can write something up for you, I've got a few ideas to throw to SI anyway."
"Alright, here's our drinks, Grey who gets what?" Happy asked, holding a drink carrier.
"Cold brew for you, White Chocolate Mocha for the ever-lovely Miss Potts, and the overly fancy one is mine. Thanks, Happy!"
"You think Jim is, okay?" Happy asked Pepper as he pulled out of the parking lot. I bit into the croissant and wiggled happily in my seat.
"I'm betting he's going to hit Tony," Pepper said, sipping at her drink. She made a surprised noise, looked at it again, then took another drink. I just grinned, glad I'd got the orders right. Her tablet pinged once, then twice, then a third time. She and I both looked at it in surprise. "Speaking of, he fixed the fatality clause to drop the company in your lap if he's missing for more than a month, not sure how much I like that decision. He also said that we're to focus on mostly just the first two movies until he gets back with the exception of Barnes. Jarvis has also made you a fairly fool-proof identity as his daughter, you just need to give him the details for it."
"I'll do that first thing today. I'm going to warn you now, it was four pm in my timeline, and then it was one am in yours; I'm absolutely wrecked. When we get home, I'm happy to do any type of admin work necessary, but I will be going to bed at five pm."
"No, that's fair," Happy said. "At least one of the Starks knows how to take care of themselves."
"Ha, that's hilarious. I haven't seen a doctor since 2018, haven't seen a dentist in about the same length of time, I've got a laundry list of personal things to fix, but that will come in time."
"It's 2010," Happy pointed out. "How far away is that from you?"
"Today is October 26th, 2021."
"That's been three years," Pepper pointed out, unnecessarily.
"Yeah, I know. But like I said, inflation is a bitch, health insurance is expensive, and rent is due. If I go to the doctor, I have to spend money, and then I can't pay rent. If I can't pay rent, I get evicted. Or I can choose to pay rent but skip on groceries for the month." Add in the fact that I was downright terrified of the dentist and hated the doctor because no one ever took me seriously, so there was no real point in going. "So, it's fine."
"That is not fine!" Pepper exclaimed, reaching over to swat me on the shoulder. I gave her an affronted look. "Grey! You have to take care of yourself!"
"There's two of them. Shit," Happy said, pretending to be upset. Pepper still looked scandalized.
"I'm afraid to ask, honestly."
"Whatever the question, the answer is probably worse than you're expecting. The good news is I'm fully vaccinated. Got my flu shot at work last month, and a Covid booster last week."
"What's covid?" Happy asked, looking wary. I glared at the top of my coffee cup.
"Pray we don't find out," I practically growled. "Like, actually, get on your knees and pray to every God that you believe in that we don't find out. If I have to live through that shit again, I'll lose my mind. I have six years to prevent the end of the world."
"I thought you said we had until 2023 for the bad guy?" Pepper asked, alarmed.
"Oh, no, Avengers Endgame is in 2023. But 2016 is a nightmare. Hopefully you'll never have to know." We fell into silence as Happy drove us along the coast. I occasionally glanced out Pepper's window at the ocean but tried to keep writing. My hand was shaking so much my handwriting was mostly unreadable. We just pulled onto the driveway when Pepper spoke again.
"You never did actually answer our question about your health."
"Pepper, I'm fine," I assured. "I'll pick up a knee brace this week and I'll be alright."
"One orthopedic physician coming up," Pepper mumbled under her breath. I just shook my head. Happy pulled up in front of the house and parked the car.
"I'll drop you two off here, I'm going to the office to grab the list of things Tony wanted brought out of the labs there."
"Will you also arrange dinner for us, Happy?" Pepper asked. "I don't think we'll make it out anywhere."
"Sure, I'll do take out for us, and I'll get together a grocery order. Grey, make sure you let me know what things you want for yourself and the kitchen. Do that first thing so I know what to get." Happy turned to look at me before I got out of the car. "I mean it, kid, anything you want from the grocery store. Pepper will probably take you shopping tomorrow so you have stuff."
"Tony's arranged for a personal stylist to meet us next week to get you kitted out as a Stark, tomorrow we'll hit up the mall and wherever else you want to go." Pepper's face softened for a moment. "Look, we have no idea how you're doing with this severe adjustment. We'll help you, you help us, and maybe, just maybe, we get out of all of this unscathed."
"Boy, someone's an optimist," I teased. "Happy, drive safe, we'll see you soon."
I climbed out of the car, then leaned against Happy's door until he rolled down the window.
"Go on, choose your shit. I'm going to the store after the office, so you have an hour to let me know what you want, or you get nothing."
"Yes sir, Sergeant Hogan, sir." I winked at him as he frowned. "Ya know, if you relax, you'll feel better."
"You're a punk, Stark, you know that?" Happy put the car in reverse and slowly rolled backwards. I let the car spin me around and made my slightly dizzy way up to the house.
"It's really nice to come in the front door this time," I said as I walked over the threshold and into the house.
"It's nice to see you come through the front door, Miss Stark," Jarvis said. I beamed up at the ceiling. "Sir has several delivery services on standby to furnish your bedroom and a workspace for you in the second-floor sub-basement. He also includes this recording for you."
"Rhodey, give me just a moment to finish this, then you can keep yelling at me, this is important. Hey kiddo. DUM-E has some technology for you, a phone, computer, things like that. Make sure you order whatever you want for your room, and feel free to make yourself at home in the garage. I'll call you tomorrow after the Jericho presentation. Get some sleep, okay? Love you kiddo."
"Thanks, Jay." I was strangely touched that Tony added the love you, but I knew it was part of how we designed it. If we acted like family right off, it would be easier to keep it going. After a year or so it would be second nature. "Has Tony picked a room for me? Or is that my choice?"
"He has selected a room with an ensuite for you across the hall from him. It has one way glass as windows, the same as his."
"I'd wondered," I mused. "Alright, lab first, then Happy's chores, then background, and maybe a nap. Need anything from me, Pep?"
"Want me to find you when dinner is here?" she offered.
"Oh, yes please." And with that, I headed down to the lab where DUM-E was in fact waiting with a basket in his claw. I had a tablet, a new laptop, and a cell phone. Someone had also included several notebooks and a new pack of pens. "Thanks love. Do you mind if I work in here while Tony's gone?"
I got a bunch of beeps as a response.
"If I set anything on fire, you definitely can put it out. But I don't have any immediate plans for pyrotechnics. I'll leave that to Dad." I tucked my prizes under my arm and patted the bot on the side before heading back upstairs. Jarvis helpfully flashed a light so I could find my bedroom, and lit it up as I walked in. It was very sparse, just a bed, a desk, and a dresser, but it was very spacious.
I flopped on the bed and pulled out the tablet. Pepper had helpfully sent me an email with a link to the grocery store Happy frequented. I actually took my time, selecting my favorite brands of things, weighing pros and cons on various brands of shampoo – for once not limited to the one that was on sale at the time.
Once I chose everything from tampons to toothpaste, chips to coffee creamer, I furnished the room. I only chose a few things, as I wanted to look at the options in the shops. Finally, I pulled up the email from Jarvis, where he was helping me assemble my backstory.
"I need you to see if a person exists for me," I said to the room at large. "I need you to check for an Emma Frost. She'd be a sex therapist, or a night club owner. Blonde, mutant."
"Mutant, miss Stark?" Jarvis asked.
"Oh. There's a genetic mutation called the x-gene. Charles Xavier sets up a school for them in New York, though I don't know if it exists in this universe. Can you search for him, too?" I needed to know, was this my MCU that I knew and loved? Was this the wider Marvel Universe, with six Spider-man and mutants running around? Was I going to have to deal with Deadpool? What if Charles was real and he read my mind and saw that I was a fake? What if Wanda read my mind and saw I was a fake?
"And you're choosing a mutant for your mother?" Thank goodness for Jarvis, knocking me out of my spiraling thoughts, because I could panic for hours.
"Jarvis, I'm dumb as shit, and I tend to say whatever comes out of my mouth, regardless of if it's appropriate. I need to preemptively prepare for that, by laying a careful backstory to give me a reason to know the future."
"By giving yourself the x-gene."
"It's either that or cosmic radiation. Or gamma radiation. Or sitting next to an exploding tesseract fueled engine. Saying it's a genetic quirk might raise some eyebrows now, but after 2014, it won't really matter." I hesitated, stopping before writing my full name out on the virtual birth certificate. I needed something that mattered. Grey obviously couldn't be the name I was born with. Especially in the nineties.
"Let's have me born on Tony's birthday, he's a Gemini, we can play that up bigtime. Father and daughter that act more like twins, I need to be at least eighteen but can't be too much older or we get too close to Tony being assaulted as a child, so put me in 1991." It would make me eighteen going on nineteen. I doubted I could pass for younger. I was just glad that Tony and I had the foresight to run through his already established timeline. I might know more about him than I ever wanted to, but some part of me knew it would be necessary at some point. "Have me having skipped a grade in middle school, sixth straight to eighth, mostly because I don't remember a single thing from seventh grade. Well, anything other than Brody pulling his dick out in class and rubbing his spunk on the back of my neck. Blech."
"He did what?" Pepper demanded from the doorway. I glanced over in surprise. She was holding up a container of Chinese takeaway. "Grey, are you saying you were assaulted?"
"I mean. Sorta? More like I was just flashed and made hella uncomfortable. Told my mom, she nearly destroyed the school for me. He got suspended for two weeks, I think." I shrugged. "I'd honestly almost forgotten about it."
"Include that in her backstory. Have it happening in sixth grade, and that's why Tony changed her schools when she skipped a grade." Pepper settled on an empty spot on the bed and handed me the food and chopsticks. "Anything I can help with?"
"If I was born in '91, that has me turning nineteen next month. I need to have been in college under an assumed name – put me somewhere as Maria Carter but withdraw me after it's announced Tony is missing. I've got enough gen ed credits in my timeline that I'd only need a class or two before I have an Associates." I looked at Pepper and thought while I shoved several pieces of General Tso's chicken in my mouth. I nodded, "I need a name. Like a legal name. But it would depend on whether Tony was there for my birth or not. Has he raised me the entire time?"
"Kill your mom during childbirth. If she had Tony down as father before she passed, the hospital would be duty bound to contact him. When people question how he could've raised you while being the same person they knew, we can have things in your background to explain his behavior." Pepper handed me a napkin and pulled my tablet to her lap to continue the work while I ate. Happy came in with a dozen grocery bags in his arms and dropped them on top of the dresser. I flashed him a smile. "Like, see here, in 2002, you'd have been in sixth grade, he was publicly crucified in the press for skipping this giant Stark Industries shareholders meeting. If that lines up with you being assaulted in class, of course he would've skipped the meeting, his daughter needed him."
"That could work. I broke an arm in first grade, and my ankle in between eighth and ninth grade. Had to have surgery and everything. We can add those in. Um, I took violin since I was seven, add a recital or three in there, as well as high school orchestra and drama performances. I tend to bring those up sometimes. Oh, and marching band." I watched as Jarvis added them onto the timeline we constructed of mine and Tony's lives. "Every time he skives off, we can explain it away with my existence."
"So, what's your legal name, kid?" Happy asked, leaning against the wall. "Who do you want to be?"
I thought of every OC I'd ever created, Tala Merlyn, the super assassin love of Cisco Ramon's life. I thought of Casey from Leverage, and Peggy from the Librarians. Carina from Harry Potter. I thought of the dozen or so I'd created for the MCU. I thought of my life before. I thought of Tony, and knew I wanted to do something for him.
"Margaret Maria Stark, always called Grey by friends and family," I said finally. "Named after the two best women in Tony's life – at the time."
I winked at Pepper, who smiled. It was time to look forward. Besides, we had work to do. I really hoped I didn't fuck this up like I did everything else. The MCU had to stay my hyperfocus for the rest of my life. I couldn't afford anything else.