Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

Chapter Six: Time Moves

Plan A

There were a million and one things to be done to prepare for Thanos and Tony couldn’t seem to stop time slipping through his fingers.

Ironic when one of their new allies apparently was in possession of the time infinity stone. The Eye of Agamotto hung around Stephen Strange’s neck in a gold pendant combination which made him look like a nineteen-seventies television magician. The semi-sentient cloak didn’t help to do anything to dispel that image either.

Weirdly, he’d vaguely known Strange. Strange had been at the top of his game as a surgeon and had attended a number of the same society events that Tony had attended in New York. Mostly they’d known each other to say hello to and chat about how bad the chicken was, but there was a familiarity which Tony appreciated in the avalanche of new superheroes who turned up to help out with Thanos.

(Every superhero but Rogers who apparently either hadn’t picked up the voicemails Tony had left or didn’t care. Or he cared, he just didn’t believe Tony. Natasha had gone in search of Steve the day before and hopefully she’d track his ass down before Thanos arrived.)

“I don’t think this is giving us anything we can work with.” Tony sighed as he compared the readings on the time stone with the Tesseract and the mind stone data trying to see if there was something they could use.

“You’re assuming that the infinity stones will correspond to our limited knowledge of physics.” Strange pointed out.

“Excuse me, if – and this is pun really goddamn intended, I don’t have time right now to discover a whole new school of physics which completely rewrites everything we know about the known universe.” Tony crumpled up the holographic readout and consigned it to a folder he had labelled ‘pointless.’

Strange shrugged. “I thought the same when I went to Kamar-Taj.”

“Why can’t we use the time stone again?” asked Tony. “Let’s just use it like a Time-Turner and give ourselves more time to prepare.”

“Using the time stone breaks the natural laws.” Strange said as though reciting a rule book – which perhaps he was since he grimaced right after as though he had sucked on something sour. “I’ve used it once to save us from being swallowed up by a different dimension but…it’s not a fix-all. Time travels on a linear path for a reason.”

Tony cocked his head and sat down on the stool, absently patting DUM-E who whirred over to him for some attention. “Linear. No quantum jump then or alternate universe creation?”

“Linear.” Strange said firmly. “Time can be looped and overwritten but it always moves forward even if temporarily rolled back.”

“You’re going to disappoint the quantum theorists.” Tony said.

“Not really since quantum mechanics exists. It’s just not a factor when time travelling within your own quantum reality.” Strange said. “Alternate universes, different dimensions of space and time. There’s a whole existence out there which as scientists we’ve only started to prove mathematically never mind determine if there’s a mechanism for travel or even just to watch.” He raised his mug of coffee. “Magic on the other hand can bridge the divide; open up windows into different dimensions, alter the very fabric of the reality around us.”

“Any technology sufficiently advanced…” began Tony.

“Would appear like magic to those who don’t know it.” Strange nodded. “The fact is there is more we don’t know than we do.”

“And using the time stone…”

“Has the ability to tear apart our reality.” Strange said. “Reversing time breaks the natural law that it moves forward. You can’t account for every variable as it returns to its forward motion. As a quick fix in a single event maybe we get away with it but time isn’t easily changed. The natural course of a river will attempt to return to itself when diverted.”

“So time travel would be useless then to fix something like this.” Tony summarised. “We couldn’t just rewind and get the jump on him.”

“Thanos has been planning this for centuries. He’s an alien being living in a part of the universe we don’t know and can’t travel to with our own technology right now never mind in years past.” Strange pointed out. “Even if you went back thirty years what could you actually do to prevent this?”

Tony accepted that with a slow nod. “But time to prepare now…”

“It isn’t a Time Turner. You go back to your own body within the same time stream. You go back to the same position. You walk through the same day. Maybe you try and retain the knowledge of the first day but as you don’t relearn it but focus on expanding it, you’re creating a paradox where you didn’t learn the first part. You’re just repeating a day over and over, like Groundhog Day.”

“That’s a great film.” Tony reminisced. “OK, so not a groundhog day, but how about something which just sends someone back a couple of years. They could use all that time to prepare, make a more stable world, eliminate the things which put us at a disadvantage.” He shrugged. “It’s just a thought.” And he could think of another ten or twenty decisions he might have changed if he’d known about Thanos sooner.

“Say you went back, what would you change that would make a real difference?” asked Strange.

And Tony knew he wasn’t just asking to be a dick but because he was really interested.

“Me?” asked Tony. “Wouldn’t it be you?”

Strange shook his head. “I wouldn’t be well-placed. I mean, I could abandon my successful career as a surgeon and go to Kamar-Taj, and maybe the Sorcerer Supreme wouldn’t have my balls for using the Eye and would accept me again, but…that only means I get to where I am now earlier. If I had turned up on your doorstep a few years ago would you have believed me?”

“Maybe after New York.” Tony replied honestly.

“OK, but I don’t really know the detail of what the Avengers did or didn’t do before now. How do I know what decisions to support and which to negate?” Strange pointed at Tony. “Now, you, on the other hand, you’re probably the best placed out of everybody to go back.”

“Thor.” Tony countered.

“But he’s under Odin’s rule. Odin might determine that the natural law must be followed and Thor hasn’t been on Earth all the time.” Strange threw back.

“OK, so me.” Tony chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. “There’s a lot of things I’d change.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Strange said.

Tony shot him a look and Strange chuckled.

“OK, hypothetically, you get sent back in time one year. Does that make a difference?” Strange asked. “Two? Three? Can you remember every decision, every action taken? Which would really make the difference? And if you change everything too much, your knowledge of the future is gone, your advantage lost.” He pinned Tony with a frank stare. “Could you live through the worst experience of your life again to preserve enough of the timeline to continue? Could you stand aside and let someone you love live through a bad experience in their life?”

Tony shivered, too many bad memories competing for attention. He pushed off the stool and absently patted DUM-E.

“OK. I get it. Bad idea.” Tony smirked at Strange to cover for his unease. “So. Plan B?”

Strange grinned but there was a serious glint in his eyes. “How about we make it plan Z?”

“Last resort, huh?” Tony shrugged. “Yeah, why not? Let’s go with that.”

Plan Z

Time moves slowly as the weeks and months and years creep by, inching towards the inevitable alien invasion Loki will bring to Earth.

Tony and JARVIS continue to plot and plan. Given how unhappy Captain Secrets had been about Tony keeping the original Ultron programme from him, Tony figures he’ll blow a gasket if the time travel is ever discovered.

Tony is too aware that if he changes too much, his advantage will be lost. He hadn’t intended travelling back so far but it means he has to be cautious. He’s long ago given up worrying about the detail of every day though. He can only remember so much, and every day that goes by his memory of the previous timeline gets woollier. He’s thankful for the videos he made when he got back from Afghanistan, buried away on Tony’s personal server which is only accessible to him.

And JARVIS.

Then he remembers Wanda could get into his head.

He goes to see Charles Xavier and confides in him. Charles wraps Tony’s head up in psychic shields and bubble-wrap which should prevent any other telepath finding the previous timeline memories. Weirdly Xavier has had experience with time travel before and so Tony takes away Charles’s whispered commitment to help him. It’s a good offer. The X-Men and their villainous counterparts had helped take down a lot of the alien cannon fodder Thanos had thrown at them.   It might make sense to establish a closer relationship earlier, maybe even invite a cross-team thing.

Mostly, regardless of the plotting and planning, things are the same for Tony. SI begins to dominate the technology industry and the only difference is that it also continues its domination of the weapons industry, sliding into the place Hammer had occupied.

A year after he returns from Afghanistan, Tony makes Pepper CEO with the board’s approval and assumes the Head of R&D role he prefers. Tony can advance some things quicker but he’s careful to try and ensure he doesn’t take credit for someone else’s invention or push something just too fast for the market to handle.

If Tony’s progressing successfully professionally, he’s also managed to put his personal life on a stable footing with Pepper. He has a moment’s worry over whether using the knowledge of his past relationship with Pepper to gain an advantage is creepy – the jury is still out – and determines he can at least offset the worst offences so no strawberries or giant bunny rabbits.

This time he asks her out properly when she’s a month into the CEO role. They end up talking to the HR Director and working out an agreement which provides Pepper with some assurance and protection of employment despite getting involved with him, and allays any concern the board might have.

Their relationship seems more rock solid than ever. Their first date is an art exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art and they have dinner in a nearby hole-in-the-wall restaurant he’d discovered. They talk about art and the Expo; Happy’s latest girlfriend Billie and Rhodey’s crush on his colleague Carol; they discuss Pepper’s obsession with shoes, they disagree about the Oscar winners, and agree they both want to go to the movies like normal people and eat too much popcorn. That ends up being their second date. Somehow, it just works from there. Tony confirms their relationship in an exclusive interview with Ellen, and there’s nothing but positive press.

His relationship with SHIELD also takes a different tone in the wake of the Expo and New Mexico.

He’s not surprised when Coulson decides he doesn’t need protection and Clint is reassigned; he figures there’s a report somewhere determining his fitness for the Avengers but Fury doesn’t bait him with it. Tony waves Clint off with a new custom-made bow, quiver and arrows and it’s an amicable goodbye. Clint continues to drop in for drinks or dinner when they’re both in New York and Tony enjoys his company; Clint is a warm, funny guy. He’s decent and solid and much smarter than he had ever let onto Tony in the previous timeline. Clint’s open about the fact that SHIELD are deliriously happy Tony’s letting one of their agents get so close, and Tony jokes that Clint is his inside man in SHIELD. He can’t quite justify calling himself Clint’s friend, because Tony never forgets Clint will be taken by Loki. No matter how many times he runs the numbers he just can’t see a way that lets him save Clint without placing the entire world at risk. He tries to comfort himself with the knowledge that Natasha will save Clint.

He definitely doesn’t call Natasha a friend. She remains cool and perfectly professional the few times their paths cross when she accompanies Coulson. But the one time she joins Tony and Clint for dinner, she does smile at their antics with honest-to-God fondness. It’s a long way from the barely hidden disapproval she had for him in their first merry-go-round so he takes what he can get.

Coulson continues to be his official liaison and Tony does consult with SHIELD on a variety of projects – body armour and the quinjets primarily, just as he had done in the previous timeline. SHIELD sends him again to talk to Ross after Harlem and he’s always understood they’d wanted him to screw up the assignment.

He does it with glee and with the added bonus of riling Ross into admitting what had happened with Bruce which Tony digitally records; it’ll be useful leverage later. Even then he leaves Bruce alone, despite worrying about his friend. Bruce had often spoken of how the years on the run had helped him find a way to manage his alter ego. Tony will wait to meet him.

SHIELD don’t invite Tony to their Tesseract party. He notes when Selvig disappears from academia into SHIELD’s employ. He also keeps track of Jane Foster, but he knows from Thor’s stories that the Bifrost is broken if events have unfurled the same in Asgard, and the absence of Thor suggests they have. There’s nothing Tony can do.

Tony’s also not invited to the Watching Cap Sleep party. Tony checks surreptitiously around the date he knows Rogers woke up to make sure that Capsicle is defrosted. He debates for weeks whether to approach Rogers anyway – SHIELD have put Captain America up in an apartment in DC while he completes his training and re-education – but Tony can’t quite make himself do it.

Tony does agonise surprisingly a lot about James Buchanan Barnes. He’s not sure how he can morally justify leaving Barnes as a captive of HYDRA, brainwashed and used as a weapon – especially given his whole campaign to ensure his own weapons are no longer in the hands of terrorists. But if he reveals Barnes, he reveals HYDRA within SHIELD, and then he’s in danger of losing the whole thread like Strange warned him. And it’s not as though he knows how to rescue Barnes since all he knows for sure is that Alexander Pierce has him on ice somewhere.

(Tony can only just forgive himself on the basis that he cannot risk the entire timeline for Barnes and that Barnes will break free eventually).

By the time the ball drops signalling the beginning of 2012, Tony thinks he’s in a good place. His reputation since Afghanistan is reformed; he has the respect of the military, Congress and the President, and most of the public. He’s in good standing with the non-HYDRA parts of SHIELD. His small family is safe and well.

It’s time for Loki and the alien invasion, and Tony thinks he might be ready this time.

Chapter Seven: Avengers Assemble

Plan A

Tony looked up at the old brownstone. It seemed in reasonable condition just like it’s neighbouring buildings. There was a bodega on the end of the street; a park around the corner. It wasn’t a bad neighbourhood, just unexpected. Or maybe not since they were in the heart of Brooklyn.

“FRIDAY,” Tony frowned, “is this the right address?” He resisted the urge to re-listen to Natasha’s voicemail telling him to meet her as soon as he could get free.

“Yes, Boss.” FRIDAY replied through the car speakers. “Apartment 3B.”

Tony sighed and turned the engine off. He got out and walked briskly over to the front door, pressing the bell for 3B.

The answering buzz and click of the door unlocking had Tony sighing. He fingered his bracelet nervously as he took a step inside. The communal hallway had a couple of bicycles locked to a radiator, and a children’s buggy in front of an apartment door at the back. There was a staircase to his right which had been stripped of its paint, the wood sanded down and left unvarnished. Noting the apartments had gold stencilled number one’s screwed to their doors, Tony started to make his way up.

The third floor landing had two apartments; 3B was to the back of the property. Tony walked over and knocked on the door. It opened up to reveal Natasha dressed down in jeans, hoodie and jacket.

“I’m here.” Tony pointed out. “Why am I here again?”

Natasha rolled her eyes at him and ushered him in.

Tony took two steps across the threshold and froze.

“Try not to kill each other.” Natasha said softly.

He was barely aware of the door closing, the click of it loud in the silence. He was too caught up in taking in his first sight of Steve Rogers since Siberia.

Steve-Rogers had let his hair grow out more and it looked a shade darker, or maybe Rogers hadn’t been in the sun long enough for it to keep its lighter hue; his face sported a full beard, trimmed and neat but full nevertheless. His expression was guarded. His outfit was dark; black combat pants teamed with a dark canvas jacket. He looked thinner; not gaunt but honed as though he’d been stripped back like the staircase to the grain.

Tony belatedly realised Natasha had left as he glanced around the apartment briefly. There was a kitchenette to the left; small with a minimum of cupboards, a refrigerator, and a lonely coffee pot standing empty on the side. There was a small round table with two chairs in front of the window directly in front of Tony. The rest of the space to his right was a tiny den; a three-seater couch bereft of cushions or throw sat in front of a low coffee table facing a TV screen. Two doors on the right-hand wall suggested there was at least one bedroom and a bathroom beyond but the doors were closed.

Rogers stood by the table. “Tony.”

Tony reminded himself he needed to breathe and took a breath. “You got my voicemails.”

“I did.”

Tony stuck his hands in his pants’ pockets and rocked back. “And what? You couldn’t just call me back?”

Rogers looked as though he was clenching his jaw; there was a minute thinning of his lips, a glower flickering briefly in his eyes. “I had to be certain it wasn’t a trick.”

“Right,” drawled Tony, “good thing your ‘call me if you need me’ thing wasn’t meant for emergencies then so you can take all the time you want to check out whether there is a need or not.”

Rogers flinched at that and Tony felt a momentary satisfaction for ruffling the other man’s demeanour.

“You haven’t exactly made use of the phone before now.” Rogers pointed out. “You can’t blame me for being cautious.”

“There hasn’t been a need before now.” Tony countered.

“Really? There was no need when you were down to you and Vision…”

“And whose fault was that?” Tony interrupted him angrily. “Oh, no, wait! I forget, don’t I?” He gestured angrily. “Because in your eyes, it’s mine, isn’t it? Because I actually followed the law and…”

“You sold our freedom…” Rogers began hotly.

“Oh, don’t pretend like it was anything to do with the Accords!” Tony shouted. “All you cared about was Barnes!”

That was a direct hit.

Rogers paled and yanked his gaze away from Tony’s momentarily before snapping back. “He deserves to have someone fight for him.”

“No matter what the cost and who gets hurt along the way.” Tony bit out.

“You were trying to kill him!”

“I’d just found out he killed my parents!”

“That wasn’t Bucky!” Rogers took a step forward.

Tony held his ground. “His hand strangled my mother! His hand bashed my father’s head in!” He bit out. “It was him!”

Rogers took another step forward. “He wasn’t in control!”

Tony shook his head and refused to step back. “Tell me, Rogers.” He said tersely. “If you had seen a video of a brainwashed me killing Bucky’s parents, would you be standing arguing with him about whether he had any right to be angry at me?”

Rogers flushed red.

“You know what I know? You’d be happily teaming up with your old pal to be angry at me because you did that exact thing with Wanda when that wasn’t even my fault!” Tony said heatedly.

Rogers stayed silent, his jaw working silently as though he was fighting to hold back words.

“What’s the matter there, Rogers?” Tony waved a hand at him. “Is the truth a little hard to swallow?”

Rogers glowered at him. He stabbed a finger at him and Tony felt his heartbeat rocket, the memory of Siberia and the shield coming down on him screaming in his head. “You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you! Bucky’s worth more than…”

“Ten of me, right?” Tony gave a short laugh, trying hard to ignore the pain tightening his chest. “That’s what you said when we met, wasn’t it? Not the guy to lie down on the wire. Nothing without my suit.” He glared at Rogers. “Like you’re anything more than an angry little man without your shield.”    

Rogers reared back. “You haven’t changed at all.”  

It was clear it wasn’t a compliment.

“Neither have you.” Tony retorted.  

Rogers suddenly moved towards him…

Tony automatically hunched away, expecting a blow and the bracelet activated, metal snapping into place in a miniature gauntlet as he brought his hand up to defend himself…

Rogers lurched back, both hands up…shock radiated across his face.

Tony’s heart was beating too fast. His arm trembled.

Rogers took another step back almost bumping into the table behind him. “Easy, Tony.” He said slowly. “I wasn’t…I was just…I was just going to walk past you. Leave.”

Tony lowered his hand slowly and deactivated the bracelet. He breathed slowly, trying to calm his heart, the shakiness that flooded his muscles after the surge of adrenaline.

Rogers gradually brought his own hands down but stayed where he was. “I don’t know how we fix this.” He said eventually.

Tony sighed heavily. “I think maybe you should stop pretending we were ever friends.”

Rogers flinched. “I know you don’t believe me, Tony, but I am your friend.”

“No,” said Tony firmly, “you’re really not. A friend wouldn’t have kept the truth about my…” he broke off, his throat closing up on the words.

“I should have told you.” Rogers admitted. “There’s no excuse.”

Tony gave a nod of acknowledgement. Rogers was sincere; Tony could hear the regret in his voice and see it in his eyes, in the downcast incline of his head.

“For what it’s worth, I do know in my head Barnes was only the weapon; he’s not the person responsible for sending him after my parents.” Tony said, looking away from Rogers and staring at the uncluttered kitchen counter. He wished there was a bottle of scotch on it.

“Would it have made a difference in…in Siberia?” Rogers began hesitantly. “If I had told you; would it have made a difference?”

Tony’s eyes snapped back to Rogers’s. “I don’t know.” He shrugged to lessen the bluntness of his honesty. “I just…maybe? I don’t know if anything would have…I saw him strangle my Mom.” Tears were too close for comfort and Tony turned away from Rogers again.

“I guess we’ll never know.” Rogers said softly.

Tony nodded.

There was a moment of silent understanding; of recognition that they were both looking at the wreckage of whatever friendship they’d had before.

Tony cleared his throat and took a breath. “Natasha tell you about Thanos?”

Rogers nodded. “She said he’s coming here for the infinity stones?”

“And to kill us.” Tony said.

“Right.” Rogers said.

“We’ve arranged an amnesty.” Tony said. “All charges will be put on hold while you help us defeat Thanos.”

“And after?” pressed Rogers sharply.

“Between you and Barnes, seventeen law enforcement officers were injured in Romania. Wilson’s responsible for the whiplash and impact trauma from an emergency landing the helicopter he damaged had to make. Three civilians sustained injuries because of the chase in the tunnel and subsequent collapse. It was a miracle nobody died and you’re lucky T’Challa took responsibility for all the property damage.” Tony stated evenly. “If you think you did the right thing, you can argue that in front of the UN panel.”

Rogers swallowed hard. “I’ll turn myself in but they let Sam and Bucky go free.”

Tony swallowed the angry retort that sprang up and rubbed a hand over his face. He gestured at Rogers. “This discussion…this discussion here and now isn’t about that. This isn’t about Barnes or Wilson.” He said. “It isn’t about you. There’s no deal here, no quid pro quo beyond the amnesty I already had to beg them to give you. This isn’t a negotiation. You said to call if you were needed. I called.”

Rogers breathed in sharply and paced a couple of steps back to stare out of the window.

“You once told me we would fight this threat together.” Tony said quietly. “We’d win together or we’d lose together. I agreed to keep Wanda in the Compound and I signed the Accords because I wanted to keep us together and fine, you think I tore us apart with those same actions and maybe I did. Or maybe you can admit the decisions you made did their own share of damage. But I know you know I wouldn’t have called you unless I truly thought we needed you with us. Not after…” he stopped and took a deep breath. “Not after what happened. So, what’s it going to be, Rogers?”

Rogers bowed his head and Tony could see the struggle in the reflection of his face in the window pane. He kept quiet and let Rogers think it out, despite his own urge to speak, to fill the silence.

Finally, Rogers turned around. “I’m in.”

Relief flooded Tony so much he felt almost light-headed with it. “Good. That’s…good.”

Rogers pressed his lips together. “What now?”

Tony took a breath. “You can come to the Compound with me or…”

“I need to talk to Sam.” Rogers said. “Make some arrangements.”

“Right. Fine.” Tony nodded quickly. “So…you can liaise with Natasha when you’re ready. I assume you have some way of contacting her?”

Rogers gave a nod.

Tony pointed over his shoulder. “I’ll just let myself out.” He turned and reached for the door handle, barely a step away.

“You know, Tony, we need as many good fighters as we can get and Bucky would want to help with this. He could help.”

And Rogers really couldn’t help himself, Tony thought bitterly.

“Do whatever you want, Rogers.” He looked back over his shoulder and smiled humourlessly. “You always do.”

He was out of the door and gone before Rogers could say anything else.

Plan Z

“Sir, Agent Coulson is in the lobby and requesting to see you immediately.” JARVIS breaks into Tony and Pepper’s video chat smoothly.

“He can wait.” Pepper says. She’s on the sofa in Malibu, a glass of champagne in her hands, and she’s wearing one of Tony’s white button-down shirts and her own old denim shorts which show off a lot of leg.

Tony grins at Pepper as he raises his own glass of champagne from the safety of the Tower workshop. He leans back in his chair. “I’m corrupting you.”

“Maybe I was the one who corrupted you,” Pepper waggles her eyebrows, “you just never noticed.”

Tony laughs, his heart full of joyful giddiness at their banter.

“I wish I could be there with you.” Pepper complains, leaning into the camera a little.

“I wish you were here too.” Tony says, thinking of another timeline and Pepper in that same outfit waiting for him when he came back to the tower.

This time he’s argued that for health and safety reasons to keep the tower empty of as many people as possible during the first week the tower is connected to the arc reactor. There’s a skeleton security crew and that’s it. The tower isn’t entirely designed the same either; it already has a fantastic new medical centre taking up one of the lower floors. He’s prepared for the invasion. He’s so prepared he’s already taken care of switching over to the arc reactor earlier in the day so he can finish up work on another Iron Man suit – he has three of them prepped.

Pepper smiles at him sweetly. “This is going to work, Tony. The tower is going to be the model for clean energy living and we’re going to be able to sell it worldwide.”

“You’re so hot when you talk business.” Tony teases.

“Sir, Agent Coulson has entered the elevator.” JARVIS informs him. “He insisted this is an emergency and he needs to see you immediately.”

“I’d better see what he wants, Pep.” Tony says but he knows and his heart is beginning to pound.

“Stay on the line.” Pepper says. “I’d like to see what’s so important they have to interrupt us outside of working hours.”

Tony hides his smirk. Pepper is less impressed with Coulson and SHIELD these days. He thinks he knows why: they didn’t save her from Stane this time, and after what happened with Vanko and their attempt to insert Natasha, Pepper has remained decidedly cool to them although she likes Clint.

The elevator opens and right on schedule Coulson tells them about PEGASUS and Loki’s arrival. Tony hides his relief that the timeline hasn’t been too corrupted with the changes he’s already made.

“Barton’s compromised.” Coulson says, and there’s a tell-tale twitch which gives away just how concerned Coulson is about that. Tony knows now that Coulson and Barton are good friends under the snark and their professional relationship; had worked together for years.

“We’ll get him back.” Tony promises.

Coulson leaves and Tony turns back to the monitor where Pepper is waiting.

“So you have some homework to do.” Pepper says wryly.

Tony touches the screen gently. “You stay safe there.”

She reaches back, her fingers against his just separated by miles and miles. “You too, Tony.”

“Love you.” Tony says.

Pepper’s eyes light up. “Love you too.”

Tony holds on for another minute before he nods and JARVIS ends the call. He makes a quick call to Rhodey to inform him of the situation and to delegate notifying the oversight panel that Iron Man may be providing support in a SHIELD sanctioned mission. He signs off with Rhodey’s promise to be on stand-by but Tony knows Rhodey’s in the Middle East and it’s unlikely the Air Force is going to release him in time to be a support.

He begins to read through the information Coulson has given him; he can’t assume it’s the same and really there’s been too many years since he last read it to make him comfortable that he can skip the reading.

“Sir, I am detecting an anomaly directly above the tower.” JARVIS informs him.

Tony looks up, alarmed. It’s far too early. Within seconds he’s in the suit and making for the roof of his building. He arrives just in time to see Thor land in a stream of energy before it departs and leaves the God of Thunder on his helipad.

“Thor.” Tony flips open his face-plate. Thor looks older than he had done back in New Mexico, and Tony wonders how much time has passed in the other realms.

“Stark.” Thor steps out of the circle, Mjölnir in his hand, his red cape billowing in the wind behind him. “You once said if I had need of a friend…”

Tony nods and holds out a hand which Thor clasps tightly. “Let’s go inside. SHIELD gave me some information on Loki’s arrival here. We can review it together.”

The next few hours are surreal.

Tony works his way through the files.

The Avengers folder is soon put to one side.

Both Bruce’s and Rogers’ files are the same. Thor’s file is also the same bar the mention of Tony’s assessment that the hammer is a weapon and of alien origin. Barton’s now has his time as Tony’s protection detailed; Romanov’s only link to Tony continues to be related to Vanko. Surprisingly Coulson has also provided Tony’s file and it has Coulson’s recommendation that Tony be offered a place in the Avengers. Tony knows Coulson did it deliberately to ensure Tony’s on board.

The Tesseract data is the same but it’s good to go back over the information and Selvig’s careful documenting of the research. There’s also an old report which hadn’t been provided before which was written by Tony’s Dad. It provides a hypothesis for the old HYDRA weapons and that the Tesseract was potentially more explosive than the atom bomb. There’s a recommendation to do what Odin had done and lock it away somewhere secure where it could be guarded and kept safely out of man’s hand. It’s one of the rare moments in his life where Tony feels total pride in his old man.

Thor is surprisingly informative. He admits that the core of the Tesseract is an infinity stone, the space stone, and shares the mythology behind each of the stones. Since the Tesseract energy is related to space, Tony calls up Jane Foster for a consult. He leaves Thor talking with her as he excuses himself to touch base with Coulson, to brief Rhodey.

Tony’s invited to the helicarrier earlier this time. Last time, he’d only ended up there after providing back-up to the Captain once they’d located Loki. This time he and Thor arrive on deck at the same time as Steve Rogers.

Tony ignores Rogers in favour of the nervously hovering Bruce Banner. “Tony Stark,” he introduces himself, “I’m a fan of your work, Doctor Banner. Your papers on gamma radiation are unparalleled and I also enjoy how you turn into a giant green rage monster.”

Bruce blinks at him but shakes his gauntlet clad hand. “Doctor Stark.” He smiles slyly. “I know Iron Man is an outstanding invention but I think your thesis on the future intelligence of robotics was ground-breaking. Do you still have the bot – DUM-E was it?”

Tony smiles, happy to find his connection with Bruce so easily again. “Tony, please.” He’s aware that Romanov and Coulson are walking Rogers over. “And yes, DUM-E’s back at my place in Malibu.” He waves at Thor. “This is Thor Odinsson, prince of Asgard, God of Thunder. Thor, Doctor Banner.”

“Doctor Banner.” Thor clasps Bruce’s hand. “My Lady Jane tells me you are among the most learned of your people and I look forward to meeting your monster.”

“That’s…nice. Thank you, and it’s Bruce, please.” Bruce glances at Tony and he reads the unspoken question in Bruce’s eyes.

“Jane Foster.” Tony supplies.

“The expert on the Einstein-Rosen Bridge theory?” Bruce nodded. “I read her papers on the way here. Will she be joining us?”

It’s Coulson who answers. “Doctor Foster will be remaining in Europe.”

“She’s our phone a friend.” Tony says brightly, covering his nerves as he turns toward Rogers. “Captain.”

Rogers shakes his offered hand briskly. “Mister Stark.”

“I thought Doctor Banner referred to you as Doctor?” asks Thor who is genuinely just bemused.

Rogers starts a stumbling apology but Tony brushes it aside with an impatient gesture.

“Don’t worry, Captain.” Tony says. “Mister Stark is fine, although I’d prefer Tony.”

“Then I’m Steve, please.” Rogers replies.

There’s more introductions before Coulson and Romanov usher them into the inside of the helicarrier.

Tony turns down going with Rogers and Thor to get Loki in Stuttgart. He figures Loki will stand down after a token fight just like he did before. Instead Tony continues to work with Bruce tracing the Tesseract energy.

Everybody reconvenes in the conference room off the bridge once Loki’s locked up.

“Why the iridium?” Fury asks.

“Stabilising factor for the portal.” Tony states. “We talked about it this morning and made a list of places but Stuttgart was way down as a possibility.” He hadn’t even influenced that since Coulson had taken the list and prioritised it.

“We were focused on American locations.” Coulson adds.

“So he’s stabilising the portal.” Steve says. “Why?”

“To use it.” Maria Hill contributes.

“My father received word that Loki had been seen with the Chitauri, a warrior race. They are in a part of the galaxy ruled by the Mad Titan Thanos. Their army is vast and highly advanced.” Thor confirms. “We were going to investigate when Loki appeared once more to Heimdall’s sight here in Midgard.”

“Why Migard?” Natasha asks.

“Because of my fondness for this realm.” Thor says. “Or their attention may have been roused when you began experimenting with the Tesseract.”

“If they were going to invade because of the Tesseract they would have done it already.” Tony argues. “HYDRA experimented with that thing decades ago and created weapons out of it.” He notes how Fury remains impassive, not even a flinch. “Nobody came knocking on the door then.”

“Tony’s right.”

Tony almost does a double-take at Steve backing him up and he reminds himself that this isn’t the Steve he knew by the time Thanos came; this is newly defrosted Steve trying to find a foothold in a new world.

“But the Tesseract’s a good bargaining tool, right?” Bruce comments. “Maybe that’s the prize for them working with Loki? Loki gets Earth, these Chitauri get the Tesseract.”

“Perhaps.” Thor concedes. “The Tesseract was once considered to be the most precious treasure in my father’s vault. It may simply be a prize to them.”

“Loki let himself be captured. Why?” Natasha asks.

“A diversion.” Thor snarls. “To keep us from finding the Tesseract.”

“He’s in a cell.” Fury comments. “He’s hardly a diversion.”

“But he’s planning to be.” Bruce concludes. “He’s too comfortable; too in control.”

“Let me talk with him.” Natasha says. “See if I can figure out his game plan.”

“Worth a try.” Coulson says supportively.

Fury nods.

Tony goes back to the lab with Bruce. The sceptre is lying on a bench. He points at it. “We should run some tests. There has to be a way for its mind control whammy to be reversed.”

They set up an isolated laptop to record the data. Tony’s wary and cautious, remembering all too well how Ultron had climbed out of the mind stone in the previous timeline.

“Look at this energy reading.” Bruce says as he accepts the bag of blueberries Tony offers him. “Is that similar to the Tesseract or am I going crazy?”

“Similar but not the same.” Tony agrees. “I think we should get Thor in here.”

Natasha suddenly bursts back into the lab. “Doctor Banner, we need to get you off the helicarrier right now.”

Steve suddenly appears hoisting a weapon which he slams down onto a table. “Not before someone tells me what the hell SHIELD is doing building HYDRA weapons?!” Tony’s impressed; he hasn’t even hinted that SHIELD is keeping secrets and Steve has gotten suspicious anyway.

It descends into chaos.

Bruce is arguing with Natasha, and Tony is trying to referee; Fury is arguing with Thor and Steve.

A sudden beep catches their attention.

Bruce turns to his diagnostic tool. “The Tesseract is in New York…”

The explosion rips through the helicarrier right on schedule; Bruce and Natasha fall; Thor manages to save Tony from the same fate.

It’s a crazy twenty minutes as Tony stabilises the helicarrier with Steve; as they fight the mercenaries Clint brings to fight them and Natasha wins Clint’s mind back; as Thor loses the fight with his brother and Coulson is injured taking Loki on; as the Hulk jumps on a quinjet and disappears.

Fury stands on the bridge with Steve and Tony. “I have my best man down, Thor and Hulk are in the wind, and I have another agent bringing back the mind of the one we managed by the skin of our teeth to get back. Loki is gone and we have no Tesseract. What the else fuck do we have?”

“How is Agent Coulson?” asks Steve.

“Critical.” Fury says.

“And Clint?” asks Tony.

“In the infirmary under Romanov’s watch.” Fury says.

Tony nods. It’s easy for him to walk them back through Loki’s words, back through the hints of where Loki will make his stand…

And then they’re flying to New York, to his tower…

It’s worse than déjà vu.

Tony tries to make it back before Loki can secure the Tesseract with the force-shield – he can’t want but to save as many as he can even if JARVIS and he have calculated that the invasion needs to happen or the world will never take Tony’s warning seriously.

But he’s still too late…

It’s good to see Clint when they pause after Bruce comes back; after the first space-whale is downed; as the Avengers come together for the first time on the ground.

The battle isn’t over.

Tony has a better suit this time; he knows the enemy’s flaws. He and Clint work together seamlessly; he and Thor tag team in the sky as Thor works to keep the alien army from coming through; he and Hulk smash in surprising concert. He sees in flashes how Natasha and Steve are already beginning to gel on the ground as they engage the aliens and work with the police to get civilians to safety.

And Natasha suddenly makes her move and has the sceptre…

And Hulk has smashed Loki into silence…

And the nuke flies in…

Tony takes it up to the portal. There’s no guarantee he’ll make it back through. He can’t just trust that everything will be the same. But there’s no choice. He can’t let the nuke hit New York and there is only one place it can go…

It’s his worst nightmare made real once more.

All there is in front of him is space.

Vast and rolling without end.

The shapes of the Chitauri army fill the emptiness; so many…so many…

He lets go.

His breath is short; he hears the drag of it; feels it knife into his lungs.

There’s pain in his chest.

The arc reactor flickers.

He’s falling away…

The nuke explodes against the shape of a vessel and there’s a blossoming fire as something ignites…

It lights up everything…and reveals the hidden…

His breath catches in the back of his throat…

He falls.

Darkness…

His eyes flutter and close.  Another time echoes through his mind…

“STARK!”

The Eye of Agamotto spins towards him.

He reaches out.

Electricity jolts through him.

The taste of coconut and…

Pins and needles everywhere…

Sounds of heavy breathing…an angry roar…

A gasp for air which punches through his lungs…

His eyes fly open.

Blue sky and the Hulk above him; Steve is beside him; Thor has his hand on the arc reactor. He hears Natasha demanding Clint’s location and Clint’s reply in his ear. They’re safe.

“Did we win?” asks Tony.

And as Steve says something, Tony breathes out.

The timeline is on track.

Two days later Tony’s eyes are hidden behind his sunglasses; his face scuffed and bruised from the battle still. He watches as Thor says goodbye to the rest of the Avengers who all look slightly worse for wear.

After Loki had been secured, Tony had immediately opened Stark Tower to provide temporary shelter, food, and medical care. His brand new medical centre has been put into use with Bruce spending most of his time there, assisting the doctors and nurses who have come forward to donate their time. Both Clint and Natasha had helped organise the tower around debriefing with Fury, corralling the kids and working with the adults.

Steve had gone out to help the construction crews and recovery operation earlier in the day. Tony will try and make sure Damage Control allows local companies to participate with the right security measures. It may not completely stop the likes of Adrian Toomes from going into a life of crime, but it may help alleviate the perceived unfairness of the government and SI swooping in to salvage the alien tech a little.

Tony has split his time between the tower, the recovery efforts, and stepping in to be the face of the Avengers. He’s made the rounds of the various news outlets, given an exclusive interview to the New York Times, and made public statements alongside New York’s Mayor, Representatives and Senators. He’s had a long chat with Fury about accountability and oversight, and has already started to network with his Washington contacts. He feels like he’s juggling a hundred different things, but he wasn’t going to miss saying goodbye to Thor.

“I would stay and help your efforts to restore your world,” Thor says to Steve, “but I must take Loki home to face justice for his crimes.”

“Sooner you get Loki and that cube off our planet the better.” Steve replies, his voice earnest and righteous.

There are already moments when Steve reminds Tony far too much of another timeline…he shakes the irritation away and reminds himself that this Steve hasn’t yet betrayed Tony; hasn’t yet beaten him up and left him in a bunker in Siberia. He knows the only way he’s going to improve the future is to build a better relationship with Steve and that means he needs to treat the Steve Rogers of the previous timeline like an alternate version and gives this Steve a fair shake.

Tony smiles as Thor finally turns to him.

“Thank you, Stark.” Thor clasps his arm and smiles at Tony warmly. “Asgard and I will not forget your friendship.”

“Thank you for protecting Midgard, Thor.” Tony says seriously. “Once you get that Bifrost up and running, don’t be a stranger.”

Loki glares at both of them; the muzzle he wears means he can’t speak.

“I will return.” Thor promises.

“You sure you don’t want to take that sceptre?” Tony asks again. He really doesn’t want it on Earth, but it looks like the sceptre is the consolation prize for SHIELD since Thor has taken ownership of the Tesseract.

“I must keep to the agreement.” Thor says, although he’s definitely amused by Tony’s oft repeated attempt to get rid of the thing.

Steve jumps in before Tony can reply. “We understand.”

Thor steps back and arranges himself and Loki. He raises his hammer and the Tesseract brightens…

A rainbow stream takes them away.

“Back to work?” suggests Tony.

They all follow him over to the limo. Happy opens the back door as soon as they get close.

Clint immediately heads inside with Natasha. Unlike the last time when they had already disappeared back to SHIELD, they are all staying at the tower. Clint has accepted Tony’s offer first; Natasha has glued herself to Clint’s side to offer support and comfort. Bruce had accepted a room too, also to avoid SHIELD. Tony thinks Steve just ended up following the crowd since Tony can feel his unease even if they’ve managed not to snipe at each other this time round.

It’s not truly a surprise to Tony though when Steve hesitates to get in the limo.

“I think I’m going to take a walk.” Steve says.

“You want company?” asks Tony because he wants to try with Steve, he really does.

Steve shakes his head. “Just need some air.”

Tony nods. “We’ll see you back at the tower.”

Steve sketches a salute and walks away.

Tony watches him for a moment, the words of a letter he’d once received echoing in his head, words of loneliness and a feeling of not belonging…of a question Sam once posed to him…

“Do you know how many friends Steve had when I first met him?”

Bruce slides into the car and Tony follows, sitting beside his fellow scientist back to back with the driver partition. Clint and Natasha face him; Natasha’s arm is tucked around Clint’s.

“So,” Tony begins as the car begins to move, “not that I’m any kind of poster boy for being, well, normal, but does anyone know if Steve is OK?”

The others look at him.

“Oh, come on.” Tony says. “The guy made a suicide play and he ends up seventy years in the future in a world he doesn’t understand and without friends or family.” He made a spinning gesture with one hand. “Add in yesterday’s alien madness and I’m surprised the guy hasn’t already had some kind of mental break.”

Clint and Natasha exchange a look before Clint replies.

“Point made, Tony.” He sighs heavily. “God knows, the rest of us haven’t been on ice for decades and we’re all going to need a fuck-load of therapy.”

“Yay.” Tony says deadpan.

The others smile, and as they settle in for the drive and Natasha starts talking to Bruce about medical supplies, Tony thinks that maybe they’ll all be better friends to each other this time.

Chapter Eight: Engagement with Fear

Plan A

“You don’t have to do this.” Tony repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time as he watched Rhodey carefully stand up from the wheelchair. The braces were doing their job and supporting Rhodey; he was fine. Tony wrestled with the instinctive need to help Rhodey anyway.

Rhodey took a deep breath. “I want to do this.” He met Tony’s eyes determinedly. “I have to do this.”

“If this is because Wilson is back…”

Falcon had turned up two days earlier without Rogers who had apparently gone to see Barnes. Wilson claimed he hadn’t wanted to go with Steve but Tony suspected Wilson was being used as a scout for Rogers to double-check the lay of the land before he brought Barnes back.

“It’s not about Wilson.” Rhodey shook his head. “He and I…we’re good. You know it wasn’t his fault.”

“Rhodey…”

“We have an alien army coming to destroy us.” Rhodey continued. “It wouldn’t feel right to sit it out.”

“Remote operating the suit wouldn’t be sitting it out.” Tony protested. “You could be like Charles.”

Rhodey glared at him. “Was that a comment about my hair?”

“Nooo?” Tony waved his hands as though to dispel any suggestion of Rhodey going bald. “I said you could be like Charles who is brilliant and…”

“And in a wheelchair.”

“He’s a superhero!” Tony protested. “People find him sexy!”

Rhodey just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“OK, so Pepper finds him sexy.” Tony admitted. “Which I don’t get because he’s bald and I have hair, which OK, I could shave but I did that back at MIT and it really wasn’t a good look for me. Also I have more money and…”

“Tony.”

“I’m just saying I don’t get it.”

“Look, Tony, I know what you’re trying to say and I appreciate it.” Rhodey reached out and clasped Tony’s shoulder, squeezing softly before he let go. “I know I can contribute if I stay in the chair. It’s not about that. I joined the Air Force so I could fly. That’s how I help. That how I want to help.”

Tony nodded, ignoring the lump in his throat. “OK.” He darted a quick look around the test area just beyond his workshop. There was a high ceiling and a skylight which could be retracted for easy egress. The new War Machine suit stood by the side of the room, waiting. “Ready?”

Rhodey rolled his shoulders and shook his head. “I’m ready.”

Tony waited.

Rhodey stared at his suit.

Tony frowned.

Rhodey stared at his suit.

“You know you…”

“I know.” Rhodey said sharply. “Don’t rush me.”

Tony held up both his hands.

Rhodey took a deep breath and thrust his arms out either side of his body. “FRIDAY, give me my suit.”

The suit flew across the room, and Tony called for his own suit while Rhodey was wrapped, interlinking chain by interlinking chain, in his.

“Woah!” Rhodey squawked as the groin section went in.

Tony didn’t wait, he hurried round to Rhodey’s front. Both of them still had their faceplates up. “How does it feel? Anything pinching?”

“Feels good.” Rhodey said breathlessly. “The braces are locked in with the suit.”

“Good.”

“You put some extra support in?” Rhodey asked.

“I needed to take some weight off your pelvis.” Tony admitted. “Helen said to make sure you didn’t overstress the plates they put in.”

Rhodey pressed his lips together but he gave a nod.

“Don’t forget you have a secondary power supply.” Tony began. He’d reinforced the casing of the arc reactor on the chest too; it was much smaller. “It’ll kick in automatically and if it’s compromised…”

“I have a manually deployable parachute and airbags.” Rhodey chimed in. “You already told me, Tony.”

Tony bit down rather than say something back. He took a deep breath. “You ready to try flying?”

“Just up through the skylight and onto the lawn.” Rhodey recited in a sing-song tone which mocked Tony. “Let’s do this.” He flicked his faceplate down and Tony did the same.

“FRIDAY, open the sky.” Tony ordered.

“Skylight is open, Boss.” FRIDAY confirmed.

“On three?” Tony suggested.

“On three.” Rhodey agreed.

“Slow and steady.” Tony insisted.

Rhodey sighed through the comms. “Tony…”

“One, two…” Tony readied himself, “three.”

They both fired their repulsors; they rose slowly up to the ceiling and cleared the skylight together, hovering over the Compound building.

“OK?” asked Tony worried.

“I’m good, Tones.” Rhodey said with a hint of wonder in his voice. “I’m good.”

Tony could barely breathe. He forced himself to take a breath. “Right.”

“Last one to the lawn buys dinner.” Rhodey suddenly announced and took off.

Tony immediately chased after him and they both landed within seconds of each other.  

Tony took off his faceplate and hurried over to Rhodey.

Rhodey took down his own faceplate and grinned at him. “You’re buying dinner.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “I landed at the same time as you!”

“FRIDAY?” asked Rhodey.

“Colonel Rhodes landed nought point two seconds before you, Boss.”

“AHA! You’re buying dinner and you’re going to take me to Guzzle-Jug.” Rhodey teased him. “And you’re going to eat their pasta.”

Tony pointed at him. “That wasn’t the bet and you’re not getting me into Guzzle-Jug or buying dinner there and we’re certainly not eating their pasta! That isn’t pasta, it doesn’t deserve the name pasta and…” he trailed off as Rhodey just kept grinning back at him smugly.

“Fine.” Tony said. “You flew. You’re fine.” His breath caught on the last word.

Rhodey awkwardly pulled him in for a hug which was difficult given they were both wearing armour. He reached over and smacked a kiss on Tony’s forehead before pulling back just enough to keep hold of Tony’s gaze with a fierce one of his own.

“It wasn’t your fault, Tony. I fell and you couldn’t save me just like Pepper fell that time and you couldn’t save her. But just like Pepper, I got up. I’m going to keep getting up.” His dark eyes searched Tony’s until Tony nodded.

Tony opened his mouth to say something and Rhodey shot him a look.

“Don’t make this weird.”

They both slowly realised there was clapping off to the side. They turned their heads in unison to find Pepper and Happy at the edge of the lawn where the grass met the driveway.

Pepper walked over swiftly as soon as they turned to them, Happy following slowly in her wake. She hugged Rhodey enthusiastically before stepping back and wrapping her arms around one of Tony’s.

“It’s good to see you back in the suit.” Pepper said.

“It’s good to be back.” Rhodey accepted Happy’s congratulatory handshake before he turned back to grin at Pepper. His eyes widened suddenly. “You’re wearing an engagement ring?!” He slapped Tony’s chest. “Why didn’t you tell me you proposed?!”

“I didn’t!” Tony said before staring at Pepper’s hand where his ring sat around her finger. “I mean…I had a whole thing planned!” He stared at her with confusion tinged with euphoria; she was wearing the ring!

Pepper rolled her eyes at him and replied to Rhodey. “Happy had the ring. I decided to save us the over-the-top proposal – and don’t even try to claim it wouldn’t have been, Tony…”

Tony’s mouth snapped shut.

“…and I asked Happy to give me the ring.”

Rhodey started to snicker.

“Just for the record I think the one hundred heart balloons would have been awesome.” Tony said without heat, before he lifted Pepper’s hand and gently kissed her ring finger. “Really?”

“Really.” Pepper beamed back at him.

“Dibs on best man!” Rhodey shouted.

Happy glowered at him. “No. No dibs on best man. You want to take this to the boxing ring, Rhodes?”

Tony tuned them out and focused on Pepper. “How did you find out about the…”

“I overheard Vision asking you about the hundred-piece orchestra.” Pepper said firmly.

“And you really want to…”

“I really want to.” She leaned into him and kissed him.

Tony smiled back at her goofily. “How about we get married at The White House? Rhodey might know a guy…”

“How about we keep the appointment I just made with Judge Kennedy in his chambers on Monday?” Pepper replied.

“We can do that.” Tony kissed her again.

“I still say it looks like two seals fighting over a grape.” Rhodey commented.

Tony and Pepper broke apart and turned to glare in unison at a smiling Rhodey.

“You should get your own lawn.” Tony shot straight back.

“I was here first.” Rhodey said. “Literally. Here first.”

“Uh,” Happy waved his phone, “the kid’s got trouble. Something about his friend Ned being stuck in a bank robbery?”

“I got this.” Rhodey flipped his faceplate down and shot upwards.

“Is he really OK?” asked Pepper worriedly as they watched the tiny figure disappear into the blue sky.

Tony shrugged and told himself not to worry. There was the secondary power source. The parachute. Airbags. Maybe he should have…

“Tony?” Pepper prompted.

Tony gave her hand a squeeze. “He’ll be fine. He won’t miss the chance to give me away.”

Because in or out of the suit, Colonel James Rhodes would always be Tony’s Rhodey.

Plan Z

Tony’s not surprised when the nightmares come again after New York. He does the right thing and takes himself off to therapy with an actual therapist. He can’t tell her about the future but he can talk to her of the wormhole, of falling, of his fear that he won’t do enough, be enough. He gets medication for the anxiety attacks but he ignores the pills and tries other techniques to keep himself from falling into the hole caused by his PTSD.

The Avengers Initiative helps.

It’s different to how it was before and Tony has another panic attack about that for a day until accepting that different isn’t bad.

The first difference is oversight. Washington comes calling, Congressional investigations by both the House and the Senate. They come to him when SHIELD stonewalls them. Fury admits his first instinct is to make it all go away (and Tony suspects he did make it go away in the first timeline) but Tony’s counterargument of accountability and public support hold sway, especially when he points out he’ll have to report to his own DOD oversight committee regardless.

Nobody in the team likes testifying but Tony and Coulson, as the SHIELD representative, step in as the lead spokespeople and somehow the investigations end with grateful thanks and an acknowledgement that the alien threat may come again. A proposal goes to the UN for an international effort to begin addressing alien interactions and diplomacy, defences against alien attack and emergency responses. Tony is approached to consult and happily agrees. He doesn’t know if the UN Department of Earth Security and Defence will truly help but it’s so much better than the lack of anything he’d seen previously.

The second major difference is that the team continues to stay in touch with each other. With his commitment to therapy, Tony stays to help with the recovery efforts in New York whereas he’d retreated to Malibu previously. Between dealing with Washington, the UN and his own Iron Man missions, it makes sense to stay on the Eastern seaboard. Since he’d already spent months commuting between Malibu and New York because of the tower and the Expos it’s not even a significant change, and Pepper supports him.

Bruce seems completely content to use the tower as a base in a way he hadn’t before. He agrees to SI funding his research on a number of humanitarian projects and begins to rebuild his academic and scientific contacts. There’s a tearful reunion with past love Betty Ross who just turns up at the tower one day, but ultimately the two settle for being friends.

Clint resigns from SHIELD, confessing to Tony that he’s just too uncomfortable to stay in the wake of being Loki’s puppet and leading an attack on his own colleagues. Tony spends a half a second wondering if Clint had felt the same way in the first timeline, but had chosen to stick it out with SHIELD anyway, before he snaps him up. He puts him in charge of security for the tower and asks him to resume his previous undercover position as his driver and bodyguard – Happy takes the role of Head of SI Security at the Malibu offices and watching over Pepper.

Tony agrees to Clint having every other weekend off and he assumes Clint’s heading back to the farm. He’s very surprised when three months after taking the job, Clint confides about his family and makes a request for them to move to the tower. They move in with little fanfare and within days Laura Barton is acknowledged as their new benevolent ruler. Tony’s amused when even Pepper ends up building a friendship with Natasha thanks to the no-nonsense presence of Laura acting as a go-between.

Natasha stays with SHIELD and she heads back to DC headquarters. When Coulson is tasked with creating a mobile unit of agents to get on top of the ever-increasing reports of strange things emerging, Natasha steps in as Tony’s liaison to SHIELD. It means she drops by every couple of weeks and when she does, she’ll stay for dinner, for drinks or just to catch up with Clint. When Clint’s family move in, most weekends when she’s not on a mission, she’s in the tower being Aunty Nat.  Natasha is also the one who drags Steve to the tower.

Steve had gone ahead and formally joined SHIELD in the wake of the attack and he’s based out of DC. Tony makes sure he’s in DC enough to corral Natasha and Steve for dinner or lunch once a month in addition to their tower visits. He manages to point Steve in the direction of the VA way ahead of when Steve met Sam previously and he’s pleased when Steve starts to talk about the support group and Sam. Steve begins to relax around the team when he does visit the tower, and his dry sense of humour starts to show through as he catches up on pop culture and the new world he finds himself occupying.

The only absent member is Thor but Jane stays in contact and all in all, Tony feels comfortable that his hope that the Avengers would be better friends has come true.

He’s so busy between the Avengers, Iron Man missions, SI and continuing his long distant relationship with Pepper that he almost completely forgets about the Mandarin until Pepper tells him on their evening video call that she’s meeting Killian the next day.

Tony finishes the call and panics.

Then he panics some more.

Then JARVIS steps in.

Firstly, in the early hours of the California morning, Pepper and Happy receive the news Tony has been injured in an explosion, (JARVIS ‘accidentally’ explodes a suit in the workshop; handily Tony doesn’t have to fake the concussion since he really gets thrown into a wall). They immediately head to New York, neatly cancelling Pepper’s appointment with Killian. The explosion of his own suit provides Tony the excuse to give Rhodey a new suit, which handily has never been anywhere near AIM, while he ‘checks’ the old one isn’t also going to explode (which it does when Tony destroys it to ensure AIM can’t remotely do anything with it).

An anonymous tip (JARVIS is on a roll) to the Secret Service reveals Killian’s plans; the Mandarin, the conspiracy with the Vice President to kill the President, and the human exploding experiments. Rhodey steps up, and he and a team of SEALs bring down Killian and destroy his human bombs.

Christmas arrives and Rhodey’s hailed as a national hero, Happy is not in a hospital bed, Pepper isn’t fighting the effects of Extremis, his Malibu mansion is not rubble and Killian is very, very dead.  

Tony really, really loves JARVIS.

The only negative is that Tony doesn’t get to meet Harley Keener. Meeting Harley might be easily fixable on paper; Tony knows he could make up an excuse to stop by Rose Hill and meet the young boy who’d helped him the last time round with the Mandarin, but he also knows it won’t be the same. He and Harley won’t ever share the experience which bonded them a timeline ago. He quietly arranges to provide educational funds for Harley and his sister under the guise of some long-lost relative dying and leaving them an unexpected windfall.

And truthfully Harley isn’t the only negative.

Killian had killed Maya Hansen so her work is unfinished. Tony doesn’t have access to the data or Pepper as a source to enable comparison and fixes. He thinks he could replicate it given enough time and effort but it’s difficult when the only reason he has to do so is to get rid of the arc reactor in his chest. Or maybe that’s a good enough reason.

He’s not sure enough to risk it.

As Pepper kisses him at the turn of the New Year and accepts the engagement ring he offers her; as Rhodey toasts to their future happiness…Tony figures he and the future are surviving their second merry-go-round just fine.

Chapter Nine: Night Skies

Plan A

Tony walked out onto the roof of the Compound’s residential building and slowly made his way over to Thor. The god sat staring up at the night sky. Tony sat down beside him.

“So, not that the roof isn’t great – it’s a good roof, built it myself – but why are you out here again?” Tony pressed.

“Jane often looks at the night sky to calm her spirit after a difficult day.” Thor said softly. “Although we are no longer together, I often find comfort in doing the same.”

“Is this about the argument you had with Hill about your friends?” asked Tony. He shrugged when Thor turned to look at him darkly. “Neither of you were exactly speaking with inside voices.”

Thor grimaced and turned away.

“You know she didn’t mean it.” Tony said.

Thor sighed. “Her words might have been in anger but there was truth in what she said.” He motioned at Tony. “Did Fury not say that my arrival prompted them to investigate the power within the Tesseract? My youthful folly led to this war.”

“Eh,” Tony shrugged, “Thanos would have come for us sooner or later. We might not have known it but Earth had two of the infinity stones even back then.” He nudged Thor. “Better we face it with you as an ally than without you.”

“We must all stop Thanos or all our realms will be lost to him.” Thor agreed. His frame relaxed as though accepting Tony’s words before he gave another heavy sigh. “I worry what has become of my people.” He paused. “Of Banner and my brother.” He sighed heavily. “The Guardians brought no news of Asgard.”

“Maybe no news is good news.” Tony offered. “You exchanged your life for theirs, Thor. Perhaps Thanos kept to his word.”

“Perhaps.”

But the word was filled with doubt and Tony couldn’t argue with that. Thor had offered his life for his people’s but there was only a slim chance Thanos had left the Asgardians alive given the space stone was buried in the ruins of their realm.

They fell silent as they looked up to the stars again.

“Well, regardless of Hill objecting to the short notice – and by short notice I really mean, no notice which is why she freaked out about an alien space ship landing on the lawn by the way – your friends are all settled into quarters.” Tony said eventually. “Nice bunch. Weird but nice.”

“Perhaps they would say the same of you.” Thor commented with a short laugh.

“One of them is a talking raccoon.” Tony said dryly. He could almost accept that though since Rocket was clearly the recipient of some horrific experiment. He was mostly disbelieving about the talking tree. Sure, it didn’t say much but it still talked.

“The Guardians have good hearts.” Thor reached out and clasped Tony’s shoulder, his gaze warm as he met Tony’s eyes. “As do you, my friend.”

Plan Z

Having almost forgotten about the Mandarin, Tony takes himself off for a day to an undisclosed location where he and JARVIS spend the entire time reviewing the video-tapes. He knows that things are beginning to change beyond his own timeline – his relationship with the Avengers, his own engagement to Pepper, the oversight they’re already under and the UN’s international alien department more than give that away. But he needs to check what might still crawl out of the woodwork.

With the previous timeline refreshed, he and JARVIS delete the video tapes. They’re too dangerous to keep and Tony knows revealing the previous timeline is only going to create discord in the Avengers. He knows Natasha wasn’t wrong when she’d said Steve wasn’t rational about Barnes, but they all have their pressure points.

It’s a difficult line to walk. How much he interferes, how much he keeps the same because he can’t allow the future to change too much or the opportunity is lost. He heads back to the tower the next day and as he proof-reads Bruce’s latest article on genetically modified wheat, gets manipulated into a board game with the Barton children and their Aunty Nat, takes a call from Steve asking if he can bring Sam by, and has dinner with Pepper and a visiting Rhodey…Tony can’t regret his choices so far.

He definitely doesn’t regret it months later when he doesn’t have to manufacture a reason to go to London because Jane Foster calls him and asks for his help with a manic Eric Selvig.

Tony feels somewhat ashamed that he hadn’t considered the man’s health or situation in either timeline. Selvig had been under Loki’s control just as Clint; had spent days and weeks working with an infinity stone, being influenced by the stone.

Clint is quiet as they enter The George and Dragon pub. Selvig is immediately obvious; sat at the bar downing what looks like shots of vodka. He’s slovenly dressed in sneakers, baggy sweatpants which are dirty and stained; an old t-shirt in a similar condition. His hair is askew; there’s a day’s worth of stubble on his face and his eyes show the glaze of the well-medicated.

Tony slides onto the stool next to him. “Doctor Selvig.”

Selvig looks at him unblinkingly for a long moment before his eyes dart to Clint and back again. “Stark.”

Tony points at the Guinness pump handle and orders himself and Clint a pint of the tasty black stuff.

“Jane called you.” Selvig states with a scowl.

“She’s worried about you.” Tony says bluntly.

“She doesn’t need to be.” Selvig says. “She’s called you for nothing.”

Tony hums and raises the glass of Guinness. The pint is just as he remembers it. “That’s good.” He sets the glass back down on the bar and turns to Selvig. “Tell me about these energy readings you want Jane’s help with.”

Selvig looks at him for a long moment and sighs. “There is a record in Norse mythology of a cataclysm every five thousand years. A time when the Nine Realms are in perfect alignment.” He positions two empty shot glasses, one on top of the other separated by a coaster. “When that happens,” he slides the coaster out and the top glass crashes into the one below, “space between the Realms becomes merged. Gravitational forces, time, space…all of it crashes and tears apart the very fabric of our reality. They call it the Convergence and when the alignment finishes the realms are separated but changed forever.”

“That would be bad.” Tony says calmly.

Clint snorts.

“My time with the Tesseract…” Selvig whispers, “she showed me the way to understand what will happen and what we can do to prevent it.”

“That would be good.” Tony replies. “And the plan is?”

“I have constructed gravimetric spikes. They stabilise the focal point of the Convergence providing us with the shield against the other realms.” Selvig notes.

“So where’s the focal point?” asks Clint.

Tony nods and points at Selvig. “Good question.”

“I must go to Stonehenge tomorrow and take more readings, these ancient structures were created to tell us this information.” Selvig informs them briskly. “Jane and Darcy can monitor things here in London.”

Tony frowns. He seems to remember that Jane monitoring things in London had led to her getting possessed by an infinity stone and Thor making off with her to Asgard for a cure. He rubs his head. “OK. We need to inform the new UN department of what’s going on.”

Selvig rears back. “You believe me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” asks Tony.

Selvig casts a dirty look toward Clint. “SHIELD told me I was hallucinating and to take my medications.”

“I left.” Clint states dryly.

Selvig blinks at Clint and nods. “Good for you, Hawk.”

“Well, SHIELD may have dropped the ball and maybe you are as, what was the term Jane’s intern used? Banana-balls?” Tony waves his hand. “Too many balls. Anyway, we’re picking this ball up.”

“Even if it is a banana-ball.” Clint slides in innocently.

Tony can’t quite hide the twitch of his lips but Selvig laughs before he sobers and holds Tony’s gaze. “Thank you.”

It’s not difficult with Tony’s connections to have the UN Head of the Department of Earth Security and Defence, Doctor Hanna Gunther, to sign off on the Avengers, (with assistance from Selvig, Foster and her interns), investigating Selvig’s claims and acting to protect the world. Tony leaves her to make the notifications to the British government and he’s not truly surprised when a team from Her Majesty’s Secret Service turn up the next morning to provide back-up and liaison with police and the British military.

Within hours, Tony has a digital map of energy readings around London showing odd gravitational and spatial patches. Bruce arrives to help him make sense of it but right on cue despite their warnings to be careful, Jane steps in-between worlds.

She disappears for over five hours. When she arrives back to their concerned faces, Thor beams down in a show of rainbow light within minutes.

“Friends!” Thor greets them brightly even though most of his attention is affixed to Jane who has just slapped him. They’re standing in a puddle of unnatural dryness while the rain cascades down around them.

“Welcome back.” Tony clasps Thor’s arm with a gauntlet-covered hand. “Good to see again.”

“It is good to be seen.” Thor replies, eyes still on Jane. “You disappeared from Heimdall’s sight.”

“I…I was somewhere else and then…I…” Jane shrugs. “Where have you been?”

“The Realms descended into war,” Thor says, reaching out to cup her face, “and it was my duty to make the Realms safe before I could return to Midgard.”

“Sorry to interrupt the reunion here, but anybody else noticing the localised anomaly with the rain?” Bruce asks, holding his coat up above his head.

Clint nods. “I’m noticing.”

“Me too.” Darcy’s arm shoots up.

“Yes?” asks Darcy’s intern.

“Jane,” Selvig reaches out for her but as he touches her arm, there’s a blast of energy from her body which sends them flying.

Bruce manages to hold it together; his eyes turning bright green.

Clint and Tony pick themselves up in time to see Thor clasp an unconscious Jane to his chest and disappear again.

“Anyone else hating the disappearing act?” asks Tony with a groan.

“Count me in.” Clint says ignoring his own road rash to check on Selvig who’s out cold.

“Me too.” Darcy says.

A day later, Thor arrives back with Jane and a tale of a malevolent elf who is on his way with the Aether in order to tear down the known universe. It’s a mad rush to finish the gravimetric spike implementation in Greenwich; to coordinate an evacuation of the locals. Somehow Tony finds himself providing support for the Royal Air Force as they work on damaging the alien ship. Bruce backs up Thor on the ground, with Clint providing Jane, Selvig and the interns cover as they finish getting the spikes in place.

They’ve just started to use the spikes to turn the anomalies to their favour when Tony hears a voice over the comms…

“Miss us?” asks Natasha who somehow vaults over a car to take out two elves closing in on Clint.

A second later, a familiar shield slams into an elf and sends him into another realm. “Sorry we’re late.”

“Better late than never.” Tony quips.

Fifteen minutes later, it’s over. Thor has defeated malevolent elf, Selvig has sent the ship somewhere else, and the Convergence has passed.

Two SAS soldiers are injured along with a fairly battered Thor but there are no fatalities. There is a fair amount of property damage and Hulk is cuddling an ice monster like its a teddy bear. The ice monster gives an eep.

“Cute.” Clint says.

Selvig approaches and holds out his hand. “Thank you for believing me.”

Tony nods. “Thank you for being right.”

“Anybody else concerned how three powerful objects have just turned up all capable for influencing us beyond our control in the last couple of years?” asks Darcy bluntly.

All of their hands shoot up except for Hulk who continues petting the ice-monster and Thor who nods and gently kisses Jane before looking around their huddled group.

“I must return to Asgard and face Odin’s judgement.” Thor says. “I will seek his advice on these matters.”

Jane makes a wordless protest but Thor kisses her again and steps away. He leaves in another show of rainbow light and Jane is left looking up at the sky.

Tony looks at the ruined pavement with its newly scorched circle of runes and sighs. “I’m going to end up paying for that.”

Clean-up takes a while, especially as its complicated by having to negotiate a surprise addition of an ice monster to London Zoo but Tony is back in the States when Thor shows up at the tower.

Tony finds him on the roof looking up at the stars.

They stand together for a long moment.

“My mother gave her life to save Jane’s,” Thor says sadly, “I already miss her counsel and her…” he breaks off roughly.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Thor.” Tony says sincerely.

“How do you live with this pain?” asks Thor.

“I was a mess at first.” Tony confesses. “Booze, drugs – although I gave that up after the incident with the gasoline and, never mind,” he gestures at Thor, “it’s…it still hurts.  Every day. Maybe it isn’t the sting of a new wound anymore, just an ache but…I still miss her. She was my Mom.”

Thor nods. “Loki was devastated, I thought our shared pain could build a bridge between us, but now my brother is lost to me once again.”

Tony nods even though he knows Loki is still alive. He thinks Thor may even suspect a little.

Thor sighs. “My father has tasked me with defending Midgard to pay for my crime against Asgard. I do not know where to start.”

“You’re an Avenger.” Tony states simply. “Start there.” He waves a hand. “I mean, here.” He pushes a hand back towards the tower. “You have a place here. With us.”

Thor turns to look at him intently. “Then I renew my pledge to stand with you, Man of Iron, against all who would threaten this world.”

“Offer accepted.”  Tony says seriously.

There’s a pause, a beat.

Tony shakes away the solemnity. “You want to come inside?  Bruce made curry, it’s even edible.”

Thor nods and casts one last look up at the sky before taking a step toward him and the warmth of the tower which beckons. “Thank you, my friend.”

Chapter Ten: Inside Knowledge

Plan A

“Clint said you needed me?” Sam Wilson stood in the doorway of Tony’s lab, cross-armed and impassive.

Tony waved him in. “I need to fit your new wings.” He gestures at the prototype on the far table and they both head over.

Wilson strapped into the harness and Tony left him to adjust the fit. “Wilson, wings out full. FRIDAY, scan the wingspan.”

“They feel lighter.” Wilson commented.

“T’Challa contributed some vibranium to mix into the alloy.” Tony informed him briskly. “Close in on the back.”

Wilson followed the instruction and Tony did a circuit to check the wingtips cleared the floor.

“Sweep round to the front.” Tony nodded as they made a clean movement. “FRIDAY?”

“Wings require no further adjustment and are matching specification, Boss.”

“Wilson?” asked Tony.

Wilson did a few more physical movements. “So far so good. I’ll know better when I get them in the air.”

“Go ahead then. Just make sure you have a spotter.” Tony returned to his desk and started noting the pass rate on the tests. “FRIDAY, I think we can still adjust the power to flight altitude ratio. Tweak this…” he tapped one of the components in the flight power module, “…to this.” He slid his hand along.

“Won’t that lose speed in more complicated movements?”

Tony’s heartbeat rocketed and he spun around trying to hide his startled flinch at Wilson’s presence. “Weren’t you going out to play?”

“You know I like knowing the mechanics of the wings.” Wilson said mildly.

Tony frowned. Wilson had always hung around when there had been maintenance or updates on the wings and he had asked a lot of questions. “Huh. I thought you just didn’t trust me.”

Wilson grimaced. “I realise…” he sighed and his dark eyes met Tony’s determinedly, “I owe you an apology.”

“Forget it.” Tony said shortly. “Let’s just…forget it.” He tapped the holographic folder. “Send that to the shared server, FRIDAY, and give Wilson access.”

“See, no.” Wilson said. “That whole brush it under the rug routine isn’t going to work for me.”

“And it’s all about you, right?” Tony commented, turning around to face him again. He leaned back against the desk and waved at him. “Look, Rhodey already told me you two hugged it out so…”

“This isn’t about the Colonel.” Wilson said. “It’s about Steve.”

And Wilson had a stubborn look which Tony figured he’d actually copied it from Captain America himself.

“Go ahead then; say your piece.”

Wilson’s lips twisted and Tony figured he was swallowing down what he really wanted to retort. “Do you know how many friends Steve had when I met him?”

Tony raised his eyebrows. “You did meet him in the middle of his finding out SHIELD had a small HYDRA problem so I’m not sure that’s a fair question.”

“None.” Wilson replied. “He had no real friends. All you Avengers went your own way after New York. Natasha was friendly and I think she wanted to be Steve’s friend back then but truthfully? She was his babysitter until the whole SHIELD shebang fell apart. Fury was his boss, and everyone else? His neighbour turned out to be SHIELD and all the people he worked with knowingly at SHIELD, they were OK for a drink after work, but he hadn’t become friends with anyone he could confide in.”

“Your point?” Tony said.

“I figured Steve needed someone completely in his corner.” Wilson sighed. “Which meant I followed his lead a little too much on some things, you being one of them.”

Tony stared at him not entirely certain what Wilson meant.

Wilson’s lips twisted. “It was obvious when he introduced us that he wasn’t completely comfortable with you. I figured initially maybe it was because you reminded him of your Dad.”

Tony had thought the same, and he remembered trying not to be upset by that; to work through it with Rogers so they had their own friendship.

“But then when I stayed at the tower, I realised that he was happy to socialise with you when it was a group thing, not so much if it looked like it was just the two of you.” Wilson continued. “So I thought maybe he just saw you as team-mates. He trusted you well enough in the field.” He shrugged and the wings whirred. “I thought he just maybe didn’t trust you on a personal level to be friends with you in the same way he’d make time for some of the others.”

Tony gave a short laugh. “You saw more than me. I thought we were friends.” He said bluntly. Maybe not close friends but friends.

Sam sighed. “I assumed he had a good reason for not letting you in which I incorrectly supposed was something about you. He had plenty of complaints to bitch about every time we caught up and I had a hundred and one reasons why he might have decided you weren’t friend material.”

“Well, this has been a barrel of laughs.” Tony snapped out sharply. “Are we done? I think we’re done.”

“I didn’t realise he was keeping you at a distance because he knew about your parents and didn’t want, and didn’t know how to tell you.” Wilson said.

Tony froze.

“He told me everything when he got us out the RAFT.” Wilson said. “I am sorry you had to go through that.”

“Not going to yell at me for attacking Barnes when I found out?” asked Tony brusquely.

Wilson shook his head. “You were traumatised by the video and emotionally compromised. You had no time to process your anger or your grief at the revelation about their deaths and Steve’s knowledge of it all.” He sighed heavily. “Since Steve has always been too invested in protecting Barnes, and God knows Barnes himself is a mess, it’s no surprise to me it devolved into a fight.”

Tony nodded jerkily.

“Anyway,” Wilson said, “I should have gotten to know you rather than judging you on Steve’s interaction with you, media rumours and gossip, and what happened with Ultron, which I’ve also come to realise I made a shit ton of assumptions about after talking with Thor and Vis.” He sighed. “I was wrong about you. Maybe if I hadn’t been so focused on being so much in Steve’s corner…but I can’t say I would change that. Steve still doesn’t have too many friends.”

“Thank you for the explanation, I guess.” Tony said. He wasn’t sure how to feel since Wilson’s apology had been lost somewhere in his admission he wouldn’t change anything really.

They looked at each other awkwardly.

Tony gestured at the wings. “You should really go and try those out.”

Wilson nodded and moved out.

“Stark?”

Tony turned and looked over at Wilson who had paused in the open doorway.

“Steve would be lucky to have you as a friend.”

He disappeared leaving Tony alone in the lab wondering just how much the secret about his parents had influenced Steve and his actions; how much that in turn had influenced everything that had followed after SHIELD fell and everyone else. Maybe he’d never know for certain whether if Steve had told him, it would have changed everything.

Plan Z

As May ticks over into June without the fall of SHIELD, Tony begins to worry that his changes to the timeline have had a major impact after all.

He knows the lack of reveal is bad. He cannot allow HYDRA to continue operating within SHIELD. It’s taken all he has to wait for the moment in the timeline when he knew it would happen. A lot of the simulations he’d run back at the beginning had been taking HYDRA and SHIELD down early. But without SHIELD in the mix, too many other things had been predicted to fail or not happen or just go badly wrong in a way which would have only benefitted Thanos – and he couldn’t take the risk.

Not then.

But as the first weekend in June passes still without any sign of the reveal happening, Tony gets up early Monday morning to begin plotting out how he can get it to happen since it looks like the timeline changes have somehow conspired to keep HYDRA hidden longer.

He’s a moment away from kicking Clint out of his workshop and locking it to start planning in earnest when JARVIS announces Coulson is video calling him from Lola – the only car which his Dad managed to get to fly.

Tony drops into his chair and orders JARVIS to put Coulson on the main monitor. Clint takes up a position just behind him to his left. “Agent. You don’t write, you don’t call…”

“This is an emergency.” Coulson cuts in. “I need your help.” His eyes flicker to Clint. “And yours, Barton.”

Tony and Clint exchange a quick look of concern.

Tony turns back to the monitor, leans forward and nods. “Go ahead.”

Coulson looks momentarily lost as though he doesn’t know where to start. “I’m going to tell you something but I need you to be patient and listen.”

Tony nods again. Clint remains silent and still.

“Stane was killed by an agent called John Garrett.” Coulson says bluntly. “He’d covered it up well but when we dug we found the deleted footage. He passed the belt to Stane with the words ‘Hail Hydra.’”

Tony’s eyes widen and he feels the blow against his soul as though Coulson punched him in the gut. “Stane was HYDRA?”

“We don’t know for certain.” Coulson says. “He might have just been their weapons supplier beyond what they could get out of the SHIELD armouries. We didn’t find any evidence other than payments.”

It makes Tony nauseous to think that Stane was selling his weapons to HYDRA.

“And Garrett?” asks Clint harshly.

Coulson looks regretful. “He’s definitely HYDRA. The Director and I immediately began a top secret investigation into how HYDRA had implanted a double agent in our midst and…” he sighs, “we found we had a cancer at the heart of SHIELD.”

Tony frowns, tuning out Clint swearing under his breath. “How bad? Are we talking a small tumour or…”

“Practically our whole organisation is infected in some way.” Coulson cuts in. “We traced the origin to the foundation of SHIELD itself. It’s not a secret that America swept up a number of German scientists in the wake of the war.”

“Operation Paperclip.” Tony supplies.

“Right,” Coulson confirms, “their war crimes were either pardoned in return for service or in some cases whitewashed away.”

“And some of those scientists ended up in SHIELD.” Tony states tersely.

“Closely monitored at the beginning, but as they settled in and produced good work…” Coulson sighs, “the level of scrutiny on their work, on their lives, diminished. They were able to recruit and multiply.” He pauses. “Fury and I believe just over a third of SHIELD operational staff are compromised, forty percent of our agents, and just under fifty per cent of our scientists. We know the World Security Council has been compromised; Pierce is HYDRA.”

“Fuck.” Clint murmurs.

Tony turns to glance at him, Clint is pale with eyes glazed with shock. He nudges him onto a stool before turning back to Coulson.

“You say you and Fury have been investigating since Stane died, why are you telling us this now?” asks Tony brusquely.

“We’ve been monitoring the situation,” Coulson says briskly, “and gathering proof. We needed more than conjecture and a few coincidences that could be easily brushed away.” He sighs again and for a moment his weariness shines through. “And we’ve needed to do it without alarming HYDRA into acting against us.”

“Your mobile team.” Clint states. “Part of the plan?”

Coulson nods. “Fury wanted a team on the periphery. A plan B.”

“That’s not all though, is it?” asks Clint before Tony can. Tony wonders if he’s seen the same hesitation in Coulson’s eyes.

“One of my team is HYDRA.” Coulson says bluntly.

Clint nods as though that makes perfect sense to him. “You were hoping to flip him.”

“Yes,” Coulson says, “but Fury underestimated his loyalty to Garrett.”

“Is this relevant?” asks Tony abruptly. “I notice you still haven’t answered my question.”

“You know about the new fleet of helicarriers?” Coulson checks.

Tony nods. He’d given the go ahead to use his repulsor technology for the flight capability, while designing fail-safes that ensured they couldn’t be weaponised, just as he had in the first timeline.

“The WSC also proposed some additions to their design. The helicarriers are built with long range precision guns, synched up with satellites which can be used to target hostiles using a computer algorithm which would seek out and identify the threats.” Coulson explains. “Project Insight.”

“Sounds like it skirts a little close to black bag operations on a large scale.” Tony mutters, tapping his fingers unhappily against his arc reactor.

“A month ago, the Director realised that the project had been compromised by HYDRA. They intend to use it to cleanse the world of anyone who would stand against them.” Coulson tells them. “Fury had suspicions that a HYDRA cell was operating out of a SHIELD ship named The Lumerian Star. There was a plan to retrieve the data in the ship’s computers but the ship blew up before the data could be retrieved.”

Clint leans forward. “Steve and Nat were supposed to be on that mission, right? She called to say they wouldn’t make it for dinner because of a rescue mission to free one of SHIELD’s ships from pirates but then turned up when the mission fell through.”

Coulson doesn’t look happy at the realisation Nat still tells Clint about her missions, but he nods. “The Director managed to delay the helicarriers through some creative sabotage while we regrouped.” He pauses before his eyes look directly at Tony’s. “The day before yesterday, the salvage operation for The Lumerian Star recovered the main onboard computer server. It was intact.”

Tony feels a chill skitter down his spine.

“Fury had Captain America and Black Widow fly out to take custody of it. Yesterday afternoon, Fury’s car was attacked on his way to a meeting at the Pentagon by an assassin we know as The Winter Soldier, and he’s missing.” Coulson pauses. “Cap and Widow are also missing; they didn’t come back from the mission as scheduled last night.”

Clint is almost vibrating with tension beside him and Tony can’t blame him.

“An hour ago, Pierce declared himself as interim Director and sent a memo stating they are all wanted for questioning; he’s issued arrest warrants.”

“You think HYDRA are making their play.” Tony states. “Will Fury reach out to you?”

Coulson shakes his head. “Unlikely. He knows about Ward.”

“I’ll check some things.” Clint offers grimly. “Nat may have contacted me.”

Tony lets him go and turns back to Coulson. “What do you need me to do?”

“Their end game has to be Insight. It’s due to launch tomorrow. Can you stop the helicarriers or the targeting system?” Coulson asks.

Tony nods. “I’m assuming you don’t want this brought to the attention of the authorities?”

“Your DOD oversight panel is clean as far as we know but we’re less certain about the Congressional committees.” Coulson says. “Fury said Doctor Gunther was clean but he couldn’t vouch for her staff.”

“Then I’ll inform Rhodey and Gunther directly that I’m dealing with a highly confidential and time sensitive intelligence of a threat which requires me to do some white hat hacking into SHIELD.” Tony shrugs. “I’ll ask Gunther to keep it officially off the books until I can verify the threat.”

“Good.” Coulson holds his gaze. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to make contact again but good luck, Stark.”

“You too.” Tony says.

It’s just after lunch.

Clint has heard nothing from Nat but he’s left coded messages of his own for her. JARVIS has confirmed that Camp Lehigh is already scorched earth and Tony can only hope Steve and Nat survived it like they did before. He has JARVIS watching for any sign on traffic cameras or the news of Steve, Nat, Sam and the Winter Soldier.

In the meantime, Tony has had the go ahead from the UN and his own panel; he and JARVIS are buried deep in the satellite code when the news report comes in.

“Breaking news in the capitol this lunch time,” the CNN reporter states briskly as the picture flips to shaky real-time helicopter footage of Captain America fighting with the Winter Soldier.

Tony tunes out the news anchor and watches breathlessly as the two super-soldiers trade blow for blow. He sees the instant Steve snatches the mask away from his opponent and knows who he is fighting. Only a moment later, SHIELD’s STRIKE team arrives and the news watches as Captain America, Black Widow and an unidentified man who looks a lot like Sam Wilson get taken into custody.

“Why haven’t they reached out?” Clint asks bewildered.

Tony shakes his head. He’d figured last time it had been because ultimately neither Natasha or Steve had trusted him enough to just pick up the phone; they hadn’t been close after New York. Since he’d learned about Barnes and his parents, Tony had figured that had played into Steve’s thinking. This time though, he knows Steve and Natasha better and they’ve had plenty of time to reach out even before learning the Winter Soldier’s identity. He has no answer for Clint.

Tony hacks SHIELD and finds out they’ve lost their captives somewhere in transit. Clint shakes his head at tracking down their safe house; between Fury and Natasha there are too many options.

What they decide is to bring Bruce and Thor up to speed and they make arrangements to head out to DC the next day, poised at least to be on scene to support whenever their team-mates resurface.

But as the sun comes up on the Eastern seaboard, the helicarriers are launched, Fury and Natasha make their play to drag HYDRA into the light and Steve gets his reunion with Bucky which goes as well as it did before with Steve ending up in the hospital.

Tony’s reminded of how Strange warned him that time would force a path forward even if temporarily diverted.

When they land, they can only support the physical clean-up.

Digitally, thanks to the hacking Tony has already done, JARVIS had been perfectly positioned when Natasha started downloading information to the web to contain things. His AI worked diligently on filtering out anything which would compromise undercover situations or agents’ lives. JARVIS also swept up anything which may be dangerous in the public domain; schematics for weapons, plans for infiltration into government computers, and locations of known criminals SHIELD has locked away.

The physical clean-up is as bad but not as bad as it could have been. Tony had only been able to keep two of the helicarriers grounded. The last one though…it’s completely destroyed and littering the Potomac. It had also taken out half of the Triskelion which is in ruins. Thousands of people are suddenly out of work and not all of them are HYDRA; those which are will slip back into the woodwork and fall on their feet, Tony’s certain of that.

Tony makes it to Steve’s hospital room late at night. He carries the shield which he’d fished out of the river and places it against the wall quietly.

Sam jerks awake and is almost into a defensive position before he blinks and stills. “Sorry. I’m a little jumpy.”

Tony nods. “Understandable given the day you’ve had.”

Sam snorts his agreement and sits back in his uncomfortable chair.

Tony gestures at Steve. “He OK?”

“Physically, he’s already mending. Doctors say he’s going to be fine.” Sam says.

“And what about the non-physical?” asks Tony pointedly.

Sam sighs heavily and rubs a thumb over his forehead, close to the dressing which is taped over one eye. “Your bet is as good as mine, Stark.” He sighs heavily and shakes his head. “I’ve done a lot of work with veterans but this? This is way out of my wheelhouse.” His gaze sharpens and he catches Tony’s eyes with his own. “Steve said you all but drove him to the VA centre and shoved him through the door.”

Tony shrugs. “He needed help.”

“And you weren’t it?” asks Sam with a note of accusation he doesn’t hide.

“I’m not a soldier.” Tony says bluntly. “And who exactly is qualified to deal with a man who comes back from a war seventy years too late? I figured at least the VA understood the difficulty veterans have in acclimatising back to civilian life and that was somewhat analogous to what Steve was going through.”

Sam nods and grimaces apologetically. “I can see why you thought that.” He sighs again and looks towards Steve, avoiding Tony’s gaze. “This is…he wants to serve; thought SHIELD was the answer to that. Finding out he’s been working alongside his worst enemy all this time? It’s going to shake him.”

“Why did Steve get beaten up so badly?” Tony asks pointedly. “He should have been able to take that guy down.”

“Not my place to say.” Sam replies and Tony can tell by the stubborn look on his face, Wilson’s said as much as he’s going to say. Sam underlines that by changing the subject and asking after Natasha.

“Doctors gave her the all clear. She’s with Clint.” Tony says. He’d sent the two of them ahead to his DC residence along with Bruce. He checks his watch. “Well, I have to go and see if I can get on top of the media coverage. I’ll stop by again tomorrow.”

“I’ll tell Steve you came by.” Sam offers.

Tony nods at the police officer stationed outside the room and makes his way down the corridor to the elevator. He’s not entirely surprised when it opens up with Fury in it, dressed down in what Tony thinks is Fury’s old man disguise of baggy pants, turtleneck and flap cap. He steps inside.

“I’ve made Coulson Director of SHIELD.” Fury says. “He’ll take point on the rebuilding.”

“And you?” asks Tony.

“I’m going to hunt down these HYDRA bastards.” Fury says. “Thanks for containing the web dump.”

“What possessed you to release everything to the web?” Tony still doesn’t know why they thought it was a good idea.

“Rogers wanted everything in the light. Seemed like the thing to do at the time.” Fury admits.

“And if it killed as many SHIELD agents as HYDRA ones that was A-OK?” Tony shakes his head. “I know you guys accept collateral damage, but I can’t believe you agreed to that.”

“It was the wrong call.” Fury concedes.

The elevator slides to a stop.

“Good luck, Stark.” Fury shakes his hand.

Tony watches as Fury slinks out and heads through the throng of waiting reporters with no-one the wiser on who he is.

“Yeah, I’m going to need that luck,” Tony murmurs under his breath as he strides out and immediately gets barraged by an array of bright lights and loud voices.

Continued in From A to Z: Part 3