I live
The shield hit the ground with a loud bang, as Steve walked away from the broken man slowly. Tony watched as the man he had trusted with his life walked away, the man he had thought was his friend, leaving him in a broken suit with no way home, and no way to call for help.
Tony stared at the roof of the bunker, the black ceiling reminding him of the stars he had seen when he flew that bomb through the portal, with his thoughts going into negative territory, wait no he can't give up, so he shifted his focus on the day he met Peter and Harley.
He wished he could have introduced them, they are both smart kids that will make it big in the world, his only regret would be not being there to see it. And Dumb-E, Butterfingers, and F.R.I.D.A.Y. His children, he would be leaving his children alone in the world.
No not alone, they’ll have Pepper and Roddy, and Happy. Tony smiled at the thought of his friends, J.A.R.V.I.S fuck he had left his sons, child in the hands of that witch, how could he have done that to Vision.
Tony hit the back of his head on the bunker floor, fighting back the tears that stung the back of his eyes. When did he close his eyes? He was going to die alone in a bunker in the middle of Siberia.
Maybe…maybe this was for the best. The kids would find someone better to look up to, and his friends would be free of him. Yeah that sounds nice. But he wasn’t ready to die, just like he wasn’t ready to die all those years ago when he was slowly dying from palladium poisoning.
When did he start seeing death as his only option? When did he start taking orders from others? Why did he change himself so much?
For the attention he realized, for the smallest slice of attention from the man his father had basically worshiped. The man his father had cared more for than his own son. The man who had broken him and shaped him into what was most convenient for himself. The man who had yelled at him for hours for keeping secrets, that fucking hypocrite.
If he, no. When he gets out of here he swears he’s going to ruin Steve Rogers life, destroy him, make him feel the pain he felt and create a new team. One that he can trust in and believe will have his back, but for now he will wait for his baby girl to get him help.
——————————Elsewhere————————————
Vision was laying in the crater Wanda had put him in after the fight they had earlier in the day. He didn’t really understand the feeling in his chest, but it was tight around his heart. He thinks he remembers Tony describing the feeling as pain? No loneliness? He doesn't fully understand this feeling. Maybe if he can ask Tony to explain it to him he would understand it better and maybe understand why Wanda was crying after the fight.
He was getting up when he got a message from F.R.I.D.A.Y. He was confused at the location he was sent but didn’t worry about it for too long before heading in the direction she was leading him to.
Vision scanned the bunker looking for something that could help him understand why F.R.I.D.A.Y. had brought him here, was it for a mission that mr stark was sending him to? Or was it to help him understand the concept of humans and their emotions? Moving further down he followed the rubble, and broken wall’s as he got farther he spotted Captain America's shield.
Moving into the room, Vision froze as he spotted the man he had seen as a grandfather laying on the ground barely awake. He quickly went over to stabilize the man's heart rate as he barely clings to life and called Miss Potts, to quickly send a plane with a few doctors to his location.
——————One week Later————————————
Tony woke up to the familiar sound of the beep, beep, beeping of a heart monitor. And the pain that ran down his body in waves like an ocean. Opening his eyes he looked around the room spotting a sleeping Pepper sitting next to his bed looking like this was her first time sleeping in weeks. He whispers to himself, ‘how long have I been gone.’
Shifting he tried to sit up, pain shooting down his chest stopping him from moving. His quiet hiss of pain woke up Pepper. She focused on him instantly, She gently, but firmly pushed him back down onto his hospital bed.
“Lay down, you just got out of surgery,” She said softly but demandingly as if he was a little kid, her eyes full of unshed tears and a hint of rage. Laying back down he stared into the eyes of the women that had been with him throughout everything. Before he had thought he loved her, but now he knows he loves Pepper like how he loves Roddy. Looking back at Pepper he could see the cold determination in her eyes, and before she could say anything he quickly spoke over her ignoring his horse and dry throat.
“Stop the— funding for the avengers— and I want the credit cards— I gave them— to be shut off” Tony hated the fact he had to stop in between words to catch his breath. Peppa smiled, pulling out her Stark pad and immediately started doing as he asked.
“Fri baby let— Doctor Cho know about— project supreme, access code 3.R.9.6” Tony mumbled, falling asleep as soon as he got a confirmation from F.R.I.D.A.Y.
——————————Later————————————
Tony wakes up to a white hot pain running through his body, he can hear screaming, he was screaming but he couldn't think past the pain, pain, pain, that shot throughout his body. It felt like hours before he could feel the pain relax and turn into a soft humm under his skin.
The next time he wakes up he no longer feels the pain he did the first two times, in fact he feels better than he has in years. Looking around he was in his lab, an area of it had been turned into a makeshift hospital room. The room was empty and he seemed to have been put into some kind of healing pod.
He's attention being drawn to Doctor Cho and Vision, walking into the room. Cho looked up from her clipboard and her eyes went wide as she quickly walked over, Vision trailing behind her as she opened the pod.
Sitting up he marveled at the fact his body no longer aches and most of his scars were gone, but the arc reactor was back in his chest, but it was a lighter blue than he remembered. He turned to Cho and Vision.
“What happened?” Cho gave him the rundown of what happened. Explaining to him how once extremis was injected into his bloodstream. His body had started to glow a bright blue and his Iron-man suit had wrapped around him and started to melt into his skin.
Tony stopped at that part “Melted into my skin?” Cho nodded looking at Tony as if it was obvious. “Yes, with a few tests we were able to figure out that extremis had increased your healing, strength, and speed.”
Tony nods, getting up adjusting to the way his body felt moving more powerfully than it ever had as if years of aging went away, he looked 21, but felt 15. He looked up eyes meeting with both Cho and Vision’s eyes his eye filled with determination “I think it’s time we make a better Avengers”
——————————————————
Tony was in the kitchen a few hours later after doctor Cho and Vision did a few tests before leaving. He was looking over project insight, he pulled up the files. Of ‘Spider Man and Captain Marvel’ Tony smirked as he stared at the files. With a well practiced motion he quickly took out his phone and called Happy.
“Hey, Happy, can you bring the car around?”
——————————————————
Tony looked up at the apartment in front of him moving his glasses down a bit to look around. With a smile he walked into the building and up to one specific apartment and knocked on the door. There was some shuffling on the other side of the door before opening, revealing a softly smiling May Parker.
“Oh Tony, good to see your ok” May opened the door more letting him in. Tony gave her a smile and took a seat at the couch, “So is there something wrong with Peter’s internship?” May asked going to the kitchen to make some coffee.
He shook his head, “No nothing’s wrong, the opposite in fact.” May stopped what she was doing and peered at him inquisitively, she quickly picked up the two cups of coffee and placed his on the table knowing about his diversion about being handed things.
“What do you mean?” May asked taking a seat next to him. Tony gave her a smile and pulled out a paper, “Peter’s a smart kid, and I wanted to give him and several like him the chance to prosper.” May hummed looking over the papers. “So it’s a program?” May asked, looking up from the papers in her hands.
Tony nods “Yeah I thought I'd go over the details with you, before telling Peter about it.” May nods, listening carefully. “The only concern I have is that, it says here that there will be two kids in one lab. How will you look over them all?” Tony smiled, that was a reasonable concern.
“I’ll have a personal AI in each lab and I'll be checking in on them when I don't have a meeting” May nods but still looks a bit concerned, “Each lab will have safety protocols, and the AI’s will develop to adjust to be accommodating the safety protocols depending on the people that use the lab.”
Tony talked with May over the program for a bit longer before Peter got home, the boy was rambling about some chemistry test he had taken. Before stopping when he spotted him, he was briefly reminded of the first time they had met. “Peat, why don't you take a seat, we have something we want to talk to you about.”
Hesitantly Peter took a seat in front of them, it was all over the boy's face that he was confused. May slid the paper over to Peter, her signature at the bottom. the boy quickly read over it, once, twice, three times before looking up, “Rea-Really?” His voice cracked, his eyes filled with so much hope as he stared at him.
Tony nodded and stiffened at the unexpected hug, as the boy threw himself at him. After a few moments he slowly wrapped his arms around the boy. Looking up he could see the soft smile on May’s lips as she watched them. He left the Parker residents a few hours later after talking a bit more about the program.
Tony sighed when he got into the car he had a few more people to talk to, and they were going to be a lot harder to talk to. With a sigh he started the car and headed for his next target, ‘Carol Danvers’
——————————————————
Tony looked at the small house he was in front of and knocked on the door. After a few minutes a short young lady with wavy blonde hair. And a look that just screamed that she could kick his ass open the door with a soft smile, but there was a calculating look in her eyes.
Tony gave her a smile “Hello Captain Marvel, I’m here to talk to you about the accords” Carol took a step outside closing the door behind her. Tony followed her to the table off to the side of the front door.
“Why are you here?” Tony smiled “I'm just here so that the accords are fair to all parties involved” Carol quickly looked over the papers, analyzing aver detail, Tony quietly slid a pen over to her so she could write down what she would like to be changed.
After a few minutes, Carol looked up from the accords staring at him like she was trying to figure him out. Tony felt like he first did when he officially met Natasha, “Will this put me on the Avengers?” He blinked but quickly brushed off his surprise.
“That is up to you, but you do not have to if you don’t want to.” Carol nods “And who is currently on the Averages team?” “That would be myself, James Rhodes, and Vision m0-” Carol thought about it for a moment before writing a few things on the accords, and signed the bottom. Taking the papers he held out a hand to shake her hand.
Carol took the hand with a strong grip, “I will be around the tower in a few weeks, to talk about me joining the Avengers. Things were wrong with the old one and I intend to fix it.” With that said she went back into the house and locked the door.
Tony sat there for a few minutes before heading back to his car. ‘That went a lot better than he thought it would’
——————————————————
Tony had spent the next three weeks getting the labs ready for the bright minds program ready, he was in the middle of getting Peter's lab ready. He had made the walls and ceiling smooth so Peter would have no troubles climbing around.
He was installing the beta AI into the room, when FRIDAY let him know that Peter was here and waiting in the living room with Pepper. Getting up he headed up to greet them, he found Peter talking to Pepper about how excited he was to be able to build things and being able to meet the AI that he would be working with.
The moment the kid spotted him and seemed to brighten even more, “Mister Stark!” Peter and Pepper walked over, “Hey kid you excited?” Peter nodded, bouncing up and down. “Tony, I just came up to tell you that you have a meeting with the applicants for the new avengers tomorrow at six in the afternoon” Pepper informed him before leaving the two.
Heading down to the Labs he took Peter to the first on the left, he watched with a smug smile as the kids' eyes practically sparkled at all the things inside, “Hey Fri, can you wake up, room one’s, AI?” Tony watched as the hologram in the middle of the room powered on. A yellow orb flicking to life “Hello, I am code 2106 how may be of service to you?”
He watched in amusement as all of the kids' attention was taken by the small orb in the middle of the room. After a few minutes of Peter getting to know the AI he had named Karen, he watched as the kid hesitated before starting to get himself used to all the things in the lab.
He had to send Peter back home a few hours after Pepper had dragged them out of their labs to eat lunch, later that night he called Harley to let the boy know that he was in fact alive.
“Mechanic! You asshole, I thought you up and died or some shit! You can't just disappear for a week without telling me!” Tony chuckled, happy the kid cared, “hello Harley, nice to see you too” He pointedly ignored the glare he was getting from the kid.