What Is Willed
"What?" Pepper asks in disbelief. She's not sure she's heard right.
You see, Tony died more than a year ago. He snapped, they grieved. She only dug up Tony's dramatic recorded last words. Knowing that she would eventually have to handle the inevitable legal complexities of Tony Stark's official last will. No matter how well they planned in advance, a billionaire's will reading is always one massive delayed disaster.
That's why she only recently got the ball rolling on the reading. It still feels too fast though. Too final. But it has to be done. She's not going to gamble with Morgan's future. Even if Pepper's own estate isn't something to scoff at.
But, after a few months of struggling with their legal team over calls to get Tony's will read, she's had enough.
And thus, Pepper Stark makes her first public appearance since the death of her husband. and goes to the main SI office in New York. Her and Tony's first child: Stark Tower.
The general public is under the impression that Tony sold the tower years ago. He did but he bought it back because he wanted space close to New York. Pepper doesn't remember why, but she didn't question it then and she's not going to question it now.
They were broken up at the time anyways.
And that's why she finds herself in one of SI's various conference rooms staring at her lawyers, after marching in and demanding to know what the delay is all about, in utter disbelief.
Disbelief, not just because she has just been told that her husband's will cannot be read or executed or whatever else. But because the reason for this is because her husband bequeathed half of his entire estate to a person, whose name sounds fake by the way and according to an SI sanctioned background check, doesn't exist, without telling her anything about it. Half of Morgan's rightful inheritance.
What's going on?
By the end of the meeting Pepper has convinced herself that this person, with an incredibly fake sounding name, has somehow hacked her husband and his entire legal system and somehow altered hardcopy files, because that's the only explanation that even makes a little bit sense.
It seems as if Tony literally went eeny meeny mo and chose a random heir. Heir because Tony apparently stated that this fake person would be in control of all of SI and Tony's personal assets until Morgan is 18. And worst, her signature is at the bottom of this will as a witness, right next to Tony's.
Pepper leaves the meeting in a daze, with a promise to look into this phenomenon. To ask FRIDAY to do some completely legal investigation. They have to get behind this.
And Peter Parker is going to pay if Pepper had any say in it.
The thing is: after Loki, after Wanda, after Ultron, after Thanos and then after learning there's thousands of sorcerers on earth alone, Tony was done. Done being a victim, of begin helpless. He had to somehow protect himself from magic.
Magic made his skin crawl. An itch he cannot, and has no desire to, scratch. Tony is scared. With the snap of a finger, magic can make Tony lose control of his body. His mind. His most prized possession.
So, after losing Peter and every other person in the snap and in his last ever alcohol binge, right before Pepper told him about the baby, Tony did something he'll barely remember ever doing.
He outfitted FRIDAY and all of her servers and all hardware devices she's built into (cameras, sensors, computers, etc.) with the only material he has ever seen repel magic. His own creation, Badassium.
Loki had pressed his infinity stone embedded scepter to Tony's chest all those years ago, and nothing happened. Tony stayed up for 40 hours and drunk just as much, as he made chips, hard drives, batteries encased in baddassium.
After upgrading FRIDAY, he had her call his people from the IT department to install the new hardware into everything they could. With no explanation as to why.
Tony will never know that this somehow worked. It shouldn't have. In fact, if anyone had worn on one of his most recently created suits during the performance of Dr Strange's spell, the spell wouldn't have worked on them.
In his alcohol addled state, in his death, Tony preserved the last evidence of the existence of Peter Parker. His son. He gave Peter a chance.
It's just a shame that Peter doesn't know this yet.
All this brings Pepper to the exact state she's in right now. After the meeting she headed to Tony's cobweb covered lab in the tower. She wanted answers. And she's getting them now.
After asking FRIDAY to just show her "anything related to Peter Parker", Pepper settles in to hear about a delinquent kid or a dangerous criminal who just wanted a piece, more like a fucking chunk, of Iron Man, either out of hero worship or hatred.
Instead, Pepper finds video upon video of Tony and a teenager in the lab she's currently in as well as their old penthouse.
Endless proof of Tony loving this stranger. Calling him "Kid", "Bambino", "Roo", etc. Videos of the two of them working together in Tony's lab, of them creating disasters in the kitchen, of them falling asleep watching movies. Of Tony hugging this kid.
It's not until Pepper finds Tony's specs of the time travel device that she finally loses it. Because written on them, in Tony's unmistakable scrawl, stands written: "For Peter"
Tears are streaming down Pepper's face by the time she finds the DNA test that reads "99.99% match. Tony Stark is the father of Peter Parker" dated only days after Captain Marvel found Tony and Nebula in outer space.
Tony had loved this kid with every fibre of his being in a way she wouldn't have thought possible before Morgan. Tony had given everything for this kid. His entire life. And Pepper had no idea who the kid was.
It stung. She wanted to rage.
Until she found videos of herself. Hugging Peter, falling asleep on the couch with them of her helping him with his literature homework. Of her and Tony discussing asking the kid's aunt, May Parker, for partial custody of the kid. Of adopting him. May Parker, Happy's deceased girlfriend.
There's even videos with Rhodey. With Happy.
She has to speak to Happy. And Rhodey.
By the time Pepper leaves the tower, it's nearing midnight. She calls Happy, who has been babysitting Morgan all day, telling him she's sorry. She's on her way, and they need to talk
After speaking to Happy and getting in her car, she has FRIDAY call Rhodey.
"Pepper?"
"What do you know of Peter Parker?" She says in lieu of greeting.
"Who?"