Sokovia
“Wanda?” Peter asked. “As in Wanda from the Avengers?”
Tony nodded, “Ever since Vision’s death, she has been unable to cope. In my reality she took an entire town hostage in order to bring him back to life and pretend to have a normal life.”
“Yeah, she’s done that here already too. Westview. But she let them go and escaped into solitude somewhere. The police, SHIELD and the FBI have all been looking for her for months, but no one has had any luck locating her.” Peter said. “Do you have any idea where she would have gone?”
Tony shook his head. “We weren’t exactly chummy back in my reality. She never told me anything of her time away when she came back. And when she came back… she was intent on killing everyone who had hurt her, hurt her brother and hurt Vision. She thought that I had helped them experiment on Vision’s body. She targeted my daughters and Pepper. She’s gone mad. Peter, I doubt she would be of any help to us now.”
“All due respect, but maybe she just doesn’t want to help you. I saw it on the news, her story. How she and her brother were trapped in that building with a Stark missile right beside them. That’s enough to fuck anyone up. If I were her, I don’t think I would be all that interested in helping you with anything.” Gwen said. “But Peter, you haven’t done anything to her right?”
“Not that I can think of.” He thought back to the fight at the airport. Wanda had teamed up with Captain Rogers, but he couldn’t remember ever actually fighting her. “But we’ve never really been friends with one another either. I don’t think I’ve ever had a single conversation with her.”
“So you’re basically friends by association.” Peter 3 suggested hopefully.
Peter scoffed. “No, that is definitely a stretch.”
“I think we should go for it.” Gwen said, leaning forward and resting her forearms onto the table. “We should try to locate her at the very least. EDITH might be able to pinpoint her location.”
“EDITH can check camera face recognition databases around the globe to see if any camera’s have picked up on her since she left Westview.” Peter said.
“And she can check the radars and satellites for any strange power surges.” Peter 3 added, leaping to his feet. “Who is EIDTH though? Is she like your temporary guy in the chair? I know Ned said he was your guy in the chair but…” Peter 3 trailed off.
“EDITH is an augmented reality security, defense and artificial tactical intelligence system that Mr. Stark made for me before he died. It stands for ‘Even Dead I’m the Hero.’ She has access to everything.” Peter explained.
“Cheeky.” Peter 3 said with a little laugh directed at Tony. “So could she check the radars and satellites then?”
“She already has, while we’ve been talking.” She’s picked up on Wanda’s face in seven countries over the past three months, most recently in her home country, Sokovia. She was caught on camera in three different towns three nights in a row. Each one further north than the last. Actually…” He paused, looking at the little map EDITH had generated in the lenses of his glasses. “It looks like she has been consistently traveling north. EDITH can you project this map out for everyone to see?”
Immediately the map was shining out onto the middle of the table. Everyone stood and flocked to one side of the table so they could all look on the map. “So the question is where was she going?” Peter 2 asked. “She couldn’t have stopped in this town because she was only sighted once, going through this traffic light here.”
“But she also wasn’t sighted in the next town north or in any of the other surrounding towns. Which means she would have to be somewhere around here, right?” Peter 3 said, pointing to an area of mountains with a lake in the center.
“Yeah.” Tony said. “That seems about right. I think I remember something about her using her magic to build herself a cabin, wherever she was.”
“Okay, so there’s an actual chance that she could be somewhere around there.” Peter said. “How do we get there though? We can’t very well go to an airport and get on a plane. We’d need passports and as far as this reality knows, none of us exist.”
“What about a boat?” Peter 2 suggested. “We could stow away on a cargo ferry across the Atlantic and once we’re in Europe we could hitchhike our way to Sokovia. Or maybe take a train?”
“That won’t be necessary.” Tony said with a chuckle. “You forget that I own private jets.”
“Owned.” Peter corrected. “You’re dead here, so everything you had, all of your assets belong to Pepper now.”
“Peter, Pepper sent us money because you’re Spider-Man, surely she would let us borrow one of the jets. Especially since you have EDITH, if need be you can show EDITH to her to prove that you and Tony were close.” Gwen said, reminding him of the letter he had written to Pepper and her responding check.
“She’ll let you borrow a jet.” Tony said softly. “You won’t need to prove anything to her. You fought Thanos, she’ll help you out.”
“Right.” Peter 2 said. “Should we go now?”
“I’ll need to do a bit of packing first.” Gwen said, “And it might be in your three’s best interest to go out and buy some more clothes, we’re going to be out for a few days at the very least. And I may be alone in this but I do not want to be stuck in a cramped little plane with a bunch of smelly guys.”
***
Peter, had taken the other two Peters to the nearest mall and they’d bought enough clothes for a full week of outfits and they’d gotten some things for Tony too. It was too risky to take Tony with them, since any single person would immediately recognize him as the billionaire Iron Man and then his face would be all over the news. It was too much emotional turmoil to put Pepper through, it would place a spotlight on them that would likely lead to Doctor Strange’s involvement and it could result in Tony’s arrest and police questioning. They would go after the Peters and Gwen after that and then it would all be a mess, since none of them existed.
Peter didn’t think he had the patience to deal with any of that right now, not when there was actually a chance that maybe he could be with Ned and MJ again.
He hauled his suitcase into the trunk of the cab that had parked outside of their apartment building. Peter 2 and 3 were right behind him, with Peter 3 tossing his suitcase in carelessly and Peter 2 gently settling his in, adjusting Peter 3’s to make sure there would be enough room for Tony and Gwen’s suitcases. Peter 3, ever the gentleman, picked up Gwen’s and put it into the taxi cab. Tony was the last to stuff his suitcase in and it hardly managed to get the trunk to close. He slid into the passenger seat and all three Peters squeezed into the backseat with Gwen.
The frigidness of the air helped Tony to hide his identity, clad in a thick scarf, jacket with a high collar, sunglasses and a hat, it was hard to tell any of Tony’s facial features. Even so, Peter was extremely anxious that the cabdriver would somehow recognize Tony, especially when he asked for the driver to take them to Pepper’s new penthouse.
Shocking as it was, they made it to the penthouse without a hitch. Peter quickly suited up and scaled the side of the building before slipping into the penthouse through the unlocked balcony doors. “Hello?” He called out. “Mrs. Potts? Are you here?”
Heels clicked on tiles to Peter’s left and he followed the sound to find Pepper strutting towards him, with a sleeping Morgan in her arms. Balancing Morgan against the side of her body she lifted a finger to her lips. Masked up, Peter nodded to her.
She strode past him and through a door off to Peter’s right. A few minutes later she emerged without Morgan and Peter figured she had put the little girl down for a nap.
“Spider-Man,” Pepper greeted pleasantly. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m working on something that requires me to go abroad. I was wondering if there was any chance you could lend me one of your private jets for the trip?”
Pepper smiled tightly. “Yes of course. Where are you flying to?”
“Sokovia.” Peter replied. “I’m going there for-”
“Wanda.” Pepper said.
“What?” Peter had intended to make up some story about his planned trip there, but for Pepper to know that Wanda was there was peculiar. At least it confirmed their suspicions that she was there.”
“She fled there after she gave up control over Westview.” Pepper said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“How do you know that? Have you been in contact with her?” Peter asked.
Pepper shook her head. “I tried reaching out, to offer her aid or support, or even a place to hide, but she never responded. She’s in a very fragile state. She went from having her brother, husband and children with her to them all being dead. Her psyche was not equipped to cope with that and now her mind has fractured. I will give you the jet, but you must promise me you will be careful. Do not try to fight her, you will lose and do not enrage her.”
Peter nodded. “Thank you. I will be careful.”
He was even more unsure of himself now though than he had been before. Was Wanda beyond reason at this point? How far gone would she be when they got there? Could she even remember him?
He thought back to everything he knew about Westview. It wasn’t much. He had been so preoccupied with adapting to his new reality after the blip and his dozens of plans to get MJ to like him that he had hardly kept up with the news regarding his fellow avenger. Peter knew that Wanda had blipped out with him and she had been in the fight with Thanos after blipping back into existence. She’d nearly killed Thanos all on her own, but then he’d fired his ships and she’d been forced to back off. While most everyone had been brought back to life Vision had remained dead. His body had been taken for experimentation. The next thing Peter knew was that Wanda had taken Westview hostage, trapping them inside a bubble and controlling their minds. Then suddenly one day she had let them all go and she’d vanished.
He could only guess what she was up to now.
He walked from the penthouse and out onto the balcony. He offered Pepper a little salute before tumbling backwards off the rail and falling nearly the entire height of the building before catching himself with a web.
“Well?” Peter 3 asked.
“We’re going to Sokovia.” Peter confirmed with a wry grin from underneath the mask.