Tears of an Angel

4 Years After Snap

Payton sat at the coffee shop across from Flash, who had just arrived.

"Sorry I'm late." Flash said sitting down.

"Huh," Payton noted setting her coffee down. "That's what that sounds like. But it's no big deal, I only got here like five minutes ago. I'm glad to see you're ok."

"And I'm glad to see your better." Flash smiled. "The fight looked brutal."

"I've never faced an enhanced like him before." Payton said shyly. "I wasn't expecting it. But Natasha has decided my training needs to be upgraded.

"Wow you sound so excited about that." Flash said, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

Payton chuckled. "I'm just glad this time, I'll have someone going through training with me."

"Who?"

"Johnny Storm."

"You're going to be training with Johnny Storm?" Flash asked incredulously. "He almost got you killed."

"He just needs some better techniques."

"How can you trust him?"

"He's my friend. Why are you so upset about this?"

Flash sighed, loosening his grip on his cup. "I'm just worried about you."

"Flash," Payton lightly grabbed his hand. "He's my friend. He would never purposely hurt me." She thought for a moment. "Why don't you come meet him?"

"No thanks." Flash said with an eye roll, sitting back.

"Why not? You like Harley."

"Harley's not a complete asshole."

"Neither is Johnny. Please just think about it."

"Fine." Flash looked to her curiously.  "Have you heard anything about that Venom thing?"

"Not yet." Payton admitted. "SHIELD's looking, but there's almost no information."

"What does your instinct say about him?"

"I think I can trust him. But it's mouth is freaky..." She thought back to the meeting. "We..."

"What?"

"When I talked to Venom, it said 'We are Venom' not 'I am Venom'. That means he's part of something, bonded to someone. He has to be some sort of symbiotic being."

"Like a parasite." Flash asked bringing his cup to his mouth.

"Maybe." Payton wondered. "But then it brings up the question on who's in charge? And what do they want?"

"Maybe they just want to help."

"Then why hasn't it gone to the Avengers? Or the Fantastic Four? Do you think it's shy?"

"Maybe he just likes working alone."

"Maybe I should go after it? Show that I'd be willing to work with it?"

"And if we say no?"

"Then I'll leave it be. But keep an eye on it."

"You're too optimistic sometimes." Flash said with a fond smile. "But please be careful if you do go after this thing."

"I'm always careful." Payton laughed at his incredulous look. 

*******

Later that night, Payton was swinging through the city. The Stark Relief Foundation had cleaned up Times Square pretty quickly. Now she was just going on routine patrol. There wasn't a lot so maybe she'd get to call it an early night and play with Morgan.

Payton clung to the side of a building as she peered into the shadows where she could barley make out two white oval eyes moving along the wall and into an alley. Was that Venom?

Payton silently swung over, keeping to the shadows as she watched Venom go deeper into the alley. She quietly crawled closer, watching as it stood in the middle of the alley before shrinking down to a normal human size. He then went behind a dumpster, coming out a few minutes with a jacket and a backpack. 

As he came closer, Payton shot a web at the man pulling him up. As she pulled him up, his right arm transformed into a long black blade. She quickly moved her head to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade as she stared at Flash Thompson's startled face.

Payton sighed in exasperation. "No one in my life can be normal, can they?"

"I can explain?" Flash weakly offered. His arm returning to normal as he held onto the web.

"Can you?" Payton wondered aloud as she slowly lowered him.

"Shut up yes I can." Flash whispered to himself. He then turned to her. "Alright we are Venom."

"The 'We' being?"

The sludge gathered on his shoulder before a head with large white eyes and sharp tooth mouth formed. "I am Venom. He is mine."

"Why Flash? What do you want from him?"

"He's like me." Venom explained in a raspy voice. "A loser. But together, we are not so bad. And can be better."

"I'm going to need a little more than that."

"I told you I was cut off." Flash interjected. "I lost almost all my money gambling. I was basically living on the streets."

"I clung onto his shoe when he wasn't looking." Venom said. "I later bonded with him."

"Bonded?"

"He's pretty much connected to me." Flash explained. "A part of me. Although I didn't know Vee was there until he saved me."

"Saved you?"

"Let's just say what you saw- Him automatically coming out to attack a potential threat- wasn't an uncommon occurrence when we first bonded,"

"Flash," Payton sighed. "Why didn't you call me for help?"

"Cause I didn't need-"

"You did." Venom interrupted before turning to her. "But as I said, he's a loser. And still a little arrogant. I've been working on that with him."

"I'm not that arrogant!" Flash protested.

"Anymore."

"No one asked, Vee."

"Alright." Payton said, a smile pulling on her lips. "Where are you from, Venom?"

"My people were on an asteroid when some of us were collected."

"There's more of you here?" Payton asked curiously.

"No. The rest are all dead."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. They sucked."

"Alright." Payton said slowly. "Do you know Carol Danvers? Nebula? Rocket?"

"Nope." Venom said shortly. "It is a big universe."

"Fair enough." Payton jumped to be at level with him. "Listen Sludge. Flash trusts you so I will. But I promise if you hurt Flash I will kill you."

"You can't kill one without killing the other."

"I'll find a way."

Venom turned to Flash. "I like this one."

"Are you going to tell anyone?"

"Do you want me too?"

Flash hesitated.

"It's not my secret to tell." Payton said. "But it's safe with me."

****5 Years After Snap (Spring 2023)****

"How you doin?" Payton turned around to see Johnny landing behind her.

"I'm doin fine, baby. How you doing?" She smiled as she quoted back the old Friends episode.

Johnny looked her up and down as he deflamed. She did just finish a fight with a man calling himself Scorpion. A further associate of Toomes who also had a highly specialized suit. This one had a tail with a sharp end. One that had scratched her multiple times.

She was sitting on the Baxter Building roof with her mask and top off. She had wrapped her stomach where multiple shallow cuts over her burn scars. She had already wrapped her sprain ankle. And was currently bandaging several scrapes on her arms.

"How's Sue and the boys?" Payton asked turning back to her injuries. "Heard y'all just got back from a mission?"

"Yeah." Johnny began excitedly. "We fought this huge android that could absorb our abilities. It was pretty awesome. And I delivered the finishing blow."

"So how did you defeat your 'Awesome Android'?" Payton teased looking back to him.

"So I swooped down and barley saved Ben from being stepped on as it blasted fire at Sue and Reed. But because Ben's so heavy I ended dropping him on the Android's head. And it shrunk!"

"So Ben delivered the finishing blow?" Payton teased pulling her shirt back up.

She laughed as Johnny spluttered. "I delivered it! Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"So where is your Awesome Android?" She laughed.

"Reed took him down to the lab to analyze or something. I wasn't really paying attention." Johnny sat in front of her. "What happened to you? And why are you recovering up here?"

"I have first aid kits hidden on towers all over the city." Payton said matter of fact. "Come in handy when I got beat up. Like with this Scorpion guy. He got me with his stingers a couple of times. No big deal."

"Why not just go back to the penthouse?" Johnny asked curiously. "I thought you said y'all were there this weekend?"

"That's why I didn't go." Payton sighed. "Pepper's been..." She bit her lip. "Not hovering, but definitely been worrying more."

"Sue gets like that too." Johnny commented. "She's always been like that though. Can be a real nag sometimes."

"Yet you know they still care." Payton sighed. "It's just... With Tony he understood what it was like, going in and out of battles. But Pep... She's been on the sidelines for a while. And I wouldn't want her fighting, but-"

"Having someone who gets it is nice." Johnny finished, smiling at her ruefully. "Sue and the others got there powers the same way I did sure. But they all treat me like a kid. And I get it, I am younger than them, but-"

"You are just as capable. And you prove it every time you go out, and fight for others."

"Yeah." Johnny said. "But who said we needed their approval to go out and fight."

When did they get so close? She briefly wondered how soft his lips were before she began leaning closer-

"Wow." The two jumped apart looking over to see Rhodey hovering above them in his War Machine armor. "Well this is awkward for everyone."

"Rhodey!" Payton said willing her reddening cheeks to return to their natural color. "Wh- What are- When did- Hi."

"Hey." Rhodey landed on the roof, his face plate lifting. "You weren't answering your phone and Pep saw your battle with that Scorpion guy. So I volunteered to come find you."

"Oh yeah." Payton said as she fixed her outfit. "My phone kind of got destroyed, and his suit kinda messed with my coms. Sorry I should've let her known I was fine."

"Yeah." Rhodey cleared his throat. "Well uh- Pep wants me to make sure you get home, so I'll just let you two- Yeah."

Rhodey's faceplate shut and he lifted off.

"I should get going then." Payton said shyly.

Johnny laughed. "So I'll see you later?"

"I'll probably have extra training tomorrow, but maybe afterwards we can hang out? I know where we can get the best sandwiches in Queens."

"Yeah that sounds nice." Johnny said staring down at her.

"It's a date?" She teased.

"Yeah." Johnny then leaned down and captured her lips with his. Payton gave a  small gasp, her eyes widening for a moment. This was nice. Payton allowed herself to relax, her eyes slipped close as her arms came up and behind his neck, pulling him closer.

All too soon they split apart. Both breathing heavily.

"That was-"

"- Amazing?" Johnny finished with a slight laugh.

"I was going to say 'fantastic'." Payton teased. He laughed as they let each other go. "I really don't want to go now."

"If I didn't want War Machine to like me I'd say you should stay." Johnny said.

"I'll see you soon." She promised pulling her mask back on, before jumping off the roof, quickly shooting a web, and followed Rhodey."

"Was that your first kiss?" Rhodey teased as they travelled.

Payton shot a web at his face mask, ignoring both his laughter and her reddening cheeks.

*******

"So what's this Rhodey says about you having a boyfriend?" Natasha teased as she flipped Payton onto the ground.

"First," Payton said getting up. "We're not dating. Officially. Second, Rhodey interrupted that kiss. Third, when did Rhodey become a gossip?"

Natasha chuckled as she went on the offensive. "Figure out what you and Johnny are. And the answer to Rhodey is always."

Payton laughed as she dodged her attacks. Payton then moved to punch Natasha, only for it to be grabbed by Natasha.

"Is there a reason you aren't so quick to own a relationship with Storm?"

"I am not not owning up to a relationship with Johnny?" Payton countered, slipping her arm away before flipping over Natasha and pulling her arm behind her back. "What about you and Bruce? You never told me what happened there?"

In a move she didn't entirely see, Natasha had Payton pinned to the ground. "I didn't tell you what happened between us? That's probably because there's nothing to say."

Payton flipped them over so she was on top. "That's not what the others said."

"Which others?" Natasha asked questioningly.

"Happy, Thor, Pepper, Rhodey-"

"I get it." Natasha cut off. "And there's nothing to tell."

"I see I'm late." They both looked over to see Cassie Lang standing there, eyes wide.

"Cassie!" Payton got off Nat and rushed towards the young teen, "It's good to see you again."

"It's good seeing you too." Cassie returned her hug with a small laugh. "I'm just glad Mom agreed to let me come this week." She looked over to Nat, who had slowly joined them, as they separated. "Are you taking on more students?"

"Minors need parent permission." Natasha said with a small smirk.

"Why the interest?"

"Because I was looking through my Dad's old storage room." Cassie said softly as she opened up her bag. "And found this." She pulled out a silver helmet with antenna like objects on the sides of it.  "I think it was Hope's."

"Cassie." Nat said as Payton took the helmet. "This is very dangerous."

"Y'all were both younger than me when y'all started out."

"I am far from the example you want to use." Nat pointed out. "This is going to be dangerous."

"I want to help people." Cassie said determinedly. "Like Dad did. I can do this, I just need some training."

"And Pym Particles." Payton reminded as she flipped the helmet. "Problem is Dr. Pym didn't leave any blueprints or samples behind before he was Decimated. And anyone else who'd know was also Decimated."

"That's why I came here." Cassie said earnestly. "If anyone could figure it out then-"

"Cassie." Payton cut off. "I appreciate your faith in me, but this..."

"I'm not asking you make me something today." Cassie elaborated. "Just... You know something."

"Alright." Payton relented, "I'll look into it. But you need to train. A lot."

"Really?" Cassie excitedly asked a wide smile enveloping half her face.

"Really." Cassie squealed excitedly before giving her a hug. "Thank you. Thank you."

"Wait." The two separated, looking at Nat. "Does your mother know about this?"

"Well not yet." At Nat's look, Cassie sighed. "She'll never say yes so it's just better to do it like this. And I need to help people-"

"Why not become a cop like Jim then?"

"Because he said he'd ground me for life if I so much as thought of becoming one. He didn't say anything about being a superhero."

"I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this am I?"

"Nope." Payton popped the 'p', with a smile.

"Worth a shot." Nat smiled.

"Besides we could become the Bug Squad!" Cassie excitedly proclaimed.

Nat smiled. "Definitely Lang's." She rolled her shoulder as she walked back to the mat. "Come on. Let's see what you got."

Cassie gave Payton a puzzled look as she took her bag. "Is she serious?"

"No time like the present." Payton smiled encouragingly. "She's trying to figure out how to train you."

"Come on little bug." Nat called out. "I'm beginning to think you're not serious about this. Or are you just that scared?"

"Oh it's on." Cassie said rushing forward to spar with the other woman.

Two minutes later.

"You're doing great!" Payton laughed as Cassie was kicked down for the tenth time. "Already doing better than Harley!"

****June 2023****

"You ready for this?" Payton asked as they pulled up to the Compound.

"Yeah." Flash nodded, slowly. "This just feels so surreal."

"Well it's happening." Harley spoke from the backseat. "So are you going to do this or chicken out?"

"I've never chickened out of anything." Flash scoffed under his breath as he got out of the car.

"Let's agree to disagree." Payton laughed, leading the two boys inside. "Nat said they had a meeting today, so that's probably where she is."

"Any last minute advice?" Flash asked as they walked down the halls.

"Don't call Rocket a raccoon." Harley said. "He's really defensive about that."

"And don't mention any past bullying or Nebula will use her pinky to castrate you." Payton said.

"Not helping Vee." Flash said to himself as Payton opened the conference room doors.

"Sorry we're late." Payton greeted leading the two to where Nat was in front of five holograms.

Rocket was the first to speak. "You got a new boyfriend?"

"No." Payton and Flash said at once.

"Flash is just a friend." Payton continued. "And our newest Avenger."

"I thought we agreed these would be group decisions." Carol spoke up.

"What y'all like me." Harley pointed out. "Flash is an equally as good choice."

"I don't know." Rhodey spoke up. "This is dangerous." He looked at Flash. "What do you have to bring to the table?"

"I'm kind of smart." Flash said with a small smirk on his face. "I went to the same school as Payton and am in the top 25% at NYU."

"You may be smart." Nat said ."But will that be enough? Our group is composed of a Wakandan general, an air force colonel with a high tech suit, two highly trained assassins, a half tesseract space soldier, a Rocket, a tech genius building his own Iron Man suit, and Spider Girl."

"Yeah." Rocket spoke up, clearly unimpressed. "What makes you so special?"

"Well." Flash looked to her. Payton smiled with a small nod. Black sludge enveloped Flash, making him almost double in size. "We are Venom."

"Bast." Okoye exclaimed as she took a step back. Carol, Nat and Nebula had taken defense stances.

"Well as far as things to do I have to admit that is pretty neat." Rocket begrudgingly admitted.

"So," Rhodey finally spoke up again. "You can do..." He gestured to Venom. "That. Anything else?"

"The way I see it, we can do whatever we want." Venom's grinned nearly split his face, his long tongue slithering out. Suddenly he tilted his head, before shrinking back down to Flash.

"So yeah." Flash shrugged a little self conscious. "I have a parasite."

"You can control it?" Nebula asked, now relaxed. Or as relaxed as she could be.

"We're more of a partnership than anything else." Flash said, pausing as he spotted a chocolate bar on the desk. "Is anyone going to eat that?"

His left arm was enveloped with sludge again, it quickly shot out grabbing the candy, before retreating back to him, returning to a normal looking arm. Flash bit into it with a delighted sound. "Chocolate is also an amazing way to bribe him."

"Payton," She looked over to Okoye. "You trust him?"

"Yes." She said without hesitation. "He helped during the Electro attack. And whenever I've been busy he's been patrolling New York. Sometimes we go on patrol together too."

"Flash is a great guy." Harley spoke up. "Venom may be unorthodox, but he has good intentions too. And really if you considered Deadpool, you have to consider him too."

"Who's Deadpool?" Flash asked. "Is he another Avenger?"

"No." Everyone spoke at the same time.

"Time to vote." Natasha spoke up. "All in favor." Hands went up. "All opposed." None went up.

"Congrats kid." Rocket said "Welcome to the Avengers."

****5 Years After Snap (October 2023)****

Payton looked out at the lake sitting at the counter inside of the cabin as Pepper made lunch. They were taking a weekend away from the city, and no better place for that the Cabin.

"Rumor has it your date got cancelled." Pepper said as she sliced tomatoes.

"Technically." Payton said as she ate a strawberry. "But Johnny said it should only last a week."

"And that was?"

"Four days ago." Payton said a little bitterly.

"So he should be home soon." Pepper said with an optimistic smile. "Has Harley made any progress?"

Since Harley had graduated, he had been spending more time at the Compound, becoming their 'Tech Guy', even if it was mainly just for Natasha and Rhodey. Okoye, Nebula and Rocket had better tech and weapons, but they would let him experiment with some of their spare tech. Harley had even used some of the tech to complete his own armor with nanobots.

"He says it's almost completely functional." Payton said proudly. "Just a few more tweaks and Iron Lad should be ready for his debut."

"I thought he said he was going to go by Iron Man?" Pepper said with a raised brow.

There will only ever be one Iron Man. "Maybe. But I'm still going to call him Iron Lad. And he can fight me if he wants me to do otherwise."

Pepper laughed. "So Iron Lad it is. And how's Flash?"

Flash had begun his training with Natasha a few months ago. Venom loved it, Flash?

"Regretting the day he said yes." Payton joked. "Nat says he's too soft."

"I've seen Venom. Soft isn't a word I used."

"No Flash is soft. Venom is tough as nails." Payton took a sip of her drink. "From what I heard they were all supposed to be at the Compound today."

"No you can't sneak over there. Everyone agreed you need a day off." Pepper insisted ignoring Payton's displeased sigh. "But can you bring Madam Secretary in? Lunch should be ready soon."

"Sure." Payton quickly jumped out, walking towards Morgan's tent, a path of discarded toys leading the way. "Morgie! Come out, come out wherever you are!" Payton grabbed a discarded Iron Man doll as she sat outside the tent. "Morgan H Stark, you want to lunch?"

Morgan came out wearing a red glove with a small blue light taped onto it, and a blue Iron Man helmet. "Define lunch or be disintegrated."

Payton laughed. Harley had found some designs for a suit designed specifically for Pepper. The two of them decided to work on it and give it to her as a Christmas gift. Unless Morgan showed it to her first.

"First," Payton carefully took the helmet off, brushing her messy hair away from her face. "You shouldn't be wearing this. It's a gift for Mom. Second, if you keep playing around, you won't get any lunch? Or should I give you some crickets to eat instead?"

"No." Morgan protested said with a slight jump.

"Are you sure? They're delicious." Morgan giggled. "Where did you find this?"

"Garage." Morgan said innocently.

"Were you looking for it?"

"No." Morgan said as Payton picked her up.

"So you just like playing in the garage, huh?" Payton giggled as she hid the helmet in a bush. "Don't worry so do I, but you have to be older before-"

She cut off as she spotted a black Audi pull up. Payton held onto Morgan slightly tighter as the doors opened.

"Auntie Nat!" Morgan happily squeaked, as she jumped out of Payton's arm and ran to the secret spy.

The other doors opened revealing Harley, Flash, Steve and some guy?

"Hey guys." Payton greeted, walking closer. "What brings y'all here? And who's this?"

"Hi I'm Scott." The guy greeted.

"Scott?" She repeated. "Scott Lang?" She looked over to Harley and Flash.

"It's a long story."

"Of course it is." Payton sighed before smiling at Morgan. "Why don't you go in and eat? And tell Mom that we have guests."

"Okay." Morgan smiled innocently before running in.

Payton turned back to them. "Who wants to start?"

A few minutes later, they sat along the patio of the house. Payton slowly digesting the information.

"Now we know what it sounds like-" Scott said.

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Payton cut off as she leaned back. "Basically you're not coming home." She turned to Harley and Flash. "Y'all didn't explain it to him?"

"You're the smart one." Flash defended, raising his hands in surrender as he stepped back.

"Scott came back." Harley defended.

"He was some sort of cosmic fluke. But what you're talking about. Time travelling."

"Time Heist," Scott proudly corrected.

"None of our research proved anything worthwhile." Payton looked at Harley. "You know how much we lost. We could make things worse."

"We won't." Steve said earnestly.

"We can't risk it." Payton said shortly before turning back to Scott. "Cassie's still alive. You should go be with her. Be grateful she's alive, make up for lost time. Me and Nat have been training her, she'll love it if you take over."

"Payton please-"

"Why do you even need me?" She looked to Harley. "You're just as smart-"

"Not in this area. I can make whatever we need to do this mission, but I can't find out the how. Our projects never got past the how to time travel, but with the Quantum Realm, we might be able to."

"Payton," Flash said softly. "I get it your scared. We lost our friends, our family. But we also gained some too. A lot of others weren't so lucky."

Like Clint. A small part of her whispered.

"Maybe we should've just gone to Bruce or Richards." Steve said quietly.

Payton turned to him, eyes blazing as Natasha hit his arm with a hiss. "Maybe. Maybe you could've single handedly beat Electro or Scorpion. Or any of the others I've had to fight without you." Payton started walking towards Steve. "But no, you stayed in your little Brooklynn apartment, ignoring the rest of the world. You gave up fighting for people in the here and now. And yet you come out now. Why? Because we have a one in a billion chance? No. I lost the last of my family and even if we reverse the Snap I won't get her back. So yeah, maybe I'll be bitter and selfish just this once, just like you."

Payton hadn't realized she had cornered him against the fence until he fell off and into the bushes. "But fine. Go. See if I care. Should warn you though, Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four are in the Negative Zone, so tough luck reaching them. If not, maybe he'd tell you your crazy too."

She turned to Harley, Nat and Flash. "You know y'all are welcomed to stay if we drop this talk."

"Payton-"

"If not I'll catch up to y'all later."

"Thanks." Harley said softly. "But I'm not giving up on this,"

"Fine." Payton said with a nod. "I'll see you later then."

As they walked back to the car, a part of Venom slithered onto Flash's hand and slapped Steve on the back of the head.

*******

Later Payton was sitting at her holotable. Having gone through  multiple models already.

She shouldn't have gone off on Steve like that. A part of her wanted to be stubborn and not do it. But then she walked in seeing Morgan and Pepper sitting at the table, Morgan playing with her Iron Man doll.

Uncle Ben, she had asked quietly one day when she was small. When will Mommy and Daddy be home?

'Payton, he said with sad eyes. They won't be home for a long time. But never forget how much they loved you.

She wont let another little girl grow up fatherless. She looked over to the picture of her and Tony holding up her internship certificate. It was upside down, and they were giving each other bunny ears. Not if she can help it.

"FRIDAY," Payton yawned. "Last one for the night. Can we try a Mobius Strip, inverted please?"

"Processing..."

"Don't worry if it doesn't work," She said. "We'll just-"

"Model rendered." Payton blinked the sleepiness away as she sat up. It worked. It actually worked.

She let out a breathless laugh. "Shit."

"Shit." Her eyes widened as she turned to see Morgan sitting on the stairs behind her.

"When did you get up?"

"Shit." Morgan repeated again with a giggle.

"We don't say that," Payton said kneeling in front of her. "That's Mommy's word. We're not supposed to use it."

"Why are you up?"

"I'm working on a project with Harley." Payton explained. "And I uh I got a lot on my mind."

"Is it juice Pops?" Morgan guessed.

"How'd you know?!" Payton said with fake excitement. "Come on." She held a hand out to her. "Let's go get some before Mom finds out."

After a quick Juice Pop, Payton took Morgan back to bed. "Alright, bed time."

"Tell me a story."

"What kind do you want to hear tonight?"

"A Daddy story!" Morgan sat up excitedly. 

"A Daddy story. Well let's see." Payton thought for a moment, seeing the Iron Man doll again. Payton picked up the doll. "Once upon a time Daddy was hosting something called an Expo. A place where people could come share their inventions. While he was there, a man released an army of drones to terrorize everyone, but luckily Dad was there too save everyone." Payton moved the doll as if it were flying. "He'd stop the bad drones. Pew. Pew. Pew." She lifted the doll's arm with each 'pew' earning a giggle. "One drone was taking aim at a little girl. But this girl, instead of running, decided to fight the drone with her bare hands. Before it could attack her, Dad rushed in and saved her." Payton moved the doll in front of Morgan as if it were defending her. "After a tiring battle, Dad saved Mom. And they shared their first kiss." She made the doll kiss Morgan's cheek, igniting another giggle as the girl fell back against her pillow. "Then they lived happily ever after." Payton laid the doll next to Morgan as she yawned. "Remember me

Though I have to say goodbye

Remember me

Don't let it make you cry

For even if I'm far away, I hold you in my heart

I sing a secret song for you each night we are apart.

Remember me

Though I have to travel far

Remember me

Each time you hear a sad guitar

Know that I'm with you the only way that I can be

Until your in my arms again

Remember me." Payton kissed Morgan's forehead. "Good night. Love you."

"Love you 3000." Morgan sleepily said as she tightly held her doll.

Payton softly closed the door, leaning her forehead against it. "Don't worry Morgs, soon Dad will be able to tell you that story himself."

"What?" Payton turned to see Pepper walking up the stairs.

"I figured it out." Payton explained. "I can bring Tony back."

"I thought you said-"

"I know, but then I thought of Morgan. I didn't have my dad. I can't let Morgan go through that too."

"She'd be happy with-"

"I can't imagine my father's face anymore." Payton admitted. "If I'm being honest I haven't for years. I can hardly see Ben's. Even Tony's is beginning to blur. I have pictures yes, but it's not the same. Morgan can't even say that. Tony deserves the chance to hold her. And she deserves real memories of him, not just stories. Pep, I could never forgive myself if I didn't do this."

Pepper sighed, relenting. "Promise me you'll be safe."

Payton hugged the older woman. "I'll come back. I promise."