Chapter 1: Forged from Iron
"–And I…am… Iron Man."
When Anthony Edward Stark, or better known as Tony Stark, had stated those five simple words with absolute certainty in his deep voice, he knew that everything that he and the Avengers had fought for for so long had come down to this single monumental moment in history.
That the inevitable had happened.
From across the rocky terrain in which they had just conducted a battle to the life-or-death, a trinkle of fear bled into the usual cocky demeanor of the infamous Mad Titan, the genocidal warlord staggering backwards in pure disbelief at his unexpected loss of the infinity stones.
Within a blink of an eye, less than it took for Tony to even get a single breath in, Thanos, the once Mad Titan who had rampaged the entire universe on some misguided belief that had cost the lives of billions, disintegrated into dust alongside countless of his minions.
Then there was only silence.
Once the very last of the dust had been carelessly swept away by a passing Autumn breeze did Tony allow himself a moment of respite, all the emotions and feelings that he had kept steadily at bay during the entire battle finally came unbridled in his head.
He nearly collapsed onto himself, only stopping at the last possible moment by some alien ship wreck that he managed to find some purchase to keep himself from falling flat on his face.
Slowly, with deliberately careful movements, Tony lowered himself down onto the hard ground. Intense burning pain was radiating from the tips of his fingers of his right arm down to his shoulder like waves, and he tasted nothing but the bitter acidic flavor of iron in his mouth. When Tony spat some of it to the nearby ground, it was a bright coat of red.
Everything hurts.
It hurts so fucking bad that Tony almost wished he was back at that faraway planet, Titan, where Thanos had dropped a freaking moon on him in a last desperate attempt to get rid of Tony and his motley crew away from the Infinity Stones in his blinded fury. At least there, he had a reason to feel some sort of pain, with the nanomachines of his armor able to deflect the most lethal of the damages from his body.
But here, sitting on a patch of dusty grass covered in who knew what, with sunlight bearing down on him now that most of the dust clouds had long since dissipated right after Thanos' demise, the pain was reaching to the point of no longer being unbearable.
It was hell.
He was almost positively certain he would pass out from the shock alone any moment now.
Maybe…
Tony began to close his eyes.
…I could rest for a little while.
The world wouldn't go to shits if he closed his eyes for a brief moment, right? For a teensy little moment…
Faintly in the background, Tony could hear the cheers and wallops of joy ring out from across the battlefield as news quickly spread of the defeat of Thanos and his army. The very last words Dr. Strange had said to him before fading into dust five years ago on Titan, a simple, "–There was no other way," echoed in Tony's mind as he watched the sun crept up over the horizon in the distance.
Was this the one?
A voice silently whispered in his ears.
Or was this all just an illusion played onto him by a cruel and malicious Thanos who was using the Mind Stone to mess with his head before finally sending Tony back to the painful reality of their actual loss?
The cheers grew louder.
Yes.
Tony finally closed his eyes.
This was the one.
They had won.
Something refreshingly cool and metallic cradled his cheek a few moments later and it took Tony a couple of seconds to gather his bearings and open back his eyes with some difficulty. A figure blurred into view, of a dark face with warm honey brown eyes that stared down at him with such admiration that Tony was left speechless as the figure grew closer to his line of sight..
Ah.
Rhodey was here.
His dearest best friend, his amazingly wonderful Platypus , was speaking, mouth moving rapidly but the words were fuzzy and barely reached Tony's ears no matter how much he strained to listen. His friend's expression grew increasingly fret with worry and concern as the tender silence stretched on between them.
Another person then came running, and someone else popped into view from behind the armor of Rhodey's War Machine; this one was significantly younger, with messy brown hair and brown large eyes that peered down at Tony unblinkingly as if trying to comprehend what exactly they were seeing.
Peter.
He was alive.
The student that he took underneath his figuratively iron wing, the one who had braved numerous foes more terrifying than the last all with a silly smile and a cringy outdated pop culture joke on the tip of his tongue.
The one, that after Thanos had snapped his fingers back on Titan, winning the war and sentencing billions to their death, tried to reach out to Tony with his last dying breath as the black ashes slowly overtook his body with a, "I don't feel so good, Mr. Stark…," before disappearing all together in his grasp.
Tears welled up in the corners of Tony's eyes.
Five years.
Five years he had spent not knowing whether or not he would ever see the young teen again, five years of waking up every night to the same nightmare of watching Peter evaporate into dust right before his very own eyes.
For five years, he had waited for this chance to apologize for all his faults and problems that had led up to this moment. To finally wrap his arms around the boy that he could almost call his son, and never let go.
And Tony couldn't do so much as to even breathe without spasming.
His vision blurred as the teardrops dripped down his cheeks. He had missed him so much that it hurt more than the pain radiating from his melted right arm.
Startled, Peter moved a firm hand onto Tony's other shoulder, mindful of the pieces of armor that were infused into the flesh of his skin. There was a heavy weight attached to his action with pain and regret pouring out from his body in sporadic waves that Tony could feel all the way down to the fingertips resting on his shoulder.
"We won," Peter choked out in a breathless gasp of air, staring straight into the depths of Tony's hazel brown eyes. "Mr. Stark, we won. You did it. We won."
His bottom lips quivered when he got no response back from Tony.
Another person calmly approached his view; their blue and white armor reflecting some of the sunlight back onto Tony's eyes, forcing him to squint slightly as the figure came to stand before them.
Gently pushing Peter into the awaiting arms of Rhodey's, the person carefully wrapped their own long, warm arms around Tony, and strands of strawberry blonde hair and a strong whiff of paprika cued him to their identity.
Pepper.
His beautiful, amazingly talented wife who has been by his side longer than most when he had become who was now as Iron Man, when he used to be only known as Tony Stark –the genius, cocky, playboy philanthropist who had cared little of what the world did with his weapons till it came back to haunt him one lonely stint in Afghanistan.
Without his own volition, memories came unbridled into his head.
From their honeymoon in the Hawaiian Islands, to the birth of their miracle baby–Morgan, of his promise to her on the night he had returned back to Earth after losing the fight against Thanos and coming home to a world losing half of its entire population in a span of a finger snap, where he swore up and down that they could live a simple life together with no more risk of heroism ever disrupting their relationship.
He had ended up breaking that promise the moment Stephen Lang had arrived at their quiet cabin house by the lake, seemingly returned safe and sound back from the Quantum Realm and convinced that time travel was all but impossible.
Fresh new tears sprang from Tony's eyes.
I'm so sorry, he desperately needed to say to her out loud, but his mouth wouldn't move an inch. I'm so, so sorry.
She smiled, understanding his unspoken words with an effortless gesture as she thumbed her fingers through the tears and wiped it all away in one swift motion. Her smile was pure and radiant like the sun beaming down on them and Tony couldn't look away no matter how much his eyes burned from the effort.
"Hey," she whispered, like she used to do during late nights when Morgan was fast asleep in her room, and it was only just the two of them wide awake and sharing a bottle of vintage red wine to go alongside with a charcuterie board that had more cheese than meat on it.
He felt his lips curve a little at the memory.
"Hey…Pepper," Tony managed to say through long labored breaths of air only to cough after the last syllable had passed through his lips.
His wife gently rubbed his back as the worst of it went through his body like a passing hurricane, leaving him rattled and bone deep tired by the end of it.
When he finished, she gently leaned him back onto his resting place, one hand keeping Tony firmly in place while the other drifted downward to cup against the arc reactor that still glowed with a sickly bluish hue on his chest. It was growing fainter by the second.
Pepper closed her eyes.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?"
For a tense minute, only silence greeted her, then the familiar synthesized voice of his AI assistant chirped her response from somewhere within Tony's helmet.
"Life function is critical."
Someone let out a gut-wrenching cry, and Rhodey tightened his hold onto Peter who had now buried his head into the curvature of Rhodey's shoulder.
Meanwhile, like the Colonel that he was, his best friend kept his gaze solely on Tony, a soft hearted look on Rhodey's face as he watched on with tears in his eyes.
Sighing in resignation, Pepper simply nodded her head, visibly swallowing down whatever cry had seemingly threatened to escape her red lipstick coated lips. She opened back her eyes, the soft forest green that held nothing but solid determination and peaceful acceptance for what was inevitably about to happen.
"You were so amazing," she cooed, bringing her hand away from the dimming arc reactor and back onto his face, as she touched their foreheads together. The scent of her spicy perfume clogged his senses, sending dopamine into Tony's brain as he inhaled it as deeply as he could.
That earned him a tiny tender laugh from his wife, and Pepper wiped a stray tear from her eyes.
"We're going to be fine, Tony," she reassured him, strong conviction in her voice as she held onto his gaze. "You can rest now."
Tony gurgled out a sound that he hoped translated to, 'I know.'
Based on the way her radiant smile grew slightly wider; he knew his message had been received.
Tightening her hold onto him, Pepper began to rock Tony back and forth, humming a sweet little lullaby that brought happier memories in Tony's mind as he listened to the harmonious melody. It was the same one his wife had hummed to their daughter the night after she had been born, swaddled in a pale pink blanket and crying her little heart out.
One verse, and Morgan's cries quickly gave way to a happy gurgling sound as she peered up at Pepper like she hung the stars and the moon. And partially hidden in the background, Tony would watch on with nothing but pure adoration in his eyes as his two favorite people in the whole entire universe lovingly interact with one another.
Slowly, but surely, Tony began to close his eyes.
They will be fine, he told himself as his vision dimmed to a thin gray line. They will be just fine.
Maybe…he could rest his eyes for just a moment. A teensy itsy little moment.
And when he opened them again, he would find himself back inside his log cabin by the lake, on his nice comfortably expensive tempurpedic bed with his daughter's smiling face beaming down onto him.
He would then try and pretend to still be asleep only to have Morgan pester him relentlessly with her fingers, asking when he would come play with her inside her dollhouse that Tony had painstakingly built over a summer ago at her request.
After some light grumbling, he would eventually get off from his comfortable bed and scoop his daughter into his arms, pressing kisses all over her face as she squealed in delight.
Together they would then head to the first floor where Pepper would be waiting for them in kitchen, already in the middle of preparing breakfast that required one too many eggs and Tony would help his wife to the best of his ability all while Morgan chatted on about their plans for the day as she took her usual seat by the table.
And they would be happy. One big happy family.
"I love you 3000," Tony said softly as he kissed his daughter goodnight. She turned to him with a tired small grin as she rested her head upon a pillow, one of her teddy bears held closely within her tiny arms.
"Love you 4000 more, daddy," her voice said quietly back, and Tony's lips curved slightly at her words.
He dimmed the lights as he headed out the door, stopping briefly for a moment to glance back at Morgan sleeping's form, safe and sound from any potential threat, and Tony's own expression turned mushy soft at the scene.
Tomorrow, he promised. Tomorrow he will build his daughter her very own Iron Mask that she could use whenever she wanted to play Superheroes with her parents.
For now, though, he closed the door shut and let Morgan sleep sweet dreams of robots and dollies.
His little 3000.
With a smile on his face, Tony closed his eyes for one last final time.
Only to find himself rudely awakened by an incessant beeping sound.
With a startled yelp, Tony lifted himself partially off from the ground, hands flinging about wildly in the air as his vision blurry from general grogginess and sleep crust.
One of his hands hit something beside him, knocking it away with a hard clatter. Whatever it was, it at least stopped that annoying beeping, bathing his surroundings with a blissful sort of silence that was slowly luring him back to la la la land.
Yawning, Tony dropped back down onto the surprisingly soft covered ground, snuggling his head onto an extremely squishy rock and pulling what felt like fuzzy blankets more over his body. It smelt heavenly like air freshener and lavender detergent.
Something in his head clicked at that moment, and his eyes shot back open.
Tony instantly regretted it a second later as the harsh rays of the sun hit him square in the face, causing him to go temporarily blind as he shielded his eyes from the intensity.
Once the flashes of yellow dotted light faded away, he opened them tentatively back again, finding himself in a bedroom, the window across from him propped open to let a slight breeze gently drift in.
For a moment, Tony dared himself to believe that he was back at his log cabin by the lake, that he had survived the battle against Thanos, that he didn't witness his dear friends and wife say their last goodbyes to him as Tony closed his eyes for a final time.
Almost as if by instinct, he glanced over to the door opposite the window.
Any minute now his daughter would burst through the door and demand her father wake up and play with her in her dollhouse.
Any minute now…
But the door remained steadfastly closed.
Memories rushed through him at that moment, of his untimely demise, of Pepper's sweet gentle smile, of Morgan's laughter ringing through the lake as he took her out for a swim during one unusually warm fall morning.
Tears gathered up in the corners of his eyes.
I miss them.
Tony sniffled.
I missed them so much.
It doesn't explain why he was here, why he was still alive when he knew for certainty that snapping his fingers would all but guarantee his own death.
Other memories coalesce with the other ones, and he saw another woman, this one petite with short green hair peering down at him in a tender smile as she stroked his cheeks.
"It's okay Izuku," she whispered in a voice that held nothing but motherly warmth, "you can be a hero."
Then the scene abruptly shifted into a playground where a trio of kids no older than six taunted him with names like "Quirkless freak" and "Deku" while onlookers watched apathetically on with no effort to stop the bullies from hurting him.
Again, the scene changed before Tony could even process the memory, and this time he was staring up at a tall man with darkish green hair and eyes cut from a cold jade stone as smoke billowed out seemingly from his mouth. He reached out a hand and spoke in a guttural tone that rattled Tony's bones.
"You are no son of mine," the man said, lips coiled into a smoking sneer. "How can you be, if you don't even have a quirk?"
Finally, the man melted away and someone else took their place.
This man was a giant, with firm well defined muscles that would put even Captain America to shame and two long bangs of blond hair that jutted out from his head like a pair of rabbit's ears.
Sporting a wide toothy grin, the man gave Tony a thumbs up as if striking a pose.
"Have no fear!" his voice boomed easily across the growing crowd that gathered before him, "For I…am HERE!"
Tony blinked and the memories disappeared to fade into the sunlight.
What… was that?
He couldn't have been hallucinating, he knew what it was like to be under mind control. For the Scarlet Witch, Wanda, to play sick games with his mind back when she was under Ultron's command.
This had felt like an entirely different experience.
Cautiously, Tony took another glance around the room, finding it significantly different from the one from his log cabin by the lake.
For one, it seemed more suited for children with toys and books scattered around his floor in a haphazard manner. Posters of that same grinning man adorned every inch of the four walls that encompassed the bedroom, all equipped with silly catchphrases such as "Detroit Smash!" or "It's fine now. Why? Because I am here!" All of which, interestingly enough, were written in the Kanji characters that was easy for him to read.
Tony knew how to speak Japanese, but reading it was an entirely different thing that he had never quite managed to grasp.
Blinking some more, he spotted a mirror hung in the left corner of the room, decorated with a plethora of stickers of the same grinning blond man and a couple of other characters dressed in colorful spandex costumes. Tony made a beeline for it, reaching it with unsteady footsteps that nearly sent him stumbling at the last couple of steps.
What greeted him was a face he could not recognize.
Impossibly large green eyes, the shade of an evergreen forest, peered unblinking back at him, with a face devoid of any facial hair or muscles, and a smattering of freckles on each side of his chubby cheeks.
Nestled firmly above his head was a bird's nest of hair, also the same shade of green as his eyes, though some areas were shaded a little darker than the rest.
Slowly lifting up a hand, Tony picked at a strand of his newly acquired hairstyle, watching in morbid curiosity as the soft curl uncoiled itself briefly for a second before returning back to its naturally curly state.
Tony blinked, and the face in the mirror blinked in sync with him.
He hummed.
How interesting.
So, he was alive.
The hows and the whys were still up in the air, but somehow against the odds, against the very fabric of reality, time and perhaps even death, he was somehow still alive .
A second chance in life was not on his bingo cards, but Tony wasn't one to look at a gift horse in the mouth. If, for some reason the universe had decided it was not done with him yet, then Tony could handle it.
After all, Tony grinned softly to himself, the face in the mirror matching his expression to a T. He had faced terrible things before in his lifetime: man-killer robots, godly aliens, and even a tyrannical purple mad titan were just some of the several things he could name off of a long list.
But this?
This was nothing.
Because he was Iron Man, he was Tony Stark, a man born into everything, forged from the toughest of steels, unbreakable and unwilling to bend to anyone's capricious wills or whims.
With steely fiery determination in his heart, Tony took a long and deep breath, focusing on the one thing he knew best to do whenever he found himself in a situation that was way over his head.
He got to work.