Tony groaned as he began to wake up.

God, did he overwork himself again?

Once the blurriness began to clear from his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar room.

How did he get here? 

The last thing he could remember was working on a project with his kid.

His kid.

Peter.

Tony quickly got to his feet to look for him.

"Peter!" he called out, cupping his hands over his mouth to amplify his voice.

"Mr Stark," a familiar voice called back.

Tony jogged to the sound of the source when he realized that Peter was nearby.

"Mr Stark!" Peter greeted as he barrelled into his mentor and proceeded to ramble.

"We were working on our project for the suit but then we fell asleep. Was it night-time? I didn't know it was nighttime. I was just happy to be finishing the project. But Aunt May will be really worried if I'm not home. And if I don't sleep. I didn't even know I was tired. Now because of my abilities, I'm more alert and I don't need as much sleep as I needed before. Is this a sign of advancement? Am I becoming more advanced, Mr Stark? What if I'm becoming more spider than a man? Mr Stark, I don't want to eat you!"

Tony was cut off from comforting the kid when he heard a familiar voice call him from behind, "Tony? Oh, thank god."

The pair hugged, glad the other was safe.

"Hi Mr Rhodes sir," Peter greeted cheerfully, once they broke apart.

Tony smiled at Rhodey who was standing on his prosthetic legs.

He subtlety glanced at them to see if they needed any upgrades or he could add the nanotech to the legs to give them an extra boost or he could even-

"Let's find out," Rhodey said making him snap out of his thought track.

The trio began to walk forward but a voice called out-

"Mechanic!"

Tony jumps, noting out of the corner of his eye that even Peter startles, and he tries not to let it get to his head that the teen feels so comfortable with him now as to forget about his spidey sense. 

Then, he shifts and turns to the voice, grinning ear to ear when he spots the fluffy mess on top of Keener's head as the boy – young man now holy fuck ­– who makes a beeline for Tony.

"Kid!" Tony greets, opening his arms and sending a quick prayer of thanks to the Extremis coursing through his veins when Harley launches himself at him, clearly trying to bring them both down, because ten or sixteen, the kid's a little asshole.

Luckily, Tony manages to catch him and stay on his feet, spinning in a little celebratory circle with Keener in his arms to work off the momentum. 

Harley burrows into the hug, arms around Tony's shoulders, face pressed into his neck, and Tony buries his face in Harley's hair, presses a kiss to his hairline, and loosens his arms, his heart lighter.

When he sets Harley down, he does a doubletake at the fact that there is less than an inch difference between him and the kid now, instead of the ten-year-old-sized pipsqueak he remembers.

"Had ourselves a growth spurt, have we?" he teases, reaching up – and, wow, isn't that a mindfuck and a half? – to tousle Harley's already messy hair, shooting the kid a grin.

"Thank god I'm not your actual kid or I'd have been stuck at 5'5" my whole life." Harley drawls, a smirk curling at the corner of his lips that makes Tony feel like he's looking in the mirror.

Still- "I'm five foot seven, thankyouverymuch!" he squawks, trying to swat the bratling around the head, but Harley laughs and ducks out of the way, stepping out of Tony's range, and they both freeze when they hear a throat clearing and a snort.

Tony turns to Rhodey, who he almost forgot was in the unknown place with him when Harley arrived, and Peter has a hand slapped over his mouth and is watching them both with wide eyes, as if guilty of having laughed at their antics.

"Ooh." Harley coos, stepping away from Tony and towards Peter's personal space, like a cat who found something new to play with. 

"Have you replaced me, Mechanic? Is that what this is?" he asks, not looking away from Peter, and Tony watches as Peter drops the hand covering his mouth and squares his shoulders, uncertain of the other boy's motives.

Tony snorts, "Yeah, you caught me, Keener. Meet Ironkid 2.0, now with twice the genius and no unnecessary sass." He shoots back, gets the stink-eye from Harley and a thousand-watt smile from Peter.

"Peter Parker." Peter introduces himself when he deems Harley close enough, sticking out his hand, his posture still wary, but not unfriendly. "Nice to meet you." He adds with a tiny, dimpling smile.

Harley, if Tony's reading him right, swoons.

"Tooony!" he calls, turning away from Peter's outstretched hand with wide eyes to shoot Tony a disbelieving grin. "He's so nice. What's he doin' around you?"

"Shut it, Keener." Tony snipes, eyes trained on the tiny frown that's wormed its way onto Peter's brow and the dejected quirk to his lips as he drops his hand.

Harley, it seems, catches that too. He turns back to the other teen, so quick Tony is almost impressed that he doesn't lose his balance, then catches Peter's retreating hand and brings it to his lips, smacking a big, kiss on the back of it, laughing when Peter's ears go pink.

"Harley Keener." He says with a grin, surrendering Peter's hand which the other boy snatches back to his side. "Tennessee's finest. And the original Stark kid."

Peter's eyes narrow at that, and he shoots Tony a glance before focusing back on Harley.

"Maybe you're the original." He accepts, gracious and unassuming and Tony's grin widens because this will be good.

He watches as Peter does his own mildly ridiculous but unfairly graceful curtsey before he holds up his Stark Industries ID badge. "But at least I'm official."

A throat is cleared again louder garnering the attention of Tony and his unofficial two kids.

Rhodey looks at Harley with a raised brow, "Tennessee's finest, huh?"

Harley looked at Rhodey as if he held all the answers to the universe, "You're Mechanic's Rhodey aren't ya?"

Rhodey nodded but was startled at the all-too-familiar look he saw on the kid's face.

"Since you're the Rhodey, you must have all kinds of blackmail on Mechanic, right?"

That right there was the replica of a fourteen-year-old Tony Stark standing in front of him, eyes full of innocence but words dripping in mischief.

Tony burst out in laughter at the horrified look on Rhodey's face before ruffling Keenster's hair, "I think you broke my Honeybear, kid,"

Harley pushed away Tony's hand, glaring playfully as he fixed his hair.

"Mr Stark," Peter's voice trembled, immediately catching his attention.

"Kid, what's wrong?" Tony asked in worry.

Peter didn't say anything but continued to look behind him.

Tony nodded his head to the kid in thanks and grabbed Harley to place him behind him before his gauntlet appeared across his arm and he aimed it at the person who Underoos was looking at.

People, he corrected.

He aimed the gauntlet unwavering at the other occupants in the room.

Barton, Wilson, Carter, Rogers and Barnes were standing next to each other.

Rogers caught his eye and asked, "Where are we, Tony?"

Tony sure as hell wasn't going to let Rogers call him by his first name as if they were friends.

"I have no idea, Rogers." He spat out the name like it was poison in his mouth and the room visibly tensed when Harley stood in front of Tony.

Harley's smile was all daggers when he met Roger's gaze unwaveringly as he aimed a potato gun at his face, "I'm going to enjoy ending you for what ya did to Mechanic, you self-righteous son of a" 

"Tennessee!" Rhodey barked out in his colonel voice, which did things to Tony, interrupting Harley from continuing.

Harley wavered under Rhodey's tone and glared at Rogers before he went to Rhodey's side.

Before anyone could speak, a voice which Tony hadn't heard for two years called out his name.

A voice he hadn't heard in person since he was 17.

"Antonio?"

Everyone freezes at the voice but Tony is the only one who dares to turn in the direction, his gauntlet lowering and his blood rushing through his ears, where a very blonde-haired woman was speedily walking to him.

Howard Stark felt a dull throbbing in his face.

For a moment, he didn't remember what happened. 

Then it hit him like a truck. 

The crash...the pain...crawling from the car...then...Howard jerked up with a gasp.

 For a moment, his head swum. 

Then his vision righted itself. 

He found himself sitting up in a bed, in an unfamiliar room. 

His wife laying down next to him.

He wondered if it was just a dream.

Then he saw the bruises on Maria's neck.

Leaning down, Howard checked his wife was still breathing. 

She was, to his relief. 

Howard studied the bruising around her neck only confirming what he knew- someone had choked his wife after they bashed his face in.

He looked at the bruising again before he slid his arm around his wife's waist and buried his face into her shoulder to remind himself that they were together.

His mind briefly flashed back to his son, slouched and pouting and safe. 

Tony hadn't been with them and that was the one thing Howard was grateful for.

He'd just about calmed himself down when Maria woke with a startled gasp. 

Her hands clamped around his shoulders as she panicked over who was holding her.

"Who-"

"It's all right," he whispered, calming his wife down, "It's just me." 

Maria Stark's icy blue irises met hazel brown ones and widened at what she saw on his face.

Her hand brushed his cheek, making him flinch at the pain.

"Howard, amore mio. What happened?" she asked in worry. (My love)

"I don't know, darling."

He pulled back and looked back down at her neck, guilt swarming inside of him at being helpless while some bastard had placed their hands on his wife and caused her pain.

Howard noticed how her eyes were focused on the centre of his face.  

As there was bruising on her neck, there was sure to be bruising on his face. 

He pressed his lips together, trying to ignore the pain and rested his forehead against hers to calm himself down so he could find a way out of wherever they were.

"What about Antonio?" Maria asked softly as she opened her eyes again.

"He's fine," Howard whispered, not wanting to break the peace of the moment "He's at home, with the Jarvis family, safe."

Maria let out a sigh of relief before turning around to access the environment.

She let out a small gasp when her eyes met a brunette woman who was walking around with a gun in her hand.

"Margaret?"

Margaret "Peggy" Carter turned around at hearing her first name, her hand tightened around her revolver but relaxed once she saw the familiar blonde hair of Maria Stark.

"Maria," Peggy greeted as she engulfed the blonde woman in a hug.

Peggy went to ask how her friend had come to the strange place but the question died in her throat as she stared at the hand-shaped bruise on her friend's neck.

Angry was an understatement as to how she felt the longer she stared at the bruise.

"Who did this?" Peggy managed to grit out as rage clouded her vision.

"Peg," Howard's voice reached her ears making her turn to him but freeze at the sight of his face.

Howard approached the woman and gently placed his hands on her shoulders, "Peg. I'll tell you what happened later but right now we have to find out who kidnapped us. Do you know how you got here?"

Peggy took a deep breath to calm herself down and shook her head at Howard's question, "I was at home getting ready for my 20th anniversary with Daniel when I found myself in this strange place."

Howard nodded, glad that Peggy didn't come from a near-death experience as they did.

"Sir?"

Howard turned around to see both Ana and Edwin Jarvis standing before him.

"What are you two doing here? You cannot be here."

Yes, he was coming off as rude, but the Jarvises were meant to be with Tony, safe at the Stark Mansion.

And if they were here...

"Where's Antonio?" Maria asked as she seemed to have noticed what it meant for the Jarvises to be here.

Edwin answered, "The young master went to the phone to call you both, to see if you had a safe journey to the Bahamas whilst myself and Ana had set the table for Christmas dinner. When we turned to call the young master, we found ourselves here."

Howard took a deep breath, trying to keep a cool head, "Ok, we need to find out where the hell we are and leave so we can go check on Tony." 

The group of 5 went to leave but were stopped by a voice asking, "Why do you need to check on Toni?"

All heads snapped to a brunette-haired woman who was wearing a man's suit and staring at them in shock when they turned to her.

"Who are you?" Peggy asked as she stared at the unfamiliar woman wearing strange clothes.

The woman raised her eyebrow and stared back, "I believe that's my line."

Howard narrowed his eyes at the woman, trying to see why she seemed so familiar, "And why would it be your line?"

The woman turned her head to stare at Howard almost as if she was dissecting him in her mind, which put Howard on edge.

"It would be my line, Mr Stark, as I am currently standing before people who have died. To simplify, all 5 of you are dead."

Dead silence.

"I beg your pardon," Ana Jarvis chokes out staring at the woman in shock.

The woman tilted her head at Ana as if assessing her which caused Edwin Jarvis to stand in front of his wife protectively.

Peggy aimed her gun at the brunette woman, "Enough games. Who are you?"

This caused the woman to smirk slightly (making Maria narrow her eyes at the familiarity of the smirk) before stepping forward to Peggy Carter, "I apologise if I've unnerved you with my comment about the dead. I can assure you, I am also unnerved. I had just finished my meeting and I turn around and I find myself in this place." 

She looks around to emphasise her point.

Peggy's grip didn't loosen her gun, "That still doesn't explain who you are."

"A Stark," Maria breathes out.

Everyone turns to her in shock, but the woman - Stark woman- smiles at her.

"How are you sure, though?" the Stark woman questions, still looking at Maria intently.

Maria raises her eyebrow and huffs, "You have the Stark smirk. I've seen that smirk so many times through Howard, it's impossible to not see the similarities."

Howard gasps in mock offence causing Maria to shove his shoulder lightly.

Edwin asks to clear the silence, "What is your name, young miss?"

The Stark woman who was staring at Howard and Maria snapped her head to Edwin and smiled softly, "Just call me Penny. I can tell you my full name later once we found a way out of this place."

Penny walked to the Stark couple and held out her hand, revealing a sort of cream tub.

"It'll hide the bruises and it gives off the same effect as makeup but way more efficient and it's cold to resemble an icepack."

Howard tested it first so Maria would be safe if the cream turned out to be poisonous.

When Maria watched the bruises on her husband's face fade away and she told Howard so, he gently placed the cream on her neck.

Once they were done, Howard turned to Penny to ask how she was related to them when her head snapped up to the left as if hearing something.

"Miss Penny?" Edwin asked in concern.

"We're not alone." was all she said before she started walking forward, not checking to see if the rest followed.

Maria was the first to follow Penny and Howard quickly followed after her.

The Jarvises snapped out of their stupor and followed the Starks while Peggy stayed behind to see if there was anyone behind them, and when she found no one, she followed as well.

Penny stopped once she saw the scene in front of her.

A man was wearing her mother's gauntlet and was standing next to her Uncle Rhodes who was in leg braces, a teenage version of Harley, a very familiar brunette kid and the man was pointing the gauntlet at Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter, James Barnes, Clint Bartin and an unfamiliar man.

"Antonio," Maria breathed out in relief as she stared at the man causing Penny to look at Maria in confusion.

Who the hell was Antonio?

But before she could ask, the blonde woman speedily walked, which was very impressive since she was in heels, to the Antonio guy.

Maria reached her son and immediately grabbed him into a hug, relieved that even if her son wasn't at home, he was with her.

She let go and placed her hands on his cheeks and worried over him once she saw the tears in his eyes, "Mio caro ragazzo, what's the matter?" (My dear boy.)

Tony let out a ragged exhale as he looked down at the worried face of his mother.

His mother was standing in front of him, wearing the same clothes she had the last time he saw her.

He wanted to demand what the hell was going on.

He wanted to ask her who the hell she was because he watched as his mother was choked to death.

He wanted to force the truth out of her.

But what truth?

He felt himself crumple as he stared into the same blue eyes, he yearned to see just one more time.

There was no other truth except for the fact - the woman standing in front of him was his mother.

Tony tried to smile at her but all it caused was tears to fall down his face as he breathed out, "Mama." and grabbed her into a hug.

Maria only held her son as he broke down in her arms and even when they slid to the floor.

"Peggy," Steve whispered out as he stared at his first love.

Peggy froze at seeing Steve smiling at her and when he took a step forward, she stepped back.

Ignoring the look of hurt on his face, she bluntly stated, "It's lovely to see you again Steve, it is, but I have a husband, who I love very dearly, and I'm meant to be celebrating my 20th anniversary tonight and I don't want to compromise my marriage."

"Peg," Steve stepped forward, a heartbroken expression on his face.

But an unfamiliar woman blocked his view of Peggy and glared at him, "Step back. She already told you she's got a husband who she loves and you're causing her to be uncomfortable when you keep moving forward."

Ana Jarvis took Peggy from her and held her out of Steve's eye view while she whispered comforts into her friend's ear to calm her down.

Sam Wilson dragged Steve back while he eyed the unfamiliar girl that glared at Steve with enough hatred to bury Steve.

Tony released his mother out of his hug and hurriedly went to wipe the tears away from his face.

Maria went to say something when Howard walked forward making Tony's eyes widen.

Howard went to ask if his son was ok when Tony attacked him into a hug causing him to freeze.

"I'm sorry," Tony whispered into his shoulder making Howard stiffen even more before he relaxed and reciprocated the hug and whispered back, "It's ok, Anthony."

Maria smiled at the father-son duo.

Penny's head snapped up again causing Edwin to look at her in concern, "Miss Penny?"

She turned her body to the left, holding a gun no one saw her have before, "Three people are coming from this direction. One female. Two males."

"How do you know that?" Rhodey asked the woman who he had never seen before.

She looked hurt for some reason when she turned to him but before he could question it, he heard voices coming from the dark.

And out came two guys wearing some weird cosplay for wizard con and a woman in a nurse outfit.

The unfamiliar woman lowered her gun at the trio that had arrived, letting Peter know that they weren't a threat.

But how did she know that they were coming before he did?

"Stark," The tall man with a goatee to rival Tony Stark's called, making 4 people turn his way.

Tony, who let go of his father, turned to look at a man who he thought was dead, "Strange? What the hell are you doing here?"

"How do you know Tony Stark?" The short Asian man and the brunette nurse asked simultaneously.

"We're acquaintances," Stephen replied in a final tone to not ask.

Tony raised his brow at the label and smirked, "Is that what you're calling all the people you fu-"

"OK!," Stephen interrupted with a face covered in a red flush that reached his ears, "We need to find out who took us from our timelines,"

"Well, I hope you won't be blaming me, Scrumptious Supreme," A voice called teasingly.

Everyone turned to see Wanda Maximoff, Vision and a woman in a lot of purple clothes.

Stephen looked ready to argue but Vision intervened, "I can confirm Dr Strange that it wasn't Ms Harkness as I arrived with her,"

This news seemed to aggravate Stephen but he shifted his gaze from the purple witch to the red witch and raised his brow at her.

At his look, an offended look overtook her face as she asked him in return, "I and Vis were together when something brought us here. Why would I waste my time to bring myself to a room full of people?"

Before Stephen could reply, Agatha clasped her hands in merriment and with an "Oh, Stephen!" went to hug the man, mostly because she knew how much he would hate it.

After one solid minute of hugging, the most powerful Sorcerer on Earth cleared his throat. "Ms Harkness." He simply said. 

Agatha smiled and let him go before narrowing her eyes at him, "What's this I hear about you fucking Tony Stark before you became a sorcerer?"

Rhodey wheezed at the look on Strange's face while everyone from the past looked scandalous at the crass language the woman used.

"I knew you had a thing with Strange, boss!" a voice called.

"Happy!" Tony exclaimed as he hugged his bodyguard/friend.

When he let go, Happy looked at him with a deadpan expression, "Hugging me won't stop me from now having clarification of your thing with Stephen Strange."

Tony pouted at the man and asked exasperatedly, "Why does everyone want to know about what I and Stephen had?"

"It makes good news for the press, Mr Stark."

The new voice made everyone turn to see a man who was suspected to be blind due to the walking stick and red glasses and a buff man glaring at everyone menacingly.

"Mr Murdock. What are you doing here?" Tony asked incredulously, at seeing the man.

"I am unaware of the circumstance of how I got here Mr Stark as I couldn't see what was going on." Matt deadpanned to the billionaire causing the buff man to smirk a little.

"Tony!" a blonde woman exclaimed in relief as she grabbed the billionaire into a hug before looking at him, "Thank god you're here. Are you ok?"

Tony took the blonde woman's hands and placed them on his chest, "I'm ok Pepper. I promise. Are you ok?"

The exchange caused Maria to grin uncontrollably as she looked at her son with the woman she presumed to be his partner.

"I'm fine, Tony. I came with Dr Foster and her intern, Dr Lewis."

While Tony talked to Dr Foster and Lewis, Rogers attempted to talk to Pepper and Rhodey.

"Rhodey, Pepper," Rogers greeted them with a smile.

"That's Miss. Potts to you Mr Rogers," Pepper's sharp tone cut him off. "And Colonel Rhodes."

Rhodey only stared stonily at the man. 

The audacity to call them by such familiar names, names Tony had given them.

Rogers seemed startled at the clear hostility and then his patented 'I'm Captain America and you've disappointed me' look came into play.

It rolled right off Pepper who was staring at him with eyes sharp as glass.

"We are not friends Mr Rogers." Her professional, cold attitude left them all a bit off-kilter. Barnes hunched his shoulders like he was trying to make himself smaller.

Dr Foster walked up to Tony and accepted the handshake he gave, "Dr Foster, it's wonderful to finally meet you. Thor bragged about how you were up to win a Nobel Prize, was it?"

Dr Foster blushed at the recognition, but before she replied Dr Lewis came into the conversation and grabbed her friend into a hug with one arm, "That's our Janey. Breaking the heart of a fertility god after he boosted her popularity."

Janey hissed, "I didn't break his heart, Darcy. I just couldn't deal with him leaving for years with no contact."

Darcy shrugged, "Eh, his loss. You're a great catch."

"Indeed it was my brother's loss to lose an incredible woman such as yourself, Lady Jane."

"Loki!" Clint hissed as he advanced to the Trickster who had arrived but Sam held him back once he saw Thor step in front of his brother.

"Friend Barton and Shield Brothers, don't worry! Loki is good now!" said Thor with the biggest grin. "He helped us save Asgard." Thor nudged Banner lightly, "Go on, tell them."

"Um, yeah. He did help us save Asgard."

"You were on another planet this entire time?" asked Peter, shocked.

Bruce looked sheepish. "Uh, yeah."

"Wait Loki, as in the Norse God of Mischief? That Loki? And what do you mean by 'another planet'? Has space travel been invented?" Howard asked as he turned to look closely at the newly arrived trio.

One was wearing the same clothes as his son and the other two wore garments that the Viking warriors would wear.

Before anyone could answer Howard's questions, an angry voice barked "STARK!" which caused 4 heads to turn and approach Nick Fury, however this time, Peter noticed how the unfamiliar woman would respond to Stark.

"Howard?" Fury downright gaped at the once-dead man.

Howard stared at Nick Fury with narrowed eyes, "You have better be calling me, Fury and not Anthony."

When Fury didn't answer, Howard swore to make everyone turn to him in shock, "Dammit, Fury. I gave you one job. Leave Anthony out of SHIELD business."

"Nicholas Joseph Fury," Came from an angry Peggy Carter as she marched to the now pale spy.

"Joseph?" Tony snickered but was silenced by a look from his godmother, and only when she turned around to face Fury did he silently laugh at the scene in front of him.

If someone told him that his father and godmother would be scolding and shouting at Fury, he would've sent them to the mental institute instantly.

"Dr Stark, do you have any idea what's going on?" Maria Hill asked as she stood by Tony's side.

"Not a clue, Director Hill. Not a clue." was the reply she got.

Maria didn't like Tony Stark. 

She'd never liked Tony Stark. 

But she'd agreed to take the job under him so that she could continue to protect the now vulnerable agents of SHIELD. 

So she'll put up with him for the sake of her agents.

She'll put up with him because Fury told her to.

She'll put up with him through the Data Dump aftermath, through Ultron, through the Civil War.

At some point, she stopped just 'putting up' with him.

Especially when it came to the 'Civil War' as the media had dubbed it.

Maria wasn't a squeamish person. 

But she never wanted to see blood and snow mixed ever again.

She was sitting in the waiting room outside of the medical wing, staring at her bloodstained hands.

She was a SHIELD agent, she'd seen her fair share of blood and death in her time. 

It shouldn't bother her.

But it was.

Because this wasn't just any blood. It was Tony's.

That infuriating man who gathered all the burned SHIELD agents up and took care of them, who treated them no differently than he did his regular employees.

That man who took the Avengers' sneers and derision with a tired smile and still gave them everything they demanded.

She'd seen him in Vision's arms, bleeding out and cold. 

The only reason he hadn't been dead was that the suit had been keeping pressure on his injuries.

The list went on and on, circling in her head.

Her hands were nearly painted with his blood but she couldn't bring herself to wash them clean yet.

Her trained mind kept going over everything she knew. 

The Winter Soldier's arm had been lying a distance away. 

Captain America's shield had been dropped near the door.

The damage to the suit's chest plate was done by that same shield.

Tony had been left slumped against the wall, helmet off in a dead suit, slowly drowning in his blood as it filled up his lungs.

And that video...

She'd watched it on the trip to the hospital and her mind was rapidly putting together the pieces to a horrifying picture.

She was waiting for the final piece though, and Friday was the one to give it.

"I've recovered the footage from the bunker, Miss Hill," the AI informed her.

There was an edge of anger in her Irish voice that Maria hadn't heard before. 

It didn't bode well.

Maria lifted her tablet though, studiously ignoring the blood still coating her fingers from when she'd desperately tried to apply pressure to gushing wounds when she rushed over to Tony.

She watched the footage. 

She kept her expression carefully neutral as it was revealed that Rogers had been using Tony this entire time, hiding the truth about his parent's deaths.

She watched Rogers beat a grieving man down and almost kill him before leaving him to die a slow and painful death.

She watched the video three times before she was interrupted by a red-eyed Pepper Potts practically melting the tablet from Maria's grip.

"We need to show the world," Was all Maria could say when Pepper shook her head.

"We need to wait for Tony to wake up before planning on how to destroy the Rogues."

And when he did wake up, he told them no.

Herself, Rhodey, Pepper, and even Helen Cho tried to persuade them but all Tony asked them was to drop him off at the cemetery.

He needed to speak to some people.

And the conversation dropped instantly as the room plunged into silence.

No one brought it up again, respecting Tony's choice.

They left the Rouges alone and didn't try to find them.

They weren't worth the time or effort.

She glared at the ones who were standing across the room from them.

"Peg?" 

Peggy stopped berating Nicholas Fury for involving her godson in SHIELD when she heard her husband's voice.

She turns around and there he is.

His face broke out into a large grin when he made eye contact.

Without thinking it through, she ran over to him, at full speed, arms wide open for an embrace. 

She wasn't prepared for how enthusiastically Daniel would return it–he not only caught her, he grabbed her, lifted her, and spun her around three times like she was an actual doll.

Peggy didn't realize she was laughing until he stopped spinning her. 

He didn't set her down right away. 

Daniel held her, arms wound tightly around her body, looking breathless as he stared up into her eyes. 

"Ah-hem."

Penny glared at Barton who cleared his throat, "How dare you break up such a beautiful moment! Can you not see how relieved the pair are to see that their marriage partner is safe?"

Sure Penny was internally crying at how she no longer had a man who would hold her as if she was the reason he could breathe again, but there was no way she was going to allow this interruption.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" Penny raised an eyebrow as she stared down at the man.

Unnerved by the woman, Clint quickly answered, "My throat was dry. I wasn't purposefully trying to break up their reunion."

Penny narrowed her eyes at him but let it slide.

She wanted to talk to Peggy and Daniel when Clint asked, "Who even are you?" which caused everyone, except the people she arrived, with to stare at her in curiosity as if they just realised she was there.

Penny went to answer when a familiar voice, cried out in relief, "Peter!"

The brunette teen who was standing next to Antonio turned to the woman and accepted the hug she gave.

May let go of her nephew and held onto him, "Are you ok? Are you injured or-"

She was cut off when Peter told her, "I'm fine, Aunt May. I arrived with Mr Stark."

May nodded at Peter before she turned her head to look at Tony, "It's good to see you again, Mr Stark."

Tony smiled at the brunette, "Always a pleasure, May."

May smiled back before she whispered to Peter, "Is this a Peter-tingle situation?"

Peter blushed harshly as he hissed back to his aunt, "It's not a tingle, Aunt May."

Happy snorted, "It is a tingle, kid."

"What's a tingle?" Harley asked as he stared at Peter in suspicion,

"Nothing," Peter said but one look from Harley and he told a half-lie, "It's what we call a situation where something bad is going to happen."

Harley narrowed his eyes at Peter before his attention was caught by his idol and he had to take a deep breath to stop himself from squealing.

The Hope Van Dyne was walking towards him.

Before he could introduce himself to her, her dad shouted, "Stark!" 

Again, 4 heads snapped to face Hank Pym but this caught Hank off guard as he stared back in shock.

Hope stifled her smile at the shocked face of her dad.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hank hissed once he recollected his bearings.

Howard raised his eyebrow at his old partner, "The meaning of what, Hank?"

Hank gestured wildly at Howard, "You! How are you even here?"

Howard went to make a smart-ass remark but was cut off by a young voice saying, "Wait, is that Tony Stark?!"

Everyone turned to see a blonde and a redhead step out of the shadows.

"Natalia." Tony greeted curtly.

"Tony," was the reply she gave.

"I thought you were all buddy-buddy with Tony Stark."

Rhodey interrupted in a cold tone before anyone else could talk, "Well she's not." before turning to the unfamiliar brunette woman, "And now, who the hell are you?"

Everyone turned to look at the woman Rhodey was looking at.

The woman smirked at Rhodey before looking around at everyone before her eyes landed back on Rhodey's, "If I told you, you might not believe me."

Rhodey scoffed, "Lady, my best friend is Iron Man, I fly in a metal suit, my other best friend can breathe fire, and Alien gods exist. I think we are way past what's real and not real."

The woman frowns in agreement. 

A.N. IDK how to describe it. It's that face people make when they're impressed and they frown or something.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you. My name is  Penelope 'Penny' Ana Strange-Stark and I'm the daughter of Antonia Ella Strange nee Stark AKA Iron Queen and Dr Stephen Strange AKA the Sorcerer Supreme. And from my time in this place, I've gathered that I'm in a different universe seeing as Antonia is Antonio." 

Penny met her mother's male version eyes unflinching as he narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion, "And how are we meant to believe that? For all we know, you could be the reason we're in this place."

Tony watched Penny with unwavering suspicion.

"I can give you only two things that can make you believe me." was all Penny said before she rolled up her arm to show an arm brace and tapped it, "Hey, lil sis. Mind backing me up here?"

A female Irish accent came from the arm brace, "My name is FRIDAY, Female Replacement Intelligent Digital Assistant Youth. I am a program created by Antonia Ella Strange nee Stark on date 13th March 2010."

Tony raised his eyebrows in shock before asking, "If that is FRIDAY, then you wouldn't mind her meeting my FRIDAY?"

"Not at all," Penny said.

Tony's FRIDAY slithered into the code of another FRIDAY.

This other FRIDAY showed her some memories of her creator, Toni Stark, and FRIDAY exchanged her memories of her creator, Tony Stark.

Tony waited until FRIDAY came back to determine if the woman was telling the truth.

Once she came back, he asked her, "So, what's the verdict, baby girl?"

"It seems that Miss Penelope is indeed telling the truth."

That causes Tony to look at the bru- Penelope in a scrutinising way for a while before he asked "What was the second thing?"

Penny turned her head to the brunette teen -Peter- and spoke to Tony without taking her eyes off of the boy, "I and Peter have a problem with spiders."

Peter's eyes widened at the implication of her statement whereas Tony broke out into a smile, "Well it's safe to say that my genes won out of me and Strange."

This caused Penny to loosen the tension in her shoulders and smile back, "Well, between you and me, Stark genes remain supreme."

Tony chuckled before walking towards Penny, "I can't argue with that logic. Who said that?"

"Mom."

"A very wise woman indeed."

A throat being cleared made Tony and Penny turn their head to Stephen, "I can assure you Stark, in whatever universe in which we do have a child, my genes will overcome yours. For example, Penelope's height came from my side of the family."

Tony gasped out loud in offence and pointed his finger at Stephen, "You take that back,"

Stephen crossed his arms and looked at Tony with innocence, "I can't take back the truth."

Tony narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him and began to walk towards him while he talked, "You absolute-"

"AHEM!" interrupted a voice.

Everyone snapped their heads to a brunette teenage girl, who had her arms crossed as she stared at them.

Penny tilted her head, wondering where she had seen that pose before-

Eyes widened, Penny snapped her fingers and pointed at the teen, "Future sibling of mine, I'm assuming because that pose is full on mom."

The girl beamed at Penny, "You worked it out! I'm Morgan, your future sister and I'm also a version of Tony Stark's daughter."

Tony looked shocked at the girl before looking at Pepper who was equally surprised and then looked back at the girl, "I get a daughter?" he managed to choke out.

Morgan nods her head before a sombre expression comes on her face.

"I came here because of what's going to happen in the future."

This caused everyone in the room to tense but Penny is the only one to ask, "What happens?"

Morgan looks at Penny and speaks to her but her words are directed to everyone in the room, "The threat that was in the wormhole? The threat Toni/y Stark had saw and had been trying to prepare for? It comes, and they weren't prepared."

Tony let out a sharp exhale as he stared at the girl- his future daughter, "I was right." his voice barely above a whisper.

"Stark," Fury began but Tony cut him off.

"No. Do not 'Stark' me. I was right. I warned you, Nick. I did. I told you what I saw on the other side of that wormhole. I did everything to try and convince you but you didn't listen." Tony turned to look at the Rogues who had turned pale at the news, "None of you listened. And because of that, we were unprepared for the threat."

Tony turned back to Morgan and asked, "Who was the threat?"

"His name is Thanos. He's a plague. He invades planets. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population. He sent Loki. The attack on New York? That was him."

Everyone turned to Loki who refused to meet their gaze whereas Tony said, "I knew it," making Loki turn to him.

"You knew exactly what, Anthony?" he asked, staring into the man.

Tony met his gaze unflinching and replied, "I got a good close-up of your eyes when you choked me and they were blue. But then Hulk throws you like a toy and when I come back, your eyes were green. I wanted to ask you questions but Thor had taken you away before I had the time."

Loki said nothing for a while, still staring at the man until he nodded his head at Anthony and turned back to Anthony's future heir.

Morgan takes her eyes off Penny to look at Tony, "He knows your name."

That single sentence knocked the air out of him as he had to grab onto Rhodey to steady himself.

"What do you mean?" Pepper asks, shaken by the information but her voice remained steady.

Morgan looked green as she answered, "In a lot of the timelines, Thanos had sought to court the Goddess of Death AKA Loki and Thor's older sister." The brothers looked murderous at the thought, "But then Tony Stark, male, female or non-binary would carry that missile through the portal and slay Thanos' army in a single blow which lead to his fixation on you."

Gagging. 

Tony was internally gagging. 

"Can we move on to how Thanos is a threat?" And Penny has never been more grateful for Steve Rogers.

Morgan nodded as she moved on, "Thanos's home planet, Titan, was like most planets. Too many mouths, and not enough food to go around. And when they faced extinction, he offered a solution."

Stephen glared. "Genocide."

"They called him a madman. And what he predicted came to pass." 

"So he believes himself to be a prophet," drawled Howard Stark.

Morgan shook her head, "He's gotten it into his head that he's a survivor."

"Who wants to murder trillions." Penny countered.

"And in his words 'save trillions' because with all six stones, he could simply snap his fingers, and they would all cease to exist. He calls it... mercy." Morgan shuddered.

This alien was truly insane, Peggy thought before asking, "And then what?" 

Morgan smiled bitterly, "And then he finally rests and watches the sunrise on a grateful universe. In his words, 'The hardest choices require the strongest wills."

A heavy silence in which everyone considered her words and the weight they represented. 

Tony asks after a few moments of thinking, "Why bring us and your sister here then?"

Morgan waved her hand and the room lit up to represent a movie theatre.

"I brought you here to watch the life of my family, AKA the Supreme family because we are the only universe so far in which a version of Tony Stark wins the fight."

"That's kinda creepy, Morgana," Penny stated as she looked at her future little sister with a raised eyebrow.

"It's the only choice we have," Morgan said to Penny before telling everyone to get to their seats.

Once the room was divided in half, by the teams chosen after Civil War, the screen lit up and the words IRON QUEEN was displayed in gold.

A.N. I had a thought about how Penny would react to Civil War and now I'm crying.

And M83 Solitude (slowed) has to be the best thing I've ever listened to.

It's the best realisation audio ever.

Also in Penny's universe, I'm going to go crazy with all the characters.