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Siberia
Wakanda Air Space
Friday 29th July 2016
"I'd say this was quite a successful trip." Pepper leaned back in the passenger seat situated to the side of Tony's pilot chair in the QuinJet as he lifted them off from Wakanda. Their weeklong trip was over and they both felt satisfied with how it went and what the results were.
Tony leaned back, switching the controls to autopilot. "It was. I think we've both achieved our goals in coming here."
"I wasn't expecting them to offer a trade deal with Stark Industries though," mused Pepper.
"But I think they are intrigued by combining their technology with yours. It is the most sensible way for them to come out into the world by integrating themselves with us and slowly marketing their products. Our research and development division could learn a lot from them."
"What better way to step out into the world than by partnering with us?" grinned Tony.
"No… King T'Chaka has made a wise choice. I could have told him about the threat from up there." He pointed to the sky, meaning Thanos. "But I felt worrying them now would be folly. We need to build trust before I even tell them anything about what is coming."
Pepper frowned. "You never told me what is coming. What you fought before… what killed you."
Tony paused, his shoulders slumping. He'd been afraid of Pepper asking this, of wanting to know more about the threat he and Natasha were seeking to stop.
He wrestled with the idea of telling her, of giving her more to worry about, but if Pepper was going to fight beside them, she needed to know, even if Thanos wasn't going to appear on their radar for another two years.
"I know you want to protect me, Tony, but I'm here to help. Whatever is coming, I need to know so I can be prepared to face it when it arrives," reasoned Pepper quietly, mirroring Tony's own thoughts.
"I know…" murmured Tony.
He lifted his chin and looked straight at her. "His name is Thanos. He sent the army to New York… The one I threw a nuke at… In his own eyes, he wants to save the universe… but in doing so, he wants to end half of all life."
Pepper's eyes rose, her hair falling about her shoulders.
"He's a madman. There are these six stones scattered across the universe which he needs to complete his plan. Two of them are on Earth."
"That's coincidence…" mentioned Pepper, "for two of the six to be here."
"I know. The yellow stone in Vision's head? That is one of them. Thanos killed him to get it. Shuri has agreed to help me with a project to remove it safely so Vision doesn't have to die. Wanda gained her powers from experiments on the Mind Stone. She has the power to destroy it. The other stone is with a man called Stephen Strange. Gaining access to him will be difficult. Nat and I have decided to focus on the others first. Hopefully, by the time Thanos arrives, we will have obtained most if not all of the stones and destroyed them, thereby preventing Thanos from completing his plan. But therein lays the problem."
Pepper could guess. "If he finds out the stones have been destroyed he'll attack Earth in revenge."
Tony nodded. "He will. Either way, Nat and I will still have to face him."
Pepper laid a hand gently on Tony's shoulder. "You won't be alone. I'll be there too."
Tony smiled sadly. He didn't want Pepper anywhere near Thanos but she'd faced him before and held her own. She could do it again, only this time with a lot more preparation.
"When do you plan to remove the stone from Vision?"
"As soon as possible. I need to talk to Vision and Wanda. They deserve to know and make a choice if they want to do it. Shuri is brilliant but there are always risks to every experiment. The quicker we destroy one of the stones, the happier I'll feel knowing we are one step closer to stopping him for good."
"But if you destroy one of them, haven't you won already?"
"I'd rather not take the risk," explained Tony quietly.
"Those stones are too powerful to be left out in the universe. If they're gone no one will be able to find them and use them against others again, will they? It's better to remove the threat than leave a small semblance of it behind." They had considered destroying just one stone but wasn't it better to take them all out of the equation completely?
"The next few years are going to be tough. We've got to find the rest before Thanos realizes what we're doing. We had allies from the stars before. Nat is going to try to bring one of them in soon. She's very powerful. I think you'll like her. We'll need them if we're going to retrieve the other stones."
There was one stone Tony was concerned about acquiring. And that was the Tesseract, the one which contained the space stone.
It was currently held on Asgard but they had no way of contacting Thor or reaching the place itself.
There was a very high chance if Thanos was going to retrieve at least one stone, it would be that one unless they could do something to gain Thor's attention.
Currently, he didn't have any ideas.
For now, the space stone could wait.
Pepper whispered quietly breaking the silence that had fallen between them. "That's what killed you, wasn't it? You used the stones, didn't you?"
Tony swallowed the lump in his throat before he answered. "I did."
Pepper stood from her chair and walked over to Tony, kneeling down and taking his hands in hers. "Promise me you won't use them."
Tony's lips twitched. He sighed. "I can't promise that. If it comes to it and there is no other option… I'll have to, Pep, and I do not want to leave you again but it is a risk we both will have to take. I'm sorry I can't promise you this… I didn't intend to do it last time. It was either do something incredibly stupid and heroic and sacrifice myself or let everyone in the entire universe die."
Pepper squeezed his hands gently. "I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry."
"You do not need to apologize, Pep," swallowed Tony quietly, his right hand gently stroking her cheek. "I want to promise you I'll come home, but I can't. I'm grateful you want to be a part of this, no matter how dangerous it will be."
Pepper leaned into his warm embrace as she pulled herself up beside him, comforting him. "I know you cannot promise me anything but I know you'll make it back. I believe you will."
But Tony couldn't be so sure himself.
****
Power stones boiiii🍻🍻