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Hospital, Earth-66
Morning
Tony was in the waiting room, his tired eyes giving way to the fact that he had been up all night. But he showed no signs of going to sleep or moving his eyes from the door. The doctor came out and Tony jumped to his feet.
"How are they?" Tony barked as he stormed over to the doctor.
"Mr. Hogan has a minor concussion, some broke ribs, and some bruising. But he will make a full recovery," the doctor said and a knot in Tony's stomach loosened sight.
But still-
"And Pepper?" Tony asked desperately.
"Mr. Potts suffered a hard hit to the head, as well as a few broken bones. She had some internal bleeding as well. One of her fractured bones ended up piercing her lung. We did everything we could, but Ms. Potts seized during surgery and we were unable to revive her. I'm very sorry Mr. Stark, but she's gone," The doctor said remorsefully.
Tony stumbled away towards a wall. He put his hand on it, as if using it to support him, before he slid down to the floor, his back against the wall. Tony stared straight ahead, obvious to the doctor calling his name. The only that mattered in this moment was that Pepper was dead.
Barry and Wanda's apartment, Earth-1
Late morning
"Okay kid, let's do this," Clint said as he took a deep breath.
"You sure we can handle this?" Barry asked, looking at the item in the center of the room with uncertainty and a little fear.
"We're Avengers. We've fought aliens, terrorists, and murder bots for crying out loud! I think we can put together a crib," Clint said as he walked over to the pieces.
"That's what you said about the basinet," Barry said, shuttering.
"That was not a basinet, that was a demon from hell that came to torture us," Clint said as he looked at the instructions. "You're a scientist, see if you can figure this out. Because I can't make any sense of this crap."
Barry sighed before walking over to Clint and taking the instructions. It was going to be a long day.
Cisco's apartment
Same time
You lose Barry!
With a shaky breath, Cisco took of his Vibe glasses. Still the same, he thought grimly as he put them down. Cisco walked over to a board in the room, which was filled with a lot of pictures and notes. It had pictures of Barry, Wanda, the Avengers, and the words 'Savitar gets out' at the top. The irony that this resembled Barry's board of evidence on his mother's murder was not lost on him.
"I won't let it happen…I promise," Cisco said as he gazed up at Barry's picture.
Avengers' compound, Earth-66
Afternoon
"Tony, maybe you should take a break," Rhodey suggested, worried for his friend.
"I'll take a break when the jackass who murdered Pepper is dead," Tony said roughly, not looking up from his work.
Rhodey would have sighed if he wasn't so worried for his friend. Since coming back from the hospital, Tony had done nothing but scan the traffic cam footage of that night, determined to get an ID on the man who had attacked Pepper and Happy. While Rhodey could understand Tony's grief, he was worried about Tony's mental state.
Not only that, but whoever attacked Pepper and Happy had been using weapons that were far beyond military grade. From the witness statements and the police report, it sounded like something Hydra would use. Rhodey just hoped Tony knew what he was doing.
Star Labs
Same time
Wally groaned as he landed on the floor of the speed lab, hard. Steve offered him a hand up and Wally accepted it.
"Damn, I still can't get you," Wally grumbled and Steve smiled.
"Speed isn't everything, as you've learned," Steve said as he helped Wally to his feet. "You've come very far in the last few months. You should be proud Wally."
"Will I ever be able to beat you guys?" Wally asked.
"Don't judge yourself by using us as a standard. We all grow at our own paces. Nat, Clint, and I didn't start off as we are now. It took a long time for us to get to this point. Don't rush yourself," Steve patted Wally on the shoulder before walking out of the Speed Lab.
Barry and Wanda's apartment
Same time
"Wow, you two actually put it together this time," Natasha noted as she and Laura inspected the crib.
"Yee of little faith," Clint quipped.
"I think we can handle building a crib," Barry said sounding offended.
"You can understand our doubts, considering the basinet," Laura said as she and Natasha walked out.
"That was not a basinet! That was a demon from hell!" Clint called after them before turning to Barry. "We do not tell them we hired a guy to build this."
Barry nodded as he and Clint followed the women out into the kitchen. Wanda was in there, being four months pregnant not stopping her from making dinner, although she allowed Lila and Cooper to help her. A sense of contentment washed over Barry as it dawned on him that this was what true happiness felt like.
Avengers' compound, Earth-66
Late afternoon
While Tony was distracted with his work, Rhodey went digging around in his desk. Rhodey didn't want to do this, but in his mental state, Tony clearly couldn't be trusted to think rationally. Plus, he wasn't back to 100% yet, which left only Tony and Vision, maybe this Spider-guy to, to take on whoever killed Pepper and who he was working for. Which left one option.
Rhodey opened a drawer and saw the device that had been with the letter and phone Steve had sent Tony in the package.
Star Labs, Earth-1
Shortly after
Steve was in his quarters at Star Labs that he had been living in since Barry and Wanda had moved into their apartment when he heard a strange noise. Steve looked over to the makeshift nightstand by his cot, where Cisco's inter-dimensional extrapolator was. It was flashing as it vibrated. Steve slowly walked over to it, picking it up.
"Tony?" Steve answered hesitantly, not wanting to expose T'Challa in case it was him calling.
"No Steve, it's me," Rhodey said and Steve was stunned to hear from him. "Although I'm calling about Tony."
"What's going on?" Steve inquired and he heard Rhodey sigh.
"Its bad Cap. Tony won't admit it, but he needs your help," Rhodey told him.
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If you enjoy please support me on my patreon Future 80+ chapters at patreon.com/Darkphoenix11
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