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...yeah I don't have any vibranium either, let's remember.

[Important engineering lesson -- gotta work with what you have. Or invent something new, but that's the advanced course.]

Why don't we try to look at something better than pressurized?

Right, sorry. [He wags a pen, where'd he get a pen.] Point.

Something better than pressurized. There's something better than pressurized?

[And so, the brave young buck and older bundle of anxiety and beard have started a brave new trek for better spider suits. And here you thought this was gonna be just mending a sleeve, huh? This is gonna be a lot of used paper (don't even judge him for writing things down, he focuses better on paper).

... Either way, he's passed out at a desk covered in schematics in a few hours.]

Brilliant. You probably won't regret it!

[Steve catches the look, meeting Tony's eyes with something alert and familiar, like he's expecting that sort of look out of him. It's instinctive for him to wait for Tony Stark to give him subtle, silent cues. He's not even sure Tony always realizes he does it, but Steve catches them. He doesn't blink. Ross is an obstacle. He's used to jumping over those.

What he isn't ready for is the news of SHIELD coming down. It's not entirely a shock -- It's SHIELD, and the risk is always there. But this is his first time hearing it. He tenses slightly.]

The Avengers don't belong to SHIELD. I understand that you wanted to help, Tony. You did what you could. But the Avengers aren't the government's task force. And they shouldn't be. Not when there are people who want to throw that on the table to begin with. Pretty soon, they realize they've got their pet superheroes that they can lead around or else and the or else gets tighter. What did they tell you? That you'd all get free movement eventually? That you weren't the threats, but they still wanted you to stay close?

[And he sounds irritated again. Restless. But he doesn't raise his voice.]

It's not your fault.

It's not that simple.

[But Tony just shakes his head slightly. He's so tired of this argument, and it's abundantly clear that it's never something they're going to agree on. Though every time Steve brings something up it sounds a lot worse than anything the Accords themselves have suggested. Which sort of makes him wonder if that's Steve's own worst case scenario's talking or...what?

Who knows. He rolls his shoulders a little, then makes himself drop them down.]

You realize SHIELD started us, right? The Avengers Initiative. And I wasn't even supposed to be part of it.

Sometimes it has to be.

[Of course it's not simple, he wants to say. It never is. But they have to draw a line somewhere or they'll always be driven back, put in their boxes and locked into things they don't believe in. He does look openly confused when Tony keeps going.]

Avengers Initiative?

[There's no recognition as he echoes that back.]

Who came up with that one?

[One of Tony's eyebrows lifts slightly at the blank look he's getting. So apparently this is one of those things that didn't go quite the same. Interesting.]

I don't know, Fury? Whoever was in charge of fancy project names? It was in place before I ever got involved. Apparently.

[Lord only knew what Fury had been intending to do with it.]

[Yeah, things are definitely different. Steve is realizing just how different too, with the way Tony treats the Avengers like someone else's project.]

That doesn't make sense. I couldn't imagine the Avengers existing without you. And with or without SHIELD, they still belong to us first.

[Tony pauses like he's not entirely sure what to make of that, then shakes his head a little.]

There is no SHIELD anymore, technically, so moot point now. It's just...different, for us, I guess. Different worlds.

[Imagine that. There's a certain amount of wryness to his tone, but he is slowly coming to realize just how different they really are.]

Umm. Mr. Stark?

[It's admittedly not very confident, but he figures he'd been sitting on this long enough. He told Big Pete he'd talk to Tony about it weeks ago, and even if he's unsettled by what he's heard so far... He needs to listen and actually get it over with.]

If you have a sec... Whenever you do...

What exactly do you know about a, uh — a Thanos?

[He just gets it out there. No room for cold feet now.]

[...oh god. Tony closes his eyes for a moment before he can make himself respond.]

You should probably come over.

[This is not a discussion to have over the phone.]

[He breathes in, breathes out, and suddenly he feels like his stomach is dropping through the moon and into outer space. Not being able to talk about it like this is a bad sign. But he knew it'd probably be bad.]

Y—

Yeah. Yeah, I'll be over in a few minutes. I'll be there.

[He's got his hero costume on under his clothes, so the transition is easy on the communal housing rooftops — and he can get over there in 1/8th the time, instead of having to take any long ways as Peter Parker, Normal Kid. Soon a spiderling is swinging over and landing in a window sill he frequents, knocking hesitantly.]

Mister Stark, I heard you were around and you might be willing to take a look at a bit of tech I confiscated for me.

[The knock on the window makes him startle, though it probably shouldn't, and Tony turns to give him an unimpressed look and point towards the door. Trying not to encourage too many bad behaviors. Or something.

He's feeling a little jittery as he waits for Peter to make his way inside, swinging absently back and forth in his chair.]

Where did you hear about that?

[It's a slightly abrupt start to the conversation, but.]

Probably. Who are you and what kind of tech are we talking?

[The kid will at least not roll his eyes when he goes to take the door. To be honest, he doesn't have it in him to, anyway — and when he comes in and pulls his mask off, there's a clear and present anxiousness in his demeanor, in his face. He trusts Tony explicitly, but it doesn't mean he's eager to hear what he has to say, especially when it sounds like it's crazy serious.]

Ummm, Mantis, mostly. She recognized me and things kind of snowballed from there?

... Big Pete said I should talk to you about it.

[ Well, that's at least the better of a whole lot of bad options. Tony still can't stop himself from scrubbing a hand over his face as he waves Peter towards one of the stools near the worktables. ]

So all you know is the name? [ Pause. ] Wait, 'big Pete'? You mean Quill?

[ Now there's a horrifying idea, the two of them becoming friends. Again. Or it will be again? It's hard enough to keep track of timelines without the addition of a very abrupt end for a lot of them. ]

Ah — yeah, yeah. Mr. Quill.

[Big Pete. That's his name, man, don't wear it out.]

I know at some point, I end up in space with you and the Guardians, and we were going to try and stop Thanos. He'd taken Gamora, so they were trying to get her back, and... And I know Thanos is, like, trying to wipe out half of everyone ever with these... Infinity Stones.

[He wrings his hands in front of him a little, low key anxious.]

Mr. Quill told me a little about the stones and what they can do.

So you already know most of it.

[ Honestly, he's not exactly sure what Peter is looking for here. Confirmation? Details? One of those is going to be a lot easier than the other, but all of this is a conversation he'd much rather not be having.

But Peter asked. And Tony's at least trying to learn from past mistakes. Keeping secrets helps exactly nothing. ]

Anything, as far as I can tell. They can do anything. If you have them all.

[ Or even if you don't. Thanos had effortlessly outclassed him on the way to collecting them all, and he'd torn through a lot more even before that. ]

[Yeah, he was thinking as much about the Infinity Stones. If you can wipe out half of everything living, then it stands to reason they can do just about anything else. The idea makes him dizzy, because — well, it's clear he's gonna be involved in trying to stop this, and the most intense villain he's ever faced was a blue collar dad with alien tech who tried to kill him on Homecoming night. And hell, for him, that was literally a few months ago.

He's impatient, but he knows Mr. Stark probably isn't jumping at the bit to answer everything circling around in his head; he's in it to win it now, he figures.]

So, what happened, exactly? How'd we end up in space? What's going on back home?

The name's Remy, and I might have gotten my hands on one of the power dampeners the cultists were using.

Okay, something I'm familiar with at least. And you want me to do what with it?

[ Tony lets out a long breath, trying to buy himself a second or two of more time. He still hasn't figured out the best way to play this. He doesn't want to lie, obviously, but. How much does someone really want to know about their future? ]

Thanos was looking for the stones. We had one-- well two, actually. Stood to reason he was going to come for us. And he did. His lackeys tried to make off with Strange, you got involved, and you refused to goddamn go home when I told you to.

[ Okay, he might still be a little annoyed about that. ]

So we all ended up in space and it...seemed like a good idea to take the fight to him rather than wait and see if he'd come back.

O-oh. [He laughs, but it's more nervous laughter than anything.] That sounds like something I'd do. Yes. I hope I was at least kinda helpful...?

[Your annoyance is well-warranted.

He bites his lip, moving onto the next point of concern:]

What happened after that? I'm guessing you're further along than Mantis is, right?

Well you did save the wizard, so good job there.

[ It doesn't do much to lighten the mood, but the attempt is there. For a second, at least. It fades again pretty quickly. ]

Do you really want to know?

[ And Tony just sounds tired. Peter probably already has a sense that things didn't exactly go well, but Tony is still not quite convinced that he really wants to hear all of it. Would he want to know his own future? Know exactly when he dies? ]

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Voice (probably actually around 7/20/18 or some such :'))

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