Chapter Text
"Is this... a joke? You know, maybe a traditional wedding joke that people used to do back when you had hair?"
TAO laughed at Tony. "Guess," she said, as she put down her tea, stood up and made a portal.
"Wait, what, no!" Tony said, but TAO just smirked and walked into Shangri-la or whereever, closing the portal behind her. "GOD DAMN TROLL!" Tony shouted. "Fine, right, this isn't bad. This is a good thing. Oh, God, why did she say that? Is my daughter going to be sucked up in bullshit, the way I was, with everyone wanting a piece of her? Fuck. I have to find Pepper."
Tony headed out into the main communal area. His attention was drawn by a commotion in the garden. He glanced over to see that Hulk had ripped the strawberry tree out of the ground and was eating all the fruit. Mr. Strawberry was crying.
Tony shook his head. "Hey, Hulk, if you're that hungry, why not come in and eat? There's pizza." JARVIS always ordered pizza whenever Carol Danvers was around so he was sure there was a truckload of it.
"Won't FIT," Hulk grumbled, pointing at the entrance to the building. "Not POLITE wreck house. Also, would get bricks in pizza."
"Right, right, well, how about you let Bruce come out, and eat for you?" The pups had been sitting in front of Hulk, staring at him quizzically. Bruce yipped on hearing his name. "Shush, Bruce. And please don't step on the pups."
"GOOD PUPPIES," Hulk said. He peered at them. "BRUCE? IS BRUCE A DOG?" A frown formed on his face. "A PUNY DOG BRUCE?"
Tony laughed and picked up Bruce. "He's a different Bruce."
Deadpool came by and patted Hulk on the leg. "Bruce Wayne! He is the NIGHT! He's an orphan who fights evil. You know the RULE, you can't have a happy family and be a hero?" Deadpool said. "It's really more a GUIDELINE. The Author says she won't do that IF SHE LIKES YOU. WINK WINK. Why don't you marry Betty? She's nice."
Hulk's confused look grew. "YES. BETTY NICE. PUNY BRUCE STUPID FORGETS BETTY. FORGETS SPIDER DUMPED HIM."
Hulk dropped the remains of the strawberry tree. "TELL BRUCE CALL BETTY!" he said, pointing at Tony before shrinking down into a more befuddled than usual Bruce Banner.
Deadpool nodded. "My work here is done!" He made a dramatic gesture and ran over to the fish pond. "OOoh, sushi." TOBY followed him, and spread his tentacles to protect the fish.
Bruce blinked up at Tony. "Hulk is... mad at me?"
Tony shrugged. "He thinks you're stupid to let Betty go and chase after Romanoff."
Bruce blinked again. "Fair enough. Nat's awfully pretty, and she was, you know... HERE. And she couldn't have kids, which was, you know..."
"Convenient? Safe?" Tony picked up Tiger, juggling his grip to securely hold both of the pups. They were getting too big for comfortable carrying. "Anyway, Hulk thinks you should call Betty. If you want to work for S.I. I'll find you a place and I'll set Scott to checking for Ross in the Data Dump, wouldn't be surprised if he could uncover enough dirt to bury the Secretary, General, whatever he calls himself these days."
Bruce nodded, and for the first time he seemed to really look at the pups. "Are those... thylacines?"
"Uh huh. Bruce, meet Tiger and Bruce, no relation. He's named for the robot shark in Jaws." Bruce the thylacine yawned.
"Right, yeah. I see the resemblance." Bruce got up and hitched his trousers higher. "Well, um... yeah, I think I'll go... eat pizza."
"Great." Tony went back to looking for Pepper. There were a LOT of people mingling. Someone had asked Friday for music, and there was dancing.
"Hey, Boss!" Happy called. He wasn't wearing Slugger any more, and was holding his phone in one hand.
"Yeah, Hap?" Tony patted Happy on the back. He'd seen Slugger protecting people during the battle, unobtrusively getting between Dora Milaje and Outriders to take the hits himself. Tony doubted they'd said thanks. "I saw you, you were great."
Happy blushed a little. "Yeah, just... doing my job. Anyway, I called Sheila and I was wondering if I could take time off. She wants me to meet her folks."
Tony grinned. "Awesome. Sure, take as long as you need." Tony looked around until he saw Wong, doing a credible Single Ladies dance. "See that guy there? Show him where you want to meet her and ask him to portal you over. If he's cranky, tell him I can get a signed autograph from Beyonce."
"Great!" Happy worked his way through the dancers.
Tony was still looking for Pepper. The longer it took, though, the less upset he was. TAO was a troll, but she wasn't a total shit. If she saw bad possibilities for Tony's daughter she wouldn't have been cheerful about it.
As he approached a storage room down a corridor that was apparently not appealing to partygoers, since there was no one in sight, Bruce and Tiger both stiffened and yipped, turning their long noses and cookie cutter ears toward it. Tony looked at them. They seemed more curious than anything else.
"Ok, fine. If we have rats, you have permission to learn to hunt." They were up to date on all their shots, so why not? He put them down and opened the door.
And then he blinked. Eggs? "Who ordered all these... weird... eggs." At least a hundred of them, piled up all around.
Goose shot up from the back of the closet, holding a damp kitten in his mouth with bits of broken eggshell falling from the squirming kit, which opened its mouth in silent protest, tiny tentacles squirming. "Damn, I thought for sure you were a guy." Tony said to Goose. He put his foot out to keep the pups from investigating. "JARVIS, call Carol Danvers and tell her about her new dependents. Not my circus, not my flerkens." Tony backed up and shut the door.
"What is a flerken? Are those EGGS?" Tony heard Jane Foster. He had no idea how she got here. Invited to the party by Thor?
Tony turned around. Thor has a cane? "Thor, buddy, what happened to you?"
"This is my friend, Dr. Donald Blake," Jane said firmly. "He's an oncologist."
Ok, so Jane had a type. Damn, Blake looked even more like Thor than Johnny Storm looked like Rogers. Weird.
Dr. Blake smiled at Jane. "We have to get you back for a recheck. I don't want to raise your hopes."
Jane waved her hand dismissively. "I know, I know, it's crazy. Just because a guy wearing red and black leather looks at me, and goes all glowy and says 'You ARE HEALED', doesn't make it so. But I'm having a GOOD DAY for once, and I want to party while the feeling lasts."
"All right, Jane," Dr. Blake's smile grew. "I don't want to waste our time together, either. I'm so glad you called me again. I don't even know why we broke up."
Jane shook her head. "We were both stupid and let our careers separate us. Come on, let's dance!"
What the hell, Tony would find Pepper eventually. She probably went to change out of the remnant of her wedding dress. Who else was Tony looking for... oh, yeah. "JARVIS, where's Scott Lang?"
JARVIS said, "As I do not have surveillance in the privacy cabins, I cannot confirm his location, but he was last seen entering PC 3."
"Oh, well... he's probably trying to get back with Hope," Tony said.
"Hope Van Dyne is currently dancing a waltz with her father," JARVIS said. "Mr. Lang entered the cabin in the company of Steve Rogers."
"Huh. That's... I don't know. I'd have expected Rogers to try to hook up with his buddy Barnes, or at least one of the ex-Avengers. Something's not right."
Tony looked down at the pups. They were curious about the flerkens and would probably stay out of trouble. Even if they didn't, he had more important worries at the moment.
Tony pushed back through the crowd, out into the garden, past the fish pond and Quantum Van, around the jogging path to the farthest of the isolated cabins Tony had meant for people who needed to work on their power control, or had issues with surveillance. He was half running by the time he got there. He knocked on the door. "Everything all right in there?"
A loud THUMP answered.
Tony flung the door open, and stumbled over Scott Lang, who was stripped down to his underwear and tied up with cords taken from the blinds.
"What the hell?" Tony pulled away the handkerchief that had gagged Scott. "What happened?" He started working on the knots. Tied hard. Too hard. Tony woke up enough of his suit to get a fine laser and began cutting the cords.
Scott coughed. "It was... I was... flattered! You know! Captain AMERICA! He was interested in my suit, and in time travel. He wanted to know how it worked. How to set the time and place and..."
"And you told him." Tony's gut clenched, he thought he felt his blood turning cold.
"It was Captain AMERICA!" Freed, Scott ran his hands through his hair. "He showed me his shield. He let me hold it! And then... he hit me!" Scott's eyes went wide in indignation.
"Shit, shit, fuck." Tony leaned out of the door, so JARVIS could hear him. "Has anyone entered the Quantum Van since we returned?"
JARVIS said, "Yes. A man wearing a time-suit did go in." He sounded apologetic. "I had no orders to prevent or report this, and I assumed it was an authorized user."
"JAY, get TAO, and Hank Pym... and Janet Van Dyne. Let them know it's a matter of TIME, and have them meet me here."
"I fucked up, didn't I?" Scott said in a quiet voice.
"Yeah," Tony said. "Stay here and don't say anything to anyone. JAY, also get Barnes, maybe he has some insight that will help figure out what Rogers was planning."
Tony paced, thinking furiously. So far, he hadn't noticed anything different, but if everything changed would he know it? Would changes far enough in the past take time to propagate, would time be stretched until it snapped and everything was destroyed? They'd been careful when they used the time travel, either going the shortest possible distance back to achieve an essential aim, or so far back that the progenitors of the human species didn't even exist, let alone people. Rogers... he didn't like the present, so he wouldn't go into the future, which would probably be safe for everyone else, but the past? Yeah, Rogers had the 'golden moment' dream of the past, shining perfectly, unlike today's reality where he'd never tried to find himself a place, just switching which 'army' he'd fight in, which battles he'd relive.
When the door opened again, and Hank entered, he immediately saw Scott in his underwear, and cursed.
"Yeah," Tony agreed. "Rogers used the quantum van. I don't know what we can do about it."
"I'll track his destination," Hank offered. "And we can go and grab him the instant he arrives."
"No, you can't," Scott said miserably. "He asked about that, too, and I told him how to turn it off."
"Can you track him?" Tony asked Janet. "You were in the Quantum Realm for thirty years, did you learn anything that could help?"
Janet shook her head. "If he was lost in the Realm, I could find him, but if he used the suit properly, he could be anywhere and any when. I'm sorry."
Barnes came in next, and looked warily around. "Is this where I get kicked out of the party? It's too bad, I was picking up numbers."
"No," Tony said. "It's Rogers."
"Well, fuck," Barnes said, wearily. "whatever he's done, what do you expect from me? I haven't even seen him in ages, if you don't count fighting the weird black aliens, and I don't."
A portal formed and TAO stepped out, looking grim. "What's this about time?"
Tony explained in a few sentences. It wasn't as if there was much to explain. Steve Rogers with a time suit and no idea what damage mucking about in time could do.
TAO opened the Eye of Agamotto, and peered into a place no one else could see. She stood there, twitching, eyes flickering, for several minutes. Then she stilled, sighed and closed the Time Stone again. "There were ripples, but they seem to have been smoothed out. What changes were made were not essential to the stability of this time line."
"Thank God," Pym said.
"So, we're ok?" Scott asked. "Not going to have dinosaurs eating us, or anything like that?"
TAO shook her head. "Apparently we are in a fixed timeline, and it either accepted whatever Rogers did, or acted to negate it. Either way, the changes, if any, seem to be minimal."
"Huh. Can we find out what he did for sure?" Tony asked. "I mean, if it means that khaki is now high fashion, I'd like to know." Also, he burned to find Pepper to be sure she hadn't vanished, or wasn't his wife or any of a lot of disastrous imaginary scenarios.
"Well, if we're in a fixed timeline," Pym said, "and he's gone back he should be in some records. Probably under a fake name."
Barnes said, "He could change his name, but take it from me, Steve was always gonna be in trouble. When he was a twig, he got into plenty of fights. I doubt he's turned into a Quaker. There'll be police records, I bet."
"Still, I can't ask JARVIS to look through all the police records everywhere for a big, blond guy who 'hates bullies'," Tony said.
Barnes huffed a laugh, "He'll be in Brooklyn I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts. Brooklyn not long after the war, looking for Peggy Carter. He had her picture in his compass. He told me it was so he'd always find his way."
Tony nodded, "My dad told me Margaret Carter acted as if Rogers was her husband, even threw out the samples of Rogers' blood dad had legitimate rights to study, as if she had the rights. So, if Rogers felt the same way about her, he'd have gone back to her."
Barnes nodded, "Yeah, Peggy was a pistol. First dame that ever gave Steve a second look. Sure, I could see him wanting to go back to her."
"Ok, good, JARVIS, look for police records, starting with 1945 Brooklyn, New York, for Margaret Carter and any man who fits Rogers' description- he might make changes to his hair color or grow a beard, but I doubt he'll let himself run to fat or dye his skin or get tattoos. Sort by best matches."
After a few minutes, JARVIS said, "I have found several high probability matches, Sir, dating from 1945 to 1950."
"Give it to us chronologically, show what you can as visuals, along with any relevant text."
JARVIS used the entertainment system in the cabin to project an image. Blurred, apparently a photocopy of an archived document. "Marriage certificate for Margaret Carter and Roger Stevens."
Barnes nodded. "So, Stevie got the dame. Good for him."
Then there were a series of police blotter notes. Nothing big. Disturbing the peace. Fistfights. Domestic disturbance. There was a faded grainy photo of Steve scowling at the camera with a beautifully black eye along with police officer's notes about Mr. Stevens refusing to press charges against his wife, saying she didn't mean it, it was an accident. Police officer scribbled a note to the effect that Mrs. Stevens had a good swing with a frying pan.
And then.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Barnes whispered. "Peggy did for him?"
The newspaper article played it up, because it was interesting. Mr. Stevens had gone to a masquerade party dressed as Captain America. A woman had kissed him, because, she said later, she thought it was funny since she was dressed as Mata Hari, and a spy seducing Captain America. It was a joke, she swore later. Just a joke.
Mrs. Stevens had worn her old service uniform. Complete with pistol. She'd shot him while he was posing with the Captain America shield held in front of him.
Barnes looked at Tony accusingly. "I heard you took away his shield."
Tony shook his head. "It was never his. He bullied my father into letting him have it. I paid for it, and I gave him a shield made from the same materials as my Iron Man suit at the time. A bullet shouldn't have gone through it! It stood up to tank missiles! For God's sake."
Janet said quietly, "The article said the bullet didn't go through. It must have hit at an angle and gone up. It hit him in the throat."
Tony shuddered. "Dad told me Carter shot at Rogers once because a woman kissed him. It bounced off the shield and no one ever took her to task for it. I suppose she expected the same thing to happen again. Just a funny joke." He shook his head.
"Or time protecting itself," Pym said.
There were a few follow up articles. Some military people stood by Carter when she broke down, and gave wild stories about how the shield was magic, and Stevens' blood was magic and he couldn't really be dead, he was just sleeping, they needed to put him on ice, so he could rest and wake up.
Howard Stark had paid for her defense and medical treatment, even though they'd been estranged and he hadn't seen her in over five years. The shield and blood samples taken from Stevens' body had disappeared.
Eventually Carter was released, and went on to help found SHIELD.
"Wow," Tony said. "That's just... really sad. He got what he wanted, but I doubt he expected it to turn out like that."
Barnes shook his head. "Does he have a gravestone? I'd like to visit it... maybe get the name corrected."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll have JARVIS look into it, see what we can do." Tony didn't even like Rogers, but that was fucking depressing. But then... if his father had even half believed Carter. His father had been a packrat. He'd saved useless bad boys FOREVER, so if he had amused himself by bribing the police to steal the evidence... yeah... maybe...
Tony waited until everyone had left to tell JARVIS, "Look for the shield and the blood samples. I don't really care about the shield, but if that's Rogers' indestructible blood... Dad's dream of using it to heal the sick might still be possible." Tony walked out of the private cabin, heading back to the party with dreams and ideas distracting him.
Pepper blocked him and he stopped, blinking. "Oh. I was just looking for you," Tony said. "Ah... we're still married?"
Pepper laughed and flashed a little plastic strip in front of his face. "Yes!"
"We're not?" Tony asked, thinking of his daughter to be.
"Not yet," Pepper replied. "I'm just practising."
Tony put his arms around her. "We should practise a lot. Hey, did you know Thor's supposed to be a god of fertility!"
Pepper laughed even harder. "He can bless us when we get to Asgard. There's no hurry, we have time now."
"Yeah," Tony said with a smile. "Everything's great, and we have plenty of time."