Work Text:
I just want to watch the whole world burn
Lost a million times and I won't learn
Show me someone innocent, I'll show you there's no proof
I may be gone but I'm no fool
Stone Sour – Tired
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“They’re here, boss.”
Tony acknowledged the soft voice with a slight nod and turned his gaze toward the display that Friday projected for him. Fury, Romanov and Barton were shown in the lobby of the tower, standing waiting for admittance to the elevator.
It shouldn’t have to be like this Tony thought, not for the first time. They had defeated Thanos, saved humanity yet again from the Big Bad, and they had all survived to return to Earth. It was supposed to be a new beginning for all of them.
“Let them in Friday.”
On the display, the elevator doors opened and the three SHIELD operatives stepped inside and began the ascent. A few floors up, Tony gave Friday the signal. A white mist began to disperse in the sealed elevator and all three agents began to cough and gasp. Fury glared up at the surveillance camera in the corner of the room as he clutched at his throat, struggling for breath. Romanov did as she always did and tried to solve the problem with a gun, perhaps hoping to punch an air hole in the side of the steel trap, but when her first shot ricocheted off the wall and nearly hit Clint she didn’t try again.
By the time the elevator reached the penthouse, all three were unconscious.
No, Tony thought again as he dragged each of the still bodies into the living area, it shouldn’t have been like this.
“I got you a present.”
Tony took the small rectangular box from Pepper with a puzzled grin.
“You do know how birthdays work, yeh?” he teased her. “I’m supposed to give you the present, not the other way ‘round.”
Pepper just rolled her eyes at Tony and impatiently gestured for him to open the box.
Tony opened the box to see another slightly smaller box inside, bright red with a Ferrari logo on the top and smaller writing underneath detailing the contents.
“Um … Pepper? You got me a pen? Me? The leader in paperless technology across the globe,” he continued rambling as he flipped the cover on the velvet box, “you have to practically tie me down to get me to sign paperwork, not that I mind the tying down part, we could always use a little more kink in the …” Tony’s voice trailed off as he finally took in what he was looking at.
“Oh. Not a pen then.”
A long, thin plastic tube with a small window in the middle.A window showing two distinct red lines.
He blinked. Yep, definitely two lines. He looked up at Pepper who was beaming at him, her eyes glistening as his own face split into a grin and he pulled her down to his lap and just held her tight.
It took Tony some time to manoeuvre the new arrivals into the centre of the floor where Steve, Bucky and Wanda were already chained. Steve and Bucky were already awake from their own dose of the gas some hours previous, while Wanda was unlikely to awaken at all after the drugs Tony had injected into her system. He couldn’t take the chance of the witch messing with his mind.
Steve and Bucky had both struggled with the chains of course, but Tony knew how to counter the unnatural strength of super-soldiers. Not that Bucky had much chance using only one arm, as the first thing Tony had done while they lay helpless was to remove his prosthetic. They had both stopped struggling by now and Bucky glared at Tony with rage as he dragged the others into position, while Steve’s puppy-dog eyes just pleaded silently with Tony for some kind of explanation or clue as to what was going on. Since Thanos, he and Tony had brokered an uneasy peace which he had hoped was leading them back to friendship. He had agreed immediately when Tony phoned to invite him and Bucky over to talk, Wanda tagging along as she always did - exactly how Tony had known she would.
Tony never spoke, other than the brief instructions he had given Friday. One by one he dragged the agents into position and shackled them to the floor by hands and feet. He’d given them less of a dose than the super soldiers, and Fury was already starting to stir as Tony put the last chain in place. He opened his mouth in the beginnings of a snarl before Tony rammed a gag into his mouth tying it tight behind his head. Romanov and Barton soon had matching accessories and when Tony was finally happy that all six of his former colleagues were well and truly secure – and silent – he calmly sat on the floor in front of them and waited.
It took another 10 minutes for Romanov and Barton to join the others in full wakefulness. In that time Tony neither spoke nor stirred, still and silent as a statue. Only when five pairs of eyes were clear and directed toward him did he move, standing up and drawing all of their attention to the display behind him.
A timer appeared - 26:00 - and as soon as Tony knew that all eyes were on it he uttered one word “Friday” and the timer began to count down – 25:59. As the numbers continued to change on the display Tony stepped to the side, pausing for a second before looking back at them chained to the concrete floor.
“That’s how long you have to live.”
“You’re not disappointed, are you?” Pepper’s voice was soft.
In the back of the limousine, Tony tore his eyes from the sonogram picture now proudly displayed as backdrop on his phone and looked at her questioningly.
“Disappointed?”
“… that it’s a girl?”
Tony laughed and undid his seatbelt, ignoring Pepper’s murmured protest about safety in a moving vehicle. Sliding across the seat he gently placed one hand on Pepper’s expanding belly and stroked her face with the other.
“Our daughter is going to be magnificent” he declared before kissing Pepper softly.
Returning Tony’s kisses, Pepper agreed. “You know, I think she will.”
Pepper had been thrilled by the changes in Tony since she’d told him about the baby. Overnight he became the man she had always known he could be; he’d stopped drinking, listened to her about his diet, let her oversee his time in his lab and workshop so that he was finally getting some proper sleep. Oh yeh, and he’d quit The Avengers. Zero involvement, not even as a consultant. SHIELD hadn’t been happy, of course, but Tony stayed firm, putting Pepper and their baby first. It had been a peaceful three months.
“What are we going to call her?” Tony murmured in her ear, teeth and lips nibbling gently in that soft spot he knew she liked. Pepper enjoyed the sensation for a moment before considering Tony’s question.
“Well, that dream you had, you remember?” Pepper gently pulled Tony’s face away from her neck and gazed at him, loving the look of open joy on his face. “Morgan works as a girl’s name too, y’know.”
Tony’s eyes sparkled as he grinned. “So it does.” Kissing her once more, he then lowered his head to Pepper’s lap before placing a gentle kiss on her abdomen.
“Hello Morgan” he whispered.
14:24, 14:23, 14:22 When Tony places the first bundle of explosives on the floor in front of the display, the other Avengers begin to struggle again with – of course – no success. Fury’s one eye continues to glare at Tony in that particular wishing-you-dead way of his. Rogers keeps trying to use body language to plead with Tony to talk to them, to explain what’s going on. Barnes’ eyes remain cold and unreadable in between his attempts to one-handed break his bonds. Barton and Romanov both watched Tony relentlessly, trying to pick clues out of his movements, his posture and face as he works, slowly placing more and more explosives around the room, a large portion of it close to – but not without reach of – the captives. The intent was clear.
11:17, 11:16, 11:15 Tony worked silently, never once looking at his ex-teammates, not even a glance to observe their reactions.His placement of each brick of explosives was methodical, and all watching had enough knowledge of such things to tell that every location had been considered and mapped ahead of time. Tony never paused for thought, never moved an explosive once placed, and it was clear that this plan had been excruciatingly planned in advance. He was leaving no room for error, no chance of survival for anybody in the penthouse.
As the timer inexorably worked its way down, the five conscious Avengers and agents started to display a wider range of emotions.
8:36, 8:35, 8:34 Fury had finally begun to struggle against his bonds, the first time he had tried since first awakening. It was slowly beginning to occur to him that this threat was real, that his life may very well be about to end.
7:45, 7:44, 7:43 Rogers had begun to cry, muffled sobs breaking through the gag in his mouth as he continued silently pleading with Tony. If he could just get his attention, make him remove the gag and talk to him, he knows he could fix this. He knows it in his heart.
5:59, 5:58, 5:57 Barnes had stopped glaring at Tony and instead focused his gaze on the man next to him. His truest friend – they had gone through hell together, for each other and now they would die as they fought – side by side. He couldn’t think of a better end and wondered if he would finally, in death, find peace. He wondered if he deserved to.
3:27, 3:26, 3:25 Barton had closed his eyes as he thought about his wife, his kids. His first thought was to wonder how they would move on with home gone, before he considered how rarely he even saw them anymore. Between missions for shield there never seemed to be enough time to get home, and now he thought he probably never would. He pictured Laura’s face and silently apologised for all he’d put her through – maybe she’d be better off without him. Maybe they all would.
The tower lights flickered and a shrill alarm blared through the penthouse, disturbing Tony where he lounged on the sofa; Pepper’s feet in his lap as he massaged them softly casting warm glances at her tight stomach. Both of them jumped.
Boss, it appears that SHIELD is attempting to access my primary server, they ha ..
The voice cut off abruptly and Tony glared at the ceiling in disbelief.
“Friday?” There was no reply and Tony cursed as he gently placed Pepper’s feet on the couch as he stood up. “Unbelievable,” he muttered as he picked up his StarkPhone and futilely tried to access the server to prevent the attack, realising instantly that he was shut out of the system. Sighing, he turned apologetically to his wife.
“I’m going to have to go down to the server room, Pep.”
So much for their quiet afternoon on the couch.
Pepper waved him away with a concerned smile.
“You’d better get down there quick before SHIELD causes too much damage.”
Planting a quick kiss on Pepper’s forehead Tony moved quickly to the elevator where he opened the manual panel and entered the codes necessary to open the doors. Inside he needed to open yet another panel to take control and move down to the server room, flashing a quick grin and a wink at Pepper. She rolled her eyes as the elevator doors closed between them.
***
Tony’s language was colourful in the extreme as his fingers flew across the keyboard plugged manually into Friday’s server, fighting off SHIELD’s hacking attempt. You would have thought after six months of Tony refusing to assist in any form that they would have given up but here they were.
At least they’re not as clumsy at it as they used to be he admitted to himself begrudgingly. Since the last attempt at accessing Tony’s servers almost two months ago, they had obviously hired better monkeys.
“Not as good as …. Me. Though,” he laughed triumphantly as he finally shut down the last probing attack and watched all systems reboot. Friday should be coming online any minute …
“ … the master suite. Boss, you have to hurry, Pepper, you have to get there NOW the master suite, Boss.”
Tony’s heart stopped in his chest as the frantic AI pleaded with him continuously. He shot to his feet and bolted for the elevator, doors already opening, barely closing before the lift shot upward, Friday’s cries still ringing in Tony’s ears as he counted every second, every step between himself and Pepper.
2:26, 2:25, 2:24 Tony had left the room a few minutes ago, presumably to plant yet more explosives. As the counter continued to count down their final moments, each of them slowly lost all trace of hope that he would return before the counter reached zero. Each of them turned over scenarios in their heads, possible reasons for the events of the day, but they each came up blank.
“26 minutes. That’s all it took.”
The sudden voice behind them made all of them except Romanov flinch.
“26 minutes while SHIELD took down the servers, took down Friday,” Tony continued speaking as he walked across the room behind them. Moments later he entered their vision from the side of the room and they all knew they were dead. There was no coming back from this.
1:18, 1:17, 1:16
Silently, Tony sat himself down on the floor in front of them. In his arms lay the limp and bloodied body of Pepper Potts. Rogers choked bile into the gag in his mouth as he observed the life’s blood soaked through her dress, mixed with some other fluid he didn’t recognise; almost solid clumps sticking tackily to the exposed skin of her lower legs. His heart broke as he watched Tony tenderly stroke her forehead, hair sticking to her brow as he soothed the lifeless body of his wife.
Tony arranged her limbs gently on his lap, cradling her against his chest, never once taking his eyes off her face.
“26 minutes where she screamed. 26 minutes where she cried out, where she begged and prayed and bled.” Tony recited all of this matter-of-factly, no emotion in his voice, no tears of grief or anger. He was beyond all that.
Barton’s face streamed tears now as he thought of his own children; as he remembered watching them come into the world, his brave wife fighting through pain and exhaustion to bring life, to make their family. He wished he could see them once more. Just once.
Fury and Barnes had both closed their eyes, though the sight of Pepper was burned into their retinas and was likely to be the last sight they ever saw in this world.
“26 minutes for SHIELD to take them away from me.”
0:23, 0:22, 0:21
Romanov’s mask never faltered as she faced death. It had waited for her for a long time and for the first time she felt ready to face it. She wished Tony would look up just once so that she could acknowledge his pain, his right to do this, but nothing could take his eyes from the woman in his arms.
0:12, 0:11, 0:10
Planting a gentle kiss on Pepper’s temple, Tony murmured softly to his lovely Pepper, his Ms Potts, his everything. Calmly he waited, holding her tight, knowing he would never let her go again.
0:05, 0:04, 0:03
“I’ll see you soon Pep.”
As the counter hit zero, Tony closed his eyes.