Chapter Text
“You nervous about tomorrow?” Isaac asked her as they lay on a blanket on the roof of the tower, her back resting against his chest.
“Mmmm, a little. But I have no other option. I refuse to go down without a fight.” She answered playing with his fingers.
“You never do.” He told her softly causing her to laugh.
“That’s why you love me. I don’t make things easy.”
“That’s one of the reasons.” He agreed kissing her head.
“What are the other things?” She teased.
“You always stand up for things you believe in. You try to own your mistakes and make things right in the end. And you are incredibly smart and don’t let anyone forget it.” He listed.
“Awww, you get me.” She joked, turning around in his arms to kiss him.
“Alright, how about we go cook some dinner together?” He offered.
“Sounds like a plan. After, how about a movie night?”
“We could or… I realized I never got a tour of your lab.” He told her grinning at the light that shone in her eyes at the statement.
“Oh, you are in for it, Jarvis. Prepare for me to talk your ear off!” She told him pulling him to his feet.
The Next Day: Pepper’s Office
Pepper sighed as she stared again at the documents that lay before her. She had absolutely no energy to work while knowing what was currently happening a few floors up. She had wanted to be there, but it had been argued that too many people wouldn’t do any good. So, it had been decided that Helen, Bruce, Vision, Rhodey, Isaac and Dr. Stephen Strange would be there for the procedure. Rhoedy and Isaac for moral support, Vision if they needed swift intervention, and the others for their knowledge. And someone had to keep this building running so here she was.
“Ms. Potts?” Her secretary poked their head into the room.
“Yes?”
“A Mr. Murdock is here asking to see you.” Pepper sat up straight.
“Send him in.” She waved. A few moments later the man walked in tapping his cane and carrying a bag. Pepper closed the door behind him and activated the privacy blinds. “Matt, what are you doing here?” She asked as he placed the cane down.
“I thought with what’s happening you could use some good food and company.” He admitted rubbing the back of his neck hoping she couldn’t see the faint tinge of red on his cheeks. Pepper felt as if some of the load she had been carrying evaporated.
“I’d actually love that.” She admitted waving him over to the couch. He unpacked the bag of street tacos he had bought.
“So, I heard your suit is ready.” He told her.
“Yeah, it feels… unreal. I finally understand what Evie and Rhodey are always talking about. I actually wanted to ask you something.”
“What?” He asked.
“Will you teach me how to fight?” She asked, causing him to still.
“Uh, I’m not sure it’s a great idea. I’m not known for being gentle.” He told her. Did he want to spend more time with her? Yes, but not like that though.
“Well, I don’t want someone to treat me like porcelain. If I’m going to be an Avenger, I need to fight like one.” Matt sighed.
“Alright, we’ll start next week.” Pepper grinned.
“As a thank you, I’ll treat you to dinner after the sessions.” She promised.
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to.” She insisted.
“Alright. So, I have to ask, where did the nickname Pepper come from?” Pepper grinned and launched into the story.
In the Lab
“Okay, so we know the procedure and how it’s going to be done right?” Helen asked.
“I’ll lay in the cradle without the regeneration part turned on and you’ll inject me with the formula. Then if any unforeseen complications arise you can shut the cradle and lock me in.” Evie told them having gone over this multiple times.
“Okay, are you ready?”
“Yep. Let’s get it over with.” She mumbled. She reached over and squeezed Isaac’s hand.
“I’ll be right here.” He promised.
“I know…” She replied before stepping into the workspace and laying in the cradle. Bruce came over with the serum.
“Last chance to back out.” He joked.
“Do your worst.” She joked back before closing her eyes.
Bruce injected the serum and stepped back into the room to monitor her vitals with Helen and Strange.
“Everything looks in range.” Helen spoke softly.
“If everything is in range then what’s the issue again?” Isaac asked.
“The issue is the dormant Extremis used to remove the arc reactor. We don’t know how they will interact with each other.” Bruce told him.
“Indeed, they could simply not mix, the new Extremis sees the other as a sort of cancer and attacks it or could cancel each other out.” Stephen added.
“Pardon my interruption but what was the plan if something unexpected happened?” Vision asked from the windows.
“Why?” Rhodey asked as they all turned to him. Vision motioned the cradle, and they were all shocked to see electric green sparks emitting from it.
“What’s going on?!” Isaac demanded.
“I don’t know all the readings are normal…” Helen answered trying not to panic.
“That’s not normal!” Rhodey shot back. The lights suddenly went off before everything turned back on and the sparks died down. Bruce and Helen looked back at the readings.
“Everything looks… incredible…” Helen said showing Stephen the readings.
Meanwhile in the cradle Evie’s eyes opened flashing electric green before fading into their usual emerald green. She sat up slowly feeling a tad dizzy. The door hissed and hurried footsteps came.
“Evie?” Bruce asked. She raised her head and their eyes widened.
“What? Do I have something on my face?” She asked.
“No, it’s your face… you look…” Helen tried to explain. Evie stood up and looked in the glass. She gave a sharp intake of breath once she caught sight of her reflection. Staring back at her was, her… but she looked younger. More like a woman of 28 instead of closer to 34.
“The hell?” She said stepping back and placing a hand on the cradle to steady herself. The same electric green sparks came upon contact sparking up her arm and Evie’s eyes flashed electric green. For a brief moment, she felt a connection to the machine before pulling her arm away.
“What was that?!” Isaac demanded. Evie held her head as a faint almost hum invaded her senses.
“I… don’t know…” She said waving her other hand. An electric green spark flew out hitting the floor.
“Shit!” Rhodey called.
“Okay, someone start talking!” Evie spoke a hint of panic leaking into her tone as the humming grew stronger. “What just happened? Why do I look like I found the Fountain of Youth? Why did I feel like I was connected to the cradle? Why did something come out of my hand?” She looked around before looking at Strange. “And Strange, what do you have that keeps humming?!”
“What humming?”
“You can’t hear it?” Everyone exchanged glances.
“We do not hear anything, Evie.” Vision told her. Evie walked to stand in front of Strange.
“But I do… loud and clear.” She said before Strange’s amulet opened on its own accord.
“It’s not supposed to do that…” He began but trailed off as the Time Stone floated out in front of Evie. Her eyes flashed again and everything froze.
****
Evie found herself standing in a white infinite space. She looked around trying to gauge her surroundings.
“Hello?” She called. A flash blinded her and when she regained her bearings a larger version of the Time Stone was floating in front of her.
“Hello, Evie.” It greeted her, causing her to step back.
“You talk?”
“Only to you.” The Stone responded sounding… amused?
“How?”
“If you simplify it, we stones are merely the technology of the universe, so why wouldn’t a technopath be able to commune with us?”
“A technopath? I’m a technopath?” She asked amazed.
“With the ability to also siphon energy from technology for storage or to use it in defensive purposes. I’m sure someone of your skills and intellect will master their ability and make fine use of it in no time.”
“But where did I get this ability? And how?”
“To answer that question, let me take you back. To a time long before this.” The room shifted.
“This is… Dad’s lab.” Evie said before figures began to form.
“Mr. Stark, here’s the latest data you asked for.” An assistant told Howard.
“Thank you.” He said reading the notes. Behind him in a corner the Tesseract pulsed in its housing unit. An unfortunately familiar man walked over to Howard.
“Stane.” Evie hissed.
“Howard, I need to go. My meeting in London has been pushed up.” Howard looked up at him.
“That’s fine, Obadiah. We will talk when you return.” Howard replied before turning back to his task. Stane walked off and what felt like an eternity later hurried little footsteps followed by more heavy ones emerged.
“DADDY!” A five-year-old Evie called as an SI employee rushed after her.
“Ms., I told you the lab is off limits!” Evie ignored him weaving around tables before skidding to a stop in front of her father.
“Evie.” Howard greeted smiling softly. “I didn’t know you were here today.” He said kneeling to her level. The little girl huffed crossing her arms.
“Mommy’s meeting ran late, and Uncle Jarvis and Aunt Anna took Isaac to an appointment, so they dropped me off here. I wanted to come say hi to you… but they wouldn’t let me.” She told him while sticking her tongue out at the employee.
“Mr. Stark, I told her you asked specifically not to be disturbed… That you had important work to do and had no time for frivolous things.” The employee said to him. Howard rose, his face hard.
“Let me make myself perfectly clear.” He began picking up Evie and setting her on his hip. “My daughter is not a distraction. She is my child and an inquisitive one at that, her coming to see me or watch my work is not frivolous. That will be all.” Howard finished dismissing the employee with a wave. He looked at his daughter and found her staring at the Tesseract. “You like it?”
“It’s pretty cool.” She told him giggling.
“Yeah, I guess it kind of is.” He agreed. “Now let’s find you something to do, shall we?” He set her up at a desk with a notepad and crayons. About an hour later an alarm for one of the adjoining labs sounded. Everyone began to filter out in a hurried pace. Howard knelt next to his daughter. “Stay here, it’s probably a sensor got loose again. When I come back, we can go get you a snack and call your mother and see about meeting her for lunch.” Evie nodded and after her father left slipped off her chair to go stand in front of the Tesseract. It seemed to pulse more as she approached causing her to giggle.
“Hurry up! Who knows how long that alarm will keep them!” An unfamiliar voice said from the corridor.
“We’re being paid to successfully steal the thing, not be quick!” An angry voice responded. Evie’s eyes widened and she ducked under a desk. Two pairs of boots entered the lab. One of the men whistled. “When he said we’d know it when we see it, he wasn’t kidding.” They approached the housing unit looking around for the button to deactivate it.
“Oh no.” Evie whispered.
‘Think Evie, think!’ She told herself. ‘The silent alarm!’ Howard had installed it in all his labs as an extra security precaution. A button under his desk would trigger the alarm as well as alert the authorities and the rest of the building when pressed. The only problem is it was all the way across the lab. She peeked out from under the desk; the two men were preoccupied with shutting down the unit. She crawled out and under another row of desks using that as cover. She soon reached across from her father’s desk when she heard the unit power down.
“Perfect, go check the corridor while I put it in the case.” Evie froze as one of them walked by her hiding spot. She needed a way to reach that alarm.
“All clear.” The man said leaning against another desk. Evie clocked the chemicals in the beakers by the desk. Highly erosive. She picked up a pen from the floor and silently crept out before tossing it. For once her mark hit home and the beaker shattered splashing all over the man’s arm a few drops in his face causing him to cry out in pain.
‘Now or never.’ Evie raced out and hit the button before she felt a yank on her collar.
“AAH!”
“Well, what do we have here?” The other man said one hand holding her and the other holding the case that contained their prize.
“Let me go!” She shrieked struggling before the man violently swung her. She cried out in pain as her head hit the edge of her father’s desk, and her vision swam.
“Quiet! Well even if my partner slows me down, at least I have a hostage.” He adjusted his grip to hold her to him and Evie mustered all her strength to grab his arm and sink her teeth into it. “AAAA, FUCK!” Evie gave a kick back and the man dropped Evie along with the case he was holding. Upon impact with the floor, it opened, and the Tesseract sent out a pulse of energy sending the man flying hitting the wall with a hard thud.
Evie lifted her head and the Tesseract pulsed again, this time it seemed directed at her.
“You- Your welcome.” She whispered before blacking out. The object sent out a different pulse causing a shimmer to come across her skin before fading. The scene then faded.
“I don’t remember this part.” Evie breathed in awe of what she had seen. “I always assumed I blacked out after I hit the desk.”
“You did not.” The Time Stone told her. “Instead, you showed great strength and courage to protect the stone. You proved yourself worthy of being one of our favored.”
“A favored?” Evie repeated curious.
“When an individual in any corner of the galaxy steps up to protect one of us with no regard for what could happen to them, we honor that individual with a gift tailored to them, a gift that will serve them in their life as well as protect them. In cases as young as you this gift only activates when you are ready and of great need of it. The individual who receives this gift is recognized by all of us as a Favored of the Infinity Stones. One to be protected, for few as rare are found in the infinite universe.”
“So, there are or were others like me.”
“Correct, but they are long gone. And not all beings who seek or encounter the stones are as selfless as a child can be. You are the first that has been chosen in a while.”
“You said not all are as selfless as I was… does that mean you know who is after you?” Evie asked.
“We only know that whoever this individual is, he seeks to use the stones to “better the universe”.”
“Then we’ll find the rest of you, protect you and stop him.” Evie swore.
“Space was correct about you.” The stone replied warmly. “Serve us well, Evie. And in turn when you so need it, we will serve you.”
Back at the Tower
“What else happened?” Strange asked.
“Nothing, the Stone flashed, and I was back in the lab with you all freaking out.” Evie answered squeezing Isaac’s hand.
“Wong?” The man looked up.
“There are a few sparce references to “favored” long ago. But there’s not much information to go on. The Ancient One presumed that long ago someone destroyed most of the information to protect them.”
“Why?” Daisy asked.
“Can you imagine what someone who wanted the stones would do if they found out someone was able to communicate with them but was also someone who the stones would not harm if they could help it?” Bruce mused.
“It would be an advantage.” Matt added.
“But now it is ours.” Vision pointed out.
“Vis is right. If we can find the others, I can talk to them, show them we are here to protect the galaxy. This could work.” Evie said smiling.
“Alright, then it’s time to go to work. We need to be ready and tie up some loose ends.” Rhodey told the team.
“Let the games begin.” Evie smiled.
****
“Alright with all votes, the Magical Protections Act is passed as well as a formal welcome to you Dr. Strange into the Avengers initiative. We hope we can all do great things together.”
“Mr. Keener we are pleased to inform you that your application to Midtown School of Science and Technology has been accepted. We look forward to seeing you in the upcoming semester.”
“Nanotech stability at 100%, Boss.”
“I gave Scott Lang the Antman suit because I thought he would use it for good. And it is with a heavy heart I admit I was wrong. I formally renounce all association between Mr. Lang, myself, and Pym Technologies and will work tirelessly to right these wrongs.”
“The Rouges are where?”
“The council has lost a lot of faith in me… by appointing you as a co-ruler… perhaps I can show I am not as misguided as my actions have led others to believe. One more thing sister, I think you’ll need a suit.”
“Are you ready to begin, James?”
“Avengers, Assemble.”