Fanfic: The Cave (MCU, Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame)

[jeriendhal]

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"We won, Mr. Stark. We won, you did it, sir, you did it. ... I'm sorry... Tony…"

"Tony, you can rest now."

He blinked. One moment blinding pain, Pepper and the kid in front of him weeping, smoke and dust filling the air, the next a soft pillow under his head, silk pajamas replacing his ravaged armor, and a warm comforter drawn up to his chin.

We won, Tony thought. I'm in the hospital. Gonna take a while to get over this, but that's okay. Rogers can handle the cleanup. I just have to get better and go home to Pepper and Morgan. It's all over.

He opened his eyes. Clean, nearly sterile walls, in a room too big to be a hospital ICU. Ceiling to floor windows with the plastic louvres closed, blocking the view. He knew where he was, and he knew it was impossible. The Malibu house had been destroyed in the Mandarin's attack nearly eleven years ago. He hadn't rebuilt it. Hadn't had the time, between getting his heart fixed, getting Pepper's Extremis enhancements stabilized, getting the Avengers ready for Thanos until Rogers had screwed it up with his obsession with his boyfriend Bucky. Hadn't wanted to after the Decimation, because he wanted to hold onto what he had left, then wanted something better. Someplace cosy and warm that a child would love growing up in, not that damned sterile piece of concrete, glass, and tech. No place for children there.

He sat up in bed, shoving the covers off, looking around. Where's Morgan? Where's Pepper? What is this place and why am I alone?

"FRIDAY!" Tony called out. "Status! Locate Pepper and Morgan!"

No answer.

He shot to his feet, feeling himself start to shake. "Who are you? I know somebody is watching me! Where is this place? Where the hell are Pepper and Morgan!" Tony gathered his will, trying to bring up his Nano Armor. When nothing happened he tried again, gesturing for the Mark XLVII, then the Mark XLII when that didn't work either.

Nothing.

Tony shoved aside the window louvers. From the house's cliffside perch the Pacific was covered in fluffy white clouds of early morning fog. "Hologram," he muttered, turning away. He opened his dresser drawer and pulled out a t-shirt at random, slipping it on and then grabbing a pair of jeans. "It's not working, you know," he said to whomever was watching, pulling on the jeans and then a pair of Nikes. "I'm not buying any of this. If you're trying to screw with my head, re-creating a house that I never really liked anyway and was blown to pieces eleven years ago isn't the way to go."

Tony marched out of his bedroom, across the living room, past where Yinsen was sitting on a couch sipping a cup of tea, and into the kitchen, intent on grabbing some coffee.

"Good morning, Tony," Yinsen said to his back. 

He shoved a pod into the Keurig and turned it on. "Quit trying to talk to me. You're not real either."

"I'm not a hologram, Tony," the Afgani scientist replied patiently. He blinked as Tony bounced a balled up paper towel off his forehead. "See?"

"Skrull then," Tony said, grabbing his coffee cup from the Keurig and taking a sip. "Shapeshifters hiding in Earth orbit back in the 90's. Got the details from Danvers."

"I died in 2008, Tony," Yinsen pointed out.

"Could have copied you… him… at any time before then."

"Tony, I'm not a Skrull, or a hologram made out force fields like Star Trek. Nor am I mental illusion created in your mind by magic or science," the little man said. "I'm as real as you are."

"No you're not, you can't be," he growled back. "Because... you're... dead!"

"And you're not?" Yinsen asked.

Tony began pacing back and forth in the kitchen, ignoring the fact that the piping hot coffee sloshing over the edge of the cup wasn't burning his hand. "No, I'm not. I can't be dead."

Yinsen stood up from the couch and approached him. "Tony, what is the last thing you remember, before waking up here?"

 "I'm sorry... Tony…"

"Tony, you can rest now."

He rubbed his forehead briefly. "I was in the crater. Just snapped my fingers and watched all of Thanos' forces turn to dust. It hurt… God, it hurt. Felt like I'd cooked off half my insides. Pepper and the kid, Peter, were there, telling me we'd won, telling me I could rest. Can't… can't…" His hand gripped the handle of his cup tighter, and that finally hurt. "Gotta be there for Morgan. I promised."

"Tony…," Yinsen began gently, his voice quiet, as quiet as back in the days they'd shared in the cave, building the Mark I.

"I'm not dead," Tony repeated, "I'm not dead. Do you know why? It's because when you're dead, there's nothing after that. There is no Heaven, no Hell, no Valhalla, nothing. All that crap about going into the light is just people's neurons misfiring from lack of oxygen." He waved his cup around the room. "This is just a trick!"

"Consider for a moment that your assumption is wrong," Yinsen said.

"No, it's not. I can't be wrong about this. When Morgan was born, I promised her I was going to be there for her. Every dinner, every Christmas, every pageant, every play, every recital, every science fair, every afternoon tea with her stuffed animals, I was going to be there, like my old man never was!" He flung his cup across the room, coffee and porcelain flying everywhere as it smashed against the cold concrete. "She's four years old, and I promised her."

Yinsen sat down again, gesturing for Tony to sit beside him. He flopped onto the couch, feeling himself shake, as the older man gripped his shoulder. "As I promised my children I would protect them. I could not then, as you cannot be there now. The only solace I can give you is that you will be eventually reunited, as I was."

"She's gonna get herself killed, trying to live up to me," he said hollowly.

"That's possible. There are other threats in the universe that might find their way to Earth. Do imagine she will sit passively still, when she has yourself and her mother as examples to follow?"

"No. No, she won't." Tony rubbed his palms over his face. "What do I do now?"

Yinsen shrugged. "Whatever you wish. See your mother, see your father."

He breathed out a long sigh. "I'm gonna… I will, eventually. Just… give me a minute."

"You have all the time in the world."

"Yeah, I guess so." Tony pursed his lips, some of his sense of humor returning. "You know you saved the universe, right?"

That actually made Yinsen look startled for a moment. "Me? I would never have had the strength to use Thanos' gauntlet, nor would I have wished to.'

"Yeah, but you were the one that convinced me to keep on living, to make something better of myself than that conceited asshole that got thrown into the cave with you. You helped me build that first set of armor, you sacrificed yourself to give me time to power it up and escape. So then I managed to get home and start improving it, so I could defend the Earth against Thor's crazy brother and the Chitauri, and then later Thanos. If you hadn't saved me, then no Iron Man, no Iron Gauntlet, no hope of saving half the universe, and then all the universe. And it all started with you and me, in that cave together, and you giving me hope that I could change."

"So it did." Yinsen reached down and gripped his hand. "Welcome home, Tony."