7

Chapter 7Summary:

No Stark bombs for Wanda.

Welcome Rhodey.

Laura wants what?!

Notes:

The drones mentioned are enclosed shells with cut-outs for the turbines, much like the quinjets. Each have connections for attaching a basket for cargo.

Chapter Text

"We need to have a meeting, Tony." Pepper started. "All of us that know. We have many things to discuss."

"Talk to Barnes about that, Pep-my-love, he's the one in charge of the Thanos Project." Tony waved and Barnes pulled himself to his feet and headed over to Pepper to bring her up to date.

~~~

February 17th 1996

Tony sat beside his father, as Howard laid out their plan to the DoD panel, very conscious of having Clint standing behind him, as opposed to Barnes, who'd been at his back since December 1991. He'd also seen the admirals and generals' eyes flick by Clint and snap back to him, the men's eyes widening as they gauged Clint's military history, as described by the selection of US Army citation ribbons pinned to his chest and the multiple marksmanship badges that hung under them.

"My son was right, the soldiers on the ground are the ones that need what Stark Industries and Iron Technologies can provide, the most." The older man said, after the opening pleasantries were dealt with.

"And what of the larger munitions that Stark Industries has provided the military with, up until this point?" One Navy Admiral asked.

"Let's be honest here, gentlemen." Howard sighed. "Up until Obediah Stane started pushing me towards them, SI had only been providing about 5% of the larger, surface-to-air or surface-to-surface missiles. Even at the most generous, SI can't claim to have ever supplied even as much as 10% of the DoD's supply. I'm not a bomb-builder, chemicals have never been my specialty, weapon design has. Designing weapons to use a range of readily available ammunition, is my preferred specialty and in all honesty, Tony's the only one that is better at that than I am and unfortunately for the military, all Tony's designs require a weapon to be custom-fit to the user. Not something that is doable on a large scale." 

"Couldn't Dr Stark's weapons be refitted for DoD use?" An Army general asked.

"Probably." Tony said. "But I have no intention of mutilating my designs into something that dad can make just as easily. Doing so would render the advantages I've added, inoperable and no better than dad's latest designs."

The representatives from the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and the White House, conferred for a few minutes, often referring to the handout that Howard had presented.

"Are we correct in assuming that SI… retiring… from large munitions manufacture, will not impact on your contracts for the smaller weapons?" A White House rep asked.

"Yes, our other existing weapons contracts will stay, we just won't be renewing the munitions contracts." Howard said.

"That being said, gentlemen…" Tony smirked. "We do have something that will interest you."

"Oh?" The other White House rep asked. "And what would that be?"

"Drones." Tony replied. "Non-weaponised unmanned drones."

"We already have…" The White House rep fell silent as the drone entered the room. "What is that?!"

"That is our drone." Tony's smirk grew. "Predominantly for surveillance or search and rescue. Each drone is flightworthy to a thousand feet, has five cameras, a flight time of one hour, a maximum speed of twenty miles an hour and can be fitted with a carrier that can hold up to five pounds of cargo. The cameras can be used in conjunction with a number of already-existing sensor systems. Infra-red, thermal, night vision, weapons detection, etc."

"How is it controlled?" An Air Force general wanted to know.

"Very much like a remote-controlled car, General Westbourne." Tony said. "Each drone will come with an individualised computer system and I will train your staff in how to operate them. They're not difficult to operate but paying attention to all five cameras, at once, can be."

"And who is controlling this one?" General Westbourne asked.

"My bodyguard." Tony answered.

The general looked at Clint and raised an eyebrow.

"Mr Barton is my head of security, not my bodyguard." Tony shook his head.

"And why would you require a bodyguard?" Westbourne asked. "I understand that you are quite capable of removing yourself from… involuntary incarceration?"

"Oh, I am." Tony assured the general. "But also I'm tired of having to deal with it on such a regular basis. Having a deterrent, such as a visible or semi-visible bodyguard, has dropped kidnapping attempts by over 85%."

"Hmm…" An Army General nodded. "Yes, I dare say it would."

"What sort of manoeuvrability do they have?" The second Air Force general asked.

"Barton? If you would, please?" Tony asked and Clint stood up, laid his jacket over the back of his chair before moving to the rear of the room, which was empty.

Clint pulled a torch-like instrument from a pocket and extended it into a baton, approximately the length of his forearm. He swung at the drone and it tipped on its side, letting the baton swung passed it. For the next few minutes, Clint used the baton as one would a knife or bat to try and knock the drone from the air.

"May I?" One Navy admiral asked, indicating that he would like to take Clint's place.

"Certainly." Tony was confident that Barnes would be able to evade the admiral's actions.

Another few minutes left them with a panting admiral and a smug Tony. And a proud Howard... something that Tony was still getting used to.

"Very interesting, gentlemen." Westbourne (USAF) said. "How did you come up with this?"

"The basic idea was Tony's." Howard said. "I designed the body and placement of the various components, including cameras and flight turbines. Tony designed the turbines themselves and the power-source. He also wrote the programming and the control system. It was Mr Barton's idea to incorporate a cargo capability. Bringing the entirety together was… complicated…"

"We had six goes at that before we finally got a working prototype and progressed through three prototypes before we landing on this design." Tony added. "Since then it's been a case of refining and re-engineering a lot of pre-existing systems so that they could be miniaturised enough to make the drones work, the way we want them to."

"I see." A White House rep tilted his head as he studied the drone. "Does excessive manoeuvring use up flight time?"

"It does but only by about 5-10%" Tony replied. "I've tried everything I can, but battery-life is limited by the space available, I went for the highest battery to flight-time ratio, I could pull out of the various components." He wasn't introducing the arc-reactor to the DoD until he was ready to introduce a variant of the Iron Man armour.

"And when will these be ready for deployment?" A Navy Admiral asked.

"We have five ready for each DoD branch." Howard said. "These are… extremely sensitive and each one requires individual programming and assembly. At most Tony and I can put together four a month. Unless we plan to let other projects suffer."

"Other projects?" A Marine officer asked.

"I'm working on a non-lethal gun for MPs and crowd control, a sedation delivery system that can be used at a distance and a magnetised grappling gun." Howard said.

"Together we're working on a larger sized drone that can be used for search and rescue extraction or limited cargo supply drops." Tony added. "And there's another thing I'm working on. Exoskeleton wings. For paramedics and as armed escort duty for the larger drones."

"Do you have a working prototype, yet?"

"Sort of." Tony shrugged. "They work, I've tested them myself, but without a pilot, I can't take testing much further. I can't be in two places at once and I'm at a stall-point as far as the programming in of manoeuvrability is concerned, it needs to happen while the wings are in action."

"What do you require from a pilot?" The Second Air Force general asked.

"Willingness to learn and an open mind on how." Tony replied. "It would be better to be someone that hasn't much flight time, operating the wings would be considerably different from any other aircraft and an experienced pilot is likely to have to unlearn many things before they're comfortable in the wings."

"So, a trainee airman, then?" Westbourne's colleague asked.

"That would be best." Tony nodded.

"Do you have other criteria for a pilot?"

"Yeah." Tony nodded. "A lot can be taught, but some things they have to have from the get-go. Height, weight, upper body strength, ability to multi-task, etc."

"I think that, initially at least, we can leave that between you and the Air Force, Dr Stark." The Army general cut in. "Once the wings are ready for deployment, it might be a different situation, but not until you have a working prototype." The other DoD reps all nodded.

"Very well, if you have no objections, Dr Stark, Mitcham and I would like to continue this meeting with you once we've concluded our general business."

"Sure, we can do that." Tony nodded, again.

"So…?" Mitcham checked his notes. "Stark Industries are notifying the DoD that they will not be renewing their large munitions contracts. Stark Industries and Iron Technologies have combines forces to produce a small drone, capable of imagery and minor cargo delivery and are working on a larger version with cargo and extraction capabilities. Start Industries has a number of new products still in the design phase, including a non-lethal handgun, a remote sedative delivery system and a magnetic grappling gun. Iron Technologies are in the design and testing stages for a new product, an exoskeleton wing-suit for paramedics and drone escort." He laid the notepad down. "Did I miss anything?"

Tony shared a look with Howard and shook his head.

"No, that's it." Howard replied.

"Very well." Mitcham looked at the other DoD reps. "Shall we conclude this meeting or does anyone have anything else they would like to add?"

Each of the DoD brass shook their heads and gathered up their materials.

"We're good." An Army general replied. "Expect to hear from us in regard to the smaller drone, and please keep us informed in regard to your other projects." He nodded to Howard and Tony and after a few moments, to Clint.

The former Army sniper came to attention and saluted the general, knowing he was probably breaking a hundred rules, but he figured he worked for a Stark, breaking rules was almost mandatory. The general blinked and returned the salute, which eased Clint's mind, before leaving the room.

~~~

October 6th 1996

James Rhodes opened his eyes and shut them quickly, his head pounding in time to his heartbeat.

"Ugh…" He groaned and heaved himself to his feet, stumbling into the adjoining bathroom. He emptied his bladder and stumbled back to the bed, his hand reaching for this braces. His fingers scrabbled around and when they didn't find the familiar carbon-fibre and metal frames, he opened his eyes and looked for them. A sweeping glance around the room showed no sign of the braces and he huffed a sigh, before climbing to his feet and looking on the far side of the bed.

"No there, either." He muttered and turned to the bathroom. A bathroom empty of the items he was searching for.

He crossed back to the bed and bent over to pick up a discarded shirt from a chair. His hands froze as his fingers closed around the shirt.

"That's… that's not right…" He focused on the insignia bars on the shirt's collar. "First Lieutenant?" He tilted his head and reached for the cell phone on the dresser. A tap at the phone and his frowned deepened. "October 6th? What? I thought it was the 10th?" He shook his head, only to groan as the pounding headache re-asserted its presence.

A thumping was heard from outside the room and before Rhodes could do more than turn in that direction, the door was flung open and Tony Stark erupted into the room.

"Gum-drop!" He whisper shouted. "I've come to spring you from your vile durance and spirit you away to the land of coffee and bagels… otherwise known as breakfast."

"Tony…?" Rhodes gasped, frozen in shock.

"Rhodey?" Tony froze, too, he'd heard that tone before, Clint had sounded like that, when he'd first seen Tony, after remembering.

"Tony!" Rhodes leapt across the room and engulfed the younger man in a near-smothering hug.

"Oh, wow…" Tony whispered and hung on just as tight. "Let me guess… Thanos?"

"Fucking Thanos!" Rhodes snarled before pushing Tony back and looking at him. "Look at you, Tones, you look like a kid, again. What happened?"

"Uh…" Tony grimaced.

"Tony? What did you do?" Rhodes narrowed his eyes.

"Not sure that I did anything." Tony said. "It's 1996, honey-bear."

"What?" Rhodes' voice was flat and hard.

"1996," Tony tilted his head, "it's actually your birthday."

"1996?" The flat tone was still there.

"Yep." Tony said brightly. "You remember Brucie telling us what the Ancient One had to say about timelines and timestreams? Well, we think that this is a different timeline."

"Bruce? Banner? The Hulk's here?"

"Oh, no, not Bruce. The rest of us." Tony replied, he pulled out of Rhodes' arms and darted over to the closet and began shuffling through it.

"Us? Who's us?" Rhodes asked.

"Barnes, Clint, Laura and Pepper remember and Barnes and I were forced into telling mom and dad."

"Barnes?" Rhodes blinked. "Bucky Barnes? Cap's Barnes?"

"Yep." Tony threw a grin over his shoulder. "Although, right now he's my Barnes. He's my bodyguard. And Steve's still frozen, wherever it is he was. We've got plans for pulling him out a bit earlier than before. We want to integrate him into society, properly this time. Going from one war in 1945 to another war in 2011 didn't give him much time to acclimate and fucking SHIELD didn't help him out, with any integration classes. They just gave him a folder and said 'go forth, young man'. Really not all that helpful." He handed Rhodes a shirt and a pair of jeans. "Come on, get dressed and Barnes will drive us to the factory, I'll bring you up to date on what we've been doing."

This probably wasn't the craziest stunt Tony had ever pulled. That was a toss-up between Afghanistan, flying a nuke into a wormhole and building a working time machine, so Rhodes just shrugged and went with it. "I want my War Machine back." He bent and began to pull the jeans over his legs before freezing and whispering. "My legs… I can… I can feel them…"

"Yep, no more braces for my gummy-bear." Tony beamed. "And your suit is ready and waiting. I wasn't going to give it to you until I presented the unmanned version over to the DoD, but if you remember, I'm going to have to bring that forward a few years."

As they left the apartment, Barnes appeared from his post in the hallway. "Lieutenant Rhodes." He nodded.

"Sergeant Barnes." Rhodes returned the nod.

Barnes blinked and heaved a sigh. "Another one?" He asked Tony.

"Yep."

"To the factory, still?" Barnes asked.

"Yep. I'll call ahead and have the others meet us." Tony agreed.

The group gathered around a holographic note-table, each of them reviewing lists or talking to someone that was.

"So…?" Howard looked around bright and eager. "Who else can we expect?"

The conversations went silent.

"What?" Howard suddenly looked uncertain.

"Dad…" Tony hesitated. "I don't…" He took a deep breath. "See, the thing is, I wasn't expecting anyone, dad."

"No-one?"

"Nope. No-one." Tony shook his head.

"Well, that's a bad plan." Howard frowned at his son.

"It wasn't a plan, dad." Tony corrected. "I died. I expected to stay dead, I didn't expect to wake up as a twenty-year-old. I didn't expect to jump timelines. And I certainly didn't expect to have people around me, start to remember, either!" Tony ranted.

"Ah…" Howard nodded. "That's different. For some reason, I thought you had planned this."

"No, dad. No plan." Tony sighed.

"Right." Howard nodded slowly. "Well, the question still stands. Who else can we expect?"

"Um…" Tony grunted.

"So far, besides a connection to Tony, we're all Avengers or Avenger-adjacent." Barnes said.

"Excuse me?" Tony blinked.

"Well, we are." Barnes replied. "You and Clint were Avengers, while Laura, Pepper and I were adjacent. And Rhodes co-lead the New Avengers Initiative after the snap."

"Huh…" Tony grunted again.

"So, would that mean that we can expect other Avengers or Avenger-adjacent personnel to join us?" Maria asked.

"I… I don't know…" Tony tilted his head and thought.

"I say we plan for it all." Maria suggested. "Just in case there are others."

"Meaning?" Laura asked.

"We make an over-plan and add various amendments to it, for each person that could appear." Maria explained.

"Like? I was going to release an unmanned version of the armour for hot-zone extractions, with at most, a pair of manned suits for each DoD branch. But now that Rhodey's remembered, I need to look at bringing that forward?" Tony asked.

"Exactly." Maria nodded eagerly. "SI have stopped making large munitions and the DoD has acted to retrieve the black-market stock, so the Novi Grad bombs aren't going to be SI bombs."

"Which will lessen Wanda's hatred for Tony." Clint added.

"If Wanda remembers…" Laura sat forward. "What are the chances that she'll still have her… powers?"

All those at the table just blinked.

"I have no idea…" Tony said. "But I have to say, I kinda hope she does."

"Tony!" Pepper gasped.

"No, Pep." Tony held up a hand. "If she does have her powers, then she'll see the difference and even if the bomb that lands in her family's apartment is a Stark one, I can show her my memories of what we've done to avoid that and what we're doing to prepare, in advance, for Thanos' arrival."

"Oh…" Pepper went still while she thought through Wanda' possible reactions to that. "Yes… Yes, I can see that might change things…"

"That's going to be dozens of plans…" Barnes groaned.

"How do you figure that?" Clint asked.

"One over-all base plan." Barnes said. "Then one for if Wanda remembers. Another for if she brings her twin along. Another for if he remembers. Another for if Steve remembers. Another for Natasha. For Hulk. For Sam. What about T'Challa? Shuri? Quill? Danvers? Nebula? Rocket?" He groaned again. "But even then, it's not just what about them, it's what if Steve remembers and Natasha doesn't. Or T'Challa does but Shuri doesn't? Nebula does and Rocket doesn't? You see what I mean? There's got to be lots of plans, not just one plan for each person."

"Huh…?" Clint grunted.

Barnes held his head in his hands. "Like… a plan for Steve remembering but no-one else does. Another for Steve and Natasha remembering but no-one else does. Another for Steve, Natasha and Sam but no-one else. Another for Steve and Sam but no-one else. Another for Natasha and Sam but no-one else."

"Oh, hell…" Laura muttered. "I get it. Talk about multiple choice…"

Tony's eyes widened as he figured out what Barnes meant. "Oh, gods above…" He shuddered. "Right. Laura? I'm pulling you from Legal, you'll be working with Barnes, now. You'll both meet with Pepper and I, for a half-hour briefing each day. If I need to go out, Barnes will come with me, but otherwise, the pair of you work on this. Anyone has any free time, drop in and give them a hand. I want a rough outline ready to go by Christmas." He held up a hand. "Just a rough outline, we can work on filling in the details as we progress. Nothing's set in stone yet, except for the fact that sooner or later Thanos is going to be a problem. Everything else is fluid-in-motion, just yet."

"He's right." Rhodes spoke for the first time. "I've got a week of leave, I'll help, too."

"Um…?" Laura held up a hand.

"Yeah, Laur's?" Tony looked to the raven-haired woman.

"Pepper's getting a suit, right?" Laura asked.

"Yeah, Rescue's ready to go." Tony nodded. "PINI is installed and she and Pep are getting used to working together."

"Pini?" Rhodes asked.

"PINI is the Rescue suit's AI, Pretty Intelligent Network Interface." Tony answered.

"Will there be an AI for each suit?" Rhodes asked, he'd hadn't really got used to having FRIDAY in his ear.

"There will." Tony said.

"I want a suit." Laura blurted out.

"What?" Clint blinked at his wife.

"I want a suit." Laura repeated. "I sat at home and watched you come back, beaten and bloody each time you went out. Not again. I might have joined SHIELD last time but I was not a field agent. This time… This is my family, too, Clint. I have the right to protect them, just as much as you do. We already know that archery and hand-to-hand is pointless for me, but an Iron Man suit? Especially one with an AI for fine-targeting? I can do that. I want to do that."

"Oh, boy…" Tony winced.