What If Tony Stark Was The Villain

Part 3 - The Downfall

Tony and Pepper were casually in the mansion, her lying down with her head on Tony's lap over a pillow, when JARVIS informed them about an urgent call from S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Sir, it's Nick Fury" the voice shocks them both.

"Put him through" Tony says seriously and holds Pepper tighter.

"Stark, we need you right now. Loki is back" the words make them both gasp.

"Loki? What does he want now?" Tony asks in confusion.

They dealt with him years ago as a team, when he invaded Earth. He went back to Asgard with Thor and they never heard from him again. Tony almost died defending New York during that fight, his PTSD never left him since. Pepper stood up and looked into his eyes in terror. She didn't want all that to return to the surface.

"Same thing he always wanted. He just thinks he has better chances this time with the Avengers in this condition" Fury says.

"F*ck. Who else is available for the fight?" Tony curses.

"It's just you and we'll provide help, we can't reach the other Avengers"

"What?" Pepper screams.

"It's okay, baby" Tony holds her from her cheek sweetly.

"No, it's not. Nothing is okay. You haven't been okay since you came back from that battle. You're hiding it and I'm helping you get through this but this will just make things worse. This is a suicide mission for f*ck's sake" Pepper bursts out.

"Baby, it's really not. We've dealt with him before" Tony reassures her.

"You weren't alone then" Pepper shakes her head.

"It's me, I can handle it" he smiles.

"Tony..." she sighs.

"Just stay here for me, I need to know you're not going anywhere" he rests his forehead against hers.

"I want you to stay here, too. Don't go, Tony, please" she begs him.

"There's no one else other than me, you heard Fury" Tony sighs.

"Come back to me" she whimpers, knowing how dangerous this is.

"I will, I promise" he replies and deeply stares in her eyes before they kiss one more time.

Tony suits up and leaves immediately for battle. Pepper is left behind with agony and fear taking over her. She's not so sure how ready Tony is to get into a fight like this right now. She cries again and again, maybe the hormones are making things worse but she can't control it. So she just waits and hopes for the best.

Tony has easily found Loki, he's again at the Avengers tower. Or maybe just Stark tower once again since the rest of the Avengers don't associate with it anymore. He's throwing punches with Loki's army, trying to get to Loki himself and end things.

"F*ck" he groans when a strong hit throws him down.

"Giving up already?" he hears a familiar voice and turns his head immediately.

"What are you doing here?" he asks with confusion.

"I couldn't let you fight this one by yourself" Natasha smiles at him and helps him get back up.

"Aren't you risking your freedom?" his voice is shocked.

"Yes" she replies and attacks a pack of Loki's army, easily taking them down.

Tony joins her and impressively wipes off another pack of them. Their team up is always great and they're proving it again. Things are going well until another huge wave of them arrives and both Tony and Natasha sigh deeply, slowly running out of strength.