Artificial Suns In Alternate Galaxies

Chapter 3

They need to tell the public.

Of course they need to tell the public – Fury's and President Elis’ protests about risking mass hysteria are all valid points, but it's not like they can just ignore the giant spaceship flying over New York without giving an explanation to people. There will be sightings. There will be recordings. Their alien guests will be trending on Twitter within minutes to their arrival, and asking them to turn on any stealth modes their ship may or may not possess would be political suicide in the face of a community that thrives on transparency.

The UN's press release puts an emphasis on the offered protection and the benefits of a possible cooperation between Earth and the UGC, and allows for a surprising amount of questions to put the public at ease.

Thanos is not mentioned, and while Tony is a big advocate on honesty in general, he finds himself agreeing with that decision from a PR perspective. For now.

There are a few, scattered protests against "letting aliens onto our land" by the usual extremist groups who protest against virtually everything, but the general reception is… quieter than Tony expected. He wonders if aliens became old news after Loki and his army, or if it was the Guardians who somewhat tipped that particular scale into normalcy.

Peter is all over him after the press conference, of course.

"What do they look like? How many of them are coming? What are they called? Do they even speak English? How do they speak English? Mr. Stark, you have to tell me, did they…"

Tony very pointedly doesn't invite the kid over to the Tower until his sugar high runs its natural course.

Pepper jokingly scolds him for not warning her of the press release ahead, and it takes quite a few hours of the crippling urge to touch her to simmer back down into bearable levels after she leaves.

Rhodey calls him to say he got himself a spot at the summit as a representative of both the Avengers and the military. He doesn’t ask Tony to visit the Compound, and doesn’t make false promises about coming over to the Tower during the weekend, not while preparations will likely require his every waking minute.

Tony tells himself he’s not disappointed.

“FRI, how are we standing on the production?” he asks one evening during a rare pause in his quest for knowledge about anything and everything that has to do with the UGC. They provided more reading material when Clarke prompted them to, and the woman even managed to attain some footage of life on Grilia without coming across as if she was gathering intel on an enemy.

Tony honestly can’t remember being this fascinated with anything in his life before, sans Pepper.

“Seventy-eight Iron Legionaries are ready to use Boss, six more currently in progress.”

Good. Nearly eighty suits means nearly eighty extra hands against Thanos, should he happen to show up sooner than Quill’s predictions suggest. Repurposing the top five floors previously occupied by the Avengers for mass production was a good idea, even if he had to fight Pepper on it for a day or two.

Tony wonders if he will be able to stop making suits if they manage to establish an alliance with the Communia. He wonders if he will be able to stop thinking about nukes and missiles without the crushing sense of guilt whispering he could have done more if he gave up his no-weapons policy just this once.

The fleet will certainly be larger than the one Thanos sent their way under Loki’s command, and there will be no portals to bottleneck their advances this time. A handful of special, but still highly breakable humans is empathically not a plan, no matter what the UN or SHIELD claims, and Rogers’ “if we lose, we lose together” attitude won’t save any lives either. Lives that Tony could save, maybe, if only he just decided to dig up a few of his old designs, if only he’d just build a Jericho—

“Boss, I’m afraid DUM-E has managed to set a window on production level four on fire.”

“I don’t… a window? Seriously?”

“I’m reasonably certain Butterfingers was not involved, but U seems to be pleading the fifth.”

“Oh for the love of...”

If Tony is grateful for FRIDAY’s conveniently timed emergencies whenever his breathing is picking up a pace she doesn’t like, they never talk about it.