all the stars; scarletvision {ABANDONED}

communication, part one

[Tony Stark's POV]

Panic. That's what Tony felt when he found that Vision had left the compound without a trace. There was some sadness mixed in there, too. Vision was normal. Vision had J.A.R.V.I.S's voice, one that was always a comfort to hear long before he became Iron Man. Vision was a piece from before, and something to hold onto after. That's how Tony always thought of his and Steve's fight that tore the Avengers apart. Before: Everything was good. They fought together, laughed together. The guilt was always there, but at least everyone was there to help each other with it. After: They were scattered. It was like little bits of him were suddenly ripped away, and he felt empty. Hollow. He still had Pepper and Rhodey, of course. Vision was there for a bit. And Happy was constant, too. But he missed many things: Natasha's snarky comments, Steve's almost innocent demeanor, Thor's fascination with humans, Sam's stupid pranks, Bruce's new inventions, Clint's life-is-mostly-meaningless way of going about and Vision's mechanical voice intruding on conversations with random bits of trivia, and even something as small as walking into the kitchen and seeing Wanda cooking. He missed that.

But he acted like it didn't matter and shut out his emotions, because that was what he did, right? He was Tony Stark, the billionaire who didn't give a shit. But he did, and it was eating him up a little. He silently played with the burner phone Steve had sent him in his pocket as he watched a large computer monitor. It was currently accessing street camera footage from London, England. In the months since Vision disappeared, he had been scanning entire countries for the super bot. He had covered all of North, Central, and South America, and was starting on Europe with the UK. He wasn't entirely sure what he would do when he found Vision. Tony assumed he was with Wanda, and that one thing he wouldn't do was turn them in. It wasn't worth it, especially with the way they had treated Wanda. He couldn't imagine what they would do with Vision.

Tony pondered that for a second before deciding that even if he did do it, their combined power would probably be too much for anything thrown at them. He heard a tapping at the door and turned to see a slightly concerned Pepper. "Hey. You've been there all day, you should take a break." He smiled without humor and said, "No, I'm good." The screen flickered schizophrenically, scanning the new faces of people in Greenwich. Pepper walked forward and set down a sandwich and a cup of coffee before playing with Tony's hair. "I'm not really asking. Rhodes could use some help in his PT. Once you've eaten you should join him." He sighed and chugged his coffee, scalding his mouth and throat and then ate his sandwich in three bites. "A'right," he said with a full mouth. Pepper smiled and lightly kissed his cheek as he left. She sat down and set her eyes on the screen.

He took the elevator to the rehabilitation room, where Rhodey was working his legs. They were still in terrible shape, but he could stand on his own two feet for a couple seconds before they buckled. Walking was still out of the question, but they were working on it. Rhodey glanced up and smiled. "Mr. Stank has entered the room!" Tony rolled his eyes. He needed to track down that FedEx driver and have him retire. Rhodey hadn't let the joke go, even though it had been months. "Rhodey, if I wanted to listen to an asshole, I'd fart, okay?" Rhodey laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Alright. Come help me." Tony walked over to the bars Rhodey was leaning on and took his arm. "You got it," he said gently as Rhodey took a couple shaky steps forward. After a few more Tony let go and Rhodey stepped forward about seven steps before buckling and violently falling to the ground. "Shit!" Tony said and he stepped to Rhodey, who was very shaken. "Are you good?" Rhodey nodded silently and sighed, holding out his arm to Tony. Tony helped him up and asked, "How long have you been here?" "About an hour and a half." Tony stood straight up. "What?! That's too long. You need a break." Rhodey glared at him. "Hypocrite much?" Tony waved him off as he helped him into a wheelchair.

They rolled down to the kitchen and Rhodey immediately went to the fridge and pulled out some grape jelly before getting bread, peanut butter, and a knife. Tony got him a plate and sat down across from him as he made his sandwich. "Any progress with Vision?" Tony shook his head. "No. We've knocked out two continents and are working on a third." He sighed and rubbed his eyes. Rhodey looked on, a little concerned. "You'll find him. Everything will be okay." Tony smiled without humor. "Sure. Sure it will."

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After a silent lunch with Rhodey, Tony went back up to Pepper to take over, even though it had only been about an hour or so. It was done scanning England and Wales, and was almost done with Ireland. It would move on to Edinburgh, Scotland next.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes as it started on Scotland. It was no more than fifteen seconds later when it started to beep. His eyes flew open and he stared at the black-and-white photo on the screen. It was Wanda, with a tall man with light hair and eyes. She was smiling and laughing at him. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. Tony frowned. Wouldn't she be with Vision? He leaned back.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" "Yes, boss?" a mechanical female voice replied. "Look up any interesting or odd looking headlines from these past couple months coming from Edinburgh, Scotland." "On it, boss." Within seconds, news feeds and papers popped up on the screen. "Make sure we don't lose her," he said as he started to sort through the news. Dildo operated out of cow, Naked man found on roof claiming to be God, and Elvis impersonator found with high-ranking government official all made appearances, but didn't seem to pop out as 'Wanda and Vision' weird. After about half an hour later, it hit him. He had created a disguise for Vision months ago. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., pull up a picture of Vision's disguise and compare it to the guy Wanda's with." "Yes, boss."

PERFECT MATCH were the bold words on the screen, along with a newspaper article that Tony has finally found. Cars found cut in half and trees uprooted was the headline, and underneath it said the remains of what was supposed to be chicken paprikash and a smoking pile of wood were found on the roof of a hotel. Most defiantly Wanda and Vision. The hotel was The Bonham Hotel, of which he quickly was able remotely hack into. He found them easy enough- Room 201 was booked under the names Victor and Wanda Shade. Victor Shade was Vision's alias, and it made sense that Wanda adopted the last part of it.

He picked up a black transponder up from the desk and dropped it into a padded envelope along with a letter he had written months ago. Tony then sealed it and addressed it to where they were. Where his family was.

All he could think was, Come home.

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I'M BACK BITCHES!!!

I'm sorry. Y'all are good people, not bitches. Unless you want to be called that.

So! I'm off hiatus. The next chapter probably won't come anytime soon, but it is in the works.

This chapter was necessary for continuity, in case you guys were wondering. Tony mentions in the New York Sanctum with Dr. Strange, Wong, and Bruce Banner that Vision turned off his transponder- meaning that Vision had one and was letting Tony know where he was. A different transponder was also mentioned, so guess who's perspective the next chapter will be in?

On a much different note- Endgame ripped out my heart and stole away my soul so if any of you want to DM about it to cope that's cool.

I'll see you all soon enough!

~Cas