I Thought You Were Different: Part 6

Righteousness

Once Brooke had been fully caught up on the happenings with you and the new discovery of the powers that you had been given, she knew immediately that if anyone were to try to find the answer, and if there were anyone who would do the worst job at thinking rationally about it, then she had to find Tony as quickly as possible. There was enough history to tell her without much thought to it at all.

"Where's Grandpa?"

"He took Pepper out for breakfast a while ago, so they should be back any minute. Why?" Anthony asked with a shrug, but the look in her eyes easily took his attentions.

"Ant, can I talk to you alone for a sec?"

"Sure."

"Maybe a little privacy," she nodded towards the lab. Her brother followed her readily, looking around for anyone who might be following them, as if what they were about to discuss could be too secret to share. He knew that wouldn't end well for them if that were the case, but he wanted to hear what she had to say with her new knowledge of the situation. The triplets had always been remarkably close, but that had also meant that they were remarkable troublemakers when left to their own devices.

The two siblings reached the lab doors, with Anthony taking a fast step ahead of her to hold the door open to allow her in. The lights were already on, so he took a quick scan around him and found that they seemed to be alone. "Okay, what's up?"

"What do we know about the soul stone?"

"Um...just what Stephen has taught us...that it controls life and death, houses the soul world, scary as hell."

"Life and death..." she paused, searching her mind, "Ant, I heard Grandpa say that the other day when I visited him here. Maybe it's just coincidence but we know better than to assume. If he's up to something then we need to figure out what it is."

"I bet he's just making sure that Mom stays safe, Brooke." He was doing his best to reassure her, but in reality, the words were just as readily meant for him.

"Right. So, tell me, how often does he think clearly when Mom's in trouble? With Dad too? Ant, we need to know before he does anything crazy. You know as well as I do, if not more, that he'll put himself aside for them. We can't let that happen. They would never want him to."

"Should we take a look around?"

"I suppose," she sighed with a heavy sinking in her gut. "FRIDAY, do you have a location on-"

"I'm right here," Tony interrupted, stepping out from one of the side rooms. His attention was on something he was working diligently with as he walked towards them, nearly bumping into his table before finally looking up at the pair. "What's going on kids?"

Brooke took the step forward first, resolved to hold her ground. "Grandpa, please tell us that you're not doing anything dangerous to help Mom or Dad. Please."

"Right now? No, I'm not doing anything to help your mom or dad."

"No, that's not fair," Anthony joined in and pointed at Tony sharply, "semantics can't fool us."

"Hmm, that used to work all the time."

"We're adults now, Grandpa. Harder to trick."

It was a moment of pure appreciation before Tony spoke again, looking at two of his three grandchildren, feeling overwhelmingly thankful for them, marveling at just how smart they really were. They had so much of you in them that he knew that any old answer wouldn't work to dismiss them away, but he also wasn't about to get their genius revved up with ideas that they could get themselves into any trouble here, either. "Guys, don't worry about me, okay? I'm just feeling out a few hypotheses, that's all. Research stage, I promise."