Iron Man: Resurrection

8

Thomas POV...
"What about Thor?!" I shout as it all just gets to me because it's just so unbelievable.

"Off world," Fury says with little care in his tone while I'm losing my mind!

"Falcon and the Winter Soldier?!"

"Untraceable. But we have reason to believe it's for a good reason."

"The weird wizards!"

"Somewhere in the fucking multiverse!"

"Ant- Man?!"

"Who the fuck is that?" He asks his eyes sharpen. Fuck! It's true. I can't deal with this.  "Look kid we've already established that the best place for you to be is behind the desk. We know where we need you. No pressure."

"No pressure?! It's the fucking end of the world. You don't have to ask me for me to know you expect it from me. The world expects it from me. My father expects it from me."

"No- one expects anything from you but it sounds like you're expecting it from yourself."

*** *** ***

"There are 29 Iron-Man suits in my armoury," E.D.I.T.H. says as I look over to the one I wore when I fought the Wakandan battle pods. I have thirty suits to pick from to fly off into my suicide.

"Hey," Peter says arriving in my doorway. Why did I leave it open?"So tomorrow is the big day. Made any breakthroughs?" he asks but I can see he isn't hopeful.

"I've read over every file on Ultron and I have nothing but the theory that intelligence is the purest source of evil," I say taking the E.D.I.T.H. glasses off and placing them on the dresser. Peter pays no attention to the glasses. He probably doesn't know what they are.

"Intelligence is a source of evil? Where does that come from?" He asks as he comes to sit next to me on my bed.

By body tenses at how close he is. I can literally feel the heat radiating off of his body and it's euphoric to me.

"Ultron is ultimately artificial intelligence but his sentience is the combination of my father and Bruce Banner's mind. Both Brilliant men. This assumes that either one of them had the potential of having such thoughts as Ultron, never acting on it but having it and knowing it makes sense. It even makes sense to me," I say.

"Yeah me to," Peter says and I wasn't expecting that but he is but another brilliant mind. " Our species is killing the earth, our only home, just by living. It's as if we weren't meant to thrive. No doubt Ultron's race of robots would be able to thrive," he says and it's true. "Doesn't make it right though."

I nod. "He can't slaughter billions just so Earth can have a thriving race."

"Is that what's been bothering you?" Peter asks making direct eye contact with me and I melt. I melt right into a pool of openess. I just want him to know. I just want him to help me.
"I think I died," I say and he tenses immediately. "When the Wakandan ship attacked. I think it killed me. I was in this white room and my dad was there and he told me to go back. I wasn't done."

"Probably an hallucination ," Peter says.

"But it wasn't. I know it was real. I could feel it. When I woke up I was breathing like I had to make up for breaths I wasn't taking."

Peter nods. "So you're bothered that you died?" Peter asks. He believes me because I tell him I know it's true based off my feelings and doesn't question me again. I've never met anyone like him.

"I'm bothered because I didn't. He sent me back and said I wasn't done. I have to finish something. He wants me to be the Iron-Man."

"You can't assume that," Peter says grabbing my hand next to him. When he holds it I feel somewhat calmer, like theirs a slight possibility that it will all be okay. "You get to decide what's best for you. Not Fury, not Pepper and not your dad. This job is so much more than just being brave and having power at your fingertips. It's about purpose. If it's not yours it's not," he says and it all sounds so simple as it passes his lips, which I'm staring at. Maybe it is that simple. Maybe I'm wrong about what everyone expects from me. Maybe my dad meant something else.