Chapter 1: Ten Years Back

Chapter 1: Ten Years Back

A/N: Hey guys, welcome to my newest free write. Planning on updating this story every single day for the foreseeable future. Summary below.

Summary: Tony Stark travels back in time after the Snap determined to get things right this time. Even if he has to take over the world to make sure everyone actually works together against the threat that Thanos poses. He's not going to let everyone down. Not ever again.

-x-X-x-

“Tony... hey Tony, we’ve landed.”

He wakes up with a start and for a moment, he doesn’t know where he is. But just as quickly, he does. Tony Stark opens his eyes and groans as he looks up into the smiling face of his best friend, one Colonel James Rhodes. Rhodey. Though... no, not Colonel. Not yet. Still Lieutenant Colonel for a couple years more.

That kind of mistake, now that he’s back, could endanger everything. Though even as Tony files that away and tries to sit up, he has to bite back a cry of pain and finds himself wondering if maybe coming back to this moment was a mistake as well.

“Whoa, hey... easy. Slowly now man, you’ve been through a lot.”

Rhodey is all over him of course, acting like a proper mother hen. But then to be fair, the other man has every reason to be worried about Tony in this moment. He did just rescue the genius inventor from the deserts of Afghanistan, where as far as Rhodey was concerned, Tony had just spent the last three months as the prisoner of terrorists, being tortured and who knows what else.

Of course, that was only partially true. As far as this world and Tony’s body were both concerned, that was indeed what Tony had just been through. But his mind... heh, he could hardly believe it had worked. Well no, that wasn’t entirely true. He’d known it would work. All of the math had been perfectly sound.

“... I’m fine Rhodey. You get what I asked for?”

Rhodey looks at him for a moment longer before letting out a slightly defeated sigh.

“Yeah Tony. I got your suit.”

There’s a pang at those words coming from Rhodey’s mouth. But of course, the Lieutenant Colonel doesn’t mean an Iron Man Suit. No, he’s talking about the Armani Suit that Tony had asked for the first time around.

Yeah, first time around. Time Travel was real, who would have thunk? Well, Tony wouldn’t have until he got desperate enough to MAKE it real. Shit had gotten so bad in the future that he’d traveled a decade back in time. Fuck, he only had a decade to fix things and prepare for what was coming.

Luckily, Tony has every reason to grimace and wince as he proceeds to get dressed for his big homecoming. Part of him wondered why he’d chosen this moment, when he’d been safe but at his physical weakest, to come back to. But he knew why. Simple, really... he needed the reminder. The pain Tony was in right now, the state of mild starvation and dehydration combined with a soreness that went bone deep and an ache in his chest where the Arc Reactor currently sat, was like an ice water bath.

It focused him on the task at hand. Sure, he could have come back to before he’d been kidnapped. Or he could have come back a year after. There were a million different points that Tony could have sent his consciousness back to, and the vast majority of them would have been far nicer than this one. And yet, Tony didn’t want nice. He didn’t want easy or comfortable or healthy. He wanted to be reminded of how fucked up he’d gotten because of his own goddamn ego.

Once he’s in his Armani Suit, Rhodey forces him into a wheelchair and Tony lets him, allowing his friend to wheel him to the back of the plane. However, he draws the line at actually being wheeled off the damn thing. Fortunately, Rhodey doesn’t force the issue once the plane’s loading bay doors finally open up, revealing United States Soil.

Tony remembers how relieved he’d been to finally be home, back in the original timeline. He also remembers how angry he’d been. He was on a war path, even all the way back then. Only, past Tony hadn’t known who his enemies were. He hadn’t known to expect betrayal from his father’s old friend, nor that shit was only going to go downhill from there.

He knew now though. He knew and he wasn’t going to let anything get in his way.Thê source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))

That said, seeing Pepper again... well, Tony can’t help but be a little amazed by how young she looks. His secretary stands there in her normal business attire, her bright ginger hair done up in a professional bun... and tries hard not to break. As he climbs out of the wheelchair and descends the ramp, walking towards her, she fails.

Fortunately, even when Pepper Potts breaks, there aren’t tears. At least not when it’s happiness she’s feeling. The smile though... god that smile does things to Tony that he can’t even begin to quantify. She tries to hide it of course, but that just results in her biting her lower lip as he approaches her.

He remembers their conversation from last time, of course. Him commenting about the red around her eyes being a few tears shed for her missing boss, and Pepper’s joking response that she just didn’t want to have to job hunt. Tony could have recreated that, he supposed. His memory is perfect, and he could recreate their conversation to a tee. Instead...

“God Pep, I missed you.”

Instead, not really giving her a chance to respond, Tony steps into his future wife’s personal space and takes her face in his hands before laying his lips upon her lips. He kisses her soundly right then and there, deeply and without hesitation. Sure, they have an audience... and sure, technically he and Pepper don’t have a relationship yet in this timeline.

But she’s been his right hand woman for so many years already by this point. She’s cleaned up his messes, she’s taken care of his business... she’s effectively already proven herself to be capable of being his girlfriend and so much more besides that.

Too fast? Too soon? Too early? Maybe. Tony doesn’t care though. At least, not beyond Pepper’s reaction that is. She doesn’t try to pull away, at least. She even leans into the kiss for a moment before remembering herself. Only when she truly freezes up and Tony knows she’s trying to decide if she should extricate herself from his grasp or not does he pull away.

“I won’t bore you with the details of my vacation.”

More nervous titters, as if they don’t know whether they’re really supposed to laugh at not. A man was tortured for three months, after all, but that same man is the one making jokes. Tony can’t help but be a little amused at how deceptively simple it is to get the room of reporters so uncomfortable none of them thinks to do their job... which is of course to ask uncomfortable questions.

Still, he’s grateful for the silence. It lets him get his point across quite clearly.

“However, I didn’t free myself from captivity and trek halfway across a desert before being picked up by our boys for nothing.”

That sets off a whole lot of murmuring, which of course quickly turns into yammering as every reporter tries to get a question in at once. Tony lets them go at it for a moment before...

SLAM!

He’s foregone the sling entirely this time around, but he’s still smart enough to use his good hand to strike the podium with enough force to create a sound that brings the room to a standstill. Still smiling, Tony Stark looks at the reporters and can see a few shiver as he chuckles darkly.

“No questions, sorry. Just listen. Don’t worry, I’m about to give you all more than enough for your articles to draw the eyes of millions tomorrow. Put simply... what I saw over there opened my eyes. I was going through life as a zombie, thinking I knew the way the world worked when I really didn’t.”

He can see Obadiah looking worried out of the corner of his eye. Funnily enough, the older man needn’t have been. Tony isn’t planning on rocking the boat in the same way this time.

“I’ve always believed that the relationship between Stark Industries and the U.S. Military is paramount to the fight for peace in this world, just like my father before me. After my experiences... I believe that to be the case all the more strongly.”

There’s a ripple through the crowd at that, and Obadiah is all smiles out of the corner of Tony’s eyes. Yeah, he bets the older man was happy to hear that.

“However... I’ve also come to believe that viewpoint to be narrowminded.”

He has their full attention at that, including Stane’s. Where is he going with this? Simple, really.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think recently. For obvious reasons. A lot of time to come up with new ideas. New designs.”

That gets more excitement from the military in the room then the reporters. And it definitely piques Obadiah’s interest.

“Not just weapons, however. Stark Industries has long been known for making things that blow up. But I’m capable of more than that... so, so much more. That’s why, effective immediately, Stark Industries will be expanding into a number of new markets. Stay tuned, because once you see what we have coming down the pipelines, you’re going to want to get in on the ground floor.”

Flashing his dangerous smile once more, Tony leaves the stage with his back straight and his head held high. There’s no moment where Obadiah tries to manhandle him off the stage this time, because there’s no moment where Tony tries to shut down Stark Industries’ weapons manufacturing division.

Instead, the older man follows after him, congratulating Tony and trying to pull whatever he possibly can about these ‘new projects’. Tony easily deflects him of course. Another ten years of wheeling and dealing under his belt make the task of giving Obadiah what he thinks he wants while not giving him anything at all... child’s play.

Of course, Tony knows what Stane actually wants. He wants to kill Tony Stark. He wants to make Stark Industries into Stane Enterprises or something. He wants his name on the building before he dies. Fucking egomaniac scumbag.

It doesn’t matter though. None of it is going to matter for much longer. Because all Tony really needed was a little bit of time. Time to implement his plans. Time to utilize his foreknowledge. Time to grow too entrenched for any of his enemies to ever fully do away with him.

If they knew what he was planning, they’d kill him right now. Not just HYDRA, but probably SHIELD as well. After all... stopping people from taking over the world was sort of their mandate, wasn’t it? Still, Tony wasn’t going to let that stop him. It was for their own good. And while he didn’t do it for thanks or accolades, he thought they’d be grateful all the same... one day.

-x-X-x-

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A/N: So what do you guys think? Also what do you think Tony's next steps will/should be? Curious to see if you guys have the same priorities that I do, heh.

Obviously there's a lot of things Tony needs to get, a lot of things in the timeline to fix. But some problems are obviously more immediate than others, aren't they?

See you all tomorrow!