𝕻𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖚𝖑𝖚𝖒 - [𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲]

𝐱𝐥𝐢𝐯. 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘵

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 — the gauntlet

━━━━━━━

 𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀, 𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐘, 𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐂𝐄 and Rocket had been entrusted with forging the gauntlet to hold the stones and the immense power they carried. It was almost painful to remove the Eye of Agamotto from around her neck, but Emilia complied all the same.

 To see the last remnants of her mentor. To see something that brought flashes of Stephen back to life... she was so damned close to getting him back. This had to work for Eilia Clemente simply didn't know what she'd do if they failed again.

 For a moment, Bruce trailed off with Rocket. Tony had spouted some sort of nonsense about needing a very particular item to help with their task, and Bruce — knowing that Tony Stark was far too particular when it came to his toys — merely agreed with an exasperated sigh and slinked off.

 "What was that?" Emilia muttered, teetering closer to the machine before them. Tony had his hands within a hologram, controlling each pinching part of the machine that scooped the stones and made it possible to move them about.

 Emilia wasn't an idiot, Tony really should have gotten that by now. He didn't need a special type of metal or a new pen because his had 'run out'... She'd gotten used to far better lies and excuses from the man.

 Tony played coy, his um sounding ever so pathetic, "Hm?"

 "Don't hm? Me, Tones. You didn't need them to get anything, we have everything we need right here, so what —"

 "— Saw my dad."

 He'd said it so flippantly that Emilia had stared for a moment, wondering if she'd truly heard him. Tony had already made them aware of the little slip-up to ensure their hands were around the Tesseract; they'd lost it in the midst of chaos — chaos, however, still seemed to light a word to describe what happened. Tony had watched himself... have a heart attack, it was so very him.

 So, Tony and Steve used their remaining Pym Particles to travel even further back in time. A time in which Pym Particles were ready at the dozen, and the Tesseract was waiting for them atop a podium as though sensing their dire need.

 Howard Stark. Tony scarcely spoke of him, but from the little that Emilia did know? He was an asshole. A big fucking asshole, and a terrible father to boot. He was the very reason Tony had been so scared when Morgan had toppled into the world as a fragile little thing demanding his attention from the get-go. He'd been frightened of her, of breaking her just like his father had done to his spirit and kindness from such a young age.

 "So..." Emilia drawled out through a grimace. She rather wondered how to go about things. Did she coax him into speaking? Did she pat his shoulder? No. She did neither. "Was he still an ass?"