A YEAR LATER
TONY
I can hear crying and it takes me a moment to realise Pepper isn't beside me. I rub my head, getting rid of a slight headache, and stand up.
I open the attached door and pick Peter out of his crib. I rock him up and down like Pepper does but he won't stop crying.
'He's beautiful.' I hear from behind me, and spin round to the dislike of Peter. 'Your son.'
Shuri stands in the doorway and I have no idea what I'm meant to do, if she has come on friendly terms or not.
'Should I be scared?' I ask, as Peter slowly falls back to sleep.
'I am an ally, today.' She says. 'You named him Peter?'
'It was the only name that worked.' I reply, placing him back in his crib.
'We need to talk.' She says, as I follow her out the room.
'Yeah, how did you get in here?' I ask, looking round for an open window.
'I can do that sort of thing.' She shrugs. 'I am here to talk of Thanos.'
I stop in my tracks. We haven't heard from Thanos in a year, he has left us to our devices.
'What about him?' I ask cautiously.
'I was looking into Fury's symbol he left behind, the one with the M?' I nod. 'There's a slight law written about it, saying the symbol belongs to some hero somewhere. I've been keeping a track of the cosmos and found an irregular movement. It's heading in one direction, fast towards earth.'
'Let me get this straight.' I say, stopping and turning towards her, 'you think Fury had another agent on call and only waited till last minute to call him, and you think he's coming now?'
'That is why I am here.' She confirms.
'Why here? Why my house?' I ask.
'The signals say he should be landing over there.' She says, pointing out the field behind my house, 'In about an hour.'
'You could have called.' I say.
'The less I say about it, the less I am banking on it. I need this to work.'
'Pepper's out, so I need to watch over Peter, but you're welcome to stare at that field for however long you want. It's been a year, no one is coming, and there's nothing we can do. I'd head back to your kingdom if I were you, focus on the living.'
'My brother is alive,' She says, 'I just need to find him.'