This is me again desperately trying to get a sprinkle of Pepper in AOU. Sigh. Hope you could be with me in this journey of loneliness, as I try and make out some Pepperony sense in AOU. I know we are all hoping and wishing for some Pepperony scenes.

All mistakes are mine. Lines and scenes from AOU may not be that accurate, so Sorry in advance but the overall thought is there, I guess. Lol. No beta. Please be gentle! :) PEPPERONY FOREVER.

Tony was once again left with his thoughts. Thor just disappeared in the crowd. Good thing. He didn't want to hear anymore of his bragging. He wanted to tell him that his girl would not accomplish what Pepper could at the moment- that is, carry a child while single handedly managing a bunch of crazy chinese businessmen and running a multibillion dollar company. He smirked. Imagining Pepper outmanuevered the board members with a big rounded belly. Sexy, pregnant CEO Pepper. 'Wow. What a sight.' He can't wait till her belly swells and the bump shows. He knew very well that she'll be a great mom. Hell, she's been mothering him for more than a decade now. And she's been very good in taking care of others, what more if it's their children she has to take care of. 'Children? Really Tony?' He's really surprised at how he changed so much since Ironman, and being with Pepper. He needed to discuss the 'children' first with her as he won't be the one to carry them and squeeze them out of his hole. He shook his head, and grinned at his thoughts.

He just needs to wrap this party up, check the progress of his project and hopefully, fly to China to be with his Pepper. It's a pretty simple checklist, but still he can't shake off the feeling of uneasiness and something else entirely. Is this because of what he saw? Clearly, the witch played with his mind, but is there something more to it than just a silly little mind trick? He tried so hard to get the scenes off his mind. Surely, he's been over New York and his panic attacks, but still, he can't help the chill run down his spine whenever he gets to see a wormhole with a bunch of aliens. What if he didn't go with them to Russia to retrieve Loki's scepter? What if he just went to China with Pepper like he's supposed to? They are in the middle of business contracts and negotiations for the building of another Stark Tower in China. It's definitely a huge project that he worries so much about Pepper tiring herself up. He should have been there. But still, being Iron Man prevailed, with a heavy heart he let Pepper go alone. Well technically, she's not really alone as she's with one heck of a security team, Happy and Ironman suits hovering above them-this Pepper does not know. He's been overly protective of her since the Mandarin, and he swore he won't let her alone, unguarded ever again. So, she went to China with a promise of not working herself too much while he went to Russia with a promise of getting back in one piece,alive. He's done his promise, he's alive but a little troubled with lots of visions of deaths and aliens. How he wished they could just send someone else to do the dirty jobs for them. Not that he thinks that saving the world is a bad thing, it's actually his biggest accomplishment, one that he would tell his children about, but he's just not sure that if the next big thing happens, they are all prepared and ready to fight.

Ultron. The project he's been discussing with Bruce. And the only thing he's been doing for the past three days. This is what he needs, what they need. He will be able to cut off his time being Ironman. He hated going away on missions especially now with Pepper's condition. But still Iroman has responsibilities. Not because he decided to not play hero anymore and be the doting husband/father does not mean he'll just let the world alone with all its vulnerabilities. They needed an option. So,they could still keep the peace they all wanted but still get a life of their own.

"Tony!" He heard Rhodey calling him as he approached him.

"Hey, what's going on with you? Are you okay?" He asked, concern etched on his face.

"Why do you ask?" Tony casually countered. But he knows very well he's a little out of his game. He throws the party after all, and he's not being a gracious host.

"Well, for one, you have all the opportunities a while ago to crush my ego and my blabbering about War Machine, but no, no witty come back. And man, you really looked..." he thought for a moment. "Sad or should I say, distracted." He knew Rhodey would notice, obviously, since he's known him more than anyone in the room.

"I'm fine, Platypus. Just a little homesick," he stated. He knows Rhodey would get that homesick is equivalent to missing Pepper. Home to Tony is where Pepper is.

"Oh come on man, cheer up. Don't you miss this kind of party, old man," he jested and punched him lightly on the shoulder. Tony just raised a brow and smirked at him.

"Come on, let's just join the others, so you could share more of your war machine tales." He said, deciding to just get on with the party, and let himself celebrate with his team.

"Now we're talking." Rhodey happily exclaimed as he followed Tony.

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The rest of the guests were all gone. They were lounging in the couch when Barton decided to jest about Thor's hammer. Thor's clearly enjoying their predicament on how his hammer can be lifted.

Tony watched as Barton tried first, to no avail, he failed. He decided to play along and teased Barton for not being able to do it.

"Please, Stark," Barton gestured at him, "by all means." Challenging him to lift the hammer himself.

He stood up, exuding confidence and being his usual arrogant self. "Never one to shrink from an honest challenge," he said and motioning for the hammer. "It's Physics." He position himself to the hammer, trying to find the best grip.

"If I lift it, I could then rule Asgard?" He asked Thor. Everyone's clearly enjoying his jests.

"Sure, ofcourse," Thor replied casually. The others are just smirking and waiting for him to fail.

He tried lifting it up, but still nothing. He thought of getting the suit, "I'll be right back." He returned with his gauntlet, lifting the hammer with all its arc reactor power, he even asked Rhodey to help him. But ofcourse, the damn hammer would just not budge. He was happy to be distracted from his thoughts, this is what he needs, a moment of escape and later on, when the party ends, he'll check on Ultron, and fly to Pepper.

Banner tried and even joked about hulk-ing up. 'God, this guy really has a bad timing,' he thought, smirking at him. Steve was the last one to try, and he's really sure he saw the hammer budge a bit. He looked at Thor immediately, and from the look on his face, he clearly saw it too. Still, Steve was not able to lift it, and Thor just laughed nervously. 'Hmmm. Close one, God of thunder,' he thought.

"Who shall carry Thor's fingerprint is the literal translation of him." He suggested, still wanting to be distracted and play along. Thor stood up, "It's a very very interesting theory, but the central one is, " he lifted up the hammer in the air, "YOU'RE ALL NOT WORTHY."

They all let out sounds of disapproval and laughed at each other. And then suddenly, a loud piercing static noise filled the tower.

He immediately checked on Jarvis. "J?" He asked his AI, but he didn't respond. Steve is looking at him with questioning gaze and then suddenly a suit appeared before them. It's a mangled one, definitely looked like one of his Iron Legions. He checked on his device, still nothing appeared.

"How could you be worthy? You're all killers," the robotic voice echoed in his ears. 'Who's controlling this?' There must be someone else interfering with his system. He can't access Jarvis, he can't control the central system. He suddenly felt the jittery feeling of nervousness in his stomach.

"Stark." Steve said, clearly asking him to stop this nonsense.

"Jarvis." He called his AI, and got no response from him.

The mangled suit continued on with his rambling about noises, strings, and killing the other guy. 'Who could that be?' He checked again with Jarvis,still nothing.

"You killed someone?" He heard Steve asking.

"Would not have been my first call but down in the real world we're left with ugly choices."

"Who sent you," Thor's booming voice suddenly snapped him back, he's so lost in calculating the odds of having a boogey in his system or a technical glitch that would cause this.

'I see a suit of armor around the world.' He remembered saying that to Bruce when they were arguing about the project.

"Ultron!" Bruce said while looking at him. He frowned. 'How could this happen.'

"In the flesh." The robotic voice boomed. "Oh no, not yet. Not this useless..."he added. "But I'm ready, I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Bruce asked. He saw Thor gripping his hammer tightly, Hill readying her gun, and the rest are clearly on alert mode.

"Peace in our time!" Ultron exclaimed, then suddenly the Iron Legions are attacking them. He can't summon his suit, as Jarvis is his main link to it. Guess, he just needed to fight them the best way he could. As he jumped on one of the suits, he thought that good thing Pepper's not in the tower. 'She's safe in China, Tony. Focus.' He's able to shutdown the suit as the last one was destroyed by Steve's shield.

He's panting, and still not believing what just happened while Ultron keeps on rambling about them protecting the world but not wanting it to change and all his craps that he's having a hard time comprehending.

"There's only one path to peace, The Avengers Extinction." He said before Thor's hammer smashed his already mangled suit.

'Oh God, this is not good.' Tony thought grimly.

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He's trying to wrap his brain around the truth that he made Ultron. He made the robot that tried to kill them. He stared at his destroyed suits, lost in thought but still he could clearly hear what his teammates are discussing about. Surely, they will blame him. Who's to blame than the one who created it?

All the files are gone, all data are wiped out. Natasha was right. Ultron probably knows each one of them more than they know each other. He heard Rhodey saying something about Ultron accessing something more exciting. For Rhodey, Tony knew, it's definitely something about the government files, and yeah, nuclear codes and the likes. Rhodey would definitely think first of the government as he will always be the ever faithful soldier. He, on the other hand, could not care less about what government files Ultron could access, as long his prevented from doing harm to people. Besides, he's been specific in what he wants to do-that is, the Avengers extinction. But still, the fact remains that he knows information about them. He will surely see the life they have. He will see that he has Pepper. He has someone he could hurt and use against him. 'Oh God, not Pepper.'

He heard Clint asking about the guy Ultron killed since there was no one else around the tower. He decided to join in the conversation, as he still can't accept the fact that Jarvis was destroyed.

Banner looked shocked at his announcement. Jarvis is their first line of defense. He would definitely try everything to stop it and he must have put up a fight against Ultron that clearly led to his destruction. He can't mourn the loss of his AI as of the moment as they still have a lot of things to figure out.

And then suddenly, Thor came marching in, gripped him in the neck, lifted him up just like what Loki did to him. 'What's with this Asgardian gods and gripping necks.' He can't just choke the life out of him and not say anything.

"Come on use your words, buddy." He still managed to gibe.

"I have more than enough words to describe you Stark." Thor remarked, rage evident in his grip.

He heard them stopping Thor from sucking the life out of him. 'Oh man, he really is a god.' He's tempted to quip that Thor should spare him for the love of his unborn child, he doesn't want his child to grow up without a father. Before he could even say a thing, Thor released his grip. Steve asked him of the legionaire who fled and unfortunately, it has the scepter.

"I don't understand. You build this program?" Dr. Helen Choi suddenly spoke, "why is it trying to kill us?"

'Why?' 'If I knew already, we'll not be just chatting up here,' he thought. The very thing he created to help them save the world is now trying to kill them and probably destroy the world. The irony is so terrible, he suddenly had the urge to laugh. He could see Bruce at the corner of his eyes, shaking his head, obviously trying to stop him from laughing or whatever he has in mind.

"Do you think this is funny?" Thor impatiently said.

"No...It's probably, not, right?" He said still laughing. "Cause this is really terrible. This is so terrible."

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand," Thor countered, clearly pissed at having to retrieve the scepter again.

"No..," he stopped Thor from speaking, "I'm sorry. It's CRUDE.. But you don't get why we need this," he said with certitude.

"Toooonyyy, this might not be the right time..." He heard Bruce who is slightly squirming and clearly not on his side.

"Really?" This time he turned to Bruce. "You just roll over, show your belly, everytime somebody snarls." He said mockingly. He can't help but feel alone in this battle. Maybe, they can never understand why they need this, not even Bruce.

"Not when I created a murder Bot," Bruce reasoned out.

"We didn't!" He's damn sure they did not. "Are we even close to an interface?"

He stopped his rambling when Steve butts in. He may act arrogantly, acting as if he does not listen to anyone, but still he could be a good follower especially on grounds he's not really an expert in. He could very well say that when it comes to war and strategy, he would listen to Rogers.

But he still have to make them realize why they need it, why he did what he did. It's like New York over again, it's like being in his suit flying into that portal, feeling as hopeless as ever, not knowing if he'll ever live to see their victory, or see Pepper again.

They are the Avengers. Surely, they could bust anyone who gets in their way. But out there in the vast universe, aliens and everything unknown to men exist, and they need to be prepared for that. He went on talking about that drama of his, flying into that wormhole with a nuke on his back. He still managed to appear as arrogant and egocentric as ever, but deep inside he's so scared as hell for the many possiblities that Ultron could do. All he wanted is make them see what he saw.

They need to act fast. Steve wanted to get ahead of the game before Ultron does something irrepairable.

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Everyone began doing what they need to do: check on files, find traces of Ultron, alert who needs to be alerted. But to Tony, the first thing he has to do before everything else is secure Pepper.

"Hogan." Happy answered in the most formal tone as the number he used is a secure one and will not register as his in Happy's phone.

"Happy, it's Tony," he replied in a bit.

"Hey Tony. If you call to ask how the lady boss is doing," he paused, he could imagine him rolling his eyes, "she's, as usual, working, and I cannot stop her from doing what she came for in China. Ofcourse, I can't argue with that, right? She's really here for work, so.." Happy rambled, not knowing how distress Tony is.

"Happy, stop. Listen to me," he said abruptly, clearly losing his patience.

"What's wrong, Tony," the ever faithful body guard said, after years of knowing him, he could easily tell in his tone if there's trouble ahead.

"I need to execute protocol SPICE," he said in a grave tone.

"Uh," Happy was too stunned to speak, but nonetheless he got his grip and replied, "Okay, Boss. Copy. Will execute protocol SPICE immediately."

"Thanks Hap. I already managed to link the server to your tablet, in case of unwanted glitch, so you could interfere anytime."

"Okay, Tony." He sighed. "But can I know what's going on?" He asked with uncertainty. Happy knows that there are things he's not supposed to ask but he just can't fulfill his duties without some piece of information.

"There are minor problems. I mean, a robot gone rogue. I'm not sure if it will try and get to Pepper. But we're already finding him."

"Can I tell Pepper?" He knew how stubborn Pepper is, if she's aware maybe she won't put up a fight with all this overprotectiveness.

"I'll call her," he said with a heavy sigh.

"Okay. I'll gather the men."

"Thanks, Hap. I know I could count on you," he said with gratitude he seldom shows, but deep inside he always keep in mind how lucky he is to find a very loyal and trustworthy friend.

"You know, I will do everything in my life to protect them," he said not missing a beat.

"I know. Thank You."

"Yeah. Just call her. Bye."

He sighed again. Just one more call, and he could join the rest of the team in their brainstorming. He does not know how he could tell her of the sudden shift of events without worrying her. Stress is the last thing she needs. And he cannot worry her so much as it will not do any good for her condition. He will never, ever forgive himself if anything happens to her and Baby Stark.

'Oh God, Just let her be safe.' And then reluctantly he dialed her number. Praying to all that is holy that his call will not be their last conversation.