"Tony, darling, please. It's so simple. Can't you do this for me?" Tony's Aunt Peggy Carter asks, standing in front of him in a much younger state.

"But... Aunt Peggy... you're not real. This can't be you," Tony says, his arm lowering in his heavy iron man suit, the blue light removed from his Aunt's face.

"Oh, Tony. I am real. I'm here aren't I?" she smiles at him, opening her arms as if to gesture to herself.

What the heck is going on. What is Tony even doing here? What was he doing before this? Was he fighting someone? Is that why he has his armor on? And what is Aunt Peggy doing here? And how in the world did she become so young again?

"No. No. You're not real. Aunt Peggy is in the nursing home. She's happy, married, a mother, and old. You're not her and she can't be you. You're probably just some hologram," Tony declares, tension coming back into his form, his arm rising once again to have a weapon trained on this imposter. Right? Because this has to be an imposter?

"Oh, my darling," Peggy steps towards Tony, unfazed by the repulser trained on her face. "I'm not a hologram. I'm not one of your wonderful inventions. You always were so creative," she takes another step closer, Tony backing up to keep the same distance. "Tony," she chastises like when he was eight, "stop walking away from me, young man. I'm trying to show you I am real. Come on, hold my hand."

But Tony doesn't go to hold her hand. He just stares at her outstretched, non-shaking, non-wrinkled hand.

"Tony? Why are you so distant today? Was it something your father did?" she asks, and suddenly, Tony has a very bad feeling about this. Not that anything remotely good ever happened when his father was mentioned.

"Anthony..." a stern, enraged voice seethes behind him, and Tony knows exactly who it is despite these many years. Tony turns around very slowly, trying to keep himself from shaking, so as to face the voice. And he guessed right.

"Dad?" Oh no, why is he here?

"Is that fear I hear, Anthony? It better not be or so help me I will beat it out of you," his father snarls in front of him, teeth almost gnashing like a horse.

"No, sir," Tony says on command, not letting himself hesitate or say anything else.

"Well what type of bullcrap have you done today, huh? And what's all of this going to do to help Steve, huh? You lazy piece of shit! Think of how heroic Steve was! It's our job as Starks to find his freezing ass," Howard suddenly jumps into Tony's personal space, effectively frightening him as if he was a little kid once again.

"You are worthless, Anthony," Howard slaps him across the face. "And I am ashamed to have you as a son. Maybe I ought to teach you a lesson," Tony instinctively flinches, awaiting the hit of calloused knuckles to stomach, but it never comes. Squinting his eyes, Tony looks up to find Aunt Peggy shielding him from one of Howard's rages. Tony releases a deep breath. Aunt Peggy always takes care of him. She'll protect him.

"Tony," she turns around to face him, his father suddenly vanished. "Come here," she squats down to his level (when did he even go to his knees?) and opens up her arms, awaiting his hug. There's not even a moment of hesitation. Tony opens his arms, ready to envelope her in a bone crushing hug, just like she'd always do. And in this moment he feels as if everything will be alright again. That his father won't be so angry, and maybe he's still loved.

And then Tony watches as a fist collides with his honorary Aunt's head, only for an impact and blackness to envelope his own.

"Tony? Are you with us?" Tony hears a hazy voice call him. Ugh. Why does his head hurt so much?

Opening his eyes just a crack against the bright lights, Tony can only see some smudges. Some are black, one is purple, and another is red white and blue. Ah, must be his team. Tony grunts in response and brings his hand up to shield his eyes from the god-awful light so he can see them better. There we go, Cap, Widow, Hawkeye, and Banner. The usual Stark Tower residents.

"Tony? What's the last thing you remember?" Cap asks him. Huh. Good question. They were being briefed on some group of aliens that could shape shift, right? And they could manipulate your mind. Pleasant. Oh! And they were able to take full control of your mind when you touched them. Not when they touched you. You had to initiate the touch, sort of like a consent. Confusing, right?

"Uh, the briefing? Right? No, wait..." Didn't they actually begin to fight them too? And did they win?

"Did we win?" Tony asks Cap, very confused and wanting answers.

"Yes. But do you remember any of the fight?" Cap asks. Hmmm... think think think think think. OH!

"Oh yeah!" Tony snaps, face lighting up with the new memory. "I was fighting the one ugly and suddenly I was hit with vertigo," Tony's face falls. "And I think he whammied me. But I don't remember anything after that," Tony's face is now fully puzzled. "Why? What happened?"

Tony's worry only increases when his teammates look at each other as if having a wordless conversation.

"Tony, we uh-" Cap stumbles with his words, and now Tony knows he should be concerned. "We saw what you were seeing. The aliens, they uh- they changed shape and messed with everyone's head to get us to touch them. But Widow shook us out of it. And we saw what you were seeing..." Cap trails off, clearly uncomfortable with continuing.

"What? What was I seeing?" Tony asks, a little frustrated that everyone but him knows what he saw. And that they're not just spitting it out.

"We saw you with your Aunt and your father," Cap's face is contorted with sympathy and compassion, but it's not enough. It won't be enough.

"You saw Aunt Peggy and Howard," Tony breathes, confirming Steve's statement. "And you, Cap, are wondering how I know Peggy Carter?" Tony avoids the obvious question, unable to even voice the question, let alone an answer.

"That's one question," Steve nods, letting Tony ignore the elephant in the room.

"Well, she was great friends with my dad. They started SHIELD together, she was the first director. And so, she was prominent in my life," Tony says, pushing himself up off the unforgiving floor despite his heavy suit.

"I guess that makes sense," Steve says, looking off into the distance, probably seeing memories instead of their surroundings. And Tony takes advantage of it. Briefly looking at each of the other Avengers, he tries to ignore the pity and shock in their eyes. So he slams his face mask down.

"If you guys don't mind, I'm going to go take this suit off and then take a shower. Maybe jog my memory," Tony awfully excuses his escape before flying off to Stark Tower.

Maybe they'll ignore what they learned about Howard. Although, Tony's not quite sure what they know about him. But that's for another time.