It's better not to rest at all; once you've rested, you're completely unable to recover.
I felt like I was sleepwalking all day.
He's dying a little too soon.
It was already afternoon when Tony called everyone to the meeting room.
It had just rained outside, and water droplets still clung to the glass curtain wall. The air conditioning in the conference room was set lower than usual, Pepper pulled her shawl tighter around herself as she entered. Lynn and Natasha sat towards the back, Peter stood by the door, carrying a worn-out backpack, looking like he'd just finished a tutoring session. After Steve left, one person from SSC was missing, but no one mentioned it.
Tony sat at the long table, holding an orange in his hand, twirling it between his fingers. He looked at everyone present, remained silent for a moment, and then spoke.
Pepper and I are going away for a while.
He spoke calmly, but no one was surprised. After the battle, everyone rested for a while, but Tony remained as tense as a taut string.
Pepper had mentioned to Lynn many times in private that he hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time, and sometimes he would stand alone at Morgan's room door in the middle of the night, not going in, just standing there.
"No mission. I just plan to take Pepper and Morgan Stark out to see the world. Morgan Stark is two years old and has hardly ever seen the sky outside of New York."
"Where are you planning to go?" Rhodey asked.
"Listen to Lynn, he's been to so many places."
Tony said, "Let's go to a few low-risk, habitable planets and see the aurora borealis, the ocean, and the glowing forests that Lynn talked about."
"The few of us?" Natasha looked up.
" Lynn, Natasha, Pepper, Morgan, and me."
Tony said, " JARVIS and Lynn will be in charge of the route and security. Morgan Stark is too young to go to dangerous places, so the locations chosen are all very safe."
Pepper looked at Tony's profile, a slight smile playing on her lips. She didn't call him out. Actually, many years ago he had said he would take her to places she'd never been before. But those years were all spent working on the armor, the reactor, and the global crisis.
Morgan would like it.
Peter hesitated at the door for a moment, then asked, " Mr. Stark, may I come along?"
"You?" Tony turned to look at him. "Weren't you going to Europe with your classmates?"
"Yes, but I..."
Go to hell with Europe.
Tony's tone was a bit disdainful and impatient, "This is a family trip, what are you interfering for? Go and have your romance."
"I'm not in a relationship!" Peter's ears turned red instantly.
"Then let's talk. It can be MJ, or anyone else you mentioned." Tony tossed an orange toward him.
The meeting didn't last long. Tony explained the general direction of the route and then everyone dispersed.
Rhodey said he would keep an eye on the base, Sam and Wanda would help with the routine matters.
Carol wasn't there; she had returned to space. Since finding that planet for the Skrulls, she would occasionally send back a few briefings.
Lynn knew that she most likely wouldn't treat Earth as just another insignificant old site anymore, as she had before.
The day I set off, it was a sunny day in New York.
They didn't take the Quinjet. Lynn simply opened a portal, setting the connection point at the first station Tony had chosen.
Beyond the door lay a pale blue planet, the air filled with the scent of the sea and some kind of sweet grass. Natasha went in first, followed by Lynn, then Pepper carrying Morgan, Tony brought up the rear. Once they were all through, the portal closed behind them.
Morgan peeked out from Pepper's arms, her eyes wide. She saw the sea. Not the sea of Earth, but the kind of shallow sea where you could see the bottom, shimmering with a silvery-blue light.
The sand on the shore was a light purple, glistening from the water. A large white sun hung in the sky, its rays gentle, like the afternoon sun in spring.
"Look, the sea," Pepper whispered.
Morgan reached out her little hand and grasped at the sea, then glanced back at Tony. Tony reached out to take her hand, but she buried her face in Pepper's neck, refusing to look at him. Tony's hand froze in mid-air, finally landing on the back of his own neck, where he gave it a mock rub.
Lynn stood to the side, took off her shoes, and took a few steps on the light purple sand.
The sand was soft, with a strange coolness. Natasha followed him and stood beside him. The sea breeze blew from afar, blowing her hair back. Neither of them spoke. This silence was different from the silence in the base; there were no low hums of instruments, no alarms on standby, just pure wind and water.
Morgan's curiosity about the sea was greater than anyone had anticipated. At first, she nestled in Pepper's arms, only her eyes peeking out. After a while, the silvery-blue shimmering waves on the surface of the sea completely captivated her attention. She began to lean out, her little hands reaching out into the air as if trying to scoop up the light. Pepper couldn't resist her and had to put her down. As soon as her feet touched the sand, she paused for a moment, looking down at the pale purple sand seeping up from between her pink shoes, before slowly and unsteadily taking two steps toward the water's edge.
Tony followed behind her, bending low, his hands hovering at her sides, ready to scoop her up at any moment. Pepper stood a few steps away, holding Morgan's jacket, a smile in her eyes. The sunlight was warm, and the sweet scent of grass wafted in on the breeze.
Morgan stopped in the shallow water. The water was above her calves, and the cold made her shiver. She turned to look at Tony, her lips trembling as if she were about to cry. Tony immediately squatted down and took her small hand in his. "Are you cold?" Morgan thought for a moment, then shook her head, squatted down, and splashed the water. A few drops landed on Tony's chin. He closed his eyes briefly, then let out an exaggerated "Ha!" Morgan giggled and splashed the water twice more. The father and daughter splashed each other on that silvery-blue beach until neither of them could stand properly, and they both ended up sitting in the shallows.
Pepper laughed out loud. Lynn and Natasha sat on the rocks some distance away, watching Tony Stark emerge from the water, soaking wet, carrying his daughter, his pants plastered to his legs, his hair completely disheveled. Morgan tugged at his collar, excitedly shouting, "One more time! One more time!"
"Change your clothes first," Tony said, though it sounded like a suggestion, as he headed towards their makeshift campsite. Pepper followed, took two sets of clean clothes from her storage box, and took Morgan from him. Tony stood by the tent, took off his wet polo shirt and wrung it out, then turned around to see Lynn staring at him with a look of amusement.
"What are you looking at?" Tony said.
"It's nothing," Lynn said. "The CEO of Stark Industries is quite good with kids."
"I've said it before, I have a lot more to offer."
Tony draped his wet clothes over the chair. "Thanks anyway."
The seaside cooled down at night. A small lamp hung outside the tent, its warm yellow light swaying gently in the wind. Pepper sat by the campfire, holding Morgan, Morgan was already slumped over with sleep, but still clung to a smooth purple stone she had picked up on the beach that afternoon. Lynn and Natasha sat on the other side, sharing the boxes of fruit they had brought that afternoon. Tony wrapped Morgan in a large towel and sat beside her, unusually not looking at any screens. He looked up at the sky; the star map there was completely different from that on Earth.
"Will she remember?" Pepper suddenly asked in a low voice.
"Yes," Tony said, as if talking to himself, "People remember strange things. I remember a huge globe at a fair when I was a kid."
Pepper smiled and didn't ask any more questions.
The second stop is a planet with glowing forests.
They arrived at dusk. The trees were tall, translucent, with what appeared to be luminous liquid flowing inside. During the day, they were unremarkable, but at night, the entire forest slowly illuminated itself—first the roots, then the trunks, and finally the canopy, as if light were rising from the ground. Tony hoisted Morgan onto his shoulders so she could see further. Morgan tilted her head back, watching the light climb layer by layer from the ground until the entire forest was bathed in a soft, silvery-blue glow. She reached out to catch the falling specks of light; they scattered into smaller dots upon touching her fingers, like fireflies escaping from her fingertips.
"Is it hot?" Morgan asked.
"No," Tony said, "It's cool. Like mint."
What is mint?
"A type of leaf from Earth that makes ice cream feel refreshing when added."
I want to eat.
I'll buy it for you when I get back.
Morgan was satisfied. She hugged Tony's head and ruffled his hair. Tony didn't flinch. Pepper walked in front of them, turned around to look at the father and daughter, and suddenly snapped a picture with her phone. In the flash, Lynn and Natasha happened to be in the frame from behind, their faces half-turned, one looking at the tree, the other looking at the people next to them.
They walked for a long time in the woods. There was no path, but the ground was smooth, like it was covered with a layer of soft moss. Morgan eventually got off Tony's shoulder and walked slowly, hand in hand with Pepper. Lynn and Natasha walked at the back, sometimes deliberately lagging behind to give the family of three some space. It was so quiet that they could hear the light falling through the leaves.
"Can it always be like this?" Natasha asked softly.
Lynn didn't answer immediately. He looked up at the glowing canopy of trees, the light falling on his shoulders and then sliding down.
"For as long as possible," he said.
The third stop is an asteroid where it snows.
The snow here isn't cold; when it falls on clothes and hair, it turns into a faint blue light that disappears after a few seconds. Morgan, seeing snow for the first time, excitedly spun around in the open space. She opened her mouth to catch it, and a snowflake landed on her tongue, turning into a shimmering blue light. She ran back, sticking out her tongue to show Pepper: "Mommy, look! My tongue glows!"
Pepper laughed so hard she bent down and picked her up, "Then you won't need to turn on the lights at night anymore."
Tony stood beside Morgan, pulling his hat down over Morgan's head. He himself wasn't wearing one, and the blue light falling on his short hair and eyelashes made him look less tired. Lynn and Natasha were making hot cocoa by the campsite. Tony walked over, took a cup, and said, "The snow here is fucking cold, it's illogical."
"You're a scientist, you shouldn't use the word 'unscientific'," Lynn said.
"I mean it shouldn't be this cold, but it really is, so it's not scientifically accurate."
"Perfect logic," Natasha said.
Morgan climbed down from Pepper's lap and ran to Tony. She looked up at him, her hair still shimmering with lingering blue light. "Daddy, I want to build a snowman here."
"There isn't that much snow here," Tony said.
"Then let's make a small one."
Tony sighed, placed the hot cocoa in Lynn's hands, and squatted down to help Morgan build a snowman the size of a fist. He pressed two eyes into it with his thumbs and then placed a small patch of blue light on its head. Morgan squatted to the side, watching very intently. The snowman eventually only reached her calves. She clapped her hands happily, then stomped on it, scattering the snowman.
Morgan stared at the blue light covering the ground for two seconds, then chuckled. Tony stood there, looking at his daughter who was bathed in light, and finally smiled too.
Lynn and Natasha didn't approach. They remained behind Coco's white steam, watching quietly. Natasha rested her face on Lynn's shoulder. The blue lights drifted down from the sky, like many unspoken wishes.
The night before their return journey, they stayed on a ring-shaped observation deck on an asteroid. A huge ring stretched overhead like a flowing silver river. Morgan was already asleep, held in Pepper's arms. Natasha was dozing off on Lynn's shoulder. Tony and Lynn were awake, sitting on the edge of the observation deck with two half-cold cups of tea beside them.
"When we get back, I want to push E.D.I.T.H. further," Tony said.
"I guessed it, it's a fear of insufficient firepower."
"You've always known." Tony smiled.
"Your illness is incurable," Lynn said.
"Same to you."
Neither of them looked at the other; they just watched the ring of stars above them slowly rotate. After a long while, Tony said, "When Morgan is a little older, I want to do it again."
Lynn said, "Bring them yourself. I charge a lot."
Tony smiled but didn't say anything more.
The ring of stars turned silently. Lynn looked at it and remembered a similar feeling of being gently embraced by the universe many years ago on the balcony of the New York Sanctum. Back then, he didn't know what he would encounter next. Now he did. And being able to sit here for a night was already a wonderful thing.
On Earth, Peter is in Europe.
Lynn didn't warn him. He knew the kid would run into trouble on his own, and then he'd get out of it.
SSC's satellites orbit quietly in Earth's orbit.
JARVIS filtered out global energy anomalies as usual, again and again. Until one night, a marker jumped out from a valley. It wasn't an alien fleet, nor a multidimensional entity, but a small-scale energy burst.
After reading the data JARVIS sent, Lynn asked, "Is it coming?"
He muttered something to himself, then ignored it and turned off the screen.