Tony looked at her standing on the stairs and said what he'd been not saying for weeks.
"I've been on edge. I didn't tell you." He sat down on the bottom step. "New York changed things. Aliens, gods, a dragon that grants wishes, Smith out there doing things I can't fully explain — and I'm a man in a metal suit. That's all I am." He exhaled. "The only reason I haven't come apart is probably because you moved in. That's not a small thing. I know it's not."
Pepper came down the remaining steps and sat beside him.
"But I can't sleep," he said. "You go to sleep and I come down here and build things, because that's what I know how to do. There's something coming — I can feel it even if I can't name it — and the only thing I absolutely cannot lose is you." He paused. "And I know that's a terrible thing to say to someone right before an apology."
Pepper reached over and lifted the neural sensor from his temple, careful and deliberate.
"I'm going to take a shower," she said. She stood, then looked back at him. "Come with me."
Tony got up. "Yeah," he said. "That's the better plan."
At the Fraternity compound, the evening had turned into something no one had formally scheduled.
Pietro had happened. That was the only accurate description.
Korin Tower rose three thousand meters above the compound — a structure that had required months of engineering and had been designed with exactly one purpose in mind. Pietro had looked at it two days ago, considered its height, and decided that what it needed was lights.
What it had now, from base to peak, was lights. String after string of them, wound in careful spirals with the speed that only Pietro could have managed, glowing amber and white against the night sky. Ornaments had been hung at intervals, each one requiring a trip up and back down. Gift packages were secured at various heights along the exterior, each attached to a handhold or platform, ranging from easy-access near the base to things that could only be reached by someone with serious climbing ability near the upper sections.
From the compound below, the tower looked like the tallest Christmas tree on Earth.
Bulma stood in the courtyard with her head tilted back, staring at it.
"I don't even know how to process this," she said.
Wanda appeared beside her, smiling. "It was Pietro's idea. He asked Korin if he could decorate the tower, and Korin said yes, and then this happened."
Pietro materialized next to Bulma in a blue blur. "Are you talking about me?"
"Obviously," Wanda said.
"Then yes, I hung all of it." Pietro looked up at his work with unconcealed satisfaction. "Every light, every ornament, every gift. Three trips up and three trips down. Four hours total." He shrugged. "A little longer than I expected."
Smith came up behind them and looked at the tower. "Good work."
Pietro's expression did the thing it always did when Smith said something complimentary — a brief moment of trying to look modest, followed by giving up.
"Are all the gifts at their heights?" Smith asked.
"Everything is where you told me to put it."
Bulma turned. "There are rules for getting them?"
"One rule," Smith said. "Climb on your own. No equipment, no assistance. Pick whatever gift you can reach. One per person."
Bulma looked at him, then at the tower, then back at him. "I'm a scientist."
"Your gift is separate. I'll give it to you after the party."
She narrowed her eyes. "What is it?"
"After the party."
She held the look for another second, then relented. "I have something for you too."
The courtyard filled as the evening settled in. Wenwu arrived with Ying Li, the two of them moving with the ease of people who had recovered something they'd thought was gone forever. Selene came with Michael. Wesley and Eddie arrived together from the direction of the training hall. Ivan Vanko and his father came through the main gate — Anton Vanko moving with none of the age that the medical pod had erased, still occasionally surprised by his own steadiness. The vampire and werewolf contingents drifted in from their respective posts.
Smith walked to the center of the courtyard. People gathered without being called.
"Merry Christmas," he said. The compound went quiet. "This year we kept standing when a lot of things tried to knock us down. That counts." He looked at the tower. "The gifts on the Korin Tower are real — grab whatever your arms can reach. They range from scouters and medical pod sessions at the lower levels to hover cars and rarer items higher up." He paused. "The highest gift is a Senzu Bean."
He let that sit for a moment.
"For anyone who hasn't heard Korin describe them — a Senzu Bean restores you completely, regardless of your injuries, regardless of how far gone you are. Full recovery, full energy. Immediately." He watched the faces in front of him. "Korin has confirmed we have ten in reserve, with the harvest doubling next year. One of them is on that tower tonight."
Wenwu's eyes went to the upper section of the tower and held there with the focused attention of someone running a calculation. Ying Li was beside him, and he was thinking about her before he was thinking about himself. Ivan looked at his father, who was looking at the tower without any particular urgency — the medical pod had already done its work, and Anton seemed genuinely content just to be standing here in good health.
The second gift everyone's eyes kept returning to was the super divine water, which Korin had introduced to the compound months ago as a potential amplifier. Michael's power had doubled after taking it. That outcome had not been forgotten.
"The other rule," Smith said, "is that Korin's tower is Korin's tower. You climb it the way he built it — with your body, your strength, nothing else. That's always been the rule."
He stepped back.
The party began.