She’s typing in notes on which surviving FBI and CIA officials are likely to cause the world the most trouble, downloading the newly written report on how it’s looking like Bangladesh is already descending into full out civil war, and contemplating to herself whether the military coup here in the U.S. she’s been dreading is now more or less probable, when she hears the chime from the special StarkPad she keeps hidden in a special compartment of her desk here at home. Within half a minute she has it pulled out and the call accepted, and is staring, deeply relieved, into the face of Pepper Potts. Sharon’s never seen her look exhausted before.
“Thank God you’re alive,” Pepper says, breathless. “Are you still at home right now? Do you need a way away from it?”
“I might,” says Sharon. “It’ll probably be at least a few days before they can get the roads cleared, or the trains running again, and I don’t want to stay here that long if I can help it. Have you got anything right now?”
“Working on that,” Pepper sighs. “If worst comes to worst, maybe the Avengers can break you out, though with the possible exception of Rhodey, they probably won’t come back to the U.S. unless there’s something here they need to do.”
“So you’re in contact with them? You know which of them are alive?” She already has King T’Challa’s death noted on her spreadsheet for world leaders, but so far her spreadsheet on the Avengers has only that Steve Rogers is alive, and even that wasn’t confirmed.
(She’s been clinging to it, though. She’s never been sure of how she feels about Steve, or what would’ve ever been a good idea when it came to him, but she’ll never not care for him.)
“Rogers, Rhodey, Natasha, Bruce, and Thor. The last arrived on Earth with two companions, one, some sort of oversized sentient raccoon called Rocket, is still alive. Vision, Wanda, and Sam Wilson are dead, as is James Barnes. I…don’t know about Tony. The story about the spaceship that’s going around is mostly true.”
“I’m sure if he’s still alive, he’s doing everything he can to get back to Earth,” is all Sharon can offer. “Meanwhile, I’ve been gathering information, everything I can get. You probably have a lot of it already, but give me a secure email and I’ll send it to you. You can send me what you have too, at my June email address. My God, am I glad to see you alive, too, Pepper. Having you on all this is going to make this so much easier like you wouldn’t believe.”
Ten minutes later, an encrypted email arrives from a RescueService@link.net. Sharon’s already zipping together her own files, though this is probably going to take more than one email from each of them. They might even need whatever IT people Pepper still had on hand to help avoid detection, though she’d become pretty good at that herself these past two years.