Phil looks at Pepper when they return to the Tower. "Did you see Stark taking over the world by withholding the world's supply of coffee?" Steve chuckles behind them.

"No, I saw him destroying the world if there wasn't any." She snorts. Tony honest to god pouts. "That's why I started dropping hints about looking into growing it. And various tea plants for Bruce."

"Plamtations?"

"Coffee, bananas, maybe cacao in the future?"

"Cacao?" Tony blinks at her.

"The bean that's used in chocolate."

"With the deaths elsewhere we'll have to expect shortages."

Peter walks into the office. "Oh good, you're here." He hands over an envelope to Pepper. "I'm pre-applying to grad school and I'll need a couple recommendations."

Tony takes the envelope after Pepper's read it over and he and Phil walk into his office.

Darcy walks in a few minutes later with some reports. "Did you get your grades?" Tony and Phil had talked her into getting another degree from Columbia.

"B+/A-." She taps on Tony's door. "The first shipment of seeds is here."

"Good, I'd been expecting them."

Peter returns home, finding his Aunt filling a basket from the hydroponics unit. Picking a couple last items they walk into the house. "Did you give Mr. Stark the paperwork for the masters?"

"Yes, Ms. Potts says if she doesn't get the papers back from him in a week she'll start nagging." A tap on the door is Frank's wife with a similar basket and they sort out extras.

"Peter, when are the gardens going to be started?"

"They're having a massive garden tilling exercise this weekend, not only ours but the community gardens around the city. Botany will also be there to check the soil. They wanted to get the commercial gardens planted first."

"We can put up plastic over the gardens to keep them warmer a couple weeks longer." Frank's wife says. "At least with all the deaths you're not hearing about all the food waste."

"Amen, now any food that can't be sold automatically goes to charities. And fruit is picked on trees."

"We learned, the rest of the world will too." Frank says as he joins his wife at the door. "Peter, more garden supplies?"

"Coming out next weekend, if you need something in particular let me know and I'll pass it along." Frank nods in satisfaction.

"Nuts." Steve says at the tower later that night.

"Is that a comment on the cooking?" Tony smirks at him.. "If it's a question, yes we've got a number of nut orchards in the other dimension. It will be a few years before they're large enough to pick, same with the apples, oranges, and other fruit trees."

"Olives?"

"Eventually for oil. I know there's people that actually eat them . .." Tony shudders and the others laugh.

A list of other foods is listed off and Tony makes a list that he sends to the others. They either say they're growing them or make plans to plant.

The last of the gardens go in and the soil is checked. Kate packs her bags for the trip to the Banzai Institute and Bobbi and Clint take her out . . .much to her annoyance and the amusement of the others.

Meanwhile Tony is snickering nastily as he listens to the whining of government officials in the areas that are now seeing the deaths New York had in the beginning. The states that had been bitching that 'can't New York handle it themselves' now have their hands out for help. And getting short shrift from the people who remember what they'd done.

'But I didn't know we'd be affected ' more than one governor, senator, or representative bleats. 'It wasn't supposed to be our problem. Why hasn't the CDC and NIH found a cure?'

After the fourth Tony and the others are inspecting the commercial farms, including the growing dimension. The tree crops are growing well and Tony slumps in his desk chair when they return.

"Crops growing good?" Pepper asks, turning the television off.

"Yes, morons in the other states still whining?"

"Yes, the president just told them to grow the fuck up. They're whining they're not going to vote for him."

"Why the fuck would he want the headaches of the job? Surrounded by whiny assholes and stupid fools who are still bleating that the other moron had to have had a good reason for wanting the schools shut down. . .so they're keeping them shut down."

"And they whine that their constituents can't understand they have their best interests at heart." Clint snorts from the doorway. "That's why the school my kids used to go to had to be torn down and they're still blubbering and holding out their hands to the state to build a new one. Even though the money from the millage was supposed to pay for it. That's why all the kids are having to be bussed to the school in the next town for the second shift."

"And what happened to the money from those millages?"

"Nobody knows. . ." Clint says sarcastically, waving his hands. "It just went . . .poof."

"Uh-huh, sounds like it went poof with some help." Tony snorts.

"Probably."

"Are you goddamn retarded?" The president asks in a smooth as silk voice as he advances on the whiny fool who'd burst into the oval office demanding Tony Stark be arrested. "If he had a cure for that goddamn mother-fucking moron's disease don't you think he'd have used it before he lost so many people."

"But he has to have a cure. . .he has to, he has to, he.HAS.to." he wails, stomping his feet. "They didn't lose that many people in New York, ten . . .fifteen people?"

"Try over four million you little fool. Just in the city itself. It was one of the areas deliberately targeted after all."

He gulps and rapidly backs up. "Yeah, I'd get the hell out of here and make damn sure to keep my fucking fool mouth shut and my head down. Stark's working damn hard to keep New York running and helping with New Jersey, he'd destroy you if he found out you were accusing him of having a cure for the disease and not giving it out."

"Be he could be using it to try to take over the world. . ." he wails as he runs off.

"God save me from effing morons." He sits back down at the desk. "Why are all the damn fools drawn to politics?"

"Because all the ass kissing makes them somebody." Horace says from the outer room. "Once they actually have to do something rather than have people adore them they show their true colors." Brandon laughs despite himself. The man. . .who'd paused in the doorway huffs off.

"Little bastard keeps it up and I'll destroy the fucking moron." Tony says in his office when the president calls. "Then I'll sic Pepper on him."

"But he had to have reopened the schools so everybody would do whatever he wanted." Dumbass whines in front of Congress.

"Really. . .is everybody in New Jersey supposed to do whatever he wants? The schools are going to be opening there in a couple months." He runs off wailing again. "Damn fool. Why is he pulling this shit now?"

"Because his constituents are tired of his nonsense and he'll be voted out of office. If he can be seen as doing something. .. .they'll have to keep him in office. He can't handle a real job."

"And targeting Stark?"

"Stark's making sure that his people are taken care of . . .something that fool can't be bothered to do."

"Hey moron, Alaska and Hawaii's schools are reopening next year. . .are they going to be bowing down to Stark too?" a man says, leaning in the office door a couple days later. The man blinks and wails, the other man smirking as he walks off. God, he hates that fool Anderson. Now that there's a crack in the 'but he had to have had a good reason to be shut down, we just don't know it' stupidity shield maybe other states will start reopening schools. Or at least inspecting and tearing down schools that should have been demolished years ago."

The first school reopening in New Jersey is greeted by news crews and parents thanking everybody they can. Some schools in the larger cities are having to pull double shifts like New York until they rebuild the schools but nobody's complaining. Least of all the seniors who will be graduating three years late.

"Has anybody heard about Massachusetts?"

"The government they put together seems to be working well. Rumor is it they're inspecting their schools now."

The gardens start coming in hot and heavy and Peter and Frank are busy moving cases of canned good various places in the other houses. In addition to the food they've canned they've got containers of root vegetables in the basement and cases of canned goods from stores.

Frank looks at Peter. "This is a little much . ..even for Stark."

Peter sighs. "The precogs are seeing a bad winter. . .we might have joked it snowed every day last winter. . .it will snow every day this winter. And with all the areas having their own problems with the sickness. . .they're seeing more empty shelves."

"Christ." Dr. Connor moans as he takes some food out to his car. "Factories are running on short crews now.'

"They're going to have to shut down the more frivolous stuff and concentrate on stuff people need."

"They can't have that." Clint drawls as he pulls into the driveway. "More supplies for your hydroponics. That would make sense."

"And the damn socialites would whine like babies if they didn't have the latest and greatest crap at a second's notice." Peter snorts.

"As seen so often on TMZ." Frank's wife snorts. Between all of them everything is put away in both buildings and Clint heads off to spend some time with his family.

"Where is Stark?" Phil asks as he comes to the tower a couple weeks later.

"He and Richards are off in a ship looking over third world countries to see if any of them have been . . .lost. If they are, they're going to be taking over food crops. Colombia's drugs we don't need."

"No, though with all the deaths the drug cartels have lost their power base."

Sam comes up in the elevator. "California just announced they're going to be inspecting schools, same with Florida with the thought of reopening them next fall. Massachusetts still hasn't made an announcement but the water is trickling out of the 'but he had to have had a good reason to close the schools' dam." Pepper and Phil nod in satisfaction. "Seven states out of fifty, it's a start."

"Is Stark still having the day care children at Malibu tutored?"

"Yes, their parents are thrilled that they're be somewhat near the grade they should be in when the schools reopen."

Tony returns a few days later, robots bringing in bags and boxes of stuff that go in tesseracted rooms. Pepper looks at him. "The governments gave us part of their harvests in trade of helping with the harvests with robots since they didn't have the manpower to harvest anymore."

Pepper closes her eyes and nods. "This way they have the food."

"Yep." Tony yawns and pours himself a cup of coffee. "We must have found a few million bodies, there's areas that were just wiped clean of all human life."

"Damn fool. . .hopefully he's rotting in hell for what he did." Pepper sighs. "I have a list of businesses we need to look at, either ordering extra supplies or even taking them over."

"Can it wait until our next meeting?"

"Yeah, I'd planned on it." He nods in satisfaction.

In early November the board room is full again as everybody settles in for another meeting. Pepper's list is put up on the screen and they go over each item, nodding at Pepper's notes. Tony sends her the high sign and she goes to work.

"Is anybody else hearing the whining about no Black Friday sales?"

"Yes, even as bad as the rest of the country is getting. People with some sense told them to grow the fuck up. One moron wanted to put together a class action lawsuit to force businesses to have Black Friday sales and everybody else to shop and was laughed out of the courtroom."

"Millions of people dying and fools like that are still causing problems." Professor Xavier sighs. "Has there been any news from the other countries?"

"Not anything official." Tony says dryly. "Though Richards and I did a rough total for the other countries while we were gone."

"No country will admit to how many citizens they've lost. . .it would leave them open to attack." Weasel says. The others nod. "Mercs are the same way, if they're hurt after a bad mission they hole up somewhere and lick their wounds."

"Did the guns come in for the police department?"

"Yes, they're slowly being distributed as needed. The bigger weapons are waiting until they're needed, the lock is yours and Richards biocodes." Professor Xavier says. "With the dome you should have enough time to unlock them."

"We'll create remote triggers." Reed says. Tony nods. "Natural disasters?" Weasel asks.

"The shield allows rain and snow. . .but if we're alerted to a bad storm we can move the setting up and be safe."

"Good, I lived through Sandy. . I don't feel like a repeat."

"Are we all on the alternate power?"

"Yes, and we've got the new firefighting systems in. Peter's little balls are good for up-close situations. . .it might get a person out of a fire but . .."

"We need bigger for buildings."

"Speaking of the shield. . .is it set up to alert people if weapons or nuclear material arrives?"

"Yes."

"Space station?" Tony asks after the others have left.

"Under construction. It should be finished by the end of next year. I'm still working on the best place to put it."

"Yes, I'm sure somebody will start blubbering about us trying to block the sun no matter where it goes."

"Your compound?" Tony puts up the blueprints on the screen. Reed makes a few suggestions and he nods, making a few notes. "How are you coming at transforming the Baxter Building?"

"Slow, I've been adding floors that don't exist in the current directory. Taking over floors would have been easier but the money from the renters is good and some floors it would be too much work."

"That's one of the reasons I brought the compound."

Pepper has CNN on when he returns to the office. "Bad fire in Texas, some of the buildings that should have been torn down years ago. The damn building is a tinderbox and it's spreading." She turns off the tv and says a silent prayer. "Anything else I need to know from the meeting?"

Tony shakes his head. "Any word from Malibu?"

"Nothing official but I hear a lot of buildings in LA are having to be torn down. Not all of them schools."

"Oh god, I just saw some of those big Malibu mansions having to be torn down."

"They'd whine like babies." Pepper snorts. "I'm sure they'll bitch at cities putting up affordable housing and not megamansions."

"Of course. . .because they've got to be seen by the little people. . not see the little people themselves." Clint snorts as he walks from the elevator. "As I heard all too often on an undercover with Phil. We don't have dumbass socialites just here in the States."

Pepper leans back in her chair after handing Clint his mail. "Do we have a way to run factories if we don't have employees?" She asks quietly.

"Yes, if we have the supplies." He says just as quietly, walking over to the windows and looking down on his city.