“Maya, the one-night stand from thirteen years ago, couldn’t get the formula right. That’s why it was so unstable. But I did back then. I was drunk and didn’t really remember it, but once I got to thinking about it again, I reworked the code, fixed the broken equations, added the missing pieces. Once I did that, had a viable, stable, actually working version of the serum, reverse engineering it was easy. That and I had incentive.”

There’s only so long Tony can go before cracking a joke, and since this is somewhat of a maudlin, morbid topic, his attempt at humor is too. “If I didn’t do it, Pepper would’ve exploded eventually. I’d’ve been out a CEO, would’ve had to go into work again like a normal person. That wasn’t happening.”

Looking at Bruce in considering silence for a second, Tony squeezes his hand. “You know, the last time I told you about all of this, you fell asleep. Right at the beginning. Are you doing that now? Are you getting sleepy?”