Work Text:
In some ways, it made sense that Pepper was the last one standing. Rhodey was in the military, and there was always an element of risk when he was deployed. Tony had been a hard partier for years, and there was always the chance that one of his experiments would blow up in his face.
Then they'd both become superheroes, and their world got a whole lot more dangerous and deadly. Pepper mostly stuck to battles in the boardroom — Killian's kidnapping excluded — where she was far safer.
So no, it wasn't entirely surprising that she was the last one standing. But it shouldn't have happened like this. Not in a battle against their supposed friends. Not when Tony was so sure that he could talk the others down, that he could make them see reason. That they wouldn't take it too far.
Because take it too far they had, and now her best friends were side by side in matching hospital beds, and Pepper was the last one standing.
Well, Pepper and the former Avengers who had put her boys into those beds. But not for long. Because Pepper had contingencies for all kinds of plans, and she'd never believed that the Avengers were the kind of friends that Tony hoped they were. No, Pepper had plans for all of those self-righteous Rogues who had put Tony and Rhodey into these beds.
And when she was finished with them, when Tony and Rhodey were all healed up, then the three of them would be the last ones standing.