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It was cold.Way below zero.That was the first thing that I noticed as I regained consciousness.The second thing was that although my eyes were definitely open, I couldn't see a thing. The room was pitch black.The third, was that my wrists and ankles were tied to a freezing metal chair. My jacket, shoes, socks, scarf and jeans had all been stripped, so I sat in nothing but a tank top and panties. Which was not helping protect me from the cold.There was a steady thumping in the back of my skull, as if someone had taken a baseball bat to the back of my head repeatedly.Timothy's face popped into my head, a story he had told me about when he and the Howling Commandos had been captured in the war.He said he would count the seconds, try and remember them. It would help keep his mind focussed on something else, to keep him sane. The plus was that it would keep a rough track of time.Counting. I thought, trying not to panic. I can do that.One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...I had almost reached two thousand when footsteps echoed through the room, coming torturously slowly towards me. The door was pulled open with a creaking of the hinges.My eyes snapped shut at the harsh light flooding in from outside. I slowly opened my eyes, letting them adjust to the new lighting as electricity buzzed and several lights flickered on overhead.A tall man stepped into the doorway, he looked around 6 foot, maybe less, strong build but there were no distinguishing features. He looked like a perfectly ordinary guy.The man took three strides into the room, stopping just in front of me. He just stood there, his arms folded across his chest tightly, but he didn't move, just stared down at me.Taking a chance, I glanced around the room.It was a small concrete cell, no windows, one door, a tattered single mattress on the floor with a scratty blanket, there was a toilet and a sink and a single security camera in the corner.The door slammed shut and my head snapped back up to the man, my eyes drifting to his sleeve, the familiar red skull stitched into the shoulder."You're awake I see," the man sneered. His accent was easier to define than the words he spoke. "Welcome back, Maya Carter."The way the man talked had me assuming he must've met me before. There was only one problem; I couldn't remember him. Even though my mind was a complete mess, I was certain I would recognize that accent."Why am I here?" I ask carefully. A sudden pain tore into my cheek. Trying to swallow my cries and keep my voice steady, I try again, "Where am I?" More pain.I could feel the blood on my tongue. I didn't dare to spit it out. I didn't say anything this time, determining that asking questions would get me hit again. I didn't want to lose a tooth.A fist crashed into my stomach, pushing what air I had out. I spat the blood out as I tried to catch my breath, barely noticing that my wrists were free."What a pretty girl we have here." He grabbed my arm, pulling me from the cell. "Maybe it is time for the next step."Five minutes later, he was strapping me into a metal chair, despite my feeble attempts to fight him."Now," the man sneered, stepping away into the darkness.One, two, three seconds where my heart stopped beating; my pulse exploded. I tried to listen into the silence, but no matter how much I tried, the silence wouldn't dare an answer. Then, without a warning, another wall of pain burned through me. Not a second passed in which I could try to figure out what it was. First, my left shoulder was stabbed, followed by a stab through my abdomen. My tears and cries wouldn't come to an end for about half an hour."Don't worry, I am not going to kill you." He gave me a moment to catch my breath, a moment in which my brain seemed to catch up. I couldn't feel a part of me that had not been burned.Gritting my teeth, I wait for the next battle to come. Whatever he wanted from me, I was far from ready to give it to him.-The knife cut my skin one last time. The many wounds on my body burned. They were everywhere; my arms, my legs, my chest. Some went deeper than others, but never deep enough to kill.Footsteps fall, the man's voice in the distance, "We are done here."It was hard to breathe, harder still to stay awake. The pain was excruciating and I wanted nothing more than to fall apart. It was when fluorescent light exploded in my eyes that nausea hit me. Hot acid pushed its way up my throat, and though I tried to swallow it back down, it crumbled out of my mouth, emptying my stomach of the last thing I remembered eating.-All I could do was whimpered out a groan as the man threw me down onto the old mattress. I spat out a mouthful of blood, glaring as he left the room, the door slamming behind him.I looked down at myself, trying to assess the damage without moving.Blood dripped from my hands from the various precise cuts across both of my arms, dried blood covered to the rest of me.I wrap the blanket around my shoulders tightly, ignoring the stinging of the wounds as I curled in on myself, trying to contain as much heat as possible.I was getting weaker. In the last few hours, I had lost a lot of blood, and my stomach had emptied itself of contents. Sleep was the only hope I had for giving my body a reprieve and a chance to recover. I doubted they planned to feed me.Laying my head against the wall, I stare at the door; waiting.-The man dressed in black grabbed my wrists and pressed the gun he held into my back, between my shoulder-blades."Move," he ordered.I trembled as I stood up, my entire body aching from the days training. My stomach growled – the last thing I ate had been stale bread, and that was two days ago.-"We have reached the limit. Start with the tests. Now."As I tried to move, I met resistance. Feeling the cold metal under my back, I realize I had been chained to a table. I try to fight the chains, only to be hit with what remained from the torture. The pain flowed through every fiber of my being, leaving me too weak to do more than groan."She's awake. Start it," a voice commanded inside the darkness of the room. Footsteps broke through the following silence.My mind was still too blurred to recognize the man, now standing in front of me. The next thing I felt was a slight stitch in the crook of me arm.My words were sitting, "What are you doing?"No one answered, the silence continued to fill the sticky room. Slowly but surely, my heart began to beat faster. Trying to fight the chains, despite the almost unbearable pain, I gave everything to escape this situation. But nothing moved. Of course, I thought helplessly, I'm not Captain America.Looking at the IV in my arm, my skin broke out in cold sweat as a strange looking serum flew into my veins.The moment the syrupy thick serum collided with my blood, I screamed. As it spread, so did the pain. I was being burned - my blood turning to fire in my veins.The pain was unbearable. The panic made it easy for my body to give in, the world going dark as my body numbed.-"Maya, you need to stay awake," he ordered, pressing he hand against my non-cut cheek, smiling as my eyes opened blearily."Soldat?""Yeah, it's me," he assured. "Kid, can you hear me?" He asked, pressing a gauze against my collar bone, taping it in place."Mmm.""Three stab wounds; left collar bone, left side, right thigh. Cut to the right cheek, all fresh," he summarised. "They really put you through it today, huh."-An overwhelming sense of dread washed over me. My heart hammered in my chest, while blood pounded in my ears. My hands started to shake and my vision started to get blurry. My breathing started becoming shallower by the second, until I was gasping for air. It felt like I was being choked. My mouth felt dry and my body felt numb. It felt like the whole world was closing in."It's...all...my...fault..." I just barely gasped out.Bucky rushed over to my shaking, shivering form from the cot. He wasted no time in sitting beside me, wrapping his arms around me, and pulling me onto his lap. He pressed a tender kiss to the top of my head. "Shh, kid, it's not your fault, none of this is your fault. These things happen." He softly spoke, rubbing soothing circles on the back of my shoulder as he hugged me tighter to his chest. I hardly heard what he said; too busy hyperventilating. "Maya, I need you to breathe for me, can you do that," he urged.I shook my head."Just follow me, okay," he ordered. "Breathe in." He sucked in a breath and reluctantly, I did the same."And out," he said, letting out his breath slowly.I copy him."Good girl," he praised. "And again, breathe in and then out." He kept rubbing my back until my breathing was back to normal. "You okay?"I lift my head up to look at him, still crying, but this time, silently.Bucky unwrapped his arms to wipe the tears away. He then wrapped his arms around me again, pulling me tightly against his chest, as he waited for my response."Yeah, I'm fine, you can let me go now," I lie. I felt drained."No, I think I'll hold you for a little bit longer, make sure you really are okay." He sighed, "None of this is your fault.""It is. It's all my fault.""It's okay," Bucky soothed, letting me hold him. "It's okay.""Tell me a story."He chuckled lowly before starting to talk, this one a new story.-As I open my eyes, everything was blurry, nothing quite in focus."Ah, you're awake."I wince as my head pounds, but then I tasted something metallic in my mouth.Lowering my head, I close my eyes. I knew what they could do and the lengths they would go to without causing too much long-term damage. I needed my sight, my hearing and – hopefully – my ability to speak. I needed my hands to be their precious fighter.Swallowing the lump in my throat, I fight to hide the fear I could feel pumping through me as a silver glare caught my eye. I look towards it; it was a tray of equipment."Why am I here?" I ask hesitantly, still not lifting my head up to meet the man before all of this, the reason I was here."Isn't it obvious?" He questions with a small laugh. I try to hide the shiver. "My sweet girl..." He sighs contently and slowly I lift my head up, finally meeting the dark eyes of the man behind all of this. "We need you.""Why me?" I ask weakly.Stepping out of the shadows, I notice that his hair was silver, swept back as he grinned maliciously down at me. But it was his eyes, the deep brown filled with a desire to cause pain that truly made me dread what was to come. He picks up a pair of gloves, snapping them on, making me flinch. "You really don't know, do you?"I shake my head, pulling my restraints. They were stronger than I anticipated.The man chuckled darkly. "Your mother is why you are here. She was a part in taking our first base of operations down." He turns away from you to the trays of equipment, picking up a large needle and flicking it lightly. "So, we took you in revenge."My eyes widen as he turns around, facing me once again. "But I – I didn't do anything!""No," he agrees, nodding as he steps closer to me. "But your mother did." He hums as he brushes his fingers along my bare arm, stopping as he drags the needle down.Without a word of warning the needle was in my arm, and I let out a shriek of pain as he injects me with something.I stare blankly into a wall as doctors begin poking me with needles, and writing things down on their notes.-"You're awake."I zone in on the quiet voice, but I couldn't move."It's best if you remain down for a few more days. They're sending me away but...but they said I had to see what they're doing to you.""I'm fine." I barely managed squeak the words out as my throat began to ache. Two words that shut anything he had to say down, stop any concerns arising. If only it were true."I'll be back soon." The shuffling of his feet alerted me to the fact that he was leaving, but I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to see him.-After a few days, I was able to sit upright again, allowing myself balance enough that I could hold the edges of the bed without wincing loudly. There were stitches in my left arm, that much I was positive of.Lifting my arm, I lightly press my side, feeling the sharp pain shoot through. Broken ribs, at least two. The metallic taste was easing inside my mouth, but the dehydration was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore."If it isn't my favorite girl." Turning my head, a figure walked into the room. Vaguely, I recognised his face, but the images were completely blurred. "Good to see you awake at last – thought we might've lost you in there." He laughs sadistically and then I heard it.The whirring sound of the drill. The cries as a hand was forcefully covering my mouth as his dark eyes zoned in on mine until I was unconscious.Shuffling away from him, he lifts his hand up, revealing seven tablets. "You must take these; they'll make you better." He watches as I stare at them. "Go on. I don't want to force them down your throat."Hesitantly, I take them one by one until they were all gone. "What did you do to me?" I ask, every syllable catching in my throat."Just a short procedure."-"Did he hurt you bad?" He asked as I stood weakly in front of him, my hands automatically finding his as I touch them for comfort disguised as seeking balance."Not as bad as they've done to you, Bucky," I try to joke in response, wincing as a small laugh escapes my lips and his grip on my hands automatically tightens. "I'm okay," I whisper, "just, be gentle.""I'd never hurt you," he whispers back. He then frowns, "You're not yourself. Why?"Lifting my head, I notice that his eyes were soft and alert. He could see the storm of emotions I was experiencing."I miss everything," I mumble. "I miss my bed." I glance down tirelessly to the mattress I barely slept on. "I miss my family... I miss my Mama's cooking." Tears begin to fall, but I let them, knowing there wasn't a point trying to act tough around the man; he knew me better than that."Would you leave?" His words strike through my silence as I lift my head up weakly, raising an eyebrow to his question. "If, if you could?" Bucky places his fingers to his lips. His gaze jerked towards the door - the message was clear, it wasn't a verbal answer he sought.Looking around at the bleak surroundings, I nod repeatedly and cover my mouth, stopping the sobs from escaping all over again.His hand rests on my shoulder, gentle and full of compassion. There was no pressure beneath his hold, but he knows the simple act means more than I could voice.-"What did that bag ever do to you?" He asked.I jumped nearly a foot in the air."Calm down."I took two deep breaths before turning back to the bag.He moved to hold the bag steady. After a moment, he grabbed my hand, ignoring my flinch as he straightened my wrist, tucking my fingers in tighter. "Keep tension here, and shoulders square. Put your full weight behind each punch," he instructed, moving my shoulders and nudging my feet into a better position with his foot, before leaning back against the bag, nodding for me to continue.I threw another punch, smiling slightly at the difference."Why?" He asked after a moment."I need to be strong enough to fight back," I mutter. "I need to be able to at least have a chance.""You want to protect yourself; you're not going to do it like this," he stated bluntly. "You need to learn to fight properly. If I say jump, you say how high. Got it?"I didn't have much of a choice. "Okay."He gave a small nod.-My attention flickered from the soldier for a second at the sound of the door opening and, in that split second, I was pinned down with my face pressed into the mat."From here, I could kill you four different ways without a weapon," he hissed, pressing slightly firmer into my arm so it was twisted up my back."Alright, sorry," I yelp.He got off me, and I grab his metal arm to pull myself to my feet."Again," he stated.Dutifully, I take my position opposite him.-My head rested against the cold wall, and I stare into the darkness, focusing on the chilly air embracing my skin. It was really the only proof that I was indeed still alive, since they'd all but ripped my soul from my body, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell.The tsunami of thoughts shattered into nothing and I looked straight into cold blue eyes of the soldierStaring into his winter-blue eyes, I found something shifting behind his gaze."Hey," he spoke softly, almost as though his voice would hurt me, "thought you might be hungry,"His eyes never left mine as he pushed the plate through the lattice bars. I didn't notice the tension in my body, already on guard, ready to react if necessary. I sat there, frozen in place, watching him, trying to guess what this was about.What's happening, I wonder. Is this some kind of trick? Is he trying to torture me by showing what I couldn't have?The soldier seemed to notice my uneasiness, my doubting thoughts. "You can have it," he assured. "It isn't poisoned, I promise." He kept his voice low, southing almost."Yeah, like your promise means anything to me."He closed his eyes and sighed, obviously looking for the right words. "I know you don't trust me, and you have every reason, but do you think I would be here, bringing you food after you haven't had any in weeks? Have you even considered I am doing this without permission?"I was taken aback by his explanation. Maybe he was right, after all, but what really convinced me was the fact that he hadn't snapped or taken it away.Still on guard, I grabbed the plate, carefully bringing it closer to me. For a few seconds, I did nothing but stare at the strange looking food in front of me."So," I started, taking the spoon to get my first taste, "why are you doing this?" Too many questions shot through my mind this time; why was he talking to me all of a sudden, he'd been so cold last time I saw him.He sighed, exhausted and confused like he was sure I wouldn't believe a word that would come out of his mouth.-"We're not done yet," the Soldat growled, stepping towards me."I can't, not now," I mutter, rubbing my arm."Now," the Soldat ordered, grabbing my shoulders and steering me back to the punching bag. "You're pissed. At Hydra, at me, at yourself. This is how you let it out, crying ain't gonna do nothing."My glare shifted from him to the bag, and I give it a weak punch. Gradually, my punches grew stronger and the Soldat let go, stepping round to hold the bag steady.All of the anger I'd kept to myself suddenly seemed to rise inside of me, and the bag paid the price.I stopped suddenly, realising what I was doing. I rest my head against the bag as I take several deep breaths. The Soldat didn't comment as I wiped a couple of stray tears away."You good?" He asked."No. Wanna go again?"He didn't reply, just stepped onto the mat. I stepped up opposite him and threw the first punch.My punches and kicks were harder before, and they hit their target with more accuracy and unpredictability.He swung a punch that I ducked easily, darting under his arm behind him and seeing my chance. I jump, snaking my arm around his neck. My hands were poised as he had taught me to snap someone's neck.The Soldier froze.After a beat, my hands dropped. "Now I'm good."-"I'm scared, Bucky." My legs remain close to my chest as I sit beside him, his hand resting on my knees as his thumb rubs my skin softly. "I, I don't like what they're making me do when I'm, I'm her."-I heard people yelling in the corridors, and got up to get a look at what was happening. Maybe one of the others tried to break free.My knees were shaking and I grabbed the bars for support.Voices were coming closer, but they weren't Russian like I had grown used to. "Second floor is clear!" I heard a man's voice crack through a radio."I think they keep them in the basement levels," somebody answered him, this man coming closer to the cells."I'll send _ down to help you. _ and I will follow when we finish with the guards."The alarms stopped, only the red lights continued to flash. I could hear footsteps coming closer, and one part of my brain told me to hide in the shadows of my cell, but the other made me stay where I was. I wasn't sure I even had the energy.Maybe this was somebody who was here to free me. I reject the thought. I couldn't dare to hope such things. I had accepted years ago that I was stuck here.The steps stopped next to my cell and I looked up to see a a man starting at me. The man was wearing black and had a gun in hand. He put it in a holster on his thigh. His hair was tousled and his face sweaty from the heat that lingered in the whole building.For a second, I looked him up and down, then the panic flooded.What if he would hurt me? What if he would do something even worse than HYDRA had done?I start backing up, collapsing when my back hit the opposite wall. If he got in, I'd be trapped."You don't have to be afraid," the man spoke. He rose his hands in surrender, implying that he had no intentions to hurt me. "I'm gonna come in now, okay?"I don't react to his question, but since I didn't protest, he unlocked the door and opened it. Then he walked into the cell, careful to make slow and small steps as though approaching a cornered animal - which I supposed was what I was."Is it okay if I help you get up?" He asked softly.Immediately I shake my head. He was fine unless he touched me, then we'd have a problem."I need to get you out of here, okay? We are here to save you, and I promise I won't do anything you don't want." His voice was forceful but gentle and he crouched down next to me.I hug my knees even tighter as he tilted his head to catch my eye."I can't help you, if you don't let me."He was right, he couldn't help, but he couldn't hurt me, either. But if he had intentions of harming me, wouldn't he have done it by now?"How can I know that I can trust you?" I ask, my voice cracking.

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"20% of her body is covered in scar tissue. Second-degree burns on her back and arms. X-rays show at least 12 fractures that haven't properly healed. Mrs. Scousa, I'd like you to prepare yourself. The Maya you lost...might not be the one they found."-"Maya..."I look towards her, mouthing, "Mom.""Oh... My beautiful girl."I went to speak only to break down into a coughing fit, throat dry from lack of use. My mom moved, helping me to sit up as I coughed, handing me a glass of water as it subsided."Here," she offers as she helped me hold the glass to my lips. "Slowly, though. There's plenty of water and we don't want you to choke.""Where am I?" I croaked out after I drained the entire glass within moments. "What happened?""We can get you updated once Howard gets here," she said calmly. "But first, we need to check over you and make sure everything's okay."I nodded hesitantly, not sure I really had a choice in the matter. I laid my head down on the pillows Mom had positioned behind me. I stare at the ceiling, wondering exactly what happened. I could barely recall anything before waking up. I could remember a few faces, but I couldn't remember being rescued.Someone coming into the room pulled me from my thoughts. I looked over to see a man coming in, the door swinging shut behind him. It was Howard."Oh, good," he said with a small smile. "You're awake."I didn't say anything, just cautiously watching the man as he went to a nearby table with charts and a clipboard. My mom stood up to join him and they began conversing in hushed tones. There were only a few words I could pick out, such as "forgot", "doesn't remember", and something about "telling Tony.""Alright," Howard said after a while. "Everything looks to be in order. We can get her discharged as of morning."The both came over and joined me by my bed. I watch them warily, unsure on what they were going to do to me. I flinched as Howard reached for me, eyes going wide with panic.He instantly pulled back his hand, quickly sharing a look with my mom. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe here."-I look around the room before going to the kitchen and sitting at the table.The man, Daniel, followed me, setting the bags on the table. He removed the food, setting mine in front of me on a plate from the stack on the table."You need anything else?" He asks, going to the fridge."No." My voice was louder but still rough and husky.Daniel simply nods, grabbing out a jar of pickles. He went about adding them to his burger before joining me at the table, watching me. He had chosen the opposite end of the table, and for that, I was grateful.I was having trouble with the fries, which was starting to upset me.Daniel held a fork towards me with a gentle smile, "This might help."I took the fork and was glad to find that it did help. I ate quickly and silently, afraid someone might take it if I didn't.Before I could start on my hot dog, Daniel intervened. "Calm down. No one is going to take it away from you. I'm certainly not; I have my own," he joked lightly. "Try to slow down, taste it – not just swallow okay? If you want more after, I can try and whip up something."I nod, listening to him and taking my time with the hot dog. A small smile pulled at my lips at the familiar food.Daniel held something towards me, and I eye it uncertainly."It's deep fried cheese," he explains. "Mozzarella. It's good, trust me." He smiled as I took it – I sighed at the taste. I hadn't eaten food this good in a while. "Have as many as you like," he offers, pushing the bag towards me before standing. "I'm going to see if I can find you some clean clothes. When I come back, I will show you to the bathroom. But eat and take your time. There's no rush."-"Your room is exactly as you left it. I never had the heart to change a thing," my mom says softly as she opens the door.-After 2 years, everything that was once familiar is now unrecognizable. The face I see in the mirror is a stranger.-Moira wakes Oliver. He wakes up in attack mode, flips her and puts his hand to her throat.Moira: Oliver? Wake up. Oliver?Walter: Oliver!(Oliver looks at Walter then down at Moira, he releases her quickly and moves back to the window horrified) Oliver: I'm sorry. I'm so... I'm so sorry.(Walter helps Moira up) Moira: Oh, it's ok, Oliver. It's all right, sweetheart. You're home. You're home.-I stirred slightly, thrashing my head from side to side before I shot up with a scream.The door banged open and my mum burst in with her gun in hand."Maya!" Mum called, setting her gun on my chest of draws. My head whipped around, staring wide-eyed at the woman who held up her hands. "Hey, it's okay. You're home. You're safe," she said stepping closer.-"All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best we can do is start over."-"Come here." He holds out a hand, waiting for me to take it. When I do, he pulls me close to him and into a hug. Tight and fierce and safe."I thought you didn't do hugs?""Do you want me to stop?""... No.""Didn't think so."-I started drifting almost subconsciously towards Tony. On my bad days, he'd offer to go to the gym – some days I'd agree and we'd spend the entire day in there. Tony had to remind me to take breaks, and one time he actually had to carry me out of the gym, and back to his house, where he'd dump me on the couch.But other days, I'd just sit on the couch close to my god-brother, my legs stretched out slightly, not quite touching him, but pretty close. If he moved to the kitchen or any other room, I found myself drifting after him a minute later.He didn't seem to mind, and if he did, he never said anything. Occasionally he'd sling his arm over the back of the couch, his fingers resting on my shoulder, or in my hair when I was feeling particularly jumpy.-A loud crash cut through the previously quiet night. I shot up and gazed at the alarm clock. It was 3 am; in 4 hours I would have to get up for breakfast.For a second, the room was illuminated, then it was dark again. I sat anxiously waiting for the thunder.When it came, it roared through the house, making me whimper.Tony, who was laying next to me, was somehow still asleep. He looked so peacful that I immediately felt guilty to wake him up, but when the next flash of lightning filled the room, I couldn't hold back."Tony," I whine, gently shaking his shoulders.He started to move under my touch, trying to flee from it.However when I repeated his name, he opened his eyes and sat up. "Maya, what's wrong?" He asked, his voice deeper than usual, husky with sleep."I-"Thunder roared again, and instantely I pushed myself against him.Protectively, he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against him. "Hey everything's fine," he reassured. "It's just a little lightning."I broke free to make eye contact with him. "That is not a little lightning!" I protest. "Besides, it's loud."Tony chuckled. "You're scared of thunder?""Oh shut up! Of course I'm not!" I scowl, punching his shoulder.He smirked in amusement.A second later, when another crash filled the air, I was in his arms again, trembling from fear."Shh. It's okay," he soothed, whispering against my ear. His smile had faded at my growing anxitey. "It can't hurt you."I continued to hold him, hoping that the shelter his body provided could save me from the worlds rage."You know, I used to be scared too," he muttered.Interested, I turned my whole attention to him."I used to think the sky was angry at me. Like I had done something wrong and it was yelling at me. But, when I was older, I saw it from a completely different perspective. Maybe the sky wasn't angry at me, maybe nature just needs to scream sometimes too."I smiled at the image of that. Tony had the ability to turn even the scariest things into something less so. Only he could turn a thunderstorm into something soothing.Even the thunder that cut through the silence didn't make me jump this time. "That sounds nice." I glance up to him.He softly caressed my cheek. "You still scared?"I shake my head. "Maybe a little," I admit. "But with you here, nothing will happen.""Come on, we should get a little rest," he whispered, pulling me closer so that I was laying on his chest."Thank you," I mumble after a few moments of silence."Anytime."-The moment fingers lightly grazed my skin, I shot up, my breathing labored as I looked around frantically, my wary gaze settling on familiar brown ones full of worry."Hey, calm down," my mum said softly, reaching out. "They can't hurt you anymore."I stare at her hand, taking in deep breaths before taking her hand in mine, the familiar touch instantly making me feel better. I look away, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry.""For?""I woke you up in the middle of the night, again," I mutter, playing with her fingers. "I'm sorry.""It's okay, sweetheart. I don't mind." Her other hand moved to smooth my hair as I look at her, sceptical. "I really don't mind, baby."-"Edwin Jarvis speaking. How can I help?""Hi, J," I mutter."Miss Carter," he says, and I could hear the concern in his voice. "Are you all right?""There's no one here," I tell him.There's a moment of silence in which I could hear him yelling to someone on his end on the line. "Right, well, stay right where you are. Mr. Stark will be with you shortly.""Thank you," I say before I end the call.~I look up at the sound of car horn being honked multiple times and a door being pushed open."Get in here, you waterlogged pumpkin," Howard calls from inside, grinning warmly at me. "Quick, quick," he jokes as I grab my stuff and run to the car."Where's Mommy?" I ask as Howard starts to drive. He glances at me through the mirror."I think she got caught up at work and lost track of the time," he says. "You know her.""What about _?""I think her back is still hurting... How was practice? Did you chop a board in half?""That's karate," I giggle, "not ballet.""That's right," he chuckles."Is _'s back ever going to get better?" I ask. "She's been taking a lot of pills.""Hey," he takes my hand, "everything is going to be okay. Don't you worry."-"I don't know how to do it!" Tony laughed and I yelp as he pulled on my hair."Not like that!" I screech, sending Jarvis into peals of laughter."I can't do it!" Tony whined."Then stop pulling!" I cry through a peel of giggles, my hands flying to my head."Tony, you need to stop yanking!" Jarvis instructed.Tony's fingers slackened and he worked more gently under Jarvis' supervision.

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We walked up to the big double doors, seeing students walking out, chattering and laughing. Some of them stared at us with curious gazes but I ignore them as Jarvis leads me into the building. Raising a brow, I noticed someone walking through a wall."Look out!" Someone called out and I tilt my head to the side, narrowly missing a fireball. Twisting, I saw that the door behind me was slightly burnt.A boy ran up to me, grimacing apologetically. "Sorry, I'm still trying to control my powers."Just as I was about to say something, someone interrupted me. "May I help you?"I turn to see a lady with silver hair coming towards us from the side, the boy running off when he saw her.Clearing his throat, Jarvis gave her a smile. "Ah, yes. We're here to see Professor Charles Xavier. Is he here?""You're in luck," the woman smiles. "This way."-"Just because someone stumbles and loses their path, doesn't mean they can't be saved."– Professor Charles Xavier-I felt something crawling on my arm and I smacked it away as I turned in my bed, before freezing.Wait. Something crawling?My eyes snapped open in realization, and I quickly switched the lamp on, throwing my blanket to the side.Covering my mouth, I barely prevented a scream escaping, not wanting to disturb the rest of the house since it was 2am and everyone was most probably sleeping.A giant spider sat in the middle of my bed, staring at me as if it was mocking me while I stared back at it with disgust."What are you doing here?" I hiss, waving it towards the door. "Go murder someone else."It seemed to disagree with the latter statement as it suddenly moved forward. Biting back a shriek, I abandoned my bed and ran from my room without any hesitation. As I shut the door, I made a mental note to find Xavier first thing in the morning and tell him to burn the bed and get me a new one.Looking around, I decided to go to my favorite professor's room. He'd said he had no qualms about me going to him with nightmares or anything else. I figured this was such an occasion.Knocking on the door, I wait for him to answer. After about 2 minutes, I opened it and immediately realized why he didn't say anything. His snores were overpowering every other sound in earshot.I closed the door and walked towards the bed. It was a giant bed, but fitting for the man sleeping on it. I stare at Hank with a smirk as he slept with his arms spread apart, looking very comfortable and at peace.Crawling on the bed, I lay my head on his upper arm as there was no more space on the bed with him sleeping so freely like this.I was ready to close my eyes to sleep when I realized the snoring had stopped. Tuning my head, I saw Hank regarding me curiously."Maya?""Yeah, hi," I greet sheepishly."What are you doing here?" He frowns."Well, there's something wrong with my bed so I'm just going to sleep here tonight. I'll tell Xavier about the problem tomorrow, so, yeah, this arrangement is just for today," I explain.He looked at me for a while before nodding, putting the arm I was laying on around me and pulling me close. I was thankful for that action, as tonight was especially cold and Hank was really warm due to his mutation.He pulled the blanket over both of us as I try getting as close as I could to him, trying to steal his warmth."It was a spider wasn't it?" He asked out of nowhere.I tried to look at him, but accidentally bumped his chin with the top of my head. "How'd you know?" I frown. "But yes, there was a spider. It was a huge one, I swear it could've killed me."I felt his chest rumble as he let out a laugh."Glad you find my misery amusing," I mutter."Maya, this isn't the first time you've come to my room in the middle of the night because of a spider.""Yeah, and what about it?""I'm starting to think that you're doing this on purpose," he teased, amusement laced in his voice."No, I'm not." I gasp, accidentally bumping my head against his chin again. "But I definitely have to change rooms soon. There're way too many spiders there for my liking."Hank pulled away and looked at me. "Why not move to my room? I mean you come here enough times for it to be yours as well."I laugh with him, shaking my head before I snuggled back into him again, hiding my face. "Shut up.""I'm serious," he chuckled. "We could get a bed in here for you."-"Argh, what?" I say angrily to myself as I put down my notebook full of math equations and I pick up my phone which had four missed messages and one missed call. I rub a hand over my face in annoyance and I open my phone, reading the messages that my brother had sent.From: TonyHeyHey?Oh come on, why are you ignoring me?You always answer quicklyWhy not now?Fine, I'll callMissed call from: TonyI sigh, and just as I was about to send a reply, a new message appeared.From: TonyI'm outsideI groan again and get out of my seat. Sure enough, as I look outside my window, Tony was there, smirking up at me. I open the window and lean out of it. "Come on up, asshat!"Tony's laughter flows through the window as I sit back on my chair and pick up my notebook, listening to the sound of footsteps that make their way through the house, up the stairs and towards my room."There is no need to fear, for Tony is here!" Tony yelled as he burst through my bedroom door.I groan. "Come on, T, you know I need to study," I scowl as I lean my full weight back against the chair, my eyes closing as my book lays forgotten on my lap.Tony snorts and face plants onto my bed, then wiggles around till he was resting on the bed like the girl from the Titanic."Paint me like one of your French girls, Jack," he pouts in a mock girls voice, then he becomes serious. "Sweetpea, you are one of the smartest in this school. You don't even need to study.""Yeah, but I just don't understand the biomechanical mass calculation, and it's sure to be on the test. No one is smart enough in my class to even discuss it on my level apart from the teachers, and - oh god..." I slump even further into the chair, my hands running over my face."Maya, you literally have a friend who majors in biomechanics lying on your bed right now. Come on, how about I take you to that ice cream place you like, help you de-stress a little," Tony offers as he sits up properly on the bed, a convincing smile on his face.I shake my head. "No, I can't. Like you said, I'm stressed. But I have no time to go for ice cream. The test is in two days. I need to study.""Well," Tony pauses as he stands up and moves in front of me, bending down and kneeling so he could look at my face. "You want to know what my English minor taught me?"I let out a choked laugh and I look at him. "Sure, Tony. What did your English minor teach you?""Hey!" Tony pouts at my sarcastic tone before he smirks. "Stressed backwards is desserts, so."I burst into laughter, using my hand to ruffle his hair.  He shouted out in indignation."Oh, fine. I'll come with you. But only an hour, okay?""Sure, sweetheart, whatever you want."-I was running down the corridors of the mansion, rushing to get to class. I was late thanks to not waking to my alarm. Normally it wasn't an issue, but today Professor X was doing a speech. So instead of walking, I was running as fast as I could and skidding around corners. I nearly knocked Hank to the ground."Watch were you're going, Carter.""Sorry, Hank!"As I reach the classroom, I could tell Professor X was already in there, and I was preparing to go back to bed.Come in, Maya. We'll discuss this later.So I did as told. I opened the door and crept to the back of the classroom. All eyes followed me and I could see everyone's thoughts written across their faces - they were judging me, and that alone was enough to make me regret getting out of bed at all.I sank into my seat.After class had fished, everyone was allowed to leave but me. I remained seated, head low as Xavier wheeled over."Maya."I looked up to meet his blue eyes. He didn't look angry, just disappointed."Being late to class is unacceptable. I expect more from you.""I'm sorry..." Tears were trying to escape but I furiously blinked them back.He shook his head. "Sorry is not enough. You're grounded for a month." I went to protest but thought better of it.Xavier wheeled out - probably heading to his office - as I sat there for another minute until the tears fell. I wipe them on the sleeve of my jumper before standing up and rushing out the classroom.The corridor was full of people, most of whom were looking at me. Starting to panic, I run out into the backyard pushing past multiple students.As soon as I reach the grass, I take off towards the trees.As I got deeper into the forest, where no one would be able to see me, I slow down, coming to a halt at a small clearing with soft fresh grass. I lay down, taking in the surrounding sounds in an effort to calm down. I fall into a light doze, only to wake to the snap of a twig.I don't move. Instead, I focus, listening. I soon relaxed. Just from the footsteps I could tell it was Erik.I open my eyes to watch the man sit down next to me."You missed our session."I huff, not wanting to talk to him.He sighed and carried on talking. "I heard what happened earlier. What's going on? You were doing so well. You haven't had nightmares lately."At the mention of nightmares, I scoff.Chuckling, Erik seemed to catch on to what was wrong."If you're suffering with sleep paralysis, why didn't you tell Charles?""If I told him, he'd be disappointed.""Oh, Liebling, he would understand you are struggling. Remember what I told you."I sigh, "I have to find the point between rage and serenity...""That's it, my Kleiner. Now, come on. We have some German to learn." With that, he stood up and started walking out the clearing.I follow with a groan.By the time we reached the mansion, everyone was inside except for Hank and Xavier, who were waiting by the doors. I avoid the latter's gaze, hoping to not have to talk to him. That plan was scuppered when Hank and Erik went inside."Maya, why didn't you tell me? You're still grounded, but we'll take it slow with the training. Now, go see Erik for your lesson." He nods in the direction Erik went.

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"No, just... Could I use a first aid kit?""Why? You don't look hurt, kid." Tony cocked his head to one side, scanning me for injuries. When he found none, he met the my gaze again, as if daring me to try and trick him again."Oh, yeah, of course..." I mumble under my breath, gripping the button of my shirt and sliding it off as I turn to show Tony. I winced as the fabric pulled on the gaping wound on my back."Holy shit, kid, what the hell? Sit down! I'll get the kit, just stay calm," Tony yelled, shocked enough by the slight emergency he didn't notice the clear disinterest on the my face."T," I interrupt, "I'm very calm. You're freaking out."~"Now sit still; I'm going to clean your wound and bandage it, but if you wiggle around while I'm doing it, it's gonna hurt worse than it already does.""Yes, sir," I comment under my breath, but Tony caught it and chuckled.A few sharp gasps and gentle hushings later, my back was cleaned and dressed to the best of Tony's ability (which was pretty good, if he did say so himself)."Alright kiddo, we need to talk," Tony announced, clapping a hand on my shoulder. "What happened?""S.H.I.E.L.D.""You're telling me they're letting a high schooler go around, getting so banged up they break through windows for help?""Just because you graduated high school before you were a teenager-""Okay, enough! Is this a regular thing?" Tony inquired, gesturing at the bandages wrapped around my stomach. "Because if it is, someone," he pointed his thumb at himself, "is gonna have a little issue with that.""No, this is... This definitely not a normalcy, but I guess this isn't the worst that's-" I cut myself off, realizing I had slipped up and said something I shouldn't have.Tony scowled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Okay. That's it. No more missions for you until that," he points at the bandage, "heals. Ah," he jumps when I go to protest. "Who's your legal guardian?""You," I grumble unhappily."Exactly," he nods smugly.-It was late, and I was beat.After an extremely long and trying week that had rendered me emotionally and physically drained, I shuffle into the house and flop onto the nearest piece of furniture. It was only as I did that I realized what I had crumpled on top of the large couch. The comfiest sofa Tony owned.As the feeling of chilled leather pressed against my overheated skin, I sighed - a sound stuck between absolute relief and annoyed pain.It had truly been a week straight out of hell, and I was glad to be home.I rest upon the couch for a handful of minutes - basking in the glory of holding still and fully enjoying the glamor of being a slouch - before I felt someone's gaze upon me, and came to the conclusion that I wasn't alone. I almost wanted to scream in annoyance.Forcing my weary eyes open, I turned my head to peek up over the back of the couch, looking for the faceless person who was in the kitchen area. Who on earth would be up at this hour?After some heavy-duty blinking which forced my eyes to focus, I was able to find said person. I could see a very familiar silhouette reaching into one of the many cupboards and my apprehension was immediately put to rest. There was only one man in the entire world that looked like that while pouring himself a beverage."How long have you been there," I ask, staring in the direction of the kitchen."Long enough to know you need a drink."I chuckle tiredly, only to wince at the sound of ice cubes clinking into a glass tumbler. "That's probably not the best idea; I already have a headache."Only seconds after I finished saying this, a hand appeared in front of my face offering a generous glass of alcohol. I mentally cursed as I took the tumbler without hesitation and raised it to my lips."You're gonna be the death of me, ya know that?"From the corner of my eye - as I chugged a semi-large gulp - I watch Tony move to take the seat next to me. "You're welcome."I snort around the glass, took another sip, and then pulled away, gasping as the liquid fire seared down my throat."Whiskey?" I turn a loaded look at the man who was currently staring at me. "At this hour?""You looked like you needed the pick-me-up," Tony clarified, taking a pull from his own glass."Yeah..." I sigh, seeing my glass down. "This week royally kicked my ass.""Did you bitch-slap it back, in the preferred Carter-Fashion?""Not like I wouldn't have liked to," I admit as I move to snuggle into Tony's side. "Weeklong missions aren't fun."Tony chuckled as he wrapped his arms around me in return. "Saving the world not working out for ya?""Nope," I grumble as I bury my head into the crook of his neck.Tony grinned. "Well, if your fantasy career of saving the world fails you, my offer still stands."I scoff. "As much as I love you, Tony, I don't think I could bear being around you all the time."Tony lifted a mock eyebrow and placed a kiss to my forehead, "Hey, hey, hey don't dis it. Happy and Pep love it!"I hum tiredly. "I can't not be doing something active, T. Besides, I can save the world, so why not?""Because it wears you down," Tony suggested.I shrug.We fell into a miniature silent spell. It wasn't unpleasant or forced, and I easily dozed in the peaceful atmosphere of the moment.Tony drank his Whiskey thoughtfully, and I cuddled into him - and as the minutes ticked by, I couldn't help but relax. I had needed this, almost as much as I had to get off my feet. For days, I had been running around, taking care of other people's problems and it was nice to finally stop and catch my breath. Especially when I had the chance to spend some down time with my god-brother, sheltered within the depths of the mansion from the outside world and all the drama of everyday life. I had had too much stress lately and this veg'ing with Tony was just what the doctor had ordered."Thanks Tony," I whisper softly as I curled my feet under me and lost myself to the blissful mix of Whiskey and the comforting presence of Tony.And though I hadn't elaborated on why I was thanking him, Tony new what I had meant. "Anytime, kiddo."- If I really wanted to, I could blame this all on Pepper. She could have anything she ever wanted delivered right to our front door, but she always insisted on going to the store herself to get whatever she needed. She said it gave her some sense of normality, which yeah, Tony and I could understand where she was coming from with that.Today, it was Pepper, Tony, and I making the trip, mostly to just browse through the clothing racks, and Tony said something about wanting to find a new pair of shoes. I was only coming along because I'd spent the last three days cooped up in my room, and I needed fresh air and a change of scenery.As soon as we entered the mall, Pepper was off. The three of us had agreed to meet at the food court in about an hour and a half, so until then, Pepper was going to be taking every store by storm. Being the assistant of Tony Stark gave her an excuse to spend a little extra on her wardrobe; she needed to look professional, after all.Since I didn't have anything I was shopping for, I trailed behind Tony as he milled about. We talked a bit about nothing in particular, and I distracted myself by fiddling with my phone while we walked. I'd offer my opinions on the different pairs of shoes Tony was trying on, but for the most part, I was uncharacteristically quiet. Mostly because I was fighting off memories of HYDRA that had been triggered by the previous night of nightmares.We left the store, Tony with a new pair of navy blue sneakers in a shopping bag, and I followed behind him. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see a text from Rogue asking where I'd left my project for Storm. I stop, closing my eyes as I racked my brain trying to figure out where I'd left it, and then texted back that they were in one of the drawers of my desk.When I looked up from my phone, Tony was gone. Now, had I been completely in the mind of myself, this wouldn't have been a problem. But the whole time we'd been in and out of the stores, I'd been in and out of one mindset and on the edge of the other. And now that I was separated from Tony? Yeah, I was a lost cause, and my mindset of danger swallowed me right up.I glance around nervously, looking for Tony's suit poking out among the crowd. Damn, I didn't realize until now just how crowded the mall was.It's a Saturday afternoon, of course it's crowded. But that's not what you should be thinking about right now, the logical voice pointed outSomeone bumped into my arm as they walked past, and I remembered that I was standing in the middle of the walkway. Surrounded by people. No, surrounded by strangers. With nobody I knew in sight.It would be laughable, how cliché the situation was if I wasn't so terrified. My body went on autopilot, because there was was no way I was thinking clearly at this point, and I walked along with the crowd until I could step off into a little area with no foot-traffic.I ran my hands through my hair. I knew Tony probably wouldn't even be looking for me, because he didn't know that he was 100% responsible right now. I didn't tell Tony (or anybody, for that matter) that I was skirting around the edge of this particular mindset. Had he known that there was even the slightest chance that I could snap, he never would've taken his eyes off of me for a second. But as far as Tony knew, I was a teenager who probably went off on her own to do some shopping, and that I'd just meet up with him later like we'd agreed.What was I supposed to do? It wasn't like I could just find the security office and have them find Tony for me. I could only imagine that announcement: 'Tony Stark, please report to the security office immediately to collect your daughter.'And he'd be swarmed by people, and assume I robbed a store or killed a person.Yeah, absolutely not.I was better off trying to find Tony on my own, even while as terrified and on edge as I was feeling right now.When my phone buzzed in my hand with another text from Rogue, I jumped in shock. Then I wanted to slap myself for not seeing the obvious solution to my problem that was right in front of me. I had a phone. Tony had a phone. I was just glad I could blame it on the onslaught of fear that I hadn't figured that out sooner.I dialed Tony's number (I knew it by heart) and waited impatiently for him to pick up, but the ringback kept going and going, until his voicemail answered instead. Disheartened, I quickly sent him a text.To: TonyWhere are you? I need you.As I wait for it to buzz with a response from Tony saying he was coming to get me, I was fighting off the urge to find a quiet corner to curl up in until Tony came for me. I just felt so scared and alone, and I could feel the tears threatening to flood my eyes any second now. Instead, I settle for chewing at my fingernails and pacing back and forth anxiously, which I guessed was better than running. Finally, my phone went off, and Tony had answered.From: TonyI'm on my way to the food court.The food court was on the lower level of the mall, on the complete other side from where I was. Stressed, I redial Tony's number, and this time, mercifully, he picked up. "What's so terrible that you had to call?"I whimpered my response so quietly that I didn't know if Tony would even be able to hear above the noise from the crowded mall, "T."Thank god for him having his volume louder than most. "Maya, are you still near the shoe store?" Tony could go into serious-mode just as quickly as I could become his baby sister."Yeah.""Okay, kid, stay there, alright?""'kay.""Do you want me to stay on the phone with you?"Tony could be smart when he needed to be. "Yeah.""Alright. I'm so proud of you for calling me, you did such a good job," Tony praised. He did most of the talking, his voice enough to help me calm down and keep from getting worked up about being all by myself.I was analyzing the crowd of the mall for any threats, my fear not dissipating.Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I spun around in fright to see Tony standing there, smiling cautiously. I throw myself into his arms, breathing him in."T," I whimper, more to myself as a reassurance that he was here now and I wasn't alone anymore."Hey, honey. I'm so sorry I lost you. I didn't know you were feeling scared," he cooed."S'okay." I rest my head on Tony's chest.He pressed a careful and quick kiss into my hair. "Let's go find Pepper and we can go home, okay? Maybe we can get an ice cream at the food court before we go, what do you say?"

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Las Vegas"Tony Stark. Visionary Genius. American patriot. Even from an early age, the son of legendary weapons developer Howard Stark quickly stole the spotlight with his brilliant and unique mind. At age 4, he built his first circuit board. At age 6, his first engine. And at 17, he graduated summa sum laude from MIT." The tone changed, "Then, the passing of a Titan."I look at my glass at the reminder of that event. The car accident that took the lives of my godfather and his wife – the accident that took Tony's parents, leaving him my primary guardian."Howard Stark's lifelong friend and ally, Obadiah Stane, steps in to help fill the gap left by the legendary founder, until, at age 21, the prodigal son returns and is anointed the new CEO of Stark Industries."Applause filled the large room."With the keys to the kingdom, Tony ushers in a new era for his father's legacy. Creating smarter weapons, advanced robots, satellite targeting. Today, Tony Stark has changed the face of the weapons industry by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe."Once again, everyone clapped, but this time it was because the video was over. I grin as a spotlight burst into life, making Rhodey's presence known."As liaison to Stark Industries, I've had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot. He is my friend and he is my great mentor. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year's Apogee award to Mister Tony Stark." Applause filled the room a third time, and Rhodey looks around for the man of the hour, confused and a little hurt. "Tony?" His gaze landed on our table, clearly seeing that the seat between me and Stane was empty. We shake our heads, but before either man had a chance to move, I'm out of my seat and moving towards the stage to save Rhodey."Thank you, Colonel," I grin, shaking his hand."Thanks for the save," Rhodey tells me softly, stepping back so that I could make a speech or something on Tony's behalf.I hold the award up, looking at it. "This is beautiful, thank you." I turn my gaze to the crowd watching me. "Thank you all so very much. This is wonderful." As they all applaud, I look at the award again, knowing it would end up forgotten by Tony. He never really did trinkets. "Well," I say as the applause dies down, "I'm not Tony Stark."They laugh lightly."Uh... But, if I were Tony, I would tell you how honored I feel and what a joy it is to receive this very prestigious award. Tony, you know... The best thing about Tony is also the worst thing. He's always working."Which wasn't exactly true, even I knew that much. We were in Vegas – there was only one place he would be and that was the casinos with Happy. Casinos"There," I say, pointing towards the table my legal guardian was stood with a woman either side of him."We should just stay until morning," Tony was saying as we drew near."You are unbelievable," Rhodey exclaims."Oh, no!" Tony says. "Did they rope you into this?""Nobody roped me into anything!""I'm so sorry," Tony tried."But they told me that if I presented you with an award, you'd be deeply honored.""Of course I'll be deeply honored. And it's you, that's great. So when we do it?""It's right here," I huff, holding it up."Hey, one more round," Tony calls to the table."Here you go," I say, pushing it at him."There it is. That was easy," he says, accepting it. "I'm so sorry," he repeats to Rhodey."Yeah, it's okay.""Wow, would you look at that?" He hands the award to the woman on his right. "That's something else."I roll my eyes as he returns to his game."I don't have any of those floating around. We're gonna let it ride," Tony announces. He holds his hand towards the woman holding the trophy. "Gimme a hand, will you? Gimme a little something-something." After she blows on it, he holds his hand to Rhodey. "Come on, you too.""I don't blow on a man's dice," the man states."Come on, honey bear," Tony pushes."I'm so -"He shoves Tony's hand towards the table and he releases the dice."There it is," he grins. "Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes rolls! And...""Two craps. Line away.""That's what happens," Rhodey taunts."Worse things have happened," Tony brushes off. "I think we're gonna be fine. Color me up, will you?" He turned to me suddenly, his eyes wide as though he'd only just realized I was actually there. "How were you even allowed in here?!"I raise my eyebrows, unamused. "How do you think?"He turns his gaze to Rhodey as he prepares to leave. "You're supposed to be the responsible one, not me. Responsible people don't let minors into casinos."Rhodey looks at me, confused.I shrug. "He doesn't like it," I tell him. "Not the place he wants to see me in."To say the least, Rhodey was only more confused."He lets me join him sometimes," I say as we start towards the exit. "But he doesn't like letting me in these kinds of environments."-"This is where I exit," Rhodey announces."All right," Tony smiles, shaking his hand in farewell."Tomorrow, don't be late," Rhodey presses."Yeah, you can count on it," Tony brushes off."I'm serious!""I know, I know."I nod to Rhodey as we split ways, me walking behind Tony and in front of Happy and the other bodyguards."Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's," Tony says as we pass a costumed man. "There you go."It didn't surprise me when he handed the trophy to the man – he rarely kept trophies and when the chance arose, he gladly got rid of them.Happy moved ahead to get the door of the limousine for Tony and I."M'lady," Tony grins, an arm extended towards me.I laugh slightly as I slip into the limo, but before Tony could get in, a woman calls after him. I move back to the door, curious."Mr. Stark! Excuse me, Mr. Stark!"The bodyguards step in the woman's way, and I almost groan. She was a blonde reporter."Christine Everhart. Vanity Fair Magazine. Can I ask you a couple of questions?""She's cute," Happy says in a hushed tone to Tony."She's alright," Tony shrugged before turning to face her. "Hi.""Hi," Christine returns."Yeah," Tony says, moving towards her. "Okay, go.""It's okay?""Yeah," he shrugs, stopping in front of her."You've been called the da Vinci of our time. What do you say to that?""Absolutely ridiculous," Tony replies. "I don't paint.""And what do you say to your other nickname; 'The Merchant of Death'?""That's not bad," he concedes. "Let me guess... Berkeley?""Brown, actually," Christine corrected."Well, Ms. Brown," he flirts, "it's an imperfect world, but it's the only one we've got. I guarantee you, the day weapons are longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals.""Rehearse that much?""Every night in front of the mirror before bedtime," he returns."I can see that," she nods, a small smile on her face."I'd like to show you first-hand," Tony decides.I groan, looking to Happy. "Can I just...?"Christine shakes her head in response to Tony. "All I want is a serious answer.""Okay, here's serious. My old man had a philosophy, 'Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy.'""That's a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks.""My father helped defeat the Nazis," Tony counters. "He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people, including your professors at Brown, would call that being a hero.""And a lot of people would also call that war profiteering," Christine retorts."Tell me," Tony says, removing his iconic glasses. "Do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops? All those breakthroughs, military funding, honey.""Wooow," she smirks. "You ever lose an hour of sleep your whole life.""I'd be prepared to lose a few with you," Tony shrugs."Front," Happy agrees, and I slip from the back to the front, where I wouldn't have to bear witness to the two adults getting it on in the back of the limo. Morning After"Good morning," J.A.R.V.I.S. says, the windows clearing to allow sunlight in. "It's 7:00 AM. The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds. The surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines. High tide will be at 10:52 AM.""Thank you, J," I grin before leaving my room to grab breakfast. I was already dressed, having been up since 6 doing homework Tony had set me."Tony?"I frown, but soon enough I recognize the voice as Christine Everhart's, and I roll my eyes."Hey, Tony?"With my bagel in hand, I make towards where Christine's voice was coming from, chuckling as she jumps after J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up – "You are not authorized to access this area.""Jesus," she gasps, backing away."That's J.A.R.V.I.S.," I comment, sitting on the sofa as Pepper enters. "He runs the house.""I've got your clothes here," Pepper announces as Christine turns around. "They've been dry cleaned and pressed, and there's a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you'd like to go.""You must be the famous Pepper Potts," Christine comments, walking towards us."Indeed I am.""After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry cleaning," Christine taunts as she stops in front of Pepper, taking her clothes."I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark and Miss. Carter requires, including, occasionally, taking out the trash. Will that be all?"I muffle my laughter in my bagel. Pepper had a knack for remaining as polite as ever when dishing out insults – a skill I admired and had yet to grasp how to do.As Pepper deals with Christine, I make my way to where Tony was working – I didn't need to ask J.A.R.V.I.S. at this point, as I had known Tony long enough to know where to find him."Oh, we're working on the bike?" I ask as I enter the room, not having to input a code or go through security measures."Give me an exploded view," he says to J.A.R.V.I.S.. "Sleep well?""The compression in cylinder 3 appears to be low," JARVIS informs."As well as ever," I reply as I join Tony by the bike. "Log that," I say to the A.I., referring to the bike."I'm gonna try again, right now," Pepper was saying as she entered the room. Upon entering, she had turned off the music, the workroom becoming uncharacteristically quiet."Please don't turn down my music," Tony says, not turning to look at her."I'll keep you posted," Pepper finishes, ending her phone call. "You are supposed to be halfway around the world right now," Pepper scolds."How'd she take it?""Like a champ," Pepper sighs."Why are you trying to hustle us out of here?" Tony asks, holding us a metal engine sheet."Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago," Pepper reminds."That's funny," Tony states, "I thought, with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there.""Tony, I need to speak to you about a couple of things before I get you out of the door," Pepper announces.Tony stops working, not really listening to Pepper. "I mean, doesn't it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?""Larry called," Pepper says as Tony wipes his hands clean of oil. "He's got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock in the wings. Do you want it? Yes or no?""Is it a good representation of his spring period?" Tony asks."Um, no. The Springs was actually the neighborhood in East Hampton where he lived and worked," I correct offhandedly, "not 'Spring' like the season.""So?""I think it's a fair example," Pepper offers. "I think it's incredibly overpriced.""I need it," Tony decides, moving away from the bike. "Buy it. Store it.""Okay," Pepper smiles, scribbling away at whatever was on her clipboard this morning. "The MIT commencement speech-""Is in June," Tony cuts in. "Please, don't harangue me about stuff that's way, way down -""Well, they're haranguing me, so I'm gonna say yes.""Well, deflect it and absorb it. Don't transmit it back to me.""I need you to sign this before you get on the plane," Pepper tells him."What are you trying to get rid of me for?" Tony whines. "What, you got plans?""As a matter of fact, I do," she confirms, holding the pen to Tony."I don't like it when you have plans," Tony frowns."She's allowed to have plans on her birthday," I state, rolling my eyes."It's your birthday?""Yes," Pepper and I deadpan."I knew that," Tony tries. He blinked, "Already?""Yeah, isn't that strange?" Pepper asks. "It's the same day as last year.""Hmm, well, get yourself something nice from me," he tells her. It wasn't like he meant to come off as rude – thankfully, Pepper had been around long enough to know what he's like with dates. It was for that reason that she was allowed to buy herself something expensive on Tony's card at Christmas and on her birthday. Tony had also had J.A.R.V.I.S. provide her with a pay bonus on both of those days - and it helped because Tony never quite knew what Pepper would like, meaning it was simply easier to allow her to buy herself something on him."I already did," she assures."And?""Oh, it was very nice," she smiles."Yeah?""Very tasteful. Thank you, Mr. Stark.""You're welcome, Miss. Potts.""Okay, let's go." AirportOf course, I wasn't going with Tony – no, I was going to see my mother in New York, but our planes were leaving from the same place, meaning that I could go with Tony and race Happy.We arrived in less than 20 minutes to the runway, and Tony turned to Happy as he climbed out of the car. "You're good! I thought I lost you back there.""You did, sir," Happy confirms as he grabs Tony's bags from the trunk of the black car he drove. "I had to cut across Mulholland.""Ah, I got ya. I got ya.""What's wrong with you?" Rhodey demands as Tony moves to the plane."What?""3 hours!""I got caught doing a piece for Vanity Fair.""For 3 hours," Rhodey complains. "For 3 hours you got me standing here.""Waiting on you now. Let's go. See you in a few days, kid.""Bye, Tony," I call as I dash towards the smaller jet Tony let me use, my bag on my back.

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I stare at the man in front of me, shocked and confused. I didn't quite understand why he was here in the first place, but I had known it wasn't good news he brought with him. What I couldn't have imagined was just how bad the bad news was."What do you mean?" I demand, trying to keep my voice steady. "How could that happen?"Rhodey sighed, clearly exhausted - but I didn't care, all I cared about was finding out what had happened."Rhodey," I push."We don't know," he exclaimed. "But we don't know if -""He is," I interrupt. "He has to be.""Maya, we can't be so sure," he says slowly. "We haven't found his body, but we don't know if he made it out himself or -""He's still alive," I state firmly. "If he was caught, whoever has him will have him making weapons."-3 Months Later"We've found him," Rhodey tells me. "He's safe. We've got him.""Bring him back," I say. "Bring him home."-Relief was all I felt asI watched Rhodey walk Tony onto the runway."Are you kidding me with this?" Tony says as the paramedics wheeled a bed towards him. "Get rid of them."Rhodey does so, and I move towards Tony, tears in my eyes as he offered a one-armed hug as he came to a stop in front of me, Pepper and Happy."Hey, kid," he whispered. "Miss me?"I nod, returning the hug as gently as I could. "I thought you weren't coming back, you idiot," I say."Tempting," he joked, trying to draw a laugh from me. He didn't try to move me, his arm remaining around me as he looked at Pepper to address her. "Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long lost boss?""Tears of joy. I hate job hunting," Pepper replied, her words wavering slightly.What went unspoken was that she would've stayed to look after me, as would Happy. I would have become their job."Yeah, vacation's over," Tony says, his arm loosening from around me. I pull back and we climb into the black BMW that Happy loved driving."Where to, sir?" Happy asks."Take us to the hospital, please, Happy," Pepper requested once we were all in the car."No," Tony countered firmly."'No'? Tony, you have to go to the hospital," Pepper argued."No is a complete answer," I say quietly."The doctor has to look at you.""I don't have to do anything," he pointed out. "I've been in captivity for 3 months. There are two things I want to do; I want an American cheeseburger ... and the other-""That's enough of that," Pepper jumped in."- is not what you think," Tony assures. "I want you to call for a press conference, now.""Call for a press conference?""Yeah," he confirmed."What an Earth for?" Pepper asked, confused."Hogan, drive," I say. "Cheeseburger first."-"Look at this!" Stane called as Happy stopped in line with the door. The older man moves to open the door for me and Tony, wearing a large grin. Once out of the car, Stane pulled Tony into a hug. "Tony. We were gonna meet at the hospital.""No," I sigh, "he's fine.""Look at you," Stane says, clearly amazed at just how well he looked."Here," Happy says, bringing the bag containing a second and third burger and fries to Tony, who pulled the burger out. The fries tended to go to me without much debate."You had to have a cheeseburger, yeah?" Stane chuckled, shaking his head at the familiar antics of Tony."Well, come on," Tony says, leading the way towards the building."You get me one of those?""There's only one left," Tony says, "I need it. And the fries are Maya's."The cheers followed us into the press room, where Tony finishes the last bite of his second burger."Hey," Stane called to the people filling the room, "look who's here! Yeah!"I stop beside Pepper, not wanting to face the press but also because it wasn't crowded at the back."Miss Potts?" A familiar voice asks."Yes?" She replied, turning to the man."Can I speak to you for a moment?""I'm not part of the press conference," she explained. "But it's about to begin right now.""He's not a reporter," I tell her."I'm Agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and, and Logistics Division.""That's quite a mouthful," Pepper comments as Phil handed her a card."I know. We're working on it."I roll my eyes. "It spells S.H.I.E.L.D. Just go with that.""You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA-""S.H.I.E.L.D.'s a separate division with a more specific focus," I explain, cutting across the red-head. I often forgot that Pepper knew little about these things, unlike Tony, who knew they existed and just decided to ignore them."We need to debrief Mr. Stark about circumstances of his escape," Phil added, shooting me a look that I knew was in response to my shortening of the organization's name."I'll put something in the book, shall I?""Thank you," Phil smiled before moving back to the other agents in the room."Let's get this started, shall we? Uh..." Stane looked down to where Tony had sat himself on the floor."Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" He asks, pulling out his final burger. "Why don't you sit down? That way you can see me and I can... A little less formal and..." He took a bite as everyone sat themselves on the floor."What's up with the love-in?" Rhodey asked in a whisper to Pepper and me as he joined us."Don't look at me," Pepper shrugged. "I don't know what he's up to.""Good to see you," Tony says to Stane who had sat beside him."Good to see you," the man returned."I never got to say goodbye to Dad," he said. He turned to the press. "I never got to say goodbye to my father." He set his half-eaten burger beside him on its paper. "There's questions that I would have asked him. I would've asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man will you remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable zero accountability.""Mr. Stark," people began to call, one voice softer than the others."Hey, Ben," Tony smiled."What happened over there?" Ben asked carefully."Oh, I had my eyes opened." Tony stood up, slowly walking to the microphone. "I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International-" The press erupt into questions as they all clambered to their feet. "- until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be.""Oh, my god," I say as Stane hurries to move to Tony's side and take over."Okay," the man jumped in. "I think we're going to be selling a lot of newspapers.""And what direction it should take, is one I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well," Tony continued as Stane moved him away from the microphone.After getting Tony off the stage, Stane recaptures the attention of the press. "What we should take away from this, is that Tony's back! And, uh, he's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and will get back to you with the follow-up."-"Well that, uh... That went well," Stane grumbled as he entered the factory."Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?" Tony asks nonchalantly."Your head?" Stane repeats as he walked behind me and Tony. "What about my head? What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?""Uh... Optimistically, 40 points," I say."At minimum," Stane stressed as Tony removes his tie."Yep," he agrees."Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer," Stane reminds."Obie," Tony says, "I don't want a body count to be our only legacy.""That's... That's what we do. We're ironmongers. We make weapons.""It's his name on the side of the building," I remind, not liking how uncomfortable Stane was making me feel."And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos," Stane continued as though I hadn't spoken."Not based on what I saw," Tony argued. "We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else.""Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?""I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology," Tony says."Oh, come on," Stane scoffed. "The arc reactor? That's a publicity stunt! Tony, come on. We built the thing to shut the hippies up.""And it works," I point out."Yeah, as a science project," Stane scoffed. "The arc was never cost-effective. We knew that we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead-end, right?""Maybe," Tony says, his gaze not leaving the large one powering the factory."Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in, what? 30 years.""That's what they say," Tony confirmed.I narrow my gaze at Stane. "Could you have a lousier poker face? Just spill; who told you?""Never mind who told me," Stane brushed off. "Show me.""Rhodey or Pepper," Tony scowled. "It's Rhodey or Pepper.""I wanna see it," Stane states, not leaving room for Tony to refuse."Okay, Rhodey," I decide as Tony starts to strip just enough to show the little box keeping him alive."Okay," Stane says as he starts to button Tony's shirt up again. He chuckled slightly."It works," Tony deadpans."Listen to me," Stane says lowly, "Tony. We're a team. Do you understand? There is nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I.""I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads up, okay? But if I had -""Tony," Stane cut in. "Tony, no more of this 'ready, fire, aim' business. You understand me?""That was Howard's line," I grumble."You gotta let me handle this," Stane says. "We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. And I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low."-"You see this? It's a fork. You can use it to eat the breakfast your brother just cooked for you.""I love the way that sounds. You calling yourself my brother."He rolls his eyes. "Eat.""I am," I laugh. I take a bite. "This is perfect. Not just the food. You being here." I look around the kitchen. "Is there any more coffee?"Tony sighs. "It goes against my better judgment, but this is your last cup, okay?""Promise.""All right."-"Pepper," Tony says into the coms. "How big are your hands?""What?""How big are your hands?""I don't understand why -""Get down here," Tony ordered, cutting across her response. "I need you."Two minutes was all it took, and in that time I had cleaned an entire surface of scrap metal."Hey," he greets Pepper. "Let's see 'em. Show me your hands." He wiggled his fingers at her. "Let's see them."She raised her hands as she moved towards us, confused as to why he wanted to see her hands and why it was relevant."Oh, wow, they are small," he mused. "Very petite indeed. I just, uh, need your help for a sec.""Oh, my god," she gasped, looking at the reactor in Tony's hand. "Is that the thing that's keeping you alive?""It was," I tell her simply. "Now, it's just an antique. This," I hold up the new one, "is what will be keeping him alive for the foreseeable future. We're swapping that one," I nod to the one in Tony's chest, "up for an upgraded unit.""But we sort of ran into a little speed bump," Tony finished."'Speed bump'?" Pepper repeated, looking between me and Tony. "What does that mean?""It's nothing," Tony plays off. "It's just a little snag. There's an exposed wire under this device," he turned the arc reactor, freeing it from what kept it in place. "And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short. It's fine." He pulls the old reactor out, handing it to Pepper. "Okay?""What do you want me to do?""Put that on the table over there," I sigh. "That one's irrelevant.""Oh, my god!" Pepper groans."I just want you to reach in, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out.""Is it safe?""Yeah... It should be fine," I assure her. "It's like Operation – just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes BEEP.""What do you mean, 'Operation'?""It's a – just a game, never mind," Tony huffed. "Just gently lift the wire. Okay? Great.""Why couldn't Maya do this...? Her hands are smaller than mine, and steadier.""I need her insane hearing to monitor everything going on, and she can't do that if she's doing this.""Okay," Pepper muttered, preparing to reach in. She pulled her hand back at the last second, hissing. "You know, I don't think that I'm qualified to do this.""No, you're fine," Tony assures her quickly. "You're the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great.""Is it too much of a problem to ask?" I question. "Because we kinda really -""Okay, okay," Pepper cut in.I grimace at the squelching sound as Pepper puts her hand in."Oh, oh, there's pus!""It's not pus," I gag. "It's an inorganic plasmic discharge.""It's from the device, not my body," Tony explains."It smells," she whines, disgusted."Yeah," he agreed, "it does. The copper wire. The copper wire - you got it?""Okay, I got it. I got it.""You got it?""Now don't let it touch the – AH!" Tony yelps as the wire brushed the side, a loud buzz sounding. "-sides – sides when it's coming out... That's what I meant...""I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Pepper rushed, wincing."That's what I was trying to tell you before. Now, make sure that when you pull it out, you don't pull out the – there's a magnet at the end – of it!"I stare at Pepper as a chink sounds. "That was it," I swallow. "You just pulled it out.""Okay," Tony grumbled. He was so, so done. "Oh, God.""Are you okay?" Pepper panics."Don't put it back in!" Tony exclaimed quickly as the red-head went to do so."I'm sorry! I don't know what to -""Don't put it back in," I tell her, knowing that she was panicking and had absolutely no idea what she was doing or was supposed to do.Pepper looks between me and Tony, but I was focusing on Tony's heart rate, which was quickly climbing."Okay, what do I do? What's wrong?" Pepper exclaimed as Tony hissed in pain."Oh, nothing," he brushes off."He's just going into cardiac arrest -""What?!""-'cause you yanked it out like a trout," I finish, knowing that Tony wasn't about to admit it to Pepper."I thought you said this was safe!""We gotta hurry," Tony and I tell her in unison."Take this," I say, holding the new Reactor towards Pepper."Take that," Tony confirmed. "You gotta switch it out really quick.""Okay, okay." Pepper stopped suddenly. "Tony?""What?""It's going to be okay, okay?""Is it?""It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna make this okay.""Let's hope," I mutter."Okay," Tony started explaining as Pepper finally began putting the new one in. "You're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make sure you -"There was a click, a loud buzz and a sharp beep, and then a yelp of OW from Tony."Was that so hard?" Tony asks the red-head as he recovered from the shock. "That was fun, right?" He moves to take charge again, "Here," he says as he sat up. "I'll do that." The reactor clicked into place. "Nice," Tony grinned, pleased with his work."Are you okay?" Pepper asks breathlessly."Yeah, I feel great," Tony replies nonchalantly. "Are you okay?" He chuckled at Pepper's face, and I couldn't help but join in."Don't ever, ever, ever, ever, ask me to do anything like that ever again," Pepper warns."I don't have anyone but you," Tony protests gently. He offered her an awkward half-smile because honestly, it was true. Well, he had me, but he much preferred me monitoring his vitals to replacing his reactor."Well, anyway," Tony muttered, starting to get up from the table.Pepper busied herself with clearing up. "What do you want me to do with this?" She held the old reactor up."That? Destroy it," Tony declared carelessly. "Incinerate it."I sigh. He never changed – he didn't like trinkets, especially those that held bad memories to them."You don't wanna keep it?""Pepper, he's been called many things," I start. "Nostalgic is not one of them."Pepper nodded slowly. "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?""That will be all, Miss Potts," Tony confirmed. He turns to his machine, "Hey, butterfingers, come here. What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk?"I grin, sitting on top of the desk with everything else."That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my dad. That's Maya. Right there – in the garbage. All that stuff.""Hey!" I laugh as he tossed me over his bare shoulder, and he digs his fingers into my sides gently, drawing more laughter from me.

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"The future of air combat," Rhodey was saying. "Is it manned or unmanned? I'll tell you; in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct, his insight, that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome, or a pilot's judgement.""Colonel?""It –" Rhodey turned to Tony, his gaze landing on us as we move towards him."Why not a pilot without the plane?" Tony questions."Look who fell out of the sky," Rhodey teased. "Mr. Tony Stark.""Hello, sir," the men greet as Tony shook their hands."Ma'am," greet those whose hands I shake. At least they understood I actually held some higher standing."Speaking of manned or unmanned," I continue, "you gotta get him to tell you about the time he guessed wrong at spring break.""Just remember that," Tony grinned, catching on quickly. "Spring break, 1987." He turned to Rhodey, "That lovely lady you woke up with.""Don't do that!" Rhodey states."What was his name?" Tony continued."Don't do that," Rhodey repeats as the cadets chuckle."Was it Ivan?""Don't do that," Rhodey says again. "They'll believe it. Don't do that.""Okay," Tony says."Don't do that," Rhodey grumbles. He turned back to the cadets."Pleasure meeting you," Tony and I say in unison, smiling at the boys."Give us a couple minutes, you guys," Rhodey chuckles and the cadets leave us. "I'm surprised.""Why?" I ask."I swear," Rhodey turned to Tony, "I didn't expect to see you walking around so soon."Tony nodded, "I'm doing a little better than walking.""Really?""Yeah... Rhodey, I'm working on something big.""We came to talk to you," I add. "We want you to be a part of it."He looks between us. "You're about to make a whole lot of people around here real happy, Tony, 'cause that little stunt at the press conference, that was a doozy.""This ... is not for the military," I explain carefully."I'm not... It's different," Tony adds at Rhodey's expression."What? You're a humanitarian now or something?""I need you to listen to me," Tony states."No," Rhodey cut in. "What you need is time to get your mind right."Tony smiled sarcastically, a soft scoff escaping him."I'm serious."Tony nodded, "Okay."He didn't try to argue his case, but it was clear that Rhodey's words had hurt him. After all, the man was Tony's best friend."It's nice seeing you, Tony," Rhodey dismisses, "Maya.""Thanks," Tony mutters.-MARK 2He waved his hand over the keyboard, waking it up. "J.A.R.V.I.S., you up?" Tony asks."For you sir, always," the AI responds as the blueprints appear on the screens."I'd like to open a new project file, index as Mark II.""Shall I store this on the STARK Industries Central Database?"I look over the 3D blueprint of the suit as Tony moves it to the pad."Actually, I don't know who to trust right now," Tony admits. "'Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server?""That suit's huge," I frown, looking at it."Working on a secret project, are we, sir?"Tony moved to stand in front of the 3D projection, and he moves the helmet back before deleting all besides the basic outline of the suit. "I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands." He deleted more of the suit. "Maybe in mine, it can actually do some good.""When we starting?""Now," Tony replied. "And you're gonna help.""I was going to regardless," I shrug.While he got to work on the inner mechanics, I worked on the overall design of the suit, trying to work out ways of improving on Tony's initial design and the mechanics of it all.While I had the computers and J.A.R.V.I.S. at hand, Tony was working with the clumsy hand thing that he'd deemed 'Butterfingers'. Even so, it was funny to listen to him talking to it – I'd often wondered if Tony got along better with machines than he did people, but he tended to get along with me just fine.-"Okay," Tony calls as he moves to stand on the mat set out for him to test the boots and hand things out. "Let's do this right.""Start mark, half a meter, and back and center," I note."Dummy, look alive," Tony tells 'Butterfingers'. "You're on standby for fire safety. You," he turns to another machine, the one with the camera, "roll it.""Rolling," I assure him, looking at the screen the footage was being broadcast to."Okay... Activate hand controls. We're gonna start off nice and easy," Tony explains as the controls power up. "We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift.""And three, two, one..."I jump as the controls sent Tony hurtling backwards and into the ceiling. "Shit, Tony," I exclaim, on my feet in seconds as he crashes to the ground."I'm good," he groaned. "I'm... I'm good."I breathe a sigh of relief as I cast a glance to the clock. "Alright, sci-fi, you need to stop experimenting and get some sleep.""No thanks, this is more interesting than sleep.""I will knock you out, T. Don't underestimate my need for you to be sane."-MARK 3"You got a solution?"I shrug, handing him the work I'd been doing while he'd been busy making the thrusters. "I'm still working on it, but until we know just how much power and force is needed to achieve a safe and steady lift, it's not gonna be perfect workings.""It's something," Tony assured. "Good job." He flips through the pages, coming across a couple of blueprints for the suit itself. He looks at me again. "You did this?""I got bored," I admit, "and I figured you needed a new design for the suit itself.""Get to work," he says, pointing at the graphics station. "I want to see that in 3D.""Got it," I grin before hurry to work.It didn't take more than a few hours to turn my drafts into a 3D article, but it took some time to make the corrections I found that needed to be made to improve the design for practicality.Needless to say, Tony was pleased with the outcome when he tried it out for size, and he set me to work in helping him to build it.-As I was sorting out the screws in the metal that was around Tony's arm, Pepper arrived, carrying a box with two coffee cups on top."Up two," Tony mutters. "All right, set that.""I've been buzzing you," Pepper announces. "Did you hear the intercom?""Okay?" I ask Tony as I tighten the screws."Yeah, everything's... What?" Tony's attention turned to Pepper."Obadiah's upstairs," she explains patiently."Great!" Tony states. "Great.""What would like me to tell him?""I'll be right up."I step back, allowing Tony to lift the metal arm up to try out the power."I thought you said you were done making weapons?" Pepper questioned, staring at the metal around his arm."This," I start, "is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless."I grimace as Tony's sent flying backwards at the force of the stabilizer, the work surface clearing at the power. Pepper turned away, covering her ears, whereas I was sent into a daze at the noise. It was one thing for the power to make sound, it was another when it sent metal into metal and a loud power bang into the air."I didn't expect that," he admitted sheepishly.Getting back to his feet, he got work on removing the metal. Once he had, he set it on a work surface and moved over to the freezer, grabbing an icepack out of it.He pressed it to my head gently, "Here."I smile before following him out of the workroom and up to the main house where Obadiah was waiting. By waiting, he was actually playing the piano that had been Maria Stark's, and was now mine."How'd it go?" Tony asks."It went that bad, huh?" I ask at the look Obadiah gave, and at the pizza sat on the table."Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad."Tony opens the box. "Uh-huh... Sure doesn't. Oh, boy," he handed me a slice before taking one for himself."It would have gone better if you were there."Tony shook his head, "You told me to lay low. That's what I've been doing. I lay low, and you take care of all –""Hey, come on," Obadiah cut in. "In public. The press. This was a board of directors meeting.""This wa... This was a board of directors meeting?" Tony repeated, having been as unaware as I had that there one."The board is claiming you have post-traumatic stress. They're filing an injunction.""A what?""They wanna lock you out.""Why, 'cause the stocks dipped 40 points? We knew that was gonna happen.""56 and a half, actually," Pepper puts in."It doesn't matter. We own the controlling interest in the company," Tony exclaims."Tony... The board has rights, too. They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest.""He's being responsible," I counter. "That's a new direction for hi- for the company. I mean, him on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that..." I try to rectify. I sigh at the expressions on the other two's faces. "Aren't you two just the greatest at support.""Oh, come on, Maya," Obadiah started as I get up and grab the pizza box. "Tony?""We'll be in the shop," he informs, following me out of the room."Hey, hey! Hey, you two. Listen."I stop at the top of the stairs, waiting to hear what he has to say."I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them. Let me have the engineers analyse that. You know, draw up some specs.""No," Tony says bluntly. "No, absolutely not.""It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York," Obadiah argued."This one stays with me," Tony states. "Me and Maya, that's it, Obie. Forget it.""All right," Obadiah shrugs, grabbing the pizza from my hands. "Well, this stays with me, then. Go on, you can have a piece... Take two.""Thank you," Tony nods."You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?""Good night, Obie," Tony and I call as we hurry down the steps.-"Day 11, Test 37, Configuration 2.0," I rattle off."For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety." Tony turned to the robot. "If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college.""All right, nice and easy, Tony," I say. I still wasn't sure that doing this around the expensive cars was a good idea. "Seriously, Tony, just start off with 1% thrust capacity. And three, two, one..."I wince as the thrusters spark slightly, but despite how much power actually went into 1%, it was a good job that we'd started at the lower end this time."Okay," he grinned, landing with a slight wobble. He turned to Dummy, "Please don't follow me around with it, either, 'cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously. Just stand down! If something happens, then come in." He turned back to face front. "And again!""Let's bring it up to 2.5," I decide. "Three, two, one."I wince as he began to move around the garage, dangerously close to the cars."Okay, this is where I don't want to be!" He groaned as he started moving over the cars. "Not the car, not the car – yikes!"I dive out of the way as he makes his way towards where I stood making notes. Tony's sounds of anguish were enough to lighten the atmosphere."Could be worse," I assure him, "could be worse!""We're fine," he agreed. "Okay.""Let's land," I decide, getting back up."Yeah," he agrees, "let's do that.""No," I yell as Dummy goes to spray Tony. "Ah-ah. No!""Yeah, I can fly," Tony announced, both pleased and slightly shocked."You ready to try out the full suit?""Let's fix the thrusters first," he suggests. "Have you hooked J up to the suit?""Done and done," I reply."You go do your stuff," Tony orders. "Go over school stuff with Pepper."-Charity Ball"Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall, where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for LA's high society.""J, did we get an invite for that?""I have no record of an invitation arriving, Miss Carter.""Hmm," I hum, turning the TV off. "I'm going.""Mr. Stark plans to leave in 5 minutes."I scoff. "Of course. Patch me through.""Maya, what do you want? I'm busy.""Getting ready for the charity ball, I know," I chuckle as I grab one of my gowns from my closet. "I'm coming with you.""You got an invite and I didn't?""Pfft, no. I'm crashing the party.""Of course you are. Well hurry up.""What do you take me for?" I grin before the connection's cut, and I hurry to get changed, grabbing my make-up kit as I hurry from the room. I could do my hair and make-up on the way to the Hall, it wouldn't be too difficult. After all, I grew up with a secret agent for a mother.-Tony helped me from the car before the Valet person took the car for parking, and gasps filled the air as we make our way onto the Red Carpet, me on Tony's arm as always."Looking good, Hef," I greet the familiar elderly man."What's the world coming to when a guy's got to crash his own party?" Tony asked as we stop beside Obadiah.The man looks us over. "Look at you... Hey, what a surprise.""I'll see you inside," Tony smiled before leading us up the stairs."Hey, listen," Obadiah stops us, "take it slow. I think I got the board right where we want them.""You got it," Tony nods. "Just cabin fever. I'll just be a minute."-"Give me a Scotch. I'm starving." Tony glanced at me. "Oh, and a soda.""Mr. Stark?"I roll my eyes at the familiar voice, taking the soda Tony had ordered."Yeah?""Agent Coulson.""Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah," Tony tried to recall where he was from - at least he hadn't shoved it to the back of his mind and forgotten what Pepper had told him. "The guy from the...""Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division," Coulson finishes."God, you need a new name for that," Tony grumbled."Yeah, I hear that a lot," Coulson eyes me pointedly. "Listen, I know this must be a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you. There's still a lot of unanswered questions, and time can be a factor with these things. Let's just put something on the books. How about the 24th at 7:00 p.m. at Stark Industries?""Tell you what. You got it. You're absolutely right," he offered a hand for Coulson to shake. "Well, I'm going to go to my assistant, and we'll make a date.""Is he always like that?"I shrug, sipping my soda. "Mostly." My gaze lands on another familiar face, Johnny Storm. "I'll have to catch up with you later, Phil."-"Two vodka martinis, extra dry, extra olives, extra fast," Tony requests. "Make one of them dirty, will you?""Pepper?" I ask, an eyebrow raised."How'd you guess?""You two went off together," I shrug. "I guessed.""Right, right," he nods. "And who bought you a Rosé?""An old friend," I reply vaguely, downing the last of the drink before Tony could grab the glass. "Come on, Tony, I only look younger than you.""And to the whole world," he responds, taking the glass from me and handing me a glass of water, "you are younger than me. No more alcohol, missy. Your mother would kill me.""Wow. Tony Stark.""Oh, hey.""Fancy seeing you here."Tony frowned, trying to recall the reporter's name. "Carrie...?""Christine," she and I correct.She offered me a drysmile before turning back to Tony."That's right.""You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight," she declared. "Can I at least get a reaction from you?""Panic," Tony responds, "I would say panic is my reaction.""'Cause I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity.""Yeah... They just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you.""I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker.""I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear," Tony frowned, clearly confused."Is this what you call accountability?" She asks, pulling out photos. "It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"Tony takes the photos, and we look them over, quickly finding why she was so pissed off – hell, I was pissed off."When were these taken?" I ask, frowning."Yesterday.""I didn't approve any shipment," Tony informed the reporter."Well, your company did," Christine countered, clearly seeing that Tony hadn't had anything to do with it. At least, not directly"Well, he's not his company," I snap. "Do you know where Stane is?""Outside, he was leaving?""Great," I grumble, heading for the doors with Tony and Christine on my tail."Please, do you mind?" Obadiah was saying to paparazzi."Have you seen these pictures?" I ask in a hushed tone."What's going on in Gulmira?" Tony demands."Maya, Tony," Obadiah shook his head. "You can't afford to be this naive.""You know what? I was naive before, when they said, "Here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business".""If we're double-dealing under the table..." I warn. My eyes then narrow, "Are we?""Tony, your picture, please!""Let's take a picture," Obadiah states, pulling Tony and I to face the cameras. "Come on. Picture time!" He leant close to Tony's ear, unaware that I had super-hearing and could hear every word. "Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you."Tony doesn't move as Obadiah makes his way to his car, and I scowl, turning to look at Christine, who in turn shook her own head and made her way back inside.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Day After"The 15-mile hike to the outskirts of Gulmira can only be described as a descent into hell, into a modern day Heart of Darkness."Simple farmers and herders from peaceful villages have been driven from their homes, displaced from their lands by warlords emboldened by a new-found power. Villagers have been forced to take shelter in whatever crude dwellings they can find in the ruins of other villages, or here in the remnants of an old Soviet smelting plant."The news reporter pauses as footage of the violence is shown, and I grimace. It wasn't pretty, and they were STARK Industries' weapons."Recent violence has been attributed to a group of foreign fighters referred to by locals as the Ten Rings. As you can see, these men are heavily armed and on a mission. A mission that could prove fatal to anyone who stands in their way. With no political will or international pressure, there's very little hope for these refugees.Around me, a woman begging for news on her husband, who was kidnapped by insurgents, either forced to join their militia..."Tony fired at the workshop, the sound louder than the TV, meaning I missed whatever was said."...Desperate refugees clutch yellowed photographs, holding them up to anyone who will stop. A child's simple question, "Where are my mother and father?" There's very little hope for these refugees, refugees who can only wonder who, if anyone, will help."I turn to Tony, an eyebrow raised. "Suit up, Tony," I say, knowing what he was thinking as soon as he'd destroyed the soundproof glass."Shame we haven't got a suit for you," he says, once his suit is fitted. "I know how much you like being in the field.""Been a while," I remind him. "Besides, I'm more use here – I can stop you from being blasted out the sky.""I'll hold you to it," he nods before taking off.-I analyse the image being sent to the screen on my left, and I scowl. Honestly, was a heart something most people not in the Western World didn't have or something? "Lock onto targets and use the mini missiles."He does so, and five minutes later he was back in the sky."Tony, you've got a lock –" I grimace as he crashed, my warning coming too late. "Well, you're surrounded now. I'm sure you can deal with it. And be careful – the US army base know you're there.""I'm sorry, what?""Well, not you specifically, but they know there's something flying in an area that was never given the green light." I look at the listing of soldiers in that area. "Oh, Rhodey's there.""How do you even know that?""I read," I shrug. "And be quiet, their panic is actually quite amusing.""You tapped into the Army communication center?!""I learnt from the best," I grin. "But seriously, hush.""We got a bogey!""Wasn't Air Force!""We got the CIA on the line?""I've got Langley on the line. They want to know if it's us.""No, it definitely is not us, sir!""It wasn't Navy.""Wasn't Marines.""I need answers! Can I please get eyes on target?""Negative, negative. Cannot identify.""Get me Colonel Rhodes from Weapons Development down here now!""They're calling Rhodey in," I announce."Oh, that's nice," Tony replied sarcastically."We ran an ID check and cross-referenced with all known databases. We have nothing.""Any high altitude surveillance in the region?" Rhodey questioned, his voice a welcomed delight."We got an AWAC and a Global Hawk in the area.""So this thing just appeared out of nowhere?" Rhodey asks, confused. "How come it didn't show up on the radar?""Got a minimal radar cross-section, sir.""Is it stealth?""No, sir, it's tiny. We think it's an unmanned aerial vehicle.""Colonel, what are we dealing with here?""Let me make a call," Rhodey orders."He's making a call.""I know he is," Tony grumbles, "because I'm that call. Hello?""Tony?""Who's this?""It's Rhodes.""Sorry, hello?"I said it's Rhodes.""Speak up, please.""What in the hell is that noise?""Oh, yeah, I'm driving with the top down.""Yeah, well, I need your help right now.""It's funny how that works, huh?""Yeah. Speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive.""Well, that's a hot spot. Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you, huh?""Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?""I'm not; I was just jogging in the canyon."I face-palm, rolling my eyes. Tony was never usually this bad at lying."I thought you were driving.""Right, I was driving to the canyon, where I'm going to jog."There was no consistency at all to his lie today. It was as amusing as it was disappointing."You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?""Nope!""Bogey spotted!""Okay, good, 'cause I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come.""That's my exit.""Tony, you idiot," I grumble, rubbing my face tiredly as Tony dealt with the army bogeys on his tail. "I'm telling him.""No –"It was too late – I'd already dialed Rhodey's number and was waiting for him to pick up."Hello?""Hi, Rhodey, it's him.""It's who?""I'm sorry, it is Tony. You asked. What you were asking about is him.""No, see, this isn't a game. You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You understand that?""This is not a piece of equipment," I exclaim. "He's in it. It's a suit. It's Tony!""Rhodey, you got anything for me?""Don't shoot it down, it's one of ours.""I'm sorry?""Just... Don't shoot it.""Mark your position and return to base.""Um, Rhodey," I start slowly. "Why does it look like he's on a roller coaster?""He's on the belly," Rhodey fills in."Well, he's more likely to take out one of your boys if they don't stop."There's silence, and I watch as Tony does his best to help the soon-to-be-dead soldier all because of a bad chute."Maya, you still there?""Hey, thanks.""Oh, my God, that crazy son of a bitch," Rhodey chuckles. "You both owe me a plane. You know that, right?""Yeah, well, technically, he hit Tony, so... Now are you going to come by and see what we're working on?""No, no, no, no, no, no, the less I know, the better. Now, what am I supposed to tell the press?""Uh ... training exercise. Isn't that the usual BS?""It's not that simple."I almost scoff, because there really wasn't anything else that Rhodey could tell the press.-Next Day"An unfortunate training exercise involving an F-22 Raptor occurred yesterday. I am pleased to report that the pilot was not injured. As for the unexpected turn of events on the ground in Gulmira, it is still unclear who or what intervened, but I can assure you that the United States government was not involved."I laugh, shaking my head. For all his being sure it wouldn't go over with people, he hadn't had anything else to sell to the press to explain it. I turn to Tony, "You're welcome, by the way.""Yeah, yeah... Hey, ow!""It is a tight fit, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. pointed out. "Sir, the more you struggle, the more it's going to hurt.""Be gentle, this is my first time," Tony groaned, trying to balance on one leg.I chuckle, not even bothering to go and help. "I designed it to come off, so...""Hey! Ow. I really should be able to –""Please try not to move, sir.""What's going on here?" Pepper asks, having seen the broken glass and also the whole fiasco with the suit.There's a moment of silence as Tony turned to look at Pepper. "Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing.""Are those bullet holes?" She almost gasped."It's kinda a long story," I start. "Which started when he escaped. He's now making weapons that only work for him so that he knows how they're being used, and that they're used against the right people. Obie's been going under the table."-"Hey," I smile as Pepper entered the shop again."You busy? You mind if I send you on an errand?" Tony asked, standing up to talk to Pepper. "I need you and Maya to go to my office. You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests. This is a lock chip." He handed it to Pepper. "This'll get you in. It's probably under Executive Files. If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading."And what do you plan to do with this information if we bring it back here?" Pepper asks."Same drill," I shrug."They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them," Tony explained. "I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them.""Tony," Pepper starts slowly, "you know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again.""There is nothing except this," he counters. "There's no art opening. There is no benefit. There is nothing to sign. There is the next mission and nothing else.""Is that so?" Pepper nodded slowly, and I knew she was less than happy with Tony. "Well, then, I quit." She drops the drive onto the work surface and starts to leave."You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction," he complained. "And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're gonna walk out?""You're going to kill yourself, Tony," she pointed out. "I'm not going to be a part of it.""I shouldn't be alive," he sighed, sitting down again, "unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right."With a slow exhale, Pepper walked back over to where she dropped the drive, drawing Tony's attention once again. "You're all I have, too, you know."Grinning, I jump off of the side, joining Pepper as we make to leave for the office. There was no way I was going to let Pepper do it alone, especially with Obadiah against us.-STARK Industries Offices"Stay calm," I mutter as the elevator climbs towards the floor where Tony's office was located. "Act normal, as though nothing's wrong. Otherwise, we're screwed.""I am calm," Pepper says softly."No, you're not," I shrug. "Come on."I almost frowned at the empty floor – normally there'd be people up here, but for once it was completely empty. It didn't settle well with Pepper, either, but thankfully she didn't say anything about it.We made it into the office, and once we were in on the system, I got to work locating the files we were after, which didn't take long because the ghost drive was pretty obvious. Once it was found, I handed it over to Pepper, who got to work with uploading it to the flash drive while I started looking through the files in the room, looking for a specific one – my file that Tony had been left by Howard.Thankfully, it held little more than the legal papers for Tony to be my legal guardian, but he had told me that there was a chance that there was something in them that could reveal something about my past with HYDRA. Neither of us wanted to take that chance.I also knew that there were files, diaries and photographs of the people I grew up with and the missions that they went on, which I would use as a cover for looking through the files. They made great reading, which was why a few were in Tony's office – sometimes I had to join him, and instead of being bored, I had the stories to read."Sector 16?" Pepper mutters, and I glance towards her. "What are you up to, Obadiah?"I start as a video begins playing, my mind working hard to translate the words being said. Thankfully, I didn't need to, as Pepper had already put the computer to work to do so."You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark."Setting the files I had found down, I hurry to see what Pepper was watching."As you can see, Obadiah Stane -""Oh, my God," Pepper gasped."- your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up."I pat Pepper's shoulder, and immediately she gets to work copying the files to our flash drive, and I return to looking through the papers and files for what I was looking for."So, what are we going to do about this?"Pepper looked panicked, and I knew it was because the files were still copying. I had found one of the paper files I had been looking for, this one about the Howling Commandoes, and I make my way over to the desk as Obadiah poured himself some of Tony's scotch."I know what you're going through, Pepper," Obadiah says. "Ah, Tony," he sighed, holding up the scotch.Strategically, I set the file down over the flash drive as Pepper moved the paper to cover it."He always gets the good stuff, doesn't he?"I make my way back over to the shelves, wondering where my file was, as Obadiah walked behind Pepper, clearly curious as to what she was doing."I was so happy when he came home. It was like we got him back from the dead." Even though he wasn't being forward about it, he was being threatening towards Pepper – he wasn't even looking at me, meaning he had no interest in picking a fight. Or he didn't see me as a threat as much as he did Pepper. I wasn't sure if I should be insulted or not. "Now I realize, well, Tony never really did come home, did he? He left a part of himself in that cave. Breaks my heart.""Well," I start softly, "he's a complicated person.""He's been through a lot," Pepper adds, keeping Obadiah's attention off of me. "I think he'll be all right.""You are a very rare woman. Tony doesn't know how lucky he is."Pepper let out a soft laugh, hiding her nerves. "Thank you. Thanks.""Stane," I frown, "has anyone been in here?""Looking for something?" He asks, and I felt his gaze boring into my back.I shrug, not turning to look back at him. "Just my file. The one with all the legal information.""Should be where it was left," he commented, just as I find it.I roll my eyes as I remove it from the shelf. "Found it." There's an almost inaudible sound from the computer, signalling that the download was complete. "Well, we'd better get back home."Pepper caught on, placing the file on the desk in her bag, and using the newspaper to hide her removing the flash drive with the Howling Commandos file beneath it."Is that today's paper?" Obadiah asks as I open the door."Yes," Pepper replied, stopping as Obadiah walks over to her."Do you mind?""Not at all," she smiled, allowing him to take the paper which hid the flash drive."Puzzle," he explains."Of course.""Take care," he calls as we leave the office, me with an armful of files, and Pepper with the flash drive in hand.We couldn't get in the elevator soon enough, because it was clear that he knew something was up, and as the elevator began to go down, I heard him curse.I look at Pepper, swallowing thickly, "He knows."We hurry to make for the car after the elevator stops on the ground floor, but we didn't get further than the bottom of the stairs before we were stopped by a familiar face."Ms. Potts? We had an appointment," Coulson called as we near where he sat waiting. "Did you forget about our appointment?""Nope, right now," I start, not even stopping. "Come with us.""Right now?" He asked, standing up."We're going to have it right now," Pepper says, frowning."Yeah, keep walking," I add, warning lacing my tone.Coulson had worked with me enough to know not to hesitate when I used that tone. "Okay.""I'm going to give you the meeting of your life," I mutter as I glance behind us to find Obadiah watching us leave. "Your office.""My office?"I meet his gaze, "Complications."-Pepper frowns as there's no response from Tony, and then the sharp beep of being hung up on."Maya, would you –""Yeah," I huff, standing up. "I'm going. Nice seeing you, Phil." As I leave, I pull out my own phone, dialling Rhodey, who would be closer to Tony than I was, since we were supposed to be having dinner together - him, me and Tony."Hello?""Rhodey," I greet. "It was Stane, he orchestrated the whole thing.""Slow down," he says. "What're you talking about?"I had no idea how I was getting home, since I didn't have a license to drive – but I hoped that I wouldn't need one. I quickly spotted a silver bike, one that belonged to an old friend, and I make the executive decision to borrow it. "Afghanistan," I explain as I climb onto the bike. "Stane paid to have Tony killed.""Hold... What do you mean he 'paid to have Tony killed'?""Exactly what I sai-""Maya, slow down. Why would Obadiah –""He's been dealing under the table," I say quickly as I start the bike up, "and he wants control back over the company.""Okay," he jumped in. "Where's Tony now?""I don't know," I panic as I start to make my way onto the main road, one hand steering the bike, the other holding the phone to my ear. "He wasn't answering Pepper. I'm heading home, but I don't think... Please get over there and make sure everything's okay.""I'm on it," he assured. "Stay safe, Maya.""Thank you, Rhodey," I say before hanging up and putting the phone back in my pocket. It was easier to drive the bike with two hands, and I could pick up the speed and weave through the traffic with ease.-I was near the mansion, about 10 minutes and I'd be there, but my phone began to blare Rhodey's designated tone, and I fumble to answer it without crashing or dropping my phone. Either would have been bad."Rhodey?""He's fine, but get to the factory. Obadiah's there, and so are Pepper and five agents. Tony wants you to get them clear."I quickly make a U-turn, the tires screeching in protest. "On my way."-Turns out, I was close enough to reach the factory in time to find Pepper trying to open the door for Section 16, and I hurry towards the group as Coulson went to place a device on the lock."Oh, what's that?" Pepper asks. "It's, like, a little device? It's, like, a thing that's going to pick the lock?""You might want to take a few steps back," I advise, stopping beside one of the agents.Pepper hurried to do so, covering her ears like me while the other agents simply turn and cross their arms. Three seconds and the lock was blown, the door unlocked."Carter, you hear anything?" Coulson asked after a few seconds."Metal on metal," I reply, focusing. "Beeping, machine hum. He's in there, and he's not going down without a fight.""Okay. We'll go first, you two ladies stay back."I scoff, "You're not my boss, Coulson.""And you're not on duty, Carter," he retorted. "So you'll do as told.""Guns won't do anything against a metal suit," I warn."Keep all your senses on alert," he orders as we make our way into Sector 16. "You're our warning system."We stop at an old, battered suit that looked like the first design Tony had. It was what was left of Tony's escape suit, Mark I."Looks like you were right," Coulson comments, his words directed at Pepper. "He was building a suit.""I thought it'd be bigger," she frowned.I pause, listening to our surroundings. I shake my head, "That was Tony's first suit." I turn at the sound of electrical sparking, Pepper following my lead as the agents got to work scouring the area for Obadiah.I frown, looking around as I try to pinpoint the location of the source of the foreign humming, but it was hard given that the whole area echoed. My eyes widen as I finally do, and I knew Pepper was too close."Pepper!" I yell, and not a moment later, the suit lit up, rising to its full height and causing Pepper to scream and make for the agents. I follow behind as I realize that the suit was far too large to be safe to engage."Take him out!"The bullets bounced off, and Obadiah simply batted the agents away as Pepper and I made to escape. Me because my head was hurting from the noise overload, and Pepper because, well, she was terrified. It didn't help that we seemed to be his only targets."DUCK!" I yell, shoving Pepper forward as we finally get through the door of Sector 16."Pepper," a familiar voice enters the earpieces once we get out of the factory. I was suddenly glad I'd swapped it in for my phone once I'd arrived. "Maya.""Tony!" Pepper cries. "Tony, are you okay?""Obadiah's gone insane," I deadpan, scowling."I know," Tony replies. "Listen, you'd better get out of there.""He's built a suit," Pepper tells him.I start to move away as the ground behind us begins to move, and I knew why."Get out of there right now!" Tony exclaimed as Pepper didn't even move.I was sent to the ground as Obadiah tossed a broken piece of concrete at me, and I groan, temporarily trapped under the large slab."Where do you think you're going?" Obadiah demanded. He points a gun at Pepper, clearly content to leave me alone for a moment while I was trapped under a slab of concrete.Honestly, it was the wrong call, because I wasn't as helpless as I appeared."Your services are no longer required," Obadiah informs a terrified Pepper.I push the slab up, planning to throw it back at Obadiah, but Tony cut my plans short with a sharp "Don't". Huffing in annoyance, I listen, and while it was painful, I let the slab down again, holding it up just enough that it didn't injure me any more than it had."Stane!" Tony yelled, coming in fast to save Pepper. He quickly sent him and Obadiah back underground, and I wince at the noise as they end up on the other side of the building, on the main road.With Obadiah no longer in sight, I push the concrete off of me, groaning as I do so. I pull out my somehow not destroyed phone, tapping into J.A.R.V.I.S., and Tony's suit.I watch as Obadiah started to take off, and my mind reels to find a solution to help Tony. Obadiah's suit was larger, heavier, and it would be slower and use more power. But Tony was running on extremely low power from his original reactor, which in its own way leveled the playing field. Of course, using the old reactor also put Tony's life in danger, so the playing field was more of a minefield. I recall Tony's flight test, and how a certain altitude messed with the suit by icing it."Sir, it appears that his suit can fly," J.A.R.V.I.S. comments."Duly noted," Tony replies as I send him the equation I'd just figured out."Size and weight, T," I tell him. "Let's see how high he can go.""Copy that," Tony muttered. "Take me to maximum altitude.""With only 15% power, the odds of reaching that –""I know the math!" Tony exclaims. "Do it!"I stand beside Pepper, watching as the two suits vanish into the clouds. The US military comes through on my phone, J.A.R.V.I.S. having sent the feed direct to my phone for me to monitor everything."Sir, you're not going to believe this. That thing is back.""Get me Major Allen. Scramble the jets!""Not necessary, people," Rhodey counters. "Just a training exercise.""Yes, sir.""Fly straight," I advise Tony. "You've got an audience."I hear J.A.R.V.I.S. warn Tony that he was at 13% power, and I bite my lip, frowning."Climb!" Tony yells."11%.""Keep going!""7% power.""Just leave it on the screen!" Tony complains. "Stop telling me!""You had a great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advanced in every way!""How'd you solve the icing problem?" I ask, having found a way to patch through to the coms in Obadiah's suit."Icing problem?""Might want to look into it," Tony adviced, humor lacing his tone."Two percent," the A.I. told Tony. "We are now running on emergency backup power.""Whoa," I grimace as Tony begins to drop out of the sky. I knew where he was going to land, and I begin to make my way onto the roof. He'd need help getting out of the suit."Potts!" I hear through her earpiece."Tony!" She exclaimed. "Oh, my God, are ... are you okay?""I'm almost out of power. I've got to get out of this thing. I'll be right there."I grimace as Obadiah lands on the roof, in a far better shape than he really should've been."Nice try!" He says, going to hit Tony, who ducked quickly, going to shoot from his hand, which really was his hand, since he'd removed that part of his suit."Weapons status?" I ask, watching as Obadiah begins to squeeze Tony through his suit."Repulsors offline," J.A.R.V.I.S. tells Tony, my hearing meaning that he didn't need to tell me separately and risk Obadiah overhearing. "Missiles offline.""Flares!" Tony exclaims, and after two seconds, Obadiah dropped Tony, who grabs me and pulled me behind a solid part of the roof."Very clever, Tony," Obadiah commented bitterly, looking around for him."Potts?""Tony!""This isn't working," I say quietly, knowing she'd be able to hear me. "We're going to have to overload the reactor and blast the roof.""Well, how are you going to do that?" She asks, confused.Tony and I look at each other and nod. "You're going to do it," we tell her."Go to the central console," I explain, "open up all the circuits.""When we get clear of the roof," Tony adds, "I'll let you know. You're going to hit the master bypass button. It's going to fry everything up here.""Okay," she says shakily. "I'm going in now.""Make sure you wait till we clear the roof," Tony reminds."We'll buy you some time," I finish, much to the chagrin of Tony.He couldn't say anything, as we had to move before Obadiah spotted us.As soon as there was an opportunity, I jump onto the large suit, pulling away at part on the back."This looks important!" I state, tugging at a cluster of wires that connected the helmet to the body of the suit. There was a whirring as it was disconnected, and I smirk. But my victory was short lived as Obadiah began flailing around, searching for me. He soon found me, grabbing my head and tossing me off of him."Shit," I groan as I land on the glass above where Pepper was flicking switches and pressing buttons.Tony took his place between me and Obadiah, ready to defend as I was gathering my bearings and trying to get over the whiplash the toss had caused. But whiplash was better than a snapped neck, so I was actually pretty lucky."I never had a taste for this sort of thing," Obadiah says, his suit moving to reveal him in the center of it all. "But I must admit, I'm deeply enjoying the suit! You finally outdid yourself, Tony! You'd have made your father proud!"I heard the beeping before Pepper said it, and I push myself to my feet, focusing on the fact that I'd faced far worse situations than this."It's ready, Tony!" Pepper yells. "Get off the roof!"Obadiah begins to fire at us, the glass shattering on impact as Tony struggled to keep the bullets from hitting us."Tony!" Pepper screamed as he grips the frames where the glass had once been interconnected, me in a similar situation."How ironic, Tony!" Obadiah yells smugly. "Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!""Pepper!" I yell, knowing what had to be done."And now I'm going to kill you with it!" He shoots, but misses quite dramatically.I smirk, realizing I'd really screwed him over and bought us extra time."You ripped out my targeting system," Obadiah complained, glowering at me."Time to hit the button!" I yell, looking down to Pepper. I didn't enjoy knowing I was about to become target practice for Obadiah."You told me not to!"I force myself to swing to another bar as Obadiah tries to shoot me."Hold still, you little prick!""Just do it!" Tony yells to Pepper."You'll die!" She complains."Push it!" I exclaim as the bar I was hanging from begins to collapse, making my grip even more unstable than it was due to the blood that had been drawn by the broken glass.She pushes it at last, and I move quickly, grabbing the hand Tony had free and letting him pull me up in time for us to not be fried.He covered me as the machine fried Obadiah, and then after it exploded, but I could hear his reactor spluttering as it ran out of power."Tony!" Pepper cried. "Maya!"As the reactor found enough power to keep going, I allowed myself to remain still, waiting for the rescue team to come up.-"You've all received the official statement of what occurred at Stark Industries last night," Rhodey was saying. "There have been unconfirmed reports that a robotic prototype malfunctioned and caused damage to the arc reactor. Fortunately, a member of Tony Stark's personal security staff...""'Iron Man'," Tony quotes from the paper as Pepper covers his bruises with makeup. "That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean, it's not technically accurate," he continued. "The suit's a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative, the imagery, anyway.""Here's your alibi," Coulson says, holding a set of note cards to Tony."Okay," he says, taking them."You were on your yacht," Coulson adds."Yeah...""We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night," he continues, "and sworn statements from 50 of your guests.""Who'd you rope in for that, hmm?" I ask, an eyebrow raised."You were with your mother," Coulson says pointedly. "Flight papers to prove it."I roll my eyes, scoffing."See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Pepper and me alone on the island," Tony comments."That's what happened," Coulson retorts."All right.""Just read it, word for word," Coulson orders."There's nothing about Stane here," Tony frowned, picking through the cards."That's being handled," I explain. "He's on vacation.""Small aircraft have such a poor safety record," Coulson says vaguely, and if I hadn't known him for as long as I had, I would've been rather terrified of going on any trips with him."But what about the whole cover story that it's a bodyguard?" Tony asked, and I scowl. Tony didn't do bodyguards, which made that an extremely weak cover story. "He's my body... I mean, is that... That's kind of flimsy, don't you think?""This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark," Coulson returned. "Just stick to the official statement, and soon, this will all be behind you. You've got 90 seconds," he adds before he makes to leave."Oh, Agent Coulson?" Pepper starts, making her way over to him. "I just wanted to say thank you very much for all of your help.""That's what we do," he smiled. "You'll be hearing from us.""From the Strategic Homeland –""Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D.," he interrupted, casting me a wink before leaving the room."About damn time you listened to me," I grumble, however happy I was to know they'd taken my suggestion seriously."Right." Pepper turns to me and Tony. "Let's get this show on the road.""You know, it's actually ... not that bad," Tony says, walking over to Pepper to get his suit jacket. "Even I don't think I'm Iron Man.""You're not Iron Man," Pepper comments."Is so," I scoff."He's not," Pepper counters."All right," I shrug, "suit yourself.""You know, if I were Iron Man, I'd have this girlfriend who knew my true identity," he teased. "She'd be a wreck, 'cause she'd always be worrying that I was going to die," he continues, turning to Pepper, "yet so proud of the man I'd become. She'd be wildly conflicted, which would only make her more," he cleared his throat, "crazy about me. Tell me you never think about that night.""What night?""You know," he retorted softly.I roll my eyes, hating the suddenly soppy atmosphere of the room."Are you talking about the night that we danced and went up on the roof, and then you went downstairs to get me a drink, and you left me there, by myself? Is that the night you're talking about?""Mhm," Tony replied uncomfortably."Thought so." She finishes sorting his suit before beckoning me over and going to fix my hair, which had been pulled into a braided bun. She stepped back once she was happy, and she smiled slightly. "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?""Yes, that will be all, Miss Potts."-"And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement," Rhodey announces. "He will not be taking any questions. Thank you." He steps to the side as Tony stepped onto the stage, looking as polished as ever."Been a while since I was in front of you," Tony started. "I figure I'll stick to the cards this time."There's a soft chuckle through the room."There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop –""I'm sorry, Mr. Stark," Christine interrupts, "but do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you sorely despise bodyguards?""Yes.""And this mysterious bodyguard was somehow equipped with an undisclosed Stark high-tech powered battle-""I know that it's confusing," Tony starts, offering an annoyed and bitter smile towards her. "It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I'm a superhero.""I never said you were a superhero," she defended smugly."Didn't...?"She shakes her head, humming her response, "Mm-mm.""Well, good, because that would be outlandish and – uh – fantastic." He let out a breath, knowing he'd screwed up, and he returns to the cards. Not that it lasted very long. "I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public.""Just stick to the cards, man," Rhodey warned, leaning close to Tony's ear."Yeah, okay. Yeah." He held up the cards, staring at them. "The truth is..." After a few seconds of silence, he drops the cards on the stand, looking at the crowd. "I am Iron Man."The room erupts, and everyone was on their feet except Christine.-"J.A.R.V.I.S.!" Tony calls as we step inside."Welcome home, si..."I swallow thickly as J.A.R.V.I.S. cuts out, looking around cautiously."'I am Iron Man'."I relax at the familiar voice, one which I hadn't heard in a long time, but it didn't mean that I didn't want to punch him."You think you're the only superhero in the world?" The man turns and begins to walk around the sofa slowly. "Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet.""Who the hell are you?" Tony demands, staring at the figure that was walking towards us."Nick Fury," the man introduced, stepping into the light. "Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.""Ah," Tony realized, any snippy comments remaining undisclosed."I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative."-"J, can you please play some music?" I ask.Instead of a response, J.A.R.V.I.S. started playing my favorite song. I hum along as I make the burger. I went through multiple of my favorite songs before my burger was finished. I was ready to sit in front of the TV and wait for Tony to get back.Apparently, I wasn't going to get to do that.I almost roll my eyes at the lack of discretion the intruders had as they began shouting. I quickly recognized the language as Arabic, translating their words easily enough."They should be gone for a while.""This should be the easiest thing we've done in a while.""Don't let your guard down, I'm sure they'll figure it out. We need to move fast. Let's split up and look for the newest technology Stark is making."I heard one of them walking towards the living area, which was right next to the kitchen. Never a moments peace.Sighing, I set my burger on the side carefully and grab the pan I had yet to wash up. I had my reasons for choosing a pan;a) I certainly didn't have time to get a gun,b) knives make a mess,c) frying pans could be lethal in the right hands.As I enter the lounge, one of the intruders entered from the other side."J.A.R.V.I.S.," I utter as Intruder A levels his gun at me, "please inform Tony that he needs to return immediately. Preferably with Rhodey. There are three men here.""Right away.""Thank you.""There's someone still here! I'll take her out!"I couldn't help but chuckle at Intruder A's confidence. "Like hell you will," I retort, smirking.He was suitably taken aback for a second - probably moreover how I responded in his tongue.That second was all I needed to take him down. He fired his gun, but skillets were damn-near unbreakable, so it merely dented under the bullet as I use it as a shield. As the guy pauses, I throw the pan, hitting my mark. While he was incapacitated from the skillet nailing him between the eyes, I run over and kick him, knocking him out as the other two men run into the room."Alright boys, let's have some fun."I grab Intruder A as I had already taken care of him, and hold him in front of me as a human shield while the two other men open fire. In a break of bullets, I throw Intruder A against one of the men - Intruder B - and effectively knock him to the ground. Dealing with Intruder C was easy - he was a little stunned at how easily I took care of his buddies. Without remorse, I leap at him, snapping his neck with ease.With two of the three intruders out for good, I turn to Intruder B, the last one alive and grab him by his collar."You're staying alive and telling us everything we need to know. Got that?"He simply stares at me, fear clear in his face as he asks a single question, "Who are you?"I smirk, "Confidential."With that, I drag him to the laundry room and shut him in. It was the most secure room in the house, which said something.Satisfied that I had cleared up after the intruders, I return to my awaiting burger in the kitchen. Walking back into the lounge, I take a bite of my burger. I huff, annoyed. "Now my food's cold. Today sucks."I turn on the TV, going straight to the movies and selecting Diary of a Wimpy Kid, ready to wait for the others return.Fortunately, I only had to wait 10 minutes before I heard my god-brother. "Maya!""I'm in the living room!" I call, too lazy to get up at the moment.I hear him run into the room and then pause for a second before making his way over to the couch. He must've seen the two guys I took down, because he looked shocked. "What the hell happened?!""I made myself a burger and then three guys broke in.""Three? There are only two there.""Oh, I locked one in the laundry room. Only room with no windows... Might as well question him to get information, y'know?""Are you okay?""I'm perfectly fine," I shrug, "other than the fact that I had to eat a cold burger. Do you know how tragic that is?"Tony just stares at me with a look of disbelief on his face."Oh, we also need a new skillet."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I roll my eyes as Tony lands on the stage, the extremely over the top show kicking up into a whole new level. The girls behind Tony began to line dance, and the golden spark fireworks went off behind them all."Doesn't spare any expense, does he?" Scott asks as Tony's suit is dismantled, allowing him to step out and reveal his expensive designer suit he'd had for a while.I shake my head, "Not in his nature.""Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony!" The crowd was chanting, and I roll my eyes."It's good to be back," Tony greets enthusiastically as the girls leave the stage at last. "You missed me?""Blow something up!" A man in the crowd yells."I missed you too. Blow something up?" He asks, turning towards the man. "I already did that." He falls quiet, and the crowd follows his example slowly. "I'm not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me."Cheers erupt from the crowd."I'm not saying that from the ashes of captivity, never has a greater phoenix metaphor been personified in human history." Tony was such an attention seeker. There was no way that he didn't see himself as a god, or at least someone who people should be worshipping. "I'm not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea because I haven't come across anyone who's man enough to go toe-to-toe with me on my best day.""I love you Tony!"Tony bites back a smile, shaking his head. "Please, it's not about me." People were still cheering. "It's not about you. It's not even about us. It's about legacy." Okay, he did have a tone-down switch that he could operate, that was good to know. "It's about what we choose to leave behind for future generations. And that's why, for the next year and for the first time since 1974, the best and brightest men and women of nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future. It's not about us." He glances towards me, a smug gleam in his eye as he recites the words I had written for him. "Therefore, what I'm saying, if I'm saying anything, is welcome back to the Stark Expo."I nod, grinning at him. He'd managed to stick to the metaphorical cards, which I was glad about, because the Stark Expo was something Howard had initiated before we were born, and had ended with his death."And now," Tony continues, "making a special guest appearance from the great beyond to tell you what it's all about, please welcome my father, Howard."It was a video with words that Tony and I had heard a number of times, and a video we hadn't wanted to watch ourselves."Everything is achievable through technology. Better living, robust health, and for the first time in human history, the possibility of world peace. So, from all of us here at Stark Industries, I would like to personally introduce you to the City of the Future. Technology holds infinite possibilities for mankind, and will one day rid society of all its ills. Soon technology will affect the way you live your life every day. No more tedious work, leaving more time for leisure activities and enjoying the sweet life. The Stark Expo. Welcome."The video comes to an end, and Happy ushers me towards the doors to backstage, where we greet Tony, who was ready to leave."All right," Happy says as he pushes the door open, "it's a zoo out there, watch out.""Hey, nice to see you," Tony says, greeting people in the crowds. "Thank you. I remember you.""Tony, Tony..."Tony goes to ruffle a kid's hair, only he was wearing a plastic ironman helmet-hat thing, meaning his hair was unreachable. "See you, buddy."Happy points at a man making his way towards us, "This is Larry.""Hey, the oracle of Oracle," the man says, shaking Tony's hand."What a pleasure," Tony returns, "nice to see you."Call me," Larry calls. "Call me."Finally we reach the door, a woman sat against a beautiful convertible."Look what we got here, the new model.""Hey, does she come with the car?""I certainly hope so," Happy mutters. "Hi.""Hi. And you are?"The woman shakes Tony's hand, "Marshal.""Irish. I like it.""Pleased to meet you, Tony.""I'm on the wheel," Tony decrees. "Do you mind? Where you from?""Bedford.""What are you doing here?" Tony asks as he gets in the car."Looking for you," Marshal returns."Yeah? You found me." Tony raised an eyebrow at me as I make no move to get in the car, instead, Happy taking the passenger seat. "What are you up to later?""Serving subpoenas." Marshal holds a letter to Tony, drawing a laugh from me."Yikes."Smirking, I take the letter from her. "He doesn't like to be handed things.""Yeah, I have a ... peeve," Tony adds."I got it," I assure as Tony rubs his head tiredly."You are hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.," Marshal states.Tony perked up, his eyebrows furrowed. "Can I see a badge?""You wanna see the badge?""He likes the badge," Happy nods.Marshal holds up the badge, almost smirking down at Tony. "You still like it?""Yep," Tony confirms, starting the engine. "How far are we from D.C.?""D.C.?" I scoff. "250 miles.""Catch you on the flip," Tony calls as he pulls away in the car, leaving me with Marshall."Are you getting a flight to DC?" Marshal inquires as I turn to her, my arms crossed."No," I say shortly. "I'm staying in New York a few days longer. I've a friend waiting for me."-There was nobody to be seen in the impressive, richly decorated lobby, though I could hear voices and the sound of feet on wood."Everyone in class?" I ask, frowning slightly as I turn to Scott, who had my duffle bag over his shoulder.He shrugged. "Probably. Though it's pretty late for classes to still be running. They're more likely in the common areas and their rooms." He then frowned as he shut the door. "The sounds all over the place for you, isn't it?"I huff. "Only a little. There's so much wood and soundproofing in the walls that it makes it harder to place the sounds exactly."- A loud crash echoed through the building as the house shuddered.I made a strangled noise.I couldn't breathe.I couldn't focus.I couldn't breathe.My ears were ringing as I staggered backward into the corner, sliding down the wall and hardly hearing someone calling my name as somebody crouched in front of me."Maya! Maya, you need to breathe. Listen to me, you're going to be okay."I flinched as the person took my hands, tugging them so they were pressed against their chest, against the steady beat of their heart."Breathe when I breathe, okay?" They took a deep exaggerated breath in and I tried to copy, only to choke on a sob as I exhaled. "That's good, and again?"I complied, repeating the process until the world started to come back into focus and my breath settled a little."Okay," they soothed. "You're okay."My vision began to clear and I blink, the figure in front of me becoming less of a shadowed blur and more of an actual person."Know where you are?"I nod, "X Masion. My room.""Good," they sighed. It was Scott, studying me carefully. He let go of my hands, moving to hold my upper arms, steadying me as I moved to sit against the wall."I'm sorry," I mumble, pulling my sleeves over my hands, wrapping my arms around myself."That been happening a lot?" He asked.I didn't answer, my gaze lingering on the floor, answering the question for him.He let out a long, slow breath. "Let's ... get out of here, hm? Go get some water?"-"What's up?" I heard Logan ask."Maya just had a panic attack," Scott replied quietly as he set me down on the sofa."She alright?" Jean asked, concern clear in her voice.Scott sighed, "I don't know.""She really ain't coping, is she?" Logan asked."Tony said he hears her walking around most nights," Jean muttered, "at around three, sometimes earlier."Logan moved to crouch in front of me, expression gentle. "Want a hot cocoa?"-Senate Armed Services Committee"Mr. Stark," Senator Stern called as Tony tried to talk to Pepper. "Mr. Stark, could we pick up now where we left off? Mr. Stark. Please."Tony turned around to face front again, looking like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Yes, dear?"Chuckles filled the courtroom and the front room."Can I have your attention?""Absolutely," Tony nods."Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?""I do not.""You do not?""I do not," Tony confirmed. Then, he backtracks slightly, "Well, it depends on how you define the word weapon.""The Iron Man weapon," Stern deadpans."My device does not fit that description," Tony defended, looking up at the judge almost condescendingly."W-w-well... How would you describe it?""I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator," Tony stated bluntly."As?""Uh, it's a, um, high-tech prosthesis." This drew chuckles from the room behind him. "That is... That is... That's actually the most apt description I can make of it.""It's a weapon," Stern scolds. "It's a weapon, Mr. Stark. I hate to inform –""Please," Tony interrupts, "if your priority was actually the well-being of the American citizen-""No," Stern cuts across. "My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America.""Well, you can forget it," I say in time to Tony saying the exact same words."You've been around him too much," Logan chuckled from the doorway, shaking his head."He's my legal guardian," I scoff. "Of course I'm around him too much.""I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself," Tony was arguing, "which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you're in." Chuckles erupt once again. "You can't have it."Look, I'm no expert-""In prostitution?" Tony jumps in, an eyebrow raised. "Of course not. You're a senator. Come on."More laughter erupted, but Pepper looked less than pleased."I'm no expert in weapons," Stern continued, and I had to admit that he looked relatively uncomfortable. "We have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. I'd now like to call Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor.""Let the record reflect that I observed Mr. Hammer entering the chamber," Tony comments, "and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance."Justin Hammer chuckled bitterly. "Absolutely. I'm no expert. I defer to you, Anthony," he taunts. "You're the wonder boy." He turned back to look at Stern, "Um, Senator, if I may. I may well not be an expert, but you know who was – The Expert?" Justin points at Tony. "Your dad. Howard Stark. Really, a father to us all, and to the military-industrial age. Let's just be clear, he was no flower child. He was a lion.""He sounds fun," Ellie scoffed."We all know why we're here," Justin stated. "In the last six months, Anthony Stark has created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet, he insists it's a shield. He asks us to trust him," he pulled a face, "as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Anthony, I – I really do. I'd love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house, but this ain't Canada. You know, we live in a world of grave threats. Threats that Mr. Stark will not always be able to foresee.""Asshole," I grumble."Maya," Hank warned as he entered the room with two cups of coffee in hand."He is," I defend, only to smile in thanks as he hands me one of the mugs."Thank you. God bless Iron Man," Justin finishes, "God bless America.""That is well said, Mr. Hammer," Stern congratulated. "The committee would now like to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber."Even Tony seemed confused, since Rhodey was his best friend, and part of our small family.Tony stood to greet the familiar face. "Hey, buddy. I didn't expect to see you here.""Look, it's me," Rhodey said, "I'm here. Deal with it. Let's move on.""I just...""Drop it," Rhodey warned.I chuckle, "Yes, Rhodey!"Stern continued talking as the men retook their seats. "I have before me a complete report on the Iron Man weapon, complied by Colonel Rhodes. And, Colonel, for the record, can you please read page 57, paragraph four?""You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?""Yes, sir," Stern confirms."It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner," Rhodey points out, confused."I understand. A lot of things have changed today. So if you could just read-""You do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summery of my final-""Just read it, Colonel. I do. Thank you.""Very well," Rhodey gives in. "'As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interests.' I did however," Rhodey adds quickly, "go on to summarise that the benefits of Iron Man far outweigh the liabilities, and that it would be in our interest-"Stern tries to stop Rhodey. "That's enough, Colonel.""-to fold Mr. Stark...""That's enough," Stern repeats."...into the existing chain of command, Senator."I smirk, Rhodey knowing exactly how to turn everything into the right thing. It was also amusing that Stern thought Rhodey didn't know how to work the system just as well as Tony and I did."I'm not a joiner," Tony starts, "but I'll consider Secretary of Defence if you ask nice."Some laughs ensue, some knowing he was joking, others more awkwardly as they weren't sure he was."We can amend the hours a little bit," Tony adds."I'd like to go on and show," Stern says, trying to get the focus back on him and what he wanted, "if I may, the imagery that's connected to your report.""I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public at this time.""With all due respect, Colonel," Stern didn't sound at all respectful, "I understand. And if you could just narrate those for us, we'd be very grateful.""Let's have the images," Rhodey complied grumpily. "Intelligence suggests that the devices seen in these photos are, in fact, attempts at making manned copies of Mr. Stark's suit. This has been corroborated by our allies and local intelligence on the ground, indicating that these suits are quite possibly, at this moment, operational."Tony leant towards Rhodey, phone in hand. "Hold on a second buddy. Let me see something here." Tony begins to hack into the screen showing the images. "Boy, I'm good. I commandeered your screens." There's a twitter of disproval from the room behind Tony, and I roll my eyes. "I need them. Time for a little transparency. Now, let's see what's really going on.""What is he doing?" Stern grumbles, confused."If you will direct your attention to said screens," Tony requests, "I believe that's North Korea."A video plays, and it wasn't only me who was laughing at the truth behind the concerns of the government and army. The suit in question was nothing short of a failure."Can you turn that off?" Stern scowled. "Take it off."Justin was the first to his feet, moving to do as requested.Tony continued, frowning, "Iran."Unlike the first one, this suit actually managed to achieve flight, even if only for 5 seconds before it hit the ground, the smoke giving away that it was most likely on fire. Justin could be seen trying to figure out how to turn off the TV screen to stop Tony from showing them up."No grave, immediate threat here," Tony pointed out slowly, as confused as the rest of us as to how anyone could see that we were in danger. "Is that Justin Hammer?" Tony asks as the video is changed. "How did Hammer get in the game?"And sure enough, it was Justin, and he was just as guilty as the other countries. But it didn't seem like his suit was any better off."Justin, you're on TV," Tony informs, confused and a little insulted. "Focus up."It was clear that more people were on Tony's side now, since he'd proven that the suit was probably best and safest in his hands alone."Okay, give me a left twist," TV Justin was saying. "Left's good. Turn to the right."There's a scream from whoever was inside the badly designed suit, and I wince, a laugh escaping me unbidden."Oh, shit. Oh, shit.""He really messed that up," Logan chuckled, shaking his head."Wow," Tony says, dumbfounded as Justin pulls the plug on the TV. "Yeah, I'd say, uh, most countries, five, ten years away. Hammer Industries, twenty," Tony taunted."I'd like to point out that that test pilot survived," Justin defends after returning to his seat."I think we're done," Stern started, "is the point that he's making. I don't think there's any reason-""The point is," Tony jumped in, "you're welcome, I guess.""For what?""Because I'm your nuclear deterrent," Tony stated. "It's working. We're safe. America is secure. You want my property? You can't have it," I roll my eyes at the slight tantrum that seemed to escape with those four words. "But I did you a big favor." He stood up, turning to address the crowd behind him. "I've successfully privatized world peace," he made the peace sign with both hands, and everyone clambered to their feet, all of them clapping for him. "What more do you want? For now!" He turns towards the top desk, arm extended. "I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns.""[BEEP] you, Mr. Stark," Stern declared, annoyed. "[BEEP] you, buddy. We're adjourned. We're adjourned for today.""Okay," Tony smirked, putting his sunglasses on.Rhodey held the same tired look as Pepper, and I chuckle."You've been a delight.""My bond is with the people. And I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself," Tony declared, walking through the crowd of people still clapping for him. "If there's one thing I've proven it's that you can count on me to pleasure myself."-"Your calls are getting later and later, kid. I was starting to think you already forgot about me.""Don't be ridiculous, Tony. I was just busy."He chuckled, knowing it was true. "Just wanted to check up on me again?" He teased."Of course. I wanted to see if you're still a numbskull.""Look who's talking, assbutt."-Everything was going great, until he grabbed my arm, about to twist me around when I froze.My eyes widened in fear and my breathing stuttered as I try to yank my arm away. He let go instantly and reached out to catch me as my knees buckled.Images rolled through my head – memories I had almost suppressed rushing through my head. Hydra, the torture... The man grabbing my arm in the exact same place, dragging me to the chair."Maya!""Carter, snap out of it!"I jolt back to reality to see Logan and Scott both crouched in front of me, Storm stood not far behind them."Fuck, I'm sorry," I gasped, scrambling back, reaching for my hoodie.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I enter the garage on Scott's bike, pulling to a stop beside the bike I had yet to return to California's S.H.I.E.L.D. office. I cut the almost silent engine as Pepper enters the garage."Ah-ah," Tony says as she starts towards him."Is this a joke?" She asks. "What are you thinking?""What?" Tony asks, setting down his now empty glass."What are you thinking?""Hey, I'm thinking I'm busy," he replies before standing up. "And you're angry about something." He turns towards me as I sneeze. "Do you have the sniffles? I don't want to get sick."I roll my eyes, "You really think I'd have been allowed to leave the mansion if I was sick?""True," he allowed."Pepper's sick," I accuse."Did you just donate –?""Keep your business.""-our entire modern art collection to the ... to the-""Boy Scouts of America," Tony confirmed."-Boy Scouts of America?""Yes," Tony exclaimed, walking through the holographs of his work. "It is a worthwhile organisation. I didn't physically check the crates but, basically, yes. And it's not "our" collection, it's my collection. No offence.""No, you know what?" Pepper asks, demanding his attention. "I think I'm actually entitled to say 'our collection', considering the time that I put in – over 10 years – curating that, so yes.""It was a tax write-off," Tony accused. "I needed that.""You know," Pepper started, "there's only about 8-thousand-and-11 things that I really need to talk to you about."Tony turned to Dummy, ignoring Pepper. "Dummy. Hey, stop spacing out. The Bridgeport's already machining that part.""The Expo is a gigantic waste of time," Pepper declared.Tony takes Pepper's shoulders as she coughs softly. "I need you to wear a surgical mask until you're feeling better. Is that okay?""That's rude.""Not just for me," he defended. "It's for Maya, too. Her white blood cell count is down."So Hank had told Tony after all. Brilliant. I roll my eyes as I join the two adults. "There's nothing more important to us than the Expo," I frown."It's my primary point of concern, after Maya," Tony added. "I don't know why you're-""The Expo is your ego gone crazy," Pepper countered swiftly.Tony picks up a painting of Iron Man. "Wow. Look at that. That's modern art. That's going up."Pepper stared, "Oh, you've got to be kidding.""I'm gonna put this up right now. This is vital.""STARK is in complete disarray," Pepper exclaimed. "You understand that?""No," Tony whined. "Our stocks have never been higher.""Yes, from a managerial standpoint.""You are... Well, if it's messy then let's double back.""Let me give you an example," Pepper declared.Tony continued walking. "Let's move onto another subject.""Oh, no, no, no," Pepper starts as I move to take down a slightly less interesting painting. "You are not taking down the Barnett Newman and hanging that up.""I'm not taking it down," I defend as I shove everything to the floor before jumping onto the work surface. "We're just replacing it with this.""Let's see what I can get going on here," Tony muttered as I began taking the Barnett Newman off of the wall."Okay, fine," Pepper relented, annoyed. "My point is, we have already awarded contracts to the wind farm people.""Yeah," Tony says as I hang the Iron Man up on the wall in place of the Newman. "Don't say 'wind farm.' I'm already feeling gassy.""Ew," I laugh."And to the plastic plantation tree, which was your idea by the way. Those people are on payroll -""Everything was my idea," Tony argued."-and you won't make a decision."Tony turns to her as I jump down. "I don't care about the liberal agenda anymore. It's boring. Boring," he jumped in before Pepper could argue anymore. "I'm giving you a boring alert. You do it.""I do what?""Excellent idea," I put in, knowing what Tony was about to say."I just figured this out," Tony continued. "You run the company.""Yeah," she nods, not really getting it, "I'm trying to run the company.""Well, stop trying to do it and do it.""You will not give me the information -""I'm not asking you to try and do it, I -""-in order to -""-I'm asking you to physically do it. I need you to do it.""I am trying to do it," Pepper exclaimed."Pepper, you're not listening to me!" Tony exclaims loudly."No, you are not listening to me.""He's trying to make you CEO," I say loudly across the two adults.Pepper fell quiet at last."Why won't you let me?" Tony asks, confused and a little hurt.Pepper narrowed her eyes and looked at him sternly. "Have you been drinking?"Tony nodded slightly, confused, "Uh, chlorophyll." He stepped closer to Pepper, "I hereby irrevocably appoint you Chairman and CEO of Stark Industries, effective immediately."I frown – something else was going on. Tony did a lot of impulsive things, but this was more than that."Yeah, done deal," Tony nodded after ten seconds of stunned silence. "Okay? I've actually given this a fair amount of thought, believe it or not," he says to me and Pepper as he nears the robot holding the tray with champagne and a glass on it. "Doing a bit of headhunting, so to speak, trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be."I knew Pepper was suspicious too, and I grimace. "And then I realized," he opened the bottle, "it's you. It's always been you."I lead a shocked and confused Pepper to sit down."I thought there'd be a legal issue, but actually I'm capable of appointing my successor," he explained as he pours the champagne into the glass. "My successor being you," he held the glass towards her, but she didn't take it from him. "Congratulations?""Take it," I urge, "just take it.""But, shouldn't it be Maya who –""Dear old Dad put her down to own the company," Tony interrupted. "Only so it stays in the family. Also so that she could keep living a comfortable life.""I don't want the work," I chuckle. "I already have a job."Pepper took the glass, stunned. "I don't know what to think.""Don't think," Tony shrugged as he sat beside her, "drink. There you go.""I still think -""Maya needs you to do this," Tony cut in, "just as much as I want you to. Besides, there's no one else I would trust to run the company."-"Hey!""Morning. What is that?""Quinoa blueberry pancakes. With a spinach, basil and walnut puree maple syrup," Tony replies. "I know. It sounds a little weird, but taste is a small price to pay for health. And I figured, you know, your cell count is down, so why not pull out all the stops?""Uh... I'm okay with just some coffee.""French press Honduran high Mountain roast, ready to go. But come on, a pancake isn't gonna kill you.""How can you be so sure?""Well, I'm still here."I give him a look. "You know it's not that bad right? I'm fine."He returned my look with one of his own. "Sit. And eat. We both know how easily you can take a turn for the worst when your count is down."-"The notary's here!" Pepper called over the music as Tony and Happy spar. "Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?""I'm on happy time," Tony retorted.I flinch as Tony hits Happy in the face with his elbow, a short laugh escaping me."Sorry."Happy was stunned, "What the hell was that?""It's called mixed martial arts," I laugh. "It's been around for three weeks.""It's called dirty boxing," Happy retorted, annoyed, "there's nothing new about it.""All right, put them up," Tony says, drawing Happy back into the activity. "Come on."I frown at the sound of a familiar heartbeat, and my attention shifts to the door, a familiar face greeting me. Her eyes held a silent warning, which meant that she wasn't here for me."I promise this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company," Pepper adds.I raise an eyebrow at the revelation that the so called 'notary' was in fact the overly familiar face."I need you to initial each box," she explained.Happy tapped Tony on the back of the head with a light punch, not enough to hurt him, but just enough to gain his attention. "Lesson one. Never take your eye off-"I laugh as Tony kicks him, sending Happy crashing into the corner of the ring."That's it. I'm done." Tony turns to Pepper and the Notary. "What's your name, lady?""Rushman," she replied smoothly. "Natalie Rushman." She hadn't gone far in changing her name this time, apparently."Front and center," Tony declared, pointing to the ring. "Come into the church."Pepper shakes her head. "No. You're seriously not gonna ask her-""If it pleases the court," Tony glances at me, taking in how I'd leant forward, interested to see this play out, "which it does."The red-head turned to Pepper as she closed the paperwork file. "It's no problem."Pepper watched as Natasha moved to the ring, a hidden smirk on her face, "I'm sorry. He's very eccentric."She entered the ring easily thanks to Tony holding the bars up for her, and I smirk as she drew him in, like he was her prey."What?" Tony asked after drinking more of his disgusting looking smoothie. Tony turned to Happy after Natasha didn't reply. "Can you give her a lesson?"Happy nodded, "No problem."Tony removed himself from the ring and came over to where Pepper had sat herself beside me. "Pepper," he whispers loudly.Pepper looked up, nervous. "What?"Tony sat himself beside her, "Who is she?""She is from legal," Pepper explained. "And she is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that.""I need a new assistant, boss," Tony reminded her.Pepper nodded, "Yes, and I've got three excellent potential candidates. They're lined up and ready to meet you."I pout. I didn't want a stranger coming into our lives and running the house. Especially a stranger who would have to be told of my abilities and potentially my past. It had taken long enough to become comfortable around Pepper, but she'd quickly proved herself to be more than trustworthy with everything she'd been told about me."I don't have time to meet," Tony complained. "I need someone now." He nudges me, "I feel like it's her.""No, it's not."I tune in to what was going on in the ring, waiting for the undercover assassin to show the two men up. Happy was trying to work out what she knew, "You ever boxed before?"Natasha nodded, "I have, yes.""What, like, the Tae Bo?" Happy inquired jokingly. "Booty Boot Camp? Crunch? Something like that? "I smirk at the annoyed clearing of the throat that she gave, before turning to Tony as he addressed her."How do I spell your name, Natalie?""R-U-S-H-M-A-N.""What, are you gonna Google her now?" Pepper asked, not even that shocked."Hmm? I thought I was ogling her," he retorted. He brought up the woman's file, which I realized also wasn't all that different to the one I had committed to memory - this cover was apparently for Tony's benefit alone. "Oh, wow," Tony mused. "Very, very impressive individual.""You're so predictable," Pepper mutters, "you know that?"Tony continued going through the file, "She's fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin..." He frowned, "Who speaks Latin?""No one speaks Latin," I comment."No one speaks Latin?""It's a dead language," Pepper added."You can read Latin or you can write Latin," I explain, "but you can't speak Latin."Yeah, yeah," Tony brushes off, "did you model in Tokyo?" He asked Pepper. "'Cause she modelled in Tokyo.""Well...""I need her," Tony declares. "She's got everything that I..." He glanced at me, "That we need."I meet Natasha's gaze, knowing she could hear what Tony was saying."Rule number one," Happy started, "never take your eyes off your opponent." I watch as he moves to swing, my expression merely curious so as to not give anything away to the woman as he moved.Not that I needed to anyway, since she grabbed his hand and flipped him over, using a manoeuvre that she often used in training that wouldn't seriously injure her opponent, just temporarily incapacitate them, and leave them aching afterwards.Pepper started, shocked, "Oh, my God! Happy!"Tony moved to the ring as I fall back in a peel of laughter. "That's what I'm talking about."Happy got back to his feet, "I just slipped.""You did?" Tony asked, disbelieving."Yeah."Tony rang the bell as Natasha climbed out of the ring. "Looks like a TKO to me."She began to slip her shoes on again. "Just... I need your impression.""You have a quiet reserve," Tony commented, confused as to what she meant. "I don't know, you have an old soul?""I meant your fingerprint," she corrected.Tony nodded. "Right."Pepper moved over to them as Tony got to work on finishing up on the signing. "So, how are we doing?""Great," Tony smiled, "Just wrapping up here." He looked at her as he finished completely, "You're the boss."Natasha closed the file. "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?""No," me and Tony say in unison."Yes," Pepper says firmly, "that will be all, Ms. Rushman. Thank you very much.""I'll show you out," I offer, huffing at Pepper."I want one," I hear Tony say to Pepper, who returned with a steady "No.""A heads-up would've been nice," I grumble.She glances down at me as we walk, "You're not on duty, Carter. Besides, I wasn't allowed to tell you."I scoff, "I'm always on duty.""Not according to Fury," she whispered. "You're off duty until you're needed.""I'm always needed.""Can't argue with that," she chuckled. "But you're also not healthy enough to be put back in the field just yet."I scowl, hating how she knew that. "I'm fine.""Until your cell count goes up," she continued, "you're off. No buts, Carter."I groan. Was there no one Hank hadn't informed?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Monaco"You know, it's Europe," Tony says as we enter the building. "Whatever happens the next 20 minutes, just go with it.""Go with it? Go with what?""Mr. Stark?"Tony swiftly removed his sunglasses, drawing us to a stop as Natasha greeted us. "Hey. Natalie."She smiled, "Hello. How was your flight?""It was excellent," Tony replied. He turns to the man offering us alcohol. "Boy, it's nice to see you." He bats my hand away as I reach for a glass.Natasha looked to her left, "We have one photographer from the ACM, if you don't mind." She took the glasses away from Tony and Pepper swiftly, and I raise an eyebrow. "Okay?"Pepper turned to Tony, "When did this happen?"Tony raised an eyebrow. "What? You made me do it.""I made you do what?""You quit," he mutters. "Smile," he ordered as a camera flashed. "Look, right there. Stop acting constipated. Don't flare your nostrils.""You are so predictable.""That's the amazing thing."The undercover agent turns, beginning to lead us further into the room. "Right this way.""You look fantastic," Tony compliments."Why, thank you very much.""But that's unprofessional. What's on the docket?""You have a 9:30 dinner," she informs."Perfect," Tony comments, "I'll be there at 11:00."Natasha smiled, hiding her annoyance, "Absolutely."I point at a table, inwardly smirking at the fact that she had to not only be nice to Tony but to me, too, "Is this us?"The look she gave me, while hidden behind a smile, served to amuse me further. "It can be.""Great," Tony nods. "Make it us."She nodded, turning to the waiter who was following us. "Okay."I look around, listening to the different conversations going on."Mr. Musk," Pepper greets. "How are you?""Hi, Pepper," the man smiled. "Congratulations on the promotion.""Thank you very much.""Elon," Tony joined the conversation, "how's it going? Those Merlin engines are fantastic.""Thank you. Yeah, I've got an idea for an electric jet.""You do?""Yeah.""Then we'll make it work," Tony grinned before beckoning me to follow him and Pepper. He turned to Pepper as they continue to mingle through the crowd. "You want a massage?""Oh, God," she grumbled. "No, I don't want a massage.""I'll have Natalie make an-""I don't want Natalie to do-""I don't want you tense," Tony cut in. "By the way, I didn't mean to spring this on you.""Thank you very much.""Green is not your best colour," Tony comments.I start as Justin Hammer peers around someone, wearing a stupid grin on his face as he spots us."Anthony," he called as he began to make his way towards us. "Is that you?""My least favourite person on Earth," Tony grumbled to Pepper."Hey, pal," the man claps Tony's shoulder."Justin Hammer.""How you doing? You're not the only rich guy here with a fancy car. You know Christine Everhart from Vanity Fair." He points, and another familiar face comes into view."Hi," she waved, smiling at us."You guys know each other?""Yes," Pepper and I smile."Yes, roughly," Tony added."We do."Justin leans towards the blonde woman. "B-T-W, big story," he says. "The new CEO of Stark Industries." Thankfully, the fact that I was the owner had been left out of the revelation. Howard would probably have crawled out of the grave to kill anyone who let that leak.Christine nods. "I know, I know."Justin looks at Pepper, "Congratulations."Christine looks at Pepper, a journal in hand. "My editor will kill me if I don't grab a quote for our Powerful Women issue.""Oh," Pepper replies, slightly shocked."Can I?"Pepper nods, "Sure.""Uh, she's actually doing a big spread on me for Vanity Fair," Justin comments. "I thought I'd throw her a bone, you know. Right?""Right," Pepper agreed. "Well, she did quite a ... spread on Tony last year.""And she wrote a story as well," Tony added."It was very impressive," I grin."That was good," Tony confirmed."It was very well done," Pepper added."Thank you.""I'm gonna go wash," Pepper announces.Tony watches her, a pout on his face, "Don't leave me.""Hey, buddy," Justin says, wrapping an arm over Tony's shoulders. "How you doing?""I'm all right."He winks at me, "Looking gorgeous.""Minor," I retort, "but thanks.""Please, this is tough," Tony grimaces."Can I ask you," Christine started. "Is this the first time..."I quickly spot a way out of the awkward conversation, but Tony grabbed my arm. He replaced his sunglasses as Justin got him to pose for a photo, their smiles fake and uncomfortable.Christine finished her question, "...that you guys have seen each other?"Tony chuckled uncomfortably, "God, that's so awful."Christine's tone became serious, "Listen, is it the first time you've seen each other since the Senate?""Uh... Since he got his contract revoked," I comment, Tony leading us away from the two."Actually, it's on hold," Justin countered, trying to cut me off."When you were attempting to..." I trail off, confused. "That's not what I heard. What's the difference between 'hold' and 'cancelled'?""Yes," Christine agrees, turning to Justin, "What is?""The truth?" Tony states in the form of a question."No. The truth is..." He moves to push the voice recorder down, "Why don't we put that away?" We sit down at an empty table. "The truth is... I'm actually hoping to present something at your Expo.""Well, if you invent something that works," I smirk, "we'll make sure to get you a slot."Natasha leant between me and Tony. "Mr. Stark?"Tony stands up, turning to her, and I follow his lead. "Yes?""Your corner table is ready.""I actually have a slot this year," Justin was telling Christine. "Yes, I do."Tony turns back, "Hammer needs a slot, Christine.""We kid, yeah. We kid. We're kidders," Justin tries to play off.-I groan, staring at my blood results. Despite the medications Tony had provided me with, my white cell count had barely improved, and I didn't want to end up ill for the first time in years. I keep the results hidden from Pepper as I return it to my clutch.I look up at the TV as Tony's voice filters through it."Well, what's the use of having and owning a race car if you don't drive it?""Natalie," Pepper calls. "Natalie!"Natasha hurried over, "Yes, Ms. Potts?""What do you know about this?""This is the first that I have known of it.""This? This cannot happen," Pepper warned."Absolutely. I understand," Natasha nodded. "How can I help you?""Where's Happy?" I ask, standing up."He's waiting outside."Pepper nods, "Okay, get him. I need Happy.""Right away."I was out of my seat the moment that a man walked onto the track, barely having to push my way through the crowd to get to the door. I hadn't brought a bike, but I'd be able to hijack one, or simply borrow one easily enough.It was easier than expected, a valet already holding the keys for a bike that had just pulled up. I take the keys from the valet, not bothering to say anything as I climbed onto the white Suzuki.Happy was grabbing the red case as I revved, pulling away from the building and onto the main road, not bothering to stick to the speed limits, or even care that I was wearing a dress and ballet flat shoes rather than any protective riding gear.I drive straight for the racetrack, and I yell at the men waving for me to stop. "OPEN IT!"They barely managed to open it enough for me to get through before I reached them, but they were quick to close it once I was clear. I swerved artfully to avoid colliding with the racers, and the screams and crashing was enough to encourage me to pick up more speed. I arrived in time to see Tony's car destroyed by the man on the track, who was wearing some kind of adaptation to the endo-skeleton of the Iron Man suit, but with electronic whips instead of repulsors. I skid to a stop, not wanting to end up in the path of the destroyed car.I could only watch as the other racers crashed, an explosion following them - all from trying to brake hard enough to not hit the crazy man.I move quickly, using the speed I rarely used to help Tony get out of the car, then to move out of the crazy man's sight as he moved to slice the car once again. With the opportunity in sight, Tony whacked him around the head with a sheet of metal – which was sent flying as the man whipped it with the electrical thing. Tony was knocked on the floor, helplessly defenseless.I jump into action, whacking the man with a long sheet of metal of my own, only for it to be caught and for me to be sent to the ground near Tony. Thankfully, there were two of us and one of him, meaning that we kind of had the upper hand. The man's attention was directed at Tony, but clearly I'd pissed him off enough to become his second target. I barely manage to avoid the whips as he slams them down towards me –Tony wasn't in any better a position, having tried to make his escape but being caught and injured further.He wouldn't have done so if I had been better equipped to handle the man trying to hit me. I get to my feet, and rush to Tony's side, having smelt the free-running fuel. I push him out of the way as the whips were about to strike, using the force of the explosion to get us over the car and into a slightly safer position."Get up!" I exclaim, diving to the side as Happy appears, driving the man into the fence inches from where we had been stood."Are you okay?" Happy yells.Tony jumped down from the fence as I got back to my feet, the both of us going to the open front windows of the car."Yeah," Tony confirms. "Were you heading for us or him?""I was trying to scare him," Happy defends, panicked as it was."Y'know, I can't tell!" I exclaim, trying to catch my breath. Damn white blood cells."Are you out of your mind?" Pepper screams at Tony."Better security," Tony stated.Pepper looks between us, "Get in the car right now!""I was attacked. We need better security," Tony repeated."Get in the car," Happy yells."You're CEO," I grumble. "Better security measures.""God, it's embarrassing," Tony states.I wince, the sound of a machine powering up hitting my ears as Tony opens the door to get in the car."First vacation in two years," Tony continues complaining.I barely made it out of the way of the whip, feeling the heat of the electricity against my bare skin."Oh my God!" Pepper screams."Whoa!" Happy reversed a bit and then proceeded to ram into the man again. "I got him!""Hit him again," I demand."Hit him again," Tony repeated. "Football.""I got him!""The case," I call."Take the case!" Pepper screeches. "Take it!""Give him the case!" Happy yells."Stop banging the car!" Pepper yells, but it was useless. The car hadn't done more than piss the man off, and as soon as the airbag activated, the man sliced the car in half.I jump into the car, well aware of the danger as the man continued trying to slice and dice the car."Calm down," I urge, reaching for the case.It didn't do much – Pepper was traumatized."Give me the case!" Tony calls, coming closer to us. "Please! Come on!"I grab the case from Pepper, and throw it out to Tony, who got to work the second it was out of the car. Soon enough, he was Iron Man, and I barely had time to get out of the car before he pushed it away from the man."Use his strengths against him!" I yell, trying to protect Happy and Pepper as the car received more damage.It was a short fight, far shorter than the one that had been against Obadiah last year.I join Tony's side as the police arrive to take the defeated man away, watching as he began laughing."You... You lose," he laughed. "You lose, Stark." -The PrisonThe French officer began to explain the situation as Tony and I walk through the halls, the officer beside us with a team of others behind us. "We ran his prints," he said in French. "We got nothing back, not even a name.""Where are we going?" Now, French was a language that Tony knew, making it easy for him to converse."Over there. We're not even sure he speaks English. He hasn't said a word since he got here.""That's why I've got her," Tony nods at me.The officer opens the door for us. "Five minutes."They secured the door once we were inside. We walk slowly towards the stationary man."Pretty decent tech," Tony compliments. "Cycles per second were a little low. You could have doubled up your rotations. You focused the repulsor energy through ionised plasma channels. It's effective.""Not very efficient," I point out. "But it's a passable knock-off." Tony and I sat on the bench with the man with no name."I don't get it. A little fine tuning you could have made a solid pay check," Tony frowned. "You could have sold it to North Korea, China, Iran...""Or gone onto the black market," I add. "You look like you got friends in low places."The man turns to us, "You come from a family of thieves and butchers. And now, like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your own history. And you forget all the lives the Stark family has destroyed." He seemed sincere enough in his words."Speaking of thieves," I start, curious, "where did you get this design?""My father. Anton Vanko.""Well, I never heard of him," Tony shrugged."My father is the reason you're alive," the man explained shortly."The reason I'm alive is 'cause you had a shot, you took it, you missed.""Did I? If you can make God bleed, the people will cease to believe in him. And there will be blood in the water. And the sharks will come. The truth, all I have to do is sit here and watch as the world will consume you.""Where will you be watching the world consume him from?" I ask, annoyed at his vagueness. "Oh, that's right. A prison cell. I'll send you a bar of soap," I offer, getting to my feet with Tony in tow."Hey, Tony," the man called as we reached the door. "Before you go; palladium in the chest, painful way to die."Tony pushed me out of the cell before I could ask the man what he meant. "Time to go," he says firmly."T, what did he mean?" I ask. Tony ignored my question, staying silent.-Stark Private JetI stare at the screen as Stern hits at Tony. "It's just unbelievable. It proves that the genie is out of the bottle and this man has no idea what he's doing. He thinks of the Iron Man weapon as a toy. I was at a hearing where Mr. Stark, in fact, was adamant that these suits can't exist anywhere else, don't exist anywhere else, never will exist anywhere else, at least for five to ten years, and here we are in Monaco realising, 'Uh-oh. These suits exist now'.""Mute," Tony says, and the TV goes silent. "He should be giving me a medal," Tony grumbled as he sits opposite Pepper after setting one of the two dishes he held on the table in front of me. "That's the truth."Pepper looks at the dishes set in front of her and me. "What is that?""This is your in-flight meal.""Did you just make these?" She asks."Yeah," Tony replies, as though confused as to how else it was made. "Where do you think I've been for three hours?"I remove the cover from my food, revealing a dish that Jarvis used to make me when Tony and I were younger."Tony," Pepper started, "what are you not telling me?""I don't want to go home," he admitted, "at all. Let's cancel my birthday party and ... and, uh... We're in Europe. Let's go to Venice, Cipriani. Remember?"Pepper nodded, "Oh, yes.""It's a great place to... To ... be healthy.""I don't think this is the right time," Pepper frowned. "We're in kind of a mess.""Yeah, but maybe that's why it's the best time," he counters. "'Cause then we can-""Well, I think as the CEO I need to show up.""As CEO," I start, "you are entitled to a leave.""A leave?""A company retreat," Tony rectified."A retreat?" Pepper repeats, eyebrows raised. "During a time like this?""Just a ride... Well, I'm just saying, to recharge our batteries and figure it all out...""Not everybody runs on batteries, Tony," Pepper says softly, drawing a small smile out of Tony, even though he still seemed on edge.-Rhodey entered just as I left the kitchen to head downstairs again. "Where is he?""He doesn't want to be disturbed," Natasha replied, quoting Tony's words.Pepper turned, "He's downstairs.""But what happened in Monaco?" The reporter was asking as I head down to the garage, where Tony was still sat in the car."Query complete, sir," JARVIS announced, bringing up reports and documents to help explain. "Anton Vanko was a Soviet physicist who defected to the United States in 1963. However, he was accused of espionage and was deported in 1967. His son, Ivan, who is also a physicist, was convicted of selling Soviet-era weapons grade plutonium to Pakistan, and served 15 years in Kopeisk prison. No further records exist.""Well, ain't that just ironic," I grumble, leaning against the car.I look up as Rhodey enters the garage. "Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now," he orders. "Listen. I've been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door and taking these." He points at the suits before walking towards them slightly. "They're gonna take your suits, Tony, okay? They're sick of the games. You said nobody else would possess this technology for 20 years. Well, guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday. It's not theoretical anymore." He walks over and shakes Tony's shoulder lightly. "Are you listening to me? Are you okay?"Tony nods, but I wasn't so sure. I could hear his heart beginning to strain. "Let's go." He didn't get far from the car before he almost collapsed, grabbing my arm and the car to stay even slightly on his feet.Rhodey rushed to help. "Hey, man. Hey, hey! You all right?""Yeah," Tony says breathlessly as Rhodey takes hold of him. "I should get to my desk. See that cigar box?" Tony asks as we head towards the desk."Yeah," Rhodey nods."It's palladium," he explains as Rhodey sits him down on his chair.While Rhodey grabs one of the palladium pieces, I watch Tony remove his Arc Reactor, revealing a smoking center piece of palladium."Is that supposed to be smoking?" Rhodey asks, staring."No," I grimace, my heartrate beginning to pick up."If you must know, it's neutron damage," Tony mutters. "It's from the reactor wall."Rhodey takes the Reactor from Tony, looking at the rusted palladium. "You had this in your body?""And what about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?" I demand.Tony looks at me sadly. "Road rash." He takes the Arc Reactor from Rhodey. "Thank you." He then replaces the Reactor before drinking the same green stuff he'd been taking for a few weeks.As he glanced back at Rhodey, I began to make my way out of the garage, not wanting to be around Tony after I'd found out that he was dying and wasn't planning on telling me any time soon. I couldn't handle losing Tony when he was the only family I had left."What are you looking at?" He grumbled to Rhodey."I'm looking at you," the man admitted. "You wanna do this whole lone gunslinger act, and it's unnecessary. You don't have to do this alone.""You know, I wish I could believe that. I really do. But you've gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I'm doing.""Oh, I hope so," Rhodey said as I close the glass door, "Because we need you alive."I enter the front room, well aware that Natasha was already watching me. Pepper had left the room, leaving me alone with the one woman I knew I could safely confide in."Maya?" She asked, standing up. "What is it?"I stay silent, and instead, I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her. It was something I'd only done a few times, and it was an act she wasn't so familiar with."Maya," she asked again, returning my hug before pulling back to look at me. "What happened?"I look at her, knowing that I couldn't hide it from her – not that I wanted to. "He's dying, Nat, and there's nothing that I can do or he can do and –""Whoa," she frowned, "slow down. Who's dying?""Tony," I mutter. "The Arc Reactor... The palladium in it is killing him.""Okay... Hey," she wiped away a tear that had escaped me. "Hey... I want you to go back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Start working on something, okay? I'll take care of him."-I stand in front of Clint's room and knocked, not waiting for him to reply before I walked in, closing the door behind me."Maya, I know for a fact that you were taught something called manners," he commented with a raised brow.I huff, giving him a look. I noticed that he was standing next to his bed as he was about to put on his jacket. I frown, "Were you going to go out?"He nodded. "I was going to IHOP," he shrugged. "I want pancakes. You want to come?"I shake my head, pouting."What's wrong?" He asks, setting his jacket down in concern.Instead of answering verbally, I run and jumped at him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, both of us crashing onto his bed."Why did you do that?" Clint asked, bemused.I tuck my head under his chin as I hug him tight. "I'm cold," I mutter, not wanting to disclose what was really wrong.He shifted, pulling a blanket over us as he returned my hug. "I hope there's going to be some pancakes as repayment."I merely nod, shivering slightly."Has this got something to do with why you passed out on me earlier, Maya?"I nod again, and he sighs.