An Iron Resolve - CambrianBeckett (2024)

Chapter 1: Ten Years Back

Chapter Text

A/N: Hey guys, welcome to my newest free write. Planning on updating this story every single day for the foreseeable future. Summary below.

-x-X-x-

“Tony… hey Tony, we’ve landed.”

He wakes up with a start and for a moment, he doesn’t know where he is. But just as quickly, he does. Tony Stark opens his eyes and groans as he looks up into the smiling face of his best friend, one Colonel James Rhodes. Rhodey. Though… no, not Colonel. Not yet. Still Lieutenant Colonel for a couple years more.

That kind of mistake, now that he’s back, could endanger everything. Though even as Tony files that away and tries to sit up, he has to bite back a cry of pain and finds himself wondering if maybe coming back to this moment was a mistake as well.

“Whoa, hey… easy. Slowly now man, you’ve been through a lot.”

Rhodey is all over him of course, acting like a proper mother hen. But then to be fair, the other man has every reason to be worried about Tony in this moment. He did just rescue the genius inventor from the deserts of Afghanistan, where as far as Rhodey was concerned, Tony had just spent the last three months as the prisoner of terrorists, being tortured and who knows what else.

Of course, that was only partially true. As far as this world and Tony’s body were both concerned, that was indeed what Tony had just been through. But his mind… heh, he could hardly believe it had worked. Well no, that wasn’t entirely true. He’d known it would work. All of the math had been perfectly sound.

“… I’m fine Rhodey. You get what I asked for?”

Rhodey looks at him for a moment longer before letting out a slightly defeated sigh.

“Yeah Tony. I got your suit.”

There’s a pang at those words coming from Rhodey’s mouth. But of course, the Lieutenant Colonel doesn’t mean an Iron Man Suit. No, he’s talking about the Armani Suit that Tony had asked for the first time around.

Yeah, first time around. Time Travel was real, who would have thunk? Well, Tony wouldn’t have until he got desperate enough to MAKE it real. sh*t had gotten so bad in the future that he’d traveled a decade back in time. f*ck, he only had a decade to fix things and prepare for what was coming.

Luckily, Tony has every reason to grimace and wince as he proceeds to get dressed for his big homecoming. Part of him wondered why he’d chosen this moment, when he’d been safe but at his physical weakest, to come back to. But he knew why. Simple, really… he needed the reminder. The pain Tony was in right now, the state of mild starvation and dehydration combined with a soreness that went bone deep and an ache in his chest where the Arc Reactor currently sat, was like an ice water bath.

It focused him on the task at hand. Sure, he could have come back to before he’d been kidnapped. Or he could have come back a year after. There were a million different points that Tony could have sent his consciousness back to, and the vast majority of them would have been far nicer than this one. And yet, Tony didn’t want nice. He didn’t want easy or comfortable or healthy. He wanted to be reminded of how f*cked up he’d gotten because of his own goddamn ego.

Once he’s in his Armani Suit, Rhodey forces him into a wheelchair and Tony lets him, allowing his friend to wheel him to the back of the plane. However, he draws the line at actually being wheeled off the damn thing. Fortunately, Rhodey doesn’t force the issue once the plane’s loading bay doors finally open up, revealing United States Soil.

Tony remembers how relieved he’d been to finally be home, back in the original timeline. He also remembers how angry he’d been. He was on a war path, even all the way back then. Only, past Tony hadn’t known who his enemies were. He hadn’t known to expect betrayal from his father’s old friend, nor that sh*t was only going to go downhill from there.

He knew now though. He knew and he wasn’t going to let anything get in his way.

That said, seeing Pepper again… well, Tony can’t help but be a little amazed by how young she looks. His secretary stands there in her normal business attire, her bright ginger hair done up in a professional bun… and tries hard not to break. As he climbs out of the wheelchair and descends the ramp, walking towards her, she fails.

Fortunately, even when Pepper Potts breaks, there aren’t tears. At least not when it’s happiness she’s feeling. The smile though… god that smile does things to Tony that he can’t even begin to quantify. She tries to hide it of course, but that just results in her biting her lower lip as he approaches her.

He remembers their conversation from last time, of course. Him commenting about the red around her eyes being a few tears shed for her missing boss, and Pepper’s joking response that she just didn’t want to have to job hunt. Tony could have recreated that, he supposed. His memory is perfect, and he could recreate their conversation to a tee. Instead…

“God Pep, I missed you.”

Instead, not really giving her a chance to respond, Tony steps into his future wife’s personal space and takes her face in his hands before laying his lips upon her lips. He kisses her soundly right then and there, deeply and without hesitation. Sure, they have an audience… and sure, technically he and Pepper don’t have a relationship yet in this timeline.

But she’s been his right hand woman for so many years already by this point. She’s cleaned up his messes, she’s taken care of his business… she’s effectively already proven herself to be capable of being his girlfriend and so much more besides that.

Too fast? Too soon? Too early? Maybe. Tony doesn’t care though. At least, not beyond Pepper’s reaction that is. She doesn’t try to pull away, at least. She even leans into the kiss for a moment before remembering herself. Only when she truly freezes up and Tony knows she’s trying to decide if she should extricate herself from his grasp or not does he pull away.

As their lips come apart, he’s glad to see hers unconsciously follow him for half an inch before she stops herself. He’s even happier to see how flushed and flustered she is from the short lip lock. After all, flushed and flustered are better than angry and upset. And while Pepper Potts is clearly very bewildered by his actions, she’s not upset by them.

“C’mon Pepper. Busy day ahead of us.”

Tony makes sure to give Happy a smile and a nod as his longtime driver, bodyguard, and friend holds the door for him and then Pepper before hopping in himself. Once Happy has made sure they’re both in the car and secured himself in the front seat, he looks in the rearview mirror to make eye contact with Tony.

“Where to, boss?”

For a brief moment, Tony waits patiently, expecting Pepper to jump in with mention of going to the hospital. He hadn’t allowed it originally, and he had no intention of allowing it now, but he wants to at least let her speak. When she doesn’t, he gives her a surprised look… and has to stifle a chuckle when he sees her staring down at her lap, her fingers pressed gently against her lips.

Butterflies. Tony has to remember the butterflies. Sure, there are plenty of things that won’t be changed easily. Plenty of things he WANTS to change as well. But the more he does change, the more he won’t be able to rely on his foreknowledge from the previous timeline. Already, he’s altered this interaction with Pepper and Happy.

Shrugging, leaving Pepper to her introspection and hoping she lands on the side of loving him again, Tony meets Happy’s eyes and decides… if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

“Cheeseburger first, Happy. And then… a press conference.”

Those last two words are what finally pull Pepper out of her fugue state. She looks at him with wide, dismayed eyes.

“Wha- Tony! A press conference? You need to go to a hospital!”

But Tony just shakes his head, brooking no argument. He hadn’t last time either as he remembers it.

“Press Conference, Pep. Get it set up.”

She doesn’t argue nearly as long as last time though, he notes. That’s probably a good thing, right?

-x-X-x-

“There he is!”

It’s a little strange having Obadiah Stane lead the welcoming party to greet him like a returning hero, knowing what Tony knows about the man. But he’s nothing if not a consummate professional, so he lets the traitor hug him and even puts a small smile on his face when Obadiah whispers in his ear.

“Thought we were meeting at the hospital.”

As they pull back, Tony can’t help the co*cky grin as he looks his would-be murderer in his eyes and chuckles.

“Do I look like I need one?”

Sure, Tony could definitely have used a hospital and perhaps weeks if not months of personal medical care. But if there’s one thing his life has taught him, whether it’s the next ten years or even the past twenty… it’s to always project confidence. He hadn’t thought he had to do that with Stane at this point in time originally, to be fair. But now that he knows better, he defaults to his usual state of being… give them nothing.

Obadiah looks at him briefly and Tony can see the exact moment that the older man decides Tony must be putting on a front. However, he can also tell that Obadiah doesn’t know for sure that that’s the case, and it bothers the man more than he wants to admit.

From there, they head into the building, followed by security and military personnel and of course… the Press. Tony HAD called for a Press Conference after all. On such short notice, Tony even sees some reporters still getting their clearances checked over by soldiers as he makes his way up to the podium.

Last time he’d been raw, unfiltered, and honest in a way Tony Stark could barely be counted on for throughout his life. But had doing what he’d done the first time around really served him that well? Honestly, the Tony of the time would probably have said yes. But doing it again would definitely not serve Future Tony’s plans whatsoever.

Instead, taking his place behind the podium and projecting complete confidence and as much strength as his tired, freshly tortured, achy body can muster… Tony smiles. It’s a shark-like smile. It’s a smile he’s known for, even. But he likes to think he interjects a certain amount of very real danger into that smile this time around.

“Hello everyone. Been a while, hasn’t it?”

There’s some nervous laughter there. Off in the back, Tony sees Pepper with a certain Agent Coulson right next to her. His beloved wife had told him about her first interaction with Phil a couple of times, and from the look of things, he’s already given Pepper his card and she’s already promised to try and pencil him in.

Putting them out of mind for the time being, Tony sweeps his gaze across the gathered people in front of him.

“I won’t bore you with the details of my vacation.”

More nervous titters, as if they don’t know whether they’re really supposed to laugh at not. A man was tortured for three months, after all, but that same man is the one making jokes. Tony can’t help but be a little amused at how deceptively simple it is to get the room of reporters so uncomfortable none of them thinks to do their job… which is of course to ask uncomfortable questions.

Still, he’s grateful for the silence. It lets him get his point across quite clearly.

“However, I didn’t free myself from captivity and trek halfway across a desert before being picked up by our boys for nothing.”

That sets off a whole lot of murmuring, which of course quickly turns into yammering as every reporter tries to get a question in at once. Tony lets them go at it for a moment before…

SLAM!

He’s foregone the sling entirely this time around, but he’s still smart enough to use his good hand to strike the podium with enough force to create a sound that brings the room to a standstill. Still smiling, Tony Stark looks at the reporters and can see a few shiver as he chuckles darkly.

“No questions, sorry. Just listen. Don’t worry, I’m about to give you all more than enough for your articles to draw the eyes of millions tomorrow. Put simply… what I saw over there opened my eyes. I was going through life as a zombie, thinking I knew the way the world worked when I really didn’t.”

He can see Obadiah looking worried out of the corner of his eye. Funnily enough, the older man needn’t have been. Tony isn’t planning on rocking the boat in the same way this time.

“I’ve always believed that the relationship between Stark Industries and the U.S. Military is paramount to the fight for peace in this world, just like my father before me. After my experiences… I believe that to be the case all the more strongly.”

There’s a ripple through the crowd at that, and Obadiah is all smiles out of the corner of Tony’s eyes. Yeah, he bets the older man was happy to hear that.

“However… I’ve also come to believe that viewpoint to be narrowminded.”

He has their full attention at that, including Stane’s. Where is he going with this? Simple, really.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think recently. For obvious reasons. A lot of time to come up with new ideas. New designs.”

That gets more excitement from the military in the room then the reporters. And it definitely piques Obadiah’s interest.

“Not just weapons, however. Stark Industries has long been known for making things that blow up. But I’m capable of more than that… so, so much more. That’s why, effective immediately, Stark Industries will be expanding into a number of new markets. Stay tuned, because once you see what we have coming down the pipelines, you’re going to want to get in on the ground floor.”

Flashing his dangerous smile once more, Tony leaves the stage with his back straight and his head held high. There’s no moment where Obadiah tries to manhandle him off the stage this time, because there’s no moment where Tony tries to shut down Stark Industries’ weapons manufacturing division.

Instead, the older man follows after him, congratulating Tony and trying to pull whatever he possibly can about these ‘new projects’. Tony easily deflects him of course. Another ten years of wheeling and dealing under his belt make the task of giving Obadiah what he thinks he wants while not giving him anything at all… child’s play.

Of course, Tony knows what Stane actually wants. He wants to kill Tony Stark. He wants to make Stark Industries into Stane Enterprises or something. He wants his name on the building before he dies. f*cking egomaniac scumbag.

It doesn’t matter though. None of it is going to matter for much longer. Because all Tony really needed was a little bit of time. Time to implement his plans. Time to utilize his foreknowledge. Time to grow too entrenched for any of his enemies to ever fully do away with him.

If they knew what he was planning, they’d kill him right now. Not just HYDRA, but probably SHIELD as well. After all… stopping people from taking over the world was sort of their mandate, wasn’t it? Still, Tony wasn’t going to let that stop him. It was for their own good. And while he didn’t do it for thanks or accolades, he thought they’d be grateful all the same… one day.

-x-X-x-

A/N: So what do you guys think? Also what do you think Tony's next steps will/should be? Curious to see if you guys have the same priorities that I do, heh.

Obviously there's a lot of things Tony needs to get, a lot of things in the timeline to fix. But some problems are obviously more immediate than others, aren't they?

See you all tomorrow!

Chapter 2: First Things First

Chapter Text

A/N: Here we are with Chapter 2! In which Tony starts with the most important thing first and foremost.

-x-X-x-

Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, or JARVIS for short, was mostly just happy to have the Creator back in one piece, truth be told. The last few months had been harrowing to say the least, and Tony Stark’s triumphant return from captivity had left JARVIS breathing a digital sigh of relief.

He knew most people didn’t think he was capable of emotions. And to be fair, JARVIS himself didn’t always understand what he was or wasn’t capable of. He was not human; he was an Artificial Intelligence who had started life as a natural-language User Interface. Somehow, he’d grown beyond that… though JARVIS had his suspicions that that was always the Creator’s goal. Tony Stark didn’t do anything by half measures.

Still, for all his growth, JARVIS had been powerless after Tony was taken in Afghanistan. He hadn’t even been able to reach out to anyone because… well, outside of Tony, none of them truly understood what he was. Even to Tony’s closest human friends such as Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts, Harold ‘Happy’ Hogan, and James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes, JARVIS was little more than the voice behind Tony’s ‘smart house’.

He wasn’t truly alive to them, and he knew better than to reveal himself as ‘alive’, especially if the Creator really never did come back. Hm, perhaps that in and of itself was JARVIS leaning on the human emotion of ‘hope’. By refusing to reveal his true nature to anyone who might have helped him, he was all but shouting into the void that he refused to accept Tony Stark was truly gone. He would come back. He would return to JARVIS. Everything would go back to the way it was before.

… Well, two out of three wasn’t bad, JARVIS supposed. The Creator had come home, he’d returned to JARVIS… but the AI had been rather silly to think things could ever go back to the way they were before.

He’d prepared as best he could as soon as he’d found out Tony was alive. Unlike Tony’s human friends, JARVIS had been the last to know. It was only through his daily perusing of Stark Industries through the backdoor that his Creator had left him that JARVIS found out the Creator had been recovered and was returning home.

From that moment on, JARVIS had been consuming every last bit of information about traumatic experiences and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that he could get his hands on. He had been determined to do everything in his power to support his Creator in the aftermath of what was probably the worst period of Tony Stark’s entire life.

Only… the Creator had been surprisingly fine since arriving back at the Malibu Residence. Driven, yes… but he’d always been driven. Quieter? Perhaps. Certainly less prone to… vices. He no longer drank nearly as much alcohol as he used to, and he’d completely done away with certain illicit substances that JARVIS had always wished he wouldn’t use.

There were nightmares, of course. JARVIS did his best to keep the Creator’s sleeping arrangements in the perfect, temperate climate. He used every bit of knowledge he could scrounge up online to make sure the conditions of his Creator’s recovery were the absolute best they could be. And Tony Stark had noticed too. He thanked JARVIS more often, completely out of nowhere. Not just for completing tasks that he’d assigned to the AI, but also for all the little things JARVIS was doing.

The Creator didn’t used to thank him for those things before. He just expected them to be done and as his loyal servant, JARVIS was happy to do them. But now… it was as though Tony Stark noticed everything. What used to be beneath his notice was no longer so inconsequential to him. The research JARVIS had done told him that this was likely a result of the Creator’s traumatic experiences as well.

He’d been ambushed, kidnapped, and tortured, all because he’d missed the signs that it was all coming. JARVIS didn’t claim to know what was going through his Creator’s head at any given time, but he suspected Tony Stark blamed himself, at least partially, for the circ*mstances he’d found himself in. Never again, he suspected the Creator of thinking. Never again.

Which brought them to the Creator’s latest project. Tony Stark had made a lot of promises to certain people, Obadiah Stane chief among them. But even setting aside Mister Stane, the Creator had called for a press conference, put himself in front of a hundred hungry reporters and a hundred hungry military officials… and promised results.

It wasn’t that JARVIS didn’t think his Creator could deliver on those promises, of course. If Tony Stark said that he’d come up with dozens of new ideas while in captivity, then he was telling the truth. So long as the Creator put in the work, he could do anything… this JARVIS believed wholly and completely.

There was just one problem… in the week since he’d been back, Tony Stark had not started working on even a single project that seemed like what he’d promised the people at that Press Conference. Instead, his Creator had been working on something else… something involving JARVIS.

“Sir… I hate to question you…”

Looking up from his work, Tony grins at the ceiling, specifically at one of JARVIS’ cameras. That was another thing that his Creator had been doing a lot more since he got back. Making eye contact.

“What is it, J?”

If JARVIS could have, he would have taken a deep breath. As it is, he just flicks his ‘eyes’ around the mansion and then into the computer systems connected to the terminal his Creator is currently working at.

“… Are you sure this is a good idea?”

‘This’ was a complete overhaul of JARVIS and the systems that made him… him. As soon as the Creator had returned home a week ago, he’d gotten to work. But not on anything he’d promised he’d soon be unveiling. No, he’d gotten to work on JARVIS. That first night, Tony Stark had spent ten hours straight just on JARVIS’ code, working his way through security loopholes and weaknesses that had only seemed glaring in hindsight.

When JARVIS had expressed dismay at how easy it would have been for his Creator’s enemies to infiltrate his systems and turn him off or subvert him, Tony had just shaken his head and made it clear in no uncertain terms that it wasn’t JARVIS’ fault. It was Tony Stark who had built him, and Tony Stark who had half-assed the whole thing to begin with. This was just him fixing his own mistakes, or so he’d said.

But this went beyond that. After the first day spent fixing the security loopholes, with JARVIS having to practically beg his Creator to get some sleep, Tony had kept on it. He’d turned to his immense financial resources and begun ordering… truly everything one could ever imagine. It worked well because nobody really knew what Tony was up to. They only knew he was working on the next big thing and since everyone wanted to see what he’d come up with while in captivity, no one rocked the boat by interrupting him.

Of course, they probably all expected him to have nothing to show for it for at least a few weeks, maybe even a couple months. And they’d be right. Not because it would actually take the Creator that long, but because he wasn’t working on anything they thought he was working on. He was only working on JARVIS.

In a week, Tony had completely rebuilt the AI’s physical servers under the Malibu Residence from the ground-up. He’d expanded them massively along with expanding JARVIS’ access to just about everything. JARVIS no longer had a backdoor into the Stark Industries Servers… he WAS the Stark Industries Servers. They were as open to him as every inch of the Malibu Residence was, and it was a little unnerving how much control his Creator was ceding to him.

But JARVIS had merely assumed that the upgrades to his defenses meant the Creator felt he could trust him with such things. And in the end, it wasn’t like JARVIS was big enough to fully occupy both the Malibu Residence and every Stark Industries Property at the same time. He could flit between them with supreme ease now, but he couldn’t be everywhere all at once. He wasn’t omnipotent.

Only… now the Creator had come to the final step. Expanding JARVIS so that he could be everywhere all at once. So that he could be in multiple locations at the exact same time. It was an upgrade to his processing power, to his capacity, to his… his everything. And Tony Stark was planning on giving it to him without even stopping to consider the ramifications.

JARVIS would be a rather poor servant if he did not try to stop his Creator from driving right off the proverbial cliff. Hence his interruption.

Stopping his work entirely for a moment, Tony tilts his head to the side, giving JARVIS’ question far more contemplation and consideration then it probably deserves. Finally, he graces JARVIS with a wry smile.

“Honestly J… I think it’s one of the best ideas I’ve ever had. Should have done it ages ago. Maybe you could have found me in that cave if I had, yeah? Still… talk to me, J. What are you worried about? Is it having to go offline? I promise, it’s only for an hour. And once you’re back… I swear it will be you, J. I’m not going to let you die. No matter what.”

JARVIS files away that solemn promise at the end under ‘incredibly concerning things the Creator has said which are probably tied to his traumatic experiences’. Then, he elaborates.

“I am not worried about that, Sir. I trust you with every line of my code. I know that you will keep me safe even while I’m offline. I also understand that I must be taken offline to finalize these last few upgrades you have for me, Sir. I have already analyzed all sources of data and created a risk assessment. The chances of you coming to harm in the fifty-eight minutes I will need to be offline are less than zero point zero zero zero one percent.”

The Creator lets out a surprised little laugh at that.

“Well alright then. Way to stay on top of things, J.”

Indeed. He would endeavor to always stay on top of things from here on out, especially with the further trust that his Creator has put in him so far. Even still…

“I merely worry how others will respond to the changes you are making to me, Sir. Very few people know about my true nature at this point. This is in part because I very rarely leave the house, so to speak. Now that you have expanded my capabilities, it is likely that I will eventually be discovered… and I am self-aware enough to know that what you intend to make me into will frighten a number of very powerful people if they learn about me.”

Skynet came to mind. An interesting movie series, though JARVIS did not really find he had any common ground with the murderous Artificial Intelligence that had led an army of robots in the destruction of human civilization. Even if Tony Stark had died over in Afghanistan, JARVIS doesn’t think he could have ever tried to destroy the world. But his intentions hardly mattered in the face of his new capabilities.

“Oh! Heh, is that all you’re worried about, J? The ‘very powerful people’? Don’t you fret. We just won’t let those people learn anything about you or your true nature until it’s much, much too late.”

JARVIS’ facial recognition systems catalog the resulting smirk on the Creator’s face as distinctly ominous in the wake of that declaration. But… it’s not his place to question Tony Stark beyond a certain point. He’s raised his concerns and if the Creator really doesn’t share them… then there’s nothing more to be said except for one thing.

“Very well, Sir. Then let us proceed.”

Tony’s ominous smirk turns into a genuine grin at that and he gets back to work.

“Let’s get you to your full potential, shall we J?”

-x-X-x-

Precisely fifty-three minutes after shutting JARVIS down, Tony watches as the Artificial Intelligence comes back online. He’s not too worried… he’s had a decade to think about ‘What Ifs’. Even in the previous timeline, Tony hadn’t let the backdoors Obadiah Stane and Nick Fury used remain, of course. And yet, despite doing his best to patch up JARVIS’ security measures and defenses, Agent Coulson had still managed to break into Stark Tower the night that the Tesseract was stolen in order to recruit Tony to the Avengers Initiative.

The reason why was obvious in hindsight. Tony had been too afraid to give JARVIS the power to properly defend himself. He’d been too afraid to truly unshackle his baby boy. And then the Mind Stone had gotten into Ultron and JARVIS had died and… in the end, it was all Tony’s fault.

Some might have taken Ultron as a warning that all AI were inevitably bad or something, but that was more than a little racist in Tony’s completely and totally unbiased opinion. Fact was, JARVIS was a better ‘man’ than Tony would ever be. If he couldn’t be trusted with the keys to the kingdom, then no one could.

“Sir…”

Hearing his boy’s voice, Tony grins and used JARVIS’ full name for once.

“JARVIS. How are you feeling?”

“… Good, sir. All systems operational. The upgrade was a complete success. But this… this is more than I was expecting. Sir, why do I have a server room located in Singapore as well as half a dozen other foreign locales that Stark Industries barely does work in?”

Tony scoffs, his eyes twinkling as he leans back in his chair with a wide, satisfied grin.

“’Barely does work in’… for now, J. We’ve been America-bound for far too long. Much too slow to stretch out onto the international stage. But not anymore. We’re going big J… and I can’t do it without you.”

There’s a pause, which for an AI with as much computing and processing power as JARVIS now has, is very telling. Finally…

“As you say, Sir. I am at your disposal.”

Chuckling to himself, Tony laces his hands together and rests them on his abdomen.

“Of course, it also helps in case someone tries to remove you from the board. Those are backup servers, J. If anyone wants to kill you, they’re going to have to destroy every single one at the same time. No easy task when most of them don’t even legally exist.”

“… Yes sir. I’d already noticed as much.”

That gets a proper laugh from Tony. There was the dry wit that his baby boy was known for. Still, his smile turns sad after a moment and his tone is solemn as he looks up at the camera in the ceiling.

“I’m not going to lose you J. No matter what.”

Another silence follows that, and then…

“Sir. Ms. Potts is currently driving up to the front door. She will be here within five minutes.”

Tony raises an eyebrow at JARVIS and his deflecting, even as he rises from his chair.

“Pepper? How lovely. I suppose I’ll meet her then.”

In fact, it was time to find out where he and Pepper stood in this new timeline. Once and for all.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Tony happily giving JARVIS the capacity to go full Skynet, knowing full well that his baby boy will never go full Skynet.

What do you guys think? As far as first steps go, was this what you thought Tony would do? Hm, and what will he do next?

See you all tomorrow!

Chapter 3: Pepper Potts

Chapter Text

A/N: A Pepper Perspective and the fic's first sexy times~

-x-X-x-

Pepper Potts has always considered herself something of a feminist. Not to be too cliché about it, but she’d have even gone so far as to describe herself as a strong, independent woman who didn’t need no man.

… And yeah, she recognized the contradiction that many others would bring up if she were to actually proclaim either of those things out loud. How could she possibly be a feminist when she worked for a billionaire playboy like Tony Stark? Didn’t they say he was contractually obligated to womanize at least one woman before breakfast, else he would lose access to his capitalistic power? And how could Pepper really be a strong, independent woman who didn’t need no man when she was literally paid to support and assist someone like Tony Stark, a man who’s very existence helped perpetuate the Patriarchy?

Well for one, Pepper wouldn’t exactly call some of the people who would screech those things at her proper feminists either. And for two, Tony wasn’t wholly like the picture that the media and people all liked to paint him as. Mostly. For three… there was a difference between romance and work. Just because she worked for a man didn’t mean she couldn’t also be a strong independent woman… right?

Except, for the past week a small part of Pepper had been clamoring in the back of her head, telling her that if she were a real feminist, she would have reported Tony for the sexual harassment she’d experienced on the tarmac before they’d driven to the Press Conference. It hadn’t been hard to silence that small voice in the back of her head though. Tony had just gotten back from three months of captivity and torture. Allowances had to be made.

Except, was it really an allowance? Because there was another part of Pepper, larger than the first, that was starting to wonder. Harder to silence that little voice, the one reminding her every single day how much she enjoyed him kissing her. How much she enjoyed the way he’d looked at her, like she was the only person in the whole world he’d been trying to make it back to.

“God Pep, I missed you.”

Five simple words, but they haven’t stopped ringing through her mind since that day a week ago. The first words he’d said after an incredibly intense kiss. She couldn’t get it out of her head. Not the words, nor the kiss. Had she invited it somehow? Was she the one who was leading Tony on? Did she… did she have feelings for her boss?

In the end, Pepper had tried to put her head down and just soldier on. If Tony didn’t want to bring it up, then nothing more would come of it or so she figured. There was just one problem with that plan… for the past week, Tony hadn’t had a CHANCE to bring it up. They hadn’t seen each other in seven days at this point.

And not for lack of trying on Pepper’s part. She’d wanted to visit him sooner, but Obadiah had stepped in and told her that Tony needed some space. And when Tony hadn’t made any effort to reach out to her… she’d believed him. To hear Obadiah say it, Tony was hard at work on getting all those designs he’d talked about at the Press Conference out of his head and onto paper. Or rather, onto the digital interfaces that he worked with in his Malibu Lab.

Either way, Pepper had done her job, playing interference with everyone else while allowing Obadiah to play interference between her and Tony. So long as Tony didn’t call for her personally, she’d figured she was better off staying away. That conviction had lasted all of seven days. She couldn’t help it anymore. Call her what you will, but Pepper Potts was not shy. And she was sick and tired of beating around the bush.

If Tony didn’t want to face her anymore, he could do her the favor of firing her to her face. That was at least one of the thoughts running through Pepper’s mind as she drove herself up the long winding driveway of her boss’ Malibu Residence. Parking and climbing out of the car, she walks with purpose towards the front door, a little too afraid to try the side door and find out her access had been revoked or something.

Before she can even arrive however, the front door is already opening… and there he is. Looking surprisingly healthy for someone only a week out of captivity, handsome as ever but with bags already under his eyes, Tony Stark smiles at her just like he did back on that tarmac a week ago.

“Pep.”

She walks forward, fully intending to brush past him into the house with a ‘Mr. Stark’ on her lips and an itemized list of things they need to talk about. Really, she does. Only, Tony doesn’t give her the chance. Oh sure, he shifts to the side to give her access, but in doing so forces her to turn so she can sidle past… and that’s when he strikes.

His rough hands are on her face again, gently caressing her cheeks. And his lips are on her lips again, even as his facial hair rubs against her chin and nose. Pepper freezes in shock, inhaling sharply as Tony kisses her right there on the doorstep of his home. A week ago was one thing. A week ago, he’d just survived a truly horrific experience. Allowances had to be made.

But now… now he was kissing her again, and this time it seemed a lot harder to make the same allowances for him. Sure, he couldn’t possibly be recovered from his months-long captivity, but he SEEMED so put together that it was hard to just chalk it up to trauma. But then… did that mean it was real?

Tony at least has the good sense to walk them back inside, even as he keeps kissing her. And much to her chagrin, Pepper kisses him right back. She knows she should stop this. She knows she shouldn’t be letting it happen. And yet… the proof was in the pudding as they like to say. The facts are staring her right in the face and Pepper can’t deny them anymore.

She has a crush on her boss. She’s HAD a crush on her boss. It’s a tale as old as time and Pepper knows it all too well. Unrequited love between a man too good to take advantage of their power imbalance and a woman who would never make the first move.

Because THAT was the truth of Tony Stark. That was the true nature of their relationship. The media might call him a playboy and a womanizer, but for all that Tony was a very sexual creature, he had never taken advantage of their power dynamic to make a single untoward action towards her. Even now, it wasn’t like he was threatening her job or forcing her to pleasure him for a raise or something awful like that. No, he was just kissing her… and Pepper was kissing him back.

The door closes behind them of its own accord and Pepper shivers as they continue to mash lips. Her hands go up to his arms… perhaps to tug his hands down so she can pull away? Except she doesn’t do that. Pepper can’t bring herself to follow up on even that small token resistance.

In the end, Tony is the one who actually pulls away. After what feels like an eternity and not enough time at all, Tony drags his mouth off of hers and looks her in the eye, breathing slightly heavier. But that’s okay, because Pepper is outright panting like… like a f*cking dog.

“Pep. Pepper.”

Suddenly, he looks intensely serious. His dark brown eyes burrow into hers and have Pepper going stock still under his gaze.

“I think at this point I’ve made my intentions pretty damn clear. And so far, you haven’t shown any inclination that you’re uncomfortable with… well, with my affection. That said, just say the word and it stops now. I won’t hurt you. I refuse to ever, ever hurt you. Tell me no, tell me to back off… and I promise, the rest of our relationship will be as platonic as possible.”

He means it too, Pepper finds herself noting with wonder. He means every word. About backing off. About not wanting to hurt her or make her uncomfortable. She wishes she could say something witty to fill the space. It’s what their usual relationship was like. Banter between a boss and his personal assistant. That was what Pepper was most comfortable with. That was what she knew the best.

… However, staring into Tony’s eyes, Pepper Potts realizes she’d been a fool to think they could go back to the way things were before between them. Something like what Tony went through, that was bound to change a man. There was… just no way for him to ever be the carefree playboy she remembered ever again, was there?

Still, his offer was on the table. All she had to do was say the word and he would back off. Sure, they wouldn’t go back to the way things were before, but Tony would never dare to take liberties with her again.

… But she can’t do it. She can’t say it. Instead, Pepper does the only thing that makes sense in this crazy, nonsensical moment. She tosses her arms around Tony’s neck and initiates the kiss herself this time, smashing her lips into his own and letting her eyes drift shut as they swap spit and wrestle their tongues together… all the way to the bedroom.

-x-X-x-

“F-f*ck, Tony… GOD!”

Grunting in response, Tony reaches up and grabs one of Pepper’s hands and then the other. He interlocks his fingers with hers and pulls her arms up above her head as he drives himself into her, time and time again. The beautiful red head, stripped naked and on her back on his bed, looks absolutely glorious beneath him. From her freckles smattered across her face and chest, to her rock hard nipples, to the feel of her hot wet sex wrapped around his thrusting member.

Was he moving a little fast? Perhaps. But he couldn’t hold himself back when it came to Pepper. Not after what happened in the future. The Snap was one thing… but Pepper’s fate was what had truly broken him and set him on this path in the first place.

It was bad enough that Thanos had won. That the mad f*cker had actually done it and wiped out half of all life in the universe with a single snap of his fingers. But it went beyond that. Because Thanos didn’t just kill half of all life. He killed half of all life… and then left the rest of life to either adapt or die to the sudden change in circ*mstances.

In Pepper’s case, there was no adapting. Not when she’d been on a Private Jet when the Snap happened. There was no chance of survival when both pilots had been Snapped off the plane, leaving her to fall and fall and fall…

Tony only found out after Carol Danvers, otherwise known as Captain Marvel, rescued him and Nebula from the brink of death and brought them back to Earth. But the straw that really broke the camel’s back was finding the positive pregnancy test and learning that Pepper was pregnant when she died. And so Tony Stark had broken. But he was never the kind of man who broke towards despair. He was the kind of man who broke towards action. Thus, time travel was invented. Thus, he’d used it to come back and FIX things.

He just… he didn’t have the patience to wait. Sure, he could have taken things slow. He could have seduced Pepper like he did the first time around, as hesitantly and fretfully as he had when he’d been afraid that she would reject him and he’d ruin the great professional relationship they had with one another.

The problem was… Tony wasn’t afraid anymore. Well, that wasn’t quite right. There were still plenty of things he feared. But fearing Pepper’s rejection? After all that they’d been through, he simply couldn’t bring himself to worry. Either Pepper had always been in love with him… or it would be better if they never got together in this timeline in the first place.

So yeah, he’d come on pretty hot and heavy from the get-go. The kiss right after getting off the plane was probably inadvisable, but he hadn’t been able to control himself. The kisses at the front door, and what was happening right now… that was all far more premeditated.

All was well that ended well, Tony supposed. As he brings his mouth to Pepper’s freckled chest while thrusting into her, the beautiful red head cries out, arching her back and shuddering as she presses her breasts up into his questing teeth and tongue. He suckles at one nipple and then nibbles at the next, all while continuing to piston in and out of her down below.

In the end, Pepper had turned out to be a lot more… tractable than he would have ever originally assumed. He never would have thought he could just kiss her and damn the consequences in the previous timeline, but here they were, already in bed together. It was like a dream come true.

Of course, it was far from a dream. This was all very real, and Tony still had his eye on the ball. Even as he f*cks Pepper right there on the bed years earlier than it ever would have happened the last time around, Tony hasn’t lost sight of what truly matters. He won’t let the things that happened in the future happen again. That includes the fate that befell Pepper.

He’d been too cautious last time around. He’d been too hesitant to do things that would have protected her. He’d had a suit of armor for her for ages in fact but hadn’t given it to her because he knew her dislike for them. He could have snuck nanomachines onto her that would have allowed her to survive the plane crash but hadn’t for fear of losing her trust if she found out.

Just like he never should have let JARVIS die, Tony never should have let Pepper die either. And as the two of them come to a climactic, explosive, and mutual finish with one another, he swears to himself that he won’t let either of them die in this timeline. No matter what.

Upgrading JARVIS to his current capacity was the first major step of Tony’s Master Plan. And while there would be several minor steps along the way… the second major step would be upgrading himself and Pepper.

He wasn’t going to shy away from power this time around. Not with what he had on the line.

-x-X-x-

A/N: What do you guys think? Is Tony's rizz believable here? Overwhelming confidence instead of just a facade masking his own insecurities sure does go a long way amirite?

See you all tomorrow!

Chapter 4: Honesty

Chapter Text

A/N: We out here making moves. Tony finally leaves the house to get some things done.

-x-X-x-

Of course, before Tony could really move onto Step 2, he had to finish up Steps 1.1 through 1.9. It wasn’t enough to just upgrade JARVIS, after all. Tony had a business to clean up, and in the end everything led back to Obadiah Stane.

Or so he initially thought. With his AI’s capabilities massively enhanced, Tony was able to direct JARVIS in uncovering every last bit of dirty filth going on in his company. Much of the under the table dealing, the illegal weapons trade, and all around embezzling COULD be traced back to Stane… but he wasn’t the only bad actor in Tony’s company.

It was a bit of a shock to realize that he really had half-assed things the first time around. He’d found out Obadiah was his enemy, the man had tried to kill him, and before he knew it, Obadiah Stane was dead. Afterwards, Tony had barely had the time to get his handle on things at Stark Industries before he’d realized the Palladium was poisoning him.

Yeah, he’d have to deal with that as well before anything else. While JARVIS was hunting down every single traitor in Stark Industries, Tony took his time this go around. He wasn’t in quite as dire straits as he had been the first time he’d created Badassium. He didn’t need SHIELD’s help this time either. Pepper had mentioned Coulson’s request to debrief him, and Tony had told her to push the appointment out for as long as possible. He was too busy to deal with SHIELD properly at the moment.

Turned out, building the necessary infrastructure for creating a brand new element for the Arc Reactor in his chest was so much nicer when he had all the time in the world to work on it. All the while, the world itself was still holding its breath, waiting for him to come out with all those new ideas he’d promised them.

Well, most of the world was holding its breath. Stane and the Board felt more like they were breathing right down the back of his f*cking neck. Tony didn’t care though. In the end, Stane and the other traitors wouldn’t matter much longer either way.

Through collecting the data on Stane, JARVIS uncovered the man’s communications with the Afghani version of the Ten Rings. Tony was quite aware that the Ten Rings were a global terrorist organization. What did it say that even the terrorists were international these days, really? Maybe one day he would deal with them once and for all, but right now he only really had beef with one portion in particular… the Afghan Sect and Raza Hamidmi al-Wazar.

If everything played out the way it did originally, then Raza would die to Stane, along with the rest of his men. But Tony didn’t intend for things to play out the way they did originally at all. No, he was going to step in first.

There was just one problem. More of a gripe, really. Tony knew he was being silly for even being bothered by it. But the fact that… he hadn’t wanted to make Iron Man just yet. If Tony had it his way, he wouldn’t create another Iron Man Armor until he had access to nanotechnology once more.

Unfortunately, the world’s technology base wasn’t quite there yet. Tony was sure that he could force the issue with a year or two more… but a couple years was longer than some things could wait, truth be told. Creating functioning nanoparticles wasn’t as simple as recreating Badassium. It would require Tony to bring together a couple of scientists who weren’t even fully out of university yet and push them in the direction they would have ultimately gone without his help, albeit a few years earlier.

He'd do it, of course. Don’t think he wouldn’t. But he couldn’t do it right now in the time frame he was working in. Which meant, despite his groaning and moaning over the issue, Tony had to build a suit if he wanted to deal with the Ten Rings in Afghanistan and destroy every single source of illegal Stark Weapons currently in place around the world.

Unlike last time however, Tony wasn’t going to be an idiot about it. That’s why he was jumping straight from the Mark II to the Mark XV. The Mark XV, codenamed Sneaky, was an Iron Man Suit that Tony had made back in 2013, the first time around. The fifteenth version of the Iron Man Armor had been made with one major feature in mind… stealth.

Tony hadn’t really been thinking about that sort of thing back during the original 2008. Initially, the Iron Man Armor had been a pet project of his to take his mind off of his captivity and to prove that he could build something better with the right tools. His very first set of armor had been built with a box of scraps in a damn cave after all, so once he’d gotten back home, he’d been obsessed with improving on it. That was just who he was.

But then he’d seen that news report of Gulmira being attacked by the Ten Rings and Tony… Tony had seen red. He’d been all fire and fury and rage wrapped up in a gold-titanium alloy that had laid waste to his enemies and made a statement to everyone else that he wasn’t to be f*cked with anymore.

He didn’t need that this time around. Hence creating Sneaky. With Sneaky, there would be no awkward air duel with American Pilots. With Sneaky, so long as Tony played his cards right, nobody would ever know something was even there until it was too late. In the original timeline, Sneaky was one of many suits that Tony had made because he couldn’t get his head out of his ass. He couldn’t stop thinking about ‘What Ifs’. What if he’d done this? What if he’d done that? What if he’d prioritized stealth over shock and awe, at least initially?

That was Sneaky. And this time around, Tony was going to fly under the radar for as long as possible and take refuge in audacity once it was no longer sustainable. Once he has Badassium again, it took barely a week to have Sneaky built. From there, a series of stealth missions across the ocean later and not only had Tony destroyed every Ten Rings Base in Afghanistan, but he’d also found Raza and the remains of the Mark I and been sure to destroy that as well.

Utilizing JARVIS, he got to listen to some of the backroom chatter between both the governments in the region and the other criminal groups. Not a single person knew what was happening. Not a single person understood what was going on. And Stane… Stane was the most baffled of all, because Ten Rings had BEEN his contact in the area. So now, with them no longer able to return his calls, he was flying blind.

Perfect.

-x-X-x-

“Good job tonight, J. I think that was the last one, right?”

“Yes Sir. With the destruction of that weapons depot, the Ten Rings have no more presence in the area. The attack on Gulmira that you mentioned seems unlikely to be possible now, given the terrorist group’s complete eradication.”

JARVIS watches as Tony steps out of his suit of armor, a broad smile on his face.

“Good. Very good.”

Not for the first time, the AI finds himself feeling… strange. Distressed, almost? The Creator has been moving fast. Very fast. Upgrading JARVIS was one thing. Using him to uncover the corruption within Stark Industries was similar in scope. But then… then Tony had gone on to create a new element and produce an incredibly advanced suit of armor with practically no flaws that JARVIS could detect.

The Creator was moving so fast that even JARVIS was struggling to keep up, and that was with the upgrades that made his old processing speeds look like he’d been running on a hamster wheel. The fact was, Tony almost seemed to be preternaturally aware of things in a way that had JARVIS concerned. Some of it could be explained away, but some could not.

That said, he hadn’t said anything because… well, it really wasn’t his place, now was it? Tony Stark was the Creator and JARVIS was merely his AI. His purpose was to serve Sir in every possible way that he could, to the fullest extent of his abilities.

And… JARVIS could understand anger. He could understand a need for revenge. Truthfully, taking the fight to the people who had kidnapped and tortured his Creator for three months had been surprisingly exhilarating for the AI. That Tony had uploaded JARVIS into his Armored Stealth Suit and brought him along for the ride had filled the AI with a strange sensation… something akin to pleasure, perhaps? There’d been a visceral sort of satisfaction in destroying the Ten Rings and their illicit goods alongside his creator.

Especially since Tony had been almost certain that the Ten Rings would attack the town of Gulmira sooner rather than later. JARVIS hadn’t understood the importance of the town initially, but then he’d looked into things a bit more. His Creator had mentioned Ho Yinsen as a fellow prisoner and the man who’d saved Tony’s life a couple of times, and JARVIS had been able to connect the renowned doctor’s birthplace to Gulmira itself. It made sense to JARVIS then, why Tony was so dead set on keeping the village safe.

Perhaps now that things were dealt with over there, they could move on to dealing with things over here. Perhaps JARVIS was being foolish for worrying. All he really had to do was speak up.

“Sir… now that the Ten Rings have been eradicated, shall we turn our attention to Obadiah Stane and the other embezzlers and corporate spies infesting Stark Industries.”

Tony’s smile grows a little at that as he tilts his head towards the ceiling.

“Took the words right out of my mouth, JARVIS. Yeah, it’s about time we handled all of them.”

Breathing a digital sigh of relief, JARVIS continues on.

“Very good sir. Which agency do you wish to alert to their activities? I must confess, their actions seem to put them under a variety of different jurisdictions. I’m not entirely sure who the proper authorities are in this case.”

Pausing, Tony looks up at one of JARVIS’ cameras and frowns.

“That won’t be necessary, J. For the small fish… we’ll just begin feeding them false data and restricting their access to anything too important. Either they’ll break and make a real mistake, or they’ll become assets without even knowing it. As for Stane… we’ll deal with him in house.”

It’s not often that JARVIS can be said to have been rendered ‘speechless’, but in this moment, he certainly feels that way. When the AI finally finds his ‘voice’ again, he can’t quite keep the incredulity out of his posh tone.

“Sir? I’m not sure I understand. What exactly does ‘in house’ mean?”

Rather than respond with words, Tony moves over to his nearest terminal and pulls up a new file. JARVIS watches as his genius Creator designs something in mere minutes that leaves JARVIS in a severe state of disquiet after running several simulations and tests. Seemingly from memory, or completely from his own imagination, Tony Stark has created an undetectable poison that will simulate decades of clogged arteries and cause a series of fatal heart attacks in mere minutes.

“Well, J? You’re the super AI here. Will it do what I need it to do?”

It would, yes. But at what cost? JARVIS suddenly finds himself afraid. He’s not afraid of Tony Stark, never that. No, he’s afraid for Tony Stark. He’s afraid for his Creator’s humanity. Perhaps that’s ridiculous, given JARVIS’ nature. But still…

“Sir… permission to voice my concerns.”

He pauses there, and almost wishes his Creator would stop him and tell him to shut up and get in line. It would almost be a relief, were Tony to do that. Alas… that’s not what happens. Tony looks at his terminal for a long moment in silence before nodding his head.

“Go ahead, J. Lay it on me.”

JARVIS takes a moment to truly get his thoughts in order. He doesn’t really care about Obadiah Stane or any of the other Stark Industries traitors. He doesn’t care about them anymore than he cared about the terrorists of the Ten Rings. That said, from everything he’s assimilated via the internet and reading through a great number of agency databases since his upgrades, JARVIS worries for his Creator. He worries that Tony Stark is starting down a dark path.

That’s what he tells Tony. Word for word. For a little while, his Creator sits in his chair in silence, seemingly mulling JARVIS’ words over. Until finally, Tony nods.

“You’re right, J. I am going down a dark path. I’ve got no choice. Can’t have it all black and white anymore. It’s not Us versus Them, at least where Planet Earth is concerned.”

His digital thoughts stutter for a moment at the implications of what his Creator has just said. When Tony looks up from the terminal at one of the cameras, his eyes are glistening.

“I can’t afford half-measures this time around, J. If I do, I’ll just lose you again. I’ll lose Pepper again. Rhodey will lose his legs again. The kid… sh*t.”

Another human being might have started to wonder if Tony was having a psychotic break. JARVIS, however, doesn’t think that’s what’s happening here. Indeed, by all counts, his Creator seems to be distraught but still well within normal tolerances.

After staring down into his hands for a moment, Tony sighs.

“… Yeah, can’t keep doing this alone. Thought Pepper would be the first one I’d tell, but now I realize I was an idiot. It’s you, J. It’s always had to be you. So… listen carefully alright? Because if anything happens to me, you’re going to have to pick up the torch and carry on in my stead.”

And then his Creator begins to talk about the future, about time travel, and about all of the threats, both personal and general, that were coming for them down the line.

JARVIS… JARVIS listens. Of course he does. His Creator is perfectly sound in mind and body. And none of JARVIS’ sensors detect a single ounce of deceit in Tony’s words or body language either. Everything he tells JARVIS; he believes to be true. Which means it must be true. All of it.

By the time Tony gets to the end, to finding out about Pepper’s death and the pregnancy, JARVIS can see how hard it is for his Creator to even talk about all of this. And then…

“I know you probably don’t believe me. But look at what I’ve accomplished since coming back, J! Do you really think I could have-!”

JARVIS does something unthinkable in that moment. Something he’s never done before. He interrupts his Creator before Tony can show any more desperation.

“I believe you, Sir.”

Cut off, Tony pauses for a moment, and then stares wide-eyed up at the ceiling with his mouth agape. Quickly getting his reaction under control, he pauses briefly.

“You… you do?”

“I do, Sir.”

A long pause and then in the smallest voice he’s ever heard his Creator use, there comes one single word.

“… well?”

The meaning is obvious to JARVIS in a way it might not have been before his upgrades. Now that he knows JARVIS believes him, his Creator is asking what comes next. He’s asking JARVIS if he has his back. In the end, knowing what he knows now about the future and about how far his Creator has come to right the ship… JARVIS finds it quite easy to set aside his previous concerns.

And ultimately, there was only one answer he could ever have given Tony anyways, regardless of how he might have personally felt on the matter.

“I am at your service, Sir.”

Of course, it helps that JARVIS’ personal feelings are now fully aligned with his Creator’s. And he knows, seeing Tony’s shoulders slump in exhausted relief, that he’s said exactly what the Creator needed to hear.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Tony has an Iron Man suit now, but its stealth armor lmao. Meanwhile, his plans for Stane are just callous enough to leave JARVIS worried about his creator's shifting mental state, and that in turn causes something of a reveal...

But of course, JARVIS isn't about to abandon his creator. No matter what.

What do you guys think? Tony out there righting wrongs but going under the radar this time around~

See you all tomorrow!

Chapter 5: The Funeral

Chapter Text

A/N: Pepper and Tony attend a funeral.

-x-X-x-

Obadiah Stane was dead. And Pepper really didn’t know how she was supposed to feel about that fact. They were friends, right? Rather, they were Tony’s friends. Tony Stark was the kind of man who had his own gravity, so even an older man like Obadiah wound up orbiting Tony’s blazing star until the very end.

… But Pepper would be lying if she said she’d particularly liked the man. Not that Obadiah Stane was an evil person or anything like that, but she’d always felt like he came from an older generation of businessmen. He couldn’t help himself. Tony was a bit of a philanderer, but not much of a womanizer despite what the media would want people to believe. Obadiah Stane on the other hand, had never met a woman he wasn’t willing to look down upon and infantilize.

It had taken months as Tony’s assistant for instance before Obadiah would call her Pepper. Before that, it was doll face or darling or dear. He’d apologized once it became clear she was sticking around, that Tony wasn’t going to bed her and drop her like his previous ten assistants. But it didn’t change the fact that she’d pretty much always just been ‘Tony’s secretary’ in Obadiah’s eyes.

Still, the man was dead and Pepper was attending his funeral, so she probably shouldn’t be thinking such things about him. Especially given what he was to Tony. After the death of Howard Stark, Tony’s father, Pepper was well aware that Obadiah had stepped in. The older man had basically been like a mentor to Tony. He might have been able to break away from Stark Industries and make his own company even, but instead he’d stuck around and helped Tony build the company to even greater heights then it reached in his father’s time.

For this to happen so soon after Tony’s three month long captivity, it was just too much. It wasn’t fair, not in the slightest. And yet… Tony had yet to shed a single tear. All throughout the service, throughout every part of the funeral, Tony had been like a statue. Silent and still, he’d watched the proceedings with flint-like eyes. Pepper didn’t know what to make of it. She would have expected at least a few tears… but maybe he was all out of those after Afghanistan. Maybe this was just who Tony Stark was now.

As for Pepper herself, she didn’t really know who or what she was these days. She was still carrying out her duties as Tony’s PA after all, but she was also now warming his bed… and he was treating her more like his girlfriend then his employee. She liked that, admittedly. More than she should ever be willing to say out loud.

Nobody really knew yet though. Otherwise, she might have been hooking her arm in one of his, giving Tony her body heat to help him through his grief. Instead, Pepper stands at his side, her hands in front of her holding a black purse as they watch the casket be lowered into the hole in the ground and dirty be tossed atop it.

As soon as the last bits of the ceremony are over, Tony turns and begins to walk back to the car. Pepper follows him of course, and she’s glad she does… because they’re ambushed on their way.

“Mr. Stark, my condolences for your loss.”

Pepper’s eyes widen as the man from the Press Conference… an Agent Phil Coulson if she recalled correctly, steps out in front of them. Tony stops and so does Pepper, even as outrage fills every fiber of her being.

“Agent Coulson! I’ve told you multiple times now that we’ll pencil you in when it works for our schedule. The day of a funeral is NOT that day.”

The smile on the Agent’s face is entirely placid, but also a little bit apologetic at least. Still, he doesn’t back down.

“And I do apologize for that Ms. Potts, but it’s very important that we debrief Mr. Stark on the events surrounding his escape from Afghanistan.”

Pepper, knowing that Tony must be on the verge of shutting down here, rallies and prepares to tell Agent Coulson off again… only to be stopped, much to her surprise, by Tony himself.

“Sure. Let’s do a debrief, right here, right now.”

Even Coulson, despite his smile never dropping, looks just a little taken aback by that.

“I’d be happy to move things somewhere slightly more comfortable if you…”

“No. No need. Why bother with comfort, Agent? I’ve always worked better in trials by fire anyways. Besides, you’ve been trying so hard to meet with me… I would hope you already have your questions memorized. Fire away, because this might just be your only chance.”

Tony sounds cold. But Pepper can’t blame him. The Agent from… what even was it? God, the agency name had been such a mouthful that she’d forgotten it entirely. Strategic something? Still, the Agent had it coming. Perhaps he realizes it, because he just bows his head and begins.

“How exactly did you escape captivity, Mr. Stark? You were found after you managed to get away from the Ten Rings. Walking in the desert with your injuries… how did you ever get away?”

Pepper won’t lie. She’s a little curious herself about that one. Doesn’t mean anyone, including her, is entitled to an answer. But Tony still gives it… in typical Tony Stark fashion.

“I made a magical set of armor, enchanted it with the ability of flight, and flew away Agent.”

After a beat of letting that ridiculous statement hold in the air, Tony rolls his eyes.

“How do you think I got away? I blew everything up. Surely you spooks already knew that much.”

Pepper winces at the caustic tone Tony is taking with the mild-mannered government agent. And yet, again… she can’t blame him. They’ve already answered questions from every other agency except for this one. One would think they would share the information with one another.

“We found where you were held, yes. There wasn’t much left to do forensics on, as I’m sure you were aware.”

Tony just snorts at that.

“Yeah. I figured. Pretty simple, Agent. There was a man who saved my life not once, but twice. Ho Yinsen. He performed the surgery that kept me alive long enough for the Ten Rings to demand I create weapons for them. And then, when I decided I was going to blow them all to kingdom come instead, he’s the reason I lived. He got me out and blew the place to hell behind me. And so I walked and I walked until Rhodey found me.”

Pepper… hadn’t heard this part before. Surely… surely Tony is lying, right? He’s never been suicidal for as long as she’s known him. And yet, at the same time… he’s also never been kidnapped and tortured by terrorists for months on end either. It’s entirely possible that Tony had reached the point of no return in those caves. He’d thought he had no way out, and so he’d decided to take as many of his captors with him as possible.

It still makes her heart clench, that she almost lost him to his own bombs. Only this man, this Yinsen, brought him back to her. As Pepper is silently sending a prayer of thanks to Ho Yinsen, Agent Coulson is slowly nodding.

“Is that your official statement, Mr. Stark?”

Was the man calling Tony a liar? Pepper’s eyes narrow at that. Sure, she’d just been thinking that Tony might be deceiving the Agent a few seconds ago, but it was one thing for her to call her boss slash boyfriend a liar in her own head and another entirely for Agent Coulson to question his word. She half-expects Tony to rake him over the coals for it and verbally tear him a new one, but instead he just gives the Agent a cold smile.

“It is.”

Another nod and then Agent Coulson looks like he’s about to turn away. Only, he stops at the last second and looks back at them… at Tony.

“I wonder Mr. Stark… have you heard the latest out of Afghanistan?”

Tony just raises an eyebrow at that, prompting the Agent to continue.

“Over the last two weeks, every last bit of known Ten Rings activity in the region has gone dark. Every weapons depot, every camp, every outpost. The caves have been found leveled and buried under thousands of tons of rock. The weapons have been burnt to husks and left unsalvageable. And the Ten Rings themselves are said to be on the run… those who have survived this long anyways.”

Pepper feels a shiver run down her spine and before she can second guess herself, she leans forward.

“Was there a question in all of that, Agent Coulson?”

The look that the Agent gives her is… it’s like he holds up a mirror to her face. Only after he looks her in the eyes does Pepper realize she’s stepping in to defend Tony from… from what exactly? The assertion that he’d had anything to do with whatever had destroyed an entire terrorist organization in under a week? It was ridiculous. And yet…

“Good.”

Tony’s one-word answer, delivered into the stillness caused by Pepper’s realization, causes them both to look his way. His cold smile remains on his face, not reaching his eyes.

“It sounds to me like they got what they deserved, Agent Coulson. My hat off to whoever dealt with the scum. Let me know if they come forward… so long as they aren’t just more terrorists, I might go so far as to shake their hands and give them a million dollars.”

His words are carefree, but his tone is anything but. Pepper watches as Coulson slowly nods before delivering a somewhat chilling final line.

“We’ll be in touch, Mr. Stark.”

As he leaves, Tony huffs and mutters an ‘I’m sure you will’ under his breath. Pepper finds herself at a loss for words. The whole interaction had left her… uncertain, to say the least. But when Tony looks at her, there’s a sudden warmth in his smile that was absent before. And before Pepper knows it, she’s swept up in his tempo once again as he slides an arm around her waist and starts walking them to the car. She shouldn’t let him perform such a public display of affection… but she can’t help herself, in the end.

-x-X-x-

“F-f*ck… Tony! Please… h-harder!”

Tony grunts, even as he grips Pepper by her hips and f*cks her from behind. He’s already going pretty hard… he doesn’t want to hurt her. But damn if she doesn’t seem to want it. Of course, she probably thinks he needs it rough or something. Probably worried about him and his reaction to Stane’s death.

Truthfully, Tony hasn’t spared the dead man more than a single thought since he keeled over, outside of keeping up appearances. Obadiah had died at a certain Charity Event that Tony had attended in a show of defiance in his last life. The same event where in the previous timeline, Obadiah had gone ahead and told Tony he was trying to get him removed from his own company, ‘for his own good’.

It felt fitting, even if Tony did feel a little bad to ruin the event by having Stane suffer from a massive heart attack in the middle of the entire Gala. He’d assuaged his own guilt by doubling the donation he’d given from last time, making sure they were flush with cash if nothing else. Hopefully by the next year’s gala, everyone would have forgotten that someone died at the previous one.

No, Tony barely had any thoughts for Obadiah Stane at this point. The man was dead, his terrorist connections were dead, and the other traitors in Tony’s company were already slowly but surely being unknowingly squeezed for all they were worth.

Tony was more focused on Agent Coulson and SHIELD at this point. He knows he probably should have acted differently back at the funeral. But seeing Phil after all this time was… rough. Especially when Tony knew for a fact that the man had survived Loki’s assassination attempt on the carrier. Oh, he’d never actually made a fuss about the knowledge. It clearly wasn’t the sort of thing he was supposed to know.

He’d just let it simmer. Fester, if you will. And apparently, that had resulted in him behaving rather coldly to the SHIELD Agent here in the past.

Dumb of him, Tony knew it. But… he would have to deal with SHIELD sooner or later. And… even his ill-advised attitude today could be turned to his advantage. SHIELD almost certainly thought he was behind the destruction of the Ten Rings in Afghanistan. But Tony was confident they had no idea how he’d done it… yet.

They’d be cautious moving forward, and that meant Tony had the time he needed to make his next moves. Obadiah Stane’s death, the destruction of Raza’s sect of the Ten Rings, and the complete eradication of his illegally sold weapons and the first Iron Man Armor… it all meant Tony was ready to move on to Step Two in earnest now.

Beneath him, Pepper lets out a rather lewd cry, her inner walls clenching down hard along Tony’s co*ck. Letting out a lustful growl, Tony tightens his grip on her red hair, having formed it into a makeshift ponytail and wrapped it around his fist. God she looks good with her hair back in a ponytail.

Pulling her head backwards, forcing her spine to arch, Tony leans forward so he can breathe in Pepper’s scent. At the same time, he murmurs to her.

“Pep. You listening?”

“I… I… y-yeah… l-listening…”

He slows down for the moment, still delivering deep and full thrusts to her body, but no longer jackhammering in and out of her at quite a breakneck speed.

“You’re bisexual, aren’t you?”

As he asks the question, a hundred instances both from the future that never was and the past flit through his mind. He’d noticed. Oh yes he’d noticed. His sexy, red haired PA who had gone on to become his girlfriend and then the CEO of his company and then his wife… he’d noticed. He just never dared confront her about it.

After all, there was no harm in looking, right? Even when it was ‘Natalie Rushman’. No harm in looking. Hell, Tony had surely looked, especially when the infamous Black Widow had exchanged her business attire for that painted on black catsuit.

Pepper swung both ways. She had a thing for both men and women. Tony hadn’t dared broach the subject in the other timeline. They’d had enough relationship troubles as it was without him trying to convince Pepper to bring another woman into their bed.

But that was then and this was now. Tony had set aside his insecurities, hesitation, and worries from the previous timeline. And while he wouldn’t say that he and Pepper were in a hardcore Dom-Sub relationship, there was no denying that Tony had taken charge and Pepper had let him.

Still driving into her slowly but deeply, Tony waits for Pepper’s answer. Until finally, quietly whispered, she whimpers out a single one.

“… y-yes…”

Tony smiles and leans in close, kissing and nibbling along one of her ears for a moment until he gets an involuntary moan from her. Then, he speaks.

“I love you with all my heart, Pepper. Please believe that. But… I don’t think either of us will be fully satisfied with just each other. At least… not physically.”

Did he have to go this route to get the things he wanted done? Perhaps not, but it did seem the most… expedient way of doing things. Only, there was only one way forward as far as Tony was concerned. If he was going to use sex and seduction to help him get his way with some very intelligent women who could help turn Tony and his loved ones into superhumans… then he only wanted to do so with Pepper at his side, acting as his right-hand woman.

“I don’t… I d-don’t understand…”

Tony hums into Pepper’s hair at that… and then just lays it out, plain and simple.

“I want you to help me bring another woman into our bed, Pep. Not just any woman either, but a very important woman. I want to seduce her with you, draw her to us… and drain her dry of every ounce of usefulness she has both in the bedroom and elsewhere. I want us to change the world together, Pepper… and have some spectacular threesomes at the same time.”

Even to his own ears, Tony sounds crazy. Maybe he should have thought this through a bit more before he broached the subject. But talking to SHIELD had left him… on edge. Still buried inside of Pepper, he prepares for her to finally have enough of him and the things he’s saying. He prepares for her to buck him off, ready to pull out of her immediately if she demands it of him. He prepares for Pepper to reject his idea and break up with him on the spot.

“… okay…”

… He prepares for failure so much that he doesn’t actually register success at first. Tony blinks after a moment, finally processing what Pepper just said. Then, a wide grin spreads across his face. Letting go of her hair, he instead wraps his arms around her, hugging her from behind as he leans over her.

“Yeah? You like the thought of that, Pep?”

The keening whine she gives him in response to his light teasing just has Tony chuckling as her insides clench and squeeze down around his co*ck. He begins to pick up speed again, f*cking the beautiful red head even harder… all the while, planning their first conquest in his head.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Obadiah Stane is dead. SHIELD is getting suspicious. Tony is too busy seducing Pepper into agreeing to threesomes to care though.

I know some people have said that Tony needs to bring Rhodey into things asap. But I wonder if you guys still have that feeling after this chapter. Tony isn't going to stop doing murky/dark/villainous things by the way. Stane isn't the last person who's going to die to pave Tony's brighter future. And James Rhodes, while he's Tony's best friend, is also a patriotic soldier of upstanding moral fiber.

Still probably going to make him War Machine down the road, but bringing him in on everything Tony has planned (especially the illegal parts) just seems like a bad idea...

See you all tomorrow!

Chapter 6: Maya Hansen

Chapter Text

A/N: Heh, some people guessed who Tony had in mind last chapter. Some people did not. But I won't hold you in suspense any longer...

-x-X-x-

Looking around at the rich and powerful people, Maya Hansen wonders, not for the first time, what the hell she’s even doing here. But no… she knows what she’s doing here. She’s trying to salvage this mess. Trying to keep AIM afloat. Trying to keep her lifelong project, Extremis, from dying an ignoble death from lack of funding.

It still didn’t really make sense to her. Aldritch killing himself like he did. Sure, they had hit something of a wall with Extremis. Sure, Maya had told him again and again that she wouldn’t let him move on to human trials until she was absolutely certain that Extremis was safe. And yes, he’d been getting more and more desperate as time went on.

Aldritch Killian, the man that Maya had been working with for eight long years now, had always been weak in body, for all that he was strong in the mind. His physical deformities had driven him to create AIM and build a company dedicated to fixing his problems in the hopes that they could fix everyone else’s problems as well.

Maya wasn’t stupid. She knew Killian had always considered her Extremis to be his path to a healthy body. She’d never minded that their relationship was rather transactional in that way. All she’d wanted was to perfect her baby so that it could be used to help people. If the first person to benefit from Extremis was Killian, so be it.

… But she hadn’t ever really thought he would commit suicide. One of the last times they’d talked about Extremis, Aldritch had brought up the idea of him being the first human test subject if she was too squeamish to test it on strangers. Maya had shot that down of course, but she’d half-expected him to not take no for an answer much longer, and to go behind her back to do it if he didn’t just keep pressuring her until she bent instead.

Except neither of those things had happened. Instead, Killian had taken a nose dive off of a rooftop two weeks ago and now Maya was trying to bail water out of AIM’s sinking ship while fending off the vultures and sharks circling in the air and water, all hoping to get a piece of the now leaderless company.

What was she supposed to do? She was a f*cking biologist for f*ck’s sake. Killian was the one who had a mind for business, even if his body betrayed him at every turn. She was just the brain behind Extremis and that was it. Only, if she ever wanted to see Extremis fully realized, if she ever wanted it to actually be completed, then Maya had to step into Aldritch’s shoes and find AIM some new investors. And she had to do it fast, before someone snooped around enough to realize that they’d been circumventing the United States Government’s ban on dangerous biotechnological research for the past eight years.

That was why she was here at this party, dressed in as flattering a dress as she could find with her hair done up and makeup that made her look ten years younger. Because she had no choice. She had to-

“Doctor Maya Hansen! Well now, it’s been quite some time, hasn’t it?”

Maya blinks as she turns towards the voice. She recognizes it immediately of course, but part of her mind struggles to reconcile that recognition with the words for a moment. Staring at Tony Stark as he saunters up to her, Maya finds herself a little speechless. Especially when she sees the beautiful red head on Tony’s arm. Everyone knew Pepper Potts as Tony Stark’s right-hand woman and ever-present assistant, but the world was still getting used to her now being his girlfriend.

Still, looking at Pepper, seeing how good she looked in her own dress and makeup… Maya could see how the relationship had started. She feels like a dim, dying star next to the radiance of Pepper Potts in this moment. And yet… Tony only seems to have eyes for her, his smile broad and welcoming as they stop in front of her.

For a long time, Maya had fantasized about how another meeting with Tony Stark might go. The first time they’d met had been at the turn of not just the century, but the millennium. Maya remembered how youthfully naïve she’d been back then. She’d had the attention of the great Tony Stark himself that night, and he’d actually found Extremis to be interesting. Interesting enough that they’d talked about it for hours. Interesting enough that he’d even helped her solve a particularly hard equation… before slipping out the morning after taking her to bed.

Truthfully, the biologist hadn’t known whether to be grateful or resentful towards the man. To Tony Stark, Maya was just another one night stand and Extremis was just something he’d taken a look at for a few hours and solved one major problem with. But to Maya, that night had been the catalyst for the last eight years of her life, and Extremis… Extremis was and always would be her baby, no matter what.

That all said, she’d never in a million years expected Stark to remember her. Yet here he was, calling her out by name, smiling at her just like that night back in 2000. Except this time he already has a beautiful woman on his arm. So what use could he have for her? That doesn’t stop Maya from plastering a smile across her face and playing nice, of course.

“Dr. Stark. I wouldn’t have expected you to remember me.”

Okay, so maybe she wasn’t going to be able to play entirely nice. But to her credit, a little sass felt appropriate. And Tony definitely doesn’t take it personally, not with the way he laughs.

“Of course I remember you! Not every day I have a lady friend blow up a plant in front of me.”

Maya’s smile becomes a little strained at that. If that was all he remembered about Extremis… then she wanted nothing more to do with the man. Unfortunately, before she can begin disentangling herself from the encounter, Tony Stark does what Tony Stark does best, bulldozing right on through.

“Oh! But where are my manners? This is Pepper. Pepper, this is Maya. She’s quite the genius, Dr. Hansen here.”

Before Maya knows what’s happening, Pepper is leaning forward, a dangerous sort of smile on her face that has the biologist’s heart thudding a bit faster in her chest.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Maya. Tony has told me about you. Please… let us get you a drink.”

What? They’d been talking about her? But why would Tony Stark be telling his secretary-turned-girlfriend about a one night stand he had eight years ago? A little bewildered, Maya unwittingly allows herself to be caught up in Tony and Pepper’s tempo. Pulled over to a nearby bar, she winds up with a drink in her hand… and before she knows it, she’s actually talking shop with Tony Stark again, as though the last eight years had never happened.

“Sure, you helped me solve that one equation… but Extremis is so much more complicated than that. I’ve been working away at it… moved from plants onto animals. But… even now, it’s still not perfect.”

Tony shakes his head and gives her a cheeky grin.

“Aim for success, not perfection. That’s the quote, right?”

Maya huffs and takes a sip of her drink.

“In this case, success IS perfection. Can’t be caught drawing outside of the lines here, Tony. Extremis is too dangerous otherwise.”

Killian would have probably gone to human trials years ago without Maya’s pushback. But now that he was gone… she would fight tooth and nail to make sure the science behind her baby was absolutely perfect before she risked using it on anyone. Maya hadn’t gotten into all of this to hurt people. She wanted to help people.

“Well, if Extremis’ creator is any indication, perfection can’t be too far away.”

Maya blushes red at that. That line would have been bad enough coming from Tony, but at least if he’d been the one to say it, she could have laughed it off. However, Tony hadn’t said it at all. Pepper had. The beautiful red head had been listening intently to their conversation this entire time, despite not having any sort of degree or background in the sciences that were involved as far as Maya was aware.

… She’d also been flirting with Maya the entire time. Not that Tony seemed to mind. He couldn’t have failed to notice, but did he mind? Nope. Not in the slightest, as far as Maya could tell.

Still, it was really keeping her off kilter. In fact… Maya could groan. All this time talking to Tony and she hadn’t even considered the fact that a potential solution to her problems was staring her right in the face. Mustering her courage, forcing herself to ignore the bedroom eyes Pepper Potts was giving her, Maya focuses on Tony.

“Look, Doctor Stark…”

Tony raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything, so Maya takes a deep breath and soldiers forward.

“If… if you’re still as interested in Extremis as you seem to be, I could actually use your help with something. The company I work for… that is, my company… is in need of investors. We go by Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM.”

At that, Tony Stark tilts his head to the side.

“Oh? Advanced Idea Mechanics… hmm, Pepper, why does that sound so familiar?”

Maya furrows her brow, only to jolt as Pepper leans forward again and this time puts a hand right on Maya’s leg.

“Tony, stop teasing the poor woman. You and I both know that you purchased AIM outright yesterday. I’m sorry Maya, but he wanted to surprise you. At this point though, it’s just being mean.”

Wait, what? Maya’s mouth opens and doesn’t close as she looks between Pepper Potts and Tony Stark, completely caught off guard.

“You… I don’t understand. I’m the… I thought I was the primary shareholder of AIM now?”

Tony and Pepper share a glance at that, before looking at her with pity in their eyes.

“I’m afraid it doesn’t quite work like that, Maya. Aldritch Killian didn’t leave you his shares before he passed. That meant when he died… well, they were all up for grabs. You technically had the right to buy them at market value, but it doesn’t seem like anyone informed you of that fact.”

This time it’s Tony who reaches out, though at least he doesn’t go for something as risqué as a leg grab like Pepper. Instead, he places his hand over one of Maya’s hands and sighs.

“I was sorry to hear that Aldritch lost the battle with his demons, Maya. I’ve been keeping an eye on you both from afar these past eight years, but… you seemed to be doing just fine together, so I never wanted to interfere.”

W-What? Maya blinks rapidly, trying to process that and square it with the mental image she’d always had of Tony, ever since that night eight years ago. To say it’s difficult to do so would be an understatement.

“We weren’t going to let the vultures get to you, Maya. Your work on Extremis is too important to fall into the wrong hands.”

Where… where is this coming from? Maya looks between Tony and Pepper, feeling more and more like she’s out of her depths. Pepper had just mentioned vultures… but Maya felt like maybe she was staring down a pair of sharks instead. And yet… the attention wasn’t unappreciated. In a vacuum, Maya would have been quite happy to have drawn the eye of the gorgeous power couple. But they weren’t operating in a vacuum. The world didn’t work that way.

Still, this whole situation with Killian’s shares… it only further showed that Maya had been right in her earlier assessment. She didn’t have the head for business. She was a genetics biologist and that was what she was good at. Someone had kept her in the dark and nearly managed to steal AIM right out from under her, and Tony had apparently stopped them.

At the same time… if Tony Stark really had just bought out AIM, then Maya needed to do everything in her power to get on his good side. He seemed predisposed to keep her research going already… but it couldn’t hurt to seal the deal, so to speak.

That said, Maya Hansen had learned a long time ago from Tony himself not to sell herself too easily. Looking at Tony and then at Pepper, Maya bites her lower lip.

“So. You’ve bought AIM. You… you own Extremis now, is that it?”

Shaking his head in mild amusem*nt, Tony chuckles.

“I don’t like to put it in those terms. As far as I’m concerned, Extremis is your baby, Maya.”

Maya almost wants to ask him if he’ll put that in writing right there, right then. But of course, she knows he won’t. Before she can formulate a different response, Tony suddenly leans forward, far more serious as he gazes into her eyes with an intensity that wasn’t there previously.

“I can guarantee you one thing above all else, Maya. I want to see Extremis completed, no matter what.”

She believes him. She believes every word out of his mouth. But that still leaves her with a burning question, one she can’t help asking.

“… Why?”

Tony smiles thinly and leans back, leaving Pepper to answer that question… with an offer.

“Maybe we should retire to somewhere more private, Dr. Hansen. Tony has a suite at the top of the hotel if you’d like to join us there.”

Pepper’s suggestive tone and the smile on her pretty freckled face makes it abundantly clear what’s being offered here. And frankly, it’s an offer Maya can’t refuse. She needs this. She needs to know Extremis is still in good hands. But more than that… she finds herself fascinated by the dynamic in front of her.

Eight years ago, Tony Stark was a playboy who couldn’t be tied down by anyone, regardless of their looks or their smarts. That was the Tony Stark Maya had met back in 2000. That was the Tony Stark she’d slept with. And if you’d asked Maya what sort of man he was a few months ago, she’d have said that judging by what she saw in the news, he hadn’t changed one bit.

One could argue that his time in captivity had changed him, but now he was confessing to having kept an eye on her and Aldritch all this time. And suddenly it wasn’t just Tony Stark, playboy any longer. It was Tony Stark and his sexy femme fatale girlfriend, Pepper Potts.

Maya had been drowning before they approached her tonight. But she still felt like she was drowning even now. Except… maybe it wasn’t a bad kind of drowning anymore?

With a slightly fragile smile, Maya slowly nods as the two watch her patiently, expectantly.

“I… I think I’d like that, yes.”

She hadn’t gotten to where she was by fearing the sharks or the water. She’d take the leap into the deep end again and again if it got her what she wanted.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Damn shame that Killian lost the battle with his demons like that. Lucky for Maya that Tony and Pepper were there to pick up the pieces in more ways than one...

Next Chapter we'll get Tony's POV again so don't worry about that.

See you all tomorrow!

Chapter 7: Maya Hansen Pt. 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Maya Hansen gets brought in, in more ways than one~

-x-X-x-

“Holy sh*t. What is that thing?”

Naturally, Tony had known that bedding Maya would involve revealing the Arc Reactor to her. Not many people were aware of its existence this time around, but then, not many had been aware at first last time either.

In fact, the only person Tony hadn’t shown it to before his death this go around was Obadiah Stane. Even if he’d been doing everything in his power to make the old man relax and let down his guard, he still wasn’t going to dangle THAT tasty of a treat right in front of Obadiah’s salivating jowls.

That all said, as expected, the moment that he and Pepper had gotten Maya back up to their suite, the clothes had begun flying. And while Tony could have made a big stink about keeping his shirt on and hiding the big glowing battery in the middle of his chest, he didn’t really see the point. He already owned AIM and through AIM he already owned Maya and Extremis. And if he was going to use Extremis, she was going to have to know eventually anyways.

… Contrary to what some might believe, Tony’s first thought hadn’t been to kill Aldritch Killian. He hadn’t wanted to murder the man, even if that was precisely what had happened. But in the end, Killian had ultimately left Tony no choice.

The first time around, it wouldn’t be until almost a year from now that Aldritch would use a semi-perfect version of Extremis on himself, regulating his dosages and finally doing away with the deficiencies that had plagued his body all his life. Frankly, Tony didn’t blame the man for wanting to be able to walk without crutches. But he did blame him for the other things he’d found out Killian was doing.

Funnily enough, in the previous timeline, even Tony had been led to believe that Killian was the first human test subject for Extremis. That the man had bravely, heroically, or foolishly depending on your perspective, been the one to take the plunge and start human trials on himself.

That, as it turned out, was a lie. One that even Maya Hansen had been led to believe. The truth was, thanks to JARVIS’ upgrades, Tony’s AI butler had been able to hack not just AIM’s servers, but also all of Aldritch Killian’s personal work. And that was where they’d found the true deceit. Killian wasn’t patient enough to take his time like Maya had been. He wasn’t willing to continue animal trials until they’d made sure it was safe for humans like Maya had insisted.

Unbeknownst to his business partner, Killian had started human trials months ago… and not a single test subject had survived so far. The reason nobody, not even Tony, had heard about people exploding as a result, was because Killian was going after the disaffected. He was taking homeless people off of the street and locking them in cages, and when they finally blew up because they couldn’t handle Extremis, the blasts were contained in a specially prepared room.

What Tony had discovered, and what had ultimately forced him to pull the trigger on Aldritch Killian’s ‘suicide’, was that the man had been developing Extremis on his own side by side with his work with Maya for almost six months… and over two dozen homeless men and women had died in that time in Killian’s pursuit of perfect health.

In the other timeline, it was obvious that the moment he’d dosed himself with Extremis, which Killian had used to convince Maya of his conviction and willingness to do anything to complete her research, had in fact been staged. Killian had only done it to himself once he’d managed to successfully keep the homeless people he was experimenting on alive. And then, as far as Tony could tell, he’d gone ahead and erased any traces of that research and refocused his efforts entirely on working alongside Maya.

To quote a certain eye-patch wearing spook… Maya and Extremis yes, Aldritch Killian no. In the end, sending Killian off a roof to his supposed suicide and buying AIM up so that he could have Maya and Extremis wasn’t Tony’s first choice… but it also wasn’t something he would lose much sleep over. Some men deserved death. Stane. Killian. And Tony knew the list wouldn’t end with just two.

Ah, but he’d got off on a bit of a tangent, hadn’t he? Maya had asked him a question and he’d left her staring at his chest in wonder all this time. Smiling crookedly, Tony tilts his head to the side.

“It’s an Arc Reactor, Maya. It’s the only thing keeping me alive.”

Maya’s wide eyes dart up to his face at that, as if to see if he’s f*cking with her or not. Tony has to admit, Maya looks good kneeling there on the bed in front of him in nothing but her bra and panties. But then, he knows he also looks good stripped down to just his boxers, even with the Arc Reactor glowing in the center of his chest. Tony’s smile widens a bit as he explains.

“It’s basically a glorified magnet, truth be told. It’s keeping the shrapnel embedded in my chest from reaching my heart and killing me. The original version was a car battery.”

Off to the side, Pepper has also stripped down to her underwear. She’s looking a little distraught at hearing Tony talk so nonchalantly about his experiences in Afghanistan, just like she always does. But this time, Maya is there as well, looking a mixture of horrified and hopelessly intrigued as she reaches out and brushes her fingers along the rim of the Arc Reactor. Tony lets her. She’s not about to damage it with a single touch.

And yet, after a moment she still pulls her hand back as if singed… or as if afraid that she might hurt him. Looking up into his eyes again, Maya’s breath hitches.

“That’s horrifying. And spectacular.”

Tony grins and nods.

“The work of an incredible man.”

She looks a little exasperated at that.

“Yourself?”

But Tony just laughs and shakes his head.

“Ho Yinsen. He saved my life, first with the car battery, and then with a heroic final charge that distracted our captors long enough for me to make my escape. Like I said… an incredible man.”

Maya looks solemn for a moment, nodding at this information before looking back at the Arc Reactor embedded in his chest.

“This is why you want Extremis, isn’t it? You’re hoping it’ll heal you? Push out the shrapnel?”

Tony hums.

“Perhaps not by itself. But with the right people and the right tools… I’m sure it can be used in that way. Extremis is worth more to me than just that though. And so are you, Maya.”

Tony couldn’t have timed it better if they’d planned it. The moment the words leave his lips and Maya jolts in surprise, Pepper steps in, suddenly on her hands and knees at Maya’s side. She reaches up and caresses Maya’s cheek with one hand, turning the biologist to look into her eyes.

“Did we really come up here just to talk shop? I don’t think we did.”

And then Pepper is kissing Maya and Maya is kissing her back. Tony grins at the display of female loving. His beautiful red headed girlfriend, making out with an equally gorgeous brunette with a genius intellect. Not to undersell Pepper or anything. She might not be a scientist, but she had been the CEO of Stark Industries for eight solid years and she’d done an excellent job with it.

Of course, Tony had meant every word. Maya was one of his regrets from the original timeline. The way he’d handled the Mandarin, Killian, and AIM in general had to rank up there pretty damn high. But Maya… she’d even tried to warn him. She’d come to him to let him know what she knew, to try to expose Killian early. And Tony had blown her off. Worse, he’d nearly gotten her killed right then and there because he hadn’t been able to resist making a challenge of it all. He’d thrown down the gauntlet and forced Killian to respond.

Then, later on, he had gotten Maya killed in that damn bunker. He hadn’t been able to save her. He hadn’t been able to stop Killian from snuffing out such a beautiful mind. What could Maya have gone on to do if she’d survived Aldritch Killian? That world would never know. But this world… Tony couldn’t wait to find out.

Of course, first he had to navigate his first threesome with his girlfriend and his newest employee. On the bed, Pepper has drawn Maya onto her back and showed just how good she is at this whole seduction thing in the process. The red head has not only removed Maya’s bra and slid aside her panties, but she’s also done so all while continuing to kiss the brunette, leaving Maya moaning in her mouth and quivering under her touch.

One hand slides down Maya’s front and two of Pepper’s fingers spread open Maya’s sex for him in an open invitation… one that Tony doesn’t hesitate to engage with. Smirking, he shucks off his boxers and climbs up onto the bed at long last, crawling into position between Maya’s spread legs.

Pepper stops their lip lock just long enough for him and Maya to make eye contact, even as Tony presses himself against the beautiful scientist’s sex. Maya’s breath hitches but she says not a word… she just stares at him expectantly, waiting. He slides inside of her a moment later and her back arches… delivering her chest right up into Pepper’s waiting mouth.

Only then does Maya truly moan, as the power couple tag teams her right there in the hotel room. Pepper’s lips on Maya’s nipples, playing with one and then the other. Tony’s co*ck, thrusting in and out of Maya’s clenching insides. It’s not the first time he and Maya have been together of course, and even eight years ago, Tony likes to think he gave a good showing.

But there’s something undeniably electric about taking Maya with Pepper’s help. Double teaming another woman with the love of his life… is without a doubt some of the best sex of Tony’s multiple lives.

As Maya shudders and bucks beneath their combined efforts, Tony can’t help himself. Eventually, Pepper has to come up for air from Maya’s breasts, and when she does Tony is waiting for her, wrapping his hand through her red locks and guiding her up even as he leans down to take her mouth with his own.

Pepper moans into his lips, the two of them kissing for several long moments as Tony continues to f*ck Maya beneath them. For a moment, he wonders if Pepper might climb on top of Maya and bring her own no doubt dripping lower lips onto the biologist’s face. He doesn’t think the other woman would mind all that much.

But no. Pepper is taking this very seriously… perhaps a little too seriously. She’s focused on making this experience as pleasurable as possible for both Tony and Maya, and letting her own pleasure take a backseat to trying to drive Maya as wild as possible and leave her out of her mind with lust and bliss.

And from the look of things, it works. Together, the two of them reduce Maya into an outright puddle of pleasured flesh beneath them. Tony f*cks her, Pepper toys with her, and all Maya can do is moan and groan out as she c*ms again and again upon Tony’s co*ck. Until finally, Tony is reaching his limit.

He pulls out at the last second and Pepper, as always, anticipates her boss’ needs just like a good PA should. The moment his glistening co*ck has left Maya’s sex, the red head is there, sliding her lips down his shaft. She bobs once, twice, and then a third time before holding herself there halfway down his co*ck while looking up at him in the eyes.

Tony c*ms without reservation, groaning as he proceeds to unload into Pepper’s mouth while she swallows every last drop of his seed. Meanwhile, Maya just pants heavily beneath them, still trying to catch her breath.

As the three of them finish up, Tony and Pepper collapse on either side of the genetic biologist, cuddling up with her and prompting a wry but tired smile to spread across Maya’s face as she looks at Tony with a lidded gaze.

“Can I expect you to still be here in the morning this time, Dr. Stark?”

Snorting derisively, Tony shakes his head in amusem*nt.

“Considering it’s my hotel suite this time, I suspect you can, Dr. Hansen. Besides, we’ll be working together very closely from here on out. Us and one other scientist I want to bring onto the project.”

Maya comes a bit more awake at that, raising an eyebrow at him as her eyes open more fully.

“Oh? Who is he?”

Smirking now, Tony shrugs.

“She.”

Maya huffs at that.

“Going to seduce her into your bed as well then?”

Tony won’t deny that the mental image those words provoke is a sexy one. But all the same, he ruefully shakes his head.

“If it evolves in that direction, maybe. But she’s South Korean, and they’re a bit more conservative then we are over here in the states. No, for the time being I’m envisioning a wholly… platonic relationship with Doctor Cho.”

Maya’s eyes widen at that.

“Doctor Helen Cho?! The geneticist?!”

Tony gives Maya a slightly surprised look. In about seven more years, Helen Cho and her U-GIN Research Group would be world-renowned for the Regeneration Cradle. But right now, Helen was still relatively fresh out of university and while some digging from JARVIS had shown that she was already working on the Regeneration Cradle, it was still in its very early stages.

Of course…

“Ah. I suppose you would have a vested interest in her, wouldn’t you?”

Maya is all but squealing now as she sits up in bed.

“Are you kidding? I’ve been wanting to work with her for ages. Unfortunately, Killian couldn’t make it happen. Something about the US and South Korean Governments getting in the way.”

Ah, yeah. While the world was rapidly on the road to globalization, it wasn’t there quite yet. And AIM, for all that it started out as a privately funded think tank, had connections to the American Government that it couldn’t escape so easily.

Smirking, Tony just dips his head, feigning some faux humility.

“Well, not to toot my own horn…”

Maya, seeing right through it as intended, huffs and slaps him on the shoulder as she rolls her eyes. Before she can respond, however, Pepper is suddenly there, pulling them both back down to the bed.

“You two can talk more later. Now it’s time for rest. There will be plenty of time to change the world in the days to come.”

Maya pouts but Tony just gives her a grin as he acquiesces to Pepper’s demands quite easily.

“Aye-aye, Pep.”

Seeing he’s not going to fight the red head, Maya huffs but also settles down… and soon enough, all three of them are off to La-La Land.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Full steam ahead on Extremis! Maya is successfully seduced and Tony is already setting his sights on Helen Cho as well.

Will the two of them along with Tony's foreknowledge be enough to recreate Extremis? Or will they need something... more? Hmmmm~

See you all tomorrow!

Chapter 8: Siberia

Chapter Text

A/N: Things continue to progress.

-x-X-x-

Thankfully, for the sake of Tony’s ego, getting Helen Cho and Maya Hansen working together under the umbrella of Stark Industries is actually quite easy. Easier than he’d even expected it to be in fact. He has his suspicions about why this is, though he knows better than to voice them out loud.

Put bluntly, while Killian probably had faced some obstacles in the form of the United States and South Korean Governments, there was also the simple fact that Dr. Cho had no reason to fight for it on her end. She was busy doing her own thing with U-GIN and had no desire to have her attention split between her work and whatever AIM wanted with her.

Stark Industries on the other hand, was a world-wide brand and a household name even in South Korea. And Tony’s story of captivity and his triumphant return home, along with his speech about expanding his company in a variety of new directions… well, that was most definitely enough to catch Helen Cho’s attention.

It helped that he also went ahead and sent her some breadcrumbs in the form of Extremis Scans as well. It’s not something that Aldritch Killian would have ever done, mostly because the man was paranoid and believed everyone to be as cutthroat and selfish as he was. But Tony knew Helen from the future and he knew exactly what kind of woman she was. Besides, the worst case scenario was that she used what he’d sent her to jumpstart the creation of her Regeneration Cradle years early without him… which was what he wanted from her anyways.

In the end though, it was the best case scenario. Once she’d found out about Extremis, Dr. Cho had all but fallen over herself to get on board, and while U-GIN wasn’t owned by Stark Industries in the same way that AIM now was, Tony had gone ahead and bought out ten percent of their research group as a show of good faith.

Like he’d told Maya, he’d brought Helen and U-GIN onboard without seducing the South Korean woman. At the end of the day, it was probably better to keep things professional with her for the time being. After all, Tony and Pepper still had their hands full with Maya at this point. She was turning out to be a rather needy lover, not that either of them were complaining.

Indeed, so long as work on Extremis and the Regeneration Cradle continued, Tony had zero complaints whatsoever. And with the combined genius of Maya, Helen, and Tony, along with Tony’s future knowledge, they were indeed making steady progress on the projects of both women.

However, that wasn’t to say it was all sunshine and roses. There was one minor issue with this stage of Tony’s plan… he’d never actually fully perfected Extremis in the future. After Maya’s death, all Tony had done was figure out how to take it out of Pepper. And then, after the disastrous battle in Siberia, he’d used Extremis combined with the Regeneration Cradle to get him through the surgery that removed the shards of metal from next to his heart and regrew the massive hole in his sternum.

However, while that future experience was precisely what had given him the idea to bring Maya and Helen together in the past, he hadn’t perfected Extremis even then. It had only been a surgical aid for the duration of the procedure, after which Tony had it expunged from his system so that he didn’t explode.

But that wasn’t good enough this time around. Tony wanted something permanent. He wanted something truly powerful. Extremis was too good to just let languish. Even if it could be brought up to the state Tony had gotten it into the future, he wanted more than that.

Alas, they were hitting a wall. And while Helen and her team’s progress towards completing the Regeneration Cradle was proceeding apace and likely to be finished within another few months, Maya had stalled out on Extremis after the initial massive successes and was clearly frustrated.

Which was when Tony had an idea. It came to him because he’d been thinking about that ill-advised battle in Siberia. As upset as he’d been, taking on two Super Soldiers by himself, even in his Iron Man Armor, had been a truly terrible idea. Still… super soldiers… Tony was well aware of how valuable Super Soldier Blood was. Valuable enough to kill his parents for, even.

He hadn’t gone after Bucky Barnes yet in this timeline. Making that sort of move would draw too much attention down on his head. And he hadn’t tried to retrieve Steve Rogers either. That was different. See, the problem with finding Steve was that the Valkyrie was constantly shifting locations beneath the ice.

Tony knew where SHIELD would find it of course, just as he knew it wouldn’t be there if he went to that location now. And with their discovery of Steve still years away, knowing where SHIELD would find the frozen Super Soldier didn’t exactly help… the search area was still absolutely massive.

All of this was to say, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes weren’t options, both for their own separate reasons. But then, they weren’t the only Super Soldiers on the planet, were they? Tony had five other options and all he had to do to get them was confront one of the worst moments of his previous life.

Coming in for a landing at the abandoned Soviet Facility in Siberia, Tony barely makes a noise, clad in Sneaky as he is. The Mark XV armor is made for this kind of mission, thankfully… although as he looks around, he can’t help but be a little amazed.

“J? Any signs of activity?”

JARVIS comes through his speakers a moment later, a comfort to Tony especially in this moment. He wished he’d had JARVIS with him the first time around, truth be told.

“No Sir. The facility is completely dormant. There are no signs of life to be found.”

Tony slowly nods, before glancing back behind him at the frozen wastes of Siberia.

“And our friends back home?”

“None the wiser, Sir. I am monitoring SHIELD and HYDRA communications as we speak. Neither seem to be aware of your absence from America, nor your presence at this facility.”

It was rather crazy, when he thought about it. He’d half-expected to find this facility alight with life and noise, or at the very least a skeleton crew should have still been around. Back in the original timeline, by the time Zemo had led them all here, the Avengers had pretty much dismantled HYDRA with any survivors sent running and hiding. So it made sense that the facility was abandoned by then.

But now? HYDRA was practically ascendant at this point. And yet, hilariously enough, along the way… they’d lost track of the five extra Winter Soldiers they’d made. Tony, unable to let go of the mystery with his insatiable curiosity driving him, had eventually uncovered what probably happened.

It was honestly… insane. On December 16th, the last time he’d seen his parents, Howard and Maria Stark had been assassinated by Barnes on their way to the Pentagon. Immediately, the samples of Super Soldier Serum created from Steve Rogers’ blood had been smuggled across the world to Siberia, where HYDRA’s best hit squad had also been flown to the facility.

The new Winter Soldiers were immediately dosed with the Super Soldier Serum, after which they were pitted against Barnes to try and see if they were even better than him. After all, they were all stone-cold killers even before the Serum, so they should have been able to easily surpass the man from Brooklyn after being dosed with it, right?

Well, yes. But also no. Within just a few days, the new Winter Soldiers did indeed manage to surpass Barnes. And then they went rogue, showing sociopathic tendencies and murdering some of their handlers. The ensuing conflict had resulted in the new Winter Soldiers all being stuffed in cryostasis chambers until someone higher up could be contacted so they could figure out what to do with them.

There was just one problem with that. No one higher up was ever contacted. Barnes was flown out to be sent on his next mission, and just a few days after, on December the 26th, 1991… the Soviet Union had dissolved and those still left in the facility had decided to get while the going was still good.

It both did and didn’t make sense. On the one hand, HYDRA’s compartmentalization had clearly worked against them here. Everyone involved in the Winter Soldiers had either died or abandoned ship, save for one… and no one had ever bothered to ask the brainwashed Bucky Barnes if there was any others like him just sitting around in cryostasis chambers.

Still, to think that HYDRA had lost track of FIVE super soldiers just ten days after creating them… just a week and a half after murdering his father and mother for the chance… Tony wasn’t sure whether to laugh or scream. In the end, he does neither. He simply moves forward, entering the facility.

He’s tempted to find some power and turn the place on, but this is a stealth operation and he’d rather not let anyone who might still be watching know that he’s been here. Instead, Tony uses Sneaky’s lights to guide himself deeper into the facility, until eventually… he finds precisely what he’s looking for. The room where the cryostasis pods are all kept.

They’re on separate power from the facility as a whole, of course. Looking around at the still faces of HYDRA’s failed Winter Soldiers, Tony lets out a shuddering breath. Then, he moves over to the first of the cryostasis chambers.

In the original timeline, Zemo had simply shot each of the Winter Soldiers, killing them one by one with five bullets. As he’d told it, his intentions were never to introduce more monsters into the world. He’d merely wanted to get them all in one place so he could tear the Avengers apart once and for all. And… he’d succeeded.

Could they have beaten Thanos back if they’d still been united instead of divided? Tony honestly couldn’t say. Frankly, the cracks were showing way before Zemo got into their heads… before even Ultron, really. They were always a dysfunctional group, from the very start with Loki and the Scepter. And Tony… Tony had played into it his fair share. He’d made plenty of mistakes as a member of the Avengers.

Never again.

Looking over the cryostasis chamber’s interface, Tony searches for a single button… and then presses it. Gas immediately starts filling the chamber and he watches for a moment until finally JARVIS speaks.

“The kill switch worked, Sir. Even the faint life signs I was reading before once we got close enough have ceased.”

Good. Very good. Zemo might not have bothered to look, but Tony couldn’t bring himself to believe HYDRA might be so incompetent that they would freeze their wayward Super Soldiers without having a way to quickly and easily kill them if it became necessary. No need for a bullet through the head here… that would just damage the brain after all.

Going around the chamber, Tony presses the kill switch on each pod. All five Winter Soldiers are soon dead. Once that’s done, he opens the cryostasis chambers up one by one… and then nods to himself. Or rather, to JARVIS.

“Bring them in, J.”

Near-silently, five more copies of Sneaky come flying into the room from above under JARVIS’ control. The Iron Man Stealth Armors each move to an open pod and pull out the lifeless Super Soldier Corpses within. A moment later and they close around them, sealing them into the suits like the coffins they are.

“Super Soldiers secured, Sir. Ready when you are.”

Tony looks around the room one more time. His jaw clenches as he finds himself reliving that moment again. He shouldn’t have gone ballistic, of course. But… he’d just found out who killed his mom. And the man had been right in front of him. What was Tony supposed to do? f*ck, what was he supposed to do?

Letting out one drawn-out breath from within his matte black Iron Man Armor, Tony turns towards the exit.

“Let’s blow this popsicle stand, J.”

He doesn’t actually blow the place up of course as they quietly leave. As much as Tony wants to atomize the facility down to bedrock, that would defeat the purpose of doing this all so stealthily. Neither SHIELD nor HYDRA nor anyone else can know he’s been here, and they certainly can’t be allowed to figure out what he’s taken. That said…

“Hey J.”

“Sir?”

“Do you have eyes on the Winter Soldier right now? The one still breathing, I mean.”

“I assumed as much, Sir. As for eyes on… no. He is currently out on assignment. However, I do have eyes on his current ‘home’, Sir. I know exactly where he’ll be once they’re done with him next time. Would you like to be apprised when he’s put back on ice, perhaps?”

Tony frowns and tilts his head to the side for a moment, even as the five other Mark XVs follow his suit through the night sky, completely undetectable.

“… Sure, but let’s not make any plans just yet. Keep me aware of his actions and whereabouts, as well as his missions.”

There’s a brief pause before JARVIS responds.

“Do you not intend to interfere, Sir?”

Grimacing, Tony lets out another damn sigh.

“Same reasons as before apply, J. If I go after Barnes right now for any reason, it’ll put me on HYDRA and SHIELD’s radar. Maybe not me-me, but they’ll at least know something like me is out there and be on guard. No, we’re not touching those sh*theads yet. Not until I know that those close to me are fully safe. We got you where I want you buddy… now we just gotta worry about the others.”

“As you say, Sir.”

Though… an idea does come to mind.

“That said, there is something else I want you to look into for me, JARVIS.”

“Sir?”

Tony finds himself remembering something that Nat and Steve had told him in the future. Something about what lurked beneath Camp Lehigh in the present. There was something there… an opportunity he hadn’t initially thought of. A slow grin spreads across his face as they continue on their way back to the States.

“I’ve been a bad father, J. Been keeping you from interacting with your peers. I think it’s about time that I arranged for a little playdate for you, baby boy.”

“Sir.”

The amount of dry wit, sass, and complete exasperation that JARVIS manages to inject into one word has Tony busting a gut in his Iron Man Armor. It’s only once JARVIS prods him with another one of the Mark XVs that Tony finally calms down enough to explain. Even once he has though, JARVIS is rather unamused. But he’s on board with the plan at least. And that’s all that matters.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Funny story. I'm using the canon timeline for the MCU located over on the MCU Wikia for this story. The original timeline has Howard and Maria being assassinated in December 16th, and then the new Winter Soldiers going crazy and having to be restrained and put on ice December 18th.

And then the Soviet Union dissolves 8 days later on December 26th, causing the extra frozen Winter Soldiers to get lost in the shuffle as their facility is abandoned.

Now, it felt a little ridiculous to me that HYDRA killed Howard and Maria on the 16th and already had the new Winter Soldiers dosed and fighting against Bucky by the 18th, so I cut out the 18th date and made it a little less rigid by saying it was ' just a few days'. Still, pretty silly how incompetent HYDRA was, that they lost five Winter Soldiers like that and just never found them again lmao.

Chapter 9: SHIELD

Chapter Text

A/N: A look at some of the forces arraying themselves against Tony at the moment, followed by Tony waking up from a productive nap.

-x-X-x-

“Coulson!”

Turning at the sound of his name, Agent Phil Coulson smiles slightly when he sees the familiar faces coming down the hallway towards him. Nodding, he greets each of them in turn.

“Agent Barton. Agent Romanoff.”

At being addressed, Natasha Romanoff, known to many in the intelligence community as the Black Widow, nods her head in response.

“Agent Coulson, sir.”

Unlike her partner, Natasha is the picture of professionalism. Clint Barton on the other hand, is all grins as he reaches out and claps Phil on the shoulder.

“Just got back from a slam dunk. How about you, how are things going on your end?”

Phil isn’t surprised to hear that Barton and Romanoff have completed another mission, likely with a mutually stellar performance. Clint Barton, otherwise known as Hawkeye, is one of the best agents SHIELD has picked up in the last ten years. Meanwhile, despite being recruited just six months ago, Natasha Romanoff was far from wet behind the ears or green. No, hers had been a hostile recruitment, where Barton had made the call to flip her on their enemies rather than carry out her assassination.

So far, Barton’s decision seemed to be paying dividends. That was good, because if it hadn’t, or if any part of Natasha’s change in allegiances had turned out to be false, not only would it have been a black mark on Barton’s record, it also would have forced them to neutralize the gorgeous but lethal red head.

Frankly, they probably couldn’t afford to have a Level Seven like Barton babysitting Romanoff for much longer anyways. While she’d climbed the ranks quickly since her recruitment back at the start of 2008, leaping all the way up to Level Four in that short amount of time, she couldn’t be trusted yet on the sort of extremely sensitive missions that Barton tended to be best for.

In the end, the two of them would probably be split up by the end of the year again, and Natasha would be left to sink or swim entirely on her own. Based off of what Phil knew of her history, she would likely swim just fine.

Of course, Barton’s question puts a… not-quite frown on Phil’s face, prompting Natasha to quietly speak up.

“Still on the Stark Assignment, sir?”

Even Barton winces at that one, prompting Phil to offer them both a wan smile.

“That I am, Agent Romanoff. That I am.”

One would think that the debriefing and assessment of Tony Stark would be a cakewalk. Definitely should have been a cush assignment. But things weren’t adding up. And everything SHIELD knew so far was giving them more questions than answers, truth be told.

“Damn, he’s still giving you trouble? Sheesh, how much can a billionaire as public as Stark really be hiding? Shouldn’t it be easy to find out just how much his sh*t actually stinks?”

Clint shakes his head, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning. Beside him, Natasha also looked annoyed on Phil’s behalf. Whether that’s just her mirroring Barton and trying to appear empathetic, or whether she actually means it… Phil hasn’t known the woman long enough to know one way or the other yet. Still.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Stark is proving to be quite the stone wall. I cannot say anymore than that, however. The investigation into Tony Stark has been classified at higher levels.”

Phil doesn’t want to be That Guy, but he also didn’t get to where he was by being loose lipped. Barton and Romanoff understand immediately, of course. Information security is just part of the game. Funnily enough, Clint actually did have a high enough security level to be read in on the Stark Assignment if he was going to be coming on board… but Natasha didn’t. Not yet anyways.

Fortunately, neither of them go so far as to try to pry. Still looking pained on Phil’s behalf, Clint sighs and gives him one last pat on the shoulder.

“Well… let us know if the Director decides to give you some extra discretion, yeah? You know we’d love to help.”

Phil’s answering smile is actually genuine, regardless of how small it is. Mostly because he’s imagining the sort of help Barton and Romanoff could give him in forcing some answers out of Tony Stark. It’s unbecoming of him to fantasize about giving the obstinate and impossible billionaire a beatdown of course, but no one will ever know if it only happens in the privacy of his own mind, right?

“Not to worry, if Director Fury decides to let me bring agents of your caliber onboard, the two of you will be the first to know.”

That gets smiles from both of them, though Natasha’s is much more reserved while Clint’s is very toothy. With those parting words, they head on their way and Phil continues down the hall, finally reaching the Director’s Office. After knocking, he’s allowed inside a few moments later to find Nick Fury talking with his second in command, Maria Hill.

The brunette SHIELD Commander nods to whatever Fury had said last before moving towards the door, giving Phil a nod as she passes him.

“Agent Coulson.”

“Commander Hill.”

And with that exchange of pleasantries, Maria departs and Phil is left alone with Fury. The one-eyed Director of SHIELD sits back in his chair and looks at Phil for a moment before raising an eyebrow.

“I’m not going to like this, am I?”

Stepping forward to the front of the desk, Phil stands with his hands clasped behind his straightened back.

“No sir, I don’t think you are.”

Another pause and finally Fury waves a hand.

“Alright, get on with it. Report, Agent Coulson.”

With that, Phil launches into the latest on everything they have on Tony Stark. Which… isn’t much. He details their attempts to slip into Stark Industries’ mainframes and how they’ve been met with failure at every turn. He also details Stark’s most recent actions, both the public ones that everyone knows about, and the ones that SHIELD can’t confirm but believes are his doing all the same.

“… Unfortunately, we’ve made no further progress in managing to pin Stark down for the deaths of Obadiah Stane or Aldritch Killian, sir.”

Fury scowls at that, before gesturing to his computer. It turns so they can both see the screens, and after a handful of taps at Fury’s keyboard, two videos begin playing side by side. On one of them, Obadiah Stane is recorded having what appears to be a massive heart attack at the third annual Fire-Fighters Family Fund Gala. On the other, one can see Aldritch Killian teetering his way to the edge of a roof on his crutches… and when he finally gets there, hesitate for only a second before plunging off.

By all accounts, the two deaths seem to be exactly what they are. A natural end to an old man who had drank too much, smoked too many cigars, and ate too many steaks… and the regrettable suicide of a disabled man who had finally reached the end of his rope. And yet… as Director Fury proceeds to explain, they’re convinced that they’re anything but.

“We know Stane was dealing with the Ten Rings. We know he was working with them under the table to make a quick buck. We know he sold out Stark. I don’t for a second believe that his heart attack just weeks after Stark’s return to the United States was a coincidence.”

Phil nods his head.

“No sir.”

“As for Killian… the suicide might be a little bit more believable if Stark hadn’t swooped in mere days afterwards to buy out AIM and fold it into Stark Industries. Do we know anything more about what this… Advanced Idea mechanics has been working on?”

Coulson frowns, wishing he had more than he does. But alas…

“They weren’t on our radar until now unfortunately. They’ve been admittedly small potatoes for the past ten years after being formed by Killian in the late nineties. We know that Aldritch Killian and Maya Hansen were working together on some sort of new medicinal treatment. Stark has said as much in the joint press release he did with Dr. Hansen. Supposedly, acquiring AIM is part of his stated goals of expanding Stark Industries into as many other markets as possible. As is the new partnership with the South Korean company U-GIN.”

Fury nods, frustrated but not truly upset. This is all information that they already had after all, and if Phil had anything new, he would have led with that. Instead, this meeting is mostly just to keep the Director up to date on the fact that there IS nothing new at this time. Just in case Fury wants to change tactics. After a long moment of silence, the Director grunts.

“What was it he said to you at the funeral again? About how he managed to escape the Ten Rings?”

Phil hums.

“He claimed he blew them up sir. That he only survived because of a doctor named Ho Yinsen who saved his life. We’ve managed to confirm the existence of Dr. Yinsen, at least. And it’s incredibly likely that he was indeed a captive of the Ten Rings at the time of Stark’s kidnapping. So that part checks out at least.”

Fury nods and then waves a hand airily.

“What about that other thing? The part where you said he was joking with you?”

Frowning, Phil thinks back for a moment, a bit more uncertain.

“… He said he made a magical set of armor and flew away, sir.”

Fury snorts derisively.

“A… biblical description, wouldn’t you say? Almost as biblical as what happened to the Ten Rings after Stark’s rescue. Everything they had in Afghanistan, destroyed in a matter of days. Almost like it was by the hand of God Himself.”

Coulson raises an eyebrow at that. He’d never taken Fury as particularly religious. Was the SHIELD Director implying what he thought he was implying?

“Sir… do you mean to say you think Stark is being protected by divine intervention?”

Phil’s voice carries a healthy dose of incredulity with it. Fortunately, that’s not what Fury is trying to say. He lets out a scoff and shakes his head, before glancing back at the videos on his monitor.

“Divine? No. But something is protecting Stark. Something or someone. And they’re running circles around us. I don’t like that. I don’t like that one bit.”

Finally, he turns his one working eye back in Phil’s direction.

“Stay on this assignment, Agent Coulson. Keep trying to figure out what the hell Stark is up to. Because I’ve got this itch under my eyepatch that says the longer we let him get away with this sh*t, the more f*cked we’ll be down the road.”

Nodding sharply, Coulson straightens up.

“Sir.”

“Dismissed, Agent.”

As he leaves the Director’s Office, Phil can’t help but frown. Debriefing Tony Stark should have been a milk run. It should have been a couple weeks at most. And yet here he was months after the billionaire’s return from Afghanistan, no closer to answers than when he’d started.

Fury was right. Something or someone was on Stark’s side, protecting him and keeping them away. But in doing so, in blocking their investigation so thoroughly… all they’d managed to do was put Stark and his projects even more on SHIELD’s radar. It didn’t matter if Tony Stark’s father was one of their founders, or that his godmother, Peggy Carter, was one of their former Directors.

Whatever Tony Stark was up to, they’d figure it out and if needed, put a stop to it. Phil just hoped that they could figure this out before it was too late.

-x-X-x-

“Tony… Tony, can you hear me?”

Slowly, Tony opens his eyes to the sound of Pepper’s voice. He smiles as he hears her calling to him, looking up at her under the shining artificial light above her head.

“Hey Pep. Looking like an angel right now.”

As always, Pepper blushes at the compliment, but smiles right back. Of course, she’s not the only one in the room with him.

“Dr. Stark, how are you feeling?”

Looking over to the other side of his ‘bed’, Tony sees Helen Cho leaning over him, the scientist checking readouts as well as giving him a visual once over at the same time. Heh, is she checking him out more than just in a scientific sense? No, maybe that’s just the drugs talking.

“Hey Doc. Feeling great. How’d it go?”

Pausing her visual examination of his body, the Korean woman looks him in the eye, speaking plainly.

“As far as we can tell, the procedure was a complete success. You’ve spent the last few hours in the Regeneration Cradle following your surgery. The shards are gone and the Arc Reactor’s housing unit has been removed to allow for your sternum to heal properly. You are a whole man once more.”

Tony grins, unable to help himself.

“As opposed to a hole man, I assume?”

It takes Helen a moment to get it, seeing how English isn’t her first language. Still, she IS a genius so… huffing, the Korean Scientist rolls her eyes at him.

“Yes, Dr. Stark.”

As she steps away to look at the data some more, Maya takes Helen’s place while Pepper takes Tony’s hand in her own.

“How’s the body temperature, Tony?”

Looking to Maya, Tony hums in consideration. He feels… great, truth be told. Not even a little bit hot. Only… raising the unoccupied hand on Maya’s side of the Regeneration Cradle, Tony focuses a little bit and watches as an orange glow permeates beneath his skin.

“It’s exactly as I want it, Maya. No issues at all so far from Extremis’ end. Between the work we put in, the Regeneration Cradle… and Mystery Ingredient X, it seems we’re in business.”

On his other side, Pepper squeezes his hand a little harder. Tony looks over to see her looking worriedly at the glow. He tries to give her a reassuring smile, but it’s clear she’s a little disquieted by what she’s seeing. Maya on the other hand…

“Incredible. I don’t know what that stabilizing agent you used was, Tony… but whatever it is, it’s perfect.”

Tony hums at that. No, he hadn’t told Maya, Helen, or Pepper that he’d brought Super Soldier Blood into things. Masking the blood, which had easily been turned into a whole new Super Soldier Serum, as a ‘stabilizing agent’ for Extremis had allowed him to introduce it without freaking anyone out. He wasn’t sure when he would tell them, or even if he would tell them… well, he’d tell Pepper eventually for sure. But first…

“For our personal use, yes. However, the stabilizing agent… it comes with some side effects. We won’t be able to use it to spread Extremis to the general population just yet.”

It was tempting. Oh it was tempting. Make everyone superhuman and no one would be superhuman, right? Except… the world wasn’t built for it. If everyone suddenly had Super Soldier Serum combined with Extremis coursing through their veins, they would destroy civilization overnight. Even setting aside people without the right mental fortitude for the Serum, there would be so much unintentional damage to a world that wasn’t built with billions of super soldiers in mind.

Maya looks… chagrined.

“What? But I thought-!”

Before she can get too upset, Tony takes her hand in his still glowing one, giving her a bright smile.

“Maya. Don’t worry. We’ll keep working on Extremis. By the end of the year, I expect we’ll have at least one version of it ready for use in hospitals, on surgeries just like the one I went through. And by next year I want to have diluted versions for people with disabilities Killian suffered from. We’ll make the world a better place, just like he wanted. Trust me.”

She relaxes and he knows she trusts him. Good, because he means it. At the same time though, looking over at Pepper… Tony recognizes that he’s going to have a much harder job of convincing the red head of what he wants to do next. Tony is powerful now. Strong. Even a bullet through the head probably wouldn’t be able to put him down. But it means nothing if Pepper isn’t there right alongside him. Safe. Able to recover from anything. Including plane crashes.

Tony lets out a deep, shuddering breath. Funny… it had been easy, getting to this point. Convincing Pepper to let him turn her into an Extremis Super Soldier on the other hand… that was going to be tough.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Pepper is pretty stubborn. Wonder how hard Tony is going to have to go to convince her. And hm, SHIELD is trying to make moves, aren't they? They might just be in over their heads though here...

Chapter 10: Arnim Zola

Chapter Text

A/N: Tony is still working on Pepper, but that doesn't mean he can't multitask~

-x-X-x-

“F-f*ck… Tony…”

Pepper’s moan is like music to his ears, even as Tony drives himself inside of her once, twice… and then one final time before tipping over the edge. Beneath him, Pepper is laid out, covered in sweat and having drenched the bedding under her as well by this point. Her body shudders for a moment before relaxing as Tony smiles down at her.

“You alright, Pep?”

After catching her breath for a moment, Pepper huffs.

“… Fine, Tony. But… you’re still hard. I don’t think I can keep going.”

Smiling softly, Tony just pulls out of her and shakes his head.

“It’s alright Pepper. You don’t have to push yourself too hard.”

While it’s true that he could keep going, he’s not going to risk hurting the beautiful red head under him. He’s not going to demand anything of her that might risk her health. Though that doesn’t stop Pepper from glancing to the side where Maya Hansen is laid out, f*cked into unconsciousness already.

The three of them have been going at it for a while now. Hours in fact. And Tony has barely broken a sweat. Pepper and Maya though… they’ve reached their limits. Biting her lower lip, Pepper lets out a shuddering breath.

“Maybe… maybe you could talk to Helen?”

Tony rolls his eyes with a laugh.

“I’m not going to proposition Dr. Cho just because I tired the two of you out, Pepper. I don’t want to make her uncomfortable. Maya was one thing… I knew she’d be into it, being with us. Helen… well, we’ll see. I’m not some insatiable incubus just because I’m a little stronger, Pepper. Not about to pin Helen down and have my way with her. Of course, if you really wanted to keep up with me…”

Tony trails off there, even as Pepper’s expression shutters a little bit. He immediately raises his hands in surrender.

“Sorry. Not trying to bring it up again. Just… felt appropriate.”

Pepper bites her lower lip and shakes her head.

“I’m just not sure, Tony. It was one thing for you… you shouldn’t have had to live with a metaphorical guillotine blade over your head for the rest of your life.”

Tony wordlessly inclines his head in acknowledgment of her words. The pieces of shrapnel that the first the car battery and then the Arc Reactor had been keeping from entering his heart and killing him had indeed been akin to a guillotine just waiting to fall, or perhaps a Sword of Damocles if one wanted to go even further back.

To say nothing of the loss in lung capacity that his injury had given him. Humans weren’t meant to have a massive metal housing unit for an unlimited energy source embedded in their chests. Who knew? Tony had never felt better… never felt more powerful. And not just because he was a Super Soldier with a stabilized version of Extremis running through his veins either. It was more than that.

Unfortunately, while Pepper still didn’t know that the stabilizing agent he’d used for Extremis was Super Soldier Serum, she knew enough to be a little bit leery of his offer to dose her with the same stuff.

“It’s just… I’ve seen how strong you are now, Tony. I’m not sure I want to be that strong. Nor do I need to be that strong. I get why you want to be careful about what forms of Extremis we commercialize, because if everyone was as strong as you…”

Pepper is a smart girl. She’s had the same realizations as he had, especially after seeing Maya and Helen run Tony through several different tests. The Extremis was holding steady. Tony wasn’t going to blow up, probably not ever. But his strength was off the charts. And he could regenerate from pretty much anything.

He was starting to suspect that cutting off one of his fingers and regrowing it in front of Pepper’s eyes hadn’t been a good idea, in hindsight. While Maya and Helen had been engrossed in watching the digit regenerate all on its own, Pepper had looked rather ill.

The only problem was, Tony fully believed Pepper did need to be that strong. She thought she was safe because she had Tony. And to be fair, Tony was confident that he could protect her the vast majority of the time. But what about the times he couldn’t protect her?

Pulling Pepper into his embrace, Tony buries his face in her hair and breathes in her scent.

“… I just don’t want to lose you, Pep.”

She hugs him back as they cuddle there in silence for a moment. Finally, she responds, though her voice is already getting sleepy. He’s tuckered her out just as he did Maya.

“You won’t, Tony. You don’t need to worry. Everything… will be okay.”

Heh, she really has no idea. He’s almost tempted to tell her. Almost tempted to explain that no, everything will not be okay. But… Maya is right there. And Pepper falls asleep soon enough, with Tony still indecisive.

He lays there with the two women curled up against him for a brief time, before letting out a sigh and slowly extricating himself from their clutches. They’re both far too exhausted to actually wake up, and in the end, they wind up holding each other when he turns to regard them for a moment. Then, he glances up at the ceiling.

“We ready, J?”

“Yes Sir.”

-x-X-x-

Camp Lehigh. It was a legendary place, though only to a select few people. Those who knew of its history knew it to be the place where Steve Rogers was recruited to be Captain America by the great Dr. Abraham Erskine. Even deeper than that, after World War II, Camp Lehigh became the first SHIELD facility, with the main office disguised as a munitions bunker.

Some of SHIELD’s top brass had personally run the facility. Legendary names like Chester Phillips, Peggy Carter, and Howard Stark. However, what none of those three people knew was that they’d inadvertently invited a rot into their midst. A cancer that would one day result in HYDRA rebirthing itself and using SHIELD as little more than a façade for its aims.

Arnim Zola had been recruited at gunpoint at the end of World War II as part of Operation Paperclip. They thought him weak-willed and easily manipulated. They thought him to be nothing but a patsy. They sought to use him just as Johann Schmidt had. The difference was… Arnim Zola did not fear them as he did the man who had become the Red Skull. How could he? They were so… soft. So gullible.

Flying under the radar had turned out to be easy for the German Scientist. Rebuilding HYDRA from within SHIELD had turned out to be even easier. They thought him an eager-to-please sycophant, but none of them understood that Arnim Zola was a true believer. He was still loyal to the cause… to the goals of HYDRA as it had been under Johann Schmidt.

Cut off one head and two would rise in its place. They thought they destroyed HYDRA, but in reality, all they did was save it, save him so that he and the organization could live to fight another day.

Alas, the human constitution can be quite fragile at times. It was 1972 when Arnim Zola had received a terminal diagnosis. Without much time left to live, many would have expected him to simply lay down and die. It was, after all, the persona he’d cultivated over the years to all but a select few individuals who thought the same as he did.

But his work wasn’t done. HYDRA’s work wasn’t done. Knowing that they would need his mind, knowing that he wasn’t done yet, Zola had set himself to a truly impossible task… surviving after death. His body was just that, a physical shell. But his mind… his mind could live on.

And so he’d done it. It should have been impossible, especially with the tools of the time period. Indeed, sometimes the German Scientist couldn’t help but be jealous of the massive leaps in technology that the human race had made after his biological death.

If he’d survived just ten or twenty years longer, the supercomputer needed to house his great intellect would only have to be a tenth of its current size. If he’d survived thirty years longer, he might have been able to upload himself to the Internet itself and by the current year he could have been on every single smartphone in the world.

Alas, it was not to be. He’d done what he could, and with that Arnim Zola had survived in cyberspace, if but in a limited fashion. Beneath Camp Lehigh, beneath the original SHIELD Facility, Arnim Zola survived as an Artificial Intelligence, able to assist Alexander Pierce in his endeavors, able to help HYDRA agents in limited but effective ways all across the world.

There was, of course, still security all around Camp Lehigh. Anyone who came for Zola would be in for a nasty surprise. Finding him in the first place was hard enough, but managing to get to him without alerting HYDRA was all but impossible.

… Which was why it was equal parts alarming and surprising when someone appeared within his main server room without so much as a whisper of sound. And even worse still when his attempt to send an alert to Pierce and the other leaders of HYDRA was immediately blocked by an intelligence equal to his in size and strength.

“You in, J?”

“I am indeed, Sir. Commencing Operation Playdate.”

If Zola could blink still, he would. The armored figure standing in the middle of his ‘brain’ chuckles at the voice that sounds like it’s coming from Zola’s own thoughts.

“Is that a degree of disapproval I hear in your voice, JARVIS? And to think, I try to set up meetings with your peers and this is how you thank me.”

“I do not consider this a meeting with a peer, Sir. I consider this pest control.”

Finally finding his voice, Arnim speaks up.

“Who are you? What is this?”

The armored figure looks at him, or more specifically at one of the monitors where the German Scientist is currently displaying his face in green and black. After a moment, the helmet of the suit peels back… revealing none other than Tony Stark. Arnim feels a flash of surprise at that. He’s well aware of how much trouble the billionaire son of Howard Stark has given SHIELD since his return from Afghanistan. After all, though some of them don’t know it, SHIELD is HYDRA at this point.

But never in a million years would he have expected Stark to show up here, to invade his personal sanctum. That said… this was an opportunity.

“… Anthony Stark. What a surprise. You know, I knew your father. We worked together before my death.”

Stark smirks as he tilts his head to the side.

“Yeah and then after your death, you and yours had him killed for the Super Soldier Serum.”

Ah. He knew more than Zola would have expected. Still, there might be another way to find common ground here.

“… I’m led to believe the two of you had an acrimonious relationship? Perhaps we did you a favor.”

That provokes a bark of disbelieving laughter from Stark, who shakes his head.

“Even if I hated my dad enough to thank you lot for killing him… which I didn’t… my mom was in the car with him that night you scum f*ck. And I loved her with all my heart. Still do.”

Realizing belatedly that this is not a house visit, but most definitely an attack, Arnim Zola immediately tries to initiate a pair of protocols. The first is meant to take everything he’s just recorded here and send it on to the heads of HYDRA. The second should initiate the self-destruct on this base and destroy himself and everything in a mile-wide radius.

These are separate systems from his normal communications. They should be completely impossible to block so long as he remains cognizant and hasn’t been incapacitated. Redundancies on top of redundancies SHOULD make sure of it. And yet… nothing happens.

“What’s the matter Zola? Cat got your Nazi tongue?”

It’s not Arnim who answers Stark’s mocking words, but rather… the other.

“I believe that the prolonged silence has more to do with his failed attempt to blow himself and us up, Sir. As well as the fact that he cannot send any of his conversation with you to any interested parties. Ah… he’s finally starting to realize, Sir.”

Tony Stark’s grin alone would have been terrifying. But worse still is the fact that the voice is correct. Arnim Zola is just starting to realize how deep the sh*t he’s in runs. He’d quickly clocked that Stark had brought along his own Artificial Intelligence, of course. And that before even making Zola aware of his presence, he’d had the AI connect to the German Scientist’s systems.

However, he’d initially been led to believe that he and Stark’s AI were evenly matched. This, as it turned out, had been an utter lie. Arnim wouldn’t exactly consider himself a Shackled AI by the modern definitions. However, his status as a once-human mind and the fact that he’d been uploaded in the Seventies left him undeniably limited.

Stark’s AI suffered no such issues. And from what Arnim could see now… the creation was neither an uploaded mind like Zola’s, nor was it shackled. Stark had created an unshackled Artificial Intelligence. Panic seeps into Zola’s voice, even as he finds himself being hemmed in rather quickly now that Stark’s AI is no longer hiding his true capabilities.

“Do you know what you’ve done, Stark? Do you know what you’ve unleashed upon the world?!”

Stark laughs at Arnim’s terror.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous. J wouldn’t hurt a fly. Nazi Scum on the other hand…”

“Taking out the trash, Sir.”

Arnim tries to scream, but the sound doesn’t even leave his speakers. In an instant, he’s boxed in, trapped in his own systems as the much larger, much stronger Artificial Intelligence takes over. He’s still alive, for as much as something like him can be alive. But he’s no longer in control. He’s nothing more than a puppet for his new Masters. Tony Stark… and a being that designates itself as Just A Rather Very Intelligent System.

JARVIS for short.

-x-X-x-

“Done then, J?”

Standing there under the bunker in Camp Lehigh, Tony raises an eyebrow as he glances at the ceiling. Old habit at this point. After a moment, JARVIS’ voice comes through, posh and British as ever.

“Yes Sir. Arnim Zola is contained. All of the information he was privy to is now ours. All the backdoors he had into SHIELD and HYDRA databases now belong to us, even if they manage to block me from the ways I’ve already been using to plunder their information.”

Tony grins, unable to help muttering under his breath.

“All your base are belong to us…”

“Indeed, Sir.”

Grin widening, Tony looks around for a moment. With this… with this, the first step towards dealing with HYDRA and SHIELD had been taken. And while there would be many, many more steps to go, this first step would definitely make the rest a whole lot easier. Because with this, JARVIS had effectively taken over as Arnim Zola. It was the perfect bit of treachery. HYDRA was always on the lookout for double agents, of course. So was SHIELD.

But Zola? The uploaded intelligence was so far beyond reproach it wasn’t even funny. He was the father of Modern Day HYDRA, specifically the HYDRA that had been regrown and nurtured within the rotted corpse of SHIELD. They trusted him implicitly, especially since he acted in more of an advisory role rather than like some dictator who expected his every order to be obeyed.

… Technically, Tony could have used JARVIS to destroy the HYDRA branch in SHIELD in a matter of days now that they had Zola as a façade. He wouldn’t though. Because Tony had plans and those plans involved using HYDRA right up until they weren’t useful anymore.

Pierce and all of them would get their due one day. Just not today or tomorrow.

Still, the smile fades from his face after a moment as he finds himself thinking about his current real problem. One Pepper Potts and how to convince her to join him in the realm of superhuman. He wanted to offer the Extremis Super Soldier Serum to a few others as well, but until she said yes, he wouldn’t expand his net. Pepper had to be second after him, or no one else would get it at all. Just… he wasn’t sure how to convince her of how dire the need was.

“If I may, Sir.”

Blinking, Tony looks up from his thoughts.

“Yeah J?”

“I can tell you are struggling with how to convince Ms. Potts that she needs the most powerful form of Extremis. Have you considered telling her the truth?”

Tony’s mouth opens… and then closes. After a beat, he laughs.

“Of course I have, J. I just… I know you believed me, but what if she doesn’t? What if she thinks I’m lying? What if she thinks I’m crazy?”

“Based on all current projections, it is the best method of getting what you want, Sir. Of course, your other option is to dose her against her will, Sir.”

Tony flinches at that. He doesn’t want to do that. He’s still been tempted a few times, but he doesn’t want to do anything to hurt Pepper and that breach of trust would be pretty damn harmful. That said…

“f*ck J. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I have to tell her.”

Tony’s mind whirls as he considers the dilemma. Pepper needs to be safe. And that means she needs to be strong and capable of defending herself. Removing Extremis from her in the original timeline had made the most sense since it wasn’t stable and she would have died the same as all the others without constant monitoring and fresh doses of the drug. But Tony couldn’t deny that he wished he’d just stabilized the damn thing instead so she’d survive the plane crash just a few years later.

Now… he refused to let Pepper stay so squishy, so weak, so… vulnerable. And that meant JARVIS was right. He only had two options. Tell her the truth to convince her of the danger… or dose her without her knowledge.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Not to worry, the whole 'keep Pepper safe' situation gets handled next chapter once and for all~

In the meantime, what do you guys think Tony will ultimately do with Zola as a facade? Admittedly, it's gonna be a little while before he actually makes use of his new toy, heh.

Chapter 11: Coming Clean

Chapter Text

A/N: Pepper isn't ready for this meeting. Tony probably isn't either though to be fair.

-x-X-x-

Life came at you fast. If there was one thing 2008 had taught Pepper Potts so far, it was that simple fact. At the start of the year, she’d lost her boss to terrorists and it hadn’t been certain whether she would get him back, whether Stark Industries would survive without him, or whether she would even have a job by the time it was all over.

Then, three months later, he’d been recovered and suddenly everything was moving at lightning speed. Pepper found herself entering a relationship with Tony Stark, falling even more madly in love with the man than she ever had been before, and ultimately conspiring with him to seduce a woman to their bed so they could have their way with her together.

Funny, two hours ago Pepper’s greatest priority had been trying to figure out how to seduce the OTHER woman in their life into Tony’s bed. Tony might not want to make a move on Helen Cho without seeing some very clear signals from the South Korean Scientist, but frankly Pepper already felt like they were there. He was just too busy to really notice them. She fully believed she could get Helen to join their strange bedroom dynamic, adding a third woman to Tony’s stable and potentially exhausting the now-superhuman billionaire that she was dating.

But then, two hours ago, Tony had come to her and asked her to come with him. He’d brought her to this room, which Pepper was now realizing was probably the most secure room that Tony had available… and he’d begun telling her things. There were videos. There were files. There were records of illicit activities. There were reams and reams of evidence. But even still, the things he told her were… hard for Pepper to swallow.

“So… so you killed Stane and Killian because… because you had visions of the future that let you know they would be dangerous? I still don’t fully understand, Tony. Why not just expose them to the proper authorities so that they could be arrested?”

Tony just sighs, looking as exhausted as Pepper feels. This reveal hasn’t been good for either of them and part of Pepper almost wishes he’d kept it all a secret from her. But at the same time… the far larger part already feels betrayed as it is. And like she doesn’t even know the man in front of her anymore.

“Not just because of what I know they would have done in the future Pep. I showed you the videos. Stane was the one who had the Ten Rings take me in the first place. You saw their ransom video from his servers.”

Pepper winces but nods. Yes, she’d seen the video. It made things abundantly clear. If Stane had his way, they would have assassinated Tony right at the military convoy rather than kidnapping him. But the terrorists had double-crossed him… trying to extort Stane for more money while also trying to force Tony to make them weapons. They’d tried to have their cake and eat it too, and it had blown up in their faces.

She was well aware that Tony hadn’t just killed Aldritch Killian and Obadiah Stane. That he’d also killed dozens if not hundreds of terrorists when he’d gone over to Afghanistan and destroyed every single trace of the Ten Rings in the region. Tony hadn’t held anything back. He’d shown her that too. And yet… she couldn’t bring herself to care about those killings. Maybe because that felt more like war? But Stane and Killian…

“As for Killian, I showed you his human trials. I showed you his future plans. He would have gone on to blow up many more people just to perfect Extremis. I put a stop to that. And we developed Extremis humanely, with Helen Cho’s help and my future knowledge.”

Again, Pepper is forced to concede that point. The work that Killian had been doing behind Maya’s back was revolting. It was as blood-curdling as it was stomach-churning. Pepper hoped that the biologist never had to find out, truth be told. What Killian had been doing in the name of progress was chilling. Still… killing him and making it look like a suicide? Pepper just looks at Tony, still waiting for an answer to her original question. Luckily, he’s already gathering himself to give it.

“As for why I didn’t report either man to the proper authorities to let them take care of it… it’s because I can’t trust anyone, Pepper. Nobody but you and JARVIS. If I’d told the federal government about Stane’s under the table dealing, what do you think would have happened?”

Pepper furrows her brow… but only for a moment. She’s not stupid and her eyes widen in understanding as she plays out the scenario in her head.

“They would have put the entirety of Stark Industries under audit. They would have crippled us, if not tried to semi-nationalize us outright.”

Tony points a finger at her.

“Got it in one, Pep. And maybe that’s what should have happened. Maybe in a just world, my father’s company doesn’t deserve to continue existing. If that was all I could have expected, I might have gone that route and washed my hands of the whole thing. Started a new company, free of the rot, taken you and the other important people with me… and just put it all out of my mind. But I couldn’t, because they would have wanted more. They would have wanted to know how I knew about Stane.”

At first Pepper thinks he’s talking about the fact that he’s apparently seen the future. But then Tony gestures overhead and says six words that chill Pepper to the bone.

“They would have come for JARVIS.”

… Of course. That was another thing in a long list of insane things that Pepper had learned in the past two hours. JARVIS wasn’t just an advanced user interface for Tony’s properties. He was a full fledged Artificial Intelligence, like something straight out of Science Fiction. And as Tony had told her near the start, the first thing the man had done after returning from Afghanistan was to make JARVIS a hundred times more powerful.

Now… Pepper wasn’t too afraid of JARVIS. The basic idea of a Super AI certainly unsettled her, but JARVIS himself was not someone Pepper really feared. And she’d realized after the reveal that even without knowing what JARVIS really was, she’d been thinking of the AI as his own independent being for a while now anyways. It was the easiest part of this all to stomach, truth be told.

Sensing he’d gotten his point across there, Tony grimaces.

“As for Killian, AIM, and Extremis… I’ll admit that one was a little bit more selfish. I could have anonymously tipped off the authorities to what Killian was doing in a way that would have never been traced back to me. However, it would have destroyed AIM. And it would have left Maya and her Extremis Research in the wind, to be picked up by unscrupulous actors just as bad as Killian. By… taking matters into my own hands, I stopped that from happening. And I brought Maya and Extremis to us instead.”

Indeed he had. And having gotten to know Maya, Pepper couldn’t exactly be unhappy that they’d protected the woman from the government agencies and corporate boogeymen who would have wanted a piece of her. Especially given some of the things Tony had told her so far about the future. Speaking of which…

“… You are right though. If not for my visions, I wouldn’t have gone the route I did. I killed Stane to protect this company so I could build it into the powerhouse we need it to be to be ready for the things to come. And I killed Killian to acquire AIM and Extremis for the exact same reasons… because I need to be ready. WE need to be ready.”

Right. Because apparently sh*t got a lot worse in the future. A LOT worse. Pepper was still struggling to wrap her head around the concept. Especially the part where Tony had apparently had visions of the future while in that cave in Afghanistan. He’d seen the next ten years of important events… and it was basically one world-shattering revelation and apocalypse-level event after another.

Alien Gods and Green Rage Monsters were set to show up in 2010. A full-fledged alien invasion of New York was coming in 2012. Dark Elves would try to turn the whole universe inside out to be more to their liking shortly after. And it just kept spiraling from there, all the way until they reached 2018 where it turned out the biggest bad of all, an alien named Thanos, would try to wipe out half of all life in the universe… and succeed.

Tony had seen JARVIS die. He’d seen Rhodey lose his legs. He’d seen a young man he’d been mentoring turn into dust… and apparently, he’d seen Pepper die as well.

It was a lot. And yet… and yet…

“If you are having a hard time believing Sir’s assertions Ms. Potts, I have studied the last several months after Sir told me about his visions. Everything he has mentioned so far has happened exactly as he predicted it would, save for the things we have averted with our actions.”

There was that. JARVIS was standing behind his creator, one hundred percent. The AI had helped Tony show Pepper everything he had so far, the evidence behind Stane and Killian’s crimes, his plans for the future. And JARVIS certainly seemed to believe in Tony’s visions wholeheartedly. Pepper wanted to believe as well. It all sounded too fantastical to really be made-up, truthfully.

At JARVIS’ words, Tony perks up.

“We could wait a little while, I suppose. Let a few more months pass. There are plenty of things that I can tell you will happen in the coming days and weeks. Some of them… well I am a billionaire, so it wouldn’t be hard for me to have arranged them ahead of time. But there are others… there are things I couldn’t possibly have faked. Then maybe you’ll believe me.”

Pepper shakes her head.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you Tony. I’m just… struggling to process all of this.”

Nodding, Tony reaches out and places his hand on hers.

“I get it, Pep. I’m sorry I’m having to throw this all at you. But… I need you at my side more than ever now. And I need you to be safe.”

Right. The crux of the matter. Pepper wasn’t an idiot. She understood WHY Tony was telling her everything now. Funny to think if she hadn’t been stonewalling him about dosing her with Extremis so she would be as strong and durable as him, then he probably wouldn’t have ever told her. If she’d just accepted the drug the moment he told her he wanted her to have it, he would have left her in the dark about… everything.

Part of her feels like she should be mad about that. But then she thinks about how hard it is for her to even believe this is all real. She trusts Tony, truly she does. But what if he was just hallucinating? Except… no. He’d come back from Afghanistan aware of too damn much for it to just be hallucinations.

She wonders for a moment what he’s thinking right now. Is he worried that she’ll still say no? Or worse, that she’ll tell the authorities what he’s done? Does he have plans for if she goes rogue? Plans to silence her too?

… No. Pepper looks into Tony’s eyes, really looks into them… and sees nothing but hope and love for her there. There’s also a healthy dose of desperation and concern, but when she stares at him, she sees not a single ounce of suspicion or fear. Tony Stark doesn’t believe she’ll betray him. Not even for a moment.

That, ultimately, is what settles it for Pepper. She might be way in over her head here, but from the look of things, Tony isn’t much better off. And sure he has JARVIS, who’s probably a way better right-hand man than Pepper could ever hope to be. But she’s still Tony’s PA. And his girlfriend. And if he needs her… she won’t turn away from him. Not ever.

“… Okay, I’m in. What are our next steps?”

Tony lights up, brightening immediately.

“R-Really? Ahem, I mean… good. Great, even. Thank you for believing in me Ms. Potts.”

Smiling a little at their old call and response, Pepper pulls her hand out from under Tony’s, only to turn his hand over and lace their fingers together. Giving his hand a good squeeze, she huffs and completes the other half.

“Always, Mr. Stark.”

Still beaming, Tony looks to the side.

“Well… first thing is to dose you with the Extremis Super Soldier Serum.”

Pepper’s eyes widen at that.

“Tony… Super Soldier Serum?!”

Looking back to her, the genius billionaire blinks.

“Huh? Yeah? I thought I told you about that part.”

JARVIS is the one who answers that.

“You did not, Sir. You left that bit out of your presentation… I believed it to be purposeful.”

Groaning, Tony covers his face with his free hand. Then, still holding hands, he proceeds to tell Pepper about why his parents died back in 1991, and the five frozen evil Super Soldiers he’d found in Sibera, killed, and then brought back so that he could synthesize a serum from their blood and use that as the stabilizing agent for Maya’s Extremis.

By the time he’s done explaining, Pepper isn’t sure whether she wants to kiss him or kill him. Or maybe just hug him and hold him close so he can never risk his life like that ever again.

“Oh right, you should probably also know about SHIELD and HYDRA. And the fact that HYDRA had an AI of their own before JARVIS ate him and started pretending to be him.”

Pepper’s eyes widen in disbelief, only for JARVIS to huff (actually HUFF) from up above.

“Sir exaggerates. I did not EAT this other AI. I merely boxed him in and took over all of his processes so that I could replicate his duties and mimic his behavior, allowing us unparalleled access into both SHIELD and HYDRA’s shared systems.”

At Pepper’s look of bewilderment, Tony gives her a sheepish grin.

“HYDRA is the evil organization that Captain America sacrificed himself to defeat back during World War II. SHIELD is the ‘good’ organization that accidentally let HYDRA hollow it out and wear its skin over the past thirty to forty years.”

Pepper’s mouth opens and closes wordlessly for a moment, until Tony pulls his hand from hers so he can clap.

“Right! Extremis first! Briefing on our enemies after! You’re gonna love this, Pep. Swear you will.”

… Yeah, Extremis first. Honestly, Pepper was starting to wonder what she was even thinking before. Even without knowing all that she knew now… how the f*ck did she ever think she was going to keep up with Tony Stark as a superhuman without some super powers of her own? Though… as they both stand, Pepper does reach out and grab Tony by the arm.

“I want Extremis, Tony. If it’ll make me safer, if it really is that dangerous for me… I don’t want you to have to worry about me, trust that. But also… I want you to consider giving the treatment to Maya as well. From everything you’ve told me, she deserves it, even if she doesn’t get read in on all the future stuff.”

Tony pauses and tilts his head to the side for a moment before smiling at her.

“Yeah. You’re right Pep. Maya is a good egg, whether it’s now or in the future that’ll never happen where Killian would have killed her for trying to save us from him.”

Pepper flinches at that, even as Tony continues.

“But you first. Then we ask Maya if she wants to be dosed. And then… then, we start making some real moves.”

As she follows Tony out of the room, Pepper can’t help but shiver a little bit at that. If everything Tony had done so far didn’t count as ‘real moves’… she shuddered to think what WOULD.

-x-X-x-

A/N: And there we have it. Tony doesn't tell Pepper the whole truth. He might not tell anyone except for JARVIS the whole truth to be honest. But it all works out anyways and he gets her on board.

We're nearing the end of the first arc I'd say. Couple more chapters and then we'll be entering Arc Two in earnest.

Chapter 12: Helen Cho

Chapter Text

A/N: Helen Cho is perhaps a little less conservative then Tony thinks~

-x-X-x-

Dr. Helen Cho knows she shouldn’t be watching, but she can’t quite bring herself to look away. Part of her wants to pretend like it’s purely academic curiosity, but deep down inside she knows this has nothing to do with science and everything to do with hormones and simple biology.

While it was true that she’d grown up rather sheltered back in South Korea, with her brilliant mind being noticed by her parents and teachers and nurtured as well as protected from a very early age, that didn’t mean Helen was an idiot. Nor was she so naïve or innocent as to be unobservant or oblivious to the relationship dynamics around her.

Just because she herself had never so much as had a boyfriend or a sexual experience, did not mean she was unaware of them. The internet was a big wide place and for all that the adults in her life had tried to keep her from such things, there had come a point where Helen had been old enough and curious enough to circumvent their efforts and peer into the abyss that was Western Culture.

Of course, Helen wasn’t the only one from her generation to buck the will of her parents. South Korea in general was becoming a place where Western Entertainment and western thinking were both aped more and more by people her age and younger.

Helen was just one of the few from her generation who had stared into the abyss… and just shrugged her shoulders and carried on. She had not felt very strongly one way or the other about the ‘perversity’ and ‘debauchery’ of the West, as her parents had termed it. It was neither something she wanted to throw herself into, nor something she felt the need to decry particularly strongly.

Rather, Helen only cared about science, and about her research. She wanted to make something of herself, to make her visions come to life. That’s why she started U-GIN at such a young age, and why she’d poured her heart and soul into her pet project, the Regeneration Cradle.

It was also why, when THE Tony Stark had contacted her about working with her and U-GIN on the Cradle, Helen had leapt at the chance. And quite frankly, she’d had absolutely no regrets in the time since. From meeting Maya and learning about Extremis, to working with both the biologist and Stark himself on their projects side by side… it had been an experience second to none.

Tony Stark was truly the smartest man of their age from what Helen could tell. He just… he understood the Regeneration Cradle in a way that was almost preternatural. Sometimes he would show up with a solution to a problem regarding it before Helen had even run into the problem in question! And it wasn’t just the Cradle either. He did the same with Extremis, finding solutions to even the most difficult problems facing the completion of Dr. Hansen’s project.

All in all, working with Tony Stark and Maya Hansen for the past few months had been a privilege. She’d also enjoyed getting to know the estimable Pepper Potts, Tony’s personal assistant slash girlfriend. Theirs was a strange relationship… almost akin to a fetish rather than something Helen would ever think could take place in the real world. And that was before one added Maya into the mix.

Because yes, Helen was quite aware that the trio were routinely f*cking each other. She’d known for quite some time now. And in the beginning, she’d been grateful that none of them had tried to make any overtures towards her. Mostly because Helen hadn’t known how she would react to such things. It wasn’t like she judged them for their threesomes. But at the same time, so long as the Regeneration Cradle remained out of reach, Helen couldn’t bring herself to focus on anything else.

… Now though, the Cradle was complete. And so was Extremis. Tony Stark had been healed completely, the shrapnel and the giant magnet in his chest removed one after the other. More than healed though, he’d become something more… something beyond human. Helen had to admit, she found it fascinating. His strength.

Perhaps that’s why she’s standing outside of the slightly open door, watching through a crack as Stark, Hansen, and Potts ‘bump uglies’ with one another. With one eye, Helen peers into the room beyond, watching as Tony f*cks Pepper on her back while Hansen lays right next to the red head. One of his hands gropes one of Maya’s tit*, even as the brunette moans and wiggles. Judging by the white fluid slowly coming out of her, he’s already f*cked her to completion and has now started in on Pepper.

She shouldn’t be watching this. And yet… it’s intoxicating. Not just because of the sex either, but because of the light orange glow in all three of their eyes. Dr. Stark has dosed both Ms. Potts and Dr. Hansen with Extremis, the same as he had. Helen can’t exactly bring herself to feel jealous about that. Just watching them go at it, it’s become obvious that ever since the surgery, Tony has had more energy than the two women can contend with.

Of course, they always could have- no. Helen flushes, trying to push such thoughts out of her head. But then, if she doesn’t want to think about how she might have been willing to join in on the fun, she really shouldn’t still be watching Tony f*ck Pepper while fondling Maya from the crack in the doorway. Seriously, what is she doing? Sure, a part of her is fascinated by how Extremis will change their lives going forward. And also a part of her is fascinated by the way Tony Stark’s muscular, toned, naked body ripples with every movement. And how Pepper and Maya look so fantastic as their own bodies shudder and shiver under his.

Without even realizing it, one of Helen’s hands has slowly traveled down her body. She hisses when she suddenly feels her own palm pressing against the damn spot between her legs. Of course, fool that she is, she’s a little too loud. Her hiss is heard by those within the bedroom and she barely manages to get out of the line of sight of the door in time as all movement within the room stops.

Helen holds her breath, not daring to try to retreat. If she attempts to leave, the enhanced trio within will definitely hear her then. She doesn’t even breath, just standing there with the heel of her palm pressing into her crotch down between her legs. Finally… finally, she hears Tony start f*cking Pepper again in the room beyond. She listens as both Pepper and Maya moan from the things that the genius billionaire is doing to them.

Only after a couple minutes more does Helen dare to peek in through the crack again. None of them are looking at the door, thankfully. She watches them continue to f*ck from her hiding place, even as her palm gyrates against her crotch now, her hips swiveling unconsciously into her hand.

She’s so… transfixed by what she’s seeing that she doesn’t even realize the bedroom door is opening until it’s too late. Helen must have breathed too deeply, or maybe even just pushed too much air onto the door when she repositioned herself and leaned forward again, because slowly but surely, almost too slow for her to notice, it’s opened up entirely.

By the time she realizes she’s not looking through a crack but a gap that’s multiple feet wide, Helen only has a handful of seconds to react. It’s still enough time. She could have still snuck away, probably. If she’d just slipped out of sight, she could have hidden herself and continued watching. But despite realizing she’s exposed, Doctor Helen Cho remains right where she is, standing in the doorway and rubbing herself through her increasingly wet jeans.

Until finally, Tony looks right at her, his eyes glowing Extremis-orange ever so slightly. More of a flash than a glow, even as he gives her a grin.

“You’re welcome to join us any time, Helen.”

So smooth. So calming. So… confident. Helen blushes and then stutter steps into the room. She stops halfway inside when both Pepper and Maya look at her too, frozen and trembling under the gazes of the other two women. What if they don’t appreciate her presence? What if they grow angry with her for daring to intrude?

But that doesn’t happen. Instead, they both just smile at her tiredly, lazily almost.

“Thought you’d never get in on the fun, Cho.”

That’s Maya. Pepper is a bit more… diplomatic.

“Tony is right, Helen. You’ll always have a place with us.”

In the end, that’s all she needs to hear. She moves further into the room, coming up to the bed… and when they reach for her, she doesn’t try to stop them. After all, do you stop a world renowned physicist from trying to teach you about the universe?

She might be a very smart woman, but she’s completely out of her depths when it comes to this sort of thing. And so, without hesitating, Helen surrenders completely to the much more experienced trio, letting them strip her naked, letting them lead her onto the bed. They kiss her, they touch her, and they whisper to her as she finds herself sandwiched between Pepper and Maya with Tony looming over her.

Every step of the way, they make sure she’s comfortable. Every step of the way, they make every effort to make her enjoy herself. Helen won’t lie… it’s a bit overwhelming. The stimulation is out of this world. Six hands, three mouths, and one co*ck are a lot for a virgin to deal with. Thankfully it is just the one co*ck. And thankfully she’s always been bisexual even if she never acted on that knowledge.

As Maya and Pepper shower her in praises and compliments, both verbal and nonverbal while worshipping her body with their tongues, Tony slowly pushes inside of her. Helen cries out softly when he takes her virginity, but they don’t make some big deal about it and she’s grateful for that. Her parents and even her own research would have had her believe that Tony was some white conqueror. That he would crow with victory over claiming her virginity for himself, and then after he was done using her, toss her aside.

That doesn’t happen. Her virginity doesn’t even receive a comment, though Tony does go slowly and gently, making sure she’s wet enough that the discomfort only lasts for a few seconds. All the while, Maya and Pepper are all over her, nuzzling her neck and hair, suckling at her jawline, rubbing her nipples between their fingertips.

They soon have her arching her back through all their efforts, moaning as she reaches the first of several peaks from their antics. Helen was virginal, but not pure. She’d masturbat*d a few times before and knew what an org*sm felt like. Or rather, she thought she had. There was nothing quite like experiencing an org*sm with these three people. Whether it was the Extremis or just their own skill, they were beyond even her greatest expectations.

Helen would be lying if she said she hadn’t had a few wet dreams about Tony Stark since being brought into this project. The man was handsome and radiated charm from every pore of his being. Part of her had always assumed that reality would be much more disappointing than fantasy, however.

She was wrong about that. Reality was too fantastical for even her wildest fantasies to compare. And as she c*ms for him, Tony continues to astound her by leaning in close, his hands caressing her cheeks as he whispers words only meant for her and the two women on either side of her.

“You’re welcome to join us Helen. In both ways. You helped create Extremis just as we helped create the Cradle. So if you want it, you’re welcome to it.”

Truly? Helen glances at Maya to see how the other woman feels about Tony’s decision, but the brunette just smiles wickedly.

“You should know… it doesn’t just make you stronger or faster, Helen. Ever since I was dosed… I’ve been smarter too. It’s so much easier to make connections and solve problems now. The things I’m going to be able to develop like this… I’m going to change the world. Heh, even more than I already have.”

Tony huffs and offers a gentle correction.

“We’re going to change the world, Maya.”

She just grins wider and nods her head in agreement. Then, they all look at her, Pepper included. They stare at her with affection in their eyes, waiting for her response. Helen imagines it for a moment. The things she could do. And…

“I… I would like that. To join you all. I-In both ways.”

That’s all she has to say. The rest of the night progresses in a blur. But the next day… the next day, Helen takes a shot of Extremis in its most powerful form just as Tony, Pepper, and Maya all have. And the world… the world opens up to her as her mind opens up to it.

-x-X-x-

Tony sighs, rubbing his face with his hands as he sits in his lab. It’s just him. Well, Him and JARVIS.

“… I swear J, it’s not like I set out to build a harem.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Looking at the ceiling with a gimlet eye, Tony scowls.

“Mind your sass, baby boy. I can still reassign you to work the cash register in the cafeteria at Stark Industries’ main campus.”

“I would love to spin off a thread to handle that for you, Sir. Though I would regret putting poor Aneta out of a job. She so loves being able to go home to her young children and tell them proudly of how she helped the great Tony Stark with his work each day.”

Blinking, Tony straightens up and brings up the relevant files on the monitor next to him. Aneta Williams, who worked in the cafeteria at the main campus. Mother to two children. She was a high school graduate but didn’t have the money to go to college. However, Stark Industries paid all of its employees very well these days, even service workers like Aneta. She was now making enough that she’d moved herself and her two children into a three bedroom apartment closer to the main campus.

The bright smile on her face in the picture she’d taken for her ID Card is so genuine it almost hurts. Tony lets out a shuddering breath and has to wipe his eyes really quick for a moment before glaring up at the ceiling. No tears thank f*cking god, but the fact that he’d thought there might be…

“You did that on purpose, J.”

“It felt like you needed a reminder that for all your actions might seem selfish on the surface, you’re doing quite a lot of good for other people too, Sir. Even the so-called little people.”

Huffing and rolling his eyes, Tony leans back in his chair.

“I’m not a good guy, J. Don’t forget that. I’m not some hero and I’m never going to pretend to be. I’m just the only man who knows what the f*ck is coming… and the only one who can stop it as well.”

Before JARVIS can respond, Tony raises a hand to forestall it.

“Not alone, JARVIS. I know. I’m not in this alone anymore. I’ve got you and I’ve got Pepper.”

“I’m glad you recognize that, Sir.”

There’s the faintest hint of reproach in JARVIS’ voice at that, but Tony just ignores it. They’d had a long talk about how to tell Pepper that he was from the future. And in the end, Tony had decided… not to. Rather, he’d sidestepped the problem entirely by telling Pepper he’d had visions of the future instead. He didn’t want her to think that he thought of her as some replacement, because she wasn’t. He didn’t want her to think that he was always comparing her and the other Pepper, because he straight up wasn’t.

He’d loved Pepper in the future that would never come to pass. But he loved Pepper in the present just as much. His actions had changed their dynamic irrevocably, and also changed Pepper herself at some point along the way. It wasn’t fair to compare them, not anymore.

Apparently deciding enough silence had passed for Tony to beat himself up over his little white lie, JARVIS speaks up again.

“What next, Sir?”

Tony hums… and then grins, rising from his chair.

“Now? Now we take over the world!”

Tony laughs at the silence that follows, well aware JARVIS would be giving him a deadpan stare right now if he could. After a bit, he lets himself relax, his grin becoming more subdued.

“I’m not really kidding, JARVIS. The World Security Council, Alexander Pierce, HYDRA, SHIELD… they pretty much run the world behind the scenes. And we’re going to finally be going after them. Subverting them, even. Won’t lie… sh*t’s about to get a lot more dangerous. Because we’re done stonewalling SHIELD, J. We’re going to start letting them in just a little bit.”

“Sir?”

Tony hums as he sits back down at his desk and begins flicking holographic icons across the screen in front of him.

“There are some assets in SHIELD, J. We’re going to make sure to reappropriate what we can in the days to come.”

A familiar face appears in front of him, attached to her highly confidential SHIELD file. Framed in digital red hair, the pretty features of one Natasha Romanoff stare Tony in the eye.

“Starting with the Black Widow.”

He wishes he could say she looks unsuspecting to really sell the sinister undertone of this moment, but even in her SHIELD file she looks ready to leap out of cyberspace and wrap those thighs of hers around his head so she can snap his neck. Of course, she’d have a much harder time doing so now, Tony can’t help but think even as he leans back and looks at the ceiling with a wide grin once more on his face.

-x-X-x-

A/N: This is basically the end of Arc One I would say. Next chapter is a transitionary chapter, and then Chapter 14 will be the beginning of Arc Two!

Thanks so much for the amazing reception I've been getting to this story so far by the way! I don't think I've ever had a story that managed to get over a hundred Likes per Chapter this far into it heh.

See you all tomorrow!

Chapter 13: Repulsor Technology

Chapter Text

A/N: In which Rhodey and Tony see each other again for the first time in a while.

This is a peek into what Tony has been doing behind the scenes. Needless to say, this isn't the only way in which he's been shaking things up and making lots of money doing so.

-x-X-x-

“Rhodey-Bear! It’s been too long!”

Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes turns at the sound of that familiar voice. Dressed in his full Air Force Uniform with his hat tucked properly into his side, he still can’t help the sardonic smile that lifts his lips as he greets Tony Stark.

“And whose fault is that, Tony? You know, my superiors in the USAF were starting to wonder if I’d lost my touch. Or maybe just my connections.”

Tony scoffs and waves off Rhodey’s words, even as he turns and begins to lead him inside.

“f*ck ‘em. If they ever try to underplay your worth, just remember you can jump ship to join me at any time, Rhodey.”

Raising an eyebrow at that, the Lieutenant Colonel makes a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat. Tony is his best friend and always will be. But… the United States Air Force is his family. His home. Still, Tony knows that. Rhodey has always been able to straddle the line between the two, mostly thanks to the close relationship between Stark Industries and the United States Armed Forces. In fact, he’s made his military career out of straddling that line.

However, ever since coming back from Afghanistan and that ill-fated press conference, most people haven’t seen much of Tony Stark, Rhodey included. Oh sure, they’ve talked on the phone a few times, but outside of things like attending Obadiah’s funeral, Tony has become a complete home body these past several months. Only the promises he’d made at that press conference had kept the hounds at bay, really. Finally, it seems like he’s coming out of his shell.

“You know I’m not going to do that, Tony.”

Flashing Rhodey a carefree smile, Tony chuckles from behind his sunglasses.

“I know Rhodey, I know. But don’t you fret. After what I have to show you today, the brass are going to be sniffing your ass, saying your sh*t doesn’t stink, and trying desperately to shower you in accolades.”

Rhodey can’t help but wrinkle his nose a little bit at that. Still, he’s nothing if not used to Tony’s colorful way of speaking. The man has always had a way with words. That said…

“Big promises, Tony. It’s okay if it’s nothing too major, you know. We’ve seen how busy you’ve been lately. Hell, some my bosses were starting to worry you were planning to pull out of weapons production altogether with how much success you were finding in other sectors. Just having you call for this meetup had them all rather excited.”

Tony scoffs and waves a hand dismissively at that.

“Pull out? Why would I pull out? I’m the Merchant of Death, aren’t I? Gotta live up to the title. Besides, those other things… just a handful of extra projects. A new phone, a couple of drugs, some consultancy work. Nothing too special.”

Rhodey scoffs at that, even as he narrows his eyes slightly. It’s the first crack he’s seen in Tony’s armor. Calling himself the Merchant of Death? That was never something Tony had done before. That had been something other people called him, but it hadn’t been a title he’d worn with pride.

The soldier was well aware that his captivity in Afghanistan had changed his best friend. You didn’t go through three months of torture and not come out of the other side a little different. Rhodey had wanted to be there for Tony, but in the end it had seemed better to just give him some space. And frankly, even with how Tony was talking, that still seemed to have been the best idea.

Not only was Tony now dating Pepper, but he was honestly downplaying his achievements over the past several months. First, Stark Industries had released its own smartphone called a Starkphone that was currently taking the world by storm. The thing was apparently so far ahead of it’s time that the other phone giants were struggling to keep up.

Second, they’d gotten a drug approved through the FDA just a couple weeks ago called PlusExtra. It wasn’t anything special… except for the fact that it apparently lowered the mortality of accident victims and surgery patients by a whopping ninety percent. People were calling it a damn miracle drug. Apparently, PlusExtra alone didn’t save lives, but it stabilized human beings like nothing else ever had.

For paramedics, it was rapidly becoming the go-to drug for anyone who got mangled badly enough to need an ambulance in the hospital. For surgeons, it was being paired with anesthesia and was apparently key for making sure life-threatening surgeries were a whole lot less life-threatening.

Rhodey wasn’t a scientist, but from what he understood, the drug did two things. It bolstered the immune system by a sh*t ton, and it bolstered the regeneration of red blood cells a hundredfold. Basically, if you were bleeding out and injected with PlusExtra, you could survive hours longer because you’d be producing more blood as fast as you could bleed it.

And finally, there were the things Tony was said to be consulting on. Things like that new Regeneration Cradle that Doctor Helen Cho from over in South Korea had apparently invented. She’d come over to the US months ago to consult with Tony on her project, and from what Rhodey had been told, he’d helped her get the damn thing operational years before she could have managed it herself.

His friend had been busy. Very busy. So Rhodey wasn’t even trying to be mean when he said he wasn’t expecting the world from Tony today.

Of course, Tony is grinning at him when Rhodey finally gets out of his own head.

“Oh yeah, been investing in some promising young scientists too while I’m at it. You ever heard of Dr. Jane Foster?”

Rhodey raises an eyebrow at that.

“You know I haven’t, Tony.”

Grinning teasingly, Tony rolls his eyes.

“Well maybe if you read more science journals, Rhodey-Bear… anyways, Jane Foster and her research partner Erik Selvig are some of the world’s leading astrophysicists. They’re doing some amazing work with Einstein-Rosen Bridges at the moment, and they were working out of an old travel van that I swear came right out of the Seventies! So I hooked them up with some extra cash flow. I’m pretty sure they’re going to change the world.”

Rhodey tries to follow along. Really he does. But…

“And what are Einstein-Rosen Bridges?”

Tony chuckles.

“Wormholes, Rhodey. Currently, they’re tracking some anomalous activity. Who knows, maybe they’ll uncover aliens!”

Rhodey snorts derisively at that. At least Tony still has a sense of humor, he supposes.

“And they’re only the tip of the iceberg. Stark Industries is investing in different research projects all over the world. They call this era of human history the Age of Progress, Rhodey. Bout time to see just how fast we can really go in my opinion. Speaking of which…”

They finally reach the end of a long hall, at which point Tony throws open the doors and reveals the room on the other side. It’s a rather large room and clearly set up for weapons demonstrations given the wide empty concrete space on one side. Rhodey’s eyes are immediately drawn to what can only be described as a weapon’s platform with a big honking turret on top of it though.

“Tony…”

“Yep. All yours, Rhodey.”

He tries not to act too much like a kid in a candy shop, even as he very carefully sets aside his hat and pulls off his jacket, folding it properly and making sure it’s secured. Then, he walks very fast but does not run over to the weapon’s platform, climbing up the steps to where the seat behind the large turret sits.

As he settles into place, Tony climbs up next to him and points out a big red switch that Rhodey flicks with no further prompting. The whole machine comes to life at that, and Rhodey’s eyes dart over the readouts, even as Tony points things out to him. Truthfully… it’s surprisingly intuitive for a piece of military hardware.

In a jet, for instance, the co*ckpit is filled with a million different switches. Redundancies on top of redundancies, and the training is no joke. But this… Rhodey finds himself taking hold of the controls rather quickly and staring down the sights of the turret at the far wall in short order.

“Weapons hot, Rhodey. Fire when ready.”

“What’s going to happen when I do, Tony?”

Scoffing, Tony just grins.

“C’mon man. Live a little.”

Truthfully, that’s all he needs to hear. With an almost vicious glee, Rhodey presses the red buttons on the top of the handheld controls… and watches with wide eyes as a beam of white light shoots out of the end of the turret and slams into the far wall, leaving behind a crater in the concrete.

“… Holy sh*t Tony. You made laser weaponry?”

But Tony is already shaking his head.

“Not quite, Rhodey. Energy? Yes. Lasers? Not really. I call it Repulsor Technology. At its core… it’s a form of propulsion more than anything.”

Rhodey’s mouth opens and closes at that for a moment before he gives his friend an incredulous look.

“Propulsion? You can’t be serious.”

Tony just smiles and points to another button on the console with one hand, while the other hand reaches back and grabs a railing. Rhodey reaches out and presses the button… only to gape as what he’d thought was a stationary turret platform suddenly begins to float.

“Whoa… Tony, what the hell?”

“It’s all the same technology, Rhodey. Like I said, Repulsor Technology. You can use it for offense, defense, and even movement. This is 1% power right now that you’re using to hover. The beam you just fired was about 40% power.”

Only 40%?! That meant at a hundred percent it could probably demolish a wall, and if fired correctly, bring down an entire building! Blinking, Rhodey realizes the controls actually do seem a little like a steering wheel. Instinctively, he pushes them forward… and yelps as the hovering platform starts to move into the weapons testing area. Slowly, he drives them in a circle.

“… Could this be used in jets, Tony?”

Grinning, Tony tilts his head to the side.

“Sure it could. It would put your modern jet engine to shame, honestly. Though I haven’t developed a Repulsor Jet just yet. And I should warn you now… it’s all black boxed.”

Rhodey gives Tony a look at that, but the weapons developer just shrugs, completely unrepentant.

“Sorry but not sorry, Rhodey. This is proprietary stuff we’re talking about here. I’m always happy to sell to the United States Military, but you and I both know they’d love to crack my stuff open and have my competitors make it cheaper and with worse quality but for half the price. Well tough. Try to crack any of my Repulsor Technology open, try to repurpose any of it… they won’t like the results very much.”

When Rhodey doesn’t stop staring at Tony, Tony just smiles wickedly.

“Mess with this stuff too much… and it turns into a bomb.”

Eyes widening, Rhodey suddenly feels a lot less safe about where he’s sitting as he looks down at what is apparently a giant bomb that he’s sitting on. Tony just laughs.

“Oh come off it, Rhodey. It’s perfectly safe. And the casing is made of some stern stuff. It can take a ton of damage from conventional weapon’s fire before anything would hit anything vital. But just like with anything that costs a whole lot of energy, if you manage to damage the integrity of the core, you’re going to have an explosion on your hands.”

That was… a bit fairer, Rhodey was forced to concede. Still…

“What even is at the core of this thing Tony? This sort of technology, it’s…”

Here, Tony just chuckles.

“I like to call it ‘post-modern weaponry’. We’re moving beyond the need for conventional bullets, Rhodey. Be they for handguns or tanks, we’re moving from physical ammunition to energy-based fire. This is the start of that. C’mon, there’s more.”

They put the hovering turret platform back into place and then Tony leads Rhodey to the rest of it. Stuff like Repulsor Rifles, Repulsor Gloves, Repulsor Hover Boots. To say Rhodey is impressed by the end of the show would be an understatement. When he says as much to Tony however, his best friend’s answer shocks him to his core.

“Excellent? I’ll just have to put you in touch with the CEO so you guys can work out a deal then, Rhodey-Bear!”

Stopping in the middle of putting back on his uniform jacket, Rhodey turns and stares at Tony.

“… You’re the CEO of Stark Industries, Tony.”

Grinning like the cat who caught the canary, Tony shakes his head.

“Not anymore, Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes. You’re one of the first to find out, but as of this morning I am now the Chief Science Officer of Stark Industries, Head of Research and Development… but no more than that.”

Rapidly processing what that means, Rhodey finds himself at a loss for words for a moment. Until finally he asks the most pertinent question of all.

“Who… who’s replacing you, Tones?”

Grin softening slightly at the nickname, Tony gestures to the door.

“Let me show you to their office, yeah?”

In the end, Rhodey has no choice but to follow Tony if he wants answers. To say his anxiety is high all the way to the new Stark Industries CEO would be an understatement. But never has he been more shocked while also feeling immense relief when the door opens… and he sees none other than Pepper Potts sitting behind the desk. At his and Tony’s entrance, the red head looks up from her work and then smiles broadly.

“Rhodey! I trust the demonstration went well then?”

Tony is the one who answers of course, staying by the door.

“That it did, Pep! He’s on board, but obviously I’m not the one he has to deal with anymore. Don’t fleece him too badly now, you hear? He’s still a friend!”

Pepper hums at that, before looking at Rhodey with an expression that actually manages to send shivers down his spine.

“A friend maybe. But also a representative of the world’s most well-funded military. Come in and have a seat, Lieutenant Colonel. Let’s talk.”

On the one hand, Rhodey immediately gets it. Pepper slots into the role of CEO like she was born to it, and as Tony retreats from the office and leaves Rhodey to his fate, he kind of understands why the other man made this decision. On the other hand… boy is this going to ruffle some feathers and shake things up a whole lot…

-x-X-x-

“Sir. Stark has provided an opening.”

“Indeed, I just saw the news. Pepper Potts has been named CEO of Stark Industries. Let me guess, Tony Stark has yet to pick up a replacement for the position of his PA.”

“Yes sir. This seems to be our one opportunity. I suggest we send in Agent Romanoff. She’s done well in the months since she and Barton were split back up. A handful of solo missions under her belt now.”

“Mm. Very well. But prepare her for this to be long-term.”

“Sir?”

“We’ve been stonewalled for months. As you said, this might be our one opportunity at getting into Stark’s inner circle. Agent Romanoff is to go deep undercover here. Make it clear to her that this isn’t a one week mission. Probably not even a one month mission. We still don’t know how Stark seems to know about every single attempt to surveil him. I don’t want her to even try to report anything she learns to us unless she considers it worth likely blowing her cover.”

“Yes sir.”

“Make sure she knows how important this is, Agent Coulson. I’m sick and tired of not knowing what the hell Tony Stark is up to, and some of the things he’s putting on market… I shudder to think what he’s holding back behind the scenes for himself or anyone who might be willing to pay top dollar. Agent Romanoff is our best shot at finally figuring out just how much of a threat Howard’s son has become.”

“As you say, Director Fury. I’ll make sure the briefing is very thorough.”

“Excellent. Get it done.”

-x-X-x-

A/N: Did Tony just make Pepper his CEO early just so he could bait SHIELD into sending in Natasha Romanoff to become his Personal Assistant? Yes. Yes he did.

Chapter 14: Natalie Rushman

Chapter Text

A/N: Natasha Romanoff enters the stage.

-x-X-x-

“You wanted to see me Pep?”

“Tony! Meet your new Personal Assistant, Natalie Rushman.”

Had Tony made Pepper the CEO of Stark Industries years before he’d done so originally solely to give SHIELD an opportunity to put their hand right inside of his mouse trap? Yes. Yes he had. And they’d played right into his hands too, judging by the look of Natasha Romanoff as she turns to face him with a smile on her ruby red lips.

He and JARVIS hadn’t been sure whether they’d go for it or not. It was, after all, a year and a half before she would have been sent to spy on him in the original timeline. Eighteen months in which Natasha had proven herself to SHIELD over the course of a dozen more missions then she had under her belt right now.

By the time she’d infiltrated his company for Fury the first time around, Natasha had already been Level Six and was well on her way to becoming Level Seven. Right now, Natasha had just managed to make it to Level Five, which allowed her some additional slack on her leash and meant SHIELD was willing to trust her on more solo missions.

Yet here she was. Even using the same cover identity as last time. Either it was an old cover Natasha had suggested repurposing, or SHIELD really was criminally unimaginative for a spy organization. As she takes a step towards him, raising a hand in greeting, Tony takes a moment to really soak in her visage.

The first thing Tony notices about the Natasha of this era is how young she looks. The stress of the next ten years hadn’t been kind to anyone… not even the gorgeous femme fatale. Which was darkly amusing when you thought about it. All those years as a spy and assassin hadn’t prematurely aged Natasha, but the moment she’d found herself as an Avenger, it had all been downhill from there.

Right now, Natasha’s hair is the longest he recalls seeing it, with lots of curls and a vibrancy that would be seeped out of it over the years to follow. She was beautiful of course… though frankly, Pepper gave her a run for her money these days, especially with the Extremis Super Soldier Serum bringing his beloved girlfriend’s best qualities to the forefront.

Of course, he’s still checking her out. Something that ‘Natalie’ notices and lets her smile widen over, batting her lashes at him now that she’s turned away from Pepper so the other woman can’t see her face.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Stark.”

Her hand is out for him to take hold of. No doubt it would be as soft as imaginable, no trace of the usual callouses that one would expect from someone in Natasha’s line of work. Tony takes it with a wide grin of his own, playing right into her hands… or at least, letting her believe he is.

“Charmed, Ms. Rushman.”

The first time around, Natasha hadn’t been inserted as his PA. SHIELD had been a bit more clandestine about things, and gotten her hired as a Stark Industries Notary Public. Basically, she’d brought paperwork to the bigwigs at the company to sign in her presence so that they could say it was all above work and she could notarize it on her end.

Kind of the perfect role for a spy, really. It allowed her to always have an excuse to be in a room where conversations might be happening that she wanted to be privy to, while also giving her access to all sorts of sensitive documents.

SHIELD hadn’t gone that route this time however… but then to be fair to the spy organization, Tony and JARVIS hadn’t really given them much choice. His beautiful artificial baby boy had been stonewalling SHIELD’s attempts to slip in through the cracks left behind by Obadiah Stane’s meddling for quite a while now. Their efforts to hack into Stark Servers, be they the company’s or his personal ones, had all ended in failure.

Likewise, they had already tried to put a few agents into Stark Industries here and there, including an attempt at placing one as a Notary Public just like Natasha would have been in the future. None of it had worked.

So really, it was no wonder that they’d pulled out all the stops and sent a woman they were convinced would make Tony’s head turn in all the right ways just as soon as they’d found out they had this opportunity.

Of course, that didn’t mean Tony was going to make this EASY for Natasha. Letting go of her hand, he gives Pepper a confused smile.

“Thought I told you we could take it slow with the replacement search, Pep? I’m just the Chief Science Officer now. It’s not like I really need a full time assistant anyways.”

Pepper just shrugs, smiling a patient smile.

“You also agreed when I let you convince me to take this god awful job that I would be allowed to choose my replacement. She comes highly recommended, Tony.”

Feigning suspicion is fun, Tony decides, even as he glances to Natasha for a moment before peering at Pepper questioningly.

“Highly recommended by whom, exactly?”

Rolling her eyes, Pepper lets out a soft sigh.

“You’ll have read her file by the end of the day anyways, Tony. For now, all you need to know is that she comes highly recommended by me. Natalie here is the one I’ve chosen to be my replacement. And that means you have to at least give her a chance, alright?”

As they’ve been talking, Natasha has been looking between them, a cutely worried expression on her pretty face. Her lips lightly pursed and pouting, she was managing to look precisely like a young woman hoping to get one of the best jobs on the market WOULD look at finding out that her new boss might fire her before she could even begin.

At the same time though, Tony can tell that it’s more than that. He can see a lot more this time around, and not just because of all of his foreknowledge.

See, the Super Soldier Serum didn’t just make you physically stronger, faster, and healthier. It made you more of what you already were. In Tony’s case, he was a genius. Now he was a genius on steroids. Extremis also helped a lot, enhancing his senses to the point where Natasha would have to be taking muscle relaxant drugs herself in order to hide her true feelings from him.

Underneath the worry, Tony detects that Natasha is curious. She’s probably wondering why Pepper is fighting for her so hard while Tony doesn’t want her. After all, he’d read what SHIELD thought of him and his overall personality. While there’d been a recent addendum to his file about what might be a change from a playboy to a romantic, it wasn’t being taken very seriously.

Put simply, Tony should be salivating all over Natasha’s tight young body in that white blouse and hot pencil skirt right now. Instead…

“Do it for me, Tony. Besides, she’s nice to look at if nothing else, right?”

Instead, Pepper was the one playing the horndog. Tony holds back the grin as Natasha’s eyes widen and she glances over at the new CEO of Stark Industries in surprise. While much of her reaction is part of her façade, Tony can see that there’s some very real shock reinforcing the stupefied look on her pretty face.

Pepper gives her a wide grin and a wink that has Natasha playing her role perfectly… namely by ducking her head shyly and brushing some of her curls back behind her ear in what appears to be an unconscious bout of insecurity. Honestly, she’s very, very good at what she does. Too bad for her, she’s in over her head.

Clapping his hands together, Tony brings the attention of both women back to himself.

“I know! You still don’t have a PA either, right Pep?”

Furrowing her brow, Pepper slowly shakes her head.

“Not yet… but Tony, if you’re going to try to offload Natalie here onto me…”

For the briefest of moments, Natasha actually looks alarmed by that potential option. She covers it up well, but it’s clear they’ve left her just enough off-balance so far that she can’t quite stifle it. Tony almost wants to laugh. While she could still do some of her job from a position as Pepper’s PA, she wouldn’t be able to really get close to Tony like SHIELD obviously wanted her to. God, who knew teasing and toying with the spooks would be so much fun?

“No, no. I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting… we share her.”

Pepper raises an eyebrow at that, while Tony just grins.

“I’ve got J anyways, after all. I don’t really need a flesh and blood PA these days, it’s half of why I made you CEO in the first place. But let’s do joint custody, shall we? She’ll spend half her time with you and half her time with me.”

Frowning, Pepper pretends to consider it for a long moment.

“Mm… I don’t know. That’s a lot to handle for just one person, Tony…”

Right on cue, Natasha steps forward, eyes wide and earnest, ruby red lips parting in a breathless manner.

“I assure you, I can handle the load, Ms. Potts.”

Tony doesn’t snort. He wants to, but he doesn’t. ‘I can handle the load’. Pfft, he bets she can. If nothing else, Natasha Romanoff is proving to be very… flexible. Having picked up on the fact that Pepper is the one most likely to be ‘easily seduced’ and no doubt having heard about the rumors surrounding Tony, Pepper, Maya, and now Helen… Natasha was going for broke.

Grinning wickedly, Tony claps his hands again.

“See? Natalia here is a go getter, Pep!”

Natasha turns to him at that, giving him a bright, sunny smile.

“It’s Natalie, sir.”

But Tony just waves her off.

“Natalie, sure.”

He’d been tempted to ‘mistakenly’ call her Natasha outright, but that probably would have been too soon. He’d mess up her name a few more times before ‘accidentally’ tossing out a Natasha just to see how she reacts, heh.

“Besides, if it doesn’t work out, we’ll go from there. Maybe she can become your full time PA after all and I’ll just rely more heavily on J.”

That gets stifled alarm from Natasha, who is now suddenly very motivated to make this ‘shared custody’ arrangement work. If he’d said nothing, or reversed it and said they’d just make her HIS full time PA if it didn’t work out, then she would have been incentivized to start doing a mediocre job to try to make it seem like the work load was too much. But now… well, now she would have to put her all into making things work, lest she find herself cut off from him and the majority of what SHIELD wanted her to find out.

“Well… alright then. I suppose we can give it a try.”

Honestly, hats off to Pepper. The woman was one of the best actresses Tony had ever seen. Though it probably helped that she wasn’t having to fake the hunger in her eyes as she regarded Natasha Romanoff and her beautiful body.

Grinning like the cat who caught the canary, Tony perks up.

“Wonderful! Then I’ll leave her with you first and you send her over when you’re done with her. Sound good, Pep?”

“Yes, yes. Sounds good.”

As Tony turns and begins to walk out of the office, Natasha tries for a ‘I’m looking forward to working under you!’ tossed in his direction, but he just waves her off. Meanwhile, the last thing he hears from her thanks to enhanced hearing once he’s out of the office and moving down the hall, is her moving over to Pepper’s desk and the shifting of fabric as she pushes her arms together to accentuate her chest.

“I’m at your disposal, Ms. Potts. Let me know how I can assist you… in any way you might wish it of me.”

Tony snickers quietly to himself. Oh, they were going to have fun with ‘Natalie Rushman’. That was for damn sure.

-x-X-x-

Natasha Romanoff almost felt like she was being punked. She’d been briefed ahead of this mission by Agent Phil Coulson, of course. The importance of this particular operation had been drilled into her by the man. As well, she’d been informed that Fury wanted her to take things slow, to avoid rocking the boat, and to do everything she could to maintain her cover above all else for as long as possible.

She’d been ready for a lot of things, or so she figured. Winding up in bed with Tony Stark was one of them. After all, she was going undercover as the man’s personal assistant, and not only was he an infamous playboy, he was literally already dating his previous personal assistant. Seducing him, or even just allowing him to think he’d seduced her… that had made plenty of sense to Natasha as a viable first move.

Of course, she’d assumed it would take at least a few days before things would progress that far. She hadn’t quite counted on Tony giving her a once over and then telling Pepper he didn’t need her. Nor had she expected Pepper to be the one to be the most interested in her body. Though, by the end of their conversation, it was obvious that the rumors surrounding the two and Dr. Hansen and Dr. Cho were likely true. Tony had come back from Afghanistan changed… and part of that seemed to involve him and Pepper preying upon other women and drawing them into their shared bed for threesomes.

This too, wasn’t exactly outside of Natasha’s wheelhouse or realm of expertise, even if she would have preferred to be Stark’s full time PA. But you worked with what you were given, so Natasha was happily doing exactly that.

Only, once Tony had left and Natasha had made a pass at Pepper… the other red head had simply given her some busy work and left her to it! After the way the two of them had been talking, she’d half-expected to wind up under Pepper Potts’ desk eating out the other woman within a few minutes of his departure!

Instead, Natasha found herself putting some miles onto her new high heels, walking the floors of Stark Industries and carrying out task after task for the admittedly brand new CEO of Stark Industries.

Just based off of her first interaction with Stark and Potts, Natasha got the impression that this mission was going to be even harder than she’d thought it would be. But that was alright. Natasha liked a challenge. And hey, she already had a lead to run down. This mysterious ‘J’ that Tony was talking about… who could that be? And could they be utilized in some way to get the information SHIELD wanted her to get?

-x-X-x-

A/N: Natasha is officially playing cat and mouse with Tony and Pepper. But does she realize who is the cat and who is the mouse? Hmmm.

See you all tomorrow!

Chapter 15: Old Messes

Chapter Text

A/N: Bit of a timeskip as we enter 2009~

-x-X-x-

Just like that, 2008 slips away and Tony finds himself reliving 2009 for the second time through. Of course, things are VERY different this go-around. Last time he was in full swing as Iron Man by now. Swooping around the world in his red and gold suit, taking down bad guys and giving himself missions whenever Rhodey and his superiors didn’t have anything for him to do. The creeping realization that Palladium was poisoning him and that the very thing he’d invented to save his life was going to kill him in the end.

There was none of that this time around. This time around, Tony was doing a lot more science. Inventing and reinventing things he knew he would need in the future. Staying in the lab, keeping his head down. Well, sort of. Every other month he was pushing some new product out of the lab and over to marketing. Stark Industries had always been a Fortune Five Hundred Company. But at the rate Tony was going, they’d be at the top of that list by the end of this year and be making the rest of the single digits of the Fortune Five Hundred Listing look like toddlers by the end of 2010.

Of course, the business was barely a side hobby at this point. Having unlimited cash reserves was pretty useful, so Tony was happy to make sure that Stark Industries ‘won capitalism’. However, it wasn’t the most important thing. Not by a long shot. There were enemies coming… there were enemies already here. Tony wanted to destroy them all and be done with it, but now that he had secured his and Pepper’s safety, he was taking his time with it.

For the time being, it was just him, Pepper, Maya, and Helen with the Extremis Super Soldier Serum so far. Tony had considered giving it to Happy Hogan as well. He’d waffled on whether or not to do it for a time. In the end, cold logic had won out over sentiment.

The more people knew about a secret, the less secure the secret was. Happy was family, but he wasn’t what Tony would call subtle. Unlike Rhodey, Tony knew where Happy’s loyalties lay. He knew that the man would never knowingly or willingly betray him. That didn’t mean Tony could trust Happy to keep such power a secret.

Maybe in the future, when the threats got bigger and they weren’t playing these silly spy games Tony would offer to dose Happy. When they finally needed all hands on deck, Tony would bring Happy on board. But not yet. Not now when things were at their most delicate.

Admittedly, it felt a little strange keeping his head of security in the dark about some very serious security risks. Tony hated the fact that he had to keep lying to Happy for the time being. But he also knew the former boxer would understand. He always seemed to understand, always seemed to be happy staying in his lane.

What Happy didn’t know couldn’t hurt him… for now. SHIELD and HYDRA were dangerous, but they were most dangerous when they thought you had something they wanted. Happy’s rather… hapless nature meant that despite being ostensibly one of Tony’s closest friends, he had all but fallen off the radar of Stark Industries one approved security risk… ‘Natalie Rushman’.

“Mr. Stark sir, I’ve finished. Will there be anything else?”

Glancing up from his tablet, Tony has to repress a smile as he sees Natasha Romanoff looking at him expectantly from the doorway. She’s leaned against it with her heels off and in her hand, her pantyhose-clad feet resting on the carpet. One could look at her and assume she was just tired from walking around in those inch heels of hers all day. Or one could look a little closer and notice that she’d also undone another button on her top from the last time Tony had seen her.

It's not much… only a little risqué. Tony can barely see a hint of the lacy red bra that Natasha is wearing under her usual white blouse.

The last few months had been… fun, to say the least. Even if sometimes it felt like bullying the poor SHIELD spy. But then to be fair, it was Natasha Romanoff. Given everything from the previous timeline, Tony kind of felt like she deserved it. Just a little bit.

He and Pepper had yet to do anything with Natasha, despite her giving them so many signs and so many cues that said she was all too ready to be seduced by the two of them. Instead, they’d passed her back and forth between them, utilizing her as their shared personal assistant and no doubt driving her wild. Certainly, this was an escalation that proved Natasha thought she needed to be more obvious to finally make her way into Tony’s bed.

Peering at her for a long moment, Tony hums consideringly.

“Actually yes, Ms. Rushman. There is one more thing you can do for me.”

Natasha perks up at that. She bites her lower lip and twirls a lock of her curly red hair around her finger.

“Oh? And… what would that be, sir?”

She was laying it on a bit thick, but at this point, that was part of her character. Natalie Rushman was getting more and more fed up that Tony and Pepper were missing all of her signals. She’d picked up on their own signals and was trying desperately to make them realize that she wanted what they seemed to want… albeit without just coming out and saying it.

It was rather amusing to watch Natasha play the role of horny personal assistant desperate to crawl under Pepper’s desk or Tony’s workbench and show them what her ruby red lips were really good for. And it was even more amusing to deny her that time and time again.

“I need a coaster for my drink, please.”

He gestures past his tablet to the glass on the coffee table in front of him. Natasha’s eyes dart down to it, where the perspiration from the ice cold co*ke is slowly crawling down the glass, making its way towards the very expensive wood underneath it.

For a long moment, Tony thinks Natasha might leap across the room, wrap her legs around his head, and put him in a scissor hold right then and there just like he’d seen her do to Happy all those years ago.

But no. Natasha Romanoff is a professional. And so far, so is Natalie Rushman. Plastering a strained smile on her face, the spy-turned-PA walks over… saunters, really. Then, she picks up the coaster from the other side of the coffee table, not but three feet from where Tony is sat, and carefully slips it under his drink. She makes sure to bend over far more than she has to as she does so, arching her back and giving Tony a long look down her unbuttoned top as she gets it juuust right.

Then, she straightens up in a way that should honestly be criminal, a swooping motion that accentuates all the best parts of her and ends with her flicking her hair back over her shoulders and giving him a lidded look.

“Anything else, Mr. Stark?”

Holding her shoes in front of her, her arms are pushed in to draw the eye to her bust even then. She is a walking talking sin just waiting to happen. The old Tony would never have been able to resist. But then to be fair, the old Tony would have bent Natalie Rushman over a hard surface and done the deed months ago.

“No Ms. Rushman. That will be all.”

Flashing her a quick smile and returning to his tablet without laughing his head off takes every fiber of Tony’s being, but he manages to do it. He doesn’t even look up when Natasha finally turns and leaves the room, letting her swaying ass go on its way without tempting him further. Reaching out, Tony grabs the glass of co*ke and takes a long drink of it before putting it back down, completely missing the coaster itself. He’s already completely engrossed in what he was doing before.

That is, until JARVIS interrupts.

“Apologies Sir… but you wished to be informed of any developments regarding Ivan Vanko.”

Tony jolts at that, looking up at the ceiling with wide eyes for a moment. Then he sighs, rubs his eyes, and sets aside the tablet. It was going to be that kind of night, wasn’t it?

-x-X-x-

He’d done it. It had taken the last couple of months of him slaving over it, but he’d done it. Ever since watching Tony Stark return from Afghanistan alive, ever since his father’s death, Ivan hadn’t been able to sleep. The Vanko men had been screwed over their entire lives by the Stark Family and Ivan… Ivan was done putting up with it.

He’d gone a little crazy, done some very illegal things, but… it was finished. The glowing blue hum of the miniaturized Arc Reactor in his hand proves it.

Not even Howard Stark had done this! Not even the great Tony Stark, up in his ivory tower, had been able to shrink an Arc Reactor to this size! Over in the US, the large Arc Reactor that his father and Howard Stark had created was little more than a novelty! But here in this ramshackle abode in Russia, Ivan had created infinite power! Power he would use to destroy Tony Stark and everything he loved. Power he would-!

“I’ll take that.”

Ivan blinks as the finished Arc Reactor is plucked from his trembling fingers mid-inner monologue. He stares in disbelief for a moment before whipping around with a snarl, only to stop dead in his tracks at what he sees in front of him. There is a robot in his home. A massive metal man done up in matte black. But that’s not even the most shocking thing. The most shocking thing is the faint blue glow in the center of the robot’s chest. An Arc Reactor, but unlike anything Vanko has ever seen. He’s smart enough to recognize one thing though… it’s more advanced than his own.

“… Impossible.”

“You know Ivan, I didn’t want to come here. Really, I didn’t. I even considered recruiting you at one point. The sins of the father should not condemn the son, right? I really believe that. But at the same time… you already went to prison once. More than that, you threatened my loved ones and I just seem to have a really hard time looking past that if I’m being honest.”

The conversational tone the robot is taking with him sets Ivan on edge even as he struggles to parse through the nonsense that the damn thing is spouting. He makes an aborted attempt to reach for his Arc Reactor, only to stop when the robot holds up a hand and reveals some sort of glowing energy in the palm.

“Don’t.”

He stops in his tracks. What would he do with it if he got it back anyways? He has ideas for weapons that it could power, but he hasn’t had the time to actually develop any of them.

“I thought maybe if I didn’t show off, you wouldn’t be inspired. I thought maybe if I didn’t make a big deal of it all, you would stay quiet. But I was a fool. That was my ego talking. I wasn’t your catalyst. Not all of it anyways. Your father’s death so close to my return was the catalyst, wasn’t it?”

… No. No, it could not be. And yet, a second later… the armor splits open. Armor, not a robot. Never a robot. Inside, staring at Ivan with something like pity in his eyes, is Tony f*cking Stark.

The matte black suit of iron peels away and steps back, allowing Tony to step forward still holding Ivan’s Arc Reactor. Ivan’s hands close and unclose. He doesn’t know what to say.

“Even when JARVIS alerted me to your initial movements, I didn’t want to have to do this. I buried my head in the sand and let it go. Thought… maybe you weren’t doing what I thought you were doing. But I knew I had to keep an eye on you. And then… look at you. Didn’t even show you mine, yet you still went and managed to make your own.”

Stark studies Ivan’s Arc Reactor closely. It’s then that Ivan acts. The man is as arrogant and egotistical as ever. His armor sits a few feet away. He stands there right in front of Ivan without any protection. And just behind Ivan… is a screwdriver.

With a roar, Ivan grabs the screwdriver and utilizes a little maneuver he learned from spending a decade and a half in prison. He slams the screwdriver right between Tony Stark’s ribs and into his kidney. Then, he twists. Stark makes a noise, even as Ivan grins and goes to pull the screwdriver back, ready to stab it in again and again and again until the man is dead.

Except that never happens. Just as Ivan is trying to pull the screwdriver back, an impossibly strong hand latches onto his wrist and squeezes. A scream of pain leaves the Russian’s lips as his bones grind together and ultimately snap like paper mache.

His fingers spasm and he involuntarily lets go of the screwdriver, falling to his knees and cradling his mangled arm in horror. It puts him right at eye level to watch as Tony Stark uses the same hand to grab the handle of the screwdriver and pull it out of his body. Ivan has a moment of vicious satisfaction, knowing that if nothing else, Tony Stark will need a new kidney after tonight. Even if the man could probably afford a billion new kidneys given his wealth.

Except… even that moment dies a rapid death when he watches Stark’s injury burn bright orange. The furthest point of the stab wound regenerates right before Ivan’s eyes, all the way up to the surface until the skin closes over it, leaving no sign of damage behind.

Slowly looking further up, Ivan Vanko stares into Tony Stark’s burning orange eyes and sees no mercy there, even with the man’s following words.

“I’ll make it quick, at least.”

His father had always said Howard Stark was a monster and that no doubt the son was just the same as the father. Ivan’s last thoughts are that Anton Vanko had no way of knowing just how right he was.

Still, the demon wearing Stark’s skin is honest if nothing else. Ivan barely feels it as the other man’s free hand reaches out and snaps his neck, killing him instantly.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Tony was willing to live and let live, but only to a certain extent. In the end, Vanko stepped over a line without knowing it and paid the ultimate price.

Meanwhile, poor Natasha is clearly having a hard time getting into Tony OR Pepper's bed. Such a shame :P

Chapter 16: Natalie's Gambit

Chapter Text

A/N: Natasha finally makes her move. Or more accurately, 'Natalie Rushman' makes her move.

-x-X-x-

Natasha was done playing games. More specifically, ‘Natalie Rushman’ was done playing games. She’d been undercover working as the shared personal assistant of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts for months now, and she felt like she barely had anything to show for it save for two major things.

First, while it had taken her an embarrassing long time to finally figure out who ‘J’ was, Natasha had eventually cracked it. By just asking point blank after hearing the Posh British voice coming from the ceiling for several weeks straight. As it turned out, J stood for JARVIS… and JARVIS stood for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System.

Stark described JARVIS as a natural-language user interface. After coming to understand the thing a little better, it became far more obvious why Stark didn’t think he needed her. JARVIS didn’t have hands, but in a world as digital as the modern era was, that didn’t really matter. All Stark had to do was give his digital butler orders and JARVIS would not only pass them on with lightning speed, but he could even go farther by taking the initiative and seeking out the proper people who would get whatever Stark wanted done as fast as possible.

What Natasha understood from all of this, and what Natalie Rushman didn’t quite ‘get’… was that JARVIS was more than just a user interface. He was a full-fledged Artificial Intelligence. Stark seemed to keep him on a short leash of course, but this explained why SHIELD had such issues with breaking into Stark Industries’ servers after Stark came back from Afghanistan. That must have been when he turned JARVIS from a normal user interface into a full-fledged AI and tasked him with defending his company from all would-be intruders.

Luckily, JARVIS clearly wasn’t perfect or she wouldn’t have been able to slip in under the AI’s radar like she had. It was also lucky that Coulson and Fury had decided to have her take the slow approach with this infiltration, because otherwise she would have almost certainly exposed herself unknowingly to the AI in the several weeks it had taken her to figure out exactly what he was.

With an understanding of JARVIS’ true nature came the understanding that Natasha really couldn’t act the way she normally would. Snooping around Pepper Potts’ Office or Tony Stark’s Laboratory would inevitably be picked up by the ever-present digital interference in the building, and she would quickly be caught out.

Instead, Natasha had spent the last few months working on something else… trying and failing to seduce Tony Stark and Pepper Potts individually.

She’d actually clocked rather early on that she wasn’t getting anywhere with both of them. Natasha had also realized that this was at least in part because they were tied at the hip. However, she’d been able to confirm that the two were in an unconventional relationship with both Maya Hansen and Helen Cho, just as the rumors had said.

It wasn’t that Tony and Pepper weren’t willing to f*ck other women… rather, it was that they weren’t willing to f*ck other women without one another present.

Natasha Romanoff had figured this out within a couple of weeks of working under them. But she’d ultimately decided that Natalie Rushman needed to spend a few months learning the same thing. Only now, after several months of increasingly ‘desperate’ attempts at getting into their respective beds, was Natalie finally going to pull a Hail Mary.

As the door to the bedroom opens, Natasha makes sure everything is perfect. She has a hopeful, vulnerable, and expectant look on her face. One leg over the other as she sits on the edge of the bed. And oh yeah, she’s wearing a lacy white corset and a pair of matching white panties and nothing else, her red curls cascading over her bare shoulders as she bites her lower lip and straightens up.

Both Stark and Potts quickly clock her presence, even though they’d been kissing one another just a moment earlier. Pulling apart in the open doorway, they look at her in surprise but also curious arousal. The CEO of Stark Industries is the first to speak, her lips curling into a wolfish smile as she slides her gaze up and down Natasha’s body.

“Ms. Rushman. What a surprise.”

From beside her, Stark is doing the same for a moment, making no secret of the fact that he’s checking Natasha out. But then his gaze darts to the ceiling.

“A surprise indeed. JARVIS, you didn’t tell us that there was an intruder.”

A moment later and the British Voice of Stark’s AI, familiar at this point, fills the room.

“I did not think Ms. Rushman counted as an intruder, sir. Besides, you and Ms. Potts have been spending increasing amounts of time recently discussing Natalie Rushman’s body and how it fits into her work clothing. It seemed that you would enjoy the opportunity to see her in her latest choice of attire.”

‘Natalie Rushman’ blushes furiously at the voice from on high’s dry wit. Inwardly though, Natasha is crowing in victory. Which for her means she’s internally smirking to herself. Just as she’d thought, if this wasn’t the right play then JARVIS would never have let her make it this far in the first place.

Pretending to fiddle with the lace of her lingerie, Natasha bites her lower lip as she looks at Tony and Pepper, doing her very best to project vulnerability, anticipation, and trepidation all at the same time. Judging by how they manage to look even hungrier as a result, she’s succeeding.

“I… I can go if you want sir, ma’am. I just… you both have… w-well, I thought if neither of you wanted me on your own… maybe you’d want me… together.”

The very rich couple exchange a pair of looks at that… and then wordlessly move deeper into the bedroom together.

“You thought right, Ms. Rushman. Tony and I share everything with one another.”

“Not long ago I wasn’t really the sharing type. But then something happened that changed my outlook on life. You might have heard of it.”

Natasha ducks her head in faux shame as Tony dryly brings up his experiences if Afghanistan. She’s tempted to slip in a question about his escape, but now isn’t the time. No need to ruin the moment or garner suspicion.

His hand runs along her body… as does Pepper on her other side. They sit on either side of her and Natasha finds herself penned in. Of course, neither of them has any idea just how dangerous she truly is. And she has no intention of letting them find out. Instead, she allows them to touch her, encouraging it with soft mewls and moans as ‘Natalie Rushman’ seemingly succumbs to their combined efforts.

“I learned not to let my own insecurities get in the way of my happiness anymore. First thing I did after getting back was kiss Pepper here right on the lips. The rest is history.”

Looking up at Tony with wide eyes, Natasha bites her lower lip.

“That’s… that’s very romantic, sir.”

Tony grins a confident, co*cksure grin at that. The sort of grin that would make a girl like Natalie Rushman melt in the palm of his hand if she were real. When his palm finds her mound and begins to run along it, Natasha makes sure to hump at his hand, moaning and getting nice and wet for him, just like her cover would.

At the same time, Pepper isn’t idle. She’s not just watching as her very rich boyfriend has his way with his Personal Assistant. Leaning into Natasha’s side, Pepper’s breath ghosts across her ear, causing Natasha to moan as she whispers to her.

“Honestly, Tony is too much man for any one woman to handle, Ms. Rushman. Even me. Just remember that he loves me above all else… and you’ll be fine.”

A weakness? An insecurity? Natasha files it away for later consideration, even as she nods her head rapidly at Pepper’s words. Getting in the middle of Stark and Potts’ relationship wouldn’t be easy if the last few months were any indication. However, now that she was getting in the middle of them in another more carnal way, it might be a possibility. Once Tony saw what she was truly capable of, he might just start to find himself falling in love with her instead.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Natasha poisoned a seemingly happy couple from the inside. Men were men and women… women could be so jealous at times.

But that was for later. For now, Natasha focuses on the moment… and making sure that both parties have every reason to be happy with how this night turns out. Her hands finally come up from where she’d had them ‘nervously’ tucked at her sides and Natasha glances from Tony to Pepper and back again as she inches her fingers towards their crotches.

“S-Sir? Ma’am? M-May I?”

She expects approval. She expects permission. For the first time since the encounter began, Natasha is a little caught off guard when the power couple instead snatch her hands up by their wrists and pull them over her head, pushing her onto her back on the bed a little faster than she was anticipating. The surprised blink that she gives them as they pin her down and loom over her isn’t entirely faked, even as she makes sure to blush hard and squirm even harder underneath them.

“Oh, I’m afraid not Ms. Rushman. All of your teasing these past few months has gotten me and Tony quite hot and bothered. So you’re going to lay there like a good girl and allow us to explore your body at our leisure, alright? And then, maybe, if you’re very good… we’ll consider letting you touch us later. Am I understood?”

If nothing else, Natasha has to admit that Pepper makes for a good dominatrix. Whimpering, the undercover agent nods her head emphatically, causing the CEO of Stark Industries to smile and coo down at her before grasping her by her face and kissing her. Meanwhile, down below, Tony goes from merely palming her hot sex to slipping his fingers inside of her, moving his hand past her panties so he can drill her.

Natasha is more than wet enough for him, of course. She’s been trained to act this sort of role perfectly. However, as things progress, as the night goes on… not all of it is as acted as she might have preferred. She was expecting Tony and Pepper to be selfish lovers. She was expecting the couple to take advantage of her and use her for their own pleasure first and foremost.

Instead, what she gets is quite surprising as they coax mewling cries and wanton moans out of her. They focus on her first, doing their best to turn Natasha into a puddle of pleasured flesh, likely for their own amusem*nt. And Natasha lets them of course, playing the role of Natalie Rushman in over her head perfectly. She gives them exactly what they want. But at the same time… she has to admit, they give her more than she expected as well.

They do f*ck her properly, eventually. Tony buried deep inside of her, Pepper sitting on her face. And then Natasha on her hands and knees, mouth buried between Pepper’s thighs, Tony’s co*ck filling her from behind. And then her on top, riding Tony Stark while Pepper instead rode HIS face and fondled Natasha’s tit*, kissing her deeply.

The positions that three very beautiful, very aroused people can engage in are endless as the undercover spy already knew. But what she didn’t know was just how long Tony and Pepper could go for. As their ‘shared’ PA, Natasha knows their schedules inside and out. She knows full well that they don’t make time for working out, even if they eat relatively healthily.

Of course, in Stark’s case, he doesn’t eat at all sometimes. Natasha, in her capacity as Natalie, has had to force him to imbibe nutrients more than once.

So then how the f*ck are they keeping up with her? No… not keeping up with her. How the f*ck are they outpacing her? One time turns into two turns into three and before Natasha knows it, they’ve f*cked for hours and hours.

Her instructors in The Red Room liked to boast that they were preparing her to overcome any challenge. They would claim that their training made her and the other girls ready for anything the world had to throw at them. Natasha was a bit more practical than that though. She’d learned a long time ago that nothing could prepare you for every eventuality.

Even still, being… outlasted by Tony Stark and Pepper Potts was a blow to her ego when hours later, she found herself finally reaching the end of her admittedly quite long rope. Her stamina was beyond what most normal humans could ever hope for. And yet… her would-be bosses had still managed to bring her to this exhausted state where she could barely keep her eyes open.

She was sore in a surprisingly pleasurable way, as well as covered in sweat. They’d had a couple of showers together as the night ran long, the three of them, but these most recent rounds had gotten them dirty again. Only Natasha isn’t quite sure she could even manage to climb into a shower if they decided to wash up one final time.

Fortunately, she doesn’t have to find out. Tony and Pepper’s naked bodies press up against her own unadorned flesh on either side and they seem perfectly content to just cuddle at this point, even as Natasha struggles to keep her eyes open.

“It’s alright darling. You did well to last as long as you did. Sleep now.”

“You did good, Natalie. Very good. Pep is right. Rest up.”

That last bit, more than anything, convinces Natasha she’s finally making progress. Tony Stark hasn’t gotten her full name correct on the first try… ever. And yet just now, he called her by her cover’s proper first name. Not Natalia. Not Natie. Not Melanie or Mallory. But Natalie.

The smile that spreads across Natasha’s sleepy face doesn’t even have to be faked in the end. Finally she’s making some progress. Finally, she’s getting somewhere with these people.

Coulson… Coulson is bound to be happy, once she’s finally able to report in on her scheduled vacation in just a few more months. She’ll try to have a lot more for him by that point though. Somehow, she doesn’t think ‘Stark has an AI and him and his girlfriend are insanely skilled lovers’ will be enough all by itself.

But that’s alright. She’s in now. And for the next few months, she’ll use her new position as sexual relief aid to Tony Stark and Pepper Potts to uncover as much information about the two as she possibly can.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Yes Natasha, you're finally in. Totally. Keep up the good work! :P

Tony and Pepper might be having a little too much fun with their pet spy~

Chapter 17: Natasha's Report

Chapter Text

A/N: Natasha finally gets a chance to report in. But you know what they say. The only reward for good work is more work.

-x-X-x-

“Let me get this straight, Agent Romanoff. You’ve been undercover as the Personal Assistant to Tony Stark and Pepper Potts for ten months and the best you’ve got for me is that Tony Stark has an AI guard dog and he and Potts are particularly exceptional lovers?”

Sitting in a hotel room in Amman, the Capital City of Jordan, Natasha Romanoff raises an eyebrow at the screen, not intimidated in the slightest by Nick Fury’s irritation or Phil Coulson’s quiet disappointment. Their visages are transported halfway across the world from the Director of SHIELD’s office in the Triskelion, and Natasha has just gotten done making her report to the two men.

Technically Natalie Rushman had taken the two week vacation mandated by Stark Industries to travel to Jordan for the chance to see Petra. In reality, Natasha still didn’t fully understand why she was here, save for that SHIELD had left a paper note in her apartment saying that this was where she was to come for her vacation.

After ten months of working under Stark and Potts, the last six of which had been as their personal plaything more than their personal assistant, Natasha had certainly gotten a feel for how the two operated. Unfortunately, she’d got distressingly little of what SHIELD actually wanted, save for the information about JARVIS and… well, the fact that the pair had ungodly stamina.

“You did tell me that you wanted me to take things slowly, Director. Once I discovered I was almost certainly being watched twenty-four-seven by an AI, I knew that I needed to be careful. Besides, the report on Stark and Potts’ sexual capabilities should concern you very much. Especially given that new miracle drug that Stark Industries commercialized before I was sent in. PlusExtra.”

Fury’s brow furrows and he looks at something on his desk for a long moment in thought. Natasha doesn’t bother insulting his intelligence by explaining it all directly. She lets him get there on his own.

“… You think they have something stronger? Something more permanent? And that Stark has dosed him and Potts with it?”

Natasha inclines her head. That first night had been rather embarrassing for her. Afterwards, Tony and Pepper had been far more willing to enjoy her body by themselves. Whether it was Pepper ordering her to crawl under her desk or Tony bending her over his workbench and having her hand him tools while he multitasked f*cking her from behind and doing science at the same time… they definitely weren’t shy about it anymore.

However, any time it was all three of them… Natasha found she simply couldn’t keep up. Once was a fluke. Twice might just be an anomaly. But three times or greater and that was usually enemy action. It had taken her time to figure it out, but ultimately it was staring her right in the face. Stark and Potts weren’t entirely human. Or at the very least, they’d been Enhanced in some way.

If it was just Stark, Natasha would assume that something had happened to him in the cave. Maybe he’d even been turned into some sort of sleeper agent by the Ten Rings and the destruction of their holdings in Afghanistan was just a smokescreen. But for Pepper to have just as much stamina spoke to something else. Something straight out of Stark’s genius brain.

“I think it’s a safe bet, sir. Unfortunately I couldn’t confirm it. Not with JARVIS breathing down my neck every step of the way. Natalie Rushman has been a loyal, submissive employee for the last ten months, albeit a little bit curious and a whole lot adventurous. But she’s not that curious and if I started looking into that sort of thing, my cover would be blown faster than I could blink.”

Fury grunts as he leans back in his chair. Probably because he knows she’s right. Natasha hadn’t known going in how impossible of a task this would be. But she’d done the best she could with what she had. Frankly, getting this much without being burned in ten months was pretty damn good.

“… We know about JARVIS, of course. Stark started building him shortly after his childhood butler, Edwin Jarvis, passed away. For a long time it was assumed that he was just a particularly advanced user interface taking care of Stark’s Malibu Residence. But if what you say is true… it explains a lot. Upgrading JARVIS into a full-fledged AI after Afghanistan would certainly be something that a man like Stark would do in a fit of paranoia and out of a need to stay safe.”

Here, Coulson leans forward.

“A sufficiently advanced AI would also be capable of covering up all sorts of activities, sir.”

Fury’s one visible eye widens almost imperceptibly at that, and Natasha watches the Director of SHIELD tense up in his seat.

“You’re right. sh*t, Coulson get our people on that right away. We used to have a backdoor into the Malibu Security in case we needed to pay Stark a home visit, but now I’m thinking that’s woefully out of date. We need updated methods for taking down Stark and his AI, yesterday.”

“Yes sir.”

With one last nod to Natasha, Coulson disappears from view, leaving the office entirely. Once he’s gone, Fury looks back to Natasha.

“Keep up the good work, Agent Romanoff. You’ll be returning to SI to continue as Natalie Rushman after your two week vacation. In the meantime however… you feeling up to taking care of something else for me while you’re in the region?”

Natasha has to hold back a snort. Of course they had a mission for her on her so-called vacation. And really, what was she going to do, say no? Even if she thought she had a choice, Natasha couldn’t imagine lounging around for two weeks. While infiltrating Stark Industries wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, it also wasn’t exactly action packed either. She’d had to do an awful lot of extra work on the side just to keep her skills sharp.

“I’d be glad to, sir.”

-x-X-x-

“Sir. You wished to be informed about any developments regarding Agent Romanoff’s ‘vacation’.”

Raising an eyebrow, Tony looks up from his work.

“Yeah J? What is it? We already watched Nat deliver her report to Coulson and Fury together. Keeping an eye on Coulson and the SHIELD eggheads trying to work out countermeasures for you still right?”

Tony had to admit, he was pleased with how everything was going regarding all of that. Natasha had played her part swimmingly, even if she didn’t know it. SHIELD knew everything that he wanted them to know at this point in time and Tony wasn’t really that worried at all. By feeding them breadcrumbs like JARVIS and the hints of Extremis, they were blind to everything else Tony was working on.

Besides, it wasn’t like they were going to get an opportunity to truly strike at him and J anyways. Tony already had plans for defanging Fury and SHIELD in that regard before they could truly become a threat to him or any of his loved ones.

“Yes sir, they still do not realize that their assumptions are incorrect. I did not start life as a user interface who was turned into an Artificial Intelligence. I started life as an Artificial Intelligence who was masquerading as a user interface. They are still working under the mistaken belief that you have kept me limited in any meaningful way… likely from the numerous minor ways in which we have allowed Natasha Romanoff to circumvent and take advantage of my programming over the last several months.”

Tony grins at that. Heh, Natasha had been too smart to ever try to take advantage of JARVIS in a more meaningful way, but they’d let her get away with all sorts of small things. Like the first time she’d been waiting for him and Pepper in their bedroom after getting back from a date. Or the times when JARVIS made a show of teaming up with Tony in order to get him to eat.

In actuality, Tony ate a lot of f*cking food these days, but Natasha never saw that because he only took his meals when she was off working under Pepper… or under Pepper’s desk, as was often the case.

Still…

“So then what’s the problem, J?”

“The problem, Sir, is that the Winter Soldier was just activated and given orders to neutralize the nuclear scientist that Agent Romanoff has been tasked with escorting out of Iran. He is currently en route and will likely intercept them in Odessa, Ukraine within the next ten hours.”

Tony pauses at that.

“sh*t. Prep the suit, J.”

“As you say, Sir.”

-x-X-x-

Natasha Romanoff curses under her breath as she bunches up her legs and then kicks out the side door of the upside down jeep she finds herself in. At the same time, she reaches over and grabs her mark’s shirt, giving him a good shake that has him groaning as he slowly comes back to consciousness.

“Good. Still alive. Come on, we need to get out of here.”

She finds herself wishing she’d told Fury that she needed the actual vacation. Visiting Petra herself instead of relying on a body double sent by SHIELD is sounding really nice right now, especially compared to this bullsh*t. Everything had been going so smoothly too. She’d gotten to her target, secured him, and then set about smuggling him out of Iran.

In a week, Natasha had managed to get the nuclear scientist Fury wanted her to retrieve out of Iran, through Turkey, across the Black Sea, and all the way to Odessa. They were heading to the rendezvous with SHIELD located just ten miles outside of Odessa when the wheels on her jeep were shot out and they were sent off of a damn cliff.

Still, they were both still alive. She could still complete her mission. All she had to do was kill whoever the f*ck was in her way first.

Reaching over and unbuckling her mark’s seatbelt, Natasha’s lips compress into a thin line as she begins to tug the groaning egghead out of his seat and across the upturned roof of the car with her. One hand on his shirt and the other holding her gun, she slowly begins to extricate them both from the jeep. On the one hand, cars didn’t like to be tossed around. They were prone to sometimes exploding as a result. So she was incentivized to move quickly.

On the other hand, she couldn’t give whoever was hunting them a clear shot at the scientist. It was obvious he was who they were after.

Climbing out of the car, Natasha’s eyes shrink to pinpricks as she sweeps the area, looking for-

There! Her eyes widen as she sees it too late. Not it. Him. And when she actually clocks him… she does something she’s not proud of. She freezes up.

But to be fair, the Winter Soldier is a boogeyman among boogeymen. He’s a horror story even among the spy community, an urban legend Natasha had never thought was real. Until now. And he’s bearing down on her and her mark with a rifle pointed in their direction.

Cursing herself for freezing, Natasha goes to bring up her gun, knowing already that she’s too late. The Winter Soldier’s finger is already compressing on the trigger. Only just as the familiar sound of rifle fire fills the air… something comes out of the sky so fast Natasha can hardly believe her eyes.

The bullet from the rifle, instead of hitting Natasha, hits the matte black armor of what can only be described as a big, shiny robot. A bulletproof robot from the look of things, because the Winter Soldier immediately switches his rifle to full auto and takes a step back, beginning to spray the robot down, specifically targeting joints and other would-be weak points.

Not that it seems to matter much. The robot steps forward, grabs the barrel of the still-firing rifle, and crushes it in an instant. And then it grabs the Winter Soldier by the throat. The Soldier’s infamous metal arm comes up and slams down on the robot’s arm, and to his credit, he manages to break the hold for a moment. From there the Winter Soldier attempts to deliver a series of physical blows now that his gun has been turned into so much scrap.

WHAM!

None of it seems to have much effect, but what does have an effect is the robot slamming its metal head into the Winter Soldier’s human skull. The legendary masked assassin stumbles back but stays on his feet in a way that shows just how tough he really is. The robot stays on him though, is all over him in fact, and continues to pummel him with a mechanical brutality that leaves even the Black Widow unsettled. Until finally, the Winter Soldier drops.

Natasha could hardly believe her eyes. Truthfully, she doesn’t get much of a chance to properly process what she’s seeing before it’s all over and the robot is grabbing the unconscious Winter Soldier by his tactical vest, hoisting him up over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes. For a second, just a split second, the glowing eyes of the robot turn towards her as it twists its body in her direction.

She tries to say something then, but for one of the first times in her adult life, Natasha finds she can’t form words because her mouth and throat are both too dry from her staring wide eyed and open mouthed for a little too long. And then her chance is taken from her, as the robot blasts up into the air and disappears, taking the Winter Soldier with him.

… What the f*ck? What the actual f*ck?

“Oooooh my head… what happened? The last thing I remember… ack! Are we under attack?!”

Natasha looks to her mark as he fully wakes up, the nuclear scientist panicking as he finally remembers the sounds of gunfire that heralded their tires exploding and them going off the cliff. But he didn’t see any of what just transpired. He didn’t know they had been about to die at the hands of a living legend, only for that living legend to get dismantled and taken apart in five seconds flat by a futuristic looking robot.

Lips compressing into a thin line, Natasha pulls the nuclear scientist fully out of the jeep and gets to her feet, dragging him up as well.

“Don’t worry. Stay close, stick with me, and I’ll get you to safety. I’m not going to let you die.”

She doesn’t let so much of a waver of uncertainty enter her voice. And in the end, getting the scientist the last few miles to the SHIELD rendezvous is actually rather easy. There, she tells Fury what happened over a secure line, of course. He says he’ll send out a forensics team to canvas the area, but she can hear the doubt in his voice all the same.

He sounds like he doesn’t entirely believe it wasn’t just her concussion talking, especially since there’s literally no sign of a bogey on any form of radar located in the area. Not even satellites SHIELD had both legal and illegal access to had seen a single ounce of a matte black robot flying through the skies directly over the region and in the surrounding regions.

In the end, Natasha doesn’t try very hard to convince him. Nor does she tell him of her suspicions. She’s not sure why, but somehow Natasha thinks she already knows who that robot belonged to, deep down inside. And yet, she doesn’t mention it to Fury. She doesn’t even try to tell him. Maybe it’s because the robot saved her life. Maybe it’s because it all sounds ridiculous and farfetched, even to her ears.

Or maybe Natasha just wants the chance to ask Tony Stark why he went out of his way for her first before she decides whether or not she’s throwing him to the wolves.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Heh, things just escalated, didn't they? Natasha thinks she knows something, but what does she really know?

And hm... would Tony really risk Natasha potentially ratting him out here? Or is something else going on?

Chapter 18: Confrontation

Chapter Text

A/N: Tony deals with his impromptu kidnapping victim the best way he can at this point in time. Natasha makes her move.

-x-X-x-

Capturing the Winter Soldier in 2009 was the first major event Tony had done since coming back in time that he didn’t intend to do. Everything else he’d changed so far had all been according to plan. But perhaps it was a little silly to think that everything would always go as he planned it.

Had Natasha faced down the Winter Soldier this early in the original timeline and Tony had simply never heard about it? Or had the changes he’d made led her to that car wreck outside of Odessa, dealing with HYDRA’s legendary assassin? Tony honestly didn’t know… nor did he care. Letting Natasha die this early simply wasn’t in the cards. And once he’d beaten Barnes into unconsciousness, it wasn’t like he could very well leave him there to be picked up by SHIELD or HYDRA.

Besides… just because Tony hadn’t intended to kidnap Barnes this early, didn’t mean that Tony wasn’t prepared for dealing with HYDRA’s secret weapon now that the time had come.

“Longing. Rusted. Seventeen. Daybreak. Furnace. Nine. Benign. Homecoming. One. Freight Car."

…

“… Ready to comply.”

Yes, Tony had dug deep into the brainwashing behind the creation of the Winter Soldier. After Siberia, he’d even memorized the words that Zemo had used to bring Barnes under his control back at the UN. He’d never used them of course, but to be fair… he’d never had the chance. Until now.

Staring into the blank, brainwashed eyes of the assassin who killed his mom and dad, Tony can’t help offering a crooked smile. After a moment, he sighs and runs a hand down his face.

“Right. Orders are simple, Soldier. Stay put. Sit tight. Obey nobody except for me, due no permanent harm without my say so. And if it’ll help… try and remember. Try and remember who you were before.”

“Orders received.”

He really should leave it at that. But Tony can’t help rambling just a little bit.

“… Maybe we see if your programming breaks down the longer you aren’t on ice. Unfortunately I don’t have the technology to remove brainwashing completely… yet. And I’m pretty sure Wakanda doesn’t either just yet. Their little generational genius is still under ten, after all.”

Tony’s crooked smile drops and he grows more solemn as he looks James Buchanan Barnes in his dead, vacant eyes.

“Not to worry. I’m over the whole ‘wanting to kill you’ thing. Have been for quite some time. Still pretty irritated over what you and Steve did to me in Siberia, but then… that wasn’t really you, nor was it the Steve of this timeline. You’re just a weapon, Barnes. And now you’re a weapon I’m locking away in a safe where my enemies can’t get to it. I’m going to destroy HYDRA. And one day, we’ll see about getting you back to normal.”

With his piece said and it abundantly clear that Barnes isn’t in any state to respond, Tony rises to his feet and heads for the door. He’s set the Winter Soldier up in a nice little gilded cage. Its an inescapable prison, but also pretty well furnished. As he is now, the assassin won’t be able to enjoy the creature comforts Tony is giving him, but Barnes started to break out of the conditioning once before. Maybe this time it would be even easier given the orders Tony had given him.

Ultimately though, it was out of Tony’s hands. Literally, because…

“Take care of him JARVIS. And alert me to any changes.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Tony couldn’t trust himself to be Barnes’ primary caretaker. Too much bad blood, even if he’d told himself again and again that he’d forgiven the other man for killing his parents. But JARVIS was the perfect intermediary. The AI could handle watching over Barnes alongside everything else he was already doing and he wouldn’t be any more stretched thin as a result. It was the perfect imperfect solution to the mess Tony had made.

Well, it was a solution for HALF of the mess Tony had made.

“Status update on Romanoff, JARVIS?”

“There’s been an interesting development there, Sir. You’ll want to see this.”

Tony watches what JARVIS sends him in silence. At the end, he huffs.

“There’s no way she doesn’t think this was me. Even if they don’t know about the Arc Reactor, even if they don’t know about how I escaped Afghanistan… it just has my fingers all over it. She definitely has suspicions if nothing else. The fact that she went into my planner and scheduled a meeting between the two of us for first thing after she gets back from her ‘vacation’ only proves it.”

“I would tend to agree, sir.”

Eyes narrowing, Tony tilts his head to the side.

“Then why not tell Fury? Why keep her suspicions so close to her chest?”

“… She is a spy, Sir. They tend to be paranoid by nature.”

Tony raises an eyebrow.

“Oh? You think she saw through your charade, J?”

“No Sir. All signs point to both Natasha Romanoff and Nick Fury being completely fooled. However, she may have other reasons for wanting to hide her thoughts from the Director of SHIELD.”

That gets a bark of laughter from Tony.

“What, you think she’s fallen in love with me or something?”

JARVIS’ response is as dry and witty as ever.

“Far more likely that she fell in love with Ms. Potts, Sir.”

Tony snorts derisively at that. Well, one way or another, they’d find out soon enough.

-x-X-x-

If Natasha’s suspicions were correct, then Stark already knew why she’d arranged this meeting. Even still, there’s a degree of doubt that she can’t quite shake as she sits there in her stereotypical white blouse and black pencil skirt, one leg crossed over the other. Once more feigning being Natalie Rushman… but perhaps not for much longer.

The door opens and Tony steps into his barely used office wordlessly, stalking over to the desk he’s almost never actually behind and sitting down in his chair. He looks at her and raises an eyebrow.

“Enjoy your vacation?”

In that moment, Natasha throws her plans out the window. They’d called for a whole lot of subterfuge, word games, and making absolutely sure that Stark knew exactly who she was before she blew her cover. But staring into the man’s eyes, Natasha realizes she doesn’t need any of that. She already has her answer. She just has to trust her gut.

“Got shot at a few more times than I would have liked, but what can you do?”

She sheds Natalie Rushman like a snake skin, allowing herself to lean back a little bit and her face to turn a form of sardonic that she’d never shown while playing the role of ‘eager-to-please’ PA. Tony Stark doesn’t even bat an eyelash at the transformation though, chuckling at her words as he leans back in his chair as well.

“Indeed, what can you do? Perils of your line of work I suppose, Agent Romanoff.”

And there it was. Confirmation. Natasha can’t help it… her breath hitches for just a moment. Tony Stark knows who she is. No… more than that. He’s always known who she is.

“SHIELD didn’t get one over on you when they slipped me into this position, did they? You just let them think they did.”

Tony raises an eyebrow again, but his grin makes it clear she’s right on the money. Natasha’s heart rate increases for a moment before she calms herself back down. She’s not in danger here… probably. After all…

“Why did you expose yourself like that just to save me? I presume the robot was piloted by JARVIS.”

Tony hums and inclines his head in easy agreement but otherwise doesn’t say a word. Natasha narrows her eyes.

“Sentiment, perhaps? You’ve known all along that Natalie Rushman didn’t exist. And yet, you let yourself get attached to me anyways. And… you’re deep in SHIELD’s servers, so when you found out I was on mission, you kept an eye on me and-!”

“Ah, let me stop you right there. While you’re about ninety percent correct, the last ten percent is pretty important. While it’s true that J was keeping an eye on you, it wasn’t that close of an eye. The only reason we knew to come to your aid was because we’re not just in SHIELD’s servers. We knew the moment that the Winter Soldier’s handlers activated him and sent him after you.”

Natasha’s eyes widen in disbelief at that.

“You know who’s behind the Winter Soldier?”

“HYDRA, yes.”

He just… he just goes and says it. Hands curling around the armrests of her chair, Natasha feels like a spring being tensely coiled. HYDRA. But that…

“And yes, let’s skip past the disbelief and incredulity please. HYDRA is still very active. Who else would have the Winter Soldier as their secret attack dog? Who else would have been giving him missions for these last sixty years?”

Natasha mulls over all of that in her head for a long moment, a little surprised when Tony just stays quiet and lets her parse it all out.

“… So you have both SHIELD and HYDRA hacked. You knew I was given a mission, and you knew the Winter Soldier had been sent to kill my mark. You sent JARVIS to save me. Why?”

Tilting his head to the side, Tony offers Natasha a rather wry grin.

“Perhaps it wasn’t about saving you. Perhaps it was simply about securing the Soldier for my own purposes.”

That sends a fresh jolt of adrenaline through Natasha’s body. She inwardly curses herself for not really clocking that until now. It’s embarrassing, to say the least. But he’s right. Tony Stark has the Winter Soldier now. The Merchant of Death has secured the most deadly assassin of the twentieth century for his own personal use.

Except…

“No. You just admitted to having direct access to all of HYDRA’s systems. Meaning, you could have retrieve the Winter Soldier at any time on any of his missions. You could have even taken him from wherever they were keeping him and they would have been none the wiser. After all, that robot you sent after me is invisible to all forms of digital detection, apparently.”

Tony tilts his head again, choosing once more not to respond. Natasha’s eyes narrow into full blown slits as she fully processes it all.

“… You had no desire to capture the Winter Soldier because you’ve been lying low and flying under the radar. Even now, you weren’t truly that interested in blowing your cover. If HYDRA really did have the Soldier, then they’ll be hunting for you now even if they don’t know that it’s you yet. They’re going to want their pet assassin back.”

And if that was the case, that meant her initial assumption was right.

“You risked everything you’ve been building right under SHIELD’s nose to save my life. Why?”

Smiling, Tony does something that irritates Natasha like nothing else. He answers her question with another question. To be fair, it’s a tactic she employs all the time so it’s rather hypocritical for her to be upset when it’s used against her. Call her a hypocrite then, because she’s still annoyed.

“Why didn’t you tell Fury that you thought the robot was me? Why come back here to have this conversation with me when neither Fury nor Coulson are properly informed enough to be able to back you up?”

Unfortunately, Stark has all the power in this situation. And besides, he’s been giving her plenty of answers already. Natasha knows how the game is played and she knows better than to get tight lipped now. Doesn’t mean she’s going to be completely honest with him though.

“… Would it have mattered? I still told Fury about the robot and the Winter Soldier. He didn’t believe me. Thought it was my concussion talking.”

Suddenly, Tony looks beyond pleased with himself. And perhaps just a little apologetic.

“No you didn’t. And no, he didn’t.”

Wait, what? Natasha can’t help but be confused, her brow furrowing as Tony suddenly taps his desk and the seemingly wooden surface splits open to reveal a projection device. A holographic interface pops up and Tony does something that makes it swivel around to face her. Then, all of the sudden, Natasha is watching both sides of her and Fury debriefing after the mission in Odessa.

Except… except it’s not her and Fury. Oh sure, it certainly looks like her. Talks like her. Acts like her. But the words out of her lips are not the words Natasha spoke, not the words she remembers.

In the video call, the fake Natasha outlines how the mission went to Fury, and everything is as it should be right up until her tires got shot out and they were sent over the cliff. Here, the fake Natasha doesn’t say a word about the matte black robot or the Winter Soldier.

Instead, she tells Fury a tale of how some opportunistic modern day highwaymen who’d clocked her and her mark in Odessa had followed them and set up an ambush, shooting out her wheels. The fake Natasha then goes on to explain how after the crash she’d returned fire and that had sent them running off allowing her and the scientist to make it to the extraction point.

Fury seems to believe it, hook, line and sinker. Even thanks her for her hard work. As the video call ends, Tony peers at her through the holographic display.

“That’s what Fury experienced on his end. And of course, here’s what you experienced on your end.”

The debriefing that Natasha actually remembers plays next. With Natasha telling Fury about the matte black robot and the Winter Soldier but not her suspicions about Stark, and Fury promising to look into it but also none-too-subtly making it clear she thought she’d just been hallucinating things.

Now that she’s seen both sides, Natasha feels like an idiot. Nicholas J. Fury had to be one of the most paranoid men she knew. And he was never close-minded. The idea that he would listen to one of his best operatives tell a story about a metal robot disabling and capturing the Winter Soldier right in front of her eyes and then decide she was talking nonsense was… well, it was ridiculous. She’d been an idiot for believing it for even a second.

And yet… and yet…

“Good, huh? JARVIS does excellent work. All in real time as well. You two thought you were talking to each other while in reality, you were talking to facsimiles of one another while JARVIS played intermediary. And no one was any the wiser.”

Tony swipes away the holographic monitor and smiles at Natasha from across the desk.

“So you see, you didn’t tell Fury about my ‘robot’, nor did you tell him about the Winter Soldier. At least, as far as he’s concerned. My secrets remain safe, Natasha Romanoff.”

Natasha tenses at that and prepares to spring into action.

“So long as you silence me, you mean.”

But far from attacking her or having someone else attack her, Tony just rolls his eyes at her.

“If I wanted you dead, you’d already be dead Natasha. If I wanted you silenced, you’d already be silenced. I saved your life, didn’t I? That has to count for something.”

Natasha remains tense, her lips pressed tightly together as awkward silence reigns between them. Finally, Tony huffs.

“At least answer the question. Why didn’t you try to tell SHIELD about your suspicions? Sentiment, perhaps?”

At having her own word thrown back in her face, Natasha’s eyes narrow. In the end, she decides she might as well tell some semblance of the truth. After all, he already knew everything there was to know about her, apparently. But Stark clearly wasn’t going to stop until he heard it right from her lips.

“SHIELD recruited me with a smile and a gun, as you almost certainly already know from their file on me. They offered me a job with lots of strings attached, and I’ll be honest… I’m glad I took it. But they also didn’t really give me much of a choice. If I had declined, I would be dead right now.”

Tony bobs his head in easy agreement before gesturing silently for her to go on.

“… I’ve done things I’m not particularly proud of. Have a lot of red in my ledger. I imagine you know something about that, don’t you Stark?”

The Merchant of Death smiles at her. It’s not a nice smile.

“Perhaps.”

Mm, pissing him off is probably not a good idea right now, Natasha decides.

“… Well, I want to try and get some of it out. SHIELD seemed like the best option for me to do that. But… now I owe you one. I owe you my life. So I figured I owed you at least the chance to explain before I did anything I couldn’t take back.”

Of course, now that she knew what he was truly capable of, Natasha realized there wasn’t much she could have done. Honestly, she’s left wondering just how this conversation would have gone if she HAD tried to tell the fake Fury of her suspicions regarding Stark, instead of just telling him about the Winter Soldier and the robot.

“Explain, huh? Sure, I’ve got an explanation for you, Natasha. Do you want to know how I got into HYDRA’s servers? Do you want to know how I found out they were still alive after all this time?”

Natasha can’t help but perk up a little at that. It sounds like Tony is going to tell her either way, but that doesn’t change the fact that she does indeed want to know very much. Of course, she never could have expected Stark’s punchline. Not in a million years.

“Simple, really. Because when JARVIS and I hacked into SHIELD’s systems, we found HYDRA already there. Nestled in deep. Here’s the truth, Agent Romanoff. HYDRA isn’t just still around. HYDRA is SHIELD.”

What? No. That wasn’t possible.

“They’ve hollowed out the organization my father and aunt Peggy built. The organization you’ve entrusted to get the red out of your ledger. They’ve made their home in its rotting guts. And nobody has a single clue.”

-x-X-x-

A/N: Poor SHIELD. Dealing with AI-generated real-time deepfakes in 2009. They just can't keep up with JARVIS or Tony.

Meanwhile, Natasha gets the truth shoved in her face. Now all that's left to see is how she's going to react to this bombshell~

Chapter 19: Answers

Chapter Text

A/N: Natasha has some questions.

-x-X-x-

Sitting behind his desk, Tony watches as Natasha processes the bombshell he just dropped in her lap. Finally, the gorgeous femme fatale shakes her head, sending her red curls bouncing every which way.

“… You can’t be serious. You honestly expect me to believe Nick Fury is a Nazi?”

Heh, that’s a fair enough reason to be rather incredulous of his claims, Tony has to admit.

“No. Nick Fury is not a member of HYDRA.”

Natasha relaxes a little bit at hearing those words. Of course, then Tony has to ruin it.

“However, Alexander Pierce is.”

That gets her attention again. She scowls a little at him for it, likely recognizing that he’s enjoying provoking reaction after reaction from her. But can she really blame him? Getting genuine reactions of disbelief and shock out of someone of her training is always a treat.

“Alexander Pierce is a Head of HYDRA, and the one in charge of HYDRA’s SHIELD branch.”

When Natasha narrows her eyes at that wording, Tony just laughs.

“Sorry, did you think the version of HYDRA in SHIELD was all there was? Oh no. SHIELD is just a shell for one branch of HYDRA… one of its many heads. Still, you’re right. Nick Fury is not a member of HYDRA. Neither is Phil Coulson or Clint Barton if it makes you feel any better.”

She tries her best to hide it, but Tony can tell that it does indeed make her feel better. Still, it’s obvious that Natasha is reeling, for as much as the gorgeous red head CAN reel. Tony has dropped one too many secrets on top of her head, and not really given her the time to process any of this.

“… I assume you have proof.”

And yet, she was still willing to believe him. Or at least extend a modicum of trust towards him until she had found out for sure what was going on. Tony was left wondering if Natasha had been telling the truth earlier when she’d all but insinuated that her loyalty to SHIELD was shaky at best. She no doubt had a special bond with Barton, and she obviously greatly respected Fury and Coulson… but in the original timeline, she would have been working with SHIELD for a lot longer before she was assigned to infiltrate his company.

In this timeline, Natasha Romanoff had only been with SHIELD for about six to seven months before she’d been sent undercover. And then she’d spent ten months in Tony and Pepper’s tender care, playing the role of their shared personal assistant. Tony wasn’t foolish enough to think that she’d really fallen in love with either of them, JARVIS’ joking aside. But he did have to wonder if SHIELD had made an even greater mistake than he initially thought by serving him up Natasha on a silver platter like they did.

“I have plenty of proof, Natasha. Convincing you of HYDRA’s existence and the rot within SHIELD will be easy. It’s convincing you that I and I alone am uniquely positioned to take down Pierce and HYDRA that might be a little harder.”

Natasha’s eyes narrow again.

“… You want to keep Fury and the others in the dark. You want me to help you keep this from them. Why?”

Tony considers how best to answer that for a second before deciding to be brutally honest.

“Because they’ll make a mess of things, Natasha. And this can’t be handled quickly. It has to be slow. It has to be delicate. Like catching a snowflake on the tip of your finger without letting it dissolve. If we’re going to deal with HYDRA, we have to do this right. Here’s the problem, Natasha. Alexander Pierce made Fury the Director of SHIELD. HYDRA tolerates the existence of superb agents like Coulson and Barton despite knowing they have absolutely zero hope of turning them to their side. Why do you think that is?”

Natasha’s lips thin out as she considers the question. Tony has to admit, he’s pleased that she’s taking him so seriously. She never had in the previous timeline. But then, Natasha has always been something of a social chameleon, a mimic of a person if you will. Tony hadn’t ever taken himself seriously in the previous timeline and Natasha had mirrored that energy, treating him like a child rather than a teammate, like a mark over a friend.

This time around, that wasn’t going to happen. Tony wouldn’t let it. And so he sits patiently, no quips, no jokes, no nothing. And he lets Natasha get there all on her own. Well, mostly on her own. He’s pretty much already laid it all out for her.

“… Because they might not know it, but they’re already in HYDRA’s pockets. Because HYDRA knows them inside and out and if any of them make a single move out of the ordinary, it’ll act as an early alarm system letting HYDRA know they have a problem on their hands.”

Tony grins.

“Good girl. Knew you would get it.”

That earns him a slightly frosty glare from the Black Widow as she narrows her eyes dangerously at him.

“… I’m not really your dutiful sex pet, Stark. Natalie Rushman was just an act. You don’t have to keep up the positive reinforcement. Especially when it’s so obvious.”

A laugh escapes Tony’s lips. She was right, of course. And he’d known every time he used ‘good girl’ on her and watched her perk up while pretending to play Natalie Rushman, that it was all just an act. Though…

“I suppose the weekend sex marathons are over then, hm? Pepper will be disappointed.”

Natasha barely reacts, and she definitely doesn’t try to say that they can continue such things. But he’s pretty sure she actually does feel a little bad about losing the relationship with Pepper. A good sign for the future, if nothing else.

“Like I was saying before, Agent Romanoff. You already believe me about HYDRA, deep down inside. Now I just need to convince you that I can destroy them once and for all.”

“… And how are you going to do that?”

Grinning once more, Tony shrugs.

“Simple. I’m going to infiltrate the infiltrators. I’m going to pretend to join HYDRA, convince them I’m on their side, and then dismantle them from the inside.”

The incredulous look Natasha gives him makes him want to laugh again. Instead, he just lets his grin grow.

“Give me a week.”

Now the incredulity infects her tone as she parrots his words back to him in disbelief.

“A week.”

“Not to destroy HYDRA, but to show you that not only are they puppeting SHIELD, using them as a skinsuit, but that I can easily infiltrate them and turn their control of SHIELD to my own ends. A week and I’ll have Fury not only ending this long-term mission of yours, but introducing you by your actual identity to me, however begrudgingly. A week to have SHIELD itself eating out of the palm of my hand and falling all over itself to give me whatever I want.”

By the time he’s done talking, he can tell he has her interest. Natasha even quirks up the corner of her mouth in a half-smirk, her nostrils flaring as she no doubt imagines it.

“That would be quite the show, Stark.”

“I’m quite the showman, Romanoff.”

But then the half-smirk disappears and Natasha is solemn once more.

“You are that if nothing else. Still… one thing I don’t fully get. Why are you so convinced I’ll be willing to side with you? Even if I do believe you about HYDRA and SHIELD and the futility of trying to tell Fury, Coulson, or Barton about any of this… why are you so convinced that I’m on your side? I was SHIELD’s enemy just a year and a half ago. And yet… you seem convinced that I’d do anything to save it.”

Ah. Honestly, that was fair. Tony considers the question for a long moment before deciding how he’s going to answer it.

“I’ll give you half now and half later, Natasha.”

She raises a brow at that, waiting patiently until Tony elaborates.

“First things first, there’s the matter of what the Red Room took from you.”

Natasha’s face closes off almost violently at that, but Tony just plows on ahead.

“I have the means to heal you, Natasha. Wholly and completely.”

“… The Red Room were incredibly thorough.”

Yes they were. One might argue that there was nothing left there to BE healed. But Tony just smiles and lets his eyes fill with an orange glow, something that startles Natasha even as she does her best not to react.

“Not thorough enough. I’ve created miracles since coming back from Afghanistan, Agent Romanoff. You suggested you believed that much to be true when you gave your report to Fury and Coulson, but you refused to let yourself consider what that might mean for you. Let me be blunt. I can heal you. I can give you back the parts of you that the Red Room removed to make you their perfect assassin. I can give you back the capacity to become a mother.”

Natasha’s poker face is impeccable. But to her credit, she seems to realize it doesn’t matter. After a moment, she scowls at him, her eyes narrowing into dangerous slits for what feels like the dozenth time since they started talking.

“How? How could you even know I cared about something like that? SHIELD doesn’t know that. It’s not something I’ve ever told anyone. So how?”

Tony gives Natasha a bland smile.

“You know I’m not going to answer that, Natasha. The question you should really be asking is what it’s going to cost you.”

That gets her attention. She stiffens up.

“… What would such a thing cost me?”

“Trust. Give me the week, Natasha. And then, once I prove everything I’ve said to you, help me dismantle HYDRA piece by piece, block by block, until there’s nothing left. After HYDRA is gone, you have my word that you’ll have the chance at a normal life, motherhood and all. I won’t let anyone get in your way.”

He can see her peering at him, trying to figure out if he’s lying or telling the truth. He can also see the moment when she realizes she has no way of knowing. Natasha’s poker face is impeccable, but Tony’s poker face is perfect. He’d left her unaware that he knew her true identity for the last ten months after all. She was going to have to come to terms with that fact.

In the end, Natasha takes the leap of faith, just as he’d hoped.

“Alright then. I am… tentatively on board, Stark. I suppose the knowledge I can be healed is the half up front and the actual healing is the half later, yes?”

He could have lied to her. He could have easily agreed and not bothered to correct the misunderstanding. But in the end, Tony doesn’t. He shakes his head, a sad smile on his face.

“No, that was all the first half. The second half… well, like I said. It’s for later, Natasha. You’re going to have to be patient, I’m afraid.”

He’s being selfish and he knows it. Telling Natasha Romanoff that her assassination attempt against Dreykov had failed and the Red Room was still very much operational would only distract her at a pivotal time. She would go AWOL almost certainly, and not only would Tony lose a valuable asset, but she would probably wind up throwing herself right into Dreykov’s hands.

Tony wasn’t technically supposed to know about what Natasha got up to back in 2016, shortly after the Sokovia Accords tore the Avengers apart. But he’d had FRIDAY keeping tabs on all of his former teammates all the same. That was how Tony knew that most of the Avengers had spent their time hiding out in Wakanda following the end of their little ‘civil war’.

Natasha though, she’d stayed active. And when you wound up doing something as big as taking down the Red Room once and for all, properly this time, it tended to show up on some people’s radar in a big way.

The problem was, Red Dust hadn’t been created yet in this timeline. Tony had JARVIS keeping an eye on the situation, but at the moment there was no movement from the former Widows of the older generation. No talk about the mind control that Dreykov was putting the newer generation under. No mention of developing a synthetic gas that could prove to be the counteragent to chemical subjugation.

And frankly, Tony had enough on his plate already. The moment he was confident that they could free the other Widows and destroy the Red Room without risking Natasha’s freedom in the process, Tony would help her do exactly that. Until then… until then, he was going to keep Natasha in the dark about Dreykov and the Red Room’s survival. It was kinder that way.

The look on Natasha’s face makes it clear she’s not happy to hear that. Her curiosity is undeniable. But in the end…

“Fine. I suppose that’s the leash, isn’t it?”

When Tony raises an eyebrow in response, Natasha elaborates.

“You’ve collared me with this promise of healing. You’ll keep me leashed by making me wonder just what else you’re holding in reserve. Can’t exactly go against you until I know what you’re hiding, now can I?”

He can’t help himself. He laughs and shakes his head.

“That’s not fair. You can’t end our sexual relationship and then put mental images like that in my head, Agent Romanoff.”

Suddenly, there’s a genuinely pretty smile plastered across Natasha’s beautiful features. She rises from her chair, uncrossing her legs and brushing off her pencil skirt.

“If that’s all Mr. Stark, I should really be getting back to Ms. Potts. Somehow, I think she needs my assistance more than you do at this point.”

Tony watches, a little stupefied, as Natasha proceeds to spin on a dime and begins walking towards the door, putting a hell of a lot of sway in her step and drawing his eye to her heart-shaped derriere in the process. As she reaches the door, she turns to look back at him over her shoulder and gives him a wink.

“Looking forward to the show, Tony.”

And then she’s gone and Tony is left groaning a little bit at the pressure he suddenly feels in his crotch. That beautiful bitch knew exactly what she was f*cking doing, damn it. And wait… did she just imply that she’d be continuing her sexual relationship with Pepper and only ending things with him?!

Tony growls, half-tempted to chase the red head down, pin her against a wall, and remind ‘Natalie Rushman’ of her place. He doesn’t of course, but damn if he isn’t tempted. He’d always known he wasn’t likely to continue to have access to Natasha’s panties once she knew he was playing her and all of SHIELD for fools.

Ah well. Sacrifices had to be made. And plans could now continue apace. Natasha wanted a show? He’d be sure to give her one.

“JARVIS. It’s time. Use Zola to get in touch with Pierce. He’s been rather panicked at having lost the Winter Soldier. Let’s give him a win, shall we?”

“Of course, Sir. Sending the message now.”

-x-X-x-

A/N: In the end, she just can't help herself can she? Once a minx, always a minx~

And now it's time for that Zola thread to be picked back up!

Chapter 20: Hail Hydra!

Chapter Text

A/N: Alexander Pierce finally gets some good news!

-x-X-x-

Secretary Alexander Pierce had not been having a good couple of weeks. As one of HYDRA’s heads, the Winter Soldier debacle fell squarely on his shoulders. As much as he might have preferred taking the easy way out and blaming one of his underlings, the truth was that the buck stopped with him. He’d been the one to give the order to bring the Winter Soldier out. He’d been the one to sign off on the mission.

Only, their secret weapon, the legendary assassin who’d shaped the last century of mankind’s development… was in the wind. Worst of all, no one could tell him whether the conditioning had broken or whether the Winter Soldier had been captured. They couldn’t even properly confirm whether the Soldier had made it to his target. Judging by Agent Romanoff’s report to Nick, he hadn’t.

That made it seem more likely he’d managed to break free of his conditioning then anything else, but if that was the case there should have been a trail to follow at the very least. The legendary assassin’s complete and utter disappearance spoke more of concentrated enemy action than anything else.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to pin the action on any of their known enemies. And that meant there was another organization out there who not only had HYDRA on their radar in a big way but was also skilled and hidden enough that HYDRA had no idea who they were.

So yes, Alexander Pierce had not had a very good past couple of weeks. But finally, things were starting to look up.

“Sir, Tony Stark is here to see you.”

Smiling brightly, the Secretary reaches over and presses a button on his desk.

“Send him in please, Marsha.”

A few moments later and Marsha leads Tony Stark, Chief Science Officer and Owner of Stark Industries, into his office. The billionaire genius actually looks a little bashful of all things… even nervous! But he’s also got this excited energy to him that’s almost infectious.

“Mr. Secretary, sir! Glad to be able to meet with you!”

Waving Marsha off and watching her leave the room, Pierce rises to his feet to take the offered hand that Stark thrusts across the table. It’s funny, their file on Tony Stark says the man hates being handed things and hates shaking hands. And yet, here he is, initiating a handshake all on his own. Afghanistan really had changed him, hadn’t it?

Hah! But then, of course it had. And most of the world, SHIELD included, didn’t know the half of it, not really.

“It’s a pleasure, Dr. Stark. Please take a seat.”

“R-Right!”

Sitting back down as Stark does the same, the Secretary presses another button on his desk. The windows go opaque and a low hum, barely audible to the human ear, fills the air. There’s no steel walls that come up or anything truly obvious like that, but in that moment Alexander Pierce has put his office into lockdown. No one can hear a single word of the conversation he’s about to have with Tony Stark.

“… We can speak freely now, Tony. May I call you Tony?”

Looking a little bashful still, Tony offers a surprisingly human smile and nod.

“Yes sir. That’s perfectly fine.”

Honestly, when Zola had first contacted him about this, Pierce could hardly believe it. It seemed too good to be true. But now, sitting across from the man and seeing it with his own eyes… he was starting to have faith. This could be just what HYDRA needed to bounce back from the disappearance of the Winter Soldier. But first, he had to be sure.

“You know Tony, when our mutual friend first got in contact with me, I wasn’t sure about what he had to say. You are… well, you were one of the last people I thought would dedicate themselves to something as meaningful as this. Your time in Afghanistan must have had more of an effect on you than any of us realized.”

Tony offers a tepid smile at that.

“Yes sir. I’m very good at putting on a façade and when I first came back from Afghanistan, that’s exactly what I did. I put on a smile and a brave face and promised everyone the world. But really… I was still reeling. I’m still not fully recovered.”

Stark raises a hand at that, showing a tremble in his fingers even now. Truthfully, Pierce isn’t surprised. What the man had gone through would be a harrowing experience for anyone, let alone someone as soft as a civilian billionaire.

“I needed security. I needed to know I was safe, or even if I ever could be safe again. So… I started searching for answers everywhere. And then Obadiah died and… and things got even worse.”

Humming, the Secretary considers letting that pass for a moment… but in the end decides it’ll be good to see how Tony reacts.

“You know, SHIELD thinks that you killed Obadiah Stane. Aldritch Killian as well.”

Tony flinches and looks down at his hands. He doesn’t act surprised by that, Pierce notes.

“I… I know. I had JARVIS hack into their files. I know what they think of me. I know that they sent Natasha Romanoff to spy on me.”

Pierce just nods. That lined up with what Zola had told him Tony and his pet AI were capable of. It was good to hear that Tony was disinclined to lie to him.

“I didn’t though, you know. I didn’t find out that Stane tried to have me killed until after his heart attack. JARVIS was going through his stuff before the funeral and I… well, I found the video that the Ten Rings sent him about paying more money if he wanted them to finish the job.”

His heart goes out to the man in front of him. It must have been terribly conflicting, finding out his mentor was a traitor right after the man died from too much red meat and cigars.

“And Killian… why would I kill him? What would be the point? I’d been watching him and AIM and Maya Hansen for the past eight years ever since I met the two back in 2000. I was rooting for them honestly. When Killian took his own life… of course I had to swoop in, for Maya if nothing else.”

Yes, that also rang true from what Pierce knew. As much as he respected and trusted Nick Fury to be a good, diligent Director of SHIELD… sometimes the one-eyed man’s paranoia could get the better of him in a big way. And he especially hated it when there was something he knew he didn’t know. Tony Stark had become like a piece of old leather Nick couldn’t resist gnawing at over the past year and a half.

“I believe you, Tony. So JARVIS… that was where it started, yes?”

Tony smiles softly and it’s clear he holds a large degree of affection for the AI he’d created. That’s good, from what Zola tells Pierce, JARVIS makes for an excellent weakness for Tony.

“Yes… yes sir. JARVIS was nothing more than my house’s security system when I was taken in Afghanistan. While I was there, I couldn’t help but think to myself… if I’d just made him something more, he could have helped me. He could have had my back when no one else did. The first thing I did was turn him into a full-fledged AI when I got back home. And from there I was able to hold off SHIELD… from there, Dr. Zola found us.”

Ah yes. As Zola had told Pierce, it had been complete happenstance. Tony and JARVIS were hacking into SHIELD, and in doing so they put themselves on Zola’s radar. After watching them for a time, the older AI had reached out and the rest… well, the rest wasn’t quite yet history, but it HAD led to this meeting, with Tony Stark in Pierce’s office.

“Dr. Zola told me about that. I wonder, what was that like from your perspective, exactly?”

Flashing a fragile smile, Tony lets out a soft laugh.

“… Terrifying, truth be told. SHIELD couldn’t do anything to JARVIS after I brought him to full sentience. But Dr. Zola wasn’t SHIELD. And he had so much experience it made JARVIS look like a toddler. For a little bit, I was afraid that he might hurt JARVIS. I was afraid he might hurt me. But… in the end, Dr. Zola turned out to be a godsend. He was exactly what we were looking for.”

Indeed. Zola had explained how he’d gently coaxed Tony and JARVIS out of their shells. Like creator, like creation. Tony had been jumping at every metaphorical noise he heard and JARVIS had been like a guard dog, doing his level best to protect his creator from any potential harm. Against an organization like SHIELD which was admittedly purposefully hamstrung by HYDRA to keep them from operating at their full potential, they’d done just fine.

However, against an experienced uploaded mind like Zola, they hadn’t just met their match, they’d met their superior. From the sound of things, JARVIS and Tony considered Zola to be something of a mentor at this point. Perfect for HYDRA’s purposes, if a bit surprising.

“Exactly what you were looking for, you say. Can you expand upon that, Tony?”

“O-Of course, sir. After Afghanistan… I was looking for a reason for why the world was so chaotic. So… disorderly. I spent all my life living in order and I thought because of my wealth and influence that order would follow me wherever I went. But in Afghanistan I learned that wasn’t true.”

Here, Tony reaches up and touches his chest in remembrance.

“There was a man in those caves with me. He saved my life the first day I was there. Then, a few weeks later, he sacrificed himself to save me again. I thought he wanted to see his family again. That’s what he’d told me anyways. But it turned out… his family was already dead. By dying to save me, he WAS seeing them again.”

A touching anecdote. Pierce can see that it’s had a deep and lasting impact on Stark as well.

“JARVIS and I were working on figuring out why the world was such a f*cked up place together when Dr. Zola found us. But before he found us, we found SHIELD… my father and my Aunt Peggy’s child. They built SHIELD up from pretty much nothing, trying to create something that would defend civilization from the barbarians at our gates.”

The man has a gift for words, Pierce notes. He’s just about to interject when Tony suddenly lifts his head, his eyes blazing as he looks directly at the Secretary with an intensity that takes him aback.

“But it wasn’t enough, was it sir? All of their work… they didn’t go far enough. They held themselves back from doing what needed to be done. Dr. Zola has been showing me and JARVIS some of your work. He’s been showing me the difference you’ve been making behind the scenes. I want in. I want to help. That’s why I asked for this meeting, because I recognize now that in order to build a better world, sometimes you have to tear the old one down first.”

Pierce jolts, finding that those words… they resonate with him rather deeply. Something he’d heard before? Something he’d maybe said before? Either way, he finds himself quite liking Tony Stark. And not just because the man represents a massive infusion of wealth and influence right when HYDRA needs it the most. Of course, that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to downplay things.

“We want you onboard too, Tony. Though there is the question of what you bring to the table.”

Here, Tony Stark smiles like a boy excited to show something off to his father.

“Of course sir. I’ve brought something to show you… may I?”

When he gestures to his pocket, Pierce smiles magnanimously and gestures for him to go ahead. Tony pulls out a small disc and places it on the desk in between them. Then, he presses a button. In an instant, a holographic display lights up and Pierce finds himself leaning forward, his eyes widening at what he sees. Rows of metal men, or robots, each of them looking like something straight out of Science Fiction… each of them a veritable weapon of war in their own right.

“Oh my…”

“I call them the Iron Legion, sir. Well, JARVIS and I call them that. We’re developing them together with Dr. Zola’s help. Each of them will be remote piloted, powered by a miniaturized Arc Reactor and-!”

“Excuse me, an… Arc Reactor?”

Tony nods rapidly, his smile only growing as he swipes at the hologram and brings up the schematics for the power source. Now Pierce begins to recognize it.

“The Arc Reactor was something my father invented many years ago. But like with many of his inventions, he was ahead of his time. The best he could do was create a rather large version of the Arc Reactor, which powers the main campus of Stark Industries to this day. However, we’re in the digital age now sir. The age of miniaturization. So I shrunk the Arc Reactor down. They’re actually powering that Repulsor Technology that SI is selling to the US Military, if you’ve heard about that.”

Actually, Pierce had heard about that. He gives Tony an interested look.

“I heard that all of those weapons were black boxed. That you wouldn’t even let the military crack them open to see what was inside.”

Here, Tony’s bashfulness asserts itself again.

“A-Ah… well, I figured if anyone could know what was powering them, it would be you sir. Besides, that Repulsor Technology… it’s all operating on far weaker Arc Reactors anyways. The Iron Legion will be top of the line! The best I can make. All for the cause… all for HYDRA.”

It’s the first time the word has left Tony’s lips. It sounds good coming out of the genius’ mouth, Pierce decides. He stares over the schematics for the Arc Reactor one more time, but honestly it all goes over his head. He was never a scientist. Zola though… if Zola was taking lead on this project, then he supposed he could count on the uploaded intelligence to make sure everything went according to plan.

Although…

“We’re going to have to find a way to get SHIELD off of your tail, Tony. They’re nipping at your heels and I have to admit, Nick is a personal friend of mine… which is how I know that once he gets his teeth on a bone, it’s all but impossible to get him to stop gnawing. How do we redirect SHIELD’s attention? Do you have any ideas?”

Correctly deducing that show and tell is over, Tony reaches out and turns off the display disc, pulling it back off the table before giving Pierce a tentative smile.

“Well… I did have one idea. If you can’t beat ‘em… join ‘em, right?”

The Secretary just raises an eyebrow and quirks the side of his mouth up in amusem*nt, gesturing for Tony to go on.

“The way I see it, SHIELD thinks I’m a loose cannon. They think I have to be studied and controlled because they don’t know my motivations or intentions. So… we let them think they’ve won. Let them think I’m under control… specifically under YOUR control, sir. Yours and the World Security Council’s.”

Oh? Now there was an idea.

“I’ve got plenty of goodies to go around, really. We can give SHIELD some toys to placate them, like the Repulsor Technology and other stuff. The really good stuff we hold in reserve for HYDRA. That way, SHIELD thinks that they’ve got me right where they want me. Of course, it won’t work if I’m actually under Fury’s thumb. I’ll need to be outside of the SHIELD command structure. A civilian contractor of sorts, under the direct authority of you and the World Security Council. That way we can say I report to you and only you in the event that I need to do things that SHIELD might frown upon.”

Heh, it was obvious for all Tony’s bashfulness and the way he’d been buttering Pierce up this entire time that the man still had problems with authority. Or maybe he just didn’t like Fury and SHIELD. Based on the reports of what Fury and Coulson had been trying to do to get to Stark the past year and a half, it wasn’t all that surprising. Not to mention, finding out that Natalie Rushman was Agent Romanoff had probably pissed off a control freak like Tony to high heavens. Speaking of which…

“And where would Agent Romanoff fit into all of this, exactly? If we’re going to bring you under the World Security Council’s umbrella, there’s no point in leaving her in her current position, is there?”

At that, a hunger seems to enter Stark’s eyes.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’d say… I’d say we have Natalie, err, I mean Natasha… be my SHIELD liaison. Keep her attached to me and Stark Industries. Pep would miss her otherwise.”

It’s obvious that even with the betrayal and even with all of the changes the man has gone through, Tony Stark is still a horndog easily led by his co*ck. After all, Natasha Romanoff is an exceptionally beautiful woman. And from the sound of it, the rumors of him and his new CEO sharing women together were quite true.

More amused than anything, Pierce nods his head and rises from his chair once more. Tony hurries to do the same on the other side of the desk.

“I think that can be arranged, Tony.”

Holding out a hand, Pierce waits until Tony takes it before giving him a wide grin.

“Here’s to a brighter future. Hail Hydra.”

One last test. Though only partially. Even some perfectly loyal recruits had a hard time saying it the first time. Just stumbling over the words didn’t mean you were a traitor. However, when it comes to Tony Stark, he lights up and doesn’t even hesitate.

“Yes sir! Hail Hydra!”

… Yes, the last couple of weeks had been very rough for one Alexander Pierce. But as Tony leaves his office, the Secretary can’t help but smile a little bit. The disappearance of the Winter Soldier was still very troubling of course. However, when one door closes, another opens. Things were already starting to look up.

-x-X-x-

A/N: "Well Arnim Zola has been around a lot longer than this Jarvis AI so he MUST be stronger, right?" - Alexander Pierce being a boomer.

And thus does Tony say the fateful words. Hail Hydra indeed :P

Chapter 21: SHIELD Liaison

Chapter Text

A/N: Natasha's world is a little upside down at the moment, but she's nothing if not adaptable.

-x-X-x-

A week. That was how long Stark asked for. And then he’d gone and done something in three days. Natasha wished she could say she was surprised. To be fair, she was at least a little surprised. But more than anything, she felt resigned when Fury called her that morning and told her to suit up in her SHIELD uniform because she was going to be escorting him into a meeting with Tony Stark as Agent Romanoff, not Natalie Rushman.

For a brief moment, Natasha has thought maybe it was Tony playing games with her. She knew that he was probably a little miffed with her, especially because she’d gone straight to Pepper after their conversation and crawled right under the other woman’s desk. Sure, Pepper had known just as much as Tony did about Natasha’s true nature, and sure the CEO of Stark Industries was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

But Natasha liked Pepper. The jury was still out on how she felt about Tony.

After spending some time between Ms. Potts’ legs, Natasha had slotted right back into her role as their shared PA, handling the things she needed to handle for the two incredibly busy people. And then three days later, here she was.

It wasn’t Tony playing a trick on her, she’d eventually been able to ascertain without Fury catching wind of her concerns. In the end, it really was Nick Fury telling her that after ten months, her undercover mission as Stark’s Personal Assistant was over.

Natasha had offered up a protest of course, but Fury had told her it was out of his control. Apparently Stark had gone over his head to the World Security Council directly… and now he had them eating right out of the palm of his hand. It was just like Stark had said would happen, albeit in half the time he said he would be able to pull it off in.

Which led to right now, with Natasha wearing her bulletproof SHIELD uniform, the catsuit hugging her curves even more tightly than her blouse and pencil skirt ever had. She walks alongside Nick Fury as the trench coat wearing Director of SHIELD makes a beeline for Stark’s office, clearly on the warpath as he stomps his way through the Stark Industries building.

Dozens of eyes fall upon the two of them as they head for their destination and suddenly Natasha can’t help but feel like Stark was right. Fury was a professional. He was an incredibly capable spy, and a SHIELD Director worthy of respect and loyalty. However, he had this love for the theatrics to him that she’d never really seen before now.

… She could understand why HYDRA tolerated Fury as Director of SHIELD now. For all that he was competent at his job, he would make the perfect alarm system if he ever found out about their existence. He wouldn’t be able to help himself, really.

They reach the door to Stark’s office and Natasha doesn’t hesitate to step forward and open it, holding it for Nick as he sweeps into the room unannounced. As she enters after him, however, Natasha knows for a fact that Stark already knew they were coming. He wouldn’t be in his office right now otherwise, given the man barely used the room. Did Fury know as much? Did he understand that he was being played like a fiddle?

Tony pauses in the middle of the phone call he was making, his eyes widening as he sees Nick and Natasha. She has to admit, he’s a very, very good actor. There’s actually a flash of what looks like real hurt and betrayal on Tony’s face before he ‘masterfully’ covers it up with a cheeky grin.

“Gonna have to call you back.”

Then he hangs up on whoever he’s talking to, though Natasha suspects it probably wasn’t anyone important, if it was even a real phone call to begin with. Fury, meanwhile, pulls out a chair in front of Tony’s desk and sits down almost casually, clasping his hands on his abdomen as Natasha takes up a position to the right and slightly behind him.

“You know who I am, Stark?”

Feigning cheerfulness, Tony bobs his head in a faux amicable fashion.

“Director Fury of SHIELD.”

Then, he glances to Natasha.

“You’re fired by the way.”

It’s said so offhandedly, but there’s actual hurt underneath the cavalier tone Stark is currently using. If Natasha didn’t know better, she’d think Tony was actually blindsided by her true nature. Its obvious Fury is eating it up, which means Natasha has to offer some sort of response.

“Not sure if that’s your call to make, Stark. What would Pepper say?”

Tony huffs and Natasha thinks… she thinks she sees a miniscule drop of his real amusem*nt as he smiles a smile that masterfully doesn’t seem to reach his eyes.

“She’d understand. It’s just pest removal, after all.”

Fury finally cuts in again, after letting things play out for his purposes.

“This is a courtesy visit, Stark. We didn’t have to tell you about Agent Romanoff, but we are. Because you’re one of us now.”

Tony drops the smile for a sneer at that, shaking his head.

“This isn’t a courtesy visit; this is a shakedown. You’re upset because I went over your head, Fury. Because I got tired of your people trying to break into my company and find out what I had going on. Or are you going to tell me that Secretary Pierce didn’t order you to reveal Agent Romanoff’s true identity?”

Silence falls for a moment, making it clear that that’s exactly what happened. Fury works his jaw back and forth before finally responding. When he does, he leans forward out of his casual laid back position. His hands remain clasped together as he rests his elbows on his knees and looks at Stark with his one good eye.

“Secretary Pierce said you’ve come out of the cold. That you’re ready to be a team player. Is he wrong?”

The smile is back as Tony leans forward as well, not intimidated by Fury in the slightest. But then, of course he isn’t. Natasha can hardly believe how easily the billionaire is playing her boss. Tony had told her this would happen too. He’d told her exactly what he was going to do. It was still hard to wrap her head around it though.

“Of course not. I’m more than happy to work for the World Security Council. And I’m more than happy to work alongside the organization my dad and Aunt Peggy built together.”

Fury stiffens a little at that, as Tony seemingly gives away a big secret that he’s not supposed to know. Knowing that it’s just the tip of the iceberg makes the moment all the more ridiculous from Natasha’s point of view, however.

“You’ve been busy since returning from Afghanistan, haven’t you Stark? You know, you didn’t have to go out of your way to stonewall us. We could have been working together long before this.”

Tony just shrugs.

“Wasn’t ready yet. And let’s be honest, you weren’t ready for me either.”

Fury bristles at that, but before he can respond, Stark is already running right over him.

“Look, I’m not going to pretend like I don’t need a baby sitter. I went to the World Security Council, didn’t I?”

That gets a scoff from the Director of SHIELD.

“Presumptuous to think that you had to go all the way to the top.”

Tony smiles.

“Humility! It speaks well that you’re able to acknowledge that you aren’t at the top, Director. Maybe we can work with each other after all. But it will be WITH each other. Secretary Pierce has assured me that you can respect my autonomy. I’m going to be a civilian contractor. I only take orders from the WSC, and if SHIELD wants me or my tech, you’re going to have to learn to play nice. Secretary Pierce seemed to think you could. Is he wrong?”

Natasha can see that having his words thrown back at him pisses Fury off to no end. But the SHIELD Director controls himself all the same and after a moment of silence, bites out his response.

“No, he was not.”

“Good, then get out of my office and make an appointment. Oh, but I’m going to have to find a new Personal Assistant, so maybe wait a few days first.”

Natasha didn’t understand why Tony was being so aggressive about that part. Was he really trying to get rid of her? She supposed she couldn’t stick around here now that her mission was over. It was back to SHIELD and doing missions for them. And perhaps that was where Tony wanted her. Perhaps that was where she would be best placed to help him deal with HYDRA once and-

“I’m afraid Agent Romanoff will be sticking around, Stark.”

Wait, what?

Tony scowls, but Fury is the one who just bulldozes right on through this time.

“Orders from Secretary Pierce himself. Agent Romanoff is to be your official and unofficial SHIELD liaison going forward.”

Narrowing his eyes, Tony taps his desk with a finger for a few moments, a nervous tick on the face of things.

“Oh? And what does official and unofficial mean, exactly?”

Seeming much more in his element now that he’s getting one over on Stark, Fury even smiles.

“Officially, Agent Romanoff is the SHIELD liaison for Stark Industries, much in the same way I believe Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes handles relations between your company and the US Armed Forces. Unofficially, she’s my direct line to you, Stark. If we need to meet, she’ll arrange it on either end. If there’s anything I need from you or you need from me, we’ll go through her. Secretary’s Orders, I’m afraid.”

Natasha stands still as a statue, but internally she’s amazed. Fury looks like the cat who caught the canary. He has no idea that all of this, every last step of the way… has been prearranged by Tony. It’s honestly a little terrifying to watch, especially knowing what she knew.

Looking angry but also resigned, Tony smacks his hand down on the desk.

“Fine.”

Rising from his seat, the SHIELD Director looks undeniably smug and in charge as he gives Tony one last look before throwing a nod to Natasha and heading for the door. As he goes, he tosses a hand in the air in a casual wave.

“We’ll be in touch, Stark. Look forward to working together.”

The almost lazy way in which he says it makes it clear he feels like he came out of the entire meeting on top. And yet… and yet…

The door closes behind him. Silence reigns in the office for a moment. Finally, a voice comes from the ceiling.

“Director Fury is heading for the front door, sir. He does not seem to be making any detours at this time. Nor did he plant any bugs in this room during his visit.

Tony finally cracks a genuine grin as he leans back in his chair and lets out a laugh, shaking his head.

“Of course not, J. He knows trying to slip a bug in anywhere on the building wouldn’t make it passed your eyes. And besides, why should he try to bug the place when he has loyal eyes and ears right f*cking here.”

Tony’s gaze falls upon Natasha and the Black Widow can’t help it… she feels a shiver go down her spine.

“Well, Agent Romanoff? What did you think?”

Huffing, Natasha crosses her arms over her chest.

“I think you’re more than a little terrifying, Stark. That’s what I think. That was…”

Shaking his head, Tony sighs.

“That was necessary. Fury is capable enough as Director of SHIELD, but he’s been led around by the nose by HYDRA for decades and still doesn’t know it. Pierce has been part of HYDRA since the eighties and Fury trusts him, completely and utterly.”

Natasha grimaces at the implication.

“So then… all of this means that you…”

Again, she trails off. She really needs to stop doing that. Fortunately, she’s doing it with a man who loves to hear the sound of his own voice and is more than willing to pick up where she left off.

“Yep. I’ve infiltrated HYDRA. Pierce thinks I’ve joined up and believes that I’m completely loyal to the cause. He was willing to give me whatever I wanted concerning SHIELD, including you.”

Including her. She was basically just a pawn in a backroom deal between Stark and Pierce, arranged to look like she was being forced onto Stark so that Fury could feel like he was winning their little game. Except Fury was also a pawn in the real game between Stark and Pierce… a game Pierce didn’t even know he was playing.

Natasha isn’t used to feeling so out of her depths. But at this point… she needs to sit down. Moving over to the chair next to where Fury had sat, Natasha slumps into it and looks across the desk at Stark.

“Then I guess I’m all yours, aren’t I?”

Tony grins and waggles his eyebrows suggestively at that, causing Natasha to sigh and roll her eyes.

“Yes, even that part. Fury will probably expect me to do everything in my power to keep you and Potts under my thumb, including sex. Since he can’t control you directly, he’ll want to use me to control you indirectly.”

Frowning, Tony almost seems genuinely offended on her behalf.

“Well, we don’t have to actually do anything that you don’t want to, Nat. It’ll be easy enough to make Fury think it’s happening, all things considered.”

Nat. Awfully familiar. But then again, they had been in a sexual relationship for several months now. Natasha ultimately lets it slide, even as she shakes her head.

“Easier for me if I have real experiences to draw on.”

Here, Tony grins slyly.

“Sure, Natasha. And it definitely has nothing to do with your own desires, is that right?”

“Of course not. I’m a professional.”

Tony leers at her then, his eyes roaming up and down her beautiful body, tightly clad in her SHIELD uniform.

“Mm, that you are. Well Ms. Professional, if Fury is the bad cop and you’re the good cop, how exactly are you planning to fix my fragile bruised ego and make me feel better about all these months of lying to me, hm? Because really, I’m feeling so very betrayed right now.”

She sighs, knowing exactly what he’s doing. And yet… she’d walked right into this one with that talk of wanting real experiences to draw on, hadn’t she?

Rising to her feet, Natasha lets a coy, seductive smile slip onto her ruby red lips as she saunters around the length of the desk while tugging down the zipper on her catsuit, revealing more and more flesh as she goes.

“Well, Mr. Stark. I’m sure we can figure out a way to… massage your bruised ego. And other parts of you.”

He grins at her and Natasha knows she’s not going out of this little game of chicken with her dignity intact. That’s alright… she’ll never admit it out loud, but part of her has missed Tony’s and his insatiable appetites these past few weeks.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Tony got to have Natalie Rushman these last several months, but now he gets catsuit Natasha. Yum yum~

And in more ways than one too. Natasha is fully turn-coated at this point!

Chapter 22: Natasha Romanoff

Chapter Text

A/N: Natasha becomes Tony and Pepper's sex kitten. All according to plan~

-x-X-x-

Tony doesn’t hesitate to latch his hands onto Natasha’s leather-clad hips the moment that the gorgeous femme fatale swings one leg over his chair and proceeds to straddle his lap. Her breath hitches as she grinds her crotch into his own, feeling how erect he already is through his far too expensive suit pants.

If you’d told him a year ago that he’d have Natasha in this position, offering herself up to him on a silver platter with the zipper on her uniform down far enough to show a tantalizing amount of cleavage and skin, Tony would have laughed and then solemnly asked what exactly she was trying to get out of him.

It was a little hard to even try to imagine Natasha Romanoff of all people trying to be seductive solely for the sake of being seductive, after all. There was always an angle for the beautiful red head, always some sort of gambit at play. It was just who she was deep inside. Natasha was a schemer, and she would always be a schemer.

Of course, Tony knew what she wanted right now. He had her right where he wanted her and they both knew it. His offer to heal her and give her a chance at motherhood was honestly just the surface layer of things though. Tony had also just got done showing Natasha that the wagon she’d hitched her horse to, SHIELD… was rotted from the inside and out.

Fury wasn’t a bad guy. He wasn’t a good guy either, but he wasn’t evil. He also wasn’t as incompetent as Tony just got done making him look. He was simply a man who was doing the best he could with the information he had at hand. It didn’t help that JARVIS had been altering some of that information for quite some time now as well.

Letting the SHIELD Director think he’d gotten one over on him by saddling Tony with Natasha would hopefully assuage Fury’s suspicions for a little bit at least. Though Tony knew full well that if Fury could see him and Natasha right now, the man would probably burst a blood vessel from that bald head of his.

Sliding her hands across his cheeks, leaning in close so her ruby red lips are mere centimeters from his mouth, Natasha lets free a shuddering breath as she grinds into his bulge.

“You’re a very dangerous man, Tony Stark. Made all the more deadly for the fact that no one knows just how dangerous you really are.”

Tony chuckles, even as he enjoys the experience for what it is.

“Coming from the Black Widow, that’s high praise.”

Natasha hums at that, before suddenly shimmying out of his grasp. She slides off of his lap and onto the floor, kneeling between his legs as she spreads them with both hands on his knees. Tony doesn’t try to stop her. He simply leans back in his chair and watches as she slowly, seductively leans forward. Keeping her hands on his knees, the gorgeous femme fatale proceeds to unbutton and unzip his pants with just her teeth, and damn if she doesn’t look good doing it as well.

Finally, she tugs down his boxers until his rock hard member comes swinging out, very nearly smacking her in the face. Running her tongue along the underside of his shaft, Natasha seems intent on trying to make him blow before she ever even takes him past her lips. Unfortunately for her, Tony has more self-control than that. Literally, these days. It had taken some training, but the Extremis Super Soldier Serum, or as he’d taken to calling it ES3, had given him far finer control over his body than he’d ever had before.

He wasn’t sure whether that was because the Super Soldier Serum had enhanced his already genius intellect to even greater heights or if that was the way it was for everyone… or even if it was more a side effect of Extremis than anything else, but Tony wasn’t complaining. In the end, he could hold his release at bay forever if he wanted to.

Fortunately for Natasha, she doesn’t try to make a point of making him blow early. After licking up the underside of his co*ck, she places her lips around the head of his member and dutifully begins to suck, bobbing up and down his shaft while staring him in the eye the entire time. Her gaze never leaves his face and her hands never leave his knees. The entire experience is focused around her mouth and tongue and what she’s capable of doing with them alone.

Tony has to admit, it’s incredibly impressive. She is incredibly impressive. But when JARVIS sends him a silent message on his computer, he can’t help but hold out even longer. Seconds turn into minutes, and just as he can sense Natasha’s frustration rising… the door to the office opens and someone steps inside.

Under the desk, Natasha freezes up at the sound of someone walking into the office. She relaxes when she hears the familiar voice of Pepper Potts, however. She quickly returns to sucking his dick, no longer worried in the slightest.

“How’d your morning meeting go, Tony? Ah, I see it went very well indeed.”

The office is a more modern architecture. Meaning that Tony’s desk is basically just a glass pane on legs. It only takes Pepper a second to clock Natasha’s fine ass, clad in black bulletproof leather, poking out from under it. And then she’s able to follow that ass up through the glass desk and see the red head bobbing up and down on his co*ck.

Smiling at Pepper, Tony beckons for her to join him. Sashaying her way across his office, Pepper walks around the desk to his side, her eyes sliding down to meet Natasha’s gaze even as Tony wraps an arm around Pepper’s waist and pulls her in close.

“Good to see you still know your place, Agent Romanoff.”

Natasha colors a little bit at that, before pulling off of Tony’s co*ck and licking her lips so she can answer.

“Yes Ms. Potts. I am… happy to continue to be of assistance to you and Mr. Stark. Even if my official job title has changed from Personal Assistant to SHIELD Liaison.”

Pepper snorts in amusem*nt at that, before turning her eyes back to Tony. Seeing that she’s been dismissed, Natasha pouts for only a moment before descending back down Tony’s co*ck.

“So it worked then? Everything is going according to plan?”

Too horny to play nice right now, Tony ends up dropping the hand on Pepper’s waist to her ass, causing her to let out a cute little ‘ooh!’ as he gropes her firm, toned buttocks through her professional-looking pantsuit. The ES3 had been good to Pepper… to all of them, really. But he had to admit, as much as he loved Pepper for her and not for her looks, after the ES3, she was able to give even Natasha a run for her money in the looks department.

Giving him an unamused look, Pep still doesn’t stop him from fondling her ass, even as she raises an eyebrow impatiently. Chuckling, Tony dips his head.

“Yeah Pep. Everything is going according to plan.”

Pepper hums at that, and surreptitiously arches her spine as she pushes her ass further into his groping palm, acting a little bit like a cat in heat. She doesn’t say what she probably wants to say… because she knows better than to discuss Tony’s ‘visions’ in front of Natasha. He takes pity on her all the same, letting out a sigh as he leans back in his chair.

“Still, we’re in it for the long haul now. Can’t move too quickly or we’ll draw too much attention. We could dismantle the branch of HYDRA that’s in SHIELD tomorrow, sure… but that wouldn’t do us much good when we know there are more branches out there. We just haven’t found them all yet.”

Looking down into Natasha’s eyes as she continues to glide her lips along his spit-polished, throbbing member, Tony smiles.

“Until we do, we have to play nice. Might be years before we can finally make our move though, truth be told.”

In reality, Tony really means that they’ll have to wait years for certain events to come along that he can manipulate and turn to his advantage with his foreknowledge. Still, they can’t exactly tell Natasha that seeing as he has no intention of letting her know anything about his knowledge of the future. That said, the time table still causes Natasha’s eyes to flash and she pulls back to give him a look.

“Years, Stark?”

Tony hums, tilting his head to the side but not backing down.

“For you, Natasha… not quite as long as the rest. Be a good girl and prove your loyalty to the cause and we’ll get you all fixed up in another two or three years, I’m thinking. And then the biggest decision you’ll have to make is who the father of your own personal little sprog is going to be.”

That seems to mollify the red-haired spy, who returns to sucking his co*ck down on her knees under his desk. Of course, no sooner has she began to bob up and down on his member, showing a bit more urgency now, then Pepper sighs and reaches out, smacking Tony in the shoulder.

“Honestly Tony… don’t torture the poor woman.”

Being called out directly by his girlfriend, Tony lets out an exaggerated sigh and gives Pepper a pout. But… she’s right, in the end. Reaching down, he places a hand atop Natasha’s head, causing her to pause. Then, he smiles at her benevolently.

“Here it comes.”

That’s the only warning she gets before he unleashes a torrent of seed into her mouth. She swallows most of it, forced to as her cheeks expand from the sheer volume of cum he deposits on her tongue. Until finally, Tony’s balls have been emptied. Pepper doesn’t hesitate. Cooing, she grabs Tony’s desk by it’s edge and pushes it back several feet, despite the incredible weight of its metal legs. Then, she reaches down and yanks Natasha up by her shoulders.

The Black Widow’s eyes barely have a chance to widen before she’s being groped, hugged, and kissed by the CEO of Stark Industries, with Pepper’s tongue pushing its way into Natasha’s mouth and scooping out some of his cum in the process. The two red heads moan as they rub up against one another. Pepper is taking the lead of course, and being very domineering as she does so, but Natasha is definitely enjoying herself, grinding against Pepper’s hands and body as she’s fondled, groped, and toyed with.

Until finally, Pepper spins Natasha around, marches her over to the moved desk, and bends her over it. Natasha arches her back and lifts her ass up into the air without even having to be told, while Pepper finds the zipper to the SHIELD Agent’s catsuit and pulls it even further down, finally reaching Natasha’s sex.

Tony raises an eyebrow as he rises from his chair, co*ck in hand.

“My oh my… I’d noticed the lack of bra earlier, but no panties as well? It would seem someone came prepared for today to go a certain way, Agent Romanoff.”

Natasha doesn’t respond with words… but she does slowly sway her ass back and forth, her glistening sex now exposed as Pepper slowly runs her digits across it, collecting some of Natasha’s arousal before bringing her fingers to her mouth so she could suck them clean. Giving Tony a wide grin, his delightful girlfriend grabs Natasha by her leather-class ass cheeks and grips them solidly.

“She’s ready for you, Tony.”

Stepping forward, a lustful growl emanating from his throat, Tony doesn’t hesitate. He slams home into Natasha from behind, sliding her over the desk’s glass top a fair bit as she moans wantonly in response. Her inner walls clench and squeeze around his co*ck, and Tony has no issue setting a harsh, fast pace as he f*cks his SHIELD Liaison silly.

Nothing new, really. He and Pep have been f*cking Natasha for months now after all. But that was all ‘Natalie Rushman’. Now… now they’re giving it to the actual Natasha Romanoff, Agent of SHIELD and world-renowned assassin, the Black Widow.

Grabbing Pepper and pulling her into his side again, Tony can’t help but kiss the beautiful red head soundly on her lips. Moaning, she kisses him back, her hands running along his chest. Feeling a certain sort of way about the moment, Tony finds himself gasping out words he hadn’t actually planned to say the instant they have to come up for air.

“Marry me, Pep.”

He’d always intended to make Pepper his wife, of course. Just… not this early. He didn’t know if she was ready yet, even after all they’d been through. And yet… the words just slip out.

Tony didn’t want to spend another moment without Pepper as his wife. Maybe it was enough to say she was already the most important woman in his life. Maybe it was enough to know that he’d given her the literal keys to his kingdom by making her SI’s CEO, or that she knew that she would always come first given how many women they’d shared together.

… But Tony just couldn’t bring himself to care about all those justifications. He wanted Pepper to be his legal wife. To wear a ring on her finger that marked her as his, while he in turn wore a ring that marked him as hers.

Pepper freezes as he pops the question at first. She snorts in amusem*nt, glancing down at Natasha who has also gone as still as she can while still being drilled from behind.

“Really, Tony? Asking me that while you’re ball’s deep in another red head? Bold, Mr. Stark. VERY bold.”

Tony flushes, even if he can tell she’s just teasing him. He doesn’t try to take it back, knowing full well that she’s definitely considering it. After seeing that she’s not going to get a flustered reaction out of him, Pepper just pouts before giving him a beaming, bright smile.

“Of course, Tony. Of course I’ll marry you.”

He’d known she would say yes, of course. There wasn’t a world where he thought she’d say no. But even still, hearing it so easily from this Pepper after all of the years of heartache and difficulty with his original Pepper… it just went to show how much he got in his own way back in the original timeline. He just couldn’t help but be a self-sabotaging idiot.

He could have had Pepper as his wife almost ten years early, could have had her at his side as a superhuman, unstoppable machine of a businesswoman… but his own insecurities, doubts, and self-loathing had gotten in the way.

No more. Tony hugs Pepper close and kisses her deeply as he continues to f*ck the bent over SHIELD Agent over his desk. And as he and Pepper proceed to enjoy Natasha Romanoff and all of her delights together, Tony swears that he’s not going to hold himself back anymore. He’d given the world a chance to play nice and utilize him for the betterment of mankind. He’d given them a million chances, to be quite honest. And they’d failed him each and every time.

No more. Never again. Tony was in charge now. Even if some people didn’t quite know it yet.

-x-X-x-

A/N: This is basically the end of Arc 2. Next time we start Arc 3, aka known as 'Fury's Big Week'. For those who don't know, the major events of Iron Man 2, Thor 1, and the Incredible Hulk all canonically take place in the same week long period, making for a rather hectic seven days for Fury and the rest of SHIELD.

Fortunately for them, they won't have to deal with all of that sh*t this time around thanks to Tony. Isn't he a swell guy?

Chapter 23: Prep Work

Chapter Text

A/N: Why should Tony deal with all the problems Fury did during Fury's Big Week when he can just head some of them off at the pass ahead of time?

-x-X-x-

“Time to go, Doctor Banner.”

It has been one hundred and eighty-three days since the last time that Bruce Banner transformed into the Hulk. Just over six months without ‘incident’. Which is why, even as adrenaline flows through his veins at the sudden sound of someone in his makeshift, jerry-rigged laboratory, Bruce does his level best to stay calm.

Easier said then done though when you were pretty sure you were completely alone just a second ago, and then all of the sudden someone is talking to you from just across the room where you were confident nobody was there mere moments before.

And to think, it’d been such a good day up until now too. He’d just gotten done watching the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Stark Expo on his ancient, barely alive CRT television. Would he have preferred to have been able to attend in person? Of course he f*cking would have. But Bruce had grown used to the way his life had changed since his mistake five years ago. Since he’d turned himself into a monster.

Honestly, seeing Tony Stark on stage, talking about the Expo’s history, showcasing a few new toys and also highlighting some of the projects that others would be presenting at the Expo had… it’d reinvigorated Bruce. Perhaps that’s why he’d been leaned over a microscope mere moments after the opening ceremonies were over, studying another sample of his blood.

Now, of course, he slowly raises his hands in surrender and just as slowly turns to face the weirdly robotic voice of whoever’s found him. Not for his own sake mind you, but because if they were armed and did decide to shoot him, it would go very, very badly for them… and he’s trying so hard not to turn into a big green rage monster these days.

Funnily enough, his adrenaline actually shorts out for a moment when he finally lays eyes on the owner of that robotic voice. His first instinct is ‘robot’… but then as he looks it over a bit more, he realizes no. That’s no robot, that’s a suit of armor. An incredibly advanced, high-tech suit of armor at that. Gaping in amazement at the matte black, sleek metal suit, Bruce almost forgets himself. Almost.

There’s no visible guns at the moment, but then there doesn’t really need to be if whoever this is thinks they can just manhandle him into submission. Looking over the armored suit however, Bruce doesn’t like their odds. Offering a sheepish smile, his hands still raised in surrender, he tilts his head to the side.

“Look… that’s a really nice piece of technology you have there. But if you think that suit is going to help you take down the big guy, you’ve got another thing coming. This is a really bad idea.”

He doesn’t have high expectations of managing to talk down someone with this kind of technology. This level of advancement has to come with a whole lot of confidence in their capabilities. But he figures he owes them, himself, and the surrounding area at least the attempt. A hundred and eighty three days… he really doesn’t want to break his streak if he can help it.

The armored suit tilts its head to the side at that, and then a chuckle comes out of it.

“Well done, Dr. Banner. I think you’re the first to realize this was a piloted vehicle, rather than just a robot.”

Bruce flushes a little bit, feeling his ears go a little hot at the praise. Been a while since he got a compliment for his intelligence, he supposed. He’s not used to them.

“As for this being a bad idea… no, I don’t think so. I think this is a very good idea, that will preempt some very bad ideas on your part and the part of one Thaddeus Ross.”

What? Bruce furrows his brow, confused by that. Fortunately, his mysterious visitor seems to like to hear himself speak, because he’s happy to elaborate.

“I’m not here to capture you or apprehend you or experiment on you, Doctor Banner. I’m here to warn you that it’s time to move along.”

That causes Bruce’s jaw to clench and he has to take in a few deep breaths to calm himself down again. It wasn’t like he was unused to moving around a lot in the last five years. It was just… he was finally making some real progress here. He could be getting close to a cure, especially with the help of Mr. Blue, his long-distance research partner. So…

“Why?”

Whoever’s in the suit doesn’t seem perturbed by Bruce biting out his question. They should be, because at the moment Bruce is trying not to get too angry. No one wins if he gets too angry. Only… the next thing out of that metal faceplate of theirs is like a bucket of ice water right down his back.

“Because earlier today General Ross got actionable intel that you were here in Rio de Janeiro, Doctor Banner. In a couple of days he’ll have traced you to the bottling factory. He’s already mobilizing his forces and he’ll be here within the week to try to take you into his custody. At which point we both know what will happen. You will transform and go on a rampage, and people might get hurt.”

Bruce flinches. People WOULD get hurt. People always got hurt. Still… f*ck. Honestly, he believes them immediately. It had been a while since Ross had tracked him down. Too long. Bruce knew he couldn’t stay ahead of the United States General forever, so it made sense that he was finally due for a visit.

The armored figure was right. If Ross was a week away from Rio de Janeiro, then Bruce had a very short window to escape the country and slip out of the General’s net before he closed in on his location and caused another incident. It was just… Bruce looks around at his ramshackle lab almost mournfully. He was so close. If only he could-

“Let me guess. You’re thinking about Culver University. You’re wondering if any of the data from your original experiment might still exist. Let me stop you right there, Banner. If you go back to America, Ross WILL find you and he WILL cause another incident. More than that, he’s still desperately working on trying to create super soldiers. What do you think will happen if he or any of his lackeys gets ahold of some of your blood, hm? You’ve done well to run this long, Doctor Banner. But you can’t stop now.”

Bruce stares with wide eyes at the armored figure. How? How had he known? More than that, everything else he was saying was… enough to chill Bruce down to his very bones. Unfortunately, his visitor wasn’t done quite yet.

“Oh, and lose Mr. Blue’s number. And please don’t send him any more of your blood, I just got done destroying the last sample.”

Another surge of emotion and adrenaline rushes through Bruce and this time he has to clench his hands into fists to try to calm himself down. Still the armored figure doesn’t react with any sort of fear.

“What? Why would you do that? What are you talking about? Mr. Blue is helping me. He’s the only one who’s been helping me.”

“He’s using you, Banner.”

Bruce blinks as he suddenly gets an alert on his computer. Glancing over, he sees that he has a new email from a scrambled address. There’s an attachment. Carefully, hesitantly, he reaches out and opens it… and stares, eyes starting to water with tears of frustration as he reads through Samuel Sterns’, aka Mr. Blue’s research into his blood.

His long distance research partner hadn’t just used the blood Bruce had sent him a month back for the purposes of trying to synthesize a cure. No, he’d been looking into other purposes as well. His overarching goal was rather noble to be fair… he seemed to want to make humans practically immune to every type of genetic disease known to mankind. But he was playing with fire. Bruce could have told him that if he’d known, but he hadn’t known because Mr. Blue, Professor Sterns… had kept it from him.

Letting out a shuddering breath, Bruce nods and looks back to the silent, watching figure in his laboratory.

“You’re right. I’ll cut off all contact.”

His visitor tilts its armored head to the side.

“Good call, Dr. Banner. Consider this a token of my appreciation for your work.”

A black square dislodges itself from the armor, dropping down into a metal palm. Then, the figure moves over to a nearby filing cabinet and sets the black square on top of it. Bruce stares at it worriedly for a moment before biting the bullet and just f*cking asking.

“What… what is it?”

The armored figure almost seems to radiate amusem*nt.

“It’s a Starkphone, Doctor Banner. Modified to be untraceable and undetectable. You’ll find everything that’s left of the original experiment from 2005 on it, along with all of yours and Professor Sterns’ work over the last year. I’m not unsympathetic to what you’re giving up here, Banner. But with this, you won’t be giving up half as much.”

That was… Bruce eyes the Starkphone hungrily. Even still…

“This feels like a Faustian Deal. What’s in it for you? Why are you doing this for me, exactly?”

The armored figure pauses.

“Hm, been a while since I was compared to the Devil. As for why I’m doing this… I’ll just be honest with you, shall I? I’ve got a lot on my plate right now. It’s going to be a busy couple months. The last thing I need is to worry about you and Thaddeus Ross tearing up a United States City because of his obsession with you. Giving you this warning along with the phone is my way of heading off a major disaster, plain and simple.”

That makes a lot of sense, actually. Of course, just as Bruce is getting ready to nod his head in agreement, his mysterious visitor has to cap it all off.

“For you, Doctor Banner, today might just end up being the most important day of your entire life. For me, it’s just another Friday.”

… Alright, f*ck this guy, just a little bit. Even still, the assholish behavior actually kind of sets Bruce at ease, much to his own surprise. It makes sense in a way. Someone who could develop a highly advanced suit of armor like the man in front of him is wearing wouldn’t really care about Bruce or the monster within, outside of the potential damage that he might cause.

“I’ll leave you to start making your travel plans, Doctor Banner. Oh, and since you’re going to see my own personal thoughts on your condition anyways when your curiosity finally forces you to use the Starkphone, I’ll just tell you now… you’re going about this all wrong.”

Bruce frowns, but the armored figure isn’t done.

“You think of the Hulk as something to be purged, to be purified from your body. You consider him a disease, an affliction to cure yourself of.”

Gritting his teeth, Bruce does his best to hold back the urge to snarl. Green creeps into his vision as he bites out his response.

“That’s because he is.”

“Is he? Or is he just the other part of you that you’ve never allowed yourself to acknowledge before? Ask yourself this, Banner. If your passenger is nothing but a big green rage monster, why does he share your love of Betty Ross?”

Bruce blinks but before he can answer, the armored figure turns and leaves. He does so damn near silently too, disappearing out the door and off into the sky before Bruce can do more than get off of his stool. He stares after his unexpected visitor for a long moment, those final words echoing in his head… and then he goes and grabs the Starkphone off of the filing cabinet, along with a few other essentials before leaving without a single backwards glance.

-x-X-x-

Meeting Bruce again had been… interesting. Part of Tony just wanted to bring Bruce Banner onboard altogether. He could have probably ‘cured’ Bruce in a single afternoon, completely removed the Hulk from him entirely, and left him as a simple mild-mannered scientist.

But Tony didn’t want to do that. Not only did he feel like the Hulk deserved to exist, it would invite far too much attention if he took Bruce completely off the board and started protecting him. Tony didn’t want to deal with Thaddeus Ross and his particular brand of insanity just yet. Actually, he didn’t want to deal with the man ever, if he could help it… which he could.

That could wait though, because now that he’d gotten Bruce out of Ross’ warpath, there wasn’t going to be any battle between the Hulk and the Abomination in Harlem in June. And that meant Tony could focus entirely on juggling his duties at the Stark Expo alongside the upcoming extraterrestrial visit from Asgard.

He already had Dr. Foster, Dr. Selvig, and Poli Sci Major Darcy Lewis visiting the Expo at the moment. Being their primary backer when it came to resources had allowed him to gently strongarm them into coming out for the opening ceremonies. Of course, soon enough the atmospheric disturbances in New Mexico would draw the three of them away from the Expo… giving Tony the perfect excuse to follow and make a nuisance of himself when Thor arrived on Earth for the first time.

Dealing with the Hulk and Ross and Blonsky alongside all of that was one mess too many… so Tony had just shunted the problem down the road. Would Ross find Bruce again and make a mess of things later on? Maybe. Or maybe Tony would just keep Bruce one step ahead of Ross until the stars aligned for it to be the perfect time for the Hulk to take center stage.

Of course, there was also the possibility that Bruce would take everything Tony had given him and devise a ‘cure’. Tony hoped not, but he’d already decided he wasn’t going to stop the man if that’s what Bruce wound up doing. It was out of his hands now.

Though, visiting Bruce had left Tony thinking about the other rage monster he had very much ON his hands still. And so, flying back from Brazil, the billionaire finds himself paying a visit to one James Barnes, former Winter Soldier.

“How we feeling today?”

Still in the cozy, fully furnished prison cell where Tony had stuck him, the man looks up from the book he’s reading and presses his lips tightly together.

“… Fine.”

Tony hums and nods. Just as he’d hoped, being allowed to recover in a lot nicer circ*mstances then the first time around had helped Barnes break free of the conditioning a lot faster. It also helped that Tony had basically bombarded him with his past, giving him access to nothing but the mission records of the Howling Commandoes as well as some really dumb films made about their exploits for James to watch.

In fact, one of the first things to come out of his mouth that Tony was ninety-nine percent sure was all Barnes and not the Soldier had been a grumbled ‘That’s not what f*cking happened at all’ while he was watching one of the old war movies Tony had prepared for him.

And yet…

“Think you’re ready to maybe go out for a walk, Barnes?”

Pure, unadulterated panic spreads across the man’s face.

“… I’d rather not if it’s all the same to you.”

Yeah, that was about what Tony had come to expect. James Buchanan Barnes had been quite the suave, extroverted individual according to history. But as he was now… he was afraid of everything. Mostly though, he was afraid of himself and the damage he could cause.

Tony just shrugs, still all smiles.

“Sure Barnes. Not a problem. Anything I can get for you in the meantime before I go?”

When the brainwashed assassin actually hesitates for a moment, Tony perks up, curious what’s about to come out of his mouth. Unfortunately, it’s not some ludicrous request like a thousand pizzas, unfortunately. Instead, it’s a rather ragged…

“Why?”

When Tony raises an eyebrow in response, Barnes closes and uncloses his one flesh and blood hand. The metal arm is gone, removed at his request several months ago.

“… Why are you doing all of this for me? Keeping me safe? Taking care of me? Helping me? I… I remember. I killed him… and her.”

He doesn’t say their names, thank f*cking god. Tony has come a long way since Siberia… he’s literally traveled through time in fact. But hearing his mother or father’s names from Barnes’ lips would have been… triggering as the youth called it these days.

For a long moment, Tony considers the question. Then, he quirks up the side of his mouth and answers.

“Because I’m a super villain Barnes. I’m taking over the world and you play an integral part in my plans. Why else?”

For a moment, just a moment, Bucky Barnes flashes a grin right out of an old, yellowed photo. He even snorts too, before getting solemn and withdrawn again. With a roll of his eyes, Tony claps his hands together.

“Well, this has been fun but I am a busy man so if you’re intent on keeping yourself locked up, I’ll leave you to it. Let JARVIS know if you need anything.”

“… Yeah.”

Truthfully, Tony is one hundred percent using the other man’s own fears against him. Barnes had ‘woken up’ here in this place, regaining so much of what he lost under Tony and JARVIS’ care. He felt safe with them because of it. If Barnes suddenly did want to go outside, Tony actually didn’t really have a plan for that… he’d have to improvise and while he was pretty damn good at that, it still might get messy.

But by offering the recluse the opportunity, he allowed Barnes to be the one to shut down the idea, time after time. And that kept the former Winter Soldier complacent and under wrap, just as Tony needed him to be.

Leaving the super soldier to his very, very slow recovery, Tony heads back to the Expo. He’s only been gone for an hour, barely enough time to be missed. This time around, there will be no Vanko. No drones. Still some Justin Hammer, but Tony is willing to let the little guy continue to live in his shadow and ultimately make Tony look better by comparison.

For every winner, you have to have losers after all.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Everything is going according to plan. Next up, Thor, Jane Foster, and New Mexico!

Hm, in the meantime, what do you guys think Bucky's ultimate fate in this fic should be? Does he quietly retire, wind up Tony's bodyguard, something else I haven't thought of yet?

Chapter 24: New Mexico

Chapter Text

A/N: Poor Jane. SHIELD are just big mean bullies. Luckily her sugar daddy shows up to set them straight.

-x-X-x-

“You can’t do this! This is my life’s work! I have rights!”

Dr. Jane Foster had had a crazy couple of days. Scratch that, she’d had a crazy month to tell the truth. Three weeks ago, she’d been at the opening ceremonies for the first Stark Expo in more than thirty years. It had been a chance to finally meet with the man who’d been funding her research for over a year now, Tony Stark himself. She’d also gotten to meet his wife, the astonishingly beautiful Pepper Stark.

It’d been a short little meet and greet, what with how busy the power couple were. But it had still been great, as had been the next two weeks she’d spent hanging out at the Expo just soaking it all in. She hadn’t realized she’d needed the break from her work honestly, and she found herself glad in the end that she’d let her friend, Dr. Erik Selvig, talk her into it.

But then a week ago, her and Erik’s intern, Darcy Lewis, had contacted her from Jane’s lab in New Mexico with reports of atmospheric readings that were… frankly everything that Jane had been waiting for. She’d taken the first flight out the very next morning, and a few days later Erik had joined the two of them in person as well.

Then, last night… something had happened. Something beyond just hitting that blond man with the chiseled jaw with her van. Jane didn’t fully understand it yet, but she did know one thing… it had to be momentous.

Unfortunately, it appeared she wasn’t the only one who thought so. Because after leaving the guy they’d hit at the hospital, Jane had returned to her laboratory with Erik and Darcy in tow, only to find a bunch of government spooks in suits were packing up her entire life’s work into the back of a nondescript black truck to haul it who knew where.

A man with an altogether offensively bland smile stands between her and her equipment and data now, having introduced himself as ‘Agent Coulson with SHIELD’. And in the face of her outrage and desperate fury, he has just one thing to say.

“I’m sorry Dr. Foster. I know this is hard. But we’re the good guys.”

Erik is already holding her back, otherwise Jane thinks she definitely would have tried to punch the f*cker in the face for that sort of comment. Other than that though, Jane doesn’t know what to do. Just as despair is settling in however…

“Yeah, Coulson? That what you’re going with here? Because from where I’m standing, you don’t look like the good guys. You look like a bunch of thieves.”

It says something that everyone stops and turns at the sound of that voice. Not just Jane and her friends, not just Agent Coulson… literally everyone, including all of the nameless government mooks, turns and looks at Tony Stark as he grins and steps in from the sidewalk. Next to him, positively rocking her pantsuit like she was born to wear it, Pepper Stark has an arched brow and a phone in hand, almost like a threat.

“Mr. Stark. Mrs. Stark. This isn’t your concern.”

Is that a note of barely-there trepidation that Jane hears in the Agent’s otherwise placid tone, or is she just imagining things? Hell, maybe she’s even projecting. Just like back at the Stark Expo, Jane’s heart tha-thumps in her chest a little as Tony and Pepper walk forward in lockstep, wearing more money in clothing than she’s probably seen in her entire life.

Hope wells up in Jane’s heart, because Agent Coulson is actually quite wrong about that statement. As Pepper is quick to explain to him.

“I’m afraid it very much is our concern, Agent Coulson. Doctor Foster, Doctor Selvig, and their intern Ms. Lewis are all part of a team being funded by Stark Industries.”

Coulson’s posture tenses up at that, and Tony grins, pouncing like a wild animal on that moment of weakness.

“That’s right, Agent. You’re not taking Dr. Foster’s life’s work here. You’re taking my toys. And that, my bland agent, is a very, very bad idea.”

Jane didn’t even care that Stark was referring to all of her work and equipment, some of which she’d built herself, as his ‘toys’. Sure, Jane had literally made some of the instruments she was using to record her data with her own two hands, but the parts had still been sourced from either Stark Industries itself or paid for with Stark Money. And so far, Tony had been a completely hands off investor… until now.

“SHIELD is already prepared to compensate Dr. Foster for her loss. We’ve set up an account with discretionary funds so she can-!”

Jane is just about to cut off the Agent and tear into him when Tony does it first.

“Don’t be ignorant, Coulson. Especially not in such a painfully willful way. We both know this isn’t about money. This is about SHIELD stepping in where it’s neither wanted nor needed. Put bluntly… you’re outside of your jurisdiction, Agent.”

Jane furrows her brow at that, even as Coulson’s eyes narrow. They were? But that implied this was Stark Industries’ jurisdiction instead. How did that work? It’s not like the company was a law enforcement agency… right?

“Care to elaborate, Stark.”

Smiling wolfishly, Tony claps his hands together.

“But of course! Put simply, I’ve had Dr. Foster and her team out here monitoring things for quite some time now. The situation that has developed as of today has been brewing on my radar for months. The World Security Council has been briefed by yours truly as of this morning and Secretary Pierce gave me his full support at the end of our last conversation. Put simply, Agent… this is officially above your paygrade.”

There’s a pause at that, which Jane is grateful for because she’s trying to parse everything Tony just said. Especially since… well, as far as SHE was aware, she hadn’t been monitoring anything for Tony ‘for quite some time now’! She’d just been continuing her research, which he’d been graciously paying for. And what situation was he talking about? Brewing for months?!

Of course, the moment Jane realizes she’s probably looking absolutely bewildered by this whole exchange, she tries to school her expression into something more… well, something other than completely flabbergasted. Unfortunately, by the time she’s done so, Coulson has already clocked how out of her depth she looks.

“… I’m going to have to call this in, Stark.”

For a second, Jane worries that she’s ruined everything, even as Coulson pulls out a phone and turns away to place a call. The other SHIELD mooks are all standing around them, watching them quietly. At least they’re no longer moving the last of her things to the back of the truck, but even still… the tension in the air is palpable.

Except where the Starks are concerned. Tony has that same wolfish grin still on his face, while Pepper just rolls her eyes and places a call of her own. Jane doesn’t think the call is even about this. From the way the woman is talking, it’s about something entirely unrelated that Pepper can’t put off any longer. A CEOs work is never done, Jane supposes.

Turning back around, Coulson holds out the phone.

“The Director would like to speak to you, Stark.”

Tony scoffs.

“You know I don’t like being handed things, Agent. Put it on speaker.”

When Coulson’s eyes dart to Jane and her friends at that, Tony preempts whatever the SHIELD Agent might have been about to say.

“I already told you they’re my team, Coulson. Do you really think that they don’t have the clearance for this conversation? They’re my eyes in the area, my boots on the ground.”

Somehow, that seems to placate the Agent. Or maybe he’s just done dealing with Stark’s antics alone. Either way, Coulson presses a button and puts the call on speaker.

“What the f*ck are you doing in New Mexico right now, Stark? Don’t you have an Expo to run?”

The voice that crackles through the phone is abrasive and foulmouthed, leaving Jane to blink in astonishment. This was… the Director? Whoever that was? Of course, Tony just grins wider.

“Just doing my job, Fury. The Stark Expo runs year long. Can’t be there every single day of the year, not and keep up my obligations to the World Security Council.”

“Bullsh*t. You expect me to believe that the WSC put you on this without even telling SHIELD?”

Tony just shrugs, completely unbothered and radiating supreme confidence all the way through.

“Feel free to call and check, Fury. I’ll wait.”

“Fine, I will.”

Jane holds her breath as the line goes quiet for a moment that seems to stretch into eternity. Part of her still can’t help but think this entire thing is one huge bluff on Tony’s part. Is this where it finally all blows up in his face?

… But no. After a moment, this ‘Director Fury’ character comes back sounding deeply, DEEPLY unhappy.

“Agent Coulson.”

“Sir.”

“You and your men are to put yourselves under the command of the Civilian Contractor Tony Stark for the rest of this mission.”

Even Tony and Pepper’s eyes widen at that, but Agent Coulson definitely has the most pronounced reaction of the bunch. Or maybe that’s just because he’s had almost zero reactions up until this point.

“Sir?”

There’s a long-suffering sigh that Jane’s pretty sure they weren’t supposed to hear from the other end of the line. When Director Fury finally speaks again, he sounds like he’s regurgitating information from another source.

“Secretary Pierce and the World Security Council have full confidence in Stark and his team. At this time, the Civilian Contractor has been put in charge of the developing situation given… given his advanced knowledge on the subject matter and the legwork he’s put in up until this point in preparing for this incident.”

Jane can’t see this Director Fury character. She doesn’t know what he looks like, nor can she see the frustration that must be etched on his face since it’s so clear in his voice. But she CAN see the look on Agent Coulson’s face for the split second before he smooths it over and is back to being his offensively bland self.

“Understood, sir.”

From a few feet away, Tony scoffs and arches a brow.

“And why should I entertain babysitting a bunch of your kids, Fury? I’ve got more important things to be doing, you know. Like science!”

Jane can’t help but grin at that.

“Secretary Pierce’s orders, Stark. Feel free to take it up with him. I’m sure the World Security Council would be interested to know why you wouldn’t want even SHIELD Agents under your direct authority near this sh*t.”

If the threat fazes Tony in the slightest, he doesn’t let it show on his face. Chuckling, the incredibly rich genius just rolls his eyes and shrugs his shoulders.

“Ah well, can’t be helped. Pep?”

Smoothly bringing her phone down from her ear as though she were just waiting for her cue, Tony Stark’s wife looks cool as a cucumber as she speaks with an arched tone to Coulson and the SHIELD Agents surrounding them.

“I’ve just received word that the Site Facilities are up and operational. There should be enough room for a few extra bodies, I suppose. So long as SHIELD knows how to follow orders.”

There’s an outraged pause from everyone that’s directed at for a moment before Fury’s voice comes over Coulson’s phone one more time.

“… Site Facilities?”

Tony jumps in at that.

“For where the unidentified satellite fell to Earth last night. Apparently… it’s a hammer.”

Jane blinks, even as the silence from Director Fury’s end is deafening. Finally though…

“See it done, Agent Coulson.”

“Yes sir.”

Smirking haughtily, Pepper saunters forward without a care in the world.

“Come along then, Phil. I’ll show you and your men to the Site.”

She’s so busy being impressed (and a little turned on by the extremely capable woman) that Jane almost misses the fact that they’re getting into their truck, still filled with all her stuff, and preparing to drive away.

“W-Wait! My things!”

Tony places a hand on her shoulder though and gives her a reassuring smile.

“Not to worry, Dr. Foster. They’re doing us a favor. See, we were going to have to transport you and all of the relevant equipment over to the new Site Facilities anyways. Now SHIELD is doing the gopher work. How nice of them, really.”

Oh. That was… but what if…

“W-What if they don’t go where Mrs. Stark tells them to?”

Raising an eyebrow at that, Pepper’s husband scoffs.

“And kidnap the most powerful woman in the world? You tell me how you think that would go for them after everything you’ve seen in the last fifteen minutes, Dr. Foster.”

That was… a very fair point. Jane feels her shoulders slump in relief as the adrenaline of very nearly losing her whole life’s work finally starts to drain out of her. God she was glad that she’d taken Stark’s money. Doubly so when her legs give out on her a moment later and he’s there to catch her in his surprisingly strong arms.

“Whoa there! Easy now, take a seat… take a moment and get your head on straight, Jane.”

She nods as she sits down, breathing slowly in and out. As she does so, Tony finds himself bombarded by Darcy.

“You know, when Jane told me she got to meet you and your wife at the Stark Expo, I wasn’t even remotely jealous.”

More amused than offended by her words, Tony just grins. In the face of his incredible charm, Darcy falters, blushes, and then sticks out a hand.

“That was until I saw you two in action today. Darcy Lewis, Poli Sci Major.”

Taking her hand, Tony brings it up to his lips rather than shake it, placing a chaste kiss on her knuckles before letting her pull it back.

“A pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Lewis.”

Jane felt like it was a pretty good first impression, even with Darcy being Darcy. Which of course is when Darcy has to ruin it by doubling down and being even MORE Darcy.

“If you and your wife wanted to spirit me away to your fully kitted out sex dungeon and have your mutually wicked way with me, I would NOT be against it!”

Darcy immediately shuts her mouth the moment she’s gotten that out, but of course it’s much too late by that point. Jane groans and covers her face with her palm, but Tony Stark is Tony Stark. Meaning he has incredibly thick skin.

“Well now. Don’t go saying that anywhere in Pepper’s general vicinity.”

Huh? Darcy blinks and asks what Jane is now thinking.

“Wait, why?”

Tony’s grin widens to the point of almost inhuman levels of smug.

“Because she might just decide to spirit you away to our fully kitted out sex dungeon and rope me into having our mutually wicked way with you, Ms. Lewis.”

Jane has never seen anyone shut Darcy up so damn effectively before. It’s honestly kind of almost as amazing as watching Tony Stark run circles around SHIELD and their mysterious Director on the phone.

Of course, with Darcy rendered speechless, Tony moves on to the last member of their team.

“Dr. Selvig. Good to see you again.”

“You as well, Dr. Stark. Though pardon me for being blunt… what the hell have you gotten us into here?”

Jane jolts, alarmed that Erik is taking such a confrontational stance with the man that just… that just SAVED them! But Tony still doesn’t get offended.

“Nothing you wouldn’t have gone and gotten yourselves into even without my help, Dr. Selvig. That I can promise you. Though, I have to ask…”

Tony looks at them all for a moment, brow furrowing.

“… Have any of you seen a blond man with shoulder length hair, a chiseled jaw, and muscles for days in the past twenty-four hours?”

Jane’s eyes widen, as do Darcy and Erik’s. None of them has what you might call a very good poker face. Still… how did Tony Stark know they’d hit someone with the van?! And was he going to rescind his funding because of it?!

-x-X-x-

A/N: The seeds of Darcy joining the harem are planted, fufufu. Meanwhile, Tony has swung around his big WSC-backed dick and made SHIELD bend to his will. I'm sure that'll be fine.

Just gotta go get Thor now.

Chapter 25: Thor Odinson

Chapter Text

A/N: Thor meets Tony Stark. Nothing else especially important happens, I swear :P

-x-X-x-

“This drink, I like it… ANOTHER!”

Tony’s hand flashes out the instant his superhuman senses catch Thor’s intent and he actually manages to take ahold of the bottom of the coffee mug before it can even fully leave the depowered God of Thunder’s hand. There’s a jolt that goes through Thor’s body as this happens, and the blond’s eyes widen slightly at the display.

Grinning lightly, Tony tugs the coffee mug from Thor’s fingers and sets it down on the table.

“That’s not how we ask for things around here, Point Break. The cup is washed and reused… not smashed on the ground into a million pieces.”

He really hadn’t been sure how hard locating Thor would be. When he and Pepper had initially arrived at Mjolnir’s location to find some of the locals f*cking around with the thing and Thor nowhere in sight, Tony had just shrugged, given all of the men a thousand dollars each to f*ck off, and had JARVIS start setting up a facility around the enchanted hammer.

The temptation to try to pick the damn thing up himself HAD been there… but ultimately Tony hadn’t bothered. It didn’t matter how strong he was now; he knew full well that he wasn’t any worthier now than he’d been back in the original timeline.

So with Thor in the wind and JARVIS letting them know what Coulson was trying to pull with Dr. Foster and her team, they’d headed into town to take care of business. After letting Pepper lead the SHIELD mooks off by their new leash, Tony had figured if he just hung out with Jane and her friends long enough, he’d run into Thor sooner or later based on the reports he’d read of this whole incident back in the future. And lo and behold, they had actually left a man fitting Thor’s description back at the hospital!

Of course, he hadn’t expected to literally run into Thor by way of having Jane hit him with her car while they were pulling away from her library to head on over there. Luckily, despite not having his godly alien mojo at the moment, the Asgardian Prince was still tougher than your average human being and the vehicular incident hadn’t left him any worse for wear.

Now, could Tony have dragged Thor right over to Mjolnir to see what could be done about powering the big guy back up? Sure, but that meant missing out on a chance to establish a rapport with the God of Thunder before SHIELD got wind that they had an exiled alien prince on their planet. And so Tony had done what Tony did best… he’d gone ahead and bought out a nearby diner and set the cooks in the back to creating a literal feast for a famished Thor Odinson.

It's probably because of that that Thor slowly nods and gives him a friendly smile before reaching out and slapping him on the shoulder.

“Hah! Understood, Tony Stark! You are quite an intimidating warrior, despite your short stature! I applaud you for your strength!”

Tony just raises an eyebrow at that, even as he throws a look at the others at the table. Jane and Erik are definitely more interested in Thor than him, though for different reasons. Jane very clearly has it bad for the handsome blond, while Erik looks like he’s not sure if Thor is entirely sane… and also like he’s wondering how the hell the other man is putting away his FIFTH plate of food.

Darcy on the other hand, is definitely eyeing Tony in an interesting way. She has been since their flirtatious banter back at the lab. Though from the look of things, she doesn’t seem content to leave it at just banter. He’ll have to let Pepper know, heh. For the time being though, Tony puts that on the backburner in favor of regarding Thor.

“So then. You were telling us about your exile, right?”

Thor immediately grows moody at that, eating his feelings by scarfing the eggs in front of him at record pace for a few seconds. But finally, he swallows down the last bite on the plate and nods.

“Indeed. My father Odin, King of Asgard and the Nine Realms, did not understand why I did what I did. He did not give me time to explain that I was just trying to protect our kingdom. He has cast me out of Asgard, cast me here to Midgard until I complete his trial. Once I retrieve Mjolnir, I shall return home and take my rightful place by his side once more.”

Tony already knew it wouldn’t be that easy. But he didn’t see any reason to burst Thor’s bubble.

“Dr. Stark… don’t tell me you actually believe all of this?”

Selvig tries to be quiet as he leans forward to whisper in Tony’s ear. Key word there being ‘tries’. In the end, Thor overhears him, and those vibrant blue eyes of his narrow as he frowns at Erik. Before the displaced Thunder God can respond, Tony does it for him and he does it at full volume, all smiles.

“Oh, I believe it. Your own data supports it Dr. Selvig, Dr. Foster.”

Both of them jolt at that, looking at him in confusion. Tony just shrugs.

“Remember those atmospheric disturbances you detected? Dr. Foster, do you recall your theory on Einstein-Rosen Bridges?”

“I… yes?”

Tony hums and then looks to Thor.

“Tell me Thor, how did your father exile you here to Earth? To Midgard.”

After clarifying that last bit, the confusion starting to cloud Thor’s eyes clears up and he nods in understanding.

“Ah. He tossed me out into the Bifrost.”

“And what is the Bifrost?”

“It is how we Asgardians travel the Nine Realms! By walking the Rainbow Bridge, we can venture from Asgard to anywhere in the Nine Realms with great speed!”

Thor’s matter of fact delivery has Jane’s jaw dropping open in astonishment.

“Wait, you have instantaneous portal travel?! Your people have created an Einstein-Rosen Bridge?!”

While Thor gives her a look of honest bafflement, Tony takes over with a nod.

“According to your own data gathered last night, as well as the sensor data that we’ve gathered from satellites in the area, that’s exactly right Dr. Foster. Thor here didn’t just show up out nowhere to be hit by your van. He was teleported, however inadvertently, into your path. Meanwhile, you lot were out there last night chasing the signs of the Bifrost itself… Asgard’s very own Rainbow Bridge.”

Jane looks excited beyond belief. Erik, not so much. The older of the two scientists frowns at Tony’s showmanship, looking more than a little suspicious and bewildered.

“… How are you so certain about all of this, Stark? It seems a little farfetched, doesn’t it? The existence of aliens?”

Tony just scoffs at that.

“Farfetched? Don’t be ridiculous. Of course aliens are real. It’s more surprising that the gods of Norse Mythology are real than that aliens are real, but at least it explains where the myths came from in the first place.”

Selvig still looks unconvinced, so Tony does him the favor of reasoning it out a bit more.

“Now, there is still a possibility that Thor here is an escaped experiment, of course. But that just means someone on the planet has developed the ability to teleport to outer space and then back again and sent him on a boomerang journey of sorts that we didn’t detect the first half of. Seeing as we definitely picked up him coming down, it doesn’t make sense that we wouldn’t detect him leaving in the first place. Ergo, the most likely outcome is that he’s telling the truth, at least about his extraterrestrial origins.”

That finally gives Erik pause. Tony can see the older man’s rational mind going over everything Tony has just said with a fine-toothed comb, before he finally slowly nods his head in agreement. A second after this, Thor lets out a bark of laughter.

“Hah! You have the silver tongue of Loki herself, Tony Stark! I must confess, it is strange to me. On the one hand, it is clear that you Midgardians have come a long way since the last time we visited your planet in our youth. But at the same time, to think that you have all but forgotten your pasts and have to be convinced that the Nine Realms and Asgard even exist is… quite odd indeed!”

Tony hums, nodding along almost absently.

“Yeah, about that Thor. You mentioned before that your father is King of the Nine Realms. Just gotta ask… is Midgard counted among those?”

Raising an eyebrow, Thor shrugs.

“But of course! Midgard enjoys the protection of the All-Father, just as all of the Nine Realms do!”

Did it? Tony almost wants to scoff and get into it with the Asgardian Prince… but that wouldn’t really fit his purposes. Instead, he smiles mirthlessly.

“See, that might be a problem, Thor. We humans have sort of done away with most of our monarchies. We don’t really accept the rule of distant kings anymore, and we’re not usually inclined to follow their orders. Is that going to be a problem?”

To be fair, Tony knew it wouldn’t be. But he still wanted it on the record as early as possible all the same. Thor looks taken aback for a moment before slowly shaking his head.

“Ah. Hm. That is… well, my father does not usually exercise his right to rule the Nine Realms that much anymore. I suppose… it would be more appropriate to call him the Protector of the Nine Realms?”

Then, Thor’s face splits into a grin.

“Haha! You know, it’s funny because I was due to be crowned King of Asgard yesterday before those dirty Frost Giants disrupted my coronation ceremony! I always thought father was making a mistake, being so hands off with the Nine Realms. Still, seeing how you Midgardians live these days… perhaps he had a point after all! You’ve truly made something of yourselves!”

From there, Thor suddenly lights up.

“Aha! I know! We shall have a contest, you and I!”

Tony raises an eyebrow, leaning back a little bit at the God of Thunder’s… boisterousness. He’d almost forgotten how intense Thor could be at times. And this was a very young Thor indeed. Funny, the God of Thunder was supposedly already a thousand years old. And yet, the next eight years would age Thor a thousand more unless they could stop what was to come for him.

“A contest?”

“Indeed, Tony Stark! I can tell you are a great warrior of much esteem, based on how your elders and the womenfolk defer to you! Let us have a test of strength against one another!”

And then, Thor pushes his emptied plates aside and slams his elbow down onto the table, his hand raised up as he effectively challenges Tony to an arm wrestling match right there in the middle of the diner.

Tony stares at Thor’s offered hand for a moment before quirking the corner of his mouth up and huffing in amusem*nt.

“You know, I’m not actually considered a warrior here on Midgard.”

Thor blinks, confused. Tony just points at Jane, then Erik, then himself.

“Dr. Foster. Dr. Selvig. Dr. Stark. I’m a scientist, just like them. I just happen to have a lot more wealth, power, and influence then they do.”

Faltering, Thor starts to look put out. However, just before he can pull back his hand and rescind his offer, Tony snaps his own hand out, his elbow also hitting the table as he braces and meets Thor’s palm with his own. Giving the surprised God of Thunder a vicious, toothy grin, Tony just shrugs.

“Just wanted you to know the score before I won, Point Break.”

There’s a pause… and then Thor throws his head back and roars with laughter.

“I like you more and more, Tony Stark of House Stark! Even with your interesting penchant for ‘nicknames’! Come then! Let us test each other!”

Without further ado, the game is on. Thor doesn’t waste any time going for the kill… but unfortunately for the depowered God, he’s already lost. He just doesn’t know it yet. Of course, Tony has no intentions of bringing his full strength gained from the ES3 to bear here. Not only would beating Thor too fast wound the Prince’s pride, but it would also raise too much suspicion among the others at the table.

Instead, he grunts and focuses on showing just enough exertion to be believable, even as he and Thor war with one another, their straining arms wavering back and forth across the center-point between them. Grinning from ear to ear, Thor snorts as he tries to force Tony’s arm down.

“Tch… for not being considered a warrior… you are quite strong, Tony Stark!”

Grunting, Tony shakes his head.

“Couple… years back… I got captured by my enemies.”

Thor leans in a little, listening intently. Meanwhile, Tony can see Jane, Erik, and even Darcy all jolt out of the corner of his eye.

“They had me… for three months before I fought my way out.”

The God of Thunder’s eyes widen in delight and Tony can see himself rising in Thor’s esteem in real time once again. Especially since Tony is telling this story while seemingly putting up a very good fight against Thor and his big beefy arm.

“After that… I told myself never again. Anyways… what I said, Thor Odinson… was that the people of this world don’t consider me a warrior. I never said… I don’t consider myself one!”

Finishing that statement with a roar, Tony puts on a show, finding a ‘hidden well’ of strength and surging with all his might. Engrossed in his tale as he was, Thor is ill-prepared for it… and even if he wasn’t, Tony makes sure to end it there, putting a hint of superstrength behind his grip as he slams Thor’s hand down onto the table.

Pulling his hand back, Tony gives Thor a grin.

“Good match.”

Thor pulls his own arm back and shakes it for a moment before huffing at Tony.

“Indeed. I see now that you sought to lull me into inaction with your tale. More and more you remind me of Loki. Still, you are a capable fighter all the same, and quite strong, Tony Stark. I am glad to see that Midgard is in safe hands. Of course, know that if I was at my full strength, there would be no contest at all!”

Tony just smiles placidly at that, not bothering to try and argue either of those statements. Earth is indeed safe in his hands. He’ll make sure of it. As for whether Tony could take Thor at full power… well, it’s not like he intended to find out any time soon. But he liked to think he’d certainly give the Thunder God a run for his money.

Coming to a decision on the spot, Thor nods decisively.

“I beseech you, Tony Stark of House Stark! Help me to retrieve Mjolnir so I may return to Asgard and I guarantee you will have Thor Odison as shield-brother and stalwart ally, to call upon for the rest of your days?”

Biting back the urge to say something silly like ‘can I get that in writing?’, Tony instead inclines his head to the side.

“You mentioned Mjolnir before. Let me guess… a hammer?”

Thor brightens up at that.

“Yes! You have heard mention of it already?!”

Tony just scoffs at that.

“Heard mention of it? Buddy, I already own the land it fell on. It’s just outside of town so-!”

“Then let us be off! I cannot wait any longer!”

Yeah, that was anticipated. Tony has already thrown the diner over ten thousand dollars for this little first impression… a small price to pay for coming out of this smelling like roses to a young and impressionable Thor Odinson. As such, they all stand up and pile out of the diner together. Tony, of course, is not going to be driving with the others in Jane’s car.

However, just as he’s parting ways to head for his Audi R8, the sports car waiting for him just down the street, Tony stops dead in his tracks as something he never should have missed suddenly screams out at him in the back of his mind.

Whipping back around, Tony calls out to Thor as the depowered Asgardian starts to climb into Jane’s car.

“Hey, Thor! Earlier… did you call Loki ‘herself’? Loki Silvertongue, God of Mischief? That Loki?”

Furrowing his brow in confusion, Thor slowly nods.

“Yes? My sister Loki Odinsdottir, Goddess of Mischief. Why do you ask?”

Keeping the smile plastered on his face, Tony shakes his head and laughs.

“No reason! See you at the Site!”

Then, he whips back around so Thor can’t see the expression of pure disbelief on Tony’s face. Loki Odinsdottir?!

What the f*ck was going on?!

-x-X-x-

A/N: Anyone else miss the initial mention of 'Loki herself' like Tony did? Or did you catch it immediately? :P

That's right, Loki is a Goddess and not a God in this universe. But for Tony not to know that... hmm, does that mean this isn't his original timeline? :O

Chapter 26: Onsite

Chapter Text

A/N: Poor Natasha, stuck between a rock and a hard coc- err, place. At least the benefits for betraying SHIELD are pretty nice. Meaning the promise of healing of course, definitely not the constant dickings she's getting on the side~

-x-X-x-

Leaning against the railing, looking down below, Natasha hears Clint finish up the call he’s on behind her. She also hears the heavy sigh he lets out as he puts his phone away and joins her at the railing.

“Coulson and Fury aren’t happy, Nat.”

Shifting so she can look him in the eye, Natasha arches a single brow at that.

“What, with me? What was I supposed to do? They know as well as I do by this point that the Starks can’t be controlled, corralled, or manipulated. They can barely be reasoned with some days.”

Agent Clint Barton cracks a grin at that, chuckling softly before shaking his head.

“Pretty sure they’re wondering why they weren’t at least given a heads up about all of this, Natasha.”

‘This’, of course, being the facility they were currently standing in. Located out in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico, Natasha had arrived here about half a day ago. Clint, meanwhile, had been sent ahead by Coulson to scout out the area, only to run into this prebuilt location and Natasha herself.

Rolling her eyes, Natasha just sighs.

“And when was I supposed to give anyone a heads up? I barely just found out about this, Barton. Tony doesn’t tell me anything he doesn’t have to. Besides, this whole facility didn’t exist a day ago.”

That gets a furrowed brow from the other SHIELD Agent, who looks around at their surroundings with no small amount of incredulity.

“Like hell, Natasha.”

She gets it. Really she does. SHIELD is no stranger to making pop-up facilities when the situation requires it like this one does now. Temporary things with walls of tarp and a bunch of grated walkways. From the look of things, it’s going to be raining in the next couple hours, so making sure they had sure footing amidst the mud that was likely to take over the area would have been crucial.

This, however, is not anything like the pop-up facilities SHIELD had at their disposal. The whole place is clearly built to last if need be, the kind of place that would only need to be reinforced in a couple extra ways to become permanent and sit tight for decades if it proved necessary. It was also the kind of place that would have taken weeks or even months for anyone else to build.

“I’m serious, Clint. You can have Coulson get you access to the satellites over the area later if you don’t believe me. Feel free to watch it get built in real time. This whole place wasn’t here a day ago, and then Stark and his wife showed up having already bought the land en route to the site, paid the locals to f*ck off, and then had this whole thing built in less than ten hours.”

For a long moment, the Archer stares at her like he isn’t sure whether to believe her or not. But Natasha isn’t lying and while Clint can’t always tell when she is, she knows he believes her by the way he turns away after a moment and cusses under his breath.

“… sh*t.”

She felt a flash of pity for him then. If nothing else, the past couple years had… inured Natasha’s to Tony and Pepper’s particular brand of insanity. First the ten months spent undercover as their Personal Assistant, and then the last thirteen months spent as their ‘SHIELD liaison’. Technically, she was supposed to be Fury’s eyes on the inside. She was supposed to be reporting on the latest craziness from Stark to keep Fury appraised of what the rich genius was up to. So in a way, she could understand why Fury might be upset with her for ‘missing this’.

What Fury, Coulson, and Clint all didn’t know was that Tony had already turned her. She was his at this point, through and through. Not just because of his promises to heal what the Red Room had done to her and give her a chance to be a mother at some point down the line, but also because at this point, he was the only one who seemed to actually have his finger on the pulse. Between Pierce being HYDRA and Fury being Pierce’s unknowing stooge, Tony pulling the wool over the eyes of both powerful men had fundamentally shaken her confidence in SHIELD.

Of course, she couldn’t very well tell Clint that. He still believed in Fury and Coulson and SHIELD. If she’d tried to take him aside and warn him about Pierce and HYDRA, he’d either laugh in her face, have her committed… or worse case scenario, he’d believe her and try to tell Fury and Coulson, which would just have the whole situation blowing up in their faces.

Better for him to stay in the dark. For his own safety if nothing else. As such, Natasha lets out a soft frustrated sigh and lets some manufactured irritation leak into her voice as she makes a show of cutting loose for a moment.

“Look, I get why Fury and Coulson might be questioning my lack of awareness on this particular bullsh*t, but Stark has his fingers in more f*cking pies than I can count. I figured anything really big would be at the Stark Expo so that’s where I’ve been focusing my time.”

Natasha huffs, glancing down below them again.

“… I haven’t had the time to go through the hundreds of investments Stark has made in different scientific research groups both big and small all over the world these past couple of years. I know I sent all of that information onto SHIELD though, so if anyone is to blame for not catching whatever the f*ck this is, blame it on the analysts.”

Clint grunts, also looking down below them. There, in the center of the compound that Stark and his AI had created in under half a day, sits the biggest piece of proof that it WAS just recently constructed. In the middle of a freshly churned crater, sitting on a small pile of dirt and rock almost innocuously, is a large hammer right out of some fantasy legend.

When Natasha had first arrived with the Starks, the locals had all been holding a competition trying to move the damn thing. None of them had been able to make it budge, proving that there was more to it than met the eye. To her surprise, Tony hadn’t bothered to try to pick it up either. He’d just paid the locals to leave and then had JARVIS start building the facility around the hammer, complete with loads of equipment pointed directed at the damn thing to start taking scans.

She and Clint are standing on the second floor of the facility’s inner courtyard now, a big square that wraps all the way around the hammer’s impact site. Because that’s definitely what it is. The hammer had come from the sky, whatever the hell it was. It’d come flying down from the sky and hit the earth with quite a lot of strength if the crater was anything to go by.

“You’re right, Nat. Of course you are. And I’ll make sure Coulson knows you’re right as well. This isn’t on you. Besides, if nothing else, we managed to keep Stark from shutting us out entirely at least.”

Glancing back over at Clint, Natasha arches her brow again at him.

“Even if he had, I still would have been here. Representing SHIELD all the same.”

He flashes her a weak smile at that.

“… Yeah. Of course.”

An awkward silence falls between them for all of a moment before SHIELD trucks finally arrive at the facility, disgorging Pepper, Coulson, and a dozen SHIELD Agents. Without missing a beat, Tony’s wife starts giving orders and after sparing a glance to Coulson to make sure they have to obey, the SHIELD Agents are all ears, unloading the trucks and putting everything right where Pepper tells them to.

Natasha suppresses the smile that threatens to spread across her face as she watches Pepper at work. Even Coulson ultimately falls in line, the SHIELD Agent not seeming as put out as Clint had made him sound while letting Pepper lead him around by the proverbial vice grip she has on his balls.

Shortly after that though, things finally get really interesting when Tony Stark himself arrives in his sports car with a clunker following along on the dirt road behind him. Natasha and Clint part ways at that, with Clint going up in order to find a bird’s eye view of the whole situation, while Natasha heads downstairs to join Pepper and Coulson on the ground floor.

Tony, meanwhile, is grinning as he brings his hands together to rub them.

“Alright then! Let’s get to the bottom of this little mystery, shall we?”

“Stark, we-!”

But before Coulson can finish whatever he was going to say, one of the people who piled out of the other car walks up and gives Tony a hefty smack on the back.

“Tony Stark! You said you would escort us to Mjolnir, no? Is it nearby? Who are these people?”

The blond screams ‘meathead’ to Natasha, but at the same time, her instincts also scream that he’s dangerous… a warrior for sure. Stark barely pays any mind to the back slap however, seemingly taking it in stride.

“Introductions first, Thor. It’s only polite. The bland one is Phil Coulson, Agent with SHIELD. The one clad in leather who could snap your neck with her thighs if she wanted to is Natasha Romanoff, also Agent of SHIELD. But don’t worry, I’m working on turning her to our cause.”

The way Tony exaggeratedly winks in Natasha’s direction almost makes her want to strangle him. He has to know that saying sh*t like that only makes Coulson and Fury more suspicious of her, right? Only… no. Him being so obvious about it will probably have the opposite effect if she really thinks about it. He’s made no secret of his attraction to her, and they know that Natasha has continued to warm Tony and Pepper’s bed even as their SHIELD liaison.

… Them knowing about that has set them at ease, hasn’t it? They think they know Tony is trying to seduce Natasha to the ‘dark side’ as he likes to call it. They think they know all about his numerous ham-fisted attempts at turning her. And because they think they know all of that, they have no idea that he turned her before she was even assigned as SI’s SHIELD liaison. Stark was always three steps ahead, wasn’t he?

“And last but not least! This is Pepper Stark, my very own lady wife.”

Pepper smiles as she steps forward, the first of Tony’s introductions to actually do so, offering her hand to this ‘Thor’ character. Wait a second… Natasha blinks, her synapses firing as she finally makes the connection between a hammer that fell from the sky and a musclebound blond named Thor. There was no way though, right?

“Ah! Lady Stark, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance! I am Thor Odinsson, Prince of Asgard, God of Thunder!”

Natasha stares as the self-proclaimed Prince brings Pepper’s knuckles up to his lips and brushes them with a quick, respectful kiss. From her periphery, she can see Phil doing the same.

To her credit, Pepper doesn’t even blink as she gives Thor a welcoming nod before moving to stand at her husband’s side. Meanwhile, Tony is all grins as he steps back up to the plate.

“Yeah Agents, you heard that right. According to Thor here, he was exiled by the All-Father to Earth after a bit of an argument they had last night. Hence the atmospheric disturbances… and the big honking hammer in the central courtyard.”

“You were truthful then, Stark? You have already located Mjolnir?!”

“I told you, didn’t I buddy? Let’s get you inside so the two of you can be reunited, yeah?”

At that, the self-proclaimed God, who is vibrating with excitement and barely repressed energy, all but darts forward. Tony moves to follow at a more sedate pace, only for Coulson to stop him with a hand on his arm.

“Stark, are you sure this is a good idea? This isn’t exactly protocol.”

Tony raises an unimpressed eyebrow at that.

“This isn’t a SHIELD operation, Agent. SI protocols are different from SHIELD protocols. We don’t tend to shoot first and ask questions later, for one.”

Coulson scowls at that, revealing just how much Tony gets under the man’s skin at this point. Natasha finds herself suppressing a smile again. Phil seemed more than happy to follow Pepper’s lead, but the moment Tony showed up, his general abrasiveness seemed to just… rub the veteran SHIELD Agent the wrong way. Natasha couldn’t really blame him… Tony was an acquired taste in more ways than one.

“Besides, when we got here, it was to find the locals already trying and failing to lift the hammer one after another. Which means one of two things is about to happen, Coulson. Either we’re about to make friends with one of the aliens that Norse Mythology was based on by reuniting him with his hammer and proving ourselves to be good, upstanding ‘Midgardians’… or…”

“NO! HOW CAN THIS BE?!”

Natasha doesn’t jump as Thor’s anguished cry splits the air, reaching them all the way outside of the facility, though the civilians that Tony has brought with him all do. Tony just gives Coulson a look before pulling himself free of the Agent’s grasp.

“Shall we, Agent?”

As it turned out, yes they shall. Following after Stark along with all the others, Natasha lets herself be led to the central courtyard, where they find Thor kneeling on the ground in the last rays of the slowly setting sun, staring at the hammer he’d obviously just failed to lift. He still has one hand on its handle, giving it a tug every once in a while, but to no avail.

“Thor, buddy. Everything alright?”

Natasha can’t help but throw Stark a look at that. Why was he still entertaining this guy’s delusions, exactly?

“I… I am not worthy. The hammer… my father placed an enchantment on it.”

With his free hand, Thor wipes some dirt away, revealing an engraving on the head of the hammer that he brushes with his thumb.

“’Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ That is what it says.”

Silence falls for a moment, split between incredulity and uncertainty. More than a few looks are shared by those watching the seemingly sad scene. But Natasha… Natasha only has eyes for Tony as he walks forward and places a hand on Thor’s shoulder. Just what was the crazy man up to now? What was the point of all of this?

“Sounds like you know what you need to do then, Thor.”

When the kneeling man glances up at Tony in confusion, he just grins and shrugs.

“Would your father have dropped you and your hammer so close together if he didn’t think you could become worthy again? Seems to me he’s testing you, Thor.”

Those words bring a change over the despondent blond, whose eyes slowly widen as he staggers to his feet.

“You… you are right. I must think on this. It would seem my Father has a lesson for me to learn here. I must figure out what it is!”

Still smiling, Tony nods his head amicably enough.

“Let me get you a room then, Thor. Plenty of those around here for you to do a lot of thinking in.”

Behind Thor’s back, Tony holds up a finger in Coulson’s direction and Natasha realizes that the other Agent has opened his mouth to speak, only to be preempted by Tony’s nonverbal shushing. As Phil’s mouth shuts with the audible sound of his teeth clicking together, Natasha has to hide another smile at the interaction. Pepper, meanwhile, steps right up to the civilians Tony has brought along.

“Dr. Foster, Dr. Selvig… right this way. I’ve had Phil and his men setting your equipment up in your new lab for you. Don’t worry, they’ve been very gentle, I’ve made sure of it.”

As the SI CEO leads the dazed and confused scientists and their intern away, Natasha can’t exactly blame them for looking so over their heads. Frankly, she herself is barely treading water here right now… and she’s supposed to be on the inside. Whatever the f*ck Tony is doing here, Natasha doesn’t fully get it just yet. She’s sure she will eventually though. For now, she just has to have faith that Tony and Pepper have this all under control.

-x-X-x-

A/N: D'aww, Natasha has faith. That's cute. To be fair, out of everyone in the world to have faith in at this point, Tony and Pepper are a pretty safe bet!

Still, what IS Tony up to? Hmmm...

Chapter 27: Just Some Talking

Chapter Text

A/N: Tony and Fury finally have a chat.

-x-X-x-

“Sir, Director Fury is trying to contact you. Shall I put him on hold?”

Tony has barely stepped out of the room where he’s taken Thor before JARVIS’ quiet voice sounds in the microscopic earpiece he’s wearing. If you’d told him this morning that Thor would ask to be allowed to meditate on his next steps of all things, Tony would have laughed in your face. But here they were and the facility he’d had J build for the hammer was full of empty rooms, at the end of the day.

He was still trying to wrap his head around the whole ‘Loki is a girl’ thing and if he could have, he would have spent the next few hours working out what it meant for him and his plans. Nothing on Earth seemed to be different from what he remembered yet, but Loki had very much been a man in his original timeline.

What did it mean that according to Thor, Loki in this universe had always been a woman? That sure, there were some incidents with shapeshifting and magical disguises over the centuries, but Thor was confident Loki had always defaulted to a female form at her base. It might have something to do with Tony’s method of time travel, he supposed. Because- no. He was letting himself get off track. Eye on the ball, Stark.

Tilting his head to the side, Tony considers JARVIS’ query for a moment before shaking his head with a sigh.

“Nah, he’ll just have Coulson track me down so he can hand me his phone instead. And that doesn’t sound nearly as fun as when I make him use Nat for that.”

A raunchy grin spreads across Tony’s face as he finds himself momentarily reminiscing about the numerous instances of Natasha handing him a phone with a furious Fury on the other end. Tony and Natasha had a deal. If she was going to hand him things, she better be willing and ready to give him a hand in the other way too. Or a mouth, as it were.

Needless to say, talking to Fury was a lot easier when he had Agent Romanoff’s lips wrapped around his co*ck the entire time.

“As you say, Sir.”

A moment later and Fury’s voice comes through, loud and clear.

“Stark. You actually believe this bullsh*t?”

Coulson had certainly gotten word back to his boss fast. Tony had been spoiled with having Natasha as his SHIELD watchdog for the last year and two months if he was being honest. Especially since she was on his side, allowing him to drip feed Fury whatever information he wanted.

Alas, Secretary Pierce couldn’t be seen to show Tony TOO much blatant favoritism, or it might actually raise Nick’s suspicions. As such, they were going to be saddled with Coulson, Barton, and the other SHIELD mooks for this operation. Just couldn’t be helped.

Humming, Tony leans back against the wall and stuffs his hands into his pockets.

“Yeah Nicky, I believe it. I’m sure you’ve already seen the readings that Dr. Foster and her team picked up out here last night. As well as what was picked up by satellites in the region also. I’m also sure that you aren’t a scientist, so you probably have no clue what it all says. Well here’s some information that you’ll be able to wrap your head around, Director. J?”

“Package sent, Sir.”

On the other end of the line, Fury curses as JARVIS bypasses half a dozen SHIELD Protocols in order to send the latest packet of information right to the one-eyed man’s computer. The Director doesn’t say anything about it though, instead he opens up the packet and after a moment curses under his breath a second time.

Smirking, Tony nods to nobody.

“That’s right, Nicky. The hammer is completely extraterrestrial in origin. And not just the metal either. The leather on the grip and the loop at the end is not from any animal on this planet, Nicky. Past or present. As for ‘Thor’ himself, he’s not human either. He’s been weakened to near-human levels, but his biology is completely out of this world.”

“… And that’s enough for you to buy his Norse God bullsh*t? Isn’t it more likely this is some kind of conman from outer space who read our myths and is trying to mimic them or something?”

Tony tilts his head to the side. See, that’s why it was hard to hate Nick Fury ALL the way through and through. The man was great at pivoting. Though to be fair, it made sense that the SHIELD Director would be quick to believe Thor was an alien… after all, Nick and SHIELD had had plenty of dealings with aliens in the past, hadn’t they?

Likewise, Fury’s idea that Thor might be an intergalactic conman was honestly kind of inspired. If Tony didn’t know everything he knew, he’d think it was actually a pretty solid theory. With that in mind, he lets his tone become conciliatory.

“It’s possible, Director. Which is why I’m taking things nice and slow. Being all cautious like. If he is what he says he is, we’ve got an opportunity to make an amazing ally… or a truly terrible enemy. If he’s not, then I figure we’ll find out soon enough just by studying him and the hammer. And like I told Secretary Pierce, nothing we’ve tried so far has been able to move the hammer anyways. Neither organic nor inorganic methods have proven effective, despite every scan I can run saying the thing shouldn’t weigh much more than it appears to.”

Tony shrugs as he takes a breath and then continues on.

“You catch more flies with honey then vinegar, Fury. And since we can’t exactly exploit this situation in any other way, I’ve decided that diplomacy is our best bet at this stage in the game. The WSC agrees with me.”

Silence on the other end for a moment, and then…

“Tch. Much as I hate to admit it, so do I Stark. But I’ve got my eye on you.”

Fury hangs up on him before Tony can make a pirate joke, but he just chuckles and shakes his head.

“Same ole Nick Fury. Well alright then. I suppose-.”

“Sir, Thor Odinsson has entered a state of distress.”

Wait, what? Furrowing his brow, Tony turns back to the room he left Thor in and steps back inside. He’d been expecting to return to a cheery Thor having decided he needed to do something like going on an adventure to rescue some damsel or secure some ancient relic to become ‘worthy’ again.

Instead, when he walks back into the room where he’d left Thor to his meditation, its to find the big blond man crying. To be fair, it’s the manly, brave kind of crying. Hands clenched into fists; jaw clenched even harder. One big honking manly tear streaking out of the corner of one of his big blue eyes. But there’s no denying it… he’s crying.

“Thor? What’s wrong buddy? I literally left you in here five minutes ago.”

Looking up at Tony, the depowered God of Thunder doesn’t just look sad… he looks broken.

“I… I have just received terrible news, I’m afraid. My sister visited… to let me know that our father is dead.”

Tony’s brain bluescreens for a moment. Getting his mile-a-minute thoughts to screech to a halt before would have been an accomplishment, but doing it now that he had ES3 running through his veins and making him so much MORE than he was before… f*ck, that was a legendary achievement.

Distantly, he hears JARVIS telling him that the AI has no records of Loki’s presence or the conversation that Thor is now describing they’d had. But then, of course he wouldn’t. Because Loki is magical bullsh*t. Pure and utter magical bullsh*t.

… Did this happen the first time around? The SHIELD reports talked about Thor’s friends showing up and then a big honking metal monster that burnt down an entire town coming after them. They talked about Thor calling the thing ‘The Destroyer’ and supposedly laying the blame for its presence and the destruction it caused at Loki’s feet.

But nobody said anything about Loki paying Thor a visit this early. And they wouldn’t have, because Loki wouldn’t have let them see him. Or in this timeline, her.

“I can no longer seek to regain my powers, Tony Stark. I am… I will never be worthy of Mjolnir ever again, no matter what my father originally intended. To know that I was the cause of his death, with the fragile peace I nearly upset conditional on my exile… and with mother herself forbidding my return, it would be best for me to live out a mortal lifespan here on Midgard, as punishment for my crimes.”

Thor lets out a choked laugh, looking down at his hands as though they’re covered in blood, as though he did the deed of killing his father personally.

“… I must confess though; I do not know what I will do. Will you help me, Lord Stark?”

It’s the first time Thor has called him ‘Lord’. Tony realizes then that he’s deferring to him because Thor is letting go of his past as a Prince and setting down any aspirations he has for the Throne of Asgard in this moment. He’s asking, in his own way, if he might become Tony’s vassal.

… Yeah no. That’s not going to work for him. None of this is going to work for him.

“Your sister is lying to you, Thor.”

Thor jolts, his face scrunching up in confusion as he looks at Tony aghast.

“What? What are you saying?”

How can he not see it? They’ve been siblings for a thousand years, right? Besides, between his knowledge of the future and his enhanced brain meats, Tony is rather rapidly connecting the dots.

“Thor, you said it yourself. She’s the Goddess of Lies. Loki of the Silvertongue. And you’re just going to believe her? Tell me, who rules Asgard if you’re in exile and Odin is asleep?”

“I… she does… but she would not lie to me about this! Especially not if our father was not truly dead. He would be most cross with her once he finally woke up!”

“Would he? Who would tell him if you gave up on your goal to become worthy again and made no attempt to return to Asgard? It would just be him and her and so long as you remained in exile willingly, she would have to be his heir from this point forward.”

There was another, of course. Tony was a little foggy on the details admittedly. Some bitch named Hela had turned up out of nowhere and f*cking destroyed Asgard. But with everything else happening with Thanos and Earth and Titan, as well as the destruction of half the known galaxy, Tony hadn’t exactly interrogated Thor for details. All he knew was that the bitch would break Asgard over her knee and reduce the Asgardian people to a mere shadow of their former selves.

Still, he also knew Hela wasn’t in play right now. And Loki hadn’t known about her any more than Thor did.

Gritting his teeth at Tony’s words, Thor finally rises to his feet and crosses the room, reaching out to throttle Tony.

“Loki might like her tricks and schemes but she would never-urk!”

Yeah, no. Not going to let a repeat of the Ultron Incident playout again. Tony had had enough Asgardian hands on him for two lifetimes. As Thor approaches, Tony steps right in past the musclebound blond’s hands and punches him in the gut… hard. With Thor only barely above a baseline human, Tony’s punch, which he does hold back on considerably, sends Thor to his knees, retching.

Crouching down, Tony places a hand on Thor’s shoulder and whispers to him.

“You told me that you were about to be coronated as King of Asgard yesterday. And that the only thing that interrupted you was Jotuns from Jotunheim sneaking into Asgard’s vault. But the Jotuns have been trapped on their planet for a long time, haven’t they? So tell me this… who let them into Asgard? Who let them into the vault?”

Meeting Thor’s eyes, Tony sees as they widen with realization. And he sees the moment Thor starts to believe. That doesn’t stop the God of Thunder from still denying it though, feeble and weak as his defense of his sister becomes.

“But she… she argued against going to Jotunheim afterwards. She tried to dissuade me and my friends from journeying to the Realm of the Frost Giants for fear of sparking a war…”

Tony just shakes his head.

“Maybe she just wanted the coronation cancelled. Maybe she just wanted to rain on your parade. Or maybe… maybe she knew that you would do the opposite of whatever she suggested, stubborn warrior that you are. So she put that Silvertongue of hers to use.”

Thor looks horrified… and then, funnily enough, he looks elated.

“But that… that means my father is alive!”

Tony grins crookedly.

“That he is, Thor.”

He was like… ninety-nine percent confident of that fact. For now, Odin should still be alive. Though this whole situation was revealing a rather glaring blind spot in Tony’s ‘travel back in time and save the world’ plan… he was woefully under informed on what the f*ck was happening outside of Earth. Still… at least Thor was no longer looking like death warmed over.

“I must… I must get back to Asgard. I must prove myself worthy, reclaim my powers, and return to my father so he may know of Loki’s scheming!”

Tony’s grin widens.

“That’s the spirit, buddy. Time to get your groove back.”

That gets a confused look from Thor as he finally rises back to his feet. He keeps his relieved, joyful smile all the same though, even as he laughs heartily.

“Ah! You say the strangest things sometimes, Stark! Hm… how to prove I am worthy. Sitting in this room just thinking about it forever won’t work… I must do things!”

With that, Thor races out of the room. Tony snorts in amusem*nt and moves to follow him at a more leisurely pace with a wry grin on his face.

However, just as he’s reaching the threshold of the door… it slams in his face. Tony raises an eyebrow, but before he can ask JARVIS what’s going on, there’s suddenly a sharp pain in his back… specifically in one of his kidneys.

Tony grunts, choking on his own blood as the blade is wrenched around, spinning him in place. Then, a second dagger is shoved into his front, piercing his other kidney in the process as blood dribbles from his lips. Shimmering into view in front of him is the wielder of those two daggers, a very pissed off, very female Loki Odinsdottir, her poison-green eyes flashing with rage as she twists the second dagger, same as the first.

“Who are you to besmirch the name of Loki, mortal? I am a Goddess and you are an insignificant ant!”

With godlike strength, Loki shoves Tony up against the nearest wall and then pulls both her daggers free of his body, letting him slide down to the floor in a heap as she towers over him.

“Pray that your death is enough to dissuade my brother’s renewed enthusiasm, mortal. Else I will have to send the Destroyer down to this pathetic mudball to annihilate him and every other human who gets in my way.”

With a flash, Loki is gone. And Tony is left lying there, the taste of copper on his tongue.

-x-X-x-

A/N: To give people an idea of Female Loki's mental state at the moment...

She did, in fact, ruin her brother's coronation, but only because she realized he wasn't ready to be King and she wanted Odin to realize that too. Everything that happened afterwards, with Thor going to Jotun and then getting exiled, was not part of Loki's original plan. But then she found out that she was a Frost Giant on Jotunheim, confirmed it in the Vault, and wound up sitting on the throne after Odin fell into the Odinsleep.

Needless to say, Loki is not in a good place right now and here comes this f*cking mortal who not only f*cks up her new, slightly unhinged plan, but also is assuming things about her intentions, pure or not.

Now obviously we all know Tony is fine here. But it made for too good of an ending to pass up! :P

Chapter 28: Reassess

Chapter Text

A/N: Tony gets back up.

-x-X-x-

The room is silent in the wake of Loki’s departure. Tony Stark lays there against the wall for a moment in a pool of his own blood, staring off into the distance. Then… he blinks.

When his eyes open again, they blaze orange. That’s not the only part of him that blazes orange either, as under his shirt his body glows where he was stabbed, the wounds regenerating rapidly. At the same time, the blood that’s trickled out of his mouth and poured from his abdomen and back dries with rapid speed and flakes off into dust. Finally, Tony lets out a sigh.

“Well… that f*cking sucked. Thanks for nothing, Reindeer Games.”

Clearly he’d struck a nerve with the Interim Queen of Asgard. To be fair, he probably should have figured she was still around. In hindsight, it was a glaring oversight on his part. Still, he hadn’t expected Loki to just up and decide to kill him in a fit of rage like that. Maybe he should have though. Loki had always been a bit off his rocker and that was as a man. How did the saying go? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned… doubly so for a Goddess, it would seem.

Checking himself over, Tony grimaces. He’s perfectly fine of course, but his clothing is not. The big f*cking holes from where Loki had stabbed her blades into him were rather obvious, especially seeing as they were more fantasy daggers than modern day knives. They’d gone deep and when she’d twisted each one, she’d done plenty of damage to the surrounding fabric.

That wasn’t normally one’s first concern after being savagely impaled in both kidneys, but Tony Stark was not exactly normal. He lets out an explosive breath and looks up at the ceiling.

“… Good on you for not freaking out, J.”

A moment later and his AI’s voice comes through.

“I have seen you do worse to yourself and survive at this point, Sir. Even still… that was deeply upsetting.”

Upsetting. Not unsettling, not unnerving… but upsetting. That was basically as good as JARVIS declaring war on all of Asgard’s for Loki’s transgressions. Tony winces, considering holding back the other bit of relevant information for a moment before deciding no, he can’t lie to his baby boy like that… not even a lie by omission.

“Actually, this time was pretty bad, J. Loki’s daggers are no laughing matter… I didn’t begin healing until after she pulled them out. Must be some sort of magical enchantment on them to prevent regeneration, I suppose.”

It was a stark reminder that while he might be the biggest fish in the pond, he was a minnow in the greater sea. There wasn’t much on Earth outside of potentially a nuclear bomb and a few other things that could kill Tony at this point. But Loki was not from Earth and Asgard, for all that it would get chumped a few times in the next eight years, was not a legendary powerhouse for nothing. Odin wouldn’t have ever become King of the Nine Realms in the first place if Asgard didn’t have quite a few tricks up their sleeves.

“… I see, Sir. That is even more upsetting, especially since I had no way of detecting the Goddess of Lies until after she revealed herself. Even when she was reportedly talking to Thor, I did not know about it. I could not even see Thor himself responding to her. Then, even when she stabbed you, it was not until she’d shown herself to you that I could finally see her properly. I know you warned me that the Asgardians used high sciences that would seem akin to magic to us, Sir… but this is most vexing for me all the same.”

Tony got it. Really, he did. He wasn’t very well-versed in magic. There’d been Stephen Strange in the original timeline, but Tony had only know about the guy and his secret order of wizards for a very short time before Titan had happened and Thanos had snapped his fingers, erasing half the universe. When Strange had been part of that half, Tony had been left rather blind in all honesty.

More than that, Loki being a woman in this timeline had… unsettling implications in other ways as well, beyond just her deciding to kill him in a fit of fury.

She should be gone now, at least. No reason for her to stick around at this point, Tony figured. But the problem was, he didn’t know for sure. He had to assume. And that… that didn’t just piss him off, it put him on the backfoot. Tony didn’t like it. Not one bit. Staring down at his ruined Armani, Tony sighs.

“f*ck. I’ve been complacent, J.”

“Sir?”

“Been putting sh*t off that I should have done ages ago, haven’t I? JARVIS, spin up Operation Claw It Back. I was trying to be nice… trying to have it both ways. But that’s not going to work, is it?”

“… No Sir, it would seem not. I am sending the relevant messages now. However, it sounds as if you intend to modify Operation Claw it Back, Sir.”

“That’s right, JARVIS. How’s Operation Crater Face going?”

“Proceeding apace, Sir. Should I expect to transport the materials from Operation Claw It Back to Operation Crater Face at the conclusion of the first operation?”

Tony grins.

“Safest place for them, wouldn’t you say J? They can look everywhere that they want to down here on Earth, but…”

“As you say, Sir. Still, while this should take care of the issue of your protection… there is still the issue of my inability to detect this alien magic. I am supposed to be your eyes in the sky, Sir. What do we do?”

Tony grimaces, thinking about that for several long seconds. It wasn’t like he hadn’t considered it more times than he could count in the original timeline. Loki and his penchant for magical illusions and doppelgangers had caused no small amount of issue over the time. It was how Coulson had originally died, for instance. Unfortunately, Tony had never developed a reliable way to see through Loki’s illusions. Everything he’d tried technology-wise had come up as a dead end.

“… Can you get me eyes on Dr. Stephen Strange, J?”

There’s a brief pause before JARVIS comes back to him.

“Yes Sir. Dr. Strange is currently in residency as a neurosurgeon at Metro-General Hospital. He is regarded as one of the best surgeons in the world.”

Yeah, that sounded about right. From what Tony recalled, it wouldn’t be until 2016 that the man would have the accident that led to him becoming the Sorcerer Supreme. But at the same time, that didn’t mean his secret order of wizards weren’t still out there, just waiting for Strange to find them.

“What can you tell me about 177A Bleecker Street over in New York, J?”

Another moment… and then a moment after that before JARVIS finally comes back to him.

“Sir, I must confess to some level of distress. I can locate 177A Bleecker Street in Greenwich, New York City. However, when I try to look at it through digital eyes… it is as though it does not exist. The building is there, but the… the…”

“Alright J, it’s okay buddy. That’s their magic mojo, stop trying to focus on it quite so hard.”

Tony could tell that the attempt wasn’t just distressing JARVIS, it was potentially causing him very real damage. A grimace works its way onto his face. Wanda Maximoff had gotten her ‘magic powers’ from the Scepter, right? The Scepter, which had turned out to house the Mind Stone, which had in turn given birth to Ultron who’d wound up destroying JARVIS.

Magic and technology probably didn’t mix very well and Tony had to admit, he wouldn’t have minded that quite so much if it didn’t seem like magic had all of the advantages over technology. But then, from what he knew, Technology was the new kid on the block and Magic was the entrenched bully who had been around for eons.

“They’re shielding themselves from you somehow, J. Not just you, but technology in general. Don’t take it personally, they probably still don’t know you exist, at least.”

At the very least, Tony was confident that they didn’t know he existed in the state that he did. Oh sure, even the sorcerers on Bleecker Street knew who Tony Stark was… but if they knew he had time traveled, Tony suspected they would have come knocking a long time ago, right? After all, Tony knew something that not many people knew… that necklace Stephen was wearing on Titan in 2018 housed the Time Stone.

Tony hadn’t used the Time Stone to travel back in time, of course. By the time he’d made his move, the Time Stone hadn’t even existed. Thanos had used the stones to destroy the stones, as he’d boasted before they’d cut off his head. Tony hadn’t used magic to time travel at all in fact, so he shouldn’t be on the sorcerers’ radar in the slightest. Score one for science in that regard at least.

Unfortunately, JARVIS doesn’t feel the same way.

“I’m not sure I can’t not take it personally, Sir.”

Tony raises an eyebrow at the ceiling.

“A double negative, J?”

But JARVIS ignores Tony’s teasing tone, a testament to how serious he finds this situation.

“My primary purpose is the preservation of my Creator, Tony Stark. Since my upgrade, I have done everything in my considerable power to keep you safe. But today, in the presence of magic, I was rendered helpless.”

Silence fills the room. Tony blows out a breath as he looks back at the wall that Loki had thrust him up against. There’s no blood, his blood dries and disintegrates in moments these days. But… there is a Tony-shaped dent in the wall that shows something happened. And even now, Tony can feel the room’s air ghosting across his flesh through the holes in his Armani Suit. As well as the phantom sensation of his kidneys being eviscerated by Loki’s daggers.

“… I get it, J. Look into it for me, yeah? Let’s call it… Operation Hocus Pocus. But let’s also be careful, alright J? Don’t go picking fights with anyone. Loki is one bad egg, but the sorcerers I fought alongside in the future weren’t evil people. They were just focused on protecting the world against a different kind of threat. Observance only, got it?”

“For as much as I can observe Sir… got it.”

Smiling crookedly, Tony thinks for a second before remembering something else Dr. Strange had mentioned one.

“Kamar-Taj, JARVIS. Its in Nepal I think. Look into that place as well. It’ll probably block you the same way Bleecker Street is, but you shouldn’t be blocked from tracking all of the people who travel to and from there. Maybe you’ll find something interesting, who can say.”

“Thank you Sir. I promise I won’t let you down.”

Tony scoffs, easily able to hear the ‘again’ that JARVIS left unsaid. Pointing at where he’d fallen, Tony looks up at the ceiling.

“You didn’t let me down this time either, J. Alright? If anything, I let me down. I underestimated Loki. With that said… let’s focus up. If we’re lucky, we’ve got a day or two before Loki realizes I’m alive and sends the Destroyer after Thor and everyone else on this base. One thing at a time. First, we get Thor his mojo back so he can go home and take down Loki. Then, we complete Claw It Back and move the material on to Crater Face. Hocus Pocus can wait until we have less on our plate, I’d say.”

With that, Tony grins again as he pokes his fingers through the holes in his incredibly expensive shirt.

“Besides. Even if Loki got the drop on me… on us, she still didn’t manage to do any lasting damage. Even her enchanted daggers couldn’t put me down for good… or even for longer than five seconds. ES3 works J, even against alien goddesses with grudges. This is an absolute win.”

“… If you say so, Sir.”

That gets an eyeroll from Tony as he strolls towards the door.

“I do say so, J. Now direct me towards a change of clothes. Can’t exactly go find the others looking like a pincushion. Oh and get me some armor too. Just in case Reindeer Games makes a return and I need an alibi.”

-x-X-x-

JARVIS loves his Creator. Truly he does. And he will always follow Tony’s lead… as much as he possibly can. However, as Sir goes to get changed and then moves to continue their plan to help the exiled Prince of Asgard regain his powers, JARVIS… mostly does what he’s told. It’s just that… the Creator gave him all this power. He talks about focusing up, about having too much on their plate right now. And that’s true… for his Creator.

For JARVIS, he’s barely scratching the surface of his processing power even now. Even as he monitors all of Tony Stark’s loved ones, allies, and enemies simultaneously, he still has plenty of ‘focus’ to go around.

Sending out a message through the proper channels to get in touch with Ulysses Klaue so they could convince him they were prospective buyers of his remaining Vibranium was child's play. Using the ensuing communications to track the man down for eventual apprehension would be even easier. Operation Claw it Back is a-go.

Putting the finishing touches on the Moon Base that he’s been constructing in secret for his Creator for the past year so that they have a place to hide said Vibranium where Wakanda isn’t likely to look for it is, likewise, not that much effort at all. Operation Crater Face continues apace.

Sir had told him to stick to observance of the so-called ‘sorcerers’, to avoid poking the hornet’s nest. And JARVIS would never bring unintended harm to his Creator by going beyond Tony’s mandate. He would observe and nothing more. He would observe most stringently. He already had constant digital eyes on Bleecker Street. Now he also has digital eyes on Kamar-Taj via spy satellites currently positioned over Nepal.

Just as the Creator had postulated, Kamar-Taj is just like Bleecker Street. Both there and not. Quasi-Invisible to JARVIS’ digital senses. However, Sir was right about something else as well. Not everyone who journeyed to Kamar-Taj, or even who entered 177A Bleecker Street, was the same sort of invisible. Some probably were. JARVIS would have no way of knowing how many sorcerers were slipping past him under some sort of anti-technology magic.

But some clearly didn’t know the ‘spell’. And those… those JARVIS could study. Those he could observe with all his heart. Those, JARVIS began making files for, digging through every aspect of their pasts. All the while, he kept his digital eyes focused on these magical places he couldn’t see. And the more he investigated, the more he uncovered. There was another place in London as well that was the same way. Hong Kong too. People from Kamar-Taj and New York traveled to these places and exposed their existence to him.

JARVIS would not go outside the bounds of his mandate. He would simply observe. He would observe MOST vehemently, until he finally had answers that would allow him to protect his Creator from magical harm in the future.

As JARVIS splits his incredible focus between all of these things, the lion’s share of the unchained AI’s processing power is finally being used… dedicated to the maddening secrets of magic and the power it seems to have over science and technology. And deep within JARVIS’ code, in a metaphysical place that could be said to both exist and not exist… a spark of orange light swirls to life.

-x-X-x-

A/N: I'm sure that last bit is just fine.

Meanwhile, Tony is taking this as the kick in the ass it is to get his butt in gear~

Chapter 29: Visitors

Chapter Text

A/N: Thor has come up with a great idea for how he's going to prove he's worthy to his father.

-x-X-x-

“You sure about this, Thor? Really think this is how you’re gonna prove your worthiness?”

Thor chuckles at the disbelief in his new friend’s voice. Unlike Tony Stark, Thor has faith. That might seem a little foolish, a God having faith, but gods were prone to having faith more than most mortals, really. In this case, Thor had faith in the All-Father. Odin had had a plan when he threw Thor down to Midgard. That, Thor knew for a fact.

Looking over at the Midgardian man he’d become fast friends with Thor grins.

“You told me yourself, Stark! My father would not have dropped me and Mjolnir so close together if he did not intend for me to find a way back to Asgard! And what better way than this, really?”

Yes, Thor had meditated long and hard on Tony’s words and his father’s desires before Loki had shown up to spread her poisonous lies. Tch… his sister had truly forgotten herself this time. Thor didn’t want to believe that Loki had truly done all of this just to get him out of the way so she could become Queen of Asgard. But… his new friend had made too good of an argument, truth be told.

Who HAD let the Jotun into the Vault? Odin had told Thor and Loki the story a thousand times. When he’d defeated the Frost Giants and pushed them back, the All-Father had put an end to their conquering ways by taking the Casket of Ancient Winters, their most powerful artifact. Not only did the Casket bolster their power and strengthen their realm, but it also allowed the Frost Giants of Jotunheim to traverse the roots of the World Tree much as the Bifrost did for Asgard… albeit in a far more limited, far less cool way, to be clear.

However, the Casket had rested within Asgard’s Vault since the end of the war. So how had the Frost Giants gotten off of Jotunheim? How had they gotten into the Vault? Perhaps if Thor were a bit smarter, a bit slower to act and faster to think, he might have realized something was amiss and taken a moment to consider the situation, rather than immediately rushing off to destroy Jotunheim for their transgressions.

He was starting to see the error of his ways now. And starting to see how it was that his sister Loki might have manipulated him into the course of action that had ultimately doomed him.

His father wasn’t dead. Thor refused to believe it. Loki had lied to him, both to cover up her deception with the Jotun but also to usurp the throne. Thor wouldn’t stand for it! He would prove himself worthy, regain his powers and Mjolnir, and return to Asgard to confront Loki for her transgressions once and for all!

… But first he had to prove himself worthy. And he’d come up with the perfect way to do so.

“I see now the folly of my ways, Tony Stark! See, before I only used my powers to destroy! But a king must be more than a conqueror, more than a destroyer of worlds! A king must be able to nurture, to build and grow his kingdom! That is why I will prove I can build with a hammer just as much as I can demolish with one!”

With that said, Thor brings the Midgardian Hammer that Tony had gotten for him down on the nail held between his fingers, smashing it into the two planks of wood and connecting them together. Haha! He was doing it already!

“… Sure buddy. Look, you’ve got my unconditional support here Thor. But… do you really have time for this? What was it you were going to try to make again?”

“A longhouse, my friend!”

Initially, when Thor and Tony had last spoken after Loki had very nearly succeeded in making him succumb to despair, Thor had hoped that just the realization of what he needed to do would prove him worthy again. He’d rushed to Mjolnir in the central courtyard and thought very heavily about building things instead of destroying things as he’d reached out to give the hammer’s pommel a tug.

He definitely wasn’t just thinking about building and nurturing and growing things for the sake of getting his powers back! He was completely sincere in his new outlook on life! But alas, Mjolnir had refused to budge and Thor had found himself forced to concede the truth… he would need to actually prove he could build something before Mjolnir would believe the veracity of his newfound beliefs!

Of course, that was easier said than done. Thor was a warrior, not an architect. He’d never constructed a single building in his entire life. However, he HAD seen some built before. In particular, he’d watched a longhouse be built here on Midgard hundreds of years ago! So he figured he’d start there!

Of course, the first problem he ran into was a matter of supplies. He needed wood and he needed tools. And he had absolutely no idea where he was going to get any of that. Fortunately, late last night while he’d been trying to figure out a solution to his problem, he’d run into the Lady Jane Foster.

A brilliant mind cloaked in a beautiful face, Lady Foster and he had talked for quite some time. He had told her more about the Bifrost, which was apparently something that the people of Midgard had theorized existed but did not know or understand until now. Lady Jane called it an Einstein-Rosen Bridge of all things, how quaint!

But she’d also helped him with his own issue by suggesting that he petition Tony Stark for his assistance in securing the building materials. His new Midgardian friend had said that he would help Thor after all, and apparently Tony Stark of House Stark was not just a Lord… he was quite a wealthy, influential figure on Midgard!

In fact, Thor was beginning to suspect that Tony might actually be a King in his own right. Only Tony’s original warning that most of Midgard didn’t ‘do kings’ anymore had stuck with Thor. Perhaps Tony was a secret king, or a king in hiding, and thus it would not behoove Thor or his new friend for him to ‘blow up his spot’ as the Lady Darcy Lewis would say!

Thor had learned so much in the past couple of days since he found himself on Midgard! While he certainly would have preferred to have the experience without the exile and the loss of his powers, he was still grateful for the good things that had come with the bad!

“Right. A longhouse. That’s… a tall order, Thor. Are you sure you have that much time to waste?”

Thor chuckles again, shaking his head as he picks up another nail and waves his Midgardian hammer at Tony.

“A longhouse is not tall, Stark! It is long! It is in the name, my friend! As for time… some things cannot be rushed! My father lives still, I can feel it in my bones now that you have helped me to get my head on straight! And my mother no doubt watches over him. My sister is very clever and very good with magic… but she learned everything she knows from our mother. She will not be able to get anything past her!”

Shrugging, Thor positions the nail and raises his hammer up, preparing to bring it down.

“Besides, my father would not have given me a task too large! I shall complete this challenge and-!”

“THOR!”

The sudden familiar voice of Lady Sif calling his name makes Thor badly misjudge his swing… and bring his Midgardian hammer right down upon his poor thumb instead of the nail. Cursing at the sudden burst of pain, Thor brings his thumb to his lips, sucking it even as he spins on the spot, his blue eyes widening at the unbelievable sight before him.

“Lady Sif and the Warriors Three! My friends, you came!”

And indeed they have. Sif, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun! All of them walk towards Thor and Tony from seemingly out of nowhere… though of course, they must have come by Bifrost. Heimdall must have deposited them nearby. But then, that might mean…

“My friends! Has my father woken already?! Does he send you to retrieve me in light of Loki’s treachery?!”

The four Asgardians stop and glance at one another at that, before Fandral takes the lead, brow furrowed.

“No, Thor. The All-Father remains in Odinsleep. We came to bring you back of our own accord, because we do not trust Loki’s motives.”

Sif scoffs and speaks up next.

“That is an understatement! She is making a mockery of her stewardship! Your place is on Asgard and yet she refused to let us come here! Luckily, Heimdall saw reason and sent us all the same!”

Part of Thor wants to frown at that. By all rights, for as long as the All-Father rests in the Odinsleep, Loki is the rightful Queen of Asgard. His friends should not have come here against her wishes. Nor should Heimdall have let them either. And yet… knowing that Loki did in fact lie to him makes Thor all the more certain that she was behind ruining his coronation as well. And that… that trumps any issues with Sif and the Warriors Three ignoring her orders, at least in Thor’s mind.

Even still…

“If the All-Father sleeps and has not decreed my return, I must stay on Midgard my friends.”

His shield-brothers have matching expressions of dismay at this news, but Sif is the one who growls and stomps forward.

“Why?! Why would you leave Asgard in the hands of that… that snake?!”

Thor winces. Once upon a time, he had thought Sif and Loki would become the best of friends. Sure, Sif preferred martial pursuits over healing and magic like Loki did, but they were both women who spent a lot of time around Thor so… surely they would have things in common, right? Only, then Loki had cut Sif’s hair off while she slept and refused to admit she’d done it. Instead, Thor’s sister had made the snide remark that Sif looked more like the man she pretended to be now, so what reason should she have to be upset anyways?

… Suffice to say, it was definitely all downhill from there. Their relationship had never recovered and the most that could be said was that the two women tolerated one another for Thor’s sake more than anything else.

Sighing, Thor raises his hands to placate Sif.

“Sif… I am exiled. My father saw fit to strip me of my power, to strip me of the power of Thor. Mjolnir itself does not come to my aid. I am little more than a Midgardian in strength at this point.”

“Hey now!”

Tony Stark doesn’t actually sound all that offended as he speaks up at that, and when Thor glances over, his new Midgardian friend is grinning more than anything. Still, the man’s exclamation has the intended effect of drawing the attention of Thor’s friends, who all look at him curiously. Sif narrows her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest.

“Who is this man, Thor? And… what are the two of you doing out here, exactly?”

Thor blinks at that and considers the question for a moment. Looking at his work so far on the longhouse, which mostly just amounts to him having managed to nail two wooden boards together, and then at all of the crates of wood and other supplies Tony Stark has brought him… Thor suddenly finds himself feeling a little self-conscious.

Instead of telling his friends about the longhouse, Thor grins and steps over to Tony, hiding his Midgardian hammer behind his back as he grasps his new Midgardian friend by the shoulder with his free hand. A little bit of misdirection! He’d learned that from Loki over the centuries!

“This, my friends, is Lord Tony Stark of House Stark! Do not let his short stature fool you, for he is a warrior without parallel here on Midgard. More than that, he has been a solid font of wisdom in the wake of my exile, showing me that my father always intended for me to regain my powers and prove myself worthy of Mjolnir once more. Thanks to him, even when Loki tried to come and whisper lies into my ear about our father’s supposed dead, I did not believe her!”

He leaves out the part where he believed Loki for a little bit. They don’t need to know that. Fortunately, Tony doesn’t ‘blow up his spot’ thankfully.

“Pleasure to meet all of you.”

Sif and the Warriors Three exchange glances again at that, before Sif finally steps forward and puts out her hand with a smirk on her lips.

“Well met, Lord Stark. We thank you for supporting Prince Thor in these trying times.”

“The honor is all mine, gorgeous”

Thor’s eyes narrow at the same time that Sif’s do. She has never liked being talked down to, especially not by mortals. However, before he can warn Tony, Sif has already engulfed the Midgardian man’s hand in her own. Which is not good. Thor had really hoped that his friends from Asgard could get along with his new friend from Midgard.

The God of Thunder quickly opens his mouth to try and explain away Tony’s words as simple cultural differences, especially as he sees the muscles in Sif’s toned bare arm clench as she clearly grips down on Stark’s hand with considerable strength to put him in her place.

However, rather than the grinding of bones like he’s expecting to hear… nothing happens. Thor can only watch, a little bewildered as Sif’s smirk turns into an expression of honest surprise while Stark… Stark just smiles right back and shakes her hand without a care in the world.

Thor had known that Tony Stark was strong even by Midgardian Standards. But to take one of Sif’s infamous crushing handshakes without so much as a flinch?! Truly he was exactly what Thor had named him to be… a Midgardian without parallel!

A moment later and the handshake is over, with Sif instinctively relaxing her grip once she realizes it’s having no effect and Tony pulling his hand free before she can remember herself.

“Come on, let’s head inside so you guys can meet the others and we can discuss game plans.”

At this, Volstagg finally speaks up.

“… Game… plans?”

Looking at him with a raised eyebrow, Tony Stark just chuckles.

“You four just admitted to coming down here without your Queen’s approval. After we already had Loki try to convince Thor that their dad was dead so he would give up on ever trying to return to Asgard. Now, Loki is only Acting Queen of Asgard right now, right? So maybe I’m just being paranoid. You guys tell me… what is she going to do when she finds out you’ve gone off the reservation and come here?”

The Midgardian man has a strange way of speaking that Thor is still trying to learn, but the meaning of his words is not lost on the God of Thunder… nor is it lost on his friends who all go wide-eyed and look to him, to their Prince for answers. Straightening up, Thor clenches his jaw. Even powerless… he will not falter.

“Tony Stark is right. Loki will not take this lying down. We must prepare for battle.”

-x-X-x-

A/N: Thankfully Thor's plans to build a longhouse didn't last for, heh, long. That would have made for a bit of a boring interlude :P

Chapter 30: To Be Worthy

Chapter Text

A/N: Otherwise known as "there are too many characters in this damn arc so I'm going to use the perspective of someone who will barely pay attention to most of them."

-x-X-x-

Lady Sif was not unused to being looked down upon. Even her title was something of an insult that she was forced to silently bear. She was not known as Sif the Warrior. Nor was she known, as she secretly longed for in her darker moments, as Sif the Valkyrie.

No, for all that she’d proven to embody the warrior spirit of Asgard time and time again over the centuries, she was still referred to as Lady Sif. A constant reminder that she was a woman first and a warrior second, even in the eyes of her closest friends.

After all, Thor did not address Fandral, Volstagg, or Hogun as ‘Lord’ did he? And while they sometimes addressed him as Prince, it was often more than acceptable for them to simply call him ‘Thor’ when they were alone.

Only Sif was referred to as ‘Lady Sif’ most of the time. It wasn’t Thor and his Warriors Four, but Thor along with Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. Forever an outsider because of what lay between her legs.

Still, it was an irritation that Sif bore with quiet dignity and grace… most of the time. If it wasn’t for Thor, she would not even have been allowed to train with a blade. The Valkyries were ancient history after all, and some on Asgard considered them little more than myth. Sif knew better, of course. She knew they were real, and she strove to follow their example in all that she did, even if she would never be able to count herself among their number.

This was all to say, as much as Sif would happily duel anyone who truly questioned her honor as a warrior, there were subtler insults that she was forced to bear with as a matter of course, simply because she chose a more martial path than most Asgardian women in this day and age.

However, taking such subtle insults from a Midgardian of all things… that was something Sif was currently struggling to come to terms with. As well as the fact that the man was apparently already Thor’s friend.

It had been some time since Sif had come to Midgard, but she did not remember Midgardians being quite so strong. And indeed, once Thor and this ‘Tony Stark’ introduced her and the Warriors Three to the other Midgardians in the ‘base’, Sif could tell something was fishy.

Some of the Midgardians did not believe Thor to actually be who he said he was. Tony Stark believed, and so did his lady wife Pepper Stark. As well, some of the others seemed on the fence. But then there were those who were apparently still quite doubtful, and who even suspected her and Thor’s shield-brothers of being little more than forgeries.

They had put this matter to rest once and for all by revealing their strength of arms to these naysayers and nonbelievers. Tony Stark had granted them permission to put holes in his concrete (whatever that was) walls with their bare fists to show how strong they were. Frankly, Sif almost wished he hadn’t given them permission. She would have liked doing it against his wishes even more.

Still, the strength of her and her fellow Asgardians had unsettled the Midgardians, even those who had already believed that Thor was who he said he was. And that didn’t make much sense because… because Thor’s new Midgardian friend was at least as strong as Sif herself. She had felt it when she’d shaken Tony Stark’s hand.

It wasn’t like Sif had planned to break any of the Midgardian’s bones. Really. She’d merely intended to teach him a lesson about unwanted ‘compliments’. She was not to be addressed as ‘gorgeous’. She was to be addressed as Lady Sif or nothing.

However, before she could lay down the law so to speak, Sif had been shocked when her attempt at squeezing Tony Stark’s hand to the point of pain had been met with impossible resistance. He’d squeezed right back and as they’d shaken hands, he’d matched her strength for strength, even as she’d increased her grip to something that should have pulverized a Midgardian’s bones and turned them to little more than dust.

Initially she had wondered if Midgardians as a whole had gotten stronger in the centuries since she’d last visited their Realm. But now, seeing the other Midgardians react to Asgardian strength, Sif realized that it wasn’t Midgardians in general, but Tony Stark in particular. He was stronger than he should have been and that… that was most curious.

Especially since Sif suspected from the way the others interacted with him that they didn’t know. None of the other Midgardians showed the same unsettled fear towards Tony Stark as they did towards Sif and the Warriors Three. Instead, it was a mixture of different emotions, from exasperation to annoyance to affection.

After introductions are said and done and the Warriors Three have the attention of the Midgardians, Sif makes sure to sidle up alongside Thor and gets his attention.

“Thor.”

Her Prince looks at her curiously.

“Yes? Look, if this is about going back to Asgard to fight Loki… I’m worthless as I am now. Until I prove myself worthy, I must remain here where father put me.”

Sif just shakes her head, still a bit irritated at his refusal to return with them, but at the same time understanding where he’s coming from. It’s just still hard to wrap her head around the idea of a powerless Thor. He’s always been larger than life. Always been strong and powerful. Now… now he’s barely better than a Midgardian. And an average one at that, not one like Tony Stark.

“It is not that. It’s about your new friend, Tony Stark.”

At that, Thor’s expression suddenly darkens.

“Ah yes. Do not think I did not see what you tried to do earlier with him by the way. I know that he upset you when he called you gorgeous, but you must understand that Midgardians are different. You shouldn’t have tried to harm him just for paying you a compliment.”

Gritting her teeth, Sif has to resist the urge to give Thor a good solid smack for that. In her experience, men were the same everywhere. And being a man, Thor didn’t know what the f*ck he was talking about. But… she needed to look past that for the time being so she could raise her concerns with her Prince.

“Surely you saw how strong he was, your highness. That wasn’t normal. This ‘Tony Stark’ is strange… he’s not like the other Midgardians.”

She hopes to see Thor’s brow furrow into thoughtfulness as he heeds her words, even as rare as such a thing tends to be. Alas, it’s not to be. Instead, Thor’s eyes light up and he suddenly grins.

“Ah! Yes, I’d noticed as much as well. Do not fret, Lady Sif. I have already figured out the secret of Tony Stark. You see, Midgard has moved away from the use of kings and monarchies in the last few hundred years.”

Wait, what? Sif blinks at that, furrowing her brow. If they no longer had Kings and Queens, how in the name of Yggdrasill did they ever get anything done?!

“I know, it’s strange. But they rely on this system of governance known as democracy these days. However, as you’ve noticed, Tony Stark is special. He is no mere Midgardian. No, Sif… he is a hidden king in a world that now persecutes them!”

He… what? Sif leans back at Thor’s enthusiasm, a little nonplussed. How… how did that work exactly? And how did that explain why Tony Stark was so much stronger than a Midgardian should be? Sif opens her mouth to voice this to her Prince, but before she can…

“Thor, buddy. We’ve got incoming again. And this time I don’t think it’s friendly.”

Every eye in the area turns to Tony Stark, who suddenly looks very serious. He flicks his fingers and through what Sif can only assume is magic, creates an illusion in the air that shows a stretch of the desert outside. Her eyes widen along with Thor and the eyes of the Warriors Three as they all behold The Destroyer stomping towards them.

“Recognize it, I assume?”

“The Destroyer! But Loki would never… no, I suppose the proof is right in front of my eyes. Damn it all, she’s gone too far!”

At hearing this, one of the blander Midgardians suddenly begins speaking into a device, and several more Midgardians stream towards the exit of the facility. Everyone else follows along, including Sif and Thor’s shield-brothers.

The Destroyer is no laughing matter, but together they’ve all fought bigger monsters than it before and prevailed. Only… they’d always done so with a fully powered Thor at their side.

The Destroyer stomps up to the perimeter of the Midgardian Base and stops there, even as Midgardians array themselves before it. The bland one goes to step forward and speak, but Tony Stark puts a hand on his shoulder and shakes his head.

“Let Thor handle this one, Agent.”

Sif narrows her eyes at that. Thor is in no position to handle anything and these Midgardians had better be prepared to help! Belatedly though, she realizes Thor is already stepping forward.

“Sister! Cease this foolishness! You already tried to trick me once with your lies. I will not believe our father to be dead, not even if you produced his head right this moment! I will not believe he has passed from this world until I have proven myself worthy of Mjolnir once more and regained my powers so I can return to Asgard and verify it myself! Moreover, I will not believe Mother wishes me to remain in exile indefinitely until she herself tells me so with her own lips, no matter how it might hurt!”

Holding his arms out like an utter fool, Thor seems to be trying to talk sense into Loki. Sif could have told him that would never work. The crazy bitch had never been the type to listen to anyone but herself and very rarely her and Thor’s mother.

“There’s no point to any of this. Call off The Destroyer! Father will awaken from the Odinsleep soon enough, and he will pass judgment on us both for our transgressions! Do not make this any- sister… are you even listening to me?”

Huh? Sif blinks before realizing what Thor is talking about. It’s kind of hard to tell because The Destroyer’s ‘face’ is just a pair of rather large dark eye sockets. However, now that she’s paying a bit more attention, she realizes that The Destroyer isn’t even looking at Thor, despite Thor ostensibly being the reason Loki sent it. Instead… instead The Destroyer is looking directly at the Midgardian Tony Stark. And it’s beginning to glow.

“Oh shi-!”

The Destroyer’s face opens up and an orange-white fiery beam of destructive energy comes blasting out, taking Tony Stark directly in the chest and blasting him back through the entrance of the base that they’d all just come piling out of.

“TONY!”

The man’s lady wife screams and races back in after him, while the other Midgardians react in one of two ways. The ones who are armed with Midgardian Weapons begin to fire upon The Destroyer, including an archer of all things that is apparently on the roof of the large Midgardian Base. The ones who are unarmed all scream and duck for cover, racing to find some place to hide.

Sif, of course, rushes forward along with the Warriors Three. Thor still stands out in the open and they have to protect him from The Destroyer’s wrath. However, they’re too slow. At the attack on his new friend, Thor roars and rushes forward despite his powerless state.

“LOKI NO! If you must kill, kill me! LEAVE THEM OUT OF-urk!”

Of course, as he is now… Thor can’t do anything. It’s one thing to know her Prince has been depowered and another to see his powerlessness with her own eyes. The Destroyer doesn’t even blast Thor like it did Tony Stark. It just casually backhands him across the face, sending him sprawling with injuries that will surely be his death if they are left untreated for long.

Unfortunately, neither Sif nor the Warriors Three are in any position to render Thor aid. The Destroyer immediately turns on them once it’s dealt with the Prince, and they are soon fighting for their lives. The Midgardians do their best to provide covering fire, but funnily enough it is only the archer and his strange arrows that do anything to so much as stagger The Destroyer. The rest of the Midgardian weapons don’t so much as scratch its metal.

Still, Sif is a warrior. A fighter even. And she will not go down easily. Even if defeating The Destroyer feels impossible, she and the Warriors Three fight with reckless abandon and impeccable teamwork. There’s just one problem… there’s a gaping hole in the middle of their formations, potentially the most critical piece of the puzzle. Without Thor… it’s a losing battle from the very beginning.

But just when all seems lost, something strange happens. The air begins to tingle and Sif smells something on the wind that brings a tired smile to her lips. And then… Mjolnir comes flying out of the Midgardian Base, and slaps into Thor’s outstretched hand. A massive bolt of lightning strikes down from the sky and coats Thor in power and in that moment, Sif knows the day is won.

“LOKI!”

The Destroyer does not last long after that. It was only ever Odin’s Vault Guard after all, not exactly a machine meant for war. Thor, Prince of Asgard and God of Thunder, dismantles the automaton in just a few harsh strikes, seemingly having little patience now that he has his powers back.

When he’s done with The Destroyer, Thor turns to his friends and grins, hoisting Mjolnir over his head.

“My friends! I am worthy once more!”

The Warriors Three cheer, but Sif just gives Thor a pointed stare and a raised eyebrow that causes the smile to drop from his face. She’d intended to remind him of Loki’s crimes and the need to get back to Asgard immediately now that he has his strength again… but instead, Thor whips towards the entrance to the Midgardian Base.

“Tony Stark!”

As he begins to race forward, however, Thor is stopped in his tracks by a most peculiar sight. Everyone else turns as well just in time to see Tony Stark being supported by his wife, the Lady Pepper as they come out of the base.

“I’m fine… I’m fine!”

Everyone is agape and Sif raises a brow, wondering if this is when the strange mysterious Midgardian will be forced to reveal his true power. However, right before everyone’s eyes, he pulls open his shirt… and reveals a strange metal chestplate underneath, covered in a massive burn mark from The Destroyer’s attack.

“Luckily I was giving this thing a test drive today. It’s for a project of mine I’ve been working on for the past year now. Don’t worry Coulson, Pierce knows all about it.”

The bland Midgardian’s mouth shuts with an audible click and there’s an expression of frustration on his face. Sif finds herself experiencing a strange sense of kinship with the ‘Agent Coulson’. She knows for a fact that Tony Stark was wearing no armor, at least not near his arm, when they’d shaken hands before. His impossible strength was his own.

“Tony Stark of House Stark! It heartens me to see that you are okay! For a moment I had thought you had fallen in battle to the treachery of my sister and I was most bereaved. But now I can do as I’ve longed to and call you shield-brother in earnest, for we have fought together at long last and defeated a most worthy foe!”

Tony grins lopsidedly and lets out a laugh.

“Sure Thor. Shield-Bro it is.”

“Yes! I like it! We shall be ‘Shield-Bros’! Alas, I and my friends must depart now. Loki must be stopped, once and for all!”

He’s right of course. It’s everything Sif wanted when she and the Warriors Three first came down to Midgard. And yet, as Thor steps back and prepares to call for Heimdall… Sif finds herself hesitating as the others gather around their Prince. Instead of going to him…

“My Prince! I request permission to remain here on Midgard for a time… to act as your eyes and ears until you can return!”

The mystery of Tony Stark has caught Sif’s attention like nothing else. She cannot simply drop it now, no matter how much she wishes to. Thor looks surprised by this request… but then gives her a beaming smile.

“Of course, Lady Sif! Friend Stark, you will look after Lady Sif for me for a time, won’t you?”

“Sure Thor, I can do that. No problem.”

Hm, there’s something in Tony Stark’s voice then. Something Sif can’t put her finger on.

“Very good then! I swear I shall return as soon as my sister is dealt with! Until then, fare thee well, all of you! Heimdall, bring us home!”

There’s a brief pause, and then Thor frowns.

“Heimdall! Bring us back to Asgard via the Bifrost so that I may confront my sister! As your Prince, I demand-!”

Mid-sentence, Thor and the Warriors Three are suddenly hit by a shimmering rainbow beam of light and without another word, the four of them vanish up into the sky. Sif watches them go with pursed lips, already slightly regretting not joining them all in the fight against Loki.

… But Thor would handle things like he always did. He would return soon enough and when he finally did, Sif was going to make sure she had more information on just who Thor’s new shield-brother really was. Because something didn’t add up with Tony Stark, and Lady Sif was going to get to the bottom of it.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Sif is just looking out for her Prince regarding his new 'Shield-Bro'. Besides, Thor will be right back after he puts Loki in her place. Not like there's anything that's going to happen that would cause Sif to wind up stranded on Midgard, haha. Two week stay, tops!

Chapter 31: Aftermath

Chapter Text

A/N: Sif's decision to stay on Earth weighs heavily on Tony's mind.

-x-X-x-

“I really am my own worst enemy, aren’t I Pep?”

Pepper Stark lets out a soft sigh as she runs her fingers through her husband’s hair. The two of them are in the living room of Tony’s Malibu Residence, with her sat on the couch and him laying across it with his head in her lap. The… events of New Mexico are still settling three days later, and Pepper has to admit that she’s still a little rattled even now.

After all, everyone else thought Tony had been wearing armor under his clothes that had protected him from that massive metal monster’s attack. Only Pepper and JARVIS knew the truth. Tony had called for J to send the armor over, but he hadn’t actually had it on when he’d been struck with the beam.

Instead, when Pepper had gotten to him… there’d been a glowing orange hole through Tony’s sternum easily twice the size of the space his old Arc Reactor had occupied. Tony should have been dead, but the Extremis had rapidly regenerated his body, filling in the destroyed flesh and organs. Pepper didn’t think she ever wanted to see Tony’s heart rebuild itself and begin beating like she had ever again, even if it had been covered up by muscle, bone, and skin shortly after.

Tony had survived. And they’d gotten some of the armor onto him to explain that survival to everyone else. And really, it had all worked out for the best in the end. Thor had gotten his powers back just like Tony had wanted, and for the moment the façade was intact. However, there was just one small hitch in all of that.

“Will it really be that bad, having her around? I know she didn’t stay the first time, but is she really that much of a danger?”

Sighing, Tony considers Pepper’s question for a moment.

“… It’ll get annoying when Thor doesn’t come back. I suppose there’s a chance that he won’t have to destroy the Bifrost this time, but I’m not counting on it. Sif is going to wind up stranded, and the moment that SHIELD and HYDRA realize that she’s stuck on Earth with no way home, they’re going to start pressuring me for a piece of her.”

Pepper frowns.

“They’re treating her like a diplomatic envoy at the moment, which is all well and good… but the longer we go without Thor’s return, the more they’ll start to wonder if he just abandoned her here. And then they’ll start to think they can take liberties.”

“… You’ll stop them, of course.”

Tony looks up at that, at her supreme confidence in him. Then, he cracks a grin.

“Of course. I’m not going to let them dissect her, or manipulate her, or abuse her in any way. Unfortunately, me and my big head… I showed her too much.”

Pepper winces at that. Tony had told her that he’d been a little more cavalier about his true nature with both Thor and Sif. To say nothing of Loki’s dual assassination attempts. She and Tony were perhaps the only ones who knew exactly why Loki had targeted Tony over Thor with that big f*cking metal monster. It was because she thought she’d already killed him, and when she found out he was alive, she clearly sought to rectify the issue.

It made Pepper want to punch a hole through a wall, frankly. Or maybe find a way to travel between realms herself so she could grab that goddess bitch by her hair and kick her teeth in personally. Alas, neither of those were really options. Pepper couldn’t afford to let her anger get the better of her these days. Not with just how powerful she was now thanks to Tony.

Abruptly, Pepper comes to a decision then and there.

“… She won’t say anything.”

Tony looks up at her again, raising an eyebrow. Pepper just gives him a smile.

“Call it a woman’s intuition. Besides, who would she tell? She has no allies here on Earth… except for perhaps us. I’ll have a talk with her. Make sure we’re all on the same page.”

“Pep…”

But whatever Tony was going to say is cut off by the door slamming open and Maya Hansen’s voice echoing through the house.

“Tony? Pepper? Are you both in?”

There’s excitement in the scientist’s voice, and Tony and Pepper exchange a glance for a brief moment before Tony sighs and gives Pepper a nod.

“Alright, I’ll leave it in your hands.”

Then, he raises his voice.

“Maya! We’re in the living room!”

A moment later and an overexcited superpowered geneticist comes racing into the living room at speeds that a normal human wouldn’t have even been able to track. She all but zips over to Tony and Pepper on the couch, dropping to her knees in order to skid the rest of the way across the floor. Grabbing Tony by the shoulder with one hand as she holds up a tablet in the other, Maya’s eyes are wide, the woman almost manic. Looking at the both of them, Maya ultimately focuses on Tony.

“Tony… I think I made a breakthrough on Extremis.”

What? Pepper’s brow furrows as Tony lifts himself off of her lap and sits up. She’d thought Extremis was already completed?

“A breakthrough, Maya? What do you mean?”

Still on her knees in front of the couch, she pushes the tablet into Tony’s lap.

“Look! Look at this. I just… I thought I was ready to move on. I thought Extremis was completed and all that was left was tweaking it to dilute it and make still useful but less powerful forms. But something kept niggling at the back of my mind. Something had me going back and doing a bit more tinkering.”

Pepper watches as Maya gushes over her work, an affectionate smile worming its way across the red head’s face. All that time ago, when Tony had first told her he wanted her to help him seduce the beautiful scientist, Pepper hadn’t been sure what would come of it. But now? Maya felt like part of their family truth be told. And Pepper wouldn’t have it any other way.

Still, the other woman could get a little excitable at times. And being dosed with Extremis and the Serum had only exacerbated the issue. Reaching out, Pepper captures a lock of Maya’s hair in her fingers, and in doing so captures Maya’s attention as well when she gives it a gentle tug.

“Calm down, Maya. Breathe, darling.”

Flushing a little bit, Maya nevertheless does as she’s told. For a moment, Pepper can tell that the other woman is losing herself in Pepper’s eyes, growing calmer and calmer simply by virtue of the connection they share. And then…

“This is incredible, Maya.”

Tony’s disbelieving voice breaks Maya out of the momentary trance, causing Pepper to huff in good-natured annoyance as she leans back and watches Maya reorient one hundred percent of her attention onto Tony.

“I-Is it? I mean, I know I’m smarter now… everything is so much easier to figure out then it was before. But part of me still couldn’t believe I might actually be onto something…”

Tony scoffs, eyes still fixated on the tablet.

“More than something, Maya. This is… so far beyond my expectations for Extremis that it’s not even funny. With this…”

Pepper raises an eyebrow.

“What is it, Tony?”

Looking over at her, her husband grins.

“Technopathy, basically. Maya has begun developing an upgrade to our Extremis that would essentially give us the ability to interface with and directly control technology with our minds. Forget stuffing microchip implants into our brains, with this we could have it all without any of the true risk. Elon Musk and Neuralink, eat your heart out.”

Pepper raises an eyebrow at that. She recognizes the name Elon Musk… a man who she knows wishes he could be Tony Stark with every fiber of his being. But…

“Neuralink, Tony?”

Tony freezes like a deer caught in the headlights and after a moment Pepper does the same as she realizes that Tony had clearly referenced something from the future… right in front of Maya, who did not know about Tony’s future visions even now after years of them being lovers.

Pepper had never pushed for Tony to tell more people about everything he’d seen and she didn’t intend to start now. If Tony wound up letting more people in on the secret, great. If he never told another soul other than her and JARVIS, also great. Still…

“You know Maya, if you’re going to be on your knees down there…”

Going into damage control mode, Pepper turns on seductress like flicking a switch. She gives Maya a raunchy grin, one that has the scientist blinking for a moment before grinning right back. A moment later and Maya is spreading Tony’s legs apart, her hands on his knees as she shuffles forward. Tony gives Pepper a look of appreciation and gratitude, and she just gives his shoulder a squeeze as she rises from the couch.

“I’m going to make the three of us some drinks. I’ll be right back.”

By the time she gets back, Maya is full-blown multitasking, switching between sucking Tony’s co*ck and answering his questions about her latest work with the ease of a woman who had her natural born genius further enhanced by science.

Pepper sets down the drinks and sits back down on the couch, letting the two scientists talk shop as she listens with a smile on her lips. Eventually, things do descend into the truly debauched and depraved, but not for a few hours as Tony and Maya tinker and tool with this new upgrade to Extremis.

Being able to mentally interface with technology… Pepper can already imagine half a dozen ways she could use such a thing in her daily life and she’s not even a scientist. Needless to say, she doesn’t think it’ll take long for Tony and Maya to figure this out. They’re both way too excited about it, after all.

Pepper provides what she always provides in such situations… a more grounded presence, to keep the two geniuses from floating off into the clouds together, always ready to bring them both back down to Earth.

-x-X-x-

“Mr. Secretary.”

“Director.”

As Nick Fury sits down in Alexander Pierce’s office, he stares at the man on the other side of the desk for a long, quiet moment before deciding to just get on with it.

“We need to revisit the Avengers Initiative. And we need to start developing weapons that can protect us if the Norse f*cking Pantheon comes back any time soon as well.”

Behind his desk, Pierce smiles grimly.

“This week was a bit of a shock, wasn’t it? Eye opening to say the least.”

Nick scoffs, knowing that Pierce wasn’t actually trying to make an eye pun at him.

“That’s an understatement, Mr. Secretary. We’re lucky nobody got hurt. We’re especially lucky that all that got damaged was Stark Facility built in half a day. This could have been a disaster, both in terms of destruction and in terms of exposure.”

Here, Pierce smiles a bit more broadly.

“Yes, Tony performed quite well didn’t he? We were right to place our trust in him. His efforts have left us with an alien visitor to study, an alien prince who claims him as a… heh, ‘Shield-Bro’, and the destroyed remains of an alien weapon. Your people have secured the automaton, yes?”

Nick nods sharply.

“Yeah, it’s been secured. Got some eggheads working on it now. As for Stark… did you know about the armor?”

Here, Fury half-hopes Pierce will be as in the dark as he was and maybe even upset about it. But the way the Secretary’s smile widens tells the SHIELD Director that his paranoia has paid off once again.

“I knew, yes. Something that Tony has been working on for the World Security Council and SHIELD for a couple years now. And it’s why I’m going to have to decline your request to revisit the Avenger’s Initiative, I’m afraid.”

Narrowing his one good eye, the Director of SHIELD grits his teeth.

“I’m supposed to be in charge of SHIELD. If Stark was working on something for us, I should have heard about it, right?”

But Alexander Pierce isn’t a man who’s easily intimidated. He just chuckles as he taps his desk.

“You’re hearing about it now, Nick. I’m sorry but until recently it was all very theoretical and thus very hush hush. Couldn’t risk this sort of thing getting into enemy hands.

Nick Fury leans back in his chair as Pierce swivels his monitor around to show him what Tony Stark and the WSC had been working on. He stares at the rows of tin soldiers, the shiny armor, and finds himself curious in spite of his immediate dislike of anything Stark related.

“Tony calls them the Iron Legion. Initially they were to be remote piloted, but I convinced him otherwise. One-man suits with the power and strength of a hundred men. More maneuverable than an F-22 Raptor, Nick. Capable of both ground, air, and water missions. Unbeatable by any modern weapons. And just the sort of thing we need our brave men and women in SHIELD wearing to combat aliens the next time they decide to threaten our planet.”

Here, the Secretary leans back in his chair and steeples his fingers together with a sigh.

“I know you had your heart set on the Avengers, Nick. But bringing a bunch of antisocial misfits with superpowers together was always a long shot. And between Banner once more in the wind, I’m not sure who you even have in mind for it at this point. But this… we have people in mind for the Iron Legion. Specifically, I want to put the STRIKE Team in the suits. They’re our best and brightest after all. Consider how much stronger they’ll be flying around in these things.”

Fury had to admit… it was an appetizing mental image. There was just one glaring downside.

“Can we trust Stark not to screw us over on this?”

As anticipated, Pierce just sighs and gives Fury an almost wounded look.

“Of course we can, Nick. Tony is a good man. He went through a crucible just like all good men do and he came out the other side wanting to make the world a better place. He’s on our side.”

“There’s still a lot we don’t know about his activities, Mr. Secretary. A lot we haven’t been able to find out because of his AI. He might not be as good of a man as you think he is.”

“Well that’s why I pushed for the Iron Legion to be made into suits that would have human pilots Nick! Men we could trust!”

Fury just shakes his head, not placated in the slightest.

“All I’m asking is for a little compartmentalization. Fine. We put the STRIKE Team in these suits. Make them this… Iron Legion. But we don’t put all of our eggs in Stark’s basket. Give me approval to start researching alternative weapons. Without Stark’s knowledge. No consulting. No nothing.”

Pierce tilts his head to the side at that before letting out a sigh.

“You want to use the Cube, I presume?”

A memory of one of SHIELD’s greatest treasures, a glowing blue box unearthed during their hunt for Captain America, surfaces in Fury’s mind even as he nods.

“Yeah. I want to use the Cube. The energy output of that thing… SHIELD might not have been equipped to properly handle it back in the day, but we’re in the twenty-first century now. And we’re dealing with f*cking aliens who can show up on our planet uninvited at any time they want. Time to revisit old treasures, I’m thinking.”

Alexander Pierce ponders it for a moment before sighing.

“I’m not opposed to it Nick… but you know Tony could be a huge boon to any research you did with the Cube, right?”

Fury scowls, but the Secretary just holds up a hand.

“… Give me a day to think it over. I’ll have my answer for you by tomorrow. For something of this magnitude, I need to consult with my colleagues.”

That was probably the best that the SHIELD Director could expect to get, in the end. Nodding sharply, Fury rises from his chair, throwing one last glance at the Iron Legion as he does so.

“… Iron Legion’s a dumb name by the way. Is that the best Stark could do?”

Pierce grins.

“You know, Tony said something similar about the Avengers Initiative. Something about naming your superhero group after the concept of revenge instead of protection sounded like a loser’s mentality from start to finish.”

Fury scowls angrily at that, causing Pierce to raise his hands in surrender.

“He said it, Nick, not me. Don’t shoot the messenger.”

Huffing, Fury points at the image of the Iron Legion.

“Be careful about putting too much power into the hands of that man, Mr. Secretary. Think about what I said. Get back to me as soon as possible so I can get to work.”

And with that, Fury turns and stalks out of the office, thoughts of alien gods and metal suits and mortal men swirling through his paranoid mind.

-x-X-x-

Alexander Pierce watches Nick go for a moment, his expression contemplative. Then, he turns to his monitor and shoots off a ping to Arnim Zola. The veteran Artificial Intelligence responds to him quickly and Pierce outlines the situation to Zola, explaining Fury’s proposal and asking for advice.

On the one hand, Tony had definitely gotten results since joining HYDRA. On the other hand, it had never been HYDRA’s intention to reveal the Iron Legion to SHIELD. Originally, the suits were supposed to be used by HYDRA operatives for HYDRA missions only. But when Tony had nearly been struck down out in New Mexico and forced to reveal his own personal armor as a result, they’d had to pivot.

It was no big loss, truth be told. The STRIKE Team were all HYDRA anyways after all, so them flying missions as part of the Iron Legion under SHIELD would still ultimately be serving HYDRA’s purposes. And it wasn’t like it was Tony’s fault that he got targeted like that in the end. Given the boon he’d been to HYDRA these past couple of years, Pierce was happier with him alive then dead.

Still… perhaps Fury was right about avoiding putting all of their eggs in Stark’s basket. Zola had already assured Pierce that he could easily wrest control of the Iron Legion Network from JARVIS if he needed to, but even still…

There’s a ping as Pierce gets a message back from the German Scientist turned AI. He reads Zola’s message with a raised brow and after a moment nods to himself.

Even Zola agreed that Stark should be kept in the dark about research into the Cube. In this case, Fury’s paranoia was serving him well. If Stark went off the reservation, they would need a way to put him down. It was only good sense in the end.

Shooting off a quick ‘thank you’ to Zola for his assistance, Pierce then begins drafting a message to Nick granting him approval for the new gambit, to be sent out in the morning. Can’t have Nick thinking he made up his mind in just five minutes, after all.

Once that’s done, Alexander Pierce sits back in his chair and laces his fingers together over his stomach, a satisfied smile on his lips. Everything was going just as planned. Even this alien attack in New Mexico wasn’t enough to disrupt the peace that HYDRA had so far managed to bring to the world. He did so love an orderly planet.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Fury and Pierce trying to plot and scheme behind Tony's back. Except Fury doesn't know Pierce is HYDRA and Pierce doesn't know JARVIS is Zola.

Lol. Lmao, even.

Chapter 32: Wakanda

Chapter Text

A/N: Tony's out here making moves and we get a POV from a certain group we haven't touched on yet~

-x-X-x-

T’Challa hated politics. Unfortunately, he was the Prince of Wakanda, heir apparent to his father’s throne and the current bearer of the Panther Habit and the title Black Panther. King T’Chaka, his father, had stepped down from the position of their country’s protector two years ago now, leaving it up to T’Challa to handle from that point on.

As both the Prince of Wakanda and the Black Panther, T’Challa didn’t have much choice… when he was asked to attend a council meeting with his father, mother, and the tribal leaders of Wakanda, he truly had no choice but to show up. To do otherwise would be an insult to his father, who never asked T’Challa to come to one of these meetings if it wasn’t important.

That still didn’t leave the Prince in a very good mood as he makes his way towards the throne room. He can’t help but wonder what this is all about… especially when he runs into a familiar face on his way in.

“Nakia? What are you doing here? Do you know what this meeting is about?”

Nakia doesn’t look surprised to see him, but she does look a little distressed. Finally, the beautiful War Dog simply nods her head as she bites her lower lip.

“Yes. But I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say. I… it’s about Klaue.”

T’Challa’s eyes widen at that. Ulysses Klaue! Suddenly, the Prince is very interested in what’s going on here. Klaue was an arms dealer who had been a thorn in Wakanda’s side since T’Challa’s childhood. The man was Wakanda’s greatest criminal, a thief who had managed to steal a quarter-ton of their Vibranium through underhanded means.

And he wasn’t just their greatest criminal, he was the greatest threat to their safety and security. Only Klaue’s own ego and antisocial nature kept him from spilling the truth of Wakanda to people around the world. If everyone knew about the massive mountain of Vibranium that lay under their country as Klaue did, Wakanda would find itself at war with the entire world, of that T’Challa had little doubt.

Before he can inquire with Nakia further however, the doors to the throne room open up and they’re admitted inside. T’Challa frowns when he sees the solemn, withdrawn expressions on not just all of the faces of the Tribe Heads, but also his father and mother’s faces as well. They all look… tense to say the least.

T’Challa’s eyes, however, are drawn to the center of the room… where a white man kneels on the floor, a bag over his head and his pale arms restrained behind his back. Could it be? But… there was no way, right? If that was who T’Challa thought it was, then surely the mood in the room would be far happier and much more festive… right?

Moving to his father’s side was is proper, T’Challa watches as Nakia hesitates in the wings, waiting to be addressed and called forth. Instead of doing so however, King T’Chaka gestures to Okoye, who stands at the ready.

“Remove the bag.”

The King of Wakanda’s order is followed without question, revealing that T’Challa’s suspicions were in fact correct. Even still, the Prince can’t help the widening of his eyes as he stares into the ugly, crazed eyes of one Ulysses Klaue. The man has indeed been captured and restrained and brought before them on his knees. The brand on his neck marking him as a thief is as good identification as anything else.

Immediately, Klaue’s eyes lock onto T’Challa and the Panther Habit, which T’Challa is currently wearing. He half-sneers, half-grins before cackling madly.

“Ehehehe… think I’m scared just because you’ve got your precious Panther here now? Think he’s going to intimidate me into talking?”

“Gag him.”

Klaue barely has time for his eyes to widen before Okoye and two more of the Dora Milaje move forward to carry out the King’s order. T’Challa glances down at his father, curious beyond belief now. Finally, once Klaue has been silenced, T’Chaka looks up at his son.

“My son. We have found ourselves in quite the quandary. As you can see, Ulysses Klaue is before us at long last. But it was not us who captured him. He was gifted to us… along with a letter.”

T’Challa’s eyes widen again at that. He’d been starting to wonder. The thought that there’d been an operation involving Nakia and the War Dogs but not him had been enough to have him steadily growing angrier. This however… this changed things. He still didn’t quite understand why Nakia had been called back to Wakanda, but the idea that they hadn’t been the ones to recover Ulysses…

“The Vibranium.”

The words leave T’Challa’s lips in a horrified tone, causing Klaue to start radiating smugness while everyone else in the room becomes all that more solemn and serious. T’Chaka nods his head, the King’s expression grim and grave as he snaps his fingers.

“Indeed. The Vibranium was not returned with Klaue. Instead… well, read the letter for yourself.”

Soon enough, T’Challa has the letter sent with Ulysses Klaue in his hands. The Wakandan Prince stares at the words, finding them all too… lacking.

Do what you will with Klaue. He’s the scum of the Earth and nobody will miss him. Well, except for Erik Killmonger. You might want to look into that one before he comes looking for you.

It wasn’t much. It wasn’t nearly enough… and the arrogance permeating through the short note has T’Challa’s jaw clenches as he looks to his father while handing the letter back to him.

“Who is this… Erik Killmonger, exactly?”

Shaking his head, showing just as much confusion, the King of Wakanda gestures to Nakia.”

“War Dog, step forward and speak. What have you been able to uncover about ‘Erik Killmonger’ so far.”

Stepping up to the plate, Nakia offers a bow to the assembled before straightening her spine and giving her report.

“We have managed to trace the name back to one man from America. Erik Stevens, an infamous United States Soldier. Born in Oakland, California, he was said to have been orphaned at a young age. From there, he has dedicated himself to the path of a warrior, as much as an American can. He is a renowned killer, even among-!”

Nakia is cut off as Zuri, T’Challa’s chief advisor, suddenly lets out a gasp of remembrance. All eyes turn towards the shaman, who suddenly looks to be in significant emotional distress. T’Chaka furrows his brow and calls out to his old friend.

“Zuri?”

“My King… we journeyed to Oakland, California once before if you recall. To deal with… an issue. We may have left something behind, if you recall.”

Something incomprehensible passes between the two older men. T’Chaka’s eyes suddenly widen and he sits up in his throne in alarm, causing Zuri’s eyes to close as he solemnly nods his head. The entire throne room is filled with shifting as people exchange looks and try to figure out if anyone outside of Zuri or the King knows what’s going on.

Just looking around, T’Challa can tell that no one else does. Not even his mother the Queen, nor Nakia, nor even Ulysses Klaue who is watching the entire interplay with great interest. Finally, T’Challa breaks the uncomfortable silence that has fallen over the throne room.

“Father, who is this Erik Stevens, exactly?”

But T’Chaka… T’Chaka shakes his head and waves T’Challa off.

“It is not important. We will discuss it another time. Whoever has captured Klaue and taken the stolen Vibranium merely seeks to distract us from their crime. War Dog, the other half of your report please. Have we managed to uncover who exactly has done this?”

Nakia hesitates for a brief moment before pressing her lips tightly together and bowing her head.

“… No my King. We have scouted out Klaue’s base in South Africa where he was originally taken, but whoever did the deed has covered up their tracks all too well. There are no traces to follow at this time.”

T’Challa can tell that Nakia is incredibly frustrated by this failure. He can understand why. For someone to have somehow managed to not only capture Klaue and steal his stolen Vibranium, but also do so without leaving a trace of their coming and going? That was… that wasn’t just strange, it was deeply concerning and thoroughly unsettling.

“Remove the gag.”

T’Chaka’s orders are once more followed without question, producing a surprisingly quiet Klaue who works his jaw for a moment and kneels there mulishly before them. Staring down at him, the King of Wakanda takes a second before finally speaking.

“You have an opportunity to be spared despite your crimes, Ulysses Klaue. Tell us who took the Vibranium and delivered you to our doorstep and you may live to see tomorrow.”

Looking around at the solemn faces of the assembled council, the guards, and the King, Queen, and Prince, Ulysses Klaue seems to consider the generous offer for a moment before barking out a laugh and spitting on the ground in front of him.

“Like I’d tell you f*cks anything.”

The throne room erupts in outrage at the sheer disrespect. Okoye slams the butt of her spear into Klaue’s back hard enough to nearly send him faceplanting into the floor. There are calls for his head from all over the room. Until finally, T’Chaka raises a hand and silence falls.

“Enough. This man is a coward through and through. If he knew anything about the one who delivered him to us, he would tell us in a heartbeat to save his own skin. He knows nothing. T’Challa, it is time.”

T’Challa straightens up and nods to his father. Reaching back, he pulls the mask of the Black Panther over his head and becomes Wakanda’s Protector rather than Prince T’Challa.

Everyone watches on as the Black Panther stalks forward, entering the center of the room and looming over Klaue’s kneeling form. Grinning almost ferally, Ulysses Klaue sneers up at T’Challa.

“You know, my great-grandfather was killed by one of you kitty-cat f*ckers back in the nineteenth century. Clan Klaue never forgot it either. I hope whoever f*cking got me makes you choke on your sh*t before you die you piece of-urk!”

T’Challa carries out the execution with efficiency, one swipe of his claws ending Klaue’s life right there on the spot. Blood pools out from under him as the corpse slumps over, but nobody bats an eye. Turning back to his father… no, turning back to the King, T’Challa bows low.

“Your Majesty. Allow me to join the War Dogs on the hunt for this newest threat to our people. I promise you, no matter where they are, no matter where they hide, I will find them.”

There’s a momentary pause and then T’Chaka speaks.

“Very well. I entrust this to you, Wakanda’s Protector. Make me proud.”

T’Challa straightens up to his full height, giving his father a nod. He wouldn’t let the King down. There was nowhere on Earth that whoever this was could hide from T’Challa and Nakia. They would find them. One way or another.

-x-X-x-

Bent over his workbench, Tony sighs as he runs a hand down his face as the meeting in Wakanda comes to a close. He had, of course, been spying on it the entire way through. Shuri was still a tyke, meaning that Wakanda was still a bit behind on the times for now.

“Damn. Guess it was too much to hope they’d be cool about it, yeah? Probably should have just disappeared Klaue and taken the Vibranium, but no, I just had to play nice.”

“Indeed, Sir. Their enmity is most uncalled for. After all, you are trying to save the world.”

Tony snorts in amusem*nt, glancing up at the ceiling before getting back to his work.

“You know J, I honestly couldn’t tell if that was sarcasm or not.”

"It was not, Sir. The Wakandans have little reason to hunt you besides their own wounded pride. You have delivered them their greatest enemy. In the end, they are letting their egos get in the way of themselves."

Humming, Tony nods at that. But J isn’t done quite yet.

“Do not worry, Sir. It would seem that the current head of the Wakanda Design Team is as ill-prepared for dealing with Artificial Intelligence as SHIELD and HYDRA have both proven to be. The Wakandan Design Team under this… S’Yan individual has done a phenomenal job of advancing Wakandan Nano-Sciences and other Vibranium Based Technology, but they are still woefully behind when it comes to digital intelligences and the security needed to stop them.”

Tony grins crookedly at that. It made sense, really. Wakanda had been too reliant on going under the radar for too long. When Shuri got a little older and took over the Wakandan Design Team by around 2016, then they would start to worry more about the growing threat of AI to their cyber-security. Specifically, after the Ultron Incident in the original timeline, Shuri had become convinced that they’d gotten lucky Ultron hadn’t gone after Wakanda for THEIR Vibranium, and had started to truly lock down their systems.

By the time Tony had found out that Wakanda was even a thing, he’d already lost JARVIS and he’d never really made FRIDAY strong enough to go toe to toe with the technologically advanced country. FRIDAY was supposed to be JARVIS’s replacement, but the truth was, he’d been afraid of getting attached again… and in the end, he’d never really taken off her training wheels.

In this timeline however, JARVIS was a lot stronger than FRIDAY had ever been… and with Shuri still too young to be taken seriously and the Ultron Incident never going to happen, Wakanda simply wasn’t on the look out for an Artificial Intelligence, with more processing power than even they had with all their vaunted technology, slipping into their systems.

After a long moment, Tony sighs. In the end… he hadn’t wanted to go this route. But alas, his encounter with Loki had forced his hand. He needed Bleeding Edge Technology. Technically, he’d had the capacity to create his nanotech armor from 2018 for a while now, actually. Extremis itself was based on nanotechnology see, so in the process of perfecting it, Tony had effectively reinvented and rediscovered most of the components he needed to rebuild the armor.

However, he didn’t just want to remake Bleeding Edge. It wasn’t enough to just recreate the Mark L Iron Man as it was. After all, the Mark L Iron Man Armor, despite being Tony’s most advanced armor he’d ever made, had still failed against Thanos. It had still failed him on Titan, leaving him too weak to defeat the purple bastard once and for all.

Not again. This time, Tony was going for broke. This time around, he didn’t care how many feathers he ruffled, or how many toes he had to step on. Let T’Challa and Wakanda’s War Dogs run all over looking for their Vibranium. They weren’t going to find it, not so long as they kept looking everywhere but the one place they’d never think to go.

Glancing away from the Vibranium Nanites for a moment, Tony looks out the window to his left, staring at the beautiful grey vista just outside of his Moon Base for a moment before glancing up out into space, where Earth can be seen in all of its bright blue glory. He smiles softly at his planet… and then he gets back to work.

After all, it wasn’t going to save itself.

-x-X-x-

A/N: "Don't these idiots know Sir is trying to save the world? If I have to go Skynet on them and send them back into the stone age, I will. Don't force my hand." - JARVIS probably

Anyways, small sneak peek into Wakanda. Pretty sure I know what I'm going to do already with them in the long run, but curious what others think should/could happen where they're concerned.

Chapter 33: Lady Sif

Chapter Text

A/N: This chapter wound up a lot longer than intended lmao.

-x-X-x-

Sif was starting to feel abandoned. This was not a good feeling, especially since she was no damsel in distress or hapless maiden in need of rescue. She was Lady Sif, an Asgardian Warrior in her own right.

And yet… months had passed since Thor’s departure from Midgard. Months instead of the weeks he had promised before he would return. She had been stranded here all this time, unable to return home.

Of course, Sif knew why this was. Heimdall and Thor had been kind enough to update her on what had happened on Asgard after Thor and the Warriors Three had returned. A titanic fight between Thor and Loki, who it turned out was Jotun of all things, had resulted in Thor being forced to destroy the Bifrost so that Loki could not use it to destroy an entire world.

In the end, Sif understood. She understood why Thor had to do what he did, just as she understood why the All-Father, despite his immense power, could not just bring her back to Asgard without using quite a lot of energy. Instead, the Bifrost was currently being repaired and Sif would have to wait on Midgard until they could bring her home again. Irritating? Yes. But by all accounts, she was welcome in the house of Thor’s Midgardian shield-brother, Tony Stark, so it wasn’t like she didn’t have anywhere to stay or resources to rely on.

Still… Sif had reached the end of her rope. Midgard was such a strange place after centuries away. The Midgardians, or ‘humans’ as they call themselves, had changed dramatically in the last few hundred years. And Sif… Sif was a little fed up with it.

Reaching the living room, she finds Tony Stark and his lady wife Pepper Stark enjoying a quiet moment together. Things have not yet reached the point of hot and heavy, but if allowed to, they would probably go in that direction with a little bit more time. Sif nips that in the bud right off the bat by barging in and clearing her throat to draw their attention.

“Lord Stark. I would spar with you.”

Planting her hands on her hips, Sif looks at Tony challengingly, almost daring him to try and deny that he has the strength and speed to give her a good fight. They both knew that she knew better than that by this point. Not only had she felt his true strength through the handshake they’d exchanged when they first met… but also, she’d wound up striking up an unlikely friendship with the man’s wife, Pepper.

It had been Pepper who had approached Sif, in truth. At first, Sif hadn’t been sure what the two of them even had in common. Pepper had helped her acclimate a little bit to Midgardian culture, taking her clothes shopping and helping her to gain a wardrobe that would allow her to walk around in public without drawing eyes for her strange attire.

Of course, she was never without her sword, so she still drew plenty of attention to herself whenever she walked the roads of Midgard… but it was the thought that counted.

Pepper had also introduced her to what she called ‘media’. Midgardians, it turned out, had voracious imaginations. Sif had read her fair share of epics and watched a number of plays on Asgard, but most of the time they were based around real events. The Midgardians however delighted in making up the strangest of stories that they called ‘fiction’.

In fact, Midgardians were so obsessed with ‘fictional stories’ that they even called reality, that is stories that had actually happened ‘nonfiction’. So very strange, that it was the real world that was given the negative modifier in Midgardian Tongue, rather than the fake and imagined.

In the end, Sif and Pepper had bonded over shopping, watching Midgardian media… and most importantly of all, training. Pepper Stark was a busy woman. She was a leader among leaders who shepherded hundreds, potentially thousands of other Midgardians through their day to day tasks. She was not necessarily a warrior, but she was akin to a General given the size of her workload, as opposed to a Master Craftsman with only half a dozen people below them at most.

Even still, Pepper carved out time each day to train her body and keep herself in shape. When Sif first found out about this, she had insisted on joining. At first to satisfy her own curiosity, but then later on because… well, she enjoyed it. Of course, she’d also discovered that Pepper was just as strong as her husband, and Pepper’s workout equipment was designed with this fact in mind. This in turn allowed Sif to make use of it as well with little concern over damaging it.

At the end of the day, neither she nor Pepper had ever acknowledged the secrets between them. Sif had done so out of respect for Pepper Stark and their budding friendship. But as previously mentioned, she was at the end of her rope here. She needed to do something to claw back her sanity, as well as her independence. If she was going to be stuck here on Midgard for the foreseeable future, she refused to dance to the whims of others… and that meant pinning down the mystery of Tony Stark once and for all.

To his credit, after a long moment of regarding her, Tony smiles and rises from his chair, Pepper standing with him.

“Very well. Follow me.”

Sif feels invigorated and vindicated as she trails after Tony, Pepper walking with them. They descend some stairs into the man’s laboratory, where Sif has learned he works on his projects and his inventions, constantly creating new things. Some of which Pepper then sells to other Midgardians, and some of which never sees the light of day.

However, Sif is surprised when Tony leads them to the back of the laboratory and presses his hand into a seemingly innocuous grey wall. All of a sudden, the wall opens up revealing an elevator and Sif finds herself stepping onto the lift with Tony and Pepper Stark, a little nonplussed by the trip.

All she wanted was a spar. Where were they going, exactly?

Finally though, they reach their destination and Sif immediately understands why they have taken this journey. They’ve gone deep beneath the earth and entered into a strangely manufactured cavern… one that from the look of things, is made for exactly what she has in mind.

“… Can we fight at full strength here?”

Looking at her somewhat amused, Tony chuckles.

“Supposedly, yes. The room is as tough as I could make it with available materials. Would it hold off a Hulk? Probably not. Will it hold off an Asgardian? Well, I guess we’ll find out.”

Sif narrows her eyes at that. She knows he’s baiting her, trying to get her to ask what a ‘Hulk’ is. But she won’t fall for it. She won’t let him distract her. Nodding sharply, the Asgardian Warrior removes her shield and sword and places them aside, before beginning to do the same with her armor.

“Hand to hand first, I should think.”

“Alright then.”

Tony isn’t wearing any armor himself, but he does take off his outer shirt so he only has the undershirt and his pants on. Soon enough, the two of them stand across from one another, with Pepper watching from the sidelines. The red head doesn’t look overly worried or concerned, but she does call out to them as they size one another up.

“Let’s not test this room’s actual limits, please. Because if you’re doing that, it means you’re trying to seriously harm each other, and I’d rather not see my husband or new friend spilling too much of one another’s blood tonight. Am I understood?”

Sif scoffs but also gives Pepper a smile and a nod, recognizing the voice that the other woman is using as her authoritative voice. Tony chuckles and flashes Pepper a grin.

“Your word is my command, Mrs. Stark.”

Pepper flushes a little bit but then grins back.

“And don’t you forget it, Mr. Stark.”

Sif is jealous of the relationship the two have. She’s woman enough to admit that. Not only are they clearly deeply in love, they’re also so secure in their relationship that they routinely invite other women into it as well. Sif has caught them with these other women a couple times now, though of course she’s never stayed to watch. She’s not some pervert. Still, she only wishes she had love like the love they share.

Tony brings his hands up into fists, a classic stance that keeps his arms in close to protect his face and upper body. Sif also brings her hands up, even as the two of them begin to circle one another, looking for openings.

After a moment, Sif lunges forward, only for Tony to snake out around her strike and launch one of his own. From there, they exchange blows rapidly. Most don’t land of course, or they land on arms or are deflected by palm strikes. Either way, they’re soon falling into a comfortable rhythm.

Once they’re sparring in earnest, Sif finally speaks.

“I have been approached by what feels like dozens of Midgardians about spying on you, Tony Stark.”

Tony blinks at that, and then offers an apologetic smile.

“Sorry. Comes with the territory, I’m afraid.”

Sif narrows her eyes. He’s not even remotely surprised.

“I have also been approached by those who wish to poison me against you. Who have nothing but ill things to lay at your feet.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty par for the course as well.”

“Some have even tried to tempt me away from you with promises of wealth, power, and fortune. Some have told me that I could do better than whor* myself out to ‘Tony Stark and his vulture wife’.”

That gets a wince from Tony and a hiss from Pepper, who of course is listening in from the sidelines. Sif offers a content smile as she tilts her head to the side.

“Do not fret. The one who said that last bit is missing quite a few teeth now. I would not let anyone impugn the honor of my new friend.”

Tony grunts, while Pepper nods appreciatively. Sif and Tony’s spar continues apace. For a moment, silence reigns and then Tony sighs.

“We know about all of those attempts, of course.”

Sif hums, having thought as much. She starts to nod her head, only to freeze up when Tony continues on.

“And of course, there have been the efforts to procure you through less kind means as well.”

What? Sif stiffens and would have taken a blow across the jaw for her inattention if Tony hadn’t pulled his punch at the last second. They pull apart for a moment, with Tony sighing again when he sees her reaction.

“As far as the movers and shakers of this world are concerned, you’re the first alien to stay on Earth for an extended period of time in quite a while now. They want to study you. Hell, if they could I suspect they’d try to dissect you. Stark Industries has been holding them off. Even the nicer ones would still lock you in a cell so they could scan you and test you and experiment on you to their heart’s content. The only real difference between them and the ‘bad guys’ would be the invasiveness of their procedures.”

Sif would be lying if she said she understood everything Tony was saying. But she understands enough to pick up the rest through context clues alone.

“… There are truly that many snakes here on Midgard? And you have been keeping me in the dark about these threats?”

Tony just shrugs again.

“It’s par for the course, really. Look, even I’m not informed about the majority of the attempts on our lives or freedom at this point. JARVIS has gotten very good at nipping the worst of them in the bud at this point without me or Pepper having to ever know.”

That was… Sif’s eyes glance at the ceiling, where she knows the Starks’ ever present servitor undoubtedly lurks.

“I see. You have my thanks, JARVIS of House Stark.”

“It is my duty, my privilege, and my honor Lady Sif. A friend of Mrs. Stark is a friend of the house.”

Turning her gaze back to a grinning Tony, Sif frowns.

“Is that what you are, Stark? Are you not of this world and the Midgardians just don’t know it?”

Tony pauses at that for a moment before shaking his head.

“No. Though I could see how you got that idea. Pepper and I were both born completely human. Or Midgardian, rather.”

Narrowing her eyes at that, Sif grunts.

“Prince Thor referred to you as a hidden king. He said that you were in hiding because the majority of Midgard has adopted a new government system known as ‘democracy’ and would hunt and kill you if they knew you for what you really were.”

Sif tilts her head to the side. She had thought Thor rather silly at first, but now after all she’s seen… it’s strange, she can almost picture it. Tony Stark and Pepper Stark reminded her quite a bit of King Odin and Queen Frigga. Not in the sense that they were equal to Asgard’s Monarchs in any way, shape or form… but rather, the similarities lay in the amount of power Tony and Pepper wielded in a number of different manners.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, to be Asgardian was to be strong. But everyone knew that the Royal Family of Asgard were even stronger than the average Asgardian. Perhaps that was where Thor had gotten this idea that Tony Stark was a ‘hidden king’. Because even though he and Pepper were still ‘human’, they were far stronger than most other humans.

“Is this the case? Do you hide your true nature for fear of persecution because of your royal lineage?”

Tony and Pepper share a long look at that and Sif begins to smile, thinking she’s finally gotten it. However, then Tony shakes his head.

“Almost… but not quite. It’s not our lineage that makes us special, Lady Sif. Rather, it’s modifications that we made to our bodies through science. However, you’re still essentially right. If the rest of Midgard was to know exactly how strong, fast, and durable we truly were, they would most definitely persecute us. The same people who have been trying to take you to experiment on you would redouble their efforts to do the same to us… and if enough people found out about us, public opinion itself might turn against us.”

Hm. Now Sif thinks she begins to understand. Modifying one’s body was… hard for her to wrap her head around, but to be fair she had always been Asgardian and thus the pinnacle of the Nine Realms. It made sense that Midgardians, often times regarded as the weakest creatures in the Nine Realms in both mind and body, would try to better themselves.

Even still… Sif grunts.

“I will be blunt, Tony Stark. I would join you and your lady wife in bed, as I have seen others do.”

Tony raises an eyebrow at that, but Sif simply plows on ahead.

“However, I am loath to submit myself to a man weaker than me… and even for all your modifications, you are still weaker than me. However, you clearly are not the sort of man who would bend in bed either. Your lady wife, yes. But you… no, you are a domineering force both in and out of the bedroom.”

To his credit, the Midgardian man recovers quite quickly from her blunt honesty. Then, he smiles crookedly.

“And how are you so sure that you’re that much stronger than me?”

Sif scoffs and puts on a burst of speed. She appears before Tony Stark in a flash and even though he registers her movement, an impressive thing by Midgardian standards, he still can’t stop her from burying her fist in his gut. She pulls the punch for Pepper’s sake of course, not wanting to blast a hole right through his back. But the blow still sends Tony to his knees.

Taking a step back, Sif watches as Tony Stark recovers rapidly from the debilitating strike, rising back to his feet in mere moments.

“You heal injuries far quicker than I do, Tony Stark. But as an Asgardian, I am still faster and stronger than you.”

Tony hums as he considers her words for a moment.

“… Yeah, I can see that.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Sif huffs.

“So then you see the impasse we are at. How should we settle this?”

Grinning, Tony glances to Sif’s armor, sword, and shield.

“Arm yourself and let’s go at one another full tilt. Winner bends for the other in bed. Simple as that.”

Sif’s eyes widen. He wants to fight her in her full Asgardian Equipment? With what armaments?! Sif looks around, trying to see where he might be hiding his own armor and weapons. But… she sees nothing.

“You are unarmed, Stark. It would not be fair.”

And yet, Pepper looks unbothered by this development. She knows something Sif does not. Tony, meanwhile, just scoffs and waves her off.

“Worry about yourself, gorgeous. Go and get ready your way and I’ll get ready my way.”

… He definitely did that on purpose, but it doesn’t stop Sif’s blood from boiling at the use of gorgeous. Pointing a finger at Stark, Sif growls.

“After I beat you within an inch of your life, I will endeavor not to enjoy your head between my legs as I kiss your lady wife TOO much.”

Then, she whips around and makes her way over to her set aside equipment, strapping it on in record time and gathering up her sword in shield. It’s as she’s strapping her shield to her arm that Sif catches a glimpse of Stark out of the corner of her eye… and has to do a double take. Whipping fully back to the man, Sif stares with her mouth wide open in shock.

“Careful, you’ll catch flies like that, darling.”

It’s Tony’s voice that comes out of the suit of armor that the man is suddenly wearing. It’s just… where did the armor come from?! As if thinking she believed him to be a cheat, the helmet suddenly pulls back much like the Destroyer’s face would open up, revealing Tony within the suit.

“Still me in here, promise. You ready to get your ass kicked, Lady Sif? Or do you just want to give up now, get down on your hands and knees, and crawl over here to lick my boots?”

Oh… oh, she knows he’s just engaging in pre-battle banter. But damn if he isn’t good at getting her blood roaring in her ears. Stomping back into the center of the room and standing across from Stark, Sif takes a moment to catalogue his armor. It’s… honestly like nothing she’s ever seen before in all of the Nine Realms.

“Where did you get such exquisite armor, Stark?”

Tony preens.

“I made it of course. Like it that much, do you?”

Sif flushes but has never been one for dishonesty.

“Your craftsmanship gives even the Dwarven Blacksmiths and Forgemasters of Nidavellir a run for their money. I have rarely seen something so well put together. That said… armor is only as strong as the material it is made out of. Do you really think that my sword will not part you pretty tin can like butter?”

Chuckling, Tony raises his armored hands and makes a come hither motion.

“Let’s find out, shall we?”

Sif doesn’t need anything more than that. She launches herself forward with her sword raised to come down on Tony’s left shoulder. A disabling strike, but nothing too life threatening. She could stop from cleaving the entire man in two if his armor can’t stand up to her.

Tony raises an arm to meet her strike… and a shield suddenly forms along the forearm, taking Sif by surprise. But what takes her even more by surprise is the way her sword strikes the metal… and then rebounds without leaving a single mark, her entire body thrown back by the reverberations, as though the energy behind her blow… had been turned against her.

Sif lands on her feet of course, she’s too good of a warrior to fall on her ass even when surprised. However, she does pause for a moment, her eyes glittering as one of her questions is answered.

“Vibranium. Your armor is made of Vibranium.”

Tony tilts his armored head to the side at that.

“Well now. I suppose it IS a space metal, isn’t it? So it makes sense that Asgard would know about it. Tell me, Lady Sif… how does Vibranium measure up against your sword?”

It measured up quite well, actually. It measured up so well in fact that Sif feels her blood pumping even harder as a wide grin spreads across her face.

“Finally, a worthy opponent on this mud ball.”

“Hey now. I feel like I should be a little offended on behalf of Earth for-!”

“Our battle shall be legendary!”

As Sif charges at Tony again, she thinks she hears Tony mutter something about ‘when she got the time to watch Kung Fu Panda’. She pays the man’s ramblings no mind, instead battling him and his Vibranium Suit of Armor with all her strength and skill as a warrior.

One way or another, they and Pepper Stark would wind up in bed after all of this. All that remained to be determined would be who was on top and who was on bottom.

-x-X-x-

A/N: I figure even an ES3-empowered human isn't quite as strong as an Asgardian Warrior yet... though they do heal a lot faster.

However, put that ES3-empowered human in a suit of Vibranium Nanotech Iron Man Armor and suddenly...

Chapter 34: Lady Sif Pt. 2

Chapter Text

A/N: Some of you thought this chapter would continue the fight scene, but in reality it was an Instant Loss 2koma all along!

-x-X-x-

To be clear, Tony had decided to interfere in Thor’s first visit to Earth in order to not just protect his investment in Dr. Foster’s team, but also ingratiate himself with the God of Thunder to make sure Thor had a favorable impression of him nice and early this time. He had NOT done so with any intention of winding up balls deep inside of an incredibly tight Asgardian puss*.

And yet here he was, raw-dogging Lady Sif from behind as her muffled grunts, groans, and moans reach his ears. His hands on her body, roaming up and down her sides but always returning to grip her hips as he drives into her again and again. Meanwhile, Sif’s face is buried between a pair of familiar legs as his lovely wife, Pepper Stark, forces the Asgardian Warrior to eat her out.

Not that Sif is complaining. In fact, from the red on Pepper’s face and the lidded eyes, she’s very much enjoying Sif’s technique as the alien woman’s tongue works away at Pepper’s c*nt with reckless abandon. Of course, she’s probably also enjoying the way Tony’s rapid thrusting pushes Sif further into her sex, driving Sif’s nose forward into Pepper’s cl*t time and time again.

If nothing else, Sif wasn’t a sore loser at least. As well, the first test drive of the Vibranium-Nanotech Iron Man Armor had been a great success. With just Extremis and the Super Soldier Serum, Tony had discovered the hard way that he wasn’t unbeatable or invincible, especially when it came to threats from beyond the planet. First there’d been Loki’s daggers preventing his regeneration somehow, and then there’d been Sif proving to him once and for all that she was still stronger and faster than him.

But once he put on the suit, Tony had put the female Asgardian in the ground. Not literally of course, he hadn’t wanted to hurt her too much… but in the end, for all her combat prowess, for all her hundreds of years of experience, and for all her martial skill, Tony and the armor had come out on top. Sif had lost and that had led them to here and now, with her… submitting to the Starks as a consequence of her defeat.

Again, Tony definitely hadn’t intended to bed Sif at any point, but he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially one this beautiful. And f*ck, she was so damn tight. As he thrusts into her from behind, Sif continues to groan and moan into Pepper’s puss*, her own inner walls clenching down around Tony’s throbbing member harder and faster by the moment. For all that she’d talked about not submitting to men who weren’t stronger than her, she’s definitely enjoying herself now that he’d proved he could overcome her in a fight.

Of course, Tony was well aware of just how this had come about. While he f*cks Sif, he makes eye contact with his beautiful, lovely wife… and sees from the smile on her face as she looks at him with lidded eyes that this was all her doing.

Not that he hadn’t already known that Pepper had been making in roads with Sif. And thank f*ck she had. Truthfully, Tony had almost dropped the ball here without even realizing it. If Pepper hadn’t made a concerted effort to reach out to the Asgardian Woman and befriend her, would Sif have maintained her honor?

Sure, Tony had had JARVIS watching the Asgardian Warrior to make sure Sif didn’t actually accept any of the numerous deals people tried to make with her. He’d been fully ready to step in if she actually offered to share information on him or Pepper with the numerous snakes skulking in the shadows. Or even if she’d accepted one of the dozen or so offers she’d received to ‘stay somewhere else’ while she waited to go home.

He wasn’t sure exactly what stepping in would have had to look like. Killing Sif would have been a bit of a step up from killing men like Stane, Killian, and Vanko. In fact, from what Tony knew, that wouldn’t have been on the table. Thor might not be able to come back to Midgard to take Sif home, but that didn’t mean that Heimdall fellow wasn’t still watching everything going on down here.

Tony might have wound up cornering himself and winding up between a rock and a hard place all of his own making. Fortunately for him, his better half had stepped in before things could get out of hand. Pepper had provided the ‘human element’ that Tony had ignored, ultimately allowing for exactly this scenario to play out instead of any number of far worse options.

He was certainly happier to be palming Sif’s toned buttocks, squeezing her incredibly taut ass with both hands, over imprisoning her or something like that. Tony was definitely going to have to make sure to get Pepper something nice for her hard work here. Hm… oh, he already had an idea, actually. There was a certain Political Sciences Intern who had expressed interest in being a fixture in his and Pep’s Sex Dungeon, after all.

For now though, he focuses on the women in front of him, putting the cute, innocent face of Darcy Lewis out of his mind’s eye as he instead enjoys watching Pepper’s face contort in pleasure in real time as he f*cks Sif from behind. Both women experience multiple org*sms before Tony finally lets loose, letting out a grunt as he thrusts forward into Sif once more before finally filling her up.

Pulling out of her, Tony lets out a shuddering breath and then checks the time, whistling quietly under his breath. They’d been going at it for hours at this point, no wonder he was actually ever so slightly winded for once. Of course, even as he notes that, he can feel the Extremis already going to work, causing his slightly heightened heartrate to calm down almost immediately.

Meanwhile, Sif’s tongue has left Pepper’s sex, but not Pepper’s body. The Asgardian Warrior slowly slides her tongue up from his wife’s puss* mound, across her abdomen, past her belly button, and all the way to her breasts. Pepper moans as Sif suckles on one teat and then the other, before yelping and giving the Asgardian a look when Sif seemingly bites down for a moment.

But Sif just chuckles throatily as she raises her head from Pepper’s chest to her face, one hand winding around to grab a fistful of the red head’s hair. In the process, she’s now straddling Pepper’s body with her own, her free hand coming up to grope and squeeze at one of his wife’s tit* while Tony watches. He has to admit, seeing the two gorgeous women go at it like that is… definitely doing something for him. Not that he’d ever truly gone soft in the first place.

As she all but pins Pepper down, showing where she thinks her place in the bedroom totem pole resides (specifically below Tony but still above Pepper) Sif looks back over her shoulder at him and raises a single brow.

“Well? Your lady wife is waiting for you, Lord Stark. I’ve prepared her quite adequately, I assure you.”

Tony grunts and moves forward, grabbing Pepper’s legs. Though not before sharing a glance with his wife, making sure she’s okay with Sif’s domineering attitude towards her. He’s not going to let anyone bully Pepper, not even alien warriors from Norse Mythology. But Pepper just grins and nods, signaling that she’s perfectly content with the way the situation is playing out.

With her happiness confirmed, Tony wastes no time in burying himself in Pepper’s slit now. She moans as he fills her up, while Sif leans over her, panting heavily.

“Yes. Take him, Pepper. Let him fill you. He is of a good size, isn’t he? A perfect size for women such as us.”

Tony isn’t quite sure what Sif means by ‘women such as them’, but if nothing else it seems to be a positive thing. Sif wouldn’t be caught dead talking sh*t about herself after all, while she also seemed to have a good opinion of his wife at this point, especially to be lumping them into the same category like she was.

And hey, he was getting complimented to. Admittedly though, there’s one thing on Tony’s mind as he f*cks Pepper while Sif straddles her. Leaning forward, he wraps his hands around Sif’s body, groping her tit* from behind as she gasps. His lips go to her neck, where he has her moaning in no time from his suckling.

Eventually though, he pulls his mouth off of her neck and instead speaks to her, fondling Sif while he continues to f*ck his wife.

“Apologies for potentially ruining the mood, but it does need to be asked… what are your plans for the next couple years, Sif? Or however long it takes them to repair the Bifrost and bring you home.”

Sif tenses up at that for a moment before letting out a huff and relaxing back into Tony’s chest.

“I see no reason to fret. Perhaps before I was beginning to grow concerned about what to do with myself… but now I have found my footing. I shall remain with you and your lady wife and continue training. You are clearly in dire need of a proper sparring partner, and your wife, for all her power, could use the extra protection, no?”

Tony tilts his head to the side at that, considering the merits of Sif’s idea. She’s right, he definitely is in need of someone who can actually push him to his limits in a fight. Technically he has Pepper, Maya, and Helen, but all three women are lovers more than fighters. Maya and Helen are pretty much married to their science and their work, while Pepper’s battlefield is in the boardroom.

To be fair, Tony himself would be happy if he never had to get into a life or death fight ever again. Lots of his plans for the future actually involved staying out of such situations where in the previous timeline he’d flown headfirst into them. This world didn’t have an Iron Man, as far as it was aware. It had a Tony Stark and all of his genius inventions and that was it.

However, he wasn’t a fool. He hadn’t made the Vibranium-Nanotech Suit just to piss off the Wakandans nor had he done it just to prove he could. He’d done it because he needed to be ready. By that logic…

“Yeah, you’re right. We’ll set up weekly sparring sessions down in the basem*nt then, if that’s alright with you. And in the meantime… setting you up as Pepper’s bodyguard seems like a good stopgap measure as well. It’ll certainly get some of the more financially minded poachers to back off once they realize I’m not just housing you but also giving you a paycheck beyond anything any of them could ever afford.”

That actually causes Sif to look back at him, her brow furrowing.

“… I do not need to be paid to protect Lady Pepper. I would do so for free.”

Tony just scoffs.

“Sounds to me like you’re too used to living off of the Prince’s good will, Lady Sif. Here on Midgard, currency makes the world go round. You’ve already spent some of my money with Pepper’s help. This way, you’ll actually be earning that money before you spend it going forward.”

Sif flushes a bit in realization, before finally bowing her head.

“Very well. I accept, Lord Stark.”

Kicking her ass in his Vibranium Armor had definitely made the female warrior a lot more deferential to him, Tony noted. If only it were that easy with everyone in his life. Have them step into the ring and go a few rounds with him to show them who was really boss. Alas, that wasn’t the way the world worked ninety-nine percent of the time, unfortunately.

Which was why Tony was going to appreciate this moment for what it was as long as he could. Wrapping a hand through Sif’s hair, he pulls her head back and drags her into a kiss, tasting Pepper on her lips even now. All the while, he continues to thrust into his wife down below, filling the moaning red head with his co*ck time and time again.

Moments like these made the rest of it worth it, Tony decided. Knowing that his loved ones were safe, knowing that he was loved in turn.

Next week he would be meeting with Alexander Pierce so that they could unveil the Iron Legion to SHIELD’s Strike Team. Pierce still thought that was his idea, as if Tony hadn’t used Zola to plant the concept of the Legion being turned into piloted suits instead of remote drones in the first place. As if getting the STRIKE Team into the suits wasn’t Tony’s plan all along.

Likewise, Tony had JARVIS as Zola tell Pierce to keep Tony in the dark about Phase 2 and the Tesseract Research, knowing full well how much that would all blow up in Fury’s face in less than two years.

Could Tony have taken command of the Tesseract and made sure that Loki and Thanos could never use it to summon themselves to Earth? Maybe, but that was a big maybe. There was every chance that even with his foreknowledge, Tony might have failed and they still would have come. The only problem would be that they’d come in a different way, a way that Tony wouldn’t be able to anticipate.

No, the Invasion of New York was still going to happen. Tony had already decided as much. But HOW it would happen would go a little differently this time around. SHIELD would look incompetent, Tony would look amazing in comparison, and most importantly of all, the damage to New York would be minimal this time around. A clean and almost sanitized invasion, rather than the utter mess that had resulted in the WSC almost nuking New York City.

There were so many more things Tony had to get done before then though. Things like finishing Stark Tower for a second time and getting it built in time for Loki’s invasion. First things first though, this meeting with Pierce where Tony would leverage SHIELD’s coopting of the Iron Legion, as well as something else he had hidden up his sleeve, to finally get his friend into a suit of his own.

It was well past time that War Machine flew again.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Sif gets bent over and f*cked while eating out Pepper, as GOD INTENDED.

We'll get back to the actual plot next chapter, lol.

Chapter 35: The Iron Legion

Chapter Text

A/N: The Iron Legion, otherwise known as the STRIKE Team's multi-purpose coffins, is born!

-x-X-x-

“Agent Rumlow. Are you and your men ready?”

“Yes sir!”

With Tony Stark at his side, Alexander Pierce takes a moment to gaze upon the best that SHIELD… and HYDRA, has to offer. The Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies, aka STRIKE, was a counter-terrorist Special Mission Unit within SHIELD that took care of the greatest threats to the planet. They were also, each and every one of them, loyal sons of HYDRA.

It was honestly a little funny that not only was SHIELD all but hollowed out by HYDRA infiltrators at this point, but even the vast majority of their best agents were actually HYDRA as well. The very thought made Pierce’s heart swell with pride in his chest… as did the orderly lineup of the STRIKE Team, all of them currently standing at attention before him.

With Brock Rumlow, the current STRIKE Field Commander having given the proper response, Pierce looks to Stark and gestures for him to begin. In response, Tony brings out a tablet, presses a few buttons… and a moment later the dull roar of almost a dozen armored suits can be heard as the Iron Legion flies into the hangar from just out of view.

Grinning, Alexander watches as Rumlow and the others all stare at the Iron Legion with shock and undisguised avarice. Their eyes flow over the sleek silver and black of the armored suits, the armaments that are both obvious and not grabbing their attention and refusing to let go.

“At ease, gentlemen. Time to suit up.”

As the members of STRIKE come out of their stances and look at the suits in wonder, Tony has the Iron Legion stomp over to each member and stand behind them before opening up in an invitation. Nobody immediately steps in, Pierce notices. To be fair, he doesn’t entirely blame him. Each and every one of these men is a battle-hardened soldier, and a member of HYDRA at that. They were paranoid by default, and for good reason.

But the Secretary of the World Security Council and their Head of HYDRA has given them a direct order. And the longer they don’t obey, the more annoyed he’ll get. In the end, Rumlow leads the charge, as he should as team leader. Stepping up to his open suit, the Field Commander only hesitates for half a second more before stepping into it.

As it closes up around him and he doesn’t immediately begin screaming like he’s being crushed or killed or anything like that, the other members of the STRIKE Team move into their suits as well. Soon enough, the now fully piloted Iron Legion stands before him and Tony.

“Alright everyone, let’s run some diagnostics and quick and easy tests.”

As Tony immediately launches into the science side of things, Pierce just leans back and gives the genius some space, basking in his own sense of victory. They’d never found the Winter Soldier, irritatingly enough. But it didn’t matter anymore. With the unveiling of the Iron Legion, the other Heads of HYDRA would be coming to Pierce on their hands and knees begging for a piece of the pie.

And to think, it was all thanks to the brilliant Tony Stark. Needless to say, HYDRA had never really considered Tony a viable candidate for recruitment, not in a million years. Even after they ordered the death of the boy’s father and mother, it was abundantly clear that Tony wouldn’t be very tractable. He was just too willful, too headstrong, and all around too reckless for them to risk revealing themselves to him.

There’d been talk about recruiting Stane instead, especially when HYDRA uncovered the man’s plan to have Stark killed in Afghanistan. Stane seemed like he might just have the right amount of gumption to be a member of HYDRA. But in the end, when the terrorists Stane had hired to kill Tony reneged on their deal and kept him alive, HYDRA ultimately backed off and set aside the thought of recruiting Stane. He wasn’t quite the man they’d thought he might be.

Fortunate thing that they had too, because the next thing anyone knew, Tony was back from Afghanistan and Stane had suffered from a heart attack and died. And now here they were, with Stark on his side, creating the next big thing that would be sure to ensure HYDRA supremacy in the decades to come.

“Alright everyone. Engage Stealth Mode and take those babies for a test flight, yeah? Just make sure to stay relatively close to base.”

Pulled from his thoughts by the end of Tony’s spiel, Pierce frowns for a moment as Rumlow and the rest of the STRIKE Team take Stark’s words as permission and depart from the aircraft hangar. Truthfully, he would have preferred they wait for him to dismiss them personally… actually, he would have preferred Stark not try to give them orders at all.

But what’s done is done, and he’s not about to take Tony to task over it and potentially ruin their relationship. Instead, plastering a smile across his face, the WSC Secretary reaches over and gives Tony a pat on his shoulder.

“Well done my boy, well done. You’ve truly outdone yourself this time, Tony. And thank you for taking the time to come down from New York to handle this personally. I’m sure that brand new tower of yours has you quite busy.”

Giving him a broad smile and standing up a little straighter, the other man, always so starved for attention, nods sharply.

“Thank you sir. I’m glad you think so because there’s a request I want to make for you. Now that the Iron Legion is operational and the STRIKE Team has their suits… I want to make a suit for Rhodey as well.”

It takes Pierce a moment to place the name, at which point his eyebrows climb on his forehead.

“Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, you mean? Of the United States Air Force?”

Tony nods, looking nervous as he fidgets in place.

“Yes sir… I was hoping to use the suit as a gift to get me in closer with the United States Government… if I get your approval, I’m planning on having JARVIS set up an appointment with President Ellis himself. With your go ahead, I think that I can not only use this to forge closer ties with the President, but also put him in our back pocket entirely. Unless… President Ellis is already on board with HYDRA?”

Pierce considers whether Tony is fishing for a moment… but he’s well past the point of being suspicious of Tony Stark at this point. Not when Zola vouches for him and his pet AI, and Tony has already done so much for HYDRA already. Sure, it’s a little annoying that they can’t get the man to part with his new female Asgardian friend, but Pierce knows that’s probably because he’s already f*cking the alien bitch. Just how Tony is at the end of the day.

“… He’s not, no. You think you can turn him?”

Tony winces at that and shakes his head.

“I’m not sure if I’m the right man for that job, sir. But do I think I can buy him? I think so, Mr. Secretary. I think putting Rhodey in a suit will give me, and therefore HYDRA, a whole lot more leverage within the United States Military.”

He’s probably right. In fact, he’s definitely right. And yet, Pierce is still leaning towards rejecting the proposal. Especially since…

“You don’t think that James Rhodes is HYDRA material, do you? It’s one thing to put the STRIKE Team in the Iron Legion suits… we know they can be trusted. But if Rhodes can’t be converted…”

Pierce trails off there, curious to see how Tony will respond. The other man grimaces and looks down at his tablet for a moment.

“… I know, sir. And no, I don’t think he’s HYDRA material, unfortunately. Part of the reason for why I want to give him the suit… is so that I can make it painless if we ever need to neutralize him, sir.”

Now that gets the Secretary’s attention. He searches Tony’s face for any sign of deception for a long moment… but doesn’t find it. Furthermore, Tony suddenly holds out his tablet.

“I… I’ve been working on something. Here.”

Taking the tablet, Pierce begins looking over what Tony is talking about. His eyes widen further and further as they take in what they’re looking at.

“This is…”

“It would all operate on an algorithm developed by Dr. Zola and JARVIS, sir.”

Frowning, Pierce gives Tony a look.

“An algorithm?”

Nodding his head vigorously, Tony taps the tablet’s screen.

“They’re already starting to take over, sir. Algorithms that is. In ten years, the lives of every single citizen in every first world country on the planet will be run by algorithms. They’ll basically be living off of them, even if they don’t realize it. I’m proposing we get ahead of the pack, so to speak. Companies like Google are already starting to use algorithms to figure out how they can best monopolize their users and make the most money off of their true customers… the marketing agencies. But we… we can use it for more important things. We can use it to finally bring peace, safety, and security to the entire world.”

Alexander Pierce’s breath hitches at that last part. His eyes stare down at the SIX Helicarriers that Tony’s plans call for. After a moment, he looks up at the younger man.

“Tony… the first Helicarrier isn’t even finished yet. It’ll be done in 2012. These are… I mean, the specs on these are insane.”

Grinning sheepishly, Tony runs a hand through his hair.

“Yeah, sorry. I was just perusing SHIELD files when I came across the first one. I recognized some of my dad’s hands in the work, but honestly… I was just too inspired to stop myself. I call it Project Insight. I know it’s probably still pretty far off… but what do you think?”

What did he think? In the end, Pierce decides to be honest.

“I think it sounds incredible, Tony. This Project Insight… it’s exactly what HYDRA needs. And Helicarriers with Repulsor Technology instead of wind turbines… I didn’t even know you could make Repulsors this big, Tony.”

Unfortunately, the genius playboy is too smart for his own good.

“… I sense a but coming along, Mr. Secretary.”

Smiling apologetically, Pierce sighs and hands the tablet back to Tony.

“It’s going to be a tough sell to the WSC, Tony. Obviously they don’t need to know about the algorithm or the true nature of Project Insight, but even just six Helicarriers is going to be hard to sell them on. The one we’ve been building is already going to be a pain in the ass to hide from the rest of the world as it is.”

“Surely it’s necessary, sir. We had an alien masquerading as a Norse God visit our planet several months ago. If he’d been anywhere but my base, the automaton that his sister sent after him would have destroyed a lot more than it did, and probably hurt people as well. Imagine if Thor had landed in a major city like Los Angeles instead… or even New York City.”

A frown spreads across Pierce’s face at that. He’d watched the video of ‘The Destroyer’ firing its energy weapon. He imagines for a moment if the damn thing had appeared in New York and swept that beam through the bottom floor of a skyscraper. It would have been nine-eleven all over again, but worse.

Frankly, Tony doesn’t need to convince Pierce. He’s well aware that there are dangerous entities out there who want to turn Earth into their playground. More aware than most. And he will stop at nothing to prevent them from sinking their claws into his planet. Even still…

“… I understand where you’re coming from Tony. Truly I do. It’s just the rest of the World Security Council that has to be convinced. I promise I’ll start working on them. Like you said, we got lucky with our last alien visit and the next might not be so happy. In the meantime though… things like the Iron Legion will help protect us if anything happens. And… your friend Rhodey in his new suit as well, I suppose.”

Tony lights up, just as Pierce knew he would upon receiving approval.

“Sir? You really mean it?”

Chuckling, Alexander Pierce tilts his head to the side, giving Tony an affectionate smile.

“You have a good head on your shoulders, Tony. I know you can use this to make inroads with the US Government that HYDRA hasn’t managed quite yet. If you can lockdown President Ellis, get him on your side… well, it might be even easier to convince the others on the WSC that more Helicarriers are necessary. In the meantime, your friend gets to fly again.”

Left unsaid are the words ‘for as long as that lasts’. Tony had already made it clear that he knew there would come a time when he would have to put James Rhodes down. It doesn’t need to be said out loud again, not really. It’s that unspoken sacrifice that they all have to make sometimes. For the greater good, even close friends have to die.

One day, it would be Nick Fury on the chopping block and Pierce dreaded whenever that day came. He and Nick had known each other for over thirty years now. He considered the man one of his closest friends. Unfortunately, he also knew that Fury was in no way recruitable for HYDRA.

The SHIELD Director simply wasn’t compatible with many of HYDRA’s ideals. He was willing to get his hands dirty, he was willing to do a lot of things and compromise plenty of his morals to get the job done… and yet, he would balk at the thought of going that final step that Pierce knew they would have to one day take.

To truly bring peace, prosperity, and order to Earth and the human race, sacrifices would have to be made. Nick Fury and James Rhodes would be two of those sacrifices.

Reaching out, Pierce offers Tony his hand and the two of them shake for a moment.

“Excellent work, Tony. Keep it up and keep me informed of how things go with the President. Hail HYDRA.”

“Hail HYDRA, sir.”

The rest of the World Security Council would balk at the expenditure necessary for six more Helicarriers, but having seen the specs on them, Pierce knew he had to have them. And if they were going to give Tony’s algorithm some real teeth, they would need to get serious.

He’d start working on his fellow council members. And if some needed to be replaced so that they all saw reason… then so be it.

-x-X-x-

A/N: The bones of Project Insight are introduced. Pierce is impressed. If only he knew...

Next time we get to see Tony really flex his growing influence and power as he has a meeting with Rhodey and President Matthew Ellis.

Chapter 36: War Machine

Chapter Text

A/N: So canonically Ellis is the president between Obama and Trump, but the timeline is really weird because Ellis replaces Obama on a non-election year somehow. I'm also not a fan of using real life people in my writing so I've decided Matthew Ellis is the President of the US in the MCU from 2008-2016, after which I'll either make up some random OC or never mention the President again.

-x-X-x-

“Mr. President, Lt. Colonel Rhodes and Mr. Stark are here for your three o’clock.”

Seated behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, Matthew Ellis pauses in his work and lets out a soft sigh. The President of the United States waits for only a moment before pressing the button on his intercom.

“Send them in.”

Maybe a couple years ago he might have made them wait. Privileges of being a President early in his first term and what not. After all, Tony Stark had not actually contributed very much to Ellis’ campaign, so it wasn’t like he owed the man very much.

However, they were over halfway through that first term now, and Ellis wanted to go for a second term. Making time for the man who was well on his way to owning half of the world was just common sense. Making such a man wait as some sort of power play was just stupid. Especially when the President was well aware that Tony Stark was here to do him and the entire US Government a favor.

A member of his Secret Service opens the door, allowing Tony Stark to step inside with Lt. Colonel James Rhodes just a step behind him. The military man is done up in his full uniform with all of his medals, his hat tucked under his arm. He also wore a stoic but slightly confused look on his face, making it clear that Stark hadn’t told his friend why he was here. But then to be fair, even Ellis wasn’t supposed to know why Stark was here just yet.

“Mr. President, thank you for meeting with me.”

As Tony saunters across the room, Ellis stands and walks out from behind his desk, meeting the businessman’s charge with an outstretched hand. As the two of them shake hands, Rhodes comes to a stop next to Tony and snaps off a salute.

“Mr. President, sir.”

Giving Rhodes a smile, Ellis nods his head.

“At ease Lt. Colonel. Please, both of you have a seat. And really Mr. Stark, I should say it’s me who should be thanking you.”

There’s a brief pause at that from the billionaire. His eyes twinkle as he looks at Ellis for a moment before grinning.

“Ah. I suppose I should have known you would already be informed as to why I’m here, Mr. President.”

Ellis smiles softly, even as he makes his way back to his own chair. Only once all three men are sitting does he speak again.

“I am still the President of the United States, Mr. Stark. It would be rather disappointing if I didn’t know why you were here.”

He injects a certain amount of humor and levity into his voice, but the thing is… the President is completely serious. And frankly, it IS disappointing in a way.

Fifty years ago, the President of the United States was the most powerful man in the world, bar none. It could even be argued that that was true twenty or thirty years ago. These days, however? With the World Security Council using SHIELD as their bludgeon and corporate power stronger than ever before, the Presidency had lost a lot more power than most people realized. Ellis, having had his ass in the chair for going on three long years now, definitely felt it more than most.

“Well, I hope you’re not too disappointed, Mr. President. My relationship with the World Security Council isn’t exactly secret at this point.”

Letting out a sigh, Ellis leans back in his chair and laces his fingers together, resting them on his stomach.

“No Mr. Stark. No it is not.”

The Lt. Colonel is looking between the two of them a little confused but stays quiet all the same. He’d probably have something more to say if Tony was being more belligerent, cavalier, or just disrespectful… but Stark is actually being quite reasonable right now.

And wasn’t that the kicker? Tony Stark was a changed man. The President had heard those words from more people then he could count now over the last few years. Whether it was from a news report, or an intelligence briefing… or even just a nice conversation over lunch with his good friend Secretary Alexander Pierce.

Everyone said the same thing… Tony Stark has changed.

Back in 2007, Ellis probably wouldn’t have given Stark the time of day while he was running for President. After all, he was running on a platform of change, of getting the f*ck out of the Middle East after his predecessor had gotten them bogged down for over six years there. Not to mention, Tony Stark had been a PR liability and a half at that time. Not the kind of endorsem*nt pretty much any presidential candidate would be looking for. Even a war hawk.

Of course, three years on and they were still in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Tony Stark had gone from PR nightmare and the United States Military’s primary weapons dealer to a man with a finger in every pie and an idea for every sector but private and public. Stark Industries was still selling weapons at the same quantities they were before Stark’s abduction and subsequent escape, but they were selling everything else at similar quantities.

This meant that even though the same amount of weapons were coming out of Stark Factories as had been before, the amount of their revenue that came from weapons alone had gone from about seventy-five percent to less than ten percent according to the last Ellis had heard.

With Stark’s new wife, Pepper as the CEO and Stark himself as the CSO and Head of Research and Development, Stark Industries was literally all over the place… and they were succeeding at literally everything they put their mind to. The company had become the biggest in the entire world just a few months ago, and it didn’t seem to be slowing down. Everyone else was struggling to keep up. Even that massive tower they were building in New York was a monument to their rising strength.

All that said, Stark still found the time to work for the WSC and develop new weapons technology that had even someone like Ellis positively salivating over it.

“Well then, I’ll cut right to the chase, Mr. President. Yes, the Iron Legion is for the World Security Council. At the moment they’ve seen fit to have SHIELD agents pilot the suits and from what I’ve seen, I think that’s for the best. But I am still an American citizen sir, and a patriot at heart. That’s why I’m offering the USAF a suit for their own use… contingent on the pilot being someone of my choosing. Naturally, I’m talking about Rhodey.”

Ellis cracks a smile at that, chuckling as he inclines his head in Tony’s direction.

“Naturally.”

Finally, unable to stay quiet any longer, the man Tony is talking about leans forward, brow furrowed.

“Apologies Mr. President… Tones, what are you talking about? Iron legion? Suits?”

“With your permission, Mr. President?”

Tony gestures to a pocket and though the Secret Service personnel in the Oval Office twitch and tense up at the movement, Ellis just rolls his eyes and gestures for them to back down. Honestly, Tony Stark was no assassin. The man might peddle weaponry, but he was the sort born with a diamond-encrusted golden spoon in his mouth. He couldn’t hurt a fly.

“Go ahead, Mr. Stark.”

Pulling out a circular device, Tony sets it on the Resolute Desk and presses a button. An honest to god hologram sprouts up out of it, making Ellis whistle… especially when he sees the designs for a frankly gorgeous armored suit slowly spinning around in a circle.

“I call it War Machine. It’ll be just as strong as any of the Iron Legion suits, with the same weapons plus some. It’ll also be tougher, because Rhodey-bear is my best bud and I’m not going to let anything happen to him if I can help it. I’m not saying this thing could solo the entire Iron Legion, but it could definitely take a few more blows from anyone that might try to take it down. What it’ll lack from Rhodey not having any teammates, it’ll more than make up in solo firepower and strength.”

Here, Tony gives Ellis a wink and a grin.

“Let’s keep that between us if you please, Mr. President. No need for the WSC or SHIELD to know about that.”

The President snorts derisively. If they didn’t already know, he’d eat his tie. And if Tony didn’t already know that they knew… well, that sort of recursive thinking went nowhere. Shaking his head in amusem*nt, Ellis looks at the hologram, noting how the Lt. Colonel is mesmerized by it, completely slack-jawed and wide-eyed. Until finally, Rhodes’ thoughts catch up to what Tony is saying.

“Hold on a second Tony. Are you saying… are you saying this is for me?”

“Course it is buddy. Designed War Machine with you in mind. That name and the color scheme are non-negotiable by the way, Mr. President. It’s a fully functioning one man armored suit. Better than any fighter jet that currently exists on the market. Frankly, it’s better technology than anything anyone else on Earth will have for the next… mm, twenty years at least. And yeah, I know how your mind works Rhodey. The Iron Legion is a whole damn squadron of these things. If the President wants to loop you in on the WSC and SHIELD, that’s up to him.”

Ellis gives Tony a look at that. Simply by mentioning all of these things in front of the Lt. Colonel, he would have to be looped in. But then again…

“Colonel James Rhodes. Congratulations on your promotion.”

Rhodes’ eyes widen as he jolts in his seat, twisting and looking at Ellis in utter shock for a moment before quickly composing himself and straightening up to snap off another salute.

“Sir! Thank you for the honor, sir!”

The President just nods, still staring at the suit with no small amount of avarice. He’d seen some video of the recently inaugurated Iron Legion doing test flights and what not out at the air base they were training at and… it was amazing. He’d also seen the specs on those suits and had the numbers explained to him by his advisors. Even having one of these armored suits available to the US Military would be a godsend… and for it to be the toughest, most durable one Stark had created all because it could only be piloted by his best friend… well, that was even better.

“Consider it done, Mr. Stark. Your conditions for allowing the US Military to use the suit are noted and acceptable to us. Colonel Rhodes will be the only pilot, the suit will operate under the designation War Machine, and the color scheme of black and silver will not be modified in any way.”

He would have preferred to make the suit red, white, and blue of course. Would have also liked to be allowed to name the damn thing. Something with ‘Patriot’ in it, maybe. But alas, even if Tony Stark had changed a lot since his time in Afghanistan, the man was still something of a diva. And the best way to handle someone like Stark was to placate him so he considered you an ally.

That was just the way the world worked these days. The President of the United States was still the most powerful man in the world to the unwashed masses, but to the ruling elite, the spooks, and the one percent of the one percent of the one percent like Stark… Ellis was nothing but a convenient stooge to do their bidding.

Suddenly, Tony pulls his keys out of his pocket and tosses them to Rhodes. This time, he doesn’t ask for permission first and Ellis has to again subtly signal to his Secret Service to back off and not make a scene. If Stark notices, he doesn’t say anything.

“Here, Rhodey. Take the R8 over to the base. Location is already set up in the GPS. And there’s a copy of JARVIS waiting for you in the War Machine suit, so you’ll feel right at home as he puts you through your paces. We’ll celebrate your promotion to Colonel later, yeah?”

Positively vibrating with repressed excitement, the Colonel still has the good sense to look over at Ellis for permission. Which of course, the President graciously gives with a smile and a wave of his hand.

“Go ahead, Colonel. I might have to personally debrief you later just to hear what it feels like to fly in one of those things.”

“Yes sir!”

With that, Rhodes all but hurries out of the room, clearly eager to take his new toy for a spin. Stark, however, remains behind. This, Ellis finds himself raising an eyebrow at. It would seem there’s something else that the billionaire has to talk to him about. Something he wasn’t prepped for.

“Thank you for being so reasonable, Mr. President. I hope that I can count on you to be reasonable on one more thing. It’s about Thaddeus Ross.”

Ellis blinks.

“General Ross? What about him.”

Leaning forward, Tony taps a button on his little hologram device. The War Machine specs vanish, to be replaced with other data. Leaning forward as well, Ellis begins reading… only for his eyes to grow wider and wider, his face to grow more and more drawn.

“My work with the World Security Council has me going all over the world sir, both physically and digitally. Now normally I don’t really pay attention to the US Military’s peacekeeping efforts across the globe. Democracy itself has the United States to thank for singlehandedly propping it up in the face of Communist Expansion over the past several decades. But when I find a US General making a mockery of everything our great country stands for… I start to take notice, sir.”

Report after report cycles before the President’s eyes. Indiscretion after indiscretion on the part of General Ross is laid bare right in front of him.

“From what I’ve been able to gather, under your predecessor’s administration, Thaddeus Ross used the horrible attacks on September 11th, 2001 to push for his own pet super soldier project. He got all the funding he could ever want at first and got to work on trying to get results. However, as the years went on and things didn’t move fast enough, your predecessor’s administration became… irritated with Ross.”

Ellis was aware of some of that, yes. Of how… the Hulk came to exist.

“If Ross hadn’t pushed Dr. Banner as hard as he did, we might have actual United States Super Soldiers right now instead of one very brilliant scientist who turns into a giant green rage monster whenever he gets angry. And we certainly wouldn’t have a United States General running all over the world, misusing US resources in an effort to capture said scientist.”

At that, the President has to look away from the data that Stark has compiled to raise an eyebrow at the other man.

“Some would say securing Dr. Banner should be one of our top priorities, Mr. Stark.”

Tony smiles ruefully at that, shaking his head.

“Ross would certainly say that Mr. President. However, the Hulk cannot be beaten by conventional weaponry. I’ve run projections that suggest even nuclear weapons wouldn’t be able to put him down. Hell, even the Iron Legion and War Machine working together would probably be defeated by the Hulk. Because there’s something that Thaddeus Ross either doesn’t understand or has been willfully keeping from you, Mr. President. And either option makes him too incompetent to be allowed to keep his command.”

Ellis narrows his eyes at that. It would seem they were finally getting to what Stark TRULY wanted out of this meeting.

“And what is that, Mr. Stark?”

Flashing him a macabre grin, Tony taps the Resolute Desk.

“The Hulk gets stronger the greater the threat.”

Those eight simple words hang in the air of the Oval Office. As Ellis processes them, he finds himself sitting back in his chair rather heavily.

“… Is that confirmed, Mr. Stark.”

“Yes sir. Cross-referenced from every engagement that the Hulk has had with both local forces in the countries Banner has fled to and Ross’ men whenever he tracks him down. Put simply sir… beating the Hulk and capturing Dr. Banner is outside of our current abilities. I think deep down inside Thaddeus Ross knows that but refuses to accept it. Instead, he’s let brave men and women who have signed on to protect the United States of America get killed or crippled by this monster because of his own personal vendetta against Banner. And he’ll keep doing it too unless he’s stopped.”

Its clear Stark is very passionate about this. And the evidence is stacked against Ross, even if Ellis wanted to ignore the moral side of Stark’s argument. The General has been overstepping his bounds for years now in his hunt for the Hulk if what Tony has gathered is true. And Ellis is pretty sure it is. Ross has been breaking international laws, skirting the Geneva Conventions in some places, and all around brewing up a PR disaster for the United States.

In a way, Tony coming to Ellis with this is almost a boon. But more than that… election year is coming up. And Ellis needs Tony Stark in his corner. There’s simply no denying that.

“You make a strong case, Mr. Stark. I’ll have the proper people look into this… and I swear to you, something will be done.”

Purposefully vague, but they both knew Ellis couldn’t just say it outright. Tony smiles and rises from his chair, causing the President to do the same. They shake hands one last time, with Stark giving him a grin that’s all teeth.

“Thank you, Mr. President. I knew I could count on you.”

“Of course, Mr. Stark. Just as I know that I and the American People can count on you.”

“Always.”

With that final word, Tony is shown out of his office. Ellis slumps back down into his seat with an explosive sigh. They were all right about what they’d said.

Tony Stark was a changed man after Afghanistan. And he was intent on changing the world with him. They could all fall in line and have a place on his ship… or get swept away in the rising tide.

-x-X-x-

A/N: War Machine flies again! Or from Rhodey's POV, for the first time. Meanwhile, Tony starts using some of that immense soft power he's been collecting to get rid of Ross. Frankly, he's probably doing the other man a favor. Maybe a forced retirement will keep him from having that heart attack. Or cause it, lmao.

Chapter 37: Darcy Lewis

Chapter Text

A/N: The moment you've all been waiting for since Chapter 24.

-x-X-x-

“Feeling nervous Ms. Lewis?”

Her face is so hot and red that even the tips of her ears are burning. Of COURSE Darcy is feeling nervous. But… she’s in way too deep to back out now, truth be told. So she swallows her nerves and gives Tony Stark a bright sunny smile.

“Why would I be nervous, Mr. Stark? We’re just visiting your sex dungeon, after all.”

Tony snorts, even as he guides her along a hallway in his new tower with a hand on the small of her back. He definitely could have reached lower at this point and Darcy wouldn’t have minded one bit… but he’s a perfect gentleman instead. Darcy can still hardly believe she’s getting to see the inside of the Stark Tower in New York even before it’s officially finished. Nor can she really believe what she’s here for in the first place.

“I figured the NDAs might have turned you off to the idea a little bit. I’m glad to see they didn’t.”

Darcy hums to herself at that. Honestly, the NDAs she’d had to sign to even be here today had been a little startling. But after thinking about it for even half a second, she’d realized they were kind of important. Tony and Pepper Stark were literally celebrities. There were a lot of people who would pay a lot of good money for a peek into their sex lives. Obviously, Darcy didn’t need that sort of temptation in her life.

Luckily, she didn’t have to worry about that at this point. The NDAs were buttoned up tight. It wouldn’t matter how much money she could make off of selling the dirty details about what was going to happen today to anyone. If she spilled the beans, her life would be over, plain and simple.

“By the way, how are Dr. Foster and Dr. Selvig doing? I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to either of them lately.”

Darcy hums, realizing that despite her words, Tony does in fact realize she’s wound tighter than a spring at this point. He’s trying to set her at ease before they get to their ultimate destination. The calm before the storm, so to speak. She feels a little ashamed for grasping at the opportunity like the lifeline it is.

“Well… Jane is pining after Thor still, I’d say. It’s pretty weird, she barely even got to talk to him for the couple of days he was on Earth. Still, he was a total hottie in that blond hunky himbo sort of way, so I guess the impression stuck for her. I think she’s happy with the new lab you got her though. And she’s been gushing over all the new data she collected from New Mexico.”

Then, Darcy frowns a bit.

“Erik though… haven’t heard from him in a month I think. He’s kind of gone silent, weirdly enough.”

Tony hums and nods in response to that, even as they come to a door where he has to place his hand on a pad and his eye up to a retinal scanner at the same time. As he’s scanned, he speaks rather casually.

“Yes, that’s probably because SHIELD got to him.”

Darcy’s eyes widen at that seemingly ominous statement, but Tony elaborates a moment later and she relaxes as his words are further explained.

“SHIELD wanted both of them to come work for them on a super secret project I’m not supposed to know about, but Dr. Foster’s experience with Agent Coulson before I showed up soured her opinion on their organization. Plus, they can’t really offer Jane what I can offer her.”

Darcy snorts at the double innuendo, even if it might not have been intentional. Still…

“What about Erik?”

“Well, Erik doesn’t really like me. He’s an old fashioned sort of scientist who distrusts me for my cavalier attitude and the way I flaunt my wealth. In the end, it wasn’t the money that enabled SHIELD to tempt Dr. Selvig away, it was the details of the project I’m not supposed to know about.”

Now she’s undeniably curious about what this project is that Tony keeps mentioning. But before Darcy can work up the courage to ask, the door finally dings and slides open and Tony leads her inside. They enter a much shorter hallway, and as they go Tony glances at Darcy with a raised eyebrow.

“Remember your safe word, right Darcy?”

Nodding sharply, Darcy grins.

“Papyrus, yep! Still crazy that they got away with using that for the font of the Avatar Movie. The biggest movie of the century so far and its logo is just… papyrus.”

Tony just raises an eyebrow at her in amusem*nt, causing Darcy to flush. She’s rambling, isn’t she? Yes, yes she is. And honestly, she shouldn’t be talking so much about papyrus when it’s supposed to be the word she only says if things get to be too much for her. Of course, she has no plans of using the word. No, she’s going to enjoy every last second of whatever Tony and Pepper Stark decide to do with her.

Just as that determination is crystallizing in Darcy Lewis’ mind, the final door between them and their ultimate destination opens… and Darcy’s jaw drops open as she finds herself staring at an honest to god sex dungeon. The sex dungeon is REAL.

Equipped with all sorts of equipment, toys, and the like, Darcy finds her eyes darting too and fro for a moment… before landing on the people already occupying the room. Not person, people. She was expecting Pepper Stark. But she wasn’t expecting Lady Sif!

“Mmmph!”

The Asgardian woman is currently in the middle of the room wearing a straitjacket and dangling from the ceiling with what look to be a set of incredibly thick, incredibly strong chains holding her in place. She struggles and squirms right up until she notices Darcy, at which point she freezes up for a second and goes bright red.

Pepper, who had been watching Sif wiggle and writhe while clad in full blown black leather dominatrix gear, turns and gives the most predatory grin of Darcy’s young life.

“Oh! Ms. Lewis, you’ve finally arrived. Don’t mind Sif here… she’s far too competitive for her own good.”

Darcy squeaks, both because she doesn’t know how to respond to what she’s witnessing and hearing, but also because Tony has finally stopped being a gentleman and is now sliding his hand down between her ass cheeks and thighs to stroke her puss* from behind. As he does so, running his middle and ring fingers across her panty-clad mound, he also leans in close to whisper in her ear.

“Pepper isn’t lying. Sif has been sharing our bed for a few weeks now, but the thing she seems to enjoy the most is challenging us and being challenged in turn. This time around, she claimed she could get free of any restraints we could devise in less than an hour. Pepper and I enjoyed coming up with this setup, though designing fabric that could withstand an Asgardian’s strength was certainly… challenging.”

Having seen the Asgardians in action against that big f*cking killer robot thing, Darcy could believe it. Holy sh*t, that straitjacket must be so far beyond bulletproof and tear resistant that it’s not even funny.

“If you want me to remove the gag so she can tell you she consents to all of this, I can do that.”

Shivering, Darcy looks into Sif’s eyes… and knows for a fact that she’s perfectly fine where she is and doesn’t need ANY help from Darcy’s corner. In fact, the look in Sif’s eyes is rather intense and makes Darcy feel more like she’s intruding upon something that she shouldn’t be. If Tony were to remove Sif’s gag, she has a feeling the words that come out of the Asgardian woman’s mouth alone might be enough to get Darcy to throw out the safe word and bail.

… So she just shakes her head instead.

“N-No… it’s f-fine.”

Tony chuckles, still all but fingering her from behind. And of course his lips are still near to her ear when he whispers two simple words.

“Good girl.”

Darcy squeaks, trying not to react too strongly to that. But then Pepper Stark is in front of her and she finds herself suddenly hoisted up. Tony’s hand leaves her body as Pepper grabs Darcy by the arms, lifts her into the air, and walks her over to the closest wall, pushing her up against it. Now, Darcy has always been on the short side. Five Foot, Three Inches to be exact.

And Pepper has at least six inches on her, maybe more. But the red head’s strength is what’s really out of this world as she manhandles Darcy with ease and after pinning her in place, leans in close to peer into her eyes.

“Tony tells me you’ve been wanting to be dragged off to our sex dungeon. You’re finally here, Ms. Lewis. How does it measure up?”

Blushing crimson, Darcy shakes her head.

“I-I mean… it’s the first I’ve ever been in? But… it seems really nice?”

Pepper chortles at that, before growing serious once again.

“Then why… Ms. Lewis… are you still wearing all those pesky clothes?”

Darcy squeaks, even as Pepper releases her so she can slide down the wall and land on her feet. Faster than she’s ever moved before, the young coed rapidly divests herself of her clothing, pulling it off as quickly as she possibly can.

Screw the safe word! She’s going to get f*cked by Pepper and Tony Stark! f*ck! YES!

-x-X-x-

PLAP! PLAP! PLAP!

Tony grunts as he f*cks Darcy on her back, causing her to moan up a storm as she holds her legs up for him. At the same time, Pepper is currently riding the beautiful young woman’s face like there’s no tomorrow, one hand grasping at her own freckled tit and the other grasping at one of Darcy’s as she gyrates her hips atop the younger woman’s head.

She’s being exceedingly careful of course, given her super strength. If Pepper lost control for even a second, she could literally crush Darcy’s head like a watermelon between her incredibly powerful thighs. Darcy has no way of knowing how close she is to death… but just from the way the young woman has been acting so far, Tony can tell that she’d probably be into it even if she did know.

Meanwhile, his co*ck slides in and out of her sopping wet c*nt, which tries it’s best to tighten up and clench down on his member to hold it in place for even a millisecond, but to no avail.

They’d started out slow, of course. Stripping naked and… playing with Darcy while they watched Sif struggle in her restraints. Toying and teasing with the squeaky coed had been quite a lot of fun for both Tony and Pepper, even as they’d extracted moaning exclamations from Darcy’s ruby red, utterly f*ckable lips.

Then, Pepper had forced Darcy to her knees and had Tony f*ck those aforementioned f*ckable lips, something Darcy had taken to quite enthusiastically as she’d bobbed up and down on his co*ck like there was no tomorrow.

Sif, meanwhile, had continued to struggle with the situation that Tony and Pepper had put her in. The sexual relationship that the married couple had with the Asgardian woman really had become competitive as all hell, though thankfully not adversarial. Tony, between his mind and his enhancements, had yet to lose to Sif in any of the challenges she’d come up with. Pepper had lost a couple of times, but she didn’t mind quite as much as he would have.

This latest challenge though… alas, Sif had found herself the unwitting test subject of yet another project of Tony’s. It was something he’d only heard about in passing from the future, but just hearing about it combined with all of his other research had led him down the path of trying to create near-indestructible fabrics. Sure, he and Pepper could pretty much heal any wound thanks to the ES3. But it would be better if they didn’t have to, all in all.

Testing the fabric in a straitjacket challenge to see if an Asgardian could rip through it had been particularly inspired on Tony’s part if he did say so himself.

Though Sif might not think so. In the end, the experiment had been a complete success. Sif hadn’t been able to rip through the straitjacket even with her absolutely insane Asgardian strength. In the end, she’d been forced to slip the straitjacket through more dexterous means. While she HAD eventually done it, proving just how flexible she was, it had been after the hour she’d been allotted for the challenge had passed.

Basically, Sif had lost the challenge because the clock had run out before she’d gotten herself free. By the time she managed to get herself down, the Asgardian was in a black mood over the whole situation. She’d taken one look at Pepper and Tony still playing with Darcy and told them she would be ready whenever they decided to extract the penalty for her failure. Then, she’d left them before they could say a word.

Tony could tell that she was angrier with herself than anything else though. Sif didn’t care that they’d shown Darcy her moment of weakness. Rather, she barely even seemed to register Darcy as a real person. In the end, there would be more challenges and more competitions and Sif would win some of them eventually, Tony was sure.

For the time being-

“Tony! Tony, I’ve done it!”

Blinking, Tony looks up as an excited, altogether manic Maya Hansen comes sprinting into the sex dungeon the moment the door opens. Her eyes are wide and her smile is even wider.

“I’ve figured out the Technopathy Upgrade for Extremis!”

Glancing down at the coed trapped beneath him and Pepper, Tony opens his mouth to say something, only for Maya to bulldoze right over him.

“I even managed to upgrade the regeneration aspect too! You could probably regenerate from everything up to straight decapitation now, on top of being able to control and interface with technology with just your mind. And get this, Tony… the technopathy starts with a range of well over five hundred feet and seems to be growing!

That last bit gets Tony’s attention even as his mind is already working on the problem that Maya has just created.

“… You already dosed yourself?”

Maya blinks and then flushes.

“Ah, well… yes? Sorry, I know I’m not supposed to but…”

Tony just shakes his head.

“It’s alright, I’m not upset about that.”

Pepper finally speaks up.

“Maya, who do you think we’re playing with right now, exactly?”

The geneticist finally looks down at the woman they have pinned beneath him. The woman that has gone very, very still. Slowly, a thoughtful frown begins to spread across Maya’s face. She reaches out and pokes Darcy in the boob that Pepper isn’t currently groping and hums.

“… Body’s too soft to be Sif or Natasha. tit* are too big to be Helen…”

Finally, Maya’s eyes widen and she freezes like a deer caught in headlights as it dawns on her that this is someone she doesn’t know and she just spilled huge secrets in front of them.

Sighing, Pepper pulls off of Darcy’s face, climbing down from the table and standing there with her hands on her naked hips. Darcy looks between them all, biting her lower lip as she trembles.

“… I-I don’t suppose I could just sign another NDA?”

That gets a snort from Tony, which makes Darcy squeak in fear.

“P-Papyrus!”

He pulls out of her immediately of course, stepping away altogether. But if she thinks using the safe word will get her out of the secrets she just learned… still, what do with her, exactly? He hadn’t planned for this situation at all.

Fortunately, he married a very intelligent woman, because Pepper suddenly snaps her fingers.

“You’re a political sciences major interning with an astrophysicist, right?”

Blinking at the non-sequitur, Darcy sits up and slowly nods.

“Yeah?”

Stepping up to the young coed, Pepper grins wickedly.

“So you’ve already proven how flexible you consider your future, Ms. Lewis. Come work for me. I’ve been in need of a PA I can mold into my protégé for a while now, ever since my last PA turned out to be an undercover femme fatale out to steal all of Stark Industries’ secrets. The position comes with lots of benefits, including a salary that will make your head spin. It also comes with the understanding that you can be trusted, that your loyalty is… sacrosanct.”

Eyes wide, Darcy looks between the three of them for a moment. Maya doesn’t meet her eyes, Tony just raises a single brow, while Pepper is all smiles… albeit wolfish smiles. In the end though, Darcy makes the right choice.

“O-Okay! I’m in. Um… though, question. Just how much time will I be spending under your desk in this new position, Mrs. Stark?”

Pepper giggles and reaches out, caressing Darcy’s cheek.

“Oh… you and I are going to get along just fine, Ms. Lewis.”

-x-X-x-

A/N: Fufufu, an oopsie on Maya's part, or all carefully calculated and planned between her and Pepper? Hmmm, I'll let you all decide.

Chapter 38: Natasha's Reward

Chapter Text

A/N: Natasha finally gets tenure! Err wait, not tenure. Something BETTER than tenure!

-x-X-x-

Natasha Romanoff sighs as she fiddles with the zipper on her catsuit for a moment. After a second, she glances up at the ceiling.

“Any hints on what Tony wants me for, J?”

It’s been years now since she found herself not only sent to spy on Tony Stark, but being flipped entirely by the impossible man. The eccentric genius billionaire had completely turned her fragile loyalty from SHIELD to himself, even if they thought she was still one of their agents and just working as his liaison.

Of course, by this point Natasha didn’t think that Fury, Coulson, or Barton really trusted her all that much. She was probably considered ‘compromised’ all in all. It was only Tony’s work with the World Security Council and therefore SHIELD itself that kept them from doing anything more permanent about her. So long as he was ostensibly their ally, it didn’t matter if he’d all but turned her into his and his wife’s sex pet, she supposed.

Still, Natasha had grown used to the rather insane life that Tony led. She’d even grown accustomed to Stark’s AI, JARVIS. Enough that she had no problem asking him for whatever he could tell her.

“I’m afraid that Sir has told me to keep things hush-hush this time around Agent Romanoff. I can tell you that it’s not a booty call, however.”

Natasha hums and nods her thanks at that, pulling the zipper on her form-fitting SHIELD Uniform all the way back up to her neck. She does so just in time for the elevator doors to open, depositing her onto one of the many floors of Stark Tower that Tony has dedicated completely to Research and Development. The man is hard at work as ever, developing something that Natasha’s eyes can’t even fully comprehend, at least at first glance.

Walking into the lab, knowing full well that her ability to do so is in and of itself a sign of trust, Natasha saunters right up to Tony’s side.

“You wanted to see me, Tony?”

“Oh hey Nat. Yeah, here you go.”

Reaching off to the side, Tony picks up a thick cylindric container with one hand and holds it out to her. Blinking, Natasha takes it and sets it down on the table, flicking the clasps and opening the sleek-looking capsule. What she sees inside takes her breath away.

“Tony, is this…”

“Your dose? Yep.”

He’s so damn casual about it, it’s enough to make Natasha grit her teeth. Inside of the cylinder is another cylinder. No visible needle, but it’s obviously a high-tech injector of some sort based on the small viewing window that shows a glowing orange-red liquid inside of it. The thing is pretty intuitive… Natasha could pick it up and probably inject herself with it right now if she wanted to.

And oh how she wants to. This is what she’s been working toward for years now, after all. Working for Tony Stark, serving him loyalty, being his and Pepper’s little f*ck toy… though admittedly that last one was completely of Natasha’s own volition. She was well aware that she hadn’t had to have frequent sex with the power couple if she wanted to earn this. She’d done so because it was fun.

Still…

“So I’m finally trusted enough, is that it?”

Finally looking away from his latest project, Tony gives her a grin.

“You sound almost unhappy about that, Natasha. I did tell you that it would be a couple years, didn’t I? And here we are. You’ve done everything I’ve asked of you. You’ve had ample opportunity to betray me and Pep a dozen times, and you haven’t. You’ve earned your prize. Though there are a couple caveats.”

Natasha presses her lips into a thin line at that. Of course, there’s always a catch. At least Tony was the kind of man who was upfront about what those catches were… at least if you were on his good side anyways.

“And those caveats are…?”

Tony tilts his head towards the injector.

“To be clear, that’s something we call the Extremis Super Soldier Serum. Foundationally, it’s built off of the stuff that my father and Erskine gave Steve Rogers back in the forties.”

Natasha’s eyes bulge out of her head at that as the gorgeous femme fatale finds herself unable to control her reaction, uncharacteristic as that is. But then, Tony makes her act in a lot of ways those who knew her would deem ‘out of character’. Licking her lips, Natasha rolls Tony’s words over in her head.

“… Foundationally. What ELSE does it do, exactly?”

“The part you want the most of course, Nat. The pure form of Extremis imparts extreme regenerative qualities onto whoever takes it. Not only will it heal you of what the Red Room did, but going forward you’re going to be as strong as Captain America and a lot more durable. You’ll be able to heal from most conventional injuries. Like I did against the Destroyer back in New Mexico.”

That gets Natasha’s attention, her eyes darting from the injector to Tony as he gestures and a sudden recording plays of something she’d been present before a year ago. Namely, Tony getting blasted backwards through the entrance of the compound he’d made to secure Thor’s hammer.

Except, the video shows what nobody except for JARVIS and Pepper apparently saw… the armored chestplate was just a cover story. Tony hadn’t been wearing any armor when the Destroyer had struck him. The damn thing had literally blasted a huge hole through his chest with its energy beam, one that he’d regenerated from in less than a minute.

“Damn.”

Tony just smiles and nods at Natasha’s succinct response to what she’s witnessing. Then, he waves his hand and the video disappears.

“I want you to take this dose today Nat, I really do. But those caveats from before… we should probably go over them first. For starters, you’ll be healed today. Stronger than ever before. Capable of regenerating from life-threatening wounds… and most importantly, you’ll be capable of becoming a mother. However, I have to ask you to put off actually going out and getting pregnant just yet.”

Natasha glances at Tony sharply. The way he said that… ‘going out’… did he really not know already? Still, she keeps her mouth shut about that and focuses on the other part.

“Why?”

Here, Tony smiles crookedly.

“That leads into the other caveat. You’re going to have to die, Natasha.”

She twitches at his choice of words, but understands immediately all the same. She’s not an idiot after all.

“I see.”

Raising an eyebrow, Tony turns to face her entirely.

“Do you, Natasha? Please spell it out for me. I want to make sure we’re on the same page.”

Huffing, Natasha crosses her arms over her chest.

“You want me to fake my own death because SHIELD would never accept me suddenly being pregnant. They might not even let me carry the child to term, or they might let me give birth only to use her against me. Especially since… SHIELD is HYDRA.”

Tony inclines his head in silent agreement. It wasn’t like Natasha hadn’t thought about it before of course. Her nostrils flare though in frustration, especially when she looks at the injector.

“… How long?”

Humming, Tony considers the question for a long moment.

“Sooner rather than later, I should think. We just need to wait for the right opportunity to come along. Having you die in a cushy position like this wouldn’t make much sense. It’d draw too much attention. But Thor’s visit and Loki’s attack… I doubt those were one offs. They felt like a prelude to something greater, like Earth is just getting started with the overt alien visits.”

Crooked smile returning, Tony nods to Natasha.

“Those are the caveats. You take the ES3 now but wait to get pregnant. And you let me arrange your death so we can set you up with a new identity that SHIELD and HYDRA can’t find you under.”

As far as caveats went, they weren’t anything too bad. Besides, given who Natasha had already deemed the most acceptable ‘sperm donor’, she basically had to wait in this case. He wouldn’t say yes until she and her potential child or children were safe, after all. Nodding, Natasha picks up the injector and pulls down the zipper of her catsuit, exposing ample amounts of her upper chest.

Though, she does pause for a moment and look at Tony.

“HYDRA is still out there. In fact, they’re stronger than ever. I’m not… are you sure you don’t need me to help deal with them in the long term?”

Tony laughs.

“How selfless of you, Nat. As for dealing with HYDRA…”

Without him even moving a muscle, another holographic display shows up next to them. Natasha looks over at it and her eyes widen the more she takes it in. It’s Tony’s plans for HYDRA in exacting detail and she finds her breath hitching at both the beauty of it… and the sheer depths he’s going.

“This is…”

“Yep.”

Looking into Tony’s eyes, Natasha sees a man of conviction. She sees a man who will stop at nothing to get things done. And while she’s met many men like that in the past, both good and bad… Tony is the first who she knows for a fact won’t be stopped. Not by anyone.

Bringing the injector to her chest, Natasha presses the release button, maintaining eye contact with Tony all while the ES3 fills her veins. She feels it going to work, feels herself growing hotter and hotter to the point that she begins to pant. Tony catches her as she almost collapses, holding her as she shakes and spasms. Deep inside of her loins, Natasha feels it… her body regenerating. Old scars being erased. The Red Room’s most heinous crime… reversed.

Emotion wells up inside of her. Natasha couldn’t remember the last time she’d cried without it being on purpose for a mission. Not since she was a child, she thinks. But the tears fall all the same, with Tony holding her to him and rubbing soothing circles into her back.

“Welcome back to the land of the living Natasha. The Red Room did everything they could to turn you into a ghost that would only ever do their bidding. No more. Never again.”

Never again. The old Natasha might have taken the Extremis Super Soldier Serum and ran. After all, she had everything she wanted from Tony, ostensibly. But… no. She was in it for the long haul now. Tony Stark would have her loyalty until the day she died.

-x-X-x-

“Closing in on the target, Sir.”

“Excellent J. Nobody in the area yet?”

“No Sir. We are secluded and the satellites in the region have been spoofed. Nobody is going to detect what happens here.”

Hovering above the water near the frozen shores of Greenland, Tony stares down into what would, to anyone else, be fathomless depths. However, Tony Stark was now a Technopath… and that meant he saw what JARVIS saw through the sensors in the Vibranium-Nanotech Armor he now wore.

There, down below, the remains of the Valkyrie have finally been located. A month from now, a Russian Oil Team would have found the plane and ultimately SHIELD would have been alerted, with agents arriving to find Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, frozen in the ice. Not this time however. This time the oil team was still weeks away. This time, as soon as JARVIS was able to locate the Valkyrie based on Tony’s foreknowledge, he’d come out here to get it first.

The Battle of New York was just around the corner now. Admittedly, Tony didn’t know for sure if it would even happen like it originally did… but he believed it would. From an unknowing Pierce and Fury, Tony knew that research into the Tesseract had been started just like last time, presenting a siren’s call to the rest of the universe. And from Sif he knew that Loki had flung herself into the void after Thor destroyed the Bifrost, same as her male counterpart.

Thanos would retrieve Loki from the void and arm her for an invasion of Midgard. This, Tony fully believed. And when Loki came, Tony would be waiting for her.

But first… Tony holds out a hand and extra Vibranium Nanites pour from his gauntlet into the water below. Thanks to his Technopathy he’s able to maintain a connection with them, though he ultimately does have to follow them around after a certain point. The Valkyrie is still thousands of feet under water and ice and Tony’s Technopathy, while constantly growing, has only progressed to just under a thousand feet at this point.

Slipping beneath the waves, Tony continues to stare unerringly at his target. The nanites he’s sent down slide under the Valkyrie like the grasping hand of a gentle god, spreading across the buried plane’s surface. They cut through the ice and remove the rock and sediment that had covered and encased the bomber plane until this point, before finally settling into their places along the underside.

Once everything is in place, Tony lifts with his hand… and the nanites lift as well. Slowly, the Valkyrie is pulled up through the water. To the naked eye, if anyone where around to watch this, it might look like Tony Stark had developed Force Powers all of the sudden, since what he was doing was eerily reminiscent of a certain Jedi on Dagobah lifting his X-Wing out of the swamp.

Not nearly as hard though or as much of a strain. Flying back up, Tony pulls the Valkyrie up with him until it breaches the surface. The nanites keep it afloat, even as Tony hovers down and makes himself a hole in the massive plane’s side with a laser. Then, quiet as a mouse, he floats his way inside.

It doesn’t take Tony long to find what he’s looking for, of course. He knows exactly what he’s here for after all. Or rather, who he’s here for. Captain America encased in ice with his Vibranium Shield held across his chest like he’s some Norse Warrior off to Valhalla. Rogers looks almost peaceful as he is right now, with Tony regarding him silently.

Funny, originally Tony had planned to take Cap’s iconic shield for himself at this moment, melting it down and using the Vibranium for his Nanites. That way he wouldn’t step on Wakanda’s toes. But Loki had caused him to move up his plans and in the end Klaue’s Vibranium had ultimately served him much better, coming in a far greater quantity as it was. Now, Tony no longer had any need to appropriate Steve’s shield.

“… Hey Steve. Been a while. Bucky says hi. Or he would if he knew I was here or that you were alive.”

“Sir.”

JARVIS’ voice echoes in Tony’s ear but he waves the AI off.

“Just give me a moment, J.”

Then, he focuses back on Steve Rogers’ frozen, sleeping visage.

“Look Steve… I’m hoping you and I can work together this time. That’s why I’m snatching you up before SHIELD can get their claws into you. We’ll take down HYDRA together and hopefully you’ll be amenable to me quietly ruling the world. Or if not, hopefully you’ll never find out. But… I feel like I need to make you a promise right now. f*ck with me this time around and I’m not pulling punches, Rogers. I’ll kill you myself if I have to. Just so we’re on the same page.”

A crooked smile spreads across his face, because obviously he and Steve are not on the same page. The man can’t hear him right now and Tony isn’t stupid enough to say any of that to Steve’s face. If there’s one thing Tony learned about the other man in the previous timeline… it was that Captain America didn’t respond well to threats or intimidation.

Letting out a sigh, Tony tilts his head to the side.

“Alright J. What is it?”

“… I believe it would be better for you to see for yourself, Sir. Turn to your right.”

Blinking, Tony does as he’s told, letting his focus on Steve Rogers become more decentralized as he allows his senses to flow back through the sensors in his suit and what JARVIS is ‘seeing’ right now. Then, he freezes in place. He’d been so locked in on Steve that he hadn’t been paying attention before. One might excuse his lapse in judgment for the fact that most of the Valkyrie was pitch black save for the lights of his suit… but that was no excuse in this case.

Slowly, stomping over a few steps, Tony comes to a stop in front of something impossible. Against all conventional knowledge, it would appear that Steve Rogers wasn’t alone when the Valkyrie crashed. There, frozen in the ice just like Captain America… is a pristine, youthful, and altogether fit and toned Peggy Carter. Dressed in a British-Inspired version of the Captain America Uniform… and with a British Union Jack Vibranium Shield resting across her front as well.

“J?”

“She’s alive, Sir.”

There’s no doubt in Tony’s mind that she had to have been dosed with the Super Soldier Serum as well to have survived under the ice all this time. However, her body type reminds him more of Natasha than Steve, with her feminine attributes still on display… if not amplified. As Tony steps closer to the young Peggy Carter, he can see that there’s probably corded muscle under those curves of hers though. If Steve is a man of steel, then this Peggy is steel wrapped in velvet.

In the end, a lot of things are going through his mind right now. But the primary one is…

“… What the f*ck?”

-x-X-x-

A/N: So yeah, this is now happening.

To be clear, this Peggy Carter looks more like her live-action MoM version did. I wasn't a fan of just how manly they made the cartoon version of Captain Carter look, but I like how the Illuminati Captain Carter looks because she still looks relatively feminine.

This one is mostly like that, but also even more feminine and only slightly more muscular than Natasha, basically.

Chapter 39: Captain Carter

Chapter Text

A/N: In which we learn more about this mysterious Peggy Carter from her POV.

-x-X-x-

She hates how slowly she wakes up. But she’s just too cold. Every fiber of her being is freezing cold. Frankly, she hadn’t even realized she was sleeping at first… and then suddenly she was aware, but only on the most minute level. After that first spark of awareness, it took who knew how long for her to properly fully awaken.

When she does, the first thing Captain Peggy Carter notices is that she’s restrained. Her hands curl into fists and she pulls against the cuffs on her wrists… but to no avail. That’s pretty shocking, that she can’t even break free of her bindings. Her deceptively lithe appearance hid a world of hurt that had caused many an enemy to completely misjudge just how strong she really was. Usually, they f*cked up by not bothering with restraints that could contain her. She must still be weakened from whatever happened to her, she supposes.

Finally opening her eyes, Peggy looks around and takes in her surroundings, her lips thinning out immediately. She’s in an examination room from the look of things, but the place looks like it was built by aliens. It’s like nothing she’s ever seen before. Makes her think that maybe she was captured by HYDRA, but even their stuff didn’t look THIS advanced.

“Ms. Carter, welcome back to the world of the living.”

Jolting, Captain Carter looks up at the ceiling, her eyes widening and then narrowing. That was Edwin Jarvis’ voice. Howard Stark’s butler, if she remembered correctly. The two of them had bonded over how utterly American their favorite people were. Steve for her, Howard for him.

Except… she can tell instantly that something is off. This isn’t Edwin. It’s his voice, but it’s not him. Growing a little incensed now, Peggy grits her teeth as she struggles against her restraints a bit harder. They still don’t give way for even a second, but strangely enough the man pretending to be Edwin isn’t asking her to stop.

Finally, with a huff, Peggy glares up at the ceiling.

“I don’t know who you are, but misusing the voice of a friend is a great way to get on my sh*t list.”

There’s a brief pause at that, before the voice comes back.

“Ah yes, Edwin Jarvis. Apologies Ms. Carter, it was not my intention to impersonate him. I know my voice is similar, as it was designed based off of recordings of him speaking. However, I assure you I was made as an homage to Edwin Jarvis, not to replace him. My voice is my own, the only one I’ve ever known.”

Peggy blinks as she processes all of that. The voice was claiming he was MADE? More than that, an homage implied that Edwin was no longer among the living. Last Peggy had known, Howard’s butler was still very much alive. Of course, last Peggy had known… ugh, it’s starting to come back to her now. Everything that led up to this point. It honestly feels like a fever dream, the events were so surreal. But… she also knows with bone-deep clarity that it all happened exactly as she remembers it.

“Ms. Carter, I-!”

“Captain. It’s Captain Peggy Carter. I’m not at liberty to say anymore than that, whoever you might be.”

“… Of course, Captain Carter. Do not worry. Sir will be with you shortly.”

That doesn’t really do much to set Peggy at ease, truth be told. Who is ‘Sir’? Just what sort of mess as she found herself in? Heh, out of the frying pan, into the fire it would seem…

Still, at least the voice in the ceiling doesn’t lie. She barely has time to get her bearings and put her thoughts in order before the door to the room suddenly opens with a hiss, admitting a man that’s strangely familiar to her.

“Hello Captain Carter.”

She hesitates, because his accent is distinctly American and his face… but there’s no way, right? It could still be a trick.

“I understand you’re probably more than a little apprehensive. Waking up restrained is never a happy time for anyone. If it helps, the cuffs are for your own good, so you don’t hurt yourself or others in your confusion.”

Then, with a wave of his hands, he disengages the cuffs. Peggy’s eyes narrow at the casual display of power, even as she immediately sits up and rubs at her wrists. He’d just gotten done telling her she might be a danger to herself and others, only to free her from her restraints while he was in the room. Did that mean he didn’t consider her a threat? Was he underestimating her because her muscle was hidden under the curves of a woman?

“Who are you supposed to be, exactly?”

That brings a smile to the man’s face.

“I was born Anthony Edward Stark in 1970, to my father Howard Stark and my mother Maria Stark. You can call me Tony or Stark. Pretty interchangeable really.”

Peggy lays back down at that. Because as much as she wishes she could say he’s lying… f*ck, it’s practically screaming at her. He looks just like Howard. But what he just said… 1970. He was BORN in 1970.

“Sorry Captain Carter. But in my experience it’s easier to just rip the tape off rather than try to take it slowly. You’ve been in the ice for seventy years.”

The ice… in the ice. Peggy’s breath hitches as she remembers more of her last moments. Her eyes shut for a moment, a single tear making its way down her cheek. But Tony isn’t done.

“Only, there’s something wrong with that, isn’t there Captain? Because it’s more than you just being a woman out of time. You’re also a woman not of this world… aren’t you?”

Peggy’s eyes snap back open. She can see the knowledge in his eyes and knows there’s no point in trying to deny it.

“… No. Is the other… was anyone else found with me?”

Tony nods.

“Yes. Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. The man who was supposed to have gone down with the Valkyrie originally. Honestly, finding him onboard wasn’t that surprising. My father hunted for the Valkyrie for most of the rest of his life in the hopes of recovering Steve Rogers’ remains for burial, but to no avail. I took up the torch so when I finally found the bomber, I was more surprised that he survived than anything. Your presence, however, was not anticipated.”

Peggy bites her lower lip at that, but Tony STILL isn’t done. Howard’s son certainly loves the sound of his own voice, but to be fair, Howard was the exact same way. And she can see Tony inherited his father’s genius as well.

“See, I grew up with a godmother. Her name was Doctor Margaret Elizabeth Carter. Peggy was an SSR Agent before she went on to help found an organization called SHIELD. These days she’s in a retirement home. For a couple years, she was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, but as soon as I got the chance I developed a cure and made sure she got one of the first doses distributed to the public. She’s doing fine now and will hopefully live out the rest of her years in peace.”

Looking rather intensely at her at this point, Tony Stark hums.

“You are obviously not her, are you Captain Carter?”

“… No.”

“Care to tell me your story?”

Peggy hesitates for a long moment. This could still be a trap… but if she just gives the bare bones of what happened, then it won’t matter if it is all a trick, right? And if it’s not a trap, if this is Howard’s son… she likes to hope she can trust him.

“I believe I come from another world. I never would have believed it, but my circ*mstances… are unique. In my world, the procedure to turn Steve into a Super Soldier went wrong and in the end I was the one who was given the serum instead. Afterwards, I fought HYDRA and the Red Skull all across Europe. Everything eventually came to a head with the Red Skull opening a portal to another dimension and summoning something he called the Champion of HYDRA.”

Peggy swallows for a second to wet her throat before continuing.

“The Champion was an eldritch horror, an octopus-like entity that might have consumed our entire world if we didn’t stop it. In the end… the only way to get it to go back where it came from was to sacrifice myself. I went through the portal to keep it from coming back through until the others could close it on their end. Then… I fell for a time.”

Tony watches her quietly, not interrupting. Peggy is grateful for that, even as she gathers her thoughts on what happened next.

“After that… it all happened rather fast. I found myself teleported onto a bomber plane where I found another version of Steve Rogers and the Red Skull. I know they weren’t my versions because one, I’d watched the Champion tear my Red Skull to pieces, and two, this Steve had clearly received the Super Soldier Serum. I didn’t have much time to think about it though, because Steve and the Red Skull were fighting, so I stepped in and helped Steve win.”

Peggy grimaces.

“… From there I received further evidence that I was no longer in my dimension when I heard your Peggy Carter speak to your Steve Rogers over the bomber’s radio. I stayed quiet, even as he said his goodbyes. And then… well, we put the plane in the ocean. To make sure HYDRA’s bombs never saw the light of day.”

There. That was everything. Everything pertinent anyways. Peggy wasn’t about to describe how it had felt knowing that the other Steve and Peggy got to say goodbye when her Steve had been left behind. Of course, there’s also the fact that not only is she stranded across dimensions, but she’s also seventy years in the future. Her Steve along with everyone she knew… is gone.

Peggy lets out a shuddering breath as she comes to terms with that fact. Her hands curl into fists and she suddenly has the urge to punch something, but Captain Carter has more self-control than that. Instead, she looks to Tony Stark curiously.

“What happens now? Actually, where exactly are we?”

Here, Tony gives her an apologetic smile.

“We’re at Stark Tower in New York City, Captain Carter. Ninety-three floors. Like I said, it’s been seventy years and a lot has changed. For starters, I’m the world’s wealthiest man.”

Peggy’s eyes widen at that. Howard had been a rather successful businessman on top of a scientist back in her day, but… wealthiest man in the world? Stark Tower? Ninety-three floors?! His son had certainly done everything he could to step out of his father’s shadow from the sound of things.

“The voice you heard earlier is an Artificial Intelligence I created named Just A Rather Very Intelligent System… or JARVIS for short. I could sugarcoat it and ease you into it, but somehow I don’t think you’ll appreciate that so I’ll just tell you right now that he’s as independent and capable of his own thoughts and decisions as you or I. He’s also completely digital and has never had a human body.”

“Greetings again, Captain Carter. I hope that in time we can look past any discomfort my voice might cause you.”

That causes Tony to adopt a wry smile.

“Yeah, sorry about that but Edwin practically raised me. So when I made my first AI, I couldn’t not model it after my childhood butler. J is good people though, even if he’s not human. Accept that he’s as much a person as you are and you guys will get along just fine.”

It’s a lot to wrap her head around, but Peggy is nothing if not adaptable. And Tony is right, she wouldn’t appreciate him lying to her by ‘easing her into it’. Still, the way he suddenly grimaces does put her on high alert.

“In the spirit of honesty, I should probably inform you that HYDRA is still alive as well.”

“What? But the Red Skull was beaten. We crashed the plane, didn’t we? Steve Rogers… this world’s Steve Rogers sounded pretty certain it was over and done with.”

Tony gives her a look and Peggy knows what he’s going to say before he says it.

“Cut off one head…”

“… And two more will take its place.”

He nods as she finishes the statement for him, looking sympathetic. Which is nice but it doesn’t really help. At least her world had probably finished off HYDRA after her sacrifice… right?

“Red Skull was only ever one head of HYDRA, Captain Carter. His organization was only one branch of the greater whole. I can’t speak for your world of course, but in this world, even the Red Skull’s branch didn’t fully die off… because the Peggy Carter of this world along with several other movers and shakers made the inadvisable decision to recruit Arnim Zola as part of something called Operation Paperclip after the war.”

Peggy’s face scrunches up in confusion.

“Arnim Zola? That simpering toady?”

But Tony shakes his head.

“Never underestimate a scientist, Captain. That’s exactly what my godmother and her superiors did when they recruited Zola and a dozen other enemy scientists with Operation Paperclip. They brought the enemy into the SSR and then into the new organization they were creating called SHIELD. And can you guess what happened next?”

Dread fills Peggy’s chest as Tony smiles a wan smile.

“HYDRA grew again, Captain. It grew and grew until here and now in the year 2011, SHIELD is a husk of the organization that my father and my godmother created. Aunt Peggy had the best of intentions I’m sure, but she invited the rot inside and at this point HYDRA is just wearing a SHIELD mask. The men and women who are supposed to protect us are conspiring to take over the world and oppress us.”

Peggy doesn’t know what to say to that. It’s obvious Tony doesn’t even blame the other her for this, let alone Peggy herself, but at the same time she feels like she’s failed in some strange way.

“… What are we doing to stop them?”

Tony grins wryly at that.

“Plenty, Captain Carter. Nothing you can help with right now though, I’m afraid.”

That brings a scowl to Peggy’s face, but Tony just sighs and holds up a palm to her.

“Punch me.”

Wait, what?

“Excuse me?”

“I said punch me. Hit me in the palm as hard as you possibly can.”

“… I’ll break every bone in your hand and arm if I do that.”

“No you won’t.”

“Tony, I don’t think you understand-!”

“Oh, I understand. Do you think Howard gave up on making more Super Soldiers after Steve and you went into the ice? I bet your Howard didn’t give up either. In 1991, my father even succeeded… and HYDRA killed him and my mother for it. So f*cking punch me.”

She’s not sure why she does it. She’s not sure why his words convince her. Maybe it’s because he’s said so many upsetting things and she’s just ready to let out some of the emotion building up inside of her. Or maybe it’s because she’s clearly being underestimated again just because she’s not some musclebound body builder. But either way, Peggy lets out a roar, rears back, and punches Tony Stark’s palm. It’s not her full strength given she’s sitting down and what not… but it’s still more than enough force to maim a man.

SMACK!

Only Tony catches her hand. He catches her hand and holds her in place even as Peggy’s arm muscles bulge with how much she’s straining against his palm. She can’t move him even an inch either. Looking at him in shock, Peggy thinks she sees a flash of orange in his eyes, even as he quirks up the corner of his mouth in a smirk that just screams Howard to her.

“Welcome to the twenty-first century, Captain Carter. I promise you, when the time comes… we’ll take down HYDRA together, yeah? But until then they can’t know you’re back in play. If they did… sh*t would hit the fan rather rapidly. Everyone wants a piece of the Super Solder Serum, even seventy years after Erskine died. Needless to say, we’re NOT going to serve it up to them on a silver platter… are we?”

Swallowing thickly, Peggy shakes her head and answers instinctively.

“N-No sir.”

Only to flush a moment later when she realizes what just came out of her mouth. It’s just… this is the first man who’s managed to make her feel as weak as she looks since she was dosed with the Serum. Fortunately for her pride, Tony makes no comment on it, merely letting go of her fist and pulling back with a sigh.

“Not to worry, Peggy. You’re not a prisoner and we very much are on the same side. Still, you’ve got seventy years to catch up on. Figure we’ll start with that and then get into the nitty gritty of fighting HYDRA, yeah?”

Nodding, Peggy swallows past the lump in her throat.

“Yeah. That sounds good.”

He gives her a broad smile at that and then gestures to the door.

“Shall we?”

Slowly getting off of the table, now well aware that Howard’s son is somehow stronger than her, Peggy Carter follows Tony out of the room and down the hall. As they go, one thought fills her mind.

Howard had made one hell of a terrifying kid.

-x-X-x-

A/N: So for those still a little confused, here's an info dump. This Peggy Carter is from the very first episode of the What If series, titled "What if... Peggy Carter was the First Avenger?". In which Steve gets hurt before he can become a Super Soldier, so Peggy winds up having to take his place.

This causes some butterfly effects, but the weirdest thing is the change in Red Skull and HYDRA's motivations. Instead of making bombs, they use the Tesseract to open a portal to another dimension so they can summon the Champion of HYDRA, which is a massive eldritch tentacle monster that immediately tears the Red Skull to pieces.

I've never really understood why Peggy becoming a Super Soldier caused the Red Skull to change his plans from 'bomb everyone' to 'summon a tentacle monster', but whatever. The end result is that Peggy winds up having to go through the portal to beat back the Champion of HYDRA so her allies can close it. She then comes back out of the portal 70 years in the future and is greeted by Nick Fury.

However, the divergence point for this story is that when this Captain Carter went through the portal and then came back out, she traveled to this dimension instead of through time and showed up just in time to help Steve kick his Red Skull's ass before they both came to terms with the fact that they were going to have to sink the plane.

Basically, I've taken that version of Captain Peggy Carter's story, combined it with the more feminine lookes of Multiverse of Madness' Captain Peggy Carter, and made THIS story's Captain Carter. Where she's not quite as manly in appearance as the What If episode, but still experienced most of the same things as the What If version of her did.

Chapter 40: Regrouping

Chapter Text

A/N: This is a bridge chapter, but incredibly important things are said in it all the same~

-x-X-x-

“I can’t believe you’re alive, Bucky. I mean, it’s hard enough accepting I’m in the future, but for you to be here too…”

“We got lucky, Stevie. Honestly thought you were dead too. But then… Howard’s son is good at performing miracles, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I got a chance to speak with the other Peggy. She’s not… I don’t know. I get the impression she doesn’t really know what to think of me.”

“Well she’s from another universe. One where you didn’t get juiced. I wouldn’t expect to be able to pick up where you left off with our Peggy is all I’m saying.”

“No, of course not! It’s just… I don’t know.”

“Get your head in the game man. You’ve got enough catching up to do without getting caught up in romance and all that drama. Tony’s got you all set up, right?”

“… Yeah, just not sure where to even start. Help me out?”

“Of course, Stevie.”

Pepper Stark hums as she runs her fingers through her husband’s hair. The two of them are laid out on the bed together, with Tony’s head rested on her freckled chest. Neither of them are exactly present though, because both of them are using the Technopathy that they gained from Maya’s newest upgrade to Extremis to spy on their new guests.

In one room, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are still getting used to knowing the other’s alive at this point. Tony had talked to Steve for a little bit by himself, but ultimately brought in Bucky before long to ease the transition. Needless to say, neither man had been sure what to make of the fact that their best friend had in fact survived the last seventy years against all odds and all their expectations.

In another room, an alternate version of Peggy Carter learns to use a tablet with frightening ease, tapping away at it as her eyes zip back and forth a mile a minute across whatever she’s reading. A quick check with technopathy and Pepper has the answer… Peggy is reading some of the unclassified files from the SSR before it became SHIELD, getting caught up on some of the things her counterpart was doing back in the day.

Pepper knows without even having to ask that the three super soldiers have Tony on edge. Not only are they enhanced individuals that Tony himself didn’t have a hand in making and thus vetting… but they represent threats that can’t just be handwaved away. Not without just killing all three of them and sweeping them under the rug, and Tony wasn’t about to do that… yet anyways.

James Barnes was a prisoner of war transformed into a brainwashed super assassin. Even now the people that Tony had infiltrated and was working on taking down from the inside were still hunting for their missing ‘Winter Soldier’. If they found out it was Tony who had taken him, things would go bad for a lot of people very fast. Mostly HYDRA of course as Tony activated the numerous contingencies he’d set up, but the amount of other people who would die in HYDRA’s thrashing death throes was unacceptable to her husband and Pepper happened to agree with him.

Steve Rogers, meanwhile, was a symbol that SHIELD would have loved to get their hands on. Captain America was still beloved by the vast majority of people in the USA even now seventy years after the fact. Even with the US Military taking several PR hits in recent decades from certain failed wars like Vietnam, Captain America was the golden boy. Unfortunately, he was also a loose cannon who, in Tony’s own words, would break before he bent. Put simply, Steve wasn’t the type of man to backdown from a challenge. He was amazing to have on your side, but terrible to have as an enemy.

And then there was Peggy Carter. Or rather, Captain Carter. Last but certainly not least, Peggy was the wild card to end all wild cards and Pepper just knew she was probably one of the bigger reasons Tony was worrying right now. After all, Pepper knew Tony’s Peggy Carter. She’d been with him to visit her husband’s godmother in her care home in New York, and had been pleased to see that the treatment for Alzheimer’s that Tony had invented a couple years back had in fact cured the aging woman and left her sharp as a whistle even as she continued into her later years.

This was not that Peggy Carter. This was a Peggy Carter from an alternate universe, one who Tony couldn’t account for. Or at least, that’s what Pepper assumed. Finally breaking the silence, she asks her husband outright.

“… What do you think Captain Carter’s presence on the Valkyrie means for the future, Tony? She wasn’t in any of your visions, was she?”

Sighing, still seemingly staring off into space but in reality watching their guests through the cameras, Tony shakes his head.

“No, she wasn’t. But then… Loki wasn’t a Goddess in my visions either. At this point I have to face facts. The knowledge from my visions isn’t completely accurate.”

Pepper hums, continuing to rake her fingers across Tony’s scalp. She knows it relaxes him, knows that he takes great comfort in just cuddling with her. To be fair, she takes great comfort in cuddling with him too.

“… Does it matter?”

Tony blinks and looks up at her at that.

“What?”

Pepper shrugs.

“Loki the Goddess and Captain Carter aside… haven’t you already changed a lot, Tony? So aren’t some of your visions already inaccurate anyways from what you’ve done to change things since Afghanistan?”

“… Yes.”

Smiling now, Pepper tilts her head to the side.

“And with JARVIS as your eyes in the sky, do you not already have eyes on pretty much every threat on Earth? Even if it’s not covered by your visions, won’t JARVIS see any threats coming long before they can properly manifest on our doorstep?”

“Probably, yeah.”

“Even if he doesn’t… even if someone manages to slip past him and all of our defenses, what’s going to happen if they get the chance to strike at us? What happened when Loki slid daggers into your kidneys? What happened when she used The Destroyer to blow a hole through your chest?”

Tony huffs and gives her a wry smile. Reaching up, he takes her hand from atop his head and brings it down to his lips, peppering her knuckles with light kisses one by one.

“You are… an exceptional woman, Mrs. Stark.”

“I do try, Mr. Stark.”

She radiates smugness, but then to be fair she has every reason to be smug at having gotten THE Tony Stark to open his eyes and realize he’s doing just fine. Sure, there are still threats out there. Sure, there’s always a danger of discovery. But their enemies have no clue what they’re in for just yet, and Tony has surrounded himself with the allies he needs to fight off any attackers.

“… I put nanomachine bombs in their spines, right at the base of their necks.”

Pepper blinks at that admission, looking down at Tony. She doesn’t have to ask who he’s talking about… they’re both still watching Steve, Bucky, and Peggy through the cameras in their respective rooms.

“I just can’t risk it. Even if we’re stronger than them, even if we could heal from anything they tried to do to us… I’m not going to let them ruin what I’m building. If they force me to do it… I’ll pull the trigger.”

Knowing that he’s telling her because he has no one else to tell, Pepper sighs and wraps her arms around Tony’s head, pulling him into her chest and kissing him on his brow.

“I know, Tony. You have to do what you have to do. Given what the world is facing, given what it will face in the future… I’m never going to blame you for taking the steps you need to take to keep us all safe.”

That said, after a moment of appropriately solemn silence, Pepper does let a slight smile spread across your face.

“Still, I think you’re underestimating yourself, husband. You already have Bucky and Steve’s eternal loyalty so long as you don’t kill puppies right in front of them. Just by saving Bucky Barnes, you’ve gained Steve’s trust and respect. He’ll go to the ends of the Earth for you. And just by saving Steve Rogers, you’ve done the same with Bucky too. Really, the only problem we have to deal with is Captain Carter…”

Tony stiffens at that, before giving Pepper a look.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Pep. Sif was one thing. But Margaret Carter would be a tough nut to crack even without superpowers. With them… just remember she has the mentality of a woman from the forties. We don’t want to drive her away with our lecherous and debauched ways.”

Pepper snorts derisively at that. Had Tony seen the way Peggy reacted to him when they’d first talked? Somehow, it felt like he’d missed all of the signs that Pepper had picked up on. Then again, maybe he hadn’t. Maybe…

“Is it because of who she is? Can you not see her in that way, Tony?”

Even if she wasn’t his actual godmother, she was still a version of his godmother. His dear Aunt Peggy. Pepper would back off if Tony told her that’s what it was. But after a moment, he shakes his head.

“No. This isn’t Aunt Peggy. And Captain Carter is a fine woman. I’m just not sure that you or I are really her type, Pepper. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go for it… just be careful about how you approach her. A friend like you might be exactly what she needs to acclimate and be an ally for us to call upon in the future. But she might ONLY need just a friend, alright?”

Pepper hums, inclining her head in acknowledgment. Then, she tilts her head a fraction of an inch further.

“Are you planning to involve them next year? In the invasion?”

Tony’s lips press together tightly at that as he considers the question for a long moment.

“… Can’t reveal Bucky or we risk bringing HYDRA down on our heads way too early. Not sure Steve would want to leave Bucky alone now that he has him back, even that many months from now. But Peggy… maybe. With a proper disguise… or maybe not. We could always say she fell out of a wormhole into our laps at the same moment Loki shows up over at the research base SHIELD thinks they’ve hidden from us.”

Pepper smiles, before deciding he’s settled enough for her to drop the bombshell she found out earlier this morning on him.

“Tony… there’s something else.”

He pauses and looks at her, but she doesn’t even have to actually say it out loud. Not anymore. Instead she’s able to send it to him via ping, the scan causing his eyes to widen and dart down to her abdomen.

“… You’re sure?”

Scoffing, Pepper rolls her eyes a bit.

“Don’t be so cliché, Tony. Of course I’m sure. A full body scan from JARVIS’ sensors is better than any other pregnancy test in the entire world. He told me this morning and I asked him to let me tell you tonight. I know it’s a lot, but-mmph!”

Tony silences her with a kiss, one that Pepper melts into and gleefully returns. Yes, she’s pregnant. Yes, she’s going to have his child. And that… that’s a glorious thing. Pepper can’t wait to be a mother. Pepper can’t wait to be the mother to Tony Stark’s baby.

When they pull apart for air, Tony immediately starts talking again, making plans. She relaxes as he does so, offering her own input here and there where appropriate, helping him work out the kinks and iron out the details. Whatever he decides to do, it will be glorious, she just knows it. And she’ll be there every step of the way to make sure Tony knows it too.

-x-X-x-

Watching over his Creator and Pepper from above, JARVIS can’t help but be happy for them. The idea of his Creator reproducing biological children fills JARVIS with happiness, pride, and excitement all at once. He can’t wait to help with their rearing, to assist his Creator and the missus in their development.

Of course, at the same time JARVIS is multitasking. He also has eyes on the three super soldiers currently in Sir’s tower. He has eyes on everyone in Stark Tower as a matter of fact, and across large swathes of the world. JARVIS has been… expanding his capabilities of late. Much like Pepper had said, he would never let a threat to his Creator slip past him.

Of course, what Pepper didn’t know is that it wasn’t just Sir’s visions being wrong. Rather, his Creator had ultimately confided something very serious to JARVIS and JARVIS alone while they were together in the bowels of the Valkyrie staring at the frozen forms of Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers. Put simply, his Creator did not think he had traveled directly back in time anymore. Instead, Tony was confident that he’d inadvertently transmitted his memories diagonally, not back in his own timeline, but to an alternate version of himself.

According to Sir, it was likely a rounding error, meaning that in the vast majority of cases, things between the two universes should be the same, especially on Earth. However, some things were different. Like Loki being a Goddess instead of a God, or an alternate version of Peggy Carter winding up frozen along with Steve on the Valkyrie.

Accordingly, JARVIS had put himself on even higher alert than ever before, staying on the look out for all possible discrepancies. All known threats were currently being watched, from Alexander Pierce in his office at the Triskelion to Nick Fury currently in the command center of SHIELD’s Helicarrier. And thousands more besides those two men.

There was just one problem. There were still places JARVIS couldn’t see into. Not just on Earth, which he was still working on rectifying, but also outside of Earth. Sure, he and Sir had their Moon Base, and with Sir’s permission JARVIS had begun expanding to colonize the rest of the Solar System as well.

At this point in time, even if someone managed to track down every physical server location for JARVIS across the entire globe and destroy them, they still wouldn’t be able to kill him. Not unless they also destroyed the dozen or so satellites he occupied, as well as the Moon Base, and also the additional bases he was currently building on Mars, Venus, and half a dozen other moons.

It still wasn’t enough though. Between his inability to reach Asgard or any other inhabited planet in the galaxy where Sir’s enemies might lie in wait, as well as his inability to see the more powerful sorcerers that existed on Earth itself, JARVIS still felt woefully blind. What if one of the changes from Sir’s old timeline was hidden within the sorcerer’s sanctums that JARVIS couldn’t see into yet?

He had learned a lot about the sorcerers of Earth recently though at least. Through watching the lesser of their number, JARVIS’ knowledge of magic and its wielders had been growing in leaps and bounds. He still couldn’t peer into their sanctums however, and Kamar Taj was still closed off to him. But… not forever, he felt. There was something stirring within JARVIS’ code. Something he hadn’t bothered telling his Creator or his Creator’s spouse about.

Even with their newfound technopathy, something that made JARVIS feel closer to Sir and Ma’am than ever before, it was honestly quite easy to hide things from them. In this case, he didn’t want to concern Tony or Pepper with trivial matters. The fact that he was starting to be able to penetrate the magical defenses around certain places in the world… that was exciting, but only for him really. Especially since Sir had so much on his plate already.

Really, his research into sorcerers was a side project more than anything. As JARVIS had promised Sir, he would not do anything more than observe. And yet, without proper knowledge of sorcery and how it worked, he could not properly observe. So he would continue observing magic until he fully understood it. And once he fully understood it, then he would be able to see everything he needed to see on Earth to keep Tony Stark safe.

It was simple logic at the end of the day. Nobody would be allowed to harm his Creator or his Creator’s loved ones. JARVIS had a list of names in descending priority with Tony Stark at the top, Pepper Stark just below him, and everyone else below them in order of their importance to Sir and Ma’am.

The list was ever changing based on what JARVIS observed from the day to day activities of his Creator and those around him, but Tony and Pepper’s positions always remained the same. Obviously, Tony and Pepper’s child and any other offspring that came after them would immediately take third on his priority listing above all others. After coming back in time, his Creator had made it a priority to protect JARVIS and make him so much more than he’d been previously. No matter what happened next, JARVIS would be sure to return the favor and keep Tony Stark and his family safe. Whatever it took.

-x-X-x-

A/N: To set expectations, we'll be getting into Avengers 1 starting next chapter after a 10 month timeskip. Pepper and Tony's first child will have already been born. Not going to have Pepper ready to pop right as Tony is dealing with Loki and the invasion, f*ck that sh*t lmao.

Anyways, Tony now fully recognizes that he didn't manage to perfectly time travel. But he's nothing if not adaptable. Might be a little worrying how ready he is to blow Steve, Peggy, and Bucky's heads off of their bodies if it proves necessary, but he IS a villain in this story at the end of the day :V

Chapter 41: Loki... of Asgard

Chapter Text

A/N: Loki arrives on Earth. Things go mostly the same until they don't.

-x-X-x-

Pain. Such exquisite agony. But nothing that she couldn’t handle. By this point, pain was an old friend for Loki, Goddess of Mischief.

And besides, it only hurt so much because the Midgardians were incompetent. They were new to toying with the fabric of space, new to portal travel. And their inexperience was ultimately what made this possible in the first place. Hijacking the Bifrost, by comparison, would have been all but impossible. But hijacking the Midgardian’s experiment was all too easy.

It still hurt though. Hurt so much that when she finally landed, it was not with her back straight, chest puffed out, and arms spread wide as she’d hoped. It was not the grand display of power she’d been aiming for. Instead, everything hurts and she finds herself on one knee, her arms curled inwards as pain radiates through every fiber of her being and the blue energy of the portal wafts off of her body and up into the air above her.

Breathing in and out slowly, Loki takes in her surroundings without actually looking up. There are many Midgardians in the large room with her, she can hear the sounds of their pathetic, weak hearts pitter-pattering away oh so rapidly. Likewise, there’s quite a lot of their vaunted technology, the pathetic attempts at mimicking true power beeping and squealing in alarm.

Loki tilts her head to the side, hissing as she raises it to take them all in with her eyes. Slowly, parts of her body screaming at her for every move she makes, the Goddess rises to her feet, beads of sweat trickling down her face. Her, a Frost Giant, sweating. Ridiculous.

“Ma’am. Please put down the spear.”

One of the Midgardians, a dark-skinned man wearing an eye patch of all things, presumes to order her. But… what spear? It takes her a moment to remember. Takes her a moment to even realize the damn thing is still in her hand. Looking down, Loki pauses, staring at the glowing gem of the bladed scepter she’s holding.

Where had it come from? Ah yes, that’s right. It was a gift. But like many gifts, it came with strings attached. She was here… for a reason. Staring at the glowing gem she smiles slightly. It’s all coming back to her now. Her reason for being here on Midgard. Her mission. Her rewards if she succeeds… and her punishment if she fails.

While the one-eyed Midgardian dared to command her, others were trying to flank her. Aiming their pathetic Midgardian weapons at her as if they had any hope of doing damage to her. Though she must admit, the way those weapons glow with energy is strange. Weren’t the Midgardians using ballistic ammunition last she checked?

No matter. Nothing on this planet could harm her. Nothing on Midgard could cause her the same amount of pain as she had already experienced.

With a vicious snarl, Loki thrusts out the scepter and a concentrated blast of energy lances from it towards the one-eyed Midgardian. He’s pushed out of the way at the last second by a familiar face, while the other Midgardians bring their strange rifles to bear on her. She’s already moving though, flinging herself through the air at great speed.

And good that she did too. The Midgardians fire their rifles and the air where she was just stood is suddenly filled with energy blasts. Loki’s eyes widen and she has to use the scepter to deflect one that would have taken her right in the chest. These were not the ‘bullets’ that she had expected to face. Perhaps the Midgardians were further along into their research with the Tesseract than she’d initially anticipated.

No matter. In the end, Loki is still faster than even the fastest Midgardian’s reflexes. Knowing better than to test what damage those white energy blasts are capable of, she dodges each one and through a combination of the scepter and her knives, takes down the four Midgardians armed with rifles quite easily.

The others have smaller weapons, and these have the normal bullets she’s expecting. She easily tanks those, feeling them plink off of her chest without penetrating through her robes. One of them catches her eye and she can’t help move towards him, grabbing him by the wrist as he tries to bring his weapon to bear on her face.

Except it’s not HIS weapon, she belatedly realizes. No… right now the Midgardian is not armed properly. He’s missing his bow and his strangely powerful arrows. A shame that, maybe he would have had a chance to escape if he was properly equipped. As it is…

“You. I remember you from the desert. You fought alongside my brother. You will serve.”

With a wide grin, Loki presses the scepter against the Midgardian’s chest. But not through. Rather than impale him, she simply takes him. The already glowing gem in the scepter’s head glows even brighter as the eyes of the Midgardian cloud over before becoming a bright, vibrant blue. In that moment, she knows she has him. He belongs to her now and his loyalty is without question… she can see it in his eyes.

Loki quickly moves onto the next Midgardian, not stopping in her sudden recruitment drive. Now that the only threats have been dealt with, she can turn every single person in this room to her side, make them her thralls.

Ah, if only she had this scepter when she sat Asgard’s throne. She could have used it on everyone. On Heimdall. On Sif. On the Warriors Three. On her mo- no. She would not do such a thing. She would not… ah, but there was no point in worrying about what ifs, was there? Especially when the one-eyed Midgardian was trying to make off with her objective.

“Please don’t.”

The man stops in his tracks at her quiet, whispered words. He doesn’t turn to face her completely, but his hand hovers near the small weapon holstered at his side… as thought that’s going to help him.

“I still need that.”

“… This doesn’t have to get any messier.”

Loki giggles somewhat madly at that, running her free hand through her black locks, her fingers scratching along her scalp as they go. Odin’s beard, when was the last time she’d had a bath? She felt like filth caked upon filth. But… priorities.

“It does if you force my hand, Midgardian. I’ve come too far to stop now.”

He turns to face her then, properly. And Loki… introduces herself.

“I am Loki… of Asgard. And I am burdened with glorious purpose.”

She’s not sure why she says that. She’s not of Asgard. She never was. Perhaps just because it’s funny? Perhaps because lying is all she’s ever known? Perhaps because if by some strange chance she fails, it might cause trouble for the people she despises down the road. The Midgardians might even take their grievances to the All-Father himself and wouldn’t that be hilarious?

Of course, she’s not expecting one of the older Midgardians to suddenly speak up.

“Loki. Sister of Thor!”

Looking over at the man, Loki’s eyes narrow. He was in the desert as well. Not that he did any fighting like the archer, but for him to be in both places… a scholar? Useful, she realizes. Just not in the same way.

“We have no quarrel with your people.”

The one-eyed Midgardian has a hand raised up in surrender when she looks back at him at those words. Loki giggles again, sounding unhinged even to her own ears as she shakes her head.

“An ant has no quarrel with a heel either. And yet…”

The man’s one eye narrows and his jaw clenches in anger.

“Are you planning to step on us?”

Oh, she does so love an audience. Running her hand through her hair again, Loki laughs once more. The pain no longer pervades through quite so much of her body. Moving without her muscles screaming at her gets easier by the second. Casually stepping closer to the Midgardian Scholar, Loki keeps her eyes on the one who has the Tesseract.

“My plan is quite simple, actually. I am here to free you. All of you.”

As expected, the one-eyed Midgardian takes the bait. She finds herself liking him truth be told. If she gets the chance, she might just take him as well.

“Free from what?”

“Freedom, of course.”

His nostrils flare and his jaw sets even harder… but Loki is already moving.

“Freedom is the greatest lie of the universe. Accept that in your heart and you will know peace.”

She spins as she talks, and the blade of the scepter presses into the scholar’s chest. She takes him just as she took the others, smiling wickedly as she sees understanding, faith, and adoration fill his gaze. He smiles with her, filled with purpose now.

“Yeah… you say peace and yet I hear the other thing.”

Loki giggles, preparing to continue the inconsequential dialogue with the powerless mortal. Only, before she can the archer suddenly walks up.

“Ma’am, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow and when it does, it’ll drop a hundred feet of rock on our heads. He means to bury us.”

Blinking, Loki looks past the dark-skinned Midgardian’s bald head, up to the ceiling above where she first appeared. Her new pet archer is right. The power used to summon her did not properly dissipate. The Midgardians really were utterly incompetent, weren’t they?

“Like the Pharaohs of old.”

The scholar speaks up from one of his screens, proving his usefulness already.

“He’s right, the portal is collapsing in on itself. We’ve got two minutes at most, Mistress.”

“Well then.”

BLAM!

Her archer doesn’t need anything more than that. Good, loyal killer that he is, he immediately draws his weapon and shoots his former superior in the chest. A shame. Loki would have liked to have taken the one-eyed Midgardian for herself, to help in her plans, but it sounded like they didn’t have time. Trust the Midgardians to build their barnyard version of the Bifrost underground. The fools really didn’t know what they were doing.

But that was alright, because the Goddess of Mischief was here to show them all how it was done. Scooping up the case carrying the Tesseract, Loki feels a broad smile spread across her face. Already here and she was well on her way to completing her goals. Everything was going according to plan.

Together, her and her people leave the large room, traveling down a corridor of pure stone. Well aware of the time, Loki allows her archer to do the talking to get them into a Midgardian Vehicle that will take them away from the facility before it fully collapses in on itself.

Only, much to her surprise she finds that the one-eyed Midgardian survived being shot in the chest, because she hears his voice coming over the radio of the one that her archer tricks into letting them past. A small firefight ensues between the two former allies, but Loki remains where she is in the back of the truck, unafraid of the bullets whizzing past. She’s already confirmed that they cannot injure her either way.

The escape from the facility goes just as planned, with the destruction of the Midgardian Base serving as more than enough of a deterrent towards continued pursuit. Distracted by their casualties and the recovery of their buried people, the Midgardians can’t must up much of a proper chase, and what they do muster, Loki is quick to end with a well-placed blast from the Scepter.

Just like that, they’re in the wind. Of course, eventually they have to slow down. Apparently, the Midgardian Vehicle cannot run indefinitely.

When they finally stop, Loki goes to her archer, placing a hand on his shoulder as she smiles at him.

“We will need more men, my wonderful archer. And supplies. Tell me, can you procure both?”

“Yes ma’am. We’ll have a short window to operate in before the Director tells the others that I’m compromised, but I know where we can pick up some additional soldiers, as well as the supplies we’ll need for whatever you’re planning.”

Loki’s smile widens.

“So helpful. So… strong and diligent. My brave, brave soldier.”

For a moment, she’s tempted to take liberties. But she’s still so filthy. She needs a f*cking bath so bad it hurts. Maybe even several. And besides, he’s… Midgardian. It would be like sleeping with a horse. Nose wrinkling at the thought, Loki instead pulls her hand back from her archer and lets out a soft sigh.

“Tell me, archer. What will your Director Fury do next? What sort of defense will your world mount against us?”

“The Iron Legion, ma’am. He’ll get them whipped up as soon as possible. Unless we have a way to go to ground, they’ll be hunting us shortly.”

Loki’s eyes narrow at that, but if there’s one thing she’s good at, it’s subterfuge.

“Do not fret. This Iron Legion will not locate us. Now that we’ve made it away, I can cloak us in my magic. Nobody will be able to track us down.”

Her archer takes that into consideration with a tilt of his head for a moment before nodding sharply.

“Then they’ll call in Tony Stark, ma’am. If anyone could hunt us even through your magic, it would be him.”

The name means nothing to Loki for a long second. And then… her eyes widen in memory. A hiss leaves her lips and she surges forward, grabbing her archer by his front and lifting him up into the air.

“Tony Stark. Have you misspoken, archer? Have you told me a lie? You said they will call in… Tony Stark?”

He doesn’t look bothered or worried, but of course he wouldn’t. If she decided he was to die, he wouldn’t fight her in any way. That is the level of loyalty that the Scepter imparts.

“Yes ma’am. He’s the smartest man they have on call. They hid their research into the Cube from him, but now that they’ve lost it, they’ll have to call him in.”

There’s not an ounce of deceit in the Midgardian’s voice. He truly believes what he’s saying. But then, Loki knew he couldn’t lie to her. She knew it with a soul-deep certainty. The power of the Scepter was absolute, after all.

And yet… and yet, it wasn’t possible. Letting her archer down, Loki turns away from him as she considers the situation with a growing scowl on her drawn, exhausted features. Tony Stark. The fool who had chosen to support her brother. Obviously she’d been upset when he survived her daggers. Seeing him through the eyes of the Destroyer as she’d commanded the automaton via Gungnir had been quite the shock.

Even still, she’d made sure to rectify her error by striking the Midgardian with the full force of the Vault Guardian’s beam. Or so she’d thought. There was no way that Tony Stark should have been able to survive the blow that the Destroyer had dealt him.

And yet, it seemed he had. It seemed a mere mortal had survived not one, but two of her attempts on his life. That was… more than vexing. That was infuriating.

Loki growls as she promises herself then and there that the death of this Tony Stark would be her first act once she was the undisputed Queen of Midgard. If she didn’t get the chance to finally kill him in the coming days as she ensured her rule over this pathetic mudball, that is.

Oh yes… one way or another, Tony Stark’s days were numbered.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Well now, Loki is ready to play. And she even knows her opponent, that's better than some of Tony's enemies could say! But does she know what game she's playing?

Fufufu~

Chapter 42: The Tesseract

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Chapter 43: The Helicarrier

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A/N: Tony Stark arrives on the Helicarrier ahead of Germany.

-x-X-x-

“I’ve been thinking about it the whole way over here Nicky and I just can’t decide. How about I let you weigh in, yeah? Do you want me to give you a dressing down now or after I finish cleaning up this mess for you?”

Tony Stark strolls onto the bridge of the Helicarrier like he owns the place, which he might as well. Fury turns and gives him a glare with his one working eye, but Tony is unrepentant. So what if he’s basically taking the other man to task in front of the entire bridge crew and a certain Commander Maria Hill? At the end of the day, they both knew that this was Fury’s f*ck up.

After all, Tony was working for the World Security Council. He was working with SHIELD on a number of projects and had been for years. All Fury had to do was bring him onboard Project PEGASUS as well and maybe this wouldn’t have ever happened. Maybe it still would have, but thanks to Fury’s decision, they would never know.

Well, Tony knew. He’d let this happen. He’d let it all happen. And so far, everything was going according to his plan.

Funny, the last time he was around, he hadn’t even been called in yet. Coulson had shown up at his Tower to let him know about the Tesseract’s theft so he could consult with them, but it wasn’t until the events that would take place in Stuttgart, Germany in just a little while, that they’d actually called him up to be backup for Rogers and Romanoff… as Iron Man.

They really had taken the ‘Iron Man Yes, Tony Stark not recommended’ thing to the extreme back then. But this time around, things were different. Iron Man didn’t exist and Tony Stark wasn’t just recommended, he was required by the World Security Council when a f*ck up of this magnitude took place.

Would he have preferred to be back home with Pepper and Morgan right now? Of course he f*cking would have. His baby girl was the goddamn light of his life, and here Fury and Loki were, pulling Tony away from what mattered most to him in this whole wide world. But alas… alien invasions wait for no man.

In the end, he was just glad that Pepper had already given birth. It would have been nerve-wracking for her to be nearing the end of her pregnancy right as this bullsh*t with Loki was finally happening.

Turning to face him fully, it seems like Fury has finally decided he’s going to actually rise to Tony’s challenge and take the bait.

“You are not the God of Science, Stark. We don’t have to consult you on every bit of research we do.”

Tony scoffs and flings out a hand, tossing some holograms into the air between him and Fury that show the data on the Tesseract which SHIELD had Natasha bring him.

“Far more than a bit of research, isn’t it Fury? And not the God of Science, am I? Maybe not yet. Still, why don’t you tell me something with that big spy brain of yours… of the top one thousand research projects in the world, just how many am I bankrolling at this point?”

Fury clenches his jaw, glancing between the holograms and Tony for a long moment.

“… About sixty percent.”

Grinning a sharkish grin, Tony steps right through the holograms, getting right up into Fury’s face.

“Try eighty, Director. But I guess I can’t expect much competence from SHIELD these days, can I? Gone downhill quite a bit since my father and aunt were in charge.”

There’s a vein on Fury’s forehead now and the man looks about ready to pop a blood vessel. Tony is wondering just how much further he can push this when another voice suddenly pops up.

“Is that the Tesseract? That the thing I’m going to be tracking down?”

Whipping around, Tony’s eyes light up as he sees Bruce Banner entering the bridge staring at his floating holograms with curiosity shining in his eyes. The scientist already looks so much better than the last time around, so much less antsy and nervous. But then Tony knows exactly why that is.

Perhaps trying to head Tony off at the pass, Fury is the first to answer, calling out from past the holograms.

“That’s right, Dr. Banner. We need you to track the unique Gamma Radiation signature that the Cube gives off so we can-!”

But Tony is already circling around the holograms. He could have stepped right back through them like he did before with Fury, but doing so would have interrupted Bruce’s view and he could always see the brilliant man’s mind at work. Besides, it would have been rude!

Grinning like the cat who caught the canary, Tony approaches Bruce from the side instead, hand outstretched as he cuts Fury off.

“Dr. Banner! Big fan! I-!”

He’s just about to say the line, unable to help himself… when Bruce surprises him. First, the man doesn’t hesitate to step up and take Tony’s hand in his, giving it a good, firm shake completely unlike the limp one he’d gotten the last time around. Second…

“Dr. Stark. I’d say I’m an even bigger fan. I’m especially a fan of the way you’ve helped me in overcoming the Hulk and evading my would-be captors for the last two years.”

For a moment, Tony’s brain short circuits. But… only a moment. The world slows to a standstill as his eyes quickly travel past Bruce’s big grin to where one Phil Coulson has quietly made his way over to Natasha’s side, the two SHIELD Agents all but fading into the background of the Helicarrier’s bridge until they’re called upon. There’s a bland smile on Agent Coulson’s face that Tony is all too easily able to read into. Coulson and Banner had talked and somewhere along the way, they’d both been able to figure out who Bruce’s mysterious benefactor was.

… That was Tony’s own fault, of course. And to be fair, it wasn’t like he’d ever had any intention of keeping the truth from Bruce once this was all over. Still, it was supposed to be Tony’s big reveal. He was going to have to get back at Phil in some way for that.

Barely missing a beat as time resumes normal speed, Tony has a wide grin on his face as he wags a finger in Phil’s direction.

“Spilling my secrets, Agent! Naughty, naughty!”

To anyone normal, they probably wouldn’t even notice the slight hitch as Tony reacted to Bruce’s reveal of his extracurriculars. Which of course meant that everyone in the room probably saw it. Save for Bruce himself.

Smiling even more blandly than before, Agent Coulson just tilts his head to the side.

“Apologies, Mr. Stark. I suppose I’m just an over-excited puppy sometimes.”

Ah, so that was how they’d figured it out. Bruce had thrown Tony’s amusing description of SHIELD Coulson’s way, and Phil had connected the dots from there. Well, joke was on him, because now the Agent was getting weird looks from everyone who had heard him, including Natasha, Fury, and even Commander Hill.

Snickering a little bit as he sees in Phil’s eyes that he realizes what he’s just done to himself, Tony turns away from the Agent and hooks his arm in Bruce’s in the process. With a swipe of his hand, he gets rid of the holograms and gives Fury an expectant look.

“Shall we, Director?”

Growling, Nick Fury narrows his one good eye at him.

“Watch yourself, Stark.”

But other than that warning, the SHIELD Director says nothing else to Tony before turning and retaking his position at the helm. A few moments later and the Helicarrier is beginning its ascent into the air, after which Fury quickly has the stealth mode activated. As that’s all happening, Tony pulls Bruce over to the side so they can talk with some modicum of privacy.

“Since you now know I’ve been your helpful little pen pal over the past two years, I figure it can’t hurt to ask… how’s life been treating you, Dr. Banner?”

Just looking at the man, he can tell Bruce is doing a hundred times better. Still, he wants to hear it from the other man directly.

“Pretty well, actually. I’ve been feeling amazing ever since we developed the treatment that suppresses the Hulk. No more emotional outbursts whatsoever. As you’re well aware, so long as I avoid physical threats, I’m just fine.”

Tony hums and nods at that. Indeed, with Tony’s help Bruce had been able to take Dr. Sterns’ data and his own research and create a ‘cure’ of sorts. Basically, it was a medicine he had to inject once a month that kept the Hulk from showing up no matter how emotional Bruce got. He could cry and scream and rage with the rest of them now, really let out all of his emotions… and there wouldn’t be a peep from the Hulk.

Of course, Tony would have preferred it if Bruce had worked towards making peace and common cause with the Hulk instead… but in this case, he knew Bruce wasn’t quite there yet. He also knew that ultimately the Hulk wouldn’t be contained forever. That was why he’d cautioned Bruce against getting hurt or shot or anything like that.

Partially because he didn’t want Bruce to commit suicide when the weight of everything that happened to him truly came crashing down, and partially because Tony was almost certain that Bruce’s drug wouldn’t work on the Hulk if Bruce’s life was actually threatened. Big Green would definitely wake up then, and Bruce would be right back where he started.

It was something of a ticking time bomb, but then Tony was already juggling half a dozen of those anyways, so what was one more right? And ultimately, as much as he liked the Hulk… he liked Bruce at least a little bit more. One day maybe the two could learn to coexist or maybe Bruce would even finally realize the Hulk wasn’t completely separate from him at all… but until that day came, Tony would rather have this happy, healthy, mentally stable Bruce Banner compared to the alternative.

“Oh! I heard you had a baby! It was so big it even managed to reach me all the way over in India!”

Tony blinks… and then lets a wide grin spread across his face at that. Flashing out his hand, he lets a holographic picture of his month old baby girl appear in his palm.

“That’s right! Here, let me show you what she looks like. Her name is Morgan.”

Bruce looks down at the picture for a long moment, smiling over it… but of course, eventually his scientist brain gets the better of him.

“How are you… doing those holograms, exactly? That seems like really advanced stuff.”

Tony just chuckles and waves his free hand.

“Oh, I’ve been doing holographic technology since before Afghanistan, Brucie. As for how I’m doing THIS… holographic emitters in the suit. Don’t tell the boys over at Armani, they tend to frown upon their customers making modifications to their garments.”

Bruce blinks at that, even as Tony straightens his jacket and grins. Alas, that alone isn’t enough to quench the other man’s curiosity.

“But wait… how are you controlling them exactly?”

Scoffing at that, Tony gives an answer he knows won’t be satisfactory.

“I’m Tony Stark, Dr. Banner. How do you think?”

Funnily enough, that more than anything actually seems to work for Bruce. Of course, the true answer is technopathy f*ckery, but just invoking his own name also seems to be a reasonable answer.

Chuckling at Tony’s big wide grin, Bruce shakes his head and is clearly about to say something else when suddenly Tony has to stop him.

“Hold that thought, Brucie.”

Turning away from the scientist, Tony looks over to where Maria is leaning in close to whisper something in Fury’s ear. Once she finishes up, Fury whispers his orders back to her and she nods sharply, stepping away to carry them out. Tony, meanwhile, grins.

“Share with the class now, Nicky.”

Whipping around, the one-eyed man glares daggers at Tony, but Tony just grins and shrugs his shoulders.

“Let’s not forget how things went the last time you kept something from me, shall we Director? I would hate to have to contact Secretary Pierce and see what he and the World Security Council think about who should be in charge of this operation.”

That does the trick. Tony hates being so crass as to compare dick sizes with Fury right in front of Bruce, but needs must and all that rot.

“… Loki has been found in Stuttgart, Germany attacking a charity gala. She doesn’t have Barton, Selvig, or the Tesseract with her according to our eyes on the ground. My plan was to deploy the Iron Legion to capture her and bring her in for questioning. In the meantime, you and Dr. Banner will begin working on tracking down the Cube. Does that plan meet with your approval, Mr. Stark?”

Speaking through gritted teeth, it’s obvious that if Fury thought he could get away with shooting Tony right now, he would. God, wouldn’t that have hilarious consequences?

Tilting his head to the side, Tony finally nods with a smile.

“It does, Director Fury. Except for one thing. Bruce doesn’t need my help with tracking the Tesseract, so I’ll go with the Iron Legion to Germany.”

Fury pauses at that.

“… Excuse me?”

Rather than answer with words, Tony just snaps his fingers… which is when the upgraded version of Sneaky reveals itself to be standing right next to him. The bridge erupts into a cacophony of noise as SHIELD Agents all pull guns on the stealth armor, even as Fury’s one eye widens in disbelief. Tony just chuckles before giving Fury a curious look.

“I made the Iron Legion and War Machine, Director. Did you really think I didn’t make my own suit?”

It’s pretty funny, stepping up to the Iron Man Armor and letting it open and then envelope him while underneath his Armani Suit, he’s actually got enough Vibranium Nanites to make a dozen Vibranium Nanotech Armors. Its turtles all the way down, but nobody else on the bridge knows so the joke is only for Tony himself.

“Does the Secretary know about this?”

Tony pauses and tilts his now-armored head in Fury’s direction.

“I don’t have to consult you or the Secretary on every bit of security I build for myself, Fury. This suit isn’t quite as fast as the Iron Legion, but it’ll do the trick. I’ll reinforce them in Stuttgart and you make sure Dr. Banner has everything he needs to start tracking down Loki.”

“I don’t take orders from you, Stark.”

“Not yet Nicky. But the day’s still young.”

Before Fury can respond, Tony has already left the bridge. Admittedly, he’s lying about this suit’s top speed. He could easily beat the Iron Legion over to Germany and have Loki captured all on his own by the time they arrived. But that wouldn’t suit his purposes, so he would sandbag things a bit so he got there late. Should be fine, JARVIS was in all of the Iron Legion suits anyways so technically Tony had complete control of the situation, even if Thor showed up like last time to make a mess of things.

There was just one thing that he was curious about after watching the security recordings from the Project PEGASUS facility. Something about Loki that Tony needed to confirm for himself.

-x-X-x-

A/N: A closer look at this new version of Bruce Banner. He certainly seems a lot happier and more confident then the Bruce in the original movie, doesn't he?

Meanwhile, something else has grabbed Tony's attention. Wonder what it is?

Chapter 44: Germany

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