Sorry for the delay for this chapter, I truly meant to be updating more frequently, but sometimes life's just busy. Besides, all of my free time has been taken up with my final re-read of the series The Wheel of Time before the final book comes out in a few weeks. Not that I'm such a slow reader, mind, but this series has 13 1,000 pages books with countless characters, and history that you have to understand in order for them to be as great as they are, and was started 20 years ago, the original author is dead, and I have that twitchy need for the last book that makes it difficult to write, however, I am forcing myself to write this chapter, and hopefully another before it does come out. Because after, it'll be one of those where you finish reading, go on a long walk and just say "Fuuuucccckkkk."

Anyway, enough of that, on with the story.

"Would you say you were wrong and maybe someone else was kinda right?" Point/Counterpoint by Streetlight Manifesto

A stunned silence filled the room... for about a moment. Then it was as if every person in the room very suddenly had to get their voice heard, not to be bothered with the fact that it didn't exactly concern them.

"But I don't..."

"Can't be his son..."

"Someone, call the guards..."

"...is at least twice as old..."

"Madman broke in.."

Tony stood in the middle of the chaos, almost drinking it in, as well as blocking out the words. He'd long since gotten used to this sort of "discussion." Being who he was, it was a rare occasion indeed where his presence didn't spark some sort of craziness, one way or another.

His eyes Swept around around, landing only momentarily on ever furious, yelling face. Amid the sea of madness, Steve just stood there, wide blue eyes blinking at him, his mouth gaping a small amount. At least the captain was keeping his calm better than the others... Tony was both irritated by his reaction and proud of the small lad.

He shook the thought off, and wondered idly why no one had so much as moved towards him with all the yelling. As if his thought had ignited the same question in some of the others, a group was suddenly reaching towards him. His eyes snapped to the leader of the small band's, not saying a word, just stared at him, daring him to continue moving. And the man stopped, suddenly sweating at the silent threat that must be sparkling in Tonys eyes.

If the man had been from his own time, he would have realized why he'd stopped himself. No one threaten Iron Man and lived long. Tony Stark, sure. Usually, Tony Stark was too busy ignoring you, and had body guards, and could easily let idle threats slide over him. Here, though, these people didn't know who he was, what he was, and would follow through with it. Subconsciously, the man must have seen the spark of Iron Mans warning. Too bad for these people, Tony was usually pretty easy going. But they had forced out a different part of him.

His cold, threatening glance swept over the room, and left utter, stunned silence in its wake. In the sudden silence of the room, his soft, calm words seemed to ring and echo, sending shivers down the spine of every person there. "Out. I need to speak with my dear father." everyone lept for the closest door to them as if he'd shouted. Steve stared to back away, and head for a door at a much more leisurely pace. Stupid calm kid. Always so damn...calm. Tony had seen him show more emotion to a pop-tart for fuck's sake. To be fair, it was more in reaction to a God stuffing 4 of the things, still scalding hot, into his mouth and not dropping so much as a crumb, but still.

Still. This did in its own way concern Steve, too, so he quickly caught the young boys arm and gave him a quick smile that seemed to make the kid relax slightly. Damn, but this would probably be the only time he would ever be about to hold onto the Cap with one hand, and anchor him where he was, even if he'd struggled to get away. A flash of disappointment that he had not crossed his mind before he buried it under the more important matter at hand. Later, though, maybe he'd mess around with this small Steve, just because he could.

Shaking his head, he waited impatiently for the room to empty itself save the three men. Not that he had to wait long, of course, but he hated having to wait at all. Standing still in general was not something he tolerated well, but he crushed down the urge to dart around the room and find something to fiddle with. That would only do to destroy any impression of power he'd made on his father, and he intended to use ever bit that being Iron Man had ever given him. It was a pity he didn't have his suit. That would definitely shock and awe here. Oh well. No use wishing for the impossible.

Howards eyes bored into his, both taking in everything about the other, Steve standing next to Tony awkwardly. As much as it pained him, Tony stood still, silent. Refusing to break under those eyes that had mocked and haunted him though his life. Seconds ticked by, slowly becoming minutes, and Howard seemed to be getting more and more nervous as each passed in complete silence. Only Steve fidgeted, and glanced around as if looking for a way to escape the two men. Honestly Tony thought that his grip was the only thing that kept him there

Suddenly, Howard cracked, and dropped his gaze, sighing lightly before he spoke. Thankfully, in a more reasonable tone than minutes ago. Tony's head still pounded.

"What the hell do you mean that I'm your father? You have to be at least 5 years older than I am." Tony snickered, and his father snapped his mouth shut indigently.

" You do realize that flattery wont get you anywhere with me, dad." That that was all he'd strove for as a child was beside the point. " if I'm right, and I usually am, then you're probably about 24-25, right?" at Howards slightly shocked nod, he snorted. " then that would make me 15 years your senior in this instance." Both Howard's and Steve's eyes jumped wide and just stared at him, disbelieving. Well, if that wasn't an ego boost, nothing was. Smirking, he pretended not to notice their reactions. "As for the rest, that is in itself a little harder to explain."

He paused for a moment. He really shouldn't tell them about the future... that would probably end if screwing him over in the end, whether it would butterfly effect the future, and his life, or would simply make him look like a completely insane moron. Damn. That would mean he'd have to improvise. No sweat, he was good enough at that.

"Well, it all started a magical... wait, what day was it? Oh well, not an important part of the story. 'Twas a magical autumn evening, and most were sleeping soundly in their beds. Then, suddenly for any but a select few, gathered together by a secret organization, an army of alien beings attacked the earth. That group protected and saved the world, and came to live with me in my home, the Stark Tower." he glanced at Howard. The mans expression hadn't seemed to change. Much. Now he looked a bit confused, as well. At least he wasn't giving anything specific away. "While many of us got along, two of us... well, lets just say we exchanged harsh words, shall we?"

He wished he'd been able to stop his eyes from quickly snapping to Steve. It took all of half a second before he was staring Howard down again, but he felt Steves questioning stare burning into him. At least Howard hadn't seemed to notice.

"At any rate, I was working on a project in my lab, and seem to have made... a miscalculation." he said that sourly, his smirk becoming a grimace. To show the bewildered men that he wasn't as crazy as he sounded to be, he pushed back the sleeve covering his injured arm, having to release Steve in order to do so. Thankfully, he didn't move an inch. Well, other than to lean over to see his arm, then take a step back with a sick look on his face. Man, no one in this time could take the sight of an injury, honestly.

Howard studied it momentarily, then looked back up at him with only a small frown at the cool metal and dried blood imbedded in his arm.

Howard only looked at him for a few seconds before asking "well, how did you make this? How does it work?" He knew damn well that wasn't what the man had mean, but it was simply too good an opportunity to pass up annoying him.

"Well, obviously, it works badly. You think I like the smell of my own burning flesh?" That brought a wince, and a spark of anger into Howards eyes. " As for the how of it all... I really can't tell you." now, it was his turn to wince. Howard said nothing just gave him a look that insisted he explain before he had to ask. And Tony considered it, then sighed, and continued. "Well, to be honest, I can't remember much of the first three or four days working on it. I was kind of drunk off my ass."

Howard looked thoughtful, then a small smile graced his face. "Just what every parent wants to hear.." Steve choked off a laugh behind him, and he couldn't help but give a snort of amusement himself. Who knew. At one point in time, his father hadn't been a complete and total buzz-kill.

"Well, I had had one hell of a week. And I did have good scotch. What else could I have done." it didn't mean he didn't still hate his father, just that this version wasn't quite as bad. Besides, he needed to use him.

The two Stark men nodded to one another, probably for their own reasons, but that was the end of it. Howard accepted the story. Damn, it was nice sometimes to have a scientist as a father. And a drunk, it seemed. He accepted both the time-travel theory and the 'off his ass drunk' excuse without so much as batting an eyelid. Anyone else would have been A: disappointed and B: have him locked up in some sort of mad house.

Howard turned and walked towards one of the doors, sparing only a second to glance over his shoulder and call, "We'll speak more of this later, when we're not so busy. Steve, guard him, will you? And see that a doctor looks at that arm." Before he swept out of the door.

Tony turned to Steve and smirked as he tried to hide the shock and amazement that decorated his face.

Steve cleared his throat, and in a voice that Tony knew well, almost sounding too deep for such a small frame, said "Come on, we should really get that taken care of.." he started to move towards one of the back doors as the techs came back in, looking nervously at the pair, but stopped when Tony made no move to follow him.

"In a bit. I can ignore this for a bit, I want to see what you guys are working with." With that, Tony began stalking around the room, leaving Steve to follow him around like a slightly irritated puppy. Within moments, Tony had found the huge generator that ran the place, and grinned like a child on Christmas as he dropped gracefully onto his knees, then twisted himself on his back, skillfully pushing himself under the hot machine, much to the shock of everyone in the room. A quick glance was all it took to force a disgusted look onto his face. The wiring was messy, not producing nearly as much as it should have been, and the poor thing seemed to be groaning as it forced itself to run.

"Ugh, did a retarded monkey wire this generator!?" he intentionally spoke loud enough for at least Steve to hear him. Over the sound of this metal beast, he'd almost had to shout to make himself heard.

"Actually, I wired that generator." Howards voice was obviously angry now to anyone who heard it. Tony stuck his head out from under the machine just enough to arch one eyebrow at the man, and calmly said,

"Well, that explains that then." And went back to work with re-wiring, carefully covering his snickering. He heard a huff, and stomping, headed away from the generator, then a muffled laugh from Steve. Good thing the kid had kept it in until Howard was out of ear-shot... a harsh look might break him.

Smiling softly to himself, Tony worked one-handed with the machine, an easy feat for him, thankfully. He really didn't want to disturb his arm any more. Perhaps he should have let Steve take him to get it fixed up first. Oh well, too late now. At least if he was stuck here, for now, it would be fun. Maybe not for the others, of course.

"Oh, yes. This will be fun." Now, if only he had some proper music...

Well, that's all there is for this chapter, hope that you readers enjoyed and didn't find it too different from the previous chapters, like I said before, way too much WoT, so writing might be a bit off. Thank you for reading, and i'll try to get the next chapter up more quickly than this one.