I knew this song and dance. I knew what she would do this time.

...I think.

So as I dreamt on, and saw her face staring back at me from an ornate mirror, I knew what to do.

"He'll hate you." My reflection made a sinister grin. I gave a withered glare back. "For turning into me."

She'd been doing this for ages. "I am nothing like you." I seethed. Though, there wasn't a lot of heat behind it. "I'm not you."

The reflection smiled darkly, showing off her white teeth. "Yet."

==NM2==

My phone started ringing. It woke up from an otherwise terrifying dream. I clicked the green button.

"Hello?" I mumbled, pushing myself up in bed. Nothing happened. Plus there was still a ringing.

With annoyance, I reached for my Infinity Bag. Stretching my arm out to reach inside, my fingers touched a buzzing phone.

I pulled out an old style flip phone. It belonged to Mr Spencer- before he got an iPhone and left this just lying around for any person to take.

Answering the phone, I hit speaker. "What the fuck do you want. I'm busy you over-privileged whore."

No response.

I clicked the phone shut. Tossing the flip phone back in the Bag I muttered swears about stupid whores.

"Miss, I feel I should alert you to the intruder at your window."

My eyes widened. 'Did she really just try to Scream phone-call me? That bitch is dead.'

Getting out of bed, I stumbled around my room to look for a shirt. Or at least not-pajamas.

"Should I notify the police or Sir?"

"Neither. I know who it is." I sighed, deciding on a blue sweater. "Open the window before she smashes it. If you don't mind, JARVIS."

"Very well."

A panel on the wall of windows slid open.

I let out a sigh. "There. Are you hap-"

The intruder threw a knife to my face.

I swore, ducking to the side to avoid the blade. My own hand glowed bright yellow. "Great! Now I have to repaint that!" I blasted it her way.

She was standing in front of the open window, so the most I could see was her silhouette from the streaming sunlight. I used my own energy to attack her other knives, luckily not causing more damage to the room.

After one blast, the backlash of it sent the intruder flying off into my wall.

I huffed in annoyance. "JARVIS. Lights. 50 percent."

"Yes Miss."

"And JARVIS? Blind Eye Protocol."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely."

The room lit up, showing me in better detail what she looked like.

It was a woman with dark skin, wavy blonde hair, and dark purple eyes. She was dressed up for a night on the town, with a dark green I'm gonna say pantsuit except with shorts instead of pants. There was a gold belt around her waist, and she was wearing matching gold heels and earrings.

I stared at her in surprise.

The woman smirked. "I'm Nikette Stevens, but you're gonna call me Nikki." Her purple eyes glinted in mischief. "Miss me, sis?"

"...you idiot! You broke Rule #14!"

Nikki groaned up to the ceiling. "Its just one time-"

"No wonder I kicked your ass like it was nothing! You wore hooker heels!" I ranted, rushing up to her side to smack her.

Nikki blocked me- with her arm, so I got to hit something. "Ow! They looked cute!"

"Only Pepper Potts can wear heels because she can murder with those things!"

"I could too!" Nikki yelled.

"Like hell you will!"

"Alright! Alright! They're off!"

I blasted them with energy, leaving nothing but a smoldering pile of plastic.

Nikki glared at me. Those stopped being scary when she was six.

==NM2==

The rest of the day was a chaotic mess to say the least.

Or, when I'd managed to not kill Nikki for an hour. A real trial. She was getting too fast to catch.

When we both settled down it was time for breakfast.

Nikki sauntered into the kitchen. She had brought her suitcase in the night before, so she wouldn't borrow my clothes. Good thing too- Nikki tended to get blood or sexual fluids all over her clothes. She was wearing a dark red knight top with shoulderless sleeves, a gray mini skirt, and a pair of high heeled boots.

I sneered at her, genuinely disgusted. She sneered right back.

"High heeled boots are the exception." Nikki reminded me, as she hopped onto the counter. "Remember? Cause I did learn to fight in them."

"How the fuck does that make a difference to me right now?" I asked her, walking past to get inside the kitchen. My need for food was stronger than her will to annoy. "Whatever. I'm tired. You make me tired."

Nikki snickered. "You're an old hag. Waking up makes you tired."

"That is the depression and you know it." I accused. Nikki gave to argument to that. "What do you need to consume?"

"The unborn." Nikki answered. "Along with flesh stripes of the damned."

"Eggs and bacon, got it. Drink?"

"Smoothie." Nikki answered. "Strawberry, maidservant. Chop-chop."

"Make it yourself. I'll get the unborn." I remarked, going to the fridge. "But you have to cook-"

"I know I have to cook the bacon." Nikki hopped off the counter. She began searching the cupboards for the smoothie mixes. Yes I had those- for all the crappy ones that Dummy would make so that I could make proper ones that just looked like his. It has saved my life on many a day. "Cause the smell of meat still makes you gag like me in middle school."

I gagged at the unfortunate accompanying mental images. "Oh I hate you." Pulling out the eggs, I walked to the stove.

Nikki just hummed- indifferent. "How much-"

"Four scoops of the dust, two cups of ice, then 16 oz of water." I answered without thought. "I know it's double. I want one too."

"If I make you a smoothie, you have to make-"

"I'm already making you eggs and giving you free board. What, do I need to bring you guys to fuck?"

Nikki grinned, dumping in the ingredients. "Wow. So generous." She pushed the cap on it.

"Hey wait no I didn't mean-" My phone rang- buzzing annoyingly. I answered it. "Hello?" Nothing. It was the wrong phone again. "Author's Name- didn't I get custom ringtones?"

"Maybe your phone is stupid." Nikki chuckled.

"Shut up, whore." I took the other phone- the StarkPhone- answering it. "This is she- who deigns to be heard?"

Pepper's voice came through. "Your father is a-"

Nikki turned on a blender. It screeched, cutting off whatever Pepper was saying.

"What?" I pushed the phone closer to my ear. Also leaving the room, any distance away from the chaos that was my sister. "Pepper could you repeat that?"

"Did he really just donate my modern arts college toon to the Boy Scouts of America?!" Pepper asked. "Because that's what this is telling me! Did you know about this?"

"No I did not." I replied, annoyed as the blender got louder. Now I had two family members to hurt. "I'll deal with it, Pepper in a- don't you dare!" I snapped at Nikki.

Nikki pretended not to hear me.

"Those are MY dino shaped oatmeal packets and I swear- look I gotta go."

"You better tell him-"

"What?! Why do I have to tell him?!"

"I'm sick this morning- which sucks because if I wasn't sick I could've stopped him from doing something this stupid!"

I'll deal with it later. Gotta go." I ended the call, marching off to the kitchen. "Whore put the oatmeal away!"

"Fine. I'll have vodka for breakfast." Nikki countered. She went to look for it.

"No! No alcohol for breakfast! We were having eggs and bacon like normal pe- I know, I know we're not normal people don't give me that look! Fine! Take the fucking oatmeal. See if I care!"

Nikki smirked, like the brat I should've left in that apartment where I found her all twenty years ago.

"You know what? I don't even have time for all your shit. I have to deal with my half of the gene chain." I stormed out of the kitchen, running towards the lab.

Nikki laughed the entire time.

==NM2==

I typed in my code.

"Miss it's important to know-"

"I don't give one full shit." I growled. The door opened. Just as it did the music cut off.

Tony was sitting in front of the computers, which were all on screen saver mode. If I didn't already know he was dying, I would be even more pissed than I already am. "Nu-uh!" He scolded, before starting to chug down the smoothie.

"Unscrew this mess!" I yelled at him. Showing him my phone screen, I showed the most recent call was Pepper. "Pepper is one step away from murdering you with her heels. You know what? I'm inclined to help!"

"I'm actually really busy, right now, so if you could wait-" Tony requested.

"No way. Nu-uh. I am not dealing with Angry Pepper. That's your job as the boyfriend, to deal with Angry Pepper!"

Tony ignored that remark. "Keep your business." He instructed me, getting up and walking away from his table.

"She said you donated her entire modern art collection to the-" I ranted.

"Boy Scouts of America." Tony supplied.

"-Boy Scouts of America?" I continued to rant.

Tony stood up, backing away from me. He toyed with the many Iron Man holograms scattered around the place, disposing of the upgrades he didn't like. "Yes. It is a worthwhile organisation. I didn't physically check the crates but, basically, yes. And it's not 'her' collection, it's my collection."

"No, you know what? I think I'm actually entitled to say 'Pepper's' collection considering the time that she put in, over ten years, curating that. That's almost half my life."

"It was a tax write-off. I needed that." Tony explained. "And I thought you don't like the art collection."

"It doesn't matter that I don't like it!" I ranted, still stalking towards him. "What matters is that Pepper does! Besides that, there are more important things to yell at you about!"

Nikki upstairs, probably drinking vodka for breakfast anyway.

The fact that you're dying and trying to hide it from me.

Ivan Vanko coming to the Expo soon.

Did I mention that you're a lab-hog?

"Where is Pepper?" Tony asked.

"She had a cough- she stayed home." I answered. Tony walked towards Dummy. "Come on- will you just talk to me for five minutes?"

"Dummy. Hey, stop spacing out. The Bridgeport's already machining that part." Tony instructed Dummy, completely ignoring me.

"You're hogging the lab. My suit needs upgrades- and I have other projects I want to work on. That's hard to do when you never let me use the lab." I remarked.

"There's plenty of time for you to have the lab!" Tony countered. "Just got a few things to finish up for the Expo."

"Really? You care about the Expo?" I snarked.

In the movie, he totally does. It makes sense that he would care. Now though it seemed like every part of it was pushed on me or Pepper. My Stark inbox was full of emails talking about the Expo, events, security, background checks, hell even food fenders emailing me about shit I don't have time for.

Now I have Nikki upstairs. She's being a pain in the ass- which isn't unusual, it's actually therapeutic to yell at her- that I would like to stop being a pain in the ass.

Plus a father-figure who has decided to just up and die without telling me, probably thinking I don't already know. Despite being the one that put the damn thing in his chest in the first place via car battery and loose scrap. Does he really think so low of his own kid?

"Pepper is sick? Did you talk to her? Same room as her? I need you to wear a surgical mask. Just in case. Is that okay?" Tony asked, ignoring me in general.

"You know where you can shove that surgical mask?" I snapped at him.

"There's nothing more important to me than the Expo." He continued. "It's my primary point of concern." 'Yeah cause clearly telling me you're dying isn't important.' "I don't know why you're-"

"Because you're not talking to me! Because the Expo isn't my brain child, it's your's! So why the hell am I doing everything?" I ranted.

Tony went over to the 'Hope' themed Iron Man painting. My own as Night Mistress was hanging up in my bedroom- mostly to cover up the damage the earlier fight had caused. "Wow. Look at that. That's modern art. That's going up."

"Without a doubt. It's the next Mona Lisa." I snarked. Cause it did look great...just...could he stick with me...before we both died?

"I'm gonna put this up right now. This is vital." Tony stated. He started a rushed walk down the lab.

"Alright fine. Since I'm clearly talking to myself- or Dummy, am I talking to Dummy?"

The bot whirred my way.

"No, no. Dummy no. Go back. Make him another smoothie- like JARVIS tells you how. Don't- don't give me that look, I'm mad at him not you. You're precious and deserve all the love, you dumb baby." I assured him. Dummy hummed in delight, whirring off. Then I went back to ranting at Tony, who was staring up at the painting. "Okay. Can we talk now?"

"Huh?" Tony turned to me.

"Are you actually listening now or are you just gonna replace the painting that Pepper likes?"

Tony put down the Barnett Newman, hanging on the Hopeful Iron Man. "Let's see what I can get going on here."

"Okay. Art is not our strong point. You already ignored me on the lab. Do I need to a pull a Pepper and ask about the company?"

"No." Tony hopped off the counter. I walked up to his side, looking at the art. Tony turned away from me- which I figured was because he didn't want me to know he was sick. "Company's fine. Our stocks have never been higher."

"Pepper and I were talking last night- and I watch the news. We're fine from a managerial standpoint." I corrected him plainly.

"You are...Well, if's messy then let's double back." Tony shrugged.

I tilted my head. "How? We already awarded contracts to the wind farm-"

"Yeah. Don't say 'wind farm.' I'm already feeling gassy." Tony requested.

"And to the plastic plantation tree, which was your idea by the way. No matter how you try to spin it to Pepper. It was your idea. Your's." I wagged my finger his way. "We give those people a paycheck-"

"Everything was my idea." Tony beamed.

"-oh no you don't you piece of shit, I came up with a whole ton of crap that you don't get to poach." Was my automatic warning. "Clean energy? My idea. No weapons? My idea. Do I need to get into the other technicalities? Pepper has the list- hell I bet JARVIS has the list."

"I do, Miss."

"See?!"

"I don't care about the liberal agenda any more." Tony actually turned to look at me, but all I could think about was the arc reactor shining from his shirt with the veins turning a sickly gray. "It's boring. Boring. I'm giving you a boring alert. You do it."

Though the words went over my head, I let out a tired sigh. "Do...do what?" My hand reached for my head, pressing at a growing headache. "Fix it? It's a hard thing to fix."

"Excellent idea. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Tony rambled. "I just figured this out. You run the company."

Slowly, the start-up noise went off in my head. "Yeah, I'm trying to help Pepper run the company. You know- the woman who called me bec-"

"Becky, I need you to run the company." Tony insisted.

"Pepper and I are trying-"

"Well, stop trying to do it and do it."

"You will not give me the information-"

"I'm not asking you to try-"

"-in order to-"

"I'm asking you to physically do it. I need you to do it."

"I am trying to do it!" I snapped. "Trying to s-

"Becky, you're not listening to me!"

"No, you are not listening to me!"

"I'm trying to make you CEO." Tony revealed. I gawked. "Why won't you let me?"

"...I don't-" I don't want this company if it's an exchange for you. It's not worth it. Nothing's worth that. I'm not even Becky Stark. Even if I was, she wouldn't trade a company for a father. You of all people should know what that's like. "-no."

Tony grinned, as if mishearing me made everything he was saying better. He reached over to put a hand on my shoulder, stopping at the last second to let his hand hover over me. "I hereby irrevocably appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries effective immediately." He clapped his hands together, while my eyes moved towards the Hopeful Iron Man. "Yeah, done deal. Okay? I've actually given this a fair amount of thought, believe it or not."

Of course you have

You're dying

Settling affairs is just how things go for you

Don't go.

This universe will suck without you.

"Doing a bit of headhunting, so to speak, trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be. And then I realized it's you. It's always been you." Tony explained, picking up a bottle of champagne.

"But...you're still not-" I sat myself down. My entire body suddenly tired as I came to an awful conclusion.

Maybe...my being here is making him more okay with dying.

Maybe knowing he's leaving behind a good legacy is changing him.

Fuck.

Fuck me.

Fuck no this won't be how it ends.

"I thought there'd be a legal issue, but actually I'm capable of appointing my successor. My successor being you. The next generation of Stark, taking up the family business." Tony held out a glass of champagne to me. So instead all I did was stare at it. "Congratulations? Take it, just take it."

"I don't want to take it." I argued weakly, glaring up at him with eyes too sad to be fierce.

"You're not taking it. You're getting it. Just a little earlier than expected. There you go." Tony made sure the glass was in my hands while he sat down next to me. "You're legal, right? That was a thing?"

"...born in '88, it's '09...I turn 21 in September." I stated, still kinda thrown by the...company dumped in my lap.

Tony's smile was more sad now, better hidden behind a poker face that made me shatter inside. He tapped his glass to mine.

While he drank his, there was someone knocking on glass.

I looked over my shoulder, seeing Nikki standing there with a look of complete betrayal. She shook her head at me. Groaning, I pushed myself to my feet.

"Hey. Who's that?"

"That would be Miss Stevens, Sir. A guest to Miss Stark."

Opening the door for her, I blocked her entry to the lab.

"You said no alcohol for breakfast." She accused.

"I said no vodka for breakfast." At her presence, I was emboldened to drink the champagne. Nikki scoffed in disgust. "Champagne is not vodka."

"Guess you would know, the alcoholic of the family." Nikki turned her nose at me, looking only more betrayed.

"Guess you would know about swallowing stuff, being the whore of the family." I had another sip of champagne.

Tony walked up. "When did she get here?"

"Last night." We both answered.

"...Becks you know I support you-"

"What?" I turned to him. Nikki tilted her head in confusion.

Tony was looking over at me then Nikki. "If you...like a specific thing-"

Nikki snorted. "Dude. He thinks you're gay."

"What?!" I flinched away from them both. "Oh no. Hell no!" Nikki opened her mouth for a joke, immediately closing it and lookin horrified. "See! SEE!? You just thought it and it's disgusting!"

"Ugh, so gross." Nikki shuddered. "I'm not her girlfriend. Never will be. Never want to be."

"Oh. Okay." Tony glanced at me. "But...um...so-"

"I don't want a girlfriend." I replied, swallowing a lot more alcohol now. "You know how Mom dumped me on you?" I remarked. Nodding my now empty glass to Nikki, I made towards the champagne bottle. "She did it to her dad too."

Nikki waved at Tony, who was looking much more relieved.

But I didn't want to think about why he was relieved.

Was it because it didn't turn out he would have to have that talk with his twenty year old daughter?

Or...was it because he knew I would still have family when he was gone?

==NM2==

AN: I love you 3000...the universe will definitely suck without you...jfc I'm gonna experience Emotions.

Thanks to Alyria022011 and OPG609POOG for favoriting and following

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