I sat on the balcony rail as Nick and Tony sat in chairs in front of me. I looked behind them into the destroy burnt room caused by when Tony and I had our little showdown the other night.

"The thing in your chests are based on unfinished business." Nick said.

"No, it was finished." Tony said. "It never been particularly effective until I miniaturized it and put it in my. . ."

"No, Howard said the arc reactor was a stepping stone to something greater." Nick said. "He was about to kick off an energy race that was gonna dwarf the arms race. He was onto something big. Something so big that it was gonna make the nuclear reactor look like a triple A battery."

"Just him?" I questioned him. "Or was Anton Vanko in on it too?"

"Anton Vanko was the other side of that coin." Nick answered me. "Anton saw it as a way to get rich. When Howard found out, he had him deported. When the Russians found out that he couldn't deliver, they shipped his ass off to Siberia and he spent the next 20 years in a vodka-fueled rage. Not quite the environment you wanna raise a kid in. The son you had the misfortune of crossing paths with in Monaco."

"You told us that Amber hasn't tried everything. What hasn't she tried?" Tony asked.

"Your father, Amber." Nick said.

"What about my father?" I asked.

"Do you know why he went to Afghanistan in the first place?"

"No, family trip, I don't know."

"What did he do for a living?"

"He was a lawyer."

"Lawyer my ass. Did he travel a lot?"

"Yes."

"Did you know why?"

"No."

"He traveled a lot because he was always meeting up with Tony's father." I gaped at him, mouth opened and eyes wide.

"My father knew Howard Stark?"

"Yes, Howard came up with the idea of the reactor but he needed your father's resources. After Howard died, your father continued on the reactor idea and he went to Afghanistan to present a new idea to Obadiah. You remember him?"

"Yeah, what was the new idea?"

"Your father never had the chance to present it. Obadiah killed him so he could take the idea back over seas to Stark Industries and take credit."

"That's when it happened." I muttered, piecing it together and remembering that dreadful day.

"What happened?" Tony asked me.

"My father had left me, my mother and Annemarie at home one day. Told us that he would be back in a couple hours. Night fell and he never returned. My mother became worried when soldiers barged into our house and shot my mother on that very spot. Annemarie and I were then separated and that's when I got thrown into that place."

"Amber, your knowledge towards chemistry was all your father talked about. Tony, your knowledge towards physics was all your father talked about. Howard said you were the only person with the means and knowledge to finish what he started. Amber's father disagreed and said that if and when the time came, she could add on to that idea."

"He said that?" Tony and I questioned him at the same time.

"Mmm-hmm." Nick said. "Are you those people? Hmm? Are you? Cause if you two are, then you can solve the riddle of your hearts." Tony shook his head.

"I don't know where you're getting your information but he wasn't my biggest fan." Tony said.

"What do you remember about your dad, huh?" Nick asked him.

"He was cold, calculating. He never told me he loved me or even that he liked me. So it's a little tough to digest when you're telling me when he said the future was riding on me and he's passing it down to me. I don't get that. We're talking about a guy whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school."

"That's not true."

"Then clearly you know my dad better than I did." Two guys came up and set down a large gray case in front of Tony.

"As a matter of fact, I did. He was one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D." Nick said as he checked his watch before getting to his feet.

"What?" Tony questioned him surprised as he too got to his feet.

"I got a 2:00."

"Wait, wait, wait. What's this?" I asked pointing to the case.

"You two good, right?"

"No, I'm not." Tony said.

"Neither am I." I agreed, jumping from the rail and onto my feet.

"You got this, right?" Nick asked.

"Got what?" Tony asked. "I don't know what I'm suppose to get."

"Natasha will remain a floater at Stark with her cover intact." Nick said. "And you remember Agent Coulson, right?"

"Yeah," Tony and I answered quietly. Nick began to walk away from us but stopped and turned back to us.

"Oh, and Tony, Amber, I got my eye on you." He left then.

"We disabled all communications. No contact with the outside world. Good luck." Natasha said before disappearing too. Tony turned to the agent.

"Please, first I'm gonna need a little body work." Tony said. "I'll put a little time into the lab. If you could send one of your goon squad down to the Coffee Bean for a Starbucks run or something, that'd be nice."

"I'm not here for that." Coulson said. "I've been authorized by Director Fury to use any means to keep you on premises. If you attempt to leave or play any games, I will tase you and watch Super Nanny while you drool into the carpet. Ok?"

"I think I got, yeah."

"Enjoy your evening's entertainment." Coulson disappeared too. Tony turned and looked at me.

"Ooooh, he told you." I said.