When Tony finally gets back to the house it's swarming with agents in black suits. He yells at them in annoyance, but then stops short, because right in the middle is Natalie in a catsuit, directing them. She's a spy. For SHIELD, maybe, but she's still a spy. SHIELD were spying on him. What for? Why did they think they needed to, he's not exactly hiding anything from Phil. Well, that he's dying, but he's not told anyone, not even Happy. Do they think he's a threat or something?
Phil didn't tell him about this. That thought hurts. Reasonably, Tony knows Phil has to do his job. But he can't think of any good reason SHIELD could have to be spying on him. And Phil was the one who dealt with him. So was it on his recommendation, or what? It feels like another betrayal, one more to add to the list. Tony shakes his head to himself. Why did he ever think trusting a secret agent would be a good idea. These guys lie for a living.
He doesn't want to deal with this on top of everything with Pepper.
Natalie steps over to him and Tony glares at her. "You're fired."
She rolls her eyes. "Director Fury would like to speak with you. He's concerned."
Tony raises an eyebrow. "That's nice for him. Is it painful?"
"It's not as painful as you might think," the Director's voice says from behind him and Tony tries to hide the way he jumps.
"Why are you invading my house?"
"You disappeared. With your increasingly erratic behaviour recently, that gave us cause for concern."
"Most people try asking nicely," Tony shoots back, throwing himself down onto his couch. "They don't set spies on to someone who hasn't even been given the chance to cooperate."
Fury actually has the audacity to roll his eye and Tony scowls at him.
"We are helping you here Stark. You have a problem. I might just have a way for you to fix it."
Tony fixes the Director with a scrutinising look. "Okay, cut it with the cryptic crap already. You worked it out? Bully for you. Except I'm the expert here, Nick. There is no solution. You think I haven't been looking hard enough? Contrary to what everyone seems to think, I don't actually have a death wish."
Fury doesn't seem at all put out and that just irritates Tony more. "Really? Because you're acting like you have nothing left to live for. But I don't think that's true."
Tony wants to tell him that it is true, just for the sake of arguing, because he's really pissed off right now, but he knows he can't. Because he's got Pepper to live for. Except Fury can't know that, can he? "What do you-"
Fury interrupts him before he can ask though. "Anyway, that's not what I'm here to say, Stark. I'm telling you, you haven't been looking in the right places."
That distracts Tony and he raises a sarcastic eyebrow. "Oh really? You know of some other expert in arc reactor technology I should be consulting?"
Fury doesn't say anything, he just waves a hand and an agent marches in and deposits a metal trunk in front of Tony and disappears again. Tony's too distracted to notice Natalie sneaking up behind him until she stabs him in the neck.
"Ow, fuck!" Tony turns to stare at her in alarm, slapping a hand against his neck. (Which just makes it worse. Predictably.) "What did you just do to me?"
"Lithium dioxide. It abates the symptoms. Should increase your productivity," Natalie answers succinctly.
"What are you, a doctor?" Tony scowls.
"Agent Natasha Romanoff. I'm a SHIELD Shadow. Once we knew you were sick, I was tasked to you by Director Fury."
"How'd you know I was sick?" Tony asks instantly. "Scratch that, how did you know about any of this?" No answer is forthcoming. That tells him it was Phil for sure and Tony looks down, trying to tell himself that doesn't hurt. He knows Phil has a job that often has conflicting interests, but to send in a spy...
"Alright. You have my attention," he says finally, tone still cold. These guys had just broken into his home - they'd been spying in him, for god's sake. He has a right to be pissed.
"How much do you remember about your father?"
Tony frowns. This is not where he wants this conversation to go. He's sick of hearing about his father, his damn legacy. The only legacy that man had left him with was an inability to love. Or at least, the inevitability of hurting the ones you loved. "How is this relevant?"
"Your father worked with Anton Vanko to develop the arc reactor. But he saw it as a stepping stone to something greater. He was about to kick off an energy race that was going to dwarf the arms race. He was onto something big, something so big it was going to make the nuclear reactor look like a triple A battery. He said, you were the only person with the means and knowledge, to finish what he started," Fury explains in a matter-of-fact way.
Tony can't believe that. His father? He was not the type of guy to say that about his waste of a son. "No he didn't."
"I can assure you he did. You were his greatest hope."
Tony can't stop the incredulous laugh at the ridiculousness of that. "He said that to you?"
"I knew him pretty well. He was one of the founding members of SHIELD."
That is news to Tony. So nobody had thought to tell him that when he first got involved with SHIELD. Great. How many secrets were going to be revealed today? Clearly he couldn't be trusted with anything. "Okay. Fine. What the hell do you want me to do?"
Fury shrugs. "You can figure this out." He points at the trunk. "It's all in there." He nods at Tony. "You might want to get to work sooner rather than later."
So this was what was happening now, was it? Fury was going to feed him that line of crap about his father, tell him absolutely nothing and leave? Really? "Hey, come on, you can't just..."
"You need to figure this out, no distractions. Agent Romanoff will remain here with her cover intact, Agent Coulson-" Tony winces "-will be supervising you."
Tony turns away as he sees Phil walk in to the room. He watches Natasha leave, taking most of the agents with her. Only Phil's left, but Tony doesn't want to talk to him. He turns again, trying to ignore Phil's presence, and comes face to face with Pepper. He blinks in surprise for a moment. She still doesn't look happy with him.
"You can't ignore him, Tony. That won't help. You can't ignore your problems," she adds pointedly. "He's a good man. You know that."
Tony shakes his head bitterly and picks up the trunk, heading straight for his lab. He's still far too angry right now. Pepper still manages to stop him with a hand on his shoulder. "Talk to him."
Tony sighs. Even now she has so much power over him. What did he have to say to the guy who had sent a spy into his home? Who hadn't trusted him, and so had betrayed the trust Tony had in him? But eventually he turns to face Phil. The agent looks apologetic, regretful even, but Tony just wants to punch him. "A spy," he says flatly.
Phil almost winces. "I was against the idea..." he starts, but Tony isn't in good enough a mood right now to let him explain himself out of this.
"Whatever. But you only had to ask, y'know?"
"Tony, let him try," Pepper tries to convince him, but Tony scowls at her.
"I don't have to let him try anything," he retorts heatedly. Phil looks between him and, presumably, empty space from his point of view.
"Tony..." He trails off at the cold glare Tony gives him. Tony then shifts the trunk in his arms and stalks out of the room. This doesn't matter. (He wishes it were honestly possible to convince himself of that. Why can't his brain be logical?) After all, he has work to do. He has to fix his heart. Because otherwise he'll never find Pepper, and with everything that's happened today, he wants that more than anything.
A/N – So to those of you asking and waiting patiently (or impatiently, whichever) for Pepper to be found... yeah, I'm afraid you're going to have to wait a little longer. But only a couple more chapters, I promise! Tony's just got a bit more to get through first. After all, this is primarily Tony's story. If you're impatient, blame him! ;) And thanks a load to everyone who's still reading this and reviewing. It means a lot to me!