(DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from Marvel.

~:~

A few hours and rounds of Mario Kart later, JARVIS said, "Miss, Mr. Stark has returned fromhis trip."

I clearly wasn't paying attention, because the next thing I heard was Tony shouting, "Who are you?"

I looked away from the game, "Oh, hey, Uncle Tony!" He just gave me a look and pointed to Clint. "Um, that's Clint. And, no, he is not my boyfriend. He's totally ancient."

Clint glared at me. "Dude, I'm 39."

I gestured to Clint. "See! Ancient."

"Whatever. I just want to know who the heck he is."

"He's a friend I met through work," I said putting my hands on my hips.

Tony looked over my shoulder. "What's your last name 'Clint'?"

I put myself between the two."Tony, you can trust him. Do you think I would bring him here if I didn't?"

"FIne! He can stay, just keep him out of the lab." He pointed his finger at me.

"Aye aye, Captain!" I dramatically saluted.

Tony just rolled his eyes and walked down to the lab.

I looked over to the woman who came in with them. "You must be the new assistant. I'm Angie" I offered my hand.

She shook it. "Natalie."

I looked over to Clint who kept glancing back in forth between the tv and her. "Natalie, huh." Clint noticed me staring and glued his eyes to the screen. "Well, I'll let you get back to work. Good luck."

"I'll take all the luck I can get. It was a pleasure to meet you."

"You too." After Natalie walked off, i plopped down next to Clint and glared at him.

"What?"

"You know her or something?"

"Classified."

"She the undercover?"

"That's classified."

"I'll take that as a yes."

He just rolled his eyes. "You gonna play or what? Wanna another chance to beat the master."

"Oh, it's on old man."

~:~

A FEW DAYS LATER

I walked towards Tony's room and saw Natalie helping him get ready for his birthday party.

"Can I ask you a question, hypothetically? Bit odd. If this was your last birthday party you were ever gonna have, how would you celebrate it?"

"I'd do whatever I wanted to do with whoever I wanted to do it with." Natalie walked out. When she noticed me, she nudged her head in his direction.

I nodded and walked in.

"Hey, kid. Ready to party?"

"Not really. But i'll try since it's your day."

"That's the spirit!" He took a swig of his scotch as he walked out.

I grabbed his arm. "What is going on with you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The excessive drinking, the wild attitude, everything!"

"Well, one, the drinking has always been a thing. Two, the whole attitude thing is-."

"Tony, I know about the palladium."

"I dont know what your talking about."

"I know it's killing you, and you haven't told anybody."

"That's crazy."

"Just like you are right now."

"I-."

"I almost lost you once. Don't make me lose you again." I said walking out.

~:~

During the party, Pepper ran to me frantically. "I need your help. NOW."

I was confused but I followed her. Tony was in his Iron Man suit, drunk off his butt.

"I don't know what to do."

"Me either. Wanna take a breather?"

"Yes, please."

As we walked out, we bumped into Rhodey.

"Hey, Pepper. Hey, Ange."

I smiled. "We're going to get some air."

Rhodey asked, "What's wrong?"

We walked over to where we could see Tony. Pepper said,"We don't know what to do."

"You gotta be kidding me," he said as Tony fell over, drunk. "That's it, I'm making…."

I grabbed the phone from his hand. "No, no, no. Don't call anyone."

"Angie. This is ridiculous. I just stuck my neck out for him."

Pepper shook her head frantically. "We know. We get it. We're gonna handle it, okay! Just let us handle it."

Rhodey grabbed his phone. "Handle it. Or I'm gonna have to."

We nodded and Pepper headed over to Tony.

Tony's voice came through the speakers. "You know, the question I get asked most often is, 'Tony, how do you go to the bathroom in the suit?' Just like that."

Pepper yelled to the crowd, "Does this guy know how to throw a party or what?"

Tony muttered something to her.

"Unbelievable! Thank you so much. Tony, we all thank you so much for such a wonderful night. And we're gonna say good night now, and thank you all for coming."

They started to argue about something and finally he said, "Pepper Potts. She's right. The party's over. Then again, the party was over for me, like, an hour and a half ago. The after-party starts in 15 minutes. And if anybody, Pepper, doesn't like it, there's the door." His repulsor blasts the door.

Rhodey storms off towards the lab. I follow hot on his trail. He got in one of the suits.

"What are you doing?"

"The only thing I can do." He said as the face mask closed

"He's not going to be happy."

"Does it look like I care?" He heads off towards tony in his own mark suit.

When I got back to the party, I saw Rhodey and Tony fight it out . Clint ran up to me, "Where the heck have you been? We need to get out now!"

I shook my head, "No way. I'm leaving these two to duke it out."

"RHodes knows what he's doing. We need to go." He grabbed my arm dragging me out.

We headed towards my car. Clint took my keys and got in the driver's side.

I got in, slamming the door behind me. "Where are we going?"

"Away." He started the ignition.

He was really starting to get on my nerves. "Clint! Tell me now!"

"Let's just get out of here first." He sped off, saying nothing else.

"Fine," I said, watching the house fade out of view.

~:~

"SHIELD?"

"Yep. They have to debrief you."

"Okay….cool." I was completely mesmerized.

A booming voice broke my trance."Ms. Jarvis," the man said. "Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD."

I muttered to Clint,"When you said 'debrief', I thought it would be Coulson interrogating me. Not the king of the spies."Clint snorted.

Fury chuckled, "King of the spies? You definitely are a Stark."

I winced. "Sorry, I thought you couldn't hear that. Guess the Stark genes were bound to rub off on me."

"I can tell. Now, if you'll follow me, we need to you to get us up to speed on your uncle's condition."

I motioned for him to lead the way.

We got to his office and sat down. "So, I'm sure Coulson told you of his condition."

"Yes, sir."

"What do you got?"

"Nothing. I can't find anything."

"Have you asked any of your colleagues?"

"Yes, but they said there isn't any known element that can replace the palladium."

The one-eyed man just grinned.

"Are you saying there is?"

"Maybe."

I was growing frustrated. "Okay! Stop with the spy-talk!"

"Ms. Jarvis, have you ever thought of anything unknown?"

"An unknown element?" I laughed. "There is no way we would discover one,let alone create one, in time."

"But someone might."

"Someone like…."

"Well, Stark's a genius, isn't he?"

"He may be a genius, Fury. If he looking for something, he would have already."

"That is where we come in."

I furrowed my brows,"How?"

"Tony had to get his genius from somewhere."

"Howard? How's he gonna help? He's kind of, like, DEAD!"

"But his files aren't."

"Okay, do it." I stood up and grabbed my things. "Well, if that's all you needed to know, then I guess I'll be going," I saluted.

Fury stood up, "Actually, I have something for you, too."

I furrowed my brows, confused.

Fury nodded to Clint, and Clint walked off, coming back with a file box.

"What's this?"

"A key to your past."

I opened it and pulled out a journal.

Property of Jeanette Margaret Jarvis

"How'd you get this?"

"SHIELD came across your mother around the time you were born."

"What for?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Why?"

He looked me straight in the eyes. "When your mother found out she was sick, she made me promise that I would never tell you. She wanted you to tell you in her own words."

I didn't totally understand his reasons but I nodded. Throwing the journal back in the box, i grabbed the box and headed for the door. I whipped back around to ask, "Why did you assign Barton to me?"

"Another promise I made to your mother."

"What was that?"

"That I would keep you safe."

I nodded and Barton followed me, taking the box from me.

~:~

Thanks for reading see y'all next time.