It's not what it looks like

Natasha paced up and down in the living room waiting for Tony. She was wearing her office attire as she had kept her cover as an employee at the Stark Industries. She had been Pepper's P.A, mainly to protect her. Everybody knew Ironman had a weak spot and everybody knew she was it. So, she needed someone far more trained for the job but even Natasha had failed.

What Tony could possibly want? Their last meeting had not ended very well. He had refused to attend the funeral and she had been so pissed she had showed up in the very same living room and had kicked his ass so bad he spent another week in the hospital. She had been angry. Pepper had been her friend and she didn't deserve that, neither her nor their kids. She was really angry and Tony just happened to add the cherry on the top of cake.

They hadn't talked since then. None of the Avengers dared to show up. Then, suddenly she gets a phone call from Jarvis to show up in his penthouse fast and incognito. That meant only one thing, trouble.

Boy was she the one to get into trouble.

"Oh, Ms. Rushman, we're leaving at once." Tony said appearing in the room.

Natasha was taken aback not only by the use of her undercover name but by the looks of Tony. He still looked unsteady with that cane but he was fresh washed and shaved and seemed like his confidence had returned.

"What do you want, Stark? Why did you call me?" she asked crossing her hands in front of her.

"You're still my employee; I have the right to call you whenever I want." Tony said walking towards the bar. Natasha eyed him carefully. She had promised Pepper that if something happened she would make sure Tony would not go back to his old shelf.

"Blueberry." Tony explained purring a glass.

"Tell me what's going on or I promise to God you will never get rid of that cane." She said pretty serious. Tony signaled her to sit down. He found it difficult to walk these days. He really needed to practice more.

"I got a lead. James Hoover, Paris." He said and gave her a file.

"Who is he?" she asked him. She wasn't impressed he had found a lead before anyone else. He was Tony Stark after all.

"He's the one that programmed the missiles. They were the bait, to get me there." Tony explained. He looked very serious and focused.

"We can interrogate him and find the others." She said and Tony nodded.

"Why did you call me?" She asked him.

"No offence sweetheart but if I was in a position to get there and break his neck I would do this whole thing all by my self. As you see, though, I'm not capable of doing so just yet and I can't wait. I want you to help me and I want no one to know about it." Tony said his brown eyes looking very dark. He knew Natasha's dark past and that's why he had chosen her. She wasn't sure if he cared about her skills or her ability to kill so easy.

"Why do you think I'll do it?" she asked putting the file on the table.

"I don't think, you will do it." Tony said and he was right. She had agreed from the moment she had walked in. Pepper had been her friend and she was a good person. She wanted to avenge them all.

"I've scheduled a flight in three hours; we're supposed to make a professional trip to Paris. Pack your things and meet me at the airport in precisely three hours." He said and left. Natasha nodded and left as well.

She hoped they had a plan.

She drove to her apartment and grabbed the black bag she hid in the wardrobe, changed in a pair of black leather pants, a blue T-shirt and a jacket and left. She sent a memo to the office informing that she would be away with Mr. Stark and sent a message to the agency that she had to go away on a business trip. Further information was not required. Of course Fury did not buy and made his appearance to the airport.

He stood right in front of the gate waiting for her.

"What's going on, Romanoff? What is Stark up to?" He asked her in his firm tone.

"A business meeting in Paris." She answered. She was an ace when it came to lying.

"Stark doesn't go to meetings and I don't think he was in a condition to attend one the last time I saw him." Fury said.

"Work therapy." She answered and tried to leave.

"Why you? Why doesn't he take that kid, Rogers?" Fury asked. Natasha knew that no matter what she told him he would not believe her. He was smarter than that but she had promised.

"Rail-head is very whine-y, he whines all the time and he asks too many questions." Tony answered out of nowhere, hiding his blood shot eyes behind his glasses.

"Life goes on, right? I can't let what we build all these years fall apart now can I? It would be a blasphemy." Tony said and without another word he walked to the plane. Natasha followed him leaving Fury behind. He hadn't bought it and he would follow them, that was for sure and Tony knew it.

He was in a field, a beautiful field full of flowers. He could hear a small river passing by and children laughing. He followed the voices to the bank of the river where several children were playing. He tried to recognize them but he knew none. A group of adults was sitting by the bank having some kind of picnic. They were well dressed like they belonged in some kind of movie during the '20s. They wore suits and hats and the ladies held umbrellas. It was really weird. Tony looked down at himself. He looked terrible, like he was some kind of beggar. His clothes were torn and dirty and his hands were full of wounds only his boots seemed to be brand new. How did he get there and why was he in such a bad condition? He approached the group thinking they could help him.

"Excuse me, where am I?" he asked but as soon as they saw him they screamed and ran away.

"Hey, where are you going?" he yelled and ran after them. He followed them to a small cottage. It was made of stone and had wooden balconies all over. There were three big trees outside and a white fence that protected a small garden. Tony approached and knocked on the door.

"Open up! Please open up!" he yelled and a young man appeared on the doorstep.

"What do you want, Sir?" the man asked him. He couldn't be over twenty five; he had strawberry blond hair and a few freckles under his brown eyes. He wore a grey suit and looked like he was analyzing the world as he waited for his answer. Tony knew that look, he had seen it before.

"Where am I?" he asked him not so keen to get an answer but to buy some time and study this young man. He looked so familiar all of a sudden.

Someone yelled from the inside and he turned around to answer.

"Somewhere you are not supposed to be." He answered and turned to leave. Tony grabbed his arm and held him out.

"Why did you leave when you saw me?" Tony asked him but he got no answer. Another man appeared in the doorstep and pulled the young man inside.

This one was older. He wore a cream suit and had brown hair and brown eyes. He looked very familiar. His face, his look, that melancholy look he had seen several times.

"We don't talk to murderers." He said and closed the door at his face. Tony caught a glimpse of a young woman before the door closed. She had long brown hair and two loving blue eyes. Those eyes he had been in love with, all his life.

"Edward" he realized.

"Edward, open the door! Edward!" he yelled and knocked on the door. He was his son! Those were his kids! They were alive!

"What do you want, Stark?" His son asked him looking angry.

"You're alive!" Tony said and tried to hug him but Edward avoided him.

"Not the least." Someone else answered from the inside. Finally Edward stepped off the door and let Tony in.

It was a very cozy home with wooden furniture and big windows. There was a bunch of kids sitting all together on the floor. Looking at them he recognized himself among them at the age of ten, a redhead girl with big blue eyes that looked very familiar.

"We're all dead, Stark and this is heaven." The voice said again forcing Tony to look away from the children and into the kitchen. It was a woman around her fifties with chocolate brown hair and eyes that send daggers at him.

"Mildred." There was no doubt.

"What in God's name is a murderer like you doing here?" she asked but Tony couldn't answer.

"Your father is not a murderer." A familiar voice said. It was weak and somewhat older than he remembered but it was her voice. He turned around and saw an old woman sitting in a chair where the kids were. She had long white hair and unmistakable blue eyes.

"Oh, my God, Pepper!" he said and ran to her side but the kids stood in his way not letting him touch her.

"Pepper, what's going on?" he asked her with tears threatening to get out of his eyes.

"You're dead daddy, we all are." Marie said getting his attention.

"I'm dead and I've gone to heaven?" he wondered looking himself in the mirror. He looked really old and had white hair as well.

"You left us, you abandoned us." Edward said.

Tony looked at him. Suddenly they looked really angry all of them.

"No, I didn't, I tried." Tony said.

"It's your fault we're dead, it's you they wanted not us." Mildred said.

"I know, I'm sorry, I tried." Tony said letting the tears out.

"You should have stack to the cards Tony." Pepper said sounding very disappointed.

"I… I…"

"Do you think everything is a game, son?" Howard's voice came out of nowhere. He stood there next to Edward that was now a kid again. Tony looked around, they were all kids again and Pepper stood in front of him with her pencil skirt and that look that meant he had done something seriously wrong.

"Dad, no I… I didn't mean to… I hadn't thought…" Tony whispered.

"You never think, do you Stark?" Pepper yelled at him.

"You think no one but yourself." Millie yelled and everyone made a step towards him.

"Oh, Anthony, if you keep doing that you'll end up alone, my boy." He heard a woman say. It was his mother.

"You let your family die, Anthony but vengeance cannot bring them back. Look around you, your whole world is ashes." She added and faded away holding little Logan in her arms.

"No, mum, wait, don't go! Tell me what to do, don't leave me." Tony yelled but she had already gone.

"People don't leave unless you sent them away." His father said following Maria.

"No, I didn't want to, don't leave, no Pepper, I love you." He said falling on his knees trying to hug her but all he got was air.

"Open your eyes, Tony; nothing is what it looks like."

"Stark, wake up!" Natasha said shaking him violently.

Tony opened his eyes and grabbed his seat like his life was depending on it.

"What happened?" He asked trying to remember where he was.

"You had a bad dream." Natasha said.

"No, it wasn't bad." He said and sat in his seat grabbing his tablet.

As soon as they landed they got to a black car and drove down town. They stopped in front of an internet café and got out.

"I thought he might use one of these." Tony said and walked in. Natasha followed him and scanned the place. It was small, around twenty maybe thirty computers, a bar and a cashier right across the door.

They got to the bar searching for the owner. Tony sat on a stool putting his cane on the bench making sure he got noticed.

"You can't leave this here, Sir." The barman said in French.

"I can do whatever I want and right now I want you to tell me where I can find James Hoover." Tony said in fluent French. Natasha was standing next to him ready for some 'persuasion'.

"I don't know anyone by that name." the barman said and got back to cleaning the glasses. Tony got his cell phone out of his pocket and showed him a picture of Hoover. The barman took a look at it and shook his head.

"No, I don't remember him." He said. Natasha hit the bench with her palm and leaned over.

"Try just a little." She said in a threatening tone. The barman looked surprised but not scared enough to help them.

"I don't know him." He said challenging her but right before she grabbed him by the collar Tony got a small package from the inner pocket of his leather jacket.

"I have a feeling that purple is your favourite colour." He said passing him the money. The man took the package and hid it in his pocket.

"So, how about now?" Tony asked him.

"He comes here every day around noon, he sits at computer four. He'll be here anytime now." The barman said and got back to the glasses.

Tony nodded and faced the street through the big glasses of the store.

"So we wait." He said.

"Not necessary." Natasha said and showed him a young man entering the café. He was around his thirties, not very athletic, with dirty blond hair and square glasses.

"He doesn't look like a terrorist." Natasha said.

"He looks like he just got a good deal of money, though. Those glasses are quite expensive." Tony replied and walked towards him. The man stopped in front of the cashier and looked towards the bar. He instantly fidgeted and turned towards the door walking a bit too fast.

"He'll run away." Natasha said.

"Don't miss him." Tony said and she chased after him.

He got through small alleys trying to miss them but Romanoff was hard to bit. They reached a dark alley away from the main street. Hoover thought he had lost them. He grabbed an old pipe that lied there and thought of walking away. Suddenly he heard a gun being loaded and turned around hitting Natasha with the pipe. The SHIELD agent grabbed the pipe and hit the man in the face.

"A!" Hoover screamed in pain covering his bleeding nose with his hand. He made a few steps backwards and hit his back in a wall.

"We're going to do this my way or the hard way." Natasha said and approached him. Hoover found a water pipe on his back and kicked it breaking it forcing all the water to agent Romanoff.

Natasha was blinded for a moment before she could see the target running away.

"Shit!" she cursed and ran. She took the corner on her left and stopped. Hoover was with his face on the ground and a cane was pressed between his shoulder blades.

"You were supposed to get him." Tony said looking at her.

"I guess that even crippled you are a lucky bastard." She said but Tony didn't laugh. People always said he was lucky because he was rich and brilliant but it was all those stuff people took for granted that Tony never had; His parents, friends, family. Maybe solitude was the price to pay for being who he was.

"Let's take him to a quieter place." Tony said and handed him over to Natasha.

They drove to a small apartment Tony had rented for their 'business'.

They got in and put Hoover to a chair.

"You are not going to tie me up?" Hoover asked scared.

"You are not going anywhere." Natasha said and sat on the table next to him. Tony took a pill and sat in a chair before him.

"What are you, drug dealers? I'm not a junkie, I have no money." Hoover said.

Tony left his cane on the table next to him and got his glasses off looking Hoover directly in the eyes. The man stopped and whimpered recognizing him.

"You are… Tony Stark." He said swallowing hard.

"No, Tony Stark died in a plane accident a few weeks ago; I am Ironman." He said looking very scary. Natasha had never seen him like that even though she had seen the look on his face before. It was the look of a man that wanted vengeance, no matter the cost.

"What do you want from me?" Hoover asked.

"You said you have no money, yet these glasses look too expensive for someone that doesn't have a job." Natasha said teasing his glasses.

"I got some money, recently." He said.

"You did, didn't you?" Tony barked at him making Hoover grab his chair for support.

"You know the only thing that keeps me from smashing you is that I want to find out who is behind all this." Tony hissed in his face.

"I don't understand." Hoover said shaking from his fear. Natasha watched them without interfering. She had done things like that a hundred times before and right now she knew two things.

James Hoover knew exactly why they were there.

Tony knew that and he was really pissed off.

"Five weeks ago there was an attack to Stark Force one over the Atlantic. Eight people were killed, Mr. Stark's family among them." Natasha said scanning him.

"I don't see what I have to do with it." He said, his voice being very steady. He had prepared for this. Natasha winked at Tony who got the message.

"Stark Force One was attacked with thermal missiles, but there was something weird about them." Tony said taking a few steps away from the man, caressing the table until he found his cane. "They headed towards coldness and not heat. Now why would they do that? How does one makes such a mistake?" Tony added.

"I don't know." Hoover said. His voice remained steady but his hands were sweating.

"Maybe it was not a mistake, maybe there is a plan. What do you think, James?" Natasha asked him grabbing his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I told you before, sweetheart, my way or the hard way. I just forgot to tell you that my way is worse." She said and pressed his shoulders in the right spots to make him scream.

"Who made you program those missiles? Who is behind this?" Tony asked him.

"I don't know." He said and agent Romanoff twisted his arm behind his back.

"No! Please! I can't… they'll kill me." He whimpered and Natasha pressed him back against the chair.

"I'll kill you, slowly and painfully, if you don't tell me." Tony hissed getting a long blade off his cane. Natasha's eyes popped out in surprise. That was something she didn't expect.

"No, no don't kill me, please! I didn't want to, I didn't mean to, I thought it was a project for the army." He whimpered but Tony didn't remove the blade from his chest.

"Speak, fast." Natasha said. The man swallowed hard not getting his eyes from the blade.

"I got fired three months ago; I owe people a lot, not good people. One day I got an e-mail that said I could get ten thousand Euros. It was a lot of money. We talked through an encrypted program; he told me he wanted a program for some army project. I thought it suspicious but he paid me in advance so… I never asked him, I never got his name, he used a nickname, Toronto531." Hoover said in one breath.

Tony pressed the blade more making him scream.

"You haven't talked since then?" he asked him.

"Once, he told me you would come and I shouldn't tell you the truth or he would kill me. Please let me go." He pleaded.

Tony looked at him with pity and hatred.

"Millie was working on artificial organs that maybe you would need one day. Edward was five and wanted to be an inventor just like his dad, Marie was a puzzle genius that at the age of four could beat Bill Gates, Sherlock Holmes and Kasparov with on hand. Logan was only a baby that would one day conquer the world and Pepper… Pepper was their mother and the love of my life. You killed them all, why should I spare your life?" Tony said narrowing his dark eyes at him, making his voice deeper than usual, scaring even Romanoff.

"I'm sorry, pal, I didn't know, I'm not a murderer." Hoover said. Tony looked Natasha and hid his blade in his cane again.

"Take him. I need his laptop and bank account number as soon as possible." Tony said to her and let her take him.

The door closed and he fell on his chair. He nearly killed a man.

That would make him a murderer. They would be right; the ghosts that haunted him would win. He was not a murderer; he would kill only one man, the man with the hoarse voice.

He got up and looked around. Maybe he had to get a few things from his apartment down town. He got out and walked to the car.

"Revenge will not make you feel better." Someone said making him stop.

"Who is it?" Tony asked.

"It doesn't matter who I am the only thing that matters is to listen what I have to say." The voice said.

Tony found the source of the sound in a dark spot under the balcony and approach.

"I don't talk to ghosts." Tony replied walking.

"But ghosts talk to you, don't they, Tony Stark?" the man said and got into the light. Tony stopped abruptly not believing his eyes. It couldn't be, it was only an apparition for how could he stand in an alley in Paris talking to…

"Bruce Wayne? It can't be you, you're dead." Tony said.

"I guess even the dead can talk." Bruce said.

"But you died; it was all over the news." Tony said remembering what Millie had told him. She had been right.

"It's not always what it looks like." Bruce said. Tony did not answer; the whole thing was surreal. He was supposed to be dead and yet they were talking in the middle of Paris.

"I know we've only met once and that you didn't like me, for your information the feeling was mutual, but where I failed you succeeded." Bruce said confusing him.

"I don't understand." Tony said.

"You don't have to. You need to see with your mind, Stark, not with your eyes. Not everything is what it looks like." Bruce said and tried to leave.

"You were Batman, weren't you? My daughter believed you were." Tony told him. Bruce stopped and smirked.

"She may still believe it." He said and disappeared down the dark alley.