Chapter 36
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Everything belongs to their rightful owners.
AN1: Here is the first chapter of Iron Man 2, hope you enjoy. I'm sorry that it's been a few days, I've been busy with Law school. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be as there is part of it that is not written even though I have written the next 10 chapters after it.
May 8th 2011
About a week has passed since The Stark-May family board game night and in that time Bobbi has celebrated her twenty fourth birthday. It is a Sunday night and while William is with Daisy and Peter Tony and Melinda are on a plane together, Tony in his iron Man suit while Melinda is flying the plane.
"I don't know, maybe this isn't such a great idea." Tony says, looking at Melinda in worry, as he stands right next to the pilots seat.
"You'll be fine." Melinda assures him, "You're the one who wanted to go big, and begged me to fly, you can do this." Melinda assures Tony, "But if you really don't want to I can land right outside the pavilion." Melinda reveals.
"Seriously? That's not much space." Tony comments, knowing that Melinda is a great pilot, but the plane is big and the area described is very small.
"Seriously." Melinda confirms.
"Ma'am….." The Airforce co-pilot, who was vetted by Rhodey starts to say, as he knows that it would be incredible dangerous to attempt that without an incredible talented pilot.
"The choice is yours Tony." Melinda says, ignoring the co-pilot, "But if you want to go big we're thirty second from the drop zone." Melinda explains.
"Okay…" Tony says, with a nod, "Let's go big." Tony says, picking up his helmet, "I'll see you on the ground." He tells Melinda.
"Yeah, you will." Melinda confirms, and she turns to look at Tony, giving him a supportive smile.
"Thanks Mel." Tony says, before putting on his helmet on and heading to the back of the plane.
"We're directly over the drop zone, this your opening." Melinda says, and once she does Tony jumps out of the plane in his Iron Man suit, heading towards the Stark Expo which he is opening.
For the next couple of minutes or so Melinda and the Air force pilot continue to fly together,
"Okay, I'm transferring control to you Lieutenant." Melinda says, as she does exactly that.
"Are you really going to parachute out?" The pilot asks surprised.
"Yep." Melinda confirms, as she climbs out of the piolets seat and heads to the back of the plane, where she puts a parachute on, "Opening the back." Melinda says, hitting a button.
"Ten second to drop zone." The air force pilot respond, and Melinda heads to the ramp, and once she sees a light go on she parachutes out.
A little while later Tony has given the opening address at the Stark Expo and has been lead through a crowd of people with Happy. As they walk out to the area where Melinda is going to meet them they find a red haired woman standing there rather than Melinda in a new car.
"Who are you?" Happy says, suspiciously, as he stands in front of Tony.
"US Marshal." The woman answers.
"Oh, can I see the badge? I like badges." Tony ask, side stepping past Happy, and the woman shows her badge, "Nice, what are you doing here?"
"Looking for you." The Agent says.
"Well you've found me." Tony responds, "What do you want?"
"To serve subpoenas." The Agent says, and she goes to hand Tony a letter, which he doesn't take.
"Yikes." Tony says, as Happy reaches out and grabs the letter.
"He doesn't like to be handed things." Happy explains, as Melinda arrives in a white car.
"Yeah, I have peeve." Tony says, as Melinda gets out of the car.
"What's going on?" Melinda asks, as she walks over to Tony and Happy.
"Agent Melinda Stark-May?" The Marshal asks.
"Yes?" Melinda confirms, wondering what is going on as even though Stark-May is her legal name when she is called Agent she is always just May.
"You've been served." The Marshal says, handing an envelope over, "Melinda Stark-May, Anthony Stark-May you are both hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow morning at nine am." The marshal says.
"Great." Melinda mutters.
"Do you still like the badge?" The marshal asks, looking at Tony.
"Yep." Tony confirms, and the marshal walks away, "You're a spy, can you be subpoenaed to give evidence at a open committee?" he asks, curious, looking at Melinda.
"I'm going to call Fury and find out." Melinda reveals.
"Happy, go to our apartment, tell William what is going on and stay with him, Daisy, and Peter." Tony requests, as he knows that's one way to assure their safety.
"Of course, Sir." Happy says, before walking away.
"You drive." Melinda tells Tony, as the person on the other end picks up of her phone picks up and she and Tony walk to their respective car seats, "Agent Melinda May, Alpha 078634." Melinda says, as she sits down, "I need to talk to Director Fury, it's urgent." Melinda says, as Tony starts to drive, fast.
May 9th 2011
The following morning Melinda and Tony are arriving at capitol hill, the two of them having used the entrance with no camera so they weren't seen together.
"I cannot believe Fury was able to quash your subpoena, and not mine." Tony says, looking a little annoyed.
"The only reason he could is because it should have never been issued." Melinda reveals, "Look Tony, you've just got to answer the questions. They're going to grill you, question you, just stick to the facts." Melinda says, knowing that that would be best.
"Not going to warn me about my attitude?" Tony asks curious.
"Nope." Melinda says, with a slight grin, as they arrive at the room where the committee meeting will take place, "Good luck." Melinda says, and they both walk in, as they do Tony heads to where he needs to sit while Melinda sits in a chair near him, but in the audience, taking notice of every single person and camera in the room as she does.
About an hour late the committee meeting has been going on for a while, and it has become clear, at least to Melinda that they want to railroad Tony, and as he has noticed look on Melinda's face Tony leans back to talk to her,
"What's going on?" Tony asks.
"I don't like this." Melinda admits, "The senator in charge is trying to achieve something, I'm just not sure what." Melinda admits.
"Mr Stark, could we pick up now where we left off? Mr Stark, please." The Senator in charge, Stern, asks, and Tony turns around, facing the committee once more.
"Yes Dear?" Tony asks.
"Can I have your attention?" Stern asks.
"Absolutely." Tony responds.
"Do your or do you not possess a specialised weapon?" Stern asks.
"I do not." Tony answers.
"You do not?'
"I do not. Well, it depends on how you define the word weapon." Tony admits.
"The Iron Man weapon." Stern answers.
"My device does not fit that description." Tony reveals.
"Well, how would you describe it?" Stern asks.
"I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator." Tony admits.
"As?"
"It's a high-tech prosthesis." Tony says, and several people give amused laughs at that, "That is, that's actually the most apt description I can make of it." Tony admits,
"It's a weapon, Mr Stark." Stern says.
"Please, if your priority was actually the wellbeing of the American citizens…." Tony starts to say.
"My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America." Stern says, and as he does Melinda closes her eyes and braces herself as she knows how Tony is going to react to that.
"Well, you can forget about it. I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one." Tony says, "To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you're in. you can't have it." Tony says.
"Look, I'm no expert…" Stern starts to say.
"In prostitution? Of course not. You're a senator, come on." Tony says, and as he does he turns to look at Melinda who is a little amused by what Tony said, but doesn't let it show as she knows that if this goes badly here it could put their kids in danger and so she gives him a disapproving look. Seeing the look, and knowing Melinda well enough to know that there would be a part of her that would be amused, Tony turns back around to the senator.
"I'm no expert in weapons. We have somebody here who is an expert on weapon. I'd now like to call Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor." Stern says.
"Let the record reflect that I observed Mr Hammer entering the chamber, and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance." Tony says.
"Absolutely. I'm no expert." Hammer says, as he stands up, "I defer to you, Anthony. You're the wonder boy." Hammer says, "Senator, if I may. I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert? Your dad. Howard Stark." Justin says, pointing at Tony, and as he speaks Melinda turns her complete attention as she knows how he may end up reacting to that, "Really a father to us all, and to the military-industrial age. Let's just be clear, he was no flower child. He was a lion. We all know why we're here. In the last six months, Anthony Stark has created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet, he insists it's a shield." Hammer says, and Melinda can't help but smirk a little at that description, "He asks us to trust him as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Anthony, I really do. I'd love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house, but this ain't Canada. You know, we live in a world of grave threats, threats that Mr Stark will not always be able to foresee. Thank you. God bless Iron Man. God bless America." Hammer says, before sitting down.
"That is well said Mr Hammer. The committee would now like to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber." Stern says, to the surprise of both Melinda and Tony.
"Rhodey? What?" Tony asks standing up, and as Rhodey walks past Melinda the two of them exchange looks.
"Hey Buddy. I didn't expect to see you here." Tony says, as he and Rhodey shake hands.
"Look, it's me, I'm here, deal with it. let's move on." Rhodey says.
"I just…" Tony starts to say.
"Drop it." Rhodey requests.
"All right, I'll drop it." Tony says, as he and Rhodey both sit down.
"I have before me a complete report on the Iron Man weapon, complied by Colonel Rhodes. And, Colonel, for the record, can you please read page 57, paragraph four?" Stern requests.
"You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?" Rhodey asks, clearly surprised, which Melinda picks up on and realises that her suspicion of people trying to railroad Tony is correct.
"Yes, sir." Stern confirms.
"It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner." Rhodey says, reaching the same conclusion as Melinda.
"I understand. A lot of things have changed today, so if you could just read…." Stern starts to request.
"You do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summery of my final…" Rhodey starts to argue.
"Just read it, Colonel." Stern instructs.
"Very well." Rhodey says, sounding reluctant, and he starts to read, "'As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interests."" Rhodey reads, "I did however, go on to summarise that the benefits of Iron Man far outweigh three liabilities and that it would be in our interest…" Rhodey starts to explain.
"That's enough, Colonel." Stern says.
"To fold Mr Stark…" Rhodey says, continuing to speak.
"That's enough." Stern says, a bit more sternly.
"Into the existing chain of command, Senator." Rhodey finishes.
"I'm not a joiner, but I'll consider Secretary of Defence, if you ask nice." Tony says, causing people to laugh, "If we can amend the hours a little bit." He adds.
"I'd like to go on and show, if I may, the imagery that's connected to your report." Stern requests.
"I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public at this time." Rhodey says.
"With all due respect, Colonel, I understand, and if you could just narrate those for us, we'd be very grateful. Let's have the images." Stern requests, and as he does Rhodey waves his hand and images start to play on the screen.
"Intelligence suggests that the devices seen in these photos are, in fact, attempts at making manned copies of Mr Stark's suit. This has been corroborated by our allies and local intelligence on the ground…" Rhodey explains, and as he does Tony starts to do something on his Stark device, "Indicating that these suits are quite possibly, at this moment, operational." Rhodey explains.
"Hold a second, Buddy, let me set up something here." Tony says, connecting his device to the screens showing the pictures having purposely programmed it so it says 'welcome Mr Stark' and not 'Stark-May', "Boy, I'm good. I'm commandeering your screens. I need them. Time for a little transparency. Now, let's see what's really going on."
"What is he doing?" Stern asks.
"If you will direct your attention to said screens, I believe that's North Korea." Tony says, as image of a very badly made suits plays.
"Can you tern that off?" Stern asks, as Hammer stands up and attempts to do so.
"Iran." Tony says, before another clip, this time of a suit that flies for about five seconds before crashing and catching fire, "No grave threat here. Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get in the game?" Tony asks, as a clip with Hammer with a very bad suit plays, "Justin, you're on TV focus up." Tony says, as Hammer continues to try to turn of the screen, finally managing to pull plugs and turning it off, "Wow. Yeah, I'd say most counties, five, ten years away, Hammer industries, twenty." Tony says.
"I'd like to point out that that test pilot survived." Hammer says.
"I think we're done is the point he's making. I don't think there's any reason…." Stern starts to say.
"The point is, you're welcome, I guess." Tony says.
"For what?" Stern asks.
"Because I'm your nuclear deterrent. It's working. We're safe. America is secure, you want my property? You can't have it, but I did you a big favour." Tony says as he stands up, turns and faces the crowd, "I've successfully privatised world peace." Tony says, as he makes peace sings, "What more do you want?" Tony asks.
"Fuck you Mr Stark, Fuck you Buddy. We're adjourned, we're adjourned for today," Stern says, as Tony heads out of the chamber, he and Stern exchanging a few more words as he goes while Melinda and Rhodey try to hide how amused they are.
A few minutes later Melinda has headed out the chamber and heads to the back exit where she finds Tony waiting,
"You mad?" Tony asks concerned.
"No." Melinda says, before leaning forward and kissing Tony, "Let's go home." She says, when they break apart, and that's exactly what they do.
May 12th 2011
Three days have passed since the Armed services committee meeting, and since then Tony has been enjoying time with his family, but as he knows the poisoning is getting worse, and it doesn't seem like there is a cure, he knows what he has to do.
It's early morning on a Thursday and Tony and Melinda are the only ones in the house who are awake, having spent a little while lying in bed and thinking about what he has to do Tony gets up and heads to the gym where Melinda is doing Tai-Chi.
"Mel, I know you hate it when I interrupt Tai-Chi, but can we talk?" Tony asks, as he walks into the gym.
"Sure." Melinda says, as she stops what she is doing and turns to look at Tony, "What's up?"
"I need to go handle some things in LA, and I have that trip to Monaco in a week too." Tony says, "So I might be gone for a little while."
"How long?" Melinda asks concerned.
"A few weeks." Tony says, knowing that in a few weeks he will have either found a cure, or be dead and he doesn't want Melinda to watch him die, he can't do that to her.
"Okay." Melinda says, with a nod, "You're going to have to talk to Daisy and Peter, they may react badly, Daisy especially." Melinda explains.
"I know." Tony confirms, "I've been avoiding this trip for a while, but I have to do it now." Tony says.
"I get that." Melinda confirms, "I'll see you when you get home, I love you." Melinda tells Tony.
"I love you too." Tony says, before kissing and hugging Melinda, and as he hugs her he knows that he never wants to let her go, even though he wants to protect her from what's happened.
A little while later both Daisy and Peter are awake and the two of them, Melinda, and Tony are having breakfast together.
"Daze, Pete, I've got to tell you guys something." Tony says, looking between his kids.
"Is everything okay?" Daisy asks.
"I have to go to LA for a few weeks." Tony answers, purposely avoiding answering Daisy's question.
"You're leaving? Again?" Daisy asks, looking hurt.
"Just for a few weeks. There is business I have to handle with the company." Tony explains.
"So, these are like the trips you used to take." Peter realises.
"Yeah." Tony confirms, "I also have to go to Monaco, but I'll come home as soon as I can." Tony says, knowing he will only come home when he is no longer dying.
"Okay." Daisy says, not liking this much, but realising that this isn't Tony avoiding being with his family there is an actual business reason, and four of the five members of the Stark-May family drift into silence.
Hours after his conversation with his kids, who were harder to leave than ever before, Tony is sitting down in his workshop in LA.
"Wake up, Daddy's home." Tony says, to his systems.
"Welcome home, Sir. Congratulations on the opening ceremonies. They were such a success, as was your senate hearing." JARVIS says, and as he does U who is trying to make a smoothie without a lid on the blender.
"U!" Tony says, as U knocks over the blender, "I swear to god I'll dismantle you. I'll soak your motherboard, I'll turn you into a wine rack." Tony says, as he starts to pour himself some of the juice and U looks sad, "How many ounces a day of this gobbledegook am I supposed to drink?" Tony asks.
"We are up to eighty ounces a day to counteract the symptoms Sir." JARVIS answers, as Tony downs the liquid.
"Check palladium levels." Tony says, as he puts his finger against a device that looks like a pager, which takes a sample of blood.
"Blood toxicity twenty four percent, it appears that the continued use of the Iron Man suit is accelerating your condition. Another core has been depleted." JARVIS says, and as he does Tony lifts his shirt, revealing blue liens all around the arch reactor, and takes the Arc Reactor out of his chest, as the does the core, which is rusted and slightly smoking, pops out.
"God they're running out quick." Tony comments.
"I have run simulations on every known element and none of them can serve as a viable replacement for the palladium core." JARVIS says, as Tony puts a new core this one silver, into the arc reactor which he puts back in his chest.
"You are running out of both times and options." JARVIS says, "Unfortunately, the device that's keeping you alive is also killing you." JARVIS says, "Miss Potts is approaching, I recommend…." JARVIS starts to say.
"Mute." Tony says as the door opens and Pepper, who came to LA with Tony, walks in.
"Is this a joke? What are you thinking?" Pepper asks, sounding both shocked and angry.
"What?" Tony asks, wondering just what made Pepper angry.
"What are you thinking?"
"Hey, I'm thinking I'm busy and you're angry about something." Tony says, standing up, "Do you have the sniffles I don't want to get sick." Tony says, as his immune system is compromised at the moment so he really can't get sick, as he and Pepper start to walk around the room.
"Did you just donate our entire modern art collection to the…" Pepper starts to say.
"Boy scouts of America." Tony finishes.
"Boy scouts of America?" Pepper asks, sounding shocked.
"Yes. It is a worthwhile organisation. I didn't physically check the crates but, basically, yes. And it's not "our" collection, it's my collection. No offence." Tony says.
"No, you know what? I think I'm actually entitled to say 'our' collection considering the time that I put in, over ten years, curating that." Pepper says.
"It was a tax write-off I needed that." Tony argues.
"You know, there's only about eight thousand and eleven things I really need to talk to you about." Pepper admits, "The expo is a gigantic waste of time." Pepper says.
"I need you to wear a surgical mask until you're feeling better, is that okay?" Tony asks.
"That's rude." Pepper comments, as she coughs.
"Work wise, there's nothing more important to me than the expo, it's my primary point of concern, I don't know why you're…" Tony starts to say.
"The expo is your ego gone crazy." Pepper says, as Tony picks up a painting of Iron Man.
"Wow, look at that. That's modern art. That's going up." Tony says.
"You've got to be kidding." Pepper says, sounding disapproving.
"I'm gonna put this up right now. This is vital." Tony says.
"Stark is in complete disarray, you understand that?" Pepper asks.
"No, our stocks have never been higher." Tony argues.
"From a managerial standpoint…" Pepper starts to say.
"Well, if it's messy then let's double back." Tony says.
"Let me give you an example." Pepper says.
"Let's move onto another subject." Tony requests, as he stands on a cabinet and is about to take down a fancy painting to replace it with the Iron Man one.
"No, no, no, you are not taking down the Barnett Newman and hanging that up." Pepper says.
"I'm not taking it down, I'm just replacing it with this." Tony explains, "Let's see what I can get going on here."
"Okay, fine, my point is, we have already awarded contracts to the wind farm people…"
"Yeah, don't say 'wind farm' I'm already feeling gassy." Tony argues.
"And to the plastic plantation tree, which was your idea by the way, those people are on the payroll."
"Everything was my idea." Tony says.
"And you won't make a decision." Pepper says.
"I don't care about the liberal agender anymore. It's boring, boring. I'm giving you a boring alert." Tony says, as he jumps of the cabinet, "You do it."
"I do what?" Pepper asks confused.
"Excellent idea just figured this out. You run the company." Tony says, realising that now is the perfect time to do something he's been thinking about.
"Yeah, I'm trying to run the company." Pepper argues.
"Pepper, I need you to stop trying to do it and just do it." Tony argues.
"You will not give me the information." Pepper says.
'I'm not asking you to try..."
"…In order too."
"I'm asking you to physically do it. I need you to do it." Tony says,
"I am trying to do it!" Pepper argues.
"Pepper, you're not listening to me!"
"No, you are not listening to me!"
"I'm trying to make you CEO, why won't you let me?" Tony asks.
"Have you been drinking?" Pepper asks shocked, as she tries to smell Tony's breath.
"Chlorophyll. I hereby irrevocably appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries effective immediately." Tony says, "Yeah, done deal. Okay? I've actually given this a fair amount of thought, believe it or not. "He says, as one of his robots bring him a tray with champagne and glasses on it, "A bit of headhunting, so to speak, trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be. And then I realised it's you. It's always been you." Tony says as he pours the champagne while Pepper sits down, looking shocked and confused, as he knew that Melinda and Bobbi, have no interest in being CEO, "I thought there'd be a legal issue, but actually I'm capable of appointing my successor. My successor being you." Tony says, as he hands Pepper a glass which he doesn't take, "Congratulations? Take it, just take it." Tony says, as Pepper takes the glass.
"I don't know what to think." Pepper admits.
"Don't think drink. There you go." Tony says, as he and Pepper tag glasses and drink.
May 20th 2011
About a week has passed since Tony made Pepper CEO of Stark and ever since he has bene organizing other things he wanted to make sure are handled for after he dies, including making sure Melinda and his kids would be fine, while making frequent calls back home.
It is a Friday afternoon and Tony and Happy are sparing together in the gym at the Malibu house when Bobbi walks into the gym.
"Dad." Bobbi calls, and Tony turns to look at him.
"Little Bird." Tony says, sounding happy, "Want to have a go?" he asks curious.
"Wouldn't be a fair fight." Bobbi admits, looking amused, as Tony climbs out of the ring and walks over to her,
"What are you doing here?" Tony asks, as he certainly wasn't expecting his oldest daughter.
"I'm between missions, and Mom said you're in Malibu, so I thought I'd come say hello." Bobbi admits.
"I'm glad, it's good to see you." Tony says, as Pepper walks in, honestly glad that Bobbi has come to visit as he wanted a chance to see his daughter before he dies.
"Notary should be here in a minute." Pepper reveals, "Bobbi hi." She greats.
"Hey, what notary?" Bobbi asks confused.
"I've named Pepper CEO of Stark, we've got to do the paperwork." Tony explains.
"Wow, congrats." Bobbi says, feeling a little confused, a confusion that only grows when Natasha walks in, carrying a folder, "Nat?" Bobbi asks, looking confused as Tony and Pepper both say,
"Romanoff?" at the same time, looking just as confused as Bobbi feels.
"What are you doing here?" Bobbi asks.
"Fury sent me undercover at Stark to investigate whether there are other security threats besides Obadiah." Natasha explains, and even though Natasha is lying perfectly, there is something about what she is saying that doesn't make sense to Bobbi, "I'm in the legal department, and so this is all completely legal." She explains.
"Okay." Pepper says, as Tony suspects that he knows exactly why Natasha was sent undercover, and because of that he doesn't argue as he doesn't want to risk Bobbi figuring out what is going on.
"You need to initial every box." Natasha says, to Pepper, and that is exactly what she does, "And I need your finger print Stark." She says.
"Hey, you're the boss." Tony says, smiling at Pepper, once he does so.
"Will that be all?" Natasha asks, looking between Tony and Pepper.
"Yes, thank you Natasha." Pepper says, and Natasha nods and leaves the gym.
"I'll be back." Bobbi says, before hurrying out of the gym, "NAT!" Bobbi calls and Natasha turns around to face her, "What's going on?"
"I told you Fury…" Natasha starts to say.
"Oh come on, we both know if that was the only reason why you were undercover Dad would have argued." Bobbi says, "What's going on?"
"You should talk to your Dad." Natasha responds.
"Nat… please." Bobbi says, wanting some answers.
"Bobbi, talk to your Dad." Natasha repeats, her voice stern.
"That's not an answer Nat." Bobbi says, and so she can try to get some kind of idea what is going on Bobbi closers her eyes and focuses on her Dad, using her powers which she has pretty great control over now, and after a few seconds she knows what's gong on, "Oh my god." Bobbi says, opening her eyes, sounding horrified as tears come to her eyes.
"Go talk to him." Natasha tells her, and Bobbi nods and heads back into the gym where her father, Pepper and Happy are.
"Pepper, Happy, can I talk to Dad alone." Bobbi requests, trying to hide what she is feeling.
"Of course, Bobbi." Pepper says, and she and Happy leave the gym.
"Little Bird…" Tony starts to say.
"No, is it true? Are my powers right?" Bobbi asks needing to know, "Are you dying?" Bobbi asks, her voice breaking.
"Yeah Little Bird." Tony confirms, "I am." He says, as he walks close enough to his daughter to hug her.
"No." Bobbi says, as she hugs her Dad, "You can't die." Bobbi says and those words break Tony's heart, "Why didn't Mom tell me?" Bobbi asks, as Tony just holds his daughter.
"She doesn't know." Tony explains, as eh kisses his daughter's head.
"What?" Bobbi asks, surprised, as she and her Dad break apart.
"I can't do that to her, can't break her heart like that." Tony explains, "JARVIS tell Romanoff to stop eavesdropping and come in here." He requests.
"Yes Sir." JARVIS responds.
"That's why you've come to LA, so Mom, Daisy and Peter don't have to watch you die." Bobbi realises, and Tony nods, "We'll I'm staying. I'll use some of my leave time." Bobbi says, as Natasha walks into the room.
"No, I don't want you to watch me die either." Tony tells his daughter.
"I don't care." Bobbi says, "I'm not going to let you be alone, not now." Bobbi says, it being clear that she is going to be talked out of this.
"Bobbi…" Tony starts to say.
"Don't even try, I'm not going anywhere, Dad." Bobbi says.
"Okay." Tony finally says, knowing he will still try to protect his daughter from what is going on, "I take it you and Fury both know what is going on?" he asks Natasha.
"Coulson too." Natasha answers.
"Mel cannot know." Tony says, "I will do whatever Fury wants, but in return no one can tell Mel." He says, it being clear that he is completely serious about this.
"You know this will destroy her." Natasha tells him.
"Which is why she can't know." Tony says.
"So, you're just going to die on her?" Natasha asks, with a frown, sounding disapproving, and Tony knows she is protective of Melinda something which he is very glad about, because he knows that if he doesn't find a cure then Melinda is going to need that support.
"It's better this way." Tony admits, "I don't want Mel to know, she can't know; Daisy and Peter too." Tony says, looking between Natasha and Bobbi.
"Okay." Bobbi and Natasha say, after exchanging looks.
"Good."
"I'm your assistant now. That's what Fury wants." Natasha reveals.
"Fine, you'll know what to do, save me from teaching someone else." Tony says, looking like that isn't a problem, "We're all going to Monaco in three days, be ready." Tony says, before leaving the gym, not planning on telling Pepper about Natasha and Bobbi joining in on the trip.
"S.H.I.E.L.D's working on a cure, right?" Bobbi asks, Natasha, her voice stuttering slightly.
"Yeah, Fury's doing everything he can." Natasha assures Bobbi, knowing that Fury suspects he has something that could lead to a cure, but no more than that, reaching out and putting her hand on her shoulder, as the two of them drift into silence, Bobbi knowing that she will spend as much time as possible with her Dad in the coming days, and weeks.