Heart of Iron

Summary: Stephen is really proud of how fast he's learning after he makes his first portal but then comes the astral projection that changes his life forever as he comes face to face with a force from a universe not his own and an ancient relic that will change the fate of his world.

"I don't know no 'Toni Stark'. There is no Toni Stark," the man spat with disgust, probably at what he thought to be a cruel joke. He'll wish it were a cruel joke by the time Toni was done with him. "I should know. The last Stark just died."

"Starks," she corrected, getting a double-take from the man. "The last Starks just died. Father and daughter. Daughter they would have named Antonia or Antoinette or something to that sense and would have then called Toni for short. The mother was an Italian woman by the name of Maria Collins Carbonell and the father was Howard Anthony Stark. The only other Stark in existence in the recent past was Howard's brother, my uncle Edward, who died two years back of alcohol poisoning. The Starks were murdered by the HYDRA assassin, code name Winter Soldier, real identity James Buchanan Barns of the Howling Commandos from WWII. As you no doubt know by now, seeing as SHIELD has the CCTV footage that filmed the road. You're going to write it off as an accident due to high levels of alcohol in Howard's blood and blame the stress from the labor making him a careless driver. The true autopsy will stay in SHIELD. No one will know what the assassin did to Maria."

"How do you know all of this?" Her companion asked, intimidated and Toni wasn't even trying.

"Because I've seen it before," she replied, giving him a hauntingly sad smile. "My full name is Antonia Edith Stark - or at least it has been for the last twelve universal cycles - and I am Howard's and Maria's only daughter. Though tonight is the first time I've witnessed my own murder. At least the way I did. I've been murdered before, in many different, colorful, gruesome ways."

The man was silent for a long while, staring at her with dark, suspicious eyes. "Are you suggesting you're the ... child? How is that even supposed to work? Why are you solid one second and intangible the next? Why are you here? Why are you addressing me and not Director Carter, if you're really Stark's ... kid? And what do you mean by 'universal cycles' and 'been murdered before'?"

"You have a lot of questions, Nick," she hummed, watching in amusement as he went stiff as a board all over again when he realized she knew his name. "And to most of them I only have an answer that would frustrate any Stark and I've had to live with it for countless millennia." She made sarcastic, fake-enthusiastic jazz hands with a slightly disgusted curl to her lips that she couldn't suppress no matter how many times and in how many ways it was involved in her ... existence. "Magic."

Nick just stared at her for a long moment before snorting and shaking his head, looking mournfully at his bottle of too little whiskey. "Yeah, you're a Stark alright. Howard had pretty much the same reaction every time that seemed to be the only explanation for the Tesseract or other such crazy bullshit we pull out of our asses every year." He looked at her in a studying manner before sighing tiredly and sinking into his shaggy couch. "Alright, Stark. Start talking. I'm an intelligence agent, working for a secret intelligence agency. I need data. And did you say HYDRA earlier on?"

"Oh, Nick," Toni said as she casually started floating in midair in a meditating position and enjoyed his flinch at the little show. "You have no idea the amount of data I am about to dump on your head."

Agent Nicholas Fury looked like he had a headache from the mere idea of it.

00000

"So you're telling me," Fury asked, words just a bit slurred, sometime close to sunrise that same night after a lot of talking in Toni's part. Most of his alcohol was gone and he looked about two seconds away from falling asleep, but he soldiered on valiantly. Stark wondered when he'll lose the battle. He needed the rest if he plans on helping her prepare the world for the shit storm to come. "That you're some ... eons old entity that had started off as a baseline human - why the fuck do you even have a term like that, anyway? - but ended up being reincarnated with your memories over and over again every time the universe ... Big Bangs?"

She had to hold in an inappropriate giggle at that. "Yep."

"And this whole shit started because you fought a giant, wrinkly, purple, grape nut ack-chin alien from a dead race that wanted to kill half of the universe but then changed his mind and attempted to kill all of the life in the universe?"

"Aha."

"And he wanted to do that by using some six glowing jewels of destiny that have infinite fucking power and control actual aspects of our existence?"

"That's right." Shitfaced Nick Fury was more entertaining than she could have ever imagined. And she had known the man for trillions of lifetimes.

"By putting them in his super special awesome gold glove?"

"Mhm."

"Made by a giant midget that lives in a shinning magical forge that uses a dying star to make their god metal named Uru?"

"Yes."

"And all he has to do is snap his fingers to erase half of the life in the universe?"

Toni just demonstrates by snapping her own fingers. "Poof."

"And everyone just turns to dust?"

"Unfortunately."

"And he manages to succeed in doing this almost half of the time before it's reversed." That one isn't a question so much as it's a statement.

Still, Toni nods anyway.

"And the only one who can stop him is you?"

"The one and only."

"As you've been doing for ... How many cycles did you say it was?"

Toni thought about it before shrugging as she realized she couldn't count them. "I used to keep a mental log, but I gave up sometime after fourteen million." Fourteen million six hundred and five, to be exact, but her companion didn't need to know that. That was her special number to never forget.

"And now, after all this time, he thinks he can win by getting rid of you so there is no one who can stop him so he just ... What? Erased you from existence before you were even born?"

"That's pretty much it."

Fury was silent for a long moment, just staring up at the ceiling in seemingly deep thought and the woman waited, wondering what he was thinking about. Thankfully, the man didn't leave her waiting for long. "Now that's just bullshit."

That startled the first free laugh out of her since Toni found out she won't ever be born.

Maybe the future isn't so bleak.

00000

"I know you're not telling me everything, Antonia," Fury said one day, about three months into their new arrangement of Toni popping up at his place twice a week so they can plan and prepare. Toni had been absent for the past week entirely, given that someone had tried to steal her vessel again and the Ancient One had spent the week consulting her on the protection and sealing spells, runes, barriers and shields to place on a vault so no one can ever get to it again. Not without the Ancient One herself taking them inside. Toni only returned now, looking more impassive than she had ever been around her new companion so far and it was clear it was disturbing him. "If you want me to help, I need to know what sort of shit to expect."

"You know I can't tell you. Not if I want it to happen how it should happen and not if I'm risking things going all screwy." Not to mention that telling Fury everything would not only be impossible but also extremely dangerous for many parties involved, namely Kamar-Taj and its sorcerers. They thrived on secrecy but would be completely desolated by being brought into the world. For one, HYDRA is not the only organisation that would want to use them for their own gain. For another, they had their own enemies to deal with besides the entire world prosecuting them for their secrecy and for jealously keeping all of their incredible abilities to themselves. Fury might mean well, but he's still not the paranoid pirate she's used to. He'll let something slip and the wrong people will know what to look out for.

Besides, she hadn't come to Fury to deal with everything on her plate. She was delegating things to many different people/institutions/organizations/nations/planets so that the best outcome can happen. She was buying time. She needed time if she wants to properly prepare for her enemy.

Nick sighed, frustrated. "And I understand that but you'll have to give me something more than you've been giving me so far."

"I'm giving you partial information and where to find more to follow up on that so you can find concrete evidence to present all those who we will need to convince to our side and our cause," Toni patiently explains, watching the world outside Fury's window, mind running through tons of information a million miles a second with distant eyes. "Imagine what would happen if I told you everything. You'd go to your superiors and give them the information without any real proof and they'll refute your claims. You'd be put under suspicion and would be watched nonstop. We could never have meetings like this again and I would not have the assistance I need to purge SHIELD."

"How are you even planning on doing that?"

"You mean, how are we planning on doing that," she corrected, sending a small smile at her should be honorary uncle. Maybe he could be again, one day. Though she is pretty much beyond such things now. She can't really connect to people like that after how long she has 'lived' by now. Not like that. "It's simple."

"Oh yeah?"

Toni nodded, grinning in a way she knew put people on edge. "First, we need more information. Second, Toni Stark must be returned to the world. That gives us a good twenty years. I need to take my company back from Stane."

"And how are you planning on doing that?" The incredulous man asks, giving her an even more incredulous look. "You're kind of a cosmic ghost, now. No offense."

"I'm Toni Stark. I have my ways. You leave that to me and focus on getting the information we need." She looked away, a sharp smirk on her lips. "This isn't my first rodeo."

She didn't need to look behind her to know Nick was shaking his head.

00000

"Ah," Toni stopped the words that were on the tip of her tongue when she saw the scratched eye and the orange cat-like creature accompany Agent Nick Fury when he stepped back into his apartment. "Let me guess. You met Carol Danvers, or rather Captain Marvel and got dragged into the Kree-Skrull war. Hey Goose."

The Flerkin just mewed back its greeting to her, to which Fury arched his good eyebrow. "Let me guess. You reached out to her, too."

"Nope. Talked with Mar-Vell. Good woman. She didn't deserve what happened to her. Yon-Rogg is a dick."

"The Kree are dicks."

"Amen to that," the woman who was never born in this world replied, nodding. "You good?" She tried not to stare at the scratched eye. She knew, over time, that the microorganisms that live on Felkrin's will cause an infection that will lead to Fury loosing all sight in his eye. Which eye also tends to vary from cycle to cycle. This time it's the left eye. Mar-Vell's gender and role in Carol's life also varies. Sometimes, it's a man and her lover. Other times, it's a marvelous woman scientist. Mar-Vell can both be a Kree soldier and a Skrull invader. The morals of Kree and Skrull are also ambivalent. Judging from Goose's presence, it was the scientist and revolutionary Mar-Vell, a brave, merciful, peace loving woman who had grown disgusted with how her race treated others and decided to help the enemy the Kree were trying to eradicate from the universe. This shit can be so confusing sometimes. Thankfully, it's not that hard to figure out who are their allies this time around.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Nick waved her off, unconcerned. "How you doing with the board? You managed to get the last shares from Stane? Got enough proof of him dealing under the table with terrorists?"

Toni wasn't sure if she wanted to strangle her almost godfather or congratulate him on how good at politics and business he was. Obadiah always had been a master manipulator. Only Toni wasn't falling for it this time around. "The board is mostly on my side now, given the dollar signs I've been seeing in their eyes for the last couple of months at board of directors meetings. Appearently, they're only just now figuring out how well everyday and clean energy technology sells compared to weapons. Still, Stane has rights to 20% of the stocks since he was Howard's long time business partner. I'm still trying to wrangle that bull back into the barn and I have a bad feeling I won't manage it by the end of this year. Not when I only turned twenty one last month."

The thing with Carol had happened later than Toni had anticipated, which was actually good. It meant she was managing to buy herself time. The shadier sides of SHIELD were slipping up over the years as Toni played her cards right. Margaret 'Peggy' Carter was still Director of SHIELD, but that won't stay true for long. By the time Toni goes out to the world with a bang, Carter probably won't even remember her oldest friend is dead or that he was supposed to become a father the night it happened. Good thing she and Fury almost had all the necessary information to purge SHIELD way before a certain spy, supersoldier and birdbrained former air force pilot get the chance to dump all of SHIELD's data on the Internet for the world to see and have the perfect opportunity to cost thousands of people their lives. They should have HYDRA backed into a corner by next spring. That should help her deal with her Stark Industries and Stane problem.

Toni had waited for eighteen years until she came back into the world by opening a startup business called Stark Unlimited. It, of course, immediately drew attention to her and her genius as her products were beyond anything anyone has ever seen before. That was true in every cycle. She didn't even have to dish out her best to be the best on the market. Stark International's stocks dropped by 5% when she came out and, of course, Obadiah immediately scheduled a meeting with her, partially to try and integrate her into the company under his thumb and partially to see if she had any connection to Howard. If she turned out to be his child ... Well, there went his CEO and major stock holder privileges.

Of course, Toni was expecting that and smarter than him. Just as he was calling her to schedule a meeting, her interview with one ambitious, young Christine Everheart was released in the morning papers and it was the top news on every news station in America and, by noon, the entire world.

STARK HEIR MIRACULOUSLY SURVIVED AND SAVED FROM CERTAIN DEATH!?

STARK LEGACY CONTINUES: THE GENIUS GENE

THE STARK ACCIDENT - WAS IT A HIT AND RUN?

HERO LOYAL BUTLER SAVES YOUNG STARK! HIDDEN AND SAFE, STARK PREPARES TO REVOLUTIONIZE THE WORLD!

THE DAVINCI OF OUR TIME - TONI STARK

And so on and so forth. Everything Stane did was put into question as he had been the only one to profit from Howard's death. Edwin Jarvis, the Stark family butler, had disappeared sometime after the accident - Toni had begged Fury to find him and hide him with reassurance that at least one Stark had survived and that it's best for her own safety that no one knows about it until she grows up to be able to look after herself - and was speculated to have been with Mr and Mrs Stark to help keep the Madam calm during the labor. The story was looking more and more likely that Maria had survived the crash just long enough for her to beg the man to save her child and that Jarvis had ran away with the baby due to fear of an assassination attempt. It grew even more the winning theory when Toni instructed Fury through leaking sensitive information about Howard being in possession of some precious cargo on the same night. Now, people speculated assassination and the nation welcomed back the new Stark like a long lost hero finally returning home.

Of course, Stane demanded a DNA test, saying he wanted to make sure she was not a gold digger seeking to prey on his grief just to get rich. The public was divided about that given that Toni had already made a name and quite a small fortune for herself. Nothing nearly as much as the Stark wealth she will inherit if she proves to be who she claims, but good enough that she wouldn't have to work another day in her life if she so chose. Stane probably thought she'd deny a test or that he'd be able to manipulate results. That was not gonna happen. All she needed was the blood from her dead baby body that she had fetched eighteen years prior and then, with magic and science both, she aged the blood to the right hormonal and genetic structure of an adolescent. With help of illusion and magic, she was able to trick everybody into being solid to the touch and that she had the doctor draw blood right in front of them.

Then, she had JARVIS placed to watch over the tests lest anyone make an unsavory attempts at faol play. She wouldn't put it past Obadiah.

Having her vessel from the start meant she had JARVIS from the start, too. After the first few cycles, when she realized she could save JARVIS from his unfortunate fate, she never made another AI meant to replace him. FRIDAY still existed, as did her other AIs, just not in the same capacity as before. Instead, she'd left her with Pepper. Just like EDITH was with Rhodey and she had given JOCASTA to Happy. KAREN was still offline and waiting for her time to fulfill her duty.

As you can imagine, Toni had pretty much butchered her former life story into something that still allowed her to keep her friends while ensuring no threat comes to the world. Virginia Potts, Harold Hogan and Colonel James Rhodes were the only people outside of the Ancient One and Agent Nicholas Fury who knew about the truth behind her existence and not even they had the full story between them, let alone on their own. Rhodey, Pepper and Happy were surprisingly chill after the stories Toni told them and, over the years, they've managed to build the same rapport as they had in all those cycles when she actually had a life to do it properly. They were there, by her side, every step of the way as she proved herself to be who she is and started unraveling Stane's web as well as HYDRA. They were her closest friends, only JARVIS outweighing them. And maybe one more person whom she cannot meet for many years to come. Not yet.

Still, after the world was convinced she was the Stark heir, her father's will was looked into and it turned out Howard had already written off all of his belongings to her. It would seem this version of him would have been the proud parent type and it only made the ache she felt at his and Maria's death worse as an old wound was reopened all over again. It also turned out this version of him was a paranoid bastard because he wrote in his will the company was her's as soon as she turns eighteen. That thwarted a lot of Obadiah's plans in trying to keep her away.

For three long years, it was an uphill battle and only now hints of its end were appearing on the horizon. Between that and HYDRA, adding a Kree-Skrull war wasn't the best of ideas. Especially as the time for Loki's fall approached, which meant New York and he will come soon enough. She needed to buy more time.

If only Odin weren't such a shitty father!

She needed more time.

"Can I hold him?" She asked Fury innocently out of the blue, making him blink at the random question, especially given how grave their interaction had started.

Still, he nodded and extended the cat-looking alien. "Sure. Just be careful. He's feisty." Toni just smiled before letting her hand glow as she placed it over Goose's back. Not a moment later, the Flerkin coughed up the Tesseract, which she caught with magic, levitating it in the air between her a Fury. "Holy fuck!" Goose just purred as she scratched the Flerkin behind the ears. "What the fuck just happened!?"

And Toni only laughed.