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 expect an explanation, Antonia," was the first thing Fury snapped when he and Toni walked into the room, glaring at the once bodiless woman. Stephen had to be led to a seat in between Toni and Wong, still a bit too out of it to do it himself, much to everyone's confusion, Wong's exasperation and Toni's amusement. He's not even surprised they are confused. They all knew Stephen as this serious asshole who throws around sarcastic comments like rice at a wedding and is literally unflappable. He had been the only one not freaking out when they had initially faced Thanos and had also been the last one remaining standing and attempting to stand and fight. To see him like this must be disconcerting and yet Stephen didn't have enough mental facilities at the moment to care.
Toni had kissed him. Toni had kissed him. Toni had kissed him. He figures he has a good enough of an excuse to be so air-headed at the moment.
"I'm afraid that's too broad of a request, Nick," Toni fired back casually, letting Peter, Kamala, Dante and Harley fiddle with the little nanite hologram projector she had made them after they started asking too many questions for her to answer. Shuri was no doubt jealous that she was missing out on the opportunity and was just as doubtlessly cursing being a princess because it meant she had to sit on the other end of the table with T'Challa and their parents instead of exploring Stark's tech. On the other hand, she had passed Rhodes and Barnes balls of that familiar blue energy to fiddle around with, whether to calm them or just to show off what she could do, Strange couldn't tell. The kids looked ready to snatch the one from Rhodes' hands soon enough to examine Toni's magic as well as her technology, though it looked like the borders between the two were pretty much too blurred to make out where one begins and the other ends. As a former scientist, Stephen knew that would be extremely frustrating. As the current Sorcerer Supreme, he learned to just go with it.
Shit like that was pretty much a part of his everyday routine, although definitely not in the Toni way. Toni was anything but ordinary or an everyday occurrence and this is coming from the guy who used to spend almost every single day with her not all that long ago. And the guy she had just kissed moments ago.
Yeah, his brain was still stuck on that. Sue him.
"Don't be like this now, Toni. We just want answers," Rogers sighed, sounding tired and resigned that this was his life now and the explanations and impossibilities hadn't even started yet. Stephen kind of felt bad for the guy. From what he understood, Ms Stark for him and Barnes was, like, the most ordinary thing in the modern age. She had been the one who had introduced them and helped them settle in. She was their connection to both the past and the future. It must be really disconcerting for that anchor to suddenly be uprooted.
"Then ask questions."
"Okay, so let's start with the easiest one," Romanov agreed, obviously wanting to move on from the null point. "Who all knew about you and your secrets?"
"That's ... also a rather complicated question. Not as complicated as some others, but still complicated," Toni mused, leaning back in her seat and starting to count on her fingers. "Who knew about me? Generally speaking, like, just knew about me? Agamotto and every Sorcerer Supreme after him, Stephen, Nick, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Carol, Hela, Odin, Frigga, Loki, Thor, Valkyrie, Heimdall, Helen Cho, Dr Wu, Yinsen. I told Harley and Peter a few months after they became Young Avengers. Who knew I was older than this universe? Agamotto, the other Sorcerer Supremes, Stephen, Nick, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Yinsen, Carol, Hela, Odin, Frigga, Loki, Thor and Heimdall. The others thought I was a ghost or something similar who had once had a physical form and died a long time ago. Who knew I'm the actual daughter of Howard Stark despite all of this? Nick, Pepper, Rhodey, Happy, Yinsen. Who knew I lived for multiple cycles and seen several universes before existing in this one? Nick, Hela, Odin, Frigga. Who knew I knew about Thanos? The Sorcerer Supremes since Agamotto, Nick, Hela, Odin, Frigga, Loki, Thor, Pepper, Happy, Yinsen, Helen, Wu, Rhodey, Carol, Valkyrie, Heimdall. Who knew just how many universes I'd seen? Nick, Hela, Frigga. I alluded it to Yinsen. Who knew about the Arc Reactor? The Sorcerer Supremes, Stephen and Yinsen, though I never actually went into detail about it with any one of them. Who knew I was getting a physical body? Yinsen, Helen and Wu. Oh, and JARVIS. Never forget about JARVIS."
"Who's Jarvis?"
"That would be me, Agent Barton." Several people jumped in surprise at the amused sounding British voice coming from the ceiling. Stephen was one of them, finally breaking him out of his trance and allowing him to focus on the present. The only ones not at all deterred by the newcomers unexpected response were Thor, Loki, Rhodes, Barnes, the kids and Danvers. Even Fury had jumped up a bit and was now cursing up a storm. " i am JARVIS, or Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, created by Ms Stark in the last cycle, I was allowed to transcend into this one with her through staying within the Arc Reactor. This was the first time this had happened, so I only have recollections of the last cycle and this one. I am an Artificial Intelligence that acts as Sir's co-pilot, assistant and constant companion. My primary purpose is to assist and protect Toni Stark. Don't let my pleasant voice and currently calm disposition fool you. I can be quite vicious."
Banner arched an eyebrow at Toni, amused. "Is there any particular reason you've informed us of that, JARVIS?"
Stark grimaced, looking somewhere between amused and haunted in a single expression. "Let's just say that not in all cycles are the Avengers a united, civil, cohesive group."
"Indeed." Now everyone flinched by how cold the AI sounded. It was very Skynet.
"Um, he called you 'sir'?" Lang half asked, half pointed out, even going as far as to raise his hand as though he was in middle school. Toni arched an eyebrow.
"Do you have any idea how many cycles I've seen and lived through? How many times I've changed gender? JARVIS is one my constant and I remember rebelling at the thought of him calling me anything other than 'Sir' for the longest time. The first fifty cycles are really blurry, but I do remember that much. Whether it was in order to be equal to the men in my life or because I myself was male, I don't remember so I just accepted it. Whether man or woman or transgender or simply nothing, JARVIS always calls me 'Sir'. It's easier that way."
"And how many cycles have you actually lived through, Lady Stark?" Loki asked, looking her over with a critical eye. This was no doubt the first time he was seeing her with a solid body. It is understandable he is intrigued.
"Over fourteen million, and that's when she stopped counting," Fury answered for her, a distant look in his eye.
Stephen automatically corrected him with the exact number. "Fourteen million six hundred and five. Then she stopped counting."
The Director's head whipped over in his direction, his good eye zeroing in on him. "You actually know the exact number? What the fuck!? She never told me and I helped her overthrow HYDRA, AIM, the Ten Rings and a dozen other secret terrorist organizations! Just what the fuck!?"
"To be fair, I only told him recently. Like, ten minutes ago recently, so don't go swearing around the kids, Nicky."
"Fuck you, Stark!"
"Language!" Rogers automatically snapped before slapping a hand over his mouth, mortified at sounding like such a grandpa. Toni just laughed, delighted, at all of their incredulous faces and the look Fury had on his, like he was so done with this shit. "Sorry. I couldn't help it this time."
Fury, apparently deciding he did not want to deal with that, turned to Stephen, scowl and glare still very much in place. Stephen was tempted to match him but remaining unimpressed would be so much better. So he just arched an eyebrow at the man in the black trench coat and silently dared him. Nick Fury, though, didn't back off from a dare, it would seem. He wasn't to be deterred. "And just why did you know about the Arc Reactor? I literally thought it was just some random piece of technology that powered her suits, which she controlled with her funky magic, but now I learn it's the very vessel of her essence and you somehow knew before me? Why is that?"
"Uh, because Toni told me," he was tempted to add on a 'Duh,' but refrained. There was being an asshole and then there was being childish. He preferred to not be the latter.
"Yeah, this dumbass nearly got himself killed when he stumbled upon it. Though I told him only later that it was my vessel, so it's not as though he kept the secret for long."
"And what of the other people you mentioned?" Asked T'Challa. "How did they come to know of the Arc Reactor?"
"And how, exactly, did the most advanced piece of technology known to man get mistaken as one of the most powerful magical relics in the realms?" Wong and Shuri asked right after, though there were two different versions of that question, Shuri's leaning more towards offended that technology could ever be mistaken foe magic. Stephen idly wondered whether the Ancient One would thrust her soul through countless dimensions to prove a point or if it was just him.
"I told them. They were involved in the construction of my body so they had to know to shift some things and leave enough space for it in my chest without it actually being an intrusive object, like it usually would be after Afghanistan." Toni ignored the questions that immediately rose at that, instead focusing on answering Wong's question. "Unfortunately, it is now both. Given it was the literal first object in the universe even before the Big Bang and the scattering of the Infinity Stones, and that it has housed and still houses my soul, it's quite magical. The Arc Reactor is my heart, that's what I told Agamotto. He, as he had no idea what an Arc Reactor was, named it the Heart of Iron Maiden, as I had introduced myself, of course, and later on his students either were lazy to say it or didn't like the 'Maiden' part, so they just started calling it Heart of Iron. Though it's more likely that they didn't understand the need for it, given they didn't know the origin of the name. And since it was kept in Kamar-Taj, everyone just assumed it was magical. Or, well, they assumed it was strictly magical."
"That doesn't explain the amount of magic it gives off."
The woman scoffed, offended. "That's pure, unadulterated Arc Reactor energy, which almost perfectly matches that of the Infinity Stones."
"Your other reactors don't," Banner pointed out and Toni scoffed again.
"Okay, one, my other reactors are made with a palladium core since it's pretty much for show more than anything. Before getting out of Kamar-Taj, Iron Maiden made very few appearances and for much less tasking and shorter battles against the type of idiots I can take care of in my sleep. If I needed extra juice, I used a bit of magic or my own energy. The suit is very compatible with my own energy, really. And two, besides this," she tapped the glowing device on her chest with an arched eyebrow. "Reactor was built with a Starkenium core and millions of nanites that have their own mycroreactors, so of course this thing is giving off more energy than probably anything else on Earth besides the Stones. And on top of all of that, it stored my soul. Ever since the first cycle I can even vaguely remember, I always had the Arc Reactor. Whether it was in my body or just in the suits didn't matter. It was always a part of me and it always represented me at my core. The future, a light that leads and holds out hope. It's me at my very essence. It's my heart, it's been Proof That Toni Stark Has A Heart more often than I can count. It's what set me on this path. The world needed a hero and it got one with a flashlight in their chest. It wasn't an easy life and it was an infinitely harder existence, but I've made it. In the end, it was good. Even all those years without a body were worth it, though having JARVIS around probably kept my sanity intact while there was no one else around to talk to. Then again, I'll always have my co-pilot. It took me a few cycles to figure out how to not ever lose him and ever since I started regularly using Extemis, I could quite literally download his code into my mind, make a few modifications in the next cycle before unleashing him to be the badass ruler of the Internet that he is."
"Thank you, Sir," the AI replied, pleased with the praise.
"And what is Extremis?" Shuri asked immediately, curious, catching the attention of the other kids, though only two of them were science and technological geeks as far as Stephen knew.
"It's a serum - well, it started off as a virus, really, if we're going to get technical about it - that rewrites the body on a cellular level. You can quite literally regrow limbs, like Deadpool-" the anti-hero waved like a shy school girl cartoon character when they all glanced at him. "Be as strong as Spidey, Kitty Cat or Cap, pretty fast and agile and, most of all, unmatched cognitive abilities and, as I have added with much tinkering, technopacy. So no, Nick, I did not control my suits with 'funky magic' while I still had no physical form."
"You're saying you're the Professor Xavior of machines?" One of the mutants Strange hadn't met before breathed, excited. "That is so fucking awesome!"
"Language!" Captain America snipped again, only to groan and bury his face in his hands. The rest were all busy snickering at his old man tendencies when his head suddenly snapped back up, giving Toni a glare. "Wait, if you've really been around since the beginning, why didn't you stop the wars? Save Bucky and your parents? Stop that 7-11 attack back in 2001? Or any other terrorist attack, for that matter? You could have stopped so many tragedies because you already knew they were going to happen! You could have cured diseases a lot earlier! You could have fought for women's rights or against slave labor! Or HYDRA!"
"She did fight HYDRA, Captain," Fury cut in before anymore accusations could be thrown about. "They survived WWII and managed to infiltrate SHIELD at one point. We wouldn't have known had it not been for her. As it was, SHIELD was purged of our parasite in the early 2000s. And there would have been plenty more terrorist attacks because Howard's business partner, Obadiah Stane, was selling weapons under the table to the highest bidder until Toni fished him out."
"As for why she didn't interfere in those other affairs you've mention, as an expert in how time functions, I'll answer in her stead." Everyone turned to look at Strange, as this was the first time he spoke up since he had trailed in after Toni in a daze. "If she had messed with random things at random points in our timeline, it was more likely that when Thanos comes, she'd be in a completely different world of which, in comparison to the one she studied through billions of cycles, she knows very little, even if she was the one who all but created it. Messing with a single point in time could have long lasting, massive consequences. Sticking to how history has progressed so far would be ideal. Besides, what change would it make if, say, she pushed for women rights earlier? What would the people do when that had originally happened? A war could have very easily broken out because maybe people would be dissatisfied with something not nearly so easily resolved."
"Easily!?" All the women exclaimed indignantly, but Stephen just shrugged.
"It took centuries to get rid of slavery and decades to stop racism and racist tendencies in science or society. Women got their rights easier and faster than slaves did, than African-Americans did."
"That aside," Loki spoke up before they could get into an ideology debate, thankfully. "Lady Stark has been busy keeping Asgard from falling into a civil war. From what Hela told us, Lady Stark assisted her through a difficult transition and kept her from being imprisoned by our father. Lady Stark then proceeded to try and prepare us for these events, but Odin was always stubborn about it."
"Aye, my brother speaks true," Thor agreed with a nod, the other two Asgardians giving their own agreements with murmurs and nods. "Why, just six years ago, Loki was sent to Earth as Thanos' servant to bring him the Tesseract. Lady Stark was waiting for him and explained everything to me about what he had been through. We then went to Asgard and told our family that we must prepare. Finally, we could stop mourning Loki. It has been a rough time."
"Six years ago ... " Wong muttered under his breath, apparently doing the math and going through his memories. "The Ancient One was preparing for something big in 2012. She had the Eye of Agamotto and was standing on the roof of the New York Sanctum, waiting."
Toni snickered, apparently well informed of that, too. "Oh, she looked ridiculous. Apparently good ol' Merlin never told her that the changes I make with my action or inaction to a timeline are invisible to the Time Stone." Said emerald Stone bobbed seemingly in agreement from where they were still dancing around the woman. It was apparently hard not to stare at them for everyone but Stephen, who had until moments ago been mesmerized by his own unexpected kiss with Toni so he hadn't even noticed. He was noticing now, especially how their gentle lights played across her hair, skin and eyes. Especially her eyes. He could have swore they should be a rich honey brown and yet they were still that familiar electric - or rather Arc Reactor - blue that he had always known them to be. His life was weird. "It's apparently a defense mechanism to keep my existing still from Thanos should he manage to get his hands on the Stones before we can battle properly so I can still have the element of surprise when I come at him. She was not impressed with me when I went back to Kamar-Taj that night."
"I can imagine," Stephen drawled, rather well acquainted with that not impressed expression his master could pull so effortlessly at any moment. Even without his photographic memory, he had seen it enough times for it to be seared into his brain, honestly.
"So, what happens now?" Barnes asked after a moment of silence and everyone turned their attention to him. "I mean, the day is saved, the big bad defeated ... What happens now?" The question was directed straight at Toni, who was silent, listening. Considering. "Do you just ... go poof or something?"
Toni actually paused to think about it and Stephen would lie if he said he wasn't seized by a momentary fear that Toni would, indeed, go 'poof' any second now, no matter that they had a pretty similar conversation like, half an hour ago and that Toni had made it quite clear that she had no plans of dying anytime soon. Still, he was a bit nervous regarding her answer. While she might not be gone altogether, will she disappear from his life? Will he ever see her again? Sure, she had kissed him, but she hadn't said anything about it and he hadn't been in the right state or had the time needed to bring it up before they had joined the Avengers for the meeting. Will she stay in New York? Or on Earth altogether? She seems to be quite a hero in Asgard and she'll no doubt help in rebuilding Xandar and Knowhere. Stephen was the type who doesn't follow social media, like, at all, which is probably why he never realized the similarities between his Toni and the Toni Stark on every form of social media the world had to offer. That, however, does not mean he's completely oblivious. There was nowhere he could go without the name 'Toni Stark' reaching his ears. He knew rather well that she paid and personally assisted in all relief efforts over the years. He had once wondered if it was an ego thing but no one who was egotistical went so much out of their way all the time just for a few photos taken and praises written, especially not when the same could be achieved by buying a cup of coffee - for Stark, at least. Now, as his brain still struggled to put all the pieces together so he can get one, clear picture, Stephen knew that could never be the reason why. It wouldn't surprise him that Toni would extend her kindness to a whole other planet.
Well, at least he'll always be just a portal away if he ever wants to visit her. She probably won't turn him away. Probably.
"I guess I'll just ... do what I do best. Revolutionize the world one day at a time all over again. Mentor young heroes until they're grown and ready to face the world on their own. Assist anyone who needs it. Guard the Stones. Go back to Kamar-Taj and continue shaping it as I have so far. Put protection seals on the Infinity Stones and wait for the Beyonder or some piece of shit like him to come and try to get them. Seal off their power and chunk them into Galactus' cereal bowl so as to lengthen this universe's life span by a few billion years. Mess with Doom. Finally let Hela lay in on Odin for all the crap he's put us through the years. If I get bored, I'll probably just go and punch this Dormammu in the face a few times, maybe play chess with Eternity or check up on Death. Maybe I'll even pay a visit to Mephisto! It's always fun to annoy him. He has the most hilarious reactions when he realizes he can't know a single thing about me. I'll probably help rebuild Xandar and I promised Eitri and his bunch that I'll stop by some time this millennia and they're still holding me to that. Besides, I need to help them rebuild. It's blasphemy that their forge is no longer lit. Fuck Thanos. Maybe I should check if there's a Clea in this universe that isn't mad? If there is, I should probably just leave so as to not get in the way of the natural course of things. Vormir would be an appropriate place for me, I think. What?" She stopped when she saw all of their expressions. Stephen guessed they must be quite a gallery of incredulity.
There were so, so many questions he wanted to ask but, really, all of their minds were pretty much on the same frequency of "What!?"
And Toni?
Toni just laughed.
At least someone was having fun.
'Vishanti help us.'