Chapter Two: 2010
Chalsea is now sixteen and has been living with Tony for two years and has taken to calling him Uncle Tony. She can tell something is wrong with him but she doesn't ask hoping he will tell her when he is ready. She is also in her senior year of high school and is set to graduate in a few weeks. Four months earlier than a normal high school senior who doesn't have her IQ level. She is with Tony and Happy up in the home gym watching the two train with boxing gloves when Pepper walks in. "Tony the notary is here." She says as a redheaded woman walks in with a clipboard and a file folder. Chalsea watches her suspiciously the whole time from her seat in the corner. She watches as she climbs into the ring with Happy per Tony's request so she walks over and sits on the floor between Tony's legs. "Uncle Tony is this really necessary? She doesn't even look like a notary." Chalsea whispers to him suspiciously.
"It's alright Dove, she checks out." Tony comforts her. The woman sneaks a glance over her shoulder at the two. She looks away when Chalsea looks back up to the boxing ring to see the woman flip Happy and lock him in a headlock. The three of them jump up as the woman climbs out of the ring. Chalsea walks by her quickly and they make eye contact before she looks away and climbs into the ring and kneels down next to Happy. "You alright Uncle Happy? How many fingers am I holding up?" She asks while holding up two fingers in front of his face. "I'm alright Chalsea and you are holding up two fingers." He says while trying to catch his breath. She helps him sit up slowly and take off the head gear.
She looks towards the door and watches the woman leave before grabbing a bottle of water from Pepper and passing it to Happy. She lightly punches his arm before climbing out of the ring "Well I have homework to do, so I will be in my room if you need me." She calls out as she runs out of the room. "Don't study too hard." Tony calls out after her with a laugh because he knows she will fall asleep while studying. She throws him the peace sign as she disappears around the corner.
Upon entering her room she senses more than two other people in her room besides herself so she shuts her door slowly and locks it. "Who's there, show yourself now." She demanded. Her desk chair turns to face her slowly to reveal a bold man with an eye-patch and the woman appears next to her. "Chalsea Banner, I assume?" The man remarked. "I am and who are you?" She acknowledged never once relaxing her stance. "Nick Fury, Director Of S.H.I.E.L.D and this is Agent Romanoff. We are here to watch Stark to see if he qualifies to be a member of our team we are putting together." Fury explains while watching her with his one eye.
"If you stay long enough you will find out he isn't the same Tony Stark he used to be. He has matured and become more responsible since taking me in. So if he doesn't do something you deem as worthy then it has nothing to do with him and everything to do with yourself. He is sick right now so he is bound to make some stupid and reckless decisions. And if I find that you are behind it I won't hesitate to come after you with everything I have." She threatens them both.
"I assure you Miss Banner we are not behind the reason for his illness. That is solely caused by the element in his arc reactor. We are here to push him in the right direction to find and create a new more stable element that will keep him alive." Fury promised. She relaxes out of her stance just an inch but remains on alert. "I'll be keeping a close eye on your Agent Romanoff to make sure she doesn't talk my uncle into doing anything stupid." Chalsea finished while staring directly at said agent. "Fair enough, we will be going now." Fury concluded.
She moves away from her door with her eyes on both of them at all times until they are out of her sight. She checks all around her room to see if anything is out of place or if they planted anything. Finding nothing she relaxes and goes to her desk to begin her homework like she said she was going to. A few hours later she decides to take a break and go down to the workshop to visit with Tony when she sees the dark lines going up his chest and to his neck and the arc reactor smoking. "Uncle Tony." She whispers as she walks into the room. "Oh, hey Dove I thought you were doing homework." He inquired while quickly turning to hide his chest.
"I was but I thought I would take a small break and come down here for a little bit" She murmured quietly. "What is going on, why is the reactor smoking?" She voiced worriedly. He sighs before motioning her closer. "I'm dying, the reactor is poisoning me with palladium. I've looked everywhere for a new element but have come up empty every time." He sighed in defeat. "There has to be another way. Your Tony Stark for crying out loud you always find a solution to everything." She sniffed. She doesn't wait for an explanation before running from the room with Tony calling after her but it's too late she is already up the stairs and out of the house.
"Man that was brutal, but luckily for you I have something that may help you with your little problem." Fury stated while appearing from the shadows. "Who are you and how did you get into my house?" Tony demands. "I'm Nick Fury, Director Of S.H.I.E.L.D. and I am here to give you everything you need to fix your little problem. Upstairs you will find a bunch of boxes containing all of Howard Stark's research. Use it." Fury surmised before vanishing back in the shadows. Tony goes upstairs and finds everything Fury said he would before taking it all down to the lab.
He finds a solution to the palladium poisoning three hours later. He created a new element and added it to the reactor and watched the black lines disappear. He goes back upstairs hoping Chalsea was back but the house is empty. He begins to worry and calls his suit before flying off into the sky to search for her. He is out searching for an hour when he gets a call from someone he thought to be dead. Ivan Vanko sends him a chilling message to come to the expo or Chalsea will die. He sets his thrusters to maximum speed heading straight for the expo where the Hammer drones have gone crazy and Natasha takes off for Hammer Industries when Tony warns her about Vanko having Chalsea.
Natasha enters the building and takes out as many guards as she can before coming up to the room Vanko has Chalsea chained up to a chair. "Welcome to the party Agent Romanoff, glad you could make it but could you hurry up and get these chains off of me now." Chalsea quips.
Natasha smirks before moving over to her and removing the chains Chalsea stands up once she is free and shakes her arms to get rid of the cold from the chains. They go to the security room and Natasha hacks into the system while Chalsea stands off to the side. The fight ends shortly after Natasha arrives at Hammer Industries. In the car on the way back to the mansion Chalsea turns to her. "You will put in that report that Tony surpasses all of your expectations right. Because I know he did everything you thought he wouldn't. You thought he would put himself first and cause more damage but he didn't. He put me first and caused the least amount of damage possible. " She states while looking away from Natasha and back out the window.
Natasha smirks at Chalsea's bravery and boldness as she drives down the streets of L.A towards the mansion. She drops Chalsea off twenty minutes later and drives off quickly as Tony lands in his Iron Man suit. She stands there while looking down at the ground and shuffling her feet as Tony walks up to her. "Sorry I ran off without letting you explain what was going on." She spoke shamefully. He doesn't say anything just pulls her into a tight hug "I thought you didn't do hugs?" She questions. "You're an exception. Besides you had every right to run off I kept something important from you that I should have told you sooner. I'm just so glad you're alright and back here safely. I don't need your dad to Hulk out on me if he found out I let you get hurt." He laughs.
She laughs loudly as she pushes him away gently and they both walk into the house and go off to their rooms. She enters her room to see Fury standing by the window out of sight "You were right about Stark. He really isn't the same man he used to be and you will be happy to know that he overqualified for the team. So he will be a co-leader with Captain America when the team is put together." Fury reported to her. "I told you he changed for the better." She smirked before Fury turned to her with a look of respect as he left her room unnoticed by everyone even J.A.R.V.I.S. She locks her bedroom door before walking off to her bathroom and stepping into a warm relaxing bubble bath.
After her bath she changes into her sleep shorts and a tank top and grabs her Iron Man blanket and wraps it around her shoulders before going down to grab some pizza with Tony for dinner and a movie in the living room. She may have gained an Uncle in Tony and love him as such but she will always miss her dad and pray they will see each other again someday soon. Unbeknownst to her an enemy would be coming forcing Fury to put The Avengers into action calling forth Tony, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and her father. But that is something for another time right now she is enjoying her pizza with her Uncle Tony and finishing high school.