"Major Summers," Steve called out. He jogged up to catch up to Chris, who was dressed in shorts and a long sleeve, form fitting gym shirt for the cool late October morning. Chris nodded to Steve, but didn't slow down his run.
"You need something?" he asked.
"I want to talk about you and Stark." That made Chris stop. Steve stopped as well and he stared at Chris.
"Let me guess. You highly disapprove of something else in my personal life."
"I'm worried that it'll be a distraction-"
"For Tony? Seriously? Have you never seen that man compartmentalize?"
"For Scott."
"Scott's known about us since before Tony went to India. He's fine. Anything else, Captain Rogers?"
"Tony and I have our disagreements," Steve said. "But I see him as my friend. Don't hurt him, Major Summers."
"Never intentionally," Chris promised. "Now do you mind? My kids are going to be up in an hour and expect breakfast." Steve started jogging and Chris didn't even try to keep up with the man and just continued at his own pace.
"Come on, Tony," Scott said, his hands clasped together. "I'm ready to train with everyone. Please?"
"No way, Voldy. Your dad-"
"But he doesn't have a say in my training! You and Cap do, and Cap thinks I'm ready. I think I'm ready. I just need another Avenger to sign off, and-"
"And you thought you could ask me since I'm wanting to stay in your good graces?"
"Yes- No! Come on, Tony! You're the only other one who's seen me train. Please let me at least try something." Tony rubbed his eyes.
"You can sit in with us and plan an exercise. Whether or not you get to participate remains to be seen. And if you act immaturely while planning- like this whining bit you've got going on?- you're back to square one. And if you give me a hard time about any of this, then I'm not above going to your dad, got it?"
"Yes sir. Thanks, Tony."
"Yeah, yeah. Go try on your suit and let me see if it works right." Scott ran into his room and opened his closet, looking at the blue suit Tony, Bruce, and Peter had worked on specifically for him. He pulled it on and attached his yellow visor to the lightweight metal hooks just below his temples.
"You there, Mick?"
"I'm here, Scott. I'm now recording."
"Got it." Scott went back to Tony's lab and walked in. "I'm back, Tony!" He heard clattering and Tony shot up from the floor, his hair sticking up.
"Hey. Suit looks good on you, Voldy. Let's head onto the field and make sure the visor's lift works." Scott rolled his eyes.
"You wanna come too, Dad?"
"That obvious, huh?" Chris said.
"Yep. Fix your hair and meet me outside," he ordered. Tony blinked.
"I didn't think you were the one giving orders-"
"Then don't fix your hair. But you look ridiculous, so I highly recommend it. Now I'm going outside. Join me or don't. Totally your call."
"You're closer," he heard Chris say. "You can pop the sass out of him."
"Go to the field," Tony ordered. "And it's looking less and less likely for you to join us to train, Scott. You're a junior level Avenger and you need to respect that Captain America and I call the shots, not you."
"Sorry, Tony. But I didn't mean to-"
"You were given an order, Cyclops."
"Yeah, but-"
"Go," Tony said.
"I'm not talking to Iron Man! I'm trying to apologize to my dad's boyfriend here!"
"It's the same person," Tony said. "You can't let our personal relationship dictate our professional one, Scott. Now go wait for me outside before I take your dad up on his offer."
"Yes sir, Mr. Stark," Scott said before he turned and left the lab. Tony dropped back down on his couch and Chris chuckled quietly.
"What?"
"Peter's never been that mouthy around you, has he?"
"No," Tony said, slightly baffled.
"Well get used to that, too, unfortunately, because as great a kid as Scott is, he's still mine."
"You couldn't have been that mouthy," Tony protested.
"No, I was much, much worse."
"Luckily for you, then, that I know what to do with your mouth, hm?"
"Fix your hair and head out, Tin Man," Chris replied, rolling his eyes.
"Didn't hear complaints about my hair when you were messing it up," Tony mumbled as he searched for a comb. As soon as they were presentable, Chris and Tony left the lab and headed outside to work with Scott.
"Boss, Director Fury is calling with information you requested."
"You take that," Chris said. "I'll go to Scott and start checking the suit over." Tony nodded and the two separated. Tony returned to his lab and closed the door.
"Bring it up, Fri," he ordered. A screen appeared and then so did the face of Nick Fury. "You'd better have something this time, Fury. You're interrupting my plans for the day."
"We've got a wire transfer from Ross. It went through several channels, but we finally were able to follow it to Gloria Dayne. Once we had a name, we started surveillance."
"That name sounds familiar."
"She worked for a Captain Philip Summers and then a Major Christopher Summers as a secretary at Summers Shipping in Anchorage, Alaska."
"And she would have had access to Katherine if she worked for Captain Summers," Tony said, his head dropping.
"We traced her bank records. She purchased an old brand of pesticide made with something called thallium. If given in a high enough dose-"
"It can cause migraine-like symptoms and death," Tony said, his eyes closed.
"That's not everything we found." Tony narrowed his eyes.
"What else?"
"Gloria Dayne is the daughter of," Fury checked the paper in front of him, "Amanda Mueller, the ex-wife of Daniel Summers."
"You're shitting me."
"No father listed, but mother is definitely Summers' ex wife and the grandmother of Captain Philip Summers, which makes Dayne Captain Summers' aunt."
"And you're sure you can tie this to General Ross?"
"We can," Fury confirmed. "Our only concern is making it stick."
"He's stolen Stark tech," Tony said. "Prototype Hulk busters Banner and I were working on. That should be enough to get him arrested and held while we work on a way to make this stick."
"I'd get some legal advice."
"Yeah," Tony said, rubbing his eyes.
"Are we done being your investigators now?"
"Yes. I'll get Friday to wire the money to the account we agreed on." Tony ended the call and again dropped to the couch in his lab, cradling his head in his hands.
"Major Summers wants to know if you're planning on joining them soon," Mick said.
"No," Tony responded. "Tell him something's come up. Fri, get Bruce and Nat in here. We'll be unavailable to everyone outside of an emergency. Doors will be locked and windows closed up."
"They're on their way," Friday announced. "Boss…"
"Don't, Fri."
"Major Summers won't like being locked out. It has the potential to destroy the relationship you are trying to build."
"I don't pay you to be my relationship therapist."
"You don't pay me at all." Tony rubbed his forehead as the doors opened.
"Friday said you needed us," Bruce said. "What's going on?"
"Fury was able to link Ross to Chris' wife's murder."
"I take it I'm here to keep Bruce calm," Natasha said. Tony nodded.
"Does Chris know?" Tony shook his head. "Tones… He deserves to know this."
"This will destroy him," Tony said.
"Major Summers is at the door, Boss. He says he'll camp out there all night if necessary. He's worried you're drinking."
"A drink wouldn't be the worst thing right now."
"Let him in, Tony," Bruce urged. Tony closed his eyes and nodded. The lock turned and Chris hurried in. He paid no attention to Bruce and Natasha and went straight to Tony.
"What happened?" he asked, sitting beside Tony. "You're pale. What did he say to you?" Tony looked Chris in the eye.
"Who's Gloria Dayne?"
"What?"
"Who's Gloria, Chris?"
"She's- she was my receptionist in my father's office. She's been working with our family for ten years. Mom said she quit before your trip to India. Why?"
"Because there's a link from Ross' accounts to hers shortly before Katherine…" Chris shook his head.
"She's as good as family-" Tony snorted.
"Might be because she's your great aunt."
"What?"
"Your dad's grandmother had a daughter. I don't know if it was with your great grandfather, but…"
"You can't actually believe this." Chris said. "It sounds absurd-"
"There are records of her purchasing rat poison with thallium. When given in high enough doses, thallium poisoning can mimic symptoms of a migraine and if not treated fast enough can lead to a bleed on the brain and death. Because the doctors weren't looking for poison, they just ruled Katherine's death as a ruptured brain aneurysm." Tony looked at Bruce and Natasha. "You guys happy now?"
"Were you going to keep this from me?" Chris asked hoarsely.
"No," Tony said. "But I was going to find a more gentle way to break it to you." Chris nodded and then tensed.
"My parents. Oh God- She could- They're not safe. I need to get to them. I-"
"I'll handle it, Bear," Tony said quietly. "I'll have the security updated at your dad's office and hangar, their house, your house, their cabin. I'll put a twenty-four hour guard at Katherine's grave if you want."
"I trusted her," Chris said. Tony flicked a hand in Bruce and Natasha's direction and they wisely left.
"I know. I remember you telling Alex to let her bandage him up. You wouldn't have let your children near her if you didn't trust her."
"She killed my wife." Tony put a hand on Chris' shoulder as he wept, unsure of what else he could do.
