"I'm only getting stronger."

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am. You're more like me every day."

"I am nothing like you."

"Are you sure about that?"

==NM2==

Tony and Happy were training. Boxing, mostly because it was what Tony could do.

I was sitting on the nearby cushioned bench- twirling a pen stylus between my fingers. Nikki was laying across the bench. Her legs were dangling over the side. Her head was resting just out of reach from my leg. In her hands, a knife was being twirled much like in mine.

I'm not saying it's obvious that we're twins.

But it's a near thing.

After the disaster of being handed the company, came the joy of explaining to Tony why my day was more fucked up than his. He'd researched Nikki soon after, with the help of JARVIS. Nikkiette Stevens, daughter of Timothy Stevens and (unknown). Grew up a few hundred miles north of LA, lived a quiet life in foster homes with her brother.

("Hold up- brother?" "Brother by dad's blood. Not mom's." "Well I guess that's- no it's not what I meant. He still alive?" "...maybe?" "Ugh. The dad?" "Dead- and no I didn't kill him. I was a few months old!" "So it was a challenge to kill him." "You're damn right it was!")

No jail time-

("Seriously?" "I know. Nikki Stevens is a wet blanket.")

-but a few close calls, according to some reports-

("Oh!" "Yeah that makes more sense.")

Moral of the story: Tony couldn't find anything wrong with her. A quick DNA test proved blood relation between her and me. None between Tony and Nikki.

("Thank the Lord." "Shut up you don't believe in God." "Yeah but if you two were related my head would explode. Clearly a deity is responsible." "And you're sure the deity isn't-" "Shut UP!")

Anyway- afterwards I was proven wrong. Pepper's day was worse. She got told that: her art had been sold to the Boy Scouts, Tony was giving me the company, and I had a sister. So by and large, she had more problems.

She said she would have the paperwork by morning.

Morning.

One whole day to stop this- which wasn't actually happening because Tony had his mind set on this to my eternal annoyance.

Nikki supported it. Damn her.

I am betrayed by everyone.

Shouldn't she of all people know how much I hate curveballs like this?

"His left foot isn't in form." Nikki commented idly, as if wondering why I hadn't corrected them yet.

"It always is. He's trying to compensate for Tony's sake." I excused, my mind still rushing a hundred different directions at this new development. Seriously, I had to edit so much of my Plan last night. Ugh.

I mean not that I don't love it-

"So you're just letting Happy have improper form?" Nikki asked, vaguely surprised. "Wait I get it. You're waiting for your turn to kick his ass, thus use it to your advantage."

Well I couldn't deny that.

"You never could pass up the chance to humiliate someone while teaching them." Nikki remarked, twirling the knife onto her other hand.

"Well it worked so well on you." I smiled widely, teasing her. There were some good memories, training a younger Nikki to not be so stupid when fighting. Aww...such good times...did I ever get pictures? Or videos? Oh I should find those...might make a fun Saturday amongst all these bullshit changes.

Pepper walked into the gym. "The notary's here! Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?" She asked Tony.

"I'm on happy time." Tony excused. He elbowed Happy in the face. Nikki snorted. I hit her forehead. "Sorry."

"What the hell was that?" Happy demanded, once he got himself back to balance.

"It's called mixed martial arts. It's been around for three weeks." Tony explained.

"It's called dirty boxing, there's nothing new about it." Happy scolded.

"All right, put them up. Come on." Tony instructed.

Pepper came to me. "You have to sign it too, remember."

"Oh trust me- I haven't let her forget." Nikki grinned, in a way only younger siblings could when finally getting the upper hand.

I pushed her shoulder until she rolled off the bench. She flailed about, yelping up until she landed with a smack.

Jokes on her- I will always have the upper hand.

"Fine." I replied, smiling at Pepper as if I hadn't done a single thing wrong in my life and nobody could prove otherwise so ha.

Natasha walked in.

Nikki's head perked up. She stood up this time, tucking the knife away somewhere I couldn't see.

Even Tony and Happy stopped their boxing to watch Natasha walk up to Pepper, folder in hand.

"I promise this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company to your daughter." Pepper told Tony.

Nikki giggled. I shoved her arm to shut her up.

Natasha walked to me, holding out the folder. I took it, opening it up to see the paperwork. Nikki stood behind me, also reading.

"I need you to initial each box." Natasha instructed.

Flipping my pen stylus around, I signed. Nikki's eyes were staring a hole practically into the back of my skull.

Happy and Tony got back to fighting. I pointedly ignored it.

Nikki chuckling. "Your initials are BS-"

"They're RMS."

"They're BS-"

"RMS." I stared.

There was a loud clang.

The ladies in the room turned to the boxing ring. Happy was dazed in the corner, looking like he was trying to figure out when his life got so shitty. Tony was staring at Natasha.

"That's it. I'm done. What's your name lady?" Tony prompted in a rush of breath.

"Rushman. Natalie Rushman." Natasha introduced, cool as could be.

Nikki hugged my shoulders, leaning forward so that her head was beside mine. "Is She your type?"

"I can flip you over my shoulder." I cautioned.

"So yes?"

I reached back.

"Got it- got it. Shutting up." Nikki squeezed tighter.

"Front and centre. Come into the church." Tony ordered.

"No. You're seriously not gonna ask-" Pepper sighed.

"If it pleases the court, which it does." Tony countered.

Natasha turned to Pepper. "It's no problem." She smiled down at me, glancing at my pen before walking to the boxing ring.

"I'm sorry. He's very eccentric." Pepper apologized.

Natasha climbed inside. The entire time, Tony was staring her down while chugging down more of the green smoothie. The two of them had a hard stare down.

"What?" Tony asked her, when she said nothing.

Natasha continued to stay silent. Apparently she knew exactly how to play his cards, and she'd only been here two minutes.

"Can you give her a lesson?" Tony prompted Happy.

"No problem." He replied, knowing it was better to go along and also not get punched again.

Tony climbed out from the ring. I held my pen over the last box to sign.

Nikki flicked my cheek. "Hey. Sign it."

"Pepper. Becks. Come here." Tony decided.

"Whoop Dad is calling. Can't go ignoring the boss-man." I stood up from the bench, headed towards them. Nikki flopped onto the bench. I sat down in the second seat, while Tony and Pepper shared the first. "What's up?"

"What?" Pepper asked Tony, glancing at him then myself.

"Who is she?" Tony inquired.

"She is from legal. And she is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that." Pepper explained, using careful wording that told Tony to agree or else he'd sleep in a dog house.

"I need a new assistant. You're working with the kid-" Tony explained.

"Actually no, I'm working with you still. It's Becky that needs an assistant." Pepper explained. I winced while Nikki walked over to stand behind my chair. "I've got three excellent potential candidates." Pepper told me. "They're lined up and ready to meet you."

"She doesn't have time to meet. She needs someone now. I feel like it's her." Tony explained.

"What do you mean you're working with Dad? I thought you were sticking with me!" I asked.

Pepper gave both of us looks. "Tony, no it's not. Becky, you and I both know who can actually get your father to do the things he's supposed to be doing." I groaned. "Yes. So you're getting a new assistant."

"Can I volunteer?" Nikki asked, raising her hand while once again sounding smug.

I scoffed. "I would never have you for an assistant."

"What, you prefer-"

"Name one thing an assistant does." I ordered.

Nikki stalled. "...well I know they-"

"Not all of them have sex with their boss."

"I know nothing about being an assistant." Nikki answered. I threw my hands up to say 'see?!' "Hey I was gonna say I wouldn't do the sex thing with you. You're taste in people is disgusting-"

I glared over my shoulder at her. 'She's so very lucky there are witnesses around.

"But I like that one. She's cool." Nikki nodded her head towards Natasha.

My eyes rolled before I could stop them. 'Oh you would think that. The Black Widow is practically your ideal life.'

"How do I spell your name, Natalie?" Tony called out.

"R-U-S-H-M-A-N." Natasha answered.

Tony tapped down on the table. He googled 'Natalie Rushman'.

"What, are you gonna Google her now?" Pepper asked.

"I thought I was ogling her." Tony countered.

"He googled me earlier. I'm actually impressed." Nikki grinned.

"That's because the only pictures of you online are inappropriate." I snarked.

"So?"

"Wow. Very, very impressive individual." Tony complimented to the online Natasha.

I tapped the table, getting the same results on my side of the table.

"You're so predictable, you know that?" Pepper sighed.

Tony was continuing regardless. "She's fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin. Who speaks Latin?"

"No one speaks Latin." Pepper informed.

"No one speaks Latin." Tony agreed.

"It's a dead language." Pepper explained. "You can read Latin or you can write Latin, but you can't speak Latin."

Tony glanced over his shoulder to Pepper. "Did you model in Tokyo? 'Cause she modelled in Tokyo."

Nikki glanced at the pictures. "Damn." She praised. She patted me on the shoulder. "You're doomed."

"I hate you." I replied.

"Well-"

Tony hummed.

"She belongs with Becky." Nikki stated. "Come on. Keep your lady friend. Let Becky have some fun-"

"Quit it!" I ordered.

Nikki ignored me. "Come on, you know that you need Pep more than Becky does."

"Stop helping!" I ordered.

"Besides-"

"I said stop! Enough! Silence!"

"I need her. She's got everything that I need." Tony remarked.

"Great! So you can take her."

"Methinks the Lady doth protest too much." Nikki commented under her breath.

I give up.

There was a loud thud from the ring.

"Oh, my God! Happy." Pepper yelped. She hopped up from the seat.

"That's what I'm talking about." Tony praised.

Looking over, I saw Natasha holding Happy in a head lock using her thighs.

Nikki clicked her tongue. "It would be more effective if she squeezed his throat."

"It's a reflex move, not a real one. He tried to punch an assassin. This level of attack is expected." I whispered to her.

Pushing myself out of the seat, I began the walk to the ring. Natasha had untangled herself from Happy. She stood perfectly prim and proper, smoothing out the wrinkles in her outfit. I smiled thinly. It had been funny to see- got some of the tension out of my shoulders- but it didn't change the fact that everything had changed.

"I just slipped." Happy lied.

"You did?" Tony replied.

"Yeah."

"Looks like a TKO to me." He rang the bell, signalling match over.

Natasha walked out from the ring. "Just- I need your impressions." She told Tony.

"You have a quiet reserve. I don't know, you have an old soul." Tony replied.

I held out the folder to Natasha. "I think you're more terrifying than we know."

Natasha gave us both small smiles- to seem demure and more gentle than the spider beneath the skin. "I meant your fingerprints." She corrected.

"Right." Tony took off his glove.

I put my thumb into the ink, pressing it down on the paperwork. Tony followed.

That's it.

I...it was on me now.

I was...fuck.

I was CEO of Stark Industries.

What the fuck

This wasn't supposed to be how it went.

FUCK!

"So, how are we doing?" Pepper asked us.

"Great." Tony and I answered.

"Just wrapping up here." He smirked at me. "Hey. You're the boss."

FUH-

"Will that be all, Mr Stark?" Natasha asked.

"No." Tony replied because damn Natasha that was him and Pepper's thing.

"Ms Stark?" Natasha asked me.

"Yes." I replied- doing my best not to be snippy or short. This wasn't on her. This wasn't on Tony. She was only analysing him for the Avengers Initiative. Which was going to be messed up because he was only making rash choices because he thought he was dying. Because he wasn't letting me help. "Yes, that will be all, Ms Rushman. Thank you very much."

Natasha gave me a small smile, walking away.

Nikki walked up to our little meet-and-greet. She took one look at my expression, then stepped closer.

"I want one." Tony told Pepper.

"No." Pepper informed him. Tony accepted it.

"You, me, fight?" Nikki requested. I raised my eyebrow at her. "What. You scared?"

Author-dammit she knows me buttons. "First to tap out?" I agreed.

"Obviously." Nikki snorted.

"Deal." I pointed over at the nearby bench. "Just put all your weapons there."

Nikki walked over to the table. She pulled out knives from her pockets and a gun from her side.

Tony looked impressed. Pepper seemed to be caught somewhere between confusion and resigned acceptance.

I wasn't. "All of them."

Nikki bristled. She took her shoes off, followed by her add on jewelry and our matching necklace.

I added my own to it. If Nikki thought it was a weapon, it probably was. "All of it."

Nikki groaned. I watched in joy as Tony and Pepper's jaws dropped. Nikki pulled out: a knife, throwing star, and pin from her hair.

"That it?" I asked, skeptical.

Nikki looked defeated as she reached into her shirt. She pulled off her strapless bra. As she put it on the table, I could see the making of a knife along the seam.

"Great!" I cheered. "Go put on an athletic bra, and we'll get started."

"What, you're not putting any away?" Nikki asked, annoyed.

"I'll do that while you're putting on the athletic bra." I motioned to my Bag.

"That's all you got?" Nikki scoffed at me.

"My hands have been considered lethal weapons for ages. I can't cut them off." I reasoned. Nikki opened her mouth. "They don't grow back. My healing powers are great, but I'm not willing to push it that far."

My sister hummed. "...allowed." She walked off.

While she was gone I dropped the Bag beside her belongings.

"She likes pointy stuff." Tony commented.

I shrugged. "Actually I'm impressed. I didn't know about the throwing star."

"So you knew about the rest, then?" Pepper pointed out.

"Yeah." I climbed into the ring. Once inside I grabbed some of the fist tape. Wouldn't do to break my knuckles. "She's living in our house. Paranoia really kicks in when your roommate wears knives."

Tony glanced at the Bag, along with the pile of sharp things. "She lives in our house now?"

"I'm scared to get her a hotel room." I revealed. "Just- anything she does goes on my bill and I don't want that on my conscience."

I just know she'll do a remake of the movie Hostel and be only more gorey in the torture porn.

...how the fuck are we related?!

"And you let her sleep here?" Pepper added.

"I'm a superhero who now owns a company that used to make weapons. Think I can take her." I remarked. "Oh! I have the bo staff in my back pocket. Almost forgot about that!" I pulled out the shrunken staff. My sister would've made a dick joke about it. I tossed it onto the Bag. "HEY NIKKI HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE-"

"I'M BACK GEEZ!" Nikki ran back into the gym, tying her blonde hair away into a ponytail. She was wearing the same thing as before- a dark red crop top with long sleeves, a gray skirt, and black boots.

I was comfortable enough in a white tank top with red on the shoulder, black leggings with a thin red line running along the thigh, and black sneakers.

I spread my arms out wide. "Ready to come to church?"

Nikki snorted. She climbed into the ring, sliding in with the same grace as Natasha. She even grabbed the fist tape while she was at it. "Ready to be hit so hard you see someone else's god?"

"Oh that was good."

"Thank you- I've been waiting to use it."

She met me in the ring.

"First tapout?" Nikki reminded me.

I nodded. "Nothing in the eye or genitals."

Nikki nodded. "Hair is also a no. I just got this done the way I liked it."

"Deal." I held out my arm.

Nikki clasped it with her own.

We shook once.

I gripped tighter, throwing her down to the ground.

Nikki huffed. "Wow." She rolled away from me. She pushed herself to her feet- dodging a kick that I was sending towards her back. "Not even a gentlemen's pause?"

"I'm not a gentleman." I made for a punch toward her stomach. Nikki blocked it, so I punched her hip. Nikki kicked my shin.

This kind of fighting went on for a few minutes- almost by in a blur. Punches toward the shins or arms or stomach. Blocking said hits, or rolling away to avoid them. Some highlights: Nikki made a kick at my head, and I was able to punch her in the lower back.

Twenty minutes of that.

Nikki ended up tapping out first. I was on her back, holding her arms down while my legs were holding down her hips. Nikki was trying to pull at my head without getting at my hair. If she got my hair, automatic fail.

She tapped out.

I grinned, flopping down on the mat.

Nikki did so beside me. "You good?"

"Yeah." I sat up, sighing. "You?"

"Been great. Can I get my knives back now?"

"Yeah...hey when did they leave?"

"Just before the time I bit your arm."

"Aw. Cool."

Nikki sighed. "You still fucked up about the CEO thing?"

I kept quieting, pretending to focus on getting my breathing to rights.

"Change freaks you out. Gets you all, tense and shit. I should know- I was probably the biggest fucking change for you." Nikki remarked. I tried to tune her out but...she knew my tells. "You were always better after a fight."

...this is why we're related.

"Just like I'm better after sex." Nikki grinned. She hopped up to her feet, climbing out of the ring. "Which reminds me. See ya later!"

"I hate you!" I groaned, my head thunking back on the ground.

Thank you.

==NM2==

"Everyday...just a little bit closer."

==NM2==

AN: Happy belated birthday Tony Stark! Also: I suck at fight scenes, apparently.

Thanks to Wastelandyoda for favoriting

Thanks to Stenzle, Wastelandyoda, and iamalex117, for following