"You scared all those people."
"No I didn't!"
"I'm so proud."
==NM2==
Not gonna lie, it's been a rough night.
The high went down not long after the party ended. Could've been my metabolism, could've been the stress of the party, who knows? Main point: I was sober, along with hating every second of it.
It hadn't helped that Nikki...existed. Nah- that sounded harsh. It didn't help that she existed in my bedroom, cause apparently sleeping in a guest room was too good for her. That's right she had to be there when I had yet another nightmare about Her which led to Nikki watching me go through vampire-checks.
She was concerned about me.
Nikki was showing concern.
No.
That's not how this worked.
She was never supposed to be concerned about anything.
She's a sociopath.
Showing care is not in her personality.
It's not supposed to be in her personality.
Fuck Tony Stark for making Nikki have to show Emotion.
"That was, the absolute last time I let you talk me into taking Sandwich while I'm working." I scolded her, while working on a press statement for the many reporters that had wanted to know about the Stark birthday party blow-up. At the same time I was working on the last touch-ups to the projects I had been working on the night before.
Nikki chuckled. "But you're always working, plus you're so fun when you're on Sandwich."
"Just for that- I'm taking away your suit's helmet."
"Hold on- my suit had a helmet?!" Nikki yelped. To avoid her argument, I picked up my phone then briskly walked away. "Wait come back!"
So I teleported off. After sending out an email to the PR guy. He deserves a raise- or was it a she? That's something I should really know by now.
==NM2==
Now I was watching Tony Stark sit in a donut.
It had taken a lot of internal arguing to decide on coming here. A lot of good reasons not to hang around Tony Stark right now. Unfortunately I know he can't do this alone- not without falling apart inside.
Also- screw waiting for Nick Fury. There were more important things right now than keeping up with the plot.
"FATHER!" I called out.
Iron Man turned to me, spotting me below the donut shop in the street. He lowered his sunglasses enough to get a clearer view. Still hungover, no doubt.
"GET OUT OF THE DONUT!" I warned him. "OR I WILL THROW YOU DOWN!"
After some minutes of headache inducing thought, Tony came down.
==NM2==
Downstairs, I was bringing an order of food to the table. It was a waste of a trip to a donut store if I left without donuts. There was a slight chance this was leftover 'munchies' from last night.
Tony sat across from me at the booth. He kept his sunglasses on, despite us being inside and the sun not being nearly as bad in here. I took a cautious sip of my hot chocolate, not eager to burn my throat again. It finally felt normal to have a working throat again. It gave some time to think. To work around a proper statement, something that would pack the proper verbal and nonverbal punches against him.
There were the easy ones, but they were lazy. What a schoolyard bully would use against a weaker foe. Not good enough for this, they wouldn't give out the proper force I was going for here. Those were pety. Mine needed to stick.
Turns out silence was the perfect punishment to get the ball rolling. Tony hated sitting in silence. Hated silence in general. Lucky for me, I guess. "So you know? About the-" He motioned to his chest, around the Arc Reactor shining brightly around his suit.
Silently, I nodded. Picking up a donut I took a bit of it. It was a long, silent time chewing. What can I say? Donuts like these deserved to be savored.
Tony worried the skin of his lip. He looked down at the donuts still sitting in wait. I paid his look no attention, focusing on it more from the side of my eyes. To him my focus was on the breakfast I'd bought.
"It's not that bad."
Finishing off another donut, I grabbed a fresh one.
"Really, it's not."
The bite I took managed to take out half the donut. Impressive work, as I had a sip of hot chocolate to help wash it down.
"You don't need to worry-"
Despite my best efforts, that statement got a dismissive snort out of me. Me, not worry? Me? The girl who definitely should be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder? The girl who will go over her Plans a dozen upon dozen times before going through with it? Who on any alteration to that Plan begins to fall into an anxiety induced stupor?
My eyes aren't on my sister, so I'm worried she's doing something that will get her in jail.
Right now I've made us sit with ours sides towards the front door, so I could keep watch of any threats. Sitting beside this glass window already felt like me holding up a sign asking for someone to shoot at us.
The guy who I've been living with, mentally regarding as a parental figure, is refusing to fight for his life. Even though by dying it would mark me as a failure to keep him alive.
So I stood up from the table, walking over to the counter. They had just cooked some more donuts. They were warmer, and the chocolate ones I liked.
When I returned there was an order in my arms. Tony was nervously glancing at me as I walked up.
At the same time, I noticed Nick Fury was walking up to the table. It got me to roll my eyes. As he came up to the table I took the spot beside Tony. At his questioning look I handed him the cup in my hands.
To his relieved surprise, it was coffee. Though because I was still very much irked the coffee had none of his favorite fixings. If he wanted good coffee, he had to be good. The system had worked with my sister with a reward of weapons/murder.
Fury took the booth seat across from Tony. I regarded him a detached expression. He leaned back, sitting across the seat while leaning against the window. "Save any for me?" He made a meaningful look with his one eye toward my donuts.
So I took a bite from one of them. Not looking away from his eye. To further annoy him, going against my instincts in matters of grudges, I slid one donut to Tony. He accepted it.
Message: get your own, you over priveleged fuck. This is a family moment.
Fury only gave me a grin in reply. "Fair."
"I told you I don't wanna join your super-secret boy band." Tony spoke up, between bites.
"Don't wanna be the token-female, honestly." I agreed. Picking up my hot chocolate from Fury's side, I took another sip. It had cooled down to a more relaxing temperature.
Tony gave only the slightest odd look that my first spoken words in his presence since the donut had been towards Fury. Good, let him be offended.
"No, no, no. See, I remember, you do everything yourselves." Fury recalled. He glanced at Tony's neck. The Iron Man suit did a good job hiding the grey lines of sickness. "How's that working out for you."
My grip on a donut tightened ever so slightly. I took a bite to hide the fact that a donut was nearly crumbling under my fingers.
"It's- It's- It's- I'm sorry." Tony leaned forward. The mechanics of his suit whirring as he moved. "I don't wanna get off on the wrong foot. Do I look at the patch or the eye?"
Fury only grinned at him. I had to keep my detached expression together. It was holding up rather well.
"Honestly I'm a bit hungover." Tony rambled onwards. "I'm not sure if you're real of if I'm having-"
"I am very real. I'm the realest person you're ever gonna meet." Fury challenged.
"Just my luck." Tony turned to me. He only hesitated a second by the warning look on my face. "Did you see any staff?"
No reply. Not verbal or otherwise.
Fury "That's not looking so good." Fury motioned to the marks on Tony's neck. He had exposed them by tilting his head.
"I've been worse." Tony replied vaguely, focusing on me. "But really, kid, see anything?"
Nothing.
I caught a glimpse of the spider approaching. She sashayed up, as if the swerving of her hips would distract us from her familiar face. My expression towards her was also cold
"We've secured the perimeter but I don't think we should hold it for too much longer." She informed Fury, walking right up to our booth.
At my side, Tony stared. "You're fired."
"That's not up to you." She took the seat across from me, watching me.
I watched her right back. "You don't meet my requirements for an employee. Should you consider ever actually being under my employ, you wouldn't be hired."
Natasha gave me a slight quirk of her eyebrow in reply. "No?"
I shook my head. 'You would have to follow Darcy's rules- my Rules. You wouldn't last a week.'
"Tony, I want you to meet Agent Romanoff." Fury introduced.
"Hi." Tony greeted lamely. He took off his sunglasses, dropping them down while rubbing at his head.
"I'm a SHIELD shadow. Once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury." Natasha reported.
"I suggest you apologize." Tony replied.
"I have no need." Natasha turned her focus back on me again. Myself, was sipping casually on a hot chocolate. "There was much less time to shadow you while working with Becky."
"Because, what, you started shadowing her?" Tony pointed out in a tone that was a borderline threat if Natasha refused to give the perfect answer.
Natasha turned to me. There was a challenge in her dark green eyes. 'You wanna tell him, or let me?'
"When boxing with Happy, you tossed him to the ground after he hit you from behind. You reacted on instinct, not defense. Only someone with training could do that- your file said nothing on that level of training." I reported.
Natasha gave me a lift of an eyebrow in reply. I took a bite from the donut, casually not giving a fuck.
"My name, then?" She prompted.
"Can't say." I replied vaguely. Though she hid it well, I could see the frustration in the corners of her eyes. "I like knowing everything about the people around me."
There.
Let the spider use that in her fucking profile.
Wanna see if she'll give a proper one- not skewed by her own input.
"You've been very busy." Fury remarked to Tony. "You made your kid your CEO, you're giving away all your stuff. You let your friend fly away with your suit. Now, if I didn't know better-"
"You don't know better. I didn't give it to him." Tony stopped Fury, even though Fury hadn't mentioned that bit- hadn't even finished suggesting it-maybe he'd been suggesting was preparing for death-maybe Tony did know that but refused to talk about dying- "He took it."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. He took it?" Fury repeated. "You're Iron Man and he just took it?" Fury went on. Let me tell you, it took a lot of annoyance to keep me from smirking at him. "The little brother walked in there, kicked your ass and took your suit?" He turned to his shadow. "Is that possible?"
"Well, according to Mr Stark's database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorised usage." Natasha reported.
"This amount of sarcasm is lethal." I remarked dryly to them. "Just letting you know if he drops dead right now, it's because of the sarcasm.
"You've been busy too. Reconnecting with family." Fury remarked.
That hit a trigger I had barely known existed. 'Mess with her and I rip out your teeth then stuff them up your- "She found me, believe it or not. Pain in the ass, like all Nicks in my life."
Fury gave me a dry stare. Finally, I allowed myself to give him a smug grin.
"What do you want from us?" Tony conceded to Fury.
"What do we want from you? What do you want from me?" Natasha walked away from the table, off to get the lithium dioxide. "You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are not the centre of my universe. I have bigger problems than you in the southwest region to deal with."
I turned back just in time for Natasha to aim the needle at Tony's neck. Reaching out I snatched it from her hands, backing away from the table.
The SHIELD agents stared at me, confused. Tony especially so.
"What just happened?"
"What's in this?" I demanded of them, ignoring Tony. "He has enough chemicals rushing through his system. You gonna add more to this mess?"
"It's lithium dioxide." Fury assured me. "It's going to help him."
"Wait they were gonna put that in me?" Tony asked. "Were you gonna steal my kidney and sell it?"
"Help him how?" I pressed.
Fury leaned forward in his stolen booth seat. "It's only gonna take the edge off."
"Could you please not do anything awful for five seconds?" Tony requested of them.
"If this does anything else, I will kill you both and hide the bodies where they will never be found." I warned them.
Fury nodded in understanding. "Romanoff." He motioned to the space beside him. The dyed brunette took the seat.
Kneeling back on Tony's side, I showed Tony the needle. He stared at it, cautious.
"What, you gonna stick it in?"
"Just take comfort if you die that you'll be Avenged." Then I stuck the needle in his neck, pushing down on it.
Tony let out a yelp as this happened. Once the serum was gone I pulled away, handing the needle back to Natasha. Tony flinched as the multiple sensations washed over him.
"Thanks Becks." He croaked at me. Tony turned his annoyance at Fury. "Why?"
"We're trying to get you back to work." Fury explained.
Tony motioned to the used needle. "Give me a couple of boxes of that. I'll be right as rain."
"It's not a cure, it just abates the symptoms." Natasha explained.
"Doesn't look like it's gonna be an easy fix." Fury added.
"It's not." I added. "For months, I tried finding a cure. Any cure. Course, I didn't know dear ole Dad was doing the same in the basement. Literally, the only thing that would work doesn't exist."
Tony, for his credit, let me rant.
"And I know it doesn't exist, because I tried everything else. Replacements for palladium, replacing the hole in his chest, just transferring his consciousness to an AI or a bot, nothing would work."
"You tried putting me in a bot?" Tony was probably getting mental images of himself rolling about the lab just like Dummy.
Honestly- it was on the list of pros.
"Thought about it, you'd complain about ethics." I dismissed. "Every combination, every permutation of every known element. Which of course only leaves room for the unknown elements and as you can gather, those don't exist."
"Well, I'm here to tell you, it does." Fury revealed.
"Then I hate you for taking this long to show up with it." I countered- giving Fury nor Natasha an inch. Hating them on another level now, I teleported back to the house.
==NM2==
It occurred to Tony Stark as they were leaving the donut shop how insulting it had been to tell Becky not to worry.
Clearly, she'd been worrying for a long time.
And- until Nikki had shown up- she'd done it alone.
==NM2==
Back at the mansion, it hadn't looked any better.
Nikki was at the door, holding out a broomstick. I snatched it from her. She let out a groaned huff. "Just clean it up. If you start pulling at your hair, I'm shaving your head."
Accepting the aid, I started off on the cleanup of the living areas of the house. Cleaning up the mess had usually helped me calm down. It gave me something to do.
"You're helping!" I informed her.
Nikki swore. "Can't just my giving you the broom do the job?"
"Can't you having sex once a week satisfy you?" I countered. There was a loud whine following that. "Thought not. JARVIS, please tell me you're the good adult in my life?"
"Always, Ms Stark."
"You are truly the only good thing in my life, JARVIS." I praised him. Nikki let out a loud complaint. "Do you want me getting started on how much you're a pain in my ass?"
"Only if you admit that pain comes from the stick you never take out!"
"I'm holding a beating stick. Right now." I challenged.
Nikki scoffed- then let out a panicked shriek as I dashed after her with the broom raised high.
"JARVIS call somebody about the glass!" I called out while chasing the assassin. "Also food and whenever Dad gets back with SHIELD!"
"Yes, Ms Stark. What should I do about Ms Stevens?"
"Ignore any pleas for help!" I called out. "Her safeword is Buddhism! Keep an ear out once the beating starts!"
"You'll never take me ali- ow!"
"The beatings will continue until morale improves!"
"This is why my suit needs a helmet!"
"And to think, people are concerned about the mental wellbeing of the Stark family." JARVIS mused from the ceiling.
==NM2==
AN: To you have any idea how odd it is to say out loud "time to write the chapter with the donut?" It's a mindfucker.
Also just wanted to say- thanks to everyone that's been reading this! It means a lot. We're just over halfway through with NM2. Leave a comment so I know what you think so far! Or just message me jokes- it will literally make my day and ruin the day of my friends.
Thanks to OneEyeSmiley for favoriting and following