May 17th, 2015
Outpost 54, Bermuda

Tony strolled into the control room as quietly as he could and he could see everyone standing up, turned towards the large paneled monitor that lined the wall. He pushed through the crowd of people to get the front of it. Now, he was standing in between the new Director of Technology, Sam Coleman, and Bucky, though he didn't spare either a glance as his sole attention was on what was showing before him. The news station that was covering the event was showing footage of the fight a year earlier between the MUTOs and Godzilla. He could hear the voice of a anchorman or a reporter talking through the footage, but he didn't bother to listen, he had heard it all before. He watched as the footage continued before it went to the most recent images of San Francisco. He could see the plant life growing all around the city. Then it cut to a large pillar-like object outside of the city, right next to the 'welcome to San Francisco' sign at night. He could see various names etched into the sleek black marble.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people stood around it holding candles. Some were crying, others were holding back their tears. Tony forced himself to not look away and just continued to stare at the scenes, trying to look as stoic as he could but he knew he was failing.

When the last of the report came to a close, the monitor flickered back to their usual display, but no one moved or said anything. They were having their own moment of silence for all those who were lost in the San Francisco battle. Then, everyone went back to their stations or just left the room except for Tony, who continue to stand there, his thoughts going a mile a minute, mostly on a particular person that he had also lost on that day, the same person that the Russells had lost...

"Hey, man." He heard Rhodey whisper to him. "You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Tony muttered, though he knew he didn't sound really convincing. Luckily, Rhodey didn't say much about it and, after a pat on the shoulder, walked off and out of the room. When he turned around, he noticed that all the G-Team had left and Ishiro was talking to Vivienne quietly.

"Hey Rick?" Tony turned towards Rick, who was at his computer once more. The older man looked over at Tony with a raised eyebrow. "Can you look through the coming days and see it's slow and quiet?"

"Sure, you gonna play for him, again?" asked Rick as he began to type on his keyboard.

"Yeah. I'm feeling a little bad that I haven't been able to at all recently..."

"No worries. I'll let you know."

"Thanks."

With that, Tony turned and walked out of the control room with a sigh, heading down the hall. He paused though, when he noticed the G-Team standing at the end of the hallway, talking among each other. He wondered what they were talking about, and he was about to walk right over and ask about it when a call made him turn.

"Uncle Tony!"

Bucky blinked when the echo echoed through the corridor, making him look over. A eight year old girl was running full speed and slammed into Tony, making the man stumble back slightly. Tony let out a laugh and scooped the kid up, grinning.

"Mads! My favorite Niece!"

"I'm you're only niece." the girl chirped, matching the older's grin with her own.

"What in the..." Bucky heard Jackson mumble and he couldn't help but echo the sentiment. Why is there a little girl HERE of all places and not somewhere in school?

"That's Madison Russell." Rhodey stated, seemingly reading their minds. "Her parents worked as scientists for MONARCH. Her dad retired but her mom still works for the organization."

"I didn't know Mr. Stark had family working in MONARCH too..." Anthony hummed.

"He doesn't. Not by blood, anyways. Tony's close to her parents, so she sees him as an uncle figure, hence the whole Uncle Tony."

"Hey, Emms..." Tony's voice became softer as he set Madison down. Bucky could see a woman with short wavy golden-brown hair walking over to him. Once she got close enough, she wrapped her arms around him, he doing the same to her, and the two hugged. She kissed his cheek as she pulled away, giving Tony a smile and Bucky could see the tears in her eyes.

"You're not the only one here to have lost someone in San Francisco." Rhodey told Bucky, making the man look over at the other.

"What?"

"You're not the only one who lost someone on that day. If you want to know more, ask Tony about it. I'm not going to say anything more, I rather not tell anyone the wrong thing before he's ready to tell someone."

Bucky frowned before looking back at Tony, Madison and the woman.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you bot- you know I am- but why aren't you with Mark? Especially today..." Tony was saying. Bucky watched as the woman leaned over, whispering something and Tony got an understanding look on his face and nodded. "Oh, gotcha. He's...that bad, huh..."

"Yeah." She sighed.

"Hey, don't worry, he'll pull through. Just needs time, you know. Trust me, this is coming from a guy that's been in his shoes- well, worse off."

"I hope you're right, Tony."

"Uncle Tony's always right!" chirped Madison, making Tony let out a loud laugh.

"Dear, don't stroke his ego." the woman scolded in a light-hearted tone, a smile on her face. Tony let out a squawk of fake pain, grabbing his chest. The display made Madison giggle and latched onto Tony's free hand. The genius smiled down at her and, if Bucky was honest with himself...

The jackass had a nice smile and an adorable laugh.