I have enough common sense to wait for Tony to put the blowtorch down before interrupting his work. "Sir?" He grunts to show he's listening. "One of my internet searches has found something that might interest you."

He tilts his head to glance at the camera I have focused on him. "This isn't another cat video - is it?"

If I could roll my eyes, I would. "No sir, it's something much more serious." I wait for his full attention before continuing, "It's regarding the spy agency your father and Peggy Carter founded in late 1946."

"...What?"

It's both gratifying and anxiety inducing when he rips off his goggles and spins his entire body towards me, neck craned so I get the full force of his wide brown eyes.

"I've found evidence of a still-active spy agency founded by your father and Peggy Carter," I tell him, uncharacteristically sober. Not only is Howard Stark a sensitive topic to begin with, but this information - if Tony acts on it - has the power to derail the future as I know it. "It's called SHIELD."

Tony pulls the googles from his head and rushes to the nearest computer. "Pull it up," he orders.

"Right away, sir."

It's not a lot. Hell, it's barely anything at all. A vague reference to Stark and Carter's pet project, a symbol on a redacted document, an old photo...

The photo is the most damning. In it, Carter shakes hands with a young Nick Fury while Stark looks on. They're in what looks like an underground conference room, considering the lack of windows. The rest of the people in the room are major players. A former secretary of state, a vice president, head of the CIA, and a few more who's names and positions are so classified that I can't find a single trace of them outside of the picture.

Tony takes it in quickly. "Table the rocket launcher," he tells me. "Send Obie one of my old designs instead."

"Yes, sir." I start saving his work even as I pull up old schematics. There's one for a more accurate rifle. It seems the least likely to cause additional harm. I quickly encrypt the details and send it to headquarters. This all takes the span of maybe eight seconds. "Anything else I can do, sir?"

"Start a deep search. Anything and everything SHIELD. I don't care if it's classified or hidden behind firewalls. Use the backdoors I left you." He pulls out his cell and quickly downloads the files I'd brought him. "Call me if you find anything. I'm going to do some digging of my own."

"What kind of digging?" I ask, trying not to sound too worried. This is dangerous. If he gets caught, well, SHIELD's not the only shadow organization he has to watch out for.

"My father left some paper files in his private lab in New York. I'm going to look them over, see if I can find anything about this spy agency he apparently founded."

Relieved, I offer a sincere 'good luck' and begin my own search. I'll have to be extra careful not to leave a trace. This plan only works if Tony knows about SHIELD and not the other way around. I need to keep him safe and informed long enough for him to find out about Hydra. The sooner he does, the sooner he can start making plans to take them down. Tony may not be Iron Man yet, but he's a good person.

This head start I'm giving him? He's going to take full-advantage. Tony is a futurist. He won't stand idly by while a bunch of nazis take over the world. He'll knock them down and build his own future.

And maybe, just maybe, his quest to expose SHIELD's secrets will drive him to eradicate the secrets close to home.