Proof Positive

by ianna28

Tony is no stranger to paternity claims from his female conquests. But when one of the tests actually comes back positive, he decides to not tell anyone about it. All Mary Parker wants is for Tony to spend a little time with their son. Then he goes missing for 3 months. Tony has a lot to think about in his life now, his company, his arc reactor, and Peter. Full summary inside.

10. May 2011

A/N: Warning, this Chapter is very long. Longer than when I finished up the first Iron Man movie in story. I got carried away, and kept typing. I was watching Avengers while I was typing up this chapter, so that was guiding me as well. I'm not gonna say too much else, but I hope that you all enjoy this chapter, and no regrets for the longness of this chapter!

I will be posting something later on my tumblr about writing this chapter, and the next one, cause I started to really pour myself into it, and it got interesting.

Unbeta'd, and Marvel owns more of this than I do.

Also, if you go to my Tubmlr page (megaranoelle. tumblr. com) you can catch some behinds the scene stuff about the fic. No spoilers, promise. Maybe you can influence the story.

---

May 2011

Coulson slipped into Mary's office and she glanced up. It wasn't very often that she could be found in her office, because that meant that she actually had to do paperwork, and she didn't really like it. "This doesn't look like a social visit, hunny bunny." Coulson smirked a little at her over-exaggerated pet name for him.

"Unfortunately, we still have a couple hours until end of shift," Coulson took a seat and put the manila folder he had been holding onto on her desk. She took it, flipping it, and opened it, looking at the paper on top. "I can pick up Peter for you from school."

"We were going to watch the Stark Expo opening tonight," she said with a sad wrinkle to her nose. "Seems that's why Fury wanted to do this tonight?"

"The Expo will draw attention from anything that might happen, or be happening." Fury had contacted Coulson directly. Something was happening at their facility that held the Tesseract, and he asked Coulson to get someone to go with him. Maria Hill was already there. Coulson would have gone himself, but Fury said that he wanted him here to hold down the New York office. The next best person would be Mary, of course.

"Steve should be home, maybe the three of you could have a guys night while you watch the opening?" Mary closed the folder. She put her thumb to a lower drawer of her desk, pressing the digit to the fingerprint scanner. The drawer popped open and she slid the folder to the bottom, then pulled out her badge and standard issue weapon.

"I haven't spent time with Peter in a little bit, should be fun." Mary smiled at her boyfriend, leaning over to kiss him quickly.

"You, sir, will like it when I come back from this visit," She smiled at him as they stood up, Coulson grabbing her jacket and handing it to her. "I love it when my man gets along with my son." Coulson smirked and she laughed as they left her office.

---

It was something that Tony had seen when he had jumped out of the plane in the Iron Man armor, as he was flying over the Expo. Even with all the people there, but the lights, the lights made it all make sense. He could barely make it back to the Manor fast enough.

"Bruce!" He burst through the door to the workshop, causing Bruce to jump, even though he had known the man was on his way. "Bruce, I figured it out! Where's the model for the Expo?"

"Tony, what are you talking about?" Bruce went over to where Tony was searching through all the stuff they had dug out of the crates. He found the first slot of the old Expo model from the 70's. "Slow down Tony, you used a lot of reactor power with that opening."

"No time! I figured it out!" Tony took a deep breath and after pulling out the second piece he had to sit down. "Okay, so maybe fifteen seconds won't hurt." Bruce pat his shoulder and pulled out the pieces, setting them up.

"What did you see?" Bruce asked as he set up the old model.

"The Expo, the whole thing, it's, it's the answer." Tony tried to explain, sitting back in the chair. "It's like, it's science!"

"Take two seconds to catch your breath," Bruce told him.

"It's an atom!" Tony exclaimed and Bruce blinked. "Jarvis, scan it, project it!" A hologram of the old model rose up from the physical model as Tony pulled himself up and over to the desk. He pulled out his arc reactor, and Bruce moved to pull out a fresh core for him. In the almost three months that Bruce had been at the Manor with Tony they had fallen into a routine with the reactor. Bruce would study the decay of the cores to see how fast they were depleting, and adjust the chlorophyll intake with Jarvis.

As soon as Tony had popped the reactor back into place he was moving over to the hologram. He raised it up and looked at it. "The Unisphere, here," he pointed to the giant globe in the middle, "it's the nucleus." Tony pointed and the center lit up. "Lose the footpaths, the shrubbery, landscaping, all that, parking lots, entrances and exits." Tony flicked his fingers, things disappearing from the model.

"The pavilions," Bruce said, moving forward. "If they're structured just right..." Jarvis started moving things around for them. "Protons and Neutrons."

Tony grinned as it started to come together. He wrapped his hands around the small sphere, the atom, then threw them out, spreading his arms. The two scientists were bathed in a blue glow, Tony grinning. "J?"

"The proposed element should serve as a viable replacement for palladium." Tony grinned and pushed on Bruce's arm in excitement. "Unfortunately, it is impossible to synthesize."

"That's what you say." Tony looked at Bruce. "Time to do some heavy lifting."

"Heavy lifting?" Bruce raised his eyebrows. "Aren't you supposed to be doing the unveiling of the Stark Tower concept in, like an hour?"

"I'm sure Pepper-"

"No way," Bruce shook his head. "You have been doing all the heavy lifting, literally, you made that Tower. You've done nothing but go on about it, and you have a concept for the energy, and it Works, Tony."

"But with this new element, I can implement it in the Tower's Arc Reactor, too!" Tony exclaimed. He was antsy, he had something to create! "I can make that one year estimate tenfold, at least!"

"And that's what you need to go and introduce," Bruce insisted. "I can work with Jarvis here, and we make all the necessary calculations, and see what actually needs to be done."

"I would be more than honored to work with Dr Banner," Jarvis spoke up. "I would also inform you that Miss Parker sends word that she will be back after Young Master bedtime, and that he will be watching your presentation tonight." Tony blinked a little. The AI really knew where to strike with using Peter as incentive. "He does love to see you in your element, Sir."

Tony lifted his head, moaning loudly. "I'm being manipulated, very expertly!" Bruce smiled at him. "Alright, you get the pre-work done!" Tony rubbed his hands together. "I think I'll take the new suit with me. I can't be seen showing up in the same outfit." Tony grinned as Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Oh no, that would just be tacky." Tony snorted as Bruce went over to the computers to work with Jarvis.

---

Mary followed Fury out of the helicopter, the wheels barely touching down before the Director was already out. Agent Hill was waiting for them, suits and scientist moving quickly. Seemed a full evacuation was already in process.

"How bad is it?" Fury asked Hill as soon as they were within earshot, the three of them moving up the stairs and inside of the facility.

"That's the problem," Hill said. "We don't know, sir." Both Mary and Fury looked at her, eyes narrowing a little as getting an answer they didn't like. They effortlessly moved past all the people moving files and different prototypes out of the building and heading downstairs.

"Dr Selvig read an energy surge from the tesseract four hours ago," Hill continued. "That's when I contacted you, Sir.

"He wasn't authorized for test phase today," Mary said with a frown.

"He wasn't testing it," Maria said grimly. "He wasn't even in the room at the time." A cold tingle ran down Mary's spine at those words.

"What are the energy levels now?" Fury asked.

"Climbing," Hill said simply. "When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered the evac."

"How long to get everyone out?" Fury glanced at the jeeps that were being loaded up already.

"Campus should be clear in the next half hour."

"Do better," Fury told her.

"Sir, evacuation may be futile." They three of them stopped, and Mary and Fury both looked at Agent hill. "If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance."

"I need you to make sure that Phase 2 prototypes are shipped out." This pulled a frown from Hill.

"Sir, is that really a priority right now?" Mary asked before Hill could.

"Until such time as the world ends," Fury stated, looking between the two women, "we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of Phase 2 on a truck and gone." He directed the last part at Hill.

"Yes, sir," Hill said after a second, moving towards the two agents standing by the entrance to Selvig's lab. "With me." They headed off and Fury looked at Mary.

"Stay out here, I know of several people who would rather keep you in one piece, and I want this entrance still guarded, even during an evac," he told her.

"My radio's on, Sir," she told him, nodding. She knew that Fury wouldn't tell her sit out just because Coulson was sweet on her, or because she had a son; he knew that she was as good as, if not better, than most of the SHIELD agents he had.

"Make sure everyone stays on point." She nodded and he headed inside the lab. Mary took a breath and turned around, taking in all the movement around her. Hopefully they would shut this down, get the placed evacuated, and she would be back before morning. It would be Saturday, and that meant pancake day.

Suddenly the entire compound rumbled, shaking her balance, and she reached for her gun. She turned around, glimpsing inside of the lab and saw a bright blue glow from the edges, then silence. The silence set her on edge. Not as much as the resulting explosion and gun fire did though. Mary grabbed her phone, sending an alert to Coulson, and edged inside the lab entryway silently. There wasn't so much noise now, but she could hear soft voices, a male voice, but it didn't sound like Fury, or even Barton.

"-have to get any messier." That was Fury's voice. She stayed just out of side, pistol at the ready, and leaned a little. She could see Fury with a silver case in his hands, meant or the tesseract. Her hairs were starting to stand on end, and she glanced up, seeing the swirl of blue energy at the ceiling. This would be more of Tony's field, or possibly Dr Banner's.

"Of course it does." That was the new voice. She could see a man dressed in dark clothing, leather? Next to him was another Agent, and off to the side was Barton, but he wasn't moving. What was going on? "I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose." The same Loki that Coulson had mentioned when he had come back from New Mexico?

"Loki?" That was Dr Selvig, he still sounded with it, at least not injured. "Brother of Thor?" That answered that question.

"We have no quarrel with your people," Fury spoke up, bringing the attention back to him. Glancing around, she could see that Fury was stalling, but stalling for what?

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot." Looking up she could see the ceiling starting to chip, no, it was more than that, but the structural integrity was being compromised.

"You planning to step on us?" Fury was talking calmly, like he was just negotiating something, not dealing with another Alien.

"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free." The man was moving around the space, going towards Selvig. Why wasn't Clint moving?

"Free from what?"

"Freedom," the man said, still looking at Fury. "Freedom is life's great lie. One you accept that, in your heart," the man paused then whipped around, raising his arm, no, a spear, and placing it on Selvig's chest, "you will know peace." Mary's eyes widened a little when she saw a glow from the spear, then Selvig's eyes turned black, then blue. He was controlling them.

"Yeah, you say peace, I kind of think you mean the other thing." Mary glanced back up at the ceiling, then looked back when she saw Barton moving, finally.

"Sir, Director Fury is stalling." Oh no, not Clint. That's why Barton hadn't been moving, and Mary's hands tightened around her pistol as she heard his voice. She needed to start moving now, make sure no one was in the way if Fury couldn't stop them. "This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us, he means to bury us." Mary turned on her heel and headed back out of the lab. She drew in a sharp breath when she heard the single gunshot, but didn't stop moving.

They all knew that this was part of the job, that at any moment something could happen, and this was why Fury was Director. He would do whatever it took to keep the danger from reaching topside, to keep the world safe. He knew that, she knew that. She also knew that she had to get out of these as well, to warn people if he couldn't stop it. To get back to Peter, Phil, and Tony. Hopefully by now Phil would have gotten Peter to Tony, and he'd be gearing up Steve.

Mary stopped, looked at the people running towards the trucks, and looked around. No one else was coming, that was good. She turned around and gasped, seeing Barton inches away from her, gun drawn and pointed at her head. She stood absolutely still, letting him take the pistol from her hand, putting it in his own gun holster. The strange man with the spear approached her from the side, but Mary never took her eyes off of Barton's unnatural blue ones.

"Who is this?" He asked in his accent, exhaustion creeping through.

"Agent Mary Parker," Barton responded immediately. He was firmly in Loki's grasp. "SHIELD Handler for one Steven Grant Rogers, aka Captain America. She has a son with billionaire Tony Stark, aka Iron Man."

"He's a scientific genius," Selvig said from behind them. Mary narrowed her eyes at Barton. How dare he put her son in danger like that. "He could possibly have resources that we would be able to use."

"I suggest we keep moving, Sir," Barton said and started to move, forcing Mary to move backwards.

"I can't let you do that, Clint," she said, stopping, not flinching as the cold barrel met her forehead.

"I wasn't asking you." Barton reached out with his other hand, grabbing her arm and used his forward momentum to slide her backwards, sliding his foot behind hers to force her down to the ground. The other Agent with them moved Loki and Dr Selvig forward, towards the trucks. Flipping from her back to her hands, Mary jumped up, then shouted when Barton let off a single shot, a bullet slicing through her calf.

Mary tried to calm her breathing. She need to get up, get out, warn someone. Her radio crackled with static. "Parker! Hill!" Fury! He was still alive. "Do you copy? Barton is-" More gunshots, and the rest of Fury's words were drown out as Hill got the message. "He's got the tesseract! Track it down!"

The building started to rumble again, floor to ceiling, all shaking. The energy was building too much, too fast. She needed to get out. With a shout of pain she pushed herself up, running for the trucks. She could hear crackling behind her, cement starting to break up. There was one sedan, started, but the agent heading for the car had been caught in the crossfire of Barton and Hill. She slid in, gasping, and slammed the car into gear and raced down the tunnel.

Mary wished she would have moved a little faster, or maybe that Fury had been able to stall them a little longer. She thought that hopefully Phil and Steve would help Tony with pancake day, she might have a couple of broken bones after this one. She of course thought of Peter as the cement around the car crackled and fell, blocking the tunnel, instantly stopping the car and slamming her into the airbag with too much force, her vision going black.

---

Steve was sitting alert on the couch, a cold chill curling in his gut, moments before all hell broke loose. Peter was sitting in Coulson's lap, they were watching Tony on stage, he was talking about the Stark Tower. Steve personally couldn't stand the building, but that was his bias talking. He had spent the last three actively avoiding Tony Stark, telling himself that he just needed to deal with his thoughts and feelings on the matter. That excuse ran out three weeks after he had confronted Mary.

Tony was a natural showman, that was obvious, and Steve was unable to see this Anthony as the same Tony who was Peter's father, that loved the little boy, and agonized over not being able to him. The business man on stage didn't sound anything close to the man who had anxiety attacks at night about deep dark secrets that he couldn't leave in Afghanistan.

Peter giggled when Tony flashed a grin at the camera, stepping back up to let the suit come back around him. He had created a holographic model of the new Stark Tower on stage, and he would use his theatrics to show it off as he explained it. Tony Stark was very good at his job.

"Daddy said one day, he would take me flying," Peter said with a grin. Steve and Coulson both looked at him. "Mama said that I had to be much, much, much older before that happened."

"Your Mama is a smart woman," Coulson commented. His phone went off, and he ruffled Peter's hair as he transferred him to the couch next to Steve, grabbing his phone from the coffee table. He walked towards the kitchen, and Steve wondered if it was Mary, or SHIELD business.

Iron Man was landing back on the stage, and Steve raised an eyebrow when the stage started to move, platforms rising up, showing what looked to be robots, drones, of some kind. Tony turned to look at them, the audience cheering, thinking it was part of the show. Steve knew better. Mary, and Tony in the press, had made it explicitly clear, Tony didn't make weapons anymore. He looked up the newly branded War Machine, piloted by Colonel Rhodes, touched down on stage next to him. It looked like the two best friends were having a conversation, before suddenly War Machine and the drones all pointed their arms, and weapons, at Tony.

Steve's breath caught in his throat, the cold in his stomach knotting up, and he quickly covered Peter's eyes, much to the boys protest. Tony shot up into the sky a split second before everything was being fired at him.

"Captain." Steve looked over and saw the grim face of Coulson standing there. "Suit up." Steve grit his teeth and nodded. Coulson went over, picking up Peter, who was wiggling around, trying to see the TV, not understanding why they wouldn't let him see his Daddy.

"Phil," Peter whined. "What's going on?" Steve skirted around them, heading quickly for his bedroom, and heard Peter's gasp. "Daddy!" Steve wouldn't let Peter lose Tony, no matter what Steve thought about the man.

He went to grab his uniform and frowned. He still hadn't gotten a replacement uniform after the last mission, this one torn at the arm and the back. He slid his arm into the shield straps though. When he walked out of the bedroom, Coulson was throwing him his car keys. Peter's eyes were glued to the TV screen.

"There's a new uniform in the trunk," Coulson said, somehow knowing exactly what Steve needed. "I think you'll like this one." Steve just raised an eyebrow and nodded, sprinting out the door. With Coulson's car, and breaking several traffic laws, he could get to the Expo in under fifteen minutes.

---

Tony tapped on Rhodey's helmet, thanking Agent Romanoff for rebooting War Machine's suit. Jarvis assured him that Coulson was still with Peter, and Bruce was still at the Manor, and so Tony just needed to get rid of this Vanko, again, and he could go home. He'd take Peter to the Tower, to show him, to hopefully distract him from what he hoped he hadn't watched. Peter was his son though, so he had probably seen everything that was being televised.

"Rhodey? Snap out of it, buddy. I need you-" Tony looked around, biting back the gasp of exhaustion that swept through his body. The suit was taking a toll on the arc reactor, and in turn his body. He hope Bruce would have all the calculations done and they could start immediately on the new element for the arc reactor. It could be synthesized by morning, and no one would have to worry any longer. "They're coming."

The suit powered up and the faceplate opened on Rhodey's suit. "Oh man," Rhodey groaned, taking Tony's hand and helping him to his feet. "You can have your suit back."

Tony chuckled a little. "You okay?" He looked around the gardens that they had fallen into, waiting for the rest of the drone to drop in.

"Yeah," Rhodey nodded. "Look, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Tony waved him off. Why was he sorry?

"I am, the military bullied you into this, and I led the charge," Rhodey explained further.

"Seriously, forget it." Really?

"No, it's your fault, but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."

Tony snorted, and smiled a little. "Thank you, that all I wanted to hear." Rhodey held out his hand and Tony took it, shaking it, metal hands clanking. "They're coming in hot, any second. What the play?"

"Well, we want to take the high ground," Rhodey pointed up to the hills. "So let's put the biggest gun up there, on that ridge." Tony nodded and they both headed for the same direction then stopped. "Where are you going?"

"You said-" Tony started, pointing.

"I meant me-" Rhodey continued.

"You have a big gun, you are not the big gun-" Tony was still upset when he learned that they weapons installed were by Hammer, but he knew that Rhodey had been overridden by the military.

"Tony, don't be jealous-" Tony snorted at his words.

"Jealous? No no, I'll never be jealous of HammerTech." Tony looked the suit down, then back up. "Yeah, he destroyed the sleek model I had, completely not jealous."

"You gave free range to-"

"I didn't think that they would murder my baby-"

"Your baby?" Before they could continue their argument they heard the jets of the approaching drones, already settling down on the ground. The face plates flipped down and Tony sighed.

"I have to get back to my son, let's make this quick, Rhodey." They both aimed their weapons, his repulsor's charging up, and the garden was awash with flashes, and bullets. Tony and Rhodey moved in a circle, backs to each other, like the well-oiled machine that they could be after years of knowing each other.

"You've got one more drone incoming," Natasha's voice came back over their coms suddenly. Tony noted that she sounded different. "This one looks different. It's the last one though, you're on your own boys." The transmission was cut and tony frowned.

"What do you think she meant by different?" Rhodey asked as he shot down the last drone. Something landed behind him with a thump, and he turned around quickly, only to be knocked to the side and tossed over the hill, slamming into the tree. Tony glanced over, long enough for Jarvis to take readings to show him that the main HUD was out on Rhodey's suit, and he would be dark. Tony would have to do this on his own then.

Getting a good look at what knocked out Rhodey he saw the helmet drawing back to show Ivan Vanko, in a newly designed, clunky, and ugly, suit. Two whips dropped down, then arc with electricity, stronger than the last time, and he smirked. "Good to be back."

Tony grit his teeth and raised his arm, firing off a shot at Vanko's head, but the helmet covered up again just in time to deflect the repulsor shot. Tony tried to fire his boots to get away and one of the whips wrapped around his ankle, throwing Tony back to the ground. The second whip was wrapping around his neck, and charging up, making Tony's HUD crackle again. He gasped when the power suddenly surged through the suit again.

Vanko pulled Tony closer with the whips, laughing through the suit. "You were right before, double cycle, more power." Tony grit his teeth as a wave of pain coursed through his body, this one was from the palladium. "Now, true Stark name will be shown."

Tony was suddenly falling back as the whips shorted, releasing him. When Tony reached for his neck he pulled off the end of the whip form Vanko's suit, and looked at it. No, the whips had been sliced through. Tony rolled back to his feet, and saw something fly past his head.

"I don't like bullies." Tony's head whipped around at the new voice and he swore his jaw dropped. The man standing there was dressed in a ridiculous costume, but one that he knew all too well. And attached to his arm was a very familiar red, white, and blue shield with a star. The man threw the shield, hitting Vanko's suit in the head, causing him to stumble back, and the shield rebounded back to his arm, and he threw it again.

Tony stood up, charging up the suit for a center blast, straight to the reactor in Vanko's suit. The shield hit Vanko a third time, and Tony let loose the unibeam shot. He hit the reactor and Tony saw it explode, short circuiting the suit with satisfaction. Vanko went down, sparking, and Tony walked over, pulling the helmet off of him.

The damage had done more internally and there was blood on Vanko's lips. He laughed and Tony suddenly heard a beeping. "You still lose, Stark." Tony frowned.

"Sir, the drones are rigged to explode," Jarvis told him urgently in a broken voice. "Colonel Rhodes has regained control."

Tony turned and grabbed at the man with the shield, arm wrapping around his waist quickly and shooting up, out of the gardens. "Jarvis, where's Pepper?!"

"She has cleared the Expo, Sir." Tony let out a breath of relief as he flew for the highest roof he could get to.

Tony let the man go, taking several steps back, looking at him. If he was anyone else, he'd say that he was looking at Captain America, in the flesh. But this was Tony Stark, and he knew that Captain America had been lost in the War. But that was the vibranium shield that his father had made, there was no question about that, Jarvis' sensors had already analyzed it. The cowl on the man hid any identifying features and Tony was getting mad. Who would dare try to imitate the hero or World War II?

"Who are you?" Tony growled out at the man. He was about to step closer to the man, but the sound of a jet was coming from above. The back opened up and he saw Agent Romanoff was standing there in a black cat suit.

"Captain," she said and Tony narrowed his eyes. The man looked at Tony then turned, jogging for the SHIELD jet. "Good job, Stark," Natasha said as the bay doors started to close and the jet lifted up again.

"Dammit!" Tony shouted, but they were already flying away. Of course SHIELD would try something like replacing Captain America. Tony was going to have words with Coulson and Mary, very soon. "Jarvis, tell Coulson I'm on way to get Peter. Connect me to Bruce."

"Immediately, Sir," the AI said as he opened a link to the Manor workshop.

Steve bit his lip, looking at Romanoff as the jet took off. He had gotten word from Coulson that he would be being picked up, something else happening that would need his attention. "Where are we going?" He took off the cowl, letting it drop against his back.

"I'm dropping you off with Fury," she said, walking back up towards the front. "I have another stop to make." Natasha glanced at him. "Good job, Stark didn't recognize you at all." Steve grunted a little. He put the shield down, taking a seat, and blinked when Natasha handed him a tablet.

"We're bringing in a team for this one," she told him as he turned on the tablet, looking at the files. "Like a response team, better freshen up." Steve looked through the names, seeing Stark's name. He looked up at her and she stared back evenly. "We're going to need his expertise, and maybe his firepower. Better make peace with your feelings."

---

Tony grabbed a new core from Bruce before taking one of the cars, and the Mark V suitcase, to pick up Peter. Coulson said that he would meet them at Tower after Tony confessed that that was where he was going to take him. The calculations would be done in a couple of hours for the new element, and Bruce promised that he would have a plan drawn up for Tony first thing in the morning. Tony didn't tell him about the Captain America look-a-like. It wasn't the same person that Bruce had been attempting to re-create when he had his own Gamma mishap.

Tony's feet tapped as he rode up the elevator, getting antsy, wanting to see Peter. Everything was simultaneously falling apart, and then back into place. He was on an uphill trend at the moment.

"Daddy!" Tony stepped off the elevator and instantly got down on one knee to embrace the running child. He wrapped his arms around him, Peter's little arms wrapping tightly around Tony's neck in return, pressing his face into Tony's neck. "Daddy," he sniffed a little and Tony stood back up, hand rubbing circles on Peter's back. "I was scared, Daddy." Tony's heart broke a little at that, having horrible deja vu from a year ago in Monaco. "They were attacking you."

"Daddy's a superhero, remember?" Tony said softly, pressing his cheek to Peter's hair. "No one can hurt Daddy. My Petey, I'm sorry."

"Did you get rid of the bad guys?" Peter wasn't going to let go anytime soon, gripping onto Tony as he walked over to the couch in the penthouse of the Tower.

"Yeah, I did," he nodded, not wanting to look a Coulson. He knew he would be proven wrong if he looked over, he just knew it. "They won't come around anymore." He kissed the top of Peter's head. "Do you wanna see the room that I built just for you, though? Hmm?" Tony froze a little when he felt little fingers tracing over the black lines of the palladium poisoning on his neck.

"Did you get hurt?" Peter asked softly, not pressing down on the marks, just in case they hurt his Daddy.

"Not from this fight," Tony told him. "This is from the arc reactor." As he said it, Peter put his hand over Tony's chest. "But, that's why Uncle Bruce is here, he's helping Daddy get rid of it, so you don't have to worry about it at all, okay?" Peter nodded. "Alright, let's go see this special room, yeah?" Peter nodded, still holding onto Tony. "I really think you're going to like it."

Tony got up, adjusting Peter in his arms and headed to the other side of the room, Coulson falling into step just behind him. He stepped down a hall and stopped at the third door in the hall, Jarvis opening the door automatically for him. Tony turned Peter a little as the lights came up, showing Peter a fully stocked Art Room. Peter's eyes widened and Tony put him down, the little boy instantly running inside.

"Stark," Coulson said softly, coming up beside Tony. He knew it, Coulson never called him Stark like that unless it was serious.

"Agent," Tony responded, watching peter examine the drawing table, then opening all the shelves of the storage compartments right by it.

"We need your help," Coulson said, holding out a SHIELD tablet to him. Tony looked at him, then took it.

"Better be something damn important," Tony replied, quiet enough that Peter didn't hear him. "My son is upset, and Mary is-

"In a coma." Tony froze. Everything in his body just stopped working. Tony looked at Coulson, really looked at him, and he knew it was true. He could see the slight redness around Coulson's eyes, the worry lines pulling at the corner of his eyes, the tense stance. Oh gods.

"What happened?" Tony demanded after finding his voice. What had SHIELD done? How was he supposed to tell Peter about this? What was going to happen?

Coulson just nodded towards the tablet and Tony folded it up, holding it. It turned on and he instantly opened the first folder. He saw pictures of the destruction of what could have only been a SHIELD base. Some test were being conducted, but something went wrong, energy readings had spiked, an influx of power had actually created an implosion underground. There was a picture of a sedan, mostly buried underneath what could only be a couple of tons of cement, with access to the front windshield, the driver's side airbag deployed and hanging over the steering wheel.

Tony grit his jaw tightly, his knuckles turning white as his grip tightened. Mary had been in that car when the base had literally fallen to pieces. She had a bullet wound to her right calf, with a tibular and fibular break as well, a broken nose form the airbag, four cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and coxal bone fracture on her left hip. Tony's brain worked with what he was given, formulas appearing to explain all the breaks. She had been much too fast, probably trying to get out, and the rocks brought her to a dead stop, propelling her with too much force to her body.

"Where is she?" Tony whispered, not looking away from the files. What had been so important down there?

"SHIELD medical," Coulson responded.

"I want her moved her," Tony said automatically. "The Tower, the Manor, I don't care. I want her where I can keep an eye on her. Jarvis will be watching her twenty-four hours, and I'll be getting the best doctors in the world to come."

Coulson licked his lips a little, but he didn't disagree with Tony. "You need to keep reading, Tony." Tony looked over at Coulson, so unused to hearing his first name come from his mouth. Looking back at the tablet, Coulson reached over, tapping on another folder, different files popping up. He frowned, looking over them. There was one of Bruce, pictures and videos of his first transformations into what had been classified as the Hulk, someone called Thor from when Coulson had gone to New Mexico, and another file that had him frowning. He enlarged the file on Captain America, seeing old film reels of him fighting back in World War II, and then pictures of him, well his body, covered in ice.

The man, at the Expo. That wasn't someone replacing him, that was actually Captain America. Captain America was alive, and SHIELD had found him. He would be very angry later about why no one had told him that he had been found, and awake; he was a Stark! His Dad helped Make Captain America. But there was one other image that caught his eyes.

He pulled up the picture of a blue cube, then put his finger out, gripping it and the hologram jumped into his hand. Tony turned it, frowning. Tesseract. This is what Howard had found while he was searching for Captain America, he had seen it mentioned in Howard's notebooks.

Tony didn't think that he had gained this much upwards motion on the hill he was currently climbing to excuse the amount he had just fallen back with all this news.

"You're bringing Banner in on this?" He looked back through the files again, dropping the image of the tesseract.

"He's an expert in Gamma rays, that's how Fury wants to track the cube," Coulson explained. "We'd like you to help."

"I've got Peter," Tony said, looking back over at his little boy. His excited, smiling little boy, who had just a private art room, all to himself. His little boy that he was going to have to tell that his Mama wasn't going to be coming back for a little while, that she was sleeping, and it was going to be hard to wake her up. Tony never wanted any of these horrible things to happen to his son.

"I know, and I wouldn't ask if it wasn't necessary," Coulson said quietly, urgently. "We're trying to track Loki as we speak, but we'd like you and Banner with us on the Hellicarrier as soon as possible."

"I'm going to need time." Tony needed Banner for his arc reactor. And Tony needed time with Peter.

"I wouldn't ask you to come without Peter," Coulson said, knowing that he would obviously be thinking about Peter. Coulson was getting closer with the little boy as well, so he obviously cared. "He's going to need you, and I can be there when you need to be in the lab."

Tony wrinkled his nose and nodded a little. "I'll look this over, read the notes. But, I need to be with my son right now. I was attacked earlier, if you hadn't noticed." Deflect, Tony, that's how Starks do it. Absorb and deflect, don't let them know what you're really feeling inside, they can use it against you.

Coulson nodded, and turned quietly, disappearing from the Tower. Tony closed the tablet, slipping it under his arm. He'd take Peter to the Master bedroom, queue up a couple of movies, tell Peter about Mary, and pray that he could get Peter to sleep. There was no way that Tony would be sleeping, and he was pretty sure that Peter wouldn't be sleeping, knowing that his Mama was hurt.

---

Steve was topside as the sun cleared the horizon in the morning to meet with Dr Banner as he arrived. Natasha had eventually convinced him to come first thing in the morning. Steve had met up with Coulson as soon as he got there late in the night, pulling Steve aside to tell him about Mary.

The breath had been stolen from Steve's lungs at the news. She was alive, but in a coma. Her injuries were serious, so they didn't know how long until she woke up. Coulson didn't say it, but he knew the doctors had said it; If she woke up.

Steve had asked about Peter right away, and Coulson assured him that he was safe with Tony, and that Tony wouldn't let the boy out of his sights. Tony had wanted to move Mary to his house, to have round the clock care for her, and Steve for once couldn't be upset with the man. It's what he would have wanted to do, especially if he had the resources that Stark did. Steve honestly didn't expect to see Tony coming aboard the Hellicarrier after this revelation.

The Quinjet landed, and Steve walked over as the bay doors opened. Banner was a smaller man than he would have thought, especially considering the size of the Hulk. The man looked tired, a little rumpled, and was holding onto a few notebooks and a tablet. He pushed his glasses up on his nose, then caught sight of Steve, blinking. Steve had learned that Dr Bruce Banner had tried to re-create the serum that was used on himself, but it had resulted in something, less than expected. So to see the product of what his research had been about must have been a little surprising.

"Dr Banner," Steve said, sticking his hand out to the man.

"Yeah, hi," Banner said, a little unsure, maybe a little skittish. "They told me you would be here."

"Word is you can find the cube." He wanted nothing more than to find the cube, catch Loki, and if he got a few punches in, or hits with the shield while he was at it, well it might of a little ways to relieving his stress at the moment.

"Is that the only word?" Bruce asked carefully. It would be obvious that he would be nervous about coming on board a vessel with so many SHIELD agents around, so many opportunities to exploit the Hulk like so many others had tried to do. Or to take him down.

"Only word I care about," Steve responded, nodding. Dr Banner studied him carefully then nodded.

"You boys may wanna step inside soon," Natasha said to them. "It's gonna get a little hard to breathe." Engines started to come to life when she finished her sentence, and Dr Banner's eyes widened a little. They both walked to the edge, craning their head over to look down.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked. When he had arrived they had just stayed in the water. It wouldn't be out of place for a carrier to be in the water, for SHIELD to have a mobile base.

"Really?" Steve noticed that the Doctor had a wry smile on his face. "They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?"

That's when they noticed the large fan come out of the water, the carrier starting to life up out of the ocean. It's wasn't a submarine at all! Bruce Banner had a manic smile on his face now. "Oh no. This is much worse."

Natasha smirked a little and the trio headed inside. Banner met with Fury and they started talking about finding the tesseract, and Steve tuned out a little. He didn't understand a word of what was going on. He watched Coulson closely though, seeing the tense nature of his shoulders, knowing the man was holding a lot in at the moment. But, there was nothing that Steve could do at the moment, not while they were all on the Hellicarrier with nowhere to go. He found his way down to the gym, until someone needed him.

Steve had managed to destroy a punching bag, specially made to withstand his strength, then went to take a shower. He was dressing in his quarters when there was a knock on the door. Fury was standing there, looking at him. "We found a match for Loki, in Stuttgart, Germany. You're up, Captain."

Steve took a breath and nodded. "Yes, Sir." Maybe he had found a replacement punching bag.

---

Tony had been right, Peter hadn't slept at all. He stayed attached to Tony's side, keeping his Daddy in sight at all time. Tony didn't mind so much, they both needed the comfort. Peter had eventually stopped crying, but Tony had assured him that he still felt he needed too, that it would be alright. He had been fighting off the pure fear that he didn't know how to be the primary parent by reading all the files that Coulson had given him. He knew that Peter was reading everything that on the screen, but the boy didn't react too much, so he didn't see the harm in letting him watch him. Tony didn't want to hide anything if he didn't have to from Peter. And if Peter understood any of Selvig's notes, then Tony would have to reconsider having Peter skip some grades. Several of them.

Tony's hands were carding through Peter's hair at the moment, both of them quiet, just needing each other, when an alert popped up in the corner of the screen.

"It's from Phil," Peter said quietly, but loud enough that Tony jumped a little. They had been sitting in silence for several hours, and he hadn't been expecting peter to talk anytime soon. Tony glanced at Peter, then brought up the message.

'Loki spotted in Stuttgart'

Tony stared at the message. That was the one who was responsible for all of this, for what happened to Mary. Tony should be thinking about the others who had been caught in the collapse, but right now, he and peter needed Mary.

"He's the one who hurt Mama?" Peter asked, and Tony nodded a little. Another message.

'Will Iron Man be responding?'

Tony looked at Peter, and his son looked back up at him, brown eyes, red rimmed, sad, but his expression was suddenly resolute. "He hurt Mama," Peter said with as much conviction as a six-year-old could muster up. "You're a superhero, and he's a bad man."

"Going after him won't make Mama wake up," Tony told him carefully. Yes, he wanted revenge, badly, but he didn't want Peter to be learning this thought concept just yet.

"He might do it to other Mama's, though," Peter said. He had clearly thought about this. "Phil will come get me."

"Because I'll come back to you," Tony finished and Peter nodded.

"Because you're a superhero. And you promised." Tony hugged Peter tightly, kissing the top of his head.

"Because I promised," Tony repeated, whispering in Peter's hair. Jarvis responded for in the affirmative. Coulson would be there in ten minutes to take Peter to the Hellicarrier, while Iron Man would make a straight shot for Germany.

Tony had had time to think while making his flight overseas, boosting the suit as far as he dare push it, having put a new palladium core in, just in case. He had chugged an entire forty ounces of chlorophyll before suiting up as well, just to be at peak performance. He was going to take this asshole down. He hurt Mary, he hurt his son, and he hurt Tony. Tony Stark did not take that lying down.

In true Tony Stark fashion, he hacked through the quinjets speaker system when he saw that Romanoff was inside. He needed an entrance, he wanted Loki to remember who was coming for him. It had distracted and drawn Loki's attention, but it had also attracted the attention of Captain America, whom he had not been expecting to be there.

Steve had never been so glad for Coulson's redesign to the suit. Loki hit hard, especially with that spear, but the suit was able to take and absorb some of the blows. It didn't take him long at all to jump back to his feet to react to the attacks. He didn't hold back anything. But neither did Loki. The music had been unexpected though.

Tony shot a repulsor beam at Loki before he was even thinking about landing, throwing the man back, hitting some stairs. That was a little satisfying. Tony landed, then raised both arms, weapons at the ready, all trained on Loki. And what the hell was he wearing on his head? Honestly, how did he expect anyone to take him seriously with that helmet?

"Make your move Reindeer Games," Tony intoned deeply. He really wanted Loki to move.

Steve collected his shield and walked over to Iron Man. To Tony Stark. The same Tony Stark who was here, instead of with Peter. (Although he secretly wanted to see Stark unload those weapons into Loki.) Loki merely raised his hands in surrender, the armor disappearing. Steve hated magic.

"Good move." Bad move, Tony wanted to shout. No move is bad move! He registered Captain America's movement to his side.

"Mr Stark." Oh good, the man knew who he was already. One more notch in the things that Tony was going to bitch at Fury about.

"Captain." Tony nodded a little to him, Romanoff landing the Quinjet behind them. And Tony may have gotten a little satisfaction when he saw the Captain grab Loki by the back of the neck, pulling him up, and practically shoving him into a seat on the jet. There was no special treatment coming to this man, and he deserved none.

On board, Tony took off his helmet, glaring daggers at Loki. He could feel Captain America beside him, but the man never took his cowl off, hiding his face. "I don't like it," the man said suddenly.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony tried his hardest to get an easy flow to his voice, to not have pure hatred drip from his tone. It would have all been directed at Loki, but Tony felt a little bit of animosity towards the good Captain himself as well.

"I don't remember it being that easy," he replied. "This guy packs a wallop."

Tony shrugged a little, still not looking away from Loki. He wanted his eyes alone to make the alien burn. "Still, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow." He cast a side glance towards the hero. "What your thing? Pilates?" Confusion. "It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle." Tony couldn't help it, and now he could practically feel the disapproval just rolling off of the man.

Steve locked his jaw a little, looking at Tony Stark, who wouldn't even look at him properly. He had kept his mask on because he wanted him to focus on Loki, but now all he saw was the egotistical, spoiled, brat of a man that the press had made him out to be. Howard would be rolling in his grave, he was sure of it. Two could play at this game.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." The man just did what he wanted, whenever he wanted. And he left Peter alone. Did Peter even know about Mary yet?

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Stark responded without a thought.

The quinjet rocked a little with the sudden appearance of the lightning storm. A lightning storm that seemed a little too unnatural. Steve looked over at Loki and saw that he actually looked unnerved. "What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" He shouldn't be mocking the prisoners... This wasn't a normal prisoner.

"I'm not overly found of what follows," Loki responded, and both Tony and Steve raised their eyebrows a little. A loud thump, and the quinjet actually lurched. Tony grabbed his helmet and Steve went for his shield. Tony reached up to open the bay doors and Steve frowned, until a man landed on the edge.

Tony pointed his repulsor at the man, who he thought looked familiar for a second. Before he was able to get a shot, he was hit with a knowledge bomb. Or rather with Thor's hammer that sent him flying back and landing on top of Captain America. Oh well.

He pushed himself back up and practically growled. "Now there's that guy."

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha shouted over the wind. She must not have looked at the reading.

"Think the guy's a friendly?" Steve asked. Tony thought for sure that SHIELD would have updated two of their top agents. How was he the only one who recognized the guy, and the hammer, from the SHIELD profile?

"Doesn't matter," Tony told them. "If he frees Loki, or kills him, the tesseract's lost." Tony was not going to let that happen. He turned, heading to the end of the bay doors.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Steve couldn't believe that Stark was just going to jump after this guy, with no plans for anything! How was this man a good father for Peter?

"I have a plan." Stark reached the end of the platform. "Attack." He jumped and shot off in the sky.

Steve growled and went over, grabbing a parachute and sliding into the straps. "I'd sit this one out, Cap," Natasha told him.

"I don't see how I can," Steve replied. They needed Loki, and he need to get Stark before he got himself killed.

"These guys come from legends, they're basically Gods." Steve snorted a little at her words, grabbing his shield and securing it to his arm.

"There's only one God, ma'am," Steve said, a little bit of his 40's manners shining through. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

Tony tracked Thor easily enough, following the energy signature that his hammer left behind. He was still with Loki, a hand on his neck. Tony boosted and slammed into Thor's side, throwing him to the ground, making him slide against the ground.

"Do not touch me again," Thor growled at him, glaring.

"Then don't take my stuff," Tony shot back, the face plate lifting.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with," Thor countered again. "This is beyond you, metal man. Loki will face Asgardian justice!"

"He gives up the cube, he's all yours." He stared down Thor. "Until then," the face plate closed again, Iron Man looking at him now, "stay out of the way." Tony started to turn, scanning for Loki. Up on the ridge, still. "Tourist," Tony muttered under his breath.

He heard the shout from Thor, and turned just in time to have the hammer slam into his chest. He gasped, the suit actually giving way a little under it, the chest plate touching the arc reactor. The HUD flickered a bit, becoming an all too familiar thing now, and Tony glared, cocking his head a little to the side.

"Okay. Let's do this." Tony could go a couple rounds with this guy, he needed an outlet to take his anger and frustration out on, and Thor was presenting the perfect target. All he wanted was to get Loki to the Hellicarrier so he could get to Bruce, and Peter.

He slowly pushed himself up to his knees, sensors on Thor. He seemed to be waiting for him to get up. Tony didn't want to play fair. He turned his hand under him and shot a beam at him, hitting him in the chest and sending Thor back into a tree. Tony was up on his feet now as Thor reached out for his hammer. He started to spin it, raising it up and a very impressive lightning bolt struck. Thor threw it out at Tony, hitting him in the chest, sending him sliding back a couple of feet on the ground, but Tony stayed standing. He had just dealt with someone else who liked to use electricity, this was nothing to him now.

This worked differently though, as Jarvis informed him that system power was now at Four Hundred percent capacity. Tony smirked a little. "How 'bout that." Tony powered everything up, shooting both hand repulsors at the man, and a unibeam shot. It threw him back and Tony didn't waste any time in following him, slamming him through the tree completely.

Thor gripped him and Tony pulled up, bringing them both into the air. Now they were in Tony's domain. Or so Tony thought. Seemed Thor was used to being this high up as well, and struggled against Tony's trajectory. Tony managed to slam him up against a rock face, pushing him down along it, digging into the rocks as they went, until Thor used his hammer to redirect them. They both went flying through thick tree bark, Jarvis not so helpfully highlighting the damage to the suit as it happened. Mark VI was going to need to some tender loving care.

Thor flipped Tony as they hit the ground, but Tony rolled with it, and kept himself on his feet with the help of his gauntlets, and shot right back at Thor. He went for a punch but Thor grabbed his hand; Tony went with the other hand, and Thor grabbed his arm. And then he started to squeeze, and he actually started to crush the suit.

Turning his hand he gave a shoddily aimed blast to the face to Thor back from him, just a little, then threw his head forward in a head bang. Thor looked utterly appalled that Tony would do such a thing and slammed his head right back into him, sending Tony onto the ground. Shooting back up Tony went for another punch but Thor hit first, sending Tony to his knees. Before he had time to block, Thor was punching his shoulder and his back, pushing him down further.

Tony was aware that he was suddenly leaving the ground involuntary as Thor picked him. Tony's suit tried to adjust for the sudden downward swing, gears turning quickly, straining, but Tony let out a shout of pain as he was thrown into the ground, barely missing his neck cracked. Thor called the hammer to his hand once again, (a pretty nifty trick if Tony was honest), and was in the middle of a downswing when Tony fired off the boots and gauntlets, sliding between his legs and causing him to go down.

Tony went for another swing around, coming in flying for a punch to the head, making Thor see stars for maybe a second. He was already raising his arm, weapons popping up, Thor ready for a swing, when a shot, and a glancing blow off the armor caught their attention.

What the actual hell was going on? Steve landed and ran for the fight, because it was glaringly obviously where the two men were. He threw his shield, watching it hit Thor's chest, bounce to Iron Man, bounce off, and then angled back up to him. One arm was pointed at Steve now, the other at Thor, until Stark registered who had attacked them.

"That's enough!" Steve kind of felt like a scolding parent. Steve was already done with this shit. He jumped down and looked at Thor, Stark lowering his weapons. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here-"

"I've come to put an end to Loki's schemes!" Thor shouted at him, looking at him like it was all his fault.

"Then prove it," Steve said lowly. "Put that hammer down."

"Um, yeah, no!" Of course that was Stark. "He loves his hamm-" Thor swung his hand out, landing a solid, and damaging blow to Stark chest, sending him flying backwards.

"You want me to put the hammer down?!" Thor was sounding a little mad, and Steve was on edge now. He grunted and suddenly jumped up, arm raised, aiming for Steve. Steve raised the hammer, steadying his pose and his grip, ready for impact.

The shockwave, and the sound that came with it, was nothing like any of them had felt before. There was a bright flash, the clang of two unbreakable metals clashing, and a force that push Thor back to the ground. Steve stood up, letting his legs understand was standing was again, his arm tingling and vibrating with the hit, and looked at the other two, as they slowly pushed themselves back up to the ground. They all surveyed the forest, and the damage that had been done. The shockwave doing as much damage as Stark and Thor had done on their own.

"Are we done here?" Steve was done here.

---

Tony found Bruce first once he boarded the Hellicarrier, almost completely on accident. He had been looking for Coulson and Peter, but saw Bruce through the windows of the lab he was in. They marched Loki by and Tony caught the smile of insanity that Loki threw towards them. He was sure that it was directed at both Tony and Bruce.

Tony knocked on the door to the lab and walked in, drawing Bruce away from had happened. "You are a sight for sore eyes," he told the scientist. Bruce was able to see the black was peeking over the collar of his shirt. Tony threw on a jacket, covering most of the palladium poisoning.

"While you were gone, I was able to set up a particle accelerator down by one of the engines," Bruce told him right away. He had heard whisperings about Mary, and knew that he needed to get Tony that new element immediately.

"You're a saint." Tony practically sagged against the counter with relief.

"After Fury's meeting we can run it," Bruce continued, seeing the fatigue set in on Tony. It was obvious that the man hadn't slept since he woke up for the day of the Expo. "How's Peter?" He asked quietly. Tony gave him a sad smile and Bruce nodded.

"What I wouldn't give for Mary to tell me what I'm supposed to do right now," Tony said. "But if that were possible, then I wouldn't be in this situation, would I?" Tony slid his eyes upward, trying to fight back the not so familiar sting of tears. He needed to be strong for Peter, and this Loki and Tesseract business was just ruining everything. And he was suddenly mad at Howard for finding the stupid tesseract, and mad at Captain America for losing it before he went down in the ice.

Tony jumped a little when Bruce put a hand on his back, starting to gather him towards the main deck of the carrier. Tony let Bruce enter first, needing a minute to himself. He could hear Fury talking to Loki through the speakers, he wanted to analyze this without anyone else around.

-"an impressive cage." Loki's too smug sounding voice. "Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury countered and Tony frowned.

"Oh, I've heard," Loki drawled. "The mindless beast, make play he's still a man." Tony's fist clenched, still riding the anger train. "How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?" What Tony would give to be in that room with Loki right now.

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control." Fury was putting his name to use. "You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

Tony glanced over, seeing Maria Hill walk towards him as Loki's conversation continued. She nodded to him a little, hand gently touching his elbow, before walking onto the main deck.

"-unlimited power. And for what?" Loki's voice again. Was he still talking? "A warm light for all mankind to share?" Was he making a crack at Tony's efforts? It's what Howard was planning to do with the tesseract. "And then to be reminded what real power is."

Steve internally sighed a little as the screens went black. "He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Steve bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the absurdity of Dr Banner's statement.

"Loki's going to drag this out," Steve said, looking over at Thor. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

Tony heard the others starting to talk and took a breath. The sooner this was over, the better. He could get a new element made, Jarvis could direct Bruce to set it in the new arc reactor casing, and run tests while Tony found Peter.

"-what did they need the Iridium for?" Tony heard Bruce as he walked into the room.

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony glanced at the group and noticed that Captain America wasn't- Oh, holy hell. Tony really hoped he didn't just visibly flinch. Steve. The fucking Neighbor. Was sitting there, in Captain America armor. Tony was already three hundred percent done.

Tony covered it up by walking over to Thor, no longer looking at The Neighbor. He was never going to use his name now. Ever. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing."

Steve watched Tony walk in, like he owned the place, glance over at him and Steve frowned. He had to have recognized him, right? Why did Steve care? Tony was self-absorbed, cared about no one other than himself. He had certainly proved that today. Steve really frowned when Tony walked over to Bruce, not even bothering to introduce himself to the man.

"I was hoping, Stark," Fury said as he walked into the room, "that you might join Dr Banner in searching for the cube."

"Well, since you stole him from my basement laboratory, I guess it only right that I steal him back." Tony's words gave Steve pause. Tony already knew Dr Banner?

"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve spoke up again. "It may be magical," and what the hell, magic?, "but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."

"I don't know about that, but it powered by the cube," Fury nodded. "And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor frowned, looking around. "I do not understand."

"I do!" Steve said with a little more enthusiasm then he should have. He had just watched The Wizard of Oz with Peter last week. "I understood that reference."

Tony thought that his eyes might actually roll out of his head at the statement. He looked at Bruce. "Shall we play?"

---

Bruce had everything well in hand, and Tony was happy for it. He was now cuddled up with Peter in his arms, resting against his chest. He had thanked Coulson profusely, and let himself calm around the mere presence of Peter. He forgot all about Steve Lying Rogers, and just held onto Peter.

Peter's hand went out to Tony's arc reactor, and laid his head against Tony's shoulder. "Phil is sad," Peter said quietly. Tony's son was too observant. "He loves Mama, too."

"Yeah, he does," Tony nodded, agreeing. "Do you miss her?" Peter nodded and Tony hugged him just a little tighter. "Yeah, I miss her, too."

"What's gonna happen? I can't stay at home if Mama isn't there." Tony dropped little kisses on top of Peter's head.

"You're going to stay with me," Tony told him. "You know how my house is really big?" Peter nodded. "Well, I'm gonna have Mama stay there until she wakes up. That way you, Jarvis, and I can watch over her. It's family that knows best, isn't it? We know what Mama needs."

Peter snuggled in closer to Tony's chest. "We'll make Mama better."

"Yeah we will," Tony said softly.

How was he supposed to do this? How was he supposed to raise Peter on his own? Oh sure, Coulson would be there, and I'm sure Mary's parents would insist on being there as well, but, it wasn't the same. He could have all the help in the world, but they weren't Daddy, they weren't Mama. Tony would have to be in charge of everything. Mary was so much better at knowing what needed to be done, on how to take care of Peter, and herself, and work, and just, everything. Tony could barely take care of himself sometimes; e.g. palladium poisoning.

Tony would have to make sure that Peter ate three meals a day, that he had his snack, and went to bed on time, and took his bath, and brushed his teeth, and make sure that he didn't have nightmares. He have to be in charge of any punishments, of making sure that Peter did his chores. Tony would have to do all of that, and half of that stuff Tony didn't even do himself! He was already turning into Howard.

Tony closed his eyes tightly, willing back all those dark thoughts that usually followed. Peter was a happy boy, he was well-behaved. What if Peter suddenly became rebellious? Locking up the sadness and anger that his Mama wasn't around? He'd take it out on Tony, and Tony wouldn't know how to properly deal with that situation, and Peter would end up hating him. Tony couldn't take that if that happened. It would be worse than dying if Peter ended up hating him.

He was so not prepared for this, he was so not prepared to be a father. Almost seven years, Mary had been trying to train him for seven years, but it just wasn't enough. Perhaps Tony thought that a good thing would never end, that Mary would always be there to take the role of primary parent. To let Tony step in when he built up enough confidence that day. That seemed to work out for them. Peter didn't seem unstable, and he seemed to always be happy, when he wasn't getting in trouble for something stupid that he and Wade had done. Tony had been resting on his laurels for too long, and it was coming back to bite him in the ass. Again.

A soft knock at the door drew Tony's attention, and he saw Bruce standing there with Coulson. Tony glanced at the clock on the wall. He had been laying with Peter for nearly three hours. The arc reactor should be done by now with the preliminary tests.

"Sorry to interrupt, but the cafeteria's open, and I promised Peter pancakes," Coulson said, causing Peter to move a little. He still hadn't fallen asleep.

"Can't break tradition, little man," Tony said softly to him, sitting up with him in his lap. He rubbed his back, and let one hand come up to cup Peter's cheek. He gave Peter a smile, touching their noses together, and he got a shy, sad, little smile in return. "There's my Petey. Go on, get some pancakes. And when you're done, I'll have a surprise for you, okay?" Peter was pretty good about noticing when Tony had a new arc reactor, and he was very interested to see what Peter said this one felt like.

"Yeah?" Peter asked quietly, and Tony nodded. He leaned up a little to kiss his Daddy's cheek, then climbed down to the ground. Coulson took his hand and they walked out of the room, heading down the hall in an attempt to cheer Peter up.

"You both look like crap," Bruce said as soon as Coulson and Peter were out of earshot.

Tony snorted as he stood up from the bed, cracking his shoulders and back. "Like father, like son, huh?" He and Bruce headed back down to the lab.

"The reactor accepted the element," Bruce told him. They entered the lab and Tony saw the new arc reactor sitting on the desk opposite of Loki's scepter. He had put in a new triangle design, getting a little tired of the circle. He had wanted something new.

"Look at it," Tony smiled a little, walking around it in a circle a couple of the time. "That's a much lighter blue. It feels better just from here."

Steve walked into the lab and Saw Bruce standing by the scepter, but Tony was looking at something else. Something that had nothing to do with Loki or the cube. Steve bristled a little with more anger. Did Tony really bring one of his experiments on board? Did he really thing that was more important?

"You need to focus on the problem, Mr Stark," Steve said in a clipped tone. Tony stood up straight, and looked at Steve dead on.

"You think I'm not?" Tony moved towards him. Bruce hunched back over the scepter, focusing on his research. Tony had gotten the Gamma calculation running already. Forget the week that Bruce had said he would need, Tony got the search running, and it would be done within the next couple hours. "Why did Fury call us in, and why now? Why not before?" Before Mary got hurt. "What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked. He shouldn't be surprised that this was what Tony was saying.

"He's a spy, Captain." One more name to use that wasn't Steve. "He's the spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging him too, isn't it?" He looked over at Bruce, who wanted nothing more than to not be involved in this awkward conversation.

"I just wanna finish my work here..." There was that skittish feeling Steve sensed again.

"Doctor?" Steve asked, frowned a little.

Bruce sighed, and looked up between the men. "A warm light, for all mankind. Loki's jab about the cube." Bruce looked over at Tony. "I think it was meant for you." Tony nodded, already suspecting. "Even is Barton didn't tell Loki about the Tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark Tower?" Is that what Bruce was talking about? "That big, ugly," Tony turned his head towards him to glower, "building in New York?"

"It's powered by an Arc Reactor, self-sustaining energy source." Tony glanced over at the smaller one, still sitting on the table. "That building will run itself for what, a year?"

Tony nodded at Bruce. "That's just the prototype." Tony looked back over at Steve. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now."

"So why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Steve frowned a little when Bruce looked at him. "I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look in that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's files." Tony was going to see what exactly Fury had been taking Mary in too.

Steve blinked at Tony's words. Was the man really- "I'm sorry, did you say-"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge," Tony said, facing Steve again, and they were suddenly a whole lot closer. "In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide."

Steve leveled a glare at him. "Yet, you're confused about why they didn't want you around?"

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome." Tony was starting to really get under Steve's skin now.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up," Steve said, looking back to Bruce, too. "This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused," Steve leveled a pointed look over at the other arc reactor, "he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

Of course! Tony almost rolled his eyes again. The soldier comes out to play. "Followings not really my style."

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve smirked a little, not kindly.

Tony bristled a little. "Of the people in this room, which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit, and B, not of use?" Tony could give as good as he got.

"Steve," Bruce said, trying to slightly diffuse the situation. "Tell me none of this smells funky to you?"

Steve let the words swirl in his head a little, then took one look at Tony, and straightened up. "Just find the cube." He stalked out of the room. The door shut and he stopped. Dr Banner was right though, and perhaps Tony, as much as he was loathe to admit. Steve needed to do his own investigation.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Tony actually admired that man as a child? If that was the man that Howard had wanted him to be, then he's glad he had a shitty childhood. "Maybe they should have kept him on ice.

"He's not wrong about Loki, though." Bruce set the computer back to the search, and walked over to the arc reactor with Tony. "Moment of truth." Bruce tapped the side of Tony's neck and he nodded, grasping the new arc reactor.

Tony reached up underneath his shirt, twisting the palladium reactor until it clicked. He let out a light gasp, closing his eyes a little, then pulled it out. He set it down on the counter, then reached the new one under and slipped it into place. He could feel a different resonance with this reactor. Tony turned it, hearing a low click, but not the one he needed. Tony frowned, brought his hand back out, then punched his chest with the heel of his hand. Bruce jumped a little until he saw the glow of the reactor.

Tony shook his head a little, moving his tongue. Oh, he felt it working. The new element clicked into place, and then hit his veins, and it started racing through his body. He gasped again, rolling his shoulders. He coughed a little and chuckled. "Tastes like metal shavings." He moved his tongue, the taste feeling like they were coating his mouth. "And coconut." That one wasn't so bad. Tony took a deep breath and vaguely saw Bruce covering his eyes from the glow of the reactor as it got brighter.

He stumbled forward a step and Bruce caught his arm, looking at him expectantly. Tony gave him a smile. "Feeling like a new man, Brucie-bear." Bruce smiled back at him, nodding.

The beeping come from Tony's phone pulled him back to it, and then his eyes up to the screens. His decryption programmed must have tripped over a new fail safe that neither he nor Jarvis had anticipated. Both he and Bruce walked over to the monitor, Tony holding his phone up to it, letting the program retry again. He looked at Bruce who had a grim look. They were not going to find anything good in these files.

They had approximately five minutes before Nick Fury walked into the lab. "What are you doing, Mr Stark?"

"Kind of been wondering the same thing about you," Tony said without tearing his eyes away from the monitor. There, almost in.

"You're supposed to be locating the tesseract," Fury continued. Like his tone was going to stop Tony from hacking.

"We are," Bruce spoke up, and Tony smirked a little. This is why he and Bruce were best Science Bros. "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature no. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

Tony hummed as he pulled up the first file. "What is Phase 2?"

Steve dropped the old, unfortunately familiar, weapon the counter, cause the three men to turn. He worked with SHIELD for over a year, he was supposed to trust them. "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." Steve spared a glance towards Tony. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the tesseract," Fury started to try and explain. Steve narrowed his eyes a little. "This does not mean that we're-"

"I'm sorry Nick," Tony turned screen as he found one of the many plans for weapons, this one a missile. "What were you lying?"

"The world hasn't changed a bit," Steve bit out as Thor and Natasha walked through the door. Another SHIELD agent that was lying to him.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha looked at Banner, and both Bruce and Tony look back at her.

"I was pretty well removed," Banner started.

"Until you infiltrated my personal life," Tony shot at Natasha.

"Loki's manipulating you," Natasha continued.

"And you've been doing what, exactly?" Bruce countered back at her.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," Natasha said.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Tony looked between Bruce and Natasha, sliding off the counter he had been sitting on. Something didn't feel right in the back of his mind. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

There was a beat of silence, Steve and Tony looking at Fury to explain. "Because of him." Fury pointed over at Thor, who looked stunned, muttering out a shocked 'What?'

"Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet, who had a grudge match that leveled a small town," Fury was telling them, managing to look at all of them. New Mexico. "We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned." Tony couldn't help but wonder if SHIELD had had a hand in getting the government involved in wanting one of Tony's suits. The Iron Man suit would be ridiculously overpowered with the tesseract. "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve shot at the director. The Red Skull thought he could control the cube as well. Steve was the now living proof that that man had failed.

"Your work with the tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies," Thor said looking at Fury. "It is a signal to all the realms that earth is ready for a high form of war."

"A higher form?" Steve frowned. What had SHIELD been doing right under his nose? Was Mary or Coulson involved in this as well?

"You forced our hand," Fury turned on Thor. "We had to come up with some-"

"A nuclear deterrent," Tony said breathlessly. He had heard the same argument for years. He had been one of the many people who tried to come up with that solution. "'Cause that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Tony narrowed his eyes at Fury.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be-" Steve stepped forward now.

"Wait! Wait!" Tony frowned, now at Cap. Who was he to step into this argument? "Hold on, how is this now about me?"

Steve felt his hackles raising. "I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve turned to face Tony full on. The two looked at each other, the others still fighting in the background.

"-America's on that threat list?" That was Bruce's voice, right?

"We all are!"

"You're on that list?" Tony poked at Steve. "Are you above or below angry bees?"

Steve took another step closer to Stark. "Stark, so help me god, you make one more wisecrack-"

"Verbal threat!" Tony put his hands up. "I feel threatened!"

"Show some respect," Steve growled out.

"Respect what?" Tony asked, managing to keep in a strangled laugh. Him?

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos," Thor's voice was deep enough to break through their argument.

"It's his M.O. isn't it?" Bruce looked around at them. Tony looked at him, something feeling off, but he just couldn't put a finger on it. "I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no," he shook his head. "We're a chemical mixture, we're a time bomb."

"You need to step away," Fury said icily.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam," Tony jumped in. No one talked to his friend like that.

"You know damn well why!" Steve shouted, looking at Tony. Was he serious? "Back off!"

Tony turned back to Steve. He wanted to do this? Oh, he could do this. "I'm starting to want you to make me."

Steve sneered at him. "Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist-"

"Father?" Steve let out a snort. Tony tensed his body and narrowed his eyes at Steve. "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you."

Tony felt like he had been punched in the arc reactor. It was crushing his chest, breaking his ribs, destroying his lungs, the shrapnel having a clear path towards his heart. "Does it burn? Every time you go to help out, that my son would still prefer me? Does it remind you of everything that you'll never have?"

Steve felt the heat from the anger churning. This arrogant- "Wanna make a list? Let's compare how many times I've picked up your son in the last year. How many time I've been there to take him, to watch him, when you weren't available, when you couldn't even take the time."

Tony was seething. Who was this man to judge him? Who was he to bring up Peter? "He doesn't even call you by a title, you're not even Uncle. But to him, I'll always be Daddy, and that's more than you'll ever be." Tony needed to push back, he need to tackle this, bring him down, because then Tony wouldn't have the time to agree, to say that Steve was right.

"The only thing you really fight for is yourself," Steve growled. "You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you. Let someone else handle the dirty work, let someone else take care of your child."

"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony bit his tongue, hands fisting at his side.

"Always a way out," Steve let out a little chuckle. "You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be someone else's hero."

"A hero?" Tony let out a snort, then stepped up close, inches from Steve's face. "Like you? You're a lab rat," Tony spit out the last two words. "Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

"Put on the suit," Steve said lowly, deadly. "Let's go a few rounds." Tony pressed his teeth together. He was ready to go-

Thor laughed and it was like a slap to the face. Tony took a couple steps back, putting a hand to his head. No, this wasn't right. The room felt too hot, the air was too thick, and something was buzzing in the back of his head. Was this from the arc reactor? Tony glanced around. No, everyone else was acting odd, off.

"-case you needed to kill me, but you can't!" Bruce's shout caught Tony's attention. "I know, I tried!" What? "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out!" Tony felt his stomach drop at the confession. "So I moved on. I focused on helping other people," he glanced over at Tony. "I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!" Bruce directed these lines to Fury and Natasha. "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

Bruce's name was already on his lips before Steve spoke. "Dr Banner... put down the scepter." It was the scepter, it had to have been. Bruce looked at it, shocked that it had made it to his hand.

The beeping from the computer pulled everyone from the moment. "Got it," Tony breathed out. That was the tesseract.

"Sorry kids, you don't get to see my little party trick after all," Bruce muttered, walking over to the monitor.

Tony needed to get out of this room. He needed to end this, he needed to make things safe for Peter, for Mary. "I can get there faster."

"You're not going alone." Steve grabbed his shoulder and Tony turned, slapping his hand away.

"You gonna stop me?" Tony turned partially.

"Put on the suit, let's find out," Steve threw back.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put on the suit."

Captain America wanted a fight? Oh, Tony would give him a fight. Tony would take Howard's perfect ideal and he would wipe the floor with him. Until fire exploded in the room. Tony gasped, breathing in the hot air and coughing, almost choking as he was slammed into the edge of the doorway, Steve landed on his leg.

Steve shook his head, getting his bearings back and looked at Tony. The man was up, he was alert, and he didn't look hurt. "Put on the suit, we're gonna need Iron Man."

"Peter," Tony breathed as he tried to get up. He stumbled and Steve reached out to steady him before he went back down to the ground. "Where's Peter!"

"He's with Coulson," Steve told him. He had seen them sitting in the cafeteria. Tony looked at him, eyes manic. Tony wouldn't be reassured until he saw his son, he knew that, and he couldn't blame him. "Come on." He grabbed Tony's arm and pulled him out in the hall. Steve needed to grab his shield, and he could grab them some com ear pieces.

Tony greedily grabbed the ear piece, slipping it in as Steve was already using it. "Coulson?"

"Loud and clear, Captain. Engine three is down, we need Stark to get out there," Coulson said over the coms.

"I'm here," Tony said breathlessly.

"I have Peter," Coulson reassured him immediately. "He's safe, I'm not going to let him out of my sight." Tony closed his eyes a little, letting out a breath of relief. "But, we need that engine running again."

"I'm on it," Tony said. He looked at Steve. "Meet me at Engine Three." Steve nodded and ran off, and Tony went for the suit.

If Tony had thought that there would have been another way, to fix the engine, to stop the attack, and to keep Peter with him, he would have done it. Anything to stop the pain that he felt when he heard Fury's voice. "Coulson is down."

"There's a medical team en route-"

"They're already here." Tony held his breath. "Stark, Loki took Peter." Tony dropped to his knees, all the breath leaving his body. There were hands on him, but he couldn't feel anything, couldn't hear anything else. Peter was gone, taken, and Tony wasn't there. He had promised him, promised that Tony would come back.

A sharp slap to his cheek brought Tony's head back up, and he saw Steve in front of him. His face was twisted in a frown, but he was, concerned? "Stark? Can you hear me?" Tony blinked, then nodded once. "You gotta get the suit off." Tony looked down, seeing the heavily damaged suit. It was almost completely offline. "Loki will be going to wherever the tesseract is, and only you can bring back Banner's results."

Tony swallowed, letting out a breath. "It would take too long," he rasped out. "I'd have to start over again, and too many systems are down." His head was spinning now, he couldn't focus. How could everything have gone so wrong in only three days?

"We have to try!" Steve pulled Stark back up to his feet and looked the man in the eyes. "You are not going to give up on Peter!" That seemed to bring a little spark back to Tony's eyes.

"Of course I'm not!" And he wasn't, Tony would never give up on Peter. As he headed for the suit assembly, Tony vowed he would get Peter back, he'd find Banner, and he would make Loki pay for even looking at, much less touching, Peter. Thor's brother or not, no one touched his son without his permission.

---

Steve hadn't heard a word of what Fury was saying, he was looking at Stark. Tony wasn't looking at anyone, staring at the floor, at his hands, that even after everything, were still moving. The man was done, but he wasn't out yet. Steve wished he knew what had come over him back in the lab, why he had what he did to Tony. Steve knew that Tony always put Peter first, that he would always protect that boy.

When Tony left the room Steve followed him. He knew where he was going, of course he did. Tony stepped into the room that previously held Loki's cell, the room where Phil Coulson's blood was on the wall, probably the last room that Peter was in before Loki kidnapped him.

"He was a good man," Steve said softly, leaning against the railing.

Tony snorted, taking a couple steps back. "He was an idiot." Steve frowned a little, but didn't say anything. Tony was angry, and he couldn't blame him. "For taking on Loki alone."

"He was doing his job," Steve told him.

"He was out of his league. He should waited," Tony's jaw quivered a little, but he held it together. "He should have stayed back, he should have..."

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony." Steve had spent enough time in war to know that.

"Right," Tony let out a breath, starting to walk away. "I've heard that before."

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve was not expecting the almost violent reaction from Tony at his words. Tony whipped around, his voice quivering with anger.

"We are not soldiers! I'm not marching to Fury's fife!" Tony looked away again.

"Neither am I," Steve said evenly. "He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. Right now, we've got to put that aside and get this done, to get Peter back." He watched Tony, watched the man glance to the wall where the blood still was. "Now, Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list-"

"He made it personal," Tony almost whispered.

Steve frowned. "That's not the point."

"That is the point," Tony said, looking up at him. "That's Loki's point. Barton would have told him everything, about Mary and Coulson, about Peter. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart," Steve said, like it was the simplest answer in the world.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right?" Tony crossed his arms over his chest, and his feet started walking. It seemed that Tony did his best thinking while he was moving. "That's what he want. He want to beat us, and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."

"Right," Steve turned, eyes following Tony back up the stairs. "I caught his act in Stuttgart."

"Yeah, that's just previews." Tony's hands were moving again, smacking against each other, his mouth moving a mile a second. "This is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered-" Tony's stopped, his eyes widening. Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Sonuvabitch."

---

Tony's suit was dried, done for, it was barely getting him to New York. But Loki was giving him just one more reason to beat his ass. First he hurt Mary, then he killed Coulson, and kidnapped his son, but this? This was just a slap in the face, using his Tower like this.

"Shut it down, Dr Selvig," Tony said, maintaining a hover.

"It's too late!" The Doctor was looking like Tony after a five day workshop binge. That was never good. "She wants to show us something! A new universe."

"Okay." This was going to stop now. He aimed his repulsors and shot from both hands. The machine needed to be-

Tony grunted, flying back, almost dropping from the sky from the resulting energy wave. "The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable," Jarvis said in the helmet.

Tony sneered. "Yeah, I got that. Plan-"

"Daddy!" Tony froze and looked down. There was Loki, standing outside on his balcony, his hand holding onto Peter's arm tightly. Loki smirked and turned, heading back inside, dragging a stumbling Peter with him. Peter tried to pull back, tried to pull away, but Tony could tell that he was too scared.

Tony landed on the platform, the suit dismantling around him as he walked, keeping an eye on Loki. He was going to kill him, pure and simple. He could get the bracelets for the Mark VII that were on the bar, then he would have a back up weapon when he pure, and unadulterated fury didn't do the job. As he walked into the penthouse, he could hear Peter's soft sniffles, and Tony felt his body alight with a renewed anger.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki said, like nothing was wrong. Tony pretended to pour a drink, holding up a glass towards Loki, ready to chuck it at his head. He needed to be smooth for two more seconds. "To bargain for the return of your child."

"Uh, actually, I'm planning on threatening you." He pulled out some ice, then a decanter, slipping one bracelet on. "Then, I'm going to kill you." Loki laughed softly as Tony slipped the second bracelet on, and poured the drink in the glass.

"You should have left your armor on for that," Loki said with a smirk.

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage." He held a second glass up to Loki in question. "Plus, you've got the blue glow stick of destiny. Oh," Tony took a sip from his glass, "I won't need my armor to take you down."

"Stalling me won't change anything." Loki raised an eyebrow at him.

"No, no, threatening." Tony put the glass down, and started to walk towards Loki now, towards Peter. "I don't need a team with me. See, what you don't understand is that you've made me more dangerous than you could have ever thought." Tony stopped, barely a foot away from Loki. "You touched my son."

"Your love for him is so deep," Loki mocked, jerking Peter, making him cry out and whimper. Tony jerked forward and Loki let out a laugh. "You'll end up like every other father, though. You'll end up like your own, neglecting your son until he hates you, drinking into oblivion, until eventually, you'll be a mere shadow of a man you actually thought you could be." Loki smiled, crazy coming off of him in waves. "The Chitauri are coming, nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"Me," Tony growled before lowering his shoulder and charging into Loki, slamming his weight into Loki's middle. It was enough to catch the man by surprise, making his drop his grip on Peter. "Run!" Tony said to his son before Loki grabbed his arm and flung him across the room. Tony grunted as he slammed into the couch, hearing the wood crack, and rolling over it.

Tony lifted himself up as quickly as he could, watching Peter's legs try to take him away from Loki, but he wasn't fast enough. The Asgardian had impossibly long legs and was able to catch up with him. "I want something from you, Anthony Stark," Loki said, not facing Tony yet, intent on catching Peter again. "And I'll give you the, incentive, to do it." He watched him grab Peter's arm, turning him around, the boy crying, looking over at Tony. He was on his feet, running before he knew it. Loki's scepter started to glow blue and Tony was sliding on the ground, landing in front of Peter, the scepter landing on the arc reactor.

Tony jerked, but both he and Loki blinked when nothing happened. Loki's narrowed his eyes at him, then tried again, trying to take control of Tony. "Your heart-"

"Is stronger than anything you've ever encountered," Tony threw at him. He could feel Peter's hand gripping the back of Tony's shirt.

Loki tilted his head at Tony, then smirked, and Tony felt a little sliver of dread. "Then I will simply have to get to your mind." Tony frowned, and tried to jerk back before the point of the scepter was suddenly at his temple. All he saw was blue and a small voice in his ear before everything faded.

---

Steve was jumping out of the quinjet, landing on the balcony of Stark Tower, but there was no sign of Tony. "Daddy!" Steve was running when he heard Peter's voice, almost breaking the glass door as he ran into the penthouse. Tony was on the ground, Peter laying himself over Tony's chest, and Loki standing above them. Without thought, Steve threw the shield, the edge catching Loki's wrist, forcing him to drop the scepter, and Steve was running to pick it up, and slam into Loki's back.

Steve moved quickly, grabbing Loki's arm, but Loki was ready and twisted in Steve's grip. He grunted and turned, tossing Loki across the floor. Thor was landing outside, eyes lighting on Loki. Steve threw his shield again when Loki went to reach for the scepter, but jumped back when the vibranium sparked against the ground in front of him.

"Loki!" Thor was inside and running at his brother. Steve moved before Thor could tackled the other man, moving closer to Tony and Peter.

"Daddy, wake up." Steve turned when heard Peter's soft voice. He knelt down, slipping his cowl back, looking at Tony as Peter was pushing his shoulder, trying to get him to wake up. Tony's eyes were fluttering, closed still, and his fingers were twitching with movement. "Wake up, wake up, wake up," Peter cried, pushing Tony's shoulder harder.

"Peter," Steve put a hand on the boys arm, and he looked up with big eyes.

"Mr Steve?" Tears were falling down his cheeks and he suddenly threw himself at Steve, into his arms. "Phil is hurt! Daddy won't wake up!" He started to cry into Steve's chest, the super soldier wrapping his free arm around Peter, still watching Tony.

"Can you tell me what happened, Peter?" Steve asked gently. He knew he was upset, but he needed to know what happened to try and help Tony.

"The scary man put that stick to Daddy's head," Peter sobbed out. "Daddy was trying to save me, and now he won't wake up! Help him Mr Steve, please help him!"

"Captain," Natasha said through the com in his ear. "That portal is active, we've got incoming." Steve pressed his lips together, holding Peter more tightly.

"Peter." Steve moved, tilted Peter's head up a little by his chin. "I'm going to help your Daddy, but I need to keep you safe as well." Steve moved his arm, holding the shield, to show it to Peter, watching the little boy take a second to process what he was looking at, then his eyes widened.

"Captain Rogers," Jarvis spoke through the ceiling, catching Steve a little by surprise. "If Young Master can make his way to the private elevator, Sir has a secure safe room that I can take him too, if that is agreeable with you."

"Can you do that?" Steve looked at Peter, wiping his cheek of tears. Steve took a quick look around and saw that Thor and Loki were no longer in the penthouse, but were outside fighting on the balcony now, the scepter still on the floor inside.

Peter nodded a little and Steve stood up, keeping Peter in his arms. Steve rubbed his back, heading for the elevator doors that Jarvis was opening for them. "I know things seem really scary right now, but, I'm going to do my best to make things better."

"Because you're Captain America?" Peter asked softly, soft sniffles still in his voice.

"That's right," Steve said, giving him a smile. "Only Captain America can have this shield, right?" Peter nodded. "I'm gonna need you to listen to Jarvis, and either your Daddy or I will come and get you. We want you to stay safe while we save the day."

"Okay," he whispered as Steve put him down. He shuffled into the elevator, and Steve gave him a salute. He saw Peter salute back as the elevator doors closed. Taking a breath, Steve stood back up, and pulled his cowl back up and over his head, and adjusted the shield on his arm. He turned back around, and froze in place.

Tony was standing up now. Loki's scepter was in his hand, and his head was tilted down, looking at it. "Tony?" Steve asked hesitantly. Something didn't feel right.

Tony looked up at him, his eyes a bright blue color. "You were right, Cap. I'm not a hero." He thrust his arm forward with the scepter, firing a shot at Steve.