Iron Man was a modern day hero. Everything America wanted to see in someone who was going to protect them. He was smart; he knew how to look ahead in battle to ensure that everything went as planned. He was the best result of what technology could do for the greater good, he was a machine.

A machine that did what was right in a world that was starting to do more wrong. He was a symbol of the new way of life, modern in every aspect, sometimes even borderline futuristic. And that was okay. He would be what the census wanted.

Tony Stark was a man. He was human, incredibly so. His faults far outshining anything else about him. He was narcissistic, blatantly caring more about himself than others. He was also an alcoholic, drinking at any chance he could resulting in behaviors he would regret. He knew he had problems, but instead of dealing with them he would just get another drink, the stronger the better, and drink himself into a stupor.

Maybe if he had been noticed by his father, he wouldn't be this way. Maybe if he wasn't hit with shrapnel things would be different. Maybe if he accepted the emotions he should feel he wouldn't be alone in the crowds of nameless faces.

But that was the problem; Tony was content to hide all of these conflicting thoughts from everyone around him. Using a sharp tongue and clever sarcasm, no one ever questioned the billionaire about how he was feeling. Even Pepper who knew Tony more than a normal person should didn't really know how Tony felt.

He would retreat to his lab when it got to be too much which recently was becoming almost daily. Being able to get away from others, allowing him to surround himself in technology was something that made him sometimes even stop drinking. Mostly because he forgot, but it was a good thing so he didn't think too hard about it.

He just allowed his experienced hands create whatever his mind thought of. Mostly it dealt with tweaks and updates to the Iron Man suit, but he occasionally built something new that he tested in his home. To Tony this creating was what allowed him to calm his thoughts.

He could spend hours, sometimes even days down in his lab. JARVIS reminding him he was human when it got to extreme. Tony would then leave and find food in the kitchen and then slugging into bed to sleep a few hours.

He wished that there was a way to fix himself, but resorted back to his normal self more often than not.

…

Tony rolled off the couch; he didn't even make it to his bed last night. The remains of his poorly scraped together meal lying on the coffee table. Making his way into the kitchen he called out to JARVIS, asking him to start making some strong coffee.

Waiting for the coffee to brew he grabbed some leftover Chinese from the fridge and started eating it out of the container.

The ding of the coffee maker made him stop and he poured himself a cup of the coffee. The aroma was enough to remove the last traces of sleep from his body, and drinking some of it allowed him to fully wake up.

Leaving the food on the counter and taking his coffee with him he headed down into his lab. He stayed up late working on a new system upgrade for his suit and he was almost finished. Setting the cup down, he sat in his seat and placed his feet up on the table.

"JARVIS, how far are we on uploading the new system." He took another deep drink from his mug.

"Nearly 70 percent, Sir." Tony nodded happily; it was going just how he wanted it. With nothing to do he pulled up some news stories and was reading them when JARVIS announced that an Agent Phil Coulson was arriving to his lab, and would be there in a couple minutes.

Not really wanting company he sighed. But told the AI to allow the agent in when he arrived. Not even five minutes later, the sound of the elevator opening had Tony sitting up straighter ready to hear what the Agent had to say.

"Agent, what a lovely surprise." Coulson didn't react just continued walking until he was standing opposite of Tony. Without a word the agent handed him a folder.

"I don't like to be handed things." Tony said instinctually. Coulson sat the folder down and slid it over to Tony.

"It won't bite Stark," Coulson replied. Tony reached down and picked the folder up. Reading the no nonsense print on the folder he sneered at the agent.

"I don't want anything to with this, you can take this folder and shove it up-" Tony was interrupted.

"Stark, I think you should reconsider. This is something we really need you to help with. S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't come to you unless it was dire. Well the situation's dire."

Coulson was already leaving. "Just think about it." He stepped into the elevator and turned to Tony as the doors were closing. "But make it quick."

The doors shut and Tony was left by himself to think about the folder in front of him. He knew about the Avengers Initiative but he wanted nothing to do with that. He didn't want to become a pawn for S.H.I.E.L.D. to use whenever they thought fit.

But as he flipped through the folder reading more about the other members and what they were to be doing, Tony couldn't stop thinking about how it felt to don the Iron Man suit and help people who needed him.

He cussed out into the empty lab, Coulson knew Tony wouldn't refuse and he was just pretending to allow him to think about helping, knowing in the end that he would agree to help with the initiative.

He froze on a certain page, a few papers clipped together along with the others with a picture on top. It was old, black and white of a light haired man with bright eyes smiling widely at the camera. Captain America when he first went through with the serum treatment was smiling up at Tony.

He would know that face anywhere, after he plunged the plane into the water it was all his father could talk about and even Tony sometimes when along with Howard on trips looking for the man.

Maybe he would call Coulson sooner rather than later, Tony's interest was piqued and he wanted to spend some time finding answers to the infinite questions that were forming in the genius' mind.

"JARVIS, call Coulson for me. Tell him I'll help." Muttering to himself about tricky agents, Tony walked back upstairs to get more coffee. He was going to need it more now than ever.

Little did Tony Stark know, agreeing to Coulson's request would change his life.

In what way who knows.