Lily was dozing a bit on a couch, an I-pad on her lap as she was scrolling through random videos.
"Ugh…." She laid flat on her back. "Booooooring."
Shaylin was sitting next to the girl, chuckling a bit.
"I thought you'd play with Tadashi."
"He's busy sleeping… I don't wanna wake him…"
"I see… Nothing good on Youtube huh?"
"No… Kind of… Not really." Lily looked up at her mother with a bit of a frown. "Mama… How are you going to tell Tadashi that everyone thinks he's dead?"
Shaylin was caught off guard by this. "H-Huh?"
Lily narrowed her eyes. "Mama… Don't try to pretend you don't understand… You know don't you?"
Shaylin was silent for a moment before sighing.
"I didn't find out till a few days ago when reading over the news… And this could've been avoided if we had contacted his family but he never gave me a number let alone an address."
"Couldn't you have looked him up?"
"It's not that simple… and we were too focused on treating him that it just slipped by… and he didn't consent to it… Everything requires patient consent."
"But I thought emergency patients always had their families contacted."
"That is true, but we had no idea who he was when we brought him so…" Shaylin put her face in her hands. "It's just all one big mess… and with how Tadashi is… It would just stress him out."
Lily sat up, hugging her mother.
"Oh Mama…"
Shaylin hugged her back.
"I want to help him… yet I feel like I'm just hurting him too… and the ones he holds dear… That's not what a doctor is supposed to do…"
Lily cuddled close.
"You didn't mean to… right?"
"Never…"
"Then make it up to him somehow… and tell him the truth eventually…"
Shaylin nodded.
"Right… just now… I don't think he needs more shock than he already has gotten."
Ring ring ring.
Shaylin sighed, answering her phone.
"Shaylin."
"Hey, Shay, think you could bring Tadashi down to my house in Malibu?"
"E-Eh!?" Shaylin stood up. "Tony that is a terrible idea! He'll stand out with that hospital gown!"
"Cool it, yes pun intended. I planned this out. I had a package delivered to your hospital mailbox. I had my wife and daughter do some work for him. Everything in that box is for him. Get him that stuff then bring him to my house. I need a proper testing environment and a hospital isn't gonna do it."
"Alright, alright." Shaylin ran a hand through her hair. "When do you want us there?"
"How about half hour? An hour and a half? Any time today honestly-No put that down-Sorry kids you know how it is."
"Hour from now we'll be there. Need to get him ready and what not, and yes I get it, Tony."
Tony chuckled.
"We'll be expecting you. Besides… This'll be good for him… He can't hide in the hospital for the rest of his life….And bring Lily if ya want."
"I know… wait… Malibu…" Shaylin got a bit of a mortified look. "You do realize how far that is away from San Ramon right?" Shaylin brought a hand to her face. "Ugh… Okay scratch that, that'll be quite a few hours."
"Tony Stark have we met? I own private planes and helicopters. Your hospital DOES have a landing pad right?"
"Yes…"
"Then consider your ride arranged."
"Alright… see you soon."
"See ya."
Shaylin hung up.
"Come my dear daughter… we have work to do."
oooooo
Poke.
"Hermano?"
Tadashi mumbled a bit in his sleep.
"No wasn't me who put that on the shelf Gogo… It was Fred…"
Lily giggled.
"Okay… poking is out of the question." She grabbed a pillow, hitting Tadashi lightly with it. "Hermano wake up!"
The young man yawned as he opened his eyes looking to her. "Alright I'm up Imouto. What's going on?" He sat up rubbing his right eye a little.
"Got a package in the mail from Tony." Shaylin presented a box. "He wants us in Malibu in a few hours and well… you can't go out in a hospital gown."
Tadashi gave her a curious look as he took the box opening it. "Why does he want us all the way out there?"
"It's where his lab is. Apparently he wants a proper testing environment… and he's right when he says this hospital is not meant for that."
Lily looked in the box.
"Ooo! New clothes!"
"Yeah…" Tadashi pulled out a black tank top, a set of jeans and sneakers looking them over. "Huh… Fibers look a little different than what I've seen before-The fact I know some stuff about fashion never leaves this hospital... No make that never leaves this specific area of the room."
"Yes, Tadashi." Shaylin chuckled. She eyed a note on the box, taking it off. She read it over quickly before smiling. "Smart… fire retardant clothes."
"I'm liking him more and more." Tadashi chuckled sighing in relief as he got up. "I'll go get dressed and we can head out. Any progress is good right?"
"Right."
Soon enough they were well on their way out.
Tadashi went red noticing some of the looks he was getting from the nurses. "What? Is there something on my face?"
Shaylin chuckled.
"Tadashi, do you know anything about how girls feel about men like you? Especially with your stature?"
Lily couldn't help but laugh a bit.
"You're cute! Simple as that!"
Tadashi grinned rubbing the back of his neck completely red now.
"I'm just a geek with scars. There's nothing special about me looks wise. If you want adorable look at my brother. All eyes."
Shaylin shook her head.
"We can discuss that later."
They were soon on the roof, a helicopter waiting for them, a young woman with long strawberry blond hair standing beside it.
"Hey ya, Pepper." Shaylin smiled. "Nice to see you again."
"Likewise Shaylin." Pepper grinned shaking hands with her. "It's been too long." She looked to Tadashi. "And this is the one Tony's been trying to help."
"It's nice to meet you ma'am… Um… Ms..?"
"Mrs. Stark. Please call me Pepper though."
….THIS IS HIS WIFE!?
Lily was bouncing in place.
"Is Audra gonna be able to play when we get there?"
Pepper ruffled her hair a bit.
"Oh yes, she hasn't stopped asking since this morning if you were going to come over to play today. She's so excited."
Shaylin smirked.
"Let's not keep them waiting then."
oooooo
Tony was tinkering with some armor as he waited in his workshop…. keeping his eyes on the blur that was running around the room… AKA his daughter.
"Lily's coming! Lily's coming!"
Tony chuckled.
"Yes, yes, Audra. I just got word from Pepper they're in the air right now."
Audra squealed as she ran faster darting over to her father hugging his leg. "I can't wait! We'll play games and watch movies and all sorts of stuff! All the girly stuff Nate whines about!"
Tony ruffled her hair.
"We'll make time for it, just be easy on her new friend… or brother. Lily seems to have grown quite fond of the guy I'm helping to the point he's become part of their family till he goes home."
Audra giggled nuzzling his hand.
"I will. No explosions or surprise tricks. I promise!"
"That's my girl."
"Mr. Stark." a male voice called, Jarvis. "Dr. Sky and Mrs. Stark are arriving now."
"Perfect timing." He grinned. "Shall we my princess?"
"YEAH!"
ooooo
Tadashi was barely out of the helicopter when a blur of red and blue darted over pulling Lily into a hug.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! YOU'RE HERE YOU'RE HERE!"
"AUDRA!" Lily cheered, hugging the girl. "SO GOOD TO SEE YOU!"
Shaylin laughed.
"Ah, young friends…"
Audra squealed hugging her friend. "Missed you so much!"
Tadashi laughed. "They're adorable."
Pepper smiled fondly. "Yep… That's my little girl."
Tony nodded to his wife before bringing an arm around her.
"Our little girl."
Pepper leaned into him.
"Oh yes… Has your smarts though. She blow up your workshop?"
"I didn't this time!"
Shaylin laughed.
"You Starks and your weird antics." She shook her head. "But that aside… shall we get to work? You said you have some tests for Tadashi here."
"Yeah let's go. We'll be doing this in my workshop, it's totally fire proof.. Even got a robot that sprays the extinguishing stuff. Not the brightest of my robots but he works." Tony lead them inside, taking note of the look of wonder in Tadashi's eyes as he looked around. This kid's been through enough…
Tadashi had to bite his lip at times to keep from getting too excited. While he wasn't here for a pleasant reason at all… He was getting to experience this. He also realized he would be seeing Tony Stark's workshop and he didn't have a camera on him.
Hiro would be so jealous right now.
"Jarvis? Can you get some drinks for our guests?" He looked to them. "Anything in particular?"
"Water for me." Shaylin answered.
"Chocolate milk!" Lily chirped!
"I'll have a root beer." Tadashi replied.
"Coming right up." Jarvis replied as the AI got to work soon presenting them with what they requested on a table.
"Thank you~"
Soon as they had their drinks, Tony lead them into his lab. The place was a little bit of a mess but it was any robotics inventor's dream shop. The place had tools of all sort waiting to be used, blueprints hung up on the walls, and the biggest prize of it all… Tony's most well known invention on display on a pedestal in the room.
Tadashi's jaw dropped a bit as he went up to the pedestal. "It's the suit… THEE suit… Oh this is so awesome!" Calm, calm…. But… THIS IS THE COOLEST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO ME!
Audra giggled leaning over to whisper to Lily.
"He's adorable. Your big brother is cool in my book."
"I think so too." Lily giggled.
Shaylin smiled.
"Eheh, pardon him Tony, he was a robotics student."
"I can respect that." Tony chuckled. "He's fine, seriously."
"I just… This is just… Wow…" Tadashi laughed. "Unbelievable!"
"Maybe after work you two can just nerd out about robotics together." Pepper nudged Tony. "He appears to be one of your kind."
Tony smirked nudging her back. "If he wants to… Tadashi you think you'd be up for some inventing?"
Tadashi whirled around stunned as he nodded quickly. "O-Oh yes! Yes I'd love that!"
"It's a deal. Now let's get to work."
"You guys work." Lily took Audra's hand. "We're gonna go play!"
Audra nodded as the two girls ran off giggling.
Tony smiled watching them go. "And off they go."
"Heh… Just little girls being little girls." Shaylin sat down in one of the chairs. "Well, we're ready when you are."
Tadashi nodded. "Yeah."
Tony whistled as a robot rolled over into place. "Walking fire extinguisher ready… Let's see those powers. See what they can really do." He went to a touch screen typing in a few commands as several targets moved into place around Tadashi. "Hit them with as much as you got WITH the power going. Harness it to your best ability."
Tadashi nodded, looking at the targets. This was odd… usually they were just not making him use his powers but… it made sense the first step to understanding them was to start using them. He took deep breath, starting to focus. He could feel the heat coming, the flames starting to slowly form on his arms.
Let's see what I can do…
He opened his eyes, striking his hands together, causing a huge flame to form on both hands before throwing them at some of the targets, then hitting the others directly with his hands, setting them all up in flames.
Tony and Shaylin clapped impressed as the test was filmed getting a timing on Tadashi's movements.
"Nice… Getting good about your control."
Tadashi nodded, putting his flames out.
"I've been doing small things… this is the first time I've gone full out with it. Generally don't go past flames on the tips of my fingers."
"Hey you're at least practicing instead of trying to hide it like that Disney Princess Audra's so obsessed with." Tony retorted with a smirk. "And you seem to have pretty good control. Just need to keep harnessing it. You can put it out too even after it's left your hands… Pretty impressive."
Tadashi rubbed the back of his neck. "Ehehe…"
"Hey it's a good thing." He chuckled before going to one of his work benches bringing over a set of gloves that would go up to the forearm. "Here… Try these on. Next test."
Tadashi nodded, taking the gloves and slipping them on. He looked at them carefully, seeing on the palms there was some kind of panel that would open and close.
"This should be interesting…"
Tony took one of his wrists gesturing to the panel. "This is going to gather up all that oil on your hands. When it gathers it'll be in here… And when you activate your powers instead of taking over your whole lower arm it'll come out as a steady burst or stream instead. It'll also just in general gather it so you can do some normal stuff like clap and not have a firework show."
Tadashi looked at the gloves, noting the three "rings" it had on it.
"Gathered up in containers and concentrated into one area…"
"Yep. Now… Let's do it one more time." Tony stepped back. "Test two… Go nuts."
Tadashi concentrated again, the gloves working accordingly. Soon as the heat came out, he raised one of his hands, a steady stream of flames coming out, hitting one of the targets. He grinned, stopping it for a moment before hitting the other targets at rapid speed.
"Heh… kind of like the Iron Man blasters." Shaylin commented.
Tony smirked.
"And just as fun to operate. How's it feel Tadashi?"
"Feels amazing, and I didn't feel as hot as I usually do."
"Perfect. Now… One more thing before I try something else… Get good and angry… Let's see how these can take rage mode…. And don't worry got a friend with a worse temper than you who's been through here."
Tadashi nodded, thinking about the thoughts that got him ticked off last time. Though one more thing coming on that really got his blood boiling.
"What? Go to college like YOU? And have people tell me stuff I already know?"
Tadashi's hair lit up quickly, the gloves taking on flames as well but not burning thankfully. He hit the targets again… and got the ceiling a bit with some of the flames on his head.
Tony cringed a bit. "Yeah… The kid's capable of getting really cheesed off when he lets loose." He noticed Shaylin inching for the hand held fire extinguisher on his desk. "Don't. Let him work through it."
Tadashi calmed down after he hit his targets, all the flames going out. He panted a bit as he rested on his knees for a moment.
"Well done kid AND you calmed down without Shay having to douse you with fire retardant." Tony went to him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Feeling alright?"
"Just a little tired… That took a lot."
"Oh yeah, I can see why. That was a lot of power… Though quick question… Mind if I ask what you're focusing on to get so mad?"
Tadashi gave a sheepish look.
"My brother… I love him… I do… but he did some really knuckle headed things… the biggest offender being illegal bot fighting."
Tony gave an understanding look.
"Got ya. I can see why."
Least his brother's not taking over people's minds while being totally snarky about it. "We'll get you back to him in time."
"Thanks… Anything else you need to see?"
He shook his head. "Nope. That's all for now. Take a break and rest a bit. You've earned it."
Tadashi nodding, sitting down on the ground. His body just felt tired… and it was no surprise since everything he had just done was all new to his body. It was trying to figure out how to adapt.
Shaylin joined him, offering him a bottle of water.
"I imagine you might be dehydrated."
Tadashi took it drinking several large gulps of it, sighing some. "I just feel exhausted right now… That's the first time I ever really let it go."
"True, most of the time we've just had you keeping it to a minimum, but that was a real show of power and control at that."
"Thanks Shay… Like I said been practicing small stuff… Simple stuff but this… Wow…"
"Must've felt nice huh?"
Tadashi smiled.
"It really did…"
Shaylin smiled back.
"Good."
"Yeah… Just… Starting to feel like these aren't such a burden…"
Shaylin took one of his hands in his.
"Feeling like a human again, right?"
Tadashi squeezed her hand gently.
"Yeah…" He smirked a bit. "... A super human."
Shaylin smirked. "Now that's more like it."
"Heh… Who would've thought?"
"Though Tadashi… Word to the wise if a guy with an eyepatch who sounds like Samuel L. Jackson approaches you asking about "The Avengers Initiative" if you value normal life… RUN AWAY."
Shaylin and Tadashi looked to Tony confused.
"Does this have anything to do with all that "top secret" stuff I overheard while trying to fix your heart up?" Shaylin asked, raising an eyebrow. "For a man so public about his suit, you sure don't like talking about other things."
"Because I got some higher ups in fancy jackets breathing down my neck." Tony rolled his eyes. "Let's just say… New York has something to do with that LOVELY thing."
Tadashi raised an eyebrow feeling even more confused. "... What about New York?"
"This is about you not me kid." Tony shook his head. "Best you don't know for the sake of your sanity."
"And don't bother asking me." Shaylin shrugged. "I only heard about the Extremis because of the links I have to other big tech heads. I don't know anything else, let alone what Tony does in his free time. For all I know there may be others in a situation like yours."
"Got it…" Tadashi sighed a bit. "Well… Guess I just won't ask then.. But speaking of Extremis… These gloves are cool and all but… Is there any shot for me to be normal…?"
"I was gonna ask that myself." Shaylin looked to Tony. "Did you figure out anything that could reverse it?"
Tony sighed as he brought up the records they had thus far of Tadashi's abilities and changed cells.
"Unfortunately… Anything I could try would be more likely to cause things like the coating on his organs to instead shut down his body rather than cure it… The most I CAN do is use a modified serum from the Extremis cure to stabilize the powers. That's about it… I'm sorry."
"I see…" Shaylin frowned, looking to Tadashi, squeezing his hand again.
Tadashi squeezed her hand quiet before looking to them both… A determined look in his eyes.
"Then screw normal."
Tony smirked.
"Good thinking… So… What to do with these powers? I have a few suggestions but… depends if you're up for tinkering or not."
Tadashi smirked.
"Always am."
Tony walked over to him, helping him up.
"Come my young friend, the door to possibilities awaits."