Chapter Thirty One

Hoshi heard the glass breaking upstairs and sighed, "no respect for antiques. What did you do to her? I knew I shouldn't have left her in your care."

Tony shrugged, "yeah, not my fault. That's all Steve. I think this is their first official fight...err..argument. You know anything about Smythe?"

She scrunched her nose, "other than he left when his father got into an accident at Os Tech? No clue. Rowen liked him though..."

Tony saw her eyes widen, and Junko came running down the stairs, "what did you do?"

Hoshi looked at him, "I'll be right back."

"No, no, don't..."

Junko was already in front of him as her mom walked off and he grinned nervously, "hey...kid..."

She scowled, "can I talk to you?"

"I guess," he grinned as she grabbed his arm.

She dragged him into the dining hall, "what did you do to her?"

"Who?"

"Aunty Kay," she hissed.

"Why does everyone assume it was me?"

"Do you really have to ask that," she said with a scowl.

He crossed his arms, "Kay and Steve had their first fight, okay. It had nothing to do with me."

She scowled again.

"Scout's honor."

She snapped, "fine, but if Aunty says other wise, I'm having Seito use you for target practice."

"He can't hit the broad side of a barn," he scoffed and she glared. "At least from what I've heard."

She mumble, "ass..."

"Jun..."

She looked back at him, "what."

"Look, I know you don't like me and your Mom..."

She quietly glared at him, "oh? You just now realized it."

"She ...uh..." He grumbled as he ran a hand through his hair. He didn't know how to talk to kids. "I was going through a really hard time..."

"I don't care," she yelled tears in her eyes. "You aren't my Dad or Papa. You're armor isn't even close to what theirs is, you just a mimicker. A glamorized fake. They fight in the dark and get no glory with their deaths, you get the praise for just putting on a new coat of paint!"

He looked at her quietly, she was rather harsh, but he guessed he sort of deserved it. He sat down and leaned onto his knees while folding his hands, "I know I'm not your Dad. Hell for the longest time, I think I would have been into the Mother-Daughter thing." He saw her shiver with disgust. "Hoshi was my friend when I had no one to turn to and that's what we plan on staying."

"So all the sex is just a benefit?"

He nodded and she grimaced.

She scowled and grabbed him by the shirt, "if you so much as try to be my Dad, I'll have Seito use you for practice."

She dropped him and stamped out. He fixed his collar and tie and sighed to himself, "She definitely takes after Ro."

"Glad you think so," Hoshi said and jumped and turned around to look at her. She looked strangely proud of her daughter. "That temper is Kento's though."

She held up a manila folder, "these are the photos of from the Snow Events."

Tony looked at her in shock, "you stole information?"

"You'll see why," she said laying them down for him. He opened it up and noticed it was mostly photographs, it was strange though it seemed as if they were shot from helicopters. "Rowen said that when Talpa first invaded, it wasn't the Japanese military that sent in troops. It was America. Is that Stark or Os?"

Tony squinted at the photos but they were about as clear as photos from the eighties could be in low light and in a moving vehicle. He flipped through quietly and saw one photo of Rowen with his bow standing tall. It was almost like looking at Clint. Same posture and confidence in his shot, "you should send Junko and Seito to Clint."

She sat down across from him, "but..."

"Seito needs some instruction, Ryo and Sage are close range fighter, they'll never help him learn a bow," he said.

She nodded, "worse case scenario, they'll be safe from what's coming."

He stopped on one photo that was a bit burned, "that's something Obidiah worked on."

"So it's Stark?"

"Yes, but Obi sold weapons to both sides. He could have sold that to someone who was Hydra."

She rubbed the side of her head where her burns would have been, she did that from time to time he noticed. He also noticed she would pause strangely and space off. She would always say that it was brain damage, but he had a hard time believing that spy that of her caliber would have been in a S.H.I.E.L.D program that long with that extensive of damage. He didn't question it though, but F.R.I.D.A.Y claimed that her neural scans read normal and at times overly active. She reached out to him and placed a hand on his, "I know you were close to Obi."

"He did himself in."

She looked at him with her big blue eyes that were like sapphires, "I don't know why this could have helped."

"...it's nice to know you were as crazy as Natasha back in the day."

She scowled and socked him in the shoulder but remained quiet. She looked at her cellphone quietly, as he noticed for the fifteenth millionth time since he had been back. He scooted his chair over to her and wrapped an arm around her, "still nothing?"

"He's just being an ass. I told him not to go looking into things."

"From what Rowen has told me, he's stubborn right?"

"You have no idea," she said. "Tell him not to walk across hot coals, and he'll put oil on his feet to prove that he can under stupider circumstances."

"Ouch."

"Did I ever tell you about Shibuya?"

"Do I want to know," he laughed.

Hoshi sighed, "let's just say Shibuya calls him the 'tank'."

"Did it involve an actual tank?"

She sook her head.

He saw how sad she looked but knew better than to comfort her when she was upset about Kento. He said, "he'll be fine then."

"I hope so," she mumbled.

"You still love him."

"Of course I do, Tony," she said looking up at him. "I just don't know if its the other way around."

Tony hugged her close and didn't say anything. He was still in love with Pepper, and she was still in love with Kento. It wasn't anything new to him, but it put their strange relationship in perspective. He would be alone again if Hoshi went back to him that he would be alone again. She snuggled against him and he found that he liked holding her. When they first got together, it was slightly awkward when they had moments like this. It was comfort really and he liked seeing her eyes smile.

She slipped her hand in his, "this is going nowhere, Doctor Stark. How about some one on one therapy?"

He smirked, "I have time for a last minute appointment."

She threw her leg over his lap and pulled his shirt open, "I have a specific treatment in mind."

"Oh," he said resting his hands on her hips.

"How about …."

The dining room door burst open and Cye ran in turned away awkwardly, "oh god..."

Hoshi pulled her clothes in orderand Tony just smirked, "don't worry, kid, we're decent."

"Hoshi," he said turning around. She could see the panic in his eyes. "Its Kento."

Hoshi saw Cye run out, only then didn't she noticed blood on him, and she ran out instantly.