"Talia?" Lucy greeted.
"What is it Romanoff?" Fury questioned.
"We've got a problem." Natasha shouted into the phone as the sounds of the fight rang out behind her. Tony's home was currently being blown to smithereens as Iron Man and War Machine battled it out in their suits. If they continued at the pace they were going, soon nothing would be left but a smoking pile of ashes.
"We'll be there tomorrow morning." Lucy sighed as she packed up her equipment. She had only managed to concoct a few vials of the palladium antidote, enough for now.
"Try and contain the mess until we get there." The Director added.
-permafrost-
The next morning dawned bright and early. Fury and Lucy had just flown in to Malibu from SHIELD headquarters in Washington D.C.
"Where is he?" Fury asked Natasha as they exited the plane and made their way down the stairs to the waiting car.
"I'm pulling up his tracking information…" Nat began.
Lucy interrupted, "No need. I know where he is, he's got a hangover." The trio climbed into the car. "Randy's Donuts, please." She informed the driver, "I know the way."
-permafrost-
"Sir!" Fury shouted at the form of Tony Stark, contentedly lounging in the middle of a giant donut while simultaneously eating one.
Tony just looked at him from his perch, adjusting his sunglasses to see the Director clearly.
"I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the donut." Fury finished his hands on his hips before nodding toward the donut shot and walking inside.
Tony sat in the booth opposite of Fury. "I told you I don't wanna join your super-secret boy band." He leaned tiredly against his arm, shielding his face from the irritating morning sunlight.
The Director scoffed, "No, no, no. See, I remember, you do everything yourself. How's that working out for you?" he took a sip of coffee from a disposable paper cup.
"It's…it's…its…" Tony stalled for time about to sip from his own cup. "I'm sorry. I don't wanna get off on the wrong foot." He observed the Director from under his red sunglasses, "Do I look at the patch or the eye?" he paused pointing, "Honestly, I'm a bit hung over. I'm not sure if you're real or if I'm having…"
"I am very real." Fury leaned in, "I'm the realest person you're ever going to meet."
"Just my luck." Tony glanced around the shop, "Where's the staff here?"
"Oh, that's not looking so good." Fury motioned to Tony's neck, which was exposed as he searched the store for other inhabitance. Pale silver blue lines were creeping up his neck, evidence of his failing condition.
"I've been worse." Tony lifted the cup to his lips.
Footsteps could be heard approaching the pair seated at the booth, "We've secured the perimeter," Natasha notified her boss, "but I don't think we should hold it for too much longer."
"Huh." Tony stared at Black Widow. She was dressed in her SHIELD uniform, a skin tight and sturdy black material that including a gun strapped to her side. "You're…fired." He muttered as he took off his glasses and rubbed his head.
"That's not up to you." She quipped back.
"Tony, I want you to meet Agent Romanoff." Fury introduced the pair.
"Hi…"
"I'm a SHIELD shadow." Nat spoke, right to the point as she sat down next to the Director. "Once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury."
Tony grumbled, "I suggest you apologize."
"You've been very busy." Fury ignored the annoyed billionaire, "You made your girl your CEO, and you're giving away all your stuff. You let your friend fly away with your suit." He listed in disbelief, "Now if I didn't know better…"
"You don't know better." Tony snarked, "I didn't give it to him. He took it."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, no. He took it?" Fury gestured sarcastically, "You're Iron Man and he just took it? The little brother walked in there, kicked your ass and took your suit? Is that possible?" he turned to Natasha.
"Well, according to Mr. Stark's database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage."
Tony sighed, "What do you want from me?"
"What do we want from you?" Fury repeated, "Nah uh uh. What do you want from me?" he corrected, "You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe. I have bigger problems than you in the southwest region to deal with." He looked up to Lucy who had walked in the room with the shot to give Tony, "Hit him."
"AHH!" Tony jerked as he was injected with the antidote, "Oh god. Are you going to steal my kidney and sell it?" turning his head she saw who it was that hit him, "Arie?" he questioned, startled at the sudden appearance of his aunt, "What are you doing here? You work for them? What did you just do to me?" he rubbed the needle site.
"What did we just do for you." Fury restated watching as the little blue lines receded from Tony's neck.
"No I don't work for them and that," Lucy explained as she sat down next to Tony, "was lithium dioxide. It's going to take the edge off."
"We're trying to get you back to work." Fury added.
"Give me a couple of boxes of that, I'll be right as rain." Tony shifted feeling slightly better than he did a few moments before.
"Oh no." Lucy shook her head and wagged her finger at him, "Do you know how long this took me to make? Anyway, it's not a cure. It just abates the symptoms."
"Doesn't look like its going to be an easy fix."
"Trust me, I know. I'm good at this stuff." Tony growled, "I've been looking for a suitable replacement for palladium. I've tried every combination, every permutation of every known element."
The Director looked over to Lucy, "You wanna tell him?"
"Eddie." She patted his arm, "I'm here to tell you, you haven't tried them all."
-permafrost-
"How nice of you to show up, Phil." Lucy stated to the figure that stopped beside her. She was currently watching Fury and Tony converse a few feet in front of her. "How was Portland? The cellist doing ok?"
"She's great actually. She sends her regards." Coulson smiled as they listened in on the conversation happening before them.
"That thing in your chest." Fury was telling Tony, "is based on unfinished technology."
"No, it was finished." Tony shrugged, "It's never been particularly effective until I miniaturized it and put it in my…"
"No." Fury corrected, "Howard said the arc reactor was the stepping stone to something greater. He was about to kick off an energy race that was going to dwarf the arms race. He was on to something big, something so big that it was going to make the nuclear reactor look like a triple-A battery."
"Just him?" Tony scoffed pouring himself a drink, "Or was Anton Vanko in on this, too?"
"Anton Vanko is the other side of that coin." Fury sat up and took a glass from himself, "Anton saw it as a way to get rich. When your father found out, he had him deported. When the Russians found out he couldn't deliver, they shipped his ass off to Siberia and he spent the next 20 years in a vodka-fuelled rage. Not quite the environment you want to raise a kid in, the son you had the misfortune of crossing paths with in Monaco."
Tony leaned in, "You told me I hadn't tried everything." He looked up as Lucy approached the two men and rested her hadn on his shoulder. "What do you mean I haven't tried everything? What haven't I tried?"
Fury shrugged, "He said that you were the only person with the means and knowledge to finish what he started. And you've got Marie here to help you."
"He said that?" Tony looked back and forth between his aunt and the Director.
"Uh huh. Are you that guy? Hmm? Are you?" Fury sat up, "Because if you are, then you can solve the riddle of your heart."
Tony shook his head, "I don't know where you're getting you information, but um... he wasn't my biggest fan."
Lucy looked down at him and frowned, "What do you remember about your dad?"
"He was cold, he was calculating. He never told me he loved me. He never even told me he liked me, so it's a little tough for me to digest what you're telling me he said the whole future was riding o me and he's passing it down. I don't get that. You're talking about a guy whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school."
"That's not true." Fury countered.
Lucy shook her head sadly, 'Oh Howard. Always so brilliant in every way except for when he tried to express his emotions.'
"Well, then, clearly you knew my dad better than I did. Arie here," Tony patted her hand, "was more of a parent than he ever was and she only came around every so often."
"As a matter of fact, I did." Fury checked his watch as two other agents came into view lugging a large silver case. "He was one of the founding members of SHIELD."
"What?" Tony asked startled.
"I've got a 2 o'clock." Fury responded standing up.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Tony stood up as well holding out his arms as he tried to slow down what was happening. "What's this?" he nodded toward the case.
"Something I've had for a long time." Lucy replied looking at the item she had almost forgotten about.
"Okay, you're good right?" Fury asked Lucy and Tony.
She nodded.
"No, I'm not good."
"You got this right? Right?"
"Got what?" Tony cried in confusion, "I don't even know what I'm supposed to get."
Fury continued ignoring his panicked expression, "Natasha will remain a floater at Stark Industries with her cover intact." He picked up his black trench coat and put it on, "You remember Agent Coulson, right?" he looked over as Coulson approached.
"Yeah." Tony replied hesitantly.
"Oh and Tony, remember," the Director warned pointedly, "I've got my eye on you." Then he was gone.
"We've disabled all communications." Natasha told an exasperated Tony, "No contact with the outside world. Good luck." She finished walking away.
Tony looked around at his destroyed house waving his arms in frustration. "Please." He turned to Coulson. "First thing, I need a little bodywork. I'll put in a little time at the lab. If we could send one of your goon squad down to the Coffee Bean, Cross, Creek, for a Starbucks run, or something like that, that'd be nice."
"I'm not here for that." Coulson smiled before continuing with a thinly veiled threat, "I've been authorized by Director Fury to use any means necessary to keep you on premises. If you attempt to leave or play any games, I will tase you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet. Okay?"
"I think I got it, yeah." Tony nodded quickly.
"Enjoy your evening's entertainment." Coulson finished with a smirk before walking away to check the perimeter.
Tony turned back to Lucy, "So," she grinned as she picked up the silver case, "shall we begin?"
-permafrost-
"First things first." Lucy set down the heavy case in the middle of Tony's basement workshop. "I'll get the coffee started." She walked off into the partial kitchen on the side of the room.
Tony had followed her down in a daze. He sat down heavily near the box and stared at it, running his fingers over the lettering that spelled out, 'Property of H. Stark.' He looked over toward Lucy who was bustling about with a coffee pot. "I still don't understand." He called over to her, causing her to pause in her actions. "Why me? Why not you? And how do they know you?"
Lucy sighed and turned on the machine. "Do you remember you Aunt Peggy?"
"Yeah the one in D.C.?"
"Hmm, you should visit more. She misses you, even if she doesn't remember it." Lucy smiled sadly, "Anyway. When I was… hibernating shall we say, your father and Peggy started SHIELD. They wanted to protect people, to save lives. And they did quite well too. When I woke up they were well established in their field. They even asked me to join, but I always refused. I had other things to do."
"What things?" Tony questioned curiously.
"You don't need to know." Lucy smirked, "No one knows, but me. Anyway, when your father caught Vanko and had him deported, he and I destroyed most of the notes on the arc reactor and our little discovery. We left a few clues, for when a time came that was safe to bring it out again. Howard made me promise I wouldn't develop it, that I would save it for the right time, that I would save it for you, when I thought you were ready and when you needed it most."
"And what makes you think I need it now?" Tony retorted.
She frowned at him as she poured them two cups of coffee, "When I ready your blood toxicity report. I'm not going to let you die, Eddie, not without exploring every single option."
Tony thanked her for the cup, "Are you going to help me?"
"I'm sure you don't really need my help, how will you learn if you don't do things yourself? But I'll be here to watch." She grinned, "You're my evening's entertainment."
Tony rolled his eyes, "Lovely." It was like he was five again first learning to build a computer. Turning to the case he popped open the lid, "Let's see what we've got."
The first item in the case was blueprints for the arc reactor, but they weren't necessary, Tony had memorized how to make them. Next were newspaper clippings from the Vanko scandal. And thirdly, were film rolls.
"Play them." Lucy suggested.
So he got out the film player and started the tape. It was a recording from when his father did his introduction to the Stark Expo. As the take played, Tony flipped through a few of the old notebooks.
"…Better living, robust health and for the first time in human history, the possibility of world peace…I'm Howard Stark, and everything you'll need for the future can be found right here…City of the Future? City of Tomorrow? City of…" Howard shook his head and went back to the beginning to do another take, "I'm Howard Stark, and everything you'll need in the future can be found right here. So, from all of us at Stark Industries, I would like to personally…" he trailed off noticing his son playing with the delicate pieces of the city model, "Tony what are you doing back there?" he asked frustrated, "What is that? Put that back. Put it back where you got it. Where's your mother? Maria?" he called irritated.
Lucy came into frame still looking exactly the same, "Maria's on the night shift Howard." She explained, then to Tony she cooed, "Come on Eddie, let's go play somewhere else, your father's being a bit grouchy." And she shot her friend a glare.
Howard sighed, "Go on. Go, go, go, go." He ushered as they moved off screen. "Alright, I think we got the um… I'll…I'll…I'll come in and… are you waiting on me?" he cleared his throat starting again, "So, from all of us at Stark Industries, I'd like to personally show you… huh… I can't… we have this don't we? This is a ridiculous way… everything is achievable through technology…" and the screen cut to black.
Tony let out a sigh at the useless tape and took another sip of his coffee, then rubbed his eyes.
"Watch." Lucy commanded, "This part is important."
Howard had come back on screen, only this time the fancy lights weren't on. His suit jacket was off, this tie loosened, and his hair was disheveled. He looked drained, very much unlike the professional and energetic Howard they had just been watching a few moments prior. "Is it recording?" Howard asked someone off screen.
"Yes." Past Lucy replied from the video.
Howard nodded, "Tony." He called, causing present day Tony to look up. "You're too young to understand this right now, so I thought I would put it on film for you. I built this for you." He gestured to the model city, "And someday you'll realize that it represents a whole lot more than just people's inventions. It represents my life's work. This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out. And when you do, you will change the world. What is and always will be my greatest creation, is you." He finished with a proud smile, and then the video cut out.