Okay, I would like to know if anyone has any thoughts on who they would like Nate paired with, and I would love feedback on my twist and design of Nate's own suit.
The tension in his chest had nothing to do with the Arc Reactor, his missing ribs, or the pressure of the Arc on his lungs, and Tony didn't know how to get rid it.
So of course it went away the moment he saw her when he got off the plane.
Nattie's hair had obviously just been brushed quickly before it was thrown up in a ponytail, letting the light shine off the six diamonds in her ears. Her face was paler than he had ever seen it, and deep dark bruises surrounded her dark eyes. She seemed thinner than he last remembered, her shoulders were hunched in a way that made her seem smaller.
She was wearing one of her oldest and most ripped jeans, her faded and scuffed black sneakers, one of his old and faded t-shirts that had been permanently stained with grease and oil under one of his dark hoodies.
She looked terrible, and yet Tony thought Nattie looked beautiful after not seeing her for three months.
It was cliché how they met in the middle for a hug, but Tony didn't care as he wrapped his good arm around Nattie's slim waist while her small hands clutched his back. He could feel her hot tears hit the base of his neck and he just rested his head on hers.
"Don't ever do that again." She whispered harshly into his neck, long slim fingers digging further into his back.
"Okay." He muttered into her hair, pressing a fleeting kiss. "I want a burger, do you want one?"
And Nattie laughed.
Natasha Margaret 'Nate' Howard was one of Tony Stark's worse and best kept secret—everyone knew that somehow Nate Howard was connected to Tony Stark. Whenever Tony wasn't in a worthless fling or short romances, she was always seen on his arm at any charity events or such since she was the age twelve.
Her appearance had put the tabloids in a rage with pictures of young twelve-year-old Nate Howard on the arm of twenty-nine-year-old Tony Stark.
The pictures showed the pretty young peaches-and-cream-toned girl with her dark hair curled down her back, the light of the flashes showing golden highlights in her dark hair, and wide dark eyes dressed in a dark red party dress that matched the tie that billionaire wore.
The tabloids had a field-day trying to prove or disprove the fact that Nate Howard was Tony's daughter. Stark Industries were bombarded with emails and other mail asking about Nate, Virginia 'Pepper' Potts had to assumable a press conference with Tony to make a statement.
The tabloids the next day shouted out 'Tony Stark takes in genius orphan!' It continued on with saying how one of the schools he funded with the Maria Stark Foundation notified him of a rising genius. To help her reach her full potential, Tony Stark generously sponsored the young girl personally.
That of course caused more fury as most believed that Tony only did it to be seen doing something good after a particularly nasty article about his weapons promoting war and how he was war profiting.
Throughout the years, the world had gotten used to seeing Nate on the arm of Tony at different events. So none of the reporters were surprised when Tony Stark entered the first press conference after his disastrous trip to Afghanistan with Nate pressed to his side—both of them holding burgers in their hands for some odd reason.
It was clear that Tony's disappearance had a horrible effect on Nate—some of the less scrupled tabloid reporters thought about spinning in how the grateful orphan fall in love with the older man that helped her into their stories, and how his disappearance brought her love to light.
They watched bemused as both Tony and Nate folded themselves down and sat before they did it themselves for Tony.
The announcement that Tony spoke made the thoughts of those with less scruples scatter like leaves in a sudden gust of wind.
A weapons company that stopped making weapons?
As the room burst into a flurry of noise and Obadiah dragged Tony away, after trying to desperately take back Tony's statement, Nate Howard remained sitting—watching them with patient dark eyes—as she ate her burger.
Her serene patience caught the attention of Agent Phil Coulson—it seemed that Tony wasn't the only sibling that caught the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Stark Industries! I've got one recommendation! Ready? Ready? Sell, sell, sell! Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells? Let me show you the new Stark Industries—"
The live broadcast was cut off by a sudden dark screen with text in white saying;
'I'm such a loser and was bullied as a kid, and that's why I try to make everyone's life as crap as mine was to make me feel better!'
Pepper spun on her heel and glared at Nate, who was sitting on the couch with her laptop.
"Nate!" Pepper reprimanded making the younger woman look up with an innocent look on her face that didn't fool Pepper for one second. "Stop that."
"Oh sorry," Nate spoke with false sincerity and a fake look of astonishment as she looked at where her hands were resting on her keyboard, "my hands sometimes have a mind of their own."
She tapped away on her keyboard for a moment, replacing the text with a new message briefly;
'This honest statement was brought to you by Valkyrie'
Before the live broadcast was put back on, only for the man to be cursing up a storm on live TV which made Nate smirk broadly.
Pepper thought Nate had never looked more like Tony than in that moment.
Pepper was ever so grateful that Nate didn't panic like she did, because honestly Pepper wasn't sure if she could have put the new reactor in by herself.
Pepper was so consumed with calming herself down that she didn't notice that sharp and swift exchange of words the siblings had when Tony confirmed Nate's worried suspicion about what powered the reactor.
Palladium could eventually poison him—Nate hated the thought of her brother possibly dying.
Nate absently held up a sign for '2' when Tony finished coughing after Dum-E stopped dousing him after he fell from his first attempt to fly.
"Ha-ha." Tony snarled as he glared up at his sister. "You're so funny."
"When you've worked out the kinks you're making me one, right?" Nate asked as she added more shade to her design of her future suit.
Tony's design was rather simple for him, while Nate wanted to make her username of Valkyrie into her name for her suit. That meant she wanted mechanical wings and a separate weapon—like a scythe.
She had complete faith that Tony could build it, and knew no one would connect Valkyrie to Nate Howard. One, only few people knew who Valkyrie was though the world was used to her hacking into things to defend Stark Industries—Tony. And two, Nate had never been one to draw attention to herself so why would she have such an indiscreet and attention-grabbing suit?
"Why would I make you one?" Tony pushed himself back onto his feet. "You're not helping with this one."
She looked up at him, a vaguely amused look on her face.
"I'm sorry." False sincerity ringing from her tone. "Do you need my help?"
"No." Tony almost pouted. "I'm fine."
Tony had built his first suit in a cave, he could work out how to make a better suit without Nattie's help.
Nate wasn't offended, she knew it was his pride was talking. Plus, she really had no interest in building things like he did.
Nate didn't even look up when Pepper walked in with two bottles of water and a parcel, she knew that the red-head was here for Tony so kept bobbing to the music from her Stark-Player (made especially for her by Tony).
"I've been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?" Pepper asked.
"Yeah, everything's…what?" Tony started to reply before he realised what Pepper said.
"Obadiah's upstairs."
"Great!"
Yeah, great. Nate thought as she pulled a face, she hadn't liked Obadiah at all when she met him. He was cold, arrogant, condescending, and scornful whenever he caught Nate alone when at an event. He talked to her like she was a gold-digger, had done so even when she was twelve.
Nate wasn't at all into incest and the thought that a twelve-year-old could try and seduce Tony was disgusting and laughable.
"What would you like me to tell him?" Pepper asked after tossing one bottle to Nate, who fumbled as she caught it.
Hand-eye coordination was her best thing, Nate could admit easily.
"Great, I'll be right up."
Pepper eyed the stabiliser attached to Tony's arm with slight distain.
"Okay." She paused before she continued pointedly. "I thought you were done making weapons."
"This is a flight stabiliser. It's completely harmless." Of course when he activated it, it launched him across the room. "I didn't expect that."
Dum-E held up Nate's discarded sign marked with 2 making Tony glare and huff.