Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Marvel Studios, Disney, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Hi, everyone! So, as you can see, I've decided to go ahead and write this now. I'm really, really anxious about it for some reason, even though I'm proud of what I've written so far for it? Trqwefgtrwgtr idk I have like 3 chapters written already but I'm trying to figure out the kinks so you're only getting this one rn. If I still like where I'm at next Saturday, I'll probably post the second chapter.

If you haven't read this series before and you're choosing to start here now (for understandable reasons, this story has 200k of plot leading up to it but is readable w/o, though you're probably going to be really confused), welcome! For returning readers, welcome back and to the fic we've all been waiting for! I have it listed as being 12 chapters on AO3 but I have a feeling it's going to be more than that. Oh, well. We'll see.

Due to tag limits on AO3 and wanting to avoid spoilers, I will say that there are probably 15+ more tags that should be added to this story but aren't. I will add additional warnings to the A/N's of the chapters as I need them. If you're wondering why this is the case as a returning reader...let's just say, if you thought the little man who wasn't there was angsty, you haven't seen anything yet. ;)

Anyways! This fic will cover both Iron Man 1 & a highly edited 2. The title for this chapter comes from Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance. I don't think I have anything to say right now other than that.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Until next chapter,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~the black and gold 'verse~

~black and gold~

~chapter 1: famous last words~

"Tony Stark. Visionary. Genius. American patriot. Even from an early age, the son of legendary weapons developer Howard Stark quickly stole the spotlight with his brilliant and unique mind. At age four, he built his first circuit board. At age six, his first engine. And at eighteen, he was the first omega to graduate summa cum laude from MIT. Then, the passing of a titan. Following in his father's footsteps, Tony becomes the CEO of Stark Industries and the first omega CEO ever at the same time he attains his doctorate. Tony ushers in a new era for his father's legacy, creating smarter weapons, advanced robotics, satellite targeting, and more, with his father's lifelong friend and ally Obadiah Stane acting as his mentor. Today, Tony Stark has changed the face of the weapons industry by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe."

At the end of the short video, applause broke out in the room. Rhodey went up to the stage, saluting the crowd, a trophy in his hands. "As liaison to Stark Industries, I've had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot," he said. "He is my friend and he is my great mentor. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year's Apogee Award to Dr. Tony Stark! Tony?"

Tony stood up from his seat at his and Bruce's table, along with Obadiah and a few other of the executives of Stark Industries. He was wearing a black suit in the omegan style with a light grey shirt underneath, no tie. Applause broke out once more as he gave a short bow and then made his way to the stage, joining Rhodey there. Not one person, save for the people that knew him best, realized how strained his smile was. "This is beautiful," he playfully remarked about the trophy as Rhodey handed it to him, making the crowd laugh. He faced them with his charm on full blast. "Thank you. Thank you all very much. I'm very honored to receive this award, and I'm very honored for you all to be here with me tonight here in Gotham instead of Las Vegas like what was planned..."

Tony gave the rest of the speech that had been provided by Pepper, posed for pictures with the trophy in his hands, before he went back to sit down at the table. He laughed, smiled, clacked his glass of champagne against Obadiah's in cheers, and overall put on the show of having a great time.

It wasn't until the rewards ceremony was over and he and Bruce started to walk towards the main entrance of the hotel, Rhodey having already said goodbye to them and left, that he allowed himself to properly seethe – though still with a smile on his face, of course. He didn't need to give the press yet another reason to talk shit about him. "That video was fucking awful," he muttered under his breath. "They love sprinkling in that I'm the first omega to do this and that, but make no mention of the fact that I'm an omither of eight kids. And saying I'm 'following in my father's footsteps' – "

"I know," Bruce said softly, clasping his hand in his and squeezing it. "I know."

"I just wanted to have a nice night before I go off to Afghanistan tomorrow," Tony grumbled anyways. "Well, so much for that."

"You could still have a nice night," Bruce suggested, and when he looked up, his husband was waggling his eyebrows at him.

Tony snorted. "Bruce. As much as I'd love that, it's already past midnight and you're not the one who has to be up in less than six hours."

"I will be."

"Yes, but you don't have to be." The omega reached up to kiss his cheek. They were firmly positioned behind a column just before entering the lobby properly, so no paparazzi could take a picture of them here. "Thanks for the offer, though."

When they left the hotel, there were flashes of cameras and shouts of reporters, asking both of them (but mostly him) questions. They ignored most of them, giving them smiles but nothing more.

Then, when they were no more than a couple feet from the car, Happy waiting for them in the driver's seat, a blonde beta journalist went under the red rope keeping the journalists out of their way. Bruce instinctively reacted, putting an arm out in front of Tony and pushing him back, the alpha's shoulders raising. He didn't let out a growl, but it was a very near thing.

The security of the hotel was rushing over to them from behind. But before they reached them, the journalist said, "Dr. Stark! Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair magazine. Can I ask you a couple of questions?"

Usually, Tony would've said "no" to this. If there was one thing he and Bruce were good at when dealing with the paparazzi, it was avoiding giving them anything to write about when they were doing a carpet walk like they were now.

But, sue him: he was mildly impressed at Everhart's guts. Doing something like that usually resulted in journalists getting taken off carpet walk details, because PR teams (or at least, his and Bruce's PR team) would say that they couldn't be trusted to conduct themselves properly and the media companies didn't want to deal with the backlash of that. Her doing this either meant she was determined to talk to him, assured enough in her career that she didn't think she was going to blow it up, or both.

Tony put a hand on Bruce's arm, gently pushing it down. "It's fine," he told his alpha. Tossing his head towards the security guards, he repeated, louder, "It's fine!"

Most of the other journalists went quiet at that. Not all of them, but most.

The omega wagged his finger at them. "I don't want the rest of you getting any ideas just because I'm answering her questions here. The next person that does this is getting sued," he said, laying on his public persona thick. Then he turned back to Everhart, ignoring the snickers of a few of the paps. "Alright, Ms. Everhart. You wanted to ask me a couple of questions? Go."

Everhart seemed shocked, of what he wasn't sure, but she recovered quickly. "You've been called the da Vinci of our time. What do you say to that?"

Tony had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "Absolutely ridiculous. I don't paint."

"And what do you say to your other nickname? 'The Merchant of Death?'"

The rest of the journalists went even quieter.

Tony sniffed, giving no other physical reaction. "That's not bad. Let me guess, Berkeley?"

"Brown, actually."

"Well, Ms. Brown, it's an imperfect world, but it's the only one we've got. I guarantee you, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals."

She narrowed her eyes. "You rehearse that much?"

"Every night in front of the mirror before I go to bed," he deadpanned.

"I can see that," she said sardonically back. "Look, Dr. Stark, all I want is a serious answer."

"Okay, here's serious. My old man – " God, he hated talking about his sire in any capacity, but he had a role to play, a reputation to maintain " – had a philosophy: 'Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy.'"

"That's a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks."

"My father helped defeat the Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people, including your professors at Brown, would call that being a hero."

"And a lot of people would also call that war profiteering."

...Okay, now he was done with her questions. "Tell me, do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops?" he asked. "All those breakthroughs, military funding, Ms. Brown. Now, if you don't mind, my husband and I would like to get to our car now."

He and Bruce walked past her, him keeping his head high as the cameras went back to flashing at full-force – because, naturally, they'd never really stopped during that so-called "interview."

As Happy drove them away, Tony let out a sigh, briefly closing his eyes. "You know, I might actually take you up on the offer now," he told Bruce. "'Cause I don't think I'm going to get much sleep tonight otherwise."

Bruce chuckled, even though he could feel his alpha's anger hanging in the air as well. He was just as downright furious as he was, though he was always better at hiding it. "Whatever you want, Tony."

It had been his idea for him to go to Afghanistan.

Originally, they'd planned on either Obie or one of the other executives to be the one to go and show off their shiny, brand new Jerichos, and give a display to the United States Armed Forces that made Tony's mouth taste like rust (read: blood) at the thought of. Yes, they'd all known that the USAF would've really preferred if he had been the one to give the demonstration, as the creator of the Jericho missile and an almost twenty-eight-year-old omega who was far easier on the eyes, but Edward and Gemma weren't even a year old yet and he at first hadn't much liked the idea of going halfway around the world and leaving them because of it, even if it only was for two days.

But then, Tony had thought about it some more. He'd remembered what Farzana had told him about him possibly taking the chance to go see the country and how beautiful it was. With the way that the war over there was going, it was likely that there would be plenty more opportunities like this that would come, but honestly...he kind of wanted to go see the country now, if only to get a taste of it. And two days wasn't really that long of a time to be away, even with the added time of flying there and back. His babies (all of them) wouldn't grow up overnight behind his back.

So, he'd told Obadiah that he would be the one to go to Afghanistan after all, which the alpha man had been pleased at. "Just like your father," he'd said. "Always working."

And Tony had given him a smile at that. It wasn't until later that night in the shower that he'd tried physically scrubbing yet another comparison to his sire that he'd never wanted to have.

The morning after the Apogee Awards ceremony (or really, later in the morning), Tony woke up at six o'clock, his body deliciously sore. Bruce was sleeping right next to him. He kissed his alpha on the cheek, causing him to stir, but he didn't fully wake up until sometime during the shower that Tony took. Because when he got out, toweling at his hair, Bruce was sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting patiently for him. "Good morning."

"'Morning," Tony said breezily, going over to their closet, where the outfit that Pepper had already picked out for him was hung up. He pulled it out and set it on their bed, which caused Bruce to grab him and pull him into his lap before he could fully walk away. Tony laughed as Bruce nuzzled his mating gland, releasing his pheromones into the air. "What, do you miss me already? I haven't even left yet!"

"I know," Bruce mumbled. He pulled him into a kiss, saying afterwards, "But four days feels like a long time without you, Omega."

"We managed to go entire weekdays apart back when I was going to school at MIT," Tony reminded him. "And I've been on multiple business trips since then."

"And I don't know how we managed to do it, either occurrences," Bruce said seriously.

He laughed again.

By seven-fifteen, with the help of Alfred and Rebecca they'd managed to get all of their children wrangled into the kitchen, sitting at the breakfast table. Not all of them were particularly pleased by this: although Dick and Jason were the earliest to get up due to the high school and junior high parts respectively of St. Philomena's beginning at an earlier time, today the two of them practically looked like death warmed over. Dick's face was almost tinged green, while Jason's was ashen as he propped his chin up on his crossed arms on the table.

Tony fretted over them. "Alright, what's with you two? Jason, are you catching Dick's stomach bug?" Dick had been sick over the past few days. He'd refused to take a break from school, even going when Tony had called him out.

"It's not a stomach bug," Dick said, as if to prove his point.

"Tony, stop," Jason groaned as his adoptive omither pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to swat him away.

But Tony was undeterred. "You're a little warm, tesoro," he said, pulling his hand away. "Do you want me to – ?"

"I'm not sick," the fourteen-year-old huffed. "I don't need to stay home."

"Alright, if you're sure..." He checked the time on his watch. "Happy and Pepper should be here any minute. Do you guys want to tell me – oof!"

Before he was able to finish his sentence, his children mobbed him – all six of the elder children got up from the breakfast table and wrapped him in a hug. "Do you really have to go, Omi?" Peter asked, looking up at him with the dark brown eyes he'd inherited him from behind his glasses.

Tony felt his will crumble a little at that, but he clamped down on his resolve. He'd made a promise; he couldn't back out of it now. "I'll be back before you know it, ciottolo," he said, booping his son's nose before pressing a kiss into his hair. "Don't worry."

He pressed kisses into the hair of Lili, Harley, Bea, and Edward and Gemma (who were still in their highchairs) as well, until Rebecca, from where she was leaning against the counter and nursing her morning coffee, said, "Tony, Happy and Pepper are here."

"Okay," he said. He gave Bruce another quick kiss. "I'll see you guys by the end of the week. Don't do anything that I wouldn't do."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Stay safe, Tony."

"I will!" he called out as a promise.

"Bye, Omi!"

"Bye, Tony!"

"Don't forget to tell Ms. Potts 'Happy Birthday' from all of us, Master Stark," Alfred added.

"I won't!"

In the car, the first thing that Pepper did was hand him his latte, which he accepted eagerly. "Good morning, Tony," she said.

"Good morning, Pepper."

"We're on time for once today," she remarked dryly.

He gave her the same amount of blandness back. "Yes, I believe we are."

She went straight to the business. "Before I get you on that plane, there's a few things I need to talk with you about. Larry called. He's got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock painting in the wings. Do you want it? Yes or no?"

Tony hid his grin with a sip from his latte. "Is it a good representation of his springs period?"

Predictably, the muscle just below her left eye gave a twitch. "Um, no. The Springs was actually the neighborhood in the East Hamptons where he lived and worked, not 'spring' like the season."

"So?"

She sighed exasperatedly. "I think it's a fair example. I also think it's incredibly overpriced."

Now, Tony grinned outright. Over the past couple of years, buying incredibly overpriced paintings had become something of a hobby for him, and it wasn't like he didn't have the cash for it. "I need it. Buy it. Store it."

"Okay." She nodded. "Next is the MIT commencement speech..."

"It's in June," he complained. "Please, don't harangue me about the stuff that's way, way down..."

"Well, they're haranguing me, so I'm gonna say yes."

"Deflect it and absorb it. Don't transmit it back to me."

She pulled some papers out of her briefcase, handing them to him along with a pen. "I need you to sign this before you get on the plane."

"What are you trying to get rid of me for?" he jibed. "What, you got plans?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. Although not with my boyfriend, since you're taking him with you."

"I don't like it when you have plans." That was a lie, of course.

"I'm allowed to have plans on my birthday."

"It's your birthday?" he asked, acting as if Alfred hadn't already reminded him of that, or that he'd needed the beta man to remind him of it in the first place.

"Yes," she answered.

"I knew that. Already?"

"Yeah. Isn't that strange? It's the same day as last year."

"Well, get yourself something nice from me."

"I already did."

"And?"

"Oh, it was very nice."

"Yeah?"

"Very tasteful. Thank you, Tony."

"You're welcome, Pepper."

They managed all of a few seconds before the two of them broke out into hysterical laughter. Happy looked at them through the rearview mirror, rolling his eyes like Jason had but chuckling himself nonetheless.

Tony pulled the beta woman into a hug. "Happy birthday, Pepper," he said. "And I am sorry about taking Rhodey with me on your birthday."

"It's fine," she responded genuinely, though he'd already known that it was. "Me and Riri will be fine the couple days that you two are gone, and then we'll celebrate properly when you get back."

"Yep, that's the plan," he confirmed. He wasn't going to let her go without a birthday party, not when she was one of his best friends. It would be a small thing, to be sure, but still something that he hoped would make her feel appreciated.

Rhodey was waiting for them on the tarmac of the Stark-Waynes' private airport, a shit-eating grin on his face. "Tones, you're actually on-time for once!"

"Oh, fuck off, platypus," he said, but it was all in jest.

Pepper went over to her boyfriend, planting a kiss on his lips as he wrapped his arms around her. Tony watched them, smiling; to this day, he was happy that they had finally gotten together and were happy together, and not to mention had had a daughter together. They really did just complete each other so well.

"Sorry again I have to go, babe," Rhodey told her.

"It's okay," she reassured him. She eyed Tony teasingly. "Just make sure our best friend stays safe and doesn't get himself into any trouble, yeah?"

Tony scoffed. "What? I can't take care of myself?"

Rhodey's eyes twinkled with mischief. "Oh, I will."

The flight from the airport in Gotham to Afghanistan took twenty hours in total with the Stark-Waynes' custom-built jet, using only the best technology that the world had to offer (which meant Tony had designed said technology all himself), including one pitstop. When he walked down the steps from the airplane at the Bagram Air Base, the general in charge – Tony knew that he was supposed to know his name, but he'd already forgotten it and most of the higher-ups in the military were all the same anyways: old white male alphas – nodded to him. "Welcome, Dr. Stark," he said. "We look forward to your weapons presentation."

Tony gave the grin of his persona, as he always did when he actually hated what he was doing. "Thanks. And thanks for having me, General."

"Of course."

He and Rhodey were taken over to the spot where he was set to give his presentation from after a couple hours of what could only be described as mingling. His so-called "stage" was in front of an expanse of land that led up to the mountains in the distance. As he stood there, giving his speech about "the weapon you only have to fire once," he couldn't help but remember that this was the Kunar Province, the same province where Farzana had said her father had come from. This was where her mother and younger brother had been killed. Not this area precisely, yes, but the same region overall.

And now he was giving the US military more weapons to kill innocent beta women, omegas, and children with.

He had never liked what he did as the CEO and foremost weapons designer of Stark Industries. He'd said it before and he would say it again: he would like nothing more than to shut down the weapons manufacturing of his company. And he was more tempted than ever to do just that after the missiles blew up upon hitting the mountains, the explosions loud enough to cause a blast of wind to hit his back and race through his hair. Fuck what Obie, the other executives, the military, and the rest of the world would have to say. How was the slaughter of so many people worth it? In fact, why didn't he call up Pepper and order her to put out a statement right now saying that Stark Industries' weapons manufacturing was going to stop at once?

If only people like Christine Everhart knew just how much he actually agreed with them.

When he was done with the presentation, he got a video call from Obadiah. He accepted it on his StarkPhone – which had come out roughly a year before the iPhone. "Tony," the man said.

"Obie, what are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep until I found out how it went," Obadiah informed him. The implication there was a little creepy, or maybe Tony was just imagining things. But to be fair, Obadiah gave him the creeps often enough. "How did it go?"

He plastered a smile on his face. "It went great. Looks like we're both going to get early bonuses this year."

"Hey! Way to go, my boy!" Tony was not "his boy." Why Obadiah had taken to calling him that, he had no idea. He gritted his teeth. "Listen, I'll let you go now. I'll see you when you get back, yeah?"

"Yeah. Goodnight, Obadiah."

"'Night, Tony."

Tony thought about calling Bruce in the spare few minutes that he had, but ultimately decided against it. It wasn't even two o'clock in the morning back home; his husband and eldest son were both probably still on patrol. He didn't want to disturb them.

He and Rhodey went back over to the two Humvees that had taken them to this stretch out in the middle of nowhere, which were now going to bring them back to the Bagram Air Base, where another Humvee would take them to the capital of the Kunar Province, Asadabad, so he could get that taste of Afghanistan he'd spoken of beyond just the landscape and maybe get a chance to practice his Urdu like Farzana had suggested he might, even though he would have to have a security detail on him at all times. He and Rhodey would spend the night in a hotel in Asadabad, have some free time tomorrow, and then come back to the Bagram Air Base to go back to Gotham via his and Bruce's private plane. He was looking forward to all of it.

But first, before they arrived at the Air Base today, he wanted to spend some time alone with the soldiers in one of the Humvees, because he'd been told that two of them were omegas, a male and a female, and he wanted to show them the respect that they deserved. He didn't agree with the reason why the United States was in Afghanistan, but that didn't mean he respected those that were fighting in the war any less. If anything, he already respected the two omegas a lotwithout even having met them properly yet, because he knew it had to have taken a lot of work for them to get where they were now.

He clapped Rhodey on the shoulder just before he got in the car. "You want to take the other one?" he suggested lightly.

Rhodey frowned, his eyebrows furrowing. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sorry, this is the 'Fun-vee,'" Tony quipped. "The 'Hum-drum-vee' is back there."

"Yeah, yeah," Rhodey replied, but he got his point without any offense. He added before he left, "Just wanna repeat that you did a nice job with the presentation, Tony."

"Thanks, honey bear."

The rest of the soldiers in the vehicle were betas. Tony got into the car, staring at them all as they drove off. Besides the male omega soldier sitting next to him turning on the CD player in the back with them, which led to the song Back in Black by AC/DC being played, the soldiers were all eerily silent, like they were waiting for him to make the first move.

So he did, because boy did he hate his awkward silences. "I feel like you're driving me to a court-martial," he spoke jokingly, trying to diffuse the tension. When none of them said anything, he kept on going, practically rambling, "This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest!"

"We can talk, sir," the male omega said nervously.

"'Sir,'" he quoted, snorting. "Please, don't call me that. But, I see now. It's personal, isn't it?"

He didn't really think that, just for the record. He was just trying to get them to talk.

"No, you intimidate them," the female omega said from where she was driving.

"'Intimidate?' How am I intimidating you guys? I'm a civilian male omega! There's nothing intimidating about me!"

"You're one of the most powerful and influential people in the entire world," the female omega said. "I would say you're intimidating."

"Influential, yes. Powerful," he said, making a face, "I don't think so."

If I really did have that much power, I'd be able to stop my company from making the weapons you guys use.

"Kidding," he added when one of the beta soldiers looked at him sharply. "I'm kidding! It's okay, you can laugh." Another of the betas was smirking, even though Tony didn't feel like his not-joke had been all that funny. "Now, come on, I'm sure you guys have some questions you want to ask me. Ask them."

"Did you really just win an Apogee Award?" asked the third beta soldier, sitting on the backwards-facing seat in front of the male omega soldier.

"Yep, just did. Very shiny trophy. I appreciated it very much."

The male omega next to him raised his hand.

Tony rolled his eyes. "You're kidding me with the hand up, right?"

"Sorry, sir – I mean, Dr. Stark. Is it cool if I take a picture with you?"

"Yep, it's very cool." The third beta soldier produced a camera, from where he didn't know, but he didn't ask. He posed for a picture with the male omega soldier. "I don't want to see this on your MySpace page. Please, no gang signs," he added when the male omega held up the peace sign. When he brought it down, Tony almost rolled his eyes again. He kept on trying to get rid of the tension, and it kept on not working. "No, throw it up. I'm kidding. I love peace. I'd be out of a job with peace."

"Come on. Hurry up," the male omega soldier complained to his buddy. "Just click it. Don't change any picture settings. Just take it."

The picture was taken. The beta soldier turned around the camera, so they could see on its screen what the picture looked like.

"Nice picture," Tony commented absentmindedly.

And then –

He abruptly gasped as a sensation took over him, clutching a hand to his chest. To the outside observer, it probably looked like he was having a heart attack. But he wasn't.

No, instead he was experiencing, at a higher intensity than it ever had been before, a familiar feeling. A feeling he had first experienced when he'd been pregnant with Lili and cracked his head on the coffee table, which had resulted in him getting his concussion, and last when he'd been pregnant with Bea and Bruce, Jim, and Harvey had been enacting their plan to capture the Joker which had gone so horribly wrong. A feeling that was usually accompanied with voices going on inside his head, but for some reason was not now, which meant that the only thing he could hear was the ringing in his ears.

It was the feeling that something was going to go wrong, but not in the distant future like when he'd been pregnant with Lili. That something was going to go wrong now, like when he'd been pregnant with Bea. But at an even faster rate than then.

Oh God, something was going to go wrong.

"Dr. Stark," the male omega soldier said. "Oh my God, are you – ?"

"Put the car in reverse," Tony said desperately. All of the sudden, he knew what was going to happen next.

"What?"

"Put the car in – !"

He was too late.

Something blew up in front of the car, causing the female omega to bring it to a brutal stop. Bullets hit the side of the vehicle like hail during a dangerous storm.

"Contact left!" the female omega soldier shouted.

"Don't – " Tony tried to plead with her, gasping again.

She didn't listen to him, getting out of the Humvee.

In an instant, she was mowed down by gunfire.

"Jimmy, stay with Stark!" the beta soldier in the front seat ordered.

He and the other two beta soldiers, including the one in the backwards-facing seat in front of Tony, got out of the Humvee.

"Stay down!" the male omega soldier, Jimmy, ordered Tony.

"Jimmy," Tony said, even though it was for some reason difficult to get his mouth to work, because his mouth tasted like cotton. The soldier's name was Jimmy. He and the female omega had been why he'd gotten into this Humvee and told Rhodey to get into the other one. Tony didn't know what the female omega's name was, and now she was dead. But he did know Jimmy's. "Jimmy, stay – "

But Jimmy didn't listen to him. The three beta soldiers had already been killed, so of course he got out of the car to protect Tony. Of course.

Not even a second later, he was dead like them.

He would've been dead if he had listened to Tony anyways.

Tony didn't need whatever precognition ability he had, as he knew that was what Bruce thought it was even though they'd never really spoken about it, to know that he would be dead too if he stayed in the Humvee. He clawed at the handle for the door to his seat, spilling out of the vehicle when it opened. His ears still ringing, he stumbled for cover behind a rock. He took his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it.

The contact page for Bruce was still open from when he'd thought about calling him earlier. Bruce wouldn't be able to help him from all of the way in Gotham, but Tony didn't care about that.

He had a feeling – not his precognition-type of feeling, but still a feeling – that he was going to die now. It was the only result that there could be when he'd been attacked out in the middle of nowhere in Afghanistan like this, with no one to come to his rescue. He was going to die, just like the soldiers who had tried protecting him had. And before he died, he wanted to call Bruce and tell him that he loved him. Tell him that he was the best husband and father of his children that Tony ever could've asked for.

But before he could press the button to call Bruce, a bomb landed right next to him. He could tell that it was a Stark Industries missile from the way the company's name was printed along its side. He scrambled away from it in futility.

His last thoughts were not about why the hell one of his own weapons was being used against him, or how he was surely going to die from the impact of the explosion, because he wouldn't be able to get out of its radius fast enough. No, his last thoughts were about Bruce, and their eight children – Dick, Jason, Lili, Harley, Peter, Bea, Edward, Gemma – and how he'd promised them before he'd left the Glass House that he would stay safe, and how he'd unwittingly put himself in the precise circumstances to break that promise. He hoped that they would forgive him for it, even though without outright acknowledging the fact that he was going to die, he knew that he wouldn't be around to see the forgiveness.

And then his world turned to black.

Word Count: 5,514

Next Chapter Title: tale of innocence