Helloo! Final chapter of Iron Man 2, hope you enjoy Tony in the Archipelago :)

Shout Outs!:

CHSHiccstrid

Yes he does! Now he can let his brain melt. I hope I don't disapoint, writing this chapter was a bit hard in that sense. Glad, thought they needed another bonding moment.

omega13a

There's still a lot of similar attitudes, people will poach them as we are still doing to animals and driving them into extinction and others will want them as war machines-I very much see this with Ross and Stern not to mention Hydra. That's thier biggest fears and the very reason they went into hiding, Viggo and Grimmel hunted them, some to near extinction; Drago and the Warlords wanted them as war machines, not all that different really.

WeAreNumberOne

Ch28:
Yay!
Thank you, I really enjoyed that scene. Loki and Hiccup needed a moment together since they haven't been getting as much attention lately.
Hehe, you'll have to read and see :)
Ch29:
There really wasn't much to change if Hakon wasn't present and I really didn't want to write all that nor did I think it necessary. Made sure to leave a little note so we know he's still there and happening but not the focus. Initially I wrote it so the Vibranium just barely worked but then I foolishly decided to Google if it was conductive and…unfortunately was. Stupid thing has no kryptonite.
That was so much fun, I kept laughing as I wrote it. You will have to keep reading ;)
Yeah, that wasn't my favorite scene even though I understand why :)
I try and find a balance because at his core he is trying to do right but, like you said, he too quickly goes to extremes and comes off as an a**hole. Many of his choices lead to that decision as well, like why he has Howard's arc reactor work and doesn't give anything to Tony until he's a week maybe two away from dying.
Will have to give that some deeper thought as I haven't thought about him much come Avengers or after. Thanks
Ch30:
Oh, yeah, much better. No one's trying to kill or capture the other despite T'Challa's best attempts to give Tony a heart attack.
It was a good heart felt scene for Tony, especially in the movie where he had a terrible relationship with his father.
Ok, I actually laughed for a good minute just thinking about that. With a good eighty'ish years, I think I don't know how time actually works for him on Voromir, he'd probably come to realize some of his thinking follies—probably. He'd probably glare at Hiccup and wonder what more he could have done to anger the universe to make Hiccup one of the ones he has to deal with. Another scenario I thought of, if Schmidt hasn't taken all of that time to think and reflect to heart, is that he attacks Hiccup, demanding he take him away from the forsaken planet. But all that is rather ironic.

Journal 2, Entry 31: "Iron Man 2 Pt.4"

Tony's eyes blinked as he woke up. The sensation wasn't anything like waking up in the cave all those months ago. He was immediately clear of mind but his body was a bit slow. As his vision cleared, he realized that the room he was in wasn't as dark as he initially believed but that there was instead a large black blob right before his eyes. The darkness shifted then attacked him, a huge tongue dragging over his face with a happy whine.

Tony shot up, spitting and sputtering as he tried to remove the taste of fishy Tor saliva. "You are disgusting!"

Hakon sat next to his bed and set down a small device and a tool. "Welcome back, kiddo. How do you feel?"

Tony paused for a moment as he felt his heart and chest, eyebrows dipping in confusion. "Like… I haven't been in surgery…"

Hakon's smile showed relief as he leaned forward. "That's the Eir. It does wonders. That, and some other stuff…"

Tony started touching his chest, as if he could reach in and feel everything. He was shocked to find no stitches or scars of anything betraying that there had been a surgery at all.

Hakon stared sadly at the hole in Tony's chest—nothing lighting it—and held the arc reactor out for him to take. "They tried to fix as much damage as they could but even m-we can't regrow bone. Reattach it, sure, but if we could grow it back I wouldn't need a metal leg."

Tony chuckled as Hakon waved to his fake foot and took the reactor. "You've done more than enough by getting the shards out, thanks uncle H. Where's Anna and Selda so I can thank them?"

Hakon looked out the window. "Selda's no doubt with a dragon and Anna is…who knows, but there's always a lab blowing up or some other accident. Hazards of living with dragons."

Tony nodded then turned back to his uncle while fighting off Tor's curious sniffs. "Can I see the New Archipelago now?"

Hakon stood and tossed him a bundle of clothes. "Sure kiddo, as long as you feel up to it."

Tony bounded out of bed and caught the clothes, staring incredulously at the very old style. His face scrunched. Come to think of it, Anna's clothing choice was a tad dated as well. Selda and her people's attire was so made up of leather it was impossible to say what era that style had been from.

He shook his head and changed, amazed at how comfortable the clothing actually was then almost ran to the door. Hakon beamed at him when he saw the clothes fit.

"Tony, there's, uh—something I need to show you first." Hakon said, smile shifting into a concerned frown.

Tony was already enraptured, staring at the flying reptiles surrounding the village, slowly turning to see more. "Sure, what?"

"Turn around?" Hakon asked, voice wavering in a nervous treble that Tony had never heard from his uncle before.

Tony frowned and glanced back before freezing, coming eye to eye with a huge black head and toxic green eyes. They stared at each other for several seconds before the head pulled away and started wiggling, tongue lolling out and the body bouncing around. Tony leaned back at the over eagerness of the dragon who was now brushing up against him, making him stagger a few steps.

"Come on, bud, ease off. He just got out of heart surgery." Hakon urged with a small whine.

After the dragon backed off, with an unhappy huff, Tony took a step closer—the dragon was grinning at him with a strangely familiar gummy smile. "It's a, Night Fury…Selda said you guys rode dragons." He tilted his head and spied a saddle. "I'm guessing he's yours."

Hakon chuckled as Tony blankly observed Toothless, brain beginning to stall. "Yeah, he is. You, uh, still haven't turned around."

Tony frowned and straightened. "I was guessing you wanted to show me yo—what in Thor's good name?"

Hiccup smiled thinly, more than a bit scared, and shrugged. "Uh, well, I didn't really know how else to tell you but it's kinda important as someone was bound to spill at some point…"

Tony watched as the young man looked away, cheeks flushing a bright red. He stood in shock as he looked over the man who spoke with a stronger version of his uncle's voice, but his uncle hadn't looked this young since the fifties. "What the Hel is this?" He asked, backing up a step.

The small spark of hope in Hiccup's eyes died as his shoulders fell. "It's still me, kiddo. I—I can't exactly be myself outside of the Archipelago without raising suspicions but I couldn't…I didn't want to keep it a secret from you any longer. Not now that you know about us, truly know about us. I don't want you thinking that I've abandoned you when I have to, well, eventually fake my death."Tony pointed up and down at Hiccup, processing what his apparent uncle just said. "Fake your death? You're almost ninety! Why do you have to fake your death? How do you look so young!? What facial cream are you using!?"

Hiccup winced as Tony began to shout but the tension loosened in his chest by the last question.

"Wait…If Freaky Friday you is Hakon…" He turned around to the wiggling black dragon. "Tor?"

Toothless warbled rubbed up against Tony before darting over to Hiccup and lovingly slipping his head under Hiccup's hand. "Yes, and also my real name is Hiccup."

Tony shook his head. "I can see why you hid the name but I need a drink. A really stiff drink."

Hiccup chuckled. "I'm sure the chiefs would love to accommodate you in that…Tony?"

Tony held up his hand while rubbing his forehead with the other. "I-I need a moment to process this. Just—how?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Magic."

Tony frowned at Hiccup and crossed his arms disbelievingly. Hiccup decided to switch tactics.

"I'm an… alien of sorts?" Hiccup tried again, only slightly bending the truth.

Tony's eyes narrowed. "Makes more sense than magic but still not believable."

Hiccup sighed. "Come on then, we can talk while we jump over to New Berk."

Tony nodded and hurried after the young man. His brain was starting to hurt. The man looked younger than him, by a lot—he looked like he could be his younger brother, but 'Hakon' was claiming to be his uncle and the dragon his faithful guardian. Okay, that bit out of anything made the most sense. He'd always thought all the Tor's attitudes were too closely matched to be statistically possible…Do dragons even live that long?

They walked in silence until they reached a glade on the outskirts of the village. Tony looked around in confusion for the helicopter but the only thing around were a few dragons laying under a couple trees. He mentally slapped himself, they'd probably be flying to this new island. He couldn't help the tiny smile as he looked over at the dragonized Tor.

Hiccup caught his look and chuckled. "We're not flying, not yet. I need to give you an explanation first and that'll just be easier to do back home."

Tony started to pout before the thought came of, if we're not flying, how are we getting there?

Hiccup grabbed his arm without preamble and extended his hand towards the empty field. The world flashed with a rainbow of colors and Hiccup pulled him forward. They took all of two steps before they were standing on a grassy field once more but very much on a different island.

Tony clutched Hiccup's arm as his head spun and he regathered his balance before looking around wildly. "What was—was that a wormhole? How did you stabilize a wormhole for leisurely travel!?"

Hiccup wiggled his eyebrows and Tony groaned.

"No, it's not magic. There is a scientific answer!"

Hiccup smiled. "I'm sure there is, somewhere, but we don't have it yet so we call it magic, which we use to access Yggdrasil. As far as I know, ours is the only way to without tracking down where the branches meet the realms, which you need magic for. I've managed to create a way for those without magic to access the Tree but it still requires magic."

Tony shook his head. "No. No, magic is—it's not a thing."

Hiccup sighed and looked pointedly at Tony before letting his Æsir wash over him with a green ripple, replacing him with Hakon. Tony stared at the uncle he knew take the place of the man he'd only seen in pictures. Hakon smirked and the green washed over him again, leaving another Tony in his place.

Tony took a step forward and held his duplicate by the shoulder while swiping over his head where Hakon's should have been, making sure he didn't just duck down or something. "How…? magic isn't real…"

The second Tony chuckled before flashing and Hiccup reappeared once more. "Well, those of us that have it have actively tried to dissuade those who don't, from knowing about it. Can you imagine what Schmidt would have been like if he knew the extent of what I was hiding? It was bad enough that he believed the little bit with the Tesseract. I can't imagine what he would have been like if he knew this."

Tony looked at his supposed uncle seriously, more serious than he could ever recall being—and he's had some pretty serious moments since the bomb went off in Afghanistan. "This isn't a well-played joke? You're truly not kidding about—magic?"

Hiccup shook his head while rubbing Toothless before nodding away. Toothless barked happily and bounded off after giving Tony a quick lick on the hand. He lept into the air and roared, turning towards the forest where several roars answered his.

Hiccup turned back to Tony, face equally as serious. "I'm not joking. It's part of the reason we hid, not just that the dragons needed a place to live without fear of being hunted."

Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I-I can't believe this. How much of the surgery was…" He wiggled his fingers, not yet able to bring himself to say the word without sarcasm.

"A good deal of it." Hiccup turned and gestured for Tony to follow him off of the plain.

They passed a control station to a well-treaded path through the trees. Tony listened without interruption as Hiccup gave him a brief history of the New Archipelago. They reached the village by the time Tony was stopping his uncle. "Wait, wait. So Loki, like actual Loki, hid this place?"

Hiccup smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. He did it to hide me."

Tony frowned. "Why you specifically? Didn't Thor and his warrior friends already know about you?"

"Yes and no. That story's best saved for later when this information has had a time to settle." Hiccup evaded.

Tony narrowed his eyes but allowed it to slide for now; his brain really was beginning to ache. He looked around at the buildings making up the village and was…well, he wasn't sure what he was feeling. Half of him expected old fashioned buildings given his uncle's description of living in a 'traditional' town but the other half had expected it to be fairly modern. What surrounded him was an odd yet seamless mix of both.

Hiccup held his shoulder and led him into the village, several people greeting the chief while many others stared curiously at him.

Needing a safe topic that wasn't threatening to melt his mind and everything he thought he knew about the world, Tony asked, "So, when can I see the lab that I can make the element in?"

"Tomorrow." Hiccup grinned and pushed the large door open. "I believe you said you needed a drink? No one does mead like Vikings do."

Tony nodded enthusiastically. "Please."

Hiccup left to get some drink and food at the buffet that was already open being near dinner by now.

Tony sat at a table as he waited, watching his uncle's people mingle, drink, and feed a few smaller dragons that fit into the Hall. The bench shook as someone took a heavy seat beside him and he turned to see several others sitting on the other side of the table. He had a gut feeling that these were the other chiefs that Hakon had spoken of. "Hi, can I help you? If Hakon-er-Hiccup is the one you're looking for, if you want the guy that broke the meeting place rule."

A black man laughed while the oldest man with greying hair spoke. "Oh, we know. He has a reputation of ditching orders. No, we came to speak with you, Stark."

Tony huffed and set an arm on the table. "Look, if you have any more magic mumbo-jumbo secrets to spring on me—wait until I get a bit inebriated. At least it'll take the shock off."

A younger man smirked at the huge man sitting next to Tony. "I told you he would tell him. You owe me a barrel of salmon."

The man gruffed and scowled before turning his attention to Tony. "I'm Thugman, Chief of the Outcasts, and if ya put the Archipelago at risk in any way—I'll throw ya in jail faster than Alvin could with Dagur."

Tony chuckled nervously and scooted away. "Don't plan on it."

The dark skinned man hummed and nodded his head. "Good, because you will not just have the Outcasts after your blood—I will rile Wakanda's army against any threats to us or our allies."

Tony sat rigid and nodded tersely. "Got it."

The oldest man shook his head. "I'm Asbjörn, Berserker chief. The Changewings and Archipelagan safety fall under my domain."

Tony's eyes lit up. "You're Phil's commander?"

Asbjörn laughed and waved negatively. "No, but the Commander is my nephew."

"Oh." Tony said.

Metal clicking against stone captured all their attention and the chiefs looked away when Hiccup glared at the lot of them. "You had better not be harassing my godson."

"Not much." Thugman admitted.

Hiccup scowled at him. "Watch it, or I'll turn you into a sheep for the next Dragon Race."

Thugman turned away from Tony, face horror stricken.

The woman sitting next to the young man beamed. "Oh, good idea grandfather! I'm in that race!"

Thugman looked pleadingly at Asbjörn and the woman with a small silver dragon on her back. Asbjörn shook his head and grabbed a mug from Hiccup, handing it to Tony before taking the other for himself.

"Excuse me." Hiccup said flatly.

Asbjörn looked at the woman sitting near the young man and raised his cup in thanks. "Thanks for the hospitality, chieftess."

She bit her lip and looked away, shoulders shaking in silent laughter.

Hiccup narrowed his eyes at the Berserker chief and flicked his finger at the cup, Tony swore he saw a streak of blue but it disappeared with a blink.

Asbjörn frowned when nothing came out and tipped the cup further back, peering up at it, Hiccup's finger twitched again and a green streak hit the cup. This time Tony was positive it wasn't just a trick of the light as at the same instant Asbjörn choked and sputtered as the mead sloshed and drenched his face.

Asbjörn lowered the cup and stared flatly at Hiccup who held a tiny smirk, raising his eyebrows once in challenge. He looked away, a bit perturbed, but said nothing.

"Was that magic? Honest to gods magic?" Tony gasped.

Hiccup smirked. "Yep."

The young man grinned. "So's this."

He turned to the woman sitting next to him and with a wave, her hair was an unflattering green. A lock of it fell into her eyes and her cheeks burned. "You…"

She blinked and he was no longer pale pink but bright red with neon yellow spots. He yelped when he looked at his hands then growled, a ball of sea blue magic forming in his hand.

Hiccup slammed the two plates of food on the table, disrupting the impending fight. "If you want to brawl, take it outside."

The chief and chieftess shared challenging glares before reluctantly turning away and remaining at the table with the other chiefs, king, and outsider.

The woman with a dragon napping on her back rolled her eyes. "I swear, any descendant of Hiccup fights like a sibling no matter how distant they are."

Tony glanced at the youngest chief and chieftess, watching as they fixed the 'damage'. "They're related?"

"Distantly." Asbjörn said. "Very distantly…not that anyone could tell."

Thugman nodded, snagging a cup off a passing New Berkian who scowled at him for the act then shot a dark blue blast at the turned chief's back. He yelped loudly and quickly vacated the seat which had ice growing rapidly on the wood. He glared at the New Berkian who returned it with a vicious smirk before turning back into the Hall for yet another cup. "Dang Jötunnar should have ta wear a sign."

Hiccup sat next to Tony who was both stifling a laugh and staring with intrigue at the stilled ice. Hiccup tilted his head as he took a bite of mutton. "Why? So you know who not to steal from?"

"Exactly." Thugman said as he rubbed his bottom quickly to bring back warmth.

Tony looked away from the ice and at his uncle. "Jötunn, like, Frost Giants Jötunns?"

Hiccup nodded, not fully looking Tony in the eye. "Yes. Tha-that's a part of the other half of the story I need to tell you. Just… not tonight."

Tony sighed unhappily but let it go, digging into the delicious meal as the chiefs made light conversation, much of which nearly broke them out into a brawl before everything calmed down with hearty slaps and loud laughing.

Hiccup was rubbing his temples by the end. "This is too much like Valhalla to be comfortable."

Tony exited the guest hut Hiccup set him up in and left to meet Hiccup for breakfast with aunt Astrid joining them—much younger like Hiccup, which still gave him quite the shock. They wandered the village as Hiccup told him the other half of their history. They were passing through the village square and Tony was ready to pull his hair out, very grateful that they'd done the heart surgery first or else even the arc reactor might have an issue keeping up with its frustrated pulse.

"So…a god-"

"Loki." Hiccup corrected. "And they're really more like aliens, I suppose you would call them now, but to us they were essentially the same thing. Asgard, like all the other Realms, are actually different planets. But even today we still refer to them as such."

Tony couldn't help his annoyed glare but continued. "-From Asgard came down and adopted you, giving you magic and making you Asgardian as well?"

Hiccup nodded. "'Bout it. The Asgardian bit came later but…" He winced. "Th-that's not really important."

Tony shook his head, staring at the ground blankly. "So the Jötunn comment yesterday—because in the myths Loki's descended from Frost Giants?"

Hiccup chuckled. "He is one. He didn't realize it until I started freezing Flyers but yeah."

Tony shook his head again, struggling to come to grips with everything. "Can I see? How does that work? It seems a bit conflicting biologically but I'm not a biologist so maybe…"

Hiccup laughed and let his form change and Tony gaped at it before pulling back a tad when he made contact with the blood red eyes.

"Skin is cool, eyes are a bit freaky."

Hiccup smiled. "Yeah, people often thought I was a demon before I got a suitable illusion in place."

Tony's eyes widened and started looking his uncle over, as if he could see the magic working like it were gears in a robot. "Illusions, how does that work? I doubt you're using smoke and mirrors. Have you been using an illusion this entire time? How did you do it when you were supposed to be a kid and shorter?"

Hiccup laughed and shifted back to his human form and pulled Tony along. "I shapeshift, something I learned to do later. The illusions were for when my magic was still developing. If you're curious, you can sit in on some classes."

"Classes?" Tony parroted.

"You don't think every child born with Æsir and Jötunn magic automatically knows how to use it, do you?" Hiccup asked, far too amused with Tony's brain stalling.

"No." Tony said quickly. "I just, I never thought—I totally want to sit in. Have you incorporated this 'magic' with any technology? I mean, you said magic is just science we don't understand yet so there must be correlations…"

Tony descended into rambling thoughts with this new idea.

They walked, Hiccup letting Tony think as he guided him until they reached a large grassy area in front of a building. Hiccup nudged Tony to look up, which he did so, then couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"They look like a bunch of Smurfs!"

Hiccup's eyes widened and looked at his godson before looking at the gathering of young children, all of whom stood in their Jötunnar forms. "I—never thought of it that way…You know, many people would run screaming from them. You just take it in stride."

Tony looked flatly at his uncle. "Your dragon turned into a dog to steal my sweet cake then bolted out the door, back in dragon form and flew away. Nothing here surprises me anymore."

Hiccup grinned. "Well, at least you don't think less of me."

Tony's face fell. "I wouldn't do that to you, uncle H. Confused as Hel sure, but not that."

Hiccup pulled him into a side hug as they turned away. "Thanks kiddo. Uh, they got the lab set up if you want to mess around with that new element."

Tony lit up again. "Yes, definitely. JARVIS has the—where'd my phone go!?"

A pair of laughs echoed down from the door to the building Hiccup was leading him to. Steph and Nels, or Zephyr and Nuffink as Astrid had corrected him this morning, stood in the entryway.

"Ha! Now you have to update my lab's computer first."

Hiccup shook his head. "What's going on?"

Zephyr rolled her eyes, handing Tony his phone which he swiped vehemently from her. "What did you do to JARVIS?"

Zephyr shook her head as she led the way inside. "Nothing, just made sure he wasn't going to cause an issue with our tech and that he wasn't going to go snooping around."

Tony narrowed his eyes at her but JARVIS cut off any retort he might have made. "I am quite alright, sir. Miss Zephyr was quite accommodating while you were out with your surgery. We even have the lab ready."

Tony's eyebrows rose. "I'm supposed to be the one making this element."

Nuffink smiled reassuringly. "We really haven't done much, just found a lab with the appropriate laser. Usually we use it for testing GIV and other stuff but it'll work for what you're wanting…probably."

Tony nodded. "We'll just have to test that out then."

They entered the stairwell and Tony looked up wearily. "Uh, what floor are we going to?"

Nuffink chuckled and patted Tony's back. "Fifth floor."

Tony groaned and hung his head. "Haven't you people heard of elevators? Wonderful inventions."

Zephyr snorted, checking a device that resembled a phone. "Way too many explosions with these R&D fanatics."

Tony hummed in agreement and she left them with a warning to Tony to not mess with her security systems. He promised with a sincere smile and eagerly trailed after Hiccup and Nuffink, glancing at labs as they passed.

Once they entered the room, all three were quickly lost in the process; Tony ordering both about—them happily letting him take the lead—adjusting the laser, selecting and cutting the correct base metal, all while making an arc reactor that should work with the new element.

Nuffink briefly looked over the Vibranium core arc reactor. "If you have time after this, I would love to hang out and test this reactor with you…it's one of the uses we haven't fully explored yet with the GIV. Or at all, really."

Tony looked up from releveling the laser tube after adding an extension. "I wouldn't mind and I know JARVIS is figuratively dying for more information about it."

"If I was human, Sir, that would be an accurate verbiage. It is a bit irksome having incomplete databases."

Hiccup shook his head with a smirk. "Alright, I think we're ready…Final say, kiddo?"

Tony looked over at his de-aged uncle. "Okay, it's just weird hearing you refer to me like that when you look like my kid brother."

Hiccup laughed and tousled his hair. "Well you're goin' ta get used to it, when we're in the Archipelago I'm not sticking around in that old skin."

Tony huffed and ran another check over everything while JARVIS gave the all clear. "Do I get a dragon?"

Nuffink roared with laughter as they gathered behind the laser but it was Hiccup who answered. "Uh…well. They don't exactly like leaving the Archipelago. There are a few in Wakanda but it's not many and Toothless, er, Tor is kinda the long term exception."

Nuffink snorted. "Yeah, because you leave without him and he's paranoid you'll die spontaneously if he's not there."

Hiccup glared at his son and Tony nodded.

"That's pretty fair. Even before I knew about…this-" he waved at Hiccup.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and mumbled, "You just gestured to all of me. What is it with people and doing that?"

Tony looked fondly at his uncle and gripped the wheel to turn the prism guiding the laser. "You still find trouble everywhere."

"I never went looking for it!" Hiccup cried. He ignored Nuffink's amused look as he flicked the switch. Hiccup quickly gripped the wheel as Tony winced when the beam hit the wall just a hair's breadth from the metal.

The beam struck the metal and it started glowing too bright to look at. They lowered shades over their eyes as the metal grew brighter. Hiccup was positive that if it spent much more time under the laser it was going to melt.

Tony killed the laser suddenly and they all rushed to the still glowing element. He took it off of its stand with a magnetic stick and carefully inserted it into the empty arc reactor. It closed and started thrumming, glowing brightly but a bit dimmer than the element on its own.

"Running tests now." JARVIS said.

They looked at the reactor in amazement as JARVIS ran everything the AI could think of.

Nuffink turned to Tony as the silence stretched on. "Congrats! So, what are you going to do with that hole in your chest now that you don't need the reactor filling that gap?"

Tony hummed in thought and looked away from his newest creation. "Haven't thought about that…Maybe make it into a secret compartment. Store my favorite Rolex or something. Uh, uncle H? They're not going to be mad about the wall, are they? I can pay for it but I don't want to be on anyone's bad side."

Hiccup laughed and shook his head fondly. "Please, that's one of the calmest experiments we've had. Might have spooked a Terror or two but its fine. The beam didn't even make it through the wall. Given the nature of the laser, the entire room is GIV lined."

Tony tilted his head, brows furrowing with recognition. "Nels—Nuffink, oh Thor this is confusing." Both men laughed and Tony glared at them. "He mentioned that earlier, what is it?"

Hiccup pointed to the small knife hidden under Tony's jacket. "You know it by Vibranium but really it's a mixture of Vibranium and Gronkle Iron, or GIV."

Tony pulled out his dagger, looking it over with fresh eyes. "Why do you combine them? Isn't Vibranium supposed to be the strongest metal on the planet? What exactly is Gronkle Iron anyway? I've never heard of it…though, Gronkle—probably fell off the world's radar when you guys went deep six."

Hiccup smiled at Tony's enthusiasm. He hadn't seen him act so casually or with so much energy since he was a kid. "We combine them because Gronkle Iron doesn't weaken Vibranium—or not significantly—and makes the Vibranium deposit last longer. Best description of Gronckle Iron is knock-off Vibranium made by dragons."

"J, you get all that? Is there any way I can get pure samples of both? Or any tests you've done? I'd love to see what they do and how they react on their own." Tony asked after barely listening for JARVIS' confirmation.

Nuffink leaned against the table. "Oh yeah, plenty of tests. About, hm, six-hundred years worth?"

There was a knock at the door and all three turned to see Astrid standing there with an exasperated smile. She shook her head at their collective 'whoops' face; it was bad enough having a singular Hiccup on an inventing spree, adding Nuffink to that mix made it a pain. Now with Tony, she was afraid she was going to need to bring in the dragons to drag them away. "Hey, babe. You missed lunch…and dinner."

Hiccup's ears warmed as he looked out into the dark sky. Oops.

Neither Nuffink nor Tony seemed to realize the time passing either. Tony blinked at the starry sky only interrupted by occasional torches. "Will you look at that? We did."

JARVIS sounded a tad annoyed as he spoke through the computer. "I did inform you on both occasions but you said 'science does not wait for empty stomachs'…and that there was a mini fridge in the corner."

Tony blushed and looked away at Astrid's scowl, Hiccup rubbing the back of his head nervously while Nuffink scooted out of the room and around his mother. "This has been fun Tony…but Dart loves her night flights, perks of having a half Night Fury dragon. Got to go!"

"Get some dinner or I'll snitch to your familiar!" Astrid shouted down the hallway after her son.

Tony glared at his retreating friend, near cousin. "Traitor!"

"Smart man." Hiccup commented as he peeked at Astrid through his bangs. "Come on, kiddo. I better feed you before she has Toothless do it. And he swallows the fish before he shares."

Color suddenly drained from Tony's face. "Odin's beard, that story was actually real! And it was a dragon spit covered fish…Oh that's disgusting!"

Astrid grabbed Hiccup's arm to make sure they actually left for a proper meal. Tony trailed behind the pair, mentally noting how similar Astrid and Pepper were. They'd probably get along great…Mental note, never let those two meet.

He shuddered at the idea and could only be grateful Pep wasn't around in the time aunt Peggy and Astrid were in their primes. Well, aunt Peggy anyway, guess aunt Astrid's been in hers for a while…gods, that's still mind boggling.

*O*

Hiccup led him around New Berk all of the next day and he was more excited than a kid with free range in a candy shop. The villagers all entertained his many questions until Hiccup dragged him away from the village after lunch. He complained as the children were having a great time performing little tricks and Tony was eagerly trying to get scans and readings of the 'magic' they were doing. Hiccup had to promise to bring Tony back soon before they let him leave.

His complaints about being taken away from the willing patients were soon forgotten when they entered a large glade with a river and waterfall running through it.

Torbjörg, or Toothless in this form, landed with a bounce and nuzzled Hiccup who grinned widely and rubbed the scales between his eyes before hugging him.

Several dragons started converging on the alpha. Unlike a chief's position, the alpha's was for life. As they paid their dues to Toothless, many wandered over to Hiccup and nuzzled him as well, well aware of Toothless' eye always trained on his rider.

Hiccup grabbed Tony's hand and held it to the snout of a Stormcutter who had wandered over towards Tony. The quad-winged dragon purred under Tony's touch, pupils widening. Tony could only stare at the dragon and slowly curl and straighten his fingers, feeling the scales. "I can't believe I'm actually touching a dragon. A real, living dragon."

Hiccup took a step back and watched them. "He likes you." He said, remembering the words of his mother from all those years ago. For a moment he was lost in memories of her and her Dýrsvell. Not for the first time he wondered if they had formed some kind of bond, the kind that Drago's had wanted.

Tony tried to hide his smile and act cool about it, but the act was failing miserably. His chest heaved as he tried to control his emotions. The dragon under his palm rumbled deeply and Tony had a sneaking suspicion it was laughing at him.

Toothless bumped into Hiccup's back before burying his snout in his other half's hair. Hiccup shook his head and reached up to scratch his neck, not even bothering to try and remove the possessive dragon.

After a second, Toothless abandoned his post behind Hiccup and walked up to Tony, nudging him into the Stormcutter.

Tony yelped then muttered an apology to the Stormcutter, eyeing it for any signs of hostility.

The dragon merely huffed and looked flatly at its alpha. Toothless warbled and ducked down, wiggling madly.

Hiccup grinned and gripped the saddle. "Wanna see how we fly in the Archipelago, kiddo?"

Tony's eyes bugged and abandoned the Stormcutter with a final scratch. The dragon huffed and frowned at Toothless but Toothless crooned and spun a quick circle before settling long enough for Hiccup and Tony to mount.

Tony gripped his uncle tightly. He was used to flying, yes, but not on a saddle without any safety straps.

Hiccup chuckled. "Hang on. You mind taking it easy on Tony, bud?"

Toothless huffed, to Tony's amazement sounding a bit like an annoyed horse, then launched into the air.

Tony forgot how to breathe for a second as everything in him felt the need to return to the earth it left so quickly but Hiccup kept a firm hold on the arms wrapped around his torso. It was a different experience than in his suit that safely ensconced him. Flying on a dragon with everything exposed to the wind and pull of gravity was more terrifying. They evened out after a few wingbeats and Tony looked down at the island, loosening his hold some.

Hiccup chortled over the wind. "Have ta say, you did better than Astrid with her first flight. She wouldn't stop screaming in my ear."

Toothless growled and warbled several things that had Hiccup smirking to himself.

"Okay fair. Tony's been flying several times before."

Tony's eyebrows rose as he looked over his uncle's shoulder at the Night Fury's head. "Can you actually understand what he's saying?"

Hiccup turned with a smug smirk. "Yeah, part of the Familiar bond, and also perks of being the god of dragons."

Tony buried his head in Hiccup's shoulder. "No, not this weirdness again…my brain's still melting."

Hiccup laughed quietly and patted the hands secured around his chest.

They flew around the tall island for another half-hour before setting down, Tony groaning loudly and holding his sore butt. Hiccup winced sympathetically as they entered the R&D building again, Toothless bounding off to do Odin knows what.

"Takes a bit to get used to…shoulda seen the Riders, they didn't even have saddles to begin with."

Tony started up the stairs with a grimace. "Oh, I pity them."

JARVIS welcomed them both back as Tony flopped into the softest chair he could find. "The new element is fully compatible with the suit, Sir, and no risk of leakage as with the palladium core—though that need has been rectified entirely by the surgery."

Tony beamed as he took the new reactor off the stand and looked it over. "I might just keep it there. It's a nice holding place for the suit's power source and the hole's already there. Besides, it's become kinda iconic now."

Hiccup smiled as he looked over the readings and tests JARVIS collected and ran. "Gives you the edge too if people don't know—they rip out the arc reactor thinking it will down you then, surprise!"

Tony perked up in interest before looking down at his uncle's false leg, decidedly less fancy and leg-like than the prosthetic he used outside of the Archipelago. Apparently it was more functional for a life among dragons despite Ivanna's attempts to get her father to switch over permanently. He still insisted on using the older-yet-always-being-modified design.

JARVIS suddenly rang in a connecting call before he spoke. "Incoming call with a blocked number, Sir."

Tony and Hiccup shared confused glances before the former set the reactor down and faced the terminal JARVIS was hooked into. "I'm surprised you let calls through."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Zephyr cleared JARVIS, just so long as he doesn't get into her programs. You're always calling me in here, remember?"

Tony shrugged. "Just… a tad surprised. You know, Hollywood, secret societies don't let regular phone calls in."

Hiccup made a noise of amusement. "I know a couple 'secret societies' and all of them use phones and have plenty of contact with the Outside."

Tony shook his head while making a note to find out more about these societies. After seeing his uncle's, he was dying to know what else people were hiding for—though beating dragons was going to be a hard trick. "Answer call, JARVIS."

The line was silent for several seconds before a gravelly voice came through that made Tony paled. "Hey, Tony, how ya doin'?"

Ivan laughed and Tony quietly swore. "I knew that death was too fishy to be true."

Hiccup typed into the computer, Tony slid up to him to help when he paused and looked at the alien-like tech. JARIVS silently notified them that he was trying to track the call but was having some issues due to the New Archipelago's shielding; it had allowed him to retrieve data from his universal port but more complicated actions were proving to be a challenge.

Hiccup typed quickly, some of his magic leaking into the computer to make the process faster. Tony almost forgot about Vanko on the line as he watched in fascination. He definitely needed a better run down of what exactly his uncle could do with magic and just how they incorporated it with technology.

Ivan sounded far too smug as he spoke again. "A double cycle.

"What?" Tony asked, snapping out of his reverie not understanding his point.

"You told me a double cycle, more power. Good advice."

Hiccup glared at Tony, what was he thinking giving out advice like that!?

Tony shied away from his uncle's stare, it definitely was not the best thing to do. "You sound pretty spritely for a dead guy."

He looked away from the screen showing the call and over to the one Hiccup and JARVIS were working on. He breathed a tad easier when he saw a tracking algorithm running finally, Hiccup's fingers still flying as he added extra Archipelagan code to speed up the process.

"You too." Ivan said before he laughed. "Now, the true history of Stark name will be written."

Hiccup turned to Tony, worry shining in his eyes as he pulled away from the computer. Tony stared at the location, feeling panic bubbling in his chest—he barely registered Vanko still chatting on the phone about stolen history.

"-Will do to you in forty minutes," Ivan finally said, throwing down the gauntlet.

Tony reflexively replied sarcastically to cover up the fact that he hadn't been listening. "Sounds good, let's hash it out."

"I hope you're ready." He said then the line went dead.

Tony turned to Hiccup. "Forty minutes? Till what?" He looked at the coordinates again. "Oh Thor, he's practically on top of the expo."

"Sir," JARVIS decided to jump in, "Justin Hammer is doing a presentation today at the expo and because it deals with sensitive military equipment, he has asked for Pepper to be present."

Tony felt the blood rush from his head, leaving him feeling rather sick. "Pepper…I can't get there in forty minutes! Not to mention getting suited up! None of my suits have a reactor!"

Hiccup frowned but grabbed the new arc reactor. "You can't, but we can."

Tony followed his uncle out, keeping his phone out so he still had a link to JARVIS. "Uh, how? That plane of yours was pretty impressive but it's still not going to get me to New York in forty minutes, let alone my house to get a suit with time to spare to get back to the expo!"

Hiccup smirked deviously, rushing out the door. "Who said anything about a jet? We're traveling Archipelagan style."

He continued to walk swiftly through the village while speaking into his communicator. Vanko might not be Hydra but he was still intent on creating a bloodbath that Tony was going to walk into.

Toothless arrived, startling Tony again as he dropped out of nowhere and bumped into his rider. Hiccup smiled gratefully for his presence. By the time they arrived at the branch, Zephyr and a few other large Vikings stood waiting for them—their dragons included.

Tony started to say something. There was no way Vikings and dragons were going to go unnoticed, even in New York, but Zephyr smirked at him and with a wave of her hand—she looked like a computer IT personal with a Dalmatian. The others changed too, by their own magic or with help of another leaving them looking like security personnel with various dog breeds, both known and unknown.

Tony hummed and swallowed his previous words. "Well, that takes care of that worry."

Zephyr rolled her eyes with a playful smirk. "It's not our first Dragon Race."

One of the other infiltrators laughed. "Compared to infiltrating or raiding Hydra, this is a windless flight."

Hiccup gripped Tony's shoulder as they took position to go first. "Start getting everyone out as fast as you can, but do it subtly. We don't need Vanko getting spooked and initiating his plan sooner than his preset mark."

They all nodded and a green flash surrounded Hiccup and Toothless, leaving Hakon and Torbjörg. Tony blinked, cheeks puffing as he let out a breath. He was still having a hard time fully accepting all this.

"So, where are we going? Can you open a worm hole in my house?"

Hakon chuckled and wrapped his fingers in Torbjörg's fur. "Not without previously establishing a branch but there is one a few hundred miles from your house…I can teleport us from there."

"You can what?!" Tony shrieked just as Hakon opened the branch.

Hakon grinned and held Tony close so he wouldn't fall off while Torbjörg ran ahead. Again, the trip wasn't long before they were setting foot in a dusky desert and Tony looked at Hakon expectantly.

Hakon raised an eyebrow. "You know, teleport. Like, beam me up, Scotty? Just, without all the tech and landing pads involved."

Tony sighed and took his uncle's offered hand, Tor already sitting by Hakon's side and whining impatiently. "I so want to figure out how to translate that into tech."

Hakon bit his lip as he let his Æsir was over them, taking them straight to the lab where JARVIS already had a suit ready to go.

Tony leveled a flat look at Hakon as he inserted the arc reactor into the hole in his chest. "You've already done that, haven't you?"

Hakon shrugged apologetically. "Back during the late sixties."

Tony shook his head and sighed dramatically. "You know, I'd really like to see some of this magic-to-science tech you keep telling me you've made. My trip was cut short and that's just not fair!"

Hakon beamed. "Of course, kiddo. Just come back in one piece or I'm taking you back to Ivana and she'd not gonna like having you back in her healing ward so soon."

Tony grimaced just before the face plate fell and hid his face. "Believe me, I know not to anger doctors…or nurses. They get vicious."

Hakon smiled and shook his head as Tony flew out then it fell, saying a quiet prayer to the Norns to keep Tony and the others safe. Not knowing what else to do, he teleported and took a branch to New York—mentally slapping himself for not offering to take Tony again with the suit. At least this way he can give it a brief test on the way.

When he arrived, several presentations and demonstrations were still being given and slowing down the evacuation. And despite having some of his own there, slowly evacuating the outskirts of patrons and moving in—it was not going to be enough. His guise fell and rebuilt seamlessly and without flash, ordering a few nearby people out while making his way to the closest officer.

*O*

Sneaking into the control room behind the stage was child's play for Zephyr. She flashed a badge and appropriated a computer from one of Hammer's people who were using it to monitor and operate the drones with. After that, she made quick work of hacking into the drones.

It was easy enough to spot the intruder in their systems—or easy enough for her anyway. She was used to dealing with Hydra's hackers and made sure to keep her movements scarcely seen. She frowned at what she was seeing and opened a comm. "Dad, where's Tony?"

Hiccup took a moment to answer. :On his way; shouldn't be more than ten minutes out now.:

Zephyr sucked in her breath and scowled at the screen. "Tell him to keep away from the expo! There's code in here to pre-activate the drones upon sighting Iron Man—and they're programmed to kill. Tony, civilians, everyone."

Hiccup groaned and a few words traveled over the coms of him continuing to evacuate people. :Great. I'll tell Tony but he's not going to stay out of the fight entirely. We tracked Ivan here and he's gunning for Tony.:

"Understood. I'll try to deactivate the drones…Thor's underpants! There's a Deadman's code in here. Dad, whatever you do, don't destroy the drones until I tell you."

Hiccup grunted in frustration. :Got it, I'll pass it along to the others.:

The line ended and she focused entirely on the screen. A roar of applause rose from the crowd on the other side of the TV screen like partition while she continued to weed through the code and groan quietly. Tony was going to kill someone.

She abandoned her work on the drones and set to work ridding the suit Tony gave to Rhodey of its Trojan horse. Her com pinged and she answered gruffly. "What? I'm a bit busy."

:Uh, yeah, about that.: Tony replied irately. :Mind telling me why uncle H just ordered me to stay on Evac when there's a bomb about to go off?:

Zephyr huffed then grinned when some coding fell away without tripping anything off. "Yeah, you'll make it worse. Look for Vanko but leave this to me. The timer's counting down and if they don't spot you I have till the end of it to try and stop this thing…got to go!"

She grit her teeth as she almost carelessly deactivated another command and nearly missed the 'trip wire' connected to it. She had to admit, privately to herself, that she was kind of impressed then immeasurably grateful that Hydra had somehow missed recruiting this Vanko.

*O*

Tony grumbled to himself as he tried ushering people out of the expo but, unfortunately, being him meant most people were more focused on pictures and autographs than the unclear and present danger.

They had most of the west wing of the expo evacuated and were moving south before Pepper got wind of something wrong through the security protocols sending out an update with a mass exit of people. Tony winced when the built in phone rang. "Pep! Hey, uh, mind getting out and well away from the expo?"

:What is going on, Tony? I thought you were supposed to be on medical leave?:

Tony helped a fallen little boy in an Iron Man mask stand and ushered him to the nearest security officer, didn't need him being trampled in the confused stampede. "I know, already got it taken care of—but the trip was cut short when a dead man walking called me. Look, I don't have time to explain right now, just get out. We're dealing with the issue as best we can."

He ended the call before she could protest. Outside was fairly quiet, only the usual drone of chatting voices filled the air for several more minutes. Until the countdown hit zero…then the screams began and people began flooding out of the largest event hall. Tony scowled at it and took off. No point in staying away now.

*O*

Zephyr glowered at her console as screams erupted. The drones whirred to life, several taking flight while others fired their guns. She continued to focus on Tony's suit, finally running into difficulty once whoever planted the bug started actively controlling it and saw all the commands and firewalls she tore down.

Backstage suddenly got more popular as Hammer ran back. Pepper, Happy, and Natalia not far behind. Hammer ignored her and started shouting at his technician. "What's going on? What's happening?"

"The software's been overwritten." The technician answered simply, panicking as he attempted to regain access to—anything.

"Wh-what does that mean, overwritten?" Hammer stuttered.

Zephyr groaned as they went in circles and she finally snapped, not taking her eyes off the screen. "He means you shouldn't have hired a con who tried to off Tony, you nitwit!"

Hammer sneered at her. "Who are you and what are you doing back here? You shouldn't be back here!"

"Guards aren't answering their cells." A man with Hammer informed.

"He's locked us out of the mainframe!" Another technician cried in horror.

"Who's locked you out of the mainframe?" Pepper asked, scowling at Hammer and all his men.

Hammer groaned and tried to get Pepper and her people to leave, not succeeding much with his own rising panic.

Zephyr finished writing up a new attack on the hacker's coding and activated it, effectively severing Vanko's controls of Rhodey's armor. "Yes! Take that you son of a half troll!" She threw her arms up for a second in well-earned victory before delving back into the coding for the drones.

Natalia frowned at Zephyr and her Dalmatian growled at the calculating look, scaring Hammer who started swearing and demanding who let a dog in. Natalia looked Zephyr over again and the dog before sighing and saying in habitual Russian. "Hyse's daughter."

Zephyr smirked but didn't look away from her work and shot back. "One of two. Vanko's at Hammer's place if you want to try and catch him before he leaves to personally deal with Tony."

Natalia's eyes widened in surprise before they fell with a look of 'should have expected that,' Hyse was just as annoying when it came to what languages he somehow knew.

Hammer glared once more at Zephyr and stepped closer then hesitated when her dog growled warningly again, even Natalia looked at it with some unease. Hammer's lips curled as he accused, "Are you working with Ivan? Is this your doing!?"

Zephyr rolled her eyes, her Archipelagon accent slipping through in her frustration. "Says the man who faked the lunatic's death! I'm trying to fix your mess and—Odin curse it all!"

The other technicians crowded around her and her still connected computer, all trying to point patterns out and help but only succeeded in annoying her more.

Natalia left with a determined scowl, Happy on her heels. Pepper pulled out her cell and called the police, at least to get it on record—they'd no doubt have their hands full with the fleeing masses and everything else Hammer's mess was creating.

Zephyr winced as she heard glass shatter from multiple origins around the expo.

*O*

Tony circled the expo once the drones finally activated. He was shocked to see Rhodey among the attackers, and while he didn't have control of the suit, he still had radio connections—which he was profusely apologizing over.

After making a pass, he led them away from the expo, hoping to draw them all with him. That, or lead some of them away to destroy the drones where no one would get hurt if they blew up, then head back and deal with the others.

As Tony cleared the parking garage, Rhodey fell out of the sky with a shout of surprise.

"Zephyr has managed to break Ivan's control over Rhodey's suit, Sir." JARVIS helpfully supplied.

Tony sighed and looked down, grateful to see Rhodey pulling back up to help in the fight. "That was a bit obvious, J."

He swore the AI pulled a face. "I was simply pointing it out as you also had me working on hacking his systems."

:Tony, I'm on your six. Locked onto the rear flier.:

"Don't shoot!" Tony nearly yelled. "Go back to the expo, herd them away…Send them west to the Garden Dome, there's no one there."

Rhodey grumbled but complied. :Don't die. And, uh, putting Hammer tech into the suit wasn't my idea…the general overrode me on it since we needed to equip it somehow.:

Tony's eyebrows dipped at the reminder. "Yeah, uh-huh. We're still going to have a talk about that."

Rhodey broke off and Tony dove for the gardens, firing at one drone which sent it spiraling into another—much like how he slammed into that jet all those months ago—and crashed into the ground just outside the dome.

The reverie was short lived as the remaining air force drones converged on him and army drones nicked him with a mortar. He swore colorfully to Thor before praying Hakon would stay out of this and let him handle it…however, having backup would be nice.

Oh, there's the platypus…with more angry drones on his tail. Nice.

Hakon sat next to Tony in the hanger that SHIELD was temporarily using. They wanted to debrief Tony on the fight with 'Whiplash', as the public had taken to calling Ivan. Hakon thought it was silly that they always needed a name for every villain and hero that came along. Tony was disappointed it wasn't something even more ridiculous.

Tony swiped a file Fury had foolishly left laying out, though neither man was idiotic enough to think it wasn't done without purpose while Hakon looked around. He noted, on their electric blue world map, places of interest and among those was Wakanda. He frowned at it. He would have to go back through the reports to make sure SHIELD didn't actually have anything on their allies.

He switched his attention to watching a screen play several videos of the fight between Tony, Rhodey, the droids, and Ivan. Some feeds were better than others and many were cobbled together from phones but it was more than enough to watch the impressive fight…

Tony and Rhodey fought side by side after Rhodey finished luring all the drones into the garden dome only for Ivan to come in with a suit of armor that gave the monstrosity Obadiah built a run for its money. That fight was short, ending with Tony and Rhodey firing repulsor beams at each other—a theory Tony had later confided in him he wasn't sure was actually going to work. After that, the pair fled while the dome exploded, shattered glass raining down like embers with the light they refracted. Two other explosions tore apart the expo not far from the garden and there was some damage from the drones' initial rampage but the damage was far less severe than it could have been.

Hakon laughed to himself when he thought about his being here with Tony—considering he hadn't been present during the attack. No, when Natasha came waltzing into Tony's Malibu home while he and Pepper were making amends, she'd come to bring Tony in—since Phil was off in New Mexico—and see if Hakon had come back so they could discuss…family matters.

He already had the rundown from Zephyr who'd given her statement to the police after wiping away any trace of her activity on the expo computers or Hammer's servers—he had enough evidence to condemn himself without needing her hacking to prove it, and she didn't want SHIELD snooping around and learning her tactics.

Hakon turned when Fury spoke, taking back the file from Tony. "I don't think I want you looking at that. I'm not sure it pertains to you anymore."

Hakon snorted. He really couldn't help it. Tony was one of the best bets SHIELD had to a 'superhero' still in their galaxy and not currently frozen in ice somewhere with questionable living status. He had some good agents, sure, but none that were truly what the Avengers Initiative was looking for.

Fury glared at Hakon, silently promising that he was next. Hakon lifted an eyebrow—did Fury really think he could intimidate him? The guy had nothing on Schmidt on a good day let alone Viggo's infuriating calm-patronizing stare, Johann's hateful calculation, Grimmel's self-righteous smirk.

He tuned back into the conversation, Tony reading from a different file. "…Iron Man, yes. I gotta think about it."

Fury's look flattened. "Keep reading."

"Tony Stark, not-not recommended?" Tony looked up, a tad confused.

Hakon shook his head, reaching down to scratch Tor's ears who thumped his tail happily with the touch. "Clearly you didn't watch the hearing, Fury. You can't separate Iron Man from Tony Stark—they're one and the same."

Fury scowled at Hakon. "Hyse, I will get to you in a moment."

Tony frowned at Fury for the tone. "Mh, yeah, how can you approve me but not approve me? Not that I really want to be a part of your boy band—like I have said."

"Which leads us to believe, at this juncture, we'd only like to use you as a consultant." Fury said as he stood and sat on the table next to Tony.

Tony took a breath and looked away from Fury in fear of losing his temper—what more can the man want? Captain America?! Hate to tell you, Captain Eye-Patch, I'm not Steve! He stood and smiled humorously, grabbing Fury's hand. "I understand. You can't afford me."

He turned and took a few steps then stopped, a delightful idea striking him. "Then again…I will wave my customary retainer in exchange for a small favor."

Fury tilted his head ever so slightly in interest.

Tony had to bite back a smirk. "Rhodey and I are being honored in Washington and…we need a presenter."

Fury's lips curled in and he looked down. Oh, he knew where this was going and he had to admit, it wasn't the worst favor Tony Stark could have asked for. "I'll see what I can do."

Tony nodded appreciatively and turned to his uncle with a pleased smile.

Hakon chuckled and stood, fingers in Torbjörg's fur to keep up the illusion—that and Tor just liked him to be as physically close as possible.

Fury's mildly good mood fell as his attention turned to Hakon. "You and I are not done, Hyse."

Hakon sighed and looked at Fury like a grandfather would look at his testy grandson—Fury decidedly did not like it. "I don't know what there is to discuss. My daughter was visiting when Tony got the call. He gave her access to the expo and she worked wonders to keep things contained."

Fury glared at Hakon. "With hacking skills that Romanov said put anyone in SHIELD to shame."

Tony coughed to cover up a mumbled, "Not hard to do," which earned him a scowl.

Hakon smirked while Fury turned his attention back to Hakon. "And why have we never heard of her skills? Surely with her gifts, she'd be wanted world-round."

Mischief lined Hakon's eyes as he said simply, "She likes to stay close to home. Good day Fury."

Fury could only watch them leave in stony silence, however, no less brooding on the cold dismissal.

Once they were in the car and well away from SHIELD, Tony turned to Hakon and grinned. "So, when do I get to go back to the Archipelago since my first trip was cut short?"

Hakon laughed openly while Tor chuffed in the back. "I'm sure we can work something out for sooner rather than later."

Tony slapped the wheel in joy. "Yes!"

Tony's been to the Archipelago now! Hope it was decent and next chapter we will be seeing what Loki's been getting into finally. See y'all soon!