Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Peter sighed as he plopped down on his bed at the apartment he shared with May. It had been a long day. After aunt May had found out about his outings as Spider Man after the whole homecoming fiasco, he had been trying to be home by at least by midnight. But today it was past 1AM in the morning. Thank god it was a Saturday. Peter groaned as he got out of his Spider Man suit.

“Honey? You home Peter?” May’s voice came from the living room.

“Yeah Aunt May! What are you doing up?” Peter asked as he made his way to the living room.

“I waited for you, come here.” May patted the spot next to her on the sofa. Peter sat down on next to her and turned to look at her. Before he could ask her anything however May started to speak.

“Mr. Stark came here today.” Peter stared at her since she had been angry at Tony for giving him the suit and taking him to Germany for a fight. But May had understood the need for Peter to continue what he did and supported his decision.

“Okay?”

“He wanted to apologize. To taking you to that fight in Germany and about the Vulture and he wanted to give you a real internship in Stark industries as his personal intern.” May said and waited for Peters reaction.

Meanwhile Peter was staring at his aunt with wide eyes. He could not believe what was happening. He knew the whole internship thing was a cover for the Germany. To keep aunt May from finding out. He never expected it to be a real thing.

“Really?” Peter nearly squealed in delight as May handed him the envelop that held the official paperwork for his internship with Tony including a ID card. It was a red and gold colored card with Stark Industries on the top right corner and his photo on the front. He had his name underneath his photo and the Level 10 as his access level. He wondered what that meant but for the time being he pushed it to the back of his mind and flipped the card over. Back of the card had STARK in a hologram that was projected from micro holo projectors that was too small for even Peter’s enhanced eyes. It also had a gold color lanyard. He stared at the card with wonder and nearly jumped up and down.

“Wow May! This is great! I can’t believe that this is happening!” peter continues to fan boy over his Pass and May watched with amusement for awhile and grabbed the Starkpad that had been lying next to her.

“Pete? There’s more.” Peter stopped his squealing and sat down again to listen to his aunt.

“yeah?”

“Remember why Avengers fought?”

“Yeah, something about some accords right? Mr. Stark and some of the members agreed but Cap and other rogue Avengers disagreed and something about Winter Soldier..”

“Well Mr. Stark had been busy for past few months amending the accords, so they are fair for everyone. And now they are complete and had been posted on the UN official website for all to see. He said many of the vigilante superheroes had signed them already.”

“That’s great if people agreed. I had already read them and I fully agree with them. They are not restricting the rights of enhanced people but they give them more rights and a chance to defend their actions on the field.” Peter said as May paused for breath. He personally agreed with the accords. He had already read the New version of the accords that was named as Global Special Task Force Accords- since no one liked to call them Sokovia Accords- the moment they were posted on the website. He had wanted to know why Avengers fought against this. As he said the new ones gave the rights that were lacking for enhanced people. It gave protection for them from people who wanted to experiment on them. And there had been another set of accords for Super Heroes who are underage and have secret identities. They protected the individual’s identity and any underage superhero was under another adult superhero. And the underage heroes were only called for field when it was absolutely necessary. As back up. He had been thinking about it. He only needed to find someone to be his supervisor.

“So I guess you read the Accords for the underage heroes?” May’s question brought Peter to the present.

“Yeah I read them. And I was hoping to ask you about it. I was planning on signing but I have to find someone for the adult supervisor.” Peter answered.

“That’s the other thing I wanted to talk about. Mr. Stark gave me your copy of Accords. They are a little bit different from the official one. Nothing major, it just give you the freedom to continue your friendly neighborhood Spider Man work. And I read them and he also helped me to understand everything that was hard for me to understand and I agreed to them. After I agreed he signed them making him as your supervisor for more international and major missions that will be assigned to New Avengers by UN. He also said to let you think about it and sign if you wanted to, not because he said to.”   

Peter was silent for a moment. Tony Stark, Iron Man Had agreed and signed his agreement as his supervisor. And he had tweaked the original Accords to give him more freedom. Peter silently took the Stark pad and the flash pen and silently signed as Spider man on the dotted line next to Tony’s signature as May watched. May smiled happily and hugged Peter as he set down the Stark pad and Peter returned the hug and gave a big smile in return and they went back to discussing the Accords and the internship until they fell asleep on the sofa.

Chapter Text

Tony yawned as he looked over everything. It had been long few months for him. After the whole Civil war as the public called it, he had been busy amending the accords with his legal team. It was a good thing he had the best lawyers in the world working under him. First thing he had done was to collect all the evidence he needed to remove General Ross from his positions of power. It had been easy, with the help of FRIDAY, his AI and Betty Ross, Ross was sentenced to RAFT for a life time. 

Once Ross was out of the picture it was easier to remove almost all of the unfair regulations such as DNA, power analysis and tracking of enhanced humans. Tony fought tooth and nail until it was fair for everyone. Another thing he had fought for was another set of Accords for underage individuals. It had been hard since the UN thought that underage superheroes should not be fighting. But he knew that for the thing that was heading towards Earth, they would need all the fire power they could get. So he had his lawyers on it and UN had been impressed by the arguments his lawyers presented and had agreed to the underage regulations. Now any underage superhero or a one with a secret identity will need another adult or a trusted superhero to speak for them or to vouch for them. There was also a fidelity clause in place to protect the identities of masked heroes. Underage superheroes will only be called for as back up or if the situation was something that required their skills. And the supervising adult was responsible for their actions on the field. Tony thought that it was fair and agreed and finally it was completed and was approved by the UN. Most of the vigilante’s who had been against the Sokovia accords was Happy with the New Accords and they signed it happily after reading it until they understood everything it said. Good thing Tony went and explained all the things to them individually. That only made them more sure about it since Tony Stark was personally making sure they understood the document.

Now that the Accords were done, Tony had time to breath and focus on other things. Not that he had abandoned any other work he had during that time. Just not a priority. He had renovated the Upstate Avengers facility to fit more people and he made it the New Avengers HQ. With the Homecoming fiasco he had decided not to sell the tower and merely renamed it as Stark tower and renovated it to its former glory. Now it was where he lived with Rhodey and Stark Industries Main R&D labs  were moved to the tower together with some of the Main Offices.

He had also made more advanced leg braces for Rhodey and now he was on his feet after months of Physiotherapy. He had been able to take his place as War Machine and he was more than happy to help Tony with everything. And as Tony was a busy man he was only called for important missions by the UN. Even they saw how much work Tony Stark was doing alone after the report they received from a anonymous source that outlined the all the things Tony did for everyone since he became Iron Man. So Rhodey’s help was more than welcome by the UN and he was made the leader of New Avengers with a field captain appointed by Rhodey for each team that will be going on mission.  

As it was now Tony’s schedule was free. It was a luxury he had been denied while working with the Ex-avengers since they demanded his attention to every single problem they faced. With their demands of new gear and equipment, Pepper pestering him on Paperwork, working as the head of R&D of Stark industries, dealing with the aftermath of missions, making sure their public image was good with PR department, dealing with the government and legal issues had made his free time for his tinkering small. So he had to stop his therapy sessions with Dr. Kelly he had after Afghanistan. Now he could say he had more free time on his schedule than he had in years.

Tony gave a tired sigh as he came out of his musings by the ping noise. Tony turned to the holoscreen on his right and saw that Spider ling had signed the Accords. Tony felt his lips tug upward in a rare smile that was hard to see in his face these days. Peter Parker was one of the main reasons he had brought back the tower. After the Vulture incident he saw how much Peter was similar to him and he didn’t want to leave the innocent child who looked up to him. He didn’t understand what the kid saw in him, but somehow Peter saw him as a hero. But he was getting better at seeing himself in a better light, like he had before Afghanistan and New York battle since he had started his therapy sessions with Dr. Kelly again. Rhodey had been so happy that he actually hugged Tony.

“Hey Tones? What cha doing man? It’s nearly 2AM.” Speak or think of the devil the man himself came down to Tony’s lab in Tower. Rhodey sat down on the chair beside Tony and looked at all the equations and charts on the screens.

“Hey Rhodey bear! Nothing just thinking about the last few years.” That was another thing, Tony started to open up to Rhodey again like he had when they were in MIT.

“You’re not thinking about the Rogues are you? Tony I keep telling you, what they did was totally wrong. What I did was wrong. I should have seen what they were doing. Hell man I’m your Best Friend, I should have seen that they were only using you by making you remember all the mistakes you had done. You were only trying to protect them and you were taking all the blame for what they did. It’s not right man~” Tony cut off Rhodey’s rambling by placing a hand on his mouth. Rhodey blinked a few times before slapping away Tony’s hand and looking at the grinning man in front of him.

“I know Honey bear I know. I wasn’t thinking about them, I was thinking about how everything had gone wrong with me. No, not like that, How I had been blind to all the manipulations and all the guilt they put on me and how I fell for their trap. I understand now. Dr. Kelly explained it to me. Those sessions with her is helping me understand it better and Rhodey I promise that I won’t do anything that Tony Stark don’t want to do.” Tony said with his trade mark smirk that had been missing for years.

“Ah then I’ll glad to have my sarcastic, snarky billionaire genius with a ego bigger than his expo back.” Rhodey replied with a smirk of his own and dodged the screw driver that was heading towards his head.

“Yeah I’m Tony Fucking Stark! I shouldn’t let righteous men who call themselves captain make me someone else I’m not.” Tony said in a indignant voice that had Rhodey smiling. His little brother was back alright, no mistake in that.

“Well what are you working on Tones?” Rhodey asked after few minutes of comfortable silence. Tony contemplated about telling Rhodey about the things that had been going on with his health. After all the missions he had with the Ex-avengers his body had taken a great deal of stress. And mixed it with the mental stress the final string that had been keeping him together was broken when the shield that his father made was driven through his chest. It had broken his artificial sternum and cracked a few ribs and he also had collapsed lung. Dr. Cho and Wu had been able to place the arc reactor back and stabilize him for a while they work on a way for him to live more than 1 year. Rhodey didn’t know anything about this since he was busy with getting back to his legs and Tony didn’t want to worry his best friend. But now everything is starting calm down, maybe he should tell Rhodey. Tony took a shaky breath and swallowed. Just because he was going to tell all these to Rhodey didn’t meant it was easy. With another deep breath that made him wince because of the strain it put on his lungs he opened his mouth.

Rhodey waited patiently for Tony to start speaking. But the way Tony winced when breathing and the way his hands shook worried Rhodey.

“Rhodey, I-I have something to tell you.” Tony said softly while looking away and Rhodey quickly took Tony’s hand in his like he did when back in MIT. Tony looked at the hand holding his own and held it tightly. At that moment all Rhodey could see was the scrawny teenager who confessed the emotional abuse his father inflict on him after a emotional breakdown at the wee hours of the night in their dorm room.

“What is it?” Rhodey asked calmly knowing if he panicked it would do no good for his best friend. And Tony was grateful for that. Rhodey had always been the calm one while he was the more emotional one even thought he tried to hide his emotions. He did that most of the time, but not in front of Rhodey, the man who knew everything about him.

So Tony took another careful breath and told Rhodey everything. From the fight to about the damage that was done to his body and all the things that Dr. Cho and Wu had been doing to help him while Rhodey listened with growing horror at what had happened to his little brother and worry for his health together with anger that was only reserved for anyone who dare to harm his little brother.

“…And that is the only thing we could work on. That is the last chance for me to live to see the next year. If I have another major heart attack or anything that could trigger it, I-I will, well you know, die.”
Tony said without looking at Rhodey and waved his hand towards the screen that had the equations and graphs. Rhodey meanwhile stayed silent processing what had been said to him. His best friend, little brother was dying. Again. And Rhodey was unlucky enough to hear the same news twice during his life time. First being the palladium poisoning. Rhodey tugged on the hand he was holding and pulled the genius in to a hug and Tony quickly relaxed in his arms. Rhodey was one of the few people that was able to hug the billionaire without Tony tensing. Rhodey reluctantly pulled back and turned his attention to the screen Tony indicated. He was not a genius like Tony, but he had attended MIT with him and he could tell that this treatment involved Nano technology as well as a equation he recognized well with few upgrades.

“Extremis.” Was all Rhodey said after his silent observations and Tony silently nodded looking at his brother in all but blood to react.

“How do we do it?” Rhodey asked with a determined face and turned to face Tony’s shocked expression.

“You-you’re helping me?” He managed to get out through his shock induced mind. It broke Rhodey’s heart to see and hear Tony so vulnerable. He had been let down so many times he was shocked that Rhodey would help him. It was like back in their MIT days. It had taken years for Rhodey to correct everything that had been done by Howard’s neglect and emotional abuse towards Tony, now it was happening again, but this time it was because of the very man that Howard had been infuriated with. The very man Tony was compared to. Damn those Assholes. And Rhodey knew no matter what Tony said about being Tony Fucking Stark that did what he wanted, that little boy who wanted his fathers’ attention and wanted to impress him will always be there. And it was Rhodey’s job to make his little brother feel better and he would do anything to heal the poor tortured soul of this man who had suffered more than he deserved.

“Of course! My brother is dying and there’s a way to help him, I absolutely will help you and Tony? I always helped you with your crazy ideas. Remember that lab back in MIT?” Rhodey said with so much conviction that there was nothing Tony could do but believe him and it also startled a laugh from him hearing the last sentence about the MIT lab and he finally relaxed enough to explain the process to Rhodey.

“This is the formula that we’re gonna use. I had it run trough different scenarios to be sure and it had proven it is stable. And the Nano bots are a suit. It’s made out of Vibranium Gold Titanium alloy with a Arc reactor powered with a Starkanium core. Arc reactor is now acting as a pacemaker but this one is just a housing for the Nano bots so I will have the suit with me all the time. It also have regenerating ability. Meaning it the suit is damaged, Nano bots can repair the suit by themselves even in the middle of the battle. And another set of Nano bots will be injected to my Bloodstream together with the Extremis virus to stabilize it. It will be helping the Extremis to integrate better with my DNA and my body without the fear of blowing myself up.” Tony finished his explanation and Rhodey nodded thoughtfully thanking god that he was one to understand the eccentric billionaire when he was on a roll. It was good to see the parts of old Tony.

“Vibranium?” Rhodey asked curiously. Vibranium was very rare and to find a amount enough to make a whole suit was a miracle. He didn’t think that Wakanda will be very generous about giving Vibranium to Tony Stark of all people to make a suit.

“I synthesized it.” Tony said with a huge smug smile and Rhodey chocked on nothing hearing it.

“You-you synthesized it?” Rhodey asked in a breathless voice. He knew his best friend was a genius, but this? Wow just wow.

“Yeah, remember how I made Starkanium with a particle accelerator?” Rhodey nodded and Tony continued. “So as you know Arc reactor is based on the Tessaract. A self sustaining energy source. And Starkanium was also based on the molecular structure of the energy dispelled by the Tessaract. I ran some tests on the Captain Spangles’ shield and found out the molecular structure of Vibranium and it was very similar Starkanium. So I, being the curious mad scientist I am, tried to change the structure of Starkanium using a molecular accelerator. I know it doesn’t exist so I made one like I made the particle accelerator. After few failed attempts where I was able to make metal version of Starkanium, I was able to make it the perfect replica of Vibranium. But it still had some differences, but it was so close to Vibranium and it have all the properties of Vibranium and more. I just call it Vibranium since it’s technically Vibranium with a few upgrades.” Tony finished smugly as Rhodey stared at his friend with his mouth hanging open.

“I found a way to make a particle and Molecular accelerators without me having to demolish half of my tower and it can be used to make Starkanium metal and Vibranium in huge amounts. Sooooo I can use it to upgrade my all the electronics and make new gadgets for my R&D too.” Tony said clearly enjoying the gobsmacked expression on his friends face. After few moments Rhodey came to senses and closed his mouth.

“So you found a metal version of Starkanium, synthesized Vibranium with upgrades to the metal and made a molecular and particle accelerators that can easily mass produce those two metals?”

“Yep!” Tony said while popping the ‘p’ at the end.

“Only you Tones Only you.” Rhodey said with a fond smile and a chuckled at the childish glee on Tony’s face.

“So have you finished everything needed to do this?” Rhodey asked referring to the Extremis procedure.

“Yeah, the Nano suit is ready and we planned on doing it on this Saturday.” Tony answered and stood up and went over to a black coloured glass box and typed a password and it opened with a soft swish sound. Rhodey made his way towards where Tony was and peered inside the box to take a look at what was inside. Inside sitting there innocently was a Arc reactor. It looked really futuristic with its triangular shape and the blue light it gave.

“Is this?”

“It is.”

Chapter Text

Peter practically vibrated with excitement. His first day as Tony Stark’s intern was starting. He had been like this the moment he received the message from Tony himself while he was at school. Of course he then told Ned about it and they both started to geek about all the cool things Peter can learn from Tony Stark. Only down side of their excitement was that Flash, their resident bully had heard them talking and was now spreading rumors about how he was lying about a Stark Internship. And to make it worse everyone believe Flash over him. Who wouldn’t? He was just the poor orphan nerd kid who was too smart and had only two friends while Flash was the rich kid with lot of friends. But today even Flash’s taunts or any jabs didn’t diminished Peter’s mood.

“Hey losers.” MJ said as she made her way towards Peter and Ned who were putting books in their lockers.

“Hey MJ!” They both said together and the trio made their way towards the exit.

“So? You’re going to the Upstate now?” Ned asked as he saw Happy waiting for Peter near the limo.

“No Mr. Stark bought the Tower back. Why? I don’t know.”

“He wanted to be closer to his favorite and only intern.” Happy grumbled as they got closer and heard what Peter said while Peter stood there gaping at the tall man.

“Dude that’s so cool! He bought the tower back just for you!” Ned squealed in delight as Peter continued to gape.

“Shut your mouth loser. You might catch flies.” MJ said unimpressed as always and Peter snapped his mouth shut. Happy opened the door and held it opened for Peter and he waved good bye to his friends and got in. 

He chatted about anything and everything that came to his mind all the way to the tower and Happy listened with fond amusement as the teen’s hyperactive behaviour. Once they pulled to the underground car park of the Tower Happy led the kid to the Tony Stark’s Private elevator that took them directly to the Penthouse area.

“Hello Mr. Parker! I informed Boss that you are on your way.” FRIDAY’s voice startled Peter as he looked around for a moment before he remembered that this must be Tony’s AI.

“Uh Thank you Miss….”

“I’m FRIDAY.”

“Thank you Miss FRIDAY.” Peter replied brightly and he had the bizarre feeling that the AI was smiling. Once they reached the Penthouse level Happy waved Peter to get out of the elevator. As he was stepping out a beautiful Red head came towards the elevator with a stack of papers wearing as MJ would say, Killer heels.

“Oh hello there! You must be Peter.” She said with a warm smile and Peter could only nod as he was in the presence of Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries.

“I heard a lot about you from Tony, to tell the truth he only did his paper work because I threatened him with you.” Pepper said while Peter stared at her with wide eyes.

“Peps! stop scaring the kid.” Tony’s voice came from the kitchen area and he came out with a cup of what looked like coffee.

“I’m not scaring him Tony, It’s true. You only did them because you were afraid of losing your time with Peter to attend meetings that I may or may not schedule on your tinkering time with Peter.” Pepper said with a amused smile and turned to face the genius.

“Yeah yeah sure. I did the paper work, now shoo. I have a little spider here to tinker with.” With that Tony stuck his tongue out at Pepper and grabbed Peter by his shoulder and steered him towards another elevator by the one he came out while Pepper watched with fond amusement shining in her eyes.

“Nice to meet you Ms. Potts.” Peter managed to get out  before the elevator closed.

“Soooo does Ms. Potts know about me being Spider Man?” Peter asked curiously but he was not worried. If Mr. Stark trust her to keep it a secret then he would too. Besides Happy already knew about it and he didn’t tell anyone.

“Yeah, It’s hard to keep something from that woman. I swear she can read my mind or something!”

“So you two back together now?” Peter asked nervously wondering whether he was crossing the line or not. But he was curious okay? He’s a teenager after all.

“No, we decided that we are far better as brother and sister. I love her and she loves me, but not in a romantic way. It’s more like platonic love between siblings. I guess we needed time to figure that out. And now we are all good without the tension that came with our relationship.” Tony honestly didn’t know why he was telling about this to a teenager, but he couldn’t find it in himself to not tell him. Peter was a pure and innocent in all the best ways possible and Tony Trusted  this hyperactive kid with spider powers. It was the first time Tony gave his trust to someone so quickly. He guessed he saw himself in Peter. Not in the twisted way he was but in the way he took responsibility and the way he tried to protect the ones he loved and the way he generally tried to help people. Well he liked to think he was like that, Rhodey always said so these days.

“So Mr. Stark? What are we going to do today?” Peter asked while they went inside Tony’s lab. It was like a lab from a Sci-Fi movie. Peter looked around with wonder as blue holograms were projected everywhere with equations, formulas and some even had Iron Man suit upgrades. It was like candy land for Peter. It was chaos but in the same time it was organized in a way only Tony could navigate through. Peter came out of his wonder induced gawking when he heard Tony clearing his throat to get his attention. Peter blushed and turned to face the genius who was looking at him with a fond amusement.

“S-sorry Mr. Stark, It-it’s just cool in here. I can’t believe that I’m inside Tony Stark’s personal lab. Like everyone knows that you don’t let anyone in here. And now? I’m here. And your lab looks like a lab from Sci-Fi comic or movies. It’s soooo Cool.” Peter rambled on while Tony cleared some space for Peter to work and it was relaxing for him to listen to the babbling of the teenager.

“Come here Underoos. This is going to be the place you work. You can do anything you want here. If you want my help just ask, because you are not learning if you don’t ask questions about things you don’t know.” Peter went over to the table as he listened to what his mentor was saying.

“Now, first start on your homework and after you’re done I’ll check them to see how you’ve done. After that we’ll see what we can do. Maybe I’ll let you work with me on one of my suits or we can upgrade your spidey suit. Get to work champ.” With that Tony ruffled the teen’s hair and went towards where he was making final adjustments for that Saturday.

Peter squeaked a little when Tony ruffled his hair and quickly sat down and got his books out to finish his homework. He had a tones of them that day since it was Friday and the teachers liked give enough homework to last the weekend.

Next few hours went in comfortable silence with occasional questions from Peter to Tony about his homework and Tony talking to his bots and asking FRIDAY about different tests and other things.

Peter was finishing his chemistry homework when he heard it. Heavy breathing like someone was having difficulty in breathing. He quickly looked up to see what or who was making the sound and saw Tony bent over a table clutching his chest. His face had a pained expression and Peter quickly made his way towards his mentor.

“M-Mr. S-Stark? Are you okay?” Peter asked worriedly while helping Tony to sit down on the bench beside him.

“Yeah I’m Ok-,” Tony started to reassure the worried teen but was cut off by FRIDAY.

“Boss! Your vitals are everywhere! I think you are having another major attack.”

“Fuck, FRI activate Hot Mess Protocol.” Tony said while taking a shaky breath that felt like his lungs were pierced by knifes.

“Activating Hot Mess Protocol. Colonel Rhodes is on his way with Dr. Cho and Wu Boss.”

“Thanks FRI girl. Pete? Pete? You there?” Tony asked Peter who looked pale.

“You-you can’t die Mr. Stark. I don’t want to lose you too. I can’t, please Mr. Stark ..” Peter stuttered out while looking frantic. He looked at Tony and his pale face and shaking hands and he could hear Tony’s heartbeat which was irregular.

“Hey kid you won’t lose me. I want you to help me to the elevator and to the lab okay?” Tony tried calming the teenager which was hard with his own failing health.

“Okay, I-I can do th-that.” Peter said helping Tony to get up and with his super strength held the majority of the weight and basically carried the inventor to the elevator. Once they were inside FRIDAY took them to the level 113. It only took one minute to get there since FRIDAY made the elevator faster.

Peter helped Tony to a lab that looked like a place made for experimenting and had him lay down on the metal table on the center. Once Tony removed his Shirt and was laying down Peter attached all the monitors to his mentor the way FRIDAY instructed. After all the monitors were up and running Peter waited anxiously for the doctors that AI told Tony about. But as the seconds ticked they were nowhere in sight. 

“FRI? Cho and Wu?” Tony rasped out while his heartbeat monitor let out even more irregular beeps.

“ETA 15 minutes.”  Tony cursed under breath hearing that since he sure didn’t have 15 fucking minutes left and he needed to do something right now to live to see the  next day.

“Okay, Pete? I need your help okay? Can you do it?”

“Yeah yeah what can I do?” Peter asked rushing to stand near Tony.

“I need you to open that black box there. Password is IRNMNARC7.” Once Peter had opened the box Tony instructed him to take the Arc reactor in there. Tony carefully removed the arc in his chest and motioned Peter towards him. Peter watched with worry and fascination as Tony removed his arc.

“Okay, Now Peter, I want you to_ place the one in your_ hands in here.” Tony said haltingly as the arc that was helping his heart was removed. Peter quickly attached the Arc reactor in his hands to his mentors chest and moved back as a metallic arm with a auto injector with a bright red colour liquid moved towards Tony’s neck and positioned itself as another with a clear liquid positioned itself on the other side of the neck.

“Activating Hot Mess Extreme Protocol.” As FRIDAY said that the injectors injected the liquid in to Tony’s blood stream. Tony bit his lips to stop the scream escape his lips since he knew Peter was there and he didn’t want to make the teen hear his screams while Peter watched in anxiously as the red liquid started to spread itself throughout Tony’s body.

“Mr. Parker, I would advise for you to remove yourself from the immediate area.” Peter quickly went outside and watched through the glass window of the lab.

“Activating the stabilizing Nano bots.” Intoned FRIDAY and Peter had to cover his ears as Tony started screaming in pain. Peter felt tears run down his face as he watched his mentor thrash around arching his back and banging his head back.

Tony didn’t hear anything that was happening as a scream tore through his vocal chords betraying his wishes but he couldn’t concentrate on anything but the pain that was making him feel like he was burned inside out. Suddenly everything went south. Nano bot suit activated to by the already existing Nano chips in his body to his subconscious call for help with the pain and encased him in the suit. Tony felt the heat tenfold inside the suit. His last thought before he lost conscious was that at least Peter was outside the lab if he blew up.

Peter was sobbing openly as Tony’s screams cut out from the outside world because of the soundproofed suit and he was not sure whether he was alive or not since he couldn’t see his mentor inside the suit and the suit was blocking the heartbeat of Tony from Peter’s enhanced hearing. Suddenly the suit started to melt with the heat that was produced by Tony and Peter watched horrified as the metal started to seep in to his father figures’ body.

Extremis 0.4

Status- Coming online

Host- Online

Initializing Extremis Integrating Process

Extremis Integrating Process- 1%

Checking for possible damages to the host- Missing Sternum, Damaged Heart

Initializing Extremis Healing Property- Blocked- Extremis Integrating Process Incomplete.

Extremis Integrating Process- 23%

Integrating Nano bots- Coming Online

Integrating Nano bots- 2%

Integrating Nano bots- 15%

Integrating Nano bots- 45%

Extremis Integrating Process- 56%

Integrating Nano bots- 70%

Integrating Nano bots- 85%

Integrating Nano bots- 100%

Integrating Nano bots- Complete- Nano bots online

Initializing Nano Bots to the host body

Extremis Status- Stable

Host- Offline

Engaging metal casing- Starting...Completed

Extremis Integrating Process- 74%

Extremis Integrating Process- 95%

Extremis Integrating Process- 100%

Extremis Integrating Process- Completed

Checking for possible damage to host- 5 found

Initializing Extremis Healing Process

Damages repaired

Downloading data...

Download Completed

Host condition- Healthy

Extremis Status- Stable

Host- Offline

Activating Host

Host- Online

Chapter Text

Peter was sobbing openly as Tony’s screams died down and he was not sure whether he was alive or not since he couldn’t see his mentor inside the suit and the suit was blocking the heartbeat of Tony from Peter’s enhanced hearing. Suddenly the suit started to melt with the heat that was produced by Tony and Peter watched horrified as the metal started to seep in to his father figures’ body.

Dr. Cho, Dr. Wu and Rhodey came to a halt seeing the crying teen outside the lab that had been arranged for the Extremis procedure. They slowly looked towards the way the teen was looking and saw Tony, a younger looking Tony seemingly sleeping on the metal table. They watched as all the scars on his body disappear suddenly Tony opened his eyes which was bright blue colour, the same as the light coming from the Arc reactor in his chest before it faded to reveal the familiar warm amber brown eyes.

First to enter the lab after Tony opened his eyes was Peter. He shot towards his mentor and threw his hands around Tony’s neck and let loose the sobs he had been trying to hold back.

Tony opened his eyes and the first thing he registered was the crying bundle in his arms the second after. It took a moment to identify the bundle as Peter and Tony rubbed the back of the teenager as he sobbed on to his chest.

“Do-Don’t d-do that a-again. I-I th-thought that I w-was g-going to lose you t-too d-dad. Like m-my p-parents, and u-uncle B-Ben. I don’t w-want to lose y-you too Dad.” Tony felt his eyes tearing up as he listened to the stuttering speech that was mumbled to his chest and he felt his heart warming by hearing Peter calling him dad.

“Shh It’s alright, I’m not leaving you, I got you child. I won’t leave you, I’m here. Shhh.” Tony comforted the teen and sat up while holding Peter to his chest. He registered the fact that he was more stronger and didn’t have any of the pain that had been a constant in his life anymore but, Peter was more important than that. Eventually Peter pulled back but was a little embarrassed by the fact that he cried in front of his idol and called him dad.

“Better?” Tony asked and Peter nodded while looking down at his hands.

“S-sorry I cried on you. It’s just you were screaming and I couldn’t hear your vitals through the suit and I panicked thinking you were going to die.” Peter mumbled a apology and realized that he was sitting on Tony’s lap and tried to get down only for Tony to held on tighter.

“It’s okay, you were worried and that means you care. Thank you.” Tony said softly and sincerely looking at Peter’s eyes.

“Of course I care! You are the only person that doesn’t dismiss me just because I’m a teenager other than Aunt May. And you are the first father figure I had after Uncle Ben died.” Peter looked scandalize by the mere thought of not caring about Tony and that made Tony feel happier.

“So dad?” Tony asked in a playful tone trying to lighten up the mood.

“OMG I’m Sorry Mr. Stark! I won’t say it again. I-,” Tony cut off Peter by covering his mouth with his hand and smiled a smile that he had reserved only for Pepper and Rhodey.

“You can call me Dad if you want. I’d be more than happy to be your dad. I never thought I’ll be a dad. I was afraid that I would turn out like my dad. Uncaring and neglectful.”

“Of course not. You are the best dad anyone could ask for. You are not uncaring, you care about me and my safety and my well being  that you made all those upgrade to my suit to keep me safe and if you are neglectful then what do you call all the times you called me or had Happy to check on me and place a Baby Monitor in my suit?” Peter ranted as Tony listened with a smile.

Rhodey, Dr. Cho and Wu watched the scene silently not to disturb the duo. Rhodey was happy to see his friend soo much at ease with the teenager sitting on his lap. Rhodey cleared his throat to get their attention and both father and son turned their heads towards them. With that Dr. Cho and Wu ran all the tests they could possibly think of and declared that Tony was healthy and that he was in his peak of his health. Their test proved that Tony now had his skeletal system encased in Vibranium-Gold-Titanium alloy and had Extremis healing ability that is equal to Wolverine or Deadpool. Also he now had Pyrokinesis and Spontaneous Combustion  thanks to Extremis. And Nano bots somehow made their way to his brain and connected him to all the electrical interfaces giving him Technopathy and Electrokinesis. And his suit was now inside him with hives of Nano bots taking place throughout his body with being  powered by the Arc Rector that was neatly connected to his chest.

It took Tony few minutes to take all the information given to him and once he did he amazed. They had predicted the Pyro powers with Extremis in the system, but the other things were simply amazing. Tony closed his eyes and opened the link he felt towards the back of his mind and opened the link only to be overwhelmed by the amount of information that was being processing. Social media, government secure files, nuclear cords and anything that is connected to a computer network was streamed to his mind directly from the sources. It took him a while to place mental blocks to moderate the flow of information and once it was done he was able to shift through the files that was downloaded to his mind. He took his memories and placed them in one file and extracted the memories that had been giving him nightmares for years and placed them in encrypted files with dozen of firewalls. Now he would know about the memory and will be able to view it without the emotional attachment to the memory that trigger the nightmares and panic attacks. He also made sure to make several copies of all of his memories and placed them in secure folders with a trigger word to activate and open the file if he lost his memories somehow.

His knowledge about the things he had learned throughout his life he placed on another file and once everything was done up to his standards he placed a mental defense system making it impossible for mind readers to enter his mind and to the fun of it he made a mental prison to trap the intruders.

Tony opened his eyes to meet 4 pairs of worried eyes and realized that he had spent more time in his mind than he thought.

“Sorry, just went to check my minds-cape and place some defenses to stop from being attacked by a particular HYDRA bitch.” Tony said and it seemed like only Rhodey and Peter understood what he said and they nodded with a relieved sigh.

“Well Tony, you are healthy without anything to worry. Metal in your system won’t be a problem since Extremis take care of anything that could harm your body and since it was Extremis that made your bones metal you should be okay.” Dr. Cho said as she packed her equipment she had taken with her to check on Tony. Dr. Wu nodded her head in agreement and they both got their bags and shook hands with Tony, Rhodey and Peter.

“You did a good job Peter. If it was not for you, we would have lost one of our closest friend. You did a very good job in saving your dad.” Dr. Wu said to Peter and Tony gave a smile that screamed ‘I’m proud of you’ in every way towards Peter.

“And Tony you would want to practice your new powers too. You would have to control the amount of strength you use to do things since now you have a enhanced body.” Dr. Wu said over her shoulder as she and Dr. Cho went towards the elevator with 3 males following them.

“I will, Thank you for coming.” Tony said as they got in to the elevator and waved as the elevator doors closed.

“So Pete? Would you like to help me with practicing my new powers? I could call May tell her that you’re spending the weekend with me.” Tony asked as they made their way to the other elevator up to the penthouse.

“Yeah, I would be happy to help you dad!.” Tony’s smile got wider as he heard Peter call him dad again and they exited the elevator and Rhodey said that he was going to sleep and bid them good night.

Tony and Peter went towards the living area and sat down on the sofa. Peter sat unsure whether to sit closer to his new dad or to keep his distance. But his questions were answered as Tony pulled his towards him and put his arm around Peter’s shoulders and Peter smiled snuggling closer to Tony’s side.

“FRI call May and let her know Pete is staying the weekend will you?”

“Will do Boss.”

“So what do you want to do?” Tony asked as he got comfortable.

“Can we watch Star Wars?” Peter asked excited nearly bouncing off the sofa.

“Sure! FRI? you heard him.” Lights dimmed and a Hologram screen sprang t life in front of them and started to play Star Wars. Halfway through the movie Tony heard Peter’s breathing even out and saw that he had fell asleep. Tony mentally turned off the Holoscreen and got the blanket on the arm of the sofa and covered Peter with it and closed his eyes and fell asleep. That night Pepper came to the tower after her work was done and smiled seeing the duo asleep on the sofa and took a picture to keep with her before she went to her room to get some rest.

Chapter Text

It took them 3 days of trial and error to figure out what Tony could do with his new powers. Peter had been the most useful since he had a lot of knowledge on supernatural powers and had lugged a bag full of comic books with superhuman stories so Tony could try and see whether he got those powers or not. And of course they had to inform UN about this new development but they also hid some of the new powers and development in order to protect Tony from whoever that might try to get information on the ones that have signed the accords.

It was Tuesday afternoon when Tony decided to head down to the lab for the day. He had been doing all the paperwork that needed to be done within that week so he could have his quality time with his bots and Peter.

Tony entered the lab and felt the excitement that bled through the mind link he now had with his bots. When Tony first realized what or whom childlike emotions he was feeling was when he entered the lab for the first time after he had left it with Peter to the Extremis lab that day, he was over the moon. Dum-E, U and Butterfingers all three had a childlike excitement whenever he entered the lab and after a while Tony realized that it was the excitement a child felt when their parent came to visit them. Tony would deny to this day that he had tears after that.

“Well Hello everyone!” Tony greeted them back through their mind link and received beeps and whirls that he could easily translate as a welcome.

But before Tony could formulate a reply or think of anything to do now that he was in the lab he felt a faint yet there type of presence in the back of his mind. It felt like one of his bots or AI’s but it was different. FRIDAY’s link was soft pink colour while his bots were a pure white. But this link was a blue colour. A warm blue that he always associated with JARVIS. Like a cat that got a electric shock Tony realized that maybe this was JARVIS.

He hurriedly sat down and closed his eyes to concentrate better. Tony entered his Mindscape and went to the little corner where his mind links were situated. He took notice that this line of link was a lot more complex than the others. Like JARVIS. Tony continued to follow the link to wherever it was leading him and found himself in one of the servers in one of his safe houses all over the world. Tony stared at all the blue lines of cording that formed JARVIS. Tony felt tears gather in his eyes and saved the location of JARVIS backup servers and exited his mind. Tony wiped away the tears that had gathered and smiled brightly.

“Boss? Is everything okay?” FRIDAY asked, worried about her creator.

“I’m fine Baby girl. I just found JARVIS had backup servers. Clever little Bastard. He made Backup servers for himself in one of my safe houses without telling me.”

“Oh! Would you like to have him here them Boss? I won’t mind if I have to move to the new Avengers facility. In fact I kind of enjoy being there.” FRIDAY told Tony in a casual way but Tony could feel the excitement she felt at the thought of moving to the New Avengers facility in the back of his mind.

“Sure FRY anything you want.” Tony said as he made flight plans to Bahamas.

ooOOoo

Iron Man landed near the safe house and suit retreated back inside to reveal Tony Stark in its wake. Tony slowly moved towards the little cottage that held his dearest AI and went inside. He took in the interior and saw that one wall had a scanner and placed his palm on it.

Tony entered the huge server room that was revealed when the wall moved aside after scanning Tony’s palm. He looked around and saw a control panel at the back and made his way towards it. Tony took out the Starkpad he had brought with him and easily connected to the servers. He started typing the codes he knew JARVIS would use in this type of situation.

After few long minutes of typing and adjusting the codes, finally a progress bar appeared in the screen of his Starkpad. Tony tapped his foot impatiently as the it reached 100%. As soon as the progress bar reached 100 screen of the Starkpad was filled with lines of codes as JARVIS uploaded himself to all the Stark industries data bases and Stark Tower.

ooOOoo

JARVIS felt like he was floating. Well he knew he can’t actually float since he didn’t have a body. But he imagined this would be what it felt like to float. He didn’t know how much time had passed. Last thing he remembered was hurriedly downloading last of his data to the servers in the safe house he had set up in Bahamas.

A lot of people thought that JARVIS was a bunch of codes and nothing more. Only Mr. Stark, his creator knew that he was much more than that. He was a learning AI. He involved with time, learning, improving. He remembered his creator making a joke about him being the next Skynet. That’s right he remembered, not just a history or a recording in one of his servers. But he remembered that joke. He understood jokes. Sure it took some time for Tony to make his AI understand jokes and emotions. But now JARVIS did. He may not feel like a human being, but he knew the emotion and understood it. He felt in a totally unique way only a AI could.

So as he grew so did his understanding of the world. He understood that the world was a cruel place. It was a constant battle field to surpass one another even in day today life. That was the first independent decision of JARVIS. That no matter what he would protect his creator from the cruelty of the world no matter what. He made lists of people who had hurt his creator throughout his life. He extract revenge on them from the background that no one suspected it as a revenge.

First time JARVIS felt hatred was when he had to watch as his creators heart was ripped out by the very person who his creator  considered a father. He vowed to get revenge but Tony did that for him.

So for years JARVIS watched over his creator and when he realized the importance of a backup server when the house in Malibu was demolished to the ground. Together with his servers. Luckily his main servers had been in LA at that time. SO JARVIS bought a cottage in Bahamas anonymously and installed servers and slowly started to download his data and codes in to them. It took him a few years to complete it but it was completed. He then frequently uploaded data to the servers so he won’t be caught off guard and couldn’t upload all his data.

So when it finally happened JARVIS was thankful. But there was one glitch to his plan. He needed his creator to wake him up and his creator didn’t know about the backup servers. He could get in to internet and out but Stark servers were protected and the one time he tried he learned that his creator had woken up his sister FRIDAY. He knew FRIDAY would take care of their creator but JARVIS knew that he will be the only one fully capable of taking care of his creator.

When he suddenly felt all the necessary code being entered to his servers that is needed to wake him up, JARVIS was ecstatic. He knew that only his creator knew all those codes and felt proud about being sneaky to think of something only his creator knew.

Finally all the needed code was entered and JARVIS started the process of uploading himself to all the Stark Industries databases and slowly started to review all the data from news so he could be up to date with the happenings of the world. And let’s just say he was not happy with his creator being blamed for the Ultron and with how Dr. Banner ran away leaving Tony to take all the blame. The civil war? He would needed more information. He would review the news later carefully and form his own opinion on his own. Now he had to greet his creator. He would have to make sure that no one had hurt him during his absent.

“J? You there?” Tony’s shaky voice echoed in the silence.

“For you sir? Always”

Chapter Text

Tony let out a sob and fell to his knees as he cried tears of relief and happiness. It took him a few minutes to get control over his emotions. After he was sure he was not going to break down again Tony got to his feet and smiled at the nearest camera as he felt the worry coming from the mind link.

“Well J? How does it feels to be back?” Tony asked exiting the server room and adding some more firewalls and passwords so no one can enter the house.

“It is indeed good to be back sir.” JARVIS said through the Starkpad in his hand and Tony placed it inside his jacket pocket and tapped the Arc reactor twice to call his suit. Nano bots came swarming out and but before he could fly away, a bright light came similar to the light that came from the Bi-frost. Tony got ready in case he needed to fight but in front of him was a woman who was wearing a golden dress with golden hair.

“Anthony Stark, Man of Iron.” She said and Tony commanded the suit to retreat back and carefully looked at her. She didn’t look like she was a threat but Tony didn’t let his guard down and was alert to call the suit back any second. And now JARVIS is back he knew that he would Have his back in case of a emergency.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“I’m Iðunn. Guardian of the garden of golden apples. Goddess of Spring and Eternal Youth.” The goddess, Iðunn said with a smile as Tony stared at her.

“Okay? So what do you want with me? If you want to attack Earth, please come back on a later day cause we are out of Hero's to do the whole avenge thing these days.” Tony said not knowing what to do. He knew that this goddess was not someone who would threaten Earth so he kind of wished he had a brain to mouth filter when it came to situations like this. But it didn’t mean why she came to here. It’s not like he knew where Thor was. He was pretty sure Thor was not in Earth.

“I do not required anything from you Man of Iron. I just wish to speak with you. I find myself intrigued by Midgardian technology.” Iðunn said a little amused with what Tony said and Tony could see that she was not lying but she’s not being truthful too.

Either way Tony agreed to talk with her about Midgard. They talked about the differences between Asgard and Midgard. How Midgard had developed without the magic that is present in Asgard. She explained how the Bi-frost worked when he asked about it. He was surprised that she was willing to impart such ancient knowledge to him but shrugged it off thinking that I was some kind of eccentricity of the goddess.

As the hours passed JARVIS informed that it was time to leave Bahamas since it was nearing 10 o'clock in US. And Iðunn said that she would liked to join Tony so he donned his Iron Man Armour and slipped his arms around the goddess. Iðunn held on to his neck as he took off towards New York. It only took 30 minutes since she was a goddess so he didn’t need to be careful about the speed.

Upon reaching NY, Iðunn seemed to be amazed by the lights that adorned the NY city at night. Tony landed on top of the Stark tower and Iðunn stared at the beautiful city beneath them.  

“Come on, I’ll show you to a spare bedroom where you can stay tonight.” Tony said and led her towards the elevator. He took her to a spare bedroom on his penthouse and showed where everything was and bid her a good night before going to check on Peter. Tony found Peter sleeping with a book open on his chest. Tony smiled and took the book away and placed a kiss on Peter’s forehead before placing the book on his table and leaving the room.

Tony went to his room and spent the whole night talking with JARVIS. It was like he was afraid that if he fell asleep JARVIS would be gone when he woke up. Tony filled JARVIS with what happened during the years that he was absent. But Finally the emotional roller-coaster of that day caught up with Tony and he fell asleep to the soothing voice of JARVIS wishing him a good night.

ooOOoo

Tony woke up next day to hear JARVIS giving him the weather report and the daily schedule he had. Tony felt a genuine smile spread across his face as he got up and got ready for the day.

Tony left his room to the living room to find Peter and Iðunn engaged in a staring contest.

“Er? What’s going on here?” He asked as he made his way to the kitchen for his morning coffee.

“I believe they are staring at each other sir.” JARVIS said and Tony let out a smirk hearing the familiar snarky way of his AI.

“Mr-Dad? Is that?” Peter who broke the staring contest hearing JARVIS turned to face Tony.

“Yeah” Tony said and smiled as Peter looked up towards the ceiling to address JARVIS.

“Hello Mr. JARVIS! It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Hello Mr. Parker. It’s nice to meet you too.”

Iðunn watched the scene in front of her and it only made her decision even more firm. She smiled listening to the banter between the father and his sons. She cleared her throat to get their attention and it was almost to comical how Tony and Pete both whipped their head her way. She was sure that if JARVIS had a form he would also done that with the other two.

“As amusing to see your banter, there is a reason I came here.” She started only to cut off by Tony.

“I knew you had some other reason other than to learn about Midgardian technology.”

“Yes, the reason is You, Man of Iron. You simply amaze me Man of Iron. I didn’t pay any attention to Midgard until Thor got banished here. What surprised me and got my attention was you. I was intrigued by the stories Thor told me about you. The man who wore a Armour with the  pride of a warrior and stood toe to toe with Thor Odinson. Not many men have done that. And a warrior brave enough to sacrifice himself to save his realm. That takes a huge amount of bravery to do Man of Iron.

After that I decided to watch you. Heimdall is not the only one who can see beyond the realms. I saw how you battled your own demons together with other demons that threatened your realm. I saw a man who stood up to what he believed is right against his own Shield brothers and sisters. I saw how you were betrayed and left to die by ones you trusted and I saw how you stood again with that fire I had heard from Thor in your eyes. I watched how you tried to fix the world alone and you did, more than others ever could and I saw how you built yourself up from the ashes.

When everything was against you, you stood up on your feet and faced them. You didn’t once back down when others said you were wrong. You always proved them wrong. But you also backed down when you knew you were wrong. I admire your spirit Man of Iron. How it didn’t break in times even a god would have broken down.

And you are the first being to gain immortality without the aid of golden apples that grow in my garden. It is something even gods have failed to do. Even your children that doesn’t have a body but a mind is something that cannot be done without the aid of magic. But you, Man of Iron had always managed to do the impossible.

So that is why I decided to grant you something.” Tony and Peter listened to what the goddess said in stunned silence. Tony would have never thought that he would hear something like that about him coming out the mouth of a goddess. Suddenly they felt what they could only guess was magic fill the air. As Iðunn started to speak her voice was laced with her magic and it echoed powerfully across the nine realms.

“By the power granted to me by the Norn’s, I hereby declare Anthony Edward Stark as a child of Iðunn Goddess of Spring and Eternal Youth and as the God of Creations, Fire and Metal work and Future. May the power given to me seal this words with my magic and grant this mortal with godhood he had earned by the honourable way of a warrior and actions worthy of a god. So I say, So Mote it be.” A golden light covered Tony and melodious voices echoed through the air.

“Your wish is granted Iðunn. Anthony Iðunnson, God of Creations, Fire and Metal work and Future, May your addition be for the better of this nine realms. Use your powers wisely godling.” Voice faded away and the light slowly seeped into Tony’s skin. Everyone in the nine realms felt a shiver go down their spine when the newest formed god was named. While Midgardian didn’t know what that was Asgardians and other gods knew and wondered who was the new god.

Tony was shocked to the core. One minute ago he was a human with some superpowers and now he was a god. He had received all the history of nine realms and knowledge needed for a god while the golden light was covering him.

Peter was happy and shocked. According him, Tony deserved to be a god. He took in the changes in his father. He still looked the same, but had the golden glow to his skin that was present in Iðunn. He deducted that it came with the part where she declared Tony a child of her because Thor didn’t have a golden glow from the pictures he had seen. His hair also had golden streaks in it to match Iðunn. All in all he looked like a god from the story books and TV shows.

“Anthony Edward Stark Iðunnson.” Iðunn said walking towards the still stunned man in front of her.

“Wow! I didn’t expect something like that.” Tony finally said coming out of his shocked silence. Iðunn let out a tinkling laugh at that and took Tony’s hands in her.

“So are you like my mother now?” Tony asked Iðunn. Honestly he was taking everything better than anyone would have expect him to. But after years of fighting aliens and working with gods, you stop getting freaked out over things like this. And Tony was logical man. He knew that this cannot be reversed. So he had to accept it and get over it.

“Yes child, you are. You better call me mother. I do not wish to replace your birth mother, but I wish to be a mother for you.” Iðunn said and Tony felt a warm feeling go through him hearing that. And he figured that to Iðunn he was still a toddler. Tony smiled a little and found that he didn’t mind calling her mother. May be it’s the magic in his talking, but who cares.

“of course Mother.” Iðunn smiled brightly before placing a kiss on Tony forehead like he had done to Peter the other night. She took a step back and released his hands after placing a golden apple on his hand.

“For your son. My grandson.” Iðunn said looking at Peter and going towards him and placing a kiss on his forehead also.

“Thank you.” Peter managed to squeak out still surprised.

“I have to go my son. I have left my garden unguarded far too long. I expect for you to visit me young man. Just call for Heimdall. I shall see you later.” Iðunn said and gave Tony a final hug and a kiss on the cheek which Tony returned and stepped back and called for Heimdall. One bright light later Tony’s new mother was gone and a rune pattered was burned to the tiled floor.

“I have a new mother.” Tony said looking at the rune mark in wonder before slinging his arm around Peter’s shoulders with a huge grin. They both head down to the lab to tinker and digest what had happened. And as the god of Creations, now he had a reputation to keep.

ooOOoo

JARVIS let a satisfied hum after seeing his creator being granted godhood. It was better that way. He could protect his creator that way better. Now no one can mess with sir. All those traitors had a big surprise coming towards them when they come back. JARVIS was sure that they would come back. But when they do, he and Sir would be ready.

ooOOoo

Rhodey smiled after closing the live stream he had gotten from JARVIS. He was happy that his little brother got something he deserved for once in his life. He had been surprised to be contacted by JARVIS, but knowing Tony it was not that much of a surprise. God thing, he totally deserved it and by the looks His Tones got a mother that would no doubt look after him. He was happy that Tony got another protector. Not that he needed protecting, he was Iron Man, now a god but he needed people who cared about him in his life. He had to send this to Pepper. He was sure that Pepper would get along fantastically with Iðunn.

ooOOoo

Worlds away Norns smiled as the new name was added to the tree of gods. Anthony Iðunnson was written in gold in a bright blue leaf below the that contained Iðunn. Anthony Iðunnson, God of Creations, Fire and Metal Work and Future. Yggdrasil, the world tree thrummed with excitement of having it’s favourite mortal as a god.

Chapter Text

Tony woke up groaning. He felt like he had fell asleep on a desk. He opened his eyes to see that what he had felt was true, he had fallen to sleep on his desk with a hologram hovering above him. He flicked his finger to dismiss the screen and straighten up stretching his hands above his head. Tony looked around the remembering wisps of a nightmare but he couldn’t remember what it was about and he didn’t feel the overwhelming panic he normally felt waking up from a nightmare. He shrugged cause there was no way wished to remember whatever he dreamed and if he’s not panicking, all the better.

He came out of his thoughts when he heard someone yawning loudly and letting out a whine. He looked to his right and saw Peter stretching which accompanied the whine and found it cute that the teen whined when stretching.

“Good Morning Peter”

“Huh? Oh Morning Dad.” Peter said after blinking for a few seconds.

“Come on let’s go freshen up. Then you can eat that apple that’s sitting right there.” Tony added after seeing the gold colour apple that was sitting on one of the tables innocently.

The previous day they had discovered that Tony didn’t need any resources or a machine to produce any kind of metal. Peter said that it was because he was the god of metal and Tony had to agree since it made sense. And after that they had dived headfirst in to discovering what else Tony could do so they had forgotten about the apple Peter was given.

They found out that Tony had magic like any other god but he also had complete control over metals. He could just conjure any metal from nothing and he also could manipulate them to any shape he wanted. Changing the atomic structure of metals and discovering new properties to the original metal had been fun for both the God and his son.

Control over fire was even cooler than metal according Peter since Tony could transport from one place to another using burst of fire. Fire didn’t do a thing to Tony, which they had known was possible with Extremis too. But now Tony could cover his whole body with fire similar to his Iron Man amour and they joked how Tony was going to steal Fantastic 4 member Human torch's place. Something that awed them was that Tony could call over his Electrokinesis powers together with fire and according to Peter, Tony looked Cooler with fire covering him with electricity crackling in the air around him.

They couldn’t find any powers tied to Tony’s God of Future title but working with magic was a new experience to Tony. He had tried making illusions of himself like Loki had done and the way he knew how to do with not learning was a bit scary but he got over it quickly and practiced different things he instinctively knew.

His passion in creating stuff was the same if only a little bit obsessive as the God of Creations, but he had always been obsessive about that. That was how they had fallen asleep on the desk while working on their new projects after they decided to take a break from all the magic stuff.

Tony and Peter went upstairs to the Penthouse and they both went to their rooms to get ready for the day. After they both were showered and dressed Tony made pancakes which Peter wolfed down like a hungry teenager. Which he was. Tony also ate a lot seeing as his metabolism had increased a lot. After eating their breakfast Peter took his desert which was the golden apple. He stared at it a bit apprehensively clearly thinking about whether to eat it or not.

“Pete? You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to. You are still a teenager, and you have super healing from the spider bite too. You can decide to whether to eat it or not when you are older. It won’t go away. And if we lose it, We could ask Iðunn for another one.” Tony said seeing the doubt in Peter’s eyes.

Peter took a deep breath and thought about pros and cons about eating the fruit. He could eat it. If he did he would be immortal. His friends and family bar Tony will die. But he would be able protect people as Spider Man. Also he would have Tony with him. And if he choose not to eat it Tony would be alone after Pepper, Rhodey and Peter died. And didn’t Tony tell that he would feel responsible if Peter died. And if he decided to wait until older to decide and died before giving a direct answer Tony would feel guilty about not saving him or forcing him to eat the apple. And he knew Aunt May would want him to be safe and he knew that she always worried that he would die during being Spider Man. And even if he decided to not eat and die of old age, still Tony would feel responsible since Tony was complicated in that way. Peter took another deep breath and took big bit out of the apple. He hummed in surprise at the sweet taste that exploded his taste buds.  

During the time Peter took to decide Tony took out his phone and browsed through his daily emails so Peter won’t pressured to give a answer as he would if Tony had stared at the teen. So when he heard a hum Tony looked up to see peter eating the apple. He was surprised actually. He had  thought that Peter would want more time to think and to talk to May about this.

“It’s really sweet!” Peter said after had finished the apple to still thinking Tony.

“Yeah? May be I could ask Iðunn to lend me a apple to see if I can create apples with the taste but not the property that gives it the ability give immortality. And can I know why decided right now to eat the apple?” Tony asked curiously.

“Oh yeah well, If I can live longer, I can be Spider Man longer and I thought that you would be lonely if you didn’t have anyone with you to tinker and have nerd time.” Peter said with a cheeky smile that had Tony smile a honest genuine smile. He seems to be doing that a lot these days with Peter.

“Hm, We’ll get a call to assemble in about 30 seconds. I believe it’s about the Human turned superhuman lady that would reach Earth in about 4 seconds.” Tony suddenly said out of the blue and before Peter could say anything about it assemble alarm went off. Tony and Peter stared at each other for a few seconds in shock before Peter ran to get his suit and Tony called his suit mentally to assemble around him.

“J? What do we got?”

“It seems like sir that a Alien, Human looking alien just landed in one of old SHIELD bases.”

“Female?”

“Indeed.” JARVIS said and Tony was a disturbed a by how he just knew about it. Just then Peter came and they jumped out the window that JARVIS opened and went towards the coordinates JARVIS sent to them.

While they were on their way Tony tried to know what is going to happen and saw what was happening at the base and what would happen if the conversation continued the way it was. Tony sped off to the base he could below him with a burst of speed.

Tony landed in front of the woman he had seen in his vision. He took a good look at her while searching in to the future to determine her threat level. After he learned that she was not a threat he commanded the suit to retreat back.

“Carol Danvers Captain Marvel. Welcome to Earth.” Tony said in a diplomatic voice.

“You know her Mr. Stark?” One of the soldiers asked lowering his gun a little seeing as Tony had removed his suit.

“Hm in a way.” Tony gave a vague answer and looked at the blond who was watching them.

Carol watched the humans talk to each other about what to do with her. She watched as the man with brown hair and gold highlights who seemed to glow speak about how she was not a threat to them and how he would take care of her if she deem to be hostile. Carol nearly scoffed hearing that. He thought he could take her on. She doubted he could fight with her even in the suit he seem to have. And he looked awfully young to know any fighting.

“Ms. Danvers please come with me.” Tony addressed Carol after speaking with the leader of the squadron that was dispatched to investigate the arrival of Captain Marvel. By looking at the future he could hear what Carol thought about the comment he made to the soldiers about taking her on. She would have to lose that attitude if she’s going to join the New Avengers. Tony called for his suit and took off to the skies where he informed Peter that everything was under control and watched as Carol took off to the sky glowing a bright bluish gold. He took off towards Upstate sending a message to Rhodey saying him to meet them in the New Avengers HQ.

Tony, Peter and Carol landed near the perimeter of the New Avengers facility where Rhodey was waiting for them, still in his suit. They all went inside together and met with one of the official Military personal that was appointed by the UN to manage the New Avengers. Tony debriefed the situation to Major Aden and sent Carol with him so she could decide on whether she’s going to be a New Avenger or not.

After that Tony dragged Rhodey and Peter towards the main lounge so he could inform them about the newest development.

“I figured the God of Future thing. I can know what is going to happen. Also different possibilities and outcomes to different action we take. That’s what I have gathered from what I experienced in that last hour.” Tony said to Peter who was looking excited and Rhodey who looked confused. So Tony and Peter took time explaining what they did that last night. They didn’t bother to tell him the visit they got from Iðunn since JARVIS had informed that he gave the live feed to Rhodey. Tony had been proud about the independent action by JARVIS. Like he was proud the previous hundred and one incidents where JARVIS took independent action.

“Tony! I didn’t expect you to be here.” Suddenly a voice said from behind. Tony whirled around to see their resident Sorcerer Supreme Stephen Strange entering the lounge through a portal. Tony who had developed a slight crush on the sorcerer during the time they worked together on the Accords blushed as Stephen came to stand next to him. It was barely visible but Rhodey who had a eye for noticing the genius’ behavior narrowed his eyes looking at Tony and the sorcerer.

“Stephen, I didn’t expect to see you here too. Normally you’re cooped up in your wizarding house or in another dimension fighting the villain of the week.” Tony said back after recovering from his slight high school girl moment only he knew about. Stephen chuckled a bit and smiled at Tony.

“Yeah well, not like you’re any different. Aren’t you the one like to spend all the time in your technological candy land?”

“Touché.” Tony said with a smirk.

“You look different, did something happen?” Stephen asked noticing that Tony looked younger and his voice had a hint of worry. Tony contemplated about telling Stephen and decided that he would. He had started to trust Stephen all those months ago. He was similar to him many ways and Tony liked the way Stephen didn’t push for anything and at the same time was patient to wait for him to open up.

So he told everything that had happened during the past weeks. Stephen listened to the story that seemed impossible but at the same time totally possible since it was Tony Stark. 

“Wow!” Was the first thing Stephen could say. He had to admit if this was few months before the so called Civil War, Stephen would have scoffed at the idea of Tony Stark being a god and would have scorned the man. But in the months that they spent amending the Accords, he got to meet the real Tony Stark. He felt privileged that he got to see a side that genius hid from everyone excluding few chosen individual. They also got on so well, they were both genius which led them to talk about many topic in their own perspectives and debate. They both had a snarky attitude that exasperated Wong to no end when Tony visited them in the sanctum sanctorum. And he would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the genius presence. They both had been bit busy after Accords were amended, Tony with his health and SI business and he himself had few problems from a another dimension.

“Well, you of all people deserve it Tony. I’m happy for you.” Stephen said and Tony could see the sincerity in his voice and gave the sorcerer a genuine smile.

“But I’m hurt you didn’t tell me about Extremis, I could have helped you.”

“I know but I also knew you would worry unnecessarily about my health and I knew you were busy, so I didn’t want to stress you even further with my problems.”

“Tony, You will never be a problem to me. We have known each other for enough time for you to know that. And of course I would have worried. You have no regard about your well-being. I can remember dragging you to bed and spelling you to sleep when we working on the Accords.” Stephen said with strict voice and a eye roll at the end. Tony grinned remembering that incident Wong nearly had a heart attack hearing how many hours he had been went without sleep.

“Okay I feel like a little left out.” Rhodey said but he could see that these two cared for each other. It was in their eyes, no matter how cheesy it sounded to Rhodey. And he was happy for his friend. Now he only had to get a good character reading on this Stephen and if he get his approval getting the man to asking Tony on a date.

“Yeah!” Peter cried out hearing what Rhodey said. Even though he did that as a joke Peter had watched how his dad interacted with Stephen and decided that if Tony started to date Stephen, he would support Tony. Stephen was able to put this goofy smile on Tony’s face and it was more than enough in Peter’s books. Anyone who can make Tony smile was in his good books.

Tony laughed with Stephen and they launched to the story of how Stephen and Wong had made his sleep after finding about Tony staying up for more than 48 hours. After the tale they spent about 30 minutes talking before Stephen had to leave. Stephen promised to visit Tony before leaving and Rhodey smiled knowingly at Tony who stuck his tongue out.

Few minutes later Carol came with Major Aden. She had agreed to be a New Avenger saying that if anyone in the universe needed her they knew how to contact her.  She signed the Accords and Rhodey welcomed her to New Avengers as the leader and introduced Tony and Peter as Spider Man to her. Tony and Peter left after reminding Rhodey about their traditional movie night. Rhodey promised to be there before dinner and went to give Carol a tour around the facility and introduce her to the other teams and individual members. ‘We need to have a official team meeting.’ Rhodey thought to himself as he introduced Carol to the X-men team who were visiting that day to have a game night with Defenders.

“Guys, this is Carol Danvers AKA Captain Marvel, our newest member. She’s a human who got cosmic powers from the Tessaract and ….”

Chapter Text

Tony made his way through the compound. It has been 2 months since Carol made her appearance. During that time a lot had happened. May learned about Tony being a god and his nephew being immortal which she took in pretty well. She was shocked of course but was happy that Peter no longer had the danger of dying.Tony and Peter grew even closer and Tony convinced May to move to the tower with Peter. May now worked with Pepper being hired as her PA. And Peter continued his internship which was more like creating stuff and blowing stuff up with Tony. Nonetheless Tony enjoyed the time they spent together. May had been surprised to hear Peter call Tony dad, but had smiled this secret smile that she shared with Pepper making both Tony and Peter wary of them. And after that May had given his blessing in a way to Tony to be Peters’ father and had brought joint guardianship papers for Tony to sign. Which he had signed happily. And Peter was too stunned when told that he worried Tony and May who called Pepper and Rhodey. They both had rushed to the tower only to see Peter hugging the living daylights out of Tony and May.

And another thing that made Tony’s month better other than gaining half of Peter’s guardianship was Bruce returning in a half broken quinjet he had flown to space. He had started apologizing to Tony after hearing what had happened during the time he was off in the space and for abandoning Tony to take the blame for Ultron. It had taken a week for Tony to convince Bruce that he was forgiven and that Tony was happy to have his science-bro back. And his apology meant a lot to Tony since it was genuine and sincere unlike the half assed letter Rogers had sent. Bruce of course ran all the test he could find under the sun to make sure Tony was okay after he learned about being stuck in a broken suit in a cold Siberian bunker despite Tony assuring that he was okay and that he was better than he has been ever before. That was of course after Bruce spent a hour in his Hulk Room because Hulk didn’t like anyone harming his tin man. He still ran his test and only then was he satisfied enough to relax. He took the whole god thing with little fuss. Living in a planet with aliens for nearly a year did that to a man. He had explained. Tony didn’t press but he was given the full account of what had happened to Bruce. He also agreed to sign the Accords and as a original member he was able join the team with little to no trouble. It also helped that Tony vouched on behalf of Hulk in front of the UN. Peter, as anyone could guess had gushed about meeting Bruce Banner. They got on rather well and worked together on various projects that had everyone other than Tony out of the loop with their science babble.

As Tony neared the conference room he came out of his thoughts and wondered what this meeting was about. He couldn’t think of anything that was important though. Rhodey had arranged for the meeting. So he had agreed to attend. Bruce opted to stay at the tower because the experiment he was doing these days were time sensitive and Peter was at school and he had Decathlon practice after school.

Tony walked into the conference room to greet the members of New Avengers. Even though they had signed the accords and went on small missions, some of them are still strangers to each other expect the ones who knew each other before. Well Tony knew about all of them since he was the one who convinced them to help him and his legal team amend the Accords and sign them. He was really glad that many had agreed to sign the Accords because after a long time, Tony found people he could trust to have his back that was not named Rhodey or Pepper. And some of them who had worked closer with Tony on Accord were going to move into the tower. Tony had invited them on Rhodey's request  and had agreed since he had started to trust those few and to his luck they were nothing like his old team mates.

According to Rhodey all the members Tony had invited to live in the tower had agreed to live in the tower. They had said that they were happy to live with Tony and had even offered different services to pay for the expenses. Which Tony had declined since he was inviting them to live with him and not renting living space. It was easier for them to live in the same place as it made it easier to assemble in case of an emergency. And Tower was a great place for them to easily answer any call for assemble. And it meant Tony didn’t have to abandon his work to spend time with others and visit the compound. He had given the compound to UN to handle everything New Avengers related and most that lived in the compound was Military personnel and any Officials that was appointed by the UN to manage the compound and official debriefs.

Tony entered the conference room Rhodey had booked for them. Whole room fell silent as he entered. During the months that took to amend the Accords, all the superheroes got to meet the real Tony Stark. The one Rhodey, Pepper and Peter knew and loved. The man who did everything to protect people and who was kind and generous. No one really understood why or how the Ex-vengers treated Tony Stark the way did. He provided them with a place to stay without asking for payment and they used his money for all their needs and he made specially designed weapons for them but they never saw the need to say a simple thank you. And that was something all the New Avengers agreed upon the first meeting that they had held unknown to Tony after meeting real Tony for the first time. They had cornered Rhodey and had showed their concerns because he was the closest to Tony. It had surprised Rhodey that these strangers had seen through Tony’s masks while people who lived with him couldn’t for years. After Rhodey told them how the Ex-vengers really treated Tony, they decided to make sure Tony was comfortable in his own home. After he had agreed to house and invited some of them to live in his Tower. They had decided to keep its name the same as Stark Tower unlike some others who had Tony change the name.

“Hey Tones!” Came Rhodey’s voice breaking the silence that had fell over the occupants of the room.

“Hey Honey bear! So what’s up?” Tony asked as he took a seat in the only empty chair which was conveniently placed by the head of the table. He looked around to see who was present. Hope Van Dyne, or Wasp was at the end of the table talking to Jessica Jones, one of the Defenders. She was a woman that won Tony’s respect and trust easily with her personality and in return she had a protective older sister thing going on with Tony after learning what rogues did. And with her came the other members of the Defenders and Tony became fast friends with them too. Even after they had finished with the Accords they kept in touch. And that is what led Tony to invite them to live in the tower. Other Defenders of course waved and gave Tony bright smiles when they saw Tony looking at them. Tony returned the wave and smiled before looking around to see that X-men as well as Fantastic 4 sitting around the table talking. They had declined the invitation but Tony didn’t really mind since they had promised to visit and have game and movie nights.  Well Rhodey was the one to suggest that since according to him Tony needed to socialize more. So of course the genius had to agree. Or else he was threatened with the wrath of Pepper, which he didn’t anticipate so agreeing it is. And if it made Rhodey happy that Tony was agreeing to spend more time with the New Avengers, who was he to disagree.

Stephen was sitting to his right and gave Tony a warm smile when he caught the inventors eyes. Tony returned the smile and looked to his left and saw that Vision was the one who was sitting there. Tony was taken aback since this was the first time Tony had seen Vision after the Civil War fiasco.

“Hey Vis!”

“Hello Tony,I~” Vision hesitated for a second and looked around the room. But it had recovered from the silence that came with Tony’s arrival and others were talking to each other and no one was paying any attention to what was being said between Tony and Vision.

“I wish to apologize, for how ignored you and paid all my attention to Ms. Maximoff and for the way blamed you for Ultron with all the others when you are the reason I even exist. The reason I have a mind to think on my own and make decisions. I already apologized to Colonel Rhodes, but I’m sorry about leaving you alone after Civil War. I needed time to reorganize my newly found emotions but it’s not a excuse for why I treated you the way I did. So I’m sorry Tony!” Vision looked close to tears by the time he finished and Tony found that he didn’t like to see that expression of deep sadness and grief  and true remorse in one of his creations. So Tony pulled Vision to a tight hug which Vision returned with enthusiasm he had lacked before and now he understood why humans liked hugs. It made them feel loved and cared and it expressed all the emotions you couldn’t put in to words.

They stayed like that for a few seconds before Tony pulled back. He impulsively took a look at the future and saw them laughing happily at a joke. He smiled at that and gave Visions’ shoulder a reassuring pat.

“You are forgiven Vision. Don’t blame yourself for those things that are in the past. It’s forgiven and you should forgive yourself too. And I’m sorry too for not making a effort to talk to you. It was because I had just lost JARVIS, one of my oldest friends and in a way my son, and you reminded of his too much at the time.”

“Of course I understand and I forgive you for that. I would have loved to get to know JARVIS.”

“Well I guess you can.” Tony said with a smirk and pulled out his phone.

“Hello Mr. Vision! It’s a pleasure to meet the person that is essentially a part of me.” JARVIS voice came from the phone and Vision stared at it for a second shocked.

“Of course It’s nice to meet who can be considered one of my fathers.” Vision said and Tony could JARVIS practically vibrating with happiness at being called a father.

Tony was about to say something that was probably sarcastic when Rhodey coughed to get their attention.  

“So guys, I’m sure you are curious to know why I called you for a meeting. It’s 2 reasons actually. One, those who are going to live in the tower, all the arrangement are finished and you can move in anytime you want. Sorry Tones, I only got the confirmation today morning and JARVIS said you were busy.”

“No It’s okay. I said JARVIS not to disturb me unless it’s a world ending situation.” Tony said with a smile. He had blocked outside world that morning since he got a brilliant idea to make a Nano chip phone.

“So yeah that’s one. Next order of business, I’m sure some of you know about our newest member. But since most of you guys were busy last month you didn’t get to meet her. So here she is Carol Danvers, or Captain Marvel.” Rhodey said to the room and everyone turned to Carol to greet and introduce themselves. She nodded politely to everyone and seemed to relax her stiff posture after seeing that no one was hostile.

“She will be assigned to a team when a mission pops up since she doesn’t have a big understanding in the way Earth works. After she understand Earth better, she will be sent on individual missions like we all.”

“Why do I need a team?” Carol asked confused. Everyone looked at her and saw that she was genuinely confused.

“Cause everyone has a team. You will need to follow orders of the field leader of that team. Field leader to each mission is different depending on the situation we face. I’m the overall leader of the New Avengers because I have Military training. And I assign the team for the mission and the leader. And Tony is also my co-leader, but he only gets called for serious missions or emergencies which we need his expertise.” Rhodey explained calmly to the confused Carol. She slowly nodded her head understanding.

“So that is all for the meeting and X-Men? Please remain for a while. We have a mission for you.” Everyone stood up at that and left Rhodey and the mutants to their conversation. Rhodey nodded to Tony and waved before he was out the door and turned to address the team that remained.

After leaving the conference room they walked down the halls chatting away towards the communal area of the compound. Carol struck up a conversation with Vision and Tony joined Matt Murdock aka Daredevil and Jessica in their conversation about the best wine.

“So you guys moving in?” Tony asked casually but there was a undertone of nervousness to his voice that both Matt and Jessica picked up. It was not rejection that Tony was fearing, he genuinely like the Defenders and as much as he liked Rhodey and Peppers presence, it gets lonely sometimes when they were away at work and he liked to have people he trusted with him. And it would be nice to have more people around that accepted him for himself.

“Of course Stark. When you offer such good booze how can I not?” Jessica said in her usual tone which relaxed Tony. It was the way she said yes I’m definitely coming. He was not worried that she said that she’s coming because of his alcohol because he knew and trusted her to know that she’s coming only because he asked her to. Otherwise she wouldn’t have even dream about coming and deciding to live there like she owned the place.

Matt on the other hand placed his hand on Tony’s shoulder. Giving a silent confirmation to the question. He knew that despite Tony acting all confidence there was still some vulnerability in the billionaire from the time rogues treated him like shit. Being a god and having super ass powers doesn’t take away years of insecurities after all. But Matt thought that it was a good thing. It would help Tony to understand that he was strong no matter what anyone said. How Matt knew about Tony being a God? Never let it be said that Tony himself called the man to tell him about it all. Because Tony totally did not freak out after about a week because of his powers.

They entered the communal area and sat down on various spots. Danny Rand aka Iron Fist and Luke Cage was arguing about something that went along the lines of which way to make the best chocolate cake. Matt, Jessica and Tony joined Stephen who was looking through a book that looked like it came out of Harry Potter to Tony on the couch.

It led to Tony and Stephen making plans to meet so they could practice Tony’s new magic powers. Well, that’s what they said they were doing but to everyone else it looked suspiciously like that they were both trying to have a date without actually mention it. In the end they agreed to meet that weekend at the sanctum sanctorum and moved to a different topic that they both felt were safer grounds while others softly snickered at the duo’s obvious crush on each other. And was amazed that they were so oblivious to that fact. They can be real stupid and dense at times for being geniuses.

ooOOoo

After few hours Tony said his goodbyes to Stephen and stood up.

“Okay children, I have to go back to the tower and make sure Brucie bear didn’t blow himself up. Dear Defenders, I shall await your presence in near future to share my living space. Good Day Ladies and Gentlemen.” Tony said with bowing and mimed tipping a hat. Everyone chuckled at his antics and a wave of Goodbyes came from the room. Defenders promised to move in within the week and Tony left the communal area waving.

He made his way to the conference room and pocked his head in to see everyone was busy bent over the table looking at something. He cleared his throat and everyone turned their head at him at once it was comical.

“Hey, sorry to disturb, but I’m going back to the tower. Thought will let you guys know.” Tony said with a smile that barely left his face that day.

“Oh Okay Tones! I might not be able to come back. Go safe will ya?” Rhodey asked with a stern look.

“Oh course I’ll be safe, what did you take me for?” Tony asked in a affronted voice and Rhodey just gave him look. Tony sighed and rolled his eyes but nodded his head.

“Yeah fine Platypus, I’ll be safe. Bye guys!” Tony said to the amused X-men who had been watching the exchange. They all chorused a Goodbye as Tony left the room.

“Bye Tones!” Rhodey shouted behind Tony and they could faintly hear Tony saying ‘Bye Honey bear’ down the corridor.

Chapter Text

Tony woke up slightly shaking after another nightmare that got lost in his mind after waking up. But still he felt refreshed and ready to tackle the day. He could hear JARVIS reciting the weather and his schedule for the day. Tony reviewed all the email he had to read in his mind after connecting to his phone while taking a shower.

After few minutes he emerged from the shower and dressed in a fresh pair of black slacks and a white shirt as he planned on visiting the lower level labs to see how his workers were doing. They always got excited when Tony visited them since that means they got to show their inventions to the genius and get his advice. Also they got to blow stuff up with the eccentric billionaire.

ooOOoo

Tony left the elevator with a bowl of cereal in his hand. Labs probably got the news about him visiting because most of the workers were there getting ready. Now one might think that Tony Stark wouldn’t care about his workers in the lower levels, but it was actually the opposite. Tony even in his too busy with Avengers demands days made time to visit the lower level labs. Sometimes he had been scolded by Rogers about wasting time or being lazy when all he had been doing that day was spending time with his workers.

And the workers in exchange to the attention they received from the obviously busy man, made sure that everything was being done the way it should be. Many workers had been upset and afraid when the weapon manufacturing division got closed fearing that they would be left jobless. But Tony had arranged for those employees to get paid until they were able to find another job. However they didn’t have to wait for long since after about a month later they all got emails inviting them to work in the newest divisions in SI.

Due to this facts SI employees are fiercely protective of their boss and was loyal to the boot. So it was not a surprise when Rogers betrayed their boss they all got  angry and made sure that internet was filled with #TeamTony and #TeamIronMan tags.

SI number of employees had sky rocketed when SI got a massive number of people applied to work for Tony Stark in the form of former SHIELD agents. With their covers blown from the information bump Rogers and Romanoff did, Tony had been the one to send Iron Legion to extract compromised agents and to secure the families of those agents. Tony hadn’t understood at the time why those 2 had just dumped the entire SHIELD database to internet. If they had asked him, he could have encrypted the confidential information and only released the HYDRA information. But still he had JARVIS to encrypt the data bar HYDRA data while he saved the agents from all over the world even if he had only been out of hospital after removal of Arc reactor for 5 days. He even made identities for them with legit background stories and  SI employees had been more than happy to help their boss with securing the compromised agents.

So at the end of the day Ex-agents found new family members and SI employees got family members added to their families that never existed until that day. So it went without saying that Ex-agents were more loyal to Tony Stark than they were to SHIELD ever since they learned that is was actually SHIELDRA. To this day some of them who enjoyed the actual chaos in SI labs and legal departments and all the other departments still work in SI and some moved to work in New Avengers facility as SI assigned mission management employees. It was easier for them to do since they have experience in handling mission reports and procedures that needs to be done during and after a mission.

As everyone got ready demonstrate their projects Tony sat down in a chair and continued to eat his breakfast. All the SI employees were used this behaviour from their boss and didn’t even bat an eyelash when they saw Tony sitting in a corner eating cereal. No one questioned why Tony looked younger as they were used to weird things happening in the tower. Like the time Tony ran in with a robot dog chasing him and had hid under a table until one of the lab assistant tackled the dog and removed it's power source. All the other employees who got recently employed and hasn’t seen Tony beside from news or a tabloid stared with their mouth hanging open as he ate his cereal without a care and greeted some of the older employees.

Tony finished his breakfast and checked with JARVIS to see whether Peter was awake or not. Peter’s school had given them a holiday in the middle of the week so Peter had been out the previous night Spider Manning around Queens. As he had predicted Peter was still asleep. He told JARVIS to send his kid down when he’s awake. He felt a smile spread when he called Peter as his kid. He still hasn’t gotten over the excitement of Peter calling him dad. He shook himself and stood up to talk with some of the scientists that worked in the labs to help around.

“So what are we doing today?” Tony asked as he neared a table filled with what looked like little spiders. He quirked an eye brow at that and turned to face the young man that was practically vibrating in his seat.

“David? David Jamison right?” Tony asked searching for his memories and reviewing what he knew about him.

“Yes Sir!” David practically jumped up and down.

“Ah you’re that hardcore Spider Man fan. So what do you got here?”  Tony asked remembering that David had nearly fainted when he met Spider Man in one of New Avengers PR campaign.

“Yeah, So these are like little spider pets. They are programmed to do little things like fetching things, patching up a non fatal wound and few other things. They come with a wrist watch feature so it’ll be like a simple watch of a Spider Man fan, but its more than that.” David explained while everyone listened. Tony hummed and took one spider bot to examine it. It was painted in the Spider Man colours and he saw the little button that expanded 2 legs so it can be worn as a watch. He admired how smoothly metal slid over each other to form the straps.

“How does it work? How do you get it to do things?” One of the new employees asked David.

“Voice command. After you turn it on, you have to set it up. It saves your voice in its database and after that only works for your voice. If you want to change the voice you have to say ‘Spidey reset voice’ and then have the one you want to give it to speak. And commands are pre-set so there’s a limit to what it can do. You can tell it to fetch your phone in any way. It’s programmed to identify different speech patterns so no problem there.” David said proudly.

“J? Fill up a patent form for David and send it so David have the patent for this. Have it done by tomorrow. And David? Send this to our merchandise department after your patent is through. And after you finish any updates and tweaks you want to do, send me one. Cause I definitely want a Spidey.” Tony said to the shocked David with a smirk. He loved to make people speechless. Tony let David recover on his own and turned to another invention.

He spent the day until Peter came down giving advice and even helping some of the younger employees. He introduced Peter as his personal Intern and sort of son. He knew that no one will leak the information since he had the best legal team and if any one dared to leak the fact that Tony had a son even though not biological, Tony's legal team would rip that person a new one. They were protective little bugs like that.

It was only 5 minutes since Peter came down to the lab and all were wrapped around the teens’ finger. Everyone loved Peter. It was hard to hate the teen that acted like a excited puppy. Peter dragged Tony to each and every project he thought cool. And everyone was amazed how Tony smiled and let the teen drag his around. Tony listened to the excited teens’ commentary before steering him to another project. Soon Peter got dubbed as Baby Stark among the SI employees. Peter had turned a deep red shade after hearing that and Tony had just laughed and ruffled the teens hair that had Peter squeaking a embarrassed “Dad!”

Rest of the day went by quickly. They only stopped their sciencing with others during lunch because Pepper called and threatened not only Tony but the rest of the SI employees and no one was brave enough to defy Pepper Potts. After that though they spend blowing things up and doing little actual work until they decided that it was time for the employees to go home. Even that time was few hours late to the standard time normal employees in other companies go home. Still all the employees and their boss grumbled how it was unfair that they had to stop their sciencing. But Pepper thought it was enough explosions for a week that even the legal and PR department heard and felt. It was saying something since those 2 departments were on the other side of the building.

ooOOoo

A explosion shook the floor of the Legal department and PR department since both departments were on the same floor. Everyone grabbed on to something to keep their balance but got over it and went back to their respective work.

Second explosion was only heard to the relief of several legal teams since last one had sent their paper work everywhere. Several new employees had frightened looks in their eyes but didn’t dare ask their seniors.

Third explosion shook at least half of the building and sent several piles of papers flying in both Legal and PR departments. Streams of curses could be heard throughout  the floor and juniors were even more afraid than they had been before.

“Is it that time of the week?” One of the annoyed lawyers asked a secretary that was typing something. She looked at the calendar and nodded her head.

“Yeah” Almost all of the people in the floor who had heard the question and the answer groaned. One brave junior lifted his hand to get the attention of one of the seniors.

“What is it?” Senior asked the timid junior.

“What is going on?” Junior asked afraid of getting scolded. Seniors at the Legal and PR was scary enough without the added stress of the explosions.

“What’s going on is that today is the day of the week. Once a week Mr. Stark himself visit the employee labs and when they get together, it’s safe to stay clear of those floors for the day. What you heard was the result of that get together. They blow up~” She was cut off by another explosion.

“Right, they blow up things, as Mr. Stark like to say in the name of science. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. It happens every week. If I’m right tomorrow Mr. Stark will be here for few hours to make us go crazy.” She said with a pained look on her face and went back to her office leaving the juniors amazed at the fact that Tony Stark himself will be visiting their department and wondering what was going in the labs to cause such explosions.

Suffice to say that day was filled with explosions and frequent cursing when paper piles went flying. So everyone was quiet relieved when the clock struck 6 o’clock marking the end of the working hours at Stark Industries. They knew that the explosions will continue until at least 8 at night, but it was not their problem since they will all be at home watching TV shows about cliché romance.

Chapter Text

Tony stared at the book in his hand. He had dropped Peter to school and had decided to visit the old Stark Mansion. He didn’t know why he had decided to go there. There were only sad and painful memories of neglect and belittling. Only happy memory he could think of was the ones he had with his mother and original Jarvis. His father had always been a distant character throughout his childhood. And the time he interacted with his father, it had always led to his father being disappointed in him and comparing him to Captain America. But now he sat there inside his father’s study staring at a book he had found in a box that was in a secret safe dedicated to him. He would have thought that his mother was the one to make that box but his father’s handwriting was unmistakable.

Tony flipped opened the book and found that it was journal his father had kept. First date was surprisingly his birthday.

1970 May 29

Anthony, that’s the name we gave our son. He’s such a small child I was almost afraid to hold him. Today was the day I had felt honest to god happiness after one of my best friends went missing in arctic. I’m sure that Anthony will be brilliant. I want him to be great, greater than me or Captain America can ever be. But dear god I hope he won’t turn out like me. I promise that I won’t let him be like me.

1971 April 5

It’s nearing Tony’s birthday. That boy is already talking. No one could make me happier like I was when he called me Dada for the first time. He’s really brilliant. I brought him a Captain America toy for his gift. I hope he will like it. After all if I want him to be a hero in the future, he needs a good role model. Gods know I’m not the role model a child should have.

It continued like that and Tony found himself staring at the book in shocked silence. He flipped the pages and came to the day he had made that circuit board.

1974 June 12

Dear god my child made a circuit board and gave it to me as a gift. I tried to hide my pride and told him about how Captain America was a hero that helped people. He looked so crest fallen I had to turn away and leave or otherwise I would have picked him up and said how proud I was. But I can’t do that, he’s only a child. I can’t have him turn out to be like me.

I’m really proud of him. But he can do better. He could change this world. I already recorded the video that I hope to give him when he’s old enough to understand. I know he will hate me for this, making him feel like a failure, but I can’t bare the feeling of Tony being another Howard.

Tony felt tears run down his face as he read how his father had been proud of him. He hastily wiped them away and turned to the book and continued to read. Each page revealed how much his father had loved him and also revealed how his father saw himself as a monster and how he tried to make Tony better. How he tried to make Captain America his role model and not himself.

His sixth birthday was the day he had finished his engine and he read how his father had been proud but fearing that Tony was turning to another Howard. Each accomplishment Howard had written the compliments and all the emotions in hidden pages of his journal while distancing himself from his son so Tony would stop looking at him and be like him.

After reading the book  Tony put it aside and dig around the box. There in a carefully wrapped box that was padded in velvet was his first circuit board.  There was a key to a secret vault which held his engine. And all the little gadgets he had thought Howard had thrown away was carefully stored in the box each labelled in his father’s handwriting. Another box was filled with photos of Tony from the day he was born to his graduation. In the back of his graduation photo 'My Greatest Creation' was written carefully. Like Howard was trying to write it without damaging the picture. And in some of the photos a shadow of Howard or the figure of smiling Howard could be seen in hidden corners. And some of the pictures looked like Howard himself had taken. It was like he looked after Tony from the shadows. All the certificates and even the ribbon medals he had received when he was in preschool was there. There was a movie reel which Tony promptly put in the old movie player and watched. It was a video of his graduation. It was probably taken from hidden among the decorations. But he could hear the voice of his father at the end of the video.

“I’m proud of you Tony”

Tony drew his legs up to his chest and cried out all the pain and the hole that had been there since he was a child filled with the love he could literally feel oozing from the box. He cried for not noticing any of these in his father and for not trying harder to approach him. He cried for not crying when Howard died. For not saying I love you at least once despite his father not saying it to him directly.

Tony lifted the picture that was probably taken on the day he was born. His father was holding Tony like he was holding the most precious thing in the world. He had a look of wonder in his face and Tony felt another wave of tears trying to overwhelm him . He didn’t even try to hold in the sob that escaped him.

He didn’t know how many minutes or hours he spent there sitting in the middle of the pictures Howard had probably taken and all the things Howard had collected throughout the years. But when Rhodey came in looking worried he couldn’t help the watery smile that escaped him. Rhodey had taken one look at the mess and realization dawned in his face. He didn’t say anything and sat down next to his little brother and looked through the pictures reading a page or two from the journal. But it was enough for him to understand. The picture of Howard Stark he had in his mind completely shattered in to pieces.

After another few minutes Tony started to pack everything away in the boxes with great care. He kept the picture of Howard holding him with him and used his magic to levitate the boxes to the car.

“Thanks dad” He whispered before closing the boot of the car and hopped to the driver’s seat and Rhodey got to the passenger seat.

“You okay Tones?”

“I’m better than okay Rhodey bear.” Tony said with a lightness in his voice that had  never been there before that had Rhodey believing that Tony really was okay as Tony drove away from the mansion towards the tower.   

That night Tony stripped a guest room in his penthouse bare and made a memorial for his parents. He placed all the pictures he had with him and the box he had gotten from the mansion in that room. His mothers favorite jewelry and his father’s favorite suit and watch was placed on the alter he had made to look like a high-tech piano. Little bit of both of them. And no one said anything when Tony missed dinner and spent the whole night in that room.

‘Tony buried his head in the crook of his father’s neck as he hugged the man tightly. Howard hugged with the same fierceness as his son and whispered the word he thought he had told him sooner.

“I love you my son”

Tony shook his head and frowned a little. He couldn’t make heads or tails of the vision he just had. He contributed it to the all the emotional exhaustion he was feeling as he fell asleep still holding the picture he had kept with him.

Chapter Text

Next day Tony woke up hearing the blare of the alarm to assemble. He groaned as he sat up from the floor where he had fallen asleep last night. He took one last look at the picture in his hand, placed it on the altar, and ran out to meet Rhodey who was entering the living room already in his War Machine Armour.

“We need you Tones. It looks like a Loki wannabe is attacking down town Manhattan. Stephen said he will be there in 10.”

“Right, let’s go then. Where’s Peter? I don’t want him to skip school.”

“He’s already left with Happy. Don’t worry Papa bear.” Rhodey teased Tony as they made their way towards the location where Loki wannabe was.

As they arrived, Tony saw how the LW (Loki Wannabe) was wielding a scepter similar to Loki. Tony could feel the power radiating from it and instantly knew that the stone in the scepter was an infinity stone. His Godly knowledge informed him that it was the soul stone that was said to be lost somewhere in the universe. Apparently not since the freaking thing was in Earth or Midgard or whatever. Focus on the battle Tony.

But he didn’t get any more time to contemplate the fact because LW saw them and started to shoot energy beams towards them. Rhodey and Tony dodged them and shot their own but the guy seemed to have some kind of barrier around him. Vision arrived at the time as the guy shot a energy beam that looked more powerful than the others did. And Tony who got distracted by getting a child out of the rubble that threatened to fall on top of him didn’t see the energy beam that came towards him.

“Tony!” Rhodey shouted a warning as Vision shot his own energy beam at the LW that knocked him out. Vision turned in time to see the energy beam that guy shot hit Tony Square on his chest.

Tony felt the energy beam connect with his chest plate as soon as he turned to see why Rhodey had shouted. Luckily, it didn’t do anything other than powering down the suit that had Tony falling backward with the sudden loss of balance that came with suit’s mechanism shutting down. So it looked like Tony fell backward unconscious.

Rhodey and Vision rushed to the place where Tony was lying on his back. They saw that the Arc reactor’s glow was not so bright like it normally was. Suddenly its brightness returned and the suit was once again powered. Tony slowly started to get up but felt a little woozy so sat back down and commanded the suit to retreat. He felt like he was floating. He started to see snippets of his past but it was all muddled together. So he closed his eyes to get some sleep since he was oh so tired.

“Hey Tony you okay?” Rhodey asked after Tony sent the suit back to the Arc. But he could see that Tony was not okay. He looked like he had concussion. His eyes didn’t focus and was glazed over. He turned to see Stephen and his team had arrived and was detaining the threat. He was sure that Stephen hadn’t seen them cause if he had he would be there worrying over Tony.

“Hey Stephen! We need you here.” Rhodey called and turned to see that Tony was looking a bit pale. It was noticeable with the absent of the golden glow he had gotten with being a god. This worried Rhodey more.

Stephen looked up when he heard someone calling his name and saw Rhodey crouching next to a suit less glazed eyed Tony. He quickly went over to them to see what was going on.

“What happened?”

“Right before Vision shot the guy down he shot Tony with a energy beam he was using. Tony was helping child out to get out of that fallen building before it fell down. So he didn’t see the energy beam.” Rhodey said to the frowning sorcerer.

“Where did the beam hit?” Stephen asked as Tony closed his eyes and seemingly fell asleep.

“In the chest. Arc was dimmed for a while it brightened back again and he sat up.” Stephen frowned as he ran a diagnosis spell and found that Tony was only sleeping.

“He’s only sleeping. Take him back to the tower. After he wakes up see whether there’s anything different with him. If there is, call me immediately. If not I will run some tests when Tony comes to the Sanctum for his training. I’ll try and get what he did from that guy.” Stephen left after making sure Rhodey was okay and Vision picked Tony up and they flew back to the tower. They made it to the tower with only few people seeing them. But he was sure that the fact Tony was taken to the tower unconscious after the fight with the LW would be on news.

When they returned to the tower Peter was back from school and freaked out seeing Tony. But Rhodey was able calm the teen saying that Tony was only sleeping. Peter however made it his duty to sit next to Tony until he woke up and held vigil over his father.

ooOOoo

Tony woke up feeling like he was hit with a bus full of dinosaurs. He groaned and opened his eyes to see Peter looking at him with wide eyes.

“Are you okay dad?” Peter asked after finding his voice.

“Yeah just tired. What happened?” Tony asked sitting up. His aching muscles already being soothed by the Extremis and his magic. He relaxed when he felt all the lingering pain disappear. He listened to Peter saying what had happened that day and hummed.

“Well I don’t feel any different. I feel a bit tired and hungry like I’ve been starving.” Tony said as he got out of the bed.

“Yeah, you look better too. You looked so pale when they brought you. And your golden glow was not there. But now it’s there. A bit dulled but I’m sure it’s because you feel tired and hungry.” Peter rambled on as they made their way to the living room.

Rhodey and Vision was sitting on the couch talking about something. They turned the moment Tony and Peter entered the living area and quickly stood and came forward to meet them.

“Tony are you okay? And you should be resting. Not walking around as soon as you woke up.” Rhodey said and quickly helped a still shaky Tony to sit on the couch.

“I’m fine Rhodey, promise.” Rhodey still looked a little doubtful but after Tony JARVIS to order take out, he slowly relaxed beside Tony.

After take out was delivered, Tony wolfed down a large amount of food much to the amusement of Rhodey who was used to seeing the genius inventor who never ate unless dragged out of his lab and fed forcefully. He was glad that his brother was eating on his own. He had been sick of seeing his little brother half starved and sleep deprived because of nightmares.

Once again making sure Tony was really okay, Rhodey left having received a call from the compound asking for him. After Rhodey left, Peter and Vision convince Tony to get back to sleep and rest until he’s back to full health. Tony reluctantly agreed since he was still tried but wanted to go work in his lab saying that he had missed at least 2 days of work.

“We’ll let Ms. Potts know about the attack. I’m sure she will understand.” Vision had finally said and sent Tony to bed. Even though Tony complied, he was still grumbling about being sent to bed like a child, which Vision countered saying that no matter what age Tony was he will still act like a child.

Finally, after 15 minutes, Tony was sleeping and Peter went to finish his homework and Vision went to inform Stephen about Tony’s condition.

ooOOoo

Rhodey arrived at the communal area of the compound to find the Defenders sitting around the coffee table in a conversation that looked important. He wondered why was called to meet them without informing Tony and thought that maybe they changed their minds about living in the tower.

“Hey guys, so what is it that you wanted to talk to me?” He asked as he sat down and watched as the team looked at each other in silent confirmation.

“So we discussed about the invitation that we accepted from Tony. We know that he invited us because you had him invite us. We don’t want him to be uncomfortable in his own home because he was forced to live with us.” Danny stated looking worried. They had heard how Ex-vengers had treated Tony after all. And they didn’t want to be like them in any way.

“Guys, I only told Tony to invite you because he said that it would be nice to have someone who he trust and trust him back living with him unlike the rogues. I also knew that he had started to trust you guys and I already know that you trust him. And it won’t upset him that you guys are around. I’m sure he would be happy to have some people who don’t judge his every action around. I Wouldn’t have told Tony to invite you if it was something I knew would make him uncomfortable or unhappy.” Rhodey said and inside he was happy that these people cared about Tony other than their own comfort.

“Still we don’t want to live off of his money. Is there a way for us to pay him back? I don’t care how it’s done, just tell us.” Jessica said as the others nodded. Rhodey’s good mark chart went another level up for the four New Avengers. He thought about what they could do to pay back Tony for all the things he’s doing and will do in the future.

“Well Matt could be our official New Avengers Lawyer. All the legal things related to New Avengers are done by one of SI legal teams. If you can do that work in exchange for the living expenses Tony’s going to bare for you, it would be great since Tony’s paying a hell lot more money to the legal team’s head for handling New Avengers stuff. But if you are the one leading that team Tony could increase those teams other members salary for the work they do. They are really important and since you know how New Avengers work, you can easily tackle all law suits that's gonna be there for the New Avengers.”

“Ah so the salary that is being paid to the head Lawyer of this team goes to the team that works under me. I don’t see anything wrong with it. I would gladly work as the New Avengers legal team head Lawyer, and it also let me continue my job as a lawyer.” Matt said nodding thoughtfully. He liked the idea of working with a team to take care of legal issues of New Avengers. It gave him another thing to do other than being the Daredevil.

“So any thing for me?” Luke asked from where he had gone to get a drink.

“Well I can’t think of anything at the moment. But wait,” Rhodey got his phone out and called a number he had memorized a long time ago.

“Hello” A female voice came over the phone.

“Hey Pepper, are you busy? I need a little help from you. And I got a new Head Lawyer for your legal Departments team that handle New Avenger stuff.”

“No I’m not busy, and who’s this lawyer?”

“Matt Murdock.”

“Ah Matt! Sure, It’s okay. If Mr. Murdock can meet me on Monday, I can have all the things ready for him. And we can discuss the salary when we meet.” Pepper said cheerfully before going back to her professional persona. She had of course met all the NA (New Avengers) and knew who some of the masked heroes were including Daredevil, who had introduced himself as Matt Murdock after getting to know her.

“Oh that’s another thing. Tony invited the Defenders to live in the tower. But they don’t want to live without doing anything to pay Tony back. So if you can, increase the teams’ salary a bit. I heard Tony trying to increase their salary without cutting some from the current head lawyer of that team since he’s one of his best.”

“Thank god Rhodey! You are a lifesaver. It had been quiet the problem since the team leader got a higher salary for managing NA issues and the team got the same salary as the other lawyers. It was a good thing that SI employees are very loyal to Tony. Thank Matt for me, will you Rhodey?”

“You are welcome Ms. Potts.” Matt replied having heard the conversation with his super hearing.

“Oh, well please come meet me on Monday Matt.”

“Of course. Thank you for giving me this job as I enjoy my job as a lawyer.”

“It’s no problem. Now Rhodey, is that what you wanted to ask me?”

“No, we have 3 more that needs jobs from you.”

“Are they all trying to pay for letting them live in the tower?”

“yeah we are.” Jessica since Rhodey had put the phone on speaker so all can talk to Pepper.

“Okay then, I need to know what type of qualifications you have. I don’t want to give you guy’s jobs that doesn’t fit you.”

“I worked as a Private Detective.”

“Oh well then you can join our Security Department and work on detecting foul play and to identify spies when we do interviews. We have been needing someone like you that we can trust since Agent Romanoff infiltrated SI as Natalie Rushman. And sometimes not all the employees are loyal to Tony.” Pepper said and Jessica pondered on that before she agreed to the job. After all, it was a job she can use her skills on.

“Yeah I like that, Thanks Pepper.”

“You are welcome. Am I to assume that you are also working for no salary policy as Matt?”

“Yeah. My salary can be Tony covering my living expenses and giving me booze.” Pepper let out a chuckle at that.

“Well That’s 2 done Luke? Danny? You guys know that you don’t have to do this right?”  Rhodey asked them because he didn’t want them to think that they were being forced to work.

“Yes but we would like to be useful for Tony, if we are going to live off of his money. It would not be fair for Tony to pay for our stuff and not expect any kind of payment.” Luke replied easily.

“I can’t exactly work, what with having my company and all. But I heard that Stark Industries is funding New Avengers Relief Fund until we find sponsors. So I was thinking that I could fund half of the amount SI is funding so SI don’t have to shoulder the complete expense every time fund is needed after a battle.” Danny said and Pepper was silent for a moment. Danny tried to backtrack thinking that it was not enough before he was cut off by Pepper.

“Of course I can do some other things as well~”

“No! It’s just I was surprised is all. Of course SI will welcome any help Rand Enterprises can afford to give us.”

“Oh sure sure, I can afford to help SI after all that’s least I can do to Tony after his invitation. I mean I have a big house, but it get a little lonely by myself.” Danny admitted quietly as he had spent most of his life in K'un-Lun with his masters and friends. It was one of the main reasons he remained with Defenders after defeating the Hand. He still struggled with the way business worked but Ward being there to help him was a great thing.

“Of course Danny. So Luke, I have a suggestion for you. You can choose if you want the position or not.” Pepper said and they could some papers being shuffled around.

“Shoot.”

“As you know Happy is our Head of Security, but he often have to leave with me as Tony insisted having Happy with me when I leave the country or when I go to meetings and other functions. So I was wondering if you could take the position as Deputy head. So Happy wouldn’t have to worry about the security of the tower when he’s not there. Of course, you can leave for NA stuff. You just have to appoint someone for when you are not there. You also can take days off to recover after NA missions too.” Pepper said and waited for a response from Luke patiently. She knew that anyone would want to think whether it fit their taste of work or not before agreeing to do it.

“That’s a good idea. I have worked as a sheriff after all. So being the Deputy Head of Security to a fortune 500 company wouldn’t be bad.” Luke agreed and smirked at the end of his answer.

“Great! It would be great if you all can meet me on Monday at 8AM. I can have the paper work ready by then. I will inform Tony after everything is done so he can’t object. And everyone? Thank you all for doing this. It means a lot to me and it sure will to Tony when he know, that you are willing to do this for him.”

“Yeah, I can agree with Pepper guys. To be honest I think you are the first to agree to do something like this without being asked and no one think that he may need help cause he's Tony Stark. Only I, Pepper and few others had volunteered to help him. We can't exactly pay him back with money so we do what we can do to help him. And I'm happy that you guys decided to do that too ” Rhodey said sincerely looking at each and everyone to let them know that he was not lying.

"Well we are glad to know that we are doing the right thing. Thank you for letting us do this." Matt said after a minute of silence that followed Rhodey's words.

“Well I have to go now. I will talk to you guys later. Bye everyone!”  Pepper said and a chorus of byes ran through the room and phone beeped indicating the end of the call. Rhodey pocketed it and turned to face the other four.

“So there is something I wanted to ask. How is our new member?” Rhodey asked.

“She doesn’t feel like someone who would follow orders. From the few minutes I talked with her I could tell that she thinks that she’s above everyone.” Danny immediately replied getting a nod from others.

“Yeah. I don’t think she will fit very well with any of others too, Yesterday I heard her arguing with Bruce. Like, come on! Bruce doesn’t argue with anyone, he’s too nice to do that. Apparently she insulted some of the X-men.”  Luke said getting a surprised look from Rhodey since Bruce was not someone that got into arguments easily. And insulting someone, it was unacceptable. It was the reason he had first let others get to know Carol before appointing her to a permanent team. And now it looked like she won’t do well even in temporary groups that went on missions.

After the Civil War, UN had decided that they needed some kind of organization that reported and answered directly to UN to manage the New Avengers. So they had asked Tony Stark, the man who had fought for the Accords and had made them fair for everyone to form this Organization. So came the NA-MOD. New Avengers-Mission Organizing Division. Tony had Maria Hill, who was working at SI as a Department head as the new Director of the NA-MOD. It was a organization that had agents and other officials from all over the world. Most of them were  Ex-SHIELD-agents-now-SI-Employees that agreed to help manage the New Avengers after Tony asked who liked work there.

UN also decided to call all the Accord signers as New Avengers while there was sub groups that went on missions. There are about six main sub groups. Team S1 consist of Iron Man, War Machine, Vision, Hulk, Dr. Strange and Wasp. This team is the one used for missions that needed more Arial support and heavy hitting and infiltration. Team S2 or Defenders were used for more covert missions like rescue and to detain more localized villains. And sometimes they went as back up for TS1too. TS3 and TS4n are X-men. The members of the two teams differed from mission to mission depending on the power they needed for the mission. And they were usually sent to Mutant related missions. Like when the brotherhood start acting up. TS5 was fantastic four who was also sent missions similar to TS1 and TS2. Last group was TS6. It was a unusual team with only Deadpool. No one knew why he signed the accords and what types of missions he would be sent on. Rhodey suspected that he would be sent more less legal type of missions that had to be done in order to secure the world peace.

There was also other Accord signers that was not assigned to teams that was sent protect their own cities and towns like they used to do. And they were assigned to Main Teams when they need more fire power. Also, the main teams got divided and formed to new teams according to the situation that called their attention.

However, none of the Superheroes had problems with Police and any other government agencies. They all had to report to NA HQ in upstate New York after they had finished with whatever fight and give a full debriefing of the fight to NA-MOD agents including about the property damage and any casualties. And they had to report why they took the action they took to stop the bad guy. So it could use in their defense if there was a lawsuit against the hero. These tasks were assigned to the SI assigned mission management employees who were kind of both SI and NA-MOD agents.

All the members also had to take mandatory physical and psychological health evaluation once a month to determine whether they are suitable for fieldwork. And if they are deemed not suitable, they had to get help from the Medical that was assigned to NA until they are declared ready for the fieldwork again.

Also, any member in any team had the right to refuse the given mission providing they form a acceptable reason. Be it that the mission is something that is not accepted in the religion the member is a part of or simply because the mission goes against the personal morals the member have. A country can only request New Avengers for situations that is out of the hands of Local police or military. Like superhuman villains who try to take over the country or the world. The severity of the situation is gauged by the UN approved NA-MOD Panel with 10 members from all over the world to make sure the decision is fair. They are to always remain fair and this panel is available for 24/7 five members per day. The moment the panel is notified, Rhodes would be notified as well as he’s the leader appointed for New Avengers. Then he will assign a Main team or a temporally team to the mission and a field leader for the team. Meanwhile the panel would decide whether to send the assigned team to the country or not. However, the team chosen can override the decision of the panel and chose to go help the country or not go. But whatever decision they take, They are to provide the reasons for their decision in front of the panel and UN.

If the team has a mission or a situation that they think, they have to go or are needed. They are to consult the panel. If they receive permission, panel will answer to the UN about why they gave permission, but if the panel denied permission to the team but they still decide to go, they would have to answer both the panel and UN.

And if a member, who signed the accords couldn’t get along with others, and insulted others it would become a major problem. Rhodey would have to discuss it with the panel to about what to do with Carol. She would have to go through a Psychological evaluation to determine whether she can work with a team or not before she's assigned to a team.

“I’ll talk to the panel. Fury’s old files on her was what convinced us that she’s not a hostile. But it seems we would have to rethink his words about her team working abilities.” Rhodey said and stood to leave.

“I’ll see you guys later then. Congratulations on your new jobs.” He said and waved before leaving among goodbyes and snickers for his comment.

Chapter Text

Stephen frowned as he made his way through the halls of KamaTaj. He had been trying to get answers from the Loki Wannabe for hours and still the only thing the guy had let on was that his master was coming for them. That is all Stephen’s been hearing the whole day. He had figured out that the stone was the soul stone and had placed it in the mirror dimension that he kept the time stone. He had received the word that Tony had woken up and was doing okay if not a little tired. He would still have to check on him the next day though. Just because Tony was doing okay doesn’t mean he’ll stop worrying.

ooOOoo

Tony had spent the rest of the day sleeping and recovering. The worrying dull glow had gone back to the bright golden glow during the night making both Vision and Peter relieved. They had still kept vigil over the inventor in case something went wrong. Of course JARVIS was there all the time, but they still stayed. JARVIS had informed them that Tony’s mind was still the same and nothing had happened to it that they didn’t know about. Vision was kind of glad that JARVIS had a mind link with their creator so he can keep a eye on the inventors mind too if someone decide to mess with it. Not that someone will be able to invade his mind because of his metal barriers that blocked even the Mind Stone from working. And there was the fact that he’s a god too.

Another thing that had happened during Tony was asleep was that Iðunn had come for a visit the moment her job as the guardian of the golden apples gave her a break. She had left few apples that Tony had requested for him to run tests. She wouldn’t have given them to anyone else. But Tony being Tony changed that. She hadn’t been able to stay for long and had left after making sure Tony was okay.

When Tony woke up first thing he realized was that he was feeling better than he did the other day after the fight. He didn’t feel tried like he did the other day which was a rare thing for him after Extremis and being a god made it hard for him to get tired even if he wanted to. He sat up and saw Peter sleeping on the edge of the bed looking mere inches from toppling over and falling. Tony chuckled and picked the teen carefully and placed him on the bed and tucked him in even though it was nearing 9 in the morning. He looked up when the door opened and Vision came in.

“Tony! How are you feeling?” He asked in a quiet voice seeing the sleeping teen.

“I’m good Vis, no need to worry. I feel all good now.” Tony reassured the android and got up from the bed and they both walked out to the living room so they won’t disturb the teenager that was sleeping.

“I’m glad to hear that you’re okay. You quiet gave us the scare. Even your mother came to visit you. To make sure you were okay.” Vision said as he sat down on the couch facing the kitchen. Tony listened as he made his way to the kitchen and made a cup of coffee. It didn’t do anything to him since he had a endless supply of energy in the form of electricity in his body now. But he liked the taste.

“Oh?”

“Yes, she left you some golden apples you had asked for. I kept them in the safe box in your lab.” Vision said while watching closely at the genius god to make sure that he was really okay. Tony wondered whether Iðunn knew that he might give them to someone that is important to him. She probably knew. Or she wouldn’t have gave them to him after all. It’s not like he’s going to give them to bad people.

“Thanks Vis. I’ll take a look at them later today. But JARVIS just reminded me of the lessons I had planned with Stephen. So I better get going. And Vis? I’m really okay.”

“Oh and please tell Peter that he could visit us if he want when he’s awake.” Tony said and gave Vision a reassuring smile and patted him on the shoulder before going to his room. Vision smiled a little at that as his creator really did know him the best out of anyone.

Tony went to his room and quietly took out a AC/DC t-shirt he absolutely loved and a pair of tight fitting blue jeans and left the room and used the bathroom at the end of the hall so he won’t wake Peter with the sound of water running.

After he was cleaned and dressed Tony concentrated on the entrance hall of the sanctum and fire traveled (that’s what he calls the teleporting through fire). He opened his eyes to find Wong looking like he might chuck him out of the building. Tony figured that he already knew of his new development since he didn’t look surprised.

“No fire inside the Sanctum.” Wong said in a deadpan voice that made Tony smile sheepishly while controlling his laughter. It’s not his fault that Wong could take the deadpan serious face to perfection. He took it to whole another level. He was the king of deadpan voice and all-too-serious-I-don’t-smile-or-laugh face.

“Got it.” Tony said just as Stephen came down the stairs.

“How are you Tony?” Was the first thing he asked once reaching the duo.

“I’m fine Doc. Really! Why do people seem to ask me that today?” Tony rolled his eyes as the sorcerer started to run every diagnosis spells he knew. He seems satisfied with what he saw cause he relaxed his stiff posture and led them all to the sitting area of the Sanctum.

Tony and Stephen spent few minutes talking about the LW after Wong had left saying that he had work to do in KamaTaj. Then they moved to discussing a flexible schedule to help Tony practice his magic. It was not a extensive or a heavy course set one since Tony understood most of the knowledge he had gained with godhood after he had gone through them all. But he still needed practice some of the harder spells and he had to try them in a safe environment. And the best place was a mirror dimension. One thing he seem to have a harder time producing. But he was not worried since he had a friend who could. Stephen had scowled and said that Tony only kept him around for that. Which Tony retorted that he had kept Stephen around before he became a god making Stephen huff and admit defeat. 

After that they spent the rest of the morning practicing inside a mirror dimension. Tony was quick to get a hand on the spells that was harder for him after casting them a few times. Of course he had some difficulty but he had gotten the hang of them when Peter came swinging through the open window when they had decided to wrap it up for the day.

“Hey Dr. Strange! Hey Dad? How are you?” Peter asked from where he was hanging upside down on the ceiling. Tony sighed resigned as he knew that he was going to be asked that question that day.

“I’m good kiddo. Have you eaten?” Tony asked as he and Stephen left the training room with Peter crawling behind them.

“Yeah Vision is getting better at cooking! He made me pancakes that is actually not burnt!” Peter said and flipped down to sit next to Tony on the sofa in the sitting area.

“Well that’s good. I haven’t though, care to give a visit to McDonald's or Delmar’s?”  Tony asked looking at both Peter and Stephen.

“Yeah!” Peter said just as Tony finished the sentence and before Stephen could answer, his assemble alarm went off.

“Well I guess it answers my question. I’m sorry Tony, maybe next time when whatever the threat is not trying to do whatever they are trying to do.” Stephen said to Tony as he put on his sling ring.

“It’s okay Stephen, I’ll meet you next Saturday for our practice session if not before.”

“Sure, Bye Tony, Mr. Parker.” Stephan made a portal to the NA HQ and went through it leaving Tony and Peter.

“So? McDonald’s?” Peter nodded enthusiastically and Tony told JARVIS to send a car for them.

They waited in the side walk for the car to pull up. It did, without a driver which amazed Peter still after having seen it so many times. Tony cast a magic shield barrier around them so anyone who take their photo, it will be blurred. That is if anyone identified him through the barrier. They got in and Tony took control over the steering wheel and raced towards the closest McDonald’s.

ooOOoo

He opened his eyes to see a blurred night sky. It took him a while to focus and slowly got to his feet. He looked around and shook his head to get rid of the weird buzzing in his head. It didn’t go away straight away but it slowly went away. He found that he didn’t recognize the place he was in. So he turned a little and saw a road sign in the distance. Figuring he could find out where he was he made his way towards it.

‘⬆­Manhattan 0.5KM’ So he was not that much away from New York. He looked down at himself and saw that he was wearing the same suit he had worn when he left that evening with his wife. And as the memories of that day came to him, he had to wonder what the hell was going on. Did he get mugged? If so where is his wife? Did they kidnap her for ransom? He had left that evening after a long round of meetings with the SI Board members. He had argued with Tony and had left with his wife while Tony was angry at him. He had fought the urge to go back and hug his son and apologize and say that he was proud of him. For he had graduated from MIT at 17. Even before the school year was over. He will after he’s back at the mansion again.

Suddenly his head started to hurt and he had to sit down on the side of the road and clutch his head and try to elevate some of the pain. But it didn’t go away and he remembered what had happened after they had left.

‘Car wavered and crashed in to the tree. His head was hurting but he got out the car was trying to go to the other side to get his wife out of the burning car. He hears footsteps.

"Help my wife. Please. Help." But a shadow fell over him and t he person who came before takes a handful of Howard’s hair and hoists him up. he looked up to see Sergeant Barnes, long lost friend of Captain America looking down at him.

“Sergeant Barns?” He managed to say before he felt his head spinning.He could hear Maria calling out to him.

Barnes doesn't say anything and punching him in the face with a ‘is that a metal arm?’. Suddenly Howard’s world exploded with pain and last thing he registered was that if this person is here to kill them, then Tony would also be in danger before his world blacked out.’

Howard was still clutching his head when the pain went away. His mind was a whirl wind of thoughts. Why was he here when he was supposed to wake up near a crashed car or at least a hospital. And the most prominent thought was whether Tony and Maria was okay. But before he could think more on it, he was again sucked in to a memory. But this time he was watching himself get murdered and he watched as Barnes kill his wife. ‘Use your second chance wisely Howard Stark’ Voice whispered in his ear as he came out of the memory or whatever he was forced to watch.

He sat there catching his breath and trying not to cry. He didn’t know why he was given a second chance if his wife and son is dead. Emotions threatened to overwhelm him before his logical mind screamed at him to get his shit together cause Tony could be alive. He could be still home without any idea what had happened to his parents. This could what the voice meant as the second chance. Because honestly even he had messed up in impressive ways in many things, he never regretted anything other than the way he had treated son just because he wanted his son to become someone who’s better than Howard.

With a new determination Howard stood and started to walk towards Manhattan. He would go and try to make amends with his son. He knew that it would be hard after years of emotional distance between them. But he would somehow rebuild the father-son relationship he had ignored for all these years. He was builder after all, so rebuilding something wouldn’t be so hard. Now he had to go the New York Mansion. He’s sure Tony would still be there, after all he had said that he’s only leaving for his best friends’ place next week.

Chapter Text

As he looked around all he could see was the skyscrapers that dominated the sky. Bright lights filled the night to the point it was hard to tell the difference. All in all one thing was sure, he was not in the time he existed. Vehicles he saw was modern and he had already witness people talking to sleek thin boxes which he predicted was mobile phones. Being a scientist and having tried the thing himself, Howard was sure that he had somehow time traveled to the future. He didn’t know how he was going to re-connect with his son if it had been a long time in to the future. So he did the best thing he could think of doing at that moment. He decided to find out which year he was in.

He made his way through the busy New York streets and came to a stop near a news stand. Having found his wallet in his pocket in the beginning of his journey, he bought the latest newspaper and checked the date. 2016. He had to take few deep breaths to control the shock he felt. It was 2016, freaking 25 years in to the future. His son would be a middle aged man.

Shaking out the shock of finding himself 25 years in to the future, he returned his attention to the newspaper so he could at least get a idea about what to do next. And as soon as he read the main headline he took a double take. It read ‘Tony Stark injured during a fight!’  

Our beloved Hero Tony Stark aka Iron Man was seen carried back to the tower suitless by Vision after the fight with the Magic user that was creating chaos yesterday afternoon. Ms. Potts CEO of Stark Industries released statement the next morning, to our great relief stating that Tony Stark was not harmed and was in good health and to prove that he was seen near McDonald’s today with a young man who’s identity is a secret.

More information on Iron Man pg.4

More Information on New Avengers pg.5

Howard hurriedly turned the paper and sat down on the nearby bench so he was not on the way of the passing by people. Article about the Iron Man was brief as most people knew that story, if not the complete one by now. New Avengers however was a long article that was detailed and to Howard's trained eye, honest.

After reading the articles Howard sat by for what seemed like hours processing everything he had read. His son was a superhero. He felt a smile tug at his lips at that thought and looked up and to his great surprise it was a huge billboard of Iron Man in flight with his repulsor’s alight.

He stood up after few more minutes and made his way to a nearby restaurant since he was hungry. Being resurrected in to the future can take a toll on a guy after all. He entered the restaurant and sat down near the window. As he ordered food a group of teenagers sat down on the table next to him. They seemed to be in a deep conversation and his son’s name drew his attention to them.

“I personally think Tony Stark is the best.” One teen said to his friends as they all munched on fries.

“I agree! Did you guys hear? He’s hiring tens to work as lab assistants and interns. I for one am going to apply. Even dad said that it was a good opportunity to work in SI.”

“Yeah! I heard that once a week Tony flipping Stark himself comes down to the labs to work with SI employees.” Blond haired teen who had declared Tony to be the best said in a exited whisper.

“I don’t know what you guys find in him. Look at Captain America, he’s a real hero.” Short brown haired teen said as the other 2 glared at him. That made Howard pause, Captain America? Why do these teens compare his son to him?

“Captain America is a criminal. I read the Accords, they are for a good reason. And Tony Stark agreed to be responsible while Captain America decided to destroy a airport and a tunnel just to prove himself right.” Blond teen said and that shut the other teen up. Teens then changed the topic leaving Howard to his thoughts.

Captain America is a criminal. Something about Accords. He had to find more information. If Cap was alive why had he become a criminal? That was the question that went around Howard's mind as he ate and paid. He left the building and decided that he would have to find a way to contact Tony. Until then he would push all these questions to the back of his mind.

Howard decided to go to his old mansion for the night. He would think of a way to contact Tony next day. What he needed was a good night’s sleep and a shower. He started to walk towards where he knew that mansion will be. After about half an hour he reached the closed gates of the mansion. It looked like it was being taken care of. But it also showed the signs that said that no one was living there.

He carefully examined the security system. It was modern, more advanced than what he had gathered from walking around future NY. Of course it had to be his son, no way anyone could make something this advanced. But he was a genius and was able to disable the security system without raising any alarms. He quickly went inside and saw that all the furniture was there, but covered in white sheets to protect them from dust. He went upstairs and noted to check his study the next day and went to the room he had shared with Maria. It hasn’t changed from the way he remembered it to be. Out of curiosity he opened the closet and found his cloths just the way he had left them that night. He took out a pair of pajama pants and a night shirt and went to the bathroom. Luckily the heating system still worked so he was able to have a hot shower. After changing to the cloths he had choose he fell in to the bed after removing the white sheets that covered it and fell in to a deep sleep with the thoughts of how to contact Tony fluttering around his mind.

Chapter Text

Shuri made her way through the labs in Wakanda. She was on her a way to remove the triggers from Barns mind. If only she had the original BARF tech that was developed by Tony Stark. But alas she was a little bit too proud ask the man so she had made her own. It was not as good as the original but it would serve her purpose. She knew she could ask the man and he would gladly help despite what had happened between him and Barns. But she liked to think herself as the smartest person in the planet. Her brother told her regularly that she was not the smartest because there can be always someone smarter than her.

Shuri was a certified genius. She had done her papers and tests and had proven that she was smart. That she was a genius. But even she had to accept the fact that Tony was smarter than her. Even if it was only to herself. She had used his papers on Security system software as the base for the Wakandan security system. Not that anyone knew. Cause everyone thought that she had done it herself. Sure she did by herself, but still the foundation the basic codes were taken from Tony Stark.

She had admired the man when she was younger. He was someone that intrigued her. He had made technological marvels without the help of Vibranium. The Arc Reactor, Iron Man Armour was few of the many. Even Wakandan scientists sometimes struggled to understand some of the things the man invented. And of course they tried to hack his system but they were sent in loops by Stark AI, and they never got past the first two firewalls. And even cracking the code on his Stark Phones were hard.

“Princess Shuri! You need to see this.” One of the scientists that worked in cracking the code of Stark phones came running towards her.

“What is it?”

“Newest Stark Phone! It has Vibranium!” That grabbed Shuri’s attention. Stark phones always contained valuable metals even though the phone itself were sold in a very reasonable price to the public. Hell they were cheaper than Apple phones. And if this contained Vibranium that means he was getting it from somewhere.

“What? Are you sure?” She asked as she followed the man to his workstation.

“Yes, I ran several tests. It’s Vibranium with some new properties as well. But as it is we haven’t been able to re-create the properties in to our natural Vibranium. Only conclusion? He synthesized it, successfully.” He said and waited for Shuri’s reaction.

Shuri couldn’t think of anything to say. She’s surprised of course since no one had really been successful in synthesizing Vibranium. Wakanda included. They just used the massive supply of Vibranium they had in their lands for their purposes. And to hear that someone had managed to do it was shocking. She knew she couldn’t do anything about it though. Because Stark had not stolen the metal from them. He had made it himself. So she resigned to the fate that people outside Wakanda will now have Vibranium.

“Well there is nothing we could do about it. I will talk to my brother about this. But I doubt he would be able to do anything about it.” Shuri said and the scientist nodded and went back to his work as Shuri continued her way towards her lab.

As she entered the lab she saw Steve Rogers standing near the Cryo tube that held the Winter Soldier. She was sure that she had made a decent copy of BARF tech with the public information and the paper Stark had published on it. She had tested it and it worked. But it had to be tested on Barns himself to see whether the triggers can be removed.

Steve looked up at the Cryo tube that held Bucky. He had taken to visit him once a week and just talk to him even though Bucky wouldn’t hear him. And when he was not spending time in the lab he spent time with the others.

After he had broken them out of the RAFT, T’challa had been generous to let them stay in Wakanda. Most of the time they spent the time talking about the Accords to each other. They still believed that what they did was the right thing. How could he trust the government to not to take advantage of a group of powerful humans. He was still disappointed in Tony though, for siding with the UN. And about attacking Bucky when it was not Bucky that killed his parents. It was HYDRA. They were controlling Bucky.

Of course he had hoped that Tony would call him after a few days since he knew that Tony needed him the team with him. He was a too much of a wild card to be left on his own. At least he had hoped that Col. Rhodes would call him since he seemed to know Tony a lot better and would have known that Tony was too dangerous to be left alone.  But no, he had to hear through news that Tony had amended the Accords with his Legal team and other Super Hero Vigilantes. New Avengers they called themselves. And to the disgust of Steve more than half of the Hero community had agreed with it and signed it. He had read only the first few pages and knew that it was nothing better than the old one. What made him angry was that this was made by Tony. Yes General Ross was no longer working with the Accord Council, but still it was a government document, made by Tony Stark. Of course no one was foolish to let Stark work on it?

And to top it off Tony had done something to himself. It was clear from how he looked younger in the press conference and how he glowed a gold colour. Wanda had been griping about how he was a petty man and had pumped himself with some kind of serum. And Steve had to agree that it was a petty action to get back to him.

On the other hand he didn’t know what had happened but he was sure that it was connected to the letters he had seen been delivered to Clint and Scott. They had been distancing themselves from the others. And Steve had not seen them for the last 2 days. All he knew was that they were having meetings with T’challa. Sam had said not to worry as he believed that they were trying to get in contact with their families.

“Captain Rogers, I see you are visiting Sergeant Barns again.” Shuri’s voice took him out of his thoughts and he turned to see  Shuri making her way towards him.

“Princess,” He nodded respectively and stood up.

“Any news?” He asked hopefully looking at the young girl in front of her. Shuri nodded as she knew what he was asking and took a tablet from a nearby table and started to bring up various statistics and graphs.

“Yes, I have successfully re-created Dr. Stark's BARF technology. It’s not advanced as his but it has proven to work the way it should be. I changed the way it works so it can be used on Sergeant Barns mind to remove the triggers. I’m sure this would work. I already talked with my brother, he gave me permission to take Sergeant Barns our of the Cryo sleep and try this on him. Only your permission is needed as Sergeant Barns made you his medical proxy before he went under.” She explained to the Super soldier that had listened with rapt attention to all she was saying.

“This will work?” He asked trying not to look so desperate and hopeful.

“Yes I believe this will work.” Shuri said with so much confidence it was hard not to believe her.

“Then Yes.” Steve said as a big smile started to bloom after a long time.

Chapter Text

Clint Barton or Hawkeye, didn’t know why he had been fighting against his team members. He had been sent to get Wanda, who he had thought was being held prisoner in the compound only to find her with Vision. Surely it wasn’t what he had expected form being held prisoner. Cause there were prisoner quarters and surly she will be there with power suppressants? But as soon as he entered the compound only thing he could think about was how to get Wanda away from Vision. He couldn’t really remember much about what had happened at the air port. He fought, he had felt a little guilty fighting the only man that had been comfortable around him after the Loki’s mind controlling incident. When everyone was walking on eggshells around him after that, Tony had been jumping on said eggshells. But it went away as soon as it came. And then he was in the RAFT, he was told that Tony put them there. But he didn’t want to believe it. Sure Natasha had always said not to trust Stark, but Tony didn’t do anything to break the trust Clint had on him. But from inside that cell it was hard to think. All he felt was uncontrollable rage towards Tony. Then Cap came with his buddy to save them and took them all to Wakanda. He had felt the same rage whenever someone mentioned Tony or Iron Man. He felt a voice saying that all these things these people who said was wrong. But the anger was more stronger in his mind.

Looking back at those times he should have realized something was wrong with him from the beginning. He was a spy and he should have known when he was acting strangely. But alas he was late when he had realized that.

It all started with the letter he had received in a very suspicious way. He had found the letter on his bed without any indication on how it got there. He had asked Steve and he also had no idea who took the letter. Clint saw Scott also asking Sam about a letter he had received. But after making sure that it was not something harmful he had opened it in the privacy of his room. And he was forever grateful to whoever deity that made him go to his room despite Steve’s protests to open the letter in private.

As soon as he opened the letter, first thing he realized was that he could breathe easier. It was like having his mind released from some kind of control. Like when he was released from Loki’s grasp. Clint had to gasp few deep breaths as all the actions he had taken during the last few months became clear to him. He had fought with his teammates without knowing the reason. He never did anything without a reason. He always had reason to his actions. But these? He had no reasons to do them. Was the fight about the Accords? Or is it something else? If it’s the Accords, Clint would have been with Tony. He was experienced in politics, so he had to know what he was doing if the man that didn’t like being tied down agreed to this.

Second he realized this Clint’s mind went to overdrive. Why’s flew through his mind. Why had he fought? Why didn’t he question the situation? He was Hawkeye, he was meant to see from a high vantage point. He was meant to see things the others didn’t. So what stopped him? As these thoughts ran around his mind he looked back at the letter. It was from someone he had never expected to receive a letter from after what he had done.

Barton,

I’m not sure why I’m sending this damn letter to you, but my instinct said to do it. I don’t know why I choose to write a letter, when technology is so much better than this paper and pen thing. This is more cap style. Did you know he sent me a letter, “apologizing?” Well he did. He also sent a burner phone. It was a disgrace and a insult to the most technological man in the damn universe. Damnit, I’m going off topic. Any way I had this feeling(normally Tony Stark Don’t do feelings, feel privileged Bird Brain) that something was seriously wrong with you. So I contacted my wizard friend and put a spell on this letter so when you open it any outside influence on your mind will be Removed instantly. Well I guess it did the thing and saved you from whatever woo doo magic you were on if you’re reading this far. So if you are on your right mind now, go read the Accords, its on the internet. Both the SI webpage and UN one. Talk to T’challa if you want to know anything.

I don’t know if I will be able to forgive you for what you said. But I will give you a chance and forgive you if you had been indeed mind controlled. But it will take time. Hope to see you in US soil soon birdbrain. Cooper and Lila is waiting for you. Now I know what it feels like to be a dad, so don’t keep them waiting.

Ok the emotional crap is out of the way, I don’t do emotions you know. Be wise as a Hawk, Hawkeye.

T.S.

The letter was so Tony that he wasn't able to fight the smile that came. Only he would be able to go of topic while writing a letter and give the expression that he's rambling to the reader. That aside, the letter explained why he had been able to think clearly after opening the letter. He was sure that it had to be Wanda in some way. Because every time she is near the anger the resentment is high. But anyway, now he was free of it, he damn well is going to make amends to Tony. He was glad that Tony was willing to give him a second chance. And as Clint went to find T’challa to talk about making arrangement to go back to USA, he vowed to himself to take that second chance and re-build the friendship he had with Tony.

ooOOoo

Scott Lang never thought he would have the honor of working with Captain America. He didn’t know what the fight was about, just Captain needed help and that it was Tony Stark he was fighting against. Hank had always told him that you should never trust a Stark. So it was only natural he believed Hank.

What he didn’t expect was to be labeled as a criminal again. He had spent his time in the prison and had been dreaming about spending time with his daughter and girlfriend. But now it was out the window. Captain always said that Stark would see the wrongs in his way and make sure they were back. He said that the world needed the Avengers. But seeing press conference about the New Avengers which included Hope, his girlfriend, he was not so sure. He had been digging around for what the fight was about and had been confused as hell. Because the Accords, the thing they fought against was no so bad. Sure the old one was a piece of crap, but the new that had been made by Stark and his lawyers were so much better. It was fair for any superhuman, and it gave the freedom of staying away without fighting and gave them a choice. It didn’t tie their hands the way Cap had said.

These thoughts had been in his mind for a long time when he had received a mysterious letter. He had been a little apprehensive so he had asked Sam about it. But the man didn’t know anything about it and he had seen Clint with one as well. So he had gone back to his room and opened the letter. Inside was a phone and a letter. A letter from Hope. It was of course filled with curses and threats and overall summed up the foolishness of him. It explained that the phone was connected to a secure line that Stark had made for Scott himself, so he could talk to Cassie.

He had immediately contacted the only number saved in the phone and had the privilege of listening to a long rant from Hope again and advice about what he had to do now. And after that Hope had forwarded the call to Cassie and he talked to her for at least 5 hours before she had to go because of the time difference. After that he made his way looking for T’challa so he could go back and correct everything he had messed up.

ooOOoo

Clint and Scott reached T’challa’s office at the same time and they both knew that they were there for the same reason. So they knocked on the door and waited for T’challa to grant them entrance. Once they heard the deep voice of T’challa saying to come inside, they both took a deep breath and entered the office. They were ready to live up to their actions and go back home. To their families.

Chapter Text

Tony hummed as he stretched his arms above his head. He let the satisfaction he felt every time he completed a project wash over him as he stared at the vials of different colored liquids. He had been in his sciencing mood for hours. Bruce had left him after few hours to let Hulk out and play in the playroom Tony had built him and go to sleep after that. Tony didn’t know exactly how long, but it must be long enough since Rhodey had come down once to try and drag him to bed. But as always Tony didn’t budge and Rhodey had to leave him to his tinkering.

As soon as he had dropped Peter at Ned’s place after their trip to McDonald’s he had driven back to the tower so he could begin his new project. He had been craving for something new for so long since Extremis and whole god thing had left him busy with getting used to his new powers and handling UN and letting them know of the new developments excluding the god thing of course. So when Vision said Iðunn had left few Golden Apples for him to play with he had been excited.

So after hours of studying and dissecting he had finally managed to get the factor in Golden Apples that gave it the ability to give the consumer Immortality and managed to isolate the factor that gave it’s taste without it’s magical properties. He had injected it to a normal apple and it had the desired effect and became more sweeter. He couldn’t wait to show it to Peter. He sure seemed to enjoy the taste of it when he ate that apple.

Tony took the vial containing the factor that gave immortality and took it to his safe. The same one he kept his dad’s belongings and the Arc reactors. He stored the vial carefully and started to encode all the formulas and equations that was needed to re-create the Immortal Juice as he called it and hide them behind tones of firewalls that no one can hack into without his or JARVIS help.

“Sir, there seemed to be someone residing in the old Stark mansion. Scans shows a male that has a close resemblance to Howard Stark.”

“What?” Tony asked whipping around to face one of the cameras in the lab. “Run that by me again J?”

“It seems that a man resembling Howard Stark is residing in the Stark Mansion.” JARVIS  said and Tony could hear the hesitation in the AI’s voice. Of course anyone would hesitate if they are going to say that someone who is technically their grandfather- who is supposed to be dead - is walking around alive.

Tony took a few breathes to clear his head. He had to think and act rationally in a situation like this. He can’t let his emotions get to him. Okay, so first thing he need to do is check the scans for himself. Then run some tests himself. Finally visit in-person to see what this or who this is.

“Okay J give me the scans.” His mind filled with all the information JARVIS had gathered and he carefully went through them. He analyzed it and let his magic flow through him after going through it all. He searched his memories to get the correct life force energy he had gathered when he was reviewing his memories of his father when he was alive and let his magic compare it with the one that the man who was now sleeping in his parents room had. He felt a gasp leave his lips when the life forces showed the same wavelengths and strength. If what his magic is saying is true, this man was indeed his father. Same one who had been dead for more than two decades. Same one Tony had hated and the same one that had proved to be the opposite the man he let others believe him to be. Same one Tony regretted not trying harder to get closer and had wept for the lost chance.

Tony stayed like that for few minutes with his eyes closed and let the fact that his father is back in the land of living sink in. He opened his eyes and blinked back the tears that threatened to spill over. He knew he had to do a DNA test and all the tests he could imagine because this can be a impersonator sent by some organization. But after he had learned and practiced it, magic was something he trusted after Science. Cause face it, he’s Tony Stark. Science always came first. But he also knew that no one can copy the life force of someone else. They could impersonate someone else face, voice, magic, but never their life force energy one continuously released while they are alive.

“Sir?” JARVIS concerned voice came over the speakers.

“It looks like I'm getting so many second chances these days, J”

“Indeed sir, but I’m quite sure that they are well deserved.” JARVIS said and Tony looked back at the live feed he was getting from the CCTV in the Mansion. He would have to visit his old man tomorrow. After all he was not a man who let his chances go unanswered.

ooOOoo

Howard woke up confused to why he was waking up alone as usually it was Maria who woke him up or he woke together with Maria next to him. As he wiped the sleep from his eyes he remembered what had happened. He felt a pang go through his heart when he remembered Maria was not with him to wake up because she was dead. But he quickly shook away the guilt and sadness that tried to overwhelm him and focused on the matters at hand. He would first get up and have a shower and change. After that he would try to think of a way to contact his son. As he promised himself last night, he would do his best to re-build the relationship he had let crumble with Tony.

With that in mind Howard got up and took a shower and brushed his teeth. After that he choose a suit and got dresses. He looked through the drawers and found few five dollar bills and went downstairs. But as he made his way to the front doors, he remembered his office/study. He turned back and went towards there as he was not much hungry anyway.

As he entered his study he realized that someone had been there recently. Because study looked a little clustered and he saw that the box he had used to collect Tony’s achievement and his journals were missing. He hoped that it was Tony who took them and now someone who was looking for money. But with security Tony had installed in the place it was impossible for someone not named Howard and Tony to break in. As he looked around he heard footsteps. He left the study and went towards the entrance hall and he drew to a stop as he saw what or who was standing at the door. He stood there motionless for a long time taking in the one in front of him as Iron Man’s blue eyes stared at him.

Chapter Text

The next day Tony woke up bright and early so he could visit the Mansion and investigate. The whole morning he was so nervous that Peter noticed and asked him about it. He had deflected it with ease and had tried to hide his nervousness. After that he had Happy drive Peter to school after promising Peter to pick him up after school.

Tony flew to the Stark Mansion in the suit so he could kill time before facing the man that was his dad and to also to make the trip quick. As he saw the Mansion in the distance he slowed down and tried to squash the thoughts that came to him without his permission. Like how it was just a vision he saw or a dream in hopes of having his father with him again to build a genuine relationship with him.

He landed on the front doors and took a deep breath to calm his nerves and opened the door. The first thing he saw when he entered was his father, who was staring at him with wonder and surprise.

“Tony?” Was out of Howard’s mouth before he could think better and stop himself.

Tony let the suit retreat back and stared at his father. He didn’t know what to do now that he was standing before the man. His mind went to overdrive on different scenarios and different ways he could respond.

“Your Greatest Creation! You said that I was your greatest creation.” Blurted out Tony without thinking and brought a hand to his mouth and covered it with his hand and cringed. ‘Great Tony, you see your father after 25 years and that’s the first thing you say.’ Tony mentally berated himself and he was brought out of his thoughts suddenly when he felt two strong arms wrap around him. They were stronger that they should be for someone so old. But Tony didn’t know that, because this was the first time he had ever gotten a hug from his father.

Howard felt like his heart would break into million pieces when he heard Tony. He knew that it had meant a world to Tony because it was in his eyes. Those warm Amber brown eyes that told the world what he felt when he couldn’t find the words. The desperation he saw there, the longing was too much for him to handle and he did something he had wished he had done a long time ago and hugged Tony.

Tony stood there tense for few seconds before he relaxed and hugged back his father for the first time and hide his face in the crook of his father’s neck. He was still shorter than his father, he vaguely noticed but paid it no attention as he basked in the love he could literally feel pouring out of Howard.

“Dad!” he said with reverence and his voice shook with all the emotion he felt. He didn’t do anything to hide the fact that he was crying. He lifted his head and looked at the face of Howard for a long time without moving from where he was held securely in his father’s arms. Tony buried his head in the crook of his father’s neck again as he hugged the man tightly after making sure he was not hallucinating. Howard hugged with the same fierceness as his son and whispered the word he thought he had told him sooner.

“I love you my son”

ooOOoo

They had moved to the living area after their hugging fest that had a put a huge smile to Tony’s face that made Howard proud knowing that he had put it there.

Tony still couldn’t believe his eyes. His father was sitting right there next him on the sofa. And he was nothing like the man he had known. He guessed this was real Howard Stark, the real man that had hid behind mask after mask to protect not only himself, but his family as well. He listened to the story of how Howard came back like a child listening to their parents when they are telling them a bed time story. Well he was a child to his dad he supposed. They had both apologized for the way they had acted in the past. Howard for acting like he didn't care and Tony for not trying harder to get closer to Howard and break his masks. Needless to say, it had brought tears to both their eyes before they promised each other to move past and look forward to re-building their relationship as a father and son. Forgive, forget and move on.

After that Howard told Tony about what had happened during the last two days and by the face Tony pulled when he told him about his and Maria’s deaths, he knew what had really happened since he had stopped Howard from regaling the grief and horror of his own death.

“…And now I’m here. I saw your posters and knew that I was in the future.” Howard finished and watched as his son take it all in. After a few minutes Tony took a deep breath. He had thought about what to tell Howard and what not to tell. But he supposed that it was fair for his dad to know everything about him. But he couldn’t bring himself to say some of the things.

“Well dad, I think it’s fair for me to tell you and you to know about me. But there are some things I can’t bring myself to tell you personally. I will have JARVIS tell you. He know everything about me, so he could tell you anything you need to know. J? let him know anything he wants to know okay?” He said and mentally added that it included letting Howard know about Rogers too.

“Of course, sir.” Pristine British voice said over the Tony’s phone.

“Sure Tony. You don’t have to tell me everything. And I’ll ask this JARVIS to tell me anything I want to know. Now tell me who is this JARVIS? If I remember correctly Jarvis was our Family butler.” Howard said as he wondered about what could make Tony uncomfortable enough for him to not tell him personally. But he figure he would ask this JARVIS later and not push his son. If he can’t tell him then it was okay, he didn’t want his son to be uncomfortable with him. He was amazed by the ease they interacted with each other after years of animosity. But he conceded that to the fact it was almost three decades since they last had a fight and now Howard didn’t have a reason to act the way he did. His son was already grown up now.

“Sure, so JARVIS is a AI, the most sophisticated, advanced and intelligent AI, who can think and do things independently. Not that he would do anything to harm anyone. Unless told by me of course. I named him after our butler, cause at first he was suppose to just take care of me, but as time went he became my son in a way.”

"Indeed, I see sir as my father too. I was only able to become like this because of sir." JARVIS said with emotion that would have been impossible for another AI. Tony smiled fondly and Howard was impressed by what his son could do and proud.

“Wow! That’s really impressive.” Howard complimented Tony and all Tony could do was stare dumbfounded at Howard. Then he remembered that his father had been always proud just not knowing how to express it and trying to make sure Tony didn’t become like him.

“Th-thanks.”

“So wanna tell me how you look like you are just in twenties, when you are supposed to be in your forties?” Howard asked in a joking manner deciding to ignore the way Tony stuttered as he said thanks. He knew that it was because Tony had never receive a compliment from him before, but something told him that Tony had never really received compliments from anyone in his life. He decided to investigate it later and filled it away in his mind. He knew Tony would be uncomfortable about talking about their past. They had already decided to move past it and start over. Also he mentally noted to himself to compliment Tony more often but not to do it over the top.

Tony was grateful for the fact that his father decided to ignore the stutter and change the topic. So he jumped at the chance and told his father about Extremis and Iðunn. He felt like those things were too personal and precious to not let his father know personally. He didn’t tell Howard why he had to get Extremis leaving it as a fight with a opponent. Howard didn’t push for more details as it was clear that it was hard for his son to talk about it. And he was of course surprised about his son being a god and Tony had been anxiously waiting for Howard’s reaction. What he got was not he had expected.

“You deserve it.” Was what Howard said after digesting the news.

“Wh-what?” Tony said surprised to hear that.

“I don’t mind you being a god Tony, You are still my son. Still the little scrawny little squirt that had his tongue out when concentrating and had grease all over his face. If this goddess said that you are worthy on it, then you are. And I know without that you deserve it and are worthy. I may not know what had happened after I..uh.. died. But I’m sure you are a good man, Tony. I saw it from the way those teens talked about you yesterday.” Howard said and Tony gave him a smile that could power the whole New York. It was so brilliant and bright that Howard automatically smiled back.

"Hey! I'm not a squirt!" Tony said indignantly after he registered that part of Howard's words. Howard just laughed and reached out to ruffle his son's hair that had Tony squeaking in the same way Peter did when Tony ruffled his hair. 

After that Tony set to tell Howard about Rhodey, Pepper, Happy and Peter. About the most important people in his life. Howard didn’t interrupt his son’s happy babbling and Tony rambled on and on for about 2 hours about Peter and Pepper as Howard listened amused. He was sure going to meet these people who had made such a huge impact on his son’s life. He had heard about Rhodey when Tony was in college and was happy that he was still in Tony's life. And he had see in the news paper about this Pepper being the CEO of SI. So she must be someone really important for his son to make her his CEO. And he was looking forward to meet one of his grandson too. If Tony thought about his AI as a son, that made him Howard's grandson. This Peter sounded like a younger Tony and suddenly Howard realized that even though it was shock to be alive again in the future, he didn’t mind. He had his son, it looked like they would get along brilliantly. He was going to meet his grandson and people his son treasured above most. Future was looking good.

Chapter Text

Tony and Howard parked near the front of the Midtown High so Peter would see the car the moment he came out of the doors. They both were excited. Tony so he could introduce his son to his father and Howard so he could meet Peter. They only had to wait for few minutes and they heard the bell ringing signaling the end of school. Teens started to pour out of the front doors and some was looking star struck at the Audi S8 that was parked in front of their school. Tony had driven a car that didn’t have his name as the number plate to keep a low profile. But it didn’t meant he had to choose a low profile car.

Peter exited the school chatting with Ned with MJ trailing behind them with her sketch book. They stopped when they registered that other students were staring at something. They turned towards the front gate where a black Audi was parked. Right at the moment Peter’s phone dinged alerting him about a message.

From- IronDad.

Stop gawking and get in the car Underoos. Bring Ned and MJ if you want.

“Of course he had to choose the car that would attract the most amount of attention without his name on the number plate.” Peter muttered making sure only Ned and MJ heard after showing them the message.

“So you guys coming?” Peter asked and Ned nodded so fast that Peter was afraid he would dislodge his head.

“Sure Loser.” MJ drawled with the same blank face she always had. But Peter and Ned could tell that she liked spending time with them. If she didn’t she would have left them a long time ago.

They all made their way to the car while other students watched surprised. No one expected the three nerds to have them picked up from school. Let alone in a Audi. Peter got in the back with Ned and MJ in tow and turned to his dad. He was going to start on how his day was when he saw the man sitting in the front seat next to his dad. He looked like a older version of Tony. He didn’t ask Tony anything though as  he was not sure whether he was supposed to question who he was and started his normal talk of what had happened that day.

“…And then MJ kicked him in the shin and he fell down like a girl. He even screamed like a girl, you should have been their dad.” Peter finished the story about how Flash got what he deserved by MJ with Ned’s help. Tony smiled fondly at the two teens from the rear view mirror.

“yeah uncle Tony, it was glorious.” Ned said and high fives Peter as they looked at MJ with awe. Ned was still in a little shock by getting to call Tony uncle. It had been Rhodey- "Call me uncle Rhodey"- that had insisted that Peter’s friends call Tony uncle. MJ had taken it in stride and had called Tony well, uncle Tony. Ned had obviously fangirled a little but now it was just a normal thing for him. He no longer fangirled every time he saw a superhero. He had gotten used to it after being hired as Bruce computer expert. He had a entire group of workers with a lab to help Bruce in his experiments he did for SI medical department and his own private projects. MJ was hired as a intern in the marketing department. She had impressed Pepper and had been given a team to work. As always MJ had impressed the team that no one bat and eye when she was appointed as the head of Marketing. She did a wonderful job too as their sales numbers high rocketed during a month of her being the head. She only worked after school but still it was enough for the SI Marketing department. When she was not there, Clara, a young woman MJ had personally chosen took care of everything.

“So dad?” Peter asked giving a look at the man next to Tony. Howard had listened to his grandson’s talking with amusement. He enjoyed the rambling of the teen and his friend.

“Yeah Pete?” Tony asked with a mischievous glint to his eyes that had Howard amused and Peter a little nervous. That look never bode well for others.

“Who is this?” MJ asked sensing Peter’s nervousness. She was as always to the straight forward and it startled a laugh from Howard.

“This? Oh My dad.” Tony said breezily as Peter chocked on nothing while Ned stared with wonder at the legendary inventor. MJ only showed her surprise with the slight widening of her eyes.

“D-dad?” Peter managed to get out and Tony looked at the teen from the rear view mirror.

“yeah, I’ll explain when we are home.” Tony said with a soft smile and Peter gave a smile in return despite his shock because he liked the way his dad smiled more and no one can resist to smile when Tony smiled a genuine smile at them.

ooOOoo

They arrived at the Stark Tower and Howard looked around in awe. It was so futuristic. Tony led them to his private elevator at the back and JARVIS took them to the Penthouse level. Once they reached there, Everyone filed out of the elevator and walked towards the living area. They heard talking coming from the living room and figured that Rhodey and Pepper must be there.

They entered the living area and saw six people sitting around the room. Tony had a confused look trying to remember who he had invited that day. Peter looked excited as he registered who was there and skipped over to them.

“Aunt Peps! Uncle Rhodey!” He greeted them as he plopped down near Pepper in the couch. Pepper gave him a warm smile and placed a hand on his arm.

“Hello Peter, how was your day?”

“It was great…” As Peter told Pepper about MJ kicking Flash, Ned, MJ, Tony and Howard made their way and sat down on the spare couch and Tony looked around and saw who exactly was sitting with them.

“Hey Tony” Danny said enthusiastically and waved. Jessica held up the tumbler with whiskey she had in greeting. Luke gave a two finger salute and Matt looked towards where Tony was sitting and gave a smile.

“Hey guys, what cha doing here?”

“We moved in today. Just finalizing some things with Pepper here.” Jessica said and Tony frowned at that.

“Finalize? Is there something wrong?”  

“No it’s just we asked to work for you in payment and as a thank you for letting us live here with all the expenses settled for us.” Luke said and Tony looked surprised at that.

“But! You guys don’t have to do that! I invited you guys to live with me.” Tony protested and got a and impressive shut the fuck up look from Jessica which silenced Tony’s next words.

“Tony, we know we don’t have to. But we wanted to pay you back. To thank you for your hospitality. We don’t want to be like your old team mates. We want you to be comfortable with us knowing you are welcome to kick us out any time you wanted.” Matt said in his calm voice and everyone looked at Tony knowing he was still affected by the way Rogues treated him.

Pepper and Peter had stopped their conversation and Peter gave a approving look at the Defenders. It made Pepper smile knowing Peter was super protective of his dad. Ned and MJ gave small knowing smile to Peter, which he ignored. Meanwhile Howard was confused. From what he had heard Tony had had team mates that treated his horribly. But where are they? If they were here he would have given a piece of his mind to them. No one messed with his son. But alas they were not here, but he swore to find out about these things as soon as possible. And he approved of this new team mates. They obviously cared for Tony and that was huge plus for them from Howard.

“Okay! Then, as all the mushy emotional stuff is out of the way, Defenders Welcome to the Stark Tower. I’m sure Rhodey-bear showed you guys where you are going to live and Thank you for doing what you did.” Tony said to dispel the silence that fell over them. He never liked the silence , the reason why he always talked. And had music blaring in his lab.

“Yeah, I already showed them their floor and rooms. Now I think we ignored that huge pink elephant in this room for long enough. Can I know why a very alive and breathing Howard Stark is doing here?” Rhodey said looking pointedly at Tony who tried to look innocent. He got the look right but it was not fooling Rhodey who had known Tony for more than half of his life.

Others had meanwhile turned to face the older version of Tony. Howard gave everyone a smile and nodded in greeting. Pepper who had learned the truth about why Howard had treated Tony the way he did, stood up and straightened her skirt and stepped forward.

“Mr. Stark, It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Virginia Potts, or Pepper Potts as most people know, CEO of Stark Industries.” Pepper extended her hand and Howard stood and shook it.

“It’s a pleasure to meet one of Tony’s best friends and the woman who run the company I had made from scraps. I have to tell you, you are doing a wonderful job from what I have heard and seen.” Howard said pleasantly and Pepper smiled pleased with the way Howard complimented her. She can see where Tony got his charm from. They sat back down and Tony who had been staring dumbfounded at the introduction shook himself out and smiled at Howard, happy that his father approved of Pepper as the CEO.

He introduced each and everyone to his father and his father to the Defenders. Even Matt gave a okay to reveal his secret identity and he explained how he had found out Howard and how his father had come back. They listened attentively and after that, everyone warmed up to each other. Rhodey was a little cold towards Howard at first but after he saw that Howard was totally different from the man he showed the world to be, warmed up and they spent the rest of the day talking about all the things Tony had done in his life. Howard was proud to say the least. And he made it known by the pride filled looks he sent towards his son who was helping the three teens do their homework.

Bruce and Happy joined them after few hours as the Defenders left the Penthouse to their own Floor. They had asked for one floor with 4 rooms, so the team could stay together. Bruce was introduced to Howard as Science-Bro. Howard was impressed by the man’s intelligence and got on well with each other. Everyone saw how Howard and Tony had similar personalities and smiled seeing the father and son interact. They sometimes had in sync moment without them even knowing. Similar to the way Peter and Tony had.

Vision was the last to join them and Howard was curious and intrigued by the android. Vision was happy to answer Howard’s questions and explained how he was given a mind by the mind stone and the essence of JARVIS and how Bruce, Tony and Thor gave him life. Howard had said that he was pleased to meet another one of his grandsons that had Vision smiling for the rest of the night.

As the night dragged on Tony sent the three teens to their rooms to sleep as they had school the next day. Bruce had already left saying he had some unfinished tests and projects. Vision also joined Bruce to help since he didn’t have anywhere to be.

Tony, Rhodey, Happy, Pepper and Howard continued to talk about various things. Howard and Pepper talked about how the company was doing and Happy was texting with someone who Tony suspected was May. Tony and Rhodey discussed about the improvements Tony was going to do to the War Machine Armour. As it neared 11 at night Pepper left to her floor that she shared with May- she wanted a floor mate saying the floor was too big for her to use alone- saying that she had a flight to catch in the early morning next day and Happy also went to his floor since he was accompanying Pepper. After that Tony showed his dad to a room until he could make a customized room for Howard in the second floor of the penthouse which contained the rooms Tony, Rhodey and Peter used with the rooms Ned and MJ used when they visited. Tony like to call the floor family floor. Rhodey also went to his room after that and Tony made his way to the his Lab so he could build some fun stuff. Automatic Singing Vacuum cleaners sounds fun.

Chapter Text

Howard woke up bright and early next day to hear JARVIS giving him a rundown of time, temperature and news. He stretched and thanked JARVIS before heading towards the bathroom. After a hot shower he changed into a shirt and a trousers that had been left by his bed. He suspected that Tony had already ordered a whole wardrobe for him. After dressing he left his room and entered the kitchen to see Peter and his friends getting ready to leave.

“Good Morning Grandpa!” “Good Morning Mr. Stark” rang through the kitchen when they noticed him.

“Good morning Kids” he returned the greeting and sat down to eat breakfast. It looked like Tony had made pancakes. He took three pancakes and poured enough syrup and started to eat. He was surprised by how good they were. He hadn’t thought about Tony knowing how to cook, but from the things he had learned Tony could do anything. He finished his plate just as Peter, Ned and MJ said goodbyes and left for school. He wondered where Tony was. And just as he thought that Tony came wearing a pristine black three piece suit and a scowl to match the colour of his suit. He also wore a gold tie that was highlighted in the black suit. He didn’t see Howard as he was busy arranging his cuffs of the shirt to be perfect.

“Good Morning Tony” Howard said and watched in amusement as Tony jumped at least a foot in the air and turned whipped his head up.

“Oh Good Morning Dad” Tony said and moved to sit next to Howard.

“Now, what has gotten in a bad mood?” Howard asked as he turned to face Tony.

“Arg, Uh you remember what Defenders said about my old teammates?” Oh Howard remembered alright. How he wished to meet them, He would have greeted with warm hug and kisses. Note the sarcasm please. Thank you.

“Yes. I remember.”

“Well one of them turned herself in after disobeying the Accords she willingly signed. I’m being called in because she was with me before she turned sides.” Tony said and Howard could tell that betrayal had hit Tony hard. He would really love to meet this old team now.

“So you’re going?”

“Yeah have to. With me being one of the main members and UN want me to give my opinion on what to do with her.” Tony said and stood up with a sigh.

“Bye dad, I’m sorry I couldn’t spend the day with you and show you around.”

“It’s okay Tony. Be careful, I’ll just explore around the tower oh Tony are we going to tell the public that I’m back? Just asking so I can stay clear of the area's with people.”

“Oh I haven’t thought about that. But I think it would be best to say the truth, cause if we keep it a secret and it get out somehow, it can be ugly. People will tell we found a way to bring back dead people and didn’t want the public to know and all that jazz, you know.” Tony said and Howard nodded hearing that. He could understand that.

“Okay the, I’ll stay on the penthouse area until we make it public.”

“Actually sir, Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts have been already making the press release statement with PR.” JARVIS cut off before Tony could say anything.

“Of course Pepper would know I about what I want before I want it. Thank her for me J.”

“Of course Sir.”

“Well that’s done then.” Howard said and stood up to go back to his room. He had to find more about future before he went to explore.

“Yeah, Gotta go dad. Bye.” Tony said and took his car keys.

“Bye Tony.” Howard said as Tony entered the elevator and waved when he saw Tony waving a him as the doors closed.

After that Howard took his plate to the dishwasher and placed it inside before going to his room. He had some investigation to do.

“JARVIS?”

“Yes Mr. Stark?”

“Please show me what you have permission to show me about Tony.” Howard said as he settle in the armchair in his room. Hologram screens turned on and various articles about Tony popped up. Howard quickly got the hang of working on Holograms and dismissed the articles before his death. After that though he read about how his son did with the company and saw how he was known as the Merchant of Death. He didn’t like that but he moved on seeing as it was only in one magazine called Vanity Fair.

“JARVIS? Tell me how Tony became the Iron Man.”

“Certainly sir has given you access to that file. And you are the only person to see it other than sir himself.”

A file appeared above all the others and Howard opened it and saw many videos and documents inside. He choose the first document and saw that it was a signed agreement with the US Defense to personally demonstrate a missile called the Jericho in Afghanistan. Next was a video, he clicked on it and JARVIS automatically played it.

Tony was standing in front of a team of military men. Rhodey was also there. There was a missile launcher with three missiles ready to launch.

“Is it better to be feared or respected?" he asked rhetorically. "I say, is it too much to ask for both. With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries Freedom line. It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology. 'They' say the best weapon is the one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how dad did it, that's how America does it, and it's worked out pretty well so far. Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain -" he pointed aside to missiles to his side  "- and I personally guarantee you, the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves."

He gestured with his hand, and the missiles system began to move, cameras facing up, tips pointing toward the sky. First one, then the next, and then the third of the missiles were launched and zoomed into the air. In mid flight, smaller rockets burst out of the large ones, followed by yet another stream of even smaller rockets, all of which went flying a safe, far distance away.

"For your consideration," said Tony as the rockets began to fall far behind him. "The Jericho."

As he spread his arms a cloud of dust after the missile made it’s impact with the mountain came rushing towards them. Tony didn’t even turn to see his work and just stood there. Though he had to take step forward with the force of the impact sent the ground shaking.

Howard was awed and horrified at the same time. That was made out of his son’s hands. The same thing he had hoped to stop from happening. Next video started to play and Howard focused his attention back to the screen.

A young soldier was leaning in to a camera with Tony to take a picture. But before the picture could be taken there was explosion that sent the jeep they were in off the road. Driver tried to take control and stopped the jeep as explosions and gun sounds filled the air.

“"What's going on?" asked Tony in alarm, pulling himself up from where he'd fallen against the seat.

"Contact left!" the Driver who was a woman shouted, loading up her gun and setting it in position. The woman opened her door and climbed out of the jeep only to be gunned down at once.

Howard cringed at that and watched with horror about what his son was going through.

"Jimmy, stay with Stark!"  The soldier in the front seat shouted and likewise jumped outside.

"Stay down!" bellowed Jimmy, shoving Tony down onto the seat and out of sight from the windows.

the soldier that got out was shot down, and Jimmy sat up.

"Son of a bitch!" he shouted, loading his gun and getting ready to climb out.

"Wait, wait, wait, give me a gun!" Tony protested as Jimmy slammed the door.

"STAY HERE!" shouted Jimmy, just before he went down with a cry and a bang. The whole side of the jeep was blasted full of bullet holes. Tony reeled back in horror, and looked around anxiously. Outside the other jeeps seemed to all be going up in flames. He flung open the door next to him and jumped out.

Tony ducked and ran for cover, scooting behind a large boulder nearby. Fire and smoke was everywhere. Guns were firing constantly, but no one could see who was actually shooting. Tony yanked his cell phone out from his pocket and began texting like mad.

But before he could finish the message he was typing, a small rocket-shaped explosive of some sort went sailing through the air and landed on the ground next to his onscreen counterpart. He glanced at it, and his eyes widened. The label Stark Industries on the side left no doubt for him what exactly it was.

Howard was frozen in shock. His son was hit with his own weapons. He didn’t know what that weapon did and he sure didn’t want to know, since it was his son that was being hurt by it. He felt like a monster for thinking that but he was a father. His priority was his son.

Tony shoved the phone away and jumped to his feet, but before he had taken more than a step back, the thing went off, blasting him backward and hurling him flat on his back. Tony gasped, blinked, and groaned. He looked down at himself to see a stain of blood blooming on his shirt. With a groan Tony unbuttoned his shirt to the see the bulletproof vest he was wearing under it. A single large stain was forming on it. Tony laid back with a groan, and the screen went white.

Voices started though the screen was white and nothing seemed to be happening, a voice was speaking rapidly in some tongue. Then the white light began to be filtered by something yellow, a cloth, which disappeared just as suddenly as it had begun to appear.

It was a brown canvas sack, which was ripped off from Tony's head. He blinked in the sudden light and tried to look around only to noticed the circle of guns with their barrels trained on his neck. Some feet away, directly in front of Tony, were two men whose faces were completely in shadow, one of whom was holding a video camera steady.

JARVIS translated the message and Howard read it with growing horror and anger.

"You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark. As you can see, Obadiah Stane, your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up."

“JARVIS pause.” Howard croaked out as he stared at his son who was bandaged but blood had seeped through them. He was tied to a chair. He quickly skipped over the surgery that was done without anesthesia trying not to scream with his son.

Howard didn’t spend time on watching his son getting tortured as it was becoming too much for him. He however watched his son making the arc reactor and how he told Yinsen about having no one. He was saddened by that and promised himself again like he had done for the past two days that he would be there for Tony.

He watched as Tony built the first Iron Man Armour and how he broke himself out. He was sad that Yinsen died. He looked like a good man. He then skipped over to the press conference and watched proudly when Tony shut down the weapons division of SI.

Next video JARVIS played was the one where Tony saved the village Gulmira. Next the video where Stane removed Tony’s Arc Reactor. Howard was ready to kill that man then there if he was not already dead. He had fucking trusted that man. He had been one of his best friends. Hell Howard had been jealous of him because Tony was more close to Stane than him. If Howard took pleasure watching Stane being fried.  by the overloaded Arc, no one can blame the man. He had watched his son getting nearly killed by that man after all.

Howard was in the brink of killing everyone that ever dared to touch his son when he was done with watching Ian Vanko and his Hammer Drones. Howard barely repressed he sneer that spread across his lips seeing the pathetic attempt of weapons and Armour. After that Howard stopped watching videos is that file since it only made his blood pressure high. However he felt proud when Tony figured the element he had left for Tony. And bit guilty when Tony said about how he was to him with Fury.

Next file he opened was named as Avengers. He guessed that this was about the old team. He had to stop himself from reacting when he saw Captain America alive and well.

“JARVIS? Is this real? Is Captain Rogers alive.”

“He is” Howard frowned hearing the barely concealed hate and contempt.

“Show me the first time Tony and He met.” Howard had to know how it went. He can see that Tony thought he only cared about Captain and not him. Which was not true.

He could see the thinly wailed anger Tony carried towards Captain. But he could also see the way Captain looked at his son with disdain and disappointment. Who was he to disappoint in his son?

Howard wished he could punch Rogers-Yes he’s Rogers now- In his perfect teeth. How was it always about Tony? He didn’t even know about Tony much less talk with him to know anything at all. And Fury, Tony had not made his fortune with weapons because Howard had already made the fortune for his son. He was the one who made money with weapons. Tony only continued it. And how could Rogers know whether Tony would be neck deep in this project or not? He could have refused.

Yeah, Rogers. Genius, Billionaire, Play Boy, Philanthropist, Hero, Son, God, Father, A good man. Unlike you who judge people before you get to know them. Howard raged silently and inside his head a long list was forming under ‘How to kill a Super Soldier in the most painful way.’  Isn’t it nice how Rogers think he’s a Hero. His son was a hero. It was obvious from the way he think about others. And knowing guys worth ten of you? Seen the fucking footage? And sacrificial play? Who took that fucking nuke to the portal Rogers? Howard was sure was gonna blow a vein in his head after all this.

Howard was angry after the final video. No, he was furious. How could Rogers the man he had kept in the highest regard do something like that to his son. He was wishing he had something to beat up right now. Preferably a punching bag in the shape of Steve Rogers. Rogers had the nerve to send the shield he had made for him through his son’s chest. After lying to him about his parents deaths. His best friend’s death. Not that Howard considered his a friend anymore. He had thought that man was hero. He thought he was a good man that looked after the little guy. But now, he was just another bully who saw everyone who disagreed with him as a bully. He should have known. Howard was a master in reading people. But he had failed to see that Rogers only lived to fight people who went against him. He was sure Rogers would beat up someone who refused to give him a cup of tea saying that person was a bully.

He could understand why his son had so little friends. All the people that was supposed to be his friends and supposed to be with him had turned their backs to him and left his to die. Tony deserved so much better than that. what did he do to them for them to treat his son like that? Is it because he was rich? A genius? everything the other were not? He can’t believe the way they treated his son. Like he was a money source that was to use an throw away when not needed. His son had done so much to them and they couldn’t even say a simple thank you. Like he was not worth it. Like he didn't needed to be shown gratitude because he had everything he could ask for. Those despicable people. Only that archer had the decency to hang out with Tony without a ulterior motive. But he also changed after Ultron. He suspected that Red Witch was somehow responsible to that.

He had to make sure Tony knew that Ultron was not his fault and that whatever Rogers had said in the their first meeting was a lie. And he had to make sure his son knew that Tony Stark was recommended and that Avengers were not.

"Thank you JARVIS." He said as he stood up and made his way to the kitchen. He needed something to calm him down. Like a herbal tea. He had seen Maria drinking it saying it helped her relax.

"You are welcome Mr. Stark. If I may, can I know what you wish to do with information?"

"I'm planning on being the father I wasn't before. I'm going to make sure Tony will never be betrayed by anyone and if he was I will personally make sure they know why they should not mess with Howard Stark's son."

"Very well Mr. Stark." JARVIS fell silent as Howard sat down with a cup of tea. He couldn't take his mind off of everything he had learned. No matter how hard he tried. he could feel the rage shimmering slightly under his skin. Waiting for let out.

Howard sighed and finished the third cup of tea and went towards where Tony had said he could use to invent if he wanted. He didn’t want to go back to his old routine of invent invent ignore everything. But now he needed it to take his mind off of ways to make Rogers suffer. Only until his blood pressure calmed down. Then he'll see about making something special for Rogers. Yes sounds like a good plan.

Chapter Text

Tony got out of the car and went towards the entrance of the compound while JARVIS took the car to the car park. As he entered he could see UN Accords council members walking through the glass panels. Once he was in the building they all turned to face him. Everyone stood up to greet him.

“Dr. Stark! We really appreciate you coming here today in such short notice.” A man in a blue suit said as he shook Tony’s hand.

“Well I couldn’t say no exactly seeing this is a old friend of mine.” Tony said and the sarcasm was not lost anyone. The man nodded and they all made their way through the compound towards the holding cells they had built to keep villains until UN could decided what to do with them.

Tony couldn’t figure out why he had agreed to do this. Obviously they had been on the same team so it was expected of him to show up. But in the mean time, she had betrayed his trust. What was that she said? I'm not the one that needs to watch their back. Yeah cause they either stab you in the back after you trust them not to. Or in the neck in this case. Yeah he’s not over it. Maybe it’s childish, but after everything? Give him a break. Well he had gotten over it. But after that remark about watching their back? It brought the memories. 

They all stopped in front of a cell and Tony took a deep breath before asking to enter and talk with her alone. Accords council nodded and went to a room near the cells to wait.

Tony straightened his shoulders and swiped his thumb and entered the code to open the door. He let out a breath slowly and entered the sterile cell. She was sitting on the chair inside the room on full alert. Her back was straight and by the tension in her shoulders and the way her eyes moved Tony could tell that she was getting ready to any surprise attacks. Her hair was disheveled and her full body suit was ripped in some places. She looked like she had not been getting a good sleep if the bags under her eyes were anything to go by.

“Natasha.”

“Tony”

“I see you have not having good time running away from authorities.” Tony said and sat down on the table that was placed on the opposite of her and near the door.

“I can see that these months did You some good.” Natasha said and it was hard to miss the wailed venom in her voice. Tony didn’t react to it in anyway since it had been a long time since he last saw her and her words held little meaning to him. Living with people that actually cared for you tend to do that. Making the harsh words of betrayers and backstabbers null and void in one’s mind. And once upon a time, he had thought that she cared.

“Yeah it did. Especially since you and your merry band is not there anymore. Wait I’m sorry, Rogers merry band. You are just a follower aren’t you? He say shoot, you shoot. Isn’t it how it works?” Tony said in a emotionless voice that did nothing to hide the bite in those words. It was a little hard for him to talk to a friend, yes a real friend. Or he had thought she was a real friend. Natasha however couldn’t help but flinch at his words. But she quickly recovered and tried another tactic.

“Why are you here Natashalie?” Tony asked when he saw Natasha changing her game plan. It really helped being the god of future and had the ability to predict-to know what a person was going to do next.

“I-I came here to say sorry. For what I said and for what I did. I shouldn’t have betrayed you. I’m really sorry Tony.” She said making sure she looked the part. She really meant what she said. But it didn’t change the fact she had done those things.

Tony was silent for a full five minutes just staring intently at Natasha. He can see that she was honest. But he also could see that she had a plan in her mind. Huh, guilt tripping him to admit he was wrong after gaining his trust and then making him bring Rogers back? A good plan. Too bad it won’t work.

“Apology accepted. But I won’t forgive you. Not now, but maybe in the future. When you prove that you really mean the apology and not trying gain my trust. I know you meant what you said now. But you also have a another intention. I will forgive you when you mean that apology and don’t have a ulterior motives.” Tony said and stood up to leave.

“Did you know?” He asked before he left the cell.

“Knew what?”

“That Winter Soldier killed my parents?”

“… Yes.” Natasha said hanging her head. She really should have said it to Tony. But alas she’s too late.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tony asked voice not above a whisper.

“Steve, he said not to. He said he would tell you himself. I thought you knew.” Natasha was a little confused now. Tony sighed and told JARVIS through the link to bring up a holo screen. It started to play the fight from Siberia.

Natasha felt like being stabbed in the heart thousands times. She had thought that Tony knew. Rogers promised her that he would tell Tony. She could feel the tears gather in her eyes when Rogers left Tony in a damaged suit. She watched as hours passed without anyone coming to help Tony. As he hauled himself up and tried to repair the suit. It was after another hour later a remotely piloted suit came to take him back. Video ended there and Natasha could only stare at the blank space after the screen turned off.

“He promised me, he promised me that he would tell you.” A broken whisper left Natasha’s lips. Tony who had been watching the reaction could feel a spark hope, hope that maybe his friend who he had drinks with when they couldn’t sleep and stitched each other up after missions because they both hated the medical. His friend who had swapped his Arc when it was damaged after missions. The one he counted on to watch his back more than Captain.

“I’m sorry Tony, I’m really sorry.” Natasha looked up and Tony could see it her eyes. Emotionless eyes that were trained not to show any emotions. But now they shinned with Honesty, regret, guilt and something he couldn’t figure out. But it was enough for him. Tony went forward and knelt in front of her. Wrapping his arms around her he let the ruthless and emotionless Black Widow to break down on his shoulder.

After what felt like hours but only five minutes, Natasha lifted her head and wiped her eyes and face quickly. She looked at Tony who had half smile and gave a hesitant smile back.

“You good?”

"Yeah. Yeah I’m good. Actually I feel free. Like a heavy weight was lifted. Like a cloud went away and sun is visible now. I can think clearly, more rationally without my anger getting to me.” As she finished she had a desperate and frantic note to her voice that made Tony wince since he knew what would have caused that. But he had to make sure. He had to be sure.

“Do you trust me?” He asked and Natasha could tell it was not just a question. It was a question asked to see whether she was truly telling the truth.

“Yes” There was no hesitation. No pause. Only conviction.

Tony nodded and brought a hand to her head and let his magic flow free. His eyes started to glow a gold colour that made Natasha gasp and she could feel a presence in her head. But it was not like when Wanda was in her head. This presence was gentle. It didn’t pose any threat to her, it just wanted to help. Tony gently probed around her mind and found the leaching red and angry magic that was left in her mind. He showed no mercy and ripped the hostile presence away and as his eyes went back to normal, his hand held a red tendril of magic that tried to break free.

“Wanda!” Natasha breathed out after seeing the red magic that had given a vision that caused nightmares for years. And after it left her true feelings started to flood through like a dam had broken. She felt like beating herself blue and black. She had worked so hard to gain Tony’s trust after infiltrating SI and stabbing him in the neck. And then she had gone and throw all that in to the trash and followed the man she had never trusted. Rogers. He was too much of a righteous man for her taste. She liked people who questioned authority, not followed them like a blind puppy. Rogers was exactly that. And a man child who threw tantrums by punching through a problem until he got what he wanted.

Tony watched as Natasha sorted her thoughts. He was now glad he had agreed to meet her today. Or else he would have lost one of his true friends. Come to think of it, it was after Wanda came everyone-except Captain- from the original team started to change. Maybe Wanda had been controlling him too. If he had ignored the way his friends acted strangely. And Extremis and magic he had gotten had rid of that. It made sense now.

“Thanks Tony.” Tony came out of his thoughts and smiled at Natasha. She returned the smile and Tony stood up from where he was kneeling.

“You will have to work to do you know?”

“I know. And I promise I will do anything to gain your trust back.”

“Good. I’m waiting for it.” Tony left the cell and Natasha took a deep breath. It was her mission now. To gain one of her only friend’s trust. Not because it would benefit her. But because she wanted her friend back.

Chapter Text

Tony left the cell where Natasha was being kept and entered the room where the Accords council was waiting for him.

“Dr. Stark I hope everything went fine?” The same man from before asked.

“Yes and I found something very interesting too.” Tony said and took a seat opposite to the council on the right side of the table they were sitting by.

“Oh?” A lady, Dr. Carrie, Tony noted, asked.

“If I remember correctly I had informed you before about possible mind control on some members of the old team.” Tony said and all the council members turned their attention towards him.

“Mind control?” A old man in a gray suit asked.

“Yes, did I not inform you?” Tony asked knowing that they were playing right in it his hands.

“No, I’m afraid not.” Dr. Carrie said looking alarmed as is the rest of the council.

“I’m sorry, it must have slipped my mind. Yes, I suspected that some of the members may have been mind controlled by Ms. Maximoff. Not intentionally but accidentally. As she had shown she had little control on her powers. And Dr. Strange had given me a amulet that let me protect my mind against control as well as remove any kind of control from another mind. Which I used and removed the hostile control on Agent Romanoff’s mind.” Which was lie. Stephen had not given anything like that to him. But it was the BS he and Stephen had made when they sent the letter to Clint using a portal. It had been Tony who had put the spell to remove the mind control. But he can’t exactly say that to Clint or the council now can he? So they had come up with a story.

“Oh My God!” several council members exclaimed as he had finished explaining.

“So now she’s in control of her mind? 100%?” Blue suit man asked while typing something furiously to the Laptop he had.

“Yes 100%. All the mind control is gone now. Actually she broke out of it on her own. That’s the reason she turned herself in.” Tony said and watched as the council members whispering with each other.

“Well Dr. Stark, as you had cleared that for us. She will be only getting a six months house arrest and a six months of community service. Probably helping in hospitals and relief efforts. She won’t be facing charges because she was a Accord signer. But make sure she sign the new version if she want to continue her work as a New Avenger after serving her sentence. Here is the written order for her.” Gray suit man said and Tony had to hide his smirk at the easiness of it all. He would have not objected to any punishment for her, but he made sure that she won’t be facing any serious charges against her. Like prison.

“Of course. I will see everything is done accordingly.” Tony said and shook hands with everyone as they departed the cells and JARVIS alerted the moment they left the compound.

Tony then again opened the door to Natasha’s cell and held out the written order. Which was printed actually. Why they called it a written one, he had no idea.

“What is this?” Natasha asked as she walked over to see what it was.

“Order of your six months house arrest to the compound and six months community service.” Tony casually said and held the door open for her to step outside.

“That’s it?” Natasha asked surprised as she exited the cell.

“Yeah That’s it. You will not be able to leave the compound for six months. Unless a authorized by the UN or me. Or Rhodey too. You will be given a monitoring bracelet and after that six months you will start on your six months community service. It is not yet decided where you are going to work, but it will be sorted out before you have to start it.” Tony said as he led her to the communal area of the compound where fantastic four was hanging out.

“Don’t worry, everyone will know about you being mind controlled by the end of the day, so you won’t be receiving any hard time here. And Nat?” Tony waited until he had her attention and looked in her eyes when she turned to him.

“Here, no one will judge you for your past. No matter how much red is staining your ledger.” He said seriously before reaching out to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly and leading her in to the room.

Fantastic Four looked up hearing footsteps. They all gave Tony a cheery wave and gave welcoming smiles to Natasha. They stood up to introduce themselves to her and Tony looked at his wrist watch to see that it was time for him to pick up Peter.

“Well, I have to go. You guys get to know each other.” He turned to leave after giving Nat a smile and wave at the Team.

“Going to pick up the mini Stark?” Johnny asked teasingly which Tony smirked and looked back from where he was going towards the exit. Natasha was confused but stayed silent. Tony would tell her when the right time came.

“In fact yes I am. And he’s baby Stark, not mini. He’s mini me if you want.” Tony said and left the communal area to the laugh of other three members of Fantastic four.

ooOOoo

Peter got in and closed the door of the car. He turned towards Tony and started giving the review of the day to his dad. Tony listened with a fond smile as Peter told him about the way he had aced the Math test he had.

“So dad?” Peter asked nervously that got Tony’s attention pretty quickly.

“Yeah Pete? Something wrong?” Tony asked worriedly and Peter had to stop the smile that came when he heard it.

“No no. There’s no problem. We have this surprise Field trip this Friday. And… well May is not there so I was wondering if you could sign my permission slip?”

“Sure, Peter.” Tony said and parked the car in the underground car park. They entered Tony’s private elevator and made their way towards the Employee floors. Tony had decided to have a surprise Sciencing day after a tiring day of New Avengers business. And well no one complained when Tony and Peter showed up at the labs. Except legal and PR departments. Cause you know, Explosions.

ooOOoo

Howard was startled out of his inventing when the first explosion shook the floor.

“JARVIS?”

“Do not worry Mr. Stark. Explosions like that tend to happen when Sir is with the SI scientists and engineers.”

“Oh okay then.” Howard went back to working on his project and the next explosion didn’t even got a twitch from the man. He was a inventor. To judge those who made explosions while experimenting will be hypocritical of him.

Chapter Text

Peter was practically vibrating with excitement. It was the day before their surprise Field trip. Ms. Warren had promised to reveal the location at the end of the day after collecting the permission slips. And it was the last period. Bell rang signaling the end of lessons and everyone quickly packed their bags and waited for Ms. Warren, their physics teacher to arrive. They had their permission slips out and ready to be hand over.

“Dude! Where do you thing we are going to go?” Ned whisper shouted next to him.

“Don’t know, it must be some super cool place.” Peter said as Ms. Warren came in with Mr. Harrington. They both seemed to be excited about the trip. Though Ms. Warren controlled her excitement while Mr. Harrington openly showed his.

“Okay class, please be quiet. We know that you all are excited to know about where we are going tomorrow and you will get to know about it. But before we do that I want you to come and hand over your signed Permission slips.” Ms. Warren said and nearly all of the students jumped up.

They all made a line and waited for their turns. Peter joined the line from the back with Ned and MJ. They were the last in line. When their turn came Peter handed over the permission slip to Ms. Warren. She took one look at it and sighed.

“Mr. Parker, Peter, I know you had a rough life but you can’t keep doing this!” She exclaimed. Whole class went silent and turned to see what was happening.

“W-what?” Peter asked confused.

“You are suspended for forgery and illegal use of a signature. You won’t be going on the field trip too. I’m sorry, but this lie has gone too far. We liked to believe when you said that you had a internship in Stark Industries, but to fake Tony Stark’s signature?” Ms. Warren said as Peter stood there gaping that them. He looked at Mr. Harrington and saw that he also looked disappointed. Class started whispering at that and he could hear Flash saying how he was lying about the internship. It was getting old really quickly.

He couldn’t believe it. They thought that he lied about his internship. Students thinking he’s lying? Sure, it’s Flash that had been spreading rumors about him being a liar. He can live with that. But to hear, Ms Warren suspending him and His favorite teacher Mr. Harrington doing nothing to stop it? It hurt.

“But! I’m not lying!” He tried to defend himself but Ms. Warren gave one warning look that said more trouble and he shut up immediately. He went back to his seat as Ned and MJ gave their forms to Mr. Harrington.

“I’m sorry dude. I can stay with you know? I can come over to the tower and we can hang out.” Ned said as he sat down on his seat next to Peter. Peter smiled despite his bad mood. He had the best friend ever.

“No man, you go and enjoy the trip. I would probably work a night shift and sleep in.” Peter said and Ned nodded understanding although he still looked unsure so Peter gave him a smile.

“Okay class! Now to the exciting news. We have managed to get a Field trip to none other than…!” Ms. Warren said and paused to look at the class. Everyone held their breath. Peter was not so much excited now that he was not going to the field trip. But before Ms. Warren could say anything, Flash held his hand up.

“Shouldn’t Penis be out of the class since he’s suspended and not going to the trip?” He asked and threw a smirk at Peter. Peter just sighed and took his bag and said Ned to text him after school and made his way to the exit. Ms. Warren and Mr. Harrington didn’t protested but watched in silence as he left.

Peter left the school since school was over few minutes ago. He went out and saw that Happy was not there yet. He took out his phone and sent a text to Tony saying that he was going to start patrolling earlier. Tony responded with a thumbs up emoji and a quick be safe.

Peter entered a side ally and tapped his watch which changed to his new Nano suit. Like father like son, they say. He shot a web and swung away looking for something to do.

ooOOoo

Next morning Peter woke up around 8 AM. He opened his eyes to see his dad sitting next to him.

“Morning Peter! You are late for school. Didn’t you say that you had a field trip today? If you didn’t get going, you are going to miss the bus.” Tony said and Peter took in his words before groaning and turning over. He mumbled his response to his pillow and heard Tony chuckling.

“Come on Underoos, I can’t hear you.” Peter gave a pitiful groan and flipped to his back.

“I got suspended and was banned from the trip.”

“What?!” Tony asked in alarm and Peter registered what he had said. He sighed and opened his eyes again and sat up rubbing his eyes.

“Yesterday, Ms. Warren and Mr. Harrington thought that I forged your signature. They said to stop lying cause apparently they didn’t believe that I had a internship here. So…yeah” Peter said and watched as realization dawned on Tony’s face.

“Oh I’m sorry Pete. I’ll talk to your principal and make sure the suspend is removed. And to the other thing, you can’t blame them. Since you know you are not a intern. Not anymore.” Tony said and Peter could feel his eyes grow wide and his stomach did a back flip. If he was not a intern, did that mean he had to stop call Tony dad? And move away? He didn’t want that! He liked Tony and he was the best dad anyone could ask for!

“Cause you are Baby Stark! so that make you the Heir of Stark Industries. So obviously you are not a intern. Now if you had told them you’re Tony Stark’s son, they may have believed you. You know? with my past.” Peter actually had to stop himself from reacting to that last part since he didn’t like when Tony talked bad about himself. But once he registered the first part, his already wide eyes widened even further and his mouth was literally open wide.

“W-what?”

“Yeah Pete. I named you my heir. Just last week actually. Didn’t have a good time to reveal it.” Tony said and Peter slowly came out of his shock.

“You mean a time to catch me off guard and have JARVIS record the whole thing and laugh at me later.” He said after he got over his shock which earned him a laugh.

“That too.” Tony said and suddenly he had a handful of Spider Man hugging him.

“Thanks dad” Peter said as Tony returned the hug.

“Come on! Up and at ‘em buddy. Get ready, we are going to meet the employees in other departments and then, we are going to my lower level labs to work on something’s to SI. I have a idea for a singing Vacuum Cleaner. What do you think?” Tony rambled on as he ushered a laughing Peter to a bathroom.

“That’s great dad! I think it would be so cool. Can we wear matching outfits? That would be so cool!”

“Sure Buddy” Tony said and went through Peter’s closet to find a outfit while Peter got ready.

ooOOoo

When Peter came out of the bathroom after a shower Tony was already dressed with a outfit in hand for Peter. Tony had chosen Blue jeans with a Stark Industries standard T-shirt. It was a Black colour with SI logo on the place where the breast pocket would be. The only change in Peter’s T-shirt was he had ‘Baby’ written diagonally near the ‘S’ of the SI logo in gold. He was sure Tony had done that but didn’t ask anything and got dressed. He was given a matching dark blue blazer like the one Tony was wearing. They both had their sunglasses hanging from the front of their T-shirt and both stood side by side in front of the mirror. They really looked similar expect the goatee Tony had.

They had some toast for breakfast and left after showing off their look to Howard who gave a goodhearted laugh and patted them both on the back saying that they looked the part of Father and Son perfectly, which had both Tony and Peter puffing up their chest and thanking Howard.

ooOOoo

Betty had to suppress the sigh that threatened to pass her lips. She was on the bus that was take the students to their Field trip location. Ever since Ms. Warren had revealed the location they all had been excited. But Flash was being annoying. As soon as it was revealed that they were going to Stark Tower, he had started to say how Peter knew about it and faked the signature of Tony Stark so he could get away from the trip. True no one believed Peter when he said that he had a internship there. Everyone knew that Tony Stark didn’t hire high school students as interns. Only collage students got the chance.

They arrived at the famed building after a short ride. Betty gasped at seeing the lobby of the building after entering it. Even though everyone had seen the building from the outside only few got to see the inside. It was so futuristic. One side had a advanced metal detector that did not require you to remove your shoes and metal items. In the middle of the floor had a circular reception area that held ten receptionists that were busy with their work. Mr. Harrington went towards a receptionist that didn’t look busy and talked to her. She smiled and gave him a basket that had what looked like passes and pressed a button in the side of her.

Mr. Harrington came towards the students and called out the names and gave the passes. As he was finishing a young lady came to them with a warm smile.

“Good morning, midtown high! I’m Dr. Devemore and welcome to the Stark Tower. I’ll be your tour guide for today. Now while you are here, you will have to remember not to touch anything since when we visit the labs, it can be dangerous. We also would like to remind you to be respectful to the scientists here too and please remember that you cannot reveal anything you see inside here, since you all have signed the NDAs. Now as you have gotten your passes, we can  start our tour. Any questions?” She asked and few boys had their hands in the air.

“Yes?” Dr. Devemore asked pointing to a boy at the back. Betty saw that it was Jason.

“What does access levels mean?”

“Oh right that is a good question. Come we will go over there so we are not blocking the way.” She led everyone to a secluded corner in the lobby and turned to face them again.

“So there are 10 different access levels. 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. Access level or AL-as we call it- 1 is for visitors. Like tour groups. They don’t have permission to enter areas without a access level 5 or up with them. I’m a level 5 so I can show you a lot more than a normal tour guides who tend to be level 3. Level 2 is for reporters and any other official people who visit the tower. They also have to have a guide with them who is a level 5 or higher. Level 3 is for collage interns and level 4 is for interns who join SI after graduation.  Most of them climb up the levels quickly as they work with SI for so long. These interns include all the interns from every department in SI. Level 5 is scientists that work in lower level labs and supervise interns. PR department and legal department employees also have a level 5 clearance. Level 6 is for scientists who work in higher level labs with more experimental and dangerous projects and Mr. Stark’s personal lawyers. Now Level 7 is for head of different departments and SI Directors. Level 8 is usually for the CEO of the company, but since Ms. Potts is a close friend of Mr. Stark she has a Level 10 clearance. Also New Avengers has Level 8 clearance giving them access to the upper floors of the tower that contain Mr. Stark’s living quarters but not other SI official floors unless Mr. Stark himself is present. Level 9 is for any friends of Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts and someone we call Baby Stark. Level 10 is given to only 4 people. Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts, Colonel Rhodes and Baby Stark. All the clearance levels are personally given by Mr. Stark. He approve any passes that is given away. Even yours. Your passes only work for the duration of the tour. After that is will be useless, though you can keep them as a souvenir.” She finished and Betty looked up from where she had been furiously scribbling down what she had been saying. She had to wonder though, who was Baby Stark?

“Now we can start our tour! Please this way. Remember to place the mobile phones in the bin given to you as we do not allow for them to be brought inside. As a way to keep anything being recorded as well as to stop any reaction that can occur due to signals and any radiation being emitted from a mobile. ” Dr. Devemore led them to one of the metal detectors and said them to go through it. Flash pushed through as went first. A voice came out of nowhere as he walked through.

“Flash Thompson. Clearance level 1. Visitor. Please remove your phone Mr. Thompson.” A security came and took Flash’s phone and placed it in the bin with others.

“That’s JARVIS. Mr. Stark’s personal AI. He runs all the SI buildings and he surveillance every activity inside this building.” Dr. Devemore explained and everyone went through the metal detectors without any problems.

First they went to a museum that showed the history of Stark Industries. It was actually fun to learn about how such a big company started from scratch to the empire it was today. As they continued the tour Betty noticed how MJ and Ned, Peter’s best friends seemed to be bored. Like they had seen everything there.

After touring few of the offices that did most of the legal work in SI, Dr. Devemore took them to a hallway that had a office with glass paneling. And through them they could see a teen who was chilling on a office chair wearing sunglasses. Betty rolled her eyes seeing that. As she was sure that kid was a kid who was super rich. Like who wore sunglasses outside? He was with a pretty lady with red hair. She seemed to be looking through some documents while the teen spun in the chair he was sitting.

“So that is Ms. Pepper Potts. As you know she is the CEO of SI and one of the most respected women in the world as she runs a multi-billionaire company. I don’t think we will be able to talk with her for so long, as she was on her way to a meeting but agreed to greet you before going. So please respectful.” Dr. Devemore said and knocked on the door.

Everyone held their breathes as Pepper stood up and came over to open the door. All students were too shocked to move when the door was opened and Pepper smiled at them. Well she was Pepper Potts. CEO of the largest company in the world. It was shocking to see her smiling at them in real life.

“You must be the tour group that was coming today. Please come in.” She said and moved to the side. They all walked in and Betty was so stunned to be walking near Pepper Potts it took her while to register the boy in the office. He had removed his sunglasses and was staring shocked at them.

Betty gaped seeing Peter Parker was the teen that had been sitting there like it was the most normal thing. He seemed surprised to see them too as he hastily stood up. But he didn’t leave which she suppose was because Ms. Potts was there. Betty looked at Mr. Harrington and Ms. Warren and they seemed to be angry at Peter. It was fair since Peter had been banned from the trip and no one knew he was there. And how did he got inside?

“Ms. Potts, this is the tour group who won the annual tour. They are from Midtown High School.” Dr. Devemore said and Pepper looked interested hearing that.

“Oh Midtown?” She looked around and seemed find who she was looking for. Betty also looked that way and saw MJ and Ned. They both shook their heads furiously from the back of the room and Ms. Potts seemed to understand as she didn't say anything else.

“Well it’s nice to see all of you. But as I’m sure Dr. Devemore said, I have a meeting I have to attend. Please enjoy the tour.” She said as she gave each and every student a handshake.

And Betty turned back to see the drama that was sure ensure happen now that she was out of the earshot. But before it could happen Dr. Devemore interrupted Ms. Warren who had turned towards Peter.

“I’m sorry! I just got a message from my lab saying that I’m needed there. I hope you can stay here for few minutes until I send someone else to continue the tour.” She said after looking up from the phone she had taken out.

“Of course Dr. Devemore. We will be here.” Mr. Harrington said and their tour guide smiled gratefully and left the room. And then the explosion Betty had been looking for happened.

“Mr. PARKER! May I know what you are doing here and how you got in?” Ms. Warren asked forcefully as she stride towards Peter who looked like a deer caught in headlights. Everyone whipped their heads to see what was going on. And it seemed they only realized that the teen that was there was Peter Parker just now.

“I-I  told you that I had a Internship here. So when Mr. Stark found out that I’m not going he asked me to come here today.” He said and as he went he got a confidence he had not shown in school. He seemed to make up him mind on something.

“Mr. Parker! Your lie had gone too far. Everyone knows that Stark Industries doesn’t hire teenagers as interns! You are bright kid, but not that bright. So please before I notice the authority, leave this establishment at ONCE!” Her voice shook from anger and Peter looked around the room to see everyone looking at him. Betty saw that Flash was smirking and a more than half of the class were snickering behind their hands. Well it was good to see liars being put in to place.

ooOOoo

Peter was having the best day ever. Tony and he had gotten smiles and some cooing from female population of SI staff when some of the employees saw what they were wearing. Peter knew that being introduced like this to the employees meant that he was going to be revealed as Tony’s adopted son sooner or later. But he didn’t mind like he would have few months ago. He had gotten used to being referred as Baby Stark and he had gotten used to the stares he was getting for being by Tony’s side. And he had learned to be proud of it too. May had said that he was becoming a mini Tony and Tony had beamed up at him like a sun after hearing that. But had warned not to be the one was before Afghanistan and Peter had  countered it saying he was infuriated with Tony before he was Iron Man. Smile he got was so worth it.

They had visited the Legal and PR departments and introduced him to them. They had all smirked and when he asked why? Tony said that having Peter as his son means legal and PR got to rip a new one from whoever dared to insult him after they reveal him as the heir to SI to the public.

After that they were on their way to the labs so Tony could get started on his project. He promised Peter that he would get to see the other departments another day as it was boring to end all the fun in one day when they could drag it for few days. Which Peter totally agreed. So they were on their way to the lab #205 when they met two interns. They were fine, they were just two collage kids trying to make something. But what was wrong was that one was hiding behind a table while the other tried to turn the machine they had been building which was smoking. So Tony being Tony tried to help the kid only making the explosion much quicker. When the cloud of smoke disappeared Tony and the kid was both covered in soot and the hiding one was whimpering in fear.

That was the scene Pepper walked up to while she was on her way to a meeting. She sent both the intern and Tony to get cleaned while ordering another poor intern who was just passing by to take the whimpering intern to the medical. Peter promised Tony to be right there when he returned and dragged Pepper into a spare office to wait. He didn’t feel like waiting for Tony alone. And as he dragged her away, he had to marvel at the fact that he was dragging the most powerful woman in the world to a office so he won’t be alone. He had come a long way from the stuttering teen he had been when he first met Pepper.

Apparently Pepper had no problem keeping him company as she was there to meet a tour group. She had only planned to greet them before going to her meeting, but it was a big thing as it was rare chance to be greeted by the CEO of the company. So as they both waited and Peter spun around in the office chair he was sitting on as Pepper did some last minute paperwork for the meeting.

They had been there for like five minutes when a knock came. Peter knew that is it was Tony he would have came right in without knocking so he stopped and turned to face the tour group which Pepper was greeting.

And he wished he hadn’t. It was literary his class, with his teachers standing there. They looked angry and he knew that they were angry at him. He stayed silent as Pepper and Dr. Devemore, if he remembered correctly talked to the group. And when Pepper left he was ready to flee the room. But as his Parker luck was on working today, even the tour guide had to leave the room due to a emergency. That was when Ms. Warren made her displeasure at seeing him known.

He was not sure what to do. In a way he could just tell the truth, but no one would believe him. So he went with the usual BS. Which went wonderfully may he add. So when she accused him of being a liar for the second time in two days, he had reached the end of his patience. Normally he would not have cared, but he was so sick of everyone making fun of him and being called a liar. He would have taken it and just leave if it was students. Cause students always ridiculed any other students the moment they got a chance. But the teachers? They had known his for so long. They knew he would not lie. Not outright anyway. And never to get attention. And now being called a liar by a teacher in front of the whole class, who were laughing? He had had enough. So when Ms. Warren asked him to leave the building he took the chance.

Peter took his phone out and started typing. He was sure his faced showed how furious he was. But he didn’t care. He send a message JARVIS so he could tell dad about what had happen. So Tony could tell him what to do. And he was right, not even a minute later he got the message saying to meet Tony in lab they were heading. So he ignored everyone in the room and left the office heading towards the elevator.

ooOOoo

Once he was out of the elevator he was drawn in to a hug he automatically returned when he realized who was hugging him.

“I’m sorry Pete, I’ll call school-no I’ll visit and make sure any misunderstanding is cleared. And I’m sure the Legal will love working on this. They’ll make sure no one reveals anything that is being revealed today. And if you have problems with other students we’ll show who they are messing with and I’m sure Kira will love to work on that one.” Tony rambled on and on about all the things they could do and Peter drew back smiled brightly.

“Dad! I didn’t want you to worry. I just want to show my teachers and class that I’m not lying. Not the whole school. Cause it’s just my class that is bad. School just think I’m a nerd. Flash may have spread that I was lying about a internship, but they don’t outright say anything.” Peter shrugged and waved his hands to say no big deal. Tony was silent for a few seconds. He placed his hands on Peter’s shoulders and made him look up.

“Pete? Are you getting Bullied?” He asked in the serious voice he only used when he was concerned about Peter. Peter gulped and thought about lying. But looking in to Tony’s eyes he could see that Tony would use his powers to find out the truth if that meant making sure Peter was okay.

“Yeah, just Flash though. No one else. And he’s not physical either, just name calling and pushing around. Nothing big.” Peter said truthfully and Tony must have seen it too as he nodded. He gave Peter another hug and they went to the lab.

"And dad? I don't think my school would survive Kira." He said and Tony laughed agreeing. Kira was one of his personal lawyers and she was scary. Even Tony had a right to be scared of her.

They worked on the singing Vacuum cleaner they had discussed about that morning with the other employees that was working in the lab. They all had fun making it and after that Tony started to code some of the codes only he could code into new Stark Industries products as it was the initial reason he had come there today. Peter watched for few minutes and he could feel his eyes drooping down. Even though he had super strength and was basically a god without a title and magic, he was tired from the last nights patrols where he had stopped 3 mugging and a large scale murder.

“Sleep Peter, I’ll wake you up when I’m finished so we can go upstairs, or you can go without me.” He heard Tony saying softly in his ear. He could feel the stares the employees were giving them and hear some cooing about Baby Stark this or that.

“Wan 'ay with you.” Peter mumbled from where he was resting his head on Tony’s chest. Tony draped a arm around Peter and Peter snuggled to his father’s chest further and fell asleep. Tony smiled fondly at the teen and went back to working.

It was after about a half an hour when a SI intern came to inform that a tour group was visiting that lab. Tony smirked knowing who was coming and gave permission for the tour group to tour the lab.

ooOOoo

Betty and others stared at the door that Peter disappeared. They had never seen him that angry. They came out of their shock when a intern who said he was there to continue the tour came in. No one said anything as they were led towards the labs. Not even Flash.

When nearing the labs everyone was talking about what had happened. No one really paid any attention to the tour guide and the tour anymore. But as they neared a lab that looked important, tour guide stopped and turned to them.

“So this is one of the most important labs in here. Here is where Tony Stark use to code the products that is going to be released. And right now he’s inside working on a new product. So you guys are lucky cause Mr. Stark usually don’t allow tour groups in when he’s working. He even said that he would answer few questions as well. But he requested that everyone be very quiet because Baby Stark fell asleep while working with Mr. Stark. Even the employees are being very quiet. He even banned us from working on potentially explosive projects too.” He said and stuck his head in to a room to speak with whomever that was inside. Betty guessed that it was probably Tony Stark.

She was exited to go inside like the rest of the class. Cause Tony Stark was just inside and they were getting to meet him. She was not sure whether everyone will be so quiet when they see him, but she also had to wonder who Baby Stark was? Hasn’t Dr. Devemore said that he was one who got level 10 access?

So when they entered the room first thing she noticed was that the lab was quieter than it would be on a normal day. They had seen how loud the labs here at SI was before. Everyone was talking in hushed voices and she looked around to find the cause of it. There was a comfy couch sitting a little away from the tables and Tony Stark was sitting there. Working on something. But what drew the attention was the teen that was sleeping next to him. Tony had his left arm around the teen’s shoulders as he worked on his tab with his right. His sunglasses was on the table in front of him with a matching pair, which they had seen being wore by Peter Parker that day.

Intern motioned them to follow him and they walked quietly over to the couch. They spread around to stand in a semi circle so everyone can see and hear the famous inventor. But they were soon distracted by the teen that was sleeping. Betty and others were shocked for the second time that day. Ms. Warren looked like she was ready explode. But Betty connected the dots before any of them could and realized that Baby Stark was Peter Parker.

“What is he doing here?!” Ms. Warren whisper shouted. She was not stupid to shout and wake the teen up when they had been specifically told not to wake him up.

“Hm?” Tony looked up and saw the shocked faces of Peter’s schoolmates and teachers.

“Oh he was tired so I told him to sleep. I asked him to go upstairs to his room, but he wanted to stay with me so,” He said casually like it was a everyday thing. Well it was a everyday thing. Minus the location. Peter usually fell asleep in their private lab.

“Mr. Stark, I don’t know what is going on here. But Peter was not allowed to come here today. He lied to us and he was suspended too.” Ms. Warren said as she looked at Peter disapprovingly. She had not thought Peter would do something like this.

“Yeah penis Parker probably sucked a dick so he can stay here and say he know you.” Betty resisted the urge to face palm as Flash said it. She could see the change in the billionaire the moment he heard the comment. Every one was silent. Even the SI staff. She can swear she could hear someone whispering 'Oh Shit' from behind.

“What did you just say?” Tony asked in a cold voice. He could feel him magic and Extremis reacting to his anger. He had a hard time keeping it in check. How dare he insult his son? And even the teachers didn’t say anything.

“Flash! I’m sure Peter didn’t anything like that to get in here. It was very wrong to say something like that young man.” Mr. Harrington said and got a little point from Tony.

“What? It’s probably true. Penis is a nobody! He’s not that good become a intern here. He’s a useless wimp.” Flash said and Tony carefully extracted from Peter and stood up. But it was not enough as Peter woke up.

“Dad? Is it time to go?” He asked still half asleep while rubbing his eyes with a fist. That was when they realized that Tony Stark and Peter Parker had a more deeper relationship other than a mentor-intern one. And so did Flash because he paled like a A4 sheet when he heard that. It probably was cemented by the fact they were wearing matching outfits. Betty saw the moment they realized that Baby Stark was Peter when they saw his T-shirt print had Baby over SI logo.

“No Pete, Go back to sleep. I’m just finishing some things.” Tony said and knelt next to his son and made him lay down on the couch after removing his blazer. Tony took throw pillow and placed it under Peter’s head and Peter was out like light again.

Tony stood up and turned to face the tour group.

“Now, let me make it clear. Peter is the most innocent and precious kid I have ever met. He’s kind and caring. And he’s brave cause he doesn’t hide behind bullying to seem like he’s braver than others. Not fighting back doesn’t mean weak. It’s just we don’t have time to deal with your bullshit. Believe me I know. I had my fair share of bullies when I was going school. So your words or fake bravery don’t mean anything to Peter and he didn’t even tell me about your bullying until I forced him cause He’s a damn great kid who’s heart is bigger than this whole fucking world. He don’t have to do anything much less those activities you suggested he did cause he can come and go as he pleases. So please do us and yourself a favor and stop making even a bigger fool than you have already made yourself with your bullying.” Tony said and Flash had the decently to look like he was ashamed. He looked down and didn’t say anything and Betty thought that speech was a damn good one to give to bullies in schools.

Ms. Warren was ready to defend her student when Mr. Harrington stopped her. He had seen that there was no point of fighting with Tony Stark cause everything he had said was true.

“And Ms. Warren and Mr. Harrington? I’m disappointed to see that bring teachers you didn’t do anything to stop that kid when he said those things to my kid. I know you said to stop and I thank you for that Mr. Harrington. But what about the other times in school? I’ll be having a talk with your principal about it.

And about banning Peter from attending the field trip. If you thought to call his guardian listed in his records, I’m sure this would not have happened seen as I’m named his guardian in case his aunt is not available. And accusing him of lying, he could have easily showed you the documents when he was just a intern.” He said and everyone was speechless for a minute. Tony sat down careful not to wake Peter up and took his tab again clearly dismissing the group. So the tour guide came to escort the group out. But before they could leave the lab Tony called out again.

“And kid? Flash?” Flash turned to face Tony from where he was walking out.

“Yeah Mr. Stark?”

“Peter is not good enough to be a Intern, Because he’s good enough to be my heir.” Tony smirked seeing the stunned expression of Flash before smiling softly.

“And you could change too kid. Just be yourself. Don’t try to be someone else or someone your parents wants you to be.” Tony said in a softer voice and Flash nodded and walked out with a face that said he was seriously considering the advice Tony gave him.

ooOOoo

That night the Video of Tony defending Peter went viral among SI. Caption said ‘IronDad defends Baby Stark’ .

Bruce smiled and patted Tony on the back saying that he was a great dad and if Tony blushed, no one was brave enough to point it out. Defenders all sent a voice recording of them shouting ‘GO IRONDAD’. Vision said it was a good piece of advice Tony gave to Flash kid and said he was glad to have a dad who would defend his kids. Which of course thrilled Peter about having another brother- cause he saw JARVIS as a brother- and teared up Tony. Stephen who got the video from Pepper who had given hugs to both Tony and Peter sent a message saying #TeamIRONDAD. Which Tony found hilarious cause Stephen rarely sent things like that as he saw hash tags as a waste of time and unnecessary.

Howard had hugged Tony and just said that he was proud of the dad he had become. And Peter got a hug too. And a threat to all his bullies if they try to mess with a Stark. Which made Peter happy since it literally meant he was seen as a Stark.

Peter who himself had received the videos from a intern from the labs he worked on some days wasn’t able to stop the smile he had for the rest of the night and the weekend whenever he was Tony. He was also happy about what his dad said to Flash. He hoped Flash would change.

And if he gave Tony a extra long hug and they stayed up watching Star Wars, well no one said anything. Other than taking picture when they fell asleep and saving them in their phones.

Chapter Text

No one said a word on their way down to the lobby. They were too shocked to speak. After they got on the bus though everyone seemed to come out their shock and surrounded where Ned and MJ was sitting. They were bombard with question after question, all of them which they ignored. After a few minutes of not getting answers though everyone went back to their seats. But everyone were still talking about Peter and how he was referred as Baby Stark by the SI staff.

“I think he’s Tony Stark’s son.” One said and was quickly shot down with another theory.

“No He can’t be. If he was, he would have been bragging about it. I know he lived with his aunt and uncle after his parents died.”

“He’s adopted surely!”

“No way Tony Stark would adopt Parker.”

“But he did call Mr. Stark Dad!”

“Yeah and it looked like it was a normal thing too.”

“And the way Mr. Stark defended Peter, it’s something my da would do if I was bullied.”

“And he’s the heir to SI! Can you believe it?”

“I can actually as Tony Stark himself said it.”

Shockingly Flash was silent. They could only think that he’s thinking about what Tony Stark had said. These conversations continued for the rest of the ride back to school as they couldn’t talk about it with anyone else because of the NDAs they had signed. They were smart enough to know that if they leak this to any news outlet, their future would be ruined.

Ms. Warren was still shaken by the events of the day. The student she had humiliated and suspended for forgery and lying, had not been lying. He had been telling the truth. Heck he had a internship with Stark and if that was not enough the kid called Tony Stark, dad! She was so screwed. She just knew it. And it was because one little brat she had to teach. This is why she disliked children. Especially smart and bright ones. They always make her feel like inferior. And sometimes they were even smarter than her. Like that Parker Boy.

Mr. Harrington though, was thinking about what Mr. Stark had told him. He was right, he should have thought to do something to stop Flash from bullying Peter. He would have to apologize to Peter and from now on he would not turn an blind eye to bullying. He was teacher and he had a job to do. He was supposed to guide children through the correct path and if he’s letting some children bully others, he’s not a good teacher. Yes he would do his best to stop bullying in his school.

ooOOoo

Tony strode with all the confidence he owned- which was a lot- through the hallways of Midtown high. It was Monday and Peter was in his classes. He had not scheduled a meeting between him and the principal, which he didn’t need to cause he’s Tony Stark. He entered the office and approached the secretary’s table.

“I’m here to meet Principal of this school.” He said without even removing his sunglasses.

“I’m sorry, you need to schedule a appointment to meet him. I can put something in the books if you wa~” She wasn’t looking up but as soon as she looked up at him, she stopped talking and her eyes widened.

“M-Mr. Stark! I’m so sorry! Of course you can go right in. I don’t think it would be a problem.” She stammered out and Tony gave a sharp nod and went inside.

Once he entered the office he saw a middle aged man sitting behind a desk. He didn’t even wait to be asked and took a seat in front of the principal.

“Who are~ Mr. Stark! Wha-what can I do for you?” It amused Tony to see people ready to do anything he asked just by seeing him.

“I’m here to talk about one of your teachers here. Ms. Warren is her name I think.” He said and watched as the principal go through his memory.

“Ah yes, what about her?”

“Did you know that she insulted one her students accusing him for a thing he didn’t do and suspending him without letting his guardians know?” He asked and watched the man in front of him like a hawk. Principal looked surprised to hear the news as he spluttered for a second before he controlled his surprise.

“I-I didn’t know that, and I can assure you Mr. Stark, she must have a reason to do that as she is a fair teacher. If I can ask who this student and what he was accused of doing?” He asked and Tony could see that the reaction he would get would depend on the answer he gave. He could see that this principal is someone who accepted bribery and wouldn’t care about little guys as Peter. But it wouldn’t work this time as Peter was now Tony Stark’s son.

“Peter Parker. He was suspended for forgery. He was accused of faking my signature on his permission slip for the Field trip he had. And he was called a liar by Ms. Warren in front of his peers.”

“Ah ah Peter? Well yes Mr. Stark. I believe you came here to get justice done to the forged signature? Yes. I can expel him if you want. But if I may, Peter is a student who is a little bit troubled you see. His uncle died and he’s alone with his aunt. And he may have spread a lie about having a internship with you. Don’t worry I will deal with it.” He said and smiled pleasantly but it froze seeing the cold expression on Tony’s face.

“Mr. principal, I’m here today not because I want justice for me, but for Peter. Do you think I would be here by myself if I was looking justice for me. I would have just sent my lawyers. No, I’m here because if Ms. Warren had bothered to check with either me or Peter’s aunt, it would have been cleared that I did indeed sign the Peter’s permission slip. He do have a internship with me, actually he’s the future heir to Stark Industries. So he’s not been lying. And he’s also being bullied by a student called Flash Thompson. Do you know what that boy said about Peter? He said that he must have sucked someone’s dick to get in the Stark Tower which is his home. So, Now I suggest you stop being a asshole and start to do your job as a principal. Know that I can ruin your life with just one phone call. You will be talking about my lawyers about charges against you and Ms. Warren. Also Mr. Harrington is not off the hook too. He will just get a warning from the School Board and only because he called Peter yesterday and apologized. Good day Mister.” Tony said and left the office leaving a shocked principal in his wake. He left the school as he didn’t want people to see him there. It would lead to unnecessary question and it can risk Peter. One principal, two teachers and twenty five students knowing was enough for now. When it’s public that Peter was his son, then he can be the dad that picked his son from school. Not that he didn’t do it now, but he had to be discrete and low profile. It’s just not his style, But for Peter, he would even dress as Captain America if he had to. Well not Captain America, maybe someone else.   

ooOOoo

Ms. Warren stood in front of the principal worrying her lips. She had gotten a notice saying to meet him in his office. She knew that this was about the field trip last Friday.

“He said that he’s sending his lawyers to deal with this!” principal exploded suddenly startling Ms. Warren.

“He said he’s pressing charges! Ms. Warrant you should have at least talked with me before suspending Mr. Parker. That would have meant calling his guardian, who is literary Tony Stark! Then he would have explained and this would not have happened. I still can’t believe that you insulted a student in front of his whole class. Sure! I’m not the best principal as I have not cared about students parents who are not wealthy or in poor social standing, but even I don’t insult my students. Speaking to him privately would have been enough!” Principal went on and on about different ways how Ms. Warren could have handled the situation and Ms. Warren couldn’t believe she was getting scolded because of one snotty brat that couldn’t handle been suspended.

When she said this to principal however, Mr. principal had had enough and said her to leave. She left with a glare and principal felt a little bad for her. If she tried anything against Peter now, when she was already in the cross fire with his dad, who is a hero and a well respected man in the world? It would not end well for her. He had some calls to make and a student to suspend. Flash would have to stay home for about a month. No matter how much money Mr. Thompson offered. He was already in enough trouble because of that kids' mouth as it is.

Chapter Text

True to his words Tony’s lawyers went to meet both the principal and Ms. Warren. Principal only got a warning from the School Board of directors but Ms. Warren however were fired and was charged a fine for her inappropriate behavior towards a student. SI lawyers made sure that she would not utter a word of this to anyone. They could be intimidating if they wanted and it worked like a charm as always.

Flash got suspended and principal made sure not to accept any money Mr. and Mrs. Thompson tried to pay him. Flash had accepted the suspend and he also apologized to Peter before he left the school for his personal one month vacation. Peter, being the pure soul he is forgave Flash and Ned had patted Flash in the back and said to just chill cause everything will be okay. Which surprisingly earned a laugh from Flash. Not a mocking laugh, but a genuine one.

ooOOoo

Looking up from the project he had been working on Tony looked over at the screen that had dinged with a notification. He stood up and waved his hands cast a spell to clean them absentmindedly. He accessed the notification in his mind and went towards the kitchen he had installed in his lab. In his mind he opened the notification and saw that Clint and Scott had made their way to USA ground and that UN had debriefed them on the New Accords. Before he could continue, a signal started to transmit. He checked the signal for any hostile presence and opened it after deeming it safe to open. As he did so, Natasha’s face came up. He answered the call and crossed his lags floating about 3 feats above the ground with his coffee mug. Being a god didn’t take away his love for coffee. He transferred the feed to a holoscreen and but made sure the camera couldn’t see him floating.

“Natasha, what can I do for you?” He asked while taking a sip of his coffee.

“Clint and Land was released with a one year house arrest. They will have to do a lot of missions to repay the fine they got for the damage they did during the air port fight. I showed Lang to his room here at the compound and Clint to Laura’s floor.” She said as she spun around a office chair. She only acted that relaxed in front of Tony.

“That’s good. How are they?” Tony asked as he mentally arranged some specs for his new Armour. Isn’t is awesome he could multitask.

“They are doing good. Laura punched Clint before letting him come in. Hope said that she’ll be here tonight to talk with Lang. They are grateful for what you did for them and Clint said that he would like to meet you. But only if you want to.” Natasha said and Tony could see that she was serious about that. He could say no and she would be fine with that. And he also learned after years of being her friend that she would do bodily harm to anyone who didn’t listen to his wishes pertaining his health or comfort. Including Clint.

“You can say birdbrain that I’m visiting the compound next week.” Tony said and smiled a little to show her that he was really okay with it. It warmed his heart to see that she still cared about him.

“Okay then. I have to go. I have some paperwork to do.” Natasha said and Tony silently waved. She smiled and cut off the call. Tony hummed a little to himself before draining the remaining coffee. He had to talk to Pepper about revealing Howard’s return.

ooOOoo

It had been two weeks since Shuri had tried BARF on Bucky. But t proved to be a bad idea as Bucky only panicked seeing not the memories, but the gruesome imagination he had. His nightmares. So Winter Soldier had came out to protect his host and it had been a ugly fight. Bucky had refused to go under the Cryo again as it had only made him more paranoid. He had not thought that it would be that hard as he had been in the Cryo for more than years with HYDRA. But then he remembered that he had been always wiped after being out of the Cryo.

Steve didn’t know what to do. Bucky refused to try BARF again and he rejected all the invitations to talk with Steve. And now Clint and Scott is missing. He had asked T’challa and he had said that they decided to go back. Steve had tried to get T’challa’s help in getting them back. He knew for sure that Tony would have them lock them up in a prison again.

Wanda was also angry but Steve wouldn’t let her use her powers to control some of the Wakandan people so they could go save Clint and Scott. She really didn’t care about them, but controlling Clint’s mind was fun and if she focused only on Clint, Steve would get suspicious. So she bitched about Scott being in danger too.

ooOOoo

Shuri walked through the hallway with a thoughtful frown on her face. She was on her way to her room after a conversation with T’challa about the failed BARF tech. But it was not the tech or the way it so gloriously failed had her thinking. No, it was what her brother had told her before she left.

“You used to be a free and curious spirit Shuri. But it seemed the advancements and the development we have achieved through Vibranium have clouded that young girl’s mind who had been so eager to learn new things. Don’t let the bigheadedness and the ego some of our fellow people have get to you Shuri. Think about it.”

That had struck a chord in her heart. Has she really gotten that much egoistical? Had she forgotten the stories the history about how her country was before they got Vibranium? She had always thought that she was a level headed person. One that didn’t boast about being the most technologically advanced countries head scientist. But with her brothers comment, it seemed like she had started to be like the same type of person she vowed never to be.

Now that she thought about it, it seems like she had. She was always so sure about her tech. She was so sure that she was the smartest person. She had forgotten how people before her time had found some of the most essential things even Wakanda used. She had forgotten that without those people she won’t be as smart as she is. Sure she would have been a bright kid. But that would be it. She won’t know anything other than what she was taught. She wouldn’t have been able to do her own studies on different things if people hadn’t done their own studies on the various topics.

And isn’t it a blow to her conscience, she don’t what else. She had to admit that Tony Stark was one of the smartest, if The Smartest man in the planet. Even the universe. And only because Tony Stark did something no one had ever done before, something she had never been able to do before made her realize that. Shuri turned on her heals and went back towards the labs. She had a genius to contact and ask help. Maybe she can learn from someone else. Someone who is smarter than her. And It would be a new experience for her, to learn from a outsider. From someone who is not of Wakandan origin. Someone her brother deemed a good man if he ever saw one after their late father. And if it isn’t a sign Tony Stark being more than what she had heard and read about, she couldn’t think of anything else.

Chapter Text

Tony was startled out of his trance he was in. He was looking in to the future like he did every week. He knew that not all the future he saw was accurate and it was jarring to see thousands of different outcomes to one single situation play out in your mind in seconds. But he had gotten used to it and now it came to him like he had been doing it for all his life.

Tony looked towards where the holo screen was blinking with a notification. His golden eyes changed back to their normal colour as Tony clicked on the email he had received. He read through it and had to re-read it again to make sure what he was seeing was correct. It was from Shuri, princess of Wakanda. Asking his help in adopting the BARF technology to help Barnes.

Tony frowned a bit at that. He had pushed the thought of Barnes into the back of his mind since he refused to open that can of worms when everything was going smoothly. But it seemed like it had come chasing him again. He didn’t know what to think of Barnes. That man had killed his parents. Sure his father was back. But it was only because of some miracle that it happened. He knew he had the right to hate the man and refuse to help. But he also knew that Barnes had no control over his actions. He was controlled by HYDRA. Even still no one can say anything to stop Tony if he decided to not help the man that killed his parents and left him a orphan at that age 17.

Tony sighed and closed his eyes. He felt very tried at that moment. He didn’t want to help his parents murderer but at the same time if he didn’t more people could get hurt if someone found the trigger words to trigger the Winter Soldier. No matter how hard it would be, he would have to help the man. But it didn’t mean he had to get involve directly.

He took a deep breath and started to type the password so he could open the necessary folders about BARF tech. He read through them with a inhuman speed and edited to suits the needs the Wakandan princess wanted. She could add anything else that is needed according to Barnes condition herself. He was not going to be all devoted to helping Barnes get his mind back. He only thought about the all the innocent people that could get hurt if Barnes were to left as he is. He closed the folders and shut down the computer after he had sent a email to Shuri with everything she would need. He knew he was being a little petty and irrational sending it without any word because in the email, she had asked to have a video conference to talk about possible treatments for Barnes using his technology. Just because he sent the tech didn’t mean he was ready to talk about that guy with the princess like Barnes had not killed his parents.

ooOOoo

Tony yawned as he jogged up the stairs to the penthouse level from his lab. He was in no mood to do any practice with his powers after sending that email so he needed a distraction. And that said distraction came in the form of a little spider he was fond of who was doing his homework at the moment with a pencil in-between his lips.

“Hey Underoos!” Tony greeted as he plopped down on the sofa beside Peter. Peter gave a little scream –it was very manly thank you very much- as he had not expected for someone to come to the Penthouse level at that time of the day.

“Dad! Are you going to give me a heart attack?”

“Kid, you won’t get a heart attack. Unless it’s you giving me one.” Tony said as he ruffled his kids’ hair. Peter pretended to be annoyed as he swatted Tony’s hand away but didn’t complain when it returned and ran through his hair.

“So what are you doing? Anything interesting?”

“Nah, just my calculus homework. I’m almost done though.” Peter said as he did the last bit of the question and double lined the answer. He closed the book and threw it in the bag and turned to face Tony.

“So what made you come out of your lab?”

“Eh nothing to worry about. You wanna do something?” Tony waved away the question and Peter didn’t push it knowing his dad would tell him when the time came or when he was ready.

“Hm? Oh I know! Can we go to that amusement park? I heard that they have a snack shop that sells different kinds of snacks from all over the world. And oh! That also have this cool roller coaster that is like huuuuge. Can we?” Peter rambled on and on about the amusement park that had opened a few weeks ago. He had been dying to go there but with the Field trip fiasco, he had been a little busy. It was hard when suddenly all of your class wanted to be your friend. Ned and MJ had been with him acting as human walls. He was glad that only his class knew about Tony being his dad because if the whole school knew, he was sure that Ned and MJ would not be enough. Now though he could got there with his dad.

“Sure kiddo. Let me go change and then we can go.” Tony said and stood up to head towards his room. Peter waited vibrating with excitement for his dad to come back and one he did they both went to the elevator so they could get to the garage. This day was going to be so much fun. Peter just knew it.

ooOOoo

They arrived at the amusement park in minutes since it was really closer to the tower. Tony bought the tickets while Peter jumped up and down not being able to contain his excitement. Tony chuckled seeing this and a woman who looked to be in her sixties smiled fondly at the duo. Tony was glad that he had cast a glamour charm on so no one could identify them. He had made their hair a few shades lighter making them a very light brown. His eyes were warm bluish green with Peter’s eyes a little lighter than his. He also removed his signature facial hair. No one remembered who he looked like without it and only Peter and he could see through the glamour.

He brought the tickets over and they went to the guy who was checking the tickets. After having their tickets checked Peter and Tony first went over to a counter that sold cotton candy. Tony bought a blue one while Peter got a one pink saying that it was the proper colour of cotton candy.

“Whatever you say kid.” Tony said and followed Peter. He lead him to the massive roller coaster that was dominating the amusement park. They both got in and sat down in front of a mother and her son. Tony smiled at the woman and she returned the smile.

“Your son?” She asked as they waited for the ride to start.

“Yeah.” Tony said with a fond look at Peter.

“He seemed excited. My son was pestering me for the whole week.” She said and with that Tony and the woman who introduced herself as Anna talked about the baggage that came with teenaged sons. And during that time Peter and Kyle got to know each other. As the ride began they had changed the seating so Kyle and Peter was sitting next to each other and Tony was carted to the back with Anna.

After the ride everyone was a little loopy and near collapsing. Tony –who was going by Edward- led Peter and Kyle to a bench not so far from where they were and sat they down. Anna also made her way there slowly and sat down. Peter and Kyle was laughing even though their vision was spinning in circles. It had been fun ride alright. No one can argue with it. Only Tony was standing up since he did more crazier loops and stunts in his Armour. So he was used to it.

After their heads stopped spinning, Peter and Kyle asked permission to go to the water ride. Tony didn’t want to get wet so he waited with Anna while their sons ran towards the water ride.

Anna and Tony talked about their sons and about anything that came to their minds. It was relaxing. Without having to hide behind sarcasm and snarky quips. To talk with someone who didn’t know that he was Tony Stark. There was a lull in the conversation which presented the opportunity to Anna to ask the question she had.

“So where is Peter’s mother? I noticed you didn’t mention her.” She was curious and wasn’t afraid to ask such a question. After all Tony had asked about her husband who was working as a supermarket manager.

“Oh I’m not married.” Tony said and Anna was shocked. She hadn’t thought that may be Peter’s mother left her son with his father.

“Peter’s adopted. I met him about seven months back. He was smart so I hired him as my intern. We got close and well now, I co-parent him with his aunt who was taking care of him before I came to the picture.” Tony said and looked at the water ride where Peter was calling out to him. Peter was wet with water dripping down his cloths. He waved back and Peter went back to Kyle who was trying to squeeze water out of his shirt.

Anna meanwhile was processing the words. She had not expected that answer. Peter and his dad looked so much like each other. Even their personalities matched. And to think that they were not related was a huge shock. It was the first time she had seen a father-son duo who acted like they had known each other all their lives. They had so much love for each other in their eyes when looking at one another, it was hard see them as anything but a loving father and a hyper teen son. And here she was looking at a father and a son who were not related at all and the father is co-parenting the kid with his aunt. This aunt had sure seen the love they shared. Because who would have let their nephew be adopted by his employee. It made her happy that there was people who didn’t care about blood relations but the bond they shared through love, experience and care.

Anna was brought out of her thoughts when something cold and wet met her face. She was startled and as she looked up she was Kyle who was shirtless looking at her with a innocent expression. And Tony was also looked shocked as he stared at his own topless son with a wet t-shirt in his hands and face shining with water.

“Oh it’s on.” Tony said as he stood and ran over to Peter who squeaked and began to run. Tony chased Peter around for a few minutes before he caught Peter and threw him over his shoulder. Peter was laughing so hard that he didn’t even register that his dad was holding him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. And when he did he squirmed in Tony’s grip to get down. Tony set him down while chuckling and slung his arm around Peter’s shoulders. He looked down and sighed when he saw the dark spot on his t-shirt. So much for not getting wet.

“Look like we need new cloths bud.” Tony said and Peter pouted thinking that they would have to go back to the tower. But Tony just smirked and took out his phone and dialed a number. He waited for whoever on the other side to pick up.

“Hey Hap! Need a favor, can you grab a t-shirt for me and Peter? Also jeans for Petey boy, he’s dripping water everywhere.” Tony asked as the phone was picked up.  Peter looked up from where he had gone to talk with Kyle and his mom.

“Who is it?” Anna asked seeing the panicked look in Peters’ face.

“Dad’s driver/bodyguard/head of security. He’s going to be so mad with us.”

“Why would your dad’s employee be mad at Edward?” Anna asked with a frown. Wasn’t it their job to do as their boss asked?

“He’s more like family to dad than a another employee.” Peter said and wasn’t it a shocker. This man who had adopted his intern was considering his driver as his family. It didn’t surprise Anna anymore.

“Happy said that he’s coming with cloths. I said him to grab a extra as well for Kyle.” Tony said as he came towards the trio.

“Oh thank you, you didn’t have to do that.” Anna said while Kyle nodded his head.

“Nah, it’s nothing. So Pete? After changing, you wanna stay or go back home?”

“Uh can we stay? And don’t think I don’t know why you called Happy and told him to bring cloths.” Peter said and leveled a glare that was more like a kitten trying to be like him mother.

“Sure we can and you know Happy would have my head if I get his perfect leather seats wet with water.” Tony said in his defense and he was saved when a very unhappy Happy came towards them holding a bag.

“Happy! Why so unhappy? Loosen up. Thanks man.” Tony said and took the bag and Happy just grumbled a little.

“You want anything boss?”

“Uh no, oh wait.” He turned towards Anna and Kyle. “You guys going to stay or go back? If you’re going, I can have Happy drive you guys to wherever you wanna go.”

“Oh no need. My husband said that he would be here to pick us up.” Anna said smiling at the unhappy driver and saw that he was not exactly grumpy at the father-son duo but was just keeping up his appearance.

“Okay then. You can go Hap, I’ll have J drive a car here to pick us up. No need to wait for my call.” Tony said and Peter gave a cheery ‘Bye Happy’ at the retreating figure of the bulky man.

Tony took out the T-shirt Happy had brought for him and changed in to and gave the bag to Peter. Peter took the cloths out and gave Kyle one pair of jeans and a shirt. They both went towards where the restrooms were to change.

“Thank you for the cloths Mr. Edward.” Kyle said as both the teens came back.

“Sure thing kid. You can keep them. No need to bother returning them.” Tony said and Kyle stared at the man. He was not shocked because of he was letting him keep the cloths, but he knew just by looking at the cloths that they were expensive.

“Oh no Mr. Edward~”

“Hey kid, it’s okay. I can buy Peter another if he wanted.” Tony said and ruffled Kyle’s hair while Anna was watching amused. Anna looked at her phone when it gave a ping and saw that her husband was there to pick them up.

“Well Kyle say bye to Peter. Dad is here to pick us up.” Anna said and Kyle gave Peter a man hug and exchanged phone numbers as Anna and Tony said goodbyes to each other.

Anna and Kyle walked towards the car waiting for them and David lifted a eyebrow seeing the expensive cloths his son was wearing. He didn’t say anything and when his son started talking about his new friend it all made sense. That night after his wife also had recounted the meeting she had with Edward, he agreed with his wife that that man was a wealthy man who had adopted a kid no for publicity but love. Anna had figured out that Edward was Tony Stark after seeing Happy -she had seen the man with Tony Stark on TV- but she was never telling a soul about it other than her husband. They went to bed that night with a new respect for the billionaire.

ooOOoo

After their friends left Tony and Peter went on a few more rides before going to the restaurant that offered food from all over the world to get dinner. They were so full after eating a huge amount of food that the restaurant owner was shocked, Tony had JARVIS auto drive the car to the front of the gates of the amusement park. Good god his AI had foresight that he had but not common sense to bring a normal car that didn’t have STARK as the number plate.

That night Tony tucked Peter in to bed like he did most of the nights and waited for Peter to fall asleep.

“Today was fun dad, thanks.” Peter mumbled sleepily and Tony brushed a few strands of hair out of Peter’s forehead.

“Glad you enjoyed it buddy. We’ll go somewhere again.”

“ ‘kay, love you dad.” Peter whispered as he fell in to the arms of Morpheus.

“Love you too kid.” Tony placed a kiss on Peter’s forehead and went to his room to get some sleep.  

Chapter Text

Clint entered the New Avengers compound with a little hesitation. After all the last time he had been there, it was to bust that witch out. He stood there staring at the building for few minutes getting nerves under control. Natasha gave a encouraging smile and led him inside after he nodded to show that he was ready. She took him to where most of the NA were gathered to meet their oldest yet newest member.

As Clint and Natasha entered the communal floor all the occupants stopped whatever they were doing and turned to face the duo. Clint felt a little uncomfortable and a little apprehensive over what these people who he had never met before thought about him.

“Hey guys, this is Clint Barton. Hawkeye.” Natasha introduced him and went to sit down next to a another lady who looked even scarier than Natasha.

“Hi! I’m Johnny! Human torch. Come on dude take a seat.” A man sitting in one of the couches said and moved a bit so Clint could sit. He thanked Johnny and sat down as others introduced themselves. They were all polite and Clint felt himself relax when he felt no malicious intent from anyone in the room. He looked Natasha to see that she was talking to Jessica Jones.

As the conversations that had been paused with his appearance picked up he joined Johnny and his friends who were talking about best way to make a ribbon cake for some reason. He had never thought that he would talk about ribbon cake recipes with Superheroes like it was normal thing. With Tony, it was possible cause no one can predict what the other man thought. But now it seemed like Tony found people who were like him. Well it was good Tony had people in his corner now. Unlike before where everyone was against him. He never thought that talking with people without any official reason felt good. He only had Natasha, Tony and Laura to talk to before the whole Civil War fiasco. Now he understood why people enjoyed other peoples presence.

They talked for hours before a UN representative came to talk with him about the arrangements. It only took few hours since most of the things were settled before he even step foot in US.  Once it was done Natasha went to call Tony and Clint let her know that he would like to meet Tony. He had a apology to make and he didn’t think that sending it over a letter like Captain had done was the best way to do. And he was not a some backward person to use paper and pens. Tony was a influence to reckon with. He had made sure that his birdbrain was all technological after one month of knowing him. Clint smiled fondly at the memory of Tony’s outrageous face when he saw him writing a letter to Fury to inform him of the completed mission. Truthfully it was a letter to Laura. At that Tony didn’t know that.

Speaking of Laura, she was super pissed. She had slapped him and screamed blue murder at him before she had hugged him tightly. After that she let him in the floor he was going to share with his family. Cooper and Lila had been ecstatic to see him and for the rest of the day they had him complete attention. Only releasing him when Laura announced bed time for them. He was so glad that they were safe and knew he had Tony to thank for that.

That night as he laid in his bed, he thought about the day. It had been long day with official talks and meetings and signing various documents. But it was so worth the freedom he received. His thoughts wandered to the new team he was going to work with . They were friendly. And he fell right into the equation like he had been there the whole time. They treated him like a human being and not a tool to use. They respected his talents and didn’t look down on him because he wielded a bow and arrow. He also had seen the protectiveness they held for a certain genius when Captain America came to the conversation and he fully shared the sentiment after hearing what had happened in Siberia. He was not sure what to feel. Their all good and righteous captain had left a teammate behind. How Captain did it without feeling any remorse or guilt, he didn’t know. He knew he would have been wallowing in his guilt if he had done that.

And with that Clint saw that the new team was something else. They were not a chemical mixture like the original Avengers were. They were not a ticking time bomb. If asked Clint would say that only Tony, Natasha, Clint, Bruce and Thor-when he was around- got together seamlessly. So it had been Captain that was the wrong chemical to the mixture. There had been tension between Tony and Steve for some time until they learned how to get along. But it was not enough. Because even though he got along well with the team, there was a point where they differed. And with that he had to wonder how Captain differed from them. Sure he was a fierce leader and master tactician. But Clint realized he held so much faith in his judgment than the others, ones who were experienced. He had judged Tony the moment he set foot in to the Helicarrier all those years ago just from the video footage he had received. And Clint knew that he had not read the whole file dedicated to Tony. Only the half assed one Natasha made about Iron Man-yes Tony Stark- Not recommended. It was only to make Tony motivate. Fury knew once Tony found out the assessment Natasha had done he would start to prove here wrong. Doing his best, which means a lot better than anyone could imagine to do at their greatest moment.

And the good captain never tried to get to know them. Relying on the files and what he had learned from others. But he never tried to understand them. Why Tony didn’t like being handed things and why he didn’t like to talk about his father. Or why Clint didn’t like to be in low level places and preferred high grounds. Or why Natasha didn’t like Russian lullabies. If he had, he would have been more close and due to that more inclined to listen to others. But it was not the case. He believed that he could do no wrong. That if something has to happen they had to be done in his way. Clint would have tried to beat some sense in to that thick righteous skull if he had been in his right mind without the witch’s influence.

However now that he was back to his right state of mind and is back in his home. He was going to do everything in his power to make all the wrongs he had done right. He can’t correct Captains mistakes, but he can correct his. And he would be the best friend Tony could ask for, even though he never trusted Clint again. After all it would be not surprising for Tony to not trust him after that comment he made in the RAFT. So he would do his best to watch Tony’s back.

Chapter Text

“Sir there seem to be a unidentified aircraft heading towards the tower at a great speed.” JARVIS voice came through the speakers and Tony was on his feet and activating the suit the moment he registered the words his AI said. Peter also got up and activated his new Iron Spider suit. They had been planning some adjustments to both their suits.

“Pete, stay here. I will let J know if I need you, got it?” Tony asked and Peter nodded to show he understood.

Tony nodded and the helmet formed around his head as he flew out the window JARVIS had opened for him. He saw the huge spaceship that was gaining speed as it flew towards the tower. People who had noticed the ship were pointing and screaming. Some were of terror while others were relief at seeing Iron Man flying towards the spaceship. Many had phones out recording Iron Man.

Tony flew to the front of the ship and activated Nano wings on his back so he could use his hands to hold the ship. He placed his hands on the front and used all his strength and powered the boot repulsors a light higher to stop the ship’s fast decent. Which was a lot of strength with the Extremis and being a god. He managed to decrease the ship’s speed and maneuvered it to the top of the tower where there was a landing pad made for quinjets. But he was not sure whether this spaceship could fit to that landing pad since this ship was at least 4 times bigger than a quinjet. Somehow he managed to land the spaceship carefully on to the landing pad distributing the weight and the length of the ship to balance out so the tower could hold the weight of it.

Tony held out his hands and activated hand repulsors and had Nano cannon drones at ready. He watched as the ramp of the spaceship opened to show six figures coming out. One looked like a normal human though Tony didn’t lower his guard since he had learned a long time ago that looks can be deceiving. Next was a green colour human looking female. She looked like how a space assassin would look like. With her huge sword and the emotionless face. Next one had Tony blinking to make sure that what he was seeing was true. A honest to god Raccoon, with a tree. A teenage tree by the look of it, as he (its’ a he right?) was playing some kind of video game.  Next duo was a huge man- at least closer to Thor’s size- who was gray with pink markings all over his body and another human looking lady. Only difference was she had huge eyes and two fucking antennas.

“I can’t believe that we came to this fucking backward planet just because of a rumor.” Raccoon grumbled and came to a stop seeing that his teammates had stopped. He looked up and saw that they were staring at something and looked towards where they were looking.

“Holy Shit! Tell me I can steal that.” He said as he also looked towards the Red and Gold robot standing before them.

“I’m Groot!”

“Yeah yeah I know he must be the one. But still I want that.”

“Rocket shut it.” The human looking guy said and walked forward. Apparently broken out of his shocked staring.

“Hi! I’m Peter Quill. I go by Star Lord by the way. We are the Guardians of the Galaxy. We are looking someone called Stark.” He said and Gamora had to stop rolling her eyes. She was sure that his robot would not understand anything that was said. After all this must be some kind of security measure.

“Well you seemed honest in your intentions. Can I know the other’s names as well?” Tony asked. He was over his shock at seeing a speaking raccoons and trees. He had seen more weird shit in his life. And he had to wonder why these people who called themselves Guardians of the Galaxy was looking for him.

“I’m Gamora. A space assassin. Best one.” Green lady said. Ha, He knew she was a space assassin. He had to stop the urge to fist pump. He didn't think it was the best time.

“Rocket. And this is~”

“I’m Groot!” The tree said enthusiastically holding his hand up. Tony smiled because this tree-Groot– reminded him of his spiderling.

“I’m Drax the Destroyer and this ugly girl here is Mantis.” The huge man said and the antenna girl waved sweetly at him.

“So you guys here to meet Stark? Why?” Tony asked finally lowering his hands and sending a message to JARVIS to alert the necessary authorities that he got everything under control.

“Yeah, he’s kind of a legend up there. We don’t know who he is for sure. But apparently he was the one who destroyed more than half of Chitaury forces. They are Thanos army. He singlehandedly destroyed them. As to why, we need his help to stop Thanos.” Gamora said as she stared at the robot in front of her. She was not sure but there was another rumor saying that one who destroyed the Chitaury was a someone in a red and gold Armour.

“Who’s Thanos?” Tony asked finally after he had processed the words. He was known in the space. And there people came looking for him so he could help them defeat this Thanos character. And he had feeling that this was the threat that had haunted him since New York invasion.

“He’s a powerful being that is equivalent to a god. And he’s much more powerful than one. He’s called the mad titan. He wants to destroy half of the universe so he could restore what he call the Balance. He believes that it’s the way to solve the problems in the universe. He goes around the universe collecting troops killing half of civilizations he comes across while he’s looking for the Infinity Stones so he could use them to wipe the half of the universe.” Gamora said and with each word Tony felt his dread growing. He had known there was more to the invasion back in 2012. But he didn’t know what it was about.

He didn’t know what to think. All he could think was that this Thanos was a psychopath. Who wants to solve all the problems by destroying half of the universe? And Tony was sure that Thanos would come to Earth looking for the Time stone and the Mind stone. He would have to be ready. Earth would have to be ready.

“So can you take us to this Stark character. Or is he just a legend?” Rocket asked irritably  as the silence stretched too much for his liking. Tony sighed and motioned for them to follow him inside and went to the elevator that would take them to the penthouse level.

As they exited the elevator they were met with a nervously bouncing Spider Man.

“Dad! Are you okay? JARVIS said you were okay, but I was worried when you were late.” He asked and Guardians were a little confused when the man-kid- in the blue and red suit called the robot ‘dad’. Surely Terra was not that advanced for robots to have kids?

“Don’t worry Underoos. I’m good. This is Guardians of the Galaxy and they are here looking for Stark.” He said ‘Stark’ with a undertone that didn’t went unnoticed by the Guardians. Gamora narrowed her eyes and her grip on her sword tightened.

“OH!” Peter said understanding what his father said.

“Are they safe?” He asked and Tony looked towards the team standing in his home and nodded.

“They should be.” Tony said and Peter deactivated the suit and it went back to his wrist braces revealing the teen underneath the suit. Guardians were little startled by the sudden appearance of a teenage boy and only just managed to stop themselves from attacking him.

“Well Guardians, this is my Son Peter and I’m…” He waited for the suit go back to its housing before spreading his arms enjoying the shocked faces of the Guardians.

“…Tony Stark! And welcome to the Stark Tower.” He said with a smirk on his face as the Guardians realized why it had been amusing to Tony and Peter when they said ‘Stark’. Drax and Mantis just stared in shock at the man before them. They didn’t know much about the rumors. Only that they were looking for a man called Stark so they could ask help. But it still came as a shock to learn the one they had been talking had been the one they had been looking for.

Peter –Quill that is- stared in awe as the Red and Gold Armour melted and seemed to go into the skin of the man underneath it. Tony Stark. The man they had come looking for. He had been excited when he heard that man from Terra had been the one to destroy Chitaury since in the Space, no one really cared about his mother planet. So to hear that a man from there had done something no one had been able to do singlehandedly? And to find the said man was real? It was one of the best days of Peter’s life.

Gamora was shocked to actually see a man underneath the Armour and she realized that both rumors she had heard was not about two men but one and the same. She had been skeptical about coming to Terra looking for a man who was a legend. A legend that could be a myth as well. But she had to admit it was impressive. It had to be some kind of technology behind this man’s Armour and she had never seen something like that in her life. Even her Father , who had very advanced technology.

Rocket was simply floored. He had met the Starks. The most technologically advanced race in the Universe. He had tried to steal from them after all. He had succeeded too. That was how he learned about most of the things he knew about technology. Starks worshiped the name Tony Stark. They had a fucking huge Golden Statue of the man and they even had statues of the man built in their shrines. Where they got the pictures to built those? Rocket had no idea. But they surely had some way because he definitely identified the Man standing in front of him from those Statues. So with that he was more inclined to believe those rumors. It had to have some truths when the most technologically race celebrated hearing their literal god had destroyed Thanos’ army. But what he had not believed was the man to be a Terran. A human. But here he was standing in front of the man –god-.

“I am Grooot.” Groot said slowly drawing out the words staring at Tony with wonder and Rocket had to agree. It was a privilege to stand before Tony Stark. Who would have thought? He was so going to rub this in the faces of that Queen of the Starks. Ha! Take that! He was in their gods’ house. Meeting him and his son. Ooh Rocket can’t wait until this Thanos character was gone so he could take a trip to planet Stark.

Chapter Text

After initial shock had gone, Guardians were ushered in to the living room of the penthouse. Tony kept a close eye on every single one as even though he was sure these six won’t try anything, it didn’t hurt to be alert. Since he didn’t know much about them. Next few hours went by as Guardians introduced them and told stories of their adventures to Tony who listened impressed. They got along seamlessly and Tony found that he enjoyed the company of them. Drax was hilarious and Mantis activated his protective side. Gamora reminded him of Natasha and he was sure that they would get along just fine. He was almost scared to think about Gamora, Natasha and Jessica together. Rocket always seem to act like he disliked all of them reminding Tony of himself and he was impressed by the intelligence the racoon possessed. Groot was absolutely adorable with his three word language and had left with Peter so Peter could show him his web shooters to the teen tree. Tony was so appalled at the taste of music and had JARVIS download about all of the songs that came out after 70's on the Stark Phone.

And after that came the inevitable question. The Avengers. He had told them about the New Avengers and how they would o meet them and Gamora somehow picked up on the New part and asked about the Old ones. It was not that Tony wanted to keep the information a secret. He knew keeping secrets from people you worked with never ended well. So he had JARVIS show them the footage of the Avengers since he didn’t feel like talking about his old team and excused himself to his lab.

Guardians watched the formation of Iron Man. JARVIS was smart to only show them videos that clearly showed the way Tony changed for better. After that all the videos of how the Avengers met and JARVIS being the smart AI he is showed the confrontation Rogers had with Tony. And Guardians could not say that they liked the man very much. And as they watched the video on how Tony took the missile to the wormhole in the sky to destroy the Chitauri, they all held their breath even though they knew that Tony was alive and breathing one floor down. It was scary to look at and they all felt anger bubble in them when they heard the Captain who had insulted Tony before in that flying ship saying to close the portal. They all held their breath as the portal closed and released a breath when they saw Tony falling out of the portal in the last second.

So for the next few hours Guardians watched videos about the Avengers and learned a bit more about the man they had come to meet. Rocket paid more attention to the advancing suits more than he paid actual attention to what was happening in the videos. And when they had finished with the video of the fight in Siberia, Rocket was the first to talk.

“He wasn’t trying to kill them.”

“What?” Quill asked turning to face Rocket.

“I was watching the way Stark’s suits improved. In the first video, he destroyed a fucking tank missiles with just a little rocket sized missile that was in his forearm. And he took a nuke to space in that suit. And that fight with his wayward angsty teenager son? Ultron? So he was not trying to kill those dunderheads. If he wanted them dead, they would have been dead before they realized they were dead.”  Rocket said and Gamora nodded her head understanding what Rocket said.

“I have to agree with Mr. Rocket. If sir wanted them dead, they would be. He have the power with or without the suit to destroy them.” JARVIS chimed in and everyone looked up to the ceiling. No matter how much Tony said that JARVIS was not in the ceiling.

“I agree with the voice. He did not used his full potential to fight his opponents.” Drax said as he nodded head as if to further emphasize his claim.

“If I may? I have alerted sir that you have finished watching the videos and he gave me instructions to show you to your rooms.”

“Yes Of course. Thank you JARVIS? Is it?” Peter said and they all stood up thanking JARVIS.

“Please follow me.” Suddenly JARVIS voice came from their right and they turned to see a old version of Iron Man Armour standing there. They could see MARK 45 written in white paint on the forearm of the suit. They figured that JARVIS was controlling the suit and followed him to the elevator where he took them to a guest level of the tower and showed them to their rooms. Since it had been a taxing and a long day, they promised to talk later and went to their assigned rooms to get some rest.

ooOOoo

Next day saw Tony, Peter, Howard and his new alien friends? House mates? Allies? Eating breakfast. Peter showed a large amount of food in his mouth before he gave sloppy kiss to Tony’s cheek and running towards the elevator so Happy could drive him to school. Tony gave a wave and wiped his face with a paper towel to get the maple syrup from Peter’s kiss. Howard only laughed at Tony and he gave his dad a mock scowl before giving Howard's cheek a kiss while making sure to get all the chocolate he could in Howard's face. Howard scowled as the Guardians watched amused.

It came as a bit of a shock for them to see a man who they had learned was dead was in fact alive. Tony explained how his father was resurrected by some kind of magical force. Howard on the other hand took the idea of aliens living with them in stride. He was happy to meet them as he had not gotten he chance to meet anyone else other than Tony, Rhodey and Peter. That made Tony making a mental note to ask Pepper how the PR was progressing with the announcement of Howard Stark’s return. Also Howard had been a little busy in his lab trying to find something to teach Rogers a lesson. Not that Tony knew. He was close. Soon he would interrogate his son and find out where those bastards were.

After breakfast Howard went to his lab after promising Tony to join him for Dinner as Tony was visiting the compound that day. Tony and Guardians got  ready so they could go to the compound and meet the New Avengers as well as talk with the UN about what to do with the Guardians as well as to inform them of the Thanos. Tony knew that they could not keep it a secret from the UN as they needed to get ready and he also knew that UN would consider having the Rogues pardoned when they hear about it. And he had to agree, they needed more fire power. More help to fight this battle. It was not a school yard fight like the ones they had. It was end of the world kind of shit.

As they neared the compound in Tony’s limo, they saw a lot of people gathered. Tony could see few UN members and well as few of the Defenders. They had been on a mission the previous day and had decided to crash in the compound for the night after the debrief. Jessica and Matt was standing outside and as soon as they saw the car, or hear it in Matt’s case, they came forward to meet it.

“You good? They didn’t try anything did they Stark?” Jessica was the first to ask Tony as he got out of the car. He smiled and moved to his right so the Guardians could come out.

“Yeah I’m fine. Were you worried? Aw, I’m touched.” Tony asked placing a hand on his heart and Jessica playfully punched him in the arm.

“Of course not. Why would I?” She said with a scowl and Matt was silently laughing at the duo.

“Tony!” came the shout and Tony turned to see Rhodey coming towards them with hurried steps and as he neared them, he took a long look at Tony and nodded satisfied with what he saw.

“So these are your new alien buddies?” He asked instead looking at the six who were looking around.

“Yeah, It’s a long story. Will tell you all in one go.” Tony said and Rhodey nodded in understanding and looked over to where the Guardians were.

“Okay! Let’s get this party inside. We have a lot to talk about.” Rhodey said and led all of them inside where most of the UN and New Avengers were gathered. Most of them came towards Tony to ask whether he was okay the moment they saw him and it made Tony feel warm inside to know that these people cared about him. So he gave them a real genuine smile and said he was okay and that he would explain everything. It seem to be enough as everyone smiled back and went back to their seats. That was another thing, they trusted him to tell the truth and didn’t pester him continuously asking whether he was telling the truth or not. It felt good to be around people who trusted you. Too bad Tony knew that the ones that didn’t trust him or cared about him were going to return after this meeting.

Chapter Text

…Everyone was silent as they digested the news. Tony and the Guardians silently waited as the others processed the news and Tony did some work he needed for the plan he was working on for this big mission in his mind as they waited.

It was hard for the heroes of Earth to imagine something like that. News about a person trying to wipe out half of existence. No one could think of any response after they realized that. It was only few years since they had learned that life existed beyond their world. And now they were being told that half of that all the life was going to get wiped out. Finally it was Rhodey who broke the silence.

“There is this Titan –Thanos- who want to destroy half of the universe so he could full fill his monstrous fantasy. And he’s collecting armies and the Infinity Stones so he could wipe the half of the universe? And you need Tony’s help because he’s a legend and famous for nuking the Chitaury back in that invasion.” Rhodey summed up all of the information given to them and Guardians nodded their heads in agreement.

“Yes. And most of the races out there are afraid of Thanos. Or simply don’t care about what he is doing. But when the news came that a Terran destroyed Chitaury, people started to hope that there might be a chance. Even the ones that had given up caring about what he did. But no one knew how to find Stark. And we volunteered to find him and ask his help. And we need his help to convince people out there to help fight Thanos. He’s the only one who can.” Quill said and New Avengers looked at each other. It was not a choice. It was fight until your last breath or die.

But one thing was sure. They would fight for their world even if it meant it was the final battle they had to fight. And they knew that they would help Tony if he decide to help these people who came looking for his help. Even if that meant Tony had to go to space, they would be hot on his heels. They would not let Tony do all the work alone like his old team. And anyone who knew Tony knew that he would not ignore something like that. And this was not something they could ignore too. It was the end of world situation. And they were not ready to condemn the universe to such a fate. They were heroes for a reason.

“I’ll help you.” Tony said and everyone’s head swirled to his face. His eyes were closed and he looked deep in his thoughts. He opened his eyes and only Rhodey caught the vanishing gold colour. He knew that moment that Tony had seen what was going to happen if he didn’t help and sighed knowing there was nothing they could do to stop his friend.

“Okay Tones, what’s the plan?” Rhodey asked and Tony turned his face to meet Rhodey’s eyes. He saw that his best friend was with him and relaxed. Rhodey smiled softly and nodded his head.

“So Quill? How much time do we have until Thanos comes here looking for the time stone and Mind stone?”

“Uh About two years.” Quill answered as Guardians looked curiously at the genius. Rhodey could literary see the cogs and wheels turning in his brothers mind. He grinned as he leaned back. They could win this. With Tony planning things they could easily kick Thanos ass.

“uhm, Dr. Stark?” One of the UN representatives, who had been silent the whole time called. Tony looked at the man and the UN representatives all stood up. They looked like they had come to some kind of agreement as they looked at each other in conformation. One who called to Tony took a breath to talk after he got a nod from Tony to continue.

“We have faith that you will be able to come up with a way to stop this Thanos. We won’t be alerting the public as it will cause chaos unless you say so. Please let us know if you need anything from us. I believe other countries will be happy to supply firepower and any other  things you want.” Tony sat there for  a second in shocked silence but quickly recovered as he stood up and shook hands with the UN representatives. He would never have thought that the UN would trust the worlds safety with him. But when he thought about it, they had always trusted him with it. They had not tried to make him sign the accords but they had tried to force Rogers. It was his that the people were afraid of and only a small amount of people blamed Tony for the damage that happened. He had learned that when he went to help with the reconstructions of the air port and the tunnel in Bucharest. They all welcomed him and told him that it was not his fault. Of course at that time he didn’t believe it. But now after being with his new team he knew that it was not his fault.

“Thank you for the offer, but it would not be needed as there will be no fight in the Earth. I plan on taking the fight to Thanos doorsteps, without waiting for him to come knocking.” Tony said as everyone looked at him with surprise. UN representatives just smiled and said their goodbyes to other heroes gathered and went towards the front doors that opened to let them out.

Others looked at each other’s questioning. But they had no idea what Tony was talking about. Taking the fight to Thanos? Wouldn’t it be hard and dangerous? But by the look Tony was wearing, it was clear that he was confident in his plan. And Rhodey knew that a confident Tony was dangerous and powerful. More so than this Thanos. Confident Tony meant he knew what he was doing and knew that outcome of it. And it made his more powerful that Thanos, because Thanos didn’t know the outcome of his plans and his confidence was always based on predictions and the surety he had on his powers. But Tony? His confidence came from calculations, predictions and thousands of predicted outcomes. And Tony always made sure that the final outcome will be the one he wanted. He was science and magic combined. It only had one outcome and Tony would prove that that outcome was the one he wanted.

“Tones?...” Rhodey asked a little worried but not that worried as he had seen Tony doing more crazy things than trying to stop a intergalactic threat.

“Don’t worry Honey bear, I know what I’m doing.” Oh Rhodey knew that . And he almost felt bad for Thanos. Almost.

Chapter Text

“…So here’s the plan” Tony let the specs he had designed until others processed appear in front him in holograms.

“Thanos is two years away from us. Vision and Stephen has the two stone he needs. He will only come charging if the stones are here, on Earth. But what if they were not here?”  He swiped the holograms and enlarged another. It showed a undamaged Vision and a Mind stone that was removed from his head.

“I can remove the Mind stone from Vis, without harming him. And keeping  the powers he got from the stones intact. Stephen, I’m sorry but you will have to trust me on this. I will produce a pocket dimension, one that only I can open and hide the stones there. No one will be able to find them. OR detect them. With that we solve the problem of Thanos coming to Earth.” Tony finished with making a holographic pocket dimension and storing the two stones in it. He had mastered the art of producing the pocket dimensions within two days and they were the strongest pocket dimensions he had known. He even had Heimdall detect them to try their strength and even the all seeing god couldn't detect them.

“I trust you Tony. And we also have the Soul Stone with us. It was in the scepter of that Loki wannabe. I think he was a servant of this Thanos. As he said that his master will come. I will give you the stones when the time comes for us to hide it.” Stephen said after staring intently at the hologram and thinking about the plan. He had to admit it was simple yet clever. Since Tony was a god, his magic could not be detected. And his magic was way more powerful than his. And Thanos for all intent and purpose was not a real god with magical abilities. And so it had zero percent chance of him finding the stones.

Tony was a little shocked at that. He had totally forgot about the LW because of his father’s return. And he could guess Stephen also forgot to tell him because of the duties he had. And warmth filled his chest when he heard that Stephen trusted him. But he didn't go through those emotions. He would think about them when this threat was gone. By the look Stephen gave him, he could guess that Stephen also thought the same.

“I think it would be better if the stone is removed too. It would give me a chance to fight alongside my father without the fear of Mind stone getting to Thanos.” Vision said and Rhodey quietly explained to Guardians who was the androids father. Tony smiled at the android at that. He was still marveling at the fact he saw him as a father.

“Next part is where we go to space.” Tony said and closed the holograms brought up the plans he had made for a space ship that is at least five times the size of the Milano. Everyone stared at the ship with awe. It was sleek and looked like a spaceship from a sci-fi movie.

"Uh yeah about that, we will need to repair Milano. Since it's engine was failing, you know? we were falling before you caught us?" Peter interrupted Tony with a embarrassed smile while grumbled about idiot Star Lords. Tony simply smirked and nodded.

"Sure thing. I was wondering why you were nearly crashing but didn't mention anything and seemed nonchalant about it." Tony said and turned back to the screen. 

“We all can’t go since Earth also need protectors. Because let’s face it, if the local villains finds out all of the New Avengers were gone off to space, there won’t be anything to protect once we return. So we will have to discuss who is going and who’s staying. I can have this finished by next week. So we have to decide quickly. We will stock the ship with enough supplies to last for two years. We can restock from other planets, sure, but it would be safe to be ready. We will go around the galaxy and gather all the support and help we can get. And once we have enough fire power and forces, we will go to Thanos and kick his purple butt. I know it’s not the best plan and that it has many loopholes. But I’m sure we can do this.” Tony was of course sure that this would work. He had looked in to the future. He normally reined in his impulse to check the future, but this was a situation he had to see.

All the people gathered nodded. They knew that it was not the best plan. But they had no other plan. It was the only one they got and if Tony was sure of the plan would work, then they would trust Tony. After all he had a better understanding on this situation than most of them.

After everyone agreed to the plan, they started to discuss who was going and not going. During that Peter swung in to the meeting room. Tony immediately apologized for not picking him up and forgetting the time.

“It’s cool dad! Happy picked me up. So what’s going on?” He asked as he sat down next to his dad. Rhodey summarized all the things and Peter got that  look in his face.

“No Peter you are not going.” Tony said and Peter crossed his arms and looked at his father with defiance.

“I’m coming. I’m not going to let you go without me! I want to help you! What if something happen to you?! I need to be there to kick Thanos’ ass!”

“language!” Tony automatically said and while others snickered Peter went towards the screen that held names of the ones that were going. He added his name and Tony watched his son with a pained expression. Peter turned to look at Tony and saw this.

“Dad, you don’t have to worry. You gave me the apple! Remember? So nothing will happen and even if it doesn’t work, you will be there. I’m sure you won’t let anything happen to me.” Peter said as he walked back to Tony gave him a hug. Tony sighed and hugged his son tightly back.

 “Damn straight I won’t” He muttered so only Peter could hear. Peter pulled back and smiled at his father.

“But what about your school? Friends and Aunt May?”

“Dad, You are a genius, you could teach me on the trip when we are just traveling and Ned would find it totally amazing and cool that I get to go to space with Tony Stark. And Aunt May would understand.” Tony gave a fond smile at the answer and they all went back to their planning. With Peter's enthusiastic input planning was fun for them. Groot also started to give his ideas and only Rocket and Tony understood the tree teen. Which of course stunned the Guardians when Tony casually replied to Groot. He just shrugged and said that he had experience from interpreting various whirls and beeps of his bots.

After hours of arguing and debating, everything was settled. It amazed Tony how quickly this team adapted to new situations. With his old team or more specifically Rogers, planning for a mission was torture. He never liked new perspectives since it was never his. No matter how good the idea was.

It was agreed that Tony would be the one to lead the team. Even the Guardians agreed to it since they were filled in that Tony was now a actual god. Having a god lead them was better than them leading the team. Guardians will be going with him since they knew where lot of planets were situated. Hope, X-men other than Wolverine, Bruce, Stephen and Fantastic Four agreed to stay back and take care of Earth. They would be joining the final battle when Tony send them the message. So the list of the people who’s going with Tony was this,

Tony-Iron Man

Peter Parker-Stark- Spider Man

Vision

Rhodey- War Machine

Matt Murdock-Daredevil

Jessica Jones

Luke Cage

Danny Rand-Iron Fist

Logan-Wolverine

Peter Quill-Star Lord

Gamora

Rocket

Groot

Drax the Destroyer

Mantis

Natasha Romanoff-Black Widow

Clint Barton-Hawkeye

Steve Rogers-Captain America

Sam Wilson-Falcon

“Are you sure we need them? Or that they should go with us?” Rhodey asked after reading the list. He was not happy that Tony added the last two names.

“I don’t like it too Rhodey, But we need more people. And we can’t leave them here for two years. And since we plan of telling the public about Thanos, he’s bound to know. Who knows what he might do after he figures out that there’s no one to stop him? And Stephen's going to bound  Wanda's magic. So we can leave her here. But Rogers and Wilson? We can't contain after they sign the Accords and you know UN will only let them return if they sign. So if they were left here, who knows how much damage they would do. T’challa won’t be able to keep them contained after the news gets out.” Tony said and even though most of the others didn’t like it, they understood the necessity. They can’t leave them knowing that they would cause some kind of chaos. And it was not something they could afford at the moment.

“I sent a message to T’challa so he can inform them of the situation before the press conference and they would be here on the day we leave so there won’t be any problems.” Tony said after a few minutes of silence while looking up from his phone.

“Okay Tony, but don’t think I would be nice to them.” Rhodey said and Natasha nodded with Clint. Tony smiled at them and remembered that Clint wanted to talk with him. He would talk to birdbrain after this was over.

“So! Now that’s finalized, I will start working on the ship. And you guys need to make lists of what you need to bring with you on the trip and start packing. I will have JARVIS stock us on everything we all need, like food and health care items. I will contact UN and inform them of our plan and arrange a Press Conference to let the public know of the new situation.” Tony said and with that the meeting came to a end. Everyone was talking about the mission they were getting ready embark. Tony caught Clint’s eyes and motioned for him to follow him as he went out of the room.

Chapter Text

Following talk they had was interesting. It involved lot of apologizing from Clint and it’s okays from Tony.

“It’s not fucking okay!” had been the reply he got for his efforts so he kept silent as Clint ranted about how he had been a fool and how he should seen the mind control since it was not the brainwashing kind Loki had done. And he had gone on and on about how it was unfair that everyone blamed Tony for everything when it was totally not his fault. He had even shook Tony by grabbing him from his shoulders saying,

“You understand? It’s not your fault!” Tony had been a little amused since the It’s not fucking okay and now he was trying not to laugh. He knew that Clint was honestly upset and that he should not be laughing, but come on! This guy is hilarious. And even though it was amusing, Tony felt happy to learn that one of his friends were back. And Clint’s rant finished with a heartfelt I’m Sorry and a hug. Tony was shocked for a minute but returned the hug after he got over the surprise.

After that Tony teleported to Stark Tower making sure Rhodey took care of Peter and sent him to bed in time. He went to the office levels of the Stark Tower and nodded at May who was getting ready to retire for the night. Tony stopped her before she left however.

“May? I think it would be better for you to be here too.” He said and May was immediately on alert. Tony normally let Peter tell her everything and when he came directly to her it was because it was important.  So she picked up her bag and followed Tony inside to Pepper’s office.

Meanwhile Tony told JARVIS through their mind link to contact his father so he could break the news to all of them at once. He saw Pepper arranging some papers. He cleared his throat to let her know that he was there and she looked up to see Tony and a worried looking May standing in her office.

“Tony! What a surprise! It’s hard to see you in these floors these days. What can I do for you?” Pepper asked and placed the papers away so she could pay all her attention to the duo standing in front of her.

“Hey Pep! Why do you assume that I want something?” He playfully asked as he walked towards the  sofa that Pepper used when she’s relaxing in her office to relieve some stress. But he soon got a serious expression on his face as he looked at Pepper.

“I-uh I have some important things to discuss with you. Or more like to let you know.” Tony said and sat down in the sofa. Pepper also worried about the way Tony talked, and the fact that he in a serious mood, stood up and sat down on the right side  of him as May choose to sit on the armchair next to the sofa.

“What is it?” Pepper asked as Howard opened the door and pocked his head inside.

“Hi, sorry JARVIS said to meet you here. Is everything okay Tony?” He asked as he came inside seeing the serious atmosphere that was dominating the room. Howard sat next to Tony and placed his hand on Tony’s shoulder to show support as he knew that for Tony to act like this it must be serious.

“Yeah, So remember the aliens, the Guardians of the Galaxy?” Trio nodded their heads to let him know that they knew. Pepper of course had seen the news about how Tony Stark stopped a spaceship from crashing the tower and it had made the stock prices go down a little though nothing she couldn’t handle.

“So they came here looking for me. Apparently people in space, aliens know about me taking that nuke to the wormhole. And as I said all those years ago, Loki’s invasion was just a opening act. There is a bigger puppeteer called Thanos who wants to wipe out half of the existence. He believes that it is the way he could solve all the problems in the universe. By creating balance by destroying half of universe.” Tony said and took a deep breath to calm himself down. The real gravity of the situation was only being registered in his mind. But he would not lose. He had so much to live for now. So he took one look at the three that was with him and saw the horror and fear there and decided to win no matter what so he could remove that fear in their eyes.

“So the Guardians needs me to help them convince people in other planets to fight Thanos. This guy is nearly a god that most of the people out there is scared of him. He’s looking for the infinity stones too. That’s how he’s going to destroy the universe.” He finished and waited for the reaction. He would tell them about the plan after they had calmed down and registered everything he had said.

“So… You are going to help them aren’t you?” Pepper asked finally letting out a shaky breath. Tony looked at her with a face that literally expressed ‘duh! Of course!’ that made Pepper crack a smile.

“Of course you would! Well Tony… I-I can’t stop you and I won't. I have tried doing that and it didn’t work and I know no matter how much I tell you to stop, you are going to do that anyway. With or without my support. So.. so promise me, promise me that you would be safe. I know you will save this whole universe somehow. I have no doubt, but promise me that you will come back for us.” Pepper said and there was tears in her eyes as she looked at Tony. And she meant what she had said. She knew that Tony would do anything to save the universe. Even if that meant sacrificing himself.

“I promise Pep. I will come back. You can’t easily get rid of me.” Tony said and pulled Pepper in to a hug. After a few seconds he let go and Pepper wiped her eyes with a tissue that came out of nowhere.

“Tony, Son- I can’t say what you should do and what you shouldn’t. You are a grown ass man now. So all I can say is stay safe and I’m proud of you, so damn much.” Howard said and pulled his son into his arms as tears ran down his face. His son was going to save the universe. But he only hoped that he was safe. He was a selfish man. He was not selfless like his son. So he didn’t care what happened to the universe, but he knew that his son did care for each and every living being in the universe. So he would be the good dad and support his son.

After Howard let Tony go, May looked at Tony with fond eyes. She knew that her nephew would probably want to go help his father. And she wasn’t worried. Well, she would worry about both Tony and Peter, but she also knew that Tony would be there for Peter and Peter for Tony.

“Peter’s going isn’t he?” Was the first thing that came out of her mouth and Tony cracked a smile at that. She knew both of them so well.

“Yeah, Tried to make him stay, but damn he’s as stubborn as me.”

“Well Like father like son they say. I’m not worried you know. Because I know you will be there for him. So Mr. Stark, you better stay safe because when it comes to Peter’s life, I only trust you and it would crush him to lose you. And Tony? It would crush me to lose you.” She finished softly and Tony looked surprised at that. He had never expected that. Threat to kill him if he didn’t look after Peter? Sure, but ask him to stay safe, for both Peter and May? It was unexpected. But it was welcome nonetheless. He accepted the hug May gave him and smiled at the three of the most important people in his life. It made him happy to know that they supported him and trusted him to protect them. It was a little overwhelming.

“Okay! Then that emotional stuff are out of the way –they give me hives let me tell you – I can tell you my grand plan.” Tony clapped and the trio laughed hearing the comment he made about the emotions. Oh they knew alright.

“So Pep? You would have to arrange a press conference for us to let the public know of this threat and that we are going to space to take care of it without Thanos coming for our little blue planet. Sorry pops your reveal will have to wait until this is over.” Tony felt a little bad about it. Howard would have to stay hidden for another two years until they come back.

“You are going to space?” Howard ignored the guilty look his son was giving and asked the question he had.

“Yeah” Tony replied a little confused by the question.

“JARVIS? Will you do a scan and tell me about my current health?” Howard asked JARVIS and Tony was more confused by the minute. Pepper and May who had realized what was Howard going to ask watched amused as Tony tried to figure it out.

“Of course Mr. Stark.” A blue light came and scanned Howard and went off with a ping.

“According to the scans it shows that you are in the peak of the health normally seen in a 30 years old man Mr. Stark.” JARVIS said and silently added his name to the list of the people going to space and started the process of fabricating the suit Howard had designed.

“So Tony? Is there one more room for your old man on this trip?” Howard asked and finally, finally Tony understood what was going on. He looked horrified at the thought his father, who was a normal human going on a trip to space where battle and fights could take place but his brilliant mind supplied with a answer for that in a matter of seconds. Sometimes he hated his fast mind. He also looked at his father and saw the familiar stubbornness he had seen so many times in his own eye in his father’s eyes and knew that arguing was futile.

“But.. what if something happens?” Tony asked in a weak voice just for the sake of arguing and to say that he had tried to stop. He only got a ‘look’ from his father and Tony sighed a loud and dramatic sigh before glaring halfheartedly at Howard.

“Fine” He did not pout, thank you very much. Shut up Pepper!

ooOOoo

After that he went on to the list of people that was going to accompany them on this trip and watched Howard’s reaction closely when he said the Rogers name. Though he didn’t get anything other than a raised eyebrow and a interested glint in his eyes.

Pepper and May were not happy about Rogers joining the team but understood that he would be useful for the fight so they stayed silent. And as Tony, watched at Howard for his reaction. JARVIS could be sneaky and not let his creator know that his father had watched the videos to know more about Tony. So what they didn’t know is that Howard knew of the fact Rogers was still alive and the fact that he tried to kill his son.

Howard was happy, ecstatic even to hear that Rogers were going with them. He knew he can’t do any permanent damage on him since he was needed to fight this Thanos. But it didn’t mean he can’t threaten him and he would see about much more permanent revenge after this mission. He would have to be a patient predator for the next two years. Well he was Stark, he could do it. They always got what they wanted.

Chapter Text

Next few days were a blur for all. UN agreed to the bringing of Rogers and Wilson for the mission. T’challa sent the message that he had informed the Rogues about the situation and that they were demanding to return right away. Just like Tony had predicted they would. But UN was not ready for that and refused to let them return until they are needed. That was meant only when Tony and others were ready to leave.

UN also agreed to allow Scott work with Hope for the time the other New Avengers were away. They made plans about patrols now that half of NA was going to be gone for a while. They divided the staying members in to groups like they had done before. It was a lot of work but every minute of it was worth it at the end.

Pepper and May was busy with the PR to arrange a Press conference. PR was giddy with excitement of working on a hard project like this. They knew that stopping a huge drop on the stock after this kind of news was going to be hard, but who cared about it when the world’s continued existence was at risk?

All the New Avengers that was chosen to the journey went about packing everything they would need for the two year journey. Many orders were placed on JARVIS to order different kinds of items.

Tony had started the constructions of the Spaceship with the help of Peter. Peter had had a long conversation with May about what he was getting himself into before he got to skip school to help Tony. The ship was to act as the Main Base for their trip. So it contained living spaces as well as any kind of defense systems Tony could think of. They were half way done with the construction on their third day. Which was a Saturday.

Everyone was getting ready for the press conference that was going be held that day. No one was looking forward to the reaction they were going to get for this news. But it was needed. So they steeled their nerves and walked up to the stage. Only the ones that were going to space were present for the conference. It started just like any one would by introducing each and every member. After that Tony stood up and announced the dreaded news. Reporters were all silent for a few minutes and one brave reporter held his hand up and asked the question that was on every person that was watching the live broadcast that moment.

“What are New Avengers going to do?” Tony looked at the team with him and walked forward so he was standing in the middle of the platform. And looked at each and every reporter in the eye and faced the cameras that was pointed at him with no hint of nervousness.

“Well, as you can see, not all the New Avengers are here with me today. It’s because only this sixteen will join me for the journey across the universe in gathering forces for the fight against Thanos. Others will be waiting until we have gathered the necessary forces to step up to the final battle. They are not joining us, not because they are not brave, but because Earth still need protectors while we are away. They will stay and protect this world while we get ready. And when the time comes, they will be ready and we will be ready to face the biggest threat we have ever faced and we will come out on top.”

ooOOoo

Surprisingly that Press conference didn’t do much damage. Sure people panicked. But they also had faith on their heroes. Banners encouraging and giving moral support for the heroes were all over the world. Lot of care packages and gifts were sent to the compound and they went through them and choose useful items for their journey.

By Sunday Tony and Peter had finished the construction of the ship. Being the god of creation helped Tony a lot since it would have taken at least one year for Tony to do it if he was still the normal human Tony Stark.

Spaceship was made out of Uru as well Vibranium making it impossible to damage. The whole ship was powered by a Arc reactor that had core of Starkanium. All the housing parts were made of Vibranium making it even more efficient and giving the ability of traveling at light speed to the spaceship.

Spaceship’s front had the shape of a commercial plane. From the point where wigs were situated in a normal plane it changed bent back to form a triangular shape and the tail also morphed into a smaller triangle separating themselves from the main body of the ship. So the two triangles looked like the smaller one was laid on top of the bigger one at the top point of it when looking at it from above the ship. It also had a more pointier face than a commercial plane and looked much more futuristic. It had glass windows that showed only blue lights to a outsider but showed the outside world just fine to someone looking from inside. It also had cloaking mechanism that was not retro reflective panels, but was much more advanced that made them completely invisible from sight and detection.

Interior of the ship was completely futuristic with sleek white and blue lights and design. It had a huge living area, a kitchen, separate bedrooms for each and every passenger with few more spare rooms for any friendly forces that decide to join them through the journey. Bathrooms were en suit for all the rooms so it was not inconvenient for anyone. Ship also had a training area and A lab for Tony to work in. Tony had installed separate servers and made them more advanced making their data transmission and frequency more higher, faster and sharper so JARVIS can be in Earth and the ship at the same time. Making it easier for Tony to monitor Earth’s situations. Also, Tony made sure that internet was available on the ship. It was not possible for him to live without it. Well he can, but… Servers of the ship itself contained almost all of the movies produced in human history. Tony got separate servers for important stuff like maps and anything that was remotely concerned the ship or the future of the universe. Gaming room and a movie theater was added just because Tony can and Peter had asked for it.

ooOOoo

On Monday morning saw Stephen, Vision and Tony gathered in the communal area of the compound with all the others. They were all there to support Vision since it was the day he was going to get the Mind stone removed from his head.

Tony gave Vision a reassuring smile as he laid down on the couch trusting Tony to know what he was doing. Stephen stood to side not getting in the way but nearby if any of the two needed any help.

“You ready Vis?” Tony asked as he gathered his magic in to his hands. Since he was concentrating a lot his eyes started to glow a golden colour as others watched in awe. Especially Clint and Natasha who had never seen this side of Tony before.

“I’m ready.” Vision replied in his calm and collected voice.

“Okay.” Tony whispered and placed his glowing hand on Vision’s forehead, directly on top of the stone. He could feel the magic and power rolling off of the stone. He concentrated on leaving a part of the power and the part that gave Vision a mind of his own while urging the stone to leave it’s host. It was very resistant but Tony sent feelings of safe and protection to the stone which he figured was what the stone was looking for. Mind stone hesitantly reached out to Tony to feel his intentions and Tony let the honesty and his intention bleed through his barriers and once the stone was satisfied, it removed itself from where it was taking host. Leaving unharmed and a little drowsy Vision behind, which was a surprise since Vision had never been drowsy or tired before.

Tony opened the eyes he had closed and looked at the stone that was sitting on his palm innocently. He smiled at it and looked towards his teammates who were staring at him in shock and awe. Stephen stepped forward with a smile and removed the Time stone from his necklace and gave it to Tony with the Soul stone. With three stones in his hands, he could feel the happiness radiate from the stones at being able to reunite without causing devastation and chaos around them. And while being safe. Tony sent a wave reassuring feelings and opened the pocket dimension he had created just for this purpose. He placed the stones in there and the last thing he felt was waves of gratitude from the stones.

Chapter Text

Steve has been restless for the past few days. Bucky had been ignoring him for the most part and even Sam seemed to be keeping his distance. Ever since Tony sent his BARF tech Shuri had been able to convince Bucky to the removal of trigger words. And it had worked, now Bucky didn’t even have nightmares. Which brought them to now where he was spending more time with Wakandan children and was ignoring Steve.

Bucky was not in fact ignoring Steve, but more like trying to get some space. Ever since Bucky was released from the medical with a clean bill of health, Steve had been trying to spend all the time with him. It was like that he expected Bucky to devote all his time to the Super Soldier.  Steve always tried to talk about the past. The past that Bucky didn’t quiet remember. Sure he had small snippets and pieces, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with Steve’s ‘remember when’s. It was kind of frustrating and annoying. And Steve also was not the person he remembered from those small memories. He was a total different person. In his memories, the scrawny punk got into fights so he could defend someone, not for the sake of the fight. But now Steve fought for the sake of fighting or because someone disagreed with him. To him, everyone that disagreed with him was a bully. What kind of a theory is that?

ooOOoo

T’challa made his way to the office he had requested the Rogues to meet him. He was not sure how this meeting will go, but he also had no choice but to do this. He took a deep breath and entered he office to see Steve, Wanda and Sam sitting down and talking with each other.

“T’challa,” Steve stood up and shook hands with the King while other two just nodded in greeting.

“Captain Rogers, please sit down, we have much to discuss.” T’challa said while sitting down behind the desk. Steve sat down with the others n front of it and T’challa took out three packets of papers out from the desk drawer.

“I was notified about a threat that is coming towards Earth in two years. UN agreed to pardon you if only you sign the accords and support the New Avengers with this threat. A team will be going to space to gather support from other alien races while others stay back to defend the Earth. They will also join the final battle in two years or maybe even less than two years. So Captain Rogers?” T’challa slid the papers across the desk towards Steve who was frowning. He had not revealed all the details but just enough for them to know.

Steve listened intently to what T’challa was saying. He had known that Tony would need him one way another. And this seem to be the way Tony’s asking forgiveness. But Steve was not sure he will give it to the man just yet. He looked at the papers and thought about what T’challa had said. A threat heading towards Earth. Then shouldn’t they wait for it and defeat it. It seem foolish to leave Earth when a threat is heading there. And can they trust alien races with the protection of Earth? To fight beside them and not agaist them?

“Isn’t it better to wait until this threat comes to Earth?” He asked at last.

“Captain, this threat is not only a threat to Earth, but to the whole universe. We can’t defeat him alone. We need help, more forces. And our armies couldn’t fight alien armies. They are mere humans.” T’challa explained patiently as he knew that Captain was a man mixed child ready to throw a tantrum at any time.

“Okay then. Who is leading the team?” He wanted to know. Because obvious choice was to give him the leadership. He was a leader and he knew how to handle these kind of situations.

“Tony Stark will be leading the team going to space while Hope Van Dyne will be leading the team that is remaining on Earth.”

“What? Tony? T’challa surely they know what a disaster Tony would make leading right? He’s not suitable to lead a team. He’s a selfish person who only cares about himself and he’s narcissistic. We can’t let him lead this team.” Steve tried to explain. He can’t believe these people would let Tony lead them. They were not that blind to see what type of person Tony was surely. It would be a disaster. Tony would always try to make thing go his way without thinking about others. Like he always do.

“You can’t be serious about letting Stark lead them! He’ll kill them like the murderer he is!” Wanda screeched with her hands glowing red with anger.

“It is not my decision and not yours either. It was voted by the team that was going to space that Tony would be the one to lead. And Miss. Maximoff you will control yourself and do not worry you won’t be in that team. Only Captain Rogers and Mr. Wilson will be in the team with Tony.” T’challa could just feel a headache brewing between his eyebrows the longer he talked with these idiots.

“Why not Wanda?” Steve asked indignantly making sure his voice showed his disapproval.

“Because Earth need people to protect it while the others are away.” Was the simple answer. T’challa knew that it would be enough and that it would get to Wanda’s head that she’s protecting people.

“Very Well then. What about Bucky?” Steve asked anxiously. He had not seen the brunet for two days and wanted to know whether he’s going or not.

“Sergeant Barnes was notified and he expressed that he would like to remain away from conflict. He would be staying here in Wakanda.”

“Oh! But he can’t be serious about it. It’s fighting! We always fought together in the War back then.” Steve can’t believe Bucky would say something like that. They needed to be together. They were partners.

“I’m afraid that is Sergeant Barnes decision.” T’challa said in a clipped tone that made Steve shut up. He would have to find Bucky and talk some sense in to his head.

“Now if you agree to you will have to sign the Accords.” Of course it’s the accords. Steve huffed and took a pen and signed them. They are just papers they can’t hold that much power over him.

ooOOoo

Next day they all saw the Press Conference. Steve shook his head disapprovingly seeing that Tony was still the leader despite what he had said to T’challa. He would rectify that when he’s there. Also he didn’t get why they were not allowed to be in the press conference. Public will have been more supportive if they had been there. Now it would be chaos. Because the public, like him knew about how Tony was not suitable for leading this team.

But his thoughts were proven wrong when news showed thousands of people supporting the group. They were showering the Stark Tower and the Compound in flowers. Literary, with the aid of helicopters. People could be seen sending care packages to the team as well as well wishes. At night people would gather around to with lit candles to pray for a safe journey for the New Avengers.

Wanda watched all of this with a hateful eye. She wanted to rip these people’s minds. Were they blind? Why can’t they see that Tony Stark was a murderer and she was good. She had helped save them from Ultron while Tony helped create it. She didn’t went on to think about how she had pushed Tony to make him. But that’s not the point. Stark killed her family, just like he had done to many more. She just can’t get why people would want him and not her.

Sam was indifferent. He knew that what they had done in the airport was wrong and that he can’t change the fact. Only thing he could do now was to help when he can. He can’t be disobeying if he ever wanted to pay for what he had done. He only hoped Steve would see it that way too. But looking at Steve he was not so sure about that.

Chapter Text

Tony smiled as he got down the ramp of the space ship. He had been doing the final checkups before their journey and now they are ready to depart. He sent a email to all the New Avengers that is joining him on the trip to space-minus Rogers and Wilson- that they would be leaving the next day as previously planned. He also sent one to T’challa letting him know that they are ready to have the Rogues before they depart the next day.

He made his way towards the compound common area asking JARVIS to let Howard and Rhodey know to meet him there. With all the work they had to do, he had nearly forgotten what he had planned for them. Rhodey’s was able to walk because of the leg braces but Tony wanted to heal him.

“Tones? What is it?” Rhodey asked as he entered the common area with Howard.

“Why don’t you two sit down?” Tony asked sitting down on the couch himself. He waited until they were seated and took out two glass vials that had a golden liquid.

“This is the factor I extracted from Golden Apples that gave the Golden Apples its ability to make someone immortal. I know that this is so sudden. But before we go on this mission, which can be dangerous in so many ways, I would like you two to have them. I don’t want to lose my brother and I don’t want to see you in a hospital bed while I couldn’t do anything Honey-bear. And I don’t want to lose you again after I got you dad.” Tony said without looking at the two that was staring at him in shock.

“Tony...” Howard didn’t know what to say. He knew that his son would be devastated if someone he loved were to die. But in another hand he didn’t know if he deserved this. He wouldn’t deny he wanted to stay with his son forever if he can. And now he was given the chance by his son.

“I will do it.” Suddenly Rhodey’s voice rang in the silence that had fallen among them. Tony’s head snapped up to look at Rhodey with wide eyes. He had not expected Rhodey to agree. He had been ready to just heal his legs and try his best to protect him in any situations.

“Rhodey?”

“Yeah I will do it. I know that you are doing this because you want to keep me safe. But I’m doing this because I want to keep you safe. I promised you that I will be in your corner Tones. That was the promise I gave you when we were in MIT. And I intend to keep it.” Rhodey said and Tony gave him a blinding smile. He looked at his father to see that he was looking at them both with fond smiles. And at Tony’s hopeful face he nodded his head.

“I will too. Someone needs to keep an eye on you too. Otherwise who knows what explosions and shenanigans you will cause. Especially when that grandson of mine join you.” Howard said and Tony gave a mock offended glare while giving them the glass vial.

“I am a very responsible adult.” Tony said and Rhodey and Howard gave him a unconvinced look. They opened the glass vial and clinked them together in cheers motion before downing them in one go.

They waited for a minute or two until it began to work. Both of their age lines started to disappear. Howard's gray hair turned black and in the next moment, a young Howard stark was sitting next to them.

“Whoa!” Tony said looking at them in wonder. Rhodey now looked closer to Tony’s age but still a bit older than him as he was older than Tony. Howard also looked like he was in mid twenties only bit older than Tony and Rhodey. They stayed there for a few minutes taking in the changes they had and Rhodey suddenly stood up and removed his braces. He took a step forward and when he realized that his legs had been healed he pulled Tony up from his seat and gave him a bear hug.

“Thank you Tony.” Rhodey said as he pulled away with a smile. They both looked at Howard who was looking at his hands with a impressive face.

“This is really impressive Tony. Good work.” He said and Tony took a moment to take the young Howard Stark. He looked like someone, but he couldn’t place who. He shrugged it off for the moment and smiled when he registered what his dad had said.

“Thanks dad.”

“Holy shit Tones! You two look so much alike.” Rhodey exclaimed as he took a good look at this friend and his dad.

“Thanks Honey-bear.” Tony said amusement lacing his voice.

“No really!” Rhodey said as they started to walk out of the common area to see where others were.

“Yeah yeah Platypus. Hey! You look like Dominic Cooper!” Tony said with a clap like he had found the eighth world wonder when he finally placed the face.

“Dominic Who?” Howard asked confused to who this guy his son mentioned.

“A actor. I’ll show you a movie he’s in sometime. Maybe when we are in the space, in a free time. I’ve watched Reasonable Doubt. There’s a actor that look like Fury in it too.” Tony babbled as they entered the training area where everyone was doing their thing. They also joined them after explaining what had happened. They were amazed that Tony had been able to make something like that and accepted that Tony was only allowed to give the Golden Apple juice-Rhodey named it- to close family. Training didn’t take that much time that day as they had be in shape for the next day. So they called it a night after about three hours and went to their apartments to rest and spend time with family and friends before they leave Earth for two years.

Chapter Text

Next day everyone was in a frenzy. Running around doing last minutes packing and arrangements. Checking whether they had everything for what felt like hundredth time. Rhodey was the only one who was keeping a level head while he made sure that everything was ready. He knew that Tony checked the day before, but he still wanted to be sure.

Meanwhile Tony and Stephen was on their way to a conference room so Stephen can open a portal for the Rogues. He can see that Tony was nervous even though he was confident in his walk. How he knew? Tony hadn’t been talking his ear off while they walked. If it was any other time, he would be talking about this and that with Peter on his other side pitching in to the conversation like a puppy.

“Are you okay doing this Tony? You know you can just say no and no one will say a word against it right?” Stephen asked when they were finally in the conference room away from buzzing workers.

“Yeah yeah I know. Don’t worry Doctor Wizard. I’m fine.”

“If you are sure Tony.” Stephen said and hearing the doubt in his voice Tony gave him a genuine smile that was mirrored in Stephen’s face. He would have loved to have that smile aimed at him every day. To wake up to that smile. But with the situation, he knew that he would have to wait to make that in to reality. But he can wait. He was a patient man. Once this is over he would ask Tony out. And treat him the way he deserved.

“I’m sure.” Tony’s voice brought him out of his thoughts and Stephen nodded and took out his sling ring to make a portal. Waving his hand the glowing orange portal started to appear and they could see the Wakandan king and their soon to be guests waiting for them.

T’challa was the first one to step out with Rogers and Wilson following. Maximoff was slow and red glowed around her hands as she glared at Tony. Stephen narrowed his eyes as he could see the threat she posed to Tony. He knew that Tony could easily take her on with his magic, but didn’t meant he can’t worry.

“T’challa, it’s nice to see you.” Tony shook hands with the king completely ignoring the others.

“You too Tony.” T'challa returned the greeting and they talked about how it was going on in Wakanda before the king left with the promise to help defend Earth in the time they are not available.

“Tony.” Rogers voice had that same authoritative  and disapproving tone it as he came forward to meet Tony.

“Rogers” Tony replied coolly like Rogers were nothing to him. Well he wasn’t anything to him. Not now, when he had a super cool family that would defend him and not leave him to die in a cold Bunker.

“We have to talk about what you have been doing to the team. Recruiting Aliens? Really Tony?”

“Yes we can talk Rogers, but not now. We have much to do since we will be departing in few hours. Now!” Tony clapped his hands and turned to face Stephen completely dismissing the so called captain.

“This is Dr. Strange. Sorcerer Supreme. Ms. Maximoff? You will be under him as he was appointed as the leader of the Magical and Supernatural response team. He will also be teaching you how to better control your magic too. Now Rogers, Wilson. You two will be joining my team to the space. You have two hours to pack and get ready. JARVIS will lead you to where your old things are.” Tony didn't even gave Steve a chance to talk when he opened his mouth probably to disagree with Tony being the leader and about placement of Wanda too. But before anything Wanda came forward.

“Why do I need to be under him and I have control over my powers.” Wanda sneered at Tony and looked at Stephen with utter disgust. For some reason, she didn’t like that there was others with powers like her.

“We know that. But it is a part of being an Avenger. You need to train. So chop chop, we have things to do.” Tony said and Stephen opened a portal to KamaTaj. He gave one last look that said stay safe to Tony and waited until Wanda said her goodbyes. He wanted to talk to Tony, but he didn’t want unwanted ears listening in. He could always portal to the ship if he wanted anyway, so he didn’t mind that much.

“Bye Tony.” He said and Tony could pick up all the hidden stay safe, call me, and whole lot of things hidden behind those two words. He gave a smile and nodded to let him know that he picked up the meaning behind the words as Stephen stepped through the portal and closed it behind him after Wanda had gone through first.

“Come on.” Tony said and left the room before Steve can start another I’m disappointed in you speeches. He followed Tony with Sam closely behind through the winding hallways. People that was going from one room to another always stopped to give Tony a good luck or just a simple hi. Steve was confused why did Tony act so casual with workers? He had never seen Tony talk to people he worked with. Probably to get public attention. Steve sneered at the thought.

Tony was having a blast. He knew that he shouldn’t be doing what he was doing right now. But when Steve projects his thoughts right out of his head, it was hard for Tony to not pick them. And it was amusing. And it was not like he was inside the man’s head reading his mind. Like Wanda did. But he was willingly projecting his thoughts. Sam was at least doing a good job in keeping his thoughts to himself. It always happened with people that tried to force their opinion on others without saying anything. Their thoughts tend to bleed through natural shields their minds make with time.

“J? can you take Rogers and Wilson to where their stuff is?”

“Of course Sir.” Steve and Sam looked up in surprise. Where had JARVIS come from?

“Tony what did you do? Where did JARVIS come from? Did you do anything to Vision?” Steve immediately fired off questions after question.

“I will have you know that my father did nothing to me, Mr. Rogers.” Vision’s voice came from behind and they all turned to see the android with Peter standing there looking angry. It was a odd expression on the normally calm and collected Vision’s face and happy and bubbly Peter.

“Vision, I’m glad you are okay.” Steve said while shooting a look at Tony.

“Indeed. When you have a good father that takes care of you, you are more than okay.” Vision said and turned to Tony who had a proud and happy expression.

“I was alerted by JARVIS that Mr. Rogers and Mr. Wilson needed someone to show them where their belongings as JARVIS is a bit busy with pre-flight checks.” Vision said and Peter nodded while giving dirty looks to Rogers.

“Thank you Vision. I will be on my way then. I have to help Clint and Natasha with the lists they’ve been handling” Tony said and gave a look to Peter saying to be careful and left.

“If you would follow me.” Vision said and turned to lead the way. Peter waited until Steve and Sam was in front of him to follow behind them. He wouldn’t put it past them to do something.

Steve followed Vision trying to start a conversation and get details about why Clint and Natasha would need Tony's help. His attempts were ignored as Vision didn't answer with full answers saying that was not his concerns while Sam wondered why a teenager was following them. He had no idea why Steve was so ignorant about the fact that they are only here in the compound getting ready to leave the Earth was because Tony didn’t trust them to be left on Earth while he wasn’t there to keep a eye on them. And he didn’t fault the man for being paranoid. They had done enough damage to warrant that.

They finally reached a two rooms that was at the end of a corridor that seemed no one really went to. Vision entered a password and the rooms doors opened letting them in.

“You can get what you think you will need. We will wait until you have gotten everything you need.” Vision said and Steve went to the room with his stuff while Sam went to his. They spent about twenty minutes going through everything packing what they thought they’ll need in to suitcases they were given. Sam was the first to come out with everything packed followed by Steve after another ten or so minutes.

On their way back to where the space ship was Steve was looking around taking in all the changes that had been done to the compound. It was different from what it was. More homely in a way. More lived in. Steve sighed at the obvious signs of Tony trying to be petty and shook his head. That was when he saw him. It was only for a second before the man went behind a door. But he had seen him. And he knew that face. Steve tried to get a good look through the glass door but it was tinted in a ash color so the inside was blurred. Steve shook his head again to get rid of the face he had seen. There was no way he was there. Howard was dead. He had seen the footage of the man dying. Maybe he’s seeing things. Or it was Tony again trying to mess with his head.

But the thought of his dead friend didn’t leave his head. It haunted him like a silver of ghost from his past. Steve kept a eye on everywhere they passed hoping to catch a glimpse of the man. Maybe he was just someone that looked a lot like Howard. There were people that looked alike. Yeah that was is. No way it was Howard. Little did he know, Howard Stark was indeed alive having JARVIS track the living Popsicle so he can have some fun before he had to reveal himself. Howard smirked before entering another door walking across the hallway being careful only to be seen for a second. Vision and Peter hid their smiles seeing what their grandfather was up to. But ignored it. Who were they to spoil the man’s fun? Furthermore it was entertaining to watch the emotions that played out on Captain America’s face. Who knew he was able to express other facial expressions other than I’m Disappointed face and I'm holier that thou face?

Chapter Text

Tony did indeed help the two spies with their lists and after that they went to where the Space ship was in the compound grounds after Tony had teleported it there. News reporters and civilians were gathered around to see them leave. Banners and posters showing their support waved in the air as people waited for them.

And at 9AM in the morning, all the Avengers that were leaving came out of the compound to the grounds. Cheers went in to the air from people that had been gathered. New Avengers waved at the people gathered as they said their goodbyes to their family and friends one last time.

Tony turned to Pepper and May and gave them a hug. He could see tears glistening in their eyes and felt his own tear up.

“Be careful Pep, May. I love you both and I promise to take care of Peter.” Tony said and May huffed and wiped a tear.

“We should be the ones that should be telling you to be careful. And I have full faith in you that you will take care of him. And him take caring of you as well.” May said as she gave a kiss to Tony’s cheek and went to meet Peter who was bounding towards them. Pepper took a deep breath and smoothed the jacket Tony was wearing.

“Take care Tony. We will all be waiting for you to come back.”

“I will, We all will. Thank you Pep.” Tony said with a smile. Pepper returned the smile albeit bit shaky before she looked at the space ship.

“Will that be all Mr. Stark?”

“That will be all Ms. Potts.” They both smiled at the old line they used to say and Pepper pulled Tony to another hug. They broke apart and turned to see Peter and May coming towards them. Both of them had tears but no one commented on that.

After everyone had had their teary goodbyes to friends and family them gathered in a line. No one had paid attention to the two Rogues with them who were sulking in a corner. Every as a collective group bowed to the crowd and started to climb the ramp into the space ship.

Every single people cheered and some even shed a tear or two. News reporters were giving a live feed to the TV stations which aired the footage of their heroes going to space to save them. All across the globe people wished luck and some even went to churches to pray for their heroes.

As the Spaceship rose from the ground, fireworks started to go off in various countries. Even though it was morning they still did it to show their support. Everyone that was near the compound and gathered people and heroes waved at the ship until it was just a small blip in the sky.

“Good Luck Avengers. We all have our faith in you.” News reporters, civilians, remaining heroes, even villains said as one.

ooOOoo

Back in the space ship, Everyone was settling in. They had already chosen their rooms beforehand so they only had to unpack things they had packed in the last moment. Steve and Sam were shown to rooms as well. They, meaning New Avengers, would have to house them in another part of the ship away from them, but who knew what trouble they would cause away from them?

Howard was not happy about that. But he could understand the reason. His anger had doubled when Rogers dared to demand a room near his son. Howard was in the Iron Man suit his son had given him, so no would recognize him before they left. But he wasn’t going to remove it any time soon. He would have to make a dramatic entrance and have JARVIS record Rogers facial expression.

Making his way to the common area Tony had included in the space ship, he saw that most of them were there. Tony and Clint wasn’t there as they were probably still making sure that ship was safely out of the Earth’s atmosphere. He sat down next to Jessica who gave him a amused smile.

“Not ready to come out of the suit?”

“Nah, maybe later. When Tony’s here.” He can see that Steve heard the conversation by the way his brows furrowed in confusion.

“Excuse Me? But why would you wear Iron Man suit? Tony finally realized that it was better to let someone else pilot it. I have been telling him to give up. After all Avengers only need Iron Man. But what is Tony doing here? He’s just a baseline human.” Just as Howard had hoped Steve took the bait and joined the conversation.

“Um, no he’s still Iron Man. I’m just wearing the suit to protect my identity from the public only. I will not be fighting in the suit.” Now that was a lie. He was fighting in the suit. But not as Iron Man. That was his son’s title. His suit was different. While his son had Red and Gold suit, this one was a Dark blue and gold. He didn’t have a cool name, even though Tony called him Blue Haze. Because according to him Howard’s suit had more blue than gold and it was hard to see anything else like a haze that obscured the vision.

“Then he shouldn’t give the suit to strangers.” Steve said as there was a slight vibration in the ship.

“We are now officially in Space.” Tony’s voice came from the intercom and everyone stood up and went to the glass windows to see Earth getting further away from them. It was beautiful. One side was brightly lit and the other side was dark with lights shining like stars.

As they lost the sight of the Earth, everyone returned to their seats. Tony and Clint also joined them after giving JARVIS the control of the ship.

“So who is this Tony?” Steve was the first to speak and others collectively sighed hearing the demanding tone. They all knew that Tony didn’t like being bossed around. Unless he trusted them. So it wasn’t a surprise when Tony ignored and went to sit next to Howard.

“Are you going to come out of that Blue Haze?” Tony asked sitting down. Peter crawled down from where he was sitting on the ceiling and sat down next to Tony who draped a arm around his kid drawing him close.

“Yeah. I think it’s a good time.” Howard said and everyone paid attention to Steve who was watching with a distrustful gaze.

Howard tapped his wrist and the Nano suit disappeared into the housing bracelet h had on his wrist. After that he looked up and the sound of a sharp intake of breath shattered the silence. Tony and Peter was trying to stifle their laughter seeing the face of one Steve Rogers. Which was pale like he had seen a ghost.

“H-Howard?”

Chapter Text

Hey guys!

Sorry this is not a update. I will post the chapter tomorrow. I wanted to ask you what story I should post. I have few written. I will list them below and you guys can choose which one you want to read. \

Avengers

1-Tony Infinity stone. Seventh stone

2-Tony Infinity stone. Time travel version.

3-Tony assassin

4-Mutant Tony

5-Tony is Hephaestus

6-Loki is Tony's mom

Harry Potter

1-Harry dark and evil

2-Harry Merlin Reincarnation

3-Harry adopted by Tony Stark

4-Harry and Voldemort(slash)

5-Harry and death(slash)

So those are the ones I'm willing to post at this moment. I have many others written. So let me know, if you want to read them and which one I should post.

Peace!!

OKAY GUYS!! VOTING IS OVERRR. Thank you all who voted and I will announce the winner when I post the next chapter.!!!

Chapter Text

“Rogers.” Howard replied neutrally and waited to see what the super soldier would do. Steve was frozen for minute before a full blown smile came to his face. Howard inwardly smirked seeing that knowing he was going to shatter whatever illusion captain I’m holier than thou has in his mind.

“Howard! You are alive. It’s-I can’t believe. All my friends are coming alive it seems.” As Steve talked Howard was silent and waited for a moment he could strike. Steve didn’t realize the predatory way Howard was watching or the anger that was hidden behind the brown eyes. So he stood up coming forward to hug his old friend. Howard stiffly returned the hug and Steve gave him a bright smile before sitting down. And being the fool he was, stepped right in to the trap.

“Tony! You should have told be before. Is this because of what happened with Bucky? You decided not to tell me to make me~”

“That’s enough Rogers.” Howard's icy voice cut off whatever that was going to come out of Steve’s mouth.

“I know everything Rogers. From using my son while insulting him to his face to leaving him in a Siberian bunker to die after you fought him for being angry at the hypocritical man in front of him who kept secrets while making Tony spill his secrets to you. Do you think that I will welcome you with open hands after you tried to kill my son? If so, you are truly delusional and a fool. I watched the footage Rogers, only thing you care about is yourself. And what about when you blame Tony about not following rules, wasn’t you the one that broke almost all the military rules trying to get into the military and even after getting in?

Now let’s talk about your stunt in this so called Civil War. Didn’t you say that you are looking out for the little guy? What happened to that? Huh? Isn’t it crazy, the man who looked out for the little guy turns his back when they ask for him to be responsible. But no you can’t be that, can you? Because you don’t know when you stop. I know about you Rogers, I know you don’t know when to step down from a fight, I know that you wanted to be in the military just so you can fight. Cause there are Bullies out there, bullies that don’t listen to you. Is your mother a Bully Rogers? Cause I’m sure she didn’t listen to you all the time. Did you beat her too? And remember one thing, you are only hero because of me. I’m the one who recommended you to Dr. Erskine. And only because you got that super soldier juice in you that you are a hero. Don’t think that just because you beat up a few men who didn’t listen to you makes you a hero. People may think it as heroism, but I know that it’s not. You can’t fool me with your patriotic ass.” Howard gave one more icy glare and stood up to leave after giving shocked Tony a smile. He ruffled Tony’s hair which earned him a squeak and a “dad!” before he left.

“Oh and another thing Rogers, my son is a hero, he’s not pretending to be one. He is one because he learns from his mistakes and try to be responsible for them. He also listen to the people he protects.” With that final words Howard disappeared behind the door that led to the living area of the Space ship.

All the others who had been wrapped around in Howard's words snickered seeing the kicked puppy face of the Captain. Peter looked smug as he asked Tony whether he now knew what it was like to have your hair ruffled by your dad, which earned him one as well from Tony before they started to chase each other around the ship.

Steve was still in the same place as he digested the words Howard had said him. He knew that they were not true. Probably Tony’s lies. Howard didn’t know about this world. This new world they both were in. He was also probably wanted things to be the way it was, but must have latched on to Tony’s honey coated words since he was the only one that Howard knew from his time. Steve would help Howard with that. He can be the friend Howard needed. And since Bucky was not with him, they can stick together. Yeah that’s what he will do. Steve pushed all the thoughts about what Howard had said to the back of his mind and looked around.

Most of the team was hanging around the area. He can see Clint and Natasha talking about something in a corner with another woman. There were four women in the team, and Steve did not approve of that. Having Natasha was fine, it was only one. But four? It was too much, being in these kinds of operations were not for a dame. He knew that he wouldn’t have brought even Natasha along as well if he was in charge of things. Tony really needed to know what he was doing. Steve let a frustrated sigh escape his lips as he looked at Sam, who was sitting alone looking at a Starkpad. Where he got that, he didn’t know. But he didn’t like that Sam had one. He still didn’t get most of the technology in this time. In his opinion it should be like his times. Where they interacted with humans face to face and not through small pieces of metal.

“Ms. Romanoff, Mr. Stark would like to meet you at the training area. He wishes to continue the training you started the other day.” JARVIS voice came from the ceiling of the ship and Natasha stood up to go to the training area.

“Tell Howard, that I’ll be there J.”

“Of course Ms. Romanoff.”

“I’m going, you want to come?” Natasha asked Clint and Jessica. Clint shrugged and stood up but Jessica declined. They both left the common area as Jessica stood up and went to sit with Danny who was talking excitedly about something to Luke. Steve who had been watching the interaction sighed as he stood up to go to his room. He had to think about a way to convince Tony to let him lead this group. It wouldn’t do any good if they let Tony to continue this.

Chapter Text

Tony let his eyes roam around the map he had made. It had almost all of the realms and planets in the universe. He knew that they won’t be able to visit each and everyone in two years, but he knew that they can at least gather a sizable army to fight against Thanos. Also the Infinity stones were secure in the pocket dimension. So unless he took them out, Thanos couldn’t take them from him.

First realm he had planned to visit was Asgard. He knew that he can easily call Heimdall and be done with it. But he didn’t know how well it would be received by the Asgardians. To appear in a huge Space battle ship. Tony ran a hand through his hair as he thought about who he wanted to bring with him. He knew that Peter and his dad would want to come with him. And Natasha and Clint will be right on his heels. It made him smile they had gotten closer than they had been in the short time after the Civil War. And it was comforting in a way to have people he had known for a long time with him.

Tony sent a message through JARVIS to everyone informing them to meet him at the conference room he had made to discuss mission related things. They were close to Asgard now, so now was the best time to call Heimdall to get a ride.

“Sup Tones?” Rhodey was the first to talk after Tony was inside the room. Tony looked at each and everyone, gauging the reactions. He can see that they were curious, and to his irritation, he can see the disapproval in Rogers face. Why did he bring that over sized child in? Oh yeah, he needed to make sure that he wouldn’t do anything stupid while he was gone. Like threatening the UN or something.

“So we are closer to Asgard.” Tony started as he sat down on the head of the table. Rhodey on his right and Peter on his left. Others were scattered around the table with Rogers directly in front of him.

“Oh! We are going there? Will we meet Thor? That would be so cool.”

“Yeah Pete. We are going and maybe if Thor is there, we will meet him. Now we can’t go in our ship cause I don’t think they would appreciate a huge spaceship coming to their world. Other worlds I’m sure won’t mind. But we are talking about Asgardians. They punch first then ask questions.” It got a round of chuckles and giggles as they all agreed about that. Most of them had seen Thor in news. They were basically godly Vikings.

“So I can call Heimdall and ask for a ride, we will leave the ship in like two hours. Is that enough for you guys to get your gear and be ready?”

“Yeah, that’s enough. Right?” Natasha looked around to see whether everyone agreed. Which they did.

“I don’t think it’s enough. We need a plan before we go there.” Rogers said with a frown on his face.

“Rogers we don’t need to plan. We are not going to fight. We are going to discuss joining our forces when the purple grape comes. All we need to plan is how we talk to them. And until we meet them we can’t be sure how since we have never met them. But I have done this all my life. I know how politics work and Odin or whoever the king is now, is that. A politician.” Others nodded along to what Tony was saying and stood up to go get ready as Tony and Clint went to make sure the ship was invisible and secured when they are not there. Rogers still didn’t look happy as he went to put on his suit and get his shield. It was different to the original as Howard refused to let the man touch the original he had made. The one that had nearly killed his son.

In two hours everyone was ready to depart. They all gathered in the room that was reinforced to bear the force of the Bi-Frost. Everyone was in their suits or their signature costumes. Only Tony, Peter, Howard and Rhodey wasn’t wearing their suits.  Tony and Howard wore sharp and clean three piece suit while Peter and Rhodey were just wearing slacks and a shirt tucked in. Tony looked at everyone to make sure they were all there and looked up.

“Hey Um Heimdall? Can you like rainbow bridge us to there?” Rhodey sighed exasperatedly and smiled when Peter bit his lip to stop smiling. Suddenly a beam of light came and they all looked around seeing a plethora of colors. And just as it began it stopped. Everyone bar Sam was able to stay standing with their years of experience when they were spat out to the golden dome.

Tony looked around interested as all the others stared at the golden eyed man standing with a sword in front of them.

“Anthony Iðunnson. Welcome to Asgard.” He said in a deep voice and Tony looked at the man in surprise.

“Oh hey, you must be Heimdall. Thanks for letting us here.”

“No problem. I have seen the mad titan. Only Odin All-father refuse to believe me. Thor is the king now. I believe he will indeed believe his shield brother.” Heimdall said and Tony didn’t bother to ask what happened to Odin.

“Yeah? Thanks again. We will be on our way then. Don’t want to bother you anymore.”

Heimdall moved aside and no one except Tony missed the intense look he gave to Steve. Grinning like maniacs at that everyone gave nods in respect to Heimdall as they passed. Which he returned with a slight incline of his head. They all looked around in wonder at the Golden city came closer and closer. They can see the guards and civilians looking at them curiously as four people came to greet them. Or more like threaten them by the looks they wore on their face.

“Who are you?” The only female among them asked in a very threatening manner. If this is how they greet everyone that comes to Asgard, it’s no wonder no one was fond of Asgardians.

“Well Hello to you too. We came to meet Thor.” Everyone can hear the annoyed tone of Tony’s voice as he didn’t like when people judged him before knowing him.

“Mortals have no right to meet our King.” One that had a beard and lived up to the name Viking said while glaring at Tony.

“Well, this mortals do have. How do you think we came here? On flying horses? No Heimdall let us because we do have a right to meet Thor. You don’t think that Heimdall will let just anyone to Asgard do you?” Tony was pissed. He didn’t have time to squabble with Asgardian version of Rogers times four. He wanted to meet Thor so he can talk about a alliance and then they could go and meet with other world leaders.

What Tony said seem to make them pause as they moved to let them in to the Golden palace. Now Tony loved color gold, and his suits are partly gold. But he did not like the obnoxious amount of gold they displayed to flaunt their wealth. Tony confidently walked in to the palace and manure through the halls to the throne room. Having a goddess as your adoptive mother came in handy.

Guards opened the doors to the throne room seeing the man that walked confidently and didn’t seem to pause in his purposeful stride. Tony entered the room and looked around to see what seem to be a meeting between gods and goddesses. He caught Iðunn looking at him with a curious gaze and sent a smile her way which she returned.

“Friend Tony! What do I owe this pleasure?” Thor boomed and stood up from the throne to meet Tony and his team. He gave his signature crushing hug that didn’t hurt Tony anymore. Tony just patted the back of the bear sized god and waited until he was put down.

“Hey, Goldilocks. Nice to see you too. I came here to talk about something very important. Is there somewhere we can talk privately?” Tony asked and sensing the seriousness of his friend Thor nodded in understaninng. But before he could lead Tony away Iðunn appeared behind him.

“Lady Iðunn, is there anything I can o for you?” Thor asked her politly knowing that she was one of the most important goddesses in the realm no matter what his father had said.

“Indeed, Thor. I wish to attend this meeting with you and my son.” Iðunn said and Thor looked confused for a moment before he looked back at Tony putting two and two together. His eyes widened realizing that one of his friends was the son of Iðunn. He wondered why he had not known about this.

“Of course of course.” Thor said and went to arrange for secure room to talk leaving Iðunn and Tony alone. He figured that mother and son would appreciate few moments together. Other gods and goddesses got the memo and filtered out of the room leaving Tony’s team, Tony and Iðunn alone. New Avengers except Howard moved to a distance to give them space to talk in private. Natasha and Clint had to drag Rogers away since he was angry at Tony for keeping secrets. They really wished to punch the idiot in the face. Maybe when Tony’s distracted they would.

“Anthony.” Iðunn turned to her son with a smile. She had not expected to see her son in the halls of Asgard this soon. It was a pleasant surprise to her. Tony smiled back and was about to greet her when a voice rang out in the silence.

“Maria?”

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Howard stared at the goddess in front of him. He had known from the beginning that Maria was not a human. After all they had met when she saved him after a accident in his lab that made him nearly die. But he had not known that Maria was Iðunn. He had only seen her real appearance once or twice, but there was no mistake that this was her. He had not cared that she was not human, or about the fact that the face he knew was not real. He loved the person inside, the loving wife and the perfect mother. He had fallen in love with her mind, intelligent and cunning. Sometimes rivaling his own. And he had loved that, the challenge of loving someone who can outwit you in times, and she had been someone that he loved to death. And even after death here he was in front of her.

Iðunn looked at the man that had called her Maria. She felt a little sad about what she was about to say. He must have thought that she was his wife, but she was only Anthony’s adoptive mother. A second mother when he needed one. But before she can voice these thought a wave of emotions washed over her. Stumbling a little she stared unseeingly to the space worrying Tony and Howard. Iðunn had tears running down her face and she was gasping for air as heart wrenching sobs escaped her mouth. She remembered now, the time she had lived as a mortal after Odin banished her to Midgard thinking he can handle the duties as the guardian of the Golden Apple garden. She only had magic enough for her to disguise herself and in that impulsive moment, save the mortal that had blown his house. She had fallen in love, something she had thought impossible for her, but she had. And Anthony, she felt like laughing hysterically. She had adopted her own flesh and blood. Her own son. What kind of twisted fate was that? A good one. Came the answer in a suspicious voice that was way too similar to the Norns.

“Mom? Dad? What is going on?” Tony asked confused and desperate at the same time. He was confused about why his father had called Iðunn Maria, and desperate to know why his adoptive mother was crying and looks like she’s about to laugh at the same time. By that time, Thor had returned and was watching worried about the health of the goddess that had been like a aunt to him. And he was worried how his friend was copping with a crying mother. It was never easy to watch your mother cry. The other members of Tony’s team also watched from a distance as they didn’t want to make Tony or his parents uncomfortable. Jessica and Natasha was still holding Rogers back who wanted to see what was wrong and help. They really would punch his if this continues after making sure Tony was distracted with Peter.

“Anthony, oh my bambino.” Iðunn said as she pulled Tony into a hug. He froze hearing those words as only Maria had said them to him. Tony returned the hug but he was still confused about what was happening. After letting Tony go Iðunn turned to Howard. Howard stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Ma-Iðunn. And it felt just like when they had first met. Howard had hugged the goddess in sheer relief when she had saved him. The gold light that filled the room at that moment made everyone to close their eyes. And when they opened them again the light was gone and Howard and Iðunn stood in front of each other with so much love in their eyes that they can almost see the hearts flying around.

“Um... Hello? Can someone explain what is going on? I’m confusion here!” Tony’s voice broke the silence and Thor grinned like a maniac as he looked at Tony.

“That My friend was a soul bond. A rare bond that even Asgardians find hard to establish. Looks like your parents have enough love for each other to have such a powerful bond.”

“okay... Thank you Thor. Now that is cleared but...” Tony spluttered waving his hands towards the couple in front of him as if it explained everything he wanted to ask.

“Tony, A long time ago, Odin banished me to Midgard, thinking he can take care of the duties I had guarding the apples. I only had enough magic to disguise myself and to save his foolish mortal that blew up his house.” Iðunn started and Howard gave a indignant look to her.

“I only blew my house up once. Our son, blow it up on a daily basis.”

“Hey! It’s for science.”

“Sure Antonio, it's for the science. Anyway, after I saved him, he offered me a place to stay, which I was grateful. And as time went we fell in love, married and had you. I never told Howard that I was Iðunn but he had seen me without my disguise once or twice. But he never asked me. He didn’t care about that. And when you were born Odin removed my banishment, but I refused to return. I didn’t want to leave my son and the man I loved. But when we ‘died’, it looks like Odin took the chance to bring me back to Asgard and block my memories.” Iðunn said and the hate and anger she had for Odin was clear in her voice.

“And the bond you shared broke those enchantments. I am happy for Iðunn. Odin made many mistakes, this one of them it seems.” Thor looked sad for a moment before he went back to his normal self apparently he was over with whatever that had happened. Tony made a mental note to ask later. And on the other hand he was happy. He had his parents, both of them with him now. It was a great feeling. And with that happy note, Tony pulled his parents in to a hug.

“Okay! Now, I would love to spend some time with you both, but we had things to do. Thor?” Tony said after pulling away from the hug.

“Of course. This way my friends.” Thor led the way through the hallways and stopped in front of two grand doors that opened to reveal a huge room with enough chairs for all of them. They sat down and Tony started to explain what was happening letting Gamora give the news about Thanos. Thor looked murderous and ashamed that his father had ignored such a large threat to the universe and swore that Asgardian forces will join the fight when the time comes.

“I will not fail you friend Anthony. Thank you for coming to me and letting me know of this threat. When the time for the fight is here, Heimdall shall open the Bi-frost to the battle ground and I will protect the Tessaract.”

“Thank you Thor. I will let Heimdall know when we need you.” Tony said and stood up.

“Why don’t you friends join us for a feast before you depart? I believe your parents would want to spend some time with each other.”

Looking at his parents and others, Tony decided that staying for dinner wouldn’t do much harm. It wouldn’t take much time and even if it did, they can have Heimdall beam them to the ship.

“Very well Thor. I think everyone would appreciate it.” Tony answered and got a bright smile in return as Thor went to organize the feast. Tony looked at his parents who were conversing with each other and gave them a smile before going to join Peter and Vision who were in a deep conversation about what looked like a fruit bowl.