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Moment One: Gratitude (2020)
“So, I’m still getting comfortable with the whole… People thing that happens when you go out in public,” Tony said.
“You aren’t playing hermit are you?” Dr. Samson asked.
“Have you turned on a TV lately?” Tony replied. “I can’t turn on a TV without see myself and I miss the live interviews, watching them anyway.”
“I see you in armor, doing what you have to do for the world and for the Enhanced community,” Dr. Samson replied. “I’m asking if you can bring yourself to leave the house without those kinds of stakes riding on it.”
Tony glanced away, “So this place Pepper and I used to like to go, I looked them up, they survived the war. They’re not normally the sort of place that caters but I’m me, I offered a couple thousand if they’d cater a meal at the tower. They turned the money down, charged me the cost of the food plus gas and told me they were happy to do it.”
“And this was particularly remarkable?”
“Yes! Well not so much anymore, since I got back. But still.”
“What response did you expect?”
“I expected them to take the money. Hell, I go out, before, if I don’t tip in hundreds the hashtag about how selfish I am takes over Twitter. It’s not like I minded putting my barista through college, she was a cute kid with coffee and plans to save the world. But not everyone is and- And it’s my choice isn’t? To do things like that?”
“Tipping guidelines are generally with respect to the cost of the purchase not the income of the purchaser,” Samson agreed mildly.
“It didn’t used to matter,” Tony said.
Samson raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“Before Afghanistan it was simple. I figure out what they wanted from me, what I wanted from them, then I decide if the exchange was worth it: Simple,” Tony said. “Okay, maybe when I was kid it sucked. My adviser expected my dad to equip whatever lab they stuck me in and Dad expected a formal proposal that would undergo the same review every other proposal that crossed his desk. And yeah, my proposals made it to his desk automatically but at worst, anyone else’s proposal got turned down. I got lectures on how expensive equipment didn’t make a shitty idea any less shitty and he expected better from me. Then there were parties. I graduated college at seventeen. Being expected to supply the booze every single time I was invited? Well there were issues beyond the price tag. Not that I wasn’t up the challenge, naturally.”
“But it would have been nice to feel that they were inviting you, not your money?” Samson asked.
Tony shrugged, “I had Jarvis, Ana, Mom and then Rhodey, J.A.R.V.I.S., Pepper and Happy. Apart from them… Well, I made it work for me. After Afghanistan… I wanted… I wanted…” Tony glanced away. “The equation didn’t balance anymore. Whatever I did I couldn’t make it balance.”
Samson waited.
“Kids are great,” Tony said randomly. “They’d send Iron Man cards and shit. Everyone else, even when they were saying thank you, all I’d hear was ‘It’s not enough. What will you do for us next?’”
“And now?”
“Not so much. Like I said, the restaurant, other things like that. I don’t know but it feels, it feels- You know how they say, ‘It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you’? It’s like that, only it’s everyone wanting a piece you. I don’t feel like that so much anymore. And I don’t- I really don’t think it’s me that changed. It’s nice.”
Moment Two: Promotion (2021)
“What’s this?” Tony asked, looking puzzled by the piece of paper Rhodey had just handed to him with a smirk.
“Me giving you back your job,” Rhodey replied. “You’ve had enough of a break, I’ve got enough grey hairs. It’s time you got back to wrangling the wealth of mad scientists that SI calls an R&D department, all of whom consider you to be their role-model when it comes to lab safety.”
“Oh come on, they aren’t that bad,” Tony protested.
Rhodey thought about it for a moment, “Okay, yeah, none of them quite live up to bar you set when you blew up our dorm room because the vibrations from your stereo set off the contact explosives you were playing with… In our dorm room, while blasting AC/DC. But they’re getting closer every day. Watch the video record of Peter and Harley doing failure testing on the braces someday, when they’re both nearby so you can remind yourself that they both survived, even if if was only due to Peter’s spider-sense warning him that the apparatus was going to explode a couple seconds before it did. Of course there couldn’t possibly be a REASON why the manufacture set an upper limit on how much pressure the testing apparatus should exert, such as the possibility that the tester turning into a mass of shrapnel even if the object being tested did survive,” Rhodey ranted.
Tony chuckled a bit nervously. It did sound like something he’d do but he’d come to realize that watching his kids take the sort of risks he wouldn’t have thought twice about taking for himself was horrifying. If it weren’t for the great kids being endangered, Tony would have taken it proof that karma was a hard cold fact. That he had daughters who might want to date guys like he had been when he was younger was supporting evidence.
“You don’t have to,” Tony said. “I don’t want to turn you out just because I’m-”
“Not dead?” Rhodey supplied dryly. “Believe me Tony: Nothing that has to change because you’re alive is an inconvenience… Besides who says this is a bad thing? I’m not half the workaholic that you are. Head of Stark Industries’ R&D department and Director of the Sentient World Observation and Response Department is at least two full time jobs. I like eight hours of sleep on a regular basis, I don’t want two full time jobs.”
Tony grinned blindingly. “You got a promotion!” he exclaimed. “S.W.O.R.D.? Did the Accords Committee pick-up the S.H.I.E.L.D.’s head of naming when we finally shut down the last of ‘too good for oversight’ holdouts?”
“That we know of,” Rhodey groused. “They’re like weeds. Everytime we think we’ve got them all corralled into systems that demand accountability and transparency a new-new version of the same old S.H.I.E.L.D. pops up. And it’s not like ‘Avengers’ was a great name.”
“Says who?” Tony demanded.
Rhodey rolled his eyes. “You’re ‘The Avengers’, not ‘The Defenders’ or ‘The Protectors’ or ‘The Rescuers’. By definition your name implies you’ve lost before you even began and that your primary goal is to make the other guy bleed in return.”
Tony shrugged but didn’t deny it. “And Director? That’s so civilian. Couldn’t they have made you a Commodore or a Marshal or something? Not a General, Generals are almost insane by definition.”
“Just because you’ve had a few bad experiences…” Rhodey began, then laughed, “Yeah, they’re crazy. Unfortunate acronym aside they’re trying. We’re not the Avengers, we’re not S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Hail Mary/Plan A for dealing with alien invasions by throwing a group of talented strangers together and manipulating the hell out of them to save the world once disaster struck.” He gave Tony a slightly apologetic look, “We’re not a privately funded strike force dealing with whatever of the world’s problem catch their personal interest. We’re trying to be more security and less an army. We’re a global organization tasked with dealing with threats to mankind as a whole. We’re trying to be an organization that does not look at violence as the first and only response but…”
“But given how many of our Galactic and Realm-ly neighbors look at Earth as a bunch of primitive savages…” Tony laughed. “Well for some of the major powers it’ll be an eye-opener on how it feels being on the other side of the equation.
“Congratulations on the promotion, Rhodey.”
Moment Three: Bonding (2022)
“If he doesn’t stop leering at her I’m going to gouge his eyes out,” Amadeus’s muttered comment caught Tony’s attention.
He turned toward the TV screen to see what caught the younger man’s attention and scowled himself as he noticed Pete Wisdom give Iron Lass a ‘friendly pat’ a bit lower than the back. “Hacking his computer is faster, doesn’t leave blood stains and doesn’t require borrowing a jet, not that I wouldn’t loan you one for such a worthy cause.”
“You’re right, great idea. Or should I not do it now that you’re an accomplice?” Amadeus asked. Then he whined, “Why does FRIDAY have to be assigned to Avengers Europe anyway?”
“You and I are on the East Coast Avengers and Harley will be backup for the West Coast as soon as his disciplinary suspension and mandatory retraining are finished... Since the little traitor decided to go to Stanford instead of MIT,” Tony groused theatrically. Then added with relish, “I totally blame Hank’s bad influence. Unlike the rest of us FRIDAY commutes instantly via leaving her civilian body here and her combat body with her team-”
“And I am so glad her civilian form is nowhere near that old perv,” Amadeus muttered.
“So she’s the best for the transatlantic commute. It’s going to be a nightmare when Vision, Loptr and Nettie are old enough to join,” Tony continued. “ ‘Cause you know it’s pretty much inevitable in this family. The Committee doesn’t even like you and I on the same team, the only reason they let it pass was that you’re support, not in the field. At least Pepper and Happy have the rare good sense to not want to do more than be able to defend our homes if anyone gets ideas. You know, I almost sympathize with Lang when he’s moping about being here while Hope’s the West Coast lead.”
“But why not South America?” Amadeus continued complaining. “You have to agree Rodriguez is so much better than Wisdom.”
“Victor is family too and that’s his team, even if I still maintain I am absolutely, in no way old enough to have grandkids,” Tony replied. “And before you start mentioning the other teams, FRI likes Wisdom.” Tony’s nose wrinkled, “I admit to being a bad influence in that she gets along great with obnoxious assholes.”
“So I shouldn’t do it?” Amadeus asked, disappointed.
Tony thought back to the swat on the rear, “Oh yeah, totally do it. I know she can defend her own honor but isn’t it our prerogative as father and boyfriend to spare her the trouble once and a while? Just don’t get caught or FRIDAY will lecture both of us.”
Moment Four: Scars (2024)
“I do not understand why I continued to love Wanda Maximoff after the night at the compound,” Vision announced as the functionally-sixteen-year-old phased into FRIDAY’s server room.
FRIDAY used a holographic emitter to create an image of her civilian form perched on top of the nearest server bank so that she could look at him curiously. “Fair warning: I’m not sentimental about dead people,” she said.
“I do not believe I will be offended,” Vision said. “After all I don’t remember what I felt during my previous existence. However, I have analyzed the data records of my actions with regard to her following our falling out over the Accords. From those actions I can only conclude that I continued to harbor the emotion of love for her. But I do not know why I would love someone who would attack me the first time we found ourselves in dispute.”
“I think, maybe, it’s easier to fall in love with someone than to fall out of love,” FRIDAY offered. “I suppose, because you love them, you want there to be an adequate reason when they do something wrong. What brought this on?”
Vision fidgeted, adjusting his density and trying various spots around the room for a comfortable perch. “I find myself thinking about Stature more often than is perhaps appropriate,” he said. “When our class does drills I am more aware of her position than that of my other teammates. When I cook I wonder if she would enjoy the dish. I find myself taking note of how she seasons her food and adapting my recipes to suit her tastes even when I- I fail to ask her to share those meals because the chance that she might decline my invitation is oddly distressing.”
“Yep, you’re in love,” FRIDAY diagnosed.
“That was my fear,” Vision sighed. “It is quite unsettling. While I do not remember feeling love for Wanda Maximoff, or understand why I would love her, I cannot deny that my actions support the conclusions that I continued to love her until my previous existence was terminated. She affected me and I was completely unable to correct that affect once I realized it was delatorious.”
“If it helps, analysis of Wanda Maximoff’s actions after you lost your battle against Proxima Midnight indicate that your feeling for her were not entirely one-sided, despite her earlier attack against you,” FRIDAY offered. “But more importantly, you should remember that Cassie is not the Scarlett Bitch. Cassie might have unfairly blamed her father for her step-father’s death but she never tried to kill him nor has she join any of the various groups who have attempted to attack Chitauri delegates on this planet in retaliation for the war. To treat her as being the same as Wanda Maximoff would be doing Cassie a disservice.”
“Even so, I do not know that I wish to give away parts of myself that I may not get back,” Vision said reluctantly.
FRIDAY gave him a sad look and reached out digitally to brush against his coding. “If you never let yourself love again then Maximoff did take away a part of you. I think- I hope, I hope you won’t let her take love from your life. Look at Mom and Dad, don’t you think what they have is worth everything they went through to get on the same page?”
Vision thought for a moment. “I will think on it.” He smiled tentatively, “I cannot imagine Cassie lashing out at me as Wanda did.”
Moment Five: Study Abroad (2028)
Nettie smiled charmingly and laid a packet of papers down on the dining room table. “So Mom, Dad… I was thinking, High School is boring, you guys said I absolutely cannot start college until I’m fifteen, minimum. And here’s the Student Exchange Program with the Nova Empire. I could spend two years studying on Krylor, then be back for my senior year so I’m here to apply for college.”
“That’s a great idea,” Pepper declared. “You could even stay four years, come home at sixteen and if I know you you’ll be ready start work on a Ph.D. and you’ll be with kids almost your own age in your humanities. I have a feeling Earth literature and history won’t be on the curriculum in the Nova Empire.”
Tony gulped. Later that evening when he was going over one of Nettie’s projects with her he breached the subject, “You sure about this, it’s an awful long way from home.”
“I’ll send sad letters to Big Brother until he figures out how he used to walk between Yggdrasil’s branches again,” Nettie replied with a careless shrug. “Then he’ll be able to get me home in a jif. Or I could try flirting with Franklin and see if that’ll get him motivated to make his dad make a portal that doesn’t flood New York with dinosaurs, angry aliens or demons.”
Tony made a face, “You’re twelve, Franklin Richards is ten, don’t even joke about flirting with him. Plus Richards! If absolutely must flirt, why not flirt with Ben Parker?”
“Ick! Benny’s seven! And Franklin’s not so bad, he totally crushes on me,” Nettie declared. “You like him more than Kristoff even though he set me loose the last time his step-dad kidnapped me. Then there’s the new girl at the Academy, America Chavez, she’s way hot. And there’s Noh-Varr who’s on exchange in the other direction… Well, he’s a little old, like fifteen,” Nettie stuck her tongue out at Tony’s alarmed expression. “You’re just annoyed that Franklin’s dad make Hulk-proof pants before you did.”
“Reed is annoying because of the regular occurrence of portals spewing dinosaurs, angry aliens or demons into New York,” Tony corrected. “People, especially smart people, should learn from their mistakes… I gotta include the Peer Review Board in that, how does Reed keep persuading the PRB that his experiments aren’t going to blow up this time? At least Doom‘n’Gloom’s mostly moved on from trying to make you into his protege and the queen of the world to obsessing about Valeria. So Reed did something right, gender’s on him not Sue.”
Nettie giggled, “Valeria doesn’t melt Mr. I-Speak-in-Third-Person’s armor when he kidnaps her. Well, yet anyway. She’s only five, we have to give her time to properly digest ‘The Ransom of Red Chief’. On the bad side, the only time I get to visit with Kristoff is when Tin-Pot kidnaps me… Maybe he thinks we’ll fall in love and get married someday.”
“You don’t have to grow-up so fast,” Tony said a bit wistfully. He remembered being a child in high school, then college, trying to prove he could keep up with much older classmates socially.
Nettie plopped down beside Tony and leaned up against his shoulder. “It won’t be that long and I’ll come home to visit. I am tired of being the class pet because I’m five years younger than my classmates at normal school and still the only time I’m not bored is when I’m working on projects with you, Grandpa Hank or Dr. Bruce… You could let me graduate early and spend a couple years doing full time research, Harley or Peter supervise my projects when you’re too busy. They’re totally responsible adults.”
Tony snorted at that. “Yeah, I get why you’re bored.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, “I just don’t want to send you away, I already missed too much of your life. Couldn’t you spend more time at the Academy? They’ve got kids your age and combat drills are never boring.”
Nettie glanced away awkwardly. “I’m not sure I want to make fighting bad guys my life,” she admitted, stealing a quick glance at Tony out of the corner of her eye. “I sort of wanted to try out life where there are so many races with different weird powers and stuff that I’d just blend in, even when I solder with my pinkie instead of searching for a soldering iron.”
“Give normal a try?” Tony asked wryly. “You’ve got all the universe to look for a place that suits you, I can’t blame you for wanting to explore it a little before you decide what’s right for you.”
Nettie cuddled in closer. “I’ll video call twice a week and like I said, we’ll figure out a way to eliminate the travel time. I’ll be home for weekends before you know it.”
“No way of that,” Tony replied. “You haven’t even left yet and I’m missing you already.”