“No wormholes.”
“This is going to be fine.”
“Mm.”
“Seriously, Tony, this is going to be cake.”
“Mhmm.”
“Bloody hell, you’re a moody bastard, aren’t you?” Sirius leaned his chair backward and laughed. “No wonder Tony Junior’s throwing shit at his classmates.”
“What’s Harry doing?” Steve asked, folding his arms on the table they all shared in Bruce’s place and giving Tony a ‘very serious’ look.
“Nothing,” Tony said with a roll of his eyes. He didn’t need to discuss Harry and his mood swings and his Stark temper with the guys during a meeting. “I think this is going to go really damn badly,” he said, guiding the conversation back on track. “We weren’t prepared last time, what makes any of you think we are now?”
“We’re better prepared, now we know exactly what kind of crazy we’re dealing with,” Clint said.
“And we have more help,” Steve pointed out, looking from Witch-Bitch to Quick-Kid to Sirius. “I think if we all go, we’ve got a real shot at ending this before Ultron wipes out half the damn population.”
“Laaanguage,” Nat sang under her breath, smirking at Tony.
Tony couldn’t even appreciate the jab at Steve. He just stared at the map with his hands behind his head, his mind on Harry.
The last time they went after Ultron, they got their asses handed to them. Steve was confident that with the extra help, the extra ‘powers’, that it would be an in and out mission. And that was great, but Steve didn’t have a teenaged son sitting upstairs with his father and his godfather both headed on a mission with the potential to be dangerous.
Tony never used to worry about his mortality, then he went in a wormhole and barely came back. On his bad days, Tony felt like not all of him did come back.
Where would that leave Harry if something happened to Tony and Sirius both?
“Sirius should stay here,” Tony said casually, kicking his chair back to look breezy. “I don’t think all of us are going to be needed.”
“Tony, maybe being a daddy has scrambled your brains, but we didn’t come out the heroes last time,” Bruce said. “In fact I think the news is calling us the villains this time around.”
“Having Sirius and his abilities is sure to help us,” Steve said. “I think this is an all hands on deck situation, Tony.”
Tony sucked in a loud breath through his nose and twisted his lips to the side.
“No, it’s not,” he disagreed. Tony met each member’s eyes and bobbed his head. “This is not an all hands on deck situation. Sirius stays or I do, pick now.”
“I choose Sirius to go,” Pietro drawled. He raised a challenging and mocking brow when Sirius looked toward him. “What? We failed with Tony before, perhaps you are the lucky charm.”
“I think Tony needs to come,” Wanda said quietly, disagreeing with her twin. “He is the one who created Ultron, he is the one who may be able to finish him.”
“Team Tony,” Clint said, offering Tony a fist that went ignored. “We know Iron Man kicks ass, we don’t know what Sirius can do.”
“Everything,” Sirius scoffed with an easy grin.
“Then I think Sirius should go,” Nat said. “Technology doesn’t like magic, right? Well Ultron is a big pile of high class tech, let’s take some magic to finish him off.”
“I agree, the wizard should go,” Thor said. He stood behind Steve with his arms crossed and Mjölnir swinging from his grip. “We should take both—”
“No teenagers and Tony’s going to be a lot more use than Sirius, no offense,” Bruce said, nodding at Sirius cordially.
Tony looked at Steve and the two of them held each others gaze while the vote tied and knew that ultimately it was their decision.
The Avengers liked to pretend they were the ultimate democratic team of heroes, but just like the country they protected, the democracy was crap.
Tony and Steve led their team and it was Tony and Steve who needed to make a call so they could get their asses on the jet and leave.
“We all need to go, Tony,” Steve said, his blue eyes piercing. “You know that. I know you’re worried about Harry—”
“You don’t know jack or shit about what I’m worried about and don’t pretend you do,” Tony said harshly. “It’s all well and dandy if Sirius and I both go, but what happens to my son if we don’t both come back? Huh, Cap? What then?”
Tony slapped his hand on the table. “What the hell happens to my god damned kid if neither of us come back?!”
Steve wasn’t cowed, damn valiant hero, he just watched Tony snap and scream and sat in his chair like it was all something he expected.
“You tell me what happens to your kid, to thousands of kids, if you don’t both go,” Steve said evenly. “This isn’t just about your kid, this is about all the kids that are going to suffer if we don’t finish this thing, Tony. You know that, I know you know that.”
All the fight fled Tony when he knew Steve wasn’t just making some grand rallying speech. Steve believed what he said because Steve only knew how to be honest.
“Fine. Fine.” Tony scrubbed his face with his hands and shared a long look with Sirius. “Let me make a phone call and we’ll go save the world… again.”
Actually, Tony had to make two phone calls.
“Rhodey, I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t hard up here.”
Tony looked at the only man he could really consider his best friend through the screen of his phone. The others were gearing up and loading up on the jet, hoping to finish off Ultron before Monday morning, but Tony had more important things to do.
“Was I your first choice?” Rhodey asked with a half-smile. “C’mon, be honest here, Tony, why me?”
“Because Harry likes you,” Tony said, ignoring the lawyer sitting beside him with the paperwork drawn up. “He’s comfortable around you.”
“He likes Pepper.”
“Just say no if you don’t want to do it,” Tony snapped. “I trust you, I trust you with my life and I trust you with my kid’s life. I thought you’d be thrilled, sorry for the inconvenience.”
“Oh, I am honored.” Rhodey chuckled and looked over to the strait-laced lawyer sitting beside Tony. “I’ll be there in two hours to sign in person. You think if Tony croaks before then that I can still have a brand new son?”
“Yes, sir, Mister War Machine,” the lawyer said, only stuttering a little bit. “I’ll have the paperwork ready for you, sir.”
“You were screwing with me,” Tony sighed. He pointed accusingly through the screen to his friend. “It’s not funny, Rhodes, not about this.”
“I wasn’t screwing with you, I was fishing for compliments,” Rhodey said with an unapologetic smile. “Good luck, man. I’ll rename Harry in your honor when you die.”
Tony rolled his eyes, “Goodbye, Rhodey. Don’t forget Harry’s grounded this weekend.”
“Oh yeah, Uncle Rhodey will absolutely enforce your punishment,” Rhodey grinned. “Seriously, kick ass, Tony. We will see you soon.”
“Yeah, see you.”
Tony disconnected with Rhodey and turned to the lawyer whose name he didn’t bother to learn. He snatched the pen and scribbled his name at the bottom, granting custody of Harry James Potter-Stark to James Rupert Rhodes in the event that he and Sirius Orion Black were both deceased.
It wasn’t until Tony signed his name to that document that he realized morality had green eyes and a little lightning bolt shaped scar.
“Don’t forget to brush your teeth.”
“I know.”
“Take your medicine.”
“Right.”
“Tell Strange about the side effects on Monday, okay? All of them, kid, don’t hold anything back.”
Harry looked up from where he’d been scratching his dog behind the ears and he narrowed his eyes at Tony.
“Will you not be back by Monday?” Harry asked.
Tony prevaricated, he didn’t need to force his fears on Harry. Hell, Tony didn’t like admitting that he even had fears.
“I’m not sure,” Tony said, forcing his voice to stay light. “If all goes well, we should be.”
“‘We’?” Harry repeated, the kid never missing a single slip-up. “Who all’s going?”
Tony sighed and rolled his neck. He didn’t look at Harry when he said it, he looked at the jet waiting for him just at the end of the flight pad.
“All of us,” he said flatly. “We all need to go if we want to finish Ultron and move on to the next big baddie. Rhodey will be here soon, you just have to keep from burning down the building for two hours, okay?”
Harry nodded; the kid wasn’t stupid, he’d seen fights and knew casualties happened. Harry knew, just like Tony knew, that things could go sideways and not all of them could return from Sokovia. Sure, maybe they’d take down Ultron once and for all, but they might not all come back.
And Harry knew that.
“If you or Sirius d- get hurt, I’m going to burn this building down with all your mates in it,” Harry said, looking up at Tony with his jaw clenched hard. “I know being a hero is your whole thing, but… but no wormholes.”
“No wormholes,” Tony agreed. He reached out for Harry and pulled him in for a hug, relieved when Harry’s arms wrapped around him for a couple of seconds.
“We’re all coming back and everything’s going to be fine,” Tony said gruffly, holding Harry’s head in his palm. “Alright?”
“Alright.”
Harry stepped back and Tony wondered how much bravery it took for him to let go of Tony when Tony finally understood that he didn’t want to.
“Love you, kid.”
“Love you, Dad.”
Yeah, damn it all, Tony was coming home to his son.