Chapter 18
“I'm sorry, I have to go.” Tony said.
“Mister Stark, I did not take you as one who would flee parties. What could be so urgent?” Secretary of Defense Gerito asked.
“My wife has just gone into labor.” Tony said, as the Iron Man suit came down, encasing him and shot back out into the open sky, heading for Lilith’s location.
As he left, Secretary Gerito said, “Well I'd say that's a reasonable excuse.”
Anthony Ronald Stark was born on September 21st, 2010 to Anthony Edward Stark and Lilith Rose Stark née Evans.
Lilith spent the last of her energy after her newborn son was born to set up a time dilation field around herself. She needed 2 weeks rest and she had at most 20 minutes to do it. That magnitude of dilation would take a lot of very capable, very powerful magic, but she didn’t lack in that department. For good measure, she anchored the field to the bed in Stark Tower’s medical bay, in case anyone ever needed to rest or heal faster than time allowed. It didn't take much, the arc reactor provided more than enough energy to run it without it being noticeable, since the arc reactor was as close to magic as the world could get without actual magic, what with it absorbing energy from the air and repurposing it.
What felt like two weeks but in reality was 20 minutes later, Lilith was absolutely bored out of her mind, and ready to go back to her life.
First was the most important. “JARVIS, activate the baby monitor protocol and one-way mirror protocol.”
“It is done, Mrs. Stark.” JARVIS said, as Lilith smiled at the sight of Tony carefully holding his newborn son with an expression of absolute joy on his face. Both parents had sworn to be far better than their own. Lilith had no knowledge of her mother, and couldn't bring herself to use the stone to talk with her, but she swore she would always be there for her son like she was for Teddy, unlike her mother who had no choice when it came to being there for her, and like her fatter had chosen not to. Tony, too, swore he would be there for his son, not ignoring him like his own mother had sometimes done when she wasn't out shopping or at a social event, and like his father had consistently done with borderline emotional abuse*.
“Two weeks without me. Miss me?”
She gave him a peck on the lips by way of an answer. “Anthony Ronald Stark.”
“Mini-me?”
“I don't know how our genes mixed, don't you dare test it, but yes. Mini-you. Anthony Stark Junior.”
“If the kid knows anything it's that nobody wants to actually be called Anthony.”
“Tony?”
“Yeah?”
“Use all your fathering experience from when Teddy was little, because I have a situation that I need to handle.”
“Of course, Lilith.”
Then as soon as she left, his son started crying and Tony nearly panicked and regretted his hasty agreement. Then his thoughts caught up to him. His son. He would be the best dad he could be, and Murphy’s Law could go fuck itself along with anyone or anything else that would block him and his son.
*canon Tony Stark was too well adjusted to have been actually abused, but I know from personal experience borderline meaning not quite there but still close, hurts. I'm a reasonably well adjusted and sane person, but some things hurt, especially in vulnerable moments, and I think when Tony was remembering Howard as a bad parent he was remembering something of the sort.
Lilith apparated to the nearest completely witness free area by Darcy’s place, something she always scouted out for, and walked to Darcy’s place under a Notice-Me-Not charm.
Tracking the quinjet, she understood the situation. They were headed right to the place of the passageway, and the only reason she wasn't filled with overflowing dread was the other news. Loki, her father, was dead. And she could control the dead far more than the living.
Darcy finally asked Thor the question she had been dying to ask for a very long time. Politics. That didn’t last long, however, because she soon found out Thor was incredibly naive as to these things, and Darcy was sort of thankful he hadn’t become King of Asgard because boy was he easy to manipulate even when she was being the bluntest blunt tool in the shed she could possibly be.
She did find, though, that Volstagg was a comedian, even though he was by far the eldest of their little elite warrior friends group, and that Sif was a particularly interesting conversationalist.
But then it was time to land, and as Bucky put the plane down on the ground and opened the cockpit Darcy watched Jane and Thor’s reunion with amusement, especially Thor’s yet again gobsmacked look at Jane’s initiation of such close affection. It seemed Asgard was traditional enough that french kisses weren't done, and especially not in public.
After greetings were exchanged , they all loaded onto the jet.
As Jane turned off the technology that connected to Thor, this time, Darcy took the pilot’s seat, letting Bucky relax in the co-pilot’s swivel chair.
She hastily put the plane on autopilot as her phone rang. “Hey, Lilith.” she said, as she put up a soundproof barrier so that the main section of the jet wouldn’t hear. “You’re on speaker because I’m sorta flying a quinjet right now, but only Bucky’s up here with me.”
“Good. You go first or I go first?”
“I’ll go first. I have Thor, Sif, and Volstagg on this jet with me, as well as Jane obviously, and Bucky, who I just mentioned.”
“I’m right here you know,” Bucky said.
“I know. Anyways, I’m heading towards the general vicinity of the US, we just took off from the passageway’s site in Norway.”
“Head towards the compound in upstate New York, I’ll lock up anything private and.” her phone was cut off for a moment. “I'm there.”
“Cool. Wait, how are you so, well, fine? I was on the phone with your hubby like just now and he said you were busy with baby production.”
“Time dilation. For me, it’s been 2 weeks.”
“Whoa. Anyways, redirected the plane to the compound. Tell me about the baby”
“My son’s name is Anthony Ronald Stark and I left him with Tony at the moment, see how he handles it.”
“He handled Teddy, didn’t he?”
“Until Teddy was around 4 he only visited, so I really don’t know.”
“So you have a baby and a teenager. Tough.”
“Don’t worry about me, Darcy.”
“Anyways, anything else?”
“Yeah. News from inside SHIELD, good that Barnes is there too.”
“It’s Winter Soldier news?” he asked.
“It’s Winter Soldier and the White Witch news.”
“What is it?”
“SHIELD has decided they know your identities.”
“Are they right?”
“Half. It was Barton who took that shot, and he saw the force field, saw it came from Jane, and saw that you were panicking as any civilian would after, though somehow he didn’t spot that it was because Jane was unconscious. So they’ve decided you are poor innocent Darcy Lewis, caught accidentally in the middle of your boyfriend, the Winter Soldier, and your best friend, the White Witch, who are also dating. I don’t know how Fury got that news. Either that, or the White Witch is our bodyguard after you started dating the Winter Soldier since the Witch and the Soldier broke up, and the Soldier is dating the Black Widow instead.”
“So it seems we’re supposed to be stuck in some sort of drama, huh?”
“Yeah, I think we’re going to have to disappoint SHIELD, doll.” Bucky said.
“Yeah, I thought that too.”
“Well, I trust you two will be capable of dealing with this, though you may want to warn Jane, or not, your choice.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
“Alright. Any parts of the compound Jane or Thor and company shouldn't be seeing have been locked down, can you handle them or should I stay?”
“You just had a kid, I’d say you are perfectly good to go and take some family leave without dealing with this spy shit.” Bucky said.
“Alright. Over and out.” Lilith said, and ended the call.
Darcy didn't take the barrier down as her and Bucky leaned over for another kissfest.
“Thor, how long can you stay this time?” Jane asked, relaxing on the quinjet’s bench, his arm over her shoulder.
“I should need to return after mayhaps a week or two, but since I now know how to travel between Asgard and Midgard without reliance on the Bifrost, I can return much more often.”
“Good.” she said, and they relaxed in comfortable silence. After a while, Jane stood up and knocked on the barrier Darcy had put up. It slid down just as Darcy and Bucky’s kiss fest was winding down.
“Darcy, where are we headed?”
“A place in upstate New York. A lot more space there, don’t worry there’s a lab.”
“What place in upstate New York?”
“It’s a Stark Compound, a lot of space, a bunch more guest rooms, and my sister said it’s rent-free. Plus, it’ll be Asgardian-proof.”
“What do you mean Asgardian-proof?”
“You did see that Thor, and his buddies have super strength, meaning there is a chance something could get broken, plus super strength is supposed to come with enhanced metabolisms, and you remember his appetite when he was in a mortal form, as he put it, without any enhancements. Technically the place is Super Soldier proof, but it looks like Thor would be somewhere around the same caliber.”
“Why would someone even build a super soldier proof compound?”
“I’m pretty sure Steve Rogers lives there at least part time, plus so does Bucky, and he’s basically a super soldier.”
“Wait, what? I thought there was only one copy of Super Soldier Serum made. How is that possible?”
“I have no clue. I don’t remember getting injected but judging by the fact that nobody has a Super Soldier Army yet, whoever shoved it in me didn’t think it’d work.” That was the truth, he really didn’t remember who injected it in him, he only knew it was someone from Hydra.
“Oh. Well, alright.” Jane acquiesced, and they continued flying to their destination.