My Dad, the Boy (*Man) Who Lives

New Year’s Eve 2001
December 31st 2001

“Before we start the countdown, I just want to say something that I haven’t said as best man. Since having moi, dad never once go on a date. Not once, “ Tony said incredulously. “I thought if he can’t find a date, maybe I should find him one. He might be in his mid 30’s but people still mistaken him for 27 or something. How hard could it be to find him a date?” He shrugged. “Then my brilliant mind came out with Hill. At the time, I don’t know if she was single or not, but I thought whatever, let’s just try.”

“Thanks for that, “ Hill cocked an eyebrow and raised her glass at him. His dad chuckled behind him, putting his arm around her waist.

Ignoring her comment, Tony continued, “It was a trial run. Not saying that you were a guinea pig or anything, Hill. I don’t have a death wish, “ he was welcomed with bouts of laughter. “I thought that maybe my dad would like you and you both will have a great date and that would be all.”

“I think they did more than have a great date, son, “ His father snickered behind his wine glass on the couch where he was sitting with his mom. His lovely mom hit him gently in the arm, reprimanded him. “Howie.”

At the same time, Tony put on a disgusted face at the image. “Eew, that’s one more image I cannot scrap from my brain.”

In an instance, the whole room was once again filled with laughter.

“Okay, moving on, “ Tony waved his hand to shoo the image away. “So, I introduced them. But, I never thought that when I introduced her to dad, that I would stand here almost 5 years later in their living room, celebrating New Year’s Eve with them as a married couple.”

The CEO raised his glass. “To the happy couple. May your life be filled with joy and happiness and more years to come. And hopefully I got a little brother or sister next year,” then he looked at his watch,” in the next 5 minutes.”

All raised their drinks and cheered for the happy couple, Hill cleared her throat, “Uhm, since you bring it up, we have an announcement to make.”

“Dad?” Tony felt a little confused but the way his step-mom worded it, there’s only one answer to that.

While his father looked wide-eyed with his mouth opening and closing like a fish, his mom gasped with a hand on her mouth as she looked up at the her daughter in law. “Are you…?”

The older Potter answered with a simple nod and a happy smile on his face. “We just found out a couple of days ago.”

“Oh my God! Honey, I’m so happy for you,” His mom stood up to hug her daughter in law and son before peppering them both with kisses. “How far along?”

“7 weeks, “ Hill answered with a certain glow on her face. “I was busy until after Christmas, so I didn’t notice it until I started feeling a bit nauseous. So I took a test and another test and another one, just to make sure. We’re pregnant.”

The woman showed a little smile on her face, but even that tiny loop of smile was radiant enough to blinded the whole room with her happiness.

His father shook his dad’s hand with a giant smile on his face, “ Congratulation, son. I’m happy for you. I’m going to be a grandfather. Finally.”

The young wizard finally managed to move his legs towards his family. Believe it or not, he was able to stretch his arms around (not really around, just partially) all of his parents.

“I’m going to be a big brother!” He shouted in excitement.

Aunt Peg looked surprised, but nodded with a smile. “Oh my. Congratulation Harry, agent Hill.”

Their short of list guests, Agent-agent, Teddy, Rhodey and uncle James (Aunt Andy was invited by her bingo friends to a party) congratulated his dad and his wife.

And after, they began counting the seconds. The couples kissed each other and the singles embraced one another in a friendly hug. Eating the finger food and just enjoying their time talking with friends and family in his dad and Hill’s new apartment in DC.

Tony went to the kitchen to take a new bottle of red, where he saw Coulson drank a cup of black coffee.

“Agent-agent,” He tilted his head and smirked. “No rest for the wicked?”

“Stark,” the agent’s upper lip twitched a little when he was being addressed. It just showed that he was used to Tony’s penchant to nickname people he liked.

That twitch was practically a smile in his book, so Tony just smiled even wider. “Oh, you’re warming up to me now. When will you admit that we’re friends?”

“I think we’re going to keep agreeing to disagree,” the older man put his coffee mug on his mouth, enjoying his drink.

“Oh, you’re going to crack sooner or later, secret agent,” Tony winked mischievously at him.

The inventor pulled out a new bottle from the upper cupboard and popped the cork with a loud pop. He began pouring the wine when he caught agent tapping his fingers on the counter a few times while sipping his nectar of life.

The unflappable agent rarely showed indication of his true feelings. So even the minute movements couldn’t be ignored as something he normally do. This was agent Coulson, so it could mean that he has something on his mind or whatever a high ranking agent stressing about.

“Your uncle.” He said and stopped himself from continuing. Tony caught him frowning but the frown was smoothed in a second.

He wondered as he raised his glass to his lips.

“What about uncle James?” He cocked an eyebrow, feeling intrigued.

“Is he… is your family somewhat related to Bucky Barnes?”

Tony chocked on his wine. He could feel his throat burned from the liquid going into the wrong pipe. He put his glass and started thumping on his chest to lessen the coughing fit.

Coulson handed him an opened water bottle. The young man didn’t notice when the guy took the water but he was thankful nonetheless.

“Thanks, “ Tony took a big gulp of the water and gave a pleased sigh. He immediately put on a nonchalant air before looking back at the man, “ But, what makes you say that? I mean, I know who he was. My father used to tell me stories about Captain America and his MIA BFF.”

“It’s just that your uncle looks so much like Bucky Barnes.”

“Huh, really?” He pretended to sound curious. “Are you a fan boy or something?

His ears turned a shade of red. It was just a little but it was enough to make Tony teased the hell out of the man. The agent looked a tiny bit embarrassed and finally let go of the topic.

Tony sighed, crisis averted. Uncle James’ identity was a sensitive matter. Even Hill didn’t know about him. Tony and his family decided that it would be best to give the man a choice to whom he want his secrets reveal to. It’s not exactly their place.

“I think your friend needs you, Mr. Stark, “ the agent told him before passing him to speak to Hill.

“Surprises, “ Rhodey muttered under his breath, taking his champagne in one shot. His best friend was standing next to the curtain with his glass, shaking his head in disbelief. “So many surprises today.”

Tony walked to him and patted his shoulder emphatically. “There, there platypus. There, there.”

His brother from another mother glared at him. “While I’m happy you told me the truth about your adoption and about your dad, Harry…” he looked constipated. “I can’t believe that he is your dad and that you have a stepmom who is young enough to be your sister. And again, your dad! I mean… He is so nice and polite and you…”

The air force man looked at Tony from head to toe and back up again to look at his face and snorted.

“Hey, “ Tony faked being hurt with his bottom lip pulled out into a pout.

“I’m not trying to insult you, man, “ Rhodey rolled his eyes. “But, you practically just told me a couple hours ago when you picked me up at the airport. You told me in the parking lot in fucking DCA.”

“But, honey-bear, “ Tony whined. “I kept this secret for so long. I really want to share it with you. You are my big brother. We’re practically family, putting aside the different mother and all the shebang.”

“Yeah, yeah, “ the man gave him a fond look. “A little brother I never wish to have, but one that I’m grateful to have anyway. I’ve never dreamt of having an imp whining drama queen as a roommate.”

“But you wouldn’t have me any other way, “ Tony smirked at his first true no-maj friend. “Your college life would be boring if I wasn’t your roomie.”

“Yeah, “ he punched Tony’s arm affectionately. “I would kill myself out of boredom.”

“See, “ the young billionaire opened his palm and looked cocky.

“Yeah, yeah, “ Rhodey admitted. “Forgive me, but I’m still trying to process this. This is a little way over my head at the moment, “ Rhodey sighed, before pulling up his signature ‘I’m happy for you anyway, even though you just dropped a bombshell at me’ kind of smile. “But you’re going to be a big brother at 23. I hope and pray that you know how I felt when your brother or sister reach their puberty.”

Whatever appeared on Tony’s expression made Rhodey laughed very hard. But it wasn’t long before his face turned serious.

“I did what you ask me to do,” He spoke quietly, so that the others couldn’t hear. Whispering would work if only his father, Peggy and uncle James weren’t here. With their enhanced hearing, this secretive conversation wouldn’t work.

Thankfully they were talking to other people, but you never know with spies, especially veterans like aunt Peg and uncle James.

Tony immediately grabbed his friend’s arm and said his farewell,” So it’s been fun dad, Hill. I love to stay and chat but Rhodey will have to go back to the air force base soon at 1200 for his shift and I want to take him bar-hopping before he has to go back and served Uncle Sam.”

“Tony,” His mom said scandalously. “I raised you better than that. No bar hopping. Your poor friend needs to work. He needs his sleep.”

“But mooooom.” The genius wasn’t embarrassed to say that he still whined at his mom at this age.

“Alright, just one bar. And no more than 3 drinks,” the philanthropist reluctantly consented. He knew his mom always has a soft spot for him. He thanked his mom with a too sweet smile and caught Hill mouthing ‘mama’s boy’.

Tony just pulled his tongue out at his step-mom. Hill rolled her eyes at Tony’s antics.

He gave hugs and farewell to his family and godparents (to him, uncle James was his true godfather, never Obie) and nodded at the SHIELD agent.

Then he turned to Teddy, his oldest and first best friend. He was very proud when the man passed his examination and became the second youngest auror (the first has still being held by former director of MACUSA, Percival Graves) ever to pass with flying colors.

“Teddy bear, I will talk to you later, kay?” Tony hugged his oldest friend, who was downing his hair dark brown right now with a pair of blue eyes behind a pair of glasses. (magic spectacles to help him see through any hidden magic, Tony’s invention)

“Alright mate,” the wizard whispered in his ear. “Do what you have to do. Just be careful, yeah?”

Tony pulled away from the hug and nodded.

“Um thank you for inviting me, Mr and Mrs Evans,” Rhodey smiled stiffly, feeling a bit out of place. Tony felt a bit guilty for just springing up the truth about his family in a short time.

“We’re glad Tony finally told you,” Harry clasped his hand upon his shoulder. “You’re always welcome to this family, Rhodey.”

“Both Starks and Evans,” Howard smiled. Their wives nodded in acknowledgment.

The black African American smiled and relaxed at the admission from Tony’s family. Tony hoped that with his family’s assurance, Rhodey would cease from being an outsider in this special occasion. He was after all his brother in anything but blood.

Fifteen minutes later, they’re sitting in a farthest booth in the corner of a diner, the only diner he could find open at New Year. After their milkshakes arrived, Rhodey thanked the waitress and cocked an eyebrow at Tony. “I thought we’re going to a bar.”

“Well, bar is too crowded for what we’re going to talk about and are you crazy or something?! There’s no way we could get to a bar on New Year, even using my name. Can you imagine the traffic?” Tony plucked the cherry from on top of the whipped cream on his milkshake into his mouth with a pop. He left the stem on the table and took a quick glance around to make sure that nobody were listening on them.

“Talk,” he made a gesture with his hand.

Rolling his eyes, Rhodey sighed and began to speak. The airman confirmed that the information were true. Since Stark Industries stopped producing guns and bargained to provide the military with high-quality defense tools, such as bullet-proof vest and better gear for soldier’s protection, the leftover from SI weapons have been treasured by everyone. Everyone. That included terrorists and possibly HYDRA.

For all these years, Tony never thought about SI’s guns anymore. It has been shut down, thus he thought that now their company’s legacy wouldn’t be drenched in blood anymore.

Apparently, he has been living in a cocoon, a byproduct of his sheltered life as a genius who has been loved and protected by his family.

Through a grapevine in his social circle at a charity a month ago, he found out some whispering about how valuable SI weapons were, the remains from before his father left the gun racing. He was shocked and furious, but he managed to control his rage and tried to coax the info out of the discussion nonchalantly, a trick he learnt from aunt Peg.

Tony could be so subtle if he wanted to. After all, he has been taught well by Jarvis to not act rash even when he was overwhelmed by negative emotion.

He found out more about the weapons and he confirmed it with Clint when they met in one of their foodie outings with Teddy, whenever the metamorphogus got a day off. He didn’t want to ask more since even though the man was his friend, he still worked under SHIELD, whom to Tony’s delight still thought that Tony was clueless about the organization. Hill’s guests were trying to act as nothing more than her civilian co-workers, which was hilarious to Tony at the time because some of them were so oblivious.

Teddy who could see the tiny hint of turmoil in Tony’s eyes behind Clint’s confirmation, was worried. After Clint went home, they apparated to Stark Tower. (the building has been operating for a month since the beginning of summer and Tony’s penthouse was on the top, where he lived alone)

The billionaire told him everything, about how furious he was at how Stark weapons still being used and how he needed to do something about it. As an auror, Teddy didn’t condone vigilantism, but as his friend, he told him to be careful and discreet, and not to use magic to do it. The auror didn’t want to have to arrest his childhood friend.

This gave him the courage to tell Rhodey a couple of weeks ago, whom also telling Tony the same thing.

“Thank you for the info, honey bear, “ Tony said, grateful of his best friend’s confirmation.

“ I know you want to do something about it, but the less I know the better, Tones, “ Rhodey looked at him seriously. “I will try to help you as much as I could but please, please try not to get caught.”

Tony really have the best friends ever. It’s true what they said, ‘ a friend will help you move a couch, but a best friend (s) will help you move a body.’

“Your parents, especially your mom would be devastated if they found out that I or Teddy didn’t try to stop you. I can’t handle her ‘You’re disappointing me’ look.” His former roommate said apprehensively. “It’s unbearable.”

At that, Tony chuckled. His mom rarely pulled those looks, but they were truly fiercer than Jarvis’ look. It’s horrible.

***

March 8th 2002

Tony was working in his workshop in the tower on a fine Sunday morning. (you should be asleep at 2 AM, Tony, not working *inner Pepper voice lectured him)

What would he do without Pepper? She was the fiercest woman he knew, beside his aunt and mom. Not many could handle Tony or even stood up to him. He knew he was charismatic, chatty and often too smart that people didn’t often understand what he was saying.

But Pepper, oh dear Pepper wasn’t afraid to speak up and asked Tony to, in her words ‘Dial it down, Mr. Stark. We’re not all geniuses, here.’ And she said it without a hint of criticism or mocking, but more in an exasperated annoyance and a statement of fact.

Tony felt loved. This woman has been working for him for two years and Tony considered her more than just an assistant. She was for a better word, his friend. Even if Tony was a friend who was also her boss and signed her paychecks.

“Incoming call from Dr. Banner, sir,” JARVIS chirped in, snapping Tony out of his thoughts.

“At this ungodly hour?!” He asked incredulously, then added sarcastically. “Didn’t he know I need my beauty sleep?!”

“Should I tell him that you were occupied at the moment, sir?” His AI asked, unsure. He’s probably confused since Dr. Banner was one of his creator’s good friends. It seemed rather rude to reject the man’s call.

“Oh, J,” the engineer remarked in pity. “I was joking. I will make an insolent out of you just yet. And this is a homework for you, young sir. Sarcasm. Learn it and study it. I’ll give you a pop quiz later after lunch.”

He programed JARVIS a little over three years ago when he was having one of his melancholy time and missing his old butler so much. J was a learning program but he was much more intelligent and sophisticated than his predecessors, DUM-E, U and Butterfinger. He didn’t have a physical form but his voice came from speakers and his sight came from the cameras around the house.

Furthermore, JARVIS has been integrated to every branch of SI in the world. Mostly they thought J was just a voice assistant. The young Stark-Potter couldn’t just come out and said that he had created a fully-functioning AI. People were already scared shitless by SKYNET and HAL and they weren’t even real.

If they knew about JARVIS’ existence as an Artificial Intelligence and that he has eyes and ears everywhere through Stark’s satellites, Tony was afraid that the government would prosecute his baby. Therefore, J being who he was, was only wide-known by his family and closest friends, like Rhodey, Teddy and Bruce (his trio of bears). Not even Pepper know. He liked her but he can’t trust her yet with his brain child.

“Of course, sir,” J answered. “Do you want to take Dr. Banner’s call, sir?”

“Um, what?” Tony was ashamed that he almost forgot about Bruce. “Yeah, yeah, put him on.”

“Brucie bear, what’s up? You never called me this late before. Did you need me to bail you out of jail or something? Coz I’m the only billionaire friend you have. Got the money to proof it here,” Tony grinned at his science bro from his lab.

He met Dr. Robert Bruce Banner in a science convention in Georgia 4 years ago, when the man did a presentation there. The doctor was 23 years old and he already had a doctorate in nuclear physics and just 6 credits shy from getting another one on his belt. Talking about genius! He was the man he needed to befriend. Finally someone he could talk science with.

“You know I never befriended you for your money, Tony,” sighed the genius from the other line.

“You just befriended me for my brain, “ Tony waggled his eyebrows. The engineer could picture his friend rolling his eyes at his comment.

“Sure. You’re the only genius friend I have, “ he said flatly. “It’s not like I have a genius girlfriend and a genius co-worker to hang out with.”

Tony laughed so hard that a drop of tear fell from his eye before he addressed his AI. “That J, is what we called sarcasm. Dry sarcasm, the best one in it’s category. And Brucie here is the best at it. Take a note from him.”

“Of course, sir, “ his AI replied obediently.

“Oh, hi JARVIS. How are you?” Bruce sounded friendly over the phone call. “And how are the bots?”

And that’s why he adored his science bro, well not just because he had three PhDs on his name. The man was always kind to his creations. To him, his helper bots and J weren’t just things. He treated them like people, or in his bots’ case, Bruce considered him like little children with their limited learning ability.

Tony knew he could always upgrade their systems, bug if he did that, he could risk his bots’ personalities and he loved them just as they were. Childish, love to play catch and prompt to spray him with the extinguisher (DUM-E) without being asked to. He would not change a thing.

“I’m fine, Dr., “ J answered amiably. “And the bots are fine as well.”

From behind him, the bots began chirping at being addressed. Tony looked back for a second and smiled warmly at his creations.

“Hey, you didn’t ask about me, “ Tony protested without a bite in his voice.

“I figure you’re fine if you can still whine,” He said dryly. “Anyway, I want to tell you about the good news.”

“Do you get the job?” Tony was excited for the job interview his friend got from Oscorp. He has been trying to offer the doctor a job at SI since he knew him; nevertheless, Bruce refused to receive the offer out of his friendship with Tony.

“No,” Bruce replied. “I got another offer. An interesting one. But guess the best part.”

Tony smiled fondly at the excitement he heard in his friend’s voice. “What?”

“I could do this project at Culver. I don’t need to move away,” he said happily.

“Oh wow. Congrats, Bruce,” Tony felt happy for his friend. One of his cons to work for Oscorp was leaving Betty. He loved that woman so much, Tony was sure he was going to be asked to be his best man soon. “What is it about?”

“Um, well,” the doctor sounded hesitant at this. “It’s a project funded by the government, but I can’t tell you the details. I wasn’t even supposed to tell you about it.”

“Secret government project, you say” Tony grinned.

“Tony, promise me you won’t hack the government’s computer,” Bruce told him exasperatedly.

“For you, Brucie-bear, I promise,” Tony conceded. “Scout’s honor.”

“You were never in a scout,” the man accused.

“You don’t know that,” the inventor defended himself. “I could have been one for… Shit.”

“Tony, what is it?” His science bro asked in concerned.

“Nothing, Brucie-kin,” he answered in a hurry. “It’s late. You should sleep. I should sleep, toodle-oo.”

“Tony…”

With that he let JARVIS hang up the call. At least the AI had a lot of practice of Tony trying to dismiss someone on the phone.

He put a hand on his chest, feeling the rapid sound of his heartbeats as he looked at the man standing behind the project he was working on. “Uncle Jamie, you surprised me.”

“What is this, Niño Pequeño (Spanish)?" The ex-assassin asked calmly, motioning his hand at his project.

“It’s my new hobby, “ Tony shrugged. “Can’t a guy have a new hobby?”

“You’re stalling, petit garçon (French), “ he walked closer and touched his project. “To me, this looks like an armor. A weapon by the looks of the things sticking out of it, lille dreng (Danish).”

Oh oh. He had used Tony’s nickname in three different languages. That’s not good. The last time he did that was when he caught Tony joining a street racing, and even that he only used 2 languages.

“Okay, you got me, “ Tony raised his hands up in surrender. “It’s a suit.”

His uncle looked at him with an expression that said ‘Elaborate.’

So, he explained. His project was a suit of armor made of gold-titanium alloy. It has all the latest toys created by Tony and it could fly. The suit was powered by the Starkium, the new element he and his father created for the arc reactor’s core. The biggest one has been used to power his tower in New York, making it the first self-sustaining building in the world. And he created a mini one to power the suit.

“So, are you going to use this red and gold suit to do the things that you secretly talk to Rhodey about? The thing yuh coun’t tawhk back at Harry’s place wo months ago?”

There’s came the Brooklyn’s accent.

“Why are yuh makin’ weapons again?” The brunette demanded, glaring at his godson.

“Um…”

“Tony.” The way his uncle called his name was what he dubbed the deadly silent voice. It’s a warning before he dug the info out of a person and that person wouldn’t like what uncle James would do to have the information.

“Okay, “ Tony took a deep breath before vomiting his next words. “I heard about SI’s weapons still being used around and sold on the black market. Most of the buyers are terrorists, like the one who destroyed Gulmira, Dad’s friend’s village. Rhodey told me the air force has been deployed to find a terrorist nest in the middle east. There were signs of Stark’s weapons being used. I don’t want those weapons to be used by criminals.”

“Petit garcon…” His godfather tried to say in sympathy.

“After I confirm with both Clint and Rhodey, I started hacking everywhere. CIA, SHIELD, MI5, NDS, ASIS, CIB, MOSSAD. I covered my traces well, so don’t worry. You know what pisses me the most? I found out that HYDRA was also using our weapons. They have these secret bases all over the world.”

Uncle James cocked an eyebrow, letting tony know that he was surprised about that new information.

“When I want to, I could find all HYDRA agents in the world with a snap of my finger, “ he snapped his ginger, trying to control his rage. “But all this time, I left this job to SHIELD because I trust this organization that was built using the sweat and time of my father and godmother. I trusted them to do what’s right.”

The genius turned around and hit the table with his palms. “But they’ve been taking too long. And finding out that the leftover of SI weapons have been sold to HYDRA and terrorists… That’s the last straw. This suit was supposed to be my side project and hobby. I wasn’t lying. But when I found out about all of these, I decided to finish it and used it for one purpose. I’m going to use the suit to destroy every weapons being produced by SI and then I’m going to obliterate HYDRA to the ground. That I promise.”

Tony could feel the fire of vengeance burning inside him. The need to right what’s wrong and brought havoc to the organization that have wronged his family and the world.

“Tony, you have a job, “ James tried to reason with him. “You are the CEO of SI. When will you have time to run the company and going around the world to destroy your weapons and HYDRA?”

“If father could run SI and SHIELD at the same time, I could do it too. It’s called multitasking, “ he turned around and countered with a smug look on his face.

“Okay you cocky boy, “ uncle James put a hand on his hip. “He ran SHIELD with your aunt Peg. It’s called having a partner.”

“You can’t stop me.”

He sighed and smiled a little bit sadly at Tony. “Doan I know it?”

“I know I can’t stop you, but at least you could give half of the HYDRA’s list to SHIELD and I can help you take care the other half. That’s what I call divide and conquer.”

“No, “ Tony shot down the suggestion immediately. “You’re retired! You can’t just come out of your retirement to deal with the same people who have tortured you. That is insane.”

“You see, Tony. People like me weren’t meant to retire, “ the former victim of brainwashing pulled away his bangs from covering his eyes. “We’ve been through too much to stop. I can try to live normal again, but I’m tired for always looking behind my shoulders, even with J’s help. I can’t move on before HYDRA has been erased from the face of the earth.”

“So you see, Tony, “ He looked Tony in the eye, dead serious. “I don’t want to help you. I need to help you.”

“Are you sure, uncle James?” Tony didn’t feel right having James back in the field. The man deserved a long break after being the world’s longer victim of war and another 5 years cleaning HYDRA out of SHIELD.

“Yes, I’m sure But before we do this, you have to promise that you will always choose your family and day job before these missions.”

“Okay. That’s easy.”

“And…”

“There’s more?” Tony’s brows furrowed in annoyance.

“And, “ he patted the suit with a hint of dismay. “Change de colawh. Your suit should say discreet, not obvious. I doan want yuh tuh die becawze of your atrocious choice in colawh. It’s like seeing a fat-head (bald-headed man) in the crowd, yuh ‘know?”

Tony swore he hasn’t laughed as hard as that since the start of the year. Thank you, uncle James. For that wonderful Brooklyn accent and 40’s slang.

“Okay, black it is,” Tony grinned. “ So what’s our codenames? When we do missions. Agents always used codenames.”

“I don’t like the name, but HYDRA is still scared with the name winter soldier.”

“Winter it is,” Tony looked up at his armor. “Hm. My code name. How about Robocop? Titanium guy? Damn, why is it so hard?”

“Iron man.”

“What?”

“Your father always said, Stark men are made of iron. Iron man.”

“Iron Man." Tony scratched his beard. He started growing them a year ago and it has become his trademark so far. “That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean, it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative, the imagery, anyway.” (excerpt from iron man 1)

Uncle James cocked an eyebrow at his chattiness.

“Okay, Iron man it is then,” the billionaire grinned evilly. “HYDRA should watch their backs. We’re bringing in the fight to them.”

***