The divorcing of Marcus Stark
It takes a year to divorce Marcus in the most brutal way possible. First, she starts by getting her lawyers involved, like any sane person should do.
A hush falls over the room as she stalks in, Tony adorably sitting on her hip because he’d refused to let her go when she’d re-entered his room the night before. She’s in one of her sharper suits, burgundy long suit jacket, vest, and pants with a silk black button-up and sharp black heels. More adorable is that Tony had decided to match, she hadn’t even known he had matching outfits for her. It was fucking precious and she’d promised him that he’d get to pick their next matching set.
That’s not what causes the hush though, it’s the fact that she’d not put on any make-up. Her split lip and the ever-darkening bruise on her cheek were on full display.
“Mrs Stark?” Owen Barrett, the head of her team of lawyers, says slowly as she sits Tony on the edge of the table so she can bring her briefcase up.
She pulls out her marriage contract, the detailed list of all of Marcus’s lovers, and the initial pictures Anna took of her face. She spreads them out on the table and then looks at her legal team, sharks she’d hand-picked herself against every opposition.
Owen Barrett was a large black man who had fought against every racist prejudice to learn the law, then continued to fight it to practice what he’d been taught.
Nahla Delgado was disowned by her family when she’d left her abusive ex-husband, then practically excommunicated from her town when she used the knowledge she’d gained from her ex-husband’s law books to take him for everything he was worth.
Brandon Bell was a veteran in the war who’d lost his arm saving a Cane Corso puppy from a landmine as well as said dog [no longer a puppy] Frankie.
Jesse Sanders, a single father of six who more often than not had to bring his kids into the office at the beginning of his employment due to lack of babysitting money. Baby Lisa still made a few guest appearances when his new nanny went on holiday.
And Jack Wells who was semi-openly gay. She’d met his boyfriend, Joe, and he was a really sweet guy.
She had other lawyers for Stark Industries, of course, but these were her lawyers. Ones she knew she could trust implicitly because she’d seen them fighting furiously for Tony in the future.
“My husband has decided to strike me because I would prefer celebrating my son’s achievements instead of going to a gala. If you could advise me on the best way to remind him that I am a Stark while also stripping him of the name I would appreciate it.”
Nahla eyes her split lip, then the extensive list of names on the page detailing Marcus’s lovers, before meeting her eyes. “It would be my genuine pleasure, Mrs Stark.”
Frankie, probably sensing that this would be a long meeting, trots around the table and shoves his face into Tony’s stomach causing Tony to grin. Absolutely precious.
The next thing she does is consult her PR department on how exactly the best way to publicly ruin Marcus would be. Eve Day, the head of the department and a woman not at all afraid to yell at Helana when she thought Helana was being a nuisance on purpose, is surprisingly okay with her just plastering the whole divorce over the news.
“The people love Marcus, Mrs Stark, just as much as they love you,” Eve tells her seriously. “He’s been trained for years before he met you just how to make them eat out of the palms of his hands. If we do not approach this correctly this could turn into a country-wide civil war.”
“So how do I approach this correctly?” She asks as she sways with Tony on her hip. He’d been fighting his usual mid-day nap with a vengeance [she’d tried everything Anna had told her over the phone since he didn’t want to stay at the manner] but she’d finally gotten him to nod off with the swaying and constant chatter. He would while and start waking up if she stopped talking.
“Transparency, no cover-up make-up, if someone asks you what’s happening then tell them the truth. Your husband hit you in a disagreement and you don’t want him around your son. It will be hard and once the paparazzi get a leg up they’ll be hard-pressed to step back again but it’s the best option.” Eve explains making her nod.
She would have fought back before, tried to minimize what was getting out to save face, but this time her priorities had changed. Tony deserved the world and at the moment that meant a home he could feel safe in filled to the brim with fun science.
“However,” Eve purrs with a mischievous grin as she plucks up the list of names belonging to Marcus’s lovers. “There’s no reason we can’t start ripping the man’s fanbase apart early. Ellie!”
Ellie Bradley pokes her head out from behind the massive stack of paper on her desk. “Yes, ma’a… oh heavens! Mrs Stark! Are you okay?! Who did that to you?! Why, when I get my hands on the no good, son of a…”
“Ellie!” Eve snaps sharply causing Ellie’s mouth to snap shut. “Young Mr Stark is here and while he might be asleep I will not tolerate swearing near him.”
“Yes Miss Day, sorry Miss Day,” Ellie says bashfully, the wind completely taken out of her sails.
“None of that now, I will need that energy for your new task.” Ellie perks up. “Please verify that these women have been in sexual relations with Marcus Stark while he was dating and/or married to Helana Stark then let the hounds rip him to shreds.”
The thing she likes about girls in her PR department is that while young, some are just out of college, they are sharp. Ellie looks at the list, then her face, before her eyes light up with understanding and rage.
“Of course Miss Day. We’ll crush this ba…”
“Ellie.”
“…ad man.” Ellie finishes with a flicker of bashfulness before she’s out the door. “Nancy! Gather the girls! We’re going to war!”
“On it!” Nancy White calls back.
“Remember, Helana. Complete transparency.”
“Thanks, Eve, keep the girls in line.” She chuckles as cries of outrage and determination explode from outside Eve’s office.
“For this? I’ll join the chaos with open arms.” Eve promises making her laugh harder.
The third thing she does is let Marcus attack her again. It takes a month for Ellie’s info to hit the papers, a month of silence and threats of continued violence if she didn’t fall in line. A tiring month of trying to keep Tony as far out of the storm brewing in their home as possible, something that became exceptionally hard the first time Tony heard a threat from Marcus.
He was a furious ball of protective vengeance which was cute but she really didn’t want him involved, he was four after all. Anna and Jarvis understood at least and distracted him at every turn.
She’s just leaving the kitchen after having a quick snack and planning how to continue the present she was making for Tony while he napped when the front door bursts open and Marcus storms in. She does a quick inventory of where everyone was before he makes it up to her. Anna was out in the herb garden collecting what she wanted for dinner, Jarvis would be straightening out the study two rooms away at this point in his rounds, Theo Fowler [her gardener] was in the back garden tending to her flower paths, and Melissa Grant [their maid] was in the city buying new summer décor since Helana had expressed a slight distaste for the furniture Marcus had picked out [it was actually sweet how fast everyone was jumping to try and help her feel more comfortable in the manner since Marcus had hit her].
She sees a flash of the front page, several pictures of Marcus with various socialites in various stages of undress [Well done, Ellie] and the bold title Marcus Stark’s lies about being a loving husband and father exposed!, before the back of his left-hand smacks into her right cheek so hard she’s sent crashing to the ground. Her cheek burns and she knows it’d been slashed open when she sees the blood dripping off the diamond of his engagement ring.
“Did you really think I’d let this go?” Marcus snarls as he tosses the paper down next to her. “Did you!?” His foot flashes outwards and she instinctively raises her arms to protect her head.
Her vision explodes in greens and reds as pain explodes from her right arm. She cries out in pain as blood splatters across her face when the snapped bone in her right arm escapes her skin and almost stabs her in the eye.
It takes her a few moments of fighting the powers she refused to use to register the sounds of a struggle. She blinks up dazedly at Theo while Jarvis wrestles Marcus and Anna holds a furiously squirming Tony.
“Let him go.” She rasps as she lets Theo help her into a sitting position.
“I’ve called the police and an ambulance,” Theo promises her making her smile weakly and pat his arm with her good arm.
Jarvis, who had finally pinned Marcus, shoots her a, really? I can keep him down, look while Anna puts Tony down. He rockets into her good side, angry tears in his eyes which she thumbs away. “Please, Edwin.”
Jarvis tightens his hold for a fraction of a second before he lets Marcus go and comes to stand beside her. “Are you sure you’re okay, Ma’am?”
“No, but there’s no reason for you to get into any trouble.” She hums as she watches Marcus scramble up. Red still swims in her vision and with it the knowledge that she could turn this man to dust, that she could order him ripped from the entire universe and Reality itself would happily rise to the command.
It’s the first time since she ended up here that she’s gotten more than vague suggestions of offers. It’s a tad heavy-handed given the situation and the amount of pain she was in but after a deep breath she can push it away, she wonders how hard they will push when they’re physically here.
“I’m going to ruin you for this, Helana. Don’t think I won’t.” Marcus growls as he angrily brushes his hair back into place. “Antony, come. Your mother needs some time to think about her priorities.”
Tony’s response is to actually snarl up at Marcus and cling harder to her. Marcus steps closer angrily and she tightens her hold around Tony with a snarl of her own, red mist pushing against her control harder and harder with every step. “If you touch him I will rip you apart limb by limb.” She snarls.
He ignores her and tries to snatch Tony away. Jarvis and Theo step up to shove him away, Anna starts crouching so she can help keep Tony in her hold, and she readies to lunge for a bite when a distinctive click freezes all of them.
“Back away from Mrs Stark and young Mr Stark.” Melissa snaps, the assault rifle that was hidden in the front door pointed at Marcus’s head and a bag home decorating magazines at her feet. “Now!” She snaps again when Marcus doesn’t move.
“You really want to do this?” Marcus laughs. “I could fire you in an instant.”
“Actually, my sole employer is Mrs Stark, so you can’t,” Melissa says darkly, keeping the assault rifle locked on Marcus’s head as he moves. “And yes, I really want to do this.”
Marcus finally figures out that he’s outnumbered and snarls furiously as he storms away, Melissa keeps the assault rifle trained on him until he is out of sight. Even then, she doesn’t let the gun go until sirens start approaching. Putting it back in the door and shutting the secret compartment.
“How many of those are there?” Tony asks quietly as crashes start sounding upstairs.
“Enough.” She hums as she kisses the top of his head, tired from the amount of fighting she’d had to do not to kill Marcus. “Theo, could you and Melissa stay here to make sure Marcus doesn’t take anything on his way out?”
“Of course, Ma’am,” Theo promises as Melissa scoops up her haul again.
“Edwin, Anna, could you bring Tony and me dinner at the hospital? The biggest and greasiest burgers you can find.” Anna pulls a face as Tony blinks up at her but Jarvis nods.
“Of course, Ma’am. So long as this doesn’t become a habit.”
“I don’t plan to go to the hospital often.” She promises as the police and paramedics stream through the front door. “He’s upstairs.” She says to one of the officers who had skidded to a stop when he’d spotted her, clearly shocked that Helana Stark had been in the middle of a domestic. He and his partner jump into action when another loud crash is heard from upstairs though so she’ll give them a pass.
The paparazzi watch her get loaded into the ambulance with Tony, the ones to stay instead of following her ambulance also gets to watch Marcus get dragged into a police car with shiny new cuffs locking his wrists together, she adores seeing it splashed across newspapers the next day.
The fourth thing she does is invent like normal. She does upgrade the guns in her house, worry mixing with amusement at the increasing shock Tony discovers exactly how many hidey-holes she’d built into their home.
“I made some very sneaky friends during the war, dragă, and sometimes those sneaky friends turn on their friends to save themselves. So I need to out sneaky them, just in case.” He’d nodded with a level of understanding that she’d filed away for another day.
She makes a protective metal casing for her arm when she gets truly annoyed with the bulky cast they’d stuck her in. Working in tandem with her generally-annoyed-but-willing-to-do-what-she-wanted-so-she’d-shut-up doctors. It worked like a charm and she could bathe with it without worry but would be hard to mass produce, a section of her R&D department was working on it.
Another thing she starts sketching out, now that she has better movement of her right arm, is a mechanical arm, not unlike the one James had during the second battle with Thanos, for Brandon. He’d been working overtime crushing Marcus under every criminal charge he could find and he deserved a reward, she had other bonuses planned for the rest of her legal team for when this was all over but this would serve the dual purpose of her having a ‘prototype’ laying around for when James tried to kill her. She didn’t know what was in his current arm but she wanted nothing to do with it and she was sure the Russian asshole [because unlike Rogers and his selective blindness, she could tell that everything ‘Bucky’ was just a puppet mask the Winter Soldier was using to stay alive post-Hydra] agreed.
The thing she does most though is play with Tony in their lab, because it couldn’t be called just hers anymore with the amount of time he spent building Dum-E. And that was what he was doing, no matter how hidden he was trying to keep the project. It bites at her a little that the reason he’d taken so long to complete her first grandson was because he thought she disapproved of his fascination with robotics. That it had taken a decade and teen rebellion to spark the project back up again. She helps in the beginning, of course, but once she presents him with his own [child safe] lab tools [and a bracelet that throws up a shield around him when high levels of heat get near him or projectiles approach too fast. He’d insisted she test it for a whole two days with him which had been really fun if not a tad stressful] he’d insisted on doing it mostly on his own.
Her leaps in progress without Marcus convincing her board of governors to side with her [not that she really needed them since she had the majority share but the validation was nice], the leap in quality of her weapons brings her heavy public support from the army too. Colonel Phillips even comes out of ‘retirement’ to hold a press conference about how much she’d done for the country and to announce that the US army ‘stood with her’.
A year is much longer than she’d have originally liked to have to deal with Marcus but she had committed to utterly ruining the Italian model and his fall from grace was glorious. He lost public ground faster than he could stumble away from the edge, her legal team practically buried him whilst simultaneously robbing his proverbial grave. And as soon as the divorce was finalised he was deported!
Helana wasn’t usually a vindictive person… that was a lie, she was petty as hell on a good day, but this? This was gold.
What makes it all the better is when she gets home Tony is waiting in the entrance hall with Anna, Jarvis, and a fully awake Dum-E. Dum-E who had the soft pulsing of orange coming from his core, a soul of his very own.
“Mamă.” Tony starts, oddly nervous. “This is Dum-E. He’s a helper bot.”
Dum-E chirps happily at her as he rolls up to her, almost running over her feet to introduce himself faster.
She beams at Dum-E until her cheeks hurt, her grin tugging at the light scar Marcus’s engagement ring had given her, as she reaches out to gently pet his claw-like she’d always wanted to. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Dum-E. I’m your bunica, Helana. And yes, you are very shiny.”
Dum-E lets out a barrage of happy chirps while he spins in a circle as Tony bursts into tears.