Poisoning
After Maria left to head back to Washington, Sharon volunteered to stay and watch Peter while Tony, Pepper, and Natasha headed to Monaco. While she did stay, when she found out what Tony had said to Maria, she had screamed at him that he was an asshole and she hit him multiple times. She told him in no uncertain terms that he would be groveling for his sister's forgiveness when he got back.
Sharon came downstairs on the morning the race was taking place to see Peter sitting on the couch with the TV on, most likely watching the end of the race.
“Morning Pete.” Sharon told him sleepily as she pressed a kiss to the top of his head. She didn’t look at the TV, just made her way towards the kitchen for coffee. “Who’s winning?” She called.
“I think dad did.” Peter called.
Sharon glanced at the clock and was surprised that the race was over already. She made her way back to Peter, coffee in hand. “So your dad's car won then?”
“No.” Peter shook his head and pointed at the TV. Sharon gave him a confused glance before she looked at the TV. When she did, her eyes widened in shock and she dropped her coffee to the floor.
“And if you are just joining us.” The news anchor began. “The Monaco Grand Prix was forced to end early due to a confrontation between Tony Stark’s Iron Man and as of right now an unidentified assailant. We warn you, some of you may find the footage that you are about to see difficult to watch.”
Sharon watched with horror as the unknown attacker used some sort of energy whips and cut through one of the Ferrari cars' front end off. They kept walking until the Stark came around the corner. The attacker did the same thing to the Stark car, causing it to flip over, hit the wrecked Ferrari, and come to rest along the fence.
More cars came around the corner and swerved to avoid the attacker and they all collided with one another, causing an enormous fireball.
The attacker made his way towards what remained of the Stark car and cut it in half, right where the driver should have been. Suddenly the attacker was hit over the head by wreckage by the Stark driver that looked like…
“Is that your father!?” Sharon shrieked.
“Yeah.” Peter said excitedly, not taking his eyes off the TV.
The attacker used his whips to attack Tony who was rolling on the ground to avoid the strikes. Tony was finally able to get to his feet to turn to run just as the attacker finally made contact and sent the billionaire flying into one of the wrecked cars.
Sharon watched as her cousin lay motionless next to the car he had hit.
“Get up, get up.” She kept murmuring as his attacker started walking towards him, spinning and twirling the whips. Subconsciously she knew that he would because Peter had said that he had won but it was still gut wrenching to watch.
Tony moved just as the whips made contact with the wrecked cars leaking gas tank. He quickly got up and put out the small fire that was on his shoulder. The attacker kept walking slowly towards Tony when suddenly a Rolls Royce came into the picture and hit the attacker, pinning his body to the barrier while Tony had to jump onto the fence to avoid being hit.
“Is that Happy?” Sharon asked out loud to herself as she watched Tony argue with the occupants of the car who she assumed was Happy, Pepper, and possibly Natasha. Just as Tony walked around the car and opened the car door, the attacker woke up and cut the door in half.
The Rolls reversed and drove into the attacker a few times before it suddenly came to a rest. Once the car was stopped, the attacker brought his whips down on the roof of the car a few times before the driver side of the car was sheared off by one of the whips.
Tony had just made his way back around when something flew out of the car and landed at his feet. Tony activated whatever it was with his feet. He then reached down and brought it up to his chest and an Iron Man suit formed around him.
Sharon was surprised, last she knew Tony could only put on and take off his suits with the help of the robots in the lab. She had no idea that they were now portable.She looked over at Peter who was watching with glee.
“You knew about that?” Sharon asked her younger cousin.
Peter just nodded, never taking his eyes off of the TV. Sharon turned back to the TV just as Tony pushed the totaled Rolls out of the way with his leg. He then turned to face the attacker and raised his left hand to fire a blast at him when one of the whips disabled the repulsor. Tony spun around and tried again when another whip hit him in the chest. Tony raised his right hand and fired a blast that was batted aside by one of the whips. Tony fired again but it was dodged this time.
The attacker was then able to wrap both whips around Tony and then proceeded to throw him back and forth until Tony landed on the hood of the wrecked Rolls. The attacker pulled Tony off the hood of the car with one whip wrapped around Tony’s neck. Tony rose to his feet and began wrapping the whip around himself so that he could get closer to the attacker. Once he was close enough, Tony was able to land a couple of punches on the attacker before he flipped him over onto his back. Once the attacker was on the ground, Tony reached down and pulled something that looked suspiciously like an Arc reactor off of the attacker’s chest.
The battle on the racetrack was then replaced by the news anchor from before. “According to our sources in Monaco, the assailant has been identified as a Russian national by the name of Ivan Vanko.”
That was all that they watched before Sharon put cartoons on.
“Hey!” Peter yelled in protest.
“You're a kid. Be a kid.” Sharon told him as she took her phone out. “Jarvis, parental lock on all news channels.”
“Yes Ms. Carter.” The A.I responded.
Peter had an affronted look on his face. If it weren’t for the gravity of the situation, Sharon would be laughing at her baby cousin. She quickly found Maria’s name in her phone and hit call. After a few rings, Maria answered.
“He likes his eggs scrambled.” Maria answered, thinking that Sharon had forgotten what Peter liked to eat for breakfast. “Give him a couple of pieces of bacon with them and he’ll be the happiest kid in the world.”
“What? I know how to feed him. I was calling to ask if you have seen what your asshole brother has just done.” She said as she made her way onto the deck, close enough so that she could still see Peter but far enough away so that he couldn’t hear.
“Sharon, I really do not want to talk about him right now.” Maria said tiredly, what her brother had said to her was still weighing heavily on her.
Sharon really did feel bad for her cousin. Having the one person that had always been there for her for almost 20 years say those things to her had devastated her. “Yeah he’s a dick, asshole, douchebag, and any other word under the sun that you can think of but you need to put the news on right now.”
Maria sighed on the other end. “What channel?”
“Pick a channel. Any channel. Everyone will be talking about it.” Sharon rushed out.
Maria was silent but Sharon could hear the TV on in the background. “What the hell!?”
“Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction as well.” Sharon told her.
“Does he just bring these emotions out of everyone he crosses paths with?” Maria was back to angry. “I mean he really can’t go more than a week without picking a fight with someone.”
Sharon agreed completely. “What now?”
There was a pause on the other end while Maria thought. “Well for starters, we keep this from Pete for as long as possible.”
Sharon bit her lip, dreading what she had to say. “Well, we don’t have to worry about that.”
Maria was silent for a few moments. “Damnit Sharon! How could you let him watch that!?”
“I didn’t let him watch it.” Sharon defended. “He had already watched it by the time I woke up.”
Maria sighed. “He got up to watch the race?”
Sharon looked at Peter who was trying and failing to glare at Sharon through the glass door. Sharon had to shake her head at the kid, he really could not pull off anger. Yup.” She said as she stuck her tongue out at him.
“Alright. I’ll start looking into this Vanko, you just keep Pete distracted.” Maria told her.
“Will do.” Sharon told her cousin. “Has Tony…”
“No Sharon.” Maria said bitterly. “I’m not doing this now.”
“Fine.” Sharon sighed. “But you two are going to have to talk eventually.”
“Stay out of it Sharon. This is between Tony and myself.” Maria said angrily. “Now I am going to look into Vanko and you’re going to mind your own business.”
With that Maria hung up on her cousin, leaving Sharon to try and figure out where everything went wrong.
Within a day Tony was back in the US and Vanko was apparently dead from an explosion in his cell.
Tony was sitting in his 32 Ford while he was going over information on Vanko on holographic displays that Jarvis had brought up.
“Query complete sir. Anton Vanko was a Soviet physicist who defected to the United States in 1963. However, he was accused of espionage and was deported in 1967. His son, Ivan, who is also a physicist, was convicted of selling Soviet-era weapons grade plutonium to Pakistan, and served 15 years in Kopeisk prison. No further records exist.” Jarvis informed Tony.
Rhodey entered the code for the lab and came in. “Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now. Listen. I’ve been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door and taking these.” Rhodey pointed at the Iron Man suits that were on display and made his way in their direction. “They’re gonna take your suits, Tony, okay? They’re sick of the games. You said nobody else would possess this technology for 20 years. Well, guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday. It’s not theoretical anymore.” Rhodey walked up to the car Tony was in. “Are you listening to me? Are you okay?” The Air Force Colonel asked, alarmed at the sight of his closest friend.
Tony looked at his best friend and patted him on the arm. “Let’s go.” Tony opened the passenger door and got out of the car. As soon as his feet hit the floor he collapsed.
Rhodey rushed around the car to his friend's aid. “Hey, man. Hey, hey! You alright?” Rhodey was really worried now.
“Yeah, I should get to my desk.” Rhodey helped him up and over to the desk. “See that cigar box?”
“Yeah.” Rhodey told him, carefully helping him to the desk.
“It’s palladium.” Tony told him as Tony collapsed onto the chair.
Rhodey quickly opened the box of palladium and took a chip out. While he was doing this, Tony removed his Arc Reactor and held it so Rhodey could see the old palladium smoking. “Is that supposed to be smoking?”
Tony grabbed the new palladium. “If you must know, it’s neutron damage. It’s from the reactor wall”.
Rhodey held the old chip up so that he could see it. “You had this in your body?” Rhodey then pulled Tony’s collar down. “And how about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?”
Before Tony could respond, a whimper could be heard coming from the doorway. Tony and Rhodey both looked over and saw Peter standing there, staring at his father with tears in his eyes.
Tony put the reactor back in place and made his way over to his son.
“Pete?” Tony said slowly.
“You lied!” Peter cried angrily.
Tony was taken aback, Peter had never been angry with him. In fact, Peter was rarely ever angry. “Lied about what?”
“You said that that,” Peter pointed at the Arc Reactor, “was keeping you alive and that nothing bad would happen.”
The conversation that he had had with Peter almost a year before when he got back from Afghanistan flashed through his mind. Why would Peter say that Tony had lied about that, unless…
“Peter, what are you talking about?” Tony asked slowly.
“It's making you sick! The lines all over you.” Peter was now crying heavily.
Before Tony could respond to his son, Peter turned and ran back upstairs. Tony glanced back at his friend who was looking sadly at him. Tony made his way upstairs in pursuit of his son. He made his way past a startled Pepper, who was giving a phone interview, and a confused Natasha in the living room and continued up the stairs to the bedrooms.
When he came to Peter's bedroom he looked into the room and couldn’t see him. Before Tony moved on to continue his search, a whimper from inside the room stopped him. He quietly entered the room and began looking around when another whimper could be heard from the closet.
Tony made his way over to the closet and opened the door, and was met with the sight of his son on the floor crying with his head down and arms wrapped around his legs.
“Peter?” Tony asked quietly as he crouched down to his son's level but didn’t get any form of acknowledgment. “Pete?” He tried again and reached his hand out and placed it on his son's shoulder.
Peter looked up at his father with tears running down his face. “You lied.” Peter said quietly. “Jarvis said you were sick.”
Tony had forbidden Jarvis from telling anyone so either the AI had figured out a loophole which was unlikely or his son had figured out how to get the computer to tell him which was a more likely explanation.
“I am.” Tony agreed, knowing there was no point in lying to his son and it would only make things harder.
“Will you get better?” Peter asked quietly.
Tony sighed. He had no idea what to say. “I’m trying bud.”
“You have to dad!” Peter cried as he jumped up and grabbed onto his father and refused to let go.
Father and son spent the rest of the night and the following day with each other. Tony because he wanted to make as many memories for his son and Peter because he was terrified something would happen the second his father left his sight.
Late in the day, Natasha entered Tony’s room and was met with the sight of Peter curled up into Tony’s side with the Star Wars cartoon..
“Do you know which watch you’d like to wear tonight, Mr. Stark?” She asked.
Tony looked over to his fake assistant. He had forgotten about his birthday party with what had been going on with Peter. He must have been quiet for a while because Peter started poking him in the stomach.
“Dad. Ms. Romanoff asked you a question.” Peter said, looking up at his father.
“What?” He saw Natasha standing there looking at him with what looked like genuine concern from the former assassin.
She held up the box of watches. “Watches for the party Mr. Stark.”
“Right.” Tony shook his head. “I should cancel the party.”
Natasha nodded her head in agreement. “Probably.”
Tony glanced back down at his son who was still looking at him. He looked back at his fake assistant. “Would you mind taking care of it?”
“Of course Mr. Stark.” Natasha said before she turned to leave the room.
“Tony.” He said, turning his attention back to the TV.
“What was that?” Natasha asked confusedly.
‘You don’t actually work for me so you don’t have to call me Mr. Stark.” Tony told her, never taking his eyes off the TV. “Plus when you say Mr. Stark, I expect my father to start yelling at me.”
Natasha gave him a small smile. “Of course… Tony.”
Natasha made her way to the office in the house and spent the next hour calling various guests, caterers, and anyone else involved with the party and told them that the party was being canceled.
If she was being honest with herself, compared to most of her missions this one was actually not bad. Most of her targets usually spent their time leering at her, usually the main reason she was assigned to those particular missions. It was one of the main reason’s that Fury had selected her for this mission but Stark had surprised her. While he was an egotistical jackass at times, most of the time he spent with his son. Outside of the cold shoulder in the beginning, after his sister and cousin told him who she really was, he had treated her with nothing but respect. Definitely not what she was expecting.
After she was done making her phone calls and getting yelled at by disgruntled would-be guests, she left the office and found Tony and Peter playing Mario Kart on the living room TV.
“I’m beating you dad!” Peter called happily.
Tony kept looking between his remote and the TV. “If this were real driving I’d be beating you.” He was clearly getting frustrated with the controls. “This makes no sense… Oh that’s just great, someone just hit me with a banana peel.”
Peter laughed. “No one hit you Dad, you hit it.”
Tony grumbled in response. “Stupid game.”
Soon enough Peter was crossing the finish line in first place and he started celebrating by jumping up and down.
“I beat you. I beat…” He stopped when he turned around and saw Natasha standing there smiling at him.
Tony turned to see what had caused his son to stop his little celebration and saw Natasha standing there.
“Anyone give you a hard time Romanoff?” Tony asked.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle Mr. Sta...” She stopped herself at the look Tony was giving her. “Tony.” She told him with a smile
“Good.” Tony told her. “Mini-me and I were going to order pizza so just let Jarvis know what you want.”
“That’s okay, I’ll find something else to eat.” She told her fake boss.
Peter looked confused. “Do you not like pizza Ms. Romanoff?”
“No I like pizza but you and your father are spending time with each other.” The former assassin explained.
Peter looked over to his father and then back to Natasha. “You can stay. You wanna play Mario Kart?” He held a remote out for her.
Natasha shook her head at the pleading seven year old. “That’s okay Peter…”
“Just do what he wants.” Tony told her. “He’s going to break out the puppy dog eyes that gets Maria and Pepper about half the time and Sharon, Rhodey, and myself all the time.”
“As long as it isn’t a problem.” She said as she came closer to the couch and took the Wii remote from Peter.
Tony just waved away her worry and Peter and Natasha sat down to play Mario Kart. After a couple of races, the pizza was delivered so the game was switched to finishing the Star Wars cartoon that they were watching earlier.
By the time they reached the last episode, Peter was fast asleep between the two adults with his head resting on Natasha. Tony glanced over and smiled.
“Safe to say he likes you.” Tony told her quietly.
Natasha looked down at the sleeping child. “I didn’t think he did.” She said just as quietly.
“What, because he wouldn’t talk to you and would stay around Pepper or me?” He asked and Natasha nodded. “While he’s usually excited and happy around new people, if someone he doesn't know is in his space then he becomes reserved and quiet.”
“His space being here?” She asked, moving slightly so she could get more comfortable but not so much that she would wake the sleeping child.
“Here, his uncle’s, Rhodey’s, my cousins, basically anywhere he spends extended periods of time.” Tony explained.
The two were quiet for a while before Tony spoke up. “What exactly have you told the pirate so far?”
Natasha looked up in surprise, she didn’t think he’d want to talk about that. “Just your day to day activities and basic security details.”
Tony nodded and glanced at his son. “Well you can tell him that he won’t have to worry about me for much longer.” At her confused look he tapped the reactor. “It’s poisoning me. Probably won’t last the week at this rate.”
Natasha’s eyes widened to comical levels. Of all the things that Tony could have said, that was the last thing she was expecting. “What?” Was all she was able to get out.
Tony nodded his head. “The thing keeping me alive is also killing me.” He said to her. “Ironic isn’t it?”
“I’m…sorry.” Natasha stutterd out. She really wasn’t used to feeling emotions while on missions.
Tony waved away her worry for him. “Don’t be. I should have died in Afghanistan. Instead I got one more year with my kid.”
“Does Maria or Sharon…”
Tony shook his head. “No one knows what’s going on.”
Before Natasha could say anything, Jarvis’ voice could be heard in the room. “Sir, Colonel Rhodes is here.”
Tony looked over to Natasha. “I called him and left a voicemail.” She informed Tony.
“Let him in J.” Tony told the AI. “Tell him where we are and to be quiet.”
“Of course sir.”
After about a minute Rhodey entered the room and was met with the odd sight of Tony and Natasha on the couch with Peter asleep on the new assistant.
“Don’t ask.” Tony told him. “What are you doing here? Party was canceled.”
“Orders.” Rhodey said sadly.
“Oh.” Was all Tony could think to say. “Take Mark II, the silver one. It’s already coded to you.”
Both Natasha and Rhodey gave him a look. “I figured this was going to come eventually. Just tell people you took it. Less questions.”
“I really am sorry, Tone.” Rhodey told him solemnly as he made his way down to the lab to take the suit.
Once Rhodey was gone, Natasha and Tony spent the rest of the night talking. At some point Tony fell asleep because when he woke up with Peter asleep on him and a note on the table from her
Fury needed to see me. Be back later