Palladium Poisoning is a Hell of a Bitch
The battlefield grew silent, everything was at a standstill as Thanos looked to Tony’s form. Shock made its way onto the titan’s face as Tony lifted up his hand, his nanobots forming a gauntlet to hold the infinity stones in one place. “And I… Am… Iron man”. Tony snaps his fingers and Thanos and his army slowly turn to dust. As he drops to his feet, Tony registers Pepper’s voice as he succumbs to the darkness.
Slowly, the darkness fades as a familiar voice pierces through the fog. “Good Morning. It’s nine thirty-eight AM, the weather in Malibu is 76 degrees with sunny skies. High tide is expected at ten thirty-two AM”. Tony freezes up in disbelief. He’s dead, isn’t he? He specifically remembered taking hold of the gauntlet, and an overriding desire to make things right just before he snapped his fingers and let darkness and pain overtake him. Now he’s an up and proud atheist if there ever was one but he figured the only way he’d be hearing that voice again was if he was in heaven. And suffice to say he wasn’t entirely sure what the Big Guy’s policy was in regards to sentient AIs taking up space at the pearly gates.
“…Jarvis? Is that you bud?” his voice came out shakier than he would have wanted, but before he could curse himself for it, there it was again. Jarvis.
“Hello sir, indeed it is me. You appeared to be in the throes of a nightmare before gracefully falling off of your work bench”. That soothing tone, almost successfully masking the chiding note to his response, was enough to make Tony burst into tears. Dead or not, whatever this place is, if it had Jarvis in it, he’ll bite.
JARVIS was at a loss. A quick scan showed Sir’s heart rate and breathing rate at worryingly high levels, and here his creator was, sobs wracking his body as he did his best to curl into a small ball. For the first time, JARVIS cursed the lack of a physical form. Micro-seconds pass as he deliberates on a course of action, already he has a command line established to gather data in regards to how to deal with panic attacks while in real time he attempts to cut through the fog of Sir’s despair – “Sir, my scans indicate a marked increase in your breathing and heart rate. You appear to be experiencing a panic attack. Sir, if you could focus on my voice, and match your breathing to my count that would be most conducive to bringing you back to equilibrium. If you would please, breathe 1, 2, and 3, hold 1… 2… and 3… Breathe out 1, yes, 2… 3… and we shall repeat again…”
Slowly, Tony tries to focus on Jarvis’ voice and attempts to match his breaths to the count. His hands shake, and his chest, which he now realizes with detachment has his old arc reactor set in it, feels tight and heavy. His head is pounding and the only thought running through his mind is “What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck –“. His senses start taking note of other details he failed to notice when he first awoke: Jarvis’ voice was still in the background keeping count, across the room and wielding a fire extinguisher, DUM-E was slowly making his way over. On his work desk his eye catches the gift Pepper gave him almost a lifetime ago. His first arc reactor, in a glass container with the words “Proof Tony Stark has a heart” engraved on its stand. A sense of dread and trepidation fills his stomach. “Jarvis… What’s the date today?”
JARVIS pauses his count as sir’s breathing has slowed and his heart rate, while still high, was also slowly going down. He notes the heaviness in his creator’s voice as he responds, “It is June 11, 2010”. Sir freezes once again, this time his eyes wide and mouth open. Worried how this new information will affect Sir, he asks, “There is nothing slated on your schedule for today to garner such a response, may I ask what the significance of today is?”
It is 2010. June 2010. That places him one month after his return from Afghanistan, and exactly 13 years back into the past. Is that what this is? Time travel?? That would explain his surroundings, and even the state of his chest. It would explain the presence of Jarvis. The thought brings tears back to his eyes. He’s left the future, his daughter, and in exchange he’s given another chance but more importantly, he’s given back his son.
He ignores Jarvis’ question and slowly picks himself up off the floor. “Drop the fire extinguisher, DUM-E, I’m fine.” The bot emits a disappointed whine and slowly puts the fire extinguisher back in its place. “Jarvis, you listening?” Tony asks as he makes his way back to the work desk, picking up the old arc reactor and smiling slightly as he puts it back down a bit farther from the edge this time.
JARVIS’ voice comes out through the speakers “I am at your service, sir”. Tony is already logging into his workspace and pulling up files when he asks the AI for a rundown of his activities since he got back from his abduction “—and I mean everything, Jarvis, when did I last replace the arc reactor, when did I hit up Gulmira, where are we with Mark II, all of it buddy.”
“Noted, sir. You will find all relevant files and surveillance tapes on the screen to your left. May I recommend breakfast? It has been 29 hours and 8 minutes since you’ve last had food, and according to my findings, some tea and perhaps toast will do wonders for—” Jarvis gets interrupted as Tony’s phone starts ringing, an image of Pepper on the screen indicating the caller. Tony stares at it for a few seconds before he quietly asks Jarvis to redirect the call to voicemail.
“I’ll take you up on that toast, J. But no tea, no need to disrespect me like that, get some coffee running and I’ll even add a banana to the deal yeah? I think you and I need to have a talk about some things and it’s probably for the best I don’t do that on an empty stomach.” Tony looks worn as he stretches his arms up, the weight on his chest a very real reminder of just where he’s found himself. Right. Food, and then, talk. The only thing that brings him some comfort as he works his way to the kitchen is knowing that no matter what, no matter how outrageous and outlandish his story might seem, at least he can count on Jarvis being by his side to help him work through the situation he now finds himself in.
“You still with me J?” He asks while making eye contact with one of the surveillance cameras.
“For you sir, always”. Tony smiles to himself as he settles into the kitchen. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee causes his shoulders to relax and he chuckles lightly when he sees a banana beside a small plate with two pieces of toast on it.
“Palladium poisoning is a hell of a bitch”, Tony thought as he guzzles down more green juice to keep his blood levels more in-line with a healthy individual. Eidetic memory or no, it takes him a bit of finagling to recall the structure of Starkanium he rendered from his father’s model. It’s been a week since he was thrown back in time, and aside from the emotionally charged conversation he had with Jarvis detailing what happened to bring him back here, it’s been business as usual. Currently, Tony had Jarvis delving into Stark Industries’ accounting to see how deep Obadiah’s betrayal ran, and he had the AI running a subroutine to look into SHIELD and gather intel for their side.
Having all the time back felt overwhelming, and Tony still found himself dealing with panic attacks that Jarvis now understood didn’t necessarily relate to Afghanistan and the Ten Rings. As he finished his second glass of green juice, Tony settled back into the lab as he proceeded to work on the model of Starkanium he had up. Obadiah and SHIELD aside, Tony’s biggest issue right now is getting this antique off his chest; the futurist in him was appalled at the outdated technology adorning his person.
Tony spun around his seat to face the surveillance camera nearest to him. “Jarvis, you with me?” if Jarvis noticed the new way Tony asked for his assistance, he was good enough not to mention it.
“For you sir, always”.
Tony quirked a smile and had Jarvis order the materials they’ll need to synthesize the new element. “Current blood toxicity levels are at 9% sir, I have run simulations on this current model and it shows a 98.8% chance of being a viable replacement for your palladium core. The sooner we can synthesize this new elemen—”
“Starkanium” Tony quipped.
“—Starkanium, the quicker your body will recover from the arc reactor poisoning.” Jarvis continued as though Tony didn’t just interrupt him.
“That’s the plan, J. Let me know once you get an ETA on those parts ok?”
It felt satisfying to tick things off his checklist or as he liked to call it, his “Save the world and not die trying this time” list. As he glanced at the document with all the relevant events and timelines he could remember all collated in one place, he knew there were at least a few key changes he needed – note, not wanted – to enact, starting with coming clean to Rhodey and Pepper. If there was one thing he learned in the past? Future? 13 years, it was that he couldn’t afford to strain and potentially burn any bridges to two of his closest friends. If only he could figure out how to even broach the subject. He figured he wanted Pepper to take over SI sooner than later, but to do that meant he had to get Stane out of the picture, and preferably without endangering him or Pepper’s lives this time. Jarvis already had all the relevant documents and footage that implicated Stane, and Tony didn’t realize it would still hurt him when he went over the files and saw just how much Stane used him and screwed him over. Whatever, repression, thy name is Tony, right? What doesn’t kill him is only going to make him stronger. Resolve solidifying with this thought, Tony goes ahead and calls Pepper on his phone. Gods, she was gonna kill him for this.
When Pepper arrived at the mansion, she was ready to rain brimstone and hellfire down upon Tony for worrying her and getting himself in harm’s way not even months after he’d literally been tortured by terrorists. He had been ignoring her calls and emails, and by now she had an almost irrational urge to slap something every time she heard Jarvis’ apologetic voice instead of Tony’s, excusing Sir’s absence as part of his lockdown protocol down in the lab. Gods how she wanted to slap her boss. Instead, she was met with a man who for all intents and purposes, looked like her boss, and sounded like her boss, but she’d be lying if she said she’s ever seen him look so contrite. That alone sent warning bells off in her head. Wherever this conversation was going, she was sure she was going to be thrown for a loop.
Tony looked over at Pepper, beautiful, sweet, terrifying Pepper. His heart ached remembering what their future held. All the pain, the heartbreak, the fear, and Morgan, oh god, he doesn’t even know if he’ll ever meet Morgan again. The thought brings tears to his eyes that he desperately blinks away as Pepper sits across from him in the living room, her brow furrowed and mouth slightly agape as she tries to digest all the information Tony just dumped on her barely even a half hour ago. Tony figured there was no point beating around the bush and tried to just tell her everything in one fell swoop, like ripping a band-aid, right? Except they probably didn’t make band-aids big enough to cover things like “I’m Ironman, Obie is a dick who’s been playing us, oh and by the way, I may or may not be from a future where the Earth got screwed over big time and please don’t quit on me because I need you as my CEO.” Ok, maybe not the last part, time travel may be taking it a bit too far, but still.
So, yeah. Her shock and subsequent silence were understandable. He sees her going through the documents that he very graciously had printed on actual paper for her sake, the tablet by her side already playing a surveillance tape of Stane in the middle of negotiations with some very dangerous looking individuals. She’s taking it in, and the fact that she’s yet to run for the hills is a good sign. Tony didn’t know why he should even be surprised, this was Pepper Potts after all, and she was the most brilliant and terrifying woman he’s ever known. Why did he think she’d balk at this?
Pepper knew that if Jarvis were to scan her right now, he’d probably comment on the notable rise in her blood pressure. Thankfully he was nothing if not tactful. Tony, though, not so much. “Crazy, right? I don’t have the evidence yet to tie him to the Ten Rin—”
“Tony, stop, please. Give me a moment to go through these first and then we can keep talking ok? I believe you, God knows these documents are damning enough without your own claims but I know you. And Gods, Obie?? How could he do this to you? I can’t— you know what, no, these can wait, you’re right. Tony, I’m sorry, how are you? Oh of course you’re not alright, what a stupid question—“ As Pepper works herself up into a tizzy, Tony breaks into a small smile and gives her hand a squeeze.
“Pepper, Pep, it’s fine, I’m fine. Honestly. It’s a lot to take in, and I’d be lying if I said Obie’s actions don’t hurt me but it’s bigger than me Pep, heck, it’s bigger than all of us. I refuse to let this be my legacy. I can’t. You’ve seen Gulmira, I can make a difference as Iron Man, but to do that I need help. I need you. We’re responsible to the people who work for us and the people impacted by our products. It’s why I shut down the weapons manufacturing. We need to do better; be better. I have some ideas on a new direction the company should take, but first we need to get Stane out. I need you to get a hold of the proper authorities, and on my end, I’ll get Obie to meet with me. We’ll trap him and get his ass into jail so fast he won’t even know what hit ‘em. Can we do that? Does that work for you Miss Potts?” a desperate note tinged the end of Tony’s spiel as he looked into Pepper’s eyes, his hands holding on to both of hers, trying to impress upon her just how serious he’s being.
Pepper looked at Tony, saw the hope and despair swirling in his brown eyes. She was scared, and she was worried, but Goddamnit if she wasn’t going to do her utmost to make sure Tony isn’t alone in tackling this problem. “Of course, Tony. Of course.” Her stance shifts as her back straightens up and her shoulders pull back. She was ready to do her job. The glint in her eyes were enough to let anyone with enough braincells to realize that they better move out of the way if they know what’s good for them. She gives Tony’s hand a gentle squeeze as she slowly gets up and gathers the files and tablet Tony had given her.
“Will that be all, Mister Stark?” A small smile plays on her lips. Tony releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding as he stands along with Pepper.
“That will be all, Miss Potts.” Pepper nods her head and starts to make her way out to the foyer, Happy waiting patiently by the doors.
As Pepper steps out of the doors, she turns back and gives Tony a severe look. “Don’t think that just because I didn’t push about the Iron Man issue that it’s already swept under the rug, Tony. I’m only letting it go for now because this thing with Obie takes precedence! I’m reaching out to Rhodey and making sure he talks to you, mister!” With that, the illustrious Pepper Potts slips into the car and drives off. The small bubble of contentment produced by Pepper’s unquestioning support of Tony bursts at her last words.
“Well shit.” Tony heaves a sigh as he closes the door behind him. Time to mentally prepare what he’s going to tell his honey bear.