Messages from Beyond
“Sir! I’m going to have to ask you to exit the doughnut!”
Tony’s eyes rolled, and he looked down. He’d been sitting in the giant restaurant sign for about thirty minutes, but he didn’t expect to see the person who was now yelling his name. Groaning, he flew down and walked inside, plopping into the booth across from Fury.
“I told you, I don’t want to join your super-secret boy band.” He grumbled.
Fury laughed. “No, no. I remember you do everything yourself. How’s that working out for you?”
“It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s…”
“Oh, wait! That’s right…Kara’s in on it now.” He sipped his coffee.
Tony’s eyes flashed. “How did you…never mind. Don’t bring her into this.”
“She brought herself into it the moment she put that suit on!” He said sternly.
Tony paused. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot. Do I look at the patch or the eye? Honestly, I’m a bit hungover. I’m not sure if you’re real…”
Fury smirked. “I am very real. I’m the realest person you’re ever gonna meet.” He looked at Tony’s neck and saw the poison. “That’s not looking so good.”
Suddenly, a woman in black walked up, and Tony was shocked to see Natalie standing over him. “We’ve secured the perimeter, but I don’t think we should hold it for too much longer.”
“Huh. You’re fired.” He said, knowing that he didn’t have a leg to stand on.
“That’s not up to you.” She told him.
“Tony, I want you to meet Agent Romanoff.” Fury told him.
“Hi.”
“I’m a S.H.I.E.L.D. shadow. Once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury.” She said as she sat.
“I suggest you apologize.” Tony retorted but smirked.
“You’ve been very busy. You made your girl your C.E.O., you put a huge chunk of change into your niece’s savings account, you made your sister a suit, you’re giving away all your stuff. You let your friend fly away with your suit!” Fury laughed. “If I didn’t know better…”
“You don’t know better. I didn’t give it to him. He took it.”
“Whoa, whoa. What? He took it?” Fury faked a shocked expression. “You’re Iron Man, and he just took it? The little brother walked in there, kicked your ass, and took your suit.” He looked at Agent Romanov. “Is that possible?”
She smirked. “According to Mr. Stark’s database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage.”
Tony sighed, knowing he’d been caught. “What do you want from me?”
“What do we want? Nuh-uh-uh. What do you want from me?” Fury asked quickly as Natasha stabbed Tony with a needle. “You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe.”
“Ow!” Tony shouted. “What did she just do to me?”
“What did we just do for you?” Fury corrected. “That’s lithium dioxide. It’s gonna take the edge off. We’re trying to get you back to work.”
“Give me a couple of boxes, and I’ll be right as rain.”
Natasha shook her head. “It’s not a cure. Just abates the symptoms.”
“Doesn’t look like it’s going to be an easy fix.” Fury said without feeling.
“Trust me, I know. I’m good at this stuff. I’ve been looking for a suitable replacement for palladium. I’ve tried every combination, every permutation of every known element.”
“Well, I’m here to tell you you haven’t tried them all.”
…
Kara sighed as she pulled her car into the driveway on her way home from work. She’d taken a half-day to avoid too many questions, but she was also worried about Tony. She barely made it to the house when someone in a suit stopped her.
“I’m sorry, but this property is prohibited at the moment.” The man told her.
She raised her eyebrows at him. “Um…this is my house. Who the hell are you?”
“I am with a special government agency that…”
“S.H.I.E.L.D.?” She asked and saw his confused expression. “Yeah, I know about you guys. I have known for a while.”
“Regardless, Miss, you are going to have to leave for a while.”
This time she laughed and unbuckled her seatbelt. “Yeah, okay. Clearly, you’re new.”
Then she shot into the air and left her car in the driveway. When she landed in front of Coulson and Natasha, she tilted her head. “Met your doorman. It’s cute how he thinks he can keep me from my own house.” Then she looked at Natasha. “I had a feeling.”
“Your brother needs time to think and work, Kara,” Coulson told her.
“You both know that if you want to get through to Tony, you need me.” She said quickly. “Do not make me hurt you to get to him.”
After a brief moment, Coulson stepped aside and gestured in his direction. “He’s in his lab. I hope you can get through to him.”
…
When Kara made it to the lab, she saw her brother leaning over a bin with the words ‘Property of H. Stark’ printed on the top of it. He’d pulled out the projector, and a video was playing. She froze when she saw her father walk onscreen.
“Tony, you’re too young to understand this right now, so I thought I would put it on film for you.” He gestured to the model of the Expo behind him. “I built this for you. And someday you’ll realize it represents a whole lot more than just people’s inventions. It represents my life’s work. This is the key to the future.
“I’m limited by the technology of my time. But one day, you’ll figure this out. And when you do…you will change the world. What is and always will be my greatest creation…is you.”
With tears in her eyes, Kara watched as the video ended, and Tony froze in his seat. After a moment, she walked over to him and sat on the floor by the bin.
“So, you heard that?” He asked her.
Kara nodded. “Tony…”
“Listen, you were right. I should have told you.” He said quietly. “And last night? You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did.” She told him. “You’re my brother. You save everyone else, Tony. Who is going to save you?”
“Did you know that Dad was with S.H.I.E.L.D.?” He asked her, causing her to pause.
Then she nodded again. “Yeah, I did.” When he looked at her, she bit her lip. “Aunt Peggy told me after you guys brought me home.” She didn’t have to mention the event she was referencing. “They found me when I landed here and when he saw me on that field trip and heard that I was in the system…he knew I’d be safer with you guys than anyone else.”
She slowly held her glasses in her hand. “He made me these. They’re lined with lead, so it helps to control all the extra sensory input I get out there. I didn’t even get them until after he died.”
“Wow.”
“Tony…I didn’t tell you because I just wanted to be normal. Plus, you have your own history with him, and I didn’t want to do anything that would change us.”
“You couldn’t do anything to change us, Kara.” He promised her. “No matter what happens, we will always have each other.”
“Good.”
“I don’t know what to do, K.” He said, his voice breaking.
“Well, lucky for you, you don’t have to figure it out alone.” Then she tapped his knee. “Also lucky for you, I have an idea.”
…
After helping him escape from their house, Kara settled in to continue going through the boxes. She picked up another reel of film and set it up. As she got ready for it to start, she was surprised to see an older version of him on the screen.
It looked like he was filming himself and seemed to be deep in thought. He sat silently for many moments before looking up at the camera.
“Kara.” Her heart stopped. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to say this to you in person, but it has to be said. It hasn’t escaped my notice that you and Tony have grown closer and Maria and I are so grateful for that. When we brought you in…we weren’t sure how this would go. It was that day on the field trip. I saw you, and I knew that you needed to be protected.
“I had known about your existence from the moment that you landed, but you were always just the job for me.”
Kara’s heart shattered at the words but kept watching. She had suspected as much but had hoped it wasn’t true.
“That was until I saw you at my company that day.” Kara’s head lifted again. “I knew it was you, obviously, as it was my job to know. But it wasn’t until you spoke that I knew you were a Stark. You might not have been born my daughter, but you may as well have been.
“It killed me to have to treat you like you were only an employee, but to do anything else would have given away my position at S.H.I.E.L.D. I am so sorry, Kara. I know it’s probably too late to say this, but while Tony is and always will be my greatest creation…my best decision? That will always be bringing you into our family. I hope you never regret it because I never have and never will.”
The video shut off, and Kara stared at the black screen with tears in her eyes. Taking her glasses off, she set them on the side table, put her face in her hands, and cried.