Worried Curiosity and Grim Understanding
Chapter 2
-Tony Stark's Malibu Home, 6 months before the events of Ironman-
Tony and Pepper sprint to the lab as fast as their legs can carry them.
"JARVIS, get a full-body vitals scan ready and give me an inventory on all medical supplies we've got in the house!" Tony orders his A.I friend as he lays the heavily wounded boy and the baby he's clutching like his life depends on it down on his lab cot.
"Right away, Sir." The faithful disembodied voice replies to his creator.
As the Just.A.Rather.Very.Intelligent.System lists off all of the medical supplies on hand, a blue light beams down from the ceiling and envelops the boys while a hologram containing a chart of the damage these kids endured appears next to Tony.
"Oh my God, Tony! Oh my God! Do you think they're going to make it?! Should we call 911?!" Pepper asks her boss/friend while pacing the lab, trying to keep her composure.
"Oh yeah, I'm sure that would go well. Hello, operator? A what I could only describe as a portal opened up in my front yard, and a passed out, grade school kid, covered in tattered clothes and blood with a baby in his arms fell out of it before it vanished into thin air! Please send help." Tony snarks at her.
Seeing Pepper's worried expression, Tony tries to reassure her. "Calm down, Pep, me and JARVIS will do everything we can, isn't that right, J?" Hoping to keep his friend from panicking.
"Absolutely, Sir. Please don't fret, Ms. Potts. While I'm not sure how the older boy survived what ever it is that happened to him, according to my scans, his life is not in danger. And as for the infant, other than a rather urgent need of a changing, I'd say he's unharmed." JARVIS informs.
"See, Pepper Pot? This kid's tougher than a tank. We'll patch him up and go from there, ok? Don't break down on me now, Pep, you can't leave me to change a diaper. There needs to be at least one responsible adult here and you know better than anyone that I don't exactly fit the description." Tony half jokes half begs, trying to diffuse the tension.
Pepper laughs and half jokes back, "You got that right." Feeling slightly better.
She then immediately goes into 'Super P.A Mode' and gets down to business. "Ok, Tony, I'm going to go into town and get the supplies we're going to need as discreetly as possible. While I'm gone, you clean and dress the boy's injuries and clean the baby off as best you can."
"But, Pep-" Tony tries to interject, hoping to avoid baby duty (In more ways than one).
"No buts, Tony, this is serious and we need to act fast!" Pepper orders, already heading out.
"You're just trying to avoid the baby duties, pun intended, aren't you, Ms. Potts?" Tony accuses.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Mr. Stark." Pepper answers back with a smirk as she exits the lab.
As if timing it with Pepper's departure, the baby wakes up and begins bawling.
Tony walks over to the 2 boys, moves the older one's arms to his sides, hesitantly grabs the baby under his armpits, and lifts him up, keeping him at arm's length.
"Umm...there there, little fella, don't cry...please?" Tony desperately pleads, trying his best at a comforting voice.
The baby doesn't appear even the slightest bit comforted and continues testing the limit of his lung capacity.
"May I say, Sir, that you are a natural with children?" JARVIS playfully jabs at his creator.
"JARVIS, instead of sassing me, could you please be helpful?" Tony asks, not appreciating the humor right now. Though when he glances back at the baby, he's stopped crying and is now looking up at the ceiling, seemingly looking for where JARVIS' voice came from.
"My sincerest apologies, Sir." JARVIS dryly replies, and Tony watches the baby startle in response to hearing the A.I's voice, but not seeing another person in the room for it to belong to.
The baby then looks Tony right in the eye and mumbles. "Uhhhwawuh?" As if asking Tony to explain.
'Oh my God, I think my heart just melted.' Tony thinks to himself with an amused smile as he carries the baby to the lab's restroom. "That's my invisible friend, his name is JARVIS. Don't worry, most of the time he's pretty cool, when he's not being a sassy pants."
"Thank you for your glowing praise, Sir." JARVIS retorts to Tony's comment.
"See what I mean?" Tony fake whispers to the baby, then tells JARVIS, "That's enough attitude from you, mister. So if you would, please bring up a how to video on cleaning babies."
"Queuing up Youtube now, Sir."
After managing to clean the baby without freaking out when he saw the tail, and disposing of the 'toxic waste' that was the baby's messy diaper, Tony heads back to the cot to tend to the older boy.
"Ok, little buddy, please stay here while I check on your hopefully brother not father, alright?" Tony asks the infant wrapped in a towel as he places him on the floor.
The baby just blinks up at him while Tony addresses his bot, "DUM-E, you're on baby monitor duty, and by that I mean, JARVIS, make sure DUM-E doesn't blast the little guy with a fire extinguisher or roll over him while I'm working on the bigger little guy, and also tell me if he starts to crawl around."
"Of course, Sir." JARVIS answers, then after DUM-E gives a series of sad, dejected, beeps, adds. "But I believe you hurt DUM-E's feelings."
"Sorry, DUM-E. You're great at some things, but I just don't think infant care is one of them, ok? Don't worry, bud, no one holds a candle to your fire dousing skills, cheer up." Tony tries to reassure the bot while cleaning and stitching up the older boy's wounds.
After hearing some upbeat beeps, he fully focuses on the boy in front of him. "Boy, I bet you have a hell of a story to tell, kid."
"You-'cough'-you have no idea, mister." The thought to be unconscious boy replies.
"Jesus, kid! Are-are you feeling ok? What happened to you?" Tony asks, taken aback that the boy is already conscious.
"I don't think you'd believe me if I told you." The boy answers, then, with a look of horror spreading across his face, he bolts upward, nearly ramming his head into Tony's, and desperately screams, "GOTEN!!! GOTEN, where are you?!"
Again as if timed, Pepper returns to the lab with Happy in tow, carrying much more stuff then they probably needed at the moment.
"Whoa whoa whoa, easy, kid. If that little bundle of mumbles with the weird haircut and monkey tail is Goten, then he's fine. He's sitting right over there. See for yourself, but stay put. Don't put any more strain on your wounds, ok?" Tony says while moving to the side to point to the baby.
"'Bundle of mumbles'?" Pepper repeats with a smirk.
"M-monkey tail?" Happy stutters.
"Be silent, peanut gallery, and let the boy see his baby...?" Tony responds to his friends' comments while hoping to get an answer to his open ended question.
"Bro-brother, Goten's my brother, Sir." The boy responds, while completely ignoring his own injuries by attempting to stand up and go to him.
Seeing this, Pepper drops her bags, speed walks to the baby, lifts him up, and closes the distance to the boy so he doesn't strain himself. "See? He's alright, and clean for that matter. Tony Stark, I am so proud of you." Pepper teases.
"Please, Pepper-pot, I'm not so heartless as to leave 2 kids in such a state, give me some credit." Tony plays along. "Besides, the little guy worms his way in pretty fast. Trust me, give it 30 minutes and you and Happy will be wrapped around his little finger. Isn't that right...uh? Oh, I still don't know your name, kiddo." Tony realizes, looking at the boy sitting on the cot.
"Gohan, Sir. My name is Gohan." He answers Tony while reaching to take Goten from Pepper.
"Well, Gohan, I'm Tony Stark. This lovely lady next to me is my amazing personal assistant and friend, Virginia Potts, usually referred to as Pepper. The big guy back there is my driver, bodyguard, and good buddy, Happy Hogan. And to rap up the introductory roll call, JARVIS, DUM-E, say hello to Gohan and Goten."
Gohan jumps in surprise, seeing a robot roll towards them, making a bunch of whirs and beeps while a voice says, "Greetings, Young Sir Gohan, Young Sir Goten."
"Where did that voice come from?" Gohan asks.
"That's JARVIS. Don't worry, he's not invisible, he's an A.I. But don't let the little guy hear I fibbed about the invisible part." Tony explains while poking Goten's belly, getting a bubbly laugh out of the baby.
"A.I, as in Artificial Intelligence?" Gohan asks.
"That's right, buddy boy, I made him myself." Tony proudly answers.
"Wow, that's amazing, Sir." Gohan praises. "I don't think even Bulma has pulled that off yet."
"Who's Bulma, Gohan?" Pepper asks.
"Bulma Briefs, the head of Capsule Corporation."
"What's 'Capsule Corporation'?" Tony asks while trying not to laugh at the name 'Bulma Briefs'.
"What do you mean? It's the biggest worldwide technology conglomerate in Earth's history, how could you not have heard of them? I'm honestly surprised they haven't tried to recruit you." Gohan explains.
"Well I don't know what Earth you're talking about, bucko, but this Earth's largest worldwide technology conglomerate is Stark Industries." Tony tells Gohan.
"'Stark Industries'? I don't understand, how could that be? You said this is Earth, right?" Gohan asks.
"Yeah, it is. I'm not sure what's going on here, kid, but maybe if you can explain some things, it might help us start to piece it all together." Tony responds while bringing up a holo-screen to show Gohan the footage of him and Goten falling from the portal after it appeared on Tony's property, before quickly vanishing.
"Like I said earlier, you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you...and it's a lot to explain...and I don't know if I can say it all in a way you could understand, I'm...I'm." Gohan manages to get out before the reality of everything that just happened hits him hard, bringing tears to his eyes.
"Oh, sweetheart, don't worry. Whatever is going on, we'll help you get it figured out. Won't we, Happy, JARVIS, Tony?" Then seeing the bot start to droop in dejection, Pepper adds, "And you too DUM-E." Who then rolls around the lab excitedly.
"Definitely."
"Of course, Ms. Potts, Young Sir Gohan."
"You got that right." Happy, JARVIS, and Tony respectively respond.
"I appreciate everything you all have done for Goten and me, but I can't impose any more than I already have. Goten and this situation are my responsibility, I'll figure something out." Gohan says, hoping to dissuade these kind people from potentially putting themselves in harm's way for his sake.
"Sorry, Buddy Boy, but you and that monkey-tailed tot in your lap, who is chewing on said tail by the way, aren't going anywhere on your own for the foreseeable future." Tony states to the room at large.
"But, Sir, I-" Gohan tries to protest while looking down at Goten.
He reaches for his brother's tail to pull it out of his mouth, and his mind flashes back to everything that happened the last time he and Goten were in this position and he flinches. He moves his hand up to cover his mouth to muffle a sob.
"Hey, hey, Gohan, it's gonna be ok. I'm sorry, kid, but you need to rest, recover. And even if I was cool with you and Goten just walking out of here to try and solve this odyssey by yourself—which I am definitely not just to be clear—I'm sure Pepper, JARVIS, Happy, and even DUM-E here would rip me several new ones if I ever even hinted that was a possibility." Tony tells the boy. "So do us all a favor, kid, and just lay down, alright?"
"Tony's absolutely right, Gohan." Pepper confirms. "Including the as he put it, 'Several torn new ones' he'd receive from thinking about letting you and that precious baby brother of yours leave this house in the shape you're in. So please, just talk to us and I'm sure we can help you."
"Trust me on this, kid, don't try to change their minds." Happy advises. "I've known these 2 for a long time, and they will just dig their heels in more and more until you give in, so just make it easier on yourself."
"He's right." Tony and Pepper shamelessly agree in unison.
Seeing that there's no talking any of them out of their decision, and he's not exactly in any shape to leave, Gohan–while still a tad hesitant–acquiesces. "I...I..thank you, all of you, but I still don't know how to explain everything in a way that'll make sense to you."
"Actually, I might have a solution to that conundrum, kiddo." Tony responds, placing a hand on Gohan's shoulder and giving him what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
"Wh-what would that be, Si- I mean, Tony?" Gohan asks, wiping the tears off his face with his free arm.
"I'll show you. JARVIS, bring up the B.A.R.F project." Tony orders.