Tony Stark and his Saiyan Sons

Chapter 3 

"Uh, Tony? What's the 'Barf project'?" Gohan asks, wondering, 'Does that word mean something else here than it does on my Earth?'

"Well, Kiddo, it's a sort of side project I've been working on to help people deal with traumatic memories." Tony answers.

"Traumatic memories?" Gohan inquires.

"Yeah, like when soldiers come back home from war; more often than not, they end up with something called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD for short." Tony explains. "It means they're suffering from memories of things that happened to them or things they had to do while fighting. I'm using soldiers as an example, but they aren't the only ones susceptible to it. PTSD is something anyone who suffers a traumatic experience can go through."

He gestures for JARVIS to bring up holo-screens with everything on the B.A.R.F project. "Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing, or B.A.R.F.– God, I gotta work on that acronym is an extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus...to clear those traumatic memories."

"Ok, but how does it work? And how can it help me explain everything you'll need to know?" Gohan asks.

"The B.A.R.F. relies on an implant installed on a pair of glasses that connects with the user's hippocampus, allowing it to find a certain traumatic memory and alter it before projecting that memory onto an external infrastructure." 

He flicks a screen–playing out a simulation of the B.A.R.F in action–over to Gohan. "Through the altered projection, the user is able to successfully re-experience and hopefully work through overcoming traumatic experiences. Though for our current purpose we can skip the altering memories part and instead of having to just explain everything, we'll all be able to see it." 

"Wow, that's amazing, Tony!" Gohan excitedly praises as he watches the screen. "I don't think even Bulma could make something like this, and she's built galaxy crossing space ships, gravity chambers, and other cool stuff."

"Well, Gohan, I'll definitely want to meet this 'Bulma' and science it up with her at some point." Tony replies, intrigued by the feats of this 'Bulma'.

"Tony, do you have everything you need to get this B.A.R.F up and running now?" Pepper asks.

"Pretty much, Pep, I'll just need a little bit of time to get everything ready."

Pepper clasps her hands. "Great, now that we've got a plan, Gohan, let's get you and little Goten upstairs to get you both dressed and fed. Is that alright with you?"

Gohan looks down at himself and Goten, realizes his clothes are barley holding together, not covering much at all, and Goten is just wrapped in a towel.

Blushing, he nods. "That sounds nice, thank you, Pepper."

"Of course, Sweetheart. Can you walk, or do you need Happy to carry you up?" Pepper asks, checking to see if the boy is pushing himself too much. 

"Oh, no need to worry, I'm feeling a lot better. I've been through worse, I can manage." Gohan tries to reassure her.

"Ok, but if I see you trying to 'tough it out' unnecessarily, I will snatch that baby and have Happy scoop you up so you can take it easy. You hear me?" Pepper matter of factly states with a 'No Nonsense' look.

"Ye-yes Ma'am." Gohan answers, subconsciously straightening his posture. 'She's almost as scary as Mom or Bulma...I'd better stay on her good side.'

Tony and Happy wince in unison and give Gohan sympathetic looks, hoping to ease the boy's wise fear and comprehension of the patented 'Don't Question Pepper or else! stare'.

Seeing the men's reactions, Gohan comes to the realization, 'I guess Pepper is the one who's really in charge.'

"Alright, good boy." Pepper replies, giving Gohan a sweet smile.

Tony gets to work while Pepper, Happy, and the boys head upstairs.

Remembering the horrified look on Gohan's face when he didn't know where Goten was, and how casually he dismissed his own wellbeing, Tony silently promises, "Don't worry, Kid, we'll do everything we can to figure this out."

Without being asked or prompted, JARVIS brings up a holo-screen playing the live feed of the group who just left the lab nearby as not to distract his creator but loud enough that he can hear them in the background. 

‐Meanwhile Upstairs-

Gohan manages to get upstairs on his own feet, then follows Pepper and Happy to a living room and sits down on a couch (Pepper's Orders) while she and Happy bring out some of the clothes they got so Gohan can pick something for himself and Goten to wear.

Pepper tells Gohan, "Ok, Gohan, pick whatever you like and get dressed, and if you need help with that or dressing Goten, just call for me, Happy, or ask JARVIS to tell us. While you're doing that, me and Happy will be in the kitchen putting the food we got up and making something for dinner. If you have any preference please let me know."

"Of course. Again, I can't tell you how grateful I am for everything you're all doing for me and Goten." Gohan replies.

"Think nothing of it, Sweetheart, it's the right thing to do." Pepper says.

"Well still, thank you. As for food, I'm not picky, anything will be fine, but just to warn you, I can pack a lot of food down in one meal, so please make plenty so everyone gets their fill." Gohan informs.

"Sure thing, Gohan. Also, does Goten eat solid foods yet? How old is he? How old are you for that matter?" Pepper asks back to back.

"Sometimes he does but mainly bottles. He's about 7 weeks old and I'm 11 years old." Gohan answers. 

"Wait, only 7 weeks and he can already sit up on his own and has teeth?" Pepper double checks to make sure she heard Gohan right.

"Yeah, Saiyan babies develop in all areas much faster than full Human babies." Gohan explains.

"'Saiyan'?" Pepper asks, confused by the unfamiliar term.

"'F-full hu-human'?" Happy stutters, going a little pale in the face.

"Oh shoot, I'm sorry about that. Dont worry, hopefully I'll be able to clearly explain all that once Tony gets his B.A.R.F set up." Gohan rushes to reassure them, then grabs a bag with clothes with one hand while holding Goten in his other arm, then asks, "Is there somewhere I can go to change Goten and myself?"

Still a bit shell-shocked, Pepper tells him, "There's a bathroom down the hall, second door on the right."

Gohan follows Pepper's directions, enters the bathroom, and closes the door behind him.

When he really looks at the room, he exclaims, "Oh my gosh, Goten, this bathroom is bigger than our bedroom back home. Tony must be as rich as Bulma, maybe richer, if that's even possible."

"Ahh..bluh." Goten chips in.

Gohan quickly looks through his options and decides on a plain, white t-shirt and black shorts, then sorts through the clothes for Goten; very amused at the colorful onesies with little cartoon decorations.

"Well, Goten, what do you think? Do you like green with purple dinosaurs, or light blue with a star on the front and the moon on the back?" Gohan asks his brother.

"Ahhh..buh..buh..bwuu." Goten responds, reaching for the blue one.

"Heh, good choice, Buddy." Gohan chuckles.

He gets Goten in a diaper and is about to put the onesie on him, when he realizes, "That's right, you're gonna need a hole in the back for your tail."

Not wanting to look for scissors, Gohan decides to form a small Ki blade on the tip of a finger and cuts holes in all the onesies in the bag, then dresses Goten in the one he'd 'picked'.

"Ok, Goten, time for some food." Gohan informs his brother.

While Goten gives off a happy squeal at the mention of food, the older boy proceeds to where he senses Pepper and Happy, and finds himself in the kitchen.

"Well don't you look nice?" Pepper says to Gohan, then when her eyes land on Goten she 'almost' squeals (And anyone saying anything differently is lying and will suffer the wrath of Pepper Potts) "Aren't you the most adorable thing in the world?!"

She plucks Goten out of Gohan's arms and starts cooing at the baby.

Completely stunned by the surprising turn of events, Gohan just watches as Goten laughs and mumbles at the woman holding him.

"Don't question it, Kiddo, I knew it wouldn't take long for Pep to fall in love with the little monkey. And as always, I was right." Everyone in the kitchen hears Tony say, then turn to see him in the room holding a pair of glasses in his hands. 

"Oh hush, Mr. Stark!" Pepper snarks with a small blush on her face.

"Apologies, Ms. Potts." Tony snarks back with a smirk.

"You finished already, Tony?" Gohan asks.

"Yep, I had most of the ground work already laid out so it didn't take long to wrap it up." He claps Gohan on the shoulder. "Also, you're certainly looking much better, Gohan. And you, Goten, will be lucky if Pep ever puts you down."

"Thanks, Tony. Though I wouldn't worry about Goten, he seems happy to live in Pepper's arms." Gohan jokes back.

"Well as fun as that would be, how about we have some dinner then get to business, alright?" Pepper asks, handing Goten back to Gohan before retreating to get plates and cutlery ready. 

Everyone else agrees and they sit down together for a rather strange meal.

After they finish eating, Tony, Pepper, and Happy are all a little stunned by how much food the boys could put away.

"Damn, Kid, where do you put it all?" Tony asks, suppressing an 'oof' when Pepper elbows him in the side.

"Sorry, it's just our Saiyan metabolism requires a lot of food." Gohan explains, then winces after realizing he said 'Saiyan' again.

"I'm not sure what a 'Saiyan' is, but don't stress over it, Kid, we'll know what we need to soon enough, right?" Tony replies, trying to put Gohan at ease. 

"Thanks, Tony, all of you, for everything." Gohan says, and before he can think better of it, tells everyone, "But before we start this I want to warn you that some of the things you're about to see will probably scare you, maybe even make you sick to your stomachs. So I'll understand that if afterwards, you want me to leave, I will. And there won't be any hard feelings."

While unsure how'd they take that warning, Gohan was a bit caught off guard by Tony lightly bopping him on the back of his head.

"Tony!" Pepper shouts, surprised at the man.

"Sorry, Pep. But, Kid, unless you spent your spare time burning down orphanages or punting puppies off cliffs, nothing we'll see will make us toss you out, do ya hear me?" Tony places his hand on the spot he just smacked and ruffles Gohan's hair.

"I hear you, Tony." Gohan answers. Sensing the man's intentions, he smiles.

'He's a lot like Piccolo when it comes to showing affection.' He muses while rubbing the spot he just received said 'affection'.

"Good, now shall we get started?" Tony asks everyone.

"Yes, I'm ready." Gohan replies.

Everyone follows Tony back down to his lab where everything has been moved around to have a more open space in the center.

Gohan puts on the glasses, and Tony tells him, "Ok, Gohan, just push the button on the top right and think about where you need to start."

To give everything the proper context, he'll have to start this explanation from pretty far back. "Alright, here we go."

Gohan hesitantly pushes the button, thinking back to when it all started.

‐Gohan's Memory: Beginning of the Saiyan Saga‐

The room transforms into the outside of the Son residence.

Tony, Pepper, and Happy all stare in awe at the vast expanse of forest surrounding a single dome like house with a small shed next to it.

"This is my home in the mountains of the 439 district where I lived with my mother, Chi-Chi, and my father, Goku." Gohan explains as hologram versions of a younger Chi-Chi, Goku, and Gohan appear standing in front of the dome house with a samll, yellow cloud floating next to them. 

("Hologram Speech") 

"Goku, are you sure about bringing Gohan to this reunion?" Chi-Chi asks. "I don't want that Master Roshi influencing our son in any way."

Seeing little hologram Gohan, Pepper again 'almosts' squeals (Don't risk Pepper's Wrath by saying otherwise) "Oh my goodness, Gohan, you were so adorable!"

"Uh...thanks, Pepper." Gohan replies while a blush blooms across his face.

"Focus, Pepper." Tony mock scolds, then motions for Gohan to continue. "Keep going, Kid, what's this reunion your mom is talking about? and what is that floating, yellow glob of cotton candy next to you?"

"My dad trained in martial arts with a few friends of his when they were kids under the tutelage of a legendary man named Master Roshi. He told me tons of stories about the adventures they had together, including competing in several tournaments." Gohan explains, fondly recalling how he'd excitedly listen to his dad's stories. 

"But after the last one they participated in where my dad finally won 1st place against a powerful and at the time dangerous guy named Piccolo, my parents went off, got married, and spent some time building their lives together. Before they knew it, five years had passed since their wedding. Wanting to catch up with all of his old friends and have me finally meet them, my dad set up the reunion we were about to head to. And that cloud next to us was our only means of transportation at the time. It's called the Flying Nimbus, and only people with pure hearts can sit on and fly it wherever they want to go."

"Ok, JARVIS, remind me when we get to this place to investigate this magic, flying cloud thing." Tony tells his A.I, saying 'magic' like it's a dirty word.

"Noted, Sir." JARVIS replies.

"Focus, Tony." Pepper mock scolds. "Please keep going, Gohan."

"Right." Gohan continues the memory.

"Don't worry, Chi-Chi, we'll only be there for the night, then we'll come back in the morning. Besides, it's about time Gohan meets everyone." Goku cheerily replies, then asks Gohan, "Don't you want to meet my friends, Gohan?" 

"Yeah, Daddy." Gohan nods, then begs, "Please, Mommy? It'll be fun, and I'll be good, I promise."

Chi-Chi sighs. "Alright, just be back here tomorrow, ok?"

"Great, we'll see you tomorrow, Chi-Chi." Goku replies before he hops on Nimbus with Gohan in his arms. "Bye-bye Mommy." Gohan calls as Nimbus carries them into the sky.

The surrounding area changes into a small island, with a lone, pink house taking up most of its surface. 

"This is 'Kame House', the home of Master Roshi." Gohan explains as hologram versions of Goku and Gohan arrive on the the island while an old, bald man, a young, bald man, and a blue-haired, young woman exit the house to greet them.

"The old man is Master Roshi, the short, younger man is my dad's best friend, Krillin, and the woman is Bulma." Gohan informs. "There are a few other friends who couldn't make it here this day, but the main reason I'm starting here is because of the uninvited guest who came and changed everything." 

Tony, Pepper, and Happy watch as Goku introduces little Gohan to his friends and everyone enjoying their time togehter.

Nothing seems amiss until Goku's expression suddenly hardens and he looks to the sky.

"Goku, what's wrong?" Krillin asks.

"Someone's coming, and whoever they are, they're incredibly strong and not here to make friends." 

"How does your dad know that, Gohan?" Tony asks.

"Part of my dad's and his friends' training involved learning to sense and control the life energy in their bodies that we call 'Ki'. When you master it, you can sense other people's strength level, intentions, and true nature, so it's easy for us to tell who's good and who's bad." Gohan answers while the man who first turned his life upside-down lands on the island in front of the others.

"So it is you, I recognize your face now, Kakarot." The stranger says to Goku, then asks him, "What have you been doing all this time, Kakarot? Why haven't you purged the life on this planet yet?"

"Why is that man calling your dad, 'Kakarot', Gohan?" Pepper asks.

"And did he just say purge the life on the planet?" Happy asks.

"That man's name was Raditz. He was part of an alien race called the Saiyans, who traveled from planet to planet slaughtering all life on the surface, then sold the now 'unpopulated' world to the highest bidder in a 'business' under the rule of another alien tyrant called Frieza." Gohan answers, then continues to explain while the memory plays out. "He's calling my dad Kakarot, because that was his birth name. It turned out my dad was a Saiyan sent to Earth when he was a baby to wipe out all life on it, to get it ready to sell. Raditz knew him because he was my dad's older brother."

"My God! Sending babies to other worlds all by themselves to do something so terrible." Pepper says horrified.

"These guys are like evil space pirates." Happy says.

"If they sent your dad to your Earth when he was a baby to wipe it out, why didn't he do just that? And why didn't they know that he hadn't?" Tony asks, managing to keep his expression calm, but is unable to suppress the shudder that rips down his spine.

Alien pirates committing genocide on a galactic scale to make a quick buck? And these kids are directly descended from them? This goes way beyond anything Tony could have thought up in even his wildest partying years.

"When my dad landed on Earth, he was found by an old man named Gohan who took him in and raised him as his own grandson. At first my dad was wild and violent, but one day, Great-Grandpa Gohan took my dad on a hike and he slipped out of my Great-Grandpa's arms and fell down a ravine, hitting his head. He survived, but from that day on my dad was the kindest person you would ever meet, his mission and origin forgotten." Gohan answers first, then continues. "They couldn't keep track of my dad's progress because shortly after he was shipped off, the Saiyan home world–planet Vegeta–was completely destroyed by the very master they served, Frieza. Though thankfully because of that my dad was forgotten about for over 20 years."

Everyone is stunned into silence and continue to watch the exchange of the people on the island.

"I don't care about any of that! The Earth is my home, these people are my friends! Now tell me what you want!" Goku shouts at Raditz.

"Well, Brother, the other Saiyan survivors and myself are planning a big job and are short on numbers. We were about to be forced to pass it up, when I remembered you. Sure, you're not as powerful, but you should be enough to be useful. So I came to collect you." Raditz answers, then looks down, notices Gohan's tail, and asks, "Kakarot, that boy wouldn't happen to be your spawn now would he?"

Tony, Pepper, and Happy all get horrified looks on their faces at that question.

"He wouldn't!" Tony shouts, digging his fingers into his palms. Past experiences of growing up the son of Howard Stark are telling him exactly what's about to happen and fill him with dread.

"Oh God no!" Pepper nearly sobs, then covers her mouth with both hands.

"That rotten-" Happy starts to say but stops himself when he remembers the young ears in the room.

"Leave him out of this! Gohan, go with Bulma inside the house, now!" Goku orders.

"Daddy, I'm scared, make him go away!" Gohan begs, clinging to his father's leg.

"Don't worry, we'll get rid of him." Goku reassures his son, then asks his friends, "Krillin, Master Roshi, back me up, ok? Bulma, take Gohan and go inside."

While Bulma is trying to get Gohan to let go of his father, Krillin and Roshi walk up next to Goku, and Krillin replies, "You got it, Goku!"

He turns to Raditz, and warns him, "You better get lost, man, or this is gonna get ugly!"

Raditz gives a smug smirk to Krillin's threat, which provokes the smaller man to charge in alone.

In the blink of an eye he gets smacked and sent crashing into the house by one strike of Raditz's tail.

The Saiyan vanishes for an instant, reappears in front of Goku, and knees him in the gut, knocking him to the ground.

To everyone's horror, while little Gohan is trying to run to his father, he's grabbed by Raditz, who then threatens Goku. "Listen well, Kakarot, to prove your worth I want you to kill 100 earthlings within 24 hours. I'll hold on to your son for insurance. Oh, and bring the bodies back to this spot, I'll be back for a head count. Don't test me, Kakarot, this boy is my nephew, I would hate to have to hurt him."

Tony, Pepper, and Happy watch Radditz fly off with a hysterical Gohan in tow.

"Oh, bitch move!" Tony snarls.

"You poor, sweet boy." Pepper manages to say before rushing over to Gohan and hugging him.

Happy looks like he's about to try to beat up the Radditz hologram.

"I'm ok now, guys, really, this was over 7 years ago." Gohan assures, a bit surprised by their strong reactions, then looks down and notices that Goten has fallen asleep in his arms.

He turns off the hologram and asks, "This is just the beginning, but Goten fell asleep, so can I put him down somewhere before we continue? Besides, there are some bad parts coming up I don't want him to see."

"Of course, Sweetheart, Happy and I got a small crib while we were in town so we can get it set up in the living room upstairs and come back to this after." Pepper replies, wondering to herself. 'This wasn't one of the bad parts?'.

"Sure, Kiddo, we'll get the little monkey nice and cozy upstairs, then keep going." Tony says with a forced levity, hoping to brighten the mood and not start re-thinking everything he thought he knew about reality.

But thinking deeper about what he just said, Tony quickly backtracks. "Oh Shi-shoot, I'm sorry, Gohan, was that racist?"

"Racist? I'm not sure what that means." Gohan answers, a tad confused by the unfamiliar word. 

"Well, I mean with this whole 'Saiyan' thing, your anatomy basically being that of a super human with a monkey tail, will it offend you if I call Goten a monkey?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Frieza may have called Saiyans 'monkey's as an insult, but I can tell you mean it as a term of endearment, so I'm fine with it." Gohan answers with a smile, thinking, 'These people are so kind, worrying about something so small.'

"Well, ok, Kiddo, if you're sure." Tony replies.

Everyone then heads upstairs to get the crib for Goten ready.

Tony, Pepper, and Happy all occasionally sneak glances at Gohan as they assemble the crib, each wondering, 'What else has this boy lived through?' while worrying if they'll regret getting the answer to that question.