Chapter 21- An Unlikely Meeting

  New York City – Central Manhattan Isnd- Oct 23, 2008 (02:08 PM)

  Anthony ‘Tony’ Stark (Iron Man)

  Tony left the office building fuming, not that he really showed it. This was worse than when Obi tried to have him killed. His own country was trying to steal his own invention out from under him. He smiled and waved at the reporters and cameras while he fast walked to the waiting car.

  Happy held the door for him, and he could hear Pepper calling from behind him several steps away from him. She was calling his name and asking him to stop, but he knew that he needed to get away.

  As he climbed into the back seat, he told his bodyguard. "Don't wait for her, I need to be alone." Then he pulled the door closed behind him, Happy let go and looked around confused, but only gave Pep a shrug before moving around to the front seat.

  While he waited for his driver to get in, Tony's watch spoke to him. "Sir, I have the results of your blood work."

  Tony tapped the side of his watch and told it. "Give me a sec Jarvis." Then he pulled out his new shades with blue tooth speakers and mikes in the legs and a digital dispy on the inside of the lens. Once the shades booted up, one of the lenses showed him the VI while the other was still bnk. "Hit me."

  "It is as you feared I am afraid. You have early signs of heavy metal poisoning. It appears that the frame holding the arc reactor is somehow leaking into your bloodstream." The British simuted voice expined the results, while the other lens of his gsses showed the actual data.

  As Happy climbed into the car, he asked in a whisper. “How long?”

  The data changed on the dispy as the VI ran some simutions and calcutions before guessing. "Two to three years. Maybe less if you continue to use the suit. As the new Mark IV's medical sensors noticed it first, thus there might be a spike of contact from when your Iron Man suits need the additional pull on the reactor."

  "Bad news, to worse news," Tony compined.

  Happy asked. “Where to sir?”

  Just as Jarvis gave his condolence for the news. “I am sorry sir.”

  “Just drive Hap, I will have a destination in a minute," Tony said after a sigh. As the car started up, his gsses changed their dispy to show first just the VI matrix, and then a profile picture of his personal assistant.

  "Ms. Pots is calling you sir," Jarvis confirmed.

  As the tears from knowing his days were numbered started to form, he reached into his suit and pulled out his smartphone, which was now pying 'Hungry Like the Wolf'. Once the phone was to his ear he said. "Hey, Pep."

  “Tony this is serious, today was basically a courtesy. If you ignore them, not only will it hurt Stark Industries prospects, but mess around with them enough, and the next time when they come around it will be with a subpoena for a senate hearing.” Pepper almost shouted into his ear.

  He could still hear the people and reporters asking her questions as she made her way back into the building. To buy himself time he told her. "I know, I just need to go somewhere to think.” He then sniffed and wiped the budding tears.

  “Are you getting high right now?” She then asked him, having caught him once or twice before.

  Tony chuckled before answering. “What?! No, I had something in my eye. Here I will prove it.” he tapped a couple of buttons so his phone was on speaker setting. “Happy was I doing drugs?”

  “He was not ma’am.” His bodyguard confirmed. Then Tony reset it back to the normal setting.

  “This is serious Tony.” She repeated to him after a moment of silence.

  “I know… I just need to think. You know what, do this, stall. Get the wyers involved.” Tony instructed her, before switching the phone to his other ear.

  "The most that will buy you is till spring," Pepper warned him.

  ‘If I am still alive by then.’ He thought, but instead said. “By then I will have a pn.”

  All the background noise was gone, so she must have made it indoors again before she agreed. "Alright I will get things started and stall them, but I really wish I was there with you, where are you going?"

  Tony tapped the Arc reactor that was concealed by his suit and thought about his dad. Knowing she would hear him anyway, he only slightly tilted his phone away. "Happy, take me to Mabel Cemetery please?"

  “Sir?” His driver asked.

  “Tony are you sure?” he heard Pepper ask him.

  "Like I said, I need to think, and seeing his grave may help. So yeah, I am going to my dad's to do that." Tony told the two of them.

  “Very good, sir.” Happy agreed.

  “It’s not the end of the world Tony. It’s just a piece to tech.” Pepper tried to get him to be more reasonable.

  He didn't want to tell her that wasn't why he wanted to go there to think, but it was a good enough of an excuse. So he countered by saying. "But then where does it end Pep? How many people died because of Obi selling to anyone with enough money? And what kind of damage can something like my suit do, in the wrong hands? Honestly, I think we lucked out that no one died when I took down his Iron Monger rip-off."

  He could almost see her close her eyes in agreement, he knew her so well, but after a moment she told him. "I will get the wyers involved." It almost sounded like she was going to hang up, but added it at the st minute. "You have a meeting at five, the consotion thing."

  ‘Right, SHIELD.’ He thought, but only said. “I know, I won’t be te.”

  “You ever going to tell me what it is this mysterious company and you are talking about in these meetings?” she asked just before he was about to hang up himself.

  Tony gnced at his watch and saw that it was almost two-thirty, and he tilted the phone so the mic would catch him saying. “Tell you this weekend.” Before he hung up and thought. ‘And a whole bunch of other stuff too, maybe.’

  Then he tossed his phone onto the seat next to him before pressing the button to close the partition between the front and back sections, before it closed all the way he instructed Happy. “Wake me when we get there.”

  Tony jumped in surprise when the door opened next to him. He blinked twice, at first thinking he was back in the cave, but then beyond his shades he saw Happy somberly nodding at him, he knew he wasn’t.

  As he looked around he heard his bodyguard ask him. "You want me to go in with you?"

  When Tony saw that there was no road access and he would have to walk to the graves, he vaguely remembered the area. “Nah.” He started with, and reached over and picked up his phone, as he waved it he told Happy. “I will text you, but keep your eyes open; this is New York, yeah?”

  The rger man stepped aside and agreed. “Of course, boss.”

  Then Tony got out and walked deeper into the grounds. As he got out of earshot of his ride driving away, he asked Jarvis. "Jarvis, where is my dad's grave again?"

  "Updating and marking your gsses now sir." The VI told him.

  Sure enough, his gsses now had a red dot hovering off to his right, near a row of some rather rge headstones. "Right, the knight statues," Tony muttered while walking over to the row with the rge headstone that his mother and father shared.

  It didn’t take him long to walk there. He honestly didn’t know what he wanted to say to the old man, or what inspiration would strike him. Other than he might need to find a neighboring plot’s owner to buy out the spot, so that should worse come to worse, he can buried next to his parents.

  The first thing he looked at was the two kneeling knights caved into the sides of the headstone, one held an assault rifle, while the other held up a round shield protecting his mother's side of the plot.

  Tony shook his head before taking his shades off and sighing. “Hey, mom, hey dad… Been a long time, I know. Good news Dad, the company is still around, so not all bad. Mom, before you ask no, no grandkids… that I know of… but maybe next time. Met a wonderful redhead, whom I might actually settle down with one day and have a family. Or I might just hand the company over to her before I die, as she can clearly run it better than I can.’

  "Now Mom, I'm going to talk to Dad for a bit because I got to brag. Dad, you remember the Arc Reactor, of course, you do, well I…" he started to brag, but then frowned when he noticed wilting flowers set atop their graves. A half dozen for each, not roses or anything romantic, but white ones for his mom and red and purple ones for his dad. That any were there still at all seemed odd to Tony. Let alone him to see that they were semi-fresh flowers or rather any flowers at all.

  So he reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone, and told Jarvis. “Call Happy.”

  A couple of rings ter, his bodyguard answered. “Everything alright boss?”

  "Did Pep or the company send fresh flowers to my parents' grave?" Tony asked the man, as if the man had actually read most of the company memos.

  “I think we only send any on the anniversary of their passing sir.” Happy told him, further adding to Tony’s confusion.

  Then before he could hang up or ask Jarvis to look into it, he heard someone heavy step off of the path and crush some of the fall leaves on the ground. The sound made Tony turn around. He saw a tall muscur blonde man in a bomber jacket and blue jeans, just off of the path, holding another half dozen flowers of a simir breed in either hand.

  The tall blonde man looked and saw which graves Tony was standing before, just ahead of him, and said. "Oh, hello, I didn't think anyone else would be here. I'll leave if you need a moment."

  “Wait, wait, wait," Tony said and waved his free hand at the stranger, then said into his phone. "Happy, mystery solved, great lookout by the way." he then hung up and gestured for the stranger to come over some more.

  He gave off the vibe that military people gave off, but not the arrogant officer vibe, and the man's age really put Tony through a loop as the man looked around or was even younger than him. "How did you know my parents?"

  "You parents… oh, you're Anthony. I see it now, in the cheekbones. To answer your question, I only knew your father, and we worked together back in the war. He was in charge of supplies the few times we got back to allied command to get resupplied." As the man expined, he walked over to the headstones and swapped the wilting flowers for the fresh ones in his hands.

  Tony wanted to argue with the man, but instead, he watched him and thought. 'War, Dad only really helped in the Second World War. Since he wanted to get Stark Industries going, after the death of Captain America, additionally the guy is way too young to have served in anything but any recent wars… unless.' He recalled a bck and white photo that his dad had on his desk till the day he died.

  "Are you Steven Rogers?" He pulled his sungsses off as he asked. The other man stopped cleaning his parents' headstone long enough to turn to face him and nod. “How? Let alone did you survive the crash, how are you still so young?”

  He stopped his clean to turn to face the weapons designer. Then he said. "Hydra engineering, they built a really durable pne, and the doctors think that it was the ice that slowed my aging. Mind you it was so cold, I should have died from that too, but they're giving that miracle to the Super Soldier Serum that Doc. Erskine gave me."

  ‘This should be over the news.’ Tony thought and asked as much. ”Why haven’t they announced your return?”

  "Gag order, I think it's called. Doesn't seem very American but, the people that found me and I can't talk about anything till they're done poking and prodding me." The super soldier rubbed his cheek as he tried to expin it to Tony.

  “Poke and prod, oh, their trying to get samples of the original formu.” Tony guessed.

  Steve nodded and stated. "Twice a week I have to go to a b, so they can take blood, marrow, and other tissue samples. Wherever they think that they might find higher concentrations of the serum."

  'And I am compining about them maybe stealing my designs, they are literally mining him for information.' He pondered while chewing on the reinforced tip of his shades before he asked. "Why aren't you fighting it, you know you can right?"

  Steve waved the question away, as he muttered. “You sound like Peggy.”

  ‘Peggy Charter? That’s another person that my dad knew.’ Tony thought.

  As the weapons designer was quiet the super soldier continued to expin. “I signed a paper, back when Doc. Eriskine was assassinated. That said they could try and recover the serum from my body… and it may sound old fashioned, but I think my word is worth a little more than some pain and dealing with some needles."

  Tony was about to ask another question when his phone started pying the theme to ‘Mighty Mouse’, so he put his shades back on and muttered. “Answer.” Then the left lens of his shades showed him a profile picture of Happy and a volume bar.

  "Boss, about a dozen guys led by a dy in a suit are headed your way, I am guessing all of them are packing." Happy warned him.

  As he did Tony looked around and when he spotted a city CCTV camera he told Jarvis. "Get me a feed." Then his right lenses showed him various camera feeds. Then he isoted one of the feeds of the cemetery and told Jarvis. “That one.”

  Steve frowned at him talking to himself but didn't interrupt.

  Tony blinked at the sight of the men drawing pistols in broad daylight in New York City. Then turned partway and tilted his head before pointing at them, from across the cemetery he pointed at them and asked the super soldier. “Friends of yours?”

  The other man nodded and then he said. “They're my security detail.”