Chapter 39: Life As A Stark

(June 1st, 2007)

Virginia "Pepper" Potts was getting worried. No, it was more like she was downright getting scared. Ever since her boss turned from his vacation a few months ago, he had changed. He was... nicer? She didn't know what to think and that terrified her a lot. Sometimes, he would act like a decent man!

'What the hell is going on!?' she thought as she made her way to the Stark Mansion.

To be honest, she started suspecting that someone had taken Mr. Stark's place and infiltrated the company or something. Should she call the cops or the CIA? What if it was an alien? Area 51? He hasn't brought a single girl or thrown a party ever since. He may go to the club from time to time, but that's it. She didn't know if she was supposed to be relieved or scared.

There was also the fact that every time she would go there, she felt like she was being watched by someone.

'Which is weird since the only ones in that mansion are Happy, Mr. Stark and, occasionally, Mr. Stane. Right?'

Pepper thought back to the day she first started working for Mr. Stark some years back. When she had been hired as an administrative assistant in Stark Industries, she noticed some numbers weren't adding up on some projections and notified her supervisor. Unfortunately, the latter had dismissed it. She continued insisting which ended up in her being fired. Not one to give up when she sees something not right, she went directly to the CEO's office to confront Tony Stark himself. To her dismay, the guards didn't let her in and tried to remove her. She had to lie about having pepper spray and she would not be afraid to use it. Attracted by the commotion, Tony Stark had come out of his office to see what was going on when he was impressed by her. He had then hired her as his assistant as well as given her the nickname "Pepper".

The woman groaned as she drove when she remembered what happened that day. On one hand, she became the assistant of Tony Stark! On the other hand, she became the assistant of Tony Stark. Recently, she was having mixed feelings about her job. Basically, she was his babysitter. He would make her escort his one-night-stands out or clean up after him when he makes a mess in public, etc. He also has a bad attitude and is irresponsible and didn't care one bit. Although, with all these flaws, her boss was not a bad person per se. At least, she was getting paid well.

She finally arrived in front of her boss's house. Swiping a card at the main gate, she was able to enter. Once she parked her car, the woman made her way to the door.

Pepper had a troubled expression as she went to the door. Today her boss had called for her and he sounded serious on the phone. She put her card on a scanner which activated a hand scanner. After finishing scanning her hand, Jarvis greeted her.

"Welcome back, Miss Potts."

"Hello, Jarvis. Is Mr. Stark here?"

"He is waiting for you in his office. Come in." the A.I. replied.

"Thank you."

Pepper then opened the door and walked inside. The echoing steps of her heels resounded as she made her way to Tony's office.

*Giggle*

Suddenly, she froze. Looking around, she saw nothing and could hear nothing else.

'Am I hearing things?'

She waited for some more, but nothing came out so she continued to walk.

*Giggle*

She froze again and whipped her head behind her. There was no one.

"Am I going crazy? After working all this time for Mr. Stark, have I finally snapped?"

Now Pepper was used to hearing new voices when comes to this house. More often than not, it was the woman her boss brought home to sleep with. But this voice was different. It sounded like... a child?

'Yup, I'm going crazy. There's no way there would be a child here. We're talking about Mr. Stark here.'

*Giggle*

"Iiiii seeeeee youuuuuuuuu," a child's voice suddenly said freaking her out.

This time, the voice came from her side, when she turned her head, she didn't see anything. Pepper was starting to freak out. Her skin paled and her breathing became laboured. It was a miracle that she was not screaming yet. She increased her pace as the knocks of her heels became louder. When she finally found her boss's office, she slammed it open before quickly shutting it. The woman turned around and saw her boss at the table with a serious look.

She quickly stomped towards him,

"Mr. Stark, what's going on!? Is your house haunted or something!?" the woman exclaimed as she practically slammed her hands on his table.

Tony looked at her confused,

"Huh... Hello, Pepper and you too?"

Now, it was her turn to get confused,

"Me too?

"Hey there, Potts. Did that creepy voice speak to you too?" a male voice suddenly said from her side.

The woman turned around and saw a dark-skinned man with buzz-cut hair and military clothes.

"Colonel Rhodes! It's good to see you again. I heard you recently returned from a mission in Iraq. It must've been true."

Colonel Rhodes grinned,

"Yeah, it was a tough one. Luckily, there were no casualties."

Colonel James Rupert Rhodes, otherwise known as "Rhodey" by Tony, is the billionaire's best friend as well as an officer in the United States Air Force. He is also the liaison between the military and Stark Industries due to his and Tony's relationship. This time, he was visiting his friend when he also heard strange giggles coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

the colonel turned to his friend,

"So what's going on, man. Is your house haunted something?"

"I didn't take you for one to believe in ghosts, Rhodey," Tony replied.

"I don't."

'But I do.'

Tony feigned a confused look,

"But I didn't hear anything. I'll go check later."

The man turned to Pepper,

"Anyways, I called you here because I want to order balloons."

Pepper and Rhodes internally sighed,

'He's going to throw another party?' they both thought.

"I don't want another big party though," Tony said.

"Huh?" They both voiced out.

Rhodes was especially confused since he hadn't seen his friend in more than three months.

"I also want a birthday cake. Big enough for just ten people." The inventor said with the most serious face the other two has ever seen him.

"Birthday... cake? I'm sorry, sir. Are you planning to host a small birthday party?"

Tony nodded. The aura around him felt as if he was ordering her to handle something dangerous yet fragile like uranium waste or something.

"Yes. Just a small birthday party. By the way, you are invited. Not as my assistant, but as a guest." Tony said with a smile and not his usual cocky one.

"W-What?" Pepper let out.

Rhodes was also looking at the man with a weird expression.

"Hey man, you okay?"

Tony looked over at Rhodey,

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's wrong?"

"You're acting weird. Are you sick? Should Pepper call a doctor or something?"

Tony looked at the man confused,

"What? There's nothing wrong with me. By the way, you're also invited to this party." he said before turning back to Pepper.

Meanwhile, the colonel had a flabbergasted expression.

Pepper quickly composed herself and asked,

"May I ask for whom this birthday party is for and who will be invited?"

to her surprise, Tony dismissed her question.

"About the invitations, I'll send them myself. For whom the party is," Tony grinned, "you'll know soon enough. The both of you."

Pepper looked at him for a moment before quickly nothing it down,

"V-Very well, sir. And when will this party be held and where?"

"Here and tomorrow."

"Okay then. Anything else, Mr. Stark."

"Alright then. I shall get started on it." Pepper said as she stiffly turned around and left the room.

"Alright then, Tony. I got to leave too since I'll be called soon. Got to take my rest, man." Tony's friend said as he got up from his seat.

Tony also got up from his seat and gave the man a quick hug,

"Alright, buddy. It's good to see you back."

"You too, Tony," James said.

The man turned around and left the room. He soon left the house and saw Pepper going to her car,

"Potts, wait!" he called out to her.

The woman turned around and saw James walking up to her,

"Colonel Rhodes, is something the matter?"

"Yeah, something's matter. What the hell is up with Tony. He's acting weird. First of all, he would never throw a small party. For him, it's the more the better and that applies only to parties and girls. Second, he never throws a birthday party for someone else. It's always for him and him only. Finally, he will send invitations himself? Since when does he do that? What's going on, Potts?" James asked getting increasingly confused.

Pepper stayed quiet before sighing,

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I don't know. I don't know what the hell is going on with him. Ever since he came back two months ago from that trip, he's been acting all kinds of strange."

Pepper looked at the man in the eyes,

"He's been acting... nice."

"Nice?"

"Yes. He has not been acting like the cocky person that he used to be. He hasn't been much of an... well... an asshole lately. Except for maybe the board of directors, but we all know they're all like that. He hasn't brought a single girl back home or made a scene somewhere. It's like he's a completely different person."

James Rhodes frowned and thought about it,

"You're right. He looked weird. Do you think that it may be because of the person he's going to throw a party for tomorrow?"

"Perhaps. We'll see about it tomorrow." Pepper then changed the subject to another concerning one,

"By the way, you said that you've been hearing voices in Mr. Stark's house."

Widening his eyes, the military man exclaimed

"Yeah! I heard voices too!"

"It sounded like a child's voice."

"That's right! Do you think that maybe..." James didn't need to finish the question when Pepper understood.

"That he has a child? I don't think so. The one thing that Tony diligently does without mistakes is taking precautions to not have a child since there are many women out there who proclaim having his child but were proven wrong."

"What about the creepy giggles?"

Pepper was stumped,

"I... honestly have no clue, Colonel."

James sighed,

'Just what the hell happened, man?'

"You know what? Let's find out everything tomorrow when he introduces us to that person. I'll leave you be for now since I have to return home."

"Alright Colonel, have a good day and congratulations on returning safely from your mission," Pepper said.

"Good day to you too Potts."

And they both left to their respective cars before leaving the Stark estate.

***

Tony sighed when James and Virginia left before chuckling with amusement,

"Jarvis, can you call Isaiah?"

"Yes, sir."

A few minutes later, Tony saw the door open and saw his son's head peeking in,

"Did you call me Tony?"

"Yeah, I did."

Entering the office, The boy sat down on a chair in front of Tony's desk,

"What's up?"

"Did you have fun?" the man asked with a hint of amusement.

"With what?" the boy replied with an innocent gaze.

Tony deadpanned at him and the boy caved in,

"... Yeah."

"You should see their faces anyway," Tony said with a chuckle.

"Who was the man anyway?"

"Oh, he's my best friend, Colonel James Rhodes. He's an officer in the US Air Force."

"Best friend? Really?"

"Yeah, he just returned from his mission, so he came to visit me before being called,"

A little more than two months have passed since Isaiah first stepped foot into the Stark Mansion and has been living in it ever since. He also enjoyed his new life even with its luxuries. Although he made sure to not use very much of it or let it get through his head. Ever since his exploration of New York ended up with him spending an exorbitant amount of money, the Ancient One had beaten into his head the concept of spending money wisely.

On the other hand, his father had made him try a lot of stuff such as different kinds of take-out food. If they weren't in the mood for take-out, Jarvis would have a robot chef make food since neither of them had bothered learning to cook. Tony was rich so he didn't need to cook for himself and Isaiah was a child sorcerer so the cafeteria at Kamar-Taj made things to eat for him. It was a rather fascinating process to watch in Isaiah's opinion. Tony was especially proud of this achievement. The boy had also learned many things from the man when he worked in his workshop. The boy would sometimes accompany the man when he worked and simply watched from the sidelines. Watching Tony Stark work on something was an incredible sight for the boy. The passion and the sheer focus the man had when working on something were amazing. He would also continue to train in one of the gyms Tony had. The man would ask questions about Magic that the boy happily answered. Isaiah was pretty sure the man was already trying to figure out how to make weapons. against mythical monsters. Luckily, since they were both humans, no monsters were in sight. But one can never be too careful.

However, the boy felt restless without the presence of magic around him. Due to his hyper-sensitivity, he had gotten used to feeling different kinds of energies all around such as the cold energy from Ikhtalon or the tingling feeling of the electrical energy of Balthakk, that some sorcerers who had a contract with possessed, or even the conglomeration of different kinds of energies that his teacher possessed. Unfortunately, even with his hyper-sensitivity, he couldn't distinguish the energies within her due to their being too many different kinds and them being mixed up. He had also improved his different magic spells. (Projection) was getting faster. He could now add minor concepts on objects using (Alteration). (Flash Air) was on the verge of a breakthrough. He was very close to figuring out how to use the spell on concepts and abstract things. If he succeeds, he would gain his own style of teleportation. Compare to the sling ring, it was limited in range, but it made up with its speed and versatility. The only con was that it required calculations that the boy would happily do. With the sling ring, it only needed a clear image and a point of reference. Maybe (Flash Air) could one day match up to the sling ring? Who knows? He could now control up to 20 litres of water, but it was nowhere near what Percy could do. Isaiah intends to show him the next time they meet and brag about it.

He also continued to train in martial arts. Ever since he learned about the concept of (Flow) when he was at the Iguazu Falls, he tried to incorporate it into his fighting style. Not surprisingly, it meshed really well with Tai Chi since it's a gentle martial art where the body is in constant movement through a series of flowing postures and heavily focused on the Flow. Now that he had an understanding of the Flow, Isaiah could now use his opponent's strength more effectively against them. It was also great since Isaiah had a small body due to being young. In his first spar against Happy, after a long time of insistence, the boy had easily defeated the man using simple Tai chi. If he hadn't known better, Tony would have thought that the spar looked like a David and Goliath situation in favour of Happy. Happy also knew better. With Isaiah's powers, he would have been destroyed. He was glad when the boy said that no powers would be involved. Unfortunately, the former boxer had celebrated too soon. Even if he wasn't using his powers, it does not mean that he wasn't well-versed in other disciplines. Happy was easily defeated which hurt his pride a little. He had boxed for more than five years when Isaiah had done it for less than four. Seeing him like that, Isaiah had decided to spar with him on a regular. The man was supposed to protect his father, he should at least be capable enough!

Since he missed the feeling of magic around him, he had asked his father if he wanted to upgrade his house's security. Looking at him weirdly, Tony had asked him how. The boy had replied he would add a magical enchantment around the house that would defend it against Stark Industries' strongest missile five times before breaking down. It would also alert Isaiah if someone approached the mansion. Basically, a weaker version of the barrier around Kamar-Taj and its Sanctum. It didn't take him long to understand since he had observed how to barrier behaved at Kamar-Taj. What took very long is the creation process since he had to write the enchantments by hand all around the mansion. And he also had to carve them in the wall of the house. Luckily, Tony had given him permission. There are two kinds of enchantments: carved and applied. One could compare them to tattoos. Tattoos that were applied with a tattoo pen or gun were permanent while temporary tattoos were temporary since it's just applied over the skin. The heating formation he had used on his clothes were applied enchantments while the enchantments on Tony's glasses that were made to see through the Mist were carved enchantments.

Once, the carving was complete, the boy activated it. It created a bubble around the mansion before turning invisible. Happy and Tony had fun testing different kinds of weapons on the house. However, they would simply be blocked a few meters before their target. Not even a single window was cracked, although, they didn't bring out the big guns lest they attract all kinds of attention.

Isaiah enjoyed his life just like his teacher and Sally had told him to. However, because he wasn't known to the world, he couldn't be seen with Tony Stark since his papers weren't completed yet. Tony held off all the paperwork so that he could give it to the government at the right time. The man didn't want to add unnecessary trouble for Isaiah that the latter appreciated. Sometimes, he would see some brave paparazzi try to enter Tony's property and would have fun seeing them being kicked out by Happy or one of the robots. Tony had fun alongside him. If he wanted to go outside, he would need to go with either Happy or create a portal in a place where there was no surveillance system. When someone needs to come over to the mansion, which was quite often in Pepper's case, he would go to another room to either train or study or even talk to Bianca, Percy or Nico. Bianca had almost fainted when she saw where Isaiah was now living. Though, she hadn't had the chance to visit him yet.

Even with all that, the relationship between the father and son grew closer. Although the man still felt a little distant from the boy. Which was quite normal in his opinion, they had only known each other for two months and they lived in two different worlds. One was from the mundane, the other was from the supernatural. One was normal, the other was powerful. But they both had things in common such as their intelligence and their creative way of using it.

Back to Isaiah who was seated in front of Tony.

"So what were you talking about?" the boy asked.

Tony gave him a mischievous grin,

"That's a secret."

Isaiah raised an eyebrow,

"Hoh? You know I can simply read your mind, right?" the boy with humour.

To the boy's surprise, Tony's grin grew wider.

"Try it." the man challenged.

Curious, the boy complied. To his utter surprise, instead of thoughts, he heard TV static. The boy gave the man a bewildered look,

"How?"

"I had a little help from your teacher," Tony said with a smug.

"When did she even come here!?"

'I didn't even sense her! Did she find a way to hide from me?'

"I can't tell you that."

Isaiah was curious. What secret could Tony be hiding from him that it required something to hide him with the help of his teacher?

"Are you going to tell me what you're hiding?"

"Eventually. Although, it'll be soon enough."

Isaiah gave him a slight pout and Tony chuckled,

"Tell you what. It has to do with Pepper and Rhodey."

Isaiah perked up,

"Are you going to tell them about me?"

Tony nodded,

"Yeah."

"What about my other life."

"What do you think?"

Isaiah thought about it,

"I think you could tell Miss Potts about magic, but not Mr. Rhodes."

Tony raised an eyebrow,

"Is it because he's military?"

Isaiah nodded,

"Since he's military, I'm sure his loyalty will be with the military. If he thinks I'm a threat or something, he may inform them and create a whole fiasco."

Tony nodded. Isaiah's reasoning was sound. But,

"Can't you just make him take an oath to not spill the beans?"

"I could, but I don't feel comfortable yet. I don't even know him. I've been seeing Miss Potts since I've arrived." Isaiah then said in a mock whisper, " I think she suspects you have been abducted by aliens and replaced by someone else or something."

Tony chuckled,

"Yeah, you're right about that. Anyway, I have work to do."

Isaiah looked at him confused,

"You're the CEO, can't you pass the work to others?

"I decided to change, remember. I should do at least this much. I'm an inventor, but, just like you said, I'm also the CEO of Stark Industries."

"Alright, I'll leave you at it. I'm going to research more spells to invent. See you later,"

Tony nodded when a sudden thought struck him,

"Wait, Isaiah."

The boy stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"I know you said that you studied until University-level material, but there is no mark of it anywhere. Therefore, you still need to go to school. DO you want to go to one soon or wait for Highschool?" Tony asked.

"I've thought about it before and my answer is to wait."

"Wait? Why?"

"Because first of all, kids my age are weird except for a few exceptions," Isaiah said making Tony chuckle.

It seems to be that it is a common problem that geniuses experience.

"Second, it'll be utterly boring to go to school now since I've learned everything and I won't have as much freedom I have now."

"Fair enough."

"Third, kids my age are weird except for a few exceptions."

"You already said that."

"I know, but some things need to be said twice. And finally, I've seen many movies depicting Highschool life and I want to experience it. There are not many about younger kids in school."

Tony deadpanned,

"You do know that those movies are just full of clichés, right. High school is not always like that."

The boy shrugged with a smile,

"Who knows. Clichés happen because there is a hint of truth in them, am I wrong?"

Tony looked at the boy and chuckled,

"No, you're right. Alright, do you have a plan then?"

"I'll think of one when it's time."

"Alright, you do that."

"Okay." the boy replied and left the room.

As soon as he did, Tony let out a huge sigh of relief,

'Thank god, it worked! I wasn't sure since only that lady confirmed it. Now, he won't know about tomorrow's plan.' Tony said as he worked on making plans for Isaiah's birthday tomorrow.