16. Chapter

"Hurry up, guys. I need to be on Alderaan in…" Tony glanced at the clock "four hours, and you know how long it takes to get through customs. Hey Kristy, you didn't get banned on Alderaan while my back was turned, did you?" To be fair, it was a legitimate question. They had been barred from landing on a planet because Tony had listed 'Kristofferson Solo' as a crewmember. Tony had guided the Y-not into an awkward U-turn right back out of the atmosphere once they were met with a wall of peacekeeper shuttles.

Because Tony had already indicated that he was attempting the bounty and didn't want to lose reliability, Tony was forced to call in a favor from Paramexor. After the more experienced bounty hunter sent some of his allies over to retrieve the hostage, Tony reluctantly gave them several crates of his prototype kolto, along with the full bounty. Through a private transmission, Paramexor conveyed to Tony that the Y-nauts were gaining attention. He once again offered the protection of joining his 'group' - House Paramexor was one of the ten major bounty hunting house. Tony declined, though a lot more slowly this time.

This incident had Tony ordering the crew to list out all the planets they had committed possible crimes on and had FRIDAY combing through the planets' public resources to see if there was enough evidence to lock them up. Most of the crew did have warrants out for them. Interestingly, Suffee was locked out of Cantonica, or, more specifically, Canto Bight, a city known for gambling. Maybe it wasn't surprising, considering how he ended up on Nar Shadaa.

Even more suspiciously, FRIDAY was banned on two separate planets, though she refused to answer how she managed that, seeing that she didn't even have a physical body. She did send him on a wild goose chase by saying, "Well, you're banned on Tynna," though. It was mightily odd, especially because he never been on that planet, despite all the wild goose chases that bounty hunting led them on. Heck, he'd never even heard of the place. He was banned, though public records did not say why.

"We'll be there soon," Kovlo grumbled.

"No offense, but last time you said 'soon,' we ended up having to save you from quicksand… five hours later. The word 'soon' doesn't quite fill me with confidence."

"We'll be there in twenty minutes," Kristoff informed Tony.

"Gotcha. We'll be primed and ready." Tony sat back and flicked through pilfered camera feeds. As the crew had grown more and more experienced with taking bounties, they had started going for multiple bounties at a time, dropping groups off on nearby planets and picking them up after they signaled they were done. A clear divide on the team had started to form, and Tony didn't like that.

There were two main groups, Tony's and Kristoff's. Tony could always rely on the cousins to back him up. Greer usually did too, but he would always go with Galee if she went with a different group. Kovlo usually went with Kristoff. Galee went with whichever group that went to the planet with the most good-looking men, though she sometimes went off on separate missions with Charell. The rest of the team would cycle through staying on the ship or joining the easier hunts.

If they needed help, they would ask for it and the skeleton crew left on the ship would come for them. It only happened twice, but Tony worried about what would happen if two active groups needed help at the same time.

Luckily, Kristoff, Kovlo, and Charell arrived on time, covered in an unidentifiable substance. Galee watched with wide eyes and burst into giggles. Tony quickly saw why; the 'artifact' was oozing slime. "I don't want to know. Put that thing in Isolation and go decontaminate yourself."

" I don't like this ," Suffee said to him privately over the earpiece as he piloted the Y-not into atmosphere, steering in the direction of the hyperlanes. "We don't know what it is and what it can do. It might be dangerous."

"Hopefully it's not going to eat us or something. If not, I take full responsibility," Tony said blithely, watching the object be locked away with sharp eyes, despite his casual words.

"Hopefully?" Suffee echoed. "I'd like my life to hinge on something more than 'hope.'" The words were said absentmindedly, Suffee putting most of his attention in flying the ship to Alderaan. Still, the intent remained.

Tony was glad that Suffee decided to have this conversation privately. It was the closest the rule-abiding Rodian had ever come to insubordination. "They won't come to collect the bounty for another three standard days. If it is dangerous, unless we go to the main BH office on the other side of the galaxy, we're the ones that are most qualified to deal with it," Tony said grimly, watching the bubbling slime through the transparisteel.

"Sometimes, I hate your sense of honor," Suffee admitted. Nodding halfheartedly, Tony pressed the button that made phrik-reinforced durasteel dome spiral up around the box. He indicated to FRIDAY that the room had to be monitored at all times. As he went through the decontamination process, he heard Suffee mutter under his breath, as though not meaning to say it aloud, "But I guess that if you didn't have it, I wouldn't have followed you."

- Insert Quote Here -

While making the other party wait was a common business tactic to intimidate smaller corporations, Tony was in no place to do such a thing to the Viceroy of an entire planet. Furthermore, he legitimately liked the Alderaanian and thought that keeping him waiting was a poor reward for all the help Prestor had provided him with. Due to this, it was with great consternation that Tony arrived 'fashionably late.'

"Tony," Prestor said as Tony walked down the ramp, several of his crew trailing behind him. Tony beamed at the Viceroy, before noticing Bail, standing a good distance away from his father. There was tension in the air, as if a fight was just cut off, far from finished.

"Prestor!" Tony greeted, clasping the said man's hand. "Or Viceroy Organa. Lord Viceroy? Kind of confused about how to address you, since you called me by my first name."

"Prestor is fine," the Viceroy answered.

"Prestor it is, then!" Tony agreed, not one to give up the chance to act informally. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Hi, Bail." Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted some servants stiffening in obvious affront.

"Hello, Tony. Is Friday here?" Bail said, looking over the crew. He ignored the firm look that the eldar Organa sent him.

"She is as here as she always is," Tony said mysteriously, before they were interrupted by two teenagers all but shoving Tony out of the way.

"An offering from the Lady Friday," Hoviv announced solemnly to Bail. Beside him, Gis kneeled in front of Bail, arms outstretched to present the Alderaanian with a… Tony didn't know what, exactly, but it was sleek, thin, and long, and completely wrapped with a luxurious cloth.

Tony was dying to ask FRIDAY what it was. The shape vaguely reminded him of one of the pranks he played on Barton. He told the archer that the 'gift' was a bundle of arrows, but when it was opened, Barton and his immediate surroundings - that, unfortunately for Tony, included the Black Widow - were painted pink and completely glitterfied. Whatever the prank was, Tony hoped that Gis or FRIDAY would have a recording to show him when he finished with Prestor.

"Come, we have much to discuss and not much time to do so," Prestor told Tony, turning on his heel and strolling into the palace. With one last look at the odd trio, Tony followed. They went to a small, informal conference room. A maid darted in, placing a tray of some sort of tea and cookies onto the table before silently leaving.

"Fancy," Tony commented, dipping a cookie into the tea.

"It appears that your daughter is wooing my son," Prestor said instead.

"You could look at it that way," Tony said with a shrug. Little girls and boys expressed affection by pulling pigtails, right? So maybe that meant that slightly older girls and boys would prank their crushes? Holy cow, did that mean that FRIDAY had a crush on the younger Organa? "Looks to me that your son has a crush on my daughter. I'm guessing you don't approve?"

"It is not about whether or not I approve. It is about how any potential daughter-in-law of mine can handle being in the public eye and how she can stand up to scrutiny. My son has told me that your daughter is well-read and adaptable, but understand that court life is not for everyone," Prestor said tactfully.

Tony knew what the Alderaanian meant; the line of succession for the position of Viceroy was uneasy at best, and he was worried about the damage that FRIDAY might bring to Bail's chances of gaining that title. Despite the fact that he himself doubted that any potential romantic relationship between FRIDAY and… anyone, really, would work out, he felt obligated to defend his daughter. "Don't count her out. FRIDAY's polite and her ability to memorize proper protocol is unparalleled. Plus, she can come up with four dozen ways to say 'kriff-you' in politician, on the spot."

"How amusing," Prestor said noncommittally.

However, Tony could sense the Alderaanian's mind whirling with glee. Bail was a polite kid, but being inoffensive never got anyone anywhere in the world of politics. Someone as sly and sneaky as FRIDAY would do the kid some good. It was nice to meet a fellow troller. Tony could already sense the H*** he, the Organas, and FRIDAY would be bringing to Alderaan's royal court.

The edges of Prestor's lips twitched up as he glanced at Tony and read his intentions. "Shall we continue?" he asked, gesturing at the modified data pad that Tony placed on the table between them. With an exaggerated put-upon sigh, Tony pressed a button on the side of the datapad, making holograms spring up. Prestor straightened up. "Why are those not on the products list?" he demanded.

"They are, now," Tony bluffed, staring at the holograms.

To be honest, Tony had never thought of that. Back on Earth, he had kept that technology to himself because numbers told him that the general population couldn't afford it, while logic told him that people didn't trust what they couldn't understand, and that they weren't ready for it.

But this galaxy already had holoforms available at every major terminal. Holograms coming out of a tiny datapad wouldn't be such a big leap. This was what Prestor was here to help him with: giving him another opinion. "Shall we continue?"

Prestor sat across from Tony, still and calm, even as Tony spat out statistics and analyzed and reanalyzed the sales. He already had an idea of where he went wrong. Action vs. Reaction. He was trying to force the universe into his mold, when the universe was as firm and unyielding as the people that made it up. The Republic already had things similar to cell phones, and they weren't looking to change.

The cell phone idea would have to be scrapped for now. Maybe, when SI was more experienced, he could revive that idea. As it was now, he needed something else to raise SI to the heights it was in his original universe.

Games, then? Despite how advanced the galaxy was in some areas, like transportation and droids, other areas were sorely lacking. Data pads were the closest things in this galaxy to a single, portable device that held multiple games. So advertising StarkPhones as a gaming device? It was a huge downgrade from what they were used as on Earth, but it was necessary. The next generation of StarkPhones could have holograms included...

Maybe he should start working more on devices to improve life standards on the Outer Rim. At least he knew there was a demand. And maybe incorporate some of the tech into his armor...

Prestor probably didn't understand half of what Tony was talking about, but he made a great sounding board, his inexperience with sales providing Tony a unique perspective.

Still, though there was no outward sign of it, Tony had the impression that Prestor was spending barely the amount of attention needed to be polite. While others might have been offended by this, Tony was fine with it. As the viceroy of an entire planet, Prestor had a lot more to worry about than flagging sales. Besides, he had pulled the same trick with his board members, albeit with a lot less success. At least Prestor provided him some good ideas. All he provided his board members with was headaches. That is, if you completely overlooked the billions of dollars in patents he was involved in.

"So what's the problem?" Tony asked, before realizing how abrupt it sounded.

Prestor blinked slowly, the only outward sign that the sudden change in topic had any him. "I take it we are no longer discussing planetary-distance-versus-time ratios?" he stated rather than asked warily.

"Nope. We're talking about you and your problems!" Tony said cheerfully. "You're distracted. Tell me what's going on and we can take it apart like we just did with my problems!"

Placing the teacup he was holding down, Prestor looked sternly at Tony. "You understand that-"

"That these are priceless state secrets and you'll hunt me down and have me strung and quartered if I reveal it, yep. On with the show!" Tony looked expectantly at Prestor.

The Viceroy let a loud exhale through his nose, somehow making it sound refined in a way not even Pepper had managed to make it. Alderaan was a peaceful planet, but Prestor made no mention of the relatively graphic image that Tony had provided him with. "Very well," he said instead. "You must be wary of where you speak of this, lest it fall upon hostile ears. Even in my own household, I must watch my words. There are those who would take advantage of what I am about to reveal, those who would not care about honor, nor ideals," he said solemnly, voice falling to something that was almost a whisper. He stared at Tony with unfathomable eyes.

"Awfully long way of saying 'don't talk about this to anyone,'" Tony commented, realizing Prestor expected an answer.

Tony expected a sigh, maybe a heavenward gaze in a holy request for patience. What he didn't expect was for Prestor to let out a tiny snort, all but slumping in his chair.

It wasn't much of a slump, true. Prestor's shoulders slumped, and he grew about two centimeters shorter, but the Viceroy relaxed ever-so-slightly.

For the first time, Tony didn't see an unyielding leader or an unshakeable protector. He saw a man, just as tired and fallible as he was.

He didn't know how he had missed all the stress that his… friend… had been carrying. Tony thought his mask was impermeable, but it seemed that Prestor's mask was on a whole different level. Tony was touched that, out of all the people Prestor had chosen to lean on, he was even an option. Surely Prestor had to have advisors and childhood friends, people more worthy. Then, he remembered his own childhood. No, children that grew up in the spotlight didn't quite have that opportunity.

Letting Prestor have some time to collect himself was the least he could do. Politely averting his eyes and pretending to be absorbed in some graphs, Tony sat silently as Prestor breathed deeply, eyes closed.

Gradually sinking into the numbers and blueprints, Tony fully let the inventor in him come out. There was a reason why JARVIS and FRIDAY constantly put the workshops into lockdown - his science binges were the most Tony ever let his masks come down. He was open and alive when he was in the Zone. It wasn't the vulnerability that Prestor revealed to him, but it was the closest that Tony could bear to let down his walls.

Slowly, Tony became aware of another pair of eyes on him. He set down his stylus and let the holograms fade away.

"There were two assassination attempts this year alone," Prestor said without preamble, looking over with creased eyebrows to gauge Tony's reaction.

A rather low number , Tony thought idly. Not the best thought to have, at that moment, but it was a true one for a guy that once had to be followed around by a legion of bodyguards. He frowned and carefully regarded the other man, not sure how he was supposed to act. He didn't have many friends. If it was Rhodey, Tony would've torn the world apart. Prestor probably wouldn't appreciate that though. Not that Rhodey would've, for that matter.

When Tony met Prestor's eyes, the Viceroy abruptly said, "Don't tell Bail."

"You don't want your son to know his life is in danger?" Tony questioned.

"I know I should," Prestor said with a shake of his head that contradicted his words, "I know that withholding information like that tends to backfire in the most spectacular ways. I know that, yet I cannot help but wish for a couple more days. I don't want him to have our legacy on his shoulders yet."

Tony air escape from his lungs through his mouth. "He isn't a child anymore," he pointed out. It drew up memories of how suddenly he was torn from Earth, subconsciously leading his next words. "Not telling him will put him in even more danger. Not to mention it's breaking the trust between you. Is that the real reason behind the fight you guys both had before we got here? In a worst-case scenario, do you really want an argument to be your last memories of each other?"

Prestor flinched and looked away. Tony realized might have crossed a line and was about to apologize when Prestor spoke. "Of course. Your wisdom is sound. I will- I will tell him immediately." He reluctantly stood up.

"Hey, wait. Sit down for a sec," Tony said, pretending not to see Prestor's gratefulness as he sat back down. "We haven't even got to the main point of this discussion yet. What can I do to help out?"

He watched the Alderaanian mentally reviewed their conversation and stiffly nod. "I would like to request your services for a fair bounty. You have received positive reviews on both of the security systems you have set up."

Tony paused. He had done a few security systems to help with part of some escorting bounties. They were obscure bounties, and he wasn't sure how Prestor knew. "That monitoring-me thing you have going on is seriously creepy. So you want me to rig up something nice around what you have here? It's doable. Nonlethal, right?" He thought of what he had seen. The camera set-up was decent, really. Maybe a couple of electrical traps, then?

"It would be highly frowned upon for the tresspassers to be murdered, not to mention the staff."

"Please, my systems are better than that!" Tony scoffed. "If they're meant to be there, then they won't be killed."

"We are a pacifist planet," Prestor pointed out more firmly.

"Fair enough," Tony agreed, capitulating. "Who are you defending against? Just to give me an idea of what to expect."

Prestor tilted his head slightly, examining Tony anew. Tony resisted the urge to ask if the changed angle gave the Viceroy a new perspective of him. "Have you heard of the House of Thul?" Prestor asked with a lilting tone.

"Can't say I have," Tony answered.

"The House of Thul is behind the assassinations."

"Am I going to get an explanation, or are we just going to leave it at that?" Tony asked when no other clarification was forthcoming.

"They are House Organa's greatest rival for millenia. Since our civil war, they have been a thorn on our side, but nothing lethal."

Tony tilted his head as FRIDAY informed him that the civil war had happened well over three thousand years ago. Long time to hold a grudge. "So all you're going to do about it is bunker down and wait it out?"

"What do you suggest?"

"Confrontation? Violent negotiations?" Tony offered. "I can track them down and threaten them." His new outlook on life was a side effect of a bounty-hunting life, and Tony decided he should probably fix it before it got too out-of-hand.

"You are forgetting that Alderaan is a pacifist planet. As Viceroy, I am to uphold those standards," Prestor reminded again.

"Then I can do it for you. I'm not Alderaanian, and I have cause to investigate."

"Cause?"

"Well, we're friends, aren't we?"

Prestor weighed it out. Tony could see his disdain-bordering-abhorrence for violence battling his instinctive need to protect his family. He saw the moment Prestor decided. "If there is another attempt, I will contact you about this. No trace back to House Organa," he warned Tony.

"Gotcha. One House of murderers, coming up!" Tony agreed. The Alderaanian seemed put-out at Tony's certainty that there would be another attempt on his family's lives, but did not comment. They quickly wrapped up the meeting and went back outside.

Prestor looked over at Bail, and his face softened, completely transforming. "Bail," the elder Organa called out, voice warm. Tony looked away, feeling jealous despite himself. He had never spied Howard looking at him the way Prestor looked at Bail.

Excusing himself from Tony, Bail walked to Prestor and stopped a respectable distance away from him. "Father," he said formally, hands clasped behind his back and head slightly bowed.

"Bail," Prestor breathed out in a tired sigh. Despite himself, Bail looked up in concern. "Son, I'm afraid I have not been entirely honest with you."

Bail's nose scrunched up slightly in a variation of the universal, angsty 'no-s***?' look that all teenagers seemed to have perfected. "Father?" he said instead, tone nonjudgemental despite the expression on his face. His gaze flicked to Tony, who gave him a grin and a thumbs-up. Bail narrowed his eyes by a fraction, turning back to his father.

Instead of telling Bail what was going on, like Tony expected, Prestor glanced around. Tony followed his line of vision to a servant lingering at the edge of the room, moving too slowly to be doing anything but listening in. "I shall tell you on the ship," Prestor decided.

"Do I have to go?" Bail asked, aghast. "Padme and Sabe always try to eat my jackets!"

"Interesting. Tell me more!" Tony said eagerly. Anything that put people off their toes was a good thing, in his opinion. The eating clothing thing, though... Padme and Sabe were either some sort of large animals that liked to nibble on expensive fabrics or maybe a pair of toddlers, depending on what Bail meant by 'eat.' Tony hoped Bail was exaggerating.

"Padme is a queen-in-training who is quite… taken with Bail. Sabe is her best friend and enabler. They are exceptionally mischievous," Prestor answered, amused. "Yes, Bail. You have to go. You wouldn't want to disappoint them, would you?"

Bail groaned playfully. "Maybe in a few years. Two two-year-olds are more than I can handle!"

"Well, that sounds like a queen I can get behind. I give her my full support!" Tony declared. Things would be so much easier if children ran the world. There would be less wars and people would get along, despite their beliefs or the way they looked.

- Insert Quote Here -

Security systems were second nature to Tony, after all the time he spent trying to make Happy happy. The thought made Tony snicker out loud: Happy-happy. It took almost no time to design a second system that ran parallel with the current systems yet could function independently. It took longer to install, but his crew pulled through, offering to help.

"Dad?" FRIDAY called out as Tony cracked open a false sensor to insert a pure phrik wire. This sensor would be installed in the wall at the head of Bail's bed. No matter what he promised Prestor, any assassin that made it this close to the younger Organa would end up dead. Tony took his friends' lives seriously, and if they were determined enough to bypass the rest of his traps, Tony would show them no mercy. In any case, FRIDAY approved.

"Yes, baby girl?" Tony answered, putting his welder down and turning his full attention to her.

"I want to have a physical representation," FRIDAY said measuredly in a way that told Tony that she had been rehearsing it.

"Like Vision? I memorized the blueprints of the Cradle. It might need some upgrades. No half-bit vibranium for my little girl; you'll be full-on phrik," Tony declared. A twinge of worry filled him, though, unlike what he expected, it had nothing to do with the Ultron situation. What if something like Vision happened? What if, when the body woke up, FRIDAY wouldn't be FRIDAY anymore? And even if she was fully herself, a darker part of him asked if FRIDAY would still want to stay with a screw-up like him if she wasn't forced to.

"No!" FRIDAY nearly shouted. "No," she said softer, "nothing like that. Just a holoform or something. I just want to be seen."

At her words, Tony breathed a sigh of relief. He would still be able to keep his baby girl, if only for a little longer. "Okay, a holoform emitter, with open settings, so you can change your looks when you want to. Maybe we can develop hard-light holoforms? It'd be nice to hug you, and it could be useful for disorienting people."

"That would be nice," FRIDAY agreed. "Hugging people sounds wonderful."

"Hugging people ? Not me, specifically?" Tony regarded the camera, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. A grin slowly formed on his face. It looked like Bail's crush was returned. "And does this have anything to do with pretty-boy Bail? I hear you brought him some kind of souvenir..." He trailed off in a subconscious prompt for FRIDAY to speak. Not even FRIDAY could resist it, a proud testament to how utterly human she was, despite being made up of code.

"No! It doesn't have anything to do with Bail!" FRIDAY protested.

Noting that she denied it, Tony couldn't hold back a smile. An untruth - she really was learning, becoming more complex. The smile became a smirk. "Bail? On to first-name terms already, are we?"

"It is perfectly natural to call humans by their given name," FRIDAY started to lecture.

"Coming from the person who still occasionally calls Kristy, 'Mr. Solo?' Yeah, sure." Tony mentally calculated the statistics of how a relationship between the two could go, with Bail's stubbornness and Friday's obstinate… FRIDAYness. The numbers were surprisingly high. "I can't wait to give him the shovel talk!"

"Dad…"

"I never thought I'd be able to give the shovel talk to anyone!" Tony continued with glee. "I mean, DUM-E had a crush on Eva from WALL-E, but come on! We all knew that romance wasn't going anywhere…"

Those words softened FRIDAY. "Oh… Okay, then. Please don't scare him away. He's really nice. He treats me like I'm more than a voice in your ear," FRIDAY admitted. "He treats me like... like I'm real."

The words caught in Tony's throat. "Fri, I'll support you, not matter what." He coughed and cleared his throat. "Anyways, if Bail doesn't accept you the way you are, then he doesn't deserve you."

"Thanks, dad," FRIDAY said gratefully.