Chapter 15: Old Messes

A/N: Bit of a timeskip as we enter 2009~

-x-X-x-

Just like that, 2008 slips away and Tony finds himself reliving 2009 for the second time through. Of course, things are VERY different this go-around. Last time he was in full swing as Iron Man by now. Swooping around the world in his red and gold suit, taking down bad guys and giving himself missions whenever Rhodey and his superiors didn't have anything for him to do. The creeping realization that Palladium was poisoning him and that the very thing he'd invented to save his life was going to kill him in the end.

There was none of that this time around. This time around, Tony was doing a lot more science. Inventing and reinventing things he knew he would need in the future. Staying in the lab, keeping his head down. Well, sort of. Every other month he was pushing some new product out of the lab and over to marketing. Stark Industries had always been a Fortune Five Hundred Company. But at the rate Tony was going, they'd be at the top of that list by the end of this year and be making the rest of the single digits of the Fortune Five Hundred Listing look like toddlers by the end of 2010.

Of course, the business was barely a side hobby at this point. Having unlimited cash reserves was pretty useful, so Tony was happy to make sure that Stark Industries 'won capitalism'. However, it wasn't the most important thing. Not by a long shot. There were enemies coming… there were enemies already here. Tony wanted to destroy them all and be done with it, but now that he had secured his and Pepper's safety, he was taking his time with it.

For the time being, it was just him, Pepper, Maya, and Helen with the Extremis Super Soldier Serum so far. Tony had considered giving it to Happy Hogan as well. He'd waffled on whether or not to do it for a time. In the end, cold logic had won out over sentiment.

The more people knew about a secret, the less secure the secret was. Happy was family, but he wasn't what Tony would call subtle. Unlike Rhodey, Tony knew where Happy's loyalties lay. He knew that the man would never knowingly or willingly betray him. That didn't mean Tony could trust Happy to keep such power a secret.

Maybe in the future, when the threats got bigger and they weren't playing these silly spy games Tony would offer to dose Happy. When they finally needed all hands on deck, Tony would bring Happy on board. But not yet. Not now when things were at their most delicate.

Admittedly, it felt a little strange keeping his head of security in the dark about some very serious security risks. Tony hated the fact that he had to keep lying to Happy for the time being. But he also knew the former boxer would understand. He always seemed to understand, always seemed to be happy staying in his lane.

What Happy didn't know couldn't hurt him… for now. SHIELD and HYDRA were dangerous, but they were most dangerous when they thought you had something they wanted. Happy's rather… hapless nature meant that despite being ostensibly one of Tony's closest friends, he had all but fallen off the radar of Stark Industries one approved security risk… 'Natalie Rushman'.

"Mr. Stark sir, I've finished. Will there be anything else?"

Glancing up from his tablet, Tony has to repress a smile as he sees Natasha Romanoff looking at him expectantly from the doorway. She's leaned against it with her heels off and in her hand, her pantyhose-clad feet resting on the carpet. One could look at her and assume she was just tired from walking around in those inch heels of hers all day. Or one could look a little closer and notice that she'd also undone another button on her top from the last time Tony had seen her.

It's not much… only a little risqué. Tony can barely see a hint of the lacy red bra that Natasha is wearing under her usual white blouse.

The last few months had been… fun, to say the least. Even if sometimes it felt like bullying the poor SHIELD spy. But then to be fair, it was Natasha Romanoff. Given everything from the previous timeline, Tony kind of felt like she deserved it. Just a little bit.

He and Pepper had yet to do anything with Natasha, despite her giving them so many signs and so many cues that said she was all too ready to be seduced by the two of them. Instead, they'd passed her back and forth between them, utilizing her as their shared personal assistant and no doubt driving her wild. Certainly, this was an escalation that proved Natasha thought she needed to be more obvious to finally make her way into Tony's bed.

Peering at her for a long moment, Tony hums consideringly.

"Actually yes, Ms. Rushman. There is one more thing you can do for me."

Natasha perks up at that. She bites her lower lip and twirls a lock of her curly red hair around her finger.

"Oh? And… what would that be, sir?"

She was laying it on a bit thick, but at this point, that was part of her character. Natalie Rushman was getting more and more fed up that Tony and Pepper were missing all of her signals. She'd picked up on their own signals and was trying desperately to make them realize that she wanted what they seemed to want… albeit without just coming out and saying it.

It was rather amusing to watch Natasha play the role of horny personal assistant desperate to crawl under Pepper's desk or Tony's workbench and show them what her ruby red lips were really good for. And it was even more amusing to deny her that time and time again.

"I need a coaster for my drink, please."

He gestures past his tablet to the glass on the coffee table in front of him. Natasha's eyes dart down to it, where the perspiration from the ice cold coke is slowly crawling down the glass, making its way towards the very expensive wood underneath it.

For a long moment, Tony thinks Natasha might leap across the room, wrap her legs around his head, and put him in a scissor hold right then and there just like he'd seen her do to Happy all those years ago.

But no. Natasha Romanoff is a professional. And so far, so is Natalie Rushman. Plastering a strained smile on her face, the spy-turned-PA walks over… saunters, really. Then, she picks up the coaster from the other side of the coffee table, not but three feet from where Tony is sat, and carefully slips it under his drink. She makes sure to bend over far more than she has to as she does so, arching her back and giving Tony a long look down her unbuttoned top as she gets it juuust right.

Then, she straightens up in a way that should honestly be criminal, a swooping motion that accentuates all the best parts of her and ends with her flicking her hair back over her shoulders and giving him a lidded look.

"Anything else, Mr. Stark?"

Holding her shoes in front of her, her arms are pushed in to draw the eye to her bust even then. She is a walking talking sin just waiting to happen. The old Tony would never have been able to resist. But then to be fair, the old Tony would have bent Natalie Rushman over a hard surface and done the deed months ago.

"No Ms. Rushman. That will be all."

Flashing her a quick smile and returning to his tablet without laughing his head off takes every fiber of Tony's being, but he manages to do it. He doesn't even look up when Natasha finally turns and leaves the room, letting her swaying ass go on its way without tempting him further. Reaching out, Tony grabs the glass of Coke and takes a long drink of it before putting it back down, completely missing the coaster itself. He's already completely engrossed in what he was doing before.

That is, until JARVIS interrupts.

"Apologies Sir… but you wished to be informed of any developments regarding Ivan Vanko."

Tony jolts at that, looking up at the ceiling with wide eyes for a moment. Then he sighs, rubs his eyes, and sets aside the tablet. It was going to be that kind of night, wasn't it?

-x-X-x-

He'd done it. It had taken the last couple of months of him slaving over it, but he'd done it. Ever since watching Tony Stark return from Afghanistan alive, ever since his father's death, Ivan hadn't been able to sleep. The Vanko men had been screwed over their entire lives by the Stark Family and Ivan… Ivan was done putting up with it.

He'd gone a little crazy, done some very illegal things, but… it was finished. The glowing blue hum of the miniaturized Arc Reactor in his hand proves it.

Not even Howard Stark had done this! Not even the great Tony Stark, up in his ivory tower, had been able to shrink an Arc Reactor to this size! Over in the US, the large Arc Reactor that his father and Howard Stark had created was little more than a novelty! But here in this ramshackle abode in Russia, Ivan had created infinite power! Power he would use to destroy Tony Stark and everything he loved. Power he would-!

"I'll take that."

Ivan blinks as the finished Arc Reactor is plucked from his trembling fingers mid-inner monologue. He stares in disbelief for a moment before whipping around with a snarl, only to stop dead in his tracks at what he sees in front of him. There is a robot in his home. A massive metal man done up in matte black. But that's not even the most shocking thing. The most shocking thing is the faint blue glow in the center of the robot's chest. An Arc Reactor, but unlike anything Vanko has ever seen. He's smart enough to recognize one thing though… it's more advanced than his own.

"… Impossible."

"You know Ivan, I didn't want to come here. Really, I didn't. I even considered recruiting you at one point. The sins of the father should not condemn the son, right? I really believe that. But at the same time… you already went to prison once. More than that, you threatened my loved ones and I just seem to have a really hard time looking past that if I'm being honest."

The conversational tone the robot is taking with him sets Ivan on edge even as he struggles to parse through the nonsense that the damn thing is spouting. He makes an aborted attempt to reach for his Arc Reactor, only to stop when the robot holds up a hand and reveals some sort of glowing energy in the palm.

"Don't."

He stops in his tracks. What would he do with it if he got it back anyways? He has ideas for weapons that it could power, but he hasn't had the time to actually develop any of them.

"I thought maybe if I didn't show off, you wouldn't be inspired. I thought maybe if I didn't make a big deal of it all, you would stay quiet. But I was a fool. That was my ego talking. I wasn't your catalyst. Not all of it anyways. Your father's death so close to my return was the catalyst, wasn't it?"

… No. No, it could not be. And yet, a second later… the armor splits open. Armor, not a robot. Never a robot. Inside, staring at Ivan with something like pity in his eyes, is Tony fucking Stark.

The matte black suit of iron peels away and steps back, allowing Tony to step forward still holding Ivan's Arc Reactor. Ivan's hands close and unclose. He doesn't know what to say.

"Even when JARVIS alerted me to your initial movements, I didn't want to have to do this. I buried my head in the sand and let it go. Thought… maybe you weren't doing what I thought you were doing. But I knew I had to keep an eye on you. And then… look at you. Didn't even show you mine, yet you still went and managed to make your own."

Stark studies Ivan's Arc Reactor closely. It's then that Ivan acts. The man is as arrogant and egotistical as ever. His armor sits a few feet away. He stands there right in front of Ivan without any protection. And just behind Ivan… is a screwdriver.

With a roar, Ivan grabs the screwdriver and utilizes a little maneuver he learned from spending a decade and a half in prison. He slams the screwdriver right between Tony Stark's ribs and into his kidney. Then, he twists. Stark makes a noise, even as Ivan grins and goes to pull the screwdriver back, ready to stab it in again and again and again until the man is dead.

Except that never happens. Just as Ivan is trying to pull the screwdriver back, an impossibly strong hand latches onto his wrist and squeezes. A scream of pain leaves the Russian's lips as his bones grind together and ultimately snap like paper mache.

His fingers spasm and he involuntarily lets go of the screwdriver, falling to his knees and cradling his mangled arm in horror. It puts him right at eye level to watch as Tony Stark uses the same hand to grab the handle of the screwdriver and pull it out of his body. Ivan has a moment of vicious satisfaction, knowing that if nothing else, Tony Stark will need a new kidney after tonight. Even if the man could probably afford a billion new kidneys given his wealth.

Except… even that moment dies a rapid death when he watches Stark's injury burn bright orange. The furthest point of the stab wound regenerates right before Ivan's eyes, all the way up to the surface until the skin closes over it, leaving no sign of damage behind.

Slowly looking further up, Ivan Vanko stares into Tony Stark's burning orange eyes and sees no mercy there, even with the man's following words.

"I'll make it quick, at least."

His father had always said Howard Stark was a monster and that no doubt the son was just the same as the father. Ivan's last thoughts are that Anton Vanko had no way of knowing just how right he was.

Still, the demon wearing Stark's skin is honest if nothing else. Ivan barely feels it as the other man's free hand reaches out and snaps his neck, killing him instantly.

-x-X-x-

A/N: Tony was willing to live and let live, but only to a certain extent. In the end, Vanko stepped over a line without knowing it and paid the ultimate price.

Meanwhile, poor Natasha is clearly having a hard time getting into Tony OR Pepper's bed. Such a shame :P

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