Chapter Five:

"Damn it Nat!" Steve cried out, watching his friend, his teammate, the other father of his child, fly away. Tony's behavior was too unpredictable, destructive. "What the hell is going on?"

"What the fuck was Rhodes thinking?" Clint shouted angrily. The man was supposedly Tony's best friend, a brother after Tony's parents had died. But the man didn't seem to even notice that Tony was dying.

"Rhodes is under orders, through and through military man. Tony is a liability now. His behavior is going to be brought up now with the senate. And Steve, I told you, he is dying. Palladium toxicity isn't well known on humans, but has been known to cause death with long term exposure in lab rats," Natasha rattled off staying focused, grabbing her stuff from her car. At least her precious corvette hadn't been damaged in the scuffle. She had been studying Tony when she thought she would be his assistant, but the need for the Avengers came earlier then expected. "Palladium has a relatively low toxicity rate, but his heart is constantly exposed to it, has been since he was taken hostage. With the over usage of the Iron Man suit, he could be accelerating the process."

Steve shook his head. "We need to find him, help him. He isn't alone in this!"

Nat smiled, "I helped him get ready for the party, and I slipped a tracker onto his watch."

She pulled out her StarkPad and tapped into the tracker frequency. Luckily it looked like Tony hadn't left California yet.

"I just sent Fury the tracker information, he will meet us wherever Stark settles."

Steve just looked at her, waiting for him to spill more information about their teammate.

"Nat, level with me. How long, when did SHIELD figure it out?"

"He doesn't have much longer. We had an inkling that he was sick. He started becoming more unpredictable, more unstable. Long term uses of palladium, and the way that Tony is utilizing it has not been studied at all," Nat noticed the way that Steve was looking at her. It had dawned on her that Steve was not caught up on anything that Tony went through in Afghanistan. "Abridge version, Tony was captured, taken hostage by men hired by his father-figure Obidiah Stane in Afghanistan, operated on, and forced to make them weapons."

"What . . ."

Nat held up a hand to forestall him. "He didn't, instead he made an electromagnet with the palladium to keep shrapnel from entering his heart, otherwise he would be dead. Palladium is what powers the tower . . .

"Fury assigned me to keep an eye on him if needed, and then everything happened with Vanko and then Loki showing back up, the battle in New York, Stark Jr . . ." Nat trailed off. "I didn't realize how bad it was until I had a second to breathe. It won't happen again."

"We let a compromised man fly a nuke through a wormhole . . ." Clint whispered. The man knew he was dying and most likely figured he would die in the battle, only to survive.

"We need to be there for him," Steve said.

Nat stopped for a minute, looking at the two men in front of her. "Look, Tony is not Howard. He displays classic PTSD because of the battle . . . . narcissism . . . and for all the public bravado, Tony is a fairly private person. Everything that has happened in his life has caused him to be very guarded. He is not going to take it well having all these people surrounding him. What he will want is for you to make sure that Harry is well, and taken care of. Start working on the case against those bastards, and bring baby Stark home."

Clint just looked at her. He was feeling uneasy about everything, but knew that Natasha's orders and feelings were nearly spot on. For someone who wasn't maternal at all, she always attempted to do the right thing by everyone.

Steve scrubbed his hands over his face. Tony dying wasn't something that could pass. Their son needed both of them, and even though Tony didn't want anything to do with Harry at this moment, Steve figured that he was just guarding his heart. Besides, Tony didn't want their son growing up in an abusive environment. That was presumably why he had given him up in the first place.

How different would Harry be if Tony had raised him?

He sighed. Life was easier in the forties.

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Tony landed, and was decidedly hungry. Fuck it, he thought. I only have a couple of weeks left at most, might as well eat what I want.

"I would do whatever the hell I wanted to."

Which is how Tony found himself in a literal donut hole with a half a dozen donuts. His mind drifted, feeling the drunk effects of the palladium poisoning. Tony closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, munching on his donuts, wondering if Lily or James had ever given Harry a donut. He couldn't recall if the wizarding world had donuts, if the didn't it was a damn shame.

He did remember pumpkin pasties, now those were tasty. The next time he ventured into LA he would stop in Callegon de Magos and grab some. Bruce would probably enjoy them as well.

"I'm going to have to ask you to vacate the donut!"

Tony sighed, looking down, seeing double of the one-eyed man. Nick Fury, his mind vaguely recalled the last meeting between them. 'Last thing I am going to see is his ugly mug.' He thought.

Tony rolled his eyes, and floated down to the man. "Coffee first, I can't think straight."

"I can't imagine why," Fury spat back sarcastically.

Sitting in the booth, somewhat uncomfortably in the Iron Man suit, he sipped on his coffee half aware of what was going on.

He turned, seen Natasha walk in. The Cartier watch. She tracked him. Can't a man die in peace?

Tony muttered she was fired, knowing that he had no way of really firing the woman, she was Fury's person through and through.

"I thought you were sick. Tony, damn it, we are a team," Natasha hissed.

"You guys can keep your secrets, but I can't keep mine," Tony grounded out, wishing that the coffee would wake him up more. Fuck it. He pulled a pepper up potion from the compartments downing it. He needed to feel better now and fast.

"So you are a wizard," Fury whispered. "Howard had let it slip . . . honestly, I don't know why I don't remember more."

"An obliviate if another wizard heard. So you knew the bastard too," Tony reflexively shut his eyes, not wanting to think of the bastard. "Asshole keeps coming up a lot lately. How did you know dear old dad?"

"He was one of the founding members of SHIELD. He spoke of you often, always said that you were the future," Fury relayed.

"He must have been speaking of his other son." Tony spat back sarcastically, wondering what would have happened if Harry had been around.

"What do you remember of your dad?" Fury was curious. He knew the man never really spoke of his departed father fondly.

"He was cold, calculating. He never said he loved me, let alone even like me. He barely tolerated me in the end, treating me like I was more or less just another experiment gone wrong."

Fury nodded, knowing that Howard had changed, and no one could figure out why. "The Howard Stark that Captain and I knew was kind and curious. He loved his country and his kid. That technology in your chest was a stepping stone . . . it was a rough draft not the final, not by no stretch of the imagination. Palladium was never supposed to be the power source. He left it all for you, saying that he was limited by the technology of his time."

Tony didn't want to hear it, he rolled his eyes trying to tune out the man. He was going to die anyway. Let someone else figure shit out.

"Hit him."

Tony was so sluggish, he didn't have time to react. The whirl of the device sounded, injecting him with some unknown liquid. He started panicking, remembering a time when Howard was injecting him with unknown liquids.

"Breathe Tony, I'm no here to hurt you," Natasha said soothingly, trying to keep them man from going into a panic attack.

"What are you going to do, steal my kidneys and sell them," Tony exclaimed, rubbing the spot on his neck, though noticing that he was immediately feeling better. "What did you do to me?"

"Not to you, for you," the one eyed man clarified.

"Lithium dioxide," Natasha explained. "It's not a cure Tony, but it will take the edge off."

"We need you focused, and back to work."

"I have tried every known element close to palladium, nothing works, trust me I know, and I'm like a genius."

"You tried every known element . . ." Fury trailed off.

Tony looked up at him, intrigued.

Fury got up, placing his coffee cup on the table rather forcibly, the sound reverberating throughout the restaurant. "Come on, now that you are back online, you have work to do."

Tony shrugged his shoulders figuring why not.

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Steve stared out over NYC, wondering if he had made the right decisions leaving Harry in England and Tony in California; his somewhat family scattered all over right now. For the life of him he couldn't figure out his next step, and it was unnerving. He was a tactician, always figuring out what the next step could be, and he felt like he was floundering.

Clint had contacted the lawyers to start the legal process of claiming Harry, while Natasha was tasked with taking care of Tony.

Steve closed his eyes, hoping that his teammate could be helped. He couldn't imagine telling Harry that his other parent had died as well, the one who had cared for him, maybe even loved, him so much that he had tried to save him from a life of abuse from Howard's hands. He stamped down the urge to call Tony to see how he was doing, to tell him about their son.

Their son.

Steve knew what it was like to be experimented on, but he did it willingly, and when he was an adult. He wasn't an unwilling 18 year old kid.

That was another thing that was baffling to him, the Howard he had known wasn't at all like Tony had described him. What had changed so drastically in his friend that he would force his own progeny to carry another person's child?

A child who would need both of them. Tony had stated he didn't want anything to do with Harry, but Steve knew, just knew that it was Tony's bravado and perhaps sickness speaking.

"Steve, apparently Stark has the best lawyers in town. They have already negotiated through all the red tape here and are ready when we are to proceed with custody negotiations. The best thing we can do now is be able to collect evidence of abuse that way there will be no contesting the termination of rights."

Steve nodded.

"Come on, I have the jet ready."

There was no way they were going to leave Harry over in England any longer then necessary. He knew, just felt it in his gut that there was something going on with his son.

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Harry hated bath nights with his uncle. His uncle would stand and watch Harry shower, making sure he didn't use too much of their hot water, or too much soap. It was creepy and made Harry feel uncomfortable.

"You are going to make someone really happy one day," Vernon leered, making comments that Harry would always respond to with a customary yes sir. When Harry was young, Vernon often degraded him, putting down his body. It had changed recently.

Harry shrunk in on himself, hating the way that the man made him feel, but it was this or not be allowed to shower at all. "This summer I am going to have to start introducing you to some of my associates so you can really start earning your keep."

Harry shuddered knowing what his uncle meant, hoping and praying that his life would change. His sharp mind was already attempting to find ways to leave the Dursleys, but everything he tried never worked, and the punishments were always worse.

"Good boy, you didn't go over your soap allotment this time," Vernon commented. "Tonight you will only have 100 lines to complete."

"Yes Uncle Vernon," Harry replied, waiting for the bastard to hand him a towel. It was the smallest, rattiest towel they owned. He pulled on his clothes too quickly for Vernon, earning him a quick cuff to the head, causing his face to hit the door jam. That would bruise.

Vernon clicked his tongue. "You shouldn't be so clumsy boy. Another 100 lines. You know what to write."

He locked the door on Dudley's second bedroom, stepping over the broken toys, making room so he could write on the wall, "I am a drain on my hard-working uncle, a waste of space who shouldn't be alive."

Harry knew the lines by heart, and looking at the small area left, he knew that soon he would have to repaint the room again. As much as he tried, the tears this time wouldn't stop.