Universes:

AU Danny Phantom

AU Iron Man

AU Iron Man 2

AU Avengers

AU Iron Man 3

Plot: Howard Stark and Maria Stark had lived longer than just Tony's teens, and Tony got Stark Industries when he was twenty.

Maria Stark had lived longer than Howard after the plane crash, but not by much. The last gift Howard gave Maria before he went on to the Ghost Zone was a child, a half-ghost child, who Maria named Marcus Howard Stark.

Giving up the child to some college friends, Jack Fenton and Maddie Fenton, she killed herself. But before that, she told them that Marcus was half-ghost. Jack and Maddie made a medication to suppress the half-ghost inside of Marcus- who they dubbed Daniel "Danny" James Fenton.

Flash forward fourteen years, and Danny had the portal accident. In the beginning, he thought the portal half killed him. In reality, the portal didn't kill him at all. It fried his medication, freeing his ghost half.

Telling Jack and Maddie about it, they explained to Danny that he wasn't really Daniel James Fenton. He was actually Marcus Howard Stark, half-ghost son of Maria Stark and Howard Stark, and half-ghost younger brother of the famous Anthony Edward Stark.

Tony knew about Danny. He knew that his mother had lived and had Danny. So when Jack and Maddie ask him if he wants to meet Danny... Well, he prepares a room and everything. And then... The events of Iron Man happen. And all the other movies.

Authors- Agent Rossi and Jennythe3

Disclaimer- We own nothing. I own the plot. It's very unique, if I do say so myself.

Other- This chapter will be covering ALL of Iron Man, including the after credits scene. Sorry if this seems fast-paced. I don't have the whole transcript for any of the movies (and do NOT link me to an abridged script. That will not help me. At all. Ever. If anything, those abridged scripts piss me off). Anyways, I am also sorry if the dialogue is wrong in some places. See above for that explanation. Most will just be scenes with Tony or Danny, or Tony and Danny. There will be some (like when Pepper hacks into the S.I. mainframe for Tony) scenes that have neither characters, as well. One last thing. Danny was born when Tony was 22. Enjoy the story!

A Stark Raised By Fenton's

Chapter One

Iron Man and Danny Phantom

A young, fourteen year old Danny Fenton was suffering through some of the worse pain in his life. Scratch that- the worse pain in his whole life. He was screaming in agony, and all his friends- Tucker Foley and Sam Manson- could do was watch, mouths open in shock. They were too surprised to do anything, and they couldn't even look away. "Danny..." The girl whispered, voice cracking. She thought Danny was dead. "Danny!" She screamed, falling to the floor.

The portal sparked more, and Danny's screams of agony increased. "Sam, look out!" Tucker yelled, pushing her out of the way of the portal.

It spit out a burst of energy at the wall, Danny hitting it. Except, his raven black hair was a snowy white, and his baby blue eyes were an electric green. His suit was inverted, and a strange symbol that looked like a racing D had appeared on it.

"Oh my gosh, Danny!" Sam screamed, racing toward him. Tucker followed.

"Kids!? Are you alright!?" A female voice was heard from upstairs.

Tucker was hyperventilating, as Danny twitched with electricity. He was scared to even touch him. "Dude, dude, no. You can't be dead! We've never went on a double date with twin cheerleaders!"

Danny twitched, and his eyes closed drowsily. "I'm not dead..." He slurred out, collapsing to the ground. He twitched again, and rings washed over him, transforming him back into a human to Tucker's and Sam's shock. "It's so dark... Night..." His eyelids started to close drowsily.

"No, no, no... Danny... Don't go to sleep..." Sam muttered, shaking him slightly.

He sparked again.

"Dude, don't go to the light!" Tucker yelled, as Maddie raced down the stairs to see her son, on the floor, sparking with electricity. His eyes were dull, and his breathing was slow. His skin was much paler than normal.

When he sparked again, Maddie couldn't help but faint.

"Mrs. Fenton!"

Jack came running down afterward, and immediately, he called two numbers. 9-1-1. And, the number of a certain Anthony Edward Stark...

Tony was in his workshop, working on one of his many cars, when he got the call.

"Sir, a 'Jack Fenton' is trying to reach you via the telephone." The British English voice of the A.I. Butler, J.A.R.V.I.S., said.

Anthony Edward Stark, commonly called Tony, shot up. "Answer it, J.A.R.V.I.S.." He said, pushing himself out from under the car.

"As you wish, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

"Mr. Fenton, what's wrong?" Tony asked.

"Danny... Got electrocuted by a ghost portal. It seems to have activated his dormant... Ghost..." Jack said.

"And what do you need from me? I know nothing about ghosts or biology, and Stark Industries is a weapons manufacturing company. Can't help there." Tony replied.

"We might need help... Explaining who he really is." Jack answered. "That, you can help with."

"What do you need in that department?" Tony asked, suddenly very interested.

"Practically- everything."

"You mean birth name, parents, and the likes?" He asked, just wanting to make sure.

"Yeah." Jack answered.

"You want it now, or you want me to tell him?"

"You should tell him." Jack answered.

"Alright." Tony nodded, though Jack wouldn't be able to see it. "Anything else?"

"We'll see once you get here." He answered.

"See you then, Mr. Fenton." Tony said, ending the call. "J.A.R.V.I.S., call Pepper and tell her to reschedule all meetings for the next few weeks. And jet the jet ready. We're going to Amity Park."

"As you wish, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied as Tony got ready to go to Amity Park.

Danny sat in a hospital bed, wires hooked up to him. The doctors had just left, and were now allowing him to have visitors. Sam and Tucker walked in, followed by Maddie and Jack.

He was staring at his arm, then he looked up at them. His eyes were swirling with green, but he didn't notice. "Daniel James Fenton... What did you think you were doing?" Maddie questioned, seeing the green.

"I- I was trying to fix it..." He replied, frowning. "I did... It just hurt."

Maddie frowned, and Sam and Tucker really wanted them out of the room so they could tell Danny what they saw.

"But the weird thing- while I was being shocked... I kept seeing flashes of white and green... And this weird symbol. It was... Creepy." He said.

Sam and Tucker frowned.

"That is... Strange." Maddie said.

"And I had a weird dream after I passed out." Danny explained. "I was... Tanner. I had white hair. Green eyes. I wore a black and white jumpsuit- inverted colors of the one I was in- with that symbol on it... And... I was flying."

Sam's eyes widened. "That's- that's-"

"Dude! That's what you looked like when you came out of the portal!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Wait... What!?" Maddie, Jack, and Danny all questioned.

Danny paled, and then... His arms seemed to disappear.

"Oh my God... Jack... It's happening." Maddie whispered.

"What's happening?" Danny questioned, staring at where his arms were supposed to be in shock.

The door opened and Tony Stark came in. He looked at Danny, then at the other occupants in the room.

"Hello Mr. Fenton, Mrs. Fenton, Danny." Tony greeted, deciding to lean against the wall.

"Your adopted." Jack said. He looked back to Tony.

"Well... That was blunt." Sam muttered, eyes widened in shock.

"That's- that's-you're Tony Stark!" Tucker sputtered out.

Tony nodded. "And before you say it, no, I am not your father." He said. "You're actually my younger brother." He continued. "Our parents, Howard Stark and Maria Carbonell-Stark, were reported killed in a plane crash. In reality, only dear old dad died. As mom said, he gave her 'one last gift', as a ghost. That 'gift' is you."

Danny's eyes widened, and his mouth was open with shock. His eyes were bright green, and his arms were visible again.

"Danny?" Sam said, poking him to try to get a response.

He was in a state of shock, and didn't realize it.

"Before mom decided she wanted to be with Howard and not alone, she gave you a name and gave you to the Fenton's." Tony continued.

"What- what's my... Real name then?" Danny asked.

"Marcus Howard Stark." Tony answered.

Danny nodded slowly, before falling through the bed.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker yelled.

"You alright, kid?" Tony asked.

He climbed out from under the bed, and nodded before he started floating up to the ceiling.

Sam looked up, and slapped herself in the face before jumping up and grabbing his shoe, dragging him back down to the ground.

Tucker looked toward Tony. "Anyways... I can't believe I'm best friends with the brother of Tony Stark! I'm a huge fan! Sign my P.D.A.s?" He pulled out seven of the devices.

"Uh..." Tony looked at the P.D.A.s. "Why do you have seven of them?"

"Because. One of them always gets taken away, gets fried from ectoplasmic radiation, some of them break, and I need backups." Tucker said.

"Wouldn't you be happy with an autograph?" Tony asked.

"I guess so." Tucker said.

Tony took out a piece of paper and a pen, signing his name on the paper and giving it to Tucker.

Tucker grinned, taking it.

"Tucker, don't fangirl. Just don't." Sam said, which offended Tucker.

"Hey! I'm a dude, not a girl!"

"Fine. Don't geek." Sam remarked.

Maddie looked at Danny. "And Danny, sweetie, you're going to go with Mr. Stark for a while." She said.

"Wait, what?" Danny said.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Mrs. Fenton. My P.A. says I barely take care of myself, as does my own A.I.! Not to mention that I'm a weapons manufacturer." Tony argued.

Maddie glared at him for a second.

Tony looked like he wanted to argue more about it, since he was an alcoholic, not home very often, a playboy who always brought girls home for a one-night stand, and generally a horrible role model, but the glare made him think twice about it."Actually, maybe it is a good idea." He gulped. "Let me just go make some calls..." He took out his phone and rushed out of the room.

"But- but- mom! I hardly know him!" Danny said as soon as Tony was out of the room.

"You need to 'bond' with your brother." She said. "No buts about it."

"But-"

"I said, no buts about it." Maddie repeated.

"Yes ma'am..."

Tucker was too busy fangir- geeking- to notice, and Sam was frowning.

At the airport, Tony's chauffeur, Happy Hogan, had Tony's bags, along with Danny's.

"Ready, kid?" Tony asked.

Danny nodded.

"Then lets go." Tony said, going up the stairs. Happy was the first one on the jet, though.

Danny followed behind him, hoping he wouldn't suddenly start either a) disappearing, b) sinking through anything, or c) floating.

"So, you ever been to Malibu before?" Tony asked casually.

Danny shook his head. "I've pretty much only stayed in Amity Park." He answered. "The closest thing we've had to a vacation is either going to Spotone, Arkansas and another dimension. Long story." He said.

Tony laughed a bit as he entered the jet. "Then I think you'll like it."

Danny smiled. "Let's just hope I don't fall out of the jet." He joked.

Tony nodded with a smile of his own.

The jet landed in Malibu later on that day.

Danny sighed in relief because he hadn't fallen off the jet. He had only floated a little bit and turned invisible, luckily.

A red haired woman walked up to Tony. "Tony, where have you-" Then she noticed Danny. "Oh my God! Tony, did you steal a teenager!?"

"Wait, what?" Tony asked. "No! Pep, I didn't steal a teenager."

"I'm his brother." Danny said, getting up with his arms crossed.

"Wait, brother?" The woman asked.

"It's a long story, Pepper. Did you get what I told you to?" He asked.

Pepper nodded. "It's all in the guest bedroom at the house." She looked at Danny again. "And now I can see why you asked for those things."

Danny felt a little left out of the conversation, and when he went to move to the aisleway of the jet, his foot turned intangible and sunk into the ground, then it turned tangible again- getting stuck. "Seriously!?" He questioned, trying to pull his foot out of the ground.

Pepper saw that and started to freak out. "Oh my God! Are you alright!"

"My foot is stuck in the floor of a jet. I don't think that counts as alright." Danny remarked, tugging on his foot again.

"Do-do you need some help?" She asked.

"Probab-" His foot finally came out of the ground. "Never mind. At least that didn't happen while the jet was in the air." He commented.

"H-how did you do that?" She was shocked.

"I got electrocuted by a portal earlier today... I've been floating, disappearing, and falling through things ever since." Danny answered, his eyes turning from blue to green.

"Actually... You were born this way, Phantom." Tony sighed. "Dear old dad had died before you were born, but mom hadn't... He, sorta... Have you watched the film in health class yet?"

Danny nodded, feeling an awkward conversation coming on.

"Well, dad's ghost did 'it' with mom as a human..."

"I'm going to go barf now." Danny said, walking toward the bathroom.

"Tony!" Pepper hissed, smacking him upside the head.

"What, would you have a better way of doing it? You didn't even know, Pepper!"

"Good morning. It's 7:00 A.M. The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds. The surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines. High tide will be at 10:52 A.M." J.A.R.V.I.S. said after Christine Everheart woke up.

"Tony?" She asked, walking around the house. "Hey, Tony?" She touched a blue dial, which turned red.

"You are not authorized to access this area." J.A.R.V.I.S. said, making the woman jump back.

A fourteen year old boy with black hair and bright green eyes showed up in the doorway. "Um... Who are you?" He questioned, having heard her call out for Tony.

"Christine Everheart. Vanity Fair Magazine. And who are you?" She asked.

Danny debated giving her his name, or not. "I'm Tony's brother." He said, eyes narrowed.

"Tony has a brother?" She asked.

"Didn't I just say that?" He said, arms crossed.

"Well, yes, but there's no record of it!"

He smirked slightly. "Your point being...?"

"How-" Christine never got to finish her sentence as the clicking of heels could be heard.

Danny recognized the clicking of heels as Pepper, and his smirk grew bigger.

"I've got your clothes here. They've been dry-cleaned and pressed, and there's a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you'd like to go." Pepper told Christine.

"You must be the famous Pepper Potts." Christine smirked.

"Indeed I am." Pepper nodded.

"After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry-cleaning." She pointed out.

Pepper remained business like. "I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including, occasionally, taking out the trash." She replied. "Will that be all?"

Danny snickered a little bit, knowing what Pepper meant by trash.

Christine huffed and left to go get changed. "Danny, can you come with me down into the workshop for a moment?" Pepper asked.

Danny nodded.

Down in the workshop, Tony was working on a car when Pepper turned down the music and entered with Danny.

"Please don't turn down my music." Tony said.

"Too late." Danny said.

"You two are supposed to be halfway around the world right now." Pepper said, glaring at Tony.

"How'd she take it?" Tony asked, clearly talking about Everheart.

"Like a champ." Pepper sighed.

"Oh, before I forget..." Danny said. "Apparently I also have advanced hearing." He said. "And wait... Trip?"

"Log that, J.A.R.V.I.S.." Tony said.

"Yes sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

"Why are you trying to hustle me out of here?" He asked Pepper.

"Tony has a demonstration in Afghanistan for a missile, and no one will be around so you have to go with him." Pepper explained. "Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago." She glared at Tony.

"Afghanistan?" Danny questioned. "Isn't that next to China or something?" Danny asked.

Pepper shook her head. "No, it's in the Middle East." She replied.

"That's funny, I thought with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there." Tony said, getting up.

Danny smiled slightly.

"Tony, I need to speak to you about a couple things before I get you out of the door." Pepper said.

"Doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?" Tony asked, seemingly ignoring Pepper.

Danny nodded. "You would think they'd wait for you."

"Larry called. He's got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock in the wings." Pepper said, ignoring the comments about planes. "Do you want it, yes or no?"

"Is it a good representation of his spring period?" Tony asked.

"No. The Springs was actually the neighborhood in East Hampton where he lived and worked, not 'spring' like the season." Pepper explained. "So?" She asked.

"I think it's a fair example." Tony said.

"I think it's incredibly overpriced." Pepper replied.

"I need it. Buy it, store it." Tony said.

"Okay." Pepper checked something off on her list. "The M.I.T. commencement speech-"

"Is in June. Please, don't harangue me about stuff that's way, way, down-"

"They're haranguing me, so I'm gonna say yes."

"Deflect it and absorb it. Don't transmit it back to me."

Pepper showed Tony something he had to sign. "I need you to sign this before you get on the plane."

"What are you trying to get rid of me for? What, you got plans?" Tony asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do have plans."

"I don't like it when you have plans."

Danny was slightly annoyed by all the business talk, but then he smirked slightly. "Why?" He asked.

"I'm allowed to have plans on my birthday." Pepper replied to Tony.

"It's your birthday?"

"Yes."

"I knew that. Already?"

"Yeah. Isn't that strange? It's the same day as last year."

"Get yourself something nice from me."

"I already did."

"And?"

"It was very nice."

Tony and Danny got to the plane three hours after it was supposed to depart.

"What's wrong with you?" Col. James Rhodes asked.

"What?" Tony asked.

"Three hours." Rhodey, as Tony had dubbed him, replied.

"I got caught doing a piece for Vanity Fair." Tony defended himself.

"For three hours. For three hours you kept me standing here." Rhodey argued.

The two continued arguing on the way inside the plane.

Danny rolled his eyes- by then, he figured out that Tony liked to argue with people.

"What are you reading, platypus?" Tony asked Rhodey after they were in the air.

"Nothing."

"Come on, sour patch. Don't be mad."

"I told you, I'm not mad. I'm indifferent, okay?"

"I said I was sorry."

"Good morning, Mr. Stark." A waitress greeted him.

"You don't need to apologize to me. I'm your man." Rhodey said.

"Hi. I told him I was sorry, but he-"

"I'm just indifferent right now."

"Hot towel?" The waitress asked.

"Sure." Danny said.

The waitress nodded and went off to go get a hot towel for Danny.

"You don't respect yourself, so I know you don't respect me." Rhodey said.

"I respect you."

"I'm just your babysitter. So, when you need your diaper changed, let me know and I'll get you a bottle, okay?"

"You two really like arguing, don't you?" Danny questioned, after rolling his eyes.

"We're just indifferent." Rhodey replied.

"I said I was sorry." Tony said.

"Are we really going over this again?" Rhodey groaned.

Danny slapped his forehead. "You two are worse than Sam and Tucker." He declared.

Tony had to smile at that.

The waitress came back with a hot towel for Danny.

"Thanks." He said, taking it.

"Anything else?" She asked.

Danny shook his head. "I'll be fine for now." He replied, using the hot towel on his face.

"General." Tony said, now professional.

"Welcome, Mr. Stark. We look forward to your weapons presentation." The General ignored the fact that Tony Stark had a teenager with him.

Danny frowned at being ignored, but didn't say anything. He was too fascinated with all of the noise he could now hear anyways.

"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries' Freedom Line. It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology." Tony stood in front of a mountain landscape. "They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once." He continued. "That's how Dad did it. That's how America does it. And it's worked out pretty well so far." He pressed a button on a remote he was holding and a missile launcher aimed itself at the mountains behind Tony. "Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves." He pressed another button, letting a missile loose. "For your consideration, the Jericho." The missile made flares, and then proceeded to blow up the mountains.

Walking over to a cooler with the Stark Industries logo on it, he opened it and an alcoholic beverage came out. Taking a glass he said, "I'll be throwing one of these in with every purchase of 500 million or more. To peace!"

Danny had flinched slightly at the noise the Jericho had given off when it exploded those mountains- his new found hearing abilities made it seem even louder. "Should you really be drinking now, Tony?" Danny questioned.

Tony shrugged but downed the glass anyways. "I can hold my liquor." He opened his phone.

"Tony!" Obadiah said as he picked up his phone.

"Obie, what are you doing up?" Tony asked.

"I couldn't sleep till I found out how it went. How'd it go?"

"It went great. Looks like it's gonna be an early Christmas."

"Hey! Way to go, my boy! I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Why aren't you wearing those pajamas I got you?"

"Good night, Tony." And then he hung up.

Tony got into the back of a Humvee.

Danny sighed, and followed. He was starting to get annoyed by all of this traveling. He couldn't see how Tony could stand it.

"Hey, Tony." Rhodey said.

"I'm sorry this is the 'fun-vee.'" Tony said, leaning out of the window. "The 'hum-drum-vee' is back there."

"Nice job, see you back at base." Rhodey said.

As they were driving, it was very quiet. Until Tony decided to break that silence. "I feel like you're driving me to a court-martial. This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest!"

Danny slapped himself on the forehead. "And, he's drunk." He figured out. "Tony, calm down! You. Are. Drunk!"

"I told you, I can hold my liquor!"

"Yeah. Right." Danny said. "Why do I feel like you're going to do something stupid that will change our lives forever?" He mumbled.

Tony shrugged in response.

More words were exchanged, when a bomb went off in front of them, in the Humvee in front of theirs.

Danny's eyes widened in shock, and before he knew it, he went intangible on a survival instinct. He flung his hands in front of his face, like that would help protect him.

"Jimmy, stay with them!" One of the soldiers said as the two in the front got out.

"Stay down!" Jimmy commanded.

"Yeah!" Tony wheezed.

Before he realized what was happening, Danny had intangibly dropped out of the Humvee. He frowned as he tumbled to a stop, and he was trying to figure the situation out.

After Jimmy had left to deal with the situation, Tony had run out of the Humvee. Because of the gunshots that were going off, Tony hid behind a rock.

That was when a bomb embedded itself into the ground right next to Tony as he was frantically trying to call someone.

Tony looked at the logo on the side of the bomb. "Woah." He said as he read 'Stark Industries'. Tony tried to run, but the bomb blew up when he started to run.

"Tony!" Danny yelled, still intangible, before running toward him. His eyes were a bright green.

After a few minutes, he no longer had the strength for intangibility. And so, before he could even reach Tony, he fainted.

Tony woke up in a cave with a nasal drip in his nose. He pulled it out, then noticed the wires coming out of his chest.

Tony ripped at the gauze on his chest and looked at the circular device in his chest. Looking at what it was hooked up to, Tony gasped. It was hooked up to a car battery.

Tony tried to take it out when he heard a voice. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"What the hell did you do to me?" Tony said, feeling cold.

"What I did? What I did is to save your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left, and it's headed into your atrial septum." The man explained, taking out a jar. "Here, want to see? I have a souvenir. Take a look." He gave the jar to Tony. "I've seen many wounds like that in my village. We call them the walking dead because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs."

"Does that mean he's gonna die?" A voice asked, from the other side of the room. He sounded pretty loud, and kinda woozy.

The man shook his head. "No."

"What is this?" Tony said, gesturing to the car battery.

"That is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart." He explained. He noticed that Tony noticed a camera in the room. "That's right, smile." He smiled. "We met once, you know, at a technical conference in Bern."

"I don't remember."

"No, you wouldn't." The man replied. "If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated circuits."

Tony looked around the room/cave. "Where are we?" He asked.

Noises came from behind the door. "Come on, stand up. Stand up! Just do as I do." He said hastily. "Come on, put your hands up."

Tony did as he was told for once.

Danny did as well- he was the voice from the other side of the room, and he was kinda drugged.

"Those are my guns. How did they get my guns?" Tony asked, but he was ignored.

The leader said something in another language and the man translated. "He says, 'Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America.' He is honored. He wants you to build the missile. The Jericho missile that you demonstrated."

"I refuse!" Tony said.

"Tony!" The man hissed. "He wants to know what you think."

"I think you got a lot of my weapons." Tony replied.

"He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make the list of materials. He says for you to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set both of you free."

Tony shook his head. "No, he won't."

Danny frowned slightly.

The men left after a while, and the three prisoners were sitting around, eating.

"I'm sure they're looking for you, Stark. But they will never find you in these mountains. Look, what you just saw, that is your legacy, Stark." The man started. "Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?"

"Why should I do anything? They're going to kill me, you, Danny, either way. And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week."

"Tony... There's always a way to work through it. If those bullets didn't even scratch me, I doubt they could this time. We won't die." Danny said, smirking- not thinking clearly due to the drugs he was given to keep him calm and (mostly) easy to control.

"Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it?"

"I'll make sure of it. We won't die. Danny... I made a promise to your mother, Mrs. Fenton, that I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you. And though this can be counted as bad, I won't let anything ever worse happen." Tony said, new found determination running through him. "If this is going to be my workstation, I want it well-lit. I want these up. I need welding gear. I don't care if it's acetylene or propane. I need a soldering station. I need helmets. I'm gonna need goggles. I would like a smelting cup. I need two sets of precision tools." Tony said, then turned to the man. "How many languages do you speak?"

"A lot."

"But apparently, not enough for this place." Tony pointed out.

"They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian." He answered.

"Who are these people?"

"They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings."

Danny snickered at their name.

Danny sat in his little corner of the cave, able to see everything clearly. And frankly, he was bored. The drugs had worked the way out of his system- luckily- which made things seem much less fun now.

He stated at his invisible hand, then glanced toward where Tony was. "I swear, I'm not gonna just sit around..." He muttered, closing his eyes. He focused on his hand and what it looked like, before opening his eyes to see his hand was turning visible again. He smirked victoriously, then tried making it invisible.

After a few minutes, it worked. He repeated the whole 'invisible hand' trick a few times, grin wide. He figured out something productive to do with his time.

While Tony was keeping them all alive by working... Danny would be training for their escape. His goal: reach that transformation he saw in his dream. Maybe then he'd be able to do more than just sitting around after all.

"You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process." The man, who had introduced himself as Yinsen, said.

"Okay, we don't need this." Tony muttered.

"What is that?"

"That's palladium, 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?" Tony said.

A while later, they were pouring something into a cup.

"Careful. Careful, we only get one shot at this."

"Relax. I have steady hands. Why do you think you're still alive?" Yinsen said, clearly trying to joke around a bit by giving a small laugh.

Finally, their project was done. "That doesn't look like a Jericho missile." Yinsen pointed out.

"That's because it's a miniaturized arc reactor. I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart." Tony said.

"But what could it generate?" Yinsen asked.

"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second." Tony answered.

"That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes." Yinsen exclaimed.

"Yeah. Or something big for 15 minutes."

Danny smiled to himself, as he slightly levitated off of the ground. He was surprised nobody had noticed his little 'training sessions'. What did they think he was doing? Did they think he was being a good little teenager and sitting back doing nothing? He internally laughed.

Oh, I'm only a teenager. Nothing dangerous. He thought to himself, smirking. He landed on the ground gently, before he looked at the nearby wall. He focused energy around his eyes, causing a glow to form against the wall.

He quickly stopped and looked around to see if anyone noticed. They hadn't. He breathed a sigh of relief.

So far, he was doing pretty good with his powers. He only had one worry: whether or not he could turn into that other form...

He closed his eyes, reaching for the coldness inside him for a moment- to reassure him that he could do it. All he had to do was wait for the right moment...

Tony walked over to Yinsen. "This is our ticket out of here." He said suddenly, handing him a stack of papers with drawings on them.

"What is it?"

"Flatten them out and look."

Yinsen did what Tony said. "Oh, wow." He muttered, looking at the suit.

"Hey, Danny, come here for a minute!" Tony called with a smile.

Danny jumped slightly- startled at first, then he walked over. "What is it?" He asked.

"That's how we're getting out of here." Tony said, pointing to the bulky piece of armor he drew.

Danny narrowed his eyes. "Looks like armor." He noted. "Do you think I'd be able to help with the escape?" He asked.

"You're part ghost, and you're a Stark. What do you think?" Tony smiled.

"Before I forget..." Danny smirked, starting to levitate. He turned his arm invisible, then visible again. He landed, then stuck his arm through the table intangibly. "I have a lot more control now." He said, eyes glowing.

Tony's smile grew. "Oh yeah. We'll kick ass." He said, unconsciously tapping his new Arc Reactor.

"No kidding. Especially if I'm able to transform..." He paused to explain after seeing Tony's, somewhat, confused face. "I think I have a ghostly form too. I might have more powers in it..." He said. He paused, as if thinking.

"Let's get started."

Only a few minutes ago, the leader of the Ten Rings came in and threatened Yinsen, after he had found out about what they were trying to do. He had said, "You have till tomorrow to assemble my missile."

The suit itself was done, now what they needed was to power it up.

"Okay, say it again." Yinsen said.

"41 steps straight ahead. Then 16 steps, that's from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right." Tony replied.

Screaming was heard from the other side of the door.

Danny stiffened up at the screams, before quickly coming toward where Tony and Yinsen were.

"Say something. Say something back to him." Tony told him.

"He's speaking Hungarian. I don't-"

"Then speak Hungarian."

Words were exchanged between Yinsen and the man behind the door.

"How'd that work?"

"Oh, my goodness. It worked alright."

"That's what I do. Let me finish this."

"Initialize the power sequence."

"Okay."

"Now!"

"Tell me. Tell me."

"Function 11."

"Tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be up right now."

"Yes."

"Talk to me. Tell me when you see it."

"I have it."

"Press Control "l"."

""I". Got it."

""I" "Enter" "l" and "Enter". Come over here and button me up."

"Okay. All right."

"Every other hex bolt."

"They're coming!" Yinsen warned.

"Nothing pretty, just get it done. Just get it done."

"They're coming." He repeated.

"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?"

"We need more time." He grabbed a gun from one of the fallen men after the door had exploded.

"Hey-"

"I'm gonna go buy you some time."

"Stick to the plan! Stick to the plan! Yinsen!" Tony called out before the power went out and the suit powered up.

Danny frowned. ""Yinsen!" He called out. ""He's gonna get himself killed!" He said to Tony, his frown large.

Tony nodded, though the nod couldn't be seen because of the mask/helmet. He lumbered out of the room, attacking any guards that tried to attack him.

Danny followed behind, fighting any guards that Tony didn't scare off. He was trying to get into his ghost form, but to no avail.

Then, he noticed Yinsen in bags of things. "Yinsen!" Tony exclaimed.

"Watch out!" Yinsen said.

Tony turned around and whacked the guy in the head with his metal arm.

"Stark." Yinsen said.

"Come on. We got to go." Tony said. "Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it."

Danny nodded, still trying to transform- with the same results.

"This was always the plan, Stark." Yinsen said weakly.

"Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up."

"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark. It's okay. I want this. I want this." Yinsen said.

"Thank you for saving Danny and I." Tony locked eyes with Yinsen.

"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life." Then, he said no more. His eyes were glossy and unmoving, as was his chest.

"Yinsen!" Danny yelled, horrified. His eyes were brighter than before, and filled with rage at the Ten Rings.

One of the men tried to shoot Tony, but the bullet just ricocheted off of the armor.

Tony turned around, glaring hard at the man. "My turn." He said, his voice ice cold. Then, he used a flamethrower.

Danny glared at the guards. "This is all of your guys' fault! All of it! He didn't deserve this!" He yelled, fists clenching. Two white rings formed around his waist- the first time since the accident that he transformed.

They washed over him, his clothing turning into a black and white jumpsuit with a strange symbol on it. He wore white gloves, white boots, a white shirt collar, and a white belt. His skin tanned and he was glowing brightly. His eyes were a toxic green that was glowing brightly. He had hair as white as snow, and he was ticked.

He dove straight at one of the men, throwing him into one of the other men and knocking them both down. He then growled and, without realizing what he was really doing, he threw the two of them into the wall.

"Danny, lets get out of here!" Tony called out. "If we stay any longer, we'll die!"

Danny looked from the two men against the wall, then at Tony, and back at the two men as if trying to decide something. "But they deserve-"

"We might find Rhodey or someone if we get out now."

Danny frowned, glared at the two men, but stopped his attack. "Fine. Let's leave..." His voice was echoing. "But if I find them again... They are dead." Danny growled out.

Tony lumbered out of the cave and set fire to the weapons they had there. Then, he powered up the rocket boosters.

Danny floated behind, sending any guard he spotted out of his way one way or another.

Tony and Danny had been in the vast desert for hours. Tony, having long lost the suit after he, sort of, crash landed it, and he used the jacket to cover himself.

Danny was flying overhead, very slowly. He felt like he was about to go unconscious any second, or at least human.

The sound of a helicopter was heard, and then the helicopter was seen.

Tony recognized it a U.S. Army chopper.

"Hey!" Tony yelled.

"How was the 'fun-vee'?" A glad Rhodey asked after he got out of the helicopter to greet Danny and Tony. "Next time, you ride with me, okay? And, next time, don't bring your brother with you. No offense, but active war zones are not good for teenagers."

Tony laughed a bit.

Danny landed on the ground, happy to see that they had a rescue party of some sorts.

"Ready to finally go home, Danny?" Tony asked.

He nodded quietly.

"Are you kidding me with this?" Tony asked after seeing the paramedics. "Get rid of them." He said, waving them away.

Danny looked at the paramedics and rolled his eyes. After he had gotten into the helicopter, he had shifted back, so now he was in his human form. And thinking about what had happened.

Tony walked up to Pepper. "Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss and his brother?" Tony whispered the last part so the media wouldn't get a hold of that information.

"Tears of joy, I hate job hunting." Pepper replied.

"Yeah, vacation's over." Tony said as the tree got into the car, where Happy was waiting.

"Where to, sir?" Happy asked.

Tony looked like he wanted to answer, but Pepper beat him to it.

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy."

"No." Tony shook his head.

"No? Tony, you have to go to the hospital."

"No is a complete answer."

"The doctor has to look at you."

"I don't have to do anything. Danny and I have been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do." Tony started. "I want an American cheeseburger, and the other-" Pepper cut him off.

"That's enough of that."

"-Is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now."

"Call for a press conference?"

"Tony, why do you want a press conference?" Danny asked.

"Yeah." Tony nodded.

"What on earth for?" Pepper repeated.

"Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first."

"Miss Potts?" A male voice asked as Danny and Pepper were standing in the back of the room.

"Yes?" Pepper asked, turning to see a bald man in a suit.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" He asked.

"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now."

"I'm not a reporter." He replied. "I'm agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"Wow, that's quite a mouthful." Pepper replied.

"I know. We're working on it."

"You know, we've been approached already by the D.O.D., the F.B.I., the C.I.A..." She trailed off.

"We're a separate division with a more specific focus." Coulson said. "We need to debrief Mr. Stark and Mr. Fenton about the circumstances of their escape." Then he noticed that Danny was there. "Mr. Fenton, would it be possible for me to debrief you on the circumstances of your escape from the Ten Rings insurgents cave in Afghanistan?"

Danny's eyes widened slightly- he realized what that meant. Government plus knowledge over strange D.N.A. equals bad stuff... Maybe I should lie. He thought. "I'd like to have Tony with me if that happened..." He said.

"Is there some connection between you and Mr. Stark that we should know about?" Coulson asked. "Anything you say will be kept a secret. We will not release it to the press."

Danny smiled slightly at that. "I'm his younger brother." He said, knowing that being cooperative would be better off for them all.

"We were not made aware of the fact that Mr. Stark had a brother." Phil said.

Before anyone else could say anything, Tony came out. Then he sat down in front of the podium.

"Hey, would it be alright if everyone sat down? Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can..."

All the reporters sat down.

Danny paused and started paying attention to the press conference instead of to Coulson.

"I never got to say goodbye to Dad." Tony started. "I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels." He continued. "I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."

"Mr. Stark!" A reported called out.

"Hey, Ben." Tony replied.

"What happened over there?" He asked.

"I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be." Tony said.

Danny's mouth dropped open in shock at Tony's sudden decision- surprised he would make one like that. What's next? Him quitting his alcohol addiction? He wondered.

"I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers. What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." Tony was cut off by Obadiah, who was actually behind the podium and not sitting down.

"What we should take away from this is that Tony's back! And he's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up." And then the press conference ended.

Tony was talking to Danny inside a Stark Industries building about his little 'stunt' on national television.

"I'm telling you, it's a good idea. You saw what it was like out there. You were with me, goddammit!" Tony argued back.

"Yeah, I know what they were like." Danny said. "I was saying I was surprised you did something like that! What's next- you quitting your liquor addiction?" He questioned.

"Okay, that was just uncalled for. I'm not addicted to liquor. Or anything besides working." He said. "And, it's for the good of the world if Stark International closes down weapons manufacturing. We could work on something else. And you could help."

"Yeah. Right." Danny sarcastically said to the first part. "Like what?" He asked.

"StarkPhones. And StarkPads. The company could donate to charity. I don't know, but I refuse to make any more weapons. The army wants weapons? Go let 'em take Hammer Tech, for all I care. I know I hate Hammer, but he'll make them weapons. I'll be helping the world in other ways."

Danny nodded. "But what if those stupid Ten Rings come after Hammer Tech? Or us again?" He questioned- eyes blazing at the thought of seeing the Ten Rings again, and the thought of them kidnapping someone else.

"We all know how bad Hammer Tech is." Tony pointed out. "And I already have a plan for that. The suit." Tony said. Before he could continue, however, Obadiah came in.

"Well, that... That went well." He said.

"Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?" Tony asked.

"You're head?" Obadiah asked. "What about my head? What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?"

"Optimistically, 40 points."

"At minimum."

"Yep."

"Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer."

"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy."

"That's what we do. We're ironmongers. We make weapons."

"You make destruction." Danny said, arms crossed. "One of the bombs almost killed Tony, and it was one S.I. produced."

"See, Obie, Danny knows." Tony said. "And it's mine- I mean our- name on the side of the building. If I'm leaving the company for Danny to control one day, I don't want weapons to be in the name."

"And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos." Obadiah pointed out to both of them.

"Not based on what I saw. We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else." Tony said.

"Wait, what!?" Danny said, finally realizing what Tony had meant.

"Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you that. Unless I have kids, which I'm not planning to do any time soon, you're next in line to become C.E.O. of Stark Industries." Tony explained.

Danny's eyes grew in shock.

"Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?" Obie said, ignoring the conversation about Danny becoming C.E.O. of S.I..

"I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology." Tony offered.

"Come on. The arc reactor, that's a publicity stunt!" Obie knew that Tony wasn't going to give up yet. "Tony, come on. We built that thing to shut the hippies up!" He pointed out.

"It works." Tony stated bluntly.

"Yeah, as a science project." Obie was exasperated by this point. "The arc was never cost effective. We knew that before we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?" He asked.

"Maybe." Tony answered.

"Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what?"

"Thirty years." Tony stopped pretending now. "Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?"

"Never mind who told me. Show me."

"It's Rhodey or Pepper."

"I want to see it."

"Okay, Rhodey." Tony sighed and unbuttoned his shirt with the arm that wasn't in a sling. "It works." He stated.

Obadiah tried to cover it up. "Listen to me, Tony. We're a team. Do you understand? There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I."

"I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay? But if I had-"

"Tony." Obie started. "Tony, no more of this "ready, fire, aim" business. You understand me?"

"That was dad's line."

"It wasn't a 'think long about it' decision, though. It was a 'life or death' one." Danny said, trying to keep his eyes blue.

"Yeah. It was either make the Arc Reactor, or lug around a car battery until I died." Tony added, agreeing with Danny. "That car battery wouldn't have lasted long."

Danny sighed. "Yeah... If it were me, I would have chose the first, too." He mumbled.

"You gotta let me handle this. We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat." Obadiah said. "I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low."

While Tony was in the workshop doing God-knows-what, Pepper and Danny were watching T.V. upstairs.

"Stark Industries! I've got one recommendation! Ready? Ready? Sell, sell, sell!" The guy on T.V. said. A camera pointed at a Stark Industries coffee mug, and the guy was holding a mallet. "Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells? Let me show you the new Stark Industries business plan!" Then he hit the mug with the mallet, breaking it into thousands of pieces. "Look, that's a weapons company that doesn't make weapons!" Then, Pepper muted the T.V..

A few minutes later, Tony's voice could be heard, presumably he was transmitting to Pepper through J.A.R.V.I.S.. "Pepper. How big are your hands?" He asked.

"What?"

"How big are your hands?"

"I don't understand why-"

"Get down here, I need you."

Danny was beginning to wonder whether Tony was flat out insane, or if he managed to get into any more alcohol.

Pepper sighed and went down to the workshop. What she saw scared her. It was Tony, laying down on a table, his shirt taken off, and the Arc Reactor out of his hands. Though, he did have another one in his other hand.

Pepper walked over to him. "Hey. Let's see them. Show me your hands. Let's see them." Pepper showed him her hands. "Oh, wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed. I just need your help for a sec." He said.

"Oh, my God, is that the thing that's keeping you alive?" Pepper asked, pointing to the old Arc Reactor.

"It was. It is now an antique." Tony said. Then he held up the newer one. "This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I'm swapping it up for an upgraded unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump."

"Speed bump? What does that mean?"

"It's nothing. It's just a little snag." He said. "There's an exposed wire under this device. And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short." Pepper looked like she was freaking out. "It's fine."

"What do you want me to do?" She asked.

"Put that on the table over there." He said, talking about the old Arc Reactor. "That's irrelevant. I want you to reach in, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out."

"Is it safe?"

"Yeah, it should be fine. It's like Operation. You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes 'beep'."

Pepper looked slightly scared and slightly confused. "What do you mean 'Operation'?"

"It's a game, never mind." Tony sighed. "Just gently lift the wire. Okay? Great."

"You know, I don't think that I'm qualified to do this." Pepper tried to back out.

"No, you're fine. You're the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great." Tony encouraged.

Pepper nodded and steeled herself, reaching in to grab the wire. "Oh, there's pus!" She said, mostly grossed out.

"It's not pus. It's an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body."

"It smells!"

"Yeah, it does. The copper wire." He said. "The copper wire, you got it?" He repeated.

"Okay, I got it! I got it!"

"Okay, you got it? Now, don't let it touch the sides," Tony's voice started to change as Pepper messed up a bit. "When you're coming out!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She apologized.

"Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you don't-"

"There's a magnet at the end of it!" She said after pulling the whole thing out.

"That was it. You just pulled it out."

"Oh, God!"

"Okay, I was not expecting-" Pepper tried to put it back in, but Tony stopped her. "Don't put it back in! Don't put it back in!"

"Okay, what do I do?" Pepper noticed his breathing became heavier. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest 'cause you yanked it out like a trout-"

"What? You said this was safe!"

"We gotta hurry. Take this. Take this. You gotta switch it out really quick."

"Okay. Okay. Tony?"

"It's going to be okay."

"Is it?"

"It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna make this okay."

"Let's hope."

"Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make sure you-" Pepper did was she was supposed to do. "Was that so hard? That was fun, right? Here, I got it. I got it. Here."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I feel great. You okay?"

"Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again." Pepper laughed a bit. "Anyway, what do you want me to do with this?" She had picked up the old Arc Reactor.

"That? Destroy it. Incinerate it." Tony said.

"You don't want to keep it?" Pepper asked.

"Pepper, I've been called many things. 'Nostalgic' is not one of them."

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"

"That will be all, Miss Potts."

The two made their way upstairs, where Danny was waiting.

He looked at them. "Um, what were you doing down there?" He questioned.

"Oh. We just played a bit of 'Operation' on my body. Pepper lost the game." Tony answered.

"What!? You let her give you surgery?" Danny questioned.

"No. We were switching out the Arc Reactor and I had a little snag. She pulled out the wire, and a magnet. And then I went into cardiac arrest." Tony replied.

His eyes went wide. "How are you acting like that's nothing!?" Danny questioned.

"I'm fine now, right?"

Danny sighed. "I see how we're related..." He muttered.

Tony shook his head. "Danny, wanna see what I'm planning on working on?"

He nodded slowly, a bit unsure.

Tony smiled. "To the workshop! Again!" He said, going back down to the workshop.

Danny rolled his eyes, and went intangibly through the floor in an effort to get to the room first.

Tony reached the workshop after Danny. "Ready to see it?" Tony said.

Danny nodded. "Yep."

"J.A.R.V.I.S., pull of the specs for the Mark II."

"As you wish, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied, pulling up a holographic picture of a suit, just like the one they used to get out of the cave, but slimmer and more advanced.

"That suit?" Danny said, surprised.

Tony nodded. "I'm calling it the Mark II. It can fly, shoot missiles, and much more."

Danny grinned. "Sweet. I'm betting this is the exception for the 'no more weapons' rule." He commented, with a smile.

Tony nodded. "And I'm going to use it to destroy all the weapons in the hands of terrorists."

He nodded. "Good."

"And once that's done, I might even decide to use the suit to help people." Tony said. "Or I might just lock it away for good."

"That is, after you build it." Danny commented.

Tony nodded. "And test it."

Tony had been in the living room, working on the diagram for the Mark II, when it happened.

"Mr. Stark, you have a phone call from a Mrs. Fenton. Would you like to answer it?" J.A.R.V.I.S. asked.

Tony sighed. "Yes. Patch her through, J.A.R.V.I.S." He replied.

"Anthony Edward Stark, what were you thinking! Bringing Danny to an active war zone!" Maddie said angrily as soon as the call was patched through.

"God, are you somehow my mother?" Tony tried to joke, but failed. "There was no other choice-"

"And then you were both kidnapped! For three months!"

"I had no other choice but to bring him! Pepper had plans for the rest of the week, Happy was on vacation, and Obie had S.I. to deal with while I was gone!"

"You could have-"

"I could have what? Gotten a babysitter? No." Tony argued. "Besides, I learned my lesson. A lot of them, actually."

"And what did you learn?"

"Don't bring family to an active war zone, don't bring your brother to an active war zone, don't bring a teenager to an active war zone, don't give weapons to terrorists, and don't make weapons."

"Wait. 'Don't make weapons'? What do you mean?"

"You didn't see the press conference?" Tony asked. "J.A.R.V.I.S., replay the audio." He told the A.I.

"As you wish, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. "Hey, would it be alright if everyone sat down? Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can... I never got to say goodbye to Dad. I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability.'

"Mr. Stark!'

"Hey, Ben.'

"What happened over there?'

"I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be. I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers. What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well.'

"What we should take away from this is that Tony's back! And he's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up.'

"If that's all you wanted to talk about, I have work to do. J.A.R.V.I.S., end call."

"As you wish, sir."

Danny and Tony were in the workshop, since Tony wanted Danny there in case anything went wrong. Butterfingers, You, Dummy, and J.A.R.V.I.S. could only do so much, anyways.

"Okay, let's do this right. Start mark, half a meter, and back and center. Dummy, look alive. You're on standby for fire safety." Tony started. "You, roll it. Okay. Activate hand controls. We're gonna start off nice and easy." He continued. "We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift. And three, two, one." Tony lifted off into the air, then he hit the ceiling and fell to the floor. Then, Dummy proceeded to spray him with the fire extinguisher.

Danny's eyes widened in excitement, glowing slightly. He then frowned, trying not to laugh.

Tony was in the lab, working on something on his arm, when Pepper came in and saw what he was doing.

"I've been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?" She asked.

"Yeah, everything's... What?"

"Obadiah's upstairs."

"Great!" Tony smiled.

"What would you like me to tell him?"

"I'll be right up."

"Okay." Pepper nodded. "I thought you said you were done making weapons."

"I am. This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless." He then proceeded to shoot something with it on accident. "I didn't expect that."

Danny came downstairs. "He's getting impatient." He said, before pausing. "And he has pizza." He added on.

Tony nodded and took his arm out of the flight stabilizer. "It should be done soon." He reported. "Just need to finish the insides then put it all together and get something to cover it all."

Danny nodded.

"What do you mean?" Pepper asked.

"I'll tell you later." Tony replied.

Danny smirked slightly. "Lovebirds..." He muttered quietly.

Tony smiled.

Tony left the workshop, followed by Pepper and Danny. Obadiah was on the piano, playing a song. "So, how'd it go?" He asked, then he noticed the box of pizza. "It went that bad, huh?"

"Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad."

"Sure doesn't." Tony rolled his eyes.

"It would have gone better if you were there."

"You told me to lay low. That's what I've been doing. I lay low, and you take care of all-"

"Hey, come on. In public. The press." Obie pointed out. "This was a board of directors meeting."

"This was a board of directors meeting?"

"The board is claiming you have post-traumatic stress. They're filing an injunction."

"A what?"

"They want to lock you out."

"Why, 'cause the stocks dipped 40 points? We knew that was gonna happen."

"Fifty-six and a half."

"It doesn't matter. We own the controlling interest in the company."

"Tony, the board has rights, too. They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest."

"I'm being responsible! That's a new direction for me, for the company. I mean, me on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that-"

"Oh, come on. Tony. Tony."

"I'll be in the shop." Tony said with the box of pizza. Before he could leave, however, Obadiah put a hand on Tony's shoulder.

Danny frowned, not really understanding the whole situation- but he could tell what they meant for the most part. "Maybe if you can prove to the board that you don't have P.T.S.D., they'll stop the injun- whatever it is." He said.

Tony sighed. "Danny, I have a lot to teach you about the assclowns that are the board of directors." He said. "They won't stop. They've always wanted to find a reason to lock me out."

"You're the owner of the company. Well, C.E.O.. Aren't you higher than them or something in the employment ranks? That's what C.E.O. means... Right?" He replied.

"Well, yes but they oversee everything. If they think something's wrong, they'll point it out. Taking S.I. out of the weapons market was something that they pointed out. And what happened in Afghanistan gives them a good reason to think that I have P.T.S.D., even though I don't want to agree with them."

Obadiah decided to butt in then. "Hey, hey! Hey, Tony. Listen." He started. "I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them. Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs."

Tony quickly went on the defensive. "No. No, absolutely not."

"It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!"

"This one stays with me. That's it, Obie. Forget it."

"All right, well, this stays with me, then." Obie took the box of pizza from Tony. "Go on, here, you can have a piece. Take two."

"Thank you."

"You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?"

"Good night, Obie."

"So, kid. What are you going to do after college?" Obadiah tried to strike up a conversation with Danny.

"Not sure yet. I'm still only a freshman..." Danny said.

"Is becoming C.E.O. of S.I. on your mind?" He asked.

Danny paused, then nodded.

"Day 11, Test 37, Configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety." He turned to the aforementioned robot/A.I. "If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college. Seriously, we're just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity. And three... two... one." Tony lifted off, this time not hitting anything. When he landed, Dummy raised his arm hopefully. "Please don't follow me around with it either because I feel like I'm going to catch on fire spontaneously. Just stand down. If something happens, then come in."

"And again, let's bring it up to 2.5. Three, two, one." Tony flew up again, and started to hover over his cars. "Okay, this is where I don't want to be! Not the car, not the car! Table! Could be worse! Could be worse! We're fine! Okay. No!" Tony then landed. "Yeah, I can fly." He said before getting sprayed by Dummy again.

Danny smiled. "It's about time, too." He commented.

Tony finally had the suit ready. It was a shiny silver.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., are you there?"

"At your service, sir."

"Engage Heads Up Display. Import all preferences from home interface."

"Will do, sir."

"All right, what do you say?"

"I have indeed been uploaded, sir. We're online and ready."

"Can we start the virtual walk-around?"

"Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment."

"Do a check on control surfaces."

"As you wish." J.A.R.V.I.S. was quiet for a few minutes. "Test complete. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics."

"Yeah. Tell you what. Do a weather and A.T.C. check. Start listening in on ground control."

"Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is-"

"J.A.R.V.I.S.! Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk." Tony said. Then he tapped into the speakers in Danny's room. "Hey, Danny. Want to go for a flight? Suit's ready and I'm itching to take it for a spin. If you want to, come down to the workshop."

Danny grinned- so far, he'd only transformed once since the whole incident with the Ten Rings when he had flew around the mansion- he was ready for another flight. He was still a bit wary of his ghost self, but flying always seemed to make everything seem better. He quickly dove through the ground and into the workshop.

Tony smiled behind his mask when he saw Danny. "Ready?" He asked.

Danny closed his eyes, reaching for the coldness inside of him. White rings formed around his waist and transformed him, and he looked up, opening his eyes to show their electric green color. "Ready." He said, voice echoing slightly.

Tony powered up his boosters in his feet and the flight stabilizer in his hand. He shot out of the workshop through the 'garage', which was really just a hole in the wall leading up to the surface.

Danny quickly followed after him, smirking slightly. He was feeling a bit competitive at the moment. "Wanna race?" He questioned Tony.

"Bring it on." Tony said, the smirk he was wearing behind his mask evident in the tone of his voice.

"Okay." Danny said, pushing forward in his speed.

"Handles like a dream." Tony noted. "All right, let's see what this thing can do." He said, going faster. "What's SR-71's record?"

"The altitude record for fixed wing flight is 85,000 feet, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

"Records are made to be broken! Come on!" The suit started to build up with ice as Tony pushed higher.

Danny noticed Tony's change of altitude, and was about to fly up there when he froze up and coughed out a light blue mist.

"Sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring."

"Keep going! Higher!" He pushed, then he noticed the ice. "We iced up, J.A.R.V.I.S.! Deploy flaps! J.A.R.V.I.S.!" Tony started to fall, but he also started to break the ice around the flaps. "Come on, we got to break the ice!"

Danny let out another cough, followed by the light blue mist. "What the heck!?" He questioned, more mist coming out of his mouth.

Tony finally gained control again and went down to go see Danny. "You alright?" He asked.

Danny was about to answer when the blue mist came out again. "I'm- I'm not sure..." He answered

Meanwhile, a small swirling portal was above a nearby building... And quite a few creatures managed to squeeze out before the portal closed. A green octopus-like creature was the closest to Danny and Tony- and it shrieked.

Danny stiffened up, and looked toward the direction the shriek came from. "What was that!?"

"J.A.R.V.I.S., scan the area." Tony told the A.I.

"There seems to be some ectoplasmic entity in the area, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

"It's a ghost." Tony said. "Also, we should get you something so you can connect with J.A.R.V.I.S. and myself when you need it."

Danny nodded. "Another ghost..." He mumbled. "I heard the shrieking coming from over there." He mumbled, jetting off in that direction.

Tony followed Danny, hoping none of them would phase through him, since he didn't want to find out what that would do to the Arc Reactor, though J.A.R.V.I.S. said it had something to do with explosions...

The octopus-like ghost shrieked again, louder this time. Danny pushed on further to see the creature, and his eyes widened at the sight of the ghost.

Tony muttered some foul language after seeing the ghost, knowing that nothing he had could actually hurt it.

"Nice... Octopus... Thing." Danny said, eyes wide. It shrieked, and dove at him.

Danny quickly turned intangible, and the creature shrieked once more. He was trying to figure out how to beat it. "How am I supposed to hurt this thing? And how am I supposed to get rid of it!?" He questioned, trying to avoid the creature as it lunged at him.

"You should be able to touch it or attack it or something." Tony said.

Danny frowned- he was no expert with fighting moves.

A flash of him throwing the two men into the wall went through his mind. An image of his ghost self appeared, with bloodthirsty eyes.

The same bloodthirsty look that was in this creature's eyes. He knew it wanted bloodshed. Danny's eyes narrowed in determination- he wasn't going to let anyone who didn't deserve it to be hurt. Even if he wasn't a master fighter, he could still fight. He was the only one that could fight.

The next time it lunged at him, he dove down then grabbed onto a stray tentacle and yanked it back, throwing it over his shoulder. It let out a yelp of pain, and whipped its other tentacles at him.

Danny was forced to let go, and he was pushed backward.

The creature narrowed its eyes at him, quite ticked at the fact that Danny could harm it. It shrieked with anger.

"You shriek too much." Danny commented, before lunging at it himself. It was shocked- and Danny managed to punch the creature and send it flying back.

It yelped again, whipping at Danny again.

He rolled his eyes- now, his ghost self was in control. And 'he' was simply annoyed at the other ghost. "Stay. Away. From. Here." Danny spoke, voice deeper and echoing. He lunged again, and the creature was smart enough to create a giant green mist and flee.

Coward. Danny thought, the danger now over as the mist cleared.

"Okay. So we know you can fight ghosts like a pro." Tony said after the shock finally subsided.

Danny nodded at that.

Tony was back in his workshop, working on his suit with the T.V. on as background noise. Danny, for all Tony knew, was asleep.

Tony and J.A.R.V.I.S. had been talking about the suit when the T.V. caught his attention.

"Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall, where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for L.A.'s high society." The lady said.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., we get an invite for that?" Tony asked, still looking at the T.V.

"I have no record of an invitation, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. answered.

"-hasn't been seen in public since his bizarre and highly controversial press conference." A picture of Tony from that press conference was shown before going back to the lady. "Some claim he's suffering from posttraumatic stress and has been bedridden for weeks. Whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from him tonight."

"The render is complete." J.A.R.V.I.S. said after the reporter was finished speaking, since Tony had turned off the T.V.

"A little ostentatious, don't you think?" Tony asked as he looked at the full gold holographic suit in front of him.

"What was I thinking? You're usually so discreet." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied, British voice filled with sarcasm.

"Tell you what. Throw a little hot-rod red in there." Tony offered.

"Yes, that should help you keep a low profile." More sarcasm from the British-accented A.I. butler. "The render is complete."

"Hey, I like it. Fabricate it. Paint it." Tony said, looking at the now red-and-gold suit.

"Commencing automated assembly. Estimated completion time is five hours." J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

Tony got up to go into one of his cars. "Don't wait up for me, honey." He said jokingly. "And if Danny asks where I am, tell him I'm out and I won't be back until later on."

Danny had tried to sleep, he really did, but after three hours of sleep and two hours of tossing and turning, he had decided to walk around for a bit.

That is how he found his way to the kitchen, and noticed that the whole house seemed devoid of it's usual hustle and bustle.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.?" The raven haired teen asked cautiously.

"Yes, Mr. Fenton?" The ever-present J.A.R.V.I.S. answered.

"Where's Tony?" He answered.

"Mr. Stark left for his third annual Firefighter's Family Fund at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles thirty minutes ago and is not expected to return for quite some time." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. "Would you like for me to call him?"

Danny shook his head. "No, that's okay." He answered. Then, he opened the fridge to get some soda when J.A.R.V.I.S. was heard again.

"Mr. Fenton, I require your assistance in the workshop. It seems that Dummy, Butterfingers, and You have gotten into trouble and are not listening to me."

Danny laughed and shook his head at the three bot's antics before closing the door to the fridge. He then went down to the lab.

Tony had just pulled up to the Disney Concert Hall and had just seen Obadiah.

"Weapons manufacturing is only one small part of what Stark Industries is all about, and our partnership with the fire and rescue community..." Obie trailed off.

"Hey, Tony, remember me?" One man asked Tony as he made his way to Obie.

"Sure don't." Tony replied. "You look great, Hef." He said to another man.

"We're going to have a great quarter." Obadiah ended. Then, he noticed Tony and walked over to him.

"What's the world coming to when a guy's got to crash his own party?" Tony asked.

"Look at you. Hey, what a surprise." Obie said with a smile.

Tony noticed Pepper and his hormones started raging. "I'll see you inside."

"Hey. Listen, take it slow, all right?" Obie said, stopping Tony by putting a hand on his shoulder. "I think I got the board right where we want them."

"You got it." Tony nodded. "Just cabin fever." Tony saw Pepper again, in that backless dress. "I'll just be a minute." He walked into the Concert Hall, but he lost sight of Pepper, so he sighed and went to the bar.

"Give me a Scotch, I'm starving." Tony told the barkeep, passing him some money.

"Mr. Stark." A male voice said and Tony turned around to see a man in a suit.

"Yeah?" Tony asked.

"Agent Coulson." He answered.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The guy from the-"

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." Coulson offered for Tony.

"God, you need a new name for that." Tony sighed.

"Yeah, I hear that a lot." Coulson agreed. "Listen, I know this must be a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you and your 'brother'." He said, not really believing that Danny and Tony were brothers. "There's still a lot of unanswered questions, and time can be a factor with these things." He explained.

"Let's just put something on the books." Tony said, still looking for Pepper.

"How about the 24th at 7:00 P.M. at Stark Industries?" Coulson offered.

"Tell you what. You got it. You're absolutely right." Tony nodded, finally catching Pepper again. "Well, I'm going to go to my assistant, and we'll make a date." He said, getting up and walking over to meet Pepper.

"You look fantastic! I didn't recognize you." Tony exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" Pepper asked, clearly taken aback by Tony's appearance at the Fund.

"Just avoiding government agents." He replied, motioning to Coulson.

"Are you by yourself?" She asked.

"Yes. Where'd you get that dress?" Tony asked, really liking the dress she was currently in.

"Oh, it was a birthday present." Pepper answered.

"That's great." Tony smiled.

"From you, actually." She added.

"Well, I got great taste." He said.

"Yes." She nodded.

"You want to dance?" Tony asked.

"Oh, no."

"All right, come on." Tony ignored her.

"Thank you. No."

He ignored her, taking her hand to dance with her.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" He asked.

"No. No. I always forget to wear deodorant and dance with my boss in front of everyone that I work with in a dress with no back." Pepper said sarcastically.

"You look great and you smell great." Tony smiled again.

"Oh, God." Pepper muttered.

"But I could fire you if that would take the edge off." He offered.

"I actually don't think that you could tie your shoes without me." Pepper challenged.

"I'd make it a week. Sure." Tony shrugged.

"Really?" She asked in a 'seriously' kind of tone. "What's your Social Security number?"

"Five." Tony replied.

"Five?" She asked.

"Right." Tony nodded.

"You're missing just a couple of digits there." Pepper laughed a bit.

"The other eight? So I got you for the other eight." Tony said, making her smile awkwardly. "How about a little air?"

"Yes, I need some air." Pepper agreed and Tony led her to the abandoned balcony. "That was totally weird." She said once they were alone.

"Totally harmless." Tony replied.

"It was totally not harmless, by the way."

"We're dancing. No one's even watching."

"Everybody who I work with-"

"No, you know why? I think you lost objectivity. I think they just... People... We just danced."

"No, it was not just a dance. You don't understand because you're you. And everybody knows exactly who you are and how you are with girls and all of that, which is completely fine. But, you know, then me, you're my boss, and I'm dancing with you." Pepper explained.

"I don't think it was taken that way." He pointed out.

"Because it makes me look like the one who's trying to-"

"I just think you're overstating it."

"You know, and we're here, and then I'm wearing this ridiculous dress, and then we were dancing like that and..." Pepper stopped. "I would like a drink, please."

"Got it, okay." Tony nodded.

"I would like a vodka martini, please."

"Okay." Tony nodded again.

"Very dry with olives, a lot of olives. Like, at least three olives."

Tony nodded once more before going out to get the drinks.

"Two vodka martinis, extra dry, extra olives, extra fast. Make one of them dirty, will you?" He told the barkeep, giving him more money.

"Wow. Tony Stark." A familiar voice said.

"Oh, hey."

"Fancy seeing you here." The blonde said.

"Carrie." Tony tried.

"Christine." She corrected.

"That's right." He nodded.

"You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight. Can I at least get a reaction from you?" She asked.

"Panic. I would say panic is my reaction."

"'Cause I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity." She continued.

"Yeah. They just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you."

"I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker." She searched through her bag for something.

"I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear." He pointed out.

"Is this what you call accountability?" She handed some pictures to Tony. "It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?" She asked.

"When were these taken?" He demanded.

"Yesterday." She answered.

"I didn't approve any shipment." He muttered.

"Well, your company did." She pointed out.

"Well, I'm not my company." He retorted before forgetting all about the drinks, opting to go home to rest, planning to go talk to Stane tomorrow.

Going down to his workshop, he was met with Danny trying to stop Dummy, Butterfingers, and You from doing something.

Parking the car got the three A.I.'s to stop, and for Danny to look.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be back until later?" Danny asked.

"Change of plans. Getting ready then I'm going to go talk to Obie tomorrow. Also, I'm gonna go take the suit out for a little trip to Gulmira."

"Gulmira... Isn't that where Yinsen said he was from?" Danny asked.

Tony just nodded, handing him the pictures. "Someone's been double-dealing with my old weapons. And I intend to stop them."

Danny nodded. "Who could have done something like this?"

Tony shook his head. "Someone high up." He said, then he went through a list of people he could think of who were high up. "Now we know I didn't do it, since I'm just fucking pissed off at this. Pepper couldn't have; she isn't like that. I can agree that Obie is a little tough, but he's also caring. He wouldn't have done this..." He trailed off, going off to go do whatever it was that he needed to do.

Tony never got to go to Obie's office that morning, as Obie stopped by the house at ten, when Tony had just woken up.

Seeing Obie had woken Tony up like five cups of coffee. "Have you seen these pictures?" Tony asked, showing Obie the pictures. "What's going on in Gulmira?"

"Tony, Tony." Obadiah sighed. "You can't afford to be this naive."

"You know what? I was naive before, when they said, 'Here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business'. If we're double-dealing under the table-"

"Are we?" Stane asked as they entered the kitchen, where Danny was grabbing some food. "Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you." Tony started to make his coffee, though he started shaking his head. "It was the only way I could protect you."

"No. No." Tony had muttered.

Then he had promptly said, "Get the fuck out of my house, Obadiah. I have work to do."

And Stane had left.

"Wait... He locked you out!?" Danny exclaimed, eyes blazing green with fury.

Tony nodded. "Locked me out, filed the injunction, whatever you want to call it."

"The 15-mile hike to the outskirts of Gulmira can only be described as a descent into hell, into a modern day Heart of Darkness. Simple farmers and herders from peaceful villages have been driven from their homes, displaced from their lands by warlords emboldened by a new-found power. Villagers have been forced to take shelter in whatever crude dwellings they can find in the ruins of other villages, or here in the remnants of an old Soviet smelting plant. Recent violence has been attributed to a group of foreign fighters referred to by locals as the Ten Rings. As you can see, these men are heavily armed and on a mission. A mission that could prove fatal to anyone who stands in their way. With no political will or international pressure, there's very little hope for these refugees. Around me, a woman begging for news on her husband, who was kidnapped by insurgents, either forced to join their militia-" Tony ignored the T.V., thinking about what he should do. Both with Stane, and this. "Desperate refugees clutch yellowed photographs, holding them up to anyone who will stop. A child's simple question, 'Where are my mother and father?' There's very little hope for these refugees, refugees who can only wonder who, if anyone, will help."

Danny walked into the room, having heard every single word of the television program. His eyes were narrowed, and glowing a sharp green. "We will." He answered, knowing the television couldn't hear him.

Tony got up, and he shook his head. "No, Danny." He said. "I will. I told your mother that a few lessons I learned were 'Don't bring family to an active war zone, don't bring your brother to an active war zone, don't bring a teenager to an active war zone, don't give weapons to terrorists, and don't make weapons.'" He said. "Note the first three involve active war zones, and the first two involve people close to me." He continued. "Besides, do you know who's weapons they have? They're Stark Industries..." Tony froze. "Whoever is double-dealing under the table is giving those weapons to terrorists. The Ten fucking Rings no less." He said, voice as cold as ice.

"I know. Which is why I have to help." He said, eyes narrowed. "Remember what you said about that ghost we fought earlier? Your weapons couldn't hurt it." He paused. "I'm a ghost. If I transform... I don't think the weapons could harm me, either." He pointed out.

"I know that. But what if you transformed back or something?" Tony asked. "Besides, I have something you can do."

"What would that be?" Danny asked, arms crossed.

"Go check on Stane." Tony said. "See what he's doing."

"Where is he?" Danny questioned.

"Probably the office."

Danny nodded, and went in that direction. He still wanted to go to Gulmira. I swear if Tony doesn't let me go with him, I'll go on my own... He thought as he went. He turned invisible as he headed toward the office.

Tony went to go put the suit on, planning on destroying all of his weapons that were there. Once it was done assembling, he took off with only one place in mind. Gulmira.

Danny abruptly paused, hearing the suit. "He's leaving without me..." He muttered, quickly transforming. Still invisible, he forgot the check-on-Stane mission and jetted off after Tony.

Tony had just finished battling against some of the Ten Rings insurgents. He saw one of his tanks and angrily set off to make it blow up.

Danny was nearby, still invisible. He was taking out some insurgents, smirking slightly as they couldn't see where he was.

Tony sent off a small missile as a present for the tanks, and he walked away, dramatically, as they exploded.

Danny smirked further, as he invisibly flipped a man over.

Tony noticed this and stared harder at where Danny was, as if he could see him.

Danny realized that Tony was looking in his direction, and he tried to move over and flip more people.

Tony shrugged it off and grabbed onto one of the men, throwing him towards the residents of the town. "He's all yours." He said.

Danny grinned, but realized his invisibility probably wouldn't last much longer. "Crud." He muttered under his breath, as he threw a man into another man. He felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

Tony took off like a bullet, wanting to get home soon.

Danny realized that Tony was the only one who knew the way home, so he quickly followed after him- hoping his invisibility would last him.

While Tony was flying, his phone rang. "Hello?" He asked.

"Tony?" Rhodey replied.

"Who's this?" Tony asked, not being able to hear his friend well.

"It's Rhodes."

"Sorry, hello?"

"I said it's Rhodes."

"Speak up, please."

"What in the hell is that noise?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm driving with the top down." Tony lied.

"Yeah, well, I need your help right now."

"It's funny how that works, huh?"

"Yeah. Speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive."

"Well, that's a hot spot." Tony replied. "Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you, huh?"

"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?" Rhodey asked, worried.

"I'm not, I was just jogging in the canyon." Tony lied again.

"I thought you were driving." Rhodey questioned.

"Right, I was driving to the canyon, where I'm going to jog." He lied yet again.

"You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?"

"Nope!" Tony dodged two F-22's.

"Okay, good, 'cause I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come."

"That's my exit." Tony hung up so then he could dodge the attempts on his life by the F-22's.

Danny frowned. Stopping, he looked around to see where the F-22's were. He frowned, and went closer to Tony while wondering who sent the fighter jets. Just then, his invisibility decided to fail. "Ah, crud." He muttered.

Tony turned around to see Danny. "Danny, I told you to stay at the house!" He said.

"No... You said that you weren't taking me to an active war zone." He replied.

"So why did you come?"

"I felt like helping." He answered.

"Do you know how much trouble I'm gonna be in when your mother finds out?" He asked. "Not to mention I was trying to protect you from something like this." He dodged one of the F-22's.

He shrugged. "It was my fault." He stated. "Not yours." He stated, dodging an F-22.

"Tony Stark as a role model. Never going to work out at this rate." He muttered.

Danny laughed a little bit. "Of course it isn't. You're Tony." He stated.

"But trying to be a good role model is a good idea." Tony pointed out.

"You still have a long way to go." Danny pointed out.

"Whatever." Tony said. "Just promise me you won't do this again."

"I'll try not to." He answered.

Tony sighed. "One minute." He said. He called Rhodey again.

"Hello?" Rhodey asked.

"Hi, Rhodey, it's me."

"It's who?"

"I'm sorry, it is me." Tony apologized. "You asked. What you were asking about is me."

"No, see, this isn't a game." Rhodey started. "You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. You understand that?"

"This is not a piece of equipment." Tony stated. "I'm in it. It's a suit. It's me!"

All was said and done after a few hours. So now Rhodey, Danny, and, of course, Tony knew about the suits.

Tony was in his workshop, trying to get his suit off with his bots help, and Danny's laughing, which really annoyed Tony.

"Hey!" Tony cried out.

"It is a tight fit, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. "Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt."

"Be gentle. This is my first time." He said. "I designed this to come off, so- Hey!" Tony exclaimed. "I really should be able to-"

"Please, try not to move, sir."

At that moment, Pepper decided to come down to see what was going on. Tony in a red-and-gold suit of metal armor with Dummy, Butterfingers, You, and some other robots trying to get it off of him. And she also noticed Danny laughing at Tony.

She stared in shock at the scene unfolding before her. She finally found her voice. "What is going on here?" She asked, gaining the attention of everyone in the room.

"Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing." He said. "The worst thing was-" To prevent him from speaking another word, Pepper walked up to him and smacked him upside the head. Then, she inspected the armor.

"Are those... Bullet holes?" She asked, horror etched in her face.

Tony was in his workshop, finishing up the plans for something. He had finished that earpiece for Danny and had given it to the raven-haired boy.

Tony, also, had gotten Danny to at least go into his room about an hour ago. Tony needed planning time. And he needed Pepper to help him with something.

"Hey. You busy?" He asked her. "You mind if I send you on an errand?" He continued. "I need you to go to my office. You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests. This is a lock chip. This'll get you in." He explained. "It's probably under Executive Files. If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading."

"And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?" Pepper asked.

"Same drill." He replied. "They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."

"Tony, you know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again." She sighed.

"There is nothing except this. There's no art opening. There is no benefit. There is nothing to sign. There is the next mission and nothing else." He told her.

"Is that so? Well, then, I quit." There was a look of shock and hurt in Tony's eyes when she said those two words.

"You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction. And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?" He asked.

"You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I'm not going to be a part of it." She replied, heading for the door.

"I shouldn't be alive." He said aloud, so then she could hear it. "Unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right. You're all I have, too, you know." He said.

Pepper nodded and took the chip from Tony and went to her car. Tony just smiled lightly before it faded and he went upstairs to sit on the couch.

Pepper was sitting at the desk in Tony's office, which was also Obadiah's office, since a) Tony didn't like coming in very much, and b) Tony was locked out.

"Sector 16? What are you up to, Obadiah?" The files were downloaded, and then she saw a video, clicking it sent her into shock.

"You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark. As you can see, Obadiah Stane-" The man started.

"Oh, my God." Pepper said under her breath.

"-your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up."

Pepper couldn't watch another minute of it and closed out of the video when the door opened. Hiding the device that Tony gave her under a newspaper, she greeted Obadiah.

"So, what are we going to do about this?" Stane asked. "I know what you're going through, Pepper. Tony. He always gets the good stuff, doesn't he? I was so happy when he came home. It was like we got him back from the dead. Now I realize, well, Tony never really did come home, did he? He left a part of himself in that cave. Breaks my heart." He said.

"Well, he's a complicated person. He's been through a lot. I think he'll be alright." Pepper replied, taking the device from under the newspaper without letting Stane see it.

"You are a very rare woman. Tony doesn't know how lucky he is."

"Thank you. Thanks." Pepper thanked. "I'd better get back there." She made her way to the door but Obadiah stopped her.

"Is that today's paper?"

"Yes."

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

"Puzzle."

"Of course."

"Take care."

Pepper nodded and left the room. Going down the stairs, she saw Agent Coulson sitting in one of the chairs. He noticed her, too, as he got up.

"Ms. Potts? We had an appointment. Did you forget about our appointment?"

"Nope, right now. Come with me."

"Right now?"

"We're going to have it right now."

"Yeah, walk with me."

"Okay."

"I'm going to give you the meeting of your life."

Danny was still in his room, last time he had J.A.R.V.I.S. check. But... Pepper hadn't come back yet. Tony got worried, so he pulled out his phone and dialed her number. Right as she picked up, a noise was heard and Tony froze up.

"Tony?" Pepper asked. "Tony, are you there? Hello?" The one who used the device on Tony had closed the phone.

"Breathe." A familiar voice said. "Easy, easy." No... It was Obadiah. "You remember this one, right? It's a shame the government didn't approve it. There's so many applications for causing short-term paralysis." He started. "Tony. When I ordered the hit on you, I worried that I was killing the golden goose. But, you see, it was just fate that you survived that, and that you had your brother there with you." He continued. "You had one last golden egg to give. Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you? Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?" Obadiah turned and opened up a silver briefcase, taking out something shaped like... The Arc Reactor in Tony's chest. Putting it over the Arc Reactor, Obadiah took it out of his chest and marveled at it's beauty. "Oh, it's beautiful. Tony, this is your Ninth Symphony. What a masterpiece. Look at that." He closed the briefcase with the Arc Reactor in it. "This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart. Weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in our hands. The right hands. I wish you could've seen my prototype. It's not as... Well, not as conservative as yours." He got up, leaving Tony on the couch. "Too bad you had to involve Pepper in this." He started to walk out the door, and the last words he said chilled Tony to the bone. "I would have preferred that she lived."

Tony waited for a few minutes, thought that might not have been a good idea. Once he knew he could speak at an acceptable volume, he said, "J.A.R.V.I.S... Tell Danny to go get the old Arc Reactor that Pepper turned into a little statue. Tell him that it's in the workshop, on one of the tables closest to the door." He thought for a second before adding, "And tell him to hurry."

"Yes, sir."

Rhodey was talking to Pepper on the phone while he was driving.

"What do you mean, he paid to have Tony killed?" Rhodey asked, clearly in shock. "Pepper, slow down." He commanded. "Why would Obadiah- Okay, where's Tony now?"

Pepper was ignoring Coulson and the other agents as she focused on her conversation with Rhodey.

"I don't know. He's not answering his phone. Please go over there and make sure everything's okay." She sighed in relief when Rhodey agreed. "Thank you, Rhodey."

Danny was still in his room, awake, when he heard J.A.R.V.I.S.

"Mr. Fenton, Mr. Stark is in grave danger. He needs for you to go to his workshop and get the gift Miss Potts gave him. The one with the Arc Reactor." J.A.R.V.I.S. said. "Obadiah Stane came in moments ago and took the Arc Reactor out of Mr. Stark's chest. Mr. Stark needs for you to hurry." There was the sound of a door opening and closing. "It appears that Colonel Rhodes is here."

Danny's eyes widened in shock and he shot upwards, eyes blazing. He dove straight for the workshop, transforming as he went.

Rhodey met him down there after Tony told him to go down and help. "What happened?" He asked urgently.

"Obie tore the Arc Reactor out of Tony's chest!" Danny exclaimed, searching for the other one.

Rhodey nodded and started looking for the Arc Reactor, too. Until there was a crash and Rhodey looked at Dummy, who had just smashed the glass casing of... Exactly what they were looking for. "Thanks, Dummy." Rhodey thanked the bot with a smile.

Danny quickly grabbed it. "J.A.R.V.I.S., where's Tony?" He asked frantically.

"Mr. Stark is in the living room. You must hurry, time is running out." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied.

He quickly flew upstairs, into the living room. He looked at the couch where Tony was. "Tony! I got it... What do I do?" He asked quickly.

Tony breathed heavily before answering. "Give it to me. I'll put it in." He said.

Danny nodded and gave it to Tony, careful not to damage it when he did so.

Slowly, Tony put the wires into the base-plate of the Arc Reactor, the part that had the magnet. It clicked and Tony pushed the Arc Reactor in, it also making a clicking sound. Getting up slowly, but not as slow as how he was before, he saw Rhodey.

"Where's Pepper?" He asked Rhodey frantically, the color finally returning to his face.

"She's fine. She's with five agents. They're about to arrest Obadiah." Rhodey explained.

"That's not going to be enough." He stated before making his way towards the workshop.

"Section 16. Section 16. There it is." Pepper said as she and some agents of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division made their way to Section 16 in one of the Stark Industries labs. The same one with the big Arc Reactor. She tried to open the door with her card-key, but the door wouldn't budge. "My key's not working. It's not opening the door."

Coulson held his hand out and another agent gave him a small device, which he planted on the lock.

"Oh, wow! What's that? It's, like, a little device? It's, like, a thing that's going to pick the lock?" She asked hopefully.

Coulson made no move to answer her questions directly. All he said was, "You might want to take a few steps back."

Pepper got what he meant and stood back, covering her ears. The lock exploded, and they went inside.

"That's the coolest thing I've ever seen." Rhodey commented.

"Not bad, huh? Let's do it."

"You need me to do anything else?" He asked.

"Danny, you keep Pepper safe. Grab the earpiece I made you and go out to the lab. I'm gonna meet you there, since Stane is probably there." Tony told his brother, who nodded and phased through the ceiling to go to his room and get what he needed. "Keep the skies clear." He replied to Rhodey before taking off like a bullet.

"Damn!" Rhodey muttered. A silver glint caught his eye. The first suit Tony made after he was out of Afghanistan. "Next time, baby." He muttered before going off to go back to the air force base to keep the skies clear for Tony.

"Looks like you were right. He was building a suit." Coulson noted.

"I thought it'd be bigger." Pepper muttered before the suit 'came to life', so to speak, and started to chase Pepper as she screamed.

"How do you think the Mark One chest piece is going to hold up?" Tony asked J.A.R.V.I.S.

"The suit's at forty-eight percent power and falling, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. "That chest piece was never designed for sustained flight."

"Keep me posted." Tony told his A.I., before he spotted Pepper. "Pepper!"

"Tony! Tony, are you okay?" Pepper asked as soon as he landed.

"I'm fine. How are-"

"Obadiah, he's gone insane!"

"I know." Tony said. "Listen, you'd better get out of here. Danny's coming over and he's gonna protect you while I deal with Stane."

"He built a suit." Pepper stated.

"Get out of here right now!" Tony stated at that revelation.

"Where do you think you're going?" A voice said, before the bulky suit that Tony made in the cave was seen. "Your services are no longer required."

"Stane!" Tony growled out, glaring at him.

They clashed many times, somehow ending up on the freeway. Stane had grabbed a car full of screaming people. "I love this suit!" He said.

"Put them down!" Tony ordered.

"Collateral damage, Tony." He said, throwing the car into the air.

Tony caught it and put it down. The people, very frightened, ran over him.

"Tony, are you alright?" Danny asked through their communication line.

"Just peachy. I learned that holding onto a moving vehicle that tried to run you over is very uncomfortable." Tony growled. "Stane's gone crazy, though we already knew that. He stole my Arc Reactor to power a suit of his own!" He thought of something. "Divert power to chest RT." He told J.A.R.V.I.S. A bright white light shot out of Tony's Arc Reactor and hit Stane.

"Power reduced to nineteen percent."

"For 30 years, I've been holding you up! I built this company from nothing! Nothing is going to stand in my way. Least of all you!" Obadiah said, lunging for Tony.

Tony, however, was in a slimmer armor than Stane, so he dodged him by flying upwards.

"Impressive! You've upgraded your armor! I've made some upgrades of my own!" And Stane flew up after Tony.

"Sir, it appears that his suit can fly." J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

"Duly noted. Take me to maximum altitude." Tony commanded.

"With only fifteen percent power, the odds of reaching that-"

"I know the math! Do it!" Tony commanded.

"Yes, sir." J.A.R.V.I.S. said. "Thirteen percent power, sir."

"Climb!" Tony commanded.

"Eleven percent." J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

"Keep going!" Tony pushed.

"Seven percent power." J.A.R.V.I.S. said, scaring Danny. He said nothing, however, since he knew that Tony must've had a plan.

"Stop telling me! Just leave it on the screen!"

Unknowingly, Tony had broadcast that conversation about altitudes to Danny.

"You had a great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advanced in every way!" Stane boasted.

"How'd you solve the icing problem?" Tony smiled behind his mask, just knowing that Stane didn't know about that problem.

"Icing problem?" And that's why people call Tony Stark a genius.

"Might want to look into it." Tony said as Stane fell onto the roof of the lab.

"Two percent." J.A.R.V.I.S. reported. Then, Tony fell to the ground. "We are now running on emergency backup power."

"Potts!" Tony yelled, since she had, somehow, gotten inside the building.

"Tony! Oh, my God, are you okay?" She asked, totally freaked out.

"I'm almost out of power. I've got to get out of this thing. I'll be right there." He reported, taking off his gloves and helmet..

"Nice try!" Stane said, trying to attack him.

"Weapons status?" Tony asked J.A.R.V.I.S.

"Repulsors offline. Missiles offline." J.A.R.V.I.S. reported.

"Flares!" Tony said, setting off flares in front of Stane.

"Very clever, Tony." Stane laughed.

"Potts?" Tony asked.

"Tony!" Pepper cried.

"This isn't working. We're going to have to overload the reactor and blast the roof."

"Well, how are you going to do that?"

"You're going to do it." Tony corrected. "Go to the central console, open up all the circuits. When I get clear of the roof, I'll let you know. You're going to hit the master bypass button." Tony explained. "It's going to fry everything up here."

"Excuse me... What!?" Danny spoke through the earpiece.

Tony sighed. "I'm not actually going to be on the roof when it blows, Danny." He said.

A sigh of relief went through the speaker.

"Okay. I'm going in now."

"Make sure you wait till I clear the roof. I'll buy you some time." Tony said. Then, he ripped out some wires on Obadiah's suit. "This looks important!" He commented while doing so.

"I never had a taste for this sort of thing, but I must admit, I'm deeply enjoying the suit!" Stane said, clearly out of his mind. "You finally outdid yourself, Tony! You'd have made your father proud!"

Tony glared at Stane with distaste when Pepper's voice broke through, and the Arc Reactor was glowing even brighter.

"It's ready, Tony! Get off the roof!" Tony didn't move. "Tony!"

"How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!" He said with a smile, opening up his suit.

"Pepper!"

"And now I'm going to kill you with it!" A smile was clearly seen on Obadiah's face. "You ripped out my targeting system!"

"Time to hit the button!" Tony told Pepper.

"You told me not to!"

"Hold still, you little prick!" Stane commanded.

"Just do it!"

"You'll die!"

"Tony!" Danny screamed, before a very angry and anxious Danny 'Phantom' appeared over the rooftop, having intangibly come from the building.

"Danny, get out of the way!" Tony commanded. "Push it!" He told Pepper, who did as she was told and ran out of the building before a bright blue light streamed into the sky, frying Stane. It was mere inches from Tony.

When that part was done, Tony was alive and conscious, but then it exploded, blowing up Obadiah with it.

Danny quickly turned intangible and moved back, to get out of the way.

"Tony!" Pepper screamed when the dust cleared.

On the roof was Tony, who looked fine, but his suit was dented and the normal blue glow of the Arc Reactor in his chest was gone.

Danny's face was full of horror. "Tony..." He mumbled, eyes completely wide. He was too focused on Tony's Arc Reactor not glowing, that he didn't notice that Obie had blown up. "Tony!" He screamed, head looking down- mourning.

Pepper ran up onto the roof to see the scene before her, her eyes were red.

The Arc Reactor started to flicker a dim blue and Tony groaned.

Danny looked up, hopeful. "Tony... Don't die... Don't die..." He mumbled flying closer.

"Not yet... Don't want to leave you all alone like Dad did with me." Tony said weakly.

It had been a day since what happened at the lab, and Pepper was getting Tony ready for a press conference while Tony and Coulson were talking about the cards Tony had to read from.

"You sure you want to come out there with me, Danny?" Tony asked. "The press are, usually, like piranhas about this kind of stuff."

Danny nodded. "Yeah... But we've dealt with psychos, kidnappers, some people dying in front of us, and so on... I think we can both handle the press."

"If you think you can take it." Tony said.

Danny grinned.

"'Iron Man.' That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean, it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative, the imagery, anyway." Tony quickly changed the subject.

"Here's your alibi." Coulson said, giving him a set of note-cards. "You were on your yacht. We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night, and sworn statements from 50 of your guests." He explained.

Tony flipped through the cards before putting them back in order and getting up from the chair he was sitting in. "See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Pepper and me alone on the island."

"That's what happened." Coulson stayed firm. "Just read it, word for word."

"There's nothing about Stane here." Tony pointed out.

"That's being handled. He's on vacation. Small aircraft have such a poor safety record." Coulson explained.

"You've got 90 seconds." A man said.

Tony flattened out his suit and got ready to go. "You ready, Danny?" He asked. "For the sake of keeping you safe – the real you -, I'm gonna call you Marcus."

Danny nodded.

"Agent Coulson?" Pepper asked, making the agent turn. "I just wanted to say thank you very much for all of your help."

"That's what we do. You'll be hearing from us." Coulson said.

"From the Strategic Homeland-"

"Just call us S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Right." Pepper nodded.

Then, Tony and Danny walked out behind Pepper to wait for her to give the all-clear.

"And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement, and also has some more news." Pepper said, leaving the podium open for Danny and Tony.

Danny walked up to the podium first, and looked around the crowd, slightly nervous. Tony stood right behind Danny for moral support. Danny smiled slightly then sighed. "Hello... Everyone." He said. "I'm Marcus... Marcus Stark. Tony's younger brother..." He looked around the crowd to see their reactions.

Like Tony said, the press were like piranhas. Most of the questions were of the 'How is it possible?' variety.

Danny frowned slightly. "One question at a time." He spoke through the microphone, voice loud and clear. Several people quickly rose their hands. "You." He said, pointing at a blonde in the front. "The blonde woman in the front." He said. Under his breath, he muttered, "Oh crud."

Said woman was Christine Everheart, the same woman Tony was with the day they were captured. "Christine Everheart, Vanity Fair Magazine. How is it possible? Maria and Howard Stark died years ago in a plane crash."

"She lived a little longer then what most people thought. Long enough to well, have me... She was in early pregnancy during the crash." Danny answered- lying at the last part.

"What have you been doing your whole life? How have you been hiding from the press?"

"Family friends raised me." Danny stated. Before anyone else could say something, he said. "For their safety and privacy, I'll keep their identities a secret."

"Do you plan to take over Stark Industries when you are able to?"

Danny thought about it for a second. "Yeah... But that won't be for a long time."

"What is your opinion on the direction your brother put the company in?"

Danny frowned slightly. "He stopped Stark Industries from making weapons. Sure, that made the amount of money S.I. makes drop- its bound to with a big decision like that. But, who's to say it isn't for the better? Stark Industries dropping the creation of weapons opens up doors for new things to come in. Like, technology to help us in ways other than war which causes death... Instead, we could do something much better for the world. The new plans for Stark Industries will be explained by my brother later." He looked around. "I guess we should move on to Tony now... He'd like to explain what happened last night."

Tony nodded and walked up to the podium. "Thank you, Marcus." He thanked.

"You're welcome." Danny replied, stepping away from the podium.

"Been awhile since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time." Tony tried to joke, but it landed on deaf ears. "There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop-"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, but do you honestly expect us to believe that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared, despite the fact that you-" Oh look, Everheart decided to join the party. Again.

"I know that it's confusing." Tony agreed. "It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I'm a superhero."

In the background, Danny face-palmed. Smooth Tony. Very smooth. He thought sarcastically.

"I never said you were a superhero."

"You didn't? Well, good, because that would be outlandish and... fantastic." He said. "I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public."

"Just stick to the cards." Coulson whispered.

Tony nodded, looking at the cards again. "The truth is..." He thought about it for a minute before putting them down again. Looking squarely into a camera he said, "I am Iron Man." And then he was mobbed by millions of reporters.

Danny's eyes went wide at the fact that Tony said that right into a camera. "Really Tony!?" He muttered to himself.

After finally escaping the press after an hour, Tony and Danny made their way into the house.

"I'm just saying, someone would have figured it out eventually." Tony argued. "J.A.R.V.I.S.!" He called out.

Danny's eyes narrowed, arms crossed. "Yeah, but now!? Why not let things cool down first?" He questioned.

"It just felt right." Tony replied.

"Welcome home sir..." J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice faded out, but another voice was heard.

"'I am Iron Man'. You think you're the only superhero in the world?" The voice asked.

Danny stiffened up. "You're not J.A.R.V.I.S." He said, eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

The voice ignored Danny, for the moment. "Mr. Stark, Mr. Fenton, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet."

"Who the hell are you?" Tony asked, repeating Danny's question.

"Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm here to talk to you both about the Avengers Initiative."

Danny's eyes narrowed further- having no clue what the Avengers Initiative was. Or how this person knew about him being Danny Fenton as well as Marcus Stark. "And that would be...?"

"People with special abilities, like your brother, or powers, like you."

Danny's eyes widened at the fact that this Nick Fury knew of his powers. "I- I don't know what you're talking about..." He tried to fib.

"Don't try to weasel your way out of this, Daniel." Fury said. "We already know."

"How?" Danny questioned, not sure how to feel.

"Coulson." Fury stated simply.

"He knew?" Danny questioned, surprised. "What gave it away? My eyes always changing color?"

"That, and he could tell the difference."

Rossi: Wow... 67 pages (not including Author's notes), and 19,854 words, also not counting Author's notes.

Jenny: Yeah... It's surprising. *yawns* Pretty long chapter, 'specially for us!

Rossi: Well, we still have Iron Man 2, The Avengers, and Iron Man 3 to get through before we can do our own stuff. I was thinking Sam and Tucker could be seen more in the next chapter (Iron Man 2). Tony could invite them, backstage, to the StarkExpo, and to his party, and to the race...

Jenny: Yeah... We should! They haven't even spoken to Danny yet! Poor Danny needs the help from his best friends! As a joke, maybe Sam's parents could have been trying to convince her to date a boy like 'Marcus Stark'. XD

Rossi: Yeah they did...

Jenny: *nods* Night guys.

Rossi: *Goes off to post this and then sleep* This coulda been five chapters, meaning I've filled that quota for a while. I plan to stick with this story. Also, reviews are accepted and will be replied to. Flames are not and will be ignored.