The next day
Ace was laying on the hood of a car in Tony's workshop, looking at a hologram of Anton Vanko as J.A.R.V.I.S detailed his life as well as remarking that the man with the whips was named Ivan Vanko.
Ace swayed his tail as his eyes darted around the screen, reading everything quickly. The media had dubbed Ivan as 'Whiplash' and multiple news media networks were questioning if Ironman could truly protect them in times of crises.
Ace was stunned at this, he couldn't understand why these people were complaining when there were no casualties at the Monaco race. He even made sure of it, checking the crashed cars before they left.
The drivers were injured but not dead!
So how could the people be upset with Tony?
Ace continued reading until a black man walked into the workshop, saying "Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now. Listen. I've been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door and taking these."
He walked to Tony and pointed at the suits on display, continuing "They're gonna take your suits, Tony, okay? They're sick of the games. You said nobody else would have this technology for 20 years. Well, guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday. It's not theoretical any more."
He grabbed Tony's shoulder and asked "Are you listening to me?" before pausing as he saw Tony's drained face, asking quickly "Are you okay?" Tony forced a smile and nodded in a daze "Let's go.." as he got out of the car and nearly collapsed.
The man held Tony and brought him to his desk as Ace followed them, jumping onto the desk and watching as Tony said "The cigar box. There's Palladium inside…" The man opened the box and looked at the metal thing Tony took out of his chest, asking "Should that be smoking?"
Ace looked at the thing and still didn't know what it was called, but he was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be smoking. Tony replied to the man, "If you must know. It's neutron damage. It's from the reactor wall."
Ace didn't understand at all, but he knew what reactor meant and guessed that the little metal thing was a reactor! As in a nuclear reactor?
Now he was confused, didn't Nuclear Reactors cause radiation? How could Tony still be alive with a Nuclear Reactor in his chest?
Also! Didn't Nuclear Reactors need Uranium?
Ace didn't even know what Palladium was.
The black man looked at the red chip that came out of the Reactor, asking "You had this in your body?" but Tony didn't answer him. Ace looked at the chip and scratched his ear wondering why it looked all gross and disgusting.
The man looked at Tony and put a new chip back into the Reactor before handing it back, asking "And what about the Hightech crossword puzzle on your neck?" Tony let out a breath and replied "Road rash." while putting the Reactor back into his chest and sucking in a deep breath as though he could finally breathe again.
Ace frowned inwardly as Tony drank from a bottle of Chlorophyll, asking "What are you looking at?" The man replied "I'm looking at you. You wanna do this whole gunslinger act alone and it's unnecessary. You don't have to do this alone."
Tony put down the bottle and replied "You know, I wish I could believe that. I really do. But you've gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I'm doin'." The man looked at him and hummed "Mhm…"
Tony waved and said "Now please, see you later, Rhodey." 'Rhodey' bit his nails and said "Yeah. See you tonight, Tony." before leaving.
He stopped at the door and looked back at Tony, who was drinking the Chlorophyll, before shaking his head and leaving.
Tony looked at Ace and asked "What are you looking at?" Ace tilted his head and Tony sighed, turning back to the screen muttering, "I'm talking to a cat… great." Ace just meowed at him and Tony waved him away.
A while later
Tony was getting ready for a party and Ace was laying on his bed, looking at Tony. He was standing in front of a window with a display, showing him the blood toxicity in his body was 89%. Not only that but the lines were getting worse.
Ace wondered if poison curing potions would help him, but unfortunately, he didn't have the materials or the expertise to concoct one! So Ace was kind of panicking right now.
He thought of multiple solutions, but he wasn't sure if they would work! After all, the wizarding world didn't have anything about Radiation Poisoning! He figured the last resort would be to bring Tony to the Ancient One and have her treat him. She was the smartest person Ace knew, surely she would know what to do, right?
With that thought, he calmed down and decided to focus on keeping Tony safe for the time being.
Just as he was thinking, Natalie walked in, asking "Do you know which watch you'd like to wear tonight, Mr. Stark?" Tony fixed his shirt quickly, replying "I'll give 'em a look." as Natalie started making a martini.
Tony turned around and asked "I should cancel the party, huh?" to which Natalie replied "Probably." Tony nodded, "Yeah… 'Cause it's um…" Natalie squinted, "Ill timed." Tony nodded again as she approached him with a Martini, "Right. Sends the wrong message." She handed him the drink and responded, "Inappropriate."
Tony took the glass and sipped on it as Natalie asked "Is that dirty enough for you?" Tony looked at her for a few seconds before saying "Gold face, brown band. The Jaeger. I'll give that a look." before going to sit down, adding, "Bring it over here."
Natalie brought the watch box and Tony said "I'll take that, why don't you-" before she sat down on the arm rest, starting to fix up his black eye with make-up.
Ace looked over at Tony, mainly eyeing Natalie with narrowed eyes as Tony said "I gotta say. It's hard to get a read on you. Where you from?" Natalie replied simply, "Legal." Tony fell silent for a few moments before changing the topic, "Can I ask you a hypothetical question? Bit odd."
Natalie pulled back and looked at him as he rubbed his eye with his finger, continuing "If this was your last Birthday party you were ever going to have, how would you celebrate it?" Natalie looked at him and then up for a moment before answering "I'd do whatever I wanted to do with whoever I wanted to do it with."
After which she looked into Tony's eyes before walking to the door, stopping just before she left, asking "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" Tony waved and sat up, sighing to himself as he drank the entire Martini.
Ace looked at him and meowed. Tony turned to him, asking "Who let you on the bed?" Ace rolled his eyes and left, flicking his tail behind him.