Ace was left on the table, eating a doughnut and drinking his milk. The man looked at Ace and asked "Cats can't eat doughnuts, right?" Tony said to him, "I told you, I don't want to join your super-secret boyband."
The man turned to him and chuckled "No, no, no. See, I remember, you do everything yourself. How's that working out for you?" Tony grabbed a coffee cup, saying "It's-It's-It's-" before changing the topic, "I'm sorry. I don't want to get off on the wrong foot. Do I look at the patch or the eye? Honestly, I'm a bit hungover. I'm not sure if you're real or-"
The eyepatch man leaned over and said "I am VERY real. I'm the realest person you're ever gonna meet." Tony licked his lips and said "Just my luck. Where's the staff here?" The man reached out and pulled on the under armor on Tony's neck, saying "That's not looking so good."
Tony replied "Been worse." as someone walked over, saying "We've secured the perimeter, but I don't think we should hold it for too much longer."
Ace and Tony turned to see Natalie in a combat uniform. Ace froze and got a gut wrenching feeling of disgust, hissing at her angrily. Tony tapped his head, as he looked at Natalie saying "You're… fired…"
Natalie replied "That's not up to you." as she sat down.
Ace's tail was standing up and he bared his fangs, hissing at Natalie. Tony looked at him and knocked on his head, saying "What's wrong with you, calm down." Ace glared at Natalie, turning his head away from her and laying on the table.
Natalie looked at him before the man with the eyepatch said "Tony, forget the cat. I want you to meet Agent Romanoff." Tony rubbed his temples, saying "Hi." as Agent Romanoff said "I'm a Shield Shadow. Once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury."
Tony looked at her and said "I… suggest you apologize." before pausing and adding, "To me and my cat." Director Fury leaned on the table, saying "You've been very busy." as he ignored Tony's words, continuing "You made your girl your CEO, you're giving away all your stuff. You let your friend fly away with your suit! Now, if i didn't know better-"
Tony interrupted him, saying "You don't know better. I didn't give it to him. He took it." Director Fury leaned back and waved his hands sarcastically, replying "Woah, woah, woah. He took it? You're Iron Man and he just took it?! The little brother walked in there, kicked your ass, and took your suit?"
He turned to Agent Romanoff and asked "Is that possible?" to which Agent Romanoff replied, "Well, according to Mr. Stark's database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage." Director Fury turned to Tony and waved his hands to his side, giving him a look.
Tony snorted and asked "What do you want from me?" neither agreeing, nor denying, the claims. Director Fury repeated "What do we want from you??" before shaking his head and saying "Nuhuhuh. What do YOU want from ME?!" as he pointed at Tony.
Agent Romanoff got up and walked away as Director Fury continued, "YOU have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with! Contrary to your belief, YOU are not the center of MY universe! I have bigger problems to deal with in the southwest region!" He snapped and said "Hit him."
Agent Romanoff came over with a syringe and went for Tony's neck, but Ace slapped her hand away with his paw, hissing. Tony shook his head and leaned back, frowning "What are you doing?" Director Fury snorted, saying "Trying to solve YOUR problem."
Agent Romanoff looked at Ace before turning to Tony saying "It's Lithium Dioxide, it's only a stop-gap measure. It'll give you more time to figure things out." as she held the needle.
Ace stood up but Tony held him, saying "Figure things out, I've been trying, believe me." as Agent Romanoff gave him the shot. The poison veins receded from his neck and Ace glared at her, laying back down as Director Fury explained "Obviously not hard enough!"
Tony leaned in and explained "I've been looking for a suitable replacement for Palladium. I've tried every combination, every permutation of every known element." Director Fury looked at him and replied "Well, I'm here to tell you that you haven't tried them all."
Tony looked at him and snorted gently, sipping on his coffee. Director Fury looked at Ace and said "Let's go back to your place, I have to talk to you about something you might be interested in."
Tony looked at him and grabbed Ace before leaving, "You know where I live." before flying off.
A while later
Tony was talking to Fury as Ace laid on the broken sofa, thinking about Agent Romanoff.
He felt like he should've known before now that she was an agent. Ace had something of a hatred for agents, or rather maybe a little bit of trauma. He didn't know how to explain it but agents made his stomach turn a little bit.
Especially Agents like Romanoff…
Ace just wasn't feeling so good at the moment.
The time passed like this as Tony took Ace with him and started playing tapes from a box of his father's belongings.
Ace laid on the ground and watched the tapes as Tony wrote down notes from the books he received.
Just when he was about to give up, the video continued playing.
"Tony."
Tony paused and turned to the screen as Howard continued talking, "You're too young to understand this right now, so I thought I would put it on film for you. I built this for you." As he waved to the model of the Stark Expo, continuing "And someday you'll realize that it represents a whole lot more than just people's inventions… It represents my life's work."
He paused for a moment before continuing "This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time. But one day, you'll figure this out. And when you do, you will change the world. What is, and always will be, my greatest creation… is you."
The video cut off and Tony stared at the screen with watery eyes in complete silence. Ace looked at the screen before looking at the ground.
He wondered what his father was like.
Tony wiped his eyes before picking up Ace and leaving the mansion.