a few weeks later...

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋, 

𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐀𝐍, 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐘𝐎𝐑𝐊

ELEANOR

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Let me tell you about Tony Stark's biggest nightmares. 

Ordeal number one: Tony gets wasted now. That he senselessly decided to pour the seven years of teetotalism down the lune of his woman's back from a magnum of champagne. Not that I was complaining since, almost five years ago, I had promised to walk with him through his best and worst. But to Tony, it was never one glass of booze. After that would mean a long night alone with Jack Daniels, Johnny Walker and eventually, the good ol' shot of Tussin. 

Poignantly, with a hooded gaze, Tony used a digit to beckon the glass in my hand towards him wordlessly. A light-haired woman, Pepper Potts' second secretary, continued to bustle around him with a lint roller and fix the wrinkles in his shirt. I tried not to seem surprised as I, out of generosity, passed my glass of champagne across the smooth table to him with a gracious smile. He looked between the glass and me with amusement as he sipped it, cocking a brow. 

It was Tony's press day, the final curtain call for the next how many ever years. In another T minus one hour, the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist was going to reinstate his constant position as chairman of Stark Industries, International and Resilient. Of course, Pepper Potts would continue to oversee workflow including her role as chief executive. Along with additional news, which was kept hush-hush from me. It probably concerned stamping out his suit of armour from the titillating database of superheroes. 

'Could you give us a sec? Need to have a chit-chat with the wifey,' I heard him say to Pepper's girl Friday who nodded with an indifferent shrug and leaving the office to ourselves. 

Sunlight permeated the sky, pure diffused light; its hue ambitiously illumining each crevasse of the land. The skyscrapers that furled out near our situated building shone as if they were wearing golden crowns and when took in a breath of air, I wished for time to halt. Everyone in this building was too occupied to appreciate the persimmon atmosphere or the beams that transmitted from the golden globe as notable as any fresco. It brought about a question in my mind as Tony flanked my side near the floor-to-ceiling lattice.

'Is it sunrise or sunset?' I asked, my voice frail. 'I don't know, I've been awake for two days and I might have lost track.'

He was thoughtful before answering. 'Brand new dawn.'

'Funny,' I made a face of defeat, 'I would have bet my last coin on this being sunset.'

Tony hummed in response, shuffling closer to snake his hand around my waist. I finally laid my eyes on him, the collection of bruises which had been smeared with a thin layer of foundation and skin-camo plater slapped over his nose. It was hard to believe that I caused that. Anyone who knew me well would know I wouldn't harm a fly. Unless I was in the Iron Maiden suit.

After the atrocious incident that happened at the bay areas of Singapore, my mind had been surprisingly eased into rest. Not the eyes shut, thought-free rest. It was quite the opposite—my mind was finally able to piece together everything that had gone awry in my head.

When Madame Masque was 'burned' out of my system, Doom had confronted me about the specific turn of interferences. He had managed to clip the contact wire that retained her to me but apparently, it was too late to shut her out. And presumably, I had been the one to will her out of my system.

I couldn't remember anything from that night, only relieved that all my memories had remained intact. Only the breaking of my thoughts and obscure pain which I couldn't place the source of. Whatever that had willed me to eject Masque's traitorous thoughts out of me had been unconquerable or if not, parallel to impossible. 

Victor von Doom had departed to Doomstadt, Latveria as soon as SHIELD took Masque's soulless body in—guaranteed weird—since he was still a wanted person on their list. Doom had shaken on it with Tony, claiming that he would be there if he needed him and that they were still friends. Whereas with Strange, it remained passive-aggressive given they were both sorcerers with highly inflated egos.

On that note, I had finally gotten to meet Riri's mother, Ronnie Williams. Ronnie was a powerful woman, protective about Riri and I could judge that from the way she had swooped her travelling girl into her arms with a relieved grin. Extremely polite when I had approached her with an apology, I knew I had put her child in harm's way and there was nothing I regretted more. She had only smiled, pulling me into a warm embrace and thanking me for keeping her safe.

Whereas Riri had been ecstatic for the prospect. Tony had invited her to the future home of the Starks and the basement even had a little desk that he had promised her of. Ironheart was flourishing, the peak of the news as soon as images of her soaring over the cantilever structure of the stately hotel and dubbed her as the tomorrow of Iron Man. The statement that Tony would give would delve into the specifics of the event.

'So forty-eight of hours of nought shut-eye,' Tony mused, a hand reaching out to level out the thick fringe over my forehead. 'I assume I'm rubbing off you rashly.'

I craned my neck to disallow his contact with my hair, smirking. 'I've always had trouble sleeping.'

'Agreed,' he said, smiling lightly with an air of mischief. 'How about I take you to bed right now?'

I thinned my eyes in a dare. 'You can only try.'

'Challenge accepted,' he tucked his tongue in cheek, leaning closer to hit his shot. 'Did you know I fixed a space shuttle, in space?'

'Two years ago, yes,' I nodded, recollecting the moment. 

Tony had filmed the view from the armour's documentation, playing it out for Margo's pleasure on the big screen. Margo Stark wanted her father to build this space-worthy stuff for them. He was all for this, knowing it would be a lot better than to overlay the belly of the spacecraft with nonconductor terrazzo. So if privatization of space-travel was possible, he would do it.

His immobilizing gaze turned playful. 'Did it work?'

'You don't need to impress me anymore,' I laughed. 'A decade earlier, that line would've worked wonders.'

'Yeah, yet all it took was cheap wine and lace thongs,' he snickered making me gasp in horror. We had sworn an oath to never bring up that god horrid night and that the secret would die with us. The sudden involvement made me thwack his shoulder in humiliation.

'Dickhead,' I hissed, crimson starting to coat my cheeks. 'I assure your expected day job as a family man is going to play hell on your sex life.'

Ordeal number two: Somewhere, somehow, the Iron Man becomes cheap because of his future oversight. That it would become readily and affordably replicable. This nightmare had come true and in the form of Zeke Stane himself. Once upon a time, someone had stolen his designs and tech to sell it in the inner cities. Although this was retro-tech, it had the capability of destroying lives and towns, in some cases. This was exponentially different since he had faced this fear, overcome it and locked it in a cell, five-hundred feet down in the Atlantic Ocean. 

'Take it from me, Elle. Tony's definitely having an affair.'

The Colonel meekly sneaked into the office with an air of mischief around his primly, dark-uniformed stature, retrieving the peaked United States badge cap off his head while looking to cause trouble. The darker, bruised skin under Rhodey's eye was left unconcealed which again, was brandished by my mind-controlled doing. I couldn't help but frown.

'I called it,' Rhodey said merrily, tossing the cap on the desk and leaning onto it. 'Hogan owes me a fifty. And I get custody of Mags because both of you are tipplers.'

'It's actually quite the opposite, Rhodey,' I said, hiding a smile. 'I have been considering one.'

'Wait, seriously?' Rhodey burst out into guffaws. 'I will be raising a glass to this.'

'No one's screwing anyone outside their own kin and no one's on the rocks,' Tony composed out with a glare strained on the colonel. 'See what happens when you and Happy gamble with my sensuality?'

Rhodey continued to scoff to Tony's evident displeasure. 'Bitch, please. You'd bone anything with a skirt.'

'Wow, okay,' Tony rubbed his eyes while shooting me a stern, ashamed grimace. 'That's why he's my best friend. Totally unimpressed by my power.'

'But that was before Tony put a ring on my finger and became a father,' I told Rhodey, standing up for a provoked Tony and placing a warm hand over his shoulder. 'Right, honey?'

'Yeah,' Rhodey added, blinking innocently like a child. 'Right, honey?'

'I will either politely ask you to leave or blast you in the nuts. Your choice,' Tony said, his dark eyes narrowing in a futile attempt to threaten Rhodey. He only waved him off with a non-committal grunt, walking around the daunting desk to find himself something to drink. I turned my attention back on Tony, grinning lightly.

'I thought I'd have to charge in the Maiden for that one.'

Ordeal number three: someone other than Tony, Rhodey and I started to pilot the armour. That spun directly out of his second nightmare. This was unmistakably thrilling since he nearly got demolished and lost his mind trying to save himself from getting killed by his own suit. Norman Osborn had tried in vain to destroy Tony's indomitable will to save the world but in the end, all of it terminated in mere clicks of trices. He ascended from oblivion, being twice the man the world thought to be and dodged the bullet of death.

The door to the office flew open without notice, a small grunt leaving the person on the other side. Chestnut ringlets of hair came into sight, blowing past her shoulders as she pushed the door shut behind her and light eyes falling on us. They were blue, wild and excited for a chase.

'Happy's after me so,' she placed a finger to her lips as she shushed us. 'I've got to hide.'

Margaret alias Margo Stark was a snapshot out of time. She saw excitement and possibilities in the modish, superhero-infested world; I saw difficulty and danger. In that dark shirt and dungarees, she could have been anyone or no one at all. It would not have bothered me the least because to me, she had become the world itself and there was simply nothing I wouldn't do to keep her from harm. The moment I heard her tympanic beats from within me five years ago, I had fallen in love twice over.

'My pocket's empty,' Tony performed the action of making room on the inside pockets of his black blazer and showed it to her. 'Hop right in, shortstop.'

Margo rolled her eyes, grinning nevertheless. She made her way to me first, her hands raised in a carry me gesture which I accepted with open arms. Lifting up over my arm, she looped her arms around my neck with a sigh. 

'How much longer do we have to wait?' She moaned, placing chin over my shoulder. Her brows creased with boredom, a yawn leaving her lips. I couldn't blame her, it was seven-thirty on a Sunday and she was trapped in a place she barely even knew. I clucked my tongue in playful sympathy.

'This is all on Daddy, all right?'

'It so is not,' Tony piped up as soon as his name was invoked. A small frown was painted on his face regardless of the smile. 'This is on society and the pantomaths in it.'

'Kinda sounds like a world you would love,' Rhodey said, a wry smirk on his lips. Tony folded his hands behind his back and it didn't take a genius to know that he had flipped him the discrete bird. Right after, Margo was snatched from my arms who had happily leapt into her father's. 

'Your mom's being a pretentious turd and refusing to give me a kiss,' he complained as he shifted her weight briefly. Margo, hesitant to comply, turned her head with a shut of her eyes and showed him her cheek. He grinned with delight, pressing a warm kiss, taking it too far, and continuing to pepper tiny pecks wherever possible.

'Ew, ew, ew,' she groaned between the onslaught of kisses. 'Ma, take me back please.'

'Mhmm,' I said indifferently, looking down at the near null notification on the screen of my phone. I felt her hand reach out to my shoulder, trying to escape Tony's loving assault. I scrunched my nose at her.

'I think it's rather cute.'

'It's sloppy, wet and unnecessary,' she grumbled, placing a hand to smother his face. 

'Is Riri downstairs?'

'Mrs Williams is,' Rhodey input instead with a shrug, rolling the flute of champagne in his hand. Margo nodded at me, fussing as she pushed Tony's puckered face away with a harsh hand. 

'Riri's hiding from Happy, too.'

'Alright, you are going to go out, find Happy and head down to the green room. Understood?' I ordered her and she immediately obeyed with a small whine about having the fun sucked out of everything.  

'Margo,' I said sternly.

'Find Happy and follow him, got it,' she said, her feet hit the ground running and somehow, finding the energy to push the massive two-fold doors aside, vanishing behind them. 

My phone burped a text from Cal Quinn, saying she was heading upstairs to bring Tony down to begin the press meet. It had been a long time since I had gotten to meet the fiery blonde of my ex-assistant.

'It's time,' I let out a soft sigh, facing the man of the hour with a small smile. I saw him bloat his cheeks before blowing out a puff and drawing in a small gasp of air. His head was already swarmed with possibilities, I could tell from the way he chewed his cheeks, not believing my eyes. Was the Tony Stark anxious for a press interview?

'Worried?' I murmured softly, sending my hand past his cheek and into his flawlessly gelled hair. Either someone had dumped the container over his head or this was all his doing. I continued to run my hand through it, my hands coming back icky. I stifled a dry-heave. Meanwhile, Tony couldn't be bothered and his face tightened with a rigid grimace.

'Actually, a little,' he answered after a beat, his head moving to the direction I tugged. 'This isn't my first rodeo.'

'Hey,' I murmured and he looked at me. Dark eyes doubting and dewy with hesitation. 'Are you happy?'

He blinked as if no one had ever asked him that question before. I could believe no one had. They considered him happy due to his lavish upbringing and loving that he had got from the world.

'Right now,' I added. 'Are you?'

He hummed under his breath, taking my left hand in his to cast the ring that bound us together, a soft glance. A smile took over his features when he nodded.

'Yeah,' he said, taking in a deep breath. 'I am. Thank you.'

'What for?'

'For staying,' he tilted his head. 'If you would have left with Margo all those years ago, I wouldn't be here. Ready to conclude the impossible.'

'You can't conclude something that is perpetual, love. You live to see it grow.'

He shook his head, biting his lip to force down a smile. 'Fair enough.'

Easy to say, I was dumbfounded and finding it hard to give out a reply. His eyes were desperately searching mine and waiting for me to add something witty along with it. I only kissed him softly one last time before taking Rhodey's side as he walked out of the door. 

'Elle,' he called out. Turning around, I raised a brow. 'Have I ever mentioned I love you?'

I half-laughed. 'No. Not right now, Tony.'

'Well, I do,' he grinned with a wink, 'always will.'

All the while, his gaze was gleaming yet lost for words, straying on our backs until the doors slammed behind us.

Ordeal number four: Tony would be incapable of rewriting his pained legacy. That despite severing his family's hereditary purpose of being warmongers, he would be unable to make up for the countless times he had taken advantage, disrespected the people who cared about him and wreaking complicated controversies in the world. 

Every moment since that day in the cave, he had been trying to do just that. He knew we were as accountable for our history as we were for our tomorrow. And he wanted to change that, no matter how difficult it was. He has worked for days to improve his trajectory, move from the arrogance and bring about changes to the critical person he had been.

Hence, Margo. Being a great innovator and striving to find a solution to everything, a valve to his nerve and keeping himself from swinging too far in retrograde. He knew legacies could be prospective, and he would try his best to secure the limits that have been placed: his role as a father. The most tangible form of his quest to rewriting accounts.

∞

'I hope you all enjoyed the complimentary sandwiches, courtesy of moi. Stomach all of that appetizer for the main course. Two things I'd like to bring into the limelight today. First things first, the word's out there that my wife, Elle Stark, was involved in the blackout conflicts that transpired in Singapore. Well, let me tell you...'

The paragons of every slant of unrestricted life were being persuaded, curved to the predominant fetish of the times - how to make the most money. Because journalism wasn't journalism anymore, it was a shit show. They only thrived of rigour, the worst of the worst since ratings meant money. Righteousness was for the fallen, victors were the people who bite the bullet. So for the worse, Tony was about to give them what they wanted and call it a day. 

I bit on my nails as I watched the television screen in front of me with a placid tension in my bones. I was in another green room, beside the conference hall, Pepper Potts knowing better than to have the root of the situation between the hordes of consumers without an off-switch. The pertinent redhead stood beside me, resting a hand over her neck as if relieving herself of a crick. Or in this case, Tony.

Margo sat in the one-seater sofa behind us, just like the lot, watching the screen with a fascination. Her father was going to reach new heights of unpredictability and she was going to laugh. 

'...you're damn right.' 

Pepper sighed out loud from beside me. 'Why do I even bother?'

Words left me, my jaw dropping open from between my thumb. My mind failed to remember the countermeasures after being dumbfounded, but they were the same. The inability to compute any sort of thoughts. The Iron Maiden was supposed to be waved off as a ghost story, the mantle that was taken up when the Iron Man was facing a crisis. She had gone to dust once more superheroes bled into the picture but now with Tony's rearing, she was ready to soar once again.

Shortly after the reveal, a flurry of 'Mr Stark!' and 'sir!'s spurted through the effervescent crowd, eager to know the meaning behind his cryptic statement. Rhodey was quick to take over the mic, requesting the press corps to hold down the question until the end. Not without shooting a glare at Tony, he passed the podium back to him. 

'What I meant is, yes. Mrs Stark was associated with her anomalous lackey, the Iron Maiden who, as a matter of fact, has been manifested in the superhuman registry,' he cleared his throat, 'and saved the lives of billions at stake. If anything, I would like to pride myself in saying that she successfully lived up to her degree as an Avenger. And that also, she was not alone at the time of frictions.'

'For the love of God,' I managed to whisper out, 'that's why he called Riri and Mrs Williams here.'

Pepper was wide-eyed as she gripped my elbow tightly, gaze peeled to the television. 'You don't think he's going to—'

'I think he is.'

'I will not be treating any other remarks that involve the pair of hands that assisted her on this mission. The name's Ironheart and the suit is a brazen, reverse-engineering in the function design of my own armour. Small-time hero and now, a substantial persona in my forthcoming outlines. Although the orders will remain anonymous,' he was apparently vexed as he finished out, 'due to discretions.'

'Oh wow,' Pepper said, in obvious awe. 'He stuck to the cards.'

'Secondly, this is going to come off as a bigger surprise I truly hope and the media circus drives me crazy,' he paused, giving the reporters time to chuckle it out before he dropped the bomb. 

'Nobody's pregnant,' he laughed. 'Sadly, Mrs Stark is not ready to take on baby number two just yet. The word's out there, it's only time before we decide to really take on the challenge of parenting again and maybe, doing it right this time.' The rustle of laughter went through the crowd again and he shook his head. 'Moving on.'

'I have resigned as Iron Man, active directly, to take some time for myself and take custody of the things I need to converge on. Which means, trying to do right with my privilege as a father, husband, friend and so on. I've dedicated so much of my time to save the world that I now ask for your understanding as I save my relationship with the people I care about.'

Between his announcement, the reporters had swarmed up with a hodgepodge of aghast murmurs and their recorders waving closer to the podiums as heads bobbed faster to yell out his name. Elongated mics were raised higher and cameras snapped faster, catching every expression in his face as he declared his right. They got nothing but peace, a content smile on his face as he bathed in the attention for the last time in a while. 

From out of nowhere, I felt a small hand coil between mine. Margo was in shock, too. Her lips were rounded to a perfect O until I tangled my finger with hers. A soft smile twisted on her lips. If only she knew, that this was solely for her and because of her. 

'Come on, folks. No need to scratch your heads. You had this coming for a while now. Iron Man may be invincible but I am not,' he laughed out, waving his hands at them to settle down. They did. 'According to a man named Yinsen, not anything I've never been a zealot about, legacy is marked by something yielded or left behind by an antecedent. They stay behind even after you're gone, and can be warped and twisted as you like it. Well, mine is, you know, divisive. Nothing condensed and certainly will be endless.' 

A beat of silence passed between the crowd, some really stopping the writing and photo-taking to listen to him carefully. Tony's eyes were unfocused from the crowd, staring ahead and delivering candidly.

'I'm not saying I'm done with the hero gig—god no, I never will be—but I got my first taste of fatherhood and, to be honest, I'm getting a kick out of it. The whole cheer-at-her-first-soccer-game and make-lemonade-for-her-yard-sale; gotta say, it's not as boring as it sounds. I never thought my best creations would be superseded by a tiny human who made me realize how much more I have to live for in this world. And that sometimes, you have got to make,' he sucked in a breath, 'sacrifices for your kids.'

'And there are other times, that I look at this little girl I can call mine, and I wonder which is the real me... this illustrious metal skin I've created—or the frail thing of flesh that wears it. I've been killing myself for years, believing in the notion of total salvation. That's not news. But I am going to stop. Settle for the people that are starting to depend on me. Don't make me out to be a saint just yet, still the same old genius on a mission.'

How could I be mad at Tony? This was his moment. All I ever wanted for him was to cease it. He was doing just that and it would be an offence to stand in the way of his significance. He was making a sacrifice, not a neutralising move but something that would help Margo grow in a world of newness.

'I don't know about you but this has come to be my finest hour,' he shrugged simply. 'I am in love with the fact that I can unwind knowing that the world is in the hands of these future heroes. I am leaving behind everything I have heralded myself in creating or helped design and including the Ironheart. Accompanying with Stark Industries, International and Resilient, Stark Unlimited is expanding up by Christmastime. Basically a think tank for future tech. Surprise, surprise—my greatest trouble and strife, Elle, will be looking to the progress with Miss Potts. Yeah, you're very welcome, MIT.'

'And also,' he laughed airily before speaking again, 'Elle, especially, wanted to keep our private life the way it has to be. Consequently, we are trying to keep Margo under the radar too. I mean the kid's going to first grade next year, can you believe it?' He looked to Rhodey with a wide-eyed shrug. 'And yes, my daughter is... gifted.  I understand some of you might think that it might be wrongful to enrol an exceptional learner into a public school but this entirely Margaret's choice and I would not have it any other way. She's still a kid and moreover, she's my kid. She'll fit right in.'

Margo looked up at me when I shot her a curt, bewildered glance. 'I thought it would be fun.'

Another round of chatter went through the conference, my daughter's excited squeal being one of them. Pepper was grinning, linking an arm with mine to wink at me. I was obviously still in awe, biting down on my lip to hold back a wide-eyed laugh.

'For formalities sake, I'd like to end this by saying thank you for respecting my privacy during this time. Things are about to get really bright and I can guarantee that,' he said, granting them a wry smile as she reached for the hoops of his belt to draw out a pair of purple-hued shades. His eyes were steady, confident and sure of the future as he slid them on.

'I always will be and still am, Iron Man.'

Let me tell you about Tony Stark's biggest dreams. 

∞

[  WOW, WOW, WOW. never thought I would end it like THAT but boy, am I  l i v i n g. this chapter was so meticulous to write, to capture those climactic emotions going through everyone. i hope i have done justice to the speech Tony gives because this is the crux of his character :) all right, that's that, i'll see you in the epilogue!  ]

edited!