After the solemn mood, everyone turned to see that the dark screen had lit up after Toni Stark's declaration.

3 MONTHS LATER is printed on the screen before it reveals Toni Stark in a bulky, almost-complete version of the Iron Man armor while Yinsen was helping place pieces of the armor onto her body.

Shuri's eyes widened as she took in the design and she turned to face Tony Stark and asked, "You only made that in a cave?"

Harley hearing the emphasis on 'that', narrowed his eyes at the girl because princess or not, no one gets to disrespect his Mechanic except for him.

Seeing Harley about to stand up, Tony placed his hand on his kid's shoulder and pushed him back into his seat.

"I did indeed, Princess," Tony replied with a paparazzi smile.

Shuri raised her eyebrow, "I'm impressed. And I don't say that to a lot of people, Dr. Stark."

Tony's smile became more genuine when he replied, "Well get ready to cringe, Princess. It'll take a few more years before I get to the better versions of my suit."

Shuri grinned in return, a gleam in her eyes.

"I still believe you to be a woman destined to either rule the world or destroy Dr. Stark," Yinsen said once his eyes met the blue shine of the arc reactor.

"Do you guys also have a secret world domination plan?" Penny asked as she turned to Rhodey and Pepper. 

Pepper raised an eyebrow, elegantly, "Are you implying you haven't finished yours?"

Rhodey only chuckled, "Is your mother also excluded from the process like our Tony is?"

Penny only smiled at the pair.

Toni chuckled, "Dr. Yinsen, only time will tell what my purpose in this world will be after I escape with this suit."

A murderer, Wanda wanted to hiss but held her tongue after she saw the tiredness in Toni's smile.

Yinsen stopped in his task (fastening the shoulder of the armor down) and met Toni's doe brown eyes, "I only hope that you show more of your heart to the world after escaping."

Rhodey clapped a hand on Tony's shoulder and nodded to Yinsen's statement, Tony did use his heart more after Afghanistan.

After speaking, Yinsen went to return to his task but the next words of Dr. Stark had frozen him, "And what if my heart dies in the future? Do you still expect me to be kind to the world Yinsen if the world would be the one responsible for killing my family?"

Toni Stark's icy tone had frozen everyone on Team Cap's side of the room before they stared at the woman's daughter, only to find her unphased.

At the looks she received, Penny asked no one in particular, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Your mother just admitted that she'd turn supervillain if-" Rogers was cut off by Penny.

"If what?" Penny asked as she stared down at the blonde man, "Her family was taken from her? Who wouldn't, is the question you're meant to be asking, Rogers. If your family died, would you still save the world when it's the reason you lost your family? Isn't that what you did, I mean, if this is your reaction to my mother's declaration, I will love watching your reaction to the actions you committed to keeping Barnes safe?"

With that being said and Penny not wanting to listen to Rogers, she turned back to the screen to watch Yinsen's reaction.

"I believe that everyone is deserving of forgiveness and second chances, Dr. Stark," Yinsen said as he avoided Dr. Stark's gaze and quickly fastened the shoulder onto her armor.

Penny, respectfully, disagreed with the man's opinion.

There were many people she didn't give second chances to.

"Okay? Can you move?" Yinsen asked as went back into work mode.

Toni nodded, giving a show of rotating her arm as well. 

Seeing the bulky design on the screen was so nostalgic for Tony especially since it held more importance to him than his other sleek Iron Man suits.

"Okay, say it again," Yinsen instructed.

"Forty-one steps straight ahead. Then sixteen steps, that's from the door, fork right, thirty-three steps, turn right."

Rhodey tilted his head when Tony said the same words that Toni on the screen had said.

Even Pepper and Happy turned to look at Tony worriedly, but he shook off their concerns saying it was just his memory.

While Toni recited the route to the exit, Yinsen continued to place the pieces of armor onto her body.

Peter was still in awe of watching the arc reactor being made and now the first Iron Man suit.

Toni tilted her head back and made eye contact with the camera before sighing, "We are out of time, Dr. Yinsen."

Vision shivered slightly at the words that Dr. Stark had announced for some reason that he could not fathom.

And just as she spoke, the guards rushed to the door and started to pound on it, "Yinsen! Yinsen! Stark!" one yelled while others gave orders in a different language.

Tony wanted to close his eyes at what was going to happen.

"He's speaking Hungarian. I don't speak Hungarian." The stress was obvious in Yinsen's voice as he made eye contact with Toni who only continued to stare at the door with a dark light beginning to bloom in her eyes.

Yelena only looked at the dark look and smirked, those soldiers won't know what hit them.

Yinsen tried calling something back but it wasn't enough as the guards pushed the door open and in doing so they set off a bomb that the camera had zoomed in on. 

The explosion sent the soldiers flying back while Yinsen and Toni were still standing away from them.

"I did tell you that it would work, Dr. Yinsen?" Toni boasted slightly to the doctor who was still staring at the place in shock.

"My goodness," Yinsen said, once his brain started to work again, "That was quite efficient, Dr. Stark."

"I would still be concerned if it was anything less," Rhodey said in a teasing tone getting Tony to chuckle a bit but his friend's hands did not let go from their tight grip on the armrests.

"That's what I do," Toni said smiling as she tried to shrug but forgot that she was in the suit.

"Let me finish this," Yinsen muttered, hands still steady despite how his voice shook.

Toni orders, "Initialise the power sequence.", when she hears more footsteps coming in their direction.

 "She could at least be polite about it," Steve muttered.

"And what do you think you do in a mission with us Steve?" Clint asked, "Ask us nicely?"

"Okay," Yinsen turned back to the antique computer, which made Toni nearly barf the first time she saw it, readjusting his glasses. "Tell me, tell me."

"Function eleven. Tell me when you see a progress bar." She still hated the antique computer they gave her to use. "It should be up right now."

"I have it."

After this, no one could speak as they could feel the situation become tenser.

"Press control 'I'." he paused. "'I'."

"Got it."

"'I'. Enter."

"'I' and enter," Yinsen muttered.

"Come over here and button me up." Toni orders but this time with a gentle smile as she was aware that they could both hear the soldiers in the distance.

"Okay, alright," Yinsen muttered anxiously.

Tony could only watch with increasing levels of anxiety despite having to live this scene.

"They're coming!" Yinsen exclaimed as he screwed the hex bolts of the suit.

"Nothing pretty, just get it done," Toni kept her tone calm, like when she spoke to Penny during bad days at school.

"They're coming," Yinsen repeated more calmly this time.

Sam's instincts raised at that, why was the man who was so panicked before, now calm?

"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?" Toni asked, even though her voice also trembled with fear.

"We need more time..."

Tony closed his eyes at those words.

"Dr. Stark," Toni looked as Yinsen spoke again, looking so much calmer now. 

How did Tony miss this last time?

"I'm going to buy you some time."

"Dr. Yinsen," Toni's gaze was hard but that didn't take away the trembling of her voice as she stared at the man.

Yinsen just gave her a sad smile and ran towards the door.

 "Dr. Yinsen!" Toni shouted again, desperation in her tone as she didn't want to lose her friend.

When he paused, Toni thought he had listened to her.

Tony didn't dare hope, whether or not Yinsen lived in his female version's world.

 But Yinsen had only paused to pick up a gun and shot at the ceiling, a doctor to the end. 

Toni had the fleeting thought that Stephen and Christine would have liked him.

"I do," Stephen said, "Like him, that is," When Wong had turned to him in confusion.

"Yinsen..." Toni whispered, looking back at the computer. 

It was still loading.

Shuri went through a full-body shudder as she looked at the ancient technology on the screen.

Toni closed her eyes and leaned her head back, taking a few calming breaths.

A memory from Howard's mind had resurfaced and shown him his son taking calming breaths before going on stage, only increasing the similarities between Antonia and Anthony in his mind.

And when she opened them again, the progress bar hit full and the room went dark as all the power diverted to make the suit power up.

Yelena felt excitement and thrill in her as she was going to watch the famed 'Merchant of Death' in action.

Harley and Peter glanced at each other, both excited yet nervous - It was time for Iron Man to make her first appearance.

The Mark I was clunky and awkward but it still did the job, Toni thought as she punched the first guard across the dark room, scaring the others into firing blindly. 

The bullets bounced off the armor as she approached and she was able to send the terrorists flying with jerky movements.

For a suit made in a cave from scraps, it held up damn well, Okoye thought as she watched the scene progress.

Toni made her way through the cave system, throwing the terrorists around like ragdolls and when they tried to lock her behind some doors, she merely laughed and enjoyed their terrified expressions when they saw her blast open the door.

Harley and Penny also laughed with her, while Maria and Peggy enjoyed their terrified reactions.

The perspective shifts to find Yinsen lying against a sandbag pile with blood coating his shirt.

Shuri gasps, hiding her face in her brother's chest, not wanting to see the death. 

Toni found Yinsen and immediately went to his side but stopped when Yinsen called out a weak warning from where he was lying.

Thor's respect for the healer of Midgard had only increased as he watched the man continues to assist and protect Lady Antonia despite being gravely injured.

"Look out," was the warning she got from Yinsen before she came face to face with Raza holding a rocket launcher. 

Toni easily deflects the missile, and sends one of her own back, not looking back as she turned all of her attention to Yinsen.

"You should have stuck to the plan..." Toni murmured as she assessed the bullet wounds in the man's chest after she flipped up her mask to look at Yinsen better.

"This was always the plan Dr. Stark." was Yinsen's weak reply as he stopped the metal hand that applied pressure to one of his wounds.

Toni only let out a pained smile, "You're an amazing Doctor, Ho Yinsen. But you're a terrible actor."

Tony only let the guilt gnaw at his insides, of course, his female counterpart could recognize that Yinsen was never going to leave the camp alive.

"How?" Yinsen asked making Toni let out a bitter chuckle.

"When Howard Stark forces you into the limelight at the age of 4, you begin to recognize those who lie to your face and those who are honest." 

Howard placed his head in his hands as if to avoid the mistakes he had made in the past with his son.

Toni let out a pained sigh before she asked tentatively, "Your family is dead, Dr. Yinsen. Aren't they?"

Tony kept his eyes open, even though painful memories forced their way to the surface of his mind.

"And your family?"

"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now Stark."

Yinsen could only nod making Toni nod solemnly, "And now you're going to see them."

"I'm going to see them now Dr. Stark." Yinsen agreed.

Maria's heart warmed even further when the man began to comfort her child.

"It's okay. I want this," Yinsen assured. "I want this."

Toni forced her lips to quirk up on one side, "Thank you for saving me Dr. Yinsen. Thank you for helping me get home to my family."

And then Yinsen had spoken the words that still resonated deeply within Tony.

"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life, Dr. Stark." Yinsen pleaded for a dying man's final wish.

"I won't," she vowed, looking Yinsen in the eye as she clutched his hand to the best of her ability, "I won't waste it."

Yinsen gave her a small smile before his eyes closed and his expression went slack.

Everyone bowed their head in respect for the man.

Toni had closed her eyes momentarily and bowed her head in respect for Yinsen. 

When her eyes opened again, unlimited rage pooled within the once soft brown eyes. 

Despite the death of the doctor and the solemn mood it brought into the cinema, Yelena couldn't deny that her excitement had only increased at seeing the shift in Toni Stark's eyes from being soft and weak to downright predatory and murderous.

Toni Stark was a vision as she stalked out of the caves into the sunlight for the first time in three months, facing down the terrorists with their guns. 

"OK, I know it's a horrible time to say this. But can I just say, how epic that walk would've looked in an edit?" Darcy exclaims making Jane smack her forehead in despair.

For the next few minutes, the sound was full of soldiers emptying their guns of the bullets they held but none of the bullets got past the armor.

Hank Pym would die before he admitted this, but it was slightly impressive how Toni Stark created a bulletproof suit in a cave with barely any resources.

When it fell silent again, the soldiers all looked at their guns in shock before slowly looking up at the metal armor that had not been pierced with any bullets in fear.

"My turn," Is what Tony was expecting the woman to say as he had but she didn't.

No one in the cinema expected her to start speaking Arabic. 

Especially not the soldiers who looked like they were ready to pass out from the words Toni Stark spoke.

(I used Google Translate)

كنت لطيفا. كنت لطفاء جدا معكم أيها الجنود. حتى عندما كنت تسخر مني وتشاهدني بازدراء واشمئزاز في عينيك المتحيزة جنسياً خلال الأشهر الثلاثة الماضية. لكنك الآن ذهبت بعيداً. لقد أخذت حياة هذا الرجل. لقد أودت بحياة طبيب. الرجل ذاته الذي كرس حياته لمساعدة الناس وقد أوصلته للتو إلى باب الموت.

هل أردت مقابلة تاجر الموت؟ حسنًا ، الآن لديك.

kunt latifa. kunt lutafa' jidana maeakum 'ayuha aljunudi. hataa eindama kunt taskhar miniy watushahiduni biaizdira' washmizaz fi eaynayk almutahayizat jnsyaan khilal al'ashhur althalathat almadiati. lakinak alan dhahabat beydaan. laqad 'akhadhat hayaat hadha alrajulu. laqad 'awdat bihayaat tabib. alrajul dhatih aladhi karas hayaatah limusaeadat alnaas waqad 'awsalath liltawi 'iilaa bab almawti.

hal 'aradt muqabalat tajir almawti? hsnan , alan lidayka.

The subtitles on the screen read: "I was kind. I was very kind to you soldiers. Even when you've been mocking me and leering at me with disdain and disgust in your sexist eyes for the past three months. But now you've gone too far. You took this man's life. You've taken the life of a doctor. The very man who dedicated his own life to helping people and you've just delivered him to Death's door."

A pause as Toni Stark looks at all the soldiers who surround her and this time her tone becomes darker.

"You wanted to meet the Merchant of Death? Well, now you have her."

From the shadows of the room, Morgan looked at the fear on everyone's faces and nodded her head in agreement with the conclusion she made in her mind - These people would never survive if they met a Toni/y Stark that had turned evil.

Wanda Maximoff only sat frozen in her seat at the woman on the screen, praying that the other version of her is alive after encountering Toni Stark.

Tony Stark looked at the angry look on Toni's and the way her voice became darker and decided that he would one day take over the world because he would look hot even if he was evil.

And that was all the warning that anyone got before Toni Stark activated the flamethrowers on the suit and obliterated them all, setting fire to crates upon crates of weapons and showing no signs of stopping until the entire camp was ablaze.

Peggy Carter looked at the scene on the screen with pride written all over her first and couldn't help herself.

She stood up and began to whistle, "That's my Godchild!"

Daniel Sousa-Carter didn't even stop his wife, he stood up and began to clap with her.

And then the entire side of Team Iron Man was standing up, cheering and clapping for the woman on the screen, especially Tony who was probably the loudest as he felt like an older sibling to the young woman on the screen.

The cheering in the cinema only became more thunderous when Toni Stark activated the jets within the suit and began to fly with the camp burning down below her with the imminent explosion of the weapons that Bakar and the soldiers had had. 

Bucky couldn't believe his eyes and even rubbed them to check he wasn't hallucinating.

"Howard, your kid made a flyin' suit in a cave but you can't make a flying car in a fully equipped lab?" The words left his mouth - in a Brooklyn drawl instead of the normal Russian tone that he had associated with himself most days - and Bucky froze but relaxed when Maria had laughed at the blush coating her husband's face.

When he made eye contact with Tony Stark, his hands itched for a weapon to defend himself against the dark look on the billionaire's face.

But when he heard his mother laugh, Stark's face relaxed and had even given Bucky a small smile of gratitude before turning around to answer the princess's questions on whether he had also made a flying suit in a cave.

Sam clapped a hand on Bucky's shoulder and asked, "How's it going?"

Bucky shrugged, "It's going." making Sam chuckle.

Yelena was shaking Natasha like she was a snow globe, "How could you not tell me that you worked with a genius person with a flying suit? A flying suit, Natalia!"

Natasha tried not to groan but internally she was smiling at the way Yelena was acting around her.

Peter clicked a photo of the screen - the IronMan suit flying up as explosions began to set off in the background- and made it his wallpaper.

"Best. Day. Ever." He whispered to himself.

Once the cinema had calmed down, the screen showed the Iron Man suit flying around in the sky away from the camp.

But suddenly, the blasters were cut off -from the lack of power left in the suit- and Toni stumbled for a few moments before tilting vertically down and plummeting towards the Earth.

Rhodey gripped Tony's shoulder, all the excitement from before leaving his body and being replaced with the fear of watching his brother fall the same way he had done.

Tony also gripped Rhodey's shoulder as unwanted memories of Rhodey falling were starting to fill his mind.

Howard leaped forward as if wanting to catch Antonia, the same way he had done with Anthony when his son was a toddler learning to walk.

Maria had to hold both herself and her husband back as she watched her child plummet to the ground.

Toni groans painfully when her face slams into a dune. 

Tony winced, the landing was painful.

The suit had been scattered around her, thankfully taking most of the force, Toni noticed when she sat up and looked around.

The billionaire had struggled for a few moments with the wires around her arms, before she released one arm and tears off the mask from her face, revealing a bruised Toni Stark who was bleeding from a deep cut on her forehead.

She sat there for a few minutes looking up at the sky and let out a disbelieving chuckle as she realized she was free. 

Toni lifted her hand in the air and shouted in delight to no one in particular, "Toni Stark is free!"

The people in the cinema couldn't help but respond to her cheer by applauding for the woman who had been kidnapped for three months and instead of following the soldiers' commands, had built a suit and escaped.

"Not bad," Tony said, as he echoed himself from the past, looking at the woman he's declared his little sister mentally.

The screen went dark again before it revealed a ragged Toni Stark who walked through the desert with ripped, muddy clothes, a jacket on top of her head to protect her from the heat wave, and her bare arms showing the wounds and burns of the torture she had endured.

3 DAYS LATER was printed on the corner of the screen.

"Three days?!" Pepper gasped as she turned to face Tony who only grabbed her hand and stroked it.

"I'm ok now, Pep. And even if, it was worth the wait when I say my beautiful Honeybear's face." Tony finished his sentence off with a wink to Rhodey.

Breathing heavily, Toni attempts to climb a dune but her foot caught into the sand and caused her to stumble a few steps before she falls onto her knees.

Maria's heart only clenches in pain at seeing her child in so much pain.

Before Toni could try and stand up again, the familiar sound of helicopter blades began to fill the air.

Everyone, who knows what had happened in Tony's timeline, passed grateful smiles to Rhodey.

Toni lifts her head at the sound and tries to get the helicopter's attention by waving her arms wildly, knowing that her voice is of no use.

The first helicopter lands a few miles away from her and Toni could see several soldiers dressed in desert camouflage dropping out of the helicopter's side door and beginning to trudge their way across the sand to her, but it wasn't until the lead soldier began to run towards her that Toni finally let out a sob of relief and collapsed fully onto her knees.

"Rhodey!" she gasped out loud. "Rhodey! Oh, god..."

"Toni!" was breathlessly shouted in return, as the soldier scrambled up the last dune to reach her. "Tones! Oh my god, Toni!" 

Colonel James Rhodes slid to his knees in front of Toni and went to place his hands on her face but stopped at seeing the dried blood clinging to her skin and the bruises on her arms.

"Oh, Uncle Rhodes," Penny murmured in sympathy knowing what he must have been thinking at that moment.

Rhodey then tries to break the solemn moment with a call back to Toni's early quip. "How was the funvee?" he asks, and it makes Toni laugh despite the situation.

"Shut up and hold me Platypus so I know that you're not a hallucination." came Toni's hoarse reply.

Rhodey doesn't need to be asked twice as he practically envelops Toni in his arms.

Edwin Jarvis smiled, glad to have been proved right, that Colonel Rhodes was indeed a good friend for his Master Anthony.

"Next time you ride with me, okay," Rhodey whispers into her ear, making Toni let go of him to properly look at him.

Tony hadn't noticed how much of a strain the entire thing had been on Rhodey last time. 

Now he could see it in the man's posture, in the bags under his eyes, and in the relief in his expression. 

"Yeah," Toni managed to get out. "Sticking with you next time Rhodey and every other time we do this thing again. So, same time next year? Can you bring the drinks?" Toni's rambling was cut off when the colonel just pulled her back into a tight hug.

Tony and Rhodey laced fingers and didn't let go of each other's hands.

"Don't you ever do that to me again Toni," he whispered, traces of desperation clinging to his words.

"You're right, Platypus. We shouldn't do this again." Toni let herself lean on her oldest friend, just for a moment before reality came crawling back in and she had to face what had happened in the past three months.

Maria Stark was growing restless, she wanted to know which bastard had placed her children through three months of torture.

After a few more minutes, Rhodey stood up and bent down to carry Toni's bridal style.

"Colonel, I'll have you know that I am a married woman," Tony teasingly said as he bat his eyelashes at Tony.

"Relax brat, I'm only carrying you because you have chicken legs."

Peter's, Harley's, and Shuri's laughs at that comment weren't enough to drown out Tony Stark's shriek, "CHICKEN LEGS?!"

Normally, Toni would've made a joke about her being a married woman to Rhodey when he carried her. 

"Twins," Peter whispered conspiringly as Mrs. Strange nee Stark had said that same thing as Mr. Stark.

Harley whacked him on the back of his head and said, "Dude, they're versions of each other."

But as she rested her head on his chest, all she could think about was who was responsible for putting her in that cave and depriving her of being with her family these past three months. 

And how much they would suffer for it.

Maria Stark grinned darkly in anticipation of what her daughter will do to the ones who had set her up for torture.

The scene shifts to show Toni sitting in the helicopter with Rhodey by her side watching her as she drinks the water that had been given to her by the two-person team of medics also in the helicopter.

When Tony had been rescued, he'd put up a massive fight about getting medical care, scared out of his mind that they'd do something to the arc reactor. 

He wondered how Toni would react.

"People in the helicopter," she started after she'd finished drinking from her bottle of water.

Toni waited until everyone's attention was fully on her before continuing, "I am going to be telling you all something very confidential which means after I've said it, you need to sign a couple of NDA's so you won't repeat what has been said in this helicopter to anyone."

Pepper went to ask but Tony stopped her, already knowing her question, "I didn't say anything to anyone, Pep. I'm in the dark as much as you are."

When they all nodded, except the person who was flying the plane, Toni took started to unbutton her shirt.

Darcy purred at the sight of Toni Stark practically stripping on the screen, "Mommy just got Mommier,"

Penny only turned her head to look at Darcy incredulously.

"Before anyone screams, and I'm looking at you Rhodey," The screen showed Rhodey slowly closing his mouth but his eyes stared with horror at the arc reactor.

"Good, at least someone is treating that thing like the horror it is," Ana Jarvis muttered, even though she clutched onto Edwin's arm like it was the only thing keeping her from passing out at seeing the scar marks on Antonia's chest.

"This is not a bomb. I repeat, not a bomb."

"Then what is it, Toni?" Rhodey commanded quietly even though his look of horror melted into a worried gaze.

"It's an electro-magnet that's keeping shrapnel from entering my heart."

Tony whistled lowly, "Way to rip off the band-aid, female-me."

The medic nearby choked silently while the other medic fainted and Rhodey - her brother- stared at Toni in a mixture of horror, concern, and panic. "Tones-"

"I'll tell you the full story, I promise. But I need you to not let anyone mess with it. I mean it Rhodey." Toni held Rhodey's gaze when he lifted his head at hearing Toni's serious tone.

"I built this thing in a cave with whatever I could get my hands on and currently, it's the only thing keeping me alive. And if anyone, even the medics, does one thing wrong, they could break it and I'd be dead within minutes." Toni held his gaze, trying to convey how serious she was about this. 

Howard, while proud of his child for making the project his wife and himself had dreamt about, was close to a panic attack if his child didn't get to a lab instantly and improve the arc reactor.

Rhodey's expression hardened (into a look that Toni had dubbed over time 'Overprotective Rhodeybear') and he gave a sharp nod. 

"Apart from the NDAs, how else are you keeping the people away from the thing?" Toni's Rhodey asked, all business-like and professional.

"That 'thing' as you've so horribly dubbed it, is called an arc reactor." Tony sniffed as he turned his nose upwards.

"Relax, you pureblood," Rhodey countered back making Tony put his hand near Rhode's face.

"Talk to the hand, you half-blood."

"Using a muggle-born term, Mr. Stark?" Pepper asked with a raised eyebrow and only burst out laughing at Tony's mock horror face.

Toni's lips quirked. "Well, I have found out that many people are scared of my lawyers."

"And Miss Potts," Harley couldn't help but input, "They're scared of her tbh since she's CEO which makes her in charge of Stark Industries Lawyers."

Penny only raised an eyebrow at Pepper's CEO title and kept silent.

"Your lawyers are terrifying Tones," Rhodey said before catching the swaying woman and guiding the inventor to lean against his shoulder again. 

Tony hadn't let himself do that since he'd kept on guard and glared at everyone around him, suspicious to the extreme. 

The scene shifts to show the helicopter landing near an army base and people -medics, soldiers, and even the tech- running towards it to see if the intel was correct and if Toni Stark was indeed alive after being kidnapped by terrorists for three months.

And when Colonel James Rupert "Rhodey" Rhodes came out of the helicopter, holding Toni Stark in a princess carry, people let out disbelieving gasps and breaths of relief before shifting back into work mode and standing tall, awaiting the Colonel's next orders regarding Toni Stark.

"My handsome knight," Tony swooned as he leaned against Rhodey.

"Our beautiful princess," Pepper retaliated with a teasing tone.

Rhodey countered, "And your our dangerous dragon,"

The scene then shifts to show Rhodey sitting in front of Toni, with his hands resting on her arms, in what looked like an army clinic, "For now think you can let the medic look at you?" he asked, voice gentle.

Toni didn't even have the energy to bristle at the kiddie gloves treatment she was receiving so she just breathed, "Yeah," and let her head rest on Rhodey's shoulder a moment longer before pulling away. "Just...stay close?"

"Oh, Mama," Penny breathed out as she stared at her mother's more vulnerable side.

Rhodey squeezed her shoulder slightly. "If you're thinking that I'm letting you leave my sight for even a moment, then you're not as smart as you think you are, Dr. Stark."

The laugh that tore out of Toni hurt her chest and throat, but damn did it feel good especially since Rhodey smiled at her but then he gestured for the medics to come over.

Rhodey stuck close and relayed the information the doctors would need including that they better not touch the reactor or they'd have the entirety of Stark Industries' legal team coming down on their heads. 

The doctors paled at the threat and did nothing more than a cursory examination to ensure there was no infection or bleeding around the reactor.

"At least they know that Stark Industries Lawyers mean business," Pepper couldn't help but preen at her lawyers.

So Toni let herself zone out a bit, confident that Rhodey would watch out for her. 

Rhodey couldn't help but feel touched by the confidence and faith that Toni had in him.

The scene shifted to show Toni Stark lying on a bed in a dark room and sweat beginning to drip down her forehead as she curled protectively over the pillow in her arms.

"Never have I wanted to be a pillow more in my life," Shuri! was the one to say breaking the rising tension and causing T'Challa to sigh tiredly at his sister's antics.

Toni whimpered slightly in her sleep and the scene showed a flash of images consisting of her head being dunked underwater and her being beaten up to glinting a metal gun pressed to her head and shouting and so much shouting and...

Penny winced from the sensory overload and the images assaulting her vision.

Peter whimpered and hid his face in Tony's shirt, trying to remind himself that his dad was here with him.

Rhodey kicked down the door, gun in his hand, the minute he heard the first scream Toni had let out and when his eyes made contact with a whimpering Toni on the floor, who was holding herself against the wall and shaking badly, he lowered his gun even though every instinct within him screamed at him to go hunt down the bastards that hurt his little sister.

Rhodey only grasped Tony's hand, reassuring both of them that they were away from Afghanistan and they were both safe.

"Tones?" Rhodey tried to sound calm, even though he failed since Toni's head snapped up and the gun- where did she even get that from?- in her hand was being pointed at him.

Daniel Sousa winced, "Sorry, Colonel Rhodes. I always ensured my little duckling would never be in a place without a weapon in her hands."

"It's fine. I'm glad that the Tonys know how to protect themselves if they're ever in danger." Rhodey replied.

"Rhodey." Toni breathed out, looking at her friend - her brother- as if she'd seen a ghost, and then she took in the gun in her hand and instantly lowered it starting to apologize for it but Rhodey only came to kneel in front of Toni.

"What did they do?" he asked evenly, reaching out to grab Toni's hand since he couldn't touch her arms because of the severe sunburn still healing.

"I'll tell you, Rhodes. I swear, I will. But only when I'm sure that no one is listening to our conversation. I've already found three bugs." Toni gave Rhodey three tiny crushed disks from her hand.

Tony looked away.

"Tones?" Rhodey asked gently again.

Fuck he didn't expect this to be so hard. 

I mean, all he's doing is watching an alternate female version of himself that is better than him in every way.

She had JARVIS calling her mother.

He only let JARVIS call him sir.

She remembered Ho Yinsen. 

He had been drunk off his ass looking to sleep with Maya Hansen.

She had been married for 10 years. 

He couldn't even keep a relationship going for 10 days.

She's going to tell Rhodey what happened in Afghanistan.

He'd never told anyone but JARVIS. 

"I'm great," Tony replied, plastering a believable smile on his face so Rhodey wouldn't push further.

Rhodey only looked at his with that knowing glint in his eyes and squeezed their joined hands in reassurance.

Rhodey swore under his breath and went to apologize but Toni waved the apologies away and asked gently, almost hesitantly, "Ca- can you help me in the bath?"

The scene shifts to a naked Toni Stark in the bath with blood dripping out of her hair onto her face. 

Toni's face is blank as she stared at the wall while Rhodey sat on his knees and slowly scrubbed the blood from her face as he stared at her in worry.

No one could say a word, not even Rogers.

A.N. This is what I imagined the scene to be like.

Also, I love Ben Barnes.

But I hate the MCU for putting him as Billy Russo.

Who I hate.

I hate Billy Russo.

But they cast Ben Barnes and now Billy Russo is hot and I'm having a crisis!

"You know," Toni began conversationally, words carefully measured as she continued to stare at the wall, "I wasn't supposed to be the only one that made it out of that cave. There was a man. A doctor with me. He had every reason to hate my guts but still saved my life."

"Why would Yinsen hate you, Tones?" Rhodey asked, confused.

His answer came in the form of Toni Stark's answer.

"He would talk about his family, his wife, and kids living in a little town called Gulmira... We were going to get out, and he was going to be reunited with his family, and I had all these secret plans to help get them all out of the country, out of the warzone, and into someplace safe. Stupid, yeah?"

Rhodey placed the sponge down the minute he heard Toni's voice crack at the end of her sentence and stroked her damp hair as she still maintained eye contact with the wall.

Frank knew where this was going, and from the almost death grip on his hand, he assumed that Penny also had figured it out.

"Turns out, there was no family. Or, there was. They were just already dead. I thought the plan was to save us both." A sad smile appeared on Toni's face, "Turns out, his plan was always to go out in a blaze of glory when we made our escape attempt."

"Oh, Tones," Rhodey breathes as he wipes away the tears on his frozen friend's face and gathers him into his arms.

Toni turned to Rhodey and looked at him, "He was an incredible doctor, you know. The fact I didn't die of infection in the first week—I'm still not sure how he managed that. How the hell he kept everything sanitary enough to not kill me..." 

Toni's eyes went unfocused as she stared down at the arc reactor on her chest for a few moments and then back at Rhodey, "The electromagnet? The car battery? Forget my suit, Rhodey. He fucking Macgyvered the human body. In a cave. And he saved my life."

Stephen's respect for Dr. Yinsen just kept increasing the more Toni Stark talked about him.

Doe brown eyes with unshed tears stared at Rhodey, "He saved my life, Rhodey. He saved it, knowing that it was my weapon that killed his family. Not knowing if I'd been the one to sell them to their killers in the first place."

Howard buried his face in his hands as if that would stop the shame he felt at being the one to put the amount of guilt he could see in both Antonia's face on the screen and Anthony's face in the row in front of him.

"I have no fucking idea how he managed that. You encounter the person you blame for your family's death—" Toni's voice hitched on the word. "—You don't save their lives. No! You stab them one more time in the heart yourself. Just to be sure that the monster-" Toni's voice became venomous with self-hatred at the word, "-is dead."

Pepper covered her mouth in her hand as if to act as a barrier between the sobs and questions threatening to spill.

Was this how Tony viewed himself?

Toni's face turned desperate and her voice became slightly hysterical as her conversational tone shifted to ranting, "And I've spent so much time trying to figure out why. Why save my life? Why let me live, knowing that my hands have created the weapons that wiped his family off of the Earth? What did he see in me that made him do the impossible and keep my goddamn heart beating? And I can't—" Toni's voice hitched in pain as she remembered she had to breathe and forced her hand to not touch the reactor in front of Rhodey, "I can't find a reason or motivation, Rhodey. All I have is that, whatever his reasons, that's what he did. He gave me the chance to live long enough to at least attempt to make things right, and I don't deserve that!"

That final statement hung in the air between the room for a moment. 

The entire time she'd been speaking, Tony had kept his eyes trained forward on the screen.

Not wanting to read whatever Rhodey was thinking on the man's face, not sure what he even wanted or expected the man to be thinking. 

When he didn't immediately reply, Tony felt his guard begin to automatically rise, instinctively assuming the worst of his friend's silence. 

He resisted the urge to flicker his gaze over long enough to gauge the man's mood, instead choosing to focus on his breathing and, hopefully, relax slightly.

"Okay, Tony, look at me because I need you to understand this—"

But Toni was shaking her head at Rhodey, not understanding why he didn't get it, "Those terrorists had my weapons. And I didn't sell them to those terrorists. I sell them to the army. To the US army just like dear old dad did." The colonel stiffened under the weight of Toni's eyes pinning him down.

Howard hid his face in Maria's welcoming arms as he tried his hardest to bite down the tears he felt coming up at the poison of Toni's tone when she referred to him.

"I make those weapons to keep you guys safe, Rhodey. To keep my family safe. To keep you safe. Especially after what happened with Papa Terry and Jeanie."

Peter didn't know who those two were but guessing from how Colonel Rhodes stiffened, he guessed that they were part of his family.

"But someone could kill you with something that I made." Toni's eyes became pained as she whispered the next sentence, "Your blood would be on my hands."

And that does it.

Rhodey grabs Tony in his arms, ignoring the smaller man's surprised squawk, and just holds his best friend - his little brother.

"Never again, Tones. Never again will you think like that. And if you do, you come to me. To quote me: If you're thinking, then you're not as smart as you think you are, Dr. Stark. When will you understand, Tones? You and me? This is a forever thing. And I will bet you my motorbike that Toni's Rhodey is going to tell her the same thing."

Tony could say nothing lest his voice cracks so he just burrowed his face into Rhodey's chest and hope that the man wouldn't feel the wetness of his tears.

Rhodey nodded, his face turning hard, "I understand perfectly fine, Tones. I understand that there's a mole in your company. I understand that you're blaming yourself right now. And I especially understand that you're thinking of all the worst-case scenarios right now. So I'm going to say this once, Antonia Ella Strange nee Stark, and you better be listening to every word."

Shuri wouldn't admit it but she sat a bit straighter at hearing the Colonel's tone when saying Dr. Stark's full name.

"The blame for what happened in Afghanistan does not lie with you."

When Toni went to open her mouth, Rhodey only placed a hand over her mouth calmly and said, "I said you better be listening, not talking."

"Colonel Rhodes," Shuri announced, causing the man to turn to her, curious of what she had to say, "I now have a crush on you." 

Tony let out a barking laugh when Rhodey had physically blue-screened at the princess's words and was wheezing when Darcy had whined after, "No fair. I was going to ask him if he could dominate me in bed." and tears were streaming down his face when she purred, "Especially with the uniform on."

It was only after Toni nodded, did Rhodey remove his hand from her mouth and continued speaking.

"Yes, be thankful to that doctor—I sure as hell am now that I know of him—but don't feel like you owe him some impossible debt. You don't need to atone for anything or spend your life trying to reach some impossible standard of having 'done enough.'" Rhodey sighed, showing the tiredness on his face.

"Because honestly, Tones? It will never feel like enough. You let yourself keep going down this road, it's just going to keep building up and the goalposts will keep moving until eventually the pressure's gonna be too much and it will make you self-destruct."

Wanda -who was silent during the entire scene- shuddered violently at those words.

Why?

Because she had said those words.

But I saw Stark's fear. I knew it would control him. Make him self-destruct.

"I'm sorry," The words escaped her throat before she could stop them.

Everyone snaps their heads toward Wanda but her eyes are on Sta-.

To-.

What does she even call him?

Tony is too personal.

Stark is how she referred to him as the monster.

But who is the real monster now? a voice so similar to Pietro's hissed violently into her ear.

Tony looked at the witch in confusion as to who she was addressing but then she looked up and made eye contact with him which just put him on edge.

His nano-tech suit was only a touch away, he reminded himself as he stared her down.

"We both know that apology is meaningless to me," Tony states. "There's no point in indulging social niceties. If you hate me, that's fine. You're hardly the first." He muttered the last bit bitterly.

Wanda flinches slightly and goes to stand up but Tony isn't done talking. 

He's kept his mouth shut around this witch for so long and now that he's started talking, he can't - won't - stop.

"I didn't drag you into this war," he continues, finding confidence as he walks closer to her, "I didn't force you to join a terrorist cell. I didn't tell you to volunteer to be experimented on." He spits out the word with venom because all he can think about is how she's similar to Rogers in that way.

Tony stops walking when he sees Rogers and Barton stand up and walk to him.

But when he hears Harley get up and stand on his right with a potato gun armed (where did he even hide that thing?), he feels pride burst within him.

And from the corner of his eye, when he sees Peter in his Iron Spider suit, accompanied by his female counterpart, who wasn't even in her suit but her red-eyed glare was all she needed for Rogers to slow his walking, he felt his courage build up again.

However, when he hears the whir of Rhodey's prosthetic legs and the heat of Pepper's normally cool hands on his shoulder, he feels so loved and protected.

He tilts his head to see Aunt Peg just casually cocking her gun in the direction of Team Cap and that gave him the courage to continue speaking to Maximoff and ignore Rogers.

"You can blame me for Ultron. You can blame me for your parents' death. You can blame me for the trauma you suffered as a child. But you don't get to blame me for your choices. I may have to live with my mistakes, but I sure as hell do not have to live with yours."

Tony smiles a smile teetering the edge between sweet and poisonous because he's so tired of being scared of this 'child' as Barton and Rogers have deemed her.

"So tell me, Miss Maximoff," he asks deceptively softly, "what exactly are you sorry for?

She glanced at him, flinched again, then closed her eyes. "When we were kids," she began, "A bomb hit our house. We were ten. The first shell blew a hole in the floor, and our parents fell into it. Pietro rolled us under the bed as a second one hit and the house started collapsing. It didn't go off, just sat there, three feet from our faces, for two days." She opened her eyes and met his. "It was a Stark bomb, and we waited two days for it to kill us."

He froze. 

She kept his gaze.

"And we hated you. We volunteered for HYDRA because we hated you, and we thought we could change the world by doing it. Every day for years, we wanted revenge. We joined HYDRA the second we were of age, and spent the years before that in anti-American groups because we hated what you'd done to us."

He couldn't breathe.

"And then you went to Afghanistan. You walked out three months later, shut down the weapons department without speaking to anyone else, and then went and became Iron Man."

Inexplicably, she smiled sadly, at the thought of her twin. 

"It was Pietro that pointed it out. He's always been the more rational one. He pointed out that it wasn't you. That it didn't make sense to hate you. You made the bomb, and we could hate you for that. But your crime wasn't firing it. Your only crime was that you didn't think to check what people were doing with your bombs after you sold them. And you paid for that. You've been paying for that every day since 2008."

Tony stared before asking dubiously, "And when exactly did you have this change of heart of an opinion on me?"

The Vision came from behind Wanda and then hovered slightly between the two, "It was I Mother, who had shown Miss Maximoff your actions over the years as I was both intrigued by your character and confused by Miss Maximoff's hatred towards you."

Tony wasn't even going to comment on the Mother bit so he just nodded at Vision before turning back to Maximoff to see what she'd say.

Maximoff admitted, "I understand that you don't believe me. After what I did to you all, I don't blame you. But I promise I'm telling the truth."

"Yes, of course, forgive me for not believing that the terrorist who had worked with Ultron is suddenly having a change of heart."

"Would it help you if I said it was my fault?" She snapped, making Bruce's eyes flash green, and then suddenly Hulk was stomping over and standing protectively before Tony and sneering at Maximoof.

"Red Witch," Hulk grunts out as he stares down the pale woman who was now trembling as she looked up at the Hulk.

Vision noticed, putting a hand on Wanda's shoulder to try and calm her down. 

"Next time Witch tries to hurt Tinman." Hulk grunted out and brought a fist up, "Hulk will make you a tomato."

No one said anything about that statement.

Except for Penny who burst out laughing.

She pointed at Hulk and managed to wheeze out, "This! This is why I love you, big guy!"

When no one else was laughing, Penny made a confused face and gestured to Hulk, "He used dark humor?!"

Then Frank started to let out a belly laugh, "A tomato!" he exclaimed once he understood.

No one was laughing.

So Penny sighed and patted Hulk's hand, "You'll get them next time, green bean."

And then she turned to everyone else and explained the dark joke, "Maximoff is red. And Bruce Banner doesn't like tomatoes, so Hulk smashes them whenever he sees them. So he said the next time she tries to hurt Tony, he'll smash her like a tomato and make her a smear on the floor,"

Tony was trying not to laugh so badly, especially since everyone else was laughing, "That's a great joke, Mean n' Green and I swear it'll knock me dead next time. OK?"

Hulk reaches down to pluck Tony from where he's standing.

"TinMan safe with Hulk," Hulk grumbles, a large hand coming up to run thick fingers carefully over her upswept hair. "Hulk protect this time. Smash anyone who hurts."

Tony, head tilted back to look up at Hulk, finds that all he can do is laugh.

"I'm very, very safe," Tony agrees before Hulk turns back into Bruce and Thor takes away his love to hold him in his arms and the joyous mood is taken away once he turns back to face Wanda Maximoff once more.

She bowed her head. "I'm sorry for snapping. But would it help you believe that my apology is sincere if I admitted the truth?"

"Yes," was the reply she got before she went to open her mouth and admit the truth of her actions.

But she was stopped.

"Yeah, we need to do this later in the chapter named 'Break Time:' because the author wants to get Toni Stark home and wrap this chapter up with an unexpected ending."

Penny squeals as she finds herself caught in familiar red and black leather gloves, "Wade! You're here as well!"

"Of course my favorite Spider! I wouldn't miss 'watching the movie's ' book!" A man in a red-themed costume with katanas strapped to his back came holding Penny Parker as he walked over to Wanda Maximoff.

"Look, Wendy. Like I said before, you get to do your whole apology thing and reveal dirty secrets later in the Break Time chapter which is in like another 3 chapters and will be like 20,000+ words."

Wanda only blinked slowly and replied, "I understood all of those words separately."

Wade let out an excited squeal, "That means that you already understand me!"

Penny let out a chuckle before asking curiously, "Wade are you staying, or do you need to go?"

The anti-hero looked serious as he sighed and said, "I have to go pay my respects to Chadwick Boseman so I need to go to the universe where we're all comic characters and actors play us in movies and disguise me as Ryan Reynolds to go watch Black Panther 2 because everyone is saying that Shuri slays. Like literally slays in that movie."

"I have no idea what you just said. Like I understand all of those words separately and their definitions but in the way you've phrased it-" Tony was cut off by Deadpool shrieking with joy.

"OhmyStanLeeIt'sRobertDowneyJr!!"

Tony went to ask what that meant and whether he should be offended by being referred to as this 'Robert' fellow but Penny had placed a hand on his arm and just shook her head at him.

"Wade, you better leave now if you want to catch that movie," Penny said as she hugged her older-brother figure.

Wade hugged her back but not before seeing, "AAHHH!" he shrieked excitedly, "TEAM RED REUNION!" and then dragged Matt Murdock into a hug with them.

"Wade!" Penny hissed as she tried to weasel her way out of the mutant's grip but his grip was relentless and so she and Matt were being dangled like dolls.

As if hearing something else, Wade let her and Matt down and tilted his head upwards before huffing and pointing his nose up, "Alright! I see where I'm not wanted."

Deadpool began to walk away but not before he turned his head at the wall and winked, "I'll be back readers with another Team Red reunion when we begin to watch SpiderWoman's movie,"

Then he just disappeared.

It was silent for a while before Sam and Rhodey both broke it by saying, "What the fuck just happened?"

Once everyone was seated back down, the scene carried on where it had been left.

"And Toni? The thousands of different problems in the world are not all on you. You don't have to do this alone. So I'm glad you opened up because I want to help with whatever crazy plan you've started to cook up in your mind. And when we go home," Rhodey lets out a chuckle, "Believe me when I say, you will get all the help and support you want from our family. All you have to do is ask us."

The words, so clearly echoing a Rhodey, created a tight feeling in Tony's throat.

And he wants to believe that Rhodey. 

Shift the blame to someone else, absolve himself of years of guilt. But all he can think is—

"When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you."

"I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability... That is why, effective immediately, I'm shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of S.I."

And he can't quite bring himself to fully accept Rhodey's words.

(Not yet.)

It takes a while for Toni to actually hear the words and when she does she smiles softly at Rohdey before her face breaks out into a grin and asks, "I know I'm a Stark Rhodes but are you going to let me freeze while I'm stark-naked?" 

Maria Stark groans at the joke, "You have no idea how many times I've heard that joke whenever Howard and I-" 

"OK!" Tony cuts in, "I'm going to ignore the next words Mama was going to say otherwise my mind will be full of disturbing things that I do not need to imagine,"

Rhodey groans, "Will you ever let that joke go?"

Toni gasps as if offended, "You're the one who gave me the joke, honey bear. To forget it would be a disgrace to our friendship." 

"Wait, Colonel Rhodes was the one to make the Stark-Naked joke?" Harley asks as he turns his da- TONY. As he turns to Tony.

Tony himself was cackling while looking at Rhodey who was placing his head in his hands as if to hide from the mistake of making that joke.

The scene shifts to Toni Stark wearing nothing but a large white shirt as she begins to slide into bed.

Externally, Stephen was frozen with a blush coating his face.

Internally, he was pumping the air in a victory that a version of him got that goddess of a woman.

The bathroom door opened to reveal a shirtless Rhodey who was wearing black sweatpants low on his hips.

The entire theatre went up with wolf whistles and applause for the image.

Tony being the loudest wolf whistler, "THAT IS COLONEL JAMES RHODES! AND HE IS MINE, BITCHES!!"

Rhodey couldn't stop blushing with the number of compliments people kept giving him.

Toni wolf-whistled at the sight of Rhodey before wiggling her eyebrows, "Hot Damn! Is my 12th Century Drama Lord coming back to visit me?"

Rhodey pointed a finger in Toni's direction, "Hey. I only did it because MIT required that we had to do an extracurricular activity to 'widen our minds to creativity'."

"Tony, what is Rhodey talking about?" Pepper asked as she looked at the wheezing man on the floor.

While Rhodey was attempting to walk away but Happy grabbed him and said, "You have to face the consequences of your actions, Rhodey." making Rhodey groan, "Betrayal! I count this as a betrayal, Hap!"

Toni only raised her eyebrow at Rhodey, "Rhodey, ever since our robot children found that picture of you,"

Rhodey cleared his throat, "You showed them."

Toni continued as if she didn't hear him, "Had found that picture of you in a full-period Halloween costume with fencing equipment, all of them wanted to learn how to fence just because they want to be near you."

"Pics or it didn't happen," Harley, Shuri, and Peter said in creepy unison.

Tony was already used to Harley and Peter's moments (but was silently concerned when Shuri had also joined in)where they talk in sync only said, "If female me doesn't show us the picture, I'll find the photo album from MIT and show you the picture."

Rhodey protested, "The hell you are!"

Tony only raised an eyebrow, "Mama Rhodes, herself, told me to get Peter and Harley, in her words, 'Her grandbabies' to come over and visit. That means she's going to be showing them embarrassing pictures of me and you. So if you suffer Rhodey, I'm going to be suffering with you." 

"Can I also come?" Princess Shuri asked, almost hesitantly.

Tony melted, "Who told you that you weren't coming in the first place? Of course, I'm taking you to meet Mama Rhodes. She'll love you. And if she loves you, she'll feed you until you're in a food coma."

He beckoned Shuri to come close and then handed her a cheeseburger, making her smile in delight.

"Where did you even get that from?" T'Challa asked, very confused at the events that had just taken place.

Rhodey only shook his head at the king, "I've learned not to question Tony's ability to take food out of literally nowhere."

Bruce added at the discussion of Tony and food, "He brought blueberries onto the Helicarrier!"

Fury muttered at that, "Still don't know how the sneak managed to hide them onto the Helicarrier,"

Rhodey chuckled, "You were so offended."

Toni squawked, "Because I am their mother!" before she shrugged, "And you are their 1337 Godfather so it was only right and proper that they wanted to impress you."

Rhodey raised an eyebrow, "1337 Godfather, Tones?"

Tony shrugged, "It was the name the kids decided on."

Rhodey tilted his head, "1337 Godfather, Tones?"

Toni shrugged, "It was the name the kids decided on."

Harley and Peter both went, "Woah! Twins!"

Toni grinned slyly, "You didn't help your case when the kids found out about your secret drama nerd life and how you were also an amazing Tybalt in that local community theater production of Romeo and Juliet."

"Toni," Rhodey said exasperatedly, making Toni stand up from the bed and walk over to him.

"The military destroyed our family the minute they took you away and our children didn't know anything about you! What was I meant to do?!" Toni exclaimed dramatically as she winked at him and pointed to the door and the scene shifts to show a trio of soldiers with their ears pressed to the doors.

JaneFoster laughed at the sight, glad to know that she wasn't alone in her need to have all of the gossip in her workplace.

"Guys, should we be listening to this, I mean it's Colonel Rhodes-" The nervous blonde soldier with glasses was shushed by the brunette female soldier who whisper shouted back, "I need to know how Colonel Rhodes is going to reply to his wife."

"WIFE?!" Peter exclaimed as he stared in shock at Mr. Stark and Colonel Rhodes.

Rhodey only had an amused look on his face, "Don't they know that version of me is married to Maria Rambeua?"

Happy offered a reason, "Maybe you kept your marriage secret like Toni did?"

At the same time as Peter, another soldier, this time a tatted soldier with a scar on his face who looked very unlikely to be the one who whisper shouted, "TONI STARK IS COLONEL RHODES WIFE?!"

"I just love how even when they're gossiping about you Rhodes, they're still addressing you as Colonel Rhodes," Pepper said as she smiles at Rhodey.

"They know who's in charge," Tony said as he beamed at Rhodey with pride.

This got the tatted soldier to be shushed by both the blonde and brunette pair with the brunette saying, "Well, duh. Why do you think he looked for her for three months." before all of them looked nervous at the door as everything was silent behind it.

But then Colonel Rhodes's voice came, "I joined the military to honor my family and support our family, Toni!"

"How can you support our family if you're not even there? You missed our daughter's first steps!"

Tony sniffed, "I still haven't forgiven him for missing Butterfinger's first steps."

The trio of soldiers outside the door winced when they saw the Sergeant patrolling and had to choose between listening to Colonels Rhodes's and Toni Starks's argument or getting caught for being out of bed at this time. 

They legged it.

Sam laughed, "At least they have a good sense of preservation. The last time I was caught out of bed with Riley, they made us do dishwashing duty for a week."

Bucky chuckled at the story and didn't see the betrayed look Steve had shot him.

The scene then shifts to show Toni Stark with her ear to the door and Rhodey leaning against the wall and asking, "Are they gone?"

Toni lifted her head from the door and only nodded before a smile broke out on her face and she giggled as she made her way over to the bed, "There's a rumor going around that I'm your wife and that's the reason you searched for me for three months."

Tony only sighed morosely as he draped himself over Rhodey, "In another life, I would be your girl, Rhodey."

"Taylor swift can only speak the truth," Peter Parker nodded in agreement since Aunt May had introduced him to Taylor Swift and now he's never looked back.

Rhodey only chuckled before he went over to the bed, "Scoot up Blanket Hogger."

"What?" Toni asked, startled by the request

"Scoot up," Rhodey repeated, making shooing motions with his free hand. "I'm climbing in there with you so I can cuddle you properly."

Toni blinked. "We're on a military base."

"I don't care."

"We last did this when we were both single. So when I was 14-15."

Stephen didn't even try to shy away from the glares the gang from the past sent his way.

"Again, don't care. Scoot up you bratty princess so I can cuddle you."

Toni did as ordered, still very confused. "Why are you doing this Rhodes? Not that I don't like it, I mean don't you have to go report to your higher-ups that I've been found or something."

Rhodey only said, "I cleared my entire schedule so I can stay with you tonight because I need to get it into your head that I'm going through with my promise. I ain't ever leaving you out of my sight or reach again, Toni. Never again." He vowed. 

Toni's lips trembled at the strength of Rhodey's words hitting her before she flung herself at him and hauled him into a hug as she did years ago when she was a fifteen-year-old genius that came back to the dorm with-

"With what?" Howard asked curiously but Penny only shook her head at him, not willing to reveal what had happened to her mother.

Toni stopped her thought track and only sighed in contentment as she turned her face into Rhodey's shoulder as the other man got comfortable in the army bed.

"You're too skinny. I'm gonna get Mama to feed you up again when we get home," Rhodey murmured as he stroked her hair gently.

Toni only smiled before letting sleep overtake her, "That sounds nice."

"Mama was so pissed and worried when she found out you were taken," Rhodey said.

"I think I figured that out from the number of voicemails I got from her about how she would disown me if I didn't come and visit her to make sure I wasn't dead and a robot from the government,"

The scene shifts to show Toni and Rhodey walking down the hallways of the army base, with their arms linked.

Rhodey is in his full colonel outfit, medals and all, whereas Toni is clad in a business suit with her left arm in a sling, small stitches for the cuts on her face, and no makeup to cover up the bruises on any visible skin.

"I seriously need to edit all of the walks Miss Stark has because she looks amazing in all of them," Peter announced as he had stars in his eyes watching Miss Stark.

"I just want to know where she got that suit from," Yelena said as she drooled over the suit and the woman wearing the suit.

Rhodey then whispered something in Toni's ear causing her to look at him in shock, "Tell me you're joking, Rhodes. "

May's hackles raised as she wanted to know what ERhodey had said that would cause such panic on Toni Stark's face.

Rhodey only shook his head fondly, "The bastard wouldn't stop looking for you either Toni. He stopped his mission in Iraq to come and look for you with me. And now he's going to be part of your security team whether you like it or not. You can argue with him in the-"

The Colonel was cut off by a soldier who called out "Colonel Rhodes! Dr. Stark!" as he ran towards them.

The soldier then stood in front of Rhodey and saluted, "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

Pepper just grinned, "I love the respect my boys are getting."

Toni wiggled her eyebrows causing Rhodey to pinch her arm in retaliation before they both wore serious expressions on their faces and faced the soldier with Rhodey saying, "At ease, soldier. What seems to be the problem?"

Natasha froze, unnerved at the way both Toni and Rhodey had just switched masks so easily.

How did she miss the way neither of them let down their masks when they were with the Avengers?

The solider began speaking, "There is a situation in the dining room where you placed Er-" 

And before the soldier can continue speaking, Toni is already off racing in the direction the soldier has pointed at and ignoring Rhodey's shout, "Toni!"

T'Challa was worried about the way all his hackles had been raised when the soldier was about to say the name of the soldier that had also been looking for Dr. Antonia Stange nee Stark.

Toni pushed open the doors of the dining room to reveal a tall dark skinned man hauling up another soldier by the collar of his uniform, "If none of you is going to show me Toni StarK, I will-"

"You'll what, Erik?" Toni says as she leans against the wall.

The man's head -Erik's head- snapped to the side and he smirked slowly as he lets go of the soldier and begins to walk over to Toni.

Shuri gasps as she places a hand over her mouth, "It is Erik Killmonger."

T'Challa shook his head as he begins to smile at seeing his cousin -alive- once more, "No Shuri. It is N'Jadaka."

Okoye only stands stiffly at seeing the man, "Why does this version of Stark know of Killmonger?"

The trio's heads turn to face Penny who is already looking at them with narrowed eyes.

"Miss Stark," T'Challa begins as he tries to phrase the millions of questions on his tongue into one.

But he is cut off by the one he wishes to seek answers from, "Look, your Majesty. I respect you. I really do. But you are not my king so I am technically under no obligation to answer you."

At seeing Okoye's raised spear, Penny only raises an eyebrow either unimpressed or unthreatened, Shuri will never know as the woman begins to speak, "I can only tell you this. Erik or N'Jadaka, as you wish to call him, has been a part of my family since I was a baby. Mama took him in and raised him as her own which makes him my older brother. I don't even want to know what you did to him in your world that caused you to look so shocked over him being alive but I can only give you this warning," Penny leans forward, her eyes flashing red to show the danger of her next words.

"If Wakanda burns in my universe, do not seem too shocked because Erik will burn your country down if you guys decide to hurt Mama. Or Mama will burn your country down if you hurt Erik again." 

Penny tilts her head at seeing T'Challa's slight flinch, "And I'm assuming, your Majesty, that you know exactly what happened to Erik in both our universes."

"I just had to make sure that your white ass actually survived and these colonizers didn't decide to send in a robot version of you." Erik shrugged.

Toni only snorted, shaking her head, "Please. No one can come close to perfection," Toni gestured to herself when saying perfection.

"Damn straight," Tony said as he snapped his fingers in agreement.

Erik only tilted his head as if actually looking at her, "I mean the suit is pretty good," causing Toni to gasp in mock offense.

"Betrayal, Stevens. I count this as a betrayal." Toni teasingly vowed as she shook her finger in Erik's face.

T'Challa could only feel peace at knowing that in another universe, his cousin was happy.

"Stevenson? Nah, Toni. He's Killmonger now, according to the rumors I've been hearing." Rhodey said after he had caught up to her and sent out all of the soldiers in the dining hall.

Rhodey snapped his fingers in victory, "That's where he sounds so familiar. Erik Stevens, AKA Killmonger. The soldiers back at the base would gossip about him all the time."

Toni's lips twitched up in a smirk, "Killmonger? Are you to copy me, Erik?"

Erik only raised an eyebrow, "Which version of you do you think I'm copying? Warmonger? Or Ironmonger?"

Tony flinched slightly at Ironmonger as a memory hit him.

"Obie, I just— I don't want a body count to be our only legacy."
"That's— that's what we do. We're ironmongers. We make weapons."

Toni only let her smirk soften into a smile, "I prefer Stevens. It matches the St in Stark which gives us a connection."

Harley pouted, "That's me and Mechanic's thing."

"A connection?" Erik repeats as his smirk becomes more softer as he stares at Toni, "Well in that case."

Toni shrieked for a moment when Erik picked her up (her legs dangling slightly with his tall height) and hauled her into a hug, his head coming to rest upon the curve of her neck as he murmurs, "Hi mama,"

Toni melts into his arms after Erik says that and hugs him back, "Hi baby."

A.N. Sorry for the crappy chapter.

I just really wanted to get Toni home. 

Here, have a hot gif of Tony Stark as an apology.

Also.

HERE'S RHODEY!

I believe Rhodey spent some of his time at MIT doing drama and improv and that tony just thought he was either studying or doing something boring like being responsible meanwhile Rhodey is living his best secret drama nerd life and also was an amazing Tybalt in the local community theater production of Romeo and Juliet.

Also to any Toxic Wanda Stans reading this Story...

FUCK YOU, GUYS!

I'm saying this to the toxic ones.

I am so pissed off at these toxic Wanda stans.

Toxic Wanda fans would literally do anything and bend over backward a hundred ways to justify her actions when they have a clear reason: 

FOR EXAMPLE:

*The Darkhold corrupted her. 

"This isn't Wanda, this is a grieving mother who picked up a book that only made her care for her own happiness and nothing else."

No need to blame Stephen or Wong for any of this when 

1) she's the one who did all the killing, and nobody forced her to. 

2) the book corrupted her and made her a killing machine. 

It's honestly so embarrassing seeing y'all try to villainize Stephen when he did nothing wrong just to excuse Wanda's actions when there's already a reason she did what she did.

And I can literally go on for days talking about Toxic Wanda Stans.

Wanda Maximoff is a complex and amazing character in the comics that the MCU has destroyed and DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THE WHITEWASHING.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY ROMANI QUEEN??

ALSO for ANYONE who says: "Tony Stark cares for nobody but himself, never takes responsibility for his actions, never learns his lessons, he hates the Avengers, he's the Real Villain™ of the MCU." FIGHT ME!