Only two years had passed since the end of the events of Gold Strike: Iron Man, where Jax and Tony Stark had revealed themselves as Gold Strike and Iron Man to the world.

And it wasn't going to get any easier from here and out. But harder, more confusing, and extremely weird and dangerous.

It would bring a lot of chaos and destruction in their lives.

But it would also bring in loved ones, friends, family.

The three that they were about to meet, they wouldn't know who they truly were just yet.

Natalia Alianovna Romanoff being one of them. As an infant, she was deemed by the Red Room to possess genetic potential and was purchased from her birth family in 1973. What she did not know was that her mother was not in agreement and searched for her daughter, until she was killed to prevent the Red Room Program's existence from being revealed. Natasha was then raised with a "family" organized by the program, a mother named Melina Vostokoff, and a father named Alexei Shostakov, and of course, a sister named Yelena Belova. Melina was a former Widow, and Yelena grew up to be a Widow just like Natasha. Once their family ruse was disbanded, Natasha and Yelena were sent back to the Red Room Academy in 1981.

The Red Room was also known as the Black Widow Program. It was a Soviet-Russian training program that involved taking young women and turning them into elite spies and assassins known as Black Widows. Initially using psychological conditioning to make the Widows obedient as children, the adult program would shift to using mind control. One girl in twenty would survive the training to become a Widow, and the rest, they were killed, as they were just things to the heads of the organization, weapons with no face that they could just throw away. The girls trained by them were trained in combat, weapons, acrobatics and tactical skills. They were occasionally chosen to violently spar against each other; weakness was not tolerated, and the loser was killed by their opponent.

The graduating ceremony of the Red Room led to involuntary hysterectomies, making the Red Room graduates more loyal and better killers, but Natasha had been on a mission, put into the KGB by General Dreykov, before graduation. In 1991, Natasha had gotten onto SHIELD's radar in a very bad way as she was regarded as a master spy and one of the world's greatest assassins, and they sent Clint Barton to eliminate her as a target, due to both her expertise and her growing threat to global security. But when Clint was about to kill Natasha, he saw that she wanted out, that she wanted to be put down because of her past and not able to live with it well, as well as seeing the good in her, saving her life, recommending her for recruitment into SHIELD, and she became his partner in SHIELD, becoming best friends with him, and on one night, after drinking a little too much, they had slept together, resulting in Natasha getting pregnant as she had left the Red Room before being sterilized. This resulted in the births of their twin daughters, Anastasia and Tatiana Romanoff at the end of 1991.

However, while working with SHIELD and her history with the Red Room not a secret, still in secret, Hydra was able to take Natasha and the twin daughters of Romanoff and Barton. For an entire decade, Clint spent so much time looking for his best friend and his daughters, while his new partner Laura helped him; over time, Clint had lost hope of finding the Romanoffs, but still never stopped looking, but he soon fell for Laura, and they had their own children later on, Cooper and Lila.

While in Hydra, for three years, Natasha was brainwashed and forced to teach her twin daughters everything she learned from the Red Room, along with whatever soldiers that Hydra had that could teach them more. Wanting to keep Natasha in pristine condition for the years to come, Hydra froze Natasha, putting her on ice in 1994. She was left on ice for the following eight years after that, during which time Ana and Tatiana had grown to be eleven years while training all the while. It was 2002 when Natasha was finally allowed to wake up to find that her toddler twins had turned into pre-teens, and some of the most deadly assassins in the world at only 11 years old, while she remained at the age of 20, the same age she had been when she was put in the ice. They were highly trained in not just martial arts, but espionage, infiltration, disguise, manipulation, evasion, hacking, and assassination.

With Natasha now awake, she was able to send a signal to Clint in order to get help. Clint and Laura were able to track Natasha and the twins down, and finally were able to save them, though it put Laura, who was a SHIELD agent, at risk with Hydra, along with the rest of them, having to go into hiding until the danger around them died down, also desperate to keep Lila and Cooper from being found out and used as leverage. Luckily for them, SHIELD was able to break through the last of the mind control that Hydra had put on the twins and Natasha, and put them, Clint, Laura, Lila and Cooper in hiding for the following years. They were more than willing to let Laura retire and be with her kids and keep their family a secret.

But it wasn't long before Natasha, Ana and Tatiana wanted to go back to work with SHIELD, and find ways to make amends for everything they had to do before. Clint of course was more than willing to go back to his old job, apologizing for having moved on and having a new family while he had been looking for them for 11 years, but of course they assured him that it was more than okay, that he kept more faith and belief that he could find them and save them than anyone else would have, and he deserved to be happy as well. It also gave them a much bigger family, more loving, than they ever imagined possible before, which they were grateful for. Their family brought out a light in the Romanoffs, and Clint, that they were all afraid of losing and returning to the darkest parts of themselves and their histories that scared the living hell out of all of them and kept them walking a straight line that kept them in check so that they wouldn't have to go back to their pasts.

One of Natasha's amends was being tasked with assassinating Dreykov in Budapest, where Clint helped her rig a building with bombs, and Natasha used Dreykov's daughter to ensure his location, and knowing that the daughter was in the building, gave the order to detonate, seemingly killing Dreykov with his daughter in 2008. This mission would haunt Natasha, although she convinced herself that killing the little girl was necessary to complete the mission and clear herself from the Red Room. After engaging in a firefight with the Hungarian Special Forces, Natasha and Clint hid themselves for ten days, two of which were spent inside the ceiling of a subway station, before being able to leave the city.

Despite their harsh and traumatic upbringings, they did manage to retain kind, caring and compassionate sides of them, surprisingly able to keep their hearts after all they had been through. They harbored deep resentment and guilt towards themselves due to the damage they had caused during their time in the Red Room or Hydra, and would spend most of their lives attempting to make up for their actions, even though none of them were actually their fault. Natasha was strict, the most serious out of them clearly since she thought she had to be the strongest in order to get her daughters through the trauma of what they had to go through as well as her own. Ana used humor and sarcasm and other defense mechanisms to cover the pain that she felt and everything she had to do to feel like she was making amends now, often flirting to fill a void inside of her left behind from the damage done to her and her family, often doing thrill-seeking adventures to replace the adrenaline rushes from missions of before, addicted to a sense of danger and adventure, but also kept a level head and heart. Tatiana was the most reserved, quiet and introverted, numb to most things; even she didn't know what she was feeling majority of the time, but when she did feel, she felt it with her entire being, and when she believed in something to do the right thing, she would do it whatever the consequences and whatever it took.

Now, in 2011, Natasha, Anastasia and Tatiana were tasked with keeping an eye on Jax and Tony Stark, which would furthermore change all of their lives, and all the lives of the people that they had yet to meet, completely.

🚀 

Jax:

2011

Flushing, New York

Night - Stark Expo

Tony Stark / Iron Man and Jackson "Jax" Stark / Gold Strike were in an airplane after dark, waiting 

The door opened.

The father and son flew out of the back of the airplane, down below.

There were several fireworks.

Tony and Jax flew through a hole in the roof of a building, landing inside on a stage.

There was a crowd waiting, cheering ecstatically at the sight of them.

There was a line of cheerleaders behind them. Some of them were in gold outfits like Jax's completely gold suit. Some of them were in mostly red with some gold outfits, like Tony's mostly red with some gold suit. All of them had a light over their chest like the arc reactors in the suits' chests to power up the suit, and in Tony's chest to begin with.

The cheerleaders all held their hands, kicking in a line. They walked out of line, dancing.

The stage floor circled underneath Tony and Jax. Robotic arms came out, up to take the suits off of them, revealing that they were both wearing tuxes.

The crowd cheered, roaring on.

The cheerleaders continued to dance.

Tony took a bow.

Jax was watching the cheerleaders, smiling.

The cheerleaders walked toward Tony and Jax, stopping in a half-circle behind them, holding their hands toward them as if to thrust a bolt of energy told them, tossing back their hair to finish the dance.

Everyone cheered, applauding.

"It's good to be back," Jax told them. "You missed us?" Everyone cheered. "We missed you, too."

"Blow something up!" a man from the crowd told them.

"Blow something up?" Jax repeated. "I already did that. I'm not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me and my dad." Everyone cheered. "I'm not saying that from the ashes of captivity, never has a greater phoenix metaphor been personified in human history, because of my dad. I'm not saying that Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea because Dad and I haven't come across anyone who's man enough to go toe-to-toe with us on our best day."

Jax smiled, taking a bow.

A girl called from the crowd. "I love you, Jax!"

Jax stood. "I love you, too." 

Jax smirked, winking.

The crowd cheered. 

Tony smiled. "Please, it's not about me. It's not about my son. It's not about you. It's not even about us. It's about legacy. It's about what we choose to leave behind for future generations. And that's why, for the next year and for the first time since 1974, the best and the brightest men and women of nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future. It's not about us. Therefore, what we are saying, if we are saying anything, is welcome back to the Stark Expo." Everyone cheered. "And now, making a special appearance from the great beyond to tell you what it's all about, please welcome my father, Howard."

Tony and Jax walked offstage.

A video of a young Howard Stark appeared on the screen. "Everything is achievable through technology. Better living, robust health, and for the first time in human history, the possibility of world peace. So, from all of us here at Stark Industries, I would like to personally introduce you to the City of the Future. Technology holds infinite possibilities for mankind." Tony was alone behind the screen, taking a blood toxicity test. It only came back 19%. "And will one day rid society of all its ills. Soon, technology will affect the way you live your life every day. No more tedious work, leaving more time for leisure activities and enjoying the sweet life. The Stark Expo. Welcome."

The video ended.

Everyone cheered.

  🚀 

The Expo was being televised.

A woman was acting as a reporter outside the building. "We are coming to you live from the kickoff of the Stark Expo, where Tony and Jax Stark have just walked offstage. Don't worry if you can't make it down here tonight before this Expo goes on all year long. And I'm gonna be here checking out all the attractions and the pavilions and the inventions from all around the world. Make sure you join me."

  🚀  

Stark Expo - Outside

Happy Hogan was leading Jax and Tony toward the back doors. "All right, it's a zoo out there. Watch out." He looked at a man by the door. "Open up. Let's go."

The man opened the door.

Jax, Tony and Happy walked outside into the crowds.

"Hey!" Jax told them. "Nice to see you. All right. Thank you." He looked at a nearby girl. "I remember you."

"Jax, Jax," a blonde girl told him, writing down her phone number, handing it to him. "Call me."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," Happy told them. "Come on. Come on."

A little girl held a poster of Iron Man and Gold Strike toward Tony and Jax. "Can I get your autograph?"

"It would be a pleasure," Tony told her, signing his name above Iron Man.

Jax signed his name over Gold Strike.

"Okay," the mother told them.

The two boys in the family were wearing Iron Man and Gold Strike masks.

Jax patted them on the heads. "See you, buddies."

Happy introduced them to a man. "This is Larry."

"Hey, the oracles of Oracle," Larry told them. "What a pleasure. Nice to see you."

Happy, Jax and Tony continued to walk through the crowd.

Jax looked around. "Aw, yes, my people, my people."

"Come on, guys," Happy told them. "There we go."

"Very mellow," Tony told them.

"That wasn't so bad," Jax told them.

"No, it was perfect," Tony told them.

Happy pointed at a white car. "There we go. The new model."

A young woman was standing next to the car.

"Hey, does she come with the car?" Tony asked.

"I certainly hope so," Jax told them. They reached the woman. "Hi."

"Hi," the woman told them.

"And you are?" Jax asked.

"Marshal," the woman answered.

"Irish," Jax told her. "I like it."

Marshal looked at Jax and Tony. "Pleased to meet you both."

Happy got into the driver's seat.

Tony got into the passenger seat.

Jax leaned against the car, looking at Marshal. "Where you from?"

"Bedford," Marshal answered.

"What are you doing here?" Jax asked.

"Looking for you," Marshal answered.

"Yeah?" Jax asked. "You found us. What are you up to later?"

"Serving subpoenas," Marshal answered, holding subpoenas toward Jax and Tony.

Jax looked at the subpoenas. "Yikes."

Jax got into the backseat of the car.

Happy took the subpoenas from Marshal. "They don't like to be handed things."

"Yeah, we have a peeve," Tony told her.

"I got it," Happy told them.

"You are hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM," Marshal told them. 

"Can I see a badge?" Tony asked.

"You wanna see the badge?" Marshal asked.

Jax nodded. "He likes the badge."

Marshal showed them her badge. "You still like it?"

Tony looked away. "Yep." Marshal smirked, backing away. Tony looked at Howard. "How far are we from DC?"

"DC?" Happy repeated. "250 miles."

They drove off, leaving.