Disclaimer: The perspective/thoughts are the only part that I'll lay some sort of claim to, and even that is wishy-washy (I could say the MCU writers/directors/actors meant to imply some of it). Dialogue and actions are for sure not mine. As with youtube character tributes, all of these one-shots are meant as character study pieces.

Hope you enjoy my takes on various movie scenes!

He points a red-gloved hand at her. "What's your name, lady?"

"Rushman. Natalie Rushman." She says, voice level. Long red hair frames a pretty face and a confident gaze. Her clothes are modest-ish and match whatever job she's filling (a portfolio paperwork job that involves signing things and probably him being handed things which would normally make him instantly dislike her), but they do absolutely nothing to hide the fact that she is trying out the subtle sexy look in a pathetic attempt to distract him (it works for about four seconds), or make his brain glitch (impossible), or get a rise out of him (he has Pepper, so no).

But he plays along, because this Rushman lady hints at something that doesn't fit with his surroundings. The confident, sexy, redheaded, pen-wielding legal gal is out of place. Well, the legal part of her is totally in place, because signing over a company involves those sorts of people. That part fits.

He caught her looking, though, and that doesn't fit. Hers hadn't been a look hinting at attraction (he is fully capable of recognizing that, thank you), but at amusement instead. Yes, he is a little insulted that she finds some of his best boxing moves funny, but he's mostly intrigued.

So he invites her in.

"Front and center. Come into the church." He looks away, casually gesturing to the ring, knowing that she'll take the bait (though he's confident that she would have no qualms about refusing him either).

"No, you're seriously not going to –" Pepper tries to stop it (of course she does).

"If it pleases the court," he quips. "Which it does."

Natalie Rushman says 'it's fine' and strolls over, still confident and still sexy, and holds his gaze as he lets her in. He stares back, face perfectly void of emotion. The blackish-green swill in his water bottle tastes atrocious, but he guzzles some of it while he looks her over (looks her face over).

Minimal makeup, coldish warm blue eyes, and absolutely no emotion. There is literally nothing showing at all (but this tells him everything he needs to know). He pulls the water bottle from his mouth with a pop and a sigh as if he hasn't a care in the world (which he doesn't and yet very much does) and pretends to be "distracted".

"What?"

It seems to work. Sort of. She smiles, smirks, does something at him.

So he smiles, smirks, does the distracted something back, and then points to Happy. "Can you, uh, give her a lesson?" he asks, deliberately stuttering. When he strolls over and sits down (fidgeting a bit, because he can't ever make himself just sit still), Pepper starts lecturing him on the dangers of sexual harassment and other such stuff that he's heard a million times. Normally, he would tell her that her warnings are completely unnecessary (they are, because he has Pepper, so no, and why can't she see that?), but he's slightly relieved that he can still do the whole playboy thing and play it up to a tee.

He continues it now, staring at her. Watching her. The way she's only humoring Happy, standing there like she's done this all a million times before, only not in safe environments like this with lots of lights and lots of matting. Maybe in dark, dingy, unsanitary places like The Cave where certain individuals speak dozens of languages just so they can remain alive and useful and –

But he'd rather not think about that man. Not now. Not when he has to remain a playboy billionaire with a company to hand over to the beautiful woman sitting next to him. It simply wouldn't do to get all upset.

So he googles her (a real and intentional distraction). But that doesn't help, because then he finds that she actually does speak, like, a gazillion languages and has toured the world as a model (yeah sure, but he appreciates the pretty pictures…). Professional, subtle sexy, multi-lingual, well-travelled model lady with a mysterious aura and an apparent knack for triggering memories he'd rather forget. With the exception of the last one, whoever sent her here had done their best to make her appealing to him.

He turns to Pepper (another distraction that will work). "Who speaks Latin anymore?"

Cue distracting conversation.

He's impressed, despite himself, with this Rushman lady, especially when she puts Happy on the mat in a single move that leaves Pepper overly concerned with Happy's well-being and him mildly surprised that she can move like that in business attire (Happy getting demolished is not surprising; he had her pegged for that).

He wonders if she speaks Urdu.

She climbs out of the ring, all predatory grace and fiery red hair (she's dangerous, but he isn't sure why or how or to whom). "I need your impression," she says.

He doesn't need to act confused. "You have a quiet reserve… an old soul…" (Um… what?)

The smile smirk thing is back with an irritating condescension about it. "I need your fingerprint."

Oh. Well. Fingerprints are easy enough. Back to the legal stuff it seems. The three of them finish up the paperwork (thankfully no one tries to hand him anything), and he watches her leave the same way that she arrived. "I want one."

Pepper's 'no' is quite emphatic.

He makes sure Rushman is hired anyway, just so she doesn't stray too far (call him paranoid).

***oo***

Eyepatch is in the middle of chewing him out when Rushman strolls in in a black, skin-tight suit that is practical and professional and not-so-subtle sexy, but not for legal mumbo jumbo. At least she isn't holding anything and thus, he is in no danger of being handed stuff.

What on earth do these people want with him?

"Huh," is all he says initially. Until he realizes all of his questions regarding her loyalties have been answered. So… "You're fired."

"That's not up to you."

Flippant. Always so flippant, and manipulative, and secretive, and apparently very much with SHIELD. He supposes that if he'd really wanted to he could have figured that out, but his mind had been preoccupied with his imminent death, so pretty much everything else had taken a backseat. He doesn't appreciate being manipulated. Or taken advantage of.

"I'm a SHIELD shadow. Once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury."

As if that makes it all okay? Really, sweetheart? He stares her down, chin in hand, eyebrows ticking up very briefly. "I suggest you apologize." Suggest, demand… it's all semantics and he knows she knows this. He sees it in her unwavering, unyielding, unapologetic stare. Natalie Rushman only ever read a file on him, some cooked-up backstory based on stuff that definitely happened and that definitely changed things (but she doesn't know how or why since she never asked).

Natasha Romanoff stares at him like she thinks she knows him. Like she knows him and refuses to apologize and it grates on him like nothing else. Pepper knows him. Rhodey knows him. Happy knows bits and pieces of him. Jarvis definitely knows everything about him. Four people. That's it.

Because he trusts them.

Maybe he can trust Eyepatch. He isn't sure yet.

But not this pretty lady that smile smirks at him like she can see right through him. Nope. She knows nothing and he'll do his best to keep it that way. He doesn't try to hide his disdain for her or what she's done. It's obvious that she notices it. Nothing about her expression changes really, but he knows how to read people. He had an overseas crash course on it that lasted for a few months before everything went to hell in a handbasket.

Yinsen died. Nobody knows this.

Eyepatch keeps the conversation rolling (probably to keep him from blowing her from her seat with a repulsor ray… does she see how angry he is?).

"You've been very busy. You made your girl your CEO, you're giving away all your stuff. You let your friend fly away with your suit. Now, if I know better…"

He finally tears his gaze from the spy. "You don't know better. I didn't give it to him. He took it." A pathetic lie, but he really doesn't want to do this right now. Not ever, honestly. He doesn't have the time. No more birthdays are coming up. Ever. Which makes him all sorts of mad and sad and messed up because Yinsen told him not to waste it and now he doesn't have much of it left…

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. He took it? You're Iron Man and he just took it? The little brother walked in there, kicked your butt and took your suit? Is that possible?"

No. No it's not, but did he mention it was a pathetic lie? And yes, he let Rhodey take it since it doesn't matter anymore and – little brother? He stares at Eyepatch (Nick) with new eyes. Perhaps a fifth person knows just a tiny bit (he kicks Nick's name up a few notches on his trust-o-meter).

"Well, according to Mr. Stark's database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorized usage."

So. She snooped more than he had initially thought. Or tried to, anyway. It's not like she's saying anything revolutionary. Of course he put algorithms in place (the fact that she used the word 'redundancies' is just annoying) to prevent unauthorized usage. What a nice SHIELDy term. Jarvis knows who he trusts and doesn't trust and the latter fall under 'unauthorized usage'. Rhodey was always going to be on his short list.

Always.

He wants to tell her that there are far more complicated redundancies in place to prevent her and others like her from knowing what he doesn't want them to know (he's not sure that these people really understand what he can do with a computer, or any piece of tech, or a few misplaced weapons in a cave), but he doesn't. That would be a waste of time. So instead he stares at her again, at both of them, and swallows the frustrated tirade that he almost always swallows. Over and over and over.

"What do you want from me?"

The conversation shifts, and in a few minutes it suddenly looks like he might be able to have a life again (he wonders how many brushes with death he'll have before one of them eventually sticks). So he does what he always does. He runs with it.

Romanoff and Nick are sorted into various bins in his head ("Fake, Fake, and FAKE" and "Almost-Real"). SHIELD gets put on his hit list. The Boy Band Initiative gets tossed onto his I'll-maybe-get-back-to-you-later pile. Everything about dad takes center stage.

He owes Pepper and Rhodey apologies (but he's terrible at those and so he'll have to practice before he preaches).

He opens a new world.

Not new necessarily. He's an inventor. He tinkers, he builds things, he perfects them, and he uses them. Some of them he gives away for mass production (or used to). Most of them he keeps and is very careful with how they are used and why.

Why is important.

He has never tried to invent an element (or discover one, rather). That is new. But it just might be… possible. Anything is possible. It's worth a shot. He can do it for Pepper and Rhodey and Happy (a sort of apology in a way for being a huge, self-centered moron). It's not an apology for Jarvis, because he's already apologized to Jarvis multiple times. Jarvis is like Yinsen. Deserving of apologies, but never needing them. Only ever wanting him to be better. Different than he was. Is. More.

Or less? He isn't sure, but what the heck. He has time now to figure it out.

So he runs with it. There isn't much that surprises him anymore. Not since he started paying attention to people instead of his stuff (though he still pays plenty of attention to his toys, weapons, inventions, things…). Romanoff hadn't ever surprised him and he wonders if she ever will. Nick did, a little bit.

He moves on.

Still upset, still angry, still confused, still hurt, and still very different than he was, thank you very much, because people change (and maybe spy lady will surprise him and change; perhaps he's being hypocritical… huh), but… moving on. He's good at that.

At least that's what most people see (he wagers he'd give the SHIELDy shadow a run for her money when it comes to wearing masks).

"It's a hi-tech prosthesis. That's actually the most apt description I can make of it." Tony Stark