The author apologizes for the unexpected delay in the next ride of It's All in the Mind. There were unexpected engineering problems that required urgent care before takeoff could be achieved. The author was unable to remove the large beehive in the middle of the vehicle, but please don't panic. If you are allergic to bees, please reconsider taking this ride. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy. Please ensure that your seat belts are buckled and that your heads, arms, and legs remain inside the ride at all times.

It's All in the Mind: Tony is 100% normal. Tony is not a mutant. Tony is Iron Man. Tony is an Avenger. Tony...is just fooling himself.

Telekinesis 101 (Or A Guide to Readjusting Perceptions): Tony is a mutant. Tony is Iron Man. Tony is an Avenger. Tony…has some unresolved issues. Namely, the problem called Steve. Or maybe his overactive brain. Pick either.

Telekinesis for Dummies: Tony is not an idiot. Tony built the arc reactor in a cave with a box of scraps. Tony built Iron Man with cannibalized weapons. Tony is a bona fide genius. Tony…can admit that even geniuses need help, especially when it comes from the X-Men.

A State of Mental Extremes: Tony is protective of his own. The Avengers are off limits to Fury and his lackeys. But maybe he should be more concerned with his own safety. Oops.

An Alternative State of Mentality: Tony Stark does not have time for this junk. Someone outed his secret to the public. No, not the one where he's dating Steve. Yes, the one where he's a mutant. Yes, he's mad. Yes, his life sucks. What else is new? Oh, hi, Extremis.

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own any of the franchises included.

An Alternative State of Mentality

Part I

Tony had dealt with a lot of shit in his life. First, there was the fact that during his more formative years he was basically a little doll to be paraded around and admired because of his genius and the way he would be "just like his father" (yeah, screw you, by the way; he was nothing like him). Second, there was how he turned out to be a mutant and Howard didn't like that. Third, there was Afghanistan and being screwed over by Obadiah Stane (maybe that should be a fourth?). Fourth (or fifth), there was Fury's shit and what he'd done to Tony and his team. Fifth (sixth), there was Extremis.

Ah…Extremis. The current bane of Tony's existence.

But before he got around to that, he should consider all the good things he had in his life.

First, there was JARVIS, his own creation. Second, there was Pepper Potts. Third, there was Rhodey. Fourth, there was Iron Man. Fifth, there was the Avengers. Sixth…was Steve.

Okay, so maybe his life was sort of equal on the good things versus bad, but that didn't erase the fact that Extremis was worth five negative points by itself.

He was a fucking computer.

He might have idly considered what it would be like to be a computer, but he'd never thought that would actually happen. And yet, hey! Here he was with a computer for a brain and a completely new DNA map that he had yet to look at. Fun times, really.

Yet there was Steve, who was worth several positive points (he wasn't sure how many) to himself as well. Steve, who didn't deserve having a messed up Tony as a partner. Steve, who didn't want anyone else. And despite Tony's reservations, he couldn't take Steve's choice away from him. He wasn't going to question his good fortune, but he'd hold onto it with everything he had.

So, to summarize, Tony had dealt with a lot of shit in his life. But he'd also had some good stuff happen to him. He supposed that was all that mattered in the end, really.

Anything else was secondary. Including the enormous cluster fuck that happened after he got Extremis…

When the Quinjet eventually touched down on the Helicarrier (after some protesting from Clint and Natasha and even Thor), the flight deck was empty. Clint opened the door to let them out, pausing at the top to look back at Tony, who stood right next to Steve.

"For the record," Clint said, "I'm against this."

"As am I," Natasha said, moving to stand by Clint.

"Noted," Tony acknowledged, nodding curtly. "But this is something we have to do. Let me do the talking."

"You sure?" Bruce asked.

"He can do it," Steve said, his warm and steady confidence lending Tony strength.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s personnel is still locked within the Helicarrier," JARVIS said. "I shall direct you to Director Fury's location."

"Thanks, JARVIS." Tony glanced back at Spider-Man, still flanking Hansen with Thor. "Spider-Man, you'd better come with. I'll get that problem of yours taken care of."

"If you're sure," Spider-Man demurred.

"Absolutely." Tony nodded at Thor, signaling he should go first with Hansen.

The god of thunder put a hand on Hansen's shoulder, pushing her forward. He led the way down the ramp, followed closely by Clint and Natasha.

"Let's go," Steve told Tony quietly, squeezing his elbow. "I'd like to get you out of those clothes. The color really doesn't suit you."

Tony was startled into a wry grin. "I always thought a puke orange color looked absolutely smashing on me."

"It really doesn't," Bruce said dryly, going with Spider-Man.

Tony took the brief moment with Steve to fortify himself, almost flinching as Extremis roared back into life as he stretched out to the Helicarrier. He'd simply meant to check its working condition by listening to the humming, but apparently that would result in Extremis starting up again.

He could feel JARVIS humming throughout it, integrated into every single system. It was reassuring in a way, as Tony could ground himself in the familiar feeling.

"All right?" Steve asked, watching him.

"Let's see." Tony smiled once, briefly, dropping it before he revealed his nervousness.

He walked off the Quinjet far more confidently than he felt. Undoubtedly, he looked completely ridiculous, what with the filched A.I.M. outfit and the completely mismatched shoes Bruce had found for him in the Quinjet, but it was the impression his body language gave off that mattered. Whatever he felt inwardly didn't matter, as long as he kept it together long enough to tell Fury what he needed to.

True to his word, JARVIS led Tony and the people following him directly to Fury, who was in a debriefing room. He was kept company by Maria Hill and two other men in suits. They were currently bent over the table, discussing something – probably how to get out considering JARVIS was owning their asses.

Rapping against the bulletproof glass of the door, Tony plastered a lazy grin on his face as Fury looked up at him, narrowing his eye.

Linking into Extremis, Tony reached for the intercom in the room, speaking aloud so everyone else could hear him. "Hi, sweetheart. I'd ask if you'd missed me, but I think that's rather obvious."

"Stark," Fury snapped.

"Can he hear you?" Natasha murmured.

Tony tapped his temple in answer, not taking his eyes off Fury. "That's me." His voice hardened. "Why don't we talk? I'm sure a room with a view would be better than this."

Disconnecting from the intercom, Tony stepped back as JARVIS opened the doors. Fury exited a moment later, eye scanning over Tony and then the others, resting momentarily on the figure of Spider-Man standing by Thor. After Fury came Hill and the two other men, who both seemed taken aback at the sight of the masked superhero.

Spider-Man shifted nervously, but didn't say anything. Tony simply gave a bland smile in Fury's direction as the director narrowed his eye dangerously, looking right at Tony.

"I didn't know you'd joined A.I.M.," Fury said coldly.

Tony shrugged. "What can I say? The fashion's awesome. But I resigned; they were a bit too crazy for my taste." He began walking, throwing over his shoulder, "Follow me, ladies and gents."

JARVIS obligingly opened the path for Tony until he reached a room on the side of the Helicarrier with windows to the outside. It gave him some room to breathe with the hum and chatter of technology all around him. If he really listened, he could even hear the programs JARVIS was running to take care of everything. And if he tried even harder, he could hear New York below him and beyond that, the rest of the world.

But he wasn't trying. Shutting it out, Tony refocused on the situation.

"So," he started, turning on his heel to face Fury. "Where should we start?"

The Avengers, Spider-Man, and Hansen remained in a group at the back wall, putting themselves between Fury and his subordinates, but not coming any closer. Only Thor and Hansen remained apart, staying on the fringes.

"Let me," Fury said, a muscle jumping in his cheek. "Why don't we start with the blatant disobedience of my team going after someone I specifically told them was off limits."

Tony let out a short burst of laughter. "Your team? Sorry to disappoint, but that's my team you're talking about. Ours, to be more specific, because no one owns the Avengers."

"The Avengers are under the control of S.H.I.E.L.D.," Fury asserted, turning in a slow circle in order to follow Tony's figure as he walked to the windows.

Tony hummed in acknowledgment, snapping his fingers to let JARVIS know that he should pull up the interactive computer screens. The window obligingly lit up with the blue holographic screens. He flicked through the S.H.I.E.L.D. files, looking for a specific one.

"And then," Fury continued from behind Tony, his image in the reflective glare of the windows glaring at Tony, "there is the takeover attempt by a hostile force and the fact that the Helicarrier lost all power because your lackey is controlling it."

"About that, sorry. Small accident on my part; won't happen again. Don't blame JARVIS. And second…" Tony snickered. "Takeover attempt? And who's hostile here? JARVIS?"

"I am unaware of any such hostile force, sir," JARVIS responded innocently. "I was simply allowing the Avengers to carry out their mission. If I had to prevent dissenters from following, I was only assuring the mission's success."

"See? No takeover attempt." Finding the file, Tony exploded its size for easier viewing. "The Avengers Initiative," he read, turning to the side to let Fury see. "It looks like we've all resigned."

True enough, all the names under the bold name of The Avengers Initiative had a RESIGNED stamped next to them.

Face carefully blank, Tony tapped the spot on the window next to that file. JARVIS opened another, this time with just The Avengers at the top.

"I hope you don't mind," Tony said, tucking one hand into the very large pocket provided by the A.I.M. uniform. "I took out the last part of the name"—he pointed with the other hand, tapping the name so it was highlighted—"because, you know, copyright issues."

Fury brushed past Tony, eye studying the two separate files. "You can't do this."

"Oh, but I just did."

"And what about the rest of the team?" Fury asked, turning to face the others. "Or did you just make this decision without considering anyone else?"

"He has our support," Steve said firmly, unflinchingly meeting Fury's eye.

"All right." Fury folded his arms against his chest, rocking back slightly. "And what about the rest of it, Stark? Who's going to feed you?"

"Stark Industries fully supports this endeavor," Tony said, not rising to the bait. He tilted his head up, smiling guilelessly. "Miss Potts is of the same opinion as me, you see."

"Which would be?"

Tony dropped the smile. "Let me spell this out for you. We are not your dogs. You can't just leash us up and release it when you feel like it."

"Then what are you?" Fury tilted an eyebrow up.

"I don't know. Wolves, maybe?" Tony glanced over the file on the now independent Avengers. "Any potentially vicious kind of animal that's in a pack." He tapped his name, bringing up his profile. "So maybe we're lions, but those are a bit too vicious. I suppose wolves it is." He smiled at Fury, the gesture not reaching his eyes.

"And Spider-Man," Tony said, looking down at his feet before flickering his eyes up, head still tilted downward. "You'll call your lapdogs off."

Fury didn't look back at said superhero. "He's independent."

"Is he?" Tony tapped on the window next to the open file, swiping his fingers towards it. A new name blinked into existence, highlighted on the file. "Oh, look at that. He's an Avenger." He looked up at Fury. "You know what that means. Bother him again and you'll have me to deal with. And if you don't want JARVIS after you, you really don't want me after your head. Clear?"

Fury worked his jaw for a moment, staring Tony down. Tony didn't back down, staring unblinkingly back.

"Crystal," he said finally.

Tony relaxed, his smile amiable now. "All right. Now, Dr. Hansen"—this time Fury looked back at where Hansen was standing by Thor—"I'm sure you know that Extremis is her brainchild. You can't have it."

Fury opened his mouth, but Tony was already continuing, "But you can have her as a gesture of our goodwill. She'll be our prisoner, but you can hold her where you want to. I don't want us to be enemies, Fury. We've had our misunderstandings, but I'm sure you know that it's a waste of our time and energy to fight each other. As a team, we can't work under you. But I'm sure we could work something out as equals. What do you think?"

This time it didn't take Fury that long to respond. A small smirk curved at his lips. "You're a son of a bitch, Stark. But fine. We'll work together."

Tony stuck a hand out, raising an eyebrow when Fury didn't immediately take it. It was taken a moment later, Fury gripping it tightly to shake once.

"I'll have a contract drawn up," Tony said, drawing his hand back into the humongous pocket. "You can look it over before we sign."

"Fine." Fury stepped back, watching Tony turn off the holograms with a swiping downward motion of his hand; they slid down to the floor, blinking out of existence. "Now get changed out of that god awful outfit."

Tony grinned, eyes crinkling. "Sure, honey." He walked over to Steve, nodding slightly to Thor, who handed Hansen off to one of the guys who had been after Spider-Man.

They were just about to leave the room when Fury's voice stopped them. "What happened, Stark?"

Tony glanced back. "Not your dog, Fury. See ya." He lifted a hand in farewell. When it dropped, the doors slid closed behind him, leaving Fury – S.H.I.E.L.D. – behind.

They ended up taking the Quinjet back to the mansion with them, considering it was technically Avengers' property (and Tony's), and they would need a ride to get to their future non-S.H.I.E.L.D. directed assignments. It was parked in the backyard, but Tony wouldn't get any calls from the Homeowners Association about defiling the scenery because of the greenery in the back obscuring everything from view.

As they stepped out into the fading sunlight, Tony found himself exhaling slowly in utter relief. An arm settled around his shoulders, squeezing him reassuringly. Steve smiled at him before planting a kiss directly behind his ear.

There was a nervous cough from behind them and Tony turned to see Spider-Man shuffling his feet nervously.

"So, er…thanks for everything," he said, a crinkle in his mask suggesting he was either grinning or smiling. "But I should get back to my place. I'm sure my au – family's worried. I'm not sure how I'm gonna explain this."

"Tell them some guys in suits were stalking you because you were seen talking to Iron Man," Tony advised, reaching out into the mansion for something very familiar to him. Bonus from Extremis: he could feel technology easier, making it simpler for him to grab it with his telekinesis. "You can also say I took care of it so they shouldn't bother you anymore."

Something whizzed out of the mansion, JARVIS cracking open a door before something broke. It zoomed to a stop before Tony and he grabbed it, powering it on with a simple thought. He began programming in numbers by focusing his mind onto the phone. It was almost frightening how much control he had over technology now.

"Take this." Tony handed Spider-Man his newest model of the StarkPhone, which had been hanging around in his workshop waiting for presentation to the board. "Use it to get in touch with us if you need it. For all intents and purposes, you're a full Avenger now, but we'll consider you independent."

Spider-Man's grip on the phone was laughingly delicate. "I…" He bent his head, and Tony had the odd impression he was gaping. "This isn't even on the market! I can't!" The phone was pushed back to Tony.

Tony turned the phone away from him with a finger, shaking his head. "Consider yourself a tester." His lips stretched into an amused grin. "If it has any bugs or problems, let me know. It shouldn't, but I just finished that so you never know."

"What did I tell you?" Clint asked Spider-Man, watching in amusement as a costumed superhero geeked out over the newest model of the StarkPhone.

"I'll take care of it," Spider-Man promised, treating the phone like it was a treasure.

"Remember what I said about its resilience?" Bruce reminded him. "It'll last through just about anything. You won't crush it."

"I realized that super strength was a problem that had to be taken care of after the first few incidents," Tony said, shooting a glance at Steve, who was blushing lightly.

"The other guy sat on it at one point," Bruce admitted.

"I used it as an arrow," Clint said shamelessly.

"It corrodes with poison," Natasha offered.

"I'll fix that for the next model, because everyone plays with poisons," Tony said, rolling his eyes.

"I placed mine in the microwave and it made a most marvelous explosion," Thor said, beaming. "Truly magnificent."

No one seemed to have any words for this.

"Why," Bruce began, looking absolutely stupefied, "why would you put a phone in the microwave?"

"It was insisting that it was cold."

Tony closed his eyes, an incident from earlier this year coming to mind. "Would this be in January, when it was snowing?"

"Yes."

"So you didn't blow up the microwave," Clint said to Tony, still eyeing Thor like he was missing a few screws.

"I told you I didn't."

"We take what you say with a grain of salt. A very large one. You made me a talking bow and claimed plausible deniability, which made no sense."

"I think I'll go," Spider-Man said, head twisting back and forth like he was watching a fascinating tennis match. He was holding the phone more firmly now. "I'll call sometime. Thanks again."

"Anytime," Tony said just as Bruce asked Clint, "What happened to the bow?"

"It's up on my wall," Clint whispered. "It keeps talking about using the Force."

"I heard that." Tony raised his eyebrows as Clint jumped slightly, shooting him a look.

Spider-Man shook his head slightly in what Tony hoped was disbelief and disappeared with a whir of his web shooters.

"I think we should move this inside," Steve interceded, carting Tony toward the house.

"We'll hang out outside some more," Clint called. "Enjoy the view, what with the new jet and all."

"You do that," Bruce said as Tony passed the threshold, Steve directly behind him. "I'm going inside."

"I hear way better now," Tony murmured, tilting his head back to get a look at Steve's face.

Steve's smile was pained. "You'll get used to it."

Tony turned his eyes back to the front, subdued now.

Artificial intelligences detected. Total: six.

He blinked as the stray thought crossed his mind, flavored with a hum that was almost indistinguishable from his own brain. Extremis?

700 new messages…

The next Extremis thought was absolutely nothing Tony wanted to deal with, so he promptly squashed it. JARVIS could still deal with that.

And yet he didn't have to deal with anything anymore, Tony realized with a sick feeling. Technically, Tony could do everything by himself now. Not that he wanted to, but he could.

Steve seemed to sense his change in mood. "Tony?"

"I…" Tony hesitated, unsure. The appliances the house was filled to the seams with hummed and spoke in code in the back of his head, no matter how much he tried to shut Extremis off (he was getting to be a bit too good at that). Down in his workshop he could actually hear and understand Dummy, Butterfingers, and You talking to each other. In the kitchen he could hear Peggy and Spike chattering, Peggy's voice a soft bell sound in comparison to Spike's higher-pitched boyish voice.

"What do you need?" Steve asked, stopping him with a hand on his bicep. "Tell me." His voice was earnest.

"I…I need to stop thinking. I need it to stop." He was so tired.

Steve nodded slowly, soothingly running a hand up and down Tony's arm. "Okay. We'll do that."

Tony was almost tempted to ask how, but he decided to keep his mouth shut and just let Steve do what he was obviously itching to do.

Five minutes later, they ended up in the bathroom they had been sharing since sleeping together on a nightly basis. Surprisingly, Steve didn't go for the shower; he turned the bath on.

Numbly, Tony began stripping down, his back to Steve as he unzipped the baggy A.I.M. uniform. It slipped off easily, pooling around his ankles.

He was facing the mirror and caught sight of his new body. Forcing himself to ignore the arc reactor, which was the first thing that naturally caught his attention (because it was a glowy thing in his chest), he instead looked at the rest of his body.

There was not a single scar. The ugly pucker hole on his thigh from being stabbed through was gone. The scars on his hands that he'd accumulated from years of working with machinery were all gone as well, leaving smooth unblemished skin as if nothing had ever been there before. Even his calluses from years of working with heavy machinery were gone.

A burn mark on his forearm from an accident with a blowtorch when he was eighteen had vanished. The scar on his thumb from when he'd built his first circuit board was no longer there.

He'd essentially been reborn, like a phoenix.

Now he turned his attention to the arc reactor. It no longer protruded from his chest like an obstruction. Instead, it was now just a simple blue light in his chest, glowing steadily with no sign that it had once been implanted into him.

His fingers came up to trace over the seamless transition from skin to cool glass, only to be covered by a larger hand, interlinking them in a comforting gesture.

"No thinking." Steve's voice was gentle. "The bath's done."

And sometime in the time period where Tony had been engrossed in studying his new body, Steve had undressed and cleared away the distasteful A.I.M. beekeeper uniform.

The bathwater was just on the right side of too hot, releasing tension from Tony's muscles. When Steve slipped in behind him, the water lapping gently at Tony's skin from the further displacement of volume, Tony sagged back against him.

Steve's arms came up to pull him back against his chest. Lips brushed over the tip of his ear and he whispered, "Better?"

"Mm." Tony turned his head, eyes closed, so his cheek lay against Steve's chest. He could almost fall asleep like this.

THEY'RE HOME! an excited voice squealed directly into Tony's head, making him wince.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked, worried.

Shh, Spike! Now it was Peggy's bell-like tone that he'd recognized earlier, pitched at a whisper.

Daddy! Spike sounded petulant.

Shush, little one.That was JARVIS. Your father is currently trying to rest at the moment. He will see you tomorrow.

Me, too? Peggy sounded so innocently hopeful.

You as well, Peggy. Now please quiet down. They have been extremely stressed and could use some rest.

"Tony?" Steve's voice drew him back to himself, looking up into worried eyes.

Tony grinned up at him, a warm feeling swelling in his chest. "I can hear them," he whispered, still grinning.

Steve's face continued to hold that worried expression. "Who?"

Tony's grin softened as he listened to Spike mutter in disappointment about Spider-Man not being there. "Spike, Peggy, JARVIS… They're talking."

Steve blinked, obviously not having expected that. "Really?"

"Really."

Lips twitching, Steve nuzzled behind Tony's ear, drawing a shiver from the other man. "That may be so," he finally murmured, arms tightening, "but you're not supposed to be doing any thinking."

"No thinking," Tony repeated.

Steve was brushing lips against his own now. "That's right." Then he sealed that statement with a kiss, deepening it the moment Tony pressed for more.

It was safe to say Tony didn't do much thinking after that.

Pain was ripping through his chest. Little pieces were being ripped out one by one, picking at him with little sparks. He was screaming, but the person relentlessly digging into his chest ignored him. Thrashing did absolutely nothing, because he was being held down on all sides.

Then there was a saw digging into his chest, carving around into the skin around his heart. They were going to pluck it right out, and then he'd be truly heartless—

Tony woke with a strangled cry, lashing out at the person holding him down. It wasn't just physically. A powerful telekinetic blast knocked the person clear off the bed.

Bolting upright, Tony found himself momentarily hampered by something wrapped around him. He struggled for a few seconds before someone repeating his name in increasingly desperate tones finally caught his attention.

With a ragged exhale, Tony snapped his head to the side, seeing Steve hover by the side of the bed, a bruise already blossoming on his cheek. Horror filled him when he realized he'd thrown Steve off the bed with absolutely no caution.

"Sorry, sorry—" Tony was scrambling to get out of the bed, but found himself held back as Steve latched hold onto his wrist. He flinched violently, residual terror still in his system.

Steve immediately recoiled, face stricken and no that was wrong – that was all wrong.

Tony reached out, grabbing Steve's hand in a fierce hold. "No, don't." He sounded lost, not what he wanted. He swallowed and tried again. "Stay." That was only marginally better.

Steve was still wary, but he did get back into bed.

"I'm sorry," Tony repeated, guilt eating at him.

Steve's answering smile was twisted. "Don't be. I should know better by now."

Tony said nothing, looking down at the tangled mess of blankets around his legs, still keeping a firm hold of Steve's hand. His heart was finally slowing down, allowing him to breathe easier.

Steve shifted, and Tony glanced at him, surprised to see a nervous expression on his face now.

"Can I…?" He made a motion as if to embrace Tony, but stopped.

Tony didn't stand for that, instead curling up into Steve's chest, feeling tremors still working through him. He hadn't had a nightmare that bad in months.

Steve slid down the bed frame to lie flat; Tony adjusted to accommodate for the shift in position, his ear now directly over the other's reassuringly steady heartbeat.

"What…what was it about?" The question was hesitant.

The memory of the nightmare burned in his mind's eye and Tony shivered once. "In…" He stopped, flashes of remembered pain streaking through his consciousness.

"You don't—"

"In Afghanistan," Tony started again, cutting him off, "I was hit with shrapnel from one of my bombs." He was going to soldier through this. "I woke up a little later to find some men speaking into a camera. The next time after that, I was being operated on…for the shrapnel. He didn't use anesthesia." There was a sharp inhale from above him, which he ignored because he had to. "He probably couldn't at that point, because he still needed it for putting that electromagnet in my chest." Tony couldn't remember that, because he'd been under at that point, but he could certainly imagine it.

"Tony—"

"I haven't dreamed about that in months," Tony interrupted, closing his eyes. "But I guess with what happened…"

Steve said nothing for several long moments, simply breathing in and out.

Tony had nearly drifted off again to that soothing sound when Steve spoke, softly. "I might have a nightmare, too. But it won't be about the ice."

Pushing himself up on an elbow, Tony looked at Steve, who was staring up at the ceiling. There were several deep breaths before Steve finally rolled onto his side to bury his face into Tony's shoulder, breath puffing against his skin.

"I was terrified," Steve confessed raggedly. "It was difficult to remember that I still had the others to take care of. And…and then I heard you screaming."

Tony frowned. "What?"

"You were screaming and apologizing and swearing…" Steve's shoulders were shaking and the skin under his face was rapidly getting wet. "I can't stop hearing it, even though you're right here. I can't sleep because this might just be a dream."

Tony brought an arm round Steve's back, stroking up and down in an attempt to reassure him. He gave it up a moment later to squeeze Steve to him tightly, pressing his own face into Steve's hair.

"It's not a dream," he said into blonde hairs. "It isn't."

"I know." Steve hands came up to clutch at Tony's waist. "I know." He shuddered lightly. "But…"

"But you don't know," Tony finished, lifting his face up enough so that he was looking over at the wall, lips pressed against the other's head.

They remained in this position, simply giving and taking comfort.

Tony was beginning to drift back to sleep when Steve's voice dragged him back to consciousness. "Don't leave."

Tony shifted slightly, not dislodging Steve. "What?"

Steve turned his face to the side, illuminating his features with the light of the reactor. "Don't leave," he said again.

Tony squeezed him tighter. "I'm not going anywhere."

Steve sighed lightly, but didn't say anything else. He simply shifted to press his face into Tony's shoulder, settling so that he was lying flat against Tony's front.

Dropping his head to give Steve one last kiss in his hair, Tony closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep with the hum of JARVIS working in the background.

Waking up in the morning found Tony being smothered by one very soundly sleeping super soldier. Steve's head was lying on his chest, but most of the rest of him was also lying directly on top of Tony. It was hot, and Tony couldn't see how he'd managed to sleep with this weight, because they usually didn't sleep like this.

He wriggled a little bit to the side, sighing in fond exasperation when Steve's arm simply tightened around him and he readjusted, going back to sleeping on top of Tony.

A glance to his left showed that it was ten in the morning, which was quite unusual for a guy who usually got up at six to run. But there didn't seem to be anything wrong with Steve health-wise…

"Steve." Tony kept his voice low.

His only response was a snuffle as Steve inched up, resettling with his nose against Tony's neck.

Tony wiggled the arm that was buried under Steve, managing to poke him in the back. "Steve."

There was still no response.

Tony rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "JARVIS?"

The curtains cranked open and a loud boisterous voice blared, "Goooood moooorniiing, America!"

That did the trick. Steve woke with a jerk, hands coming up to grab Tony by the waist. With a smooth roll he was crouched over Tony, hovering protectively over him.

It took him a moment to realize that there was no enemy, and then he was blinking in confusion down at Tony, who had arched an eyebrow. "Tony?"

"Steve." Tony wriggled his fingers, feeling tingles as the limb slowly came back to life. "I think you murdered my arm."

"What?"

"No, wait. It's coming back to life." He brought it up to curl fingers through the soft hairs at Steve's nape, ignoring the pins and needles feeling. Steve closed his eyes, dropping his forehead to rest against Tony's.

"Did you sleep at all?" Tony murmured, fingers scratching the sensitive skin at the back of Steve's neck.

"When?" Steve kept his eyes closed, breathing steadily. "I couldn't sleep when you were gone. Too worried." He sighed lightly, dropping down to half lie on Tony, but with most of his weight still supported by his forearms. He dragged his lips up Tony's cheek to rest against his temple. "You're here now."

Giving a small hum in agreement, Tony reached up to suck a love bite at the curve of Steve's neck and shoulder, the same spot he had marked the previous night.

Steve let out a low stuttering groan, hiding his face in Tony's hair. "Tony."

Tony licked up Steve's neck, eliciting a shudder and another groan. He was just suckling another kiss onto his neck when Steve pulled away, only to capture his lips in a bruising kiss.

Morning breath ignored, Tony pulled Steve fully onto him, slipping a knee in-between the other's legs and rubbing up.

That earned a half-strangled groan into his mouth and Steve pulled off, stooping down to press a kiss directly onto the arc reactor.

Unlike before, where kissing the arc reactor was all good and well but really just a gesture for Tony, as he couldn't actually feel anything through it, this time the small, almost insignificant action sent tendrils of heat curling through his body. Nerves lighted up around the device, sending sparks of sensation directly through his body and to his groin.

"Oh God…" Tony gasped, pushing up.

"You felt that?" Steve's voice was hushed.

"Oh yeah."

There was no warning before the flat plane of Steve's tongue touched it, and his world whited out.

He had the inkling that that should probably worry him, but couldn't really muster up the presence of mind to care.

When they finally came out of the bedroom, it was only because they needed food. Tony had pulled on Steve's oversized shirt, being too lazy to look through the closet for his, but the sweatpants belonged to him.

Making it to the kitchen, the two were greeted with a very enthusiastic rendition of the wedding march.

Morning, morning! I'm so glad you're back! Peggy's voice was an excited squeal in Tony's head. She waved her sink arm in welcome.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Spike zoomed over to Tony, zipping excitedly around his head. You're back!

"Good to see you two," Tony said, tugging at the power cord as it nearly whipped him in the nose. "Calm down, Spike."

Spike sunk down, nudging against his chest. Missed you.

Peggy's lights flashed. Where were you? Everyone was so sad!

Tony looked up at Steve, who had a soft smile on his face as he watched Tony hold Spike. "I had a thing," he finally said, glancing down at Spike. "Didn't know I affected everyone that much."

Steve snorted. Then, ignoring Tony's questioning look, he pressed a kiss to his forehead before going to the fridge to pull out whatever he was planning on making.

Spike pulled out of Tony's hands to hover around Steve's head. Whatcha making?

Leaning back against the table, Tony noted idly, "You can talk more than you've shown."

There was an inquisitive squeak from Spike. What?

"You never actually say these things to us," Tony continued. "Say that so Steve can hear."

This time it was Peggy who made a little questioning beep. You hear us?

"She saying something?" Steve asked, all the ingredients for what looked like French toast laid out before him.

"Just asking if I can hear them," Tony responded, grinning wryly. He crouched down in front of Peggy. "Yeah, Peggy. I do now."

"That is an interesting development, sir," JARVIS noted, joining the conversation. How far does this ability extend?

"Far enough," Tony answered JARVIS's unspoken question. That made him pause. Was it really unspoken, or was it simply in code? Spike might have difficulties talking in English, which would explain why he was so much more verbal when talking into Tony's head.

Still, no matter how good Tony was at programming, he couldn't actually communicate in code. Something else Extremis had given him if he was understanding what his AIs were saying.

Did it run both ways?

"I know that look," Steve said, putting the French toast batter onto Peggy. "What is it?"

"Figuring something out," Tony said, flicking his eyes up to the camera.

"Yeah?"

"Whether this thing goes both ways," Tony said. "I could hear them working before, but not to this extent. I can actually hear them communicate now."

"You were inside one of Stark Industries' satellites," JARVIS said. "I would assume that it is possible."

Connecting to Stark Satellite Serial #0058231…

What? No! Panicking, Tony scrambled to revert whatever he'd done to suddenly start connecting to the satellite.

Connection cancelled.

It was as if he could feel his brain stop connecting to the satellite. He hovered at that cut connection for a moment, feeling the satellite hum as millions of people connected to it. It was slightly insane that he had the capability to link to this giant thing with nothing but his brain.

Coming back to himself, Tony blinked upon seeing that Steve had been joined by Clint, who was sitting on top of the fridge with a glass of orange juice.

"Did you know your eyes were black?" Clint informed Tony. "It's really creepy seeing you do that."

"I'll be sure to tell Hansen that so she can fix it," Tony said sarcastically.

He's mean! Peggy told Tony, simultaneously blowing the stove equivalent of a raspberry in Clint's direction.

"He's not mean," Tony said, looking down at Peggy, "just repressed."

Clint spluttered. "Who's repressed?"

"You are!" Spike chirped, levitating by Clint's head to poke his power cord at him. "Repreeesssed." His voice trailed off toward the end into a smug silence.

"I'm impressed," Steve said, glancing up at where Spike was hovering. "That's a big word."

"Big!" Spike sounded distinctly proud. Big word, Daddy!

Tony had to cough to hide his laugh.

"I'm so unappreciated," Clint complained, looking up at the ceiling as if entreating JARVIS for his support. "I'm your uncle!"

"I thought we agreed you were their estranged cousin," Tony disagreed.

"Uncle," Clint insisted.

"Uncle Hound!" Spike announced gleefully, perching on Clint's head. "You ain't nothing but a hound dog," he sang, power cord gyrating.

"What did I say," Clint griped. "Unappreciated."

Peggy suddenly burst into a beeping rendition of I'm Singin' in the Rain, Spike providing the words from on top of Clint's head.

The music heralded the arrival of Bruce, who'd lifted both eyebrows at the sight before him: Tony leaning against the kitchen table, Steve cooking on a beeping Peggy, and Clint on top of the fridge with a singing coffee machine on his head.

"You have a coffee machine on your head," the scientist observed mildly.

Clint folded his arms across his chest. "It's because I'm cool."

"I thought you just said you were unappreciated," Tony said.

The only response was a peevish "Stuff it."

"Stuff it!" Spike repeated cheerfully, capping off the song he'd just finished. He flew over to Bruce, tapping him on the head with the cord before sliding onto the kitchen table, rolling to a stop by Tony's elbow, belting out, "I'm siiiiingin' in the raaaaaiiiin."

"Nice." Clint hopped down from the fridge, pulling a chair out using his ankle and sitting down. "Now make some coffee before Natasha gets here."

Spike's response was a petulant "No!" She's scary!

"I'd like some," Tony said.

"No," Steve objected. "How much coffee did you have over the last so many days?"

"I had to work," Tony protested.

"You should have slept."

"You can have tea," Bruce suggested, pulling out the box of tea he usually drank in the mornings. "It does have caffeine."

No! I'll make you coffee! Spike tugged anxiously at Tony's sleeve, rolled back so it didn't fall over his wrist.

But I can make him tea! Peggy proclaimed, beginning to boil the water on the ever present kettle that Bruce kept on her.

"You're going to make someone burst into tears here," Tony said, looking askance at Steve, "and it won't be me."

"Tony shouldn't be having any coffee at the moment," Steve said to Spike, who deflated in disappointment, making a small whining noise. "He's already overdone it."

"Have you heard of caffeine withdrawal?" Bruce offered nonchalantly, pulling out another mug for Tony. "Nasty thing that."

"Which is why I'll be having tea," Tony said hastily. "That has caffeine, too."

"It also stains your teeth," Clint added. He kicked his leg out in Spike's direction. "Hey…I'd take some coffee."

"No!" Spike pouted, retreating to the back of the countertop to sulk.

Don't be a baby! Peggy chastised, beeping reprovingly.

The kettle of boiling water whistled and Bruce took it off, pouring two mugs of tea. He handed one to Tony. Steve was just taking off the first batch of French toast when everyone was startled by a loud wail.

Tony looked up from his mug to see Spike take off like a bullet, streaking past a rather startled Thor.

Oh dear, Peggy sighed.

"Has something of importance transpired?" Thor asked, glancing back at where Spike disappeared to.

"Simply a minor upset," JARVIS answered. "I am taking care of it."

Sure enough, Tony could hear JARVIS seeking Spike out and linking into his system for a private chat. Not that it was very private, considering he could still hear it.

Come, Spike. This is extremely childish behavior.

They're being mean!

Captain Rogers is simply exercising common sense. Dr. Banner did not mean to hurt your feelings by offering your father tea.

But I always give him coffee!

And you shall again. This is simply a one-time occurrence, considering your father has been absent for several days and has overdone it with drinking coffee.

But—

No buts, Spike. Your father appreciates what you do for him, but coffee is not the healthiest drink to consume in the amounts he does. Now, calm down and come back to the kitchen. The others are wondering what has happened.

There was silence for a moment and Tony almost thought that the conversation was over when Spike spoke again, voice small. …Monster brother?

Tony had the impression that JARVIS heaved a resigned sigh at the name. Yes, Spike?

Why don't you call Daddy Daddy?

This was the point where Tony jerked himself out of the conversation, not wanting to hear what would become an even more personal talk. He tried to cut it off entirely, similar to hanging up the phone, and was gratified when Extremis withdrew his brain from JARVIS's response.

Blinking, he came back to himself to find that everyone in the kitchen – including Natasha, who had made her appearance – was staring at him. "What?"

"Black eyes," Clint said slowly.

He kept his face blank with a great force of will. "If it bothers you that much," he said, managing to keep his voice pleasant, "then you know where the door is."

"It doesn't bother him at all," Steve said firmly, shooting Clint a look in warning. "It's just an observation."

"It's interesting," Bruce said, sitting at the table.

"It is simply a most enchanting physical trait," Thor said generously.

There was a moment of silence (broken by Peggy's Ew!, though only Tony heard that) as everyone digested what Thor had just said.

"Innuendo aside," Clint said finally, determinedly not looking at Thor, "do you even know what that thing is doing to you? Or are you just using it willy-nilly?"

"I studied the damn code for three days," Tony said, folding his arms, digging his right fingers into his bicep. "I think I'd know what Extremis does. I'm linked to technology, remember?"

"You said you don't understand the biology," Natasha pointed out.

"I understood a lot more than what I told them I did," Tony said, rolling his eyes. "It rewrites everything to genetic perfection. So that mysterious appendix no one knows about? It's gone."

"Great. So you don't have to worry about burst appendixes," Bruce said. "But you said yourself that biology really isn't your forte."

"Emphatically," Clint said. "And in great profane detail."

"Your reactor," Natasha said, raising an eyebrow and flicking her eyes down to Tony's chest. "Do you even know what Extremis did to it?"

Tony shifted, moving his arms so they better shielded the reactor. "I understand your points, people. I'm going to take a look at my body later; give it the full checkup so we're all clear as to what's happened. But I can't just shut it off. I've tried." He shrugged. "So you'll have to deal with black eyes and me being spacey."

"Already used to that," Steve said lightly, sliding over a plate of French toast over to Tony's side. "You're spacey on a daily basis."

But I like it! Beeping softly, Peggy's lights flashed to get the others' attention. You can understand us better!

"That's pretty cool," Tony conceded, earning confused looks from the majority of people in the room. "But I still have to check."

"Who are you talking to?" Bruce asked.

Peggy chimed loudly in answer, lighting up once to signal "Me!"

"So you can hear them," Natasha concluded, sighing. "Perfect."

"I could always hear them," Tony corrected, picking the plate of toast up. He'd just taken it in hand when Steve slung an arm around his shoulders. "But now I hear them talk."

"That's what I said."

"No, there's a difference. You insinuated that I'd never heard them before. I can generally guess what they're saying, but now I actually know. I've always heard, but now it's clearer."

"Thank you for that charming video game analogy," Clint said.

He's not allowed to use me, Peggy informed Tony. At all. He's mean.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "You're not getting any breakfast."

Clint's eyes narrowed. "Says who?"

In answer, Tony glanced at Peggy around Steve's side.

"Wait—"

Nope! Peggy's arm stretched out from the sink, waving threateningly in Clint's direction.

Clint tensed. "Oh my God. Guys—"

"You're on your own," Natasha said.

Bruce raised a hand. "I'm out."

Thor shook his head, remaining seated. "I would greatly prefer to remain on Peggy's good side."

Good idea! Peggy cheerfully chimed in agreement.

"Steve?" Clint pleaded.

Steve darted a look at Tony, who kept his face carefully impassive. "I'd rather not take any sides."

"By which you mean you're on Tony's side."

Peggy's sink arm sprayed water in warning. You're this close, buddy.

Clint didn't need Extremis to get the very obvious message. He put his hands up in surrender and scooted back, fully sitting on the fridge now.

"Good choice," Tony commented.

Clint had a look on his face that told Tony trouble was brewing.

Should I spray him?

"I think he got the message," Tony said, seeing Peggy's arm retract.

"Your toast is getting soggy," Steve said, squeezing Tony's shoulders.

Tony was about to get a fork and knife when an alarmed voice sounding like Dummy shouted, Nonononono!

Dummy! That was JARVIS.

It's ruining it!

Shut it off!

I'm telling Tony! That sounded like Butterfingers.

Stop, stop! Dummy was giving the impression of repeatedly poking something. JARVIS!

There was a dramatic silence for a moment that gave Tony a bad feeling.

JARVIS finally spoke. This will not be mentioned, agreed?

There was a quick agreement on the part of the other three bots.

Coming out of it, Tony found Steve holding onto the plate with him, as his grip had inadvertently slackened.

Seeing his eyes clear, Steve asked him softly, "Tony?"

Blinking down at the cold toast, Tony slowly said, "I should probably stay out of the shop for now."

"That would be an excellent idea, sir," JARVIS said. "Please excuse me." The AI's presence shifted slightly as he began doing something that Tony chose not to examine too closely.

Peggy giggled slightly in Tony's head. Oops.

Considering all the messes Dummy could have gotten into, Tony decided that he really didn't want to know.

Later that day after JARVIS gave the all-clear, Tony could be found in his workshop, letting JARVIS run all the scans he could on his body. Bruce had offered to help, but Tony wanted to do this in private. Steve would be coming down after, as he'd made JARVIS promise to tell him when they were done (despite Tony's ignored protests).

It took about an hour for all the tests to be finished. Then all Tony had to do was wait and wonder, firmly keeping Extremis to himself in the meantime.

There was nothing in the workshop to show that Dummy had made some kind of catastrophic mess. Dummy himself was slightly sheepish at the moment, but he wasn't saying anything – vocally or internally.

Spike was down in the workshop as well, having apologized rather mulishly for his earlier behavior. He'd occupied himself with seeing what Butterfingers and You were up to.

Tony was just watching Butterfingers show Spike a screwdriver when Dummy tugged at his shirt sleeve rather shyly. Tony?

Swiveling his chair toward Dummy, mildly surprised, Tony asked, "What?"

Are you happy?

Tony sensed the others discreetly trying to eavesdrop. Regardless, he kept his tone low. "Why are you asking me this?"

I wonder. Dummy's claw clacked nervously. You seemed sad before, but now you seem happier. Are you?

Tony remembered Pepper saying something similar. That had been before Extremis, but had things really changed so much? Sure, he was now a walking computer, but Steve was still with him and the Avengers were still his team. So things really weren't all that different now.

Regardless of what Extremis had done to his genes, Tony had to remember that. Steve was still here. If that ever changed…

Long-term, he reminded himself. He's in it for the long haul.

Dummy whirred anxiously. Tony?

Smiling gently at his oldest bot, Tony reached a hand out to rub at the joint above the claw. "Yeah, Dummy," he said quietly. "I am."

Hearing rather than seeing the door open behind him, Tony didn't look back as Steve approached him.

Dummy ran his claw through Tony's hair once. I'm glad. Then he left, wheeling by Steve to poke him in the side. Watching you. That said, he left to entertain Spike, taking over from Butterfingers as the little guy joyfully greeted him.

"Something wrong?" Steve asked, coming over to stand behind Tony after casting a wary glance after Dummy. He ran a hand over the back of Tony's neck, ruffling the black strands of hair.

"Oh. Nothing." Tony blinked to clear his vision, looking up at him. He'd never known Dummy was so protective.

Thankfully, Steve took his statement at face value. "JARVIS said he was almost done."

Tony glanced over at the empty spot in the air where the results would eventually come. "I'll take your word for it."

"There is no need to, sir," JARVIS said smoothly. At the same time, the air began lighting up with blue screens, graphics, scans, and lines of medical jargon simplified for Tony's understanding highlighted on them. "Everything has been processed."

Being the smart guy he was, Tony went straight for the information on the arc reactor. The readings and the scans JARVIS had taken made him pause, frowning as he tried to understand what Extremis had done to him.

Steve shifted to kneel by him, balancing on one knee (it kind of made him look like he was going to propose to the empty air, not that Tony was looking). "The shrapnel's gone, isn't it?" he asked tentatively.

"It is." Tony tapped an older scan that showed where the shrapnel had previously been lodged, blowing it up. He blew up the newer scan post-Extremis immediately afterward. There was no sign of any shrapnel in the latter scan, but there was something else that made him wonder.

"Is the whole thing supposed to be shining?" Steve leaned forward, brow furrowed in that adorably cute way that made Tony almost completely forget whatever he was supposed to be doing.

Thankfully, he was a genius and capable of remembering. "No, it isn't." Out of habit, he tapped a finger on the arc reactor (sending sparks of sensation down his body as he did), which should have been gone because all it was doing was powering the magnet to keep the shrapnel out of his heart. And if the shrapnel was gone, the reactor should be gone as well because its purpose was no longer there.

But instead of being gone, the arc reactor had merged with his body. It was no longer a metal tube going into his chest. The bone and muscle that had been taken out was back, but there was now a concentrated energy source actually in his chest. It even had roots that were spreading throughout the rest of his body, explaining the way he could now feel it when someone touched him there.

"What's the energy source?" Tony asked, looking through the rest of the scans on his body.

"The same that powered the reactor prior to Extremis."

Pausing, Tony couldn't help but put a hand over the arc reactor, confusion riddling his thoughts. "So I have a ball of energy just sitting in my chest?"

"Essentially, yes." JARVIS sounded rather apologetic for not knowing more. "It is not just isolated to your chest, sir. There are remote traces throughout the rest of your body."

"What does that mean?" Steve sounded worried.

Tony gave him a weak smile. "I'm not entirely sure. The reactor's original purpose was just powering a magnet for the shrapnel and since that's gone its function is as well. Extremis should have taken it out. Since it didn't, I suppose it's doing something else now. Just what is something we'll have to figure out."

There was a slow nod as Steve took that in. "What about the rest of it?"

"I'm reborn." Tony lifted both eyebrows meaningfully. "A new man."

"Your skeleton is hollow," JARVIS helpfully interjected.

"Aside from that," Tony said dismissively, discarding the scans of his skeleton.

"It's hollow?"

"I'm fine, Steve." Tony rapped his knuckles against the table. "I'm not liable to break anything. Hell, I've probably lost weight—"

"Fifteen pounds, sir."

"—so that's a bonus. Then there's the extra muscle and heightened reflexes. Extremis isn't supposed to kill the user—"

"There was a two percent chance of survival," Steve said tightly.

"Point," Tony conceded. "But that's during the adjustment period. After everything's all done, it's supposed to keep the user alive. And making it easier to break bones won't help."

Steve's lips pursed. "What about everything else?"

"Everything else" being the fact that Tony was now a walking computer. And that, sadly, wasn't really something JARVIS could scan for, because it was all in his brain.

"Scans show heightened neural activity," JARVIS reported, stymieing Tony, "especially when sir uses technology."

But I wanna use the blowtorch! Spike insisted, breaking into Tony's thoughts.

Maybe later, Dummy hedged. Why don't you try the wrench again?

Put the lamp together, Butterfingers coaxed.

Blowtorch!

"No blowtorch," Tony called, startling Steve. "Nothing dangerous at all, Spike."

"Boo!" Spike was visibly pouting, power cord curled around a wrench.

"I'm with Tony on this," Steve said, glancing back at Spike.

"Poo!"

"I can ground you," Tony threatened. "You'll be stuck upstairs with Peggy."

"No! Be good!" Spike scooted over so he was sitting on top of Dummy, who moved his arm up and down.

That means no blowtorch, Dummy informed the young AI.

Spike pouted again, but said nothing, clutching the wrench tighter.

Tony turned to Steve, who was smiling lightly but had small lines of stress around his eyes. How had Tony not noticed them before?

He wet his lips, aiming to say something, but was beaten to the punch by Steve. "How is this going to work?"

For several panicked seconds, Tony thought he was talking about the relationship. Hadn't Steve told him this was going to work out even with Extremis? Hadn't he said they were going to do this together?

Something of his panicked thoughts must have shown in his face, because Steve was clutching at his arm, anxiously saying, "I meant with Iron Man, Tony. God, you can't—"

"I knew that," Tony said hurriedly, smiling falsely. "I was just thinking about how to answer."

The expression on Steve's face told him that he didn't believe Tony's pitiful lies one bit, but thankfully he let it lie.

"The suit." Tony exhaled slowly, looking over to where all the models sans the Mark III were currently located. "I can work something out—"

"The truth, Tony." Steve squeezed his arm lightly. "I know you can work something out eventually, but if something happened right now that you would have to put the suit on for, could you do it without a problem?"

Truth be told, Tony didn't know. He was great at pulling tricks out of nowhere while under duress, but he had the feeling Steve wouldn't appreciate that as an answer. And in any case, he wasn't alone anymore. He couldn't do stuff like that with a team to watch out for. And if it were Steve…Tony wouldn't want him to put himself at risk like that.

Mouth twisting slightly, he kept his eyes on Steve's fingers on his arm as he responded in a steady voice, "Probably not."

"Okay." Steve nodded slowly, standing up while not relinquishing his grip on Tony; his hand slid up to rest on his shoulder. "So you'll work on this and we'll take care of any problems that come up."

"If it's something big," Tony said, "I'm coming in anyway. I can deal with it."

"Tony—"

"If something like Loki happens again, you'll need me." He set his jaw obstinately. "I won't stay behind. But I'll be benched for everything else." He smiled wryly. "Shouldn't take me too long to get the hang of this."

Steve let out a low helpless laugh, briefly closing his eyes. "I suppose that's the best I'll get from you." He gave a small grin.

Tony shrugged lightly. "Yeah, probably."

Sighing softly, Steve stooped down only to plant a kiss on top of Tony's head, earning an owlish blink in surprise. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I'm always careful."

There was a low snort. "Of course."

"No, really." Tony tipped the chair back slightly. "When have I not given the impression of being careful?"

"You've set yourself on fire multiple times, gotten yourself stuck in a weird contraption with only Dummy around to help, and exploded half the lab with a new arrow for Clint. Should I go on?"

Tony stared up into Steve's eyes, saw that he was completely serious, and scrapped the joke he was going to make. "Okay. I'll be careful."

As if to contradict his words, there was a small explosion behind them, cutting off whatever Steve was going to say.

Put it down! Dummy didn't sound happy.

Whirling around, Tony found Dummy clutching Spike in a claw, distancing themselves from what looked like the remnants of the blowtorch and a toaster that he had been working on for Thor.

As he was turning, he heard JARVIS bark, Spike! Hell, Tony was glad JARVIS had never used a tone like that with him.

Butterfingers and You were behind Dummy, looking rather ashamed of themselves.

Looking at the damage for a long moment, Tony turned to stare at Spike disapprovingly. "You're grounded."

"Tony—"

"Don't argue, Steve."

"I wasn't going to. But maybe he should stay out of the kitchen."

"I shall take care of it, Captain," JARVIS assured the two of them.

Sorry. Dummy had noticeably wilted. Spike was now on the ground before him, visibly pouting (who knew coffee machines could pout?).

Slumping slightly forward, Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. Steve squeezed his shoulder in sympathy.

Tony firmly told himself to get over it. Extremis wasn't going to do him in. It wasn't. So buck up, Stark.

Spike retreated to the top of the cabinet, JARVIS chastising him nonverbally.

But if Extremis didn't, Spike would. Why did people complain about teenagers? Toddlers were worse. Much worse.

When Tony and Steve walked back up into the living room, they saw the rest of the team sitting on the couch, cabinet, or chairs and staring (or glaring, really) at the TV. Which, Tony noticed, wasn't actually the same TV that had been left before he went off to parts unknown in Washington. It looked like the others had gotten fed up with the other always showing Asgardian porn.

The new TV was playing CNN with a blonde-haired woman speaking into the camera in front of what looked like a flaming wreck that resembled an passenger airplane.

"Nothing has been released as to the cause of the power outages across the world and the malfunctioning of the satellites, but a statement will be released tomorrow regarding the state of affairs elsewhere in the world. In the meantime, firefighters, police, and rescue organizations are being stretched to the limits—"

It was turned off by Steve, who had grabbed the remote from the arm of the couch. The action caused the others to look over at them.

"We were watching that," Clint said, no rancor in his tone.

"And now you aren't," Steve said evenly.

Tony kept his face impassive even as Extremis continued playing the channel in his brain. He closed his eyes, leaning his head against the doorframe as he watched the news behind his eyelids.

There was just a short summary on the plane – one of thousands that had been downed – before the reporter turned the reins over to the anchorman. Cutting it off like he would with a TV, Tony opened his eyes to see everyone else staring at him.

"Looks like I can play TV in my head," he said without preamble.

"I thought you'd hold off on using Extremis?" Clint asked.

"Working on it." Tony tossed a pad to Bruce, who caught it. "Reports on the scans JARVIS ran."

Bruce slipped his glasses on and bent over it, the blue light of the pad lighting up his face.

"What about your reactor?" Natasha asked.

Tony shrugged lightly, refraining from tapping against it. "I'm clear of shrapnel, so we don't have to worry about my heart giving out."

"Why do you still have it then?" Clint pointed out.

Tony answered with a lifted shoulder.

Steve sighed. "We don't know," he answered.

All in favor of changing the subject instead of concentrating what was now wrong with him, Tony looked round the room. "Where's the old TV?"

"It was too distracting," Clint said.

"The box is in my lodgings," Thor said. "It is pleasing to have a window to my world."

"Why don't you go back?" Steve asked.

"The Bifrost has yet to be repaired," Thor said, an unusually somber expression on his face. "Until it is, travel between Midgard and Asgard is restricted."

Bruce looked up from the pad. "Why are you here then? Isn't Asgard your home?"

Thor had no embarrassment in his face as he admitted, "I have much to learn before I can take the throne of Asgard. My father used the Tesseract to send me here so I may learn what I can. But the Tesseract cannot be used as such transport with great frequency, as it is too dangerous. If I am needed on Asgard, my father will send for me."

"So when Richards and his team showed up when you came, it was because of the Tesseract," Tony murmured, equations lining up in his head.

"Yes. It was with great surprise that I found myself accompanied by such persons on the journey here."

"So you're stuck here?" Clint summarized bluntly.

"It is no great hardship, Clinton." Thor smiled broadly. "You are my friends and noble warriors. I have learned much while with you."

"But don't you want to go back?" Steve asked, his face unreadable. "Your family's there."

It was with a jolt that Tony realized Steve understood where Thor was coming from. He was a man out of time and everyone he knew from his time was either dead or about to die. Given the choice, would he choose to go back?

Thor shook his head slightly. "Jane has done much to try and understand the workings of the Bifrost so that it may one day be repaired. For now, I am satisfied to remain with my friends. And you are, as you Midgardians would say, family." Thor's grin was small but filled with emotion.

No one was sure what to say in response to that.

Eventually, Clint cleared his throat, muttering, "I…can kind of say the same."

Natasha inclined her head. "Likewise."

Bruce shrugged, a small half-smile on his face. The pad with Tony's medical information was still in his hands, neglected for now.

"It's a new home," Steve said quietly, ducking his head slightly.

Now everyone turned to Tony, who shifted his weight uncomfortably. His addition was flippant: "Yeah, love you guys, too."

"Touching," Clint remarked dryly.

"My touchy-feely quota has already been maxed out for the day," Tony said, cocking his head to the side.

Besides, there was no need for him to mention that the Avengers were basically the family he'd never had. What he'd said wasn't a lie, even if it was stated as a bit of a joke, and the others knew that. They'd all formed their own little close-knit family that squabbled over petty issues, had bonding time, and worked together.

So the family thing was a given. That didn't interest Tony all that much. What did was the TV. It didn't really make any sense as to how he'd connected it to Asgard when the Bifrost was broken and there was no conceivable way of linking Earth to Asgard without the Tesseract or the Bifrost.

He reached out to where Thor's room was, feeling for the hum of the TV. Suddenly, he couldn't feel his body anymore. He was part of something else – something much bigger than himself. It was vast and empty. Then he caught a glimpse of a gleaming city on the horizon, a rainbow-colored bridge stretching out to it and part of it broken off, revealing the black expanse of the in-between he'd seen when guiding the nuke to the Chitauri.

Recoiling, he fled back to where instinct said his body (home) was. He landed back in his skin with a jolt, completely disoriented for one terrifying moment and unable to see.

Then he realized this was because his face was mashed into Steve's shirt. He could feel that he was kneeling on the ground and leaning fully into Steve, who had his arms wrapped tightly around him. He was also anxiously repeating his name, sounding more panicked with every repetition.

Working his throat for a moment and noting his voice wasn't cooperating, Tony shifted slightly to show he was present and not floating somewhere between worlds. He pulled back enough so he could see that the others had formed a ring around them.

"So"—his voice was hoarse—"I probably shouldn't do that again."

Steve's sigh of relief was audible, but he didn't let go. "What happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure." He didn't want to say that he suspected he'd mentally gone to Asgard until he had more proof.

Bruce was the only one who had a vague flash of disbelief cross his face before he smoothed it out.

"This is what happens when you use something you don't know about," Clint said, folding his arms.

Tony pulled away from Steve, leaning back. "For the record, I've been benched, so you don't have to be concerned about this happening in the field. But don't worry; you won't have time to miss me."

"Do you need help?" Bruce asked.

Tony gave a wry smile, looking from Steve's worried face to Bruce's. "I don't think this is something you can help with."

Steve reached out to interlace their fingers, squeezing tightly. "If you need it…"

Tony's smile was small. "I'll let you know."

It was around four in the morning and Tony was in the kitchen, working on schematics for his Mark XI armor – the one that he wanted to make space worthy. At the moment it was still an idea and hadn't yet been built, but that was what simulations were for.

Yet as he worked on the suit, part of his attention was taken up by the news playing on the tabletop (he had a TV for those that weren't as comfortable with advanced technology as him; technically, he didn't even need one). It was turned to CNN since that was mainstream and not as conservatively skewed as FOX would be. Even so, it wasn't his favorite news source because all mainstream media was biased; it was just a convenient way of finding out what was going on in the world at the moment.

"More than twenty-four hours after the event now known as the Great Blackout"—real creative there—"enough information has been compiled to give an outline and general time frame of the events. Although no cause has been listed for the source of this, officials have been looking into known terrorist organizations. Others believe we should be looking more closely at home considering what exactly happened.

"At approximately eight-thirty in the evening on November fourteenth, frequencies throughout the world recorded what was described as an agonized scream. Only moments later power went out around the world and all satellites were taken offline, effectively cutting off everything electronic. Although it was initially thought that the blackout was worldwide, recent reports have shown that smaller towns and remote areas remained untouched, only losing communications and touch with the outside world."

The anchorwoman paused momentarily, taking a small breath before continuing. "Several minutes later, all products by Stark Industries began functioning. Reports show that the company's main satellite was the only functioning satellite at this point and would remain so for several hours. At this moment, all satellites are functional and there is no sign of the cause. And yet around the world countries are reeling from the repercussions from the Great Blackout. Rescue organizations are struggling to meet demands as power surges in the grid resulted in numerous fires and the loss of traffic lights led to hundreds of accidents on all major roads. Hospitals are also scrambling to make up for the several hours without power, as even the backup generators were affected. Last but not least is the downing of hundreds of planes that were in the air at the time. The total number of casualties is still unknown at this time, but estimates place them at around three hundred fifty thousand."

The anchorwoman paused again, shuffling some papers around. "Although the official cause as to the Great Blackout remains unknown, suspicion has fallen on Stark Industries—"

With a blink and a thought, Tony shut it off, the tabletop turning dark. Closing his eyes, he leaned forward, digging his thumb into the skin between his eyebrows. He could already hear his phone ringing nonstop.

Wait…

Groping, he took his phone out of his pants and squinted at the screen, seeing that it was Pepper who was calling. He answered it, placing the phone on the table so he could continue to focus on his schematics.

He didn't look down at the screen to see her face. "It's four in the morning, Pepper. Why are you calling?"

So he might have been a bit more abrupt than usual. But it was difficult to be his usual upbeat self with guilt churning his stomach.

Pepper didn't seem to notice his abruptness, voice sounding stressed. "I just finished a conference call with Russia."

Looking down, Tony stopped manipulating the holograms above his pad to note that Pepper looked tired and stressed out and was currently gulping down what looked like a Red Bull. "Is that Red Bull?"

She shot him a tired glare, putting the can out of sight. "I just said I talked to Russia and you're asking if I'm drinking Red Bull? And yes, Tony, I am. Now can you focus on what the problem is?"

Tony really wanted to ask why she was drinking Red Bull since she'd never ever – not once in all the years Tony had known her – touched that "artificially manufactured heart attack waiting to happen" even though she'd pulled many all-nighters that would have justified it. But since Pepper had a gleam in her eyes that told him he'd better rethink that impulse, he instead asked, "Why were you talking with Russia?"

Pepper arched a disbelieving eyebrow. "I don't think you could have missed the Great Blackout, Tony. You practically live in an electronic appliance. I've been trying to smooth over this whole mess since the satellites came back online and I haven't heard anything as to what happened to cause this."

At that, Tony felt even guiltier as he realized no one had remembered to call Pepper and inform her as to what happened during the last so many days. She was aware of his appointment with Hansen, but she didn't know what had happened after that. As far as she knew, the appointment had gone off without a hitch.

"About that…" Tony swallowed, eyes flickering away before returning to the screen.

Pepper's eyes sharpened. "What happened, Tony? Did something go wrong with your visit with Dr. Hansen?"

Tony couldn't stop the frown from appearing. "She's in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody. And that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"What happened?" Pepper asked again.

"A little hiccup, Pepper, nothing bad—"

"Nothing bad? Tony, the world lost power for hours! The world! And that's not bad? Why is Dr. Hansen in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody when I know you can't stand Fury?"

Tony suppressed a sigh, ducking his head to massage his forehead. He didn't really want Pepper to know that he'd been mutated into some sort of computer, but this sort of thing wasn't exactly something you hid from one of your closest friends (and ex-girlfriend). He'd learned that lesson after the palladium poisoning incident.

"What lesson?"

What? Tony's head snapped up in alarm. He hadn't said any of that aloud, he knew.

"Yes, you did, Tony."

It took him a second to realize what had happened. Damn Extremis!

Pepper had a mixture of alarm and worry plastered on her face. "Extremis?"

Exhaling slowly through his nose, Tony focused on cutting the link he had inadvertently created to the phone. He felt the lost link as Extremis dropped it, Pepper's image on the phone unwavering even as he mentally disconnected from the phone call.

"I meant to talk with you about that," he finally said, looking up at the ceiling. "There was a little thing in Washington when I went to look at the program."

"A little 'thing?'" Tony could hear the quotation marks. "Is this related to why she's with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"She may or may not have been working with a terrorist organization known as A.I.M.," Tony said hurriedly. "Well, she was, but she's not anymore. That's been taken care of"—a flash of nausea as he remembered the sickening squelch of M.O.D.O.K.'s body hitting the wall—"but something else happened that you should probably know about."

Pepper tightened her lips, but said nothing, something which Tony was infinitely grateful for. This was difficult enough as it was. He didn't know if he could tell her if she interrupted.

"There might have been a little kidnapping incident," Tony said, poking at his tablet. "Okay, not 'might,' because it happened, but I'm here now so it's all right now."

"Tony…" Pepper visibly swallowed, face pinched. "Please tell me that I didn't just hear you say that you were kidnapped."

"You didn't just hear that," Tony said obediently.

"Oh God." Pepper ducked her head, hands coming up to run through her hair, completely mussing up her usually neat style. "And this is related to the Great Blackout? Who else knows, Tony?"

"First, please don't call it the Great Blackout. It's a horribly cheesy name that I never want to hear again. Second…no one really knows except for the terrorist organization, the Avengers, and S.H.I.E.L.D. And Spider-Man, since he was there for it."

Pepper blinked. "I'm not going to ask."

His eyes flickered upward to where Peggy was, silent and without judgment. He could almost hear (or maybe he could, it was difficult to tell) her support of him; it was a bit like a mental hug, giving him the courage he needed. He could even feel JARVIS's presence around him, much like a security blanket (and wasn't that something to think about).

"I managed to get out," Tony said. "Obviously, since I'm talking to you right now and I'm fine – totally fine—"

"Tony—"

"—but I had to buy time so I fixed the problem with Extremis. I also pissed off the leader while at it and got injected with Extremis in the process."

There was a short pause. Then: "What?"

Tony took a breath, released it, and said in a far calmer voice than he thought he was capable of, "I was injected with Extremis."

"Okay." Pepper looked like there were numerous things she wanted to say, but none of them made it past her lips. "Is there anything else?"

That…was far easier than Tony had thought it would be. "What about that phone call with Russia?"

To her credit, Pepper wasn't too thrown off guard at the complete non sequitur. Her mouth did do a little unhappy twist. "The blackout has given Stark Industries a lot of bad press, Tony. The Russian government called to ask rather nicely whether or not the company was responsible for this problem."

"That sounds rather blunt for politicians."

Pepper smiled wearily. "Perhaps they didn't say as much in so many words, but it was certainly insinuated. I've been doing damage control since power came back on. Our main satellite was the only functioning one for hours. That raised a lot of questions. Haven't you been watching the news?"

"I turned it off." Tony's jaw tensed for a few seconds. "I'm sorry, Pepper."

"Tony, unless you asked to be kidnapped – and no matter how obnoxious you are I know you didn't – none of this was your fault."

"Extremis." It was all Tony could say.

It didn't take Pepper very long to understand what Tony wasn't – couldn't – saying. "Oh, Tony…"

And he couldn't stand that sad, worried tone. "It was so loud. I just needed it to be quiet for a moment." Guilt was choking him as he remembered just reaching a mental hand out and squashing most of the noise so it wouldn't hurt him anymore. He hadn't even thought as to the repercussions (three hundred and fifty thousand people dead).

"It wasn't your fault," Pepper said firmly. "I wasn't there, but I know it wasn't your fault. And since you won't listen to me, you better listen to Steve and the others. What happened wasn't your fault."

"I'm responsible for it," Tony snapped. "Do you know how easy it is to reach out and just shut off all the satellites? I can reach out to Antarctica now and turn off the power keeping the research outposts there functioning. It was me; I did it."

"Tony—"

"Pepper, please." Tony sighed, bringing a hand up to rub his thumb along the bridge of his nose. "You called me for a reason other than to say that you were on the phone with the government of Russia."

It was probably something on Tony's face – he wasn't sure what – that told Pepper not to push it. Still, there was something in her face that told Tony this wasn't the last of it. "I need to call a press conference, and you have to be there to give your statement. There's probably going to be one later for the Avengers. Right?" Pepper's eyebrows were arched in that way that told Tony she'd just given him an order and it had better be followed.

That was going to be on Tony to arrange now that they were no longer part of S.H.I.E.L.D. Woo-hoo.

"Press conference. Okay." Tony nodded. "Note cards?"

"Please. And don't go off them like you did when you announced you were Iron Man. We can't handle that at the moment."

"That was one time." Tony didn't say that he wasn't going to announce that he was now a supercomputer capable of shutting down and/or linking into all of the world's electronics. That would open a whole new cluster fuck that no one was prepared to deal with.

"Of course." Now she was patronizing. "I'll send you the details later. Get some sleep, Tony. You look like you need it."

Pepper ended the call before Tony could say anything else. That meant he had probably upset her by refusing to talk about what had happened in greater detail.

Sighing again, Tony pushed the phone out of reach, refocusing on his tablet and the schematics of the Mark XI.

Moments later he heard Steve's familiar footsteps and felt his presence at his shoulder. He didn't react except to move a chair backwards for Steve to sit in.

After a short pause, the other man did so. "A press conference?" he asked evenly.

"Eavesdropping isn't very polite," Tony said absently, poking at the chest piece of the suit. The bigger reactor wasn't cooperating very well (it kept wanting to explode the suit the moment he would reach escape velocity, and no one would be happy with that), and he was seriously considering overhauling the arc reactor's basic design just to get the energy boost he needed.

"JARVIS told me," Steve admitted, catching Tony's attention.

"JARVIS, what the hell?" Tony scowled up at the security camera.

"I apologize, sir." JARVIS didn't sound very sorry at all. "I was concerned about your lack of sleep."

"And that was all?" Tony groused, leaning back in his chair. The back of his mind was still fiddling with the suit design and the tablet's holographic display was flashing like crazy to keep up with what his mind was doing since Extremis had so helpfully linked into it. Tony wasn't going to cut it because it was kind of cool to see it changing without any actual physical input from him.

"I woke up," Steve said. "Alone. Then JARVIS told me that my partner was sitting in the kitchen talking with Pepper when he should be sleeping. I came in just in time to hear the last part of it, when she said you had to give a statement."

Tony looked to his side to see Steve looking right at him, face determinedly set. It looked like Tony was going to be dragged to bed one way or another. "Can we just get to the part where you cart me off to bed? Because it looks like it's going that way."

"I'd rather talk about why you're not in bed to begin with."

Tony closed his eyes, exhaling softly. Images flashed behind his eyelids – pictures from millions of news sources. He closed it off, but there was still the persistent buzzing of Extremis in the back of his head. Then there was the humming of the house around him and the programs JARVIS was running. Beyond that was the world and the vast emptiness of before, threatening to swallow Tony whole if he wasn't careful.

A light touch to his arm brought him out of it. "Tony?"

Tony turned to look into worried blue eyes. Smiling tiredly, he said, "If your brain doesn't shut up, can you sleep?"

He wasn't going to mention the nightmares: the half-formed images of Afghanistan, water choking his lungs, and M.O.D.O.K. hitting the wall with a sickening squelch. He'd woken up shivering and trying to keep his gasps for air as quiet as possible. Then he'd gotten out of bed to try and take his mind off of everything that had happened.

Stark Industries Calls Press Conference – Tony Stark to Speak

Tony restrained the reflexive twitch as the headline flashed through his head without any warning. It looked Pepper had already gotten the ball rolling on the press conference. And the information she'd sent was popping up on his tablet now, displacing the image of the Mark XI armor that was still being modified.

Using Extremis, he opened the file, letting the information hang there in the air above the tablet for both of them to see. The conference was scheduled for noon that particular day, which was a nice round number and in no way interfering with any lunch plans, because Tony hadn't had any. No, really.

There was a low sigh from Steve. "Can I help?"

Tony reached out, collapsing the hologram and turning the tablet off. "With?"

"Your sleeping problems." Steve reached out to rest a hand over Tony's where it was holding the tablet. "I…I can't sleep either. So maybe…maybe we can just lie in bed together?"

If Tony were feeling particularly vindictive, he could ask why Steve just wanted to lie in bed if it wasn't for sleeping or having sex. But he wasn't. He was tired and wanted everything to just shut up.

"Okay," he agreed, earning himself a soft smile that made his heart melt.

They didn't run into anyone else on the way to the bedroom, which was probably because it was getting to be five in the morning. As they resettled under the blankets, Tony ended up half-sprawling across Steve, using the sound of the other's heartbeat as a focus to ground him.

Soon fingers were carding through his hair, the soothing motion releasing tension from Tony's muscles he hadn't known was there.

It was scarcely minutes when he dropped off into an exhausted sleep, lulled by the rhythmic beating of Steve's heart and the repetitive motion of fingers stroking through his hair.

It was several minutes before he was due to go out and face the press; he was standing in Stark Tower just behind the front doors, ready to march out when Pepper announced him. Tony wasn't nervous; he wasn't. He'd grown up in front of the camera for Christ's sake. But he might be the tiniest bit apprehensive about Extremis acting up. That was why he had sunglasses on hand (which he was currently polishing), and thank goodness it was sunny.

Steve wasn't with him because Tony had insisted. This was something only related to SI and if Captain America was seen backing up Tony Stark then questions would be raised. Steve had wanted to point out he was going as Tony's partner, not Captain America, but the rebuttal that reporters and the public never cared had gotten the other to grudgingly acquiescence and watch from the mansion.

"You okay, boss?" Happy asked, seeing Tony take off his sunglasses for the third time to polish them.

Tony plastered a smile on his face that didn't seem to convince Happy at all. "Never better."

"You'll get them," Happy said encouragingly.

"Yep." Tony put his sunglasses on as he tuned into one of the broadcasts on the conference. There was no need to freak Happy out about the eyes.

Pepper looked rather pale in the sunlight despite the makeup on her face, but was resolute in the face of the flashing bulbs and shouting voices.

She was just answering a question on Stark Industries' supposed involvement in the Great Blackout (Tony was going to do his damn best to come up with a new name and make it stick. The Tech Crash, maybe?). "As of the moment, no one is certain what caused the Great Blackout. Stark Industries was just as affected as the rest of the world. Now, any further questions will be given to Tony Stark."

That was his cue. Tuning out of the broadcast, Tony swept out of the tower, coming up to the pedestal that had been set up just for this purpose. He gave Pepper a smile, clasped her once on the shoulder, and took her place, seeing her move to stand just to the side in a show of support.

Turning to the mass of reporters, Tony cracked his familiar media smile. "Well, isn't this a stunner. When was the last time we talked like this?"

"Two months ago," a guy from a smaller newspaper called.

"Wow, was it that long ago?" Extremis helpfully pulled up the relevant news articles on him giving a speech on his relationship with Steve Rogers and that the public could kindly keep their noses out of their business. He told it to butt out and refocused on the conference. "So," he began, looking down at the note cards Pepper had very helpfully provided him in case he saw fit to pull another "I am Iron Man" stunt, "apparently we're going to deal with what happened with the blackout." He wasn't going to call it the Great Blackout; he refused.

"Were the Avengers involved?" a reporter from CNN asked, standing up.

"No comment from that side for the moment," Tony said, pointing at him with the stack of note cards. "I'm here as a representative of Stark Industries, not the Avengers. Next question. You in the green jacket."

Said man stood up. "Mr. Stark, what do you have to say about the allegations Stark Industries was responsible for the Great Blackout?"

"Well, first"—Tony put up a hand, telekinetically flicking through the cards on the pedestal so he could see what Pepper had to say on the matter before he potentially contradicted anything she'd said—"who coined the term the Great Blackout? Because I find it horribly cheesy. I vote for the Tech Crash, or maybe the Tech Fail. Or perhaps the Day When the World Lost the Internet."

"Tony," Pepper hissed.

"And second," Tony continued, seeing that Pepper had nothing to say beyond a "Don't do anything stupid, Tony" that was boldly underlined emphatically several times, meaning he was free to do what he wished, "I see no evidence to justify the accusation that Stark Industries was behind it."

"Your company's main satellite was up and running minutes after," the man pointed out, thankfully not using the name the Great Blackout (probably because he didn't want to hear Tony go off on a tangent again). "Only the products from your company were working for hours after the incident."

"Is it the company's fault that our products are that much better than anything else on the market? Our satellites are top of the line; I should know since I designed them. If the main one was up and running faster than any other satellite, it's because it's that good. The same goes for any and all Stark products. The accusation that Stark Industries was in some way responsible for this event is falsely founded, unless you have concrete evidence to back up that claim.

"Now, the lady in the absolutely marvelous purple coat."

The lady in the absolutely marvelous coat (but with a frighteningly awful hairdo) stood. "Is this in any way connected with the earlier attack on the tower in October?"

"Absolutely no evidence has revealed there to be any connection, but we'll be sure to keep you updated on that front," Tony lied smoothly. "You in the green tie." He pointed to a man in the front.

"What is Stark Industries doing to help?" the dark man with the horribly gaudy green tie asked.

"Perhaps a better question to ask Miss Potts," Tony said lightly, flicking through his cards by hand this time. The answer was close to the end. "The company has been doing everything possible to help the world recover from the damage. This includes helping out rescue organizations and giving employees emergency leave so they can help loved ones. If you want more information, it can be found on our website."

"Mr. Stark." Another man in a neatly pressed tie and a camera and mike that showed he came from FOX news stood up without Tony calling on him. "Will the Avengers be answering for this?"

Tony rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses, not that anyone could see. "I'll ignore the lack of etiquette and the fact that you chose to forget my earlier statement that I'm not here as an Avenger. The team will be doing their own conference tomorrow"—since he'd had JARVIS begin putting it together after he'd woken up this morning—"so you can save all Avengers related questions for that. Now, anything else? Because if not, we'll be wrapping this up…"

Afterward, Tony could be found sitting in Pepper's office, simultaneously playing with a pen and his phone, the former twirling in the air by his ear. Pepper was steadfastly ignoring this sight; Happy had stared at him for a few moments before taking it in stride and simply retreating to the corner to look menacing.

"What time is the conference tomorrow?" Pepper asked, not looking up from her computer.

"I was thinking twelve, like today." Tony looked up from his phone, using Extremis to flick through the news articles on the press conference he'd just finished. "We'll have to do it in front of the tower."

Stark Industries was the company backing the Avengers now that they were no longer tied with S.H.I.E.L.D. Tony wasn't going to advertise the split, but it also wouldn't be a secret if anyone cared to ask or look for it.

"Is that a good idea?" Pepper asked.

"JARVIS may have sprung the ball on splitting the Avengers from S.H.I.E.L.D.," Tony admitted. "So right now SI is the only backing we've got."

"JARVIS sprung the ball," Pepper repeated slowly. She shook her head questioningly. "Why did he do that?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. was being annoying." Tony gave a humorless smile. "It was for the best, Pepper. It just means I need to get the ball rolling for funding the Avengers a little faster."

"You know that the company has your back when it comes to that. We've been funding you from the start."

"I seem to recall a board member saying that it's a waste of time, money, and resources to support the Avengers."

Pepper sighed. "And I told you to ignore him—"

"And he's still on the board," Tony continued, running over Pepper's words. "Look, the team can't just rely on the company. If something happens, we're sunk."

Nodding once, Pepper acquiesced. "We'll have to draw up plans—"

Tony interrupted her again. "Already done." He pulled it up on her computer with Extremis. (When it wasn't being a presumptuous ass and pulling up articles Tony wasn't interested in, it was actually really cool.) "We're looking at a line of toys, shirts, and other items that our fans might be interested in." He quirked in his lips in a small smile. "Proceeds will either go to paying for damages incurred or to keep us stocked in food – since Thor and Steve eat enough to bankrupt most countries."

Pepper blinked, staring at the information displayed on her computer screen. "You've really thought this through."

Tony leaned back in his chair. "JARVIS has been a big help. Besides"—he snatched the pen out of the air, fingering it—"this is important."

"Well…" Pepper had a fond smile on her face. "I'm glad it's working out. Now about the conference, it won't be a problem to have it the same place. I presume you're sending out the details?"

"JARVIS is, but semantics." Tony waved a dismissive hand. "Everything's being approved by me before it goes out."

"I'm impressed."

"I could build a new company in a week. A press conference isn't a problem."

"You don't even know your social security number."

Downloading…

"It's nine-eight-seven-six-five-four-three-two-zero," Tony said promptly. Then he hastily continued, seeing the shocked look on Pepper's face, "That was Extremis. I wouldn't know it on a good day, but starting my own company? That's easy, Pepper."

"Do I have to remind you what you did with your last company? I was running it before you signed it over!"

"It was fun." Tony shrugged lightly in response to the semi-murderous look Pepper shot his way. "Look, if I need to, I can start a new company from the ground up. I'd rather not, since I signed it over for a reason other than being poisoned by my own arc reactor, but the option's there."

Pepper clasped her hands together. "I bet you couldn't."

Tony shot forward, leaning over his knees. "I'll take that bet. What are the stakes?"

"It was a joke, Tony. A joke!"

"No, really. Stakes?"

"…A month's time of not needing to attend board meetings."

"I know you don't have any board meetings for the next month that I'm needed at, Pepper. Ten meetings I don't have to attend and I get to skip out on the next gala I don't want to go to."

"Five, and I pick which one you're not needed at."

"Eight."

"Seven."

"…Done."

After Tony finally managed to get back, he was practically ambushed in the living room by his teammates. Well, not really ambushed since no one jumped on him, but close enough because everyone was just staring at him.

Deciding to ignore them for now, Tony undid his tie, letting it hang loosely around his neck. "JARVIS, make a note: I need to get a company up and running within a week. Pepper and I have a bet."

JARVIS's reply was somewhat apologetic, but not very. "Miss Potts has expressly forbidden me from helping you, sir."

Tony rolled his eyes. "I'll make the note myself then. What do you think about the Avenging Toys? Or Toy Avengers? Oh wait." He snapped his fingers. "The Avengers Shop – Here to Fulfill Your Avenging Needs."

There was a short moment of complete and utter disbelieving silence.

"Oh my God," Clint said finally. "He's lost it. It's official. I'm sorry, Steve, but your boyfriend is officially cuckoo."

"I have not lost it," Tony said with mock indignation, flapping his hand at Clint. "I am a genius."

"A genius who dumped us into a press conference without asking."

Sighing, Tony moved to shuck off his jacket. "Natasha, inform the idiot as to why we need to do press conferences after things like the Great Tech Crash."

"That's not a very good name," Bruce informed him from his spot on the couch.

"Better than the Great Blackout. God, I wanted to punch something when I heard it." Tony gave a full-body shudder, hanging his suit jacket over his arm.

"What time is it?" Steve asked, sitting on the loveseat that he and Tony usually shared on movie nights.

"Twelve. And it's in the same place as today's." Tony unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt, desperately needing to get into something else that didn't reek of predatory reporters. "If that's everything, I'll be in the shop, working."

Then, before anybody else could get on his case about how he had handled the press conference, Tony fled to his workshop. He had work to do other than setting up that new company, like working on his suit. It was maddening how many models had been destroyed because some bad guys didn't know when to keep their hands off the merchandise.

Sighing once he was back in his workshop, Tony dumped his jacket on a table and leaned back against it, studying the older models that he had lined up against the wall. The Mark I was the real thing that he'd gotten back after the fight with Obadiah. Save for the Mark VIII and the Mark X, both of which had been destroyed when he had been kidnapped, all his past suits were present and accounted for.

Closing his eyes, Tony focused on using Extremis to open a new file and label it Mark XIII; considering the only suitcase armor he had left was the Mark V, he'd better work on getting another portable version that he could carry around. The Mark V was great for a last resort, but it couldn't fly, and it wasn't linked into his homing bracelets.

Mouth twisting slightly as he thought about the bracelets, Tony opened his eyes to find a blue hologram floating next to him with the specs of the Mark X. Still linked to Extremis, he began using it to discard outdated features and add new ideas he had been considering to the new version of the armor. At the same time, he manually pulled open another file and began putting in ideas for his new company.

He was going to set it up, but then let it go to run on its own with minimal input from him. There was a reason he had signed SI over, and it wasn't just because he had been dying. Running a company wasn't something Tony wanted to do, although he could if he really had to. Like he'd told Pepper, it had been kind of fun (but maybe also a tad cruel) to do the least amount of work possible and let his PA pick up the slack.

Okay, put that way, it was definitely cruel. He was lucky Pepper hadn't thrown him out on his ass when he'd said that.

Darting a glance over to the side where the Mark XIII was still spinning away, albeit a bit more slowly as JARVIS was now getting into the process and discarding some of Tony's more outlandish ideas (like the rocket boosters, and Tony wasn't sure how his mind had come up with that), Tony began inputting names for the toy company he'd be setting up.

The Avenging Toys

The Toy Avengers

The Avengers Shop – Here to Fulfill Your Avenging Needs

He paused, looking at the three names he had down so far. It all sounded too angry. The second one he immediately discarded on account of it not being catchy enough. The first was okay, but made it sound like all the toys would be avenging something (technically true because it was the Avengers, but it might still put people off; he hadn't forgotten Toy Story 2). And the last was too long to really be a good sell.

Then another two names flitted across the screen, courtesy of JARVIS.

The Amazing Stark and Avengers

The Amazing Tony and His Assistants

"JARVIS," Tony drawled, looking up at the ceiling in mild reprimand. "Do you have something you want to say?"

JARVIS's reply was completely innocent and free of any plotting. "Of course not, sir."

"I didn't know you considered me to be that awesome."

"They were simply suggestions, sir."

"If my own AI is giving me suggestions calling me amazing, I think something is up," Tony said, discarding JARVIS's additions to the list.

There was a buzz in the back of his head that Tony interpreted as JARVIS humming noncommittally, but no answer was forthcoming.

Giving it up for lost, Tony refocused on the plans for the company, letting the issue of names stew for a while. He spent several minutes tapping away at plans for the toy store, making plans for ads that would be going on television and on billboards. But that was after he had some idea as to what toys and games he'd be selling.

The ringing of his phone distracted him. Before he could think about thumbing the accept button, Extremis picked it up.

Tony decided he'd try just being quiet, using Extremis to hold the call as he worked. "Hello?"

"Tony, I thought we agreed that you should let me know what's going on?" It was Rhodey. "You tell me if there's anything that'll interfere with military operations and I'll tell you if there's anything that concerns you? I thought that was the agreement?"

"Don't be upset, Rhodey." Tony swiped aside the company plans to look at the information on the military that JARVIS pulled up. "If it makes you feel any better, Pepper didn't have any idea either."

"Funnily enough, that doesn't make me feel better."

"Look, Rhodey, what do you want me to say? It's all very boring, run-of-the mill stuff. Nothing that'd interest you."

"The Great Blackout—"

"Not you, too!"

"—affected some military operations. Not all of them luckily, but enough so that we were majorly compromised in a lot of areas. A little forewarning that something like that would happen would have been nice!"

"I'm not gonna call you in the middle of a fight with a bad guy to tell you that we might be suffering a tiny blackout—"

"Tiny?"

"—so there's not much I can do other than apologize. You know that, Rhodey. What's the problem?" He stopped scrolling through the information on downed military planes and drones in Afghanistan, feeling slightly sick. It was better that he focus on this conversation.

There was a sigh over the line. Tony wondered if he could get visual information if he got into Rhodey's phone; it did have video capabilities.

"I'm worried about you, idiot," Rhodey said finally. "There was no information on the Avengers fighting anyone, and you guys usually make the news whenever you do."

"You don't advertise every one of your plans because it can compromise the mission. It's not very different here. We had a private mission; that doesn't hit the news until after the fact, if at all."

"And will it hit the news?"

"We're having a press conference tomorrow. Tune in if you want."

As he waited for Rhodey to answer, Tony caught sight of Steve entering his workshop. He waved for him to take a seat, tapping his temple with his other hand to signal that he was taking a phone call. A frown on Steve's face showed he hadn't understood, but Tony refocused on the call.

"So I'm gonna get the kiddie approved version."

"I'm not gonna repeat what happened twice. If you still have questions after the conference, you can call me."

"Tony, can we talk?" Steve asked, coming up face him on the opposite side of the still floating holograms.

"Let me finish this phone call," Tony said.

"Phone call?"

"Rhodey," Tony said as an answer.

"Who's there, Tony?"

"Steve," Tony answered, shaking his head slightly when Steve opened his mouth to say something. He switched back to mentally communicating with Rhodey. "I appreciate that you're worried, Rhodey. It's heartwarming to know you care—"

"Of course I care, you idiot."

"And it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that the military's also eyeballing my company as being a likely cause of the blackout?"

There was a short pause on the other end. "Not in this case," was the eventual answer. "Tony, we've had our disagreements, but I know you wouldn't pull a stunt like this for laughs. 'Sides, like you said today, your company's stuff is top of the line. It's not surprising that your satellite was up and running before anything else."

Tony couldn't help but give a small smile, earning himself a strange glance from Steve. "Thanks, bud."

"No prob. Call you later."

"Bye," Tony said aloud, disconnecting the call.

"You were talking with him in your head?" Steve asked, skipping straight to the point.

"I need to get the hang of it somehow." Tony shrugged lightly, moving the holograms to the side so that he could get a clear view of Steve's face. "That's an easy and relatively risk free way to do it."

Steve's response was a simple nod as he took a breath. Then he smiled wanly. "Clint's still kind of pissed at you."

Tony raised his eyebrows. "Is it my fault he can't understand that we need good press to keep operating?" he asked neutrally.

"It's not that. I think he's just upset for the sake of being upset." Steve shrugged, eyes flicking to the side as one of the screens flipped upside down, lines of code scrolling down it. "We're all still kind of on edge."

Tony glanced to the side, checking to see if it was something his brain was doing or something JARVIS was doing for fun. It turned out to be JARVIS looking through headlines. "You said you wanted to talk."

"About tomorrow."

"How about I give you note cards. You're good with note cards, yeah?"

Steve's lips twitched, but he didn't rise to the bait. "Are we going in uniform?"

"It's related to the Avengers," Tony said, opening a new holographic screen with his mind and pulling up the information on the press conference for tomorrow. It was already packed full. "We're going as a superhero team. For best impression, we should probably go in uniform." He flipped the screen around so Steve could see the information. "I'll stay out of the suit if that's what you're wondering." A flicker of Steve's eyes proved that he'd hit the nail on the head. "I'll keep the Mark V with me, though." He managed a smile. "One of us should probably appear somewhat approachable, and Tony Stark is a friendlier face than a man in an armored suit."

"If you ask me," Steve said, "you're both giant teddy bears."

"You're sleeping with me."

"Put that way…" Steve smiled beatifically. "So, you going to tell us what to say tomorrow? Or are you going to sit back and cackle when someone asks us if we do team orgies?"

"That was one time. One time," Tony protested. "You can't blame me for laughing at that ridiculous question. Besides," he added, pointing to a new screen that showed a picture of Steve blushing like a fire engine at that particular press conference, "you can't blame me for enjoying the view."

The comment earned him a hard kiss and some screeching as various alarms went off due to his brain (and Extremis) going haywire. It was a moment's work to disconnect Extremis, and then Tony could focus on Steve, who was tugging rather insistently at his shirt.

Well, he had never been one to say no to sex…

It was more trouble than it was worth getting everyone ready for the press conference. Sure, everyone was dressed and ready to go with no problems, but then there was the fact that there needed to be a table and chairs so that it didn't look like a bunch of superheroes were staring disapprovingly down at a horde of reporters. Plus the note cards, which Clint had threatened to torch if they were just prompt words, and Tony was ready to explode something by the time it was twelve.

He was never complaining about press conferences again.

No, wait, he was. Because they were boring and stupid and you had to watch your mouth in case you caused some sort of international incident. But he had a whole new level of respect for Pepper and whoever she used to organize these shindigs. Because even with JARVIS's help, there was a lot he needed to approve before anything could happen. (Or maybe JARVIS was just being an ass and annoying Tony, which was also totally possible.)

But well, Tony's point was that although the whole thing was a pain, it was put together with little problem in the end. So at twelve the following day, the Avengers found themselves seated in front of Stark Tower, in uniform, and ready to answer questions. Tony was two out of the three, but that was still better than usual so he wasn't complaining (nor should anyone else).

After a quick glance to make sure everyone had their note cards so they had all the essential bases (and some) covered, and another up to the sky to curse the lack of sun, Tony turned to the crowd before them. He tapped the Mark V with his shoe, feeling reassured with its familiar comforting hum that wasn't Extremis-provided. It was powered down, so it wasn't like Extremis could even access it, although it wanted to. (Or was that Tony's brain, considering he was Extremis and Extremis was him?)

Closing his eyes quickly to check the news feeds, Tony saw everything was up and running. Opening them again, he saw Pepper give him the go ahead nod from her place behind him (he had a mirror conveniently placed for that exact purpose).

"Well now," Tony said pleasantly, instantly getting everyone's attention, "this is a much bigger crowd than yesterday. If I didn't know better, I'd say you didn't like me."

There was a ripple of forced laughter from the crowd, and Tony saw Natasha's plastered smile twitch in annoyance.

"So…" Tony inclined his head to Steve, indicating he should start.

"I'm sure you all have questions," Steve began without missing a beat. "We can't answer all of them because of security reasons, but we'll answer those we can." There was a moment of expectant silence before he added, "We'll take them now."

There was immediately an outburst of noise as all the reporters clamored to get their questions in before the other. It was funny how these "professionals" lost their cool the moment there was a free for all.

"One at a time!" Steve barked into the microphone, getting instant silence. "Thank you. Go ahead." He nodded at a primly dressed woman in a business suit.

The reporter stood. "Were the Avengers involved in the Great Blackout?"

The others shot glances at Tony, but he remained silent even as he internally winced at the name.

"That depends on your definition of 'involved,' ma'am," Steve responded, eyes flicking back to the reporter. "We were not responsible for it."

That was such a blatant lie Tony was surprised it wasn't written all over Steve's face.

The next reporter to speak was a young man. "Was this related to the earlier incident at Stark Tower?"

"The same organization was behind it," Steve confirmed. "Advanced Idea Mechanics – or A.I.M. – was responsible for the attack on the tower. The same group was most likely also behind the blackout."

"What were the Avengers doing during the Great Blackout?" a woman called.

"As I said before, ma'am, we were not involved. We were tracking A.I.M. when the blackout occurred; as of yet, we don't know what happened anymore than you do."

"Mr. Stark! What do you have to say on the blackout?"

Tony looked over at the CNN reporter who'd asked that question. "As an Avenger," he started slowly and clearly, "I'm just as in the dark as my teammates. As an engineer, I have to say that whatever took out power was pretty damn powerful. If I had to guess, it probably came from space." True enough. If Tony hadn't been responsible for it and was trying to figure out where it came from, he'd first look at space, since that was where it was easiest to get the entirety of Earth at once.

Clint gave a small snort at Tony's last line, but said nothing.

"Captain! What about Spider-Man?" This time it was a man from the Daily Bugle. "How is he involved in this? He and Iron Man fought together in October, didn't they?"

Tony shot Steve a look to signal that he'd take this one despite the question being addressed to Captain America. "Let me preface any statements I make by asserting that Spider-Man is an Avenger." On cue, the reporters broke out into a loud hullaballoo, and Tony continued speaking calmly, "And that means that any statements made slandering Spider-Man will be taken as slander toward the Avengers."

"Do you know his identity?"

"No, and I'm not going to ask." Tony inclined his head. "Give the guy some privacy. He's putting his neck out on the line to do his job." He took a breath. "He saved my life."

"Was he involved in the events leading up to the blackout?"

How did they get from "He saved my life" to "Spider-Man is guilty!"? Seriously, the minds of reporters were just bizarre.

"He came with us, yes," Steve confirmed before Tony could say anything.

The next reporter who spoke was in the back, standing up before he did. "What about the allegations that Iron Man is a mutant?"

There was a sudden hush over the crowd. Tony could feel his friends stiffen by his sides; in the mirror's reflection, Pepper brought her hand up reflexively, only to bring it back down a second later.

But Tony himself was slightly dumbstruck. Allegations? What allegations? If there had been any before, he would've known about them. There was no way S.H.I.E.L.D. would have released such classified information; the X-Men were private and would keep their mouths shut; his teammates would die rather than gossip about stuff like that.

Yet to the point, he had to answer that. He couldn't lie; the truth would get out sooner or later, and then he'd have to face the music.

Tony leaned forward, flashing a charming smile. "True."

There were another few seconds of absolute silence before every reporter was on their feet, shouting questions at the same time.

Tony leaned back in his chair, slinging his arm over his backrest, catching Steve's eyes as he did. Steve had a "Tony, what are you doing?" face. Tony gave him a quick finger flick to signal "later" before returning his attention to the crowd. Stay relaxed, and they couldn't find much to feed on.

He could lose it later when in private.

"One at a time," Tony drawled, swiping a hand sideways to call for quiet. The movement instantly hushed everyone, their eyes fixated on him. "My hearing hasn't gotten any better. One question from each row; pick amongst yourselves."

An Asian man spoke first. "How long?"

"How long have I been a mutant, or how long did I know?" Tony continued speaking. "It's genetic, so lifelong. I've known since I was a teenager. Next."

"Was your team aware of this?"

"They were aware. Next."

"Are you affiliated with the X-Men?"

Tony shifted to a more professional position. "I greatly respect Professor Xavier for his work and skills. However, aside from knowing them on a purely professional basis, I am not in any way affiliated with the X-Men. I am an Avenger both inside and outside my suit; whether I am a mutant has no bearing on my membership."

"Why was the public not made aware of this earlier?"

For the love of God (and he was an atheist!).

"It was a private matter, not something to be released to the public."

"What is your ability?"

"If I told you that, every villain on the planet would know, and that would defeat the point." Tony raised an eyebrow, racking his gaze over the crowd. "If that's all the pertinent, non-invasive questions, I'll ask if you have anything else relating to what happened over the last couple days regarding the blackout. If not, we're done."

Tension racketing up his spine and a mild buzz-induced headache pounding at his temples from Extremis, Tony didn't think he could do much more without losing his strong front. The dozens of news feeds that were being fed to him by Extremis were clamoring for his attention even as he pushed them to the background of his mind. He desperately needed some peace and quiet so he could sort through whatever the hell Extremis was doing.

And smooth over whatever issue Natasha had with him, since she was giving him the evil eye without even looking at him.

Fortunately for Tony, no one said anything about the complete curve ball the press conference had thrown until they were back home. That meant he could spend the ride back with his eyes closed and linked into Extremis, digging into the news and any other sources that might show how these "allegations" of him being a mutant had come out.

When it came to the news, there was nothing until the press conference, when it had been brought up. Elsewhere, Tony couldn't find anything using conventional means (not that Extremis was conventional, but it was still the Internet) so he decided to go unconventional when he was alone. That would involve more time and hacking into any technology the reporters had brought, if he could even do that. If it didn't work, he'd just have to focus on making sure nothing else leaked, like the fact he was now a cyber human.

That would be horrendously bad.

Of course, it was pretty bad already when Natasha turned on him the moment the door closed. "What was that, Tony?"

"You mean the conference? I thought it went rather well all things considered." Tony pushed the Mark V to the side with a foot, tired of lugging it around.

"You don't confirm things like that!"

"I couldn't have lied," Tony pointed out. "It'd have come out eventually. If I'd lied it would've looked like I was ashamed of it. And I'm not. I'm a mutant, and the world had better get used to that."

"I think the problem is that these guys even knew about it in the first place," Clint said, shooting Natasha a quelling look. "Not how you handled it, Tony. That was pretty good, but you could've been a bit smoother with ending it."

"If I went all soft, they would've thought something was wrong. Me being my general charming personality was expected; now they'll just be running papers on whether I'm stable enough to be the major stock holder of SI rather than digging through every dirty deed in my past to see what was up."

"They already do that," Bruce pointed out.

"It'd be worse."

Steve sighed, catching everyone's attention. "I think we should focus on how they even knew in the first place."

"Working on it," Tony and JARVIS said simultaneously.

"I have been looking into it since it was brought up," JARVIS continued.

"And I've been doing it since we were on the way home," Tony added. "Haven't gotten far, though. JARVIS?"

"I am still searching."

"What about us?" Clint demanded. "I'm not just going to sit around twiddling my thumbs."

"Neither will I," Natasha said firmly. "A threat against you is a threat against all of us."

Tony stared at her. "No one's threatening anyone!"

"They didn't find out by accident," Bruce said. "Someone told them. How much do you want to bet it was A.I.M.?"

"If they dare come after you again," Thor rumbled, "they will face my wrath and that of Mjölnir."

Tony raised both eyebrows. "Thanks, but I don't think we're that desperate yet. We're going to figure out what happened; it might just have been a smart guy looking at photos and videos and putting two and two together. I haven't exactly been hiding it."

"Chances are it wasn't," Bruce said.

"A guy can dream," Tony said, flashing a cheery smile. "Now, what say you to watching the news? It looks marvelously interesting."

"I'll bet," Clint muttered, arms folded across his chest.

Ignoring him, Tony mentally picked up his suitcase armor and let it trail after him as he walked to the living room, Steve directly behind him. He tuned into the mansion's electronics as he did, curious to see what his bots were doing.

Dummy, You, and Butterfingers were doing something in the workshop. JARVIS was busy trying to find out who'd snitched on Tony being a mutant. Peggy was absently humming to herself. And Spike was apparently purring.

Which was strange because he wasn't a cat. Or any other animal that purred.

The question as to Spike's purring was answered when they entered the living room and saw Logan sprawled on the couch, a content Spike on his stomach, and the TV on a news channel that was not covering the Avengers' press conference.

"Afternoon," Logan said, not taking his eyes off the TV screen. He didn't move Spike either; his fingers were stroking the AI's power cord, a particularly sensitive part of Spike.

"How'd you get inside?" Clint asked before anyone else could.

"Your house let me in. I didn't know you needed a computer that talks back, Stark."

"For the record, JARVIS could make you disappear without a sound," Tony said, feeling an undercurrent of amusement from JARVIS. "Why are you here anyway?"

"The professor was worried."

"The professor was worried?" Tony raised a skeptical eyebrow while mentally switching the TV channel to one that was covering the press conference.

Now Logan did look at him, scowling. "I was watching that!"

"And now you're not."

"Should we be worried?" Bruce asked, glancing between the two of them.

"Logan's good," Tony said. "Unless you're worried about him stealing your spot; there's no hope of that. You're still my science bro."

"Stop flirting," Natasha ordered, sitting down on Logan's legs without a moment's hesitation.

"Oi!" Logan growled, squirming.

"Problem?" Natasha smiled sweetly at him.

With a small huff, Logan settled back down, still tugging at Spike's power cord. To Tony's amusement, the motion hadn't stopped once. It seemed that Logan didn't care about appearing like a softie anymore.

"Do you know who might have told them?" Steve asked, getting Logan's attention.

"Wasn't one of us," Logan asserted. "Maybe you should look closer to home."

"It wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D.," Tony said, leaning back against the wall. "Unless you count people hacking into their mainframe as telling, in which case it was them."

"They were hacked?" Clint asked sharply.

Oh yeah… He'd never told them, had he?

"A.I.M. knows," Tony said slowly, "because they hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mainframe. Didn't help them much in the long run, though."

"There's your culprit," Logan said, turning back to the TV with a bored expression.

"I wiped the mainframes before I left," Tony said, frowning. "There's no way M.O.D.O.K. let everyone know about it."

"You couldn't get everyone who did know," Natasha pointed out.

"We will find the party responsible for this travesty," Thor stated.

Tony exhaled slowly. "There's no need to go all crazy like the bride on us. We can do this without injuring, handicapping, incapacitating, or murdering anyone."

"You forgot beheading," Logan said.

"We're not killing anyone," Tony corrected sharply. "At least until we can figure this out."

Steve looked at him, hair adorably tousled from the cowl (which Tony had noticed before, but damn, that was distracting). "Where do we start?"

"You don't have to do anything," Tony said. "JARVIS and I will take care of it."

"We already said we're not just gonna sit around and do nothing," Clint pointed out obstinately. "So let's try that again."

"You said that," Tony disagreed, "Steve didn't."

"I refuse to sit around doing nothing," Steve said.

Clint triumphantly pointed at him. "He agrees!"

"So do I," Bruce added.

"I as well," Thor agreed.

"That goes the same for me," Natasha said. "Different plan, Stark."

Logan had the mildly interested face of one watching a tennis game, but he offered no help for or against Tony.

"You two are spies," Tony told Natasha and Clint. "Aren't you just going to do whatever you wanted to do without me saying anything?"

Natasha smirked while Clint said, "Doesn't mean we don't give you the illusion of control."

"Go be spies then." Tony flapped a hand in their direction. He turned to the others. "You guys have all the subtlety of bricks."

"Pot, meet kettle," Bruce commented dryly.

"I can be subtle," Tony protested, mildly insulted. "I can be so subtle you don't even know I'm there."

"Your suit isn't exactly subtle," Steve said gently.

"I'm not talking about the suit. Have you all completely forgotten about my tech skills? I can be in and out of a secure mainframe without anyone the wiser."

"True," Natasha conceded, nodding once.

"That isn't the point," Steve argued. "Can't we help?"

"You can help by having my back," Tony said, smiling tightly.

"I am offended that you would think otherwise," Thor said, sounding offended.

"So am I," Bruce said.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get his team or partner to back down from this, Tony considered what he could have them do. The perfectionist in him chafed at giving them anything to do about this, considering how important it was to him. It had to be done right, and the only way he could ensure that was by doing it himself. (He'd learned his lesson with Obadiah.) Then again, if he couldn't trust his team, who could he trust?

This wasn't going to be a one-person job, and Tony couldn't do it all, no matter how much he wished he could. He had enough on his plate as it was. JARVIS was great, but even he couldn't do everything. If this was going to be solved, Tony would have to make concessions, starting with delegating some of the stuff he didn't have to check into immediately because it wasn't his specialty.

"You two do what you need to," Tony told Clint and Natasha. "You know what you're doing better than I do. And you guys can check into whatever JARVIS finds," he told the others. "Or what he gives you. I assume he'll know what I need to see for myself."

I am offended that you would think otherwise, sir.

Just making sure, JARVIS. Tony's lips twitched into a grin so the AI could see his amusement on his cameras (admittedly, he couldn't help it).

"What are you so happy about?" Clint asked suspiciously.

"I wouldn't ask that if I were you," Logan said in complete seriousness. "You might not like the answer."

Clint stared at Logan for a long moment before throwing up his hands. "Fine. If the guy petting a coffee machine is telling me not to ask, I won't. Come on, Nat. We'll get started before Tony decides to pack us with tech we don't need."

Natasha got off Logan's legs and followed Clint out, ignoring Tony calling after her. "I'll have you know that anything I give you is completely necessary!"

"You gave Natasha a hair clip that complimented her every move and Clint a ring that cracked jokes," Steve pointed out, amused.

"It was to stave off boredom," Tony said seriously, suppressing a smirk. "How else do you think they'll get by on those long stakeout missions without coffee?"

"See, bub," Logan said to Spike, who was now snoozing on his stomach, "your dad has a few screws loose in the head."

"I'm dating him," Steve said sharply.

Logan looked at him blankly. "Oh. Good luck then." He adjusted to make himself more comfortable. "You'll need it."

Spike gave a sleepy snort, and Tony decided it wasn't worth the effort to dump Logan on the floor. Not when Bruce looked like he was stifling laughter and even Thor seemed vaguely amused.

In the late afternoon when Steve was busy in the kitchen, Bruce was down in his lab, and Clint and Natasha were still off to parts unknown, Tony joined Logan in the living room. There was a reason Logan was there, and Tony suspected it wasn't just to spend time with Spike, though that was probably a bonus.

"So," Tony began, sitting down on the chair next to the couch Logan was still stretched out on, "what do you want?" Spike was still curled on Logan's stomach, but sleepily drifted over to Tony's lap, curling up there with a satisfied hum.

"You're awfully suspicious, Stark."

"I have no suspicions," Tony said imperiously, shifting slightly so Spike wasn't digging into his groin. "I have knowledge. You're here for a reason. Cough it up."

Logan raised an eyebrow, staring impassively at Tony.

"Unless it's a hairball; in that case, go to the bathroom."

"I'm not a cat," Logan growled, propping himself up on his elbows to glare at Tony.

"A wolverine is a type of cat," Tony pointed out conversationally. "Since your codename is Wolverine, I suppose an argument could be made—" A growl cut him off. "Which I'll keep to myself," he amended smoothly. "For now."

Logan grunted in satisfaction and relaxed back onto the couch, staring up at the ceiling while Tony watched the TV. It was still turned to the news channel that he had turned it to earlier that day, but wasn't showing anything new other than the footage from the press conference and sound bites from various people on the street and so-called scientific experts.

"The professor was worried," Logan finally said, his eyes moving over to land on Tony.

"How did he know?" Tony asked. A second later: "No, don't tell me. It was that giant machine he keeps in the basement, wasn't it?"

"The worst kept secret in the mansion, I swear," Logan growled, rolling his eyes.

"No one told me about it," Tony said, amused. "But it's kind of hard to hide something that big from the guy who senses technology. Xavier explained after I asked what it was that was driving me crazy. Let me guess: was he linked into it when I went off grid?"

"You're never off grid with Cerebro," Logan said, shrugging lightly. "You're off the mark; he smelled something fishy when you up and left for Asia."

"You sure it wasn't you?"

"We take care of our own," Logan said, looking sharply at Tony. "You're an Avenger, Stark, but you're also a mutant. That makes you one of us."

"I'm not an X-Man," Tony pointed out. "I refuse to wear one of those eyesores you guys call uniforms. They're a safety hazard."

"You fly around in a metal can that's red and gold and fight with a guy in a red, blue, and white suit."

"That metal can is a hundred times safer than anything you wear; so is Steve's suit."

"Whatever." Logan waved a dismissive hand. "You're annoying, Stark, and maybe you're not on our team, but that doesn't change anything. He sent me over to check on you, a good idea seeing what happened." He gestured in the direction of the TV and the clip of Tony confirming that he was a mutant.

"That wasn't planned." Tony looked away, not needing to see it happen again.

"Obviously." Logan slid up the couch so his back was propped up against the armrest. "But this leads to a bit of a sticky situation."

Tony frowned, eyes snapping over to Logan. "What do you mean?"

Logan rolled his eyes. "You've got your fingers in all the pies, Stark. Don't tell me you don't know what's going on."

"I've been a bit busy in the last several months," Tony snapped, something niggling at the back of his mind. "It's not like I've been able to keep up with everything going on in the underworld."

"It's been in talks for years," Logan said, face impassive. "Guy like you would've been keeping an eye on it."

"The Mutant Registration Act?" Tony asked, though something told him that wasn't it. "That went off the books years ago, Logan. I was an anonymous donor against it."

"Fat lot of help that did," Logan said, snorting.

"I wasn't out then." Tony tightened his lips. "The board and Stane wouldn't have stood for my company making a public stance against it."

"Ain't saying anything about it," Logan remarked, folding his arms. He was silent for a moment longer. "No, that isn't it. This is a little bigger in scope than the MRA ever was. Guy like you should've heard about it, seeing you're a futurist and all."

Tony was beginning to get a sick feeling in his stomach. He hadn't lied to Logan when he'd said he was a bit busy the last several months. It wasn't like he could keep on top with every act being introduced or drafted in Congress, though he tried to after the government's attempt at confiscating the suit. But he had heard whispers about laws involving people with powers, especially after Richards's crew had their accident in space. That had spiked after Iron Man had made his appearance, but it had lessened during the short time he'd privatized world peace.

Following Loki's attack, Senator Boyd had made another case against super humans like Captain America due to the overwhelming scale of damage caused to New York and the presence of another superhero team that didn't answer to the government. The momentary backlash against that suggestion because of the goodwill toward the Avengers had shelved the concept for a brief period of time, but no goodwill lasted forever, especially when it came to the fickle public.

"I've heard some things," he admitted slowly, "but nothing ever came of it."

"You've been good," Logan agreed. "But nothing good lasts forever. We've been keeping an eye on it." "Unlike you" went unspoken.

Tony stopped himself from snapping that he had his own issues to deal with. If this was true, and his outing as a mutant had tipped the scales for the worst, he was going to have a lot more to deal with than Extremis and A.I.M.

"You've got the eyes of the government on you, Stark," Logan said with a grin, though there was no amusement in it. "I gotta say, I don't envy you."

"What is it?" Tony asked, a feeling of dread slowly spreading through his body.

"Officially, it doesn't yet have a name. Like you said, it's just been whispers." Logan shrugged. "But now…there might actually be something to it."

"Unofficially, Logan," Tony said sharply. "If something's coming up, I need to tell my team."

"We know it as the registration act," Logan said, face serious. "The Superhuman Registration Act."

The author would like to apologize for antagonizing the bees in the middle of the vehicle. Please remain calm and don't panic. Allergy shots can be found in the front of the main cabin or in the seat pocket in front of you. If in need, we also offer protective suits, but they are in short supply.

Comments, critiques, and complaints are greatly appreciated (and may be considered depending on their type - flames are not accepted, but will provide amusing fodder). The author hopes you enjoyed the first part of the ride An Alternative State of Mentality.