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"But I refuse!"
Tony froze. "Wait, what? Dude, you're seriously not going to—"
"Keep your secret?" Marcus shook his head. "No. Why would I?"
"Because I'm asking you to!" Tony's voice rose. "Because I'm dying, and I don't want Pepper to spend my last few weeks watching me waste away! Is that too much to ask?"
Marcus looked at him like he was an idiot. Which, to be fair, Tony was being.
"Tony, if you die, Pepper's going to be devastated anyway. Hiding it from her now just means she'll be devastated and angry that you lied to her. How is that better?"
Tony opened his mouth. Closed it. He didn't have a good answer for that.
Marcus sighed. "Besides, who said you're definitely going to die?"
Tony blinked. "What?"
"You heard me." Marcus's expression shifted from exasperated to something more thoughtful. "When did I ever say this was hopeless?"
Tony's brain stuttered trying to process that. Marcus wasn't the type to give false hope. If he said something, he meant it.
"Wait. You can save me?"
"I didn't say that exactly—"
"But you implied it!" Hope flared in Tony's chest, bright and desperate. "You've been working on something, haven't you? Some kind of solution?"
Marcus held up a hand. "Slow down. I haven't solved palladium poisoning. But that doesn't mean there's no solution."
"I've tried every known element," Tony said, frustration bleeding back into his voice. "None of them can replace palladium in the reactor. I've run the simulations a hundred times—"
"Known elements," Marcus interrupted. "What about unknown ones?"
Tony stared at him. "You want me to discover a new element? Do you have any idea how long that takes? I don't have that kind of time."
"Maybe not," Marcus said, his tone shifting to something almost playful. "But I'm pretty sure you'll figure it out sooner than you think."
Tony wanted to shake him. "Stop being cryptic! If you know something—"
"I know you're not going to die in the next few weeks," Marcus said firmly. "And just to make sure—"
Before Tony could react, Marcus's telekinesis grabbed his jaw and forced his mouth open. A vial appeared from somewhere in Marcus's armor—had he been carrying that this whole time?—and the contents poured down Tony's throat.
Tony swallowed reflexively, then sputtered. "What the—what did you just give me?!"
"Palladium toxin inhibitor. Custom formula." Marcus released him. "Should buy you some time while you work on the real solution."
Almost immediately, Tony felt... better. Not perfect, but the constant ache in his chest eased. The fog in his head lifted slightly.
He checked his toxicity levels through his HUD.
Eighty-two percent.
Down from eighty-nine.
"Holy shit," Tony breathed. "This actually works. How did you—"
But Marcus was already walking toward the exit. "One more thing," he called over his shoulder. "The solution to your problem? Your father left it for you. You just need to find it."
Then he was gone, repulsors firing as he launched into the night sky.
Tony stood in the ruins of his living room, completely confused.
Before he could process any of it, Pepper rushed in with Happy close behind.
"Tony! Are you okay? What happened? Are you hurt?"
Tony looked at her worried face and made a decision. "I'm fine, Pep. Just... had a disagreement with Rhodey. It got out of hand."
He didn't mention the dying part. Or the mysterious cure Marcus had hinted at.
Not yet.
Two days later, Tony had torn through every box, folder, and storage unit containing his father's old belongings.
Nothing.
No miracle cure. No breakthrough formula. No convenient notes saying "here's how to solve palladium poisoning, son!"
Just old blueprints, technical specifications, and a bunch of schematics for projects that had been obsolete for decades.
Tony was starting to think Marcus had been messing with him.
Then Nick Fury showed up at his door.
Tony opened it to find the SHIELD director standing there with his signature leather coat and eye patch, looking like he'd walked out of a spy thriller.
"We need to talk," Fury said.
"If this is about the Avengers thing again, the answer's still no—"
"It's about saving your life."
Tony paused. "...Come in."
They ended up in Tony's workshop. Fury looked around at the half-assembled projects and armor pieces with the expression of someone cataloging potential threats.
Then Natalie walked in.
Except she wasn't dressed like a secretary anymore. She was wearing tactical gear, weapons visible at her hips and thighs, moving with the lethal grace of someone who'd killed people professionally.
"Tony Stark," Fury said with a slight smirk, "meet Agent Natasha Romanoff."
Tony's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me? You?"
"You're fired," he added immediately.
Natasha smiled, completely unbothered. "That's not really your call anymore."
Before Tony could respond, she stepped forward and jabbed a syringe into his neck.
"OW! What—"
"Lithium dioxide," Natasha said calmly, stepping back. "Temporary palladium toxin suppressant. You're welcome."
Tony rubbed his neck, checking his levels. Seventy-eight percent now. "Okay, seriously, why does everyone suddenly have a cure for this?"
"Everyone?" Fury's one eye narrowed. "Who else has been treating your condition?"
Shit. Tony hadn't meant to say that out loud.
"Nobody. I misspoke."
"Tony." Fury's voice was flat. "We assembled a team of the world's best scientists and doctors to develop that suppressant. It took months. So either you're lying to me, or someone else out there is smart enough to solve problems that stump SHIELD's entire R&D division."
Tony kept his mouth shut.
Fury sighed. "Fine. Keep your secrets. But I'm guessing you're talking about Marcus Reed?"
Damn it.
Natasha spoke up before Tony could deny it. "Reed showed up the night of the party. Wearing the Mark III you gave him. He stopped the fight between you and Colonel Rhodes with minimal effort."
"You're not touching Marcus," Tony said immediately. "He's not part of whatever SHIELD nonsense you're running."
"Relax." Fury held up a hand. "We're not in the business of persecuting American citizens. Reed's not a threat. He's just... interesting. We'll keep an eye on him, but that's it."
Tony didn't entirely believe that, but there wasn't much he could do about it.
"Anyway," Fury continued, "we're here because you said you've tried every element and none of them work as a palladium replacement."
"Yeah. So?"
"So you're wrong. There is an element that works. You just haven't discovered it yet."
Tony's brain caught up. "Wait. The new element Marcus mentioned—"
"Your father left you the key to finding it," Fury said. "Howard Stark was one of the founding members of SHIELD. He left us some things when he died. Most of it's been sitting in storage for decades because nobody could figure out what it meant."
He pulled out a box and set it on Tony's workbench. "But Howard said that only you could figure it out. So here. Knock yourself out."
Tony stared at the box. "My father left stuff with SHIELD? Why didn't anyone tell me this before?"
"Because you didn't need it before. Now you do." Fury headed for the door. "Good luck, Stark. Try not to die before you crack it."
After they left, Tony opened the box.
Inside were technical journals, handwritten notes in his father's distinctive scrawl, and an old film reel.
Tony found a projector—an actual film projector, because apparently his father had lived in the stone age—and set it up.
The film showed Howard Stark standing in what looked like a staged office, speaking directly to the camera.
Speaking directly to Tony.
"Tony," Howard's voice said, and Tony's chest tightened. "If you're watching this, then I'm gone. And you've run into a problem only you can solve."
The video continued, Howard explaining his vision for the future, for technology that could change the world. And buried in the corporate speak and grandiose promises, there were hints. Clues.
But no clear answer.
Tony watched it three times. Read through all the journals. Examined every blueprint.
Nothing.
Or at least, nothing obvious.
SHIELD had access to this for years. They had geniuses working for them—scientists, engineers, cryptographers. If there was something obvious to find, they would've found it already.
Which meant the answer was hidden. Subtle. Something only Tony would recognize.
He just couldn't see it yet.
After hours of searching, Tony leaned back in his chair, exhausted and frustrated.
That's when he remembered: Marcus had known. Marcus had told him the solution was in his father's things before Fury showed up.
This couldn't be a coincidence.
Tony pulled out his phone and dialed.
Marcus was at his Hamptons compound, working on telekinetic exercises in the training room—trying to split his focus between thirty different objects simultaneously—when Skynet interrupted.
"Incoming call from Tony Stark."
Marcus blinked, letting the objects drop. That was fast. Had Tony already found the solution?
He answered. "Hey Tony, what's up?"
"Okay, listen," Tony's voice came through, tight with frustration. "If you know something, just tell me. I've been through everything my father left behind. Every file, every blueprint, every scrap of paper. I can't find any new element. There's nothing here!"
Marcus froze.
Wait, what?
Tony should've found it by now. The answer was definitely in Howard's materials—Marcus knew that for certain from how the original timeline went.
Had he missed it somehow?
Or—
Butterfly effect.
Marcus had changed things just by being here. What if his interference had somehow altered this part of the timeline? What if the clue wasn't where it was supposed to be anymore?
Thinking quickly, Marcus said into the phone:
"..."