Lockhart and Stark

Motivation

Director Fury, who was now known as Nick Fury, took Tony back to his house. It was...well it could be salvaged and rebuilt. They both pulled up lawn chairs and sat at Tony's open (destroyed) window. With about three minutes of silence Tony broke it.

"So, what do you want to tell me and show me?" Tony said.

"For you to understand what I am about to tell you, you need to know some background info." Nick said.

Nick proceed to explain that Ivan's father had stolen research from Tony's father. Once Tony's father found out he cut off Ivan's father and he went to prison in Moscow.

"He left all this for you, your father did." Nick said.

He gestured to an agent walking in wheeling a large gray plastic suitcase. It read the title "Stark" on it. Tony was vaguely interested.

"So, what does this all have to do with me?" Tony asked.

Nick gave a somewhat exasperated sigh along with a very obvious roll of his eyes. Tony raised his left eyebrow.

"What do you remember about your dad?" Nick asked.

Tony was being afflicted with painful and grieving memories of his father, that he tried to bury a long time ago.

"I don't know- He was cold, he was calculating, he never told me that he loved me- he never even told me that he liked me. So it's pretty hard to me to except what your telling me, that he is leaving everything for me- you see, I don't get that!" Tony said with a new found intensity in his voice.

Nick sighed again.

"Well he didn't think that." Nick said.

"Well then you knew my father way better than I did." Tony said sarcastically.

"I did. I worked with your dad for quite some time. And he always talked about you, and what you'd become." Nick said as he stood up.

Tony stared at the ocean. Half of him wanted to believe Nick, he wanted to believe that his father loved him. However, like Victoria said, actions speak louder than words. Tony put his head in his hands.

"I don't think that you are seeing the whole picture Stark. You need to silence your ego and actually do something about your palladium problem." Nick said.

Tony hesitated to respond. Nick raised his eyebrow at the hesitation clearly seen prominent on Tony's face.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Nick asked.

"If I do this, do you think that Victoria will forgive me?" Tony asked.

Nick could sense that Tony was not pulling his chain. Tony was dead serious and he could sense that if he gave the wrong answer Tony probably wouldn't attempt to save his own life.

"I think that she will not be mad at you forever. If you two sit down and talk it out, then maybe she'll forgive you-" Nick stopped mid sentence.

Tony looked at Nick and he could sense that Nick was holding something back.

"Fury?" Tony asked.

"Stark, I think that I should've mentioned this earlier but... Victoria's life is in danger." Nick said.

Tony stood up in an instant and walked over to Nick.

"What do you mean by that?" Tony asked, concerned.

"She is currently in the hospital. She is dying from "Broken Heart Syndrome". It is a real thing and it is deadly, especially for her." Nick said.

"What!? Why especially her? And how did this happen!?" Tony asked.