𝐈𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐄 thing to know about Grace Stark, it was how protective she was over her nephew. She promised herself the moment he was placed in her arms when he was born that she would protect him from any dangers the world would throw at him.
Which was when she got an urgent phone call from Pepper that she hadn't been able to reach Tony, she immediately started to panic.
She was sitting with Rhodey in his car going through every worst-case scenario in her mind. "Pepper, what do you mean that Stane paid to have Tony killed?" she asked while holding the phone on speaker. "Pepper, slow down. I don't know what you're saying."
"Why would Obadiah..." Rhodey let out a breath and nodded. "Okay, where's Tony now? Because I have a very anxious aunt of his in my car right now."
"I don't know," Pepper replied. "He's not answering his phone. Please go over there and make sure everything's okay."
Grace took the phone off speaker and brought it up to her ear just as Rhodey quickly turned the car around. "Pepper, put Agent Coulson on the line."
"Why—?"
"Just do it!" She let out a breath when she heard his voice on the other end of the call. "Agent Coulson, you will do whatever Miss Potts says, do you understand me? I need my nephew to come home alive. That's an order, Agent."
"Yes, ma'am."
"And I don't care what forces you have to use, arrest that son of a bitch. Bring him into custody."
"Of course, ma'am."
Grace nodded to herself and glanced at Rhodey. "He'll be okay, Grace," he told her and she pursed her lips. "He'll be okay."
Her foot did not stop bouncing for the entire ride to Tony's mansion and as soon as the car stopped, both Grace and Rhodey were running into the house. She quickly hurried down to his lab with Rhodey right behind her and she stopped in the doorway. "Oh, my God." She knelt beside her extremely pale nephew and rolled him over. "Hey, hey."
He took her by the shoulders. "Where's Pepper?"
"Safe," she reassured him, cupping his cheek. "She's with trustworthy people, I promise. They're about to arrest Obadiah."
"That's not going to be enough."
Grace sighed and helped him to his feet. "And to think I called him a friend..."
Rhodey helped Tony over to his workstation while Grace was on the phone with Phil. Tony started putting on his suit and Rhodey watched him. "That's the coolest thing I've ever seen."
"Not bad, huh? Let's do it." Tony shot a blast from his hand at a nearby crushed car, sending it to the wall, and looked back at the two.
"You need me to do anything else?" Rhodey asked him and Grace hung up from her phone call.
His face mask came down. "Keep the skies clear," he replied. "And keep Aunt Gracie safe." Grace looked at him.
"You come back, you hear me?" He nodded and soon shot up into the sky and she looked up at his flying figure, a flash of red and gold retreating.
"Let's get moving, then."
Grace let out a breath and got into the passenger seat. "Why can't I ever just have a normal life?" she asked herself.
⸻ ~~~ ⸻
𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 time she had met Obadiah Stane. He was a friend of her brother's who eventually became a work colleague. She had always thought there was something... different about him, but never said anything out of respect for Howard. It turned out she was right for her suspicions.
He was now pummeling her nephew into the ground, trying to kill him while he watched and listened hopelessly.
Grace looked up at the sky, standing beside Pepper. Tony was flying as fast as he could with Stane right behind him. She glanced at the woman next to her. "Are you okay?" She nodded wordlessly. "I don't think this is what you had in mind when you took this job."
"Not in the slightest."
"He'll be okay," Grace said, mostly trying to reassure herself. "He's a Stark."
"He's your nephew," Pepper contradicted and Grace looked at her. "You know, when he hired me, he spent about twenty minutes talking about you. Not himself or even his parents. It was only you. You made him the person he is today. Of course, he'll be okay. Because he had you as his role model." Grace smiled softly. "And now I have to go help him. So I'll be right back."
Before Grace could say anything, Pepper walked into the building that was covered in shattered glass toward the console. Grace looked up and saw the fighting had moved to the roof and Tony was hanging on by a bar, dangling over the console where Pepper was.
"Tony!"
Obadiah laughed and looked at the struggling man. "How ironic, Tony. Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!"
"Pepper!"
"And now I'm going to kill you with it!" Grace jumped when she saw a blast nearly hit Tony. "You ripped out my targeting system!"
"Time to hit the button!"
"You told me not to!" Pepper shouted back up at Tony.
"Hold still, you little prick!" There was another explosion and Grace glanced between Tony and Pepper, trying to figure out what they were planning.
"Just do it!"
"You'll die!"
A third explosion and Tony was hanging from the roof with one arm. "Push it!" he shouted impatiently.
Pepper pushed the button and quickly ran outside, crashing into Grace in the process. The brunette looked up from the ground just as electricity shot out from the top of the roof and she heard Obadiah's screams. She covered her hand at the sight of the light shooting into the sky before it quickly vanished.
It was quiet until Obadiah fell through the hole and the building blew up. Grace pulled Pepper out of the way and she looked back when the fire diminished.
Before Pepper could stop her, Grace ran into the building and looked around. She quickly hurried up the stairs to the roof where she found Tony lying next to the hole. She kneeled next to him and he let out a gasp and she sighed in relief.
Tony looked over at her. "See? I always listen to you."
She shook her head, a small smile tugging at her lips. "You know, if I wasn't living an ageless life, you would have killed me from stress by now."
"Is Pepper okay?" Tony asked and she nodded.
"She's safe," Grace replied and he leaned back in relief. "If today has proven anything, I need to find better friends."
"Or friends who weren't Dad's."
Grace tilted her head in agreement and kissed his forehead. "Alright, let's get you to a hospital."
"Cheeseburgers first?"
"No."
⸻ ~~~ ⸻
"𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 official statement of what occurred at Stark Industries last night," Rhodey told the group of reporters the day after Obadiah's death. "There have been unconfirmed reports that a robotic prototype malfunctioned and caused damage to the arc reactor. Fortunately, a member of Tony Stark's personal security staff..."
"'Iron Man,'" Tony said, reading the newspaper that his aunt had given him before she had gone out to the press conference. Pepper was attempting to make him presentable. "That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean, it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative, the imagery, anyway."
"Here's your alibi." Tony looked up at Phil Coulson who was holding out index cards. He took them and Phil nodded. "Okay. You were on your yacht."
"Yeah."
"We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night," Phil continued. "And sworn statements from fifty of your guests."
Tony looked down at the speech. "See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Pepper and me alone on the island."
"Because that's completely believable." The group of three looked over to see Grace standing in the doorway with her arms crossed.
"What?" Tony asked his aunt. "That Pepper and I were alone on an island?"
She shook her head and walked further into the room. "No, that Pepper would be alone with you. Everybody knows that you aren't dating. Now." She picked up her nephew's jacket and held it out to him. "Whatever you do, little penguin, don't tell anyone that you're Iron Man. It's the last thing we need right now."
He nodded. "I promise. Can you give Pepper and me a moment?"
"Alright." Grace shrugged and gestured for Phil to follow her. "Just don't do anything weird. Or stupid." Phil followed her out of the room and she closed the door behind them. "Is everything cleaned up?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good." She nodded and crossed her arms, letting out a breath. "When you see Nick next, tell him I want to talk."
"About what?"
"I'm coming back to SHIELD," she said and he raised his eyebrows. "Officially."
⸻ ~~~ ⸻
𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 back of the room and looked around at the sea of reporters. "And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement," Rhodey said. "He will not be taking any questions. Thank you."
Tony walked up to the podium and pulled out his stack of cards. "Uh... Been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time." There was a collective chuckle that came from the reporters and Grace let out a breath. "There's been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop..."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark," Christine Everhart interrupted and Grace rolled her eyes. "But do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a sit that conveniently appeared, despite that that you..."
"I know that it's confusing," Tony interrupted with a nod. "It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make wild accusations or insinuate that I'm a superhero."
Christine shook her head. "I never said you were a superhero."
"Didn't? Well, good, because that would be outlandish and... fantastic." Grace furrowed her brows at her nephew. "I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public." She crossed her arms and tilted her head. Rhodey whispered in his ear and Tony sighed. "The truth is..." He looked up and met Grace's eye and smiled apologetically. "I am Iron Man."
Grace threw her hands up in exasperation as the reporters all started talking over one another. She let out a breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. "And here we go..."
⸻ ~~~ ⸻
an: and this ends iron man
I know some people want
me to hurry up and get to
avengers so that steve and
grace can reunite, but I
just want you all to
understand that I'm trying
to show her relationships
with everybody; tony,
rhodey, pepper, shield.
she has a life that isn't just
her and steve and I'm really
trying to show that. it also
makes it more heartbreaking
and rewarding when they
do finally reunite if I show
you her life without him
besides... end of the act :)
on to iron man 2...