ＳＬＡＴＥ ◼ STEVE ROGERS◼

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"I told you I don't wanna join your super-secret boy band,"

Tony Stark sat at the restaurant booth, directly across from SHIELD Director Nick Fury. The Director wasn't having any of Stark's bullshit today, as the man before him casually ate his donut and sipped on his drink like he wasn't currently dying from Palladium poisoning.

"No, no, no. See, I remember, you do everything yourself. How's that working out for you?"

Tony rolled his eyes, squinting at Fury. The man only waited, watching Stark like a hawk.

"I'm sorry. I don't wanna get off on the wrong foot. Do I look at the patch or the eye? Honestly I'm a bit hung over. I'm not sure if you're real of if I'm having..."

"I'm the realest person you're ever going to meet," Fury sneered at Stark, narrowing his gaze at him. "I've got a lot on my plate right now, it would help if you'd cooperate with me."

"Wow, good for you Nicholas,"

"That does't look too good," Fury ignored Tony's unnecessary comment, his gaze drifting to the Palladium poisoning pattern on the side of Tony's neck. The man only shrugged uncomfortably.

"I've been worse,"

"We've secured the perimeter but I don't think we should hold it for too much longer. The girl is also waiting outside, she's ready whenever you are,"

Tony Stark pushed down his sunglasses, looking up at the red head in the skin tight suit beside him that he used to think was Natalie Rushman, his new assistant since he made Pepper Potts head of Stark Industries. Apparently, he had been wrong.

"You're fired,"

"Not up to you," she shot back, sending Stark a smirk as she placed herself in the booth next to Fury.

"Tony, I want you to meet Agent Natasha Romanoff," Fury introduced the two, although Tony was too busy glaring. "She's a SHIELD shadow. Once we realized how sick you were, we tasked her to you to keep tabs on your condition."

Stark only rolled his eyes, taking another bite of his donut as he pointed at Natasha.

"I suggest you apologize,"

"You've been quite busy," Fury cut him off with an eyeroll, already over his snarky attitude and witty remarks. he had enough on his plate to deal with right now. "You made your girl your CEO, you're giving away all your stuff. You let your friend fly away with your suit. Now, if I didn't know better..."

"You don't know better. I didn't give it to him, he took it,"

Fury raised an eyebrow, looking over to Natasha who sat with a smirk on her face.

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

Tony rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat as he looked at the two before him questionably.

"What do you want from me?"

"What do we want from you? What do you want from me? Go check on the girl and get the stuff," Fury told Natasha, who rose from her seat and left. "You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe. I have bigger problems than you in the southwest region to deal with, and another one right outside this door."

"How can this chick outside be such a problem?" Tony muttered to himself, trying to understand what the big deal is.

Natasha returned, a syringe in hand. While Stark was too busy in his own world, Fury gave her the nod as she injected the syringe into Stark's neck, the Palladium poisoning slowly retreating on his skin.

"Oh, God, are gonna steal my kidney and sell it? Could you please not do anything awful for five seconds? What did she just do to me?"

"More like what did we just do for you," Fury informed Stark as he rose from his seat, standing next to Natasha while Tony sat before them. "That's lithium dioxide. It's gonna take the edge off. We're trying to get you back to work, find a cure for all that."

"I've been looking for a suitable replacement for palladium. I've tried every combination, every permutation of every known element,"

"And I'm here to tell you that you haven't tried them all," Fury informed Stark, sharing a quick look with Natasha that Tony quickly caught on to. "We also have a bit of a favor to ask of you."

"If you're about to tell me to adopt this chick outside, then I'm out I don't do kids,"

"She's not a kid, and we don't want you adopting anyone," Natasha cut in, sending Tony a glare. "We need you to take her under your wing, show her some stuff. She might actually be more helpful to you then you might think."

"Not interested, I don't do charity,"

"You might when you see her,"

Tony raised an eyebrow at Fury's remark. The Director said something into his earpiece, two SHIELD agents entering the restaurant with the woman behind them. They stepped to the side, allowing Tony to see exactly who was behind them.

The last piece of the donut that Tony had in his mouth fell to the floor as he stood up, ripping his sunglasses from his face as he looked at the woman with wide eyes.

There, in the flesh, alive, stood Charlotte Watson, his father's best friend.