Tony and his Kids

Robotic Arm

Tony leaned back in his chair, feeling the warmth of the sun coming from the bay windows outside as his children bickered away at a table, throwing out mathematical equations as they seemed to be doing finishing touches on..... whatever they were building.

"Done!" Tony's four children yelled happily. Tony smiled, sitting up straight from where he had been leaning back in this swirly chair. The empty short-sleeve of his right arm moved lazily with him.

They'd had to remove his arm because the damage from the gauntlet was too severe, but Tony was just glad he was alive. Glad he was alive so he could see his children grow. Glad he was alive to be with Pepper. Glad to be alive to be with his best friends.

The kids, Harley, Nebula, Peter, and Morgan had been working on something for the past two weeks and would not let him see, so he sat in his armchair everyday, watching them fondly and enjoying every second.

Peter draped a pillow case over whatever-it-was. Nebula and Harley lifted together. It didn't seem heavy, it was more like they were presenting a platter of cookies than anything. Though the sheet's shape made it look like a lumpy tube.

Morgan climbed the arm of his chair and he wrapped an arm around her. She was practically vibrating in excitement as Peter came around behind his chair to watch. Nebula and Harley set down the object on his lap. It was exactly heavy, but it wasn't exactly lite either.

"What could it be?" He pondered out loud, smiling at them as he rubbed his chin exaggeratedly. He took it a step further by poking the object, knowing it would get on their nerves he was waiting so long to see it.

"C'mon Dad!" Harley groaned. See, he was right.

"Alright, alright," he laughed and pulled away the sheet. Tony almost dropped it out of the pure shock and joy that nearly overwhelmed him.

It was a robotic arm, red and gold like his suit.

"I-if you don't like the color we can change it, it's changeable," Peter stuttered anxiously. He reached over and flipped a small switch where shoulder would meet skin and the arm changed to imitate a real arm with his skin tone.

The engineer's vision was getting a little blurry and his throat was tight with emotion. "I can't express how much I love this," he finally managed to force out. The grins of his children nearly had him bursting into tears.

Nebula helped him put it on and he felt a vague deja vu of when he had fixed her arm, the feeling heightening with every gentle question on if it hurt, was it tight enough, and could you move it a little?

The arm instantly came together with his muscles, built in nerves and exact patterns that came into creation when you study bone structure, veins, the layers of skin, and muscles in a certain person's arm. The length and weight was perfect. As far as he could tell, the only differences in the two arms would be strength and endurance.

Morgan hugged his neck, nuzzling her face into the- his robotic shoulder.

"Do you like it? Really?" Harley asked. Tony could hear the vulnerability and need for truth in his fifteen year old son's voice.

  "Yes," he whispered, then cleared his throat, "Yes."

Suddenly, three more pairs of arms came to wrap around him. He wrapped both of his arms around them, trying to show through touch how much he loved them.

"I love you all."

"We love you, too, Dad," came the chorus of voices. It brought brand new tears to his eyes and he pulled them as close as possible to him, never wanting to let go until he had to. He wanted to freeze this moment forever.

But they would all need to breathe, so he let go after a few more seconds. Morgan climbed off of him as he hopped up out of his chair, using both arms to push himself up.

The eyes of his kids stayed on him as he flexed his new arm, bending it and twirling the wrist side to side. He curled his fingers into a fist, then bopped Peter on the nose lightly. The seventeen year old giggled.

"I'm guessing Pepper knew about this?" Nods. "How about we cook dinner and then suprise everyone?" More nods.

As they made their way into the kitchen, bickering over what to eat and laughing, Tony felt peace.