If They Knew All About You

A Promise

Updates were Tony's thing. He'd always been great at updates. It was a common misconception that his ingenuity came from random eureka moments where he would just come up with some innovative shit. In reality, he would analyze a system, catalog the flaws, and then work the problem. It was problem-solving skills. Sure, the solutions required him to come up with some innovative shit, but even a huge chunk of his innovative instincts was grounded in his solid analytic mind.

The project in front of him was the best example. Sure, nanotechnology was highly innovative and there was nobody on the planet who came close to the level of functionality Tony had been able to implement in the housing units, but all that came from the need to update his technology. The suit hadn't been good enough, so he had analyzed the weaknesses and was en route to fixing the issues.

He tapped the modified arc lying on the workbench in front of him. Two taps and the nanoparticles spread out around the arc, forming a layer of armor encircling the housing unit. He tapped the unit again and just as quickly the nanites retreated into the unit. He had managed to fully implement the nanites in a watch-sized housing unit and it sure had saved his life in Berlin fighting against the Winter Soldier, but it wasn't enough. He needed more control, more flexibility in a fight. A method for them not just to form the pre-programmed piece of armor but to adapt into whatever form of weapon or shield he would need at any given time. He needed that sort of control over his suit and he needed it fast.

"Catalogue that one under the 4.1 Nano Arc test series, FRI."

"Right away, Sir."

He had a suit to take out of course. The one he had taken to Siberia was beyond repair, but even without the Iron League, there was always more than one suit available. That clash with the Rogues earlier that week had been another red light though. He shuddered at the thought of how exposed the armor still was in the strategic places when his opponent knew what those places were.

Ross had been on his case for days. Of all the things that irked him about this mess, it wasn't the kid's idiot move to go off on the Rogues in an attempt to live out some kind of twisted revenge fantasy. It wasn't fucking Rogers and his buddies showing up in New York City either. In fucking Brooklyn of all places. It wasn't even all the lies and the bullshit the kid had pulled behind his back.

But fucking Ross. Fucking Ross had been faster to see what was happening in his city, with his own damn Spiderling before Tony had. He should have seen this. He had had everything in place to notice what was happening. He fucking did have everything in place to monitor it. All it would have taken was a look at the damn Spider-code. At the files. At what was there and especially what was missing. The video files from the late-night patrols and investigations the kid had erased. He might have erased those but hadn't thought of adjusting the file names. Never fixed the missing numbers. One glance at those and Tony would have known that something was up.

Instead, he had trusted a pubescent super-powered vigilante.

He was such an idiot.

It was the third day now that he had barricaded himself in his rooms at the Compound. Rhodey had left for D.C. on Wednesday morning and nobody had come to bother Tony for the past days. He had worked well into the evening, but then he didn't need that much sleep. He was fine. Between his office, the lab and his personal rooms he had everything he needed.

Most importantly, he had some me-time. He needed to let go of the bullshit he had to deal with and needed to focus on what was vital. He needed more charges against Ross to stick. It's not that Tony hadn't expected Ross to be on his case, but so far they had at least pretended to each other and everyone else involved that they were on the same side. On the Accords side. Tony had meant to let Ross believe that it was in his own interest to get the Rogues under control. Nobody would ever truly control the Rogues, the last weeks had made that fairly obvious. Least of all him. Definitely not Ross. There had to be a better way to deal with everything though. The first step to fix that was to erode the corrupt cancer in the system. Ross and his cronies. Maybe Tony would get the new technology done in time to have to man shackled with nanites. That would be a personal victory if he ever managed to open up the damn housing unit again to—