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Jack was lounging in Nathan’s office at Global Dynamics waiting for his boyfriend to finish some paperwork when his phone started to ring. He didn’t recognise the California number but he had a few friends back in LA so he answered, “Go for Carter.”
“Jack?” Noah asked, “It’s Noah Stilinski, we met at that conference a few years back.”
Jack remembered the conference, he’d drawn the short straw and had to give a presentation about the role of the marshal service to the annual Pacific Northwest Sheriffs Conference. “I remember, what can I do for you Sheriff?”
Noah sighed, “I need your help in tracking someone down. He’s not a fugitive, but he’s proving difficult for us to locate.”
Jack replied, “I’m not actually a marshal any more, but give me the details and I can put some feelers out with some friends back in LA.”
Nathan sat up and started to pay attention to the call. As far as he knew, Jack’s number had been changed when he moved to Eureka and it was given to a limited group of people who had clearance to know where he was living. He murmured, “How did he get your number?”
Noah asked, “So we are trying to find Nathan Stark, the last address we can find for him was in DC, although the source for that was not entirely reliable.”
Jack glanced at his boyfriend and he asked nonchalantly, “Why are you trying to find this Nathan Stark?”
“I can’t actually tell you that,” Noah said apologetically, “It’s classified.”
Jack shook his head at Nathan and he said, “Then I’m sorry Sheriff, I can’t help you.”
Stiles heard the heartbeat of the second man in the room tick when Jack Carter said his name, so he took the phone from his dad and he said, “Put the phone on speaker, please.”
Jack narrowed his eyes and he demanded, “Why?”
Stiles smirked, “Because what I have to say concerns Dr. Stark and it’s only fair he should be the one to hear it. Don’t you think, Sheriff Carter?”
Jack put the phone on speaker and as soon as he hit the button Stiles said, “We need your help with your brother, Dr. Stark. He was kidnapped a few days ago but managed to escape. The problem is they injected him something that has reacted badly with the Nanobots that make up his current experimental suit. He’s currently lying in stasis in a cocoon he somehow created, and while we have a biochemist here, we are for lack of a better word. Stuck.”
Nathan cleared his throat, “Tony was kidnapped? Why was it not on the news?”
Stiles shrugged, “We don’t know. Honestly, we need Tony to wake up and tell us what happened.”
Nathan shook his head, “I’m not sure how I can help, I’m a mathematician.”
“Pull the other one,” Stiles said derisively, “The Nobel isn’t given out for mathematics, that’s the Fields Medal. What we need is more brains to brainstorm and think through the issues.”
Nathan nodded, “Fine. Where are you?”
Stiles laughed, “I’ll come to you. Is there somewhere private I can pick you up from. Somewhere out of the way of the Global Dynamics security network?”
Jack nodded, “SARAH. We can put her into privacy mode. How long do you think you’ll need us for?”
Nathan was typing on his computer, “I’ve put us both out for a week of emergency leave. Give them the address for SARAH. We’ll head home and pack. How long do you think you’ll be, kid?”
Stiles muttered, “I’m not a kid. Send a text to my dads phone with the address when you’re ready. Just make sure there are no cameras on.”
Nathan nodded, “Definitely. Give us about half an hour.”
They headed to the bunker and Jack asked, “How long do you think it will take them to get here?”
Nathan shrugged, “If Tony’s involved I’d hate to guess.”
When they arrived they had a quick talk with SARAH and put her into privacy mode. She understood that the scientist’s brother was in trouble and needed their help. Jack sent the address through to Sheriff Stilinski before they started on their packing.
When they came downstairs there was a young man sitting on their sofa waiting for them. Nathan looked at the ceiling and he asked, “SARAH?”
SARAH asked, “Yes Dr. Stark, how can I help you?”
Stiles snickered, “Why am I not surprised that both Starks have functional AI’s running their houses.” He looked at the bags the pair were carrying and he asked, “Are you ready to go?”
They both nodded mutely and Stiles gestured at the bags and he asked, “May I? I can store them until we get to our destination.”
“Store how?” Nathan asked.
Stiles held up his wrist to show his bracer, “Pocket dimension. It can hold a lot of stuff.”
Nathan frowned, “Pocket dimension? They don’t exist.”
Stiles picked up the bags and with a flick they disappeared into his bracer, “Uh huh, sure they don’t. Are you ready? Is there anything else you need to grab before we go?”
Jack asked, “How are we getting to wherever we’re going?”
Stiles snapped his fingers so they sparked and he said, “Magic. Now you need to hold my arms and don’t let go until I say so. Ok?”
They both nodded skeptically before they grabbed on to one of his arms each. With a just thought they were gone.
-x-
When they landed in the training room Jack took two steps away and he demanded, “What the hell was that?”
Stiles shrugged, “I did say it was magic. Follow me, I’ll take you through to the medical bay where we have Tony in his cocoon. We have a team going between the med bay and the lab trying to figure out what’s going on.”
They entered the medical bay and Nathan’s eyebrows rose, Stiles snarked, “Ohh Sourwolf, his eyebrow game is almost as good as yours.”
Derek shook his head and went back to writing down the details Dr. Banner was reading out from his instruments.
Stiles asked, “Do you need introductions?”
Nathan looked around the room, “Not really. Although I have questions, I can wait until we work out what the hell Tony has done first. Were do you want us?”
Stiles said, “Bruce could use a sounding board and Sheriff, dad could use some help in the war room, he’s investigating who took Tony and how. Follow me and I’ll take you up.”
Derek called out, “Stiles, can you bring down some food when you come back?”
Stiles nodded, “I’ll probably send Steve down, he’s better at getting these guys to eat.”
Derek agreed, “Those puppy dog eyes are killer.”
-x-
When Stiles got back to the lab he found Drs. Banner and Stark trying to narrow down the substances in Tony’s blood. Lydia and Derek were in the medical bay, keeping watch over the few devices that were able to monitor the vital signs from within the cocoon. The teen looked up at the screen where the microscope was showing the zoomed in view and he said, “That’s not good.”
Bruce frowned, “What? What do you see that we’re missing, Stiles?”
Stiles shook his head, “Hang on, I need to get Tata, he will understand it better than I will. He’s upstairs with Steve managing the kitchen crew.”
Nathan watched the kid leave the room and he asked, “Tata?”
Derek came in curious about what Stiles had seen and he explained, “It’s polish for dad.” He looked hesitant, “Just, don’t freak out when they get back. He’s been staying out of the way because he’s still wanted for questioning by SHIELD.”
Stiles came back with a tall man with long dark hair he pointed at the screen and he said, “He’s got Uru in his blood. That can’t be good.”
Loki nodded and he moved closer, “No, and the only Uru that was on him was already magically charged. What the hell did they do to him?”
Stiles asked, “It’s evolving isn’t it? He’s evolving?”
Nathan asked, “Who are you? And what is Uru?”
Loki held his hand out, “I’m Loki Stilinski-Hale, and Uru is a metal from Asgard that can be imbued with magic. Like my brothers hammer, Mjolnir.”
Nathan huffed, “Of course he’s playing with magical metals.”
Stiles shrugged, “It’s been fine, he created the nanobots for James so he could full shift even though is arm is a prostethic.”
“Full shift?” Nathan asked, wondering what his brother had gotten them into.
Derek rolled his eyes, “Stiles, did you explain anything before you brought them here?”
Stiles blushed, “Erm, no, I might have gotten distracted when I discovered SARAH, their AI.”
Derek chuckled, “Don’t tell FRIDAY, she might get jealous.” He looked at the scientist who looked like he was about to have an epic meltdown. “Stiles, take Dr. Stark upstairs and give him and Sheriff Carter our Beacon Hills 101 rundown after you get a secrecy oath. Use the same one you used with Colonel Rhodes.”
Stiles saluted and he said, “Follow me Dr. Stark. Tata and Bruce will need to figure out what other metals are in Tony’s blood for now.”
He escorted Nathan into the war room which seemed pretty full of people. Several of whom the scientist recognised. Stiles called out, “Sheriff Carter, Peter, can you come with me please. We need to have a quick chat.”
Peter stood with a smirk, “You forgot the explanation didn’t you, sweetheart?”
Stiles nodded, “Yep, and the oath.”
As he led the group up to the library Nathan explained, “Our bunker has an AI, it’s a bit distracting for those who haven’t met one before.”
Stiles smirked, “That wasn’t the issue. We have an AI here, and two others that live in the server banks in the basement but they operate remotely. Plus Tony’s main AI, JARVIS, has access to the house.”
Nathan asked, “He has created multiple AI’s?”
Jack snorted, “Of course he has, he’s your brother.” He looked at the two sitting across from them and he asked, “Secrecy oath?”
Stiles slid his phone across the study table they were using, “We need you to repeat that oath. It’s magically binding and it means that you won’t be able to share what you see in this house. It’s to protect our pack and our many secrets, but also to protect you. Hydra wouldn’t hesitate to take those close to Tony to torture them for information.”
Jack was the first to take the secrecy oath, he figured it couldn’t hurt and it would help protect Nathan. Nathan rolled his eyes at his boyfriend before also taking the oath.
Stiles said, “The explanation is probably done better in the war room but it’s full of pack members trying to find out how Tony was taken and by who. We initially thought Hydra, but this seems too well planned. Especially since they had access to Tony’s movements.”
Nathan sighed, “He does have a lot of enemies. How closely guarded is Tony’s calendar?”
Peter confirmed, “Only his AI’s have full access. Which is part of the problem. There is someone with backdoor access to JARVIS, his main AI. He has JOCASTA and PLATO working to minimise any damage from the infiltration as we try to find them, but it’s been a slow process. Especially since Tony has been busy developing the nanotech.”
Nathan said, “You mentioned he developed the Nanotech for James, so he could full shift? I am curious what you mean by full shift.”
Peter said, “James is a werewolf, like myself and others in the house.”
Jack said doubtfully, “A werewolf, with claws, teeth, and rwar?”
Peter shifted to his beta shift and dryly he said, “Rwar.”
Nathan snickered and he asked, “So you can also shift into a wolf?”
Peter nodded, “The wolves can. We also have kitsune shifters, like Stiles, who can shift into their kitsune forms.”
Nathan asked, “And Tony? Is he a shifter?”
Peter shook his head, “No. We had an agreement that if anything fatal happened to him he would take the bite to save his life. It’s an agreement we have with most of the humans in the pack.” He sighed, “As for what’s happening with Tony, all we know so far is that he missed a meeting with the board at SI. JARVIS said he had decided to drive himself to the meeting and we confirmed with JARVIS that he left the building in his Audi but the car vanished off the traffic cameras not long after he left the building. He was missing for about four hours when he turned up in the training room and the cocoon started to form.”
Stiles nodded, “Danny was in there with Jackson, they were in the middle of a training exercise, when he arrived out of the blue. He said when Tony landed he just said he’d been injected with something orange and glowy. Then he passed out and the cocoon seemed to finish forming. He’s been sealed away for just over two days now. Danny and Jackson both said they could see his nano Iron Man suit forming over his body when he collapsed and where it was forming the cocoon was not far behind. Nothing penetrates the outer shell of the cocoon, and we haven’t been able to get a piece off to study.”
Nathan asked, “How did you get he blood sample then?”
“Magic,” Stiles confirmed, “Tata was able to use the limited healing magic he knows to pull blood straight into a vial from his vein. He’s pulled samples every twelve hours so far. The blood is definitely mutating, we just can’t work out how, or how it will affect Tony. That’s why we called you.”
Nathan looked confused, “I’m not a biochemist though?”
Stiles nodded, “We know. Dr. Banner is though and he said it’s a bit beyond him. We need an engineer who can think outside the box, and for us that’s usually Tony. You saw down there, we realised the mutations are due to the metals in his blood, which shouldn’t be happening.”
Jack shrugged, “I’ve seen crazier. If you’re mixing science and magic, it’s hardly surprising it’s reacting weirdly.” He stood, “Scientist, why don’t you go back downstairs and help the geeks and I’ll go back to helping with the investigation. We’ll save the stunned disbelief for later.”
Stiles asked, “Before I show him the way, how’s the investigation going?”
Jack asked, “Your AI can’t hear us in here?”
Stiles shook his head, “No. It’s why I brought you up here.”
Jack nodded, “Just before I came up they were questioning if Tony actually left the building. The AI, JARVIS, he was insistent that he did and showed us footage of him driving out. Which seemed to settle the others.”
Stiles narrowed his eyes, “But not you?”
Jack shook his head, “No. But I wasn’t sure if I should say something. Look, the footage is fine, except for the fact that there is no snow on the road and the trees on the sidewalk are green. It’s winter in New York. You guys are all used to winters in California which gets cold, but it rarely snows and the trees are often green year round.”
Nathan said, “So whoever altered JARVIS is likely the same person or group that took Tony. How did he get back here?”
Stiles explained, “I am born from two magic users, my dad is a spark which is a type of magic that relies on the belief of the caster, and I grew up on a steady diet of Harry Potter.”
Nathan laughed, “You created portkeys? That’s fantastic.”
Stiles nodded, “They are for emergencies and the trip is nauseating, but it saved Tony from his kidnappers. The only downside to them is they require the user to be awake to activate them.”
“So they initially kept him sedated?” Nathan asked, “Why? It doesn’t make sense.”
Stiles shrugged, “Before he started the nano project for James, Tony had been working on implants in his lab in the tower that would call the suit to him with specific movements. It’s likely they kept him sedated so he couldn’t call the suit.”
Jack asked, “So the suit reacted somehow to his stress and formed around him?”
Peter nodded, “Near as we can tell, yes. We won’t know for sure until he wakes up, unless we can find his kidnappers and figure out what he was injected with.”
Jack turned to Nathan and he raised an eyebrow, Nathan vehemently shook his head, “No. No, just no. He will be even more insufferable than he is now.”
Jack snorted, “Yes, but he is the foremost expert in AI that we know. He will take the same secrecy oath which will keep the fanboy to a minimum. Come on, Scientist, you know he can help.”
Nathan rolled his eyes and he whined, “He doesn’t know Tony is my brother. I wanted to keep it that way.”
Peter asked, “What or who are you talking about?”
Nathan huffed, “My assistant, Douglas Fargo. He’s the one who designed and built SARAH, the AI that runs our house. He’s a coding genius and he hasn’t found a programming code he can’t understand. The problem is, if there is a big red button, he is the type of person that will push the button just to see what it does.”
Stiles laughed, “We have plenty of those here. He’ll be fine and honestly, we need all the help we can get. We’ve had PLATO and JOCASTA trying to figure it out but they have had no luck catching whoever is editing JARVIS’ code. Tony has tried, but to him JARVIS is like his kid, so it’s hard for him to see past the rage somedays.”
Nathan pulled out his phone and he sent off a few texts, “I’ve told him to wait for us at our place. He said he’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Jack said, “I’ll go, I can explain it all to him and then you don’t need to deal with the crazy. They need more help in the lab to be honest.”
Peter stood, “I’ll take him down. Stiles, do you still have their bags, I can get Boyd to set them up in one of the spare rooms.”
Stiles shook his wrist and let their bags out of the pocket storage, “Thanks Papa, we’ll be back soon.” He turned to Jack and he said, “Hold on tight. I’ll take us back to your living room.”
As soon as they arrived in his living room Jack said, “Blackout mode, SARAH.”
SARAH confirmed, “Blackout mode engaged, Sheriff Carter.”
Stiles sat down on the sofa and he said, “I guess you have questions.”
Jack nodded, “So many. First up, you have three dads?”
Stiles asked, “How do you figure that?”
Jack grinned at the non answer and he said, “Sheriff Stilinski is your dad, then you called Peter Hale, Papa, and Nathan said you called Loki Tata which I know is polish for dad.”
Stiles nodded, “Technically Loki is my bearer, and the sheriff is my dad; Peter is my stepdad. Loki had to leave after I was born to protect us from Odin. He imprisoned my older siblings for existing due to a prophecy. We rescued him from New York after the battle when we realised he had been mind controlled to attack.”
Jack asked, “How could you tell?”
Stiles explained, “Loki is well known in Asgard for his eyes, his emerald green eyes. During the footage of the battle they were blue, and he wasn’t acting like the Crown Prince of Chaos. Our pack has had a few members who were mind controlled so we knew what to look for.”
Jack raised an eyebrow, “Seriously?”
Stiles nodded, “We even have a term for it, personal murdery meat puppet. You met James in the War Room?” Jack nodded confirmation, “He spent 70 years under the control of hydra being their assassin under the name The Winter Soldier. He was an expert in making assassinations look like mundane accidents. While he was the soldier he had no memory of ever being James Barnes, it was pretty horrific.”
The sheriff in him begged to know so he asked, “So how did he end up with the pack?”
Stiles chuckled, “He was sent to capture whoever had been taken by the Nogitsune. A Void Kitsune that had gone completely darkside. We were able to capture him and free him from the mind control.”
Jack commented, “His arm looks pretty cool. Is that the metal you were talking about before, Uru?”
Stiles wiggled his hand in a so-so motion, “Sort of, its a composite of Uru, Tony’s element, Starkanium, and a little bit of Vibranium. Tony figured out the secret for nano tech so when James shifts, his arm shifts form with him.”
There was a knock on the bunker door and Stiles said, “SARAH is trying to explain to Dr. Fargo that the bunker is in Blackout mode and to come back later.”
Jack said, “SARAH, drop blackout mode and open the door, please.”
Fargo tumbled through the door as soon as it opened and he said, “I’m ready, where are we going?”
Jack rolled his eyes, “Do you not even want the details?”
Fargo shook his head, “Not really? Dr. Stark said he needed my help with an AI.”
Stiles nodded, “It’s not his AI, well, it kind of is but not in the way your thinking. At least it’s not the Dr. Stark you’re thinking of. Anyway, I’m rambling,” He handed over his phone, “I need you to say that secrecy oath, I’ve modified it slightly to add in Jack and Nathan.”
Fargo read over the oath and he asked hesitantly, “You want me to agree to this?”
Stiles shook his head, “Nope, I need you to repeat it exactly as it’s stated. Once you’ve done that we can go. You’re going to get dropped in the deep end as far as information overload goes, but the help we need is pretty urgent.”
Fargo recited the oath and he narrowed his eyes when it sealed with a flash, “Was that?”
Stiles grinned as Fargo handed over his phone, “That was the magical oath sealing itself. So even if you tried to explain what you knew to someone who isn’t part of the pack or hasn’t agreed to the oath, it would stop you. Right, do you have a bag or anything you need to take?”
Fargo nodded, “It’s up in the car. I figured we’d be leaving from there.”
Stiles shook his head, “Go grab your things, anything you think you will need for the next week.”
Fargo returned a few minutes later with two laptop bags and a suitcase, “This will be enough, I think. I grabbed both of my laptops as I am not sure what was needed to work with the AI.”
Stiles said, “I’m just going to store them for the trip, that ok?”
Jack could see Fargo was looking worried so he said, “It’s perfectly safe, he did the same thing for our luggage.” He had a thought about his own AI and he said, “SARAH, privacy mode.”
Stiles smiled, “Good idea, don’t want this caught on camera.” He picked up the three bags one by one and put them in his storage bracer. “Right, grab hold, Dr. Fargo, if you could follow Jack’s example, please.”
Jack put his hand around Stiles’ bicep and he motioned for Fargo to do the same, he murmured, “Hold tight and don’t let go until he tells you, ok?”
Fargo nodded nervously as he had a death grip on Stiles other bicep.
They landed in the war room and Stiles said, “You can let go now.” He said to Jack, “If you want to stay here and help out with the investigation. I’m going to take Fargo upstairs to the library with Danny so we can explain what we need from him.”
Danny stood and followed the pair out of the war room, he said, “I’m just going to get us some snacks as the explanation will probably be long.”
When they were seated in the library Fargo demanded, “What the hell was that?”
Stiles snarked, “Well that took longer than I expected. That was teleportation magic. So the oath you took bound you to keep the secrets of the Hale Pack. You didn’t wonder what that was?”
Fargo shook his head, “The Hale Pack was a well known pack when I was growing up. I’d heard rumours over the last few years that they had rebuilt from the ashes of the old pack, but nothing concrete. I just wasn’t aware of magic like yours. The only magic I’ve ever come across is druidic in nature which is barely magic in my opinion. I grew up in a wolf pack as a human, something I’ve kept hidden from everyone.”
Stiles smiled, “Wicked. That makes things easier. So I am the emissary of the Hale Pack, Stiles Stilinski. I am born from a spark and an asgardian mage so I have two kinds of magic at my finger tips. I am also a kitsune though a happy accident. My mate is Derek Hale, the alpha of the Hale Pack. We’ll introduce you to the other pack members as they are free. Right now we are knee deep in an investigation, Nathan’s brother Tony was kidnapped two days ago and while he was able to use his emergency portkey to return to us a few hours after he was kidnapped, he has been trapped in a cocoon since he returned going through some sort of change.”
Fargo nodded, “That’s not what you need me for though is it?”
Stiles shook his head, “So Tony has several AIs that he uses for various purposes. His main AI, JARVIS, has been compromised at some point and he has footage of Tony leaving Stark Tower for a meet that we know was faked. He however, is sure that the footage is genuine.”
Fargo asked, “How do you know the footage was faked?”
Stiles chuckled, “Jack actually pointed it out, he was taken from New York, and the footage of him leaving the building passes all digital checks, but the footage shows him driving down the street, a street with green trees and no snow.”
Fargo chuckled, “Which you all probably missed because that’s normal for California. That’s if the Hale Pack is still based in Beacon Hills.”
Stiles nodded, “We are. I’ll have to introduce you to Peter later, he knows more about other packs in the USA as he was Talia’s left hand before the fire.”
Danny walked in with snacks and he asked, “Is the disbelief portion over with?”
Fargo nodded, “I grew up in a pack in North Dakota. Something no one in Eureka is aware of. So I am guessing we’re up here because the AIs can’t hear us?”
Danny nodded, “So JARVIS has access to the house, he is Tony’s personal AI, he runs Stark Tower and his residence in Malibu. We have FRIDAY installed in the house with full access, this means she has access to the war room, and the various basement rooms, she helps us run the house and she also assists JARVIS with our investigation into HYDRA. Then there is JOCASTA and PLATO. JOCASTA is a completely silent AI, she communicates with us by text messages, she has been monitoring JARVIS and operating in a blindspot that was created for her. But she hasn’t been able to find anything to nail down who has left the backdoor in his code. Technically no one should have a backdoor since his code was written entirely by Tony. But James confirmed that Hydra has several talented hackers that could have done it.”
Fargo asked, “Does JOCASTA have an app or something I can use to talk to her?”
Stiles nodded, “She has a google account and is happy to use the chat feature to talk. We also have PLATO who is monitoring JARVIS’ backups to try and track down alterations to his code. He’s been able to nail down dates and times but because JARVIS is in charge of the tower we haven’t been able to narrow it down.”
Danny explained, “There is a room in the tower where the changes are being made, but we haven’t been able to catch anyone in there. We even tried concealing ourselves and hiding outside the room and still no joy. It’s frustrating.”
Fargo said, “It sounds like you all have it well in hand, what do you need from me?”
Stiles chuckled, “Most of the investigation side of things was done by Tony, as he’s the AI expert, but he is unavailable. But we need to know more about how he was taken to find out who did it. JARVIS has the info but it’s been hidden from him. Myself and Danny know a fair bit about the AI code, but we are just high schoolers. For this we thought an expert might be better. The AIs are considered as pack, so Tony won’t freak out about you having access to the code since you are oathbound to keep their secrets.”
Fargo asked, “Can you get me into that room, the one the hacker is using? The room itself might help me use their blind spot, if I can link up to their system.”
Stiles nodded, “I can, but I would prefer you chat with FRIDAY and PLATO first. JARVIS only has access to our war room. So I can take you down to the lab in the basement so we can all talk without JARVIS hearing anything.”
Fargo agreed, “Let’s go, the sooner we can chat the sooner we can get to the bottom of the issue.”
Danny stood, “I’ll take him down and introduce him, I can setup the console for JOCASTA while I’m down there. Why don’t you check on how they are going with Tony. I know you’re worried and you need to give Derek an update. Goose is doing his best to keep Clint distracted, but it will only last so long.”
Stiles asked, “Do I want to know how he’s keeping him distracted?”
Danny cackled, “Goose ate his bow and is playing a masterful game of hide and seek.”
“Shit.” Stiles said, “His favourite?”
Danny shook his head, “Nope, Goose knows better, Tony would be out for blood. It was his training bow. I think he’s doing it because Coulson asked him to keep Clint distracted. He’s been regularly leading Clint to the kitchen where the guys in there have been forcing him to eat whenever they spot him.”
Fargo asked, “Do I want to know what Goose is?”
Both boys shook their heads with a grin.
Stiles nodded, “I’ll be down soon, I just want to see if Coulson needs anything before I go.”
He watched them go then he walked over to where Phil Coulson was talking with Chris and Peter and took a seat across from the three men.
Chris asked, “You doing ok?”
Stiles nodded, “So as you saw we found Tony’s brother. In a hilarious turn of fate, the Marshall dad knows is now the Sheriff of Eureka, and Nathan Stark’s boyfriend.”
Phil pondered, “I wonder what happened to Sheriff Cobb. He used to contact me when he saw something that was strange, well strange even for Eureka.”
Chris and Peter both raised an eyebrow in surprise and Phil clarified, “They dealt with projects from Area 51, so if he was contacting me it was likely to be catastrophic if left in the hands of the scientists there.”
Stiles chuckled, “Sheriff Carter did mention Fargo has an obsession with pushing red buttons that say do not push.” He looked seriously at Phil, “Anything from your contacts at the UN?”
Phil shook his head, “No, we are trying to decide if its worth reaching out to Hill or Fury.”
“Let’s give Fargo time to see what he can get out of JARVIS,” Stiles suggested, “I’m not sure I want SHIELD to know Tony was kidnapped. If they don’t know already.”
Chris asked, “Has Ms. Potts called him at all?”
Stiles shook his head, “Not to my knowledge. Rhodey is on top of that though. I’ll check with him on my way downstairs.”
Phil nodded, “If Tony shows no sign of change by midnight, can you get Clint to get some sleep. Even if you have to do it magically. Last thing we need is a sleep deprived assassin on the loose.”
Stiles nodded, “I’ll threaten to magically sedate him if he doesn’t go willingly. It should be enough to get him to capitulate.”
Chris shook his finger at the teen, “Same goes for you too, Stiles. I know you’re near running on empty right now. Trust us to keep an eye on things while you sleep.”
Stiles nodded, “I’ll drag Sourwolf to bed if nothing’s changed by midnight.” He wandered out of the room not really paying attention to the two men. He stopped at a desk in the library and found a scrap bit of paper and a pen and he wrote a note for Rhodey. He had a feeling he didn’t want JARVIS to hear his question.
He took the note downstairs to the war room and he called Rhodey to the door, when the colonel arrived he handed over the note with his finger on his lips to indicate silence.
‘Have you heard from Pepper Potts since Tony was kidnapped?’
Rhodey’s eyes widened as he shook his head. He beckoned for Stiles to follow him outside so they could talk privately.
As soon as Stiles stopped walking Rhodey said, “I haven’t heard from her at all. I’m not sure what JARVIS has reported to her. Actually I’m not sure what JARVIS knows to be honest.”
Stiles sent a text to James and he asked him to join them outside. When James came walking out he asked, “What does JARVIS know about Tony’s condition?”
James thought about what’s been said in the war room and he reported, “As far as I know just that Tony is unconscious in the med bay after a kidnapping attempt. He knows that Colonel Rhodes has been pulled in officially by SWORD to help the investigation. But not much beyond that. We know he’s a security risk so most of us are pretty careful what we say around him. Those that aren’t haven’t been in the war room. Why do you ask?”
Rhodey said with a sigh, “Pepper hasn’t reached out to me. Even Happy has been texting me regularly to get updates, he knows when Tony is injured I am always by his bedside.”
“Right,” James said with a huff, “We never considered her since Tony always trusted her and she’s been part of his life since he joined SI. I’ve never even met her, none of us have.”
Stiles nodded, “I’ve met Happy. I can see how he got his name, he’s very protective of Tony so I can see why he would be texting for updates. Let’s go down to the lab and get FRIDAY to dig deep into Pepper Potts.”
-x-
“Mischief, I don’t think that’s who you think it is,” FRIDAY stated when Rhodey held up a photo he had on his phone of Pepper. “When I do a facial recognition search in my systems I found two records. One was of Virgina ‘Pepper’ Potts. The other is a hydra agent, Marianna Koroleva, she was raised in the Red Room.”
James pulled the phone over and he cursed viscously in Russian. “She went by Anna, she excelled in all disciplines. Shit. She’s the CEO of Stark Industries. The damage she could be doing while Tony is out is extensive.”
Stiles shook his head, “No, she can’t actually. So while Tony was avoiding us after the battle we were still chatting by text. She had huge issues with Tony being Iron Man and forced him to choose between her or the suit with an ultimatum. He obviously chose the suit, after the fight he told me he was reassessing things and he made a few decisions that locked her out of major changes without his authority, he also started slowly buying up stock in Stark Industries and he encouraged Derek to do the same. Between Tony and the pack we own 85% of SI. I think Derek said we have 15% or just over, so Tony still has the controlling stock. He wanted to make sure she couldn’t use the board to lock her out the way Obie tried to do.”
James asked, “Is she aware of this change?”
Stiles shook his head, “I doubt it. I don’t think he informed JARVIS either. He did most of the purchases through a shell company that only FRIDAY knows about.” He looked at the screen with the information on Marianna and he said, “We need to get Coulson down here. Maybe Clint as well. They know Romonov the best.”
James narrowed his eyes and he asked, “What are you thinking?”
Stiles huffed, “Tony told me how SHEILD infiltrated SI by sending in Romonov. It always bugged me at how easy that was for them to do. Like there were hundreds of options for Potts to choose from for her replacement as Tony’s assistant, and she chose Romonov, a new hire.”
Rhodey asked, “FRIDAY, has Pepper tried at all to find Tony’s location or status?”
FRIDAY replied, “She’s asked JARVIS for updates several times but only if he’s woken up or for his status. He’s told her to contact Colonel Rhodes for a more comprehensive update but she has declined.”
James asked, “Can you get a list of numbers she’s contacted FRIDAY?”
FRIDAY said smugly, “Of course, James. What time period would you like and where would you like me to send the list?”
Rhodey held up his hand and he asked, “Can we bring Happy here? He’s been her guard for nearly a year now, but he’s loyal only to Tony. I think the only reason he stopped being Tony’s guard is because he got laughed at for guarding a superhero.”
Stiles nodded and he asked, “FRIDAY, you trust him?”
FRIDAY agreed, “Harold ‘Happy’ Hogan is absolutely loyal to the Boss and while we’ve been chatting I’ve done a full and complete background check on him. I would trust him with the pack secrets, with the oath of course.”
Stiles asked, “Rhodey, can you get him to go to Tony’s lab and wait for us there? I figure he’s more likely to believe you, over someone he believes to be Tony’s intern… or worse.”
Rhodey laughed, “He would believe that too. Let’s go wait for him there while James works on getting Coulson and Clint to the lab so we can all talk when we get back.”
Stiles gripped Rhodey’s arm and teleported them both to Tony’s lab. As Rhodey texted Happy to get him down to the lab, Stiles did a quick inspection of the lab, gathering up several bugs in the process before he greeted Tony’s bots.
He held his hand out to a scowling Rhodey for inspection. He was pretty pissed they were still trying to bug the private lab, he magically checked the bugs were still rickrolling whoever was listening, and he put them in a soundproofed jar.
He sat on the sofa and let Dum-E and U approach him and he reassured them Tony would be ok. He thought about taking them to the pack house so they could be closer to Tony, but he figured that would be a red flag to whoever was trying to spy on him.
Eventually Happy joined them in the lab, he looked around as he entered and he asked, “Colonel Rhodes, who’s the kid?”
Stiles held out his hand and he introduced himself, “Stiles Stilinski, we’ve met before, briefly.”
Happy nodded, “I remember, so what’s up Rhodes, you here with an update on Tony?”
Rhodey smirked and he said, “Sort of, do you have someone watching Pepper for a while, we need to borrow you for a few days at least.”
Happy nodded, “She’s asked me to take over as head of SI Security and she’s taken one of my underlings as her new bodyguard. I can tell her I am doing a tour of one of the other facilities.”
Stiles grinned, “Good,” He held out his cellphone and he said, “I need you to say this word for word before I can take you to Tony.”
Happy read through it and he asked, “This protects him as well? His secrets?”
Stiles nodded and Rhodey said, “It does, he has some pretty big secrets these days, secrets from not just SI but SHIELD as well.”
Happy repeated the oath and barely flinched when it settled, he then looked at them and he asked, “So where is he? How are we getting there?”
Rhodey grabbed Stiles bicep and he said, “Grab hold of Stiles’ arm, and he will take us to the medical lab where Tony is currently… well… umm… resting?”