Later that night, the tower was quiet too quiet. The only sound came from the soft hum of the arc reactor embedded in Tony's chest and the occasional clink of tools shifting across the workbench. He stood in the middle of his lab, sleeves rolled up, hands still for once, but mind running at 300 miles per hour.
Tony's thoughts kept circling back to earlier that evening Peter's genuine laughter, the way he stumbled over his words when MJ teased him, Ned's starry-eyed awe, MJ's deadpan sarcasm. It was domestic, easy, and felt good. Maybe even normal.
But peace, Tony knew, never lasted. Especially not for people like them.
He clenched his jaw and turned toward the main holo-display.
"Friday, pull up the schematics Roo and I were tweaking earlier."
A soft chime echoed through the lab. "Got it, boss. Project: Iron Spider, version 5.3 loaded."
Holographic diagrams bloomed in the air spinning models of the new Iron Spider suit Peter would soon wear. Nanotech-based, modular, adaptable. A far cry from the clunky Mark I he'd built in a cave. But not enough. Not for what was coming.
"Run a material swap. Replace the current iron-platinum weave with a full vibranium composite."
There was a pause. "Do you want to use Wakandan vibranium or attempt to synthesize it from stored elements?"
Tony rubbed his temple. That was the question, wasn't it?
"If I ask Shuri, it's politics and diplomacy. If I try to make it myself, we risk instability under kinetic loads." He let out a breath. "Alright, do both. I want a side-by-side virtual mock-up. Real vibranium vs synthetic. Run a full kinetic absorption simulation and durability test. Speed run, please."
"Yes, boss. Spinning it up now."
As the lab came alive with streams of data and side-by-side simulations, Tony turned toward a second holo-screen and pulled up the specs for his own suit the Bleeding Edge armor.
This one wasn't just tech anymore. It was biology.
Stored in the hollow lattice of his bones, the armor was comprised of neurokinetic nanobots millions of self-replicating smart particles suspended in a pseudo-organic mesh of iron, platinum, and carbon fibers. Controlled by thought, responsive to emotional stress, and capable of morphing at will, it was his last line of defense. A second skin that could form shields, weapons, surgical tools, or disappear beneath a perfectly tailored three-piece suit.
Still he needed to improve it. Again.
"This suit saved my life, but it has limits," he muttered, mostly to himself. "Limits get people killed."
He swiped a window open. New module: Resonance Dampening Layer. If he could integrate vibranium's energy redirection into the base matrix, his suit and Peter's could take a hit from a Chitauri warship and keep moving.
"Baby girl," he said out loud, addressing Friday, "mark those updates and start a prototype growth sequence for Peter's version. Let's call it... Iron Spider Mark VI."
"Got it, boss. And by the way the vibranium composite beat the synthetic in all categories except adaptability. But the adaptability delta was only 3.6%."
Tony nodded. "Close enough. We'll blend it use real vibranium in the impact zones, synthetic in the joints and expansion layers. Best of both worlds."
The simulations flickered as Friday compiled the hybrid model. Meanwhile, Tony moved to his worktable. He pulled out a small box. Inside was a Stark Industries badge. Not for Peter. Not yet. For Harley.
"Two kids. One broken man. God help them," he muttered, then smiled faintly. "Guess it's a Stark family tradition."
He tapped his wrist and let the nanobots slip over his hand like quicksilver. The armor formed a scalpel in one finger, then a welding torch in the next.
Time to build