The workshop in Malibu.

  The music was deafening.

  The Clash, Should I Stay or Should I Go, rattling the tempered glass walls.

  Tony Stark was standing in front of a holographic mirror, shirtless. He held a handheld scanner to his chest.

  "Blood toxicity: twenty-four percent," JARVIS said. "It appears the localized necrosis is accelerating, sir. Continued use of the Iron Man suit is not recommended."

  "Yeah, well, so is everything I do." Tony muttered. He looked at his reflection.

  The black veins were spiderwebbing out from the Arc Reactor housing, creeping up his neck. He looked pale. Sweaty. He grabbed a bottle of chlorophyll juice- green sludge and downed it in one go, grimacing.

  "Mutant broccoli," he spat. "Jarvis, run the simulation for the new element again. Tell me there's a substitute for palladium."

  "I have run every known element on the periodic table, sir. None are viable."

  "Then synthesize a new one!" Tony snapped, throwing the empty bottle into a bin already overflowing with them.

  A beat.

  "Sir," JARVIS added, "you have an unauthorized presence approaching the lower level."

  Tony froze.

  The glass doors to the workshop slid open.

  Tony spun around, grabbing a rag to cover his chest, his eyes sharp now, not surprised, but ready. He expected Pepper. Or Rhodey.

  It was me.

  The music cut off, but not automatically.

  Tony flicked his fingers toward a console without looking. Silence dropped into the room.

  I walked down the ramp, carrying a simple wooden box.

  "You changed the codes," I said, stopping by the central worktable. "Pepper couldn't get in yesterday. She thinks you're having a midlife crisis."

  "I'm," Tony said quickly. He leaned back against a sleek black desk, clutching the rag to his chest. "Bought a racing team. Might buy a monkey. Who knows? It's a brave new world."

  I didn't smile.

  I looked at him.

  Really looked at him.

  I walked closer. He didn't step back, but his shoulders tightened.

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  "You can drop the rag, Tony," I said.

  Tony scoffed. "Wow. Straight to it?"

  I didn't answer.

  A second passed.

  Tony's grin held, then slipped.

  "…You look worse," I said instead. "Even for you."

  That did it.

  The humor cracked.

  Tony glanced away, jaw tightening. Then, slowly, he lowered the rag.

  The corruption was ugly. The black lines pulsing against pale skin. It looked painful.

  Tony let out a quiet breath.

  "Palladium," Tony whispered, looking down at the glowing circle in his chest. "It's keeping the shrapnel out of my heart, but it's poisoning the rest of me. Irony, right? The thing that's saving me is killing me."

  "And you haven't told Pepper."

  Tony's head snapped up. "Don't...."

  "You haven't," I repeated.

  He looked away again.

  "I can't," Tony said, quieter now. "She's… she's finally happy. Running the company. If I tell her I'm dying, she drops everything." He shook his head. "I fix it first. Then I tell her."

  "You're running out of time to fix it."

  "I know," Tony snapped, then stopped, breathing out slowly. "I know."

  Silence.

  I set the wooden box on the table and opened it.

  Inside was a single bottle of wine.

  Tony eyed it. Suspicious.

  "…What is this?"

  "Something that might slow it down," I said.

  "Might?" Tony repeated.

  I pulled the cork. A faint slipped into the air.

  Tony noticed that.

  I found two clean beakers and poured a small amount.

  "Drink," I said.

  Tony didn't move.

  "Okay," he said slowly. "You break into my house, tell me I'm dying which, fair and now you want me to drink this shady liquid."

  "It's not going to kill you faster," I said.

  "That's comforting."

  A beat.

  Tony took the beaker anyway.

  He sniffed it. Hesitated.

  Then took a small sip.

  He froze.

  His expression shifted. The tension in his shoulders eased slightly. His breathing steadied.

  Tony touched his neck.

  The veins were still there.

  But the sharp, pulsing edge… dulled.

  "…Okay," Tony said quietly. "That's… not nothing."

  "It won't fix it," I said. "And it won't last. A few hours where it feels manageable. That's it."

  Tony looked at the beaker again. Then at me.

  "So I don't die today," he said.

  "No."

  "Great," Tony muttered.

  Still, he didn't put the glass down.

  He sat, staring at it for a second longer than he meant to.

  "A few hours…" he repeated. "That's enough to think."

  He leaned back, running a hand through his hair.

  "The Expo," he said suddenly, gesturing toward the holographic display. "It's supposed to mean something. Legacy. Future. My dad.." He stopped. "He said the reactor was a stepping stone. I just… don't see the next step."

  I looked at the model. The layout. The structure hidden in plain sight.

  I didn't point it out.

  "He didn't think small," I said instead. "If there's something there, it won't look obvious up close."

  Tony frowned. "That's not helpful."

  "No," I said. "It's not supposed to be."

  Tony stared at the model harder.

  Then back at me.

  "You're doing that thing," he said. "Where you know something and won't say it."

  I didn't answer.

  "That's incredibly annoying."

  "I'm aware."

  Tony exhaled sharply, then shook his head.

  "Fine," he said. "Cryptic it is."

  A pause.

  Then, quieter:

  "…Does it hurt?"

  I looked at him.

  Tony didn't look away this time.

  "Dying," he added.

  I considered that.

  "I don't know," I said.

  Tony nodded slightly.

  "Yeah," he murmured.

  I turned toward the ramp.

  "Hey," Tony called.

  I stopped.

  "If this wears off," he said, lifting the beaker slightly, "and I crash.."

  "You will," I said.

  Tony huffed. "Good."

  "But you'll have time to work before that," I added.

  Tony studied me for a second.

  Then nodded once.

  "…Alright."

  I started up the ramp.

  "Don't drink the whole bottle," I said. "It won't help."

  "Yeah?" Tony called after me. "What happens if I do?"

  I paused briefly.

  "…You'll find out why I said not to."

  Tony didn't reply.

  Behind me, JARVIS' voice returned.

  "Sir, Colonel Rhodes has called three times. And Director Fury is requesting an update."

  Tony let out a tired laugh. "Of course he is."

  I kept walking.

  The music didn't come back on.