Components of Construction

Hi! This is a fan blog for RayShippouUchiha's Components of Construction series because I have a lot of Feelings™ about it and need an outlet. I highly recommend checking out this series and her works in general on AO3. They're gorgeous!

[componentsofconstruction]

Toni Stark: The Woman Behind the Curtain

She needs them complacent, needs to be underestimated. She wants them to look at her and see vapid instead of shrewd, fickle instead of focused.

It’s like a magic trick. Like sleight of hand and misdirection. All flash-fire smoke and mirrors to hide the real trick.

‘Look over here,’ she says to them all silently. ‘Look at the parties and the drinking and forget the words prodigy and genius.’

‘Watch my left hand but never my right. Don’t see the knife until it’s already buried in your ribs.’

—The Limitations of Wax

[rayshippouuchiha]

Chapters: 21/? Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types,  Rating: Mature Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James “Bucky” Barnes/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark/James “Bucky” Barnes, Tony Stark & Edwin Jarvis, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov Additional Tags: Hurt Tony, Always Female Tony Stark, Howard Stark’s A+ Parenting, Child Abuse, Attempted Sexual Assault, Violence, Sex, Tattoo Tony, Threesome - F/M/M, Tony Feels, Tony Angst, Protective Rhodey, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Canon-Typical Violence, Extremis Tony Stark, Arc Reactor, Scars, Protective Pepper Potts, canon character death, Possessive Behavior, Miscommunication, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Torture, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Genius has a price, BAMF Tony Stark, Alcohol, Slightly skewed timeline, Pining, Misogyny, Betrayal, Stalking, BAMF JARVIS, Loneliness, Touch-Starved, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Self-Harm, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Tags Contain Spoilers, Slow Build, Angst, Hurt/Comfort Series: Part 1 of The Components of Construction Summary:

The universe is so much bigger, so much more dangerous, than most had ever realized or wanted to believe.

Earth, humanity, is not alone.

A fact that stands as both a glorious sort of promise and a hanging, shadow-like threat.

Toni is determined to turn it into an opportunity instead.

☕️BUY ME A COFFEE☕️ / PATREON

[componentsofconstruction]

The Twitching of Whiskers

By @rayshippouuchiha

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By the window, T’Challa turns towards his father, horror on his face, and Toni reacts without thinking.

“JARVIS, cover T’Chaka,” Toni barks as she surges to her feet, Natasha by her side. “Everyone get down.”

———————————————————————

Ship: Toni Stark/T’Challa

Word Count: 6,177

Chapters: 1/1

Tags: #Female Tony Stark #Civil War AU #Team Iron Man #Open-Ended #Pre-Relationship #Emotional Hurt/Comfort #Angst #Violence

Read it now >>

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax RE-READ

Chapter 6 MVP: Peggy Carter

“You’re brave Toni, just like Steve was. Good like he was no matter how you try to hide it, no matter how you overlook it time and time again.” Aunt Peggy squeezes her hand. “Whatever choice you make, whatever this hard decision is, I know you’ll make the right one. That doesn’t necessarily mean the easiest one but I know it’ll be the right one and that’s what’s more important.”

“I love you.” Toni says it desperately, mournfully.

“I love you too ducky.” That bright glint of knowing, of awareness, is still in Aunt Peggy’s eyes. “I’ll always love you Toni, even when I don’t know you. A part of me will always love you.”

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax RE-READ

Chapter 6: Favorite Scene

The reveal of the arc reactor elicits a wide variety of responses.

JARVIS seems both panicked and almost intrigued by the connotations of its placement as well as its power output.

DUM-E likes the light while U seems almost scared of it until Toni coaxes him to lay his hand gently across the top of it, careful of the ache in her chest that too much pressure always makes worse.

Butterfingers, fresh from feeding Mother, takes one look at it, realizes it’s inside of her, and promptly freaks the fuck out. There’s angry whirling, hand curling, and circle twirling. Toni’s not sure if he’s cursing her or despairing her inability to stay in one piece.

She’s almost afraid to ask JARVIS but either way she’s pretty sure that it’s a sign that Butterfingers has been spending too much time with Rhodey.

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax

Chapter 6

“JARVIS’ voice cuts through her panic like a knife. ‘You are inside the workshop of the Malibu mansion.’ He pauses for a moment and then continues softly. ‘You are safe Miss.’”

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax RE-READ

Chapter 5 MVP: Rhodey

“Toni!” Her name’s being screamed across the sand, sound almost eaten by the still whirling helicopter blades.

But she hears it and it’s like a siren’s call, like a song she can’t ignore.

“Rhodey.” She whispers his name out reverently as she stumbles forward, desperate to get to him, desperate to finally be safe again. “Rhodey.”

He catches her right before she hits the ground.

Because of course he does.

Toni blinks and stares up at him.

Rhodey looks half feral, face thinner than she’s ever seen it, eyes red rimmed and undercut with dark circles. There’s a glint of aching desperation and blinding joy in his eyes as he carefully wraps his arms around her.

He’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen.

“I got you.” He presses her close, presses his face against her still covered hair uncaring of the blood and sweat and sand that covers her. “Toni baby I’ve finally got you.”

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax RE-READ

Chapter 5: Favorite Scene

“What the hell did you do J, start a war somewhere?”

“Worse Miss.” JARVIS announces solemnly. “Your absence left the bots distraught as I said earlier. DUM-E and U have been inconsolable and Butterfingers has … acted out as he does. I found it best to attempt to … distract them.”

“JARVIS what did you do?” Toni’s eyes narrow even though she knows he can’t see her.

“Again Miss they were rather distraught,” JARVIS says defensively, “I had thought that having something to care for might help them deal with the situation better.”

“You didn’t,” Toni feels dread rear up inside of her, “J, baby boy, say it isn’t so.”

“In my defense it’s a relatively small reptile Miss.” JARVIS reassures her. “And the bots have rather fondly named it after you Miss and are rather protective.”

“They named the lizard Toni?”

“No Miss,” JARVIS’ voice goes soft again, “they named it Mother.”

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax

Chapter 5

“Rage and sorrow eating away at her Toni steps into the sunlight, steps into the desert heat of this hell she’s been kept in, and sets fire to everything in her path.

And then, just like Icarus, she flies.

And just like Icarus, she falls.”

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax RE-READ

Chapter 4 MVP: Toni Stark

She owes JARVIS a conversation before she lets him hear what’s on the tape.

She needs to let him know a few things first.

Like the fact that he might share a name and an accent with Jarvis but he’s different, unique and singular in all the ways that matter. She needs him to know that she doesn’t want him to be anything or anyone but himself.

She won’t do to him what was done to her.

She’s not Howard, she’s not Maria.

She’ll love JARVIS for who he is, who he becomes, and not for who she’d wanted him to be.

That’s what parents are supposed to do after all.

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax RE-READ

Chapter 4: Favorite Scene(s)

“Now that all that’s out of the way we can get to why I’m here and what I need from you.”

“Medical attention?” Hogan ask. “A ride to your therapist’s office? Head trauma?”

“Not at the moment.” Her smile feels even wider than before because she’s starting to like him in person even more than she’d liked him on paper. “Now how would you feel about moving to Malibu?”

“Is this … is this a kidnapping?” He sounds a touch desperate but mostly bemused like he’s not sure exactly what’s happening. “This feels kind of like what I always thought a kidnapping would feel like, only with less guns and more insane super models.” He pauses, considers. “Well no the super model thing’s kind of on point to what I’ve always imagined. Still, less guns than I was expecting.”

“I have guns.” Toni quips. “I’ve actually got a lot of guns. Ranging from small to heavy artillery. Oh and bombs too.”

“Oh God this is a kidnapping.”

“No.” Toni laughs. “This is an interview. My name is Toni Stark and I’m offering you a job.”

.......

“Hunt no further Ariel, you’ve got the chance of a life time standing right beside you.”

“That is not my name.” It’s an idle observation.

“I know that Virginia,” Toni rolls her eyes as they finally get close enough to the car for Happy to reach out and open the door. “Now get in the car like we both know you want to and we’ll get down to business.”

“Is this a kidnapping?” Potts cocks her head to the side and stares at Toni with narrowed eyes. “I feel like this is a kidnapping of some sort. Should I be worried?”

Toni and Happy share a long, incredulous look of shock before they both break down laughing. Potts just watches them silently, one brow arched high with her hip cocked to the side now.

“Oh yeah, you’re going to fit right in.” Toni chokes out as Happy clutches at the door helplessly.

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax

Chapter 4

“I don’t think you’d like who I’ve become.” She whispers it like the terrible secret it is. “Everything good about me came from you Jarvis. If I don’t have this grief anymore what happens if the rest of what I’ve become rises up and washes that little bit of goodness away?”

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax RE-READ

Chapter 3 MVP: James Rhodes

She wakes up in her own room, sweat soaked and trembling with a scream lingering on her tongue, from a nightmare. DUM-E and U twirl anxiously at the end of the bed.

Her door bursts open a second later and Rhodey’s there, bare chested in his sleep pants, service pistol in hand as he scans the room for threats.

She stares up at him, wide eyed and shaking.

He sighs, lowers the gun and flicks the safety back on, before he shuffles to her bedside, puts the gun in the drawer beside the bed and collapses down onto the mattress beside her. He tugs her close and she can’t help but huddle into his warmth.

“Go to sleep sweetheart.” He rumbles. “I got you.”

She sleeps.

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The Limitations of Wax RE-READ

Chapter 3: Favorite Scene

“This is a telecommunication device I designed at sixteen.” She drops the folder onto the table in front of Obie.

She picks the next file from the pile and moves towards the next board member. “A grenade at seventeen.” Drops it, moves on.

“Sniper rifle.” Drops it, moves on.

“Hand gun.” Drops it, moves on.

“Satellite.” Drops it, moves on.

“Heat seeking IED technology.” Drops it, moves on.

“Sound based paralytic.” Drops it moves on.

She keeps going until she’s made her way all the way around the table and back to her chair. She settles down and looks at the faces of the board. Some of them are pale, some of them are red with indignation, a few look at her with shrewd appraisal.

She leans back, crosses her legs.

“These are just the things that would move our contracts with the military forward.” Toni tells them. “Stark Industries could and will be, so much more. Medical equipment, telecommunications, automotive design. The sky’s the limits gentlemen and I’ve always had a thing for heights.”

“Miss Stark this is-” one of the board goes to speak but Toni holds up a hand to silence him. His mouth snaps shut seemingly against his will.

“I designed all of this before I was even twenty-one. Just me and my female constitution, my womanly sentimentality. And I did it all between my many, many hobbies and more pleasurable pursuits.” Toni uncrosses her legs, stands to plant her hands on the mahogany table in front of her and leans forward intently. “Give me three years and I’ll build SI to heights that you’ve never seen before. Give me five and I’ll change the face of technology the entire world over.”

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax

Chapter 3

“The whole world wants a piece of her so she’ll make herself into a goddess and then force them to kneel if they want her attention. They will only get what she gives them from now on.”

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The Limitations of Wax RE-READ

Chapter 2 MVP: DUM-E

The ‘Damn Useless Machine - Version E’ or DUM-E as she takes to calling him is more than a bit buggy. His spatial awareness isn’t the best even with the camera she gives him, he bumps into things, knocks over coffee cups, and seems enamored with the small fire extinguisher she keeps in the corner of the workshop.

“It’s okay buddy.” Toni tells DUM-E after he’s shattered yet another mug because he’s too glitchy to be a real help in the workshop right now so she’s trying to teach him to refine his fine motor controls by carrying glasses and cups.

“There’s nothing wrong with you DUM-E.” Toni tells him as she strokes a hand down the flat of his base. She has to bite back a sob at the way the words burn her throat but she needs to say them because he’s hers, her bot, her boy. She needs to say them because Jarvis had said them to her and those words had made all the difference. “You’re different, special, but not wrong. No shame in that. I’ll help you find your way.”

That night she lets him lumber through her suite and follow her into her room because he’d chirped sadly when she’d tried to leave him in the workshop. He watches as she presses a kiss to Steve’s chest and then collapses onto her bed. He chirps and whirls at her questioningly and rolls over to her bedside.

“Bedtime buddy.” Toni slurs, exhausted and brittle but oh-so-pleased as she hugs her recorder to her chest and presses play.

~~~

The next time she stumbles into her room to finally sleep, she kisses Steve like always. Then she watches from the bed as DUM-E reaches up his claw and presses the tip of one thick finger against the star on Steve’s chest as well.

[componentsofconstruction]

The Limitations of Wax RE-READ

Chapter 2: Favorite Scene

On her way back towards the back door she passes the massive family portrait Maria had commissioned when Toni was eight. She tilts her head to the side as she stares up at it. She remembers sitting for that portrait, remembers how much she hated it, hated being stuck so close to both of them, Howard’s hand heavy on her shoulder, Maria’s talon like nails digging into her knee, a plastic smile on her face.

She stares up into her own face, young and tiny, and even through the medium of heavy oils Toni thinks she can see the emptiness in her own eyes.

She sets the blowtorch and lighter fluid down, reaches up with both hands to grab the bottom of the massive frame, and rips it down off of the wall.

The crash it makes is almost satisfying.

She drags it out onto the patio as well and then out onto the actual lawn. She rips the thick canvas from the frame and the beats the heavy gilt wood against the ground until it folds in at the corners. She piles it all together with the box holding Howard and Maria’s effects, upends the bottle of lighter fluid, and uses the blowtorch to set the whole thing ablaze.

Watching it all burn is almost sweet.