Vicissitude

Chapter One

"Well, look what the cat dragged in" Tony drawled, a huge grin on his face.

He ambled towards the armoured figure who had just landed on the terrace of the Stark Tower. The faceplate of the suit slid back with a hum, and Colonel James Rhodes smirked right back at him.

"Yeah, you missed me" Rhodey slung.

"Oh, every day" Tony said, wide eyed. "But I gotta ask, what the hell did you do to my suit?" He walked around Rhodes, casting a critical eye over the re-engineered Mark II armour Rhodes was piloting.

"Yoursuit?" Rhodey said, indignant. "No, no, no, this is my baby now. I love this suit. You are never gettin' it back!"

Tony poked and prodded the armour, brows drawn together "I can't believe you went with a shoulder-mounted mini gun" he muttered, examining the weapon protruding from the right shoulder of the suit. "That is solast year."

"I rock this look" Rhodey said.

"Uh huh" Tony said. "How's the Arc holding up?"

"That's what I wanted to see you about. I think the cycles could be improved, but I didn't want to do any tinkering..."

"Yeah, I'll take a look" Tony said, gesturing up to the landing pad. "Hop on up there, we'll get you disassembled, then I'll give you a tour of my new digs, here" he gestured expansively to the Stark Tower, now also known as the Avenger's Tower. "Seeing as you've been too busy to visit..."

Rhodey smiled "Yeah, sorry, deployment's a bitch."

The faceplate of the War Machine armour clanged shut, and Rhodey lifted smoothly off the terrace and lined up with the landing pad. The machines engaged, and with a gentle whirring of gears, unbuilt the suit as Rhodey walked along the platform. He looked around at the machinery as this happened, impressed and exasperated.

"Some of the ideas that come out of that brain of yours" he muttered. Tony grinned.

Unburdened, Rhodey stepped down off the platform, and a thought suddenly seemed to come to him.

"Oh hey, here's something I've been wondering- maybe you can help settle a bet I have with an Air Force buddy of mine: Do you think it would be possible to land a Quinjet on your helicopter pad?" Rhodey gestured to the large platform below them.

Tony gave Rhodey a puzzled look. "Possibly. But why would anyone want to? Or more to the point, who would be crazy enough to try that?"

Rhodey grinned, and Tony got a sinking feeling in his stomach. The feeling only increased when he realised he could hear the not-too distant roar of jet engines. Getting closer.

"Uh, no" Tony said flatly. Rhodey's grin increased. Tony looked out across the city, and to his extreme distress, a Quinjet banked sharply around a corner and began barrelling down Park Avenue.

"Rhodey! What the hell?" Tony demanded.

"Relax. It's Danvers. There's nothing with wings she can't fly"

"It's not the flying I'm worried about- it's the landing! You know I just got this place refurbished, right?" Tony said with a mix of annoyance and amazement.

The Quinjet lifted, its VTL engines pivoting downwards, and slowly it eased down; a perfect landing was executed right in the centre of the helipad. The Quinjet only just fit in the space.

"If your buddy there just burned my helipad, I'm making you get up there with Scrubbing Bubbles to fix it" Tony warned.

Rhodey chuckled, and slapped Tony on the back. The two men took the elevator down to the helipad deck, and waited. Eventually the back hatch of the jet opened, and the pilot emerged down the ramp.

"I was right, Rhodey, she fits" she called. She stopped at the bottom of the ramp and looked around at the somewhat precarious position the Quinjet occupied on the too-small helipad. "Only just. But still, you owe me!"

She scooted carefully around the side of the Quinjet and made her way over to Rhodey and Tony. Rhodey grinned and laughed, and Tony simply shook his head.

"Tony, you remember Captain Carol Danvers? One of my Air Force protégées"

"Captain" Tony murmured, reaching out to shake the blonde woman's hand. "Hell of a landing. You're quite the marvel."

"Thank you, Mister Stark" she answered, returning the handshake with a confident grip. "You don't mind that I landed here, right? I was going to land on the roof, but then I saw the no parking sign."

"I'll let you know if I see a parking inspector" Tony said dryly.

Tony gestured for the two Air Force officers to join him inside. Back up in his living quarters, he stepped behind the bar with the intent of pouring himself a large, stiff drink, when Steve burst out of the elevator.

"Did someone just land a jet on the helipad? I was coming up East 45th on my bike and-" he broke off to stride over to the window, looking down. His mouth fell open.

"Wow" was all that he managed.

Tony couldn't help but grin. "Steve, you've met Colonel Rhodes, but the ms. marvel of a pilot, there, is Captain Carol Danvers, of the US Air Force. Danvers, this is the one-and-only Captain Steven Rogers."

It was Carol's turn to look gobsmacked. Steve broke off from staring at the jet to turn and shake Carol's hand. "Captain" he greeted.

"Captain" she returned. She stared at him, broke off to glance at Rhodey, who smiled mildly at her. "What an honour" she said, staring at Steve wide eyed. She caught herself, looked away and shook her head. "I'm sorry, sir. It's just that... my family is military, have been for several generations, so I grew up on stories about you..."

"I... yeah" Steve shrugged "It's nice to be so highly regarded, even after all this time" he answered modestly. "That was some seriously nice flying" he said, shifting the conversation away from himself.

"Yeah, she handles like a dream" Carol said, looking down at the jet.

"Is that the new X-5 Quinjet?" came a voice from behind them. They all startled and whipped around. Clint Barton had come into the room completely silently and was wandering toward the window to ogle at the jet.

"You need to put a bell on him" Rhodey muttered to Tony.

"She's a beauty" Clint sighed, looking enviously at the jet. "How come you got to fly her?" he asked suspiciously, frowning at Carol.

"Because she's the Air Force's baby" Carol said with a satisfied smirk. "I'm sure SHIELD will get one... eventually."

Clint bristled at the barb, and Rhodey had to cover his mouth with his hand to hide his grin. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Carol, why don't you be nice and show Agent Barton your shiny new toy?" Tony said slowly, as though he were talking to naughty children.

"Please?" Clint said with as much politeness as he could muster. Carol glanced at Rhodey, and, still suppressing a grin, he nodded.

"C'mon" Carol said kindly, gesturing for Clint to follow her.

"Take Rogers with you" Tony suggested. "You can show him where you stow the parachutes."

Steve shrugged, not sure if he was being teased or not, and followed Carol and Clint.

Tony and Rhodey watched the trio disappear into the elevator, and then looked back towards Rhodey's War Machine suit.

"Our toys are better" Tony said decisively.

"Way better" Rhodey agreed.

… … … …

Author's notes: It occurred to me when I was writing "Notes From a Royal Screw-up" that a lot of the material I wanted to explore wasn't going to work within Loki's storyline. And so, an unexpected new series was born. This is going to run concurrently with "Notes" and I'm going to do that horrible comic book thing where there's going to be cross-over between the series and you're probably gonna have to read both... don't hate me, that's the only way I can make it all fall into place! Both series are leading up to another major series that will tie up everything. So, stay tuned. Also, I thought it would be fun to bring to bring Rhodey and Danvers into the fold. Go take a look at my Pinterest board if you want to see who I have in mind as Danvers. And why not follow me on Twitter? Bombshell1701