Okay... I totally deserve any flack for not continuing this story in ages. I really am going to do better, I promise.
So... This is the second book in my Diary of an Avenger series. It takes place during the Iron Man 3 movie. I hope you all like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Iron Man or any related characters. Marvel does, and unfortunately, Disney owns Marvel.
Prologue
'We create our own demons.'
I don't really know who said this, or why he said it, but it certainly applies to what happened over Christmas. Who knew that some of Tony's decisions so many years ago would have caused so many problems now.
It all started thirteen years ago on New Year's Eve. Tony was at a party in Bern, Switzerland. I wasn't there at the time. It was before we had truely mended our friendship, but I doubt I would have gone anyway. I still dislike large parties.
Anyway... The way Tony tells it, he had hooked up with a pretty, dark-haired botanist who first caught his attention because of her work in genetics. He was heading upstairs to her room so that she could show him what she was working on, among other things. In the elevator, a guy came up to them, trying to get Tony to help out with his organization.
Aldridge Killian. Back then he could barely walk, he wore big, nerdy glasses, and his blond hair was long and unkempt. Tony doesn't specifically remember what he looked like, but I found a picture in the SHIELD database.
His organization was called AIM: Advanced Idea Mechanics. Tony wasn't even remotely interested. He diverted Killian to the roof and never gave him a second thought.
Meanwhile, Tony's botanist friend was capturing his attention with her work. It was something to do with parts of the brain that worked on repair. Regrowing limbs and things of that sort. Unfortunately, there was a glitch. Sometimes the plants she was experimenting with would blow up. She wasn't sure what it was that caused that to happen, but she was hoping that Tony would be able to help her with it.
Tony left before she woke up like he usually did back then. After his brief time in Afghanistan, he said good-bye to his partying life mostly. We healed our relationship, and everything was fine for us.
New York was still rebuilding when we went to Malibu for Christmas. The first Christmas after New York. We were part of the Avengers now, and we could never forget that. Tony threw himself even more into developing his suits. Pepper continued her work with the company. Me? I did what I always did. I helped Tony with his work.