sequel to/based on Escalation
SERIES: Imperfection Deviation
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money :)
Author's Voice of Warning (aka Author's Note):
English is not my first language; it's German. This is the best I can do. Any mistakes you find in here, collect them and you might win a prize The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how trustworthy those thingies are....
FEEDBACK: Loved
BETA: okami_myrrhibis
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"Call," he added, voice very serious now. "If you want to talk."
When Tony Stark had openly told Will Lennox to drop by whenever he felt like he needed to talk, it hadn't been an empty invitation. He had been serious about the offer and Will had known it. Despite all the flippancy, Stark could be a very serious man.
So a month after nearly getting kidnapped by Decepticons, ex-Army Ranger Will Lennox stood in the Malibu home of billionaire Tony Stark. It was an impressive building, incredibly huge, but with a lightness that belied the tons of steel, glass and concrete sitting on the cliffs of Point Dume.
And it was just for show.
"Welcome, Major Lennox," the pleasant voice of Jarvis greeted him.
Will grimaced a little. "I'm no longer in the military, Jarvis," he told the AI.
"I apologize. How would you like me to address you?"
"Will's fine."
"As you wish, Will."
Lennox smiled a little. Jarvis sounded very polite, but there was also a mild touch of curiosity and while the former Army Ranger felt no scans bouncing off his skin, he knew the AI was watching him closely.
The real treasure was Tony's garage on the lower levels. Plural because the whole basement was several hundred feet deep and at least two levels were inhabited by Jarvis' hardware and software. The cavernous room that was the workshop and garage was even more impressive, and it was a place Lennox felt immediately at home. Screw the fireplace and ocean view. This was homey and filled with memories, passion and more.
It was also where Hot Rod usually parked and where he had now been joined by Jazz. They blended in perfectly between Stark's showy sports cars.
It had been a hard enough fight already to come here without Ironhide as his baby-sitter. Will knew he couldn't be left without a guardian, but he had argued that Hot Rod was here, that Tony's place was like a fortress, that Iron Man was not to be underestimated…
"Don't ask," he told his host darkly as Tony remarked on it. "It's been the fight of the century."
"All good marriages have fights," was the teasing reply.
"You would know."
Tony grimaced. "I think my relationship with my personal watchdog is a little bit different."
"Uh-huh."
"Despite reports to the contrary, I don't fuck everything that hasn't fled on the count of three."
"Thank Cybertron," came the comment from the silver Audi parked not far away.
Stark chuckled. "No offence, Roddy, but I like my bed partners a little more flesh and blood."
"None taken. I very much appreciate it."
"Wise guy."
"Smart ass."
Tony rolled his eyes and Will suppressed a laugh. Yeah, those two fit. Same old-married-couple bickering.
They walked into an area that had clearly been designed for Tony to crash and sleep. It included not just a bed, but also a kitchen area, a couch, couch chairs and what looked like the latest in plasma TV technology.
"Beer?" Stark offered.
"Yep."
Sinking onto the comfortable leather couch, Will emptied half his beer in two long swallows. It tasted good and he didn't really want to see the price tag. A six pack probably cost at least half a month's salary.
"So, Ironhide getting on your nerves?" Tony asked, smiling.
"You have no idea. It was easier right after the mess than it is now. If he could, he'd put a tracking device on me."
Will emptied the bottle and Tony immediately gave him a second one. There was no danger of Lennox getting drunk. He had lost that 'ability' with the changes.
"And now I have the runes freaking out on me."
"More than usual?"
"I got a goddamn freaking tattoo on my back now! I don't want to mention my hands. And the thing with throwing energy balls."
Tony's brows rose. "Energy balls?"
As a demonstration, Lennox held his right hand palm up, curled his fingers to form a half-closed fist, and blue energy collected in his hand. Tony sat up, eyes wide, and he studied the display of energy and power. Lennox could almost see the wheels turning in his agile mind.
"And no, you can't measure the energy output. Ratchet already has that privilege."
Stark smiled. "Read my mind?"
"Know you."
In a way it looked like the small raised circle set into the gloves, the Repulsor. Just… darker and airier in appearance. Like Swiss cheese – made up of energy instead of milk. Still, Lennox packed some punch. He had knocked a mech like Ironhide on his butt the first time his partner had told him to let loose and try to hit him. He had hit him, left a smoking, charred hole in his shoulder armor, and Ironhide had just stared at him, dumbfound.
The energy disappeared and Lennox looked at the runes on his fingers in dismay. Tony leaned forward, the interest rising.
"What's it say?"
"No clue. It happens whenever I try this energy ball thingy."
"Can't you will them away? No pun intended."
Will chuckled. "No. They fade after a while."
"But the energy balls are only for defense, right? No resurrecting dead stuff?"
"No. Thank god, no."
Stark shrugged. "Hey, could be useful."
"I don't intend to bring household machinery to life!"
"Like I said, could be useful."
Lennox gave him a narrow-eyed, dark look. "You know what happened to all those poor things Sector Seven experimented on."
"Yeah." Tony didn't elaborate, but he knew and he had felt his own share of nausea at it.
Lennox rubbed over his fingers, the skin still rune-covered. He emptied his second beer and mourned the fact that no amount of alcohol he could drink would give him the buzz he so badly craved. Forgetting for one night that he was some kind of hybrid freak would have been nice.
"At least Ironhide's practical about the whole thing," Tony said after a while.
"About what? Me being Soundwave's favorite target or the whole rune stuff?"
"The latter. The first… well, it's not bad to have someone keep an eye on you."
"Says the one who complains about his own guardian."
"Because I can take care of myself."
"And I can't?"
"Didn't say that. I'm not a target."
"Right," Lennox muttered, relaying how unconvinced he was in this one word.
"Hey, I'm your ally, not the holy Allspark bearer or something."
"Which I'm not."
"All of that," Tony made a vague gesture that encompassed all of Will and more, "begs to differ. You got hit by that thing, it did something to you, you have powers that are beyond what us mere humans should be able to do, and you keep evolving."
"I need something stronger," Will growled and got up, rooting through the kitchen cabinets until he found something that looked like scotch. It smelled like it too.
Tony watched him down the first, rather gracious shot. Will grimaced at the burn, but the feeling of alcohol in his system didn't come.
Damn his body.
Stark held out a hand and Lennox gave him a second glass, and the other man drank it.
"Curse of being different," he commented. "Extremis won't let me get drunk either."
"Our lives have become such fun," was the mumble.
Tony tapped the fingers of his right hand against the softly glowing arc reactor. "Don't you say it. At least you get laid."
Will snorted a laugh. "Not in any way you'd say is human."
"Sex is sex. Gets you off, right? You like it."
There was no answer and Tony grinned.
"Me? Not so much. Roddy's being a nuisance and tries to get me laid anyway. Him and Pepper."
"Threesome?" Lennox laughed.
"Oh, get your mind out of that particular gutter! You're disgusting!"
"No more than you." Will grinned, unapologetic, and raised his second glass.
"Pepper's been telling me I need to get out more. Meet someone, take her or him home… can you imagine the reaction to seeing that thing in my chest? I prefer the tabloids not knowing, thanks." Tony held out his glass and Will dutifully filled it. "So my hand it is."
"I'm sure you can find someone who can ignore this. The base not your hunting ground?"
"Nellis? Do I want to date a chick who can kill me in ten different ways before breakfast?"
Lennox smirked. "There's always the secretaries."
"I was talking about the secretaries!"
Jazz listened to the conversation with amusement. It was echoed by Hot Rod, who had no problem with listening in on the two humans either.
::You tried to set him up?::
::Pepper and I both did. He's resistant. Tony complains a lot about having no bed partner, but he spends surprisingly little time actually looking for them – compared to before. Most of his time is divided between his work shop and his business::
::So Will has one up on him there.::
Hot Rod chuckled. ::Yeah.::
The conversation, while not turning drunk due the inability of both men to get drunk, was rather entertaining. Tony was teasing Will about his 'sex life' with a robot, and Lennox got equal by pointing out that at least he got some. Even Sam did and he was ten years Tony's junior.
"But it's mind sex!" Stark remarked.
"Seems good enough. And he can make comparisons. He had a girl-friend."
Tony nodded. "Hot one, too."
"Hands off. She's married."
"I'm not going after everything that looks like sex on legs," was the pouty reply.
"Naw…"
Tony glowered. Will grinned.
::Life's never boring around him:: Hot Rod told Jazz. ::He might be reckless, and he can be a big child, but he's a good man. Deep down inside he wants to do the right thing. He just gets distracted now and then. If it hadn't been for the betrayal and his near-death experience, he might still not know what his company was used for::
::He's a valuable ally:: Jazz agreed.
::I'm surprised Ironhide let Lennox out of his sight::
::You should have seen the fight. I don't believe I ever saw Ironhide this… concerned. Not even Kup was better at dressing someone down. Will really ripped him a new one and Ironhide had no other choice than to let him go – after I promised that I would drive him.::
::Ironhide can be glad that this is a bond and not just some casual affiliation::
::He wouldn't be so worried otherwise::
Hot Rod had to agree, though his affection for Tony resulted in the same arguments, with a few less proprietary remarks concerning both parties. If Stark wanted to pull some hair-raising stunt, so be it. Roddy would be there to pick up the pieces and add a few 'I told you so's for effect.
He had his attention back on the two men and found them companionably watching a football game, each cheering for a different team, which resulted in the catapulting of chips and peanuts against the other. More beer was consumed.
Lennox was more relaxed than Jazz had seen him in the last few weeks. What had happened to him in the past several years had been bad and throughout the evolution of his body and his powers it had grown worse for the human. Jazz couldn't imagine going through such intense changes, turning into something completely new and unprecedented, and still developing new abilities and powers. Will was dealing with it in an admirable way. He was more courageous and brave than many seasoned warriors Jazz had met in his time.
Loud cheering could be heard from the TV area and Tony complained even louder that his team was a bunch of incompetents. Lennox just cheered on as his chosen team wiped the floor with the others.
Both men switched from this game to another one, Tony's countless channel TV making it easy. Both mechs sat in silence, amused at the humans' antics, relieved that both were finally unwinding, and prepared to spend the night in the garage.
In the end Will crashed in Tony's guest room, though he didn't sleep more than four hours. Sunrise found the former Army Major sitting outside, watching the ocean, drinking coffee, and talking to Hot Rod, who had rolled out of the garage to join their guest.
The runes on Will's hands had faded, though the ones on his back hadn't and showed no inclination to do just that; and Lennox had checked repeatedly. Now and then a lone glyph or a string of cosmic code meandered over his visible skin. Hot Rod found he could barely read ten percent of the writing and it made no real sense. It was like someone had torn a dictionary apart and picked random words or letters.
"They rarely make sense," Will said quietly, but his eyes were drawn to Ironhide's name. "Except that," he amended with an audible smile.
"Because it has meaning."
"Probably. The rest is just gibberish. I don't come with a handbook."
Hot Rod chuckled. "Who does?"
"For me I wish there was such a thing." Lennox looked at his hands, palms up. "There's so much new stuff and whenever I think I'm done, something else hits me right between the eyes."
"In the case of confronting Ravage it was helpful."
Will shrugged and sipped at his scalding hot coffee. "It was," he finally confessed. "But now I've got weird runes."
"Maybe it's a first step in concealing them?"
"What's concealing about having them stationary on my hands?" the human challenged.
"They don't move. It's the movement that attracts attention. Otherwise you'd just be someone with a crazy amount of skin decoration."
Lennox had to smile at that. "You're right. It simply freaks me out. At first because the things moved. Now because they don't. I'm such a nutcase."
"No more than any other humans I know," Hot Rod answered, sounding amused.
"Gee, thanks. Coming from the mech associated with Tony Stark that's not really a compliment."
"I could do worse."
"You think?" Will teased easily.
He drank the rest of his coffee and enjoyed the surf and the salty air and the still cool sun. It was barely after seven, too early for Tony to be up since he had no appointments to keep, and the last night had been rather long. But he had enjoyed himself immensely. It had been a good idea to come here, to unwind, to be outside the Autobot base. While Nellis Air force base was an option, it also wasn't much more than the human equivalent of the Autobot base. Malibu was a different world.
Maybe he would stay another day. Tony's house was huge enough to get lost in and hanging out in front of the theater-size TV upstairs wasn't such a hardship.
"How long do you think Ironhide will wait before coming after me?" he asked casually.
Hot Rod gave a whirr of laughter. "I'd say two more days. Tops."
"Hm, thought as much."
"You want to stay?"
"As long as Stark can stand me."
"I could use a sparring partner," Tony's voice could be heard.
Will turned and had to grin at the disheveled, clearly sleepy Tony Stark, clutching his coffee mug as if it was his life line, making his way across the paved ground to where Lennox sat with Hot Rod.
"You really want me to scrap the suit?"
"No, I want you to help me improve it. You game?"
Will shrugged. "Sure."
Tony beamed. "Good." He squinted into the sun. "It's too early for this. You really don't need much sleep, hm?" He scratched his stubble and suppressed a yawn.
"Nope."
"Bastard." Tony almost inhaled the coffee.
"No one forced you to get up," Hot Rod remarked.
"No one but my charming assistant, who reminded me I promised – and swore under oath – to be on time for some obscure meeting with Keller, Banachek and some high and mighty military guys."
"The satellite relay system to the Ark," the mech told him easily.
"Oh. Right. That was today, yeah. Damn." Tony raked a hand through his tousled hair. "Well, you'll be on your own till I feed the hounds some ideas."
"I think I can manage," Will answered wryly. "I'm a big boy."
Tony smirked. "I'll take your word for it. Make yourself at home and if you need something, ask Jarvis. He has all the important delivery numbers."
Lennox grinned and his host disappeared into the insanely big house once more. Hot Rod's features reflected amusement. He stayed outside, apparently not inclined to follow his charge. Will contemplated a walk around the sprawling compound and finally did just that.
This was his version of a vacation. And so far, it had been better than
expected. He would enjoy it as long as it lasted