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TITLE: Cracks, part 1
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 :)
FEEDBACK: Loved
SUMMARY: Tony Stark is supposed to be able to bridge space. He's a genius, he's brilliant, he's a Prime, the Allspark reprogrammed his DNA... so why can't he do what his so-called heritage is? As always, Rodimus Prime is right with him in the middle of it... wherever 'it' is. It's what guardians and baby-sitters are for, right?
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The month had been a rainy one. February had hit an all-time low in temperatures and a high in precipitation. Fog clung to the bluffs of Point Dume and the weather was not going to get better in the next few days if one believed the forecasts.
Not that it was of much interest to the owner of the only building on this stretch of coast line.
The home of billionaire Anthony Edward Stark was a vast, sprawling building on the rocky outcroppings of the West Coast, outside LA. It was perched over Point Dume, overlooking the Pacific, still close enough to drive into LA in a moderate amount of time. Since Tony usually took his sports cars or flew, that time was always shortened to a third of normal driving time. Stark owned the whole massive rock foundation his home stood on, and then some. This was as private and exclusive as it got.
Held all in white, with a huge vista across the ocean, the mansion appeared both stylish and futuristic. The protrusion to the side of the ocean looked like a flying saucer had docked at the building, and even the massive supports appeared slender in their pristine whiteness.
Below the mansion, inside the massive rock it stood on, was a whole other world. Not only did the sub-terranean levels hold Tony's sports car collection, as well as his garage and workshop, it also housed the Iron Man armor.
A loud bang echoed through the huge workshop/garage area, followed by a curse. The lights flickered and Iron Man was flung across the training mats and right into a wall.
"I doubt it will work the third time, sir," Jarvis could be heard as the armored figure climbed to his feet. "There's no charm to be expected."
"Wise-ass," Tony growled as he opened the visor. His face was covered in sweat.
"It was a simple and very clear observation," the AI replied evenly.
"Keep it to yourself, Jarvis."
"Very well."
Stark glared at his AI, but he couldn't fault Jarvis' logic and observation. It wasn't working. Something wasn't right. He had done it before, he had bridged space, and he had opened a portal. Well, he had opened the portal, but not gone through. It had been like a window. Look through, watch, don't interact.
But he had the ability and he simply had to find the right trigger.
"You might be interested in the scheduled appointments you missed, sir."
"I'm not."
"Very well." Jarvis managed to sound just the right side of condescending without being insulting. He could be that, too, Tony knew. He knew it only too well.
"Pepper can reschedule."
"I believe she already has done so and she also cancelled your spa session this weekend. She might also have called Miss Monica Le Bevere and told her you're currently suffering from some unspecified virus."
Tony grimaced. His only date this week and Pepper managed to be vengeful to the hilt once again. Oh well.
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The next few weeks had Tony stretch himself thin between his multiple jobs, mainly as the CEO of Stark Industries and its representative. Then there was the not-so-small matter of him being a Prime, which brought with it more bureaucracy, simply of the alien kind. Optimus was trying not to burden his four co-leaders with too much of the daily runs, but like they had told him before: that's what they were here for. Sam had his two jobs – engineer and Prime - Will was looking for anything to do to be useful – even if it meant doing interviews and show-and-tell at Nellis. Rodimus was usually the first to get more work from their senior Prime, but he didn't complain.
Neither did Tony, because it meant he was sans babysitter for at least a while.
So when the silver Audi R8 rolled into the underground garage, Tony gave a silent groan and pointedly ignored his visitor. Rodimus linked up to Jarvis, saying his hello – something Tony felt through Extremis in the back of his mind – then settled down without any further comment.
An hour into the visit, Tony finally looked up and scowled at the silent vehicle. "What?" he demanded.
"I didn't say anything."
"I can hear you thinking."
"Then maybe you should stop uplinking."
Caught, Tony tried to hide his embarrassment. It had become such second nature to immediately log onto the mech, he didn't even notice any more. He didn't cut the Extremis connection, though. It would be like confessing he had had his hand in the cookie jar.
He grimaced. Now there was an image.
"But since you're now willing to talk," Rodimus went on. "Mind updating me on your space-bridging attempts?"
Jarvis, you rotten collection of wires and bolts!
Of course the AI would inform the mech of Tony's exercises in futility. Of course Roddy would latch onto it like a pitbull onto a tasty leg.
"Got the abilities, need to train," Tony answered dismissively.
"I understand the idea behind it, Tony, but it's dangerous to do it alone. Neither Will nor Sam were ever on their own with trying to understand and train their powers."
"And here you are, volunteering again?" Tony snapped back.
The silver car transformed and Rodimus kneeled down, blue optics intent. "You never ask for help, so yes. I'm here."
Tony stared back at him glaring, angry. He didn't need help! He wasn't stupid, he wasn't a rookie, he knew what he was doing!
Ri-ight. Not so much. Actually, he mostly knew what he was doing, until it came to the whole teleportation thingy. That's where he drew a blank and that's where the dangerous fun was.
"Let me help," Rodimus offered.
"How do you want to help!" Tony demanded. "You can't open portals! I can! At least I should!"
The mech shrugged lightly. "As you so often noted: I can nag. I can be your baby-sitter. I can be a pain in the butt."
He snorted. "Everyone has their special abilities."
It got him a grin that was almost human and as close to impish as a mechanoid life-form could get.
So it was settled. Tony knew he couldn't kick out his fellow Prime – though Rodimus would probably leave if he demanded it. They were friends and he trusted the mech; more than anyone else before.
The blue optics darkened briefly, as if Rodimus was aware of his thoughts, then he settled with his back against the garage wall.
"Now?" Tony asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Don't tell me you weren't working on your portal abilities the whole time."
Caught. Damnit.
Tony glared, then went back to the computer where he had run all kinds of scenarios that might make him access the portals.
Rodimus smirked.
Stark shot him an evil look.
And then he went back to his scenarios.
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Rodimus watched Tony's attempts at triggering whatever had enabled him to open a portal the first time again and again. His human friend and fellow Prime was frustrated and tired and close to throwing something very expensive against the wall. Right now he was too bleary-eyed to make sense of anything, but he doggedly refused to give up or give in. Rodimus doubted that any more coffee would help, but there was no talking rationally to Tony.
"It's not working!" Stark exploded, eyes ablaze, exhaustion briefly pushed away. "I tried everything!"
"Maybe it's Will after all?" Rodimus hazarded a guess.
"No. I didn't draw any of his energy." Tony tapped a finger against his temple. "I know. Extremis provides me with the full 3-D surround sound vision recall fest. I didn't do anything with Will."
"I hope not," the mech tried to lighten his mood.
"Not funny, Roddy."
Tony stalked over to the wide open space that was his test area, grabbed the Iron Man suit's helmet, and donned it. He was still in full gear, but he moved as if he wasn't wearing tons of armor at all. Years of handling the suit and the fact that it was now far beyond the armor he had created as the Mark III, had given him a grace most soldiers in body armor still lacked.
They were off to another round of testing. He had doubts that it would work this time, but as long as Tony was reasonably awake there was no stopping him.
Rodimus felt the Extremis open wide, their connection crackling slightly. It was like a final attempt to force something to happen and Rodimus watched it cautiously. Extremis was looking around, like a predator, ready to snatch whatever snippet might be useful for the trigger. It would strike and conquer – if there was something to conquer.
::Maybe you're trying too hard, Tony:: Rodimus sent. ::You need rest. Give it time. No one's pressuring you into this::
No one but Tony himself. This was a challenge and there was no challenge on this planet the billionaire hadn't met head-on if necessary and dealt with. The inability to use his abilities as he should be able to was a slap into his face and he wouldn't just stand down and take it easy. Tony was a genius and he would figure it out, no matter what.
With a growl of annoyance Tony slammed the connection shut for the first time since the mech's arrival – only for Extremis to open it up wide again.
Rodimus was stunned. That had never happened before.
Tony turned to look at the other Prime, clearly startled despite the faceless mask that gave no emotions away.
Again he disconnected and again the uplink restarted, connecting the spark and the arc reactor, a mech and a human mind.
"Uh, Tony…?" Rodimus tried as he felt the safety mechanisms click off one by one.
"Shit, shit, shit," Tony hissed, his mind racing to get control of the hybrid nanites, but something was happening.
Something that wasn't good.
And then Rodimus felt it rip into his spark and bury itself there. He was too surprised to react and the shock froze him for a split second. Everything went into overload and he fought to stay afloat in a wave of pure energy.
Around him the universe cracked.
And opened.
tbc...