Meeting With Evil
Summary: Contrary to popular belief, Tony Stark is perfectly capable of handling change. Kicked off the team? He'll just go and catch up on some paperwork for SI…or something. It'll be like a vacation! Yeah, that's a good excuse. Uh, I mean accurate description. Wait, what do you mean he has meetings? Who the hell booked these appointments with supervillians?
A/N: Should probably be working on other things, yet here I am. Suffice to say I don't and never will own anything of importance. Also I'm listing Loki in the characters, but he won't appear until much later (possible Frostiron) even though he's kind of at the center of well everything. Then again when isn't he? Apologies for bad action scenes and anything else that is subpar.
Chapter 1: You're Fired
The day started business as usual for the Avengers; a call to assemble to fend off some mutants destroying public property. The day seemed promising at first to the team's very own Iron Man since the call didn't come until mid-afternoon, which to him was a little after having started his day. Well rested and awake, Tony was eager to kick some mutant bad guy ass. The rest of the team: not so much.
"Stark what the hell do you think you're doing?" Cap yelled into his com, pausing briefly to bash one of the many mutants with his shield. "The supports for that building are being knocked out by your stupid stunts."
"Well, excuse me Rogers but I'm a little busy doing my job" Tony yelled back, irritated at Steve's tone. Momentarily distracted from the fight at hand, Tony accidentally demolished another of the few remaining concrete supports in the rather spacious parking garage. "I could use a little help here." This would have been much easier if Thor hadn't decided to visit Asgard to update his folks on Loki's status as MIA on Midgard since his last bout of mischief.
"Not good enough at your job, Tin Can?" Clint snarked from whatever tall structure he decided to perch himself on as he picked off the mutants rampaging in the streets. Tony could hear Nat's concealed laughter through their shared communications. He was not as amused.
"Birdie talk too much. Hulk help Tony smash puny mutants." The Hulk grunted, loud enough for everyone to hear him (a com really wasn't necessary for the Hulk considering his ability to yell and brief speech patterns).
At least someone is on my side today. Renewed by the Hulk's overwhelming support (well, for him), Tony re-entered the fight with renewed vigor, blasting mutants into submission left and right. Come to think of it, it was a little odd to have so many mutants in one place without a leader conducting the chaos. However, Tony had little time to follow that train of thought because as he and the Hulk continued to fight side by side, the Hulk finally broke the special support that caused a chain reaction of collapsing concrete. "Big Guy, we've gotta go!" Tony yelled above the sounds of destruction and fleeing mutants.
"Tony safe." With that, the Hulk pushed Iron Man, forcefully yet carefully towards the only clear exit before scrambling after him. Having difficulties gaining traction on the damaged floor, the Hulk only made it half way out. Thus, the end of another 'glorious' battle for the Avengers; a deserted city block with the Hulk half buried under concrete and slowly shrinking into the battered and bruised form of Bruce Banner.
*Helicarrier*
One Quinjet ride later and Earth's Mightiest Heroes were gathered in the conference room of the Helicarrier ready for a debrief with Earth's Stingiest Pirate.
"What the hell happened out there?" Furious Fury demanded, taking extra time to give Tony a particularly dirty look. Tony opened his mouth to explain, "Shut it Stark because of your reckless behavior we have to deal with all the damage you caused and Dr. Banner has yet to gain consciousness after your bone headed moves got the Hulk buried under rubble"
Tony's initially bored face turned into outrage. "You can't seriously be pinning all that on me; what about the mutants? You know, the guys we were fighting. Also a hit like that shouldn't have damaged the Hulk that badly." He reasoned with increasing irritation. It was like no one was taking him seriously today.
"And yet Bruce hasn't woken up." Natasha pointed out in a cold tone
"You know what I give up," Tony exclaimed raising his hands up in an exasperated gerture. "There's no reasoning with any of you."
"Then get off my Helicarrier, Stark, and don't bother coming back." The look on Fury's face showed he was serious and the identical faces of teammates really brought home the atmosphere that had invaded the conference room.
"Fine, camp out here on your floating pirate ship for all I care just don't bother coming back to the tower." With that, Tony stormed out. He didn't need the Avengers; he could be doing any number of things that would be a better use of his time than being criticized by SHEILD one-eyed bastards. Tony was sure Pepper could always use an extra hand running Stark Industries. What was it she was asking him to do the other day?
*Tony's Office*
The next day found Tony in an office at 8 am sharp, which was not that impressive considering his morning commute consisted of a single elevator ride down. Tony's office in Stark Towers was pretty similar to the one in Malibu (sans the annoying spinning contraption, thank god). It had a modern-ish look to it with the desk facing the door so as to make whoever was seated in the big chair behind look more awesome with New York's skyline in the background. The view wasn't as nice as the one from the penthouse, but that was more due to the lower level of the office. The few shelves in the room were lined with random awards that Tony couldn't even recall where they came from (No books of course; the world's going digital, get with the program) and aside from the computer and phone on the only desk in the room, there was also a large flat screen monitor on one wall for the occasional impromptu video call.
"Are you sure you're okay Tony?" Pepper asked, concerned, having heard about what had transpired on the Helicarrier the previous day. Though she too believed that Fury's decision was a stupid decision, there wasn't much she could do considering the only person she knew with connections to SHEILD was Phil and he well…she tried not to think about it, even a year later.
"Yeah, fine." Tony waved her off. She did not seem convinced. "Cheer up, I'm catching up on all that paperwork I owe you."
"If you're sure…" Pepper finally relented. "Please don't scare off the temp I have checking up on you."
That got Tony's attention, "Wait, where are you going?"
"Tony, I still have meetings." Pepper informed him fondly on her way out the door. "You'll be fine."
The silence that ensued with the absence of Tony's former PA/current CEO/Ex-girlfriend/best friend was stifling. How did he ever survive in such an environment? Tony was starting to miss the comforting loudness of his music in the lab, but apparently blasting good music wasn't 'proper workplace conduct.' Whatever, Jarvis could keep him entertained.
The morning continued in the same, mundane vein of mounds and mounds of never ending paperwork…until the call came. "Mr. Stark, you're 11 o'clock is here."
"Wait, what?" That couldn't be right; this was a last minute thing. There's no way Pepper could have scheduled something on such short notice.
"Your appointment, sir." The temp asserted self-consciously. "According to our records several 30 minute meetings were scheduled for you today several months in advance."
"Okaaay. Who is it?" Maybe this could be interesting. Hands down annoying business big wigs was far more entertaining than paperwork
"A Mr… Doom, sir."
Oh, for the love of– not him. "Can't you send him away?" Doom couldn't technically be arrested since he was technically a foreign leader of his own weird ass country, but damn he wished he could sometimes. This might be one of those times.
"Sir, protocol for these types meetings arranged months in advance, as dictated by Ms. Potts, states that–"
Damn Pepper and her methods of keeping me on task. "Alright, alright I get it. Just send me a list of all my appointments for the day. Now." If this was how his day was going to go, on top of all the shit from yesterday, he was going in as prepared as he could get.
"Of course, sir." At least the temp was efficient because within moments Tony was able to bring up the day's schedule in record time.
"Jarvis, who the hell set up all these meetings with lunatics and psychopaths?"