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She was pretty sure she was dead. She had to be- she woke up in the hospital, thought she was talking to Tony Stark, finally felt the sedation wearing off, and then a red-head had asked her if she wanted to ride in Tony Stark's jet. Yes, she was almost certainly dead.
Not to mention she felt like death- head pounding, slightly fuzzy from painkillers, arm throbbing slightly, and overall feeling like she'd been hit by a train. It certainly felt like death.
She looked around. It was huge in here- Luxury leather seats sat in the middle compartment, four of them, to be exact, with a table between them. Lush blue carpet was underfoot, and the sunlight that streamed through the windows almost blinded her for a minute, before she looked to the red-head, uncertain.
Sure, she'd been on luxury planes before. Her parents were in the US Embassy, that involved tons of travel- but this was TONY STARK'S jet.
Natasha led the girl in quietly. She was mainly working for shield nowdays, but she technically had to give her two weeks before she could leave her job as Tony's secretary.
Natasha nodded to her. "Take a seat. Mr. Stark will be with you in a few minutes."
And with that, she was gone. She hesitantly walked over to the chairs, choosing one before sitting down, resisting the urge to fidget. She felt like she was in elementary school again, waiting for the principal to come in and yell at her.
She noticed a fake plant and wondered how they kept it from sliding all over when the plane took off and landed, but figured there were more important things she should be thinking about right now. Like the fact that Tony Stark was probably going to have her sent to Juvie.
Just then, he entered, a basket of fries in hand.
"Hey." He had a mouthful of fries as well, she realized, and he sat down across from her, sliding the basket across to her.
She stared, unsure. Of course she'd studied Stark's work in depth, seen him at press conferences, laughed at his jokes, but she'd reproduced one of his signature, deadly weapons. Could he really be this... easygoing?
"Oh, right. No ketchup." Tony slid a bottle of ketchup across the table as well, still chewing on the fries in his mouth. "Go ahead. Try 'em. They're really good."
She bit into one hesitantly. He was right. They were good. But why the hell was he giving her fries? Had he drugged them or something?
"So you know-" he waved a fry in the air, setting his elbow on the table and pointing it at her. "you violated my copyright. Not cool."
She couldn't help it. She laughed. "Seriously? You're upset about your copyright? Shouldn't you be worried about other people reproducing the weapons of your suit? Like me?"
"No." Tony said calmly, meeting her bright green eyes with his own calm brown ones. "Because you're one of the few to do it. All the others had access to high-tech labs- it's easy to monitor where all the parts are going. I can safely assume someone is trying to replicate my suit when I see they've ordered the parts. You're the first person I've met who could MacGyver this up." As he spoke, he set the glove she'd constructed on the table.
"Where'd you get the triple-core lithium battery?" he asked seriously.
"Internet." she responded, equally as solemn.
They both smiled slightly.
"How long did it take you to build?"
"Five months, three explosions, and a lot of band aids."
He had to smile a little more at that.
"Well, congrats. You did it. In fact, you even concerned some of my friends in high places. That takes a lot."
She nodded, looking at him as though she was waiting for something.
"Waiting for me to tell you it's too dangerous to do? That you're insane or destined to become a terrorist? That you could've been killed?" he asked, eyes twinkling slightly.
She nodded almost imperceptibly, gaze never wavering from his own.
"Well, I'm not. I will say this, though." He held up the notebook containing her sketches. "You could've routed the power more efficiently. Don't let these fall into the wrong hands." he slid it across the table to her, and she quickly flipped through it. It'd taken months to do, but thankfully all her work was still there.
She looked up at him, obviously confused. "Wait. So, you aren't going to yell at me or send me to juvie?"
"No." Tony smiled, eyes still shining. "Why? Want me to?"
"No..." she still studied him carefully, unsure what to think of him.
His gaze turned serious again. "Oh- one last thing. The bracing in the suit is what protects me from the recoil of the ionizing glove. So don't try to shoot that again. And you're going to need a liquid nitrogen cooling system for it, as well, or else it overheats and blows your arm off. So, you should probably send me your design before you test it out." he tossed a flash drive to her, and she instinctively caught it.
"That's got my contact information for you. Call anytime- I'm an insomniac, anyways." he stood, getting ready to go. The plane had never left the ground, she realized- he'd just wanted it as a private place to talk.
He paused in the doorway. "By the way- don't worry about the copyright."