"Oh my God," I muttered to myself as I stood on the top floor of the Mansion, looking down onto the floors below where the party was beginning to ramp up. Tony had to have invited over two hundred people; all of them rich, all of them famous, all of them there, not just to celebrate his birthday, but my graduation and my own birthday, which was the following week. It was the ultimate Stark family birthday-graduation bash, and I would be lying if I said the atmosphere wasn't thrilling. This was the kind of exclusive party the media drooled to cover. Pictures from tonight would probably go for thousands of dollars. An invite was better than a golden ticket.
Being a Stark came with a certain celebrity status already, but Tony had put his own spin on just what that meant for him. I, however, was more of a mystery. I hadn't quite put myself out there, preferring to spend my time in school so far. But now I had graduated, and in about a week I would be co-owner of Stark Industries with Tony. I wasn't sure if I was ready for it. Going back to school was tempting, it would satisfy my wild ambition to learn as much as I could. Academia was a comfortable friend. But I wanted to do more.
"Hey," a familiar voice came from nearby, and I turned to find James Rhodes, Tony's best friend and who I held as a second brother. "Tony sent me up to see when you were coming down. There's a lot of people who want to meet you."
"I know," I said, glancing back down at the throng of fancily dressed people entering the Mansion. I could see Happy working to check them all, ensuring they were on the invitee list. "I'm coming down now."
"You don't look dressed for it," Rhodes pointed out, eyeing my bare feet and the maroon silk bathrobe I was still in. I smiled sheepishly. I hadn't bothered changing since stepping out of the shower, even through curling my dark locks and toying around with my makeup for a bit. A simple nude smokey eye accented my chocolate irises and a light foundation with a touch of highlight and blush completed the overall look. Whatever appearance genes Tony and I had inherited, I adored.
"I'm getting there," I promised, looking down into the gathering people below.
"You're not afraid of crowds are you?" Rhode asked, though clearly knowing the answer.
"No," I shook my head, "it's just. . . well, next week I co-own the company, you know. Everyone thinks I'm going to be another tech genius like Tony."
"You're not, you're a people genius," Rhodes said, sounding very sure of himself.
"What?" I turned to stare at him, begging a further explanation. "What do you mean?"
"Alright, look," Rhodey came to stand beside me, leaning his arms over the railing edge and nodding down at the party below. "See that blonde girl, in the blue sequined dress? Talking with her group of friends? What can you tell me about her?"
"Um, I don't know her," I frowned, wondering what the point of this was.
"From looking at her," Rhodey elaborated, catching my eye and nodding. "I've heard of what you did last year, with the bank threat. That cop who was there is an old buddy of mine. He said you picked out the perpetrators just by glancing at them for a few seconds."
"That was easy," I grumbled, reflecting back on the memory. A bomb threat had been called in at a bank I had been in, claiming that the bombers were already inside, disguised as civilians. I'd identified them immediately, it was so obvious who they were, the man behind me in line happened to be a police officer, who also happened to trust my whispered few words. I hadn't understood why he'd hadn't identified them as easily as I had, but he'd whipped his gun out on the possible bombers, taking them by surprise. A search of their persons had discovered several miniature homemade explosive devices. The cop had thanked me profusely, insisting I stick around to speak to the reporters but I refused; I had more important things to do that day. Mainly, finishing up one of my research papers on the psychology behind terrorism.
"Not for everyone. Look and tell me."
"Well, she's not friends with them," I corrected his earlier assessment, letting my gaze trail down to the blonde he had pointed out. "She actually. . . she hates them, but is pretending to like them because they're wealthy, a lot more so than her."
"What else?" Rhodes pushed.
"Can you not tell that about her?" I asked him, keeping my eyes on the party below.
"No, I thought they were friends and she came with them," Rhodes admitted, sounding decidedly genuine.
"No, she came alone," my eyebrows furrowed, because that was odd. What woman comes to a party like this alone? I watched as she scanned the room as though looking for someone, then turned back to fake a laugh at something someone in the group she was hanging around said. She kept an awfully tight clutch on her black handbag-
"Tell Happy to get her out of here," I suddenly said, rising up onto my tiptoes, confident in my deduction. "She's one of those scummy reporters, and she definitely isn't on the invitee list."
At this, Rhodey laughed rather gleefully and patted me fondly on the shoulder. "You're right, Mitch. Good job"
I stared at him coldly, realization suddenly dawning over me. "You knew she wasn't invited."
"Yeah, I did," Rhodes smiled like a little boy caught red-handed.
"Then why. . . ."
"I told Happy to let her in. I wanted to see what you could do," Rhodes shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. "And to prove a point to you."
"What point?" I asked, slightly annoyed at him by now.
"That you're a people genius!" Rhodey exclaimed, as though upset I hadn't noticed this. "And let me tell you, if you don't find a way to be invaluable to Stark Industries, I know plenty of people in the military who would kill to have someone like you around. And I really do mean kill."
I stared at him for a long moment before sighing and letting out an appreciative laugh. He had always known how to cheer a Stark up. "I'm gonna get dressed. Um, thanks, Rhodey."
"Anytime, Mitch," he slapped a hand against the bannister and smiled. "And I'm serious about that offer."
"I know," I giggled before padding barefoot down the hall to my room. Technically, the whole floor was mine. Half of it was my bedroom, the other half a combination of a research area, library, and reference area. I called it my lab. Tony had his garage, I had dozens of bookshelves, screens, and databases.
I tugged open one of the dark wooden double doors to my bedroom and stepped inside onto the cream carpet. My room was modern but classic. With floor to ceiling windows occupying an entire wall, giving me a view of the California coast just outside. I loved waking to the rising sun glinting off the Pacific Ocean.
"What to wear," I muttered under my breath as if I didn't know exactly what I wanted to wear. I walked into my attached closet (it was rather formidably sized) and went right over to a red cocktail dress with thin straps and a sweetheart neckline that came down a few inches above my knees. Attractive, but not too slutty. I snorted at this thought as I tugged it off the hanger and snatched up a pair of black heels with gold sparkles to go with it. Classic.
I changed, added a couple gold bracelets and modest gold hoop earrings to match, checked my hair and makeup in the mirror that made up the left wall of the room, then made sure JARVIS locked the door behind me. The retinal scanner system would only allow myself in, as with every room on this floor.
"About time!" I exited to find Tony standing in the hallway, drink in hand, evidently looking for me. He was in a two piece light gray suit with a black silk shirt underneath and no tie. His hair had been meticulously combed back and he'd given his goatee a fresh trim. The watch I had bought him for his thirtieth birthday was on his left wrist, and it looked like some flirtatious girl had tried to peck his cheek. And he was already heavily inebriated.
"I'm coming!" I assured him, laughing as I stepped up to rub my thumb over the red lipstick stain on his right cheek to remove it. "Already with the girls, Stark?"
He merely grinned before taking my elbow and leading me down to the party below.