Tony
"Tony, can you please pick Charlotte up from school today?" Pepper asks me as she bustles into my office. At the mention of her niece, I bristle slightly. She notices. "Tony, you know, you can't avoid her forever. It's been three weeks, for crying outloud, and you two have barely said more than hello to eachother," She scolds me.
"Actually, we've also said goodbye," I add, hoping to diffuse her frustration. She just rolls her eyes at me.
"Tony."
I sigh, knowing that dealing with Charlotte would be easier than dealing with an angry Pepper. "Fine," I concede. "What time does her school get out again?"
"Three o'clock."
"And where is it?" I ask absentmindedly. I can almost hear her roll her eyes.
"Mailbu High, Tony. You know, one of your charity projects," She places air quotations around the word charity.
"Oh right. Yeah, I'll get her," I tell Pepper. She deflates with her triumph.
"Thank you. And before you go, I need you to sign these papers," She hands me a stack of sheets, with multicoloured sticky notes on them, showing me where I need to sign. The blue ones indicating the need for my name printed, the pink ones indicating my signature.
"When am I meeting the board again? Wasn't that today at three?" I try, hoping to get out of picking Charlotte up. Pepper rolls her eyes again. She's been doing that alot lately.
"No, that's tomorrow. I took the trouble of clearing your afternoon for you," She smiles at me tightly, and I narrow my eyes at her. "Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"
An amused smile appears on my face. "That will be all, Ms. Potts."
Just as she's walking out the door, I shout, "Dinner at seven!"
The door closes quickly behind her, but not before I catch the quick smile, and prominent blush on her features. I smile in triumph, picking up a pen and making my way through the papers.
I haven't decided what I hate more: Alien Invasions, or paperwork. Paperwork seems to be winning. At least I can have some fun with Alien Invasions.
I finish the mindless work, just as JARVIS's voice rings out through the room.
"Sir, Director Fury is requesting your immediate presence."
"Define immediate," I command, standing up, leaving the papers on my desk for Pepper to collect later.
"It seems Thor has returned from Asgard. And he's brought his brother."
"Damn," I mutter, my eyes going wide. I head over to my closet, pulling my suit out in suitcase form. JARVIS catches the cue, and the suit lights up, clicking into place around me as I step into it. The pieces all seal, as the mask slides into place over my face with an audible clang. I can't help but smile. I've always loved putting the suit on this way.
JARVIS lights up the screens inside the helmet, my vitals and energy levels popping up. The sliding doors of my balcony open, which I had installed a few months ago. I stretch once, before initiating my flight sequence.
"How long do you think it'd take to reach SHIELD HQ?" I muse as I feel the suit hum to life around me.
"Approximately ten minutes," JARVIS's voice responds to me. I've barely taken my feet off of the ground, when JARVIS adds, "Shall I inform Ms. Potts that she needs to pick up Charlotte?"
I curse in realization. "Shoot, I forgot. Change of plans Jarv. How far to the school?" I ask as I blast skyward. I streak low above Malibu as JARVIS calculates. I can't believe I almost forgot about Charlotte. Pepper would've killed me.
"I've placed the route on your visuals, sir. We should be arriving in two minutes," He informs me, as a map does indeed pop up. I hang a left and follow JARVIS's instructions. As the school comes into view, his voice rings throughout the suit again.
"Sir, I'm not so sure that this is the smartest of ideas. You're about to fly into a highly populated area with-"
"Save it for later Jarv," I cut my AI off. "Looks like school just got out."
Teenagers - my third most least favourite thing in the world, ok, well, maybe they tie with Cap's spangly pants - flood from the building, to the main waiting area out front. I smirk when I see the mascot. It's me. Go figure.
I land with a thud on the pavement, my suit re-adjusting and aligning itself so as to absorb the impact. The dead silence lasts about two point seven seconds before utter chaos breaks out.
"Easy now girls," I try to tame the horde that surges upon me. Shouts deafen my sensors,as red flashes in front of my vision.
"Hey!" I shout, and my voice is amplified by the built in speakers. Immediately everyone calms down, and blink at me like idiots. I can't help but smirk. "Look, I'll give everyone autographs later, but right now, I need to pick someone up. Does anyone know Charlotte? Small, annoying, always scowling?" I try. Several eyes around me go as wide as saucers, and I wonder if I've said the wrong thing. "Anyone?"
"Why would you want her?" A model looking chick with blonde hair curls her lip in distaste. Judging from her posture, and the group of jocks she's hanging out with, I'd assume she's the queen bee. Not bad looking either.
"What's your name, sweetcheeks?" I ask her, my mask lifting up. I squint slightly at the harsh glare, before adjusting. I see her blush a crimson colour, before sputtering out an answer. I think it's Sierra, although it's hard to tell.
"Well, to put it simply, Charlotte lives with me," I admit, knowing that there's no hiding it now. Murmurs break out in the crowd.
"What?" Several people shriek. I roll my eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Secrets out. Now, has anyone seen her?"
No one speaks up. I stare out at the surge of people, and if I had blinked, I would've missed it. Even though I've only seen her half a dozen time, I can easily pick out that wild brown hair. I step forward quickly.
As I make my way through the crowd, they part as all crowds usually do for me. But as I get closer, I realize that Charlotte seems to be in a heated whisper discussion with a boy. He isn't all that athletic looking, although he isn't a weakling by the looks of it either. From the large glass perched on his nose, and books in his arms, the kid is a definition of a nerd. He reminds me of myself at that age.
The hurt that's on his face is visible for the entire world to read. There's another girl behind him who also seems a part of the discussion, but she doesn't seem as emotional as he does. They're behind a larger group of people. Charlotte looks over and catches my, and as soon as she does, I see the desperation and fear harden to something cold and loathing. She shoots the boy one last look, seeming to mutter an apology or something, before she turns on her tailand walks towards me. I wait patiently, the crowd watching us. The scowl on her face has deepened, and her gaze is murderous.
"What the hell are you doing here?" She hisses at me through grittedd teeth. I roll my eyes.
"Ease up Charlie. I'm just picking you up for Pep." I watch as she tenses at the nickname, and her eyes narrow at me. Before she can say anything, my mask drops, and I grab her in my arms. "Hold on," I warn.
I feel her entire body clench as we blast through the air. I'm actually surprised that she manages not to yelp.
The flight to SHIELD HQ is quick. Rhodey calls me, but I decline it. Might as well wait till after I possibly blow something up for SHIELD, before I deal with his worries. I land, careful not to squish the girlin my arms. Personally, I don't care. But if Pepper ever found out... I shiver just at the thought.
"What the hell?!" She pushes away from me as soon as we land and I step out of the suit - it shrinking once again into a brief case. I have to take a step backwards in order to regain my balance. She's a lot stronger than she looks.
"What do you mean, what the hell?" I ask her, and I realize that this is the longest conversation we've had since she moved in. Pepper's right. That is pretty pathetic.
"I mean, no one was supposed to know that I'm living with you! You've just ruined everything!" She screams at me, pushing my chest again. I'm confused. Honestly I am. She must see it on my features.
"What?"
"AGH!" She screams in frustration. "Now everyone is going to be in my buisness, Ryan is probably never going to forgive me, and just when everything was getting normal too!"
I only picked up one thing from her rant.
"Who's Ryan?"
I swear, this girl could win scowl contest of the year. She makes Loki seem like a ray of sunshine. And trust me, he's anything but. Which is actually the reason I'm here.
Her features twist darkly. "He WAS a friend. He's nothing now," She snaps, turning on her heel. She runs straight into Nick Fury.
"And what," His voice booms through the parking lot, and I see Charlie's expression widen to fear for a millisecond, "Is going on here?"
"Hey Fury," I say nonchalantly, picking up my suitcase. "I heard Point Break and his messed up little bro are back in town."
Fury scowls at me, his eye glinting in the sun. I still think Charlie's scowls are scarier.
"Follow me," He bites out roughly. "Who's the girl?"
"This is Charlie-"
"Charlotte."
"-And she's Pepper's niece," I finish, ignoring her little interuption. Fury's eyebrows shoot up.
"So the rumours true," He muses, and I can tell he's getting a kick out of it. "You have been living with a kid."
I feel my eyes widen. "Yes, but NOT my kid," I clarify. I shiver at the thought. "Let's just take care of this. I got a dinner date at seven."
I forge ahead, leaving Fury and Charlie behind me. As soon as I walk into the building, Agent Hill greets me.
"Stark."
I give her a nod, as Fury leads us to an elevator. We all enter, and he slides a card into a nearly hidden slot. The elevator jerks downwards. As we go deeperinto the earth, Furyswears Charlie to secrecy, although he has nothing to worry about. I'm pretty sure that she hasn't even figured out how to turn the volume up on my television yet, let alone steal SHIELD secrets.
After the elevator ride, we walk through a maze of halls, and out of habit I count my footsteps. I have ever since Afganistan. We stop in front of a plain door, and Fury turns to us.
"She can't come in."
I smirk. "No worries," I turn to her, and see that her scowl has deepened yet again. "Stay here, and don't. Move. Anywhere," I warn. She rolls her eyes before muttering.
"Whatever."
I watch as she sits with her back to the wall, and pulls a giant book out of her baclp[ack. It looks big, old, and boring. Satisfied that she isn't going to go anywhere, I follow Fury into the conference room.
"Look who finally decided to show up."
"Hey Capsicle," I flash him my trademark smirk, before taking my assumed seat. I see Natasha and Clint roll their eyes across the table. And Bruce just smiles. The message seemed lost on Thor, and Steve just looks frustrated.
"Getting down to buisness," Fursy takes his spot at the head of the table. "I've called you here today, because we have an issue at hand," He sighs before jerking a thumb over at Thor. "He's returned, as you've all seen. Except he's also brought his brother."
"May I ask why?" I lean back in my chair casually. I prop my feet up, but Cao pushes them off the table. I csowl at him, before re-adjusting myself.
"The Allfather wants him to officially apologize to Earth, in hopes of taking a bit of his pride, before his punishment. I'm the messanger, as well as the delivery man, as you mortal's like to put it," The god's voice boomed through the room.
"And where is your brother now?" Natasha asks, and I can tell Clint is getting antsy because he's continually looking over his shoulder.
"Loki is being contained in this facility. He is under constant supervision, and his magic has been blocked. He shall stay there until we decide what we'regoing to do with him," Fury states.
"I hope you contain him better than you did on the Helicarrier," I mutter darkly under my breath. Cap is the only one to hear me though, and he kicks my chair in annoyance. Yeesh. He annoys me almost as much as Charlie.
"Loki means no harm to Earth. He had been deluded by the power of the tesseract, and Thanos. My brother really isn't that bad," Thor tries to reassure everyone. It doesn't exactly work. I roll my eyes.
"So pretty much you've gathered Earth's mightest heroes to make us make sure that Loki apologizes for nearly destroying New York?" I can't keep the sarcasm out of my voice. Fury sighs.
"Look, I know this isn't an ideal situation," He mutters, "But unless we want to deal with his father," He nods his head again at Thor, "I suggest we follow his orders. As long as Loki has his magic restrained, and he's kept a close eye on, nothing can go wrong-"
He's cut off by the alarms sounding through the building, and his one eye goes comically wide. I would laugh, if frustration didn't clench my gut. Because I don't need to be a genius to guess what happened. I scowl and stand up.
"Charlie!"
Hello again!
Sorry for the time jump, but I wanted to get into the action and the meat of this story. Can any of you guess what Charlie did? Please check out my new fanfiction, Frozen. It's also an Avengers one, and I hope you'll like it! Also, Thank you soooooooooooooooo much for all your reviews :) They made me smile!
I hope you all have a marvelous day, and I'll see you again soon I hope!
