-Fate Has a Twisted Sense of Humor-

Barely day two, and Angel was up later than she planned, even though she was the first to get up. The sun was already up and she could here the world around her buzzing with the new day. Angel got up, readied herself and made sure she had the things needed to start her search. Leaving her gun locked safely away in her motor cycle, she strapped her knives on instead. It was easier to hide small daggers than trying to hide a gun. She strapped one under her gray, button v-neck shirt and two in her knee high boots. Making sure she was organized and prepared to face the day head on, she headed down.

Leanne was not up yet, so Angel was left to look for breakfast or in her case, brunch. She quickly finished up with her small breakfast of fruit, toast, and milk, and was ready to head out. Slipping her black leather jacket on, and helmet in hand, she reached the doorway, ready to take off.

"Where you going?" asked a sleepy voice from the stairway. Angel looked up, cursing a bit in her head, to see Leanne still in pajamas and bathrobe. Angel said as a matter of fact, "Out."

"No duh, Hun. But since you are so fond of disappearing lately, I would at least like the courtesy to know where," Leanne replied, sounding a bit annoyed. Angel sighed, she had to give to best friend she was damn near persistent. "Don't worry I haven't forgotten about to night. I said I would be there and I'll be back before then."

Leanne did not give Angel the chance to leave as she bursted out loud, "I know you won't because I'm coming with you." With that Angel panicked inside as Leanne ran back up stairs to get changed. If she had the half the mind, she would run out and leave before Leanne ever came down, but that would not help her case. It would only drive more suspicion to her true intentions. From here on out, Angel was going to have to play it by ear.

Angel paced, thinking on how to go and pretend to be searching for a job while secretly she is searching for the people after Tony Stark's life. Maybe it would have been better if she had got a hotel. Angel sighed, that was not helping her thinking about what she should have done.

"Okay," announced Leanne as she was perky and ready to hit the road. Dressed in the usual tight jeans and bright colored tang top, Leanne was ready to make Angel's day just a little bit harder.

Angel tried to hide her annoyance by forging a smile as she opened the door, "Good, let's hit the road." Leanne led as Angel went for her bike out of habit. "Wow, wow there. My trucks better for two person travel."

Angel looked at Leanne blankly and then to her truck. Never had she blundered like that. "Sorry, habitual thing. Don't usually ride with others." It was the truth, for once and because of that Angel felt a bit nervous.

Luckily, Leanne just let it slid as she shrugged and enter her truck. Pulling out, Leanne finally asked the question, "Where too? Because after job hunting, its repay time."

Angel blinked at her, "Uh, anywhere with a help wanted sigh." Pause. "What you mean 'repay time'?"

Leanne had an evil grin on her face as she drove and answered, "Well Angel, last I saw from your luggage, you're not exactly caring a cocktail dress on you, are you? And besides, I need a new, stunning outfit. Dress to impress, I say."

Angel slumped in her seat, and it was not because of Leanne's poor driving abilities. Never had she felt more out of control with Leanne around.

"So," Leanne continues on, "Since you got nothing dire to check out. I was thinking we would make stops at dress shops while keeping a close eye for applications, yah?" Leanne did not give Angel time to answer. "Good then, lets hit Beverly's and find you that perfect dress…oh and a job too, of course."

--

Through long hours of searching and trying on many different dresses, they we were finally done. Of course Leanne never gave Angel enough time too escape as she kept her moving and focused on making the perfect choice: what to wear?

Angel had picked one back at Beverly's, but Leanne was not satisfied, so on went their quest. Angel lost track of how many shops, and stores Leanne dragged her through. She finally gave up all hope on starting the search for when Leanne decided she was good and ready to buy, it was close 6:30 pm. It was just enough time for them to return to the house to get ready.

They returned and went into their separate rooms. Finally Angel was left alone and away from Leanne. She was beginning to wonder how she ever became friends with her in the first place. Man, she was the pushiest person on Earth.

Angel sighed, pulling on her dress in front of a dresser mirror. It was a halter top dress that was grey up top and then flowed into black. It was a little more revealing then Angel liked, but it was this or a flowery orange one Leanne offered. Angel had never been a dressy kind of girl, but was in stead a girl for wearing things that were easy. Of course they also had to be easy to hid things. Angel put one of her knives on her upper thigh. It was the only safe place to put it out of eyes way. She would have preferred the back one, but unfortunately her dress had a low back.

"Cute. Somebody looks just close to adorable," said a mocking voice of Leanne. "You should wear more girly clothes more often. It makes you more approachable, especially for guys. Sometimes you can come across overbearing, hun. No offense." Angel turned around to Leanne, who smiled at her from the door way. She decided to go with a whiter spaghetti straps dress with large print of blue flowers. Her hair was about her in a wavy halo. Like a star, Leanne was ready for the night to begin.

Angel shrugged, "I just don't date…" One more piece of truth. Man, she was starting to fall apart. Get it together, you not here to rekindle an old friendship. You have mission, Angel angrily, arguing with herself.

Leanne suddenly changed from a joyful, happy mood to a serious one. It was almost off setting. "I know that. That's what worries me. Sooner or later, you're going to have to let others in and I'm not talking about the job searching."

Angel blinked, but as fast as she changed, she changed back. With a childlike charm, Leanne smirked, "You probably never kissed a guy before let alone held hands with the other sex. Oh well…" Leanne turned and the last one to have the laugh, "Your loss. I'll get all the action then."

Angel was then left alone, contemplating. Did Leanne know about Angel more than she let on?

Angel was cut short in thought by a doorbell. She grumbled, hoping Leanne's guy would be one of those late ones, but it turned out, he was an early one. Might as well make her self known, so she headed down for a long night of playing pretend.

--

Tony had kept to his word and was ready when Rhodes had arrived in his large living room all decked out in a basic, formal military uniform. Tony had to give to his best friend: he was a one sided man. Military was his life and he liked keeping it that way. So it did not surprise for Tony that he picked that outfit to woo a girl.

Arriving up in a simple black suit and tie, Tony noticed his friend shift with uneasiness. Tony lifted an eye brow as Rhodes saw him enter, "Either this girl is high strung or you really like her."

Rhodes just glared, clearly not in the joking mood. "Just try not to make me look like an idiot tonight. Behave. Cause the last thing I need is to control you and try to give a good impression." Tony snorted, remembering his friend had little to no experience with dates let alone handling women. "I'll try not to get in your way too much. Don't think I would want too. Just give me a signal when you want me out of the room to…you know."

Rhodes went dead silent as Tony prodded him in the side, but he realized he better move on before his friend turned on him. "So let's go see this gal who's caught your eye. I'm driving. For a really good pilot, you drive like an old lady."

Like a bat out of hell, they were there in minutes. Rhodes held on for dear life, back seat driving the whole way, telling Tony to slow down or watch out for cars. Those were not very relaxing moments for dear Rhodey and his nerves were just getting started, twisting knots as they got out of Tony's flashy silver Audi R8.

Tony was the only one willing to talk, up until the door as Rhodes walked stark quiet the whole way. "So, here we go. Remember to actually talk to her when she answers the door. No shy boy act tonight, please."

Tony actually let Rhodes do the knocking and less than a beat away the door opened to a gorgeous brunette in a white, flowery dress. She smiled at Rhodes and then stood shock when she saw the great Tony Stark standing behind her date.

"Oh my gosh. You're Tony Stark," was all she said to Tony. Tony just smiled and stuck his hand out, business like. "Nice to meet yah too. Leanne, right?" She took it shyly and retreated her hand like she had just been shocked by him. Luckily, he was used to it.

"What is it?" asked another female voice from behind Rhodes's date, clearly distressed from her friend's reactions. The brunette stepped back as Tony came eye too eye with very familiar brilliant amber eyes. Tony could only stare shocked and dazed, well looks like I want have to look too far for answers then.

--

OH CRAP, was all Angel's mind could process from the shock that her mark stood starring at her in recognition. This was not good. No, scratch that: she was fucked. She was so screwed over that she could not come up with a way out of it. She had broken her first rule for the first time in her life. Never had she screwed up so much, in such a short time. Something must be seriously wrong.

Both Leanne and Rhodes looked curiously at Angel and then Tony. Leanne finally asked, "You two met before?"

Angel stuttered some noises out, but it was Tony who filled in the blanks, "Just a run in. Didn't get a good conversation in before she left." Angel stood starring at Tony, unsure to be thankful that he saved her ass or worried he was working his way to something. Tony also offered his hand to her, "I'm Tony Stark as you probably know, but I didn't catch your name last time."

Angel shook it and shyly answered, "Angel Ellison." Tony smirked and grabbed her hand more firmly, and bringing her more closer, kissed her knuckles lightly. Like Tony had violated her hand, she snapped it back, and tried to hid her embarrassment with an awkward smile. "So…about that dinner…"

Leanne was lost for a minute, unsure what exactly was going on before she realized Angel was talking to her. "Oh yah. Come in, come in!" She ushered the guys into her house.

Before following after the two ladies, Rhodes grabbed hold of Tony's arm, pulling him back. He whispered into his ear, "What are you doing?" Tony shrugged, finding amusement inside from his rescuer's response to affection. Tony did not understand it why he found it entertaining to tease her. "Relax, I'm just being friendly."

"Well stop it," Rhodes said strait and then smiled when they caught up. Leanne beamed as Rhodes sat beside her at the dinner table. Angel sat across from them with Tony to her left. She tried not to look panicked as she kept a strait, uninterested face. From the corners of her eyes, when she snuck a peek, she could see him grinning and clearly enjoying himself in this predicament.

Deciding, worrying herself right now was not the best cover, she decided to keep her focus on the arrangement of food Leanne had ordered. It had arrived earlier on when neither of them were home. Clearly they also took the liberty to put it out as well. It was just sorted items of beef, chicken, salads, side dishes, and lots and lots of fruit in extravagant baskets.

Of course Angel was not surprised the first thing Leanne went for was the wine and other alcoholic drinks. Leanne cleared her throat and decided to begin acting like a host should to clear the tension that was beginning to build. "Wow, talk about under prepared. So I know it's not much, considering I wasn't expecting such grad companying tonight, but hope you enjoy it."

Tony just nodded as he took his scotch from Leanne and just replied, "Better than what I was planning on having tonight." This comment made Leanne smile wider as she handed Rhodes his beer and turned to Angel.

"So, Angie?" asked Leanne pointing to the sorted drinks. It took Angel a moment to register Leanne was asking her what she wanted and shook her head. "I don't drink anything with alcohol." Leanne sighed, sitting as Angel got a water bottle herself from the refrigerator.

"You don't drink? Don't tell me you're a religious nut," Tony said setting his drink down, looking at Angel square in the eye, who was now back at the table. She sat down and tried not to glare too much, "No. You just don't want to be around me when I am." Tony raised an eyebrow at her: was that supposed to be a challenge?

Tony smirked, "Perhaps I would." He could almost hear her grumble under her breath as she was losing her mask of collective. Angel was using all her energy to stop herself from hurting him, and instead was happy with a simple insult. "Then a fully sober girl is too much for the great Tony Stark to handle? Perhaps you're at that the wrong party, bud. Go down a few blocks. Sure there's Ho-for-less station at the next turn."

Yikes, Tony thought. She was fierier than Pepper. Tony opened his mouth to say something, but Rhodes finished it himself. "So thanks for the invite over Leanne. Food is really good, thank you."

Leanne smiled in confusion and replied back, a bit unsure, "Thanks?" Angel sighed, trying to bring herself back under control. She could not figure out why Tony made her so angry.

Returning back to silence, they dug in. After a while, Rhodes spoke up, "So, Leanne what do you do?" Angel rolled her eyes as Leanne giggled like a school girl. "Lets see. For a while I was an actor, but now I'm a beauty practitioner." Rhodes thought it over.

"You didn't get this rich from cutting hair and batting your eyes, did you?" asked Tony. Leanne shook her head. "My family is one of those rich kind. Always rich, stays rich. I have money coming back from my great-great-great grandfather still."

"And what about, you? What do you do?" said Tony changing the subject to Angel. Angel hesitated, knowing it was a trap to tell him who she really was. Leanne filled in instead, "Actually, that's why Angels here. She's looking for employment as we speak."

Angel gave Tony an innocent smile, but it was not enough as he delved further into the subject. "Have any in mind?" Angel scrambled her brain for answered, and answered what she knew was the only safe thing to say, "Well, I'm just open to near anything that pays well. I've just started so I have no idea."

Tony nodded, not exactly what he was looking for. Rhodes then decided to take over, "So where you from? And what drove you down here to look?"

"San Francisco," Angel said, picking her last location she had driven from, "I don't know really. Change of scenery would be nice, I guess. Mostly just wanted to visit my best friend. "

Leanne caught Angel's eyes as she rapped her arm around one of Rhodes, who was going a bit red from the sudden affection and still, quite still. Angel was not surprised, in fact she was wondering why it was taking Leanne so long to drape herself over her knew man. "See, she's the best of all friends. So who wants desert on the porch?!"

"Ne-Need help…" said a stuttering Rhodes instead than asking it, as he walked with her to the kitchen. Alone and helpless, Angel tried her best to look the other direction as far away as possible from Tony. Tony watched her fidgeted away to the edge of her seat, getting distance from him. He smiled at her uneasiness.

"So? Do I really make you feel that uncomfortable?" finally asked Tony, feeling Angel jump at his voice. Angel looked at him and did not say anything, but stared. Angel tried to think of thousands of ways to lie to him strait off the bat, but it was the actually saying it that was so hard for some reason.

From the grace of God, Leanne and Rhodes popped back in with desert plates with pieces of chocolate cake. "Okay, here's the best part."

Angel quickly grabbed the plate from Leanne and began eating on without them. Angel could finally feel Leanne worried gaze as she spoke up to find the problem between Tony Stark and her best friend. "So how exactly did you two meet?"

Both Tony and Angel looked at each other and back at the other two. Angel was unsure if she was going to be the one lying about it or would Tony do it. For a long pause, no one said anything, but then a melody floated in from nowhere. Of course it did not exactly come from nowhere, but from Angel.

They all looked at her, as she sat dazed for a moment trying to remember way the song was familiar. "Oh, sorry," Angel apologized for the embarrassment as she turned in her chair and pulled the cell phone from her cleavage. So looked down at the idée and then felt her blood go cold. Jeremy used many different numbers for different purposes, mostly not to get traced, but this number she knew really well: it was the number for emergences.

Angel shot back around in the chair to face them and tried to act calm, "I'm sorry, but I got to take this. It's important." Without waiting to be excused she made her way out and up the stairs so not to be heard. Taking it into the room she currently occupied, she answered, "Someone better be dying."

"It's worse. Its more like will be," rang Jeremy's voice with hysteria, "I kept a close eye on movement from Organization S. They're moving and to your location. Like they're going to be there any minute. You have to get out, NOW!"

Angel was shocked. She could not exactly busted out running away without Leanne and the others noticing. "Its not that simple. The mark is here, I've been sitting next to him for the past hour. If I run, it'll drive suspicion upon me and if that happens, I'm might as well quit. How far are they exactly? How long do I have?"

"There already at the front door," was the last Jeremy said, hanging up on her. Angel shot out of the room as she heard the door bell.

--

Disclaimer, Dis-lamer: So, no I don't own Iron Man. End of story.

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Author's notes: A long one, but a good one. Sorry it took so long. I've been hell of busy. So it's the cross over. Yay! Finally. More crossing to come, mwahaha…

U guys are amazing. I got 14 reviews! I think I'm in heaven. I guess this story is really good then?...Well anyways. Thanks for the reviews. Love them all. Love all too.

More suspense-y-ness coming up. Cause its going to be a show down.

So get ready for the rest of the story to unfold from here on out. Later peeps.