Chapter 10
Ray's POV
I was happy. I was more than happy today. Today Jacob had asked me out. Well not directly but I knew it.
FLASHBACK
After lunch I rushed to take my kit from the locker room. "Hey Ray!" I heard Jake call from behind. "Hey Jake!" I said turning back. "I was wondering if you are free today evening?"he asked me. "Umm... Nothing as such... Ya I'm free." I said. "Cool!" he said. "Wanna join me in Maine's concert today? I would have called the others but... I have only two tickets." "Well if you want I can get more tickets. I can ask Pepper to get few more." I told him. "No!" he snapped. "I was wondering if only we can go..." "Ooh.." I said "That would be fine. So when do we meet?" " At seven. In our regular spot." "Done!"
END OF FLASHBACK
I had jumped in excitement. Not that I was in love with Jake but still I had something for him. I felt really happy.
Reaching home I rushed to my room and took a long shower. Then I sat on the sofa in the living room across Tony. He was lost working on some small device. "Hey!" I greeted him. "Hmm.." he responded. I stretched myself and pulled out my legs on the sofa.
"Done!" I heard Tony say after some time. Then he looked at me. "When did you come home?" he asked. I stared at him. "Some time back and even greeted you to which you did reply!" I told him. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "Really?"he asked and I nodded in reply. "Sorry I don't even remember if I had anything for breakfast today or not." he said.
"Come here." He said pulling me beside him on his sofa. "Take this." He handed me the device she had been working on. "What is it?" I asked. "It is a paralysing device. Gives nervous shock and paralyses your muscles." I took it in my hand inspecting it. "What do I do with it?" I asked. "I want you to keep it... for you safety. Use it on anyone who tries to hurt you." he said.
I noticed how worried he had been ever since he had returned from Afghan. I don't blame him. Everything he had been through has scared him though he would never agree. "Carry it everywhere. School, friends, parties and even washrooms. "Tone?" I was about to talk but he spoke up again. "I'll prefer you carry it in your pocket, where you can reach it easily and in any bag." I went closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his one arm around me. "I'll carry it everywhere. I promise." I assured."But I don't want you to take so much stress. You need some rest, Tony!"
"Wanna help me to do something cool?" he asked as I nodded. "Be there in half an hour. I need to grab some stuff." He said going up to his room.
I went down to the garage. I had to hide the car properly. But when I got down I realised that it was no use hiding it any more. The cloth was turned and less dusty. It was touched and no wonder it was my brother who had discovered the condition. I sighed. I knew I have to go through a counselling session.
"Yes, I saw it." He said as he entered the garage. I didn't say a word. I wanted to avoid the topic. It wasn't something that I wanted to discuss about, especially Tony. "You okay right kiddo?" he asked. "Yup." I said avoiding eye-contact with him. "Look at me Ray." He pulled me to face him. "I know that you are scared. Everything is still a mess and maybe there are things that you do not understand. But believe me, all this will be over soon. I promise." He said. "You mean it's not over yet?" I asked with a shaky voice. "I just don't want you to worry." He said. "You are not answering me." "Wanna see something cool?" he said trying to change the topic. I sighed. How stupid humans can be! How can anyone possibly think that one wouldn't worry after everything that happened. I hugged him. He looked a bit shocked at first but then he hugged me back. "I love ya, kiddo." He said placing a small kiss on my head.
Tony and I walked into our workspace. "Let me present to you, Mark II!" he said as a blue print popped in front of my face. My eyes went wide. "Tony, it's... it's awesome!" I exclaimed. "You made it in a cave!" I was shocked. "Umm... yeah." He said proud of himself. "I know I'm a genious." He added as I rolled my eyes. BOASTING! "When do we get started?" I asked. "We will. But first I need you to help at this." He tapped his arc reactor. "need to make it smaller, so that it fits under regular clothing."
We had been working for long hours. It's hard to tell how tell how long cause I didn't see the time when we started but it was around 6 when I noticed the clock. "Shit!" I exclaimed. "What?" Tony asked. "I need to go. I'm meeting a friend." I told him and I rushed to my room without giving him a chance to question me.
After some time I came out fully dressed. I wore a denim blue jeans and a pitch black T-Shirt and had pulled up my hair into a messy bun with a slight make-up. I was never one to put on dark make-up except in parties. "Should I drop you?" Tony asked. "No! No! No! No! No! No!" I exclaimed "I can go by myself." I added. "Where are you going?"
"Maine's concert."
"With whom?"
"Friend"
"Which friend?"
"A friend at school." He raised an eyebrow.
" When are you coming back?" Strange he never asked so many questions.
"Don't know. Maybe 10."
"Is it a date?" *blush* Don't you dare blush, Rayne Emily Stark!
"You are going to complete the reactor before I return, right?"
"Yeah...Who is it?" *Eye rolles*
"I'll be back soon!" I started walking out.
"Rayne!" he called in his authorative tone.
"Bye!" I walked out. "And don't worry, I am not looking forward to this."
Tony's POV
After Ray had gone, I devoted all my time working on the reactor. By the time I was done it was half past 9. Whoa! Didn't even realise the time passed so early! I needed someone to help me put it in. I took up my phone and called up pepper. "Hello?"he voice jingled after some time. "Pepper how big are your hands?"I asked. "What? I don't understand. "Just get down here."I told her and hung up.
"Show me your hands."I told her as she entered the workspace. "Let me see your hands." I told her as she raised her hands to show me."Oh wow! They are small. Very petite. Indeed! Just need your help for a sec." I said as I lay down."Oh my god!" she said looking at the socket of the reactor."Is that the thing that is keeping you alive?" she asked wide eyed. "It was." I said. "Now, it is an antique. This..." I said showing her the new and advanced reactor, "is the thing that thing that is going to keep me alive for the foreseeable future." She stared wide eyed at the hole."I'm swapping it up for an upgrade unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump." I explained. "Speed bump, what does that suppose to mean?" she asked confused."It's nothing. It's just a little snag." I explained. "There's an exposed wire under this device and it's contacting the socket wall and it's causing a little bit of a short circuit." I told her. She looked scared and confused. "What do you want me to do?" she asked. "I want you to reach it in and gently pull out the wire out."
"Is that safe?"
"Yeah, it should be fine. It's like an operation.. You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it would go 'beep'"
"What do you mean operation?" she asked as she inserted her hands inside the socket but she was clearly panicking.
"Nevermind. It's just like a game." I told her.
"You know I don't thing that I am qualified to do this."
"No you're fine. You are the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're goanna be great." I told her. "Is it too much problem to ask? 'Cause I'm..."
"Okay! Okay!"
"I really need your help here."
"Okay!"she inserted her hands in. "Oh there is pus!1" she exclaimed.
"It's not pus. It's inorganic plasmic discharge from the device." I told her trying to act chilled.
"It smells!"
"Yeah, it does."I said ." The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it?" I said as I felt her grab the wire. "Now don't let it touch the sides." I told her as she started pulling it out but it hit the sides multiple times making me jump due to shock.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She cried.
"That's what I was trying to tell you before." I told her. Then she tried to pull it out. "Okay, now you make sure when you pull it out , you don't... aah!" I tried to say but was cut mid sentence by the magnet hitting the wall of the socket. "There's a magnet attached to it!" I finished. "That was it! You just pulled it out!" I said.
"Oh, God!"she exclaimed. She looked damn confused and when she wasn't able to keep it she brought in near the socket again. "Don't put it back again!" I exclaimed and started going numb due to the shock.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing. I'm just going into a cardiac arrest, 'cause you yanked it out like a trout."
"What? You said it was safe!" she almost cried.
"We gotta hurry. Take this. Take this." I handed her the new arc reactor. "You got switch it out really quick."
"Okay. Okay." She panicked again "Tony?" she called. "Its goanna be okay."
"What? Is it?"
"its goanna be okay. I'm goanna make you okay."
"Lets hope." I said. Even I was nervous now. "Okay, you're goanna attach that to the base plate. Make sure...Aah!" I exclaimed again as she fixed it. "Was that too hard? It was fun, right? HAHAHAHA" I said
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm great. You okay?"
"Don't ever ever ever ask me to do something like that again!" I couldn't help but laugh.
"I don't have anyone but you."
After that when I got up Pepper showed me the old reactor, "What do you want me to do with it?"
"Destroy it?"
"What? You don't want me to keep it ?"
"Pepper I had been called many things. Nostalgic is not one of them."
"Will that be all ?"
"That will be all, ."
Yay! That's chappie 10! And this time I updated early. I deserve a prize. DO you want to suggest any ideas to the story? I would love to hear them from you all. Tell me. I'll wait for your reviews.
Merry Christmas to you all and Happy New Year in advance (I can't promise that I would update before new year.) Hope you have a great year ahead.
Bye till then!
ImaginationsUnleashed