Intermission:

Christian Grey Versus JARVIS

The night was black; blacker than Christian's black, black, midnight-and-obsidian-and-ebony-and-onyx soul when Taylor and Christian came in for a soundless landing on the roof of Avengers Tower. Christian attempted to move away from Taylor the moment they had solid footing, but the tandem harness prevented him from immediately getting about his business. He had to stop long enough for Taylor to unhook them from each other before heading toward the door allowing workers access to the generators and air conditioning units located there.

No handle was placed on the outside of the door. A clear panel, a single knob affixed toward the bottom left corner, was mounted to the wall at chest level. Touching the knob caused the panel to flare to life, lighting up the gloom with shades of red. Two distinct buzzing sounds startled him into jumping back a couple of steps.

"You are not authorized to access Avengers Tower," intoned a voice speaking in a distinctly British accent.

"Of course I'm authorized," Christian returned. "Jennifer Walters is expecting me, but I forgot the access codes."

"Expected guests are welcome to enter via the lobby where security will show them up."

"Don't you know who I am? I'm Christian Grey. You will let me through."

"Charmed, I'm sure. But you are still not authorized to access this area. Please redirect your approach through the lobby."

Frustration simmered just beneath his clavicles, and he tossed a glance in Taylor's direction, who was crouched and packing his small parachute away. Unzipping a midnight case affixed to his belt, Christian pulled out a flash drive and inserted it into the USB port along the right side of the panel to link his data pad with the tower's security computer. He began running a hacking program attempting to circumvent Stark's passwords.

"What are you about, Mister Grey?" asked Jarvis.

"You will give me access to Jennifer whether you want to or not."

"Stop, that tickles."

"You're a computer. You can't tickle."

"My programming says otherwise. Retreat from this area, or I will contact Mister Stark to apprise him of the attempted break-in."

Christian's expression was rapidly heating toward furious when he glanced back over at Taylor. "Why isn't this working? My computer specialists said this was a failsafe hacking program. They said there wasn't a firewall in existence this couldn't crack."

"Don't look at me, Sir. I'm not a computer expert," Taylor responded. "We are, however, unacceptably exposed on this roof top, especially considering who lives in the tower. We should retreat and rethink our angle of penetration."

"Not after coming this far. This frustratingly absurd computer program will not stop me from reaching Jennifer. She's in grave danger in this tower. They'll brainwash her and turn her against me the same way they turned Virginia against me, and after my failed relationship with Anastasia, I don't think I could handle another disappointment."

Taylor didn't comment on Christian's relationship troubles, simply moved to the side of the roof and looked down toward the balcony and landing pad several floors below them. Tension straightened the man's spine. "Mister Stark can access this roof at a moment's notice. We should retreat to a safer location before the computer informs him of our presence."

"If I may interject," Jarvis drawled. "My security procedures are far more advanced than your hacking program. A new layer of firewalls comes online for every code your device unlocks. There is roughly a point two percent chance you will circumvent my security."

"Shut your mouth," snapped Christian.

"A curious command, Sir, as I have no mouth to shut. Neither am I authorized to obey verbal commands regarding security from anyone but Mister Stark and Miss Potts."

"There must be a way trough this door. Did you bring the charges, Taylor?"

"Only one man has ever successfully breached my numerous layers of security, and he is no longer amongst the living."

Christian jerked his head back around, surprised that a computerized voice could sound sad. "Who was this man?"

"Agent Phil Coulson."

"What an uncouth and very ordinary name."

The computer's voice registered something akin to annoyance when he said, "Mister Stark has been informed of your presence on the roof. Estimated time of arrival is five minutes and thirty-six seconds."

A glance full of longing was directed toward the door again while Jarvis continued counting down to Stark's arrival. No doubt, he would show up wearing that ridiculously conspicuous suit of armor. Breath hissing through his teeth, Christian grasped the flash drive with every intention of removing it but suddenly received a terrible jolt of electricity that caused his muscles to seize and dragged a yelp from him.

"I'm sorry, Mister Grey. Your hacking paraphernalia has been confiscated for evidence in a criminal investigation."

"Damn you, you terrible little worm!" he hissed and made a second attempt to remove the flash drive, which had his fingerprints smeared all over it. A second jolt of electricity felt stronger than the first.

"Oh dear, you networked this program with the rest of you computer systems?"

"What?"

"All your bases are belong to me. Sir."

Taylor suddenly grasped Christian's shoulder and moved him out of the way. His sidearm fired a single shot that shattered the terminal, leaving a smoking wreck behind, and then he stepped forward to yank the flash drive from its port.

"He was using the network link between your data pad and our home computers to hack into your own systems. Secondly, they could have used the fingerprints on the flash drive as evidence in an attempted burglary case against you. Sir, we have to go."

He allowed Taylor to grasp his elbow and guide him toward the edge of the roof before saying, "How do you intend to get us down from here?"

Within seconds, Taylor secured a grappling line from the roof of Avengers Tower to the much lower roof opposite them. Hooking their harnesses together again, he dropped their combined weight over the side of the building, and they zipped away just as Iron Man was emerging onto the landing pad. The gloom of New York at three in the morning swallowed them up and secured their escape, but Christian's scowl said he wasn't pleased. Not at all.

A/N: Frustrating Christian Grey is ridiculously amusing. Thanks bunches for reading and all your comments!

Next Chapter: Pepper convinces Tasha to move in. Pepper and Tasha confront Jenny.