Rise of the Champions - Chapter Thirty-Five

Author: Milady Dragon


Daisy Teleported to Castle Ferrous, still worried about her Dad but not as much as she would have been if she hadn't known that Clint was there to take care of him. She trusted him, because he loved Dad and wouldn't leave the Keep as long as Dad was sleeping.

Still, she was worried. She wouldn't lie to herself about that. It was the second day in a row that Dad had exhausted himself, and this was worse because of that bad Void he'd pulled out of James and into himself for what he had to consider safe keeping. Not so safe when it affected him the way it had. The sooner he got that shit out of him, the better.

To her surprise, Pepper's casting chamber was empty. Usually when she had lessons at Castle Ferrous, Pepper would have been waiting for her, and Happy would have greeted her so effusively there were times when the ridiculous little dragon would knock Skye off Daisy's shoulders. Skye didn't seem to mind, really, and would just huff and go to settle somewhere else until Happy was done.

She might not have had the same sheer draconic charisma the Elves had, but she still got her share of love from Pepper's dragon.

Taking the stairs up into the castle, Daisy, with Skye on her shoulders as usual, went searching for her teaching Master. It was a little worrying that Pepper hadn't been waiting for her, when they'd set this particular time for Daisy to arrive, so something must have been up to delay her.

She really hoped it wasn't anything to do with Loki. Daisy knew that the Council of Barons had met about that very thing. Could something had happened just since she'd left home? It was quite possible, she supposed.

Upstairs was vacant as well, not even Jarvis or Ana seemed to be about. "Hello?" Daisy called out, growing even more confused and concerned. It didn't seem anyone was in the castle, and that was just bizarre.

She began walking toward Baron Tony's workshop. It was the one place that she felt certain someone would be; if not the Baron himself, unless he was away on either Baronial or Council business, then Dr. Banner would most likely still be around, working on one of the many experiments that he'd taken up when Baron Tony had offered him a place at the Castle. Daisy quite liked the magical theorist, he was a nice guy who'd been dealt a bad hand in life. But, she knew Stephen was working to make things right, to bring Master Thaddeus Ross to justice for what he'd done to Dr. Banner over the love he'd felt for Ross' daughter, Betty; and to bring to light the abominable experiments that Ross had had the theorist doing until Dr. Banner had figured things out and left.

She also knew that Ianto had managed to break a couple of pretty serious curses that Ross had cast on the older man, but still had some work to do on the others. Doctor Banner had told Ianto that James had come first, that he could wait as long as Ross couldn't still remotely trigger the curses anymore. Now that James was on the mend, Ianto could get back to the doctor.

To her even greater surprise, the workshop was also empty.

She stood in the doorway, hands on her hips as she looked around to see if anything was missing. Maybe Baron Tony and Dr. Banner were out with one of their inventions, running tests? But that didn't explain why Pepper, Jarvis, and Ana weren't around.

Unless they were all watching.

Which usually meant the Baron was going to be doing something that Pepper didn't approve of.

It was sad that Daisy understood exactly what that meant, that she'd been a welcome addition to the household for long enough to realize that the Baron was most likely in trouble.

That still didn't tell her what was going on…

Then her eyes fell on the corner of the workshop where that weird suit of armor Baron Tony had been working on.

It was gone.

Daisy spun on her heel, heading toward the back gardens. While she didn't have any idea what that armor could do, she knew that a lot of the Baron's inventions could be destructive until he managed to fine-tune whatever apparatus he'd been tinkering with. He would normally take that sort of thing out to the rear of the estate, in order to have plenty of room to run his tests with the chance of the least amount of mess.

As she approached the rear doors that led outside to the gardens, a strange whirling noise became noticeable. Daisy had no idea what that sound was, but she would have been willing to bet anyone that the Baron was involved with it. She was confused, because she couldn't figure out why the suit of armor that was missing would be making that sort of racket, if that was indeed what was causing it.

A sudden explosion sounded just as she was flinging the door open, making her jump. Daisy didn't hesitate; she was out the door like a shot, one hand extended, calling her magic to her in case there was trouble and she was needed, and it wasn't just Baron Tony wreaking havoc once again.

Not that Pepper couldn't defend herself. She would never assume that. However, a little back-up was never a bad thing.

Still, what she saw had her dropping both her arm and his jaw in surprise.

Out in a bare area of garden, Pepper, along with Jarvis, Ana, Dr. Banner, and Sir Rhodey, were gazing upward, their postures in various stages of irritation, intrigue, and humor. Daisy could understand all three of those responses, because she was feeling them herself.

Hovering in midair, near the smoking remains of one of the apple trees that had graced a corner of the garden, was that suit of armor that Baron Tony had been working on.

It was red and gold, articulated in a way that normal armor wasn't, covering Baron Tony himself from neck to foot. Areas at heel and palm were glowing a faint blue, and from his position Daisy could tell that it was those glowing bits that were letting the Baron hover. And yet, it wasn't any sort of Levitation spell that Daisy had seen, even if the aura around the entire armor was magical.

It was focused on an area of the breast plate, where yet another area was glowing.

Daisy knew that was the exact same spot where the magical stone that had saved Baron Tony's life when he'd been kidnapped had been set.

Gods, was that gemstone powering the armor?

The young woman had no choice but to join the others as they watched the Baron flit about like some sort of metallic dragonfly. "Um," she said, standing next to Sir Rhodey, "what's going on?"

"Tony is being an idiot again," Sir Rhodey answered, as if that explained everything.

It kinda did, actually.

Baron Tony looked as if he was having the time of this life. And, maybe he was. After all, he was a non-magical person performing pretty high-level magicks just by using an Artifact that had been implanted into his chest in order to keep him alive, which…

Yeah, Daisy couldn't explain it.

Using her magical sight, she took a long look at the stone that was powering the armor. She really hadn't done that before, since most of the time the stone was hidden under Baron Tony's clothes and she wasn't about to ask him to take off his tunic so she could get up close to it. All she knew about it was what it did, and she had to wonder if anyone else had examined it. The magical signature she'd always gotten from the Baron had been low-level, so for it to be able to do this…she would have to ask just what sort of Artifact could appear to be that weak and yet be stronger than anything she had yet to see. Not that she'd seen a lot of those sorts of Artifacts. Ianto would know more about it, or her Dad or Stephen.

"Why is that tree smoking?" she had to ask.

"Tony blasted it," Dr. Banner replied. He was holding a full-head helmet in his arms, with the same color scheme as the armor. "The repulsors in the gauntlets aren't just for stabilization."

"Shit."

It was a testament to everyone's lack of attention on her that no one corrected Daisy's use of a curse word. She thought the situation called for it.

"So," she had to say, "how does he get down?"

"I'm pretty certain he'd not thought that far ahead yet," Pepper answered disparagingly.

"I have the healing herbs and bandages ready," Jarvis volunteered, "in case His Grace takes a header and injures himself."

Ana snorted in amusement at her husband's pronouncement.

No one thanked him, but then Daisy thought it wasn't actually needed. Besides, they were too busy being just that much put out by the idea that Baron Tony was wearing a highly experimental magical armor that ran on an Artifact that no one really knew anything about, let alone how much actual power it had. What happened if it discharged all its magic with this test and Baron Tony died because it wasn't keeping his heart beating anymore?

Gods, had he thought this out before doing something so monumentally stupid?

"I doubt it," was Pepper's dry response, and Daisy blushed a little realizing she'd just blurted that out loud.

"The equations are sound," Dr. Banner protested lightly, as Baron Tony sent the armor farther up into the air. As they watched, he aimed one hand, palm outward, toward yet another tree. A bright blue flash of light, almost blinding, had Daisy blinking, then ducking as yet another tree exploded.

"I shall make certain to compensate the gardeners appropriately for the extra work," Jarvis sighed.

Baron Tony wobbled a little, then sent the armor flying even higher, until he was nothing but a red and gold splotch against the cloudless sky.

"Did he at least take a speaking stone with him, Bruce?" Pepper queried as that splotch began darting around in what looked like a really random pattern.

"Um," Dr. Banner mumbled, removing his glasses and wiping them on his tunic.

Pepper sighed. "That's what I thought. Any idea how to get him back down? Or to find him if he happens to fall to ground somewhere not the estate?"

"We…might not have thought of that."

"Lovely." Squinting against the glare of the early morning sun, Pepper pulled her wand from its sheath at her waist, aiming it toward the rapidly moving figure far above them. She muttered what had to have been a basic Tracking spell, and how she managed to hit the Baron with all the aerial acrobatics he was doing Daisy would never know. "At least we'll know where he ends up if not here."

While Daisy was beginning to doubt the Baron's grasp on sanity, she had to admit that the armor itself was pretty awesome. The few times she'd seen it in the workshop, it hadn't even come to her that it would be magically powered. Even at the distance Baron Tony was flying, she could make out the magical aura surrounding him, like a beacon or a manmade star, and it was really impressive.

Though, people shouldn't really be playing around with Artifacts without knowing what they were. As far as Daisy understood, the Artifact melded to Baron Tony's chest was a completely mysterious item, and he'd never really gone into a lot of detail about how it had gotten there, only that there'd been a Wizard with him when he'd regained consciousness, and the gem had already been there. Was there more to the story than that? Had anyone really done any sort of investigation into its origin? Surely Pepper hadn't just let her own husband walk around with it and not looked into it more?

"Is he getting closer now?" Sir Rhodey inquired.

He was correct. The blob that had been the armor was getting closer to them, and at a pretty serious rate of speed. How could anyone navigate that fast without their helmet? Wasn't the wind irritating his face and eyes?

Gods, Daisy had so many questions…

"I don't think he's slowing down," Pepper observed worriedly, her wand up and ready to cast any sort of spell that would keep Baron Tony from splatting into the ground at such velocity.

"Oh dear," both Jarvis and Ana said in unison.

Doctor Banner didn't say anything, and his silence was practically vibrating with anxiety.

Baron Tony was coming closer to absolute disaster. Pepper began to cast, and Daisy stood close by, willing to lend her any sort of magical strength she might need. The young Wizard was ridiculously overpowered, and wouldn't miss it.

Catching the spell that Pepper was currently throwing in her husband's direction, Daisy raised her own hand to help. Her wand skills weren't the best, but she knew what her teaching Master was trying to do, was familiar with the actual spell casting, and knew that her power level would only make the magic stronger.

Together, they managed to slow the Baron down to the point where he wouldn't kill himself when he hit. However, it seemed as if he'd regained some sort of control, and had turned in the air, aiming both feet and hands toward the ground in order to stop his fall.

The man was actually laughing when his boots touched the grass. "That was awesome!" he exclaimed, staggering a little as he cut off the magic to the armor. "We're gonna need to work some more on control and shit, but Bruce…that was amazing!"

"Anthony Edward Stark," Pepper growled furiously.

Damn, Daisy had never seen her this pissed off.

At least the Baron saw through his excitement just what he'd done to his own wife, and his face lost all trace of laughter, turning contrite so quickly Daisy felt as if she just sustained emotional whiplash. "Pep –"

"Don't 'Pep' me!" She stormed up to him, her knuckles white with how tightly she was grasping her wand. "What you did was incredibly stupid! What if Daisy and I hadn't been here to catch you? You could have killed yourself!"

Baron Tony swallowed hard. "I needed to do it, Pepper. Fury's right about us needing champions, and I'd been working on the armor for a while now…it just took Bruce coming onto the project for the equations to work." He was a combination of sincerely apologetic and defiant at the same time. "We have to be ready, in case we're ever under attack again." He reached out and took her free hand. "Look, you know I'll always want to protect my people, and joining this Avengers thing Nick's come up with is my chance to do that. This," he stroked a gauntleted finger over the visible gemstone that glowed softly through the hole in the armor made for it, "is giving me the chance to do that. I need to help, Pep. You know me."

Pepper visibly slumped, sighing. "Yes, I do know you, Tony. But you could have gotten some sort of magical help as well, to make sure the stone could handle the stress you're putting on it."

"Okay, yes. You're right. But I had Bruce, and he's as good as any Wizard."

"Don't bring me into this," Dr. Banner murmured. Daisy thought he was being really smart at not wanting to get into the middle of the argument.

"But he's not Ianto." Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose, breathing in slowly. "You can work on the armor, but I want Ianto to come and scan that…thing in your chest. I should have had him do it years ago, but all I cared about at the time was that it was keeping you alive. However, it looks like it's been hiding just how powerful it is, and you need to make sure that using it this way isn't going to either kill or corrupt you."

He looked like he wanted to argue, but Dr. Banner cut in. "She's making sense, Tony. Grand Master Ianto can double-check my math on the power output, at least."

It looked like Dr. Banner had even more good sense, but Daisy had to wonder just how that common sense had buckled under the Baron's arguments. They'd certainly had good intentions, but that wouldn't have meant a damned thing if Baron Tony had managed to get himself killed.

"Tony," Sir Rhodey said, "I really do understand the need to help people. But, Pepper's right about this. We don't really know anything about that Artifact, and I should have insisted ages ago that you at least investigate it further, but I felt the same way Pepper did. We just don't want to lose you."

Jarvis and Ana didn't add anything, but Daisy could tell they were just as affected as the others were. As she was, really. The young woman genuinely liked the Baron, and didn't want him to get himself killed by accident.

"Ianto can check for any sort of curses," Daisy had to put her own two golds' in. "He also has that Catalyst thing going on. If anyone can figure it out, it's him."

Baron Tony pouted. "Alright, but I don't like that you're all ganging up on me and stepping on my hour of triumphant invention."

"Hey." Pepper rested a hand on his armored shoulder. "If everything's fine, then you have a new way to defend our people, and that's a good thing. But it's not worth your life, Tony. I love you too much to lose you just because you assumed something about a magical Artifact that you shouldn't have."

"I love you too, Pep." He gave her a wistful smile. "But it's going to be just fine, I know it."

"That may be true, but let's just make certain first."

"Brucie." He turned to the magical theorist. "Help me get this off. I want to check the relays on the boot thrusters. They were a bit wobbly on reentry, and that meant I needed saving."

Doctor Banner rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Fine. I do want to go over the power consumption equations before we get a Grand Master in the workshop."

"Excellent." He began clanking his way toward the castle. "You can go back to your lesson plans for Mini-Pepper, Pep. I promise I won't fly again for a while."

"I suppose that's the best I can hope for," Pepper sighed.

Sir Rhodey gave her an encouraging smile. "You know Tony always keeps his word."

"Oh, I know. But that doesn't mean he may find a loophole to exploit."

"Ana and I will get back to our duties," Jarvis said. "And, may I say, I hope that I need never see that sort of thing again. It was truly…" It was as if he couldn't come up with the right word for it.

"Yes, it was," Ana agreed.

"I'll keep an eye on the trouble twins," Sir Rhodey volunteered. "I'll keep them on track until Master Ianto can get here. I'm sure there are other projects they could be working on."

"Thanks Rhodey." Pepper nodded as the Knights' Commander followed Jarvis and Ana back into the castle. "Well," she turned to Daisy, "thank you for the assist."

Daisy shrugged. "I didn't really do all that much." She'd just backed her teaching Master up, but Pepper had done all the work.

"You did plenty. Now, let's get to the lesson. I want to concentrate on your wand work today. Your spell would have been more focused if you'd used your wand."

She was right about that, Daisy could admit. "I also wanted to talk to you about something Jemma and Leo said to me about accidentally overpowering my potions…" She'd been thinking about it ever since her friends had mentioned it, and she thought they could very well have a point. Daisy understood just how strong her magic was; it was the main reason Dad had made her the gauntlets she wore.

Pepper gave her a nod. "We'll discuss that, but that makes sense."

Happy, now that all the terror was over, gave an excited chirp and jumped from Pepper's shoulders to Daisy's, knocking Skye out of the way. Skye, used to that sort of thing, heaved a sigh and flew to Pepper, who laughed and tucked the other dragon around her own shoulders.

"And how is your father this morning?" she asked as they reentered the castle. "I understand yesterday was de-cursing day…"

Daisy shared with her about what had happened. She wanted to talk about what had occurred, and about what Stephen had claimed about this soul bond stuff, to see what Pepper might know about that sort of thing. She valued her teaching Master's opinion…not that she didn't believe Stephen, but she needed to figure things out, and speaking with Pepper about it would put her mind at ease a bit. It was a fantastic notion, one that she was willing to go along with, but it never hurt to see what someone else might know on the subject.

The young woman hoped it might clarify a few things.