Chapter 19: The Second Morning
There was a knock on my door as I finished getting into my outfit of the day that consisted of odd socks, black jeans and a Skillet t-shirt.
"Come in," I call as I pull on my socks. The door opens, and Pepper walks in, with a smile as she spots me on the couch.
"Good morning," she greets as she walks over to me. She is already in her business apparel with her hair done up in a ponytail.
"Morning," I reply with a soft smile as Pepper sits by me.
"So Tony told you the plan for today?" She inquires.
I nod. "Yep," I sigh.
She sends a soft, sympathetic smile to me and says "You'll be fine. They will only be a few hours at the most, but if they have a mission, then they will come back here to say goodbye first."
I huff and reply "Alright. But I suppose I can't go into any of the labs or training area."
Pepper laughs. "No. Not by yourself."
"But no one is ever alone with JARVIS around," I reply thoughtfully.
"That is true but we would rather you had an actual person with you in the training area."
"Fair enough," I agree reluctantly.
"Come on," Pepper smiles as she stands up, " The others want to say bye before they go to the meeting and you need breakfast." Gesturing for me to follow, she begins walking to the door.
I stand and walk after her. Pausing at the door, I scan the room for anything I may need when my eye lands on my Arc Reactor. I rush over to my bed and grab it as I hear Pepper calling my name. "Alexis?"
"Coming," I yell as I pocket the reactor and sprint out the room.
"There she is," Clint calls as Pepper, and I walk into the lounge, "The second best archer in the whole world."
I feel my face heat up and duck my head, making him laugh. He and the other Avengers were all relaxing on the couches.
"Hey Shortcake," I hear Tony call from the kitchen, waving to the others who greeted me, I scamper over to the kitchen.
Walking in, I see Tony, leaning against the island table, and Steve over by the stove, where a delicious smell was coming from.
"Morning Tony, morning Steve" I smile as I scramble onto a bar stool.
"Morning Shortcake."
"Morning Alexis." came the replies.
"What are you making?" I ask Steve as I try to peer over towards the stove.
"Bacon and eggs," He grins as he puts some on a plate and places it in front of me."These are for you."
"Thank you," I smile.
"Here ya go, Shortcake," Tony says as he places a knife and fork next to the plate. "You might need those," He grins as he sends a wink to me.
Giggling softly, I began to dig into the bacon. It just melts on my tongue as flavour erupts in my mouth. It tasted like heaven. I devour my breakfast in record speed.
"I guess you like it then," I hear Steve laugh as I'm about to place another forkful of eggs in my mouth. I look up at Steve and Tony, who are both smiling down at me. I smile bashfully as I place the forkful in my mouth. After I swallow, I mumble "Forgot how good it tasted."
Tony over to Steve and claps him on the shoulder. "Well, with Steve here, you will never forget the taste since he is such a whiz in the kitchen when it comes to cooking," He announces.
I giggle as I finish off the last of my delicious breakfast.
"What time do you leave?" I ask as I climb off the stool and take my plate to the bench.
"Around 10:30am. We are taking the Quinjet," Steve answered as he takes my plate from me.
"What's the time now?"
"10:00am," came the answer.
"Oh," I sigh bowing my head.
"What's wrong, Shortcake?" Tony asks as he crouches down in front of me and places his hand on my shoulder.
"Just wanted to do something before you all left," I mumble as I stare at my shuffling feet.
"We can go down to the workshop before I leave if you want. I need my shortcake's expert opinion on a few things anyway," Tony suggests
"Really?" I whisper with glee as I raise my head to look at Tony.
With a wink, he smiles "You betcha."
"Well, if you are sure," I giggle.
Standing up, he takes my hand and leads me out of the kitchen, towards the elevator.
"Tony!" Pepper calls from the seating area, where she was sitting next to Nat on the couch, causing us to stop in our tracks and turn towards her. "Where are you two going, may I ask?"
"I just need this one's expert opinion on a few things down in the workshop," Tony grins as he gestures to me.
"You are aware you have a meeting with Nick Fury soon, right?" She inquires.
"Yes and I can get to the meeting within 5 minutes with my suit," He smiles as he starts to lead me out to the elevator again.
Looking back at Pepper as Tony leads me out, I see her smile and shake her head before going back to conversing with Nat.
"Is it a problem if we go down to the shop?" I ask, worried, as I try to keep up with Tony's strides. He slows down a bit and shakes his head. "
"Na, besides it means I get to wear my suit." he grins. "Now let's get down to that workshop."
"So what do you think?" Tony asked as he walks around the holographic projection of a watch that turns into a repulser from the Iron Man suit.
"Its so cool," I smile as I stare at the projection. "Can I have a deeper look though?" I ask.
"Sure thing, Shortcake," he grins as he presses a few buttons on the desk. The projection then expanded into what parts were going to be used. Scanning the hologram, I instantly spot a problem.
"That wire that is connected to the mechanism which is going transform the watch into a repulser is going to short out the power system if you leave it where it is," I inform him.
Tony looks to where I am pointing and shakes his head.
"Good spotting, Shortcake. I knew I'd need your expert opinion," He winked at me as he began rearranging the design. "I just need you to look at one more befo-." He was cut off by J.A.R.V.I.S.
"Sir, I hate to interrupt but the time is 10:45am. You have 15 minutes before the Avenger's meeting starts."
Tony sighs. "Thank you JARVIS. What would I do without you?"
"Be late to meetings, forget meetings, forget meals, forget sleep. Need I go on, Sir?" J.A.R.V.I.S replies.
I giggle at his response as Tony just shakes his head and says "No J.A.R.V.I.S. I know I wouldn't be able to survive without you."
"So you are going to go now?" I ask, softly.
"Looks like it, Shortcake. I don't want an angry Pepper after me once she hears I was late," He chuckles as he turns off the holographic display. "Wanna come to see my famous Iron Man suits?" He asks as he turns towards me.
"Am I allowed?" I smile as I jump off the stool and skip over to Tony.
"Of course. I never let a chance to show off go by," He chuckles as he leads me to a different elevator on the other side of the room. Placing his hand against a fingerprint scanner, he winks at me as the door opens. "Let me show you my collection."
We step into the elevator and Tony presses one of the many buttons on the keypad by the door.
"Going up," He says as the doors close.
As I enter the room, I look around. "There's nothing here," I say, confused.
"Just stand there and watch," Tony calls over his shoulder as he walks to a lit circle in the middle of the vacant room. Standing in the middle of the circle, he calls out, "JARVIS."
"With pleasure, Sir."
The floor around the circle started disappearing as machines began to rise from the floor. I gasp, as I watch the suit start coming together on Tony. "Wow," I laugh breathlessly.
Finally, the mask was put on, and the floor went back to normal as the roof opened up, showing the clear open sky. "Wow," I gasp as I watch the roof open up.
"Shortcake," Tony's robotic voice called. "Come over here."
I quickly run over and stare at his suit. He looks down at me with his glowing blue eyes. "What do you think?" He questions as he holds out his arms, showing off the suit.
"It's even more amazing in person," I whisper with a huge grin.
"Well, I can't leave you here, so I'll drop you off on the lounge balcony," He informs me as he kneels down to pick me up.
"What?" I say as I step back startled.
"Shortcake, I can't leave you here, so I'm just going to pick you up and fly you down to the balcony of the lounge room," He repeats as he holds out his arms for me to come back over to him.
I stare at him as my mind wars with itself. On the one hand, I know that he would never let me fall or do anything to harm me but one the other hand, I can see my father. His mask flips up, and I can see the pleading in his eyes.
"Please, Shortcake. Trust me. I will not let anything bad happen to you," He whispers.
Those words let me take a step towards him as I realised that I was beginning to trust him. The next steps were easier to make as I wrapped my arms around his neck and locked my arms together. He wrapped his arms around me as he stood up.
"Alright. I need my hands for balance, so I need you to wrap your legs around as well," I quickly do as Tony asked and latched onto him tightly. "Are you ready?" he asks as he puts the mask down.
"As I'll ever be," I say shakily.
"Alright then." I hear the repulsers fire up and clamp my eyes shut. We shoot up into the sky. The wind was whistling past my ears. Slowly, I feel to feel brave enough to open my eyes as I feel us start slowing down a bit. The sky looked so blue, and the clouds were so close I could just reach out and grab one.
Tony starts slowly descending out of the sky. He wraps one arm around me as he does. I look down and see that we are almost on the balcony. With a clang of metal against stone we landed. Tony crouched down as I unlatched myself and stood in front of him.
"Was that so scary?" He asks as he flips up his mask so I could see his face.
"It was amazing," I laugh. "I just wish I could've been able to see more."
"Well maybe one day," He smiles as the mask flips back down again. "Be safe, and I'll see you later." With that, he shoots up into the sky and away from the tower
"Bye Tony," I sigh. Turning back, I walk into the lounge. Sitting down on one of the couches, I look around before an idea comes to mind.
"J.A.R.V.I.S."
"Yes, Miss Alexis?"
"Where is the library?" I ask as I stand up and begin walking out to the elevator.
"I believe it is on the 21st floor," came the reply. "I will direct you there if you want."
"Yes please J.A.R.V.I.S,"I smile.
"Very well. I shall inform you on which turns to take."
"Thank you."
I walk to the elevator and press the button for the 21st floor.
The elevator ride was short, and with JARVIS's directions, I soon arrived at the library.
Pushing the door open, I gasp. There were so many books. I wasn't expecting it to have so many. My feet take me over to a shelf, and I run my fingers over the spines. I could almost hear them whispering their stories to me. Trying to entice me into reading them.
I walk down the aisle. My fingers gliding over the books spines. I stop on one and gently pull it out. "Rangers Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan" is what the title read. The book looked interesting enough, so I keep walking to the centre of the room. I discover there to be chairs and couches in the centre.
Laying down on one of the couches, I open up to the first page and begin to read when a silky voice startles me.
"What are you doing in here, child?"