The sun had not yet risen when Harry woke up the next day, and he padded around the huge house for a while, pressing a key on the grand piano to listen to the note reverberate around the room. As the vibrations faded, he heard the low mumble of Stark talking, and followed his voice down a staircase, stopping when he reached a glass wall with an electronic keypad set next to a door.

Harry knocked on the glass, and Tony looked up with a start. "Come on in."

There was an electronic buzz and the door swung open as it was unlocked. Harry stepped through into the workshop, frowning around the room. The scent of oil, coffee and singed hair was thick in the air, combined with the chemical odour of a fire extinguisher.

Tony was sat at a desk, a myriad of metal scraps, wires and tools spread around him. There was powder from the fire extinguisher dusted across the floor and two of the cars parked in the underground garage-cum-workshop. A jukebox in the corner was pumping out music with a heavy bass.

"What..."

"Come here." Tony grinned. Harry picked his way through the jumble of boxes, computer components and welding gear and joined him behind the table, noticing that he had cut a hole in the middle of the t-shirt he was wearing that the arc reactor in his chest was poking through, its blue glow casting a soft light over the desk in front of him.

Harry gestured around the cluttered room. "What's this?"

"You remember the designs for the metal suit?" Harry nodded as he reached the bench Tony was working at. He hadn't seen many of the drawings, but he had built enough of the components to at least know what the man was talking about. "Well, obviously, that was built in a cave using scraps and stolen supplies." Tony continued, manipulating a blueish blur hovering over the table. "I've been improving it." He gestured at the blob, and Harry supposed he was meant to be impressed by what he could see. He levelled the billionaire with a flat look.

"Right, sorry." Tony said. His body temperature increased minutely as he flushed. "Er... come here, come here." Harry followed him through the maze once more, until they stopped in the only open area. The cloying smell of the fire extinguisher was strongest here. Tony picked up one of the largest piles of metal components and began pulling it on, wires crossing over his back and running down his arm to a glowing disk on his palms, both arms now encased in silver metal.

"Watch this." Tony said. He turned to face the wall and held up his hand. There was a high pitched whine, and the disk on his palm glowed brighter, before a beam of light shot from it.

Harry gaped from the cracked, smoking hole in the wall to Tony's hand back to the wall. "What..."

"It's still powered by the arc reactor." Tony said, showing him how there were wires connected to the device in his chest as he pulled off the... laser cannon thing. "But this is going to be part of the all new upgraded suit." He jerked his head at the wall. "That is when the repulsars are on 90% power. When it's slightly less, they work with boots I've made that have the same mechanism built into the heels." A grin spread across his face as his eyes lit up. "With them, I can fly."

Harry's eyebrows rose.

"Well, I will be able to, once I modify the flight stabilisers." Tony continued, wincing. "They're a bit too... powerful at the moment. I reckon another day of modifications and I'll have it. And it'll be proper flight, not the shit show that was the rockets that got us out of that cave. I based it on your hands and feet; how you shoot those fires to fly. Except I'm using these, not fireballs that come out of my skin." He grinned, gesturing at the contraptions strewn around the room. "I've finished designs for the entire thing, and I've built most of the individual components."

Harry grinned.

Tony pulled the contraption off and glanced at Harry. "I'm almost jealous of how quickly you heal." He said. "That bruise on your cheek's completely gone." He gestured to the purplish blotches on his own jaw.

Harry wandered around the workshop, inspecting the various tools and devices that covered every surface as Tony talked to Jarvis as he worked. He turned the volume up on the jukebox in the corner, and hummed along to the music when he realised he recognised the song. After a few moments, he realised that Tony had fallen silent.

The billionaire was watching him intently, a large spanner held loosely in his hand.

"Sorry." Harry said. "I can go."

"What? No." Tony replied. "No, I was listening to you singing."

Harry felt himself flush. "Sorry."

"What do you mean? You're really good." Tony said.

Harry was suddenly reminded of the phoenix's ability to bring people courage with their song, and wondered if somehow he had inherited that power from Fawkes' tears as well. Given that he could burst into flames at will, he didn't think it was unlikely. "Thanks."

"I'm serious." Tony said. He grinned. "Where was that voice when we were stuck in that cave? You didn't like Yinsen's Afghani lullaby?"

Harry managed a small smile. Yinsen had sung that song a lot when he looked after Harry after the Ten Rings did their experiments to see how much torture he could withstand. It had a beautiful, haunting melody, and whilst Harry spoke no Dari, he thought he could probably sing the whole thing with no problems after the number of times he had passed out listening to it. But thinking of Yinsen just made him upset and brought back memories he would rather forget forever. Harry didn't understand how Tony could think about that song and smile.