Posting this a day early because I'm nice like that, heh. Also, letting you readers know I've made a music mix for Tegan and Tony. Link's on my page, go give it a listen. ^u^ ~Lovely
-Infinity Heart
-Paring(s): Tony Stark/OC
-Rated: T for language and slight adult situations
-Movie-based
Disclaimer: I don't own Iron Man. The characters belong to Marvel studios and Stan Lee. I only own the OCs used
Chapter Nine:
"Party Crasher"
"..I'm wrecking this evening already and loving every minute of it,
Ruining this banquet for the mildly inspiring and,
When you're in black slacks with accentuating, off-white, pinstripes,
Everything goes according to plan.."
~There's A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered.., Panic! At The Disco
The sun had just set as Tony attached the outer layer of the almost finished suit. He was going to wait for the female genius who had disappeared upstairs for a long while now but his excitement and impatience ruled out. It was the final test—the outcome of a whole Mark II. When the rest was bolted and screwed on, the mechanic picked up the last piece to connect which was the mask.
"Jarvis, you there?" he called while placing it on.
"At your service, sir." the AI replied from inside the suit. Jarvis had been wired into the working to power the suit and be of assistance if needed. A full screen of his garage appeared then, making it seem as if he was observing through his own eyes and not through a metal mask.
"Engage Heads Up Display." his creator ordered. Various images popped up along with the screen, identifying many objects in his surroundings as he looked around at a quick but steady speed.
"Check."
"Import all preferences from home interface."
"Will do, sir."
"All right, what do you say?" the man queried.
"I have indeed been uploaded, sir." Jarvis told, "We're online and ready." Before Stark could command anything else, Tegan voice appeared to his left.
"Wow.." He turned, pausing. The young woman stood there, looking radiant. No longer dressed in a grease-stained t-shirt and jeans, she replaced them instead for a sexy over-the-shoulder evening dress. It was a light silver and grey color which made her smokey eyes pop. His dark eyes instantly went to her smooth bare legs visible from the short skirt. Wavy brown hair was curled at the ends and draped over her bare shoulder. Her makeup consisted of charcoal grey eye shadow, mascara, black eyeliner and sheer lip gloss. Cute, diamond dangling earrings graced her ears and her mother's ring was still ever-present but on her right ring finger instead of around her neck.
Tony finally spoke after a minute, "..I could say the same.."
A slight blush appeared on Hayes' cheeks. "Thanks."
"Okay, I know the whole full suit testing is pretty big," the billionaire noted in a joking way, "But I think what you have on is a bit much for celebration."
"Oh, yes. I just had to get dressed up for this wondrous event." she laughed, stepping closer to get a better look at the suit.
"Night on the town with the artist?" he asked, still teasing. The young woman stood in front of him, observing the reactor in his chest plate when he asked. Her face flushed again before meeting his gaze through the mask.
"As a matter of fact..it is." Her caregiver was glad the mask hid his shocked expression. He suspected the two young friends were but hadn't thought too much of it.
"Hmm, so first date and he's taking you somewhere where you have to get fancy." Tony gathered, figuring they had to have just started since he heard nothing about them before.
"Actually, it's not. A first date, I mean." the heiress corrected softly, "We've been dating for about a month. We're only just now getting a bit more serious."
The male genius said nothing for a moment. "How come you haven't said anything?"
"Because I wasn't sure about it myself." she replied, walking around him to observe more of the suit. "But it shouldn't be a surprise. Everyone—even you—thought we should get together. So, I gave in."
"..Do you love him?" The female prodigy paused, standing once more in front of him. His voice gave nothing of his current emotion away like the metal mask. Still, she searched as if to find the true meaning for that question.
"As a friend, yes. But anything more, it's too early still to finalize..but maybe in the future. He's good for me."
"I could be good for you." Stark thought resentfully while asking, "So where's he taking you?"
"A party, so I'll be back late." Tegan answered, holding up her hand purse then. "I'm bringing my phone, so call me if you want to whenever."
"Roger that." She leaned forward, kissing the side of the mask where a faint lip print was left. Now he wished it wasn't on..
The heiress smiled at him. "The suit looks great. Can't wait to hear the results." With that, she left, leaving Tony alone with Jarvis and his thoughts.
"..Should we continue where we left off, sir?"
"Yeah..can we start the virtual walk-around?" he pondered. An image of a suit appeared on the side right away.
As always, Jarvis didn't flop. "Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment."
"Do a check on control surfaces."
"As you wish." He obeyed, checking to see that every part or piece that moved did such correctly. "Test complete. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics."
"Uh, yeah. Tell you what," the billionaire stated. He needed to clear his head. Get his focus on the suit's progress and not on Tegan being with Joven. "Do a weather and ATC check. Start listening in on ground control."
"Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is—" the AI began to note.
"Jarvis! Sometimes you got to run before you can walk." his creator interjected smoothly.
"You're planning to blow off steam, aren't you, sir?" came a smug response from the machine.
He didn't reply, instead said, "Ready? In three, two, one.." The thrusters and stabilizers kicked on and Tony went shooting out of the open garage path like a missile. Starting off a bit shaky when gaining altitude, he got managed to get the hang of it like practiced.
"Handles like a dream." he stated before flying faster. He flew over the boardwalk, passing the Ferris wheel. The man didn't care if he was seen. No one could make out what he really was, probably mistake him as a jet plane doing a night routine. It was incredible; more amazing than anything he's ever done. Seeing the lights of the city while racing over it didn't really compare like viewing from a plane window. The genius had to test its' limits further.
"All right, let's see what this thing can do." Tony said, maneuvering himself horizontal to fly upwards. "What's SR-71's record?"
"The altitude record for fixed wing flight is eighty-five thousand feet, sir."
"Records are made to be broken! Come on!" The suit rose higher into the night sky with the moon in full view like some ribbon at the end of a finish line to a race. As it did, what looked like cracks in glass appeared along the each of the screen's vision.
"Sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring." warned Jarvis.
"Keep going!" the billionaire pushed stubbornly; his voice strained from the thin air. "Higher!" The ice kept building the higher he went until completely covering the silver suit in ice. The ice that formed shorted out the thrusters first before all systems went dark. Tony was suspended in air for a second then gravity did its work. Yelling, he waved his limbs erratically as his metal heavy body plummet back to earth.
"We iced up, Jarvis!" he shouted, "Deploy flaps! Jarvis?!" The AI didn't respond. "Come on, we got to break the ice!" Still nothing. He was a part of the shut down system and the only way to bring him back was for Tony to deploy the flaps himself. So, reaching for the manual switch on his leg, it was turned and the flaps on his back extended, balancing his body even though he continued to fall. The mechanic watched and waited as the system booted back up.
While Stark was free-falling, Tegan was seated in Joven's car driving down to the party. She stared out the window, gazing up at the sky while speaking with her boyfriend/best friend.
"I can't believe you told Tony already."
"Yeah, so what? He was going to find out eventually."
"Still, I'm a bit concern." the artist noted faintly.
"Relax. He knows how good of a guy you are." the young woman reassured, glancing away from the window to peer at him. "Tony's not going to be the overprotective type..though.."
McBride looked at her briefly from the corner of his eye. "Though?"
"When I told him about us, I had been expecting a bunch of teasing," Hayes explained, sounding a tad worried. "But he seemed a bit out of it. Like, he didn't really want to hear anymore.."
"Well, you said he was working when you told him." Joven noted.
"True, true.."
"Hey..what's that?" Grey eyes looked ahead to see a bright light rushing forward towards them at an insane speed. When it neared, it looked like some odd rocket and the young man swerved to the right to avoid crashing into it as the strange object kept going by.
"What the hell was that?!" he exclaimed. The female genius just sat there, dumbfounded, before bursting into laughter. The bewildered artist glanced at her. "Why are you laughing? We could have been killed by whatever that was!"
"I-I know, but your face!" she laughed harder, "Priceless!" He stared at her in disbelief before chuckling himself, saying she should have see her own then. The two chuckled to themselves afterwards, pushing aside the topic of the unidentified rocket. But Tegan knew well what it was..
"Yep, definitely can't wait to hear the results, heh."
After almost a messy ending in the city, Stark headed back home happily. When finally at his house, he hovered over the roof.
"Kill power." The order was a mistake. Being nothing but like dead weight in a nonfunctional suit, his body dropped through the ceiling, crashing into his living and on top of his black grand piano. Then through that to the garage below where he landed roughly at last..on his blue vintage sixties Roadrunner with a chorus of car alarms and a dousing of fire extinguisher foam from Dummy as a welcome back home. He tilted his head back in exasperation.
Once out of the silver suit and graced with an ice pack to his head, Tony headed to his work bench. He passed one of them, taking the leftover cup of coffee Pepper had brought that day when he noticed and remembered the wrapped box Tegan wanted to show him last night. On the top of it was a sticky note that had written 'From Teg and Pep' with a drawn smiley face. He smirked, removing it before ripping into the paper. The gift was revealed to be a glass box with his old arc reactor on a stand. Around it was a quote reading, 'Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart'.
A warm smile formed on his face then. The heiress always saw the good in him even when he didn't and this was real evidence of her belief. His heart beat faster as he thought of her in that high fashion dress that evening. How he wanted to remove the suit and pull her to him so he could kiss her deeply while working her out of her clothing. The billionaire sighed greatly, closing his eyes. But he couldn't..not when she was now dating her best friend. He should have said something about his feelings earlier on then the young woman would have probably been all his.
"Damn it..Talk about bad timing.." he thought with embitterment.
Speaking of bad timing, on the other side of the world, the Ten Rings had found all the piece for the Mark I. From the blueprints left by Tony when in the cave, they tried to fit it back together. Raza watched silently, smoking a cigarette. It was that dismantled suit that had burned him, took out about half of his men, and all of his weapons. This was the next great invention, one that he planned on getting his hands on as he told Stark. And since the billionaire was out of the question to build it, the leader would get someone else just as smart as him—his successor.
"Notes. Main transducer feels sluggish at plus forty altitude." stated the mechanic. He now sat at his desk surrounded by his computers, well-showered and dressed with an ice pack wrapped around his left arm. "Hull pressurization is problematic. I'm thinking icing is the probable factor."
"A very astute observation, sir." Jarvis commented, "Perhaps, if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the exosystems."
"Connect to the sys. co. Have it reconfigure the shell metals." Tony added smoothly, "Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio. Got it?"
"Yes. Shall I render using proposed specifications?"
"Thrill me."
"Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall," could be heard from the TV. The billionaire tuned in when his name was heard. "Where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for LA's high society."
"Jarvis, we get an invite for that?" questioned his creator curiously.
"I have no record of an invitation, sir." the AI told honestly. The man played around with a mask he had on his desk marked with notes then, not listening to the reporter on screen for a moment.
"..Since his bizarre and highly controversial press conference. Some claim he's suffering from post-traumatic stress and has been bedridden for weeks. Whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from him tonight." He smirked at the reporter's last comment.
"The render is complete." One of the computer screens showed the final coloring of the suit—now dubbed Mark III. It was gold from head to toe, thanks to the titanium alloy used.
"A little ostentatious, don't you think?" Stark noted, turning to refill his glass with his awful protein shake as Tegan would call it.
"What was I thinking?" came Jarvis's snarky reply, "You're usually so discreet."
The man then glanced at his father's old hot rod. "Tell you what. Throw a little hot-rod red in there."
If the machine was a person, he would have rolled his eyes. "Yes, that should help you keep a low profile." Still, he did as told, mixing the red in with the gold. "The render is complete."
"Hey, I like it. Fabricate it. Paint it."
"Commencing automated assembly. Estimated completion time is five fours." Tony peered at his wristwatch. The time read it was a little after nine-thirty. It seemed he would be going to party himself as well.
"Don't wait up for me, honey." he joked, heading upstairs.
Tony arrived at the benefit just before ten. People still stood outside, some waiting or talking with press. So his arrival didn't go unnoticed. He walked through the crowd casually, seeing his company co-founder ahead.
"What's the world coming to when a guy's got to crash his own party?" he announced when approaching.
"Look at you." Obadiah smiled in astonishment. "Hey, what a surprise."
"I'll see you inside." Tony told, patting his back while stepping away.
"Hey. Listen, take it slow, all right?" advised Stane lowly, "I think I got the board right where we want them."
"You got it. Just cabin fever." he assured, "I'll just be a minute."
Stark headed inside and went straight for the bar, telling the guy behind it, "Give me a Scotch. I'm starving."
"Mr. Stark?" Said person looked to his left, seeing Agent Coulson standing there.
"Yeah?"
"Agent Coulson." the man introduced.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The guy from the.." he said, pausing to remember the long name Pepper had mention before.
"Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division." Coulson finished for him.
"Whew! God, you need a new name for that." the billionaire told, taking a sip of his drink.
"Yeah, I hear that a lot." the agent smirked, "Listen, I know this must be a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you. There's still a lot of unanswered questions and time can be a factor with these things. Let's just put something on the books. How about the twenty-fourth at seven pm at Stark Industries?" Tony only half listen to the man for his full attention had been stolen by the sight of Pepper in her dark blue backless evening gown. She stood in the crowd in front of him, chatting with a couple. He needed a distraction from a brown haired Irish woman and he had gotten his answer.
"Tell you what. You got it You're absolutely right." the genius said, offering his hand for a shake. "Well, I'm going to go to my assistant and we'll make a date." With that said, he headed over to the woman.
"You look fantastic! I didn't recognize you."
Potts faced with surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Just avoiding government agents." he answered nonchalantly.
"Are you by yourself?"
"Yes. Where'd you get that dress?"
A smile formed on his assistant's red lips. "Oh, it was a birthday present."
"That's great." he smiled too.
"From you, actually." she added.
"Well, I got great taste." Tony said, "You want to dance?"
The strawberry blonde's eyes widen. "Oh, no." But her boss wasn't one to take no for an answer from her. Taking her hand, he pulled her to the dance floor and held her close. Pepper didn't meet his eyes and shuffled nervously as they swayed.
"Am I making you uncomfortable?"
"No. No. I always forget to wear deodorant and dance with my boss," the woman noted with a sarcastic tone. "In front of everyone that I work with in a dress with no back."
"You look great and you smell great." the man complimented.
"Oh, God.." she groaned skeptically.
"But I could fire you if that would take the edge off." he teased.
"I actually don't think that you could tie your shoes without me."
"I'd make it a week."
"Really? What's your Social Security number?" his assistant questioned. A moment passed as he tried to remember.
"Five." was his single response.
"Five? Right." she chuckled, "You're missing just a couple of digits there."
"The other eight? So I got you for the other eight." They looked at each other until Potts glanced away. They swayed with the music quietly.
"How about a little air?" Stark asked after awhile.
"Yes, I need some air." Pepper agreed, walking away with him towards the balcony. When they were outside away from the rest of the party, she began to rant.
"That was totally weird."
"Totally harmless."
"It was totally not harmless, by the way."
"We're dancing. No one's even watching."
"Everybody who I work with.." the woman paused, "No, you know why?"
"I think you lost objectivity." the billionaire interjected calmly, "I think they just..People..We just danced."
"No, it was not just a dance. You don't understand because you're you." she stated, serious. "And everybody knows exactly who you are and how you are with girls and all of that, which is completely fine. But, you know, then me, you're my boss and I'm dancing with you."
He shook his head. "I don't think it was taken that way."
"Because it make me look like the one who's trying to—" the strawberry-blonde added.
"I just think you're overstating it."
"—You know, and we're here, and then I'm wearing this ridiculous dress we were dancing like that and.." She trailed off, meeting his dark gaze again. They were the only two out on the balcony now. The night was cool and the sound of city was heard below. But all of that didn't matter as the two stared at each other. Then, Pepper started leaning in, grasping his arm. At that moment, Tony forgot about his strange stirrings for Tegan. His mind began to picture what their life together would be like. His assistant was right for him in many ways..and he believed it in that moment. So, he leaned in close also and just when their lips were about to meet, his gaze looked behind the woman and the sight through the glass doors showing the party made him froze.
Tegan, dressed in her grey dress, stood and appeared to be talking to some people. She was well into the crowd but Tony had spotted like she was a zebra in a room of gazelles. From where she was, she couldn't see him directly unless he called out to her. But he noticed as she spoke politely, her smoky eyes roamed now and then as if searching for someone.
"She's looking for me.." he thought hopefully, pulling back from his almost kiss with Pepper. But he was wrong as Joven joined her, looking dapper in his Armani suit, her gaze lit up happily. The other woman had opened her eyes now and stared at him questioningly.
"What?"
"Joven and Tegan are here? Together?" She followed his gaze just as the artist whispered something in the female prodigy's ear. She laughed, shaking her head.
"Yeah. Aren't they adorable?" Potts smiled.
"Sappily so." Stark said, peeved.
"Oh, be nice." his assistant scolded, turning to look at him. "And don't get all overprotective." It was then that they were reminded of their closeness.
She blushed, "I would like a drink, please."
"Got it, okay." he nodded awkwardly, stepping away.
"I would like a vodka martini, please."
"Okay.."
"Very dry with olives, a lot of olives." the strawberry-blonde rambled, "Like, at least three olives." He nodded again, leaving her there. Hayes was nowhere in the crowd now but he found her by the bar with her back to him, alone this time.
The billionaire walked up beside her, pretending not to notice her. "Two vodka martinis, extra dry, extra olives, extra fast. Make one of them dirty, will you?" He placed the money in the glass with the other bills and the bartender went to make his drinks.
"Why are you acting like you haven't notice me?" Tegan turned towards him with a smirk.
"Didn't want to ruin your date." he replied, facing her now. "Speaking of which, where is the lucky candidate?"
"Bathroom. I had to hear from the grapevine that you were crashing." she noted, "I was looking around for you."
He held in his glee that his assumption had been right. "I was talking with Pepper. So, when you said going to a party, you meant to my own that I wasn't invited to."
The young woman sighed, leaning against the glass bar with crossed arms. "Sorry, but I didn't bother to tell because, one, you never really come to these and two, you were having fun with the Mark II." A grin formed on her pink lips, showing her straight white teeth. "Saw..well, more like almost crashed into, your joyriding tonight."
"Ah." Stark grinned too, understanding. "How'd I look?"
"Fan-freaking-tastic~!"
He laughed, "I was wondering why you're here too? You avoid these gatherings as much as I do, for different reasons."
The heiress frowned, "I only came to keep an eye on Obadiah. He's having a fields day with the press and I had to set some things straight."
"Really? What—Ugh.." her caregiver groaned, turning towards the bar then.
"What?" The female genius glanced back curiously, seeing what bothered him and faced the bar as well with resign. "Oh, great.."
"Wow. Tony Stark." It was the Vanity Fair journalist he had slept with, Christine Everhart.
"Oh, hey." Stark greeted with strain, facing her.
"Fancy seeing you here." she smirked snidely. The two stared at each other as he struggled to remember her name.
"Carrie." he finally blurted out.
"Christine." the writer and heiress said simultaneously.
"That's right." the billionaire said, glaring behind him at the young woman. She shrugged heedlessly.
"You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight." Everhart chastised. The man said nothing, standing there uncomfortably. "Can I at least get a reaction from you?"
"Panic. I would say panic is my reaction."
"'Cause I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity."
"Yeah. They just put my name on the invitation." Tony shrugged helplessly, "I don't know what to tell you."
Christine scoffed, "I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker."
"I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear." he began to explain.
"Is this what you call accountability?" she snapped, handing him some photos. "It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"
Tegan tuned it then, peering over his shoulder. "That's the town that doctor Tony told me about was from.." Tony didn't reply, instead shuffled through the photos of the destroyed town and of the Ten Rings with his weapons—like the Jericho.
Joven had appeared then and whispered in his girlfriend's ear. "What's going on?"
"..Something bad." she whispered back uneasily.
"..When were these taken?"
"Yesterday."
"I didn't approve any shipment." told the male genius truthfully.
"He's right." supported Hayes then, "Tony has had no involvement with the company since the conference."
"Well, your company did." the journalist stated angrily.
"Well, I'm not my company." he said firmly. Grabbing his successor's hand, he went to find Obadiah; Joven and Christine following. The group found the man still outside but just about to leave. Tony confronted the older man before he could.
"Have you seen these pictures?" Stark questioned furiously, showing them to him. "What's going on in Gulmira?"
Stane pushed away a photographer before speaking, "Tony, Tony. You can't afford to be this naive."
"You know what? I was naive before, when they said, 'Here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business.'" the younger man declared, "If we're double-dealing under the table..Are we?" He waited patiently for an answer but got one he didn't want.
"Let's take a picture. Tegan, come over." Obadiah called. She quickly joined them, glancing worryingly at her caregiver. The older man pulled them towards the photographers who immediately started snapping away. The artist and journalist watched on from behind curiously. As they stood in front of the flashing lights, he leaned close to Stark's ear.
"Tony. Who do you think locked you out?" the co-founder informed, "I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you." He patted the billionaire on the back before walking away with some bodyguards. Tony stood there, devastated from the news. Hayes was shocked too. She peered at the man standing next to her quietly before glaring in the direction Stane went. With a protective resolve, she hurried down the steps after him.
"Obadiah! Obadiah!"
He paused by his car, turning to face her. "What is—" That's all he got out before a fist collided with his cheek hard. The female genius had punched him. He fell against the vehicle, clutching his face. His bodyguards grabbed her, holding her back to not do anymore damage but her mouth ran off.
"You fucking snake! I knew you were dirty, goddamn son of a bitch!" The photographers around were in a frenzy to take pictures of the event. Joven rushed pass Tony, causing him to snap back to reality then. The young man tried to get to his girlfriend but the bodyguards didn't let him. It was Stark they let through to take the thrashing, violent woman.
"This isn't over! When I see you again, I'm gonna kick your arse twice as hard!" she shouted unladylike, watching as Stane was escorted in his car. "You heard me, Stane!"
"Teg!" Stark grabbed her chin, making her look at him. "Enough. The point's been made." She stared at him and he smiled reassuringly. "It's okay, Turtle. It's okay."
Tears welled in her eyes then. "I think I broke my hand.." the heiress sobbed, hugging him. He rubbed her back soothingly before leading them out of the hysteria of reporters and photographers to his waiting Audi. The party was officially over.
Photos of Tegan's dress and Joven's suit are on my page, along with ones of my OCs themselves. Take a look-see if you haven't already :)
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