Since things were settled as far as they could be settled, we were going home.
Nikki wanted to ride in an airplane, so now teleporting for us. And I wasn't sure if that far a distance was good with my throat still fucked up. Well it had mostly healed, my voice just sounded raspy like from a bad cold.
The two of us were sitting with Pepper. Nikki had wanted to go over suit designs with me- including colors. Somehow I had become Edna Moda to her Mr Incredible, still I don't get a thank you? Nikki had been signing the entire time, myself as well, so Pepper probably had no idea what we were talking about.
Then came the topic of Natasha. She was in the cockpit with Happy, making sure none of us died. Which, ya know, was a general bad thing.
Nikki and I had been going to the kitchen repeatedly during the flight to make me tea. I included myself because her first cup had been purposefully poisoned, the second had been purely accidental.
She was still of the belief that a 'full death' would reset the body- including injury.
Well fuck her.
I was sipping at some lavender tea with honey, as Senator Stern boasted.
"It's just unbelievable. It proves that the genie is out of the bottle and this man has no idea what he's doing. He thinks of the Iron Man weapon as a toy."
Nikki snorted. She signed at me. :Hey. Hey. He's not ballsy enough to talk shit about you.:
I nodded slowly. :Point:
"I was at a hearing where Mr Stark, in fact, was adamant that these suits can't exist anywhere else, don't exist anywhere else, never will exist anywhere else, at least for five to ten years, and here we are in Monaco realizing, 'These suits exist now.'"
"Mute." Tony instructed. He walked into the space, holding up a food tray. Both myself and Nikki had watched him make that monstrosity as we kept going back for tea. It was worse than you can imagine. I pitied the person who had to clean it up- maybe Nikki, for the poisoning thing. Hold up, did he have two of those? "He should be giving me a medal. That's the truth. Becks too, I mean the kid lost her voice."
He dropped the second tray in front of me. Yeah...no.
"It's not permanent." I reminded him, my voice still raspy but not terrible. Good tea, my dudes.
"Yeah but you still lost it." Tony countered.
Nikki snorted as I just had another sip of tea. She stared at the tray, smugness coming out from her purple eyes.
"What is that?" Pepper asked.
"This is your in-flight meal." Tony lifted off the lids, showing off the...thing.
How was this possible? How?! It was burnt and runny. That's not a thing. That's a cartoon thing- even then it pushes the boundaries of science. This was an abomination.
"Did you just make that?" Pepper asked.
"Yeah. Where do you think I've been for three hours?" Tony asked, sitting down across from Pepper.
"Can I set this on fire?" I asked.
Nikki snickered. "I think it already was."
I hummed in acknowledgement.
"Tony, what are you not telling me?" Pepper asked.
Went made me furious cause he wasn't telling me anything either. Even though I was the only other person who was there to help him make the thing killing him, so I don't appreciate this whole 'ignoring' thing that he's doing.
Nikki though showed no rage. With her, you got exactly whatever was in her head. If she was mad at Tony she'd be showing it. Or maybe she'd learn to hide it- hahaha nevermind that's a stupid idea. Nikki, hide her feelings? Hilarious.
"I don't want to go home. At all." Tony explained instead of the truth. "Let's cancel my birthday party and- We're in Europe. Let's go to Venice, Cipriani. Remember?"
"Oh, yes." Pepper hummed.
"It's a great place to- be healthy." Tony excused. "Becks, I don't know if you remember-"
"I don't."
"-well you'll love it. It's great. They've got- uh- that pasta you like." Tony excused.
I gave him a look, telling him that in no way did I believe him.
"I don't think this is the right time. We're in kind of a mess." Pepper explained.
"Yeah, but maybe that's why it's the best time. 'Cause then we can-" Tony tried to convince her.
"As CEO of Stark Industries-" I had another sip of tea, my throat aching again. The tea was almost out so I would have to go make more. "-I would like to be returned to the office. I need to attend those events, not go off being the college party girl everyone assumes I am."
Nikki laughed. "You? You couldn't party if you tried."
"Yeah?! I could party- no. No. I'm not getting into this argument with you." I shook my head.
"As CEO, you are entitled to a leave." Tony told me.
"Were you ever?" I asked him. "Without Pepper reminding you of the hundreds of things you still had to finish?"
Tony winced. "Yes. Loads of times."
"Did you ever actually not to do anything on those leaves?" I added. "Or ever during a time when everything about your company is getting these comments?"
"Just a ride." Tony offered instead. "Well, I'm just saying, to recharge our batteries and figure it all out."
"Not everybody runs on batteries Tony." Pepper informed, in her gentle way that told Tony to drop it.
The man did so. He slumped in his seat, looking out of the airplane window.
I picked up my plate and cup. With Nikki following me, we went to the kitchen. It was indeed a mess.
"You're gonna want to clean that, aren't you?" Nikki asked, grinning.
I pushed the cup into her hands. :Don't poison it, this time.: I warned.
Nikki scoffed. "Come on- you like it. It keeps you on your toes."
:Which reminds me. Catch!:
"Why-" Nikki recieved a face full of failed omelet. "I hate you." She murmured, as the plate fell to the floor.
==NM2==
Nikki held out a plate of snacks. She had been watching the news, a calculating look in her eyes.
Leaning over the couch, I grabbed up a cracker, taking a quick bite. With all the hullabaloo going about there hadn't been time to have a proper meal. Even then I was too hyped up to sit down. Right now I was pacing around the living room as I spoke on the phone to multiple people.
She glanced at Natasha before she signed at me. :It's really cool to see you smack talk somebody that isn't me.:
:Wait your turn.: I warned her. "What- no that's not right." I spoke into the phone. "We are very much still the same StarkIndustries. We swore off making and selling weapons, and we have kept that promise. Unless you happened on evidence- concrete evidence- that proves otherwise, what you're saying is slander."
:Like I said- cool.:
Pepper was sitting on the couch. She was speaking to...I don't even remember. Our PR guy? Somebody.
Natasha was sitting beside her, also speaking on the phone. "Yes, of course." She turned to me. "The AP wants a quote."
Covering up the speaker on my phone, I turned to her. "Email it to them."
The doors opened. Rhodey walked in. "Where is he?" He asked.
"He doesn't want to be disturbed." Natasha answered.
"He's downstairs." Pepper and I answered.
"But what happened in Monaco?" The woman over the phone asked me.
"We were-"
"But his continuing erratic behaviour may lead many people to ask themselves, 'Can this man still protect us?'" The newswoman asked. "Can you protect us?"
"I can- and I will- and I did. We both did." I countered. My hand waved to Nikki. I pointed downstairs. She nodded, following after Rhodey. "We were attacked by an outside source. He was taken down. Monaco proved that."
==NM2==
Nikki walked into the lab. She saw the multiple papers projected into the air. She scanned them over, taking a place beside Tony to watch it. She hopped into the car, sliding down until it looked like she was driving it.
"Tony, you gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now."
Neither Tony, nor Nikki moved.
"Listen. I've been on the phone with the National Guard all day, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door and taking these." Rhodey pointed towards the suits. "They're gonna take your suits, Tony, okay? They're sick of the games."
"Hey bud. How about you shut it?" Nikki countered.
"Little girl, this hasn't anything to do with you. This is between me and Tony. How about you go back to Becky?" Rhodey scolded her.
"How about I shove my foot up your ass?" Nikki warned. "Can't you see the poor old man is trying to think? Even I know better than to interrupt their brains when they're working. Don't you like being alive?"
"I don't have time for this." Rhodey scoffed. He went back to scolding Tony. "You said nobody else would possess this technology for twenty years. Well, guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday. It's not theoretical anymore." He walked up to Tony's side of the car. "Are you listening to me?"
And he saw it. He saw that even in the dark light of the lab, with only the biography of Ivan Vanko lighting up his face, Tony looked half-dead.
"Are you okay?" Rhodey asked.
"Let's go." Tony replied instead. He climbed out of the car, promptly falling.
Nikki stayed in the car, squeezing the wheel.
"Hey, man. Hey, hey! You alright?" Rhodey asked his friend.
"Yeah, I should get to my desk." Tony instructed. Nikki glanced over her shoulder to see Tony being guided to his desk. Nothing interesting, she went back to looking at Vanko's history. "See that cigar box?"
"Yeah."
"It's palladium."
"Is that supposed to be smoking?"
"If you must know, it's neutron damage. It's from the reactor wall."
"You had this in your body? And how about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?"
"Road rash. Thank you." Nikki heard the mechanical noises of Tony placing the reactor back in his chest. She hummed, climbing out of the car. She sat on the back, watching the two men at the table. "What are you looking at?"
"I'm looking at you." Rhodey answered. "You wanna do this whole lone gunslinger act and it's unnecessary. You don't have to do this alone."
"You know, I wish I could believe that. I really do." Tony countered. "But you've gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I'm doing."
Nikki snorted.
Rhodey sighed. He walked towards the door. Apparently thinking if Tony wanted to be alone, then he would be.
Which left Nikki alone with him.
"Shouldn't you be annoying Becky?" Tony asked.
Nikki shook her head. "From what I guess, you're doing a good enough job yourself." She hopped off the car, walking towards the table. She eyed the smoking palladium core. "Becky helped you build that, yeah?"
Tony didn't answer.
"Think she knew it would be killing you?" Nikki went on. "Cause I don't know if you noticed, but she looks at you sometimes. All guilty. Like she's done something to you, and you don't look her way. Makes a person think she did something wrong and you haven't forgiven her for it."
Tony didn't answer. He looked down at his health concoction.
"But that's stupid. I'm stupid." Nikki shrugged, sliding her hands into her pockets. "Cause I've known Becky for a few days- and if she did wrong by me? I'd forgive her in a second. You've known her all her life. You'd forgiven her in less than that."
"Go upstairs, get yourself a drink." Tony instructed.
Nikki hummed. She walked towards the door, hesitating at the last second.
"If you die, I think she'd go insane." Nikki stated. She pulled the door open. "Cause having a sister is great- but I think she actually likes having a dad around."
Then she left, to get the suggested drink. For Becky though. Becky needed a few good drinks after this mess.