UPDATE: 07-15-2017

HI I'M STILL WRITING THIS FUCKIN THING

Chapter 4 – Coulson

June 2009

The Mark IIX was meant for underwater use, but that didn't make her feel any better about being at the bottom of the Hudson rewiring the power grid. Toni didn't even like water. Cold showers were okay, but ugh, baths were still horrible.

"And… we're good!" Toni spoke through the suit, as she placed a device into the pipeline and sealed it back up. "How're we looking on your end, Pepper?"

"You disconnected the transmission lines? Are we off the grid?" asked Pepper, as her face popped up in the corner of Toni's monitor. She smirked proudly at her redheaded friend.

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon for self-sustaining, clean energy," she declared in answer. "Light her up, already!" she encouraged Pepper.

"Well, assuming that the arc reactor takes over and actually works…"

"I assume! The others worked like a charm, and so will this. C'mon, I want the CEO to do it!" Toni whined, but was unable to keep the smirk off her face. She could see Pepper roll her eyes. Powering up her thrusters, Toni sighed slightly when she broke the surface of the river, and started her flight to Stark Tower to see her light show.

A grin split Toni's face in two when she witnessed the tower flicker on and proudly display the Stark logo. Pepper's voice crackled through the suit as Toni whizzed towards her newest building.

"How does it look?"

In all honesty, Toni was slightly dazzled by her own work of art. It was a shame Clint wasn't there to see it first-hand.

"It's like Christmas… but with more me."

Toni made it clear that this was a very good addition. "I'm just worried about the structural integrity of my name. I didn't like the looks of those workmen," Toni commented truthfully. She had been forced to break out the Mark VI to help them attach the 'A' in 'STARK' because they were so incompetent.

"They just wanted to see Iron Man flying around New York, Toni." Pepper explained exasperatedly. Toni wasn't convinced, but that was irrelevant. "You know, we've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign—you need to do some press."

"Yeah, but—"

"I'm in DC tomorrow, working on the zoning for the next three buildings," Pepper cut her off, but Toni made no attempt to argue further. Pepper knew what she was doing—why else would Toni appoint her best friend as CEO of her company? Well, besides the fact that she did it when she was dying, Toni chose Pepper because she was the best candidate for a successor.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm on the roof, by the way." Toni touched down, smiling slightly as she remembered her disastrous first landing, just over a year ago. Rhodey never really forgave her for totaling her own Lamborghini. Neither did Toni, but she replaced it with a bright red Audi and they were very happy together.

She entered a private workshop—one that few even knew existed—and automatically her suit was being dismantled and stored. Robotic arms worked around her, but Toni trusted her bots more than she trusted most humans.

"Miss, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line," JARVIS informed her. Remember those humans that Toni didn't trust? Yeah, you could blame SHIELD for that. Toni frowned at the thought of speaking with Coulson, the middle-aged SHIELD agent that probably knew how to kill her with a paperclip.

"Tell him I'm still out."

Every time Coulson called, things got complicated for Toni. She could handle talking to Clint, but so far all the other SHIELD agents she met were asshats and Toni hated them.

"I'm afraid he's insisting."

Toni scowled a little, and swapped out the breathable, spandex-like shorts she wore under the suit for jeans. She kept the tight-fitting long sleeve on, and threw a loose Pink Floyd shirt over it to mute the reactor's glow.

"Hey Pepper!" she called out, entering the spacious penthouse and ignoring her AI's messages from Coulson.

The ginger in question turned around expectantly, and beamed at Toni, glancing at the Starkpad in her neatly-manicured hands.

"Levels are holding steady, Toni. I think we're good."

Toni snorted. "Of course it's holding steady, it's an arc reactor I made." Pepper didn't even bother to roll her eyes at Toni, but held out the Starkpad for Toni to check their data herself. She nodded, and grinned at Pepper. "This wouldn't have happened without you, Pep."

Toni didn't think it was possible, but Pepper was smiling even wider now, and threw her arms around Toni with a squeal. "Oh, Toni! The company's moving in such a good direction—you're the one that made this possible."

Toni patted Pepper's back like the awkward twenty-eight year old she was. But Pepper was used to that.

"Well. Yeah, I am," Toni admitted. Pepper pulled back, raising one perfect eyebrow at her. She only smirked back. "Your idea—true—but I made all the stuff, did the heavy lifting—"

"So you're saying I didn't do anything? I'm the one who's building up an image for SI, started the marketing for your clean energy plan, got the zoning for this building to be built—"

"Ok, ok, I got it. That's about… what, twelve percent? Don't answer that, I'm better with the math," Toni teased, slipped away before Pepper could smack her arm or something. She seized a bottle of apple cider, was disappointed for a moment, and then poured herself a glass in celebration even though apple cider felt like defeat.

Three months sober is sort of a victory though, right?

"You know, it's going to say 'Potts' on the lease for the next building!" Pepper warned, accepting the glass Toni offered.

"Miss? The telephone." JARVIS interrupted, and Toni noticed a sense of urgency to his tone. She didn't say a word, but Coulson's voice came through the intercom.

"Toni, we need to talk."

Toni picked up the receiver and monotoned, "You've reached the life-sized holographic decoy of Natasha Antonia Stark. Please leave your name and number at the tone—"

"Stark, this is urgent."

"Then leave it urgently! Beeeep—"

The elevator dinged and Agent Coulson stepped in, ending the call on his phone. "Security breach! I knew something was wrong with the security…" Toni commented, frowning at the agent. "Those damn workmen!"

"Phil! Come in!" Pepper invited him cheerfully, and Toni was dumbfounded until Agent Coulson followed her.

"'Phil'? No, no—your first name is 'Agent'!" Toni protested, trailing after them like a child.

"We're celebrating, would you care to join us?" Pepper asked courteously. Toni knew he probably wouldn't, but she groaned in displeasure all the same. Coulson turned to Toni.

"We need you to look over this as soon as possible."

Coulson held out a simple table with an extensive digital file opened on-screen, but Toni paused. Clint was usually the messenger boy in these situations, because he was the only one that Toni actually kind of liked.

But it was a really extensive file, and Toni couldn't stop herself from snatching it away from Coulson, merely muttering, "Where's Barton?" as she flipped through the first few pages with a swipe of her callused fingers.

Though she noticed Coulson's silence, Toni brushed it off. Coulson was one of the hard-asses that wouldn't tell her shit if it wasn't crucial to her cooperation, anyway. She'd been complaining about Clint's absence ever since he'd been reassigned.

"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked inquisitively, before her face fell a little. "Which I know nothing about…"

Toni ignored them, looking at the file instead. She was somewhat surprised at the information, and gave the agent a perplexed look.

Coulson knew that Toni had already turned them down for the Avengers Initiative. Even with Barton's report, which was actually quite sparkling, she had no interest in working with a group of misfits she didn't know. It's why she became a consultant for SHIELD—it was in lieu of joining Fury's boy band (where the only positive would be the attractive men).

But Coulson remained frustratingly expressionless as always.

Toni scrunched up her nose in annoyance. "My official consulting hours are between 8 am and 5 pm every other Thursday for SHIELD operatives, pal, but I guess I could squeeze you in." she joked half-heartedly, absorbed in the file. She sat on the couch without really think about it.

"As you can see, this isn't a consultation, Stark." Coulson replied smoothly. Damn, he was porcelain. But Toni was the bull.

"Why's the group called the 'Avengers' anyway?" she complained, squinting at the information thoughtfully. It was more in-depth than the last file she'd been allowed access to. "I mean, that's kind of a bad vibe—what are they avenging? I can see this is a global crisis. Are they going to wait until the world's blown up so they can avenge it? Why aren't they 'Protectors'? How about 'Guardians'?"

Toni glanced at Coulson and Pepper quickly, but didn't give either of them a chance to respond.

"Wait—this guy, Thor, he's from a different planet? No, a different 'realm'. Does that translate into a universe or a galaxy?

"I've got it. Your boy band can be the Guardians of the Galaxy, I like the alliteration—"

"Miss Stark," Coulson interrupted her quickly. Her head snapped up, and she acknowledged him with a small 'huh?' before glancing back at the screen, muttering about gamma radiation. "Just… just read the file, and we'll alert you tomorrow if there's any updates… Keep Iron Man ready, if you accept." He gave her a short, meaningful look.

"Iron Man's always ready," Toni muttered, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. She had kept it boyishly short ever since Afghanistan, simply for the practicality.

Toni didn't notice Pepper walk out with Phil, asking about a cellist from Portland. "I'll do my homework. JARVIS, turn on the coffee machine—looks like I'm going to become an expert in thermonuclear physics and gamma radiation tonight."

~I know you won't listen when I advise you not to strain yourself, so good luck, Miss Stark.~

She grinned, her eyes not leaving the digital file. "Thanks, JARVIS." The file was extensive, but she appreciated how thorough Dr. Banner and Dr. Selvig's notes were. It was a nice challenge.

Toni set the Starkpad on the counter in front of a large glass wall, and motioned for the screen to display as much information from the Avengers Initiative file as possible. Her eyes were momentarily drawn to the rolling footage of a large green creature, a man in red white and blue, and a pair of dark figures under siege in what appeared to be Budapest.

Naturally, she clicked on Barton's file.

Toni felt her heart rise up into her throat. She mashed it down, and replaced it with fire and brimstone.

"What the fuck, Coulson?!" Toni stormed after the agent and Pepper.

Coulson… actually looked a little regretful. Weird. The guy had a killer poker face most of the time. "I see you read about Barton."

"Yeah," Toni snarled, crossing her arms to quell her urge to slap the agent. It probably wouldn't end well if she did. "What do you mean, he's 'currently compromised'? I thought he was babysitting astrophysicists?"

By now, Coulson's expression had smoothed out into that mask once more, but his voice still held a noticeable dash of distress. "He and Dr. Selvig were in the vicinity when our bogey came through a portal created by the cube. They were both put under the influence of the bogey's weapon, which, for lack of a better word, brainwashed them."

And then Toni began to reel in her concern. She was a genius, damn it, not an emotional little girl…

"You could've started off with that, Coulson," Toni pointed out in a disgruntled voice, her anger fading into a shell around her. It always did. "I'll get back to you in the morning."

Retreating back to her couch, Toni ran a hand through her brutally short hair. It was long enough for strands to flop into her face, but that was the extent of her hair's ability. Pepper was always trying to convince her to grow it out.

But Toni was actually very happy with her hair length. Not too long, otherwise it would get caught in her helmet when she wore her suit, but long enough for Toni to feel some of her anxiety dissipating when she yanked at her locks by the handful, which she was currently doing.

~Miss, I'd suggest you discontinue pulling out your own hair, as you requested a reminder during highly stressful events.~

She really knew how to cover all her bases, didn't she?

Toni obliged, relaxing her fingers and brushing her hair back gently. "Thank you, J," she muttered gratefully, settling herself on the couch again. "JARVIS, where's that coffee? My homework's due tomorrow and I'm pulling an all-nighter."

—

The following morning, Toni couldn't stand it any longer. She had to accept SHIELD's conditional membership if she wanted the rest of the intel. "JARVIS! I'm calling Coulson!"

The call was brief, and to the point.

"You're not supposed to have this number." She swore she heard the agent sigh in exasperation. What was this madness? Coulson didn't have emotions.

"You should've told me that sooner, Agent Phil!" she admonished him, her excitement leaking into her tone.

"Don't call me that. What's this about?"

Toni bit her lip, but sounded certain of herself when she answered, "Send me everything. I'll find your boogeyman—"

"Bogey."

"—and I'll find Clint and all your other brainwashed people too." Her jaw clenched, and she had to work to relax it. "This guy, Loki… he's the real deal, isn't he?"

"Yes he is. I saw the Destroyer myself, Stark. We need to stop him."

She sighed, shaking the image out of her head. The damage reports for New Mexico were telling. "I've never fought a god before."

"He's not a god, Stark. He's not invincible." Coulson said calmly. "But we need you, Ms. Stark. Are you in, or not?"

Toni made a disgusted noise. You live for those dramatic ultimatums, don't you? I'm in, for fuck's sake."