Chapter 6 – Meet Iron Man
A/n – Here is the chapter that I was looking forward to writing the most and I'm certain most of you were looking forward to reading the most. A little fact before we start most of the dialogue changes are due to Piper's character being overprotective of Toni's character in a way that Pepper isn't for Tony or because Toni sees things differently than Tony did because she's a girl.
youwannabekate: Yay for on time reviews :D Thank you, I just thought that everyone there would really be able to relate to it so I threw it in. Don't worry that's one thing that annoyed me about the movies. Iron Man 2 and to a lesser extent Iron Man will explain that more. Enjoy!
EnglandBabe1997: Here's your update! Glad I'm combining two of your favourite concepts
MelodyPotterSnape: Bruce and Toni interactions are my favourites because I'm a hard-core Science bros/boyfriends shipper so expect lots more. I'm hoping I can make that moment touching but no promises; it'll come up during the lab scene on the helicarrier
LaNaturalBreezeOf-Books: Equality is the best :) Yes, I did! I'm hoping to at least keep it to more than one update a week if I have to slow down a little eventually. Accurate will power sensors there :D
XxxBellaBellaxxX: Wow, seriously wow. One of the biggest compliments I've ever received. Hoping you like this as you're the only one so far who has reviewed every chapter. You get the prize for most faithful reviewer :D
Harm Marie: Good, I'm glad
Suddenly the scene changed to show a pipe running underwater which was being sliced open at one section by the laser within the glove of the Iron Man suit.
"I thought you didn't go… you know," Natasha asked Toni trying not to make it too obvious what she was talking about.
"That's when I'm not in the Iron Man suit. When I'm in it I'm alright but it's still not something I love to do and I avoid it whenever possible," Toni answered.
As the casing fell away leaving the wires exposed Toni reached for the arc reactor she was carrying with her and attached it to the pipe watching as the power came on. Upon seeing this she turned away and blasted herself out of the water near a ship that was travelling past before turning to fly back towards the Stark tower.
"We're good to go on this end. The rest is up to you," Toni said over her comm unit.
"You disconnected the transmission lines? Are we off the grid?" Piper asked as his image was shown on the screen within the suit.
"So that's what it looks like to you in there, I didn't know it was that sophisticated," Steve exclaimed.
"Of course it's sophisticated. I'll admit the Mark I was a pile of junk but I'm inclined to think that all the ones I've made since are getting more and more sophisticated. Besides if they weren't there would be no way that I'd be able to download JARVIS into them as he's a high functioning artificial intelligence; he won't merge with anything long term except if it's equally high functioning. Of course he's very useful for accessing other databases but he would cause them to short circuit if he was constantly connected to them and since I wanted JARVIS to connect to the suit I designed it with sophistication in mind," Toni ranted in an offended tone. She was very protective of both JARVIS and her suit as she didn't want them to be belittled or used for nefarious purposes.
Nobody appeared to know what to say to Toni after her outburst so they simply turned back to the movie which JARVIS had paused momentarily as Toni got that off of her chest.
"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy," Toni said with a smile.
"Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works," Piper said matter-of-factly.
"I assume, the other two work so why wouldn't this one. Light her up!" Toni said with a grin.
"The other two?" Clint queried.
"Yeah, one powers the factory that mass produces some of my technological advances that I've made available to the public. The other is this," Toni said pulling off the leather jacket she was wearing to reveal a circular blue light shining through her white camisole. As she replaced her jacket Steve said, "Wait, you wear the power source for the suit all the time."
"I have to," Toni said, "but I'm sure Amora's set the reason for that up later in another film so I won't tell you now."
When Piper hit the switch in the Tower instantly lights began to flicker up the way before eventually the lights showing the word Stark flickered to life and the entire tower had access to self-sustaining energy.
"How does it look?" Piper said breathily.
"Like Christmas but with more me," Toni said with a smirk, "did my name really need to be on the top Piper?"
"Wait that wasn't your idea," Steve said puzzled.
"No, I didn't feel the need for it as everyone knows that it's Stark Tower anyway and I'm not proud of everything in the world that has my name on it so I try and keep it off things nowadays," Toni explained, "Piper insisted."
Piper ignored Toni's comment and began talking business, "we've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow; I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings."
"Piper, you're killing me. The moment, remember? I know work is important to you but enjoy the moment," Toni said with a laugh as she landed.
"Get in here and I will," Piper teased.
"Wait, you two were together back then! I thought you got together after the Battle for New York," Bruce said puzzled.
"According to the press we did but we were already together a little while before that. We just didn't announce it publically because Piper is my CEO and people might have thought he slept his way to the top of the company which he didn't. I didn't want to ruin Piper's reputation as much as I would have liked to admit to being with him," Toni explained.
"Ma'am, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line," JARVIS stated.
"Well if it's Phil then I suppose you can put him through," Toni joked as her mask was removed but Piper interrupted, "don't do that JARVIS, she's still technically out."
"What Piper?" Toni asked puzzled.
"Ma'am, I'm afraid he's insisting," JARVIS continued.
"And I said don't answer JARVIS, we have a date and every time that Agent calls up Toni ends up in danger. Don't answer," Piper insisted.
"Overprotective," Natasha said matter-of-factly.
"You'd think I couldn't take care of myself wouldn't you," Toni said rolling her eyes.
Toni rolled her eyes but stopped trying to argue with Piper as the Iron Man boots were removed leaving her in a white tank top with denim shorts as she untied the bobble that kept her hair up and out of the way whilst in the suit. As she entered the room Piper was observing one of the holographic screens there saying, "Levels are holding steady, I think."
"Of course they are," Toni said as she walked over, "I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question. How does it feel to be a genius?" With that she discarded the comm unit she had in her ear and smiled at Piper.
"It's amazing how comfortable you are around him," Clint said unknowingly digging himself into a hole.
"And why would that be?" Toni said sharply.
"I just… meant that… sometimes… you… err…" Clint was for once lost for words under the full force of Toni's glare.
"You're in a hole Clint, stop digging," Natasha advised with a smirk.
"Well, I really wouldn't know, now would I?" Piper said turning to face Toni as she powered down the screen.
"What do you mean?" she inquired, "all this came from you."
"No, all this came from that," Piper objected pointing to the arc reactor that shone through Toni's t-shirt.
"Give yourself some credit. Please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself 12% of the credit," Toni joked with a gleam in her eye.
"That wasn't a wise move," Steve observed.
"Unless she was riling him up on purpose which I believe she was," Bruce pointed out looking over at Toni who with a nod confirmed his theory.
"12%?" Piper said darkly.
"I suppose an argument could be made for 15," Toni said acting as if it pained her to say it.
"12%? My baby?" Piper said jokingly obviously catching on to the teasing tone.
"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things," Toni continued, "And, sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you."
"Oh," Piper said as she grabbed a champagne glass and beginning to pour.
"Our private elevator was teeming with sweaty workmen and you were the one who was messing with the coding that day to see if you could," Toni explained.
"You let him mess with JARVIS," this time Bruce was the one who was shocked.
"Well, it's not like he would be able to do anything that I wouldn't be able to fix within a minute and I trust him even if he is obnoxiously overprotective of me," Toni said with a shrug although she could see why it was shocking. She didn't let anyone but Bruce and Piper into her lab and of those two Piper was the only one she had ever allowed to touch anything to do with JARVIS. And that had only happened a couple of times because Piper knew more about JARVIS than the others seeing as he had been working with Toni for far longer. She might consider letting Bruce at it but the truth was that AI's weren't in his area of expertise.
"Now you can make me pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later," Toni laughed as she took a seat and picked up her glass of champagne.
"It's not going to be that subtle," Piper shrugged picking up his own.
"I tell you what. Seeing as you're so insistent on the name in lights thing the next building is going to say 'Potts' on the tower," Toni decided.
"On the lease," Piper said reaching his glass forward for a toast.
Toni immediately retracted her glass and muttered teasingly, "I'll think about it."
"You know you're rich when you can afford to give buildings away I guess," Natasha said with a smile.
"Don't know; think I knew I was rich before that," Toni replied before laughing at the expressions on everyone but Natasha's faces. Tasha and Toni were used to making subtle jibes like that at each other in good spirits.
"Ma'am, the telephone," JARVIS interrupted, "I'm sorry Mr. Potts but Miss. Stark's orders override yours."
"The only reason that Phil actually managed to get through to me that day was because of that," Toni laughed, "Piper's still trying to talk me into making him respond to us both equally."
"Toni, we need to talk," Coulson said from the other end of the line. Toni reached out for the phone which was actually just a small holographic pad but Piper snatched it from her hands. "This is Toni Stark's former secretary. Please leave a message," he quipped.
"Wait I thought Piper was CEO of Stark Industries," Steve said obviously lost again.
"He became CEO after I appointed him my successor. Before that Piper was my PA. That's why he said former," Toni laughed.
"Mr. Potts, this is urgent," Coulson said trying to get her to hand over the phone.
"Then leave it urgently," Piper insisted.
The lift doors opened revealing Coulson standing there with his phone to his ear. Toni smiled at him telling Piper, "It's on you. You were the one who messed with the security," before turning back to Coulson, "Phil! Come in." She stood up taking her glass of champagne with her.
"'Phil?'" Piper queried.
"I can't stay," Coulson said as he walked into the room.
"His first name is 'Agent,' Toni, 'Agent'," Piper emphasised following Toni as she went up to meet Phil.
This caused a general ripple of quiet laughter to break out through the room. They had a distinct feeling that quite a few scenes featuring Toni would end up being the much needed comic relief of the movie.
"Come on in," Toni emphasised ignoring her boyfriend, "We're celebrating."
"Which is why he can't stay," Piper muttered under his breath.
"We need you to look this over as soon as possible," Coulson said attempting to hand over a file to Toni.
"Sorry Phil, still don't like to be handed things but fortunately Piper loves to be handed things so we can set up a trade," Toni said regretfully.
"So the whole not liking to be handed things quirk isn't just something you use to annoy me," Steve inquired.
"No," Toni said quietly, "it's leftover from Afghanistan. I only let Piper hand me things."
"When were you in Afghanistan?" Clint asked. It wasn't in her file but then again most SHIELD agents who had seen it suspected that Toni regularly wiped things from her file that she didn't want to be general knowledge.
Piper reluctantly handed Coulson his champagne glass and took the electronic file from Coulson before swapping it with Toni's champagne glass.
"Thank you," Toni said softly before returning to talking to Coulson, "official consulting hours are between 8 and 5 every other Thursday for SHIELD operatives but I guess I can make an exception because it's you Phil."
"I never even realised how close you two were," Steve said regretfully, "if I had known I wouldn't have…"
"Yes, you would, Cap. Don't worry about it," Toni interrupted.
"This isn't a consultation I'm afraid Toni," Coulson confirmed.
"Is this about that stupid Avengers idea?" Piper asked bitterly before tacking a, "which I know nothing about," on the end when he noticed Coulson's disapproving look.
Toni put together the handheld screen as she said, "The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify."
"Why wouldn't you have qualified?" Bruce inquired, "You're one of our most important team members."
"SHIELD had a report on me that didn't recommend me for it. You'll hear about it in a moment," Toni said redirecting their attention to the film.
"I didn't know that either," Piper said although it was slightly hesitant and there was a flash of something almost like guilt in his eyes.
"Apparently, I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others," Toni joked, "it was all in Natasha's report."
"I thought you two were friends," Steve queried, "why would Natasha write that?"
He received no answer except for another indication that he should watch what was going on in the film.
"You and I both know Toni that Piper used one of your programmes to hack into SHIELD and change the information in Natasha's report before it reached Fury to make sure we wouldn't get Toni involved," Phil replied honestly.
"Wait you two knew about that," Piper said obviously shocked that he had been caught out.
"Of course I knew," Toni scoffed, "I've had a direct relay on all of SHIELD's information about me delivered to JARVIS as soon as it appeared since we first met Phil. I received both copies of the report and it was easy to track the interference to here and hence to you."
"Wait…" Natasha said surprised, "that means…"
"That I knew what Natalie Rushman was really doing in my company before she even arrived, yes, it does," Toni finished with a smile.
"Sometimes I wonder if you've gone through spy training," Natasha said exasperated but amused at the same time.
"Still doesn't mean you can get her involved now," Piper said bitingly.
"Mr. Potts, got a second?" Toni said drawing Piper away from a confrontation with Coulson.
"Half a mo," Piper said before heading over to where Toni was inspecting the computer screen and using a passcode to get into the data.
"What is up with you Piper?" Toni asked accusingly.
"I thought I was having 12% of a moment," Piper said, "until you let JARVIS let him on the telephone line."
"And there's the inevitable comment about percentages I guess,"Clint said with a shrug.
"Look Piper, this seems serious. Phil's pretty shaken," Toni said trying to calm him down.
"How would you know if it's…? Why is he 'Phil'?" Piper asked seeming not to know which question he found most important at the moment, "what is all this?" he settled on.
"This is," Toni said before grabbing hold of the icons on the screen and throwing them up onto Stark issue screens around the room, "this."
Thor, Steve & Bruce could see footage of themselves as well as info on the three nearest screens and they were impressed by how slick the technology seemed to be in a room that wasn't even one of Toni's labs. They didn't really use the tech in the Tower much (other than Bruce and he had assumed the labs were different than the rest of the house) so they didn't know just how much of it there was. This wasn't even one of the numerous AI's.
"I need to see if there's anything that I can do to help. You should take the jet to DC tonight," Toni decided.
"I don't have to leave until tomorrow," Piper insisted, "and are you really sure you want to get involved again?"
"Look they might really need my help and I have homework, I have a lot of homework. I'm not rushing in. I'll make my decision after studying the facts," Toni said refusing to back down.
"Well, what if you didn't?" Piper said trying to get her to set it aside.
"If I didn't, you mean when I've finished, well, then…" Toni said with a smile before leaning in and whispering something in Piper's ear.
"I am really glad I don't know what you said there," Natasha said, "we're friends but just no."
"Square deal," Piper finally relented.
"Fly safe," Toni replied before leaning in and kissing him.
"Work hard," Piper said as he pulled away and made his way towards the door directing his next comment to Coulson, "so, any chance you're driving by LaGuardia?"
"I can drop you," Coulson said obviously keen to leave.
As they left Toni reached out to remove the hologram of the Tesseract from one of the screens.
"Wait! You can interact with your computer screens," Steve said astounded.
"Well yeah, they're basically holograms but slightly more sophisticated," Toni said with a shrug.
Just as the pair were nearly out of the door Toni shouted out to Coulson, "hey, what about that cellist? Is that still a thing?"
"She moved back to Portland," Coulson replied.
"What? That sucks, sorry to hear it," Toni said before motioning to him that she was finished talking and he could leave with no further interruptions before turning back to her computer screen. "JARVIS; I have a job for you," she said.
"I really didn't know you were that close to Coulson," Natasha said, "I mean I knew you two knew each other but not that well."
"He ended up hanging about so much that we ended up talking a lot," Toni said sadly, "he was good company at times."
Nobody knew how to respond to that.
A/n: And that's the end of the long awaited Toni chapter. Hope it lived up to expectations. Now don't expect another one until tomorrow at the earliest :D