Third Interlude
Tony repressed a chuckle as he watched Darcy deal with the bitter reporter. The girl was a riot.
He could admit, to himself only mind, that his first impression of the smart-assed kid had been completely off. He had considered her some kind of glorified gopher the pretty lady doctor kept around out of pity. Within three weeks he had to completely reorder his thinking.
He hated doing that – he felt uncomfortable with the level of error it implied.
Anyway, the glorified gopher turned into a snarky, pushy, clever girl who was also a fabulous cook. So she was not a genius, so what? His house had enough of those at the moment.
Could a place have too many geniuses?
Funny thing though, this girl had to have her own kind of genius. She drew people into her orbit. Barton hovered like a shadow everywhere the girl went. Tony kept an eye out, fully expecting the man to be here somewhere, invitation-only security be damned. Nat was less obvious, but she could be as quick to appear as Barton when the girl sounded unhappy.
Maybe he should classify that as a superpower? The ability to hold the loyalty of two of the scariest people on the planet was a power, right?
Doc Foster became a mama bear about the girl when push came to shove. Watching the doctor verbally eviscerate a jumped-up SHIELD physicist who made some derogatory comment about the girl? That had been a joy to behold – almost as fun as watching the man blanch when Nat popped up to 'escort' him back to headquarters.
That scientist never did come back to the Tower.
Steve thought she was 'swell'. The man enjoyed sketching her when everyone lazed around on Sunday afternoons. She helped get him caught up with a century of changes in entertainment by instituting movie nights at the mansion. It helped offset the dry classes set up by SHIELD.
Really, what were those morons thinking? Sticking a grown man in a classroom all day?
According to Doc Foster, Thor thought highly of the girl as well, something about her reminding him of a 'shield-maiden'?
Thought the 'maiden' part was highly debatable given Barton's tendency to stay the night at her place. Not that he would say anything – he valued his manhood, thank you very much. She could get Doc Foster, Nat, and Pepper all on his case with one word. That did not even begin to count Barton or Steve.
Apparently Darcy's defense of Jane in New Mexico, combined with her love of her Taser gave her an edge with Thor. The face that she stood up to him and used lightning to bring him down had been highly impressive to the thunder god.
Tony loved the irony – bottled lightning knocking out the god of thunder – there was an absolutely beautiful symmetry to that.
In fact, the only Avenger not totally with the program seemed to be Banner. Sure, the man would usually show up for breakfast, but then he disappeared until the following morning. Which, yes, okay, Tony understood. Hell, he could get wrapped up in his lab for days. Still, even he managed to make a couple of the movie nights. Banner? Not a one yet.
Banner would cave to the inevitable eventually. This sassy little chit was a Pepper-in-training, and no one could resist Pepper for long.
He should know. He certainly couldn't.
"You know, kiddo, you're alright."