A/N: 51 reviews! Yay! Thanks for all the positive feedback and reviewing! They are making me so happy! You have no idea! Thank you!
I don't own anything except Cara!
I was lying on my bed while I thought about what Tony had said about this "suit".
An iron suit; How do you escape with an iron suit? Wouldn't it be too heavy? Sure it's good protection, but how would you make iron into suit form? I wondered.
Let's see…if you make iron into suit form, you would need something to help yourself move the iron with your own movements. You would need some help lifting this heavy element. Well, thinking like Tony—I grimaced and shook that thought out of my head—Ah! No! Don't think like Tony! Who knows what's going through his mind when he looks a chick—or at anytime to be more precise!
I got back to my original though process. The technology-thinking part of his brain…he made Jarvis, who has artificial intelligence, and he has robots around his workshop. Robots help him with his inventions—Robotics! He uses robotics to move the suit! But you need something to power the robotics in the suit. I figured out. You would need electricity to power something such as robotics. But iron is a metal, thus means it conducts electricity. How could he have powered the suit with electricity? It would have shocked him! There has to be another source of power other than electricity…
My mind flashed to that blue-white glowing device in his chest. Oh! Right! That would be a source of power that's portable! What was that called again? Ugh! I can't believe I forgot! It has only been three hours since we talked! Think…
I had my brow furrowed until it ached. I couldn't understand how I could have forgotten the name of that device. I was usually pretty good at memorizing things.
Not this time, I thought bluntly.
My bedroom door slid open.
I looked up quickly, making my neck crick. Pain shot through my neck tendons.
"Ow!" I exclaimed, reaching my hand up to massage those muscles.
"What? Have I blinded you or something?" I heard Tony ask.
"What could you have even blinded me with if I was indeed blinded?" I asked.
"Let's see: was it my charm or good looks?" he responded.
"Neither," I replied, still massaging the back of neck. "I had a crick in my neck."
"First I cause you fear, now I cause you pain. Haven't I caused you any good feelings?"
"No." I glanced back up when the pain subsided. Tony had changed out of his business suit into jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. He was leaning his shoulder on the doorway with his hands in his pockets. "Not yet at least. Why did you come up here anyway? Pray the reason will cause me a good feeling."
"Well, it should. I need you to help me with something."
"Why? How could you possibly need my help?" I added some sarcasm at the end.
"I can do it by myself but I figured this would be part of the apology thing. Are you in?"
"That depends on what you need help with. And how does helping you make up for the rudeness you showed to me?"
"Pepper's not in on it and neither is Rhodey. You and I would be the only people who knew about it and you will keep it a secret unless I decide to tell Pepper; got it?" Tony became deadly serious in an instant close to the end.
"Okay, fine," I answered, standing up from the bed.
Tony turned and strode down the corridor while I followed.
Without glancing back, Tony asked, "How far did you get?"
Wondering how the heck he knew I was thinking about the iron suit before he even walked into my room, I replied, "I think you used robotics to help the iron suit respond to your movement and you used that glowing thing in your chest—"
"Arc reactor," he interrupted.
"—to power the suit," I finished.
"You are correct on both," Tony said in his emotionless tone, typing in the code at the lair's door. "You get a gold star for the day."
"I'll put it in my imaginary gold star book," I said, mimicking his tone.
To my surprise, he held the door open for me.
"Wow!" I said. "I didn't know you could be a gentleman."
"Yeah, don't be expecting any more acts like that," Tony retorted as he walked to his computer desk. "Jarvis, pull up the Mark II plans."
"Yes, sir," Jarvis replied.
On all of the computer screens, there appeared parts of the same plan. But in the biggest screen placed in the center of all of monitors, there was the title "Mark II" in the upper right corner while below it what looked like a human but not exactly. It spun to show the front view, than the side view, than a close-up shot of the object's head and shoulders.
"Is that the suit you made there?" I asked, figuring that Tony would know what "there" I was talking about.
"No," Tony replied, catching what "there" meant. "This is the refined version of the suit I made in Afghanistan. Jarvis, make a Mark I and II comparison."
"Yes, sir," Jarvis responded, showing the both suits side-by-side on the center monitor.
The difference was huge. The first suit was bulkier and, by the looks of it, much heavier, while the second suit was thinner, sleeker, and much less crude. Also, in the first suit you could see all of its—
"Are those weapons?" I asked in disbelief, while I pointed at the Mark I's sketch.
"Did I just hear you ask the question that I would think you would already know the answer to?" Tony replied, giving me a look that made me feel slightly stupid.
"I never thought about your suit having weapons, but now I wonder why I never did," I said truthfully.
"As do I," he said, still giving me that "Are you stupid?" look. "What did you think I did? Throw fairy dust on them so they turned good and helped me escape?"
"I just didn't think about!" I defended myself. "I don't think about weapons everyday, unlike you Mr."—becoming frustrated because I couldn't think of an offensive name, I snapped—"You know what? I don't feel like sparring with you right now! So just tell me what you need help with!"
Tony raised an eyebrow at the reaction. "You don't respond well to harsh sarcasm. You also can't think of anything to call me that could possibly offend me, though it's a lost cause. By the way, I still want to know what you thought about me a couple hours ago."
"I don't know!" I exclaimed, in utter shock at this guy's nerve. "I haven't thought of a word, and probably won't for a while, and why do you decide to analyze me now?! Just tell me what you want me to help you with! Okay?"
Wondering if this guy was put on this Earth to annoy the living crap out of me, I got really angry when he started to laugh.
I gave him my death stare, which thankfully had an effect on him: he stopped laughing but still smirked and said, "I'm sorry. Your reactions are amusing." Before I could retort, he got back to the point, "It's simple: You're going to help me build the suit. Oh, did I mention that it can fly? Well not yet, but it will."
My thoughts of anger vanished into amazement. "Your suit can fly? Did the first one fly?"
A small smile playing on his lips at my sudden change in emotions and apparent fascination, Tony replied, "Yeah, but only for 12.4 seconds. And it wasn't exactly sustained flight like I'm planning on making; it was like a rocket. My landing wasn't very smooth either."
"You wouldn't have had enough time to land properly, so let me guess:"—I smiled playfully—"You crash-landed."
"You would've done the same thing."
"Maybe, but we'll never know for sure unless I try it," I grinned widely.
"No." Tony got dead serious again.
Still teasing, I said, "Come on—"
"No, you are never getting in the suit so don't even ask." His eyes told me he was not amused and was really being serious.
"Okay," I said quietly, slightly hurt by his harshness. "I didn't know you would react so strongly about it…Sorry."
"Let's just get started on it," Tony muttered without looking at me. "Always do as I say and don't question my instructions."
He pulled up the plans and got started. We started on the boots. I didn't really do much; I handed him the tools needed, and that was pretty much it. I wanted to complain so badly, but I didn't want to get him angry. But then again I wondered, Why should I care if he gets mad? He doesn't care about how I feel.
At one point when he was placing wires vertically in a boot, Tony said without looking away from his work, "You want to complain don't you." It was a statement not a question.
"Yeah!" I exclaimed, getting my frustration out, "I'm not doing anything!"
"You're not very good at hiding your emotions," he muttered. "Talia was like that too." He got back to the subject. "I'm surprised you lasted this long."
"Can I do something then?"
"No. I have to see if you can use these tools properly. But I haven't thought of anything you can start on."
"How 'bout an engine," I suggested.
"If you're talking about my hot rod engine, the answer is 'no'."
"No, I'm not. I have an engine designed already. I wanted to ask you before you were captured but I lost my nerve."
"You lost your nerve." He turned to look me disbelievingly in the eye. "You didn't even have guts to talk to me." It wasn't a question.
"Oh, you shouldn't be talking!" I snapped. "You didn't have the gall to talk to me either!"
"You're supposed to be the better person here."
"You're supposed to be the responsible person here, but you're not! I'm actually feeling more like a parent being around you!"
"I don't wanna be the parent anyway. Being the kid's more fun."
"So you just let everyone else take care of you?"
"Why do think I have a PA?"
"PA?" I looked at him questionably like "What the heck is that?!"
"Personal Assistant, Cara. Catch up with the times," Tony said as he turned back to his work. He cut me off again before I could retort. "You've designed engines since…"
"Four years ago," I replied, letting the other topic drop. "I've been designing exteriors of cars too."
"Are any of 'em any good?"
"I sold one to GM—"
"No you didn't."
"Um, yeah. I did."
"Really. What model is it?"
"The Cobalt."
"Then let me see the designs."
I went and grabbed my laptop, particularly annoyed at Tony for his disbelief.
"Here." I held out my laptop toward him.
He put down his tools, took my laptop, and opened it. He glanced at the designs quickly, and looked at me.
"How much did they pay you?"
"$2,630."
"You could have gotten a lot more. Especially since this is a particularly popular model."
"They sent a bonus for its popularity," I said matter-of-factly.
"How much?"
"Why does the cost matter?"
"I just wanna know if they ripped you off."
"Well to my mom and me, it was a lot of money. I can understand, of course, if you think 3,400 isn't much."
"They ripped you off," Tony said point-blank.
It took all my self-control not to roll my eyes. "Well it's too late now since I gave them the designs two years ago."
"It's never too late to sue somebody," he mumbled.
"I would never sue someone. I don't want to deal with all that law crap. It's too much for me. Besides, suing someone makes you look bad, even if your cause is righteous and just." I sighed. "I wish the world wasn't like that."
Tony stopped working for a moment to look at me curiously. "You have an odd way of thinking."
I only shrugged. He then said, "Most people would find that appealing."
"It hasn't gotten me anywhere with making friends," I said pathetically.
"Did you use your sarcasm too much 'cause that's probably why."
"No!" I said angrily. "It was because of my age."
"Hm. Never would've guessed. That wasn't a problematic factor for me."
"Yeah, well I'm not as lucky as you," I said bitterly.
"I'm not here because of luck. I'm here because—"
"You have a big head?" I suggested.
"If you mean 'head' as in 'amount of intellect' then yes."
"That's not what I meant but you can take it anyway you want," I said simply.
"I don't need permission but thanks."
I smiled sincerely. "You're welcome."
There was a short pause before Tony said, "I think I can handle the rest from here. I don't need you to look over my shoulder all night."
"I'm three feet away from you but okay, I'll leave."
"We'll start on an engine tomorrow," Tony glanced at me.
"Are you sure you don't want to work on the suit by yourself?"
"I don't mind some help. I also want some of guilt to go away. I hate it."
"I don't blame you. For hating guilt, I mean."
"Do you still blame me for ignoring you?"
"Maybe just a little," I said. I walked to the door of the garage and looked back at Tony to say, "Good night."
He didn't look up as he said, "Night."
I fell asleep thinking how well everything was turning out.
I had the best sleep that night than I had had in a long time.