Summary: What if Tony escaped the cave a few days faster than the original timeline? Therefore, when he treads through the desert, Rhodey didn't find him first, Rose Potter did. Rose, who was taking a vacation from her dimension, stumbles upon a dying man. So what does she do? Save him. Curse her saving people motto. FEM Harry! (MOD)
Disclaimer: Ichigo0-0Rose does not and will never own Harry Potter or Marvel in any way. Jim Crammer also makes a special appearance, and I don't own his show or talent (just in case this needed a disclaimer).
Ichigo0-0Rose: Hey guys! So lucky you guys, this is a pretty long chapter, as I'm trying to follow the story line conversation. Thank you so much for the reviews. It brings a huge smile to my face. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Also, after this many chapters, I probably am in need of a beta who doesn't mind long waits for a chapter to appear in front of them, but is still dedicated. They can choose to do one or multiple chapters of my stories. I'm still new to this, so I'm not entirely sure how to find one that would be the best fit. If you have any suggestions, I'm open to hearing them. Otherwise, thank you for your reviews from the previous chapters. It made me start this chapter quickly with gusto. So, without further ado, on with the chapter! :)
WordSmyth- Meh, I just wanted to have a laugh or two. Nothing serious. For all we know, Rose or Hermione could have used magic to make the liquid go down Tony's throat. I just want to believe Hermione has an evil mind at times. Hehe.
Azaira- I'm going to assume that magic has a different frequency than the all powerful infinity stone. Plus, she's originally from Earth, so maybe they can pick up those signals.
Schattenlos- Well, she knows someone from the government is snooping around, just not on her yet. She'll try to stay off their radar for as long as she can.
Chapter 7- Let's Talk
The next day couldn't come soon enough for Obadiah. He drove up to headquarters on a Segway, smoking a cigar to calm down his nerves. "Keep your temper in check Obadiah. You need to be calm when talking to Tony." Obadiah thought.
He quickly jumped off his Segway when he came in front of Happy. "Where is he?" he demanded.
"He's inside." Happy said.
"He better have a good reason for all this." Obadiah exclaimed as he walked in.
He spotted Tony right away. He takes a quick huff of his cigar and puts his hands on his hips as if about to scold a child. "Well that…that went well." He says sarcastically.
Tony looks at him. "Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?"
"Your head? What about my head?" Obadiah said. "What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?"
"Optimistically, 40 points." Tony said with sass.
"At minimum." Obadiah quickly responds back.
"Yep." Obadiah had to hold his more chaotic thoughts in. Tony still didn't seem to realize what was happening. Maybe when he was kidnapped and tortured, he lost some parts of his brain functions, because it's not doing him any favors now. "Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer." He said slowly to make sure Tony got the message.
"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy." Tony responded in plea.
"That's what we do. We're iron mongers. We make weapons."
"It's my name on the side of the building." Tony argueed back.
"But it's not really your legacy." Obadiah thought before he said calmly, "And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos."
"Not based on what I saw." Tony looked straight into Obadiah's eyes. Hoped to see if Obie understood what he was trying to get across. "We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else."
"Anything else." Tony thought.
"Like what?" Obadiah exclaimed. "You want us to make baby bottles?"
"I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology." Tony said. His eyes moved towards the one they were standing beside.
Obadiah lets out a quick huff laugh. "Come on. The arc reactor that's a publicity stunt. Tony, come on. We built that thing to shut the hippies up!"
"It works!" Tony stated.
"Yeah, as a science project." Obadiah walked around Tony and ended up behind him. "The arc was never cost effective. We knew that before we built it." He grips the railing and stares at the huge reactor. "Arc reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?" He asked.
"Maybe." Tony responded.
Obadiah sighed and decided to throw another baited hook. "Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what? Thirty years."
"That's what they say." Tony looked back at Obadiah and noticed that he was trying to keep a straight face, but his mouth kept curving up. "Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?"
"Never mind who told me. Show me." Obadiah responded with glee. Hook, line, and sinker.
"It's Rhodey or Pepper."
"I want to see it."
"Okay, Rhodey." Tony realized. Tony's eyes glanced around the room as if scoping the area, yet also as if thinking if he should reveal it. He then started to pop open the first few buttons of his shirt to show Obadiah the arc reactor.
Obadiah took a good long look at it, before moving to hide the reactor away. "Okay." He gave a laugh.
"Okay?" Tony asked. "It works."
Obadiah was getting more excited by the second. He puts a hand around Tony's shoulder. "Listen to me Tony, we're a team. Do you understand?" There was no way he wasn't going to get on this world breaking action. This could change the world as they know in technology, and he was going to be on top of the world with this. "There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I."
Tony quickly put up a defensive front when Obadiah mentioned his father. "I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay?"
"But if I had…"
"Tony." Obadiah interrupted. He needed to get Tony back on topic. "Tony, no more of this 'ready, fire, aim' business. You understand me?"
"That was Dad's line."
"You gotta let me handle this." Obadiah pleaded. Let me save the industry from the mess you created yesterday. He thought.
"We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low." Tony grabed his jacket, and both of them start to walk away from the building holding a large arc reactor.
Rose was sitting on the couch watching the news with Pepper next to her. Since she's new to this world, better learn what's going on in this one. The news channel switched over to a man named Jim Cramer. He pointed to the audience. "Stark Industries! I've got one recommendation! Ready? Ready?" He pushed a button that said, 'Sell, sell, sell.' really fast. "Abandon ship!" He pushed another button, and a golden bear appeared and roared across the screen. "Does the Hindenburg ring any bells?" Pepper sighed.
Jim Cramer continued on. "Let me show you the new Stark Industries business plan!" He grabbed a yellow bat and got ready to bat a mug that's on the table." He smashed the cup, and the pieces went flying. The sound of glass breaking made Pepper and Rose wince.
"Look, that's a weapons company that doesn't make weapons!"
"Pepper." Pepper and Rose jolted in surprise of hearing Tony's voice. Pepper looked down at her touchpad. "How big are yours or Rose's hands?"
"What?" Rose and Pepper replied.
"Oh good, you're both there. Like I said, how big are your hands?"
"I don't understand why…" Pepper said and trailed off.
"Get down here. I need you both." Then he shut off communications with them. Pepper and Rose looked at each other in confusion. "What do you think he wants?" Rose asked.
"I don't know, but it must be serious. Come on, let's head downstairs and see what he needs." Pepper stated. They both quickly walked towards the elevator.
Pepper typed something in the keypad to enter Tony's workshop, and the two ladies walked in to see Tony sitting in a chair without his shirt on, holding what looks to be another active arc reactor.
"Hey." Tony tried to say cheerfully, but it ended up sounding pathetic.
"What in the name of Merlin is going on Tony?" Rose exclaimed. He ignores her question.
"Let's see them. Show me your hands, the both of you. Let me see them." The two ladies shared a look, and then presented their hands up to Tony.
"Oh, wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed. Just what I'm looking for actually. I just need your help for a second."
"Oh my God." Pepper stated. "Is that the thing that's keeping you alive?"
"It was. It is now an antique." Tony responded. He holds up the new reactor. "This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I'm swapping it up for an upgraded unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump."
"Speed bump? What does that mean?" Rose questioned.
Tony waved his hand. "It's nothing. It's just a little snag." He slowly lifted his old reactor up from his chest to show them something. "There's an exposed wire under this device, and it's contracting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short." He then yanked it out. "Whoops, it's fine." He said this calmly as if talking about the weather. He then handed it to Pepper.
"What do you want me to do?" She said.
"Put that on the table over there. That is irrelevant." He motioned it with his hands.
"Oh my God." Pepper said, while making the noises of disgust and confusion as she goes to put the old reactor on the table behind her.
Tony then looked towards Rose. "Now, I want you angel, to reach in and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out."
Rose looked at him with concern. "Is it safe? Are you sure I should be doing this?"
"Yeah it should be fine." Tony said. "You saved my life once, what's one more to add to the bill? It's like the game Operation. You played that before right?"
Rose shook her head side to side. "Peachy." Tony replied. "Well, the goal of the game is to pull something out as quickly and carefully as you can without letting it touch the walls or it'll go 'beep'. It'll be a real loud one to."
"Again Tony, are you sure about this? Why not let Pepper do it?"
They both look at Pepper as she came back to them from the table. "Let Pepper do what?"
"Play Operation."
"What do you mean, 'Operation'?" Pepper asked. Tony sighed.
"It's a game, you know what, never mind you two. Just one of you please gently life the wire, okay? Great."
Rose gently started to put her hand into the socket hole, but then retracts her hand quickly. "You know, I don't think that I'm qualified to do this."
"No, you're fine. You and Pepper are the most capable, qualified, trustworthy people I've ever met. You're just a little higher because you're my nurse. You're gonna do great." Tony says. His voice sounds panicky, but he's trying hard to control it and be calm. "Is it too much of a problem to ask? 'Cause I'm…" He trails off as Rose interrupts with her mind made up.
"Okay. Okay." She reached in slowly once again. "Oh there's pus!" She exclaimed. Her nose scrunches up in disgust, and Pepper's face isn't too far off from her expression as well.
"It's not pus." Tony stated. "It's an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body."
"I have absolutely no idea what the bloody hell you just said, but it smells!"
Tony looked at her then at his chest. "Yeah, it does."
"The cooper wire you said." Rose puts her other hand to her nose, while she peered down the socket hole that has her other hand inside.
Tony nodded. "The copper wire. You got it?"
"Okay, I got it! I got it!" Rose was ready for this to be over. She was going to wash her hands so many times after this.
"Okay, you got it? Now, don't let it touch the sides when you're coming out!" Rose slowly lifted up the wire, but suddenly there was a loud buzz that scared Pepper and Rose. Tony screamed a bit in pain.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Rose said.
"So, now you know what not to do when playing Operation." Tony said. "Okay, re-grip the wire, and now make sure that when you pull it out, you don't…" Rose pulls out the wire, where a circular copper washer or magnet was at the end.
"There's a magnet at the end of it!" Pepper exclaims.
"That was it." Tony said. "You just pulled it out."
"Oh Merlin!" Rose screamed in panic.
Tony stares at it. "Okay, I was not expecting…" He puts his hands up. "Don't put it back in! Don't put it back in!" He exclaims as Rose was about to put it back.
"What's wrong?" Pepper asks nervously.
"Nothing." Tony says. "I'm just going into cardiac arrest 'casue you yanked it out like a trout…"
"I thought you said this was safe!" Rose and Pepper said. Tony hands, practically shoves, Rose the new arc reactor. "Well, no time like the present. We gotta hurry. Take this, take this. Okay, you gotta switch it out really quick."
"Okay, okay." Rose said in a panic.
Pepper appeared right beside Rose telling Tony it was going to be okay.
"Is it?" Tony asked, almost desperately.
"It's gonna be okay." Pepper nodded.
"I'm gonna make this okay." Rose said with confidence, and slowly started to lower the arc reactor into Tony's chest.
Tony sighed. "Let's hope so." He took another deep breath, "Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make sure you…" He lets out a yelp of pain as the reactor connected to the magnet inside.
"Whew. Now was that so hard?" Rose said, trying to put up a brave front. "That was fun right? Haha…let's not do that again. Never ever, ever, you hear me." Rose began to shake off all the gunk off her, while subtly using nonverbal magic to clean off her hands. "Scourgify" She thought. She felt her hands go clean, but she was still washing them ten times.
"If I do, then we'll have Pepper here to do it." Tony pulled off the other wires taped onto his chest and jumped off the chair.
"I don't want to do it either!" Pepper exclaimed. "Anyways, what do you want me to do with this?" She holds up Tony's old reactor.
"That?" Tony asked. "Destroy it. Incinerate it." He didn't even want to look at it if he didn't have to.
"You don't want to keep it?" Pepper asked in shock.
"Pepper, I've been called many things, and 'Nostalgic' is not one of them."
Pepper sighs. "Will that be all Mr. Stark?"
Tony gives her a small grin. "That will be all Miss Potts."
Rose raised her hands, "Um, yeah. Hey Tony, where is the sink in your workstation?" Tony points behind him, and Rose almost ran to it.
Tony watches her with go with a chuckle, before he looks towards one of his robots. "Hey Butterfingers, come here." The robot he pointed to made some wheet whoot sounds. "What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my dad."
Pepper decided it was time to leave, and took the arc reactor with her. She smiled at it when she came up with an idea, and went straight away to do so before other errands start to pile up.
"Right there, in the garbage. All that stuff." Tony pointed to almost everything on the desk.
"What's in the garbage?" Rose asked. She finally felt her hands went through proper sanitation.
"All this junk on my desk. No need to worry. As long as Butterfinger's doesn't throw away my phone, it doesn't matter."
"Butterfinger?" Rose tilted her head in confusion.
"Ah, right. You're new to my workspace. Well then, introductions are needed then. Rose, meet Butterfinger. Butterfinger meet Rose." Butterfinger gave a sound effect and a move of its arm, which Rose believes meant it was waving hello at her. So she responded in kind. "Hello."
"Then over in that corner, we have Dum-E and U. Dum-E sometimes helps with my creations, while U over there records every perfect angle of my face, body, and technology creation." They too gave a chirp hello.
Rose giggled. "So why are you throwing away the items on your desk?"
"They're not needed." Rose raised an eyebrow as she watched Butterfinger lift up a photo framed of a young boy and his father. "Are you sure you want him to throw that away?"
Tony looks at Butterfinger and shrugs his shoulders. "It's just junk. Nothing of importance." Rose gasped at him in shock before reaching over and grabbing the frame out of Butterfinger's grip. She stares at it. A young boy was smiling at the camera, and holding up a small robot in his hands, while his father was looking at the boy and smiling fondly.
She looked back up at Tony. "You want to throw this away? A photo of your father?"
Tony snorted. "Not really someone I would call a father."
"Liar." Rose said it so harshly, Tony was taken aback.
"Excuse me?" Tony said.
"You're a bloody liar Tony Stark!" Her voice started to rise. "Just looking at this picture tells me everything."
"That means nothing. You didn't grow up with him."
"Then what am I seeing?" Rose asked.
"The last day I saw the man I considered a father." Tony whispered.
Rose's head jerked back to the photo and then to Tony's face. Tony sighed. This wasn't something he wanted to go in a deep discussion about, but something about his angel made him want to plea his whole life story as if it would wash away all his sins or something. He trusted her, maybe more than Pepper and Rhodey, and it surprised him more than anyone knew. A woman he met just about a week ago had more influence over him that his two best friends combined, and that sort of scared him yet made him feel like everything in the world was right. So with one last look at the photo, Tony looked at Rose dead straight in the eye and explained.
"When I was younger, he really did treat me as his own flesh and blood of a son. Those were the best of times. Any family memory you could think of, we did. Picnics, parties, vacations, family bonding, etc. You name it. I was the poster child for everyone to gawk at; the perfect child who had it all." His voice getting softer as if reminiscing on the past; however, his face then turned into a scowl. "Then that one day, he got a call from an old friend of his. No clue who it was, but both my mom and dad knew her. I overheard them when I went to ask dad if it was okay to tinker in the lab some more while he was on the phone. I heard the lady say there was a chance that he was still alive."
"Who was alive?" Rose whispered.
"The star spangled bastard known as Captain America." Tony spat. "Or his real identity, Steve Rogers. America's First Hope. The day dad found out there was a chance his precious science experiment was alive, he dropped practically everything he built in his life and went chasing a ghost. He died chasing a ghost instead of staying in the present, and he brought mother along with him."
"Tony…" Rose tries to speak, but he wasn't done.
"That fond gaze of his turned harsh and cold. Anything I made from then on, he would give me a look as if that was all my mind could come up with. That the inventions I made was the limit of my potential. He didn't care what I made, no matter how much the world told him otherwise."
"Was he not happy with his life anymore? Was the past better than his future? Was having his best friend better than having a son?" Tony choked out. "Was I not a good, perfect son to him?" His legs lost their balance, and his weight pulled him down. Rose rushed to him, and held him close. Tony started to sob uncontrollably, and all Rose could do was rub his back and whisper everything was fine in his ear. However, they fell deaf to his ears as he kept crying harder and louder.
Rose didn't know how long they stayed like this, but the next thing she noticed was that Tony's three robots each held an item in front of her. Butterfinger held a box of tissues, Dum-E held a carton of motor oil, and U held up a video camera.
Rose let out a huff of laughter. Tony, who had subsided in his tears, raised his head to see why Rose was laughing. She points behind him, and he turns his body to see. She watched as his body shook after ten seconds. Thinking he was about to cry again, she reached out to hold him. However, she paused when Tony burst out laughing, holding his hands across his stomach. "Hahaha! Oh my God! These robots know exactly what I needed! Hahaha!"
Rose smiled, knowing everything was slowly getting better.
Tony wipes away the remaining tears, and stares at Rose with a smile. "Not a word of this to anyone." He teases.
"Only if you unintentionally get me totally wasted, I won't." Rose teased back. Tony perked up. "What's the limit?"
"You don't want to know." Tony pouts, but then laughs it off. "Hey, let's go get that some food. I am in serious need of something greasy or fatty since I cannot indulge myself in alcohol. What do you want Rose?"
"Whatever you want Tony. I have no preferences." Rose gave him a shrug. "Plus, I don't know any restaurants around here."
"True. Alright then, let's go for some fast food!" Tony cried out in delight and rushed as fast as he could through the door.
Rose smiled gently at Tony's resilience, before her smile turns into a frown. She puts her hand on a familiar ring that held a certain stone on her other hand, and rubed it gently. "Not a good time." She whispered, and with that, Rose walked out and followed Tony.
Pepper was typing on her laptop, Tony's schedule, business meetings, and dinner parties/functions that were coming up within the week. She was so engrossed that the sound of her office phone going off made her jump.
She composed herself quickly before answering. "This is Pepper Potts, secretary to Tony Stark, how may I help you today?"
"Hello Ms. Potts. This is Phil Coulson from yesterday's press conference."
"Oh yes, Mr. Coulson. Hello. How are you?" Pepper answered with her business professional tone. She actually wasn't expecting him to call, since it was past daily working hours.
"I'm doing well so far. Would you mind allowing me access to come speak with you?"
"What's wrong with this conversation happening now?" Pepper asked.
She heard him chuckle lightly. "As much as this is a convenience to you, I would much prefer we speak face to face. There are important details I would like to discuss that can only be disclosed within close range. Too many variables when we are a signal away by satellite."
Pepper thought about where this conversation could lead. Too important to not say over the phone? Was he trustworthy enough? She glanced at his business card on the right side of her desk; the 'I'll get back to you later' area. She gave a sigh in confirmation to her choice.
"I believe you. Please enter through the elevators on your right and I'll pull you up."
"Thank you Ms. Potts." With that, he hung up the phone and went straight to the elevators. Everything was going to plan so far.
Pepper puts the phone down and sighed. She watched as Mr. Coulson entered the elevator, and she pushed the button for her floor. "Jarvis?"
"Yes Ms. Potts?" Jarvis voice echoed through her office.
"Please record the conversation about to take place, and if he shows any documents, scan them into the system. Who knows what information he and his government organization may have on Tony or the company?"
"Certainly Ms. Potts." Jarvis replied. She could hear short clicks around her room, telling her Jarvis was setting up. "Oh and Jarvis, please conduct research on the man Phil Coulson and this Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate." She said while holding up Mr. Coulson's business card.
"Understood. I will get right onto that. Do you need anything else?"
"No that will be all." Right when she completed her sentence, she heard a knock on her door. She looked towards it, and could see Mr. Coulson outside waving like he saw her across the streets and they were good friends.
"Well, here goes nothing." Pepper thought as she let him inside. "Hello again Mr. Coulson."
"Good afternoon Ms. Potts." He nods to her in greeting.
Pepper gives him her business smile. "Please come sit down, and then we can get started." Once they sat in their chairs, she began. "So, what was so important that you needed to talk face to face with me?"
Phil put his briefcase on her desk, and pulled out some documents. "A couple days ago, something popped up on our radars. The signal didn't last very long, but when we got a closer location for it, it disappears off the grid."
"What does this have to do with Tony or the company?"
"The signal we caught was found in the desert where Tony was rescued from. It was because of this signal, we were able to notify the United States Department of Defense to check it out." Pepper puts a hand to her now open mouth as she gasped in recognition.
"A day later, we caught the same signal again, but it quickly disappeared as well."
After Pepper regained her thoughts from this shocking revelation, she asked. "Ehem. Like I asked before though, what does this have to do with Tony or the company?"
"Our division is quite curious on how Mr. Stark escaped his confinement. We would hope that you, not only his personal secretary, but one of his most loyal friends, would shed some light on this situation."
Pepper shook her head. "I'm sorry to disappoint you Mr. Coulson, but I too am lost on what had happen. All I know is that our friend Rhodey was the one to spot and save him." She didn't mention a word of Rose. If Mr. Coulson didn't say anything about her, then there was no point in giving him extra ammo to shoot out.
"I see. Is there a possibility I may speak to Mr. Stark about this?"
"I'm afraid Tony is still in recovery, and will not be holding any conferences, speeches, interviews, or one on one conversation, even if they are high up in the government."
"I see. Well then, I thank you for your time and answers." Mr. Coulson bowed his head in thanks and collected all his papers. "I'll see myself out then."
"Have a good day." Pepper watched his leave. She didn't stop until she saw him get into his car and drove off towards the freeway. She let out a huge breath of relief and collapsed un-lady like in her chair. "That was exhausting!"
"I have procured the set of information Mr. Coulson has said and shown. The background check on Mr. Phil Coulson and Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate are still underway."
"Thank you Jarvis." Pepper twisted left and right to release the tension in her back, and sighed in relief. It really has been a stressful day. "Jarvis, can you do one more thing before you end the day?"
"Certainly Ms. Potts."
"I have a feeling Rose isn't all who she seems to be. A woman who pops out of nowhere, yet no one questions it. However, Tony trusts her immensely from what I observed today. If she has anything on her file that could ruin the reputation of Tony or the company delete it. If she doesn't have a file, create one for her. Go as deep and as through as possible; don't leave any loose ends. If Mr. Coulson really was telling the truth of him being a part of the government, then we need to protect those we love at all cost."
"Well said Ms. Potts. I will get on that immediately."
"Thank you. Give Tony and Rhodey a heads up on this please." Pepper said, and with that, she exited her office ready to go home and collapse on her bed.
Short Interlude:
Phil returned to base and headed straight for Director Fury's office. He knocked three times in different areas of the door to let Fury know it was him.
"Get in here Coulson." With that said Phil opened the door and immediately sat down. Fury was by his window, looking out and watching the pedestrians. "What have you got for me Coulson? No new flirting material I hope."
Phil chuckled. "No sir. It would seem my advances were a little too strong on her from the beginning. However, the information I gathered today may still not be to your liking."
"Pray tell what is it that I'm not going to like." He glares at Phil through his one eye. Phil could see a vein close to it bulge a bit. He sighed. "It would seem Ms. Potts is also in the same predicament as we are. She doesn't know how he escaped, and it would seem after today's conversation, I do not have a second interview to come back to with neither Ms. Potts nor Mr. Stark."
Phil didn't even jump when Fury banged the wall. He was too used to his behavior. "I don't like this news Coulson. Tell me something that'll not make me want to tell you to sleep with one eye open."
"Ms. Potts gave me some intel that Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes may have the answer, as he was the one who rescued him."
"Excellent. Set up a meeting with him tomorrow, and get me those answers. I needed them yesterday!"
"Yes sir." Phil said, and quickly exited. He was walking down the hall towards his office to go make the call, but a voice drew him to slow down.
"Someone made the boss mad." A low tone voice sounded from higher grounds.
"Sneaking around through the vents again?" Phil asked.
"What better way to travel through a secret government facility?" The voice responded before jumping down to be at eye level with Phil.
"Agent Barton, I didn't know your mission was completed already. I was expecting you to finish it in two more days."
Agent Barton shrugged his shoulders. "It was easier than expected. No challenge at all." He pouted. "So what did you do to make the boss angrier than usual?"
"That's classified." Phil responded.
"Woah! It's higher than me?"
"Most things are." A silky voice from a woman called out. They both turned to see a woman with vibrant, medium length of red hair in the organization's black bodysuit coming closer to them.
"Agent Romanoff." Phil said, bowing his head in greetings.
"Natasha! You're back too!"
"It was an easy mission Clint. I'm curious too Phil, what got Fury in this mood?"
"Wait a second, how long were you here? Or how did you hear from that far of a distance? Spidey senses tingling?" Clint raised his eyebrows up and down comically.
Natasha lightly punched his arm. "You guys are louder than you think in a secluded hallway. It was easy to hear you from around the corner. So Phil, what's up with Fury?"
"Nothing that concerns you both at the moment. When we have a better scope of what is going on, we'll inform you. For now, enjoy your time off before you are assigned your next mission. Does Fury know you're back yet?"
They both shook their heads at him. "Well, go put him back in a better mood. I need to go make a phone call." And with that, the three of them ceased conversation and split off.
However, as Phil was turning the corner, he could hear Clint asking Natasha, "So, who did you intimidate this time?" Phil and Natasha's chuckle coincided.
Short Interlude 2:
"Jarvis." Tony said once he was alone in his room once more.
"Yes sir." Jarvis responded.
"I need a favor."
"And what would you require sir?"
"I need you to gather any photos you have of my father and bury it deep within the system. Somewhere I can access sometime in the future when I feel the need to get smashed out drunk. Oh, and add some type of sappy music as well." Tony took a gulp of water after drowning down another vial of his medicine.
"Understood sir. May I ask why the sudden change of heart?"
Tony reclined on his chair and looked up at the ceiling. He paused for a moment before answering, "Maybe I'm feeling a bit nostalgic." He answered with a small smile.
Author's Note: I'll admit I teared up when writing Tony's explanation to Rose. I'm not ashamed. I hope you enjoyed this longer than normal chapter, but we need to get the ball rolling! You guys want action and adventure and all that stuff in between, and I have to deliver. So buckle up guys, and get ready because I am so pumped.
Let me explain how pumped I am. I had too much free time on my hands and once I sat down and started typing, I didn't stop until much later. So the next few chapters may already be complete, and just need a quick edit or two. If all goes well, this story will be getting an update every two or so weeks until we hit the end of the first movie. We'll see how far I go then.
Anyways, if you guys have any comments, questions, suggestions, or theories, I would love to hear them. And remember, I have a poll on profile that pertains to this story, so please check it out and vote your choice. Thanks again, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter! :)