Well that didn't work out as planned. Sorry everyone.
Though Tony spent as much time in the workshop as possible following the meeting, Tony noticed a lot of tension around the mansion. Some of it was probably due to Voldy… but Tony guessed the reason behind everyone's stiff backs was the fact that a kill-you-twice snake was currently being bred on the lower level. Not exactly something to make your average person feel comfortable. And if several above-average people were feeling on edge…. Well, that certainly said something about the situation.
He had JARVIS look up what he could about basilisks just in case there was some antidote that he could work on on top of everything else, but his faithful AI came up with squat. Other than thousands of entries decrying it as a myth, the few that believed in the snake said there was no protection from its killer stare, and only one antidote to its poison – phoenix tears. Even in myths phoenixes were ridiculously rare – so how many did that equal in the real world? Two? And then there was the slight problem that they didn't like people and liked to live at the top of uninhabitable mountain ranges. Bit far to venture for an antidote.
He had JARVIS put it on the backburner in case some magic nut figured out the internet and posted a different antidote.
Meanwhile, he had other things to deal with. Mainly, getting his armor and new protections rolled out before Voldy figured out the cube and started raining hell with the Tesseract.
He didn't expect to be able to work distraction-free... but surprisingly, that's exactly what happened. The rest of the Avengers were apparently too busy bothering each other to check up on Tony, and perhaps the toad was more fearsome than first glance, for Tony saw neither hide nor hair of the god of mischief in the days following the meeting. He assumed someone would have told him if the god had had a fateful encounter with the toad, so it was clearly the god's own choice to stay away. He shoved any thoughts of the god onto the backburner as well. He'd given the god the mental audience he'd asked for. The answer? Tony didn't want to think about it. And with the end of the world - still - looming over them, he'd burn that bridge when he got to it.
Tony gave his first – and favorite – blueprints to JARVIS to begin constructing, while Tony went back to work on secondary protections. He had no idea what the hell they would be up against, but prior experience hinted that it would be best to be prepared.
JARVIS rarely failed him, and he did not do so now. Tony surfaced from the depths of his calculations to hear JARVIS report the completion of the projects. The first hovered before him, while the second, his AI rather dryly informed him, was in the hangar because it was too large to fit into the workshop.
Tony grinned. He was plenty fearsome in his suit, and he was just normal human-sized. He wondered what kind of reception the death eaters would give to his big brother.
Tony commanded JARVIS to throw an extremely oversized sheet over his second prototype, just in case any of the Avengers decided to go for a walk around the hanger. The giant metal boots would probably give it away, but still. Might as well try to save it for a grand unveiling.
But first, to test them. Testing things on the fly had its place, as he vividly remembered during his first flight with the suit, but this was less about experimentation and more about people not dying. It would be decidedly unhelpful if they found out on the battlefield that his shields didn't actually block anything.
Nope. Practice first.
There wasn't much to be done by way of testing for the second prototype quite yet, however, so he set to work upon the first. Tony considered these the most vital pieces of his plan. Lifting the prototype from the desk, he tossed it gently into the air.
It hovered there, glowing faintly from the scores of runes scrawled across it. For all intents and purposes, it resembled a miniature UFO, with a round half-sphere dominating the top of the bot, covered with the glowing runes. The flat-ish disk beneath it whirred softly as it kept the bot afloat. Two miniature tubes protruded from the bottom of the craft - two points of light could be seen within the barrels, the one time Tony took a peek. They were programmed not to fire currently, but accidents did happen.
Tony summoned up the lead wizard for the maiden testing of what (he hoped) would prove a turning point in this war.
The wizard was looking tense as he entered the workshop, but Tony wasn't concerned. Tense and worried were trademark expressions around the mansion these days.
Harry seemed skeptical of the little floating bot as Tony revealed it. "Meet your new bodyguard," He said with a flourish.
"That's supposed to protect us?" He asked doubtfully.
Tony heaved a sigh. "Do you want me to try to phrase it differently?"
"I caught it all the first time, thanks," Harry replied swiftly, not allowing any slight on his intelligence to be made. Impressive. "But how?"
Tony gave the wizard a nod. "That's where you come in." He took two steps back - the little bot followed him, hovering at chest-height. Tony spread his arms wide. "Try to jinx me. Though not that green laser, mind - we can try that later, when I'm not the guinea pig." He knew he was the picture of nonchalance, but internally he was praying his little bot was up to snuff. He really didn't want to have a sudden meeting with the floor. He'd seen people be stunned, and it did not look like an experience he wanted to share.
Harry didn't waste any time - raising his wand, he snapped off two spells before Tony was quite prepared. His bot, however, was more than capable. Two razor-thin bolts of light shot from its blasters. Where they met the red stunners, they dissolved into a hazy spray of light.
Harry wasn't done. He shot spell after spell at Tony, the colors varying all across the spectrum, minus the poisonous green of death. As the shots increased, the bot began to deflect more bolts off of its armored shell; however, when Harry proclaimed himself done and lowered his wand, the bot was still standing. A little worse for wear, but functioning, and Tony himself was untouched.
"Impressive," Harry said. "But I'm one wizard. What happens when you're facing two? Five? What if someone sneaks up from behind?"
Tony smirked and beckoned the empty air. From their various places scattered about the workshop, a dozen more miniature guards floated to hover protectively around Tony. He looked back at the wizard. "You were saying?"
Real life likes to throw curveballs. I won't bore you with details, but I assure you all this gap was not by choice.
Anyway... this last week has been dedicated to this thing. Several chapters upcoming.
