Author's note: Yup, this one is a whole lot longer. And for everyone who is wondering what Coulson said about Clint...sorry. I don't know. Natasha won't tell me. Anyways, please read and review.
Chapter 2
Tony Stark flipped through the radio channels in his new rental car. He wondered why on earth he had ever come to New Mexico in the first place. Nothing but sand, a couple dirty towns here and there, and absolutely nothing to do. What was more, his car, which had been sparklingly clean when he had picked it up the day before, was already covered in brown dust, the black sheen all but gone.
He made a mental note never to come to New Mexico again, even if he had had a quarrel with Pepper. Next time he would run away to California, or Florida, or somewhere pleasant like that. So what if it costed more...he was a billionaire, he could afford it. As long as Pepper wasn't around to spend it all, he had plenty of money.
And now that he thought about it, why not just kick Pepper out of the Stark Tower? It would be easy to program Jarvis not to let her in, and then she would never be able to find his secret stashes of Cadbury cream eggs and confiscate them, as she was in the habit of doing. Which made him remember that he had left a box of them in one of the kitchen cupboards, and it was sure to be gone by the time he got back.
The idea almost made him turn around and drive all the way back to New York.
Then the voice on the radio suddenly caught his attention.
Satellites falling to earth...huge hammer...nobody could lift...area now off limits...and heavily guarded...and only two miles from where Tony currently was. Sounded like the perfect vacation...
That night, two SHIELD agents strode across the crater site.
"Looks like rain," said one.
The other glanced up into the sky. "Yeah..." he began. "WHAT THE...!" he shouted suddenly. "What was that?!"
"What was what?" asked the first staring up into the sky, where the other was pointing.
"I don't know! Some big, yellow light flew past!"
"Probably just a shooting star," said the first, losing interest.
"Not on your life! It was much bigger! Huge! A big streak, and then it was gone!"
"Heat lightening?"
"$&*^$(%! It's not hot! IT"S FREEZING COLD!"
"Well, cold lightening, then."
"I'm telling you, Martin...that wasn't anything natural! It didn't look like anything you've ever seen!"
"Well," said Martin, gesturing dismissively, "better call it in, I guess."
Agent Coulson listened patiently to the garbled babble of the SHIELD agent. "Yeah, well, we'll keep an eye out for it," he said at last, and hung up.
He turned to Agent Hill with a smile on his face. "Stark's here," he said.
"Sir, are you sure he won't be able to lift it?"
"Of course he won't...he just had another temporary break up with Pepper."
"Sir, I fail to see how that's relevant."
Coulson only smiled. "Excuse me," he said, turning to the door. "I want to see this."
Stark flew down into the centre of the building, landing directly in front of Mjolnir. He was instantly disappointed. This little piece of stone was what he had been hearing about? A complete waste of time. Still, since he was here and had gone ahead and put on his suit and all, he might as well go ahead and pick it up for all these puny SHIELD agents.
He put his hand to it and pulled casually. He was surprised to find that the 'little piece of stone' didn't move in the slightest. Muttering under his breath, he put both hands to it and pulled until his muscles bulged under his metal suit. Still, the hammer would not budge from it's place.
"You know you're breaking the law by being here, don't you?" said a soft voice.
Tony spun around, looking this way and that. Finally, he looked up to see Coulson staring down at him from the second level.
"We have to interrogate the people who come down here after they were told not to, you know," went on Coulson.
"Well," said Stark, smirking under his helmet, "I guess you'll have to break your own rules today."
He flew up and escaped into the night.
Or he would have, if a ceiling hadn't suddenly appeared over his head. Instead, he flew up, hit his head on the ceiling rather hard (he remembered how Pepper used to tell him he shouldn't pick up speed quite so quickly), fell back to the ground stunned, and had the satisfaction of feeling several dozen SHIELD agents jump on him and start peeling off his suit.
"That's not how you remove it!" he cried, as soon as he had recovered his wits again. "You guys are going to break it!"
"Then I'm sure you can make another, better one," said Coulson, who had come down to the first level. Half of the SHIELD agents vacated Stark's back, taking his suit (which was now in quite a few more pieces than usual) with them. The others that were left, pulled him to his feet and marched him off.
They threw him into a white room with several mirrors and a certain female assassin in it, and strapped him to a chair. Then they left.
"So...you've come to join the club?" asked Natasha, who was strapped to another chair beside him.
"Two isn't exactly a club," said Tony.
"But I don't think there's only going to be two of us for long," she said, smiling knowingly.
