Allie

III

We create our own demons. Who said that? What does that even mean? Doesn't matter, I said it cause he said it. So now he was famous and that's basically get said by two well known guys. I don't, uh...I'm gonna start again. Let's track this from the beginning.

It started in Berns, Switzerland, 1999, the old days. I never thought they'd come back to bite me. Why would they?

So why am I telling you this? Because I had just created demons, and I didn't even know it.

Yeah, those were the good times. Then I moved on. After a brief soiree in an Afghan cave, I said goodbye to the party scene. Forgot that night in Switzerland. These days I'm a changed man, I'm different now. I'm well...you know who I am.

III

"Forty-seven, fuck," Tony swears as he injects another implant in his arm. I wince in sympathy and pat his head. Tony holds up his arm and I lightly kiss the injection spot.

He's been doing this for the past hour or so. Each time he injects one I kiss it better.

I sit perched on his desk between all his tools while he stands beside me.

"Sir, please may I request just a few hours to calibrate-"

"No. Forty-eight," he says and injects the final one. He is nothing if not determined. "Ah! Micro-repeater implanting sequence complete." I grin and kiss the last place on his arm.

"Good job!" I say excitedly.

"As you wish, sir. I've also prepared a safety briefing for you to entirely ignore," Jarvis adds and I snicker. Sometimes I can detect the barest hint of sarcasm in his mechanical voice.

"Which I will. Right, let's do this. My lady," Tony murmurs and offers. I take it and I hop off the desk.

In Tony's Malibu place he has quite the workshop and garage set up. His workshop flows into the garage that holds several extravagant cars. All around he has tools, machines, and this one robot called Dum-E. Said robot is attempting to clean rubbish off the ground with a broom.

"Dummy. Hi, Dummy. How did you get that cap on your head? You earned it," Tony teases.

He put a dunce cap on the robots head after a particularly awful screw up. Tony walks towards the robot and snaps when it doesn't respond.

"Hey. Hey! What are you doing round in the corner? You know what you did. Blood on my mat, handle it," Tony barks and steps into a circular area where some of the suits are displayed.

"Sir, may I remind you that you've been awake for nearly seventy-two hours." I let out an involuntary gasp and Tony groans.

"J not in front of her!" Tony chastises.

"Sorry sir."

"Don't apologize Jarvis! Yes in front of me Tony! I thought you cuddled me all night," I exclaim and gently grab his arm. I know he's been having trouble sleeping but I thought he actually slept last night.

"It's fine Allie. Don't worry, can we just test this new suit please," Tony begs and flashes his puppy eyes. They weaken me immediately and I sigh.

"Fine but we are discussing this later and then we are going to bed early," I relent and he nods. Tony turns away from me and addresses the suits.

"Focus up, ladies. Good evening, and welcome to the birthing suit. I'm pleased to announce the imminent arrival of your bouncing, bad-ass, baby brother," Tony declares and claps his hands together. My frown gets replaced with a smile at his words.

Tony looks to the camera that another robot holds.

"Start tight and go wide, stamp in time. Mark 42 autonomous prehensile propulsion suit test. Initialize sequence," he instructs. I plop down in a spinning chair and make myself comfortably. "Jarvis, drop my needle." Music starts playing and Tony begins a little dance. Giggling wildly I jump up and swing my hips along.

Tony winks at me and raises his hands to begin the activation.

"This is gonna be so cool," I squeal.

"Right you are lovely soulmate," Tony agrees and winks at me. Tony starts moving with the music and swinging his hips. For fun I give a few hopping dance moves too.

He then points his arm where he'd been injecting himself toward the dismantled Iron Man suit on a table.

Nothing happens.

"Crap," he grumbles and hits his arm a few times. He points his arm again and this time a piece of the suit flies over. I watch in awe as it attaches itself to his hand and extends to his arm and shoulder.

"Nice!" I cheer and clap. Tony points his other arm and a second piece flies into his hand. It does the same and extends to his arm and shoulder. Tony laughs in triumph and flashes a rock on symbol with his hands.

"Alright, I think we got this. Send 'em all," he says. A piece of a leg rushes over and attaches itself to Tony. Another part flies to him but ends up crashing into one of the Iron Man suit glass cases. A different part zooms over but Tony deflects it with his arm making it crash into the wall.

I let out barking laughter and duck behind the chair.

"Probably a little fast, slow it down. Slow it down just a-"

Suddenly another part of the suit shoots over and Tony ducks as it narrowly misses hitting him in the head.

I'm a little concerned now. To avoid getting hit I duck under the table.

"...little bit." Two more parts fly over and slam into Tony's crotch.

"No! Not the Stark family jewels!" I exclaim in faux horror. Tony groans just as another piece slams into his back sending his hurling over the table. He manages to steady himself with the repulsor beams.

"Yeah, cool it, will you, Jarvis?" Tony grunts. The final parts attach seamlessly except the face piece. It hovers in the air and Tony beckons it closer. "Come on. I ain't scared of you."

"Show it who's boss!"

The piece rockets over and Tony flips over so it plants squarely on his face in one fluid motion.

"Wow!" I cheer and clap. That was insane.

"I'm the best," Tony declares and raises his arms in triumph.

At that moment, one of the stray pieces of the suit shoots over to Tony, knock hims down, which knocks the entire suit, except for the head piece, off.

"Oh my god!" I scream in surprise and run over to his side. He's laying on the ground groaning in pain. "Tony! Are you okay?!"

"As always, sir, a great pleasure watching you work," Jarvis remarks and I snort. Tony grumbles something and pops the mask off.

"I'm fine," he grumbles and sits up slowly. His eyes lazily look over the pieces of the sit and he sighs. "A nap sounds like a good idea right now." My worried frown breaks into a smile and I kiss his cheek lovingly.

"That is a great idea."

III

And I guess seventy-two hours isn't a long time between siesta's. Didn't think it could get any worse. Then I had to go and turn on the TV.

III

Tony gets to his feet and takes my hand in his. Together we walk up to the master bedroom. Tony and I sleep in the same bed when I stay with him. Natasha and I also do, but Steve won't. He insists it's improper.

Once the bed is in sight I leap into it and let myself sink into the memory foam. I love napping so much.

"You're adorable," Tony muses and I blush a bright red. He's always saying things like that. I'll never get used to always being complimented like that.

"Come cuddle me handsome," I invite and pat a spot on the bed next to me. Tony kicks off his shoes and crawls up next to me. I make myself comfortable and snuggle into his chest. He wraps his arms around me and I sigh in contentment.

"I'll miss this," he mutters after a moment. I tilt my head to look at him and see him looking at me sadly.

I'm on a tight schedule between my soulmates and Gabie. I have a few more days with Tony and then two days at the tower with the entire team for Christmas then I'm off to Steve's.

I have a bag packed always. Because of this my life is pretty divided. I am aware I'm the luckiest girl in the world but the small selfish part of me wishes all my soulmates and I could just stay in one place. I also wish they got along better. Steve and Nat are friendly but neither of them are very kind to Tony. That complicates things for me. But they want me and that's all I can ask for.

"How about some tv before we nap," Tony suggests. He's trying to pull me to sleep so he can sneak off. "Jarvis!"

"Tony you are going to sleep and I will stay awake until you do," I say sternly. However the tv screen has already lowered from the ceiling and is playing the news.

Tony isn't listening, he's staring blankly at the tv. I follow his eye line and gape.

The news has been replaced by a technical difficulties screen with two swords crisscrossing over it. The swords are surrounded by unfamiliar symbols.

III

That's when he happened.

III

The screen then shifts to a man with a long beard and Asian features. He is being filmed walking in front of men kneeling before a firing squad

"Some people call me a terrorist, I consider myself a teacher. America, ready for another lesson?" His voice grates on my ears and I flinch as he strolls away from the prisoners allowing for them to be shot down.

"What is this?" I whisper. Tony's grip on me tightens and we both sit up to pay more attention.

The screen flashes through a series of smiling people before it closes in on the mans face.

"In 1864 in Sand Creek Colorado the U.S. military waited till the friendly Cheyenne braves all gone hunting, waited to attack and slaughter their families left behind, and claim their land." The screen now shows images of Native American people's. Then it goes back to him, he's taken off his sunglasses to show his eyes.

"Thirty-nine hours ago the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was attacked."

Now a film of the base burning plays.

"I-I-I did that. A quaint military church filled with wives and children, of course. The soldiers were out on maneuver, the braves were away."

Gasping in horror unable to take my eyes away I watch as footage of the president plays followed by the man surrounded by other soldier with guns all cheering over a dummy of the president burning at a stake.

"President Ellis you continue to resist my attempts to educate you, sir. And now, you've missed me again. You know who I am, you don't know where I am, and you'll never see me coming."

The footage ends just as fast as it began and the news returns.

A sinking feeling settles in my stomach and I swallow hard.

"That isn't good."