Hello everyone. Sorry for the delay again. I've had some timing probs with my Beta. I haven't been able to reach them yet so please excuse all of the gramatical errors in this chapter please.
Also I told myself that I was only going to write one story at a time but lets be honest I lied to myself. So Starting next week I'm going to be starting another story. Updates will still be the same though.
Chapter 6: Way To Go My Boy
The plane was shown in the sky, flying over lower hanging clouds before it returned to view the cabin. The same rock music continued in the background as Tony stared at his silent friend. They were sat at a table and Rhodey was completely ignoring him. A beautiful woman continued sending him suggestive looks to him as she set things infant of them. Tony barely glanced at her as he continues his one man staring contest.
"He didn't even look," Steve said, watching the scene as his head tilted slightly to the side.
"Give him a moment," Natasha murmured in reply, looking at the scene with an arched eyebrow.
The woman walked away with an emphasized swing to her hips, but still Tony didn't pay her anymore attention.
"What you reading, platypus?" he questioned, leaning back in his chair.
"Platypus?" Thor questioned looking around at his teammates. "Is this one of your creatures?"
"Yes," Bruce replied with a smile. "They're a mammal here, and the only mammal that lays eggs."
"Lay's eggs?" asked a still confused thunderer. "Your creatures here are quite strange!"
The team all turned and gave him incredulous looks.
"Says the man who comes from a world with something called a bildstein!" Clint returned.
Thor looked at him blankly for a moment before he shrugged.
"Nothing," Rhodey said sourly without looking up from his paper.
"Come on, sour patch," Tony said, voice holding a playful tone.
Rhodey shook his head, still not willing to look up at him. "I'm not sour," he said.
"Don't be mad."
"He has every right to be mad." Natasha deadpanned.
"He was saying farewell to his lady." Thor defended.
"And it was her birthday," Clint added. "They had to get in one last round before he left."
"What are you talking about?" Steve asked looking between Clint and Natasha who were side eyeing each other.
"When Pepper went to the workshop, Tony was an hour and a half late, when he got to the airport, he was three hours late." Natasha said with a roll of her eyes.
Steve's eyes widened a bit and his cheeks were tinged pink.
"I told you, I'm not mad. I'm indifferent, okay?" Rhode said, finally looking up with an exasperated look on his face.
"I said I was sorry," Tony whined.
"That will get you no where." Natasha said dully.
Another woman, this time a brunette, walked over to the two with a tray in her hands with rolled towels placed on it neatly. She like the other woman had a sway to her hips and a suggestive look.
"Good morning, Mr. Stark," she practically purred.
Rhodey continued on, ignoring the woman as he stared back at Tony now. "You don't need to apologize to me. I'm your man."
Tony finally looked away from him and to the woman. "Hi," he said. "I told him I was sorry but he…"
"I'm just indifferent right now," Rhodey cut in, repeating his earlier statement.
"Hot towel?" The woman questioned, focusing more on Tony again, as she ignored them ignoring her.
Tony reached out and took the towel she was holding delicately in a pair of tongs.
"You don't respect yourself," Rhodey said pointing to Tony. "So I know you don't respect me."
"Ouch." Clint said.
But no one else said anything in return, taking in what the Colonel had said to his friend.
"I respect you," Tony said softly.
"I'm just your babysitter. So, when you need your diaper changed…" he reached up to get the offered hot towel. "Thank you," he said finally looking to the woman. "Let me know and I'll get you a bottle, okay?" He finished staring back at Tony.
Tony turned away from him. His eyes fell on one of the attendants. "Hey!" he said, wiping his hands on the towel. "Heat up the sake will you?" He turned back to Rhodey, but didn;t make solid eye contact with his friend. "Thanks for reminding me."
"No," the Colonel said firmly. "I'm not talking… We're not drinking! We're working right now."
Tony just shrugged. "You can' have sashimi without sake."
"You are constitutionally incapable of being responsible," Rhodey deadpanned.
"If he knew this why did they remain friends?" Steve asked.
No one answered. Not even Bruce. He didn't feel comfortable not answering for Tony. They had only briefly talked about Rhodey and MIT.
"It would be irresponsible not to drink," Tony claimed. "I'm just talking about a nightcap."
"Does this mean we can pause for a second so I can go grab a beer?" Clint asked with a grin, before Natasha smacked him on the back of his head.
"No drinking util this is over," Fury said. "That's an order."
Clint and Thor frowned.
A tray was placed in front of the two gently. "Hot sake?" the woman purred.
"Yes," said Tony. "Two, please."
"No," the Colonel replied, annoyance seeping into his tone. "I'm not drinking I don't want any."
The screen changed to a bit later. Rhode and Tony were sitting on a couch, drinks in hand as loud music blared and the attendants moved and danced around them.
"See, That's what I'm talking about!" Rhodey said loudly and drunkenly to his friend."When I get up in the morning and I'm putting on my uniform, you know what I recognize? I see in that mirror that every person that's got this uniform on got my back!
"Oh, boy," Tony groaned a bit, looking away from his friend and appearing much better off then him. "Here we go. They you know what?" Tony asked looking awkwardly at the attendance as they danced a bit closer. "I'm not like you. I'm not cut out…"
"No, no!" Rhode exclaimed waving his hands a bit."You don't have to be like me! But you're more than what you are."
"Foreshadowing." Clint whispered loudly.
Tony quirked an eyebrow as a pole came up from the ground in the cabin and the women grew bolder in their dancing. "Can you excuse me if I'm a bit distracted here?" he asked, but his eyes didn't linger anywhere really.
Steve's brows drew together. He had expected Tony to stare shamelessly at the women. It was a bit of a curveball.
"No! You can't be distracted right now! Listen to me!"
The scene cut out.
"What?!" Clint questioned loudly. "I need popcorn so I can throw it at the screen. He was going to say something important. What is this crap?!"
Tony climbed the stairs down from the jet and was greeted by army personnel from both the U.S. and Afghanistan. He made his way over to the man in charge.
"General," Tony said with a smile and a hand shake.
"Welcome, Mr. Stark," greeted the General politely. "We look forward to your weapons presentation."
"Thanks," Tony said before he moved on to greet their allies from Afghanistan, speaking to them easily in their native language with a show of his intellect.
Natasha frowned a bit, though unnoticeable unless you knew what to look for.
The scene changed again. Tony stood in his clean suit and sunglasses in front of beautiful high mountains which met with clear blue skies and creamy sands of the desert terrane.
"Is it better to be fear or respected?" Tony asked rhetorically looking toward the camera. "I say… Is it to much to ask for both?"
He paused for a moment, looking over the spectators for his latest weapons demo, before he continued. "With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries Freedom Line." He hands found their way into his pockets and he rocked back on his heels."It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary Repulsor technology,"
His tone changed slightly as he continued his speech. "They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how dad did it. That's how America does it. And it's worked out pretty well so far." The screen swept over them and finally showed a bit of the weapon itself.
"Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves."
"Bad wording…" Bruce said with a cringe.
"But a great speech," Clint said. "Wonder if he came up with it on the spot,"
Fury nodded. "Stark isn't one for written speeches. Obviously,"
"For your consideration," Tony said, slowly raising his arms.
The missile was shown completely as one of the three on a pad was initiated and launched out toward the mountain. As it neared its landing point, the missile broke apart before it smashed into the mountain face. The shock wave blasted over them, blowing the attendees back.
"The Jericho."
There was silence in the room. This was a weapon Stark had designed years ago. An old idea. But it was still so devastating. What could the man create now? Fury's own trail of thoughts took him down a slightly darker path. What if this man became an enemy? It would be catastrophic and SHIELD wouldn't be able to hold off the affects for long.
People mingled as Tony walked over to the chill box and pulled out a drink.
"I'll be throwing one of these in with every purchase of 500 million or more." He raised his glass."To peace!"
There was a buzzing sound. Tony dug in his pockets before pulling out a sleek black cell phone. A picture of Obadiah Stane was shown on it and Tony quickly accepted the call.
"Tony!" the man exclaimed in greeting.
"Obie, what are you doing up?" Tony asked looking at the screen with a slight frown.
"I couldn't sleep till I found out how it went." 'Obie' said with a grin."How'd it go?"
"It's went great. Looks like it's gonna be an early Christmas." Tony said with a small grin in return as he glanced back over his shoulder at the people.
"Hey! Way to go, my boy, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"
"Why aren't you wearing those pajamas I got you?" Tony asked innocently.
"Good night, Tony." State said exasperatedly before he hung up.
Tony shoved the phone back into his pocket before walking over the the humvee he had decided to ride in. The door was already open and he slid in as he took a sip of his drink. The door was shut and Rhodey came over to his open window.
"Hey, Tony." He said with an easy smile.
"I'm sorry, this is the 'fun-vee'." Tony said jokingly. "The 'hum-drum-vee' is back there."
Tony grinned as he heard the soldier next to him let out a well contained but still there snort.
"Is that?…" Steve started to ask. There was only a slight glance of the soldier next to Tony. "We're back at that."
The others nodded grimly.
"Nice job," Rhodey said.
"See you back at base," Tony replied before settling back in his seat as his friends patted the door and left for the hum behind them.
Soon, the procession was shown driving down a dusty road, listening to AC/DC Back in Black.
Bruce held his breath as he watched the screen. He already knew what was going to happen but still. It made somewhere in his chest hurt as he thought about what happened to his friend. He knew it was his heart, but not because of what he knew was laid in his friends chest, but because of the quick bond they had formed.
The humvee up front exploded. And for a moment the screen was covered in smoke and fire before it changed. There where hands holding him down. Screaming and yelling and a ringing that had to be his ears. Lights flashed and his vision faded in and out a bit but he saw a hand which held what might have been pliers. There was a shard of some thing. Then they were lowering something into his chest and more screaming.
A hand with a soaked cloth in it's grasp descended over he camera and everything faded to black.
"Good, god," a voice came from the door, breathy and horror filled. "What the hell are you watching?"