Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or anyone in the DC Universe. I also don't own our dear guest star or the universe he hails from.
A/N: Hey everyone! I'm back and ready to roll with a new chapter! Hope y'all enjoy it, and don't forget to review! I love seeing how you respond to these chapters!
Soft piano music wafted up the stairs of Wayne Manor. The muted murmur of conversation below seeped into the youngest Grayson's room through the floor, mingling with the piano to create an almost mellow atmosphere. Dick knocked lightly on his sister's door. "You decent?"
He heard a sigh from inside the room. "As decent as I'll ever be."
Dick smirked as he cracked the door open and slipped into the room, closing the door softly behind her. He gave her a once over and whistled. "Dang, Ser-bear. You clean up nicely."
Serafina smiled and twirled around experimentally. "Do you think? It's a bit… flashy."
Her brother shrugged and held out a hand. "You'll get used to it. These things are usually murder, but you'll get used to the flashiness of it all. At least you get better ventilation. I feel like I'm back in Shakespeare."
She giggled and made a show of taking his hand, blushing prettily for good measure. "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?"
Dick threw his head back and laughed, spinning her around under his arm. "What, no clever retort for me, Mercutio?"
She struck a dramatic pose as she improvised, still holding his hand. "If it is wordplay that thou dost desire, then couple it with something: make it a word and a blow."
He raised an eyebrow and drew her in close. "What, dost thou take the lover Romeo and turn him into the villain, Tybalt?"
Serafina stepped in, so close their noses were nearly touching. He was expecting some witty, cunning comeback, but instead she simply deadpanned, "The moment when your brother-sister bonding time consists of screwing around with Shakespeare."
Dick barked out a laugh and hugged his sister. "And no doubt if Romeo had really existed he would swoon over you in a heartbeat."
She turned back to her floor length mirror, studying her reflection. "Personally I would much prefer to have Mercutio, but I'll take what I can get."
"Still, you look fantastic. Watch out, Juliet, you've got some competition."
She smirked, eyes never leaving the polished surface of the mirror. "You flatter me too much." She spun around a final time, her skirt swishing around her knees. She wore a lapis lazuli blue dress with cap sleeves. The bodice was skin tight, a well fitting, semi-low cut V-neck that showed off just enough tan flesh. The skirt of the dress hung a little above her knees, fanning out when she spun around. She hadn't been allowed to wear her usual black boots, trading them for a pair of silver 3-inch heels. The neckline of the dress was studded with small silver gemstones, as well as a slender line of the same crystals along her waist. She wasn't wearing much by way of jewelry: just a pair of silver corkscrew earrings and a slim silver bracelet.
Her hair was freshly washed and left loose, soft ringlets of scarlet cascading down her back.
A soft knock on her door, then Bruce's face appeared in the doorway. "Ready?"
Serafina took a deep breath and grinned sheepishly. "Would I still have to do it if I said no?"
"Yes."
"Then I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be." She took Dick's hand and allowed herself to be escorted from the safety of her room, stopping just shy of the top of the grand staircase. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled experimentally a few times just to psyche herself up. She looked at her brother and nodded. "Let's do it."
Dick grinned at her and lead her down the stairs.
The next hour was one of the most hectic of her life.
She was yanked away from Dick almost immediately, his brother pulled into a group of older looking gentlemen and herself into one of younger women wearing too much makeup and not enough clothes. They were all talking at once, firing questions at a million miles a minute: what was her name, where did she come from, how did she get there, was that her natural hair color. She tried to answer questions where she could, but for the most part she just followed her brother's advice: just smile and nod. If she was perfectly honest with herself, she was more terrified now than she had been when she was sneaking out of her previous home. At least when she had been doing that she didn't feel like she was the main attraction in some kind of sick freakshow. Everywhere she turned people were staring at her, giving her a critical once over like she was a dress or a pair of shoes they were thinking about purchasing. She could hear the hum of whispering beneath the loud chatter, socialites hissing words behind cupped hands to each other and sometimes pointing at her. Of course she acted like she didn't notice or particularly care, but secretly she was so terrified that she could feel herself quivering where she stood. Normally Serafina was perfectly fine in crowds, but all these rich women with fake laughs and even faker smiles were making her nervous and edgy. When she finally managed to escape the mob of women she made her way to the side where there was a table of fruit punch for underage guests. She took one of the glass cocktail cups of the table and tried to scoop some of the pink liquid out to pour into the glass, but her hands were shaking so bad she couldn't hold either of them still long enough. Frustrated, she dropped the ladle back into the bowl and ran her hand over her face. "Damn it."
"Need some help?" The redhead glanced up to look at the man who had spoken to her. He was tallish and fairly well built with brown hair and dark chocolate eyes. He was dressed in typical businessman style: a simple black tux, collared white shirt, and black tie. With a wine glass in one hand he looked perfectly formal, but there was a little twinkle in his eyes that told her there was a much more mischievous man lingering just under the surface.
She blushed a bit in response. "Please." He nodded and set his drink down, taking her glass from her and pouring in some of the punch before handing it back to her. "Thank you."
"My pleasure." Both of them took sips of their drinks before he spoke again. "First time?"
She grinned sheepishly. "Is it that obvious?"
He shrugged nonchalantly, lips quirking up. "Just a little. Don't worry, you'll get used to it." He switched his glass to his free hand, offering her the other. "Tony Stark."
She took his hand and shook it firmly. "Serafina Grayson."
Realization dawned on his face. "So you're the mystery lady everyone's been whispering about."
She rolled her eyes, swirling the pink drink around in her glass. "Yeah, that would be me." She dropped her eyes to the cup in her hands. "I told Dick this was a bad idea."
"Hey, don't beat yourself up. Snooty rich people are gonna find something to whisper about no matter what's going on. They have a tendency to make mountains the size of Everest out of molehills."
"Sounds to me like you've had experience."
"Like you wouldn't believe."
The emerald eyed Grayson smiled a bit. "So then you are aware that by attending this gala you're pretty much automatically stuck in the category of 'snooty rich people'?"
He shrugged again, eyes flitting around the room. "Yeah well, we also have a tendency to turn on each other, so it doesn't bother me much."
She laughed and took another sip. "Well Mr. Stark-"
"Tony," he cut her off.
She smiled graciously "Tony, if it's any solace, seeing as how I don't get much news from outside of Gotham- and I know you're not from around here- I won't be doing any whispering about you tonight."
He looked at her in passive interest. "What makes you so sure I'm not from around here?"
She set her glass down and leaned against the table, smirking like she knew a secret he didn't. "You're too clean, too pretty to be a native." At his confused look she sighed tiredly, like she had said this a dozen times before. "Gotham has a way of making even the cleanest of people dirty. It's a corrupt and filthy city, inside and out, and you can't live here without carrying that around with you. I mean look at me: I'm not even fourteen and yet you can take one look at my eyes and tell that I'm ten times more jaded than anyone you've ever met. People in Gotham never manage to hang onto innocence as long as others seem to."
His dark eyes clouded over. "Well I'm not exactly a new born baby, am I?"
"Oh you're far from innocent, I can see that just by looking at you. No adult truly is, no matter where you're from, and you've obviously been through something that stole any you had left away from you. No, you've got a different kind of innocence. One that tells me you haven't seen what Gotham can do. You can go to the deepest pits of hell and it will never scar you the way Gotham does. This city is a cesspool of shit that takes people in and spits them back out compromised and damaged, scarring them for life both physically and mentally. And you bear none of those scars."
He gave her a once over. "I don't see any on you."
She smiled sadly and shook her head. "Oh no, they're there alright. I've just gotten very good at hiding them."
Tony had just opened his mouth, probably to make a snarky comment, when there was a loud crashing sound from the entrance hallway followed by several women screaming. Drink forgotten on the table the redhead whirled around to see a swarm of buff men enter the room with machine guns held at hip level. 'Okay, an army of gun toting lackies. I can deal with that.' Her field of vision was suddenly cut off when Tony stepped in front of her, but she stood on her tiptoes to see the mastermind enter the room.
Serafina fought her reflex to gag when she saw Two Face enter the room. Sure she had read the file: at this point she practically had it memorized, but no pictures or words could really prepare her for real life. She could only see the scarred side of his face, where skin had been melted away and flesh seared, leaving only burned muscle behind for display. The billionaire in front of her cleared his throat and murmured over his shoulders to her, "I take it that guy isn't very good at hiding scars."
"His name is Two Face," she hissed in his ear. "He used to be Harvey Dent, the old district attorney, but an accident happened and it left half of his face like that. He's had multiple personality disorder and an obsession with twos ever since."
"Ladies and gentlemen." The booming voice of the former DA called out. "As you know, this is a robbery. If you will place your valuables in the bags-" a few of the men held up canvas bags "- all of you will leave here alive."
Serafina's emerald eyes did a quick scan of the room. She could see Dick on the other side of the room, watching Two Face carefully. She didn't see Bruce anywhere, but she did see several people taking out cellphones in a way that they seemed to think was very stealthy, but really was rather obvious.
Unfortunately as soon as she noticed Two Face did too. He withdrew a small black remote with a single red button from his coat pocket. "Ah ah ah. No cell phones allowed." He pressed the button and the redhead had just enough time to see that all the electronics in the house were beeping and buzzing and generally going haywire before she realized that Tony was falling on top of her.
She somehow managed to get her arms under his armpits, and while he was too heavy for her to keep upright, she made her own fall less awkward and carefully lower him to the ground. She was fairly sure that no one had saw them, and they were fairly well hidden by the table they were behind, so she knelt and cradled the businessman's head on her knees. "Tony? Tony what's going on?"
The brunette seemed to be having issues breathing, but his eyes sought out hers. "Bathroom."
"What?"
He tried to roll over on his side, but the action seemed to give him difficulty, so he ended up back where he was. "Get me in a bathroom."
"Um…" She scanned the room until she spotted a slightly open bathroom door. "You're in luck, Mr. Stark."
"Take this too." He passed her a briefcase she hadn't seen him with, but she didn't have time for questions. He was still struggling to breath properly, clutching at his chest and hands lingering just over his heart. As carefully and quietly as she could she looped her arms under his armpits and around his chest, the handle of the case fisted in her right hand. She dragged him to the end of the table, which left them about five feet away from the door. Serafina peeked around the edge and slid the case on its side across the carpet floor, smirking to herself when it disappeared into the darkness into the bathroom. She knelt next to Tony's head and whispered, "This might hurt a bit."
"Just do it." He grit out.
She nodded and once again looped her arms around him, taking a deep breath before quickly dragging him across the floor, putting them both in plain sight before they too vanished.
Once they were inside the youngest Grayson peered around the door and, satisfied that they had passed unnoticed, silently shut the door. She didn't dare turn the lights up very high, but she did turn them up just enough to see by. In the new lighting the New York billionaire looked entirely too pale to be healthy, his dark eyes squeezed shut and his hands balling his shirt into fists. She knelt next to him, shaking him lightly by the shoulders to get him to open his eyes. "Tony, what's going on?" She glanced nervously behind her. "What was that thing?"
The brunette unbuttoned his suit jacket and opened in, breaths uneven as he fumbled with his shirt buttons. "EMP emitter."
Serafina sat back on her heels, carding her fingers through her loose scarlet curls. "Electromagnetic pulses? But those only effect electronics, why would they do anything to y-" At that moment Stark got the last button undone and he ripped open the shirt, revealing the soft blue light of the arc reactor in his chest. Serafina's eyes went wide in the new light and she let out a quiet squeak. "Oh." As she watched the light flickered, dimming until it was almost out before brightening up again. "Is it supposed to do that?"
"If it was there wouldn't be a problem now, would there." He shot back. She was about to bite a remark back at him until his face seized up and he curled up on his side, making a little wretching sound in the back of his throat. The redhead's eyebrows knit together in concern, smart remark forgotten as she rolled the man back on his back, gently prying his hands away from the reactor. "Hey hey hey. Easy, easy. Just tell me what you need me to do."
The spasm of pain passed fairly quickly, and brown eyes finally returned to meet green. "You need to replace it."
"Okay. How?" A smile quirked up on his face and he opened his mouth to say something, but she put a finger on his lips. "And no snarky comments. Just walk me through it."
Tony leaned his head back onto the tiles of the bathroom floor, glancing between her and the flickering machine in his chest. "Okay. First thing you need to do is take it by the rim-" she carefully placed her fingertips on the edges of the reactor and shot him a look for confirmation "-just like that. Now twist it to the left and lift it straight up." The redhead slowly turned the machine in her hands, the blue light illuminating her face. When she felt in unlock in her hand she carefully lifted it out of the metal casing in his chest. She raised it up as far as it would go while it was attached to the wire that held it in the casing. "There you go, that's good. Now just yank it out." She didn't dare to question him, and the cable sparked as it was pulled out. She set the still glowing object on the ground next to her and turned back to Tony. "Now what?"
"Do you see a copper wire down there?" The youngest Grayson held back her hair and peered down into the hole in the man's chest, eyes settling on a shiny, thin wire.
"Yeah, I see it."
"Okay, now reach down in the socket and just very carefully lift it out, but don't let it touch the sides."
She glanced up at his face as she slid her fingers into the hole. "So it's like Operation?"
He smiled reassuringly. "Exactly."
Her face twisted in concentration as she felt around for the wire, but her face lit up in relief when she felt her fingers close around it. However, her unspoken nervousness was making her hands shake again, and the moment she started to lift the wire out it touched the side of the metal casing. The buzz of electricity was audible, and on the floor Tony stiffened, biting his lip to keep from making a sound.
She dropped the wire and flipped her hair out of her eyes, blinking rapidly, trying to convince herself that frustration wasn't making tears prickle in her eyes. "Damn it. I'm sorry, Tony, I'm sorry." Nervousness seeped into her voice.
He shook his head, chocolate eyes seeking out hers. "It's okay, we'll make it work. Try again."
She nodded and took a deep breath to try to calm down, reaching back in and finding the copper strand almost immediately. Despite all her efforts her hands refused to stop shaking, and she sighed in frustration. "This thing is only coming out one way."
"Fine, just don't pull out the-" He was cut off by her pulling one the wire as hard as she could, yanking out both it and the circular magnet at the end. Tony's breathing became much louder and erratic. "-magnet on the end. Okay, I was not expecting that one…"
Serafina dropped the magnet. "What? What's wrong, what did I do? What's going on?"
He looked down at the hole in his chest. "Oh nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest…"
Her emerald green eyes widened in panic. "Oh my God. Well, I'd apologize but I really don't think that's gonna cut it at this point."
"We gotta hurry." The brunette's eyes alighted on the briefcase next to her. "There should be another one in there somewhere."
The redhead took the suitcase off the floor and put in her lap, undoing the buckles on either side of the handle. When she opened it she found a metal rectangle taking up the majority of the space, and in the corner was another glowing reactor just like the one she had just taken out of Tony's chest. She gingerly lifted it and nudged the suitcase out of her lap with her elbow. "Do you just keep these things lying around?"
Tony shot her a look. "Can we just focus, please?"
Serafina smiled apologetically, leaning over the metal socket. "Sorry, I'm snarky when I'm scared."
Tony leaned his head back into the floor. "Okay, now just attach it to the base plate." She held the cable at the end of the reactor and carefully lowered it into the hole. "And make s-sure you…" His voice started to fade as his eyes fluttered closed. At that moment she found where the cable should go, and she plugged it into the base plate. A loud electrical buzz sounded, and the billionaire's eyes snapped open. Serafina released a breath she didn't know she had been holding and pushed the ARC reactor into the casing, rotating it to the right until she heard it lock in place. She held her hands up like she was surrendering as the dark eyes man pushed himself up on his elbows. The soft blue light radiating from the machine was a new found comfort to her. It let her know that she did it right and that Tony was still alive. "I'm done.
Tony glanced down at the glowing machinery then back up at her. "Good job. Was that so hard?"
She laughed breathlessly. "Harder than you would ever believe." She watched him button up his shirt and strip off his jacket. "Now what?"
"Hand me the case." She nodded and slid the briefcase across the tiles to him. He hoisted the massive metal block out of it and put it on the floor. She had no idea what he did, but he pressed a button or pulled a lever or something that made the rectangle snap open like it had hinges. She jumped almost involuntarily as he stood up and lifted the thing up onto his chest and held out his arms. She felt her jaw drop and she watched as the metal unfolded and expanded around his body, creating a cocoon of red and gold armor around him. The ARC reactor seemed to glow brighter as it was covered by a clear cover surrounded by yet more armor. When the entire process was done his whole body was decked in red and gold. He had taken his helmet off so she could still see his face, but other than that it was all armor. The thing was a marvel of engineering, sleek and shiny. For a moment she was completely speechless, but she sat back on her heels and put her hands on her hips, saying as loud as she dared, "Who carries a briefcase with metal armor and a spare freakin' heart to a fund raiser anyway?"
Tony rolled his eyes, flexing his muscles under the suit. "Obviously someone who is prepared for everything."
Serafina snorted. "Says the man wearing a tin can."
Tony looked indignant and tapped his knuckles against his body armor. "Hey, the stuff this suit is made if is the best bullet protection ever invented."
The redhead folded her legs next to her and crossed her arms over her chest, looking up at him from the floor. "Really? My favorite kind of protection is avoiding situations were people can shoot at me."
Tony seemed to contemplate her words, and shrugged nonchalantly. "That's good too."
"I thought so." The New York billionaire offered her a metal gloved hand and she took it, letting him help her to her feet. "Thank you." She brushed off her skirt and ran her fingers through her hair, glancing at the door. "So now what?"
"Now the superheroes-" the helmet and the mask came over his head and face. "-kick all kinds of major ass."
He reached for the doorknob, but she grabbed his wrist. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Well, I think I'm about to go stop a robbery. Why, did you have a different idea?"
"Going out there is suicide! Two-Face may be crazy, but he's smart, I'll give him that. He always has a contingency plan, it's part of how he operates." She held up two fingers. "Obsession with twos, remember? Two plans, a primary and a backup. It's like insurance, in case Batman shows up."
Tony's eyebrows shot to the ceiling under the helmet. "Batman?"
Serafina rolled her eyes. "You out-of-towners are so clueless." The man managed to look indignant even in a mask, but when he made a move to speak she held up a hand to silence him. "Look, it's not important. What is important is that Two-Face has experience dealing with heroes. And you have none dealing with him."
He raised a gloved finger in an "ah-ha!" position. "But he has none dealing with me."
"I just said-"
"You just said he's dealt with this Batman person. He's never met me before. I'm a totally new animal." She looked like she fiercely wanted to argue back, but he took her by the shoulders, effectively cutting off any objection she might have had on the tip of her tongue. "Look, I'll be fine. Just stay out of trouble, okay?"
She looked reluctant, but she nodded slowly anyway. Tony smiled and patted her on the head. "Good girl. I'll be back before you know it."
He started to move toward the door, but she stopped him again. "Wait."
He sighed in agitation and was about to bite back a reprimand when she pressed her ear to the door, listening intently. A smirk quirked up on her lips as she turned back to him. "Looks like you're a little tardy to the party."
His eyebrows knits together as she stepped aside and motioned for him to listen. The brunette pressed his ear to the door and heard gunshots and screaming on the other side. Serafina crossed her arms over her chest. "If you're going to go you better go now before there's nothing left for you to do."
He nodded briskly. "Right." However, instead of leaving, he bent over and reached into the briefcase at his feet. "Here, take this." He tossed her a Bluetooth earpiece, small, slender and dark blue. She fixed it in her ear, and almost immediately a British voice said in her ear, "Hello, Miss Grayson."
She raised her eyebrows and glanced at Tony, almost checking to see if she was insane before she hesitantly answered, "Uh, hi?"
"That's JARVIS. He'll keep you company. I'll be right back." And with that he was gone and the door was shut again, leaving her alone in a dark bathroom with his British AI. The redhead out her hands on her hips. "Does he do this often?"
"Unfortunately." The computer replied dryly.
"Fantastic." The youngest Grayson leaned against the bathroom counter. "So, JARVIS was it?" She took the computer's silence as a yes, so she continued. "Where do you fit into all this? The robot butler?"
"In crude terms, miss. I also assist Mr. Stark in operating the Iron Man suit."
She raised her eyebrows. "Iron Man, huh? So the suit is made of iron?"
"Not quite. It is a combination of titanium alloys, carbon, and a mixture of other materials, including inner padding to protect the body."
She whistled appreciatively. "Impressive. So you're actually in the suit?"
"Yes Miss Grayson. My programming is uploaded into the suits operating system."
"So you control the suit?"
"Not precisely. I monitor the status of the suit, analyze enemy weak points, and run to computational programs nessesary for the user to interface with the armor."
"So it's kinda like heightening Tony's senses."
"In a manner of speaking. I also monitor Mr. Stark's physical status: heart rate, brain activity, et cetera."
She nodded, forgetting for the moment that the computer couldn't see her. She was about to say something when she heard something slam into the door. The loud thump made her jump, and she glanced suspiciously at it, pushing off the counter and walking slowly toward it. "Are you monitoring Tony right now?"
"Yes. His body is functioning normally, and the suit is operating at maximum efficiency."
"Hm. Good to know." A beat of silence, then she threw her hands up in the air and reached for the doorknob. "To hell with this, I'm not waiting."
"Miss Grayson Mr. Stark told you-"
"Screw what Tony said! I can't just stand here doing nothing while he's outside the door dealing with one of Arkham's most insane inmates!"
She turned the knob and opened the door a crack, peeking out into ballroom. She couldn't see much more than a hectic blur of bright colors, gunmetal grey, flashes of grey that must have been Bruce, and bursts of bright light she assumed was Tony zipping around the room. She took advantage of the chaos and slipped out of the bathroom and ducked behind the punch table, which had somehow managed not to get tipped over. Serafina peered over the top, ducking when a bottle of wine smashed against the wall where her head was a second earlier. A man in black- one of Two Face's hired guns- was sprinting as fast as he could toward a semi-automatic machine gun lying in the floor next to the table she was hiding behind. The redhead stuck her foot out, tripping the man and send him sprawling across the floor. In a split second she was on top of him, forcing the guy into a sleeper hold. He struggled violently before going limp in her arms. She dropped his head on the hardwood floor with a thump, reaching over his body for the gun. It was a massive thing, heavy and sturdy. She hoisted it up to chest level, gripping it by the stock. She flipped it over and held it up like a baseball bat, effectively turning the firearm into a club. She flipped her hair out of her face, green eyes steeled and determined. And with that she jumped into the fray.
She abandoned the gun she had taken out a few men. As much satisfaction as it gave her to hear the dull thud of their bodies hitting the floor, it wasted too much energy to swing the weapon and then raise it up again. The thing felt like it weighed a ton. Secondly, she really hated the sound of the butt smacking the men in the back of the head, and almost unconsciously she knelt down next to them to make sure she hadn't split their skulls open. After she dropped the gun she used anything she could as a weapon: mostly a combination of punches and kicks Bruce had already taught her, though once she slammed a broken wooden chair leg against the side of a guy's head when he got just a little too close for comfort. She occasionally caught glimpses of Tony, bursting through seemingly unending waves of men and zipping through the room at unparalleled speeds, like he was a red and gold hummingbird on a caffeine high. That would make her smile, and then she would kick a man exceptionally hard and push him out of the way to take on the next one.
Between herself, Iron Man, and Batman (who she assumed was still around somewhere) they had the rest of the small army Two Face had brought down within minutes. Serafina beamed at the room full of unconscious men, and despite the fact that the room had been destroyed and she was positive that her dress was torn beyond repair she couldn't have felt more happy. She was standing at the front of the room, right next to where there had been a massive glass cradle filled with money supported by two polished oak columns. The glass had long since shattered, leaving shards of glass, green bills, and a pair of poles with nothing but air between them. She dusted off her hands and was about to walk off n search of Tony when she heard a splintering sound behind her. The redhead whipped around to one of the massive wooden pillars toppling over, set to fall right on top of her. In that split second her feet felt glued to the floor, so she put her arms up in some effort to shield her head and screamed as loud as she could.
And then she was flying. Wind tugged at her dress, threading through her scarlet curls like paper thin fingers. She could feel cool metal under her legs and under her back, carrying her as what sounded like rocket thrusters propelled the pair forward, cutting through the air like a knife through butter. She registered the loud crash of the column falling where she had been standing moments before. And just as soon as the sensation started, it stopped. She was being set back on her feet, high heels clicking lightly on the flooring. Serafina glanced up at Iron Man, who was giving her a disapproving look through his mask. "I thought I told you to stay in the bathroom."
She grinned mischievously. "You did. I just don't respond to authority figures very well."
"Serafina!" The youngest Grayson turned around to see her twin sprinting towards her as fast as he could. When he got to her he hugged her as tight. "God, I've been looking everywhere for you! What happened?"
"I'm fine, Dickie." She pulled back from her brother. "I was hiding but things just got a little out of hand."
She could see right through it, but she had to admit he put on a fantastic show of being a panicked young ward. "Have you seen Bruce?" She shook her head. "I'm going to go look for him. Two Face has been dealt with, so are you going to be okay on your own."
She nodded. "I'll be fine. Go find Bruce." With a quick smile and a nod in Iron Man's direction Dick was off in search of the Wayne, leaving Tony and Serafina alone again. She absentmindedly kick a pebble on the ground. "Thanks for grabbing me back there. I don,t much care for the idea of being a pancake."
"And thank you for replacing this," he tapped the glowing spot where the ARC reactor was. "I don't care for the idea of being dead."
She smiled and was about to make a snippy remark when just over his shoulder she spotted a formerly unconscious gunmen rise shakily to his feet and point a gun at the unsuspecting vigilante's back. Serafina went on autopilot. "Look out!"
She quickly slipped past the man in iron and kicked the gun out of the hired man's hands, a few practiced and well aimed blows bringing him to his knees. He kicked her legs out from under her, but her fingers found the neck of an empty champagne bottle, and she smashed it over the guy's skull. Almost instantly he slumped and fell on top of her, so she dropped the remainder of the bottle and pushed him off, rising to her feet. The redhead glanced back at her brunette companion, who was staring at her in astonishment. "You just… how did…"
Serafina laughed and threw an arm around his armor covered shoulders, leading him towards the back door. "Come on Tony. I have a few things to explain to you."
A/N: And there you have it! The longest chapter to date. A friend of mine from school actually suggested it, since he and I both are Iron Man fans , and I thought it was a cool idea, and then this happened. Hope y'all enjoyed it! Quick announcement: I will not be updating this story or 'Some Things Don't Stay Buried' for the next three weeks. I'm going to a summer camp where I will have little to no Internet access. I will be working on chapters while I'm there so I'll hopefully have some stuff when I get back, so PLEASE REVIEW! They are so incredibly encouraging to me, and I love seeing what y'all think. Also, leave an idea if you have one for something you'd like to see. I've got a few ideas, but you guys come up with such fun and creative ones, and I'm really dying to see them. For now though, stay traught!