Before anything, this is not a shipping with my OC. They're relationship is going to be friends/family, so it would be kind of weird. I haven't watched the Ironman movies in some time, so I'm not going to type the dialogues and scenes EXACTLY the same. Also, because that would be boring to write and read. On we go!
Four weeks. That's how long it took for Tony Stark to come back home. Four excruciating weeks.
That morning when Tony left, everything seemed like the usual. The mansion was empty, well except for me but I never count. I decided to explore new things for borrowing. After getting what I needed that wouldn't be noticed, I then went to the edge of the cliff and explored more of Malibu.
I was organizing my stockroom, again, when I heard Mrs. Potts coming in. I thought she had come to retrieve something, but she sounded like she was very anxious. I went through the vents to see what had her in such a worry. Some of her words traveled through the vents.
"Missing.. I don't know, he was heading to some Weapons Expo…" I started running.
When I reached the vent that faced the living room, I could see her pacing with her cellphone in her hand. She looked the most preoccupied I've ever seen her.
"He needs you more than me, James. Please, just go and look for him." She hung up. That must have been James Rhodes or Rhodey, a friend of Tony's.
Mrs. Potts then began making other calls and telling Jarvis to contact other people. After hearing a couple of calls, I had gathered enough information to know that Tony had been kidnapped in the middle of a desert in Afghanistan.
Damn it, how did he manage to get in this kind of situations? He could be dead or hurt for all that I know. But he was going to come back, he had to. He was going to walk that door and act as he had just went to Las Vegas.
But even as days turned into weeks, and Tony still didn't show up, I kept on hoping. Mrs. Potts began to stay in the Stark mansion to check on any updates on the search. She sometimes fell asleep on the couch out of pure exhaustion. I helped as I could in the little things. I would sometimes leave her some food, so she could at least eat every once in a while. I also had an extension of the database in my makeshift home so I could check on what information came from Rhodey or any nearby locations in the area where he went missing. But for weeks, there was nothing.
Just when I was making my mind to hop on any direct flights to Afghanistan, Rhodey called with news that they had found him. Mrs. Potts didn't know whether to laugh or cry out of happiness, of course she only showed this when she thought she was alone. She immediately headed for the airport in which he would be brought from Afghanistan. I wished I could come too, but it was too big the risk of being "seen".
Rhodey also said that he was found with some type of robotic armor that was broken to pieces. Only Tony could pull that off.
I was waiting anxiously for Tony to come back, I would only believe it myself until I saw him. Deep down, I knew I cared for him more than what was normal in a Borrower. Most Borrowers didn't care what happened to the Beans living in the house, unless, of course, if it meant moving or changing something that would affect them directly.
But this was different. After years of staying in here, I felt some kind of understanding with him, even if he didn't know that I existed. Watching him work, seeing him have such a passion towards engineering, the type of music he liked… That was what made me stay after all this time. I don't want to sound like an obsessive stalker, but he made me want to improve myself in my own work, be more like him.
I waited impatiently for him to come back. Finally, after hours of waiting, he walked through that door. Tony seemed… different, and it wasn't the fact that he was skinnier and paler than before. When Mrs. Potts started asking him all type of questions about his wellbeing, he responded with his usual snarky comments, but they seemed forced. He quickly hushed her out of the mansion and headed towards the bar. He then began drinking out of his strongest reserves. While this wasn't all too shocking, I was getting more concerned by the minute. Tony only drank this much when he wanted to forget, usually in the anniversary of the death of his parents.
He was constantly touching his chest, like if he wasn't comfortable. Then, when he took off his shirt, I gasped. There was some kind of light emanating out of his chest. It was circular and with bits of metal surrounding it. It seemed unnatural, like something out of a Bean's scifi movie. What exactly had happened in Afghanistan?