It was nearly eleven at night when Jimmy got me back home. The house was dark as we drove up, meaning neither Tony or Pepper were back yet; maybe they were dancing the night away, as my inner romantic hoped and prayed. After all, I'd just gotten back from a good dinner with Jimmy, followed by a no-holds-barred action flick, which is one of my personal favorite types. I easily swung out of his truck, giving him a wave as I walked up to the front door. The door unlocked itself, lights came on, and I was greeted by Jarvis, saying, "Good evening, Miss Stark. I trust you had a pleasant evening?"
"Absolutely fabulous, Jarvy," I informed him as I headed upstairs to my room to get out of my dress and heels. "Heard anything from Tony, or Pepper, about getting back?"
"Nothing, Miss Stark."
"All right then, the night is still young...prep up the mark two, please, and upload Mina, thank you Jarvy..."
I swore I heard him grumbling under his breath; Jarvis wasn't particularly fond of the new addition to the mansion's mainframe, but I wasn't particularly fond of him being close to my personal data, so I'd done the one thing that made sense: I designed my own AI. Mina's name was, like Jarvis', an acronym; while Jarvy was, in full, Just A Really Very Intelligent Servant – way to go, Tony, on finding a way to put words together to somehow make sense – Mina was short for Mental Imaging Network Artificial. Maybe mine's a little more functional than Tony's, but, hey, I tried. And, as it turned out, Mina was a few times faster and smarter than Jarvy.
I slid into my room to get out of my dress, and then pulled on leggings, long-sleeve shirt, and slipper socks before careening down to the garage. Waiting for me was a large set of intelligent robots, and I quickly sprang onto the platform Tony and I had specially figured out for when we were ready for the live tests. I made sure to stay stock-still as I was encased in the silvery metal armor, keeping my eyes shut so that I didn't feel claustrophobic when the helmet was clamped into place. It was only when I saw the reddish flicker through my eyelids that I reopened my eyes, and the world was wide open to me.
"Mental Imaging Network Artificial downloaded," stated a cool recording of Keira Knightley's voice in my ears, before I heard a faint chuckle. "Andy, I'm surprised at you. Going at it this late?"
"What can I say, I get restless when I go to parties I'm not excited to be at," I replied, grinning as Mina kept chuckling. "All right, run the moving surface test or whatever, pick up a few diagnostics, and let's roll."
"Will do," Mina agreed, and I remained still, letting the weight of the armor settle over my shoulders as all the moving plates shifted, clicking and hissing before Mina finished running the test and flashed me a confirmation. "Andy, just what are you planning?"
"You know what they say, Mina," I replied as I crouched a little, eyeing the ramp that led up to the surface. "Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk. Rockets, on five."
"I don't think this is a good idea..." Mina moaned as she brought up the flight interface anyway, but by then it was too late. I'd started sprinting, full-tilt, towards the ramp, arms pumping at my side as I counted up from one. Two, and I was drawing away from the work area. Four, and I was nearly to the door.
"Five!"
I leaned forward, snapping my arms against my sides with my palms angled to my feet. There was a roar from the region of my feet, and I couldn't help but let out a mild shriek of surprise as I flew, curving up the ramp and shooting skyward. My stomach roiled in shock as I panicked a little, struggling to compensate for all the power pushing me upright, circling over the house before I leveled out, my breath coming in sharp gasps as my panic eventually ebbed back. The heads-up display showed a standard pilot's setup, with the horizon lock and scrolling scale to measure the angle I was flying at. Right now, thankfully, it read zero.
"Andy, please tell me you're still alive," Mina spoke up finally, jarring me awake and managing a nod. Of course, my minor loss of concentration made me drop a few feet, and I yelped until I straightened again, cruising steadily along the coast, but going relatively slowly. See, one of my big fears is flying, which is why I drive or take a train everywhere I needed to go, so me, in the air, pretty much all by myself, was terrifying. But as I flew in silence, my fears very slowly bled away. I looked around, realizing that I was in the clouds, and it actually wasn't that bad. Just for grins, I laid on speed, and I whooped in delight as I shot forward, and I was bold enough to try some looping, corkscrewing, and other fighter patterns I'd seen at air shows, on television, all that jazz. It was the most amazing thing ever.
I was almost to the border before I turned back, going a little bit faster than I already had been. Of course, that was about the time when I heard a ringing in my ear; the Bluetooth enhancer that Tony insisted on had picked up my cell phone, all the way back home.
"It's Tony," Mina informed me briskly as she brought up the ID. "Shall I put in a course for home, then?"
"Nah," I replied, smirking a little. "Head for the Disney concert hall; and put him through, will ya?"
Of course, the shift from manual to autopilot freaked me out, and I again caused a sudden dip before Mina took over, leveling out slightly, though she was wobbly; she kept shifting and adjusting position, even as she put Tony's call through.
"Andy, where are you?" he asked me before I could offer a proper hello. Mina dipped again, and I fought back a screech so I could answer.
"Tony, now's not the best time," I moaned as my stomach started lurching again. "Oh, God, I must be insane..." His end was dead silent for a few seconds, allowing Mina to get the suit a little more in hand before he replied so suddenly I started dropping again.
"I thought you were going to wait for me to spot you!" he complained, and I managed a snort as Mina recovered, flying straight as the lights of Los Angeles because more and wider.
"Well, too bad!" I managed to laugh as I blinked the autopilot off. Thankfully, the transition was instantaneous, and I stayed still as I kept cruising. Note to self: don't let Mina fly. "Tell me you're still at the benefit, I wanna buzz and scare the crap out of some reporters."
"Yeah, I am," he groaned a little; it sounded like his night hadn't gone as well as mine had. "Though if anymore of those reporters give me a funny look or ask me another question, I'm getting out of here."
"So you wanna have me scare them off?" I asked as I did a very bold loop-the-loop, and I was pleasantly surprised that my stomach didn't squirm as badly. Besides, I didn't want to gate-crash just to scare the reporters. This suit, this brilliant invention I was currently encased in, wasn't just my work; it was Tony's, too, and that made it something to share with him by default. And that made this project special.
"Yeah," Tony replied, and I could hear the mischievous grin on his face. "Yeah, stop by. Maybe I'll pretend to like the press until you arrive."
I had to laugh; Tony before the cave wouldn't have even called to ask after me. This was one of the better developments I'd heard since that attack. The line closed, and I wove among the skyscrapers of downtown LA before I spotted – or, rather, Mina spotted and I noticed – the flashing spotlights and red carpet outside the hall. I grinned a little as I eased vertical, having Mina curb the power so I descended easily until I was about fifteen feet above the ground, still out of sight, but some people, with cameras, were starting to notice.
"Kill power," I declared, and I dropped like a stone the rest of the way. I landed in a thundering crouch, and the concrete split from the force under my feet. I glanced up when I saw the press, dead silent for the first time ever since I'd moved in with Tony and faces pasty white for all of fifteen seconds before the questions started roiling, not to me, but to the smirking Tony, who turned to wink at me as I straightened and walked over to him, offering a nod.
"I think it works splendidly," I remarked, and I liked the way the speaker transformed my voice, so it didn't sound like me. "What do you think?"
Tony wasn't able to reply, because the press were screaming questions at him, and he tried to wave them into quiet so he could speak to me. But I noticed someone else was watching, his smile gone, his gaze dark and calculating as he stroked his chin. Sorry, Stane; you're not getting your hands on this.
"I agree," Tony eventually said, once the hubbub of the reporters had quieted in quiet awe. "But we might need some finishing touches." The valet brought up Tony's car, and I walked him to it before he turned back to the press, calling out, "We'll send out the invites for the conference when we've got the final testing complete."
I swallowed down a snort and snapped him a smart salute. Like we'd ever give this up for the various factions of the world stage to blow themselves and each other up with. I turned once Tony was settled in the driver's seat, closing the door before turning to glare at Stane. I knew what he saw: a threatening, menacing visor, glowing faintly red from an inch-wide slit that acted as my exterior eyes. I saw him shudder involuntarily, and I grinned fiercely in private before I stuck up both hands in a rude gesture before taking off. Oh, the look on his face had been priceless.
I had Mina call Tony before I crowed, "Did you see the look on his face? Ha, the bastard never saw this coming!"
Tony laughed a little with me, and it felt so good to share this moment with him.
"Now, just to give him a good excuse to keep his hands off you and the armor."
"Aw, you'd do that?" I asked, half-jokingly. The other half was in warm pleasure; he was sticking up for me again. "Well, just don't tell him I went back to DC. That'd really screw my cover."
"Trust me, I'll play it smart," Tony assured me as I rolled around in the air. The feeling of freedom and mobility was almost intoxicating; not even Mom had helped me feel this good about life before. Of course, as it is with my mind's functions, thinking about Mom got me to think about Dad, and that letter. I frowned a little, wondering what it contained. Was it what I figured it would be, one last dig against me and everything I'd done wrong? Or was it the one thing he'd never given me: love? But no matter what was in there, I knew one thing: I could never forgive Howard Stark for the way he treated me for twelve years.
I eventually closed the cell line as I unconsciously raced Tony back home. Of course, I easily cruised down the ramp and righted myself on the ground before Tony arrived, and I sighed before prying my helmet off. I was suddenly struck by a rush of emotion, so much that I wanted to cry. So much had happened in just one night. I'd gone on my first date. I'd realized that Tony and I had suddenly grown up, and we couldn't go back in time and fix things that we should have fixed. We'd missed so much of what had happened to us that when I came here I didn't know my own brother.
I wanted to blame him. Blame Dad for everything wrong, for holding me back and putting me down and separating me from Tony. But it wasn't his fault. It was mine; I hadn't stepped up to prove him wrong, to run to Tony as soon as I possibly could. Everything wrong between Tony and me was because of me.
And I felt like crap for about five minutes before the Audi roared into the garage behind me. I turned to see Tony stepping out, a goofy smile plastered on his face, and I saw in his eyes just how proud of me, his kid sister, he was. And I couldn't help it; I bounded toward him, suddenly gone from depressed to bubbly and excited. Maybe I'm bipolar.
"Did you see me?" I asked, nearly bouncing off the floor, hungry for the praise Dad had starved me of. "I was flying, oh, man, it was so amazing!"
"Proud of ya, Andy," he told me fondly as he reached to rub at my self-cut hair, and I felt something inside me glow as he continued, "Yes, I mean that, I'm trying to lose the insensitive jerk status."
Tony gave me a proud smirk, and I couldn't stop myself. I threw my arms around him, still armored up, and hugged him tight. Something inside me was so, so happy that the both of us were working so hard to get back what we had. If only Mom hadn't died, I mentally sighed as Tony fiercely returned my embrace. If only Dad had loved me, too. All the bad stuff wouldn't have happened: no Obi, no separation, or at least a less painful one.
Then again, I mused, it was only the two of us now. Maybe that was how it was supposed to be.
We hugged on each other for a long time, before I smirked to myself and snickered faintly, "I can't wait for you to make one, bro. Bet you'll scream when you fly for the first time."
"Bet not," he shot back with a wink and a smile before he turned to the computers at the workstation as I stepped onto the platform so the house robots could get me out of the suit. "Maybe I should, if the formula works..."
"Remember, stealth is my forte," I informed him as I stepped off the platform, a spring in my step because I was about ninety pounds lighter as I crossed to the kitchenette and turned on the late-night news. But the spring faded when I saw exactly where the reporter was: Afghanistan. I paid closer attention now: a town called Gulmira, attacked by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings. An ice cube dropped down the back of my throat and down my spine when I saw our old friend the leader of the terrorists I'd thought were exterminated when Tony and I had escaped. He'd survived with nothing more than a roasted face.
"Tony! Get a look at this!" I called out as I turned up the volume. I heard Tony turn in his chair, and after a few seconds of watching intently he swore under his breath.
"Thought we'd wiped them out..."
"So did I," I replied as the camera view shifted to some combat action in Gulmira, watching Ten Rings goons gun down innocent families. I itched to get my suit back on, get out there and beat their collective face in. But after that initial idea, I got one better. After all, stealth was my forte, wasn't it? I glanced ceiling-ward, like I usually did when talking to Jarvis.
"Jarvy, get me when it's midnight out there, and paint my suit black. Matte, night-black."
Tony got to his feet and offered me a shoulder squeeze before I went up to my room, powering up my computers. I had to do this on my own, and I wasn't going to leave a one of them standing. I skillfully hacked the satellite feeds above Gulmira, getting aerial recon images and maps of the terrain around the town that I uploaded to Mina. All the while, I kept one screen on a news site, following all the latest reports coming from Gulmira.
I didn't sleep. I was too angry to sleep. These guys had to figure out that they couldn't walk out and take out anyone they wanted. I was going to help them along.
Time passed quickly as I researched and prepped, and the sun was already glimmering through my blinds when Jarvis informed me of the time in Afghanistan, and that my suit was ready when I was. I made sure to thank him for the trouble before heading back downstairs, ignoring the envelope lying on a side table as I turned to drop down to the garage. Tony had left, but the door featured a note taped to the front, bearing three simple phrases: Good luck, be careful, love you. I forced a painful swallow as I tugged the note free and kissed it before putting it in my pocket. That was all I needed to know.
I stepped onto the platform again, ramrod straight as the black plates and gleaming inner mechanisms descended. I let the plates entirely lock into place and engage before I smacked my visor down and had the HUD flash to life.
I ran a short distance before firing up the rockets and sailing out, turning to fly over the Pacific. I was going to finish this once and for all.
