Chapter 3 – O Ye of Little Faith, 2005

Tony sat back in his seat on his private jet with a glass of scotch, on ice, in his hand. He was listening, vaguely, to a news report on the television, all he knew was some hot blonde chick was giving a report on a sighting for some 'Big Foot' creature.
"Sir?" said a voice, high and angelic, Sophia, his personal assistant, now Pepper was 'retired'.
"I'm fine, Sophia," Tony said, "Just…thinking."
Sophia smirked and sat down opposite him, "That's dangerous, Tony," she said with a knowing tone.

Tony gave her a dry smirk, "Very funny, Miss Reynolds." He said and drained his scotch. "What does my schedule look like for today?" he asked.
Sophia took a deep breath, and opened her portfolio, which Tony often joked she should have grafted into her hand since she never put it down.
"At 1300 hours you have an appointment to oversee the design plans for the S.H.I.E.L.D Triskelion, then you will have a half an hour window in which to, well, do whatever it is Tony Stark does in his spare time," she glanced at him, "Then at 1515 hours you have to accompany your wife to Maria's parents evening at school, God help them with that. But first you have to meet with Nick Fury aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Hellicarrier, which is why your ass had to be dragged out of bed at half past 7 this morning, and, I'm assuming, the reason you've already finished that bottle of whiskey." She pointed out.

"It's scotch," Tony corrected her as he poured the last of the bottle into the glass.
"You have a problem, Tony," Sophia said softly.
"I have a problem, yes, but not with alcohol. Half past 7 shouldn't exist." Tony retorted, which made Sophia sigh and look at her watch.
"You should at least go and freshen up, we'll be arriving shortly."
Tony gave her a mock salute and stood up, glass in hand, and walked away towards his private bedroom.

On the landing deck of the Hellicarrier, Nick Fury was awaiting the arrival of Tony Stark's personal jet. He stood in his uniform; black, with his hands held behind his back, his black trench coat acting like a cape and making him appear easily ten times more ominous.
Fury watched the huge white jet appear out of the clouds and touch down a few inches from crashing into the side of the carrier, and pulled to a stop half way along the length of the impressive ship.

Tony straightened his tie, and looked at Sophia, "How's your mother?" he asked.
Sophia looked up in surprise. Tony had met her mother when his father was still alive, she had been working for Howard Stark before he died. Vanessa Reynolds* had been born with a rare heart condition, but by the time a potential cure had been created, by none other than Tony himself, it was too late. Tony felt bad about not being able to help Vanessa after she had been so close and kind to himself and his father, he offered an unlimited supply of money, to make sure she was comfortable in her final years. Tony felt bad, the technology that he created, that kept him alive and pushing on in life, was the only thing that could have saved Vanessa.

"She's uh…she's surviving." Sophia said with a slight crack to her voice.
"I am sorry," Tony said quietly, "I wish I could do more."
"I know, Mister Stark." Sophia said, and then cleared her throat.
Tony nodded, "Ladies first, Miss Reynolds." He said softly and let her lead.
Sophia smiled and walked ahead, clutching the portfolio to her chest. She knew Tony could be a jerk, but when it really mattered, he had a heart; his wife knew that, and she had the first model of his chest reactor on display in their home.

"Stark." Fury barked as soon as Tony appeared at the top of the stairs.
Tony sighed, and was already unfastening his shirt cuffs, "Good morning, General." Tony said with a false smile.
Fury rolled his eyes, "Let's go," he said and walked over to a large metal door, Tony and Sophia in tow.
"How long are we going to be, General? I have an urgent appointment to attend to," Tony half lied, he'd not had breakfast that morning…

Once they were in a large meeting room, with a long table, with large black leather swivel chairs, and a projector showing the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo against a screen, Nick took on a much more official stance.
"I just want to know where my upgrades are." Nick started, "I've been waiting for months, I need the War Machine weapons, the new guns you promised us three weeks ago," he said, "I'm trying to win a war here, Tony," he said.

Tony glanced at Sophia, who was sitting in the seat behind him, and looked at Fury.

"General Fury, the weapons are all ready to be picked up, I've been waiting for someone to sign the release forms, the upgrades for Rhodey's armour have taken a little more time than I would like," he added, "I've been working on some new bits and pieces, upgrading the ARC reactor that runs my goddamn heart is pretty high on my list,"
Nick grimaced.
"Hey, Nicholas, if I wasn't here, where would you get your weapons from?"
Fury had to admit he had a point.

"Fine, Tony," Fury replied. "Just get them done," he said, "Where do you want me to sign?"
With this Sophia stood up and pulled some papers from her portfolio, and handed them, along with a pen, to Fury, who put them on the table and signed them in all the right places.
As he watched, Tony steepled his fingers and rested his chin on his thumbs.
"Pleasure doing business with you, General," Tony said and stood up, "Forgive me if I don't shake your hand, I believe that after signing that you feel you have to wash your hands now," he said. "Sophia." He added and left the room.

Tony sighed quietly and sat back on the plane; after the surprisingly short meeting with Nick Fury, Tony had been given about 3 hours in which he could do…anything he wanted. He lifted his glass of Scotch and looked at Sophia, "Think we can stop by Burger King on the way home?"
Sophia gave him a disapproving look, "Tony…"
Tony rolled his eyes, "I know, I know, Pepper's stuck me on this diet," he said, "Let's go home."
"You should go to the office, there is some paperwork that I need you to look at before we meet for the Triskelion," Sophie started but Tony interrupted her.
"You said I had a meeting about that anyway,"
"You do, sir, but,"
"Well I can do the papers then, right?"

Sophia sighed, "Yes, Mister Stark." She stood up and left the room, her portfolio still in hand, to go and talk to the pilot.
Tony sat back and sighed quietly, staring into his glass for a few seconds before looking out of the window at the tops of the clouds.

**DISCLAIMER #2**

Vanessa Reynolds is a character not of my own creation (however her daughter is.) Vanessa Reynolds was created by FF member Angelus The Scourge of Europe and used on an Iron Man RP, in which I briefly played my own character before taking over the role of Mr. Stark, sadly the roleplay is now dead

I contacted Angelus asking permission to use the character, and haven't received a reply as of yet, but I hope that Angelus will take my apology in this disclaimer nicely. I am very sorry for not waiting, but I always liked the Vanessa character and her back story.