Chapter 23
"He didn't say anything about-" Rhodey and Bruce's voices echoed through the hallway as Tony came down the hall which led to the main room.
"Didn't say anything about what?" Tony called from the doorway, entering like he'd never left.
"Nothing." Bruce shook his head as if it didn't matter. "What was all that about? Flying off in the middle of the conversation?" Bruce said back with not so much as a worry about having this conversation in front of Rhodey.
"Sorry." Tony seemed genuinely sorry for all of two seconds, before he turned to Rhodey. "You brought the war machine?"
Rhodey nodded, expecting him to go back to talking to Bruce.
"In the workshop?" Tony continued, heading down the concrete steps.
"Yeah, Tony wait a second." Rhodey gave Bruce an apologetic look and followed Tony down the steps, where he'd already moved on from what he'd flown away for, where he had already begun another project. Like he always did.
"He at least deserves a chance to know why you left?" Rhodey suggested from where he stepped through the doorframe.
"He'll get over it, I've got bigger fish to fry than Banner's feelings." Tony mumbled the last bit with a worried glance at the door, hoping Bruce hadn't heard that.
"Like what?" Rhodey knew about the metal, and he knew it might be important, but since when did Tony put a science experiment in front of his friends? Those two were usually inseparable.
"This- " Tony waved at the metal being scanned underneath a machine. "Got in my tower. Under my surveillance! If I can't keep the damn tower safe, then what's the point in putting the suit on?!" Tony looked over at the red and gold suit he'd rebuilt after his house blew up. That was the same model, the same colors, he'd worn during the battle of New York. And he couldn't for the life of him get it out of his head.
"The point is, you're trying. No one else out there has a suit made of titanium alloy that they use to fight bad guys on a regular basis sitting in their basement, do they?" Rhodey came over to where the suits stood behind glass containers, temporarily accompanied by the War Machine parked outside the containers.
"Technically this is above ground, the basement is a few floors down." Tony said with a reproachful glance aimed at his friend.
"I knew there was a reason people called you a genius, I just didn't realize it was synonyms with smartass." Rhodey said with a smile, thinking about the time before iron man, when Tony was just Tony. Everything was so much simpler, but it was much duller too.
Tony smiled at that, then grabbed the metal out of the machine when it beeped to let them know it was finished.
"So the question is... Did you come from Rhodey-... Or did you come from some other whack job?" Tony spoke quietly, mostly to himself, but loud enough that Rhodey could hear him.
"Hey!" Rhodey interjected with a stern look that turned into a laugh.
"Jarvis! 3D scan of the War Machine armor, find a place this could've come from." Tony called to his AI, bringing a blue holograph of the war machine armor to his fingertips.
"Nope." Tony said in disappointment after nearly twenty minutes of looking at the small model.
"Then where would it have come from?" Rhodey inquired after a long silence.
"Someplace, maybe Thor could tell us more. I mean, the metal isn't known to Earth." Tony suggested, earning an unbelievable look from Rhodey, who still didn't fully trust the other avengers, especially one who was a greek "myth".
Another short one, but to tell you guys the truth, I PREFER shorter chapters when I read fan fiction, is the feeling mutual? Review below to let me know.
Because if you'd prefer longer chapters, I'd be happy to oblige.
-MarvelLuver