Chapter 6: Tony Plays the Council Like a Fiddle
In a matter of minutes Tony Stark had boarded the Helicarrier and stepped out of his suit. He hadn't bothered asking for permission to land there and, judging by the eyerolls of the crew, they hadn't expected him to. At this point all of S.H.I.E.L.D. knew of his aversion to answering to an authority other than his own.
Tony didn't pay them any attention and marched through the helicarrier like he owned the place. Really he only built, designed, and planned the whole thing. In other words he knew exactly where to go in order to speak with Fury. The World Council Room. Or the Douchebag Room as Tony liked to call it. An Alien distress call would probably have them all in fits and arguing over the other. Time for Tony to save an alien's life.
He found the door he needed and typed in his override command, another perk of designing the giant flying battleship. It opened up to reveal exactly what he had expected. Fury was standing in the middle of a shouting match as dozens of screens showed the Council members arguing over what to do. Despite all of the argueing it seemed like they were getting nowhere. That was nothing new. No wonder Fury told the alien it would be a few hours. At the rate this was going, a few hours seemed hopeful. 'Time to shine,' thought Tony.
"Fury! Just the man I wanted to see." He grinned as he smoothly walked to the center of the room. All eyes were on him as the Council quieted, just how he liked it.
Fury growled in annoyance. First the Council and now he had to deal with Stark. "What do you want, Stark? I'm busy with the Council and you should not be in here in the first place."
Stark only smiled wider. "I'm here to meet the alien of course! Honestly Fury, did you expect me not to find out? I'm offended." He felt a bit bad calling her an alien and not by her name, but he had hurried over here so fast he had forgotten it.
"Mister Stark." A stern woman spoke. Her face was pinched as if she had a stick up her… "This does not concern you. If you wish to speak with Director fury it must wait. We are busy discussing what we should do with the alien that you speak of."
"Well obviously you're letting her land, correct?" Tony asked. Judging by their glares they did not appreciate that he was still there. From the corner of his eye he could see Fury's lips twitch upwards the slightest bit. He knew what tony was either going to speed this up immensely, or stall it forever. He hoped it was the former. "I mean it seems that she is in desperate need of assistance."
"This does not concern you Stark," A pale man with what looked to be permanently furrowed eyebrows grouched. Tony couldn't help but think that everyone of these angry people thought too seriously about themselves. They all needed to chill out.
"You are absolutely right." The shock on all of their faces nearly made Tony break character right then and there. He only held on with extreme will power. "Since you guys are busy arguing about whether or not to allow this alien to live, I'm going to start prepping a landing site."
The Council was in uproar. Most shouting at Stark to stop. The only one who wasn't saying anything was the ever stoic Fury. "What is the meaning of this Stark!?" Stern stick lady managed to shout over the noise. She had an impressive set of pipes.
Stark turned only a few feet from the exit. "Well, let me put it this way. Judging from that alien's distress call," One member of the council, a military man with a gray buzzcut, tried to ask him how he had heard the distress call in the first place, but Stark ignored him and continued on, "this planet is her only chance at survival. No rations, a busted ship, and no planet, nay, no galaxy to call home. She is desperate. Do you really think that even if you deny her access she will listen? Do you think she will just sit there in her spaceship in orbit and think 'I guess I will just die here because a bunch of politicians said, no.' I don't think so. At the very least she will land to make repairs and gather food."
Members mumbled to each other. They would never say it out loud, but Anthony Stark did have a point. No matter how diplomatic someone seemed, they would throw the rules out of the window if it meant survival. S.H.I.E.L.D. and showed that to them too many times to count.
Tony, seeing that they were considering what he had said, plowed on. "We have two options. One, we can deny her entry to the planet, she lands anyways, and we waste resources trying to chase her down and imprison her. All while making a potentially dangerous enemy. Or two, and I feel you will like this one, we greet her with open arms and become her rescuers. She will see us as allies and quite possibly share technology and knowledge with us from some far away corner of the galaxy. It's up to you because, as you said, 'this doesn't concern me,'" Stark snarked.
"Or we could just shoot her down," One member chimed in. a balding, older gentleman who stated it as if it was the most obvious thing on the planet.
"Oh we could, but not only would that be incredibly stupid," baldy's face grew red as he shouted in rage, "But it could be also catastrophic. She could have weapons that can take us out. Plus, I have a feeling this alien is capable at dodging whatever potshots we shoot at her. She did mention her people were in a war. You have to be capable of fighting to survive. If nothing else, it would be sad to destroy whatever ship got her here so speedily. I would love to look at the mechanics on that thing."
The Council resumed muttering to themselves. From what Stark heard, it was beginning to sound like they were going in favor of saving the the alien. 'Vanna,' his brain finally remembered. He never was good a memorizing names. He was just turning to leave for reals this time when Fury stopped him.
"No need to prep a landing site, Stark. If the Council allows it, we will have Miss Elarius land on the helicarrier." The emphasis on the 'if' made Fury's thoughts clear. He knew it was only a matter of time before they would eventually agree to host an alien on the planet. Who knew, if things went well, this could be the first of many alien refugees. That wouldn't happen for many years, but this was a good start.
"Well in that case I'll see you around for the introduction." Tony was satisfied to see Fury's deep set frown of annoyance return. He never went very long without seeing it.
"Try not to scar the Alien, Stark."
Tony grinned evilly. "No promises, Pirate!" And with that Tony Stark strutted out the door, leaving Fury to deal with calming the council. Tony had some people to call.
Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've had a bad year. Your comments and support has really helped though. I am now out of my funk and filled with inspiration! I'm going to try to update about once a week if I can. I won't have an official day, just whenever I finish and edit a chapter. I've also been trying to make them longer so that you have more to hold you over until the next update.
So what did you guys think? I hope the characters aren't too oc (I've tried to keep them as true as possible so far. Vanna will be able to meet some Avengers soon, either next chapter or the one after. I've also planned a few surprises in the story so stay tuned for those! Also I changed the cover art if any of you noticed. This one fits much more to what I think Vanna should look like.
Thanks for reading and tell me what you guys think! I love reading comments and I'll gladly take any constructive criticism you give. Until next time!