The trail of exhaust and the fast-moving object had the crowd of Tony-Watchers that were semi-permanently encamped around his house scanning the skies for a glimpse of Iron Man. As the figure got closer and the familiar flash of sun-on-metal failed to materialise many Watchers stopped, disappointed, until one of the crowd pointed and yelled.

'It's International Rescue!'

The murmur of reawakening interest had the man on the roof – who had so far gone unnoticed – grinning widely as the Commander of International Rescue landed.

Scott straightened up and grinned back at Tony. The man looked relaxed in his ink-blue jeans and crisp white shirt, ubiquitous mirrored glasses on his face. He flicked them up and eyed Scott.

'Nice landing.'

'Nice house.'

Tony laughed and led the way down into the villa.

The giant screen was all set to play. There was a table laid with popcorn and snacks and drinks. Scott stashed his jetpack by the window and stood looking over the ocean. He appreciated the view, so similar to his own home and yet so different too.

'Stop lusting after the ocean and come sit, Tracy.'

'Stark – I think you have mistaken me for my brother Gordon.'

'Oh? Maybe I have. If you can tear yourself away from the big blue sky for around 100 minutes, we have things to do.'

This time Scott laughed, turned his back on the view and joined Tony, the two slouching down to watch the movie.

...

A shower of popcorn hit the screen as Secord blew his date with Jenny, along with catcalls. Tony collapsed against Scott, the pair giggling as Lothar made a grab for the Rocketeer.

'If that had been you, Tony, you'd have no trouble sealing the deal.'

'You're no slouch yourself, Scott. Don't tell me you don't use those dimples to your advantage!'

'Sir, you have a visitor.'

'No visitors, JARVIS. Tracy Industries and Stark Industries are in serious discussions about dimples.'

'I'm sorry, Sir…'

Whatever JARVIS was sorry for was lost as the doors slid open. Tony leaned back, looking over the couch to see who had dared interrupt their evening.

Upside down, Pepper Potts, Natasha Romanoff and Kayo Kyrano looked just as fearsome as right-side up. Tony threw them the broadest grin. All three ladies merely raised an eyebrow, causing Tony to squint at them. Scott swivelled on the couch and threw a warm smile in their direction too.

'So Scott, do tell us how often your dimples have secured the deal?'

Scott looked at Kayo and wisely decided not to answer the question. Instead he just grinned wider.

'Ladies, to what do Scott and I owe the pleasure?'

'Don't worry, Tony, we're not staying. We don't want to interrupt your…playdate.'

'Pepper, you could always join us. You too, Kayo. Romanoff…hmmm, what do you think, Tracy?'

'Keep me out of this, Stark. You want to play with fire you go right ahead. For the record Natashia, I'd be happy for you to stay too.'

'You hear that, Kayo? I'm welcome to stay. How generous, Tracy.'

Scott held his hands up in defence and sat back down, watching Tony as he held Pepper's eyes. They were all watching them while nothing was being said.

Tony quirked an eyebrow.

Pepper's lip ticked up.

Tony's eyes opened wider and he blinked several times.

Pepper grinned, stepped forward and placed a hand on Tony's forehead and gently pushed him down.

'Enjoy your film, flyboys.'

They watched Pepper grab something from the drawer of the desk before leaving with a smile and a wave which Kayo copied. Romanoff just glanced at them, a smile playing around her lips but not quite making a full appearance, but then she hadn't try to kill them so that was a relief to them both.

Suddenly the film didn't seem so interesting, even as the Rocketeer ping-ponged around the nightclub.

Tony looked at his guest. Then to the jetpack. Then back at Scott. Who was smirking at him.

'Stark?'

'Yes, Tracy?'

'How about we live up to our reputations?'

'The 'get any girl' reputation?'

'Not that one, the other one.'

'The 'spend money recklessly one?'

Scott batted him in the face with the cushion.

'I see you eyeing up my jetpack. Wanna give her a try?'

Laughing at the sudden delight in Tony's eyes. Scott got up and ambled over to his jetpack. Tony followed closely behind him, and as Scott turned he made grabby hands, groaning with disappointment as Scott danced out of reach.

'Na-ah. If you want to try her then I want something in return.'

'You want to borrow the Lambo? The Porsche?'

Tony slapped a hand over his chest and looked at Scott with shock clearly showing on his face.

'You want to try the Bugatti?'

Scott rolled his eyes.

'I want to try the suit.'

'The suit.'

'Deal?'

'I'm not sure that my suit is equal to your jetpack.'

'Well, if you don't want to try it…'

'Damn it, Tracy! Let's go be flyboys!'

Scott's answering grin was as gleeful as Tony's, and he followed as the older man led them down to 'the garage'.

Getting suited up was novel. The process was both like and polar opposite to Scott's iR suit-up procedures, and the interface was amazing, but flying One meant Scott was used to flying by instrumentation alone.

Tony, on the other hand, found the *lack* of a protective suit an exhilarating experience…which Scott had known which was why he'd brought the jetpack along.

'You ready for a spin?'

'I was born ready!'

And they shot into the sky.

If the Tony-Watchers noticed that the Commander of International Rescue seemed to be having a little trouble controlling his jetpack suddenly they only quietly mentioned it among themselves. And absolutely didn't talk about how Iron Man seemed to be equally having trouble.

'John?'

'Yes, EOS?'

'Scott seems to be having difficulty.'

'Oh?'

John pulled up the biodata from the jetpack, installed for just such occasions when Scott went off with it out of uniform so he could still monitor his older brother's health stats. He frowned. The biodata didn't match Scott's baseline stats when he was flying, and John's fingers began to fly as he tried to work out what was going on.

'Mister Tracy?'

'Yes, JARVIS?'

'I believe your AI is scanning your jetpack.'

'Ah – I'd forgotten about that. Can you connect me to Thunderbird Five please?'

'You are connected.'

'John?'

'Scott! Are you alright? Your biometrics…wait – where are you calling me from?'

'I'm in the suit! You're scanning Tony.'

'Ah – well, that explains a lot. I'll leave you both to it.'

'Thanks, John. I'll be in touch when I leave.'

'FAB.'

John appeared before Gordon and Virgil on the island. He looked unbearably smug.

'You both owe me $100.'

'He's in the suit?'

'He's in the suit.'