Storm ≛ Tony Stark ≛

9.

Tony's house was still in disarray. Sue parked her car next to the water feature and stepped through the window frame that was once filled with glass. It was now spread across the tiles that were also chipped and uprooted from the floor. Sue's shoes crunched against the shards as she made her way through the lobby and past the broken piano.

'Good afternoon, Miss Storm,' JARVIS's voice rang out. Sue would have jumped, but she was used to the system by now.

'Hi, JARVIS. Is Tony home?'

'Not at the moment, ma'am. Mr Stark broke his house arrest order an hour ago.'

'Is it okay if I go down to the workshop?'

'Of course, ma'am.'

Making her way down the staircase, the woman typed in her passcode that Tony had let her set on the keypad. She slipped into the workshop and saw the boxes that Nick Fury said Tony had been given. She assumed since he was on house arrest that he would be home, but when has Tony ever listened to what he has been told.

Sue looked around at the mess that covered the desk. She added to it by dropping the files she gathered from Reed's archives about anything she thought would be relevant in helping Tony. Her foot hit something that then rolled away, making her look down to see a stress ball rolling away from the desk.

She went to pick up the stress ball after following it across the floor, when she caught sight of a reflection in the polished tiles. The light displayed the two suits that sat in display cases, one empty as it was in the hands of the US government, thanks to James Rhodes. But next to it was what attracted the woman's attention.

Sue straightened up and stared at the case. The hot-rod red matched Tony's suits right down to the belt that sat around its waist. The black gloves matched the black shoes that when they caught the light, reflected a dark blue. A small nabla shape sat on the left breast; outlined in the same dark blue that reflected on the black accents. A zip ran down from the top of the collar down to the middle of the chest; the only feature that Tony chose to keep from her own design.

'JARVIS?' Sue called out without taking her eyes off the suit. 'Did Tony say what this was?'

'It's your suit, ma'am. Made of unstable molecules that can adapt to your abilities. It will allow you to be completely invisible to the eye and from infrared wavelengths. It's also bullet-proof and equipped with continuous data updates of your vitals, which I can access,' JARVIS explained.

'Wow...' Sue was lost for words. The fact that Tony displayed her suit in a case like his other suits made her feel important. Never had she thought she would be seen as on level with Iron Man. Even though the media called her just a 'sidekick', Tony saw her as an equal. At least that's what the placement of her suit alluded to.

'Could you please open the display, JARVIS?'

'Yes, ma'am.'

The glass case opened and retreated into the wall behind the display. Sue got the suit off the outline of a mannequin and held it up in front of her. The material was thick, and the red changed to blue when she moved it away from direct view. She decided to test out the adaptability of the material to her powers. She felt the surge reach her hand and her empty sleeve was all that remained. Sue used what would be her hand and grabbed the shoulder of the suit, watching as it disappeared from sight.

'I can make some clothes for you to be like that, if you want?'

Sue looked up and saw Tony carrying four panels of long pieces of wood on his shoulder. He dropped them on the floor with some care, not a lot, but some. Sue noticed how dark the bags under his eyes were even from the distance she stood at, and they were worse when she walked to stand in front of him.