someone – anyone – can help ameliorate what I did in my ignorance, I give them my full support. Even if that means killing every single one of those damned hell-spawns.”
There was a considering silence from the other end. “That wasn’t a no.”
“It wasn’t a yes.”
“I gotcha, Tony.” Rhodey’s tone was reassuring. “Look…if you need something…anything…let me know.”
Tony smiled broadly. “Shouldn’t I be telling you that? You’re the one who spent three months scouring for me in the desert.”
“Yeah, ’cause you’re my friend, idiot. Just call me, all right? I worry.”
“Sure thing, sweet cheeks.”
“Now you’re just asking for it, honey buns.” Having gotten the last word, Rhodey hung up with a distinct satisfied air that Tony could feel all the way in Malibu, California.
“Rude,” Tony scoffed, dropping the phone on the table beside him with a clatter. He reached for the M&Ms, which were still nicely solid thanks to a small touch of Grace.
“If you say so, sir,” JARVIS said amiably.
A week later found Tony in his workshop after Dummy had taken him up on his offer to build him a human body. Instead of just snapping one up on the spot, he was taking his time designing one with his holograms so that Dummy could have some input into the design process.
Before this single point in time, Tony had been busy fielding questions as to the nature of the technological suit that had shown up in Gulmira and hadn’t been seen since (apparently Rhodey wasn’t the only one who’d come to the conclusion that Tony Stark could build something like that). He’d also come out with a new tracker that could be used on soldiers that went into the field. It had other uses other than military applications, of course, but it was necessary for him to complete the remainder of the military contracts he couldn’t just blow off, so it went first to the military before any other industries (like the pet industry).
The injunction Pepper had talked about failed to go through after Tony put in several appearances at board meetings and proved how he wasn’t affected by PTSD in any shape or form. Obadiah had also told Tony that there had been little to no progress done on rooting out the traitor in SI, but Tony could tell that the man was up to something, though he didn’t bother digging to find out what.
He did need some surprises in his life.
But back to the present…
“Hey, J,” Tony said, spinning a holograph of the silhouette of a person around. “How old do you think? Six? Seven?”
Tony was leaning for six judging from the age of Dummy’s soul and the thoughts he could feel from the bot.
“Perhaps six, sir?” JARVIS suggested.
“My thoughts exactly.” Tony shrunk the figure down until it was approximately the size of a six-year-old boy. “So, Dummy… Hair color?” A color palette appeared in the air besides the other hologram.
Dummy twirled his claw around thoughtfully before pointing to a very dark brown that was the exact shade of Tony’s hair.
Flicking his finger against the color, Tony changed the hair of the silhouette holograph to the same hue. “Eye color?”
This time the color chosen was a soft brown. Skin color was chosen as white.
As Tony waited patiently for Dummy to finish picking his stylistic choices for his humanoid body, JARVIS spoke quietly, “If you wouldn’t mind, sir…I have a few questions.”
