Arcs Collide

Chapter 4 - Job Interview

Carol looked around at the faces of the other four passengers in the jet with her—well, three and a half, considering one of them was about a year-old baby and the guy with the white hair had to stay back with his team. Tony was flying the jet back toward the tower.

They had all been sitting in silence for the past couple of minutes. It started after Tony finished telling them what happened back at the farm that caused the hole in his shirt. Since then, they had been in shock and silent.

Finally, Carol managed to shake it off and speak, her tone hard as metal. "You have to be s—" Carol was stopped from cursing by Laura, who saw what was coming and cleared her throat with a pointed look. Damn, it had been a long time since Carol had to behave around children. "Kidding me. You had to make a drama instead of just knocking him out with a blast?!"

Tony gave her a weird look and kept staring at her as if waiting for her to realize what she said and correct herself.

When she didn't, Tony frowned and said quietly, "I forget you are not on Earth most of the time. I'm used to most people just assuming the worst about me and moving on. This getting to explain myself is kind of new."

Carol noticed that Laura was frowning as well toward Tony, but before any of them could comment about his disturbing statement, Tony spoke again. "If I had knocked him out immediately, his hired muscle would have gotten involved, and while you and I are protected, those guys aren't. Also, if he woke up in a holding cell, he would start lying his way out of it, but now he was caught red-handed. It worked out in the best way possible."

While Carol could see his points and agree his more dramatic plan did pay off, his last comment couldn't go unchallenged. "You got badly injured. Only the Extremis saved you again." She pointed out dryly.

When Tony just shrugged in response as if his well-being wasn't even worth considering, she felt herself getting angry.

When exactly did she start to care so much for this man? This man who cared so much for everyone else, he was willing to throw himself in the line of fire of a madman; the man who, when just recovering from an injury, hurried to save the family of a man who betrayed him only a few days ago; the man who helped her when he didn't even meet her before, just because someone told him she was in trouble. Tony Stark had a big heart. She knew she wasn't the only one who noticed—Laura seemed to trust and care about him very much as well, not to speak about Pepper, Happy, and Fury. This man treats even his AI like his own daughter.

Tony Stark cares about everyone but himself. Fury knew that too; that's why he told her to go with him to rescue the Bartons. So she will have to make sure to watch out for him. She seemed to be in good company as far as she saw.

Carol was still thinking of a way to respond to Tony's comments, but before she could, Cooper changed the tense subject. "So you have cool powers now, Uncle Tony?"

Carol's trained eyes were able to notice the tension in Tony's body at that subject, but he quickly—far too quickly in Carol's opinion—hid it behind a smile and replied with a snarky, "Actually, they are pretty hot, Cop."

Carol smirked and was about to point out how inappropriate the joke sounded, especially in front of three kids. But Laura was the first to react with a scandalized gasp, admonishing, "Tony!"

Tony did send her a sheepish look over his shoulder and said, "Sorry, L. Sounded better in my head."

"Like BARF?" she asked dryly, which earned her a deeply offended look from Tony. Which confused Carol. What the hell is BARF? She guessed they weren't talking about vomit; she hoped Tony's response would clarify it for her.

But Tony decided to ignore what for him was such an offending comment and addressed back to the kids, "But yes, I do have powers now. And glowing eyes!" He finished excitedly as if the glowing eyes were the best part of his powers.