At Midnight

Anthony Edward Stark

"...sometimes you gotta run before you can walk..."

"Tony Stark: billionaire, Playbody, philanthropist," I stated. 

Mara watched me, not amused. 

I sighed. "He's a genius. He created the Iron Man suits. His father, Howard, worked on Project Rebirth, which is what turned Steve into Captain America. Tony's father also helped to create S.H.I.E.L.D. with Peggy Carter."

"Iron Man's dad worked with Captain America," recited Mara. "Does that mean Tony and Steve are good friends?"

"Not really. Tony and Steve don't really get along. There's a lot of tension between them, but Tony earned respect from Steve in the first Avengers, when he sacrificed his life to save NYC."

Eyebrows raised, Mara asked, "Is there time to tell me about that?"

I glanced at my phone. "Yeah, we still got an hour and a half. So, aliens from outer space came to Earth through a portal. In a panic, S.H.I.E.L.D sent a missile to destroy New York City."

"Extreme," she said.

"Right? So, Tony grabbed it and flew into the wormhole, successfully destroying the base of the Chitauri. In doing so, he earned the respect of Steve, because that's when he learned Tony was willing to be the man to lay on the wire and let the other men crawl over him."

"Good comparison," complimented Mara. 

Instead of giving credit to Joss Whedon, I took the praise. "Moving to Iron Man 3, there was a plot hole where Tony decided he was done being Iron Man, so he destroyed all his suits. It's sort of common sense that he couldn't follow through, since it was the end of the world in Avengers: Age of Ultron. He couldn't not help, you know?"

"The second Avengers! Tell me about that one," said Mara excitedly. 

"Nope. First we have to introduce you to Rhodey, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver."

Mara winced. "That's a lot..."

"But I think we're making good time," I praised. "Tony's best friend is James Rhodes, but he goes by Rhodey. He works in the Air Force, and he has his own Iron Man suit."

"To use for work? How lucky."

"Now, I present to you a question: do you like the name Iron Patriot or War Machine better?"

"War Machine rocks," said Mara instantly. When I chuckled, she squinted her eyes. "Am I missing something?"

"You'll understand once you watch Iron Man 3," I assured.

"About that... I don't exactly have those movies," she said.

"I'm sure they'll marathon them the entire weekend on some channel. They always do," I said.

Michelle Rodkin, another worker, jumped over the counter. She started to treat herself to the hot dog machine, insisting that we pretend as though she wasn't there.

"You're going to pay for that, right?" I asked.

Michelle giggled. "Aw, Jannick. Such a good boy. How much?"

"$3.75," I said.

Michelle bit a chunk from her hot dog and passed a five dollar bill to me.

As I collected her change, Mara asked, "What if I need to ask you questions during the movies?"

Because I was an inexperienced idiot, her point went straight over my head. No, I'm not Drax, my reflexes didn't catch it.

"I'll give you my phone number," I said.

"Sure, but what if your phone is dead?" 

As I handed the change to Michelle, she whispered, "She wants to watch them with you, dummy," then left the counter. 

"Jannick!" shouted Cameron. He approached the counter menacingly. "What are you two doing?" 

 I think, in her mind, Mara had tried to telepathically send me a message to let her do the talking. I'm no Charles Xavier; I didn't get it. It hadn't mattered. I was still in a shocked silence from Michelle's words.   

"He just took an order," she said. 

"I watched you two talked before Rodkin came in," accused Cameron.

I pointed at the popcorn machine beside me. "Yes, it was work related. I told her to refill the popcorn machine. Get to it, Carrow, stat!"

"Carrow, stay," ordered Cameron. He stared between us. "I do not have time to be babysitting you two."

"No babysitting needed here," assured Mara. 

"No one's doing anything wrong," I agreed. 

"The night has only begun," said Cameron mysteriously. Slowly, agonizingly, he disappeared back into the break room.

I looked at Mara. "Seriously though, refill the popcorn machine."