Night Mistress

Chapter 14

While Tony was working on his Iron Man suit, I was fixing up another Palladium Core Anti-Effect smoothie. He can say all he wants about these things, they're keeping him alive longer.

I put the drink on the table in front of him. Without complaint or missing a beat on his specs, Tony grabbed it.

"Notes. Main transducer feels sluggish at plus 40 altitude." Tony noted. "Hull pressurization is problematic." He made a quick noise of pain as he jostled his wound. I'm thinking icing is the probable factor."

"A very astute observation, sir." JARVIS agreed with his trademark sass. I laughed out loud, not ashamed. "Perhaps, if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the exosystems."

"Isn't it ironic that you put ice on your ice wound?" I teased, a serious look on my face.

"It's not an ice wound, it's a wound I got from falling two stories." Tony argued.

"Which happened because of the ice." I countered.

"Connect to the sys-co. Have it reconfigure the shell metals." Tony carried on, ignoring me. Above my head, JARVIS made a pleased metallic hum. "Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio. Got it?"

He made a face at the first sip. I'd had some myself, mostly to make sure it wasn't toxic like Dum-E's, and it tasted like shit.

He glanced up at me. I gave him an innocent smile that promised I'd do whatever it took to get that mix down his throat short of holding him down.

"Yes. Shall I render using proposed specifications?" JARVIS asked.

Tony put the emptied out glass down. My smiled turned to teasingly proud. He smirked right back. "Thrill me."

"Tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall-"

"Disney? What? Huh?" I rotated in my spot to face the TV. "Who said Disney?"

"-where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for L.A.'s high society."

"Oh it's disappointment Disney."

"JARVIS, we get an invite for that?" Tony asked.

"I have no record of an invitation, sir." JARVIS answered. For an AI, he sounded just as confused as Tony.

"Huh." I mused.

"-hasn't been seen in public since Stark's bizarre and highly controversial press conference. His daughter, Rebecca Stark, was also in attendance."

Tony held the mask up to his face.

I made a face. "What're you doing?"

"Testing the visual." Tony replied as if it was obvious. "The suit powered down after the ice. Wanna see how this looks when I'm upright."

The comment made me wince in sympathy. During the fall it made me panic. After, it reminded me of a hard drop on a rollercoaster that I didn't ask to ride.

"-some claim the Stark family are suffering from post-traumatic stress and have been bedridden for weeks."

'That was definitely Obadiah.' I thought to myself. Somewhere in the back of my mind a nasty idea popped up. Considering it for a moment, I put a pin in it. That would do for the morning. 'Man I come up with the most deadly Plans on my period.'

"Whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from them tonight."

"And so she dropped a gauntlet." Came my reply.