Answering To Eternity [DISCONT.]

04 | the night from hell begins

The two days came by quickly, the night of Tony's party arriving swiftly. 

"Alright," Tony murmured entirely to himself, "People should be arriving in half an hour." Various members of staff at the compound scurried about, more reminiscent of ants than people, pausing only briefly to exchange fractured sentences between them, making last minute preparations and delivering instructions to one another. The instructions varied wildly between servers, turning into a game of chinese whispers. 

A small hand, with immaculate french-tip nails, found its way onto the padded shoulder of his suit. Tony turned around, breaking into a smile at the sight of the woman he had come to love, her ginger hair shining brightly under the fluorescent lights. 

"Pepper," He greeted breathily, wrapping his arm around her waist, anchoring himself to her. 

"Tony," She smiled warmly, fondly - with the affection that he needed to spur him on, to make him finally glance away from the hurried servers. "Some of the world's richest people are going to be here soon, I hope you're ready." 

"I'm Tony Stark," He smirked, "I'm always ready." He told her confidently, shrugging off her brief concern with an arrogance that only he was capable of pulling off. 

"Good, you've spent the last twenty-five minutes staring off into space. The first cars are arriving," She waved to the bustling employees, signalling for them to leave the room so that their guests could arrive. 

Shortly thereafter, three sleek black limousines pulled up outside the tower. Chauffeurs rushed to pull open the doors of the limousines so that their employers could get out. The first to arrive was an older healthcare tycoon called Thomas Unkeet, who arrived with his significantly younger supermodel wife hanging off his arm. The second car had a wealthy investor called Yulia Von Earngth, a middle-aged woman with fading glamour and greying hair, her stern-looking, pot-bellied military-veteran husband and their twenty-something year old son, a tall fellow with cold, analytical eyes, who had slowly been working his way into the top ranks of the CIA, likely aided in his ascent of the ranks by his mother's cash. 

And, in the third car to arrive, was one Bruce Wayne, dressed in a black tux, his hair slicked back messily. He muttered a quick 'thank you' to his driver before reluctantly stepping out of the car. The bright flashing lights of the paparazzi's cameras dazed him momentarily as he made his way into the lobby of the building. He turned his head, a sneer already on his mouth, biting back an acidic remark, only deciding not to yell at them for fear of press backlash. Instead he settles for giving them a nasty look, dazzling lights still blooming behind his eyelids, emblazoned in his vision. 

The first people he saw were Thomas Unkeet and his wife, who sent him a dirty look, his already wrinkled face seemingly folding in on itself even more as he scowled. The wife, whose name evaded him, made a valiant attempt at an equally ferocious glare, but was stopped by the copious amounts of botox below her skin. Though, the intention behind it wasn't lost - there was still a raging, furious fire in her eyes that was almost palpable He knew her son, from a previous marriage, who they thankfully had decided not to bring, had his business crippled by the competition with Wayne Technologies - a simple tech startup funded by his mother's new husband that simply couldn't survive in the market. 

He flashed her a sympathetic look that evolved into more of a grimace, before turning his attention elsewhere. He spotted Tony Stark, standing proudly with his girlfriend at his side, surveying his guests closely. 

Bruce made his way over there, approaching Tony hastily. Tony grasped his hand, bringing him in for a firm handshake. 

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Wayne," Tony told him. 

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Stark. I'm a huge fan of your clean energy project, it's amazingly innovative," Bruce responded, a small smile on his face. 

Before Tony had the opportunity to say anything else, his mouth still hanging lamely open, his thoughts were interrupted when he watched the rest of his team walk into the building.