Lockhart and Stark

Arriving in Monaco

A little bit after the opening to the Stark Expo Victoria and Tony had to attend a party in Monaco. They were on the jet and pepper was sitting Tony's right side and Victoria was right across from him. Suddenly another woman walked into the area. She had long dark auburn hair and she was thin.

"Ms. Potts, I have your schedule for the next couple days." She said.

Tony raised an eyebrow, he had made Pepper the CEO of Stark Industries, which Victoria had no idea why. But he at least thought that she would tell him when she hired a new secretary.

"Who are you?" Tony asked.

"My name is Natalie." She said with a weird charm in her voice.

Tony didn't even know what she was trying to do. Was she trying to get him to like her? Well that wasn't going to happen because Tony was too in love with Victoria to even think of another woman.

"Hi Natalie, anyway what were you saying Pepper?" Tony said.

Victoria looked closer at Tony and saw that he didn't look that good. He looked sick. She held his hand and looked him in his eyes.

"Tony, are you okay?" She asked.

"Yes of course, I am just a little tired." Tony said.

It hurt Tony to lie to the love of his life. But he couldn't find the words to tell her. Victoria on the other hand was reconsidering her promise to not read minds.

"Okay, so to continue with what I was saying, we have a bit to do Tony. We are not going to Monaco to have a lot of fun, this is strictly business." Pepper said.

"Alright, I understand." Victoria said.

"Yeah yeah, strictly business." Tony said.

The plane touched down and they got out. They headed to a dinner at a restaurant that was reserved for them. It had a perfect view of the race tracks below them, a race was going on. Tony looked at it then snickered.

A man in a silver suit walked up to Tony and Victoria. He had light brown hair and black glasses, he also had a dumb smile spread across his face. Pepper pulled a fake smile and realized who the man was. Victoria surprisingly didn't recognize the man. Pepper realized that Victoria couldn't remember who the man was so she started to introduce them.

"Ms. Lockhart I would like to introduce you to Mr. Justin Hammer of "Hammer Industries", Justin, this is Victoria Lockhart." Pepper said.

The man offered his hand for Victoria to shake. Now Victoria recognized him, Tony had a press conference a little while back with him and the Senator and Tony totally humiliated both of them.

"Oh my gosh, Victoria, Victoria. My my you look absolutely gorgeous. You know, I am a really good partner, not just in business but in...other areas as well." Justin said.

Victoria didn't even have to read his mind to know what he was talking about. And apparently Tony understood as well and he got super defensive.

"Uh I am sorry, but Ms. Lockhart does not want to be involved in those areas in the slightest." Tony said as he put his arm around Victoria.

Justin sighed and looked at Tony.

"Ah well isn't it my favorite person in the world, Tony Stark! Thank you for expressing your personal opinion on the matter, but you are not Victoria." Justin said.

Victoria was caught in a mix of fighting between a very persistent dirty man and a very defensive boyfriend. She didn't want to be rude, but she also didn't want to say nothing.

"Um, thank you for your complement. And uh, maybe we could possibly sign a contract so that we can have our companies work together." Victoria said.

"Oh well maybe if we could have a lunch alone together we could talk it over." Justin said.

Anger and jealousy burned in Tony's veins. He was ready to punch Justin in the face. Suddenly Natalie walked in.

"Your table is ready Ms. Potts and Mr. Stark." She said.

"Alright, Tony come here. Sorry Victoria, but we have some business to take care of." Pepper said.

"Sure Ms. Potts." Tony said.

Tony hugged Victoria.

"Be careful with Mr. "Other areas" over there okay baby?" Tony said.

"Of course I will be careful. Trust me, I don't want to see any of those other areas." Victoria responded.

Tony smiled and walked away with Pepper. Victoria was now alone with Justin.

"So, about a contract?" Justin said with a smug sort of charm.

Victoria rolled her eyes in complete and utter disgust. Natalie walked to another side of the room then put her finger on her ear.

A voice came through a com link in her ear.

*So how is he?*

"His blood toxicity is rising. What if he doesn't survive long enough for us to test him?" Natalie asked.

*I believe that he will survive. And the test isn't that serious.*

"It is a test of will power. Are you sure that he will be able to handle it?" She asked.

*He has been drunk before, it won't be much different than that. And this is a vital test, in order for us to make sure that he is emotionally capable to take on the responsibility of being an avenger.*

"Are you sure that he has the will power to get out of it?" She asked.

*I think that, with the right push, he will be able to pull through.*

"All right, I guess that I will gather more information." She said.

*Thank you agent Romanoff.*

"Your welcome Director Fury." She replied.

She turned around and walked to Tony's table and stood above them. She started talking about their schedule for the rest of the day. Tony suddenly felt a sting of pain shoot through his chest.

"Uh, sorry Natalie. I need to go to the bathroom." Tony said.

He stood up in an instant and didn't wait until Natalie gave the "okay" for him to leave. He ran into the bathroom and, when he made sure that he was alone, he unbuttoned his shirt. The arc reactor inside his chest was expelling a bluish gray chemical into his veins. It created a sort of cross word puzzle design.

"Sir, blood toxicity rate is eighty-three percent." JARVIS reminded Tony.

"I think that we should inform Ms. Lockhart of what is going on." JARVIS continued.

"How can I tell her?" Tony asked.

"Just tell her bluntly and honestly." JARVIS said.

Tony buttoned up his shirt. He looked down at the sink then back up the mirror.

"Got any bad ideas?" He asked himself.

"What are you implying sir?" JARVIS asked.

"I know that I do not have a lot of time left. I just want a little bit of a thrill before I go out." Tony said.

Suddenly Tony got a terrible idea.