[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/ImsFWnw.jpg[/img] [color=Goldenrod][u][b][h3]The Man of T.O.Morrow[/h3][/b][/u][/color][/center] [color=Goldenrod][u][b]Tony Stark's personal workshop [i]'The Garage'[/i] Stark Industries, Coney Island, New York [/b][/u][/color] The doors to the [i]'Garage'[/i], Tony Stark's personal workshop and the birthing chamber of Iron Man, slid open with a Star Trek style [i]whooosh.[/i] Completely by design, of course. After all, who doesn't want their doors to sound like Star Trek? Tony had always felt it was a nice touch. What wasn't so nice was in-pouring of harsh, bright, white light in his hitherto dimly lit man-cave. He shied from it like a cheap, B-movie vampire, trying – and only partially succeeding – not to hiss at the intruder who had caused him such an inconvenience. The trespasser in question posed in the doorway, halfway between the light and the shadow, dressed in a dark tailored pencil dress that perfectly accentuated her tall, lithe, figure. The gloom darkened her usually-strawberry blonde hair, though had little effect on her expression. That was dark enough without the help. [color=goldenrod]“Pepper, what an unexpected, yet lovely surprise! Unless you have an appointment. Then I suppose you're expected. Do you have an appointment?”[/color] Virginia 'Pepper' Pots, Tony's very own girl Friday, did not look like she was in the mood for any friendly banter. Not that she was ever in that mood. Technically speaking she wasn't paid for banter, and she took that fact very seriously. Instead she ignored his comments while stepping further into his 'pit', hitting the lights - nearly burning Tony's retinas out of his skull in the process – and illuminating the impressively disorganized mess that was his [i]'safe-place'[/i]. The Garage looked exactly what it sounded like; a garage, except instead of second hand cars and your dad's neglected tool box this garage held multiple suits of the most sophisticated war-fighting armour on the planet, expensive machining tools used to manufacture those suits, 3d holographic imagining computers, and parts and materials for all those things so expensive that they'd make even Lex Luther arch an eyebrow in monetary concern. Pushed into one corner was a neglected cot where, theoretically, Tony could catch a few zzz's during mammoth engineering sessions. In practice it was used as extra shelf-space, evident by the fact that it was currently holding up several weighty physics and engineering related text books. Books, of all things! Who else still had books in this day and age! When Tony's vision finally returned he realized that Pepper had stepped up to his work bench, delicate nose wrinkled in disgust at the cartons of half eaten Chinese food dumped there. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten Chinese food. He noticed that she was studiously ignoring the empty scotch bottles littering the room. “It stinks in here.” She sighed. She had the look of a disappointed parent who's just come home to find that their teenager had thrown a house party in their absence, despite promising not to before they'd left. [color=goldenrod]“Then again, you're the person I pay to deal with all my appointments, so I'm not sure you actually need one.”[/color] “Tony, when was the last time you bathed? Or slept, for that matter.” [color=goldenrod]“Who would even schedule your appointments? Would you have to do it yourself, because that seems mildly obscene, and I -- ”[/color] “Tony,” She cut him off, “I'm serious. You [b]need[/b] to sleep. I bet even Superman sleeps.” Her brow was furrowed in concern, and her eyes were pleading with him, pleading to stop messing around. She cared about him, regardless of how little he deserved her concern. He met her gaze for a heartbeat, but couldn't hold up under her scrutiny. He glanced away, uncomfortable now, and returned to what he felt safest doing. [color=goldenrod]“I'd take that action.”[/color] He quipped, her brow furrowing even further, this time in annoyance, but he didn't give her the time to reprimand him. [color=goldenrod]“C'mon Pep, I get plenty of sleep. Look at the cot, why would I even have that if I didn't sleep. I can't just be buying cots and [b]not[/b] sleeping in them. I'm not made of money!”[/color] Judging by the frown that one didn't tickle her funny bone either. “Really sleep Tony, not just pretending to nap here when really you're busy trying to find a way to integrate 5G into the next Iron Man armour --” [color=goldenrod]“Pfft, 5G. You wound me, like I would still be --”[/color] “[b]Tony. Go. Home![/b]” Pepper stood with her feet firmly planted and her arms folded across her chest, the universally accepted body posture of a person who's done playing around. It would be easier by half to just let Pepper have her way now than to continue to butt heads with her for the next hour and a half, just for her to get her way then. If the Blizzard had Pepper's tenacity then he might be a halfway decent rogue. As soon as he'd slipped her he'd just get back out of bed and straight to work anyway. Whether she liked it or not he couldn't sleep, not any more. Not without the dreams. Tony threw up his hands in mock surrender. [Color=goldenrod]“Fine, fine, I give. Ceasefire. White flag.”[/color] He turned from her to start cleaning up the messes he'd made in the Garage. Well, less cleaning and more pushing one pile of assorted detritus into another pile of assorted detritus, making two piles into one larger pile. [color=goldenrod]“Tell Happy to start up the car, I'll be out in a moment once I've finished one last thing.”[/color] She stood watching him for a moment, suspicious of how easy that was. When it became apparent that he really was just tidying up she mellowed, though not by much. “I'll be waiting by the car. You've got five minutes, then I'm sending Happy down here. . . With orders to drag you out kicking and screaming if he has to.” By her tone there was no questioning if she meant it or not. He clicked on the news monitor while putting away some physics journals, more for background noise than a genuine interest in what was happening in the outside world. It was just bad luck he decided to turn on CNN when he did, because he really did intend to do what he was told for once, he really did. Pepper had his best interests at heart, he knew that, and he knew it would be so easy for him to give her what she wanted. In the end it all came down to bad luck and poor timing. [I]“. . . And we return to the scene at S.T.A.R Labs, New York, where the police are currently locked in a stalemate with suspected terrorists. The terrorists are heavily armed, and have taken several S.T.A.R labs personal hostage. . .”[/i] The report went on, but Tony had already seen enough, especially after the camera had glimpsed one of the suspected assailants, a figure garbed in muted yellow body armour and a bucket-style helm, looking like he took style tips from a futuristic bee-keeper. He was an A.I.M operative. There was no mistaking it. And that meant the police, as well-meaning as they were, just weren't equipped to deal with the situation. Tony glanced over at the MK XII Modular Iron Man armour, gleaming in the corner and ready for action. It was more than enough to handle whatever A.I.M had brought to the party. That alone made it practically his responsibility to clean up this mess. [COLOUR=GOLDENROD]“J.A.R.V.I.S, time for us to go to work buddy. Begin the start-up process on the MK XII, then open the back door.”[/colour] Lights were blinking into life upon the MK XII before the last word had even left his mouth. Tony stripped off his sweats and pulled on the skin-tight body underlay that allowed him to better interface with the armour. [COLOUR=GOLDENROD]“Sorry Pepp,”[/colour] He whispered to himself before clambering into the suit. [colour=goldenrod]“Looks like I'm going to have to let you down after all.”[/colour] [color=Goldenrod][u][b]Outside Stark Industries, Coney Island, New York [/b][/u][/color] Pepper had spent the entirety of the five minutes she had allowed Tony watching the second hand sluggishly wind it's way around her watch face and tapping her foot impatiently against the concrete. He wasn't coming, she realized. She sighed. She really thought he'd meant it this time. "Five minutes are up Pepp. Want me to go get him?" Happy had ambled over from the, big hands thrust firmly in his pockets. Happy took his job, protecting Tony, very seriously, and was aware enough to realize that the biggest threat to Tony's safety was usually Tony himself. To that end Pepper had no doubts that the ex-boxer could easily make good on her earlier threats to drag the billionaire out if she asked him too, but the thing was that she really didn't want to [b]have[/b] to ask him too. She had wanted Tony to take this step on his own. The first step in solving any problem was admitting there was one, after all, and if anyone had to admit they had problems then it was her boss. She watched the doors, willing Tony to walk through them, her better judgement knowing it was a pipe dream. "Well?" Asked Happy, an insistent urge to his voice. He wasn't going to do anything without her say so. "We'll give him two more minutes Happy. That's all." Happy didn't say anything else, or at least if he did she didn't hear it over the sudden and distinct roar of repulsor fire. She just managed to catch a glimpse of the rapidly receding red-and-gold figure before it disappeared over the horizon. For several seconds the two merely stood in stunned silence, watching the vapor trail disperse, before Hogan spoke up. "Something tells me that he ain't gonna be coming out of those doors in two minutes."