INFERNO │ Marvel

1.4 secret project

As Tony set himself up for the first test run of his Mark 2 boots, he had no idea Amelia was watching from the corner of the workshop. JARVIS definitely knew she was there, but JARVIS wasn't a snitch.

"Okay, let's do this right. Start mark, half a meter, and back and centre," Tony spoke. "Dum-E, look alive. You're on standby for fire safety. U, roll it. Okay. Activate hand controls. We're gonna start off nice and easy. We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift. And three, two, one."

Tony immediately was flung into the wall of the workshop. Amelia couldn't hold back her laughter as he groaned in pain.

"That was a disaster," she said. Tony lifted his head to look at her as she approached.

"How long have you been here?"

"Long enough. Were you going to tell me about this secret project of yours?" she asked. "It's your thrust capacity, by the way. Move it down to 1% to start. 10 is way too high."

"It's a secret for a reason," he said, taking her hand as she helped him up. "And no shit."

"Ok..." she sighed. "I'll tell you my secret if you tell me yours."

"You have a secret?"

Amelia lifted her hand, willing flames to ignite from her skin. The heat came more easily than ever before. "I finished the serum. And used it. And it worked."

"You used it on yourself?" he barked at her. "Are you insane?"

"Says the guy who just flung himself halfway across the room!" she said, trying to reason with him. "We're Starks. We make stupid decisions and think about the consequences after we've already done it. It's our thing."

"We have a thing, huh?" Tony laughed. He moved over to his tabletop where he brought up a hologram of his suit arm. He placed his own arm through it. "This is what I'm working on. Mark two of a suit that I made in captivity. This is mine and mine only. No one outside this room will hear of it."

"My lips are sealed," Amelia whispered as she observed the hologram closely. She gestured to his hand. "Flight stabilisers?"

"Yeah," he started. "And blasters. Way more destructive than guns."

"You're getting into the hero business now, are you?"

"Are you?" Tony retorted, copying her expression of a raised eyebrow and smug smile. She scoffed at him.

"Touche."

-

"Don't weld that yet," Amelia told her brother as he began to work on his metal arm. "There are wires that still need connecting at the wrist."

Tony allowed her to tinker with the device he wore while he worked on the upper half himself. With Amelia on board with his new project, things were getting done twice as fast, and they had already made significant progress on his suit.

It was then that Pepper entered, carrying a wrapped box with two mugs balanced on top. "I've been buzzing," she explained. "Did you hear the intercom."

"We're a little busy," Amelia said with an apologetic smile. "Almost done though."

"Yeah, everything's, what?" Tony said, distracted with his invention. Amelia sighed and put down her tools, moving over to Pepper to snag one of the cups of coffee.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Obadiah's upstairs."

"Great! Great! We'll be right up," Tony said, finally moving his arm around.