Mechanical Love ~ A Hawkeye Fan Fiction

~EPILOGUE~

I cannot believe I agreed to go undercover for Tony months ago. I cannot believe Alexander Pierce actually hired me. Tony always told me I never gave myself enough credit and I should have more confidence in myself. Somehow, I had managed to go deep into the upper tier management of Hydra Headquarters as a spy for Tony Stark.

Many moons ago, Tony found me at Harvard. After graduating with my Doctorate in Social Sciences, I stayed on as a Professor at Harvard because my mentor asked me to. My second-year teaching, Tony came to one of my talks. He stuck around afterwards, introduced himself and we ended up talking for hours. He seemed so fascinated with my work as I was fascinated with his work.

He ended up coming back for several more of my talks. I'll never forget that talk; the talk that ended up with me resigning as a professor and going to work for Tony.

***

"Dr. Lucille Lacey, will you please come work for me?"

I about spit my coffee out of my mouth; "Excuse me?"

"Lucy, I'm serious. I want you to come work for me."

I brushed my red hair out of my face and adjusted my glasses on my face; "Mr. Stark."

"Again, call me, Tony."

"Tony, are you sure?"

"Lucy, I wouldn't have asked if I weren't serious. You are extremely intelligent. You know how to read people. And, it's obvious that you know how to hack computers."

"Shhh," I said, looking around hoping no one heard him.

He chuckled at me; "C'mon Lucy, what do you say?"

I must have lost my damn mind; "Sure."

"Excellent. How much are you making right now?"

"$150,000 a year."

"With me, $500,00 a year, full benefits, an apartment in Stark Tower, the works. When can you move?"

"Oh wow. Uh... well, I have to put in my notice here."

"So, come, let's take care of that now. Who do we see?"

"HR?"

"I've got one better," he said and stood up. "Come, Dr. Lacey."

I grabbed my coffee, stood and followed him. Not sure where we were going, but before we knew it, we were walking into the President's office!

"Dr. Hall, how are you today," Tony said as he waltzed up into his office.

"Mr. Stark, I wasn't aware you were on campus today," Dr. Hall said as he stood to greet him, skittishly.

"Dr. Hall, Dr. Lacey is resigning."

"I'm sorry, why?"

"Because she is coming to work for me."

"I understand, Mr. Stark. She will be a wonderful asset for you. Dr. Lacey, I hate to lose you. We will find someone to cover your classes for the rest of the semester. It's been a pleasure to have you on staff here."

"Thank you, Dr. Hall," I said nervously, almost laughing because I was so shocked at the conversation.

"Wonderful," Tony said. "Dr. Lacey, seems as if we've got this taken care of and you can fly back with me now. Dr. Hall, it's been a pleasure. I will give a heavy donation for stealing Dr. Lacey from you."

"Thank you, Tony, that's very generous of you."

"Dr. Lacey, shall we?"

"Oh, sure, alright. Can we go by my apartment so I can grab a few things?"

"Sure. We can do that."
***

Little did I know, I would end up here.... Literally in the lap of Alexander Pierce, spying on him for Tony while he was off playing with the Avengers.