One Lucky Winner

Chapter 9 ~ Tony

"How do I look, Cap?" I say as I look at myself in the mirror. I already know the answer; I look fabulous. I'm wearing my Iron Man suit, mark 45. It's fairly new and I think it's the best one I've designed.

I barely remember getting here, to The Capitol. Cap told me I was drunk, so I guess I'm the one to blame. Once I woke up, we were already here, and I was so confused. They 'remade' me and then made me get in the suit. I've mostly gotten over my hangover since then, but I still have a touch of a headache.

So right now, we're waiting for the Tribute Parade to start. Our stylist, Missy, told us we would wear our superhero suits. I look epic.

Steve walks over to me. "You look fine," he says blankly. He looks at himself in the mirror.

"You're very...patriotic..." I say, looking him up and down. He's wearing his ridiculous Captain America suit, mask and all. He gives me a dirty look.

Thor walks in the room. "This is madness," he grumbles as he walks up to the mirror, where Steve and I are standing. He's wearing his armor, holding his hammer. He was drunk too, but he got over his hangover before I did.

"Well," I put my arms around them. "We look good, gentlemen. We look good." Cap shakes my hand off his shoulder and staggers away from Thor and I.

"Well, well, well! You gentlemen look very nice!" a high voice says. I look and see Missy walking into the room. I check her out. She's tall, about as tall as Pepper. She has long, wavy blonde hair that falls to her midback. She's wearing a super short hot pink, skin-tight dress. Very hot.

"You look very nice, too," I say to her, trying to hide the fact that I'm trying to flirt.

She gives me a friendly look. "Why, thank you, Mr. Stark! You're looking pretty fine yourself! I'm loving that Iron Man suit!"

"Thanks. It took me a month to build," I say, big headed. It actually took me three months, but who's counting?

Missy giggles. "It must've been hard to make."

"Yeah, I-"

"So are you an engineer?" she interrupts me, which kind of pisses me off but it doesn't bother me too much.

"Well, actually-"

"Tony, will you come here for a minute?" I look over and see Steve standing there, looking unhappy. It's hard to take him seriously with that mask on, though.

I look at Missy. "Just a moment." She giggles for some reason, and I walk over to Steve. "You have a minute. 60...59...58...57..."

"Don't be immature," he cuts me off. "Why are you flirting with her?"

"Who?"

"Missy, of course."

"I'm not flirting, I'm making conversation."

"No, you're clearly flirting. Pepper wouldn't want that."

"Pepper isn't here," I say. "Quit acting like my father."

"I'm just-"

"So you called me over here to tell me to stop flirting just for Pepper's sake?" I ask him, cutting him off.

"No. I'm telling you to stop flirting because she's the enemy."

"The enemy? No, Cap, they're the enemy," I say, gesturing to random tributes around me. Speaking of them, they're freaky. Some of them are wizards and elves and kids.

"No, they're not." He lowers his voice. "Think about it. The only reason we're here is because of The Capitol. And she works for them."

"You're just being-"

"Enough!" Thor roars. He strides over to us, the grip around his hammer tough. "We are suppose to be allies! Stop fighting. I can't stand you, weak people."

With that comment, I immediately ditch that conversation and walk back to Missy. She immediately starts telling me about her dress and her shoes. I actually take what Cap said into consideration. Missy is the enemy. She's not, really, but she is. She does work for the Capitol, and she is pretty glad to do it. She really is the enemy.

Damn, Cap sometimes really can get in my mind.

Missy is getting really deep into conversation with me. "So, then I asked the clerk for a different dress-"

"I have to go," I say quickly, suddenly hating her.

"Go? Where?"

"Over...by Thor...to get ready," I stutter, turning away from her and walking away.

"What? Where are you going?"

I don't answer. I stand by Thor and we make awkward eye contact. I look away and try to avoid eye contact with Cap. I hate to admit that he's right, even though he is.

We stand awkwardly until Missy's peppy voice speaks. She seems to have forgotten about me ditching her in the middle of her story she was telling me. "Gentlemen! Carriage is ready!" I look over at her, and she's standing by a black carriage being drawn by two black horses.

We walk over and climb up on our carriage. I make Thor stand in the middle so I don't have to stand by Cap. Standing up here gives me a nice opportunity to check out the other tributes on their carriages.

First in line, there are three boys. They don't look special in any way. Just three teenage boys, two with dark hair, one with light hair. I can easily kill them, from what I can see.

Two boys and one girl are next in line. They look lame. One of the boys has bright orange hair, and the other boy has big round glasses. Ha, nerds.

We're third in line, which makes me wonder if we're in some kind of order. I would ask Missy, but I don't want to talk to her.

Fourth, a tough looking boy and girl wearing black are standing by a tall boy in blue. Once again, they don't look special in any way.

On the fifth carriage, there are three men. One is regular height with long blonde hair, another is a little shorter, with scrawny dark hair, and the last one is extremely shorter. They all look unhappy and upset with each other. Strange.

Sixth, are the tributes from Panem. I burst out laughing at them, because they're the only ones who are forced to wear a consume, and their costumes are ridiculous. It's just orange and black suits. Wow. I'm so glad I wasn't dressed up like that.

Missy speaks, avoiding eye contact with me. "To get the maximum amount of sponsors, wave and smile at the crowd. You're all very attractive, so it shouldn't be hard," she says.

"Alright," Cap says. We stand up tall and wait for the doors to open.