Metal & Gold

Chapter 7: Partying in Stark Towers

"Tony" I call back at him as he walks back towards the lab to get to work.

"Yep Dals?" he responds.

"You know I love Ultron more than any other project I've ever worked on" I say.

"I think love is a little extreme" Bruce says chuckling.

"No it's not extreme at all because I love the idea so much, the idea of what he can do. I believe in the good that he can do with all my heart. Ultron will save the world and I want to be right there when he does" I announce, my voice filled with pride and confidence.

"Dahlia that was an amazing speech, truly wonderful, but we've only got three days with this thing and we gotta make every second count. So enough with the chit chat and more work work!" Tony says, getting to work without us.

I laugh at Tony and then look at Bruce. He just said shrugs and walks towards Tony, I smile at the ground and walk towards the duo.

Tony was right when he said no chit chat. Over the next three days we worked like dogs, trying to integrate the AI in the sceptre into the Iron Legion Program. It proved to be a tremendous challenge. We reconfigured the Iron Legion program several times to try and make it compatible. We then came up with an idea to create a data bank to store it the AI in, each time there was a power overload and a big boom. We kept trying for three days, different algorithms to integrate Ultron, different ways to apply him to the Iron Legion. But the three days came and went and all we had were failures to show for it.

I think I was the most disappointed out of the three of us, Tony was just frustrated. Frustrated that three of the greatest minds in New York couldn't integrate an Alien AI. But we learned things, learned things about coming up with solutions and ideas that can fix the problem, however the ideas we came up with just weren't the right solutions.

The party was set to start at 8:00 and it was almost 7:15, so I decided to leave Tony alone as he talked to himself, still trying to figure out a solution.

As I walk past him I pat him on the shoulder, "It's okay Tony, we tried" I say.

He nods sadly as he continues playing with the tablet, running more variations.

I sigh and hope that he leaves in time to get out of his three day old outfit.

Since I've been sleeping over at Stark Towers for the last three days, I transferred some of my stuff into a guest room that Tony gave me for the few days. I could've gone home, but I couldn't face Steve and lie to him each time I walked in the door. I'm fine with lying it usually doesn't bother me, it was necessary in this situation. But for some reason I get this knot in my stomach every time I lie to Steve, ever since that heartfelt speech in the elevator. I just couldn't do it to him.

So I step into the elevator and press the floor number one up from the party level. I slowly walk down the hall and enter my room silently. As I walk in, I see a dress on my bed with a small white note on top of it. I walk over, curious about the package and who the sender is. I pick up the note and read it:

Dahlia,

I looked through your closet and didn't find anything that didn't look like a hand me down from your grandmother. So I decided to go out and buy you something a little more classy. I really need to teach you about a little something called 'style'. I hope it fits, if not it'll really hug your curves.

- Natasha

I shake my head with a bright smile on my face. That little read headed sneak. I can't believe she went through my closet. I brought a nice dress anyways! It's loose and comfortable and breathable and...now I know what Nat means by grandma hand me downs. I glance down at the dress and look at the tag, checking the size, hoping that Nat didn't get me a dress that should be a sock. Luckily Nat got the exact right size, 6. I hold up the dress to myself and turn to the mirror, it's a beautiful emerald green long sleeved dress. It has a high neck line, showing no more than my collar bone, at the back, it dips right under my shoulder blades. I put it on and look in the mirror, it cuts off right after my knees and is fitted, but still comfortable. Natasha really does know how to pick a dress.