Well, shit. Until Tony got false ID, he couldn't take a flight, even domestically. He'd never realized
that, what with always having his own transport. And by next January he'd need a passport! Iron
Man didn't need no stinkin' ID. But he wasn't Iron Man any longer. He'd been hoping to catch a
flight to Knoxville and then get a car... yeah, no ID, no rental... maybe he could go Greyhound. Was
that even a thing any more? And would they want ID, too?
"Boss," Friday finally said, she sounded almost in tears. He was a bit proud of her for that. "I can't
find an alternative that's both safe and quick."
Tony sighed. "Yeah. I know, baby. What have we got that's safe?"
"The best case I can come up with is for you to drive." The phone screen showed a Google maps
route, with driving times estimated between ten and twelve hours.
"Great." Tony didn't want to steal a car, not just for moral reasons. He didn't want to leave a trail. "I
could... maybe ask Happy to drop off a car. No, bad idea. We're keeping our friends clear of this
mess."
"Boss! I found it!" Friday said happily. "Ride share!"
"What?"
"It's an informal site where people meet to carpool. You can put in a request and I'll vet all the
answers to make sure they're safe."
"Huh. Worth a try. Ok." Tony looked at the site and spent some time typing and editing before
sending off his request, including his promise to pay up front all expenses for a much longer trip if
the driver wanted to go somewhere else after dropping him off, just so he got to his destination. He
hated to do it, but he cited personal trauma and mild autism for his inability to either drive himself or
use public transport. It wasn't actually that far from the truth. He put up a good front, but he was
never really comfortable in crowds.
He rented a room in a mid-class hotel and waited for results.
On the third day he had a reply, asking for a meet. He'd had time to make some basic purchases, a
few changes of clothing, a duffel bag, personal hygiene items, including a grooming kit for the full
beard he was trying to cultivate to something like neatness and a Timex. He didn't buy sunglasses,
but he wished he could. His face felt naked without them.
He went to the outdoor cafe his contact had suggested and looked around for a bearded black man
with long dreadlocks dyed gold wearing a purple baseball cap with a white NY Yankees logo on it.
He saw a young man of the proper description and went over to the table. "Hi, are you the guy from
share your ride?" he asked.
"Ye..." the man looked up from the soda he was drinking and his eyes went wide. "Holy shit," he
said softly.
Tony was about to run when the man put up both his hands. "Don't go, man." He tugged at his shirt,
revealing a faded, jagged line of scar tissue, outlined by tattooed flames. "I was a kid trapped in a
burning car in 2012. Iron Man got me out. I would do fucking anything for him."
Tony hesitated. He had a shit sense of who to trust, but what the hell, he was running out of options.
He pulled out a chair and sat down. "You don't have a tattoo of me on you anywhere, do you?"
The man laughed. "I don't need one. I've got you here," he tapped his chest. "In my heart. You need
a ride, hell, I'll take you anywhere you want to go, and keep my mouth shut about it. What the
government did to you is absolute shit, man."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Fair enough." The man held out his hand. "My name's Jayden."
"Tony." Tony shook Jayden's hand. "Pleased to meet you. I hope we like the same kind of music,
otherwise this is gonna be a long ride."
Jayden laughed.
Chapter End Notes
I wasn't planning on adding a totally original character, but when I went googling for a
photo so I'd have some idea of how Tony would recognize his ride-share, 'dyed
dreadlocks' seemed a good search topic, and I found a photo of the MOST beautiful
man. He actually has LOTS of tattoos, but none of Tony. ;^)
I don't hotlink, and the webpage where it was hosted is full of popups so I didn't want to
put it here, so maybe imagine a younger, neatly bearded, Jason Momoa, with a more
golden skin tone and thin gold dreadlocks flowing down his bare chest to touch his
nipples. His chest is blackwork tattooed with flames at top, outlined stars below,
cloudforms below that surrounding the name 'Ann' and winglike shapes on the shoulder.
So gorgeous.
YOU ARE READING
Peachy Keen
ActionSummary What if Tony decided in Siberia that he couldn't just go home? He was used to being the scapegoat, but this time the cost would be more than he could pay. Ross would have the ammunition he needed to get Iron Man under his control, and what h...
