Ironman 3 (Charlotte Stark)

Ch. 2 Aldrich Killian

As we eat our pizza and work in the lab, we decide to give Happy a call.

"Hello?" He says.

"Is this forehead of Security?" I ask, only seeing Happys forehead on the monitor.

"What? You know, look, I got a real job. What do you want? I'm working, I got something going on here." He says.

"What? Harassing interns?" Tony asks.

"No, that's your job." I say to Tony. Tony chuckles at my joke, but Happy seems unfazed.

"Let me tell you something, you know what happened when I told people I was Iron Man's body guard? They would laugh in my face." Tony and I laughed. "I had to leave while I still had a shred of dignity. Now I got a real job, I'm watching Pepper."

"What's going on? Fill us in." I ask.

"For real?" Happy asks.

"Yeah." Tony answers quickly.

"Alright, so she's meeting up with this scientist. Rich guy, handsome."

"Right."

"I couldn't make his face at first, right? You know I'm good with faces."

"Oh, Yeah, yeah. You're the best." I say, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah. Well, so I run his credentials, I make him Aldrich Killian. We actually met the guy back in... where were we in '99? The science conference?"

"Um...Switzerland." Tony answers.

"Right, right, exactly."

"Killian? No, I don't remember that guy." Tony says.

"Of course you don't. He's not a blond with a big rack." I say to him, scoffing.

"At first it was fine, they were talking business, but now it's like getting weird. He's showing her a big brain."

"His what?" I question.

"Big brain, and she likes it. Here, let me show you. Hold on. See?" He tries to hold his tablet up and point it towards Pepper's glass office, but all Tony and I see is Happy pointing the tablet camera at himself.

"Look at what? You watching them? Flip the screen and then we can get started." Tony says. I laugh at Happys struggles.

"I'm not a tech genius like you two. Just...just trust me, get down down here."

"Flip the screen, then we can see what they're doing." Tony instructs him.

"I can't! I don't know how to flip the screen! Don't talk to me like that anymore. You're not my boss." As Happy talks, Tony uses his small tablet to look up Aldrich and we find his photo. "Alright, I don't work for you. Now I don't trust this guy. He's got another guy with him, he's shifty."

"Relax." Tony states.

"Seriously?"

"I'm just asking you to secure the perimeter. Tell him to go out for a drink or something?"

"You know what? You should take more of an interest in what's going on here. This woman... this woman's the best thing that ever happened to you, and you...you're just ignoring her."

"He's got a point." I tell tony. He waves me off.

"A giant brain?" He questions Happy.

"Yeah, there's a giant brain, there's a shifty character. I'm gonna follow this guy. I'm gonna run his plates and if it gets rough, so be it."

"We miss you, Happy." I say to him, stifling a laugh.

"Yeah, I miss you guys too. But the way it used to be. Now you're off with the 'superfriends', I don't know what's going on with you two anymore. The world's getting weird..."

"Hey, I...I'd hate to cut you off. Do you have your taser on you?" Tony asks.

"Why?"

"I think there's a gal in HR who's trying to steal some printer ink, you should probably go over there and zap her." He puts his small tablet in his wine fridge and closes it and walks off still with Happy on the phone.

"Yeah, nice." I hear Happy say, his voice muffled.

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I hear Pepper come in. Tony is in the lab, and I'm sitting on the couch, with his Mark 42 suit.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I was... What the...? What is that?!" She asks, seeing the Iron Man suit. "You're wearing this in the house now? What is that, like Mark 15?"

"Uh...yeah. Something like that. You know everybody needs a hobby."

"It's Mark 42." I whisper to her.

"Oh, and you have to wear your hobby in the living room?" The suit then gets up and walks towards her.

"Just breakin' it in. You know, it's always a little pinchy in the gooey bag at first." The Iron man suit shakes it's ass, and Pepper laughs. "Oh hey, did you see your Christmas present?"

"Yes, I did. I...I don't know how I could have missed that Christmas present. Is it gonna fit through the door?" They're talking about the giant stuffed bunny out on the front lawn.

"Well actually, uh...it's a good question. I got a team of guys comin' tomorrow, they're gonna blow out that wall." He points to the wall near the front of the house.

"Okay." I mutter under my breath and start to gather my things up from the coffee table.

"So, uh...tense? Good day?" The suit walks behind her and starts massaging her shoulders. "Ooh shoulders, a little naughty. Naughty girl. I don't wanna harp on this, but did you like the custom rabbit?"

"Did I like it?" She questions.

"He nailed it, right?" I joke and we both laugh.

"Wow. I appreciate the thought very much." She says then turns to face the suit. She rises from her seat on the couch and stands close to it. "So why don't you lift up that face mask and give me a kiss?"

"Huh. Yup, dammit. No can do. You wanna just kiss it on the..." He stammers. "The facial slit?"

"Uh-huh." She says, annoyed. I clear my throat and she looks over to me. I point down to the lab, letting her know he's actually down there and not in the living room with us.

"Well, why don't I run down to the garage and see if I can't find a crowbar to shimmy that thing open?" Pepper says, catching on.

"Crowbar. Yeah." He says, and sees Pepper start to walk downstairs. "Oh, except there's been a...uh...a radiation leak."

"I'll take my chances."

"That's risky." He says. And then Pepper makes her way down towards the lab.

"Busted." I mutter to myself and walk up the stairs to my room.