"-and I literally just got done interrogating her again. Now, be honest... Is that what it feels like to argue with me?" Tony asked.
Rhodey sat diagonally from him, a deadpan look on his face. "That's what it's like to even talk with you. I think karma has finally decided to deliver, and I'm not surprised that it came in the form of a teenage girl. They're as savage as they come," he said, leaning back in his chair.
They had been sitting in the room for an hour now, with Rhodey painfully listening to every party of Tony's "totally undramatic" retelling of what had happened the night before. Not only did Tony make some very stupid mistakes in security measures that gave him a huge headache, but Rhodey was also still having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that there was "magic" in the world now. He was getting better, with each crazy magical event, scientific miracle, or abomination, but it still threw him for a loop sometimes.
Rhodey shook his head as he stared at the table. "Crazy world nowadays, huh?" he said.
"You have no idea," Tony replied.
"I mean, first we get attacked by a rebellious god with daddy issues,"
"I sent a nuke into space,"
"Then you and Banner create a weird, magical, robot-human together,"
"Why do you have to explain it like that?"
"And now we have a band of good-guys-gone-bad, who ran off to become vigilantes while on the run from the government of basically the whole world,"
"I didn't start that one, can't blame me,"
Rhodey slightly smiled at him as they sat in comfortable silence, staring at the table's surface. "Since when did everything go downhill?" he asked.
"I think this whole mess started the second Mr. Stark decided to become Iron Man," a voice spoke from the doorway.
Tony and Rhodey's heads turned towards the direction of it to see the straightened posture of Secretary Ross. He was as sharp as ever with a black suit and his graying hair neatly slicked back. A small file envelope was held securely under his arm and next to his rib cage as he strode over to the table, gracefully dropping the file on its surface.
"I mean, it's like you created a whole universe or something!" Ross exclaimed.
Tony's head nodded slightly as a smirk grew on his face at Ross's words, and he turned to look at Rhodey through a side glance. "You know, I think that's the greatest compliment I've ever been given, and it wasn't even from someone I want to listen to," Tony said in a voice that caused Ross to silently seethe with a barely contained rage.
Rhodey sighed as he watched the interaction. He didn't know what else he expected from his best friend, but this certainly wasn't it.
At the very least, he could take something with a serious attitude for once, he thought in vain.
By this point in his life, he knew that not acting serious was Tony's way of acting serious... in a really counterproductive way. It was a habit that took some effort to see, as well as a high level of patience that no one had time for.
"Ah, Commander Rhodes. Wonderful to see you here," Ross greeted, a feeling of gratefulness that there was someone other than the cocky genius to talk to. "Your presence is just what we need," he added.
"What for?" Rhodey asked, leaning forward to give Ross his full attention.
"You see, while everyone has been worrying about Mr. Stark and Mr. Parker, and rightfully so, I've been stuck behind a desk for the past ten hours trying to find anything I can about that assassin. I did manage to find something, but the trail ends where it starts. The only reason I have this is because of a shady informant from someplace deeper than the black market," Ross explained, pointing at the file he had tossed on the table. Placing a hand on it, he slid it over to the two men on the other side of the table.

YOU ARE READING
All Of Me (Peter Parker x Reader)
Fanfiction(April 24, 2025)- Currently undergoing minor editing! The Civil War was over. What once was a strong group of legendary heroes is now split up, and Tony is left to pick up the pieces on his side of life. And with fewer numbers, he's not taking any c...