Fic: Vertical Space 2: That Which is Tony Stark
TITLE: Vertical Space 2: That Which is Tony Stark
Transformers (movie)/Iron Man (movie)
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money
Author’s Voice of Warning (aka Author’s Note):
English is not my first language; it’s German. This is the best I can do. Any mistakes you find in here, collect them and you might win a prize The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how trustworthy those thingies are....
FEEDBACK: Loved
"His first impression of the man some fifteen years ago had been ‘asshole’. As first impressions went, it had been the correct one."
II. That Which Is Tony Stark
Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes had known Tony Stark long enough not to be all too upset by anything the man did - or didn’t. Ever since he had been found alive in the middle of the desert of Afghanistan, half delirious, injured, and in bad need of more than just a drink of water, Stark had changed, though. Now the new Tony Stark could shock Rhodes and Rhodey had to learn about his friend anew. He would never forget his own surge of fear at seeing this man in rags, bleeding, staggering through the desert, finally clinging to him like a drowning man.
Rhodey had never given up on finding Tony Stark. Part of him was convinced that the man was still alive. He had been the only body missing from the site of the attack and there had been persistent rumors that an American was held by a group called Ten Rings.
Now he had the proof in his arms. Dirty, shaking bloodied proof. Tony was a mess. He was clad in rags;, his body, always lean, now looked almost too wiry to be healthy. His skin was hot to the touch and dry.
Dark eyes, glazed with pain and exhaustion, met Rhodes’. There was a determination there that the pilot recognized. It was the old fire that had always driven Tony. It was alive and burning, but it was currently drowned by the pain from various injuries.
“Made it,” Tony breathed, voice barely recognizable.
“Yeah. You made it.” Rhodey knew he was grinning like an idiot.
The discovery of the arc reactor came as a shock. At first he believed it was a bomb, but the insistence of the weak man in his arms and the strange appearance of the device had him confused.
Not a bomb?
The crew of the helicopter swarmed around him. The medic was trying to get a better look at his patient and Rhodey reluctanlyt relinquished his hold. Tony’s good hand clenched around his wrist and there was a sudden fear in his eyes.
“I’m not leaving,” Rhodes reassured him.
And he didn’t. He was by Tony’s side as he was put on a stretcher and placed into the evac ‘copter. He was there when the medic inserted an IV and pushed the solution into the starved body. He watched as the medic examined Tony, cleaned the bullet wound, checked the abrasions and bruises. He was there when they wheeled him into the medical wing, now filled with a mild dose of painkillers. And he was there to tell the doctors, nurses and the helicopter crew about Top Secret Things, about keeping their mouths shut concerning the device inside Tony Stark, and that he would handle matters.
On the flight home from Afghanistan forty-eight hours later, and all throughout the hours on the military plane, Rhodes had watched his friend. He had seen lines where there had never been any before. The exhaustion had lingered, even though Tony had been fed, his injuries had been treated thoroughly, and he had slept.
The nightmares hadn’t made it through yet. But they would. Rhodes knew they would.
He had been at Tony’s side ever since. Through the furious upheaval that followed Stark’s announcement that his company would stop weapons production. Through the surprise of finding out that Tony had become some kind of avenger, taking on the people who had abducted him.
Tony had changed course in everything, his life and his company, from there. Rhodey had wondered about Tony’s sanity in the beginning, but he had come to see and understand a lot more in the recent year. Stark had never stopped working with the military, he had just changed focus. That focus had at first seemed like post-traumatic stress induced, but after two years and too many top secret meetings for Rhodey to count, he understood a lot more than ever before. He had been brought in on projects that he had never believed even possible to exist. He had been given access to places that made Area 51 seem like Disneyland.
He had met the Autobots.
Nellis Airforce Base was busy as usual and he threaded his way through the cars and people until he reached a hangar far outside the regular airfields. It had highly restricted access and he had been through two checkpoints before he had reached the gates of the extra fence around it. From the outside it looked like one of the older hangars, awaiting deconstruction, but Rhodey had been here before and he knew it was far from that. It was also so far out of the way, at the very end of the sprawling base, that casual passer-byes didn’t happen.
Parking his jeep he got out and smiled at the man waiting to greet him. Tall, dark-haired, looking very smart in his uniform, Captain Michael Bowman was the typical flyboy, in Rhodes’ eyes. A flyboy himself, he knew the pride that pilots took in their job. And like Bowman he had flown less and less the further his career advanced. It was a shame.
“Colonel Rhodes,” Bowman saluted him and they shook hands.
“Captain,” he replied, nodding at the Nellis liaison.
He had met Bowman several times before and he had been impressed by the man’s ease when it came to interacting with the Autobots. Of course, he had been involved in the secrecy a lot longer than Rhodes himself. He had had some time to work through the novelty and the shock that came with the knowledge.
There was a chirruping sound and Rhodey grinned at the tiny mechanoid life form he had come to know as Wi-Fi. The Nokia cell phone sat on Bowman’s shoulder, red optics regarding him curiously. Rhodes had been very surprised to hear about a lot of things that had happened in the past ten years, even before that, and the existence of life created by the Allspark out of normal human machines had been… fearsome.
Yes, he was a little bit afraid of the machines, but no more than he was of Iron Man. Not Tony Stark, but the man his friend became when he donned the armor and turned into an opponent to be reckoned with. Here was something the military hadn’t been able to prepare him for and the past two years had meant learning a lot anew.
Others before him had managed. He would, too, and had to an extent already.
“Mr. Stark arrived ten minutes ago,” Bowman informed him.
“He’s really here before me? On time?” Rhodey laughed. “Will miracles never cease?”
Bowman chuckled. “I think his ride got him here on time.”
Rhodey saw the ‘ride’ the moment they stepped into the hangar. Silver, sleek, hunkering down like a predator, the Audi R8 was an impressive car that had Rhodey drooling from the day Tony had gotten it. He had driven it once or twice, not knowing who or what it was, and it had been one cool ride.
“Hey, Hot Rod,” he greeted their resident Autobot.
“Good morning, Colonel Rhodes,” came the polite reply.
“Where is he?”
The Audi sat alone in the large hangar, looking like an expensive toy of a billionaire. It was, except that this ‘toy’ was an alien life form.
“Coffee run,” Hot Rod chuckled.
“Didn’t you feed him enough caffeine before you guys took off?” Rhodey asked, amused.
“Pepper made sure he was well-caffeinated. I think it’s just an instinctive reaction to the closeness of a coffee machine,” Hot Rod replied with the same amusement.
“I heard that, Roddy.”
“I was hoping you would.”
Rhodes grinned. Stark had straightened from one of the laptops on the near-by table, almost hidden behind what looked like the model of an engine. He was dressed in a completely casual outfit. He could be anyone in his faded jeans, black shirt and black leather jacket. His hair was tousled. The boots looked decades old.
“Hey, Rhodey. Welcome to the show.”
Tony grinned irrepressibly, toasting him with an extra-large mug of coffee.
“Knowing you, it’ll be a good one.”
“Ah, never say I don’t give the audience what they want.”
The meeting was actually in front of a very select audience. Rhodes was here as the military representative. Bowman didn’t fill those shoes since he was liaison and responsible for smooth operations between the Autobots, their human soldier unit and Nellis. Rhodes knew that Banachek would be present, as well as Optimus Prime and Ironhide. That meant Will Lennox, too. Maybe even Sam Witwicky.
Ever since Tony had crashed in the Arctic - flying over a restricted military area - and found out about the Ghost-2, he had moved heaven and hell to keep himself involved in the project. He wanted to be among those going up to the Ark, checking on her systems, determining whether she be scrapped and recycled or used as a first defense. Tony would be a winner either way because he finally would get to go up into space.
Like a little kid, Rhodey mused. A boy and his toys… A billionaire and genius, able to buy what he wanted, do what he pleased...
His first impression of the man some fifteen years ago had been ‘asshole’. As first impressions went, it had been the correct one. Arrogant prick and asshole. Tony Stark had owned the world, had had money and women and success and fast cars. He flaunted his wealth, he made no secret of who he was, and he was an attention whore. Rhodes, a Second Lieutenant back then, hadn’t understood what the US military actually wanted of this guy. He was clearly in for the money and even if his father had been a big-shot on the Manhattan Project, the son was far from the genius everyone believed of him.
At least that had been Rhodes’ impression.
To his chagrin he had been given babysitting duty. He was assigned to Stark as personal guide and bodyguard when he was on base for something or other. It had been an assignment Rhodes had detested.
Until he had once walked in on Stark in his workshop. Rhodes, now a First Lieutenant, had stared at the man he couldn’t believe was Tony Stark. Stained t-shirt, washed out jeans, old sneakers, hair uncombed, looking like he hadn’t slept for days, working furiously on something Rhodes could only guess wildly what it was. It had been such a contrast to the suave and well-groomed Stark.
After that, Rhodes had learned to look past the bluster and shiny outside. He spent more time with Tony - which was also the time they went from ‘Lieutenant’ and ‘Mr. Stark’ to ‘Rhodey’ and ‘Tony’. Rhodey learned that the rumors were true, that Tony was a whiz kid, and that his brain truly did come up with the most outrageous ideas that actually worked. Rising through the ranks, Rhodes had never been transferred anywhere else. He suspected Tony had had his hands in that, but he had never been able to prove it.
He was liaison to Stark Industries, Tony Stark’s best friend, and he was one of maybe only a handful, if at all that many, who knew the man for real - and got away with still calling him an asshole.
The arrival of a huge, black Topkick drew him out of his musings. It was an impressive vehicle and Rhodes almost stepped back as the massive machine transformed into an even more impressive mechanoid. The man who had accompanied him was well-known to Rhodey, too. Ex-Army Ranger Will Lennox. Lennox greeted them with a firm handshake and Rhodey tried not to stare too much at the runes on the man’s face. That was something even more shocking than alien robots. This was a human being who had been altered permanently by something alien.
Hot Rod had transformed too, watching everything with alert optics. Just like Ironhide kept with his human friend, Hot Rod was closest to Tony, who didn’t seem to notice. Rhodey smirked. Stark needed all the babysitters he could get.
“C’mon, Rhodey, let’s not keep the fans waiting,” Tony announced, still grinning.
Bowman smiled a little and nodded at him to go ahead. Preparing himself for the meeting, Rhodey walked after Tony, followed by Lennox and Ironhide. Hot Rod remained behind, just like Bowman.
* * *
Tony had been in his element, Rhodes mused. You could put the man in front of a group of kindergarten kids and he’d still have them riveted to their seats, no sniffles, no crying, no potty breaks demanded. Tony was simply that good. And he knew it, the smug bastard. Still, watching him work his audience was always fascinating.
There was still no final decision on when the Ghost-2 would launch again, this time with the mission to dock at the Ark. It would carry two Autobots with it, which meant changing the ship to lift that much cargo. Tony wanted a piece of that. He wanted in on the reconstruction, as well as on the later plans for the Ark. Rhodes had watched Tony as he presented his company’s assets, as he made his case like a lawyer in front of a jury. Stark Industries had been dealing with Cybertron Tech ever since Tony’s great-grandfather. That the man had been one of the original founders of Sector Seven was both a blessing and a curse. No other company in the United States was better able to pull off what the military and the mechs needed.
“You didn’t ask for our help with the interface,” Tony had pointed out.
His eyes had been filled with intense passion, his voice controlled and powerful. Rhodey had felt his respect for his friend rise another notch.
“You’d be scraping together the fragments of failure with the first mission if not for my help,” he had added ruthlessly. “Stark Industries knows what you’re dealing with. We do nothing but work with hybrid technology!”
Tony had the knowledge, the resources and the experience to make something impossible possible. He could use all the energy he had put into weapons manufacturing to get the Autobots what they needed to turn the Ark into a defense satellite. It was possible.
And he would do it.
“That went well,” Tony declared as they left the conference room. He was beaming at him like a kid who had gotten what he wanted for Christmas, and more.
“You think?” Rhodey teased.
“Hey, they’d be crazy not to let me work on this.”
“Crazy versus eccentric mad genius…”
“A little loyalty here!” Tony muttered, but his eyes were laughing.
“You have more loyalty than you deserve.”
Hot Rod still sat where he had parked and Bowman was next to him, apparently talking to the Autobot guardian. Wi-Fi was perched on Hot Rod’s hood, tapping his tiny legs.
“You scratch it, you pay,” Tony remarked.
Wi-Fi chirped indignantly.
“He can hardly damage my paint job,” Hot Rod replied calmly. “It takes more than a micro-mech to do that.”
“Hey, I’m paying for it. I can be worried.”
“Don’t.”
Bowman scooped his little friend up and the Nokia transformed back into cell phone mode. He slipped the cell into his pocket.
“I take it your meeting went well,” the captain remarked.
“Wonderful, perfect, like a charm. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other, Mike,” Tony answered, smiling more.
“You know my number.”
“Ready to get home or do you want to wait for your buddies?” Tony addressed Hot Rod.
The answer was the driver’s door opening.
“See you, Rhodey. Mike.”
And then the Audi tore out of the hangar. Rhodey shook his head, a tolerant smile on his face.
“You gotta wonder about Banachek’s change of mind,” Bowman remarked. “Six months ago he wouldn’t have given the idea a second thought. Now Stark’s into the whole mission already.”
“Tony’s persistent.”
“I noticed.”
The two men shared a knowing smile.
“Banachek would have been crazy not to involve Tony,” Rhodes then said. “I know you guys have Sam and a whole bunch of really talented engineers, but Tony is a class of its own. He says he can do it, he will.”
“The more allies the better,” Bowman agreed. “Even if they’re eccentric billionaires with weird hobbies.”
“Amen to that.”
* * *
“You impressed them,” Hot Rod remarked as they drove along Highway 95, heading for Las Vegas.
“I did?” Tony wanted to know, already smiling.
“Yes.”
“Who told you?”
“Ironhide contacted me. I think you have a fan. He studied your weapons manufacturing before you ever came into the picture personally and he knows your potential.”
“Cool. A fan.”
Hot Rod chuckled. “Probably.”
“So… they’re impressed, huh?” Tony’s voice was a little quieter now. “I hope enough to bring me on in person. I want this, Hot Rod. Not just for kicks, but because it’s… it’s space and space flight!”
“You have my vote. Even if that vote is tainted by the knowledge that you just want to test your armor in space.”
Tony chuckled. “I’m not that cheap.” He grew serious. “I know what the deal is, what the stakes are. I want to test the armor, sure, but it’s not my main goal.”
“Optimus knows it. It’s why he agreed, too.”
“I’m honored.” No sarcasm. Just the truth. “Check my schedule, Roddy?”
“You’re free for the next twenty-four hours. Why?”
“Las Vegas is just a few miles away…”
Hot Rod sighed.
“Hey, it’ll be fun!”
“I’m the one sitting in the parking lot.”
“You could chat up a nice Corvette.”
A groan. “That’s so bad coming from you, Tony.”
“Seriously,” Stark laughed. “I just want to have a little down time. A few rounds of poker, some dice, maybe some old fashioned one-armed bandit gambling. No harm.”
Another sigh, but Hot Rod didn’t fight for control over his alt form as Tony headed for downtown. He simply sent a message to Jarvis, informing him of their delay. The AI would in turn inform Pepper, who would probably read Tony the riot act.
Nothing new there.
Business as usual.
Transformers (movie)/Iron Man (movie)
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money
Author’s Voice of Warning (aka Author’s Note):
English is not my first language; it’s German. This is the best I can do. Any mistakes you find in here, collect them and you might win a prize The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how trustworthy those thingies are....
FEEDBACK: Loved
"His first impression of the man some fifteen years ago had been ‘asshole’. As first impressions went, it had been the correct one."
II. That Which Is Tony Stark
Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes had known Tony Stark long enough not to be all too upset by anything the man did - or didn’t. Ever since he had been found alive in the middle of the desert of Afghanistan, half delirious, injured, and in bad need of more than just a drink of water, Stark had changed, though. Now the new Tony Stark could shock Rhodes and Rhodey had to learn about his friend anew. He would never forget his own surge of fear at seeing this man in rags, bleeding, staggering through the desert, finally clinging to him like a drowning man.
Rhodey had never given up on finding Tony Stark. Part of him was convinced that the man was still alive. He had been the only body missing from the site of the attack and there had been persistent rumors that an American was held by a group called Ten Rings.
Now he had the proof in his arms. Dirty, shaking bloodied proof. Tony was a mess. He was clad in rags;, his body, always lean, now looked almost too wiry to be healthy. His skin was hot to the touch and dry.
Dark eyes, glazed with pain and exhaustion, met Rhodes’. There was a determination there that the pilot recognized. It was the old fire that had always driven Tony. It was alive and burning, but it was currently drowned by the pain from various injuries.
“Made it,” Tony breathed, voice barely recognizable.
“Yeah. You made it.” Rhodey knew he was grinning like an idiot.
The discovery of the arc reactor came as a shock. At first he believed it was a bomb, but the insistence of the weak man in his arms and the strange appearance of the device had him confused.
Not a bomb?
The crew of the helicopter swarmed around him. The medic was trying to get a better look at his patient and Rhodey reluctanlyt relinquished his hold. Tony’s good hand clenched around his wrist and there was a sudden fear in his eyes.
“I’m not leaving,” Rhodes reassured him.
And he didn’t. He was by Tony’s side as he was put on a stretcher and placed into the evac ‘copter. He was there when the medic inserted an IV and pushed the solution into the starved body. He watched as the medic examined Tony, cleaned the bullet wound, checked the abrasions and bruises. He was there when they wheeled him into the medical wing, now filled with a mild dose of painkillers. And he was there to tell the doctors, nurses and the helicopter crew about Top Secret Things, about keeping their mouths shut concerning the device inside Tony Stark, and that he would handle matters.
On the flight home from Afghanistan forty-eight hours later, and all throughout the hours on the military plane, Rhodes had watched his friend. He had seen lines where there had never been any before. The exhaustion had lingered, even though Tony had been fed, his injuries had been treated thoroughly, and he had slept.
The nightmares hadn’t made it through yet. But they would. Rhodes knew they would.
He had been at Tony’s side ever since. Through the furious upheaval that followed Stark’s announcement that his company would stop weapons production. Through the surprise of finding out that Tony had become some kind of avenger, taking on the people who had abducted him.
Tony had changed course in everything, his life and his company, from there. Rhodey had wondered about Tony’s sanity in the beginning, but he had come to see and understand a lot more in the recent year. Stark had never stopped working with the military, he had just changed focus. That focus had at first seemed like post-traumatic stress induced, but after two years and too many top secret meetings for Rhodey to count, he understood a lot more than ever before. He had been brought in on projects that he had never believed even possible to exist. He had been given access to places that made Area 51 seem like Disneyland.
He had met the Autobots.
Nellis Airforce Base was busy as usual and he threaded his way through the cars and people until he reached a hangar far outside the regular airfields. It had highly restricted access and he had been through two checkpoints before he had reached the gates of the extra fence around it. From the outside it looked like one of the older hangars, awaiting deconstruction, but Rhodey had been here before and he knew it was far from that. It was also so far out of the way, at the very end of the sprawling base, that casual passer-byes didn’t happen.
Parking his jeep he got out and smiled at the man waiting to greet him. Tall, dark-haired, looking very smart in his uniform, Captain Michael Bowman was the typical flyboy, in Rhodes’ eyes. A flyboy himself, he knew the pride that pilots took in their job. And like Bowman he had flown less and less the further his career advanced. It was a shame.
“Colonel Rhodes,” Bowman saluted him and they shook hands.
“Captain,” he replied, nodding at the Nellis liaison.
He had met Bowman several times before and he had been impressed by the man’s ease when it came to interacting with the Autobots. Of course, he had been involved in the secrecy a lot longer than Rhodes himself. He had had some time to work through the novelty and the shock that came with the knowledge.
There was a chirruping sound and Rhodey grinned at the tiny mechanoid life form he had come to know as Wi-Fi. The Nokia cell phone sat on Bowman’s shoulder, red optics regarding him curiously. Rhodes had been very surprised to hear about a lot of things that had happened in the past ten years, even before that, and the existence of life created by the Allspark out of normal human machines had been… fearsome.
Yes, he was a little bit afraid of the machines, but no more than he was of Iron Man. Not Tony Stark, but the man his friend became when he donned the armor and turned into an opponent to be reckoned with. Here was something the military hadn’t been able to prepare him for and the past two years had meant learning a lot anew.
Others before him had managed. He would, too, and had to an extent already.
“Mr. Stark arrived ten minutes ago,” Bowman informed him.
“He’s really here before me? On time?” Rhodey laughed. “Will miracles never cease?”
Bowman chuckled. “I think his ride got him here on time.”
Rhodey saw the ‘ride’ the moment they stepped into the hangar. Silver, sleek, hunkering down like a predator, the Audi R8 was an impressive car that had Rhodey drooling from the day Tony had gotten it. He had driven it once or twice, not knowing who or what it was, and it had been one cool ride.
“Hey, Hot Rod,” he greeted their resident Autobot.
“Good morning, Colonel Rhodes,” came the polite reply.
“Where is he?”
The Audi sat alone in the large hangar, looking like an expensive toy of a billionaire. It was, except that this ‘toy’ was an alien life form.
“Coffee run,” Hot Rod chuckled.
“Didn’t you feed him enough caffeine before you guys took off?” Rhodey asked, amused.
“Pepper made sure he was well-caffeinated. I think it’s just an instinctive reaction to the closeness of a coffee machine,” Hot Rod replied with the same amusement.
“I heard that, Roddy.”
“I was hoping you would.”
Rhodes grinned. Stark had straightened from one of the laptops on the near-by table, almost hidden behind what looked like the model of an engine. He was dressed in a completely casual outfit. He could be anyone in his faded jeans, black shirt and black leather jacket. His hair was tousled. The boots looked decades old.
“Hey, Rhodey. Welcome to the show.”
Tony grinned irrepressibly, toasting him with an extra-large mug of coffee.
“Knowing you, it’ll be a good one.”
“Ah, never say I don’t give the audience what they want.”
The meeting was actually in front of a very select audience. Rhodes was here as the military representative. Bowman didn’t fill those shoes since he was liaison and responsible for smooth operations between the Autobots, their human soldier unit and Nellis. Rhodes knew that Banachek would be present, as well as Optimus Prime and Ironhide. That meant Will Lennox, too. Maybe even Sam Witwicky.
Ever since Tony had crashed in the Arctic - flying over a restricted military area - and found out about the Ghost-2, he had moved heaven and hell to keep himself involved in the project. He wanted to be among those going up to the Ark, checking on her systems, determining whether she be scrapped and recycled or used as a first defense. Tony would be a winner either way because he finally would get to go up into space.
Like a little kid, Rhodey mused. A boy and his toys… A billionaire and genius, able to buy what he wanted, do what he pleased...
His first impression of the man some fifteen years ago had been ‘asshole’. As first impressions went, it had been the correct one. Arrogant prick and asshole. Tony Stark had owned the world, had had money and women and success and fast cars. He flaunted his wealth, he made no secret of who he was, and he was an attention whore. Rhodes, a Second Lieutenant back then, hadn’t understood what the US military actually wanted of this guy. He was clearly in for the money and even if his father had been a big-shot on the Manhattan Project, the son was far from the genius everyone believed of him.
At least that had been Rhodes’ impression.
To his chagrin he had been given babysitting duty. He was assigned to Stark as personal guide and bodyguard when he was on base for something or other. It had been an assignment Rhodes had detested.
Until he had once walked in on Stark in his workshop. Rhodes, now a First Lieutenant, had stared at the man he couldn’t believe was Tony Stark. Stained t-shirt, washed out jeans, old sneakers, hair uncombed, looking like he hadn’t slept for days, working furiously on something Rhodes could only guess wildly what it was. It had been such a contrast to the suave and well-groomed Stark.
After that, Rhodes had learned to look past the bluster and shiny outside. He spent more time with Tony - which was also the time they went from ‘Lieutenant’ and ‘Mr. Stark’ to ‘Rhodey’ and ‘Tony’. Rhodey learned that the rumors were true, that Tony was a whiz kid, and that his brain truly did come up with the most outrageous ideas that actually worked. Rising through the ranks, Rhodes had never been transferred anywhere else. He suspected Tony had had his hands in that, but he had never been able to prove it.
He was liaison to Stark Industries, Tony Stark’s best friend, and he was one of maybe only a handful, if at all that many, who knew the man for real - and got away with still calling him an asshole.
The arrival of a huge, black Topkick drew him out of his musings. It was an impressive vehicle and Rhodes almost stepped back as the massive machine transformed into an even more impressive mechanoid. The man who had accompanied him was well-known to Rhodey, too. Ex-Army Ranger Will Lennox. Lennox greeted them with a firm handshake and Rhodey tried not to stare too much at the runes on the man’s face. That was something even more shocking than alien robots. This was a human being who had been altered permanently by something alien.
Hot Rod had transformed too, watching everything with alert optics. Just like Ironhide kept with his human friend, Hot Rod was closest to Tony, who didn’t seem to notice. Rhodey smirked. Stark needed all the babysitters he could get.
“C’mon, Rhodey, let’s not keep the fans waiting,” Tony announced, still grinning.
Bowman smiled a little and nodded at him to go ahead. Preparing himself for the meeting, Rhodey walked after Tony, followed by Lennox and Ironhide. Hot Rod remained behind, just like Bowman.
* * *
Tony had been in his element, Rhodes mused. You could put the man in front of a group of kindergarten kids and he’d still have them riveted to their seats, no sniffles, no crying, no potty breaks demanded. Tony was simply that good. And he knew it, the smug bastard. Still, watching him work his audience was always fascinating.
There was still no final decision on when the Ghost-2 would launch again, this time with the mission to dock at the Ark. It would carry two Autobots with it, which meant changing the ship to lift that much cargo. Tony wanted a piece of that. He wanted in on the reconstruction, as well as on the later plans for the Ark. Rhodes had watched Tony as he presented his company’s assets, as he made his case like a lawyer in front of a jury. Stark Industries had been dealing with Cybertron Tech ever since Tony’s great-grandfather. That the man had been one of the original founders of Sector Seven was both a blessing and a curse. No other company in the United States was better able to pull off what the military and the mechs needed.
“You didn’t ask for our help with the interface,” Tony had pointed out.
His eyes had been filled with intense passion, his voice controlled and powerful. Rhodey had felt his respect for his friend rise another notch.
“You’d be scraping together the fragments of failure with the first mission if not for my help,” he had added ruthlessly. “Stark Industries knows what you’re dealing with. We do nothing but work with hybrid technology!”
Tony had the knowledge, the resources and the experience to make something impossible possible. He could use all the energy he had put into weapons manufacturing to get the Autobots what they needed to turn the Ark into a defense satellite. It was possible.
And he would do it.
“That went well,” Tony declared as they left the conference room. He was beaming at him like a kid who had gotten what he wanted for Christmas, and more.
“You think?” Rhodey teased.
“Hey, they’d be crazy not to let me work on this.”
“Crazy versus eccentric mad genius…”
“A little loyalty here!” Tony muttered, but his eyes were laughing.
“You have more loyalty than you deserve.”
Hot Rod still sat where he had parked and Bowman was next to him, apparently talking to the Autobot guardian. Wi-Fi was perched on Hot Rod’s hood, tapping his tiny legs.
“You scratch it, you pay,” Tony remarked.
Wi-Fi chirped indignantly.
“He can hardly damage my paint job,” Hot Rod replied calmly. “It takes more than a micro-mech to do that.”
“Hey, I’m paying for it. I can be worried.”
“Don’t.”
Bowman scooped his little friend up and the Nokia transformed back into cell phone mode. He slipped the cell into his pocket.
“I take it your meeting went well,” the captain remarked.
“Wonderful, perfect, like a charm. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other, Mike,” Tony answered, smiling more.
“You know my number.”
“Ready to get home or do you want to wait for your buddies?” Tony addressed Hot Rod.
The answer was the driver’s door opening.
“See you, Rhodey. Mike.”
And then the Audi tore out of the hangar. Rhodey shook his head, a tolerant smile on his face.
“You gotta wonder about Banachek’s change of mind,” Bowman remarked. “Six months ago he wouldn’t have given the idea a second thought. Now Stark’s into the whole mission already.”
“Tony’s persistent.”
“I noticed.”
The two men shared a knowing smile.
“Banachek would have been crazy not to involve Tony,” Rhodes then said. “I know you guys have Sam and a whole bunch of really talented engineers, but Tony is a class of its own. He says he can do it, he will.”
“The more allies the better,” Bowman agreed. “Even if they’re eccentric billionaires with weird hobbies.”
“Amen to that.”
* * *
“You impressed them,” Hot Rod remarked as they drove along Highway 95, heading for Las Vegas.
“I did?” Tony wanted to know, already smiling.
“Yes.”
“Who told you?”
“Ironhide contacted me. I think you have a fan. He studied your weapons manufacturing before you ever came into the picture personally and he knows your potential.”
“Cool. A fan.”
Hot Rod chuckled. “Probably.”
“So… they’re impressed, huh?” Tony’s voice was a little quieter now. “I hope enough to bring me on in person. I want this, Hot Rod. Not just for kicks, but because it’s… it’s space and space flight!”
“You have my vote. Even if that vote is tainted by the knowledge that you just want to test your armor in space.”
Tony chuckled. “I’m not that cheap.” He grew serious. “I know what the deal is, what the stakes are. I want to test the armor, sure, but it’s not my main goal.”
“Optimus knows it. It’s why he agreed, too.”
“I’m honored.” No sarcasm. Just the truth. “Check my schedule, Roddy?”
“You’re free for the next twenty-four hours. Why?”
“Las Vegas is just a few miles away…”
Hot Rod sighed.
“Hey, it’ll be fun!”
“I’m the one sitting in the parking lot.”
“You could chat up a nice Corvette.”
A groan. “That’s so bad coming from you, Tony.”
“Seriously,” Stark laughed. “I just want to have a little down time. A few rounds of poker, some dice, maybe some old fashioned one-armed bandit gambling. No harm.”
Another sigh, but Hot Rod didn’t fight for control over his alt form as Tony headed for downtown. He simply sent a message to Jarvis, informing him of their delay. The AI would in turn inform Pepper, who would probably read Tony the riot act.
Nothing new there.
Business as usual.