part five!
Now with a dedicated tag! Which I will double back and fill in in a bit.
Tony likes the plan for knocking a little sense into Captain Hammer's head, and even offers to help test it out. Billy's a little skeptical about that, at first, but Tony does have a point; they're only going to get one good shot, whenever they get the chance to use the thing, so it's better that they know how it works beforehand.
And, well. Billy doesn't want to ask Pepper to suffer through it, Colonel Rhodes is an even more terrifying prospect, and... he can't ask Penny. Not without explaining at least a dozen other things. So that leaves himself and Tony, and if Tony's willing, Billy can totally live with that. He still waits until he's pretty sure it's near a hundred percent, though, just in case.
It's designed to last for about half an hour, but they have Jarvis route all calls to voicemail for the whole afternoon, in case it takes a while to wear off. Obviously, it won't matter if Captain Hammer goes around spouting the truth whether he wants to or not, but it'd be a little bad if Tony did that for more than the control audience - which consists of Billy, Jarvis, and Pepper.
It does for the first three minutes, anyway. When Tony starts talking about how many people he's slept with, Pepper decides she's heard more than enough, and heads upstairs to tend to the email backlog, or something. Billy doesn't blame her one bit, but he's got to see it through. It's the only way to make sure they've got an accurate idea of how the thing works.
Forty minutes later, the effects start to wear off. Tony leans back in his chair and sighs. "Finally. That was annoying."
"Well, yes, but do you think it'll get the job done?"
"More than done, I'd say. You do good work."
Billy grins. "Thanks. Now all we need is somewhere we can spring it on him - preferably highly public."
"I think I know something that might work. I'll look into it tomorrow, and we can plan from there."
"Cool. Just let me-- oh shit, is that the time? I gotta - laundry, it's sort of a standing date thing."
"Jesus, take the girl someplace nice," Tony calls, as Billy bolts up the stairs. And he's building up to that - with every passing week, he's getting a little more confident about the idea of asking her on a fully acknowledged date. He's pretty sure she won't laugh at the very idea, anyway.
He just hopes she doesn't ask why he's late getting to the laundromat.
***
Tony looks up the phone number that afternoon, while he's thinking about it, and asks Jarvis to remind him to make the call, if it gets to the next afternoon and it looks like he's forgetting. Nothing's likely to get done until Monday, but it can't hurt to leave a message, while he's still got the idea in his head.
This isn't the sort of call he wants to leave to Pepper, either.
He remembers to make the call on his own, and gets it done before lunch. He's routed to voicemail, as expected, but that's all right.
"Hi, Christine, this is Tony Stark. Call me back tomorrow - I think I might be able to give you the scoop of your life. Call it a thank-you for those photos."
Tony likes the plan for knocking a little sense into Captain Hammer's head, and even offers to help test it out. Billy's a little skeptical about that, at first, but Tony does have a point; they're only going to get one good shot, whenever they get the chance to use the thing, so it's better that they know how it works beforehand.
And, well. Billy doesn't want to ask Pepper to suffer through it, Colonel Rhodes is an even more terrifying prospect, and... he can't ask Penny. Not without explaining at least a dozen other things. So that leaves himself and Tony, and if Tony's willing, Billy can totally live with that. He still waits until he's pretty sure it's near a hundred percent, though, just in case.
It's designed to last for about half an hour, but they have Jarvis route all calls to voicemail for the whole afternoon, in case it takes a while to wear off. Obviously, it won't matter if Captain Hammer goes around spouting the truth whether he wants to or not, but it'd be a little bad if Tony did that for more than the control audience - which consists of Billy, Jarvis, and Pepper.
It does for the first three minutes, anyway. When Tony starts talking about how many people he's slept with, Pepper decides she's heard more than enough, and heads upstairs to tend to the email backlog, or something. Billy doesn't blame her one bit, but he's got to see it through. It's the only way to make sure they've got an accurate idea of how the thing works.
Forty minutes later, the effects start to wear off. Tony leans back in his chair and sighs. "Finally. That was annoying."
"Well, yes, but do you think it'll get the job done?"
"More than done, I'd say. You do good work."
Billy grins. "Thanks. Now all we need is somewhere we can spring it on him - preferably highly public."
"I think I know something that might work. I'll look into it tomorrow, and we can plan from there."
"Cool. Just let me-- oh shit, is that the time? I gotta - laundry, it's sort of a standing date thing."
"Jesus, take the girl someplace nice," Tony calls, as Billy bolts up the stairs. And he's building up to that - with every passing week, he's getting a little more confident about the idea of asking her on a fully acknowledged date. He's pretty sure she won't laugh at the very idea, anyway.
He just hopes she doesn't ask why he's late getting to the laundromat.
***
Tony looks up the phone number that afternoon, while he's thinking about it, and asks Jarvis to remind him to make the call, if it gets to the next afternoon and it looks like he's forgetting. Nothing's likely to get done until Monday, but it can't hurt to leave a message, while he's still got the idea in his head.
This isn't the sort of call he wants to leave to Pepper, either.
He remembers to make the call on his own, and gets it done before lunch. He's routed to voicemail, as expected, but that's all right.
"Hi, Christine, this is Tony Stark. Call me back tomorrow - I think I might be able to give you the scoop of your life. Call it a thank-you for those photos."