✓ | Porcelain.

chapter three

CHAPTER THREE: TONY'S PARTY

When the jet landed, it was just Steve, Tony and I left. Maria Hill walked up to us with a tablet in her hands-I admired her dress and heals, it was a flattering outfit for her. I'd have to ask where she got them later. "Lab's all set up, boss." She said, directing her statement towards Tony.

"Uh, actually he's the boss." Tony pointed a finger towards Steve. I smiled at that. "I just pay for everything, and design everything and make everyone look cooler." His voice was muffled as he was digging around in the cockpit of the jet.

"What's the word on Strucker?" Steve changed the subject to something more important.

"NATO's got him." Maria answered.

"The two enhanced?"

"Wanda and Pietro Maximoff." Wanda. I thought. It was nice to put a name to a face. "Twins. orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building." Maria started as she showed us a video of the twins. The two were in a crowd of people; everyone shouting and screaming about something that I couldn't understand, their voices were overlapping each other.

"Sokivia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special but it's on the way to everywhere special." Maria said as the three of us walked towards an elevator.

"Their abilities?" Steve asked.

"He's got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Her thing is neural electric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation." Maria rambled, shrugging casually. Steve and I sent her confused looks. "He's fast and she's weird." Maria quickly summed up. I mumbled, 'oh', as we continued walking.

"Well, they're going to show up again." Steve stated with a nod. I kept silent as I usually did with talks like these. I was a better listener than I was a talker, believe it or not.

"Agreed. File says they volunteered for Strucker's experiments. It's nuts." Maria sighed.

"Right." A small smirk appeared on Steve's face. "What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?" I snickered, amused by the comment.

"We're not at war, Captain." Maria replied in a joking tone.

Steve nodded, "they are."

"I hate parties." I mumbled softly as I walked around the room full of people. "Especially Tony's parties. They're always so busy." Although, I loathed parties, I did clean up quite nicely. I wore a black suit with a lace top and some kitten heels as I walked around with Steve by my side.

"I know, but it was very nice of you to show up." He smiled at me, a drink already in hand. "Now go have fun." His tone was teasing, as if talking to a child.

"You know I won't." I sent him a half smile before walking away. It wasn't long before I found Tony, Thor, Maria and Rhodey.

I started making my way over to the four as they all smiled at me. "Quinn." Tony greeted, "you look lovely tonight." I smiled at the compliment.

"Thanks." I nodded, "you don't look too bad yourself."

Not long after, Rhodey started telling a 'war machine' story. I was hardly listening. I found myself staring up at the ceiling lights, getting lost in the brightness of them. I found all light beautiful, I suppose, but it especially looked nice on a chandelier as expensive as this.

"Well, you know, the suit can take the weight, right? So I take the tank, fly it right up to the general's palace, drop it at his feet, I'm like, 'boom! You looking for this?'" He finished off his story, very proudly, might I add.

I slowly looked down when I noticed the silence that followed after. Everyone just stared at him as he looked at back at them, awaiting a better reaction. "'Boom! Are you looking...' why do I even talk to you guys? Everywhere else that story kills." Rhodey was disappointed.

I snickered as I listened to their conversation. "That's the whole story?" Thor asked, a drink in his hand.

"Yeah," Rhodey nodded, "it's a war machine story."

"Well, it's very good then." Thor chuckled softly. "It's impressive." I laughed at that, he tried.

"Quality save." Rhodey's voice was thick with sarcasm. "So, no Pepper? She's not coming?" He then asked Tony with knitted brows.

"No."

"Hey, what about Jane?" Maria spoke up as she looked around, "where are the ladies, gentlemen?"

"Well, Miss Potts has a company to run." Tony added proudly.

"Yes, I'm not even sure what country Jane's in. Her work on the convergence has made her the world's foremost astronomer." Thor smiled, glancing at Tony to see his reaction.

Oh, my gods.

"And the company Pepper runs is the largest tech conglomerate on earth. It's pretty exciting." Tony continued. Thor glanced at him again before deciding to boast about his girlfriend once more.

"There's even talk of Jane getting a... um, uh.. Nobel Prize." He said as casually as possible.

"Yeah, they... they must be busy because they'd hate missing you guys get together." Maria mumbled before faking a cough. "Testosterone! Oh, excuse me." She held a hand to her chest with wide eyes, as if it just slipped out.

"Want a lozenge?" Rhodey joked. Maria hummed as the two began to walk off. Rhodey chuckled, "let's go." Then, they were off.

"But Jane's better." Thor smiled, not even looking at Tony this time.

"Not a chance." Tony smirked, before turning to me. "Hey," he said, and I quickly brought my attention to him. "What about you, Quinn, any boys caught your eye recently." He was curious.

I shook my head with a shrug, "no, I think I'm leaning more towards the women."

He tilted his head, "and?"

"I can't say I'm interested in someone, yet." I sighed softly, "well, I think I'll head to the bar now. All this socializing is making me exhausted."

"Uh-huh." Tony sent me his signature smirk as he took a sip of his drink.

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lizzie speaks...

i hate parties