Battle Strategies | Tony Stark [1]

SEVEN

Athena gabbed Pepper by the arm, hoisting her out from her seat and followed after the red haired spy as the said spy made contact with Happy. Athena didn't know what was going through Tony's head, she didn't even know if he was capable of driving such a car. As they walked briskly through the hotel, Athena brought up the race on her phone. Just from the noise she could hear from outside, she knew that the race had started and the coverage on the phone only confirmed it. From what she could gather, it seemed that Tony wasn't doing so bad and that he actually was quite efficient at the sport.

Athena paused at a window, watching as the various racing cars zoomed past. Pepper had taken the phone from her and was watching it with a great deal of concern etched on her face while Athena tapped the wooden window sill with her finger, nervously. All seemed to be going okay as the two girls waited for Happy and Natasha to return to them, until a figure stepped onto the racing track.

Athena narrowed her eyes at the figure before tapping an option on the phone to enlarge the coverage in an holographic picture. The figure was clad in an orange jumpsuit and had ditched his helmet to reveal his long greasy and matted brown hair. He walked through the middle of the track, ignoring the incoming cars with a look of sinister determination as he opened the chest of the jumpsuit. Underneath the jumpsuit was a contraption that held an object that looked eerily similar to the arc reactor inside Tony's chest, Athena observed as she further zoomed up on it with the advance technology she owned thanks to Tony.

As the man dropped his hands away from the jumpsuit, two whips fell into his hands which were quickly illuminated by the energy of the mock arc reactor. Athena noted that the whips were powered by the mock reactor on the chest of the man, obviously inspiration from the Iron Man suit that Tony so proudly wore.

The top part of the jumpsuit burned away thanks to the energy that was powering the whips. The whips cackled and sparked as the man walked, eyeing the car that was currently making its way around the bend. With nearly no effort on the whips part, the man severed the incoming car with nothing more than a flick of the arm. Stepping to the side to avoid the severed and out of control car, the man admired the way it flipped through the air before it messily hit the ground.

Pepper gasped in horror, while Athena couldn't help but feel annoyed that, of course, the one race that Tony decided to spontaneously enter, was the one with a deranged lunatic crashing it. Athena looked away from the coverage and spotted Happy down the hallway, holding the Iron Man suit in the shape of a brief case. Athena grabbed Pepper's arm again and dragged her down the hallway towards Happy, who then lead them to the car that was parked outside.

Happy ran to the driver's side and hopped in as the women jumped into the back, Athena demanding that he go quick. Without much warning, Happy took off. Pepper and Athena slamming back into the seats because of the speed that Happy was driving at. Athena's eyes widened as she saw the barrier in front of them, realizing that Happy planned on driving through it.

"Hang on." Happy warned before crashing through the yellow barrier and onto the track. Pepper clutched onto Athena, a small scream escaping her lips as Athena cursed in Greek at Happy. The car screeched loudly against the road as Happy tried to gain control of the car again, now that they were on the track were cars were racing at humongous speeds. Not to mention they were heading in the opposite direction to those cars.

Each time a car went by them, Athena's life flashed before her. Shaking her head, Pepper clambered into the middle seat and leaned forward between the two front seats. "Give me the case."

"Here, take it." Happy said as he handed it backwards while avoiding the incoming cars like a pro.

"Where's the key?" Athena asked, her voicing rising higher with every car that they just about manage to avoid. Having fought in so many battles, this was the only one that put her on such an edge. Perhaps it was just the racing cars.