The Pirate And His Sea

Cahpter 7: How Tony Found Out

Tony's head snapped to look down in the direction his driver was gazing in. Indeed, there was Percy, though he seemed a little different than usual. Instead of his usual scuffed shorts or khakis and plain blue or green t-shirt, he was wearing slim black jeans and a crisp green polo, one that accentuated his tanned skin and eyes. His hair, while still messy, was a little more organized, and he was wearing leather shoes.

He had dressed up, obviously, and Tony knew why.

"A date! A date! See, Happy, told you that's what it was! Why else would Perce dress nice!" Wiggling gleefully in place on the roof, Tony chortled proudly. His driver just rolled his eyes and watched his employer's friend walk down the road, stopping at a small alleyway. "Sir, he's pulling a motorcycle out of a storage unit."

"Ah! Quick, Happy, to the Starkmobile!" Tony shot up and scrambled down the dubiously-creaking fire escape, which led to the side street where the aforementioned silver Mercedes was parked.

With a sigh Happy climbed in after Tony and started the car, pulling onto the main road just in time to start tailing Percy. The green-eyed man passed through the traffic, with Tony and Happy following with a bit more difficulty but still close by. He stopped outside a nice restaurant and parked his motorcycle in a conveniently close spot. It took Happy a few minutes and lots of ruthless cutting off but he wrangled a parking spot and they quickly jumped out to hurry after him. Luckily, Percy was still standing at by the doors, obviously waiting for his date, whoever it was.

Stashing themselves behind a nicely placed crepe stand - the purple-haired employee shot them a glance, but didn't comment - they watched in anticipation. Despite himself, even Happy was a little curious.

Less than a minute later, Percy's face lit up as a sleek black car rolled to a stop in front him. The door opened, but do to the angle they were at Tony and Happy couldn't see the mysterious stranger. Percy opened his mouth, obviously to greet him, and Tony leaned forward to try to hear him say his date's name. But, unfortunately but not surprisingly, something just had to interrupt the moment.

And even more unsurprisingly, it was explosions and gunfire.

Well, maybe it was a little surprising. But Tony was rather used to that.

Percy hit the deck with the ease of long practice (which had always bothered Tony, because this was Percy and Percy didn't need to know how to dodge explosions and gunfire but he did anyway) but at the moment he couldn't help but be thankful for that odd skill. Not ten feet from the mysterious date's car, a Volkswagen Buggy went up in flames, and amiss the smoke Tony saw several figures dart about, wielding what he guessed were guns.

Percy scrambled to his feet, staying low, and conveniently fled in Tony and Happy's direction. He jumped, wide-eyed, when the billionaire reached out yanked him back by his shirt collar, pulling him into their little group.

"Tony?!" He spluttered, looking far more shocked than the genius had ever seen him. In his head Tony cheered at that little success (finally!) but he covered up his enthusiasm.

"Hey, Perce, uh, how's it going?" Tony gave his friend an unsure smile.

"What are you doing here?" Percy paused for a moment, and his green eyes narrowed in his famous glare that sent even the most muscular of drunken men scurrying from his bar. "Were you stalking me?"

"No, of course not!"

"Happy?"

"Yes, Mr. Jackson."

"Tony!" Percy whacked his friend over the head just as he exclaimed, "Happy!" Any further arguments were drowned out by the sound of more gunfire. Percy scowled and peeked over the crepe stand, muttering, "I really hate guns. And terrorists. They just had to interrupt my date."