May 30 2010
A full day. A full day and Tony still hasn't tried to talk to, or even contact Josie. She's spent her time with Pepper, complaining about her father. At one point, Tony had come to visit Pepper, but Josie had made sure to steer clear of him during his brief visit. So now, here she is, back at the Stark Expo, with the displeasure of having to sit through an hour of Justin Hammer showing off some technology that probably doesn't even work. She's not even allowed to sit next to Pepper and Natalie, she's got to sit on the row in front of them, so she can't gossip with them.
He dances his way onto the stage and starts talking, but Josie decides to focus her attention on something more interesting- the wall. Suddenly, very patriotic music starts to play.
"I thought Captain America was dead.", Josie mumbles to herself, a surprisingly relevant joke in the upcoming years.
"Army!", Hammer yells, as drones begin to rise from the stage, "Navy! Air force! Marines! Yeah! Yeah! Woo!", he cheers, as the crowd clap, "That's a hell of a lot better than some cheerleaders, let me tell you.", throwing shade at Tony, at his own expo? Rude. "But as revolutionary as this technology is, there will always be a need for man to be present in the theatre of war. Ladies and gentlemen, today I am proud to present to you the very first prototype in the Variable Threat Response Battle Suit and its pilot, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes.", the war machine suit, except with more guns, rises out of the stage.
"Rhodey, you backstabbing snake.", Josie whispers.
"For America and its allies, Hammer Industries is reporting for d-", he's cut off when everyone turns their attention elsewhere- to Iron Man flying down to the stage.
"Great.", Josie rolls her eyes, as the crowd starts cheering and she slumps further down into her chair.
Iron Man walks towards War Machine and she assumes the two are talking, but she can't actually hear anything. The two of them wave as Hammer yells various different noises, trying to act like he was expecting this guest appearance. Then, Tony and Hammer start talking. God, if only Josie could hear the conversation, she's fairly sure there's a pretty juicy argument going down. Suddenly, Rhodey aims his guns at Tony, shortly followed by the entire army of drones Hammer brought with him. Jesus Christ, I mean, Tony is a pain in the ass, but this is taking things a bit far. The argument must have been proper juicy for it to escalate to this.
In a flash, everything changes, Iron Man zooms up into the sky, the entire audience screams and runs in fear, as shattered glass rains down on them. Josie jumps up, as Natalie and Pepper are swept away by the stampeding crowd. The drones begin running into the audience, so Josie decides it's a fantastic time to run for her life. Stumbling over her own feet, she legs it out of the arena. Shots flash through the sky and screams tear through the air. She runs down some concrete stairs, only tumbling a few times. Searching the panicked hordes for Natalie, Pepper, or just any familiar face, she doesn't notice the drone headed straight for her. As it's raising its gun at her, Tony lands right next to her and blasts the drone, then immediately flies off.
"Nice seeing you too!", she yells into the sky.
All the drones around her suddenly fly off in the direction Tony disappeared into. Josie looks around, unsure of what she's supposed to do. It's not like she knows her way around in New York, so she settles on sitting on the stairs next to the drone Tony blasted. For a while, she just sits there, trying not to worry about where her dad is and if he's okay. Just in front of her, the drone starts beeping and a tiny red light starts flashing. She takes a few steps towards it, trying to get a look at what's going on. As she peers over it, a blur appears in front of her, whisking her up into the night sky. As she's lifted off the ground, the drone explodes beneath her. She screams loud enough for all of New York, if not the country, to hear until she's dropped on a roof and she falls flat on her ass the second War Machine lets her go.
"You okay?", Rhodey asks.
"Holy shit! Rhodes, I thought you were kidnapping me! A heads up or a 'Hey, it's Rhodey, not a murder drone' would be nice next time!", she exclaims.
"Hey, I was too busy saving your life for any of that.", he says.
At that moment, Tony and Pepper land on the same roof as Rhodey and Josie- coincidence, I think not! The two seemed too absorbed in their married couple-style shenanigans to notice Rhodey and Josie's presence.
"Oh my god, I can't take this anymore!", Pepper gasps.
"You can't? Look at me."
"I can't take this. My body literally cannot handle the stress. I never know if you're going to kill yourself or wreck the whole company!", Pepper continues.
"I think I did okay.", he insists.
"I- I quit. I'm resigning. That's it.", she announces
"What did you just say?", he asks, "You're done? That's surprising. I mean- No, it's not surprising, I get it. You don't have to make any excuses."
"I'm- I'm not making any excuses."
"Well, you actually were just making excuses. But you don't have to."
"No I wasn't making an excuse because I'm actually very justified."
"Hey, hey. You deserve better."
"Well..."
"You've taken such good care of me. I've been in a tough spot, but you got me through it, so... right?"
"Thank you."
"Yeah."
"Thank you for understanding."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's talk clean-up."
"I'll handle the transition, it'll be smooth."
"Okay. What about the press? Because you only had the job for a week. That's gonna seem-"
Pepper cuts him off, "Well, with you it's like dog years."
"I know."
"I mean, it's like the presidency-", this time, Tony cuts her off, as he pulls her lips towards his, forever claiming her as his own.
They pull apart, "Weird.", he says.
"No.", Pepper says softly, "It's not weird."
"It's okay, right?"
"Yeah.", she whispers.
"Run that by me again."
As they lean in again, Rhodey interrupts, "We think it was weird."
"Yeah, seriously, nobody wants to see that.", Josie shakes her head disapprovingly.
"You guys look like two seals fighting over a grape."
"I had just quit, actually.", Pepper tries to explain.
"Yeah, so we're not-", Tony says.
"You don't have to do that we heard the whole thing."
"Unfortunately.", Josie mumbles.
"You should get lost.",, Tony warns.
"We were here first. Get a roof."
Tony chuckles, "I thought you were out of one-liners."
"That's the last one."
"Hey, Rhodes! You owe me twenty bucks! I told you they'd get together before the end of June.", Josie grins triumphantly.
"Come on, guys, couldn't you have waited a few more weeks.", Rhodey sighs.
"Were you two seriously betting on our relationship?", Tony asks.
"Yes.", they both say in unison.
"And I won.", Josie giggles, sticking her tongue out at Rhodey.
"I should have left you by that exploding drone.", Rhodey mutters.
"You kicked ass back there, by the way.", Tony says.
"Thank you. You too.", Rhodey nods, "Listen, my car got taken out in the explosion, so I'm gonna have to hang onto your suit for a minute, okay?"
"Not okay. Not okay with that."
"It wasn't a question.", with that, he flies off.
Josie coughs a bit, from the fumes coming out of his flight stabilizers, "Just set me on fire while you're at it, why don't you?", she yells after him.
* * * * *
(a/n) Hey guys! Remember to vote, comment, and all that jazz!
- Hannah(;
Coming up soon:
Present day:
What's going to happen at homecoming?
2010:
The Avengers Initiative?
Next chapter title:
Josie meets being alone in a crowded room