Explosions (Between two of us)

Like Tony promised, he sent a driver for Adeline. His name was Happy, and he was very nice to her – a true gentleman. They had a pleasant conversation while he drove them to Tony’s mansion. “How did you two met?” Happy asked her, still focusing on the road. “Tony never had a woman in his house during a white day. You must be pretty special,” he continued.

The brunette giggled, and her face stayed in a grimace. “Well, he visited the bar where I was working and we discovered we have so many things in common.” She wasn’t lying to him, but also, she didn’t say the whole truth. “Just to be clear, there is nothing going on between me and Stark. Oh no. We are only working on a very interesting project.”

The journey had passed quite quickly thanks to a small chat with the driver. When they were finally in front of the huge white mansion, Happy opened the door for her. Adeline gave him a wide smile and squeezed her bigger leather purse in her hand. “This way,” said the man in a black suit, and was the first who went inside, holding the door for the woman. He did check her while he had the opportunity. She was very attractive, had long, straight brown hair, and she was a little shorter than Tony.

This was the first time Adeline saw the interior of the house. It was overflowing with luxury furniture; the ocean view was breath-taking, and it was just the first floor. She saw a black piano, a massive couch for at least ten people. The whole place was very big, which was good for parties. She sighed, and smiled a little. “Oh yeah, being rich is not a bad thing,” she said to herself. “By the way, where is Stark?”

“I don’t know. Ask JARVIS,” Happy replied, and stayed by her side the whole time.

“Um, are you waiting for something? Should I give you a tip?” she panicked. “I don’t have money with me!”

He started to laugh. “Oh, no, don’t worry. I’m waiting for Tony’s girl to come down, so I can take her back where she belongs.” Adeline was looking at him with big confused eyes. Tony has a girlfriend? It was very unbelievable. This was the moment when she felt an indescribable feeling inside her. Was it another crack? Her eyebrows immediately went up. “I call all his one night stands like this. It’s easier and not rude,” he laughed.

And when he stopped laughing, they both saw a young woman, slowly strolling down the stairs, holding a pair of pumps in her right hand. She had a messed up sex hair and her face revealed a very rough night. She was very pretty despite the fact she looked terrible. This was Tony’s type – long curly blond hair, sexy body, slutty clothes. Adeline’s eyes met with hers. The girl had dark blue eyes and was much younger than Adeline. She could be over twenty. The age difference was enormous. Tony was about forty, and this girl was almost twenty years younger than him. The brunette was a little disgusted.

“Where’s Tony?” the girl asked both of them, and crossed her arms over her breasts. “And who are you?” she moved her head towards Adeline.

“That’s none of your business,” the brunette hissed at her with a wide smile on her face.

“Miss, I’m here to take you home,” Happy jumped into their conversation.

“Where’s Tony?” she said it slowly, and annoyingly. “I have to say good-bye to him.”

~Miss Montana? Mr Stark is awaiting you,~ said JARVIS from somewhere, which made Adeline jump a little. She was fascinated by this system, but she needed to use to it and its occasional speaking without warning.

“Thank you, Happy, for the lift,” Adeline gave him a grateful smile. “Have a nice day, slut,” she added with a wider smile on her face and waved her hand. She was provoking the girl, sending her an evil glimpse, and her hips swayed a little when she went down the stairs to Stark’s garage.

Through the transparent glass, Adeline could see Tony’s figure standing next to his Iron Man suit, and working on it. He was wearing track pants and a dark shirt with rolled up sleeves. She touched the handle and pulled the door. Nothing happened. She tried it one more time when she got Tony’s attention. He turned around, saw the woman, and start to laugh. “Just put your palm on the blue square next to the door,” he navigated her and pointed at the door with his index finger.

She was confused because she didn’t find any blue square. It had shown to her after a few seconds. It was waiting for the touch of her palm. When she did it, the system scanned it, and the door opened. “How is that possible?” she asked him when the door closed behind her. “When did you do that?”

“While you were unconscious,” Tony replied calmly, and again focused on his suit.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you say you raped me while I was unconscious,” the brunette said it with a funny voice, and she rolled her eyes. “Oh, by the way, I met your cute girl. How old was she, twenty?” Adeline put her purse aside, and slowly went to the man, looking directly at him. She crossed her arms on breasts when she stood next to him.

“She wasn’t twenty, but twenty-two. Are you jealous, Adeline?” his head cocked to the right side, and he squinted his chocolate eyes. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you were,” and then he turned to the brunette, staring at her face with a smirk. “You can be the one in my bed tonight.”

“Oh my god, stop with the sex offers,” she punched him in the shoulder.

“Adeline, just admit the sex was good, and deep down, deep deep down you would like to have another round,” he smiled at her, slowly licking his lower lip. She noticed it, and it made her lips and soul shiver. Tony was waiting for an answer. He even took a step closer to her.

“Fine, the sex was good – more than good. Are you happy now?” her eyes blinked a few times, and slowly walked away from him, heading to the office chair. “Do you want to discuss our one stupid night together or about the little slut whom just left your place, or about the serious things that are happening?”

“Oh, I would like to talk about that one night, but seriously Adeline, are you jealous? Does it bother you that I had a very interesting night with that young girl?” his eyebrows raised up. “I wish I could remember her name.”

She finally sat on the chair and crossed her legs. “There we go! You don’t even remember her name. This is shocking,” Adeline laughed at him. “Seriously Tony, I’m finally here to deal with everything, talk about our mission, but you still seem to be distracted. Hey, what about the War Machine? Is he coming?”

“Yes, he’s going to be here any minute,” he nodded.

“I know why you are included in this whole thing,” Adeline immediately changed the subject. “I talked to my father, and, um…” she couldn’t find the right words. “This is going to be very shocking, so please don’t start to yell at me, because I am innocent,” her hands went up.
Tony sat opposite her on another of his office chairs, and he squinted his eyes. “I’m listening,” he said carefully.

“You were supposed to be a distraction for my father, but without any certain reason. He just thought of you and it all happened because of it. Everybody knows you, Tony, and that’s why your name was the one my father chose. He told me it was a coincidence.”

“This is just great,” he sighed angrily.

“Maybe you are angry now, but just listen to this. I know what is the cure and where it is,” she bit her lower lip; her hands were shaking a little and became nervous. “The cure is a creation of my father. It can change people’s DNA, and they can gain some special abilities. That is why Goth wants it. My father said, his intentions were pure, but Goth’s were evil,” she explained. “If he gets it, he will use it, and then there will be consequences.”

“Wow, your father is a smart guy,” Tony was impressed. “And where is it?”

Adeline opened her mouth, she was looking into Tony’s eyes, but she didn’t say a word. An unknown sound came from her throat. Her shoulders made a move, the face changed a little, as it was saying sorry. Tony’s expression gave her a clue, he already knew the answer. However, she said it out loud, just in case. “I- I am the cure, Tony. I have it in my veins.”

A massive silence was between them. Tony gulped, his eyes were focusing on her, and the chocolate eyes from time to time blinked. “Okay, this changes a lot,” he cleared his throat. “So he was feeding you with lies. But when I think about it… Yeah, now it all makes sense. Okay, um,” he quickly stood up. “Goth doesn’t know, right?” Adeline nodded.

“Hey, Tony,” Adeline jumped from the chair and went to him. She put her right hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to deal with it if you don’t want to. It is all because of me. When Goth will find out, he’ll do everything just to kidnap me. Maybe then…”

“No! The plan is set up. No changes, Adeline. He destroyed some parts of L.A. This is not about you and the cure anymore.”

“Oh wow,” she was impressed. “You are using my words, Tony,” she gave him a smirk.

“Not a good time for mocking,” he warned her.

“It is always a good time for a little fun,” Adeline smiled like an angel. “And besides, you used to do the same thing as I did now,” her eyes seductively blinked.

“Adeline,” he made a step closer to the woman. His voice changed – it was a warning signal.
“Tony?” she was now brightly smiling at him, biting her lower lip.

“What the hell are you doing?” his eyebrows went up and crossed his arms on the chest. “Are you flirting with me? Would you like to go upstairs, and have a nice time together?”

“Okay, back to being serious. My bad,” Adeline cleared her throat, but she remained in the same position – standing very closely opposite to Tony. She could smell his expensive perfume, and she liked it. That man knew how to get all the ladies. He was still looking into her green eyes, not backing away. “Okay, now you should stop with that,” she pointed at his face.

How quickly the atmosphere changed, and also the subject they were talking about. “Oh, so now it’s bothering you? You were the one who started this.”

“No, I…”

“Now, you are lying, Adeline,” he smirked.

“I’m not lying, I just wanted to…”

“… - have sex with me, I know,” he laughed.

“Am I interrupting something?” a third person entered their conversation. Adeline slowly turned her head to see the new person in the garage - a taller man, with dark chocolate skin, wearing jeans, and a green t-shirt. His face was neutral, and he was looking directly at the two people, standing near each other. “I know you,” he said with a smile on his face while his voice remained calm. “You are the waitress from the Movies’,” he took some steps closer to them.

Tony broke the space between him and Adeline and went to greet his best friend. “Hey, Rhodey, I’m glad you came,” he smiled a little, and the friends shook their hands. “This is Adeline,” he introduced the woman to him.

“James Rhodes,” he said with a serious face. When she came closer to him, James took her hand and gave a light kiss on the back of it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you once again.”

“Oh, such a gentleman,” Adeline winked at him. “You should start to learn from him, Stark.”

“Okay, so to finish our topic…”

“Tony, no!” she brushed it off the table. “It is not going to happen. And why do we have to talk about it, when we have other plans to do, and your friend is here,” she pointed at James.

“What? What is going on?” the man was confused.

“I slept with her,” said Tony.

“But it happened only one time,” Adeline added and crossed her hands on the breasts. “And it is not going to happen again,” she gave Tony a grimace. “Can we please focus on the more unpleasant things? The situation is way more complicated than we thought.”

“But we are now focusing on the more pleasant things,” Tony was opposing her. In a second, she hardly slapped his shoulder and gave him an evil glare. “Okay, fine, woman, you are really mean to me,” and he laughed.

“Is this conversation typical between the two of you?” Rhodey asked Adeline with a little grin on his face.

“This is nothing, believe me” she gave him a wink with one eye, and ambled to the table next to her right. She saw there a photograph of a man and a child, standing behind a motorcycle. Her green eyes scanned every detail of the picture, checking their expressions, thinking when this photo was taken. She even took it, and her thumbs slightly stroked the brownish frames. In the picture, there was Tony probably with his father. Neither of them was smiling, and it all acted negatively. Adeline sighed. “Okay, I don’t know if you heard, but I am very different,” she cleared her throat and put the picture back in its place.

“Yeah, Tony mentioned something, so, once again, what are you?” Rhodey took a seat on a free office chair, and he made himself more comfortable.

“What did he say to you?” the brunette was curious. However, Rhodey didn’t reply. “Tony!” she yelled at the man with a goatee. “What did you say to him?!”

“That a hot woman can do very interesting things, and is really good in bed,” he widely smiled at her. “And that we have a problem with the flame-boy, and this magical cure has a big role in it.”

She slapped her forehead. “Even though you gave me a compliment, I am not amused. Okay, the thing is,” Adeline turned to the man. “I can create a shield, which can protect me, and some people, and also I am intelligent. Maybe much more intelligent than Tony,” she smirked. “And yes, the cure has a big role in it. Unfortunately, I just discovered that I am the cure.”

“So you are the Guardian!” James recognised her. “I saw some records of you. You are pretty unique,” he smiled at her. Adeline cocked her head to the right side and returned the smile. “Now, another question is: what are we dealing with?”

“That, my friend, is a very interesting question,” Tony stepped forward and made a move with his hands. A giant hologram showed in the middle of the room, right in front of them. It was showing them pictures, numbers, and it was mostly of the colour blue. Adeline’s eyes were glowing. This was the coolest thing she has ever seen. An unidentified sound came from her throat. Her right hand reached for it. “This is like second Christmas for you,” he stated.
“This is amazing,” she said breathlessly. “I’ve never seen something like this. I might now how to create holograms, but I never had the money for it, and the time. Is JARVIS running it?”

“Yes,” he agreed. “So, Rhodey, JARVIS will explain you everything and he’ll show you important files. You,” he pointed at Adeline, “should get dressed into something more comfortable, because we’ll do some training. I’d like to know your fighting skills, and then have a look on the shield. You can change here if you want.”

“Tony!” she was annoyed by his behaviour.

…

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Oh please, you won’t hurt me,” he gave her a wide mocking smile. Tony was standing opposite to Adeline, his hands were on his sides, and waited for her first move. They wanted to fight against each other, increase their fighting skills because it was a part of their training. For a couple of hours, they did some cardio exercises, punched a boxing moss, and even trained with Happy, who joined them after he drove home that young girl. James was still learning about Goth, and processing new information. There were a lot of things, which he needed to know.

The brunette took a deep breath. Her eyes were darker, focusing on the man’s body. Every muscle in her was prepared for a training fight. Will she be able to not use her shield? “I have better fighting skills, Tony. I was trained in many ways. I’m not going to spare you.”

“I don’t want you to spare me. Pain is a part of our life. We have to learn how to deal with it. Now come on, and hit me,” he prompted her, giving her that grin she hated and loved at the same time. Tony was a very unusual man. He was intelligent - he could create interesting innovations, suits which could fly. His behaviour was complicated, full of sarcasm, and inappropriate jokes. But all these things made him special, and Adeline started to like it more and more. “Oh, come on sweetheart, just punch me,” he started to tease her with words. “Or are you scared?”

Her evil glare was the answer for him. Without warning, the woman made a quick move towards him and attacked Tony with a kick of her right leg. It was a high kick, aiming at his head. He wanted it, and so he had it. Luckily, Tony blocked the kick, and tried to hit the woman with his fists, but she grabbed his fist, made a turn, and hit him right in the ribs, making him fall on his knees. Another move caused a strong punch into his head. She accidentally injured his right eyebrow. A blood started to slowly flow down his face. He remained on the floor in the middle of the boxing ring, suddenly sitting on his bum.

“Argh!” he sighed of pain.

“I’m sorry!” Adeline was immediately on her knees, looking at the wound. “It’s going to be fine, just a little scratch.” The man wanted to protest, but she stopped him, before letting out a single vowel. “Just sit here, will you? I’ll bring the medicine chest.”

Tony was silent the whole time. He was pressing two fingers on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. His eyes were checking her every move. The way she walked, the way she looked in the sports clothes – that woman was attractive as hell. A silent groan came out his throat. When Adeline came back to him, he was focusing on her face. She sat next to him, looking for some disinfection medicine. She found something. “Okay, this may sting a little,” the brunette warned him. She splashed some of the soaking dilutions on the wound. He started to hiss a little. “Oh, don’t be like a little girl,” she laughed.

“I think I should cause you a wound on your head, and then we’ll see,” he made a grimace, which made the woman laugh a little. He felt something soft on the forehead. Adeline was very close to him, wiping out the blood from the wound, and his skin. Tony could feel her breath on his face. That was weird, he thought. He dryly gulped while his eyes focused on the green orbs of hers. He never realised how pretty she was. Being this close to her, he shivering feeling dominated his body. In a second later, her eyes met his. There was this indescribable connection between them. Their faces were very close. They remained quiet.

“Hey Tony,” a voice coming from the hallway interrupted them. Rhodey came to the training room with a mobile in his hands, looking at it. Adeline continued with cleaning the wound, Tony’s eyes went from the woman to his friend. When the man saw them sitting next to each other, his face changed. “What happened?”

“I punched him,” she laughed.

“And I’m bleeding, now,” Tony added. “I let her win.”

“That’s a lie,” she murmured.

“Technically, it is not.”

“Can you just shut up, so I can continue with the first aid,” the brunette nudged him into his left shoulder. “Now hold still, will you?”

“I just wanted to know, if you installed the new system into my suit?” Rhodey came closer to them, and leant against one boxing moss, checking the two of them sitting on the floor.

When Tony wanted to make a move with his head, Adeline put it back where it was before, and made an unpleasant sound. “What are you doing there, woman? This is not a surgery,” he hissed again. “Um, and you, Rhodes, everything is ready.” Suddenly, he was released from the torture. When he looked at her, she was giggling, and cleaning the mess they made.

“Good boy! Now you deserve a lollipop,” she made fun of him and stood up.
“I think you need the lollipop,” he gave Adeline a seductive glance which made her gorgeous green eyes roll.

“Oh wow,” Rhodes was impressed. “You two belong to each other. How can you stand him, Adeline?”

“I’m the same,” she waved her hand and put the aid kit back in its place. “Well, not all the time like him,” she pointed at Stark.

“That was rude,” he responded and stood up. “What about you, Rhodes? Would you like to practice your fighting skills?”

“I think I’ll pass for today. Maybe tomorrow,” he stepped back. “It’s a pity I missed the fight. Finally, a girl who kicked Tony’s ass,” he was amused.

“Ha-ha! Veni, Vidi, Vici,” she quoted Julius Caesar, and evilly laughed.

Notes