First Flight
“Jarvis, are you there?”
Tony and Peter had worked all summer and an early part of the new school year on this suit and he was finally able to test it out for the first time. Tony was putting on the completed redesign of the armor for the first time. Peter was at his fathers desk watching both his father and the monitor that was showing everything the suit saw.
“At your service, sir.”
“Engage Heads Up Display.” Tony ordered the A.I.
“Check.”
“Import all preferences from home interface.” Tony looked around the garage as the suit processed everything that it saw.
“Will do, sir.”
“All right, what do you say?” Tony asked
“I have indeed been uploaded, sir. We're online and ready.”
Peter was watching his father and the suit in awe as he and Jarvis tested the suit on the ground.
“Test complete. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics.”
“Yeah. Tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check.” Tony ordered the A.I. “Start listening in on ground control.”
“Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is…”
Tony cut Jarvis “Jarvis. Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk.”
Peter stood up in the chair he was in. “That doesn’t make any sense dad!”
Tony turned his head toward his son. “Yes it does.”
“No it doesn’t”
“Yes it does.”
“Nuh-uh”
“Yeah-huh.”
Peter glared at his father trying to be as intimidating as he could, which wasn’t very. Tony just laughed at his son.
“Feet off the furniture kiddo.” Tony ordered Peter.
Peter flopped back down into the chair. “You do it all the time.” He mumbled.
“But it's my furniture.” Tony refocused on the suit. “Ready Jarvis? In three, two, one.”
Tony flew out of the garage with a scream of joy and Peter quickly focused on watching his father on the monitor.
“This is so cool!” Peter yelled. “How is it?”
Tony let out another joyous scream. “It handles like a dream Pete!”
After a little more flying around, Tony pulled the suit into a climb. “All right, let's see what this thing can do. What's SR-71's record?”
“The altitude record for fixed wing flight is 85,000 feet, sir.”
“Dad! No!” Peter yelled at his father.
“Records are made to be broken Peter!” Tony yelled as pushed the suit higher. “Come on!”
“Sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring.”
Peter was worried, his screen was starting to flicker. “Dad, something is wrong.”
Either Tony was listening or he couldn’t hear his son because he yelled out, “Keep going! Higher!”
And then Peter’s screen cut out. “Dad? Dad!?” Peter was suddenly very scared. “Jarvis, what happened? Where’s dad?”
“I am unsure young sir. It appears the ice is interfering with the suit.”
“Find dad Jarvis.” No sooner than he said that, the screens came back to life as Tony regained control over the falling suit. “Dad!!!”
“Hey bud. What I miss?” Tony asked teasingly.
“Come home now!” Peter ordered his father.
“Yes Dad.” Tony said sarcastically.
Tony flew back up the coast toward the house. Once he reached his destination, he hovered over the roof before saying, “Kill power.”
As soon as he said that, the weight of the suit brought him crashing the house, all the way down until he landed on his Cobra, where Dummy promptly sprayed him with the fire extinguisher.
Peter just stared at his father with wide eyes and mouth hanging open. He then looked up at the hole in the ceiling and then back at his father but was now pointing at the hole.
“I know.” Tony sighed.
Later, Tony was walking through his lab with an ice pack strapped to his shoulder and Peter trailing after him when he noticed the wrapped box that Pepper had brought him months earlier but he had never remembered to open. He peeled off the wrapping and saw the original arc reactor in a glass case with the inscription ‘Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart’.
Peter peared up at it, “Why wouldn’t you have a heart?”
Tony laughed at his son’s question. “It’s just a joke Pete.”
Tony went to sit at his computer while Peter went to play with Dum-E and U by helping them take apart his fathers now crushed car. He was soon distracted by the robot's chaotic teardown of the car by the tv talking about his father.
“Dad, they're talking about you.”
Tony was now looking between his monitors at the television. “I see that buddy.” They were talking about a gala that he sponsored every year but had completely forgotten about. “Jarvis, we got an invite for that?”
“I have no record of an invitation, sir.”
“Why would you need an invite to your own party?” Peter asked innocently now standing next to his fathers chair.
“Why indeed.” Tony murmured.
“The render is complete.” Jarvis spoke.
“A little ostentatious, don't you think?” Tony asked rhetorically.
“What was I thinking? You're usually so discreet.”
“Why is it so gold?” Peter asked, wrinkling his nose.
Tony laughed at his son's expression. “I don't think Pete likes your design Jarvis.” He then looked down at Peter. “What do you think it needs?”
Peter thought for a couple moments, head whipping around the room, looking for inspiration. “How about red?”
Tony liked it. “You heard the boss, Jarvis. Throw a little hot rod red in there.”
“Yes, that should help you keep a low profile.” The A.I said, getting a laugh from Peter. “The render is complete.”
“Whoa.” Peter whispered. “That looks awesome.”
Tony smiled ath Peter's reaction. “Hey, I like it. Pete likes it. Fabricate it. Paint it.”
“Commencing automated assembly. Estimated completion time is five hours.”
Tony looked down at Peter and asked, “You want to go crash a party?” Which Peter nodded vigorously at. “Don’t wait up for us, honey.” He told Jarvis as he and Peter left the lab to get ready.
Minutes later the pair were in the R8, speeding to the gala. Peter was excited, he had never been to one of these with his father.
Peter looked over at his father. “Why are you bringing me?” He asked.
Tony glanced at his son before looking back at the road. “What? Did you not want to come?”
Peter shook his head. “You have never taken me to a party before.”
“Let's just say that I might need a partner in crime for tonight.” Tony said with a small smile.
Peter shook his head again. “I can’t be your partner in crime, I’m already aunt Ria’s.”
Tony had a look of mock pain on his face. “You would pick your aunt over me? Your own father.”
“Duh.” Peter said with seriousness.
“Fine, you can be…” Tony paused trying to think of something. “You be my wingman.”
“Can’t. I’m already uncle Rhodey’s wingman.”
Tony looked at Peter bewildered. “You are joking right?”
“Nope. He said I was his wingman when he took me to DisneyLand.” Peter answered.
Tony shook his head. Of course his son's godfather would use him to try and pick up women at Disneyland. “Okay has anyone called you mini-me yet?”
Peter had to think for a few seconds. “I don’t think so.”
“Fine then you’re my mini-me for tonight and then we will address the other positions later.” Tony said with a shake of his head.
Soon enough father and son were pulling up to the galla. Tony and Peter had matching tuxedos on. Tony looked down at Peter. “ You know what? The mini-me thing kind of fits right now.”
Tony walked the red carpet with Peter following close behind. Tony was approached by numerous people but he brushed past them all. Soon enough, Tony could see Obidiah giving an interview.
“What's the world coming to when a guy's got to crash his own party?” Tony said as he patted his business partner on the shoulder.
“Look at you. Hey, what a surprise you brought your son.” Obidiah said, trying to sound happy when he saw Peter.
“I'll see you inside.” Tony started to pull away when Obidiah grabbed him.
“Hey. Listen, take it slow, all right? I think I got the board right where we want them.”
You got it. Just cabin fever. We’ll just be a minute.” Tony said as he and Peter walked inside.
Once inside, Tony surveyed the galla, looking to see who was there and who he should try to avoid. He was serious when he told Obidiah that they wouldn’t be there long, he just wanted to show the world that he wasn’t insane like people were starting to think. Peter was just looking around excitedly. Tony put his hand on his sons shoulder and led him over to the bar.
“Give me a Scotch and the kid a Coke.” Tony told the bartender.
“Mr. Stark?” A man to Tony’s left spoke as the bartender handed Tony the drinks.
“Yeah?” Tony responded without looking up as he handed his son his soda.
“Agent Coulson.” The man introduced himself.
Tony fought the urge to snap his head up at him. With a glance and a plan to play ignorant. “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The guy from the…”
“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.” Coulson supplied.
“You need a new name.” Peter said as he drank his soda.
“Yeah, I hear that a lot.” Coulson told Peter with a smile before looking back up at the elder Stark. “Listen, I know this must be a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you. There's still
a lot of unanswered questions, and time can be a factor with these things.”
“Let's just put something on the books.” Tony told the agent as Peter pulled on his fathers sleeve and pointed at something through the crowd. Tony looked in the direction he was pointing and his eyes widened at what he saw.
“How about the 24th at 7:00 p.m. at Stark Industries?” Coulson asked, snapping Tony’s attention away.
“Tell you what. You got it. You're absolutely right.” Tony said as he began to pull Peter in the direction they had been looking. “Well, I'm going to go to my assistant, and we'll make something happen.”
Once they were away from Coulson, Tony whispered down to his son. “Did you know about this?”
Peter shook his head before asking, “Does this mean Pepper is going to be aunt Pepper?”
“Let’s find out.” Tony answered as they walked up to Pepper. “You two look fantastic! I almost didn't recognize either of you.”
Pepper and Rhodey turned and looked at the Starks in surprise.