Chapter 5
TONY
Maintenance Roads
Tony drove in his car down the winding dirt road, trees and foliage on both sides, as if closing in on him. He hardly noticed that though as the car bounced when it hit a pot hole that seemed to littered the dirt path before him. He made a mental note of calling in some of the workers to take care of this specific road and continued driving.
"Sir." JARVIS spoke through the speakers. "You have a call waiting."
"From?"
"Mrs. Hogan, sir."
"Patch her through."
"Hey, Tony." Pepper's voice filtered through the speakers now. "How are things?"
"Oh, it's been fine and immensely busy. Good old Simon dropped in to see the newest creation that Wu...well, created. I swear, it seems I'm in a park that was created by Frankenstein at times."
"Are you sure you can afford to have the day off tomorrow to spend with the boys?" asked Pepper. She must have gotten off the phone with Peter or Harley, Tony thought.
"Yeah, I'm sure. You know me, I'll do anything to spend a few days with them."
"I know. I just...I worry about you, Tony. I know how you get at times with work and squeezing in family time with the boys."
"Pep, I promise I've been doing good with that. I even have help thanks to my assistant."
"Let me guess, It's Natasha?"
"How could you ever guess?"
"She's the only one besides me that could handle you." Pepper deadpanned, making Tony chuckle.
"You know you love my pain in the ass, Pepper."
"And every day, I find myself wondering why."
"Mrs. Hogan!" Tony gasped dramatically. "That isn't nice!"
"Just, please be careful, Tony."
"I will, don't worry." Tony did his best to assure her.
"Will that be all, Mister Stark?"
"That would be all, Miss Potts." Tony nodded and JARVIS disconnected the call, making him sigh. He could see the opening in front of him and he kept driving until he finally made it out of the forest and into the clearing. He could see Bucky's bungalow and he slowed his car to a stop until he put it in park. He could see the darker haired man working on a motorcycle while sitting on a bucket with tools scattered about. He opened the door and slipped out of the car before shutting toe door behind him and began to make is way towards Bucky, who had looked up and was watching him approach.
"Mister Barnes." Tony greeted.
"Mister Stark." Bucky nodded to him. "What brings you to my corner of the island."
"Firstly, please call me Tony. Mister Stark was my father."
"Well, call me Bucky, then."
"Alright Bucky. So, I need you to come take a look at something. If you aren't busy, of course."
Bucky picked up a glass bottle of soda and took a drink of it. "Depends on what it is."
"We have an attraction." Tony began as Bucky got up, wiping his hands on his jeans. "A new species we've made."
"You just went and made a new dinosaur?"
"Yeah, pretty much. It's kind of what we do here." Tony couldn't help but sass just as a suropod bellowed in the distance. "The exhibit opens to the public in three weeks and Mister Masrani wanted me to consult with you."
"Consult here or inside where its cooler?" Bucky asked as he climbed the steps of his self-made porch.
"Out here is fine. We want you to evaluate the paddock for vulnerabilities."
"Why me?"
"Mister Masrani thinks, since you're able to control the raptors-" Tony was saying as he climbed the steps and onto the porch.
"I don't control the raptors." Bucky cut in. "It's a relationship. It's based on mutual respect."
"Point taken." Tony watched as Bucky went down the steps. "Back to the asset-"
"The asset? These animals are alive. They're thinking 'I gotta eat, I gotta hunt, I gotta'..." Bucky made a slow, punching motion with his fist. "You can relate to at least...one of those things?"
Oh, this smart ass, Tony thought as he felt the corner of his lips twitching upwards. "That's not funny."
"Whatever you say." Bucky said and Tony was sure the other had a smug undertone in his voice and knew that Bucky could see him trying to hold back a smile.
"Anyways, I do know all of that. Asset is just their titles and I simply call them that for professional's sake. Also, you might want to change. This asset has some acute sense of smell." Tony told the other with a barely noticeable grin before heading back to his car to wait for the other to get ready. He leaned back against the car once he got to it and watched as Bucky went inside to get changed.
Luckily, it didn't take long for Bucky to change and walked out, locking his door behind him before heading towards Tony and the car. Tony straightened up and slipped in the driver's side before Bucky slipped in the passenger's side. Tony turned the car over before turning around and began to head back they way he had come, already dreading driving over the pot holes again.