Enter Iron Man [complete]
Who: Edie Williams, Tony Stark, and a brief cameo by Quinn What: Wormholing into parallel universes When: August 4th Where: The library and the high school Warnings: Absolutely shameless flirting
Tony had been at a press conference when the first explosion came. The whole building had rocked and he'd briefly flashed back to that jeep on a desert road in a shithole country where his life had changed for all kinds of better or worse. Then there was another flash of light, and chunks of the building started falling around them, and Rhodey was pulling him away from the podium and toward the exit, but Tony pulled free, trying to find Pepper amid the screams and the mass of panicked, running people.
“Tony!” Rhodes was yelling, but he ignored him, as usual, and pushed through the crowd after getting a glimpse of that red hair he knew so well.
He followed her into the stairwell but wound up getting shoved through a door on the sixth floor, which was really the opposite of where he'd been trying to go - the general direction of “down,” more specifically “down and toward Pepper.”
The door shut behind him as he stumbled into the dark empty floor, and there was an ominous clicking noise. Locked door. Excellent.
The building was suddenly rocked with another explosion and good God they better not be from any of his own weapons or he wouldn't rest until every single last one was destroyed. The very foundation shook and Tony suddenly realized the building was about to go down.
A nice suit made of iron would not be amiss at that moment, (too bad it was at the house). There was a bright flash of light and he was falling.
On a parallel world, in the basement of a library, a wormhole opened up, kicking up an unnatural wind and spitting out (none too gently) a nice looking man in a business suit. He landed on his back, coughing.
“That… was trippy.”
Edie was quietly absorbed in her reading of some trashy romance novel (no one could blame her, not the way men seemed to be flocking away from her lately) when she heard the noises start coming from the basement. It had been so loud, she nearly flung the book out of her hand when her body jerked in reaction. The blonde took a deep breath and looked around her immediate area of the library, trying to assess the situation without getting up from the safety of her oversized armchair.
"Simon?" she called out, wondering where the librarian was and if he had heard the sound too. No one replied. Deciding she should go investigate, Edie put her book down on the arm of the chair and left her seat. As she was heading towards the door to the basement she was struck with sudden trepidation. She watched horror movies, she knew what happened. What if someone, something, was done there and it wasn't just some shelves falling down?
The thought clouded her mind for a moment before she scolded herself for being such woosey. She continued her way to the basement door, but right before she reached it she grabbed a large, leatherbound Webster's dictionary and tested its weight. Yup, it could work for defensive measures. Edie hesitantly walked down the stairs, keeping the dictionary clutched firmly in both hands at a prepared position.
Tony pushed himself to his feet with a groan, taking in the room he'd found himself in, It was a boiler room, but it was small, not the type of room that would be found in the high rise he'd been in a few moments before. He glanced up at the ceiling just to be sure - nope, everything was still in tact. He must have hit his head pretty hard when the building collapsed (it would explain the pretty colors and the wormhole type thing he'd just thought he'd been propelled through). So then that meant someone had moved him here?
His eyes fell on the door, wondering if it was locked. “I'm so over hostage situations,” he muttered, rubbing his sore neck before brushing off his suit and approaching the door. He took the handle and yanked hard, the door opening easily and quickly.
Edie had made her way through the stacks, finding everything in seemingly relative order. There was only one other place that the sound could have come from and that was the boiler room. The blonde was about a foot from the door when it all of a sudden swung inward revealing a man - no one she had seen before in town but painfully attractive - and that was exactly what Edie was thinking when she swung the dictionary somewhere in the direction of the man. If the door had not opened so suddenly maybe she would have thought about it before reacting, but the shock and the nervousness she had brought on herself because of her overactive imagination took over her instincts.
Tony had been expecting some ugly guy with a weapon, if there was going to be anyone outside the door, so the sight of an attractive young lady had disarmed him immediately and he came to the conclusion that wherever he was probably wasn't hostile. And then he took a dictionary to the shoulder. Fortunately, the girl didn't have too much force behind the swing, and after some of the hits he'd taken since becoming Iron Man, it didn't really hurt him so much as surprise him.
“Ow,” he said, blinking at the book before grinning at her. “That's a wicked vocabulary you've got there.”
"I am so sorry," Edie gushed, her southern accent stressing the 'sorry' even more than intended. The bulk of the dictionary was still leaning against the man's shoulder; the girl was frozen in spot.
She needed to explain her behavior so she quickly began. "I just heard this loud noise when I was upstairs reading and I came down here to see what was going on. Of course, stupid me, I freaked myself out in the process so I guess I was a bitty bit jumpy. I was fixin' to look in the boiler room and then the door - "
Still clutching the book, Edie went to mimic the action of the door swinging open with her hand. She took her right hand off letting the left carry the weight and went to swing the book in an arc between the two of them. But the weight was unexpected and the dictionary slipped from her hand and started a downward tumble directly towards Tony's right foot.
Tony was Iron Man, not Batman. His reflexes didn't need to be all that good, because, let's face it, there wasn't much that could hit him and cause him any sort of damage.
When he had his suit on, that is.
The book landed square on his toes and he squeezed his eyes shut, lips tightening in a grimace. “Ah, yes, okay - little bit more painful when gravity gets involved.”
The hand that let the book dropped sprung up to cover the gaping hole Edie's mouth had formed. But her shock soon dissolved into laughter, surely a reaction from the combination of embarrassment for being such a clutz and the man's own humorous reaction. "I reckon I owe you drink, sugar," she managed to get out, "I'm Edie Williams, by the way." She extended an empty hand towards him.
Tony, recovering quickly, took hold of her hand, giving her a firm hand shake and his patented smile, full of StarkCharm™ .
“Tony Stark. And though it might be hazardous to my health, I might take you up on that offer sometime down the line. I like a little pain with my pleasure.”
Edie was finding herself easily befuddled by the man's presence. He was certainly different from anyone she had ever met before - the cut of his suit, his body language, his impecable grooming. Her hand, unintentionally, lingered in his but she managed control of her voice. "Lord, you're going make me blush if you keep up like that," she commented. It did take a lot for Edie to blush.
Tony made no attempt to release her hand. "Excellent. That means I'm doing something right. Let me know if you feel a blush coming on, I'll try to say something charming and borderline inappropriate."
The blonde was thoroughly enjoying the interaction. It had been quite literally months since she received any sort of male attention, and to have it be this rewarding. "I'm looking forward to it Mr. Stark," she smiled.
In fact, Edie was enjoying it so much she had hardly given any thought to how he ended up in the boiler room in the first place. But the distant sound of a door opening somewhere upstairs broke the pull Tony had on the girl. Her hand went to drop out of his.
"Are you working on something for Simon?" she asked, curiously.
Tony glanced around the dank basement that he'd found himself in. He still wasn't sure how he'd gotten here, but it seemed that the girl didn't know anything more about it than he did. He released her hand. "Simon being...?"
"...the librarian?" Edie raised a dark eyebrow. "What were you doing in the library's boiler room then?" The blonde was becoming a speck suspicious of the man. Should she pick the dictionary back up and drop it on his other foot?
Tony caught her suspisious tone and decided to just go with it until he figured out a little more about his situation. He also needed to figure out where Pepper and Rhodey were. "Of course. I just meant in relationship to you... boyfriend? Lover? Brother? Brother would be the best answer here, unless he's an overly protective, slightly psychotic brother."
The man was convincing; Edie felt her suspicions start to slip away as she was pulled back into the orbit of Tony Stark. Something did bug her about the whole situation though.
She smiled and answered teasingly, "Simon being Simon. That's all you need to know. So what is Simon getting you to do?" she asked, bending down to pick up the dictionary. The question lost the grilling tone her last one had, it was asked for curiosity's sake.
"Please," Tony said, holding his hands in front of him as she picked up the dictionary. "I've told you everything I know. Don't use the book again."
"Ha ha," Edie mocked and then smiled. She shoved the retrieved dictionary towards Tony's chest - as long as he carried it she couldn't be blamed for any other accidents - and started to turn around to head back up the stairs.
Tony grinned and took the book, following her as she headed up the stairs.
Edie pushed open the slight ajar door at the top of the steps and entered back into the silence of the library. She made a detour to the stacks of reference where she had pulled the dictionary from and asked for the book back from Tony.
"Why don't I just put this back," he said, sliding it back into place of the shelf.
Edie looked at him ruefully. "There are plenty of other books I can drop on your feet," she pointed out. She turned from the shelf and traveled back to the armchair she had left only a few minutes before. The romance novel she was in the middle of was picked up and the page number checked before she closed it shut. "So I haven't seen you around town, and I haven't seen you in the hospital. Have you been lying low since it happened?" she asked.
Hmmm, it. It? It... "Uh, yes. "It" being the..." He made a quiet boom noise and used his hands for emphasis.
"Yaaah," Edie replied, eying his childish pantomime of the apocalypse a little skeptically. She folded her arms over her chest, the battered copy of Wed To the Texan facing outward for the man to see. "Are you alright?" she asked, gently. In the research she had been conducting in the library, Edie had stumbled upon concepts like Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. If this was his first time out of his home since it happened he was bound to be a little shaken and therefore was trying to make light of the situation. "It's alright to be scared or upset," she hummed in her nurse voice.
Tony's mouth quirked into a smile at the title of her book. "I'm great," he replied. "Alive and kicking." And wondering where Pepper and Rhodey were. And... where he was.
Edie's mouth curved down in a frown. She wish there was a physchiatrist in town. "It's hard to try to start back up a normal life here," she admitted, the nurse tone falling away for something more personal, revealing. "I didn't think I would be able to do it. I reckon it was my job at the hospital that helped the most, giving me a routine and keeping my mind off everything else." She looked over the man again, taking in his fancy suit and impeccable posture. "What did you do before the bombs?" She couldn't imagine someone like him living here before everything happened. Maybe he was visiting family?
All right, now Tony was just totally confused. "Okay, I'm not going to lie, I'm a little fuzzy on some details here. Last thing I remember was being in a building that was collapsing. I've no idea how I got here. Any thoughts?"
Shock flooded Edie's face. "Just outside town?" she asked. How did he look as healthy as a horse?
"Ah, no, right in the middle of town. But I'm getting the feeling this isn't LA," he said. "Too small."
"Los Angeles?" Edie gushed. She quickly threw the book down and rushed to eliminate any space between them. "Have you experienced any headaches, vomiting, extreme fatigue?" the blonde asked as she picked up his hand and snugged her fingers around his wrist to take a pulse. "Dizziness? Nosebleeds? Bleeding from the mouth or under the skin anywhere on your body?"
"Careful with my wrist there, darling, I'll probably need it at some point." Tony was the picture of health. "And my headaches and fatigue are all due to my workaholic tendacies. Or maybe my alcoholic tendacies."
He did appear the picture of health. Which, Edie thought, was baffling. How could someone make it across the entire United States without any - any - signs of radiation poisoning? "You won't need your wrist if you've got the amount of radiation of poisoning you should have," she said firmly, seriously. "You'll be dead." The girl finished the counting. Pulse was normal, healthy, perfect. "How in Lucifer's name did you make it from Los Angeles to the east coast without getting sick?" Should she take him to the hospital and run some blood tests?
"The east coast?" He looked around, like the library would indicate what state he was in. "How did I get here?" He looked back at her. "And why would I be sick?"
"I don't know how you got here," Edie said, incredulously. "That's why I'm asking you! Look," she breathed, "It's physically impossible to get from the west coast to the east coast without any sign of radiation poisoning. The amount of nuclear fallout would have literally killed you before you reached Arizona let alone Pennsylvania." The man and his predicament was starting to give Edie a headache, she should have stuck with reading her romance novel.
"Nuclear..." Okay, Tony had missed something. "What do you mean, fallout?
The man must be in need of more help than Edie realized. "The - " Edie mimicked Tony's previous gesture of a bomb exploding, " - nuclear explosions all over the world? Presumably," she added. Then a thought popped into Edie's throbbing head. Hadn't Simon said something odd was happening? People from other worlds showing up, falling through a - wormhole? - into the basement of the library. "Ooooh," she realized. "You must one of those people."
Tony's eyebrow lifted and now it was his turn to look at her like she was crazy. "If by those people you mean, attractive, rich, and confused? Yes, I'm afraid you have me pegged."
Edie smiled softly, "You're only mildly attractive," she teased. "And now your money means nothing here. Looks like you're left with confused." The girl really did not know how to explain the concept of a wormhole, she hardly understood it herself, and she doubted anyone else would know either... except Quinn. "You fell through a wormhole from another world, Mr. Stark. And I'm going to take you to someone who will be able to explain it to you."
The blonde motioned for the man to follow her as she made for the entrance of the library. "And I'm guessing you would probably like that drink I promised you pretty soon, huh?"
Okay, crazy girl. So Tony was back to scenario one. Kidnapped by loonies. At the moment though, he had nothing else to go on, and if he was on the east coast he was going to have a long way home. He really needed to work on a way to keep the suit with him at all times. Too bad it wasn't really portable. Who needs a jet when they can fly?
He decided to follow her for now. "I can always use a drink, no matter what the situation."
"Now you're sounding like me," Edie laughed. She led the way through the quiet town, passing only a couple of people, to get to the high school where Quinn said he would be today. On the way, Edie stopped in front of a liquor store. "It's on me," she laughed, knowing very well that the owner had left with the others in the first few days and had not returned. She motioned for him to enter the store. "Pick me up some Kentucky bourbon while you're in there," she added, hoping there was still some left. The liquor store was slowly emptying it contents - nothing like the apocalypse to start people drinking.
Tony smirked, entered the store and grabbed her the bottle she requested, and a bottle of very expensive scotch. There was no one there to pay, and he started to wonder just what kind of town he'd found himself in. With a shrug he left the store, handing her her bottle and twisting the top off of his, taking a swig, closing his eyes as the alcohol sild down his throat. "There, much better," he said.
"Cheers?" Edie mumbled as she watched Tony start to drink from the bottle. "Wow, sugar, you are certainly not a cheap date," she commented, recognizing a heavy drinker when she saw one and noting the brand of the scotch. She started to walk again towards the high school, keeping her bottle firmly closed.
"Ah, but a gentleman such as myself would of course be paying," Tony replied, following her.
Not like getting man nice and drunk makes much of a difference Edie thought glumly, referencing her night with Mac. It was still a touchy subject with the girl, though she wasn't quite sure why it bothered her so much. "And I'm sure a gentlemen, such as yourself, would help the lady out of her clothes so she wouldn't have to do it herself, am I right?" Edie said, rolling her eyes a little.
"Don't misquote me, now, I'm all for women's lib. They can certainly strip themselves if that's what they like."
Edie could not help but laugh, the man was so intriguing. "Are they all like you in Los Angeles?" the girl wondered outloud. "Men don't talk like that where I come from. They would be properly smacked and refused good cookin' for a week."
"Sweetheart I'm one of a kind," Tony replied, taking another swig from the bottle. "And believe me, I'm smacked all the time. It's kinky, actually."
The blonde forced her body temperature under control, trying to stop the thoughts and images of having sex with the man next to her from entering her mind. When was the last time she had had sex? Had it really been in May, three months ago?
Edie fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. "I'm sure it is," she said as flatly as she could. They turned the corner of the street and the high school loomed in the near distance.
Tony caught sight of the high school. "Oh, excellent. You be the teacher, I'll be your pet student."
Ignoring him, Edie clenched her jaw as she tried to focus on random thoughts. What was Mennie going to cook for dinner tonight? What time should she go into work tomorrow? Fog was running low on cat food, wasn't he? Anything to cease the tightening at the bottom of her stomach. Lord, she had been reading way too much sleazy romance novels lately.
Quickening her pace, she led them up the front steps of the school and into the empty halls. The science labs were down the hall and to the left on the first floor. As soon as they reached the door, Edie practically hopped through the opening, glad not to be dangerously alone with the very tempting man. "Quinn!" she smiled, clearing her throat.
Quinn, in the middle of a complex equation that spanned two whiteboards, jumped in surprise at the sudden voice and his marker slid along the board in a long line of green. He turned around to look at her, looking sheepish. "Hey Edie."
Tony sidled up behind her in the doorway and Quinn gave a friendly smile. "Who's your friend?"
“Wow,” Tony said, squinting at the equation. “What have we here?” He cocked his head, with the air of someone who was actually reading the equation and understanding it, at least somewhat.
Edie, in turn, squinted thoughtfully at Tony as he examined the whiteboard. Was he attractive, rich, confused... and smart? She managed to pull her eyes from Tony as she addressed Quinn. "I found him in the basement of the library," she said as way of explanation. "I thought you would be the best person to explain the situation to him. Mr. Stark this is Quinn Mallory. Quinn, Mr. Tony Stark."
Quinn looked confused a moment, before realizing the implications of her words. "Oh, another one?" he asked, somewhat excited. He crossed the room and offered Tony his hand.
Tony shook it before saying. “Yes, I am, apparently, another one.” He set down the bottle of scotch on one of the desks and made his way to the front of the classroom, examining the equation more closely. “Are you working on the string theory, Quinn?”
He thought back to what Edie had said about wormholes, and pulled up some of his knowledge from his physics courses, putting two and two together and not altogether sure he wanted to believe it made four.
He was smart. Well, that was going to make it harder for the girl to abstain.
Quinn's eyebrows shot up, clearly surprised to meet someone who would recognize the equation. "Yeah," he said enthusiastically. "Yeah I am. Specifically the dimensions aspect of it."
“And supposedly I traveled through one of these dimensions onto what… a parallel earth?”
“Exactly!” Quinn replied. “There might be an infinite amount of them.”
“This equation,” Tony said, gesturing at it. “This is for you to make something that will let you travel the dimensions, right?” When Quinn nodded he said, “Then explain to me how someone like me, a simple guy without any real knowledge of the string theory ended up in one of those wormholes.”
Quinn asked him if anything out of the ordinary was happening when Tony found himself in the library basement. Tony explained the explosions, the building shaking, and Quinn nodded vigorously.
“I think there's something happening on all the worlds,” he said, telling both Tony and Edie how the last few worlds he'd been on before this one had been about to be or had already been destroyed. “The wormhole I came through to get here was different than the other ones. It seemed… natural. Not manmade.”
“So, parallel dimensions are being destroyed, and in the process, inter-dimensional wormholes are popping up and bringing people here?” Tony said, sounding skeptical.
“Yes. I think so.”
Edie was thinking it was about time for a drink. During the conversation between Quinn and Tony, Edie tried to look like she was paying attention, but, in fact, the entire time she was carrying on a silent debate within her head about whether or not she should sleep with Tony Stark.
Obviously, he was more than willing. Or at least Edie thought he was, Lord knows she's been wrong before about that when it came to men in the town. Then there was the fact that she was completely horny, it was those damn romance novels getting her anxious. Lastly, there was Quinn. Quinn who would not look at her in any other way than as a friend.
The girl was frustrated. But, she thought bitterly, would sleeping with the random stranger make her feel any better about the situation? Probably not.
Then she would catch a glimpse of Tony's hands and wonder just how they would feel on her skin...
Edie cracked upon her bottle of bourbon and took a swig.
"So, if all this is true, this world's been hit with nukes?" Tony asked, still not certain he believed it. "It doesn't look too destroyed."
"We're in a valley," Edie piped up, surfacing from her swig. "Microclimate," she added, almost as if it were general knowledge despite her having no clue what it was until Quinn had told her a couple of weeks ago.
"Of course. How lucky. So how do we get out of here?" He looked at Quinn.
The young man shook his head. “If you mean by dimensional travel…” he gestured at the white board. “I'm working on it.”
Tony rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “And by normal means?”
At least both the men had a home to go back to. Edie's home was burned to the ground along with her family. If what Quinn said was true and they could get to a parallel world... that wouldn't really be her family, would it?
She took another swig letting the bourbon burn her throat. The feeling turned her thoughts away from the one lingering on how Tony's goatee would feel when he kissed her. IF he kissed her, she revised in her mind.
Quinn looked at Edie, wondering what suddenly caused her to start hitting the bottle. "Seems like anyone who leaves the valley winds up with radiation poisoning..." he said. "Right Edie?"
Edie looked up at the sound of her name and the sight of Quinn's eyes made her feel guilty for thinking about having sex with Tony. She just nodded quietly, not trusting herself to open her mouth again.
"Everything all right there, sweetheart?" Tony asked, cocking his head at her.
Then it was Tony's eyes on her and her stomach began to flutter at the thought of his eyes looking at her while they... Edie quickly shifted her eyes back to Quinn. "I'm fine," she said curtly, feeling her heart race stupidly. Without even thinking about it, the bottle went back up to her lips.
Tony and Quinn exchanged a look. Even Tony thought she was acting a little off, and he'd only just met her. "Okay then," he said. "Well, I think I'd like to head out and see the damage for myself."
A part of Edie immediately thought Good, if he was gone she wouldn't have to worry anymore about any of it. But it was quickly squashed by Edie's innate need to protect people. If he went out there and got sick... wouldn't it be her fault? "You can't do that!" she exclaimed, horrified now by the thought.
"Sure I can," Tony said.
Edie sighed in disgust. "Fine. Go on and get radiation poisoning. If you show up in the hospital vomiting everywhere, Lord help you, because I'll raise sand, I will," She turned on her heel and headed for the door, bottle still in hand.
Tony looked at Quinn and shrugged. "I just meant I wanted to go somewhere I could see the damage."
Tony's comment did not reach the ears of Edie who was fighting with a mixture of anxiousness, anger, and worry. Should she turn back and try to persuade him? Was he even the persuadable type? Didn't seem likely.
Tony decided to head out and Quinn went back to work. He had considered going after Edie to see if she was okay, but he figured he could talk to her at home later that evening. If she was mad, it might be better to steer clear of her. Quinn gave Tony some brief information about the town so he knew what direction to head in, and then the older man took his leave, telling the kid they should talk about the parallel world thing more later.
Edie was waiting for Tony as he walked out the front doors of the high school. "There's nothing out there," she said. Well, she had to give it one more shot. She didn't want any blood on her hands.
"I'm a seeing is believing kind of guy," Tony replied. "I won't be long, though, if you want to wait for me." He winked.
It wasn't the wink that flustered Edie this time, it was what he said. "You're coming back? You mean... you're going to look then come back? You weren't going..." Edie felt the heat rise to her cheeks, pinking them. Well she was fool.
Tony looked down at himself then back at her. "Do I look that stupid? I try to dress pretty to downplay it..."
"No," Edie said, composing herself and let the blush drain from her face. "But I do think you look like a man who get his way all the time, be it against a person or mother nature." It wasn't said harsh but thoughtfully. "Be careful," she added as she stepped out ahead of him and made her way down the steps. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to that gorgeous behind of yours." She flicked her hand above her head in farewell.
"Oh ho, you naughty minx," Tony replied, watching her go (her behind was not too shabby itself) before heading in the opposite direction.