Who: Tony Stark tony & Dominic Torreto dominictorreto What: Working at Test City Auto Shop When: Saturday, May 23, early morning, 7 AM Where: Test City Auto Shop Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Possibly some language. Doubt there'll be anything else. Status: Closed/In Progress
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Mechanic work suited Tony Stark fine. He'd told a kid how he was only a mechanic. It hadn't felt like a lie to him. Stark Industries had been his father's legacy; Tony had improved upon it. He'd been the one to get his old man the prestige he'd never managed for himself in spite of all his efforts. His genius was what had built their family's name into the name in the weapons industry only for him to flush it all down the toilet after his ordeal in Afghanistan.
These days? Tony was the name in clean energy.
He liked the reputation which came with the work a lot better. No bodies were being laid at his doorstep in the media courtesy of his energy replacement systems. Everyone was heralding him as some kind of hero reborn. Some days it felt a lot like that, too. Other days, Tony only felt tired. He hated being someone who was judged for every decision. True, he didn't take their judgment to heart, but it didn't mean he liked dealing with it all the same. It made all his friends' lives harder. It made Pepper's life harder.
Being a mechanic in an auto shop was a far cry from being the mastermind behind a company worth billions.
Tony wouldn't trade his mechanic work for SI---not unless it was to get his own lab equipment back. He definitely missed his R&D floors. Test City was sorely lacking in the research department. Cobbling things together from Radio Shack wasn't high on Tony's list of favorite things to do. He had gotten over that when he was barely into his teens. It was tough being a genius kid unless one was a genius kid with unlimited resources. Tony had thoroughly enjoyed his childhood experiments.
Some were still working which was a source of pride for him.
Sliding from under the car he was working on, Tony sat up on the creeper to call out to Dom, "Thanks for coming in on Saturday. I know it isn't anyone's favorite thing to do. I appreciate the help."
It was almost eerie to look at the guy. They hadn't talked all that much. Mostly Tony had made sure he was a competent mechanic -which he was- before giving him a welcome-aboard nod. He couldn't help thinking of the strange alien brute who had been with them in Composite City. The resemblance was uncanny.
"Out of curiosity, you haven't seen your doppelganger prowling around, have you? Looks just like you only possibly even more bald, brawny, and terrifying in that 'I'm an alien killer who will kill you if you speak to me' kind of way?"
Tony figured it was a decent description of Riddick. The guy wasn't precisely social. He was holed up in the park with the strange woman from another world from what Tony knew. They were both a far cry from the circles he tended to associate with even as an Avenger. Compared to their crew? Riddick and Deirdre were nearly a de-evolution straight back to the days of life being based solely on The Food Chain---and both of them were firmly affixed at the top of said chain as apex predators not to be toyed with or approached without due caution.
Dom Torreto was a fluffy bunny in comparison which was its own kind of terrifying.