24 | data not found

Tony

I've lost track of how long I've been working on this damn prototype. Ever since Andrea's let out incident the other day, I couldn't take that off my mind, along with the fact that I kissed her afterwards and ran off.

Which is part of the reason I have been locking myself in this same basement for hours. I still have no idea how to explain to Andrea why the hell I did that.

But anyway, I need to take that scene out of my head for at least a little while.

Right, the prototype. I'm starting to feel like this is a hopeless case. I have been trying to find the appropriate energy source for the repulsors. An energy source that is powerful enough to ionize the gas atoms. With the right energy, electrons would be able to detach from the ionized atoms.

If my calculations are right, the more powerful the energy source, the greater the chances of the electrons detaching. And when it detaches, then another subatomic particle would take its place, a particle that weighs like a proton, however, it would be negative of charge. Much like an electron. Muons.

When that happens, then the muons, given that they have greater mass than electrons, would make the atoms be pushed closer together which would result in the fusion of the said atoms into much bigger atoms. And with much bigger atoms come a fuck ton of energy.

With all that being said, the catalyzed fusion of muons would be enough to reenact the same energy that Andrea exerted the other day.

But what kind of energy source is powerful and self-sustaining enough to make all of this happen?

"Palladium is the most likely element to power the prototype. But how am I supposed to utilize that—" I suddenly cut myself off when I recalled something.

Oh, fuck me, I'm a genius.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.!" I called, adrenaline rushing through my veins as I feel like I'm starting to finally crack everything. I'm about to solve everything here.

"Yes, sir?" He responded.

"Pull up the blueprint of my dad's Arc Reactor." I said.

It only took moments before it was already in front of me. The missing part in the equation, the last piece in the puzzle.

"What is this for, Mr. Stark?" Asked J.A.R.V.I.S.

I'm such a genius that even an A.I. could not keep up with me.

"Palladium is the most qualified candidate as the element to power the repulsors. Therefore, I have to find a way to incorporate that but I didn't know how, until I remembered this." I pointed at the blueprint. "The Arc Reactor operates with a palladium core, right? It has palladium isotopes which have peculiar nuclear characteristics and because of that, it generates more than enough energy to be the source of the prototype and on top of that, because it produces so much energy, it keeps on running, thus, rendered completely self-sustaining..."

I just did that. I just fucking solve that.

"Should I run a virtual trial, sir?" He asked.

I rubbed my jaw, feeling the stubbles becoming longer. I should really shave. I'm beginning to have whiskers. And I don't want that yet. I like being baby-faced.

"Sure." I answered. "I'm gonna finish the exterior part of the prototype and make a stop at Stark Industries later on."

I proceeded to work on the metal plating of the repulsors. I designed them like a glove so that it would be much easier to handle. I even went through vast trials, trying to see which types of metals would be more convenient and comfortable because what's the use of a working repulsor gloves if I can't even get the hang of it?

Gold-titanium alloy is both strong and convenient enough for the job.

I put on my welding mask and began working. I watched as the sparks flew around me, my idea closer to becoming reality. And when I finished welding, I lifted my mask up and scanned my work.

"Hey." I almost jumped when I heard Andrea's voice coming from the doorway.

I turned my head towards her so fast, my head almost started spinning. It startled me that she's just here, actually talking to me, saying the first word, when I was planning on doing that. I mean, I was the one in the wrong, right?

"Hey." I greeted. I reminded myself that there's still a welding mask on my head so I quickly took it off and placed it on the table, all while not faltering my gaze on Andrea because I'm afraid that when I look away from even just a split second, I'll lose her.

I watched as she neared me, her fingers playing with one another and her tongue licking her lips.

For heaven's sake, stop doing that.

"What are you working on?" She asked.

Trying not to have a part two of what happened the other day, but you're making it harder for me to commit to that.

I swallowed hard as I took a towel, wiping the stain of ink on my fingers while I answered her question.

"Well, I've been working on this prototype that would be relatively similar to your magic. Actually, it's more different, but still, I got the idea from you. So, I made a pair of high-tech gloves that use repulsor technology. Basically it would emit repulsor blasts, which is a powerful blast of concussive energy using a high-density muon beam. But to be able to generate said repulsor blasts, I would be needing the arc reactor in the lab of my company. It's basically a fusion reactor that removes electrons from hydrogen atoms. Then that removal will create an ion plasma blah blah blah which is what I need as this prototype's ultimate energy source." I rambled.

I should stop rambling that much because the end result is always Andrea looking as baffled as she is right now. I pursed my lips as I rearranged my thoughts, trying to find another way to summarize and paraphrase what I just said in a more understandable manner. I'm always talking to J.A.R.V.I.S. about these things that I've forgotten how to deliver the same explanation to an actual human being.

"In other words, I would be shooting...lasers, with my hands." I said. I just said lasers...That's highly offensive, for some reason.

A surprised expression finally flashed across her face, realization following behind as she raised her eyebrows and formed an 'o' shape with her mouth.

"Oh. That's cool." She commented.

I can't help but notice how awkward she's approaching me. Normally, our conversation required much less compliments and a lot more insults. To say that everything about this conversation of ours is off is unfortunately true.

"Yeah..." I just said. Now, I don't know how to proceed as well. This is all my fault. Me and my stupid temptations.

I felt like I was becoming deaf because of how quiet the surroundings had become. This situation is so awkward, the only thing missing is the crickets chirping in the background.

"Are you a parking ticket?" My attention was focused on her again rather than the heavy atmosphere when she spoke up.

Well, that's a weird question.

"Uhm...no?" I answered,squinting my eyes as I tried to decipher everything that was going on. What is she on now?

"Really? Because you have fine written all over you."

I froze.

There are two sides of me that are fighting over dominance right now. One side is freaking out and just throwing up rainbows while riding unicorns because Andrea just fucking attempted to flirt with me. Which is like a dream come true. But on the other side, comes the overwhelming laughter and second-hand embarrassment because as much as that delights me, it is cringy as fuck that it is making me want to cry and laugh at the same time.

Unfortunately, the latter won.

I almost burst into laughter and it was only at the last second was I able to contain my laughter, holding all of it back in one meaningful smile.

"Okay...for your sake, I'm not gonna comment on that." I said, my smile now as clear as day. "But for my sake, I just have to ask, what the fuck was that, Andrea?"

I can sense how ashamed she was of what she just said and did. She fluttered her eyes shut and hid from me by covering her face with her hands, a muffled groan escaping her lips.

"I don't know!" Andrea said when she dropped her hands. "J.A.R.V.I.S. said that for us to make up and all, I should join you in your daily session of coping."

J.A.R.V.I.S. said what now?

"J.A.R.V.I.S. said that?"

"He did."

Most of the time, J.A.R.V.I.S. is like an angel sent from above.

"Yeah, you got tricked." I said, still holding back my laughter.

I witnessed Andrea's confusion with my statement, eyebrows furrowed and everything.

"What? No, he didn't trick me." She denied.

He's my A.I. I'm pretty sure I know him best.

"Yeah, he did." I argued, not bothering to hide the smile on my face and just let it stay there, playing in my lips because at the moment, I'm having the time of my life.

"No, he didn't. He didn't!" She continued. With that, I only stared at her, communicating through my eyes, asking her if she really believes the words she's saying right now.

"Did he?" She now asked. There you go. "Did he really—J.A.R.V.I.S.!"

"My apologies, Ms. Andrea. But all you and Mr. Stark needed was a good laugh to make up." He explained.

He wasn't wrong though. If it weren't for that ridiculous pickup line, Andrea and I would still be avoiding each other. Just recalling what she said it earlier broke me and I started to laugh inaudibly, trying hard not to let Andrea notice that I've failed to hold my laughter because I'm pretty sure she'll kick my ass.

"Do you see me laughing?" I heard her taunt J.A.R.V.I.S.

"I see Mr. Stark is." He responded.

I clutched my stomach as my eyes were shut close, my chuckles still as inaudible as I first burst into laughter only this time, I know Andrea's watching me even if I can't see her.

"That's funny to you?" She challenged.

I know I should be scared right now because at this point, I've already learned that Andrea takes her threats seriously, and right now she's threatening me. But I can't help the laughter that continued to erupt from my throat. It's like I'm not even in charge of my own body anymore.

"Priceless." I answered. "Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S., make sure to save that footage to her folder."

"What folder?" She questioned.

There's no way I'm letting that footage go. That will be with me forever and I will play that whenever I feel angry or sad. As of now, that's my happy pill.

"Saving footage 19940830-1 to Spunky folder." J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

"Seriously?" She said while shooting me a glare.

Sorry Andrea, but all you look like to me now is cute rather than scary after what just happened.

I shrugged my shoulders and chuckled more softly before I finally calmed down. The room fell quiet again but this time, everything was much more...breathable, if that makes sense. Like I'm not suffocating from how heavy the atmosphere is. The awkwardness in the air is no longer detectable and the tension between Andrea and I seems lighter.

This should be the perfect time.

"Look," I started as I leaned against the table. "I'm sorry for...kissing you. That wasn't cool. I don't know what came over me. I have no excuse for that."

Yeah...I'm not ready to say it yet. I'm afraid I'll lose her when I do. Especially when there's actually another guy in the picture. I haven't actually asked her if she has a boyfriend. I just went in and kissed her.

Stupid Tony.

She shook her head and smiled at me. "It's fine."

God, to be on the receiving end of Andrea Marshall's smile feels almost too good to be true.

She feels too good to be true.

"So, I haven't pissed off any boyfriend?" I asked.

I silently prayed to whatever gods or divine being above, pleading that the answer would be anything but a 'yes'.

"No." She answered. But as much as my inner self is celebrating right now, it's also quite obvious not to notice the way she looked away from me, how she immediately avoided eye contact as she answered my question.

She may not have a boyfriend or a girlfriend right now, but she definitely had someone.

"Ahh, I know that look." I said. The next few seconds is just me becoming much more of an asshole than I already am. "Let me guess, he cheated? He fell in love with your friend or something?" For added humor, I gasped hysterically before continuing on. "Is he gay? Tell me if I'm getting warmer."

Pray tell, I actually thought that one of these reasons was the answer. But boy, was I so fucking wrong.

"Cold as a corpse." She responded.

The way she said it.

Her voice was off. Her eyes averted away from me. Her body stiffened. Her fingers twitched. And the sentence itself.

Those were enough for me to reach a conclusion that I wished I reached in a different approach.

I looked down, probably failing to hide the guilty expression on my face.

"He died, didn't he?" I asked, despite already knowing the answer to that question.

When I looked up, I saw that she was finally looking at me again. Her lips pursed for a moment, reluctant, before a small smile flashed across her face. But the thing about this smile was it was different from the one earlier. This one almost felt...well, nothing. It felt rather empty.

"His name was Landon." Andrea said.

I have to get my mouth a filter. My brain as well. I need to tattoo it in my brain that when it comes to Andrea, almost anything is tragic. As much as I hate that, it's true. Everything that she has ever told me about her life has one thing in common, death.

I hung my head low and closed my eyes, sighing deeply in self-frustration. "I'm such an asshole."

"You're only realizing that now?" I heard Andrea say.

I looked back up at her and saw a teasing smile. Though, there was still a hint of that smile from earlier. "Oh, no. I'm just admitting that now. But you also gotta admit, I'm the most handsome asshole you've ever seen."

Instead of firing back, she simply smiled and shook her head. Look at that. For someone who has so much grief in her, she still manages to smile genuinely. If that's not strength, then I don't know what is.

"I'm sorry." I said. "For your loss."

With that, her smile reverted back to its empty state. "Don't be. Everyone I care about has a tendency to die on me, especially when you're the most powerful creature to ever walk the Earth." She said while she focused her gaze on the ground.

I pursed my lips and tilted my head in a teasing manner.

"Should I be scared?" I asked.

If I really should be scared, I can never. Why would I be scared? When it comes to Andrea, I don't know how, but I'm willing to do anything for her. I will cross the oceans for her smile, move the mountains for her laugh, and reach for the stars for that eyebrow thing of hers.

Would you look at that? Your boy's becoming a romantic poet. How silly.

"Who says I care about you?" Andrea argued, her eyebrow cocking.

"Says someone who just willingly flirted with me to patch things up." I fired back.

By the looks of her smile widening at my statement, I'd say I won at that argument.

—

Yesterday was a thrill. The repulsors gloves were a success, Andrea and I are good again, and the two of us being seen in public together, well, people are already suspecting that the two of us are in a relationship. All in due time, world. I'll win her over.

Right now, I'm just having some little finishing touches on the gloves, but for some reason, Andrea thought it would be a great idea to help.

Spoiler alert, it wasn't.

"You're not supposed to twist that!" I exclaimed.

"How would I know? I'm not a mechanic!" She argued.

The other glove is slowly starting to fall apart again because Andrea was messing with it while I was checking something on my computer when I specifically told her not to touch anything without my permission.

Then, before I could get another word out of my mouth, she muttered what I can only assume is an incantation under her breath. Because it's like that with her. When she's muttering something in a foreign language, 100% of the time, it's a spell.

With that, the glove was whole again, as if Andrea never touched it in the first place.

"There, all good again." she said with a bright smile on her face. If she wasn't the woman of my dreams, then I would've kicked her out of this room the instant she touched the gloves.

"Okay, that's enough, Tribrid Granger. Get your wiggly wizard paws off my masterpiece." I said. I began pushing her out of the way, but softly. I don't know why, it's not like I could actually hurt her.

She turned to look at me after the little relocation before crossing her arms against her chest. "Granger, really?"

"You and Hermoine both act like a know-it-all."

"That's because we do know it all."

"Rewind to one and a half minutes ago when you said you didn't know what you're supposed to do."

You know what, we should do a Harry Potter movie marathon after this. Just to relax.

I can imagine her shaking her head or rolling her eyes at me after my last sentence. But I didn't bother to spare her a glance as I was too invested in the finishing touches of my sweet new invention.

"You're acting like I broke it." She said.

When I looked up to meet her gaze again, I was glad I did. Because I get to witness her arch her eyebrow once again. Time and time again, I always internally point out how much I love it when she does that.

"You might as well have." I retorted.

For the next couple of seconds, Andrea didn't bother to say anything. Instead, she just stood there with her arms crossed and her eyes focused on me. Now, I didn't look to check if she was actually watching me but I can feel her gaze on me so it's not that far of a reach.

But despite me wanting to have peace and quiet from time to time when concentrating, I find it more comforting hearing her voice.

"Breathe louder. It's definitely not distracting." I said, making sure to make my sarcasm drip from every word I just said to make her argue with me again. I'm so in love with this woman that I would rather fight with her than not talk to her at all.

"Says the mouth breather." She fired back.

Geez. This woman really will fight you.

"That's because I'm always out of breath."

"Yeah, right. Doing what?"

Andrea and I already knew each other so well that even if I don't say anything, she already knows what I'll say. I straightened my posture, looked straight into her eyes as I crossed my arms against my torso and my lips stretched into a smirk. With those mere actions, she can already tell the scenes playing in my mind.

And I just know she hates how well she knows me.

"Okay, I did not need to know that."

"You asked!"

"I hate you." She said then turned around in an attempt to walk out of the room.

My smirk then turned into an entertained grin as I chased her with more jokes. "I'm more than happy to show you a demonstration." Okay, that was a half-joke.

"Bye, Tony. I'll talk to J.A.R.V.I.S. instead." And with a small smile on her face that I caught her wearing, she stepped out of the room.

A chuckle vibrated on my chest as I shook my head, returning to my work before I got the chance to take a break.

I've been meaning to plan an entire day for Andrea and I to just relax. To get away from our problems for just a while so that we could remind ourselves that there is still such a thing as normalcy, despite it being so far out of reach these days.

The most normal thing I could think of from the top of my head is a movie marathon. And what better set of movies to watch in a marathon if not the franchise that I can just endlessly tease her with?

"J.A.R.V.I.S. Can you check the local VHS stores within Miami for stocks of the whole Harry Potter franchise?" I told him.

I cleaned up my desks for a bit while I waited for J.A.R.V.I.S.'s answer.

"Sir, I believe there's been a misunderstanding." He answered.

I furrowed my brows but didn't think much of it while I proceeded to clean up the room.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There is no such a thing as the Harry Potter Franchise." He answered.

That's when I stopped and glanced at the computer before making my way towards it.

"What do you mean there's no such thing? That movie franchise is fucking popular." I said.

I mean, who doesn't know Harry Potter? The only way that people don't know Harry Potter is if they are living in another galaxy. But I'm pretty sure they'll find a way to reach them, too.

"Search up 'Harry Potter'." I said.

After a few seconds, I creased my eyebrows at the screen when it revealed absolutely nothing about the movies or the books.

"Data not found." J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice came through the speakers again.

Is there something wrong with his software? Do I need to update it? But, he's an A.I. that's the whole purpose of being an A.I. They don't need manual updating because they are continuously evolving themselves.

There's no way that Harry Potter doesn't exist. I mean, Andrea knows it.

"Let's take ten, J.A.R.V.I.S." I said before collapsing onto the swivel chair and just stared at the ceiling.

Maybe I should just rent the movie theater and watch it there. Surely, they have the Harry Potter films.

—

If Hope is an avenger, what do you think would be her superhero name?

Also, tell me what you think of the story so far. Especially, you, silent readers. Yes, I'm looking directly at you. Say something. Because y'all get me so anxious ksksksks.

Another thing, can I borrow some holy water because that gif of rdj is making me imagine things.

One last thing, don't mind the typos and the grammar errors in my the chapters. I'll edit it once the story is finished.

Anyway, I hope y'all had a wonderful new year's!