5/21 Issue: Tech Support

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Slarti
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5/21 Issue: Tech Support

Post by Slarti »

Timelined a few days after Family Reunion.

Carol: It had been a long time since Carol had felt actually useful and she was enjoying it. She'd replaced the bulbs and most of the fried wiring but the replacement stone for the counter had been delivered so that was getting all her attention for the moment. She'd taken off the old countertop and broken it into two pieces where she'd already damaged it, setting it aside to check the rest of the counter.

Tony: Tony was being good. Well, relatively. He had cut his usual secret service contingent in half since he had Heather overhead. He was also forcing them to stay outside. His limo pulled up outside and Tony stepped out when the agent opened the door. "Okay, now hang back. Don't look so constipated about it."

Carol: Carol sighed as Jarvis told her they had a guest, "Well, Obi's not here so they can go away. I'm not the maid." And she was busy. Stupid stone cutters couldn't measure right. Go-go-gadget laser finger. Very carefully.

Tony: The agent puffed up and slammed the limo door behind him and he clucked his tongue at the surly man. "Try adding some fiber to your diet." He trotted up the steps to the door and when Jarvis started speaking he cut him off. "Yeah, yeah, I'm here to fix you. Override!" The door popped open and he smirked to himself.

Carol: Carol was concentrating on cutting the end off a poorly measured slab of rock in a straight line but that didn't mean she couldn't still swear at the robot, "What the fuck, Jarvis?!"

Tony: "He did exactly what I told him to do," he called, stepping inside and glancing back for Heather. "Thank you, Jarvis."

Heather: Once Tony was safely off the sidewalk and the rest of the agents had moved out of the landing zone, Heather landed, folded her wings in close, and followed Tony indoors.

Carol: "Now's not a good time... can you come back later? Maybe never...?" She was still carefully following the line she'd marked on the stone. "Can't really put this down right now..."

Tony: "Now now, I'm here to do you a favor and insulate Jarvis' control center from your wild EMPs." He followed the sound of her voice and stopped in the kitchen. "Looks better than the last time I saw it," he said, surveying the room. "Look," he pointed over his shoulder. "I brought the gold one."

Carol: "I fixed it," Carol supplied, glancing up when he mentioned Heather and sparing her a smile, "Hey, long time no see."

Heather: "Yeah, you've been tough to pin down lately..." she returned the smile.

Tony: "Well, now I can fix Jarvis and we've got everything fixed up as it should be." He rubbed his hands together, then decided he wanted coffee before he started. Tony headed for the pot. "You, uh, shouldn't have to worry about Rogue anymore."

Carol: The heavy thud of the cut off piece of the stone hitting the floor was her only response until after the counter top was set into place. "I shouldn't have to worry about her in the first place..." she turned to look at Tony, "But I hope you're right..."

Tony: He didn't flinch at the thud, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "No, I agree. I think she overreacted and she has that redhead temper. I told her no more threats. I hope that, given time, she will see that she made a mistake."

Carol: "Oh she might get you with semantics there... she told me it wasn't a threat." She checked that the counter was level before she left it to get herself some coffee. "And I wouldn't hold your breath that she'll see she was wrong either..." She sighed, "I'm sorry... I know you love her..."

Tony: "Oh let me guess. A promise?" He made a face and took a sip of coffee. "She really believes you would be responsible for me ending things between us. The truth is, I do love her, and I don't foresee an end. I forgave her for the thing with Drake, and I meant it."

Carol: "I figured you would... if she said she was sorry and was honest with you. That's why I told her to tell you. It's not how she thinks..." she shook her head, "I wasn't trying to break you up... I just wanted you to know... a relationship shouldn't be based on lies... you should be able to trust each other... and I was mad at her for breaking that trust when you just bought her a whole ass house."

Tony: "She expects the worst-case scenario. I can respect that, judging by her life, but she's going to have to learn that sometimes things don't turn to shit. Sometimes things come out alright." He leaned against the counter and studied her, taking another drink before he spoke. "I asked her to touch me."

Carol: "Why would you do that?" She stared at him in disbelief, "I know most people don't have as much to lose as me but still..." she glanced around for Heather but it seemed like she'd gotten distracted. Probably by Chewie.

Tony: "There are a few people she's been able to touch. Drake, her fiance - I thought maybe I might be one of them." He snorted into the cup. "I was not."

Carol: She watched him for a moment before her expression softened, "I'm sorry... Maybe she just needs time... maybe you both do... at least she'll trust you better now that you're in her head, so..." she shrugged. "I want you to be okay, Tony... you deserve that... She's stuck on the part where I didn't want you to get involved with her... so I guess she's thinking I'm gonna torpedo your happiness first chance I get because she missed the point entirely."

Tony: "Maybe. For now, the bracelet will have to do. It was a trip to experience her being me for a while afterward." He sighed and nodded at Carol. "I am okay, Carol. More than okay. Maybe she just needs time to see nothing bad is going to happen."

Carol: "I hope so..." she took a sip of her coffee, "And I hope I don't have to worry about her blaming me for anything... If anything goes to hell, it's not me, okay? Make sure she knows that... there's no way..." She shook her head and looked over at the counter top she'd just replaced, "Why the fuck would I do that to myself again?"

Tony: Tony chuckled. "I'll be sure to tell her it's not your fault if we break up. I can't imagine any possible scenario right now where we would, but you never know, I guess." He tapped on the counter. "Nice workmanship, by the way. I'll be sure to call you for my next remodeling project."

Carol: "Thanks?" She laughed, "I broke it so I should fix it, right? I know how to do it all - my dad owns a construction company but he built it from the ground up... so we learned all the things as kids... not that I was supposed to..." She made a mental inventory of the things she still needed to fix, "I already replaced most of the wiring I fried but this showed up so..."

Tony: "I hope you bought some better insulated wiring, not that there's much insulation can do against your full blaze. I'm going to have to work some EMP shielding into my next suit."

Carol: "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that... I didn't break your shiny new toy, did I? Because I don't know if I can help you fix that..."

Tony: "Nope, he's resilient. I flew him home and upgraded his shielding as much as I could within the current design. That's Mark III. Rogue helped teach me to fly in him." He grinned. "Until I crashed in the lake."

Carol: She laughed, "Nice. He waterproof?"

Tony: "Mark IV will be waterproof," he laughed.

Carol: "For a genius, you are terrible at planning ahead. That a genetic trait?" she teased, bumping his shoulder, "Come on, I'll take you to Jarvis' brain. The door's kinda stuck."

Tony: "It must be. My old man never saw me coming." He let her rock him with a chuckle. "I think Hope inherited all of my impulsiveness and all of her mother's temper. The door's stuck? What'd you do to it?"

Carol: "More fried wiring... I didn't get up there yet to fix it. At least I hope it's just fried wiring otherwise I'm gonna be super offended, Jarvis."

Tony: Jarvis apologized, which came out a little garbled on the end. "I see I've got my work cut out for me, Jarvis."

Carol: "We'll call it even, Jarvis... I gotta un-pretty your door." She pushed her fingers into the metal until she had enough of a grip before she pulled it aside.

Tony: Tony whistled under his breath at the panel revealed to him. "Hello, Jarvis. This might tickle a bit." He reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a small roll of tools and a folded square of thin metallic fabric.

Carol: "I'll leave you to it... unless you want me breathing down your neck," she moved back out of the way, "Go see if your shiny bird lady wants something to drink... or got eaten by a cat with mouth tentacles." Why was her life so weird?

Tony: "You better watch them together, or Heather might grow her own tentacles." He pulled a table over to lay out his tools, popping one in his mouth as he eased his way into the panel and pulled off a cover.

Carol: "Oh no, one critter with tentacles is enough for any building..." And now she was thinking about Andi and her tentacles. Right. Distracted. She shook herself then went to find Heather.

Tony: Tony was in his element, tutting at Hope's cable management, tinkering, locating scorched connections.

Carol: Carol happily left Tony to tinker upstairs while sat in the kitchen with Heather and they had a catch up and an impromptu lesson in Shi'ar language and tech. "No, it's this one first. If you do it wrong you'll initiate the self destruct..."

Heather: "Why is there a self destruct?!" Heather faceplanted into the table. "I'm never gonna get this..." she lifted her head, "Why can't you do it?"

Carol: "You mean apart from the fact we don't know who's gonna answer and the Shi'ar hate the Kree to the point of war?"

Heather: "Yeah, apart from that..." she frowned, "Okay start again..."

Tony: Jarvis was better than ever now and even had a few new subsystems installed. He couldn't be sure the shielding would stand up to Carol's full wrath, but it had to help. After helping himself to the scotch, Tony wandered back to the kitchen. "What are you two trying to blow up?"

Heather: "Hopefully nothing if I get the sequence right..." Heather leaned her head back to look at her boss upside down. "I'm not confident..."

Carol: "I don't know how I can read this shit and you can't..." Carol shook her head, picking up her coffee.

Tony: "What exactly are you reading?" Tony tugged a lock of gold hair and went around his guard to see what they were doing. "That's... it's alien. Only aliens can read that."

Heather: She winced, "Ow..." she sat up again, "Duh, Tony. That's why I'm asking Carol. She can read it."

Tony: "Carol can read alien?" He gave Carol a questioning look, head cocked.

Carol: "I can do a lot of things. I'm awesome like that." Maybe they had a sharpie...? She got up to look in some drawers.

Heather: "Found out when we were in space," Heather supplied, "Everyone was super confused."

Tony: Tony squinted at the writing, but it didn't help. "I get why that'd be confusing for a Boston girl to be able to read... so it's alien, but what race? Yours, Goldie?"

Heather: "Yeah... the Shi'ar... they left me this to contact them if I had questions and I said I'd ask them about some stuff... 'cept I don't remember how this works."

Carol: "I'd say you shoulda got them to write you instructions but that wouldn't help either, I guess..." Aha! A sharpie! She held up her prize.

Tony: Tony picked up the device and turned it over in his hand, already looking for ways to take it apart.

Carol: "Don't even think about it," she could see the gears turning already and she plucked the device from his hands to safety before he could act on his ideas. "I'm gonna number all these glyphs and I'll write down the translations for you..." she started on her task, "But you should really get someone here to teach you when you call them..."

Heather: "Ooooor you could teach me..." Heather gave her a winning smile.

Tony: With his new toy taken away, Tony frowned and decided to get himself more coffee. And, possibly, more scotch.

Carol: "I don't think Tony's gonna let you abandon him to take Shi'ar lessons from me... so you should probably get someone else... And I'm pretty sure if they found out you were getting lessons from me of all people they'd have something to say about it." She passed the device back to Heather and went for a notebook.

Heather: "Pfft, I'm the boss of them. They do what I say. They rescued you, didn't they?"

Carol: "Uh-huh then they spent the whole trip home shitting themselves that I might blow up their ship and they were glad to be rid of me," Carol finished. "But this is different... and you'll need to learn both dialects and Imperial Shi'ar is... different."

Tony: Looking up from his coffee doctoring, Tony cocked his head. "How do you know not one but two dialects of some alien language when she's the alien?" He thumbed toward Heather.

Carol: Carol shrugged, "I don't know... the Shi'ar crew were muttering something about birthing chambers and genetic memory but I wasn't really in a condition to ask questions..." notebook located, she returned to the table and started writing out the translations. "I know other stuff I shouldn't too."

Tony: Tony mulled this over for another moment and then blurted. "Wait, you know this mysterious stuff because you're an alien too?"

Heather: "You didn't know that?!" Heather looked between him and Carol, "Well shit... sorry I outed you..."

Carol: Carol paused in her writing for a moment then shrugged, "It's fine. I trust him not to deport me to Hala. Doesn't even know where it is."

Tony: "No, I didn't know that. I thought you were a mutant." He looked between the two of them. "You, I knew about - half alien, half human mutant, but you? Well where is Hala? What is Hala?"

Carol: "I'm half human..." Carol sighed, "My mom is Kree. Hala is their homeworld... It's in the Large Magellanic Cloud and their star is called Pama. I didn't know til just before the Brood invasion, and then I had bigger problems... Fury agreed to keep the secret for me."

Tony: "How many half aliens do we have around here?" He made a mental note to check a star chart later, not that he expected to be able to find it. "Fury did keep the secret for you, clearly. We're gonna have to have a chat about that."

Carol: Carol shook her head, "Don't do that... It was my secret to tell and I didn't know anything... still have a lot of holes... and I don't really wanna throw my mom under the bus if this gets out somehow."

Tony: "Don't yell at Fury for withholding information? Are you sure you're alright? You want me to cut him some slack?" Tony shook his head in disbelief, taking another sip of spiked coffee.

Carol: Carol sighed, looking up at Tony, "Look. As soon as he sends that kind of information up the chain, it gets put in the system somewhere. Then anyone with access to that system can find out information that maybe we don't want them knowing. People like Norman Osborn."

Tony: Tony considered this, then gave her a sharp nod. "That... makes a lot of sense. It's unfortunate that we have to think that way. Hopefully, Rhodey will be elected and we won't have to worry about it."

Carol: "And in the mean time I'll keep my genetic knowledge of alien technology to myself and my fellow alien friends where it's safe." She finished off her translations then wrote the order out for Heather and handed her the paper.

Heather: "Thanks, Carol, at least if I blow it up you did all you could to stop me and I'll be fine."

Tony: "Let's try not to activate it in the White House then, unless I need a distraction, of course." Tony took another drink of his coffee and whipped out his roll of tiny tools again.

Heather: "It's not for you," Heather picked up the device, stuffing it and her instructions back into her pocket. "I promised I'd ask the Shi'ar some stuff about space birds."

Carol: "First rule of thumb for alien tech. Don't work on it in your kid's kitchen while she's not home." Carol admonished Tony, "Second rule: Ask the owner of the tech before you start poking at it with tools. It's called manners."

Tony: "Space birds, huh? Yeah, sounds plausible." He eyed Heather's wings and then turned to look at Carol. "Who says I got them out for her?" At that, he spun the coffee machine around to get a look at the screws holding the back in place. "Also, missy, I still have to talk to you."

Carol: "Just as long as we don't have to remove a butter knife later, have at it..." She rolled her eyes, "What did I do now?"

Tony: "Hey, Best Picture, give us a minute, will you?" He nodded at Heather and jerked his head toward the living room.

Heather: "Sure... I'll go snuggle the kitty..." She got up and went to locate Chewie.

Carol: Carol looked between Tony and Heather's retreating back, "Okay, seriously... what did I do?"

Tony: Tony dropped his drunk act and met her eyes, voice low. "I'm not going to play any little games with this, so I hope you'll return the courtesy. Are you in love with Shinobi?"

Carol: The question caught her completely off guard. Never in a million years would she have guessed those words would come out of his mouth right now. She broke his gaze, looking anywhere but at his face, "Rogue told you..."

Tony: "Yes." Tony moved a little closer, trying to get back in her line of sight. He snapped his fingers. "Hey. Up here. Now, I'm going to ask you another question - are you staying here because you're in love with him?"

Carol: She looked at him sharply, "No!"

Tony: Tony's eyebrows went up at the vehement reply. "And do you have any intention of trying to seduce Shinobi?" He wasn't worried about her trying to seduce him, despite Rogue's panic attack.

Carol: She stared hard at him, trying to work out if he was serious. When she realised he was, she laughed. "I'm sorry... just... the idea of me trying to seduce anyone..."

Tony: "You've got a point there," he said, mouth twitching. "Okay, good. I believe you." Tony nodded and blew out a long breath. "I gotta say, it all makes sense now. Saying you thought he was the one you could talk to about the Brood."

Carol: She sighed, shaking her head and leaning back in her seat for some distance as she picked up her coffee, "That's not it... I mean, it might help... but I trust him. That's the part that matters... he doesn't do all that judging even though I told him he's allowed... and he's had also a shitty time of life so he gets it on a level most people can't." She took a sip of her coffee and added: "He knows, by the way. I didn't sneak in here."

Tony: Tony unrolled his tools and turned his attention back to the coffeemaker. "Rogue said you told him, but then that you also slept with Drake, so married men apparently weren't off the menu."

Carol: "Those are two very different scenarios. And she's one to talk." Carol folded her arms, "Bobby's been served with divorce papers, I was there when it happened. He's single now. And we were really drunk... which isn't an excuse but it's important. Plus, she acts like he didn't have a choice in the matter. He's a grown ass adult."

Tony: "Sounds like Drake's been getting around. I'll have to warn Rhodey not to get drunk with him." He poked the innards of the coffee machine and it beeped. He hadn't bothered to unplug it. "Technically, he not single until the divorce is finalized, but yeah, I get your point."

Carol: "She wants you to think the worst of me so you don't believe anything I say," she sighed, "I trust you to make your own mind up because you're a smart guy. But she's not gonna stop throwing me under the bus. It's like she's fucking testing me."

Tony: "Yeah, well, she also thinks you might try to seduce me." He looked over at her, brow raised, expression almost amused. "And are you?" He let his voice drop to a husky tone.

Carol: And now she was laughing again, "Seriously?! Man, I want whatever drugs she's taking."

Tony: "That's what I expected," he said, voice back to normal as he turned his attention back to the machine. This coffee pot was smart, but he could make it smarter. "She's just worried. Been on edge. By the way, the reaction you had to her? Now I get it. I reread your file. What happened when you were kids - that's rough."

Carol: "Thanks..." she frowned and picked up her coffee to hide behind again, "I still can't believe she went there..."

Tony: "I told her this too - I think you both overreacted. Seems like a lot for a kiss." He let his eyes slide to her for a moment before back to the machine.

Carol: "I'll admit my initial reaction was kind of overkill... but you had just bought her a house and everything with you guys was going so great and I was mad that she'd just throw it all away, drunk or not, to make out with her married best friend." She took a sip of her coffee, watching him with the machine in case he hurt it.

Carol: "Then I told her she needed to tell you... and then I went to talk to Sebastian in case it did go to shit and someone needed to talk you off a ledge... and I guess he decided he had to go poke the bear and she's not gonna threaten his ass so she threatened mine - even if he'd been the one to tell you. That's the whole story." Except for the part where she was in love with Bobby.

Tony: Tony stopped tinkering while she spoke, tapping the small tool against the edge of the coffee maker. He'd put together a lot of these pieces himself, including Sebastian's behavior and later stubbornness about why he'd decided to break into his house in the first place. Just to threaten his girlfriend had seemed overly dramatic, even for his friend. "Talk me off a ledge? It seems like I'm the only one around here that isn't on one."

Carol: "That's because Rogue made it more dramatic than it had to be and she doesn't back off. So now anything I do to upset her I can lose my entire life. That is terrifying. And apparently sleeping with Bobby upset her for some reason I don't understand and Bobby gets a free pass so I'm back on her shit list. I just want it to stop... I want to go back to work properly. I want to feel safe."

Carol: She swallowed, "I was still having nightmares here... but I felt safe when I was awake which is progress. And now I'm back to square one. She ruined that for me. I know you said I don't have to worry... but I'd feel better if I heard it from her... an apology for even going there would be nice but that's never gonna happen so I'll settle for her taking the threat back."

Tony: "Yeah, I think an apology is gonna take a while," or never, but hey. "For now, I've got her to agree not to threaten you any more, so that's a first step. I think it'll just take time for her to calm down." Tony sighed. "I don't think she's going to seek you out, Carol. She doesn't have a reason to. I forgave her for Drake and it's over."

Carol: "I really hope so... I don't want to be blamed for everything... it's like that stuff she said about the rally... She assumed it was my decision and didn't even check. Didn't second guess that I would be that petty. That's not me. But if I have to give her instructions in the field? What's gonna happen if she's second guessing everything I say to her? I can't work with that kind of ambiguity. I need to know she can leave it at the door."

Tony: "I understand that, and that's my concern too. You two need to be able to work together for the X-Men to be a success." He prodded at the machine's guts again. "Fury didn't want her there because of me, right? Our relationship does paint a pretty big target on her, but I had assumed it wouldn't affect anything. I was wrong, at least when it comes to Osborn's attack dogs."

Carol: "Yeah... he knew there was gonna be some crazies there and he didn't want to stir the shit pot in our direction since we were there to keep the crowd under control. Rogue's presence would have just worked them up even without Shaffran's help. But with her input? I can't even imagine. Even without her there it devolved into insanity. Which, by the way, led to the falling off the wagon and the whole thing with Bobby."

Carol: She sighed, "When I took this job, my relationship with Rogue was good... We were friends, we hung out, we told each other stuff... we did the things the other one didn't like to do. Two weeks after she stood in my parent's house and my mom made her an honorary Danvers she's threatening to kill me. I hate that it's like this... It's never going to be okay again."

Carol: She looked up at him, expression sincere, "If it's too complicated and my presence here is causing too many issues... Just tell them to reassign me back to DC. I'll go and you can find someone that's a better fit... I'm not gonna even pretend if it was a choice between her and me on the team that I think I'd win. I'm not a mutant... I didn't go there by choice the first time and now... I don't know how to make it right."

Tony: Tony listened to the story about the rally, then nodded. "Noted." He sighed. "This situation was blown entirely out of proportion. I'm still coming to terms with this news that you're an alien, and now you're telling me you're not a mutant at all, so I'm not sure what to do with that, but regardless, you were assigned to the X-Men and you should stay there, as our only liaison in the military chain of command."

Tony: Tony licked his lips and moved closer to her. "If Rhodey doesn't pull this off, and we have four years of Osborn, we need you, and Fury, and everyone to be on the same page to keep the X-Men out of his little partisan games."

Carol: "After what he did to Steven? No way in hell am I ever gonna take Osborn's side unless he goes insane and wants me to throw him into the Sun. I'll be all over that." She pushed a hand through her hair, "This team is your baby. If you want me there, I'll be there and I'll do whatever it takes to keep us in the public's good graces. I'm invested in that... I just don't want this thing between Rogue and me to blow it up."

Tony: "I do want you there. I trust your judgment with all this crazy super-powered stuff, and you know these kids, so that makes you the only woman for the job."

Carol: "Then I'll keep doing the job... but if, down the line, your opinion changes... I won't hold that against you, okay? I know it's been a weird few months..."

Tony: "It's been a weird eight years, babe." Tony straightened up and went back to tinkering. "The last few months have just been more exciting."

Carol: "Maybe from where you're sitting," she laughed, "Most of my last five years was spent behind a desk. I hated it but I prefer it to living in constant fear," she finished off her coffee, "But since you know what Rogue threatened me with now... I guess you can keep an eye on that and I can breathe a little easier."

Tony: "Yeah, now that I know what I'm paying attention to, I can pay attention to her and try to defuse the situation as much as possible." He shrugged one shoulder. "It helps when everyone knows what's going on."

Carol: "Well, in my defense... I couldn't tell you. And she obviously didn't tell you the whole story... so... yeah..." she shrugged both shoulders high. "Maybe you should talk to her about that if you want to know what's going on... remind her to not censor the truth." She was still censoring the truth herself but she was sure as hell not going to fuck up the tiny progress she'd made.

Tony: "I like to think things are good between us. I don't hide things from her - I literally can't anymore since she touched me - and she tells me everything."

Carol: "I hope she does... that's how it's supposed to be when you love someone, right? And if she can trust you like that, as much as she trusts Bobby, maybe one day she can touch you without the inhibitor and you'll be fine," she offered him a smile. "I want that for you..."

Tony: "Me too." He returned the smile, then hissed when the coffee machine zapped him a little. "You little-" He prodded it again. "Anyway. She thought with the others the touch might be because of their powers, but I hoped it was the... trust factor. Of course, it could still be. I just haven't earned it yet."

Carol: "Could also be shared trauma," she shrugged a shoulder, "It's all guess work really... but you know a lot of powers work on instinct and that whole fight/flight thing... I just kind of assume it's a trust issue. She tell you her name? 'Cause that'd be a step."

Tony: "I know her name, because of her file, but she knows I know. I use it when we're together." He glanced up at Carol, gauging which step that might be.

Carol: "She doesn't tell people... not unless she really wants to let them in... I guess I should have taken that as a hint. She took my whole childhood and I don't know her name... Doesn't seem fair somehow... I figured she'd tell me when she's ready but..." She leaned to look inside the angry coffee machine and whispered to it, "It's okay, I got your back."

Tony: "She didn't tell me, but she lets me use it, so maybe that's - I don't know. Maybe I cheated the trust code." He gave her a mock glare. "He'll take what I give and he'll like it," he said of the machine.

Carol: "Don't break my buddy! I can't drink and I'm not getting laid. Coffee's all I have!" she protested, "I don't think there is a cheat otherwise you'd think I'd have earned it, considering... Anyway, it doesn't matter.... that relationship is gone and it's not coming back. That bridge is a crater."

Tony: "I'm not breaking, I'm optimizing!" He hissed again at a smaller shock. "Never say never. Things can always change, let's just hope it's not for the worse again."

Carol: "I don't think the coffee machine agrees with you," Carol gave him an amused grin, "Maybe Hope booby trapped it specially because she knew you have a thing about improving coffee machines that work perfectly fine without your help?"

Tony: "Hope would never-" He stopped talking and looked between Carol and the machine. "Nope, you're right, she absolutely would." Tony gave the machine a mild thump.

Carol: "Hey!" Carol put her arms protectively around the machine, "It's not his fault your kid is nuttier than squirrel poo! You encourage that behaviour! Don't take it out on the coffee machine!"

Tony: Tony laughed and backed up from the crazy woman and the machine. "Okay, fine, we'll see who you turn to when it burns your coffee." Tony snagged his tool roll from the counter and started tidying it away. "Jarvis is fixed, and insulated, so hopefully your flares won't affect him as much."

Carol: "You forget: I'm military. We'll drink anything vaguely coffee adjacent." She pet the coffee machine, "Remember this moment," she told it, "I saved you. Don't burn my coffee."
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