#disassembledheart

[akihiro-daken1]

All the Fixings ((Pepperony Drabble))

Perhaps it was normal for their house, and my God how Pepper loved calling it 'their house,' but it was most certainly not normal anywhere else to throw a birthday party for a robot.

But there sat Tony, the traditional conical hat perched on his head at a jaunty angle, and one of the new suits being operated by JARVIS had one as well. The other robots had hats scaled to their size, and Dum-E had pride of place, with gifts piled in front of him. Pepper perched happily on the arm of Tony's chair, and noticed that with the exception of the present she knew she had wrapped, they all were inexpertly wrapped in coffee-stained newspapers with a thoroughness that showed Tony had done them himself.

Dum-E opened Pepper's present first, with far more finesse than he usually showed in the lab, and seemed pleased at the TARDIS-themed cord insulators she'd special-ordered for him. He hummed the Doctor Who theme song inexpertly and made her smile. Perhaps he had thought, in as much as she thought Dum-E thought, that she hadn't noticed that he perked up whenever the TARDIS was on-screen

Dum-E and the others had been salvaged, rescued, and reworked carefully. It had been a labor of love for Tony, who once he'd known that Pepper was safe, had had to chose between getting himself out and saving the robots that were the closest thing to children he figured he ever would or should get. Watching them fall into the sea had been heartbreaking.

So now they got parties. Pepper wasn't going to complain, because the robots had saved Tony more times than she could count. The small things like putting out a fire were one thing, but Dum-E had given Tony his heart back once. For that alone Pepper treasured the construct.

There were upgrades from Tony in most of the boxes, things to make Dum-E bigger, better, stronger, and faster. When they had been discussing it, Tony had smiled and said that he "had the technology." Pepper had kissed him and said nothing. She understood that reference.

They were good, they were a family. And she and Tony got to eat all the cake. Life was damn fine.

[shielddeputydirector]

disassembledheart is on file

Maria and Tony Stark would never get along smoothly. She thought he was arrogant, and he agreed with her assessment and thought the same of her. She agreed, but that didn't make them like each other any more.

When they sat with the Avengers at the conference table, as they did now, they usually simply ignored each other. Unless one of their resolves cracked, and then the other batted them down easily. She didn't detest him nearly as much as she let on. They had much in common, in fact, which was possibly why they didn't along. He had chosen one way and she another.

"How is that arc reactor coming along, Mr. Stark?"

[akihiro-daken1]

disassembledheart is in your sights

Daken kept his distance at the press conference. His badge was genuine enough, well, as complete forgeries went, and had scanned through easily and without raising any flags. He was just that good.

Stark spoke well, and he had a natural charisma that Daken himself enjoyed when he wished it. Stark had never had the choice to step away from the spotlight, and If he had been capable of such emotion, Daken could have pitied him.

But Daken took copious notes, made updates to his conspiracy theory webpage on his tablet, and analysed the room dynamics. To whom did Stark talk to the most, whom did he acknowledge, whom did he snub?

All this was necessary information, and Daken hoped he could get it all before he got caught.