#projecthappystark

He sighed deeply as he got out of bed, pushing back the loose hair that had stuck to his forehead. He stretched a little, trying to get rid of the strange sensation that the nightmare had left behind. Perhaps a rather unsubtle glance into his psyche, he thought to himself. But it was one of his oldest memories, and by now, he would probably feel unsettled if, for once, the dream didn’t wake him from sleep at least once a month.

He knew it was no use trying to go back to sleep, and he didn’t want to concern himself with questions of personal hygiene just yet, so quickly threw a dressing gown over his shoulders and wandered downstairs, heading towards the kitchen. It was an easy decision, considering the mouth-watering smell that came from that direction.

Jarvis, the good soul that he was, was already bustling around the kitchen, preparing breakfast.

“Good morning, sir,” he greeted when he noticed Tony entering the room. “Breakfast is almost ready. And could you wait with that until I’ve set the table in the dining room?”

Tony looked up from the delicious food guiltily, caught red-handed. Why Jarvis placed so much importance on ceremony, Tony would never know. Freshly stolen food simply tasted so much better.

“Hey, Jarv,” he greeted back, a placating smile on his face. “Haven’t I told you that you don’t need to get up so early to make breakfast? It’s okay to sleep in once in a while.”

Jarvis sniffed in disgust at the suggestion, and that was the only comment Tony would ever get from him on that particular topic. Not that it actually deterred him from trying again and again. The man did so many things for him, he really should allow himself to take it a little easier from time to time.

That usually caused Jarvis to mutter about the mollycoddled tendencies of today’s youth under his breath. Tony could definitely see the twitch in the corner of his mouth, though.

“Have you already considered your choices?” Jarvis asked while he put the finished touches on Tony’s breakfast. “This Mr Rhodes is very… persistent.”

Tony smiled. “You’re clearly favouring this Mr Rhodes.”

“Yes,” Jarvis freely admitted. “He’s responsible. A good balance to you.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jarv.”

“Always, sir,” Jarvis answered seriously, skillfully evading Tony’s ploy to snatch a few morsels from the plate that Jarvis was carrying to the table.

His mood lightened by the conversation with Jarvis, Tony eagerly dug into his breakfast while he went over his newest travel plans.

Europa was mostly a source of chaos and unrest at the moment, but all of his sources had told him the same thing: There was something hidden in a remote place deep in the Alps that possessed a power heretofore unknown to man.

And Tony would be the one to discover it.

A source of - if the rumours could be trusted - unlimited power. Of course, Tony knew that something like that also harbored an immeasurable potential for destruction. But it had just as much potential to become something good, something useful. If this source of power could be controlled and its power harnessed, it would mean that millions of households would have reliable electricity and heating. Maybe there was even a way it could be adapted for the use of car and airplane engines…

Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched, Jarvis would say. They had to go there and find it first. Everything else would come afterwards.

Before he headed off into the unknown, however, he needed a reliable crew. That Jarvis went with Tony went without question, of course. There was also one Miss Pepper Potts, the talented writer responsible for recording his adventures for posterity and publishing them (highly fictionalised) in the Marvel magazine. The two had been with him on several trips already, and both of them had already proved their skill and usefulness more than once. What he was still lacking, however, was a right hand, a position that both Jarvis and Pepper were unsuited for. Jarvis was still fit for his age, but he still wasn’t getting any younger. An Pepper’s duty was note-taking, not saving Tony from danger. And Tony was good at getting himself into dangerous situations. He needed someone he could trust to have his back should worst come to worst. (Which it usually came.)

According to Jarvis, the man he was looking for was one James Rhodes.

A little curious, Tony dug Mr Rhodes’ files out of all the other files he kept getting showered in. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t slightly proud of his experiences and the attention that the fictionalised accounts of his adventures gathered. But this part, the part where people kept trying to catch his attention by whatever means possible, was the part he really didn’t like. He liked the children that would write him letters full of bright, hopeful words, and he answered them, but the letters adult people sent him always put him off a little. It was quite often Jarvis that picked out the letters that he knew Tony would want to read. The rest, Tony assumed, wandered directly into the trash.  

The fact that Jarvis had suggested that he should take a closer look at James Rhodes several times actually made him curious.

“Jarvis-approved” honestly deserved to be a quality label.

“Jarvis, how quickly do you think you can arrange a meeting with your Mr Rhodes?” Tony asked after he’d finished breakfast.

Jarvis studiously did not smile and cleaned the remains of the breakfast off the table with a neutral expression. “Very soon, I think. He is very eager to meet you.”

“Is there anyone who isn’t eager to meet me?” Tony muttered under his breath.

“I can think of a very long list of people who fit that category,” Jarvis replied, carrying the plates out to the kitchen.

“Rude!” Tony called after him, but even he could hear the distinct smile in his voice.

That James Rhodes was impressive was pretty much clear from the moment he stepped through the door.

Tony had called Pepper earlier that day and asked her to come, and by the time their guest arrived, she was all aflutter with excitement, already starting to plan out different ways to introduce a new travel companion to the series. Tony had attentively listened for a while, and then had let her alone with her ideas. He would gladly let her have her fun, knowing both that he didn’t really have a say in the matter, and that the final result would end up satisfying either way.

Tony personally thought that fiction wouldn’t hold up to reality anyway; James Rhodes possessed a presence that would be hard to translate into the format of a comic magazine. A firm handshake that was nowhere near overbearing, a straight, unwavering gaze, a sense of reserved friendliness; Tony liked the man immediately.

Before he made any decisions, however, he took the man apart thoroughly. Pepper lifted a judgemental eyebrow at him, but he had to be sure that this man would run at the first sign of trouble or stab them in their backs, so he thought he was forgiven for his thorough testing.

“Mr Rhodes,” he eventually said. “I see you have many qualifications. So that brings me to the question: Why us? You could be doing many other things.”

Rhodes looked at him intensely for a short while before he took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

“Mr Stark, I’m black,” he eventually answered. “We’re at the brink of war, and while the government has allowed us to die in the name of freedom, they don’t give us the opportunities that others have. We don’t receive the same honours for serving than someone less qualified would in our stead. I know I can be much more than I am, Mr Stark. The only thing I need is a chance. And well, let’s say that I have it from a reasonable source that you care less about who is getting you results than what the results are.”

Tony cast a look at Pepper, who glanced up at him and gave him a sly grin before she looked down at her notepad once more, scribbling furiously.

“Well,” Tony said, a smile spreading over his face as well. “Welcome to the team, Mr Rhodes.”

Rhodes answering smile was positively blinding.

“You can call me Rhodey. All my friends do.”

With Rhodey on board, the preparations for their trip to Europe moved along considerably more quickly. He was quick and worked well together with Jarvis, and Tony could only congratulate himself for listening to Jarvis’ advice. Tony could fully focus on bringing his affairs in order and dealing with all these pesky little tasks that only he could take care of while Jarvis and Rhodey packed all the equipment (sometimes with Pepper’s help, although she was usually quite busy with her publishing work).

The best part, however, had been when Tony had presented Rhodey with the armours. Rhodey’s unholy glee had made Tony’s chest swell with pride (and Jarvis’ and Pepper’s eyes roll with exasperation). He had taught Rhodey the basics of maneuvering them, although they had postponed more extensive testing to when they arrived in the relative reclusion of the European Alps. Test-driving the newest cutting-edge technology in the middle of New York was not always the best idea.

The preparations went so smoothly that before Tony knew it, everything was packed and the zeppelin was ready for take-off.

The morning of their departure came, and the only things left to do were a few finishing touches around the house that Jarvis insisted on. Tony knew better than to argue, and (not so) patiently stood in the entrance hall of Stark Manor, looking back and waiting for Jarvis to come down the stairs.

The early morning sunshine made the manor look like a warm, welcoming place. Everything had been cleaned and tidied, the railing of the staircase gleaming and the colours of the expensive Persian carpet vivid. It was very different from his dream, almost as if it was a completely different place.

“Sir?” Jarvis asked, coming down the stairs with the last bag containing his personal items.

“I was just thinking,” Tony said, smiling. “Let’s make it a good adventure.”

“Always,” Jarvis answered with a quirk to his lips. “I’d appreciate it if you made an effort not to die.”

Tony laughed. “And here it comes. The voice of confidence. Thank you, Jarvis. I’ll give my best.”

Pepper and Rhodey were already waiting for them, eager for take-off. Pepper, as usual, had her notebook in hand, ready to write down the smallest details that could prove interesting later on. Rhodey simply grinned, looking excited at the prospect of finally leaving.

A short while later, they were already in the air and out on the ocean. The last sliver of land quickly disappeared behind the horizon, until nothing but water stretched out seemingly neverending beneath them.

“Well, that was a smooth start,” Tony said, giving a nod to Jarvis at the steering wheel. “Now comes the boring part. Let’s get settled in.”

The journey would take them approximately five days, not counting unusual weather conditions. Five days on a small aircraft could get boring rather quickly, so they had made sure that they had enough distractions on board to prevent getting cabin fever all too soon.

They had brought books, cards and other games along, and spent the first night eating an simple meal and making guesses at what they would find once they finally reached their destination. (The suggestions grew steadily more ridiculous the more the evening progressed, but the laughter they shared was definitely worth it. Tony would never be able to get the image of dancing pigeons in little top hats out of his head.)

The next morning, Tony was busy losing against Rhodey in a card game and gritting his teeth, when Jarvis suddenly approached them with a troubled expression.

“Sir,” he said, “I fear we have a blind passenger on board.”

Rhodey’s self-satisfied smirk quickly slipped off his face while Tony thunked his head on the table and groaned.

They had a blind passenger in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Not like they could throw them out of the window with a parachute or something and be done with it. They would have to take them along and see if they couldn’t leave them behind in France or something. Not that it would be a particularly safe option. But then, neither was taking them along.

“Please tell me you’re talking about a bird or a cat or something and not about an actual human being,” Tony mumbled into the surface of the table.

“I can’t, sir,” Jarvis answered, sounding far too collected.

Tony groaned again. Where had they hidden, anyway? The zeppelin itself might be large, but the cabins were relatively small and cramped with all the equipment and the suits they had taken with them. There wasn’t much place to hide.

“Okay, okay, I’ll go,” Tony said, standing up. “Where is our uninvited guest?”

“He was hiding in one of the storage rooms,” Jarvis explained. “I’ve shut him into my own room for the moment. Here are the keys. I will go and inform Pepper. I have a feeling she needs to be relieved from steering wheel duty.”

He handed Tony his keys and left into the direction of the command room.

Tony groaned internally. Of course; Pepper would be delighted about this incident and nothing would be able to keep her away. She would probably write everything down, mumbling “Better than fiction” to herself all the while.

Rhodey following close behind, he made his way over to Jarvis’ room.

The intruder was rather unremarkable other than the fact that he was criminally thin and small. Tony wasn’t the motherly type, but he did feel the urge to get one or ten good meals into that man before he kicked him off the airship.

“So,” Tony said by way of greeting. “Care to explain what you were doing, hiding away in our storage?”

The man glared at him sullenly and didn’t answer.

“Well?” Tony prompted again.

“...you need an artist,” the intruder mumbled.

Rhodey snorted somewhere at Tony’s back.

Tony stared at the man, uncomprehending.

“Come again?”

“You need an artist, okay?” the intruder explained with exasperation. “Your editor is really good, but the illustrations in your magazine could really use some improvement. The flow of the story is visually impeded in so many places, and your artist doesn’t seem to give a damn fuck about realistic depiction.”

“Well thank you for you faith in my skills,” Pepper’s voice came from outside the door. “But you can’t just wander in here and demand a job, just because you think you can do it better.*

The expression on the intruder’s face grew mulish.

“No one would give me a chance otherwise,” he spat. “They see my size, and my health, and they decide I’m not worth it.”

Tony threw a quick, panicked glance at Pepper and Rhodey and sighed at what he saw.

“Okay, wow. Defeated before the fight even started,” he said. “What’s your name, kid?”

“I’m legally an adult,” the intruder hissed.

Tony lifted his arms in a pacifying gesture, and the intruder deflated a bit.

Then he took a (slightly rattling) breath, straightened up, and held out one of his bony hands.

“Steve Rogers,” he said when Tony took his hand. “From Brooklyn.”

“Tony Stark,” Tony answered with a grin. “But I think you already knew that. These are my partners in crime, Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts and James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes.”

“Nice to meet you,” Steve Rogers said earnestly.

“Likewise,” Rhodey answered. “But first things first: How the fuck did you get past us? Also when have you eaten the last time?”

Steve Rogers was about as prickly as they came (especially in regards to his size), but it quickly became very clear that his skinny, short frame was misleading. He worked hard, almost as if he was afraid that they could still decide at some point that they didn’t want to have him on board and throw him out of the window.

(“Namor would find and murder me,” Tony said, unable to suppress a grin. “Most vindictive asshole I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something.”)

Steve was also, true to his word, a skilled artist that quickly committed everything that came in front of his nose to paper very realistically. In a short amount of time, all crew members as well as the entire interior of the zeppelin had become the subject of his drawings several times.

Pepper fawned over them, and the two of them spent a lot of time sitting at one of the tables in the common room, a large stack of paper between them, discussing narrative and story progression.

“There’s something lacking,” Tony said once, stealing a glance at the panel sketches over their shoulders.

Steve looked up at Tony, his eyebrows knitting together.

“You,” Tony said.

Pepper sighed. “He doesn’t want to draw himself. Can you believe that?”

“I’m not technically part of his team,” Steve said, his shoulders drawing up defensively. “I’m very much aware that I forced my way in here.”

“But you’re here,” Tony and Pepper said at the same time.

They smiled at each other for a moment.

“You’re here,” Pepper said again. “So that makes you part of the team.”

Steve didn’t say anything to that, but Tony caught the edge of a smile.

After that, if there was a new addition to the drawings, no one mentioned it. But Pepper’s satisfied smile spoke volumes.

They had gotten used to being around each other just when they finally arrived at their destination. A cold blew into their faces when they left the airship, despite it being autumn still, but winter in the mountains came early. Tony had given Steve half of his gear (being the one that was closest to him in size, although Steve sill swam in his clothes), but Steve still trembled like a leaf.

“You really need to eat more, Tiny,” Rhodey teased, and Steve glared back at him.

The two of them had quickly build a friendship that was apparently at least 50% built on sarcasm and snark. Tony was still trying to determine the exact number.

Behind them, Pepper sighed loudly, but Tony could see the beginning of a smile at the corner of her mouth. They were all guilty of trying to fatten Steve up a little.

“Rhodey,” Tony said. “I guess it’s time to test out those suits of ours.”

Rhodey’s eyes lit up immediately, and Tony grinned back at him widely.

They got out the crates that the suits were in and unpacked them impatiently. While Jarvis was helping Tony and Rhodey with the suits, Pepper and Steve went and got some chairs and prepared their papers and pens, ready to record everything.

Tony gave them a wide smile before he put on the helmet and then, without hesitation, took off into the sky.

After he’d gained enough height, he looked back down.

Rhodey had taken off as well, following after him.

Time to show the newbie the true power of the suit, then. He turned away and skillfully maneuvered the suit into a looping before letting himself drop, almost reaching the ground before he caught himself and climbed again. Another look back showed him that Rhodey was following him, trying to catch up.

Tony grinned, cranking up the the power. Some days, he felt frustrated about the limitations of the current technology, unable to achieve all the things that his imagination told him would be possible one day. These moments, however, almost made up for it.

If he succeeded in finding the mysterious source of power in these mountains, then very soon he would be able to achieve so much more than just building flying suits of armour.

The trial run was a full success. Not only did Rhodey prove that he was very capable with the suit, but once Tony and Rhodey were back on earth, Steve showed them a few excellent drawings of the suits in the middle of flight with a small amount of pride.

Convinced that their expedition could only be successful, they set out into the mountains. They had paid a ridiculous amount of money to secure the services of a local elderly farmer and his pack horses, carrying their luggage where the zeppelin would not be able to go. The man himself was gruff and silent for the most part, although that might simply have been caused by a sense of distrust against these strangers that suddenly appeared in the middle of the mountains with excessively heavy baggage.

This last part of the journey through the mountains would also be the most difficult. Not only was the terrain dangerous and unpredictable, especially because of the weather and the threatening start of the winter, but they also needed to be careful of eyes and ears that shouldn’t be seeing or hearing them. They were close to a brewing conflict and they knew that it was a dangerous game to play, walking right into the middle of it.

It was suspiciously quiet, and Tony worried.

“There’s no use fretting yourself to death,” Rhodey said at one point during their travel. “If it happens, it happens. We’ve taken every precaution we could, and it’s not like we didn’t know what we were getting into when we signed up for this.”

Tony didn’t really feel reassured by Rhodey’s words, but he appreciated them and smiled at him reassuringly anyway.

Rhodey poked into his side. “Seriously man, stop worrying. You’re supposed the risk-taking adventurer here.”

They continued to walk along the slim, hardly visible trail meandering through the mountains, and Tony tried not to worry. He failed miserably.

Everything about this felt strangely like his most recurring nightmare. The air around them was somehow oppressive, all colour drained from their surroundings, and it felt as if the quiet was waiting for the storm to arrive.

He did not like that feeling at all.

These were the parts that didn’t really make a good adventure story: the cold, the difficult terrain, the exhaustion. Having to go pee behind the next suitable rock.

Tony was used to it, but there was definitely something to be said about the comforts and trappings of civilization.

They had all slept badly ever since they arrived in the mountains, and the initial excitement had faded by now, had yielded to a tired sort of irritation. They were all glad if they would find what they were looking for sooner rather than later, and not having to continue wandering around peaks and valleys with no concrete idea where should turn next.

Steve’s nose had turned perpetually red and Tony guessed that a cold was not all too far away. All of them had large bags under their eyes by now.

That was the advantages of getting turned into a comic book character, Tony guessed. Your hair was always sitting right and you never had bags under your eyes. As a fictional character, you also didn’t have to bother with small details such as your baggage and your clothes starting to smell and feel damp and clammy. Or freezing your butt off because your bladder demanded you needed to relieve yourself in the middle of an icy cold night, outside and with no heating.

Tony wouldn’t give up adventuring for anything, but if anyone thought it was just fun and games, they were in for a nasty surprise. It was easy to have lofty dreams when your weren’t currently stuck knee-deep in dirt.

“There’s something over there,” Pepper said, rousing Tony out of his maudlin thoughts.

He looked at where Pepper was pointing. At first, the rocky wall she was pointing at didn’t seem particularly promising, looking just like any other bare, rocky surface on this mountain. (Too many rocks, really, next time Tony would go somewhere with actual plants, not just variations of moss and lichen.) But then he saw something that was far too geometric to have happened by accident. Someone had left behind a sign - for whatever reason.

“Let’s check it out then,” he decided.

It was a terrible decision. They did find signs, and they followed those signs, and in the end, they even found a cave that contained what they were looking for. They also found a goddamn death trap.

At least, they had been reasonably smart. They had set up camp a safe distance away, Jarvis, Pepper and Steve staying back and readying all necessary equipment, while Tony and Rhodey donned their suits and used them to get past several obstacles. Pepper had insisted on coming with them at first, but a large, crumbling chasm had put an end to that pretty quickly.

Honestly, Tony should have known by then. He had been at this point a few times before in his adventuring life. He knew how these things usually turned out. But Rhodey and he were determined to succeed, so they ignored every warning and went right ahead.

Between the two of them, every trap and obstacle was easy enough to overcome. They had their suits and their skill, and not ancient machination would stop them. A little winded, but in good condition, they finally found themselves in front of their treasure.

There it was, placed on a seemingly random ledge, waiting for someone to pick it up. It was deceptively small and unremarkable for a thing that promised to revolutionise technology energy usage.

A small, round orb that glowed faintly, only just large enough that it sat in your hand comfortably.

“Well,” Rhodey said, eyeing the orb. “I was honestly expecting a little more… everything.”

Tony grinned wrily. “That’s usually how these things go,” he confessed. “I guess a lot of people have trouble with the phrase looks can be deceptive. Pepper is usually rather free when it comes to embellishing a story.”

“So, what do we do now?” Rhodey asked.

“We take it,” Tony answered. “And then I want to do a few experiments with it.”

He carefully lifted the orb and waited for a moment. Nothing happened. Reassured, they turned around and went back.

They had almost made it back when the orb suddenly emitted a pulse of energy. Tony, caught unaware and holding the orb against his chest, was knocked back into a wall by the pulse, accidentally letting the orb fall in the process.

Rhodey, quick to react as always, dived after it. But the pulse of energy must have set something loose, because the ground and the walls of the cave started shaking, large, cragged rocks falling from the ceiling. There was a crack in the ground, and a gap opened, the orb rolling directly into it. Rhodey followed, trying to catch it before it fell in, but a rock fell almost directly on top of him. Tony could hear the plating of his armor squeal.

“Rhodey!” he screamed, suddenly gripped by terror. “Rhodey! Turn back! Rhodey!!”

There was a scraping sound, and then, just when another enormous rock threatened to fall, Rhodey shot into the air, turning around.

Tony scrabbled along the wall he had been thrown into, cranked up the power, and together they flew out of the cave as if they were chased by hell beasts.

They landed back at the camp more lying than standing, the rest of their group already running over to come help them out of their suits as quickly as possible.

They had made it out of the cave alive and with nothing more than a few nasty bruises and scrapes, but without the orb. They had been so close to achieving their goal, and now…

It would be impossible to retrieve the orb. Pepper and Steve had gone back to the entrance of the cave, but it had collapsed entirely. The orb was buried under a literal mountain.

“If only I had been a little faster,” Rhodey said for the probably millionth time, standing on the ledge looking over the former entrance of the cave. “I could have caught it, if only I had been a little faster. They key to immense technical progress, slipped through my very fingers.”

Tony reached out and gently squeezed Rhodey’s shoulder.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he answered, also for the millionth time. “I was the one who let go of it. And now, no one can retrieve it, so there’s no sense crying over it.”

Rhodey gave him a look. “You’re taking this remarkably easy, considering the effort you put into this.”

“It was a foolish idea, anyway,” he said. “A magical orb to magically solve all of our problems. As if that ever worked.”

Then he grinned. “I’ll figure something out. They don’t call me a genius for nothing. This adventure is only just starting. We’ll revolutionise the world. Together.”

Behind them, Pepper made a strange squeaking noise.

Rhodey and Tony already moved to turn around when Steve called out.

“No, stay like that!”

Tony froze. He threw a cautious glance over his shoulder, trying not to move too much. Pepper and Steve stood there, both with their notebooks in their hands, scribbling furiously.

Tony groaned.

“You two are incredible.”

“Shh,” Pepper said, not looking up from her notes. “This is important. They set out to find a hidden treasure, but in the end, they found the greatest treasure of them all: friendship. Oooh, the readers will love this.”

Tony slapped his hand on his face and groaned again.

“Stop that,” Steve hissed.

(If Tony was grinning like a loon beneath his hand, no one would ever know.

Comic book characters were, after all, always smooth.)

Tony still had nightmares. 

Of losing Rhodey, crushed under a rock. Of losing Pepper, falling off a cliff. Of losing Steve, succumbing to something simple as a common cold.