Then, she straightens up in a way that should honestly be criminal, a swooping motion that accentuates all the best parts of her and ends with her flicking her hair back over her shoulders and giving him a lidded look.
"Anything else, Mr. Stark?"
Holding her shoes in front of her, her arms are pushed in to draw the eye to her bust even then. She is a walking talking sin just waiting to happen. The old Tony would never have been able to resist. But then to be fair, the old Tony would have bent Natalie Rushman over a hard surface and done the deed months ago.
"No Ms. Rushman. That will be all."
Flashing her a quick smile and returning to his tablet without laughing his head off takes every fiber of Tony's being, but he manages to do it. He doesn't even look up when Natasha finally turns and leaves the room, letting her swaying ass go on its way without tempting him further. Reaching out, Tony grabs the glass of Coke and takes a long drink of it before putting it back down, completely missing the coaster itself. He's already completely engrossed in what he was doing before.
That is, until JARVIS interrupts.
" Apologies Sir… but you wished to be informed of any developments regarding Ivan Vanko." Tony jolts at that, looking up at the ceiling with wide eyes for a moment. Then he sighs, rubs his eyes, and sets aside the tablet. It was going to be that kind of night, wasn't it?
-x-X-x-
He'd done it. It had taken the last couple of months of him slaving over it, but he'd done it. Ever since watching Tony Stark return from Afghanistan alive, ever since his father's death, Ivan hadn't been able to sleep. The Vanko men had been screwed over their entire lives by the Stark Family and Ivan… Ivan was done putting up with it.
He'd gone a little crazy, done some very illegal things, but… it was finished. The glowing blue hum of the miniaturized Arc Reactor in his hand proves it.
Not even Howard Stark had done this! Not even the great Tony Stark, up in his ivory tower, had been able to shrink an Arc Reactor to this size! Over in the US, the large Arc Reactor that his father and Howard Stark had created was little more than a novelty! But here in this ramshackle abode in Russia, Ivan had created infinite power! Power he would use to destroy Tony Stark and everything he loved. Power he would-!
"I'll take that."
Ivan blinks as the finished Arc Reactor is plucked from his trembling fingers mid-inner monologue. He stares in disbelief for a moment before whipping around with a snarl, only to stop dead in his tracks at what he sees in front of him. There is a robot in his home. A massive metal man done up in matte black. But that's not even the most shocking thing. The most shocking thing is the faint blue glow in the center of the robot's chest. An Arc Reactor, but unlike anything Vanko has ever seen. He ' s smart enough to recognize one thing though… it's more advanced than his own.
"… Impossible." "You know Ivan, I didn't want to come here. Really, I didn' t. I even considered recruiting you at one point. The sins of the father should not condemn the son, right? I really believe that. But at the same time… you already went to prison once. More than that, you threatened my loved ones and I just seem to have a really hard time looking past that if I'm being honest."
The conversational tone the robot is taking with him sets Ivan on edge even as he struggles to parse through the nonsense that the damn thing is spouting. He makes an aborted attempt to reach for his Arc Reactor, only to stop when the robot holds up a hand and reveals some sort of glowing energy in the palm.
"Don't."
He stops in his tracks. What would he do with it if he got it back anyways? He has ideas for weapons that it could power, but he hasn't had the time to actually develop any of them.
"I thought maybe if I didn't show off, you wouldn't be inspired. I thought maybe if I didn't make a big deal of it all, you would stay quiet. But I was a fool. That was my ego talking. I wasn't your catalyst. Not all of it anyways. Your father's death so close to my return was the catalyst, wasn' t it?"
… No. No, it could not be. And yet, a second later… the armor splits open. Armor, not a robot. Never a robot. Inside, staring at Ivan with something like pity in his eyes, is Tony fucking Stark.
The matte black suit of iron peels away and steps back, allowing Tony to step forward still holding Ivan's Arc Reactor. Ivan's hands close and unclose. He doesn't know what to say.
"Even when JARVIS alerted me to your initial movements, I didn't want to have to do this. I buried my head in the sand and let it go. Thought… maybe you weren't doing what I thought you were doing. But I knew I had to keep an eye on you. And then… look at you. Didn't even show you mine, yet you still went and managed to make your own."
Stark studies Ivan's Arc Reactor closely. It's then that Ivan acts. The man is as arrogant and egotistical as ever. His armor sits a few feet away. He stands there right in front of Ivan without any protection. And just behind Ivan … is a screwdriver.
With a roar, Ivan grabs the screwdriver and utilizes a little maneuver he learned from spending a decade and a half in prison. He slams the screwdriver right between Tony Stark's ribs and into his kidney. Then, he twists. Stark makes a noise, even as Ivan grins and goes to pull the screwdriver back, ready to stab it in again and again and again until the man is dead.
Except that never happens. Just as Ivan is trying to pull the screwdriver back, an impossibly strong hand latches onto his wrist and squeezes. A scream of pain leaves the Russian's lips as his bones grind together and ultimately snap like paper mache.
His fingers spasm and he involuntarily lets go of the screwdriver, falling to his knees and cradling his mangled arm in horror. It puts him right at eye level to watch as Tony Stark uses the same hand to grab the handle of the screwdriver and pull it out of his body. Ivan has a moment of vicious satisfaction, knowing that if nothing else, Tony Stark will need a new kidney after tonight. Even if the man could probably afford a billion new kidneys given his wealth.
Except… even that moment dies a rapid death when he watches Stark's injury burn bright orange. The furthest point of the stab wound regenerates right before Ivan's eyes, all the way up to the surface until the skin closes over it, leaving no sign of damage behind.
Slowly looking further up, Ivan Vanko stares into Tony Stark's burning orange eyes and sees no mercy there, even with the man's following words.
"I'll make it quick, at least."
His father had always said Howard Stark was a monster and that no doubt the son was just the same as the father. Ivan's last thoughts are that Anton Vanko had no way of knowing just how right he was.
Still, the demon wearing Stark's skin is honest if nothing else. Ivan barely feels it as the other man's free hand reaches out and snaps his neck, killing him instantly.
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