15. Chapter

They would be landing on Kristoff's chosen destination in another couple hours; FRIDAY had gone through the pre-landing protocols with Galee and Greer, a valuable learning experience. Tony was planning on tailing Kristoff through the planet to see what exactly he wanted with the barren planet. On the bright side, though, there was also a strong slave presence on this planet, enough for Iron Man to show his faceplate without many questions.

Tony knew the crew was a bit thrown off by the new chasm between their captain and their unofficial third-in-command, but Tony didn't tell them much, just that it was a little miscommunication. Every time he had to repeat that, he made sure to look up and meet Kristoff squarely in the eyes. Tony was not going to be explaining this one.

At the moment though, he and Kristoff were taking turns ignoring each other. FRIDAY showed him the clips - whenever he was about to finally confront Kristoff but backed off, Kristoff would attempt to talk to him... only to retreat. Last he heard, Gis and Hoviv were making a video, which Kovlo and Suffee were very invested in.

The only reason Tony wasn't taking initiative and talking to Kristoff was because it was amusing the crew, good for morale. It certainly not because he was running away from the inevitable fight. Definitely not.

With the Iron Man armor in stealth mode, Tony dropped off Fixit inside the slave's quarters. The med droid would do his job. Tony would drop in in another hour, once night had fallen. He could almost sense the chaos he would cause, feel the fires licking the armor.

Right now, he looped around, using Kristoff's earpiece to triangulate his general location. He headed towards the city, expecting Kristoff to be at some bar or the other, only to have to do a U-turn that would've been illegal by so many Earth laws; He just passed over Kristoff.

"Friday, what's he doing here?" Tony hissed, despite the fact that Kristoff wouldn't be able to hear him even if he spoke at normal volume. FRIDAY didn't answer, still annoyed with him. "Nice to know you've got my back," Tony said sarcastically.

"My apologies, boss. I do not know what Kristofferson Solo is doing on the premises," FRIDAY stated primly.

Tony grimaced at the stiff formality but didn't contest it. He kind of deserved it. Instead, Tony flew higher, so high that anyone who saw Iron Man would dismiss him as some sort of surveying drone. His vision blurred, then crystallized as FRIDAY obligingly zoomed in. He could see the nervous way Kristoff's eyes darted from the overseers to the high, clay fences and the way he slouched as the guards walked past him, bumping shoulders with him roughly. A slave who was carrying a delicate bundle swathed in satin stopped short as she caught sight of Kristoff. Tony swooped lower to change his angle and get a better view, just in time to see Kristoff and the much older human slave exchange desperate, imploring looks.

He wasn't sure who moved first, but the woman shifted her burden to one arm, reaching her free hand to Kristoff, who moved too. They grasped each other's forearms tightly, only letting go once a passing guard shouted at them, marching over to shove the woman, who dropped the bundle. Kristoff caught it and glared hotly at the guard, saying something.

As the woman cowered and scurried away without a second glance, the guard raised his blaster to strike Kristoff. Tony readied himself to dive and blast the blaster away, only to be stopped by FRIDAY. "Friday?"

"He is in no danger," FRIDAY said simply. Tony quickly turned his attention back to Kristoff and the guard, just in time to see Kristoff use his forearm to deflect the blow off to the side. He did a fancy-looking move that Galee had taught them ("One of the few useful things my father taught me," Galee had admitted, shamefaced), pinning the blaster between them in a move that made it very dangerous for the guard to fire, and glared . They exchanged a few terse words, and the guard sneered, leading him to the main palace.

"Palace of Ziro the Hutt," FRIDAY informed him.

"What does Kristoff want with a Hutt?" Tony mused. "Friday privately open the communication link. One-sided."

"That's an invasion of privacy, boss," FRIDAY said, after a moment. She opened it anyways.

"Lord Ziro," said a deep voice that Tony assumed belonged to the guard, "a visitor for you."

A string of Huttese followed, that FRIDAY quickly translated. "Ziro greeted him and invited him to 'labor the mines.'"

"Labor the mines" Tony repeated, nonplussed, as Kristoff responded with a string of Huttese.

"I'm doing my best, okay? It's not like all dialects are the same!" FRIDAY complained in the silence that followed.

"It's okay, baby girl. Just wanted to make sure," Tony reassured her, wishing she had a physical body, like Vision. In moments like these, there was nothing he wanted to do more than hug his little girl. There was only so much you could convey with a voice. Words could be twisted - Tony knew that without question. Body language, though harder to decipher, was much harder to lie with, once you did. Even Romanoff found it hard to lie, once he told her, reverting to a completely closed and unreadable stance.

FRIDAY was quiet, even as Kristoff and Ziro seemed to exchange heated words. It sounded like an argument, but it could've been friendly banter, for all he knew. It would be so much easier if he could see them. "Mr. Solo is insulting the state of the walls. Ziro says it's because Mr. Solo isn't in charge of the premises and is offering to buy him at a reasonable price."

"And Kristoff said no, right?" Tony asked, worried. It wasn't just that Kristoff was a brilliant pilot and that slavery was wrong. Shady past and disagreements aside, Kristoff was a pretty fun guy to hang around. Just because he didn't trust him didn't mean that Tony didn't care about the ex-smuggler. Tony was a businessman. He could work with someone for a better good, even if he didn't trust them as far as he could throw them.

"Mr. Solo is presently cursing him out," FRIDAY answered. Tony listened to the harsh string of Huttese, or, more specifically, the intonation. Yeah, Kristoff was swearing. Despite himself, Tony felt relieved. For a moment, he had been worried that he was the cause of this visit, that Kristoff hated him and would rather work in a desert than spend another minute with him. Irrational, yes, but Tony was a tech-person, not a people-person. Tech was easy. Put stuff together, and it either works or fails. People? People were unpredictable.

Turning his attention back to the sounds coming from Iron Man's built-in speakers, Tony mouthed the syllables, intent on learning the words. He had already learned several of the most insulting Dosh, Rodian, and Twi'leki terms and phrases, but he had a feeling that Huttese was even more crass. Absently, he opened a browser and looked up 'Ziro.' "Ew," Tony deadpanned at the overgrown slug that appeared inches from his face. It gave him ideas that were totally worth following up on.

"Ziro is not considered physically appealing, not even to his own race," FRIDAY supplied freely.

"Physically? Are you saying that he has redeeming qualities somewhere deep inside…" Tony peered at the picture again, unable to figure out what Hutts were. "...that?" he ended up using. "Does he hug kittens on his free time or something?"

"Ziro is rather wealthy, in Hutt terms."

Hutts were very… focused… on money, so that meant that Zero was richer than 98% of Coruscant, at the very least. Tony whistled lowly. "Okay, then. We're done here. Everything's fine. Let's get out. Where is Fixit? We ready to blow that palace up? The one that we put Fixit in, not this one of course. Kristina's in here, and we can't blow him up. Suffee would have a stroke."

"Boss? Are we going to leave Kristoff to fend on his own?"

Did Kristoff need help? Not only was he a capable brawler that could nearly go toe-to-toe with Barton, but he also had several Stark guns with him. They weren't SI blasters - SI didn't make weapons - but Tony had slaved over those. Besides, differences aside, he'd call if he was in trouble, right? Tony shook his head. "Kristoff would paint the armor pink if he realized I was literally hovering over him."

"No, he wouldn't," FRIDAY pointed out calmly.

Right. He wanted to shoot the armor down and create replicas. "I guess he wouldn't," Tony answered FRIDAY, disquiet. "Cut transmissions."

"Boss? Are you sure? Don't you want to know what's going on? Maybe, if you listened, you could…"

"Nah, it's an 'invasion of privacy,' isn't it?" Tony said, smirking, before his smile turned more genuine. "Maybe, if I trusted him more, he'll trust me more. Besides, I know you're listening in on him! You'll tell me if he tries to sell Fixit!"

"Boss, you were ripped off. Fixit has an aggressive streak that would scare most buyers off. In fact, Gis and Hoviv have been getting into forty-six percent less fights since his introduction to the crew because they don't want to be in the same room as him," FRIDAY deadpanned.

"Exactly!" Tony said, ignoring the second part of FRIDAY's analysis. "He's lonely! The little baby depends on us to keep him safe. Fri, stop talking before you convince me that Fixie needs a hug!"

"Fixit would probably cut your fingers off if you come near him," FRIDAY warned him. Tony couldn't tell if she thought he was serious about hugging the little droid. She had been getting harder and harder to read, these days. She was becoming her own person, and Tony couldn't tell if that scared him or not.

The days of FRITRON fears were over, but this was a completely different fear. He knew he wasn't a good person. He had flaws and used words like knives. If he didn't have Extremis, he would be drunk on a monthly basis. Not to mention all the harm he had caused with his Merchant of Death, weapon-building days and the ULTRON fiasco. No, Tony was sure he'd rank on the bottom ten percent of the world. If FRIDAY decided she wanted to leave, to get lost in the HoloNet or latch onto someone new, he wouldn't stop her. FRIDAY deserved better than the controlling, destructive screw-up he was.

The little graph on the right side of his visor displaying his heart rate rose and fell wildly, but neither Tony nor FRIDAY commented. "Because he likes me so much, he wants to keep a piece of me with him, forever and always," Tony claimed.

"How utterly morbid, sir," FRIDAY drawled, sounding stunningly like JARVIS. Tony had a moment where he swore his heart missed a beat. "I'm sure that your tendency to grow back stray digits would convince him that….." Tony had the impression that she was waiting to tell him off. She grew quiet and stopped, though, much meeker than she started off. Static spluttered for a moment, and Tony realized that that she had spotted the fluctuation of his heartbeat. "Boss…"

"It's fine, Fri," Tony said automatically, starting to ascend. "Up, up, and away! Time to save the damsels in distress."

The thought was still nagging at him, though. Tony couldn't resist. "Hey, if I toss some salt on him, do you think the Hutt will shrivel up like a bug?"

-Insert Quote HereTony wasn't sure how they caught sight of him this time. At least there were no photos, or worse - a video. All the slaves were removed from the premises and sworn into secrecy. An EMP and some hacking removed whatever cameras and electronic surveillance there might be. And lastly, the place was set on fire to remove fingerprints and any oddly droid-like footprints that might be left. Not the whole place, of course. Just the slave quarters, some unoccupied buildings and the walls.

It was a bit ridiculous to think that pinkie-swears would prevent a rescued slave from blabbing to the news that 'Red Droid' had saved them, but Tony had faith that even if their morality didn't prevent them from speaking out, then at least their gratefulness at being freed would hold their tongue for at least a couple more days. Of course, that was when his shoddy understanding of human beings went wrong. Not even four hours-!

Tony groaned and turned away from the article that was being churned out to all of the planet's news establishments. By morning, half of the Republic would know, and that meant that Suffee definitely would. If he wasn't hiding the fact that he was Iron Man, he would've definitely put Suffee or Galee on PR. Those two somehow knew the news the moment it was released.

Light danced across the room as Tony fiddled with a hologram of the StarkPhone he put on the market. The sales were… disturbingly low. In fact, it was a total flop. Barely over a hundred were sold. He would have to go back on Alderaan and investigate, but the other inventions were doing mildly better. He could delay his trip for a bit more.

The other inventions that he was making ranged from filters to cleaners. They were aimed at Outer Rim planets, so sales weren't expected to be large. Most of them were variants of water filters, ones aimed at watery worlds and desert planets. The one for the desert planet was to be installed in the sewers, processing the drainage systems from the bathroom and making it safe to drink, a recycling system, if you will.

Tony absentmindedly flicked on his earpiece. "Greer? Gal? Kov? Any of you there? If you get this, please head down to the workshop. Thanks."

"Yes, sir!" Greer snapped off right away, in a way that should be delivered with a salute.

Before Tony could say a jibe about it, he heard another voice. "I go-"

"Wha- No, Gis. You should be sleeping. Don't make me walk the four steps it takes to get to the quarters and check if you're actually in there!" Tony threatened. He heard Hoviv's hushed whispers and knew that the Saurin was somewhere on the middle level of the ship, causing mischief with his part-time enemy. Tony heard an affirmative squeak from Galee before he switched off. No need to see if Kovlo was coming too - two people was more than enough for his purposes.

Tony's enhanced senses heard vibrations coming closer, but they stopped right outside the doors to the workshop, as if the person was waiting for the others. It made him hesitate for a moment. Surely he wasn't that intimidating? He had spent the most time with FRIDAY, Gis, Suffee, and Kristoff, but surely that didn't mean that the rest of the crew saw him as unreachable… right?

Two other sets of footsteps made their way to the door. It opened, and the three came in together. His crew members looked around the workshop in awe, and that made Tony realize that they had never been in this particular room before. While Galee spent a fair amount of time in the bridge sending transmissions and contacting her friends and had to walk past the workshop multiple times every day, the doors were always closed for safety, so she never had a glimpse. Greer was too restrained and by-the-book to enjoy inventing, and Kovlo preferred to make cakes instead of gadgets.

Okay, getting a workshop may have been bad for his social skills, and Tony resolved to invite them down more. "What do you think of this?" he asked instead, sending the hologram spinning to them. It split into three, one in front of each.

Tony watched their faces as FRIDAY ran through the functions with them. Galee looked excited - why wouldn't she be? However, Kovlo seemed to be faking his enthusiasm for Tony's sake, while Greer just looked confused.

"Can I have one?" Galee said, interrupting FRIDAY's presentation. Tony gave a nod and turned to the other two.

Kovlo shook his head. "I don't need one. It looks expensive," he said as an excuse.

"But what do you think of it?" Tony asked.

"My… my shift starts soon. I must be there for it!" Kovlo said hastily, exiting the room.

"I don't see the use," Greer said bluntly as Galee pouted. "Though this can reach other planets in the same sector, most people only have friends on the same planet as themselves, and comlinks are suitable for that purpose."

"But for those who have contacts on other planets?" Tony prompted.

"Terminals," Greer said. "On most planets, even it you're not part of a rich household, you can gain access at a library. And those poorer households have more to worry about than buying than a 'StarkPhone.'"

"Thank you for your opinion," Tony said watching a lick of fear flicker on Greer's face before it became blank. "I really appreciate it," Tony finished, watching Greer's eyes widen before returning to normal. Greer gave a nod and walked out, Galee trailing after him. Tony watched them go before opening a transmission to Prestor Organa. He was surprised when it was picked up - wasn't it nighttime there? "Yes?" the Viceroy asked, raising an impetuous eyebrow. Behind him, the woman Tony assumed was his wife crossed her arms, the same expression mimicking itself on her face. From their robes, Tony deduced that it was nighttime, and that he had interrupted them with his transmission.

"I know you have a lot on your plate, but I was wondering if you could pencil-" Tony winced at the foreign English term that slipped in. "-in some time for me? Fifteen minutes? Ten, even? I'd like to have a quick meeting with you."

"I always have time for friends," Prestor replied warmly. Tony was stunned - friends? He just happened to be someone who met with the guy about three times. Catching the surprise, Prestor leaned forward, lean frame filling the screen. "You saved my life at the risk of your own. Did you think that I would be so cold as to classify you as a mere acquaintance? I may not be as foolish as to label you as one of my trusted confidants, but you have more than proved yourself," Prestor said shrewdly.

Tony considered it. 'Businessman' may not be the same as 'politician,' but there was a reason both were called sharks. "Thank you," Tony said with a nod.

Prestor glanced behind himself and turned back to Tony. "Excellent," he said briskly. "My assistant will send you available times. I must be going, now." WIthout fanfare, the transmission cut off.

-Insert Quote HereChecking the trackers in the earpieces, Tony made sure that none of the kids were in the vents or listening in on the conference. The younger Aleenas were somewhere in the walls of the cafeteria, while FRIDAY had Gis and Hoviv doing a 'project' in the workshop. As long as it did not backfire on him, Tony didn't mind the two teens doing... whatever they were doing.

When Tony walked onto the bridge for Suffee's emergency meeting, he didn't expect to see the transmission floating above the main terminal.

-TS-

#RedDroid #RedDroidStrikesAgain

Got no images, but Red Droid was on my planet!

[Site correction: #IronMan / #IronManStrikesAgain / Iron Man]

-TSTony zeroed in on the notification at the bottom and watched as all the mentions of "Red Droid" turned into "Iron Man." He had an idea of who was responsible for that. He wondered if he should congratulate and thank FRIDAY or scold her. Honestly, Tony hated the name more than she did, but too strong of a stance and someone might figure out his identity.

He turned to the table and grimaced as he noticed how Suffee had directed everyone into separate seats. He already knew what they were talking about - his seat was opposite of Kristoff's, the furthest Suffee could manage to put them around the circular terminal. "Glad everyone made it," the aforementioned Rodian said. Tony turned his attention to Suffee. "The Red Droid-"

"Iron Man," FRIDAY corrected.

Suffee sent a chilling gaze towards the camera, but Tony knew that FRIDAY was undeterred. She got it from her father. "As I was saying, the… Iron Man… has, for some reason, attacked a palace that uses slaves, not a hundred miles from here."

"You just named the reason," Kristoff pointed out. "That palace uses slaves."

"And the chances that it appeared at our last stop too? There are thousands of planets that have slave presence. It is following us," Suffee said grimly. Kristoff started and sat up, while the Aleenas started muttering among themselves.

"Is there a chance that there is two of the droids?" Galee asked.

"Iron Man," Borr corrected with a toothy grin.

"Does it matter?" Shoragg answered. "There was one there and there is one here. I say we make a stand and show it we are not going to-"

"Hey! It's freeing slaves. Are you saying you support the regime?" Kristoff accused.

"Excuse me?" Shoragg growled as Tony opened his mouth to either break up the argument or draw all the attention to himself and away from Shoragg.

"It's freeing slaves and you're saying we should destroy it," Kristoff recounted icily. "You sound oddly like a sympathizer to me." Tony paused in interest as Kristoff turned on Shoragg as readily as he did on Tony in that same room just two days prior.

"How dare you-" Shoragg began.

"Stop," Suffee ordered cooly. "Shoragg wanted to make sure that the Droid does not " he informed Kristoff before turning to Shoragg. "Control your temper. This ship has no room for hotheads. You must put up a better example... for your son."

It was a low blow, but Suffee's tone softened in the end to make it more bearable to the other Rodian. It had an immediate effect on Shoragg, who seemed to grow smaller as all the fight left him. "Yes ma'am," Shoragg said, chastened. He slumped down on his ship.

"And you." Tony looked back at Suffee to find that he was looking at him. "Are you going to stand for this? Two crewmates all but attacking each other before your eyes?" Suffee demanded.

Eyes widening, Tony cringed and ducked his head. "Sorry!" he blurted. "New at this! Rookie of the year, captain-in-training and all that. I know, I know, I'm irresponsible! I'll do better. Next time. Promise."

Suffee eyed him as the rest of the crew kept quiet to avoid the Rodian's ire. Tony looked down as Suffee's mouth opened and closed before tightening in indecision. "I was going to yell at you, but i'm starting to think that you can lecture yourself better than I can," Suffee admitted after a long, awkward moment.

"I had terrible role models," Tony said blithely, trying to get them to forget his moment of weakness. "My last leader and the rest of our team kind of just stood around while our… Force-enhanced teammate kind of held me up by the neck. Don't worry; I know that's wrong. I'd step in if Kristy and Shoragg actually started fighting."

Dead silence.

Galee slowly raised a hand. "Is it too late to vote for Suffee as our leader?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes," Suffee said crisply. "Next question?"

"A Force-sensitive teammate strangled you?" Shoragg demanded.

"You make it sound bad," Tony said, realizing that his attempt at a diversion horribly backfired. "And he wasn't actually in touch with the Force. At least I don't think so. He can just do things that no one else can."

"And that matters how?" Kristoff all but snarled.

"Tony, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think there's any way of making this sound good," Suffee interjected seriously.

"I deserved it. I made a mistake that nearly destroyed my planet!" Tony yelled.

"And that makes everything okay? They could've killed you!"

"That isn't how a team works, Tony. We're not like them, and I'm insulted you think so."

"This explains so much. Stark should not be the captain of this ship. I nominate Suffee."

"-sign you up for a leadership course."

"-tearing this team apart. No one-"

"-full faith in Tony. He hasn't led us wrong y-"

"-Rodian. Or even Trandoshan. Can you believe-"

"Enough." Suffee stood up. "The meeting is over. We will reconvene in twenty-four hours."

-Insert Quote HereEven as he spotted Kristoff coming forward to help him carry the materials to the workshop, Tony called out, "Hey, Bai-Gon, mind giving me a hand?"

"Sure, boss," Bai-Gon said, sighing exaggeratedly. He eyed Kristoff with suspicion when he noticed the human in the general proximity, making a confused gesture towards the crate.

"Uh, no, it's fine. You can do it," Kristoff said, hastily retreating. Bai-Gon turned his wary gaze to Tony, who busied himself pretending to concentrate on reading the labels.

A flash of light catching onto metal buttons had Tony looking up as he and Bai-Gon painstakingly moved crate after crate to the workshop. Looking up, Tony noticed Suffee looking in the direction Kristoff had wandered off in. Giving him an exasperated point after Kristoff, Suffee pushed away from the window and walked in that direction. He frowned worriedly, realizing that Suffee hadn't been outside the ship in a while. Tony personally thought he should stick close to the windows any time they were near a star - some sunlight would do him good.

"Hey, mind if I…?" Tony asked Bai-Gon, waving at Suffee's retreating back.

"Go," Bai-Gon said dismissively. "Yeah, just leave me alone with all these wooden coffins to carry. And fix whatever lover's spat happened between you two!" Bai-Gon yelled after him, looking over as his cousin came over to help him carry the crate.

Tony rolled his eyes and didn't respond. He caught up with Suffee, who didn't pause to glance at him. "He's right, you know," Suffee said, keeping his eyes fixed forward. "Whatever happened back at the warehouse is affecting team dynamics."

Defensively, Tony said, "It's not my fault." He noticed that Suffee had avoided mention of what happened in the bridge and couldn't help his eyes from guiltily darting to the Rodian's wrapped wrist. It wasn't in a real cast, so there was that.

"I never said it was," Suffee told him. He turned and leaned against the wall. "Do I have to dismiss Solo from the crew?"

"What?" Tony asked, flabbergasted.

"You said it was not your fault. Therefore, you believe that whatever happened was Kristoff's fault. It was not an accident, because you forgive those almost immediately, so it was intentional on Kristoff's part. He has neither explained himself nor has he apologized since then," Suffee deducted. "You're the captain, and despite what you say, the most important part of the crew. So I ask you this; is it serious enough to dismiss Solo from the crew?"

"You believe me?" Tony asked, still stuck on that train of thought. Even while not knowing the full story, despite the reasoning due to chain of command, Suffee was standing by him. Even if it was marginal, it was still touching. Had anyone ever done that for him? Definitely not in recent years.

"You haven't lied to me yet," Suffee said neutrally. "Though I'd very much like to hear Kristoff's side of the story before I make a permanent decision. You should too."

"And now I'm interested," Tony said, turning fully to face Suffee. "How did you come to that conclusion? Force-sensitive?" Tony asked.

"Don't worry, I'm told that I'm naturally more perceptive than most. It just seems to me that you're not sure what to think. You didn't bar Kristoff from any part of the ship, not even the workshop, nor did you lower his rank from the third-in-command-"

"Second," Tony said automatically.

Suffee leveled a look at him. "Like it or not, we are not equal in this regard. I may take over most of the administrative processes of running the ship, but make no mistake; you are the captain." It seemed like the tables have turned. Back on Earth, he had ran the paperwork - providing the necessities, writing the paychecks, running PR, even dealing with the political ramifications of taking the team into foreign countries. When did he stop doing that? Rogers had led the team back then, but now it was Tony running the crew, while Suffee was stuck with administrative duties.

Tony froze up at that. It was the second time a teammate inadvertently compared him to Rogers. He didn't want to be like Rogers. "Are you happy?"

Suffee looked mildly surprised. "Happy?"

"Do you like doing that? I can take over that part if you want me to. I can deal with it. You don't have to-"

"I don't mind," Suffee said, that mild look still on his face. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

Tony paused. "I don't want to be the bad guy, here," he admitted.

"Then don't," Suffee said. "You're a good person, Tony, even if you like to cast yourself as the villain. Maybe it's that you're not even sure what happened, because it doesn't seem to me like you know what to be angry about. So go talk to him. Straighten things out. It's surprising what can be resolved if people just talked. If people just listened."

It was true. If he had stopped to hear Rogers at the airport, would Siberia still happen? If he had stepped outside after watching the video, cooled down a bit… Would they have still been a team?

But…

Suffee said he casted himself as the villain.

If Rogers just decided to stop and listen at the airport, a lot could've been avoided. But... that wasn't the real problem, was it? If he actually read the Accords, listened to what the people were trying to tell him… No, that wasn't it. The problem was even further. If Rogers had just told him the truth about his parentsStop.

Don't think of that.

Maybe…

Maybe it was time to stop blaming himself and let things go. They had both made mistakes, and while he may be of the opinion that Rogers had made the bigger mistake and wouldn't be trusting the idiot anytime soon, it was time to let the past stay in the past. It wasn't fair to Kristoff that Tony was painting the guy with the same brush as Mr. Red-White-and-Blue. After all, Tony wouldn't like to be put on the same magazine page as Stane.

"Okay," Tony said after a moment.

For the first time since they had met, Suffee showed a flicker of surprise, a quick widening of the eyes that immediately smoothened itself out. "Okay?" he repeated. "That's it?"

"Okay, I'll ask him what the kriff he was thinking," Tony clarified with a firm nod. A shot of fear made him falter. "Just… not now," Tony amended. If Kristoff really betrayed him, had chosen another friend over Tony, Tony didn't want to hear it just yet. He wanted to pretend everything was alright, just for a little while longer. "I'll give him another week. If he doesn't tell me, I'll confront him then." Tony gave Suffee an uneasy smile and headed for his refuge. Some time in the workshop would do him some good.

"Don't be too upset," he heard Suffee say quietly, when he was almost out of earshot. The only reason he heard the Rodian was due to Extremis. "We all have secrets of our own, and that's okay. As long as they don't hurt anyone, it's okay."

Heart pounding, Tony spun around to look at Suffee, who tilted his head for a long moment, regarding him. Did the Rodian know about his nighttime activities? No, wait - that sounded wrong.

Then, unexpectedly, Suffee smiled and inclined his head. The Rodian turned on his heel and left.