House Calls

[clint_barton]

 

"I'm sorry, sir, but Mr. Stark is currently unavailable and unannounced house calls are highly discouraged. Please contact Ms. Potts to make an appointment."

Standing at the doorway of Stark's Malibu home, Clint gives the interface on the wall a mildly annoyed glance. The well-mannered rejection isn't unexpected, but Clint would stake his life on the fact that Stark's computer knows exactly who he means by "Mr. Stark". Only Stark would give his AI an attitude problem on purpose.

"No, not your Mr. Stark. I'm here for Stark Senior. I just need to speak with him, don't even need to step inside. Just patch me through."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I am not authorized to allow-"

“Stark, I know you're listening. S.H.I.E.L.D. has some questions for your dad, I'm here to relieve you of babysitting duty. Let me speak to him and we'll both be out of your hair within the hour."

The buzz and click of the door lock releasing comes almost before he's finished the sentence. The smooth English accent follows a short second later, all polite efficiency. "Mr. Stark is in the second guest bedroom on the first floor."

 

Comments

[clint_barton]

Back to wheeling and dealing; Clint suspects that it's a cover, is positive of it, but he doesn't push it. He's gotten what he needs and it's not his business to pry - at the moment, anyway.

"I'm sure that won't be a problem, sir." Howard's complaints about his previous housing arrangements weren't exactly a secret. They hadn't built him Stark tower in the desert to compensate, but they were prepared to give him the nicest residence on base. Looks like they were right to assume Tony got his "diva" from his dad's side of the family.

Without wasting anymore time, Clint clicks his radio to life. "Ready for pickup. Meet us out front in fifteen."

[not_iron]

By the time they get moving, Tony's already upstairs, back to the front door as he digs around in a bag of Lays.

"Looks like a party. Any reason I wasn't invited?"