Tony had finally surfaced from his workshop to get some much needed caffeine when he finds a strange man in his living room. While it may not be that uncustomary for Tony to have men in his house, this time caught him for surprise a little before he recognized the man as the liaison guy the board send to him. Guess he really is planning to wait it out, if Tony wasn't annoyed, he'd be impressed. Still Tony has no interest in engaging in conversation, so he continues on getting his coffee without even saying anything to the other man, purposely ignoring his existence as much as he can.

life goes on // @mischief-flavored-tea

“Good for you…” Tony gives the man a sarcastic grin, his tone in mock proud manner as if the other man had just achieved a great feat. At least the man is leaving now, that’s always a plus. Tony turns away to keep on working on his armor, making a half aware grunt as the man thanked him for his time. Whatever, he’s too busy to deal with pencil pushers. Not even realizing that guy had touched his glass cage as he left or the way his armors seemed to have glowed for a brief second.

"Good for you..." Tony gives the man a sarcastic grin, his tone in mock proud manner as if the other man had just achieved a great feat. At least the man is leaving now, that's always a plus. Tony turns away to keep on working on his armor, making a half aware grunt as the man thanked him for his time. Whatever, he's too busy to deal with pencil pushers. Not even realizing that guy had touched his glass cage as he left or the way his armors seemed to have glowed for a brief second.

life goes on // @mischief-flavored-tea

“Good, I’ll come again, same time tomorrow. I’d even set up a fucking camp here if I need to.” He declared, turning on his heels and walked for the exit. As he walked by the Iron Man suits, he quietly glided his fingers across the glass cage, tiny strings of magic seep through and sneak inside the armors, getting control. This way he could observe Stark whenever he wanted. “Thanks for your time, Mr.Stark.” He said as he closed the door and left. 

Bailed himself out? Well, maybe Hammer finally found a brain - questionable but possible, he'd have JARVIS keep an eye out in case some other dumb little villains started teaming up with Hammer again. The man sure can be a nuisance  "Still nothing to worry about...Hammer can't invent his way out of a paper bag..." Poor Rhodey had to find out the hard way in the middle of a battle. "I'll get a design, geez, don't get your panties in a twist...no go away while I think...as much as I would like to, I can't make one appear out of thin air..."

life goes on // @mischief-flavored-tea

“Correction, Hammer has bailed himself out days ago already. Do you know what he said in his press?” He questioned, arching an eyebrow at Stark, as if he could see the expression on his face, and started making impressions of said person. “I understand why people think I was working with Ivan Vanko. The man was a genius, an evil one and I was forced into doing his bidding, to protect the lives of those around me. I am the Phoenix, risen from the ashes of unlawful imprisonment and I will soar again. Blah blah blah, all that shit.” 

“As much as I’d love to leave, Mr. Stark, I need a guarantee. I will only leave if you can provide a blueprint, I don’t want to lose my job.”

"Hammer's stocks jump every 6 weeks...nothing new about that, and the guy's still sitting in the slammer after being convicted in aiding a terrorist...if the Board's got their tails between their legs over that, they have issues...." Hammer is the last thing he'd worry about and Stark Industries is doing as fine as it can be. And newbie here is stretching the last of Tony's impressed feelings towards him. "My work is just fine so the Board and Miss Potts can stop their worrying...now if you don't mind, saving the world's given me the right to take a leave of absence and since you have no desire to be around me, you can make your way out of the building now."

life goes on // @mischief-flavored-tea

“You’re being rude, and I don’t like rude people.” He murmured as the man turned his back on him, a small grimace crossed his face. Was this how he treat his people? No wonder why he didn’t have any friends other than his fellow Avengers. “Mr. Stark, in case you haven’t watched the news, which I’m pretty sure you don’t, Hammer Industries stocks has jumped to a 52 week high while our plummet.” He went on speaking, his tone serious. “And of course, the Board doesn’t want the situation to keep getting worse, and since their chief engineer has been refusing to work and function like a normal being, they need someone to make sure you complete your task. Plus, Miss Potts has also asked me to keep an eye on you.

“It’s not even like I want to be around you…”

Now that the guy is closer, Tony took in his appearance, good height, blond hair, and yup, definitely puppy dog face, he's pretty sure he's seen it on Steve before, these two clearly cut from the same cloth. Cute, like a puppy. And well, he seems to be efficient in knowing what Tony needs to know, not bad, Tony might actually be impressed. "Well...they always want something don't they?" Tony turned back to fiddle with more of his armor pieces, "Tell the board they'll get their designs if they stop sending people to pester me...now shoo!" He makes a dismissive gesture, indicating that the other man should leave.

life goes on // @mischief-flavored-tea

“Thank you, sir.” He quickly got inside before the man changed his mind. “Well, Miss Potts-” Wait, what? Puppy dog look? That’s pretty obvious sarcasm because he was certain he didn’t make that face. Whatever, he decided to let the insult slip. “She’s given me these papers to show you what you’ve missed from the meetings.” He hold the papers up then put them down the workbench nearby. “But I’ll keep it short and simple for you, the Industries needs new designs to put forth.”

Seriously? The guy is just going to sit outside? Well, that's a new tactic. Tony's half tempted to just let the guy stew outside for a few hours. It's tempting but Tony wasn't really that mean and cold-hearted so maybe he can throw the guy a bone and talk. Suppose it's better than him sitting in the workshop sulking.

Pressing a few buttons to activate the doors, he lets it open and calls out, "Alright alright, come on in, wouldn't want you to freeze out there with that puppy dog look on your face...don't want PETA to sue me...what'd you want?"

life goes on // @mischief-flavored-tea

… This was going to much harder than he thought. What happened that put him in such a bad mood, though? He wondered. Well, he would find out about it eventually, right now he just had to play his role well. 

“Sir, this is impo—” He cut himself off, figured any more words would just made Stark angrier. “I’ll wait here, sir.” He sighed heavily and sat down by the glass wall.

Tony had been in the middle of checking out his gauntlet's power levels when JARVIS's voice broke the silence.

"Sir, the board has their new liaison to speak with you."

"Not interested..." He rolled his eyes and continued on, "What...the board can't speak to me themselves now?"

"You've refused to attend the last three board meetings sir..."

"Right..." Tony sighed, "Still not interested..."

"He is outside the workshop sir..."

"Traitor..." He made a face and groaned at hearing the knocking sound and another voice calling out to him, "Go away! Don't care, not interested!'

life goes on // @mischief-flavored-tea

He’d manage to get a job as the liaison between the Industries and Stark himself, just as his silver tongue never failed him, and now, he was standing in front of Stark’s Malibu mansion. Why did he want to do this, though? He frowned. Ah, because he couldn’t resist the urge to… get a little closer to the Man of Iron. He’d always had this strange fascination in him, he admitted. What could possibly go wrong, anyways? Just a little bit of fun, after all.

He took a moment to contemplate the seaside view and stepped inside. A robotic voice greeted and told him Stark was in the workshop and that it had informed the man about his arrival. He thanked it politely and went downstairs.

“Mr. Stark?” He knocked on the glass wall. “I believe we have an appointment today.”

life goes on // @mischief-flavored-tea

He doesn't remember how long he's been siting down here in the workshop trying to get his new armor up to date. But then again, since he and Pepper have agreed to go their separate ways, he can't remember much of time passing. She's moved out, still running the business, but not really around here anymore. So yeah, maybe he's sulking a bit, but he gets to do that if he wants.