riley doesn't think dum-e should be on fire safety

"you don't want to be on fire safety?" my dad asked me.

(for the billionth time)

"no, i don't." i answered, helping him hook up his boots, and flight stabilizers.

"it's you or dum-e," he told me.

"i don't think dum-e is qualified to be on fire safety," i answered honestly, fixing his flight stabilizers.

he gave me look, "then you have to do it."

"but i don't want to. besides, dum-e loves using the fire extinguisher," i stepped back as i finished the last strap.

"fine," he muttered defeated.

"u, start rolling," i ordered the other a.i. arm.

butterfingers sat next to me with a bowl of candy. i took some, and started eating. i left my hair out, and i was dressed in comfort clothes for the day. i put my feet up on a stool.

my dad turned to the camera, "day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0. for lack of a better option, dum-e is still on fire safety. if you douse me again, and i'm not on fire, i'm donating you to a city college."

i snorted at my dad's threat. he always says this to his mechanical arms, but he never actually does it. he's kept them for over two decades, ever since he built them at m.i.t.

my dad looked over at u, "all right, nice and easy. seriously, just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity. and three, two, one."

"oh my gods!" i gasped getting up.

it was working. my dad was hovering in the air, a few feet off the floor. he remained in the air, in control (it looked like he was surfing) for a few more seconds before landing.

"holy shit! that was amazing!" i exclaimed.

"i know!!" my dad called out.

dum-e was following my dad around with the fire extinguisher, and my dad turned to look at him.

"please don't follow me around with it, either, 'cause i feel like i'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously. just stand down! if something happens, then come in."

my dad turned to u. "and again, let's bring it up to 2.5. three, two, one."

he began hovering a little higher. he started moving in the air, and he had much less control than the first time. my eyes widened in worry as he began hovering away.

"okay, this is where i don't want to be!" he said as he was getting closer to the cars. "not the car, not the car!"

"no! no! fly away from them!" i motioned, using wild hand gestures. "to the right! right! other right!! do you know what right is?! it's not the direction you're going!! not left!! right, dammit!"

"i'm trying! i'm trying!! this is harder than it looks!!" we yelled over each other. 

"table!" i called out, pointing.

a piece of loose paper smacked me in the face. a whole bunch of other sheets began flying around the room. my hair flew into my mouth.

"bleh," i muttered pulling it out. 

i followed my dad as he flew over u, who was filming, while yelling, "could be worse! could be worse! we're fine! okay."

"not okay! we are not fine!! land! now, please!!" i yelled after him.

he flew over to where he started, and waited till he got a little more control. he slowly got to the floor. he stumbled a little, but caught himself before he fell.

dum-e raised the extinguisher to used it on my dad.

"no!" my dad held a hand out towards him. "ah ah ah ah ah!"

dum-e put the fire extinguisher down, sadly.

"yeah, i can fly."

my dad walked away to another part of the lab. portions of the floor lifted. different parts of the mark ii closed around him. the entire process took less than a minute. the mechanical arms helped screw a few pieces in for him, and he was almost ready.

my dad took his helmet, the last piece, and clipped it on.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., you there?"

"at your service, sir." the a.i. responded.

"engage heads-up display." my dad said from inside the suit.

"check."

"import all preferences from home interface."

"will do, sir."

"all right, what do you say?" my dad asked.

the a.i. responded, "i have indeed been uploaded, sir. we're online and ready."

"can we start the virtual walk-around?"

"importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment."

"do a check on control surfaces."

"as you wish."

different flaps of the suit moved around. i stared at the final product open-mouthed. it took a long time, but it was ready. and it looked so cool!

"what d'ya think?" my dad asked me.

"oh, it's epic." i nodded eagerly. "you're like, a, superhero!"

"yeah," my dad nodded, "what do you think my name would be? the—"

"no!" i shut him down before he could say something weird. i rubbed my chin, thinking about it. "you look like your made out of iron. like an iron man," i muttered.

"iron man sounds lame," my dad commented. "and besides, this is a gold ti—"

"test complete." the a.i. said cutting my dad off, "preparing to power down and begin diagnostics."

"uh... yeah. tell you what. do a weather and atc check. start listening in on ground control." my dad decided.

"are you crazy?!" i exclaimed, throwing my hands up.

"sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is..."

"J.A.R.V.I.S.," my dad said as if he were talking to a child, "sometimes you got to run before you can walk."

"what about me?" i asked.

"you stay connected using the earpiece and holographic head-up display," my dad looked at me.

"ready? in three, two, one."

and he was gone. through the garage, and in the sky.

i stared dumbfounded for a few seconds, and dum-e came up to me with the J.A.R.V.I.S. earpiece. i took it from him, and sat in front of the holographic table. plugging the earbuds in i muttered, "all right, J.A.R.V.I.S., show me what he's seeing."

he was in the sky, flying around and a horizon lock had just showed up.

"holy crap, that looks so cool," i muttered.

"it's amazing!" my dad called back. "handles like a dream."

my dad flew past a ferris wheel, and it locked onto the wheel, showing a closeup. the picture zoomed in to two kids eating ice cream. one kid's eyes focused on the flying metal suit my dad was in, and the ice cream fell off his cone.

my dad flew past that, and went straight up. "all right, let's see what this thing can do. what's the sr-71's record."

a heads up display of the blackbird, military plane, showed up. "don't do it," i warned my dad. i knew where he was going with this, and i could tell it wasn't going to end well.

"the altitude record for fixed wing flight is 85,000 feet, sir." the a.i. told him.

"stop it! that's only going to encourage him!" i chastised J.A.R.V.I.S.

"records are made to be broken! come on!" he continued flying straight up.

"sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring." J.A.R.V.I.S. interrupted.

a heads up warning sign came up. "go back down," i warned my dad. 

"keep going! higher!"

ice began frosting over the screen like tentacles, and suddenly it was dead. the heads up display was gone.

"what?!" i shot up from the chair. "no! no no no!"

my fingers flew over the keyboards as i tried to bring the display back up. it was hooked up to the suit so i should hear and see what my dad hears and sees. 

"c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" 

i smashed my hand against the keyboard, and the head-up display returned.

"oh thank gods," i fell to my chair, relieved.

but what i saw didn't make me feel much better. my dad was falling towards the ground at an uncontrolled speed. at the last second, he gained control and kept flying.

"yeah!!" my dad yelled.

"shut up! you almost died!!" i yelled at him. "again!"

"the adrenaline, minnie. the adrenaline."

"get home," i muttered.

"on my way!"

he flew over to the roof. hovering over a single spot he told J.A.R.V.I.S., "kill power."

the heads up display closed.

i whipped my head up, where a crashing noise was heard. a second later, my dad fell through the ceiling and completely crushed the shelby cobra. the alarms on the other cars started ringing, and i covered my ears a little.

"aww, man," i muttered looking at the destroyed car.

dum-e turned the fire extinguisher towards my dad. he doused him from head to toe. my dad didn't even complain. 

he just banged his head backwards in the car wreckage.

i walked into the lab where my dad was sitting in front of a computer screen.

no surprise there.

he had an ice pack attached to his shoulder. he injured it pretty badly when he fell through the roof, and the piano, and the ceiling, straight into the car.

i noticed something shiny on one of the tables. picking the glass box up, i smiled. 

"what's this about?" i asked my dad.

he glanced at me, "oh, that. pepper gifted it to me." 

i smiled, looking back at the gift. it was my dad's old arc reactor. the words 'proof that tony stark has a heart' were engraved in it. i found it really sweet, because most people take my dad to be a cold and brutal person. he's not really. sure, he has his moments, but he's a nice guy. (even if J.A.R.V.I.S., pepper, happy, uncle rhodey, and i are holding about 90% of his life together.)

my dad looked back at the screen, "notes. main transducer feels sluggish at plus 40 altitude. hull pressurization is problematic. i'm thinking icing is the probable factor."

"a very astute observation, sir. perhaps, if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the exosystems." the a.i. responded.

"connect to the sys. co. have it reconfigure the shell metals. use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. that should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio. got it?" my dad asked, taking a sip of some weird drink.

J.A.R.V.I.S. answered, "yes. shall i render using proposed specifications?"

"thrill me." my dad muttered.

"okay, what is that? and why does it look so disgusting?" i asked my dad, motioning to his weird green drink.

"it's kinda like a protein shake," he answered, examining the glass.

"bleh," i muttered, "remind me never to try that."

my dad laughed lightly, taking another sip.

a t.v. reporter's voice cut through the air. "tonight's red-hot red carpet is right here at the disney concert hall, where tony stark's third annual benefit for the firefighter's family fund has become the place to be for l.a.'s high society."

i looked at the t.v.

my dad asked the a.i, "J.A.R.V.I.S., we get an invite for that?"

"i have no record of an invitation, sir." he responded.

my dad picked up his face helmet, and watched the t.v. through the eye holes. 

"you're so weird." i muttered.

"...hasn't been seen in public since his bizarre and highly controversial press conference. some claim he's suffering from post traumatic stress and has been bedridden for weeks. whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from him tonight." the reporter continued.

"the render is complete." the a.i. said, placing a model of the mark iii on the screen.

"a little ostentatious, don't you think?" my dad asked, looking at the model.

"what was i thinking? you're usually so discreet."

"tell you what. throw a little hot-rod red in there." my dad said as he poured himself another glass of the weird drink.

"yes, that should help you keep a low profile." i snickered at J.A.R.V.I.S.'s response.

parts of the suit model began turning red, "the render is complete."

"look's good," i commented.

"hey, i like it, she likes it. fabricate it. paint it." my dad told the a.i.

"commencing automated assembly. estimated completion time is five hours." J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

my dad looked at his watch.

"don't wait up for me, honey."

"i'm coming too!" 

REY WRITES !

thanks for reading !!

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