<div class="floatleft">(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_k9pcZkVuAoI/SD4aWWspnYI/AAAAAAAABw0/FZ3jRJNro8A/s400/ironman_l.jpg)</div><hr/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>  Name:</strong> Tony Stark<br/>  <strong>Title:</strong> Iron Man<br/>  <strong>Location:</strong> In-flight somewhere above the U.S.<br/>  <strong>Time:</strong> 4:18pm Thursday<br/>  <strong>Tags:</strong> <strong>Elizabeth Ross</strong></span></span><br/><br/><br/><hr/><br/><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: times new roman;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;">     Tony was cruising along at a brisk pace, quickly gaining ground on the private jet - that was actually heading in his direction. His HUD telescoped forward several miles into the distance at the small aircraft bearing down on him. He grinned slightly, they were heading straight for each other. He wasn't sure if the pilots had even seen him coming or not, so he rolled out of the way in an agile spin right as the plane closed in. Tony banked hard, curving back around to trail the aircraft as it continued on its course. He pressed his toes down a little further - the in-flight control for increasing his acceleration. His boots flared and he quickly caught up.<br/><br/>     He maneuvered himself in close, flying not more than ten feet from the side of the aircraft. Through one of the middle windows he could see Elizabeth sitting in one of the comfortable leather chairs browsing on her tablet. Jarvis - practically an extension of Tony's own mind - hacked into the Bluetooth of her tablet and a small window opened in the center of her screen with a picture of Tony. Through her speakers he spoke, waving to her from the outside of the plane.<strong> "Hello Betty. Congratulations on the new job."</strong> He figured that Elizabeth had some hunch about Maria's plans for her - she was too smart not to at least wonder about it. The fact that she was on the plane heading to SHIELD meant that she'd accepted the job, which also meant that she cared too much about seeing Bruce to worry too much about Maria's ulterior motives. <br/><br/>     That made his offer easy to make. <strong>"I thought I'd catch you before you wasted your time with SHIELD and Hill. With Stark Industries expanding, and the Avengers moving in... we're going to need someone to handle the PR for the team, as well as help Ms. Potts handle the communications and management of Stark Industries."</strong> Tony hated beating around the bush - unless he was bored and wanted to irritate the receiving party. He left only a moment of silence before he continued. <strong>"Look. You and I both know why Maria is bringing you to SHIELD. Why not fulfill the same role with us, closer to Bruce - and without the politics? You'll be free to come and go as you please, without Maria forcing you on to Bruce."</strong> The last part was the key. He didn't have much more to offer Betty than SHIELD did. True she would be closer to Bruce - but did he even want that? He knew Betty had kept her distance, at the request of Banner; maybe he was ready to have her back in his life - and maybe he wasn't. Either way, he knew that Betty would want to be in control of that. She would be much more comfortable knowing that she wouldn't be invading Bruce's life on orders from SHIELD when he didn't want her there.<br/><br/>     <strong>"So what do you say?"</strong><br/><br/>     <br/><br/></span></span></div>