<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> Approaching the SHIELD Heli-carrier.<br/>  <strong>Time:</strong> 5:19pm EST Thursday<br/>  <strong>Tags:</strong> <strong>Maria Hill</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;">     The roar of the Iron-man's boot-jets died down as Tony let off the throttle, having been flying supersonic towards the great lakes from somewhere over the eastern US. He could see the massive Heli-carrier up ahead. He'd had to increase his altitude quite a bit to get up to where the beast of a fortress hovered high in the earth's atmosphere where it wouldn't consume as much energy to stay afloat. It had it's bottom-laced cloaking field active - but that really didn't matter since Tony had it's precise GPS coordinates locked from hacking into the SHIELD flight data. Information with Tony was fluid. He was smarter enough to know most technological things, and had enough ingenuity to find out how to get what information he didn't already know. <br/><br/>     Tony blazed in towards the side of the carrier's hull, his suit's HUD was flashing red at him as various targeting systems were making locks and large mounted guns rotated in his direction. Tony somersaulted head over heels so that he was coming in feet-first and his boots and palms flared up, decelerating him quickly. As he began to lose momentum he slowly tilted forward until he was hovering outside of a small door on the side of the carrier. Eventually the red alert messages disappeared and the door hissed open. Tony flew inside to his personal SHIELD hangar and touched down. Immediately the floor came alive around him and started removing his armor. It wasn't quite as sophisticated as the one he had in Stark Tower, but it got the job done. After the automated system disrobed him, Tony made his way out of the small hangar and locked it behind him. <br/><br/>     There was already a SHIELD uniform waiting outside the door when he'd exited, the same young man that had just shown Maria to her private quarters in the upper levels. The young man greeted Tony immediately with a too-cheery look on his face, "Mr. Stark, pleasure to have you aboard! May I -" Tony jumped with a bit of purposed exaggeration, putting a hand over his chest while quickly interrupting the excited young man, <strong>"Christ man, what do they feed you guys here, Caffeine?" </strong><br/><br/>     After a short moment the private responded, "I do drink a lot of coffee... I'm Private Rutherford. If you're here to see Director Hill, she's indisposed at the moment."<br/><br/>     Tony's eyebrow arched at the word 'director' and his mind was racing for explanations as to the change of leadership. <em>How in the hell...?</em> <strong>"Well then you're going to have to dispose her. I don't have a whole lot of time on my hands. I've got a company to run, interviews to do, photoshoots... Important people, important things. So let's get going."</strong> There wasn't any asking in his tone at all.<br/><br/>     The private was caught quite off his guard - he'd heard rumors of Tony's demanding personality but he'd never truly experienced it before. He started walking down the corridor, but tried talking Tony out of the haste as they went. "I'm not so sure Director Hill will be able to see you right away. She just got promoted and she's got a lot on her plate. I'm sure if you made an appointment -"<br/><br/>     Tony cut him off again. <strong>"Look kid, I don't make appointments - with anyone."</strong> He especially wasn't going to plan his time around Maria. He could of swore she was on a raging power trip before... with a promotion, God only knows. <strong>"I don't understand how she could possibly be very busy. Without the Avengers... what is it that SHIELD <em>actually</em> does?"</strong> Of course they did a lot, but he loved to take a jab whenever he had the opportunity. <strong>"Just take me to Ms. Hill's office and then be on your way."</strong><br/><br/>     The young soldier just shook his head and did as Tony requested. Taking him up several flights of stairs and then to the main elevator where the command deck and offices were. He took Tony up as high as he was authorized to do so before stepping off the elevator and turning around. "Director Hill's office is one floor above us. I don't have authorization to take you up any further, but if you use the call button, she can grant you access to her private office." <br/><br/>      Tony smiled and raised his hand in an farewell. "Thanks junior, but I know my way from here." With that, he pressed the DOOR CLOSE button and then keyed in a pin on the elevator control panel. The panel beeped back at him and the display flashed in LED letters: 'Director Fury, Access not Authorized'. <strong>"Seriously?"</strong> Tony wasn't too surprised that they'd have locked Nick Fury out if they'd decided to make a switch in command. He still didn't understand why those tight-asses were giving Fury such a hard time about the whole ordeal. He'd helped the Avengers save the planet. Didn't they have a wrist slap or something for that? So Tony pulled out his PDA and held it in front of the elevator controls, touching a few commands on the transparent display. After a moment the device eventually hacked into the security systems and enable the emergency override system, which put the elevator in motion.<br/><br/>     It only took a moment for the cage to go up one floor. When the doors opened Tony saw Maria standing in the middle of her office - slightly skittish and nearly in her birthday suit. <strong>"Is this a bad time?"</strong> He feigned surprise and curiosity at her current attire. <strong>"I was going to say congratulations on your promotion, but from the way you're dressed... it looks like you're still earning it."</strong> It was a heavily sexist remark, and Tony said it with a perfect smile. It was also of course a heavy dose of Tony's opinion of Maria - that she was highly unqualified for the position, and couldn't possibly have gotten the gig by merit of her resume. <br/><br/>     <strong>"Where did they ship Nick off to? He was doing such a good job."</strong> Tony glanced around the private office and nodded, offering her a smile. <strong>"Sweet office huh? Fury and I had a drinking contest up here once."</strong> It was a lie, they'd shared a couple shots together after the victory over Loki - but how he enjoyed getting under her skin, which was about all she had left on to get under.<br/></span></span></div>