The New York City skyline glittered. The bridges sparkled like strings of pearls in the reflective waters of the East River. In recent years, the skyline had been built back up from darker days at the turn of the millennium. But even with the explosion of construction the city was experiencing, one tower was sure to stand out above all the others.

Like a cannon fired from a submarine, Iron Man shot from below the surface of the river and soared into the sparkling sky over Manhattan. “Good to go on this end,” he said. “The rest is up to you.”

“You disconnected the transmission lines?” Pepper asked. “Are we off the grid?”

“Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy,” Tony said. That was what he’d been doing on the bottom of the river—routing the city electrical supply around the feeder conduits that powered the new Stark Tower.

“Well, assuming the Arc Reactor takes over and it actually works,” Pepper pointed out.

The PR campaign had been a success, the media outlets were alerted, and Stark Industries’ CEO was ready to flip the switch. Tonight was the night they lit Stark Tower—New York’s newest and most spectacular skyscraper, and its most eco-friendly: the first in not just the city, but the world to run on self-sustaining energy.

Tony rocketed low over Fifth Avenue, heading north. “I assume,” he said. “Light ’er up.”

In the penthouse apartment on top of the new Stark Tower, Pepper hit a switch. The tower began to light up, first from street level, and then hundreds of feet to the pinnacle, illuminating the New York skyline—and the sky itself.

“How does it look?” Pepper asked. He could see her grinning with excitement in the heads-up display inside the helmet of his Iron Man suit.

“Like Christmas, but with more me,” Tony said.

“We’ve got to go wider on the public awareness campaign,” she said, thinking like the CEO she was. The best decision Tony had ever made was handing the reins of Stark Industries over to her. “You need to do some press. I’m in DC tomorrow working on the zoning for the next three buildings . . . ”

“Pepper, you’re killing me,” Tony said as he arced past the Empire State Building. “The moment, remember? Enjoy the moment.”

“Get in here and I will,” she said.

He landed on the rooftop of Stark Tower, aiming for a landing pad and walkway specially constructed for Iron Man. As he walked toward the penthouse office and living space he shared with Pepper, machines automatically removed the Iron Man armor piece by piece. Tony didn’t even have to break stride. He sure had come a long way since the first time he’d built one of the suits in a cave in Afghanistan. Then he’d been trying to save his life. Now he could maybe save the world.

“Sir, Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the line for you,” Jarvis said through the communications line in Tony’s helmet.

“I’m not in,” Tony said. A machine removed the Iron Man helmet. “I’m actually out,” he added. He knew Jarvis would make an excuse for him. That was one of the things he’d programmed into Jarvis, who was his very own artificial intelligence, technological consultant, and butler. There was no way he was going to spoil this evening by dealing with Coulson. He had something to celebrate.

“Sir,” Jarvis said via one of the speakers set into the suit disassembly systems. “I’m afraid he’s insisting.”

“Grow a spine, Jarvis,” Tony said. “I got a date.”

By the time he got inside, he was wearing ordinary clothes. Pepper stood watching a holographic display of Stark Tower and the Arc Reactor powering it. “Levels are holding steady, I think,” she said.

“Of course they are. I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question. How does it feel to be a genius?”

“Well, I really wouldn’t know, now would I?” Pepper teased him.

He poured two glasses of champagne and they toasted. “What do you mean? All this came from you.”

“No, all this came from that.” Pepper tapped the miniaturized Arc Reactor in Tony’s chest.

“Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself . . . twelve percent of the credit.”

“Twelve percent?”

Tony had meant it as a joke, but he could see she hadn’t taken it that way. “An argument could be made for fifteen,” he said, trying to get a laugh out of her.

It wasn’t working. “Twelve percent,” she said. “My baby?”

Now he decided to tease her a little more. “Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. I’m going to pay for that comment about percentages, in some subtle way later, aren’t I?”

“It’s not going to be that subtle.”

“I’ll tell you what. The next building is going to say Potts on the tower.”

“On the lease,” she corrected him.

“Sir, the telephone,” Jarvis said. “I’m afraid my protocols are being overridden.”

Coulson’s voice came out of the speaker on Tony’s dining room table, where he and Pepper had been just about to share a glass of champagne. “Mr. Stark, we need to talk.”

“You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark,” Tony said, trying to get Coulson to leave them alone. “Please leave a message.”

“This is urgent.”

“Then leave it urgently.”

The elevator door opened, revealing Coulson hanging up his phone.

“Security breach,” Tony said to Pepper. “It’s on you.”

“Mr. Stark,” Coulson began.

Before Tony could say something rude, Pepper greeted Coulson with a big smile. “Phil! Come in.”

“Phil?” Tony hadn’t even known that was his name. How did Pepper know that?

“I can’t stay,” Coulson said.

“His first name is Agent,” Tony protested.

Pepper guided Coulson into the living room, saying, “Come on in. We’re celebrating.”

“Which is why he can’t stay,” Tony said.

Coulson held a leather-bound folder out to Tony. “We need you to look this over as soon as possible.”

“I don’t like being handed things,” Tony said. He didn’t take the folder.

“That’s fine, because I love to be handed things. So let’s trade.” Pepper took the folder and gave Coulson her champagne. Then she stuck the folder in Tony’s hand, took his champagne glass, and helped herself to a sip. “Thank you.”

“Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday,” Tony said.

“This isn’t a consultation,” Coulson said.

“Is this about the Avengers?” Pepper asked. Coulson gave her a sharp look. “Which I know nothing about,” she added. This wasn’t true. Tony had told her about the project. He told Pepper everything and didn’t care if Coulson knew that or not.

Since the topic of the Avengers had been raised, though, Tony thought he might as well see it through. “The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn’t even qualify.”

“I didn’t know that, either,” Pepper said.

“Yeah,” Tony said. “Apparently I’m volatile, self-obsessed, don’t play well with others . . . ”

Pepper was nodding. “That I did know.”

“This isn’t about personality profiles anymore,” Coulson said. He wasn’t giving up, and that irritated Tony even more than the fact he’d showed up right when the celebration of Stark Tower was supposed to be starting.

“Whatever,” he said. “Ms. Potts, got a second?”

She excused herself as Tony opened the files Coulson had given him and started piping them to his desktop display. “You know, I thought we were having a moment,” he said.

“I was having twelve percent of a moment,” she shot back. “This seems serious. Phil’s pretty shaken.”

“How would you know if it’s serious?” Tony asked.

She ignored the question as she watched the files and images stack up on Tony’s virtual desktop. “What is all this?”

“This is . . . ” Tony spread his fingers, and Coulson’s files spread across the air above the desktop. One of the new features of Tony’s new apartment was a holographic workstation he could spawn from any surface. There were dozens of files: text dossiers, video clips, all kinds of stuff. It was more then they could take in right then.

After a moment, Pepper said, “I’m going to take the jet to DC tonight.” She was supposed to be presenting some of Stark Industries’ new energy initiatives to a congressional committee tomorrow.

“Tomorrow,” Tony said. There was no reason for her to leave tonight. They still owed each other a celebration, whatever Agent Coulson thought.

But Pepper had other ideas. “You have homework,” she said. She looked at all the images on the display. “A lot of homework.”

She kissed him and walked toward the elevator. “Any chance you’re driving by the airport?” she asked Coulson.

“I can drop you,” he said.

“Fantastic,” she said. Then they were gone, and Tony was left with the files. So much for the celebration. There was nothing to do but get to work. bRHeWiOMTV6O+/C62LB0HxNjfT9u9Ic6OXB8HwCNzdl3wKVOWPyarSRwOGYcrOGX