"I thought you said you could control it," Tony retorted. "Control it better, or stay out of my workshop! I can't have you messing with things in there!"

Lea reeled back as if he'd hit her, her eyes wide. For a moment she looked stunned and hurt. Then her eyes narrowed and her face set in stony lines as she turned silently and left, not even storming, but all the scarier for the quiet.

Tony watched her go and then stormed down to his workshop, snarling under his breath and going for the first bottle of alcohol he could find. He needed a drink.

Lea ended up taking refuge up on the roof for a while with a bottle, staring out at the city. She didn't get drunk, just a bit tipsy to take the edge off.

But when she had the brilliant idea around 2 AM to "borrow" one of Tony's suits in revenge, she didn't immediately shoot it down like she normally would have. Instead she plotted.

And around 2:30, Tony was broken out of his marathon build by Jarvis telling him that one of his suits had been activated and was being taken out.

"What?" Tony said. "Fuck. You have to be fucking kidding me, J, I don't need this right now, I just-- shut down the suit, take control back, get it back here now."

"I am sorry, sir, but I cannot," Jarvis said, his voice perfectly calm. Because of course he knew who was in the suit, and he didn't disapprove.

"What do you mean you can't?" Tony snapped. "You're the single most sophisticated bit of technology this world has ever seen, you should be able to wrestle control of a suit back."

"I should," Jarvis agreed. "However, the person currently controlling the suit is... inventive in her methods of blocking me." Honestly, not that Jarvis was trying all that hard right now.

"Nothing should be inventive enou--she? Lea took the suit?" Tony demanded. He swore violently under his breath. "Patch me through to the suit's internal comm."

Jarvis did as he was asked, although he did alert Lea to that fact before he patched her though. Inside the suit, Lea was grinning like a look as she flew around New York, although she mostly stayed out of the lights.

"What the hell?" Tony snapped as soon as he was patched through. "What the fuck gave you the idea it was okay to take my suit on a joyride?"

"One of your suits," Lea replied promptly. "You've got over a dozen sitting around untended and bored, Tony, I'm just keeping this one company for a while." She grinned as she pulled a few corkscrews.

"It doesn't matter, it's my suit," Tony said. "Now bring it back or I'll have to make you."

"Tony," Lea said, still sounding amused, "you know, I don't think I will yet. Although if you want to try to make me, please try. I want to see just how well this mind meld works."

Tony growled under his breath.

"Jarvis, prep the Mark 8," he ordered. Because damned if he wasn't going to go after Lea.

"Are you sure that's a wise decision, sir?" Jarvis asked, though he started getting the Mark 8 ready anyway.

"It's the best one I have at the moment," Tony replied as he let the machines assemble the Mark 8. "I'd get her damn sister, but she's immune."

"Do keep in mind that she's not an enemy, sir," Jarvis reminded him, linking into the suit as soon as it was assembled and pulling up her location on the HUD.

"Don't think I haven't noticed you're on her side, J," Tony retorted as his HUD lit up and her location appeared. Even before the HUD completely settled, he was taking off out of the building.

Jarvis just stayed quiet for now, figuring it would be best to let those two hash things out first.

Lea noticed him heading in her direction and grinned, putting on a burst of speed to lead him off on a goose chase.

Tony growled and took off after her, putting on the speed. Nope, he was going to win this thing.

Lea played with him for a while, leading him around and managing to keep ahead of him. She was having fun, after all.

Tony was getting more and more frustrated and finally ended up pulling a maneuver that was riskier than usual to get in front of her.

"Enough," he said. "This ends now."

"Really?" Lea stopped so she wouldn't run into him, though she was debating other options. "Sick of playing already? And we were just having so much fun, too."

"Stealing my suits isn't a game," Tony snapped. "And I want to know what the hell you were thinking when you did."