Metal and Magic (Ch. 14)

( Every character in this story is a legal adult over the age of 18 )

Metal and Magic

Chapter 14

It had taken them all night, and when the sun finally crested the horizon, Tony and Harry were both wired with the sharp, nervous energy that comes from lack of sleep and the anticipation of testing something utterly awesome. The two of them sat on the concrete floor of the workshop, surrounded by pizza crusts, staring at the gleaming suit that now awaited Tony. Iron Man had reached a new generation … One that was augmented and upgraded with magic.

The suit looked mostly the same, red and gold. The imperfections had been buffed out by Tony’s obsessive hands, but now, hidden beneath each armor plate was runic script embedded in the metal, glowing dimly with the magic that Harry had painstakingly woven into it. The integration had not been easy or quick. Technology usually rebelled against the unpredictability of magic, but the power of the arc reactor seemed to embrace it.

“Ready to be the world’s first magically enhanced superhero?” Harry joked with a glimmer of pride as he studied the pair of suits.

Tony grinned, mouth twitching at the corners. His chin and cheeks were dusted with stubble after spending all night working. “As long as my suit doesn’t fall apart mid-flight, I’ll count that as a win.”

He staggered upright and positioned himself inside the exoskeleton frame, hands splayed as the robotic arms whirred to life. They moved with uncharacteristic finesse, the result of Tony’s brilliant design. They fitted each armor piece to his body with a precision that bordered on loving care. The chest plate went on first, then the shoulder pads, then the gauntlets, each locking into place with satisfying clicks and hisses. Harry watched with the mixture of awe and terror that came from witnessing a genius at work and knowing full well that it might all go catastrophically wrong.

“You can barely keep your eyes open,” Harry reminded him of his exhaustion. “Maybe you should wait until you’ve gotten some sleep,” he suggested, but Tony shook his head.

Tony’s face gleamed with anticipation, and the fatigue underlying it only made him look more determined. “I still have enough energy for this,” he said, and as the helmet descended, his eyes shone for a split second before being replaced by the blank, golden mask of Iron Man.

When the suit booted up, the hidden runes seemed to glow brighter, causing pale blue light to escape through the spaces between each plate. Harry almost laughed at how much it reminded him of a wand choosing its owner. Tony flexed both hands, the fingers moving with uncanny human grace. He rolled his neck, then performed a cowboy quick-draw with his repulsors, spinning on his heel. The usual whine of servos had been replaced by the low, harmonic hum of his repulsors powering up. “Drop your weapon, scumbag!” Tony threatened an invisible foe. He then lowered his arms before doing the quickdraw again. “You lookin’ at me, punk?” he threatened the air again. Harry rolled his eyes and snorted. Tony then turned to him.

“Don’t you want to test yours?” Tony said, voice filtered through the suit’s amplified, robotic register.

Harry hesitated. Yes, he was tired, but there was no way he could pass up the chance of another flight. “Might as well see if all this was worth skipping sleep for.” He stepped onto the platform opposite Tony, and the segmented, black-and-silver suit enveloped him, piece by piece. Where Tony’s was built for battle, Harry’s was built for speed. The helmet sealed with a gasp, and the HUD blinked to life. For the first time in hours, Harry felt awake.

He took a tentative step, surprised by how light the suit felt. It even felt lighter than he remembered from his previous time wearing it. The slight pressure of the inner lining against his skin felt like a second layer of muscle, perfectly anticipating his movements. He flexed, and the servos responded instantly, the suit translating thought to action without lag. It was thrilling.

“Try not to crash,” Tony teased. “These aren’t cheap, you know.”

“No promises,” Harry shot back, but he couldn’t hide his excitement.

They moved to the center of the lab, where the concrete floors bore the scars of previous tests. Tony’s suit whirred as he stepped forward. The boosters in his boots and palms fired up, producing a low, rumbling hiss. His armored body rose several feet into the air, but Tony was easily able to keep himself steady. Harry did the same. His boosters fired, and he only wobbled slightly before steadying.

“Race you to the top,” he said, and before Harry could reply, Tony rocketed forward with a deafening blast, the force of the repulsors rattling every tool on the workbenches.

Harry instinctively leaned forward, bracing himself, then added thrust. The boosters kicked in with a sensation that was both exhilarating and terrifying, as though an invisible elastic band had flung him forward. He shot after Tony, the workshop’s walls blurring as he barreled down the curved tunnel at breakneck speed. The G-forces pressed him hard into the suit, and he fought to keep the trajectory straight, fingers twitching, breath held tight in his chest.

The tunnel sloped upward in a slight corkscrew, and Harry caught a glimpse of Tony ahead, spiraling through the sky with joyful recklessness. The HUD in Harry’s helmet displayed trajectory projections, recalibrating every millisecond, and for a moment, he trusted it enough to let go and just enjoy the raw sensation of speed. He almost laughed from the rush. The tunnel walls gave way to daylight with a sudden, blinding glare, and Harry burst into the open air, the roar of the waves and wind slightly muffled by his helmet.

Tony was already high overhead, a streaking comet of red and gold against the blue sky. In truth, he was barely more than a pinprick in a sea of blue. White puffy clouds hung low over the ocean’s surface, and the water below reflected the orange light of the morning sun. “Jarvis … Maximum thrust,” Harry ordered.

“At once, sir,” Jarvis responded, sounding just as eager as he was to test out the suit’s capabilities.

“Whoa!” Harry shouted in surprise when his body rocketed forward. Tony’s suit began inching closer to him. It took several minutes, but eventually, Harry pulled up beside him.

Tony’s voice crackled into the comms. “How’s the suit handling?”

“It’s definitely faster. It seems more maneuverable, too,” Harry answered, subtly testing the suit’s micro movements.

“Faster is good!” Tony happily exclaimed. “Jarvis, let’s see what this baby can do.”

Harry watched as Tony banked hard to the right, slicing through the air with almost no resistance. He followed, pushing the suit to the extreme, and was rewarded with a burst of speed so intense it made his vision gray out around the edges. He caught up with Tony, their suits matching velocity, and for a long minute they just flew, two streaks of color locked in a silent dance above the world. Slowly, Harry began to pull ahead.

“Yours is faster than mine!” Tony shouted, half-laughing, half-accusing.

“Mine is lighter and built for speed, remember?” Harry reminded him.

“Well, don’t get used to it. With these runes adding so much structural durability, I can cut the weight of my suit significantly. Get ready for another long night of laser engraving.”

Harry tried a barrel roll, the suit responding instantly, no lag or drag. He felt the centrifugal force tug at him, but the internal cushioning dampened most of it. “How high can these suits go?” he wondered aloud.

“Pretty high, but they’re not rated for space … so keep that in mind,” Tony replied, the note of warning undercut by his obvious eagerness to find out. Tony made a mental note to fix that pesky little problem. How he would accomplish that, he wasn’t sure yet.

Harry pointed himself upward and surged ahead, the boosters roaring as he climbed. The temperature dropped rapidly, and he watched the clouds thin out beneath him until all that was left was a cotton-like carpet stretching to the horizon. He broke through the upper atmosphere so quickly his ears popped as the suit struggled to keep him safe, and the sky around him deepened from blue to indigo to black. From so high up, he could easily see the curvature of the Earth. It was both awe-inspiring and frightening. He hovered just below the edge of space, the suit’s alarms starting to ping.

“I do not suggest going any higher, Harry,” Jarvis cut in with the calm insistence of someone who had seen too many bad ideas in action. Harry grinned, unable to help himself, and looked over his shoulder. Tony was right there, his armor illuminated by the harsh, white sunlight.

They floated in silence for a moment, nothing but the distant crackle of static and the faint, omnipresent whine of the suits. Harry stared into the blackness of space, at the infinite void, and felt a kinship with Tony. It was, after all, his brilliance and generosity that allowed Harry to witness such a thing.

“Quite a sight … Isn’t it?” Tony said, voice calm and reverent. Harry nodded, not trusting himself to speak. This high up, even words seemed superfluous.

Eventually, the suits’ oxygen warnings forced them to descend, and they fell back into the world with a speed that made Harry’s stomach lurch. They plunged through the atmosphere, the suit plating heating up before the temperature control runes kicked in and bled the excessive heat. The HUD displayed his thermal readouts in urgent red, and Harry watched as the number decreased to a safe level. Harry angled his descent to keep the G-forces manageable, but Tony just seemed to enjoy the thrill of tumbling end over end before stabilizing with showy precision.

When they neared the coastline, Tony pulled out of his dive right before hitting the surface of the water. Harry copied his maneuver, and both men raced along the water’s surface, sending sea spray high into the air on either side of them. They flew back into the tunnel and landed safely in his garage. Tony’s faceplate flipped up, revealing his big, excited smile. “I’d call that a successful trial.”

Harry chuckled as his faceplate slid up. “You’re telling me. The heat-dissipating runes worked like a charm. For a second there, I was afraid I might be fried to a crisp.”

“I wonder what else these runes can do for us?” Tony wondered as he stepped onto the platform and allowed the robotic arms to pull armor pieces off of him.

Harry did the same. “Ask Jarvis. It seems he’s the runic expert now,” Harry chuckled as his body was freed of its metal prison.

“Hmm,” Tony replied, already thinking.

Metal and Magic

It had been five hours after securing a hush-hush building inspector’s signature that Harry’s industrial mixing tanks arrived at the edge of Oxnard, beyond the reach of the city’s glamour. There were ten tanks, not counting the one already delivered, and each one was gleaming and enormous. They were massive enough to pump out millions of doses of Hangover Cure every day. Harry lingered in the little patch of office built onto the warehouse’s side and watched the tanks’ delivery unfold. He savored the shouts and alarms of reverse-beeping machinery, the clatter of steel on asphalt, and the scurrying of the workers.

He enjoyed the complexity of it all, the way the tanks hovered in midair, suspended by thick cables, then crashed down with a boom that vibrated the ground he stood on. The tank’s skin was so polished you could see your own reflection in it. Harry watched with a thrill as the forklifts nudged and muscled the tanks into place, and then workers bolted them to their final resting spots on their concrete beds.

The workers left before sunset, and with the last of them gone, Harry walked the floor, his steps echoing in the empty bays. He ran a palm along the tank’s skin, fingers tracing the manufacturer’s stamp. He thought about the next steps. It involved a whole lot of laser engraving. He sighed and got to work.

He had just started engraving the second tank when his phone rang. Checking the phone, he saw that it was Maria again. She had been calling him quite often over the last week. She wanted to be kept up to date on the progress of the factory, or at least, that was her excuse. Harry knew it was total BS. She was keeping an eye on him, just like Natasha had.

He picked up. “Hey, Maria,” he said, seating himself on an overturned bucket, aware that she probably knew exactly where he was and what he was doing. Maybe she even knew about the runes he had been engraving, though he doubted she knew what they really were.

“Hi, Harry,” Maria replied, her voice as even as ever. “Are you busy?”

“I’m at the factory, working on a few things, but I’ll be done in about an hour. Why?” Harry asked. He let just enough of a yawn creep into his voice to sound unaffected.

“I was calling to see if you wanted to come over and hang out. I’m pretty bored over here. All alone.” She paused, letting that last tantalizing bit hang there. He could instantly tell that there was no real desire in her voice. She was calling because she had to. Harry pictured her in her small house with drawn blinds, a phone in one hand and a folder labeled something like OPERATION NIGHTSHIFT in the other.

He grinned to himself. Maria really was something else, he thought. “Well, far be it from me to leave a lady in distress,” he replied. “I’ll be over in a couple of hours.”

“Great!” Maria said, and this time there was a genuine note of pleasure in her voice, or maybe she was just a better actor than he gave her credit for. “I’ll see you in two hours. Bye!”

“Bye,” Harry echoed, and the call cut out. He sat in silence for a moment. He knew, as well as she did, that this wasn’t about loneliness or boredom. She was keeping tabs on him for S.H.I.E.L.D., the same shadowy agency that had Natasha placed on him. Certainly, there were worse things than having the curvaceous Natasha placed on him, Harry lewdly thought. Maria Hill, with her dark hair, beautiful face, and asset-trained body, was a professional spy, and Harry only half-minded being watched if it meant he could watch her in return.

He finished the tank engraving, double-checked the main doors, and snapped the padlocks shut in a deliberate, methodical order. The whole drive to Maria’s house was a headache through LA’s torturous gridlock.

Harry pulled into her driveway, and the front door immediately opened. Maria popped out and waited for him on the threshold, waving before he’d even switched off the ignition. “Hi, Harry!” she called, her smile as blinding as the streetlights above her.

She wore a pair of shorts so tiny that the thin, light pink fabric at the bottom seemed to just give up trying to cover her modesty, leaving the lower curve of her ass exposed to the night air. The front of her shorts was even better. They rode up and hugged her puffy pussy, proudly displaying the shape of her womanhood. There was something aggressively deliberate about the way she had dressed, like she wanted to be lusted after by him. Her tank top was so thin it was nearly transparent, exposing her hard nipples to him. The thin spaghetti straps crossed her shoulders, leaving a deep valley of cleavage between her two, pillowy tits. The bottom of the tank top ended right below her breasts, showing off her smooth, toned belly.

She had legs that would fit him perfectly as they wrapped around the back of his neck, and her hair was pulled back in a playful ponytail, exposing her angular jaw. As Harry approached, he wondered whether the outfit was a calculated decision for him, or if this was just how Maria Hill operated when she was off the clock. If he had to guess, he would say it was all part of her plan.

He followed her inside, occasionally peeking at her ass as her hips swayed from side to side. The house was tidy but sparsely furnished, the kind of place you could abandon in ten minutes if needed. The only sign of permanence was a lush, overwatered pothos on the kitchen counter and an old quilt thrown over the back of the couch.

Maria kicked off her flip flops, padded barefoot over the hardwood, and collapsed onto the sofa with a sigh. “It must have been a hell of a week for you,” she said. “The factory is really coming together,” she said, patting the spot next to her.

Harry sat down next to her, and Maria immediately curled her legs under her, tucking in close so that her warm thigh pressed against his jeans. The television was on, tuned to a muted feed of some late-night cable news, but neither of them paid it any mind.

“Yeah. It’s a lot of work, but hopefully, it’ll be rewarding,” he said as Maria leaned in. She stretched her back, the movement shifting her tank top enough to draw his gaze to the underboob that had just slipped below the hem of her tiny shirt.

“You okay? You look sore,” Harry asked with fake concern. Maria lowered her arms and smiled.

“I’ve had a long, tiring day,” she said and then yawned. She scooted even closer until she was pressed right up against his side. Harry could smell the faint tang of her grapefruit-scented shampoo. She then took his hand and slipped his arm over her shoulder. She snuggled in further, rubbing her body against him. “You don’t mind, do you?” she asked, turning her beautiful eyes on him.

“Not at all,” Harry replied, gently brushing his fingers along the soft skin of her arm. Maria graced him with a lovely smile.

“Thanks. It can get a bit lonely here. I don’t really have any friends that I can call up at a moment’s notice,” she admitted. Harry wondered if that really was true. He was sure that life as a spy could probably be very lonely at times. Maria smiled, seemingly pleased with his answer, but Harry knew very well that it was only an act. Still, that didn’t stop her from leaning in and gently kissing his lips. She let the kiss linger, expecting him to deepen it. Harry didn’t disappoint. Her mouth opened, beckoning him in, and she moaned when he responded. His hand ran along her smooth thigh, feeling the silky softness of her skin.

Maria rolled her body over his, straddling Harry’s lap with a playful, practiced confidence. Her knees framed his hips as she pressed down on him. Her tiny pink shorts barely covered her pussy, and she pressed her chest against him, pinning him deeper into the couch. For a second, they didn’t move, simply breathing in each other’s air, the sexual tension hot and tangible. Then, she leaned in, and this time it was she who deepened their kiss, her lips moving in slow, deliberate succession before her tongue slid across his. Harry’s hands confidently found their way to her waist, memorizing the delicate curves of her hips. He let his palms drift down, cupping the full, soft shape of her ass. Her skin was warm, and her shorts so tiny they seemed to disappear into the cleft between her cheeks.

She moaned against his mouth, the sound reverberating through his chest, and wriggled her hips, grinding her covered pussy against the hard seam of his jeans. Harry’s breath hitched, and he squeezed her harder, fingers spreading and kneading her cheeks. He shifted slightly, and his fingers brushed the heat between her legs, still shielded by a layer of soft fabric. Maria gasped and broke their kiss, her hair falling messily around her flushed cheeks, eyes darkened. He felt her heart hammering against his, both of them breathing heavily. For a moment, they just stared, lost in the hunger.

“Would you mind if we slow down?” she asked, breathlessly, her voice slightly hoarse. “I don’t want to take things too far, too soon.” Maria knew that he would. SHIELD had tracked down most of Harry’s lovers, and they all said the same thing … Harry was a nice guy. Even Natasha expressed her admiration for him.

He brushed a strand of her dark hair behind her ear and smiled with ease. “Of course, I don’t mind,” he said. The fact that she had stopped his exploration wasn’t shocking. In fact, it was expected. Things had started off slowly with Natasha as well. It seemed that they didn’t want to give up their advantage if they didn’t have to.

Maria’s body softened, her shoulders falling, and she kissed him again. This time her lips were gentle, slow, stretching the moment out and savoring it. She lingered, letting the intimacy settle over them. It was so different from the frantic heat of a minute before.

Still in his lap, she touched his cheek. “Would you stay tonight? We don’t have to do … you know … everything. But we could still kiss, and cuddle, and maybe fall asleep together.” She didn’t wait for him to answer. She slowly worked her hips back and forth, reminding him of what was hidden below the thin fabric of her shorts.

Harry nodded. “Sure,” he said with a slight, knowing smile. His fingers, now resting on the back of her thighs, traced a lazy circle over her skin. Maria smiled, her eyes bright, and climbed off him with a little wiggle, as if she couldn’t resist one last tease.

She took his hand and led him down the hallway, the air between them thick with desire. In her bedroom, the walls were mostly empty. Only a few generic art prints were hung in a way that expressed that this room belonged to a female. SHIELD hadn’t done a very good job decorating, Harry thought. She closed the door and wiggled out of her shorts, leaving her in an even tinier thong, the strings of which hung low on her wide, inviting hips. She peeled off her tank top, revealing jiggling, perfect breasts, nipples already hard, and Harry felt a wave of irrepressible longing wash over him.

Maria crawled onto the bed and stretched out, arching her back, the fabric of her thong barely able to contain her pink, puffy pussy lips. Her legs were long and smooth, and Harry longed to run his hands down them. She wiggled her cute toes, drawing his attention to her sexy little feet. She then beckoned him with a finger. “Aren’t you going to join me?” she teased, her voice a sensual invitation.

Harry quickly removed his shoes, shirt, and jeans, leaving him in only his boxers, which were severely tented in the front. Maria reached for the lamp and switched it off. The room was filled with the pale glow of string lights, casting shadows in the shape of her body onto the sheets. Harry slid in next to her.

They lay side by side, inches apart, the distance between them insignificant. Harry then touched her shoulder, tracing his fingers down her arm. Maria rolled to face him, and her lips found his again, soft but insistent, her hands roaming over his chest and ribs, mapping his body as if she needed to explore every inch. He kissed her back, letting his hands drift across her hip, then over the bare curve of her waist. He felt the tremble in her stomach when he touched her, the tiny goosebumps that rose on her skin.

For a long time, they lost themselves in that. They spent hours kissing, touching, and moaning. When Maria became too sleepy to continue, she draped her half-naked body over his and buried her face in his neck. Harry held her tightly, loving how her warm breath tickled the side of his neck. He closed his eyes and listened to her breath until he finally drifted off.