Chapter 107: Plans for Europe

[Third Person's PoV] 

When Melissa appeared before Tony, she looked at him with a straight expression. Tony was sitting on a beach chair, one hand behind his head and a drink in the other.

Tony lowered his construct glasses and looked at Melissa while fake yawning, "You sure took your sweet time getting here, didn't you?"

"It still doesn't make sense how you managed to travel at the speed of light," Melissa said, narrowing her eyes.

Tony smirked, "I used your suit as a base for it. You know how your suit lets you harness quantum tunneling and phase through matter? Well, my suit is similar, but instead of quantum tunneling, it's with light. It lets me travel with the light it releases and harnesses."

Tony stood up from where he was sitting, letting the light constructs dissipate. At that moment, Stars and Stripes landed in Tony's superhero landing pose.

"Copycat," Tony teased as he saw Stars and Stripes slowly stand up.

"Oh please, like you're the first person to ever do that," Stars scoffed. "I just wanted to show you how arrogant you looked when you did it."

"It felt great, didn't it?" Tony smirked.

Stars pinched her fingers, "A bit," she admitted with amusement.

She raised an eyebrow as she looked Tony up and down. "New suit?"

"Always," Tony replied, flexing a bicep and extending his arm to the side, showing off his new suit.

"So, what are we doing today?" Melissa asked curiously.

"Client protection services," Stars said, getting serious.

"I see, so it's when people hire heroes to be their bodyguards for the day or for an event, right?" Melissa inferred.

"This must be important if you're accepting it," Tony remarked, knowing hiring the number one hero in the United States couldn't be cheap.

Stars and Stripes nodded, "We're tasked with defending the President of the United States while he goes abroad for international dealings."

"Cool…" Tony and Melissa smirked.

"Do we get to know what this deal is about?" Tony asked.

"No, since it's confidential to the nation. Even I, the one tasked with protection, and the number one hero here, don't fully know what the dealings are. We're just doing our job," Stars explained.

"Yeah, that isn't ominous at all," Tony muttered.

"Are we even allowed to go with you? Since we're just, you know, interns?" Melissa asked.

"I already got confirmation yesterday. You two have nothing to worry about. They said the more protection, the better, so you're good to go," Stars informed them.

"Can we at least know where we're going?" Tony asked.

"We're going to Europe."

"Wait, how long is this trip?" Tony asked.

"Three days, basically the duration of your internship."

"THREE DAYS?!" Tony and Melissa shouted in unison.

"Damn it..." Tony muttered.

"Is something wrong? You can't make it?" Stars asked curiously.

"When do we leave?" Tony asked.

"In approximately two hours."

Tony's shoulders slumped. "Give me a minute, I'll need to make a couple of phone calls."

"Oh, you can take your time. Like I said, you won't be needed for two hours, so get your things in order—clothing, essentials, all that," Stars waved them off.

"All right, all right…" Tony said, blowing a raspberry with his lips before stepping aside. "We'll meet you in an hour and a half."

"Let's go, Melissa…" Tony said, blasting off into the sky.

Tony began punching and kicking the air. "Argh!"

Melissa looked at him weirdly, concerned. "Tony, what's going on?"

"Today, Nezu and I planned to ambush the villains who attacked USJ. He's already gathering the heroes to launch an attack this afternoon. And that's not all—the main big bad might make an appearance. I want to be part of that, but I also really want to go to Europe and defend the President. That sounds so badass, and I don't want to miss it," Tony said, spinning in the air as he vented to Melissa.

"Not to mention, I promised my mom I'd spend time with her today, and I really don't want to let her down," Tony added, disappointed.

Melissa sighed at Tony's dilemma. "Well, isn't a big part of being a hero about making sacrifices? Sometimes we can't have it all…"

Tony stopped and stared at Melissa for a moment.

"What?" Melissa asked, confused.

"You sound like a poor person. Only poor people make sacrifices and can't have it all in the world" Tony remarked.

Melissa gave Tony a deadpan expression. "I'm being serious and trying to support you."

"Well, your support sucks… You're my assistant, you should be helping me figure everything out, not telling me to make sacrifices."

Tony created a shark with jet engines using his ring, and sat on it as it swam through the air, deep in thought.

Melissa's eye twitched, and she fought the urge to blast Tony out of the sky.

Tony brainstormed different ideas for a few moments, he was slapping his forehead with his palm for a few seconds before snapping his fingers. "I've got it!"

"I'll use the two hours I have left to get everything in order and spend time with my mom. Then, we can go to Europe for the internship and protect the President. While we're there, I'll control one of my suits remotely to oversee the ambush and make sure everything goes according to plan. I can even send Baymax as a backup."

Here is the revised version with corrected spelling and grammar:

Tony beamed with pride at his own genius. "Look at that, I don't need to make a phone call after all... Okay, maybe I lied. Friday, call my Spawn Point."

"If you have your own mother as 'Spawn Point,' which, by the way, is really weird, what do you have me saved as?"

Tony glanced at her and smirked. "Wifey."

Melissa blushed slightly, not expecting that. She had thought it would be something weird.

"Tony? Is something the matter, honey?" Maria asked with concern, not expecting Tony's call.

"Are you busy right now?" Tony asked.

Maria looked at her desk stacked with papers and folders, then pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Nope, I'm as free as a bird. Do you need something?"

"Ah, yeah. Do you remember how I said I'd try to make time for you today? Well—"

"Are you canceling on me?" Maria asked sadly.

Tony could practically hear her shoulders slump as she asked that.

"No, I'm asking if I could use that time now. I'm going on a business trip and have a few hours of free time. I won't get another chance for the next three days."

"Business trip? What business trip? To where?"

"Well, it's part of my internship with Stars and Stripes. We're going to Europe, and I'm going to be protecting the President," Tony said proudly.

"Haha, that sounds important. Well, I'm glad you called to inform me and are making time for your dear old mom. I'll be waiting…"

"All right, I'll see you soon..." With that, Tony hung up the call.

"Mama's boy," Melissa teased.

Tony just made a hard-light construct of a middle finger in her direction as they headed back home.

Melissa simply laughed, holding her stomach, finding his reaction—and the middle finger construct—hilarious.

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