Realizing

Having a guilty conscience for not opening her bistro weeks ago, Valerie nevertheless knew why she delayed it. Opening the coffee shop would mean taking time from her favorite past time: Tony watching. Being plagued by nightmares, they both kept to approximately the same waking hours, so sleeping long wasn't in the cards for them.

She mused that it was bad sportsmanship if she was observing Tony, while he prepared his traps for her. So being preoccupied between 10.00 to 16.00 wasn't a bad idea.

The bistro room was cleaned and ready, the coffee machine was working perfectly, now she only needed to decide what foods to serve in the opening week. Blueberry muffins were a must because they were her favorites, that left the cake and the weekly lunch meal. Pondering what to serve she went to see her favorite person delivering his daily supply of caffeine.

Because she showed him a new kind of spell yesterday and with her thoughts on the opening, she didn't anticipate his next move. The moment she ported inside his kitchen she came face to face with the Iron Man suit, staring with an open mouth, she nearly missed the wires that were being shot at her.

Before the experiments, her magic felt like a well. When casting a spell, she had to pull hard to get a bucket full of her magic, now she had to make a constant effort to put a lid on the well otherwise the magic would overflow. Barely having enough time to register the attack, she forgot about the five cups of coffee she was carrying and threw them in front of her. The attack surprised her, she neglected to deliberately control her magic output and so it wrapped around her like a shield, protecting her from the wires.

Immediately after she ported outside the kitchen window, looking inside she could see the suit was dripping wet from the coffee shower. Giggling, feeling exhilarated she couldn't believe Stark had the guts to make such a trap for her. By wearing his suit he showed that he didn't underestimate her and the danger she possessed to his wellbeing. Valerie didn't know how she triggered the wires but she resolved to not only charm herself with invisibility but with a spell to make her undetectable and untraceable too. The only disadvantage was that it was a learning spell which meant every device could detect her one time before the spell `learned` and made her immune against this way of tracking.

Teleporting back home, she quickly made new cups of coffee. Before going back she thought of rewarding Tony for his courage. So she took one of the blueberry muffins she baked in one of her cooking classes. Coming back to the mansion Tony was just trying to wipe the coffee off while still being in his Iron Man suit. It looked unbelievably silly and pitiful, so she couldn't do anything else but help. With a little bit of magic, the spilled coffee vanished and the newly brewed drinks and the muffin appeared on the counter together with a post-it note.

Tony had spent his night preparing for the trap that would catch his little visitor. Digging up his kitchen floor and hiding pressure plates underneath it, he combined them with a shooting device that would stun his guest. And it had worked! For one glorious second, he had thought he had caught her, but then he noticed his wires were stopped by what looked like a blue energy screen in the shape of a human being, then it had vanished. Not believing the ghost would simply leave, he stood there and waited for its revenge. Waiting in vain for several minutes he noticed he was drenched in coffee and tried to clean himself but it was a futile attempt in his suit. Lowering his arms and giving up his fruitless endeavor he saw the cups and the muffin on his counter. Slowly he walked near it, still expecting some kind of payback for his incursion. Then he saw the note:

- Nice try -

When he was waiting for her retribution and nothing happened he was really afraid to have driven her away. Yes, he thought about the visitor as female, he didn't know why. Maybe because she brought him coffee every day. Tony knew he was guilty of stereotyping: she took a somewhat nurturing position in his life so he categorized her as a female. Nobody had so faithfully brought him a gift every day, especially without getting paid. Or maybe because it freaked him out a lot less if he thought about his invisible stalker as a she. With the note, he knew they were good. Laughing with relief he said:

"Now I know you can make energy shields, throw coffee, clean things in seconds and you are at least humanoid."

Tony really had hoped she was a human being and not something like a tentacle monster.

"Soon I will find out what you look like and what you are. Just you wait."

With that said he went to his workshop to get out of his suit and try to think of some other plan to catch her. Maybe he could try thermal cameras so he would know for sure which gender his coffee deliverer was.

Valerie didn't know if she should be frightened after his declaration. He was quickly learning more about her. She would have to decide if she would continue this chase with the obvious conclusion of her getting caught. She was not conceited enough to think she could outwit the smartest person on the planet. The alternative was leaving and never look back. At the rate, Stark was figuring her out the time for a decision was rapidly approaching. While she was still standing in the kitchen, thinking about the choice she had to make, Jarvis suddenly talked to her.

"Invisible guest, I calculated a 75 percent chance that you are still here, high enough to try to ask for a favor."

Startling her, her curiosity grew. So she focused her energy on her fingertips, writing in the air with magic would leave a trail of sparkling, bright, blue light for some seconds before it would fade away.

- What do you want? -

"Thank you for answering my inquiry. My prime motivator, as programmed is Mr. Stark's well being. After observing you I determined that you are the best option for Sir to survive."

- Survive? What do you mean survive? -

"As I am sure you are aware: the arc reactor is essential for Sir's life. It prevents the shrapnel, which the doctors are not able to remove, from reaching his heart. Palladium is the only known element that can supply the energy the reactor needs, but it is a deterrent for Sir's health. There is a 90 % chance Mister Stark will die in the next three months. I calculated two possibilities: One you can provide Sir with a new element or two you can make something more potent than your coffee. The health increase after consuming your beverage is minimal so it can only win him a few days but if there is a concentrated version than I am certain Mister Stark would have enough time to invent a new element himself. Are you willing to help Sir?"

- I don't think I can provide a new element, I have no idea how. But I will look into a health potion. -

" Thank you, mister or miss guest. Please take note: You have at most 87 days left."

Teleporting back to her house, she was still brooding over the new information. Asking herself why she hadn't guessed that Tony was dying. The signs were there but she didn't connect the dots because Tony seemed so vibrant and full of life. Looking at the time she decided to not wait until this evening to look for a health potion recipe in her library but to start immediately. She was certain she could make a potion that would heal Stark and make him one hundred percent healthy. He would need to consume the potion regularly as long as the palladium was still there.

Thinking Tony's health was far more important than her bistro's opening she went upstairs to do research on potion making especially health potions. She only had basic knowledge in alchemy and a health potion was advanced potion-making. The next problem, she could tell, would be to change the composition because the potion is for magical human beings which have an advanced metabolism. It wouldn't be an issue if taken once but Stark needed to drink the elixir multiple times. If the potion is too potent it would turn into poison after consuming it a second time.

So she was looking at research, brewing and testing the potion which would take several weeks and time was running out.