Boldly Innovate

You know that feeling where you're feeling down, and then you manage to cheer yourself up, and then two days later someone manages to break your mood again?
...Though, honestly, that might be part of why I'm so drawn to writing Tony this year.  I get a lot of 'nothing's good enough for Howard Stark' feels.
~dreamer~

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Iron Man Crossover (Self-Made Hero)
Summary: When a Tony gets an idea in his head in any universe...
Word Count: 370
Rating: Gen

         The Red Shirt doesn’t like to speak up often.  It seems to have something to do with the Prime Directive (which Xander had likened, to Tony’s amusement, to the World of Cardboard speech—when applied right, it’s not a matter of stepping in, but of ‘taking constant care not to break something or someone’).  One morning, though, the Chief Engineering Officer wakes up with this urge to tinker.  They compromise by cutting eighth period and in the meantime letting him doodle designs on his notes while the rest of them take actual notes in their head.
         The general idea, he explains the minute they get home, is this: transporters aren’t utilized in combat because it takes too long to energize.  Theoretically, with the Sorceror Supreme’s magic, the time would take only a second to walk into a different dimension, the time it took to walk, and another second to walk back out.  It would probably be highly energy consuming, since the process would be complex, so couldn’t be used, for example, to teleport around a figure 360^o and hit them each time, but could be done, say, to get out of the way of an attack, and possibly set yourself up for an attack.  They all get excited at the possibilities, and it’s only when he takes a break and realizes it’s one in the morning and never ate dinner and there’s homework and also apparently Willow came over to talk to him and fell asleep. 
         He considers, briefly, then shrugs, collects a blanket, tucks her in, and goes to check whether her parents are in town (he can’t be expected to remember everything and also they aren’t, according to the Calendar of Important Stuff Separate from the Calendar of Wise Teachings, so he doesn’t have to call and make with the excuses).  They briefly engage in a debate about the homework before the most responsible of them (the Leader or the Mechanic, probably) agree that he’s got a good enough grade and it’s a small enough assignment that shouldn’t matter.  He is reminded to eat an energy bar or three and hydrate before diving back in, though.  Which he follows—hey, he’s not completely self-destructive, give him some credit.