The Seduction Process (November 1986)

Isabella felt like she was half awake and half dreaming. Just the thought of Basil forcing her to eat those Ghost peppers again made her start to tremble. She considered herself a strong woman (you had to be in order to make it into the FBI), but something about him unnerved her. She felt both hot and cold at the same time and her heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute. She forced herself to take several deep, cleansing breaths. She was relieved that Tony wasn't angry at her. He clearly knew who Basil was and what he did to people. She was grateful that the disc was off of her neck. She owed him for helping to save her life.

She glanced at Tony when he stated that he now knew why she had come onto him in the first place. Did she see a look of disappointment in his eyes about that? She did still remember everything from the night before. Despite the fact that she had been controlled by Basil to seduce Tony, she had enjoyed being with him. Her last relationship had been a disaster, but Tony had made her feel special again...even if it was just for one night.

"I do know where he is," she said and then gave him the address. "He is also controlling Nick Fury and Phil Coulson from SHIELD. I had been recruited by Phil to join SHIELD after I was forced to leave my position at the FBI. I've only been working there a few months."

“Alright, well, you sit tight, I’ve already given you Jarvis guest privileges. You’ll be safe here,” he said as he rose. Just then a blonde woman came up to the door. Tony glanced that way then back toward Isabella. “Isabella, this is Pepper Potts, my personal assistant. Pepper, this is Isabella Corsetti,” he said introducing her. Then he turned back to Isabella again. “SHe’ll help you with anything you need,” he said.

“Pepper,” he said as he faced her. “I’ve got to go out. There’s trouble at SHIELD HQ,” he said.

Isabella looked at the woman he referred to as Pepper Potts as she walked in. Isabella felt rather self-conscious being in Tony's bed and wearing his robe in front of this woman who worked for him. She watched Tony leave and hoped he would be alright. She waited a moment before speaking to Pepper.

"Is there somewhere where I can take a shower?"

“Ofcourse and I can show you to a room Tony keeps...A room for you,” she amended though it was clear she wasn’t thrilled for Isabella to be here. The room was not quite as big as Tonys but it was very nice and the bathroom was huge. There were all sorts of clothes in the closets and drawers. All sorts of shoes and accessories and even makeup and hair supplies.

Tony flew to SHIELD HQ and was met by several agents who tried to repel him. He was forced to hurt several of them by blasting them with his repulsor beams. Eventually he was able to breach their security with the help of some of the older agents who knew him. So it was a huge surprise to the Controller when Iron Man showed up in his suit. He had no time to wonder about it though. Tony released his modified pulse. Instantly Phil Coulson and Nick Fury broke from the controller’s grasp. They both nearly fell due to the disorientation of being released. The controller tried to leave but Tony blasted him and he was flung into the wall and knocked unconscious.

“And that was for Isabella,” he said.

Once he destroyed The controller’s hat device and turned him over to SHIELD he left to go back and check on Isabella.

Isabella could tell that Pepper was not thrilled with her being there. Isabella did not plan on staying long. She got into the shower and used a loofah to wash her body. Once clean, she got out of the shower and found a new toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed her teeth and then brushed out her hair. She found a pair of pants and a shirt to put on and there were some shoes that fit her as well.

She was clearly getting ready to leave when Tony walked in. She looked over at him and was glad to see he was alright. "I borrowed some clothes. I will wash them and make sure you get them back."

Tony arrived and hurried out of his suit. He bounded up the stairs then calmed himself as he headed toward Isabella’s room. Pepper was there and she had a huge list of things that he needed to take care of. She handed him his daily espresso and he drank it as she rattled off his schedule today. “Children again?” He asked. “Yes Mr. Stark, you’ve postponed that event twice already,” She said as he sipped his Espresso.

“Thank you Pepper,” He said as he handed her back the cup and saucer. “Is she still here?” He asked. ANd Pepper knew who he meant. “Yes Tony, I put her in the ‘guest’ room,” she said. “Oh, good, ok, Thank you Pep,” he said. As he stepped away from her.

Tony knocked first and then came into the room. “Well, The collector is hopefully back where I put him last time and everyone at SHIELD is back to normal,” he said. “How are you feeling? I’m kinda missing the red dress now,” he said. “Don’t worry about the clothes,” he said but he saw she was feeling uncomfortable. “So what is your mutation? I noticed you changed...and your skin looked like it was made out of diamond and you were extremely heavy to move,” he said.

Isabella looked like she was feeling better and she certainly was. She knew it would still take some time for her to fully recover, but she felt well enough to leave and return home. Isabella had been avoiding the topic of her mutation. She knew that she had transformed in front of him, but wasn't sure how he felt about mutants. However, when he brought it up she decided to answer him.

"Basically my body can transform into any hard, solid, organic substance. The diamond form is the primary form, but my body can transform into other rock or metal forms as well."

“Well that sounds useful. It's a shame that the FBI released you because of that. But I will be honest, I can’t say I trust Nick Fury. I’m not calling you out or anything for working for them. And I want you to know,” he said as he stepped up to her. “That I don’t blame you for anything. I know you...I know you likely would never have approached me otherwise but…” he said and he rubbed the back of his head. “But I’d like to maybe...get to know you...the real you,” he said as he looked at her. He didn’t give her time to think about it. He moved up and cupped her face in his hand as he kissed her lips.

Isabella's first instinct was to kiss Tony back. She rather enjoyed the feel of his lips against her own. His musky scent filled her nose and caused her mind to go fuzzy for a moment. However, she quickly remembered who it was she was dealing with here and she wasn't certain she wanted to get involved with him.

She slowly pulled back and looked at him. "Tony, let's be honest here. You are a man who seems to need excitement in his life, including having a different woman all the time. I don't want to be your woman of the week. I need more out of my relationships. So, let's just say that last night was 'our night'. It was amazing and I'd rather just remember you for that and what you did to help me, instead of getting attached to you and then having you move on."

“But it wasn’t. You were compelled to seduce me,” he said as he looked at her. “You wouldn’t have otherwise and we’d likely never have met. But now that we have, I think I’d like to see you again,” he said as he held her. She was beautiful and her dark eyes regarded him with an expression he could not decipher.

“Do you cook?” he asked. “I am willing to bet that you do and I seem to enjoy Italian so lets start with that,” he said smoothly

Everything inside Isabella's brain was screaming at her to just walk away, but she didn't. There was just something about Tony that pulled her in and she wanted to stay with him.

"I'm going to get my heart so broken by you..." she said before kissing him again.