"I object to routinely," Tony said, just on principle. He squinted at Bruce, briefly distracted and vaguely curious. "Also to that bit about furniture, I've got more important things to do than lurk behind furniture."

He didn't say anything else about whether he should be trusted, didn't even shrug to acknowledge it.

"I've been busy," he said a bit defensively to the question of breaching the atmosphere -- and then quickly went back on the offensive. "But you might as well admit it, you're not bad with flying, you're bad with the idea of flying," Tony said. "You should do something about that, like come flying with me." But he was starting to doubt that he could win this argument, which made it no fun. He changed tacks.

"But I'll settle for--" he nudged one of the parts on the ground with his foot. They were starting to fit themselves together into a framework. "Okay, give me one really good idea for a killer app using five repulsors, and I'll let you off from the flying carpet."