"I have to be, there's a budget meeting, and if I'm not there, we're going to end up allocating millions of dollars to new toys for Stark or something equally unhelpful."

He looked down at his knee and toe, grimacing. "It's not too bad. Just one broken toe. And... my knee's a little banged up. But that's nothing new, just an old college injury that flares up whenever someone hits it with a solid chunk of indestructible metal." He gave her a small, wry smile.