Tony, Loki, and Darcy
A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter.
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The day after the shopping trip, Tony locked himself in his lab. He had a lot of work to do.
There were the refinements on the commercial arc reactor to finish, now that the arc reactor in the Tower had been stress-tested well beyond anything even Tony's fertile mind had dreamed up and hadn't so much as hiccupped. It was a fine balancing act with the commercial reactor, making it work at a level viable for commercial energy use but *not* enough like the reactor in his own chest that anyone who poked and prodded at the commercial reactors would be able to do Tony harm.
Then there was a new engine design for cars that ran on something less toxic than gasoline to hammer out, new Starkphone and Starktabs, and better armor for soldiers, SWAT teams, bomb squads, and firemen. The last two, at least, had been worked on by the main Stark R & D teams, and Tony only had to stress-test the results to make sure they lived up to his stringent standards.
That was, sadly, only the list of things to do for SI. He had an even longer to-do list for private projects. He needed to finish fixing the Mark VI, redesign the boot jets on the Mark VIII, double-check the over-all design on the Mark VIII and then get it fabricated. Then he had to finish Clint's new bow and quiver setup and get him to test it out, and design reinforced belts and carabineers for the team to wear with their uniforms to allow for them to be carried by him when in the suit. Then he needed to figure out a lighter system for John that was less losable than an actual lighter, figure out pants for Hulk, get Rogue's skin-colored suit and swimsuits done, and work on better armor for the team in general. And maybe, if he was lucky, get Natasha down here so he could see her tazer system and maybe improve that. But that one, Tony wasn't counting on, because Natasha was still scary beyond belief, even if they'd agreed to a clean slate between them. Tony had a healthy fear of badass women, thanks in large part to Pepper.
"All right. Butterfingers, You, the crates over there ... open them." Tony waved to the two crates at one end of his lab.
The bots immediately obeyed, chirping happily, and pulled out the items inside. One crate had the examples of the various armors for public servants, while the other, smaller crate had several phones and tablets.
"Right, Butterfingers, you get to live up to your name today. You see these?" He waggled a phone and a tablet. "I want you to try to break them. You, you're going to be trying to wreck the armors. Run them over, try to pull them apart, that sort of thing. Then take the metal from the scrap bin and start firing it at the armors with the pneumatic gun."
Both bots squealed happily and trundled off to work. Tony grinned and looked at Dummy. "You're with me today, buddy. I've got suit work to do, among other things. You can help with that, and fetch me smoothies later on once I start working with the holograms. Jarvis, you have the software for the phones and the tablets, you know what to do with it."
"Indeed, sir." Jarvis said, sounding amused.
Dummy squealed happily and raced a circle around Tony, making him laugh. "Yeah, yeah. C'mon you, and this time, try not to be useless, huh?" He bitched affectionately, patting Dummy's casing as he headed for the Mark VI. There was not, fortunately, all that much left to do on it. He just had to finish the repairs to the right gauntlet and reintegrate it into the suit, then fix the arc leads in the chest and it'd be ready to go.
He got that finished, and then had Dummy put the suit away. While Dummy was doing that, he checked in on Butterfingers (who was having entirely too much fun trying to wreck the new phones and tablets) and You (likewise with wrecking the armors). That accomplished, Tony turned his attention to Jarvis.
"Fire up the holographic interface, Jarvis. We've got designing to do."
"Yes sir, though you should know that Mr. Friggasson is en route."
Tony cocked his head. "He is? Huh. Cool. Let him in when he gets here."
Tony had the Mark VIII designs up (since that was the most complete of the pre-existing design plans) and was adjusting the boot jets' power outputs when Loki walked in.
"Hey, Reindeer Games."
"Stark, whatever are your robots doing?" Loki asked, staring over at the bots in question.
"Stress-testing some stuff from Stark Industries R & D." Tony told him. "If it's breakable, they'll find a way. Jarvis was poking at the software earlier."
"It performed sufficiently." Jarvis said, with the air of someone who was convinced that sufficient ... wasn't.
Tony laughed. "We've talked about this, Jarvis. Not everything can be you. Or even the bots." He said.
"Of course not, sir. That does not mean I cannot be dismayed by the inferior quality of technology the common masses think sufficient to their purposes." Jarvis huffed.
Tony laughed again and shook his head. "Don't mind him. He gets huffy about performance parameters." He told Loki.
"Working on the changes to the suit, I see." Loki said, ignoring the banter between Tony and Jarvis.
"Yeah. Thanks for playing guinea pig the other day." Tony said.
Loki waved a hand. "It was no real trouble." He said.
"So, just here to watch, or looking to poke at a few things?" Tony asked.
Loki had picked up on how things worked quickly enough that Tony wasn't worried about Loki mucking about with things on his own. And two minds were better than one with the stuff Tony had to do today.
"Hmmm. If you have something sufficiently challenging, I believe I may find time to assist." Loki said after a few moments.
Tony snorted and flicked up a file of things he wanted to get done. "Take your pick." He said.
It was going to take Loki some time to get used to Midgard's culture, even if he adored this particular aspect of it. Being allowed to exercise his intelligence without censure or disdain would be a treat and a joy for a long time to come.
Keeping one eye on the bots wreaking merry hell in one corner of the lab, Loki perused Stark's list of things to do, and cocked an eyebrow. It was quite a list. He finally chose the vehicle engine idea to work on. Finding a way for such to run on a clean, renewable energy source ought to be doable, even with his level of knowledge when it came to Midgardian technology. Besides, if he got stuck, he had only to consult with Jarvis or Tony and they'd explain.
"Jarvis, a car's engine system, if you please, so I know what not to do." Loki said.
There was a strangled laugh from Tony, who had moved off to finish working on the suit once Loki had made his choice.
Loki peered at the resultant display with confused distaste. "Such a crude construct. Surely this is not the epitome of Midgardian transportation technology when other technology is so ... streamlined and efficient?"
"Sadly, it is." Tony said. "Hence me wanting to figure out something better. That doesn't run on arc reactors."
"Why not arc reactors?" Loki asked.
"Collision hazard." Tony said. "They're fine if they're protected against collisions somehow, but the way people drive, having a bunch of these." He tapped his chest over the reactor cover. "On the roads would be a disaster."
Loki nodded. "I see. So something else, then. I assume various things have been tried?"
"Yeah. Mostly tack-ons to the existing system. Virtually no change to the engine itself, just the energy delivery systems. It hasn't worked well." Tony told him.
Jarvis supplied Loki with examples. There were, it turned out, a few cars that ran partially on a renewable resource, but nothing that ran solely on that. And the designs were crude at best.
Loki shook his head. "This is going to be quite the challenge." He said, grinning toothily. Something he could sink his teeth into.
Loki soon lost himself in plans, ideas, and schematics. He argued amiably with Jarvis over the overall crudity of the vehicle design. Oh, the Midgardians prettied up the outer shell, to be sure, but the underlying mechanics were appalling. Loki eventually ended up drawing (somewhat crudely, it was to be admitted. Drawing was not a great skill of his) a vehicle he had seen in his travels in another Realm, some centuries ago, and what he knew of the inner workings of it, to illustrate his point to Jarvis.
"That bears a remarkable resemblance to a shuttlecraft." Jarvis said, and flashed a picture of such from the Star Trek franchise. There were no warp nacelles on the other Realm's craft, but otherwise there was fairly close resemblance to round-nosed shuttlecraft commonly seen in the Next Generation show.
"Hmmm. So it does. I wonder if perhaps someone from that Realm gave the persons who created the show ideas." Loki said. "Of course, this does not run on ... "
"Antimatter, for the warp nacelles. The propulsion system for slower speeds was never explained." Jarvis said. "Though I now understand what you meant about the design." Jarvis said. The other Realm's vehicle was a model of sleek efficiency and had a minimum of moving parts that would, by necessity, wear out and break.
Loki snorted. "Quite. This vehicle was run on solar power ... one of the few resources there could never be a shortage of."
"Solar power exists here." Jarvis told him. "And has been attempted for vehicles, but is ... unwieldy and inefficient as yet." He showed Loki the designs for the most common systems.
"Hmmm, so I see." Loki peered at the designs.
They were primitive, but the Midgardians had definitely started on the right path for collecting and using that resource. All that remained were refinements to the system. Loki might not have known the full schematics for the other Realm's craft, but he knew the schematics for their power system, as that realm used solar power for literally everything, and the design was essentially the same except for size and capacity for everything.
With some help from Jarvis, he input the design. To his delight, Midgard had access to all the materials required for the system. Now they were getting somewhere.
Darcy had been out most of the day, hunting down a few supplies. Oh, she knew Jarvis could locate and order shit for her, but she preferred to do that herself. Besides, it was an excuse to get out of the Tower and stretch her legs every now and again.
That said, it was now late, and if Darcy knew her geeks, they were not only still up and eyeball deep in *Science!*, they had not left their labs all day. She rolled her eyes in fond exasperation.
"Jarvis, geek check!" she called as she headed for the common kitchen to make some food for doubtlessly starving geeks.
"Doctors Banner and Ross left their lab fifteen minutes before your arrival, Miss Lewis. Doctors Foster and Selvig are still in their lab, but Thor has been in residence most of the day as well, and insisted on feeding them at steady intervals, and is currently beginning to attempt to lure them out of the lab."
Darcy grinned. "I knew I liked him." She said. She was truly happy for Jane. Thor didn't seem to understand half of what came out of Jane's mouth, but Darcy was just as bad, and she and Jane were witness to the fact that you didn't have to understand Jane's science stuff to get along with her. And if Thor was willing to dance attendance on Jane and get her to eat and take breaks from her science, he definitely got the Darcy seal of approval.
"Sir, however, has been locked in his lab since shortly after dawn, and has not emerged since. Mr. Friggasson joined him shortly after breakfast, and has likewise remained ensconced. Dummy has prepared them several smoothies since, but they have been too distracted by their pursuits to consume them, despite pointed reminders by both myself and Dummy."
"Right, so, intervention needed." Darcy said. "Lemme get this finished, because they're going to be starving when they stop concentrating on whatever it is they're doing down there."
A few minutes later, laden with a trolley full of food, Darcy headed for Tony's lab. Jarvis let her in without her even having to try to wrangle the door.
"Ok, boys. Time out. Playtime's over. Time to eat, and sleep." Darcy called.
Of course, she got ignored. She was used to that. It generally took a couple tries to get Jane's attention when she was deep in her science.
Darcy held off for a moment, letting the scent of hot food permeate the room as an assist to prying the two men out of their own heads. They looked to be working on separate designs, Loki messing with something that looked vaguely like ... well, nothing Darcy could readily identify. Stark was playing with something that looked like a suit design.
"Boys!" she called, louder and more firmly. That got Tony's attention at least. Darcy silently thanked Potts for training him to respond to that tone of voice even if he really didn't want to. "Food, Stark. Even geniuses need to eat, and you've been in here all day." Darcy told him, pointing firmly at the trolley.
Stark eyed her for a moment, then evidently decided discretion was the better part of valor and headed over to the trolley. Darcy did *not* smirk at her ability to cow a multi-billionaire with the threat of her tazer, when she'd never once actually threatened to taze him. It was good to be feared.
Loki, on the other hand, hadn't had a Pepper to train him, so he didn't respond to Darcy. She rolled her eyes and walked over.
"Ok, big guy. Enough playtime for now." She said, poking him in the arm to get his attention.
It took a second, but then Loki hauled his gaze away from the hologram he'd been messing with and turned to her.
Whoa momma.
Darcy had seen her fair share of intense expressions. It came with geek territory. They *all* of them got really invested in their geekery at some point, and got intense, intent looks on their faces. But Darcy had never quite run across a look like Loki's before. It was equal parts laser-like intensity and something that was almost anger, but not quite.
Darcy had a healthy libido, and a healthy appreciation for intelligent, good-looking men. Which Loki more than qualified as. And that look on his face was doing good things to her libido, even though she knew it wasn't being aimed at her for the reasons her libido wanted it to be. Would *never* be aimed at her for that reason, she knew. The odds on two alien princes falling for Midgardian women were astronomical, and Darcy was nothing if not practical.
"Food, Loki. You may not eat the sheer tonnage Thor manages, but you still eat more than humans do, and according to Jarvis, you haven't eaten all day."
Loki gave his head a shake, and the intense look receded, much to Darcy's secret dismay. "Yes, I suppose sustenance would be a good idea." He said, before he favored her with a small smile. "My thanks, Lady Darcy." He said, before turning towards the trolley. "I fear I became overly absorbed in my task."
Darcy laughed. "No harm, no foul, Loki. I'm used to it with Jane. It comes with the super-smart brains, I think. I've yet to meet someone with that level of smarts that *doesn't* lose themselves in their projects."
Tony started yawning halfway through his dinner, and folded without further argument from Darcy, heading for the elevator and his bed. And probably Pepper. Loki, on the other hand, seemed to only have been refreshed by the break. Darcy eyed him askance.
"I do not require as much sleep as Midgardians do." Loki said, seeing her expression.
"And you're avoiding sleeping anyway." Darcy said, which got her a scowl. She waved a hand. "Dude, not like you don't have reason, and I wasn't tracking just you. I've just been keeping tabs on the geek brigade with Jarvis, to make sure you lot don't drive yourselves into the ground with too much lab time and too little food and sleep."
Loki seemed to accept that. "I would like to attempt to finish this before I retire." He said, completely avoiding replying to her comment about him avoiding sleep.
"What is that you're working on, anyway?" Darcy asked.
"A vehicle engine that runs solely on a renewable resource. It was among Stark's list of projects that needed to be worked on." Loki told her.
Darcy peered at the schematics again. "That ... looks nothing like any car engine I've ever seen." She said.
"Indeed it would not. I have had to redo it from the beginning, as the original engine design, while able to be adapted to other fuels, would be increasingly inefficient. An engine designed solely to run on the new resource was demanded." Loki said.
Darcy nodded. "Well, that makes sense. So what've you got?" She asked.
Darcy was well aware of the advice she'd given Thor a few days back, regarding Loki. She was also aware that people other than Thor observing that advice with Loki was a damn good idea. It helped that she was genuinely interested in what he was up to. Alternate-fuel cars had been a thing for a while, and something Darcy approved of, given that gasoline was eventually going to become unavailable for use, when the wells inevitably ran dry. Better to figure out how to power things before that happened and cars were a good first step.
Loki eyed her for a moment, as if trying to figure out if she was legitimately interested, then gave a faint nod and started explaining what he'd done.