TITLE: Iron Maiden - Days of Future Past
DISCLAIMER: The Marvel Cinematic Universe characters and everything from Earth-199999 belongs to Marvel under the umbrella of The Mouse of Doom, ahem, sorry, Disney... anything from other Marvel Universes / dimensions / timelines belong to their respective comic creators… basically, if you recognise it, it isn't mine... Please don't sic SHIELD on me, I'm just here for the fun.
Stark Mansion
10880 Malibu Point
Malibu
California
March 1st, 2010
In his pick up truck, Rhodey's eyebrows nearly met his hairline as he drove up the private road leading up to Tony's mansion.
It was nearly lunch time, so he'd expected to arrive early, probably prompt JARVIS into waking Tony up, have some breakfast slash lunch together before they got down to any actual work. Honestly, he hadn't expected to get any work at all done today, more likely he would be sitting back and listening to Tony ramble on about various things and woman and god only knew what else.
To see Tony actually up and about, but outside of his mansion before midday felt... odd. And seeing him fiddling with technology and working with someone else, that was new, definitely new.
The sight of the flying machine though, that was enough to nearly take his breath away. Tony hadn't been kidding when he'd called them Angels, the name really fit and he could only imagine what they'd be like as a full search and rescue team.
It was a young woman wearing the shining sliver wings, flying a good twenty feet off of the ground. The silver and white wings stretched out behind her that twisted and warped with her body, then flicked back when she pushed her arms back and she shot off into the sky like a bullet.
"Tony?" Rhodey yelled, pulling up and jumping out of his truck quickly as he turned the ignition over. "Is she..."
"She's fine Rhodey," Tony laughed, his eyes flicking between where Rhodey was running across the grass towards them and the sensor readout panel in his hand. "Just checking the thruster pack. First time using the new Micro-Arc for anything like this, so we're double checking everything over and running manoeuvrability tests to push the thrusters and see where their limits are."
"How's it going?" Rhodey asked after a small pause with him looking around the bright sky trying to find the flyer that had taken off.
"Pretty good, she's staying under four hundred miles per hour for now. I think we're going to have to dial down the repulsors a bit, wouldn't want anyone pushing these two far and seeing an unprotected body hitting something nasty." Tony explained with a grimace. "Body armour is definitely a must, full face helmet too. And don't push the speeds in rain or hail. Hail hitting the body at these speeds would be deadly."
"Mention that in your warnings," Rhodey said with wide eyes, making a mental note to mention it himself in case Tony forgot about little things like this. "Four hundred?" He asked in amusement. "Didn't want to push mach one?"
Tony snorted at that, looking up with a grin. "I'm thinking of dialling it down to two hundred at maximum thrust. Want to see what an normal human body looks like when it passes the sound barrier?"
"I'll pass," Rhodey said quickly, holding up his hand in surrender. It was a messy enough mental image, and he certainly didn't want to imagine any airmen he knew putting their body through that sort of meat grinder. "What about..."
"Hang on, she's coming back..." Tony interrupted. "Bit low... duck!" He ordered, crouching down low while Rhodey hid the deck immediately only moments before a strong blast of air ripped across them and the wings swung into view, pulling up harshly above them and idly hanging in the sky proudly. "Warn us next time kiddo!" He shouted up.
"Wanted to test the active repulsor system for breaking, kicks in about a half second too slow when the wings kick out." A female voice yelled back down. "Probably a coding issue with the wing angles and the gyroscopic controls, I'll take a look at it later."
"Get down here," Tony chuckled, waving up at her with his diagnostics pad.
Rhodey simply watched in awe as the woman came down for a landing, swooping around casually in the air before coming down low, landing in a running position before she flicked her arms forwards and the wings retracted away, the two smaller ones folding back first before the two larger wings retracted back and folded over the thruster pack in an origami style fashion.
The thing that definitely stood out to him though, aside from the amazing looking wings, was the glowing hexagon on her chest over her t-shirt, that was scarily reminiscent of the circular arc reactor he knew was housed in Tony's chest under his shirt.
"You weren't kidding about the wings," Rhodey nodded with an impressed smile, knowing full well he could name a dozen paratroopers just off the top of his head who would kill to get their hands on a pair of wings like that. "They look amazing."
"I know," Tony grinned happily. "But it's not my project." He said, much to Rhodey's surprise. "Rhodey, Morgan." He introduced the pair with a grin, happy that Morgan had accepted to keep things quiet for now until he knew how much he could trust Rhodey with everything.
She'd argued a bit saying that of course she could trust Uncle Eightball, but logic had won out in the end, with her admitting that this wasn't the uncle that she knew, not yet anyway, and he'd admitted already that his loyalty to the Air Force came before his loyalty to Tony.
That had stung, and Morgan hadn't accepted it at first until JARVIS had pulled up the recording to show her.
So they were sticking with the daughter story for now that Pepper was using with Happy, the same story that was going to be given to the reporters and the public during the Expo event. She was his daughter from a fling back when he was at MIT, he only found out a few months ago after his whole Iron Man kick, and they were still figuring things out together.
"You're letting other people work on projects now?" Rhodey asked in surprise, looking at Tony with a small smirk. "You're letting her work on projects here instead of at SI?" He asked.
"Special case," Tony grinned at him before turning to Morgan. "Any more problems?" He asked as Morgan shrugged off the Angel wings and double checked over the flight harness that was strapping the device to her back.
"All good," Morgan nodded. "Might want to look into better fabric for the harness though. "Kevlar nylon weave is tough as hell, but it pulls a bit in uncomfortable spots at higher speeds and banking."
Tony and Rhodey grimaced at that, both squeezing their thighs a bit and not liking the idea of a tight harness pulling around those sensitive areas. "Gotcha, better material, might look at a different harness design." Tony said quickly, making a note of that.
"Nah, should be OK with a less abrasive material. Either that or a sleeve over the weave, some extra padding will stop it digging in and rubbing as much." Morgan shrugged as she unbuckled the last bits of the harness. "Reactor hold up alright?" She asked.
"Didn't even fluctuate," Tony smiled proudly. "Few more tests and I'd say we're ready to send these to fabrication."
"Yes!" Morgan grinned happily. "I knew they'd work better than a falcon wing design." She laughed as Tony rolled his eyes at her, leaning over to ruffle her hair lightly.
"Tony," Rhodey frowned, looking between how familiar Tony was acting with the young woman. "You don't let just anyone work on projects at your mansion. Certainly not like this." He said, staring at the woman and cataloguing her features as he thought about it. "I know you, I recognise you from somewhere. You been working at SI for long?" He asked.
"Nope Rhodey, can guarantee you've never met her before in your life." Tony laughed, being completely honest here. "You've met her mom though, that much I can say."
"Her..." Rhodey blinked as his brain caught up, looking between Tony and the young woman, spotting all the physical similarities that they very clearly shared. "Oh no no no, Tony... tell me..."
"Morgan, meet your Uncle Rhodey," Tony grinned, obviously quite happy by the way his best friend was very quickly entering a panic mode.
"Uncle... Tony..." Rhodey glared ominously. "Has... have you..."
"Pepper ran the DNA herself." Tony answered the unasked question.
"She's... Tony, how..."
"Well, when a man and a woman get together, tab P goes into slot V and..."
"Ew, dad!" Morgan mocked, slapping her had on the shoulder. "I don't need nightmares about that thank you very much." She huffed, rolling her eyes as he cackled happily and ducked away from another slap.
"I'm with her, I've seen far too much of you to want to hear the stories as well." Rhodey said firmly. "That... I'm just... Tony, you're a dad." He said, shock colouring his voice as he stared at Tony and the young woman.
"I kinda figured that out before I saw the paternity match," Tony rolled his eyes. "Anyway, the wings are her project, her babies. She gets at least twenty five percent of the credit."
"Twenty five percent?" Morgan narrowed her eyes dangerously.
"An argument could be made for thirty, but it'll have the Stark name on them, and you use my tools and fabrication systems to get the frame up to scratch. And I had to help you with the metallurgy to match the wing membranes properly so they held their strength while keeping the weight down." Tony smirked at her.
"Only because I didn't bother learning metallurgy, I had better things to bother with." Morgan snarked back at him.
"Then you can't complain when you needed my help." Tony beamed as if he'd won the argument all by himself.
"Fine, so you can take twenty percent of the credit for the other things we're rolling out?" Morgan smirked, looking at him as he clearly thought about all the advanced future tech they would be rolling out from SI that her dad wouldn't have the faintest clue where to even start with.
"I take it back, I see the resemblance." Rhodey gave a small smirk at that as Tony whirled to face him with a mock hurt expression on his face. "How does nobody know about this yet? How long have you even known?"
"Not long, long enough." Tony waved off that part of the story, intent on not actually lying to Rhodey but keeping things quiet until he knew where Rhodey's loyalties actually lay. "I'm keeping it quiet for now, going to go public with things at the Expo, but for now... I'm actually enjoying it." He explained with a laugh.
"Tony, things like this... the media will find out, you know this." Rhodey sighed, massaging his temples as he tried to reign in his crazy thought patterns from worrying about Tony.
"She's here, I'm here, you're here. We've got work to do." Tony clapped, clearly ignoring what Rhodey was saying. "Workshop. Did General whatshisface sign off on the contracts? Every agreement?"
"General Baur," Rhodey sighed, knowing it was a fools errand to try and get Tony to remember names of people like that. "And yes, they've all been signed and sent back to legal. The contracts should be filed and on record by now."
"Fine, workshop." Tony smiled happily at that. Happily walking off back towards the mansion with Morgan in tow, carrying her wings and ready to run through the diagnostic data herself to make sure she hadn't missed anything.
"Tony... Tony!" Rhodey shouted, jogging down the grass to catch up with Tony. "Tony, you can't just drop a bombshell like that and move on to work like it's nothing." He said firmly. "You have a daughter!" He said, wide eyed to emphasise the fact.
"I think he's figured that out you know kiddo," Tony smirked, looking over to Morgan who snorted a laugh in response.
"Aren't pilots supposed to have good observational skills?" Morgan quipped with a grin.
"You'd think," Tony laughed back at her as he led the way down the garage slope that led down to his workshop floor, happy to see that JARVIS had already recognised their presence and was lifting up the new security doors automatically to let them through.
"Tony," Rhodey grimaced, massaging his forehead at the nightmare inducing reality of two Starks to contend with.
"I'm serious Rhodey, private, secret. Nobody gets to know about Morgan until my say so. Even Pep's keeping it quiet." Tony said firmly. "Got it?" He asked, looking to Rhodey now in his first test of trust.
"Got it," Rhodey sighed as they walked down into the workshop. "I want the full story though, everything. You can't just spring a kid on me out of nowhere like this man."
"Not a kid," Morgan rolled her eyes as they walked into the workshop, heading over to her workbench and mannequin to redress it with the Angel wings so that she could have FAITH go over the data properly. "Twenty six." She said when Rhodey looked at her with a 'seriously' look.
"Seriously, you must have been... fourteen? Tony!" Rhodey shouted. "Wait, you... you were at MIT at fourteen, God Tony, that's..."
"Private, and staying that way." Tony said, a warning tone in his voice.
"Alright alright," Rhodey nodded with a placating smile. "You've done some work here, remodelling?" He asked, changing the subject not to subtly.
"Upped security," Tony shrugged. "JARVIS, did legal get the contracts back from the Air Force?"
"Indeed sir," JARVIS' voice responded. "All contracts have been agreed, legal have notarised and filed all pertinent documentation."
"And the qualifiers about the War Machine armour?" Tony prompted, flicking his eyes back to Rhodey.
"Those as well sir." JARVIS' voice came back.
"Major General Meade kicked up a bit of a stink about the proprietary technology stuff, but he got overruled." Rhodey explained. "General Baur will be first point of contact for the War Machine project, and probably the Angels as well." He said with a nod over to where Morgan had happily strapped the wing harness onto her mannequin now and was testing each part of the wing for any weakness or damage.
"That's the guy I met in the dull room of grey dullness?" Tony asked, continuing on when Rhodey gave a long suffering nod of agreement. "Fine, I can work with him. He at least asked the right questions and was willing to talk about things." He said, fetching a small device from his workbench. "Finger."
"Finger?" Rhodey repeated, unsure by the sudden question.
"Finger," Tony said again, holding up his device and his other hand out. "Come on, gimme." He nodded, gesturing for Rhodey's hand.
"Fine," Rhodey sighed, holding out his hand for Tony to grab. "So, uh... Morgan, you working at SI as well now, or... ow, Tony!" He hissed as the device Tony had been using jabbed sharply into his finger.
"I'll get you a bandaid," Tony rolled his eyes, carrying the device back over to his workbench and linking it up to his system there. "JARVIS, blood sample four. Link it to the War Machine armour."
"Processing sir," JARVIS' voice responded. "DNA analysis complete, encoding to War Machine AI now."
"Great stuff, boot up MAMA when you're done and run her through the sandbox." Tony waved, happy to have that done now. "There. We'll get you suited up and ready to roll as soon as the MAMA's run through her final tests."
"I don't even want to know, but... MAMA?" Rhodey asked, feeling a sudden sinking feeling in his gut.
"The AI for your suit. Non-negotiable." Tony said flatly. "She controls the repair functions, the safeties, the fail-safes, and keeps an eye on the reactor core. She stays. End of." He said firmly.
"Tony, the brass aren't going to like having one of your systems linked for missions, it doesn't work like that." Rhodey said, shaking his head.
"They signed the contract, the contract that specifically said my operating system, my internal system, my data." Tony said firmly. "The AI stays. She's hardcoded into the suit. That's it. That's the argument." He said simply, crossing his arms.
"Tony, you can't just..."
"No, I can." Tony said firmly. "Don't want it, I'll cancel the contract now and scrap the entire project." He said, fixing Rhodey with a glare.
"Don't do this Tony." Rhodey stood firm, meeting Tony's eyes without blinking. "I told you, if you make me chose between you and the Air Force, you know which I'm going to chose."
"Then chose." Tony laid it down flat. "No, seriously, go ahead." He said, practically daring Rhodey to say anything. "I didn't say anything when I came back from Afghanistan and you were more worried about your job than about me. I didn't say anything when you were playing hurt because I didn't want my own weapons turned against me. I didn't say anything when you were more worried about your job than Stane poisoning my company against me and betraying me. And I didn't say anything when I found out Senator Stern and his corrupt bunch of idiots had been talking to you about trying to steal my suits away from me to line your own pockets!" He was practically shouting the last as he stepped towards Rhodey.
"Tony, I didn't..."
"No Rhodey, you didn't, you didn't do anything other than care about yourself and didn't give a single thought to the shit being dumped on my doorstep!" Tony yelled. "Well, here it is, make your decision, because by summer time, SI will be international, and I'll make my decision whether to stay in America or not on those facts." He bit out, staring across at Rhodey. "So, can I trust you, or do I have to wait for you to screw me over and steal one of my suits before I walk away?" He asked.
"Tony, it's not like that." Rhodey shook his head. "Stern met with us, but nobody agreed to take your suits off of you."
"And if he'd got one of his general buddies to order you?" Tony asked, narrowing his eyes when Rhodey didn't answer. "Guess that's all the answer I need."
"Tony..."
"That's what it comes down to Rhodey. Are you willing to steal from me, or would you stand up for me? Yes or no." Tony demanded.
"If it's an illegal order, of course I'd stand up for you." Rhodey defended himself.
"But..." Tony prompted him.
"Don't make me chose Tony." Rhodey shook his head. "I won't disobey orders or cover up for you."
"But you'll steal from me if the order comes down." Tony said flatly. "At least I know where the line is now." He said with a frown, turning away from Rhodey completely.
"Tony..."
"Leave," Tony said flatly. Pointing back to the ramp leading out of the workshop. "You know where the door is." He said, turning on his heel and walking towards the door leading up into the mansion. "JARVIS, lock it down when he leaves."
"Of course sir." JARVIS voice came back as Tony walked out of the workshop, letting the glass door swing back silently behind him.
"Wow," Morgan breathed out, looking at where Rhodey was staring at Tony's retreating figure in shock. "After everything... you know, I figured you two were always like brothers."
"Is that what Tony told you?" Rhodey asked, looking over to his bes... Tony's daughter.
"Yeah, you know... the fact he's willing to build a multi-million armour suit for you, not to mention the AI, all the trust that goes into that?" Morgan shrugged. "Kinda says it all doesn't it." She said, waving her hand over her screens and letting them shut down and vanish. "And you'd be willing to steal millions worth of tech from him if your boss ordered you to?"
"It's... orders are complicated, you're too young to understand that." Rhodey said firmly, not willing to get into that with a girl he'd only just met.
"Seems straight forward to me. Steal millions and millions worth of technology from someone you claim is your best friend, or stand up for your morals and do the right thing." Morgan shrugged. "Simples." She said flatly as she walked over to follow her father up the stairs. "I thought you would be the Uncle Rhodey I wanted, but apparently you're not." She said before pushing the door open and heading upstairs.
Rhodey simply watched her leave before standing there in silence, staring at the closing door and wondering if he'd just lost the best thing in his entire life.
SHIELD Helicarrier
Location: Classified
"Sir," Agent Coulson checked everything was OK before entering Director Fury's office with a briefing packet already in hand.
"What is it now?" Fury grimaced, well on his way to believing that March might actually turn into an even bigger shit storm than February was. "Anything new on the Camp Lehigh case?"
"Not yet sir," Agent Coulson shook his head. "We did track Mr Stark's suit over international waters. It appears he's back on his crusade once more."
"Causing problems?" Fury asked with a grimace.
"A Somali pirate vessel shipping arms across the coast to Yemen," Agent Coulson shrugged. "I reached out to maritime records, they're marking the wreckage on the Gulf of Aden for future shipping reference, but it shouldn't be a further issue."
"Stark," Fury grimaced, rubbing his temples. "Any idea why he decided to go off and blow up a pirate ship after a month of laying low?"
"No idea sir," Agent Coulson admitted. "I have people keeping watch on his Stark Expo plans. Apparently he's upgraded the entire event. Doubled the grounds, the entertainment, everything."
"Double the headache, sounds like a Stark recipe alright." Fury frowned. "Keep watch on him. The big brains reckon he's using palladium as part of his Arc reactor. It'll cause problems for him later on if it's not addressed."
"I'll have someone make note to obtain his medical records." Agent Coulson nodded automatically. "Should we try and insert someone into his life to ascertain his current mental state?"
"Hnh," Fury frowned, knowing that would have been the perfect mission for Romanoff. Stark had a penchant for redheads and long legs, Romanoff would have had him bent around her little finger within a month. "Brush up Agent Thirteen on legal, get her in to SI's legal side, she can get closer to him from there."
"Of course sir, I'll have a fresh cover worked up for her as soon as she's ready." Agent Coulson nodded with a small smile before he left, leaving Fury alone to contemplate Stark and all the problems that the egotistical genius dragged along with him.
Edwards Air Force Base
Lancaster
Los Angeles
California
"General. Lt Colonel Rhodes for you sir."
Brigadier General Baur looked up in surprise, not actually expecting an in person report from Lt Colonel Rhodes so early in the project. Obviously Stark must have been working on it before he'd broached the idea last week, probably a lot earlier if his reputation was to be believed.
"Send him in." General Baur ordered, pressing the button on his desk intercom to connect to the secretary outside.
He was a bit surprised to see Lt Colonel Rhodes back in his uniform, having expected the man to be in civilian wear for the duration of the project, but the frown and worried expression on his face told a different story about how today had gone than he'd expected.
"Lt Colonel?" General Baur frowned as he watched the man stand to attention automatically. "Report?"
"There's been an unexpected complication General." Rhodey admitted.
"At ease Lt Colonel," General Baur nodded, gesturing for him to take a seat in front of his desk. "What happened?" He asked.
"Tony is aware of Senator Stern and Major General Meade's plans to seize the Iron Man suit." Rhodey explained.
"I figured as much from the meeting we had," General Baur nodded. "In fact, the man said as much when you were there.
"He knew more than he said sir," Rhodey explained. "He knew Senator Stern had approached me directly and made firm suggestions about taking one of his suits and delivering it directly to the Air Force."
"Stern never mentioned that to me." General Baur said with a frown as he lent forward on his desk. "He approached you directly with this?" He asked firmly.
"Yes sir, with Major General Meade." Rhodey nodded. "Tony was... I'll say displeased, but we're talking about a multi-million piece of technology here, and he spoke about Senator Stern's words as if he had actual proof of what the Senator and Major General were planning."
"That doesn't sound good Lt Colonel." General Baur narrowed his eyes at that.
"No sir." Rhodey shook his head. "He outright said if I was willing to steal from him, how could he trust me with a suit like that?"
"Not an unreasonable statement given the price tag attached to that piece of technology." General Baur admitted. "If he has proof of the Air Force moving against Stark Industries and seizing their technology without a warrant... the lawsuits alone would ruin your career, and would kill the new Air Force contracts with Stark Industries before we even got them off of the ground."
"Yes sir," Rhodey nodded. "I didn't get all the information, but I've already heard that Tony is looking to expand Stark Industries to international holdings this year." He admitted with a frown. "If it's already in the pipe work and Senator Stern continues to push his ideas of taking the technology..."
"Stark will pull SI out of the country and move all his holdings to international facilities." General Baur hissed out, leaning back in his chair and letting out a huff of air at the thought. "Do you know how many people are employed by Stark Industries Lt Colonel?"
"I know a rough figure sir," Rhodey admitted. "Enough that them moving their holdings out of America would be a disaster."
"To say the least." General Baur frowned at the thought. "You're going to need to fix this Lt Colonel, quickly."
"Sir, without telling Tony I'd be willing to disobey a direct order to seize his suit, I don't see how I can." Rhodey explained, the confrontation hitting him harder than he'd actually thought. "He brought up some points about how I acted when he returned from Afghanistan, and I can't argue that I could have stood by him better when he needed me."
"You have a duty to the Air Force and this country son, never let anyone make you feel bad for carrying out that duty." General Baur said firmly, slamming his hands down on his desk. "However, any order to seize technology under a warrant issues, would have to be carried out by government agents and carry the official legal paperwork. Senator Stern could not give this order. Major General Meade could not give this order." He said firmly. "If they attempt to, they are giving you an illegal order, is that understood Lt Colonel."
"Yes sir." Rhodey nodded firmly, understanding those orders when it came down to it.
"Fix this Lt Colonel, that's an order." General Baur bit out. "Stark Industries is one of the biggest businesses this country has, and his technology has paved the way for our lives as we know them, not to mention saved the lives of millions of service men. We cannot allow another country to offer more favourable terms than we would be willing to offer the man ourselves." He said with a frown as he leaned forwards on his desk again. "I will be bringing this matter up with General West, and hope that he can reign in Major General Meade before this becomes a larger incident."
"Yes sir." Rhodey nodded, already willing to try and fix things with Tony, he was just unsure how he would actually manage it from here.
"Anything else to report?" General Baur asked.
"Yes sir, I witnessed a test of the Angel wings prototype. They certainly live up to Tony's promise." Rhodey explained. "Silver and white, wingspan of about eighteen feet wide open. He had them going at four hundred miles an hour for a test flight, the pilot was in full control the entire time."
"Impressive," General Baur nodded thoughtfully. "Thoughts?"
"I can think of a couple of dozen jumpers who'd want to be first in line for them sir. I'd want a pair myself if I was still airborne." Rhodey explained with a small smile. "They're definitely built for Search and Rescue, fast, manoeuvrable, easy to land and quick to pack up. They're the real deal sir."
"I'll send your report up the chain." General Baur nodded happily, surprised that Stark had already brought things through to a testing phase. "Fix things with Stark. That's an order Lt Colonel. Dismissed."
"Yes sir." Rhodey snapped to a salute before turning on his heel and leaving the office, closing the door behind him as he tried to figure out how exactly he was going to approach Tony next, and how he was going to fix this whole mess.
Stark Mansion
10880 Malibu Point
Malibu
California
"Morgan?" Pepper asked aloud, poking her head into the workshop when she hadn't been able to find Morgan or Tony upstairs in the mansion anywhere.
"Lady boss! You're here!"
Pepper blinked in surprise at the friendly shout, it had an Irish brogue accent that she hadn't heard before, and she couldn't make out where it had come from.
"Morgan?" She asked again, looking over to where Morgan was crouched over on her workbench, either working on something with extremely fine detail, or she'd fallen asleep at the desk like she'd seen Tony do hundreds of times before.
"Little boss is asleep Lady Boss, can I help you?"
Pepper frowned at the Irish voice as she walked over to the workbench, seeing a small glowing red figure standing on the bench while the various holographic screens around her displayed scrolling data that she had no hope of understanding.
"Who are you?" Pepper asked, looking down at the little red sprite that looked about six inches tall on Morgan's workbench. She was dressed professionally enough, but looked to be the same sort of projection style thing that FAITH used when Morgan activated her avatar. "Are you another one of Morgan's AI's?" She asked curiously.
"Oh, sorry Lady Boss. I'm FRIDAY." The red little sprite smiled up at Pepper.
"Hmmnn?" Morgan groaned, lifting her head up from the workbench and looking around. "Whass tha'?"
"You fell asleep honey," Pepper said with a small laugh, clasping Morgan's shoulders and giving them a light squeeze. "It can't be comfortable to sleep hunched over like that."
"Reminds me of my university days," Morgan muttered, sitting upright and rubbing her eyes. "FRIDAY? Did the transfer complete?" She asked, looking down at the red avatar.
"Yes Little Boss," FRIDAY reported happily. "SI integration went as planned. Synchronised with Lady Boss's hardware and Rescue suit. JARVIS and FAITH are networked in."
"Sounds good," Morgan said halfway between a yawn before shaking her head. "Run a full diagnostic to make sure the system links are running OK, then link yourself up to whatever you need. Stretch your legs and catch up on everything that's been happening."
"You got it Little Boss." FRIDAY beamed up before her avatar winked out of existence with a little golden flash.
"Sorry, was going to introduce her to you when I got chance," Morgan said as she stood up and stretched. "She was dad's last AI back in... you know."
"Back in your future," Pepper nodded, having got the tenses roughly right in her head by now. "So she's linked to Stark Industries now?" She asked curiously.
"Just for you, and for security at the moment." Morgan nodded. "Dad wanted her to focus more on SI, but I'm going to have to upgrade a ton of stuff around the SI offices before I can let her into the systems properly." She explained with a small laugh.
"Well, I'm sure she'll be useful when she's ready." Pepper smiled back. "Where is your dad? I expected to see him around with Jim, but..."
"Oh, yeah." Morgan grimaced. "That, kinda didn't go so well." She said with a frown. "Uncle Eightball was... kinda a dick actually. Dad confronted him about it, and basically kicked him out."
"What happened?" Pepper asked, not liking the sound of that one bit.
"Uncle Eightball said that the Air Force had been talking about stealing one of dad's suits." Morgan explained with a shrug. "He said that he'd have to do it if he was ordered, and dad told him to chose between him or the Air Force."
"And Jim chose his career." Pepper filled in the blanks as Morgan shrugged.
"Yup. Basically said right to dad's face that he'd steal a multi-million dollar suit if his bosses told him to." Morgan shrugged. "Uncle Eightball would have never said that before, not in a million years." She explained with a frown. "I mean, I saw the videos, I knew he'd done it before, but... I don't know, I always figured there was some sort of story or explanation there, not just Uncle Eightball stole it and took it to Hammer because his bosses ordered him to." She said with a mild glare at where Rhodey had stood in the workshop earlier.
"Could he do that again?" Pepper asked.
"Not a chance," Morgan shook her head. "All the suits are DNA locked now. Well, not dad's older ones, but JARVIS has a lock on them and orders to blow them if anyone tries to take them out of here that isn't dad." She explained.
"Good," Pepper nodded, happy that there was security around things for now at least.
"This sucks," Morgan groaned. "Uncle Eightball was never like that. He stood with dad through everything. He was with me for everything, he wasn't... that person, I don't know who that was." She huffed, glaring at the workshop space again.
"People are going to be different here then they would be in your future honey," Pepper said softly, resting her hands on Morgan's shoulders reassuringly. "I don't know what Jim and Tony went through to get to the level of trust they had in your time, but it must be something they're going to have to work on together."
"I don't think dad wants to work on anything with him anymore," Morgan sighed in annoyance. "Everything was going perfect as well. You and dad were... doing your awkward thing." She said with a small laugh. "The company was doing great. We were all set to be ready for the invasion and protect everything this time."
"Things don't always go to plan," Pepper gave her a sad smile at that. "I'm sure Jim and Tony will work something out. If not, I'll have my contacts at the Air Force try and figure out where these orders are coming from that are making Jim chose between them."
"We know that, it's Senator Stern." Morgan huffed. "Mr HYDRA himself." She glared again. "Can't we just deal with him, and that would make everything go away?"
"The real world doesn't work like that." Pepper gave a small laugh at that. "Come on, lets go out for dinner, just me and you. God knows where Tony is, but he's probably not going to be back in time to get anything to eat tonight."
"Yeah," Morgan nodded before she stood up, stretching awkwardly before casually pulling her hair back and looping a tie around it that had been nestled around her wrist. "He flew off in one of his old suits. Probably wanted some time alone or something."
"That sounds like Tony." Pepper gave another sad smile at that. "Come on, hanging around down here and waiting for your dad to get back won't do anyone any good right now." She said, looping one arm around Morgan's shoulders and guiding her to the door. "JARVIS, shut everything down and lock up when we're gone please."
"Of course Miss Potts." JARVIS' voice responded as Pepper opened the workshop door and led Morgan upstairs to head to her car and an evening out together for the first time without Tony.
5630 Ramblin Rose Road
Colorado Springs
Colorado
"Clint?" Natasha asked, having got his message to come back to the house and meet with him in person.
"Got a lead." Clint bit out, waving Natasha away from the dirt track driveway where she'd parked her bike, knowing the sound of the bike's engine would have already attracted the attention of Laura and the kids from inside the house.
"What?" Natasha asked, keeping her voice low as Clint let her towards the woods where she knew there was a little river that flowed down from the mountains.
"There's word that the Red Room is using chemical compliance now, a new type of brainwashing." Clint explained. "Any of the other Black Widows, they're going to be dosed up on this stuff. You won't be able to reason with them or get them out, they'll fight to the death every single time."
Natasha grimaced at that, gritting her teeth and taking a deep breath.
"The new academy is still in Belarus, but from what my contacts are saying it's high tech, seriously funded. We're talking some heavy hitters here. I've heard Roxxon might be involved backing the Red Room somehow." Clint explained as they walked through the forest.
"How high tech are we talking?" Natasha hissed through her teeth.
"High tech enough that you'd need a stealth jet to even make the approach." Clint explained. "Everything I've heard says they're on some sort of Helicarrier ripoff thing, an entire flying academy instead of a building we can hunt down."
"HYDRA?" Natasha narrowed her eyes, pondering the thought. She hadn't heard anything about HYDRA so far, but the future Clint had been right about them still being around and infesting SHIELD, so she could very well imagine them being backers behind the Red Room as well.
"Wouldn't surprise me," Clint admitted with a shrug. "Word is they got their hands into everything. The Red Room would be right up their alley." He said, seeing Natasha nod in agreement. Brainwashed assassins would definitely be something HYDRA would have a use for, neither of them would be surprised to find HYDRA links all through the Red Room. "I'm waiting on word from someone up in Saint Petersburg who might be able to confirm things for me, but I wanted you to know how bad it looks right now."
Natasha simply nodded at that. A mobile flying fortress was bad enough, but manned with mind controlled Red Room graduates. It was an impossible task. Saving them would mean breaking the mind control, and she had absolutely no idea how to do that.
"I know what you're thinking," Clint shook his head. "Even if we got onto the Red Room flying thing, we wouldn't be able to do much. Not just the two of us. And we don't even have a way to find it or get up there."
"Stark." Natasha said simply, turning to Clint and fixing him with her stare. "He'll have a jet, probably better than SHIELD's."
"Probably," Clint conceded that point. "That fancy armour of his would definitely be good backup against the Red Room. But it's useless until I know where it is."
"Find out," Natasha nodded. "I'll get Stark on board." She said firmly.
"How are you going to do that?" Clint asked with raised eyebrows. "We don't even know if he got a video message from the future as well, and if he didn't... Stark's not exactly the kind of person that does things out of the kindness of his heart."
"I'll think of something." Natasha said, turning on the spot to head back to her bike.
"Don't threaten him." Clint said, raising his voice a bit to get Natasha to stop walking. "Remember video Clint's message? We need Stark in the future for something, we need him to trust us."
"Fine, I'll barter a favour then." Natasha said, nodding to herself to try and convince herself that was the best course of action.
"A favour big enough to take down the Red Room?" Clint almost snorted at the thought. "And what would he ask in return?"
"Whatever he wants, it'll be worth it. Anything he wants." Natasha said quietly, stalking off back through the forest to her motorbike before she gunned the engine and drove back down the driveway, intent on heading west to California as quickly as she could.
Stark Mansion
10880 Malibu Point
Malibu
California
"JARVIS?" Tony asked as he landed, the automated robotic arms coming down to dismantle the Iron Man suit from around his body and return the parts for maintenance and storage. "Where is everyone?"
"Miss Potts and Miss Morgan are currently out sir. They made dinner plans together in your absence." JARVIS reported.
"Fine, good for them actually. Probably do them good to have some girl time together." Tony nodded as the pieces of his chest armour came loose while another automated arm started removing his leg armour. "FAITH, you still running?"
"I'm here grand-boss?" FAITH's European accent came back, a different and happier tone than JARVIS' dry British accent.
"Go through the Iron Man armours again, pull up the latest before I moved to nanotech." Tony ordered. "I want to take a look at the best I can build with the technology we've got. All the bells and whistles."
"On it grand-boss," FAITH replied. "Want me to combine different models to achieve the best result?"
"Thrill me," Tony nodded as the last of his armour was disassembled and removed. "JARVIS, those old armours. Trash them."
"Sir?" JARVIS asked, his tone conveying confusion and a touch of worry.
"Trash them, scrap everything. Recover anything useful, melt down the rest for re-purposing." Tony ordered. "I don't want the military to have anything they could try and steal from me. One suit at a time now, and that's it."
"And the War Machine project sir?" JARVIS asked.
"Save it, for now." Tony said after a few seconds thought.
As bad as things were between him and Rhodey right now, they would need it when the invasion came, and with everything else that was coming in the future. At least they had a heads-up thanks to Morgan, and if worst came to worst, he could always find a different pilot for the War Machine armour.
Someone that he could trust, someone that wouldn't steal it from him, and someone that would actually stand by him.
"Of course sir," JARVIS responded.
"Bringing up the specified render grand-boss, you want it on your work station or a free float?" FAITH's chipper voice broke in.
"Float me, give me a life size view." Tony nodded absently, smiling as the redesigned armour was projected in glorious three dimensional hologram style in the middle of the workshop. "Specifics please. Read it off for me FAITH."
The armour displayed was certainly impressive, nearly as sleek and form fitting as Morgan's nanotech suit, but he could see the actual evolution where the design had come from.
What was surprising was the minimised gold flair on the suit. There were only patches of gold around the shoulders, some small lines on the shins, and the face-plate. Then there were red patches around the chest, shoulders, forearms and lower legs, but most of the torso and upper legs were actually silver, like the arms, with darker black sections underneath the overlapping plate armour.
"Specified render is based on the Mark Forty Seven Iron Man armour, originally created in two thousand seventeen." FAITH reported as Tony walked around the hologram with an appraising eye.
It was definitely a nice design, not as flashy as his gold and hot rod red designs, but sleeker, and the silver finish definitely had it's hot rod roots as well. It was different, but maybe different was exactly what he needed right now.
The silver look was a step away from his old flashy gold, and a step closer to Morgan's iridescent purple and chrome armour. It was a nice touch, a bit of family in there that linked them together.
"The Mark Forty Seven is based around the Mark Sixteen arc reactor. I have incorporated Boss's ion fusion system as part of the repulsor designs incorporated onto the hands, feet, and rear auxiliary thrusters."
"Show me," Tony interrupted quickly, watching as the shoulder areas moved and different plates shifted to bring out two oval shaped repulsors that would be nestled on top of his shoulder blades. "I like it." He nodded happily, with that much thrust it would definitely be a hell of a lot faster than his current armours. "Brush up the silver a bit, full chrome, make it like Morgan's chrome."
"Making specified changes now." FAITH reported as the colour scheme changed slightly. "Armament includes repulsors, uni-beam, micro-missiles, enhanced plasma laser, reactive armour plating, enhanced strength system, and magnetic targeted grenades." She reported.
"Nice," Tony nodded happily as he watched the various weapons of the Mark Forty Seven show themselves before retracting into the armour. "What am I looking at her? I'm seeing more joints and overlapping than usual?" He asked.
"The collapsible plate design, incorporated for entering or leaving the suit without requiring the automated system built in to Stark Mansion." FAITH explained.
"OK, I LOVE that," Tony grinned, watching as the front of the suit itself peeled apart to show the insides, and he could easily see how he could step in and out of it at will. It wasn't as clean or smooth as nanotech, but it was a hell of a step up from his current designs. "Anything else I should know?"
"System is compatible with your current Arc reactor for supplemental power, and is linked to the FRIDAY AI for automation and remote use." FRIDAY reported.
"FRIDAYs up and running? I thought Morgan was still finishing her up?" Tony asked. "FRIDAY? You around?"
"Boss!"
Tony actually stumbled back as a projection like FAITH's purple avatar faded into view, this one was a golden red though and obviously a very different avatar. She looked a bit younger, professional, with glasses, a short pixie style hair cut, freckles and amusingly a very strong Irish accent.
"Hi FRIDAY," Tony chuckled, regaining his balance as he smiled and walked over, appreciating the design that had gone in to FRIDAY's avatar. "You all linked up?" He asked.
"Always boss!" FRIDAY smiled happily. "I have connections through Stark Industries, the mansion, and directly to FAITH and JARVIS, along with Little Boss's technology and Lady Boss's suit and watch link." She reported with a little bounce.
"Love it," Tony smiled happily at her. "Great to have you on board FRIDAY, or back I should say... you remember the future right? The future that won't happen, or never happened, or whatever." He happily rambled as FRIDAY nodded at him.
"I'm here Boss, I won't let anything happen to you this time around." FRIDAY vowed, diving forwards and enveloping Tony in a quick hug, much to his surprise.
"AI hugs, that... that's going to take some getting used to." Tony chuckled as FRIDAY released him. "Morgan updated your code, didn't she?" He asked knowingly, smirking as he looked down at the little Irish sounding AI.
"Little Boss did do a bit of work, but it's all good Boss, really!" FRIDAY said quickly.
"I see," Tony chuckled wryly. "FAITH, send that Mark Fortyseven designs through to JARVIS. Build it, I need it. Put a rush on it."
"Of course sir," JARVIS' responded happily.
"It's on it's way Grand-Boss," FAITH chirped.
"It's like a little family of AI's," Tony chuckled to himself. "Definitely have to get working on your avatar J, can't have you being left out like this."
"I am quite satisfied as I am sir, though it has been an utmost pleasure to converse with young Miss Friday this evening." JARVIS' voice came back, pride and actual happiness showing through in his tone. "To know Miss Friday has taken care of you when I could not, and not only ensured your security and happiness, but that of Miss Morgan's as well, I could ask for nothing less in my replacement."
"Aww, she's not your replacement J," Tony shook his head quickly at that. "She's... she's your kid, the closest thing anyway. You're a family, all of us, but you three especially. You need to take care of each other as well, help each other out, learn from each other as well. I'm actually super psyched to see how your learning code develops now, with three AI's together, you should all be learning and growing at an exponential rate."
"I am... unclear on the family dynamics sir, but shall endeavour to appreciate Miss Friday and Miss Faith as my offspring, as you suggest." JARVIS' dry voice came back.
Tony simply chuckled at that, happily ruffling FRIDAY's hair as he walked past on his way to his workbench, focusing on the idea of JARVIS' avatar while it was in his mind and intent on looking back for some old photos of Edwin Jarvis that he could digitise and work into a holographic model to be used as JARVIS' avatar.
It would certainly be different having JARVIS walking around the mansion, different, but also familiar in an all too nostalgic way.