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.
The Pentagon
Arlington County
Virginia
March 3rd, 2010
"Brigadier General Baur here to see you sir."
General Pritchet nodded absently, waving towards the door where the guard was holding the door ajar for General Baur to come in.
It wasn't every day he got a meeting request from a single star Brigadier General, and he definitely couldn't remember the last time a Brigadier General had managed to get a meeting on his calendar for the day after he requested it.
"General Baur," General Pritchet nodded as the Brigadier General came into the room, the guard closing the door quietly behind him.
"Sir," General Baur stood to attention respectfully.
"You requested this meeting, and apparently it was important enough to get yourself on my calendar at a moment's notice, so get on with it." General Pritchet ordered, waving towards the chair opposite his desk as he slapped the briefing folder he'd been reading shut and shuffled it off to one side.
"Yes sir," General Baur nodded as he took the offered seat. "I am sure you are aware of the new contracts between Stark Industries and..."
"Yes," General Pritchet interrupted. He didn't have time for long briefings and backstories when he had meetings on top of meetings at The White House to contend with this afternoon. "I read them. The implications for the new technologies are staggering. It's good to see Doctor Stark back working with the Air Force again." He said with a small smile at a nod.
"Yes sir," General Baur nodded in agreement. "Yesterday I sent Lt Colonel Rhodes to Doctor Stark as requested, to start work on the War Machine project."
"And?" General Pritchet asked.
"Sir, Lt Colonel Rhodes reported that not only did Doctor Stark have information about both Senator Stern and Major General Meade conspiring to seize Stark technology, but he apparently had proof of their meetings. Meetings I did not know about until Lt Colonel Rhodes confirmed that they had both briefed him in private and made suggestions about unlawfully obtaining Stark technology." General Baur explained.
General Pritchet certainly sat up straighter at that, narrowing his eyes as he contemplated exactly what Brigadier General Baur was saying here.
"Doctor Stark has proof?" General Pritchet bit out firmly.
"Enough that he confronted Lt Colonel Rhodes directly about it." General Baur nodded. "I'm aware Lt Colonel Rhodes has a long history with Doctor Stark, a friendly one. He was the only person Doctor Stark would accept as the liaison between the company and the Air Force. But hearing Lt Colonel Rhodes report yesterday..."
"Speak frankly," General Pritchet ordered.
"Sir, Doctor Stark told Lt Colonel Rhodes in no uncertain terms that his company would be acquiring international holdings this year, and that these contracts with the Air Force were his last effort to forge a bond between the Air Force and Stark Industries." General Baur explained. "This news regarding Senator Stern and Major General Meade had thrown them all into doubt."
"How bad are things?" General Pritchet asked.
"Bad enough that I ordered Lt Colonel Rhodes to do whatever he could to ease tensions between Doctor Stark and the Air Force." General Baur explained. "He briefed me on the Angel project, and his report clearly describes what he saw of the project could revolutionise jump troopers on the field, and make search and rescue teams viable in every type of terrain imaginable. They would ensure air superiority anywhere they were fielded."
"I read the contracts of the War Machine project. It flies in the face of everything Senator Stern has been pushing. It's obvious Doctor Stark is willing to work with the Air Force and continue fostering the relationship there. What the hell are Stern and Meade playing about risking contracts like this?" General Pritchet demanded, slamming his hands angrily on his desk. "I don't have the time for this shit, not with the Army pissing all over themselves trying to cover up Ross's illegal prisons and inhumane experiments!" He yelled.
"Yes sir," General Baur nodded, there wasn't anything else to say when faced with a four star general and member of The President's Joint Chiefs of Staff yelling like that. "I informed Lt Colonel Rhodes that any orders to seize Stark technology would be illegal orders, and should be disregarded and reported. But it's unlikely Doctor Stark would know the difference between an illegal order, and an order Lt Colonel Rhodes would have to carry out."
"He's a civilian, of course he wouldn't know anything more than the basics of the chain of command," General Pritchet growled out. "Get a meeting with Doctor Stark personally. Reassure him that the Air Force has no intention of seizing Stark Technology or his suits. No matter what Senator Stern tries to push, he has no leverage over the United States Military for his own personal grudges."
"Yes sir," General Baur nodded, he'd been expecting this anyway.
"I'll have to see about reigning in Stern, I want you to keep a close eye on Doctor Stark and Lt Colonel Rhodes. Make sure Stern can't do a run around and try to get to them through another group. Doctor Stark is a person of interest to the Air Force now, and we WILL protect our own against enemies both foreign and domestic." General Pritchet ordered.
"What should I do about Major General Meade sir?" General Baur asked.
"Leave him to me," General Pritchet frowned, not liking the thoughts he was having about a senator and a two star Major General discussing illegal orders like that. "He won't be your problem any longer, you have my guarantee on that."
"Thank you sir." General Baur nodded, honestly thankful that this was being dealt with.
"See to Lt Colonel Rhodes and to Doctor Stark. I want to see those Angels out ASAP, and progress reports on the War Machine Project. Photos, video, I want proof to shove in Senator Sterns face that Stark is a team player and a member of OUR team when it comes down to it." General Pritchet ordered. "See to it."
"Yes sir." General Baur said quickly before standing, recognising a dismissal when he heard one.
"You did the right thing in bringing this to me, now I'll deal with it from here." General Pritchet said as he stood up. "Dismissed Brigadier General."
"Sir." General Baur snapped a salute before turning on the spot and matching out, letting the guard close the door behind him as he double timed out of the office and through the Pentagon halls, intent on securing an official meeting with Doctor Stark as quickly as possible.
In his office, General Pritchet growled to himself before grabbing his phone. He needed to brief the President on this as soon as possible, and wanted Major General Meade in front of him to explain this bullshit by the end of the day.
Hopefully Stark would be willing to play ball and keep this quiet, because the military did not need another scandal right now, regardless of branch. Stark Industries coming out with proof that the Air Force was conspiring to illegally seize technology for the government, especially in the wake of Ross's scandals, would be enough to cause a shit storm the likes of which the Air Force hadn't seen in years.
"I need a meeting with The President," General Pritchet said as the phone was picked up.
He just knew the President wasn't going to take this well, and the news about Stark Industries looking to take on international holdings was a warning shot that he'd heard loud and clear.
Today had certainly taken a nose dive, now he just had to try and recover it before it crashed beyond saving.
Stark Aviation
Los Angeles
California
When Tony had first seen the frame and internals of the new Stark Industries jet, he'd actually whistled in awe as he'd approached it in the hanger with Morgan by his side.
He'd seen the blueprints of course, the specifications and the renderings. Videos of the jet from Morgan's future, and she'd spoken about it enough for him to know it was exactly what he wanted for the future of his company.
The VTOL system was something entirely new. He could tell it had been re-engineered from the Quinjet designs that he'd seen floating around from time to time. He'd always wanted to take a crack at the Quinjet idea, especially with repulsor technology, but this was something else entirely.
A luxury jet with VTOL capabilities, ion repulsor engines, stealth systems designed from the twenty forties, and an Arc reactor capable of keeping it flying for years without needing a new core.
It was perfection in engineering form.
The rotational systems for the repulsor engines was definitely new, rotating around for horizontal or vertical thrust, or any angle between for manoeuvring. It was a huge step up, and he could well imagine how versatile such a system was going to be when in flight.
Today they were happily spending the day fitting the new Arc reactor into the frame and working on the electronic subsystems that would direct power through to the five ion repulsor engines and connect to the rather impressive on board systems that would be linked through to SI's main servers to allow AI integration. All of it had been an eye opener for Tony, and he'd finally got a look at the scaled up repulsor technology that Morgan had improved from his own designs.
They were FAR more powerful than his original repulsors, and he'd made a mental note of that so he would remember and actually take some training time in the new Iron Man suit before taking it out properly.
Nobody wanted to see Iron Man flying out of control at supersonic speeds and crashing into a building or mountain somewhere. That would be embarrassing, and definitely not the image he wanted to maintain for the Iron Man brand.
So they were just... taking the day.
It was actually fun, getting back to basics so to speak. Getting his hands dirty and diving in head first to the frame of the new jet, pulling high capacity cables through the fuselage and expanded wings.
Without the need for fuel or runways, the new SI Jet would be the first of a new breed of Stark Aviation. And he knew outright as soon as the media got photos of this and it leaked out, it would be a headline in aviation news around the world.
Pepper was dealing with her own meetings today back at the main Stark offices. With the new processor fabricators now pushing out batches of the new Stark Processors, they were starting to really build up steam and start making the new phones and tablets.
Somehow the news of the new Stark Fabricators had leaked ahead of schedule, and Pepper had been fielding calls and meeting requests all day. Everyone wanted in on the new processors, just as he'd predicted. Contracts from every major company in Silicone Valley were being offered, and he could tell from Pepper's tone that even she was frazzled by some of the numbers being banded around.
Intel was one of the biggest contracts offered so far, but Apple, Sony and Samsung weren't far behind. He'd told Pepper to ignore Apple and Samsung for now, as they would be direct competitors once the new Stark branded smartphones and tablets hit the market, but even just taking on the Intel contract alone would bring in billions ever quarter to the company.
He would have to step up and start attending a few of the higher meetings once in a while though. He knew his name carried weight, and right now he wanted to throw that weight behind the company properly and utterly destroy all of those idiots who had abandoned his company and turned on him like Stane had.
The new processors, phones and tablets were just phase one. The Angel wings and prosthetics would be step two, the War Machine armour too if Rhodey was going to be trustworthy with it. Morgan had sent over all the patents and designs that Tony had pushed out over the next five years, and they were all being pushed into production right now.
Stark Industries would literally be years ahead of the competition for decades to come now, and once he was up and on course with the twenty forties technology Morgan had brought back, he would take SI in quantum leaps beyond anything they were working on right now.
By the twenty twelve invasion, they would be ready. By twenty eighteen, they would crush Thanos, he was certain of it.
One thing Morgan had brought up was the fact that SI didn't have any satellite in orbit currently. There'd been talk of them, and they had the designs for them obviously, having worked on guidance systems for missiles and other military equipment before, but they didn't actually have any of their own in orbit.
That was something they were going to change, for the company and privately. Morgan already had the specs, so he'd pushed one into design and fabrication as soon as he'd thought about it, and once it was ready they would take over themselves and start updating it with all the latest technology that Morgan could throw at it.
The first one would be private. A high speed internet and network link between his suits, Morgan, Pepper, his private servers, and his AI's. It would also have the best storage and processor capabilities they could bundle in, so JARVIS, FRIDAY and FAITH would have super speed access around the world and a constant backup should anything go awry.
He was pretty sure he was going to be the first person to have a private satellite in orbit of the planet, and it was such a grandiose undertaking that it had had him laughing for ages after he'd decided on it.
For now though, they were working on the jet, and it was going to be glorious.
He had space set aside for a lower fuselage door where he and Morgan could enter and exit the jet while in flight. Direct links to his suit, and the servers would be installed on the jet soon for FRIDAY's systems so she could be integrated and take control of the jet as needed.
The new stealth and radar systems were state of the art, bleeding edge technology from the twenty forties. SHIELD wouldn't be able to track the jet, nor HYDRA, or any government in the world. It would vanish better than SHIELD's Helicarrier, physically and electronically, and afford them a solid base of operations where nobody would be able to find them.
He couldn't weaponize it, at least not legally, but he could armour it to prevent attacks from getting through, and with the extra gains the jet had from ion repulsor technology and the lack of weight from carrying fuel, he could add a decently thin layer of armour under the outside frame that would protect the jet from anything other than missile fire or heavy repulsor fire.
It might be luxurious inside, but on the outside it was going to be nearly as protective as one of his suits, he was going to make sure of it.
"Doctor Stark sir, you have someone here to see you."
Both Tony and Morgan looked up in surprise at that, Tony from where he was threading fibre optic cabling through the wings, and Morgan from where she was working on installing the new computer systems in the cockpit area.
"Who?" Tony asked with a frown, happily lazing on his back inside the wing frame as he lent his head back to see one of the SA facility guards stood by the hanger doors in the bright sunlight.
"Lt Colonel Rhodes sir." The guard explained, causing Tony to frown and turn his attention towards Morgan for a second, getting a shrug from her in response.
"Fine, he can come through." Tony said after a moment's thought, re-orientating himself in the wing to finish threading the thick fibre optic cable through to the last ion repulsor engine.
"Didn't expect Uncle Eightball to come back again after yesterday," Morgan said quietly as she swung down from the cockpit frame, grabbing one of the rags she kept around to wipe some sweat and grease from her face and hands.
"Rhodey's about as stubborn as I am when it comes down to it," Tony admitted, plugging in the fibre optic cable and making sure the mounting connection was secured around it before he checked the various other cables were all wired in correctly. "Frame locked in?" He asked, double checking the jet's undercarriage and wheels were securely locked down to the bracers built in to the concrete floor.
"Yup, we're all ready here." Morgan nodded after walking over and checking the clamps securing the jet down.
"Alright, FRIDAY, fire up the reactor." Tony ordered as he pulled himself out from the wing, untangling himself from the frame work and accepting the rag that Morgan threw at him to clean himself down.
"Activating now boss," FRIDAY's Irish accent came back, making Tony grin as the azure blue glow lit up the large arc reactor that was housed in the fuselage of the plane.
"Give me a reading baby girl," Tony laughed as he wiped himself down, looking around the lit up fibre optic cables to see that all the ion repulsor engines were linked in and properly accepting power from the new Arc reactor.
"Arc reactor at six hundred and four gigawatts per second, and running stable boss." FRIDAY reported.
"Looks good to me," Tony laughed, grabbing his tablet from the top of the wing frame work and running through the diagnostics quickly, making sure that all five of the ion repulsor engines were behaving themselves.
"Tony,"
Tony looked around at Rhodey's voice, beckoning him over before turning his attention back to the tablet. "Don't stand there, around front." He said quickly when he saw Rhodey approaching from the rear of the jet. "Everything looks good, systems on your end lighting up?" He asked, looking to where Morgan was peeking into the cockpit with her own tablet, checking over everything she'd just installed.
"Yup, all good here dad." Morgan grinned at him. "Engines are reading full connection. Ion reaction is stable. We're ready to fire them up."
"Testing at point five percent," Tony said, tapping the tablet controls and dialling in the settings manually, watching as the ion repulsor engine near him lit up and growled in response to the power being fed into it.
"Tony, what are you..."
"Give me a second here," Tony interrupted, not looking up to Rhodey as he continued to dial the engine up. "Point two percent... point three..." He laughed when the repulsor kicked out a blast of pressure, blowing dust and heat back in a wave as the bright white light inside lit up the hanger. "Point five."
"Thrust is at five thousand EEV," Morgan reported from her tablet. "Ten percent should push better thrust than a seven five seven at these numbers, twelve percent should push past mach one." She laughed.
"I'm seeing it, the numbers look good to me." Tony nodded, making sure the ion repulsor was stabilising. "Shutting down." He said, pulling the power from the repulsor and blinking when the white light from it slowly shut down and the noise cut out almost instantly. "It's a successful run." He said proudly.
"Yes!" Morgan crowed happily, climbing around the frame to sit on top of the cockpit frame proudly. "We're going to have to keep an eye on wing integrity at full thrust, restructure the framework connecting the wings through to the main superstructure."
"Already accounted for kid," Tony laughed as he sent a wink over. "Think this is my first plane design?" He asked with a snort.
"Well, you are a bit behind," Morgan smirked back at him, getting an offended noise from Tony as he threw his oily rag up at her.
"Rhodey." Tony said flatly, turning his attention away from Morgan now as he returned his diagnostics tablet to the wing of the plane. Taking specific note that he was wearing his full dress uniform now, so this was a proper official visit. "Or is it Lt Colonel Rhodes today?" He asked formally.
"Tony," Rhodey sighed with a frown. "I've spoken with General Baur, he's been meeting with the Joint Chiefs today." He explained. "He wanted me to arrange an official meeting time at some point over the next few days to clear the air."
"You mean explain away why the Air Force was plotting to steal my technology?" Tony said with a bored expression as he leaned on the wing frame, grabbing his bottle of water from where it was sat and draining several large mouthfuls.
"That, and other concerns." Rhodey admitted. "General Baur confirmed that any orders to seize your technology would be illegal orders, and he's dealing with Senator Stern and Major General Meade today."
"Well that's something," Tony nodded, enjoying more of his water before pouring some into his hand and splashing it onto his face, enjoying the cooling sensation. "Doesn't change anything though."
"Tony, I specifically told General Meade that I would only consider taking any technology from you if it was proven that you were a danger to yourself and other people." Rhodey defended himself. "That was my concern, not stealing from you."
"But it would be, stealing from me." Tony rebutted. "And even if you did take one of my suits, which is impossible now that I've installed fail-safes in the suit I currently have and destroyed the others. My lawyers would eat you for breakfast, and I'd swim in all the litigation paper that would drown you and your general friends." He said firmly. "You should have talked to me about your concerns, not gone behind my back."
"I did talk to you Tony..."
"No, you didn't." Tony yelled. "You yelled about me suffering PTSD, you cried about me not building weapons for you anymore, and you whined about me cancelling your contracts." He shouted. "You never talked to me, so don't try and turn this around on me." He said, getting close up to Rhodey as he spoke. "You screwed this up, not me. You don't get to say it was your concern when you barely spent an hour with me after Stane's bullshit."
Rhodey took a deep breath at that, taking off his uniform hat before nodding. "You're right, I should have spoken to you, seen what was going on."
"Instead you met with Stern and General asshole," Tony glared at him. "Plotting to steal my stuff, giving Stern all the ammunition he needs to try and pull me in front of a senate hearing." He narrowed his eyes. "Did you tell him about your pet PTSD theory? About the suit's capabilities? About Stane? About everything?"
When Rhodey didn't say anything Tony just scoffed, looking over to where Morgan was climbing down from the jet framework and was making her way over to him.
"Thought so," Tony frowned, slipping his arm around Morgan protectively, even though he knew she could take care of herself.
"Tony, it wasn't like that." Rhodey defended himself.
"No? Sounds like it to me." Tony spat out.
"I was trying to defend you, to keep you from hurting yourself." Rhodey argued. "I thought you were losing control." He justified, getting identical snorts from both Tony and Morgan at that.
"Losing control?" Tony mocked. "I'm dry, fully, have been for months. No alcohol, no drugs, nothing." He said proudly, seeing the disbelieving look on Rhodey's face. "Check with Pepper, the entire mansion is dry." He said with a shrug. "I don't need you caring about me if that type of care is you running crying to Senator Bullshit and General Asshole. I've got enough enemies who do that without my so called friends doing it as well."
"I screwed up OK? Is that what you want to hear?" Rhodey raised his voice.
"Yes!" Tony yelled back. "I owned up to my mistakes. I fixed them. I took control when my weapons ended up in terrorist hands, and I fixed things." He spat out. "All I've heard so far is you justifying going behind my back and plotting against me. That's the first time you've actually admitted you were wrong."
"Fine, I was wrong." Rhodey rolled his eyes. "You're not out of control, you're just the same bastard you've always been."
"Guilty as charged, and now I have backup as well." Tony smirked, squeezing Morgan's shoulder lightly. "You go behind my back again Rhodey, that's it. No more chances. I'm serious." He said, meeting Rhodey's eyes to show how firm he was being on this. "I need to trust you, no doubts."
"You can trust me Tony." Rhodey promised. "General Baur wants to prove it. Meet with him. Hammer things out. It'll be worth it. Trust me."
"Fine," Tony nodded. "Come to the mansion tomorrow. Lunch. We'll talk, you and me."
"Thank you," Rhodey nodded, smiling for the first time since he'd stepped foot inside the SA hanger. "What is all this anyway, a new project for the Air Force?"
"Proprietary," Tony grinned. "The new Stark Jet." He said proudly. "Retiring the old one, tearing everything out. Maybe I'll donate it somewhere, a museum or something." He smirked, getting a laugh out of Morgan in the process.
"Those aren't jet engines," Rhodey frowned, moving around the wing to get a closer look at the engines in question. "I don't even know what these are."
"Scaled up ion repulsor engines, we're calling them the mark threes." Tony grinned, nudging Morgan happily before he slipped his arm off of her shoulders and walked around to Rhodey's side. "Arc powered. No more fuel or layovers or anything."
"No fuel?" Rhodey asked, disbelief on his face.
"Nope," Tony grinned. "Morgan's idea. We scaled up the Arc technology, perfected it. It'll run for about three years before it needs a new core. Three years of continuous flight."
"Tony... that... that's groundbreaking." Rhodey whispered, staring in awe at the technology in front of him. "This could change everything about planes, everything!"
"Probably," Tony smirked, knowing all too well how it could change things. "We're rebuilding the Arc reactor powering the SI plant over the next few weeks. Scaling it up at least twice what the old one was, new core, new everything." He explained. "If my numbers are right..."
"My numbers," Morgan nudged him from behind, rolling her eyes at him.
"Our numbers," Tony allowed generously. "We could scale up the reactor to plant sized. Power entire cities. Endless clean green energy."
"You're serious?" Rhodey asked.
"You'll see for yourself once the new reactor is up and running." Tony nodded. "I'll take SI completely off the grid. Arc power only. I might even be able to sell power back to the city, stave off blackouts entirely with a solid and stable power source."
Rhodey nodded at that, knowing all too well how bad the power infrastructure in California was. Having a reliable and stable source of energy would be a HUGE boon to Stark Industries, and if he was right and could scale it up, it would blow nuclear power out of the water entirely.
Tony had been right. SI wasn't just going to be big, it was going to be HUGE. This new jet technology, breaking into the power market, powering entire cities. SI wasn't going to be the biggest corporation in the world, it was going to be the only corporation in the world worth the name.
Now he could see why Tony wanted to go international.
"I'll make sure to take a look," Rhodey nodded, making a mental note to actually keep a closer watch on Stark Industries and everything that Tony was doing now.
"Great, now... I need food, like stat, proper food." Tony groused as Morgan cheered in agreement with him. "Coming Rhodey? Dinner? Actually talk?" He prompted. "I know Morgan actually wants to see you when we're not yelling at each other."
"Tomorrow Tony," Rhodey nodded. "I should get back to base and call in to General Baur. He was half terrified you'd cancel all of your new contracts and hang us out to dry."
"Not unless you actually betray me." Tony said with a smirk, though he could see Rhodey took the words as the warning they were meant as.
"Tomorrow," Rhodey nodded, replacing his hat.
"Tomorrow," Tony gave a mock salute, causing Rhodey to roll his eyes but he smiled anyway before he walked away.
"So, that went better," Morgan said, bumping her shoulder into her dad's shoulder happily. "At least he came back and apologised." She said.
"He's the first one that ever has." Tony nodded, sliding his arm back around Morgan's shoulders. "Food?"
"Food," Morgan nodded happily. "Cheeseburgers?"
"You read my mind," Tony grinned, manoeuvring Morgan out of the hanger and out to his car, knowing the guards would close up the hanger tonight anyway and leave them ready to continue their work whenever they got back to it.
Stark Mansion
10880 Malibu Point
Malibu
California
By mid-evening everyone at the mansion was happily relaxing. Well, relaxing in their own way really.
Pepper was happily going through phone calls and dealing with various things that had gone unnoticed through the day, clearing her slate for tomorrow and taking care of the little things that she'd put off so far.
It wasn't exactly relaxing, but it helped her focus, and she could work on one of her fancy new tablets just as easily here as anywhere else. She also had one of the new prototype Stark Smartphones and was putting it through it's paces.
Tony had given it straight to her because he rarely used phones as it was, and Morgan had hacked her future tech watch thing into the cell system and got a number routed through to it, though in fairness with FAITH, FRIDAY and JARVIS, she didn't really need it either as Tony and Pepper could easily get in touch with her through the AI's whenever they wanted.
The evening meal had gone well, with Tony and Morgan chatting happily away about their progress on the jet, and Pepper listening in and talking to Morgan when she got the chance in-between their 'high speed technobabble' as Pepper called it.
It had been fun, and things with him and Pepper were actually progressing nicely. They weren't at the full relationship stage or anything, but it was nice, fun actually, being able to be open and be himself in front of someone he trusted. And Pepper was stunning in dresses, which was always a bonus. She had legs to die for and loved heels, which accentuated all her best features as far as he was concerned.
"How's this looking FRIDAY?" Tony asked, standing in front of the opened Mark Forty Seven suit and double checking over the entire system.
The suit felt weird. It was his, it felt like his, every inch of it was designed by him to fit his body like a glove. But at the same time it wasn't his, he hadn't designed this suit, well he had, but a future him, not the now him.
He could see years and years worth of improvements and upgrades built in, changes and tweaks, systems he hadn't even thought about yet were implemented, perfected and improved upon. Then there were some tweaks and changes that definitely weren't his, but modifications made by FRIDAY and FAITH while optimising the suit.
He was very proud of that, taking special note of how FAITH and FRIDAY were showing creativity and signs of actual sentience with Morgan's new quantum based architectural coding, something he could never have even dreamed would have been possible before.
"All systems are optimal boss," FRIDAY reported happily. "The Mark Forty Seven has accepted the new reactor core and is operating at peak efficiency."
"Nice," Tony grinned, looking over to where Morgan was still happily tinkering with the Angel wings framework and replacing some of the carbon fibre membrane between the wing slats. "Run a check over the internal structure, I want to know the strength limits before I do any further tests."
"Running simulations now boss," FRIDAY replied, bringing up a holographic screen that showed the various realistic simulations that she was putting the suit through. The new processing power thanks to Morgan's QSI's that were linked into the main server giving her more than enough power for real time physics simulations.
The suit definitely looked the part, and even the main chrome silver torso, legs and arms were growing on Tony. The glossy hod rod red was definitely the standout colour, with flashes of gold here and there. The candy paint finish over the red was glorious, and looked almost wet look as he swiped his finger over it proudly.
"Boss, structural integrity tests show the reinforced chest plate operating at..."
"Apologies for my interruption sir, but there is a matter of security that needs to be addressed immediately." JARVIS' voice broke in.
"J?" Tony asked, quirking his eyebrow as Morgan looked up from her work with curiosity on her face.
"There is an intruder prowling the grounds outside. They have stayed within the treeline so far, but I have been able to capture several images to ascertain the level of threat." JARVIS explained.
"Show me," Tony said, gesturing towards his holographic screen as Morgan came over. "And warn Pepper, tell her to get to a safe room."
"Of course sir," JARVIS' voice came back as the holographic screen changed from the simulations FRIDAY was running to the security footage from the grasslands outside the mansion. "The intruder has been systematically evaluating the mansion from both sides. I believe they are attempting to ascertain the best point of entry."
"Good luck to them," Tony snorted derisively, knowing full well how airtight the mansion was now when it went into lock down. "What are we looking at here?" He asked curiously.
"Unknown sir," JARVIS answered, bringing up the best picture he had of the intruder. "The intruder appears to be female. Unknown age, unknown affiliation." He explained as Tony eyed the picture wearily.
It was definitely a woman, he could see that easily enough from the tight black catsuit she was wearing. Short black hair, some sort of goggles that were probably night vision or thermal enhanced, maybe both. If anything, she actually looked like a stereotypical cat-burglar from a comic book or pulp novel cover.
"Huh," Morgan frowned as she looked at the security footage. "HYDRA or SHIELD? Place your bets on Cat Woman now." She announced with a mocking game show announcer style voice.
"Fifty fifty, might as well toss a coin." Tony laughed in full agreement with Morgan's take on the situation. "Looks like a good of a test run as any." He said with a grin as he stepped into the Mark Forty Seven suit. "FRIDAY, button me up." He snorted as the suit closed around him, tightening up and adjusting to his body. "Wow, it smells like a new car in here." He chuckled to himself as FRIDAY brought up his usual HUD with all the new improvements that Morgan and FAITH had included in the new suit.
"They always smell like that," Morgan chuckled as she double tapped her reactor, the liquid metal flowing out and covering her body as it solidified around her into her Iron Maiden armour. "FAITH, plug in to JARVIS' network, get all the sensor readings from the security net."
"Yes boss," FAITH reported back, bringing up the security camera and sensor feeds on Morgan's HUD. "Last chance for bets. I'm saying HYDRA." She nodded to herself as JARVIS slid open the security door that led to the ramp out of the workshop garage and up onto the grounds.
"Fine, SHIELD then." Tony shrugged as he started walking towards the ramp. "They're probably still pissed I cancelled their contracts." He explained with a chuckle.
"HYDRA could be pissed about Zola's base thing?" Morgan mused as she fell into step alongside Tony, both walking up the slope together.
"I kinda feel HYDRA would send more people, Fury has a thing about breaking into my house on his own. Feels like him." Tony explained casually.
"I'd actually pay for him to try that again," Morgan laughed to herself. "JARVIS would have him tased and drooling on the floor for the FBI to pick up whenever they wanted."
"Kid, that thought is sending me to a happy place right now." Tony grinned at the mental image it brought up. "FRIDAY, you getting anything?"
"No boss, she's sticking to the treeline. I think she's spotted the cameras and security net, but she probably doesn't recognise any of the new systems." FRIDAY reported.
"Trying to hack in?" Tony asked curiously as they reached the top of the ramp.
"Nothing so far boss." FRIDAY's voice came back sounding extremely confident. "If she does, I'll have a line into her systems before she can blink."
"That's my baby girl." Tony laughed to himself as he fired his repulsors, shooting up a good ten feet into the air and turning on the mansion ground lighting as he rose up. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" He taunted, using the suit to amplify his voice to make sure that their intruder heard them.
"She's coming out boss," FAITH announced, piping her voice and scan results through to both of their suits. "Reading multiple weapons. Five knives. Two garrote. Three throwing daggers. Two needles with unrecognised vials attached. A small EMP generator. A taser, and two electrically charged baton."
"And a partridge in a pear tree." Tony sang at the end.
"Facial recognition has compiled a eighty two percent match to Natasha Romanoff boss, she's SHIELD." FAITH reported.
"Damnit," Morgan muttered, shaking her head as the woman walked into view.
"Romanoff," Tony said aloud, keeping his repulsor cannons aimed down at her. "What, Fury sent you to make an appointment this time?"
The woman actually startled at that before schooling her face, apparently surprised by his knowledge before she continued walking down the grass line and onto the road leading up to the mansion.
"I'm not SHIELD." Romanoff said clearly.
"Uh, yeah, you are." Tony replied snarkily. "Partner of... what's his name? Purple tights, Robin Hood fetish?" He said, not remembering the other assassin's name off the top of his head.
"We quit." Romanoff said simply, coming to a halt a few yards away.
"Huh," Tony tilted his head at that.
"Didn't expect you to quit straight away, how did Fury take that?" Morgan asked curiously.
"Fury thinks I'm dead." Romanoff said simply. "Who are you?" She asked, looking over towards Morgan and eyeing her purple and chrome armour dubiously.
"I'm the one who delivered the videos to you and Barton." Morgan said simply, and the brief look of shock on Romanoff's face was definitely worth it. "Friend or foe?" She asked.
"Friend, but I doubt you'd believe that." Romanoff countered.
"No idea, I never met you before." Morgan shrugged. "Dad?" She asked.
"Talk," Tony said as he lowered his repulsors and came down to the ground beside Morgan. His larger suit looking far more threatening alongside her smaller and more sleekly designed suit, despite the exact opposite being true in reality with their suits capabilities.
"Who gave you those videos? If you were the one to deliver them." Romanoff asked, staring down at the purple and chrome armour. Making a note of how the smaller purple armoured woman had called Stark 'dad' in an extremely familiar way.
"Clint Barton," Morgan replied easily. "He recorded them in the future." She clarified.
"You? He gave you one too?" Romanoff asked, honest curiosity in her voice now.
"He didn't need to," Morgan shrugged. "He said I can trust you, was he right?" She asked.
"Depends on what you want to trust me with." Romanoff countered. "You help me, and I'll help you with whatever you need." She said simply. "The videos said to trust you. I don't trust anyone."
"Quid pro quo," Tony nodded, he could deal with that. "Fine, what does a master assassin need help with?"
"The Red Room are still active. I want to destroy them." Romanoff said simply.
Both Tony and Morgan turned to look at each other at that, though neither of their puzzled faces showed through the face plates that covered up their expressions.
"The what now?" Tony asked, confusion evident in his voice.
Upstairs
"JARVIS? What's going on?" Pepper asked, secure in one of the safe rooms Tony had personally designed throughout the mansion. To anyone else they just looked like normal lounge areas, but they were filled with enough security features to make even SHIELD wince, and hold off against an army with JARVIS controlling every aspect of their defence system.
"The intruder seems to be an ally of sorts Miss Potts." JARVIS responded. "Sir and Miss Morgan are ascertaining her reasons for encroaching on the property currently."
"Show me," Pepper ordered, watching as a holographic screen was projected close to one of the walls, showing footage of Tony and Morgan leading a lithe raven haired woman down the ramp into his workshop area. "Who is she?"
"According to Miss Faith's records, she is Natasha Romanoff. A Russian SHIELD collaborator. She claims to have resigned from SHIELD and faked her death to ensure they are kept in the dark of her continued existence." JARVIS reported. "Interestingly, Miss Romanoff was one of the people Miss Morgan contacted with information about the future."
"She knows what's going on?" Pepper asked.
"Unknown, unlikely however as Miss Romanoff specifically asked Miss Morgan if she had received a video as well." JARVIS explained.
"Keep an eye on her JARVIS, I don't trust SHIELD anymore." Pepper said firmly, having heard plenty of horror stories about how bad SHIELD actually was from Morgan, along with seeing video and documented proof of their atrocities and how they'd treated her and the Stark name in Morgan's future.
"Of course Miss Potts. Miss Faith and Miss Friday are also keeping watch, and Miss Faith is ready to secure Miss Romanoff in hard light containment should she make any offensive moves." JARVIS explained.
"That makes me feel better," Pepper chuckled lightly at that, definitely thankful for FAITH and Morgan's hard light systems now. The knowledge that Tony and Morgan weren't alone, but actually had three fully capable AI's with them and watching over them was definitely a balm to her worried nerves.
"I am certain sir and Miss Morgan will be fine Miss Potts, they are both in full armour, and Miss Romanoff is not carrying any weapons that could cause undue harm to either of them." JARVIS explained.
"Good to know," Pepper smiled, moving away from the hologram screen and heading back to her phone. "I'll continue working here, let me know if anything changes alright?"
"Of course Miss Potts." JARVIS' voice came back before falling silent when Pepper reached for her tablet and phone to continue working.
The Stark Workshop Floor
"Are we going to talk without the armoured suits?" Natasha asked pointedly as she followed the pair into what was obviously an extremely high tech workshop area.
"And leave us open to the dozen or so weapons our scans picked up, not to mention your thighs of death?" Tony quipped, looking at her as if to say 'do you think we're idiots?'
Natasha simply shrugged at that, a bit surprised that they had technology that could identify the weapons she was carrying, but not that surprised. It was Stark after all, and Stark Tech was the best in the world for a reason.
"So, the old pirate thinks you're dead then?" Tony continued, coming to a stop in the middle of the workshop and turning his full attention to Romanoff.
"Director Fury?" Natasha asked. "I'm certain of it." She said in confirmation.
"Huh," Tony tilted his head to the side as he considered that. "Alright, first, question... did you kill Ross?" He asked, honestly curious now.
"General Ross?" Natasha asked. "Yes." She said simply when Tony nodded.
"You owe her a bouquet of knives," Morgan chuckled.
"Don't tell your mom," Tony mock scolded her. "Fine, since you've done us a solid already and we didn't even know you yet." He said as the front of his suit opened, letting him step out. "FRIDAY, sentry mode. Keep an eye on our killer guest here."
"Taking control now boss!" FRIDAY's Irish brogue came back as the suit reassembled itself before walking off to the side and watching them closely.
"Your SHIELD file said your AI was called JARVIS." Natasha pointed out, causing Tony to smirk at her. She could only wonder how much of Stark's file was wrong or out of date given how much things seemed to have changed since his return from Afghanistan. "They think you're dying." She decided to say, giving a small piece of information away.
"Palladium poisoning?" Tony asked. "Yeah, already fixed. Not an issue." He shrugged. "Water?" He asked, heading over to his workbench and kicking open the fridge that was down on the floor beside some tools.
"I thought you drank something stronger," Natasha questioned before accepting the plastic bottle that was tossed her way.
"I'm dry," Tony shrugged, uncapping his own bottle and enjoying a mouthful. "Alright, story time?"
Natasha nodded, covering up her shock at Tony Stark saying he didn't drink alcohol anymore. That didn't fit in with any information she had about the man at all. But then, his file didn't indicate he had a daughter either, so it looked like his entire SHIELD file was full of holes big enough to fly the Helicarrier through.
"The Red Room is the training academy used to brain wash girls before subjecting them to a regime designed to create assassins loyal to them." Natasha explained. "I believed I'd destroyed the academy in Belarus years ago when I defected to SHIELD. I found out Fury was lying about it to keep my loyalty to SHIELD instead of going after them again."
"Fury lying. I'm shocked." Tony drawled. "FRIDAY, we got anything on The Red Room?" He asked aloud, knowing FRIDAY would know well enough to keep future knowledge secret when there was someone else around.
"Yes boss." FRIDAY chirped in response. "Miss Romanoff is talking about the Black Widow program. Черная вдова Программа. Girls trained as covert assassins from their childhood years. She's right about Belarus as well, the program moved after the destruction of their old facility."
"Good intel," Tony nodded in amusement over to Natasha. "Anything on them currently?" He asked.
"The current Red Room facility is currently geosynchronous eight hundred and forty feet above Narachanski National Park boss." FRIDAY answered. "I don't have intel on their current defensive or offensive capabilities, but can devote runtime to investigating."
"A flying base full of badguys, we're living in a cliché. Sic FAITH on them, see what she can dig out from the other side of the iron curtain." Tony nodded, seeing Natasha's surprised eyes before her face went back to a blank slate. "You want our help to take them down properly?" He asked.
"Yes." Natasha said simply, very surprised that Stark had been able to gather so much intel so quickly. She couldn't confirm it, but it fit with everything Clint had managed to find out, and it felt right. Apparently Stark's AI's were vastly more advanced than she or SHIELD had believed, and could even speak Russian convincingly enough that it would have fooled her if she hadn't known what Stark was speaking to.
"Belarus, that's a trip and a half." Morgan frowned thoughtfully. "Outside of the Russian border, but it's going to be a pain getting over there. Especially to a flying facility."
"It probably moves too," Tony nodded in agreement, causing Natasha to tilt her head as she considered that as well. "That's how I'd design something like that. Mobile, keep people guessing. They probably have ECCM tech as well, or keep themselves over poorer countries to stop radar from picking them up."
"Probably both," Morgan suggested, still using her suit speakers to speak. "Flying base filled with assassins. You know they're going to have defences everywhere."
"Point," Tony smirked.
"FAITH will be able to grab something if there is anything on them. I doubt they'll have any computers networked to a hard line or anything, not if they're on a mobile base. But if they are stupid enough to have anything running through a satellite anywhere, she'll find it." Morgan said, a proud lilt to her voice when she spoke about her AI's capabilities.
"Can you get me there?" Natasha asked, cutting straight to the point.
"If they've got air defences?" Tony tilted his head as he considered it. "Got a time frame in mind?" He asked.
"As soon as possible." Natasha answered simply.
"Give me two weeks." Tony nodded, thinking about the new Stark jet and how long it would actually take to have it ready and tested properly. "I'll have a jet ready to get us there."
"You help me take down the Red Room. You'll have my trust." Natasha promised. "The women... the Black Widows being trained there. They're using some sort of chemical brainwashing."
"Great," Tony grimaced at the thought. "And you don't want to kill any of them I'm guessing?" He asked.
"I'd prefer not to." Natasha shrugged. "If it can't be helped..." She trailed off. "But there's at least one I want kept alive."
"FRIDAY, you got that? Anything on the Red Room brainwashing." Tony asked aloud.
"FAITH's on it boss." FRIDAY responded easily.
"Any idea what sort of defences we're looking at or anything?" Tony asked.
"No." Natasha answered with a small shrug.
"Who do you want kept alive?" Morgan asked curiously. "Another Black Widow?"
"Yes." Natasha nodded. "Yelena Belova." She said aloud.
"FRIDAY, pull up anything you can find. Photos, video, documents. Everything." Tony ordered. "Taking out a league of assassins, was that on your schedule?" He quipped, looking to Morgan with a small smirk.
"No, but I'm flexible." Morgan responded easily. "Might be a good test for your new armour though." She offered back.
"And the new jet." Tony grinned at the thought. "We'll help." He said with a nod back to Romanoff.
"Two weeks." Romanoff said, looking back at Tony before she turned and walked off, heading back to the ramp to walk back out into the night outside.
Tony and Morgan simply watched before turning to each other and shrugging. Morgan waiting until JARVIS had confirmed that Romanoff had left the mansion entirely before she deactivated her armour.
"So, that was Little Miss Spider then?" Tony raised an eyebrow to Morgan curiously. "Not a redhead."
"I don't even know if she was ever a real redhead." Morgan chuckled to herself with a shrug. "Assassins." She countered when her dad looked at her.
"Point," Tony conceded thoughtfully, idly pondering exactly what he was getting himself into here.