Toni Stark rubbed at her eyes, trying to clear them of the grit that had built up in them over the last couple of days. She'd barely stepped out of the apartment since the other version of her, a man no less, had appeared and dumped a huge pile of trouble directly into her lap. The armored suit leaning against the wall was bad enough, though she had managed to clean the inner suit out with her vacuum cleaner. She had been worried for a minute when she'd cut her finger while trying to reach the toes of the boot to clean out, but other than a strange tingling sensation and an increase in appetite she'd felt fine. It had taken most of that time to realize that the files downloaded into her computer were a whole new level of pain in the ass.
The first thing Toni had explored had been the new bank accounts and accounting records that had been set up. As far as she could tell, the poor scholarship student was worth more than half a billion dollars and none of it was traceable. She had a sneaking suspicion that most of it had been liberated from offshore accounts that belonged to various criminal organizations, but the data trail wad swept clean. There was nothing to connect their missing money with the new owner and CEO of Stark Industries, but she still worried about using too much of the money at once. It wouldn't pay to attract undue attention by splurging.
The rest of the data was mostly mathematics, schematics and formula. If she was reading them right, the sum total of the information now contained in her computer and the armored suit represented a quantum leap in human technology. What disturbed her the most was the internal weapons systems and the explanation as to why it was necessary. Apparently the United States Air Force was in possession of an alien made artifact that created an artificial wormhole allowing interstellar travel to other worlds with similar artifacts. Their explorations and actions had earned them a large number of enemies, some of whom had assaulted the Earth. In fact, there had been more than three occasions where the Earth had narrowly escaped complete destruction over the last few years.
Now, Toni had nothing personal against the military, but she had seen a lot of brilliant minds go into Research and Development for various branches and disappear from the face of the earth. The fact that the government agencies that knew about this 'Stargate Command' were desperately trying to acquire advanced alien tech for various reasons bothered the blonde more than she liked to admit. Humans should never have to rely on a handout from an alien race and use technology of which they had no real understanding.
All of the tech in the blueprints she had been given were advanced and even based on reverse engineered alien technologies, but she found that she had no problem understanding and interpreting them. It probably was because these had been written by the man who had claimed to be an alternate version of her and they likely thought in similar ways. Or it could have been the fact that this Tony Stark had taken time to not only do the reverse engineering, but to develop the science and theories that underlay them. Ha, she thought as she looked over more of the data, let's see MENSA snub me now. The warm glow of her computer monitor reminded Toni that she had to put aside pettiness for the good of the whole human race.
This gift meant that she had a serious responsablitiy to protect her home world from those who would destroy and enslave it. The easiest thing to do would be to give all this to the government, but she knew that was a bad idea. While the United States was a good country and there were honest people trying to do good things in the government, far too many politicians would try and use these devices to enhance their own power, wealth and prestige at the cost of the welfare of the rest of the world. She couldn't trust any of the large scientific corporations either for the same reason.
No, she had to handle this herself through the newly minted Stark Industries. She could manufacture and sell some of the items that would make people's lives better while secretly developing and building up a force to keep Earth safe and free of alien control. The biggest problem would be her lack of business experience and a dearth of people that she could trust. There were one or two friends at Cal Tech and some that had graduated and were working at JPL that she might be able to trust to help in development of the technologies needed, but she needed to build a solid core of people that she could trust. Not just scientists, she would need fighters. Men and women of good moral character that knew how to fight and were willing to do so anonymously for the benefit of all.
First , though, came the facilities. The data she'd been given had pointed out a couple of suitable sites here in Los Angeles and in areas where the property values were quite low too. A few searches on the web had given her the names of the realtors and developers that owned the properties and Toni began to concoct a strategy as she locked her computer down and headed off to get a shower and change of clothes.
****
Toni had never been more uncomfortable as she stared at the empty lot before her, aware of the stares from the people who lived in the neighborhood. This was a section of South Central that bordered on the rundown industrial centers, but was primarily a minority neighborhood and the cops considered it on at least the fringe of gangland. It was perfect for her needs, though, since it had all of the necessary heavy duty utility lines as well as highway and rail access to ship raw and finished materials.
"Yo, lady, what are you doing here," a man's voice said from behind her. Toni turned and saw a strongly built black man with a shaved head standing there. He wore a red vest that was held closed by some pieces of chain and a pair of black pants.
"I'm just waiting for the a realtor," Toni answered calmly, trying not to feel intimidated by the man or the handful of other black men that were gathering behind him.
"Waiting for a realtor," the man asked incredulously, "around here? Are you crazy?"
"Absolutely not," Toni replied indignantly. "I know this isn't the nicest area in Los Angeles, but I've lived in worse. Besides I needed to get a good look before the realtor showed up and started his sales pitch."
"You're seriously thinking about buying all of that," the man asked, gesturing over at the empty lots, old warehouses and old manufacturing facilities.
"Yes," Toni said firmly, turning back to look at the property. "It's exactly what I'm looking for. Admittedly, most of it will have to be leveled before my facilities can be built, but I think it should work out well. By the way, I feel slightly awkward holding a conversation with someone whose name I do not know."
"Oh, yeah," the black man said absently while staring at what Toni was sure he considered a crazy white woman. "Name's Luc Rage and this is my neighborhood. Last thing I want is to have some company come in and force us all out of our homes…"
"You don't need to worry about being forced out," Toni interrupted as she spotted a car driving up. I fully intend for a large majority of my employees to come from the area. I'll make sure to post the hiring advertisements in the local community centers, but I should warn you that I take my business seriously. I will pay well, but I expect hard work and loyalty in return."
"What kind of work," one of the other men asked suspiciously. "You ain't gonna find too many college grads out these ways lady."
"While some of the work will be technical, I will provide any necessary training," Toni replied, smiling as she spotted the realtor's car pulling around the corner. "Nothing that anyone with two brain cells to rub together can't do."
She walked over to meet the realtor, chuckling softly as she realized that she may have just started her recruiting campaign a little early. The first man, that Luc Rage had shown up in police reports and news clippings about the area as the head of a local gang that actually worked on keeping the peace rather than messing things up like most of the poor neighborhood gangs.
"Ah, Ms. Stark, a pleasure to see you again," the realtor said with an unctuous smile as he climbed out of his BMW, pulling his briefcase after him. He glanced nervously at the collection of black men that had gathered around Luc Rage and Toni during their conversation. "Making friends with the locals I see. Don't worry, Ms. Stark, I'm sure the police can handle any problems you might have with this riff-raff."
"I don't foresee any particular problems, Mr. Jones" Toni replied acerbically. "This gentlemen have been more polite and forthcoming than many of the realtors that I've dealt with in the past."
"Ah, yes," Jones said nervously, all too aware of how much his expensive suit and sports car made him stand out as a target in this poor neighborhood. It contrasted with the casual clothes Toni had worn and the beat up yellow taxi that sat idling further down the block waiting for her with the meter on. "Did you want to examine the properties?"
"I think that I've seen enough," Toni replied with a slight smile. "You do represent the ownership of all of the property we discussed, do you not?"
"Yes, I do," Jones replied, clearing his throat with a cough. "Some of my clients are a little leery of selling the entire property to you though. Are you sure that you wouldn't prefer to lease?"
"No, I want sole ownership of the property," Toni said sternly. "I won't negotiate on that point, however I am willing to up the price another five percent if that would ease your clients' worries."
"That's more than generous," Jones replied with a greedy smile that told Toni that the people he represented wouldn't see a penny of the extra price. It didn't bother her, since the money would secure her ownership of the properties.
"Then we can meet tomorrow at your office to sign the contracts," Toni asked. "You bring the deed to sign over and I'll bring a certified check."
"Excellent," Jones replied, all but rubbing his fingers in glee as he climbed back into his car. "I'll see you at one o'clock then?" Toni nodded and the realtor drove off, swerving recklessly through the streets.
"That guy's probably ripping you off, lady," Luc Rage said, glaring after the BMW.
"That's ok," Toni replied with a smile. "I expected to get ripped off when buying land in LA. The big squeeze is going to be with the contractors and the teamsters when I start building."
"So you're seriously going to open up a business here," Luc asked warily.
"Not just a business," Toni stated proudly. "I expect that within two years, Stark Industries will be on the Fortune 500. And those who get in on the ground floor and prove their loyalty will rise to the top with me. So do you think you're in, Mr. Rage?"
"I'll think about it," the large black man said as he turned and began to walk away. "My loyalty is not something cheaply bought or easily given. It has to be earned."
****
Toni donned the hard hat, glad that she'd worn jeans and boots today as she inspected the site where the foundations for her facilities were being built. She'd managed to find a discrete contractor who was willing to shave a few corners off reporting exactly what he built to the local planning commission and he'd called her, saying that he'd found something unusual. One of the workers, a grizzled older man, led her through the maze of concrete mixers and stacks of rebar and construction equipment to the deep pit that was going to house the more important sublevels of the building.
"Over here, Ms. Stark," the worker said as he led her to an inclinator that could carry the two of them to the bottom without having to brave the makeshift stairs going down.
"So, does anyone have an idea what we've found," Toni asked as they began their descent.
"No, ma'am," the worker replied. "I've been excavating in this town fro construction projects for nigh on twenty years and I've never run across anything like this. Usually it's occasional fossils or Indian artifacts. Once we found an old Spanish mission, but that was in a suburb up north. Place called Sunnydale. But this thing…this thing looks downright alien, if you don't mind my saying so."
"Not at all, Mr…"
"Name's Logan, Thomas Logan, ma'am," the worker offered.
"Well, Mr. Logan, I'm not sure what this thing will be, but it definitely sounds interesting," Toni replied. "We'll probably have to move it to a more secured location for study so that the construction won't get held up."
"Whatever you say, ma'am," Logan replied as the inclinator reached the bottom of the pit some seven stories below ground level. "It's over on the other side where we were leveling out to set the bottom sublevel's foundation. What are you going to put down here anyway that requires six feet of concrete all around it? A nuclear reactor?"
"Something like that," Toni replied with a teasing smile to show she was just kidding. I have plans for a large power plant to be built on the bottom level that should put out enough energy to power my whole facility. The parts are being built around the world and some are on their way here as we speak."
"I can't imagine a safe way to make that much power, ma'am," Logan said nervously.
"That's why I'm the company owner and resident genius," Toni replied still smiling. She made her way past the equipment that littered the floor of the pit and came up on a crowd surrounding an object covered with a tarp.
"Ms. Stark, am I ever glad that you're here," the foreman, Miles Flaherty, said in obvious relief.
"Let's have a look," Toni said brusquely, her curiosity getting the better of her. "You said that you first discovered the metallic object when your earthmoving equipment pried up an edge of it, correct?"
"Yes, ma'am," Flaherty replied. "Nothing showed up on the detonation sonar that we used to check the ground and the archeological survey came up clean two months ago. Then last night one of the backhoe operators turned this up." Flaherty pulled the tarp back, showing an object that literally gleamed in the sunlight of the southern California afternoon.
Toni leaned forward to get a better look, noting that the metal shed the dirt cleanly without a trace of stain. She lightly ran her fingers over the smooth surface and was surprised when she received a light shock that stung her. Finally, her eyes lit on a series of glyphs inscribed into the metal and she was surprised to recognize them as being Kree in origin. While she had read extensively in her other self's records of the alien races that he had documented that had once existed in his galaxy, the Kree were thought to have been extinct for the longest. Longer than the Skrull or the Shi'ar even.
"I want this carefully removed and transported to warehouse five," Toni said as she stood up abruptly. "Excavate the area for another ten feet and keep an eye out for any similar artifacts. Use the extra depth to reinforce the foundation of the building and add the charge for labor and materials to the unexpected overhead expense account. I'll approve it later."
"Do you know what that thing is, Ms. Stark," Flaherty asked eagerly.
"No, I don't, but I certainly intend to find out," Toni replied as she turned to head back to the inclinator. She pause to say, "And no one is to contact the media or the government about this, understood? This is private property and doesn't concern them."
"For what you're paying us, ma'am," Flaherty answered with a smile, "I doubt anyone's stupid enough to run tattling."
"Still, I would like as few people as possible to know about this for now," Toni said before continuing on her way.