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 11th, 2010
"Tony?"
Tony looked up from his work bench automatically as he heard Pepper's voice, idly putting down his tools as he wiped his hands off from where he'd been working on some ideas from Morgan's future database about non lethal firearms that could be mass produced for the police services.
"Pep?" Tony asked, looking over to where Pepper was looking around the workshop curiously. "What's up?" He asked curiously.
"Is Morgan here?" Pepper asked, looking around but not seeing any signs of Morgan around anywhere.
"Nope," Tony shrugged. "She was doing some tests on some upgrades she'd been working on, went out to give them a proper test run." He explained. "She's probably flying around somewhere now having the time of her life." He said with a knowing grin, knowing he would be doing the exact same thing if he'd just pushed through a big upgrade to any of his suits.
"Tony... there's... has Morgan talked to you in the last few days?" Pepper asked hesitantly, walking over to stand by Tony's workbench.
"What about?" Tony asked, his eyes flicking over to Morgan's workbench where she was working on another nanite reactor core for reasons that he hadn't actually figured out yet. While his fingers were itching to get hold of it and take the damn thing apart, he knew without knowing much about the technology that he could damage it beyond repair if he took it apart while lacking the intimate knowledge about it's internals.
The technology Morgan had brought back from the future was precious enough, and with the very limited supply they had of it at the moment, he wasn't about to risk damaging something that they might need later on, not matter how badly his curiosity was urging him on.
"About her?" Pepper prompted him. "A dance maybe? A date?" She asked.
"Nope," Tony shrugged. "Morgan's got a date?" He asked, his brain catching up with what Pepper had said. "Am I supposed to know this? Isn't girl talk something... you know, girls do? Not something that should make it to my ears?" He asked with a small smirk.
"No, she hasn't got a date, at least, not that I know of." Pepper clarified. "She had dates, in her future though. She mentioned them to me a few days ago."
"So?" Tony shrugged. Unless it was anything bad, he didn't really see the problem of Morgan dating. He wasn't going to be a helicopter parent, and he knew damn well that Morgan could take care of herself if anything happened to her.
"Morgan's gay." Pepper said bluntly after taking a deep breath, staring at Tony flatly to make him realise she was being serious about this.
"That... I... huh." Tony stammered out as he slumped back in his chair, his brain cataloguing that fact and running rampant around as he tried to figure out what this exactly meant for her. "Gay?"
"Gay." Pepper confirmed.
"Huh," Tony repeated, his face slack as he tried to add that little piece of knowledge into everything he knew about Morgan so far. "Alright?" He asked, shrugging the fact away. It was interesting, important in a personal sense, but didn't really change anything as far as he was concerned.
"You're alright with that?" Pepper double checked.
"Sure," Tony nodded absently. "Well, yeah, actually." He grinned. "It means that she won't be at risk from idiot boys trying to pick her up, or bringing boys home with her." He laughed as Pepper rolled her eyes at him. "No, seriously, I'm fine with it. She wants to date girls, more power to her." He smiled before the smile fell slightly. "Are you alright with it?" He asked.
"I'm... I don't know, I'm trying to wrap my head around it." Pepper admitted. "Morgan was just annoyed at the fact that she had to come out twice to me apparently." She explained, causing Tony to let out a bark of laughter at that. "She said I was really supportive of her, when she was growing up I mean. In the future, she said I took her to parades and everything."
"You were an awesome mom then," Tony smiled at her. "You think she's worried about coming out to me? What I might say to her?" He asked, knowing that he'd died when Morgan had been a child last time, so they never would have had any conversations about sexuality or anything like that.
"I don't know, maybe?" Pepper asked. "She's definitely closer to you than me, I keep imagining she would have definitely grown up to be a daddy's girl..."
"If I'd been there," Tony finished off Pepper's sentence when she trailed off. "JARVIS, when's Pride month?" He asked aloud.
"LGBT Pride is scheduled annually each June sir." JARVIS responded.
"Big events planned?" Tony asked aloud.
"The largest on file is in New York sir, the annual Pride Parade which takes place on the twenty sixth of June this year." JARVIS explained.
"Huh, do we do anything for it?" Tony asked, looking to Pepper curiously now.
"Apparently we did in the future," Pepper explained. "Morgan says there were SI floats, and that we went to the Madrid parade every year." She said thoughtfully. "I've looked, but SI doesn't currently fund any LGBT charities or organisations."
"Well that's going to change," Tony said with a frown, not having thought about anything like that before. "Pride Parade, could be a party." He said with a grin. "Reach out to the organisers, see if we can get something set up for this year." He smiled at the thought.
"For Morgan?" Pepper asked.
"Both of us, all three of us if you want to come too." Tony smiled. "If Morgan wants to go out on Parade after everyone knows who she is, then I'm going to be stood right there next to her, supporting her all the way." He said proudly, definitely intent on supporting Morgan in any way he could.
"I'll send some emails then," Pepper chuckled to herself, trying to imagine Tony walking through New York in a rainbow suit with various supportive pins all over his outfit. "I've set up the meetings in Spain with the Valencia people as well, are you sure you're going to be alright handling this on your own?"
"Sure," Tony nodded. "Morgan'll be there as well, she wants to show me around the place and point out some of the changes she made after she took over. I can muddle through the language well enough, but she'll be able to translate anything I miss."
"You're sure you don't need me there as well?" Pepper asked.
"Nah, it'll mostly be meetings and money, once I've got that sorted I'll head over to England, see about setting up a meeting with the doctor there, see how that goes." Tony nodded absently. "You can hold down the fort here while we're gone, with the new processors, phones and everything coming through development, we can't both vanish out to Europe for a few days."
"That's true," Pepper sighed. "I'll definitely want to look over any agreements though and see what changes Morgan is thinking of. If this new project is going to be the home of the company in a few years, we'll need to start looking at business locations too."
"Already did," Tony grinned happily. "That old airport thing? FRIDAY's keeping an eye on it for me. As soon as it closes up, I'll make an offer for the entire thing. Land, buildings, everything. We can upgrade it and get Aviation set up there once Morgan's finished with some of the commercial plane schematics."
"You're thinking of moving the entire Aviation division to Spain then?" Pepper asked curiously.
"To start with," Tony nodded. "We can offer any of the engineers already here transfers, either to Spain or to a different department internally, but filling out a new department and setting it up... probably thirty to fifty thousand jobs, just in Aviation."
"The Spanish government are going to fall all over themselves just for that," Pepper said knowingly.
"Plus construction, at the airport as well as the Stark Plaza. Internals, marketing, jobs." Tony rattled off absently. "It'll put Valencia on the map, probably start an entire new boom in their business district."
"The government here won't like it." Pepper pointed out.
"Screw em." Tony said flatly. "We've got bigger fish to fry, and I'm not going to let the company be stifled just to keep the politicians happy." He said, discarding the worry altogether. "If they push, we can follow your plan and pull out of the country altogether."
"I hope it doesn't come to that again," Pepper grimaced at the thought, not knowing how her future self had taken to moving out of the country entirely, and shifting the entire company as well. It must have been a mammoth undertaking, and she couldn't even begin to imagine how her future self had managed such a thing.
"Fingers crossed," Tony nodded. "I'd like to say we should be able to do it everything without the politicians getting involved... but... you know, politicians." He said with a shrug.
"I know," Pepper winced at the thought, not liking the idea of getting involved in politics at all. "There was... another thing Morgan said." She paused, waiting as Tony looked at her curiously before she continued. "She wanted me to start wearing the watch and bracelets she brought back from the future."
"I was going to ask myself," Tony said with a thoughtful nod. "Not now, but when things start heating up and getting closer to twenty twelve, definitely."
"I don't know how to use them." Pepper explained her worries. "I don't want to... I don't know, wave at someone and end up shooting them."
Tony did laugh at that, grinning in amusement at that rather morbid idea. "Want me to have a look at them first?" He asked.
"Please," Pepper sighed thankfully, reaching into her pocket and lifting out the small velvet bag that she'd kept everything in since Morgan had first given it to her. "I know Morgan said they're mine... It just feels... I don't know, like they belong to another Pepper somewhere." She explained, handing the velvet bag over for Tony to take from her.
"You're still Morgan's mom, just like I'm her dad." Tony said, putting the velvet bag on the table for now. "Just because you didn't give birth to her, doesn't mean she's not your daughter." He clarified.
"It just feels strange," Pepper confessed. "You have such an easy bond with her, but every time I try... I just keep feeling like they're something missing, like there's a special mother daughter bond that just isn't there because I'm missing so much of her life."
"Have you talked to her about it?" Tony asked, unsure what else to really suggest as this definitely felt like an emotional 'mother daughter' thing that he wouldn't be able to understand anyway.
"I wouldn't even know where to start," Pepper admitted, shaking her head sadly.
"Well, talking about boys is apparently out." Tony smirked, grinning when he managed to get Pepper to crack a small smile at that. "Just do... I don't know, whatever you think you'd do when you had a child." He explained. "Movies together? Ice cream? Go out for a day, I don't know, whatever women do." He laughed.
"Morgan's not exactly what I expected any daughter of mine to be like Tony," Pepper sighed, rolling her eyes. "She's more like a miniature you wrapped up in a girl's body."
"Well, thanks for that nightmare fuel," Tony muttered, grimacing and shaking his head to clear the thoughts of that. "Seriously though, she grew up with you in her future. Anything you're thinking of, she probably already did with you in the future." He smiled reassuringly at her. "Take her out shopping or something, or go for a drive somewhere... wait, scratch that, she hates cars." He added on, remembering that little fact.
"She doesn't like cars?" Pepper asked in surprise, seeing the first deviation between what she knew about Tony, and Morgan's behaviour.
"Apparently," Tony shrugged. "She told me she had a motorbike though, but she hates cars. Said she really hates traffic." He said, trying to think back to anything else Morgan had said about what she liked and didn't like.
"She rides motorbikes?" Pepper asked, her face showing the shock she felt at that, unable to even picture any daughter of hers gearing up in leather protective clothes and riding a loud motorbike anywhere.
"Never tried one myself either," Tony gave a helpless look at that. "Thought about getting her some kit bits, see if she wants to try building one up together. Could be fun." He suggested.
"I wouldn't have the faintest idea where to even start with something like that." Pepper groaned, feeling even more out of touch with Morgan now.
"I know the basics, engine design, that's about it." Tony admitted. "Bikes are a foreign language to me, but I think it'd be fun, doing it with Morgan and actually spending time on something small and silly like that."
"Maybe," Pepper said quietly as she thought about it, not really liking the idea of sitting down on the ground and getting grease and oil all over herself while she tried to help Tony and Morgan build a motorbike together.
"I'll have a look at these anyway, see what I can make of them." Tony said, tapping the velvet bag on his workbench. "Should be able to figure them out, they're my designs apparently, but if Morgan's updated them or done anything with them... you might need her to explain them to you."
"Anything would be helpful right now, and if wearing those things means making you and Morgan happier, then I'll get used to them." Pepper said with a small smile. "But I am not flying around in any weird suit thing any time soon. Not until I know exactly what everything in those things does and how to use it all."
Tony did laugh at that, nodding in agreement. "Fine, but that... you'll definitely have to talk to Morgan about." He clarified. "I haven't even got a chance to look at how her suit even works yet, so explaining nanotech suits and reactors is a bit beyond me right now."
"Which is terrifying on a whole new level." Pepper grimaced at the thought. "If you can get them working at least, or tell me how to use the watch, that would be a start I'd think."
"Watch first, got it." Tony nodded, seeing the relieved smile on Pepper's face. "Don't sweat it about Morgan, if you want to do something with her, just ask her. I'm sure she'd be up for spending any time with you she could."
"I'll speak to her tomorrow and see," Pepper said, making a mental note to speak to her whenever she got the chance. "Are you coming upstairs soon?" She asked.
"Yeah, I was just finishing up here really." Tony nodded. "I'll have a quick look at the watch and then head on up."
"Alright, I'll be upstairs then." Pepper said, offering a gentle smile to Tony before she left, closing the workshop door behind her and heading up the spiral staircase to the main level of the mansion.
Tony watched her leave for a moment before he turned back to his workbench, gently opening up the velvet bag and fishing around inside before sliding out the elegant silver looking watch in his hand, turning it around a few times so that he could get a good look at it.
It was definitely a beautiful design, though the watch face was a plain black glossy type of material, not really an analogue or digital looking device at all.
"Huh," Tony frowned, turning the watch over a few times again, not noticing any buttons or controls anywhere on it, and he couldn't even see any areas where he would be able to take the watch apart and check the internals either. "FRIDAY, you up baby girl?"
"Always Boss," FRIDAYs Irish brogue came back through the speakers barely half a second before her golden orange avatar appeared in front of his workbench.
"Hey baby girl," Tony grinned up at her, definitely happy with Morgan's projectors now. The avatars made the AI's feel even more like family than they ever had before, and seeing them have physical form and actually interact with each other was still something he treasured and watched for every day. "You got the designs of this watch thing in your database anywhere?" He asked, holding the watch up so that the various cameras and sensors around the workshop could focus on the watch and get the information he needed.
"Sure thing Boss," FRIDAY replied. "The hardware is linked, specifications are marked in FAITHs database. Stark Watch model twelve, professional model. Produced twenty thirty six."
Tony let out a low whistle at that, staring at the watch in surprise. It looked like his work, but apparently either the internals had been upgraded to Morgan's modern standard, or they'd taken his design and kept it for future models. Either could be possible really knowing Morgan, it could also be that Pepper kept the watch design as she liked it so much, and Morgan simply replicated it using the more advanced parts.
"Does it still work?" Tony asked aloud, looking up at FRIDAY's avatar out of habit.
"Sure Boss, micro Arc is registering at eighty seven percent charge." FRIDAY reported.
"Alright, how do I turn it on?" Tony asked, feeling extremely stupid at asking for help figuring out a simple watch.
"Instructions are being projected now," FRIDAY reported only moments before a holographic screen popped up on his work bench displaying what looked to be a digital users manual and quick set up guide.
"Huh, handy." Tony mused, swiping the screen a few times to get through the usual legal waffle and through to the actual pertinent bits of information. "Wait, just tap it twice to show the screen?"
"That's it Boss," FRIDAY confirmed. "It will also activate when the watch is rotated sharply on the Z axis."
"Huh?" Tony mused, idly laying the watch over his wrist and double tapping it with one finger, his eyes going wide at the extremely high resolution image being displayed on the screen, along with several smaller holographic panels that popped into existence around the circular device itself.
There was different panels for phone, calendar, schedule, contacts, e-mail, and photos, all of them displayed easily so he could simply touch and navigate through using the same holographic type panels that he'd seen in Morgan's other technology.
Giving a low whistle he lifted the watch up again, admiring it and making a note that it apparently acted as a phone just like Morgan's watch did, though he had absolutely no idea how that was supposed to work.
"You're connected to this right?" Tony asked, looking up at FRIDAY again.
"Yes Boss, connection is stable. All Lady Boss's files are backed up on my server." FRIDAY answered with a smile.
"Morgan said there's more to this than just the usual watch?" Tony asked, holding the watch up to investigate it further.
"Of course Boss, there's a miniature nanite core built in to the base. Only one form locked in memory." FRIDAY reported. "To access, the watch must be worn, then the index and ring finger tap the palm twice to activate the nanite core."
"Is there enough for me to try it?" Tony asked. "Or is it locked to Pepper's hands?"
"It's safe Boss." FRIDAY answered, her tone full of mirth as Tony looked up at her with a dry expression on his face.
"Fine, walk me through it." Tony muttered, strapping the watch on and doing his best to adjust the metal links around his wrist so it would fit right. He was amused as the watch lit up as soon as the links were connected properly and adjusted automatically to sit comfortably if snugly around his wrist.
"Blood pressure, pulse..." Tony read off, looking at all the information displayed on the screen in surprise. "Surprised this thing doesn't tell me when I need to eat." He muttered, twisting his wrist sharply to one side as the watch face faded back to black, then seeing it activate again when he angled his wrist. "Alright, middle and ring finger, right?"
"Yes Boss, double tap the base of your palm like you were reaching for the strap." FRIDAY explained.
Tony simply followed the instructions, feeling a bit weird as he tapped his palm with the fingers FRIDAY had indicated, though quite literally as soon as he'd tapped his palm the second time, the watch itself flowed out in liquid silver, exactly as he had seen Morgan's suit do, covering his hand in the mirror looking chrome liquid before it solidified around and turned into a very recognisable gauntlet that was almost identical to the hands on Morgan's suit.
He was definitely amused with the chrome and blue colour scheme that came out, he was pretty sure he remembered Pepper wearing something in the same shade of blue sometime, a dress maybe? Something was niggling in his brain and reminding him of that colour.
The thought that Morgan had designed her suit colours, mixing his red and Pepper's blue to create her own blend of purple, honouring both parents at the same time, gave him a warm glow in his heart as he thought about it.
"Oh this is great!" Tony grinned eagerly, testing the various controls and finding the finger movements were exactly the same controls that he originally designed, causing the aperture of the palm repulsor to open and close with his movements. "Firing is still flexing the forearm?" He asked, double checking with FRIDAY.
"Yes Boss," FRIDAY confirmed from where she'd been watching with an amused expression on her face.
"Great, I'll walk Pepper through it later on." Tony chuckled. "Double tap to turn it back into a watch?" He asked before trying it out and watching the gauntlet return briefly to it's liquid metal state before it flowed back into the watch and reformed again. "Don't know about Morgan, but this thing is going to help me breathe a whole lot easier." He admitted, thinking that if Pepper did wear this, then at least he would know she would have a decent method of defence should anything happen to her.
"I'll be watching too Boss, I'm connected through. Video, audio, and holographic if Lady Boss needs me." FRIDAY explained proudly.
"Great stuff, keep an eye on things, help Pepper out with anything she needs you for." Tony ordered, gently undoing the watch links and sliding the device off of his wrist, giving one last forlorn look at the nanotech before taking it off entirely. "Link up the calendar and schedule to Pepper's usuals. Invite JARVIS and FAITH through to the watch as well."
"Will do Boss," FRIDAY chirped happily. "The Stark Watch is compatible with the new phones in production currently, and can be linked over the secure wireless protocols for audio and visual communication."
"Sounds good, link it to Pep's once she's got it on." Tony nodded absently as he stood up from his workbench and tossed the watch idly in his hands. "Thanks baby girl." He said, sending a soft smile over to FRIDAY's avatar.
"Happy to help Boss," FRIDAY smiled back before her avatar flashed away again, leaving Tony still completely amused by the holographic avatars and picturing how free floating holographic tech was really going to change the world by the time SI got around to manufacturing it for public use.
Carrying the watch upstairs, Tony just idly let his mind wander as he headed up to the main floor of the mansion, going through everything Pepper had just told him about Morgan and what he could now do about it.
Knowing Morgan was gay didn't really change anything as far as he was concerned. He knew outright that his dad would have absolutely hated it if he'd come out as gay. Would have probably been calling him a poofter or any other dozens of derogatory names. He couldn't see his mom of minding much at all, but it did hurt a bit that he knew his dad wouldn't have approved of Morgan, even though he only barely ever approved of anything he did while he was growing up.
Supporting Morgan was just natural, it felt right, and also if it went against everything his dad did as a parent, then it was definitely something he could approve of.
Besides, Pride Parades did look like a huge party anyway, a few too many colours than his usual choice, but he could adapt and find something suitable to wear for it. Or if SI did get a proper float there for the summer, him and Morgan could turn up in full armour and really make a spectacle out of it.
Iron Man and Iron Maiden supporting gay rights, that was going to be a huge thing and probably make international news just on it's own, so he'd have to make sure the parade and floats were huge, newsworthy on their own, and really make a bang of it.
"Tony?" Pepper asked, looking up from where she was sat on one of the cream couches with a small cup of coffee in one hand, and her tablet in the other. "You finished already?" She asked in surprise when he held up the watch.
"Yup," Tony smiled, heading over to the lounge area and casually tossing the watch over for Pepper to catch once she'd put her coffee down. "Circa twenty thirty six." He grinned when Pepper looked at him in surprise. "Aside from Morgan's armour and her QSI's, that's probably the most advanced tech on the planet right now." He explained with a well humoured smirk as Pepper looked at the watch with wide eyes.
"It's that advanced?" Pepper demanded, her eyes flicking between the watch and Tony.
"Yup, guessing it's the same type Morgan's got on, probably a few models earlier, but same thing really. Her's is probably her own custom work though." Tony nodded, sitting down on the couch next to Pepper with a smile. "Put it on and I'll show you." He smiled, watching as Pepper gingerly put the watch around her right wrist, fumbling a bit with the metal links until she got it connected, then letting out an audible gasp as the links adjusted themselves and fit snugly around her wrist.
"What... what do I do with it?" Pepper asked, staring at the metal links in surprise.
"Turn your wrist, like this." Tony gestured, mimicking turning his wrist on an angle like he was moving to look at the watch and check the time himself.
Pepper followed his movements, her eyes going wide as the watch lit up and the various holographic panels popped up around the watch face for her to explore.
"FRIDAY's in there right now, I've also got JARVIS and FAITH linked in, so you can contact any of them for anything you need, or pipe directly through to me or Morgan, well, Morgan anytime, me when I'm here or in my suit." Tony explained.
"So... it's like my phone?" Pepper asked curiously, noting the various holographic panels that were labelled with easily recognisable titles that she could get used to.
"Yup, FRIDAY linked it up to your calendar and everything, so it's got access for everything you'll need." Tony nodded, watching as Pepper touched the soft silver links of the watch and looked at the various screens curiously. "FRIDAY can track it as well, GPS, so if anything happens..."
"Right," Pepper nodded, that was likely a good security measure, or possibly just a function of the watch seeing as most phones had GPS built into them nowadays.
"Want to see emergency use stuff? Or get used to just using it as a watch for now?" Tony asked curiously, knowing not to push Pepper too hard with anything like this.
"How bad is it?" Pepper asked dubiously.
"Honestly, not really." Tony shrugged. "It's definitely Morgan's nanotech, but it's nothing huge or anything."
"Show me." Pepper said after taking a deep breath, intent on doing this if it was going to help Morgan and Tony relax more knowing that she had some sort of protection on her, even if it was something so far out of her comfort range that her heart was pulsing just at the thought of wearing it.
"Just do this..." Tony explained, holding out his hand so the palm was upright, and using his middle and ring fingers to tap twice on his palm. "That'll activate the glove and it'll come out and cover your hand."
"Just a glove?" Pepper double checked, watching as Tony mimicked the movements with his fingers again.
"That's it," Tony nodded. "It's got a single repulsor built into the hand, but I didn't see any other weapons or tools. There might be more, have to check with Morgan on that, but the repulsor is built on my designs, so I can walk you through how to activate it if you need to."
Pepper gave a nervous smile at that before taking a deep breath and following Tony's movements, using her two fingers to tap on her palm before she froze completely, watching as the highly advanced liquid metal flowed out from the watch and down around her hand, completely enveloping it before solidifying up into a glove that looked very reminiscent of Morgan's armour.
The finish was different, but it was a chrome silver and light blue that accented her quite nicely, though the weight around her hand was something she was definitely going to have to get used to.
"Tony..." Pepper whispered, staring down at the glove with wide eyes, knowing precisely how dangerous Tony's Iron Man tech could be in the wrong hands, even using it by mistake could cause deadly accidents and countless dangers, and considering this technology was from twenty five years in the future, she could only imagine how dangerous it was.
"It's safe, I tried it on myself." Tony grinned with a reassuring nudge before he reached out and held her armoured hand gently. "See, nothing dangerous." He explained, running his fingers over the armour so Pepper could see it wasn't anything terrible.
"It feels... heavy, it's strange, but it's comfortable." Pepper admitted, watching Tony's fingers trace the various armoured section of the glove. "How do I take it off?" She asked quickly.
"Do the same again, same motion." Tony explained.
Pepper took note of that, turning her hand over again and staring down at the circular opening on her palm and immediately turning her hand so that it wasn't facing her face, she recognised that opening and knew from Tony's suit just how dangerous those repulsor things were.
"It's closed, it's not going to fire." Tony chuckled, holding Pepper's hand again. "You have to open it by drumming your fingers down, index to little finger. Then little finger to index to close it." He explained, drumming his fingers on the top of her hand so she could see the movements he was talking about.
"It won't fire?" Pepper double checked.
"Not while it's closed." Tony shook his head. "Standard safety protocols." He explained, watching as Pepper gingerly turned her hand over again and stared at the closed repulsor opening with wide and scared eyes. "Just double tap again, and it'll go back to a watch."
Pepper nodded, reaching back with her two middle fingers and tapping her palm again, letting out a relieved breath when the glove returned to it's liquid metal and flowed back into the normal and unassuming watch.
"See, it's fine." Tony smiled at her, reaching out again and clasping his hands around her un-armoured hand this time. "FRIDAY, can you keep a link to the watch. Keep the repulsor locked down unless it's an emergency."
"Will do Boss," FRIDAYs voice came out of the watch this time, a small golden glow around the black screen lighting up as she spoke.
"That... that makes me feel a bit better," Pepper admitted with a small nervous laugh as she stared at the watch. "I know Morgan wants me to wear this... but not everyone is used to carrying futuristic weapons just hanging around their wrists Tony."
"Emergencies only," Tony nodded. "It's like a taser or a can of pepper spray, better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it on."
"I suppose I can see that," Pepper accepted grudgingly. "The voice activation and links to my calendar and everything might be useful." She admitted, having a constant link through to JARVIS, FRIDAY and FAITH wasn't something she was going to turn down either, especially if it meant she could keep in touch with Tony and Morgan at a moment's notice wherever she or they were. "It really can't go off now?" She double checked.
"Not without FRIDAY's say so, and you activating it first." Tony confirmed. "Double safeguards." He nodded, leaning in to give Pepper a small kiss to take her mind off of worrying about the watch and the technology held within.
The Triskelion
Theodore Roosevelt Island
The Potomac River
Washington, D.C.
Colonel Nicholas J Fury was sat in his office at The Triskelion, his eye narrowed as he went over the reports from the various field agents around the globe.
While he should be paying firm attention to the agent's reports and their various missions, his mind wasn't focused on them, but was wandering and contemplating things of a far more serious nature.
Putting down the reports for now he aimlessly stared at the window that looked out from The Triskelion and over the river, it was a rather stunning view that he could normally appreciate on any given day, but right now he didn't see it at all.
His mind was focused on the reports he'd been hearing about Stark Industries, their new contracts with the Air Force, and the new publicity flooding the technology industries, publicising new processor chips, phones, tablets, and computer equipment.
He didn't need to be a business or economics genius to see how the market was reacting already. Stark Industries had jumped nearly a hundred points over the last month, sources were telling him that they were now in contract with other huge technology companies around the world, not just in America.
He'd already reached out and ordered funding to upgrade the Triskelion and The Helicarrier with Stark's new equipment. Ideally he would have gone direct to Stark, and he knew outright that if this new equipment was what Stark was pushing to the consumer market, then his own private technology would be at least a couple of generations more advanced.
The technical division of SHIELD were already salivating over the new hardware that was poised to be released at Stark Expo in a month or so, and from what he'd heard, and what little he understood, the new Stark Processors were leaps and bounds ahead of anything else on the market right now.
It would definitely explain why Stark Industries cyber security had been overhauled and was now impenetrable, even some of SHIELD's more exotically acquired technology couldn't breach Stark Industries anymore, which meant Stark's home would likely be even more secure.
That was a pain, and meant that he couldn't rely on SHIELD's alien technology to help him breach Stark's security and force a meeting anymore. It was a bitch that it was likely his first meeting with Stark, and how he's broke into the mansion to meet securely with him, that had likely pushed Stark to develop this technology further and integrate it into the company and his home.
No doubt Stark's damned AI or fancy sensors had logged his security breach somehow, and had worked ways to secure against it with their new technology.
As it was, he already had the reports from the infiltration division confirming Agent Thirteen's infiltration into Stark Industries. Agent Thirteen's legal backstory was as close to perfect as it could be. She wasn't Stark's usual type, so seduction wasn't a guarantee, but the option was there and could be used as a distraction once she'd been brought into Stark Industries fold properly.
There was only the worry about Stark's new security.
He drummed his fingers on his desk as he contemplated that. It was a risk, a big risk. SHIELD couldn't infiltrate Stark's security anymore, which meant they couldn't back up Agent Thirteen's background and alter any internal records she might need to keep her position secure within the company.
It also meant that she would be alone, with no way of contacting SHIELD should she need to. Being cut off from backup wasn't exactly foreign territory for SHIELD agents, and he wouldn't have worried about a single agent anyway, but this lead to the risk of Stark finding out about SHIELD and linking Agent Thirteen to them.
It was a low risk given how neat the backstory Infiltration had arranged for her was, but given Stark's admittedly impressive genius and his technical skills, not to mention that AI of his, he couldn't guarantee that Agent Thirteen wouldn't be compromised in some way while on mission.
He needed the information though. SHIELD needed to know what Stark was up to, what his technological level was heading towards, and most importantly, what his health was like. Getting hold of some of Stark's new technology was a must right now, he needed those designs to get the new Helicarrier's into production, so that was Agent Thirteen's primary mission while she was establishing herself and working to get closer to Stark himself to perform her evaluation.
The lab geeks had already been going over palladium and discussing what sort of side effects and toxicity would be caused by having Stark's reactor inside his body. They couldn't say anything for certain, as none of the technical division could even completely explain how Stark's Arc technology worked, let alone make a working model for them to use.
Every report he'd seen said that it was extremely likely that Stark would be suffering from some form of toxicity though, though the various scientists disagreed on what type. There were reports suggesting everything from heavy metal poisoning, through to radiation trauma, depending on how shielded the reactor core was and how efficient it really was.
The problem was that from all the reports and media he'd seen, Stark was displaying none of these symptoms. He could be hiding it, that was likely given how he seemed to be working more efficiently than ever before, but it was still strange that none of the reckless behaviour or egotistical nature that he knew Stark revelled in, and had come to associate with the Stark name, were present over the last month or so.
The world needed Stark though, and he couldn't gamble the world's security on Stark's predilections for hiding problems away and glossing over them with bravado and ego. The lab tech's had already cooked up several batches of lithium dioxide that was supposed to counter most of the problems associated with Stark's problem, in theory anyway.
He would just have to hold it over Stark's head until he could get a leash around him and get him marching to SHIELD's tune.
Again though, there were risks, too many risks. Bringing Stark into the fold meant exposing SHIELD to Stark, and that was dangerous on far too many levels for it to be a viable plan unless absolutely necessary.
Having Agent Thirteen in place first was the first step though, now she was inside Stark Industries, she would be able to evaluate Stark's health, mental status, and hopefully Agent Thirteen could give them a back door into Stark's security so that they could start making some headway against Stark's new hardware.
He just had to hope that March and May wouldn't turn out to be the cluster fuck that February had been.
America, and SHIELD itself was still reeling from General Ross's assassination, and the ensuing documents that had come to light after his death. Politicians and senate and anyone who had actually been linked to Ross, his Vault project, or any of his other dubious projects were all covered in shit right now, and toxic to the level where everyone else was cutting ties with them.
Even some of the bigger fish in The Senate were feeling the pinch, like Senator Stern who had been linked publicly with several of Ross's illegal experiments on soldiers. Thankfully Stern was staying quiet for now and out of the public eye.
He'd heard word that The Joint Chiefs had even come down on Stern and Secretary Pierce, and with the new contracts between Stark and the Air Force, there was word that the White House wasn't giving anyone room to knock the apple cart anymore, and that Stark and their new contracts were being protected and coveted by the highest ranks of the government now.
That was a pain, and Secretary Pierce's stance on Stark hadn't changed from what he'd heard, only now he was boxed in and couldn't use government or SHIELD contracts to try and get to Stark or his technology.
Everything led back to Stark lately, and it was enough that even seeing the man's name on a report now was starting to threaten to make his eye twitch.
America wasn't holding up well on the world stage at all. After everything that had come out after Ross's assassination, the UN were up in arms and talking about sanctions for human rights violations.
It wasn't likely that the sanctions would go through, at least not in his opinion. Too many of the UN countries relied on the US for trade and military support. Though again, this was likely to change when Stark started selling technology globally and not just keeping Stark Industries an American company.
If Stark did take his company global, like many sources he'd heard were hinting at, then he wouldn't just be an American power anymore, but an international power in his own right. Which meant that dealing with Stark was going to become more and more likely in the future, especially if his technological breakthroughs kept coming at the same astounding rate.
The reports he had from the engineers that had gone over Stane's armoured suit were suitably impressed by it, but had confirmed that Stark's red and gold suit was leagues above the rather clunky and cobbled together suit that Stane had put together.
He could only imagine that by now, with Stark's new breakthroughs, his suit would be even more formidable and advanced, probably leagues above everything he was releasing to the public as well.
He continued drumming his fingers on the desk as he considered that. It still grated him that Stark hadn't stuck to the plan Coulson had briefed him on, and the entire world knew that Stark was the so called Iron Man now. The first modern superhero, and oh did it grate that Stark was doing it all outside of SHIELD's control.
He still had plans for the Avengers Initiative, and a few candidates that could be evaluated and put together. Ideally he wanted at least two SHIELD agents on the initiative as well, originally he had planned for Romanoff and Barton to take places when he finally put the team together and keep them focused on SHIELD's goals, but that wasn't possible now.
Agent Thirteen would likely be a good candidate. She was absolutely loyal to SHIELD, and would be a good leash holder to keep any of the other members in line, she would just need another trusted SHIELD agent to work alongside and offer backup in keeping the other Avengers Initiative members off balance and only dealing with missions that SHIELD nudged them towards.
Banner was a name he was looking at, though he hadn't made up his mind on the green behemoth yet. If Banner could control The Hulk, it would make him far more suitable for the initiative, but right now he was a giant risk to anyone, friend and foe alike, and certainly wasn't controllable on the battlefield.
As of right now, Agent Thirteen was the only name he had on the Avengers Initiative roster. Banner, possibly. Stark, grudgingly, if he could angle it so Stark only came in for certain missions and simply provided weapons and support for the team, that would be ideal.
Having someone with Stark's genius in a position to take a closer look at SHIELD wasn't anything he wanted to risk, so if Stark was going to be involved, he would have to keep him off balance and concentrating on other things, rather than turning his attention towards SHIELD.
Sighing to himself he shook the thought away. The Initiative wasn't going to be put together anytime soon, not with only two, possibly three candidates.
Turning back to his reports he shifted his mind to focus on them, putting Stark and all his other problems out of mind for now. He would concentrate on Stark once Agent Thirteen was in position, but until then he wasn't going to give the man any more thought than absolutely necessary.
Stark Industries
Los Angeles branch
March 12th, 2010
Tony stood back from the workbench with pride as he stared at the satellite and everything that it meant.
It was a work of art as far as he was concerned, filled to the brim with bleeding edge technology, and topped off with Morgan's future technology that literally made it a quantum leap above everything else on or off the planet right now.
The chrome Stark International badge emblazoned across the front of it signalled that this was the first piece of Stark International equipment ever produced, and the fact that it had been created from scratch by him and Morgan, working together as father and daughter, meant the absolute world to him.
"FAITH, you got the new satellite hooked in?" Morgan asked, breaking Tony out of his musings as he looked over to where she was working on one of her holographic tablets and going over various sensor readings coming from the satellite.
"All set boss," FAITH's voice came back. "The QSI is up and running, satellite controls are patched in. Sensor grid active, surveillance active. Twenty GBps stream active and connected to servers." She rattled off.
Morgan nodded absently as FAITH read off the links, checking over the various data connections herself and pinging various tests through the network to make sure everything was stable and performing as expected.
"It's a beauty." Tony grinned, walking forwards and tracing the Stark International logo with his fingers. "You ready to take it up?" He asked with a smirk, definitely eager to try out a new manned flight record and set the record for private space travel at the same time.
"I am, you're not." Morgan smirked at him, putting her tablet down and turning off the holographic display. "Come over here." She said, beckoning him over to follow her over to her work bench where she dug through the pockets of her leather jacket and pulled out a familiar nanite core reactor that he'd seen her working on for the past few weeks.
"Finally going to tell me what that's for?" Tony asked, looking at the nanite core as Morgan turned it over in her hands and double checked things that he had absolutely no clue about.
"It's yours." Morgan said with a grin, handing over the nanite core and revelling in her dad's gobsmacked face as he accepted it with wide eyes and a gleeful grin.
"I thought you said..."
"I fixed it," Morgan grinned at him. "It'll pair with that fossil in your chest, top up the reactor a bit. Nothing much, like comparing a thimble to a mug, but it'll pair up."
"I can use this?" Tony asked, staring down at the nanite core in awe.
Morgan simply rolled her eyes, taking the nanite core off of Tony again and placing it on his chest, covering up the feint azure glow coming from underneath his t-shirt where his existing circular arc reactor was, and activating the new nanite core, watching as the hexagonal shield lit up perfectly with it's signature glow.
"FRIDAY, are you reading the new core?" Morgan asked with a grin.
"Yes little boss," FRIDAY's voice came back over Morgan's watch. "The existing core provides an extra seventeen point nine gigawatts per second to match the fifty eight point five gigawatts provided by the nanite core." She confirmed. "Connection is stable, and I am connected to the existing nanite core."
"That's a lot of power," Tony breathed out, surprised by the sheer numbers that FRIDAY was reporting. "Double tap right?" He asked, looking at Morgan to check. He'd seen her double tap her reactor several times now to activate her armour, and since Pepper's watch worked the same way, he was betting that his armour did as well.
"Yup," Morgan grinned, stepping back and giving her father some space. "You wanted to help me get that satellite up there, and there's no way I'm trusting solid plate armour to get you into orbit, not when nanotech was a better option." She explained. "I was going to try and fix it up for your birthday, but..." She trailed off with a smirk. "Going into space seemed like a much better present."
Tony actually laughed at that, running his hand over the nanite core lovingly as he looked at Morgan proudly. "It would have been a kick ass present, but you're right... giving me space? That's far better." He said with a wide smile.
He didn't say anything else as he double tapped the reactor, feeling the nanites flow out and over his body, solidifying down to armour as they coated his body with a skin tight form that was far sleeker and more futuristic than any of the solid plate designs that he'd seen in FAITH's history files so far.
He could only stare with wide eyes as the nanotech swept over his face, solidifying around and creating the helmet before the user interface came online alone with a wide panoramic view that was a huge improvement over the field of view that his existing armours had, with high definition video and automatic sensor information coming up for everything he looked at.
"FRIDAY, pull the helmet back baby girl," Tony said aloud, feeling the helmet sink back into nanotech as it retracted and flowed down into the main body of the armour itself. "Is this mine or..."
"It's yours," Morgan nodded. "The Mark Eighty Five, your last armour." She explained with a slightly sad look on her face. "I haven't touched anything on it, just got the core working in tandem with your old fossil."
"It's amazing," Tony breathed out, looking down at his hands and arms, and admiring the sleek and curved look that told him the nanite armour was completely sealed and very different from armour plating or anything else he could even dream up right now.
The tops of his hands were slightly bulky, probably housing weapons, sensors or other technology he hadn't even thought of yet, and he could see the start of the evolution where he'd taken the design for Pepper's suit, and where Morgan had taken her own design cues from, to evolve the gauntlet design and bringing the extra housings even further back, allowing for more weapons and protective gear to be housed there.
The red and gold design was definitely his, and while he might miss the chrome look on the armour he'd only just built a week or so ago, the red and gold finish was definitely more him, and was a signature look that he was definitely going to build up with his own brand.
He might make some changes once Morgan showed him how to manipulate the nanites probably, add in some chrome flair just to show his familial link to Morgan, but for right now, this suit was Iron Man, and it took his breath away that Morgan had been able to do this for him.
His eyes flicked up as he saw Morgan activating her own suit, though her flowing nanites were definitely more advanced than the suit he was wearing, at least twenty years worth of improvements and evolution to the technology.
That was a kick in the pants. The suit he was wearing outclassed anything on the planet right now, but Morgan was still twenty or thirty years ahead. Seeing the technology and feeling it around him for the first time really put into perspective how staggeringly advanced Morgan's suit must really be.
"FRIDAY, can you link up FAITH please, let her in and access the nanite core on dad's suit." Morgan announced as her suit helmet retracted and let her look at her dad properly again.
"Linking up now Little Boss," FRIDAY's Irish brogue came from Tony's suit, surprising him slightly.
"FAITH, everything good with dad's suit?" Morgan asked, bringing up a holographic screen over her left arm and manipulating it with her right hand so that she could read through the data that FRIDAY and FAITH were providing her with.
"It's all good Boss," FAITH reported. "Nanite core is at full charge. Mark three nanites are holding, structural integrity is at one hundred percent."
"It's secure for a vacuum?" Morgan double checked.
"Indeed Boss, the Mark Eighty Five was tested for orbital flight on many occasions. It's more than capable of attaining orbit while carrying the Stark International Satellite into position." FAITH announced.
"Looks like we're good then," Morgan grinned over, watching as that same grin slowly spread over her father's face. "Shall we get this into orbit then? Because I'm hyped, even I've never taken one of these up myself before." She grinned with a little bounce to show how excited she was at the prospect.
"Oh hell yeah!" Tony laughed back, feeling the flood of excitement rush through him at the thought. Private space travel, space was literally within his grasp right now.
It was a shame they hadn't publicised this or done anything big for it, the public awareness of the first Stark Satellite being carried into position by Iron Man would have made international news, he was sure of it. But also, this being just for him and Morgan, felt more right than making a big public spectacle out of it would. This was personal, for family.
"Come on then," Morgan laughed walking over and grabbing one side of the satellite where they'd placed carrying bars so that it could be moved and positioned easily without relying on heavy equipment to move it around.
"FRIDAY, copy in Pepper. Let her know we're taking the satellite up, and it'll be linked up to the servers in a few hours." Tony announced with a wide grin as he walked over to the other side of the satellite and mirrored Morgan's position, waiting for her signal before they both lifted the satellite up with ease, the enhanced strength of both nanite suits giving them more than enough power to lift up the satellite and carry it out of the hanger.
"We're going to have to link the suits propulsion up for taking this up," Morgan said as they carried the satellite outside. "Let FAITH let the reigns, she can keep the repulsors in sync to match thrust until we reach orbit."
"Makes sense," Tony nodded automatically, thinking about just how delicate the satellite was and how risky it would be if either of their repulsors fired out of sync and took the whole thing out of balance. "FAITH, did you get that?"
"Yes Grand-Boss, hooking in now and taking control of repulsors." FAITH's voice responded from both suits simultaneously.
"I wish we'd taken photos first, this is going to be..." Tony trailed off as he heard his name being yelled, looking out over the SI lot to where Pepper was running over to them as fast as her heels could carry her. "Looks like your mom's here to send us off." He said with a grin.
"Nope, that's mom's mad face." Morgan corrected him with a grimace.
"Tony, Morgan!" Pepper yelled as she approached the pair. "Space!" She demanded. "What... what on Earth..."
"Actually not on Earth, that's the point." Tony quipped, causing Morgan to wince and Pepper to glower at him.
"Tony... you can't just... this isn't..." Pepper paused, taking a deep breath before she glared at the pair of them again. "Tony, you can't just launch yourself into space. What... what if something goes wrong? What if..."
"Nothing's going to go wrong," Tony said, shaking his head firmly at the thought. "We've got FAITH and FRIDAY running checks on all our calculations, they've got the satellite's orbit mapped out and full control over it." He explained. "FAITH's running controls over the suits to take us up, it's all planned out." He explained smoothly.
"Morgan, you can't just..." Pepper sighed loudly. "It's space. Do you have any idea of how many millions of things could go wrong up there?" She demanded.
"I've done orbital before mom," Morgan said, getting a shocked look from Pepper at that. "Never taken a satellite up before, but I've done low orbit plenty of times to take care of problems back in my time, and heading up there to fix SI satellites." She explained. "Really, the suits are safe. I even got dad's old nanotech suit working properly again, so nothing can go wrong." She explained, seeing how her mom's eyes immediately flickered over to her dad's nanotech suit and took in it's smooth lines and futuristic appearance.
"See, you're not the only one with future tech now." Tony smirked at her, happy that she was still wearing the watch that Morgan had given her.
"You swear it's safe?" Pepper demanded, looking at Morgan now.
"Hundred percent," Morgan confirmed.
"And how long..." Pepper asked hesitantly, not sure if she wanted the actual numbers or not.
"FAITH, how long will it take to get the satellite up there?" Morgan asked, actually curious herself as she hadn't really crunched the numbers yet.
"Estimating full thrust to clear flight space before engaging retro repulsors for orbital acceleration. Mach twenty five will be achieved one point six minutes after initial thrust accelerating to eighteen thousand miles per hour to achieve orbital velocity." FAITH reported, much to Pepper's horror and Tony's awestruck face. "The projected orbital path for the satellite will be reached in nine point six minutes at estimated speeds."
"OK, terrifyingly high speeds aside, that's not bad at all." Tony admitted with a laugh, his brain already crunching the numbers himself and going blank at the thought of his nanotech armour being able to withstand such insane velocities.
"Re-entry will be considerably slower to avoid heat build up. Energy shielding will be deployed to prevent damage and structural failure. Time from orbit to re-entry and return to Stark Industries is estimated at forty two minutes." FAITH's voice continued her report, coming through both the suits again.
"Energy shielding, definitely nice." Tony breathed out a sigh of relief at that, knowing precisely what sort of temperatures re-entry pushed up to, and he could well imagine those sort of temperatures cooking even nanotech, not to mention him and Morgan inside of their suits.
"You've really done this before?" Pepper whispered, wide eyed as she stared at Morgan and did her best not to think about the truly horrific numbers that FAITH had just rattled off.
"Yes mom," Morgan laughed. "Back in my time, SI has over a dozen satellites in orbit. I went up a few times to fix them or upgrade parts." She explained with a grin. "It's a piece of cake, really. The best roller coaster in the world, but it's still easy enough to just hang on and let the suit take me up." She said, calming her mother down as best as she could.
"Well, you might have done it before, but I haven't." Tony said with a mock offended look on his face. "This is one ride I've got to try, screw the bucket list, going into space, breaking every manned flight record... this is going to be one for the history books." He proclaimed with a wide grin.
"You're really going to do this?" Pepper groaned, looking at the pair and sinking her head into her hands. "You're both as terrible as each other. Thrill seekers, the pair of you." She complained, dragging her hands down her face. "Can you at least link me in to FAITH so I can keep an eye on what's going on."
"FAITH?" Morgan asked aloud.
"Linking in Boss. Audio reporting active. Visuals will be transmitted from the suit once we leave atmospheric disturbance." FAITH reported.
"Take some photos," Tony said eagerly, laughing at the way Pepper scowled at him but brought out her phone anyway. "The first Stark Satellite going into orbit. This deserves to be recorded for posterity." He proclaimed with a grin, moving so he could pose a bit better with the satellite still in one hand, and making sure Morgan was posing and smiling too.
He just watched as Pepper took quite a few photos of them posing with the satellite before he nodded when he was certain that Pepper had got enough images to work with. "Ready kiddo?" He asked, looking over at Morgan and checking she was ready for this.
"Definitely," Morgan grinned. "FAITH, seal us up and start taking us up when you're ready."
Pepper stared with wide eyes as the familiar nanotech flowed out from both of their suits, covering up their faces and forming back into the familiar Iron Man and Iron Maiden suits that she now recognised as being part and parcel of who both of them really were.
"Stay safe," Pepper begged, getting nods from both of them before she stepped back nervously and brought her phone up again, hitting the record button on the camera to get actual footage of this momentously stupid undertaking.
"FAITH, take us up." Morgan ordered, making sure she had a proper grip on the side of the satellite before she felt the auxiliary repulsors on her back and feet activate.
Pepper took even more steps back as the pair started lifting into the air, both suits easily carrying the satellite up and into the sky, and she zoomed in with her camera to keep watch on them as they climbed higher and higher, before both of their suits seemed to reform around their legs, creating larger and more powerful repulsor engines that blasted out a shock-wave of energy before their climbed higher into the sky and out of sight.
There were no words to really describe it, and she simply pressed the 'stop recording' button on her phone as she tried to think about what to say about what she'd just witnessed.
Tony and Morgan had just privatised space travel, literally, they would be in the history books for the first private citizens to go into space.
She let out a little hysterical laugh at that as the realisation flooded through her. Her daughter was the first woman to achieve space flight just on her own. Stark Industries having their own private satellite was peanuts compared to that.
She listened as FAITH continued to report their speed, doing her best not to think about the numbers FAITH was talking about, simply listening in to reassure herself that everything was going alright and that both Tony and Morgan would come back from space safe and sound.
Come back from space. Another hysterical laugh slipped out at that. That was really going to be a thing now, and was SO much worse than Tony flying to Afghanistan or wherever else he shot off to to destroy his old weapons and fight terrorists or whatever he did.
The minutes seemed to stretch forever as she stared up into the sky, listening to FAITH's voice with every heart beat and praying that both Tony and Morgan would be alright.
Nearly ten minutes passed before FAITH's voice came out of her watch, the screen glowing purple as FAITH reported back to her. "Orbit has been achieved. Opening voice communications."
"Tony?" Pepper practically shouted, her voice shaking as she gripped both hands and spoke into the watch as clearly as she could.
"That was a ride and a half," Tony's laughter came back clearly through the watch, causing Pepper to break out in a third hysterical laugh while her body slumped in relief. "God Pep, you should see it... I don't have the words."
"Hold on," Morgan's voice came through this time. "FAITH, pipe visuals from my suit through to mom's phone will you? Record everything and save the video on my server."
"Mine too," Tony's voice piped up again.
Pepper instantly fumbled with her phone as she screen lit up, showing the view from Morgan's suit in all of it's glory. She could even see the Earth hanging below them, and stars twinkling in the distance, setting a backdrop as Morgan turned to look at her dad and then down to the satellite as they both manoeuvred it around and into a stable orbit.
She could see Tony's suit had grown lights from somewhere that were mounted around his helmet, and from the way his armour lit up when Morgan looked at him and towards the satellite, she had to assume that Morgan's suit had done the same thing.
"Tony... this... this is monumental!" Pepper breathed out, watching the video link with undisguised awe on her face.
"One small step for man, one giant leap for Starks." Tony paraphrased with a laugh as he manipulated something on his suit and floated back a bit when the satellite's repulsor engines fired for the first time.
"FAITH, take control. Flight path looks stable to me." Morgan's voice came back through the phone.
"Confirmed. Geosynchronous orbit achieved and locked in. Satellite control confirmed." FAITH's voice reported.
Pepper blew out a huff of air at that, breathing deeply as she stared at the video link while the satellite fired it's repulsors and slowly floated away from where Tony and Morgan were floating in space.
She could only watch silently as the pair of Stark's laughed and floated around together, with Morgan doing something with her suit to create a small floating camera that detached from her suit and floated around so that Pepper could see them both at the same time, both of them waving towards her.
She couldn't help laughing as the pair floated over to the satellite, using Morgan's floating camera to get photos of them both posing ridiculously with the satellite hanging over Earth in the background.
"Are you two coming back any time soon? Or are you going to make a home up there?" Pepper laughed, watching the pair joke around and laugh at each other as they floated in zero gravity together.
"We're coming back," Tony's voice came back through the phone. "God... this... this is the biggest thing I've ever done. Nothing beats this, nothing." He said firmly, floating over to Morgan and embracing her tightly, hugging her with the Earth floating below them and the sun shining in the background.
Pepper watched, staring at the video in awe and making a mental note that she wanted FAITH to pull that still from the video and print it out as a photo that she could save forever.
"Return's going to be a lot slower, we should be back at SI in about forty minutes as long as the skies are clear." Morgan explained. "Going to have to close the video link, reentry is going to be tough enough, I want FAITH to dedicate all the runtime she's got to managing the energy shields around our suits."
"Come home safe, I'll be waiting right here for you." Pepper said, staring at the video with watery eyes as she realised just how momentous this really was.
"Back soon Pep, then a meal to celebrate I think. A proper night out for the family." Tony said, pride flooding his voice.
"I'll hold you to that," Pepper laughed back. "I'll be here."
"Cutting off now mom." Morgan's voice cut in again. "See you soon."
Even Pepper could hear the smile in Morgan's voice as the video link to the phone cut off, leaving her staring at the Stark Operating System with a wide smile on her face as she thought about what she'd just witnessed.
"FRIDAY?" Pepper asked aloud, opening up her phone and looking through the photos and video she'd taken of Tony and Morgan taking the satellite up into orbit.
"Yes Lady Boss?" FRIDAY's voice came over her phone clearly.
"Can you clear some of these photos up, frame them better, make sure the colours are right and everything?" Pepper asked, knowing she was no photographer really and that any of Tony's AI's would be able to do a better job at cleaning up the photos than she would be able to.
"Working now Lady Boss." FRIDAY reported. "Do you want me to run the video through cleaning as well, center the launch and enhance the details?"
"Do it," Pepper smiled widely. "And can you link me in to the SI social media platforms. Twitter, Facebook, everything we've got?"
"Bringing them up now," FRIDAY confirmed as the various apps on her phone opened up and automatically navigated to the right interface to allow her to post directly as the Stark Industries pages.
She simply smiled to herself as she attached a few of the cleaned up photos to the post, typing out exactly what had happened today and how momentous it was, signifying the launch of the first Stark built satellite into orbit.
She copied the same post onto the Stark Expo pages, and then to Twitter, making sure to attach the various photos and the video of Tony and Morgan taking the satellite up into orbit.
"FRIDAY, keep watch on the media will you. Send the video and photos out to any news organisation that contact us, along with a standard briefing about what happened today." Pepper explained. "Make sure to censor any mention of Morgan's relationship to Tony, keep her identity secret."
"Will do Lady Boss." FRIDAY confirmed before falling silent again.
Pepper simply turned her eyes to the skies again as she slipped her phone back into her pocket, trying to imagine exactly what Tony and Morgan were seeing right now, and how they must be feeling after achieving such an amazing thing.
Tony was right, this was historical, and she knew the media were going to latch onto this as soon as they caught sight of it, likely before Tony and Morgan had even returned to the planet.
Using this to publicise The Expo more would drive attendance to even greater heights, and she outright knew for certain that Tony's name would be everywhere on the news tonight, along with the photos and video she'd taken.
By midnight, the entire world would know what had happened, and would know Tony Stark was taking Stark Industries to new heights, literally reaching for the stars.