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.
SHIELD Helicarrier
Location: Classified
March 27th, 2010
"Director?" Agent Hill asked as she made her way into the director's office, having seen him storm through the helicarrier's bridge before giving curt orders to continue on their current heading until further notice. "I take it the meeting with Stark didn't go well."
"To say that is an understatement, woefully sells this entire catastrophe short of it's entirety." Fury growled out as he sat down at his desk. "The techs working on Stark's Arc problem? Get them assigned to something else. They can be cleaning the toilets for all I care, they're useless."
"Sir?" Agent Hill asked with a frown.
"Stark isn't dying." Fury said, glowering at Agent Hill. "He's not even sick. Not even a god damn case of the sniffles." He exclaimed. "He fixed the palladium problem months ago according to him, he knew about the lithium dioxide, didn't even bother to hide it." He growled out. "Tossed the vial on the floor and stepped on the damn thing, right in front of me."
"He solved the reactor problem?" Agent Hill asked, actually surprised by that. From what reports she had seen, Arc power had been little more than a publicity stunt by Stark, and their own engineers and physicists had confirmed that while Arc technology was viable, it burnt through palladium at an astounding rate, and resulted in toxic by products that made it's sustained use a practical nightmare to even consider.
"He even had the gall to record the entire meeting. Sent a copy to his lawyers and framed it as blackmail." Fury ground out. It was technically true, he was holding the cure over Stark's head. He could argue that since Stark wasn't actually dying that it wasn't successful, but even the charge of attempted blackmail along with the other charges Stark was tacking on would damage any reliability he had and tarnish the public perception of SHIELD to untold degrees.
"Stark's not on board then." Agent Hill frowned, somewhere between relieved and worried by the thought. Relieved Stark wouldn't be anywhere close to SHIELD, which was definitely a good thing as far as she was concerned. But also worried, because if Stark and his high priced lawyers had SHIELD in their targets now, they had absolutely no leverage to hang over Stark and use in their defence.
"Agent Thirteen is burnt." Fury admitted, leaning back in his chair and scowling as he tried to think of any other option available to him.
He'd been racking his brain for the entire flight from Los Angeles back to the helicarrier, and hadn't come up with a single solution yet. He had no leverage, nothing to use that could convince Stark to play by their rules and drop the charges against Agent Thirteen.
Stark was a loose canon at the best of times, but right now he was more dangerous than ever. He was the public's darling again, with the Stark Expo in the media and everyone talking about his satellite stunt, he knew without checking that international businesses would be breaking down his doors to try and enter into deals with him.
And that didn't even account for all the new technology he was pushing out that was threatening to double Stark Industries profits over the next six months alone. He couldn't discredit Stark through the media, fighting him legally was perhaps the worst option because it would air all of SHIELD's secrets into public purview, and entering SHIELD into an actual conflict with the man was even worse considering his technology and weapons.
The only option he had was to sacrifice Agent Thirteen to the wolves and take whatever legal chance he could get. He felt secure that his contacts in Washington could keep the trial under wraps, but Stark was a notorious publicity whore, and would likely leak information anyway regardless of how the trial went.
Chances were that whatever happened, SHIELD would be dragged into the public eye, and as the first examples of SHIELD missions were going to involve corporate espionage, blackmail, and one of their agents getting into a shooting conflict with the FBI, he didn't have to be a genius to see how bad things were going to go.
"Stark wasn't willing to make any deals at all?" Agent Hill asked. "Not even for the items we have from his father?" She asked with a frown.
"He didn't even give me a chance to put them on the table," Fury frowned at the thought. Originally he'd believed the items and equipment from Howard Stark could be used to push Stark into seeing SHIELD in a more flattering light, after all, it was well known by the people who paid attention to those sorts of things about how Stark didn't see eye to eye with his father.
The public perception was different of course, but to those people who paid attention, they knew Stark was the rebellious one and his relationship with Howard Stark was... turbulent at best.
"Notify legal that Agent Thirteen is burnt, we have no other options now." Fury said flatly. "Tag Stark's file with a black flag. Nobody goes near him, or Stark Industries, without my direct say so." He ordered firmly. "We can't risk any more agents getting caught up in this until we've plugged whatever leak we've got."
"Yes sir." Agent Hill nodded crisply.
"Have a cleaning crew go through the servers." Fury said thoughtfully. "I want the entire lot encrypted, double our current protection. Round the clock security." He ordered. "Send confirmation to New York and The Hub, I want their servers locked down and secured."
"Yes sir," Agent Hill confirmed, turning on her heel and walking out of the office.
Fury glowered for a moment before dragging his hand down his face wearily, this hadn't been how he'd planned March to go at all. It seemed like this entire year was just one clusterfuck after another, with no end in sight.
Now he had to contemplate the horrific situation of SHIELD actually being dragged into the public's eye, and how much of an enormous shitstorm it would be if anyone actually audited their case files and mission statements.
It was bad enough with the UN looking into The Raft and the human rights violations going on there, nobody had actually linked SHIELD to The Raft yet though thankfully, and he'd made sure that any links were buried so deep that it would take a mining crew just to find a glimmer of the damn things.
It didn't help their current problems though. They now had nowhere safe to contain the enhanced problems that they encountered, and with the UN watching carefully and the threat of the public finding out what was really going on in the world around them, he knew they would not get the chance to fund a new facility any time soon, and there wasn't another contact like General Ross who they could use to rally behind and trust their overzealous attitude when it came to containing the enhanced threats, which meant SHIELD was precisely nowhere now when it came to containment.
It would get even worse after Agent Thirteen's court battles. When Stark's lawyers got involved, and he knew that they would. It would only be a matter of time before other businesses like Pym Technologies, Oracle, Rand Enterprises and Quinn Worldwide. Once they got wind of SHIELD's espionage and security invasions, there would be lawsuit after lawsuit.
The part that hurt the most was the fact that Stark would probably make a killing after this.
Once the lawsuits began, all he had to do was announce that his security was so foolproof that even SHIELD couldn't penetrate it, and he would have businesses and governments offering him millions to set up the same security for them, probably more if international governments got involved and started bidding for his security upgrades.
It would make Stark richer, ensure his solidity as a world power, and cripple SHIELD at the same time.
The worst kick in the teeth was that he couldn't see any way to stop it.
There was just one thing that was bothering him, niggling at the back of his mind as he rolled Stark's words over and over again, thinking about them carefully and examining every nuance of the man's behaviour.
He'd specifically threatened retaliation if SHIELD tried infiltrating Stark Industries again, or using his friends to get to him... and then he'd mentioned his family.
Stark didn't have any family left. He was an only child, his parents were dead, and he didn't have any other relations.
So what had Stark meant?
It was a threat, he'd seen that much in Stark's eyes, a threat he wouldn't hesitate to carry out, which meant Stark did have some existing family somewhere, or at least he believed he did. It hadn't been a slip of the tongue or some throw away reference. It had been ground out in anger and made as a firm threat.
Was it possible Stark actually did have some surviving family out there somewhere that he'd managed to keep hidden from the media and from SHIELD? It sounded doubtful, almost impossible really.
But there was something in the way Stark had issued the threat, something primal and dangerous.
He would sit on it for now and leave Stark alone to cool off, pressing the matter when Stark already had SHIELD in his sights wasn't going to help SHIELD, or Agent Thirteen, and would probably just make things a hell of a lot worse.
But he wasn't going to forget this.
Stark had meant something by that threat, he was sure of it. And it was just going to bug him until he'd figured out exactly what Stark had let slip in his moment of anger.
Stark Mansion
10880 Malibu Point
Malibu
California
"Kiddo?" Tony asked aloud, looking up from where he was idly tinkering around with some equations to map out the new prismatic accelerator underneath the new R 'n' D complex. "Hear me out. Fancy working on something big with me for a bit? Something fun?" He asked with a wry smirk as Morgan put down her soldering iron and looked over from her workbench curiously.
"Like a prismatic accelerator isn't big enough?" Morgan raised an eyebrow at that.
"Alright, bigger for us." Tony clarified with a grin. "And a chance for you to show off a bit." He added on.
"Alright, you've got me?" Morgan quipped, leaning back in her chair and looking over at her dad seriously now. "What?" She asked.
"The new R&D compound," Tony clarified. "How about we put something special together for it."
"Sounds fun," Morgan nodded curiously. "How special?"
"A new AI." Tony said with an eager grin, idly tossing a screwdriver between his hands as he mulled the idea over in his head. "One that can link in with JARVIS, FRIDAY and FAITH. Manage the whole complex. Take care of everything, get in touch with us if we're needed, keep the lab rats busy and deal with all their tech requests and anything else they need, keep it off of my desk."
"A new AI?" Morgan repeated. "Huh." She frowned as she thought about that. "I haven't worked on anyone since FAITH really, I've done a few upgrades here and there, but she's nearly three now and she's been great."
"Exactly," Tony nodded. "I saw the coding you did on FRIDAY's upgrades. She's brilliant, that code is brilliant. I haven't got a clue how half of it works, but I know it wouldn't work properly on any other systems without all the work you've done on it to integrate her properly."
"You're talking about another QSI based AI?" Morgan frowned thoughtfully. "I've only got four left. We've already used two of my personal ones. I upgraded three to my personal spec, the other three are the standard consumer grade crap. I want to keep that one I've got left for emergencies, just in case my suit, or yours, needs some work and we need the extra power to actually recode the nanite cores." She pointed out, knowing that one of the QSI's was hardwired into the mansion now, and the other was firmly built into the SI satellite orbiting god knows how many miles above them. "Until we start getting Q based processors out there, that's all I've got."
"I know," Tony nodded seriously. "I figure it's going to take at least two years, minimum, to get up to quantum processing."
"Something like that." Morgan nodded. They'd already taken a big step forward with the SI fabs, but it was still a long way from making quantum processing actually feasible.
"Four QSI's." Tony held up three fingers. "One for the R&D compound. We can use one of the consumer ones for that, even the normal level will be a magnitude better than anything else we could get installed right now." He ticked off one. "That's leaves three. One, maybe for the new Stark Plaza?" He touched another finger. "But chances are the Plaza won't be up and running by two years anyway, so we'll be able to build our own Q server farm by then and get the entire place up to standard."
"Alright," Morgan nodded, agreeing with that point.
"Stark Tower doesn't need one." Tony waved off that thought dismissively. "I'll move all the big R 'n' D out to Albany. Keep the tower for business and corporate. The new one point six binary transistor chips will be more than enough for anything the tower needs. Without proper R 'n' D there or us setting up shop, we'll only need a basic setup to tick things over, link in FRIDAY and FAITH through the satellite feed for whenever we're there, and just keep the place as is."
"Fair enough," Morgan would agree with that as well. Stark Tower was a huge project, not as big as Stark Plaza would be, but it made sense to keep it corporate when they were talking about a big R 'n' D compound being used separately from the actual tower.
Without her dad needing an area for the Iron Man suit storage and maintenance, there was no need for Stark Tower to be as advanced as he'd made it originally, not with all the changes she'd made to history already. He didn't need the landing platform on the roof, any of the robotics or suit areas, and other than having a kick ass penthouse in Stark Tower, there wasn't really much appeal to the building at all really.
All the R 'n' D would be done upstate near Albany, that was where all the fun was going to be, between that for the next couple of years and getting ready for the invasion, and then setting up Stark Plaza and Avionics in Spain, Stark Tower and New York barely pinged on her radar at all anymore.
There was the twenty twelve invasion, and that was it.
"We could probably use of the consumer grade ones for the R 'n' D then," Morgan nodded as she thought about it. "Set it up to work in tandem with a bigger farm, take care of all the processing and everything and slip every day crap over to the standard processors."
"Exactly." Tony smiled happily. "What about using some of FAITH's code? Create a full AI from her base, something just for R 'n' D and to keep an eye on all the fancy science and future tech stuff we'll be pumping out?"
"You want to make FAITH a baby?" Morgan quipped, grinning at the thought.
"Well... pretty much, yeah." Tony laughed, not having thought of it like that before. "I just thought it could be a fun project. You can explain all your fancy quantum programming to me, and get me up to date on what coding looks like by the twenty forty standard."
"Huh," Morgan smiled, definitely happy at the thought. AI programming wasn't her speciality, but she got on alright with it. Working on something huge like this with her dad would definitely be something amazing for them both, and could be fun at the same time. "FAITH, what do you think?" She asked aloud.
Tony turned as FAITH's purple avatar sparkled into existence, standing between the two of them and a short distance away so that they could both see her, and each other comfortably. "FAITH, you old enough to be a mom yet?" He asked with a quirk of amusement on his lips.
"Boss?" FAITH asked, her avatar turning to Morgan with a curious tilt to her head.
"What do you think?" Morgan clarified. "I set up your personality to grow and evolve, you've been pretty much sentient, or as close to it as any tests can quantify." She shrugged. "Do you want us to build another AI based on your code?" She asked. "Or start from scratch again?"
"I would have... a child?" FAITH asked, seemingly completely perplexed by the idea.
"It's not that far out there," Tony mused. "I obviously used some of JARVIS' code when I worked on FRIDAY and all the others. I recognised at least some of JARVIS old code when I was going through FRIDAY's algorithms, bits here and there and some fingerprints that I'm damn sure had been JARVIS' original code but upgraded god knows how many times by then." He explained. "You're just the end result of... what, thirty or forty years of code evolution and digital growth?" He said, casually watching FAITH's avatar and pondering exactly how sentient the AI truly was.
"The idea is... curious." FAITH admitted. "You mean to create an AI like MAMA?"
"No," Tony shook his head at that. "MAMA is... limited, restricted. She was designed solely for the War Machine suit, nothing else." He explained. "She's an AI in the very loosest sense, more like a Virtual Intelligence than an AI, I couldn't risk handing over a proper AI to where the Air Force might start tinkering with something or realise just how advanced you guys are." He pointed out. "You're all pretty much family, and as much as I trust Rhodey, I'm still warring with myself on how much to really let him in with all of this stuff."
"It could actually be pretty fun," Morgan admitted as she rolled the idea around in her head. "I'd have to get one of the QSI's set up properly to develop a new learning neural network based on FAITH's profile and existing map, clean it all and set it to develop naturally while FAITH teaches her the ins and outs."
"An AI teaching an AI?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow at that idea.
"That's how I got FAITH up to spec," Morgan said with a proud grin as she looked at FAITH. "Could get FRIDAY and JARVIS in on it too, raising a new kid together for R 'n' D?" She asked, looking at FAITH curiously.
"I am intrigued by the idea boss," FAITH admitted. "Having another location based AI to assist with logistical matters would be helpful, the state of the technology is extremely limited here, which limits my expertise outside of our current mission."
"Yeah, I know." Morgan grinned. "Like I said, it's like we're in the dark ages back here." She said with a laugh. "R 'n' D will be up to scratch with a QSI though, so we'll give the new kid the best start we can. We'll link her in to the satellite, hook up the entire complex properly so all four of you can get networked together and stay in constant contact with us and each other."
"I believe it would be a good idea Boss," FAITH said with a wry smile. "There is only so much I can do to assist you while keeping both you and Grand-Boss out of trouble, an extra pair of eyes would definitely help."
"Cheeky," Tony laughed, utterly amused by FAITH's snark and actual independent thought that was so different from JARVIS' base code. "Sounds good though. The techs are already fitting out the Albany compound, it's pretty much liveable already, so the grunts can start setting up the base farm and network the place up, it'll be a couple of weeks before that's all done, then we can get in there with a QSI and actually bring the place online properly."
"It'll take longer than that to get a new neural net up and running," Morgan frowned as she thought about it. "I might have one of FAITH's old backups around somewhere that I can take a peek at, see how the net evolved over the last few years, would give us some framework to actually start a base from."
"Sounds good," Tony nodded, absently tossing the screwdriver up in the air and catching it again. "See if you can push the projector specs as far as you can. Get the entire R 'n' D complex hooked up with soft light so we can have the same interface and projector systems ready for the new place." He said with a grin at the thought. "SI wise, meant to say, got the board tomorrow, got to bring them up to date on the Expo and everything."
"Everything?" Morgan asked, raising an eyebrow at how her dad had specifically emphasised that word.
"Yeah," Tony grimaced. "They'll pitch a fit if I don't brief them about Spain and everything else, Pepper's already got whining emails from them about us moving into the personal technology space with phones and stuff without briefing them about it all first."
"Ugh, I remember those meetings." Morgan rolled her eyes, frowning at the memories that listed how many times she'd actually had to speak to the SI board and explain the new technology and developments she was working on.
"I can handle them," Tony waved the thought away. "I am going to have to tell them about you though." He explained with a serious expression. "Expo's in less than four weeks now, if they hear about it on stage like everyone else, you know I'll be fielding calls from them for the next month or two and I'll never get any peace."
"That going to be a problem?" Morgan asked curiously, not actually sure if any of the board members now where the same people or same families that she'd had to meet with in her future.
"Not a thing," Tony shook his head. "I already own fifty nine percent majority, combined with whatever FAITH and JARVIS squirrelled away for you…" He paused, looking at FAITH curiously.
"Boss currently holds seven point one percent shares grand-boss," FAITH filled in happily.
"Right, so we've got over sixty six percent, two thirds majority just in the family." Tony said happily. "They'll probably bitch a bit about being kept out of the loop, but they can either stay on board and shut up, or jump ship and I'll buy them out." He said with a dismissive shrug. "Either way, this'll be it."
"As long as I don't have to sit through more of those board meetings anytime soon, I'm happy." Morgan shrugged, idly kicking her chair back to her workbench so she could return to where she was working. "Actually, FAITH, run down the composites I'll need for the artificial vibranium. I want to start synthesising a bit here to work on."
"We have six of the fifteen compounds needed boss, do you want me to order the remaining compounds for delivery?" FAITH asked.
"Yeah, set it up." Morgan nodded absently as she looked at the Archangel wing framework with a considering eye.
"What you thinking?" Tony asked, walking over and watching as Morgan drummed her fingers on the workbench while she stared at the wings in question.
"Offset the weight with vibranium lattice, more for the edges, sharpened up, restructure the tips, maybe the end foot of the wings with a sharpened vibranium blade. A decent weave under the carbon fibre webbing will give a better bulletproof shield for now, but I'm pretty sure if I upped the reactor size a bit I should be able to add a basic fixed size energy shield to the whole thing." Morgan explained.
"That's a big upgrade," Tony mused, now staring at the wings and the basic framework curiously himself. "The same vibranium weave for the bodysuit?"
"Yeah, give it that extra oomph it'll need for the armour while keeping the weight down." Morgan nodded. "Uncle Eightball says we can trust this woman, says he'd trust her to have his back…" She trailed off knowingly.
"Yeah, that's definitely a complement coming from Rhodey." Tony nodded thoughtfully. "Alright, send over the gauntlet specs again, I'll see if I can upgrade them with the new one point six chips coming out of SI. Should be able to maintain a decent energy shield, but the processing power is going to take a huge hit trying to keep something like that going."
"Figured," Morgan nodded absently. "I'll rework the repulsor pack, see if I can expand the redundant memory back there, rewire the sensor runoffs to drop down the latency, shouldn't be an issue."
"I've got the new specs for the taser guns too, STARS I think I'll call them," Tony said with a grin. "Upped the current on the discharge, random alternating between the blasts now, added a cohesive plasma current too. Single switch between non-lethal and lethal." He explained. "Adding them to the gauntlets shouldn't be a problem if you're boosting up the reactor, add another twenty percent and it should be enough to cover everything you're talking about and then some."
"Lethal will be good for the invasion," Morgan nodded thoughtfully. "Plasma containment? There going to be a colour shift?" She asked as she considered that.
"Yeah, just a shift because of the plasma variance, somewhere between purple and red for the lethal shots," Tony shrugged as he wandered back over to his workbench. "I'll start putting things together, give them a better look to fit in with the Angel theme better." He said with a smirk.
"Going to upgrade those to Uncle Eightball's suit too?" Morgan asked curiously.
"Probably, when I find the time." Tony said as he sat down at his workbench and idly span around on his chair. "The War Machine suit doesn't need them right now, so it can go on the back burner for the next big upgrade."
"There going to be an upgrade for his suit?" Morgan asked curiously. "Just asking… that one's the last suit you ever designed for him. He was pretty much retired from the whole thing by the time I was ready to start working on stuff."
"Maybe," Tony mused on the idea as he turned back to his workbench and stared at the holographic monitors while considering the question. "Depends if the Air Force keep up their side of the deal."
"Trusting the US government, yeah, that's always ended well for people." Morgan snorted with amusement as she brought up her own holographic screen to start work on restructuring the Angel repulsor pack.
"Point," Tony admitted with a grimace. They already knew at least two high ranking members of the US government were HYDRA, and there was probably far more that were either HYDRA, SHIELD, or god knows who else.
Between that and knowing how badly the government had shit on the Stark name in Morgan's future and tried to steal his tech after he'd died, he had absolutely no faith left in the United States Government, and was definitely happy on the idea of distancing himself, and the Stark name and business, as far as he could from any government interference.
Stark Industries
Los Angeles branch
March 30th, 2010
Tony was casually sat in the conference room at SI, lazing back on his chair and idly working on one of the holographic display tablets that he'd commandeered from Morgan for his 'out of the workshop' use.
The things were damned handy to have around, when they were idle without the screen active, they basically just looked like a SI pen and fit in any pocket easily enough, completely inconspicuous, but inside that fancy housing was processing power and memory storage that put today's main computers to shame, with networking, interfaces and connections that even SI's best laptops or computers couldn't match.
The new SI processors were coming off the assembly line in the tens of thousands now, with the entire silicone fabrication line running twenty four seven. Combined with the new motherboard specifications and designs that Morgan had pushed out and got into production that were apparently designs based on a twenty twenty eight standard, he knew by the end of Expo and the official launch of Stark Computing, they were going to make a splash in the silicone industry that was going to be felt around the world.
Right now though he was waiting on today's meeting while casually flicking through ideas for the new R 'n' D complex, making sure that the SI engineers and custom fitters had everything planned out and were working on the Albany complex to get it up and running by the end of the week.
The new hardware for the server farm and custom interface would be sent up over the next few days, and once the main farm itself was up and running and networked in to the entire complex, he'd be able to go up there with Morgan and start networking in her QSI to the mainframe and then wire in the new soft light projectors around the complex itself, so anyone there would be able to work on the same holographic interface that he'd got used to by now.
It wouldn't be hard light, not for a good few years yet, but getting rid of the need for monitors entirely and having free floating holographic screens that could be mirrored, multiplied or simply moved around however anyone wanted was a huge bonus when it came to workflow, and he could imagine the docs like Streaky, Foster and Banner would be as in love with the idea as he was.
Once everything was actually set up, he'd be able to get the proper mining started to create the tunnel for the larger prismatic accelerator ring, ideally he wanted the facility up and running by then and with the new AI plugged in to oversee the whole thing, just for safety and security really. So it was just a waiting game now until all the little things came together and he could start moving forwards on the big projects.
He'd already set large workshop areas aside in the complex for himself and Morgan, and a second area aside for Morgan's gravity projects and play room. He'd actually spent time going through FAITH's database and looked at the gravity systems himself, and they were exactly as impressive as Morgan had hinted at.
Once she'd recreated them and got everything working at the Albany complex, he was going to see if he could get her to set something up at the expo, a low or zero gravity area for guests and attendees to wander through and experience zero G for themselves.
It might not lead to anything groundbreaking or useful scientifically, but he could bet that there would be quite a few people, NASA included, who would definitely be intrigued by the system and want to start talking about more deals for it.
"Boss? Director Kersh and several agents are coming through security now."
Tony's eyebrows flicked up as FRIDAY's voice came through the tablet, interrupting his thoughts and reminding him of why he was actually in the conference room to begin with today. "Director?" He asked aloud. "We got anything on him?" He asked, waiting a beat before the tablet's holographic display brought up the necessary information from the SI security checks.
"Deputy Director of the FBI?" Tony mused, staring at the biography that FRIDAY had brought up for him. "I thought this was a standard meet and brief about the SHIELD case?" He muttered to himself.
"They are on their way to you now boss, do you want me to hold them off?" FRIDAY's voice came through the tablet again.
"Nah, it's fine baby girl," Tony grinned softly at FRIDAY's protective streak that always gave him a warm fuzzy glow in his chest. "Let them in, I'm curious." He said with a smirk as he closed the tablet down, replacing the pen like future technology in his shirt pocket as he lazed back in his chair and waited for the doors to open.
He only had to wait a few minutes before two of the SI security opened up the conference room doors to show the FBI agents in, Director Kersh coming in first before being followed by three other agents that didn't look like typical FBI agents, but more like paper pushers and bean counters than investigators or normal agents.
"Didn't expect the Deputy Director to turn up?" Tony asked aloud as he gestured casually around the table for the FBI group to take seats wherever they wanted. "Guessing this isn't just a boring meeting about the SHIELD agent they decided to try and get into my company then?" he asked curiously.
"Doctor Stark," Director Kersh nodded professionally as he approached the table, taking a chair exactly opposite where Tony was speaking and waiting for his aids to come in and stand alongside him before continuing. "No, normally I would go through official channels, but security and secrecy are somewhat of a limited resource these days, as I'm sure you can understand."
"Point," Tony nodded, conceding that as he appraised Director Kersh and pondered what exactly the older man wanted. "Take a seat." He said, waving towards the various chairs around the conference table for the group to sit down wherever they wanted.
The deputy director was easily in his fifties or sixties, but he'd apparently kept his hair unlike Rhodey's future promised. He wore the age well though, and still looked physically fit and able, unlike other desk jockies and paper pushers he knew.
"It's come to my attention that you are not the only target that SHIELD has infiltrated over the years, more to the point, it's become apparent during the investigation into Ms Carter's activities that SHIELD has suborned agents within the agency itself." Director Kersh explained with a frown that creased several lines over his dark face.
"Doesn't surprise me," Tony shrugged. "SHIELD seems to think the law is just something that applies to other people." He explained when the Deputy Director frowned at him with a curious expression on his face. "First time I met their Director… Something Fury," He waved away the thought as if he was meaningless. "He broke into my house, disabled all my systems, just to try and lecture me on some bullshit because he was upset I didn't play by his rules."
"I saw your recording of the meeting you had with Director Fury. We're aware of his record, both civilian and military." Director Kersh nodded. "He has been pulling strings in Washington trying to involve his own people in the investigation. I've had to pull some of my own favours to keep SHIELD from sweeping this entire thing under the carpet."
"Pain in my ass," Tony groused, idly wondering if Morgan had anything on Fury that they could actually use to get him to back off and leave him and SI alone until twenty twelve. "This about the leather pirate then?" He asked.
"No," Director Kersh shook his head. "This is about security." He said flatly. "It's become apparent that Ms Carter not only failed to breach your security here on several occasions, but has also admitted to failing to breach your encrypted systems as well. Something that apparently surprised her as she claims to have never failed on assignment before."
"Not as good as she thinks she is then," Tony smirked at the thought, mentally sending a big thank you to Morgan and her fancy new neural encryption that was already paying dividends in keeping SHIELD out of their systems.
"I've heard word that you will be entering the consumer electronics space soon. Your own systems? Hardware? Software?" Director Kersh asked.
"Both." Tony nodded. "I'll be launching at Expo. Consumer processors will be the side show though, personal tablets, phones, watches, the entire run will all be solidified together using a standard Stark Operating System, the SOS will allow seamless interfacing between all Stark technology." He explained proudly.
"Your processors?" Director Kersh asked curiously. "I've heard some somewhat unbelievable numbers being banded around by my technical staff."
"Eighteen gigahertz on launch, fifty two by seventy eight core packaging linked on a nanite graphine base." Tony rattled off. "That's the largest consumer grade, there'll be notched down versions for laptops and other systems, cooling starts to be an annoying factor when we start going for anything bigger."
"That certainly sounds impressive." Director Kersh admitted thoughtfully, keeping his face schooled as he gave a side glance to the female agent sitting next to him to evaluate her reaction to the news. "Especially for your first foray into the consumer electronics space."
"That's nothing," Tony smirked knowingly. "So that's why you're here? Electronics?"
"And security." Director Kersh nodded. "Not only was your security able to keep this SHIELD infiltrator out, but from everything I've heard your encryption is beyond anything else anyone has ever seen before." He admitted. "My technical advisers are saying your encryption is the best on the planet right now."
"It is." Tony said proudly, stating it as a pure fact while leaning back in his chair. "You want me to encrypt your servers?" He asked.
"I want new servers." Director Kersh clarified. "I don't believe SHIELD has infiltrated that deep into my agency, but…"
"But you don't want to chance it." Tony nodded. "I'd bet they already have, probably got more than a few of your agents on their payroll as well. I'd bet the same with the NSA and CIA, probably all the other alphabet soup agencies as well." He mused on the thought.
"That's what's worrying me considering what I now know." Director Kersh nodded back, in full agreement with Doctor Stark's assessment of the threat SHIELD posed to national security.
"Alright," Tony mused, drumming his fingers on the conference table as he considered what Director Kersh was proposing. To be fair, the FBI had proved surprisingly competent so far, helping route out the SHIELD mole and actually keeping her in custody, and stopping Fury and SHIELD from covering the whole thing up. They'd come when Pepper had asked, and actually kept her safe during the whole thing, which was a definite point in their favour. "What are we talking? Complete overhaul? Servers? Internals and system networking?" He asked. "Hoover building?" He asked with a grimace.
"To start with," Director Kersh nodded.
"Isn't up to spec." Tony shook his head bluntly. "Networking alone you're still in the dark ages. One gigabit ethernet cord? The entire building?" He grimaced at the thought. "You want decent security set up, you're going to need to gut the entire building. Ten gigabit is going to be the minimum, fibre optic is what you should be aiming for."
"We have a reasonable budget to put towards the overhaul of the agency's systems and infrastructure." Director Kersh admitted. "Your consultancy fee however…"
"I'll waive it," Tony waved the thought away casually, smirking at the surprise on Director Kersh's face. "You helped me with SHIELD, quid pro quo." He said with a grin. "A full building upgrade, server farms, patch the entire building and get your security up to spec? You're talking a long haul overhaul."
"I'm aware," Director Kersh nodded, a bit taken aback by Doctor Stark's apparent generosity.
"Fine," Tony smirked as he leaned back further in his chair and considered this. "Five hundred of the new processors. Motherboards, full kit for a racked array, fibre optic network switches, the full SOS for your entire network." He rattled off as he ticked off everything the FBI would need. "Laptops, tablets, everything linked through to the same encrypted systems?"
"That would be the ideal end result." Director Kersh nodded. "This is Supervisory Special Agent Ryan, she's our lead cyber security analyst, she heads up our cyber division. I'd like her to see if your security is as strong as everyone is telling me it is."
"Go ahead," Tony waved towards the female agent that Director Kersh had indicated. "You actually get into my systems, even the SI externals here, I'll throw in some of my own personal toys free of charge." He said with a challenging smirk over towards the female agent.
"Seems you're been challenged Agent Ryan," Director Kersh allowed a small smile as he watched Agent Ryan retrieve a custom laptop and some external equipment from her briefcase and set it up on the conference table. "You're confident in your internal security?" He asked, knowing full well that it was far easier to breach a businesses network from inside their own facility rather than from a remote location.
"If she gets in to the network, hell, if you get through to the SOS platform, I'll throw in a custom laptop just for her, I'll build it myself." Tony said with a grin, seeing the gleam in Agent Ryan's eyes at that challenge. "FRIDAY, keep an eye on the encryption. Don't counter the intrusion, I want to see how far the server holds out without you backing it up."
"Aye aye boss, standing sentinel only." FRIDAY's voice came through the conference room speakers, surprising the various FBI personnel who looked over at Tony curiously.
"Wouldn't be a fair fight if my toys got involved," Tony said with a grin at Agent Ryan's slightly more dubious expression now. "She could rotate the encryption key thousands of times a second and calculate every counter you were going to make."
"You have a true AI running your systems?" Agent Ryan asked, honest surprise showing in her face. "One that could pass the Turing tests?"
Tony simply smirked back, a twinkle in his eye as he considered all the upgrades that Morgan had given FRIDAY. It was entirely likely that FRIDAY wouldn't just pass a Turing test, but she'd blow through it and surpass every expectation anyone would ever have.
"I see why you're so confident in your security Doctor Stark," Agent Ryan admitted.
"I thought artificial intelligence was only theoretical?" Director Kersh interrupted with a frown. "My reports indicated your base AI was strictly limited and structured on reactive algorithms, not actual intelligence."
"You're talking about JARVIS, and that was five years ago when I showed him off." Tony said with a wide grin. "FRIDAY's an entirely new base on a completely new architecture." He explained proudly. "If anyone gets past her and the servers encryption, they deserve anything they can get their hands on, and I'd probably hire them on the spot in response anyway."
"Your encryption is unlike anything I've ever seen before," Agent Ryan admitted, working on her laptop and her fingers flying over the keys at a surprising rate as she read through what was being displayed on her screen with a frown covering her face. "This isn't a hundred and twenty eight bit encryption… this isn't even two fifty six?" She asked in surprise, looking across the table at Tony's smirking face. "One thousand and twenty four encryption base?" She asked, her jaw actually dropping as Tony nodded across at her. "You're serious?"
"For the SOS platform," Tony confirmed. "My personal servers go further than that, but that's custom work. The whole SI network is only on a one oh two four encryption for now, I'll be upgrading further to a polymorphic based neural encryption standard once I restructure the place and tear everything out."
Director Kersh didn't follow much of that, but he could certainly tell from Agent Ryan's expression that she was definitely impressed and almost chastised by what Doctor Stark had just rattled off.
"Your SOS would come with the that encryption for the servers and custom network for the Hoover building?" Agent Ryan asked, her fingers paused on her keyboard now as she looked over the table at Doctor Stark curiously.
"That's the standard of the SOS, security is iron clad, literally." Tony grinned at the idea, mentally tagging 'Iron Security' for something to use as a tag for the new systems.
"Director, Doctor Stark's security isn't just as good as Ms Carter made it out to be, it's better, far better. She had no chance of breaching this encryption with the hardware and tools she had on her, I'd be surprised if anyone could actually get in to this operating system without the proper clearance." Agent Ryan admitted. "It would take our entire server farm decades… centuries at full runtime to even start to decrypt the files here, if anyone even breached the firewall and additional security and got into the systems at all, which would take even longer without hardware I couldn't even imagine. CERN might be able to crack it, maybe. Possibly the Cray systems, but I'd bet against them personally."
"If Cern was willing to dedicate their entire systems solely to cracking my encryption, and without FRIDAY working against them?" Tony mused on the thought. "IF they had a few decades spare, centuries once I've got the new algorithms in place, then maybe." He said, generously giving CERN that much at least.
"As promised then," Director Kersh nodded, having expected as such from everything he'd been told. "That's the security I want, for my agency, for my agents."
"Lets talk then," Tony grinned, leaning forwards and casually resting his arms on the conference table as he looked over at Director Kersh and wondered exactly what Fury would be screaming now if he knew that he was entering a proper deal with the FBI and had the idea of working towards a much more fruitful partnership with them than Fury or SHIELD could ever even dream of trying for.
Stark Mansion
10880 Malibu Point
Malibu
California
"Morgan?" Pepper asked curiously, walking through the mansion and coming through to one of the casual lounging areas where Morgan was sat on one of the leather couches crossed legged, one of her fancy black future computer things on the coffee table that had been pulled over in front of her, and various holographic screens lighting up the room and floating around in easy sight of where she was working.
The sight of not only FAITH, but FRIDAY and JARVIS as well, all displaying their glowing unique coloured avatars and standing around the room while a small glowing green orb was pulsing and twisting with energy between them was definitely curious.
"Honey?" Pepper asked curiously as she walked into the room.
"Oh, hey mom," Morgan smiled over, looking up from where she was working on some code on two holographic screens that were floating directly in her eye line.
"Working again?" Pepper asked with a smile, glancing at the screens and seeing hundreds of lines of computer code that she had no hope of ever understanding.
"Exploring," Morgan shrugged. "Just getting a new neural net set up. Never actually done this from scratch before, so everyone's curious." She explained with a laugh over towards the three AI's that were still watching the glowing green orb.
"Something new?" Pepper asked curiously, walking over and leaning down on the couch behind Morgan, stroking her hair softly as she watched the various AI's and wondered what was actually going on here.
"Really new," Morgan grinned, tilting her head back and looking up at her mom. "FAITH's giving birth." She said with a grin.
"FAITH…" Pepper blinked as she tried to rationalise out what Morgan had just said, her attention flicking from her over to where FAITH's purple avatar was looking down at the glowing green orb with something like a proud expression on her face. Even FRIDAY's golden avatar was watching with a soft smile, while JARVIS' blue avatar looked as professional and business like as always, though there was a flicker of something on JARVIS' face that she didn't recognise, but almost looked like curiosity and maybe even pride. "Can you explain what you're doing in a way I'm going to understand it?"
"That's LARA," Morgan smiled proudly, pointing to the pulsing green orb that was just hanging in the air between the other AI's currently. "She came online about an hour ago."
"Another AI?" Pepper clarified.
"FAITH's baby," Morgan grinned. "There's a lot of FAITH's base code in there, some from FRIDAY as well, and dad had some ideas from JARVIS' base too." She explained. "She's the baby of all of them really." She said with a smile. "I'm just getting the base done as it's on a quantum framework, then dad's going to take over working on most of it, I'll just be adding bits here and there from FAITH's code, code that can't work on normal computers and stuff like the tech around here." She explained with a casual wave of her hand. "God I can't wait to actually get quantum processors back on the market again, seriously, I don't know how you all cope with binary matrices and..."
"Morgan…" Pepper sighed as she interrupted her daughter, recognising a signature Stark rant when she started to hear one and shaking her head in amusement at the thought. "Is this new AI…"
"LARA," Morgan nodded. "She's going to be for the new R 'n' D stuff up in New York. Keep the scientists happy, run the complex, keep security tight, you know, all that sort of stuff, keep the paperwork and lab stuff from me and dad so we don't have to keep dropping in to take care of stuff."
"I see," Pepper nodded thoughtfully, looking over at the little green orb. "It… she? She looks a bit excitable?" She asked, wondering if that was the right word. The little green orb didn't seem to be doing much right now, but there were flares and tendrils of green energy flowing out from it and snaking around towards the three AI's that were watching her almost protectively.
"She's young," Morgan laughed. "FAITH was like this at first, it'll take a few weeks to get her up and running, she'll be sandboxed and learning from FAITH, FRIDAY and JARVIS until then." She explained. "I'm just keeping an eye on her neural net and making sure it's developing properly while FAITH links in and goes through the usuals with her."
"That's… I never considered what an artificial... child? Would be like," Pepper admitted thoughtfully. JARVIS had been part of Tony's life since before she'd started working for him, and she'd just come to accept him as part of Tony's life.
Now there was FRIDAY as well, and FAITH, who were all completely different and worked in ways she couldn't even hope to understand. Most of the time she could forget they were computer programs at all, especially with the way FRIDAY assisted her and helped her out on day to day things.
"You just come to watch then?" Morgan asked, looking away from her screens again and back up to her mom.
"Actually," Pepper took a deep breath, lifting up the black velvet bag from her jacket pocket. "I wanted to talk to you about these… bracelets?"
"The RESCUE armour?" Morgan grinned happily. "Cool." She laughed, pushing away her holographic screens for now but keeping them up and active so that she could keep an eye on how things were developing. "What about it?" She asked.
"Tony… your dad said that it's armour, like yours?" Pepper asked. "Like the armour you gave him?"
"Yeah, nanite core base." Morgan nodded. "I didn't do any work on yours after the mark two, you were pretty set on it just being the basics for defence and emergencies, nothing fancy like mine or dads."
"So… it's just armour then?" Pepper asked. "It's not… I don't know, filled with missiles or guns or anything?"
"It's got the usual repulsor setups, ion based canons, a full expanded array from what I remember, but that's it." Morgan shrugged. "I upgraded some of my own bits on the code when I last updated the nanite core, but that was ages ago now, energy shields and some other bits for better reactive armour and stuff like that, nothing like missiles or anything like that from what I remember."
"Can you show me?" Pepper asked. "I'm just… I want to understand, and I know me having them on will make you feel better, and Tony… I just… I'm not sure about the whole armour thing and figuring it all out."
"Sure," Morgan laughed. "FAITH, you three keep an eye on the new kid alright? Let me know if anything quirks up on her net. It looks pretty solid to me, so she should be alright for now."
"Of course boss," FAITH said, her avatar not looking away from the pulsing green twisting energy.
"Everyone's besotted with the new kid," Morgan chuckled as she stood up from the couch, stretching with a small groan at how she'd been sat crossed legs for far too long now. "Workshop or outside?" She asked.
"Which would be best?" Pepper asked slightly nervously.
"Depends if you want to start flying or not?" Morgan grinned at her.
"Workshop, definitely the workshop." Pepper shook her head at that thought pretty firmly. "Baby steps please honey, let me get used to the idea first and actually see what this whole thing is like before I commit to anything further."
"Fine," Morgan chuckled as she reached out and took the velvet bag from her mom, tossing it casually in her hands as she led the way towards the spiral staircase that let down to the workshop area. "FRIDAY, might need you on mom's armour systems as well, link in and run setup checks for me will you?" She asked as they walked down the stairs.
"Will FRIDAY be in the armour, like she is for Tony's?" Pepper asked curiously, having actually got used to the Irish AI now and become slightly fond of how she'd been really helpful ever since she'd been integrated into her watch and phone at SI.
"Yeah, you used to have another I think, but I don't know what happened to that one." Morgan admitted quietly. "FRIDAY's probably best now, she knows the ins and outs of the suits nearly as well as FAITH does, and she'll be able to link between you and dad easily enough. With the new satellite up there, FRIDAY's got more than enough redundant power to manage dad's suit and yours, and do whatever else she's doing at SI at the same time." She explained as she led the way through to the workshop, smiling as the door unlocked and opened automatically for her as she approached it.
"That's fine honey, I… I'm used to FRIDAY now." Pepper admitted with a smile at that, having a constant link through to both Tony and Morgan was definitely nice, and she would admit that after the whole SHIELD fiasco, she trusted FRIDAY to keep them all safe.
"Going to be nice seeing this up and running again," Morgan admitted with a small smile as she lifted the two silver bracelets out of the velvet bag, looking down and seeing her mom's wedding and engagement rings left in the bag now that everything else had been taken out. "They're yours mom, I know it's weird… but they're yours." She said quietly, folding up the bag and handing it back over to her mom, not needing to say anything else as her mom took the bag with a hesitant expression on her face.
"I know they're a future Pepper's, but…" Pepper sighed as she took back the velvet bag, holding it carefully and weighing up the two rings inside that felt so much heavier with the promise of the future tied up in them.
"FRIDAY, how's the RESCUE suit looking?" Morgan asked aloud, walking around the workshop to give her mom some time to contemplate the two rings she'd been left holding.
"All systems are good little boss," FRIDAY's voice came back through the workshop speakers. "Arc power is at ninety two percent, nanite pool is full and all systems are linked in."
"All good then," Morgan nodded happily, running her hands over the two bracelets as she walked back over to her mom and held them out for her. "Take your jacket off first." She said with a knowing smile as she watched her mom replace the velvet bag in her suit jacket pocket. "Skirts and jackets get bunched up pretty weirdly under the armour, you want to be as comfortable as you can get before activating it."
"Alright," Pepper said dubiously, taking off her suit jacket and folding it neatly before looking around the workshop for a clean space, eventually deciding on leaving it folded on Tony's chair for now as there wasn't really any workbenches clear from tools, electronics, or other clutter that she couldn't identify.
"Just put them on, they're not going to do anything." Morgan said reassuringly, handing over the two elegant bracelets and watching as her mom stared at them nervously for a moment before gingerly sliding one onto one wrist, then putting the other on when nothing happened. "See, it's fine."
"Maybe," Pepper admitted quietly, staring down at the bracelets and watching as they seemed to shrink slightly to adjust themselves around on her wrists. To anyone else they simply looked like elegant, probably custom silver bracelets that had some swirling filigree engraved around them.
"FRIDAY, can you activate just the gloves first?" Morgan asked aloud. "Just arms from the elbows down."
"Whenever you're ready Little Boss," FRIDAY's voice came back.
"Mom?" Morgan asked, checking that her mom was really ready for this before continuing when her mom nodded silently at her. "Gloves and forearms first FRIDAY."
Pepper froze in place as the bracelets seemed to melt away into a glistening liquid metal that flowed up and down her arms, both pools seemingly moving in sync and coating her entire forearms before restructuring and solidifying down into armoured gauntlets that looked far thicker and heavier than she'd seen on either Morgan or Tony's suits.
The blue was definitely nice, a light metallic shade that wasn't in your face like Tony's or Morgan's colours, but a cooler and more subtle shade that she definitely preferred.
The metallic sections weren't actually silver though as she'd first assumed, but a very light brushed gold that was very low in saturation, giving only a hint of warmth that contrasted nicely with the cool blue of the armour itself.
"You alright?" Morgan double checked, looking to her mom curiously. "It's safe, FRIDAY's got all the protocols locked down for testing."
"They're heavy," Pepper admitted, lifting her arms up with some effort and trying to look over the armoured gauntlets from each angle.
"Yeah, without the torso and shoulder mounts to take the weight it's putting all of it on your body." Morgan explained. "Once the torso and legs are active you'll barely feel any of the weight at all."
"Fine, do that then." Pepper said. "Quickly before I change my mind." She clarified when Morgan looked at her to double check.
"You heard mom FRIDAY," Morgan said aloud. "Everything but the helmet, load it up for her." She said with a grin.
"Coming out Lady Boss," FRIDAY's voice came back this time only moments before the liquid metal started flowing again, this time flowing up to Pepper's shoulders and around her torso before working it's way down her body.
It was easy to see how the futuristic nanotech started solidifying in larger areas now across her shoulders and torso while the rest of the liquid looking nanite pool was still flowing down Pepper's body and coating her trousers and down over her heels.
It was as the armour started solidifying around her mom's feet and under her heels that Morgan stepped forwards, holding her hands out to grip on to her mom's armoured hands and keep her upright while the armour adjusted itself around her heels.
"Sorry, forgot about the heels," Morgan said with a small grin as Pepper held on to keep her balance. "I never wear them, so I didn't think about it." She admitted.
"I'll remember that in future," Pepper said with a bit of a nervous laugh as she slowly released her grip on Morgan's hands, standing up a bit steadier in the armour and finding her balance before letting out a heavy breath and finally relaxing. "That's it?"
"Aside from the helmet," Morgan nodded, gesturing over to the mirror at the side of the workshop for her mom to take a look for herself.
"That's… this is very different from your armour." Pepper admitted as she looked in the mirror, staring with wide eyes at her reflection encased in fancy futuristic technology, shining and glistening with metal under the florescent lighting in the workshop.
"You didn't want me to upgrade much on it," Morgan explained. "It was dad's last present for you, you know, from before…" She trailed off awkwardly. "I just finished the coding off and kept it as close to dad's original designs as I could." She explained with a small smile. "It's good though, seeing you wearing it again." She said with a soft smile as she walked over and stood next to her mom, looking in the mirror at the pair of them standing side by side.
Her mom might be a few decades younger than she ever remembered her being, but it was definitely her mom, and the loving gaze she caught in her eyes proved that once and for all for her.
"It's definitely more comfortable than I imagined," Pepper admitted, giving a small smile at that. "Your dad's armour… I always pictured it being stifling, tight and uncomfortable, probably sweaty as well."
"His old armour probably was," Morgan laughed at the thought. "His old solid plate designs, I don't even know how he did the cooling or ventilation systems for those old relics." She explained with a grin. "My ones, I mean these nanotech ones, they're all up to date, well, upto twenty nine anyway for yours. Nineteen years worth of future tech, should be enough to keep you safe from anything that might happen now." She said hopefully.
"I do feel safe," Pepper admitted in a small voice, looking down at herself and marvelling at the amount of technology that was coating her body right now. From what Morgan was saying, this technology was even more advanced than the nanotech suit she'd given Tony, nearly a decade's more improvements and refinements over his last design.
"That's what I want, you safe." Morgan said firmly. "FRIDAY's linked in, so if you ever need the suit or anything, just ask her for it and it'll activate."
"Through the watch?" Pepper double checked.
"Or your phone, or anywhere where FRIDAY's linked in really," Morgan nodded in confirmation. "Want to try the more fun stuff now?" She asked with a hopeful grin.
"Fun stuff?" Pepper said dubiously, turning to look at Morgan with a wary glance as she saw Morgan activating her own armour, the chrome and iridescent purple look giving her armour a very different style and feel to the pale blue and light golden armour she was wearing right now.
"Flying," Morgan grinned as the armour flowed over her body but left her head free and clear, exactly like her mom's armour was.
"I don't know…" Pepper hedged, staring back into the mirror dubiously. "I'm still just getting used to wearing this whole thing."
"Sometimes you've just got to take the leap mom, just riding a bike… you gotta run before you can walk, just push off and get yourself going." Morgan explained with a wide smile. "Come on, it's easy, FRIDAY will keep you safe, promise." She said earnestly.
"Just a small test, nothing too high or too far?" Pepper asked hopefully.
"Come on, we'll do it outside, the grass'll be a lot more comfortable to practice on." Morgan said, tugging her mom's arm to lead her back up into the main mansion floors.
"More comfortable than falling on tiling and asphalt you mean," Pepper whispered to herself, looking back at the workshop floor as she allowed herself to be let up into the mansion itself and out of the front door.
"It's not that bad, really, you're going to love it." Morgan explained with a laugh. "Flying, I… I can't explain it, it's the best part of wearing these, really." She said enthusiastically. "It's so free, like there's nothing else that can touch you. You can go as fast or as high as you want, and nobody else can even get close to catching up with you."
"You really love it that much?" Pepper asked curiously, watching Morgan's eyes light up as she talked about flying.
"Yeah," Morgan nodded with a wide smile. "I mean, riding a bike comes close, pushing fast and out on open roads, just the wind in your face and the feeling of freedom… but flying… flying is something else entirely." She promised with a knowing smile.
"I never thought about motorbikes like that," Pepper admitted. "They always seemed… rough somehow, and the stigma… they just look dangerous, I wouldn't have associated them with freedom or that sort of feeling."
"They're amazing," Morgan laughed. "I'll take you out sometime, show you what you're missing." She promised as she led her mom out of the mansion main doors and down across to one of the grassy areas that surrounded the mansion itself.
"I don't know about that," Pepper grimaced at the thought, still not really sure what to think about Morgan's motorbike enthusiasm at all. It was better than Tony's obsession with fast and expensive cars, but only just.
Cars were still far safer as far as she was concerned, and she couldn't really see the appeal of motorbikes at all really.
"Trust me, you'll love it." Morgan grinned as she led the way up the grass on the side gardens of the mansion that was surrounded by a wooden tree line. "We can start slow, just like flying... start with the basics and just get higher and faster as you get better as it."
"I really don't like the higher and faster ideas," Pepper grimaced as the thought, but set her jaw and mentally reminded herself that she was doing this for Morgan, and actually sharing something like this with her, something that Morgan was seemingly really passionate about loving, would really help her connect with her more.
"It's cool, FRIDAY's got you anyway, nothing's going to go wrong." Morgan laughed with a reassuring smile. "We can just start off at point one percent, that'll be enough to just get you off the ground, hovering not really flying. You can get an idea for how to move and float around like that much easier."
Pepper followed along with what Morgan was saying before she took a deep breath, bracing herself before she forced herself to nod in agreement. "Alright, point one percent. Floating, not flying. Floating, I think I can cope with that."
"You'll love it," Morgan grinned widely. "FRIDAY, take control of mom's repulsors will you, keep it at point one percent thrust, but get ready to cut and engage safeties if me or mom need you to step in alright?"
"Of course Little Boss," FRIDAY's voice came out of both armour's at the same time in stereo. "Don't worry Lady Boss, I've got you." She said earnestly, her Irish brogue reassuring Pepper as she seemingly spoke directly to her.
"Fine... what do I need to do?"
Driving up to the mansion, Tony actually slowed down so he could lean down in the drivers seat and tap his sunglasses lower on his nose and actually verify he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.
After being in a meeting with The Stark Industries Board for the entire afternoon, going over plans for the globalisation of the company and explaining about Morgan, all of which had left him with a headache and a dire need to either hit something repeatedly with a hammer, or blow something up.
Up ahead by the mansion were two figures silhouetted by the late afternoon sun, both clearly wearing mechanical suits, and flying around low by the treeline, slowly manoeuvring themselves around.
"Huh," He said aloud, taking his sunglasses off with one hand as he continued driving up the path towards the mansion, tossing the sunglasses aside so they landed in the passenger seat before pulling onto the grass at the side of the mansion and turning off the ignition before climbing out of the car.
From here he couldn't make out the exact designs of the flying suits, the one that was practically glistening in the evening sun definitely looked like Morgan's. The way the golden light reflected off her chrome and purple blue shifting armour was even more spectacular than normal.
Which meant the other person must be...
"Pepper?" He asked aloud, his eyes widening as he realised exactly what he was seeing.
Striding forwards he double tapped on his nanite reactor mid step, feeling exceedingly grateful for Morgan's nanotech and her future tech suit right now as the nanite core surrounded his body and solidified into his scarlet and chrome armour without him even breaking a stride.
Two more steps and he took to the air, flying up so he was on the same plane as the two other suits and slowly approaching them.
"Hey you two, having fun without me?" Tony asked with a grin, broadcasting his voice aloud through the suit so the other two could hear him.
Barely a second later he saw the incoming communication details popping up on his HUD where FRIDAY automatically accepted and linked him in with Morgan and Pepper.
"Hey dad," Morgan's voice came over the link as a video screen showing her face from inside the helmet popped up, below that a second video screen popped up with Pepper this time, smiling widely and looking like she was actually enjoying herself.
"This a private party or can anyone join?" Tony smirked back as Morgan rolled her eyes at him.
Up close Pepper's armour was beautiful, sleek and gorgeous, the subtle blues were a perfect colour for her, but unlike her wrist watch gauntlet thing, the highlight colouring on her suit was actually a very soft brushed gold, not a chrome like the watch gauntlet had been.
The forearms are pretty chunky, a lot thicker than his or Morgan's were, and there was extra bracing around the collar areas for some reason that he couldn't figure out. It was definitely a gorgeous design though, and he'd have to actually get his hands on the specifications and details of the suit tonight so he could look through it properly and actually understand what all the suit designs were for, and what it's capabilities actually were.
"Tony... this... this is amazing!" Pepper laughed over the video link. "I didn't realise... flying, god, Tony... you never said it felt like this."
"Yeah, well, it's hard to describe." Tony said quickly, focusing his attention back on the video link that showed Pepper's face from inside her suit. "Getting the hang of everything then?"
"Slowly," Pepper admitted, her suit wobbling a bit in the air as she focused on trying to keep herself stable and locked in place.
"Mom's doing great," Morgan confirmed happily. "We're just taking it slow, practising moving around and making sure she's doing alright in the suit."
"I didn't even think you were going to try it all on yet, let alone come out flying in it." Tony admitted, still torn between looking at the video feed of Pepper's face, and staring at her armoured covered form that was strangely looking really hot to him right now.
"We started slow, mom's still at under one percent on the repulsors, but she's doing really good." Morgan grinned.
"Well, I got used to the watch thing..." Pepper explained. "I spent a the last weeks activating the glove thing just to get used to it. Did you know it has lasers built into the fingers as well? Like a laser cutting tool? And an energy shield as well?"
"Uh... no?" Tony admitted.
"Yeah, I knew." Morgan grinned. "There's a low power UV laser in the repulsor as well, won't cut through anything, but it's good for lighting fires, blinding people with a flash, or sending out an invisible signal beacon." She explained. "Same stuff with your suit here, energy shields on both arms, laser cutters, the usual tools and bits."
"Huh," Tony nodded automatically. His suit had cutting lasers and energy shields too, and both Pepper's suit and watch were at least two decades more advanced than that, so it made sense that some of his high tech had made its way into their designs as well. "Is it my imagination, or is your suit quieter than mine?" He asked, tilting his head to the side as he tried to differentiate between the sounds of the three sets of repulsor engines firing around him.
"Nope," Morgan smirked over the video link. "Mom's got the ion fusion repulsors in her suit, better speed, more stable, and a lot quieter." She explained with a grin. "I upgraded them a few years ago to my own designs."
"Lucky," Tony muttered, sending a mock glare at Pepper's video link when she laughed at the face he made. "So, you've just been flying around up here all afternoon?"
"Basically," Morgan shrugged happily. "I figured that was the best way to get mom comfy with the suits and bits, I've shown her how to activate the energy shields and stuff like that, but I was going to leave the repulsors and weapons for another day."
"Yes, definitely." Pepper nodded firmly at that. "Flying... just let me get used to this first. Flying, wearing the suit... I'll take the rest slowly, but just let me do it at my own pace alright?"
"Sounds good to me," Tony nodded. He'd expected it to be a mammoth effort just to get Pepper to actually try on the suit, let alone go flying in it. The fact she was wearing it and flying, and apparently really enjoying herself, counted as a pretty solid win in his book. "What do you say... fancy showing me how good you've got with it?" He asked with a smirk. "Can hit the beach, fly out over the surf, take the evening?" He offered.
"I'm in," Morgan nodded enthusiastically.
"Uh, mind if I just do this with Pep?" Tony asked awkwardly. "No offence kiddo, but I kinda want some alone time if you don't mind? Romantic flight along the beach, sunset, you know..."
"I don't want to know," Morgan shook her head, holding up her hands in surrender. "Have fun, whatever, just as long as I don't have to know about it." She said with a grin. "I'll be in the workshop." She laughed, angling herself around before flying off towards the mansion.
"A romantic flying moment together?" Pepper asked in a dry tone, using her repulsors to slowly drift closer to Tony as she spoke.
"Well, I thought it sounded like a good idea?" Tony half asked, staring at Pepper's armoured form and idly wondering exactly what she was wearing under all that futuristic nanotech.
"That's the best idea you've had in months Mr Stark," Pepper smiled widely at him. "But not too fast alright?" She countered when she saw his wide grin come over the video link.
"Sure, right, yes, whatever you say." Tony nodded with a smile. "Come on, I'll show you the way down." He said before angling himself around, noting that Morgan's video link had closed off the connection now, leaving just him and Pepper with their private link as he flew towards the path leading down the side of the cliffs towards the sandy beach below.
Normally he'd just fly off the cliffs and circle around, but since Pepper wanted to take it slowly, he could do that.
A romantic evening on the beach sounded perfect right now, and with any luck later on he might actually get to see what Pepper was wearing under that armour of hers.
Well, a man could dream, couldn't he?