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.
Mitchel Air Force Base
Charles Lindbergh Blvd
Garden City
Long Island
New York
April 8th, 2010
"Sir, we have incoming,"
General Baur looked up from his desk in the old tower, his eyes looking over towards the radar technician as he stood up and walked into the middle of the control area. "Identification?" He asked.
"Registering as Stark One," The technician announced barely a second later. "Confirmed, communications linked in. They're asking permission to run an approach vector and land sir."
"Granted," General Baur nodded happily. He'd been expecting Stark for the last couple of days, but Colonel Rhodes had repeatedly advised him that Doctor Stark didn't do anything on anyone elses schedule but his own.
At least he was on his way now though, a few days late wouldn't impress anyone, but given the War Machine and Angels projects, and everything else the Air Force was gaining from their partnership with Doctor Stark, he could afford to grant the eccentric billionaire a bit of latitude here and there.
"Direct them to the south runway, hanger seven." General Baur ordered, knowing that hangers seven through ten had already been designated for Stark use, to either set up for the War Machine program, or the Angels program, or set aside for only god knew what else Doctor Stark was going to surprise them with next.
"Confirmed," The radar technician said after a beat before conferring with the communications lieutenant sitting next to him. "Sir, Stark One are confirming VTOL capabilities. Advising to land directly at hanger seven."
"Have the area cleared out and readied for them," General Baur nodded. He'd heard more than a few rumours about Doctor Stark's new jet, but hadn't really put credence in any of them. "Message Colonel Rhodes and have him informed that Doctor Stark has arrived."
After all, rumours about Doctor Stark himself rarely contained anything but the barest hint of the truth, as he had discovered only this year when he'd put stock in rumours about Doctor Stark suffering from PTSD and spiralling out of control, only to come face to face with a man that was grounded, sober and ready to kick the Air Force up the pants and into the twenty first century.
"Issuing directions now sir."
General Baur simply nodded at that, turning on his heel and heading out of the control room towards the steel spiral stairway that led down the full height of the control tower at Mitchel Base.
Mitchel was hideously outdated, painfully so in some areas. A lot of areas had been updated though, the electrics and wiring around the base had been brought up to standard. The bunks and mess rooms were a damn sight better than they were, but still not as nice as they had been at Edwards.
It was a work in progress though, and he understood that these things took time, especially when Mitchel had only been brought out of enforced retirement at Doctor Stark's pointed suggestion, and the higher ups had been willing to bend over backwards to appease him if it meant keeping Stark tech contracted to the Air Force.
Still, even he had to admit that it made sense, both logistically, to have separate bases for the War Machine and Angels projects on either side of the country, and from an engineering and technical point of view.
His orders were that Doctor Stark was to be given free reign with the hangers set aside for Stark tech. Four hangers wasn't exactly a hardship to give up, especially since those four hangers would likely be used for the main unit assigned to this base.
There were plenty of other hangers around that could be repurposed for general use and expansion if it became a priority, but since the base was only just coming out of mothballs and McGuire was close enough, just down in New Jersey, he couldn't see any reason why they'd need the extra room unless some new units were assigned here on a more permanent basis.
He was still musing over the idea as he strode along the tarmac towards Hanger Seven, idly looking around when he heard a quiet rush of something that definitely wasn't a standard engine or jet.
Looking up he had to forcefully clench his jaw to stop himself from whistling in awe at the jet that came swooping over the base on an approach vector, quite literally slowing down impossibly in mid air and rotating around before lowering itself to the ground, touching down as gentle as a kitten's kiss.
Doctor Stark definitely knew how to make an entrance, and now he could see why everyone was so god damned curious about that fancy jet of his. All he'd heard was rumours and speculation so far, but seeing the damn thing in person blew away every single one of those rumours.
The swooped back articulated wing design that was reminiscent of the variable-sweep wing on the F-Fourteen Tomcat was recognisable enough, but the rotating engines that lined either wing, and the larger one built directly into the tail didn't look like anything he was familiar with.
Hell, the jet only really looked like a jet in the most basic of ways, everything was sleek and smooth, white and chrome.
He could only watch as the door to the jet opened and a set of stairs actually folded out from underneath the jet itself, moving up and connecting to the door of the jet and adjusting itself securely to the ground as the 'engines' of the jet wound down with an audible whine of power.
"God damned," General Baur hissed under his breath, staring at the jet as he sped up his march towards hanger seven, never taking his eyes over the miraculous form of engineering, with his brain racing a mile a minute as he tried to picture what Doctor Stark could provide to the Air Force with that sort of advanced design under his belt.
The one thing that did catch his eye, and he made a note to grab a still of it from the security cameras around the base to forward on to the brass, was the chrome 'Stark International' logo that spanned the length of the jet.
Not Stark Industries, but Stark International.
That was extremely telling. The logo was reminiscent enough of the old familiar Stark Industries logo that it could easily be overlooked, but the chrome logo with an embossed globe of Earth replacing the 'o' in International made very compelling and worrying note about what was actually going on with the company right now.
He was only a few meters away when he saw the man himself appearing in the doorway of the jet before he started walking down, he was surprised however to see another form following him. A young woman dressed in extremely casual clothes, much like Doctor Stark was, carrying some sort of heavy set looking briefcase as they both talked in animated gestures as they climbed down the stairway and onto the tarmac of the base.
"Doctor Stark, welcome to Mitchel Base." General Baur spoke aloud, a bit louder than necessary though as he marched over towards the foot of the stairway where Doctor Stark and his young assistant were talking.
"General... Baur right?" Tony grinned, seemingly pleased with himself for actually remembering General Baur's name.
"As I said, welcome to Mitchel Base." General Baur reiterated as he approached Doctor Stark. "Colonel Rhodes has been informed you're here, and will be making his way to us at his next convenience."
"Sounds good," Tony smiled, clapping his hands together. "We're going to need... whats her name... honestly can't remember if anyone ever told me..."
"Lt Colonel Callaghan," Morgan spoke up with a roll of her eyes.
"Right, her," Tony nodded, ignoring Morgan's expression completely. "Got some new toys for the Angels lead, Morgan's going to get her set up and take her temperature on how everything looks."
"I see," General Baur frowned dubiously, looking at the young woman standing next to Doctor Stark hesitantly. "I'm not sure we can..."
"Don't bother, she's got an IQ higher than mine, and is the actual designer behind the wings, thruster pack and flight suit." Tony interrupted with a bored expression on his face. "She worked with me on every aspect of this jet, literally climbing inside it to help me wire up the frame, and the repulsor upgraded engines are her babies."
"I see." General Baur nodded, blinking a bit as he tried to rationalise the statement of 'she's smarter than me' coming from Doctor Stark. The young woman could barely be in her mid twenties, to hear that she was actually that accomplished by such a young age, and in such a slight form, made him have to take a moment to readjust his view of her.
"Rhodey's already met her, it won't be a problem." Tony said dismissively, completely ignoring General Baur's worries.
General Baur simply nodded at that, waving over two of the airmen that were patrolling the base. "Find Lt Colonel Callaghan. She's needed here asap." He ordered, waiting for the two airmen to head off at double march before turning back to Doctor Stark. "Very well, but she will have to be accompanied by Lt Col Callaghan whilst on base. Mitchel is an active base now Doctor Stark, we can't allow civilians free reign around an active military base."
"Fine, whatever." Tony shrugged the worry off. "So, what have we got to work with here?" He asked, looking to General Baur now properly.
"Three hangers have been set aside directly for you to work with," General Baur confirmed. "I understand you'll want to inspect the areas first to make sure they are suitable for the installation of the specialised equipment and machinery you will be setting up."
"Yeah, doubles of everything from the west coast base basically. Robotics, storage, maintenance, power... all the bells and whistles." Tony nodded absently. "Square footage?" He asked, idly curious.
"Slightly smaller than the hangers at Mitchel." General Baur admitted. "The hangers here were mothballed in the sixties. We've done some work bringing them up to standard, but the three that have been assigned to you have been left alone for you to judge and refit them as you see fit."
"So... what are we talking about here?" Tony asked, looking back towards the hanger that FRIDAY had landed the jet outside of. "This mine?" He asked, waving towards the hanger in question.
"Hangers seven through ten," General Baur nodded, indicating the numbers on each of the hangers so Doctor Stark would be able to identify them easily enough. "Standard twenty seven foot height clearance, HVAC and basic security have already been set up. They're originally designed on the four bay hanger layout, so we have four ten ton bridge cranes in each of the hangers, these can be removed or altered as you see fit."
"Huh," Tony nodded absently as he crunched the numbers in his head. "So about a third smaller than the west coast hanger?"
"Approximately," General Baur confirmed.
"Probably easier to set up separate areas then, one for power, reactor maintenance, stuff like that, then another for War Machine and everything for that suit." Tony mused thoughtfully. "Can keep the Angels in with the armour, wire the two hangers together so the reactor and server farm can be expanded and linked in to everything we need."
"That sounds acceptable," General Baur nodded. "With regards to the reactor, will you be offering the same deal as Edwards base?"
"Hook up the entire base to run on the Arc?" Tony asked before shrugging. "Sure." He nodded absently. "It's not like the base actually uses that much power compared to running everything the Angels and War Machine need." He said dismissively, knowing from the constant read outs of the Arc reactor at the other base that compared to the power draw of the robotic plant set up for the War Machine armour's maintenance and setup, the rest of the base barely rose above the negligible line.
"That will make a few bean counters back in Washington happy," General Baur offered a tight smile at that, causing Doctor Stark to snort in agreement, clearly having his own bean counters to deal with. A quick glance over to the side brought his attention over to where Colonel Rhodes and Lt Col Callaghan were briskly making their way over to hanger seven. "It looks like we're ready to start then."
Tony followed General Baur's eye line before grinning and giving a casual wave over to Rhodey. "Sounds good." He nodded, waiting for Rhodey and the angel woman to come and join them. "Platypus." He nodded with his customary greeting.
"At ease," General Baur said automatically as Colonel Rhodes and Lt Col Callaghan came to a stop next to them.
"Got a few things on the agenda today, tour get some specs, then I'll be able to figure out how much of the internals I'm going to have to tear out before we even start moving stuff in." Tony explained. "Probably all of it, if the electrics are still sixties standard, there's no way it's going to hold up to the amount of power I'll need to pump through the wiring for everything, so we're talking about a full gutting and rebuild job."
"I had assumed so," General Baur nodded in conformation. "Lt Colonel Callaghan, you will be escorting Doctor Stark's assistant around the base. Word is she has some specific upgrades for the Angels project, so she'll be your responsibility." He explained. "What exactly are we talking about here?" He asked pointedly, looking between Doctor Stark and his assistant.
"New armour, tested up to a fifty call for resistance." Morgan rattled off. "New wings, a new thruster design, and some custom controls and gauntlet additions. Extra weapons, some new upgrades, it won't be on par with the War Machine suit, but at least a dozen steps over the standard Angel design."
"And this is for Lt Colonel Callaghan specifically?" General Baur asked curiously, noting the single case that the young woman had put down beside her.
"For now," Tony nodded. "We're calling it the Archangel, squad leader stuff. The wings will be a bit bigger, about six hundred percent tougher when it comes to ballistics and shielding, sharpened edges and tips for combat, and upgraded energy weapons with a lethal setting rather than just the stun and done stuff."
"I'm intrigued," General Baur admitted, mentally going over 'Archangel' as a call sign for Lt Colonel Callaghan. It sounded good, fitting, rolled off the tongue and was iconic in a way that fit the leader of The Angels squadron. "These new upgrades will enhance the Angel profile for other missions?" He asked.
"Like I said, it won't be up to War Machine standards, a bit faster, more manoeuvrable, less threatening but it should work great in tandem with it and give you some backup on missions rather than just having more ground troops or jets around to cover War Machine while on deployment." Morgan rattled off.
"I'll expect a report by the end of the day Lt Colonel." General Baur nodded, turning to Lt Colonel Callaghan. "Put it through it's paces, I want to know expectations and possibilities for direct and ranged combat before I even consider assigning you to Colonel Rhodes for further deployment."
"Yes sir." Lt Colonel Callaghan nodded crisply, subtly looking over the young woman that was standing alongside Doctor Stark. Though she didn't miss the disbelieving look Colonel Rhodes gave Doctor Stark, nor Doctor Stark's smirk at the young woman being called his assistant.
"Fine by me," Morgan shrugged, nodding towards Lt Colonel Callaghan with a friendly smile. "Better than the boring stuff anyway." She added with a smirk.
"Brat," Tony grinned at her affectionately. "Go, play, have fun." He said with a casual and dismissive wave. "Let me know how the new wings handle, oh and how the new armour stands up."
"Will do," Morgan nodded back before looking back to Lt Colonel Callaghan. "Whenever you're ready." She said with an eager smile.
"Follow me then," Lt Colonel Callaghan nodded before offering General Baur a crisp salute, then leading Morgan away from the group so they could discuss what upgrades had actually been brought, and what her needs actually we for today's testing.
"Well gentlemen, lets see what Doctor Stark makes of our new base." General Baur said, gesturing ahead before he led the way into hanger seven to start showing Doctor Stark around the hangers that had been set aside for him.
"Assistant, really?" Rhodey asked, a smirk on his lips as he fell into step along side Tony a few steps behind General Baur as they walked into the hanger.
"It amuses her for some reason," Tony grinned back. "Honestly, think she's actually enjoying the whole anonymity thing of it all, nobody's even asked her name yet." He explained with a knowing smirk, causing Rhodey to roll his eyes at him.
General Baur did perk his ears up at this, listening in to the conversation from a few steps ahead where he was just entering the hanger and looking around to make sure the engineers had left it exactly as they'd been ordered.
"And when it comes out at Expo?" Rhodey asked knowingly. "Tony, people are going to figure it out."
"It's two weeks," Tony said dismissively. "If nobody's figured it out by now, they're not going to in two weeks." He pointed out.
"I'm just saying," Rhodey held up his hands placatingly as they walked. "Seriously though, the fact people can see you two standing together and haven't spotted the similarities yet? It really makes me worry for the observational skills of the general population."
"People are idiots," Tony rolled his eyes. "You know this, you don't need to tell me this." He said with a shake of his head. "Gala night at Expo, everything comes out anyway. She wants to enjoy the anonymity until then? Let her have her fun."
"Just don't blame me when everything goes to hell," Rhodey muttered, shaking his head at the thought.
Ahead General Baur kept on walking, but his eyes were wide at the ramifications of what he'd just heard. The little brunette wasn't Doctor Stark's assistant, but someone who was willingly accepting the anonymity and playing up on it to stay hidden.
Taking into account Doctor Stark's comment about her being smarter than him, the proud expression he'd had when he'd said it, and the fact she obviously was close enough to him to not only travel on his private jet, but actually work with him on private contracts like the War Machine and Angels project... and the answer became very clear very quickly.
He could only imagine the fallout that would shake the nation when it became public knowledge that Doctor Stark had a child. Honestly he couldn't imagine how they had kept such a thing secret for so long already.
The woman had to be in her mid twenties somewhere, and she'd lived her life so far without anyone realising she was a Stark hiding right out in the open as Doctor Stark's assistant.
It was actually a damn good cover, he had to admit that, even he hadn't thought anything of Doctor Stark bringing an assistant along and had practically dismissed her as unimportant until he'd heard Doctor Stark and Colonel Rhodes' conversation.
If this news was part of what Doctor Stark was going to unveil at the Stark Expo opening night, then he was damn sure going to be watching the gala just to watch the fallout and the various news reporters tripping over themselves to try and get the first interview with the newly announced Stark heiress.
If nothing else, it was going to definitely be entertaining television.
Stark Industries
Los Angeles
By ten am, Pepper Potts was well into her day already, having been at the office by seven thirty on the dot to start her daily paperwork and briefings for the meetings throughout the day.
She'd had various papers come across her desk, along with meeting requests from various department heads about new projects and ideas that could be viable for future projects, along with dozens of e-mails about contracts, information requests about Stark Expo, and journalists and media trying to book Tony in for talk shows and interviews.
The e-mails from the journalists and media got a firmly worded but polite refusal. The standard really. If Tony ever wanted to talk to the media, he would arrange it himself, he never accepted requests for appearances or interviews, preferring to organise his own public appearances and plan out everything from there.
Whether that would change after The Expo, or what Morgan's plans for the media storm that would follow were, weren't something she'd actually brought up with either of them yet.
It was painfully clear that the media would go crazy after The Expo announcement. With Morgan being thrust into the public eye, interview and talk show requests would go through the roof, especially with both Tony and Morgan appearing on stage in their future tech armour.
It was going to be a headache and a half, she could picture it already, she just had to hope that Morgan was slightly more sensible than Tony was when it came to things like this. Considering half of Morgan was literally her, there was a good chance that she would be an improvement over Tony, there was that lingering hope.
The fact that Morgan had not only managed to keep a low profile for the last three months, but had actually been practically invisible as far as everyone else knew. An actual impossibility for Tony, who couldn't keep a low profile for three days, let alone three months.
That gave her some hope that Morgan would actually talk to her and help her plan things for the media storm that would land on them all. Some small interviews and maybe even a reputable talk show appearance would go a long way to quieting the media down, maybe she could even get Tony in on it as well, and double the appearance up as a media platform to talk about their new green initiative and the eco friendly strides SI would be making in the upcoming years.
It would have to be something she would talk about with Tony and Morgan, and plan well ahead of time, but it would be a great platform to raise awareness of what SI was going to be working towards, and actually get their message out to a wide audience at the best time possible.
Sitting back in her chair she took a moment to relax, her next meetings weren't until mid afternoon now, giving her time to actually catch up on all the paperwork she needed to go through and plan out the upcoming week.
Having that spare few hours in the middle of the day was always planned for and rigorously enforced by her secretary. It gave her run over time if her morning meetings went over the alotted schedule, it gave her breathing room to have a break so that she wasn't being constantly bombarded by figures, contracts and paperwork, and it gave her time to simply breathe and catch herself, along with having time for lunch and to check in with Tony to see what he needed for the rest of the day.
More often than not, Tony didn't need anything, or anything he did need he could arrange and sort out for himself, or JARVIS would have sorted for him. But there were always days, and whims, where Tony wanted to do something extravagant or seemingly random, and it had thrown her entire week into chaos.
Thankfully with Tony giving the new Research and Development compound his full attention right now, and having Morgan alongside him to temper those wild whims of his, she could actually focus on her daily schedule without having to worry about Tony randomly deciding he wanted to fly to Monaco or Italy or somewhere for some unpractical and extravagant reason.
She did allow herself a smile as she sat back in her chair, her eyes settling on the photos on her desk. The two of Tony and Morgan in space, floating around together with the SI satellite. That one always made her laugh. And now she had an extra photo that she'd captured just in the moment, a candid one of Tony and Morgan working together on his electric car.
They were both utterly filthy, with oil and coolant all over both of their clothes. Both were sitting on the hood of the car, each with a can of Doctor Pepper, with wide smiles on their faces as they laughed and joked about the impossible car they'd just built after testing the interface for FRIDAY or one of the other AI's to take control of the car whenever they wanted.
The photo didn't show it, but their was some random rock music playing in the background, and a comfortable and familiar, almost family feeling to the scene that she'd felt an uncontrollable urge to photograph and keep for herself.
Her mind wandered as she stared at the photo, amused that somehow this was the crazy family she had found herself a part of. Even before Morgan had showed up there had been moments here and there when she'd felt something with Tony, but ever since Morgan's appearance things with him had been going from moment to moment with increasing regularity.
There were special glances caught between the two of them almost daily, stolen kisses and affectionate moments. Heated looks and moments when they were alone where it seemed the entire world was actually pressing them together and wanting even more.
It actually made her feel more alive than she had felt in years now, the fact that Morgan had confirmed that she and Tony not only worked, but worked fantastically, to the degree where she'd actually chosen to have a child with him in the future, told her this wasn't just some wild fling or Tony's random whim of a night, but he was actually serious and dedicated to her.
For that she was actually thankful of, because right now she didn't think she could withstand much more of Tony's charm offensive without melting into a puddle right in front of him.
Things were even going well with Morgan now. The awkwardness and unsure feelings of the first six or eight weeks when Morgan had first turned up had almost completely vanished now. Now when she looked at her, she didn't see just Tony's daughter anymore, she saw their daughter, their daughter together.
There was so much of Tony in her that it made her smile every day, she tempered somehow, not as abrasive and ego driven, but still wild and untamed in her own special way.
Bonding together over learning to use and vaguely fly that armoured suit had been such an amazing afternoon, and even she had to admit now that she saw the attraction of wearing one. Now she knew why Morgan and Tony could act like they were untouchable, it was because they literally were.
It was how she felt right now with the silver filigree wristbands on.
She knew at a moment's notice, if the worst did happen, she could be encased in protective armour and be literally untouchable. It was almost a giddy feeling to know that some of the world's most powerful technology was literally wrapped around her arms just waiting for her to need it.
Between the flying lessons and Morgan's talk about how motorbikes felt the same way, she'd actually bonded with Morgan quite nicely over the past few weeks. There was still a lot she didn't understand about her, about her past and her choices, but given that there was twenty five years of Morgan's life that she knew very little about right now, she knew that she would get there and understand things in time.
"FRIDAY, are you there?" Pepper asked aloud, smiling down at her watch when the golden ring lit up around the screen when FRIDAY responded.
"I'm here Lady Boss, what do you need?" FRIDAY's Irish accent came back, familiar and as friendly as always.
"Can you access Morgan's future database from here, or do I need to talk to FAITH for that?" Pepper asked curiously, just on a whim really.
"I can do it Lady Boss, anything in particular?" FRIDAY responded.
"Morgan mentioned a motorbike she built up when she was in university, she didn't tell me the make of it or anything, but I was just wondering if there were any details about it in the database?" Pepper asked.
"Searching now Lady Boss," FRIDAY replied. "I've got it, there's some photos too if you want to see them."
"Please," Pepper nodded automatically, catching herself when she realised what she was doing and that FRIDAY didn't actually care about her nodding, and couldn't really see her anyway. "Can you send them to my e-mail?"
"On their way Lady Boss," FRIDAY responded. "Little Boss built her third motorbike while in her final year at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule."
Pepper blinked for a moment, a bit astounded that FRIDAY could pronounce those German words with her Irish accent and not have them sound completely ridiculous. "What were her other bikes?" She asked curiously.
"Little Boss's first motorbike was a Triumph Bonneville SE produced in two thousand and nine." FRIDAY explained. "Her second motorbike was a custom designed Royal Enfield Interceptor."
"I assume those are both good bikes," Pepper grimaced, making a note of the two manufacturers that FRIDAY had listed so she could research them later on. "What about her third one? That was the one she spoke about with a smile on her face."
"The photos are in your in box now Lady Boss," FRIDAY replied. "The original design and specifications were purchased by Stark International in twenty twenty eight at Little Boss's request, they were bought from Honda in the opening discussions that contracted Stark International and Honda Motor Company for a period of twenty five years."
"We went into a partnership with Honda?" Pepper asked in surprise. "Well, at least they're a company I've heard of." She had to admit that.
"Yes Lady Boss. Stark International provided batteries, machined synthetic vibranium to Honda's specifications, and computer equipment for Honda's electric vehicle lineup from twenty twenty eight onwards." FRIDAY explained.
"Interesting," Pepper mused, leaning forwards and accessing her computer to bring up her email. "What about... oh my god! Is that... is that Morgan's bike?" She asked, a mixture of horror and surprise in her voice as she brought up the photos that FRIDAY had forwarded on to her.
The question was pretty much redundant as she stared at the photo, the signature iridescent purple shifting colour scheme of the bike, the chrome metal, and Morgan standing behind it with a wrench in one hand, clad in one of her usual tatty Iron Maiden vests.
Of course Morgan would build and ride something that ridiculous.
"FRIDAY... tell me about it... about the bike? Please?" Pepper whispered out, still staring at the photo in horror.
The bike looked like a horrifying piece of machinery to her. With a big chunky engine that looked bigger than Morgan's torso, and far too much exposed parts for her to feel comfortable with.
The glowing power area was the only part of the bike she could actually say she was actually familiar with. The signature azure glow and rotating elements were familiar enough, and she knew instantly that the bike was powered by Arc technology, and probably had a top speed that she didn't even want to think about.
"Little Boss's bike was originally designed as the Honda Sabre Switchblade. The concept was originally provided in two thousand eleven, but the design never made it into production. Little Boss's bike is the only model ever made, and each piece was custom fabricated by Little Boss to fit her exact measurements." FRIDAY explained.
And there was Tony's influence rearing up again. Of course Tony's daughter would have a one of a kind custom bike, the only one in the world.
The Stark International badge that ran along the lowest section of the motorbike frame was recognisable enough, and the black leather seats did look comfortable, but it still looked unlike anything she was familiar with, and certainly not anything that she would ever even dream of climbing on herself.
The rest of the photo was only slightly less interesting, it looked like it had been taken in a parking lot somewhere. An unfamiliar white and glass building was in the background, with the same Stark International chrome badge running across the top of the building wall.
It was clearly one of their offices or work places at some point in the future, likely somewhere in Europe, Spain or Italy, or maybe even Germany, but there were no real landmarks or anything to give away where the photo itself was taken.
"What were the names of Morgan's other motorbikes again?" Pepper asked, grimacing at the sight of the monstrous looking bike in the photo once more.
"A Triumph Bonneville SE produced last year, and a Royal Enfield Interceptor produced in two thousand eighteen." FRIDAY repeated.
"Thanks FRIDAY," Pepper smiled as she wrote those two names down on a pad of paper. "Is there... is there a motorbike shop in Los Angeles anywhere? Somewhere where... I don't know... where I can actually learn more about these things so I can try to understand Morgan's fascination with them?"
"Of course Lady Boss, I am highlighting the closest motorcycle stores on your phone mapping software now." FRIDAY responded, a fond smile coming across clearly in her voice.
"Thank you FRIDAY," Pepper smiled back. "Can you... can you keep this quiet from Morgan and Tony, I'd like to know exactly what I'm talking about here before I talk to either of them about motorbikes and anything else."
"Sure thing Lady Boss, my encoded lips are sealed." FRIDAY responded, a good amount of humour in her voice this time.
"Thanks FRIDAY," Pepper laughed to herself as she stood up, collecting her suit jacket from the back of her chair before pulling it on. She might as well do this now before her nerves got the best of her, after all, she was just going out on a research excursion, she wasn't going to actually go shopping to buy one of those machines.
She just wanted to learn more and to try and understand them so that she could talk to Morgan about them and not come across as a complete idiot.
"The things people do for their children," Pepper chuckled under her breath as she strode through the Stark Industries offices on her way down to the parking lot. She'd always heard that people would do anything for their kids, but hadn't really put 'trying to understand motorbikes' and 'flying futuristic armoured suits' in that category before.
Morgan was definitely a Stark, and all the trying times and chaos that came with it, but even now, she wouldn't change that for the world.
Mitchel Air Force Base
Charles Lindbergh Blvd
Garden City
Long Island
New York
"So... what do you need?" Lt Colonel Callaghan asked curiously as she led the young woman away from Doctor Stark and General Baur.
The fact that the woman seemed to be one of Doctor Stark's personal assistants, and had been working on the Angels project already was definitely telling, though the disbelieving smirk that had crossed Colonel Rhodes' face when he'd seen her told her that there was far more to the story here than she actually knew.
"Whatever you want," Morgan shrugged as they walked. "We've got new flight capabilities to test, a new thruster pack, the new guns, how sharp the wings are, the extra wing span might take you a bit to get used to... oh, and the new flight suit and it's armour."
"I'm glad we've got all day then," Lt Col Callaghan laughed at the thought, rattling off ideas in her head as she tried to picture what the new suit was actually going to look like.
The fact it had actually been named Archangel, and not just another Angel wing suit was definitely telling, and the idea of the wings being combat effective, and not only for flight assistance, was definitely going to be something that would take her a bit to get her head around.
"Armour first?" Morgan asked curiously. "And... it's Lt Colonel right? Just want to get names right in my head, I suck at remembering these things."
"Call me Jules," Lt Colonel Callaghan replied with an easy smile.
"Morgan," Morgan nodded in response. "So... armour... got a firing range around here you can unload some test shots on?" She asked.
"This way," Jules nodded, gesturing for Morgan to follow her as she led her off to the far side of the base where the live firing range was set up. "You said it was rated up to fifty calibre?" She asked curiously as they walked.
"That's the biggest we've tested it up to," Morgan admitted. "I reckon it could stop double that without a tear or anything, but I get complaints if I start suggesting we buy military grade rifles and bits to test things out with." She explained with a smirk.
Jules did laugh at that, shaking her head in amusement. "Alright, I like you." She said with a grin. "How thick are we talking here? To stop a fifty cal, isn't that going to restrict movement or anything?"
"Oh you're going to love it," Morgan grinned back. "Kevlar and synthetic vibranium weave, it's probably thinner than the first suit we gave you, but about fifty times stronger. It'll stop bullets, knives, any concussive or kinetic force really." She explained.
"Vibranium..." Jules breathed out in awe. "Isn't that... stupidly rare... like millions and millions per gram?" She asked in amazement.
"Really weird stuff," Morgan nodded in confirmation of what Jules was saying. "There's boots built into the flight suit, because of the vibranium weave, they're actually silent. You could jump down at full force from anything and it'd absorb the impact perfectly, silent as a whisper." She explained with a grin. "Should be useful for covert stuff and sneaky sneaky stuff, I figure if you're out with the War Machine armour, having a sneaky partner might be more useful than not."
"There is that," Jules nodded automatically, still fixated on the fact she would actually be wearing a vibranium weave suit of armour. That suit alone probably cost more than she would make in her entire career, and that didn't even include the fancy wings and Stark tech on top of it.
"We remodelled the gauntlets too, they might be a bit heavier, but they're packing the upgraded energy weapons right into them now." Morgan explained. "Top and bottom of the wrist, flat side." She explained. "They'll hook into the new guns as well, so you can fire the guns and gauntlets at the same time, or use them separately."
"You kept the guns as well as adding more to the gauntlets?" Jules asked in confusion.
"Yeah," Morgan nodded. "That way if you need to hand off the guns to someone else, or they get damaged or anything, you've still got the gauntlet backups, or if the gauntlets have a problem, you've got the guns, either way." She explained. "Redundancy is good."
"I'll agree to that," Jules nodded, accepting what she was being told. Being able to hand off the guns to extra backup, or just having the energy weapons constantly on her wrists for split second reactions was definitely an upgrade in itself. "Through here." She directed, suturing for Morgan to follow her through to the firing range where she could already hear reports of gunfire from the airmen inside already practising.
"Lead on," Morgan nodded, carrying the thick briefcase through the gateway ahead where the sound and smell of gunfire was immediately recognisable.
"Sgt Stevens, we've got some armour testing to run, Doctor Stark's new upgrades." Jules explained as she walked into the range and approached the sergeant in command this shift.
"Hnh," Sergeant Morley grunted. "Tell me what you need." He said with a gruff nod.
"Just a range to let loose," Morgan grinned before Jules could say anything. "I'd like to test them up to rifle range, the biggest you've got really." She explained.
"Apparently the armour's already been tested to fifty cal, I'd like to confirm that for myself, then work my way up." Jules explained when Sergeant Morley looked at her in surprise.
"Far end, there's nobody for the next six lanes. Set yourself up and I'll call safeties on." Sergeant Morley nodded, actually curious now what sort of armour they were testing today. He couldn't see anything serious, not unless that little briefcase was carrying a tiny plate for them to start firing against.
"Sergeant," Jules nodded, pointing the way down the range and gesturing for Morgan to follow her down to where Sergeant Morley had directed her.
They were about halfway down the range when both of them clearly heard Sergeant Morley' voice come over the speakers, his commanding tone ordering everyone to cease firing and ready for a civilian on the range.
Morgan snorted in amusement at that, she was definitely no civilian in her own eyes, but knew from growing up with Uncle Eightball that the military was overly fond of restrictions and rules.
"Here we go," Jules confirmed as they reached the end of the range where the shooting aisles stopped. It was only a short range with targets, nothing like a huge range they had back in Edwards, but word was that General Baur was looking to upgrade it soon anyway, using some pull and complaining that he couldn't have Colonel Rhodes testing out upgrades on the War Machine armour on a range than a nine millimetre could blow it's way through.
"Looks good," Morgan nodded, hefting the briefcase up onto the range table in front of the actual range where people normally rested their spare ammunition or guns between firing off. "Right, let's have a look..." She trailed off as she opened up the case, lifting the lid open fully when she caught sight of Jules peeking over her shoulder curiously.
"Is that..."
"That's it," Morgan grinned, lifting up the neatly folded over deep blue and silver jumpsuit. It was tighter than the original suit, more form fitting, but a hell of a lot more secure, and had custom electronics running the entire length of the suit, from the back where it connected to the thruster pack that housed the Arc reactor, down to the arm connections, and to the hips where it connected to the belt to recharge the guns, and down to the knees and ankles for sensors and flight control. "Want to set it up?" She asked with a grin, passing over the blue and silver suit.
"I don't know if I want to shoot it, or try it on first." Jules laughed, accepting the flight suit and unfolding it so it hung down in full length. "You said it was thinner than my old suit."
"Yeah, you'll probably have to test out what's good to wear under it," Morgan explained with a shrug. "Temps shouldn't be an issue, we wired it all up with thermal regulators, same stock we put in the War Machine suit, but a bit of padding for comfort, I wired in the support myself, so it should be alright, just yell if you need anything altered or fixed up."
"It looks good," Jules confirmed, giving the suit a once over.
The deep blues of the suit were still there, but shimmered now with a subtle silver glint in the light. The actual silver parts of the suit were practically reflective and polished beautifully even though they folded and stretched like fabric somehow.
Through the suit she could see various places where her equipment would sit and be connected to the suit itself, though the way the suit was designed with the thicker glove areas and boots was definitely different to her original Angels suit.
The fact that it already had her name and rank on the chest, and her bars on the left shoulder definitely made her smile, and reminded her that this suit had been made especially for her, not just as an extra Angel or anything.
The call sign "Archangel" was embossed in chrome lettering above her name, matching the theme of the suit itself, giving the whole blue and silver Air Force look an entire new theme as it worked it's way into the Angel design.
"It looks really good," Jules admitted after taking it all in, picturing how the suit would look with everything put together. "I'll set it up." She said with a grin, looking down the range and then to the side to make sure there wasn't anyone disobeying Sergeant Steven's orders to have their safeties on. "Heading down range!" She shouted aloud, waiting for a yell of confirmation before she easily vaulted over the standing desk at the end and carried the suit down range to the target area.
"Hnh, doesn't look like much to me."
Morgan turned at the voice, seeing Sergeant Morley walking towards her with a few guns, three other airmen following him with heavier guns and rifles with them.
"Neither do I," Morgan quipped back with a smirk. "Trust me, if that suit doesn't hold up to fifty calibre, drinks are on me tonight."
Sergeant Morley did bark out a laugh at that as he started laying down his guns on the table next to Morgan's case, eyeing the equipment inside dubiously as it wasn't anything he recognised or was familiar with.
"I'll hold you to that," Jules grinned as she jogged back over from where she'd fit the suit over one of the metal silhouette targets down the far end of the range. "Looks like we've got all the toys here." She said with a smile, looking down the various guns, machine guns and rifles that Sergeant Morley had brought along for testing.
"Play time first," Morgan smirked, picking up one of the new Stark energy guns from her case and handing it over to Jules. "Standard three shot burst, you know the drill. Catch on the left of the chamber, switches to plasma containment shots. Single shot, about a two second cool down between shots, but it'll burn through Kevlar and solid plate, probably cooking whoever's inside."
That did cause a few of the airmen to whistle in appreciation.
"Feels heavier, bulkier grip?" Jules asked as she tested the gun in her hand, getting comfortable with the grip and feeling how her finger set around the trigger nicely.
"Yeah, had to bring it up a bit, wider chamber as well, same with the barrel. Plasma insulation is a bitch and you don't want that thing getting too hot to put back in the holsters." Morgan explained with a nod. "Have a try and see what it feels like."
Jules nodded at that, stepping forwards and aiming down the range towards her shining new armoured suit before pulling the trigger, watching as the three pale blue bolts of energy shot down the range and splashed over her blue and silver suit.
"Feels good, less recoil, sights are tighter, the old ones were about a degree north of where they should have been." Jules nodded in appreciation.
"Should have told us, we'd have fixed them earlier." Morgan said with a shrug. "Plasma switch is on the left, should be able to toggle in on the fly with your thumb."
"Got it," Jules nodded as she felt for the switch and thumbed it forwards without even looking. Squeezing the trigger again she blinked in surprise at the thicker and heavier purple blast of energy that came out of the gun, shooting down the range a bit slower than the blue energy had, but smashing into her suit with a lot more oomph than the stunner blasts had.
"Now that's a thing," Sergeant Morley grinned. "Felt the heat from here."
"It's got a kick and a half too," Jules admitted. "Will have to practice with that in the air, keep myself loose and counter weighted." She nodded, making a mental note. "How's my suit looking?" She asked with a smirk.
"Five by five," Sergeant Morley admitted. "Bit scorched around the chest, nothing a bit of buffing won't take out though. Have to ask the civvie here what they use to scrub out plasma stains though." He added with a wide toothy grin.
Morgan snorted in amusement at that, shaking her head with a smile. "Never actually tried to scrub out a plasma stain before... should be alright, probably." She added with a wink over to Jules.
"Nice to have a lethal response again," Jules confirmed with a grin. "Are these going to be standard for the other Angels too?"
"Eventually," Morgan nodded. "Recharging is a bit too much for the old reactor packs, so they'll be on the older guns until we can upgrade their reactor cores and set everything up properly. Give us a couple of months after Expo, and we'll have the entire squad kitted out with them."
"Sounds good to me," Jules nodded, happy with that. The fact that none of the Angels actually had lethal countermeasures had been a bone of contention for a lot of them, with more than a few of the Angels squad carrying regular firearms alongside the Stark energy weapons.
"Time to step it up," Sergeant Morley said with a single nod, pointing to the Fifty Action Express Desert Eagle. "Drinks are on the line." He said with a smirk as Jules picked up the heavy semi-automatic pistol and checked the safety before chambering a round.
"Taking bets?" Morgan asked with a grin.
"Huh, you've got balls civvie," Sergeant Morley snorted, peeling out a fifty dollar bill from his pocket. "Fifty for fifty?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow up.
"Now you're talking," Morgan grinned back, pulling her wallet out of her back pocket and sliding her own fifty dollar bill out, both of them sliding the bills half under the briefcase on the table in full view of everyone.
"Let's see what you've got, three shots on target?" Sergeant Morley asked, confirming with Jules when he got a nod of acceptance from Morgan. "Firing loud, live range!" He shouted aloud before watching as Jules took aim and squeezed off a single shot before following it with two in rapid succession.
"Damn that's loud," Morgan muttered, rubbing her ears from where she'd been stood a bit too close to Jules' for her hearing's sake. "Reminds me of my first concert." She added with a grin when everyone looked at her.
Sergeant Morley grinned at that, appreciating the civvie's sense of humour. "Safeties on!" He yelled out just out of habit before pushing the table aside. "Let's see if your pretty little suit holds up to your boasts."
"Oh hell yeah," Morgan grinned, watching as Jules collected both of the fifty dollar bills before following on, matching Morgan's steps and following Sergeant Morley down the range.
"Well I'll be god damned..." Sergeant Morley whispered in awe as they approached the blue and silver suit, staring at the unscathed suit that still only had a light scorch mark over the chest where that fancy plasma gun had hit it. "Sweet mother of Jesus." He swore aloud, coming up to the suit and crouching down, running his fingers through the sand until he picked up one of the flattened fifty calibre rounds and tossed it idly in his hand to bleed off the heat.
"Thank you," Morgan gave a shit eating grin as she plucked the two fifties out of Jules' hand, watching as Jules, and all the other airmen around them, were all staring at the suit in awe and whispering amongst themselves.
"Holy crap," Jules whispered, staring at the suit in awe and trying to imagine what sort of ordinance it would actually take to scratch the damn thing.
Everyone knew about vibranium, it had been famous for a long time now, and it's practically magical properties had been covered in text books and history lessons for years. Whenever anyone spoke about Captain America, they always mentioned that famous shield of his, the fact it was made by Howard Stark, and was worth more than the entire GDP of the country back then.
Only it wasn't history or theory anymore. That famous vibranium shield wasn't one of a kind anymore. She'd be the only person in history to be wearing a vibranium armoured suit, and that protection definitely stood up to the Archangel call sign it had been granted.
Iron Man might be famous in his own right, and War Machine was definitely making waves and his own name for himself through the Air Force and other military branches, but right now all she could picture was those same people talking about Archangel in the same breaths as War Machine, Iron Man and Captain America.
That thought alone was enough to make her feel slightly light headed about the mantle she was about to take on.
"Come on, can test it a bit higher, I don't know what sort of guns you'll be going up against, but I'd rather make sure it performs just as I designed." Morgan said with a grin, tapping Jules on the arm. "Then we can get onto the fun stuff with the new wings and everything."
Jules simply nodded as she followed back to the head of the range, having completely forgotten that the suit came with fancy new wings and god knows what else as well.
Morgan had said this new suit was supposed to put her somewhere around War Machine's class, but she hadn't believed it at the time, thinking it was just engineering boasts... but now... now she could really imagine herself heading out on missions with Colonel Rhodes, not just search and rescue, but proper combat missions where she could put the Archangel wings through their paces properly.
Testing out new wings was definitely going to be fun, especially if they could be used as bladed weapons as well.
She did have to wonder if they actually qualified for rule number nine... she never went anywhere without a knife anyway, but a set of sharp blades that were actual flight capable wings definitely upped the knife stakes by quite a bit.
Stark Research and Development Compound
Albany
New York State
United States of America
"Oh my god!" Darcy shouted as she ran out onto the balcony, cradling her beloved mug of coffee in one hand and enjoying the fresh air and sunlight that covered her. "This is heaven, seriously." She grinned, turning in the door to smile at where Jane was sitting in the lounge area of their suite and going through her clothes to sort out what needed washing and what was clean enough to be put away in the wardrobe and drawers.
Darcy had simply bundled up her entire wardrobe, every item of clothes she owned that she wasn't wearing, and had set that aside to go in the wash en mass.
After far too long in the desert, even her clean clothes itched with sand and dust, and she was REALLY looking forward to having clothes that didn't feel like they'd been worn to an entire beach weekend every day.
"I know," Jane admitted, sighing in comfort as she leaned back on the leather couch, knowing this couch alone probably cost more than her entire apartment had back in Culver. "Doctor Stark really went above board with everything here."
"You're telling me!" Darcy laughed, leaning up against the sliding glass door and sipping on her coffee before moaning extravagantly. "Seriously, I would kill for more of this coffee, it must be like some special Stark blend or something."
"Probably," Jane nodded idly as she folded up some more clean clothes and set them aside. "The computer systems here, the network and servers, they've got more power here than I've ever seen before." She explained. "The tests we could run, the simulations... me and Erik were talking about them all night, we can actually run real time physics simulations here, actually properly simulate how an Einstein-Rosen bridge might actually form!"
"Jane, Jane... enough science, remember, day off, relax time." Darcy grinned over. "Even Doctor Stark and Morgan are off for the day down in the city somewhere, if he can take a day off, so can you."
"HE'S a multi billionaire who makes more money in a second than I do all year," Jane pointed out with a mild glare over to Darcy. "He can afford to take days off whenever he wants."
"He's paying the bills now, and he said take the day... so, take the day." Darcy countered with a laugh. "Seriously, if that's how he's going to be as a boss, I can see why everyone wants to work for him."
"What about Morgan?" Jane asked with a small smirk, looking up to Darcy now. "What's her story?"
"Haven't really asked," Darcy shrugged. "She's like second in command here though, directly under Tony Stark. How the hell does someone get that sort of gig?" She asked in amazement. "And that anti gravity room? Apparently that's all her own work, she's like crazy smart, disgustingly smart even."
"That's probably how," Jane snorted a laugh out. "You don't think she's... you know... with Doctor Stark?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"He's like twice her age," Darcy shook her head. "Seriously, I wouldn't kick him out of bed, but come on... I don't get that sort of feeling from them."
"You're sure?" Jane questioned.
"Definitely," Darcy nodded her head firmly. "Creep factor aside, the way he talked to her... calling her brat and kiddo, nah, doesn't feel like it, not unless she's got some whole daddy kink thing going on that would really make me cringe." She explained with a laugh.
"Fair enough," Jane nodded. "I just know you were interested and I didn't want to see you hurt if she's already shacking up with a sugar daddy like that."
"Yeah, that'd suck, it's not like I can compete with Tony frickin' Stark." Darcy huffed, walking back into the lounge area and sitting down on the couch next to Jane, enjoying the fresh air and cool breeze coming through the open door that led out onto their own private balcony. "I don't even know what I'm doing, like seriously... she's smart, genius smart, she's got her own flying armour, probably rich too, works on custom cars with Tony Stark, and she's basically his number one girl to go to for things." She explained, sinking down in the couch as she rattled off everything she knew about genius wonder woman. "Where does Darcy Lewis, girl intern, hold a candle compared to that?"
"You like her more than just 'I might be interested' then?" Jane grinned, putting her clothes down for a minute and leaning back in the couch for a proper gossip session with Darcy now.
"Maybe," Darcy snorted, amused at how Jane had parroted back her own denial at her. "I'm pretty sure my gaydar isn't that off, she's definitely been sending out the right signals, I hope anyway."
"So?" Jane prompted, nudging Darcy with her elbow. "What's stopping you?" She asked. "If you're sure she's not doubling down with Doctor Stark, go for it." She said with a smile. "I haven't seen you this interested in someone ever."
"Yeah, because everyone else I've been interested in has always worked out so well," Darcy laughed sardonically. "I'm like the relationship titanic, get on board and watch it crash into an icy doom and sink into oblivion." She muttered with a roll of her eyes. "Morgan's so out of my class she's like up there with models and red carpet women."
"So are you," Jane said with a reassuring smile. "You're great, you're funny, smart, and she'd be crazy not to see you for that catch that you are." She said, leaning over and laying her head down on Darcy's shoulder. "Besides, you'll never know if you don't try. Isn't that what you told me to get me to sign on to this whole thing and start trying to prove my thesis?"
"Proving some wacked out theory about wormholes and asking model geniuses out on a date doesn't exactly balance out," Darcy laughed, leaning into Jane and smiling. "Besides, she's flying around somewhere with Tony Stark, who knows when they'll even be back here again."
"So, you've got plenty of time to talk yourself up for it," Jane smiled. "Just ask her out, what's the worst that could happen?"
"Things get stupid awkward considering she's your boss now?" Darcy pointed out with a roll of her eyes. "You know, that sort of thing that could put a damper on the whole job with Tony Stark thing?" She clarified, looking down at Jane seriously now. "Isn't that like a rule or something? Don't date your boss, or your bosses boss or something?"
"I don't think that really applies to research labs," Jane laughed, shaking her head. "Besides, I don't think Doctor Stark is the sort of person that'd make things awkward if she didn't say yes to a date. He's her boss too, so we'd all have to be friendly here, even if things didn't work out between you two."
"Yeah, it'd just be the ice berg of awkwardness for everyone to avoid." Darcy groaned at the thought.
"Seriously, go for it," Jane said, lifting herself up off of Darcy's shoulder and stealing her mug of coffee, taking a deep drink from it and savouring the extremely rich and luxurious taste. "Wow, OK, yeah, even I'd kill for this coffee." She admitted as Darcy wrestled the mug out of her hands.
"Go get your own, the kitchen's stocked right up with everything." Darcy said firmly, shuffling away from Jane and gripping her mug protectively now. "Maybe." She said with a sigh. "What even is there to do for dates around here? Albany? Hardly hot date central." She said with a snort at the thought.
"Maybe she can borrow that fancy car we saw Doctor Stark standing around, or maybe she has her own car or something. New York isn't that far away you know." Jane pointed out.
"Maybe," Darcy grinned, thinking of the fun she could have with Morgan in that gorgeous classic Mustang.
"Enough daydreaming, just ask her next time you see her." Jane rolled her eyes, spotting Darcy's 'far away' look at the smirk on her lips that said she was picturing definitely adult rated activities right now. "And if it does work out... sock on the door, and move into one of the rooms further away from mine, because I really don't want to hear that when I get back here from the labs." She said with a mock serious glare.
"She'll have her own place here too right?" Darcy grinned, wiggling her eyebrows back at Jane playfully. "Maybe she even rates a bigger bed and fancier rooms for being the boss." She said with a laugh.
"Whatever, just sock on the door handle so we don't have another incident of me walking in on you," Jane shook her head, remembering that truly horrific incident back in the Culver dorms and some random student that Darcy had hooked up with for the night and hadn't bothered locking the dorm doors before getting busy with him.
"Fine," Darcy grinned before sighing. "Yeah, like I'm ever going to get that lucky." She said with a groan before sipping her coffee again.
"If you don't, then we'll both hit New York together, promise." Jane smiled sympathetically. "Just once we've actually set up everything properly here and got our experiments working again."
"Deal," Darcy smiled at the promise. "We've got those fancy chrome Expo tickets too, we could totally hit New York for the weekend and see the whole thing!" She said with an excited bounce.
"Maybe the second week," Jane grimaced at the thought. "Opening week at Stark Expo? It's going to be worse than Disneyland in the school holidays. No thank you." She said firmly. "Wait for the crowds to quiet down, then... maybe." She said with a nod, knowing full well how expensive the Stark Expo tickets were, and to have a chrome pass and not use it whenever they wanted was just crazy talk.
"Fine, whatever." Darcy shrugged before she drained the rest of her coffee. "Right, laundry. Still need me to show you how to work the machine?" She asked with a grin.
"Please?" Jane asked hopefully, grabbing her dirty pile and bundling it all together in her arms.
"Come on then," Darcy laughed, pushing herself up from the couch in a single movement. "I swear even the washing machine is automated and set up to some fancy network here. I'd bet the coffee machine is too, like it automatically turns itself on and starts bubbling away as soon as Tony Stark walks into the room."
"Now that sounds like a worthy advancement in science." Jane laughed at the thought as she followed Darcy through to the 'utility room' of the suite where there was shelves of detergent and other bits set aside, along with a washer drier, and lots of other random machines that she didn't recognise either.
"I'll say, right, Stark Washers one oh one," Darcy grinned as she knelt down by the machine and pulled the door open, thankful for the extra large deluxe sized drum that would fit all of their clothes in together in a single wash. "Clothes go in here..." She started with a grin before Jane slapped her and pushed her aside.
"Funny girl," Jane huffed, bundling her own clothes into the washer while Darcy laughed from where she was now sat on the floor.
"Detergent's up there," Darcy smiled, pointing up to the array of bottles on the shelf above the washer. "The blue one, that's got extra softener in it." She explained.
"Thank you," Jane smiled as she stood up, offering her hand to help Darcy up. "You know, for everything. Believing in me, coming with me to New Mexico, everything."
"Any time girl friend." Darcy nodded, giving Jane an affectionate nudge with her shoulder. "Now, do you need lessons in where to put the detergent?" She asked with a teasing grin before Jane hit her over the head playfully with the detergent bottle.
Moto Club Santa Monica
2013 Lincoln Blvd
Santa Monica
California
90405
"Can I help you?"
Pepper had never been more thankful to hear those words before in her life.
The entire motorbike shop had been nothing like she'd been expecting. Honestly she'd expected something dingy and dark, with revving engines and big men in leather smoking and drinking outside.
The shop itself was more like a showroom than anything else, there were racks of fashionable and clean leather jackets, along with pants and full bodysuit things, but everything else was completely unexpected.
The clean and tidy shop, the way everyone seemed happy and friendly as they walked around shopping and talking to staff members. She hadn't seen a single person that she would have immediately pegged as a 'biker' so far, and had seen more than a few neatly groomed and acceptable looking people that wouldn't have looked out of place in the board room or any one of her meetings.
"Yes, thank you." Pepper breathed out, smiling at the friendly face of the woman that approached her. "Sorry, I'm just a bit surprised, I didn't know many women enjoyed motorbikes like this." She admitted with an apologetic smile.
"You'd be surprised," The woman smiled at her. "Are you looking to get in to riding yourself?" She asked.
"No, well... not at the moment." Pepper shook her head. "It's... my daughter, she had a motorbike, several actually, but she's moved over here from Europe, so I'm just trying to... I don't know, understand things a bit more? Does that make sense?"
"It does," The woman smiled back. "It's actually surprising, not many parents take an interest when their children start getting into riding properly." She explained. "Do you know what she drove?" She asked.
"Um, one second." Pepper frowned, fishing in her suit jacket pocket and pulling out her little note pad. "A Triumph Bonneville... I hope I'm pronouncing that right, and a Royal Enfield of some sort." She said, not mentioning the model that hadn't been created yet. "And a Honda of some sort."
"That's quite the range," The woman said with a thoughtful nod. "Triumph and Royal Enfield are normally more touring bikes, classic styles and comfortable rides, not built for racing, tracks or off road sort of riding."
"Right, that makes sense." Pepper nodded along, not having known that there were different motorbikes designed for different things. "I'm not very good with engines and things, all I can tell you is that her last bike, the Honda, had a lot of shiny metal on it." She explained with a self deprecating smile.
"That's probably about what most parents could say about their children's bikes." The woman gave a conciliatory laugh at that. "These are more sports bikes in the shop here," She explained, gesturing to the collection of fibreglass covered Kawasaki's that made up the aisle they were walking down. "Touring bikes and the more naked bikes are over to the rear of the store." She said, gesturing towards the back of the shop. "We focus more on Italian bikes here though, did you say your daughter moved over from Europe?"
"Spain actually, thank you." Pepper said as she started following the woman through the shop.
"I take it she's been riding long now then?" The woman asked.
"Quite a few years now," Pepper confirmed, trying to reason out exactly how long Morgan must have been riding motorbikes if she built her own when she was fifteen or sixteen.
"This is the Ducati Diavel, the new model this year, this is the sort of bike she likely rode. Or something like the six fifty Indiana." The woman explained, gesturing over to a far less modern bike that had more chrome fittings and a more bare bones look to it. "That would be more in style with a Triumph like you mentioned."
"I see," Pepper nodded, walking over to the Indiana motorbike that the woman had pointed out. It certainly didn't look as scary as the Ducati, and she could see quite a few similarities between it and the motorbike in the picture that FRIDAY had shown her. "This looks more like Morgan's style I think."
"A more bare bones and classic look then," The woman smiled. "This model is actually from nineteen eighty eight, but it's perfectly maintained. It's rare that we have some of the classic Ducati's come through here, most people are more interested in the high performance street bikes or racers."
"No, I think this is definitely more Morgan's thing." Pepper explained with a nod. "I'm just... I think I'm just trying to understand the appeal she finds in driving these sorts of things."
"You're more of a car person?" The woman smiled reassuringly. "Most people are, don't worry about it." She said with a smile. "Riding motorbikes is very different from cars, it's more intuitive, you feel every sensation about driving, the bumps on the road, the wind, how the bike handles and how you react to everything." She explained. "It's visceral, it's not a drive where you can take your mind off of things and let your mind wander, but you exist just in the moment, just you and your bike, and nothing else matters."
Pepper tilted her head as she tried to understand that, trying to picture how Morgan must feel driving one of these bikes with the wind in her hair and a carefree smile on her face.
"It's hard to put into words to someone that hasn't experienced it," The woman explained. "Could you go out for a ride with her sometime? Or maybe your husband?" She asked.
"That's..." Pepper shook her head, not wanting to get distracted with thinking about Tony being labelled with the 'husband' word right now. "She offered, but she doesn't even have a bike out here yet." She explained. "I know she'll want to get one soon though, so I just wanted to have a look around myself so I could understand her a bit better and help her with this sort of thing."
"Did she maybe pick up the spark from her father?" The woman asked.
"He's more classic cars really," Pepper laughed at the thought. "He even admitted motorbikes are a foreign language to him, so I really don't know where she got it from." She said with a fond smile remembering that conversation. "They both do like building up engines and working on projects like that though. They've been working together on a classic Mustang lately."
"A lot of bike owners constantly tinker and do their own maintenance," The woman nodded with a smile. "You should bring your daughter down here some time, let her have a look around, we've got plenty of cruisers that would appeal to her, especially if she's looking for the old classic style."
"Maybe," Pepper nodded, musing on the thought. She still didn't really understand Morgan's fascination with these machines, but she supposed it was harmless enough, and was just compatible to Tony's obsession with fancy cars and weird computer things.
"Tell you what, give me a minute and I'll see if I can take you out for a bit." The woman offered. "I'm a licensed instructor, so you'll be safe riding pillion, it'll give you an idea for how riding feels and what your daughter enjoys about it." She explained.
"I don't know," Pepper hesitated, grimacing at the thought. "I don't think I'm exactly dressed for riding a motorbike." She explained with a dry laugh, using the thought as an excuse as she gestured down to her business dress skirt, suit jacket, blouse and heels.
"We have helmets and protective gear here for new riders all the time, really." The woman continued on. "If you just leave your card as a deposit just in case, I can show you what safe riding is like and help you understand it a bit more." She offered with a prompting smile. "Honestly, looking around shops and talking to people is only going to give you half of the story, probably less. Riding a bike is just one of those things you have to explore for yourself to actually understand the appeal."
"The things I do..." Pepper whispered with a groan before she reluctantly nodded. "Alright, just a short ride so I can try and figure it out?" She asked hopefully. "And I'll definitely bring Morgan down here when she starts looking to buy her next bike."
"Deal," The woman laughed. "Come on, lets get you all set up. I'm sure we've got some leathers and boots that will fit you just fine."
In no short order Pepper found herself being ushered into a small changing room at the rear side of the store after handing over her bank card to be used as a deposit. The black leather pants and jacket top she'd been given looked like they'd fit well enough, and definitely looked like adequate protection against falls or anything.
"FRIDAY, keep an eye on me please." Pepper whispered into her watch as she slowly undressed and started pulling on the leather outfit, feeling oddly powerful as she tugged the leather pants up and buckled them up around her legs.
"Will do Lady Boss, if anything happens, I'll have the armour out in a flash." FRIDAY responded reassuringly.
Pepper breathed out at that, having the armour would definitely take a load off of her mind. Leather protection was one thing, but futuristic nanotech armour was definitely a few dozen steps up from the leather suit she was putting on.
Buckling up the jacket and making sure it was secure, she gave in to the urge to snap a quick photo of herself before tucking her clothes away in the bag she'd been given, and sliding her phone neatly into the pocket of the leather pants.
That was something she could admit to envying, apparently motorbike protective outfits actually came with proper sized pockets, even the women's outfits.
"You look great," The woman smiled as she saw Pepper coming out. "Now we've got gloves and a helmet, both are just as important." She explained, offering out the gloves and helmet for Pepper to take.
"My daughter is never going to believe this." Pepper laughed to herself as she awkwardly put the helmet on first, adjusting it so that her strawberry blonde hair fell out of the back in her usual neat ponytail before she started tugging the gloves on.
"Probably not, but she'll love that you're taking the time to actually do this for her." The woman said with a wide smile. "I never see parents going this far for their kids." She said with a laugh. "Come on, we'll do a few circles around the learning course first before I take you out on the road."
"I hope you appreciate this Morgan." Pepper groaned to herself, happy that her voice was muffled under the motorbike helmet as she followed the bike woman out of the store to where a large and long motorbike was parked.
It definitely looked more like the cruiser style of bikes the woman had pointed out rather than the sporty and race track looking ones. The seat looked like it was extra long, and even had some sort of metal set of handles at the back of it that sat right at the end of the leather seat.
"Come on, it's not as scary as it looks, honestly." The woman said as she climbed on, gesturing for Pepper to climb on behind her. "Just sit your legs up a bit, tuck them in, that's it." She directed her as Pepper adjusted herself. "Now put your arms around me, and I'll turn over the ignition so you can get a feel for it first."
With that said the engine rumbled to life, causing Pepper to startle slightly as the vibrations from the engine rattled through her entire body.
"You OK?" The woman asked. "Right, I'm going to pull out now, I'll be taking it slow, you just sit there and take it all in alright?"
Before Pepper could say anything in response, the woman twisted her hand slightly and the motorbike started moving forwards, carrying her off towards the learning course set up at the rear of the parking lot.
"I really hope you appreciate everything I do," Pepper whispered to herself, fighting hard not to close her eyes or tighten her grip around the woman's waist as she clung on and tried to just take everything in and appreciate how Morgan must enjoy riding like this.
Mitchel Air Force Base
Charles Lindbergh Blvd
Garden City
Long Island
New York
"What the..." Tony paused from where he was going over the electrical systems of hanger seven with Rhodey.
General Baur had long since left them to it, and he was wrist deep in wires and fuse boxes when he'd felt his phone vibrate and had fished it out to look at just out of sheer curiosity.
"Don't tell Morgan?" Tony tilted his head in confusion at the message that had come through. The contact picture told him it was from Pepper, but the message didn't make any sense at all.
He was mid way through typing 'don't tell Morgan what?' when the phone vibrated again, this time a picture coming through that had him staring down at his phone in disbelief.
"Tones?" Rhodey asked, a bit concerned when he saw the face Tony was making. "What is it?"
"Nothing, it's nothing." Tony said quickly, shaking his head with a wide grin on his face as he saved the picture.
A picture of Pepper in tight leather was definitely one he was going to admire later on, and he definitely wanted an explanation for it as well, because he was damn sure he'd never seen Pepper wear anything like that before.
They'd have to wait until he'd finished sorting everything out here, but once he was done, he'd call and get the proper story from her.
Until then, he'd just admire the picture mentally and appreciate the idea of Pepper in leather. That was definitely up there with Pepper in armour as far as he was concerned, maybe even a new top spot.
AN: Awwww got my first team cap reviewer whining about how they aren't going to read this fic anymore because it was team iron man and I was unfair to the star spangled moron... uh, maybe if you'd actually read the disclaimer at the start of the fic where I clearly said this was a team stark fic, you wouldn't have got 5 chapters in and felt the need to post a long whiney review about everything that got your panties in a bunch lol
Seriously, disclaimers are there for a reason people, read them and pay attention... if you continue reading something when the disclaimer clearly tells you this isn't the sort of fic you're looking for, then I really worry about your cognitive processes, and as stated, your reviews will be laughed at and then ignored.