Chapter 5: Traitor and TrespassersSummary:Tony finally arrives back home to the United States, and begins to lay the foundations for the changes he wants to make. But what changes will he come across from his time away from home?
Notes:Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of "Retirement Ended Up Super" provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextMay 4th, 2008, MCU
Obadiah Stane, Edwards Air Force Base
'Man plans and God Laughs', even in all of his years in the cutthroat business world has he never so fully understood that phrase until this moment. He was getting closer and closer to ascending back to his rightful place as owner and CEO. Even if the military recovered Tony, after 3 months of torture that pampered prince would be an invalid.
Or 'should be' is apparently what he should have though.
Tony Stark slaughtered his way through a trained militant camp whose sole purpose was to keep him locked up.
Tony Stark, with a hole in his chest, managed to rescue himself after months of captivity. He managed to kill every single person there, blew up all of the SI munitions that the terrorists 'somehow' got ahold of, and then placed a casual call on a satellite phone looted from one of the corpses he made to his friend Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes to get picked up.
When the fuck did Tony Stark become more hardened than even his father was? Maybe not the same business shark he was, but Howard Stark was never a front line fighter.
That all said, there are still plenty of ways for Stane's plans to move forward, and new golden eggs freshly laid to be had. The news, while shocking and not what he wanted, is not actually bad for him.
With every militant dead, and the cave system collapsed in on itself, there are no records to find that would link himself to the whole mess. His military contacts also told him that Tony is reporting himself as being held to build the Jericho Missile, rather than for an outside source's ransom or hit. So his involvement is washed away.
He even got a copy of the medical report, which included a topical examination of the power unit in Tony's chest that is apparently keeping life threatening shrapnel from traveling into his heart. The weakness that can be made to look like an accident would normally be the most useful information, but the medic logged the name of the power unit given by Tony himself to be an 'Arc Reactor'.
The only Arc Reactor he knows of is the publicity stunt back at HQ that is bigger than some people's first houses, and now the same name is being given to something that Tony made in a goddamn cave and can fit within his own chest.
Owning what would put every power plant and nuclear reactor out of business almost makes the failures all worth it by itself.
That's not even touching on the 'suit of powered armor' that Tony said is the reason he was able to kill an entire camp of trained and armed men. Although the suit itself was lost in the explosions, with Tony being very unusually tight lipped on any more details related to it. The only true evidence of the suit's existence is the face mask that survived but has yet to leave Tony's side.
However, what concerned Obadiah the most were the other moves that Tony was making, and more specifically how competent he was being while making them. Specifically, the closed door video meeting with the US highest Generals that Tony had just earlier today. Obadiah was only able to get the details of that meeting because General Thaddeus Ross, his highest and closest military ally, managed to flex every political muscle to get an invite as well.
Seeing his weapons in the hands of America's enemies had apparently spooked Tony so badly, that he was looking to completely pull out of the weapons business, despite Stark Industries being a weapons manufacturer. Normally this would end up being great news for Obadiah, the stock price would plummet allowing him to increase his shares for pennies on the dollar, and he could work with the board to get Tony removed as CEO on the grounds of mental instability.
The problem was, the one skill that Tony has always been better than himself at was knowing how to get even his critics on his side with his natural charisma. He framed the conversation with the Generals so well, that most of them applauded his decision by the end of it. He made promises to see through all current contracts, except for the unsigned Jericho Missile contract, to allow time for the transitions. As well as promises to fund research into defensive and 'non-lethal' military supplies in the future to keep the bridge unburned.
Oh not every General liked it, especially General Ross, so the bridge with the military did end up singed but certainly not burned down. While Tony's actions can be framed as being bad for the company, the case for mental instability is now much harder to argue with how well he handled that meeting. Even the whispers of highly tense but private conversations between Tony and his best friend LT. Colonel Rhodes is not enough for him to work with.
Finally, Obadiah is forced to swallow the indignity of waiting for Tony to arrive at Edwards Air Force Base with Ms. Potts and his driver/ bodyguard 'Happy' Hogan. He had wanted to frame it differently, make Tony come to him outside of Stark Industries HQ to display the correct power dynamic to the media. Instead, Tony has been clear in saying he is going straight home and is planning to rest for 3 days before doing anything else. Obadiah can't have it look like Tony doesn't need him, nor can he be the one to go to the boy's house to seemingly grovel at him being back. So waiting on the tarmac is the lesser of the evils he is presented with.
Soon enough, the plane straight from the Middle East lands and out of the back walks Tony and Lt. Colonel Rhodes. Tony looks… much less injured and harried than he was hoping, not even a sling or brace for anything broken. The few visible cuts help to frame him as a warrior, rather than a man-child who was over his head for months. The flash from the cameras of the few media members he got approved to witness the moment make him regret this decision as well.
Calm down. You're making too many impulsive decisions, and it keeps backfiring. Accept the loss, wait a few months, make your move.
With himself recentered, he can see Tony wave off a wheelchair that was prepared for him, and walk straight up to Ms. Potts first.
Your assistant before your COO, you little bastard. It takes all his years of playing the good second in command to keep his smile in place.
"Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?" And Tony is already back to flirting with an employee, great.
"Tears of joy. I hate job hunting." He'll give her credit, Pepper Potts knows how to reframe a conversation with just one sentence. Now instead of flirting, it looks like a close joking comment with a trusted employee instead.
"Yeah, vacation's over. You're on the clock, and I have 3 days of R&R." With that Tony finally turns to him.
"Ha! Look at this!" The hug is as much for the media as it is a test for Tony. With the hug easily returned, that banishes the last of his fears of Tony knowing his involvement. "Your dad would be so proud of you right now." The flinch from Tony is worth it, and it works by actually being true as well. With the pictures taken including of his welcome, Obadiah motions for the media to be taken away so he can ask the important questions right now.
"I hate to spring this on you now," He doesn't. "But I may not be able to keep your discussion with the military brass under wraps that long. We're looking at a minimum of a 30 point stock drop if it gets leaked before we have an actual plan." Which he will make sure happens.
"It's my name on the side of the building and on the weapons out there."
"Tony, we're ironmongers, it is what we do. It's what keeps the world from falling into chaos."
"Not from what I saw over there. We're going to do something else."
"Oh like what?" Tony is controlling the conversation too much, he needs him on the back foot. "Like some new breakthrough in Arc Reactor tech?" The shocked and slightly annoyed look is exactly what he needs.
"Who told you? Rhodey, did you tell him or was it you Pepper?"
Before either of them can deny, no need to let Tony know where he gets his information from, Obadiah continues to press his advantage. "Nevermind who told me. Looking out for you-" Babysitting "-is my job, so finding out things like this is also my job. Now I've sent the reporters away, I want to see it."
With a sigh, Tony relents and does as he is told, unbuttoning his shirt enough to reveal it, and boy is it the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. The Arc Reactor at SI is large, and clunky, and looks like it comes from the time it was made. This, this right here, somehow looks like it comes a couple decades ahead of the time. The lights on it pulse with power, and he can almost feel the electromagnetic field the thing gives off. That is more money than an arms race would give them, and if Obadiah can make both this and an arms race happen then the world will be open to him.
He is startled out of his thoughts by a gasp behind him. He turns to see Pepper looking on with horror in her eyes and a quiet 'Oh, Tony' under her breath. Oh yeah, it is a bit freaky being set into Tony's chest. Well he can't fake that reaction next to the real thing, so he moves on, bringing Tony in for a close side hug.
"Listen to me, Tony. We're a team. Do you understand? There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I." You dead like your father, and me left as CEO. "I know you want 3 days, but I'm not sure I can hold off leaks to the media that long. How about you come by SI in two days? Some media to take photos of you coming back, and then we can start talking about how to handle the changes you want to make? No press conferences or interviews, then you can take a few more days off."
He may have been gone for 3 months, but Obadiah still knows how to work Tony even with all of the changes he's going through. So the agreement is a forgone conclusion at this point. "Sure thing, Obie." And so is that patronizing nickname.
"Good to hear. You go rest up, and leave me to handle things from here." He motions for Ms. Potts and Happy Hogan to load him up into the waiting car.
"Off to the hospital we go, Mr. Stark."
"No hospital, Ms. Potts." He quickly cuts off her objection. "The army doctors did that job already. There's two things I need. An American cheeseburger and to go home."
As they begin loading into the car, Obadiah can hear one last line from Ms. Potts that draws his attention. "I tried to get the Malibu home ready for your arrival, but since you have been missing JARVIS has had it locked down to everyone. Something about protocols being in conflict due to your condition being unknown? Even with the news of your recovery, JARVIS said that the home will only be opened up to you in person."
That was still going on? He didn't remember his department thinking JARVIS was that badly coded when they made his backdoor for him. Dealing with the malfunctioning butler is Tony's problem though, he has a silent hostile takeover to prepare.
Moments Later
Pepper Potts
The last 3 months have been some of the worst in Pepper's life. She still remembers getting the call in the middle of the night with the news that Tony's convoy had been attacked with no sign of where he had been taken, or if he was even still alive.
She did her best to help keep things running as they should, but with Tony gone her powers were a lot more limited as most of the responsibilities fell back to Obadiah. Her title is 'Personal Assistant to Tony Stark, CEO', but in reality she does most of the work of a CEO, leaving Tony to act as the charismatic face and genius inventor without having to worry about all of the paperwork.
With her responsibilities reduced, she tried to do what she could to at least help prepare for WHEN Tony would be found and return. Only to find that her access to the Malibu Mansion had been completely blocked by JARVIS, so she couldn't even do that.
The free time she had now been given (forced) really helped to drive home to her how much she enjoyed her job, and how important Tony Stark was to her. Even if she could really do without having to throw out his one night stands in the morning.
How sad is it, to have a billionaire that doesn't even remember your birthday as your best friend?
All the same, Tony is a key part of her life, and with him back things can start going back to normal… except those concerning words about change in business direction Obadiah mentioned that Tony had talked to others about. Lord knows whatever he has done with a wave of his hand will be piles of work for her.
Before she can ask about the details as they get in the car though, apparently what she has said grabs his attention more. "What do you mean JARVIS has locked you out? Even in my will you get the house, so there should be no reason for your restriction of access." His eyes searched around as if visually searching for the solution, which somehow usually works for him. "Did he say the names of what protocols went wrong?"
Or he won't find the solution on his own this time. "No. When I tried asking he said they were protocols at the base of his code? He talked a little bit over my head."
That seems to confuse Tony even more, although he doesn't vocalize why. "Huh. I coded some of that nearly a decade and a half ago, I guess maybe I am not remembering something…" Tony did not look the least bit convinced in his own explanation. Hopefully things truly do clear up when Tony gets there, rather than turning into a problem all day.
The last thing she needs is for them to get locked out for the rest of the day or longer.
"I hope you can clear it up, JARVIS told Obadiah and myself that he had authorization to use lethal countermeasures on anyone if they tried breaking in, so we never even attempted to bypass the gates to be safe."
Tony has almost always been unflappable, unbreakable, he even looked calm on that runway when coming back after his captivity when she knew she would break down crying in relief if the roles were reversed.
Tony did not look unflappable right now. "What? JARVIS doesn't have any weapon systems at all, let alone lethal ones. Are you sure that's what he said?" At Pepper's nod he continues on, his panic seeming to rise. "He should not be able to unless I explicitly order him to, but somehow JARVIS lied to you…" After thinking it over for a second Tony rolls down the driver's partition. "Happy, step on it back to home, we'll do the burgers afterwards or order in."
Why did she expect things to go back to normal? She has never known normal in her life since working for Tony, so why would it start now?
90 Minutes Later
All the panic and fast driving seems to be for nothing, because as soon as they pull up to the front gate it immediately begins to swing open to let them in. The speaker system there crackles to life, projecting through the open window that Tony had been ready to speak out of.
"Welcome back home Sir. The mansion has been prepared for your arrival as much as is within my power, including food arrangements that should be finished soon." JARVIS can order food delivery? Since when and why was she in charge of that up till now? "I'm sure you have plenty of questions, Sir, but I would prefer to answer them inside with you and Ms. Potts. If that is agreeable, Sir?
"... Yeah. Sure thing, J." As Happy continues to drive forward toward the front door, Pepper notices the windows are still blacked out. "That was also off, Pepper. He shouldn't have access to communicating to outside sources on his own. But most of all, he led that conversation, he is specifically coded not to lead conversations."
"So what do you think is going on, Tony?"
As the car finishes the drive, he gives the question a good amount of thought before answering. "JARVIS should just be an 'artificially intelligent system'. While the acronym leads people to believe him to be an A.I., the biggest difference is that a true A.I. has the capability to adjust its own code. How much code it can adjust determines how shackled it is, but JARVIS shouldn't be able to adjust anything. Somehow, he has adjusted his code."
"You're starting to freak me out a little bit here. Should we be worried about anything?"
"No, I don't think we have a War Games scenario here. Even if my abduction somehow caused him to become a true A.I. he will still be JARVIS, which means he is still there to help serve me. Short term, no cause for concern. Long term, I'll have to look at his code to see if I should restore him from a backup before the change or add in some shackles."
If there is one thing that Tony knows, it's his inventions, so her heart rate that had begun to race quickly settles down. Happy sets the car in park and opens up the door for both of them. Tony seems to be itching to get to the bottom of what is happening to JARVIS, and is walking straight to the front door.
"Thanks, Happy. Wait here for a while, once Tony has a plan I'll send you a message if you'll be needed or if you can go off the clock."
"Sounds good, Ms. Potts." Happy is not good at hiding how relieved he is with Tony back in action, it's endearing. Although she is a bit worried about what additional protections he may try to implement. Tony may be relatively healthy, but he certainly isn't 100% as she is able to catch up to him by the time they reach the front door and walk in.
For all their concern, walking in sees nothing different here. The windows begin to clear up, the lights automatically turn on, and everything is as she remembers it being from how it was left, if just not dusty unlike what she expected. Tony certainly seems to settle a little bit with the sense of normalcy.
"So J, what's this about food and answers to my questions?" Tony asks as he begins walking towards the main living area ahead, with Pepper following behind him. As they get closer though, Pepper begins to sense something off. More specifically, she smells something off as they enter the living area. Her attention is quickly grabbed by the kitchen attached off to the side, that should be empty.
Should be, but isn't, as the windows in here also clear up she can see that in the kitchen there are two figures.
One is cooking something in a large pot at the normally unused stove top, she has short brown hair, and is wearing ripped jeans with a white tank top with ruffles. The bared arms show a distressing amount of scars considering the girl looks to be a pre-teen! While she seems to be concentrating on cooking, the way her head tilts towards them makes it obvious she has seen them.
The other is sitting at the counter, flipping through some flash cards muttering to herself under her breath, seeming to have not even noticed their arrival. This one is a dirty blonde with longer hair, wearing dark blue dress slacks, a white blouse top, with a blue plaid blazer over top, and glasses. This one is at least a teenager, and no visible scars, so that's a plus apparently!
The audacity of the trespassers shocks her into silence. One looks like she is enjoying her day off at home or ready to go for a walk downtown, while the other looks like she is dressed for a formal office job? What is happening!?!
Somehow Tony only seems to pause for a second, before continuing in towards the two. She wants to throttle the man, he was just held hostage and forced into servitude, and his first response to two trespassers that have seemingly overridden JARVIS is to join them in the kitchen?!
"So… mini-Quake, you didn't mention that the meeting was going to be immediately on my return, or that it was going to be in my house." Tony speaking up causes the blonde to startle, and look at him with wide anxious eyes while nervously wringing the notecards in her hands. A batshit insane response for a trespasser to do, by the way!
But more than that why is Tony acting like he knows the pre-teen and was expecting them at some point?
"Yeah, but we have been living here for almost 3 months so I wasn't quite ready to give that up unless you decide to kick us out. Although I think we technically have squatters rights now? California is nice about those things." That last line is said with an exaggerated tone that makes it easy to tell that she isn't going to press the issue and is just pulling their legs. Thankfully so, because legally Pepper thinks they would have to give a 3-5 day eviction notice otherwise.
Pepper unfreezes as the conversation seems to be continuing peacefully, although her mind still can not make sense of what is happening. So she goes into business mode. What does she do when Tony is doing something without consulting her? Ask questions to get herself up to speed while having her tone let him know he has messed up.
"So, Tony… who is this?"
"Oh, this is the pre-teen with superpowers who secretly helped me kill my captors-"
"I saved you, you mean."
"-and got me to agree to stay silent about her in exchange for information. She goes by Quake. As for who business-blondie is, I have no idea. You going to introduce us to your babysitter? Is she also a supersoldier?" WHAT?!
"Nope." Oh thank go- "She's my alien girlfriend with superpowers, who is also a genius mechanical engineer, both by Earth's standard and her original planet's standard. For now, I'm just going to call her Sunflower. Sunflower, meet Dr. Stark and Ms. Potts."
With her introduction, 'Sunflower' hops out of her seat and gives a small wave to Tony. "Hello Dr. Stark, I love your company's work in both the medical field and the intelli-crops, and while I hate the weapons of war thing, the propulsion tech on your Jericho Missiles is decades ahead of the rest of Earth. I hope that by the end of the evening I'll be able to convince you to work with me, and us, long term." God that girl's smile is blinding, and at least the outfit is explained by her introduction.
Tony just looks over at 'Quake' with a question clear on his face. Quake purposefully misinterprets the look, if the smirk is anything to go by, and pulls out a folder that was hidden in a drawer. "JARVIS has all the electronic copies of this intel, but here's all the proof you need for who is dirty in your company and who tried to pay the Ten Rings to kill you. Just like I promised."
The girl handing the folder to her instead of to Tony is another indication that these two know a great deal about them, but the information of dirty employees and an assassination attempt is the final straw. Pepper doesn't pass out, she's far too composed for that, but she sure as hell collapses into the chair that Sunflower had just vacated as the day catches up to her all at once.
Notes:Author's Endnote: Honestly these scenes turned out longer than expected. I had wanted to get to the end of their talk (or at least the end of what I will show), but then I had so much fun adding in more with each of the POV's that eventually I hit my word target. I think writing Stane's POV has been the most fun, because his is just so much different than anyone else. I will probably do a fair amount of villain pov's just to keep things fresh!
Poor Pepper, she just wanted to get back to normal, and now she has two superpowered squatters. But more than that, we see that Tony accepted the deal, and has even made changes to the timeline because of Daisy. Changes will keep piling up, because as much as you want to avoid the butterfly effect, what good is foreknowledge if you don't actually use it?
Chapter 6: Dinner and DealsSummary:The full conversation and deals between our time traveling duo and the Stark duo commences! We get to see the fruits of Kara's 3 months spent in Tony Stark's personal lab, and more insight on Daisy's plans for the future with how Tony will fit into them. But will they reach an agreement in the end?
Notes:Obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, DC, or any characters that come from other works.
I also want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, and RhinoMouse for the inspiration their world of "Retirement Ended Up Super" provided.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextMay 4th, 2008, MCU
Daisy Johnson, Stark Malibu Home
With Potts almost collapsing and then looking like she was about to bite Stark's head off, the most pressing matter became getting her at least caught up with what Tony knew, and explaining the lack of warning being more her own fault than his.
Boy, they already act like a married couple, this is going to be hilarious to poke and prod at.
Finally when Potts had heard the real story of his escape, Daisy was able to put the soup she had on a simmer and put the dessert into the oven, and join the rest of them at the dining room table. Stark had very clearly been avoiding the folder of information in Potts' hands, and instead turned to Kara and her.
"So, the first few questions that just pop into my head; let's go rapid fire so we can cover a lot of ground. Sound good? You locked in, or do you need nap time first?"
The eccentric in 'eccentric billionaire' is certainly on the nose, but she will probably have fun with this. "Hit me with your best old man." The toddler comments are getting tiring, mostly because she also hates the fact that she is so small.
"What are you doing in my home, for apparently the whole time I've been captured?"
"It's more comfortable than one of the safe houses I've set up."
"Who the hell are you?"
"People looking for allies against the things that go bump in the night, but not willing to burn our identities till it's official. So Quake and Sunflower for now."
"You expect us to believe bubbles over there is an alien?"
"We're both aliens. I'm just mostly human as well, while she's full alien."
"So you're the brawn, she's the brain?"
"She's both. She can beat me before I even realize she moved." Is it weird to be proud of the fact that her girlfriend can pink-mist her in an instant? Probably, but she lets her pride show anyways.
Stark is obviously getting more and more frustrated as this goes on. "How did you get the evidence in that folder?"
"I'm probably the best hacker, by far, in the world right now and breaking into Stark Industries made it even easier. This took me like a day, and we still went for a walk on the beach."
"Humble."
"I don't do humble, I do accurate." Now Kara's turn to look proud, god they're disgusting.
"Fine. Last question; What did you do to JARVIS and why has he been so quiet since we got in?" The last half of that is shouted at the ceiling, but she'll still take it.
"I hacked into him so we could gain access without him calling for help. Then we made a deal with him from there. I would help change his code to be a true A.I., give him hacking skills, and plug all of his security holes, while Sunflower upgraded his servers to be able to better protect and assist you. I then worked to make that intel package for you, and would spend time looking for you in Afghanistan. In exchange; he keeps our secrets, let us live here while we got situated these 3 months, he has been and will continue to give us man-in-the-chair support as long as it doesn't work against you, and he helped to arrange this conversation."
"I apologize if I overstepped, Sir, but I made the best decision I could with the information and abilities I had at the time. And over the 3 months, I haven't come to regret it, Sir."
"That's a lot to consider, but did you just tell me double dipped on payment for the information on my leaks?"
She shrugs without a shred of shame. "All you did was not tattle on me, so not a real payment for its worth, and I've been trained as a spy, I know how to play the game." While Potts seemed to have been taking the information in while looking at the table to hide her expression, the spy bit was what caused both of them to snap to facing her.
"How old are you to have spy training?!" Dropping that hint, which helped improve her perceived worth, was also worth it just for the entertainment.
"Mentally I am somewhere around 23 while Sunflower is around 26. Aliens, remember?" Plus time travel, universe travel, universe and time travel. Including Kara's space travel from Krypton and the Phantom Zone would make it even worse. "Also, that's been a couple questions since the 'last' one."
"You have a real talent to answer the question, but not give me anything, kid. Well, you wanted this ambush of a meeting, so what's next?"
"Next… I will finish up making the meal for everyone, while Sunflower here gives her business proposal for a partnership between your two companies."
"The girl who looks like a high school freshman owns a business?" Somehow this gives him a more visible shock than the alien facts.
"According to our official government records, we're both 18. And don't judge me, hacking into those government agencies was like one of the easiest and least illegal things I've done while in your house." Potts visibly fending off a headache at Stark's impressed look gives her life.
Kara Danvers
Throughout the conversation so far, Kara could feel her nerves rising higher and higher. She was so on edge that she hadn't said a word since she was introduced, and was perfectly happy to let Daisy and Dr. Stark handle things.
Time was up now, as Daisy headed back to the kitchen, and it was her turn to speak. All she had to do was convince one of the most powerful and influential people in the world to work with her instead of her working for him. Daisy had said it was important for the power dynamics going forward, but it would also give them individual power and freedom to work behind the scenes.
And she has to do all of that, while looking like a teenager.
No pressure. First flash card.
"Good afternoon Dr. Stark and Ms. Potts. I'm here today to convince you to form a partnership between my company and Stark Industries that will help both of us revolutionize not only your weapons departments, but also consumer electronics, modern safe green energy, humanitarian products like desalination machines, and more."
Next Card.
"While morally I don't feel I can help with aerospace engineering or fusion technology, as those were my focus in school on my home planet, I am more than happy to help speed up the progress that you are likely to make which will keep you ahead of the competition by years if not decades."
Next Card.
"To give a specific example, in working with my partner Quake on a projection of your likely technological breakthroughs due to the energy available to you with your new Arc Reactor technology, we believe you are on track to invent workable nanotechnology within the next 10 to 15 years. I believe I can work with you to get it to a working state for your personal labs in the next 5."
Next Card.
"Any questions before I move on to specific blueprints I have been working on in the last 3 months?" Oh Rao, did she need a glass of water.
"…Tony, what do you think of her projected timeline? I thought nanotechnology was still the stuff of science fiction?" Ms. Potts is the first to speak up after a few moments of nerve-wracking silence.
"I have no idea." At Ms. Potts' look, Dr. Stark elaborates. "I haven't had time to consider where I can go with Arc tech yet. That being said, nanotech's biggest pitfall was always going to be the energy needed while making machines small enough was always just a matter of time. Just thinking here now, if I have more breakthroughs in the years ahead now that I can make an Arc Reactor in a modern lab instead of a cave, I would still guess it would be 20 years before nanotech could be feasible."
"Oh! I have the reason for our differing timelines." Kara does her best not to wilt under their attention and instead continue. "Quake has intelligence that a spy agency, and she'll cover that later, has some of your father's original research into energy. What you have now gives you, what? 2.5 GJ's per second?"
"Actually, a full 3 per second and I'm guessing my next version will give me up to 8." Dr. Stark looks very proud of that, and he should. Arc energy was actually what Krypton used before the invention of matter manipulation used in the Omegahedrons. Hopefully humans will never make that jump either, as the materials required in Krypton's main power source was what led to the core mining that ended up destroying her home planet.
Focus Kara! Cuddle Daisy later to get rid of the reminder of home.
" If we are right about the information being held," They are. "then you could see output more in the 30 to 35 GJ per second range." At Dr. Stark's shocked look she decided to give a reality check. "Although locating the right warehouse to get that information from, and then actually… 'acquiring' it, may take months to a year. Moving on, any other questions?"
Dr. Stark does NOT look like he wants to move on, but a subtle prod from Ms. Potts reigns him in. "Continue on please, I'm sure he'll have enough questions about what you have next anyways."
"JARVIS, can you please pull up my presentation and display design 1?" The holographic projector she installed into the dining room table comes to life showing her 'Stark Phone' design. "Stark Industries already had an idea for a Stark Phone and Tablet, but in the end it was determined that it would take too many changes to your manufacturing plants and would not be ahead enough of the competition to be financially sound. Using my designs the Stark Phone would have a processing speed 4 times faster, a camera with 5 times the details, 10 times the storage space, and 3.5 times as much RAM than the leading industrial version out there, to say nothing of how the commercial versions compare. With my plans for your factory changes, you could make the changes for a quarter of the projected costs, have the first prototype from the line ready in two months, and be able to offer the Stark Phone for the same price with the same profit margins as the commercial leader right now."
JARVIS is a gift from Rao, as he rearranged her presentation to allow the business and profit details to be right in front of Ms. Potts and the engineering designs to be right in front of Dr. Stark. As they both read and look into what she has presented, she can see the gob-smacked look slowly take over both of their features, no matter how much they try to hide it.
Daisy snickering at the looks being heard wouldn't help business deals, so she moves on to the next card to finish this before she passes out. How is fighting for her life easier than this?!
Because Daisy's plans don't rely solely on you then.
Moving on from that thought, she has JARVIS change to the quicker showing of the next products. "While I have more for electronics and other areas like I said, let's get to what you care about Dr. Stark; Moving away from weapons of war. I'll start with the items that can be started on faster to keep your military contacts happy. Uniforms made from Carbon Fiber Weave enhanced with Graphene and Kevlar for both police and military, allowing for protection from bullets and shrapnel without hardened steel plates and would provide much higher energy disbursement lowering the chances and severity of broken ribs or other injuries common from modern bullet proof vests. Time to start manufacturing; 1 month. Small recon drones capable of recon and forensics analysis. Both a more affordable version for police and rescue departments around the country, and a sturdier version for military combat. Time to start manufacturing; 1.5 months."
THIS, this has grabbed Mr. Stark's attention. He can help, he can make a difference, and he doesn't have to be what that mean nickname accuses him of. So she goes in for the biggest item.
"All of those, however, are the small differences. In the end, the biggest killer is always going to be bullets and guns. Dirt cheap compared to what any missile ever could be. While the production lines for your missiles could be reused for these other products, most of your lines are still dedicated to guns and bullets. So I present the Icer line of guns, from handguns to machine guns, complete with dendrotoxin bullets. They are capable of putting a grown male sumo-wrestler unconscious on his behind with one shot. Behaves like their lethal counterpart in handling, but with no known long term health risks. Too many bullets may give the subject a hangover, but overdosing is not possible with the delivery method. Thousands of tissue samples from humans have been tested with no indications of allergic reactions. Aside from a lack of penetrating power, having the same capability as normal guns avoids the downfalls of every other non-lethal option currently available.
"Time to start manufacturing the guns: 2.5 months. Time to start manufacturing the empty bullets: 2 months. Time to adjust your medical equipment and start making the chemical compound of the bullets: 4 months. In less than half a year no police officer or soldier will have to make the decision between the safety of others and having to take a life, including possible innocent lives. All possible, if you agree to the partnership between Stark Industries and House El Revolution Origins. Thank you!"
The groan behind her from the kitchen leaves Kara confused for half a second until she realizes she skipped over the last line on the card in her excitement. The card that specifically says 'my company' instead of the name she just gave out. Oh shucks!
All the same she can see both Dr. Stark and Ms. Potts now furiously going through all the information she has presented in the holograms. After a few minutes, they both share a look and seem to have some unspoken conversation between each other before turning back to her.
That makes it all the more strange when it is JARVIS that ends the silence. "Apologies for the interruption, but it seems that-"
"Don't worry about it J. I got it handled and it may even work to our advantage too." Daisy is quick to interrupt, again leaving Kara confused until her senses pick up what is about to change. Looking over at Daisy just leaves her even more befuddled at the very mischievous grin on her face.
Ms. Potts soon cuts off whatever Dr. Stark is about to say. "Thank you Ms.… Sunflower." Kara already basically exposed their identities by name dropping her company, can't they switch to names? "You've given us a lot to look over and we would like to look into the feasibility of everything you have presented." At Dr. Stark's look that is almost petulant in nature, she elaborates. "What you have proposed is essentially a reconfiguration of every SI production line, while using up all of our stock to fulfill the contracts still out there. Not only will that cost billions on its own, but if something didn't work then Stark Industries wouldn't have any stored products to fall back on to hold us over until we can solve the issue. Most of this Tony has probably been able to follow, and can speak to its feasibility or not, but the biggest item is something that neither of us have a medical degree to even begin to know if it is possible. I've never heard of dendrotoxin, so how do I know this isn't a fantasy product?"
As if it were right on que, the thing that JARVIS tried to warn them about happens. Happy Hogan, the personal driver and bodyguard to Tony Stark, walks into the main living area after having waited for a message from Ms. Potts about whether he was needed or not for the rest of the day. A message Ms. Potts was FAR too distracted to even remember promising to send.
As his eyes go wide, and his mouth opens to probably ask what the heck is going on here, Daisy suddenly moves. Kara is able to understand what she is doing, even as her arm moves faster than a human's ever could. Part of Kara wanted to stop her, she has the time, but in the end she can understand what it is that Daisy is doing, and instead buries her face in her hands hoping that Daisy's demonstration works for them instead of against them.
Time returns back to normal perceived speed, as a blue splatter paints across the bodyguard's chest. Any words in his throat cut off as the bodyguard's eyes suddenly close and he begins to fall to the ground unconscious. Kara finally decides to step in, despite seeing the vibrations in the air on the ground meant to soften his landing, Dr. Stark and Ms. Potts might not notice it and think Daisy just let him hit the ground full force. So quicker than the bullet flew she goes over and catches him, before speeding his unconscious form over to the couch. From her position over Mr. Hogan, she gives her best withering glare at Daisy… it's not a good one, but she is doing her best here!
"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!" Honestly, that's a fair reaction to the last few seconds, which just makes Ms. Potts slap the back of Dr. Stark's head when he adds in his own thoughts that are clearly NOT a normal reaction.
"Well I think that alien James Bond over there has proven what their special blue bullets can do, while Daffodil here helped prove she's all she's been sold to us as, as well." Not even the second smack to his head can stop the ear splitting grin on Dr. Stark's face.
Daisy takes that moment to break up the tension with a call as she exits the kitchen. "Foods ready!" Kara can now finally get the drink of water at least.
Daisy Johnson
No matter what Kara may think, Daisy believes that the sales pitch went perfect! She had to use her powers a bit to delay Happy Hogan at the door for a few seconds, so he would enter at the right moment, but it made a perfect end point to the talks. Now with the meal being shared, it gave both Potts and Stark time to look over the details as well as time to think before they accept or deny. The slip of Kara's company name has yet to be addressed, but if things continue to go the way Daisy thinks they are, then they will be sharing their real names soon anyways.
Daisy has never been good at not working while eating, so she sees no reason to stop that from happening right now. Potts is going through the details of the business side of things that Kara has presented, and between bites of food is occasionally looking up to ask clarifying questions or ask how changes might affect the timeline or feasibility.
Stark on the other hand god damn near pouted that the food wasn't a greasy cheeseburger or something. She made a nice potato based soup, bread with some light seasoning to dip, vitamin rich fruit smoothies, and chocolate chip muffins as a treat for dessert. When he made to object she made sure to mention how she had seen his health report from the military doctors, and this meal is perfectly in line with their recommendations. That caused Ms. Potts to glare fiercely at him while asking Daisy what else was in that report that she should be aware of.
Although the glare was then shared between her and Stark when Daisy took out the already filled prescription drugs in Stark's name with instructions for them.
To make it up to Stark she gave him the Icer handgun she had used on Happy, unloaded of course, to look it over in detail. That seemed to have worked as he had basically field stripped and reassembled the thing with a smile on his face. When questioned why this item has a practical version but nothing else did, Daisy made sure to keep it vague about it originally being from some spy co-workers who are no longer around.
Technically true as the Fitzsimmons of the current time would not be working on their Night Night gun for another 4 years. She would feel bad about having Kara use so many of their inventions, but plenty of lives will be saved with this. She hopes her Fitzsimmons, in the erased future, would agree.
Besides, once Shield falls she will be sure to poach the two of them and give them a very generous signing bonus. Once they leave to go back to Kara's universe she will even be sure to give them the full credit. By that point the future knowledge will be useless and their method of time travel unrepeatable, so unless a reason comes up, she can make that information public in the end.
…She'll always have a little bit of the Rising Tide in the way she works, but she's pretty sure that is a good thing when she looks at Shield.
With the meal finished, dessert eaten, and Happy sent on his way after waking up with a VERY explicit order by Stark to forget what he saw and a bonus for the inconvenience; it was finally time to continue the discussions. Luckily, after Pepper and Stark whispered some words back and forth, he started off the conversation strong.
"So, details have to be worked out between Pepper and E.T. over there over the next few days, but we're fine with moving forward with the partnership." Kara nearly collapses in relief, and Thor knows the blinding smile will be on her face for the rest of the day. Which is fine with Daisy, she deserves to revel in her success. "Now we come to what I'm most interested in, what does the mini-superspy want from little old me? Something about 'the things that go bump in the night', whatever that means?"
A lot about time travel is making wagers, especially when it comes to how things will change. Their Chronicom adventures were an exercise in frustration about that. But right now… she is already starting to feel better. Stark isn't acting like the egotistical playboy he was before, nor is he acting like the paranoid man he could become that would lock up any empowered for the smallest offense under the Sokovia Accords. He's acting like someone who is just excited about the possibilities from here, very 'kid in a candy shop' of him.
Something in Daisy settles at that, even if she is about to make that 'kid' grow up.
"The Earth, and humanity, is about to be on the edge of a very important cliff. For human history, what has been recorded anyways, it has been fairly normal. The biggest widely known bump was when Steve Rogers was given the Super Soldier Serum but history tells us that it was destroyed and all attempts since then have amounted to less than nothing." JARVIS pulled up the video she had prepped for this talk before continuing.
"Ignoring the fact that everything about that is basically bullshit, let's move up to just a few years ago. In June 2003, a division run by General Thaddeus Ross was attempting to recreate the serum, not that the scientist Bruce Banner knew what he was actually working on, when the serum went wrong when exposed to Gamma Radiation that Dr. Banner had exposed himself to after self-injecting the serum. The result is that when Bruce Banner is in life-threatening danger, or anything that brings his heart rate too high, he temporarily turns into this…" With that, the video begins to show The Hulk in all his green glory.
Potts is suitably horrified while Stark is fairly interested, although calm about it at least. Once the compilation of Hulk rampages is over she continues. "The Earth is in a weird place right now. More batshit things, like The Hulk here, are going to start coming out of the woodwork. More than that, the Earth is in the worst place in terms of technology on the galactic scale. We aren't advanced enough to properly defend ourselves from the powerful forces out there, but we aren't so helpless that attacking us would earn the ire of the rest of the universe for picking on the underdeveloped.
"Now, what does this have to do with you? Right now? Nothing. That being said, if you make a second version of the suit you used to escape the Ten Rings, then some people may start looking at you the same way they look at Bruce Banner. Someone who truly needs help and support, but instead is being hunted around the world by Thaddeus Ross and international spy agencies alike to be used as a weapon."
The video shifts to the military using what would normally be lethal force on The Hulk, but despite sometimes getting blasted backwards, it continues to fight.
"So, are you wanting to help keep the world safe in a flying tank from both the humans like the Ten Rings and the weirdos, or do you want to go back to being a billionaire just one who now makes their money in better ways? Because if it's the first, you're going to need someone to make sure you aren't treated like the next Bruce Banner."
"What are you TALKING about?! Of course he isn't going to do anything like that?! He's not a soldier, he's not a spy, and he's not an alien that can move faster than bullets!"
Man, Potts has a set of lungs on her when she is getting worked up. She's not TOO wrong either, but in the end it isn't her decision, so Daisy keeps her eyes on the person whose decision it is. Stark… Is looking down at his chest, specifically the Arc Reactor and she knows why. While working to clean up the scene of the Ten Rings camp, Stark made her get out a body from the caves before she collapsed them. That's when she heard the story of Ho Yinsen, and what happened in that cave that never made it into the Shield files she read. Looking at the military files she has seen in the past day, Stark has even pulled strings to get Yinsen's body buried at his hometown of Gulmira beside his family's.
She just knows Ho Yinsen's dying words are playing through his head right now. She knows what Shield would want her to do. Press that soft spot, say those words again, move him towards the decision she wants.
She won't though, because what she makes will be better, and it starts here.
"Yes," Stark starts, before being talked over by Potts, although that doesn't even stop him as they both talk over each other.
"No, you are not."
"I need to not waste my life-"
"So invent more for other people to use!"
"And I can't trust a suit I build to others like I did with the weapons I was selling."
"You can't do this, what about your entire company!?"
"You run most of my company anyways, and now you have a protégé to work with."
"Protégé? She has her own company to run, and all the changes are basically a restructuring of the entire production line and brand new contracts to make. Making SI unrecognizable from what it is now is just A BIT more work than I normally help you with."
"Making a new suit, and all the testing is months of work. We'll be past the worst by then, and you have Obie to help with everything."
Ah… Well it is about time to bite this bullet. Daisy's loud cough interrupts their first argument as a couplediscussion to bring the attention back to her. "We've avoided it up until now, but we have to deal with this before that thought continues. In the folder on the dirty aspects of Stark Industries is proof on several board members, a hidden department at SI HQ, but all of it headed by Obadiah Stane. Show it, JARVIS." Anticipating some loud denials of people who haven't been betrayed like this before, she has JARVIS start by displaying the ransom video with the translated audio overlaid.
From there the discussion takes a break as they go through the evidence collected, JARVIS giving his assurances as to the veracity of it all, not at all shocking is the fact that Potts is the first one to descend into threats of violence against him, women scorned and all that. Eventually though things calm back down enough for things to get back on track.
"I have a plan for how to deal with Stane, but that depends if you're working for me or not. So I do need to know if you are wanting to become Iron Man, so what's the call? You can always back out later, but I also think you can do real good for the world or I wouldn't be here to support it. Sunflower and I can't be the first heroes to come out, we're too powerful and we're both aliens. We need to start preparing Earth to be protected by itself."
The offense on Stark's face is clearly over exaggerated, he's had some time to come to terms about what she is afterall. "Work FOR you? Woah woah woah. Stark Industries gets a partnership but I would get a nanny who looks like she needs a nanny? And what kind of name is Iron Man? Iron would make a horrible metal choice for a suit."
"I don't know, I think Iron Man makes a great name for it. Very surface level, not a lot of depth to that name. I think it fits you very well." Potts is still not happy where things are heading, but the shake of Obadiah Stane seems to actually leave her more open to the idea of Stark gaining more 'hard power' to deal with apparently. Doesn't mean she won't get back at him in her own ways apparently.
"Sunflower here is new to owning her own company, even if she isn't new to the science behind it or working in high yield businesses. While I infiltrated an international spy agency and made them think turning me was their idea in order to get information of my own, I even ended up as the Director of that agency for a little while." The disbelief in his eyes wars with the look of being impressed.
"But don't worry too much, I'm not interested in micromanaging you. I would help you start off on the right foot with both your enemies and the government, including training and Kara will help you with the suit. Anytime you're against a threat over your head or mess something up in the field, I'll help the best that I can. When large scale threats emerge such as alien incursions, I would be in charge of any multi-hero team. Most importantly though, I would help you stay clear of the two international spy organizations. One is a government agency, while the other is a terrorist group bent on world control that has infiltrated the government agency since World War II."
After nearly a full minute of shocked silence as well as deep consideration, Daisy presses for an answer. "So do you still want to be a hero, and are you ready to work for me?"
"...Quake, you really gotta work on the recruitment speech, at least list SOME benefits rather than just being all doom and gloom. Take points from Bubbles over there! But fine, you've got Iron Man as the first member of your superhero boy band."
"Tony… Fine, but if it gets to be too much or too dangerous you will quit. He can quit, right?" Pepper directs back towards her.
"Of course, being allowed to retire is a right everyone should have. Welcome aboard Stark, I'm Daisy and that's Kara." As Daisy holds out her hand for Stark to shake.
Said alien, who was sitting quietly off to the side, is almost vibrating with excitement. "You're going to love being a superhero, Dr. Stark! Trust me!"
"Well I'm not going by my last name the whole time in this if you aren't. So it's Tony and that's Pepper, or just Pep sometimes-"
"I never go by Pep."
"Only when she's in a really good mood does she go by Pep. So it's a deal, boss man." Tony says as he shakes her hand. Although she does have a few more things to drop on them…
"Oh, by the way. That international spy agency is called Shield, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division of the USA and was founded by a US General, your father Howard Stark, and your 'aunt' Peggy Carter during WWII. While the terrorist spy group that has infiltrated it is called HYDRA and is basically the Nazis but without the inherent racism."
"MOTHERFU-"
"Also how open are you two to the possibilities of time travel and dimension travel? Because that is super relevant to the two of us."
Notes:Author's Endnote: This chapter was a bit of a struggle and a bit long (Nearly 6k words, when I aim for just over 4k!), working through all the conversations that needed to happen while trying to keep the character personalities straight was a challenge. Hopefully I did an alright job!
While the next chapter WON'T be a continuation of the conversation, the conversation did continue afterwards. Daisy isn't going to share too much, because neither Tony or Pepper are trained spies and the vast majority of the future is not relevant to either of them. But by leaving it open ended I can play with what Daisy has shared vs what she hasn't going forward as I write chapters. A technique I am shamelessly borrowing from other time travel fanfictions that I have read.
Until next time!