2013.05.31 - Design and Implementation

Figures, Tony's still working. He doesn't keep clocks in his workshop on purpose, because when you're working you're working and one can't be bothered with such constraints as time. It leads to thing like breaks, food, sleep, etc. So Tony just eschews them in general. It could be tomorrow night, it could be yesterday morning. Tony doesn't know, doesn't care. He's got the Mark 9 fabricated, and is working on one of the more innovative features that if works, will be backwards compatible with all past armor iterations, and all versions yet to come: Gantryless Assembly.
"Okay, let's try this. Mark 9 Gantryless Assembly. Wide shot and time stamp on the camera. Dummy..stand by with the can opener, and if you flinch before I need you, I'm turning you into Rube Goldberg Machine. Annnnnd..go!"
Tony steps forward, into the armor that's open from the back, and Tony steps into the suit. It starts to close up from the back, enclosing Tony fully in the armor.
Ding! The high speed secure elevator opens at the Penthouse level and out steps Agent Coulson. It's late but it was the closest time that Pepper had been able to manage to get Phil scheduled in, since it wasn't dealing with a crisis.
Phil is carrying a black folder containing a flash drive and a slew of documents. He's humming a Bach tune as he gets out of the elevator and has deep purplish bags under his eyes. He stops in the foyer of the Penthouse and looks around, expecting to find Pepper and Tony.
Pepper Potts looks up from where she's been waiting for Agent Coulson, quickly uncurling from the corner of a HUGE sofa thing and padding toward the elevator. She abandoned her shoes, but kept her tablet in hand. "Agent Coulson, Thank you for being prompt. Tony's in his lab, and we can go talk to him there if that's all right." 
Quickly stepping back to retrieve her shoes and phone, she regains about five inches of height and clicks right back to the elevator before actually pausing to LOOK at the agent while waiting for the sliding doors to open again. "Wow, you look as bad as Tony after a week long bender in his lab." Yeesh, Virginia. Tactful much? "Are you all right?"
Phil Coulson gestures toward the elevator to let Pepper precede him so he can follow. "Just a little hung over. I had a diplomatic duty to deliver SHIELD's wedding gift to Thor last night, and..." He clears his throat a little sheepishly. "He and Sif talked me into trying their Asgardian mead. It's far more potent than I expected." He taps his handful of folders against his thigh as the elevator whisks them down to the workshop level.
Tony Stark is pleased to find that this particular modification is a successful. "JARVIS, how much structural integrity am I losing with this?"
"Within specifications, you're losing .7 percent structural integrity. You should be able to fully engage in combat without a noticeable weakness."
Tony smiles within the armor, "Excellent. That's what we like to hear."
Tony disengages the new system and steps out of the armor again. "Book it done, JARVIS. Apply the modifications to the previous Marks and make sure it's a standard part of future configurations."
"Right away, sir. Modification to the previous 8 suits should take a total of 9 hours." the AI replies, "Shall I apply the new configuration to Rescue as well?"
This is why he has JARVIS, and he smiles to be reminded of it. "Yes. That should make things easy for her. Will we be able to preserve Coach configuration that way?"
"Yes, sir. No change to configuration. But I must ask, why make Ms. Potts' armor look like a Coach handbag?"
"Because, JARVIS, it'd look gauche if she were carrying a briefcase with her everywhere she went."
"Oh."
Pepper Potts can't help it, she actually puts one hand over her mouth to unsuccessfully stifle a giggle at Coulson's admission of a hangover. "Ah, I could have warned you about that. It's why I usually only drink a thimbleful diluted in water. I'm enough of a lightweight that I don't need to make it even MORE obvious." She steps out of the elevator when it lets them off at Tony's workshop, trusting JARVIS to let 'Sir' know they're about to step into his territory. "Would some aspirin or a coffee help?" she asks Coulson in clear empathy.
"Sir," JARVIS says dryly, "Miss Potts and Agent Coulson here to see you. Shall I clean up?"
Tony shakes his head, "Nah, I'm still working. Let Pepper and the Assassin of Joy come on down. The last time he was here, I ended up in a wormhole in space. It can't be that bad twice, can it?" he says with a shrug. He shivers at the memory still, though.
Coulson considers as he follows Pepper to the workshop. "Aspirin and coffee both would be wonderful Pepper. I'd appreciate it. We actually bought them mortal mead for the wedding so the mortals among us will be able to enjoy the celebration."
He follows Pepper to the locked door of the lab and through it. "Mr. Stark." He waves the file folders in Tony's direction, mostly because he knows Tony doesn't like to take stuff from him.
Pepper Potts smiles and nods as Coulson steps forward to 'bug' Tony. He could probably use a break from whatever he's working on anyway. She does pause on her quest to find aspirin and coffee, though, to squint at the usual array of holographic images around her boss. Then she shakes her head and heads toward the wet bar in the corner of the room to pour out the coffee already there and start a fresh batch. No telling if Dummy opted to 'enhance' that batch so better safe than sorry. Then she starts rummaging around for the painkillers she knows Tony has stashed around here somewhere.
Tony Stark smiles in that way Tony does to make it look fake but is actually genuine. "Agent Coulson, how nice of you to come buy and risk our lives again. What Armageddon have you brought for us today?" the grave words sounding bright and chipper from the CEO. He watches Pepper go and hunt down whatever is she's hunting down, "Oh, you're making the grim reaper coffee? That's lovely."
Phil snorts a little and gives Tony the barest hint of a smile. "Miss Potts is a lifesaver. Probably yours. Thanks for taking the consult, Stark." He taps the file folders and says, "I know how you love to waste time on chit-chat, so, Let's talk about Project Red Sun." 
He shoves the folders into Tony's hands. "I'm sure you recall that invasion of Kryptonians or clone-Kryptonians a few weeks ago. We need to get a plan in place to prevent something like that from blindsiding us again." The files contain all of Star Labs research on Kryptonians, and a preliminary analysis on the piece of tech they used to keep Superman down. "I hope you like big government contracts. Oh wait, I know you do."
"Would you rather I let Dummy make another of those ranch dressing smoothies, Tony? Because I'm sure he'd be only too happy to oblige. Now, where did you hide the Bayer?" Pepper continues rummaging about, but stops and looks at Coulson wide-eyed when he broaches the topic at hand. Her eyes go from the agent to Tony and back, and then she blinks a few times quickly and goes back to her searching... ah, here they. Wait. "Tony, why do you have an aspirin bottle full of, what is this? Rock salt?"
Tony Stark grins, "They're from Thor. Asgardian remedy for Asgardian hangovers.." he looks back to Coulson, "But I doubt that's what our man here needs, right? Upright moral center and all that.." and then oof. He gets handed stuff, "Really, Agent, you know how I feel about and there you go, just hand stuff to me. Greaaat." he sighs, "Big /Fat/ Government contracts. That's what I like. I guess I can let you hand me stuff for that." he starts perusing the material not mentioning how this will help him immensely on project fail-safe. "Hmmm..I like what you've done here...and here..." he pauses, "Don't like that, but that's okay, I've a young lady on the case who has a dynamite algorithm to plug into proper hardware for a Early Warning System.'
Agent Coulson nods. "Yes. That flash drive has all the STAR Labs research on Kryptonian physiology. Stuff they wouldn't even admit to having." He glances between Tony and Pepper. "Asgardian Hangover cure? That's just the thing."
"Will you want to take an up close and personal look at the Krytonian tech that they used? It's mostly melted slag at this point, but we've been able to figure a few things out. I could have them deliver it to whichever of your labs you'd like to us."
Pepper Potts raises her eyebrows briefly. Asgardian remedy for hangovers? Perfect. She turns the bottle around and (thankfully) finds a post-it stuck to the bottle indicating dosage, and carefully measures the correct number of salt-like grains into a clean and dry shot glass before pouring two cups of the just-brewed coffee. The aspirin bottle is returned to where she found it, and she deftly carries both coffee cups and the shot glass back over to where the two men are. She offers the shot glass and one cup to Coulson at the same time as she holds the other cup where Tony can claim it if he chooses. She's honestly intrigued with the information the SHIELD agent brought to Tony, especially considering the conversation they had not too long ago, but she's not about to say so aloud.
Tony Stark snags the cup and nods a thanks to Pepper, "Have it all sent here, I'll take a look at it." -- but there's something in his eye, that he's got more than he's letting on. "It'll be good to get some research mode up and running. Give me something to work on. Incidentally, I have a dinner meeting scheduled in a few days to discuss the early warning system. We should be able to have everything hammered out for a preliminary roll out within a week."
Phil nods. "We'll arrange for the equipment to be delivered in the morning, Pepper." He purses his lips slightly. "What we really are looking for is a modification to the global satellite network, something we can implement in the the near future to emit Red Sun radiation, or create a solar filter to do the same thing, in the event that we're invaded by Kryptonians again. This is one of our better recourse's should we get invaded again." He tosses back the Asgardian hangover remedy with a grateful nod to Pepper and takes the cup of coffee. "What kind of time frame do you think you'll need for project development, Mr. Stark?"
Pepper Potts raises her eyebrows at Tony's explanation that an early warning system is already so close to completion. He's clearly been burning been burning the midnight oil on this project. Once both coffee cups are taken she dusts her hands off and nods to Coulson, going to retrieve her tablet to make a note about equipment being delivered. "I'll make sure that Receiving is expecting it..." Her voice trails off and she looks from the agent to Tony and back, possibly a bit worriedly. Red sun radiation? Kryptonians? So they're working on anti-Superman weaponry also? That's... concerning.
Tony Stark sips his coffee, "To get what information I need and make sure it's in line with what I already have? About 20 minutes once I get it." his tone is deadpan and serious. There's a change in the look in his eyes, too. It speaks of knowing things he wishes he could forget.
Phil Coulson blinks briefly. Then blinks again. "I expected fast, Mr. Stark, but clearly you've already given this some thought." He takes a sip of the coffee. "You might as well throw together a bid for scaling and implementation as well, if you want to make this visit worth your time, Mr. Stark." He blows lightly on his coffee and takes a big slug. The hangover cure is quite efficacious, and his color improves and his spine straightens. He catches Pepper's reaction. "This isn't about Superman... Superman... we trust. Most of the time. This is in case more Kryptonians show up with plans of world domination."
Tony Stark looks relieved at that, actually. "Good, Agent Coulson. I'm glad for that. I can have scaling and implementation ready for you around the same time as we have the Interdictor System prelims in place. The system myself and Ms. Gordon have devised not only projects out of solar system trajectory but takes into account inter-dimensional geometry. If it doesn't come from our place or our space, we'll know. I'll work the STAR labs information and the reverse Kryptonian tech into it for good measure." he sips his coffee, and smiles for the first time in several minutes. "How's that cure-all workin' for ya?" he looks gratefully over at Pepper a moment.
Agent Coulson nods, "It's shockingly effective. I'm surprised they're not marketing it everywhere. They'd make a bundle." He rubs the back of his head, incipient migraine gone and takes a deep breath. "Ms. Gordon, did you say?"
He's not familiar with her. Yet. But that's bound to change. "That early detection system sounds like a modern marvel. Thank you for stepping up and taking the initiative. If you can get specs to us as soon as possible, I have a side project that I'll be asking Dr. Richards of the Fantastic Four to work on, perhaps an early warning system with an integrated defense grid."
Pepper Potts puts one hand on Tony's shoulder as the two keep talking, then abruptly goes to rescue the remaining coffee from Dummy. That would be one smoothie she really would rather not have to deal with. "Gordon...wait, isn't Gotham's police commissioner named Gordon?" The coffee is safe for another few moments, in case anyone wants a refill.
Tony Stark hmms, "Well, give Reed my regards. Tell him not to use an argon bromide laser. He'll know what you're talking about." he glances to Pepper, "Wouldn't know. Don't tend to keep track f John Q. Law types unless I have to." he sips his coffee and looks back to the Agent. "Anything else you think we'll need to cook up for this out-of-towner welcome wagon?"
Phil Coulson shakes his head. "Nothing's come to mind, but if you come up with any brilliant ideas you might need funding for, you've got my email." He waves off an extra cup of coffee and says, "Thanks very much you two. I know your time is valuable, Tony. Pepper. I'll let you get back to..." He gestures toward whatever it is that Tony is fiddling with at present. "Thanks again for the coffee and especially for the hangover cure. I'm going to have to go get some from Thor soon."
Pepper Potts simply keeps the coffee carafe in her hands, as that's the only way to ensure its safety and even so she's still having to occasionally move it away from a certain mechanical gripper-hand's attempts at being ... subtle. "I probably read something online about it, then," is her reply to Tony about Commissioner Gordon. At the mention of taking his leave, she smiles and nods to Coulson though can't help but be inwardly glad that she is always careful around the Asgardian mead. Dangerous stuff. "Say hello to Thor for me."
Tony Stark smiles, raises his cup, "Do that, Agent, and do tell Blondie and Dagwood I say hello.." -- though who is Blondie and who is Dagwood is up for debate.
Phil Coulson starts to set down his coffee cup, realizes this will annoy Stark and changes course, offering it to Pepper. "Will do. Mr. Stark. Miss Potts, always a pleasure. Do let me know when we can look forward to your implementation plan, and I'll be sure to be here." He makes his way to the elevator and JARVIS opens the doors for him just as he gets there. Exit: Stage Down.
Pepper Potts takes the coffee cup from Coulson and sets it in the sink with a stern look at Dummy before going and refilling Tony's cup even if he didn't ask. "You know, if I hadn't seen it for myself, all of this sudden interest in being able to mitigate Kryptonian abilities would make me really worry for Superman's safety."
Tony Stark sips "It'd make me worry except for one thing."
Pepper Potts ohs? as she moves to sit gingerly on one of the other barstool-type chairs near Tony's workstation "What's that?"
Tony Stark shrugs with that "got 'em by the ass" grin he has when he's gotten one over - "If they think I'm implementing this without a kill switch they can't counter if it ever gets pointed at Superman, they're nuts. Also, you don't build a suit than can kill Superman without building a suit that's designed to protect him."
Pepper Potts pauses to think about that, coffee carafe held absently, then a grin about as wicked as she is capable of spreads slowly across her face. "Okay you have a point there."
Tony Stark explains quietly, "That in order to build a suit that was designed to weaken and kill Superman, I also wanted a suit that could strength and empower. If he is in danger from one of his whackjob rivals and gets on the ropes, I /will/ pull out that suit to supercharge him, and deal with this enemies."
Pepper Potts nods, picking up on Tony's seriousness. "Good. Because based on that one attack I saw, if something comes our way that's powerful enough to take Superman down, the rest of us aren't going to stand much of a chance." She looks at the coffeepot in her hands. "Oh. I was thinking of picking up dinner from that Ethiopian place on 5th on my way home tonight. Do you want me to order anything for you?"
Tony Stark looks down, shakes his head. Puts his coffee cup down. "Nope. I don't have stomach tonight, I'm already too full." he says dismissively.
Pepper Potts nods. "Okay. Don't stay up too late working on this. Get some sleep tonight, all right?" And with that, she stands and starts doing something she actually rarely does: she starts picking up the various coffee cups, smoothie glasses, plates, and other dishes that might be sitting around the workshop to get everything washed before she goes on about the rest of her day. It's a way to keep Tony company while he works without hovering or making him feel obligated to be sociable.
Category:Log