2013.06.21 - SHIELD Spot Inspection

Sometime after the big charity shindig yesterday afternoon Justin Hammer received a message that an agent from SHIELD had been trying to get a hold of him. Of course this didn't bode well for his secretary, who was immediately questioned on why Hammer hadn't been informed of this sooner. Somehow the woman managed to scrape by with her job, though it was pretty obvious that she had taken quite the verbal lashing for her mistake.
Justin had called the angency back and arranged to meet with the agent the following morning. The meeting was set for 10AM, late enough to allow Hammer to get things rolling but early enough that he could give the man a tour of the facilities, should he require it. The possibility of picking up SHIELD contracts was far too tempting for Justin to push aside, and he wanted to dedicate as much time to the meeting as he could.
A little before 10 the CEO made his way down to the front lobby of the office tower. He's dressed in his typical fashion, and is talking with a couple of employees in the large reception area of the building. The facility is busy, people moving around from here to there as the work day really gets rolling.
A plain black sedan car with a professional driver stops at the security station, tells the gate guard he's from Homeland Landscaping and Design, which goes on the security docket as HLD. 
The car pulls up around to the front of the administrative facility and glides to a halt.
The back door opens and a non-descript man in a black suit, white oxford, plain blue tie and polished black shoes wearing shades steps out of the back of the car. 
He walks right up to Justin and nods. "Mr. Hammer, I'm Agent Coulson. I called ahead this time. No subpeona," he says in that deadpan drawl.
The black sedan was easy enough to spot, and when Justin saw it pull into the drive that circles in front of the office tower he easily excused himself from his current conversation. To say that Coulson and Hammer are opposites would be quite an understatement- the agent's flat tone is met with one that is laced with confidence and a slight enthusiasm. "Agent Coulson, good to meet you. Glad we could get together and talk without a court order." He offers his hand to the plain dressed man.
Phil slowly takes off his sunglasses and puts them into a hard case that goes in his breast pocket. He just looks down at Hammer's hand and stares. "Your review for last quarter came back with a suprising rating last quarter, Mr. Hammer. Rated Adequate for the first time in awhile. Can you keep it up?" he asks, finally giving in and giving Justin a firm, dry handshake.
The agent's comments quickly darken Hammer's mood, but he tries not to let it show. There's still a hint of a change in his demeanor when he forces an uneasy chuckle. Of course he rated adequate. He's been working his ass off- well, making his staff work their asses off- to try and get several heavy-duty government projects off the ground. "Of course, of course... We've made some great progress just in the last month alone. Got some good stuff in the pipeline, ya know?" He makes a quick glance around the lobby area, then looks back toward Coulson. "So, shall we take a look around? Or do you want to skip straight to talking business?"
Agent Coulson nods towards the factory facility. "Let's tour and talk and walk. I haven't had enough cardio today to count." He sets off at a briskish pace toward the nearest manufacturing facility. "Spare me the sales pitches today, Mr. Hammer. We're just talking today. Seen any files on Kryptonians lately, Mr. Hammer?"
Justin scowls internally, managing to keep most of the expression off his face. It's evident that Coulson isn't falling for his normal act, which leaves him on less of a high ground than he would prefer. If the potential for lucrative contracts wasn't so high, he'd tell SHIELD to go shove it. As it is, though, he falls in step with the agent, keeping pace with him once he catches up. "Kryptonians? Pretty sure I've read up on them, but it's been a while. Refresh my memory?" He points toward the right as the exit the office tower, toward the number one manufacturing building. The tunnels would have been a lot faster, but Hammer isn't complaining. He doesn't mind the walk, and isn't especially keen on escorting the SHIELD agent through more of the buildings than he has to.
Phil Coulson just shakes his head at Justin's plumbing for information. "I'm afraid I can't do your homework on this one anymore Mr. Hammer, that's your job. Remember that event last month or so ago where we had that invasion of aliens? Do you remember where you were that day Mr. Hammer?" 
He arrives at the first facility, dedicated to making bullet proof vests. 
"How are the new mixed tech vests performing?" he asks as they walk through the facility. Strangely enough, Coulson's next turn takes them down some stairs, heading for the tunnels.
Hammer can't hide the scowl this time. "Yeah, we've had a couple bad incidents," he remarks, not bothering with the enthusiastic tone now. "And for most of them I'm here somewhere, working." He spends a heavy majority of his time at the office, even though it looks like quite the opposite at times. When the subject changes to the vests he nods, some of his confidence returning. "The tests are coming back with higher than anticipated results. The combination of the Shear Thickening Liquid and a new carbon nanotube fabric are showing signs of standing up to high-powered rifle rounds, as well as reducing the damage sustained during shrapnel tests." It's one of the few projects that is going really well at HI, and hasn't been drawn down by endless problems. And direct interference from Hammer himself.
It takes Justin a moment to realize where they're headed as the walk, having temporarily lost track of their course while talking about the project on the body armor projects. Crap, just what he needs. "Is there a specific department you're looking for, Agent?"
Phil Coulson just keeps walking straight ahead down the tunnels. "Not at all, Mr. Hammer, this is what's called a 'spot check'. How's that new model of Assault Personal Vehicle coming along?" His footsteps are brisk. "Well, we've been working on a multi-layered approach to preventing such things from happening in the future, and if they do happen, increasing our response time and response effectivenss."
Phil makes a courier stop his go-cart and commandeers the vehicle. "It's a bit of a hike, let's drive it, shall we?" He makes the courier get out and take his package by hand and waits for Justin to enter the vehicle.
Hammer grimaces visibly. /Spot check? for the love of.../ His confidence doesn't shine through when the APV is brought up. "We're making progress," he says dryly. He doesn't mention the drive train problems they've run into. The International chassis that they had originally used a a base for the vehicle wasn't holding up to the additional weight, and they were having to re-engineer it from the ground up. Justin nods in response to planning for any new alien attacks, his mind momentarily flashing to his encounters with Rins and the alien tech he had acquired. Note to self: Keep Coulson AWAY from Lab 3-262.
The displaced interdepartmental courier just blinks, not believing what he's seeing. The CEO himself seems to be getting ordered around, a sight that he'll have to describe, in detail, to his fellow employees. Justin boards the golf cart with a sigh, really starting to become irritated at how he's being so dominated on his home turf.
Agent Coulson pulls a very tight U-turn and speeds off down the tunnel. The stockpiles of insufficient chassis are all neatly arranged on the left speed by. "Well, you're behind schedule on that plan delivery. How are you doing on the short to mid range rocketry?" 
He speeds off down the tunnel, weaving in and out of foot and vehicle traffic as the speed through the tunnel at the very top safe speed.
"We're told that you're making progress on the short to mid range rockets. They aren't another 'bunker-buster' are they?" he inquires.
/I fixed the problems with that, dammit,/ Justin thinks to himself while he holds onto the canopy of the cart. You have one bad demonstration, and no one will let you live it down. For the love of all that's holy, did the Wright Brothers fly the first time they tried? Shaking his head to clear it as much as in response, Hammer looks over at the agent. "I'd like to think we're on schedule if not ahead of the game on that one," he says, glancing forward as they swerve around a man pushing a pallet jack with something that looks frighteningly like a warhead on it. "And I'm happy to report that Project Bullshark and Project Black Arrow are showing a lot of promise. I'm hoping to start aerial testing of Bullshark the first of the month." Might as well mention the revival of the failed aerospace drone project and it's ICBM derivative now and get it out of the way.
Coulson pulls the cart to a stop so he can look at Justin Hammer sidelong. "Don't bullshit the bullshit artist, Hammer. We both know those projects are almost dead in the water. Black Arrow isn't working out to the beancounters. We want drone portable strike devices in a variety of flavors. Can you do them in tear gas, knockout gas, air fuel burst and high explosive?" He just waits for Hammer's reply.
If the engineers can get the tech that was acquired from Rins to work, Black Arrow and Bullshark will both turn out to be items SHIELD would drool over. But until that point, Coulson is right. On paper they're both looking like money sinks, and Bullshark's original appearance to the world was less than stellar. Justin looks back at the agent, his expression hard. "I can do it. It wouldn't be hard to retrofit some of the existing ordinance projects we already have going. As I'm sure you're well aware, my delivery systems are one of the best." Most of them do, in fact, operate exactly as designed. It's just hard to look past the very glaring failures that have befallen the company.
Phil Coulson leans back in the golfcart chair. "Okay. I want you to do up some specs for a special payload. Something granular on delivery to be dispersed over a wide area. That 'something special' is currently classified, Mr. Hammer, but once I get a prototype of it, you'll have it. It's okay if the sand is partially vaporised, we don't mind the weapon having a gaseous component." He looks up at the ineffective chasises. "Those must be costing you a bundle."
Every time the conversation with Coulson seems to turn to an upward note, things come crashing down again. Justin nods slowly. "I'll get my engineers on it right away. I don't see it as being a problem." The CEO doesn't give a verbal response to the comment about the stripped down trucks that are lined up against one wall of the tunnel. Instead he just pushes his glasses up and rubs at his eyes with his left hand. The cocky overconfidence that was present in the man are pretty much gone now. "What kind of a deadline are you looking at for this project, Agent Coulson?"
Agent Coulson hops back into the cart and they speed off down the tunnel, making their way eventually back to the administration building. "We're looking at a six month design term, 2 months to prototype, four months to production program. Plenty of time to get things right." Or wrong as the case may be. But enough time, certainly. He pulls to a halt at the stairs back to the Administration lobby. "Can you work with that timeframe?" There's no talk about cost. If you have to ask, it's too expensive.
"Yeah, that sounds reasonable," Hammer responds, "I think we can get a solid design in six months since I don't think we'll have to start at ground level for this one." He has completely given up on the pretentious front, and is staying mostly neutral in his words. Business like, for once. When they arrive back at the stairwell that leads to the office tower, Justin finds himself slightly disturbed by the agent's seeming knowledge of his complex. That's just not right, somehow. He exits the golf cart as soon as it's stopped, straightening his suit coat and looking back at the SHIELD man.
Phil Coulson hops out of the cart and tugs down the back of his jacket to even the shoulders, and starts to head for the stairs. "Email me your cost projections soonest, our analysts will let you know if they're acceptable." Ten to twenty percent cost-overruns are managable. One hundred Percent or more, no way. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Hammer. I know the way out," he says, heading up the stairs at a light jog.
Around front, his black sedan pulls into position to pick him up, getting a good spot right up front. The doors of the sedan unlock at the touch of a button. Coulson's exit strategy is in full-go mode.
"I'll get the specs sent over A-S-A-P," is all Justin responds with. While he doesn't jog up the stairs he does follow Coulson up, as he wants to make sure the agent doesn't decide to go wandering unsupervised. He makes it up to the lobby of the office tower in time to see the agent board his sedan. Good enough. Turning on his heel he heads back toward the elevators, on his way back up to his office to start laying out the ground work for the new project. At least he has no shortage of irons in the fire at present.
Category:Log