2013.07.17 - Shards of Betrayal: Design Team

..and so it would come to pass that perhaps one of most bizarre, but appropriate, pairings ever is taking place in the Penthouse. Using the coffee table that doubles as a virtual work surface, there is a generic sniper rifle in wirework before the two. Tony has a drink, of course, as does Domino if she wants one or anything else she might want. "Okay, so, I was thinking about this. I actually want to include a wireless interface."
Would Domino like a drink? Hell, Stark may have to restock his bar after she's spent a few hours visiting. Great constitution for a little pale-skinned brat. Though not even alcohol can properly distract her from the wireframe diagram, in no time at all she's attempting to manipulate the image with her hands. Not in a constructive way, either. She just wants to spin it around some.
"When you say wireless interface, what are you thinking about? Auto-targeting optics, built in camera, remote firing..? That last one really kills the shooter experience, I'll add. Computers and I only get along so well."
Hard-coded data versus completely random luck. Someone has to win, and it's going to be her.
"I'm hoping that you've got some idea of what the intended targets would be, as well. I have no idea what we're up against, at this point the mission parameters could be anything."
Tony Stark nods, "Nothing like remote firing or optics, I was actually thinking of an artificial spotter. It'd be a tablet app that fed you the info into an earpiece based on what you see through your sight." he sips his scotch, "I look at snipers like artists. You don't devise things that do the work for them, you make stuff that helps them do what they do."
When Tony mentioned a 'working dinner' earlier in the day, Pepper made a mental note and checked to see which places would deliver and Tony had not visited recently. You know, all that good PA stuff. Thus, it comes to pass that Tony and Domino are studying a wirework image of a rifle, and Pepper lets herself into the penthouse carrying a takeout bag... that doesn't look to hold enough food for more than two people at best. Or half a Steve. Or a fifth of a Thor. Seeing that Tony isn't working alone, she hesitates. Because there isn't enough food.
To this..Domino hooks a brow upward (the white one, it's easier to notice,) and peers across the table at the single richest man she's ever shared a drink with. "So like a Siri-equipped rifle? That's ..huh." Actually, she's not sure just what to make of that.
The arrival of another person takes a moment to get through the albino's mind, hunched forward with a heavy leather trenchcoat still slung about her shoulders. A moment later and a pair of ghostly blue eyes seek out Pepper, appearing as though she hadn't been expecting further company. "Ah..hi."
She can only imagine how many times another woman's walked in on Tony while he's got company over, and how many times it involved the company of a woman and still managed to stay focused on business. She's heard about his reputation, and seen some of it first-hand. Then there's the matter of the food. Not a whole lot of it. Was something glossed over when evening plans had been discussed?
Back to Tony, she adds "Just make it sound better than a GPS when it's relaying information, I don't need 'in four hundred yards, target on right.'"
Tony Stark grins, "Right. I'll make it sound like me. Nothing like hearing me giving you windspeed and the degree of curvature to a target." he jokes, and lets you freely manipulate the wireframe model of the rife. "Feel free to pull or push to customize it to your own arms. You can pick it up like a real rifle." he looks over and smiles when he sees Pepper, "Miss Potts," he says, "how goes things this evening?"
Pepper Potts recovers when Domino looks up and offers a smile. "Good evening. I didn't realize you'd have company, Tony, so I ... well, I can order something else to go with this if you want." She raises the bag almost apologetically. The bag has the logo 'Grill 'Em All' on it. Other than having not ordered enough food, she seems completely unperturbed by Domino's presence.
Well now, a comment like that just begs for a sarcastic reply. "Ooo, I don't know if I'd be able to concentrate on pulling the trigger," Dom replies to Tony with a totally fake look about her. "Careful, or you may never see the finished design again."
Wait, hang on. She can hold the wireframe projection? Another blank look follows, this time staring at the model in question. Then, sure enough, she's got a three dimensional representation of the design right in her hands.
"Lightweight, easy to maneuver. I like that." Yeah, she's still being a brat. (Shorten the stock a little here, adjust the charging handle... Dang, I can even eject the mag. Sorta.)
This, too, proves to not be enough of a distraction. To say that she feels out of her element would be an understatement. She's in Stark Towers. A mercenary! Only the heroic sort when she gets lucky with a job. Should..she try for introductions? This is all so very bizarre, made even more so when she stands there with a wireframe representation of a rifle propped against a hip as she glances back to Pepper once more. "It was all kind of last minute. Name's Domino."
Please don't dig up info on that name, you won't like what you see.
"Miss Potts, Domino here is one of the more select in the freelance soldier field," a disembodied, posh British voice says from what seems like nowhere and every corner of the room. "Think along the lines of Black Widow, but without the inherent insanity of some of her more..colorful colleagues."
Tony rolls his eyes a bit at JARVIS. "Thank you JARVIS. Ever so helpful. Do us a favor and place an order with Grill 'Em All online, and double whatever it was Pepper ordered. Opt for deliver, and tip one hundred ten percent if it means getting the food before I turn geriatric. Thank you, JARVIS."
"Always a pleasure to be of service. I could be curing cancer right now."
Tony sighs. He looks at Pepper, "Well see? At least you're off the hook there. Domino, Pepper. Pepper, Domino. She's a friend of Squinty McShoutsalot." then he looks to Domino, "She's my right side, whatever I know. She knows. She's cool." he examins the rifle as Domino has it held. "Hold on a second." he says examining the rifle. - he looks down, looks like he's opening a couple of folders. Swipes a couple times. He then opens a panel on the wire work and pulls out the magazine and feeding system. He tosses them into a virtual trash can with a *clank* and then adds the new feeding system with a clip that looks like it'd fit in a standard Glock nine millimeter. "I'm gonna give you an early Christmas present."
Pepper ohs as Tony solves the food problem. "It's good to meet you, Domino." Well, at least she wasn't too braindead and remembered Tony's penchant for food divided into small, easy to deal with sizes and ordered the sliders. So they can get started on what she has already while waiting for the rest to arrive. She walks over to the bar and sets the food on a couple of plates ('cause it's mini-burgers and fries), then glances to see if Domino already has a beverage as she gets a bottle of sparkling water for herself. "Would anyone like a drink while I'm over here?" She's figuring Tony will want a refill on that scotch.
Someone here isn't used to JARVIS, or disembodied voices like that. Domino instantly snaps around, aiming the 'rifle' from one spot around the room to another before she catches herself, looking back at the nonexistent weapon with a frown.
It does help with the design characteristics, however. Opting to look thoughtful instead she tries to make a few more slight adjustments before the design is ultimately passed back over to Tony. At least this JARVIS thing kept her professional life discreet, point for it. "Well I am a fan of cool people. Nice to meetcha, Miss Right."
Miss Right, right side... She slays herself sometimes.
"Sure, top me off with rum? The one on the counter over there--yeah, thanks."
The trash can makes an artificial clanking sound, how hopelessly adorable. The changes that Tony makes to the design has her looking slightly perplexed. "For a rifle? That looks just a tad underpowered there, kiddo." She's assuming that really is the loading mechanism for a nine millimeter pistol. "As much as I'm in favor of early presents. Tend to get around Santa's blacklist that way."
Tony Stark holds up his rocks glass, "I could use another Johnny Walker..purple label." he smiles over at Domino, then looks up as if speaking to a higher power, "Oh when will they learn? I am a God of War, and yet you bring me the unpaptized atheists." he grins at Domino. He reaches down onto the work surface and swipes some more. Then he retrieves what looks to be a virtual briefcase. He opens the briefcase and opens another box. He pulls a round out of the box, which looks like a 9mm shell. "Meet the thing that was going to put Justin Hammer out of business before I took middle eastern vacay. The only thing it shares with 9mm is the look and the size. I've put the power of a seven-point-six-two fifty one millimeter in here." he chuckles, "Man, I used to be the Willy Wonka of War."
Pepper Potts brings over the plates of sliders and fries on one arm and the rum and Johnny to refill their glasses in the other, the plates both balanced as if she's got practice waiting tables. While wearing five inch heels. She sets everything down on a side table as the 'coffee table' is currently being used for design work then reaches over for Domino's glass first.
She glances at the virtual ammo that Tony reveals and winces mentally. Maybe even a bit literally. She remembers those -- they got mothballed with most everything else the two are currently playing with when Tony chose to shut down the weapons manufacturing side of Stark Industries. Does this mean he's changing his mind back? Or is this a one-off thing for Director Fury's buddy here?
It's still possible to impress Lady Luck. Tony manages to do just that by revealing one single bullet. On the outside it doesn't look that scary, she had even outright rejected the nine mil for her own daily use sidearms. Easy to deflect (her armor's rated against them,) poor stopping power, what have you. Yet here is the nine millimeter bullet from Hell.
"You're crazy. You're crazy and I adore it."
This changes things. Balance, fire components, barrel, heck even the optics. More rounds in less space, easier to operate due to a shorter mechanism, it's just..poetry in modern firearms design.
"You've just earned yourself a new pen pal," Dom announces before glancing back to Pepper with a lopsided smile and a nod (woo, sliders and rum! Her night's looking up.) "Helluva lot more fun than kicking around with Nick, and you're already speaking my language." Guns and booze. She can be an easy lady to please.
"So, tell me," she starts in with another glance between the two. Everything he knows, she knows. Very well. "I heard something about being up against elves? Do you know anything about these guys? Height, mass, body protection? Given half a choice I'm going to pull back and call shots from a full week outside of their range, I'll need high velocity and the flattest trajectory you can find. Bullet diameter's good, at three-oh-eight power I bet this sucker would turn someone inside out."
That said she takes a big bite out of a tiny burger, not disturbed in the slightest
Tony Stark can /feel/ Pepper's disdain. He doesn't even have to look behind him to know it. "Pepper, Thor's about to deal with his first fight since Odin took his siesta. Massive invasion on an Asgardian scale, which from what I hear makes the Battle of New York look like a Civil War skirmish." he motions to Domino, "This lady is Fury approved, and she's hopefully going to be able to stick out of close quarters and ping bad guys. I'm not reopening the works. Just taking a single thing out of mothballs. It's gonna come in handy with defending the realm and all that." he looks back to Domino, "You don't even know the best thing about that rifle yet. It'll change your game. After we're done, you get to keep it but I'll refit it with standard sniper rounds. I can't have someone even getting a hint of what these things can do, which is why we aren't even using them on this world."
Pepper Potts seems actually relieved by Tony's explanation, even though that's what she'd silently been REALLY hoping he'd say. "Are you going to be helping outfit Thor's troops as well?" Yes, she just went there, but then she doesn't realize that Hammer's already pitched in as well. Her reason for asking? She doesn't know if JARVIS's manufacturing platform can handle quite that much, and if Tony wants to try, she'll have to start placing orders post haste.
Domino, giddy? Maybe just a little. It's confirmed that she'll get to keep this toy (which she gets to help develop, how wicked is that!) and very likely have a chance to reconfigure it to any commercially available caliber that she can cram into the design. Her life does not suck.
"I wouldn't want a proprietary cartridge, anyway. Too easy to trace, too difficult to feed. We'll put this gal through her paces, get some real world ballistic feedback for your records, then kitbash the sucker." Complain, she will not.
Pepper's question earns her interest as well, not to mention it gives her a chance to kick back and enjoy the food and drink without being all gunsmith-happy with the projected schematics.
Kind of a shame the weapons R and D got shut down around here, she'd be tempted to look into an internship.
Tony Stark looks over and sips his scotch, "I haven't met with Thor yet to discuss, but I will when I go to Asgard. Probably not, since as medieval as they look that's all elegance. Their tech is more advanced than ours. Which is why I'm going on vacation again." the last phrase sounds ominous.
Vacation? Again? Pepper blinks at that as she refills his glass. "... any idea how long you'll be gone this time?" Please don't be gone another three months. The last time was torture enough. Even if this time wouldn't be an unplanned 'vacation'.
It's curious, watching these two from the sidelines. That, and the whole 'going on vacation' bit. Really, he would just toss some prototype designs into unfamiliar hands then kick back in Oahu for a week? (Or three months, if only she knew...) But, hey, it's not Dom's decision to make.
Other questions yet remain. Talk about Asgard and the battle itself seems to be shelved for the time being. Something confidential, maybe..? Perhaps these people are trying to figure out how well she can be trusted?
Eh, what it all comes down to is just another job for the merc. Here's a gun, here's some targets. Put A and B together while avoiding C. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Tony Stark shrugs, "I dunno, it depends on if Thor allows me access to Asgardian resources to research and build a suit with them for his special little party. I can rough it out there, and bring it back for JARVIS to fabricate. His attention returns to Domino as he takes a bite of a slider, he motions to the rifle and starts to speak. Stops. Swallows his bite of slider. THEN speaks, "No recoil. At all. Whatsoever. You squeeze the trigger, and it fires, and you don't even realize it's discharged until you see the FRM at a max range of two miles." he smirks at the end of that.
Pepper Potts ohs and nods as Tony explains his intention of staying on Asgard for the duration. That's ... kind of better. At least there she can get in touch with him if need be. And secondary bonus, he's eating. She reaches for one of the fries then stops as her phone rings. Looking at the caller ID, she answers it as she heads for the elevator. Apparently getting an order from Stark Tower with the promise of a hefty tip means food shows up ridiculously fast.
No recoil.
And now, here's Domino transfixed on but two words. Without saying anything she leans forward and starts eyeing the design in further earnest. "Didn't copy the Russian AN... Didn't copy the Kriss... Didn't--"
Why is this man not continuing to make weapons? The answer is probably sitting a short distance away from him. Pepper may well be behind that decision.
"Alright, sitrep. I'm going to be fighting on another world..or dimension, or whatever..with a perfectly recoil-less marksman rifle firing hypervelocity bullets smaller than the tip of my pinkie finger while the gun itself updates me with battlefield conditions as they evolve. By telling me. With words."
She leaves it hanging in the air for a moment before leaning back, allowing her own brain sufficient time to process those words.
"I love my job."
Tony Stark looks at Domino and pops the rest of the slider into his mouth. He chews, swallows, and then washes it down with some scotch. He gives Domino a level look, "So did I." he says flatly. He lets it sit there hanging there a moment, before he smiles broadly and says, "But I love my new one more."
Category:Log