04 [Central: Stark Tower - Open to Anything] A first class diva for all your Stark needs.

[starknaked]

Building and presenting the wind tunnel had actually made Tony happy. It was a scary thing to be happy with giving, and he blamed his time with the Avengers for such emotions. Whatever it was, he had thing to do in and about the Tower. If he was stuck here for the duration, then there was a lot that needed to be done.

Plans for the rooftop suit robotics were in place. He'd gotten things up and running on Taxon's electricity since the device he'd used for sustainable energy before hadn't proven compatible to this place. At least not yet. That left some of the little things.

Stepping into the lab, he heard movement. His first thought was Selina, though a mental image of Sherlock flashed through his mind as well. It turned out to be neither of them as the cylindrical head lifted, slowly tilting to one side quizzically.

His breath caught in his lungs. An award winning robot built when Tony was just seventeen and for all his issues with the thing, with it's lack of judgment in so many things, Tony suddenly felt a little less cut off from his life to see Dummy there.

For a long time he was silent before stepping into the room and crossing to stand before the robot.

"You've been slacking," he said, waggling a finger at the robot. Dummy's head tilted the other way. "Don't give me that. We've got work to do."

Pausing, he clunk his brow against that cylindrical "head" before turning away. "Right. Work. Come on."

An hour later he was on a ladder, mounting one of a series of cameras to the outside of the building. This one over the main door, pointing at the spot before a buzzer. He looked up into the camera.

"Link the locks with the camera and link it into the facial recognition hardware," he said to the robot inside, his tablet blinking through the entire moment as he'd found Dummy and building the cameras as it broadcasted. He really didn't pay it any attention.

Climbing down from the later, he pulled a flat, engraved panel from his back pocket. Using a drill and masonry bit, he mounted the plaque beside the buzzer.

STARK TOWER
Ring buzzer for admittance
Smile for the camera and the facial recognition software

If you're Sherlock, the US government, or somehow Fury...
Make an appointment for two weeks from never

Comments

[genequeen]

"He's always been a good teacher," she says. There is something in her voice but she's keeping most of it internal, so it is hard to pinpoint, exactly, what that tone is really.

"Well, that's good. Otherwise we might have a problem." She's joking.

Mostly.

[starknaked]

Tony laughed. "I'm sure he is for someone that has a need to learn. Me, I know what I'm doing, just used to having more assistance with the bigger projects. He just saves me having to teach someone myself."

He arched a brow. "You came to my lab, not the other way around."

[genequeen]

"I didn't think of it as a lab before. Sorry," she says with a small smile. "A lot of bad experiences. Not enough test tubes or specimin tanks here, though."

She moves closer to look at what he's doing, "Useful. Yeah, he's that too."

[starknaked]

"Imventors have to work somewhere. Stopped using the living room when I destroyed mom's carpet," he admitted.

"Though, when I get this done, I may need your help getting it into place on the roof. Well, on the edge of the ruined part of the building."

[genequeen]

"Sure. Happy to help. This will help you get in and out of your suit, right?" Madelyne looks toward him and then the device.

"I think you're a long way past destroying carpets."

[starknaked]

Nodding, he moved around to the other side, coming closer to her, to work on another piece of the machine.

"If I can get it working, that's exactly what it'll do."

He paused, glancing at her. "You would think but... Gaping hole."

[genequeen]

"I think gaping holes in buildings are much further along than destroying carpets," she says with a smile. Madelyne looks toward him and then the machine again.

"I'm not as good at this sort of thing as Scott it but I've built an airplane. So... if I can help?"

[starknaked]

"I can't take all the blame for it, but I suppose building it in the first place made it a target. For him," he said with a roll of his eyes. Damned Loki.

"Well, the big thing right now is getting these two arms to line up. I've spent two hours running back and forth but Dummy hasn't been much help. Want to take up the other side?"

[genequeen]

"These two arms," she asks pointing to what she thinks he's refering to on the machine.

"I can hold them both and you can do what it is you need to do with them? And who is Dummy?"

[starknaked]

The two pieces arched together in the middle, intending to move over him to direct the other devices in moving the pieces as they were deactivated. “Yep, those. I need them lined up precisely so I can weld the computer boards into them.”

He gave a nod to the corner. The robot was a basic structure with a cylindrical head. “Dummy, say hello to the lady.”

His head lifted, realizing he was being spoken to. The head tilted to one side and then dropped in a bow.

[genequeen]

Madelyne gives a quick curtsey to Dummy, even as she holds the pieces together. There is a furrow between her brows as she straightens. Holding things perfectlystill is not usually something she does a lot of, so it takes a different level and type of concentration.

"Do what you need to do, Tony."

[starknaked]

He smiled at the way they greeted one another. Picking up the welding torch, he slid a mask over his face and moved in to get things in place and ensure they wouldn't be moving.

Once that was done he got the bolts into place on the hinges that would allow it to move. He was quick, as quick as he could be for, well, a human.

[genequeen]

"Holding things still is hard," she comments idly. "I should try picking up and holding heavy things perfectly still more." There is a thread of strain creeping into her voice but she doesn't sound concerned about it.

If anything, she seems happy about it.

[starknaked]

"I'm almost done," he said, voice tight as he worked to get it put together, working a bit faster for her sake. "Nope. No need to hurt yourself for me," he said, giving it a final twist.

"There we go," he said, straightening. "If you let go and it falls, then I messed it up." Which Tony Stark didn't do.

[genequeen]

"I'm fine, Tony. I don't have a lot of things that allow me to work my powers," Madelyne says as he finsihes up. Slowly, once he says he's done, she releases the pieces.

"I'm not hurting anything. It is like going to the gym for my mind."

[starknaked]

He considered that, affixing two pins to keep the device in place. "You should do what I'm doing. Making work. Long as I've got all this to work on, I don't stop and think about this place," he admitted.

"So long as you're not hurting yourself. Can't have that."

[genequeen]

"I work on the plane I found but I think it is as clean and well-maintenanced I can make it at this point," she says with a smile.

"I might start making a new one at this point in order to add work. Or just fly all day."

[starknaked]

"Guess I'll have to find work for you here," he said, pausing to rub the back of his wrist over his brow.

"Why not make it from scratch?"

[genequeen]

"I've never tried that and I don't think I'd want to use the the hatch in order to fabricate parts," she says softly in thought.

"I wasn't made to be idle, I think, but it would be nice to relax, though."

[starknaked]

Tony set down his torch, giving her a look. "You could try asking the genius inventor you know to help you make parts rather than trusting those things. Just saying, you know."

[genequeen]

"That would be rather presumptuous of me, don't you think?"

The rehead looks over at him with a lift of her shoulders.

[starknaked]

"It might be. Or it might be a way of him paying you back for all your help since he arrived in this place. Also, it might make him stop talking about himself in the third person."

[genequeen]

"Well, I don't know if I know of a force strong enough to stop that from happening," she says smiling. Madelyne looks at Tony Stark and can't help but see how this man ended up with the reputation he does at home as a smooth ladies man. There is a charm about him that seems effortless.

"If you insist but I say that I haven't helped you that much. Not really."

[starknaked]

"I tend to use first person," he noted. "It's more egotistical that way. Third is pretending that I'm not ego driven. I know my ego has it's own zipcode. I had it registered," he admitted, teasing and smiling at her as he moved around to continue putting the machine together.

"Perhaps not yet but you can. Trust me, there's a lot more that needs to be done here."

[genequeen]

"I guess it depends on how you look at it, really. Refering to yourself in the third person has a certain level of pretention that comes with it. There is a reason that monarchs get to do it without people looking at them strangely," she says moving closer to the machine and, coincidentally, Tony.

"I am interested in helping, certainly. I'm not entirely certain how much I can but I'm willing to try."