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

[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."

[starknaked]

“That would be because they make the laws and they’re all bugfuck nuts,” he said with a deadly seriousness that only came with playing. Glancing to Madelyne and then to the machine, considering where he was at on rebuilding it to work here in Taxon.

“I think that we could make this work, including me working on plans for plane parts. If you’d like.” He wasn’t sure how much of what he needed he could find in Taxon but trying could be interesting.

[genequeen]

"I am certainly interested in keeping busy, at the very least. Whether that's building a new plane or helping you fix this place, I very much want to keep busy. Too much time on my hands isn't good for anyone," she comments as she raises her hands to twist her hair back away from her face.

[starknaked]

"Yeah, how I feel," he admitted. "I don't like the idea of just sitting idle here. I think I would go crazy," he said, then smirked. "Or crazier."

He looked at her, and then at the device he was working on. "What do you know about actual machinery building? Other than plane engines?"

[genequeen]

"You're not crazy. At least not in the way I understand crazy," she says and looks at her hands for a few moments.

"I know engines of all sorts but not a lot about electrics. I can, sort of, read a schematic," she says, not wanting to promise help she can't actually give.

[starknaked]

"Me either. Not after having met Loki. He kind of gives me the sane credentials even my haters can't touch," he said, definitely amused by the turn of this conversation.

He nodded. "That could work. Once I have this put together, and working, I have a desire to try and get Jarvis back online in some way shape or form," he admitted, missing the AI more than he cared to admit.

[genequeen]

"He's a ... he's unique, Loki," Madelyne says softly. Pressing her lips together, she lets out a long breath through her nose.

"Jarvis? Your... computer?"

[starknaked]

"You're too kind for him," he said with a snort. "Though I think about as much of him as I do my government. The went to nuke New York," he admitted, shaking his head, remembering that fear.

"He's more than a computer, but he needs computer impute," he corrected, using a rag to wipe his brow. "That's the problem I've been running into."

[genequeen]

"He is .... complicated but, yes, the god of chaos and mischief is most certainly crazy," Madelyne says with a small smile on her lips.

"More than a computer, then. I am afraid I don't know enough to help you with that. Computers and I... are only passing acquaintences."

[starknaked]

That got a frown from Tony. "You sound almost like you're defending him," he said, the wounds still fresh for him. Especially as he was blaming all of this, being here, on Loki.

"I'm not sure anyone can," he admitted. "I'm just unwilling to keep trying."

[genequeen]

"I'm not defending him. I just know what he is and how that predicts his interactions with the world," she says giving a small shrug. "There aren't a lot of options on the wheel when it stops spinning."

"I know what that's like."

[starknaked]

He realized how he sounded, tossing down the rag with a sigh. “Sorry. Just the thought of him being around long enough for anyone to get to know the way he interacts? Just leaves me tense. I apologize, Maddy,” he said with a nod.

“How most are here, from what I can tell.”

[genequeen]

"Thank you but no need to apologize to me for being defensive about Loki. You're not the only one to have run into the force of chaos that he is," she says with a small smile.

[starknaked]

"Not being the only one doesn't mean I get shitty about you sounding like you... Oh God, don't tell me you think he's cute," he asked, gasping and going wide eyed. "Nooooo."

[genequeen]

Madelyne's eyes go wide for a moment.

"No, well, I guess sort of, but he offered me power once and I had to turn him down," she says looking a little embarrassed. Of course, she turned Loki down but not the ones who came later.

[starknaked]

Oh but Tony wasn’t letting this one go. It was too much fun and, for Tony Stark, it was all about his fun. “You think he’s cute,” he accused, barely holding back laughter.

Right until he realized what she’d said.

“He offered you…” He tried to imagine someone like Maddy on Loki’s team. He winced at the very thought. “But you turned him down,” he pointed out. “That’s what matters. You can’t help some psychotic primadonna saw in you what others likely do as well.”

[genequeen]

She can't help blushing a little bit because, well, Loki /is/ attractive - until you take in the complete and total lack of anything remotely resembling sanity.

"He offered me the ability to heal, it was before I had any powers of my own, I ha....." Madelyne frowns at him and tilts her head to the side, baffled, "Saw in me?"

[starknaked]

"You're smart, attractive, and have the potential to completely and utterly lead things into insanity like he is. Not yourself but others as well. I can see what he saw. That said, so glad you didn't take it. I'd hate to have to loathe you right now," he admitted.

[genequeen]

"Oh. Well."

Madelyne clears her throat and looks awkward for a few moments and then smiles, a self-deprecating expression, "Well, I did try to send New York to Hell, once, so neither of you is all that wrong about me."

[starknaked]

He considered that, arching a brow. "That is really only putting you on par with the government. Definitely not Loki level of douche."