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]

Madelyne rises off of the ground a few feet as she lowers the machinery to the position it is supposed to be in on the higher level. As she, carefully, releases it where it is supposed to reside, there is a soft creaking sound of the metal. It is just the sound of settling into position, though it might be anxiety creating. Turning in the air, the redhead has given in to closing her eyes, hands open wide in front of her.

[starknaked]

He tensed at that sound, watching and waiting. Any moment it was going to pitch, to fall, except that he trusted Maddy. There weren't many he would trust with his equipment but he did trust her. He wasn't sure why but he did.

"Maddy? You okay?"

[genequeen]

She holds up a finger toward him as she makes sure that everything is in place and is not going to come crashing down when she lets go of the entire piece. Pressing her lips together, she stops the rotation and then turns back toward Tony.

"It is in place. I don't think it is going anywhere, either. Not soon anyway."

Carefully, she lowers herself back down to the ground with a little bit of a slump in her shoulders. That may have been more of an effort than she made it out to be when he asked.

[starknaked]

He waits, silent for once. It wasn't always that Tony knew just how and when to shut up but this was his one chance at getting the suit up and running without waiting a good year or so to start over without the parts he had to help. He was going to give her all the time she needed.

"Okay. Then I just need to go up and secure it and then... We hope."

[genequeen]

"Do you need any help with that?"

She pulls in a breath and lets it out again slowly, as if re-grounding herself in the world of the real.

[starknaked]

He glanced at her. "Not yet, that I know. Now it's bolting it down, securing the arms, then setting up the conveyer. If it works, then I'm suited today. If not... I figure out what I've done wrong."

[genequeen]

"Well, let me know, you know, if I can do anything more to help," Madelyne adds as she pulls in a deep breath and then lets it out slowly.

[starknaked]

He didn't look at it though, turning to look at her. "Are you okay," he asked softly, worried about her breathing.

[genequeen]

"I'll be fine, Tony," she says with a smile. "I'm just a little winded. It was heavier than I thought it would be and I haven't... done anything like that in awhile."

[starknaked]

He didn't rush to help but he stayed focused on her and not the project, worried for her.

"Well, take a seat and let me get you a bottle of water. Or would you prefer juice," he asked, moving towards the fridge in the corner.

[genequeen]

"I'll be fine, Tony. Please, go check your machine and make sure I didn't mess anything up," she says smiling at him. "I can get juice for myself." It seems this is a woman who does not like, or at least is unused to people fussing over her.

[starknaked]

"Yes well, still doing it," he said, getting out a small jug of orange juice that he likely used for a mixer, pouring her some over a few ice cubes to keep it chilled.

"And neener neener, you can't stop me," he teased, coming over with the glass.

[genequeen]

Narrowing her eyes at him, she tries to understand why he is doing what he's doing. He is probably just trying to be nice, though she's not entirely certain about .

[starknaked]

He glanced over at her, pausing as he held out the glass.

“Okay, is there a reason I’m getting that look?”

[genequeen]

Carefully, she takes the glass, before shaking her head, "I'm just trying to understand. Don't worry, I'm strange."

[starknaked]

Tony was a brilliant man, but not always up to speed. Especially with women. "Trying to figure out what? It's orange juice."

[genequeen]

"You," she says. She's having a hard time saying much more than that but he might be able to fill in the blanks. Then again, maybe not. Looking at him, she laughs, "Go on then. Check your machine."

[starknaked]

"I'm pretty much cut and dry, Maddy. I'm not good at subterfuge, or did I miss the entire I'm Ironman speech in your world," he asked, arching a brow.

[genequeen]

"I don't know, honestly. I know that when I died, Tony Stark was known to be Iron Man but I really don't know how it happened," she says softly, before taking a drink of her juice.

"You're not cut and dried, or at least not as I understand people."

[starknaked]

"When you died. That's such a sentence," he said with a snort and a shake of his head. "In mine, I was asked, and the proper answer was deny, deny deny. I never did do proper well," he admitted with a laugh.

"In more ways than many. Been through too much for subterfuge. Games are another thing.'

[genequeen]

"You're telling me. I wasn't exactly expecting to come back, when I made the choices I made." Madelyne looks away and toward the city view of Taxon.

"I find I'm not much for games, myself."

[starknaked]

"We don't always get what we want," he said, wondering if staying dead was her choice, one that she didn't have now. Not like they had any major choices left for themselves in this town.

"Shame. I find some of them fun."

[genequeen]

"That we don't," Madelyne says with a small smile.

"Maybe I haven't played the right games, then. Most of the ones I've been involved with have been painful."

[starknaked]

And that had tugged at him, thinking about how he’d gotten what he wanted and lost it because of the other thing he’d gotten and hadn’t realized he wanted until he had it.


“I suppose that would be the truth, though I feel if the game ends painfully, it’s being played wrong.”

[genequeen]

"Exactly."

For a moment it looks like she might say something else but just shakes her head and sips at the juice. "Go check your machine and make me feel better that I didn't ruin it somehow."