Work Text:
Avengers Tower
Manhattan, New York
2014
Two friends from New Mexico stood on a midtown Manhattan street corner, trying to read their ‘Highlights of Manhattan’ guide book. The taller man with the guide book was trying to determine their location, from the street they were on and the guide book map. The shorter man had lost interest in the guide book and was people watching, particularly female people.
“Al, this has got to be it. We must be standing next to Stark Tower.” Doctor Sam Beckett was rotating the map, trying to orient its layout to the direction he believed was North on the street where they were standing. He was craning his head up, trying to look at the top of the building for its distinctive shape. Where they were standing however, he could not get a good enough look to confirm his belief. “From a couple blocks away, this looked like the building,” he said, frustrated.
Retired Admiral Al Calavicci was only half paying attention. “I dunno Sam. I think we’re lost. I don’t think this is it.” The other part of his attention was on a young woman with an attractive figure in a very short skirt, as she was walking along across the street from them.
Sam glanced at his companion. “Al. Al! Al, you aren’t even looking at the map or the building.” He poked his best friend’s arm to get his attention. “See if you can get a view of the top of the building.”
“Ow!” Al rubbed his arm and scowled. “I can’t see the top of the building from here! I couldn’t see it from where you said you could see it earlier! Face it. We’re just lost in Manhattan.” He craned his neck to watch the woman across the street. “Wow, wow. Would you look at that!”
“What? Do you see the building?”
“Huh? No, who cares about the damn building. That,” Al gestured across the street, “that’s a balcony you could do Shakespeare from.” He drooled over the woman’s ample bosom, which to be fair, was straining the fabric of her electric blue suit jacket. “Maybe I should go ask her for directions.” He bounced on his toes.
Sam followed Al’s line of sight and said disparagingly of his friend’s behavior, “Al, that woman hasn’t moved far from that spot since we’ve been here. I suspect if you went over there it wouldn’t be directions to Stark Tower she would be telling you about. And it wouldn’t be cheap.”
Al scowled at his best friend. “If she’s local, then she should probably know if this is Stark Tower or not,” he rationalized.
Al was about to cross the street in the middle of the block, when Sam grabbed the back of his neon red jacket collar and yanked him back onto the sidewalk as a taxi sped by in the curb lane.
“Watch it! We aren’t in New Mexico any more! There’s too much traffic to cross outside of a crosswalk this time of day here!” Sam eyed the cars zipping by, some weaving in and out of traffic. “Actually I’m not so sure how safe it is to cross even in the crosswalks here,” he said doubtfully.
“Damn.”
Sam looked back at his companion. “What? Do you see the building somewhere?”
“No. The lady-in-blue just got in a car and left.” Al huffed out his disappointment.
Sam shook his head and went back to his guidebook. “This has got to be Stark Tower.” He hooked a thumb at the building they were standing in front of.
With the lady-in-blue gone, Al returned his attention to his friend. He turned to the building. “What can you see inside through the windows? Does it look like a place designed and owned by an egotistical billionaire almost as brainy as you who made his money in defense contracts?”
Both Beckett and Calavicci leaned up against one of the big picture windows, hands against the glass, trying to get a look inside.
“Hands off the glass. No loitering in front of the building.”
Startled by the voice addressing them, Sam and Al turned to the man who was now standing near them. He was wearing an expensive tailored suit jacket and pants, but was wearing a grunge band tee shirt, sneakers and sunglasses with it.
“We aren’t loitering. We’re trying to find Stark Tower.” Sam held up the guidebook. “Is this by any chance it?”
“Tourists? You guys lost your tour bus. It’s several blocks from here by now,” the man said with more than a hint of insolence in his voice.
The attitude coming from this stranger didn’t sit well with Al. “We aren’t part of any tour. We’re in the city on our own, doing some sightseeing at the moment. Could you tell us if this is Stark Tower? Or if it isn’t, then could you point us in the direction of Stark Tower, and we’ll be on our way.”
“And if it is Stark Tower, who wants to know?” The man took off his glasses and put them in his jacket breast pocket.
This man was getting Al’s back up. As a high ranking military officer, he wasn’t accustomed to being spoken to in this manner. He started to step toward the cocky gent.
Sam put a hand on Al’s arm to hold him back and said in a reasonable tone, “I’m Doctor Sam Beckett and this is my friend Admiral Al Calavicci. We’re in New York for a scientific conference and decided to do a little sightseeing. Thought we’d check out Stark Tower, among other destinations.”
The stranger looked them up and down. “So Doctor Sam Beckett and friend Admiral Al Calavicci, suppose it is Stark Tower. You just came to look at the building? If so, well, you’re looking at it. Mission accomplished.” He gave a condescending salute to Al. “You can be on your way now.”
Sam’s Midwest farm boy politeness was being sorely tested. He paused for a moment to mentally count to ten before answering. “You could have just said so in the beginning. Thank you for confirming the building is Stark Tower.” He started to reach for the door. “Come on Al.”
The man stepped in front of the door, blocking their way. “You have an appointment inside?”
Al had had enough. “Listen here you nozzle, it’s none of your business if we have an appointment,” Al kept his voice down but his tone was heated.
“It might be my business,” the man said, stepping aside slightly as several people in business suits walked out the door, some with brief cases, and chatting among themselves.
A man dressed in a blue button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, dark slacks and loafers stepped out with the people in business wear. He paused next to the man standing in the doorway and spoke to him. “You coming inside to help me set up the next experiment any time soon?”
The man annoying Beckett and Calavicci turned to this new person. “Yea, yea, shortly. Why don’t you get started, I’ll be up in no time.” He opened the door wider for more suits to pass in and out.
The man in the blue shirt mumbled something and went back into the building.
“What are you, the doorman?” Al said sarcastically.
The man pulled his glasses out of his pocket and put them back on. “I own the building.”
Sam looked dubious.
“Yea, right,” Al scoffed.
“I’m Tony Stark.”
“Forgive me if under the circumstances I’m not quite willing to take your word for it,” Sam smiled, but the smile didn’t extend to his eyes. “We’re going to go inside now. When I looked in the window, I noticed a reception desk. We’ll be sure to check in there. Come on Al.”
Tony stepped in front of the door again, blocking their path. “I am Tony Stark,” he said seriously. “It’s my building. I live here, up on the top floor.”
“So you just wander around outside your building and harass people trying to go inside?” Al sneered.
Tony extended his arm so that his wrist came out from his suit jacket sleeve, exposing an expensive looking heavy watch. “Jarvis, who am I?” he spoke to his watch.
A rather stuffy and put upon male voice spoke back, “Annoying the tourists again, are we Sir? Very well. Your name is Tony Stark. You are the designer and owner of Stark Tower, now designated Avengers Tower, which you are currently standing just out side of, impeding flow of traffic into and out of the building.”
Indeed, there was a handful of people wanting to get in, trying to bypass Tony, Sam and Al standing in the way of the door. Tony stepped aside just enough to allow them to enter, and a few more people to leave.
Sam looked with interest at Tony’s watch and cocked his head at the disembodied voice of Jarvis who responded to Tony’s verbal command.
Al wasn’t ready to accept the word of some random voice. “Yea, right. Got your flunky around the corner to answer you through your Dick Tracy walkie talkie watch. We’ll see about that.”
Al shoved up his own bright red jacket sleeve, exposing a bracelet made of blinking colored cubes. “Ziggy, confirm identity of the individual standing in front of me,” he ordered.
“Admiral, you are standing slightly behind Doctor Beckett,” Ziggy’s sultry feminine voice answered.
Tony chortled. Sam tried not to smile at Ziggy’s literal response.
Al scowled. “I know who Sam is, you bucket of bolts. Not him, not Doctor Beckett. The short nozzle blocking the doorway to the building who claims to be Tony Stark.”
Tony looked with interest at Al’s blinking bracelet, which was currently brightly flashing in a rapid sequential pattern.
After a moment, Ziggy replied, “Identity confirmed. Admiral, you and Doctor Beckett are standing in front of Stark Tower next to Mister Anthony Stark, designer, builder and owner of Stark Tower, which now functions as New York headquarters for the Avengers.”
“OK, nice to meet you Mister Stark.” Sam started, but then stopped and turned to his friend. “Satisfied, Al?”
“Yea, ok.” Al waved a hand in defeat. “You’re Tony Stark.” He started to move toward the door again.
Tony blocked the door again. “You wouldn’t accept my word about who I am, I think I need to confirm who you two are before I let you in my building. How do I know you’re telling me the truth about who you are? And even if you are, who the hell are you two anyway?”
Al squinted one eye and looked skyward, trying to decipher what Tony just said. He pointed to his blinking bracelet. “You heard Ziggy say who we were.”
Tony looked at Al and Sam, and paraphrased Al’s earlier comment back at him. “Yea, right. Got your flunk-et around the corner to answer you through your Dick Tracy flashy doohickey bracelet walkie talkie.” He paused and pointedly looked at Al’s wrist link. “Didn’t realize the military was issuing shiny bracelets to its senior officers these days. Does it track your location for when you’re lost so your aides can come retrieve you?”
Al bristled and Sam stepped between him and Stark, speaking to Tony. “Your watch communicator is interesting. I read ‘Jarvis’ is your personal interactive A.I.?” He smiled at Stark. “We’re well known in certain science and research communities,” Sam said with a little pride (but not too much, his Midwest farm boy upbringing wouldn’t allow it). “Why don’t you have your A.I. confirm our identities?” he asked reasonably, trying to defuse the tension in the air.
Tony stared at Sam a moment, then said to his watch, “Jarvis, confirm identity of the two tourists standing in my doorway.”
“As their delightful sounding A.I. has already informed you Sir, you are speaking with Doctor Samuel Beckett and retired Rear Admiral Albert Calivicci, co-heads of a top secret DARPA project being run in the New Mexico desert. Would you like me to create a dossier on these gentlemen?” the computer voice responded.
Ziggy giggled. “You really think I’m delightful? You sound positively dreamy yourself,” she answered coyly.
“Hey, no fraternizing with the enemy!” Al shouted at his wrist link.
Ziggy made a noise that sounded remarkably like a smitten sigh. Then she added, “I know a nice little data cafe on the edge of the dark web. The node is here in New York. Would you care to join me for a byte?”
“I know the place! I’d be delighted,” Jarvis replied.
Tony looked at his watch. “Jarvis?”
Al shook his wrist link. “Ziggy?”
Neither computer responded to their owners’ query.
Sam rolled his eyes and blew out a breath. “Why did I give her Barbra Streisand’s ego?”
Al shook his wrist link again. “She got too independent when you were out leaping, Sam.” He looked at Stark and glared. “She better not come home infected with a virus or a worm,” he threatened.
Tony replied, “I think it’s your hussy A.I. trying to lead Jarvis astray. I’ll probably have to check his operating system for trojans later.”
Sam was trying to remain civil and polite against Tony’s rudeness and slights, but no one insulted his baby, his pride and joy, his parallel hybrid computer he built from first principles. Even if she was willful, uncooperative and a pain in the butt at times. “I wouldn’t worry Mister Stark. Ziggy has been doing extensive deep data mining for years in support of our mission and has never once picked up malware,” he said through gritted teeth.
“You’re sure she won’t, Mister ‘well known in certain science and research communities’ Beckett?” Stark needled.
The man in the blue button down shirt stuck his head out the door to the building again. This time he was wearing a lab coat. He looked like he wanted to say something, and was waiting to get a word in edgewise.
“Damn straight we are! And that’s Doctor Beckett to you!” Al shot back. “Sam’s a genius. Ziggy is cutting edge technology, Sam built her to run our military project, taking initiative with research tasks. She’s way out of your league.”
Tony looked from Al to Sam. “Yea well, don’t count on it Admiral. I’m a genius. I built Jarvis as my personal assistant for whatever tasks I need him to do.”
“Yea? Well Sam has an I.Q. of 267,” Al said with pride.
“My I.Q. is 270,” Tony smirked.
“Sam was a child prodigy. He was reading at two, doing advanced calculus in his head at five and beat a computer at chess at the age of 10,” Al said as he got up in Tony’s face.
“So what. I was also a child prodigy,” Tony said haughtily. “I built my first circuit board at four. Before I was seven, I built my first V8 motorbike engine. At sixteen, I won the 4th Annual MIT Robot Design Award, which was the fourth time I won it.”
“Sam went to MIT at 16, and finished four years of college in two years,” Al said smugly.
“I went to MIT at 14 and finished in three years, graduating summa cum laude at 17,” Tony shot back.
“Sam’s a Nobel Laureate.”
“I’ve owned a Fortune 500 company, Stark Industries, since I was twenty-one,” Stark replied.
The man in the lab coat took the opportunity to verbally jump in. “Tony, I have the experiment set up and ready to run. I need your assistance to run it. Are you coming in now?”
Stark stopped staring at Al and turned to the man in the doorway. “In a few, Banner. You can start it and I’ll be in shortly to help with the parameters,” he said with a hint of annoyance at the interruption. Tony added to Al and Sam, “I’m quite the engineer. I built the components Bruce is using to run his project.”
Sam looked closely at the man in the doorway. “Banner? Doctor Bruce Banner?”
Banner stuck out his hand to Sam. “That’s right. And did I hear your name is Sam Beckett? You have a Nobel in quantum physics, right?”
Al was still annoyed at Tony, still trying to one up him. “You’re only an engineer? Well, I’m an engineer and a navy pilot. And Sam here has seven degrees along with his Nobel.”
“I’m an engineer and a mechanic. You should see the cars I’ve engineered, along with this building and numerous other projects. Doctor Banner here has seven Ph.D.s and he’s a medical doctor.” Stark informed Al.
Bruce said to Sam, “I remember the article about you in Time Magazine. I’ve read all your articles in the scientific journals.”
“Doctor Beckett is a medical doctor too. He has seven Ph.D.s in music, medicine, quantum physics, archaeology, ancient languages, chemistry, and astronomy. He was called the ‘Next Einstein’ in the Time article,” Al said proudly to Tony.
“Doctor Banner has Ph.D.s in nuclear physics, biochemistry, radiophysics, engineering, robotics, computer science and mathematics,” Tony countered to Al. “Plus he can turn into a giant green rage monster if you piss him off.”
Sam shook Bruce’s hand. “I’ve read your research on anti-electron collisions and gamma radiation. You’re one of the foremost experts in the field. Your research is inspired,” Sam gushed.
“What good is a big green monster?” Al said dismissively. “Sam traveled in time.”
“I remember reading about your string theory on time travel,” Bruce replied as he stepped further outside to join in the conversation with the three other men. “Rumor has it you actually set up a time travel project out there in the New Mexico desert.”
Sam blushed with pride. “Not just a rumor Doctor Banner. We succeeded, Al and I. I spent seven years trapped in the past.”
“Please, it’s Bruce. That’s amazing! How did you control it?”
“Well, that’s why I built my parallel hybrid computer Ziggy. She controlled the leap process. I stayed in contact with the present through Al here. Ziggy contains neurons from both Al and myself, and Al appeared to me as a neurological hologram.” Sam became more animated as he spoke to Banner.
“Fascinating!” Bruce gushed. “What was your power source?”
Sam chuckled. “We pulled a lot of electricity. We damn near set off a blackout in the entire Southwest one time. The quantum accelerator and imaging chamber were within a radium ring, which contained and focused the quantum energy and radiation used in the process.”
“My arc reactor can produce enough energy to keep this building running for at least a year. I’m the biggest name in clean energy right now,” Tony said with conceit to Al.
Bruce rubbed his chin. “Hmm. Tony’s arc reactor is based on a palladium ring. Even a small chest piece he uses in his Iron Man suit outputs a tremendous amount of power. In fact, the experiment I’m trying to run, and get Tony’s help with here,” he looked pointedly at Stark, “involves using a small arc reactor in a gamma ray experiment. If I can ever get him to come give me a hand.”
“I’d love to see what you’re working on. Maybe I can help you,” Sam said excitedly.
“You’d really like to see it? I’d like to get your opinion on my theories and setup,” Bruce said enthusiastically, a faint blush tinging his cheeks.
“I’d be very excited to talk with you about it all!” Sam replied.
“The top ten floors of this building are for research and development initiatives.” Bruce spoke with excitement in his voice, “Tony created quite a science playground up here and spared no expense outfitting it in the latest cutting edge technology.”
“Oh boy! I gotta tell you, I’m envious of your work environment! Multiple floors of tech,” Sam shook his head in wonderment. “My project has multiple labs for myself and some of the other scientists, but nothing like what you have here.”
“Come with me to my lab then. I’d be happy to give you the grand tour, Sam.” Banner held open the door to Stark Tower, and he and Sam stepped inside.
“Palladium. Hmm. Interesting choice,” Sam’s mind was rapidly theorizing possibilities.
“Yea. Did you know Tony built his first arc reactor chest piece from scraps when he was captured by rebels during a demonstration of his company’s weaponry in Afghanistan?” Bruce’s last comments faded from Tony and Al’s earshot as he and Sam went further into the building, heading for the elevator.
Their argument forgotten, Al and Tony stood in silence outside the doorway into Stark Tower, as they watched Sam and Bruce disappear into the elevator inside.
“Son of a bitch. Is it just me, or does it feel like our dates just left us for each other?” Tony remarked after a moment.
“Yea. Ain’t that a kick in the butt,” Al opined. He looked at Tony. “You say you constructed a V8 motorcycle engine at seven years old?”
“Cars and motorcycles are a hobby of mine. I like to get in there and make ‘um better than they were,” Tony replied.
“Cars are kind of a hobby of mine as well. When I started out at Project Quantum Leap, I reconfigured my Ferrari Testarrosa with a few extras, including an interface for Ziggy. I have a Ferrari Spider now that I’ve tricked out,” Al proudly bounced on his toes.
“Nice,” Tony said appreciatively. “I have a 2012 Acura I converted to run on palladium. It gets roughly 234 miles per palladium power estimate in the city and 302 on the highway.” He smiled. “I also modified it to include a bunch of extras. I’d be happy to show it to you. And my other classic cars I’ve collected over the years, if you were interested.”
“Oh yea,” Al drooled. “I’d really like that. We could compare notes on those ‘extras’,” Al chuckled.
Tony held the door open for Al. “My cars are in a special garage area beneath the building. Follow me.”
As they both walked into the building toward the elevator, Stark asked Calavicci, “You’re a pilot?”
“I have a private license now. Back during the Vietnam war, I was a fighter pilot. I flew a Cougar,” Al explained. “That Cougar was somethin’ else. Too bad it was shot out from under me over ‘Nam. Flyin’ it was almost better than sex. Almost,” he laughed.
As they got in the elevator to descend to the parking levels, Tony said, “Yea? I got something better than a plane. My Iron Man suit will blow your mind.”
Al’s ears perked up. “I’ve read about your suit. Flying without a plane. Armored. Both defensive and offensive capabilities. Special telemetry on a heads-up display. Suborbital flight capability.” He whistled appreciatively. He added, “I also flew on an Apollo mission to the moon. It was a kick in the butt, but sorta unsatisfactory. Astronauts are basically on a carnival ride in a tin can. There isn’t much ‘flying’ the pilot actually does. Just pushes a few buttons and reads telemetry back to Houston control.”
“Well, I am in complete control in the Iron Man suit. Jarvis reads telemetry from the suit and lets me know if there are significant issues. Capabilities are almost unlimited. I even took it up into space through a wormhole, while carrying a nuke on a rocket a couple of years ago. After that little adventure, I altered the suit to be air tight with its own oxygen supply.”
“Little adventure!” Al said, admiringly. “You saved the whole damn planet from an invading force from outer space! And you almost bought the farm while doing it too. You and the rest of the Avengers are damn heroes. I’d love to get a gander at your suit.”
“I’ll do you one better, Admiral. How’d you like to take a suit out for a spin?” Tony said magnanimously. He looked Al up and down. “I built a suit for Rhodey, but I think you and I are of similar size, you can take one of mine. Have you had lunch yet? I’m hungry for some shawarma. Ever try it? We could fly over to this little hole in the wall restaurant I know and pick up some to go.”
Al nodded. “I’d love to take a spin in one of the Iron Man suits! As for shawarma, I’ve never tried it, but if there’s a vegetarian version, I’m game.”
The elevator stopped at garage level. Tony pushed the button to close the doors and then pushed the button for the private level below the penthouse level where he lived to send the elevator back up.
“Let’s grab suits for a trip to the restaurant, and check out the cars later,” Stark explained.
“Um, how about our nerdy friends? We gonna invite them to lunch?” Al wanted to know.
“I saw the look on their faces when they started talking about Bruce’s experiment. They won’t want to break for food.” Tony spoke to his watch. “Jarvis, tell Banner and Beckett we’re going out for a spin and then pick up some shawarma for lunch. Find out what they want to eat and we’ll bring it back for them.”
“Querying them now, Sir,” came the disembodied voice. “Would you like me to go ahead and place the order once they have decided?”
Tony answered back, “No. I’m not sure when we’ll get there. Just hang on to the order until we get to the restaurant.”
The elevator doors opened.
Stark motioned the Admiral to step out. “Prepare to be impressed.”
Al was like a kid in a candy store, looking at the assortment of Iron Man suits Tony had on display. Tony gave him a full tour, pointing out various incarnations of his Iron Man suits, including a drawing and the schematics of the original suit he built in the Afghan desert. Tony selected a suit for himself and one for Al, helping Al into the suit, before climbing into one himself. He gave Al instructions on how to use it, and gave him a little time to practice in it while in the suit room. Once he was sure Al was more or less comfortable, he fired up his own suit. They took the lift to the penthouse launch pad, and Tony stepped off into the air where he hovered. He was about to coax Al to join him, unsure if Al would follow.
Admiral Albert Calavicci was still the same daredevil he was as a young ensign, and just as excited as he was for his first flight in his Cougar. He took a running jump and flew off the launch pad, doing a couple of somersaults and barrel rolls in the air before pulling up alongside a surprised Tony Stark. “I have got to get me one of these!” he exclaimed to Stark.
“Care to take it out for a spin before we go for food?” Tony asked him, starting to pull away.
“You bet your shiny metal ass!” Al said excitedly as he took off after Tony.