Chapter 2
TONY
Innovation Center
Tony Stark stood in the elevator as it descended towards the ground floor below, fixing his tie so it wouldn't be crooked. He took off is sunglasses before slipping them into his pants pocket before running a hand through his hair. He could already tell that it was going to be a long day. "JARVIS, which investors are we meeting today?"
"The Verizon Wireless ones, sir." Came a voice from around him within the elevator.
"Did Natasha get the boys?"
"Yes sir. She took them to the hotel room like you asked."
"Good. I'll be able to meet with them around one with time to spare?"
"I believe so, sir."
"Good, good." he sighed, his thoughts going to the two boys. He hadn't been in their lives as much as he would have liked after he took up the job at being the Park Operations Manager. He is hopeful that he could spend the day tomorrow with them though. A ding caused him to glance at his watch as the elevator slowed to a stop. "Three minutes late...not bad."
He straightened himself, making sure that his suit jacket was smooth and centered right before the elevator doors slid open and three people met his sight. He smiled the best customer service smile. "Welcome to Jurassic World."
He lead them away, and turned down one hall that was lined on either side with people, all looking into the two labs. He was thankful he rehearsed beforehand, he had always hated this type of thing. "While year over yeah, revenue continues to climb, operating costs are higher than ever. Our shareholders have been patient, but let's be honest, no one is impressed by a dinosaur anymore. Twenty years ago, de-extinction was right up there with magic. Sadly, these days, kids look at a Stegosaurus like an elephant from the city zoo. That doesn't mean asset development is falling behind, far from it. Our lovely DNA excavators discover new species every year."
He lead them into one of the labs and a wall that had six monitors, one rectangle shaped, two square ones on either side and another rectangle shaped beside the two on the left. "But consumers want them bigger, louder and way more teeth. The good news? Our advances in gene splicing have opened up a whole new frontier. We've learned more from genetics int he past decade than a century of digging up bones. So, when you say you want to sponsor an attraction, What do you folks have in mind?"
He watched as the three looked at each other before the man in the dark blue suit spoke. "We want to be thrilled."
"Don't we all?" He turned and swiped a hand across the monitor, making the DNA strand spin around before he looked at the three once more. "The Indominus Rex. Our first genetically modified hybrid."
"How did you get two different kinds of dinosaurs to...you know..." asked the tall man that wore a grey suit jacket and yellow tie with small, bluish dots. He restrained himself from facepalming. Gods help him, why did it have to be him to do this thing with this idiot.
"Oh, the Indominus wasn't bred." Doctor Henry Wu came up behind the three investors, making their attention turn to him. "She was designed. She will be fifty feet long when fully grown. Bigger than the T-Rex."
"Every time we've unveiled a new asset, attendance has spiked." Tony began to talk once more. "Global news coverage, celebrity visitors. Eyes of the world.
"When will she be ready?" asked the man in dark blue.
"She already is." Wu answered with a smile.
"Please tell me the boys are on their way here right now." Tony asked once the meeting was finally done and over with.
"Yes, sir. They'll be inside in five minutes- less than if Harley continues his running speed." JARVIS answered.
"Good." Tony began to make his way towards and down the spiraling staircase- only to stop when he saw two familiar figures in front of a holographic display that housed one of the DNA quizzes. "Harley! Peter!"
The boys whirl around and their faces lit up at the sight of him. "Dad!"
He made his way down the rest of the staircase and towards the two when he got an armful of Harley which caused him to chuckle and ruffled Harley's hair. "Hey kiddo, long time no see."
Peter also joined in on the family hug, causing Tony to outright laugh. "Oh man, I missed you both so much."
"We missed you too, Dad." smiled Peter as he and Harley let Tony go just as Natasha stopped a few feet away from them. "Been busy?"
"Like you wouldn't believe. How are you both?"
"I got first place in the science fair this year." chirped Harley.
"Wow, really? Do you have pictures?"
"Yeah, Peter made sure to take good pictures of it."
"I'll take a look at them when I'm able."
Tony glanced at the two boys' wrists. "So, I see you already got your wristbands."
"Uh huh." Harley nodded. "Their comfortable."
"Good." He handed Harley an envelope. "This is for food, and Nat here is going to take great care of you- you are the absolute best Nat- until I'm done working tonight, okay?"
"Is it really busy today?" asked Peter.
"Yeah, tragically. Tomorrow though, I made sure to have off the entire day. So, tomorrow will be one of our days, okay?"
"Okay!" Harley chirped and Peter just nodded.
"I'll see you guys tonight at eight. Don't have too much fun without me." He hugged the two of them one last time before turning towards Natasha. "Better take good care of them, Nat."
"Of course, Mister Stark." Natasha responded with a small small smile before Tony walked away and out of sight of the three.
Tony walked into the control room, delicious coffee in hand. He could hear radio chatter but didn't pay too much attention to it. "What's the live count?"
"Twenty-two-thousand-two-sixteen." Stated Maria Hill on Tony's right.
"Any incidents?"
"Yes." deadpanned Clint Barton on Tony's left. "Six kids in the Lost and Found, twenty-eight down with heatstroke..."
"...Clint, where did you get that?" Tony asked with a sigh.
Clint looked slight confused before glancing down at his shirt and he realized what Tony was referring to. "Oh, this? I got it on eBay. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. I got it for a hundred-fifty bucks, but the mint condition ones goes for three-hundred..."
"Didn't it occur to you that,, maybe, that's in poor taste?"
"The shirt? Pft. Yeah- no- it did. I understand people died. It was absolutely terrible,, but that first park was legit. I have a lot of respect for it. They didn't need these genetic hybrids. They just needed dinosaurs,, real dinosaurs."
"Okay, I'll give you that, birdbrain. I'm not exactly all for these hybrids myself. I can't really do much about it though."
"Did you close the deal?" Maria cut in.
"Yeah, looks like it. Verizon Wireless presents the Indomminus Rex."
"Ugh." Clint's head bowed slightly. "That is so terrible. Why not just go the distance, Tony, and just let these corporations name the dinosaurs? They've got all the ballparks. Why stop there?"
Tony rolled his eyes before looking up at the monitors and noticed something. Why are the West Plains closed?"
"Another Pachy roaming outside his zone." Maria answered. "But, he's fully sedated and ready for relocation."
"Pepsi-saurus or Tostito-don..." Clint muttered to himself.
"Security said the invisible fences were a no-fail." Tony frowned. "Even Jarvis said that. That's the second time this month-Was it Quicks again?"
"Yeah, it was him again." Maria sighed. "The Pachys short out their implants when they butt heads."
"How much longer until they get Quicks out of there?"
"He just got five milligrams of carfentanil."
"Yes, so he's very stoned." Clint cut in. Tony just rolled his eyes and made his way out of the control room and up the elevator just as a chopper landed on the helipad. Once the shopper had landed,, he was quick to go over and slid into the chopper, the door sliding shut behind him. In the pilot seats were one man he didn't know and one he did.
"Tony." Simon Masrani greeted enthusiastically.
"Mister Masrani, you're flying." Tony observed.
"I got my license-"
"Two more." the man Tony didn't know added in.
"Well, two more days. So," Simon turned back to look at Tony. "How's my park doing?"
"Great. Guests are doing fine, they are having a great time. The animals are enjoying themselves. Although, I think some of them might have grown a little lazy." Tony joked with the last bit as he strapped in and put the earphones on his head and over his ears.
Simon chuckled before turning back around. "Okay, now show me my new dinosaur."
The chopper rose into the air, unsteady at first before it started going and soon, it steadied as they flew through the air, towards the location of the newest dinosaur.
Once they got there, Simon landed. Outside of the paddock was a flurry of activity. Construction workers went to and fro, trying to complete the higher walls as soon as possible. The man that was in the second pilot seat wondered over to nearby bushes and began to empty out the contents of his stomach, making Tony wince before catching up to Simon, who was staring at the workers.
"Are you still building?" Simon asked.
"We planned to open in May, but Asset Containment insisted we build the walls up higher." Tony responded. "She's bigger than expected."
Simon surveyed the workers as they worked. "Its a good sign."
The two went up the stairs and pushed the door opened into the viewing room of the paddock and they walked up to the glass. "We hit a few speed bumps early on. She began to anticipate where the food would come from. One of the handlers nearly lost an arm. The others threatened to quit if I couldn't guarantee their safety."
"She's intelligent, then?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"And that?" Simon nodded over at the glass in front of Tony, which had small, spider webbed cracks in it.
"It kind of...tried to break the glass."
"I like her spirit." Simon looked back into the paddock with Tony following suit. They could see the leaves of the trees move as part of the scenery appeared come to life. Some of the greens bled away to whites and greys that could be seen in through the gaps of the trees before it. Maybe that was a trick of the light. If Tony were to guess, she must be observing them from the safety of the foliage.
"It's white." Simon observes. "You never told me it was white."
"Think it would scare the kids?" Tony asked.
"The kids? This will give the parents nightmares."
"Is that good?"
"It's fantastic. Can she see us?"
"They say it can sense thermal radiation like snakes. So...probably."
"I thought there were two of them."
Tony was waiting for this to come up and he was not looking forward to answering. "Yeah, there was a sibling in case this one didn't survive infancy."
"Where's the sibling."
"We believe it was the weaker of the two and she ate it."
Simon didn't say much for a long moment before deciding to change the subject. "So, the paddock is quite safe, then?"
"We have the best structural engineers in the world."
"Yeah? So did Hammond." Simon responded without missing a beat. "There's an American Army and Navy man here, part of the research program one of my companies is running. James Barnes."
"I know who he is." Tony looked over at Simon. "My buddy works with him."
"His animals often try to escape. They are smart. He has to be smarter. I want you to bring him in. Let him inspect the paddock. Maybe he sees something we can't."
"I'll make sure to visit and bring him in sometime today."
Simon nodded. "Make sure you do."