The Beginning of the Mark II
The scene changes again, this time the setting being the US airbase. A familiar voice is heard just a plane is being rolled up before it switches to reveal a group of people indoors. They're dressed in simple green Air Force uniforms and seem to be on something not unlike a tour.
Rhodey groaned. Tony looked at the man quizzically.
“What?”
“It’s just, I was such an asshole to you in this… well… scene.” Rhodey sighed. “I am so sorry about that by the way.” Tony nodded in understanding.
“Don’t worry Platypus, since then you’ve only been an asshole to me maybe once or twice.” he grinned. “All is forgiven.”
"The future of air combat; is it manned or unmanned?" Rhodey is revealed, leading the group of young men through the building, past the rows of jets as he speaks, "I'll tell you, in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct, his insight, that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome, or a pilot's judgement."
"Colonel?" A voice cuts him off before he can continue any further, and the camera pans to the side to reveal Tony Stark, dressed in a grey shirt accompanied by a leather jacket that manages to hide the glow of the upgraded arc reactor in his chest, "Why not a pilot without the plane?"
“You’re hiding it?” asked Scott in confusion.
“People often like to hide their weakness,” Strange said before Tony could reply. Tony looked at the sorcerer whose eyes were still on the screen. But Tony saw his hands were gloved, as per usual, and knitted together. Tony nodded in realization and understanding.
"Look who fell out of the sky. Mr Tony Stark," Rhodey supplies to the group as his friend walks up, shaking the hand of the nearest man.
“Quite literally, and quite often” commented Peter. Tony smirked.
“You’re one to talk. Remember a certain lake?” Peter blushed.
“That wasn’t my fault.”
"Speaking of manned or unmanned, you gotta get him to tell you about the time he guessed wrong at spring break. Just remember that; spring break, 1987." He turns to Rhodey now, "That lovely lady you woke up with-"
"Don't do that!" He interjects his tone not far off from that of a warning.
"What was his name?"
The group laughs at that as Rhodey continues to protest.
Tony snorted at the memory and Rhodey glared at him.
“They talked about it for ages, so thanks for that.” Tony made a mock apologetic face.
"Don't do that."
"Was it Ivan?" Tony questions with a sly grin.
"Don't do that. They'll believe it. Don't do that." He repeats, giving his friend an exasperated smile with a shake of his head.
"That totally happened, by the way," Tony commented as if it were just common knowledge.
“Did it?” asked Loki in mild curiosity. Before Rhodey could disagree Tony practically shouted.
“Very much so, you should’ve seen his face when he found out.” Loki grinned devilishly.
"Okay," The billionaire concedes as he turns to face the group, "Pleasure meeting you."
"Give us a couple minutes, you guys," The Colonel states, the group starting to turn away as he moves to face Tony. "I'm surprised."
"Why?"
"I swear I didn't expect to see you walking around so soon."
“Probably not that wise no,” said Wong.
“How many times do you think I’ve said the very same to you?” asked Bruce.
“Too many.” sighed Tony.
"I'm doing a little better than walking," Tony states with a smug grin.
Rhodey crosses his arms and gives his friend a questionable (if not slightly wary) look, "Really?"
"Yeah. Rhodey, I'm working on something big," He elaborates, raising an eyebrow, "I came to talk to you. I want you to be a part of it."
Rhodey allows a small smile to creep past his lips, "You're about to make a whole lot of people around here real happy, cause that little stunt at the press conference, that was a doozy," He states with a hint of a laugh and the shake of his head.
“You’re not going to like this are you?” asked Rocket looking at the man who groaned again.
Tony noticeably hesitates for a minute, trying to find the right words,
"This… is not for the military. I'm not…" He shakes his head, earning him a curious glare from Rhodes, "It's different."
The Colonel furrows his brows,
"What? You're a humanitarian now or something?"
Clint snorted at the image of that then cowered under the look given to him by Natasha.
"I need you to listen to me-"
"No," Rhodey cuts him off, "What you need, is time, to get your mind right."
Tony offers a tight-lipped smile, but the hurt is obvious in his features as his friend continues.
"I'm serious."
"Okay," It's barely a whisper, accompanied by a short nod from the billionaire before his face falls altogether.
"It's nice seeing you, Tony," Rhodey says, clearly done having this discussion as he begins walking away.
“Ouch,” Quill said sympathetically.
“Again, I am so sorry Tones,” Rhodey repeated.
“It’s fine, really.” Tony sighed.
"Thanks," The billionaire states, so quietly almost anyone would have missed it. His gaze is far off is friend leaves him.
The next shot was of the exterior of the Malibu home, but it quickly shifted to show Tony's desk. A hand swipes over a surface to reveal a touch-sensitive keyboard, though the keys were filled with symbols rather than letters and numbers.
“You had memorised it then?” Shuri questioned with interest. Tony nodded.
“Forever and always,” Tony replied smirking in satisfaction.
"Jarvis, you up?" The owner of the hands (and very expensive looking gold watch) asks, typing an intricate pattern on the keyboard.
The view switches to reveal Tony sitting at his desk, clad in an MIT sweatshirt.
"For you, Sir, always," came the smooth British accent of Jarvis, the fondness in his tone near impossible to miss, even if he is an artificial intelligence.
“It is quite an impressive AI for 2008” T’challa complimented.
“He brother.” Shuri corrected, “He is quite an impressive AI for 2008.”
“Thanks for the correction princess.” Tony smiled glad that she recognized JARVIS as what he had been.
The view switches again, showing Tony from behind, giving the viewer a look at what's on the screens in front of him. On the left is what appears to be a model of the Mark I, with a few of its parts on the left and right of it. On the right screen, there are what appear to be lines of code.
“Finally the fun stuff.” Rocket said eagerly.
“Should we be concerned?” Gamora asked.
“What, no! Of course not.” Rocket insisted.
“I am Groot.”
“Cmon Groot, that was once!” Rocket paused and thought. “Maybe more.”
"I'd like to open a new project file, index as Mark Two." He states as he grabs an object, not unlike a pen from a mug on his desk. He points it at the screen and begins to drag to Mark I designs to the side, where they move off the screen and appear as a hologram on the table beside him.
"Shall I store this on the Stark Industries Central Database?" Jarvis asks, just as the hologram takes its full form on the table.
"Nope. Not a chance." Tony remarks with an exasperated sigh.
"Actually, I don't know who to trust right now," The genius replies, standing from his desk chair and stuffing the 'pen' into his pocket as he makes his way around the table, "Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server?"
"Working on a secret project, are we, Sir?" Jarvis' tone holds a bit of amusement as Tony begins studying the hologram.
Tony doesn't answer right away and instead reaches forward for the head of the suit, flipping it back and raising the arms. He begins to drag a portion of the design into a holographic trash can when he finally answers his AI, "I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands." He turns the suit around and grabs another piece, also tossing it in the trash, "Maybe in mine, it can actually do some good." He gives the design one final spin before the scene changes.
“A lot of good actually.” Peter corrected.
“Don’t exaggerate now Peter,” Tony said.
“I am not. You have done loads of good Mr S- Tony.”
“Then imagine how much you’re gonna do since you’re gonna be better.” Tony grinned at his protegee, Peter smiled back at him.
Men are shown walking through the desert, sand blowing and wind rustling. One man is shown digging, a cloth pulled over his mouth and goggles over his eyes. More men are shown carrying bits of machinery through the sand while others continue digging around.
Tony grimaced.
One is on his knees, swiping away sand to reveal a metal object. He grabs for it and holds it up as he stands, the sand flowing out of the holes in the object to reveal the Mark I face mask. The man calls out, and the leader, Raza, turns around, the right side of his head exhibiting a nasty burn. His face is stern, and it's obvious even through his protective glasses. He calls back and the man holding the face mask makes his way over, handing his findings to Raza, who studies it with a deadly glare.
“Well, crap.” Scott sighed looking worried.
The scene changes again and it's back in Tony's workshop. He's seated at a workbench, surrounded by a variety of tools and wires that are scattered across the surface. Dummy is beside him as he works on a piece of machinery resembling a boot. It's stripped down, revealing the complex design inside.
“Testing time.” Tony grinned.
“Ah, the most amusing part of inventing.” Shuri smiled.
Dummy is holding a magnifying glass as the genius works with a soldering iron.
"Next," He finishes the section he's working on and orders Dummy, "Up. Not in the boot, Dummy. Right here, you got me?" He points and the bot's arm adjusts to meet his command.
"Stay put. Nice," he sits back for a moment and the bot moves again as Tony gets back to work, "You're of no benefit at all. Move down to the toe. I got this."
Dummy makes a noise that could most likely be interpreted as a sad noise, as he moves lower, bumping his creator's hand as he goes.
"Okay, I'm sorry, am I in your way?" He questions, though he knows he'll get no answer, and moves down to the toe of the boot himself, where the bot is, again, in the way, "Up. Screw it. Don't even move. You… are a tragedy." He states simply as he finishes his work, blowing on the soldering iron and stamping it on a sponge-like object before putting it away. He presses a button on the boot and the calf opens up in the back.
“Are you always this mean to it?” Sam asked disappointed.
“Him.” Vision calmly corrected. “Mr Stark is very kind to us.” Vision seemed to say us without thinking but seemed to go with it either way. Tony looked at him fondly. Wanda watched the look Tony was giving Vision and bit her lip remembering how much Stark meant to Vision.
The next scene is being shot out of a video camera, showing Tony on a black gridded platform, the newly created Mark II boots on his feet, and a set of controllers in his hands, all hooked up with wires to the arc reactor in his chest.
"Okay, let's do this right," He says, stepping back, his metal-clad feet making loud, heavy footsteps, "Start mark, half a meter, and back and centre." He takes a deep breath and looks over at one of his bots, "Dummy, look alive. You're on standby for fire safety." The view changes so it's no longer being shot through a video recorder, instead revealing the second bot, "You, roll it."
Tony grimaced realizing what was about to happen and the reaction it was going to get.
The view switches back to the recorder as Tony is adjusting something on his belt,
"Okay, activate hand controls." He shifts a little in the boots as the machines begin to work, "We're gonna start off nice and easy. We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift."
"And three,"
"Two,"
"One."
The repulsors in the boots come to life, sending Tony into the air and back, taking his feet out from under him. He's pushed back until he's upside down and his front collides with the wall behind him. The repulsors stop and he falls to the ground with a pained grunt, where Dummy immediately sprays him with the fire extinguisher.
Everyone burst out laughing. Tony reddened and glared at them all. They all continued laughing and after several seconds Tony spoke over the roar.
“About done yet?”
“Maybe. if we’re lucky. We will get to watch when you tested the kinetic energy in your suit brother.” Shuri suggested doubled over from laughter. T’challa blushed.
Hopefully not.” T’challa replied.
Tony rolled his eyes as the laughter continued.