Tony Stark is characteristically hyperverbal. (the_iron_man) wrote in avengers_logs, @ 2020-01-09 12:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | -complete, darcy lewis, tony stark |
Who: Tony & Darcy
What: lunch meeting
When: after this after-party net convo.
Note: in progress
After their last discussion on the network, Tony was looking forward to Darcy stopping in to the lab to talk. The dust had settled as far as dropping family bombshells went, and he wanted to get to know her more.
He was standing next to a tool cart and improving the Javabot as he waited for his eldest daughter to drop by. It was easy to see him through the locked lab doors, which were clear but blast-proof, making the lab one of the safest spots in the tower besides the basement. He always insisted on that being clear so that he could always see who was coming, even though he relied on Friday more and more these days to tell him who was about to walk through.
Few people had full clearance to walk in, and most - like Team Science - had a passcode so they could all collaborate. Darcy was now one of those with full clearance, those few that could breeze in without batting an eyelash when he was on the clock at work.
*
Learning that Tony Stark was her biological father was a shock though it wasn’t earth shattering in a bad way. Darcy’s parents were pretty hands off while she was growing up and since leaving their house at eighteen, she was only in sporadic contact with them. The Lewis family just wasn’t one that was especially close or tight knit, that’s the way it was, so it never caused her any stress or strain.
The whole suddenly being an heiress thing, well, that was different and was giving Darcy serious anxiety. Family dinners and having a little sister sounded fun. Dealing with lawyers and trust funds and whatever the hell else was now part of her life was a lot more intimidating.
Still, it didn’t dampen her enthusiasm for getting to know Tony better, so she ducked out of her office and headed over to the tower for a long lunch, surprised that she didn’t hit any security barriers as she made her way to the lab with a bag full of Chinese food.
“Don’t know what you like, so I got an assortment,” she said.
*
"Great! I love Chinese." Tony replied, expression lit up at the sight of his kid bearing one of the best food groups ever. The only other foods better for extended tinkering were pizza and any microwave pocket meals. It tended to be the go to ice-breaker meal too, since he and Steve made amends over Chinese. Good call, all around.
He put down the tools and quickly opened the door to the adjacent office, so she could set the bag down on the desk. It was an exec office in a modern style and surprisingly clean, like the rest of Tony's lab. The last thing any engineer wanted was someone tripping over tools or slipping on a slip of paper and landing face first in a fabrication machine.
"Unless me and Pepper meet up, I pretty much eat in here," he explained. Although that happened less after the fiasco last fall with the eScape. "She's got a lot of lunch meetings lately. Hope it's ok? If you want to set it on the desk I'll grab you a chair that's more comfy."
*
“Sure, that works,” Darcy said, following him into the office and setting down the bag of food on the desk. “Do you usually eat?” she asked. “Or do you work through until someone makes you eat?” She knew how scientists were, had spent years dragging Jane away from her work to make her eat something so she didn’t waste away into nothingness. It wouldn’t surprise her one bit to learn that Tony was the same way.
If he was, she’d have to make it a point to get over here for lunch more often. She didn’t think Fury would mind if she ducked out for longer lunch breaks occasionally as long as she still got her work done. It would be nice to have some time to just hang out and chat with Tony so they could get more comfortable with each other.
*
While he got her a chair that wasn't designed to get annoying people (board members, accountants, lawyers) out of his office, Tony looked like his brain was parsing that question. He was a notorious grazer, usually snacking on things like packets of nuts or dried berries until people brought food or reminded him to eat. When he couldn't come up with an answer that wasn't an outright lie, he rushed over to a nearby mini-fridge to retrieve two bottles of sparkling water.
"Uhh," he said, setting a bottle down by her and hovering uncertainty, "either Pep, Quill, or Happy start poking around eleven about what I want to eat. It's usually plopped down by twelve-thirty, and gone by five."
All of his perpetual movement stopped as he stared at Darcy for a moment, smiling before he asked, "Not your first rodeo. Is Jane worse than me?"
*
Darcy laughed. “Jane was the worst,” she said. “Erik was a little better.” She missed him, though he hadn’t spent as much time with them as she and Jane had together. If she had to choose, she was glad that Jane was the one who was here. “But, yeah, pretty much my number one job responsibility was making her eat something other than coffee and pop-tarts.”
At least he had several people around who kept him on track. She would be glad to add herself to those ranks. Maybe they could come up with a schedule.
“I mean, I made a lot of spreadsheets too,” she said. “And then there was that time I tazed Thor.”
*
"Oh yeah, stick to the coffee, Foster." Tony made a Mister Yuck face. As much as his diet sucked, he didn't eat a lot of heavily processed sweets. There was the occasional box of Crunch Berries or Lucky Charms now that Morgan was around, but he didn't go overboard. He was busy on a level that was hyperactive anyway, and coffee suited him just fine.
He sat down in his chair, moving it around from behind the desk so they were side to side, unobstructed and without a hundred scribbled on post-it notes getting in the way.
"That's right. You tazed Thor," he said with a proud grin. "You need to tell me all about that sometime, or now if you want, because that's what I can't figure out. How the hell does a guy that controls lightning get tazed? And how long did it drop him?"
*
Knowing the whole story made it a lot less impressive. That didn’t mean Darcy wouldn’t share.
“Well, the thing is, he kind of wasn’t a god at the time,” she explained. “His dad sent him to Midgard as a punishment and stripped him of his powers. So he was human, naked, and very confused. I thought he was a super cut homeless guy.”
Darcy definitely was not a superhero.
*
She might not be a superhero but she had guts doing that. Tony let out a low whistle to show he was impressed. It wasn't like he had god-like powers either, other than his big brain and a compulsive disorder that wouldn't quit.
"I like Thor, he's a good guy, but even I think that's hilarious," he admitted, opening the bag to peek inside and begin taking out the containers so they could eat. "You know, you were on a collision course with all of the superhero craziness, even back then. Now you're related to one, and your boss is dating a guy that the myth books called a god. Life is weird."
That was an understatement. Tony wouldn't know what normal was, even if normal managed to throw a Vegas-style neon parade right in front of his face, complete with marching bands, confetti, and fireworks.
*
Weird was a-okay with Darcy. It was much better than what most people considered normal as far as she was concerned.
“Fury’s dating someone too?” she asked, momentarily confused before she realized that Tony was referring to Jane as her boss. “Oh, you meant Jane. Sorry. She hasn’t been my boss in a while.” Thor was great though and she was glad that the two of them were happy together. Circumstances had kept them separated for too long.
Now she was trying to imagine Fury dating. Her mind couldn’t even begin to conjure up a picture of the type of person who would appeal to him. Maybe she should make a dating profile for him…
*
"Oh, right. I still think of you two as a package deal." They were really close, and it was still the height of weirdness for him that she was working for Fury and not in the Tower anymore. Fury was a good guy, sure, but his secrets had secrets and he was stuck in perma-gruff mode all of the time. As long as jobs got done over on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s end, and he wasn't left in the dark about any developments, Tony had no complaints.
But Fury dating? Perish that thought. He couldn't see that happening in a million years. That guy probably wouldn't trust someone he wanted to date without having them under surveillance for a year or two, just to see if they were trustworthy. Even then, Fury probably wouldn't tell them anything about his day job. Scary.
He pulled the chopsticks apart to separate them, and opened a container of food to peek inside.
"Uhh, I don't want to overwhelm you too early with dad and daughter stuff," he said, poking at the contents rather than eating. "But I need to know if you're ok with Pep setting up the financial funds for you. That way you don't have to wrangle more than signing a few papers. She's really good at seeing that everything's fair and by the book. Would you be ok with that?"
*
Talking about the idea of Fury dating was far preferable to discussing the whole financial thing. Darcy reached for a carton of food herself, though she opted for a plastic fork instead of chopsticks.
“I mean, sure,” she said with a half shrug. “Whatever works for you guys is fine by me.” She was hardly going to demand anything more than what they were offering. If it was up to her, she wouldn’t take anything. Darcy was used to making her own way and the idea of having even a fraction of the Stark fortune was overwhelming.
*
No way was Tony leaving this Earth (hopefully later than his other self) without making sure all of the kids and pseudo-kids were taken care of. It was part of being an adult. As much as he sometimes enjoyed sticking fingers in his ears and saying LALALALA loudly at whatever he didn't like, in favor of doing stuff he did like...he knew these issues couldn't be avoided or put off forever.
"All right. I'll just need you to write down the deets," he said, watching her out of the corner of his eyes. "Birthday, social security number...mine's five, by the way...and we'll get it started. We'll take care of a press statement too, so you can get back to work. It's New York and everyone usually flips eachother off and carries on, regardless if you're known or not. A cabbie's gonna yell at you. So it'll be okay. If you need anything, you know, I'll help. Hell, I think even Fury will help, if you ask him. And that's okay too."
While poking some chow mein to death, Tony smiled at her to let her know it would all be all right. No matter what happened.
*
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Darcy said. “And I do still have that wicked taser you made me when I got here.” She could handle herself and she doubted the press would be all that interested in her since she didn’t have superpowers or anything.
Plus her workplace and her apartment building were beyond secure, so it wasn’t like people would be able to ambush her or anything. “Should I message all that stuff to Pepper?”
*
If she could take down Thor, Tony knew that she could handle herself in just about any situation. He smiled proudly at her, and stopped maiming the Chinese food.
"Sure. You can do that. Better than writing it on a post-it note," was his reply, as he reached over to snag one of those notes and stuck it on the desk between them. On it, was a surprisingly neat drawing of Nick Fury's face with a pirate hat on top of his head. "I got him an joke apron for Secret Santa, and was wishing this could've been the face on it. Maybe you can take it and put it on the coffeemaker in his office. Or wherever."
Pranking and smarting off at Fury - or trying to - brought even more meaning his life.
*
The family that pranked together, stayed together. Or something. Darcy grinned and picked up the note, tucking it into her bag so she could find an optimal place to leave it when she got back to the office.
“I’ll find a good place and send you a pic,” Darcy promised. If she could manage it, she’d also pull a still from the security cams of Fury’s face when he found it. That would be a bit trickier to pull off without him catching her though.
*
"That'd be great!" he said, with a bright smile. "And if you and Bobbi ever want to change the ringtones again, just let me know."
The smile knocked down a notch or two as Tony watched her, mulling things over. He knew Darcy was uncomfortable, but from experience that it was always better to make any announcements on your own terms, rather than the press doing it for you and inevitably speculating or tarnishing everything in all of the wrong ways.
He made a mental note to talk to the press rep before he spoke again, "I've got an idea. The press rep can make an announcement right before my court date, and we all know that three ring circus will overshadow everything else. That way, you still get to be you. Only with a lot less attention. DNA data is safe on our servers, and I wrote a few miles of code so the new firewall is the safest in the world. We don't release your name or any pictures. That way you can choose what you want to do from there, on your own terms. How's that sound?"
*
Darcy laughed at his offer. It felt like the ringtone thing was so long ago with everything that happened between then and now. Besides, if she and Bobbi were going to pull another prank, it would be something different.
At his suggestion, she nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good,” she said. “Whatever is easiest for you.” She could handle whatever fallout came from the announcement as long as it didn’t make things more difficult for Tony or Pepper.
“Is there anything I can do for you with the whole eScape thing?” Darcy asked.
*
"I know this isn't easy on anyone," he replied. "It's a new thing we're still feeling out. But we really need to do what's going to make it easier on you. Pepper and I already know the ropes, and we can help you. When or if you're ready to dive into that."
At least he wasn't suggesting wearing floaties. It needed to be her decision, but he was going to try to protect Darcy, as much as he could since she was an adult. If anything, it would buy her a little more time to process everything. Tony was all about protecting those he was closest to...and those he could prank with.
When she mentioned the eScape, Tony pointed the chopsticks at her and looked damn proud.
"That's right! You helped with the backdoor coding," he said, and stopped to have a think. "I don't ever want Parker diving into this and Nat's got her own channels. But if you're familiar with the Dark Web, maybe start looking around in there. See if anyone's gloating about pulling that shit. Sooner or later, they're gonna slip up. "
And Tony was dead set that he was going to track them down like a bloodhound and punch them in the face.
*
“That I can definitely do,” Darcy said. She didn’t exercise her hacking skills often, but she had managed to hack SHIELD back in the day, looking for information about Thor’s whereabouts, so she should be able to do some digging around and find something. Even if it was simply a trail of breadcrumbs she could follow.
She’d also pay money to see Tony punch the culprit in the face. Or live stream it and sell tickets. Maybe both.
“Have you guys talked to Morgan yet?” she asked.
*
"Yep, and she's pretty psyched about having a big sister." Morgan wanted a party with cake and ice cream, and 'probably balloons.' It was debatable if that was for herself or for Darcy. Possibly both. He hoped. "Are you still meeting up with her and Pepper sometime soon?"
*
Having a sibling was one of the best bonuses of this whole situation for Darcy and she grinned, glad that Morgan was psyched about it too. “Absolutely,” she said. “It’ll be fun.” And hopefully not awkward. Family dinners weren’t exactly something she had a lot of experience doing.
Darcy glanced at the clock. “Crap, I should get back,” she said. “We’ll need to do this more often though.”
*
"Yeah, it will be," Tony said, optimistic that this actually felt normal. Despite the fact that their lives were all so vastly abnormal in comparison. He smiled at her and nodded, looking forward to having her around more often, and her being a part of the family he never imagined he'd ever have after losing his parents. "You get going then. I'm always here or a text away."
He stood up and rested a hand on her shoulder for a moment, before helping Darcy clean up so she could get back to work over at S.H.I.E.L.D.