People didn't know that Tony hand picked the interns himself, and he liked to keep it that way. His name came with a lot of ego, everybody who was in a room with Tony for more than thirty seconds knew that, but the ego was contagious and that was what he was careful about. It would be easy for some snot nosed college kid to think that they were special because 'Tony Stark hand picked me to be an intern at Stark Industries', and narcissism like that got in the way of good work. Even Tony had to put aside his genius when he was in the lab, because if he couldn't accept that he didn't know everything, then he could never learn how to advance. It was a deep set belief that he had, and one that he wanted in his interns; you may be the smartest person in the room, but just remember that you'll never be using science to it's fullest potential because you yourself aren't at your fullest potential.
He kept an eye on Lydia Martin in particular. Her grades weren't necessarily any better or worse than the other interns that were in the building, but her accomplishments and the rate that she managed to get through the courses she was taking was something that caught his eye. She didn't know that he had spoken directly to all of her professors before calling her to New York City to work and learn in his building, and again, he liked to keep it that way. Now he just needed to see some drive out of her, and when it didn't happen immediately he tried to push her to her limit. The one thing a genius hated was to not be appreciated as a genius, so Tony started to send remedial tasks her way. 'I need a coffee. No, make the Martin girl get it,' and moments like that would push her to the point where she would feel like she needed to prove herself. Or, she would allow it and cave, and if that happened then Tony had thought too much of her in the first place.
He was watching the lab over a video feed in his office as they worked, listening in on their thought process with a coffee in hand as he leaned back in his chair. "That's not going to work," he mumbled to himself, a little disappointed that the scientists in the room were too absorbed with themselves to realize that they were making, in his opinion, a basic, remedial mistake. He was going to let them make it, though, because that was how they learned, until he heard a distant female voice speaking over the intercom saying exactly what he was thinking. He raised an eyebrow in interest. "JARVIS, who's in the observatory for Lab 6H?"
"That would be miss Lydia Martin, sir, an intern from Stanford."
Tony smiled. It was about damn time. He waited to watch how it all played out and, of course, she was right, which he knew would happen. "JARVIS. Have Miss Martin come to my office."
"Right away, sir."
"Who's the one who made the princess comment?"
"That would be Doctor Henley, sir."
"Fire him."
"Of course. Would you like to send a message along with the order, Sir?"
Tony stood, walking over to his coffee machine and filling his cup again before adding a shot of whiskey. "I don't tolerate talk like that here."
"Yes, Mr. Stark. Will there be anything else?"
"Let me know when she gets to the conference room, have Mister Attell bring her in."
"Yes sir."
It wasn't long before she had arrived, and Tony gave JARVIS the go ahead to have Lydia led into his office. Tony barely spent any time in there but the walls were lined with books and devices that couldn't be seen anywhere else in the tower, all of them still in their prototype phase. He waved his hand and the projected video feeds disappeared as soon as the door opened and Lydia was led in. Tony looked at Attell. "Leave us." The secretary nodded before backing out of the room and closing the door, and Tony moved to the far wall, the entire thing lined with glass to overlook Manhattan beneath them.
"Sit down. Do you want coffee? If you want coffee then grab yourself coffee and then sit down." He waited until she was seated before finally glancing over at her. "Do you always spend your lunch breaks telling my scientists how to do their jobs?"