Entry tags:

active: tony stark, inactive: tim drake

Tony & Tim
WHO: Tony & Tim
WHAT: Mutual Agreement
WHERE: Wayne Enterprises
WHEN: Slightly forwarded to Tuesday afternoon.
WARNINGS: None
STATUS: Completed via GDOC.

Tony wasn’t sure what to expect from Tim Drake-Wayne. Rival companies typically only reached out during dire circumstances, but nothing major was happening in Goodland. Well, for the moment anyway. Still, he was curious about why Tim wanted to meet, especially considering he was friendly with Harley. Tony couldn’t help feeling suspicious, but he tried to give the man the benefit of the doubt for Harley’s sake.

He arrived at the agreed time on Tuesday and took a seat in the reception area. He didn’t know what Tim looked like so he made sure to sit close to the door so he could get a feel for who was coming and going.

Tim had asked the reception desk to keep an eye out for any visitors, so as soon as Mr Stark had entered the building, Tim’s office phone had run and he had immediately made his way down. Collecting the badge from the reception desk with a “I believe your two o’clock is here, Mr Wayne,” from the woman behind it, he headed over to where Tony was sitting.

He’d kept it professional himself; he was in a suit but his tie was askew and loosened and his hair was a little ruffled as he’d been down in R&D an hour before playing around with a new release system on the grappling gun he was trying to build. It was times like this, though, that he was aware of just how young he looked. Damian always said it looked more like he was playing dress up and pretending to be someone he would never be. Tim spent a lot of time ignoring those barbs, thank you very much. Still. When meeting people who didn’t know who he was, and didn’t know that he was the CEO, a lot of people did tend to assume it was bring-your-kid-to-work day whenever he turned up.

“Tony Stark?” he asked, approaching and offering him a smile as he stretched out his hand in an offer to shake it, “Tim Drake-Wayne. Nice to meet you in person.”

Tony had been a young CEO himself, but not that young. Still, he did employee Five Hargreeves so baby-faces weren’t totally new to him. However, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t surprised by Tim. “Yeah, you too,” he said while gripping the young man’s hand. Tony was raising several teens; this boy couldn’t be much younger or older than them. He couldn’t help wondering how the boy got a company so young. Did his parents pass like Tony’s? Or was he just a super genius (also like Tony). “Mind if I call you Tim?”

“Yeah,” Tim said with a nod of his head, passing Tony the visitor badge, “Tim’s fine. Most people here call me Mr Wayne and I’m still not used to it.” Mainly because the name had only been his for a short while and even then it was a dizzying reminder that he’d been adopted. Of course, with that reminder came the reminder that he’d lost Bruce, and everything else.

He tipped his head, “I figure we can walk and talk? It’s a bit less boring that way than just sitting in a boardroom.” He smiled, but it was professional, all business. Tim was being a CEO right now, even if his out of the office persona wasn’t wildly different.

He started walking, waiting for Tony to fall into step and began a walk through the first floor which was mostly just office-space, sections available to be rented out to companies or individuals that needed somewhere. “Thanks for agreeing to meet with me, I know it was out of the blue.”

Tony followed easily. He was truly interested in the company and what it did. The first floor wasn’t wildly different from most others of their type, but it was still nice getting a feel for the layout. He had a hunch the child CEO had some impressive things going on, whether he’d share them with Tony or not. He’d heard of Wayne Enterprises before its arrival; granted, it was in comparing Tony to Bruce, which Tony found unflattering at the time, but maybe he was wrong about the man? Tim, whoever he was to that Bruce, seemed like a decent guy, after all.

“No problem,” Tony replied. “How long have you had the company?”

“I’ve been running it for about two years or so but officially the paperwork was done about three months ago.” He’d needed to save it from Ra’s after all, needed to save it from the guy that had been pretending to be Bruce Wayne for all intents and purposes while Tim hunted down the real one. Tim had been doing all the legwork, though, with Lucius. “This way.”

Leading Tony to the stairs, he pushed the door open. First floor was their medical research. He didn’t think he’d stop some of the work into finding counters to the Gotham villains because there was no guarantee they wouldn’t turn up. But they were doing other work too, a new branch looking at something to help people who were immunocompromised or who needed to take daily doses of medication, something to make their lives easier.

“There’s a lot of branches, so finding a way to split my time between what really interests me and what else needs me to look over it has been a challenge. At least I don’t have to pretend to be a high schooler too here.”

Tony did have a sort of fatherly vibe to him, he could see why Harley looked up to him so much.

“I can see that putting a damper on your day,” Tony joked in reference to Tim pretending to be a high schooler. “This place is impressive, Tim, I gotta say, I see why you’d want it here.” He paused for a second. “You did want it, didn’t you? The entity didn’t just dump this place on you, did it?” He’d talked about doing things that interested him at WE, but, still, maybe he wanted something different in Goodland? Tony didn’t put it past the entity to drop something from home on him.

Tim snorted, “You have no idea. High school in Gotham is a mess. I’d rather wrangle angry stakeholders from around the world on a video conference than navigate the hallways of Gotham high.”

He chuckled as he led the way up the stairs to the second floor. “Yeah, I asked for it. There’s a lot going on here and I figure that Wayne Enterprises could help. Not just as another avenue for employment but from a research and development perspective too. Anything that’ll help us understand and navigate what’s happening here. It’s why I asked for a meeting with you. I understand you’ve been here for much longer than I have and you’re more established. I’m not interested in competing. This place is too small for us to get into that mess.”

Tony nodded. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t feeling any competition, but Tim was right. The place was small and no one knew what the hell was going on --- the more people to put their heads together, the better. “My company focuses on nanotechnology,” he explained. “We also have a team dedicated to figuring out what is going on around here.” He shrugged. “We’ve made some headway, but it is not enough.” He admitted that bit begrudgingly. “How much do you know about me, Tim?”

“Okay,” Tim said with a nod of his head, filing that knowledge away. “We don’t have any major nanotech work going at the moment, but what we do have I can stand down. I’d prefer the focus for Wayne Enterprises here to be something that’s beneficial for the community, so probably looking to focusing on our R&D and something along the medical and pharmaceutical lines. Keep the other parts running but with a lower priority.” He was more talking to himself than to Tony then, running the numbers in his head.

Tony’s comment about the dedicated team did draw his attention though. “You’re investigating the Entity and this pocket dimension?” he asked, “I’d- I’d be interested to know if we could support that. I’m… unsettled by what happened.”

His shoulder lifted, turning his head to look properly at Tony Stark. “Harley didn’t say much, that you were an eccentric billionaire. Why, Tony, what should I know about you?”

Tony followed Tim’s train of thought, chuckling when he got to the “eccentric billionaire” comment. “I made myself a superhero. Iron Man. It is not a secret although I am mostly retired from it here. So, my company...it supports superheroes when it needs to. When shit hits the fan...well, I get what you mean about being unsettled. I don’t want villains or evil mazes appearing out of nowhere, but it is more than that. I don’t have a life to get back to at home. My days are numbered if I return. I want to stay here with my family. I’ve got my wife and kids and a baby on the way.” Tony’s face betrayed the emotion he felt for his loved ones. “I want to crack this so we can give people a choice about staying or going, you know? Can you get on board with that?”

Well, that knowledge limited the number of potential meta-humans Tim would be supporting in his R&D suite in the basement. That was a good thing as he really only ever intended on suiting up the people in his life that really needed it, that needed the familiarity of Wayne tech. If someone could make things that were more familiar to them, then that made it easier on everyone.

He paused his racing brain for a moment, wondering if that meant Tony was dead where he came from. It was possible, this Entity definitely had a god-like presence to it. Who was to say it couldn’t bring people back from the dead? The way Tony’s expression shifted was like a punch to the gut, but Tim had learned at the tender age of nine to hide his emotions and keep everything inside. He missed Bruce so much. His Bruce.

“Congratulations on being a dad again,” he offered, first of all, because that was polite. “I kinda understand the eccentric billionaire bit,” he added. “And yeah, I can get on board with that. I’d rather we work out a way of controlling the comings and goings so they’re less of a shock and more expected, even if there’s some kind of tech we can use to predict when someone arrives. There has to be some kind of ambient power level here that reacts when someone appears or disappears.”

“Thank you,” Tony replied with a slight incline of his head. “I agree,” he continued, “and, honestly, so long as you are on board with that, we’re good. It is the most important thing to me.” He couldn’t lose his life here. He’d lost Pepper once before and he couldn’t do that again, especially not with her pregnant. “I’d be happy to work together.” He stuck his hand out.

Tim shook Tony’s hand, understanding the personal nature of that particular project to the older man. It made sense that he’d want to ensure that those working on it, even in the periphery, would be able to appreciate its importance.

“Then, Mr Stark, I believe we’re in business. Did you have any other questions?”

“Not now,” Tony responded, “but I’ll let you know.” He was relieved Tim wouldn’t prove a roadblock for his research. He smiled at the younger man. “I’m glad we did this. What do you say you show me around some more?”

Tim smiled and slid his hands into his pockets, “Yeah, let’s at least finish the tour so you haven’t wasted your time today. Maybe next time I can get a tour of Stark Industries?” He’d really only seen the place that Harley had invited him to crash. He wasn’t sure that counted.

“After you.”