Who: Roy Mustang and Tony Stark (special guest appearance by Gwen Stacy) When: Early May Where: Stark Tower What: Business Ratings/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete Upon Posting
This place looks like it’s straight out of Dubai, was Roy’s initial impression of the massive glass-and-steel building that was Stark Enterprises. He let himself in, informed the receptionist of his appointment, and was waved towards the bank of elevators.
He checked his reflection in the sheen of the elevator glass to make sure he was presentable. Nothing seemed to have marred the crisp service uniform he’d donned this morning. Good enough. The doors slid open as he reached his floor, and he strode out into an office foyer that was equally as impressive as the rest of the building.
“Roy Mustang to see Tony Stark,” he informed the secretary.
The secretary, a lovely, young, blonde woman with a bright smile and incredibly white teeth, nodded. “Let me just let him know you’re here.” She didn’t always work the desk in front of Tony’s office. Actually, Gwen had her own office for days when she had more to do. But today she was in front of Tony’s Office because he had a few meetings and needed someone to help greet his visitors.
Gwen punched a couple of buttons on her phone, then spoke into her bluetooth headset. “Tony? yes, I’ve got a Roy Mustang here to meet with you.” There was a pause. “No, Sir, I don’t know what it’s about, he didn’t say.” Another pause. “It’s on your calendar, so I’m sure that you knew he was coming.” She gave Roy an apologetic smile. “I’m sending him in now, so you can finish up whatever it is you’re doing and--” another quick pause. “Ha ha Pepper won’t let you fire me, so I can do whatever I want.”
She clicked another button on the phone, grinning softly. “He hates it when I hang up on him.” She said, playfully, then motioned for Roy to head through the large double doors behind her. “He’ll see you now.”
Roy shot the young lady an appreciative grin accompanied by a playful touch of his cap. He approved of people who knew just how much grief to give their co-workers. (Not that he was like that at all, noooooo.)
He entered through the double doors, taking in both the view and the occupant in the same moment. “Mr. Stark? Roy Mustang. A pleasure.”
Tony was standing by his desk. It was one of those really expensive desks made of beautiful wood and all that. Covered in paperwork and blue prints. There were bookshelves along one wall, a door to his lab on another, and big windows looking out over Orange County toward the ocean.
Tony was tossing darts at a dart board. He didn’t bother turning when Roy came in, simply landed the three darts in his hand one by one straight into the bullseye. Then he turned. “Mustang! That’s right! ...Lieutenant Colonel?” He added, breaking into a warm smile. “Tony Stark. Pleased to meet you.”
“Roy is fine.” He nodded at the dartboard with an appreciative eye. “Nice work there.” Roy himself had a penchant for paper airplanes made out of extra paperwork — and plenty of subordinates who grumbled at the fact that somehow the Colonel managed to get away with that.
He glanced over the contents of the desk, which in some ways also resembled his own, though in his case the blueprints were replaced with maps. “Let me not keep you from anything important for too long.” He waved casually at the desk — but also included the dartboard with a conspiratorial grin.
“Long story short, after taking an overview of what we’ve currently got on-base, I’d like to see what you can do for my group in terms of upgrading their weaponry. That’s my official reason for being here. Unofficially, after talking with Merlin and then with my superiors, I have the authority to see if you can make us a counter-offer in terms of speed and cost reduction on those portable lasers that I brought up on Valar. I understand your company isn’t the one that developed them, but I have reason to believe you could probably improve on the existing design.”
“Keeping busy, you know how it goes,” Tony said, smirking softly. He chucked the last of the darts at the board. All three came close to the bullseye. Then Tony turned his full attention back to Roy. “You really should be talking to Pepper about that sort of thing,” he said, turning to lean against his desk. “She’s the one who makes those kinds of decisions for the company. Unless… are you talking about me personally? Or Stark Industries.”
The lieutenant colonel folded his arms, studying the man opposite him. “I’m quite aware of the usual protocols of going through the proper channels.” He was a Marine, after all. “I would not be here if the military were looking to negotiate with Stark Industries.” There were a number of different levels to that sentence. Either Tony would be smart enough to figure them out, or Roy would be on his way, and the laser contract (which was only part of why he was here) would go to Lockheed-Martin as it currently stood.
“There’s no doubt I could improve on the existing design.” Tony said, frowning a little bit as he thought on it. His dreams were affecting him more and more lately, the Tony from them bleeding into the Tony in this world. He wasn’t sure how much was the Dream Tony, and how much was him. The Dream Tony wasn’t making weapons anymore. Was the Real Tony? Damn. Now he needed to talk to Pepper. “If that’s what you’re asking.”
Something about that frown bothered Roy, though he couldn't put a finger on why. ... It didn't seem speculative. That was it. It seemed more as if it was the subject itself that bothered the other man. Strange. After all, Stark was the head of Stark Industries, and the company's business was weapons and defense.
"Partially. Your reputation for brilliance in design is well-known." It was a matter-of-fact statement. "The laser is primarily a useful example. My superiors would like to engage that brilliance on a higher level than we currently do. Whether or not that would be through your business would be up to you, should you choose to."
Roy, in turn, frowned thoughtfully, though it was not directed at Tony. "I'm not here to coerce," he clarified. "I'm here because I can speak as one dreamer to another. They would like to offer you the opportunity to stretch your talents, but there are sufficient unknowns that they wanted someone with a closer perspective to broach it to you."
“I’m interested. Don’t take this the wrong way,” Tony said, realizing that he wasn’t being very polite to the other man. Under normal circumstances it might not have bothered him, but this wasn’t just a potential work associate or client. This was a fellow Dreamer. And he’d told himself that he would be supportive to that community first and foremost. “I do want to keep people safe. I just don’t want anything with my name on it falling into the wrong hands.”
Which was a major theme of his Dreams. How the legacy he’d inherited nearly killed him. A lot.
“Why don’t we set up a meeting. A pow-wow. I’d like to see the project, give some input, talk to your designers. In the mean time, I can discuss this with Pepper, too.” Tony suggested.
That was something Roy grasped intimately. “I understand. You’re not the only one concerned about such things.” Of course the government would want to keep a close eye on everything, but Roy himself had his own worries. His dreams had pointed him as a weapon at innocent people, whose only crime was the color of their skin and their faith in an alien god. And he still didn’t know why Amestris had needed their state alchemists to put down that rebellion.
“That sounds like a plan.” He offered Tony a handshake. “Let me know what you need, and I’ll get it set up on our end. When should I expect to hear from you?”
“Soon. You’ll hear from me soon.” Tony said, nodding. He was reassured by Roy’s words, and that made him feel quite a bit better. After all the Dream stuff, Tony wanted to make sure he was doing everything right. Whatever Right was.
Tony pulled himself up off the edge of the desk, and reached a hand out to Roy to shake. “Couple days, maybe. Get your paperwork together. We can do some pretty amazing things together, I think.”
The deal was sealed with their handclasp. "Thanks for your time, Tony. Call me if anything comes up." An indirect offer for extra communication outside of work, maybe. "Sounds good. See you then."