2013.05.03 - Solder, Salad, and a Ranch Dressing Smoothie

Pepper's had enough of Tony hiding in his workshop for this week. When she finished her usual daily tasks, she found out by badgering JARVIS that (shocker) he's not eaten yet, and hatches a plan.

The telltale click of Pepper's shoes announce her arrival as always, as does the music filling the workshop dropping to normal human conversational levels. She's carrying a large, lidded plastic bowl with a lid, a tote bag that appears to hold something at least marginally heavy, and on top of it all what looks like a restaurant pastry box. Making her way over to the most likely clear space, she sets everything down and opens the plastic container to reveal ... salad. From the tote bag comes two lunchbox-sized bags of Fritos, which she places on the tabletop she's claimed and starts crushing their contents with a closed fist.

Tony Stark is working. The workshop and lab itself..are clean. Meticulously so. Tony's in a headspace where everything has a place and there's a place for everything. There are not one, but four armors lined up against one wall. They are various in their configurations and states of construction. One of them appears to be fully assembled however. There is also a new addition to the workspace: A large enclosed chamber with a door that is followed by another door with a large lit chamber. There appears to be a series of air duct/vents on the walls and cieling of the inner chamber of the addition. Various readouts are on a panel next to each door leading into the new workspace. The robots that aren't responsible for assembling and disassembling the armor on Tony (read: The sentient bots that assist him, including the loveable but well named Dummy) are working on various aspects of the armor. Except for Dummy, who appears to be behind a well stocked (non alcoholic, mostly) bar, playing the part of glorified bartender. He's currently mixing up a nutritional shake/smoothie that Tony seems to take to during extended periods down here, adequately (in Tony's mind anyway) replacing the need to eat. Tony is working on a virtual console, with JARVIS, and the music is lowered - Iron Maiden's "Wasted Years" goes down to a more tolerable level. Tony, to his credit doesn't need to look up. "Pepper, I thought we talked about turning my music down when I'm working?" he asks. There are three things that stand out: One, a virtual atomic structure floats in mid-air. Two: a free floating measurement of a radiation spectrum. Three: Lastly, and most disconcerting is a life-size virtual representation of Superman.

"I didn't turn it down, JARVIS did." Yes, semantics. "You can turn it back up as soon as you get over here and eat something solid." Pepper's fully aware of Dummy in smoothie-land, and she's not disparaging the bot's well-intentioned beverages. She just really strongly feels that human teeth were meant to be used. The crushed packages of Fritos are opened and poured into the large salad bowl, and then she pulls two bottles of salad dressing out of the tote bag. "Ranch, or Catalina?"

Tony Stark isn't looking up, "Umm..Tudor." he replies, "Or French Provincial - something simple, but urbane." he says, thinking he's being asked about real estate. He says, "JARVIS - uplink with our secure connection to the FOS mainframe and run an encounter simulation with Paladin with our current loadout and see if we need to tweak the Kr..substance balance in both the dusters and the power plant and the radiation emitters. I think we're close, but I don't feel solid quite yet." -- something's going on with Tony. It's obvious. He doesn't look like he's slept, even less than he usually does when he's on these workaholic jags. He also seems to be speaking in some kind of code, which isn't like him either. "Also, run another check of our lead shielding and see what the minimum is we can get away with."

Pepper Potts stops and looks at Tony confusedly when his reply makes no sense. Then her eyes take in the atom-thing and the radiation measurement ... thing both clue her in. "When did you start working on the Kryptonite?" she asks as she stands and walks over. "Is this because of what happened to Superman?"

Tony Stark shakes his head, "Should have had JARVIS lock you out." he says plainly. "No, this isn't because of what happened to Superman..this is because of what /could/ happen to him." he concludes another adjustment, and looks up with haunted eyes. "You should go. You don't need to be a part of what's going on down here."

Pepper Potts shakes her head slowly. "I'm already a part of what's going on here. I saw one of those ... cloned Kryptonians slam Superman into a window less than ten feet in front of me. If there is anything at all I can do to help you with this current project, let me help." She's THIS close to saying please aloud, but somehow manages not to. She's also THIS close to giving Tony a hug (boss or not), 'cause that look in his eyes? It scares her. Way more than when he dumped his newfound conviction on her back when his arc reactor was still new.

Tony Stark shakes his head, "This..this is different. It's not because of the clones, or anything like that. It's something Superman came to me for after all that was said and done." he's hesitant to say more, but it's rare since anything as heavy as what's before him has made him look like he's carrying the weight of the world. Finally, he sighs and sinks into a seat. Sagging into the seat, he pinches between his eyes.

Pepper Potts blinks at Tony, then looks at the holoimages again. "Wait, he asked you... oh. God, Tony." It's official. The hug is a go. If she's guessed correctly about this line of research, she is SO going to give that man HELL for dumping his shit on Tony like this.

If anything says more about his current condition it's the fact that Tony lets Pepper hug him. "No, no no no.." he says a soft whisper. "Don't be mad at him." he says, revealing that he can read her reactions and mood far better than he ever lets on. "He trusts me..I get the job no one else can do. I get the commission of a lifetime." he says softly, letting the hug linger before leaning back in his chair. "He didn't know who else to go to..his biggest worry is that if he's ever compromised - or a threat arises like this last one - that he wasn't entirely sure he could handle on his own..he's got me, Pepper."

Pepper Potts lets Tony end the hug but looks at him levelly, making a conscious effort to put aside her annoyance with Superman because Tony asked her to. "And you've got me. You are /not/ doing this alone. You.." She blinks as she's interrupted by a smoothie held in Dummy's mechanical grip insinuates itself between them. "See? Case in point." She offers the bot a smile, having made the decision quite a while back to stop letting them unnerve her.

Tony Stark looks around quietly, before he speaks. "I..I didn't want to burden anyone with this. Especially this. No one should have to carry this load except the one guy that's got to - and that's me. You've never seen Superman look..worried..before. He was worried when he talked to me, and told me that his biggest fear is being overwhelmed like he was..and not being able to stop it. Or worse..being taken control of himself. He never wants to let that happen, to let himself become a liability."

"You're not burdening me with this. I'm choosing to support you while you carry this burden. Just call me Samwise or something." Pepper takes the smoothie cup from Dummy's hand... or tries to, anyway. He won't let go of it.

Tony Stark gives a slight chuckle, and reaches up and takes the smoothie cup. Dummy releases the cup easily, but not before he gets admonished by Tony - "Hey, you share with Pepper, ok? You got me?" *mechanical whine* "Good." he looks at the cup, then up to Pepper and shrugs. "So basically the long and the short of it is," he says, finally saying it, "Superman wants me to build an armor capable of stopping him if he's ever compromised or goes rogue."

Pepper Potts nods. That's close enough to what she'd guessed. "Please tell me you're not going to paint it green." Okay, as far as attempted jokes go, that one was probably the most pitiful EVER. "Anyway. I fixed dinner. Take a short break, eat a little something solid to go with that smoothie. Then maybe I'll consider maybe sharing my cannolis with you."

Tony Stark shakes his head, "No, no green is too obvious. Red, Blue, and Gold." he says deadpan, taking a drink of his smoothie. "Alright, alright I'll eat. But only because there's cannoli." he says, smiling a little. He pauses and is quiet a moment. "Thank you." he says softly, sincerely.

Pepper Potts ahs and nods, stepping aside to give Tony room to vacate his chair. "You're welcome," she replies with equal sincerity before turning and patting Dummy almost absently as she steps around the bot to head back to the salad waiting in its bowl. "Now, you never answered my question. Ranch or Catalina?" She holds up the dressing bottles as she names them.

Tony Stark blinks a moment. "oh. I thought you were giving asking me about architecture." he says, "Ranch, in this case."

Pepper Potts smiles and nods, unsealing the bottle and globbing a generous amount into the salad bowl before putting the lid back on the large container and giving the whole thing a vigorous shake. "I hope you like this salad. Janeane from IT mentioned it to me the other day and I've been wanting to give it a try since." After the salad's contents are shaken to within an inch of their lives she sets the container back down and pulls plates, silverware, and serving utensils out of the tote.

Tony Stark blinks, "What kind of salad is it? I thought the people in IT ate Pocky and drank straight caffeine?"

"Not all of them do that, Tony. And ... I don't remember what she called it. Mexican salad or something like that." Pepper doles out two smallish servings from the bowl, about the same portions she usually claims for herself. The salad appears to be more than just vegetables and dressing, as the crushed Fritos are there, as well as pinto beans and ground beef. "She said it was something she found on Pinterest."

Tony Stark sips some more smoothie and nods, "Oh yeah, that makes sense. Mexican salad, pinatas, that works." he looks as if he's about to start working on something else and shakes his head, "Nah, I think I'm due for a break."

Pepper Potts sets one of the plates in front of Tony. "I think you've been due for a break for a few days now. But I'll let it slide this time." She sees Dummy reaching for the bottle of ranch dressing and lets the bot take it, mostly out of curiosity.

Tony Stark also looks on, at first in abject horror, and then openly facepalming as Dummy uses the Ranch and goes about the routine of concocting a smoothie out of it.

Pepper Potts makes a slightly horrified face then has to say it. "I'm really glad I didn't open the Catalina."

Tony Stark shakes his head, "I'm not drinking that, Dummy." he says flatly. *mechanical pouty sound* "It's Ranch!" he says exasperatedly.

Pepper Potts watches the bot do that sad droop thing he does so well and feels kind of bad for him. "I'm willing to taste it... as long as there's no motor oil or anything in there."