490/The Pull of the Ocean

The Pull of the Ocean
Date of Scene:	18 May 2017
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Iron Man, 251, Chris Redfield

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Iron Man has posed:
A warm day in the City. When the temperatures rise, the city becomes a virtual mecca for tourists. As a result, the streets are clogged, the sidewalks are filled with those gawkers that are more interested in looking up and not where they're going, resulting in a higher incidence of crime. Tip to those new to the city... never, ever look up.

As a result of increasing traffic, Tony Stark is remaining indoors for the time being. He's taking his meals in, taking his meetings in, and making sure that any and all 'sightings' of him are carefully orchestrated. In winter, no one cares. In spring and summer, however? All bets are off.

Because he is within, that also means that to get an appointment with the 'great' Tony Stark is next to impossible. Very nearly so. As in, it would be easier to win the lottery than to actually speak more than a sentence or two at him. AT him, as opposed to 'with' him.

Unless, of course, one was an employee. Or, one was rather insistent and hinted at technology. Yup, Tony's a sucker for tech.

Tony is settled in in one of his larger meeting rooms, dressed down for the occasion (t-shirt, jeans.. the hint of blue glowing at his chest), and he's got his tablet in front of him with the information in a holographic form all about him. In this case, it's a deep sea survey of area very near the Marianas Trench.

"Okay, tell me again why we should be looking at a big ol' hole in the ocean floor. If it doesn't have what I need," Yes, need, "I don't need it."

Aspen (251) has posed:
Aspen rolls her eyes. "It doesn't that you know of, Mister Stark. With all due respect, there are depths of the trench that you can't reach." You. Not we. "I've checked these readings a dozen times." She reaches up, shifting the view and then expanding on it. The currents would have dropped it here, according to the currents and taking into account tide and wind as well as the activity levels of humans," Again she seems to be separating herself off from that word, "taking dives."

Aspen is a pretty young woman, dressed in a pair of stone washed jeans and a soft sea foam green tank top with a black short sleeved shoulder shrug over it. Clearly, she dresses as 'professionally' as Tony does.

The view is shifted again, this time showing the salvage of an old ship. "It went down here... Well over two hundred years ago as you know... With the recent activity and the abundance of life around there... There's no way it would still be there." From her back pocket, she pulls out a piece of metal about half the size of her fist and drops on the table in front of Tony. It's an odd looking thing with unreadable rune work on it. "This was found about two miles west of where I believe the rest can be found." But how did she comes across it...

Chris Redfield has posed:
    Getting an appointment with Stark isn't so hard when you have the right connections. Take Chris Redfield, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. He doesn't have a big name, but he has the right credentials. He's in the books. Right there, one of the privileged few who's written in ink instead of pencil even. Except his appointment is -tomorrow-.

    How he got past the security desk at the entry downstairs, the secretary at the elevators on this floor, or the secretary closer to the conference rooms is anybody's guess. Why he bothers to knock with his other hand after opening the door far enough to step halfway into the room is just plain mystifying. There he stands, dressed in jeans, hiking boots and an aviator-style leather jacket like any common douchebag on the street, waiting 'politely' to be invited in.

Iron Man has posed:
Water. Fish. Big ol' vents in the bottom of the ocean doesn't look terribly exciting, but the fact that it's got Tony Stark's attention should give the entire subject a little more merit, a whole lot more weight. He's looking at it, bringing his hand up to shift the view before he's on his feet and walking //around// the projection, dark eyes locked on the image. If he's noticed the 'them' and 'me' inference, he's not remarking on it. He's too busy with the 'business' of that business right before him. Leaning to pick up the piece, he's lifting it to take a closer look at it, turning it around in his hand before he does those little test 'weighs', feeling the density and such in his hand. "Okay.. I'll give a tentative 'go' on this one. But it's gotta be si-"

Stark-Fujikawa is one of those business, Stark Towers is one of those buildings where security is tantamount. If anyone has gotten in it's by design rather than by sheer will. There are those where the fates align however, but all in all? One isn't there unless Tony wants you to be, or they're blasting their way in due to some vendetta with a couple of really well placed ordinances.

Still, stars and planets do align, and before the SHIELD agent can truly enter the room, there is an announcement as if the man in question is being announced in some royal court.

"Sir, there is an Agent Redfield here to see you. He's..."

*knock*

"Here. Right. Thank you, Jarvis. Oh, and by the way? You're fired."

Tony turns around with a tight smile, and his head cants slightly. "You're early. As in, unfashionably. Not just, like, ten, fifteen minutes where the host of the party has to make you a quick cup of coffee before the other guests arrive, sort of early."

Aspen (251) has posed:
So many people dismiss the ocean off hand. Very few really know the truth of what's down there. It just so happens... Stark has one of the few who know such things better than anyone in his employ.

She watches him handle the material, the way he tries to weigh it and test it. She crosses her arms over her chest and leans back on the table, almost but not quite, sitting on it. Those piercing, cerulean blue eyes stay on him. When he concedes, she smirks. She could be a younger, female version of him, really. Except for the almost blue hair.

There's a snort as he fires the AI but her eyes do flit to the door and the new entrance. Now, a good employee would make herself scarce. Thank him for his permission and run. Aspen... Not so much. She's curious and since she hasn't been ordered to go... She's likely not going anywhere. There's a reason she heads up the aquatic division and a mousy personality isn't it.

Chris Redfield has posed:
    Redfield looks from Stark to Aspen and back again before he steps into the room and, closing the door behind him, answers, "I want to talk to you about a piece of Stark equipment I encountered in Gotham streets the other night," instead of addressing his timeliness and since he's already been introduced by intercom. He reaches to a back jeans pocket to pull out a stack of rubber-banded 3x5 photographs while adding, "Malfunctioning equipment, so far as I can tell." The photos, a collection of infrared images of a bio-mechanical dragon shooting plasma at the streets and at gang members and taking gunfire from those same gangmembers, are given a negligent toss at the tabletop near Stark.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony doesn't do that sort of thing, that is, excuse members of his 'immediate' staff, or those he considers as such. Department heads, major department heads, have access to him... mostly. Rather, they're more likely to get his attention than, say, a random someone.. Waving a hand at the hologram, he finishes with, "Okay, Jarvis. That's enough. Thank you." With those words, the larger than life visual of the Marianas Trench disappears.

"Stark equipment, huh? I don't recall any of my stuff going missing and rampaging down..." and there are the pictures. He pauses a moment, looks down at them on the table, then back up at the Agent. His expression is bland, his tones even, "Looks like self defense to me. So what's the problem, Agent?" Tony's brows rise and he nods in gesture towards the pictures before he starts a slow walk around the table. "Doesn't look like it's malfunctioning. Gangs?" He *tsks* softly and stops at the end of the table, resting his arm on the top of the chair, and the other is set casually into his jeans pocket. "You're just jealous. I have a dragon and you don't."

Aspen (251) has posed:
Ooh. Pictures. Aspen leans forward, blue eyes scanning over what's made available to the immediate sight and then she's reaching out to pick the stack up and flip through it. Rear end goes on the table, feet on a chair and her head tilts. She flips slowly through the pictures, listening quietly to the conversation behind her.

Finally, she gives an amused snort-heh-type of chuckle. "You have a dragon. That's awesome." The pictures are placed back together, rubber band put back on and the stack laid on the table.

Chris Redfield has posed:
    "Let's start with target acquisition systems that -don't-," Redfield answers Stark bluntly. "That hunk of junk was doing nothing but shooting holes in the asphalt, and with the Joker running the G.P.D. I think the taxpayers deserve a little better from -you- than a dozen new potholes a night. You'll find several images where your equipment is firing nearly point-blank at slow-moving targets and hitting nothing but dirt."

    He pauses while Stark and Aspen look through the images and when Aspen makes her remark he turns a perplexed grimace from her to Stark and back again. Finally he says, "Miss, I like my coffee black. Thanks."

    Without pause he continues: "Moving onto threat-assessment systems that also don't, your equipment mis-identified a Beretta model ninety-two F as a forty-five at leass than fifteen yards and, without regard for the variety of munition styles that might be fed through that weapon, dismissed it as a potential threat to itself. If you'd like a demonstration of some high-velocity triple-stage armor-piercing rounds for small arms S.H.I.E.L.D. has been developing, I can arrange a tour of one of our R&D stations for you."

    "Finally there's the matter of confidentiality concerns, but frankly I'd like to discuss that while your secretary's out of the room."

Aspen (251) has posed:
Miss I like my... Oh no. See, not happening. Aspen snorts. "Well good for you. I take mine with cream and sugar since we're sharing." And then she smiles so so sweetly. "Finally... Bite me. I'm not his secretary and you're the one that isn't supposed to be here."

Iron Man has posed:
Tony scoffs, "Like I can't handle a couple of potholes. Seriously. I could buy and sell the whole damned city, but it'd be a losing investment. Seriously, Joker? The lunatics have seriously taken over the asylum out there." It's a half-casual shrug, but the man's eyes are all business. "As for the threat assessment, he's still learning. Like JARVIS, he's an awareness. He'll figure it out, I'm sure. And when you're done insulting my dragon, I'll love to see what sort of system you can build in your lab. I mean, little bullets are really cute and all, but... dragon."

Tony pulls his arm from the back of the chair, and when Aspen counters in her own inimatable way, he actually chuckles. "She's my department head for oceanic studies. Always looking for new vistas, you know."

It's back, then, to the talk of business, and he leans forward, his tones dropping, "Agent, my father was making state of the art munitions when SHIELD was just a gleam in someone's eye. Hell, I was making them before you joined SHIELD, I'm willing to guess. If you want to show me some bullets, I'm gonna have to pass on that one. You'll probably be showing me something I rejected in my own R&D halls ten years ago." Tony actually manages to smile when he says that, and a soft chuckle exits the man soon after as he mouths the word 'dragon'.

"I'll be happy to speak to the big guy about his behavior, though. Might have to ground him for a day, or maybe make him fill in the potholes himself. I haven't decided yet." Tony lifts a shoulder, and his tones sound a theatric exhasperated sound, "What's a parent to do?"

Chris Redfield has posed:
    Redfield looks between the two, locks one big hand around the opposing wrist and leans his shoulder against the closed door. It isn't a pose of boredom, it's boredom displayed in body language. "I was out there with a set of binoculars verifying what our satellites thought they were seeing," he continues as if Stark hadn't responded with flippant disinterest. "Your toy accused me of being the fore-runner of a larger tactical unit and very, very loudly named Agent Romanova and S.H.I.E.L.D. while asking where she was going to shoot him from."

    He pauses this time just long enough for that to sink in before he concludes, "I was hoping this actually was a malfunctioning A.I. and that you'd take it a bit more seriously than your reputation holds you take everything else, Mister Stark. It claimed to be a free-standing entity that you allow to roam loose on the streets and frankly that's the impression I'm getting from you too."

Aspen (251) has posed:
A few things can be said about Tony Stark. He's arrogant. He's a playboy. He has a complete disregard for the rules. He throws money away. -- All of these things are true. What can also be said about that he has a good heart. That he does what he believes is right. That he judges based on someone's work and not their reputation. -- The former is always mentioned. The latter never is. It's something that Aspen has learned however. It's why she holds as much respect for Tony as she does. Why she'd go out of her way to retrieve what he's looking for under the water.

Cerulean blue eyes harden as she pushes off the table. She doesn't like bullies and that's exactly what Chris strikes her as. "Toy?" Her eyes narrow and the air seems to go thick feeling. "You admit, yourself, that he's a 'free-standing entity'. He's clearly sentient. And you call him a toy? What's wrong? Don't like being called out? Or is it you SHIELD agents prefer to be the only ones with any power out there?"

Nerve struck? Yep.

Iron Man has posed:
"See, Agent Romanova has actually //met// the dragon before, and the pair had a little chat," Tony begins. "And I repeat... Artificial Awareness, not Artificial Intelligence. Big difference there. It's like.. well, Jarvis is an AA as well. But, that means that it means it learns. It takes its experiences and it molds and shapes itself into a unique entity. What you're seeing out there is a product of its experience and its feelings. It knows of SHIELD and frankly, it probably holds it in just as high esteem as I do." He smiles tightly and takes a step back from his spot and begins to pace around the room. "It is actually a 'free standing entity'. That's what it's intended to be. It'll learn, adapt, and do what it can to defend itself. I have also been assure that it won't be taking any life... has it, Agent? Aside from some gang-bangers, that is... and if that's the case, I'll apologize personally to the police-- oh wait. It's Joker. Sorry."

When Aspen chimes in, Tony puts a hand out, gesturing in a low, 'settling' motion. "It's okay. I get it." Brown eyes move back to Chris, and he cants his head. "My toys, Agent, is someone else's magic. Someone else's dreams. Sometimes I share my toys and sometimes I want to keep them safe and away from people who have no other desire but to take them apart and see how they work."

Chris Redfield has posed:
    If Chris Redfield's the bully in the room, why is he leaning against the door talking about his perception of events while somebody else makes the air go all gooey on him? His attention turns on Aspen and his brows knit, some inner sense alerting him to the unexpected danger presented by what should have been a safe meeting with a trusted S.H.I.E.L.D. associate like Tony Stark. He slowly straightens up, letting his hands fall to his sides. One of them self-consciously touches the spot on his leg where, presumably, a weapon usually rests but now doesn't. "I admitted that he made the claim," he answers Aspen flatly, his tone suddenly flat and unfriendly, no longer conversational. "I never saw any evidence of sentience, not that I'd know the difference between evidence of sentience or evidence of godhood."

    He doesn't turn to keep Stark in his line of sight when the man starts pacing. He doesn't think for one second that Tony Stark would gas him, direct an air-gooifying beam at him, or even take a swing at him just for criticizing a piece of his tech. He stares back at Aspen like he's waiting for her to draw a weapon and he intends to be ready to draw too, even though he's got nothing to draw.

    "The point isn't where he got the information, Mister Stark," Redfield answers even though he doesn't look at Stark. "The point is that he shouted it out on a public fucking street in the middle of a paranoid fit. He spotted me trying to hustle a civilian out of the area while he was busy trading fire with gangbangers - " he barks a sharp laugh and does dart a glance Tony's direction but looks quickly back to Aspen, " - and I'll remind you that my biggest problem is that he missed every shot he fired and didn't kill a single one of those gangbangers - he spotted me, a lone S.H.I.E.L.D. agent performing a civilian evac and started screaming about murder plots and dissection, naming agents by name. You're not seeing a problem here?"

Aspen (251) has posed:
The motion from Tony is what has Aspen taking a deep, calming breath and, for all intents and purposes, retracting her claws. For long moments, her eyes don't leave the SHIELD Agent. She doesn't trust him.

When she does, finally, it's turn turn her back on, she doesn't consider him a threat, and turn her attention on Tony. "My apologies for my outburst, Mister Stark. It won't happen again." Nope. No weapon being drawn. Even the air is starting to return to normal slowly.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony's not going to attack the SHIELD agent, no. It's true that he's got a reasonable working relationship with the secretive agency, even if it may be a little rivalrous. It's the devil he knows, as it were. As such, the billionaire does help on occasion, and is actually sometimes thanked for his efforts. Sometimes. "See now, that's a slightly different rendition of the facts. I'll have to have a talk with him and let him know that he's not supposed to do those sorts of things. As I said, he's still learning, and he's kinda funny about some things."

The man pulls out a seat and sits down again, leaning back before he sets one foot on the table, then the other, crossing as it joins. "He knows I won't let anyone dissect him if I can help it."

Tony rolls his head around to look at Aspen, and he nods once in acknowledgment. "It's okay. I don't expect you to interact with these guys too much. It's usually just me or Pepper."

Now, the erstwhile SHIELD Agent gets his attention once more. "It won't happen again, Agent. Promise. The dragon and I will have a little chat, and if I had my way, I'd make him apologize. But, you know kids. They don't always do what they're told, and they don't see their mistakes until long after. But, I'll take care of it."

Chris Redfield has posed:
    Redfield's brown eyes roll at the suggestion that the biomechanical dragon should apologize. When they return to meet Stark's gaze he says, "Thank you for your time, Mister Stark," sincerely enough. Aspen gets a final sidelong glance from the corners of his eyes before he turns his back on the two of them and steps out the door.