16914/Looking out for The Man

Looking out for The Man
Date of Scene:	14 January 2024
Location:	Stark Tower: Penthouse
Synopsis:	Tony and Pepper find that Justin Hammer has resurfaced, after a fashion, and is throwing his hat into the ring of energy contracts with the federal government. That has to be watched...
Cast of Characters:	Pepper Potts, Tony Stark

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Pepper Potts has posed:
There are very few places uglier than New York City in January and February. The location is a victim of rainstorms, thanks to nor'easters, or in those rare moments, a snowfall. When the white fluffiness falls, the City is actually pretty, but after an hour or two on the ground, the grey exerts itself once more. Still, it's 'home', and there is a definite comfort when a cheery fire is in the fireplace, and lights are set a little lower.

In the expansiveness that is the Penthouse of Stark Industries, that is the exact tableau. Snow falls outside, and the fireplace in the center of the room crackles, the yellow and orange flames warming the room. For most people, the dark, the fire, that would indicate a certain level of 'relaxing', a kicking back and resting from a week of work, but those that live there aren't anywhere near like 'normal people'.

Pepper is dressed down; yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt over her lithe frame. A cup of hot chocolate(!) is in hand, cradled for the warmth, and her laptop is settled on the coffee table in front of her. A leg is pulled up and underneath her, and she leans forward, green eyes quickly scanning each page as she flips through. On a page before her, the US patent office page is in all its glory. Apparently the redhead has noticed something.

"So that's what he's been doing..." is murmured. Shaking her head, Pepper doesn't look up from the screen, doesn't stop her scrolling until she lands on another page. A question, then, is asked,

"HOMER, when was the award given for DE-FOA-0003240?"

There are a pause before an answer comes, and it's met with a frown. She simply doesn't give the AI too much of a break (she misses JARVIS), and HOMER does try, he really does. It can actually be heard in its response.

"Ms Potts, DE-FOA-0003240 is not yet assigned, but there are numerous companies that have submitted sealed bids. Those companies are Brand, AMI, and Hammer Industries. The submission ends 13 February."

"That's not what it looks like here."

Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony is actually in the penthouse, having promised that except in emergencies that he'd leave his workshop at least three times a week. Since he's not dealing with the outside world right now, he's also casually dressed, wearing a long sleeve shirt with the sleeves pushed up to just above the elbow, black pants and a pair of slightly scuffed up but comfortable shoes.

    He may not be in the workshop, but since Pepper is kind of working, he's got a small hologram floating in front of him that he keeps zooming into parts of. When she asks HOMER a question however, he looks up from whatever he's so intently studying.

    "I heard Hammer's name in there, what's he trying to break now?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper's expression remains in the frown, her brows down as she shakes her head, reading the page before her. There are some things that are beyond her; she's not the genius in the room, not by a long shot, but the RFP, she understands (as it's supposed to be read by contracting departments).

Looking over her shoulder, Pepper watches him for a moment, and some of that stress leaves her shoulder muscles, allowing them to drop just a little. "I think he's trying to prove something." How's that for an answer? "You did weapons, he did weapons. You made the suit, well.. and now he's trying to get into what seems to be high tech thermal energy physics." Setting her now lukewarm hot chocolate down beside the laptop, she leans back in the couch. "One day, he's going to kill someone. Why would the Energy Department even entertain his submission?" Sure, Justin Hammer is a rival, and compared to Tony, isn't too terribly intelligent, but he does have a viable company. It just isn't a multi-billion dollar international company. This, apparently, is the next in a line of attempts to change that and rekindle the rivalry?

"It's not a contract we submitted a proposal for, but still."

Tony Stark has posed:
    "Yeah, there's a whole host of mistakes he could make in that sort of thing. The man just won't accept that he's not nearly as good as he thinks he is. I mean, he could go into farm equipment or something. There's money to be made in fairly safe fields, but he's still chasing fame and fortune."

    He pushes the hologram aside and opens another, pulling up the bid Pepper had asked about. "Fusion, ok. At least he won't be burying half the country in radioactive fallout. There's still a number of things that could go wrong with it though. It won't keep going on it's own once containment is breached, but all that heat and plasma can do some serious damage to anything nearby before the reaction ceases. At the very least, it would kill everyone working in the plant."

    He reaches over and picks up a bottle of water he's got on an end table beside himself, taking a drink. "So is there anything we can do about it? I mean with luck one of the other companies will win the contract, but it'd be very Hammerlike to bid far lower to get the contract and pull the debit out of another part of his company just so he stays in the public eye."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Farm equipment? Pepper can't help but bark a laugh, her tones turning a touch amused, "If he started making tractors, I think half the country's fields would go fallow. Or, they'd lose control and run over the cows. It'd be horrible." The last bit actually comes with a laugh and she shakes her head. "I think he should stay away from any critical system. Maybe..." and Pepper pretends to give it some thought before she presses her lips together, "... I am at a loss."

As Tony turns his attention to what Pepper's got going, she shifts in her seat such that she's turned a little more in her seat. "I'm not sure that's an acceptable result. I'd expect it from, say, the Russians. Lowest bid, but.." and there, she really does answer her own questions.

"Maybe we could get the Utah office to reach out to Jack and maybe we can support Brand?" Maybe? "Just make sure our name is out of it?" Pepper nods and exhales in a long, soft sigh. "No matter how low we go, Justin still does have friends in Washington. I have a feeling that for anything the other companies do, they don't have anywhere near enough pull like he does." Friends in high and low places.

Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony chuckles, "Yeah, well, he'd at least be less dangerous in farm equipment than in fusion. But you're right, the little weasel has greased a few palms in Washington. Really he had to or he wouldn't have much of a company these days."

    He thinks for a moment, then shrugs. "It may not do any good, but yeah, go ahead and see what kind of support we can drum up for Brand. They're a fairly solid company, they've had a number of successful government projects, so they're a known quantity."

    Shaking his head, he takes another sip from his water bottle and adds. "I suppose we'll just have to keep an eye on the project if he wins. Once we know where the site is, we can station a satellite above it to keep an eye on things. And I'll talk to Bruce, we can brainstorm a little and try to figure out how wrong it could go and what we can do to save people when it breaks down."

    Yep, that was 'when' and not 'if'. After all, it's Hammer.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"I could try and reach out to a few of our contacts in Washington?" For all the allies Hammer might have in the Capitol, they have one or two, though their pull is more with the military. Which might be helpful?

"I'll talk to Jack, give him a call tomorrow." Even though it's Sunday, but of course she has his home number! "I'll make sure we send him an anniversary present next month."

There is that second page, however, that Pepper had been looking at. The patent office page. Turning back around to face her laptop, she hits a few buttons and a hologram appears in the air between the pair. "This was hidden. It's labeled as a hydroelectric dam retaining wall." Which, from the specs, it's obviously not. "I can't read any of these formulas, or even figure out what it is he's using." Chances are better than even that Tony could work it out, however, and get at least a little bit of advantage in all of this.

"I'll have HOMER track it. He can't access their files like JARVIS can," perhaps that is a little bit of an assumption, but at least not in her experience? "But I think he can spot the trends now that he's aware of them." Programming? No. Awareness.

Pepper does let out something of a breath again, "When."

Now, she rises from her seat and begins to pad across the room to where Tony is, lifting up on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Your communications hardware arrived at the Mansion the other day." Mind, he may actually know that; she hasn't been back there to know what the status of that was. Not her concern, really! Just passing the message on.

Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony slips an arm around her waist and kisses her, then nods and answers "Use whatever pull we have, it can't hurt. And as always, I completely trust your taste in gifts. I'd probably send a briefcase or something. Not very anniversary-like."

    He glances over that the 'dam' design and says "HOMER, save a copy of the retaining wall patent and send it down to the workshop and also to the lab in Avenger's manor."

    Returning his attention to Pepper he assures her "I'll go over it thoroughly and try and find any obvious flaws. Then I'll go over it again for the hidden flaws. Then I'll run it past Bruce."

    Speaking to the air again he adds, "HOMER, keep track of that bid. If Hammer wins it, let me know right away. Well, as long as I'm awake, otherwise let me know when I get up." He's a little more careful with his alarms these days, having woken Pepper up a number of times because he set an alarm for something that ended up happening in the wee hours.