17893/Conversations in a Penthouse

Conversations in a Penthouse
Date of Scene:	10 May 2024
Location:	Stark Tower: Penthouse
Synopsis:	The launch facility is discussed. Tony can't have a helicarrier or a pet T-Rex, but he does get his own island. Pepper continues to work too much, the woman needs to learn to delegate.
Cast of Characters:	Tony Stark, Pepper Potts

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Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony has been in the workshop most of the day. This is not new or surprising to anyone who knows him. What is a bit of a surprise is the fact that he's asked HOMER to let him know when Pepper emerges from her CEO cocoon for the day. When he gets the heads-up, he puts aside his current project and heads up to the main room.

    "Hey, wanted to talk to you about a few things. You want something delivered for dinner, or should we put Chef to work? I'm good either way so if you've got a craving for something, go for it."

    He heads over to the sofa, water bottle in hand and sits down. He's wearing sweatpants, sneakers and a grey tank top that allows the muted glow of the arc reactor in his chest to shine through. When he looks at her, there's a softness in his eyes totally unlike the normal 'Tony Stark' overconfident and brash appearance.

    "So, before I bring my stuff up, anything new in CEO land?" He takes a drink from his bottle before putting it on the coffeetable.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The moment Pepper steps off the elevator, she's pulling off her pumps and walking across the floor in stocking feet towards the kitchenette for one of her smoothies tucked away in the refrigerator. She drops her shoes at the side of the table just before reaching for the refrigerator door.

Catching Tony's entrance on the other side of the room, Pepper finishes her task, the dark purple smoothie in hand, and the door closes. Next, her hair is freed from its ponytail, and with a shake of her head, the strawberry blonde tresses fall to her shoulders. To see him brings a fond, affectionate smile, followed by a laugh. "Oh, I would totally give it back." She shakes her head and starts the cross back, towards the couch, and exhales in a sigh, a tired sound. "I.. I am so glad today is done."

Once she reaches Tony, her drink is placed down, and she takes up a spot behind him, placing two hands on his shoulders as if to give him a brief shoulder massage, complete with a kiss from behind.

"Let's see.. CEOland. I think I scare people. They're not sure what to do about me, but that's okay. I can use that."

Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony chuckles and replies "Scaring people is good. You scare people enough, you get your own way. There's just a fine line to walk between scared and working with you to scared and running for the hills. So, was today just far too much paperwork, or have any issues cropped up that I can help with?" He leans back a bit for the kiss, then takes one of her hands to guide her to the couch beside him. "And after you answer that, we haven't really talked since I took over the Cranston meeting and turned it on it's head. I didn't mean to do that to you in one of your first big corporate deals. Are you okay with the space station idea?" He sits back and slips an arm around her shoulders.

    "HOMER, give us a little quiet music, chamber orchestra, don't care which." Relaxing music comes up in the background as he waits for Pepper to think through and answer the barrage of questions. "Oh, and you didn't choose any food, but that's not the most pressing thing."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper chuckles, the sound soft in the expanse of room. "I've never been scary before." Well, maybe. There's a pause before she amends, "Not like this, anyway." Shaking her head, she allows herself to be drawn over, and guided to the couch. Settling in, she leans in instinctively, gaining his arm around her. It takes a moment or three before she relaxes, the thrum in her chest as she senses him becoming more familiar, more welcome. "Paperwork. I've started the filings with the FCC, and sent email to the FAA, and I fully expect a call back from Senator Robinson." Work, work... and more work.

"And I think the space station idea is a good one. Particularly now. I.. I just wish you'd thought of it before so it wasn't that much of a suprise." Pepper cants her head up to look at dark eyes, those eyes that are so easy to fall into, "I should know by now."

The music is appreciated, and as the strains begin, Pepper relaxes more in her lean. "I didn't choose any food, no. I think something light-- pressing?" Immediately, there's a jolt of concern, "Are you okay?"

Tony Stark has posed:
    "I just meant choosing food wasn't so important you needed to do it this second. I'm just fine as always. I was thinking though... We should buy an island. I'm not sure I want our link to the space station under the jurisdiction of the fun folks who made up the bulk of the forces attacking the Starport."

    He feels her relax and smiles while continuing "But yeah, paperwork is just such fun." He shrugs, "I probably wasn't a great CEO, seeing how I just passed all that boring stuff down the line and hid in my workshop. Far better that someone willing to actually do the job has the position." He takes a another pull from his bottle and sets it back on the coffeetable.

    "Back to the island idea - We can build an airport/spaceport, warehouses and a large port for Cranston's cargo ships. No worries about the FAA, senators or anything else. I figure if it's in another nation's waters, anything would have to go through them, where with the spaceport in international waters the UN was the final authority. And I'm sure we could make some poor nation our best friend pretty easily, right? What do you think about that?"

Pepper Potts has posed:
A hand is lifted to her chest as if containing a rapidly beating heart, and she brings it back down again quickly. Still so strange, and it's not something Pepper likes to consider. It is scary, and it brings her even closer to understanding Tony. From her chest to laying her hand on his chest, gently.

"I'm not sure about buying an island, Tony," Pepper's looking up, watching his expressions. "I'm sure someone would be more than happy to sell us land, whether it's in Dubai, or.. or.. Monaco, even somewhere in South America?" She exhales with a quiet breath, "I'd hate to think that we couldn't do it here." Though, there are good arguments for taking it off shore. "I hate the idea," she ends, perhaps a little lamely. "And I hate having to even consider it." Which means, she'll absolutely consider it.

"You.." Pepper begins slowly, "you are this company. You live and breathe it, and it's part of you." She lets her head drop again to rest against his shoulder, "I'm just trying to keep my head above water." One of the few times she'll admit that it's a LOT of work.

Tony Stark has posed:
    He gives her a hug, saying quietly, "I know how you feel, both about the company and the location for the spaceport connection. I may be this company, but the paperwork has always been a curse. That's why I always had assistants to take care of it all. But it did mean I wasn't always keeping on top of what every division of the company was up to." He sighs, "And I hate not trusting the US's government, but they've been up to some sketchy stuff lately. I mean, my dad helped build a big part of the nation's military and technology, I shouldn't have to worry that they'll sweep in and take over our launch facilities. But it wasn't all that long ago that the Secretary of Defense was unmasked as a HYDRA plant after blacking SHIELD's eye."

    He pauses, eyes going distant in that 'brain has thrown an idea to be worked through' look that Pepper knows all too well. After a couple moment, he blinks and says "You know, sometimes I outdo myself." He looks over at her with a grin and says "I think it's time to dust off the helicarrier production docks. Let's see the UN try and take over a flying, cloaked airbase. I can redesign it to be more cargo based, take off the main armaments other than a little point defense, put a couple deck cranes on it to transfer to and from Cranston's cargo ships and we're all set."

Pepper Potts has posed:
"I don't like it," comes the complaint once more. Pepper isn't really happy, but it's truly a matter of what is best for the company, when it comes down to it. And she'll defend the decision and the company with full force when it's needed. That also means she'll defend Tony as well, if not moreso. Definitely moreso.

She quiets down and listens, nodding her head against him. "I think that's helping keep them away from us. Your father. I really think that they see Stark Industries as 'theirs', if you know what I mean?" An American institution without having been around for over 100 years. "We need to think about that, too. See if we can't leverage it?" Play on the name and the history.

Uh oh.. and Pepper does know that look. even from her vantage point of being curled up with him. While she may not say the words, her expression certainly does convey that 'What are you thinking?' before he explains. Pepper hesitates before she starts to shake her head, "A flying airbase? What? How...?" Now, she's considering expenses, that bottom line, and it's growing. "Tony, that's going to be a lot more expensive than a ground based one. It'll be nearly impossible for me to sell that to the Board. Not to mention the overhead... and.. and.. just.." Speechless?

Tony Stark has posed:
    "Of course you don't like it. Nobody likes paperwork. But let's face it, you were pretty much doing it all before anyway, and now you get to yell at people who screw up because you're the boss. Get an assistant or two to do the everyday rote paperwork and save yourself for dealings outside the company and important paperwork. You don't need to sign every requisition for ball-point pens that gets submitted."

    He kisses her cheek, then stands up and starts pacing around the room. "Yeah, we have a pretty good relationship with the government. A little strained since I won't give them my suits, but otherwise decent. But that doesn't matter when they're infiltrated by groups like HYDRA, and I guarantee you that the Secretary of Defense wasn't their only guy in government.""

    He makes a circuit of the living room, still talking "It's not that hard, we've got helicarriers out there, after all, it's just that we built them for SHIELD. All the really expensive stuff, design, testing, building the manufacturing facilities is all there already. Hell, we're wasting money every day because the facilities to build them are sitting idle."

    Another round of the room is accompanied by "As for the board.. we'll paint it red and gold like my armor, blazon Stark Industries logo on the sides, it'll be like the Goodyear blimp. Instant brand recognition. And yeah, it'll be a bit more expensive than an airbase, but it'll be safe from anyone taking it over, and we can put it down in any ocean to transfer to and from Cranston ships, save them all having to come to the same place and then make the trip to deliver."

Pepper Potts has posed:
"I actually don't sign off on the office equipment. Though, maybe I should get accounting involved with checking on how much paper we still use," she drawls softly, the humor playing under her words. "And I have an assistant, but I'm afraid of overworking her to the point where she's going to quit." Even with raises. "I don't pick up our laundry from the cleaners anymore, after all."

Pepper watches as Tony rises, and she grabs a pillow to put on her lap, her arms wrapped lightly around it for the moment. She follows his pacing, and counters, "Building is all fine. It's a fixed expense. Parts, labor. But we need people who can fly it. That adds to the cost. Then, 24 hour operations. Specialized skills above and beyond what we're going to use it for. It would be at least 4 times the cost of a ground based system." Pepper shakes her head, her attention still firmly on the genius in her life. "And we are still going to be building the orbital AND the ships that move from there." She shakes her head again, "We really need to look at the costs." She won't sell the yacht, no.

The pillow is released, and she moves it over before she rises. The power-suit jacket comes off, revealing her usual blouse with the camisole beneath. "We have been very lucky over the years, Tony. We haven't had that problem that the government has had in the past, thankfully." Once on her feet, she takes up her untouched smoothie, ready to pour it out. It's leaning more towards room temperature, which she doesn't care for. "I'd rather buy an island."

Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony stops by the glass door to the balcony and sighs. "But an Iron Man themed helicarrier would be really cool. And the spaceport will need 24/7 operations also, just like any other port facility. Carrier would need a specialized crew however, and yeah, that'd be a bit expensive. Spaceport and carrier would both need traffic control teams of course, runway maintenance would be cheaper than helicarrier maintenance, but we do manufacture most of the helicarrier parts ourselves, so that drives costs down a little."

    He turns to face her, "The ground based facility would be tens of millions a year cheaper, I'll admit. Maybe if the business really takes off we'll revisit the helicarrier idea, but for now yeah, let's look at islands." He gives her a boyish grin and says "Maybe off Costa Rica? I want my very own bioengineered T-Rex." He should probably be detoured off that thought before it blossoms any further.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The thought of having a giant red and gold helicarrier really is enticing to the kid at heart genius, she can tell. In a way, she feels badly for saying 'no'; it seems so final at times. Pepper softens it a little with a ghosted smile, her cheeks brightening as it reaches her eyes. She pads towards him to stand before him, ready to wrap her arms around his neck in a light hold. "I know it would be really cool. And I know you really want one for your own, I do. But, now isn't the time."

When is it ever the time, though? "If business really takes off and we can float the cost of operations above what our margins are now, then we'll revisit it. Okay?"

Of course, then he has to chime in with...

Canting her head, Pepper is still gazing into his eyes, the smile still playing at the edges of her lips, reaching her eyes to echo the affection. "Yes to Costa Rica, no to T-Rex. And if you invite, say, Dr. Pym, I'll leave explicit ... suggestion that he does not make one for you. And HOMER?" Pepper leans her head back to alert the AI.

"Yes, Ms Potts?"

"No building T-Rex parts for Mr Stark."

Tony Stark has posed:
    He wraps his arms around her waist once she comes over to him and listens to her when she says it may come up again in the future, and the injunction against what would be wildly dangerous and probably illegal bioexperimentation, then shrugs again and says, "Well, it's not like I don't have enough toys, anyway. And the space station will be using up a lot of my time for quite a while. We're going to need a lot of specialists to get the thing designed and built. The holo I showed Natasha was just the shell, the actual guts of the thing are going to need a _lot_ of designers and scientists."

    "HOMER, start compiling a list of all engineers and scientists who have worked on any part of the International Space Station, as well as on rockets, shuttles or any other projects affiliated with space launch or travel. Forward it to Pepper's office system. While you're at it, also do a list of architects who have worked on any project the size of a shopping mall or larger and send it to Pepper as well."

    He kisses the tip of her nose with a smile and says "Reed, Forge and I may have been enough to design the helicarriers, but this thing is going to need serious experts in their fields. The helicarrier doesn't have to contend with space and holding it's own atmosphere. I've gotten good enough to be able to design my armors to handle some spaceflight, but that's like an hour or so at a time, not up there permanently."

Pepper Potts has posed:
"And you," she lets the word linger in the air between them, however small, "have just given me more homework." Pepper smiles in the face of the peck, her nose wrinkling. Pepper steps out of the embrace; she just wanted a little bit of touch. "HOMER, compile the CVs and narrow it down to those who have been in the field between five and ten years." There's a soft exhaled breath before she finishes, "And their current salaries."

Pepper takes another step back before she begins to pad towards the coffee table to pick up one of her many tablets, and once in hand, she looks back. "I am going to take a shower, have a glass of wine, and lie in bed, looking at the portfolios of engineers, scientists and architects." She lets this settle in the air for only a couple of heartbeats; and while the ghosted smile may seem to be gone, there is still very much the love that is centered in her eyes. "Care to join me?"

Tony Stark has posed:
    Tony raises an eyebrow, saying "You do realize you don't have to do that tonight, right? Why not save it for work hours, at least you're getting paid that way. I mean, it is now Stark Industries main project, what's more important to spend time on?" He does however, follow her towards the bedroom. "The shower is simply too good an idea to let pass though." Before he's out of the living room, he adds, "HOMER, tell Chef to make a couple turkey club sandwiches and pop them in the fridge."

    With dinner arranged for whenever they get hungry, he follows her out of the room.