Owner	Pose
Peter Parker	Peter was busy in the living room, finishing up the vacuuming. Aunt May always ran a tight ship in the Parker House, but today was something of a special day. A few days ago, he and Ted had been going over concept ideas for some new equipment when Peter had asked him about seeing his lab. Something about Ted seemed...dwindled, slightly. Peter suspected it might have been the loss of the Bug. Peter understood the idea of starting over, and hoped Ted seeing where Peter had come from might help. Failing that, there was Aunt May's cooking. "I'm done in the living room, Aunt May." "All right, then, put it away, Mr. Kord may be here any minute. Don't be so nervous, Peter."
Ted Kord	Ted Kord was diminished. It is true. The loss of the Bug Mark 4 was not the reason. He had the Mark 5 under construction. It was more finding and losing Dan Garrett and his Uncle Jarvis. That and receiving burns from Promethium and a plethora of lesser burns, bruises and two broken ribs. Yeah not chipper. However, he was feeling better driving his new car. A Bugatti. He pondered renting a Fiat Spider but that was a little too close to home and he didn't think Petey knew cars. In any case he parked the Blue Beauty and climbed out carefully, one arm in a sling, slung a bag on his good shoulder and pulled a nice bouquet out of the car before going up the steps and ringing the bell. He hoped Aunt May was warned about the bandaids on his face and the dark lasses. He gives a big smile at the camera. "Hello, Aunt May? It's Teddy Kord." Yes Teddy to Aunt May at least.
Peter Parker	Aunt May had opened the door, and she had smiled at seeing Ted there. Peter had told her about the bruises and burns, so she was a little unsure about her first choice for dinner, but there were other options. "Good evening, Mr. Kord. Please come in." She held the door open and stepped aside. "The menu is varied tonight, so you have a choice. Whatever you choose, the other choice will go to the Watson house down the street. Your choice is slow-cooked barbequed brisket, or terragon chicken with alfredo pasta."
Ted Kord	Ted Kord is taken aback by the offer. In a good way. After a moment of contemplating too many flipping pizzas he answers almost reverently. "Brisket please. Oh these are for you. My dear departed mom always said to never show up for a meal empty handed. It was this or dessert and plow hands should not draw on gunslingers if you take my meaning." He holds the flowers awkwardly in his off hand. "So where's my rising star?" The shoulder bag is shifted uncomfortably.
Peter Parker	Aunt May blushes like a teenager and Ted can see, just for a moment, how she might have looked at her high school prom. "These are lovely. I'll put them in water at once. Peter is downstairs in his laboratory. He asked if you would join him downstairs. It's down the hall, through the door to the left, under the stairwell." She pauses, then says, "Thank you, Mr. Kord. You are a true gentleman." Then she heads into the kitchen.
Ted Kord	Ted Kord d'aws and for a moment looks the way he did graduating High School. Of course he was 12 at the time. He follows the instructions, makes a right, ends up in a broom closet and then finds his way. "Peter? Peterpeteypeter-nator?" he drops his voice to a whisper and says, "Shall I step into your parlor?" He descends. The shouder bag bumps into his side and he hisses. "Oh wow!"
Peter Parker	Peter looks up from the drafting table, where a number of diagrams are laid out on the illuminated surface. He smiles a little sheepishly and says, "Hello, b...uhm, Ted. Welcome to the lab." Nothing in this lab is new. Many items have scuffs, cracks, and similar blemishes - nothing like the lab Peter works in. But there is a special functionality and harmony to it all. "A lot of stuff here is used, but I keep it up and running well. I...built the web-shooters using this equipment, as well as those machine-shop units." He walks over to the small machine shop and beckons Ted over.
Ted Kord	Ted Kord says, "It speaks highly of you and your uncle. I mean... Kord Co was a piddling little machining company when my Uncle Jarvis took it over and started putting my ideas into production. So I admire people who still work with their hands, like I was telling Elon the other day... oh Peter... a LexCorp monitor? T t t t. Actually they make good monitors... I have a mixed opinion about Mr. Luthor. He was set to do a hostile takeover of Kord Co when my folks died and... he took me aside and said he was pulling out of the deal and good luck kid. So... he's a complex man." Ted moves around the lab as he speaks looking into everything and keeping his mouth shut and waiting to give advice. Anyway his forte is aerospace and robotics, hey... "Peter, I have an excess of drones at the moment, do you want one? I could program it to help your aunt out. They kept building more, not to take over or anything. Just to be useful... mmm maybe you could take this shoulder bag for me, this sling is a pain... mainly there to keep me from hurting myself further.'
Peter Parker	Peter instantly looks apologetic, reaching to take the bag and place it on the nearby re-purposed pool table. "Sorry! Sorry..." He looks to the monitor. "Luthor is a little sketchy, but the monitor was in a dumpster in Engineer's Row. I had to fix the screen, but when you can get a $300 monitor for $30, Luthor's loss is my gain." He points to the mass spec, and a few other components. "All of these rescued from the same place. If you ever need to go dumpster-diving for tech, Engineer's Row is great for it. A row of dumpsters for machinery along the west side of ESU, behind the Science Wing. On the other side of the street are three of the 'brain dorms'...two fraternities, one sorority. The Science Wing gets its tech shipments on Thursday, the new stuff gets installed over the weekend, and the trash isn't collected until Tuesday night..."
Ted Kord	Ted Kord nods his thanks. "Yeah... corporate tech is usually obsolete within 2-3 years, the IRS doesn't even let you claim its depreciation for a tax break for five years although... I could just take my old stuff and donate it and receive a break. School stuff is way older than three years. Doing a good deed and paying less taxes. Oh I can make the same offer to my employees to buy stuff too for more than the tax deduction. Still cheap. I have to talk to the CFO when I get home. So was there anything in particular you wanted to show me because I brought something to show you. It falls under the NDA you signed by the way."
Peter Parker	Peter ohs, then nods. "Yeah, I've been thinking about some ideas. After checking out a couple of old cartoons, I had a little inspiration. Uhm...I hope it's not too soon, but...would you like to see a concept for a newer Bug transport?"
Ted Kord	Ted Kord says, "Sure. My surprise can wait. What do you have? SO far Bug 5.0 is mostly the same hardware with major software upgrades."
Peter Parker	Peter grins, then heads over to the table and taps a few keys on a wireless keyboard. A second later, the lights dim and a re-purposed emitter displays a three-dimensional image of a aircraft. It looks similar to the previous Bug, with more pronounced legs, slightly-smaller and thinner eye-windows, and a few additional modules that look a little like chitinous armor. "Okay...what do you think of it in this configuration?"
Ted Kord	Ted Kord looks it over hmmming. "This looks a lot like the Mark 1, minus the design flaws. You added modules to swap out for mission specific gear? Nice (kinda was leaning towards that)... hey, this thing walks? Nice... I could stick a bunch of drones in these modules to help me out. I like the ideas. Some of the mods will need some tweaking but I know the Bug really well and am allowed to kibbitz, if that's the right word. Very nice Pete. I'm not giving you specs here but I will get you a Bug hangar pass. My turn?" He gives the plans another look and then reaches for his shoulder bag.
Peter Parker	Peter grins. "Hold on, Ted. I said, 'in THIS configuration.' Watch..." He taps a couple of keys. and the craft begins to change. Modules shift. The outer hall splits into segments, the eyes "folding" to lay along the sides of the craft. Four of the modules split open to expose heavy-duty vehicular tires. It five seconds, the Bug has been reconfigured to look like a large road vehicle, looking a lot like a "stretch" Humvee.
Ted Kord	Ted Kord wonders if the Bug could be made into a Bugatti. Ted grins, "Well it's certainly 'more than meets the eyes. Neat. Does it submerge too? I launch from the East River. That bozo of a mayor fines me every time. He'd probably try to bust Santa Claus on a B&E wrap. Anyway, I think I'm too far into building the Mark 5 to go back into this conversion design. But I might build a Mark 5.1 down the line. This is /nice/. Anyway my surprise. I can smell that brisket cooking and I'm not keeping it waiting." Ted awkwardly opens the bag and removes a metal disc or plate, circuitry and greeblies around its rim. He drops it on the floor, then takes its mate out and places it on the floor. With a grin he places a foot onto each disc. Widgets fasten onto his boots. His toes wiggle a little and he lifts up into the air. "Stop," he says hovering a foot off the floor. "Hah? Hah?"
Peter Parker	Peter blinks. "Whoa. You beat the gravity force?" He peera at the discs. "And it's so compact, too! I didn't think you could build an anti-grav system so small without magic being involved." Yes, he said the M-Word in this hall of science. "What's the load limit on the lift capability?"
Ted Kord	Ted Kord shrugs. "I haven't figured out max lift. Two hundred kilos at least. I am guessing a top speed of 200 kilometers. Ceiling no idea> Noisy as F... heck when you go over 50. I use toe pressure and body english to control it. You could probably do even better and I have voice command for a couple maneuvers like 'peel' oh sh..." Ted abruptly lifts smacking his head on the ceiling and then head tilting as the discs continue to lift till he gets control. "Drop!" Ted drops somewhat heavily but remains upright. He rubs his head and fires several hissed expletives at the disc, the ceiling and himself, rubbing his battered head. "I hope you aunt didn't notice that bang... or hear me. She thinks I am a gentleman, dear woman." Some more ows and any lip reading by Peter might leave him impressed. Apparently Ted is not merely creative with engineering.
Peter Parker	Peter chuckles. "Sorry, Ted. I kinda raised the bar on Noises when I blew out all the basement windows when I was 11. The occasional noise doesn't raise any red flags. Usually, it's the sensors for toxic fumes that raise proper alarms." Peter chuckles at that. "Seriously, Ted, I think she'd give you her left leg if you asked. She really is grateful that you gave me the shot at the job. All the money goes to paying for college, but it's still better than what we had." He shuts off the emitter. "She prays for your well-being every Sunday at the Presbyterian Church on Holland Street."
Ted Kord	Ted Kord adopts an old timey accent and says, "It couldn't hurt. She... well I can always use another person beyond space and time looking after me. I hope she didn't see the news about me returning from my latest misadventure... I looked pretty bad. You know I bought that news app, CapeZZ? Doug Ramsey has done great things with it. I should have you guys meet over lunch. Keep my potential competitors close. Anyway I want to link it to your communications net and make you an hidden administrator. IT collects all manner of odd reports and sightings we don't put out there... like the Bug hitting a McDonald's drive thru... we all know I like Smash Burger." Anyway stop by and see me tomorrow after classes. I will see if you can meet Doug. You'd like him."
Peter Parker	Peter nods thoughtfully. "All right, but for security purposes, I would like to set our database to read-only in terms of permissions. I would like to meet this Ramsey guy, if he's as good as you say." A beep from the table, and a message pops up. <Peter? Tell Mr. Kord the brisket is almost ready, but could he be a dear and help bring it in from the smoker out back?> Peter chuckles. "I better bring in the brisket, but you can set the table. Aunt May's no spring chicken any more, but she's been using the same smoker for the last ten years and she is VERY good."