Chapter 7

(Hours later at the Stark mansion)

Tony was introducing his private workshop to John.

"So, what do you think?" Toni asked him, as John looked on in amazement.

"I don't know what to say." He said as he went around looking at the various machines. "To tell you the truth, it looks like Dexter's lab."

"Whose lab?" asked Tony, which made John look at him in disbelief.

"And then I'm the one who doesn't know pop culture."

"Ouch, well then how about you start working here with me?"

"I'd say YES, obviously yes." John said as he stepped in front of Tony to shake his hand, which Tony reciprocated. "Still, I don't really know how I can help you with this, remember I have almost no knowledge of this sort of thing," he said.

"That's where you're wrong, you said you can speed up time to some extent, right?" To which John nodded.

"Well, didn't it occur to you that with that you could accelerate your learning? I mean, maybe you could somehow speed up time so that your learning speed is faster than anyone else on the planet." Which made John look at him in surprise, but the next second his expression will change to a more calculative one as if analyzing if that was possible.

"Yes, I think if I concentrate and focus it on the reading... I think it could work." He said with a now enlightened expression. "But there's one thing I still don't understand, why would you need someone like me to help you, I mean, you're one of the smartest people on the planet, so even if I could catch up to your level of knowledge what would you need me for?" Which made Tony stop analyzing the plans for a moment to look at John.

"I'll be honest kid, after what happened in Afghanistan, I have strong suspicions that someone of my trusted people sold my location to the 10 rings and I don't quite know who to trust anymore, which leaves me with you, true you are an inexperienced guy with no knowledge in regards to the areas of mechanical, electronic or aeronautical engineering, but in your case that simply doesn't matter with your power you would probably be able to absorb over 50 years of scientific research in a few minutes." Tony said as John listened to him intently and was understanding more and more why he wanted him here.

"But my main reason and it's kind of sentimental I know, is because you remind me of me." Which completely threw John off. "I was left without family very young similar to you and I had a very hard time dealing with that alone, so, this deal is not only for you to help me but so that in a perhaps somewhat symbiotic way even, I can help you as well." That left John speechless, after all it had been years since anyone had even been interested in helping him.

"Thank you Tony." John said with a sincere smile.

"Yeah well, don't get all emotional on me either, after all we have to start working on this, but you're welcome kiddo." Said Tony with a small smile, then left the console to go get a box and put them on the table next to John.

"What's this?"

"This kid, is your homework, they are what you will need to learn if you really want to help me." He said as he started to separate the books to point them out. "This one is aeroanutics, this one is materials knowledge, this one is thermodynamics..."

"Ok, I get it and I'm going to have to read all of these?" John asked looking at the numerous books and even scientific journals.

"If you want to work for me yes, take your time after all it took me like 15 years to learn that stuff." Said Tony turning back to the console as he left John with all the material.

"Well this sucks." Said John as he grabbed the first book he saw and began to read, but not before activating his ability which caused a sort of greenish aura to be visible around him, which momentarily caught Tony's attention, however, he still continued to examine the plans for a suit of armor.

(1 hour later)

While Tony was looking at the plans for the original ARK reactor, he was suddenly approached by John, who caught his attention.

"Did you finish your homework kid? I thought it would take you longer." Tony said without taking his eyes off the plans.

"Yeah, well to be honest so did I, now I understand why Tesla is so well remembered."

"Kid, what we'll do here together will make Tesla look like a caveman." He said as he finished examining the blueprint. "Ok first test, this is the ARK reactor tell me how you think you could improve its performance?" To which John said nothing at first, as if he was analyzing the blueprint until he finally provided an answer.

"Well taking a look at it you could use superconducting materials that work at higher temperatures like sulfur or hydrogen hydrides or cuprate itself would be a good option, which would reduce energy losses due to resistance or also incorporate ultra-compact high energy density batteries, possibly based on nanotechnology, to store large amounts of energy in a reduced space since if the reactor is similar to the one in your chest, I don't think you have too much space the truth."

"Now you're talking my language kid, good job." Tony said, which made John smile with pride.

"But I don't understand, why do you want another ARK reactor if the one you have already seems to serve its function well?" asked John to which Tony simply pressed a button on the console and in front of them, a hatch opened from which the armor Tony wore when he was captive came out.

"So I can use this. I designed it during my time in Afghanistan at the side of a great man." Tony said with a somewhat nostalgic look at the last. While John simply stared at the armor in awe for a few seconds until he turned again to look at Tony.

"Ok, when do we start then?" asked the former.

"How about right now?" asked Tony to which John nodded.