2

Chapter 2Summary:

Howard Stark meet Tony Stark.

Howard finds out Tony's business plans and is most impressed.

Rhodey finds out Tony's business plans and is most surprised.

Chapter Text

"No, I'm not going the same way as dad, Rhodey." Tony objected. "He's got the weapons stuff, he's working on protecting the country, right?"

"Right…?"

"So, I'm going to go the other way. Protect the people. Same goal, but we're coming from opposite ends of the problem. He's the national or international level and I'm the personal level. Yeah, sure, I've got things for the troops but they're all defensive, nothing offensive at all." 

"The best offense is a good defence." Rhodey mused.

"Exactly." Tony agreed.

"Monday?"

"Monday's good."

~~~

January 4th 1991

Tony studied his reflection in the full-length mirror. "Not bad. Not quite a bespoke Tom Ford, but not bad." The Armani suit sat well on his not-yet twenty-one-year-old body. "I can work with this." He turned from the mirror and picked up the pile of folders that held the various pieces of information that he wanted to discuss with Howard. "Meeting with dad… great…" Tony took a few deep breaths and decided that the best way to do this was to treat Howard as businessman. He snorted. "Howard Stark meet Tony Stark. The super-soldier-maker meets the Merchant of Death. The millionaire and the billionaire. Warmonger and Iron Man." He muttered.

Reaching the door to his rooms, he stopped and sighed. "I miss Pep." He let his head rest against the door and sighed again.

"Miss Potts' application to Columbia University has just been registered as accepted, Sir." JARVIS said from the remote server, which was inserted into the inner cartilage of his left ear. Tony had had to find himself a slightly seedy, off the books tattooist/piercer to do the job, but he'd come away with JARVIS permanently installed in his body.

"Thank, J." Tony whispered.

"I have the suit at the ready, Sir. Just say the word."

"I'll be fine. I've been head of SI for over thirty years, meetings like this are nearly a daily event." Tony reminded his more-than-an-AI.

"No, Sir. Most SI meetings do not include your father." JARVIS corrected.

"True…" Tony nodded. "But… talking to him when we did the time heist was… it made me see him… differently… He was never a… people person… at the best of times… and let's face it, I've never been the easiest of people to be around. Combine the two…?"

"A volatile combination…" JARVIS stated.

"Very." Tony agreed. "But dad doesn't know me, he knows what he's been faced with and really? That wasn't me. It took me years to work that out."

"Oh, dear…" JARVIS managed to give the impression of sighing.

Tony snorted. "I am Iron Man. Iron Man has been the head of SI for over three decades. SI was the leader in military grade tech until we stopped producing it, then we became the leader in information and communication tech as well as clean energy. Right through to the snap and beyond."

"Oh, no…" JARVIS said quietly.

"Oh, yes." Tony smirked. He stepped back and pulled the door open and stepped through it.

He used the minute or so, that it took to get from his rooms to the dining room to prepare himself as best he could, to face his mother. Dad wasn't so bad, he'd seen dad during the heist, but his mother? The last time he'd seen her had been the day she'd died… not including BARF or Zemo's tape.

He entered the dining room and heard his mother's sharp intake of breath as she caught sight of him.

"Morning, mom." He laid his folders on the table and leant down to kiss his mother's cheek.

"Look at you." She smiled at him.

"Tony?" Howard blinked in surprise.

"Yes?" Tony turned to face his father.

"You…" Howard didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Tony nodded. "People don't seem to realise that I'm more than just what's on the surface."

"Really?" Howard wore a slightly mocking expression.

"Really." Tony smirked. "After all, I'm just a party boy… but am I?" He tilted his head. "Does a 'party boy' graduate from MIT summa cum laude, with not one but three Phd's? And four Masters' degrees? Inside six years? The first having been achieved at 17?" Tony spoke with a questioning tone, making his father stop and think.

"Hmm…" Howard frowned.

"Exactly." Tony nodded. "The party boy is a mask, dad. Yes, I partied, but I worked harder than I partied. Not only did I get excellent grades, my electrical engineering thesis is going to be used as required reading for future classes. And my work in mechanical engineering has been setting precedents since before the end of my first semester." Again, this was presented in a blandly neutral voice, he was letting the information speak for itself.

"But let's talk about that later, dad. I would like to have breakfast with mom, before we head into your office." Tony sat down in his usual space and gave Jarvis a smile as he placed a plate of scrambled eggs with mushrooms, in front of him. "Thank you, Mr Jarvis."

"Coffee, Master Anthony? Or juice?"

"Both, please. Orange juice and black coffee." Tony replied.

"Certainly, sir." The butler inclined his head and retrieved a cup and a glass before filling them both.

"Thank you." Tony nodded and the butler retreated from the room.

The next twenty minutes passed quietly, with both parents studying Tony as though he were a stranger, which Tony figured was about right. Howard might have run SI, but Tony was the one that took it from a national, multi-million-dollar company to a multi-national, multi-billion-dollar corporation. While Maria? She had rarely been exposed to the business-side of the Stark empire and had seen little of Tony after he'd left for MIT at 14.

Finally, the two Stark men bid Maria good morning and left the dining room, they would have to cross from one side of the mansion to the other, to reach Howard's office, but neither said anything until they'd entered the office and Howard directed Tony to take a seat in front of the massive oak desk.

"Three Phd's?" Howard asked. "I wasn't aware that you'd completed three. Or the Masters."

"Understandable." Tony nodded. "My education has been a… touchy subject… between us. And while I am not twenty-one until May, I decided that it wasn't worth the annoyance of playing the part, any longer."

"Playing the part?" Howard asked.

"The part of a party boy." Tony replied. "I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed the work I was doing, more."

"Work? The three Phd's?"

"No, not really." Tony replied. "I blitzed through the course work in about half the time that I displayed. The rest was working on… personal projects."

"Personal projects." Howard frowned. "Is that what you call them? The girls?"

"Oh, hell no. They were a distraction, a cover for the most part." Tony huffed.

"A cover? For what?"

"This." Tony handed over the first of a dozen display folders. "This is a broad outline of what I want. I'll wait while you read it. I suggest reading it all before asking questions, as some questions are likely to be answered as you progress further into the summary."

Howard raised a brow and with a condescending expression, picked up the folder and began to flick through it. That rapid flick, quickly became an intense study and the condescension began to diminish, more and more, as each new page was read. Once he'd read through it completely, Howard pulled a blank notepad towards him and started reading again, this time making notes as he went. He finally laid the folder down and studied his son.

"This is… not what I expected, when Jarvis said you wanted a meeting with me." Howard acknowledged.

"No, I imagine not. You probably thought I'd got some gold-digger pregnant and wanted it to all go away."

"Something like that." Howard nodded.

"Yeah… no." Tony shook his head. "Not happening."

"No?"

"No. No children for me, not until I marry, anyway."

"Right." Howard forced his mind to focus on the matter at hand, not the idea that his so-called 'party boy' son intended to marry, one day. "I'd like a little more information on what exactly you plan on creating. The brief is just that, brief."

Tony laid the other folders on the desk and grinned, his fingers tapping one after the other on the top of the pile. "I could say 'which would you like to look at?' but I won't. What I will say is 'if you want to know more than the brief, I want IT set up and NDA's in place before I share proprietary work.' I'm not going to show off my designs only to have them turn up with someone else's name and logo plastered all over an inferior quality product."

Howard blinked. "Then why show any of this to me?"

"It comes down to one thing. Money."

"Money?"

"Yep." Tony nodded. "To do this the way I've laid out in the brief, I need access to more money than my current allowance."

"You want an advance on your allowance?" Howard asked.

"No. On my trust." Tony corrected. "The trust is in two parts, correct?" Howard nodded. "One I can access at twenty-one and the other at twenty-five. Right?"

"Right."

"I'm asking for access to all of the first section of the trust and most of the second section." Tony went on. "Not all of it in liquid assets, though. I do need a premises to use as a factory. Then I have to build the factory robots that will make the items. Plus purchase the actual materials needed to manufacture each item." He ticked off each item on his fingers. "If my numbers are right… and they always are… I'm going to need approximately 10 million, not including the premises."

Howard studied his son, before picking the summary brief and re-reading it.

"I would estimate closer to 20 million." Howard finally said.

"If I was to look to go into production of all the items, right from start-up? Then, yes, that sounds about right. However…" Tony shrugged. "I'm prepared to start with the body armour, helmets and communications headpieces. And introduce the gloves, goggles, scopes, harnesses and holsters, later."

"And you're looking at military contracts?"

"Initially, but a lot of this can easily be converted to civilian use." Tony said.

"How?"

Tony smirked. "The body armour can be used as-is, by law enforcement or transferred to motorcycle use, with minor alterations in overall design. Helmets would require a little more reshaping, but would still easily work for law enforcement, bicycle users or extreme sports, as is. Same with gloves. The goggles and scopes are a little more use-specific, but even they will find a niche with hunters, law enforcement and naturalists. The harnesses can be refitted for mountaineering, for emergency services, or heavy haulage. Holsters are also fairly use-specific but again hunters, law enforcement and private security all carry weapons."

"And the communications pieces?"

"They'll be provided, as-is to law enforcement and security, while a reworked version will marketed as cell phones to the public." Tony said.

"Hmm…" Howard rocked his head and thought about it, flicking through the brief again, stopping on different pages and re-reading different sections, again and again. "Alright. I'll agree to a certain amount up front, enough for the premises, the business establishment and getting the NDA's in place, but then I'll want to read the individual brief for each item, before I release additional funds."

"That's fair." Tony nodded. "But I'm going to insist that only you read the briefs." He paused and let a frown slip over his face. "I don't want Obie in on this, I don't trust him."

"What? Why?" Howard frowned.

"I had some stuff delivered from SI, I paid for it, just some raw materials, stuff that even the public can buy." He assured his father. "And the delivery guy said he was used to delivering to odd places for Obie. When I asked where, he gave me a copy of the delivery schedule and I… I admit I hacked SI… but none of the items were marked for sale, in fact they were marked as faulty and destroyed." He handed over a couple of pieces of copier paper and half-dozen printouts.

"And you're only bringing this to me now?" Howard demanded.

"I only found it last night, so yes." Tony replied.

Howard grunted. "I'll look into it."

"Thanks."

"Let's get your business registered and get those NDA's ready." Howard said. "And I'll get an investigation underway. Then I want to read those briefs." He paused. "Why IT? What does it stand for?"

"Iron Technologies."

"Iron Technologies?"

"Yes, you always say that Stark men are made of iron." Tony shrugged.

"Yes, we are." Howard nodded and opened a draw and pulled out a sheaf of paper. "Welcome to the bane of the businessman, paperwork." He slapped the sheaf down in front of Tony. "Get started on that, while I make a few calls."

Tony grunted but picked up a pen and started writing. "I'm gonna need a PA, preferably one that's good with numbers." He grumbled.

"Columbia and Harvard's Business schools produce some outstanding graduates." Howard said absently as he flicked through a rolodex.

"I'll keep an eye out." Tony nodded but he wasn't trusting anyone but Pepper, as his PA.

~~~

January 7th 1991

"Master Anthony?" Mr Jarvis appeared at Tony's side.

"Yes, Mr Jarvis?" Tony replied, not talking his eyes off the notes he was making.

"Lieutenant Rhodes has arrived. Shall I direct him to your room or the bunker?"

"Neither, Mr Jarvis. Bring him here, dad's almost finished with his reading and I want Rhodey in on this."

"Of course, sir. Please excuse me, while I retrieve Lieutenant Rhodes." The butler nodded regally and left the room.

Tony looked up from his notepad to find his father looking at him. "Yes?" He asked.

"The main brief was… surprising." Howard said. "But this is…"

"Next level, I know."

"Why have you never brought this to me before?"

"This is mine, dad. Mine. I said it to Rhodey. You're in the business of protecting the country, but what about the soldiers, themselves? You've got the big picture, so I'm going small. Same goal but from the opposite direction."

"And what does Rhodes think of these?"

"He hasn't seen them, yet. No-one has, outside you."

"No-one? At all?" Howard blinked.

"No-one." Tony nodded.

Mr Jarvis opened the door and ushered James Rhodes into the room. "Lieutenant James Rhodes, Sir, Master Anthony."

"Thank you, Jarvis. Would you have a car readied for Tony and Rhodes, they've a lot of ground to cover." Howard said.

"Certainly, sir." The butler left.

"Come in and sit down, Rhodes." Howard ordered and Rhodey looked at Tony with a slightly bewildered expression. "We're almost done, here."

"Yes, sir." Rhodey crossed the office and sat beside Tony, automatically looking at his notes to see what was going on, only to have Tony flip the notepad closed and give a tiny shake of his head. It was enough that Rhodey figured this was business and not school related.

Howard retrieved a folder and laid it on the desk. "There's six properties in Brooklyn. Four are waterfront, one of which is ready for small-freight docking, the other three are left over from the war and have been allowed to degrade. The other two properties are within a few blocks of the water, but you'd need to transport your containers to a docking facility by road. There's four properties in Newark, none of them have water or dock access. There's another five on Staten Island, four have docks, the other is a much larger, currently empty, warehouse. There's also a large chuck of empty space at Bergen Point that has the remains of a collapsed small-freight dock."

"Right on the point?" Tony asked, he'd had it redeveloped to produce Starkphones, after 2008.

"That's the one." Howard nodded.

"We'll check it out." Tony hadn't seen the site, in person until after production was underway, so he had no idea whether it would work for his current needs, or not.

"Good." Howard handed over the folder. "Here's a master-list, with locations, plus a more detailed break-down on each property, along with either keys or passcodes to access each site. If there's security on site, they've been informed of your clearance." He waited until Tony picked up the folder. "Don't rush. You get one pick at this, without having to outlay dollars, yourself. Take your time and go over each property carefully. I don't expect you to get through them all today and I wouldn't recommend trying."

"Got it." Tony nodded. He had an idea of which property he wanted but until he went through all of them in person, JARVIS wouldn't be able to run simulations on what could be achieved on each site.

"Let me know which one you want and I'll get the paperwork started." Howard waved and Tony got to his feet. "And Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll speak to the trustees but I'll need to present them a copy of the brief along with my recommendations."

"Yeah, I figured that." Tony stood and gathered up all of the folders, bar one. "That's why I had a couple of copies made. Just… keep it to a minimum, please? This is too important to screw up."

"Yes, I understand." Howard nodded.

"Come on, Rhodey, let's get moving." Tony ignored the look on Rhodey's face and lead the way from the office, not back to the front of the mansion but out to the garage and whatever car Edwin Jarvis had prepared for them.

"Tony?"

"Not here, honey-bear." Tony said quietly and Rhodey just narrowed his eyes and followed his young friend.

Once they were in the car and headed down the road, with Tony driving, Rhodey began to speak.

"Alright." He sighed. "What's going on?"

"The Air Force doesn't restrict you from signing NDA's, does it?" Tony knew that it didn't.

"No…" Rhodey answered, hesitantly.

"Read and sign." Tony flicked a folder at Rhodey and kept driving.

Fifteen minutes later, Rhodey lifted his head and looked at Tony, his eyes wide in surprise. "Where the hell did you hide this?"

Tony cackled. "I designed my first circuit board at three, Rhodey, was just four when I built it. That com-set? I wrote the basic program for that, before I was ten. The scope, I designed that when I was eleven. The webbing for the harnesses, holsters and body armour, came from a trip to Fort Meade, when I was twelve. The goggles came from a camping trip with Aunt Peggy when Matthew and I were thirteen. The body armour itself, has been the hardest to finalise. I had to work through nearly two dozen different material combinations before I found one that did what I needed it to."

"Holy shit…" Rhodey exclaimed.

"If you want to know more, sign the NDA." Tony handed over another folder. "It's in there, sign it and put it in the back."

"Right." Rhodey huffed and flicked to the appropriate documents.

"Don't fret, poppet, I made dad sign it too. My copy of what he signed is in there, if you want to check it against an unsigned version."

"You made your dad sign an NDA? Tony, are you freaking nuts?"

"No." Tony said cheerfully as he easily manoeuvred the car through traffic. "This is my future, I'm not taking any chances of someone ripping me off."

"Huh…" Rhodey grunted. "Alright…" Rhodey quickly read the contract and compared it to the one signed by Howard Stark. Once he was certain that the two were the same, he signed and slipped them back into the rear of the folder. "Now, what?"

"Now, you get to read the details." Tony gestured over his shoulder. "Grab the briefcase. The body armour, helmets and goggles are the blue folders. The gloves, harnesses and holsters are the green folders. The red folders are com-sets, scopes and the, still under development, cell phones."

Rhodey pulled the briefcase onto his lap and opened the first folder, which was blue.

"Body armour…" He said and began to read.

Some half-hour later, Tony put his hand over the open red folder, causing Rhodey to jerk in surprise.

"Tony?" Rhodey asked, looking around to see where they were.

"We're in Brooklyn, the docks. The first of sixteen properties I need to inspect."

"Right."

~~~

January 23rd 1991

Two weeks later, Tony watched as the first excavators started work on the Bergen Point property. It was going to take time to get IT up and running, but that was something he now had plenty of.

Time to plan. Time prepare. He wasn't going to waste what he'd been given.

Every day he missed Pepper, Morgan and Peter. Every day he reminded himself that one day, he'd see them again. Until then, he had to be patient.

Not something he was especially good at.