A Stark Comparison

I’m sure I’m a bit out of my element here. When I said I always wanted a job at Stark Industries this totally is not what I meant. As I begun to swing closer and closer to the towering monolith of a building part of me was hoping that these cop cars would swing a hard right and go down to like the Chrysler or something… but when I got a good enough look, I knew this was the right place.

My eyes narrowed as I focused on the front door and saw a flood of people rushing out screaming, yelling, clutching all kinda of papers, notebooks, and other seemingly important stuff, all while looking back into the building. Definitely running away from something… they didn’t even stop at the police barricades and just kept on running deeper into the city.

“What the hell is wrong with them?” I whisper under my breath. I don’t even take a second to think though as I swing ahead, above the police line, past the barricade, and land on the side of the building, staring down at the commotion.

If I learned anything from those very few and far between team up missions with Captain Stacy, it’s that you can learn a lot by studying the hysteria. Who to ask, and what to know, before rushing in to a potentially dangerous situation. But right now everything just seemed so… normal, and chaotic. Scientists, business people, and the occasional intern all screaming for their lives as they talk about something inside. Then, finally, my eyes locked on someone interesting.

There was a woman in an all black business suit, brown hair, heels, not running but… walking, practically strutting as she makes her way out of the building, still on the phone with somebody. I couldn’t hear her words but her tone was harsh. She wasn’t scared? I do a quick flip off of the building and land in front of her, causing her to jump ever so slightly as I reveal myself.

“You know… for someone going through a major life-dangering threat, you really are kind of calm about it.” I say in a somewhat cheery and playful tone. The woman just rolls her eyes and pushes past me, still talking on the phone without giving me a second glance. “Hey! I’m talking to you!” I scream out as I spin a quick web and grab her phone, yanking it out of her ear and grabbing it with one hand, before denying the call. She turns around with a soft scoff and rolls her eyes, before finally responding.

“When you work for an Avenger things like this happen all the time, kid.” Her voice was cold, droll, almost like she was bored with having her life threatened. “The most life threatening about my job right now is that you just hung up on Mrs. Stark there.” My eyes widened at the woman’s words and quickly threw her back the phone like it was a bomb about to explode… and knowing Tonya Stark it very well could be.

“I’m so sorry! I… I didn’t know!” I say quickly, awkwardly shuffling a couple steps back. “I just need to know what’s going on in there, and everyone else is too panic-y to give me a straight answer.” I say as the mob continued to rush out of the building around us, too scared to even notice the spandex super hero standing in front of them.

“Some crazy psycho bitch is after Tonya’s tech.” The woman responds as she pulls out a data pad and begins typing on it. My eyes widen a bit as I take a couple steps forward and peek down.

“Is that… a holographic iPad?” I ask, somewhat confused as I look down.

“Standard issue Stark Industries pin pad. Far more superior than your latest Apple product, kid.” The woman says as she presses a few more buttons and begins to open up some security feed from inside the building. “She’s down on the lower levels thinking that’s where the important stuff is hidden. But it’s not gonna be long until she realizes the crown jewels are higher up.” She presses a few more buttons and places the iPad flat in her hand now, and a full holographic scale model of Stark Tower forms above it, highlighting the areas as the woman continues to talk. “What she is looking for is on level 39, corridor TOS.” She claps and the image disappears, before she nonchalantly picks the pin pad up again like she didn’t just blow my mind.

“So… how do I get there before she does?” I ask the woman, whose eyes grow wide and she stares at me in surprise… before immediately busting out laughing like I said the best joke in the world.

“Honey… you? Don’t make me laugh! The state of the art security system will be more than enough to stop her. In fact…” she hesitates as she looks down at her watch and takes a step forward. “She should be done right about…” I raise an eyebrow and slowly turn around to face the building, watching as this woman did too. “Now.”

As soon as the word left her mouth I watched as every light, moving piece, and electrical motor on the tower all shut down at once, leaving the modern technological marvel looking like the abandoned museum you see on 49th street. I glance over to the woman who’s jaw was dropped, her eyes were wide, and she started to stutter a bit to try and come up with words… luckily I was there to help with that.

“You think… maybe she went to the basement first so she could cut off the power supply?” I ask, the two of us still staring ahead.

“Maybe.” She responded, her more monotone voice breaking ever so slightly as she stared ahead.

“You think… maybe I should go in there?” I continue with an eyebrow raised. The woman just softly nods, silently, watching as if she just saw a ghost. I chuckle a bit as I strut forward, before turning around and meeting the woman’s eyes again. “Oh! And uh, after I save your bosses tech, maybe you could put in a good word for me so I can maybe join the Avengers later? Or at least an internship?” I say with a quick smirk as I glance down to the woman’s name tag. “Can you do that for me… Happy? Wow. Your parents had big plans for you didn’t they?” I quip, before immediately running into the building before she was able to respond.