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May 04, 2016:

Peggy visits Tony in the Hamptons in order to get more information about the Dottie-bot

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NPCs: None.

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Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

This time of year, Tony Stark usually moves his operations — as far as his personal life goes and where he keeps his bed, anyway — out to his house in the Hamptons. That's the house that made the news when he had it built and made sure to specify that it had to be 'one square foot bigger than the Kennedys' place next door.'

The house is certainly very nice, with a lot of land and a long driveway. Three floors, big columns, expansive basement laboratory. The day is kind of rainy and blah, which actually gives driving up to the place an air of foreboding.

Still, when making an appointment with a British gentleman named 'Jarvis' over the phone, he told Peggy that this is where the meeting is happening, not Tony's office. Sure enough, the gates open for her, and there seems to be no trouble pulling her car up to the front door.

Peggy has gotten used to many things in her time in 2016. Hybrid cars are not one of them. They're so soft and seemingly breakable that she tends to speed in her realizing she doesn't need to put so much pressure down on the pedal. It makes her journey to the Hampton's a bit stop and start as she attempts to find a proper speed between the city and the rich Long Island suburb.

Finally, she pulls the car up through the driveway and makes her way to the front door. It's not as if she hasn't known Tony had a house in the Hamptons, it's just that she has yet to actually go there. She's used to seeing him at his offices or in Howard's Penthouse. There's no hesitation, however, when she rings the doorbell. She's sure there will be some form of butler or assistant who will open the door for her. Tony can't have installed all his gadgets in this house, too, can he? Then again, this is Tony they're talking about.

The door opens, as if of its own power — except it's actually opened by Tony himself. He's wearing a grey v-neck shirt that his chest-mounted arc reactor glows through, and jeans that look a bit worn in the knees. "Peggy," he says with a grin. "Welcome to… I think this was house number six?"

"Five," the voice of Jarvis emanates, from possibly nowhere.

"I rounded up," Tony shrugs, then steps aside to bid Peggy entrance. "You look amazing, as usual. If I'd known it was going to be that kind of dress code, I would have at least put a blazer on."

"I wasn't aware you owned point 6 percent if a home," Peggy replies with a smile as she steps inside. "Thank you for meeting with me. Good afternoon, Jarvis!" she also says in a louder voice to the possibly disembodied voice.

There's a smirk at his compliment of her outfit. "When has my outfit ever inspired you to put on a blazer, Tony?" she replies fondly. She has the tendency to still dress up in her vintage styles when not on the clock at SHIELD. "I hope you haven't been working yourself too hard? It's been quite awhile since I saw you last."

"I've gone to much more depraved lengths than putting on a blazer for a woman, Peggy," Tony says with a friendly smirk. He walks alongside her — the door closes itself. "I've been huddled in the lab for a while. You know how it is. You wake up one night with an idea for how to tweak one thing on your Iron Man armor, but that tweak screws with something else, and before you know it it's been a month of redesigning damn near the entire thing." Tony says this like it's NBD, normal people problems.

"And of course I have houses. If you build a really worthwhile laboratory in an apartment, it voids the security deposit. Plus, it's a place to have garden parties. Win-win." Tony motions for Peggy's coat, being at least sort of gentlemanly.

There's a laugh at that and Peggy shakes her head. "Of course you have." Peggy is well acquainted with the Stark men. Shrugging off her spring coat, she holds it out to Tony for him to take. She's a bit surprised at his gentlemanly gesture. However, this might be the high of cracking some form of scientific quandary. Or, he just felt like taking her coat. There's quite a few explanations in play. "I've heard that tweaking screws can be a very time consuming endeavor," she laughs. She's known Howard long enough to realize his son has the same scientific drive.

"Did you manage to tweak what you were meaning to on your armor?" she asks, unsure of if that was just an over all explanation or the true reason he has been spending the months since they last spoke. "I was, actually, hoping to speak with you about something similar. Not the Iron Man suit. But, mechanics as a whole."

Tony holds the coat up and an unmanned drone, like some sort of cross between a Roomba and a hummingbird, flits out of somewhere to take it and bring it towards the hall closet. No gentleman here — he must have just wanted to show off.

And of course, Tony acts like what he did was totally normal. "I've actually phased out screws as much as possible. But yeah, I've made a lot of improvements. Most of it's stuff no one else would ever notice. But I would. And it'd drive me nuts."

Tony stops and gives Peggy a curious look. "What kind of mechanics? Because I can give you some recommendations, but really, if you want your car fixed, I can do that, and I'd charge you the friends and family rate, too."

While Peggy is quite used to many of the Stark's idiosyncrasies, a flying drone taking her jacket certainly earns a very pointed eyebrow raise. It doesn't exactly startle her so much as make her study the drone and then Tony himself. In that, she does the only thing she can think of to discourage such showing off - she doesn't comment about it at all. Instead, she follows Tony's example and pretends as if what she just saw was normal.

"Well, not your normal mechanics. It's more along the lines of what your father went through." Turning, she looks back at Tony. "I believe a woman I knew to be a very dangerous Soviet spy has returned in an LMD, much like your father did. However, neither of us are very certain as to her capabilities or how she was able to access the technology."

"Hmm." Tony rubs his goatee — he basically stops in his tracks, as if the rest of his body has elected to stop moving while his brain races through possibilities. "I wish I could say that that kind of technology was terribly secure," Tony says. "Sadly, if you're in a sketchy enough part of the world, and you have enough money, you can buy plans for a Bat-boat some ten-year-old in Finland hacked for the e-cred." He lets out a sigh, as if the state of online piracy displeases him.

"Is she working on behalf of Russia? Because I'll tell you, Russia loves pulling this kind of shit. China, too, but they're usually not as brazen." Tony stretches his arms out to his side and then starts heading toward an open doorway — stairs leading down. Probably the lab area. "Any info beyond a hunch?"

"Other than I saw her take out some attempted thieves and then backflip into the night like the insane Soviet spy that she is?" Peggy stops when Tony does as his mind starts to whirl through the possibilities. She's not about to keep walking in a strange home without her host. This isn't a spy mission. "She seems to have rather legitimate technology. We found her in one of Howard's old labs that was off the books and heavily guarded. No one seems to know how she managed to get a hold of the technology, however. It's something we are attempting to look into."

As for who she is working for, Peggy shrugs her shoulders. "Dottie was always something of a wild card. When I first met her, she was working for the Soviets, however as time went on, she became more of her own one woman destruction team. It's possible she doesn't even know who she is working for any more. Or working for anyone in particular. The last time I saw her was in 1946. Who am I to say she wasn't asleep in an LMD the entire time?"

"Well, there are other options at play, too," Tony says as he leads Peggy down towards his laboratory. It's like he built a giant hangar underneath the house — it's full of built and half-built things, mostly Iron Man armors, some of them standing at at parade rest in a straight line, the one nod to decorating he's made other than the Lamborghini Babe calendar over by the workbench. A big hologram-projection table is in one corner, and Tony head towards that. "She could have taken one of any number of variants of the Super-Soldier Serum, like the Infinity Formula or who knows what else. You know that there's a rumor out there that Viagra comes from a failed attempt at replicating the Serum? They just were only able to get one part of the soldier to stand at attention."

Tony turns on the holo-table, and looks over at Peggy. "So. 'Dottie.' Any more biographical info than that? Or is she the Karla to your George Smiley?"

There's a wrinkle of her nose at the thought of viagra coming from the Super Soldier Serum. Far too much information there. Peggy, gives a soft clear of her throat and then moves straight for the big hologram-projection table. Taking the moment to get a good look around the room, she takes in the Iron Man armors, the calendar, the general work space that Tony considers productive. It's clear she's making judgements and assessments on those, but she has yet to say what they are. She's going to ignore the topic of conversation that may or may not have made her uncomfortable.

"I'm certain she is an LMD," she replies. "Agent Romanoff made contact with her before. There was, apparently, a Soviet program that ran similarly to the American one." There's a bit of a confused expression at the reference. "George Smiley? I'm assuming that's a reference I have yet to encounter?"

Then, she smirks. "I knew her as Dottie Underwood. She was undercover at the woman's boarding house I called home after the war. She was there in an attempt to blackmail Howard Stark and then use one of his inventions to cause a mass riot over New York City. She was a part of a secret Soviet program that trained young girls to be spies from a young age."

"I'll send you a DVD," Tony says, on the George Smiley front. In fact, from that cue, Jarvis is already ordering it for Peggy on Amazon. Prime shipping, no less! What a guy. Tony's fingers dance on the smooth glass of the table, and all the data he can pull up on 'Dottie Underwood' is suddenly there, floating in the air in vivid, bright 2D.

"Yeah, that sounds like something Dad would have been involed in," Tony notes, as an aside. "The LMD program is older than you'd think — it's entirely possible that there was some Soviet friend smuggling the data across the ocean to get to work over there." Tony also brings up files on LMDs — specs, raw data, enough information that the 'screen' area in the air expands exponentially. Tony's eyes dance over it all. This is all perfectly readable to him, but it might make a more normal's person head spin. "Hmmm," Tony says, making a noise that could well mean anything.

"DVDs?" So it's a movie? "I should get a player, then." Peggy is not exactly someone who is up on the latest technology. Or even the technology from quite a few years ago. When Dottie suddenly is pulled up in projected form, the agent blinks a few times and watches her. It's a very strange thing to see Dottie standing there in a 2D format. "I was under the impression that the Soviets managed to get their own program up and running, though it did not quite have touch that the American one did." As she looks over the specs, the information, much of it does go over her head. She knows quite a bit about science from her time as an SSR agent, but she also is not an actual scientist. "Hmm?" she asks, expecting him to expand on that sound that could be anything.

Jarvis quietly orders one of those, too. Peggy will probably find herself with a whole home entertainment center, and a strapping young man to install it all and show her how her four-hundred-button remote control works.

"Huh?" Tony says, looking over at Peggy as if awoken from a trance state. "Oh. Thinking. Sorry. Wondering if the Titanium Man or Crimson Dynamo armors might offer any clues. I doubt they'd pass up re-using a good bit of tech, since they've always been about getting the job done fast, and not necessarily right — not to stereotype." Tony brings up schematics of various versions of the Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man armors. He glances over at Peggy. "Remember that ten-year-old hacker from Finland? I bought that kid out and all it took was unlimited access to Disney World for life." He gives one of those brazenly smug smiles.

"Jarvis, buddy, help me out. Cross-reference the Titanium Man and Crimson Dynamo schematics with all available LMD schematics, help me find points where the technologies might integrate in the hands of someone far less innovative than I." Tony watches with fervent attention as spots on the display light up, then de-light, then light up again, in a pattern that seems almost random but is actually extremely controlled.

There's a raised eyebrow as Tony seemingly forgets that Peggy is even there. Some may be offended. Peggy merely smirks. "That's quite a reasonable assumption to make," she tells him as she watches multiple bits of information and schematics scroll by as the system attempts to check the parts with what they know of the Soviet LMD designs. Things fly by without any sort of match.

"You bought a ten-year-old hacker unlimited access to Disney World? You weren't worried he would attempt to hack into the rides and cause them to rise up against the patrons?" It's a legitimate concern. Things light up and patterns emerge, but there seems to be no match against either the Titanium Man or the Crimson Dynamo. As she watches things fly by, she frowns, waiting.

"You've been alright?" she asks instead, as she waits for the information to finish cataloguing. Her eyes drift from the display to the man himself. "Other than the attempts to make your suit less dependent on screws?"

At the negative result, Tony frowns and bites his knuckle. "Well, aside from just making myself look like a boob in front of a beautiful woman by not getting a problem right on the first try, I've been all right. I just did a TED Talk, actually. Don't worry, no part of modern living involves needing to know what a TED Talk is."

Tony drums his fingers on the glass tabletop. "And if that kid tries it, that's what superheroes are for," Tony says. "So far though he's content to just take selfies with Anna. Doesn't seem to like Elsa at all. Who knows why." Tony shrugs. "What about you, other than chasing Soviet cyborgs? A guy could get jealous of you giving out that kind of attention."

Peggy gives a bit of a laugh and rests a hip against one of the available surfaces. "I'm sure it wasn't the first or the last time," she teases Tony good-naturedly. Then, she laughs. "I know what a TED Talk is," she replies with a grin. "I've been here for a year, it seems impossible to escape those things. What was your Talk on?" That, at least, is interesting.

While Tony drums his fingers, Peggy tilts her head and crosses her arms. "I have a feeling it has something to do with red heads. They tend to draw attention." As for what she has been doing, she shrugs her shoulders. "Mostly the Soviet cyborgs. A bit of internal investigation." She grins. "The men who may be jealous of me paying attention to soviet cyborgs have all since passed."

"Nanotechnology," Tony replies, in a semi-detached tone of voice — he's already typing again at the glasstop console, pursuing another potential idea. "Nothing big. No pun intended."

Tony has wiped a number of the big windows of schematics away, and seems to be bringing up lists of materials, and without commanding Jarvis vocally, he's attempting to search through sites in the future USSR that would produce or be capable of producing some of the more unique needs of LMD construction. "And Peggy, really, if you want me to take you on a date, you don't have to pull the woe is me card, just ask and I'll try to be busy that night." Tony smirks, but doesn't look over. His eyes are totally locked in on the data he's crunching.

At the no pun intended, Peggy gives a bit of a laugh. She likes bad jokes as much as the next person. "That's unsurprising, you've done quite a bit in that field. Did you have a lot of slides? The videos I've seen involved quite a few projected slides."

As Tony starts typing and brings up other things that look vaguely familiar to her. There's the USSR, the schematics, various pages that seem to be in both Russian and English. "That was not a woe is me card. You'll know that when you hear it. It's just been a bit different to acclimate to how people view relationships in this time." There's a bit of a laugh. "I'm sure it would be the nicest date you would never go on."

"I know it. That's why I'd duck it. Because I knew if I blew it with you, I might actually have a regret in my life." Tony's flirtation still sounds a bit distracted, as he pores through the English text — his Cyrillic alphabet is rusty. "And no, no slides. They'd take the attention away from my pretty face."

"To make a decently functioning LMD — one who wouldn't have to sit plugged into a wall for six hours a day — you'd need a pretty incredible power source. What power source they'd use I'm not a hundred percent sure on, but I'm looking for where they could get the materials, especially since they'd almost certainly have to do it on the black market or homebrew it like blue meth. Then if we can pinpoint that, we can raid it and hopefully pull more info from them." Tony actually explains his plan — possibly a sign of how much he respects Peggy.

Tony's flirting is met with more of a grin. "I'm flattered you'd consider me your one regret in life." Peggy reads both the Russian and the English as it passes by. She's fluent in both and has even had to codebreak in the other language. That denotes a degree of fluency beyond just textbooks.

"I must admit, the image of Dottie needing to be plugged into a wall for a few hours is not exactly out of the question." She knows that the other woman enjoyed handcuffing herself to bed at night due to her Soviet spy training. "There." Peggy attempts to stop Tony from scrolling and points at a few lines of text. It's in Russian. "This is talking of a power plant they had to shut down due to missing assets. It's around the same time as the Soviet program." She shrugs. "It's a bit of a long shot, but that may be code for what happened."

Tony stops when bidden, and brings up a map that shows the area of the shut-down power plant in brilliant, blue-hued detail. "Nearest Soviet science-city is here," Tony says, zooming out the map to show a glowing patch of land that Jarvis almost certainly located for him at that subtle directive.

Tony turns to Peggy. "Ever flown an Iron Man armor before?"

As the map comes up, Peggy nods, studying from the proper angles. This is what she's good at. It's like when she was coming up with plans during the war. "That looks as good a place as any to start searching." After all, who knows what they may find there. The question is met with a raised eyebrow. "I have not. Is that an invitation?"

Tony just grins. What a perfect jerk.

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