Age Of Magneto

Seeking Power

"Are you sure this woman isn't a friendly?" Tony asked as he started studied the analysis in front of him that his AI had completed. Steve could see the gears in Tony's head working already. The light in his eyes was dancing already with the possibilities. "This is alien tech, Rogers. No one shares alien tech."

"I don't know what to tell you, Tony. I can't figure her out for the life of me," Steve said as he leaned against one of the bar stools in Tony's lab. "She's working for Magneto. Wolverine said that from the intel he found on her, she was a weapon X experiment until Magneto found her."

"I don't know, Rogers," Tony said, still almost wide-eyed at the possibilities in front of him. "Looks to me like she's a fan." He turned toward Steve and flashed him a brilliant smile. "This is good. All of this. I can use this."

"Well get to work," Steve said. "She hasn't given me a bad tip so far, and if we're thinking tactically, it's a good move anyhow. Looking back, I don't know why Magneto hasn't already crushed you."

The smile fell off of Tony's features and he stepped back from the glowing read outs floating around him. "I'm not complaining, but ... considering the fact that he made a move to take you down a few pegs in the public's opinion-"

"I don't care about that, Tony."

"Maybe not, but it was a blow whether you want to admit it or not." Tony scoffed. "Bad Boy isn't a good look on you Rogers. Stick with the All-American Star Spangled schtick." He turned back to the analysis when Steve gave him a very unamused glare. "She did me a favor with this though. And though I'm not complaining about it, I'd like to know why."

"Maybe she just prefers the Avengers over the X-Men," Steve said. "Cyclops said they had a few mixed-signal encounters with her already."

"Maybe he just doesn't know how to read the signals," Tony muttered half under his breath. He was listening ... but he was busy fabricating already. The preliminary tests on the alien compound she'd given them were more than encouraging. It was superior to most standard conductive metals. He was watching the readouts fly past, his imagination whirring - already figuring out ways to improve what he was seeing ... even though as it stood, she'd given them enough in the sample to wire a suit and two spare helmets.

Tony scrubbed his hand over his mouth and let out a disbelieving little laugh before he gestured wordlessly to the screens and beamed at Steve.

"So it's good, I take it?" Steve said, his chin tipped down and his expression clearly one of confused hope.

Tony's smile cracked through the smirk and he laughed as he nodded. "Yeah. Yeah ... I've got Jarvis running new analysis to replicate and improve, and she gave me enough for a suit, testing and a little to spare."

Steve looked pleasantly surprised. "All that from that little lump?"

"Yeah," Tony said, laughing in spite of himself. "I can have a suit made and testing by the weekend. Should be up and running full steam by this time next week."

Steve let out a breath of relief. "Then she did more than just tip us off."

"Oh yeah," Tony agreed. "Still wanna have a talk with her though."

"Talking involves words, Tony," Steve said as he turned to leave. He'd seen that look on his friend's face more than enough times to know he might not be entirely businesslike in his mindset. Besides, he was better left on his own when he was in a mood like this - and Steve was sure that Scott and the X-Men would want to know that K had just managed to save Tony's life. Even if it was precautionary, it was a weak spot in their defenses that Tony had already been trying to correct, and she'd cut down his research time dramatically.