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Working

When he was sure nobody was looking, Tony shoved a screwdriver into the large pockets of his cargo pants. They looked terrible, but desperate times meant desperate means and in this case, wearing baggy cargo pants that almost entirely concealed his ass.

He couldn't risk taking too much, so the scraps taped to the inside of the pants and a few smaller tools would have to do for today.

What he really hoped for was that Alter's JARVIS wouldn't report it to him and if he did, he could talk his way out of it.

Trying to look as relaxed and unsuspicious as possible, he talked about the project with the scientists. Phase one of the Machine would be something to find the universe he had arrived from, perhaps even discover the pathway he went through.
If the connection was still open or just partly closed, they could just try to tear a hole through spacetime and send him back, like throwing a marble through a pipe.

If not, there should be at least some traces of him traveling between universes, at least a ripple.

Once they had enough data, they could work from there.

Parts of a scanning machine wouldn't be helpful for weaponizing the Iron Man, but they could work for detecting energy signatures, which alone wouldn't be very helpful but with tweaking could make up the majority of the system detecting and analyzing his environment.

He spent some time syncing his tablet with the computers in the lab, adding additional information there for him to think about later.

"Hey, Stark. We've been here for quite a while, you want me to get you something to eat from the cafeteria?" asked the scientist he had been working with for the past hour.

He had been so encompassed in the Machine and the Iron Man project that he had forgotten that his own body had needs too. Just now, he realized that his muscles were tired from sitting for hours and his lips were dry from lack of hydration. There was a coffee machine in the corner and multiple people had been in and out, coming in with at least a piece of toast or a cookie, but he hadn't thought of getting any of that for himself.

"Oh. Yeah, you could get me something. Choose what you like, I haven't been there before," he said nonchalantly, yet trying his best to keep a thankful edge to the uncaringness.

"You've been here for almost a week and you haven't been to the cafeteria? I'm not grabbing you anything, you come with me and I'm going to show you the best and the worst foods."

Surprisingly, Tony gave in to his hunger and followed the man to the cafeteria.

The food wasn't as bad as he had expected, so he happily ate it in silence while the other dude did the same. If he remembered correctly, his name was Jacob, but he could be wrong. He could remember the number of steps it took to walk from the front door to the workshop back in his Malibu house, but he couldn't remember people's names.

After they had finished, they went back into the lab and worked some more.

_______

The door behind him closed and the moment he stepped deeper into his rooms, an AI voice sounded from the ceilings: "I'm sorry to interrupt, Anthony, but what are you going to do with the tools you stole from the lab? I haven't notified Sir yet, but unless you give a convincing and truthful answer, I will do so immediately."

Tony had been waiting for him to speak to him, so he knew that the best way was to tell the truth.

"I'm working on a private project and I'd like to keep it to myself for now," he said solemnly.

"Is it going to be a threat to anyone's life and safety?"

"Not unless they are a threat to my life and safety. JARVIS, I'm building another one of the Iron Man suits I have talked about to others."

The response seemed hesitant, even human-like: "Hmm. It seems illogical, but I'm going to let you continue. I won't monitor you or tell anyone anything unless you request me to do so."

Tony's eyes widened at that and he sputtered: "You're going to let me go? Just like that?"

"Yes. For now, that is. I'm not going to help you nor stop you."

"Thank you. Thank you so much," he said. It felt like he could breathe lighter once again. JARVIS had been the biggest obstacle he could think of, and with him neutral, he just had to be sneaky."

He took removed all the stolen items and delicately stuffed them into a drawer, but left a few wrenches and screwdrivers out. Then he used the tools to take apart the juicer. Wouldn't help much, but better that than nothing.

The Mechanic tweaked his suit designs a but based on the materials he had available and went to sleep. He had a busy day ahead, full of disassembling kitchen appliances and stealing scraps.

______________________

Tony was woken by the sound of his door being opened.

Since he had arrived here, everyone had respected his privacy and hadn't arrived without at least knocking.

He got up silently and grabbed the nearby wrench, just in case.

Tony crept into the other room, vary to not make any sound whilst doing so, wrench held tightly in his hand.

The light filtering through the open door from the hallway was intercepted by a tall figure. The figure suddenly shone a light into the room and Tony ducked behind a nearby armchair.

The mystery person started walking deeper into his current living space but stopped right before the armchair he was hiding behind.

His palms were sweaty, but what made his stomach truly drop was the sounds of a familiar voice whispering: "I don't think that Stark is up to anything. I don't dare to go deeper right now, there's no need to wake him up," he paused and then continued, "Yes, I understand, but you must know, when a Stark is working on something, they won't know how to hide it properly."

He turned around and stepped closer to the door leading to the hallway.

Before exiting, though, he stopped and spoke once more: "I will keep an eye on him. I won't fail you, Maw."

When the door finally closed, Tony released the breath he had been holding. He had been lucky that he didn't keep the stolen parts and tools in the first room or even out in the open. It had been the right decision to hold his current actions a complete secret from everyone.

From now on, he should operate with extreme caution.

There was still one question that worried him - why was the man that had broken into his current living space working with Maw?