Tony Stark

With more than enough distance from that nightmare week and some actually healthy communication following it, Tony was actually in a good mood in the lab. For reasons other than just science.

He had, however, been tweaking a thruster on the armor for the past three hours, making it just a little more efficient with each little fix.

Other people had their hobbies, this one was his.

[for the guy!]

The War Machine armor had taken a significant enough hit in a fight that Rhodey wasn't able to patch it up on his own. Which was annoying on a few levels for Tony. One, that Rhodey could have gotten hurt. Another that Tony should have been there to help him.

Tony made a face, rereading the assessment of the damage for a third time before starting to get some tools together.

"JARVIS, has the lab in East Village been touched?"

"No, sir. Shall I inform Lieutenant colonel Rhodes of your plan?"

Tony grinned up at the ceiling. "You know me so well, sweetheart. Tell him I'll be there within the hour. Help him shake any tails if you'd be so kind."

[Expecting one, but open before!]

It was safe to say that Tony too had not noticed anything strange today. Mostly because he rarely used a filter when working with JARVIS and had been working since the night prior with only a few coffee breaks.

On one hand, he was getting closer to finding where HYDRA currently was, but on the other.... sleep deprivation.

Choices, choices.

He took a sip of lukewarm coffee and fiddled with the code on a bot he'd designed to watch the traffic cameras in Queens. For the tenth time that hour.

Yeah.

[open for anyone lookin' for him!]

It had only been a few days and Tony already hated this whole thing. His focus was completely shot and he was forced to farm out work in hopes of getting somewhere.

"Anything so far?"

Only half of Reed's body was in frame of the holographic projection. Not because it cut him off for a small area to be shown, but because half of him was stretched off to another part of his lab back in the Baxter Building. It would have been unnerving if you didn't know the man. "Tony, this isn't the only project I'm working on. If you wanted faster results, we both know Hank is the expert on biochemical reactions--"

"--and Hank is currently unavailable," Tony said firmly. And a bit sad for good measure.

"Yes," Reed said, looking awkward for a moment before something else caught his attention. "I'll get back to you as soon as I can synthesize an antidote."

Tony sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, okay. Keep me updated," he said before cutting off the feed.

He sat back onto his workbench and gave the suit a foul look for failing him on this.

[open! I amuse myself]