Work Text:
Lukas Gerd Bauer was generously blessed with an internship at Stark Industries. He could still barely believe it himself. The selection process was challenging to pass, mostly due to the tough competition. He checked, the acceptance rate was .46%. Naturally, he was over the moon excited to start working there.
You see, Stark Industries was the best tech company in the world. Unarguably. It was every one of his classmates’ dreams back at Harvard to be a part of it, he himself was fixated on it throughout his student years. Their technology was unlike any other and it truly felt like the products were futuristic.
So, when he read the email from Ms. Bunnag, head of interns for the R&D department, he immediately began preparing himself for it. He had expected everyone else to be very uptight and professional, he had expected to be working long hours without a break in order to keep up, and he had expected that work would mostly entail writing reports. Who would let a 22-year-old German guy, barely old enough to drink in the US, just out of college and having skipped two grades in primary school, help create and test projects in the advanced labs?
His hopes weren’t too high but nevertheless, it was still exciting.
However, after only a week of working there, he realized just how wrong he had been. Ms. Bunnag – or Prani as she’d asked to be called since seemingly everybody was on a first-name basis with their closest colleagues – was rather thrilled to introduce him to the other interns and scientists working in the robotics department, where he would presumably be working as well. She led him right into the Experimental Development Lab 34C, where three interns and two scientists greeted him warmly. He was astonished to find an empty workbench with his name on the side. Sarah, Anthony and Aída were then quick to brief him in on their work, pleased to have another set of hands. There were reports to be written every now and then, but between all his coworkers splitting amongst themselves, it allowed for most of their time to be spent on science.
Lunch breaks were his favorite. All four of them usually migrated to the closest cafeteria on floor 30 at around noon, where they ordered from their favorite stands, sat down at a table by the windows and gossiped. As he was new, (Anthony and Aída had been interning for four years and Sarah for two) they felt it was important to get him in on all the funny events, unexpected accidents and even mysterious rumors.
“At this point, everybody’s at least heard of The Kid. But very few had seen him. Apparently, he solves complex equations for fun and is smarter than Tony Stark himself!” Aída had said.
He didn’t believe some kid had free range of the Tower in the first place to be able to roam around and solve equations, but he humored the rumors anyway. That was until he had seen it for himself. Or rather, hadn’t seen it.
They were troubleshooting for a complex circuit from the updated W.H.A.T. machine (Wave Hop Absorption Technology) the entire day and were bummed at having to send an email, asking higher-ups for help. The equation was left unsolved on the whiteboard that day as he exited the facilities late in the evening, looming over everybody in contrasting black pen. And because he was a nerd, this dumb math problem made him unable to sleep. He got up early, running on two cups of black coffee, and entered the lab just six hours after he’d left.
Imagine his surprise when he found the board filled with little scribbles in pink, providing not one but two solutions for the circuit. Yeah, it was unexpected. Still, he didn’t think it was too weird until nobody wanted to claim it! He asked around but the neighboring labs had no clue of what might have happened. Not to mention Anthony had pointedly informed him that every lab received only black, blue, red and green markers.
“It must’ve been The Kid!” Sarah shouted. “The rumors are true!”
“Now hold on. We have no evidence of that. Simply because nobody had seen a normal, adult scientist do it doesn’t mean they didn’t,” he added. He wasn’t a religious person, he believed in science. Superstition wasn’t usually something he would fall for. He was determined to get to the bottom of the Pink Marker Mystery, as they had dubbed it.
“Yeah. It could’ve been Mr. Stark himself,” came Anthony.
“Not to burst your bubble, but he’s only come down to 34C twice in all the time I’ve been working here,” chirped Sarah. “And do you really think he would have a pink pen?”
The whole ordeal was momentarily forgotten. After a few months, their research became intertwined with another group’s and they were moved into Lab 42A, a few floors higher. Their badges were also updated to level 4.5, giving them access to the few confidential labs they were to use on a daily basis. (Interns had a level 4 badge and usually worked on less advanced technology that would also be available to the general public, meanwhile, level 5 was for full-time researchers working on slightly more interesting devices.)
That was when one of the researchers, Nova, told them what he’d seen. “One time, I stayed back late to finish a report for this project, and I saw Him. The Kid just strode in, talking to the Tower’s AI, F.R.I.D.A.Y. He walked over to the cabinets, pulled out a screwdriver and walked out. I’m not sure he even noticed I was there.”
“Oh my god, you’ve seen him?!” Aída shouted. “What did he look like?”
“He couldn’t have been older than eight, really! He had curly hair, was really short, and his T-shirt said something like ‘the physics is theoretical but the fun is real.’”
“And he didn’t say anything?” Sarah wanted to know.
“Well- not to me. But he was casually chatting with the AI, like I said. Something about protocols,” the man explained.
“It could have been literally anyone. Some worker’s kid or something. Why are you all so convinced it was ‘The Kid’?” Lukas asked sharply. The whole thing was beginning to annoy him. Sure, he didn’t mind that the place wasn’t as uptight as he’d predicted, but these people were supposed to be smart! How could they step to the level of middle-IQ-ed people by making up some kind of god for all these unrelated scenarios? He wasn’t convinced.
But then, because the universe hated him and just had to prove him wrong every chance it got, his beliefs were shattered. To his defense, he was new here! Yet as Anthony Edward Stark walked into their lab right after a new model of the Stark Phone they were working on exploded from energy overload, that didn’t seem to matter.
“Roo!” the man called, hastily looking around. He appeared almost… angry. When he didn’t find what he was looking for, he turned to the closest scientist – Marcus. “Hey, have you seen a kid around here? I heard there was an explosion and I’ve been looking for him all morning without success so I came here. He seems to attract trouble.”
Lukas couldn’t help but gape at the man. Mr. Stark was nothing like what he’d seen on TV, his arrogant persona was all gone here, as if it was all for show this whole time. His eyebrows were furrowed and his hair disheveled. Lukas was so busy staring, he barely registered any of the billionaire’s words.
“Uhm, no. No, sir. We haven’t seen any kids. The explosion was our fault, we’re terribly sorry!” Marcus replied.
Stark sighed exasperatedly. “Great,” he grumbled.
“Uhm. Have you tried asking the AI, sir?” Marcus suggested. He spoke like this wasn’t his first time meeting the man, Lukas would have to ask about it later. “Doesn’t she operate the security cameras?”
Mr. Stark waved a dismissive hand in the scientist’s direction. “Tried that, but it seems he hacked F.R.I.D.A.Y. again. Kids, am I right?” And with that, the genius marched out of the lab. They could hear distant calls coming from the man before the soundproof doors closed. “Roo! I know you did this! Come out already!”
“What the fuck.”
Needless to say, they were all bewildered after that encounter. The fact that the owner of Stark Tower was not only aware of a kid going ‘round it but also spoke so casually of him only fueled the rumor mill. It didn’t help his theory of ‘the evidence points towards coincidences,’ even if it was the most logical before. It frustrated him.
“Tony Stark knows about The Kid!” Sarah yelled.
“No shit! He knows about everything!” added Anthony.
“Did he say The Kid hacked F.R.I.D.A.Y.?! The unhackable all-powerful AI with eyes everywhere?” Nova beamed.
“It’s actually true! The rumors are true!” “I told you guys that I saw Him!”
They didn’t get much work done that day, partially due to the explosion (they’d have to redesign the battery so the technology could handle it and that was devastating) but mostly because of their unsuspecting visitor.
Once Lukas had been working at SI for longer, he could admit that he loved the job (internship). There was something utterly satisfying in seeing your design get passed on to production. Albeit, the work did wear him out. After two months, he got sick. His doctor said it was the common cold, but Prani convinced him to take a few days off.
He knew it was sometimes common for companies to completely disregard vacations and sick leave, but SI was regularly praised for its work ethic, which is why he was all the more surprised to receive a call from Aída.
“Hello?” he greeted, and if he sounded annoyed- well, he was sick and she had interrupted his Star Wars marathon.
“Lukas! You won’t believe what just happened!” Before he could groan at the realization of where the conversation was going, she continued. “We saw Him! The Kid! He came down to floor 42! He was just standing there, doing something with a control panel on the wall outside our lab! You should’ve seen it, he looked like a miniature Mr. Stark!”
This time, the silence was long enough for his groan. “Aída… Not to sound ungrateful, but I don’t care. How come this kid only ever shows up when I’m not there, huh?” he pointed out.
A scoff came from the other side. “It’s true, man! We all saw him,” said Anthony. “Do you think he’s Mr. Stark’s secret child? How old is he? Nine? That’s still possible, right?”
“I’m hanging up,” Lukas declared, then did just that. He was suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion. This imaginary kid was haunting him, he wasn’t even safe in his own crappy apartment.
The three jumped on him as soon as he returned, the adrenaline still hadn’t worn off. He had to listen to their rambling the whole day as they explained to him exactly what the kid looked like, how he held himself and what brand of clothes he was wearing. They also bombarded him with theories, old and new, about who The Kid could be. He would never confess out loud, but it was bothering him more and more the longer the mystery around that child remained. He wanted answers, fast.
Luckily for his sanity, he got what he wanted.
“Maybe we should insert the battery in the testing rooms. You know, in case there’s another explosion. Mr. Stark may have gone easy on us last time, but… Twice in a row?” Nova said.
“But we fixed it now, it shouldn’t happen again,” Lukas protested. The testing rooms were on floors 39 and 40. It was close enough, but the elevators still took forever. Plus, they’d have to carry all the stuff downstairs, stairs or not.
“Just in case. You can never be too sure.”
And it appeared that was the end of the conversation, Sarah, Anthony and Aída were already up and heading for the door. “Great,” he grumbled, but ran after them.
They all had to scan their badges upon entering the elevator. “Access granted,” came F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s robotic voice. Then, after exiting on floor 40, (they chose it because it was closer) went to scan them again at one of the empty testing rooms. All such rooms were reinforced with bulletproof glass and automated fire extinguishers in case anything went wrong. Which it wasn’t going to, but his colleagues had insisted.
Before they could tap the badges to the card reader security device, an explosion caught their attention. Or… not so much the explosion itself, those were common on floor 40, but more so the high-pitched voice that followed.
“Oopsie!”
Every head snapped in the direction of the commotion, and lo and behold, there was a kid, picking up scraps of metal. Lukas couldn’t even tell what he had ruined, it was that damaged.
“Protocol Mind Your Business You Old Man has been overridden. Protocol Baby Monitor has been initiated.”
The kid groaned and threw his head back. “F.R.I.D.A.Y.! I thought we had a deal! How could he have figured it out so soon!”
“My apologies. Boss has discovered your code and adjusted his protocols to override yours,” the AI responded. Actually responded to the whining child.
“Come on, you two. We’ve been busted,” the kid said, addressing the two robots standing by his side, one of whom had been spraying the room with a transportable fire extinguisher.
Lukas was speechless. There was a child in Stark Tower. Not in the lobby or the museum on the lower floors, no. There was a child up on floor 40 inside a testing room, causing explosions, and unsupervised.
“Oh my god, it’s The Kid!” Sarah whisper-yelled. Lukas didn’t object. He didn’t know how to react. He had always been the smartest in his class, got the best grades, and always volunteered for extra credit. He had even skipped two entire grades because he was so ahead of everybody. But when he was ten, he had not even been considering the possibility of Stark Tower. Hell, the building hadn’t existed back then! He also wasn’t building explosive devices back then.
The entire floor watched as the kid ran, the bots trailing behind him. Just then, an elevator door opened and The Anthony Edward Stark walked out, looking furious. He made a beeline toward the kid, making the smaller squeal.
“Roo! Come here!” the billionaire shouted.
The kid stuck his tongue out and attempted to dodge the other, but Mr. Stark finally grabbed hold of him. He snatched the child off the ground like he weighed nothing, and lifted him over his shoulder like one would a sack of potatoes. Obviously, the kid didn’t like that – he kicked his legs against the man’s chest and attempted to punch his back.
“Let me down!” he whined.
“Nu-uh, squirt. I told you not to use that much vibranium in such a small arc reactor, and what did you do? Exactly that. You disobeyed me again.” Then Mr. Stark turned his glare to the bots. “I’m not surprised about DUM-E, but U? You didn’t think to stop him?” Both the robots beeped sadly.
“I’m sorry! I thought the housing would hold,” the kid mumbled into Stark’s shoulder, having given up on trying to break free.
“I know you thought it would, but I knew it wouldn’t,” the man said, now much softer than before, almost teasingly. After, he walked over to an elevator and the doors opened without him having to scan a badge. He waited for the two robots to follow inside and then asked the AI to take them up.
The shouting began. “Oh. My. God.” “That was Mr. Stark!” “Forget that, it was The Kid!” “His name is Roo?” “He’s definitely Stark’s. I mean, come on!” “We’re going to be so popular.” “Did they say arc reactor!”
Some mysteries were better left unsolved.