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Tony knew he was being petty. He knew it.
He had five PhDs, three Masters of Engineering, several other achievements and inventions that meant he was never thirsting for academic validation. Every teaching institution and scientific convention desperately begged him to attend to give presentations.
So, why? Why did Tony feel so upset by a sudden new competitor? He’d been waiting for years for a mind to rival his own. For someone to talk to and take away his feeling of intellectual solitude.
It started with a heater.
The blueprints hit the internet for an economically and environmentally sustainable heater for low-income households. They were easy to make, cheap, and (most importantly) heated very well. The design, along with simple steps for construction, was shared millions of times and only really died down when you could walk into most low-income households and see one in the corner. Translations of the instructions also spread like wildfire through other countries.
Next, it was a portable charger.
The blueprints for not just any portable charger swept through the internet. No. This charger was the size of a quarter and only slightly thicker. Just like the first, they were easily made at home and very cheap to produce. The most important part was that they only charged devices until about 40%. This ensured that it could be used more efficiently over a longer period of time.
These seemingly random releases of ground-breaking technology kept coming.
Naturally, the internet searched relentlessly for the source of these inventions. But alas, to no avail, the anonymous do-gooder was not found.
Corporate companies and governments also searched for the inventor. Companies wanted to commercialise the products to gain profit from the highly popular creations seen in so many homes. They knew, however, that in the end this was fruitless. If the mysterious inventor wanted money, they could’ve patented any one of their numerous inventions for a huge return. The products were mainly geared towards low-income household given house cheap and easy they were to make. No company could patent the designs given that they were released online and spread around the world in minutes.
Governments wanted to find out how a genius slipped through their grips. How could someone so revolutionary not have been found earlier? Imagine the creations they could have made for the military. Imagine the funding they could gair given their fanbase. So, they too, searched fruitlessly. The anonymous creator was a ghost.
Tony Stark was continuously compared to this creator (who now went by Spock as an alias) as they both were revolutionary minds and modern inventors. The biggest difference was that Tony was a billionaire and the mystery Spock seemingly made no profits.
This led to much increased shouting that Tony could have done more, released more, helped more.
It was deafening.
So, naturally, Tony decided he would find this Spock and offer them a place on his staff or as a consultant. Stark Industries would pay them to make these inventions and go as far as to release many of them for free. This would work twofold: people would still have access to Spock’s revolutionary inventions and public opinion would turn for the better towards Stark Industries. It’s not like it would cost them anything substantial.
Those were the company’s goals as a whole, but Tony just wanted to meet the guy. To find out their motivations.
That was why Tony was hacking Twitter (the main site of Spock’s releases). No other reason.
It definitely wasn’t because there were rumours about him being Spock.
Definitely.
Okay, look, Tony was getting sick of the conspiracy theories and as much as he loved trolling people (he often teased fake product releases and may or may not enjoy painting on famous landmarks in places no normal human could reach) he was a bit sick of being in the middle of it.
His social media was so flooded on every site that he could barely use it.
It didn’t help that Spock had an account themselves.
Spock’s account was weird and confusing. The general consensus was that Spock was eccentric, he had already turned his nose up at lots of money, job offers and patents, but his Twitter account was plain odd.
Sometimes just posting random letters (it was ‘omfghd’) or random equations. Spock taunted his followers with the barest understanding of who he was and never replied to those begging for his attention no matter how famous.
The only people he had replied to were Pepper and Patrick William Charlton. To Pepper he only said ‘bow down bitches it’s the original girl-boss’. To the other guy he said ‘I too, if I met Captain America, would first be intimidated then say ‘we shot him in de legs cause his shield iz de size of a dinner plate and he iz an idiot’’
Tony had never heard of Patrick William Charlton but learnt he had few famous vines, and this was what Spock was referring to. What an enigma.
…….
Hacking Twitter was fruitless… Spock’s account was so heavily encrypted that Tony assumed another hacker had built the firewalls. They would take a very long time to decode, and Tony really didn’t want to see what the hacker could do in retaliation.
…….
Anyways, Tony knew he was going to meet this Spock. He knew this because Spock had let slip one major fact; he would be attending the Engineering and Technology Expo based New York in 2022.
The Engineering and Technology Expo was a yearly conference based in America to display advances in manufacturing, AI, digital technology, and engineering. It brought in crowds of wealthy investors to fund projects and interest people in the future of certain areas to develop. Similar to the Stark Expo, it showcased the future of engineering (digital and physical) and highlighted both already famous products and the new generation of engineers.
Only those very diligent and interested in Spock attending the Expo knew about Spock’s attendance because in one tiny corner of a picture Spock posted recently there was the smallest sliver of the pass that had been sent to all presenting attendees.
The people who realised this kept quiet, not wanting for the event to be overwhelmed by both avid fans and corporate spies.
Tony, of course, got an invitation. He got invited to talk at so many places that Pepper (despite not being his PA anymore) sifted through them to pick which ones he had to attend.
They were usually boring and sucked but this one… this one had the potential to be game-changing.
The day of the conference had come very quickly. And still, Tony had found out nothing more about Spock. He had no idea where or when the guy would be presenting.
Would they be attending in person, or would they be doing it digitally?
This event could be very important for the future of so many if Spock was to release another life-changing product. It could also be important if Spock decides to reveal themself to the world. That would open up possibilities of in-person job offers, media attention and being able to put a face to the name or whatever the saying is.
Spock always seemed so altruistic that Tony was sure if someone came up to them and begged or presented a crying baby, they would design anything that was asked of them.
Tony entered through a back door to avoid any unwanted attention. If Spock were to appear he didn’t want the paparazzi to scare them away before he could get a decent conversation in. Also, if Tony was rumoured to present at the talk (which he was asked to but refused, deciding to just attend instead) then people would flock to get in which would put Tony in the spotlight.
And if Spock had made anything clear it was that they didn’t want to be in the spotlight one bit.
After Tony entered through the back door, he ambled around the expo. Many of the stalls were companies he had seen before; he needed to keep an eye on competition of Stark Industries and prospective partners.
However, a few tables did catch his eye.
There was one stall for a small tech start-up focusing on the use of AI for sleep. Tony had struggled with insomnia and PTSD for a lot of his life, so he knew the importance of developments in tech like this. Ways to aid sleeping were few and far between, and new aids for it came out at a snail’s pace. They utilised the AI for multiple things to help with sleep; from programming the voice of the AI, for helping each person individually, to controlling the conditions of a bedroom to be perfect throughout the night according to their sleep schedule. The basic premise was to have the AI be self-learning to help each person and cater specifically to their needs.
The AI was rough, and the coding was sub-par, but the idea was there, and so was the passion for the project. Tony could see it in the eyes of the stallholders that looked eerily similar to his own when working on his suit or a new challenge.
With the help of Stark Industries, they could make this a big thing and help lots of people. This company could just use a little push and that’s what Tony (with all his influence) could give them.
Another stall that caught his eye was superhero themed. Call him egotistical but Tony thought it was really special to see the impacts heroes can have on people. Looking closer, they caught his attention even more. They were a small prosthetics company working out of Tennessee who made prosthetics which were inspired by superheroes. They had three on display: an Iron Man inspired lower arm, a Captain America inspired leg and, surprisingly (given he was recognised mostly as an illegal vigilante), a Spiderman inspired hand.
They all looked very well made to a high quality.
Tony had never cared for monetising his image as a hero despite the number of times he was ‘advised’ to. He went as far as to fight so that products could be made to be inspired by him cheaply so that kids wouldn’t have to pay ridiculous amounts for a stuffed toy. The copyright law for ‘Captain America’ ran out last year so anyone could use the classic image in their products without fines. And, Spiderman wasn’t really supposed to even be a symbol, Tony had once asked the guy about his increasingly iconic suit and he just responded, “I’m like a spider and I like red. It’s functional and cool and it’s fun seeing stuff inspired by it but first and foremost it is to protect my identity,” so Tony knew he didn’t mind it being used especially for prosthetics.
After, Rhodey’s accident Tony became an expert in bionic technology and using that information so did Stark Industries, becoming one of the biggest developers of prosthetics in the world.
Tony felt so dumb for not coming up with this idea earlier, maybe he was getting old.
So, of course, he approached them to see how he could help the company grow.
After wandering around the conference for hours there was no sight of Spock and no announcements that could link to if he was presenting. Tony was getting worried that he was not coming, and he could see a few others bearing the same worries.
What if this was one of Spock’s eccentricities? What if this was just one big joke on the technology industry?
Tony got bored of waiting after so long and decided that he would take one last lap of the place before going home without success.
His took this last lap miserably. He’d seen all of the stalls before and still had no idea what Spock even looked like so he could be walking right past the guy.
Nearing the very back corner of the place there was a section called ‘Young Minds’. It was to highlight future inventors and present their ideas to investors. This worked to built up an image so people would remember them and also to get the teenagers (who would likely be behind the main stalls in the next few years) used to the atmosphere in conferences and expos.
Tony had glanced at it the first few times he walked around the room but decided to not go in. The teenagers might recognise him and draw unwanted attention. Mainly, he also did not want to get stuck chatting about a project he did not feel drawn to.
It had been a long day and he just wanted to get this over and done with. However, he knew that is he left now without checking every area he would be up all night regretting it.
He entered.
Immediately his eyes were drawn to a small stall in the back right corner. Far away from everyone else with very few people nearby.
It’s placement reminded Tony of himself at his first showcase. Afraid of rejection towards something he felt passionate about and worked so hard towards.
The second this that caught his eye about the stall was the teenager manning it.
The kid wasn’t even looking into the crowd of people, waiting for someone to admire his project, instead the teen had his back facing Tony. He seemed to be crouching over a CPU with a soldering iron and blueprints next to him.
Tony was curiously peering at the blueprints at a distance, squinting to see what was on them. He was so focused he did not notice that the kid had stopped soldering and was looking right at him with awe.
The kid was practically vibrating as he waved and gave Tony the widest smile he had ever seen. Tony might need to book an optometrist appointment after this it was so bright.
After that Tony knew he had to approach the stall to talk to the kid and hopefully get a name so he could stop calling the kid, the kid.
So, he approached.
“Hey kid, what have you got here?”
“Oh my god Dr Stark I’m such a big fan especially since you miniaturised arc reactors and sent them to hospitals. It actually inspired me so much I started to look into miniaturisation and micro-technology which led me to making a really cool portable charger to see if I could make a small arc reactor, I couldn’t but that’s okay because lots of people use my design portable chargers now! So, it wasn’t a totally fruitless adventure.” He continued speaking without talking a breath, “Wait, you wanted to know about my project. Sorry I have a habit of going off on tangents. I’m just really excited to meet you. So… my project is related to sustainable technology, which is obviously so important! The idea stems from your Iron Man suit’s technology. Why the Death Star design you ask? That’s because my friend Ned, he’s stall about hacking governments, just over there to the right, wanted to see if we could create a fully functional Death Star–”
The kid continued to ramble without taking a breath. Wow, he was energetic, Tony could only dream of that vitality.
In the end he had to interrupt.
“Kid.”
“uh, yes, Dr Stark…”
“Call me Tony,”
“Tony,”
“Did you just say you looked into miniaturisation and made a portable charger?”
NO, no, no, no. This couldn’t be Spock. He was a teenager; how could Tony not have considered Spock’s age? He must’ve been blinded by his ignorance. Dammit.
Oh no, Tony’s been competing with a teenager. This is so embarrassing.
“Uh, yes?”
“Is that a question?”
“No?”
“I can’t believe I’m asking you this kid but, are you Spock?”
The kid suddenly went pale.
“Uhhhh,” He stated looked to his left and right for ways to escape.
“Look, you’re not in trouble, okay? I just want to know.”
“Yes, I am him, but I promise I didn’t mean for all those people to start insulting you. I’m such a big fan and I tried to be like you and help people and my projects were just laying around so I just thought, ‘what’s the harm in posting them?’ and then I couldn’t stop, people really liked them, and it was my responsibility to keep going.”
He took a deep breath.
“It’s okay, kid, I’m not worried about that, I don’t care about what others think. I just want to offer you a position at Stark Industries.”
“What.”
“What do you mean ‘what’? Your designs are great kid, couldn’t have done them that well myself – well most of them.” This was the most important part; Tony couldn’t believe he was the first to find Spock even if it was a rambling teen. “Please come work with me; we could do a lot of good, and I certainly won’t stop you from posting them online.”
“Um, okay Dr Stark that would be really cool. But I do need to go to school and acadec practice and –”
Tony waved his hand.
“I’m sure we can figure something out.” Tony would fight tooth and nail to keep this child, there was no way another company like (ugh) Hammer Industries was getting their hands on him.
“Sure, I’ll talk to my aunt but that would be awesome.”
“Cool kid… so, what’s your name?”
“Peter Parker,”
“Well, Peter Parker, I think this will be the start of a very fun and fruitful partnership…”