Tony looked at Lynn's face, which plainly said, "I can't even be bothered to lecture you." The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, but he offered no explanation.
He turned and walked to the other end of the living room, stopping before an ordinary-looking pale gray wall. He touched it lightly, and a dim blue sensor ring spread outward from where his palm made contact. The wall slid open soundlessly, revealing an elevator Lynn hadn't noticed at all before. Like the main elevator they had taken earlier, its panel had soft, warm-white indicator lights, and it was set into the wall so seamlessly that it almost blended into the surrounding gray surface.
"Come on." Tony stepped into the elevator, slipped his hands into his trouser pockets, and leaned against the cabin wall, his expression returning to that mysterious look of "I still have something to show you."
Lynn pursed his lips. Here we go again... We just finished touring the mansion, and now there's a hidden elevator.
Still, he followed him inside. The doors closed. There were no floor buttons, and the cabin began descending automatically. Lynn thought they were going somewhere even more mysterious: an underground laboratory, a private theater, or another hidden warehouse full of Tony's high-tech toys. Instead, the elevator stopped after only a few seconds. The doors opened to reveal no holograms, no floating furniture, and no wall-spanning invisible cabinets.
Lynn stepped out of the elevator and stood in the entryway, momentarily stunned.
Beneath his feet was light wood flooring, rather than the gleaming, mirrorlike white polished floor upstairs.
The living room walls were a warm gray, with a few simply framed black-and-white photographs in place of metallic accents.
The floor-to-ceiling windows were just as large as those upstairs. Sunlight poured freely through the entire glass curtain wall, bringing a faint, warm sheen to the wooden floor. The sofa was upholstered in dark gray fabric, broad and soft, with two beige cushions tossed on it. The coffee table was solid wood, its corners sanded smooth and round, and held a small potted plant with its tag still attached and a white porcelain tea set. The open kitchen had a matte stone island countertop, with several tall stools beside it. At the end of the hallway, he could just make out a half-open bedroom door, with warm light from a wall lamp spilling out. There wasn't a single unnecessary item in the space. The apartment lacked the chilly feel of the top floor and had a touch more warmth.
Lynn walked around the apartment, brushing his fingers over the back of the fabric sofa before touching the edge of the solid wood coffee table. He noticed a row of low, solid wood bookshelves along the wall, already holding a few books.
After making a circuit, he returned to the middle of the living room and found Tony leaning against the open kitchen's bar with his arms crossed, an obnoxious grin on his face.
Looking at that grin, Lynn put the upstairs "whole-home smart controls, floating sofa, and nanotech countertops" together with the "warm gray walls, solid wood coffee table, and fabric sofa" before him, and suddenly understood. He pointed at the floor beneath his feet.
"For me?"
"Yeah." Tony uncrossed his arms, slipped one hand into his trouser pocket, and waved the other casually around the room. "Aside from not having all the lab equipment upstairs, it's no different from up there." Then he lifted his head and called, "JARVIS."
"Good evening, Mr. Lynn." The steady, polite, unhurried British voice spread evenly from the ceiling, sounding exactly as it had in the laboratory upstairs. "Welcome to your new home. I have connected to all smart systems on this floor, including lighting, climate control, security, communications, and entertainment equipment. Should you need anything, please call me at any time."
Leaning against the bar, Tony tapped the countertop twice. "Your JARVIS here connects to the servers upstairs and controls the whole apartment's smart systems. He can help with everyday problems, order food, look things up, and remind you to eat. The little elevator we came down in only connects our two floors. It can't reach any others. You probably saw the main elevator over there. Normally, you can take that straight here. JARVIS controls access to this little elevator. If there's a problem, just tell him to shut it down temporarily."
He paused, watching Lynn's expression. His obnoxious grin faded a little. His tone was casual, but his eyes were serious.
"Well? Happy with it?"
Lynn stood in the middle of the living room, his feet on the warm-toned wooden floor and the fabric sofa bathed in afternoon sunlight behind him. He gave a couple of chuckles, full of embarrassment.
"I thought I'd have to wait a little longer before the place was ready. Honestly, though, I didn't expect you to put me up here. I figured finding me some detached house somewhere else would already be plenty generous."
"A cave laboratory? Vanko's still in line for one." Tony straightened up from the bar and gave Lynn a light but brisk pat on the shoulder. "Ivan's still waiting for me at the seaside mansion. The Mark VI is already being built. I need to get back as soon as possible and test its combat performance with Ivan. Take your time getting used to your new place." Lynn nodded. Tony turned toward the hidden elevator, then stopped after two steps and glanced back at Lynn standing in the middle of the living room. He said nothing, merely lifting the corners of his mouth before stepping into the elevator. The doors closed, and the warm-white indicator light went out.
Lynn stood where he was and looked around. Downstairs, back to the Sanctum to move my things! Right now. He hurried downstairs, got into Wong's beat-up little car, and drove back to the Sanctum. When he entered, Wong was leaning against the second-floor railing, reading.
"Wong! I'm moving out."
Lynn called as he walked, already reaching his bedroom door. "Wong, thanks for everything lately. You don't have to save me food anymore, but I'll come back to mooch meals often. I'll contact you ahead of time if I'm coming back to eat."
Wong was silent for a moment, then turned a page. "Mm."
Lynn didn't have much: a few old jackets, several notebooks, the scroll on basic magical theory the Ancient One had given him, the sheet of snowflake paper on which Wanda had drawn that crooked symbol in the pine forest, and two packets of dry rations Wong had slipped into his drawer at some point. He stuffed everything into an old canvas bag and carried it out of the room. Raising his hand, he drew a circle, opening a portal directly into the living room of his new home in Stark Tower.
The portal had only just closed, and he hadn't had time to unpack, when the phone in his pocket rang. He took it out. The name "Phil Coulson" flashed on the screen. Lynn set the canvas bag beside the sofa and walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows to answer.
"How did a busy man like you find time to call me?"
Coulson's voice came through the receiver, carrying a hint of helplessness but retaining its usual gentle, steady tone. "Mr. Lynn. The situation in New Mexico has been resolved."
Lynn leaned by the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out at New York's skyline. "So you're calling to tell me you're safe?"
The other end went silent. When Coulson spoke again, his voice was lower than before.
"As for that bigger problem you mentioned, it surfaced on its own before I could investigate. You were right. Director Fury authorized Dr. Erik Selvig to research something called the Tesseract. His commitment to this project goes far beyond what I anticipated. I can't stop him. Unless you can recommend a safer alternative, his research won't stop."
Coulson paused. "Mr. Lynn, uncovering something and stopping it are two different things."
Lynn looked at his blurred reflection in the glass curtain wall and remained silent for a long time. The Tesseract had been in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands for so long, and Fury regarded it as the ultimate insurance against extraterrestrial threats. A few words of advice from someone else weren't going to change his mind. Lynn had never thought Coulson could persuade Fury, and he didn't want to deal directly with that one-eyed Nick Fury himself.
"I don't have an alternative, nor can I have one. But there is someone with enough technical expertise to steer the research toward a safer solution. Tony's father was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders, and he had dealings with the Tesseract. Go see whether he left any research records behind. They might help you. His understanding of the Tesseract ran much deeper than your current team's, and his research took a gentler direction. It wasn't ignorant exploration. Do you understand what I mean?"
Coulson was quiet for a moment before answering. "Understood. I'll do my best to find them."
"And... this has nothing to do with me."
A hint of the helpless amusement Lynn knew so well entered Coulson's voice. "Understood. This is a discovery from my own investigation."
The call ended. Lynn lowered the phone from his ear and looked outside again. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, New York's skyline stretched quietly beneath the afternoon sunlight. In the distance, Central Park's greenery resembled a piece of jade inlaid in steel and concrete, while farther away, the Hudson River shimmered with flecks of golden light. Some floor below was probably being renovated; the faint hum of workers operating tools drifted up.