Double D Does Not Mean Damsel in Distress

Edd fumbled as he pressed his thumb to the elevator button, trying desperately to get the grin off his face. The morning had gone by slowly, but he had enjoyed every moment of it. Sitting with Steve, watching cartoons all morning had been relaxing and apart from the fact that his chest ached from his heart thumping so furiously he felt better than he had in a long, long time. Not even the terrifying ride into work on the back of Rogers' motorcycle could stem the joy wriggling into his extremities. Though, having an excuse to cling to the soldier for dear life was worth the scare.

"Have a good night, sir?"

The smugly accented voice of Jarvis chimed over the speaker, jolting Edd out of his meandering thoughts of spangly outfits.

"Y-yes, Jarvis. Thank you."

"Good to hear, sir. Mr. Stark has been asking about you all morning, seems he's eager to proceed with the plans you discussed last night."

Edd blinked stupidly.

"Pla...plans?" He groped into the corners of his memory in an effort to remember enough of the night before to illuminate anything that could have been perceived as plans. His language program wasn't ready to really proceed to beta testing yet, but he vaugely remembered discussing it with Tony.

"Yes, sir. Plans to incorporate your Central Language Intelligence ...'Thingy' onto the system of one of the cleaning bots to better grasp the ability of it's adaptation. "

With a heavy sigh, Edgar pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Tony re-named the chip, didn't he?" If Edd didn't know any better he'd have thought Jarvis was laughing. Damn his boss and the man's ability to be unnerving without even being present. The name "CLIP" had been decided from the onset, as it was easy and Tony had liked the idea of "Clipping" technology. Apparently, alcohol put a perverted spin on things.

"Yes sir."

"Thingy?"

"... I think Mr. Archer actually supplied that particular technical term, sir."

"I see. Jarvis, let me off here." Edd straightened an air of command dusting his words laced with resignation while rubbing his forehead with irritation bordering on anger. He vowed to never drink with his maniac boss ever again. The elevator halted abruptly.

"Are you sure, sir?"Amusement was something Edd never wanted to hear from a computer program.

"Yes, Jarvis, if Tony asks I'm carrying out ….." He heaved a sigh. "I'm installing the CLIT as he requested." With that, the intern stepped lightly off the elevator.

The floor he'd stopped on was barren, plastic covering furniture and most of the walls were unfinished. At times, he forgot most of the building was still being constructed and only a few of the floors were actually occupied. Tugging on the pale green sleeve of his shirt, Edd hurried off down the hall. He wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, but stalling and avoiding came to mind. He was halfway across the lobby area when a squeal ripped through the silence.

Flailing helplessly, Edd dropped to his stomach and covered his head as best he could. It was the only defensive maneuver he knew but it generally kept him safe form any form of danger he'd met so far. He peeked out from under one arm as the squealing took on a more frantic tone. Decidedly swine in nature, the noise was coming from his right in one of the unfinished rooms. As he watched, a green tinted piglet tore through the plastic sheeting and tumbled into the wall across before scrambling to it's feet and taking off down the next hall. In the moment before it was moving again Edd was able to note the wriggling features prominently fixed to the creature's back.

"What the..." Double D sat up slowly, peering after the emerald piglet with tiny wings. Before he could think too much on it, thundering foot steps pulled his attention to the room from which the swine had fled. A large, blatantly naked man bounded over bits of wood and bundles of insulation, yellow gloves covering his hands and goggles pulled across his eyes which were wide and searching frantically. The stranger leapt onto a covered couch and stood in a crouch for a moment, speaking into a recording device in one gloved hand.

"Subject number 43 has exhibited signs of hallucinations, unclear as to the source but my guess would be the insane amount of mushrooms I found growing in the basement yesterday. I must get this one back before it's too late!" With a cry of fervor the man jumped off the couch before pulling a screw driver out of the band of his goggles tucked in with his red hair. Holding the tool like a weapon he screamed a war cry and took off after the piglet.

In the silent moments that followed, Edd stared, blinking stupidly as he tried to piece together what had just happened. Without even so much as a mutter to himself, he stood and plodded back to the elevator, brow furrowed. He stepped into the elevator and scrutinized his reflection in the mirrored box.

"Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Do you know who is running around on level 14?"

"... no sir. He is not in my records as an employee, nor is he in any records I can locate in the federal or international data bases."

"... How long has he been here, Jarvis?"

"I honestly don't know sir. This is the first I've seen of him, I'm looking right now to pinpoint his entry to the building."

There was a long pause, Edgar tapped the wall in idle thought.

"Well?"

"Sir, I haven't been able to locate him on any entry cameras as far back as four years ago when the building first opened and the camera feeds were uploaded."

"Any sign of him on any of the cameras after that? Anywhere?"

"Several, sir. I will compile them and send them to your desk top." Edd sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose again.

"Thank you, Jarvis."