It's Genius, Actually

Bad Communication

Steve knocked on the lab door, startling Tony so much he fell off his stool.

"So, what are you working on now?" he asked, toweling his hair off from his shower.

While the DNA scanner did its thing, Tony spent the time studying Mini Festus, and the pile of holographic notes around him grew steadily in size as he ran his fingers along the metal plates lining the dragon, searching for hidden buttons.

"I'm studying a one-of-a-kind, intelligent mechanical dragon. What are you doing?" he asked with a grin as he got back in his chair and turned down the rock music blaring from the ceiling.

Steve blinked down at the metal dragon, which blinked back at him.

"Where did it come from? And who's this friend of yours?" Steve glanced at the whirring machine to his right, which to him looked like a waffle maker.

"Don't touch that," Tony said as he returned to the dragon, pointing to the DNA scanner with his pliers. "It may contain dangerous monster blood. Plus, it came out of this thing's mouth so add biohazard to the list." The dragon obligingly opened its mouth and whirred its rotating teeth as if in agreement.

"Ah-ha," Tony muttered, pressing the underside of the dragon's chin which popped open its head to reveal miniature gears and a complex system, all revolving around a small intricate disk, with runes written in sharpie around the rim. Despite outside appearances, this thing was definitely homemade.

He gently removed the disk with his pliers, and set it on his workbench carefully, so as not to break it. He didn't think it would be delicate, but better not test that theory. The dragon's head dipped as it powered down. Tony picked up his phone as it beeped twice.

DIDN'T I TELL YOU NOT TO BREAK HIM?!

Also, when's that scan going to be done? Running out of tranquilizer here

He grinned and texted back a quick message: less than ten minutes. And I won't break him, engineers honor

Steve was busy peering into the dragon's head, which smelled strangely of motor oil and Tabasco sauce. He looked at the text messages and frowned. They reminded him of the many young hero's he'd met over time; the energy and mindset of a kid shoved into a serious situation and forced to deal with it whether they want to or not.

"Who is this kid?" he asked Tony, who now had a stick he was expertly moving around the dragon's exposed head. The end must have had a camera on it as a video feed appeared above one of the workbenches.

"Not a kid. Says she's a middle-aged engineering genius." Steve raised an eyebrow at Tony. "I don't believe them, obviously. That's just what they said. Also, they had to be telling the truth about something. Just look at this thing!" He gestured to the metal dragon, which was still getting prodded with the camera Tony had handed off to Dumb-E.

"Why don't you just scan it?" Steve asked, quietly proud of himself for using modern terms and understanding them.

"I don't know what this thing's made of. If I do a scan it might damage the metal or mess up the insides. It could corrode this disk thing, or even make something explode. Until I know more, we're sticking with visuals only. Might do an echolocation test later, which shouldn't break anything..."

As Tony continued to mutter to himself Steve made his way to the door. So much for making sense of things. He wouldn't be any help here, not with the science anyway.

"Can I do anything else?" He asked Tony, turning at the last second. If he could go wherever this person was and help them, he wouldn't feel as useless as he did now.