The World Keeps Changing

Chapter 1

The street was calm, the first grayish rays of light beginning to peek into the sky, hours before the mad rush of the day would truly begin. Right now, it was just people like me. The people who kept life pumping in this city, working day in and out to get by. I looked up at the Tower. It seemed to stretch forever above me, even among the shining spires New York was known for. I took a cleansing breath. And, then, I walked through the glass doors into the belly of the beast once again.

I checked in at the main security desk, had my bag checked, per usual, and waved my badge at the door to the service stairs. It clicked open and I headed down to the first basement level for the locker room. I popped open my locker with my badge again, changed into my uniform, hung my street clothes and personal items in the locker, shouldered my knife bag and headed back for the elevator while I folded up the sleeves of my whites.

"Morning, Javier!" I chimed to my morning sous chef as I crossed the threshold into the main kitchen servicing the entirety of the now-dubbed Avengers tower, from the employee cafeteria to the penthouse residents.

"Buenos dias, jefa~!" The older latino man waved over his shoulder at me without looking up as he turned to empty a huge kettle into steamer pans. I checked in with him to see that the morning was going smoothly and made my morning rounds among the crew and checked that everyone had their posted event assignments. Then, I ducked in my office and grabbed my tablet and earpiece from their chargers.

"Morning, JARVIS." I said once I had my earpiece in and my tablet open to my email.

"Good morning, Cookie," came the posh, masculine voice. I rolled my eyes. Tony Stark enjoyed changing the AI's settings from time to time and as a result I never knew when JARVIS would have a new greeting for me. Three weeks ago, it was Shirley Temple after he had finally seen me leaving work with my curly hair down. Cookie had been around for months and seemed to have become a favorite after I had jokingly named my little AI connected delivery cart Chuck Wagon. Tony's love for nicknames was honestly one of the less annoying things about working for the man. I didn't think he was a bad person, per se. He was an out of touch rich boy that ran on debauchery and hubris on his best days with an unmedicated ADHD brain that threatened to run me to death on his worst. But Pepper Potts ensured he paid well for being a pain in the ass, and I had no issue demanding an exorbitant fee for my services. He could afford it a million times over, after all.

"Any changes to the itinerary for today?" I headed for the stock room.

"The 3 o'clock board meeting has requested light refreshments, and there will now be a cocktail hour afterward with executive canape service. I have already updated the P.O. for Garde Manger, ordered the caviar and added extra scotch and gin to the bar delivery this afternoon."

"Perfect. Let Angelica and Dean know I will have 3 extra hours for them today if they want it, and they'll get black tie rate. Also, call in an extra prep and dishwasher for tomorrow. Cocktail hour means they are probably close to cutting a deal and they'll want dinner tomorrow night after the handshake. I'll have to double check the champagne inventory too in case Nat has been in my cellar again. What about the penthouse, anything I should know before I head up? Who's home today?" I headed to dry storage and pushed the power button on the AI driven cart. "Time for work, Chuck." It beeped to life and started following me

"I have taken the liberty of compiling the usual list for kitchen restock. Mr. Stark is currently present as well as Captain Rogers, Dr. Banner, Thor Odinson and Mr. Wilson."

"Did you up the breakfast order? You know Thor will want about 30 pancakes on his own, and Steve isn't far behind when he's been working out a lot. Oh, you know, nevermind, I'll supplement with the Clint's special order from yesterday, since they probably won't be back for a couple more days and I don't want that prep to go to waste. Also, order another case of those french chocolates Nat likes and log a reminder for me to make the usual when Nat and Clint are due back."