When Carlos went to school he was told that this was
supposed to be a great field to work in. As he worked and built his resume he
and his coworkers joked that with his experience he’d always have a job in this
industry; the most he’d ever been out of work was maybe a month and a half.It had to have been Hammer Industries. The company wasn’t in
existence anymore, having since been torn apart and cannibalized by larger
entities, but just the word ‘Hammer’ put a dark mark on Carlos’ history. He
hadn’t even been involved in the scandal – his job was with safety mechanisms in
the weaponry and technology that was made. But when Hammer set his sights on
Iron Man, everything went downhill.Iron Man… Tony Stark. Everything he did in technological
advancement was incredible and it would have been a dream job to go work for
him. But Hammer ruined that. He ruined any prospect Carlos had of ever setting
foot anywhere near Stark Industries property. That was the one application that
Carlos never made. Because why would Stark and Potts want anyone from Hammer
Industries?But the months of unemployment was weighing down heavily on
Carlos, and he was starting to not care. The worst that could be done was he’d
be ordered never to contact Stark Industries again. And really, would anything
be different?So one Sunday afternoon at his father’s house in Oregon he
started the application. He linked his resume and profile, provided his
references, and before he could think much about it hit the submit button.And that was that. Carlos never expected to be contacted by
them, but he can at least say that he tried.When Pepper had received a resume she hadn’t known what to expect from it at first. It seemed well written, well filled in, lots of great experience, and then she spotted that name that had her worrying. She knew the company was gone but she didn’t know whether she could trust this stranger or not.
When it came to these kinds of applications she turned to Tony to ask him about what he thought. The guy had lots of experience, seemed to be struggling to get work since Hammer Tech and seemed to almost be on his last choices. Tony could tell the man was starting to just need anything right now and he liked the experience he had.
He could see he wasn’t part of the scandal and told Pepper to bring him in, they would interview him, see whether he could work well for the team or not, and then see what they might be able to do. He could see the man might be useful to him and he was happy to offer the help to the other for now if he could work well.
Pepper sent him an email telling him they would like to offer him an interview with them, that they would like to see his documents for proof of work, and to talk with him about the role he might work in there and Tony hoped it helped the young man.
Carlos was at a loss. What was he going to do? What was he
going to wear? What was he going to say?
In truth, he’d made himself forget about the application he’d
submitted as he moved onto other, more promising leads of work. It was relatively
easy, filling applications and helping his brother with his hardware repair
work (though it made Carlos feel awkward, Mikey paid him what he could which
was really very nice of him).
But when he told his family that he’d been contacted by
Stark Industries the next thing he knew was that his father had booked him a
flight for Los Angeles (with his own
money) and then packed Carlos a layover bag with his nicest interview suit (a
royal blue suit with a yellow shirt and a red necktie).
Jarringly soon Carlos’ plane landed and Carlos made himself
up before getting a Lyft to the Stark Industry building that had been detailed
in the interview appointment.
Carlos felt nervous and a bit boldly dressed for a meeting
like this – the suit was just so brightly colored. But he went into the
building and let the receptionist know his business. Clutching his personal
document case in his hand he went to the floor directed and sat down and
waited.
The Perfect Scientist 