Zeta: New idea while I was playing Touhou LLS (Lotus Land Story). Don't worry, I'll be working on my other story as well. Please be patient while I'm editing and going over the story to fix errors and patch it up a bit more.
Yuuka: Are you finished?
Zeta: Have I mentioned that I do not own any of this. Touhou Project belongs to ZUN and the Avengers, Iron Man, and whatever Marvel superheroes pop up here belong to Marvel.
Yuuka: Yes, you have now. Now get on with the story.
Zeta: Also, don't forget to review! Reviews equal better writing (I hope!)!
Ch 1: World Unknown
"If it isn't Yukari Yakumo. Now, why am I not surprised to see you."
Yuuka Kazami, the "Flower Master of the Four Seasons" was making her daily stroll in the Garden of the Sun in the hidden realm of Gensokyo when she felt the usual tear between the magic of the garden. Yukari Yakumo, the Youkai Sage of Gensokyo, had 'gapped' in to visit her.
"Impressive, Yuuka. You never cease to amaze me with your intuition. What's your secret?" she retorted. "Please, enough with the pleasantries. You have something for me? The flowers are going to shrivel up at this rate of stalling." She impatiently remarked.
"Settle, settle, Yuuka. Anyways, banter aside, I do have something that might be of interest for you." The Gap Youkai reached out and pulled from one of her gaps: a table, some chairs, and a tea set.
"I have been keeping an eye on the outside world for quite some time, as you know." She began while serving out the tea. Yuuka scoffed and took a seat.
"And, while the humans have been ignorant of some of the happenings in the world, I have not. A new set of humans have been born with powers, Yuuka."
Now, this caught her interest.
"What powers? Like youkai?"
"Yes," Yukari then took a sip of tea before continuing, "Humans with powers are known to those without powers as 'mutants' have been gradually increasing in population and now are either being persecuted or sought after for their power."
Yuuka then placed her teacup down, "And, this pertains to me how?"
Yukari pursed her lips, "Some of these humans have formed an organization that seeks these humans. This same group nearly caught me in plain sight while I was relaxing out in the Outside World, drinking tea."
Yuuka nearly choked on her tea. Yukari nearly caught?! That would be the most hilarious joke in the world and it would also not be good for Gensokyo at the same time.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Yukari pouted, "Don't laugh at me! It's not my fault those humans are too curious for their own good."
Yuuka agreed on that note. These humans were too curious that they end up in Gensokyo by accident and end up getting killed or eaten by wild youkai.
"So, who were these humans?"
The blonde youkai pondered for a bit before answering, "I think they called themselves SHIELD, which is a horrible name if you ask me. Anyways, I wanted to see if you would be willing to take a visit to the outside world for me. I found myself a human that might interest you."
Yuuka merely rolled her eyes, "And who would this human be?"
"Tony Stark, if I remember."
Yuuka swore she would annihilate Yukari when she returned from this 'visit' to the outside world. She had been sent here, in the middle of someplace called 'Malibu, California' with documents holding her identity as "Karen Rin", a Japanese immigrant who graduated with several degrees in business management and other gibberish that Yuuka didn't understand.
Thankfully, with her ability to speak with other plants, she figured out all what she needed to know and how the Outside World has changed.
Apparently, Stark was the owner of a company called 'Stark Industries' and the man was a billionaire and a proclaimed genius (So she heard from the flowers near the park where she appeared in). His assistant, a woman named Virginia "Pepper" Potts, was trying to hire a secretary for the man.
And this is where Yuuka would come in, to go in an interview and be hired for the job. Not that she needed one, but it was part of her goal of finding out what kind of a person Mr. Stark was.
The other goal she had in mind was to figure out where in the Yama she was in the Outside World. According to the local flora, California was part of the nation known as the United States, a country consisted of 50 states. Humans have advanced quite a bit than from what she had remembered. She recalled that humans were barely building homes made of wood or sometimes clay, though mostly wood in Japan.
The problem, however, was for her to go around the city, she needed to learn English, which was simple to a youkai such as Yuuka. The minute she asked a young man about where the interviews were being held, the human was slightly in shock before answering. Thanking the young man, she made her way to the interview location.
Lamentably, the flower youkai had to lose the threatening bloodlust aura she gave to the humans before she entered the estranged building where the interviews were being held. Thankfully, she was already dressed for an interview, a dark red dress that was several inches below knee-length with a black blazer over and some black shoes that closely resembled her boots, but they only reached a few inches above her ankle.
At least she had her parasol, which was now modernized while retaining the color.
...
Pepper Potts was not in a good mood, to say the least.
After getting rid of the garbage that was the seduced women that were bedded by the Tony Stark, her boss thought it was more important to skip an important meeting with one of the investors and work in the labs.
She had just enough with dealing with the paperwork and she was getting behind on the workload, leaving her with the only option left: hire another secretary. With two secretaries, she would hopefully get the paperwork moving and possibly help her in dealing with Tony's loose habits.
But these recent interviewees were either not qualified, or they merely wanted to get close to her boss and get into his pants.
She was so not ready when she met Karen Rin for the first time.
When she entered, the woman had the air of 'touch me and die' around her, which had pleased the tired secretary with no end. The dress color went well and was conservative, and the woman had for some strange reason, green hair and the glaring red eyes.
"Um, is the hair natural?" she asked, retaining her professionalism.
"Ah, yes. My mother's side had a dormant gene that gave rise to the green hair, while my father had the rare red-eye gene dormant." She answered with diligence, which earned her a point from Pepper.
"OK, then. Moving on…" she continues to glance over the documentation.
Yuuka was slightly annoyed by the human's consistent pause and glances at her before returning to reading her files, but she calmed herself, silently cursing the Youkai Sage for bringing her here.
Pepper finally finished and looked directly at Karen's eyes.
"So, you know Mr. Stark's … dubious habits, right?"
Yuuka nodded, "I do, but despite me being close to Mr. Stark's age, I'm not even remotely interested in the man or anything about him. My focus is my job and nothing more."
Pepper was delighted to hear the answer, she had never had any of the applicants answer with confidence and always avoided the question.
Yet deep within her mind, she couldn't shake the tiny sense of fear in herself. Like she's standing in front of a giant or some threatening being.
Too bad Yuuka was a strong youkai that even suppressing her aura can't stop living beings around her feel her power and tremble beneath her. For Pepper, it was a ludicrous thought to have in her mind about "Karen", but let her have her naivety for a while longer.
Not even a week and a half later, Yuuka received a call from Pepper that she was hired. She was thankful that the small garden where she had arrived in had suggested getting a device known as a cell phone. She then obtained a Stark Phone, with the consideration that she would be working for the boss of Stark Industries.
Currently, Yukari had managed to get an apartment for Yuuka to live in, with a balcony with enough room for a small garden. The apartment itself was a humble abode, with a queen-sized bed, a small living room and the open kitchen, a bathroom, and a guest room (She guessed for Yukari's unexpected visits).
She could deal with the kitchen, but she definitely couldn't handle much of the cooking, with the exception of salads and rice.
"First, some device detection." She released a small portion of her energy to reveal any hidden devices, and sure enough, there were several placed around her home. With ease, she summoned some seedlings and had them grow feet and sent them to gather them for her.
After stomping down the electronics, she sent the seedlings to the pots to plant themselves in them.
"Now, let's see if I can make a door to Mugenkan." She then began focusing her power on the empty portion of the wall and formed a red door with ornate flowers and a small brass doorknob with a star engraved in it. The door opened, revealing a passageway to a field of sunflowers with a large mansion in the distance.
"Elly!" she called out, and not too long after, a blonde girl in a red dress with a matching red hat came in, wielding a scythe.
"Ah, Miss Yuuka! I see you have made yourself at home, huh?"
Yuuka sighed, "Not really, I just need you to be assisting me from time to time in cooking. As usual, the kitchen is yours."
The dream mansion gatekeeper nodded, "Alright, I'll cook something really quick for you later. Oh, by the way, where are we?"
"The Outside World, where else?" the flower master bluntly stated.
"HUH!?"
Yuuka stared at the gatekeeper, "What? Is it that odd for me to visit here?"
Elly jolted up from her shock, "I mean… yes, because you have the strongest murderous tendencies around Gensokyo. And that goes without mentioning anyways."
"Ah, right. Well, we're in the place known as Malibu, California, east from Japan, in the nation known as the United States."
Elly simply stared at her, confused to what she mentioned, "Ok… I'm just gonna pretend that I know where that is."
Yuuka pulls out a world map from her pocket and points it out to her.
"Oh! You mean America! So, we're in Cali?"
"No, we're in a part of Gensokyo that is technologically advanced. Yes, we're in California, or Cali, as you called it." Yuuka sarcastically deadpanned.
"But why are you even visiting the Outside World, Yuuka? You never would even go out to the outside world, unlike me." The blonde gatekeeper asked the gardener.
"Very well, I guess I'll explain that part, but first let's get some tea going."
And so, Yuuka and Elly sat after the tea was brewed and served, with the flower master retelling her tale, from Yukari's surprise visit to her garden to the present.
Meanwhile, back in Gensokyo, in the Scarlet Mansion in the middle of Misty Lake…
Remilia Scarlet was quite the bored vampire. There had been a lack of incidents after the Flower View incident caused by the sudden influx of spirits and the laziness of a Shinigami, thus bringing the Yama to Gensokyo.
But now, she was bored and was headed to see Patchouli see how she was doing.
...
Patchouli was not in a good mood, and that was quite the understatement of the day.
Marisa had the bright idea of borrowing her books, specifically on the day where she expected some company from someone Yukari was interested in bringing into her library from the Outside World. Thankfully, she didn't take anything, as Remilia had arrived at the right time and ran her off with an energy spear.
Now, after cleaning up the mess, both Remilia and Patchouli are waiting for the 'dream guest' to arrive.
"So, who is Yukari bringing from their beauty sleep, Patche?" the vampire asked while daintily taking a sip from her tea with its usual drop of blood.
"Apparently, it's a man from the outside world. She mentioned that he studied in the Outside World what the humans call 'Nuclear Physics'." The magician explained while reading a book on science and sipping her tea.
This confused the Victorian vampire, "Noo-clear Phi-sicks? What in the name of the Yama is that?"
"Think something similar to the sun. It is the study of certain elements or materials that are so unstable to exist in the Outside World that they can explode. Humans are also affected by this and can die from being around these materials." The magician explained to Remi, who managed to follow every detail.
"When will he be here?"
The question was answered by the sudden arrival of a man who materialized in the middle of the library.
Patchouli then places her teacup down, before rising from her seat.
"Welcome to my library…" she greeted the man, who was wearing grimy clothes.
"Bruce Banner."
Back with Yuuka, Elly sighed in relief, believing Yuuka had been brainwashed by the old gap hag (not that she would say that out loud, lest she suffer the wrath of Yuuka Kazami).
"Actually, why don't you live out here for a bit? I would get bored quite easily having to deal with the billionaire and the stuffy secretary of his."
Elly was excited and quickly agreed, not that it would matter, since she would follow Yuuka, no matter where she went.
"Just make sure to make consistent trips to the garden in Gensokyo. Those plants can get feisty without you there." She reminded Yuuka, as the last time Yuuka left, the sunflowers would attack any human that even got remotely close to the garden. She had to deal with the remains of dismembered humans that the plants killed, and it was awfully tedious.
"Alright then, it's settled."
Tony Stark woke up the next day with shivers down his spine. Sure, he was a man of science and a genius, but he was never one to get the shivers. He had received word from Pepper about the other secretary coming to meet him, but he really didn't feel like seeing her in person.
Though he had to admit, Karen Rin was quite the character.
He knew that something was odd about her files, yet when he tried to access them, he would get an error message that said "Due to security reasons, this information has been 'gapped' into non-existence. We apologize for the inconvenience."
As stubborn as he was, he asked his AI, JARVIS, to override the error.
"Sir, something appears to be preventing me from accessing these files. The data trail to them has been cut out of nowhere and the code is scattered."
Tony frowned, "Well, at least we know that isn't her real name. J, when will Pepper be here with the secretary?"
"Approximately in an hour, sir. And she informed me to tell you that the secretary is coming along with a friend of hers."
Tony nodded and headed for his lab to work.
...
One hour later, Pepper had arrived at Stark's Mansion, to which Yuuka and Elly were not as impressed by the size of it. Elly did have to admit that the interior was quite clean.
"Ah, Pepper! How are you today?"
The three ladies turned to see the familiar figure of Tony Stark, covered in soot, grime, and sweat.
"Mr. Stark, I do believe I informed you that I would be coming with the new secretary and her friend."
The genius waved the remark away, "Eh, details. So, you're Miss Karen Rin, eh?"
Yuuka or "Karen" then gave the human a small smile that Elly was quite familiar with, "Why, Mr. Stark, I'm doing well in this time of the year. California has such lovely weather."
Tony was already sure that either Karen was playing with him, or she was intentionally giving him shivers. The smile on her face clearly promised pain and agony if he tried to flirt with her or even get near her.
"Ehehe… right. Anyways, who's your friend."
Elly then walked right up to the man, "Elly, Mr. Stark. Just try not to get Yuuka angry."
Now, this confused the human, "Yuuka?"
"It's her nickname, and only I get to call her that." She simply stated.
Tony gave her a sheepish smile, "Oh, right. Alright, if that's all. Pepper, would you mind showing her the ropes. I'll be in my lab."
Pepper sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Yes, Mr. Stark."
Yuuka then received the tour of the mansion and a rundown of her assignments that even included paperwork, which she clearly held a distaste for. Elly was giggling in amusement of imagining Yuuka doing paperwork.
Though she was surprised to see that Yuuka had an actual interest in the human, but she knew that it was his arrogant and snarky character. Barely anyone held Yuuka's attention long enough for her to notice them. Yuuka simply left them alone or blasted them with a Master Spark, turning them to dust. Elly then turned to the direction of where Tony had left the room.
Yet this man had something that Yuuka actually noticed, which was of concern to the gatekeeper of Mugenkan.
Yuuka, on the other hand, was enjoying riling up her fellow co-worker.
"So… not interested in our handsome, one-of-a-kind boss of ours?" she teased, receiving a glare from Pepper, who had a small blush.
"No way! He's more of an annoying and stupid man. Plus, he really isn't my type." She denied.
"Ah, but you're only seeing the outside of our boss. Oh well, at least you can take care of him. You might as well apply for the job of being his babysitter."
Now this made Pepper slightly angry, "Ms. Rin, I'm not his babysitter! He's a grown man who acts like a child, a spoiled one at that."
Yuuka simply shrugged and headed for the small kitchen nearby, "Whatever you say, but you can't deny the fact that you basically take care of him. Elly, did you bring the tea with you?"
The blonde servant had then pulled a small bag of tea leaves from her small red purse, as her red dress didn't have pockets (why would they?) and handed them over to Karen. Yuuka then turned on the stove, filled a pot with cold water, allowing it to boil for a while before placing the tea leaves into the pot and sealing the teapot.
"Tea, Miss Potts? Also, pun clearly intended." She added to her invite.
"Urgh, that was terrible. But, sure why not." The redhead sat beside Elly, who was simply reading a mystery novel that she bought from Rinnosuke, a halfling in Gensokyo who owns a shop, filled with items she knew were from the Outside World.
After the was brewed and served, Yuuka served the tea out and took a seat.
Pepper took a sip, savoring the tea, "It's good… really good." She complimented.
Yuuka smiled, "I would hope so since I grew these tea leaves."
Pepper nearly choked on her tea, "You grow tea?"
"Why yes. I grow a variety of plants, ranging from herbs and tea to flowers."
Pepper then pulled out a picture of a small plant she had in the balcony of her apartment, but she didn't know what it was.
"Ah, that would be basil." She informed the red-haired woman. Soon, the two had delved into a discussion over plants and which ones to plant on certain seasons. To say that Pepper was surprised would be an understatement, as Yuuka knew much about the flora around the world. Elly would add some tidbits here and there while she read the novel she was engrossed on.
And so… the day ended on a good note.