justinq719: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! OH MY GOD! The Dark Knight meets the Iron Avenger! Brilliant! Bloody Brilliant!
Re: Not gonna lie, this was in-part inspired by a four-panel comic where Tony and Bruce were dick-waving about what made their suits superior, before T'Challa came in and said his suit was both "an impenetrable armor and a tactical stealth suit" before brilliantly capping it off with- "But that's none of my business." and drinking a rich-guy beverage. Bruce of course, being the serious of the two, would never openly concede that Tony was right in that part, while Tony of course is smart enough to figure it out through the man's purchase history, amongst other things. In the same way that using Bleach to clean Blood Stains will still leave evidence that blood has been cleaned, shell companies will still leave a paper trail.
All that said, it was super fun having them play off of one another. This isn't a 1:1 DC:Marvel crossover, more of a... 1:.25-ish, but yeah, having DC and Marvel characters interact is fun to read and write for.
Xenozip: Could you have Eleanor Lamb from Bioshock 2 become part of his little group, because let's face it, she'd be an awesome addition and wouldn't have issues dealing with the truly irredeemable or insane in a more permanent manner.
Re: Like with the lore of Cyberpunk 2077, the lore of Bioshock is contradictory to the main Lore of the Earth-16H universe. To do as you suggest would require some dimension-hopping on my part, which while nothing new to the Bioshock franchise as of Bioshock Infinite, isn't something Virgil would become privy to. And yes, I know that Rick from Rick & Morty is a part of this as a "Gruncle" to the Moxxi family, but this is a more laid-back, less-evil version of the C-137 Rick we all know and love (to hate).
Gguisniperman: Well, that was both incredibly awesome and extremely credible. I like the idea that everybody is 'in the know' about the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Batman but nobody want to do anything but poke at it. Because Batman 24/7 is scary.
Also, Chapeau on the inner monologue and the deductive skill of both Bruce and Tony. That Bruce can have such lengthy inner monologue yet only daydream for seconds an that Tony catch it speak of their respective intelligence. Moreover the 'fight' between Iron Man and the Joker and Harley was about what I expected would happen beside Harley being lucid enough to still showcase the smarts that had her get a Doctorate.
Finally... when did Vincent agree to be a Sidekick? I guess he'll end up surprised by shenanigans. Oh! Do the Fortune Hunters have a Stash of Stark Tech lying around? Something for a rainy day?
Re: Alfred has dressed as Batman and made appearances on rooftops enough times while Bruce was at ground level to make the "collective consensus" that "Bruce Wayne is Batman" a near-impossibility to swallow, and more among the realm of Conspiracy Theorists. Though that in of itself was inspired by The Batman TAS.
"The speed of thought" can vary as a literary tool, much like Cinematic Time (ala Frieza's infamous "five minutes" in Dragonball Z). The Joker might be a terrifying opponent for someone who over-thinks things like Batman, but Tony as an "outsider" to the whole thing and somewhat "unfamiliar" to The Joker is something he was able to take advantage of to win the fight quickly. The only thing that makes the Joker a "Meta", other than a resistance to chemicals, is the lunacy that makes him unpredictable, much like Deadpool, who half the time doesn't even know what he is going to do next; hence guys like Taskmaster couldn't easily copy what The Joker would do in a fight either if they ever crossed paths. The bit with Harley was just a joy to write because the line about "Is it more sexist not to hit you…?" and the reference to Femme Fatale in Power Puff Girls got to throw some "progressiveness" into it without having to be PC.
Vincent did not agree, at least not in the Declarative sense. If you know anything about MCU Tony, it's that he just bulls ahead into things; basically, Tony says that Virgil is his "sidekick", and Virgil only accepted use of the Iron Lad suit because it was a time of crisis, so it's a bit like Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf… If anyone has a better metaphor for the point I'm trying to convey, I'm all ears.
Virgil is already on the hook with guys like Lex and Tony because of the "uncanny" ability he displayed, albeit for different reasons; Luthor is fighting for a world where ordinary people can "stand up", and Stark is the sort of futurist who believes anything can be overcome with technology and recognizes talent no matter where it comes from.
In summary, Tony Stark calls Virgil/Iron Lad his sidekick in the sense that he gets to tease Bruce about Dick Grayson being his sidekick Robin. If the need is pressing, Virgil will step up as Iron Lad if the opportunity presents itself, but he isn't so masochistic as to become the sort of "altruistic" person as other Heroes; in short, he isn't the kind of person that would destroy his own life for the sake of complete strangers.
Not like Canon Spider-Man, and the very reason that he, as "David Washburn", in exchange for FOXHOUND's "protection", is only "allowed" to be Spider-Man as long as he can keep his grades up. Because if he can keep his grades up and go to a good college, like Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, Ted Kord, or others, he can create the foundation for the sort of lifestyle that'd be conducive to a life as a superhero-on-the-side. Because if the movies have taught us anything, it's that Peter will often sacrifice his own physical, mental, and fiscal wellbeing for people who might not even appreciate him. Because if you remember Spider-Man 3, it's that one heavily-doctored photo is enough to turn public opinion against him.
WOW that came out wordier than I thought…
Blaze1992: Aww HQ first showing in the fic and she isn't there to flirt/fight Virgil up a wall.
I am really surprised tony didn't kill the clown though, I mean just one R-blast and so many people would sleep easier in gotham.
Re: Technically she's still into the Joker, so she wouldn't flirt with him or his mid-30s alter ego, "David Washburn". Right now she'd consider Virgil a "little boy" and herself a "cradle robber" in the hypothetical she became attracted to him; the psychologist in her would say any hypothetical attraction would be the attraction to the forbidden aspect of it all, much like with "Mistah J". Also, Repulsor blasts are non-Newtonian, hence why bad guys can get hit with them and not instantly die; it's what they hit afterwardthat winds up killing them. Also, an idea I just had is that maybe Bruce brings it up (acknowledging rumors that he took a Mark III into Afghanistan and fought the Ten Rings in recompense for his abduction) the next time they talk, but Tony brings it around to saying "Batman" wouldn't appreciate an outsider killing someone in "his city". And then maybe compare Batman's territorial issues to that of a mob boss, in a fit of irony. Because yes, from an outsider perspective, Bruce's insistence on "territory" is like that of a mob boss; especially when he uses Intimidation on his fellow Heroes.
Tony acknowledges that he's a "guest" in Gotham, though if Joker ever came to Malibu, then that's a whole different ball game. Since Malibu isn't "invested" in Arkham's continued existence, the police and/or private security are more-likely to give him a case of Lead Poisoning.
Jebest4781: Always figured how the relationship between Tony and Bruce would turn out and glad to see you had actually done it proper. Rarely see those, if I'm being honest and enjoyed how it turned out. That we finally get to see that Bruce's character nemesis is Tony in various retrospectives.
Asides from that, will be interesting to see if you'll have your boy try to relax as much as possible given the crazy trips he's been on. Cause sooner or later he's just gonna collapse from the total stress overload.
Re: I always saw Bruce as the sort to take his life too seriously, and Tony in the MCU seemed like a good foil for that. Of course part of the fun for me was the infodump as to why the Justice League didn't get involved in Afghanistan, just like why they didn't get involved with NYZ; it wasn't a "hand wave" on my part, there were very good in-world reasons for it not to play out that way. In other AU, the Justice League does whatever it wants "just because", but here in Earth-16, we have it explained that the League operates on "UN Charter", hence why The Team does quote/unquote "covert ops".
Well, the "Giving Thanks" Arc to come is meant to be his break from his work and the working vacation that followed it. In terms of "collapse from the total stress overload", the response to his BS Limit being "exceeded" could go one of two ways; brutally murder whatever caused him to reach Critical Mass… or pass out foaming at the mouth.
As he gets older and sees more "comic book nonsense", it'll become incrementally more difficult for him to reach his allotted BS limit because his "threshold" broadens in scope; the realization in of itself which will, ironically, only serve to contribute to the exceeding of aforementioned limit…
Kalbario: Kazuma would be proud.
With Harly being lucidly sane at times, is the cause of her insanity or at least a trigger for it the Joker? it seems to me that there are times where she basically suffers from a weird case of schizophrenia.
Oh yeah, transforming armor would get anyone drooling, even Batman apparently.
Deny it all Bruce. Deny, deny, deny.
Love the Deadpool reference but I kinda feel that you could have placed batman's quote "The hammer of justice is unisex", but that wouldn't be something Tony would say.
SO!... A happy new year and I see there's no Virgil this time. forgive my ignorance but what was that about the bible thing? who gave Tony the Holy B*** Slap?
Re: Gender equality is important in a healthy democratic society, yes. Tony isn't the sort to just dropkick a woman, but he does respect the neutral treatment of criminals. And yes, the whole "hammer of justice is unisex" thing is a bit hammy for Tony to say, and this incarnation of Batman as well, since we're talking an early Batman; as in the 1960s "Silver Age" Batman that Batman: The Brave and the Bold was largely inspired by.
As for who gave Tony the Bible B*** Slap, pay attention to the Timestamp this-chapter and you'll find out.
splithaven: bruce investing in AI. ai alfred. me no likey where that thought process ends. dark multiverse shenanigans scares me.
Re: I know. It's called a Reference. Also, the only reason "Batman the Murder Machine" even happened was because Bruce gave AI Alfred access to OMAC-style Nanotech, and absolutely zero constraints. If it were just an AI with the proper shackles, and not "rushed into production", none of that shit would've happened.
Just look at what happened in Avengers: Age of Ultron. They rushed it into production because they'd only have the Mind Stone for a limited time, and it got wildly out of hand.
nliochristou: i believe you did a good job with bruce and tony dinamic if they existed on the same earth, also which version of the avengers will you use; the MCU version that it's willing to kill their enemies if nesecary or the usual version with the 'no killing' rule; if you do the former then they will be a lot of tension between the League and the Avengers.
Re: By and large, this version of Tony Stark is the one from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are a few caveats since the Earth shown here is based on DC Comics' Earth-16, doubly-so when you consider all the lore changes including but not limited to, Prototype, Metal Gear, Black Lagoon, etc. And while some of the Justice League would take notice of Tony not adhering to "the one rule", those from a warrior culture like Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and Hawkwoman, or those in the US armed forces like Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, and Nathaniel C. Adams, would accept that sometimes stuff happens. It's one of those things the League would be heavily divided on (like how-acceptable it is to Brainwash villains into harmless stooges for their sidekicks to beat on for laughs i.e. "Identity Crisis"), and part of the reason Bruce dreads the day Tony gets the idea into his head to become part of the Justice League. Because between his money, his weapons, and most-notably, his charisma, it wouldn't be hard for Tony to get a majority vote on the issue; especially if he makes himself likable to the League, because he's emotionally so-flexible he could relate to jokesters like Plastic Man, or the serious no-nonsense guys like John Stewart.
And even if somehow Batman does keep Tony out of the Justice League without revealing his Bias, Tony has connections with the US Air Force, and the Armed Services Committee would be more than amiable to Tony using the Iron Man technology to further America's interests on a global scale, or even just in the United States and its allies.
And don't forget, the power climb of each successive suit of Iron Man armor remains Geometric, even when taken to the ludicrous extremes, because after every fight Tony has lost or nearly-lost (in the MCU), Tony's next armor overcame his shortcomings. And not only his armors; Tony skirted around his SFIB-related death sentence by creating the first Miniature Arc Reactor; the red-and-gold Mark 3 overcame the "icing problem" of the Mark 2; the Mark 44's Repulsors couldn't stop the Hulk so he added bigger Repulsors for the Mark 50; he loses in hand-to-hand with Captain America so he adds a shield, arm blade, and battering ram; etc. etc. etc.
In summary... "If you can make god bleed, people will cease to believe in him; and there will be blood in the water, and sharks will come." - Anton Vanko (Iron Man 2)
And that was why Thanos feared Tony Stark. Because if he'd been able to collect the data necessary to make a "Thanosbuster", he (Thanos) might not've been able to win on Titan.
Wow, that went on longer than expected…
LuckyShadowWolf: …Alright I have to ask. So based on your answer to Jamius' question I have to wonder, does that mean that the Gundam from the "Mobile Fighter G Gundam" series count as a hybrid Mecha/Power Armor since they pilot by using their bodies to move the Gundam? …Well that question made a new record for how many times I say Gundam when not watching a Gundam anime.
Wait so it was Tony who got slapped at the end of last chapter? I honestly thought that it was Gaige by Athena. Is it wrong to be heavily amused by Tony tweaking Bruce's nose as much as he did and to hope to see more of it in the future? Cause if so then I am perfectly content with being wrong. Beyond that I have to say that the byplay between Tony and Bruce was fantastic and it did a great job of showing off Tony's intellect with how easily he is able to see what actions Bruce would take/contemplate due to knowing him and understanding his true persona. Although I have to wonder if Tony left any additional surprises in the the package and if he will be willing to assist in designing a Pennyworth AI for Bruce? For that matter with regard to Tony revealing to Bruce that his new "sidekick" is in fact the same bodyguard to the girl he had been attempting to hire and said bodyguard had played test pilot for Lex, tidbit become relevant later on or not. Cause it could either lead to Bruce keeping a file on Vergil since he seems to be a person of interest, or it could result in something that he makes a note of but dosen't follow up on until Vergil makes more of a slash that results in Bruce looking into him with a magnifying glass. And considering the fact that it's only a matter of time before Bruce realizes that this is the same Vergil who has befriended the daughter and niece of two of his fellow League members? I can't help but think it's only a matter of time now.
Re: That's a bit of a Gray Area depending on who you ask.
While the pilots do use their "bodies" to control the Mobile Suit, that they're manipulating the Gundam through the Mobile Trace System (form-fitting "fighting suits" made up of microscopic nanomachines), by my definition, it'd still be a "Mecha", not a "Power Armor", because the Mobile Trace System is simply more hardware, similar to what you'd find in Fullmetal Panic, just ludicrously more-elaborate. Remember, the Mobile Suits in G-Gundam were originally used in Space Construction for the Colonies, and fully-responsive controls that the "fighting suits" offer over traditional analogue controls like you'd find in, say, the RX-78—2 Gundam, would be more time and cost-effective.
In summary, Power Armor "moves with" the body (ala Fallout), Mechas "move because of" the body (ala G-Gundam). Does that Distinction make sense? It's the same kind of distinction that separates "Robots" from "Androids/Gynoids", and "Androids/Gynoids" from "Cyborgs"; it's all in the Fine Print.
No, Gaige still got slapped by Athena, but as the Timestamp shows, what happens at the beginning of this chapter takes place before the events of the previous chapter. It's still linear, though, it's simply a matter of perspective. Kinda like a Time Travel movie where events are viewed out-of-chronological-order in order to make sense to the viewer. If you need to nitpick, think of the opening scene in this chapter as a Flashback, but told from Virgil's perspective since he won't be privy to what happens back on the plane after, the "after" taking place in the previous chapter.
As for Virgil, it's more of "it could result in something that he makes a note of but doesn't follow up on until Virgil makes more of a splash that results in Bruce looking into him with a magnifying glass". He's a "person of interest", but Bruce doesn't have to actively pay attention to him until it comes to his attention that he's directly associated with two of the League's heavy-hitters through their young wards; Giovanni Zatara, and J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter. He knows that Virgil is connected to both Tony Stark and tangentially to Lex Luthor, but he can't connect A-to-C until he connects B-to-A and B-to-C.
Jamius: This was pretty good, also did Tony not care about the two-percenter thing he looked up, is that later? Feels like a tonal shift, idk maybe I just missed it. I very much enjoyed this interaction. Also as for my last review, does Luther's thing not count as a mech? It was big enough to be a small mech no? Like the Avatar mechs? Idk, anyway thanks for the update, sorry for the late review.
Re: Him looking up the Two-Percenter/"Warrior Gene" thing happened after the battle with Sky-Pirate and before landing in Bludhaven, but he isn't going to act on it immediately; he not only has plans in Gotham (as shown last-chapter), but he doesn't want to act too rashly.
The "LexCorp Police Battlesuit" is more Power Armor than Mecha; see my reply to LuckyShadowWolf for more details. If you're talking the thing from the first Superman: The Animated Series Season 1 Episode 3 "The Last Son of Krypton, Part 3", then that is a Mech(a); the machine's limbs don't move in tandem with the pilots, they move because the controls are actuated.
If you mean some other thing, that must've gotten lost in translation.
fallendemon248: Dude you could make a whole story just about Bruce and Tony and it would be gold because it'd be funny to see the lengths bruce would go to, to not lose to tony and admit hes batman
Re: Internet's a big place. I'm sure there's stories like that somewhere.
OldCrowe (Guest): You know, having read through this in it's entirety, (Amazing story by the way, loved the Prototype setting at the start) I'm curious as to what Virgil would be like in the world of the Boys. Would you ever do an arc where he get's transported there, or maybe a new story? It'd be interesting to see what shenanigans / monkey wrenches he'd toss into that melting pot.
I've enjoyed the world you've crafted here, the little aspects of marvel, red / blue, crysis, of course- Prototype... i thought i saw a little of supernatural with the cursed car, and of course, Borderlands. i do hope to hear your thoughts in the next chapter, which i cannot wait to read.
Happy new year mate, stay safe, and take your time. Your chapters may not always be the longest, but they rarely leave me unsatisfied with your work.
Slan go tomail.
Re: Always glad to hear someone's read this story in its entirety. My inclusion of Prototype was largely because I just really loved the game for all the neat storytelling it did, and how versatile you could be.
As for what he'd do/be like in the world of The Boys, really, it's all a matter of circumstance. If he were born there, he'd by-and-large be an ordinary citizen unless he was either experimented upon with Compound V and got some form of usable superpower and didn't become a complete and total asshole, or he got royally fucked over by the "Heroes" (not the big quotation marks) and was spurred into action like that guy whose girlfriend got turned into a red mist right in front of him. I've watched clips, but not the full series, so I don't think I'd do a Crossover Event or Off-Shot, but I'd imagine if Alt-Virgil had any sort of power, he'd bide his time until the one move he could make, would really, really "count" since Homelander is just a watered-down version of Injustice's Superman; a little on the weak side of things, but still deadly when provoked, and boy does he let himself get provoked.
Glad you love the Multi-Crossover aspect of world-weaving, most people who openly comment just bitch about that and wonder why I even used Prototype, when I literally spell it out for them in the opening chapters. As for the Supernatural angle, it was more a reference to Christine, one of the original Ghost Car movies; though admittedly, the idea's been done-to-death by now...
Anyway, glad to hear my work is so-enjoyed, and I hope to continue entertaining you all.
CountOrlok777: watching Tony and Bruce interact. is funny. also whats with Virgil getting into so many different armors. first the lex luthor armor, then iron mans prototype armor then iron lads armor. speaking of which will we be seeing a return of iron lad?
Re: Glad you liked the large Cutaway from the main plot. As for Virgil, now that he's learned Magic, he has a Karmic affinity for random bullshit/"time-wasting nonsense", and it's a Comic Book inspired universe to boot. As for Iron Lad returning… It can happen. Don't know when, Virgil's trying to keep his head down so there's no "blowback" on his personal life, but it can happen. It's kinda open-ended that way. Because he's a Morally Gray character, he wouldn't be unopposed to doing stuff for Luthor, as long as his name's not directly attached to it and it doesn't conflict with his morals. Because in the end, part of what Luthor joined The Light for, is the ability for normal people to "rise above" the world around them, and his Self Determination is part of what Luthor enjoys about him; on top of him not Worshiping the ground Heroes walk on.
*GIVING THANKS*
Bludhaven Airport
November 25, 21:40 EST
"Well… Despite the delays, we arrived ahead of schedule. Kinda," Happy announced from the cockpit as they touched down in Bludhaven. "Please put your trays in their upright positions, we'll be disembarking soon to unload our cargo."
"So Tony," Virgil said as he locked his seatbelt into place, Athena and Gaige flanking him at his sides. "Where're you heading after this?"
"Up to Gotham. Three guesses who I'm going to visit, first two don't count."
"Bruce Wayne?"
"Got it in one," Tony nodded.
"Okay, but why him? Is it just a 'billionaire playboy philanthropist' thing?" Athena asked.
"Well, I have to offer my condolences on losing out on such a rare find," he said her way. "And also ask that he never, ever, sell foodstuffs to the Los Angeles area. No flying spaghetti monsters in my town, no sir."
"I still can't believe he made that high school cafeteria nightmare become real," Pepper shuddered.
If she hadn't been shown pictures, she'd have been skeptical.
And that was from a woman who'd been attacked by sky pirates!
"It's really telling that I can tell you, I've seen worse on this working vacation," Athena hummed.
"Well, on the upside, fighting modern-day sky pirates has almost completely eclipsed that horror show at Hammer Tech," Virgil hummed. "Drugs, alcohol, and/or therapy will have to deal with the rest."
"And you're sure he won't come after me?" Athena asked worriedly.
"Nah, turns out the whole thing leaked already."
"What? How?!" Gaige asked incredulously.
"Someone careless with a cell phone cam," Tony shrugged. "I think you're in the clear."
"Oh… Good… I'd hate to find out my brother put someone else in a shallow grave-I mean…!" Athena amended when Pepper gave her a look. "Thank you for the opportunity you've given me."
"Hey, no sweat. You know what I could've done with one of those at your age? You're going to be fine," Tony said patting her on the shoulder.
"Sexual harassment," Pepper chided.
"Ah-It was just a pat on the shoulder!" Tony complained.
"You've been sued for less."
'Yeah, 'cause this is an argument you want to have in public…' the three teens thought as Tony and Pepper went into a back-and-fourth about sexual harassment lawsuits.
Which was only marginally better about the whole stripper pole thing.
Seriously, who installs something like that, and on a company plane no less?
Well, obviously Tony did, but… who else?
*GIVING THANKS*
"I'm going to miss that old car…" Tony said as his 1949 Mercury Coupe was unloaded out the back of the plane onto the tarmac, Athena's Holotable following. "You sure I can't call you a courier?"
"Don't worry, I've already got that covered," Athena hummed as a familiar van pulled up to them.
"What, do you have the A-Team on speed dial?"
"Close," Athena shrugged, Mordecai sticking his head out the window while Brick leapt from the back.
"Kids! You're alive!" Brick said as he scooped the three of them up in arms thicker than holiday hams.
"Yeah… Glad to be alive…" Virgil said patting an absurdly-muscular arm.
"So, you said you need something big and heavy moved to the garage," he said putting them down. "Is it the fancy car?"
"No, that one's mine," Virgil answered. "Box is hers."
"Neat," Brick said walking over to it, Happy and Tony alike gawping like fish as Brick lifted it from the ground like it were nothing.
"So what's with the car?" Mordecai asked gesturing to the Coupe.
"Won it in a bet," Virgil answered as he spun the key ring on his finger, looping it into the air before catching it with a flourish. "I'm dropping it off at an auto shop, so I'll need a ride home afterward," he continued, Mordecai nodding as the girls tossed their luggage into the middle seats.
"What's wrong with my car the way it is now?" Tony asked.
"My car," Virgil corrected, "won't really survive my lifestyle if it can't take a hit. I'm thinking some reinforced framework, armor plating, bulletproof glass, EMP shielding; you know, the works."
"Well, it does my heart good to know the 30K I gave you is going to something you'll actually use."
"Thirty grand?!" Mordecai gawped. "Hoooly shiiit, how bad did you fleece this guy!?" the drunken sniper guffawed at Tony like he wasn't even there.
"I'm thirty grand and a fancy car richer, you tell me," Virgil deadpanned.
"HA!" Brick chortled as he slid Athena's Holotable into place and shut the door behind it.
"Well, Mr. Stark, it was… interesting, meeting you like this," Athena said extending a hand to him.
"And I, you," Tony nodded returning the gesture. "You got a job, and I got a new sidekick. I think this worked out well for both of us."
"Don't count that chicken just yet, Stark," Virgil huffed. "I'll never step into one of those screaming metal deathtraps again if I can help it. I prefer to keep my feet on the ground, as the good Lord intended," he said crossing his arms.
"I though the good Lord intended for us to travel in the largest possible vehicle with the maximum horsepower allowed by local law enforcement," Brick hummed aloud. "And if there's no cars available, we find the biggest, nastiest, meanest, land animal we possibly can, beat the crap out of it, and saddle that puppy up."
'Ignoring that visual…' Virgil thought, only to fail in that endeavor as he found himself visualizing a Neanderthal version of Brick beating up a wooly mammoth before saddling that puppy up.
"Oh? Didn't take you for the religious type," Tony said crossing his arms.
"Oh yeah…?" Virgil said slowly reaching into his breast pocket, Happy's pulse pounding before, instead of a gun, the boy only drew out a crucifix.
"What, you going to ask me to acknowledge Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior?" Tony asked incredulously.
"REPENT, MOTHERFUCKER!" Virgil shouted with great vengeance and furious anger.
*GIVING THANKS*
One minute later…
"Did… Did that really just happen?" Gaige asked incredulously as she and Athena sat in the A-Team van, following after Virgil in his Mercury Coupe.
"Virgil bitch-slapping Tony Stark in the face with a crucifix?" Athena said in turn. "Yes. Yes he did."
"The red-head certainly got a kick out of it," Mordecai hummed aloud. "I mean, did you see her face?"
"HAA! Hahahahahahaha!" Brick chortled loudly as they left a still-gawping Tony Stark in their wake, a crucifix-shaped slap mark on his cheek while his secretary doubled over in laughter, the bible bitch slap being the straw that broke the floodgates after everything Tony put her through all in one day.
*GIVING THANKS*
Cell Motors
November 25, 21:58 EST
"So these guys do custom work on armored vehicles?" Gaige asked as they waited off past the gate while Virgil conversed with an ornery-looking senior security guard with a shotgun.
"Yeah. They weren't here last time we were in town, but they have a good reputation abroad," Mordecai answered. "With the rise in meta-humans in recent years, shops like this have been making good money; as long as you can afford it."
"Well, he did fleece thirty large off of Mr. Stark, so that alone oughta get him some good upgrades," Gaige hummed as the car drove through the lot before turning into one of the smaller garages.
*GIVING THANKS*
"Oh, it's you. You're still alive, I see," Lopez hummed, in-Spanish, the moment Virgil stepped out of his car.
"Don't bawl your eyes out on my account," Virgil said rolling his eyes, the Spanish coming out of his mouth like word vomit. "So, can you do what I asked over the phone?"
"Depends. Did you really con Howard's idiot son out of $30,000?"
"Yup," Virgil nodded.
" . . . Here's the transfer information. The sooner you make a down deposit, the sooner I can get to work. I'll tell you if I need more money," Lopez said holding up some info on his phone.
Virgil in turn made the necessary transfer out of his account with his own phone, Lopez nodding his head after a couple seconds.
"Alright, I have your money. I should be done by the time you wake up from your American food coma holiday in honor of your cruel and unusual slaughter of a beautiful and native people with polio-infected blankets amongst other death-dealing instruments," he said putting away his phone. "Oh, and the rape. Can't forget about the rape."
"Well… you aren't wrong," Virgil hummed slipping back into English. "Have a good one, Lopez."
"Si, si," Lopes said waving him off. "At least someone around here can speak Spanish without sounding like an idiota."
*GIVING THANKS*
The Mercury Coupe successfully dropped off at the auto body shop, Virgil had one more stop to make.
Hopping out of the Fortune Hunter's van outside the scariest-looking building in Bludhaven's "Little Russia", Virgil walked up to the front desk and passed along the envelope he'd received at the Iceberg Lounge. When asked who had given it to him and where, Virgil recounted his tale, answered in the affirmative that he did not open the envelope, and washed his hands of the whole thing. There wasn't any reason for him to know what his part-time Boss got in the mail, after all.
The last of his errands for the night done, Virgil went boneless in his seat and shut off his brain for the remainder of the drive.
The moment they got back to the Red Light, Brick unloaded Athena's new Holotable into her lab, and Gaige helped put it together, treating the assembly of the technological marvel like one would a mail-order coffee table. It wasn't something that could be done in one night, it was too sophisticated for that, even with two super-geniuses putting it together, but they wanted to hit one or two milestones before the holidays sidetracked them.
Virgil, for his part, mentally and physically exhausted from the highs and lows of Malibu, set down his stuff and tossed himself onto his bed.
He couldn't go to bed immediately, despite being so tired, so he decided to return some texts that had come in while he was being attacked by sky pirates.
Zatanna and M'gann asked if he knew they were coming over for Thanksgiving that weekend, to which he replied in the affirmative. Artemis for her part asked what kind of nonsense he'd gotten into, because somehow, she associated the Gamma Series Police Battlesuit's flight in Metropolis with what he pulled back on Halloween. Re-l commented on how there was a new model at their agency he was doing a shoot with before Thanksgiving and that details would be coming the following day. Otacon for his part made him aware that his peers had almost fully recovered from their "bug" and that he should ready himself for "some work out of town" after the Thanksgiving break. The only detail he really gave was that the time out-of-town would be his longest on a single assignment to date, but that the payout would be significant.
All in all, learning what a full docket he had was enough to put him under for the night.
*GIVING THANKS*
Moxxxi's Red Light
November 26, 08:00 EST
The following morning….
"Alright, gang, listen up!" Moxxi stated to everyone at the breakfast table. "We've got the biggest Thanksgiving dinner in years happening in the Moxxi household, so we need to start stockpiling ingredients before the stores get cleared out like the wheat fields in the Old Testament. And not only do we need enough leftovers to feed us the following Sunday after we wake up from our food comas, but an old friend of mine is celebrating Thanksgiving outside of prison for the first time in years, so it all has to be perfect!"
"TURDUCKEEEEN!" Tina roared enthusiastically. "Stuff the turkey! And then stuff the thing you stuff the turkey with!"
"Athena, going by the 'one-and-a-half-pounds-per-person' rule like we do every year, we're going to need…" Moxxi paused. "Let's round it up to twenty-five pounds of turkey this year. Think you can modify that Turbo Turkey Toastinator 9000 in time?"
"Firstly, yes, I can, and second, would you stop calling it that?" Athena asked shooting Virgil an embarrassed look.
"Only as soon as it stops cooking the perfect bird," Moxxi waved off. "Fortune Hunters, we're having guests staying over the weekend, so you'll have to double-up to make room. I'll leave it up to you to decide who rooms with whom," she continued, Lilith glancing Roland's way awkwardly, the Las Vegas wedding band still on her finger.
In a way Virgil was happy for them.
Even if a drunken Lilith did crawl into his bed and possibly fondle him, but he'd carry that "possibly" to his grave.
Or until Roland bit the big one. Whichever came first.
"Virgil."
"Hm?"
"I hear you're good with a bow & arrow. Can I count on you to source us some healthy wild birds from upstate?"
"You aren't going to buy?"
"Oh I still am, but wild turkeys are smaller and have darker meat, a richer, more-intense flavor, and a firmer texture. Plus, their breast meat isn't pumped up with growth hormones."
"What, you speaking from experience?"
"Yes, actually~"
"I was being sarcastic!" Virgil groaned as Moxxi bounced her bosom behind her apron.
*GIVING THANKS*
"Huh… Never took Moxxi for the sort to have a pickup," he hummed from behind the wheel of a large five-seater truck. "Always took her for the 'skanky soccer van' type," he admitted to Roland at his right, Mordecai already passed out drunk in the back.
Mere minutes ago they'd parted ways from Lilith, Brick, Gaige, and Tina, who were taking the van off to raid every grocery store in Bludhaven for the supplies Moxxi would need to take out all the stops for her jailbird friend. And given they were accommodating for possibly… sixteen people, with seconds and even leftovers in mind, that would be a lot of fucking food!
Of course, a more-paranoid part of his mind hoped that when Lilith used the word "raid", she wasn't being literal. It'd be the start of a real shitty weekend if he drove home only to find a police perimeter around his boarding house.
And of course there was Athena modifying her high-end turkey cooker for… however-many birds they'd need to use to feed that many people. Gaige had actually wanted to continue doing work on the Holotable, but Athena put her foot down on the matter.
So! With a place for everyone and everyone in their place, Virgil was both excited and saddened by the prospect of killing wild animals to eat.
Of course, it wasn't for the animals' sake he was sad. No, he was sad because he'd never gotten to do this with the State family, who he thought would be his "forever family".
He idly wondered if that was how abandoned pets felt.
*GIVING THANKS*
Upstate Rhode Island
November 26, 09:05 EST
"Mordy, is the sniper rifle really necessary?" Virgil asked unloading his bow and arrows.
"Relax, I won't damage the other white meat. I'll just pop their little heads off," Mordecai said shouldering his rifle.
"Yeah, sure. And in the process, you'll send all the game birds for miles in every direction running for the literal fucking hills!" Virgil bit sarcastically.
Sure, this was technically his first rodeo, but even he knew that gunshots scared animals away.
Especially gunshots from what was essentially an elephant gun!
"Well, what would you suggest?"
"I dunno. A smaller caliber rifle? A silencer?"
*Squeak*squeak*squeak*squeak*
"I was fucking joking!"
*GIVING THANKS*
It took Virgil a few practice shots to get back in the swing of things, since the last time he'd actually used a bow & arrows was back in… shit, early October?
Following that altercation, there hadn't really been a lot of call to shoot arrows at possessed muscle cars, radioactive Russians, the Playing Card Mafia, even more modern-day purist Nazis, roid-raging alien girls hopped up on Oreos, goblins on gliders, corporate crimes against nature & humanity, modern-day pirates with jetpacks and super-pirates… And that was only in two months.
That shit was not… normal!
'I really gotta get out more…' he lamented to himself once he was confident he could actually hit a twelve to double-that ground-dwelling bird.
Out away from Bludhaven and the big-city noise, with only a map and compass in hand to guide him, for the first time in a long time, Virgil felt an ease and tranquility of solitude he couldn't find while surrounded by so many eccentric people with clashing personality types.
Sure, there was "solitude" to be found in the Red Zone too since you didn't really have to deal with "people", but the whole "ease and tranquility" thing went straight out the window when one considered that infection from the Mercer Virus could spell your certain doom.
Were the Mercer Virus transmittable through water or air, he would've been infected almost immediately and turned into a mindless beast at best, or a prisoner within his own horrid body at worst. As it stood, the only reason he'd lived as long as he had, and long-enough still to escape that festering wound, was because the thing that made him as weak as all the other sheep died, had broken, shriveled up, and died inside of him.
Virgil knew he was a broken person, but the fact that he could still find solace in the beautiful nature around him… It gave him hope that someday, maybe… just maybe…
He could be a whole person again.
*Oble*oble*oble*oble*
'Foooood…' the primal, more base and carnal part of his hind-brain whispered to him. The seductive whispers of moist meat cultivated by a natural diet of the land's bounty spoke to the blood he carried from his ancient ancestors, tempting him into action.
Taking a knee and stilling his breath, as he notched his bow, he idly realized that this was actually the first time he was shooting at something that wasn't an Infected monster or another Human being.
Though of course like the Nazis, and the Skinheads, and the Terrorists, he didn't really consider the members of Blackwatch to be "Human".
Nor did he consider Nazis and Skinheads to be "Human", but that was neither here nor there.
*Whoosh*
*Thump!*
The plump bird slumping lifelessly to the ground, dying with no suffering, a different sort of satisfaction came over him. Whereas in the past he had wielded the bow and arrow to kill "enemies", here and now, away from it all like his ancestors in the ancient past, he was now wielding this most-ancient of weapon, modernized as it might be, to procure food and sustenance, the oldest of driving forces.
'I think that maybe… someday… I'll be alright,' he thought to himself with a melancholic smile as he rose to his feet, moving over to collect his bounty.
*GIVING THANKS*
Once Virgil got into the swing of things, he began hunting down only the plumpest of birds, making use of the temporary fits of heightened visual acuity granted to him by his ocular exposure to Venom to devastating effect.
Back before everything went to shit in Manhattan, when leaving the city to go camping in the mountains as a family hadn't been an impossibility, he'd actually researched how to go about hunting animals for food. What to look for in a trail, how to approach the different animals native to upstate New York, how to kill them painlessly, how to gut and strip them for parts, and of course, the peripheral topics that camping necessitated.
It felt like providence that he was finally able to put that knowledge to use.
Even if the plan was ultimately to have a butcher in town do the actual post-hunt processing.
"Alright, I think that's enough birds on my end…" Virgil said appraising the dead turkeys hanging from twine over his shoulders by their ankles. Three in total with varying levels of plumpness, he wouldn't actually know how much usable meat there was until they'd been gutted and feathered, but right now he was just basking in the high of a job well done that didn't involve turning Human-like creatures into pincushions. "Now I just have to get back to the van, and hope nothing weird happens."
*Rowrrrrrrrr*
'Shiyiiiiiit…'
*GIVING THANKS*
"EYAAUUUUUGH!"
"Some niña's in trouble!" Mordecai spoke up from his drunken haze.
"I saw the parking lot, though. There's no-one else out here."
" . . . "
" . . . VIRGIL! SHIT!" the two cried abandoning their present prey, running toward the sound of the scream.
*GIVING THANKS*
One adrenaline-fueled hike later…
"I… I…" Roland stammered trying to find his words. "What am I looking at?" he eventually asked, incredulously, as he stared at the ground between the three of them.
"A mountain lion," Virgil replied flatly looking at the same thing.
"We know that!" Mordecai gawped. "Why the hell is it dead?!" he cried pointing at the animal's corpse and the supposed cause-of-death.
*Past*
Word to the wise: Screaming at the top of your lungs while covered in dead birds was not the appropriate course of action to take when faced with a mountain lion.
Damn. Never thought that was a sentence I'd ever type down.
No, seriously, I never would've have thought…
Moving on.
"PILS!" Virgil incanted frantically like word-vomit as the mountain lion made ready to pounce.
Magic taking hold, the feline lost all traction from its perch on rough-and-porous rock despite its gripping claws, limbs flailing frantically as it scrambled for purchase before it tumbled over the side.
*SNAP!*
" . . . "
" . . . "
" . . . "
"No one can ever know…" Virgil told himself once what happened had finally been digested by his fear-addled brain, the teen walking up to the undoubtedly-dead apex predator and straightening its crooked neck.
*Present*
"What do you think?" he asked pointing to the hunting knife buried up to the hilt between the thing's shoulder blades.
"Oh… Well… Shit," Mordecai hummed after a moment. "Good job, kid! This'll make a hell of a story back at the Red Light."
"Why is its neck broken?" Roland asked appraising it.
"Wanted to make sure the stabbing stuck without damaging the pelt," he replied plainly.
Because of course he'd been able to come up with that excuse between the time he'd screamed loud enough for everyone back in Bludhaven to hear, and his hunting buddies cresting the hill.
" . . . Sounds legit," Mordecai hummed after a moment's thought and acceptance.
"So you're seriously telling me you overpowered a mountain lion with nothing but a hunting knife… while covered in dead birds?" Roland said skeptically.
"Can you prove otherwise?" Virgil asked, adjusting aforementioned dead birds over his shoulder.
"He's got you there, homes," Mordecai hummed.
" . . . Let's just get these dead animals home," Roland sighed, realizing he probably didn't need to know.
"Hey guys, question."
"What?"
"Where are your birds?" Virgil asked poignantly.
" . . . "
"You want me to split mine with you so you don't look bad?"
"Oh… shove it up your quiver, William Tell…" Mordecai grumbled as he staggered off.
*GIVING THANKS*
The turkeys they dropped off at a butcher that was sweet on Moxxi, and may or may not have received "instant gratification" from her in the recent past. As for the mountain lion however… well…
Virgil had technically killed the thing without a hunting license, a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for no more than a year and/or a fine of no more than $10,000 USD. With that in mind, more-specifically, Mordecai's alcohol-addled mind, the three decided they needed to take the feline cadaver to a taxidermist who wouldn't ask too many questions. When they arrived however…
" . . . Why… am I not surprised…?" Virgil asked as he, Roland, and Mordecai dropped the dead mountain lion off at the Dr. Zed's Meds for the summary taxidermy-ing, laying the once-graceful predator out on the man's filthy operating table. "You know what? This actually makes sense," he hummed, recalling the horror show he witnessed the first time he met the not-a-doctor.
First time around, he felt like he'd needed a shower, a tetanus shot, another shower, and another tetanus shot still (from someone with a degree from an accredited medical institution, or four years equivalent work experience). This time around, Virgil was happy to say that thanks to everything he'd seen and done since then…
He felt exactly the same.
"Mordecai… Who were you on the phone with on the way here?" Virgil asked.
"Called home. Told Tiny Tina we were at Zed's after you got attacked by a mountain lion."
"YOU WHAT?!"
*BAM!*
"Virgil! VIRGIIIL! Don't go into the light! Also, if you can still move, don't let Dr. Zed touch you with his blood-encrusted operating tools!" his girlfriend's frantic voice cried from the lobby, her footsteps bulling in their direction until she kicked open the double doors to the quote-unquote "operating room" the four men were currently hovering around. "Stay away from my boyfriend, you quack!" she shrieked, swinging her mother's boomstick from left to right across the room in search of Dr. Zed before her gaze fell upon Virgil.
The double doors swinging open and closed until they closed entirely, a long-standing silence saturated the iron-scented air as Athena's gaze shifted between Virgil, the dead mountain lion on the operating table, and then to Virgil again, her mom's shotgun falling from her hands as she beheld him healthy and intact.
"Athena… I can explain…" Virgil said worriedly as his girlfriend's eyes watered, lip trembling.
"I WAS SO WORRIED!" his girlfriend bawled, bowling him over and sobbing openly into his shirt before peppering him frantically with kisses, each one deeper and more-passionate than the last, her legs twining with his and hands clawing at his clothes as she-
"Hey uh, not that I don't mind the free show and all, but could you take this somewhere else?" Dr. Zed questioned from overhead. "That floor hasn't been sanitized this week, and I-"
"AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!" the two teens screamed as they scrambled to their feet. Palms searching for whatever clean swaths of floor they could find, the word "clean" being used extremely loosely, once they'd gotten their feet underneath them, the two of them fled Dr. Zed's clinic as though death itself were on their heels.
Given Dr. Zed was standing at their backs…
Eh. Close enough.
*GIVING THANKS*
Moxxxi's Red Light: Master Bathroom
November 26, 11:32 EST
"When I imagined us in the shower together for the first time, I envisioned it being a bit more… romantic. Or at the very least, steamy."
"I'll be sure to enjoy this in full once I stop feeling so filthy. Until then, scrub harder!" Virgil ordered harshly as Athena took a loofah vigorously to his back, which in their frantic spit-swapping had rubbed itself vigorously into Dr. Zed's filthy filthy floor.
"Athenaaa!" a voice called from beyond the door.
"What is it, mom?"
"Just so you knowww! Rubbers are in the drawer to the right next to the toothpaste!"
"Ew! Gross!" Athena cried, completely red in the red in the face and grateful Virgil's current attention was fixated on vigorously scrubbing all of his other bodily surfaces that had touched anything in Dr. Zed's clinic.
"Honestly, I'm just amazed she even owns condoms, let alone promotes their use," Virgil said under his breath.
"Hey, that is my mother you're talking about!" Athena hissed slapping lightly upside the head.
"Sorry," Virgil apologized. "That was wrong of me to say."
"No, no, I understand the irony, I'm just… I don't like anyone talking about my mother like that."
"I'll be sure to apologize once we're clean."
"Don't. She's more-likely than not to twist it around into an innuendo, even if she does accept it."
"Well, you're the expert," Virgil acquiesced.
The satisfying of their respective urges and libidos overwhelmed by the desire to clean themselves after what they'd almost begun on Dr. Zed's clinic floor, the next several minutes, for several repetitions, were filled with the sounds of them scrubbing their skin until it reddened. Thankfully, the two eventually felt "clean" before they scrubbed themselves completely raw, though suffice it to say, neither of them would be wearing those particular outfits ever again.
Fortunately, incinerators were someone easy to come by in Bludhaven.
"Sooo…" Virgil hummed a while later sitting back-to-back with Athena under the stream of water they'd been using to clean themselves. "This water heater of yours… never runs out?"
"Well, it's more like it's 'more-efficient' and doesn't murder our electric bill," Athena answered with a contented sigh, allowing herself to relax as she leaned into the muscular back and broad shoulders of her boyfriend. "I have a patent and everything, it just isn't very marketable because it needs constant upkeep and tuning."
"Hey, hot water is hot water," Virgil hummed, luxuriating in the feel of a slender feminine frame pressed against his. Even if it was only back-to-back.
Still, despite the momentary horror they'd experienced after making out on the kind of clinic floor you'd find in a slasher movie, after everything they'd gone through in the days prior, it was telling about how much they were growing to care for one another that they were able to find comfort with only a little hand-holding.
Nudity notwithstanding.
Eventually the two of them settled into a lull, hugging their knees to their chests as the hot water washed over them, the bases of their spines and buttocks still pressed together.
"Hey… Virgil?"
"Yeah?"
" . . . You wanna fool around?" she asked with a blend of hope, and trepidation, completely unsure which to lean into but too nervous to back out once her proposition had come out like word vomit.
"After the day I've had… I'm honestly not in the mood," Virgil admitted a moment later, his own tone a blend of tiredness and emasculated shame.
"Yeah, that's fair," Athena conceded. Seeing that horror show of a clinic would be enough to make anyone flaccid. "You know… After everything we've been through the last couple of days, I thought you were invincible. That you could do, and live through anything," she admitted aloud. "So when Tina said you got attacked by a mountain lion and the guys took you to Zed's Meds…" *sniff* "I thought… I thought maybe god was punishing me… for being so happy…" *sniff*sniff*
Before Virgil could turn around and comfort her, Athena beat him to the punch, the water in the tub splashing as she spun herself around, hip pressed against his back and her bosom to his shoulder blades as she buried her face into the nape of his neck, her arms wrapping around his torso as she held him tight.
"I'm glad Tina got it wrong. I really am," she sighed contentedly. Leaning into him, her pulse pounding against his back, her hands slowly drifted dow-
"Hands above the waist, young lady!"
"Dammit! How does she always know?!" Athena reeled back with a cry as her mother shouted at her through the floor, Virgil bending forward to hide the rager he'd finally been able to get after the earlier sobering.
*GIVING THANKS*
For the rest of the day, given Virgil couldn't even do something as comparatively-simple as hunting wild turkey for Thanksgiving without getting attacked by a freaking mountain lion…! He decided it would be safer for his sanity if he battened the hatches and studied for his GED the rest of the day in his room, his Coach Gun on hand in case something came in through the window.
By the lack of gunfire from upstairs, it did not.
The grownups for their part ran triage on all the ingredients they'd managed to pull together, making plans for secondary grocery runs in the event they needed more, given the ludicrous number of people they would be feeding twiceover.
As for Athena… While assembling the Holotable Mr. Stark gave her was a tempting project, she really needed to finish calibrating the "Perfect Turkey Machine" (as she called it; her mother's name for the device was insultingly hammy) before Saturday came around so it could handle the sheer volume of food. Thankfully, she kept her lab clean enough that no-one ever got sick on the turkey being cooked there, and once Gaige saw the rig, she put her all into getting the marvelous device ready.
"So it uses omni-directional infared lasers and penetrating thermographics to cook everything to perfection?" Gaige asked as Athena tinkered with a hemispherical wall covered in laser emitters that kinda looked like robot eyes.
"Pretty much, yeah. It's expensive as hell to maintain, but the turkey, mwah! So worth it," she said kissing her fingertips.
"Where'd you even come up with this idea?"
"A thanksgiving picture or a comic or something of Superman using his Heat Vision to cook a Rockwell-style turkey for the Justice League," Athena answered.
"Yeah… That would do it," Gaige nodded. " . . . And what's that do?" she asked pointing to the robot arm directly overhead.
"Auto-Baster. Cameras use the reflectivity of the turkey's skin to dictate when and where to baste the melted butter."
"Man, you would've owned at Star Academy if you'd gotten in."
"Thank you," Athena relied as she calibrated one of the laser arrays.
"Sooo… You still working on Frankenstein over there?" Gaige asked jabbing a thumb at the large humanoid shape sandwiched between a slanted laboratory slab and its covering white tarp.
"Yeah… Punching a fuse box while standing in a puddle of water fried half of its circuits, and the skin was unsalvageable, so I just peeled it all off and gave it a shiny metallic finish. There isn't any need for a giant robotic manservant yet, so I've put that on the backburner."
"Well, once that Holotable of yours gets set up, maintenance should be a breeze thanks to that scanner Tony gave us."
"Where's this 'us' coming from?" Athena asked with a quirked brow.
"Dammit, girl, you got a job from mister Stark and an awesome mountain lion-killing boyfriend. Just let me have this!" the ginger whined.
"Okay, okay," Athena waved off. "But no working on it without me. Ease-of-installation is also a marketing point for the mass-produced version."
"I can't even get past the giant dick guns without you being around. I think your lab will be safe."
"Why does everyone keep calling it that?!"
"Because it looks like a giant robot penis, that's why!"
"Really gotta redesign that thing," the blond groaned as Tina crept into the room. Her presence would've gone completely unnoticed had the skritching of pen on blueprint paper not carried so-well in the relatively quite lab. "Hey, Tina?! Get away from that!" Athena cried finding the girl hovering over Ace's blueprints.
"Just a second… almost done…" the manic thirteen-year-old said with her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth. Before Athena could wrap her arms around the girl and pull her away, Tina slinked out of reach and made a break for it. "Never! You'll never take me alive!"
"Ugh, what am I going to do with that girl?" Athena sighed as her little sister ran off, the blond going back to her blueprints to assess the damage. "Great, she drew a mustache and bowler hat right on them," she groaned. " . . . Hmmmmmm…" she then hummed contemplatively once she got a good look at it. "You know, this actually looks pretty good…"
To be continued…
*GIVING THANKS*
AN:
Honestly, I did not plan for things to take the turn they did after deciding that Virgil would hunt some wild game for Thanksgiving, but the thing with the mountain lion led to the thing in the clinic, and in a case of "one thing led to another" minus the coitus, I wound up going in a completely different direction than I'd first anticipated. I honestly just went with the flow, and I'm actually more-satisfied with this spontaneity than if I'd planned everything out to the letter.
I actually wrote this chapter out before "Billionaire Playboy Philanthropists Gone Wild", but slapping that in the middle of the "Giving Thanks" Arc would've totally fucked with the flow, so I decided to have Bruce's adventure with Tony be an "interlude" between this Arc and the "Armor Wars" Arc preceding it.
Tell me what you think, what you hope to see in the Arc to come, and I'll see you soon!