I started doing research on how to make codes and while I was struggling with the theory behind it I found something called the Stark E.D.I.T.H. Codex. It was a complex code that was made years before the existence of quirks by a man named Tony Stark to choose his heir to all of his knowledge and other assets that no one has figured out. I found the script of the instructions and the document that was the code. I asked Sogeki to print them for me as I tried to figure it out. The two days I spent in the hospital were mostly me trying to figure out how the code could possibly work as well as working out with Sogeki what I would sell and what would go to her house while I was to stay with her. All of my All Might merch was sold for more than I bought it for and I had a small fortune of money that would allow me to buy some bigger things if I had wanted, but I left most of it in the bank.
Once I was out Sogeki drove me to her house which was a single story flat not too far from UA where she worked as a teacher for quirkless fighting, martial weapon use, as well as some stealth classes. The extra room she was letting me use was bigger than what I had with mom and already had a bed and desk for me to use. I started using it to try and figure out the code but was stumped when everything I tried, including printing it in different colors and on different paper, proved useless. Void, Sogeki's pure black kitten, walked in and jumped next to me while I was lying down. I made sure she didn't get too close to my wires or the car battery I was hooked up to.
"Mrow," Void mewled.
"I wish I could understand you, but you don't speak Japanese and I don't speak cat," I said, slowing down as I realized what was going on. "The only two languages that I speak are English and Japanese, but what if instead of a code he made a whole new language and I have to not decode it, but translate it which is a completely different process?" I asked, standing up and going to move just to be stopped by a tug of my wires. I sighed/groaned as I grabbed the car battery and moved to my desk as I started to research how to translate an unknown language to a known one.
Four months after I started down this rabbit hole I finally had it, I understood and could use the written language Tony Stark had invented. I looked at the sheet and found it was instructions for a contraption. I looked at the list and noticed that everything could be bought for really cheap.
"Hey, um, Sogeki?" I asked, carrying my battery and the list out of my room.
"You can just call me Yumi," she said, cleaning her bow. "What do you need?"
"Um, can you help me buy these?" I asked. "I-I want to try making something."
"Alright, sure," she said, looking at the list. "I'll go get it all right now. You can stay here," she said, taking the list and grabbing her keys.
I went to the living room and turned the television on to the news. I hadn't gone back to Aldara since the accident and was told to not worry about classes.
"Today Alara Middle School was shut down and most teachers and staff were arrested for illegal quirk usage, altering of official documents, ignorance of children, abuse of power, abuse of children. Some students were also arrested for illegal quirk usage and use of quirk to cause harm. The hero Mr. Principal was said to have been the one in charge of the investigation and said that they believe that the administration could have ties to a dangerous organization called the Meta Liberation Army. They are still looking into this and we will be reporting as more information comes in," the news reporter said. "In other news, more All Might sightings have been noticed in Mustafu than usual leading some to believe that he is planning on moving to this city in the near future. How will Endeavor, the number two hero, react to the greatest hero moving onto his turf?"
I changed the channel to an old pre-quirk anime about pirates with powers that I had been watching. Then while I was watching it I noticed that one of them that didn't have powers used his mind to build his body in a way that he could compete with those who did have special powers using science, technology, and cola. I was still not sure how that last one helped but it seemed it did.
"Alright, I got everything on the list, but I did take it out of your account to do so," Sogeki said. "Oh, you're watching this? I hate that they used part of my name for that one character, made all the kids at school make fun of me for my quirk, Archer."
"I-I've been meaning to ask, how does your quirk work? I know it affects your arrows but it isn't like homing," I said.
"Well, it makes me proficient in any projectile that I release. That's why I don't use a gun and I use a bow and arrows. I don't release the bullet, but I release the arrow," she said. "It also works with slings, darts, shuriken, and even just rocks I use. It also allows me to aim faster and more accurately, but the projectiles don't follow the targets like Snipe's quirk."
"Wait, but you're also amazing at melee combat," I said.
"That is from years of hard work and training. Now, why don't you go to your room and start your, whatever you're building. It's not a bomb right?" she asked.
"No, at least it shouldn't become one," I said, taking my battery and the materials and going to my room.
I sat at the desk and cleared a space for it. Putting the case wasn't too difficult, but getting the mirrors and lights in the correct places was. After two days of working on the lights and mirrors it was done. I took the power cord for the computer chip in the base and plugged it into my laptop.
"Congratulations, you have completed the E.D.I.T.H. Codex!" a male voice said from my computer.
"AH!" I yelled, going to move but being caught by my car battery.
"Hey, be careful there kid," the voice said.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Well kid, I'm an AI Tony Stark made and modeled after himself along with all of the information he knew," the voice said as the device I made came to life and the image of a man with a goatee wearing a t-shirt and jeans. "In essence I am his essence, and I'm here to help you with all of the things you are now the owner of, which is technically Stark Ind, a small fortune he had set aside, and most of his personal tech."
"Wait, I own Stark Ind? But what about his family?" I asked.
"They agreed that it would be best for the person who had the personal tech Tony stored in the vault also owned Stark Ind. and he set aside things for just them. They do own the second most shares compared to you now," he explained.
"Wait, I'm still trying to catch up on all of this, I-Island is technically owned by Stark Ind. and is run by the Shield family. Does that mean I own I-Island?" I asked.
"Yes, and speaking of the Shields I should probably tell them that I was solved. They'll probably be annoyed that someone else solved their ancestor's codex before them but will also want to meet you," Tony(?) said.
"Um, what should I call you?" I asked.
"Well, I wasn't given a name so you could give me one," he said.
"Wait, why was the codex called E.D.I.T.H.?"
"Tony liked to use weird acronyms for his AI's and such, it stands for Even in Death I'm The Hero," he explained.
"Well, how about, I can't come up with anything," I sighed. "Why don't I just call you Tony or Stark and we figure it out from there?"
"Sounds good. Well, I delivered them a message," he said.
POV David Shield
"This should help Toshinori," I muttered, looking at the helmet I just made.
"Hello there David Shield," a voice said behind me. I turned to see the projection of a man older than me with a goatee and sunglasses. "I'm an AI made by Tony Stark for the E.D.I.T.H. Codex and I came to tell you that it has been solved by a young girl in Japan. We will be in contact with you in the future about all of the information on what is now her's by Tony's will," the hologram said.
"Oh, um, wow, ok, someone really solved it?" I asked.
"Yes, and she owns Stark Ind. and technically I-Island. I need to go so I'll be in contact," the hologram said, fizzling out.
"Daddy! What happened? The door was locked and my code wasn't working?" Melissa asked, barging in.
"Someone did it, they solved the codex Tony made," I said, still astounded.
"What? But I've been working on solving it for years and haven't gotten close, who is it?" she asked.
"All I know is that they are a young girl in Japan. I guess I'm no longer the owner of Stark Ind. she is," I said as my computer dinged. "Oh, the AI sent us a list of what we keep and what they get. Well, we aren't losing too much, just a couple of things, the biggest being ownership of the company," I said, reading the list.
"Wait, so now some random girl owns the company that our family has owned for years?" she asked.
"I mean, we kinda knew this could happen," I said.
"Still, I was so close to figuring it out myself," she whined.
"Oh, looks like she would like to meet with me next week," I said, reading the next email.
"I'm going too, I want to meet her before I go to UA."
"Oh, have you decided to go for the support course?" I asked.
"Kinda, I want to go try the hero entrance exam but also take the support one to have a back-up," she explained.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yes, don't worry, I'll be fine," she said.
"Alright."
POV Izumi
"Wait, let me get this straight," Sogeki started. "You cracked the hardest code in the world and built the device for it and now you own Stark Ind?"
"Um, yeah," I said.
"Alright, I'm going to have to have Nezu give you a test or something to figure out where you truly are because your grades and scores from Aldara can't be correct looking at them," she sighed.
"I would say she's probably as smart if not smarter than Tony Stark," Tony said.
"Who was that?"
"I forgot to mention that it also came with an AI assistant," I said.
"So, what's your plan now?" she asked.
"Use some of the blueprints and plans I now own and build myself equipment. But first I need to see if there's anything that can replace my battery," I said.
"Just use a miniature Arc reactor," Tony said.
"What?" I asked.
"I'll ask the Shields to bring you one on their visit. There's probably some in storage," Tony explained.
"Thanks, now to get to designing my gear and a theme for me," I said, grabbing a notebook.
"Well, you could just become the next Iron Man and use Tony Stark's old designs to build your own suit," Tony said.
"Wait, he had a hero suit?" Sogeki asked.
"He was part of the original Avengers."
"Oh yeah, I forgot they existed before quirks," I said. "They used tech and science to fight. Some people believe that the Superhuman Serum actually unlocked the latent quirks of them as well as the gamma radiation used on Dr. Banner that allowed him to become the Hulk," I explained.
"Wow, yeah that's a possibility," Tony said.
"Still, I don't want to use his theme. I want to work at night and so a darker theme would be best, I also want it to say who I am, kinda like Hawks who swoops in like a hawk."
"Well, why don't you go with a creature that comes out at night as a base. Make it one that will also make people fear coming across you," Sogeki said.
"I don't want to be feared by everyone though," I said.
"Why not take something and make it a symbol of fear for those who do misdeeds at night while a symbol of hope for those who are just out?" Tony offered.
"What do you have in mind?" I asked.
"Well, there's the bat, fox, rat, cat, cougar, coyote, mouse, flying squirrel, wolf, jaguar, mink, mole, nightingale, ocelot, owl, racoon, as well as many other animals. If you would like I could sketch some designs based off of some of them as well as some gadget ideas," Tony offered.
"Alright, just don't make one for the mouse since I don't think it would be a good idea," I said.
"Mice can be scary," Sogeki said.
"Alright, I'll see what I can come up with," he said as the projection cut out.
"Well, let's get dinner," she said, walking out of my room.
I grabbed my battery and followed her. I sat at the table while she went around the kitchen making food.
"Is everything alright?" I asked.
"Yes, I'm just amazed that you managed to crack the code that has had people stumped for generations. I know Nezu tried to crack it but ended up giving up since it took too much time from being the principal of UA," Sogeki explained.
"Wait, Mr. Principal couldn't figure it out?" I asked.
"Not quite, he said he was onto something but it was making him not focus on the school so he stopped working on it. This was two years ago during my third year at UA."
"Wow, I figured something out that the smartest creature in Japan gave up on," I said.
"You might just be a natural genius," Sogeki said, setting down a bowl of instant ramen with pork in it.
"Maybe."
AN-
The Tony Stark AI is from the Iron Heart comics and I believe that Tony would be the type to not only leave something for future generations in the sense of a test to prove that they were worthy of his tech and knowledge. Since he gave Peter Parker the E.D.I.T.H. glasses he would set up a test to give similar power to others. I'm working on designing her Batman/Batgirl/Batwoman suit and I'm listing all of them since I'm not sure what name she will use. I'm currently going with a suit that is similar to Stephanie Brown's Batgirl suit but might change it. As for the gadgets right now I have a grappling gun, batarang, smoke bomb, glider cape, and sonic grenades in the list of what she will create. Let me know what other gadgets you think I should give her. They can be from both Marvel and DC or even other shows and stuff. Make sure to follow, favorite, comment, and kudos! Link Out!
