These long chapters are killers, I'm tellin' ya! Lol, enjoy tho!
***MIT, Labs***
🎶I go to work, ah! I said hold up, wait a minute
I go to work, ah! I get out there and I go get it
I go to work, ah! And I'll leave and come home with it
I go to work, hey, hey, oh🎶
The song of Cee Lo Green played loudly through headphones and made the occupant's head bob to the beat. The occupant, a young girl, was heading into the labs towards her work area.
When she walked in, she passed a small label on the exterior wall. On it was the name: R. Williams. The 'R' stood for Riri. And that was her, Riri Williams. Eighteen year old genius, graduated school at age thirteen, and inventor extraordinaire.
Walking into her private workspace, she walked over to her desk and sat down while setting her bag on the floor. Once she did, she turned on her computer and waited as it booted up. As she waited, she glanced over to the pictures she had about her desk. Four altogether, they all held a special place in her heart. One was of her family. Mother, father, sister, her and her aunt. The other was of just her and her father, Demetrius Williams. To her, he was her rock and best friend when she was younger. And he just so happened to be her namesake. Demetrius. DemetRIus. RI. Riri. Crazy, but done with love. She truly missed him. The next one of her and her sister, Sharon.
But the last one was of her and her best friend...her only friend, Natalie Washington. The one who's stuck with her throughout the years. She had met her right after the Snap...which her father was caught in. Natalie was the only person Riri could talk to about tech and smarts growing up without the other person laughing. She was a true friend.
As she looked on at the pictures, her train of thought was broken by the door of her workspace being thrown open.
"Riri!" A dark skinned girl, about Riri's age, exclaimed as she busted into the lab. It just happened to be the girl in the picture, Riri's best friend, Natalie.
"Hey Natalie, what's wrong?" she asked, surprised by her bestie's sudden and unexpected entrance.
Throwing his hands up frantically, Natalie approached her with a look of annoyance and worry. "What did you do?"
"Uh, nothing that I know of."
"Oh really? 'Cause I just got stopped by campus security who said you stole something. Did you?"
"Of course not! I don't even kn-" she cut herself off when she realized what it could possibly be. "Oh no."
"What?"
"I gotta go." Riri jumped from her seat, grabbing her bag and headed for the door.
"You can't go out that way!" She halted at that and looked back to Natalie. "Security has the whole campus surrounded like a prison. You must've pissed someone off real bad."
"Ugh, great!" Throwing her bag down in aggravation and locking the door, Riri rubbed her temples and breathed. "What am I gonna do?"
She thought good and hard about alternative escapes. None were pretty, and some involved her getting hurt quite a bit. But then, one came to mind. A backup idea she'd kept secret from others, but now, seemed relevant. With no other option, she decided on it. But she knew she'd need help.
Once again taking in Natalie's presence, she walked up to her and looked her right in the eyes. "Can you help me?" She asked.
"...I don't know if I should." Natalie replied, leaning back a little.
"It's nothing illegal, I promise."
"Right, right, right. Other than consorting, and aiding and abetting a potential criminal."
Riri was silent at that, Natalie had her there. "Ok, other than that. C'mon, please Nat?!"
If it wasn't for the fact that the two had grown up together or that Natalie loved this girl and trusted her with her life, she probably wouldn't even consider helping her. But since she was her best friend, she reluctantly caved in.
Shaking her head, Natalie let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose before reluctantly asking, "What do you need?"
Riri's smile return and quickly became a smirk. "I'm gonna need to to button me up."
"What?"
That was all Natalie got out before Riri walked over and sat at her desk and began to type away at her computer. watched as she went through files until she stopped at one labeled: 'Iron Escape Protocol'. Clicking on it, a confirmation option came up on the screen which read,
'ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO ACTIVATE THIS PROTOCOL?'
"What's the 'Iron Escape Protocol'?" Natalie asked. But Riri still didn't answer. The curly-haired genius jumped up from the desk, leaving the box unclicked, and walked over to a large metal table in a corner. Kneeling down along the side, she typed in a code on the button pad on the side of it.
"Riri, what's going on?"
Instead of answering, Riri just stood up and proceeded to give Natalie instructions. "Ok, we've got about three to five minutes before security gets here. The sequence takes about four, give or take, so it's gonna be close."
"What, what's gonna be-" Natalie was cut off by the sight of the table beginning to rise. One side lifted up diagonally until it stopped, standing upright. On the bottom that was now facing them, there was what seemed like an outline of a door and on it was a small black square which was actually a biometric hand scanner.
"What is this?" Natalie asked, becoming intrigued.
"This..." she started before placing her hand on the scanner and let it scan her hand. After a second it chimed and the door cracked from down the middle and opened to reveal the inside. "-is my ticket out of here."
Natalie stood there, mouth agape as the doors fully opened, uncovering what appeared to be a suit of armor. But not just any suit of armor, this suit of armor looked just like-
"Is that..an Iron Man suit?" Natalie abruptly asked, eyes fixated on the finely crafted, metal suit which looked very much like that of the late Armored Avenger.
"Nope, but it's got the same details and functions of one."
"Wow...wait, where'd you get it?!"
"Well, actually, I built it."
Natalie's eyes nearly bugged out of her head at the sound of that. "Wait, WHAT?! You bui-...but how...WHERE...WHEN?!"
"Uh, well...remember back when that SHIELD/HYDRA stuff was going on and a lot is secrets got leaked onto the internet?"
Natalie thought back, vaguely remembering that from news stories and nodded.
"Well, one of the things leaked were some blueprints for Iron Man's suits. Which I was able to see and copy before it was retrieved and taken down. And I may have also used some "spare parts" from Stark Industries to help as well." Riri used air quotes when it came to "spare parts" bit.
Natalie's interest felt betrayed hearing this explanation. She began to chuckle as she processed this new information. "Wait...so basically...you stole Stark Industries property!"
Shrugging and bobbing her head, Riri's face showed like she was thinking of a way around it. Which she was. "More like 'secretly using', plus it's not like I used it to rob banks or something."
"And wait, SHIELD and HYDRA?...Wasn't that way back in 2014?"
"...yeah?"
"You had to have been a toddler! How could you have possibly know what those were or meant, weren't you like...what, four?"
"Three, actually. Well technically, three and a half. But..." Again, she shrugged and smiled innocently while Natalie stood there dumbfounded at the concept of Riri being that smart at that age.
It was a lot to wrap her head around. Too much, to be honest. So before she could reconsider, she stifled her rising stress and went on. "Uh-huh...and, what is it you want me to do again?"
"All right, two things." Riri tapped a button on the inside on the wall of the armoire which resulted in both sides opening up and metal arm-like mechanisms, similar to those on an assembly line, appearing and began taking off the arms, legs and chest of the armor, opening it up, ready for the pilot to step in.
"Alright. First, you gotta initiate the virtual button up. I can't do it myself otherwise the suit'll close without me in it. On my computer, the confirmation box on it. Hit 'YES' when I step into the suit, and when I tell you, hit the blue button on the wall over there."
Riri pointed to said button that was on a wall across the room. Seeing it, Natalie looked back to the computer and the still waiting confirmation box and lightly shrugged. "Anything else?"
"Just run and meet me back at the house," the curly-haired genius replied with a trusting smile.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Natalie walked over to the desk while Riri did a few last minute calculations. Looking at the open suit and then to herself, she took off her jacket and slipped off her shoes, leaving her in socks. Anything that could potentially constrict her movement within the suit. Finally, she too let out a nervous sigh before walking up to and stepping into the open armor. The chilling sensation of the cold metal interior touching her skin as she stood inside sent a bit of a chill up her spine, mixing with the nervous jitters she had as well.
Looking over to her friend at the desk, she gave a her a final nod to start the virtual button up. Nodding back, Natalie took a few deep breaths before clicking 'YES' on the screen.
Once clicked, the chamber Riri and the armor stood in began to beep and whir as the mechanisms went to work and assembled the suit around Riri. First the feet and legs closed up, then coming up the quads and into the waist, more and more pieces began to encase the curly-haired genius.
Next was the abdomen which had some sort of exoskeleton go on before the exterior armor came on, the chest's exoskeleton following as well before the exterior breastplate came down and was tightened on.
The arms came next as the assembly mechanics allowed Riri to slip her arms into the armor's arms before they were connected to the rest of torso.
Finally, the neck piece was screwed on, leaving only the faceplate of the helmet, which slipped into place nice and easy.
No sooner than it did, a light flash appeared within the helmet and an orange glow as a Heads-Up-Display came up and began to light up the interior of the helmet.
"HAHA! It worked!" Riri exclaimed happily, ecstatic to see her creation functioning perfectly, "This is awesome!"
When she said that, her voice had a bit of a metallic/robotic effect with it. The thanks for that going to the built in speaker Riri had included. It was still cool though.
In her excitement, she had stiffly turned her head to look at Natalie. And through the two eye slits, which vision's were improved thank to the HUD, she could see a shocked, but proud expression on the bespectacled girl's face. "Yeah! Yeah, I guess it does!"
With a new burst of adrenaline, Riri began to try and move her hands within the suit. Soon, she was opening and closing her fists...her METAL FISTS! Then, she tried to take a step forward, stumbling a little as she did. Also, she could make out that her steps had a bit of a metal 'CLANK' to them. Most likely thanks to the weight of the suit. But to her, even that was cool!
As she began to get the hang of it, the sound of doors flying open and indistinct yelling outside the lab broke the moment of excitement and accomplishment. It was the campus security!
"Quick!" Riri exclaimed, pointing to the button she mentioned earlier, "hit the button!"
Natalie ran over to the button and put her weight into it when she pushed it into the wall. Once she did, security burst through the door but halted at the shocking sight of...Iron Man?
As they stood there dumbfounded, a panel in the ceiling opened and revealed an opening to the outside.
(Riri's HUD POV)
As her escape way opened up, Riri looked up and again smiled through the HUD and the helmet.
"Here we go," she told herself, nerves rattled but ready to get out of there.
Stiffening her arms and her legs, Riri activated the repulsors/light stabilizers in the palms of the her armored hands and the thrusters in the heels of the feet. And little by little, she began to rise up from the ground before shooting up and through the square opening of the roof and into the open sky of the outside.
As she flew up, Natalie watched from her spot still in the lab in amazement. Still wanting to see her flying friend go, she ran out of the lab, leaving the two security guards clueless.
Exiting the building, Natalie immediately looked back up to skies and watched with a smile as she saw Riri floating in midair. That was her best friend, Riri Williams.
With Riri, she was taking in the beautiful view as she hovered up above the campus. Unaware of the curious and shocked eyes below.
No, her gaze was directed to the surrounding cities and buildings around her. She could see it all. From Back Bay to Boston University, from Boston Common to the New England Aquarium, she could see it all. All thanks to this suit.
Wait, the suit? Riri had been so awestruck by the view, she had almost forgotten the means of how she was watching it. Looking down, she looked at her armored hands, whose palm repulsors had automatically stopped, and her adrenaline took over as she positioned them back at her sides and all thrusters flared and sent her flying towards the city.
As she did, the vibrations from the thrusters gave her goose bumps as she flew through the air and into the high building area.
Soon, buildings zoomed past her. Building after building, she began to dodge them playfully like an obstacle course. Left, right, left, right, as gracefully as stork. Riri chuckled when she saw her reflection, or the reflection of her suit rather on the side of one of the buildings.
Coming to one, she flew circles around it, spiraling around it to the top until she finally passed it and flew straight up and above the clouds.
"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She let out a hearty cheer as she stopped and hovered there in the sky. Looking down among the city once again, the high of adventure came once again as she saw the beauty from her aerial position. It was now official, she was never taking the bus again. The subway? Maybe, but this suit was definitely gonna be her transport more so now. She had made up her mind.
"It's sooo beautiful." She could stay up here forever with a view like this. But her panoramic sightseeing was disturbed when a ping came up on her HUD.
(Riri's HUD POV)
"Huh? What is that?" She asked herself.
The HUD couldn't identify it. But whatever it was, it was coming up behind her and coming fast.
Riri just had time to turn around before a blast of blue energy was shot at her. It hit her and sent her flying backwards a little.
The crazy motion and flipping around made it a little hard for Riri to get her bearings, but regaining her flailing arms and her boot thrusters, she was able to stabilize her flight and was hovering once again.
Once she was stable, she looked in the direction of the thing that attacked her and saw that it...actually looked more like a WHO than a what.
It looked like a guy surrounded in a mist of blue power. He was flying towards her, but not with rocket boots like hers. He seemed to be flying on his own, and the energy seemed to be coming him. Must be a natural power. He also seemed to be in a dark metal suit of armor. Not like hers though. This one was more like a uniform and with a helmet that had the mouth visible and eyeholes to see through. And the person underneath seemed human.
"Who the hell are you, and what the hell was that for?!" She exclaimed to him. At least, she thought it was a 'him'.
"Name's Nova," he replied, his voice confirming that he was a 'he', "And sorry, nothing personal. Just testing you."
'Testing me?' Riri repeated in her head. What did he mean by that? "Testing what?" She asked out loud.
The guy, apparently called "Nova", replied with another blast of his power at her. One she actually saw coming this time. She managed to dodge it before another was shot at her. Dodging it and maintaining her hovering pose, Riri growled was beginning to get annoyed.
"Ugh! Alright,"
(Riri's HUD POV)
"-that's it! You wanna test me?!" She asked, a challenging look coming to her face, mixing with a smirk.
"You got it!"
Riri blasted off and Nova gave way to chasing her. It had become an aerial game of cat and mouse. Only with these two, Riri and Nova were no ordinary cat and mouse. In this case, they were Tom & Jerry. Tom for Nova and Jerry for Riri. And that was so because Riri had an idea of how to get rid of this joker, and she hoped that the suit was up to it.
As she flew one, her HUD alerted her to the power blasts that were fired at her, all of which she missed. Not to say that a lot of them weren't close, cause they were.
But Riri managed to use evasive maneuvers so she wouldn't get hit. Now, it was her turn. Flipping over to where she was flying with her back down and chest upwards, she looked to her pursuer, lifted her arm with her palm flat out and aimed.
(Riri's HUD POV)
"Aaaaannnd...fire!"
Without problem, her palm fired a repulsor blast STRAIGHT at Nova! One he didn't expect and flew right into.
"AHHH!" He screamed as the blast hit him and made him stop and fly backwards a little.
"HAHA! Yeah baby!" Riri cheered before turning back over and kept on flying.
As she did, Nova had regained his focus and resumed his pursuit with an annoyed growl.
Gaining on Riri once again, he fired his blasts at her with a little more aggression. But she still managed to avoid them all, with a few close calls.
Turns out, she was buying time so she could find a way to exploit her idea. And soon, she saw one.
"Ah, what do we have here?"
—
(Riri's Heads-Up-Display POV)
Her HUD magnified on a boardwalk down below and on a trash can in particular.
"Hehe! Goctcha."
—
"Time to take out the trash!" She stayed before descending in the direction of the boardwalk, aiming for the can.
Still flying after her, Nova could see her flying lower to the ground, confused as to why she'd go down and risk civilian life. What was with this girl? But he still followed suit.
Meanwhile, Riri saw her target getting bigger the closer she got to the ground. Within seconds, she was near the ground and pulled up a little so that she flew at least ten feet up above the boardwalk, not chancing harming any people walking down the walk. And then she saw it, her target. Waiting until she was right up on it, she grabbed the metal barred can with both hands. And with the suit's strength and the momentum of her flight, yanked the can from its bolted place on the walk. The sudden jolt from its being bolted down threw Riri off a little, but once it was ripped up from it spot, she took back to the sky with Nova still on her tail.
Now that they were back in the sky and no innocent people were in harms way, he resumed his firing at her and let it fly good.
"Alright, Nova. Let's see how you like this," Riri said to herself confidently.
Turning over once again with the can still in hand, she took a breath before she began charging up herself repulsors for a blast. As it charged, Riri saw that Nova was gaining on here. Ten yards away at most, perfect. With the charge now ready, she let it fire into the can and the item exploded, creating a small but bright explosive cloud of fire.
Seeing this, Nova instinctively evaded the mini explosion, flying right around it. But when he did, he didn't see his target anymore. She was no longer flying from him, in front or behind him. Looking all around, he was shocked to see that she was gone.
But what he didn't see was that while he was distracted by the blast, his metal encased prey had flown up and was now dropping to collide with him.
Riri's faceplate opened and she felted the swift wind hitting her face as she free-fell towards Nova.
"Haha! INCOMIIING!" She called out as she neared him, he faceplate closing as she did. But by the time Nova had heard her and looked up, she had fired her thruster once again and grabbed onto him, barreling towards the waters below. "Hope ya like swimming!"
And with that, she let him go before charging and firing her chest beam, sending Nova straight into the Boston Bay. Once the chest beam turned off, Riri readjusted her flight position by putting her hands out, her flight stabilizers doing their jobs and stopping her before she reached the water and letting her hover above the bay.
Her faceplate opening once again, Riri took deep breaths as she began to come down from the adrenaline rush and the chase she had just endured. That was definitely one crazy and unexpected encounter. But she had to admit, it was fun outwitting and disposing of that guy, Nova.
"So long, Nova," she said before her faceplate came back down and she flew up and away from the bay. Her destination: home.
But as she did, something shot up from the water. It was Nova! He took off his helmet and let it float as he spat out the bay water he'd taken in.
"Man, that girl was crazy." Sam stated before leaning backwards to float on his back. Lifting a wet hand to his ear, he called it in to his team. "Hey Peter? Yeah, I had her. But she damn near drowned me. I think she'll work though."
He waited for response before continuing. "Yeah, she's probably headed your way now...ok, I'm-I'm on my way."
When the call ended, Sam let his hand plop into the water as he continued to float for a bit.
"I wonder if Rocket or the other had days like this." He thought out loud.
***Riri's Neighborhood***
Thanks to the HUD, Riri saw the ping of her destination coming up. As she neared the house, she slowed down and began to hover once she was over the garage, aiming to drop through the skylight in the roof.
"Aaaaannnd...kill power." she vocally commanded and the repulsors and thrusters switched off and she went down and fell through the skylight, but nicked the edge of opening, throwing her balance off and causing her to flail a bit as she fell and landed on the garage floor, a table breaking her fall somewhat.
She didn't move for a minute or so on account of the fall she'd just taken. Letting out a groan, she sighed heavily before saying another command.
"Open up."
The suit opened up for her so she could slowly sit up and let out a good "Phew!" before stepping out onto her socked feet.
"Close back up?" To which the suit did. Watching it do so, Riri couldn't help but chuckle a little at it and at what she had just done. She had just tested out her suit, flew in it like Iron Man, AND had fought and bested out some superpowered punk, all in one hour! That had to be some kind of record. And she truly felt that way as she said to herself, "That was awesome."
"It definitely was." A voice added behind her.
The unexpected shock made Riri jump before turning and getting into somewhat of a defensive stance. When she did turn, she saw a boy and a girl, both probably around her age, standing there. "Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my garage?!" She exclaimed, eyeing both of them carefully.
"Whoa, whoa! Take it easy!" The girl said to her, her hands up in a neutral way.
The boy had his hands in the same position, not wanting to cause more alarm than had already been there. "Calm down, it's ok. We're not here to hurt you, Riri. I promise."
Now THAT alarmed her a bit more. "How do you know my name?"
"Oh yeah, right. Sorry, my name is Peter. Peter Parker, and that's Ava Ayala. She's with me. It took a moment for Peter to realize what he just said and how it might have sounded. "I mean, she's not WITH me, with me! I mean it like, she's with me as in she's here in the same place as me, ya know. We're not like, in a relationship or anything. We're friends. Partners! I-uh...yeah. Heh."
Peter's stuttering and the blush that had come to his cheeks had made the situation a bit complicated as both Ava and Riri had looks of surprise come to their faces. However, Riri's had a bit of confusion mixed with hers. "Okay? So what do you want?"
Peter was about to reply when outside, a certain someone landed in the driveway. A someone Riri immediately recognized. Nova.
"You again?!" She spat, walking right past Peter and Ava and right up to Nova. "Why you followin' me, man? I dun beat your a** once already, you wanna go for round too?!"
Her threats and spunk slightly frightened Sam into putting his hands up in surrender and made him take a few steps back as she neared him. "Whoa whoa, whoa! Hang on, I'm not here to fight!"
"Oh yeah?! With all that firing at me, I couldn't help but feel that way!" Riri retorted, a killer look in her eye.
"I told you none of that was personal!" Sam had taken off his helmet, his armor disappearing as he did, and his voice to go up an octave or two.
"Ok, enough!" Ava exclaimed, stepping in between the two with arms out and distanced them. Looking to Riri, Ava calmed herself best she could before continuing, "Now look, Riri, was it? I know this is all probably shocking, crazy and weird."
"Got that right," the curly-haired genius blurted, still looking over the Latina's shoulder at Sam.
"But we have something we want to ask you. Peter has something to ask you." She nodded over to the boy who had introduced them. Riri looked to Peter, who waved back to her nervously. "And if you could give him just a few minutes to explain what this is about and what we're her for, then we'll be out of your curly hair."
Hearing that, Riri smirked at the Latina's taking charge before looking to Peter once again and back to her. "What is it?" She finally asked, blowing a strand of her curly hair out of her eyes.
***Riri's Garage***
Well, as if this day couldn't get any weirder, Riri had just spent the past twelve minutes listening to Peter explain the whole situation. The time travel plan, the Infinity Stones, the recruitment of a young superhero team, all of it.
The part that stood out to her the most: the possibility of bringing everyone that was Snapped out of existence back. That was the real clincher. And it really made her think.
"So," Peter finally said, giving her the floor, "what do ya say? Will you help us?"
Thinking about it all, the part got her attention more than anything, and IMMEDIATELY her mind went to her father. The chance to see him again. Maybe even making some new friends along the way. Going off of just that, she probably would say yes right off the bat. But thinking more on the matter, she also considered the dangers of this. The potential risks. The possibility of losing this chance, but more as well...the thought made Riri's heart beat against her ribcage. Letting it set in, she made her decision. "No."
The sudden answer caught Peter, Sam and Ava by surprise and caused them to look at one another in confusion.
"'No' what?" Ava asked carefully, not wanting to push it.
But Riri elaborated on it. "'No', I won't help."
"Oh, are you kidding me?!" Sam abruptly yelled, shooting up from his chair and the look of an cry coming on. "You mean I chased this girl and damn near got drowned by her for NOTHING?!"
"Hey, that was your fault. Not mine!"
Sam was about to fire a comeback but Peter jumped in. "She's right, Sam. That's on us. Sorry again about that, probably not the best intro."
Riri chuckled lightly at that, "That's for sure."
"But I wanted to see how you'd react to the situation, and you did WAY better than I thought you would. Even acing a high powered superhero while at it. And on a TEST RUN of your suit too! THAT was incredible! It shows that you have a gift, and we could really use the help of it?"
"What gift?" Riri retorted, "I'm just really smart and I just happen to have a suit of armor. So what?"
"Ya know who else was really smart? Tony Stark." Riri had to give him that, that was a good point. "And he didn't have that armor before becoming Iron Man. He had his brain, his smarts. And with that, he made his own suit of armor, just like you, and became one of the worlds greatest heroes ever. Even without his suit, he was still going. He used that gift of intelligence to help others...you could too."
Hearing that moved Riri a little. This guy really had a way with speeches, and he was obviously driven by some fire deep within. Something that wouldn't give up, she had to commend him for that...but is still didn't sway of her decision...or of her fears.
"Yeah...but I'm not Tony Stark," she replied, "and I'm not looking for a side gig as a replacement Iron Man. So thanks, but no thank you."
"But-"
"Look! You guys seem like good people, and that you're fighting for a good cause. But I don't wanna make more friends only to lose them the next day. I've lost enough already... I'm sorry, but my answer is no."
Sadly, that was the end of that conversation. This was the first potential recruit that had rejected the offer, and it kinda hurt. But there was nothing they could do.
With a look of defeat, Peter nodded and let out a defeated sigh. "Alrighty then. Sorry to uh...sorry for the intrusion. Come on, guys."
Motioning to the others that it was time to leave, Peter, Sam and Ava began to walk out of the garage, leaving the curly-haired genius be.
But as they did, for some reason, Peter stopped in his tracks while the other two went one. For some reason, he thought back to when Tony had come to recruit him. Initially, he had refused. He didn't think he could just up and go despite how cool it could be. And yet, Tony had, in a way, helped to see as to the why of being a hero. The importance of it. And right now, Riri was feeling the same way Peter had at the time. Fear being a part of it. So now, it was his turn to be the motivator and the comfort her.
"Hey, I uh...I know you already gave your answer," he began, turning back to face Riri, "and I can't make you decide. It is your choice. But if you don't mind, can I say something please?"
The calmer tone made Riri calm down a little, and she was glad that Peter had respected her answer. And since he did, she didn't see any harm in hearing him out again. Giving him a nod, she let him go on.
"I know it's a lot to ask of you, and again, I'm sorry for that. And I may not know much about you, but one thing I can tell about you is that you want to help people. And trust me, you've definitely got what it takes to do it. Ya know how I know?"
Riri shook her head but looked on at Peter, curious as to what he'd say. With no answer, Peter took that as a que to continue.
"'Cause you've got that look in your eye. I know that look. I had it a lot when I was your age, it means there's no stopping you...I could tell you to stop, to forget all of this, to never put the suit on again. But you won't... 'cause you're drawn to it. This gift you have, you wanna use it and wanna help people with it. And you know why?"
He paused and allowed Riri to think on his words, seeing that she had turned to look at him . Knowing he had her full attention, he simply stated, "'Cause you know you can do these things, and it makes you want to help. And like it or not, that makes you a hero."
And with that, Riri was left speechless by the Avenger's words. He sounded like he truly understood what she was feeling...what she was fearing. And yet, he was still encouraging her. As she contemplated his words, Peter bid her farewell.
"Take care, Riri." He said before walking out of the garage.
The curly-haired genius stood there, alone with her thoughts and a metal suit.
Peter had rejoined Sam and Ava outside and the three walked down from the house to the street and walked on.
As they did, a girl on a bike, who was actually Natalie, rode down the street and onto Riri's driveway. Jumping off the bike, she ran back into the garage and saw Riri there, leaning against a wall along the wall.
"RIRI!" She exclaimed with excitement, "you did it! You were actually flying! That was SO AWESOME! Wait, what happened to your table?"
Riri just scoffed and smirked at her best friend's expression. "Nothing, I just fell."
Back with Peter, Ava and Sam, conversation began to brew as they headed down the sidewalk.
"Do we really need her help?" Sam asked, half-whining, "I mean, you've got an iron suit."
Peter shrugged, ignoring the whininess of Sam's tone, "Yeah, but I'm not Iron Man. And though it would've been good to have her along, we're still gonna need more help."
"So, what do we do now?" Ava asked, directly looking at Peter.
Thinking for a minute, the spider man remembered another person on the list who could help them. "Well, there is someone else on the list we can ask. He actually knew Tony and worked with him too. Helped him out back in 2013."
"Phew! That was a long time ago. Where's he at?"
"...Tennessee."
Well folks, that was Riri Williams. Young super genius. We saw she had what it takes to be a hero and even fight another, but she's not in. She's not joining up. But don't worry, she'll be back. I promise. This won't be like a Tom Welling Arrowverse cameo. She will be back.
Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter, if you did, PLEASE LIKE & REVIEW, por favor!
In the next one, we're gonna be back with Jamie's crew, heading to Tokyo for Frankie. How do you think that'll go down? And after that, Peter and his two are going to Tennessee. Now who do we know in Tennessee? Hehehe :)))
Stick around and find out. Later guys! :)))))
