Welcome back once again to a brand-new chapter of Their World! Been quite a while since the last one, huh?
Admittedly, this is kind of a short one but, well, finally remotivating yourself to sit down and write after dealing with months of moderate writers' block is one heck of an experience, to say the least and I really wanted to get this out for you all; I know I keep saying it, but the response you people have been having to this little crossover adventure has been really amazing- thank you all so much!
I have a bit more to announce, but I'll save it for the end of this chapter.
I will say, though- a lot of you have been hoping for some more characters and elements from the Sonic end of the Xover. Well, let's just say you won't be disappointed in this and the upcoming chapters!
Enjoy.
Chapter Nine
Sonic whooped in appreciation as he flipped through the air in the massive gym room of Stark Tower.
After Tony had basically shooed him away, telling him to test out the new suit he had provided him, Sonic had spent the next few minutes in the gym testing out all of the features of his brand-new gear.
To begin with, the design of the material was pretty well-designed, being flexible enough to allow him to run just like normal and thus bypassing one of the biggest issues Sonic had with clothes in general- aerodynamics. And, as he found out when he got a little too ambitious and crashed headfirst into a wall a mere two minutes into the exercise, the suit greatly reduced the pain of high-speed collisions as well.
The hedgehog definitely stuck to the Steve Rogers-enchanced treadmill after that mishap, however.
The suit also helped him get a little better traction on surfaces, which was nice. The only real negative critique he had with the Needlemouse suit- seriously with the nickname, Tony?- was that it kind of impeded his quills' natural ability to cut through things- though he could probably bash into things using his momentum just fine, so it wouldn't be much of an issue when Eggman inevitably showed himself.
Sonic's smile slipped at the thought of the egg-shaped villain, for as much as he enjoyed his stay on Earth and greatly appreciated the opportunity to hang out with at least two of its greatest heroes, he really did need to go home and help solve the problems there.
It really didn't help that Eggy was planning to be a jerk to two worlds instead of just one now.
Doing a couple of stretches to get the blood pumping even more, the hedgehog straightened when a sudden-unrelated thought came to him.
"I wonder if this thing has a robot-voice thing to go with it," the hedgehog thought aloud. Peter had Karen, right? Sure he didn't necessarily need an AI, but an extra voice help give him pointers when battling one of Robotnik's numerous machines would be pretty useful…
"As a matter of fact, it does," a feminine, disembodied voice answered right back. The hedgehog whipped around in all directions before finally stilling as an excited grin began to appear on his muzzle.
"Sweet! You're the suit's voice lady?"
"Yes," responded the voice, sounding prim and crisp in its manner of speaking, "I am a New, Independently Controlled Optimal Life Emulator, designed by Tony Stark to help guide you through the Needlemouse suit's safety protocols."
Right. He did mention there were a lot of those. Although, New Independently Controlled something-something was a bit of a mouthful. Why not something shorter like…?
"Sure thing, Nicole!" remarked the hedgehog, snapping his fingers and mentally patting himself on the back for coming up with a nickname for his AI so fast. "That's your new name, by the way. Like it?"
"It'll have to do," responded the AI. The spandex-clad Mobian's smile got wider; he knew when somebody was snarking at him.
An AI with a sense of humor? Awesome. Sure, FRIDAY had one too- and she was a master of passive-aggressive when the fancy took her, but it was still pretty awesome nonetheless.
"Glad that's settled! Now, what's up with all of these safety-protocol things?"
"Sir, it seems that Sonic has discovered the AI in his suit."
Tony and Pepper stilled in the middle of another back-and-forth the topic of the arrangements for their future wedding.
"Ah, the New Independently Controlled Optimal Life Emulator?" he spoke, clasping his hands together. Knowing the hedgehog, it was only a matter of time. Perhaps he should've told him initially about the artificial intelligence housed in his suit, but oh well.
As for Pepper's part, she merely regarded him with an eminently unamused stare at the name choice.
"He seems to be content with calling her 'Nicole'," FRIDAY responded dryly.
"Fair enough. Now, about those center-pieces..."
Five days later, James Rhodes quietly sighed, massaging his temples as he ended yet another call.
He had just gotten off the line with the Secretary of State, who was once again hounding him about the latest sighting of Steve Rogers and his team of runaways.
Frankly, the Air Force colonel at the moment couldn't care less.
The past year and a half after the Avengers' disastrous clash in Leipzig had been spent recuperating and recovering from the injuries he had sustained from being- well, shot out of the sky. Physical therapy, while it really did work in making progress, was still absolutely killer, and combined with a certain genius briefing him about supersonic aliens and a potential robot invasion- because the events of the Ultron Offensive all those years back really needed a part-two- it was understandable that the hero wasn't too concerned about where Rogers showed up with his gang of nomads.
Of course, the colonel had signed up for this when he agreed to support those Accords- a hundred and thirty eight Air Force missions- and for the most part he still stood by that decision.
Yet, he couldn't help but feel that he had already suffered the consequences of sticking to the side he picked.
The Avengers Compound- where he stayed for the bulk of his recovery from the damages done to his spine during the infamous yet aptly-dubbed Civil War, was rather barren as far as any familiar figures were concerned- minus Tony when he was around and Vision, who was usually found floating through the compound when he wasn't off doing... something.
Admittedly, James couldn't always particularly describe how he felt about the synthezoid. On the one hand, it was Vision's blast that had hit him, resulting in his condition. On the other hand, it was an accident- a misfire caused by a combination of bad timing, distractions and a very untimely dodge from the Falcon- who had been the intended target. And well, everyone in the team (fugitive or no) knew very well just how a simple accident take a heavy toll.
Would he still trust Vision to watch his back? Yes, absolutely.
And if he felt a little uncomfortable still, it was just because the android still phased through walls in lieu of knocking.
"Colonel Rhodes," came the familiar voice. James spun around to see the synthezoid- looking the same as he usually did, right down to the greenish battle-armor and ostentatious yellow cape he normally sported.
Rhodes nodded in greeting, "What's up?"
As it was, a calm, if serious look was present on his features, the Mind Stone centered in his forehead gleaming brightly as he spoke.
"I believe there is something that you might need to see."
Miles away, the sky burst open with a cackle of demented laughter.
Ladies and gents, the time has come! The kiddy gloves are off, the ball has begun to steadily roll downhill and the calm has given way to the storm!
Prepare yourselves... for the final act!
For those of you who don't know, Nicole the Holo-Lynx (formerly just NICOLE) is a character from the Sonic Archie Comics' continuity. Long story short, she's an artificial intelligence from a possible future who serves as an indispensible member of the Freedom Fighters and later on in the series gains a holographic body (hence the holo-lynx bit). Here, she's an AI made by Tony to guide Sonic through the ins-and-outs of his new suit. On the MCU end, Vision makes his debut here too, so that's sweet!
As for the other announcement, I'm going to be editing earlier chapters and tweaking them to fix some grammatical errors and maybe add a little more dialogue and stuff.
Once again, thank you all so much for sticking with me on this ride! Until next time, stay marvelous!