Science was always a passion of mine.
Not just any science- mad science. The kind that would be called 'pseudo science'. The kind of science that didn't make much sense back Home. I mean unless you factored in a lot of others things, and threw in a dash of magic for good measure.
Mad crackpot science that doesn't truly belong in any branch of science.
That's my niche.
Comic book science.
I can graph circles around people where that science is concerned.
I've rebuilt spaceships with car parts from broken down cars.
I've saved lives with household appliances.
There was this one time I stopped an evil plan with nothing on me but a bobby pin, a worn out tennis shoe, and two cans of string cheese.
None of that should've been possible.
There are a lot more worlds where I should be dead.
Creating a whole other element?
Off of a holographic design of the atom?
Neither of which exist back home?
Oh yeah.
That's the niche right there.
Preparing the mansion for this kind of science was a breeze.
Smash a hammer here.
Drill holes there.
Keep my sister from playing with the wiring there.
Yeah...we had a lot of near misses with that.
They were all worth it, though.
For the life saving element we were about to create.
==NM2==
Nikki dropped the last segment of tunnel.
"Hey! Watch that!" I scolded her. Picking up a wrench, I pointed it at her head. "If that breaks, I'm fixing it with your bones!"
"My bones would be useless in this!"
"Finally we agree- your bones as useless!"
"I can pull one out of my arm-" She ducked under the tunnel, marching up to my face. "-and stab your neck with it!"
I raised the wrench.
Tony stepped in between us. "Hey. You two. Mind holding off on any murder sprees until this gets done?" He snatched away the wrench. "Come on- DUM-E's doing more to help."
"Right."
"Yeah." Nikki nodded.
"We'll stop."
"For now." She narrowed her eyes at me.
I narrowed mine right back.
We got the show back on the road. There another few minutes of construction, of playing keep away with DUM-E and U.
"Miss Stark, Ms Potts would like a word about the engagement in New York." JARVIS reported.
"Tell her I'm not more than ten minutes away!" I ordered.
"So I should tell her to expect you in thirty minutes time?"
"You got it!" I cheered.
"Wonderful. I will record the threat ridden tirade she will no doubt wish to leave."
"You're the best!"
Tony just laughed at me.
Nikki was looking at me with pride in her eyes, like I was everything she'd finally worked towards.
I was working on soldering the tunnel together. If it fell apart, there was a decent chance the entire cliffside would explode.
(And also maybe make the area radioactive
But there was only, like, a 41% chance of that happening so-
I mean there's also a 15% chance that it would turn us into X-Men level mutants...
Have I mentioned the percent chance that we would just be vaporized?)
Mostly- outside of the danger parameters- we were fine. Any statistics were written with the additional chaos factor of mine and Nikki's presence. The element should come into being with relatively no catastrophes.
The door to the lab opened.
"Coulson!" Nikki cheered. "What up?"
Looking up from the tunnel, I spotted Coulson approaching. Much to my inner turmoil he did not look happy. "I heard you two broke the perimeter."
"Yeah. That was, like, three years ago. Where have you been?" Tony snarked.
Phil gave me a look. I held up my hands.
"You didn't account for my superpowers." I reminded him.
That did nothing to assure Phil about these events. "I was doing some stuff."
"Yeah, well, us too and it worked." Tony told him. "Hey, I'm playing for the home team, Coulson, you and all your Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Now, are you gonna let me work or break my balls?"
Nikki whooped for him. She clapped. "Fight the man!"
Phil ignored the lot of us. No, he had bigger priorities. He walked over to a nearby crate of supplies sent over from SHIELD. One such item caught his attention- held it by his little fanboy heart with a fierce strength that it must've been given a super serum.
He grabbed the object, pulling it out from a crate. While it resembled an artifact most beloved by him, the object was clearly an attempt to either recreate it, or this was the rough draft of it. "What's this doing here?"
Angels began to sing.
The clouds parted at long last.
Lightbulbs were going off over our heads.
"That's it." Tony stated.
"Gimme!" I demanded, holding out my hands.
"Ignore her. Bring that to me." Tony ordered.
"You know what this is?" Phil replied, offended on Captain America's behalf.
I was offended on the behalf of my fellow fan.
Not on behalf of Steve.
For Phil's sake.
Phil was awesome.
Tony was gifted the half built Captain America shield. "It's exactly what I need to make this work. Lift the coil!"
Nikki ran over, picking it up. "Got it!"
"Put your knees into it." Tony instructed as he slid the shield in place. Nikki glared like she could drop it on his hands if she so chose. "There you go. And- Drop it. Drop it."
Nikki let it go.
I handed Tony the level. He clapped it atop the tunnel. Low and behold (more like, even and behold haha please make it stop-) it was level. What a perfect fit! Steve, stuck miles and miles below the cold in a ship that I remind you he crashed- would maybe approve.
And if he didn't, he was in no way able to argue against it.
Given that he is the textbook definition of comic book science gone right.
(And also mad science kinda made him so he can't argue-)
"Perfectly level." Tony reported to me. I let out a cheer, before going to work on the last bits of the tunnel before activation. If I didn't, I might be giving Phil looks on unwavering support and love. "I'm busy. What do you want?"
"Nothing. Goodbye." Phil stated. "I've been reassigned. Director Fury wants me in New Mexico."
"Fantastic." Tony replied. "Land of Enchantment."
Nikki gave me a look.
I ignored it.
"So I'm told." Phil replied cryptically.
Nikki waved her eyebrows.
I ignored it.
"Secret stuff?" Tony asked.
Nikki bopped my side with her elbow.
I fought the urge to kick her.
"Something like that. Good luck." Phil assured.
Nikki decided to switch to sign language. She held up her palms just barely askew, twisting them about like she was rolling a ball of dough.
That made me cave. She received a common sign of where to stick that ball of dough.
"Bye. Thanks." Tony held out his hand. Phil shook it.
Nikki snorted. She just held up the common sign for 'I Love You'. Some may see this as her conceding the fight. They had no idea what my sister was like. She was openly flaunting about me. I don't appreciate it.
I signed back, in no simple terms, that the events taking place have no actual chance of taking place all in the same week. There is just no purpose for that turn of events. No matter how much my brothers were raving about the new comic it just didn't seem plausible. Not to mention it's all just-
Nikki watched me rant with my hands for a long time. Something caught her eye, so she signed me to stop. 'Did you just give Nick Fury the call-sign of 'blind motherfucker'?' She asked, snickering already.
I stopped ranting.
"We need you." Phil told Tony. "Not just her."
"Yeah, more than you know." Tony replied blithely.
"Not that much." Phil snarked. He left the lab- unknowingly leaving me behind with muggles. Who didn't get it. Unapproved.
"Alright. Let's get this show on the road, people." I called out. I held up a prism shape, walking towards Tony.
Before he could tell me not to hand him anything, I moved it towards the tunnel. He grabbed it from my hand. "Thanks kid."
Holy shit.
He let himself by handed something
By me
I looked over at Nikki. Had she seen what I'd seen, or was I on Sandwich again?
Nikki was of no help. She had walked off, leaving me to the madness.
Tony slid the prism into position. "Alright. Time to get started." He picked up a pair of goggles, popping them on his head.
I ducked beneath the tunnel, walking out from the space to avoid being cut in half by a laser.
"Initialising prismatic accelerator." JARVIS reported.
A particle inside the tunnel began to spin through. It moved faster and faster until it collided with the prism in a solid beam. The prism reflected it back into a strong laser.
It went as well as expected...
...through a solid wall.
Tony grabbed the wheel to turn the prism. He didn't turn it very far.
The same time, I grabbed a large wrench. Tony released the wheel so I could grab it with the wrench. Together, we pulled it. The wheel turned. The laser turned, burning through various items in the path of the laser.
Nikki watched from behind us. She complained to DUM-E about a lack of popcorn. DUM-E was not listening. He was looking for the fire extinguisher.
"Approaching maximum power." JARVIS reported.
Tony and I turned the wheel. Despite my superior upgrades, it was a slow going spin. Apparently my enhanced body, and Tony's weakened-by-poison one made this an even-steven sort of force. Which wasn't fair, in my book.
(Comic book.
I need to be stopped
Or take a nap.
'Have I Finally Gone Insane Or Do I Just Need Sleep?' A five part novel by me.)
The laser made it's way into the pre-designed slot for the element's containment. More than that, it was the container that would become Tony's new heart. A better heart. A cleaner, safer, non-murdering heart. Well arc reactor. Well it served as a heart-
FOCUS!
Right.
Got it.
Totally focused.
The container's triangle focus point began to glow with a bright blue-white light. It glowed and glowed and glowed until the glow was brighter than the laser.
JARVIS shut the laser down at that point.
"That was easy." He let go of the wrench, leaving it in my hands. I was pushing it so hard, the thing snapped off the wheel when I applied any force to it.
"Sure." I dropped the metal to the floor with a loud clang. "Easy."
"Yeah. We did it with no problems." Tony pointed out, completing ignoring the bookcase on fire. He walked up to the triangle piece, lifting it away with a pair of pliers.
Nikki's hand was on my shoulder. Glancing back, she had a look of pride on her face.
"Congratulations, Sir, Miss. You have created a new element." JARVIS informed.
Nikki and I high fived. I ran over, picking up the new reactor still. DUM-E had come by to dose the flames, and I didn't want him to accidentally bump the reactor.
Tony seemed relieved. He'd had the same fear.
He dropped the triangle onto the reactor.
It bloomed.
"Sir, the reactor has accepted the modified core. I will begin running diagnostics." JARVIS explained.
Tony grinned, in joy and satisfaction and 'fuck yeah it works of course it does I'm me'.
But I couldn't feel that joy.
Tony had no way of knowing what was going to happen by the time the sun rose again.
"I need to leave."
"No! You can't! We can get drunk off our asses!" Nikki told me. "Big science thing gone right, this is the best time for drinking!"
"I need to leave, or Pepper will in fact, kill me." I stated. "So you just get your work-" I signed the word assassin at her. Nikki huffed. "-done, and I'll get mine."
As I teleported out, Nikki was finger-spelling at me a four letter word that I did not appreciate.
==NM2==
Nikki was watching in excellence, the true amazingness that was her supersuit. She'd always wanted a supersuit of her own, ever since her sister had shown her the Incredibles. Her sister had never taken her- or herself, for that matter.
Something about living through the 'boring years where being a super was illegal'.
Like they didn't commit federal crimes on a day to day basis.
Cheating.
That's not fair.
Nikki can't cheat, but her sister can?
Unfair.
Bitch.
"Hey. Squatter." Tony called. Nikki glanced at him, toying with one of her new knives. "Help DUM-E clean up."
"No." She replied.
"Fine." Tony went over to his computer sets. "Shouldn't you have gone with her?"
"Fancy events aren't my thing." Nikki replied. "Apparently I 'cause scandals'."
Come on, like nobody had ever blown a married guy under a table.
Not even that many people saw. Those that did happened to die by morning.
Nikki considers it one of her best days.
"Incoming call with a blocked number, Sir." JARVIS reported.
"My phone privilege is reinstated. Lovely." Tony tapped on the computer screen. It brought up a call. "Coulson. How's the Land of Enchantment?"
Nikki smirked at it again. Oh, what a wonderful thing to hold over Becky's head.
"Hey, Tony, how you doing? I double cycle." A heavily accented voice greeted.
Nikki praised Ivan for having the balls to do this.
"You what?" Tony questioned. He tensed, remembering the speaker.
"You told me double cycle's more power. Good advice." Ivan clarified.
"You sound pretty sprightly for a dead guy." Tony noted through the shock.
"You too." Ivan replied.
Nikki snorted. Just in time, as Tony had muted his side of the call. "Trace him." He ordered.
"Sir." JARVIS obeyed.
"Now, the true history of Stark name will be written." Ivan promised.
"JARVIS, where is he?" Tony prompted.
Nikki sat up in her seat. Ah, yes. This sounded like someone sending out a threat. A threat against Big Sis.
Now that just wasn't allowed.
Nikki was the only one allowed to make threats like that.
That's the agreement she and Becky made that she wasn't aware of.
"Accessing the Oracle grid. Eastern Seaboard." JARVIS reported.
"What your father did to my family over forty years, I will do to you in forty minutes." Ivan rambled on.
"Sounds good. Let's get together and hash it out." Tony told him.
"Tri-State area. Manhattan and outlying boroughs." JARVIS reported.
Nikki put the knife down on a table. She walked towards where Becky had stored her suit. This was a direct threat to Becky.
"I hope you're ready." Ivan warned cryptically before cutting off the call.
"Call trace incomplete." JARVIS reported.
But this did not stop Tony. Oh no sir. He searched New York for one specific event. The event for one Justin Hammer at the StarkExpo.
Where Becky had just teleported.
With Pepper.
And a whole lot of other people not expecting to be met with Whiplash.
Tony grabbed the new reactor. He pulled the old one out, ignoring the spike of pain in his chest. He prepped the new one for entry.
"Sir-" JARVIS tried to advise.
"You want to run some tests, run them." Tony smacked the reactor into his chest. "And assemble the suit while you're at it. Put it together now. Squatter I know she made you a suit. Put it on."
"Already on it!" Nikki called back.
"We are unclear as to the effects." JARVIS warned.
"Her side really is insane." Nikki commented.
"I don't want to hear it, JARVIS." Tony snapped.
The reactor core began to hum.
Fast.
The glow of it burned brighter.
Nikki watched- knowing Becky was gonna be so jealous that she had to miss this.
"That tastes like coconut. And metal." Tony shouted through clenched teeth. He spluttered and spat, shaking his head as the energy shot through him. "Oh wow, yeah!"
==NM2==
AN: Yeah...this was late. I was going through stuff- sorry y'all. Like, I really couldn't get myself to focus on this fic. Or any fic. Or my own characters. Or other stuff.
Finding out ASL swear words was a fun one. Y'all know I had to call Fury blind motherfucker, it was just too perfect for him.
Thanks to Kesperlis for following