"A girl who had the technology to find the cloaked Helicarrier and used to work at NASA has by all accounts got to be a genius," Steve said disbelievingly as he read the tablet in his hands. On the screen was a summary of everything SHIELD knew about one Melissa Lutz.
"Not entirely. She finished MIT behind me and Aly." Tony said with a dismissive shrug as he guided the Audi through the streets of Brooklyn. The bad part of Brooklyn.
"Genius or not, who would willingly live in this squalor?" Thor asked, eyes widening as he took in the sight before him.
They had stopped at a dilapidated old apartment building. The bricks, once red, had aged to an ugly brown. One side of the building was covered in graffiti. The area surrounding the building looked dingy and dark. Basically, it was nothing you would expect someone who'd worked for NASA to live in.
"I'm going in." Tony said, as though steeling himself for battle, "You guys, make sure nobody steals."
"Make sure nobody steals what?" Thor asked, confused.
"Anything." Tony gestured around him, exiting the car. He heard another car door slam behind him. Clint had decided to join him. He sighed and entered the dingy, shabby lobby. Behind the peeling yellow desk was a tired old woman.
"Can I help you?" She asked with a sigh and a raised eyebrow.
"Can you tell us where we might find Melissa Lutz?" Tony asked resignedly, taking off his blue-tinted sunglasses.
Amidst a hodge-podge collection of toys, action figures, and a queen sized bed, Melissa Lutz, or Mels, was vlogging on her computer.
"Alright, True Believers, this is my first vlog since the alien attack on the city." Mels said, an iPad, or something resembling it, in her lap, "As many of you remember, I filmed an episode during the attack. The link for it you can find in the description below. To start this vlog off, I will answer some questions." She held up her iPad and adjusted her glasses, "Most of them are the same though. In response to the questions and queries, yes. You can send tweets from the moon. You're welcome for that."
She pulled up a map on her iPad. A few blinking dots on it, names attached to them all. When she pressed a button, the map appeared with her on her computer screen.
"Now for a little hunter and tracker," Mels said. She enlarged one of the dots. "As you recall from my first video, my lovely little fish Goldie was released into the wild with one of my trackers on her. It was a test to see how long the tracker would last, as well as the distance of how far I could track. It seems like Goldie is currently somewhere around Australia."
She chuckled at the comments that appeared. She adjusted her glasses again. She started to tap on her iPad, multitasking without taking her face off the computer screen.
"Considering the lifespan of most goldfish, though, I am strongly considering the idea of Goldie being eaten. Poor Goldie." Mels said, wiping away imaginary tears "On the plus side, I would be able to determine whatever ate Goldie. The tracker is most likely attached to the stomach lining of the creature, so I could monitor the heart rate and such. So! New poll! What ate Goldie? You will find the link on the bottom of the page."
She heard a knock on her door, and whispering voices behind it. She looked down at the map on her iPad. Mels smiled and stood up at her seat, the camera on her computer following her.
"Alright, True Believers, I have a surprise for you!" She said, "We have a special guest star visiting us today! Any guesses?" Various comments popped up with wild guesses. Some of them were of cartoon or video game characters.
"Okay, okay, presenting the man who always gave me a healthy competition in school and life in general, Tony Stark!" Mels opened the door quickly and pulled Tony inside. Clint started chuckling as he came into the apartment. This girl was brilliant, but a total nerd.
"Alright, I know you all have many questions for Mr. Stark here. We do have to talk about things in private though. So Tony, anything you want to say to my followers?" Mels asked, pushing a shocked Tony into her computer chair. Just as she wanted, he was caught off guard.
"Um, hi. You're welcome for saving the city,I guess. Oh, and the world. And for just existing. And, um, MrsTonyStark91, I really like your screen name." Tony said
"And that's all the time we have. Until next time, good night True Believers, good night." Mels said. A small remote was pressed and her computer's camera was turned off. "And we're clear." Tony stood up.
"Nice place." Clint said sarcastically, examining a small rocket statuette.
"Nice aim with those arrows, Hawkeye. Now put that down, it's a collectible." Mels said sharply, putting on a hoodie that said 'sheriff's secret police' on the back, a yellow eye with a white crescent moon iris above the words. She sat down in her chair again, iPad never leaving her hands.
"Now, what do you want?" She asked, rounding on Tony.
"Well, we have decided you could be useful to our team." Tony said, a cocky smirk on his face.
"And by 'we'," Mels began using air quotes around the word "we". "You mean everyone, but you, am I right?" Mels asked, raising an eyebrow. The sheepish look on Clint's face was answer enough, and Mels rolled her eyes.
"Is it that obvious?" Tony asked with a smirk, cocking his head to the side. Mels sighed and shook her head.
"I've told the AIM, I've told Pym enterprises, I've even told the president himself, and now I'm telling you, my tech is not for sale." She said
"Come on, you can find a heavily cloaked vehicle, oversee satellites and run space shuttle missions, but you choose to use this stuff to track your dead goldfish?" Tony asked, spreading his arms wide to emphasize their surroundings.
"And my ex roommate. There is no Starbucks she can go to that I can't find and torture her at." Mels said with an evil grin, turning around in her chair, typing on her computer. Clint snorted a laugh. He liked her spirit.
"The point is, I have a nice big tower. You know, Stark Tower?" Tony said, "I'm sure we have a space big enough for you to work." Mels rolled her eyes and groaned. She turned around quickly and stood up.
"And do what?!" Mels yelled, thowing herself off of her chair and stomping up to Tony, "Since they ended the program, I have nothing left! They took my baby before she was launched, do you have any idea how that feels?" Clint was ready to move to protect Tony, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to.
"What if I can get your baby back?" Tony asked, a new glint in his eyes. "I'm rich, there's not a lot rich guys can't do."
"Not gonna work." Mels said, turning on her heel and heading back towards the computer.
"Dental and health insurance. I'll supply and pay for it." Tony pressed on, knowing that if he came back without Mels, Aly would not be happy.
"Not interested." Mels took her seat and put on a pair of headphones with the Star Wars rebels logo on the sides. Tony sighed and sat on Mels' bed.
"You'll probably work with Aly." Clint suggested, seeing that Tony was running out of ideas. Tony smacked his arm.
"I didn't agree to my sister joining." He whispered
"She knows too much to not let her. Plus, I've only known her for a few weeks, but I have this feeling that if you try to tell Aly what to do, it's not gonna end well." Clint said.
Mels lifted one headphone at the mention of her friend's name. She slowly turned in her chair fingertips tapping against each other. Her lips were pursed in thought.
"All of that... And I want access to your Iron Man tech..." Mels said. Tony sighed and nodded his head at the request.
"Anything else?" He asked, almost immediately dreading the response.
"I want a bit." Mels asked, crossing her arms.
"A bit?" Tony asked, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"A bit." Mels confirmed, "And hasn't anyone ever told you, don't Con a Con Man. Or woman, as it were. You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"A bit?" Clint asked, looking from one genius to the other, confused by the request.
"As smart as I am with all of my technological know-how, I can't make an AI system like JARVIS. Just a little bit of him, and I could finally make my own. I've been wanting a bit since he first made JARVIS, but SOMEBODY refused. And look at where we are now." Mels explained. Tony stood, and so did Mels.
"One bit." He said, holding his hand out. Mels looked at her small apartment, at everything hanging from the ceiling and displayed on the various shelves. She looked back at Tony.
"Deal." She said, shaking his hand.
Aly grinned as she stared across the table at her unlikely lunch date. Around the team, Bruce had always seemed sort of reserved, and for good reason. She dipped a French fry in ketchup and popped it in her mouth.
"So you're kidding me, right?" She said between giggles. "A university actually paid you to sit around and test hallucinogens as part of an experiment?"
Bruce laughed and nodded, holding up two fingers. "Scout's honor. It was awesome. And, you know, for science!" He sipped his green tea as Aly stared at him with a new respect.
"Not fair. Only time I got to do something cool like that was when I had my wisdom teeth out and the dentist accidentally gave me too much nitrous. Tony actually videoed that." Aly said, remembering the time she'd said some really funny things under the "laughing gas".
"Yeah, it was pretty hilarious. We ate a whole pizza, then forgot that we'd eaten it, so we ordered another." Bruce's eyes were full of mischief as he recounted the stories from when he'd been a grad student in Virginia. He was pleasantly surprised that remembering Betty didn't hurt him anymore. He still felt that vague sense of guilt, but no more than usual. He tried to push thoughts that this might have something to do with Aly's company. He couldn't allow himself to think like that. He had no right to bring someone, especially an innocent woman, into his tumultuous life.
"Aw, crap." Aly said, checking her watch. "We better head back to the Tower. Tony'll be home soon.
Bruce nodded and headed back to the Range Rover, Aly slipping her Ray-Bans back over her eyes and following right behind him.
Neither of them noticed the camera on the brownstone next to the diner turn to follow them. They of course, did not know that the camera was broadcasting to a dark room miles away.
A chair sat in front of a fire, which effectively cast the chair and it's occupant into shadow. The door to the room opened, and a man in an impressively tailored suit entered. A monitor was frozen on an image of Alexandria Stark and Bruce Banner eating at Wanda's Diner in Queens.
"Sir, we've got Miss Stark's whereabouts. I can send a team to take her within an hour, if you wish. It will be the beginning of Tony Stark's downfall. He will do anything to get his sister back."
The seated figure raised a hand, the firelight glinting off a few rings.
"No. Our men are too rough. We must ensure Miss Stark arrives unscathed. Also, an attack now would bring out her current companion's...bad side. I have someone in mind who can deliver her to me."
"S-sir?" The man in the suit asked.
"Call Wilson. Tell him I have a very lucrative proposition for him."
"Wilson, sir?"
"Yes, Wade Wilson. You may know him to a lesser degree as Deadpool, the name he chooses to go by. Arrange a meet between the two of us."