The physics of the Palladium Core Arc Reactor are explained here, this is how the Palladium Core Arc Reactor functions in this universe.
Content Warning - Explicit non-graphic depiction of a PTSD episode
Settling In - 2.0
Tony Stark
January 23rd, 2011
Brockton Bay, Rhode Island
"Jarvis, can you please contact Ms. Dallon, I would like to set up our conference for the 25th of January and also, make it clear that I want the parents of Taylor Hebert to be there as well." Tony said as he worked on the integrated computer station that the desk had.
"Calling now sir." Jarvis replied and Tony nodded, he knew that he wanted to get Carol on side with Stark Industries - Bet as a way of compensation for hurting Victoria and well, from what he had read on the subject, Daniel 'Danny' Herbert played an important role in the Brockton Bay Dock Workers Union (DWU). The DWU wasn't what it used to be, but Tony figured that if he could promise some good honest work for them in fields of engineering and the like. Well, that was about five hundred able bodied workers.
Honestly, the DWU could form simply the perfect core for the new Stark Industries. He was already thinking of various products that they could produce, right now, even miniaturized Arc Reactors similar to the ones that he had in his chest at first would be sufficient, with its nominal output of 3-gigajoules per second could power…around three million houses. Enough energy to supply a city and yet it could fit in the palm of your hand.
The larger reactors? The ones that could rather effortlessly compete with fission power but not have all the problems of fission. Those could power entire cities with effortless ease and could help many people due to the fact that they would drive down electricity prices.
The trick would be finding the resources to build them naturally. But, the Boat Graveyard would likely have all sorts of goodies. Unfortunately, until they could set up Starkanium production, they would be stuck with Palladium for cores. But he had looked into the vessels and one of the ships there that likely hadn't been picked over too badly was an auto carrier. Depending on how many cars it had onboard, there would be enough Palladium in the Catalytic Converters to build dozens of reactors along with their cores considering that each one had between two and seven grams of Palladium and that the core of a Type-I Miniaturized Arc Reactor needed approximately 1.6-grams of Palladium in order to function, call it two-grams of Palladium for safety.
Tony smiled, yes, a single Catalytic Converter depending on how much Palladium was in the thing, could supply enough of the element to build anywhere between one and three Arc Reactors. The biggest problem however was that Palladium cores didn't last that long, only about every two weeks or so. Arc Reactor cores made of Starkanium tended to last at least a month, the element itself however, seemed to be an allotrope of Vibranium going by properties.
Let's see, that just about solved what Stark Industries Energy would offer. The Arc Reactor was an enormous game changer for a planet that couldn't rely on Middle Eastern Oil as much as his world could. While production in other fuels was there - the Middle Eastern Oil Fields and their loss was a major upset to the economy, billions upon billions of barrels were now inaccessible due to Endbringers.
"Jarvis, do we have the plans for the Stark Industries Quinjet?" Tony asked, the Quinjet had been designed for a competition for something that could supplement or replace the finicky Osprey. The design requirements had said that the Quinjet needed to be at least twice as fast as the Osprey while having a similar range and payload to the tiltrotor.
The Stark Industries design had utilized a blended wing body design with low delta wings with power provided by a small Arc Reactor and the engines for both VTOL and nominal flight being Repulsor Technology which could drive the craft at 80,000 feet or so to speeds that were close to hypersonic. While armament would have been a 25mm gatling gun similar to what the Commanche would have had, infantry wise it could have carried a full platoon, forty-three men.
Due to the Army, Marine Corps, and SHIELD being the conservative bastards that they were however, the Boeing-Lockheed Martin design had won the contract, their design utilized a high-wing design and it wasn't a blended wing body design either. Granted, it was a solid design as it was powered by a pair of non-afterburning F135 turbofan engines with a VTOL lift system that was in-essence a combination of the X-32 and F-35 lift systems. Tony had since learned that while the Repulsor lift system had been something that the Armed Forces were interested in, they had considered the technology to be untested, not to mention it would complicate logistics as well in regards to maintenance.
"I do sir, thinking about offering it to the government?" Jarvis asked and Tony nodded.
"Indeed, with minimal fuel consumption requirements and the fact that it's incredibly fast with the ability to carry nearly fifty people. It would be perfect for the Protectorate for shuttling around Capes to Endbringer fights as well as getting Parahuman Response Teams to Cape situations in towns that are in the ass end of nowhere relatively quickly or getting capes that are in the ass end of nowhere out of the ass end of nowhere in much the same fashion." Tony said and there was a beat before his AI replied.
"I concur sir, the Protectorate would be extremely interested in the capability offered by the Quinjet, I can say for certain that the European Union and the Chinese Union-Imperial's own Protectorate equals would also be interested in the Quinjet due to how massively improved the ability to deploy Parahumans and PRT forces would be. Will we offer the gunship version as well?" Jarvis said and Tony frowned, he had sworn to never build weapons again and that had been very difficult to do back in his own reality.
In order to avoid a Breach of Contract lawsuit from several different militaries and government agencies, he had been forced to make a compromise, certain weapons would have their production shutdown completely, but others like the Jericho would remain in production until all current contracts were fulfilled, with the Weapon Development branch having their operations scaled back from designing new weapons and technology to figuring out how to integrate existing technology into existing weapons, primarily Repulsor Technology. But still, tens of thousands of jobs had been affected by this decision, but Tony didn't want to lay them all off and essentially shoot their careers in the foot, he had offered reassignment to the majority of them, primarily to the new Energy Development branch which had been focusing on making Arc Reactor technology viable and had recently succeeded in doing so.
He didn't want to sell weapons, because he had seen American men and women being killed by the very weapons he'd designed to keep them safe. That was something that had hit him very hard in Afghanistan and even afterwards, but there were threats on this Earth where a little good old fashion Stark Industries ingenuity might just be the ticket.
"Maybe, I know that the existing design was meant to use existing American Armed Forces weaponry, but just in case, I want you to draw up another version that incorporates Stark Industries repulsor tech weapons." Tony said after a moment's thought, he didn't like it, but it would have to do.
"Understood, sir. Should the Repulsor Tech Cannon that was being drawn up for the AC-130 be included as well?" Jarvis asked and Tony frowned.
"No, not right now. That thing was only in the very early stages of development when I ordered it canceled and to hell with the breach of contract we would eat." Tony decided, mostly because that thing had been a horrifying weapon, meant to take down things like the Hulk.
"Acknowledged, sir. What about the other variant of the Quinjet, the Mistaya Heavy Transport?" Jarvis asked and Tony frowned, the Mistaya had been on the drawing board and even had demonstrators built, but various militaries hadn't gone for it in much the same way that they hadn't for the Quinjet, it was too radical, the Repulsor Technology and Arc Reactors would require a completely different maintenance pipeline compared to existing aircraft.
That being said, the Mistaya had been envisioned as a replacement for the C-130J Super Hercules, it had rough-field capability, VTOL capability, and could carry thirty-five tons of cargo. Really it rivaled the Airbus A400M Atlas in terms of lifting load but was so much better.
"Might as well, but put that as a long term project." Tony decided, from what he had seen, the Protectorate could use such a heavy lift capacity to get large numbers of troops, vehicles, and capes to things like Endbringer attacks quickly and easily - to say nothing of supplies after an attack.
"Will do, sir." Jarvis replied, there was a pause before the AI continued. "Sir, both Ms. Dallon and Mr. Hebert has agreed to having a conference with you regarding the founding of Stark Industries Bet on the 25th of January. Ms. Dallon has suggested doing so at her house instead of her office and Mister Hebert agreed."
Tony smiled, excellent, a critical part to his plan to form Stark Industries here on Earth Bet had succeeded. Now all he needed to do was convince them about just how much good that founding Stark Industries could do, not only for Brockton Bay or the country, but the planet. There were several quite large untapped fields of study that could be exploited here from what he had seen.
Sure, tinkertech could be superior to the sort of things that Stark Industries could produce. But Stark Industries technology had an advantage in that you didn't require a tinker to build and maintain it. Thus, tinkertech, while superior, unless it was Masamune equipment, had enormous bottlenecks in how many units per week a tinker could build. It resulted in an enormous demand with a rather short supply.
Tinkers very much would likely remain in business, being able to create niche items or items that were of higher capability compared to Stark Industries stuff, essentially it would make them Artisans - even more than they were already. But they would still be able to make a living and if anything, might actually have their lives made easier due to the demand for their products dropping to a level that would be manageable.
"Good, very good." Tony said before pausing, he was going down a short list of viable technologies he had put together that he could use to get Stark Industries off the ground. Two of the technologies he had listed were Repulsor Tech and Iron Man technology.
Repulsor tech was required for the Quinjet, but there were other uses for the technology besides just in aircraft and Iron Man suits. The prototype Pulse Blaster that had been scrapped when the Weapon Development branch had its operations scaled back was essentially a plasma weapon that incorporated low-density plasma projectors that were hard-locked to pulse and could be used to either incapacitate or kill. Additionally, repulsors could be used as a replacement for conventional turbofan or rocket engines in missiles and conventional space rockets. The technology was just way too damn useful.
"Jarvis, add repulsor technology applications to the list of approved technologies for Stark Industries Bet." Tony said after a minute.
"Done sir, what about Iron Man armor technologies?" Jarvis asked and Tony frowned, this was the elephant in the room. The Iron Man armor was an extremely complex piece of equipment and thus you needed training in order to get the most out of it. An experienced user, like himself, could easily push the suit to its limits and get the very most out of it, a person who wasn't trained in it was another matter.
"Jarvis, do you have the full flight, semi-flight, and non-flight capable mass production variants Legionnaire, Hastati, and Guardsman on file?" Tony asked, these were suits that cut down on the fancy toys by varying degrees to cut down on cost. These suits were something he had really designed as a thought exercise during a rainy day, a couple of months after that mess with Vanko.
Legionnaire was a development on a full function Iron Man suit that was made to be as easy to operate as possible - the hand repulsors while they could be used as a weapon, they only had a maximum yield output roughly comparable to a 40mm high-velocity grenade going off at most. Other weaponry had been Anti-Personnel Rockets in the vambraces, and Anti-Armor Rockets based on the Hammer Industries 'Ex-Wife' design located in the shoulders with reloads. A fundamentally simple design that would have been capable of going near supersonic.
The Hastati Armor was even more cut down, it wasn't fully flight capable like Legionnaire was. While it did have repulsors, they were only located in the feet and back, sort of like Mark VII armor, those Repulsors weren't meant for full on flight across long distances, instead it made the armor sort-of-kinda flight capable like the armor used in the novel Starship troopers. It didn't have hand repulsors at all either, though it did have anti-personnel and anti-armor rockets like Legionnaire did.
The Guardsman Armor was the cheapest of the lot - it couldn't fly, but it had the same strength augmentation as Hastati, additionally the only real weapons were anti-armor rockets in the shoulders and pulse blasters in the vambraces.
A common feature that all three suits shared was that their helmets had full face visors that were multi-layered, with an outer surface made from a transparent version of the titanium-gold alloy used as armor plating, backed by ceramic glass and polycarbonate with polarizing material and anti-fogging heating elements incorporated as additional layers. Additionally the suits provided MOPP 4 protection when fully sealed and were sufficiently armored that the wearer could survive getting hit by a bushmaster or equivalent and get back up.
"I do sir, however, these suits however are only at the concept stage and that they aren't finalized." Jarvis said and Tony nodded, he didn't want Legionnaire to fall into the wrong hands and while Guardsman would have its uses, it just didn't compare to Hastati.
"I understand Jarvis, I want you to earmark Hastati Armor as a long term project. Also, I want to see how viable it would be to make improvements to the armor of the Wards for the sake of protection and maneuverability." Tony said and there was a hum from the AI.
"Understood sir. I must mention sir, that it's almost lunch time and given that you're still recovering from the Battle of Manhattan that you must eat something, sir." Jarvis said and Tony frowned, but nodded, mostly because he knew that Jarvis would tell the docs that he wasn't eating despite having just gotten out of the hospital.
With those cheery thoughts, he grabbed his key card and left his room.
When Tony walked into the cafeteria he was surprised to find that it wasn't particularly busy. He would have figured that the cafeteria would have been busy at all times of the year, since from what information he had gleaned, there was a pair of PRT Battalions located in Brockton Bay. He would have expected this place to be constantly busy - but was surprised to find that it wasn't.
The room itself was fairly standard, with food lines on the far wall, a pair of smaller stands that weren't selling generic government made slop, but was actually a Subway and a Nature's Table. Spread throughout the room was restaurant style seating or at least the sort you would see in say a McDonald's rather than a typical cafeteria. In a secluded corner, something caught Tony's eyes, a table with a white table cloth on it, with a single rose in a vase along with an actual plate and silver utensils. Behind the sole chair on the wall was a POW/MIA Flag.
Shaking his head and knowing he didn't have much in the way of funds. He just went through the normal line and got his food. After leaving the line, he looked back over the cafeteria and was surprised to see that a couple of kids, probably Wards, were eating here. Frowning, Tony checked his watch, it was around 12:30 in the afternoon, wait, it was Sunday. Where the hell had the week gone?
Wait a minute, he thought that he recognized one of them, Vista right? The young girl certainly recognized him for she eagerly waved him over. Shrugging his shoulders, he went to walk over there and suddenly he was right there after taking two steps, it should have taken him at least a minute to get over there! What the fuck?!
"Sweet Christ!" he swore loudly to laughter from the Wards.
"Good one Missy!" A familiar voice said in an amused tone.
"Why thank you!" Missy replied, preening.
"Missy, but I thought?" Tony started, confused.
"Tony, it's alright, were actually allowed to know each other. Only the public can't know our actual identities." Vista, no, Missy since she didn't have her mask on, said.
"I see, well then, in that case, I guess introductions." Tony said as he sat down.
"That's fair, I am Carlos Chinea, we've already met Tony, I am Aegis when in uniform." Carlos said he was latino in appearance, though Tony couldn't tell where he was from, with brown hair and eyes.
"Pleasure Carlos, Tony Stark also known as Iron Man." he said, offering his hand.
Carlos took it and they shook. "Always interesting to meet new heroes. How long have you been in the hero business?"
"Since 2008 actually." Tony replied and Vista, no Missy, hummed.
"You've been a hero only a little longer than I have. And I prefer it if you call me Vista while I am here on base." Missy said and Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Why's that?" Tony asked.
Vista sighed. "My parents are going through an ugly divorce, they hate each other and they're fighting for custody over who I will go to. I just want out of it to be honest."
Tony frowned and winced. "That's rough, court battles no matter how you slice it are rough things."
"No kidding." Vista replied, sounding like she wanted to cry.
"Hey, it's okay Vista, shit happens." Tony said in a gentle tone of voice.
"Yeah, no matter what happens, we're behind you one hundred percent." Carlos said.
"We are!" A pale kid with light brown hair and green eyes replied.
As he turned his gaze on Tony - Vista seemed to perk up. "Thanks guys." she said.
"I am Kid Win, but you can call me Chris when I am not in uniform." The youngster, Chris said, offering a hand.
Tony took it and they shook. "Pleasure, do you mind if I ask what your power is?" he asked and Kid Win smiled.
"Why yes, I am a tinker, my specialization seems to be making advanced weaponry. But I've made other things as well." Chris said and Tony nodded.
"What sort of things have you made?" Tony asked and Chris smirked.
"I've built a hoverboard." Chris said and Tony's eyes widened.
"You mean like from the movie Back to the Future Part II and III?" He asked in amazement.
Vista cocked her head. "What's Back to the Future?" she asked.
"Only one of the best time travel movie series of all time." Tony replied with a smile. "I actually saw it in theaters - that film is why my first car was a Delorean; I still have it actually."
"That's actually where I got the idea for it, though mine isn't pink." Chris said and Vista giggled.
"Thanks for that image Chris!" Vista said and a chorus of laughter went around the table. Tony joined in as Chris blushed.
"It's very much an amusing image Chris, good thing you went for the color scheme that you did. Otherwise you might have gotten the nickname Kid Girl." A young man with red hair and blue eyes said with a chuckle.
"DENNIS!" Chris screeched in outrage, blushing from hairline to neck.
Dennis ignored Chris as he did a fist bump with Tony. "Name's Dennis Peterson, in costume I go by Clockblocker."
It took a lot of effort for the former playboy to not burst out laughing or say something inappropriate. Instead he asked in a very confused tone. "Why the hell did you go with that?"
Dennis shrugged. "I thought it was funny."
"Funny he says, damn near offensive more like it." One kid groused with a sigh, but it wasn't a sigh of annoyance.
"Depends on the person I guess." Tony added with his own quip - going by the name, he realized that Dennis probably had a power that could affect time in some way..
Carlos groaned theatrically.
"Anyways," the kid who had spoken previously said, "I am Dean Stansfield, I go by Gallant when in uniform. I can control emotions. I have to ask Tony, what's your power? I am guessing a tinker just by looking at your armor."
Tony shook his head. "I am not sure if I am a tinker or not. But I do know that I am a genius and that I have been compared to Nikola Tesla. But the reason that I don't know if I am a tinker or not is because we don't exactly have those tests where I am from."
"Right, you're not from Earth Bet." Vista said in a tone of realization.
"Yep, do we have a working name for it anyways?" Tony asked.
"We do, Earth Yod." Carlos said.
"Well, it's something at least." Tony admitted.
"Still, what sort of technology have you made besides your armor, Mister Stark?" Chris asked in a curious tone.
"Probably the biggest would be the Arc Reactor, a source of unlimited, clean energy using Element-119 or Palladium, I won't even try and explain how it works with Element-119 since you need an elementary understanding in quantum physics to even begin to understand how it works. But the Palladium Core design is relatively simple in that it utilizes the beta decay of Pd-107 ions as an electron source for the electron capture of Pd-103, thereby producing an electric circuit between two different radioactive isotopes. There's other technologies, but in terms of impact on the world, the Arc Reactor is the best and it's very scalable and patented." Tony explained with an eagerness that only engineers could have.
"Alright, I am confused, how does that even work?" Vista said, looking utterly stumped; an expression that was shared by Carlos, Dennis, and Dean.
Chris whistled in appreciation. "That's pretty crazy, something like that could change the world given how badly oil producing regions have suffered due to Endbringers."
Tony nodded. "Indeed, I've seen the list of places attacked and it sure as hell doesn't paint a pretty picture, I would not be surprised if there were wars ongoing for natural resources." he said.
"You're not wrong, there are. Plus there are warlords coming out of the woodwork in Africa and South America in particular." Carlos admitted and Tony frowned, the more in-depth he looked into this world, the more he realized just how crappy it was.
"That's about what I expected to be perfectly honest." Tony said, still frowning. How close was civilization to actually collapsing and that soon all that would be left would be to play, pick up the pieces and leave Earth Bet? The more he heard, the more he realized that this Earth was staring doomsday in the face.
But to be fair, his own planet seemed to have been staring doomsday in the face recently with an alien invasion. He shook the thought off and while he was tempted to ask about the gangs, that could wait until tomorrow.
"Hey guys." A young woman's voice said in a tired tone, "mind if I join you?"
Tony turned to face the newcomer, she was wearing a simple gray uniform with long sleeves and gray pants. Being maybe 5' 4'' in height with well defined muscles, she had noticeable bags under her brown eyes and long black hair. She was familiar, it took Tony a moment to realize that this was Shadow Stalker.
"Sure, Miss Stalker right?" Tony said.
Shadow Stalker blinked a couple of times as a chorus of laughter went around the table. "Not funny, not remotely funny." she growled with a scowl, her anger building.
"To be fair, I don't know your real name, just your cape name, ergo Miss Stalker." Tony pointed out and Shadow Stalker paused, then shrugged.
"That's fair Mister Stark. It's Sophia, Sophia Hess." Shadow Stalker said, her scowl going to a more pleasant expression but one that carried notable tiredness in it still.
Tony offered a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Sophia."
Sophia took it in a firm handshake. "Thanks Mister Stark." she paused then asked. "I've heard through scuttlebutt that you're a tinker who built one nice set of flight capable powered armor. I have to ask, how accurate are they?"
"The armor bit is true, but I am not sure if I am tinker or not."
"Then how the hell did you make that armor?" Dean asked.
Vista cackled and Tony couldn't help but smirk, this would be fun.
"It's amazing what one can create with an IQ of at least one-sixty."
"One-sixty? You mean one hundred sixty?" Dennis asked, shocked.
Tony nodded, still with that devil may care smirk.
"Jesus Christ." Dennis breathed, with almost everyone else making similar noises, save for Carlos, Vista, and surprisingly Sophia.
Sophia looked unconvinced. "Alright mister genius, what's the square root of 3,520,688 and is it a perfect square root?" she asked.
"It's 1,876.34965 and it's not a perfect square root." Tony asked after giving it but a moment's thought.
Chris whistled. "Impressive."
Sophia grumped, but she did look like she was conceding the point. "Damn, I would have needed a calculator to figure that out."
"Sophia, I am taking AP Calculus and I still would have needed a calculator to figure that out." Carlos said flatly.
"Oh."
"Okay, we've determined that I am smart. But Sophia, I don't think that I've actually heard your power described." Tony said and to his surprise, Sophia's expression changed from neutral to happy, maybe even excited?
"I am a Breaker, basically I can change into a gaseous, intangible state and can pass through solid objects." Sophia said eagerly.
Tony whistled. "Damn, that's probably one of the most amazing powers ever and not just in practical utility. Think of the pranks." he said with a snicker.
"Oh sure, you think it's funny. You haven't been ambushed while taking a shower by her poking her head through the wall and shouting 'boo!' in your face." Dennis grumped irritably.
"I thought it was funny, you screamed like a little girl, it was hysterical." Sophia said in response with a broad grin.
"Oh for the love of all things holy, no it wasn't!" Dennis snapped angrily.
"I distinctly remember you laughing after you got over your shock."
Tony chuckled. "Do you two need to get a room?" he asked sweetly.
Despite her dark complexion, Sophia went almost as crimson as Dennis did as they both blanched to a chorus of laughter from the Wards.
Carlos opened his mouth to speak.
BOOM!
The noise was muffled by distance and probably height, but the effects were immediately obvious despite the building not having been affected. Sophia immediately began screaming in mortal terror and threw herself to the floor and curled herself up into a ball. Tony had to admit that he also dove to the floor with his hands over his head in an attempt to protect it, but he couldn't hear any gunfire, after several seconds he pushed himself up.
"Fucking gangers! Kid Win, Gallant, both of you suit up and find where that explosion occurred and put those bastards in the dirt, I'll join you in a moment. Clockblocker, Vista tend to Shadow Stalker and Iron Man." Carlos snapped out in a rapid fire tone of voice.
"Yessir!" Came a chorus of replies.
"Like hell." Tony snarled as he stood up fully, scared yes, but right now he was also angry. That had probably been a bomb. "Carlos, my armor's damaged but from what Jarvis told me it is still combat capable. I am coming with you."
"No, you don't know our rules of engagement. I would like to have you go out there, but until you have your debriefing and learn of our ROE, I can't allow you out there." Carlos snapped out as Chris and Dean sprinted from the cafeteria.
Tony wanted to argue but then he remembered that technically as a member of the Department of Homeland Security, even if he was just a member of what was effectively JROTC. Carlos did have seniority over him and technically was also a law enforcement officer, which meant that going against his orders could see some sort of crime slapped on him. Thus the entrepreneur huffed irritably but nodded and then went around the table with Vista right behind him, a moment later Carlos literally flew from the room.
I don't think I'll get used to that. Tony thought as he shook his head.
Sophia was no longer screaming, but she was sobbing now and saying names that Tony didn't recognize.
"It had been going so well too, ever since Behemoth's attack on Toronto it's been difficult to get her to show any sort of positive emotion and you managed to get her to grin in less than a minute." Vista said as she shook her head in disbelief. "That's not the worst episode I've seen her have either."
"It's okay Sophia, it's okay. You're not in Toronto, you're not in that underground station, Behemoth's not here, you're in Brockton Bay." Dennis was saying softly as he rubbed her shoulders, Sophia's head buried firmly in his shoulder. He repeated the words over and over again like a mantra, one that the genius realized was meant to calm down the fellow cape.
Tony knelt beside them as Sophia slowly calmed down as she repeated the words, it took minutes but eventually her sobbing calmed down. "I hate this. I used to be strong and dependable, wouldn't even flinch at the sound of a bomb just like most residents of Brockton Bay, but now one drives me into hysterics." she breathed, her voice wet as she pulled herself back from Dennis' shoulder, tears running down her face.
Vista grumbled something about Sophia having a nasty vicious streak.
God this is one fucked up city if a bomb blast is normal around here. Tony thought as he knelt down beside the young Ward. "Do you mind if I ask what happened to cause this change?" he asked.
Sophia shook her head.
"Sophia, we can't help you either beyond your therapist if we don't know the particulars. You need to tell someone besides your therapist about what's going on." Dennis said he was still rubbing Sophia's shoulders.
"You don't understand, you never will." Sophia hissed angrily.
"Sophia, your team can't help you if we don't know what happened there." Tony said in as neutral of tone as he could.
Sophia growled something incoherent. Tony frowned, judging by Sophia's reaction to the explosion, it didn't take much to connect the dots, she had been caught in an explosion and had lost people she had been working with. "I take it that whatever occurred involved an explosion that took the lives of people you were working with?" he asked.
Sophia glared at him sharply. "Mister Stark," she said, her voice shaking. "Fuck off."
Tony held up his hands, it was clear that Sophia didn't want to talk to him, but he suspected that he had probably hit the nail on the head. "Right, okay. I get it when I am not wanted."
Vista tugged at his arm. "Come on, let's head back to the common room." she said in a low tone.
Tony wanted to argue, but decided against it. "Lead the way." he said, after grabbing his tray.
Vista nodded and quickly the two left the room. "Mister Stark?" she asked.
"Yes, what is it, Vista?" Tony replied.
"Do you think what you said regarding Sophia is true?" she asked.
Tony paused and thought about it. "It doesn't take a genius to put the dots together. Something bad happened to Sophia during a battle against Behemoth in Toronto, whatever it was it clearly involved a subway station and some form of explosion."
Vista swore softly. "You're good at deductive reasoning."
The billionaire shrugged. "Not particularly, it was the mantra that Dennis was using that really helped me put the dots together. Even if Sophia has a therapist, her team needs to be there for her as well. To be her support for when she has really bad days."
Vista shook her head. "I feel stupid now for not noticing that before."
"To be fair, it could be that some of her other breakdowns happened when you weren't in the room and thus you haven't heard that mantra until now." Tony pointed out.
The pre-teen paused before shrugging. "True, that was probably the first time I heard it in full."
Tony sighed. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead Mister Stark."
"What is it like being a Ward?"
Vista frowned, the question had clearly taken her off guard. "It's different from what people expect." she admitted.
"How so?" Tony asked.
"Everyone thinks that being a Ward means that we're always doing PR stuff and busting normal crooks and small-time supervillains. But there's really more than that, there's a lot of training as well since the Wards are essentially the Protectorate's version of the JROTC but for Parahumans. So we do a lot of similar stuff though it's different for us as well," she paused. "I must admit that we primarily do drills, color guard, and PT in addition to our regular duties as a Ward."
"So the purpose of the Wards is not only to prepare you to handle the big leagues but to instill a sense of duty?" Tony asked and Vista nodded.
"It is, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Between my fellow wards, the members of the Protectorate, and the men and women of the PRT, we're essentially one big family. A very strange family, but a family nonetheless." Vista said and Tony nodded, he could really see that in a sense. It was a weird messed up sense that didn't make much sense to him, but he could see it in a way. Captain Rodgers had explained as such that if you were in enough battles, you started seeing your fellow soldiers not as compatriots but family.
"I can't help but wonder if my own team would become like that eventually." Tony mused.
"What's the name of your superhero team?" Vista asked, curiosity coloring her voice.
"The Avengers."