It was late afternoon, the students and most of the staff in M.A. had already gone home, all but Riri Williams who had went to the Development Studio to look at the damage to her suit, she had gotten permission from the manager Mr. Aaron Stack she could work on her suit, even though he ensured her that the suit would be repaired by the best, but Riri insisted to work on it herself. Right now she had her suit, laid out on a table in front of her, she looked at the slashed in the chest plate where Robbie's chain cut through while feeling her chest in realizing how lucky she was
Riri: he really knew what he was doing. Any closer and I would probably be in the infirmary with that Parker kid" she examined her suit "gonna have to replace the chest plate. Maybe even up the power in the repulsors and-"
"You know school is supposed to over" a voice said taking the young girl by surprise, she looked behind to see it was Tony Stark wasn't in his suit, but in his teacher outfit
Riri: oh! M-mr. Stark! I-I-I-!"
Tony: take it easy, kid" he approached her "pretty impressive suit, Ms. Williams" he looked at the armor
Riri: how did you know my name?"
Tony: I take a priority to know my students" he said, but honestly he got his information from his assistant also known his wife Pepper
Flashback
In the Administration Office
Tony was on the computer with Pepper Potts face-timing after finishing evaluating the students in Class 1-A "gotta say these kids are full of potential"
Pepper: you seem to be taking being a teacher seriously
Tony: guess after working with Peter, the rest rubbed off on me a bit" he shuffled through the papers until he reached Riri's he looked at hers for a moment, seeing out in the field in that armor "Pepper. Can you see what you can learn about Riri Williams"
Pepper: oh you met her" Tony turned to her with a shock expression
Tony: you knew-"
Pepper: she send the specs of her suit and Stark Industries provided her the materials
Tony: why didn't you-?"
Pepper: I did. I send you texts, messages, emails even tried calling. But you were either training Mr. Parker or out heroing" she explained herself in a calm manner
Tony: Friday" he asked his A.I. in confirming
Friday: five unread texts messages, three unopened emails and six missed calls" the A.I. backing Pepper up causing Tony to feel ashamed and guilty as he looked back at Pepper who gave him a 'I told you so' look and remembered in Claire telling him about forgetting Pepper at times
Tony:.. point made. While.. since you're here and we're talking do you mind
Pepper: Riri Williams. Top of her class. Graduated early. Received an scholarship to M.I.T., but chose to come to M.A. moved to New York from Chicago to attend. Probably explains her for recommendation
Tony: she's smart.. very" he nodded in impressed seeing the girl was gifted in a way almost reminded him of himself, he was an undergraduate at M.I.T. at age 15 or maybe he thought she was an overachiever "I might have potential prodigy aside from Mr. Parker" he knew he had to keep on her along with Peter seeing that she was able to built an suit of armor of her own "anyone else I should know. What about her dad?"
Pepper: her biological father and step father both passed away" she did then noticed something on her tablet that shocked her "Tony. There's something else.." Tony looked to her, seeing her facial expression knew it was serious
Flashback ended
Tony: looks familiar. Almost like-"
Riri: the 51 Model. Using nanotech principles of molecular allows the limbs of the suit to take the form of different tools, and even allow the entire appearance of the armor to be modified, by changing the color and mass of the suit, in order to adapt to the task at hand, including stealth operations, heavy lifting, and orbital flight. After taking shape, the scales smooth themselves out along the body's contours to give a leaner feel to the armor.
Tony:.. you know your armors" he thought Peter was his only fan who knew about him "you're a fan, I take it"
Riri: kinda, yeah
Tony: your suit do any of those things you listed?
Riri: oh no. It doesn't even have an A.I. system
Tony: hmm. You built it yourself?
Riri: oh yeah
Tony: but I take it, this isn't your first one
Riri: um no actually" she went into her pocket, digging through to pull out her phone, going to her galley photos sweeping through until she found the picture she was looking for when she did she showed Tony "this one was" he looked to see it was a large heavily armed suit of armor "had an communication system and a HUD, but it was very crude"
Tony: but the lack of A.I. integration probably made it to be a liability, making it hard to properly handle the suit, right?
Riri: right. Had to rebuilt it having repulsors, stronger durability and flight, but I wanted it to be slimmer, faster and more agile
Tony: and showing up in a bulky iron suit would make you stick out
Riri: not really cool either
Tony: hey much cooler than my Model 1 Armor" he remembered his very first suit of armor before he was a pro hero. It was large built, wasn't as advanced as his other suits, didn't have repulsors, but had a miniature flamethrower and tear gas bombs. It had jet boots were the armor's main transportation system. The boot turbines made use of ordinary air, drawn in through a loose weave of iron fabric, which was highly compressed and created a jet that enabled him to fly, or make assisted leaps. Didn't have an A.I. system, but an radio transceiver electronics bay that allowed him to hear police incidents and such, so Riri's first armor was an huge improvement compared to his "so you built and designed this and your new armor yourself?"
Riri: the exterior, interior, thrusters, weaponry-"
Tony: this is all impressive. But I gotta ask. Why an suit based on me?
Riri: you mean aside from you being the number 1 hero?
Tony: aside that yeah
Riri: well... its just.. I lost my step dad and best friend back at Chicago. A drive by shooting" Tony nodded he knew that Chicago was a dangerous city and the violence there and an lack of pros. Tony may be the number 1 hero but he couldn't be everywhere in the world. Tony knew her background from Pepper when she told him, he just wanted to hear it from Riri herself and her goal and intentions "I was lost. When the police officer was asking my mom and I questions about the attack, if we seen anything like the shooters, the model and color of the car, you know. But the one thing that I asked was 'why wasn't it me?' 'why them?' 'why Natalie? Why my stepfather?'" the tone of her voice sadden, Tony noticed it, he understood the feeling of losing people, he even saw the same sadness with Peter when he lost his uncle "sorry" she wiped her eyes a bit
Tony: don't be. I understand" he rubbed her shoulder "did they catch the shooters?" Riri nodded
Riri: they did. But as the officer was asking us questions, I also couldn't help but to look at the TV screen seeing you in action with other heroes battling villains and saving lives. You give people hope. Make them feel safe. That made me realize what I wanted to do. To be a hero. To be a hero of Chicago to prevent from what happened to my Natalie and my stepfather from happening again or anything else" she looked up at him, Tony could see the serious look in her eyes, he nodded "but I take it since your armor is one of an kind, only a few certain people have armors of their own you can't exactly have an student here coping you huh?"
Tony: actually I found it flattering. After all I have merchandise in action figures, toys and other collectibles" he remembers sponsoring toy commercials with Iron Man helmets, figurines, the works and autographing them for fans and that dress as him "if it was anyone else I would probably take the armor away, but. You're a kid with a good heart with a goal. So I won't take it or tell you to stop" this made the young girl smile in relief "but. I will have to keep a close on you. Which means anything involving your armor come see me"
Riri: got it
Tony: and since you don't have an A.I. system, I'll program you one
Riri: really?!" her eyes lit up in joy
Tony: it's going to be a A.I. of me. You have to work your up to get your own
Riri: I'll take it. Trust me
Tony: also I do need to keep an eye on your work, so work studies and interning you'll be with me for a while" he knew was training and working with Peter, but knew he had to keep an eye and work with Riri as well with her armor, he knew how multitask between the two after all he was told not to show favoritism toward one student "think you can handle it?"
Riri: I think I can manage
Tony: alright Ms. Williams" he held his hand out to her "welcome to my world" Riri took his hand and shook it "now how about we fix this chest plate?"
Riri: yeah" they turn to her armor and began working on it
Tony: by the way. Ever thought of changing it? Different color. Style
Riri: actually I do have some ideas I'm working on
To Be Continued
Jade and Julie: hey guys
Jade: sorry this chapter took a while and short, been having personal family issues
Julie: our grandfather passed away been taking it hard especially me
Jade: I pretty much had to write the chapter solo.
Julie: sorry about that. My little twerp twin sister deserves the credit for this for sure
Jade: thanks and its alright jerk" hugging her twin, who hugs her back "Tony taking Riri under wing like Peter can easily be seen"
Julie: Tony giving Riri an A.I. of himself was in the first volume of Invincible Iron Man: Iron Heart by Bendis difference Tony isn't gone and Riri received the A.I. of him through a package and he was talking to her in hologram form too
Jade: and we wanna give a huge thanks to our friend All New Me for giving us the info into getting the comics to understand Riri more
Julie: it'll probably be a while, but Riri will get her Iron Heart design armor soon in the story
Deadpool: WAIT! You think I or any of the readers wouldn't notice what you did in the end! 'welcome to my world' that's what Bruce said to Terry in Batman Beyond! This is Marvel not DC!
Jade: sorry Wade, it just came to me by accident. Won't happen again
Julie: next time it'll be two of us writing. We'll upload the next chapter soon hopefully
Jade: we'll going away down south to our grandfather's funeral, so it'll probably be a while
Julie: but until then tell us what you guys think